The Day of the Surgery

The day before Jeff's surgery was, of course, July 4th. The kids went with GrandDad to Naomi's cook out, but I didn't want to leave Jeff there all by himself, so I just stayed home. We did not do anything, Jeff was not able to. The kids came home around 11 and said they had a really good time. Naomi and Jerry had taken them to see some fireworks and they all said that it was a wonderful show. It was at that point that I decided that I might as well just stay up because it was almost midnight and since I would need to get up around 4:30 or 5, I might as well stay up. I could sleep at the hospital, or so I thought...

So, I started doing some cleaning. At around 2:30 am, I couldn't stay awake any longer, so I decided to go to bed for a couple of hours. I set my alarm for 4:45, ended up getting up at 5am, took a shower and got everything to load in the car. Jeff was already awake, he had succeeded in staying up (he had slept most of the day before) so he was ready to go. I got his overnight bag in the car, put the pillows in the back seat for him to lay on, and we were on our way.

We arrived at the hospital at around 6:10 - he was supposed to be there by 6:30 so we had plenty of time to get in there. As there were not many people there yet, the parking lot was practically empty and we got a first place parking space, right near the door! :) Such a big difference from the week before!

We went in, signed in, and took a seat. They had given us a pager for when they were ready for him. So we just sat and talked, made jokes and waited. It didn't take long before the pager went off and Jeff was taken back to get ready. So, looking around, I found a couch in a less used area and went over there to sit. I'm not real comfortable sleeping in public places, so I just read the book I brought until they paged me to go sit with him while he waited.

The pager went off around 7:30 and I was taken back to sit with him in the small curtained off area. Doctors and nurses came and went, checking different things on his chart, asking questions and such. His surgery was scheduled for 8:30.

He said he should have gotten a tatoo of Sponge Bob and Patrick digging a ditch on his butt so the surgical staff would get a good laugh when they flipped him over to do the surgery. That would be very funny... We talked in hushed tones because there were so many other people around. I got to sit in a comfortable recliner and could have easily gone to sleep. His mom and sister arrived around 8:00 and I was asked to leave because the room was too small for so many people. It really wasn't that bad, but I left and stood out in the hall area waiting.

I watched people walking around, answering phones, going in and out of curtained areas. Around 8:20 am I was able to go back into his 'room' until it was time to go. Barb and Naomi went out to the waiting area at that point. Two nurses came in, an older woman and a young guy. She was instructing the young guy on what to look for in the chart, what to check on, and what questions to ask. Then she said, "There isn't an RPH in here, there is usually an RPH in here. I wonder why there isn't one here."

She continued to leaf through the pages looking for the RPH until I finally asked, "What does that stand for?"

"Recent Physical History" I think she said, although "Recent Patient History" makes more sense. Anyway, it was a history of Jeff's medical stuff. :) She said Dr. P always included that, she couldn't understand why it wasn't in there. She went off to call someone to get it faxed and left the new guy in our room. He began leafing through the paperwork on the clip board, too. He appeared a little nervous, so I think he was just trying to look like he was doing something important. I don't remember him saying much. The older nurse came back and said that she had called them and they were going to be faxing the document that was needed. They could not proceed with the surgery without it.

I wondered if it made Jeff nervous to have a new guy in the surgery room with him? I didn't say anything though, because if he hadn't thought about it, I did not want to bring it up. They finally got the paper that they needed (via fax) at around 8:40 - not too bad - and they began to wheel him down the hall. I got to walk next to him until we reached the waiting room doors, but since they had not begun the medication to put him under yet, he did not say anything silly like the last time.

I went out to the waiting room and joined Barb, Naomi, and Jerry (who had been parking the car when Barb and Naomi were in with Jeff). We sat and talked, telling funny stories that made us all laugh. We all took turns going to the gift shop and looking around, and just walking around for a break. The time actually flew by, and before long there was a nurse asking if we were the ones with Jeff - they had been trying to page us to talk to the doctor, but the pager was not going off. So we all went to talk to the doctor - the surgery went fine, he was able to remove the ruptured part of the disk and everything went fine. He was now in recovery and would be in a room for us to visit in about 1 1/2 hours.

It was around 10:30, so that meant we had until noon. They gave us his room number and we went back to our little waiting area to wait some more. Jerry had been looking at a magazine which had homes for sale in it and had found what he thought were perfect houses for me and Naomi.

The one he picked out for me was in a wooded area and had separate housing for guest (he felt this would be the perfect place to put the kids), a chef's kitchen, a pool (I think!), and a 5 car garage. Yep, sounds good to me! Too bad it was in Columbus and way out of my price range!

Naomi's was considered an "entertainers home" where there were a bunch of fire places, a very nice pool, a spiral staircase, and a whole lot of open spaces! OK my memory is not that great and I can't remember all of the details for both houses... :)

They were both beautiful houses, and it gave us something to do for a little while. At around 11:45 we decided to go on up to the floor he was going to be on and wait in that waiting room. It was much quieter up there. I went to the room he was supposed to be in around 12:10, but he was not there yet, so I went back to the waiting area. Around 12:30, he was finally in there, but had apparently just gotten there. I had barely said hi when she came in and closed the curtain around him and started asking questions and checking his bandages.

I waited for her to finish and went to get the rest of the crew waiting. Being the bad patient that he is, he was begging for one of us to slip him some food. He was not allowed to eat for at least 2 hours, and then it would be a liquid diet. His mom had brought him a little basket of chocolate, he also had some lifesavers in his bag, as well as a variety of other snacks he had packed. Naomi also had brought with her some Cheez-its - which is one of his favorites. He managed to talk me out of a single lifesaver before anyone else came in - he said he had a bad taste in his mouth and begged... so I gave in.

Then he managed to talk Naomi out of a single cracker.

He wanted the chocolate very badly, but Barb was very firm with her "no." Of course he pouted, but that did not change anything.

He then said that nurses kept coming in and looking at his butt. That they all must be talking about him somewhere because they kept coming in and making him roll over so that they could see his butt. *rolling my eyes* Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that his incision was on his lower back... no, it has to be his butt they're checking out! :)

Anyway, as you can see, his sense of humor is still intact. Barb, Naomi, and Jerry had to leave to go to their respective jobs, so I pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed with him. We talked, whispering a lot because there was another patient in the bed next to him. It was an older man who was trying to get released from the hospital. They came in to take him for a walk around before he could go and one of the ladies said, "I'm gonna tell you 3 words now, and when we return you will have to tell me what those 3 words are - Table, pencil, tennis."

The man turned to his wife and said, "Write those down, will ya?" Which brought laughter from all. Jeff looked concerned and after they left he said, "You should write those on my hand really quick because I will never remember those!"

Rolling my eyes again I said, "First of all, if they were to do the test to you tomorrow, they probably would have different words! Second of all, I don't think they are going to test YOUR memory so that you can leave. I think he might be in here for a different reason than you are!"

I managed to not give in to all of his requests for food, no matter how much he begged. They then brought a tray of food in for him - all liquids of course. Chicken broth, jello, cranberry juice, orange Italian Ice, lemon-lime soda, and coffee. The broth was in a bowl sitting on a plate - a very thick plate. Jeff thought there was something under the plate and was very disappointed to find there was nothing.

I stayed while he ate, and a bit longer after that, then it was time for me to go. I needed to get home and relieve Jim of my kids - he had come over to watch them while I was at the hospital. I went home, took a nap, went to the store, fixed dinner, then went to bed around 10. It was a long day, and I was very tired. There was a lot that needed to be done on Thursday, too, so I needed a good night's sleep. :)

Oldie, but Goodie :)

OK, some of you may remember this from a few years ago - I think this was an email Jeff sent to some people. But I came across it and re-read it, and thought I would post it on my blog. :) I am not the author, but I am re-publishing it.... This was when Conor was a small, small baby.

Hi, Yeah it's me Conor,
I know what you're thinking, "How can a baby write e-mails or even use a computer?" Well it's not easy let me tell you, especially when I can't even hold my head up very well 7ugrhio;ioyu;sior SEE WHAT I MEAN!?! ... my head keeps falling down and hitting the keyboard. Plus I have a very limited vocabulary, as a matter of fact I don't really have a vocabulary at all, but this computer has a pretty good spell checker so it fixes my GOO when I really mean to say GAA.
I've been trying to think of what my first real word should be, you know it's a very important part of a baby's life, or so I gather. I have actually been talking all along but it seems as though that is not good enough for everyone. There's this real old guy who keeps saying DADA over and over in my ear and he won't get away, his beard keeps scratching my cheek, whenever I scream at him to get him away he just laughs at me. There's this lady, or it could be two of them, who keeps trying to get me to say MAMA. I haven't figured out if there is one or two of them because she holds her face really close to mine and it makes my eyes cross and then I lose my focus, it's quite disconcerting as you can imagine, but she or they sure is or are nice. There are also these two girls who both say their names are Sissy. One has brown hair and one has blond and it's all rather confusing, I just call them both AAARRrrraaahhhhggg and they don't seem to mind. tyjnhiugfh89rty9srt Sorry there goes my head again. I'm not really sure what my first word should be, but I think it might be BAABAA. It's rather strange I know to make a sound like a wooly animal just to get food, but someone is always asking me, "Do you want a BAABAA?" then next thing I know there's food.
That is an interesting topic, food. I don't know if you can really call it food, what they give me. At first it was kind of tasty this white stuff, but it is starting to get old. That ugly guy with the beard gave me something really delicious the other day, it was cold and white and creamy out of a container. Everyone else was eating it too, but those two ladies or lady shouted, "Don't give that baby I Scream." I'm sure I don't know what the big deal was, that stuff was really good, weird name though. Sometimes I like to suck on my fingers and I don't really know why but they taste pretty good. There is a blanket too that has a good flavor that has ducks all over it. I like to stare at this blanket because of the bright colors, it's very relaxing, but before I know it I am asleep again. I like to sleep when I am not eating.
I don't get out too much, I imagine the other Eskimos here at the North Pole don't either. The few times I've been outside there's all this cold white stuff everywhere and I wonder if it's I Scream. I sometimes wish I were born in Congo or Australia so I can go around naked all the time. I try to tell everyone this but they don't listen. They start to take off all my clothes but I never get to stay that way long. There's this blue thing that's filled with warm water I like to play in, but just when I get comfortable they drag me out of it and stuff me into some ridiculous thing with some class of a bear, puppy or amphibious creature on it. I yell and holler as loud as I can but they just don't get it. It's all quite embarrassing and tedious.
Most of the time I am looking at the ceiling, until I cry and someone's face appears. I like to make a game out of this when I get bored. I smile and coo and then pretend to go to sleep, then when no one is around I cry, and someone shows up. Everywhere I go I see these spinning things that blow air around and stick out of the ceilings. I went to this one place with the goofy guy who wears glasses and the ceiling was very high. There were bright colors everywhere and boxes of all kinds of stuff, I even saw someone my age there who was screaming and crying. He had a glazed look in his eyes and I started to cry too, but got to looking around and forgot all about it. When we were just getting ready to leave I saw a big silver thing with large bird with large yellow feathers, floating in the air and it made me really happy and I smiled and tried to talk to it. There was a long string attached to it and I knew I could never reach it. I hope I can go back again and see it someday.
Also I have been a couple other places. Sissy and Sissy call her Mimi and she is real nice. She plays music for me and she lets me sleep on a real soft bed. There is a cool blanket there too with black and white stripes that hypnotize me while I listen to classical music. I prefer Vivaldi as he is particularly soothing. I have been to Nana's as well. Her ceilings are really awsome, she has a square hole in her roof. I can watch the clouds float by while I listen to music from operas. She is nice too but she has an annoying habit of flashing bright lights in my face.
I am mostly a homebody though. I've got some really great plans of what I am going to do as soon as I figure out how to move my arms and legs around. I see stuff all over I can get into. There's this other guy who is older and even uglier then the guy with the beard. He keeps an eye on me in the mornings and gives me a bottle every now and then. He is really nice to me and he carries me around sometimes. One day he took me in front of the mirror and I saw myself. At first I thought it was another baby but I figured it out after awhile. I really am cute!! I was checking myself out and then the big jerk walked away from the mirror. I cried for awhile and then he gave me a bottle so figured I shouldn't complain.
Well everyone, I got to go. You can't imagine how hard it is to type this and it's time for my seventh nap anyway. Also I will probably have a little trouble proofreading this and getting the spell check to work so I'll sign off.
Love, Conor :)

My Hotel Room in Florida

OK, I know it is long overdue (I am quite behind on updating my blog with pics) but here is the Hotel and room I stayed in while I was in Florida. :)

Cooking With Naomi

Naomi has started to teach the girls how to cook. So far there have been 2 cooking sessions with her, and both times the meals were fabulous! It is wonderful to be able to come home from work and have dinner ready and waiting for me!! :)

The first dinner was Appetizer of Fruit (Strawberries and grapes) with fruit dip, Salad, Lemon Herb Chicken, Southern potato wedges, and chocolate mousse pie. Wonderful!

The second dinner was Salad, Spaghetti, Garlic toast, Red White and Blue Jello dessert, as well as cookies. Also wonderful!

The girls are having fun learning to cook and they are also learning table etiquette. They also have a list of things that then cannot say, and more appropriate alternatives that they can. For example, they cannot say "Ewwww, I don't like this!" An alternative to that is, "I have tried this and I do not care for it, so I will not have anymore." Or something like that - don't quote me! :) They are also working on complimenting each other on things they are doing well - being positive to one another.

So far, the cooking team consists of Allie, Ceara, Nikki, Kaitlyn, and aunt Naomi. They have done an excellent job!!

Now we are going to throw Conor into the mix and see how well they do with that! :)

More Updates

Jeff's surgery has now been moved up to July 5th, next Wednesday. It has not yet been approved by anyone, but they recognize the need for it, so they are waiving approval at this time so that he can get the surgery done. They will decide who has to pay for it after it is all done. My guess is it will be us, I do not have much faith in insurance companies and government agencies. So approximately one month after his injury, he will finally have some relief from the pain.

He had to go to the hospital yesterday for pre-admission testing and then to his doctor after that for something (I'm still not sure what). We left the house with him laying in the back-seat of my car with a lot of pillows around him. I felt that I should have a sign on my car somewhere saying that I had a fragile passenger to explain my idiot-like driving. We made it to the hospital and I took him to the door to drop him off while I parked the car. We had brought a little wooden stool from home to assist in his getting in and out of the car because he is no longer able to walk at all. :( The stool also came in handy when trying to get him into the wheel chair. Being unable to sit, he had to kneel in the chair facing the wrong way. I left him sitting outside the door (he did not want to go in to wait) and went to park the car. Of course there were no parking spaces remotely close. So I parked way out in the parking lot. I was trying to hurry to get back to him so that he would not be sitting out there by himself for long, so I hurried and grabbed my purse and started walking to the door. About 3/4 of the way there I realized that I did not bring his paperwork or any of his cards (insurance and BWC), so I hesitated for a second, not wanting to have to go back but knowing I would have to anyway. So I went back to the car, got the papers and headed back to him.

Getting everything situated and Jeff as comfortable as he could be, I began pushing him through the hospital. He was facing me, so that meant of course, that his butt was sticking out at all the people we passed. When I asked him where we were supposed to go, he replied, "Past as many people as you can so that they can see my butt."

That must have made him think about it because his next question was, "You can't see my butt crack can you? I don't want people saying 'there goes another plummer' when I pass." So, even in pain he manages to be a comedian.

We arrived at the pre-admissions area and there was a couch. I went to the desk and answered the questions while he waited, then I was sent over with some paperwork to ask him questions and get his signature. One of the questionnaire was very strange. It asked what time he went to sleep (varies due to his job); if he woke up for any reasons during his sleep (no, not normally); if so, what for? - it was at this point he said, "What does this have to do with anything?!?"

I wasn't entirely sure but it eluded to the care given during his stay in the hospital, so I told him they probably wanted to know so that when he was there after his surgery they would be prepared a little better. I don't know. So then he changed his mind about the prior answers. "Tell them I get up several times a night to eat, and I need a lot of chocolate."

I don't think so. I left the answers the way they were and turned the forms back into the desk nurse. They did come to get him rather quickly but when we got to the small room, there was a recliner and a chair for the nurse, and a computer. Not a lot of room for the wheel chair and the nurse thought he might be OK in the recliner. He attempted to get into the recliner and the nurse tried to quickly recline it so that he would not be sitting, but she tried too quickly - before the wheel chair was out of the way. His feet hit the wheel chair, causing him severe pain - which sent him flying from the chair and onto the floor. (I do not know if I mentioned it previously, but his right foot is VERY sensitive to any form of physical touch - he cannot even stand for a blanket to be tossed onto it.) Seeing the amount of pain he was in prompted the nurse to want to speed things up for him so he didn't have to suffer any longer than necessary. She went through the check list and asked him all the necessary questions, Jeff tried to make jokes at some because I think he wanted to make her feel better. She was quite freaked out when the whole chair incident occurred.

He was *supposed* to watch some computer animated information program about his stay in the hospital that he says is horrible (he remembers it from the last surgery), but the nurse said he obviously could not sit at a computer. And he was in too much pain so they wanted to get him out as quickly as possible. Next step was the blood taking... she went and got a different nurse to come and take the blood. This part I could not watch - I can't stand needles! But when it was done Jeff said, "That's it, you're done? Wow, you do a good job taking blood, that didn't hurt at all!" He was clearly impressed, but I think he was just sucking up for some reason. Probably happy he didn't have to watch that video.

So that was it, we were free to go. We maneuvered him back into the wheel chair and I wheeled him back outside. He wanted to wait outside rather than inside while I went to get the car. He said if I get him a can he could probably get some people to give him money... :)

So, back in the car we head to the surgeon's office. They did not have wheel chairs, or a door to pull up to, so he had to crawl from the car to the office. This he hated and he started saying something about trying to walk.

"Oh, so you are willing to be in pain and possibly make your pain worse because you are worried about what other people think of you crawling?? Who cares?"

"Yeah, you're right. I just hate this."

We made it in the office, and they gave him a little stool on wheels to roll around on. They checked his blood pressure and went over the surgery, gave us a list of things that he could and could not do after the surgery and that was about it. He had some forms that he needed filled out by his doctor and she said to have the people at the front desk fill them out. We also asked for another prescription for the muscle relaxer he had been taken because he did not have enough to last until his surgery date. So she wrote him another prescription and sent us on our way. At the front desk we were told that the person who fills out the paperwork was in their other office and they could send the papers over to them and it would take 7-10 days to get them completed. This was not good as the BWC wanted the papers back ASAP, so they said we could take them over to the other office ourselves and she called to make sure the person - Katie - would be there to fill them out.

Good news, she was there and she was starting vacation the very next day, so it was a good thing we could take them to her today. Jeff wanted to try to walk back to the car, so he stood up and put his arm around my shoulders, and tried to hop on his good leg out the door. His face was filled with a pained expression and I knew he wasn't going to make it. He said to me, "Just get me out the door, hurry." So I did. As soon as we went through the door he fell to his hands and knees in pain. After pausing for a moment, he started his way to the car. He got in and got situated with the pillows, and we were off to the other office - which happened to be at the hospital we were just at on a different floor. Yep. That's right. The same place we just were. Now, why they couldn't just let him be seen in that office while we were in the same building I do not know.

We started down the street and Jeff needed some of his meds because his back was paying him back for his little walking stunt. I did not have anything to drink and there was nothing in site, so I drove past the hospital and finally found a UDF. I went in and got something to drink and went back to the hospital. I left him in the car this time while I went up to get the paperwork filled out.

As it turns out, Katie does not do fill out these forms, Babe does and she is off on Wednesdays. But she would be returning on Thursday and I could come back and pick them up. There was nothing I could do about it and I was too tired to be irritated, so I just said OK, I will come back tomorrow during my lunch hour.

I returned to the car and started to head home. Jeff was quiet in the backseat and didn't say much on the way home. We listened to NPR on the radio and didn't say much.

I do have to add something that has noting to do with Jeff. On the way to get him a drink I passed a sign that I felt was a little strange. It was a 'Caution deer crossing' sign, which, OK is fine. But it said "for the next 1/4 mile." So apparently someone has trained all the deer in the area to only cross the road in that 1/4 mile stretch of road. Or, maybe the deer in that area are really smart and can read, so they know which parts of the road are OK to cross and which parts are not. Or maybe whoever put the sign there is an idiot. Whatever the case, it irritated me enough to want to write about it. :)

We arrived home and Jeff crawled into the house, into our room, and fell asleep within minutes on his 'bed' of pillows on the floor. I unloaded all the stuff in my car and headed off to work.

The countdown has begun.... 6 more days.

Gage As A Baby

Ever taken a picture of a picture? That is what I did here. This is Gage when he was a little less than a month old. You can see the date in the picture - 4/23/02. I was holding him while he slept in this picture. :) Isn't he sweet?

Gage's 4th Birthday

A little over-due, but better late than never... :)

Chef Conor

The Birthday Boy... Jake turns 20

Just a'swingin'

Allie and Ceara swinging at Jake's 20th Birthday Party....

Update on Jeff

On Wednesday, Jeff's doctor called and told him not to bother to come in to see him that day, he had the results of the MRI and was referring him to a surgeon. So he called the surgeon and they did not have any openings until July, but told him to come in the next day (Thursday) at 11 and they would work him in. So, I took him to the surgeon's office. He was, at that time, able to walk for approximately 5 minutes at a time. Other than that, he cannot sit or stand; he is usually laying down or crawling around the house. So when we got to the surgeon's office, I went in to sign him in while he waited in the car. We were not sure how long it would take, and he didn't want to have to lay on the floor, so he chose to stay in the car until I was able to find out. Turns out they have a couch in the waiting room, so I went back out to get him to come in. We did not have to wait too long, I had to fill out some paperwork for him and then it was time to go back to see the doctor.

The diagnosis was just as expected, the disc had ruptured and was hitting his sciatic nerve. This was causing the severe pain in his leg. He will indeed need to have surgery and the doctor wanted to schedule it for the week of July 4th. He escorted us to the woman who does the surgery scheduling - since this happened while at work and it was being handled by workmen's comp, they would not be able to do the surgery until they have approval from the BWC. This approval has never been quicker than 2 weeks, so the surgery is scheduled for July 11th. Both the doctor and she felt that it would be easier to reschedule it if the approval was not received by then than it would be to try to fit him in after the approval. The doctor also prescribed a couple of medications that might help the swelling to go down a bit and possibly relieve the pain a bit while he has to wait. So, 2 weeks and 4 days from now, with any luck in the approval department, Jeff will have some pain relief then.

That might not be soon enough, however, because today Jeff has not been able to be on his feet for any longer than 15 seconds. He said he does not know how he is going to last 2 1/2 weeks the way he feels today.

Based on the surgery happening on July 11th, the doctor took Jeff off of work until August 18th, and that will be pending the physical therapist's analysis of him. If he does go back then, it will be "light duty" until 6 months have passed.

So, that is the update for now. The bureaucracy of it all is driving me crazy! Jeff has really good insurance (like 100 times better than mine!) and I wish we could just go through that instead of having to deal with the BWC. Approval this, approval that! They are not the ones who have to live with the pain, or with him while they decide if it is really necessary for the surgery. If they have the ability to decide better than a doctor what action should be taken, then they are in the wrong line of work!! Shouldn't they be doctors? They'd make a lot more money that way.

Just Stuff...

Well, it appears I am not getting the 6 foot privacy fence that I wanted. Ugh. Our HOA (Home Owners Association) denied it. Apparently, in our neighborhood, privacy is not allowed. We are not allowed to have a 6 foot fence. We can have 4 foot fences, but that is as tall as they will allow. Unless we get an in-ground pool. In-ground pools are required by city ordinance to have a 6 foot fence around them and city ordinance trumps HOA's rules. So - I got a shovel out and started digging..... OK, not really. We are now getting a 4 foot picket fence. Believe me, I would love to get a pool, but since I do not want to live in that neighborhood any longer than 2 more years, I am not putting a pool in! I'll invest in that when I am in a house I want to stay in...

In other news, it appears Jeff will be having back surgery again. As most of you may already know, Jeff has injured his back again. He had an MRI on Friday and managed to sweet talk the woman doing it into giving him a set of pictures to take with him. So he went to see his own doctor on Monday, with the MRI in hand. His doctor cannot "officially" do anything until he gets the "official" analysis of the MRI from an MRI specialist, but "un-officially" he will be referring him to a Neurosurgeon when he gets the "official" results. Now, what that means exactly, I do not know. It is the same disc that is ruptured as the last time. So, if there is not enough left of the disc, I am told by others that they will need to do some type of "fusion" on his spinal cord to make sure there is proper space where the disc should be. I know Jeff is in severe pain - a lot worse than the last time. He is unable to walk or sit, so he either lays down or crawls if he needs to move. And neither position is painless, just less pain than walking or sitting.

Now, believe it or not, his 1st doctor felt that he was capable of reporting to work for "light duty." Even though his work is about 45 minutes away and he is only allowed to sit for a maximum of 5 minutes at a time (that does not happen), they felt that he should be able to find someone to take him to work and he could lay in the back seat of the car while being transported. This is why a second opinion was needed, because he is hardly able to walk, let alone have to stand for 8 hours doing "light duty" jobs at work. His 2nd doctor removed him from any type of work pending MRI results.

So, the doctor's office is expecting the "official" analysis today and Jeff has an appointment at noon tomorrow to get the diagnosis. At that point, we believe he will be referred to a Neurosurgeon for surgery. I will try to update you all as soon as we know something.

On a lighter note, Conor decided that he wanted to stay home with Daddy today. Jeff felt that he would be OK with him there, so he stayed. I called just a little bit ago to find out the manufacturer of our dishwasher (it's broken and I want to see about getting it fixed). Jeff gave Conor the phone to talk to me while he went to check. Conor got on the phone and said, "I hit my head on the table, I want some chocolate and I want some money."

Simple as that. Chocolate and money make pain go away apparently. :)

Have a great day!

Being Neighborly

Suburbia. I really didn't think it would be that bad. I am a friendly, easy to get along with person, so I never imagined that I would have any problems with living in Suburbia. I was wrong. When we first moved in, we did not have any neighbors, their houses were still being built. We had met both of our neighbors at different times when they were visiting their houses during the construction phase, and on both sides of us seemed to be great neighbors. To the South of us we have a couple that had just gotten married and she has a boy - 3 or 4 years younger than Allie. To the North of us is an older couple, retired, who appeared very nice.

When Bob and Carol first moved in, they had a dog - Penny. They did not have grass however, because the builder had not had the opportunity to lay the sod. Penny did not like to "do her business" in the mud, so they asked if she could use our yard. I certainly didn't have a problem with that, it wasn't going to hurt anything. Bob and Carol were very nice, always chatting with me when we were all outside. Penny passed away not long after they had moved in, though, and they did not get another pet.

Then we got our first dog - Teddy. We rescued him from a dog shelter and to this day, he is still hesitant about meeting new people. He is a very good dog, house broken, good with the kids. Since he is a house dog, and we do not have a fence, we put him outside periodically throughout the day. The leash that I had gotten at first was a bit too long, and he was able to reach Bob and Carols back yard. He didn't do any real damage, just messed up some of the mulch surrounding one of their trees. I had come home at lunch time one day and Carol showed me where he had messed the mulch up and asked that I shorten his leash. I even wrote a blog about it... if you go back to last year. I was extremely apologetic, I shortened the leash immediately, and I even got them a gift basket to apologize.

Then a few months later, Carol stopped me outside one day and said that Teddy had been using the bathroom on her tree - and that it was turning it brown. I told her that Teddy could not reach her tree - and that even if he could, he did not yet lift his leg to pee. So I did not feel that it was him that was doing the damage to her tree. I was very nice about it, I even showed her that the leash did not reach her yard. During this very conversation, a stray dog walked up to her tree and peed - right on the brown area. So, my dog was free from suspicion, or so I thought.

While I was in Florida, Jeff had gone out and bought a new leash - just one, because we have tried to do 2 and let them out together, but they always get tangled together and it was a headache to get them apart. When he called to tell me about it, the very first thing I said was, "Make sure the dogs can NOT reach Bob and Carol's yard." He said that he had.

The Monday following my return from Florida, I called a local fence company to set up an appointment to get an estimate on a fence. They were coming out on Tuesday to take the measurements and give me the estimate. Monday afternoon, our network went down at work, so I was sent home to work from there. When I walked up to my door, there was a note left on it - from Carol, of course. "Kate - will you please shorten your dog's leash, he has been in my yard and messed up my mulch." Signed - Bob and Carol and other neighbors. I was irritated by it, and went directly to the back yard to check the measurement of the leash - to make sure Jeff had shortened it. I walked it as far as I could towards her yard and it did not come close. We had a shed built last year, and they could not reach past the shed - and we have a few feet past the shed that is still our property. So, having verified that they could not reach, I put Teddy out first. I started working on my computer - which is in my bedroom, right next to the window. After a little bit, I went to let Teddy in and put Zeus out, then returned to working.

Through my window I could hear Carol saying, "Get! Get! Shooo!" so I looked out the window to see what she was doing and I see her spraying Zeus with a water hose! He was in MY yard, no where near her's, and it was enough to make me snap. I'd had enough of her false accusations and trying to be nice and ignore it. I opened my window and said, "Carol he is nowhere near your yard and you have no right to be spraying him with a hose while he is in MY YARD!"

"Well, he messed up the mulch around my trees here."

"No, he did not - the leash he is on does not reach your yard. It could have been some other animal in the neighborhood." I replied.

"Well, I'm home all day and I haven't seen any other animals in this area besides yours." she said.

"Well, I'm NOT home all day, and I HAVE seen other animals in this area besides mine. Did you see either of my dogs actually doing it?"

"Well, no, but it had to be them."

OK, stupid people really irritate me. I walked outside, walked Zeus over as far as I could stretch the leash and said, "See - he cannot reach your yard."

She replied once again, "It had to be him, there are no other animals in this area that could have done it."

My patience was gone at this point. I said, "Oh, please! Do you remember last year when you accused Teddy of making your tree turn brown?? And while you were telling me about it, ANOTHER dog walked up to that very tree and peed on that very brown spot. Do you remember that?"

"No, I don't remember that..."

"Well, it's a good thing there was a witness here besides you and me, then! I don't know what your problem is that you have to blame everything that goes wrong with your yard on my dogs, but they are not always to blame. When they did do something I apologized to you for it and did my best to make it up to you. I have tried to be a good neighbor to you, but I am tired of all of this. I initially thought you would be a good neighbor to live by, but boy was I wrong! I have an appointment to get an estimate for a fence tomorrow, so hopefully I will have a fence soon and I won't have to deal with you anymore."

"Well, good. I'm not going to stand here and argue with you about it."

And she walked away. I actually have not seen her since that day. I got the fence estimate, approved it, and it should be started any day now. They were a few weeks behind schedule when I got the estimate, but that was 3 weeks ago, so it should be ANY day. I can't wait!

I have honestly tried to be good neighbors, I have taken them baked goods when I make them, I have talked to them when I see them outside, she has even borrowed things from me before - Conor's high-chair when her grandson was over and she didn't have one. I do not know what has happened to make her all of a sudden not like us, or if she just is one of those people who like to complain about everything, but I'm done being "neighborly" to her. I'm glad the couple on the other side of us are good neighbors! We haven't had any problems with them at all. Their son plays with our kids, their dog has played with our dogs (stayed with us while they went on vacation), and they are always talking to or inviting Conor over to their yard to play if they are outside.

My experiences with Carol, however, make me want to flee suburbia ASAP!

Florida - Day 4

The 4th day is the day we left. I woke up at 6am before my alarm even went off. Breakfast was being served from 7 - 8 or something like that, but like I said before, I'm not a breakfast person so I didn't want to go. I did however want a coffee. I put on some clothes, my new Lenovo hat, and some sunglasses and went to the cafe. I got my coffee and went back to my room. We had to check out by 11am, so I started gathering and packing my things. I also got out my laptop and logged into my work email to stay caught up. Robert called while I was getting my coffee and left me a message. I returned his call and told him I was not going to breakfast, that I had already gotten a coffee and I was packing. He had already packed his stuff the night before, so he was ready to go.

I took a shower and got dressed, trying to pack as I finished using something. I was taking my time because I had plenty of it. I talked to my boss for a little while on Instant Messenger before shutting down my computer and packing it, too. It was still relatively early - 9am, so I read for a little while before leaving my room. Robert called and was ready to get all of his things out of his room and go to the main hotel and walk around. Our bus to the airport did not leave until 12:45, so I was not in a hurry to leave - we had plenty of time to walk around after checkout time! I told him he could bring his stuff and come to my room if he wanted to, while I finished up. But since my room was in the opposite direction, he did not want to bring all of his luggage with him to my room and then have to take it all the way back to the lobby. So he went on down to the lobby to check his bags with the bell hop while we waited. He called and said we could go ahead and get our boarding passes and our luggage checked right at the hotel, so he was doing that. After the fiasco of getting my luggage on the first day, I was hesitant to trust them with it again. But Robert thought it would be fine, so I decided to do it, too.

When I came to Orlando, I had 2 bags - my suitcase with my clothes that I checked at the airport, and my laptop bag that I carried onto the airplane. Now that I am leaving, I have 4 bags. Two that were given to us by Lenovo in addition to the ones I brought with me - both of the new ones were full, also. The laptop case they gave us was full with all of the freebies we were given. The other was a canvas beach-bag type that I had put the souvenirs I had bought. So not having to worry about carrying them through the airport to check was sounding rather good. If they got lost, I had clothes at home to wear! :)

So I proceeded to the lobby with all of my bags in tow. I went to the desk to check out because they did not have video check out, so I wanted to make sure nothing else was needed by me. I checked my two carry-on bags with the bell hop guys, and proceeded outside to where the airline check-in is located. Robert was sitting off to the side of the counter, and there was a line, so I took my place in line and waited. Apparently Robert was having problems. When they tried to print his baggage labels, the did not print. When they tried to re-process, they received an error that the passenger was over his limit of bags to check. We were only allowed to check 2 bags, and the computer thought he was trying to check 4. So, after talking to the airline, the people at the counter told him he would have to check his bags at the airport.

Not promising, but I went ahead and did it anyway. I did not have any problems with mine. :) With our luggage out of the way, we decided to walk around and shop in the shops, take pictures that we had not taken previously, and just hang out. It was a beautiful, sunny day, so after we were finished with everything else, we sat outside on a bench near the bus stop. It was around noon, so we had a while. Another bus came to the stop and they asked if we were supposed to be on it. After telling them that our bus was supposed to be the 12:45 one, they said if the bus driver was OK with it, we could go ahead on this one. Since we were not sure how long it would take to fix his luggage issue, we went for it.

We arrived at the airport and had to walk FOREVER to the baggage check. It was packed! I'm glad I didn't have to deal with it, but since Robert did, I found a bench nearby and waited. It wasn't too bad, about 10 minutes or so, and we were off to find our gate. The security check line was a lot longer here than in Dayton, but it didn't take too long. Put everything in a bin, take off your shoes and any coats you have, remove any computers or video cameras from their cases, put them on the conveyor belt thing, and walk through. No problem.

We found our gate and took our seats. I decided to go and get something for lunch and left my stuff with Robert. Burger King was the most appealing at the time, so I went there to get some food. It was like a cafeterial line - they put sandwiches in a warmer and you choose what you want, put it on a try and move forward to the cashier. Condiments are on a little island so you can take what you want, except for ketchup. What is it with the rationing of ketchup?? I had to go back and wait in line to receive 2 small packages of ketchup from the cashier.

When walking back to the gate, I looked around at all the people. There was one couple sleeping - the woman laying on the bench and the man lying on the floor beneath the bench. Both appeared to be sleeping rather well. I don't think I could sleep like that, in a public place, but if they were able to, more power to them.

Our plane was scheduled to fly out at 3:10PM. We did not have seats anywhere near each other this time, and the plane was full. I spent the flight time reading and we were home in no time. I gathered my bags and walked down the rolling stairs to wait for Robert (he was further back than I was) and we headed for the baggage claim area. After we passed the security check point, Roberts daughter came running for him, so happy to see him. I had told Jeff that he could be late and that way I would be sure to have my luggage already and he wouldn't have to park.

I got my luggage, said good-bye to Robert and his family, and went outside to sit on a bench. I called Jeff to see if they were anywhere near, but did not get through. Allie called me back and told me they were near West Carrolton, so I knew it would be a little while. It was a nice day, so I didn't mind sitting outside waiting. :) Besides, I still had some of my book left to read!

Perfect timing, I finished the last sentence in the book and looked up to see my car coming towards me. Conor was sitting in the back seat and his eyes got really wide when he saw me. At least someone missed me!! I started getting my bags and putting them in the trunk, Jeff got out and helped me, and the girls got out to switch seats, so Conor was left buckled into his car seat. I opened the back door and let him out and he just hugged me so tight. He kept telling me "I love you, mommy!"

I was definitely glad to be home! It was fun, and a little busy, and I just wanted to go home and relax. Yeah, right. Relax. I don't know what that is anymore! :) We ended up stopping to get something to eat because everyone was hungry and I didn't want to cook! I had Jeff drop me off at home before taking Ceara to her mom's house, so I got home at 8:30 and had a little bit of quiet time to unpack and start some laundry. But I was happy to be home! :)

Florida - Day 3

I got up today with no problems, I actually woke up at 6AM - well before my alarm clock went off. I piddled around a little bit because I was still a little bit asleep, but I eventually got in the shower. I heard my phone ringing and knew it was Robert, but obviously I couldn’t answer it. I called him back when I got out to let him know that I was way ahead of him.

This is on Tuesday – this is the day that we have only a couple of hours in a meeting then we were going to Epcot! :) We made it to breakfast in plenty of time – bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, biscuits, gravy, donuts, muffins, coffee cake, 3 juices, and coffee. I do like all of these things, but I really am not much of a breakfast person. I got a little bit of food on my plate and headed towards a seat. Robert piled his plate high and followed. I ate some of the food, but really just wanted coffee. The coffee they had was not as good as the one I had found in the café the day before, so I opted to go back there and get another one of those. Robert told me that I’m spoiled. Yeah, whatever. :) Just when it comes to my coffee.

I returned in time for the meeting, located Robert and took my seat. The opening for this meeting was 4 small Chinese boys doing acrobatic stunts with the help of some barrel type things that looked like over-sized round cheese graters. They were great! I do not really know how to describe what they did without it sounding really, ummmm, bad. I will attempt to do so….. They could sit on these “barrels” and fold their bodies so that they went all the way down in them – with their feet and heads sticking out of the top. They would then rock the barrel so that they tipped forward and could get out. They formed a pyramid with 3 of them, then the one on the top would bend over and put the barrel on his bottom… and the 4th one would do some flips on the ground and spring up to land with his bottom in the other side of the barrel. They all did all sorts of acrobatic flips and stunts, and it was great! They looked to be around maybe 8 years old.

After their show it got BORING. I was finding it difficult to stay awake. One of the presenters found it necessary to share with us the same slide show that was shown to the managers the day before – the techs hadn’t seen it, but they were finding it quite boring, too. The 1 ½ hours that we had to sit there were longer than any other time. We were finally free to go at 10AM. This was the day that everyone could do whatever they had chosen – Disney World, MGM Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Golf. We had chosen Epcot. It had begun to rain, but we still wanted to go. Robert wasn’t feeling quite up to it at that time, so he wanted to go to his room and take a nap. I told him to call me when he was ready and I went to my room and did some work, then read while I waited. I finally called him at noon and asked him if he still wanted to go. So he got ready and we were off.

We rode the mono-rail and arrived at Epcot. We rode the ride in the big silver ball first. I forget the name of it… it was interesting. After that one, we went to ride a space shuttle simulation-type ride. It was, of course, still raining. Robert was very excited about the space ship ride, but I was very skeptical. It said “if you get motion sickness, or you do not like spinning, you shouldn’t ride this ride.” OK, I do not like spinning at all (I’m getting old and it isn’t fun anymore!), but I only get motion sickness if I am trying to read while riding. So I went ahead and rode it. I must say it was an experience. Not the worst, not the best. I’m glad I know what it is like, but I am not likely to ride it again.

Those were the only 2 rides we had time to ride. We had to be back at the hotel for dinner (which was at 7PM) and closing ceremonies. We spent the rest of our time walking around to the different countries. I absolutely loved it. I loved seeing the various creations made by the different cultures, and the atmosphere and music was wonderful! :)

We ate lunch in France, watched a band performing in Morocco (called Mo Rockin), and were entertained by a Mime in Italy. We walked through almost every store in quite a few of the countries. We were not able to visit them all because we had to leave to get back for dinner. Of course I got yelled at a lot for “wandering off” while we were browsing – I think Robert has some sort of fear of being left behind. He kept threatening to buy a leash and put me on it so that he wouldn’t lose me. For goodness sake, we both had our cell phones and could call each other if we were to lose each other, but that didn’t sooth his worry, apparently. I would walk outside a shop I was done in before he was done looking and he would yell “Katie! Where are you going?” Ummmm… just right out here Robert, I will wait for you… I told him at one point that we were both adults and would both be fully capable of finding our way back to the hotel on our own if we were unable to find each other! Dang! Lol

I got Conor a small drum in Morocco – he likes to pretend he is playing the drums a lot on stuff, so I felt he would enjoy it. I also got various samples of chocolate from different countries. Germany, France, Italy… to name a few. For the girls I got little mini – drum things… like they used in Karate Kid. There are 2 beads attached by a string to each side of the drum (which is on a stick) and you twist it to make it play a beat.

It rained on and off the entire day and we were both pretty damp. It didn’t really bother me, I’m not the type to get upset over rain – I don’t care if my hair gets messed up or anything like that – at least not usually. Now, if I were all dressed up to go somewhere and wanted to look nice, I would care a bit more.

We were late arriving back at the hotel – we did not get there until 6:50PM – because the mono-rail made a lot more stops on the way back. So I did not have a whole lot of time to get ready. Robert wanted to just go on down, so I told him to go ahead because it would take me a little while. He really didn’t want to go by himself, he asked how long and offered to wait… but I wouldn’t give him a specific time and told him it could be a while so he would just go. He called my cell phone to let me know where he was sitting and that he would save me a seat. It did not take me too long, actually. I straightened my hair out and re-did my makeup. I had to iron my pants, too, and I was done and there by 7:40. Not bad. 10 minutes of that is how long it took to walk from my room to the convention center.

The last diner consisted of salad, Lobster, steak, grilled chicken, muscles, red-potatoes, beans, corn on the cob, and dinner rolls. It was served buffet style, all-you-can-eat. They said the record for the most Lobsters eaten had been set last year – 16 of em. Robert only could eat 3. There was, once again, an open bar, too. They did a few prize drawings and then they had 2 guys with pianos on-stage performing. They were great! Not only did they play music and sing, but they did comedy routines, too. It was hilarious. They eventually asked for the members of the Security Advisory Committee to come up on stage (our VP is one of the members). When they all were up there, the piano guys said that they were instructed to embarrass them the best way they could. So, one of them instructed them on how to dance while the other played the Piano and sang. The song and dance? The YMCA. It was absolutely hilarious! They would stop the music in the middle of the chorus to point out that some of them did not know how to spell – that YMCA was not YMAC or ACMY – and there was no e or I in there! Oh, it was great! And the best part – we have pictures…. Really good pictures…. The VP has stated that he knows who to come after should those pictures ever get sent out to the entire company, or to our company newsletter…

The evening actually ended at 10PM, as scheduled. I was invited to a party at the Jacuzzi by one of the other service managers, but I was not up for it. I said maybe and went back to my room. I did consider it for a little while, but in the end I chose to just read in bed for a while. It is not very often that I am able to read anymore, and I have a Jacuzzi tub at home… so, kinda an easy decision for me. I did intend to walk out there to say good-bye to all the new people I had met, but I didn’t make it. I was asleep before midnight. Yep, just a party animal…

The forth and final day will be short and sweet, but it will also be on another post… this one is too long, anyway!

Florida - Day 2

I woke up to the phone ringing - it was Robert wondering if I was ready for breakfast. Ummmm, no... you just woke me up. Apparently I slept right through my alarm clock. It was 7:10 and our meeting started at 8, so I knew I could make that. I told Robert to go on to breakfast without me and that I would see him at the meeting. Oh, well, I'm not much of a breakfast person anyway - I just need my coffee and I am fine. I got into the shower and got ready in no time. I walked to the hotel coffee shop, hoping to find something that would be comparable to my usual coffee back home. I ordered the special from the sign - it looked and sounded good - then I went to the conference center to get to the meeting. I got there before it started, found Robert in the huge crowd, and took my seat beside him.

I had no idea what to expect, but the theme of the meeting was the Olympics. Lenovo was a huge sponsor of the Olympics and had chosen that for the theme. The lights dimmed and all these people in togas made their way up the center isle. They all took their places on stage around the pillars and 2 men in spandex white shorts came out on stage and faced each other. Talk about muscular. Oh my.... I don't think I could begin to describe how ripped these 2 are - huge muscles!! The 2 men began a routine of complicated stunts, some things I did not think were possible. They took hold of each others arms, one's right arm locked onto the others right arm by holding onto each other's forearms - close to their elbows, and one of them laid down on the stage. He locked his arm that was holding the other guys arm and the 2nd guy balanced and paralleled his body - suspended in air by their single arms connected. The guy on the floor then proceeded to stand up while holding ... (ok, "the guy on the floor" and the "other guy" terms are getting confusing and hard to describe, so I will give them names... let's go with Chris and Dan.. :) much easier lol) OK, so Chris stood up while balancing Dan on his one arm and held him above his head - as if they were trying to form the letter T. Several of these balancing and lifting stunts were performed. It was amazing. One other that stands out in my mind is Chris standing with his head down - chin to his chest, with Dan upside down in the same position - on top of Chris. They were NOT holding onto anything - their shoulders were touching and that was all. Chris turned in a circle while Dan balanced - only by his shoulders on Chris' shoulders - upside down with his feet straight up in the air. I do not know if that is descriptive enough for you all to know what I am talking about, but the bottom line is that these guys were AMAZING! Oh, and they were very, very hot!! :)

After that, the opening meeting continued and it was actually funny and interesting. Not your usual boring speeches and boring material. They kept it light and funny. At 10, we were released to go visit the vendors, then we had to break into smaller groups for training. There were several vendors there, all giving out something... pens, golf balls, towels, USB hubs, USB mice, re-tractable Ethernet cables, and so on. So I had a ton of stuff to carry around. I had left the bag that I had received upon registration the previous day in my room.

Our training started at 10:30ish, I had to go with the managers and Robert go to go with the techs. Of course they got to play games and have fun, while we got to watch slide show presentations and listen to people read them to us. That always amazes me. They do a slide show, make copies to hand out to you, then they have to stand up there and read them!! Seems like a big waste of time to me. If you are going to make a slide show, you can point out major points, but other than that - unless the people you are giving it to are toddlers and cannot read - you should just let people read it them selves!

We were released for lunch at 11:45, to return to the meeting room in 1 hour. Robert did not get a lunch break at the same time as me, so we did not see each other until dinner. After lunch, the guy went through things rather quickly and released us at 1:45 for break, but we didn't have to return until 3:00, so I went back to my room and read a bit. Our 3:00 guy went really fast, too, and he released us at 4. Since the bus to dinner wasn't leaving until 6:30, that gave me a couple of hours to myself. I went to my room and caught up on my work email to make sure there wasn't anything that needed immediate attention. Then I went ahead and got ready for dinner.

For dinner, we were all bussed to the House Of Blues - they had rented out the music hall for the entire night. There were people walking around with food as well as a buffet set up on 2 sides of the room. There was an excellent band performing and an open bar. It was a lot of fun. I got to meet a lot of the other people there - more of the managers that I hadn't already met, and several more technicians. I got a lot of contacts to use when we need service to one of our customers in their areas. We also spent a big part of the evening hanging out with our Vice President - I always had liked him before, but now I like him even more. He is a great guy, very down to earth and not at all pretentious as some people in his position would be. We had a great time.

There were supposed to be busses running every 15 minutes to take us back to the hotel, but when we went to get one, there was a group coming back that said they had been waiting for 25 minutes with no luck. So we went to another area to see if maybe they were at the wrong place. There was a taxi sitting there and our VP walked up to him and asked him to take us back to the hotel. He paid for it and we all piled in. When we got back to the hotel, it was 11 and Robert said, "It would be a shame not to make use of the pools and Jacuzzies while we are here..." so we went and got our suits on and met back at the pool area. There were a few others who had the same idea. We hung out there for a while, talking, telling stories, laughing and having fun. I was the first to leave - it had been a long day and I was tired. The hot water in the Jacuzzi just added to that, but it did feel good. I slept very soundly and had no problems waking up the next morning for breakfast.

Day 3 continued at a later time....

Florida - Day 1

Well, today has not turned into the best day, I certainly hope it gets better! To start with, I didn't get much sleep last night, trying to get everything together and not forget anything. I arrived at the airport 2 hours prior to my flight, as I am supposed to, got right through the ticketing counter and the security, then had nothing to do for 2 hours. Since my favorite coffee shop was not open early enough, I did not get to start my day with my usual coffee, so I thought I would get one from the cafe in the airport. It did not even come close to holding a candle to my usual.

Robert arrived not long after I did, and we went to sit at our gate - B12. We were the only ones there for a while. He is sick, coughing, stuffy nose, sneezing... blah... We finally get on the plane and we had seats in a row, I was 7A, he was 8A. The plane was small, so there were single seats on the row, so we could not sit next to each other. Not a problem because I had a book to read, and I was tired. I started out reading my book - big mistake. It made me feel sick. So I quit reading and just rested my head against the seat, trying to go to sleep. Not much luck there, either. But, I survived the boring 2 hour flight, no problem. We arrived at the airport at approximately 1PM and they wheeled stairs out for us to exit the plane. Yep, the plane was that small. :) Stepping outside, I was immediately hot - it was 40 degrees when we left OH, so I had worn pants and log sleeves - and here in Florida, it is 85 degrees. Oh, well, I figured I could handle it until we reached the hotel and I could change.

Once we arrived at the main building, we had to find the Disney welcome center. There was no need to go to the baggage claim area because Disney had sent us special tags to put on our luggage, and they would retrieve it for us and bring it to our rooms within 2 hours of our arrival. After consulting our airport map, we finally figured it out and went down some escalator stairs. Mad house. TONS of people everywhere. Big long lines waiting to board the busses. We had to go to a counter, register, then proceed to the "associate with the big white Mickey hand" for our lane assignment. After waiting in line a while, we finally boarded the bus. It was a big, nice bus. Comfortable seats, flip down TV screens, and a bathroom in the rear. I don't even remember how long the drive was, but it wasn't too bad. I don't know what they use the TV screens for normally, but we did not get to watch anything. We stopped at another resort before the Contemporary to let some of the other passengers off, but we were the second stop, so that was good. We register at the front desk and get our room information - they are both in a building separate from the main building, I am on the ground floor with a patio, and Robert is on the second floor - about 1/2 mile away... yeah, really. Far away.

We decided to go ahead and go to the Convention Center and register with Lenovo before going to our rooms. We received a bunch of "freebie" gifts upon registering, among them a shirt, and then we proceeded to our rooms. Mine is the 3rd farthest room in the entire complex. I had to walk forever! Lugging my carry-on and my freebie stuff. I get to the room at approximately 3:30PM. So, 2 1/2 hours from landing, I finally got to my room. Now, one might think that my luggage would be waiting on me in my room, but no such luck. So I figured I would get my carry-on unpacked, maybe take a nap and relax a bit, then my luggage may finally arrive. After settling in, I was thirsty, so I went off in search of a soda machine. I finally found one - a long way away from my room. I would think they would have more convenient access to them for all the rooms in this place - but not so. The price on one soda from the machine is $2.50 - highway robbery - but I was thirsty, hot, tired, and willing to pay it. I tried in vain to get the machine to take the money I had, but it would not. It did have a slot for credit cards - but I did not bring one with me. I did, however, have my room key card. It was supposed to act as a credit card during my stay and charge anything I would like to purchase to my room. So I tried it. No luck. Not a valid card, it said. So I walked all the way back to my room, got another card and walked back to the machine. I swiped my card, chose my selection, and nothing. I tried again. Nothing. And one more time because I was desperate, but nothing. Each time the screen said "vending product" but it did not vend anything! So I gave up. I went back to my room and called the front desk to report the machine. I probably got charged $7.50 for nothing. They said if I see any charges on my card to call them and they would be able to reimburse me.

It is now 4:30 and I decided to just take a nap. After just falling asleep, Robert called and wanted to see if I had received my luggage yet. Nope. So I call the baggage people and the guy says he will look into it and call me right back. He never called back. At 5:30, we decided to go look around in the hotel for something to drink and for me some shorts. We looked around at all the shops, I bought some shorts and a 2 liter bottle of Sprite (for $3.50), and headed back to our rooms to see about getting ready for the Luau that we were to attend at 7PM.

Still no luggage. So, I called the baggage people again. I was once again told that I would be called back in 5-10 minutes with a status. Yeah, right. I told the person on the phone that I had been told that same thing at 5PM and had never gotten a return call. He assured me he would call me back. He did call back - he said they had located my luggage and would bring it to my room within 10 minutes. Great! I hung up the phone and waited. 7:50 - no luggage. I called again. Was told once again that I would get my luggage in 5-10 minutes. By this time, I was starving, and did not want to wait any longer. So I put my Lenovo shirt on (at least it was short sleeves!), called Robert (he did the same) and we went to the Luau. All of the Lenovo people were wearing the same shirt, but all of the other people were wearing normal cloths.

We got our food and some drinks, and sat down to eat. A couple of vendors approached us thinking we were from Lenovo, so we had to explain the situation to them. We talked to them for a while - about the service industry and their product - AMD Processors - and finally just relaxed and had fun. The Luau was supposed to end at 9PM, but everyone was having such a good time that they extended it. The band continued to play and the continued to serve drinks. Robert and I were talking and watching people when we noticed a guy who looked like our Vice President. After discussing it for a few minutes and trying to see his badge, we just went over and talked to him. It was in fact our VP. He was sitting with 2 of our Technicians from other branches that we had not met before, so we sat with them and talked business for a while. At 10:30 the band quit and everyone started leaving. Not the group I was with... they just kept talking and talking.... At 11, I had finally had enough so I excused myself and came back to my room. My luggage had finally arrived!! I unpacked my clothes, changed into my PJ's, and got ready for bed.

I think I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was exhausted! I awoke to an ear-piercing alarm going off - I looked for the alarm clock to turn it off, but it wasn't the alarm clock. It was 2AM. I called the front desk, half asleep, and asked what that "horrible noise is??" to find that it was the fire alarm. I asked if there really was a fire and was told no - just a problem with the system and their engineers were working to stop it. Great. Breakfast was being served @ 6:30AM and I had to get up in a couple of hours, so I put a pillow over my head to drown out the alarm and went back to sleep.

So far, day one was not a good day..... I will continue with Day 2 at a later time. :)

Catching up...

Wow! I didn't put one post on here in the month of April! I have a ton of pictures that I was going to put on here, but I haven't taken the time to download them to my computer yet. So that won't happen today.

My job is getting a little less stressful for me for a couple of reasons.

1. Louisville is no longer my responsibility, kinda. The "decision makers" at my company decided to combine the Louisville and Cincinnati branches, so Cincinnati is now doing for Louisville what I used to do for them. It has only been in effect for 4 days now, so I am still doing some of it. Tomorrow I will be training a Cincinnati person on what all has to be done for Louisville. After that, my involvement will be minimal.

2. I decided that it is just not worth it. It's a job, and while I will always do the best job I can, some things are out of my control. And I can't do everything. It's funny, I received an email from a Corporate person concerning our Toledo branch. I responded and told her that I worked for the Dayton branch and she needed to contact someone from the Toledo branch. Her response was that she was told that I was now over the Toledo branch, too. I immediately went to Joe (the one who volunteered me for Louisville) and asked, "Did you volunteer me for Toledo and forget to tell me??" Turns out it was a mix-up, thank goodness.

I also want to spend more time with my family. I saw my brother last month - the first time I have seen him since Christmas - and I want to spend more time with him. I want my kids to know him better. He will be 21 this weekend - on Mother's Day as a matter of fact - and I want to be more involved in his life.

I also do not see my dad as much as I want to. So I took Conor with me one Friday night and went to visit him. We had a lot of fun. My dad's dog, Toby, is hilarious. Dad has always had dogs and they are always so well trained. Toby has his own "ramp" to get into and out of my dad's pool. Dad threw a toy into the water and told Toby to go get it. He stood on his ramp and just looked at the toy floating in the middle of the pool - wanting to jump in, but hesitating. So Dad said, "What, you want your raft?" and he pushed a pool float towards Toby. He jumped onto it and floated around the pool on it... trying to will himself towards the toy, I think, because he kept running back and forth on the float trying to stretch towards where the toy was. He finally gave up and just jumped in and got it. He brought it out of the pool and put it down on the deck near Conor. Conor was just delighted by the whole thing. He picked up the toy and threw it back into the pool. This went on for a while. When Toby seemed to be worn out, Dad got a towel out and put it on the deck and told Toby to dry off. And he did! He went over to the towel and rolled around on it, drying himself off. It was so funny!

Oh, and my Dad has always been referred to as PePaw - this is because there were so many grandparents and each one needed a different name to be referred to as. So we have Grandma (my grandma), Mimi (my mom), Poppy (my step-dad), Pepaw (my dad), Naner (my step-mom). But Conor does not pronounce PePaw correctly, so it sounds like he is saying "Meatball" - which is always a source of a good laugh. I don't know how my dad feels about being referred to as ball of meat, but everyone else thinks it is very amusing! :)

Bottom line is I do not spend as much time with my family as I would like to. I am going to try to change that, though.

On yet another subject, my trip to Florida is coming up - I fly out on Sunday morning. Yep, on Mother's day. I don't know who scheduled this conference for Mother's Day, but it had to be a man. heehee. We will be going to Epcot - not Disney World - because the technician I am going with has his heart set on Epcot. I have never been to Epcot, so it will be an experience for me. So the next post will probably be about my trip to Florida. :)

Oh, I just realized that I didn't really say anything about anyone else! Allie is going to be a teenager in just a couple of months, but she is already exibiting the characteristics. You know - embarassed to hang around her mom, the attitude, the rolling of her eyes, sleeping late, make-up, all kinds of stuff.

Ceara has decided to come back to our house next year for school - so we will be seeing her a lot more often.

Jeff finished his 2 classes that were causing him so much difficulty and has had the last 2 weekends free of home work, so he has been a LITTLE more pleasent to be around. But not much more...

Conor is getting bigger all the time, saying things that can shock or amuse me.

OK, I have to get off here now. Hope everyone is doing well!!

Helpin' out

I had to make some cakes last weekend for some birthday parties, so Conor wanted to help out of course! His helping includes pouring ingredients into the mixer, turning it on, then asking if he can eat it. As you can see by the pictures, he did get some batter - he got to lick the bowl and beater. :)

March 29th

85 years ago today, one of the most amazing people I've ever known was born. My Grandma. She is one of the kindest, strongest, honest, loving, helpful, and extraordinary people I know. I absolutely adore her. She is 85 and she still mows her own grass, does yard work, household chores, and cooks for her entire family every Sunday. By entire family I mean the 8 kids she had, their spouses, grand-children, great-grandchildren, friends, whoever wants to come to her house and eat. At last count, there were well over 50 of us - and although all 50+ do not show up every Sunday, there are some Sundays that we all do, and she always has enough for everyone. She will always have something to eat for anyone who comes over - and she will insist that you eat - even make up a plate for you if you don't get to it quick enough!

All the kids love going to grandma's because there are always toys, there is always something sweet to eat, and there is absolutely nothing in her house that she feels kids could possibly harm. I remember begging to stay there as a child, and my cousins did the same. There is no place on earth like Grandma's house.

She makes the best potato donuts, the best home made pizza, the best roast beef, the best chicken and noodles, the best apple pie, and numerous other things that I will never forget. She has always been a huge part of my life and has made a huge impact on me. I feel so very blessed to have her in my life.

Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you so very much!

St. Patrick's Day Pics

Ceara didn't come to our house on this particular weekend, so I was unable to get her posing with the "hat" in the pictures. The hat was actually just a container that cookies came in - not really supposed to be for wearing - it was too small to fit anyone's head, even Conor's! But we though we could get a couple of fun pictures out of it anyway. :)

Allie would look a thousand times better without those bangs in her eyes (that drives me crazy!), but she still looks good posing with the hat.

Conor was too wiggly for it to stay on his head, so Jeff had to hold it up there. He was not thrilled that I took the picture with him holding it, but I loved the look on Conor's face. Besides, I couldn't get a good "still" picture with it on his head because he wouldn't hold still!

Allie didn't wear green on St. Patrick's Day - I think she was hoping to get pinched. But the rest of us did! :) I got to wear my Green Bay Packer's sweatshirt to work. If it would have been a little warmer, I would have worn my Favre jersey. It was a bit chilly and the sweatshirt appealed to me because of the warmth.

Hope everyone had a fun day pinching or getting pinched!

Shrinky Dinks

Does anyone remember Shrinky Dinks? It has been a long time.... Allie found a book that Molly had given her years ago that has different projects in it for kids. She actually cleaned her room last weekend and came across it. Inside of it, there are various activities and one of them is Shrinky Dinks. So she, Ceara, and Conor sat at the kitchen table and colored on the special plastic, then cut them out and baked them. They had a lot of fun doing it, and they did a very good job on them. Below this post is a picture of the whole collection they did. The colorful square was done by Conor; the tiger and cats eyes were done by Allie; and the dolphin was done by Ceara. The rest I am not sure who did, but they all are done well. The tiger was immediately claimed by Conor as "his" since he is currently obsessed with tigers, so Allie made 2 so she could have one too! :)

Disney World

Welp, I'm going to Disney World!! All expenses paid, too! The company where I work, for those of you who may not know, is in the IT Solutions business. That means we set-up and repair computers, printers, networks, servers, software, and whatever else our customers need us to do. We partner with several vendors to sell and service their equipment, depending on what our customers want. HP, IBM, Toshiba, Cisco, Microsoft, and several others. There are very strict guidelines that we have to follow in order to be allowed to service these units under warrant and get reimbursed for the labor. Every warranty unit we work on, that vendor does a survey of the end user to see if they were satisfied with the service we provided. The ratings go from 1-5, with 5 being the best. We get paid based on these ratings with a couple of the vendors - IBM/Lenovo and HP are 2 of them that I am very familiar with.

There are different pay ranges depending upon these surveys and a few other areas. The payment tiers are Premiere, Preferred, Basic, and below Basic. Every branch of our company is considered to be independent as far as the vendors are concerned. We do not get penalized for any of the mistakes made by other branches of our company, we are rated based only upon the customers that we service ourselves. All of the years I have worked there, we have been 95% of the time Premiere. There are a few time that we have fallen below to the Preferred level, but not usually because of surveys - mostly because of the other guidelines. Why? Because we really do care about our customers being satisfied at our branch of the company. :)

So, enough of that boring stuff!! But I wanted to explain a little as to why IBM/Lenovo is paying for 2 of us to go to Orlando, FL for a Conference. Because our branch was Premiere for the entire year of 2005, so we get to choose a Manager and a Technician to go to Florida. I got chosen as the "Manager" because my boss doesn't want to go, and the tech going with me is Robert - our depot manager. They were going to send me as the tech and Robert as the manager, but the tech that goes has to be IBM certified - so although I have my A+ and know a little bit about computers, I am not certified in anything and since the tech has to go into a "work-shop" of sorts with other techs, I would be way out of my league there. Robert is one of the best techs I have ever known (I've know a lot) and he will fit in well. I can hold my own with the managers!

I don't get to take any of my family. I do wish that I could take everyone, I want to take the kids to Disney World - I was wanting to when Conor is a little older anyway - BUT - I am looking forward to a peaceful, fun trip by myself. Of course Jeff is giving me all kinds of playful grief about going off on a trip with "some guy" while I leave him behind to take care of the kids and the house.... He acts like I just planned a trip for myself and Robert only - that there won't be a bunch of other people there for the same reason. He keeps telling everyone that "Katie's going off to Florida with some guy" and so on.... But I know he is just teasing me. :)

I have worked with, and been friends with Robert for 6 years. He is my go-to person for any type of technical assistance. He has fixed, or helped me fix, several of my computers and my families computers. He is also married and has 2 kids. :)

So, that is my news. We will be going in May and I will get more details about where we are staying and all of that later in March. But for now, what I know is:

Arrival will be on Sunday, with check-in @ 1PM or later. That evening Lenovo will host a welcome reception from 7-9pm @ the Disney Contemporary Resort.

Monday we will have a general session followed by training breakouts for managers and technicians.

Tuesday will start with a general session and afterwards everyone will have the opportunity to enjoy Disney's parks or golf at one of Disney's premier courses. A dinner on Tuesday night will conclude the conference activities. We will depart on Wednesday with check-out by 11am.

I'm excited!! :)

Grand-dad's Day

Jeff's dad, Jim, has decided that Monday nights are going to be Grand-dad's day. So last Monday (2/27/06) was the first one. He went to Ceara's mom's house and picked her and Kaitlyn up (Kaitlyn is Ceara's little sister, Debbie's daughter), and then came her to pick Allie and Conor up. He was already here when I got here - granted it was after 6 because once again, I had to work later. He had mentioned Grand-dad's day to me over the weekend, but I didn't know when it was supposed to start, so I was a little surprised - but very happy about it. An entire night to myself!! That is a rare thing. Jeff, of course, was gone to work - so it was very quiet and peaceful.

So off they went. I was able to do some over-due filing, clean some stuff, and then I played on the computer for a while. The time flew by, and before I even realized the time, they were back - with cookies!! :) Yummy chocolate chip cookies that they had made with Grand-dad's help. This is supposed to be an every Monday thing, and I can certainly get used to that! I hope they don't wear him out too quickly and make him not want to do it anymore!!

Pronunciation

Conor talks very well for his age, but there are a few words, or rather letters, that he has some problems with. One of them is F. He pronounces most words that begin with f with a t. He says toot and teet instead of foot and feet. Jeff tries to get him to say it correctly and tells him, "Say fff fff fff foot." So Conor says, "fff fff fff toot." It is quite hilarious. He tries so hard and can get the fffff sound, he just can't put it with other letters....

Conor has also been singing a lot lately. He just makes up songs and sings them. It is so cute. I need to get it on video, but haven't done that yet. He usually does it in the car or when we aren't near or ready with the camera. I will get is soon, though!

His newest thing is that he is a tiger. He crawls around on the floor and talks in a low, gravely voice. If you say his name, he replies, "I'm not Conor, I'm a tiger." It is certainly something new all the time.

On Thursday night, I decided that I wanted to take the kids and do something fun. It's cold outside, so I couldn't think of anything to do besides Chuck E. Cheese. Believe me, I tried. I called Allie from my cell phone to tell her to be ready when I got home from work because we were going to leave right away.

Once she was in the car, I asked her, "Can you think of any place fun to take Conor?" I was hoping she would come up with something different, because I really didn't want to go there. But she had the same thought. So, we went. The whole way up there I thought, "Well, it will be something to write in my blog. I even started composing the post. 'What was I thinking going there?' was one of the things I was going to put. But it didn't turn out that way.

They recently remodeled the place, and it wasn't that crowded, so we got a booth in an area for little kids to play. They had a slide, a Bob the Builder bulldozer to ride on, and a couple of other ride on things in there. Conor took to the slide immediately. After a little bit, Allie and I tried to talk him into going outside the little kid area and playing. But he wanted none of it. So we sat in the booth and watched him. He finally, after the pizza came and we ate, noticed the tunnels up on the ceiling to crawl in. He went up there and crawled around - I followed from the ground, worried that he would freak out and not remember how to get out. But no such thing happened. He had fun. Then we went and played Skee-ball. Conor tried, but most of his balls went just over the hump - for 0 points. He was getting the hang of it after a while, though, and was even making it into the 20,000 hole.

After we ran out of tokens, I told him, "We have to go now, let's go get an ice cream."

"Yeah!" was the response. I fully expected a "NO, MOMMY, I don't want to leave!!" response, but I was very happy it didn't come. We left and went to UDF to get some ice cream. Then we went on home. Conor and I played cars in the kitchen while Allie watched her TV shows. So, it turned out to be a really good evening for all of us. I think Allie was a little bored - after all, Chuck E Cheese is a little too young for her now - but she still had fun. She was the one who made me dread going there when she was young.... she was the one who cried and screamed when it was time to leave.... lol Glad she grew out of that!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and a good week!

New Year

Well, 2006 is beginning out pretty good. Conor has a little girlfriend at his baby-sitter's house, so he looks forward to going there every day. Her name is Carly and she is 4 years old. It is very cute the way they are together, she is very patient and likes to show him things. They always hug good-bye. I actually just got her dad a job where I work. He is a Cisco Engineer and had lost his job of 20+ years last year (2005). We had been looking for an engineer for out branch for a while, and when Cindy (Conor's sitter) told me that Randy (Carly's dad) was laid off and looking for work, it was just a perfect fit. He started the first of this year.

Conor is getting so grown-up! Whenever I say "That's mommy's baby boy" he replies with, "I'm not a baby, I'm a big boy!" I always tell him that he will always be my baby boy! He'll get it someday.

Allie is going to be an official teenager this year! She will be 13 in July. Wow, time flies by! I find she is getting a bit lazy in school this year, maybe it is not challenging enough for her, or she is just getting interested in other things. She doesn't want to play out-door soccer this year, but wants to do indoor. I guess as long as she stays active, it will be OK, but I will miss the out-door games. Indoor is just not the same.

Ceara is living with her Mom most of the time now, going to school from her mom's house. It is a change, but everyone is adjusting. She is still here almost every weekend - there is usually one a month that her mom has off work that she likes to keep her there for. It's funny, as much as Allie and Ceara fought when they both lived here - Allie misses Ceara now, and they get along wonderfully. Conor and Ceara always got along pretty well, and so now, Conor misses Ceara when she is gone, too.

Ceara did not come here last weekend, so when Conor and I got home last night, and she was here, Conor saw her and ran up and hugged her leg. He was so happy she was here.

We are all addicted to a new game that Jeff bought - World of Warcraft - which is a MMPORG (Massive Multi-Player Online something Game) lol. Or maybe I have the letters wrong - I dunno. Jeff has been re-considering his major because of this new way of playing games. He originally was going to school for Computer Forensics, but the college he goes to just started a new program on gaming, and he is also interested in that. It is a fitting major for him since he does love computer games.

I recently got another unwanted "promotion" at work. That is where they give you more work, but no more pay. I have been so far behind all year, just when I thought I was going to catch up, Jean took vacation and they assigned me to our Louisville, KY branch to do for them what I already do for Dayton. And their branch is a mess. I find myself unable to get off the darn phone at work to get anything accomplished. Between the techs, engineers, sales people, and the branch manager in Louisville calling me with problems to solve, there is little time for me to do my job for Dayton. When I get off the phone with one person, I usually have at least 2 messages for others that I need to call back. It is an endless loop. Sometimes I find myself not really paying attention to what is being said because I am trying to work and listen, so I miss stuff. Hopefully it will all smooth out soon, because if it doesn't, I might go insane. :)

This all happened around Feb. 7th, and work has been very bad since. I rarely take lunch and I have been pushing my day later and later every week. I have been trying to stay no later than 5:45 because Conor has to be picked up, and there isn't anyone else to do it.

I find myself forgetting a lot of things lately - at work that is unusual, but it feels like my brain is too full and it is now throwing stuff out to make room for the new stuff!

Jeff is still doing the same route and going to school. We want to try to do some painting and room switching soon - with tax refunds when we get them - but when we will find time to do it is beyond me!

So, that is a little bit of what has been going on here with us. Sorry for not writing as much, I will try to be better at keeping you all up to date. I will also need to get some pictures taken to post. I haven't had Conor's picture taken in a while, so I also need to do that. Lots to do!!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the New Year!!

Hello, again!

Wow, it has been like, forever since I have written on this, huh? Last year as a matter of fact. There has been a lot going on, at the same time, not much is happening. Does that make sense? :) Christmas was wonderful - I really enjoyed everything about it this year. Spending time with friends and family, good food, good company, games, everything! On Christmas morning, Jeff and I got up first and had to wake the kids up! Do you believe that?? Conor walked out of his room and didn't even notice the presents under the tree. He walked into the kitchen and I had to steer him back to the living room for him to see. Then we dragged the girls out of bed... lol

We were supposed to have breakfast at our house on Christmas morning - it has become a tradition over the years to have a big breakfast with my parents, my sister and her family, and us. So it was at my house this year. We almost always have bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, eggs, and whatever else. We had all of that and baked French toast that my sister brought, fruit, juice, everything. But only Molly, Jeff (her husband), and her kids came this year. My dad called and cancelled and then my mom called and cancelled.

But we enjoyed it anyway. After they left, we had to start getting ready for Jeff's family to come over. His mom, dad, sister (Naomi) and her husband Jerry. We had lunch - ham, scalloped potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, and rolls. We played games, ate, laughed and had a good time.

It was a very good day.

OK - one update done, I am going to try to write more - and more often. :)

Let's see how many of you still check this thing since I haven't updated in a while!

Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve! This entire year has flown by, it is so hard to believe that it will be 2006 in just a little over a week! I have to think long and hard about what I would like the new year to bring. What challenges I face, what goals I have. Next year at this time I would like to look back on 2006 and be able to say that I changed something in my life that I was unhappy with, I have a few ideas on what to start with, but I don't want to make any predictions. I will do my best to follow through on some things, and if I do, great.

I am getting ready to prepare for Christmas morning at my house. The kids are almost in bed, and Jeff is already asleep. Yep, already asleep. The 5 hour nap he had from noon to 5pm did not give him the energy to outlast the kids tonight.

I have many more Christmas pictures to post, but I must now go to get ready for Santa to come. I have cookies to put out, and a glass of milk, and even some reindeer food (if I can find where I put it!). I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays with their family and friends.

Have a Merry Christmas!! :)

Conor's Birthday

My baby turned 3 on December 11th, and had to have a Scooby Doo cake. It was convenient, though, because I already had the cake pan from when Allie wanted Scooby Doo for one of her birthdays. It is really hard to believe that he is 3 already. The years are flying by.

Whenever anyone asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he would respond, "Cake!" That was his only request. But he did love all the cool stuff that he got, every time he opened a present, he would say "cool" or "yeah". He got some cool John Deere stuff - a barn, animals, and a tractor - some clothes, some trucks, a talking bear, and a big John Deere ride-on truck. He hasn't quite mastered driving it, but he will get the hang of it. It has a dump-trunk feature that Jeff is sure will come in handy during the summer - he can go around the yard and pick up dog-doo and transport it to the trash bin to dump. The age range on it is 3-8, so we figure it is a good investment for 5 years worth of dog duty! :)

See below for more pictures. Happy Birthday, Baby!

Conor's Birthday Pictures

Time flies

Well, I have been a really bad blogger of late. With all of the holidays, Conor's birthday, and work getting more stressful, I haven't taken the time to write anything here. I have plenty of material, just not the time to write it!

A couple of amusing moments of late:

One morning while I was getting ready for work in the bathroom, Conor walked in with his face covered with what I thought was black permanent marker. I freaked out and immediately tried to wash it off. It came off rather easily and I attributed that to my quick response. It was on his forehead, cheeks, chin, nose, lips.... everywhere basically. So after I had him all cleaned up, I finished getting ready and went to get my purse to leave. It was then that I found my mascara open in my purse. It wasn't black marker, it was mascara. But he thought it was for your lips, so that is why he put it there, first. I wish I would have had the thought to take a picture of him before I wiped it off, but I was too intent on getting it off quickly! :)

Another morning, we went into the coffee shop where Conor always sits on the counter. I put my purse up next to him and was talking to the staff when all of a sudden Conor pulled a Tampon out of my purse and said, "Mommy, what's this?"

I simply grabbed it quickly and said, "Nothing, just something for Mommy," while stuffing it back down inside my purse and trying to divert his attention to something else. I do not know if anyone actually saw it, but Jeff (not my Jeff, the one who works there) was smiling. But I find that I am not as embarrassed about stuff like that now that I am older. :)

I will be posting some pictures from Conor's third birthday soon, I will find the time! I also have some pictures with Santa and some other stuff, too!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!