Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Yay! It's snowing!

Today, Joe and Sarah and I went to look at the new house (Sarah hadn't seen it yet). Sarah likes it a lot. So do we. The only possible drawback is the drive from the house to the highway. It's a windy, narrow and hilly road. It was a little dicey getting to it with slippery roads this morning. I was driving. Joe was very frightened. Goodness knows why. HAHA.

My big goal for the weekend is to finish Christmas presents and send them out this week. I'm very very close to being done. Once that's done, I need to really concentrate on getting the stuff I don't need on a daily basis packed up. The very worst part about moving is the moving. I hate packing, and I hate unpacking just as much. But once it's all done, it will be so nice!!

I'm off to watch the snow....

Pictures of house (with their furniture)

See Joe and I in our own short film!!

Click below. Happy holidays!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1295141616

House!!!

Joe and I are buying a house! We are very excited (scared) and happy (worried) and looking forward to having a place of our own together.

I'll let you all know the details once we have a closing date and all that. It's in Bloomington. Woo-hoo!!

Is it REALLY December?

We are having a good old THUNDERSTORM. In December. I love it. I wish it was snow, but I still love it. Wind. Rain. Thunder. Woo-hoo!

I went Christmas shopping today. I found the COOLEST toy for me - I mean Yuki. It's a

Fisher-Price® Imaginext™ Mega Spinosaurus see it.

It moves. It roars. The eyes flash. In fact, it was SO cool, that I got something similar
here for Jaisen. We'll leave it here for "safe keeping". They make cool noises and flap wings and stuff like that. I wish the pictures were better.

I've been listening to Christmas music by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Ah, the holidays.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The stress! The stress! I'm paralyzed and can't do anything because I have too much to do! Too many things pulling at me! I wish I was an ostrich and could put my head in the sand and pretend nothing is out of sorts.

Sunday - last day of vacation

And I'm actually looking forward to going back to work.

Yesterday we (Joe & I and his two sons and his grandson) went to Kentucky for the Paulley Thanksgiving. It was nice until the trip home. Joe was exhausted from work, Jaisen (grandson) was tired (no nap), and Josh was in rare angry form. The closer we got to home the worse it was. Josh says mean, wicked things about Jaisen's mom, right in front of Jaisen, and despite Joe telling him to let it go, he didn't. Jaisen's mom says mean and spiteful things about Josh in front of Jaisen too. They are both wrong, and Jaisen's the one that will suffer the most.

Josh is frustrated with his roommates and didn't want to go home. He asked if he could stay at our house and I shook my head no because Joe was so tired he could barely stand up. This threw Josh into a rage, and for the last 30 miles all he did was cuss and be obnoxious. In the end, Joe took him in his car so he could talk to him and had Billy and I take Jaisen to our house. Apparently he came down pretty hard on Josh. Which Josh needed.

They ended up staying at our house anyway because Josh's roommates looked him out of their house. I just went to bed and let Joe deal with it. This morning he told Joe that he needed to move, but had no where to go. Joe told him he needed to figure it out.

I need to talk to Joe again and let him know there is no way Josh can live with us. He makes me feel all tight and angry and frustrated whenever I'm around him. He's lazy and won't do anything to help himself. Even worse than Sarah. Sarah is lazy too, but at least she'll work and is normally pretty nice.

Blended families certainly have their challenges, even when the kids are (mostly) grown up.

BLACK FRIDAY

Today is Black Friday. I was at the mall at 3 am. But not for the reason you might think. The pet care person where Joe works called in sick last night, and Joe had to go in at 3 am to clean the kennels, and all the other critter areas, as well as give shots and all that. The mall opened at 6 for most stores, but some were open at 5:00 (like Target). People are CRAZY. There were people at the mall waiting for stores to open at 3:00 when we got there!

So, Joe and I did all the pre-open stuff at the pet store, and about 6:30, we went to breakfast at Chick-fil-a. They have a killer breakfast burrito. Then Joe went back to work, and I thought, Well, I'm already here. I might as well go to Target and see what they have.

I remember now WHY I decided never to go shopping on Black Friday before afternoon. I did it one other time a few years ago. Apparently it's like having a baby. Eventually the pain of childbirth recedes from your mind and you believe it wasn't so bad, and you can do it again. Black Friday Early Morning is like that. You forget how bad it was and decide to try it again...

The mall itself wasn't all that bad. Kinda like a busy weekend. But Target was insane. I didn't even get a cart, not that there were any available. Even the days prior to school starting didn't touch how many people were in Target today. It took me 10 minutes just to get from the door opening into the mall to the doors to the outside. You know how it is. People stopping in the isle to look, blocking everyone else from moving through. One lady totally ran into me me with her cart from behind. She didn't "see" me because she had a box in her cart that was taller than both of us. When I did get to the isle leading to the outside I was confronted with the most amazing sight. Carts. Two rows of carts, going the entire length of the store and around the corner. It would take at least one & half hours just waiting in line to get to the cash register.

When I finally freed myself from the crush of humanity, I thought I was going to witness a massive accident between cars wanting my parking place. I had a primo parking spot since I was one of the very first people at the mall. I was so glad to get out of there! I was so traumatized I couldn't even bring myself to go shopping the rest of the day.

Hopefully the pain will fade and I'll be able to at least shop in the afternoon next Black Friday...

Let the Christmas Carols begin! Black Friday is here!

Turkey Day

Day 4 into my vacation. How sad. The week went by so quickly.

Today's Turkey Day dinner went remarkably well. Joe and Sarah kicked in and helped a lot. Everyone got along. Joe's boys and Sarah cleaned up afterwards. Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse provided amazing recipes, as did Great Grandma Erbes, my mom, Elizabeth, Kraft, Hunts and Libby.

The Menu:

Adaptation of an Emeril Lagasse recipe for Turkey Breast Roulade, which is basically a turkey breast pounded out to an even thickness, topped with stuffing, rolled up jelly roll style, tied and roasted.

Cornbread Dressing (recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay using fresh sage & thyme from Elizabeth).
Mashed potatoes (with authentic turkey gravy in a jar made by Hunts)
Macaroni and cheese (Kraft)
Corn
Grandma Erbes' ice box rolls (actually her mother's recipe)
Stir Fry **
Pumpkin pie (recipe on the Libby can and my mom's homemade pie crust)

I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING. What the heck? There's no color in this menu! No green. No cranberry. In my family, no color is allowed for big, heavy meals. That way we can all pass out at 3:00 pm and sleep until 6:00 pm without any worry about some sort of healthy food getting in the way and giving us energy. We have to fight off that urge on holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

**Sarah made stir fry. It's not a traditional item, I know. But she wanted to contribute, and when I asked her what she wanted to make, this is what she picked. It was quite spicy (eg, hot) BUT she used whole wheat rotini noodles, which really verged on the edge of healthy, and even a little color. We'll have to watch out for her in the future.

Am I a hippie, environmentalist, or an old lady?

A little background is necessary here...

1. I make my own laundry detergent, use vinegar for fabric softener and in place of Jet Dry
2. I use those cool reusable bags at the grocery store that are shaped like brown paper bags with handles but are made of a nylon material.
3. I will tend to tell anyone about the above two things with little to no provocation.

So, yesterday I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of items, and took in my reusable bag. These have not really caught on yet, so even the checkout people tend to look at them like they are a tad scary. So I could tell the checkout woman was already judging me thinking I'm one of those enviro"mental"ist people. To make it even more interesting, I was buying some Fels Naptha to make my laundry soap. As she was putting the soap into my bag, she paused and said, "Oh! I thought this was body soap!" I told her that no, it was what I use to make my own laundry soap. I told her how to make it. I couldn't help myself. I'm sure she didn't care. At all. But she politely asked if it lasts a long time. Goodness knows why. But I began extolling the virtues of my soap, and how wonderful vinegar is as a fabric softener. She politely nodded. She handed me my receipt, I picked up bag and started to walk away. And here's where she really blew it. She said, "I don't use Downy. I use those dryer sheets. My kid puts 5 in at a time."

I couldn't stop myself. I turned around and walked back to her, and in front of the customer she was waiting on next, I said, "Then you really need to know this. If you use fabric sheets, you need to make sure your lint trap is really clean. Wash it. Wash it with soap and water occasionally." She looked at me like I was nuts. Maybe I am. But I knew I had her when I said, "Especially if your clothes don't dry the first time you run the dryer." The light in her eyes told me that was happening. I went on, "Dryer sheets cause a build up on your lint catcher and makes the dryer work much harder, and eventually can even cause a fire."

As I walked away, I started laughing because suddenly I realized I am this conglomeration of stereotypes... hippie, environmentalist, nosy old lady... But you know, I like it.

Clothing issues

I had the most horrid time finding something to wear today. It's not that I don't HAVE anything to wear. It's just that everything that is clean is either in need of some sort of repair or too wrinkled to wear without ironing, and I got up too late to iron. Heck. As it was, I was lucky my hair was dry by the time I got to work.

So, I finally (after sifting through the clothing in my closet at least 6 times) came across a blouse I bought this summer because "the price was right". I think I spent 7 bucks on it. It has a belt. I hate belts on shirts. But at the time, I thought, "Maybe it will be o.k. without a belt". Anyway, I brought the thing home and washed it. To my dismay, I found two more things not to like other than the belt. One, it cannot be pulled out of the dryer unwrinkled. It MUST be ironed. Undaunted, I ironed it. That's when I found the second thing. Part of the hem had come undone, and hung down. Completely noticeable.

I put the blouse away, telling myself I'd "fix" it. Well, today is the day. It was my only option without having to iron. I put it on. And this is what I did to fix it:

-I put some double sticky tape from my paper craft stuff on it to hold it together. Didn't even TOUCH it. Still hung down.
-I got two safety pins. One I could put in without it being seen from the outside. The other showed a little bit of pin. When I got to work, I took some tape, folded it in a circle with the inside out, and taped my hem shut.
-It that fails me later, I'll just staple it.

Perhaps I'll go to the craft store and get some $7.00 stitching witchery stuff that can be used to iron in a hem to make it stick. That will double the cost of this blouse though, and considering the fact that I have to iron it, it may not be worth the cost. Tape and safety pins seem to be working fine so far.

It seems to me that $7.00 for a one-time-wear blouse that I don't even really like might not be a bad thing.

Addendum

This is a clarification of the previous blog. Apparently some people (Joe) thought I was being serious about my husband's (Joe) inability to stay warm, and goading me into trying to take a shower.

The entire blog was meant as a thinly veiled jab at my own impending menopause precipitated by hot flashes that require cooler temperatures in the house. Once I explained to Joe what I meant he thought it was pretty funny, but pointed out that the only one's that would "get" it were probably my mom and my sister, who are better acquainted with my sense of humor.

So there you have it. All spelled out for those who are not fortunate enough to be a woman or know my sense of humor.

Exploring new frontiers of aging

I'm not the aging one (ah-hem), it's Joe. I swear. Suddenly, he has to have it so hot in the house that I sweat. He lays there in bed with all the covers around him shivering like it's 30 degrees outside, and I'm laying there kicking off the covers and not able to sleep because I'm so hot. What's wrong with that man? Who in their right mind wants to have the house at 68-70 degrees when 60-65 is much more comfortable???

And, suddenly, he's a smarty-pants. "Honey, why don't you go take a shower?" No. "Why not, that always makes ME feel better?" Are you telling me I stink? "No, but you're sweating and a little grumpy." EXCUSE ME? I am NOT grumpy. Back off, buddy!

Joe seems a little baffled by his new need for a warmer home. Maybe he should go to the doctor and see if he needs a hormone adjustment. Poor guy.

What the heck?

This guy on my team at work just quit. This is the first time I can ever remember being mad about someone quitting. What a crappy time of year to quit. As I have mentioned before, we have to close more claims than we open during the course of a year, which seems like a paradox, but that's the way it is. Our team will get all his claims. He has 90 claims and there are 5 of us left, which means we will all get around 18 more claims. There is freaking no way I can make my 100% closing now. He should have at least tried to stay until January.

There is a bright side to this story, though. Since he is leaving before December 31, he will lose the discretionary match given to us by the company. It will go to us. Too bad it doesn't all go to our team instead of being spread out around the company. =)

Nice reminder of summer...

The Wonderful Sunday Paper

I love the Sunday paper. I sit down on my couch, turn on the news, gather the paper and my coffee and sit down for a wonderful interlude with my inner-shopper. Normally I read the headlines on the first page just to build anticipation for the ads. Today, I got sucked in by an interesting article about Opera, and why I should go. It made me actually want to attend an opera performance, and you know what? I just might.

But I digress. The REAL reason I get the paper at ALL is for the Wednesday food columns, the Saturday TV guide and the Sunday ads. (Joe reads the paper faithfully every single day while sitting in his "office". I'll leave it to you to determine where his "office" is. I subscribed to the paper for "Joe" for his birthday because he loves the paper. But I get the secret benefit of the Sunday ads.)

So, as I said, I look at all the pretty ads, on shiny paper, in color, and try to determine just what it is that I can't live without at Target and Michael's this week. Then I look at all the grocery coupons. About 1/2 the time I tear out the coupons I think I might use. About 98% of the time I forget to take whatever coupons I tear out to the grocery store with me. Of the 2% of the time I DO take the coupons with me, many times I find another brand of the item cheaper and don't use it anyway.

But you know what? It's only 2 weeks until the Holy Grail of newspaper ads come out. We all know it...its the ads for BLACK FRIDAY. The day after Thanksgiving, when the most incredible deals of the year are advertised. I carefully look at the ads, determine if there is anything I think is worth going for, and plan my attack. If there's anything SERIOUSLY cool, like a DVD player for $20.00, a digital camera for a mere $5.00, or a computer for $150 for the first 10 people through the door, I'm willing to stand in line starting at ... oh, 6:45 am, which obviously means I'm going to miss out on the $15o computer because there are idiots out there that stand in line all night long just to be the first in the door when it opens.

Truthfully, I have only done that one year. Joe and I got up early and stood outside of Wal-mart waiting to get some serious deals. And we did. But we risked our lives. People are crazy on Black Friday. They will run over you with their cart, yank Cabbage Patch kids right out of your hands, knock you over to get at the last $5.00 digital camera. It's scary. So, I wait until around 9 or 10 when the hard core "crazies" are out of the way. It's still crowded, but all the $20 DVD players, $5.00 cameras and $150 computers are gone, so no one is willing to maim or kill by mid-morning.

14 days and counting! Black Friday cometh!

May I complain?

I know I rarely talk about my family and how annoying they are - I mean, how lovely they are, but I need an ear here.



I'm sitting at work, happily evaluating other people's problems and deciding the fate of their claims. The cell phone rings, but I'm helping another person with their problems, and can't answer. A couple of minutes go by and the cell phone rings again, and I thought to myself, "Oh, crap. What now?" Against my better judgement, I answered the phone.

Guess who? Sarah. "Mom. I think my truck got stolen or towed." So. she left her truck at an apartment complex where there are signs EVERYWHERE advising cars will be towed that don't belong to residents etc etc etc. She left her truck there in a resident parking space. And she's surprised it was towed?

I was all for letting her swing in the wind until she got the money to get it herself, but the tow facility charges $15 per day storage. Joe & I shelled out the $105.00 to get her truck out.

Merry Christmas, Sarah.

Time Management

On a whim (well, not REALLY a whim, my review said I should take a course in time management...) I signed up for a course on-line for Time Management. While my review suggested I do this on THIS year's review, I actually signed up for the course over a year ago, but ... didn't have time to finish it.

Anyway, back to the whim, I decided to actually work on the course, so I could tell my boss I did something. I'm on the first exercise, which is writing down EVERY TIME I CHANGE tasks at work, and the time. Example:

7:15 am. Sign on and work diary
7:30 am. Work Que
7:40 am. Bid on e-bay for Dan (my boss, and this is true)
7:42 am. Go get coffee with Dan and listen to the story of the day
7:52 am. Work Que

you get the picture.

Then at the end of a week, you tally up all the time you spend on various tasks, and identify areas where we can use our time more effectively and efficiently. I think one of the biggest time-eaters is my supervisor.

So, today is day 2 of the record keeping. Interestingly, since I know I'm tracking things, I'm magically better already. Whereas most days I have to move most of my "diaries" from today to tomorrow, yesterday and today both I have managed to wade through the entire day's diaries. I've even returned all my phone calls and that alone is a miracle. I usually don't get to my phone calls until 4-5 days later, sometimes even more. And finally, I've been able to get through all my mail both days. Holy cow! This tracking is amazing. It even accounts for lots of wasted time, like typing this blog at work. I started the blog at 2:18 pm. I wrote it in my log. I don't even feel (too) guilty because all my phone calls are returned, all my diaries are current and all my mail is done. I have an hour and a half to go before my day is done here. AMAZING!

I can't wait to see what happens in the rest of the course. Who knows what I might accomplish with all that extra time I'll find!

Men vs Women

Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you I got my hair cut. It's very short in the back and gradually gets longer as you go to the top of my head. The top is maybe 2 inches. Then at the sides right in front of my ears, it's as long as it used to be (chin length). I love it. I think it's really cute.

So let me just say that EVERY SINGLE WOMAN at work (that commented on it) has said they love my hair. Not ONE SINGLE MAN has said that.

Women: "Oh my gosh! I love your hair! It's so cute and looks great on you!"

Men: Blank stares, or if anything, "You got a haircut." That INCLUDES my husband. I think he was really disappointed that I got my hair cut off. He says he likes it now that he's getting used to it.

That is PROOF that there is a difference between men and women.

What else is happening?

Yesterday I went up to see Eliz and the kids. I cannot BELIEVE how much Ella has grown in just a couple of weeks.

Here's a picture of Yuki in his favorite outfit. That hanger is his "gun". He runs through the house, "Bang, bang!!" Love the boots.

So here's the latest Yuki debacle. Yuki was playing with his cars in the living room. Last year he got a "garage" (I think you can see it in the background of the picture) for Christmas. It came with little matchbox type cars. He had them all gathered around him. Eventually, Eliz noticed he was taking a car with him (she assumed to his room) and coming back without it. She became suspicious, and asked him where the cars were. He had been flushing them down the toilet! This is not his first foray into flushing stuff down the toilet. A couple of months ago, he flushed his toothbrush down (and goodness knows what else) and plugged up the toilet so badly that Matt had to take the toilet off the floor to get the toothbrush out. So, Yuki got his first ever "spanking". Elizabeth told him she was going to spank him and asked him if he knew why. He seemed to understand, but of course there was no trepidation because he'd never been spanked before. Afterwards, as Eliz was hugging him and comforting him, he said, "You hurt my butt!"

It will be interesting to see if Yuki refrains from flushing things from now on.

Maybe I should spank Sarah. HAHAHAHAHA.

The Princess Returns

Sarah is safely home. I told her she has 6 months to figure out what she's doing. If she is going to school she can stay as long as she wants to. If she is not in school, she needs to start saving money, because she's not going to be living here. She agreed that was reasonable.

The other condition was no drugs in the house. I know I'm not going to be able to stop her from doing whatever she wants to when she isn't home, but here I need assurance that she won't do anything illegal in the house.

Tomorrow would be a good day to start looking for a job, eh?

Sarah is coming home part II

Sigh. I buy the ticket to Denver. I call a supervisor and wade through all the explanations to get the rest of the week off. I pack. I transfer money from savings to checking. I try to sleep. 10:30. 11:00. 11:30. Still awake.

11:30ish. I get a text from Sarah. "Andy is coming home now. I am buying his bus ticket. Can he catch a bus from Denver? I don't know how buses work. Sigh. I am frustrated." SHE'S frustrated??????

I call her. Tickets are $149.00 from Denver. Is he coming home for sure? Yes, he is. O.K. let me see if I can cancel my plane ticket and get some money back and you two ride home together. Agreed. I can tell she isn't happy about having to put up with Andy for 2 more days, but I'm not burning 3 days of vacation, spending $400-500 to drive back with her if he's coming back anyway.

Believe it or not, Travelocity said they would refund my entire ticket amount minus the service fee. Sometime in the next 30 BUSINESS days. That's better than nothing, that's for sure.

I really kinda wish I could have gone. It would have been fun.

Sarah's coming home

Sarah called. She's wondering why she's where she is, why she didn't stay in school, why she took her loser boyfriend on the adventure of a lifetime and she feels like such a loser. She said, "I wish I was home." I said, "Then come home."

I was on my way in to give blood (and save 3 peoples lives) so I told her I'd call her back later. After giving blood, coming home, and taking a nap, I get around to calling her back. She's crying. I ask what's wrong, and she says, she's coming home and andy is mad at her. She's leaving tomorrow. Andy's not coming with her. (!) yippee!!!! Andy's not coming with her!!!!

She's afraid about driving back alone, worried about falling asleep on the road, scared about being alone in rest stops.

I check on-line, and can get a decent ticket to Denver. I ask her if she can get to the denver airport, and if she can I'll fly in and ride back with her. She is very relieved about that.

I called one of the supervisors and asked permission to take off work, and he said o.k. So, I made the reservation and will fly out tomorrow. SHE BETTER NOT BACK OUT or she's in serious trouble.

So I'm excited about seeing her and having the time alone with her on the way back. I'm not excited about the trip back in her pickup with an uncomfortable passenger seat and the constant worry about breakdowns. =)

I'll update when I get back.

The Revenge of Yuki and Sofi

Elizabeth has her hands full. Literally. While she's trapped in the rocking chair nursing Ella, Yuki and Sofi are free to roam the house and do whatever they please while mom is momentarily indisposed.

If you were ages 3 and 2, what would YOU do with this kind of unfettered freedom? I'm not sure what I'D do, but, I can tell you what Yuki and Sofi do.

* Get Dad's shaving cream and walk around the parts of the house mom can't see you, and spray it everywhere you walk.

* Get blue shampoo, drain the almost full bottle on the carpet outside the bathroom and in Sofi's room.

* Get baby lotion, proceed to spread it all over Yuki, and on his walls and in his carpet.

* Get a tube of Lamisil (similar in texture to petroleum jelly) and see how much you can get in Sofi's hair and whatever other interesting surfaces are around.

* Fill the bathroom sink with water while "brushing my teeth", and continue to let the water run and run and run, while splashing water everywhere and ignoring mom. Mom is yelling "TURN OFF THE WATER NOW!!!" but who can hear her over the sound of running water and splashing?

Mind you, these are all separate events that happened over a weeks time. I'm thinking every time Ella nurses, should be "time out, on the couch, don't move your rears from there until I say so" time for Yuki and Sofi.

I think these things are pretty funny, but then, I'm not the one trapped in the rocker, helplessly wondering what they are doing now...

The adventures of Sarah

Sarah is still roaming the wild west. She left my brother Don's sanctuary and headed for Colorado. Don and Sue filled her tank before she left. She had a few bucks, some McDonalds gift certs and food that Sue sent along with her. Next stop...some rest area where they spent a cold and uncomfortable night in the truck. Too cold and windy for setting up the tent, and it even snowed a little.

Onward to Vail, Colorado. Where the truck lost all the lights on the instrument panel, they had no gas, and no money, and only a few McDonalds bucks left. Call to Mom. "Gee, honey. That's too bad. What are you going to do now?" Move on to the next day, truck is working again now, some sort of miracle because they didn't do anything to it. And, hey! They met some guy at McDonalds and asked him if there was a place they could camp for free. Well, no, it's supposed to snow tonight, but you can come stay with us for a couple of days. So, off they go with this kid, who lives with a bunch of other guys. They have been staying there and a couple of other places until she gets some money to move on.

Hold up. Where are you going to get money? I got a credit card, and they can transfer money into my bank account for ZERO interest. Uh-huh. I believe that, for sure.

Get this! As I was typing this post, Sarah calls. They are now in Winter Park, their ultimate destination. I don't know how she got there, since the money from the credit card just hit her account this morning, but she's there. She wants to know what the expiration date on her credit card is because they want to rent a hotel for the night. OMG. Her job (if she really has one) doesn't start until November 15th. I don't know HOW she thinks she is going to be able to pay for a credit card bill in 28 days from now, when she won't even be working yet.

I'm over it.

She needs to get real about life. She's going to fall, and fall hard. I hope she can pick up the pieces and move on with her life when that happens. My sister says she feels Sarah will be fine and that she will have a relationship with God some day. I'm hanging my hat on that.

New baby and various other items

Eleanor Charlotte Hilligoss was born on October 1, 2007, at 3:34 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz, and 19.5 inches long. They will call her Ella. All this time it was going to be Elli, until Elizabeth heard a woman (that she doesn't like) across the street calling her dog and the name was Ellie. That was it for the name Elli. I like Ella better anyway.

The delivery was incredible. She made it look like something she does every day, no big deal. One - yes, ONE push. That's it.

After Ella was all cleaned up and Elizabeth settled in, she nursed right away, just like an old pro. No problems at all. So Eliz is sitting there all content, and says, "I think I like this baby." Matt and I just cracked up. When Sofi was born, she wouldn't nurse, cried all the time, made everyone so miserable WE all cried, too. I Elizabeth said, "I don't like this baby." (Of course she does NOW, but at the time...) Matt and I were relieved to hear this baby would be accepted into the family with no problems. So far, we have had 3 sleepless nights since Elizabeth came home. It will be interesting to see if Elizabeth still likes the baby if she continues to insist on being held - and only by mom - all night every night.

Yesterday, was Joe & my first anniversary. Today, we are spending the night in Plainfield, close to Eliz, and will be going out to a nice dinner. What a nice break. This afternoon we both went to the local mall and bought new tennis shoes. Tennis shoes? Do they even call them that anymore? Athletic shoes. Not that we are athletic or anything like that, but we don't play tennis either, so I don't think it really matters what we call them.

I'm getting hungry. Time to head out for a lovely steak dinner. Maybe tomorrow I'll write about the adventures of my wayward daughter Sarah. Stay tuned.

More cute "Yuki-isms"

*Yuki when presented with baked beans "I can't like that."

*Elizabeth put a caterpillar in his hand, and when it moved, Yuki squished it, and then was very upset that he killed it. His comment? "I'm sorry the caterpillar tickled my hand. That's not safe!"

*While watching Elizabeth nursing Ella the first time, "Why is she biting you?"

*While watching Elizabeth nursing Ella another time, "There's milk in there? How does it get there?"

He is so cute and funny.

Today is the day!!

Oh my gosh I'm a nervous wreck. I woke up at 4 am, just wide awake, and couldn't go back to sleep. Finally, at about 5 am, I got up, balanced my checking account, checked to make sure all the 1st of the month bills are paid and then checked out my e-mail.

At 6:00 am , Elizabeth called and said she was in labor. She has been in labor since last night. The contractions are strong enough to wake her up and she's been up since...4:00 am!

So, she tells me she's going to wait for the doc office to open at 8:00 am and call the doctor. **8:00!**. Two hours later. After being in labor all night. I tell her to please pay attention to her body and maybe she should just start driving now. No. She wants to take a shower, get the kids ready and then she'll call the doctor.

So, I go to work to get some stuff done. At 8:15, I haven't heard anything, so I call her. Matt answers. The doctor doesn't get in until 9:00 am, so she's going to wait until then to call and start to B'ton. OMG! I ask where she is now. She's in the SHOWER! (So I can't talk to her and tell her to get her butt in the car and start driving). I tell Matt to tell Eliz to get in the car as soon as she's out of the shower and start driving. They can call the doctor on the way. It takes 45 minutes to get here. The contractions are around 5-8 minutes apart. ARGH!!!

9:15. I call. Matt answers. "Where are you? " " We are getting in the van now." "What did the doctor say?" "He said to come to the office if you think you can make it but if not go to the hospital." (my emphasis there)

I say o.k. Call me when you get south of Martinsville and I'll come meet them at home (or the doctor or the hospital or where ever they need me).

I'm nervous and excited and praying that that baby won't be born in the van on the way to Bloomington...

Drum roll....

I was lonely at work. So I decided to get a beta for my desk. He's a very pretty blue with some shades of deep red. Gorgeous fish. I typically don't name my pets, other than dogs & cats. For some reason, though, I usually name the pets I bring to work. (This is not the first beta I've had here. I had "Blue Boy" - named after the famous painting - for 3 years.)

Anyway, one day, as I was trying to think of a name for him, I said out loud, "What should I name my new beta?" From the cubical next to me I hear my boss say, "Alpha". What a great name! So I made a little sign that says "Alpha Beta", and the greek letters for same, and stuck it above my fishes tank.

See? Watching fish is calming, and can make you smarter. And with a name like Alpha (the beginning), this is just the beginning of the brilliance that will be mine after watching Alpha day in and day out while blogging, er I mean slogging, through the day at work.

TGIF

I'm so glad it's Friday I could dance. My goal for the day (right after I get done posting this) is to get through about 40 diaries (um-hmmm), make about 46 phone calls (uh...), and answer my boss's 9 e-mails. THEN, I'm going to go home and not think about work for TWO DAYS.

Elizabeth is due next Wednesday. I can hardly wait for little Elli to come into our lives. The entire family came over last Wednesday, and while Matt & Eliz went to the doctor, Yuki, Sofi & I hung out. Whenever they come over, I give them Popsicles. So, Yuki says, "Can we have a Popsicle, Grandma? I want Orange!" I say, sure, and look in the freezer in the EMPTY Popsicle box. I show them it is empty, but say, "I have cookies! I have white cookies and black cookies. Which do you want?" I hear an emphatic, "WHITE COOKIES!" So I pick up the package - the EMPTY package, and say, "OH OH - the package is empty! Someone ate all the white cookies!" I see disappointment on Yuki's face. Before he can utter, "I want some cookies, damn it!" I show him we have LOTS of black cookies (Oreos), and he seems somewhat mollified.

TGIF (again).

The Secret is Out

Sarah knows about Mama the dog now. What a relief. It was very hard to tell her. But, the family Mama is with love her. Her name is no longer Mama. It's ROCKET. Rocket because she's so FAST. It sounds like a good match.



Sarah is at Don's house now. She sounded VERY relieved. Don sounded stressed. I hope this will be a good thing for everyone involved.



I have had a very sad and weepy day. I wanted to take this afternoon off so I could sit at home and have a pity party, but too many people were gone and my boss said no. This is probably a good thing, really. I got a lot of stuff done this afternoon.



Elizabeth comes down tomorrow to the doctor. She is now "officially" at term. She tells me her back has been killing her and she thinks she may be having "back labor" but she'll ask the doctor tomorrow. Picture me rolling my eyes here. I kindly say, "Elizabeth, pay attention to your body and and if the pain doesn't go away, call the doctor and see if you need to come to the hospital." She giggles and says, "OK, Mom". Like I'm so stupid for even thinking she may actually be IN LABOR. She only has an HOUR to get to the hospital from where she lives. Kids.



This brings to mind a story from Sofi's birth...

http://christyjo.blogspot.com/2005/08/new-baby-and-drama.html


I'm sure there's some really cool way to make it so I could say "Click here" and it would take you right to the story, but I don't know what it is. Someday I'll ask Sam...

Yuki gets creative

This morning at breakfast:

Yuki: Mommy, my spoon said "Damn it".
Elizabeth: Yuki, you do NOT say that word!
Yuki: Why not?
Elizabeth: Because it's not a nice word.
Yuki: But my spoon said it!

Guilty Conscience

Sigh.

Here's the deal. When Sarah left for California. She asked me if I would keep her dog, Mama until she got back. She said if I didn't want to, one of her friends would watch her if we would pay for her dog food (!). I told her we'd see how it goes for now.

She has not asked about Mama one single time since she's been gone. Mama, meanwhile, is getting more and more excited and full of nervous energy since she doesn't get the exercise she was. She barks, literally bounces off the furniture and is entirely too big for our "small dog" townhouse. She has to be kennelled all night and most of the day. How unfair. She tears the house up if we don't kennel her when we are gone.

So, I decided that she needs a home elsewhere. At lunch on Friday, I mentioned to 3 of my co-workers that I'm going to find a home for Mama. Before I knew it, one of my co-workers said they have been looking for a dog for their family. He called his wife, and wa-la, a done deal. I took Mama over to his house. It's HUGE. With a HUGE back yard to run in. Better yet, with two boys, ages 6 & 8 who adored her immediately and were so excited to have her they were beside themselves.

On the one hand, she's going to be so much happier now. On the other, I wasn't REALLY ready to do this, and I haven't said anything to Sarah. So, I'm really torn about the whole thing.

Butch is certainly happier. And the house is MUCH calmer. And ... I miss her.

Sigh.

I know what you're thinking

You are thinking "Who cares about other insignificant events, what about the SPIDERS?"

I haven't seen a single spider since I sprayed Raid around the doors and windows and foundation. Not one. For that matter, I haven't seen any other bugs, either.

Problem solved.

Let's go to Kentucky!

No early morning calls from Sarah today, which is good news.

I got to work this morning, went to the kitchen, grabbed my first cup of coffee for the day and didn't even get to drink it. By 8:15 am I was on my way to Kentucky to investigate a fatality. If I could have picked a day to go, today would have been the day. It was gorgeous outside. The weather was perfect. I stopped at McDonalds, grabbed a coffee there and headed over the river into the Land of...what is Kentucky the land of? To my husband (who is from Kentucky) it's the land of the Wild Cats. To me, it brings to mind one of the hardest tests I've ever had to take in my insurance career. Holy cow. An adjuster has to really know his/her stuff to be licensed in Kentucky. I have licenses in Connecticut, West Virginia, & Rhode Island but none of those hold a candle to the Kentucky test.

There are a couple of things I need to point out about that test.

1. The study materials are FULL of misspellings and errors. Even some of the practice test questions have incorrect answers.
2. There aren't very many large cities in Kentucky. Like southern Indiana, once you get outside of the "city" you are truly in hillbilly country.

This begs the following questions:

1. Did anyone in Louisville or Lexington proof read the materials?
2. If I answer the question correctly on the actual test will I get it wrong if the answer is wrong in the study questions?

Don't get me wrong. there are many nice people in Kentucky (and Southern Indiana). But I seriously doubt if many of them could pass this test. Heck. There are people in my company with college degrees that had to take it 3 times before they passed. Luckily, I have uncanny test taking skills, and I've passed all my licensing tests the first time. Which brings me to another quick story.

We have had 7 "educational" sessions where I work to learn how to investigate accidents over a period of the last 7 months. After the last session, we had to take a test so the "big boys" would know we were paying attention, and prove that we learned something. (Interestingly, I passed, my boss didn't. HAHAHA!) Did I do any of those things I learned at the scene today? Ummmmm...I took photos. It was a SERIOUS waste of my time to go today. There was an attorney, a reconstruction guy from Canada, and independent adjuster, and me, all tripping over each other. The attorney talked to the driver and I got to ask a couple of questions. The independent adjuster will get the witness statement. The recon guy will do a very detailed analysis of the vehicles and the scene. So, I took some pictures. I stood around and admired the nice day and talked to the tow driver, ate at McDonalds twice, listened to almost an entire book on tape on the drive there and back, and will get paid for driving about 350 miles in my personal auto. All in all, not a bad deal for a day out of the office.

Only the young...

Sarah went to a concert in Chicago on Friday night with some friends. She got home at 6 am, and I didn't see her until about 3:30 or so Saturday when I got home from grocery shopping. She was cleaning out her truck. It must have been bad because I saw several trash bags leaving the cab of her truck.
After we put away groceries and she finished cleaning out her truck, we sat down together on the couch, and she informed me that she was "going to California". She said she met two kids her age at a party, who have been hitching from Michigan, down the East coast, and over to Bloomington. They apparently stayed with people along the way and cooked and cleaned for R&B. Sarah told them she'd drive them out to California, since they wanted to go out West. So, I asked her when she was leaving. "Today." "No." "Yes." "Nooooo." "Yes." She cried and told me she needs to do SOMETHING with her life and she will never get this opportunity again.
So, off she went with these two people. Andy found out she was going at the last minute and begged to come as well. She left with a loaf of bread, some turkey & cheese, chips and Gatorade with $100.00 and a 1/4 tank of gas. (The 'travelers' are allegedly paying for gas.) She took a skirt, the jeans she was wearing, 5 pairs of underwear and several t-shirts with her. She said when she is done in California she'll go to Colorado to work in a ski resort. She left to go say goodbye to friends and I cried like a baby for an hour.

Enter: Jon. Eliz called Jon and told him Sarah's plans (she asked Sarah if it was o.k. first). Jon calls Sarah, and for whatever reason, Sarah answered. First words out of Jon's mouth is "F-you!!" Imagine him yelling at her for 20 minutes with every other word the f-bomb and telling her what a loser she is, and that he's going to send a body bag out that way because she'll need it to come back in once they find her dead/raped/mutilated body by the side of the road. He told her if she left Indiana that night he'd never speak to her again. She challenged him on that and asked if he really wanted to make that ultimatum. He said "F-yes" and then hung up on her.

Sarah calls me, hysterical. Now, Jon is an A*s-hole we can all agree. But if nothing else, his call shook her up enough that I was able to ask her to please call my brother Don and see if she can come out there and live and if he would find a job for her. She did (thank God) and he told her he could get her a job at any ski resort in northern Nevada, and would find something for her to do before the season starts. He told her she'd have to sign a contract that she would stay through April. So, I feel better, she feels better, she has a plan.

She left at 12:30 early Sunday morning. I talked to her once and she was in Kansas. She said she'd call me today and let me know where they are. She did. She called me at 2:30 am, told me that they blew a tire, and were in Mesa Colorado (which is close to the Utah border). Andy was insisting they get a hotel room. She has $70.00. He has $150.00. I told her just to sleep as long as she possibly could so they would be rested and start out again today. She'll need to buy a tire. Apparently, Andy has a buddy that owes him $$ and they were going to call him and have him bring it to me today so I can deposit it into her account.

Ah, adventure.

Honestly, I think it would be fun to do what she is doing, but not with $100, no clothes, no food, no idea where I'm going and certainly not with 4 people in an S-10. A little planning would have been good.

The Flaming Lips Girl Made It Home

I haven't seen her yet, but her truck's here. I don't see any new dents or scratches on her vehicle, so all must have gone well. She got up long enough to let Mama out of her room at around 11:00 am, but she didn't make an appearance.
_________________________________________

So, I've been noticing lately that my hair is falling out. I'm seeing hair on my hands when I wash my hair. Joe thought it was my imagination. Today, I got my hair cut and guess what? Casey (that's my hairstylist's name) said my hair is considerably thinner, especially on top. Holy crap. I'm turning into Grandma Crouse. Short, round, balding.

_________________________________________

Minus 6

My boss, who calls me Miss Herbalessence because he can't remember my real name, just informed me that I'm -6 for the week. I know this sounds negative (get it? -6, negative? HAHAHA) but it really isn't . It means I've closed more claims than I received this week. So let's say I got 20 claims this week. -6 means I closed 26 claims. Seems like quite the feat, doesn't it? The goal is to be at 100% or higher (another oxymoron) by the end of the year. How can we POSSIBLY close more files than we get during the year, you ask? That's what we ask too. But, it can be done, and is EXPECTED.

Today, Sarah is going to Chicago to see the "Flaming Lips" I wonder if their lips are on fire while they sing and that's why no one can understand them? She's taking her Chevy S10 pickup that she informs me "chugs" sometimes at stop signs. She didn't do any of the things I told her to do, like change the oil, get a tuneup, save her money for gas, etc. Luckily, another car load of kids will be going along too, so someone else will be there to help should anything...break. I WAS able to talk them into leaving at 10 am instead of 1 pm. I convinced them that being in Chicago rush hour traffic on a Friday would be worse than missing the concert altogether. So if they actually get out of town by 10, they should make Chicago by 2 pm (maybe 3 pm with potty breaks and all that).

This morning when I got up for work, Sarah was up (!). I took a shower and then got on-line to check her bank balance and decide how much money to give her for the trip. This is a touchy area. I don't want to give her more than she needs because she'll spend it. But I don't want to give her less than she needs in case she runs out of gas or something horrid like that. So while I was debating with myself, one of her IM buddies popped up with this, "!". I said, "This is Sarah's mom, not Sarah." It was her friend Ryan, and he told me he was so excited about the concert he only got 2 hours of sleep. Oh, that makes me feel WAY better about you guys going to the concert. I didn't say that, of course. But I did make him promise to be careful. He said they would, and of course I believe him.

I'm fairly certain I'm going to get a frantic call at 2 am saying one of these things:

1. Mom, the car broke down in inner city Chicago! What should I do?
2. Mom, I'm out of gas and I don't have any more money because I spent it all on t-shirts and food at the concert. What should I do?
3. Mom, I'm in jail. What should I do?

So the big decision is, leave the phone on, or turn it off? Don't worry. Even if I DID turn my phone off, Joe w0uldn't be able to stand it and he'd turn it back on. He is the ultimate "gotta be connected at all times" kinda guy.

Out of the mouths of babes part II

Yesterday, Elizabeth made some home-made shortcakes. She was cutting up the strawberries when Yuki asked her what she was doing. She explained she was preparing strawberries for the shortcake. Yuki's response? "I want some strawberries, damn it!"

When I was able to stop laughing and breath again, I asked her what she said. "Yuki, what did you say?" "Uh....I don't know."

Elizabeth went on to say that one of her friends went to the zoo with another mom and her children. It was hot (one of those lovely 95 degree days). Her friend's son was getting out of the car and piped up with, "It's hotter than a mo-fo outside today." OH MY GOSH. Personally, I thought it was pretty funny. But it's not my kid.

Whew. Those little ones soak up EVERYTHING they hear and wait until the perfect moment to spit it right back out.

No spider sightings yesterday

Yesterday was the first day I saw NO spiders in my house for quite a few days now. Interestingly, there is not one single bug stuck in any of the sticky traps. Apparently they know better. Or else I have no bugs in my house now. I'll go with the second option. I think the Raid around the doors and windows probably really did the trick.

Today is Wednesday. I know in an earlier post I said we should all have 1 or 2 three day weekends a month, but now I'm reconsidering. I haven't necessarily changed my mind, but I'm thinking it over. The problem with a three day weekend, is a four day week. What is it about a four day week that makes it seem to d-r-a-g on and on and on? It's a strange phenomenon.

Enjoy the day.

GROSS!!!

OMG! My brother Sam enlarged the photo of the spider I found in my bathroom a couple of days ago. Isn't it gross??? Look at those glowing eyes and the hair on it's legs. YUCK!.

I went to Wal-Mart today and bought some sticky pads and some Raid. Last night was the last straw. Joe saw a spider walking across the room and killed it. Then, when I opened the back door to let the dogs out last night there were THREE spiders, just like the one above, sitting on my door jam right next to the web they had presumably just woven. Normally, I'm of the philosophy that if the bug is outside, that's where it belongs and I have no issues with it. Inside is a different ballgame altogether. But, I think it's time for action. I sprayed the door jam and around the foundation with Raid. Man I hope it works!

Sam's blog is at http://www.samellis.net.

It's Sunday, but feels like Saturday

I love long weekends. We should all have a long weekend 1 or 2 times a month. More than that wouldn't work because it would just become normal, and wouldn't seem like a treat. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with my extra day yet. Joe is handing me all the sales fliers for the Labor Day Sales. That sounds like permission if you ask me. "Here honey. Anything in these fliers is fair game for your purchasing pleasure. Enjoy!"

Have a great Labor Day. Don't forget...after tomorrow, you need to leave your white shoes in the closet until Memorial Day. =)

Sigh

Sarah's room. AKA: Spider Haven

At the risk of being redundant, guess what I found when I opened my knitting bag? Yup. A spider. What the heck? This one I took outside because I was closer to the door than the bathroom. It took some serious convincing to get the spider to come out. Eventually, it took some serious shaking of the bag.

So, I've just spent the last 1/2 hour on-line trying to get information on how to get rid of spiders in your home. After reading many articles, I have come to the following conclusions:

1. It's not easy to kill spiders with "products".

2. The best way to get rid of spiders is to get rid of other bugs. OTHER BUGS? What????

3. One person suggested getting some of those sticky things to trap mice. I might try that.

But what if I catch a mouse? That would be just as bad.

4. Keeping a clean house is a good way to get rid of spiders. I think this means that the only way to get my house clean is to get rid of Sarah. Her room alone is probably a haven for many, many spiders. They probably just come downstairs to play. See above picture. It should be noted that this is what her room looks like AFTER she cleaned it.

Proof that Sofi is occasionally friendly...

Here is a rare photo showing Sofi actually sitting on my lap and looking happy doing it. And Yuki is cuddling like his normal affectionate self.

Spiders, spiders, spiders

Another spider. And bold as can be. It just sat there and let me take it's picture. We told the office about all the spiders and they said they would spray for them, but nothing so far. I think it's time to take matters into my own hands...

If you are wondering, this is the SAME bathroom in which I flushed the other two spiders down the toilet. This one joined the others. Yuck.

Out of the mouths of babes

Yuki has learned a new word. At age 3, little kids are magnets for language that's inappropriate and only stated at the most inconvenient/embarrassing times.

Yuki chose to test this new word while visiting my mom (great-grandma Charlotte). Out of his seemingly innocent mouth, for the first time, and in front of my mom, Yuki said, "Damn it!". Of course, this elicited a long lecture from my daughter on how that word is not a "nice" word, and we shouldn't say it. Hmmm. I wonder who he learned it from? Surely not me.

A week or two later, Elizabeth heard a bang coming from Yuki's room, and she heard Yuki announce, "Damn it!" She said, "Yuki, what did you just say?" His reply? "I said MOMMY!" Now THAT's a quick learner.

What brought this story to my mind tonight was when Joe and I were watching TV and the circuit breaker tripped throwing us into darkness. My response? "DAMN IT!"

Yuki's a chip off the old block. 'Nuff said.

Spider update...

I went home for lunch. On the wall right above my toilet was a small spider. Probably one of the big spider's babies. I flushed it so it could be with mama. Then I came back to work, and on my window is ... a SPIDER. I can't reach it to kill it. It's taunting me now, sending over telepathic messages that I'm the evil spider killer, and my life is now going to become fodder for a new horror flick. This is especially unfortunate since I just watched some stupid movie yesterday about giant tarantulas taking over a ship and killing everyone but the two main characters who barely escaped with their lives. I made fun of the movie and how bad the special effects were. This is apparently retribution for making light of how scary a spider can be.

Christy vs Giant Spider

This morning I picked up the shoes I wanted to wear...and noted there was a spider web across one of the shoes. Normally I don't pay attention to my shoes. Normally I just put them on and continue merrily on my way. However, the web made me pause a moment. Should I put them on, or is there a spider in there? So, I brushed away the web, and tried to peer into my shoe. I couldn't see anything. So I took my shoes into the bathroom where there is more light, and tried to look into the depths of my shoe. I still could see nothing, but I couldn't see all the way to the toe either. So. I set my shoes down on the bathroom counter and...reached in to see if there was a spider in my shoe. There WAS!! I'm not sure who was more afraid. I yanked my hand out of my shoe. The spider quickly followed, and jumped into my OTHER shoe! Holy cow! So I held that shoe over the toilet and shook it violently until the offending spider fell out. It was HUGE. I flushed it. I felt sort of guilty flushing it because it was trying desperately NOT to be flushed. But the guilt didn't last long.

Time for "spider-be-gone" spray.

In case you are wondering, I didn't wear those shoes today.

Dogs, skunks, rain and Easter

Interesting day today. Butch was sprayed at by a skunk. Thankfully it wasn't a full on hit. Joe didn't realize it was a skunk, and thought he just rolled in "poo". I came home from work and oh, no. It was worse than poo. Butch got a lovely bath. He's very unhappy about it. When he gets over himself, I'll cut his nails and then he'll really be out of sorts.

We are having a full fledged spring thunderstorm. Very exciting. Especially when I got home and every window in the house was open, and - you guessed it - raining inside almost as much as outside. It hailed on the way home from work, and there was a nice little pile of hail stones in my hammock. I wish I had taken a photo of it.

Today I made Easter baskets for the grandkids. Not something I am fond of doing, but I'm glad I did. Here's proof:


Yesterday I finished a planter I was making. I finished it, put in a rose bush and some vinca vines and pronounced it "good enough".










Here's a picture of the planter:


That's it for today. On to my list of things to accomplish before Easter...

Spring has Sprung

Today I was lying on my couch watching the birds eat from the 3 feeders I have outside my window. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something GREEN! I looked more closely and there it was! Leaves sprouting on the bush just outside my door. Buds growing on the two trees just past that. Suddenly the grass is green and even a little long in places. Holy cow! When did all that happen? Later I went to the grocery store and the Forsythia all around town are blooming! There are daffodils and violets and grape hyacinth blooming everywhere!

Spring is a beautiful thing. It's been raining here for days on end and today is the first nice day. It's amazing how everthing is just popping out now.