Vermont Day 3

Day 3 began with the continental breakfast at the hotel - not nearly as good as the one the previous day, but still good. They had Belgian waffles that you make yourself - they supplied the correct amount of batter and you had to just pour it on and and wait for it to cook. Those were pretty good. Other than that, it was the usual stuff you find - fruit, bagels, stale cereal... that sort of stuff.

We began the morning with a trip to Ben & Jerry's for a tour of the production, as well as a sample of their flavor of the day. Mom kept calling it Tom and Jerry's - much to our amusement. We had a lot of laughs over that.


Above is Allie and Ceara at the outdoor patio - the tables and benches were wet, but Allie cleared herself a spot. The tour was very well put together - first you see a short film about how Ben & Jerry's came to be - and how it grew. The film was entertaining as well as informative, with lots of things to laugh at.

After the film was over, our tour guide (who was 7 feet tall and very funny to boot) took us through a hall to see the production area. They only make pints, and they only are able to make 2 flavors per day. It was a very small area compared to what other factories look like, and they only produced ice cream on 2 shifts. The 3rd shift was reserved for cleaning the area, cleaning out the huge bins, and preparing for the next day's flavors.

We were then lead to another room where we would get samples of the ice cream. On our way there, in the wall was a little window with a sign that said, "Back up generator" - inside the window was a gerbil running in a wheel.

Above, Jeff and Conor are enjoying their sample of American Pie Ice Cream. Oh, it was excellent! Apple pie blended into vanilla ice cream, crust and all. Mmmmmm, very good. If you look closely at the people pictures I took, you will see that I had a knack for getting people with their eyes closed.

Below is the just the counter area with the people who worked there supplying the samples to the people in the tour group. I do not know anyone in this picture, it was just a general one, so if you recognize anyone - don't ask me who it is!

Conor enjoying his sample above - see the chunks of apple pie? And below are all three kids resting while we finished our ice cream. Allie was apparently done and waiting for us, and Conor is looking a bit suspicious at his...
Everyone had the option of exiting the room through the door, or through the milkshake tunnel. Conor choose the tunnel, while the rest of us walked through the door. Jeff was going to go out via the tunnel also, but the next tour group had arrived and we were trying to exit quickly.
Outside we all got to be Ben and Jerry on the giant lid of some Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. And, look closely - you will see that a lot of eyes are closed... :)

After our fill of ice cream - we got some full sized servings of various other kinds at the store - we headed to Jeff's college campus - Champlain College. If you click the link, their pictures have more color since they were taken when the sun was shining! :)


This was the best picture I took - not as dark as the others - while taking a tour of the campus. One of the students there was giving a tour to prospective students and... us. It is a beautiful campus, and they have several choices for dining - from simple to fancy. We toured all the buildings - class rooms, teacher's offices, library, dining halls, the book store, and passed by some of the "dorms" - these were actually houses that were used for student housing. It is a very nice community - several blocks of houses that surround the actual campus.
While there, Jeff was able to meet (purely by accident, as we just ran into them during the tour) his advisor, Mark Milne and his favorite teacher (so far), Ken Wade. We didn't think to take a picture with Mark, the picture above is with Ken Wade. They were both so happy to meet Jeff as neither of them have the opportunity to meet with the students they work with because most of them are online students.
Conor and Ceara above - see? Eyes closed! Isn't it amazing how well I can time the pictures? lol
We went into the bookstore and Jeff, Allie, Ceara, and Conor all got "hoodies" with Champlain College on them. By this time we had all worked up quite an appetite and we were told that there were several places to eat down by the water - in the pedestrian mall. This consisted of several blocks of brick streets, blocked off from cars, where you could shop and/or eat.
We chose to eat at RiRa's - and Irish Pub. It was wonderful. They had a picture on the wall of James Joyce - one of Jeff's favorite authors - so he wanted a picture of him sitting below it, reading... a menu because that was all we had. :)
And of course, Conor had to have his picture taken just like his Daddy's.

Along the way, there were several large rocks so we thought we would get a picture of the kids and Mom on one of them.
Conor, on the other hand, wanted his picture on all of them. :) Every one we approached he ran up to - climbing up on top and saying, "Take my picture, Mommy!" Sometimes with others, sometimes by himself.

We all had a lot of fun in all the places we went - it is a beautiful college town. We were all also very tired at the end of the day. We piled back into the van and returned to the hotel. Allie had decided that she wanted to get her hair cut, so later that night, we walked across the street to a place we had seen when we were leaving that morning. They happened to have an opening for her and she got a new look for the return to school. We all went to bed early again to prepare for check out the next day and the trip home, stopping at Niagara Falls along the way.

More to come... Days 4 and 5 :)

Thanks to....

"work bud" - for making comments on some of my posts!! :) It lets me know that someone is reading my blog. That I'm not writing all of this for just my own amusement and that someone else finds it worthwhile to read!

Other people tell me that they read it, but I never really know for sure, and I like getting comments.

Yeah, people - this is a big HINT!

Vermont Day 2

The breakfast at the Bed and Breakfast was great! A lot of different choices to choose from - pancakes, omelets prepared to order, eggs to order, French toast, oatmeal, fruits, juices, coffee, tea, and milk. Oh, and I shouldn't forget the fresh Maple Syrup that was served with the pancakes and French toast. We also were served fresh baked bread - orange cranberry was the flavor of that day, if I remember correctly. It, too, was excellent. If you click on the link, you can see the breakfast menu as well as some of the other areas of the Inn.

While seated at the table, every time the server passed us Conor would say, "Ummmm" and the server would stop to see if he wanted something. He never wanted anything more than to just tell her whatever had popped into his head at the moment. He told her about Carley (his little girlfriend at his babysitter's house) and about various odd things. She was always nice and listened, but she was also busy. The owner (the husband) stopped by and offered to take Conor on a tour of the kitchen.

We all left the dining area full. We packed up the van with all of our things and headed back to the Vermont Country Store to shop. We were among the first ones there, but it got crowded rather quick. We spent a very long time looking at all they had for sale. They had a lot of old fashioned toys that Conor enjoyed looking at. They had food to sample - cheese, meats, candy, and lots of other things. Allie and Ceara both got two huge jaw-breakers, which, as you can see below, Allie got all over her face and nose.
After our shopping spree, we were back to the van for another few hours of driving. We went from Weston to Burlington, where we actually had reservations, so we could visit Jeff's college campus. They do have an actual campus, as well as the online courses that Jeff takes.

This time the drive wasn't so bad - I think it took maybe 4 hours. OK, maybe that isn't such a short little drive, but compared to the day before, it was a piece of cake!

Check in time at the hotel was not until 2 PM - just a normal run of the mill chain hotel this time - and we arrived a bit too early. We were able to get our keys, but they said the room was not ready, so we went across the street for lunch. There was a neat little diner next door called Al's French Frys where we got some burgers and fries, what else? :) Below is a picture of Mom, Allie and Ceara sitting in their booth at Al's.

We got into the hotel and pretty much just hung out there the rest of the day. Everyone had homework to work on, the teachers at the girls' schools had sent them some work to do and Jeff had some due too. Our room was on the 2nd floor, and the window was directly over the entrance to the hotel. So, Conor spent a lot of time at the window talking to the people walking in below. He would yell down to them, "Hey, what's your name?" and most would stop and have a short conversation with him.

We all took naps, everyone was tired. We walked to a nearby grocery store and got a few snacks and drinks for the room and walked back over to Al's to get dinner, too. It was raining and we knew we had a lot of plans for the next day, so we were all content not to try to fit anything in that night.

It was rainy and dreary most of the time we were in Vermont. Although it was still beautiful, it was hard to get pictures of any of the scenery - most of my pictures are through the window of the van while Jeff was driving. There were a few showings of the sun, but not many. The below pictures were taken from the van on the drive from Weston to Burlington.

Oh, OK - I guess you can see by the date of the last picture that this one was taken the day before, but it was still taken from the van during a drive! :)

I have a TON of pictures for Monday. Monday was a very busy day for us. So, stay tuned for Day 3...

Technical Difficulties

OK, I am having technical difficulties uploading pictures to my blog, so stay tuned for more Vermont pictures, Halloween Pictures, and various other pictures I have been wanting to put on here.

On another note, they finally did it! Snickers - they finally produced a candy bar with just the best part - the caramel and nuts! :) Joy! I have always felt that the Snickers would be much better without that nougat crap on the bottom of it - and someone finally got smart! I found them much by accident and they are the mini ones in a bag, so they are probably a temporary item, but I was right - it is much better with just the caramel and nuts, covered with chocolate. :)

Hmmmm, what else could I tell you? Jeff's BWC claim was finally approved and his employer seems to have given up fighting it after this 2nd approval. They had 14 days to appeal the decision again, but I guess they waived that right because he got a check in the mail last week. Now we just have to get all of the claim info to all the doctors and hospitals who have been sending us bills. Fun, fun. But so much better than having to pay them!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and then Christmas... I love both holidays, but I am always a last minute shopper. And the day after Thanksgiving shopping day? I have done that ONE TIME. Not my cup of tea. I cannot stand rude people - it is Christmas, for goodness sake! A time for joy and giving. Kindness, sharing. All kinds of warm and fuzzy emotions. That is not what you get when you go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. People fighting over who gets that certain toy for their kid, or who gets that last sweater that is marked down 80%. Waiting in line hours before a store opens in the dark, cold hours of the morning - then pushing and shoving the people next to you to make sure you are one of the "first 20 people" in the store for that "special" gift. Isn't that just the perfect start to the Christmas Holiday? Not for me.

Jeff has always had the mind-set of, "Why go to the store and shop when I can get it all right here on line and have it delivered to my door by the brown elves?" While I like online shopping sometimes, you have to really know what you are looking for to shop online, and I like browsing in the stores - being able to physically touch the item I am thinking about buying when I find it. I do like catalogue shopping, too, though.

I have never been able to go out and just buy something for someone; I always try to make it something that they want or need, or something that they will love. My sister called me yesterday asking me what my kids wanted for Christmas - um, hello? I have no clue. It is just the beginning of November, I haven't thought about it too much! And she could have called me a couple of days ago to tell me that she was planning to do her Christmas shopping on Tuesday and would like to know what everyone wants. At least then I would have time to think about it. So I was really no help to her what-so-ever.

Anyway, who does their Christmas shopping at the beginning of November?? LOL I know- lots of people do. One of my co-workers is usually done in July. She is done now, and has even begun thinking of things for next Christmas. Wow, I will never be that organized! I am usually still shopping on Christmas Eve!

I have actually started early this year, shocking even myself. It sometimes helps to have Jean (Mrs. I'm done in July) sitting in the cubicle next to mine. At least once a week she tells us how many more days until Christmas - this announcement is usually met by responses of "What?? We don't want to know that! Please keep information such as that to yourself!" in a kind, joking way, of course. But sometimes when she says it, if I am not super busy, I will start looking at some online stuff. I have ordered a few things online, and have even received a few of them via our little brown elf, Stevie Brown. (For those of you unaware, he is our UPS guy at the office - and that's not his real name... but you will have to read one of my previous posts to find out about that! Here is the post.)

I actually bought some things with the thought that they would make great gifts, but I'm not sure for who yet. I have hidden some things, and that now that I am thinking about it, I don't remember where I hid them! I need to wrap them and find a place to put them all together so I don't forget about them.

Conor's birthday is also coming up in December; he is going to be 4! WOW! It's hard to believe he is going to be 4. He is very excited; he keeps asking me how many more years until he's grown-up, like me. He says, "This birthday I'm going to be 4, next birthday I will be 5, then will I be grown up like you, Mommy?"

"No, honey, it will be a lot of birthdays until you are grown up like me." (yeah, I feel so grown up - NOT)

OK, so, that is a long enough post for now, huh? A few of you didn't even finish reading it - I know who you are - because it was too long and you start getting fidgety half way through. :) I will get the remaining Vermont pictures up as soon as I can.

Vermont Day One

I finally was able to get the pictures on my computer just to find that the site (blogger) was having problems for a while, so it took even longer to upload them here. We left for Vermont on Friday night, September 29th, at 11PM. The kids were all sleeping in the back and Mom tried to sleep back there too, although I don't think she slept very well. I dozed off a little in the passenger seat. We switched to my driving at about 3:30 AM and Jeff got in the back to sleep. Mom came up front and kept me company. We stopped for breakfast at about 9ish, then I was able to go to the back to sleep a little more. It was a very long drive to Vermont and we wanted the kids to sleep through most of it. We got to where we were going (Weston, VT) around 5PM. There were no Holiday Inns, Marriotts, or any other type of chain hotels in the area, they were all Bed and Breakfasts. The scenery was beautiful, but it did rain the majority of the time we were there.

Here is the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at on our first night in Vermont. We did not have any reservations anywhere and were lucky to find this place had room for all 6 of us. We stopped at another place originally and they were full but were nice enough to call around to the other places to find us 2 rooms. The Swiss Inn is owned by a husband and wife team and the husband was a huge Eagles fan. I was wearing my Packers shirt and of course the Eagles and Packers were playing against each other the following Monday night. He gave me some good-natured ribbing about my shirt, something about charging us double had he been the one to check us in. I didn't see the game, but I believe the Eagles won.
The rooms were not next to each other, Mom and the girls stayed in the 1st room on the left. Jeff, Conor and I stayed in one of the last rooms to the right - I don't think our room is visible in this picture.
The kids all wanted their picture taken with the big stuffed moose in one of the stores we went to. Above is Allie, below is Ceara, and then Conor.


This is Conor sitting on a rock ledge at the Bed and Breakfast.
Here is my Mom, posing in front of one of her favorite stores - The Vermont Country Store. She orders from their catalogue all the time. She was very excited to get to visit in person. The store is huge - 3 buildings all together. We did not get to shop on the first day that we arrived as the store closed at 5Pm, so we checked into our rooms and freshened up, then headed out for dinner. After dinner we were all tired and we headed back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep for the next day's plans.

Daylight Savings Time

Yay! An extra hour this past weekend! Cool, huh? I actually almost forgot about this event, I was kindly reminded on a friends blog (Ellsworth Link - one of my links on the side) that it was coming up. The October event is the good one because that is when we gain an hour. :) So, I was further reminded to set my clocks back when my dad came over Sunday morning to bring us some donuts for breakfast.

I was still in my PJ's when the doorbell rang and Conor ran to the door yelling "I'll get it!" (He loves to answer the door now that he knows how to unlock and open it, which is not good for me!)

So, I'm yelling from my room - "Don't open that door! Wait a minute, don't open the door! Conor.. do you hear me??" As I am rushing to put some clothes on. Two reasons I do not want him to open the door - 1. I have no clue who would be coming over this early on a Sunday and I don't want to be in my PJs for some stranger; and 2. The dogs always rush to the door, too, and I do not want to have to chase either of them around the neighborhood all day if they get out.

I put on a T-shirt and grab my jeans, pulling them on as I am walking to the door. I get there and Conor had patiently waited for me before opening the door. I was holding the dogs, and there stood my dad with a box of donuts. :)

He came in an stayed for a short while, reminding me while he was there that I needed to set my clocks back an hour. So, after he left, I changed the microwave and stove clocks. Then I set my watch correctly. The day went on and I didn't ever change any of the other clocks.

So, last night, as I was getting ready for bed, I noticed my alarm clock was still on the old time. Thinking to myself that I would just leave it be and change the "wake up" time to adjust for it, so that when I was waking up in the morning I might just be too asleep to remember that it was not the right time and I would get up a little earlier. Yeah, I actually thought I could fool myself. :)

I will now back up a bit to say that when Jeff got his new truck, we got 2 sets of keys. Since we are driving it for everything now to keep the miles on my car down (it's a lease and I only get so many miles) I kept a set of truck keys and gave him my spare keys to my car. This was because I am the one who mostly goes places on the weekends and since I would have the truck, if he needed to go somewhere he would have to take my car. When I was driving the truck one day, I noticed that the spare set of keys to my car that I had given him were in the middle console. I remember thinking that it would do him a whole lot of good for them to be there when I had the truck and he needed to go somewhere. But, the thought left my mind and I didn't say anything to him.

Last night, as he was getting his things ready for his overnight run, he wanted to go rent some movies. One of the movies he had rented previously that needed returning was in my car. So, he used my keys and got the movie out, returned them and came back home. He leaves at about 1am, so I was asleep when he left.

When my alarm went off this morning, I did not look at the clock and think, "Oh my gosh, I need to get up!" like I had thought I would. I looked at it, thought to myself "that's not the right time, I can hit snooze a couple of times and still make it on time" and I hit snooze. I did still get up a little earlier than I normally would. I got ready, woke Conor up and got him ready, then started getting everything together to walk out the door. I couldn't find my keys. Not in my purse, not on the counter in the kitchen, not in any place I would normally put them. So I thought about where they could be. I hadn't driven my car all weekend, I had only driven the truck. Then I remembered Jeff used them to unlock my car and get the movie. I thought, "Surely he didn't take them with him?" I started looking around where he would have put them. On his computer desk, in his place on the entertainment center, everywhere. I finally called his cell phone. No answer, but I left a message. I continued to look for them in any odd place I could think of. I checked his pockets from the pants he had worn last night, coat pockets, under things... everywhere. They were not there.

I tried to call him again. No answer. I called my work and told them what was going on, and that I would figure something out when Jeff called back - that maybe he put them somewhere where I'm not looking. In the mean time, I would just log into our work system from home and do what I could from there.

I spent over an hour looking for the keys. I finally gave up and called Jim - Jeff's dad. I woke him up. I explained the situation and since I could not be without a vehicle until Jeff returned Tuesday night, I needed a ride to Jeff's work so that I could either get my keys from his truck, or if they were not there, I would take the truck and just pick him up when he returned home Tuesday night.

Since he had just woken up, he needed a little time to get ready and come over. In the mean time, Jeff called. He said that he used his set to open my car - or so he thought. He was looking through his bags while talking to me. He kept saying, "They have to be there. Did you look ...." and suggested different places he thought they might be. Then, "Oh, no. Here they are. I have them. I am so sorry. I can't believe I did that."

"Oh, well, nothing you can do about it now. Your dad is going to take me to get your truck."

"How will I get home then?"

"I will come and pick you up - if you get back before I get off, you will have to wait for me."

"The other set is in the console in my truck. I have yours, but the spare set is in my truck. Could you just get the keys and have my dad take you back home to get your car."

"Yeah, I can do that."

So, Jim came and picked Conor and me up, we drove to his work and found his truck. My keys were in the console, so I got them and we returned to the house to get my car. We had to go inside to get Conor's things for the sitter's house. Upon entering the house, I smelled something... I looked around, and yep, there it was near the girl's rooms. Teddy had apparently had to go to the bathroom really bad (he had just been out right before we left! Why didn't he go then??) so he choose to go in the hallway between their rooms. Eeewwww! Perfect. Now I had to clean that up before I could leave to go to work. I put the dogs outside and I cleaned it up. Conor said, "My nose can still smell it."

"Yeah, it might take a while for the smell to be gone." I got the carpet cleaner from under the sink and a towel to clean the spot. After I sprayed the cleaner on the carpet, the smell of the cleaner over took the "other" smell.

"Now my nose smells that it's clean!" lol :)

Anyway, I finally got to work around 11am. So much for the time change giving me plenty of time in the mornings! It's a good thing I have an understanding boss.

Credit Reports

OK, so, as you might be aware, some new law was passed at some point saying that the 3 credit agencies are now required to give you a free report once a year. I began getting mine last year so that I can make sure that everything on them is correct. There are 3 different companies keeping track of all this, and you have to request each one individually.

Now, first off - why are there 3? There is no reason that I can think of that there be three. And you never know which one is going to be used for any particular inquiry, and they are never the same, so what is the purpose? Then you have to file disputes with three different companies, and follow up with all of them, too.

So, anyway, I go to the site online to request my free credit reports. Experian, no problems - I answer all of their questions and I get the report. Equifax, same thing. Then I get to TransUnion. They ask the same questions - who is my current mortgage with, what is the monthly payment, what bank financed my car loan, how much is that payment, and so on. I answer all of the questions - correctly I might add - and it says, "Sorry, you have entered incorrect information, we are unable to process your report." So, this makes me think that they have invalid information about me, since I do know that information pretty well.

I look over the other two credit reports and find nothing wrong with them. They are both accurate, both updated in 10/06. Neither of them have anything bad on there, no negative accounts, nothing.

I find the phone number for TransUnion after searching their site for a little while. Automated, of course - "If you would like to request a copy of your credit report, please press 1; If you already have a copy of your credit report, press 2."

So I press 1. "If you have been denied credit and would like your free copy, please press 1. If you would like to purchase your credit report with a major credit card, please press 2. If you live in a state where you get a free copy, you must go to the online site blahblah.com to request your copy." No other options. I press 0 - sometimes I have gotten lucky when I get automated recordings and they do not give you a "speak to a real person" option and the 0 works. Not this time. Then I get, "You have not entered a valid option, if you would like... " and I get the whole thing over again.

I hang up. Call back and select option 2. I finally get to a real person, albeit someone in India or some such place, and he speaks passable English. I explain to him the situation I am having and he says he will mail me a copy of my credit report. Nothing else. No explanation for the problems or anything.

So, I received my credit report in the mail today. I opened it and it is pretty thick - about 20 pages or so. I look at the top of the report and it says page 1 of 6. Strange. If it is only 6 pages, then what are all the other ones? I leaf through them to find a second credit report with my name on it and this one says it is page 1 of 9. What the heck? Why are there 2 different reports and why is one longer than the other??

I look further into the information on the front page, comparing the two. One has my first and last name, the other one has my first name, middle initial, and last name. The 6 page one says that I have been in their records since 02/06. Oh, only this year, huh? But yet they have records that are older than that, AND some of the information was "last updated" in 2005. They actually give this out to my creditors?? Looking at the first one on both reports, it is the same. A Kohl's account. Opened in 03/1997; Paid off 05/1997; Closed 07/1997 (OK, so I got a discount for opening an account, paid it off then cancelled. If I remember correctly, it was a pretty good discount!). Then it has a bunch of little boxes with months and years in them with the information of "OK" or "30" in them. And apparently I was 30 days late with my payment in two different months in 2005. Wait... 2005?? I do not have a Kohl's account currently, it states on the report that it was closed in July of 1997, so how in the heck could I have been late 2 times in 2005?

Incredible. Now I have to take the time to write them a letter and dispute all of these things (there are more issues than what I put here, but I don't want to list them all). If I could have accessed it online, I could have disputed it online. Sheesh. Just irritating and I thought I would vent about it on here. :)

Bits and Pieces

Well, it has been a while since I have actually written anything here, so I thought I would give it a shot. I still need to post pictures of our Vermont trip, but I never seem to remember to transfer them to my computer! :) I'd do it now, but, uh, I'm at work.

Ceara had a birthday this month, she is now 12 years old. I also have some pictures of that, but again, I need to transfer them to my computer. Maybe I will get to that tonight.

Conor is on the count-down to Halloween, his birthday, and Christmas. When he asks me how long it is until Christmas, I say about 2 months. He doesn't know what months are, so he thinks I mean 2 days. On the day after he asks me, he will say to me "Tomorrow's Christmas!" And when I say, no, not for a couple of months, he says, "But last day (yesterday to him) you said 2 days!" So now I have to say "about 60 days."

We went out to eat last night at a new Max and Erma's that opened near-by for my nephew Austin's Birthday. There were 8 of us - Mom, Molly, Austin, Gage, Allie, Ceara, Conor, and me. It was packed and we had to wait for almost an hour for a table. On a Tuesday! Wow. Anyway, Austin broke his collar bone over the weekend while playing football with some of his friends. Poor kid, this is his 4th broken collar bone. And they happen around his birthday quite a lot. Oh, and he is now 11 years old. :)

As you might know, Max and Erma's has a Sundae Bar for kids to make their own Sundaes. They bring out a scoop of ice cream and you go up to the old-fashion type bath tub that has goodies for the top. A few of the things they had I just thought, ewwwww! They had Nerds and Sweet Tarts to put on top of the ice cream. I can't even imagine that would taste good! They also have hot fudge, caramel, strawberries, M&Ms, crushed Oreo cookies, crushed Andes mints, chocolate sprinkles, multi-colored sprinkles, whipped cream, blue whipped cream (raspberry flavored), and last but not least, cherries for the top. But no nuts. So, when the kids go up, your server goes up with them to help them. I don't know if that is a new thing or not, but since we had 4 sundaes to make, my sister and I helped the little ones and the server helped Austin because of his broken collar bone, and Allie got her own. Ceara didn't want one because she was full and didn't feel well.

The blue whipped cream? Gross. Good concept, I guess. But it was gross. :)

After the dinner, the kids went to my sister's house to have some of the cookie I had made for his birthday - I couldn't go because the wait at Max and Erma's was so long and I had to still make cookies for Conor's Halloween party that he is having today at his baby sitter's. They have been celebrating all week, and will continue into next week! It's that time of year, I guess. Parties, parties, parties. :)

Jeff did not get to partake in last nights events because he had a back-haul he had to do and he did not get home until around 8PM. I arrived home around 8:20ish and began making the cookies and icing. Molly dropped the kids off around 9ish and Conor wanted all of the decorations for the cookies. He helped me do the decorations on the tops of the cookies, then it was bed time. Long day, and I was very tired.

It is hard to believe that it is almost November! I need to do some Thanksgiving day planning! I will, of course, be having a dinner at my house. The time is up in the air - it depends on what time Jeff will have to go to work. It might actually be a big crowd this year, I would never turn anyone away and I give open invites to everyone who doesn't have anywhere to go, or even if they do, they can still come to my house, too!

Hope everyone is doing well!

"Charlie, up on one, as always"





Don't Stop Dancing

At times life is wicked and I just can’t see the light

A silver lining sometimes isn’t enough

To make some wrongs seem right

Whatever life bringsI’ve been through everything

And now I’m on my knees again

But I know I must go on

Although I hurt I must be strong

Because inside I know that many feel this way

Children don’t stop dancing

Believe you can fly

Away…away

At times life’s unfair and you know it’s plain to see

Hey God I know I’m just a dot in this world

Have you forgot about me?

Whatever life bringsI’ve been through everything

And now I’m on my knees again

But I know I must go on

Although I hurt I must be strong

Because inside I know that many feel this way

Am I hiding in the shadows?

Forget the pain and forget the sorrows

Children don’t stop dancing

Believe you can fly

Away…away

Am I hiding in the shadows?

Are we hiding in the shadows?

Song by Creed

OK ... so, ummm, yeah...

As you may have noticed, I'm not much into writing here lately. I have too much going on and I just don't feel like it. I do have tons of pictures from our road trip to Vermont, but I have not put them on my computer yet. I will do that at some point...

Charlie

My brother, Charlie (left), died Friday, September 15, 2006, due to chest injuries from a motorcycle accident.
In loving memory of Charles W. Moore III. May 14, 1985 - September 15, 2006.
God, take good care of him, he is a little daring... I love you, Charlie.

Road Trip!!

We are planning a road trip! :) Jeff has a week of vacation that he was told he had to take before the end of the year or he would lose it, so he chose the first week of October. I was able to re-arrange the days that I requested off and get the same week off, so we are going to take the kids and go to Vermont. :) I am excited. I have always wanted to go there... especially during the autumn season. My mom will also be going with us. :)

Advertising stupidity....

OK, I was driving to work the other day and was behind a vehicle on the highway that had a 'message' on the rear window. When I read it, all I could think was "If you're gonna put something on your vehicle that is kinda stupid to begin with, you could at least make sure you spell the words correctly."

I meant to write about it sooner than this so I wouldn't forget what it said. I remember the part that irked me, but not the ending. It said - "My man go's ________ " the blank is what I forget, but it was something dumb. So, if you are going to put some sort of lettering on your car for everyone to see, you should double check that you are spelling the words correctly. Obviously she is proud that her man goes somewhere, but seriously, is that something that needs to be put on your car???

Conor

Conor is growing up so quickly! He is very smart and has a great memory. On Monday, Labor Day, the girls were both at other places and Jeff had to work, so it was just Conor and me. I dedided to take him to Putt-Putt (miniature golf) to play a game with him. We got ready and drove there only to find they were closed. They have new school hours and are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I told him I would take him on Wednesday after I picked him up from Cindy's house. I explained that it wouldn't be "tomorrow" but the day after that - when they were open. He was OK with that and we went shopping.

On Tuesday morning, he reminded me that tomorrow would be the day he gets to go to Putt-Putt. I assured him I would not forget. So, yesterday (Wednesday) he was so excited when he got up. He said, "Today you take me to Cindy's house, then when you pick me up we're going to Putt-Putt!" Yes, today is the day. :)

When I picked him up from Cindy's house, he was so excited to go. We went to Putt-Putt and got our clubs and balls, and set out to do our 18 hole course. It was so funny watching him, trying to show him how to hold the club, where to stand, everything. He kept twisting the club around and trying to hit the ball.... and the ball was going all over the place. I told him, "If you would listen to me and hold the club the right way, it might work a little better for you."

He considered this and finally said "OK, show me." It occurred to me that after I show him how to do it, and if it didn't work any differently, then he wouldn't believe me... But I showed him how to do it and when he hit the ball, it went right into the hole. He was so excited. After that, he would start out holding the club the right way, but after the first hit, he would run to the ball and somehow twist the club in his hands and knock it around. It took him 10-20 trys to get the ball in the hole on some of them because he wouldn't wait for the ball to quit rolling before hitting it again. When the ball finally went into the hole, he would raise his club in the air and say, "Yeah!" It was very fun.

I managed to make 3 hole-in-ones... and he would say, "That doesn't mean that you are winning." He would then pick my ball up out of the hole and give it to me and tell me I had to still play. :) He did fairly well on all the holes that were on flat surfaces. It was the ones on a hill that would cause the 10-20 putts.

We had fun. :)

A couple of other funny moments via Conor recently:

Allie and Ceara took Conor to the park in our subdivision one day. As they were walking down the sidewalk there was a man pushing a lawnmower down the sidewalk. Allie said, "I wonder what he's doing with that?"

Conor responded with, "Duh, mowing the grass!" (He gets the "duh" from his sisters...)

So when they got up close to the man, Conor asked him what he was doing with the lawn mower. The man responded that he was going to mow the grass. Then Conor turned to his sisters and said, "See, I told you!" :)

Another time, when Jeff had to go to the doctor for his post-surgery checkup and was unable to drive himself, Grand-dad had to take him so Conor and Ceara went along with them. After the appointment, they all went to eat in a cafeteria-like place. Jeff said when they walked in there were a lot of older people there and he made the comment that they were all probably retired.

When they sat down to eat, Conor turned around in his seat and started to point to all the people there and said, "You're right Daddy, he's retarded, he's retarded, she's retarded..."

Jeff said he wanted to crawl under the table. I cracked up laughing when hearing both of these stories. I just thought I would share them...

The dog ate my....

Wow, this week has been long!

On Sunday morning, we decided to take the kids and go canoeing. Allie had a friend stay over, so there were 6 of us and we got 2 canoes. The girls were in one canoe; Jeff, Conor, and I were in the second canoe. It was a lot of fun. We managed to stay afloat the whole 6 miles (we took the short one so it wouldn't be too hard on anyone), no one tipped over at all. Of course we did get wet - we splashed each other using the paddles and did stop to swim in a couple of spots.

Towards the end of our trip it began to rain, but not too badly. We were all starving by the time we got back to the car, but none of us were fit to go to a restaurant (wet and dirty), so I called on the way home to have pizza delivered.

After a hot shower and some pizza, I was extremely tired, so I took a nap. We had a pretty good day, we all laughed and had fun.

But then came Monday...

To begin with, I had been asked to make a cake for a wedding shower that was happening Tuesday night at 6:30 PM. I still needed a few things for the cake, so I just figured I would go during my lunch hour and get all that I needed to make the cake Monday evening. Since I had been unable to go to the grocery on Sunday (the tiredness...), I went to the grocery first - I only needed a couple of things. After the grocery, I ran to the bakery where I usually buy the box and any decorations for the cakes I make. CLOSED. Great. Now what? The other supplier I usually use is a 40 minute drive North and I don't have time for that.

The Hobby Lobby. I could go there and get the box at least. I doubted they had the sugar bells that I had wanted to get, but I could find something else. It didn't have to be edible, right? So, I went there. It was, of course, in the opposite direction of my work and my time was running out for lunch. Heading towards the highway, I pass a lot of semi trucks going through town. Strange. Then when I got to the highway, I knew why. North-bound traffic was at a stand still. So, I had to take the back roads, no big deal. When I got to St Rt 741 it, too, was at a stand still. It took me forever to get through the traffic. I then went onto the store and rushed through, getting what I needed. Yes, I was a little late getting back to the office, but it was not a big deal.

I stayed a little late to make up for the long lunch, and when I went to leave the office, I turned right to find myself stuck in traffic again. Grrrrr... I turned on a side road, turned around and went the other way. It was a little longer, but I did not want to sit in traffic again!

Since it was "Grand-Dad's night" I did not have to pick Conor up from the sitter's, so I went home and began making the cakes. One chocolate, one white. After both were done, I had them on cooling racks at the back of the kitchen counter and I went to do some other things. Giving them plenty of time to cool, figuring the decorating wouldn't take too long, I went back to start working on them a little later to find that they were both 1/2 gone. Zeus had propped himself up on the counter and helped himself to both the cakes! I was livid. I couldn't believe it! I yelled at Zeus and put him in his cage. I then had to re-make both cakes (thank goodness I had all the ingredients) and wait for them to cool again.

After they cooled, I kept telling myself that I would just put the base coat icing on it and decorate it the following day during my lunch hour. Then I figured I would just do the edges. Then I just decided to finish it. I did not want to risk not getting it done and I wouldn't have time to do it after work since they needed it there at 6PM and I didn't leave work until 5PM. I ran out of icing before I was done and had to make more, so I am glad that I found that out Monday night and not Tuesday afternoon.

I finished it around 2AM. I put the cake in the box and put it on the table. I figured since Zeus was in his cage for the night there wasn't much risk. I also taped the box closed and put a note on it that said, "Do not attempt to move or look at this cake!"

I envisioned either Jeff or one of the girls wanting to look at it and not noticing the tape. Somehow it would get messed up again. I did not want to get out of bed on Tuesday, but I managed to. I moved the cake from the table to the washing machine and closed the door to the laundry room. I left the note on top of it in case the girls decided to do laundry (yeah, I was thinking of any unreasonable thing that could happen!), so they wouldn't move it.

I even called them right when they got home from school to let them know not to touch the cake and not to leave the laundry room door open for any reason. I was being extremely paranoid about it.

I had a horrible headache all day (lack of sleep possibly) and it was not helped by the fact that I had to go to the dentist during my lunch hour. Even though I know I am doing it, any time I go to the dentist the back of my head always hurts because I spend the entire time there pushing my head into the back of the chair, trying so very hard to get away from him... even though I went there willingly, and I know I cannot escape him... I still do it.

Needless to say, the cake survived the day. I went home after work, got the kids and the cake, and went off to the shower. So, the second round of cakes made it to the shower. It was only Tuesday night and it felt like the week should be over.

I am still mad at Zeus though. :)

Could you spot a Serial Killer?

I received this little quiz via an email. I have sent it to several people to see how well they read people...

You have to look at a picture and decide if the person is a Program Language Inventor OR a Serial Killer...

I got 9 out of 10 correct... so my results say "You'd spot Hannibal Lector in seconds at an Open Source Conference. Your liver's safe."

I had my boss take it, as well as most of the people in my office. They all received 7 out of 10 and some of them did it together! That means there is a 30% chance that he will hire a serial killer someday considering we are in the IT business and he can't tell a programmer from a serial killer!

I told him I should sit in on all future interviews... or at least get to look at the person. :)

See how well you do...
http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz/

Are you kidding me?

OK, about 2 or 3 months ago, our IS department sent out an email instructing everyone in the company to conform to a new "signature" on our emails. They sent us the template that we were to use, and this was something that was to be done company wide.

I felt that then new signature for the emails was rather bland and boring, so, I ignored the request and kept my signature the same on my emails. Here is what it looks like (if the format comes through correctly):

Firstname Lastname Title
firstname.lastname@company.com
COMPANY IT Solutions www.company.com

office
mobile
fax

So, everyone in the company changed to the new format (except me). Some people changed the font, some people changed the colors, and some people added a tag line to their's.

Yesterday, we received the following email from our CFO:

I’d like to remind everyone of our expectation regarding email signatures, as well as offer additional guidance regarding email communication. Email is an important method of business communication, and has a significant impact on the image of our company. To that end, please comply with the following guidelines.

1) Your signature block needs to conform to the specifications of the standard example – do not change the font, color, bolding or size of any portion of the signature block. If you have questions about the format, revisit the guidelines and sample signature block on the intranet at: (website given).
2) White is the only acceptable color to use as a background on email communication. While Microsoft Outlook provides a wide variety of borders, formats and backgrounds, none conform to the professional image we’d like to convey.
3) Personal quotes, known/famous quotes, taglines, etc. should not be used. (Note: The only acceptable form of tagline is the “IT Solutions” phrase included in the approved signature block.)
4) Use a standard font in all email communication (i.e., Arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Helvetica, Verdana, MS Reference Sans Serif, etc.). Avoid using script fonts.
5) IS will soon be adding a standard confidentiality statement to the bottom of emails (2-3 weeks). More information regarding this statement will be communicated when it is implemented.

If you have any specific questions regarding our email policy, please feel free to contact Marketing Manager directly at (phone number given) or myself at (phone number given).

Thank you for your cooperation.

Everyone's reaction in this office was "are you kidding me?" Of all the things wrong that need fixed or addressed, they sure pick some irrelevant issues to focus on.

OK, I can understand wanting some sort of standard, really I can. But in my opinion, they could have picked a better template. Or they could be a little more yielding to a bit of personalization. Conformity... robots... eeewww... I mean, come on. We are an IT solutions provider, you would think we could utilize some of the options available in our software.

So, I caved. :( I changed my signature. But I am not changing my font. It is not in his list of "standard fonts" but it is not a script font, so I am keeping it.

Toothpaste

Have you ever noticed that when you are watching a movie and the person in the movie is brushing their teeth, they hardly ever use toothpaste? Why is that? Is that not a commonly used product? Has my dentist been decieving me all these years telling me to brush with toothpaste?

Is it too messy and the producers, directors, or the actors decided that it is too gross to put on screen for people to see? The audience would see the "beautiful people" frothing at the mouth and somehow not like them anymore?

I can't even imagine brushing my teeth without toothpaste, it would just seem silly. And I wouldn't have minty fresh breath when I was done! :)

I know this is a strange post, but it has been bugging me lately... lol And since I haven't posted much lately I thought I would do a short rant about toothpaste...

Trog

After work last night, Conor and I were watching cartoons in the living room when Allie came out of her room and sat down. Conor had been playing with a stuffed animal frog, throwing it for the dogs to go get. Allie saw this and said, "Hey! That's mine!" And she picked it up off the floor before the dogs could get it.

Conor wanted it back obviously, so he told her, "Give me that trog." (Still pronouncing his 'f' as a 't')

Allie said, "I'll give it to you if you say 'frog' the correct way."

So, just as she asked, Conor said, "Trog the correct way."

Allie and I both burst out laughing.

"No, you have to say 'frog' right."

"Trog right," he repeated, while trying very hard to get the frog from her.

At this point she was on the floor and holding it out of his reach. She was lying on her stomach, so Conor decided to sit on her back. Forgetting about the frog temporarily, he said, "Let's go, horsie!"

"I am NOT a horse!"

"Come on, go horsie!!"

"Get off of me, I'm not a horse!"

This went on for a couple of minutes, I was cracking up laughing at the two of them. Then Conor reached around and put his hand over Allie's mouth and said, "Horsies don't talk, so be quiet!" and held his hand there. We were both rolling with laughter at all of this.

Conor never did get his horsie ride. He did get the trog back, though. :)

Blackmail or Bargaining?

I went home for lunch today and the first thing Conor said to me was, "Momma, can I have a popsicle?"

"Did you eat lunch yet?"

"Yes!"

"What did you have?" I asked.

"I had, ummmm, toast!" (A "Yeah, that's it" kinda look on his face..)

"Well, that sounds more like breakfast, so maybe you need to eat some lunch."

Dad speaks up, "He had ham and cheese."

"Yeah! So, can I have a popsicle?"

"OK, you can have one. But that will be all, OK?"

"OK, Momma!" He ran off to select the one he wanted, his sister opened it for him.

Five minutes later he came back. I was trying to help Jeff with a math problem he was trying to figure out. "Momma, can I have some Ice Cream?"

"No, you just had a popsicle."

"But, I've not had an ice cream!"

"Sorry, you chose a popsicle, you are not having both." I turned back to Jeff to help, but he had already figured it out. So I turned back to Conor. "Did you brush your teeth this morning?"

"If I did, can I have an ice cream?"

"No."

I got up and went into the kitchen to sort through the mail I had just brought in. I was shredding some junk mail when I heard Conor asking Jeff for an ice cream.

"Conor, leave Daddy alone, he's trying to do his homework." I yelled into the bedroom.

Conor then came into the kitchen and said, "Well, if you give me some ice cream I won't bother Daddy, but if you won't give me some ice cream I will go bother Daddy." He actually said this with his eyes really big and innocent.

"I'm not giving you ice cream, and you can take your chances with your Daddy. I wouldn't bother him, though, because you will just get into trouble." I was trying so hard not to burst out laughing! Trying to blackmail me to get his way! yeah, right... :)

Then I heard him in the bedroom talking to Jeff, "If you give me some ice cream, Daddy, I won't bother you. If you don't give me some ice cream, I will bother you."

Jeff replied, "No."

"But...." he started.

"No." Jeff repeated.

So his blackmail didn't work. He left our bedroom and went to find Allie. Allie and Conor walked out of Allie's room towards the kitchen. "Did you say it was OK for Conor to have ice cream?" Allie asked.

"No, I told him he could not have any."

"He just came in my room and told me 'Mommy and Daddy said I could have some ice cream.'"

Figures. Sneaky little snot. lol Trying so hard to get his ice cream.

He then decided that he wanted more lunch - I think he thought if he ate more food, he would be allowed some ice cream. I don't know the outcome of that because I had to leave to go back to work. It was just really funny all of the ways he was trying to get some ice cream. :)

One day I'll learn....

OK, this post is just about something stupid. :) I bought a cell phone car charger a while back, but I gave it to Jeff since he is gone from home a lot and needs it more than I do. Since his back injury he, of course, has not been using it. So, it is now in my car since I often forget to charge my phone. When I bought it, I got the one with a retractable cord so it would be more neat when trying to store it. There is a button on the side of the main part that, when pushed, retracts the cord very quickly.

When I plug it into the lighter slot in my car, I always have to move it around so that it gets connected somehow to whatever metal piece is in there - and it will finally start charging. While moving it around, I hold my phone in my other hand (while parked of course!) and watch it to see when it starts charging. EVERY time - I mean, every single time I have done this - I am looking at my phone, I start moving the charger around in the slot, and I press that little button to retract the cord. It scares the crap out of me every time (the zip noise) and I drop the phone. You would think that after a few times I would realize it and pay attention. Maybe now that I have written about it I will remember. :)

Just thought I would share that with you all so you can have a laugh at my expense (instead of Jeff's, heehee). :)

Back to the dock...

It has been almost a year since I posted pictures of the newly built dock and the "hole" that was to be a pond. Now look at it:


Relaxing on the dock

From left to right: Grant, Mason, and Conor wading in...

Grandma, Grant, and Judy watching the kids play

Swimming and floating....

Great Uncle Don, Conor, and Grant

Ceara jumping off the dock

Maggie jumping off the dock - look at her hair fly.... all the kids taunted her until she finally gave in and jumped off!

Paddling and fishing around the pond - with all the swimmers in there, too, I don't think they had much luck with the fish. From left to right: Jake, Missy, Mason, and Matt.

Conor wouldn't go anywhere with anyone except for his sissy Allie.

The paddleboat crew tries a new spot for fish.

It was an absolutely beautiful day to be sitting outside, playing in the pond, or just sitting and watching. Everyone had a blast! The pond is now fully filled in, ready for swimming, fishing, or just paddle-boating around. The pig roast is coming up in a couple of weeks, so we will be going back out there for a day of fun - food, music, dancing, volley ball, games, and a whole lot more!

Comedy of Errors

OK, so one of the contracts we have where I work is with a Computer Manufacturer (name withheld to protect the stupid). The basic overview of this contract is that they have customers who call into their tech support center needing assistance. Their tech support people determine the problem, decide which part needs replaced, and dispatch it to us. We, in turn, order the part they instruct us to order and we must perform the service they request upon receipt of the part - 95% of the time it is the next business day.

For anyone unfamiliar with the computer service industry, if a unit is under warranty and a part is replaced, the manufacturer requires that the defective part be returned to them within a specified period of time before any credit is received. We must provide payment for the part in advance and they give full credit once the defective part is received. Anyway, I don't want to bore you with the details... so onto this particular incident.

There are 2 particular customers who will not provide a defective return to Computer Manufacturer (CM from here on out) if the defective part is a hard drive. This is due to security reasons - the hard drives in question have information on them that the customers do not want to take any chances of being leaked.

So, for the call in question that we received - CM sent the call to us via the virtual dispatch site that we use. In the notes of the call they (CM) specified, "that the defective Hard Drive will not be returned, as it is a defense organization." In other situations where we do this for customers, we must fill out paperwork that we have for the specified customers and return the paperwork in place of the defective part. This call did not have any paperwork given to us (what we already have is customer specific, so it could not be used) so we printed out the information from their website, highlighted the notes that they (CM) put in there, and send that paperwork in place of the defective part.

Two weeks later we received the box back, with the paperwork inside, and a letter stating that we did not return the defective part to them so we were going to be charged the full charge for the part. It also stated that if we wished to dispute the charge, we needed to send an email to their specified email with the details of the case and the reason for the dispute. *Sigh*

So, I compose the email, stating the customer's name, the order number, the part number, our ID number, and the reason for the dispute - that they (CM) were the ones who told us not to return the defective drive!

One week later (today) I receive a reply from their dispute department directing me to contact Joe Schmoe for assistance with this problem. That Joe handles all cases where the defective drive is not returned.

So! I forwarded the entire email string to Joe - the customer's name included - and received the following reply:

I assume this is an CM or CM2 desktop under warranty.
Please contact MR (person who works for my company) for paperwork requirements.

Also, I assume the customer is XYZCompany.
If not, then it does not process through me.
I will need to research further if not XYZCompany.

He copied, on his email, 2 other people within my company - and one within his (Mike P). He received almost immediate replies from 3 of the 4 people he sent it to. All three said about the same thing - DUH! Did you even READ THE EMAIL??? (of course you had to read between the lines to get that and if he was incapable of reading the email I had already sent, he probably didn't get the inclination of the replies, either!)

Mine said, "No, the customer is not XYZCompany - it is a CM call. CM dispatches it to us. As stated below, this call was ran for 'Defense Organization'."

The one from Mike P. said, "This is not an issue for Joe Schmoe. Joe only has this process for XYZCompany, this call is for 'Defence Organization'. RTD, please issue full credit for the order to 'Company ID.' Per the note of the case from CM, the partner was directed NOT to return a defective part. Any question please contact me ASAP."

I absolutely adore Mike P. He is the absolute best at his job, and everyone else's job in their company apparently! It is because of him that I recommend this brand of computer to anyone I talk to - because of him I can get almost any issue I have with this Computer Manufacturer resolved almost immediately.

Errors made:

#1 - Whoever opened the box was unable to read, apparently, and could not comprehend that the company for which he/she works was the ones who instructed us not to return the defective part. Thus the box and paperwork were returned to us with instructions on how to dispute the rejected part.

#2 - Why the paperwork states to file a dispute via email to their "disputes" department if they cannot handle the disputes and will just send me elsewhere.

#3 - Sending me to Joe Schmoe for assistance when he is not the one who handles such cases - he only does work for XYZCompany. If they know his name well enough to send me to him, they should know what his position is within their company.

#4 - Joe Schmoe making assumptions and not reading the email before sending an unintelligent response. Didn't anyone ever tell him what happens when he assumes??? (Ass - u - me) But in this case I think he only made an ass of himself. :)

#5 - Me even thinking I could get any correct assistance from anyone else other than Mike P. I should have just gone directly to him when I read the instructions in the call!

Anyway, this is my form of venting about the situation. :) Hope it didn't bore you!

The "embarassing ones" :)

OK, not so much the 1st one... It's a good one. But the other two are when she is taking a bite of something... so she yelled at me for taking the pictures. :)

Allie's 13!!!

OK, yes, I am a little late posting the pics, and I have more to post! I will possibly do that tonight. :) The embarassing ones..... ;)


Does it look like she likes it? She didn't know what it was at first... but it is an MP3 player. :)

She had a little bit of help with opening the bags (they are kinda difficult, you know), and the tissue paper is a little bit in the way, but she looks so happy here, I had to post it.

Happy 13th Birthday Allie! :) Welcome to the teenage years! (OMG! Please help us both! :))

(The cakes you see in the background on the counter were the cakes made by Allie, Ceara, Conor, and Kaitlyn for me at GrandDad's house!)

New Links

OK, I have added a couple of new links to "My Favorite Blogs" - Waiter Rant is a blog written by an anonymous waiter in NYC. He has a LOT of readers and I have read his blog for a long time. He writes about the customers and staff at the restaurant where he works. If you notice, his posts get HUNDREDS of comments from people all over the world. He has been written about in various newspapers and magazines. He might make you think about some of the things you do when you go to eat at a restaurant!

The other one is the Ellsworth Family - this is the blog of a couple that I met while playing World of Warcraft. They are both very funny and their son is adorable! Their blog, like mine, is to keep their family updated with happenings in their lives - and with their first child, Colin (who is now 8 months old).

I just recently found out that at least one of you are as familiar with Poop and Boogies as I am! So, if you haven't checked out my recommendations, you might want to take a look at them. Some of them will have you laughing out loud.... :)

Going to the Movies

I decided to take the girls to see a movie, one of their choice even! Initially, I was going to drop them off and pick them up. I decided instead to just stay and see a movie that I wanted to see. Jeff is unable to go to the movies at this time because he is not allowed to sit for that long.

We decided to go on Sunday afternoon, they decided to see "Click" (with Adam Sandler) while I chose to see "The Devil Wears Prada." Both movies started at the same time. When en route to the theater, Allie asked if I would drop them both at the door so they didn't have to walk.

"Uh, no. You can walk just the same as I can."

"But, Mom, we're special!"

"I realize that you are very special, but this isn't the special bus, so you will have to walk just like the normal people," I said, smiling.

We ended up getting a front row parking space - it just happened to be open.

The girls went on ahead of me - you know, they're at that age where they don't want to be seen with an adult, especially if it's Mom! So I got my ticket, got some popcorn and went into my movie.

When I walked out, I walked past where the girls had been for their movie and it was over, so I figured they would be in the lobby. I walked into the lobby and they were sitting, waiting on a bench. They saw me and got up and walked over to me.

Allie was saying, "See, I told ya!" and laughing.

"What did she tell you?" I asked.

Ceara responded, "She said, 'these look like the kind of people who would be watching the movie my mom is watching, so I bet she will be coming out soon.'"

"Well, how rude!" I said, while laughing. "I thought you said you wanted to see that movie, too. I guess I won't have to worry about you wanting to come back to watch it then."

"I do want to see it, it looks good."

Yeah, teenagers!

Then we got into the car and she put her elbow on the middle console, "Ouch! That's hot!! Mom, you should have parked in the shade!"

"Well, then you would have had to walk farther! Next time I will be sure to remind you that when it is 100 degrees outside and the sun is shining, the inside of a car will more than likely be very hot... "

I will be posting some pictures from Allie's birthday party soon - I got some really good ones of her! Some while she was talking, or chewing, or with some strange expression on her face... you know, all the ones that will embarrass her. I took them on purpose because she kept saying, "Mom! Stop taking pictures of me!"

By the way, the movie I saw was really good. I liked it. :)

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! :)