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.