1 more day..............

Not up to writing too much tonight, will catch up tomorrow. Very stressed, lots going on. I hope everyone is having a good night! Gotta go watch Survivor.

3 DAYS LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is chilly outside! I love it! The week is flying by thankfully. I'm trying to keep busy so I don't have to be in the office much, and also so I can see as many girls as possible. One of my girls started crying today when I told her I was leaving, I felt just horrible. I'm going to try not to schedule anything for Friday so I can get the last of my paperwork finished, write final letters to my girls, and write a synopsis of each family to put in the file.
Found out today that my brother Shawn broke his ankle last night playing football. Poor guy, he goes to see the doctor again tomorrow so hopefully he'll heal quickly. His school has a lot of stairs in it and I know that won't be fun if he has to be on crutches or anything.
Nothing on TV right now. Just finished watching some of LCS between phone calls with my Mom and Julie. I'm waiting for Scrubs to come on so I can tape it for Roy. We watched a couple of good movies this weekend, Taking Lives and Man on Fire. Both very entertaining, and crazy! Well, I'd better take miss top dog outside and find something for supper. Have a good night everyone!

Four days left!!!

Today was considerably less awkward than I anticipated. I just need to focus on telling my girls what's going on tomorrow. Short and sweet tonight, I need to go change my pajama pants because I just gave Tatum a bath and she decided she wanted to snuggle while she was still soaking wet :-) Have a good night everyone!

I GOT A NEW JOB PART 2

Alright, I'm sorry if this is all long-winded (consider this your warning ;-) Okay, I believe the last time I wrote about my job situation was last Sunday so there is a lot to catch up on. On Monday Annie faxed my resume and cover letter to her supervisor and she actually called me that afternoon to set up an interview for Wednesday! I was so excited! I told my close friend Pam at work that I was applying, but no one else because they are not very supportive and can be downright mean about things like that. Tuesday was very uncomfortable. I had a meeting with our program director and the rest of the workers from the program I would be working part-time in. We went over how the program works and set up a schedule of when we would all work in the crisis nursery as well as an on-call schedule. I was so uncomfortable because in the back of my head I was thinking that I probably won't be here and they'll have to redo the whole thing. Crazy!
So, Wednesday, the big interview. I called in sick because the interview was in Danville and I would have to leave town around 2:00. The interview was the strangest I have ever had because they only asked me probably two questions and the rest of the time the spent telling me about the program. The only catch is that due to a training I have to take before I can really do anything for this job I would have to start on October 4th, which only gives a week notice They told me they had one other person to interview and they would let me know Friday afternoon. Thursday at work was so weird. I only had one visit and I cancelled it because I didn't want to really see my girls until I knew what was going on. Just because I want to be able to give them a warning that I'm going to be leaving since some of them will probably take it pretty hard. We had a parent group at the zoo that night which went fine. It was just awkward being around everyone that I work with and not being able to tell them that I may be leaving.
Friday Roy and I went to Arthur for homecoming and we had a great time. We watched the parade with Aunt Judy, Uncle Larry, Kerry, Grandma and Grandpa, and Karla, Mark and Chandler. The parade was really good and the kids got a TON of candy! They were so excited! So, I'm waiting by my cell phone all day for my phone call. I have NO nails left, 'cause I was biting them off all day! She finally called around 4:30 and I got it! So excited! I called my current supervisor and she was very excited for me (although she's not thrilled with the week notice). Tomorrow I'll write my official resignation letter! Aside from the panicked waiting all day we had a very nice time at Mom and Dad's. The football game was good and I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in years! On Saturday we went bowling in Arcola. My brother Shawn's girlfriend's family owns it and the opened it up early so we could all play. Shawn's girlfriend is awesome! You can definitely tell she grew up bowling! We played guys against girls and we beat them bad! They took it pretty well though :-)
Today we've been taking it easy. I went over to Pam's for awhile because my friend Melton came into town and we had a good visit. We are getting ready to watch Man on Fire so I'll sign off for now. I hope everyone has been having a great day! Good night!

I GOT A NEW JOB: PART 1

I'm so sorry I haven't written in awhile, my computer's been sick and there has been a lot going on. I'm too exhausted to write more right now, but I promise a long explanation tomorrow. I hope everyone has been having a good day!

I've been neglecting my blog for a few days, have just been ultra busy! On Thursday I had my candle party and it went really well. Kristi and Ken stopped by and it was so good to see them, and I also had a couple people from work and Annie so it wasn't a bad crowd. Thursday night Annie and Kelly and I went out for awhile to watch drunk people sing :-) I needed a little break since the rest of the week had been so stressful!
Friday..........yeah, interesting day on Friday. I had a full day of visits, getting stood up at visits, and supervision. When I was heading home Annie called me to say that a worker at her agency quit and I have a good shot at her job if I'm interested. Now, although I just got a raise at my other job this new job would pay even more. Plus, the insurance and 401K benefits are better, and I would be working out of my HOUSE! The home office is in Danville and I would have to drive there once a week, but they will give me a laptop and a work cell phone and my main office would be here at home. All of my home visits would be in Livingston county so I would have to drive more, but it is not nearly as intensive as what I'm doing now. So....yesterday Annie came over and we spiffed up my resume. I'm going to print it out at work tomorrow and she's going to fax it to her supervisor. I have several mixed feelings. I know that I don't want to work at my agency anymore, I don't trust my program director, and I don't know what all she has in mind to make me do for this "new position". That has been making me nervous ever since I found out about it.
Pros and cons: Pros-more money, better benefits, flexibility, work from HOME, no more scary agency that I currently work at. Plus, their grant is secure for five years, so I know that for five years I will definitely have a job.
Cons-Leaving my girls. Biggest one by far. I trust the other workers and I'm sure they'll hire someone qualified, but my girls don't know that. Last summer when I thought I was getting laid off many were so upset (not all, some wouldn't care if Hitler came out as long as he brings diapers) that they wanted to quit the program. And, that's the only con except for leaving Pam, I'll miss working with her. The driving is another issue but they pay milage.
So, keep your fingers crossed. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about it, I'm just going to apply and if its meant to be, its meant to be! I think I would be a lot happier though!
We'll so far today I've cleaned the kitchen, cleaned out one of our scary closets, and got the laundry caught up. It is now couch time! I hope everyone is having a good weekend! Take care and thanks for listening to my boring rants :-)

Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting day today! My morning started off, on the way to a meeting at the health department, by me getting the @#$% scared out of me! Our program director had left me a message asking to meet me at 3:00 today in her office. Little bit of history, last time this happened I was laid off and she was not so nice about it, so needless to say I was about to throw up (program note, she did apologize for the incident, but it still makes me jumpy). So, when I show up to work some of my co-workers are outside and of course I'm freakin' out in front of them. They get nervous and start checking THEIR messages, but of course its just me who is called in. When we get to work I went to my supervisor and plainly asked her if I was in trouble for anything (to which she said she didn't think so). It turns out that she has been called in for this meeting too. The program director heard how nervous I was and came in specifically to tell me not to be, nothing bad was going to happen.
So, at three o'clock I go to the meeting with my supervisor, program director, AND the vice president of the agency (teeny bit intimidating) and come to find out that I'm getting a RAISE! Could not believe it! It turns out that there is a new federal law that requires salaried employees to earn a minimum amount in order to be on a salary basis. I of course was not making the minimum. DHS would not give them more money to pay me more, so they rearranged my job title. I am now in my current program 85 % of the time and the other fifteen percent I'll be doing case management for families that use the crisis nursery (otherwise known as family enhancement). Not only did they give me a raise but now I have the opportunity to get more experience in other areas. And, they apologized profusely for how little I make and said that hopefully this will make DHS realize how little we make and re-evaluate that for our grant next year. Anyway, emotional rollercoaster today but it ended up alright. I definitely need a drink about now though!
I'm going to get up early tomorrow to make cookie bars and spiff things up around the house because I'm too jacked up to deal with it right now. I hope everyone had a great day!!! Take care and have a good night!

Only two files left!!!!!!!!!!

I am almost completely caught up on paperwork!!! Only two files left to go! Woo hoo!!!! Well, I have my living room clean, one bathroom clean and the kitchen almost clean so I'll finish the rest of the house up tomorrow for Thursday. I also need to make some cookie bars tomorrow because I won't have time before people come over (btw, Bonnie you are of course welcome!!! Just didn't have your home address :-) I don't think I'm going to have a lot of people because everyone is so burnt out on these things (I know I am!), but I still want everything in order in the house.

Speaking of houses (trailers specifically) I forgot to mention yesterday the ridiculous spectical my sister-in-law Julie and I saw this weekend. We were driving back from Wal-Mart, pulled into the trailer park and a woman was SPRAY-PAINTING HER TRAILER!!!! We thought at first that she was just spray-painting the shutters, but she really wasn't. She was spray-painting her trailer white. I swear I am going to have to capture these moments on camera and start my own "post-cards from the trailer park!" dealio! Just ridiculous!

It was so hot outside today!!! I can't wait until fall. I love the whole atmosphere from October to early January. It smells so good outside and is beautiful for awhile! Its also fun to decorate and prepare for Christmas! I can't wait!!! Till then we'll have to deal with the nasty heat and just remember that its right around the corner! Well, the laundry is calling me so I gots to go! Have a good night everyone!

Well, we're slowly getting back into our regular schedule after our weekend. Getting up for work this morning was hard because I was soooo TIRED! I finished a file before lunch and returned some phone calls and then we went to La Fiesta with some of the Crisis Nursery staff because we're going to help out with one of their interns. It used to be awkward around them because we're not on call anymore and they have to deal with it themselves (they've gotten over it by now so we're all fine). We used to be on call and it SUCKED! We would have to carry a pager for a week at a time, holidays included. Luckily, I never had it over Christmas or Thanksgiving but I did have it for New Years Eve two years in a row. The Crisis Nursery is.....well basically a crisis nursery. It is open every day all day and night for kids who's parents are either; ready to snap to the point where they might hurt their kids, homeless, involved in domestic violence, very sick with no family available to watch them, in danger of losing their jobs if they can't have care for a couple of days, etc. I got called into work there all the freakin' time when I was on call and very often it was because the staff was taking advantage which was what made me angry. I don't mind working in there but not when I know the staff member is not sick or hurt, but would rather just go home. The last time I was on call was over new year's eve and the pager had been going off all night because of parents wanting to bring their children in so they could go out. That weekend I had to work from eleven to three thirty in the morning and which was a nightmare! Don't know why I went into all that, I guess I'm still so excited that I don't have to deal with it anymore! Plus, there are a lot of new workers in there who take the job a lot more seriously so the people that are on call have a better time with it.
Anyway, I had a visit this afternoon and then I had a parent group tonight. Didn't have job #2 because it was cancelled due to the group. I just got home and I really should start cleaning for the party on Thursday but I think I should work on files instead. The house is actually not too bad, I just need to straighten up some things. Julie and Brian's kids are so well behaved, they didn't mess the house up at all! They were so cute, they were making "clubhouses" out of our pantry and walk-in closet. It was adorable, they were storing food and finding things for furniture. They kept putting the dogs in there (who I think weren't as excited as the kids were) and making beds for them. So cute! I miss them already! Alright, I'd better get to work. Have a good night everyone!

McRib is BACK BABY!!!!!

McRib is back and I just had one...delicious! We had an awesome weekend! Julie and Brian got here a little bit before eleven on Friday. We did nothing this weekend but veg out in our living room and it was so nice. The kids did great even though our house doesn't have a lot of kid-friendly items around. We kept them occupied though and they were wonderful. They all left around two this afternoon and we were very sad to see them go. We even miss their dog! They have a little dog named Opie and he and Tatum play with each other really well, most of the time. Tatum is such a freakin' bully! She won't let him eat unless we put her up, she steals his bone, if he's laying on me or Roy she runs up and chases him away. Terrorizer!!! She's sleeping good right now though! Well, I'm exhausted (don't know why, did absolutely nothing!) so I'm going back to lay on the couch again. I hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

Fun Weekend!!!!!!!!

Julie and Brian and the kids are coming up tonight!!! Woo hoo!!! Kind of a last minute deal but we are SO excited. They won't be here until about 10:00 but we have some Italian beef cooking so they can eat as soon as they get here! Yea!!!!!!!!

So, that is our plans for the weekend! Last night was crazy. I got home from work and the phone pretty much rang from the time I got in the door until I left to go out with some friends later that night. It was fine though, Julie and I talked for awhile while Roy was at class. We can't wait for them to get here. I'm also excited to see the kids, I haven't seen them in forever! I'm running around like crazy trying to straighten up and get blankets, etc. washed. So, I guess I'd better not spend too much more time on the computer! I hope everyone has a great weekend!!! Take care!

Lighters and ovens

Apparantly I need to stop this business of cooking. Last night I was making pork chops and wild rice and our pilot light was out in the oven. Soooo, I got a lighter, lit it and then put the pan in the oven. The catch is that the lighter was on the sheet holding the pan. Long story short, I baked a lighter at 350 for an hour! By the grace of God alone my kitchen did not blow up :-) When I took the chops out I saw it there, freaked out and grabbed it and threw it outside. Roy just shook his head when he got home and is wondering what I'm going to be like when I'm ninety :-)

Too tired to write anything else tonight, I hope everyone had a good day!!!! KristI, I don't know WHY I keep doing that :-) Mucho apologies again!!!! I'm mailing out invitations either tomorrow or Saturday and the party is next Thursday (the 16th) at 6:30. I hope you can make it but please don't feel bad if you have something else going on. I spend most of my work week trying to avoid invitations to these freakin' things :-)

Man it sucks coming back from a long weekend! We had a nice weekend though. On Sunday Grandma and Grandpa came up so we went over to Karla's to see them. Kristy and Ken stopped by too so we got to visit with everyone! Yesterday I worked on files ALL DAY!!! I got a lot done which made me feel really good.

Yesterday they had a Seinfield AND a CSI marathon on which was AWESOME!!!! The Seinfield's are coming out on DVD in a while and we have to get them. The CSI's have been running all day today too so I'm watching them right now although I'll have to take a break pretty soon to watch LSC and Scrubs. Man, kinda makes me sound sad :-) Me and my shows!

I got roped into hosting a freaking partylite party. The only reason I agreed is because I get free stuff and I don't have to buy anything (warning to Kristy, Karla and Rachel-you will all be getting invitations....mwuahahahahaha!!! Seriously, don't feel obligated to come, I was just warning ya :-) The reason I agreed (besides being a moron and a push-over) is because one of my co-workers is starting to sell it because she's trying to make extra money to help pay for her wedding. However, she has conned three other co-workers besides me to host parties, there are more partylite invitations floating around our office than there ever needs to be! A few people there that I'm closer with have joined me in my boycott of the parties, but I think I can con them into coming to mine. Frankly I don't care how many people are there so long as I gets my freebies. That's the spirit huh? :-)

It is beautiful outside!!! The only problem with that is my dog decides that playing is more important than going to the bathroom and ends up using a large portion of my day making me look like a fool outside begging a ten pound dog to go potty. She is so cute though when she chases bugs! The other night she was trying to get a cicada (sp?) but was too scared to touch it so she kept pouncing closer and closer and batting at it with her stubby little paws. I wish I had a recorder, it was so freakin' cute!

Well, I am making pork chops and wild rice for dinner and it has to cook for awhile so I'll sign off. Have a good night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is Mom's birthday for four more minutes so happy birthday Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not too much going on today. I helped Roy at work and then we stopped at Krispy Kreme for breakfast. We took a nap and then went to the mall and I actually bought a couple of shirts! I haven't bought clothes in FOREVER and they had some sales going on. When we got home we made a huge dinner. We never actually get to really cook during the week so we made a huge turkey dinner. We had noodles, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and rolls. Yes, that is WAY too much freaking food for two people, and we have a lot of leftovers.

We ran out to visit Jeremy for a little while. He has some friends from high school up and they're writing and recording some songs. Haunting, I might add. Not too many plans for tomorrow, we're going over to Karla and Mark's in the afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa are coming up so we'll get to visit with everyone.

We're getting ready to watch Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead. It has Christopher Walken in it so that sells me on it immediately. I love him, he's freaking hilarious!!! I hope everyone's having a good night!

Lice everywhere!!!!

Hello!!! I'm finally back and half awake tonight :-) Last night I was just exhausted, Wednesdays are the worst day of the week for me. But, only one more day till the weekend!!! Yeah, and we had a lice infection in the Crisis Nursery and the daycare yesterday. Luckily, I spend little to no time in either of those places so I was safe. Then, at job #3 two little boys had their head shaved because they had also had lice. Crazy!!!

I had four visits today and three were actually there so I was pretty happy. We don't have any plans for this weekend so far which is nice. They were shooting off fireworks at the ISU game awhile ago and it was scaring the crap out of Tatum (everything on God's green earth scares her though!). We have a new neighbor and he seems like he's nice. He works in the trailer park and seems to live by himself. We were so glad that he moved next to us instead of some crazy loud fools!

Oh, FYI Open Range was very good. It starts off a little slow but once you get into it its awesome!!! We didn't get around to seeing a movie last weekend so we're going to try to this weekend. Still thinking about Collateral or Suspect Zero. We get off of work early tomorrow (woo hoo!!!). I'm meeting a girl that works at my tanning place after work. She's a social work major and has job shadowed me before and wanted to interview me for her class. It shouldn't take too long so I'll still get home early (woo hoo!!!).

Well, my totinos pizza is done so I'll sign off. Have a good night

Long Lost Blog!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the absence, but I am feeling much better now!!!!!! Thank you all for the nice comments and emails! This will be a short one tonight 'cause I'm REALLY tired! We've not been up to too much, just work as usual :-) I'm so excited that the stupid olympics are over and my shows are back on!!!! New season of LCS AND Scrubs, I'm a happy camper. Well, I have got to go get something to eat. I PROMISE this time that I'll write more tomorrow. Good night!!!
P.S. Congratulations to Bonnie, Bran and family on the arrival of baby Emma!!!