Too tired, sicky feeling and crabby to write tonight. I hope everyone had a good Monday, I'll write more tomorrow! Take care!

GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My computer just froze and I lost the blog I just wrote! Grr...!!!!!!!! Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEN!!! I hope you guys had a good time today! We are finally relaxing and it feels great! We've had a good weekend but we've been busy. Friday night the owner of the Outback where Roy cleans bought us dinner for our anniversary. It was so good, we haven't eaten there in forever! I had a chocolate martini and it was delicious! Its not really a martini, its made up of bailey's, buttershots, vanilla cream and chocolate syrup. Yummy! We went to bed early and got up to work on Saturday. We tried to take a little nap but didn't get much extra sleep. We headed over to Pam and Ed's around three and drove out to Teri's house with them for her party. We were going to go to the balloon festival in Lincoln but were having too much fun so we just stayed there. They had a bags tournament. For those who don't know what bags is its kind of like washers. You throw a beanbag at this sloped board with a hole in it. These people take it pretty seriously too! We had three games going at a time and some of the boards were decked out with night lights and drink holders. It was a lot of fun! We knew about half of the people there and met some other really nice people. We crashed in front of the tv as soon as we got home!

Today we are being lazy! We've already gone grocery shopping and Roy mixed up some chili which is currently slow cooking. We just started watching Open Range, I've heard its good from a lot of people so we're going to give it a shot! It is perfect weather outside, a little chilly when the sun is hiding but not obnoxiously hot when its out. I talked to Mom for awhile and she said Arthur won their game on Friday! Shawn should be able to play in a couple weeks so we're going to go down for their homecoming game. We'll I'd better start paying attention to the movie :-) Have a good day everyone!

TOO HOT IN THE HOT TUB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ugg.......I think it needs to be a little freakin' more hot outside! Ridiculous. We have some storm warnings out so hopefully that'll cool things off. Yuck!

Well, I was supposed to go to Bement for a visit today but the agency car wasn't working (imagine that!). So, I got some more paperwork done. One of my girls called me in tears because she got hotlined to DCFS today. It is kind of a bogus call so I'll be surprised if they even take it. She was so afraid that they were going to take her kids but on this charge even if its founded (which I doubt it will be) there's no way they'll take them. I feel so bad because she is one of my best Moms and she is really upset. I can't blame her though because I would be freaking out as well. If they contact her tomorrow I'm going to go out when the investigator drops by, just to help her calm down.

Other than that work was pretty uneventful AND I didn't make any eggs explode today! I just put some tabasco sauce around the trash can because Tatum is getting all too interested in the chicken bones inside! It seems like its keeping her away for now. I have some Pagoda eggrolls to make for myself for supper and the fixin's for a beef manhattan for Roy when he gets home from class. I love manhattans but I got burned out on them because for awhile we were having them every week and I ate too much. I'll get over it soon I'm sure :-) We want to go see a movie this weekend but I'm not sure which one. Any suggestions? We're thinking of Collateral because we still haven't seen it. We watched the Exorcist last weekend and it sucks big time. It was soooo boring, not scary at all. A couple parts made me jump out of surprise but other than that it was horrible. It looks like there are some good ones coming out in the next couple of months.

Uh oh, looks like we have upgraded to a tornado warning! I'd better sign off and go watch the news. Have a good night everyone!

Funny thing about eggs.............

Yeah I learned something very important about eggs last night. It seems that when you leave one boiling while you're outside talking on the phone with your sister-in-law, they tend to run out of water and thus explode. Then you have egg shrapnel all over your kitchen in places that bewilders the mind. Not that I know that from experience or anything......well, whatever...quit making fun of me!

I actually felt pretty good about work today! I didn't have any visits but I did have a meeting in the morning and supervision. I managed to get two files completely up to date which was a huge accomplishment for me since I HATE paperwork! Two files doesn't sound like a lot but there's a lot to them. The thing that takes the most time is the visit records, they're not hard but we have to do one after every visit (and I was WAY behind on these), it includes what we talked about, what I brought for them, what activity I did with the kid, the status of the house, the status of the parent and child, how they interacted and if the child has been to the doctor. We also have to.... fill out and document every developmental screening we do, complete goals with the girls every three months and fill out a fee sheet, write down every piece of curriculum we give them, write down all their immunizations and well child visits, write down when they have a CANTs check run on them, make sure yearly forms like their information sheet, family information forms, etc. are up to date, make sure all consents are up to date, have everything necessary signed by our supervisor, AND keep up the log where we have to write down everytime we; talk to them on the phone, see them, discuss them in supervision, call someone for them, write to or on behalf of them, etc. Sheesh, I'm sure that was fun for you all to read, sorry :-) Long story short (well, too late for that!) paperworks SUCKS!

I love the storms out tonight!!! When I was driving home from job #3 I saw some awesome lightening! We really needed the rain. Well, I will sign off for now. Kristi, I hope everything goes okay tomorrow, I'll be thinking about you. Take care everyone and have a good night!

Happy Anniversary Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all very much for the cards and comments! Yep, its been two years today! But, since we're both so busy we've only seen each other in passing, in from my job #3 and he was out to his class. We'll celebrate this weekend. I think we'll try to do something on Friday because Saturday we are going to a party at my supervisor Teri's house and then to the balloon festival (in Lincoln I think?) with Pam and Ed.

Uneventful day at work. I did go to lunch with Annie and Kelly. I hadn't seen Kelly in forever so it was good to catch up with her. We're going to try to go out sometime soon 'cause we all haven't done that together in a long time. No kids at job number three so I got home a little earlier. I can't believe it has been two years since our wedding. I say that because we felt like we were married for a long time before the wedding. After our wedding we had our honeymoon in St. Louis (which is why we like to go back there for vacation!). When we got there on our wedding day we were so stressed and strung out from no sleep and lots of activity. We got lost on the way to our hotel and ended up in some cracktown (fun times!). We had a blast though! Our wedding dinner was Dominos and we feel asleep almost immediately! We spent the rest of the honeymoon in Laclede's, the zoo and Union Station. Can't believe it was two years ago!

Well, I want to straighten a few things up and make some coffee so I'll sign off. Have a good night everyone!!!

@#$% Monday's!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a big fan of Monday's anyway and this one seemed sooooo long! I got up after hitting snooze several times and headed off to work. I only had three visits but they weren't until the afternoon and they were back to back. I did get to hold a new baby (twins!) today, favorite part of my job. And, my girl that moved out of state called and left me a message to let me know that she made it safely. So sweet! I tried to call her back and she wasn't home, but she usually keeps in contact pretty well. I hope she sends me some pictures so I can keep up on her baby girl!

Even job #2 seemed long tonight. I'm so glad to be home! Roy should be home from class pretty soon so I'm going to go get started on supper. I hope everyone is having a good night! Grandma, thank you for the email! I can check them at work even though it won't let me send any (I found that out the day I tried to email Diane five times and she kept getting blanks!). I still love to get them! Good night!

Lazy Sunday........well, not so much!

Hope everyone has been having a nice weekend! We have had a really good one so far (and now its almost over!). Yesterday I helped Roy at work and then we went straight to Wal-Mart to get our grocery shopping out of the way. When we got home we decided we wanted to go visit Mom and Dad so I called and they weren't doing anything so we headed on down! We had a really nice visit with Mom, Dad and Shawn and then Grandma and Grandpa came over so we got to visit with them too!!! Mom and Dad made this huge dinner with beans, cornbread, fried potatoes, fresh tomatoes and Grandma and Grandpa brought a salad and some chocolate cake! I probably gained ten pounds but it was worth it! We headed home and were so tired that we went to bed pretty early. This morning we got up and headed over to Jeremy and Rachel's place. Mom and Dad were heading over there to visit and see the new kitty so we got to visit with them again! It was really nice and Jeremy gave us some good cd's so we've got some listening to do!

Yeah, then I got home and for some reason had a bug up my *** to deep clean the kitchen. It has been bothering me for awhile and I just haven't had a chance to do it so I got started. Took me freakin' forever! I cleaned out the fridge because it was disgusting and found all sorts of crap I had no idea was even in there. I am proud to say that it is all bleached out and everything in there is edible for a change! I also bleached the floors, counters, everything. Now I'm exhausted, that will not be happening again for awhile! Nothing else of interest to discuss right now and I want to go lay on the couch so I'll sign off for now. Have a good night everyone!

Happy Friday!

Man, it started out rainy today and then the stupid sun came out! Bleh! Work was okay today, I did two visits and cleaned up my desk....that's about it! Friday's in our office is crazy because there is hardly ever anyone around! Most people interestingly enough have "visits" or "meetings" on Friday that last the entire day. I don't blame anyone though, we all like getting home early.

I did get to catch up on my blog comments at work today since I can't comment at home. I'm so excited that Grandma is blogging! I love it when family blogs so I can keep up on them! I also enjoy reading other people's blogs and forming friendship's with people I've never even met (like our Bunni!).

Speaking of Bonni's blog I found the flow of discussion in her comment section very interesting today. When I was younger (I know, younger than the ripe old age of almost 24, quit making fun of me!) I never thought I could be a housewife. I've always respected women (and men) who are able to stay home but it never appealed to me. However, now that I'm married (2 years on Tuesday!) and have my own home I can see how I could really enjoy that lifestyle! Right now, I feel almost guilty that I'm not able to keep up on my housework the way I should because I'm so exhausted by the time I get home. I love cooking but during the week the last thing I want to do is fix a meal for dinner (my very understanding hubby helps out when he can and we survive on simple meals and tv dinners through the week!). I feel that now and especially when I have kids I would love to be home with them and have the house exactly how I want it. On the other hand, as much as I bitch about my job I do like interacting with different people all day. Man, maybe I should work part time (like that will EVER be financially possible for us!). Oh well, someday I'll actually have to deal with making that decision but for now I will just accept my working existence!

I about threw Tatum through the window yesterday. I went outside for just a second, came back in and she had not only knocked over the trash but was eating CHICKEN BONES!!! My reaction was probably comparable to that of a Mom who sees her kid try to run out in traffic. She is a big giant kid. She has been on her best behavior today, she always knows when she's been in trouble.

Well, I've rambled enough for today and probably bored several readers :-) Have a good night everyone!!!

TGIF.......oh wait, its only Thursday....@#$%!!!!!

Hello all! Too tired to blog last night, I love this weather but it makes me sleepy! I didn't get home until eight last night and Roy had fixed a fried chicken dinner with homemade gravy and potatoes. Yummy! Happy late anniversary Mom and Dad! Next year will be the big 2-5!!! Woo hoo! Roy is trying to nap before he has to go to class tonight and Tatum is barking at me to try to get me to play. Crackhead. Oh, thank you so much for the anniversary card Al! Fifty years, two years..........whatever :-) Just glad I have your school address now!

Speaking of school today was move-in day for ISU so traffic was ridiculous coming home from work. I do not miss those days, waiting in line forever to use the elevator among hundreds of other kids and parents. My first year I lived out in tri-towers on the tenth floor. The wait for the elevator was insane so we took the stairs and about died! My second year I got to move in early because I was working in the dining center so I just moved myself. Plus, it was only on the second floor, not nearly the heart-attack inducer.

I actually felt like I got some paperwork accomplished today! Unbelievable! There weren't as many people in the office and I only had one visit so I was able to focus a little more. Yesterday I got a phone call from the state my girl is moving to. I sent her assessment information to them and I forgot how scary it looks the first time you read it! Her baby's dad killed someone (he's in jail) and there is a lot of other stuff from her past that looks kind of intimidating. They were basically calling to see if they should be nervous but I assured them that Dad probably doesn't even know she's moving and that Mom is a lot more stable than she sounds on paper. I'm just glad that she is getting in there!

The Olympics can get over with any day now!!! :-) Besides that can't think of anything else to gripe about at this moment in time. I hope everyone is having a great day!

Glad I'm Not the Only TV Junkie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good evening! Hope everyone's Tuesday went well. Mine was a little rough. My favorite girl (I know we're not supposed to pick favorites, but she's one of mine!) is moving out of state and I had my last visit with her today :-( It was very sad, she's been through a lot since I met her and she has come out an awesome mom and a very motivated woman. We both ended up crying, very very sad! Her baby is eight months old and is usually busy trying to eat my keys and hair when I'm over but today she just snuggled on me, its like she knew! I've been contacting the same program in the state she's moving to, to get her transferred and it sounds like she'll get in there in about a month. She gave me some more pictures of the baby and is going to try to send more to my work address. I'll miss her but I think it'll end up being a better situation for her, and some people are threatening her so its not really safe for her to stay in town. She's a strong girl so I know she'll be alright. I'm going to start bawling again!!!
On another note I just got off the phone with my Mom. My brother Shawn has been havnig side pains since he got in a car wreck a few months ago but they had gone away for awhile. When he woke up yesterday however it was hurting him so bad that he went to the doctor and it turns out his rib was cracked. It had probably healed itself but he's been having football practice out the butt lately and that probably worsened it again. It shouldn't affect his playtime, he just has to lay off the contact part of practice for 48 hours. The pain tolerance on that boy is crazy! I have a headache and I'm floored, he runs around with a freaking cracked rib! I'm so glad he's playing football again, I love going to watch him play!
Well, I'm starving so I'd better go find something for supper. Have a goodnight everyone!

So happy Grandma and Grandpa made it back safely!!! Welcome back!!! Couldn't write anything yesterday. I woke up with a huge headache and it kept me out of commission all day! It didn't completely go away until about nine last night. I usually try to pick up the house and do laundry on Sundays and I was able to at least get our clothes and the bed stuff washed, but that was about it! I felt better today and job #2 was cancelled tonight so I made it home early! My hubby is taking a nap. His classes start on Thursday so he is trying to get on his night schedule. He usually goes in at four in the morning and works until about noon but his classes are all at night. If he doesn't switch his schedule he will be running around from four until nine at night when his classes get over with. On his night schedule he goes in around 11 at night and then he'll sleep most of the day. He doesn't like that as much but he doesn't have much of a choice once school starts.
I didn't have any visits scheduled for today so I got some paperwork done and I brought some more home. I had supervision in the morning and then went to lunch with Annie at Jerry's. Made phone calls and did more paperwork the rest of the day and was able to leave a little early. Not too bad for a Monday! I think I'm going to use the time to myself that I'll have when Roy's classes start to try to reorganize the house. We have lived here for over a year and I still haven't hung any pictures up and I want to reorganize a few other things as well to make it look more like people actually live here (j/k!). Is anyone else tired of the olympics already? I'm just not into sports that much so watching the olympics is death! I can't wait until they're over because the new seasons of LCS and Scrubs will start! Such a tv junkie!!! Can't think of anything else exciting to share right now so I'll sign off. Have a good night!

Not a lot to discuss today.........lazy Saturday! We did our typical Krispy Kreme breakfast followed by a Wal-Mart run and then took a nap. This weather makes weekends all the more enjoyable although its supposed to warm up this week :-(. I've been spoiled and now I'm going to be depressed. Oh well. I just finished making a huge pot of ham and potato soup. I don't make it exactly "health conscience" but it usually ends up pretty good. Mainly because I throw in tons of butter, sour cream and milk. But, there is onion and celery so that's kinda healthy right? Whatever.
Well, I still can't leave comments on Kristi, Bonnie and Aunt Judy's blogs for some reason. So...
Kristi-I hope your computer works better for you! I understand how frustrating that can be. I hope you're weekend is relaxing to make up for your stressful week! Hang in there!
Aunt Judy-I can't wait to see some of your stained glass work! Sounds like an interesting hobby. I wish I was creative enough to try something like that, but Lord only knows what mine would turn out like :-)
Bonnie-They've been showing reruns of the whole Last Comic Standing season on Comedy Central in case you want to try to catch the last episode! I was torn because I liked all of the final three a lot so I couldn't be disappointed that Heffron won, I wouldn't have been able to pick one out of the three......should've been a tie!
I hope Grandma and Grandpa get back soon! They are stuck in Florida due to the hurricane. I don't think they're in a dangerous area but they can't leave yet. Gas stations are even closed. I know they're still having a good time though, I'll just be happy when they're back! I finally got to talk to Al tonight! It had been forever since we talked last, we're going to try to get together soon once she gets settled back at school (hang in there girl, two more days!!!!!). Well, I'm going to get back to my couch pallet! Have a great night everyone!

Friday the 13th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OOOOOOOOO...........SCARY!!!! And, a black cat ran into our office this morning! Coincidence.......hmm. This weather is beautiful!!! Fall is absolutely my favorite season, even when it happens in August. I played receptionist for an hour at work today. Our regular lady was gone and I filled in for her fill in on her lunch break. It wasn't bad and our vice president went out of her way to tell me thank you several times and wrote me a thank you note. Other than that, my day was pretty uneventful. I got stood up in the morning (people need to start freakin' being home!), did some paperwork and then played receptionist. After that I tanned and drove through Jimmy Johns and went to Annie's to visit over my lunch time. Came back and did some paperwork and then left a little early to make up for a couple nights I worked late. I like that my job is so flexible but sometimes our higher ups give us grief for taking flex time when we work over. I'm a salaried employee so I have no hope of over time pay so, in theory, I get flex time to make up for it. However sometimes (not always) our supervisior and program director don't like to give it to us or want to dictate when we take it. It doesn't happen often but enough to where it almost makes me feel guilty for taking it. Ridiculous. Anway, today there was almost no one in the whole building so I was able to comfortably leave early. I got home close to four o'clock and Roy and I went to the early show of Alien vs. Predator. I didn't think I'd like it but I went because Roy was so excited to see it and I've dragged him to movies he hasn't wanted to see before :-) I actually liked it better than I thought! We ran through Steak and Shake and are relaxing now. Not a lot else to discuss right now so I'll sign off. Have a good night!

Long lost blogs

Howdy! Sorry for the lack of blogs, the past couple of days have been crazy. Tuesday I had five visits scheduled and everyone was there (woo hoo!!!!!!!!!). After that I went to job #3 and we actually had a kid, weird for a Tuesday. I got home around seven and after Roy and I ate dinner Jeremy came over for awhile. He and I went out to karaoke and it was very entertaining as usual! I love watching drunk people sing! So much fun, especially the ones that think they are rock stars. Wednesday my day started off slow because one of my out of towners cancelled (thankfully before I drove all the way out to her house). One of my girls (who is 15) just gave birth to twins so I went to the hospital to visit her. They need a crib so I called a couple of places and found one at recycling for families. This program is awesome! They get donated furniture, fix it up and give it away to families in need. They just happened to have one so I filled out the paperwork and took it over for my girl to sign. I love it when I am actually able to help like that. So many times my girls need help with bills or furniture or anything and either our agency doesn't have resources or all the resources in town have been tapped out. That can get really discouraging so things like this make my week! Anyway, after work Wednesday I went to job #3 and we had 10 kids. One of them would not stop crying.......at all!!!! There was nothing that would comfort him and nothing was wrong with him so we just had to let him cry. It was awful because the other kids get stressed and start acting up or getting upset. I left with such a horrible headache!!! Today was less stressful although I got stood up a million times. My last visit was really good though, that little girl is bilingual and she can never remember my name so she just calls me senora. So cute!!! Anyway, I am in a good mood tonight, enjoying the weather and being home early. A co-worker is having a partylite candle party tonight but I just don't feel like going. That stuff is so expensive anyway and it seems like one of my friends or co-workers is having one every half hour! I did get some good votives at the last party I went to! Strawberry rhubarb and they are yummy!!!! Although I like the products they don't last as long as they should for how much they cost. I would rather have a Yankee candle or the mainstays brand from wal-mart (I know...wal-mart but they smell awesome and last forever!). Well, I'd better go find something for dinner, have a great night everyone!!!

Monday down!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello all!!! Man, it feels like its going to start storming out........I likes it! Too lazy to post last night but we did have a nice Sunday. We slept in and lazed around for awhile. We were feeling kinda antsy and wanted to get out so we went to the mall to point out all of the things we would buy if we had money :-) On the way out we stopped by Baskin Robbins for ice cream. I forgot how good it is!!! I had the jamocha and it was delicious! After that we went out to my brother Jeremy's place in Lexington to see him, Rachel and the kids. They just got a new kitten and it is sooo cute!!! A little siamese kitty, Jeremy named him Lester (you have to understand Jeremy and his unusual love for Primus). Matthew and Maddy are having a blast with it! Matthew keeps coming up to him and patting him saying "Dat!!!" the whole time. I love kittens but my hubby is allergic. Tatum probably couldn't handle it anyway, she gets jealous if I give Roy a hug!
Easy day at work today. I was supposed to drive to Bement but my girl got called into work so I wasn't able to. I spent most of the day in the office trying to get some paperwork done. We had a few kids at job #2 tonight but we weren't overloaded so it was more enjoyable! Well, supper just came out the oven and Tatum is eyeing it so I'd better go. Have a good night everyone!

Happy Saturday everybody!!! It is absolutely gorgeous out right now! It feels like fall!!! Love it! Before I forget, I want to comment on all the blogs I've been reading since my computer is apparantly about to be thrown out the window:
Kristi - We had to go buy some Famous Daves sauce after reading that! We're making it with chicken tomorrow. I hope Ken is feeling better!
Diane - I'm glad Emily is enjoying the saxophone! Tell her it is always hard at first but she'll get the hang of it if she sticks with it. When I come down next I'll try to help her out if she wants (if I can remember how to do it :-). I'm glad little man is feeling better!
Aunt Judy - Did you guys end up going to the Decatur celebration? I haven't been to that in a couple of years but it is always fun! I love the food! We thought about going to the fair around here to get some but by the time you pay admission it ends up being pretty expensive. Hope you had fun with K, K and K today!
Bonnie - You are so cute with all the blue!!! I loved the pictures of the golf course, it is gorgeous! Especially the waterfalls!
Al - Welcome back to good ole Illinois chica! Give me a call dude, we have to catch up!
Alright! We have had a pretty uneventful day so far. I helped Roy at work this morning, we stopped through Krispy Kreme for some breakfast, then we ran some errands (oh yes, including the wal-mart run!). I talked to Mom and Dad for awhile also. Dad is getting ready to go to a race this weekend with my Uncle Jeff. They're staying in his motor home for a couple of nights and he was ready to go! I know they'll have fun! After our running and lunch was done we took a loooong nap! We didn't wake up until almost seven so we'll be up really late tonight! We're planning on going to see the midnight showing of I-Robot. Not a lot planned for tomorrow either, I need to catch up on some paperworks.......any bets that won't be happening? Well, I need to go pull dinner out of the oven. Have a good night everyone!

@#$% COMPUTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bahhhhh!!!!!!!! I'm sorry for the absence of blogs, comments on my friend's blogs and email. My computer won't let me do anything!!!!!!!!!! This is the third time I've attempted to write this, it won't let me leave comments on Kristi and Bonnie's blogs, it will sometimes let me leave them on Diane and Al's but it takes forever and I can't send email at all!!! Frustrating!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, I'm glad this week is over although it went by pretty fast. On Wednesday my Grandma and Grandpa and Emily came up to visit but I had back to back visits all day so I wasn't able to go visit :-( Emily is going to start playing the saxophone and I'm excited for her!!! I hope she likes it!!! Tatum isn't acting as uppity these past couple of days........has more energy than ever! Don't know which is worse :-) Alright, time for the conclusion of the vacation saga (its been so long since my last entry I hope I remember it all!)
Saturday we slept in for really the first time all vacation. We woke up and hung out around the house for a long time. We finished up some of our movies and then Julie and I took huge long naps while the boys ran into town. When we woke up and they came back we went fishing in their pond. They weren't sure if they had fish in there or not but we caught a bunch of baby bluegill. Oh, this may be disturbing but I forgot to mention one of the main forms of entertainment we engaged in. We shot turtles with a rifle! Yes, I know it sounds sick and cruel but they have to get rid of some of them because they are overrunning the pond, they get enourmous and they eat all the fish. Julie and I shot more than the boys did I think! Anyway, we stayed up late just chatting on their deck. There was a full moon and you could see it perfectly. We went in to watch tv and the boys fell asleep so Julie and I pestered them for payback and we all ended up crashing.
Sunday
We all woke up sad because we knew we had to leave. We packed our stuff and all went out for lunch together and then Roy and I left from there. The ride home was so depressing because we knew we wouldn't get to see them for awhile. I was so sad to leave but I was anxious to pick up Tatum. We went to Marsha's and picked Tatum up and then stopped my parents and visited with Mom and Shawn for awhile. We got home around ten, ran through steak & shake for dinner, did some laundry and went to bed. Our vacation was over :-(
Well, hopefully my computer will allow me to start commenting on blogs again soon, if I can't I'll start writing them here! Rest assured though, I am reading each and every one! I hope you are all having a good night! Take care!

Day two back from vacation...........bleh!!!!!!! I'm just whiny, just not up to being back at work yet, but then, who ever is? I got stood up by all three visits today but I expected as much. I've planned some of them so far ahead of time and couldn't call last week to remind. Anyway.....back to the vacation saga!!!
Wednesday:
We actually didn't sleep in too late, we were ready to get up and get our day started. I cannot accurately describe Julie and Brian's land without pictures but I'll try. From the front their house looks average size but from the back it looks like a mansion. It is enormous! It slants down because it is on a small hill so when you walk in the front door through the kitchen and walk straight through to their living room you end up facing their deck (which is the entire length of the house) on kind of the second story. The deck is directly above the basement and greenhouse and looks out and down upon their pond. They have five acres and it is mostly woods. Their living room and bedroom both face the deck and that side of the house is made up of huge double paned windows. It is beautiful! Anyway, Julie and I made a huge breakfast and we spent a large part of the morning sitting out on the deck. The boys ran out to do some errands and Julie and I got a few things ready for meals later that day. Roy's Dad (Roy Sr.) and his girlfriend Vera came out. We had already talked about them possibly spending the night and they came ready to do so! The boys grilled out some pork chops and we ate and chatted and then started playing cards. Roy Sr. and Vera LOVE canasta and we ended up playing until 3:30 in the morning. Julie, Vera and I got stomped but it was still fun. We gave them the bedroom and the four of us crashed in the living room.
Thursday:
Roy Sr. and Vera woke up early because that's what they're used to so we all dragged ourselves up :-) We all poked around and chatted so much that we missed breakfast so we cooked out some brats and hot dogs for lunch. After lunch we began playing cards again and then it started becoming clear that they were planning on staying another night. Not that we don't love spending time with them, but we knew that would mean several more hours of card playing. Roy Sr. taught us a few new games (31; s*** on your neighbor, and some other one we couldn't remember the name). We ate supper and sat out on the deck for awhile and then started......yes again.........playing cards. This run only lasted until midnight this time which was good. I had fun but I don't want to play cards again for several months :-)
Friday:
Roy Sr. and Vera were ready to go fairly early so we all woke up and shared some coffee out on the deck. We were sad to see them leave because we love spending time with them, but we were ready to just veg out for awhile! Roy and Brian ran to town to get Brian's riding lawn mower and Julie and I went to the school to register the kids and then to wal-mart. The school is small but seems very nice. Everyone we met was friendly and answered all of Julie's questions. We all met back at the house and the boys played with the riding lawn mower for awhile. Too tired to cook, we rented a bunch of movies, got some pizza and spent the rest of the night relaxing. We did go out to sit on the deck around midnight and saw a doe and three baby deer grazing in the yard!!! They noticed us but didn't care although they didn't work up the nerve to walk to the pond with us staring at them. It was beautiful!
Well, I'm getting writers cramps and I'm sure everyone's eyes are getting tired so I will pick up tomorrow!!! Thank you all for the welcome back comments, you are all so sweet!!! Take care and have a good night!!

Post-Vacation Depression

I'm baaaaaaaack! I can't believe its all over and I'm now back in my usual routine. I tried to catch up on my blog reading at work today 'cause I feel out of the loop with what everyone is doing! Our bags are finally unpacked, Tatum is home safe and sound (although she's being a little uppity, kind of po'd that we left her for a whole week), and I went back to work today :-(.
So much to discuss so I will borrow Bonnie's idea of breaking it down by days so that you don't have to sit through a five hour reading!!!
Sunday
We woke up around 9:00 and immediately started packing the little things we had to save for the last minute. We stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some snacks and ice for the beverages and Wendy's to get an early lunch and started on the interstate! It did not take nearly as long to get to St. Louis as I thought it would, we made in about 2 1/2 hours. We found our hotel with no problem, although traffic was kinda bad due to a Cardinals game. We stayed at the Millenium and it was really nice. We explored the hotel for awhile while we waited for Julie and Brian to arrive. They were a little later than they thought because the game got out right when they arrived and some of the roads were closed. Once we all got settled in we walked right past the arch to laclede's landing and went to Jake's Steaks for supper. It was awesome!!! We go there everytime we're in the area and it is phenomenal, best steak I've ever had! They also have a great house dressing and jalepeno mashed potatoes! Yum! We went to Fat Tuesday's for some drinks and to play pool for awhile and explored the area when we were done. We were all exhausted so we came back and crashed to rest up for Six Flags.
Monday:
We all woke up fairly early, showered and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and explored Union Station. Then, we headed out to Six Flags! The weather was perfect, a little cool for some of the water rides but it made standing in line more tolerable. The lines weren't too long at all. We didn't actually get in the park until about 3:00 so we just rode rides until close. I had totally forgotten how much fun that is! We rode the Batman, Ninja, Thunder River, Mr. Freeze, Screaming Eagle, The Boss, and a couple others that I can't remember! Obviously, we were all exhausted at closing. We found a Steak and Shake close by and since we hadn't eaten since lunch we jumped right in. We fell asleep pretty quickly when we got home!
Tuesday:
Made it out by check out time! We weren't ready to leave St. Louis yet but we were ready to get to Julie and Brian's out in Tennessee. Julie and I took my car and Roy and Brian rode together and we made it in about 3 1/2 hours. We stopped by Wal-Mart to get some groceries and came back and relaxed for the rest of the night!
.......to be continued tomorrow. I have missed everyone and its nice to be back. I hope everyone is doing alright! Take care and have a good night!!!