Time for an Update

As Mark Twain said, rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I really am still alive. Sort of. I kind of exist in some sort of zombie state where all I do is read, do homework and think about homework. Most of my time has been gobbled up by my huge term paper. I read 15 or 16 books for it, plus oodles of websites and other sources. Tomorrow I give my PowerPoint presentation on it and next Tuesday I turn in the 14 page paper. Can you believe after all that (not to mention endless smaller papers) she is making us take a written final!? Argh! Enough already. It's enough to make me look forward to Statistics next semester, and if you know anything about me and Statistics, that's huge.
So, my Christmas card pictures came out OK.
I couldn't decide on just one, so I got a multi-photo card. Now if they'd just arrive so I can mail them out, life would be good.
Look what we woke up to this morning:

I still can't believe they held school, especially with all the slipping and sliding going on down the street. Katy nearly hit someone on the way to school, and she wasn't the only one.

Either my thermometer is broken or it is highly optimistic. Time to replace that one.

At least the house is decked out, even if I'm not quite feeling the holiday spirit yet. Maybe when the next couple of weeks are OVER and I can relax a bit. I look forward to scrapping and reading things that do not involve the old west in any way, shape or form. And maybe, just maybe, I'll do some blogging again.

Seventeen

I can't believe my oldest is seventeen. That's just crazy talk! And yet, here she is, candles flaming and wax dripping into her cake. Man, I feel old.
In honor of Katy's official final year of childhood, I made her a very childish card. Inside, it says "You are way cooler than a giraffe" which is an inside joke with us. She thinks giraffes are the coolest animals ever and told me once I was cooler than one. So now that's the be all, end all to coolness. :)

Last night was her Homecoming dance, but her boyfriend's was the same day in his town. That means no boyfriend for the dance. Not to fear, though, he made it up today for the big birthday.

Not much else is happening in my house. Just school work, school work and more school work. And I do mean school work. Some days I barely come up for air. I know it'll be worth it in the end, but semesters like this make me remember why I didn't finish the first time!

Happy Days Are Here Again!

School started today and I, for one, could not be happier about it. The last three weeks of summer dragged on and on and on... even Shona was ready to return. We had open house night at school Monday so that we could meet the teacher. I think Shona will have a great year because the teacher is wonderful and the room is such a step up from last year. The kids were crammed in elbow to elbow last year, but this year it is a bright, open, airy room. Their room is open to another classroom that that can divide by pulling a curtain, but apparently they do a lot of shared work with the other side and the teachers do some "tag team" instruction. It should prove to be an interesting year. One thing did bother me, though. Two of the sheets I filled out during open house had words spelled incorrectly. That just sets my teeth on edge in a place of learning.

Today was the big day, though. Shona was so excited she asked Katy to fix her hair into a "flip" like she did for her at the open house. It was a bit stiff, but still adorable.

She also had quite the adorable outfit on, perfect for day one of third grade. I still can't believe she's in third grade!

Katy is also enthused about the year. She got a great parking spot and even wanted to pose with it. Who am I to deny a photo op? She left for school too early to get my pics, but that's OK. I can catch her when she returns. this is her junior year and she is really excited about band. As usual. Band is her life, as she often repeats.


As for John, he has a new addition to his classroom. One of his students last year was moving and needed to find a new home for his creature. The cage he had was far too small and very foul smelling, so John asked a local cabinet making company if they'd build a small enclosure for the thing. They agreed and wound up donating it, materials AND time (I find that amazing)...but they sure didn't listen to the small part! We had to add in the wire mesh (painful process that took ten hours and more than one band-aid) and the stain, but it was well worth it. I think it's a beautiful cabinet.

I can't say the creature inside is all that beautiful, but at least he has a new home. At one point during development, he had his tail mangled in a door closing incident, so it grew as a three- pronged tail. Because of this, we decided to name him King Triton. In actuality, we don't even know the sex of this thing, but it sounded good. I like to feed him, so long as he stays in his corner when my arm is in that enclosure. I get a little creeped out when he stares at me, but I prefer him to the snakes in John's classroom tanks.

And now for the amusing. The girls took my camera this week to snap a few pictures of the dogs and each other. They do that when they are bored and sometimes I wind up with some really sweet photos like this. And then there are the other 300+ photos of out of focus, random shots that I weeded through. It's worth it in the end, I suppose. People think Pedey is so cute and tiny, but let me tell you, that dog can go from zero to Cujo in an instant when you hide his ball, and I finally have the photographic evidence:

There, there, Pedey, I feel the same way when someone uses my good journaling pen.

School starts tomorrow for me. I can't wait!

Ooops late tag

I have been so consumed with family and school that I haven't been keeping up with blogs. Melanie tagged me eons ago and I just now found it. Sorry, Melanie!

Ten Years Ago: 1998.
I was living in San Antonio, TX and was spending the year at Brooke Army Medical Center in the oral surgery department. I'd had both my jaw joints replaced and it took a year to get my bite completely realigned.

Five Things on Today's To-Do List:
(The day is over so I'm stealing Melanie's idea and listing what I did today)
Went to the community center pool for a 30 minute swim with the family
Bummed around online
Talked to my sister on the phone about her big surgery tomorrow
Walked the dogs
Took the easy way out and drove through McDonald's for dinner.

Snacks I enjoy:
Popcorn
ice cream

Things I would do if I were a Millionaire:
Pay off everything
Set up trust funds for the girls
Pay off my dad's bills
Set my mother up in a beachfront condo for life

Places I have lived:
Fulton, Kirksville, Lebanon, and Jefferson City, MO
Long Beach and San Pedro, CA
San Antonio, TX
Pensacola, FL
Ft. Meade and Bethesda,MD
Naples, Italy

I'm too tired to tag anyone. Sorry! ;)

Summer

Finally it is summertime for me. It's almost over for the kids, but I just took my final for the course I was taking over the summer and I feel like I can breathe at last. What a relief. I'm still awaiting my final grade, so more on that later. I am sad that Scrap Addict is gone, but with it goes a lot of the things I did to pass the time, like administrative work and design team things. I suddenly find myself with a lot more time, so maybe I will get some scrap things done. I have two albums I'm working on right now, both Shona things, but as soon as I get my summer vacation photos back, I'll have that to do as well. Speaking of summer vacation, it was a whopping two and a half days. Still, that almost seemed long enough by the time it was over!

Day One:
We started off with a trip to Fantastic Caverns in Springfield. Katy got us all in free because she is an area McDonald's worker. John still has the cave photos on his phone, and I'm nagging him to get those off. I loaned my camera batteries to Shona to use with her miner's hat. She'd been to the cave a few weeks earlier on a school field trip, and she'd been begging for a hat since. The only problem was she kept shining it in people's faces and finally had to confiscate the hat. In the gift shop, the girls begged for a bat hat, of all things. Oh, the silly stuff we buy our kids.

Next up was the Titanic exhibit in Branson. It was OK, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more without Shona. The highlight of her high spiritedness was when she tried to climb the sloped portion of deck on display and tumbled off, almost cracking her skull. Ten seconds out of my sight. Oy. I will give kudos to the attendant there. He was witty and said "Thank you for demonstrating the dangers of this display!" Kids. The interesting thing about the exhibit is that they give you a card as you go in with the name of a real passenger. For the remainder of your journey, you are that passenger and you can find "yourself in the photos and artifacts. Then at the end you find out if you lived or died. I was a Countess who lived. John and Shona survived. Poor Katy and her nine children perished. We didn't stop teasing her about that the entire time. There were also dresses and things from the movie and because of that, no photography was allowed.

On the way to our hotel, we stopped at the dam. Not much exciting to see there, so we snapped a photo and moved on to shopping. Didn't buy a lot, but with outlet malls, you gotta go.

Day Two: Silver Dollar City. I hadn't been in years and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. It wasn't as big as I remembered and there wasn't as much to do. Last I went, it was geared a lot more toward the displays of craftsmanship. You can still watch a blacksmith creating things, there was a glassblower creating works of art (Katy goaded him into making the first bunny of his life, and we wound up buying that as a souvenir), and a few others, but mostly it was just another theme park with cheesy shows and roller coasters. Well, OK, so the roller coasters I like. No, love. I live for them. That's us waiting in line for yet another ride. We opted not to stay for a second day because we had gone on all the rides we wanted and did everything we wanted. Instead, we headed home early and stopped for a bit of retail therapy on the way home. School clothes shopping galore.

Only one more month until I start classes. Tick tock, tick tock...

Our big news

Summer is in full swing here, but it is still all about school. I'm taking a summer business course (Business Law), Katy is helping a Pre-K teacher with a summer class, John is teaching summer school, and Shona is IN summer school. It all finally ends July 1, which means I'll go nuts with everyone home or I'll love it. We'll find out which it is very soon.
I have had zero motivation lately, for pretty much everything. I haven't wanted to scrap, I haven't wanted to walk (but I do that anyway), I haven't wanted to do my school work (I definitely do that anyway), and I certainly don't want to do housework. That I only do on a necessity basis. Hopefully that will end soon.
Katy had a wonderful time on her band trip to Florida. No marching photos, but she did have friends snap a few photos here and there. I think she was a little tired of riding on the bus, which is what the majority of the time was wasted on, but you can't have it all on a 5 day trip to Florida from the midwest. I think now she is very excited at the thought of her senior trip. I hope hers is better than mine!
She was very nice to bring back souvenirs for everyone, too. Or should I say souvenears? Shona loves hers, although I made her put them up until she's older. That or we go back to the Magic Kingdom. Maybe someday.


Shona's big excitement was a trip with her Girl Scout trip to the zoo. They also did a Build-a-Bear workshop, where she came home with a very cool pink leopard named Pinky Pie. We all went along, and did some shopping afterward. Katy even met up with her boyfriend and he helped her pick out a prom gown for next year. Hey, a guy who shops and is a bargain hunter. It can't last because I like the boy. The kiss of death to any relationship!

The big news this week is that I finally got my hair all chopped off...short. Well, short for me. I usually don't go above the ears, but I'm old, I'm tired of fooling with it and it was beyond repair. OK, so that's not big news. Not really. Unless you live in Anita world. Then it's about all the thrill you can handle.


Katy's big news for the month is...she got a job! Woo hoo! She started at McDonald's tonight and already says she loves her uniform. I'm shocked and amazed, but at least it's comfy. Now if the goofball would just take herself seriously for one moment for me to get a good scrapbook pic. She knows me far too well. She got dressed in her gear and brought me the camera, saying "I know you will want to scrap my first job." Gotta love when you have them trained!

That's about it for now. Next week the real fun begins with the whining of "I'm boooooooooooooooooooored."

The long weekend

This Memorial Day weekend is almost painful because John and Shona have to go back to school next week. Those darn ice storms this winter forced the school to lengthen the school year by another four days, and no one is happy about it. Even John says it's like being out to sea for six months and knowing you are headed home but still being a week from port. Poor guy. Katy is ecstatically happy, though, since Friday was her last day. We need to get her packed this weekend and out the door. I bought a pre-paid card for her to use as spending money. I just don't want her out there with more than about $20 in cash because I don't trust a bus load of people! Actually about four bus loads of people, not including the two bus loads of equipment. It's a large band.

In any case, we aren't doing anything exciting this weekend. No plans for travel with gas nearly $4 per gallon and John is in the middle of writing cirriculum for a class he is teaching next year. Interestingly, it's a course I just finished at the college. I think Katy is taking it this year, as is her best friend. I'm amazed Katy wants to sit in on her dad's class, but it is a subject she's interested in and he's the only one who teaches it in this school. The great thing is she wouldn't have to take it again in college.

I am working on several projects. I just finished my snowman album and I am doing one layout with the leftover papers. Then I am determined to start an album about my mother. It's a painful subject I've been avoiding, but I need to do it. I'm also determined to get more older pictures scrapped, no matter how bad they are. Those memories need a little love and attention, too, and the longer I go without getting them down on paper, the less I'll remember.

Happy Memorial Day weekend. I hope you are having a relaxing time. I just wish the community pool were open. We'd go do some splashing!

Rest and Hope

I am happy to report that I finished my semester and lived to tell about it. I don't quite know how, but I wound up with a 4.0 for the second semester running. If you knew how little I comprehended the Accounting course I took, you would be scratching your head over that A as well, but I won't complain. I managed to do well enough on the online open book exams and cram just enough into my head for the finals that I wound up with a 91%. That's great for my GPA, but I am not fond of learning things only to be forgotten 30 minutes after the final. The class did absolutely nothing for me and I feel like it was money wasted. Oh, well, I'm one semester closer to my degree. This summer I am taking Business Law so I am not overloading on hours in the fall and I can finish up at this school and move on to Missouri State next spring.

I have been having a great time since finishing my finals. I have scrapped an entire mini album and finished another I'd started a while back. I am planning on plowing through a third one I started eons ago but put aside. It will be so wonderful to finish those projects. Hey, maybe if I finish these I will be inspired to take up my cross stitch projects I stopped working on when Shona was born. Hahaha. Somehow I doubt it. Scrapping is my world. Speaking of, though, one of my local LSS's is going out of business. I'm sad, but the lady needs to take care of her husband medically. I can relate to that problem. The great thing for me is that everything is currently 40% off. Well, I am not passing up that opportunity. Mostly I stocked up on cardstock and picked up some Bazzill edge strips. Great stuff. Then I was about to check out and get out of there for less than $20, when I saw this:

It's the Cosmo Cricket Biography 101 Shadowbox/album. They had one in black I nearly bought, but I got to looking at the wicker and I started dreaming of Pensacola. I desperately want to take Shona there this summer and maybe if I had an album to fill up, I'd feel compelled to actually make that trip happen. I know, that's a pretty lame reason, but hey...the album was 40% off and I WILL make it to Pensacola again someday. It'll get used, even if I have to dust it off when I go to open the thing next time.

I had a good Mother's Day, where I was plied with everything from Pet Rocks (I kid you not and they are very cute) to flowers. My favorite things were the handmade ones. Shona drew a picture of me on a card and I am far prettier on the card. Katy altered a notebook for me and wrote a long note inside saying how much she loved me and that I was even cooler than giraffes. That's pretty cool in her world. I admit it, I got teary-eyed. Love my girls!
This past weekend I attended a mother/daughter tea party with Shona. It was a Girl Scout event and we were honestly not impressed. The food was bad and the tea was not good. The tables weren't arranged in a fashion that promoted socializing, so we sat there like lumps. After an hour, Shona asked if we could leave and get some "real tea" from McDonald's, and so we did. Next year we will skip it. At least we got some mommy daughter bonding time and for that I am happy.

Katy leaves next week for Florida. She's going on a band trip to Disney World and marching in their Main Street parade. I so wish I could go, but Shona and John have another week of school. Thanks to the ice storms this winter, everyone else has to stay behind and go to school. I just hope someone takes pictures for me.

Off to scrap!

Stress the Stalker

I've been having one of those times when it seems stress is picking on me. It stalks me until I have a weak moment and then pounces, beating me down. This entire month it seems I've been stalked and smacked upside the head every time I turn around. I thought once Shona's birthday was over, things would calm down. Hahaha. I'm so naive. My classes are winding down, which of course means we are heading into finals. That's stress enough.
Then John's back when out last week and I had to take him to the ER. He was supposed to be home for a few days on bed rest, but his Master's Degree program started that night (naturally) and he decided he couldn't miss that. Two days later, Katy came down with a mysterious illness and I had to rush to school to pick her up. She was fine, but it was pretty scary.
Cue this week...time to enroll in summer and fall classes. My summer enrollment went fine, then this morning I tried to enroll in fall only to be told I couldn't sign up for the last two classes I need to finish my Associate's. When I did some digging, it told me I was lacking math classes. Huh? Is Calculus not enough math for these people? I had to dig out my transcripts from way back when, go wait in line at the office, and explain to them that my Calculus and the Math Functions class I took way back when should count for more than the pre-Algebra and Algebra they were expecting me to take (and this is the FIRST time this has popped up, by the way!). I took Algebra 1 and 2 back in Jr. High, for Pete's sake! They finally agreed with me and enrolled me in the two classes I was lacking. It pains me that when I get my Associate's this fall, I will do so with over 90 college credit hours, but that's just the way the ball bounces, I suppose. So many things don't transfer.

Oh, and I had a bad mommy moment. I told Shona all week to be prepared for her dental visit today. She's having some teeth drilled and filled. I reminded her this morning that I'd be picking her up to take her this afternoon. Then it occurred to me that the office hadn't called to confirm, so just before leaving I dialed them up to see why. I was looking at the calendar, listening to the phone ring, when I realized her appointment isn't until next week. Argh! At least that afforded me the time to get my school situation cleared up, but geez. I think I need a vacation. Somewhere warm and tropical with no cares in the world.

Anyway, that's my update. I'm not feeling down, just stressed. I know things will get better once this semester is over. Now...I'd go rest, but I have to write an 8 page term paper on how to fix the Economy. No pressure there....

Pictures Galore!

OK, time for a picture fest and lots of catching up. First, Easter was fun, but I didn't get a lot of great photos. This was the cutest and it didn't even have the kids in the picture. Sometimes I get frustrated with the lack of light in my house. Love my house, but it needs light!

Katy went to prom with her boyfriend. He lives about 90 minutes south of us, so it was quite a day to drive her there, hang out with the parents passing time and get home on the winding backroads late at night. John admitted he was lost at one point, something I've never heard come out of his mouth in the 18 years we have been together, but now that it's over, he denies it. That's OK, the important part is we got home safe and sound and I got pictures! I do think they make a nice couple, and since the boy's older sister loaned the dress for the night, it only cost us gas money.

This week has been insane. I went back to school after spring break only to be hit with tests all week. Not just tests, but major tests. The kind that take at least an hour, usually two. Why do they torture us this way? I'm happy to report I'm still carrying all A's, but I have a feeling that is subject to change down the road! Only four more weeks of classes and no stress on my Microeconomics term paper...I just have to write 6 to 8 pages detailing how to fix the economy. No big deal, eh? *big, fat sigh*
My baby hit 8 years old this weekend. Man, that was a fast eight years. Faster than Katy's went, but I have a theory that time moves faster the older you get until the hands on the clock are spinning like a top. Shona wanted to dazzle on her birthday, so she got decked out in a beautiful new dress and new shoes (she actually bought with her own money!)...big sister did her hair that morning. It was a glorious day for her, but nothing as exciting as the next day when she got to bring four friends home on the bus for her birthday bash and first sleepover of her life. We took them to the local pottery store (which also doubles as a scrap store, so I was entertained looking around!) so they could each paint a piece of pottery. They loved that. Then back home for dinner and gift opening. That was a screaming success, and I do mean screaming. After each and every gift was revealed, the girls screamed at the top of their lungs in unison, proclaiming each to be the best gift EVER! Ah, the enthusiasm of a room full of 8-year-olds. I'm amazed the police force wasn't summoned by our neighbors, fearing a chainsaw massacre in progress.

Next up, two cakes. Shona wanted an ice cream cake, so I bought one of those. I was very disappointed in the decorations. I could have done a better job, and for $25, I expect a little more effort. Since the cake wasn't even ready when we picked it up, I know they just slapped it together in the back while I waited. Then we cut into it and it was the WRONG flavor! That was the last straw and John called them up to complain. They refunded half the price the next day. I won't be buying another cake from them. I had originally bought a second small regular cake to be cut when my dad came down the following day, but we had to go to emergency plan B when the girls didn't like the ice cream cake flavor, and Shona got to use that cake as well. All's well that ends well, anyway.

The drama had only begun, though. Shona was very bossy and two girls asked to go home, crying. We talked them into sticking it out and had to pull Shona aside several times to remind her that she was not being a good hostess, and in the end they all had a good time. John went to bed by 9:00 with a headache (go figure!) and I stood guard until the last one conked out at midnight. Know what I discovered is the best part of the sleepovers? When they all go home! Katy's parties were never this taxing and sometimes she had 10 girls overnight. I guess they just got along better. The good news is I don't have to do this again for another year!

No rest for me, though, because just before the last child went home, my dad and stepmom showed up. We took them out to the state park to check out the fly fishing and the fish hatchery. They really liked it out there. It is such a beautiful park. I think my dad is still a handsome guy, even at 64. Shona was her typical dramatic self at the park, though, no doubt moping that her party was over, and I was ready to go pretty quickly. All in all, it was a successful birthday, but I'm not in any hurry to do it again anytime soon. Now on to finish this semester and work on summer school. I need a vacation!

Time Flies

Time flies when you're having fun and lately even when I'm not! I can't believe it has been this long since I blogged, but this semester is killing me. I'm finally on spring break, which I desperately need for my sanity, but I will probably wind up working any shifts they throw my way for the week at the schools. It's almost time to register for classes for the summer and next fall. I'm very relieved I will be able to take one of the classes I still need this summer so I'm not trying to slog through 18 hours next semester. I'm not sure I could handle that, especially with what I still have to take...Chemistry, Managerial Accounting, Spanish, Business Law and some Sophomore Seminar class I have to take to finish an Associate's even though I am not stopping at my Associate's. When I finish in the fall, I will have over 90 credit hours and will only be hitting my Associate's. That's frustrating, but that is what happenes when not all your credits transfer in as what you need. :( Oh, well. That's what I get!
We went up to visit my family today. I hadn't seen most of them since Christmas, so that was a treat. So many of my relatives are very ill or have been recently with a variety of problems and it is painful to see them suffering, but it was still a good visit.
We didn't get home until late, but I had to put the Easter baskets together and I decided to make the girls work for them this year. No more handing them over as soon as I get up. Noooooo, not me. I just spent an hour whipping up some rhyming clues and they will have to follow the clues, hidden in plastic eggs, until they reach the spot where their basket is hidden. Shona's clues are pretty straightforward and her basket is under the kitchen sink. I made Katy's harder and hers is hidden in the trunk of my car. I can't wait to follow each of them around tomorrow, snapping photos. My mother used to make us search for our baskets in a similar way, and it's fun to resurrect a long-forgotten tradition. I bet Catherine wants me to scrap that!! I will post pictures after the hunt tomorrow. :)

Snow Day

We got pounded with snow last night. School let out early and was cancelled for today. It only wound up being about 4", but that is enough to shut things down around here. I have to say I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a snow day this much. Perhaps it was because I was home with the girls and the hubby was gone. He had to leave at a ridiculous hour to go to the VA hospital. He has appointments every month or so because of his condition, and it was a shame it had to be on a snowy day, but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Katy and I watched more episodes of The Golden Girls. We are about halfway through Season 3 and we are loving it. That's like comfort food to me and just hearing the theme song makes me smell popcorn and swear I hear cards shuffling.


Anyway, back to the snow. The big thing with snow for Shona is eating it. Give the girl a spoon and a bowl in a snowstorm, and she is one happy camper. I even made a batch of snow ice cream for the girls, something I haven't done in years. I had some, too, and almost froze my lips off. It's worth it, though!


My favorite part of today was building a snowman with the girls. Katy and I did the heavy rolling and lifting, Shona helped mostly with the packing and choosing adornments for our new friend, Pierre. It's just a shame our new friend won't be staying for long, since we are due to hit the 50's this weekend. So long, foul weather friend.

Now if someone could just get it through Shona's head that instigating a snowball fight with your big sister means taking your lumps of snow in the head as well.
And that there is NO pouting during the accessorization phase of snowman building. *sigh*

Propane Wars and Economic Stimulation

I can hardly believe January is nearly over. I was standing in a store the other day with John and realized it was "only" 11 months until Christmas. Where did that thought come from? I refuse to think about the holiday season this far removed from it!
My classes are going well so far, but then I haven't taken many tests yet, either. I'm not sure how well I'm retaining the information until I go to take the tests, so we'll see. I'm nervous about my online courses. I am keeping up easily with one, but the other one...not so much. I am keeping up with the work, but the work I do in my workbooks doesn't seem to "stick" when it comes to going online and completing assignments. I think more studying is in order.

We got our income tax return Friday, and like good little consumers, we set out to stimulate the economy. That was after paying a stack of bills, of course. Always business before pleasure. We hit some wonderful sales and I now have sweaters and warm shirts. I only had a few long sleeved shirts, all of which were more fall weight than winter weight, and I've been pretty chilly lately. I also splurged on a pair of knock-about shoes. I am trying to preserve my walking shoes strictly for walking. I spend a lot of money on my walking shoes and I am pretty particular in what conditions I'll walk in just to save the soles a bit longer. I wanted something as comfortable and casual as a sneaker without actually being a sneaker...something I could dress up or down, so I wound up with some brown Skechers bowling-type shoes. They are mighty cute shoes.

A couple of weeks ago, we realized we were nearly out of propane, so we called the company requesting a delivery. They informed us that they wouldn't deliver until we paid our bill. Er....what bill? This is the first time we've requested a delivery since we took ownership of the house. After much fiasco, we found out they HAD delivered fuel TWO MONTHS ago and tacked the bill onto our back door. The last owners used the back door frequently as the business entry for their daycare, and I suppose they would have found a bill placed on their door. We certainly didn't and were completely unaware it had ever been there. They never mailed a bill, never called to ask if we had received it...nothing! What truly upset me was that they had been out a week before and had checked the gas tank amount, so they knew we were almost out. A courtesy call at THAT point even would have alerted us that we had an outstanding bill with them. But nooooo. They did deliver gas, but after going round and round with these people about the way they do business (this was just the very smallest problem with had with them, by the way...it gets far worse), we have decided to find a new company. I have personally never seen an office run in such a terrible manner. When you call in to ask to speak to a manager and the owner himself won't even admit to being in charge (plus LEAVES when you specifically say you're coming in to talk with him in ten minutes), that doesn't signify good business. This might be the second business in town I have to report to the BBB this month. What a nightmare.

I just realized that the only pictures I have taken this entire month are dark, fuzzy photos from our time spent huddled in the bathroom all night during tornado sirens. A tornado passed 10 miles to the north of us and another about 15 miles to the south of us that night and the sirens came on and off all night long. I let Katy stay home from school the next day because she was so exhausted from it all and I am not one to let kids miss school for silly reasons.

That's my update. When Katy's hair gets dyed teal in a few days (just two streaks), I'll post some pics.

Tag, I'm It!

Melanie tagged me so here goes.
Answer all the questions and then add one yourself at the bottom, then tag some people.

1. Name your 2 favorite scrapbooking topics: My kids and my dogs

2. What are the 2 best places you've been to? The Amalfi Coast and Pensacola, Florida

3. Name 2 things you do every day: Go online and email.

4. Tell us 2 things that pretty much everyone knows about you: I'm working on my degree again and I have two girls

5. 2 places you wish to visit: Australia and the British Isles

6. 2 things you may not know about me are: I can't honestly think of anything people don't know about me. I'm an open book!

7. 2 nicknames you've had at some time in your life: Calamity Jane (my mother called me that as a child) and Neeter (big brother)

8. Name 2 of your favorite drinks: tea and tea

9. Janet's question: What are 2 interesting (in a good or bad way) jobs you’ve had in your life? I loved managing a bank vault. I was always busy, enjoyed my co worker and was really good at that job. The other one that was interesting was working in a nursing home kitchen...but not in a good way.

10. Cheri's question: Name 2 resolutions you've either already broken or 2 that you've kept so far: To get back into my classwork (starts tomorrow) and to maintain my weight. Still walking!

11. Jen's question: If you could be any age you wanted to be what would it be? 35. I've always felt 35, so I'd just go back there and stay put.

12. Melanie's question: What is your favorite holiday and why? I love Christmas, just the feeling of that time of year. It's wonderful.

My question: If you could go back and relive one day of your life, what day would it be? I'd relive the day we got to go up in the mountains and spend the day with an Italian family. What a memorable and wonderful time.

Happy New Year

I'm glad the hoopla of the holidays is over. I enjoyed it, but today the decorations come down. Well, all but the outdoor stuff since our temperatures are a bit too cold today. I haven't even decided whether I am going to walk the beasts today. Katy rang in the new year with a new 'do. She had it cut and then dyed it black again. She is wanting teal tips, but it would be mighty pricey to do it, so I told her not at this point. I do think the new cut is great, though. My dad hates it, which I told her is a good sign that it's hip and fresh. Trust me. The man has had the same hairdo since Elvis was alive and I am not exaggerating.

Christmas was good and very low key. We drove up to my hometown on Christmas Eve to distribute gifts and tell everyone hi. My stepmother was just out of the hospital after almost dying, so there was no big family gathering. That suited me fine. We didn't invite anyone over, we just fixed a meal, opened gifts and played the new games the girls got. I think Katy was disappointed not to get a "big ticket" item this year, but times are tough, girl! I think the dogs are finally glad to be past the excitement of the season. Poor things don't know what to think with the shiny tree and the music, the cookies, the people coming over all the time, and just the chaos of it all.

I'm a little sad because Shona started questioning Santa this year. She kept asking everyone she knew if he was real and I just kept asking her what she thought. She claimed to still believe, but I think this Christmas signifies the end of Santa at our house. There's some melancholy, but then I won't have to worry about keeping that big secret anymore, either. I guess it has to happen eventually. Why can't they just stay little?

We also had some unexpected company this week. John's sister, her daughter and grandsom decided to drive in to see us. Now John and I have been together for 17 1/2 years, and the only time they have ever come to visit was when we were stationed in the same state as them. It was a bit odd to have about 12 hours' notice that they were headed our way and....they could have mentioned that they were bringing a dog with them. It was quite interesting keeping the dogs apart for two days, but we managed. Shona had a blast because her cousin is only a year older than her. They played nonstop for the entire time of the visit and they are already plotting how to get together again. Ah, kids.

As for my New Year's resolutions...I just want to lose the last five pounds I've been putting off to officially reach my goal and I want to keep my grades up. I won't be hopeful enough to maintain my 4.0, but I'll give it my all. Hope 2008 is good for you.