Gage's Birthday

My nephew, Gage, just turned 6 on March 29th. I think I have made all of his birthday cakes / cookies in the past, but not this time. Although I made the icing, my sister did all of the decorating. She did a great job.

Molly had the party at her house, mostly just family and friends. I found a balloon making kit thing when I went to the store, so we blew up balloons and I did my best to twist them into something fun. :) I didn't get a picture of the dogs I did, but they didn't turn out too bad!

The boys wanted hats and swords, though. Oh, and a bow and arrow (below) that had invisible arrows. Didn't stop Conor from shooting me with it.

Gage starting to open his presents while his dad is saying something... hard telling what. And uh, I don't remember.

Austin trying to get the bunny ears on Gage was not fast enough. And his mom said, "Stop it!" with that mean mom look, but I took the picture before he could move away.

Blowing out the candles, so we could all dig into the cookie. Every single little boy wanted a part of Scooby Doo.

Lucy got to come and visit as well. She was totally worn out from all the excitement. Allie let her lay in her lap while she was watching something on TV.

And she passed out on the floor as well.

Meet Lucy

My mom got herself a Shitzu puppy. Meet Lucy Liu. Or it could be Lucy Lou. Either way she is mostly called just Lucy.

Her black eyes blend in with her fur around her face, but we can still see them! Just look really close. She is the sweetest little puppy. She gets so excited to meet new people.

When I go to my mom's house and pick her up, she snuggles her face in my neck. She is soooo cute. She loves to play - throw a ball or toy and she will go get it and bring it back.

She also pounces like a cat - kinda like the picture above (even though in the one above I believe she is just resting), she gets in that position and jumps on your feet. It is hilarious. She is such a sweet and lovable dog. The kids adore her, as do I. (Oh, and I do believe she has my mom wrapped around her little, uh.. paw.)

New Blogs To Read

Like I need another blog to read to distract me from work... errr to read in my spare time at home. However, I came across this blog via the Waiter Rant site (if any of you read it, you might have as well), and it is great! It was voted the best written blog for 2008 and I can see why. She is funny, takes awesome pictures, and I haven't even read it all. I read her story about how she met her husband and I was hooked. She also had a food blogs where she shares recipes with picture directions. Wow is all I can say.

Check her out - Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and The Pioneer Woman Cooks

I will be adding them both to my list on the side, as soon as I remember how. :)

Now I have go to the grocery so that I can make some of her recipes!

Blurb

After getting dismissed from work early due to the weather (snow), I arrived home to find Jeff and the kids eating lunch. Hamburgers and french fries. Noticing Conor did not have any ketchup for his french fries, I told him I would get him some. He responded, "I don't like ketchup."


OMG! How can anyone not like ketchup, let alone my offspring?!?!

So I looked at him and said, "Who are you, and how are you related to me?"

He giggled and ignored the question. But seriously. How can any offspring of mine not like ketchup? I'm shocked. I think I'm still in shock 10 hours later...

This coming only a couple of days after my declaration of love for ketchup.

Phone numbers

Well, as Conor gets older and smarter, he is learning how to use the phone - much to his sisters' dismay. They get phone calls and he picks up the other line and talks to their friends while they beg him to hang up the phone and I laugh. muwahhahahahahaha

However. He has also memorized a few phone numbers of people he likes to visit. Like Grand-dad. He will get the phone and call him at all times during the day and ask him to come over or ask if he can come over there. Without talking to either of his parents first! Jim is so patient with him, he has not complained yet.

He also knows our phone number. And he seems to like talking on the phone. When he is at Grand-dad's house, he will call us over and over and over again. He still doesn't have the concept of one phone number belonging to all of us, though. He will ask me what my phone number is and when I tell him he says, "No, that's Dad's phone number. What is yours?" Or if I answer the phone he will ask, "Why are you answering Dad's phone number?"

He also will call to talk to Teddy. Our dog. heehee And has been known to put Teddy on the phone to talk to other people as well. So, be careful giving out your phone number to Conor. You might think he will not remember it, but you will think wrong.

Ketchup and Random Stuff

Yes, I have been quite lazy with this blog lately, I'm sorry. I've not really felt like writing anything. Lots of happenings should have been posted, just for the laughs.

Jeff's company shut down on January 11th, so he has been without a job since then. Since he is not working, he has been concentrating on his school work and he keeps Conor at home with him during the day while I work.

He has also taken on the household duties, for the most part. Grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, cooking, and such. Yes, I do help out some as well, but he does the majority. We have all also been passing around the winter sickness everyone seems to have.

Since Jeff is doing the grocery shopping, there have been some odd occurrences in our house. Like we ran out of ketchup. Not just any ketchup, mind you. Heinz. It's the only ketchup I will use. Upon discovering that there was no ketchup, I called him a slacker. Uh, hello? This didn't happen when I did the grocery shopping!

There are still some things that I do the shopping for - the Sam's Club items. Which is still a mistake, although I have not come home with 3000 straws lately. Probably because we still have a lot left. :) I still go during my lunch hour at work. Last week, I went armed with a list, again. I had 6 items on my list and I left with 19 items. Ketchup was one of them. I cannot live in a house with no ketchup, so I am not chancing that again!

If I go to some one's house for dinner or a cook out or whatever and they have another brand of ketchup (sometimes called catsup by those generic brand people!), I will either eat my food plain, or not at all. I have also been known to bring my own bottle of ketchup to the houses of people who I know do not use Heinz (my Dad... sheesh!).

This month there are a few happenings in my world. We have Easter (which, I know, happens in a lot of other people's worlds!), and Jeff's birthday falls on Easter day. Which hardly ever happens since Easter usually falls in April. The girls are also on Spring break in March this year because of it.

Then my grandma's and Gage's birthdays are both on the 29th of March - which falls on a Saturday this year. So that will be a weekend of parties.

My computer crashed last night and I am bummed because I will lose a lot of my picture when I re-image it. I know that I put some of my pictures on a disc, but not all of them. And it has been a while since I did the back up as well. :( I'm not looking forward to the re-imaging because it will be very time consuming to get everything back on there.

OK, so that is all for now. I will try to do better with posts, but I'm not promising anything!

Jeff

Walking on Stilts

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo BooksEdit: Just to clarify, yes, I did say I wanted to get it on tape if she fell... but I in no way, shape, or form was referring to a fall that would seriously hurt her... just the little ones that are funny. I would never want to see my only daughter injured.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

A few pictures from the holidays

Since blogger now limits the amount of pictures you can put on your blog by the amount of space they take, I decided to upload smaller pictures.

From our family gathering:

The Santa bag is searched for the toys to hand out, Conor and Gage wait a little impatiently. :)

Everyone is watching something that is on the TV - I don't remember if this was the movie, or the football game..

Below, on the left, is Pete - the instigator.

Below are pictures from our Christmas Eve at my Mom's house.

Conor and Gage opening their gifts:

Allie and Ceara - they are never usually very far from the other. I am really glad they are such good friends.

Molly making bunny ears behind the boy's heads, but her fingers kinda blend in with the curtains behind her.

Molly and her two boys, Austin and Gage:

The grand kids (note in the background our senior pictures... Molly so had the "big hair" going on):

My assistant chefs when we were baking:

They were so helpful!

Christmas

The days leading up to Christmas were filled with lots of baking at my house. The kids and I were in the kitchen for the majority of the day, for two days in a row. We made an assortment of goodies which we packaged up and gave out to our family and friends. Jeff helped a little, but was not in the kitchen anywhere near as long as the rest of us.

We made:

M&M cookies, Chocolate Nut Balls, Nut rolls, Cream Cheese cookies, One Good Thing After Another bars, Chocolate Toffee bars, White Chocolate covered snack mix and.. I think that was all. It's been a while, so I don't remember exactly. A few of those took the two days to do because the dough had to sit for 12-24 hours, or I was too tired to do them at the end of the first day. My kitchen was a tornado - make one thing, clean up the mess to make another. It all went rather well, though, with the kids helping.

On Christmas Eve we went to my Mom's house for dinner - a ham dinner that was wonderful. As we were getting ready to leave to go to mom's house, my sister called and told Allie that they had already opened their presents and that we were late. In fact, they were just early, the time agreed upon was 6PM and it was about 5:40 when she called. So, we had been rushing around, trying to get everything and everyone ready, and upon hearing that they were done already - I figured why rush?

When we got to Mom's we found that they actually hadn't started without us, that was Molly's way of making us hurry up. Too bad for her that it back fired and it actually made us take our time.. :)

We ate dinner, did a gift exchange, then just talked while the kids played. When we started to leave, we found out that Jack had made stilts for all the kids for Christmas and they were out in the garage. Allie was the only one who would actually get on and try them, and she tried over and over again while we all stood and laughed, err.. watched and encouraged her.

I did take a video of her walking on them - she did finally get it down and was doing very well on it. I will put it up later in another post.

We got home and Jeff took the kids to church, while I stayed behind to find where I hid their gifts, wrap them, and re-hide them. Somehow Jeff got out of all the buying and wrapping of gifts this year. I finished with about 10 minutes to spare before they got home.

The kids got ready for bed, and Jeff went to bed as well. Santa came to visit us, ate the cookie that Conor left for him on the tree, and left some goodies for the kids as well. :)

Conor woke us up on Christmas morning, excited that there was a bike that was clearly for him next to the tree. Although Jeff did try to stake a claim for it, Conor pointed out that it was too little for Daddy. We woke the girls up and the kids opened their gifts. We then had to get ready for breakfast - which I have made every year for a very long time. It somehow have become a tradition for me to cook breakfast on Christmas morning.

This was the first year that Molly did not come to breakfast because she wasn't feeling well, so I ended up with a lot of food left. So we had Jeff's parents (Barb and Jim), Naomi, Jerry, my Mom, Jack, and my Dad stopped by later. Bernie didn't make it because they were having issues with their shower and she didn't want to come over and stink up our house.. ;)

We had sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits, gravy, waffles, and my mom brought hash brown casserole.

After breakfast we did our gift exchange with Jeff's family and then it was time to play with the new toys. Conor, Jeff, Jerry, and Naomi tried to put the new Lego castle together that Conor had gotten. I cleaned up the kitchen and watched from there.

It was a nice, relaxing, fun day.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas as well!

Family Christmas

We had our family Christmas at my aunt’s house this year. We all gathered there on Sunday, December 16th to celebrate Christmas together. Everyone was assigned a dish to bring - Salad, main dish, side dish, dessert, or whatever. Mine was a side dish, so I made corn casserole. There was so much food there! And it was all very good.

We were unable to find a Santa this year, so they decided to leave Santa’s bag on the porch with a note from Santa. When my cousin brought it in, Conor was sooooo excited. He was jumping up and down, smiling, saying “There’s a Santa’s bag! Santa has been here!”

After the letter had been read telling how Santa had an emergency at his workshop and couldn’t be there, the gifts were handed out. Conor opened his and his shoulders slumped down, he got really sad and he walked back into the toy room and sat. I followed him to see what was wrong with him and he explained to me that he thought he was going to get a puppy because he wanted one really bad.

I explained to him that we were not getting another dog and that Santa would not bring live animals to kids unless their parents said it was OK. And that I told Santa we didn’t need another animal.

This did very little to make him feel better, but he did come back out to join the other kids playing with their toys. When we returned, a couple of people asked what was wrong with him, so I explained that he thought he was going to get a puppy. With that, my uncle John and my cousin Pete both decided to comfort Conor by telling him that Santa couldn't have left him a puppy today... the puppy would have been hurt when the bag fell from the sky as Santa flew over. Then they proceeded to tell him that Santa would be bringing him a puppy on Christmas morning at his house.

"Ummm, no, there will be no puppy for Christmas. Mommy already talked to Santa and told him we did not want another dog at this time." This did very little to dissuade them.

"Oh, come on Kate! I remember you always got EVERYTHING you wanted for Christmas, how can you deny your son a puppy?" This was from Pete.

So not true.

Delusional as they were, they did enjoy the situation. It went on for a few minutes, til Conor started ignoring them and playing with the other kids.

My cousin Gary and I took turns traveling down memory lane - all the things we did together as kids at Grandma's house. He remembers some stuff that I did not, I remember some stuff he did not - lots of laughter with those memories. That would be a fun project - getting together with all my cousins and getting them to tell me the stories they remember from Grandma's house.

Most of the kids got some sort of toy that shoots balls or Styrofoam things - and they ran around shooting each other. Some of the balls are probably still lost at Judy's house. We stayed for a few hours, socializing, watching football, and relaxing before going home to take naps... ;)

It was a fun day - yeah, I should have written about it sooner, and I might have remembered more of the details! I'm trying to catch up now...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

OK, so this is a pretty busy time of year for everyone. I will still try to post some stuff that I'm behind on (Conor's 5th birthday for one!) but it may or may not be this year that I do it in! :)

I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a Happy New Year! Stay safe and warm!

What kind of scam is this???

So... I have a new friend. An unwanted friend. =\ But I don't know what to do to get rid of him. :(

It started Saturday morning. The phone calls. The number on my caller ID was very strange- too many numbers - so I did not answer it. They called over and over again - about 10 or so times - and I finally answered it to see wth they wanted so they would stop.

The first conversation he asked, "What your name and where you at?" As well as some other things I could not understand.

I politely informed him that I was not going to answer his questions and asked that he please stop calling me. I hung up.

He called back. I didn't answer. The cycle went on and on until I couldn't take it anymore and I answered with "Will you please stop calling me?!?!"

He asked if I was in Afghanistan. I said no. He said he was calling from Pakistan and he wanted to make me his friend. I declined, but he doesn't seem to take no for an answer.

I then quit answering the phone again and he left 2 messages on the answering machine. I cannot understand a word of it, but Allie listened to it with me and she said she thought it said something about disconnecting something if I didn't do something. =\ yeah. It's very hard to decipher.

The calls didn't stop. I didn't count them but I would bet on a total between 40 and 50 on Saturday. I called the phone company, but there is nothing they can do about it. If they were within the US, they could, but since he is in a different country, they can't do anything. They sympathized and said if they didn't stop they could change my number for no charge.

They thought he might stop after one day. He didn't. He is the one who called and woke me up on Sunday morning. :( He also called a few more times throughout Sunday, but no where near the amount on Saturday.

If he calls me again today, I guess I'm gonna have to change my number.

Toby Keith's New Song

Good song, makes sense to me. :)

Tis the season...

It is that time of year again. The mad shopping, lots of cooking, cleaning, wrapping, eating, laughing, spending time with friends and family. I've neglected my blog for so long, and left out so many funny stories!

In October, there was a crazy week of birthdays and Halloween parties. My Mom's birthday was on a Monday, so we all went out to eat at a local steakhouse. Mom, Jack, Molly, Austin, Gage, Jeff, Allie, Conor, and I all went. It was fun. Then we went back to my Mom's house to have cake and ice cream.

The next evening I spent making cookies for Austin's class for his birthday party at school on Wednesday. I'm not quite sure how I got that duty, but I did. On Wednesday, we all went out to eat for Austin's birthday, and went to back to Mom and Jack's for ice cream cake.

When serving the ice cream cake, Molly was cutting huge pieces. As I was not all that hungry, I asked for a smaller piece. It was at that point that her head spun around and her eyes glared red and she actually growled (teeth clenched) at me, "I don't have room for it in my freezer, you're taking this piece." I think I could probably take her, but she was a bit frightening at that point and I took the piece she gave me. I did end up taking it home and putting it in my freezer though. :)

The next evening, Thursday, was spent making Halloween cookies for Conor's Halloween party. As with other years, we decorated them using spiders, bats, skeletons, and other little plastic items we found at the store. They were a big hit.

Halloween was the following week, and I was allowed to leave a bit early on Trick-or-Treat night, which for us was on the 30th. That evening is always a pizza dinner while we get the candy ready for the trick or treaters, and the kids ready to go out trick or treating.

This year Conor chose to be a Gladiator. He had a chest piece, a cape, and a sword, which was worn over jeans and a shirt (just like the kid in the picture!). Gage always comes to our neighborhood and trick or treats with Conor. He was a skeleton this year.

After it is all over, we piled in the car to go visit my grandma's house, my mom's house, and my dad's house. They always try to pawn off all their leftover candy that didn't get handed out to us.

For Thanksgiving, I didn't cook this year. This is the first year since moving into this house that I didn't have it. We chose to go to my aunt's house instead. The night before, Allie was babysitting at my sister's house and Conor was with her. I got a phone call at about 9:30 from Conor, crying and asking to come home. Allie insisted that Molly was on her way home and that it would just be a wasted trip, but I went anyway. She only lives about 2 miles from my house anyway, if that.

As soon as I walked in the door, Conor walked towards me and (if you have a weak stomach, stop reading here..) puked all over the floor. It was not really the greeting I was expecting, so I was a little stunned at first. It was an ugly shade of green. "Oh, honey" was all I could manage to say, then I came to my senses and asked if he needed something to drink. He shook his head yes, walked towards me and puked again. So I sent him to the bathroom with the water. As I searched through the cabinets and drawers for paper towels and a plastic bag to throw them away in, I told Allie she could either go in the bathroom with Conor or start cleaning up puke. Guess which she chose?

So, I got all the puke cleaned up and got the Clorox wipes out because I couldn't find her mop anywhere, and crawled around her floor on my hands and knees wiping it clean.

I got Conor and went home and we laid on the couch. Conor went to sleep and I watched a movie. I wasn't sure we would be going anywhere the following day for Thanksgiving since Conor was sick.

The following morning, Conor was fine. He was up running around, riding his scooter through the kitchen like nothing ever happened the night before. I think it was probably due to too much horse play with Gage and he just got over heated and threw up. He never had a fever or anything else wrong with him.

So we did go to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving. We ate dinner, vegged out in front of her TV for the Packer's game, and the kids played. We left during 3rd quarter and came home where Conor and I finished watching the game on the couch in the living room and we fell asleep. Jeff went to sleep in the bed, and Allie went off to her room. It was a good, relaxing day. I got to spend time with my family, and that is always a good thing.

It is now the Sunday after Thanksgiving as I write this post. Jeff had to work on Friday / Saturday because of being off on Thursday, so when he came home on Saturday night, he got the kids and went to get Ceara. They were gone quite a long time so I called to see what was going on. He had gone shopping. For ornaments. Which we already have, so I was a bit confused. He came home with bulbs for the tree. Lots and lots of bulbs. I've never been a fan of bulbs on the Christmas tree, so I've never bought them. Conor was so excited about them that I could not veto using them.

We put the tree up tonight, all of us together, with my favorite Christmas music playing. Jeff decided to put the tree together in the middle of the room instead of where it was going to go, so we had to move it. That was a bit awkward. While moving the tree, I had the bottom part and couldn't see where I was walking and someone had moved the bulbs to the floor in my way. (I swear it was not me!) So, I stepped on them and a couple.. or maybe 3 broke. While I didn't do it on purpose, it didn't break my heart.

We got the tree in the right spot and got the bulbs all put on. Conor put a lot of the ornaments on the tree, so there are a lot near the bottom. I had to go behind him and move them around so they would be more evenly dispersed. There are many ornaments on our tree that were made by the kids, or me when I was younger, that will always be my favorites.

I love this time of year. And not because of getting or giving gifts. I love the spirit of the season. (And no, not the spirit of the mad shoppers!) I love the traditions we have at Christmas and getting together with family and friends.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! :)

Dancing

Well, I know it's been a while since I've posted, and I have a ton of material. I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write it. So, here's a little something to amuse you until I take the time to post more.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9531442748

The kindness of strangers...

When I have to go use the copy machine at work, I usually read parts of the newspaper while I waiting for the machine to copy/email/fax whatever it is I am doing there. When I read the newspaper, it is almost always a downer. So many stories in there about senseless crimes, I have been known to walk back to my desk really pissed off or with tears in my eyes when it is a crime against a child. Ranting and raving against the senselessness of the act.

I will never, ever understand any type of violence against a child. Never. There is never any excuse in my eyes. There are stories about greed, about politics that just seem stupid to me, stupid lawsuits, all kinds of sad and depressing stories.

Stories in the newspaper make me lose a little faith in mankind. Anyway, before I go off on a rant about that (I could go on forever) I will get to the point of my post. Every once in a while I witness or read something that reminds me that there is still some kindness and generosity left in this world.

I do know that there are a lot of good people in the world. It is sad that all you hear about on the news and read about in the newspapers are all the bad people.

That is one reason I love to read other people's blogs. I have found so many that I like and can read about real people in other parts of the country (and world) who are kind and generous. In case you don't read the links I have on the side of my blog, this post over at Truths and Half Truths was very heart warming to read.

This morning, I witnessed a little bit of that same kindness from someone I do not know. I stopped at the truck stop on my way to work this morning to get some coffee. Their coffee machine was empty so I had to wait for it for a few minutes. Conor went in with me and he immediately spied a cheetah stuffed animal that he wanted. It was hanging near the cash registers and so he went over to the cashier and asked her how much it cost. She had to get it down and look, and when she did, she handed it to him and told him how much it cost. He was instantly in love with it, he has a fondness for big cats (lions, tigers, cheetahs) and since we just watched Duma on DVD (great movie, btw), his most recent is the cheetah.

So, stuffed animal in hand, he walked over to me to show me how soft and cute it was and beg for me to buy it for him. Conor needs another stuffed animal like I need a hole in my head. But when we went up to the cashier, there was a man standing there who had been in line behind Conor when he was asking how much it was, and he saw how much Conor loved the cheetah and he paid for it so that Conor could have it. He said, "It's already paid for and it's all yours buddy."

Conor is thrilled. The whole ride to his baby sitter's house was filled with comments on how soft and cute his new cheetah is, how much he just loves it.

So, that man just made a little boy's day. And mine. Not because Conor got another stuffed animal, but because he did something nice for someone just because it was a nice thing to do. I know it does happen, I just don't get to see it very often.

Grandma's house

My Grandma has lived in the same house since she was 8 years old. It is a place where every kid loves to stay. I remember begging to stay when I was a kid, and now my kids beg to stay. There are a ton of things to do at Grandma's house. If it's nice outside, there is a swing set and sand pile in the back yard.



There are woods to explore, buckeyes to collect, berries to discover.

There is a circular driveway to ride a bike or scooter around. Several can be found in the shed. Just don't go too close to the road...

There is a huge yard to play any sport imaginable in. All the equipment can be found in the shed as well. Soccer, baseball, T-ball, basketball (there is a hoop by the driveway), football, kickball, crochet, volleyball, and probably a lot more that I cannot think of right now!

If it's raining, you can sit on the front porch and draw with sidewalk chalk, and probably run out and play in the water puddles formed around the driveway. Unless your mom or dad are there to stop you. Grandma won't. :)

There are also video games, DVDs, and tons of toys to play with in the house. As well as a pool table in the basement.

I don't remember ever being bored at Grandma's house as a kid. We played in the woods a lot. We also had a couple of 3-wheelers we rode around in the woods. Some of those hills we went up and down were pretty steep. There is a creek we used to spend a lot of time playing in during the warm months - looking for and catching crawdads, frogs, and various other creatures we found. Those old paths are grown over a lot these days - some of the woods that we played in as kids belonged to the neighbors and the kids now tend to stay out of the neighbors woods. Now instead of 3-wheelers, we have a 4-wheeler to ride.

In the winter time, we would all bundle up in our winter coats / hats / boots / scarves / mittens and whatever else was needed to go out and play in the snow. Sled riding down the huge hill that was in the neighbors yard and trying not to go so fast that you landed in the creek at the bottom. Most of the time we avoided it. That particular hill has since had a driveway put right through it to get to the new house that was built back in the woods.

We also used to walk down the creek when it was frozen over, or when we thought it was.. and hoped we were right. I remember falling through the ice with one foot.. or both... and either going on for a bit, or walking that long walk back to Grandma's house to dry off and warm up.

Always when we came in from playing in the snow, we would put our wet items over the register in the kitchen, grab a blanket and sit over a register in the living room, drink some hot chocolate that Grandma always had ready for us and warm up a bit before going out again.

In the fall, we would rake leaves together into a pile next to a swing, and jump off the swing into the pile of leaves.

I was one of the lucky ones because growing up, I lived right next door to Grandma so I could walk across the yard to her house any time I wanted to.

Before we moved next door, my sister and I always got on and off the school bus at Grandma's house as well. Mom had to be to work earlier than school started, so we were dropped off at Grandma's house - most of the time we slept in the car on the way there and on her couches once we got there, until it was time to go.

Every Sunday, Grandma fixes enough food for everyone to gather and eat at her house. All of her kids, the grand kids, and the great grand kids - not all come every Sunday, but any given Sunday will find the majority of them there.

Sunday at Grandma's house with our family is something I thought every family did when I was a kid. When I went to school and found out that it was not the "normal" thing for families, I was shocked. I also felt sorry for all those kids who didn't have a family like mine.

I grew up with cousins who were more like brothers and sisters. I remember some boy on the bus picking on me and Andy was right there coming to my rescue. Needless to say, the boy never bothered me again after Andy told him if he bothered me again he would be answering to him. I didn't have an older brother, but I had that "big brother" protection.

In addition to the Sundays at Grandma's house, the holidays are always a special tradition as well. Easter Sunday is a time when everyone comes to Grandma's house after church for THE. BEST. BREAKFAST. EVER. Then the older kids and some adults hide eggs for the little kids to find.

Our Christmas tradition recently changed due to the large number of people in our family. Up until last year, we would all draw names and gather at Grandma's to exchange gifts. Since there are now 60+ of us, last year "the kids" (Grandma's kids, mostly the women) got together and rented a place for us to gather. I believe this is the new tradition, but growing up, it was always at Grandma's house.

We always called it Christmas Eve at Grandma's even though it was not always on Christmas Eve. We adjust the dates to try to get as many people there as possible - with work schedules changing.

On Christmas Eve, we would go to Midnight Mass and after Mass, we would go to Grandma's house for pineapple rolls. The BEST. ROLLS. EVER.

Those are the two biggest holiday events. Other holidays were spent together doing various activities - grilling out, or just hanging out.

On Halloween, you can always expect a bag of goodies from Grandma's house. She never does get many Trick-or-Treaters because her house is so far back off the road. She always got the local kids, and grand kids, though. And she always has plenty of little bags to hand out, so when you do go there, you usually get more than one.

Any gathering with my family members there is almost guaranteed laughter. From stories of growing up, to making fun of each other, to playing games and laughing at each other, there is always something (or someone) to laugh at.

I have always felt extremely lucky and blessed to have the family that I have. There is a sign that hangs on a post in my Grandma's driveway that says "Worlds Best Grandma." That could not be more true. She is known to almost everyone as Mom or Grandma - even if she isn't their Mom or Grandma.

I took my camera to Grandma's house this past Sunday and Conor and I walked through the woods and took pictures. That is when all these memories of Grandma's house came to my mind. There are so many stories to tell, so many things to remember.

The road to Grandma's

In my opinion, I have the BEST family in the world. Yeah, I might be biased... but they are pretty awesome. And we were all raised, in some way, but the most wonderful person - my Grandma.

Poof! You're married...

"Do you need a wand to get married?"

"What? A wand?" (giggle) "No, a wand is not needed." (I think he gets that from the Fairly Odd Parents)

"I'm gonna marry Carley. But I have to be 18 to get married, and she will be 19. Jacob wants to marry her, too, so we are racing to 18. I'm gonna beat him."

I don't know what he is going to do when he doesn't get to see Carley anymore after next year when he starts Kindergarten. He has been in love with her since they met, his interest has not waivered one bit over the years. Will it last another 14 years?

Newest Favorite Song

Buckcherry - Sorry

Love it. :)

Pick-me-up

Well, recently there have been some changes going on where I work. Changes that make me think I might not have a job for much longer. I’m pretty much just taking it one day at a time and hoping for the best. The first thing that happened - and as I posted previously - we were acquired by another company. As like with any other merger, there are going to be some duplicate people within the organization and I guess everyone here is uncertain what their role will be once the merger is complete. (The sale is final, but they said it could take up to a year to assess the situation.)

The second thing that happened - we almost lost our biggest customer. I say almost because when faced with that, a lot of the higher up corporate people descended upon our little branch to try to figure out a way to prevent this from happening. This customer is, in my opinion, the BEST customer anyone could ever hope to work with. And they have been a customer of ours for 11 years. Way before I started here in 2000.

It’s not that they don’t like us anymore, but they were acquired by a larger company that has their own technical support system. They were acquired 3 years ago, but did not want to move away from the tech support provided by us because our guys at their site are THAT good. They are seriously excellent.

But, when contract renewals came up, the customer had to look at the fact that their parent company was now going to hit them with the charges for the help desk provided by them – whether they use it or not. So now they were looking at paying twice as much out for tech support. Their budget did not support that.

So, the corporate suit-and-tie people came into the office to meet with the customer and try to sort out some deal that would cost them less money, but allow us to remain their service provider for at least another year.

It was all very stressful. We have reached an agreement with them, but we will be making a lot LESS revenue (and a bunch of other boring accounting words that I will skip) and they will be gone in one year.

So – our sales team has one year to try to increase our revenue. Even with that fact, the smaller amount we are making from them right now does mean that our branch may not be profitable enough to support having the administrative people we currently have.

Add to that – there are people researching and writing processes that will eliminate some of my job, as well as some of the duties of the other admin person here. So.. it is possible that the administrative duties here could be condensed into one person. Which one of us will that be? I really don’t know.

While looking through some of my old emails (you know.. looking for a resume and some reference emails should I have to go pound the pavement), I came across one that will always be a pick-me-up for me.

And I thought I would post it here.. just to make you all aware of how awesome I am! OK, not really. Actually, it is so I can always have it – if it is in my company email and I do lose my job, who knows if I will actually remember or have time to get all this stuff together. I do have to think ahead you know. And by publishing it here, it also makes me look good. :)

I was having a particularly bad day at work due to my company letting someone go in another location and asking me to "take over" until they could figure out what else to do. So, I emailed all the people at this location to let them know that I would be taking the responsibilities of the person who left, and that they could contact me with any problems or needs that they had. I got an email from one of them asking what exactly it was that I could do for them. At the same time, I got an email from one of our employees stating that I was "the best!" So, in a non-serious, joking email to our employee, I sent him the following request:

Ummmmm, I've been meaning to ask you.... could you write a reference for me? As to what I do to help you as an employee here? I ask not for the purpose of getting another job, but because the employees at the other location are not real happy with my assistance - when I wrote to let them know that I was available to help them with anything they needed help with, one responded "Well, actually, I don't know what you could possibly do to help me. What is it that you do that you think would be of help to us?" OK, not that rude, but that was the gist of it. They seem to resent me because their go-to person got let go and I took her place. So, they are making me feel, ummm, slightly bad. I feel like saying "but, the employees here appreciate me!! I do stuff for them!!" :) It's been HE double hockey sticks since I took on this other site. :( Thanks for appreciating me.... Me

I was not expecting his response; I thought he would just write back, commiserate with me, and let me vent a little. But his response is something I will keep forever as a "pick-me-up" and it is as follows:

Katie - Here you go, let me know if this is what you are looking for. If not, I'll be happy to revamp. The people in the other location should feel lucky to have you, I know I do. Once they get to know you I'm sure you will change their minds....

Katie is the type of person who enjoys challenges, and our company has definitely provided her with plenty of challenges to enjoy. Being out of the office, working on site with a customer, Katie is my link at the branch to the complex world of logistics and billing and does a marvelous job of keeping me informed of the vital information I need in order to keep my customers happy and well informed. Without Katie's constant communication of events, it would be next to impossible for me to schedule repair times with the complicated schedules of my accounts executives. Even under the most stressful of times, she is always able to take a bad situation and turn it into a positive while maintaining her award winning smile. (Insert comment: TOTALLY full of it! I have never won ANY awards for my smile!)

The amount of work she undertakes daily is unbelievable. But she is always willing and generous enough to push aside her mountain of paperwork to take the time to assist me with my problems while also training me in areas that I lack knowledge in to enhance my own job abilities. I have been able to learn and comprehend in a few minutes what it would take a normal trainer a few hours to teach someone, Katie is that good at making things clear and understandable. She also has the uncanny ability to make a person chuckle, even under the most stressful of times...a trait that comes in handy when tensions are running high. I feel her energy, dedication, and devotion to our company are qualities of an employee that any company should feel fortunate to have working for them. Some of the duties Katie has assisted us with are numerous and probably too many to list. Some of these aren't even technically in her job description, but that doesn't stop her from lending a helping hand. She is a tremendous asset in acting as a liaison between myself and corporate logistics, ironing out the problem before it has a chance to grow. She constantly monitors the system to catch any parts that may show up on back order and alerts me of this fact for client scheduling purposes. The customer I work for also has a lot of remote plants in other states that Katie helps to coordinate with other company branches or service centers to resolve their current technical issues. Time entry is another huge area that Katie stays on top of; alerting me to incorrect time entries by my team, ensuring everyone finalizes their time in a prompt manner. You add on top of this all her billing and dispatching duties and you see that she is a top notch employee.

Katie is truly my "go to person" at the office, and I can rest assured anything I ask her assistance on, she will come through for me…and then some. Like I said, her duties are many, and I'm sure I've forgotten to mention half of them. But rest assured, Katie will give her all to assist whoever is asking for it, and she'll do it with a smile.

I was surprised at the response because I was joking when I asked for the 'reference,' but it still made me feel good. I do think he went a little over-board with the 'award winning smile' thing, but I'll let that go. :)

Parenting

Parenting sucks sometimes. Gah! I don't know how I'm going to survive the teenage years with Allie. I've considered just locking her in her room and home schooling her. But.. I really don't think that is a viable option. Sometimes I just wish she would actually listen to what I'm saying and believe that I am telling her the truth. Yeah, I know it is some sort of teenage disability that makes them think their parents are just old and wrong, and I also know that she will make mistakes and hopefully LEARN from them. But it is a very painful process to actually witness and participate in.

I do now understand why my mom wouldn't let me go to an Aerosmith concert when I was 14 or 15 years old with some friends and one of their uncles or something. It was the end of the world for me - I vowed that I would never do such a thing to my children.

Yet, when Allie asked me if she could go to the WEBN Fireworks with Vanessa, Vanessa's mom, and Vanessa's aunt... uhhh hell no.


"That's a drunk fest and you have no business going down there."


"But.. Mo-om... her mom and her aunt are going. You can talk to them."


"I really don't care who is going. You are not."


"You are ruining my life!" - screams as she goes to her room to throw her temper tantrum.


Well. Someone has to. :) And no, I didn't say that to her. Nor am I trying to... I'm trying to prevent it. She just doesn't know that yet.


I went to the WEBN Fireworks when I was 16. Did my parents know? Heck no. (Uhhh, sorry Mom. You can no longer ground me.) And that is the only time I have been. The fireworks are beautiful. But, yeah, it's a drunk fest. (And no, I didn't drink.) So, that is not a place that I'm letting my daughter go.

It is also very hard to watch them make mistakes. Yet, I'm kinda learning that they are not perfect, and they are going to make mistakes, and that is how most people learn, isn't it? I just have to hope and pray that they are smart enough not to make any really big mistakes.

I'm still learning as well. I took a leap and got both the girls cell phones 2 years ago. Neither of them still have the ones that I got them. One was left outside in the rain, the other was washed in the washing machine. When they begged for new phones? No. I told them to save their money and get it themselves.


IPods. Jeff (and I stress JEFF because I did not want any part of buying IPods for them due to their proven irresponsibility with the phones) decided to get them IPods for Christmas last year. Do either of them still have it? No. One was lost at school, the other was washed in the washing machine.


Do you see a pattern here? Obviously they have not learned to empty their pockets prior to washing clothes.


So, last night I picked Allie up from her volley ball game and she tells me she has a detention today (Friday).

"What for?"

"I forgot a worksheet in my locker and I ran out of passes to go and get it."

"You get a certain number of passes to go and get something from your locker?"

"Yeah, we get 3."

"So, why can't you learn to remember after the first or second time? This is the 4th time you have forgotten? When are you ever going to start learning from mistakes instead of repeating them over and over?"

"Well, I didn't use all 3 for going to my locker - sometimes I had to use the bathroom."

"So now, if you have to go to the bathroom, you're not allowed?"

"No, but it is almost the end of the first semester, so I will get 3 more for the next semester."

I swear, some of the new rules at the schools are so stupid, it amazes me.

So, anyway, when I was driving Conor to the sitter's this morning, he was telling me how good he was yesterday - all day. He has not really been bad at the baby sitter's house, but there have been some issues with him and another little boy wanting to wrestle around and do "boy" stuff. The sitter doesn't like that because she is afraid someone will get hurt, so she is constantly having to tell them to stop.

So every morning when I am getting my daily hug and kiss goodbye from Conor, I remind him to be good and that there are other little kids there and we don't want anyone to get hurt. Today, when he told me he was good all day yesterday he added, "I learned my lesson and I'm going to be good all the time now."

Conor was not home when Allie and I were having our conversation last night, so him saying that was very coincidental.

I find if quite funny that my 4 year old can learn from "mistakes," yet my 14 year old has problems with it. :)

Confusing to me...

Listening to the radio the other day, I heard two songs that I like back to back. These songs are more pop-rock type songs, but I like a large variety of music, so they are ones I know. On the radio they bleep out the "bad words" on a lot of songs, and I do understand why they bleep them out. BUT! There are some that I just don't understand.

One of the songs is by Nickeback with one line saying: "Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes" and another line saying "I'm gonna dress my ass with the latest fashion." (and the song is about being a rock star - just to explain those two lines a bit...)

The other song is by Pink and a couple of lines in the song are: "In the corner with your boys you bet up five bucks, to get at the girl that just walked in but she thinks you suck."

Now, on one of our local stations, these two songs were played and in the Nickelback song, none of the words in those two lines were bleeped out. But in the Pink song, they actually bleep out the word "suck." While I don't think ass is a horrible word (it is another word for a donkey, too..), I do not understand why suck is considered a bleep-able word and ass is not.

And yeah, this is actually something that irritates me. Enough to write about it. :)

Random things about me

Consider this a bit of a warning. I have, in the past, censored myself a bit on here. I do this for a few reasons. I don't want to offend anyone. Or make people (Heaven forbid) not like me. I am going to try to be a bit more me. I figure if people don't like me for being me? Then that's just the way it's supposed to be.

I am basically a nice person (I think so anyway...), I go out of my way to do things for other people. Most of the time I don't mind. But sometimes I do mind and I do it anyway. Sometimes to the point that I make myself unhappy. I'm trying not to do that so much anymore, and while I'm not setting out to offend anyone, I would just like to be me.

I would also like to write about my life in truth on here, instead of leaving stuff out because I don't want people to think badly of me. I make mistakes. I do things that others might not approve of... I want to write about all of it, instead of the fluff stuff.

Here are a few random things about me that not many people know - and no. Not all of it is "bad" stuff.

* When I'm at work, and I get upset about something, you will find me outside walking barefoot in the grass. It somehow makes me feel better. Oh, but only when it is warm outside - not snow!


* I have a habit of pulling on my lower lip when something is bothering me and I'm trying to figure it out in my head. I don't usually notice I'm doing it until someone says something about it. On that note, if someone does notice and ask me about it, I'm not at a point where I really want to talk about it - I'm figuring it out for myself and I don't want to talk about it.


* I like to eat potato chips with cake. And with chocolate ice cream. It's the sweet and salty thing. It's very good, just try it.


* I love sarcasm. I do try to limit my sarcastic responses. Because when you use sarcasm on people who don't really understand it, they can get really confused and while it's fun to laugh at them, explaining sarcasm just takes all the fun out of using it.


* I can be a major bitch sometimes. Just ask some of the people who work with me. Or Jeff. I'm really not always as nice as some people might think. I've had people who do not know me say that they can't imagine me being mean to anyone. Think again. Really. I have references. In my defense, sometimes Jeff deserves it. heehee (And there are times when he doesn't. But, hey, I'm a woman and I reserve the right to be in a bad mood at random times. He should learn to sense this and leave me alone.)


* I am honest. If there is a "truth" that I don't want to tell someone, I avoid telling it. I don't lie and say it's something it's not. And I don't try to hide my mistakes with lies. I will honestly admit when I've made a mistake. That being said, if I don't feel that the "truth" is something that should be shared, I will not share it.


* I hate finger-pointing. If you do something wrong, just admit it. Blaming others just makes you look like a jerk. I take the blame for other peoples mistakes all the time (at work with customers, not really in every day stuff) because I'm not going to tell a customer, "Oh, so and so did this and blah blah." I just say, "I am sorry this has happened and I will do my best to make sure it does not happen again." Yet I have heard so many people try to blame other people for mistakes they made. They just can't be "at fault" and so they find any excuse to make it someone else's fault.


* I cuss. I do not have a 4 letter word flying out of my mouth with every sentence. And I really do not cuss that much. But I have been known to say a few 4 letter words when I'm upset or if I drop a brick or something on my toe. It happens.


* I'm a control freak at times. I know what I'm doing, and how to do it, and I don't want anyone else doing it for me. I am trying to get over this part.. letting other people do things even if they don't do it right.. like my kids. And cleaning. They suck at it. But they are going to learn eventually. I'll just make them keep trying. :)


* I drink. Alcohol. No, I'm not a raving drunk. But I do have a couple of drinks every now and again. A glass of wine here and there, beer, margaritas, whatever. I do, however, try to avoid getting drunk. That's the control freak in me. I do not like to be out of control of my actions. I have been there before. It's not pretty.

* I love to listen to Bob and Tom. For those of you who might not know who that is, they are a morning radio show. They are not the most politically correct people but I find them hilarious.

* I'm a very loyal person. My friends? They are my friends and I will not tolerate anyone bad-mouthing them in my presence. My family? Yes, they have faults, and I know this. But they are my family and I love them very much. And isn't that what love is all about? Loving someone even if they are not perfect, forgiving their mistakes, and over looking their faults.

Anyway, expect some changes in my posts. I'm sorry in advance if they are offensive - I am not setting out to offend anyone.

Line Judge

After staying up a bit too late on Friday night, I dragged my butt out of bed Saturday morning to take Allie to her volley ball game. She had to be there at 8:30, but her game did not start until 10am, so I dropped her off and went home to take a shower before returning. Coffee was my best friend.

As I was driving home, Allie called my cell phone.

"Mom, can you be a line judge for the game?"

"ME?? Are you serious? Can't they find someone who is more awake than me?"

"No, they can't find anyone else, and if we don't find someone we'll have to forfeit the game."

Sigh. "Yes, I'll do it - but see if they can't find someone between now and then.."

Well, no they did not. So, I drank more coffee, showered, and went back to the school to perform my line judging duties.

I walked in and the referee had one other mother there as well. He took us both aside.

"Have either of you ever been a line judge before?"

"Uh.. no." (This from both of us.)

He sighed. Really. He did. "OK, if the ball hits any part of the line, it is considered 'in'. If it is outside the line, it is 'out'." Really? I would've never thunk it. :) lol

BUT! That is not all there is to it! There are hand signals. He proceeded to demonstrate the hand signals we would need to use. If it was in-bounds, we were to just point both hands straight down in front of us, palms facing the floor. If it were out of bounds, then we had to raise our hands to our faces, palms facing our face, fingers straight up. If it was touched before it went out of bounds, we were to raise our hands in the same fashion as out of bounds, but we were to put our hands together and "swipe" one hand.

We were to also watch the ball as it passes over the net - there are sticks sticking up on each side of the net that indicated the "play" area - the ball had to go over inside of the sticks or it was considered out of bounds as well.

Another responsibility was to watch the feet of the person serving. If her feet touched the line, we were to point at the line with one hand and wave our other hand over our head until the ref saw us. He said he might not see us right away, but to just keep doing it until he noticed. Yep. Really. Thank goodness none of the girls did this while on my side of the court. Or.. if they did I didn't see it. (Probably the more likely thing.)

"Any questions?"

Ummmm.. yeah, I remember the "touch" out signal, but I forget when I'm supposed to use it. But I didn't ask. I didn't want to look like a complete moron. :) I did eventually remember.

"During "time outs" walk over to where I am and keep me company." (He was really a very nice guy and very patient with us.)

The girls were still warming up, so the other line judge and I were huddled and talking. We decided on which one of us would be where.. and assumed our positions. There were several times that I caught myself just watching the game and forgetting that I was supposed to be watching the line. But then I would remember and start paying attention again.

I did do the signals wrong a couple of times, but it was forgiven. It was a case where the palms of my hands were facing the wrong direction, but I had the signal right except for that.

There were times when I started to clap and cheer for Allie's team, then I would stop thinking that I'm supposed to be impartial... wasn't I? Were there rules against the line judges cheering for one team or the other?

During one of the time outs, while we were hanging out with the ref, he asked if either of us had ever played volley ball before. Yeah, me.. but just for fun. And the rules seem to have changed.

At one of the prior volley ball games, my mom and I were there and she asked me some questions about the scores and what they play to.. and I answered. Based upon my prior knowledge. The teams only get a point if they serve the ball and it is missed by the other team. The game is played until one of the teams gets 15 points, but they have to win by 2 points, so if they have 15 and the other team has 14, they have to score one more point before they are the winners. This is how I was taught to play. Aren't those the rules?

Well, now.. any time a ball is missed, the opposing team gets a point. Huh? Weird. Our team serves, the ball hit the net, and the other team got a point. Bogus, in my opinion. They did nothing to earn that point. So, then the score went to 16 - 4 (or something like that) and they were still playing. Hmmm. Guess they play to a higher score. The game was over when one team reached 25 points, so that's the new "winning" score.

So, I expressed my lack of knowledge about the current rules of the games and he told me that, "Yeah, they decided the games were taking too long to play, so they made it where you get a point every time the opposing team misses. You do not have to be serving to get the point. They felt this made for faster games."

Yet.. they play best out of 3 games. So, my thought on the matter is why not play ONE game to determine the winner instead of 3 "fast" games? Oh, well, they didn't ask me. :)

I did manage to stop a few balls that were flying in my direction - pretty quick reflexes, if I do say so myself. Heh. That's right. I'm good. heehee. I also managed not to make any huge mistakes despite my wandering mind.

So, my duty as a line judge has been fulfilled. I am sure that I did such an excellent job that they will ask me again. :)

I want to pick out my own clothes!

Conor is now going through his "I'm a big boy and I want to dress myself" phase. I think it is cute, but some of the clothes he picks out are very.. ummm.. dorkish. We go through mornings where he absolutely MUST pick out his own clothes, and for the most part I just go with it. I let him wear whatever he wants, and I take a change of clothes with us to the sitter's. With the temperatures in the high 90s and 100s (F) he is choosing to wear long sleeves with shorts. In the photo below, the clothes at least match, but the socks just make it so funny.


I need to work swaying him in other directions, and for the most part, I can... some day he will see that knee-high socks with shorts and sandals (which he does not have on in this picture, but he did later put them on) are not really a good look. But.. he's 4 and he's cute, so I guess he can get away with it for a little while.

On another Conor note - if it wasn't apparent before that he absolutely loves girls (with his huge crush on Carley - a little girl at his baby sitter's house), it is now. He has taken to creating female characters on the computer (World of Warcraft) and then taking all their clothes off so that they are just wearing the bikini clothes that are on all of the characters. He thinks they are pretty. lol