HAPPY BELATED ANNIVERSARY GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!!!

Well, I've finally caught up on my blog reading! Sounds like everyone had a really nice Thanksgiving and I'm glad everyone made it back safely! Can't believe how cold it is outside! It snowed earlier today, the big huge fat flakes. That's my favorite! It stuck a little on the grass but stayed off the road. Was really pretty for awhile!

We had a great time this weekend (still pretty tired from it though!). Thursday we headed out to Aunt Debbie's for dinner and ate way too much. We stayed to visit for awhile (and Dad snuck me some of his homemade chex mix.......which by the way is already gone!) and then headed out to Tennessee. I was worried about the roads but as soon as we left Bloomington they were fine! We made it to Julie and Brian's around seven, ate dinner and watched some movies. Roy and I were absolutely beat so we called it an early night.

Friday we all got up early, made a big breakfast and then headed to Roy's dad's to drop off the kids. From there we drove the two hours to the mall in Nashville. It was packed! We were hungry when we got there so we put in our name at this restaurant called the Aquarium in the mall. An hour later we got in, and it was one of the coolest places I've ever eaten! The restaurant was built around a huge aquarium filled with sharks, a sawfish and a few other bigguns that I can't remember the name of. It was awesome, everyone's table was right next to the tank so you could watch the fish while you ate. Very neat! We shopped for a couple of hours, didn't really buy as much as I planned. I hit a couple of unbelievable deals, other than that the sales weren't worth the crowds. I don't know why we bother, we just all like doing stuff like that together though. We drove back to Roy Sr's to play some cards and pick up the kids. We didn't stay long 'cause Julie had to work early Saturday morning, plus we were just beat. We played a game of Texas Hold'em and I did terrible this time! We got home around midnight. Julie had to go to bed, and Roy, Brian and I watched tv for awhile and then crashed as well. Tatum kept us up that whole night! She had to pee, but I wouldn't take her out because I had tried before we went to bed and she wouldn't go. Worked out well for me huh!

Saturday Julie came in and woke Roy and I up around nine because she was so excited! She was supposed to work until 2 but they let her off early! We put a turkey (we made a huge turkey dinner that day, green bean casserole, rolls, noodles, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pie!) in the oven and ran to wal-mart to get a few more Christmas presents. We bought this game called "scene it" and played it all night! It is a freakin' blast! It comes with a dvd and some of the questions involve watching a clip from a movie. It also a lot of other interactive questions on it such as alternate titles, guessing the title from a series of images, guessing an actor based on character names etc. You also get a box of trivia questions, you roll the dice to see which you have to do. It was so much fun. We played that till around 2 in the morning, then went to bed.

Sunday was sad 'cause we had to leave. We left around noon (after eating some leftovers!). We left a little early in case it was really trafficky out. So anxious to get home at a decent time that we didn't stop (except once in Murray to get gas, we had only been on the road a half hour) at all the entire way home! Six hours with no bathroom break, that's a new record for me!!! We got back into town around six, got gas and some niro's gyros and came home. While we ate we watched our taped episodes of Survivor and Apprentice and went to bed. And that was our weekend!!!

Well, I need to get some dinner going. I hope everyone's Monday went well and I'm glad everyone had such a nice weekend. Take care!

MAKE IT STOP SNOWING!!!!

Love snow, its so pretty...........but we have to drive like six hours tomorrow so it really needs to slow down a notch!!! I can't believe how much there is! We probably have at least three inches. Tatum kept me up almost all night last night, she kept wanting to go out and barking at the branches hitting the window. I knew she didn't need to go to the bathroom because she went a couple times before we went to bed. So, I didn't get up and she just kept wallering us all night. This morning was payback time! I opened the door to let her out and as soon as she saw the rain and wind she started backing up the hallway with her tail between her legs. I was cranky from lack of sleep and threw her outside anyway (she always has to pee in the morning and if not outside she'll try to go on our bed!). That's what they call karma!
Was supposed to go to Danville today but as soon as I saw the weather, Annie and I both said no freakin' way! So, I've spent the day in my jammies doing paperwork, cleaning, and packing up for tomorrow! We're going to Dad's family in Bement and after that we're driving to Tennessse. Should be fun as long as the weather isn't so nasty!
My friend Melton is in town for the weekend from Rockford so I went to visit her at Pam's last night. We had a good time, Pam made baked spaghetti for dinner and we had some drinks and played cards. They want me to stop by this afternoon, but I hate driving in snow and really don't want to leave my house (or jammies!). I feel bad 'cause I really don't get to see her a lot, but I need to get to bed early and I know if I go over there I won't get home till late.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving tomorrow and I am anxious to hear everyone's stories when they get back! Take care and have a good night!

WELCOME BACK BONNIE AND KRISTI!!!!!!!!!

I'm so glad you girls made it back safely with your hubbies! Sounds like it was a really good time! I'm so excited that this week is shorter. Today was a fairly easy day. I had one intake and then I did some paperwork and got my hair cut. Thankfully, they just put a printer in for us at Spice so I can print out auths and reports there instead of waiting till I go to Danville every week! Woo hoo!!!! I ran by to print off some auths, and I still have some paperwork to do tonight. But, I'm playing hooky from Danville this week since we're going to be on the road so much. Tomorrow I have to go to Champaign for a meeting, other than that I'm just going to try to get caught up on my paperwork and organize my office this week.
I ran by Karla's to visit for awhile. To answer Brenda's comment, yes Karla IS pregnant :) Very exciting! She's due around April, I'm glad for her sake that she won't have to be extremely pregnant in the middle of summer. Always feel bad for the women that have to go through that, as if being pregnant alone isn't trying enough. They're going to wait to find out the sex until the baby comes. I think that is such a cool idea, I know there's no way I could do it! I'll have to know as soon as they can tell! I'm proud of them though for having the discipline to wait, it'll be such an awesome surprise!
We put our Christmas decorations up yesterday! I know its early, but we'll be gone next weekend and I love having them up anyway! Tatum didn't know what to do with us while we were putting them up. She kept barking at the ornaments on the tree! Gets jealous of anything that takes attention off of her :) She knows momma likes to spoil her rotten!
Better get back to the paperwork! Hope everyone's having a good night!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE AND BONNIE!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe Jesse is 14! Seems unreal! And, it is also Bonnie's birthday, I hope she had a fantastic day!
So glad its Friday! Roy and I are just relaxing, watching the West Wing (thanks again Kristi!). Not a lot planned for this weekend. We thought about going down to Arthur for the big football, but we both need to rest this weekend since we'll be so busy the next week. We're going to put up some Christmas decorations and get some shopping done. We'd also like to go see National Treasure. Love anything Nick Cage is in!
Talked to Karla for awhile tonight. She sounds so much better! Its good to hear that she's finally having an easier time with the pregnancy.
Well, I hope everyone is having a good night! I'm going to sign off for now and get back to West Wing!

Back by popular demand!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I'm sure everyone has been missing my rants and raves (listening to my whiny self) :-) Busy, STRESSFUL week. I had to work late almost every night, trying to straighten out the cases I got and train the new worker (who has been driving me freakin' nuts!!! won't get into that now, I'll be typing for an hour). I'm finally getting to the point however where I'm more comfortable and have a better grasp on what I'm doing. Good thing too, I can't even count how many times my phone rings during the day. My new cases have all received the letter stating me as their new worker and they all have needs that have to be met. Almost Friday!!!
I got the best surprise ever yesterday! One of my girls from Healthy Start sent me a letter and pictures. She was pregnant when I left and had her baby last month. It was waiting for me in Danville (I gave my girls my work address). Just sat in my chair trying not to cry, it was so nice! Her baby is beautiful too, made my week!
I have to go now so I can pay attention to the Apprentice :-) I hope everyone's having a good night! Take care!

I GOTS MY CHECK!!!!

Finally got my check on Friday! Very exciting, now I am officially cut free from the Children's Foundation! Friday was a very long day. I will now be working McLean county instead of Livingston, which I am very excited about, but there is a catch. I was given about forty or so cases from the dude that got fired, and they are an absolute nightmare! There is a reason why that man got fired, it is going to take me probably at least two months to decipher his "filing system", contact his families and take care of the most urgent needs, and contact the therapists to make sure they have all been paid for services they received while he was the coordinator. On top of that, I still have to keep all of my Livingston families until the new worker gets trained. It will be a nightmare for a while, but I'm so glad I'm getting McLean. I won't have to travel as much and I'm more familiar with resources around this area.

We had a nice day yesterday. I helped Roy at work and then we came straight home and took a nap. Actually, we stopped by McDonalds first for breakfast. Never, ever, EVER order their steak, egg and cheese bagel! McDonald's does NOT need to be dealing with steak. It was soggy with grease and had so much hard fat and gristle in it. I tried one bite and threw the steak part away so I could salvage the egg and bagel. I'm usually not too picky with my food, but that was disgusting! :-( After we woke up and got around we ran to get something to eat and then went to the mall to look for Christmas presents. We ended up just looking for things we wanted to get for each other! We're going to wait to do our "real" Christmas shopping for Thanksgiving weekend. After dinner with my Dad's family we're driving to Tennessee to see Julie and Brian. Next day we're all driving to Nashville to go to the hu-mungous mall to shop. Should be a lot of fun!

After "shopping" we stopped by Kristi and Ken's to pick up the table they're giving us. We had a nice time visiting with them! They loaned us a bunch of DVD's (thanks again, can't wait to start watching the West Wing!!!) and Kristi gave me some Chinese tea that I haven't tried yet, I'm sure I'll be making some here pretty soon tonight. We want to have them over the weekend after Thanksgiving for dinner and some card playin'! And btw Kristi, we will make an exception on the "no canasta" rule for you because we know you guys are sane and won't make us play from noon to four in the morning! The rule is still in effect in the state of Kentucky and Tennessee :-). They also sold us a booklet of Monical's coupons for a fundraiser for the Red Cross. We took advantage of it as soon as we got home! Hadn't had monical's in awhile so we loaded up! Very tasty!

Today I had to go to a wedding reception for my ex-coworker, Beth. It was at the Hawthorne Inn and they had the room decorated really nice. Beth got married in Panama City a couple weeks ago, the pictures were gorgeous! It was a little awkward because most of my old co-workers were there, but it ended up being fine. I went with Pam, and it was good to see everyone else as well. Roy and I have a meatloaf cooking now, which I should probably check on so I'll sign off. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

BRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chilly!!! Work and sleep, work and sleep. All I seem to have been doing lately :-). I don't know if its the weather or what but I have been exhausted. I just took a little catnap and I'm feeling a little more awake. I have some work to finish tonight, but don't worry! I have survivor recording! Then, I'll record the Apprentice while I'm watching CSI! Got quite the little system down!
Tatum is playing with her toy (actually allowed her tonight!). I'm such a bad mom, she drives me nuts after a few minutes of playing with her toys. Its fun to watch for awhile, but then she starts whipping them around, knocks over pictures from the shelves, and barks at you until you get it for her. She's nudging it on my foot as I'm typing. She likes to bring it to me, then run away when I try to pick it up. Such a brat :-)
I have GOT to start Christmas shopping! Hopefully I'll get my check from Children's Foundation this week. I called Chicago AGAIN today and they said they did get the check returned and they sent me a new one a few days ago. So, should be getting it soon! Well, better get to work. I hope everyone's having a good night! Take care!

Very tired tonight so it'll be a short one. Danville days wear me out! I'm so glad Kristi made it back safely!!!! I'm anxious to hear about the trip! It might snow tonight, crazy!!!!!!!! I'm in my comfy pants, going to find something for dinner, and settle on the couch to watch "wifeswap"! I hope everyone is having a good night! Take care!

Pretty easy day for a Monday (for a change!). My first appointment wasn't scheduled until two so Pam, Annie and I planned to meet for lunch at 11. I woke up, showered and had time to putter around the house and straighten up the kitchen. My work phone started ringing at eight o'clock sharp and didn't stop until lunch time! I prepared for my appointment, manned the phone and finished getting myself ready. I drove to Jerry's to meet Pam and Annie and my two o'clock called to reschedule. So, we had time for a long lunch and then Annie and I ran to the mall. Old Navy had some shirts that I really like on sale so I bought one, I usually don't buy clothes on the spur of the moment so I felt a little guilty, but I need some more dressier shirts. I love Old Navy and I always seem to find a certain type of shirt I like and just buy it in different colors. I'm not to adventurous with my clothing :-)
After the mall I headed home and got some paperwork organized. We had the teen group a little earlier tonight and one of my girls from my old job was there! It made me very happy to see her. She and her son are special to me because she was the first client I got on my own (not passed from another worker). I met her when she was pregnant, was with her at the hospital and her son is going to be two in February. Unbelievable! He didn't seem to remember me very much at first, but caught on once we started playing!
Roy is at class so I've had the house to myself for a couple hours. I usually spend this time getting caught up on work or cleaning, but since the rest of my day has been so lazy I've taken advantage and taken it easy. I have been doing laundry though. Tomorrow I will get paid back for this easy day, got a lot of appointments scheduled. I'd better get the laundry folded and pull dinner out of the oven. I hope everyone had a good Monday, take care!

Sorry for the long absence. This week has been so crazy busy and I wasn't feeling well towards the end so I haven't been up to writing. Beautiful day out yesterday! We drove down to Arthur to see my family and went to the play-off game in Cerro Gordo. Could not have been a more gorgeous day for a game! While we were there we got to visit with Grandma and Grandpa for awhile as well as Diane, Justin and the kids. Didn't feel like we got enough time with everyone, but hopefully next time we'll get to chat longer. After the game we went over to Mom and Dad's for supper. Jeremy, Rachel and the kids were there for awhile and Kerry came over too. It was good to visit with him, hadn't seen him in awhile! We stopped by Marsha's (Roy's mom) on our way home. Julie and a couple of their kids were there picking up a piece of furniture she is giving them so we got to see them as well! We were so tired though, made it home around 11:00 and crashed!
I had been feeling kinda sick this week and yesterday just wore me out. Thursday night for some reason I ended up getting sick and throwing up out of nowhere, then was feeling a little sore and weak for the last couple days. This morning poor Roy woke up not feeling well, hopefully he's not getting what I had! We had to reschedule picking up the table with Kristi till she gets back from Dallas because Roy needs to rest so he doesn't get full blown sick! Speaking of Dallas, I hope Kristi has a fantastic time and that it isn't too stressful! I'm going to sign off for now and go run a couple of errands. I hope everyone had a great weekend!!!!

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAACK!

See Kristi, told ya I wouldn't make it to the paperwork yet :) We made it back from Tennessee just fine, depressing though having to get back to work after having such a nice time. The drive really got to us this time. Six hours is just too long to be in the car!
We left on Friday and got there around three. We had been up since four in the morning to get Roy's work done at the restaurants so we were already tired. We ate out at Ryans (very good buffet place!) and then headed over to Roy's dad's house. Julie and I took the kids trick or treating around their neighborhood. The kids looked so cute! Savannah was a princess/gypsy, and Virgil and Tanner were knights. When we got back we made sure the kids were occupied and then we all started playing cards. By this time it was almost nine and Roy and I were half asleep. Roy Sr. and Vera like to play canasta but it takes so long that we talked them into playing Texas hold'em instead. Had a good time! We felt bad because we were so anxious to get home that by the last game we were all making ridiculous calls (I was going all in with a three and a seven!) just so the game would get over and we could go home. Roy Sr. is so much fun to be around and we enjoy spending time with him, but we were just so tired! So, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the house and crashed immediately!
Saturday we took it slow for awhile and just sat out on the deck a lot enjoying the weather. Then, Tanner broke his elbow and Julie and I had to take him to the ER. Poor little guy! I felt so bad for him. He has nursemaid's elbow anyway and he and Virgil were wrestling so we thought he just pulled it out of socket again. The doctor last time it happened had showed Brian how to pop it back into place, but Tanner was so upset we just decided to take him in. Good thing too because it ended up being broken. He had to be in a sling and he should have got his cast on today. We carved pumpkins with the kids and vegged out the rest of the night. Sunday was very sad when we had to leave, but we're slowly getting back into our regular routine.
I've been putting off work all night! I talked to Kristi for awhile. She and Ken are giving us their table since they got a new one (thank you guys so much again!!!!!!!!). I can't wait to see their new one! Talked to Mom and Jeremy for awhile too and then I had to pick the house up 'cause it was driving me nuts. I'm not anal about the house by any means, but I can't relax when it isn't at least picked up. Guess I'd better try to get a little work done after I catch up on my blog reading! I hope everyone had a nice weekend! Take care!