A Day In The Life...

Introducing Alexander

2010-10-12T11:32:00.003-05:00

This is our newest addition. His name is Alexander and he is a sealed brindle boxer.

He is 14 weeks (25 pounds) and we have managed to complete his house breaking in only 2 days.

He is a smart smart boy. The vet figures he will be about 90 pounds when he is full grown but we love him already. Now, Shelby and Buster are not so sure about the little guy, but we feel sure he will grown on them.......eventually.

Im sure there will be many many picture to follow :)

Off to Arkansas

2010-10-01T08:35:00.003-05:00

So college boy is making a trip to Arkansas - he is flying on Southwest so I feel good about that.

He has'nt made very many airplane trips and NEVER one on his own so this is quite the adventure for him :)

I know for the whole weekend I will just be continuously praying for his safety *sigh* its so hard being a mom!

Bonnie

2010-09-27T10:18:00.003-05:00

This is not my cat - she belongs to a co worker and you have probably seen her on my blog a couple of times before...the truth is she is so cute that I can hardly stand it.. This is her baby picture - can you STAND IT?

State Fair

2010-09-24T11:31:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow our car club will be on display in the car corrals just outside the automobile buildings at the State Fair. This is one of my most favorite days of the entire year. I don't care if it rains or if its cold, its all part of the charm. I love the sights, the sounds, the smells and yes, I suppose, the food. A real life honest to goodness fletchers corn dog....are you KIDDING ME? This year I plan to try the fried frito pie (this years BIG fried thing) and I can't leave without a funnel cake....but its just one day of the whole year and I will be telling myself that through my entire cardio class where I will have to work OFF all that food. Hopefully there will be pictures to post after tomorrow :)

Going Good

2010-09-16T08:09:00.002-05:00

So the hubby is on day 4 of the new job. He REALLY LIKES IT - he is, of course, nervous about having to learn a totally new system but he is smart and he can do it. I think the last 2 layoff has kind of done a number on his self confidence but Im sure once he gets in and gets comfortable that will come back :) As for now, its all quite on the home front :)

I have not heard from the kiddos in Italy but I did see on the DIL's page that her flight back from London nearly crashed......they were in turbulence, lost altitude, the oxygen masks dropped and the pilot told them to prepare for a crash landing....thankfully, he regained control of the plane and set her safely back down in Italy. Of course, If I was her, it would be a loooonnnnnggggg time before I got back on another airplane :) (note to DIL - they have SHIPS that make that trip too :)

The younger of the boys - College boy - has a friend in Arkansas - I guess he will be flying to see her in a couple of weeks. He has a great new job working our local hometown Sears store and he just loves it - the people he works with are wonderful people and the man is actually the OWNER of the store......College boy, delivers appliances, puts together grills and lawn mowers and will soon be learning about sales - so good job for him - oh and schools seems to going good for him as well.

As for me, I bought a book, called the Hormone Diet - yes I know Im always looking for that magic bullet that will take all this extra weight AWAY from me, but the two week detox seemed to work.....cravings for sweets and carbs is gone and best of all I have lost 10 pounds! So for now, this is the way I will go :)

FINALLY

2010-09-08T13:29:00.001-05:00

Once again, God has blessed us. The hubby finally has a new job. I won't jinx it til he has the offer in hand but he did take his drug test yesterday - so if all goes as planned he will start his new job next week! YAY!!!!!!!!!

The Waiting Game

2010-08-30T16:47:00.002-05:00

Well the hubby has a couple of pretty good possibilities (on jobs) hanging out there in the wings.....hopefully good news will come soon. This is probably the worst part of the job search - waiting, wondering what the offer will be, hoping you make the right decision.....but this beat the heck out of NOTHING land where he has been recently. Thanks to all who have kept us in your prayers - don't stop yet :D

IS THIS IT ?

2010-08-26T16:36:00.003-05:00

After almost 7 month of relentless, job searching, networking, talking to people and almost giving up - The hubby has an interview. This job fell out of the sky and into his lap - he didn't apply for it.....his resume "caught their attention" - He had a conversation with some higher ups....two hours later HR called to set him up for an assessment and 2 days later they call him to come in for a "face to face"......so - THE Day is Monday and he is sooooo excited - as well are - please continue to pray - this could be IT!

You need the bad to appreciate the good

2010-08-25T08:45:00.002-05:00

I walked out of my house this morning and the weather was so wonderful that I just wanted to stand there with the cool breeze blowing watching the clouds as they moved by - it was just gloroious but - it was not to be, so I got into my car and started driving to work - I even had one of my windows down - THATS how nice it was outside. I was filled with joy.

Then I turned onto the highway..............a few miles down the road the traffic came to an abrupt STOP - after twenty minutes of exhaust fumes, slow moving traffic, people cutting over at the last minute and seeing that it was all because of high water in the two left lanes on the highway, my joy was completely gone!

Dear Mr Policeman - we can all drive through a little high water - isn't that what those flashy signs are for to WARN us? Stop shutting down the highway, K? Thanks!

August - Who needs it?

2010-08-23T12:58:00.003-05:00

Ok, really? 106 degrees? I live in Texas for crying out loud not Arizona! 90's not so much a big deal to me, I have lived here my whole life. But this 106 business - no thanks! Maybe I need a summer home someplace like, oh I don't know, maybe the mountains of Montana or Wyoming - mmmmm now theres a blissful thought. Of course, to do that one has to have a money and a job that allows for that, right? Yeah, well thats not US!

HOWEVER, the shining spot in all of this blasted heat is that the hubby has interviews today and tomorrow - one he prefers over the other, but at this point he can go wherever they want him the most :)

Believe me, as soon as we know something I will post it :)

Time for Prayers

2010-08-20T15:26:00.001-05:00

There could be a job on the horizon for the hubby - a good one! So all my friends out there....pray pray pray :)

Wanderings

2010-08-19T08:36:00.002-05:00

Do you ever just look around you and think "what am I doing?" Just kind of in a fog and your life is on auto pilot? I came to that realization this morning as Im driving to work....and I think - this is wayyyyyyyyyyyy to deep of thought for 7 AM so I forgot about it, grabbed some breakfast and went to work.

A few mins later (like now) the nagging thought came back again so I thought ok, Im going to blog my thoughts about this.

The reality is...I don't have any thoughts about it..... I mean, I do wonder what Im doing. I do feel like Im on auto pilot with the same routine every day. I do think about it and wonder about it I mean, maybe its because I haven't had a vacation in like 5 years. Maybe its because Im so danged tired that its all I can handle to get through the day, or maybe it because I have no passions, no goals, no direction.

No....Im not depressed but I am really tired........that must be it - deep thoughts when your this tired are pointless - your never going to resolve them because they aren't mean to be resolved, only pondered. Im sure tomorrow when I get up at the same time I get up every day...follow my morning routine that I follow every morning and get in my car to drive to my same job I go to every day to do the same work I do every day I will forget about all of this and move on to some other topic of thought...like Navy boy's November wedding, College boy's car in for body work (again), College boy's classes starting in a couple of weeks, Hubby still looking for a job, or maybe Saturday's 12.4 mile training walk for the Susan G Komen.......who knows? Tommorrow is another day!

Report from July 2009 - still darned funny

2010-08-18T14:32:00.001-05:00

Dear Diary,Just moved to Texas ! Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! It is beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.June 14th:Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.June 30th:Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.July 10th:The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat?At least, it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.July 15th:Fell asleep by the community pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.July 20th:I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.July 25th:The wind sucks. It feels like a giant blow dryer!! And it's hot as he!!. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.July 30th:Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can't even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here?Aug. 4th:It's 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.Aug. 8th:If another wise a$$ cracks, 'Hot enough for you today?' I'm going to strangle him. Dang heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!Aug. 9th:Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I sat on the seats in the car, my a$$ caught fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs. . . Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried a$$, and baked cat.Aug 10th:I’m convinced now that the weather report is a recording. Hot sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do crap for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can't live in this heat.Aug. 14th:Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cactus are dead. Forgot to crack the window and blew the windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? "Hot enough for you today?" My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas . What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here??Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.

Same cat different day

2010-08-16T09:27:00.002-05:00

I swear, this cat is possessed.......this is the same cat peeking over the table in my other post.

8 - 9 - 10

2010-08-09T14:35:00.000-05:00

Who knew? I almost passed it by without even thinking.

The Wedding

2010-08-05T08:49:00.004-05:00

Well wedding plans are back in motion. The Navy kids say Navy Boy will get his leave in November but NOT in December. However, its still plenty of time to pull it all together. Im not comfortable with the amount of money WE are paying for the wedding since we are the groom's family and typically weddings fall to the responsibility of the bride's family except for things like flowers and rehearsal dinner, but oh well - we do what we must to make our children happy. I will do what I can within my limited means and hope that is its good enough (for those wondering yes the Hubby is still laid off -we have just hit the 6 month mark - so much for Networking) anyway...lets not get off on THAT subject.

I think its all under control except for the cakes....and here is why:

a Nintendo grooms cake? Where will I EVER FIND THAT ? Someone please tell me cuz I haven't a single clue who would make that!!!!!

Only my Navy boy who also got a 1/2 sleeve tatoo that says Nintendo Generation would request this cake - now come on!!!! Are you THAT addicted to video games?

OH well - if anyone has any suggestions - here is the brides cake as well: However their cake will have red accents and red flowers on the top. Should be beautiful! But need a baker with lots of experience with fondant icing! Oh and not too pricey :( ? We are on an extremely tight budget.

Funniest Cat Picture EVER

2010-07-22T13:03:00.003-05:00

Our CFO's son took a picture of one of their cats - and this is quite possibly the funniest cat pictures I have EVER SEEN.

Kids

2010-07-06T11:38:00.002-05:00

I guess Im just not meant to understand. My kids are pretty much grown but somehow I still keep getting sucked into these power struggles with them. My oldest, Navy Boy, is the worst. I don't have to DO anything and I get BLASTED for things that someone else said I did....I spend my entire time of talking to him defending myself. My youngest, College Boy, is just a free spirit and no matter what I ask him to do, he can't seem to remember it long enough to actually DO IT.

There really are days when I just want to close my door and tell them both - Mom is officially closed for business until the two of you can learn to be nice!

Great Uncle Don

2010-06-28T08:35:00.002-05:00

We lost a very beloved family member on Saturday. He was my Great Uncle Don. He was my grandmother's brother and one of 13 children. There is only one of them left now and that is my Uncle Benny.

Uncle Don was blinded at a young age so he has been blind for the entire time that I knew him. He owned his own business, he travelled, he played a mean game of Texas Hold 'Em and he always dressed so nicely :). His life was full in spite of his disability and his lovely wife Mary Sue is the same way - she too is blind but they are so independent and amazing :)

I was in such awe of him when I was a child because he would work the cash register in the coffee shop that he owned and he could tell the denomination of the bill or coin without anyone standing there to tell him what it was. People never tried to cheat him or trick him and everyone that knew him loved and admired him.

When he got sick (Cancer) - he never complained about the treatment that was so hard on him, or the fact that the rapidly growing cancer was taking such a toll on him. But it was clear to me, that when he was done, and he gave up, that it would not be much longer and I am thankful that his was not long suffering with such a horrible illness. He was a wonderful, loving, respected man and I am proud to say he was my Uncle.

Uncle Don we will all miss you and your wonderful sense of humor. You will NOT be forgotten.

Another One Gone

2010-06-24T15:18:00.001-05:00

Well the big "potential Job" went to an internal candidate.......this job search business bites...even when its not YOU doing it! I feel so bad for the hubby....he tries so hard, he is so smart, and so talented and he can't catch a break!

Nothing Yet

2010-06-22T15:52:00.002-05:00

Well its Tuesday and no call............is it yet another dead end job trail for the hubby?
I'm so tired of it all and I'm not even the one having to do the looking! However, I suspect if it was, then it wouldn't be so frustrating because THEN I could DO SOMETHING! As it is, I'm having to WATCH and it just makes me crazy!

I would ask for continued prayers but I know you are all out there with me........so thank you!

HOPE HOPE HOPE PRAY PRAY PRAY

2010-06-18T09:51:00.001-05:00

Ok so the door was closed on one opportunity for the hubby but the window to another was opened on the same day......so now we hope this is the one for this is the company he has wanted to work for for a long time.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Nuff said

2010-06-16T09:01:00.001-05:00

No job.......

FINALLY

2010-06-11T08:28:00.003-05:00

After 4 months of searching and struggling the hubby finally got an interview.....so all our friends out there - pray and pray hard - this is a great opportunity and he sure needs it.....I'll keep you posted!

Navy Boy's wife - whom I now Call Navy Girl - leaves for Italy on Sunday. I know Navy Boy is just chompin at the bit for her to be there.......I wish them much happiness...NOW go see the world while your overe there :)

College Boy is just working and hanging out - thats about what he does :)

Thats it for now....remember that prayer :)

Still walking

2010-05-24T10:20:00.002-05:00

Im still training for the Susan G Komen 3-day. Since we are 24 weeks out we should be doing a minimum of 3 miles a day (with a couple of days off a week to rest). Saturday I did 4.5 miles just walking my neighborhood but Sunday I did a walk with another group (not my team) and we did 5 miles followed by a one hour yoga class.

I have NEVER been to a yoga class and I must tell you that anyone who says its easy has NEVER done it. I felt pretty good right afteward and most of the day yesterday but this morning ??????? Let me just say there is very little left of me that doesn't have a little bit of soreness. I think I found some muscles that my body forgot that it had.......Its too bad that I don't have a yoga studio in my neck of the woods because I really think I could add that in on one of my NON WALKING days.........and if you get a chance, try some yoga....all I can say is Wow!

Melodrama

2010-05-18T16:01:00.002-05:00

Yes the weekend was busy but it was good. On Saturday I did one of my training walks for the Susan G Komen - on Saturday I walked over 9 miles......pretty good for me. I am starting to look forward to these walks -as they are marks of achievement for me!

Monday night I returned to the theatre and auditioned for the Melodrama........I got a part and Im so excited! Community theatre really is one of my passions and to get back into it is a good thing for me.

Still no job on the front for the hubby - and Im beginning to think we have exhausted all of our resources but I am hopeful that SOMETHING will happen - I don't know what will happen when his benefits run out.......I guess whatever we have to do.......sometimes you just need something good to happen, ya know?

Friday

2010-05-14T10:29:00.002-05:00

We have a busy weekend coming up so thought I would post a quick blurb. Navy girl (the new DIL) leaves for Norfolk a week from Monday to finish up all her paperwork and get her orders to go join Navy Boy in Italy. I am so happy for them. As a mom it makes me feel good to know that Navy Boy won't be off in a foreign country alone anymore.......I wish the Navy COUPLE all the joy and happiness this world has to offer.

College boy managed to pass all of his classes - with 1 b and 3 Cs - so his GPA is sorely lacking but my hope is that he will continue to improve as he starts to take classes in his major.

A dear friend of ours has a son thats 24 - he is very shy and introverted and has no focus or direction except that he is very mechanically minded and very good with his hands....we discussed schooling but our friend was in a terrible car accident a few years ago and now on top of his disability, he has been laid off - so there is not much ability to do that......Im trying to help but I have very few avenues on that line....but maybe something good will happen. God is GOOD.

My great Uncle has been battling bone cancer and is going through another round of chemo - last time it was really bad for him but now they kind of know how to treat him so I am hopeful that this round will go much better - with big prayers that this time it shrinks those tumors and makes him feel better :)

7 mile training walk tomorrow for the Susan G......still trying to raise money - Im over 1/2 way to my goal of 2300 - hopefully I can pull that together too!

Thats about it from A Day In The Life - Happy Friday everyone!

Sometimes it just a poem

2010-05-11T08:26:00.000-05:00

Let us not worry
About the future.
Let us only do the right thing
Today,
At this moment,
Here and Now.
Let the future take care of Itself.

- Sri Chinmoy

April 30th!

2010-05-05T10:47:00.002-05:00

Well thats it....the oldest boy is officially married. Navy boy finally jumped off the ole single bridge. We are still having a ceremony for all us people who NEED TO HAVE A WEDDING - when they come home for Christmas in December. I am really very excited - Navy Girl-in-law is wonderful and I adore her - I am very blessed for my first daughter in law to be so exceptionally great! I just hate having to send her off to Italy - so that she AND Navy Boy are gone - but I wish I had spent my first married years living in Italy - I mean Wow!

In other news, we are refinancing our house - which is good because the lower interest rate brings our payment down. Now, if the hubby could just get a job, life would be great!

College boy is about to finish his semester at TCC it will be interesting to see what the grades are versus what they were at UNT where we pretty much FLUSHED $7K - *note to all* make sure your kids are REALLY READY for college before you send them off!

So....thats the update for now - stay tuned :)

So it begins

2010-04-30T09:27:00.002-05:00

We are officially 27 weeks from the Susan G Komen, 3-day Breast Cancer Event. My team - Boobs, Sweat and Tears, is beginning to actively train with training walks scheduled every Saturday in May: 8th - 6 miles, 15th - 8 miles, 22nd - 8 miles and 29th - 10 miles. We also have a Texas Hold em event happening in Grapevine:

I am a team member of “Boobs, Sweat and Tears” and each team member is required to raise a minimum of $2,300.00. We are not permitted to walk if we don’t individually raise the minimum $2,300.00. To raise money this year, we are having a Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament and we would love for you to attend. Team BOOBS, SWEAT and TEARSTEXAS HOLD’EM POKER TOURNAMENT BENEFITTING THE FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER! Saturday, June 5th Happy Hour & hors d'oeuvre at 6:00 pmTournament Starts at 7:00 pm Back Porch Grill 210 N. Main StreetGrapevine, TX 76051

The tournament will be held in the Lone Star Room. $100.00 Buy-in Unlimited $50.00 re-buys for the first 90 minutes $50.00 add-on at 90 minutesWe will also have professional dealers. Prizes Include:HD Flat Panel TV$300 Gift Card from Dick’s Sporting Goods$200 Gift Card from Academy Sports$50 Gift Card from Best Buy Raffle Items Include:Crown Royal Gift PackageRound of Golf for Four (4)Dallas Cowboy DeMarcus Ware AutographedThrow Back Jersey, Bobble Heads and Baseball Card Please RSVP to jayne3day@gmail.com or 817.229.1032 no later than May 15th! I hppe you will join us and help us out. (the link to my personal donation page is at the top of this blog)

I need to buy some new walking shoes to get them broken in but I guess that has to wait. I am hopeful that maybe the hubby will get a new job at some point and I can afford to go get some specially fitted for the walk. As I understand it, on long walks, your feet swell so you want the shoes a little big and you want to wear well padded socks that wick away moisture to prevent blisters.

Im actually pretty excited about the walk this year....it has long been a goal of mine but I admit Im a little saddened that more people do not donate to this cause. I can't help but think of a good friend whose daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer (in her twenties) and another friend whose daughter was diagnosed and has 2 young children. We need to find a cure for this disease and the only way to do that is through research and the only way to fund research is through donations...........I guess people think that if you can't donate hundred of dollars then why bother but the truth is, ever little bit counts.

So here is to training for the walk, raising money for the cause and hoping to someday help people BEAT Breast Cancer.

2 months and 5 days :(

2010-04-27T09:14:00.002-05:00

Well its been 2 months and 5 days since the hubby was laid off. He has not had so much as a call or an interview. I don't understand why its so hard .........he has applied to ALOT of jobs and he was qualified for most of them but not so much as a peep of interest out of anyone. It is discouraging for him and I feel bad for him too. I keep hoping and praying that this won't turn into another 7 months of no job but its not looking any better than last time. Everyone keeps saying that the economy is turning around but I'm sure not seeing any improvement yet. So keep those prayers going.....there has to be something out there for him. Hopefully this time it won't be consulting and he can finally find a place to be happy at work. Don't we all wish for that?

Its TIME

2010-04-21T10:31:00.002-05:00

This weekend I will embark on my next version of the Square Foot Garden (thank you Mel Bartholomew) I have decided to try Topsy Turvy Tomatoes and Strawberries but in the Sq Ft garden I will do Zucchini again (it was very successful last year) I might try red bell peppers again - last year was no good.....and then I really have to evaluate what else to put. My chocolate mint and Rosemary not only survived the winter, but seemed to thrive and I may have to cut them back a bit but they are doing well. Maybe I will convert a couple more squares to herbs......I have started using different fresh herbs alot more. Anyway, I will post pics when Im all planted and growing :) Happy Growing!

Things

2010-04-15T08:48:00.002-05:00

Well...yes, the car did finally get put back together and the brakes work now so the future DIL is out in the world stopping safely (we hope). It only took the poor hubby THREE days to get it all figured out.....

The proxy marriage (required by the US Navy) should be complete in about 1 week so my Navy boy and Future DIL will be legally married. She leaves for Italy the end of June. It really stinks to get a brand new DIL in a family full of boys, only to send her off to Italy :( But we are still having the "real wedding" in December when they come home for Christmas.

Now if we can just get the hubby back to work so I can actually HELP with this wedding - things would be wonderful!

I have a training walk on Saturday for the Susan G Komen...its sneaking up fast and I still have quite a bit more money to raise, but thats ok.....I'm determined to do this.

College boy is going to school and working two jobs..I know he is ready for summer to be here and cut out at least ONE of those for a little while. I hope he gets moved to the kitchen at VG's pretty soon - he is really looking forward to that!

And at least its almost Friday.....I can use the break!

The first glimmer of hope

2010-04-14T08:58:00.002-05:00

The hubby has had a glimmer of hope on a job. He recieved an email asking him to take an online assessment for a manager's position with Texas Health Resources. When you look at his status on line it says "considering" so maybe he will get an interview - if they will just talk to him they will see what a GREAT FIT he would be for this job. But keep the prayers going :)

*&^@ Cars!

2010-04-09T09:05:00.002-05:00

Poor hubby - he kinda sorta got volunteered to fix the future DIL's car. It needs brakes and rotors.....he thinks, no sweat! HOWEVER there are two kinds of cars that you don't want to do brakes on - Hondas and Mazdas.......Im sure no one cares about the intricisies of WHY that is....but suffice it to say its a huge and quite royal pain in the backside thanks to 2 bolts that have no other function in life than to make a brake person's life miserable!

He started bright and early yesterday - and at about 8PM last night he FINALLY got the bolts off of the DRIVERS SIDE. Hopefully this morning he will get the dreaded bolts off the passenger side but I think he has decided that he will not offer to do brakes on any more cars until he knows what kind of car it is. I remember trying to do the brakes on Navy son's VW........it took both of us and ALOT of finagling to get that thing back together - darned German engineerging! :) Anyway.....cross your fingers that it goes well and keep praying cuz he still has no job and no current prospects.........its tough out there....thank the GOOD LORD that I still have my job!

I don't get it

2010-04-05T10:42:00.003-05:00

I will never understand human behavior. I will never understand why people behave in a way this is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face. I will never understand why 2 people can't just TALK to each other and work things out between them instead of involving about 100 other people to "call so and so", "talk to so and so", "so and so is soooo upset" - STOP DOING THAT. If you need to talk to me -pick up the phone or heck, come by and see me - I don't care just don't have other people do your bidding !?!?!?! Im pretty sure I left high school about 30 years go (Oh man, Im soo telling my age right now). I don't like the games......lets just talk - ok?

The Furniture

2010-03-31T09:34:00.002-05:00

So one of my good friends got new furniture -the benefit to that is that I got the old furniture - it is only about 4 years old and its a beautiful red plaid. There is a couch and rocker loveseat that are the plaid and an overstuffed chair and ottoman that are a matching floral. The throw pillows are the same floral and it just made all the difference in the world. The best part is that it so matches the brick around my fireplace (which is the same brick on the outside of the house). If I remember I will take pictures and post them later.

The hubby is still job hunting.....since we have not reached the point of wanting to relocate - he is still applying. The sad part is, he has not had ONE call.....I guess its because he is applying to big companies and the big companies aren't hiring without an internal recommendation. It is so frustrating for him and Im doing my best to encourage. I just hope something comes along for him soon.

Navy son and soon-t0-be DIL are doing well and the long distance wedding planning seems to be coming right along ;hopefully, we will get it all lined out so that even with her in Italy (with him) we can have things ready for December. I just know it will be beautiful.

College boy is still attending college and so far, his grades seem to be doing well - I think the summer off will be a good break for him. He has started his job and Aeropostale and I guess its going ok but with him you never really know. The girlfriend is good and she comes over occasionally and we enjoy visiting with her.

Other than that, all the extended family seems to be doing well and with Easter coming up this weekend Im sure I'll have some fun to document for posterity *grin*

Happy Easter everyone!

Lemonade anyone?

2010-03-26T13:35:00.002-05:00

I have heard it my whole life....when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Well I guess I now have about 500 gallons of lemonade. And really, Im SICK of making lemonade.

So I guess now Im going to try the whole gratitude thing.......

I was reading a book my mom gave me and this quote is why I wrote today's blog "Being grateful no matter what is going on around you puts you in position to keep you life moving forward, in the best direction possible, given your current circumstances." and also "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optomist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails" I guess Im a realist, cuz I plan to adjust my sails and keep on going, whether I like whats happening or not.

Thank you Mr William Ward - There is no way to avoid life's storms - they come and go whether we want them or not. The best thing each of us can do is learn how to dance in the rain! When I was little is used to be so much fun.......how come it isn't anymore?

Almost April

2010-03-25T11:32:00.003-05:00

Well we are still enduring the "lay off" - I sure hope Craig finds something soon!

Navy Boy and The Fiance are moving right along - looks like they are going to actually be married by May (by Proxy) because the Navy needs all this paperwork for her to be able to come live there. However, we will still have a formal ceremony in December, when they come home for Christmas. They are both very excited and she is looking forward to living in Italy for a while (duh, I would just like to VISIT)!

College Boy is going to TCC and he is starting a new job, at the mall. Its not culinary work but at least its a job. He had a girl friend now and they are doing fine.

Even our fur kids are fine - its very different with Pete gone.......just having Buster and Shelby - it really seems almost quiet. We finally took the box from the MIL - she picked it up from the vet and hung onto it....I was not quite ready to take it...but we have it now and it sits on a shelf with all my boxer figurines.......its still hard...but each day gets a little easier.

Other than that not much changes around our house - each day is the same - at least until Craig gets another job......

U.S.S.A

2010-03-22T10:24:00.002-05:00

Yes, you read that right. I guess we are now the United Socialist States of America. With the passing of the so called "health care reform" bill - The President has successfully taken over - the car manufacturers, the banks, and now health care. I guess we are slowly going to lose control over everything as along as Obama is in charge. It just kills me to hear Democrats say "you don't understand the bill" - Ok, explain it to me - my bet is BEFORE THE VOTE, the Dems didn't understand it either since Pelosi (in her infinite wisdom said) "You have to pass the bill to know whats in it".......um excuse me Ms. Pelosi, but THATS not how America works! All the meetings and forums on this bill were supposed to be public and they were not.....do you know all the arm twising and deal making that went on to get people to vote for this bill?

The Republicans will now begin the process of lawsuits that will bog down, slow down and maybe SOMEHOW defeat this thing but who knows how long it will take? Hopefully long enough for Obama to be voted out of office !!

If your an Obama supporter, all I can is, Im sorry for you - I think you have been duped!

God Help Us ALL !!!!!

Same Song Second Verse

2010-03-19T09:30:00.002-05:00

*sigh* yes we did this before......about 1 year ago to be exact. Here we are in Week 4 since the hubby was laid off and not a sign of life on a new job. Again, he has applied for about 40 positions at Alcon, Radio Shack (where he spent 13 years of his life), Lockheed, Texas Health Resources, Omni American (where we have been loyal customers for 20 years) and the list is longer but the short story is he has not even been so much as called for more info or an interview or anything. He has only recieved 2 emails saying no thanks but the rest is just floating out there in the world of electronic applications and I fear we are in for another seven months of no job for the hubby! The sad part is we were just recovering from the last seven month stretch of being unemployed (of course thats why I told him -no more consulting for you pal).

So.....any and all prayers are appreciated and in the meantime, if you hear of something, send me an email - hopefully something will come along soon!

So Long Johnny High

2010-03-18T08:35:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Mr. Johnny High passed away at the age of 80. If you are not familiar with him - he has a country music revue show that started up the likes of Leann Rhymes, the Dixie Chicks and a few others. It is located in the old Arlington Theatre near "downtown" Arlington.

I was on his show with a girl that I used to sing with, many years ago - we were told on many occassions that we were the next Judds. We were as good as they were - but when your lead singer (me) has ridiculously bad stage fright, I guess you have no real future in "the Biz".

I know several people that still perform there and a couple are even regulars. His grandaughter Ashley Smith will continue to run the show and Im sure it will do well.

So, fair well and God Speed Mr. High, I know God is just waiting for you to sing him a song!

Spring Break

2010-03-12T10:35:00.002-06:00

Well at least ONE member of the family is going on Spring Break......College Boy is going with his best bud and family to Arizona - who knew there was skiing there? My mind says Arizona is all desert but apparently not. They will stop at Roswell at several other places along the way and it sounds really fun. As for me, I will be working and home same as every other spring break.....but I guess thats my lot in life huh? Someone has to take care of those rotten dogs ;)

Waiting, Praying and Hoping

2010-03-05T08:39:00.002-06:00

College boy filled out applications at the mall yesterday....allllll afternoon - he is hopeful to have a job by early next week. The hubby on the other hand is not having that much luck. He has probably applied for 2 dozen jobs and not so much as a nibble on ANY of them......of course, I say, give it time it has only been a little over a week - but I remember a few months ago saying, give it time, its only been 6 months! Its amazing to me that he has a bachelor's degree, over 13 years of IT experience and is very well like at all of his jobs and yet he can't find anything. Do people understand that when your a consultant and you get laid off its not because your not a good employee its because the works isn't there to sustain your position.......I just want to say COME ON PEOPLE your missing out on a GOOD EMPLOYEE HERE!!! Oh well, I keep waiting, praying and hoping for that one job to come along, after all I have a wedding to help pay for....now granted we only have the groom's expenses but thats quite enough.

Riding the Rollercoaster

2010-03-04T10:16:00.003-06:00

I guess if you look at life like a rollercoaster we are in one of those very low spots where not much is happening but you know the next loop is coming up very soon. Now for some that might be exciting but for me its just plain scarey.

JUST STOP

2010-02-26T15:30:00.004-06:00

Do things ever get to you the point where you just want to find a quiet, secluded place where no one can find you EVER and just stay there - stay where its quiet and there is no talking and no thinking and no reminders of everything thats wrong with the world around you - when you just can't find one positive thought or one positive thing to say - when you want to scream JUST STOP, not to anyone in particular but just the bad path you seem to be on? Just stop dropping bricks onto my head one by one - just stop the negative tape recorder in my head playing nothing but bad messages - just stop the stupid merry go round that ceased being fun a LONG TIME ago and LET ME OFF!

I don't know why I felt compelled to write this except that its how I feel and I know I can't be the only one who ever feels this way. I think people can only take so much - can only be pushed so far until everything becomes like a battle to them and they start to push back - unless your one of those people that just throws in the towel. Im not one of those people - I don't ever wave the white flag (people that know me are probably laughing right about now). I think circumstances have just made me angry - being at the mercy of other people makes me angry and feeling like THIS battle, no matter how I fight it, I can't win - makes me angry.

Ok...people say this too shall pass, you guys made it through this same thing last year (duh maybe thats why Im so mad), that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger, you can throw cliches at it all day long but that fixes nothing, it doesn't make any of it easier and as much as I tell myself worry fixes NOTHING, to preach from my own advice - its is TEMPORARY - at the very bottom of it all I just want to say JUST STOP!

Ummmm Well......Ok......Wow

2010-02-26T11:07:00.004-06:00

I think I might possibly still be in shock as I type this, but my Navy Boy.....scratch that, Navy MAN - my 24 year old son, is getting married. Yep, they decided on December since he will be home on leave for Christmas. They have asked me to help plan it - I think the bride's mom has too much going on - so I get the job. I would probably be considerably happier about this task had the hubby not just been laid off at the beginning of this week (for the 2nd time in 13 months) .....but we are hopeful that something new will come up for him soon. He has applied for about 11 positions at Alcon but unless you know someone there, its hard to get in - so if you any of you blog friends know someone at Alcon, shoot me an email (mailto:selita.sprunger@gmail.com)%20....in this economy you need all the help you can get! Anyway, I can't say enough good things about the future daughter in law....I adore her and I think she will be very good for my son. They will spend the first 6-10 months of married life, living in Italy - away from family - while my son finishes his tour there...then they should be headed back to the states and I will be so glad for that day......but anyway....prayer and well wishes and cost cutting suggestions currently being accepted :) Life is about to get even MORE crazy.

UnReal!

2010-02-22T12:03:00.002-06:00

It took FOUR WEEKS to fix the Subaru. We picked it up on Saturday morning - College Boy left in it to go get his hair cut....when he got back I noticed the left headlight kinda hanging out of the spot where it goes.........the hubby discovers it doesn't fit right, has a stripped out screw AND they bored out the hole where the screw GOES to make it fit......THEN as he backed out of the driveway last night I notice that his foglight on that same side (the previously wrecked side) has burnt out...and the bumper doesn't line up correctly on the UNwrecked side.......yeah....tomorrow, it goes BACK to the shop!

No I didn't fall off the planet

2010-02-19T10:22:00.002-06:00

I have been here - I have just been busy. The subaru is STILL in the paint/body shop - as cool as this little car is, we have found out that they are 1. rare, 2. sought after, 3. harder than heck to get parts for , but College boy is anxiously awaiting its return (hopefully Saturday).

Navy boy arrived on February 5th and is heading back to Italy on the 21st (yes, this Sunday) - its going to be hard for him and his GF to tear themselves apart for him to get on that airplane but this trip, they bought promise rings for each other - so now to make the long distance relationship work - its hard, but if you want it bad enough and you have enough trust in each other, you can make it work :)

I have been walking a little more regularly and really gearing up for the 3 day - now granted its not until November but remember I have another 30 pounds to lose to be where I wanted to be for this event......so back to working on that :) AND I have raised almost $1000 of my $2300 so I am making good progress.

I have a pampered chef party coming up on March 6th and then a bachelorette party Im co-hosting on March 20th so its just busy busy busy. I'll try to post some pics soon of College Boy and his g/f and Navy Boy and his promise' (like fiance' ? Get it?) - posting up again soon!

Update on the Subaru

2010-02-03T10:37:00.003-06:00

As most of you know the Subaru was in a little "altercation" - not college boys fault and the offender left a little piece of his bumper that just happened to have a VIN on it (which our insurance investigators have now taken possession of) - anyway its almost fixed - the body shop calls and says "we need the key fob to turn the alarm off" - hmmmmmm - we didn't even get KEYS that worked so how were we to know it had an alarm and NOW how do we make it STOP working? I told the guy to disarm it somehow - he said ok, we will take out the battery . . . . . so what happens when we get the car back?

Navy Boy

2010-02-02T12:24:00.003-06:00

Its almost Friday - the day when Navy Boy will be home for a 16 day visit! I know that he wishes he were coming back home for good - he is a little tired of Italy and the Navy in general but we all have our burdens to bear :)

However, I will be glad to see him and I will be sad when he leaves but for now.......its all good!

Pete

2010-01-26T09:28:00.002-06:00

It has taken me over a week to be able to write this - I have lost pets before but none that affected me as deeply as this one. He was much more like a child with fur - a child that we raised for 10 1/2 years only to lose him to Lymphoma and if that had not taken him the severe heart murmur would have.

He was 11 1/2 when he died and a joy to everyone who met him.

Pete was our first boxer and a rescue. We got him at the ripe old age of 1 and when we went to see him - to see if we connected with him, he ran out of the house, leash on and in his mouth, all set to take himself for a walk. The beautiful prancing trot and that boxer face - I was sold, and told the hubby "he is coming home with us today" and he did.

He was an in-the-house dog and pretty much house broken - in the 10 1/2 years that we had him, I think he only had 2 problems in the house and 1 of those was because he was sick. He helped to teach Shelby and Buster who was boss and it was never questioned. As he got older he learned to communicate with us. There are witnesses who heard him say mama more than once. When he was hungry there was a pattern of looking at you with "that look" and then a gentle paw on the lap and then if all of that was ignored - he would bark in that woowoo way that only a boxer can.

He was polite to visitors, even getting on his tummy for children visitors and as spoiled as any dog on this planet can be. He hated going out in the rain, to do his business, so sometimes we had to take an umbrella to keep him dry. He had his own bed and toys and we fed him the best food we could buy (with the occasional Frito), he loved to go in the car so sometimes he got to go for a ride - we took very very good care of him and loved him so much and in return he loved us in that unconditional way that dogs love their people. He was never really a dog to us...just a person in different skin :).

I won't write all about his illness and what happend because his life was not about "the end" - it was about the joy, the laughter, the silliness and the fun that comes with being the parent of a boxer. Yes, we have 2 more at home - Shelby who is 8 1/2 and Buster who is 3. I posted a picture of the trio at Christmas, and Im glad that I did because that was the last picture that I took of Pete.

I know that dogs have souls and I know where Pete's loving soul is and because of that I know that I will see him again someday and I will hug him and let him know how much I missed him for he is missed more than he could ever imagine! But for now, he is following Jesus around trying to get HIM to give him a treat :) (Im not trying to be sacrilegious, the thought made me smile).

Im just SO MAD

2010-01-22T13:16:00.003-06:00

$3900 is what its gonna take to fix that car - which is fine, insurance is covering it ;however, Im just so mad that someone can cause THAT kind of damage to someone else's car and then drive off and never have to account for what they did. And there is Travis, a college kid, working a part time job, trying to get back and forth to school and work and his car will not be ready for like 2 weeks! We are making it work but there again, I don't blame him for being angry as well. Some irresponsible person, inconvenienced us, cost us money (we had to cover the deductible) and almost caused an injury and then just left the scene! My one HOPE is that SOMEDAY the get what is coming to them!

Hmmm

2010-01-20T08:30:00.002-06:00

Somehow I guessed that more people would be interested in donating to cancer research but so far I have big fat Zero in donations - but oh well....the walk is several months away.

I have about had it with 2010 already - Last Sunday night we had to put our 10 1/2 year old boxer to sleep - I have never endured anything that broke my heart as much as that did. I have lost relatives and other pets but Pete was different, he was like a child - it will take a very long time to get over losing him.

Travis got hit on Friday night coming home from work - GREATFULLY he was not injured but his car was rendered undriveable and the JERK who hit him drove off - so now OUR insurance gets to pay an no rental car. School just started back for him AND he works downtown so we are having to trade and juggle cars to get everyone where they need to be.

Between the compressor on our a/c and my car breaking down - that cost us a LARGE SUM and now at the tail end of all this - Our Navy Boy is ready to take leave and come home from Italy and since its for R&R the Navy doesn't have to pay so NOW we are all trying to come up with $800 to get him home from Naples!

It feels like a never ending cycle and NOT a good one! Keep us in your prayers friends - it really needs to get better :/

Susan G. Komen

2010-01-14T13:12:00.002-06:00

So this year is the year that I am going to do it. 3 days, 60 miles - this is a big deal. Its one of the things on my "bucket-list" *LOL* I have wanted to do it for a long time so I have committed and now Im in. I hope those of you who read this blog, I know there are not many of you - will pass it on to your friends, especially those who have been touched by Breast Cancer and let me know, and if your able to, donate. Its a great cause, its alot of hard work, and it means alot to me. The event is in November and the fund raising must be completed by August (all $2300 of it, or else I have to commit to pay it) :( In the meantime, I will be training and participating in training walks of anywhere from 10-15 miles.......so this is not just an easy 3 days....there is alot that goes into ahead of time. So I hope you will join with me, through support, donations or whatever so we can be a part of wiping out Breast Cancer!

January ugh

2010-01-11T12:24:00.002-06:00

It is past Christmas, its been really really cold , school is fixing to start back (for the college crew) and Im feeling kinda BLAH. Things didn't go so well for College Boy so he will be attending the local community college - he really wants to go into Culinary Arts so I figured, why not? At least its something! He is a pretty darned good cook :)

Navy Boy is supposed get leave on Feb 5th but they keep on rejecting it for random and various reasons so when they finally DO approve it, Im sure the airline ticket will cost a small fortune :( and guess what? The Navy doesn't pay for it so Im sure they really don't care.

I keep searching but can't really find a reason to be cheery and positive so I guess I'll just be BLAH til that reason comes along.

Happy 2010!

Simply Fondue

2010-01-07T13:26:00.004-06:00

So yes College Boy got the job - making more than I figured he would for a "server assistant" however, I suspect he has a lot to learn about working in a "high end" restaurant. His first day he was late - his 2nd day he was almost an hour early (to make up for being late) and then he works again on Friday and I think Saturday. Anyway, this should be interesting to watch - I hope he does well but he is going to have to become MUCH MORE conscientous I think.

SIGH

2010-01-05T08:39:00.002-06:00

Ok, Im a slacker - I made it two days on the 30 day shred and now I have to start over....the good news is Im not as sore from starting over. So last night was Day 1 repeat - and yes, its still hard but I think after a week I might be ready for level 2 - we will see.

I think college boy might have a job.....he enjoyed simply fondue so much that he wants to work there. He went yesterday and spoke to the owner, the owner has to speak to the manager and then he is in! Yayyyyy

Navy boy has a serious girlfriend - she is here at home and he is off in Italy. Long distance relationships can be hard....but hopefully they can make it work.

Craig and I have a big goal of paying off our credit card debt and we are very close - I would say 7 months and DONE - and we will not do that again - we will save UP when we want to buy something!

All in all we are off to a good 2010 :)

College Boys Birthday - #19

2009-12-30T09:19:00.008-06:00

Having a little trouble with this one.....This is the baby, my youngest, the one who I have been focused on all through high school - with marching band, band trips, etc we have spent alot of time together. I guess I have known the time was coming - and its here - he does his own thing, has his own friends, his own life and turning lose is not easy but you have to do it, especially with boys. So Im trying, but its not easy. Since Im at work, I don't have access to alot of his pictures but I will share just a couple - he was an adorable baby, a cute kid and a handsome young man. Next year, he will no longer be a teenager but I know he will be great at whatever he does and I will be there to smile, clap and cheer him on...
Go Get Em Taz - You ARE AWESOME!

30 Day Shred - Day 2

2009-12-30T09:12:00.003-06:00

As promised I completed the work out again. It was a push but once I got going I kinda worked out the soreness and felt pretty good. One hour later - ARE YOU KIDDING? I could hardly get out of the chair. This morning - Im doing good to stand on these 2 things that i don't recognize as my legs because they are refusing to work!

Sounds heard as I struggled to get out of bed "OUCH", "ow, Ow, OW", "Ohhhhhh" - yes soreness has set in, thighs, arms, abs - all of me - good grief, Jillian knows her stuff but if this is Level 1, easy, how will I survive Levels 2 and 3?

Day 2 - Level 1 - about the same, maybe a tad bit easier, still have to take a break now and then.

Result - even MORE sore than yesterday. but being College Boy's birthday will probably have to skip tonight....might try to fit it in since its only 20 minutes, but no guarantee.

30 Day Shred - Day 1

2009-12-29T11:33:00.002-06:00

I got Jillian Michaels' 30 day Shred DVD for Christmas. Last night I did the level 1 work out for the first time. On each level there is an easy version and a hard version - I , of course, am doing the easy version. According to the DVD you are to do this EVERY DAY for 30 days.......I will try but I am so sore just from Day 1.

However - I will blog on it everyday because I know lots of other people doing this workout and there are alot of people who have questions regarding this workout - so as a true beginner, trying to get in shape - we will see how this goes.

Day 1 - Level 1 - easy -the workout was fun but fairly hard - hard as far as effort you must put forth to complete it. You do 2 cycles of: 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs then a brief stretch and cool down - about 20 minutes total.

Result - I am sore - I did have some sweating and muscle burning during the workout - will have to push myself to do it again tonight.

Heard at the Office

2009-12-23T16:02:00.002-06:00

Ok, I have to share this (withholding names and titles) but it was really supremely funny.
So - this giant styrofoam container arrives - we don't know who sent it but inside is this bizarre frozen turkey, wrapped around a chicken, wrapped around a duck - now I don't know WHO in the world would REALLY eat that but anyway........someone #1 says this is going in the trash, we don't know who it came from or anything, someone #2 says it could be a bomb, someone #1 laughs and says Yeah its an IUD several of us snicker until someone # 3 says Uh.....different device..........to which I said yeah, can we just insert an E in the middle there?

I don't know if ANYONE thinks this is a funny as I do but quite honestly, IM STILL LAUGHING!

2009-12-19T22:27:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to share my Christmas Dogs :) I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the best 2010 EVER!

Much Love,
Selita and Family

The coolest email someone sent to me.....

2009-12-10T08:54:00.002-06:00

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come outof the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

This week, I found out.From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember. -The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ. -Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. -The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament. -The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation. -Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy. -The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes. -Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. -The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments. -The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol...so pass it on if you wish.

Darned Navy!

2009-12-09T08:12:00.001-06:00

I was talking to Navy boy via Skype last night - he was in Florida last week and didn't call me !?!?!?! Now, like myself, im sure your asking "why NOT?" - It turns out he was here for a class and had leave approved and was going to surprise me - how fabulous is that? Well 2 days before he finishes up his class to go on leave - the Navy says "nope, sorry - no leave - come back to Italy" so he goes back and now he can't take leave until January - but you know what? Thats ok.......he is safe, he is in a good place and I can't feel better knowing I will see him soon !!! Yippee!

The Rush To Christmas

2009-12-04T11:09:00.002-06:00

I think its a good thing that I have most of my shopping and wrapping done cuz I just got a good look at my calendar.....sheeesh - tonight is the Hubby's company Christmas Dinner/Party - Saturday and Sunday we are IN the Nativity Pageant at church - with 2 performances each evening (our Nativity Pageant is more like a play) - next weekend on Saturday we have our car club Christmas party and Sunday we have the Christmas Choir performance at church - the 18th we move College Boy back from College until January - that weekend will be my holiday baking for the few people that I bake things for - the 21st is my company Christmas Dinner and then the next weekend is Christmas......College Boy's birthday is December 30th and then NEW YEARS EVE. I will need all of January to recuperate from that!

HAPPY 2010

A real first

2009-12-03T08:44:00.000-06:00

It is December 3rd and I am shocked even at myself. I almost completely done with my Christmas shopping AND wrapping........for years I have been a last minute, put it off, don't really want to do it, fight the crowds, I hate shopping kind of person. This year, I ordered a few things online, had a couple of really productive shopping trips (can I just say, Kohl's totally rocks) and last night I wrote down what I had bought and what I still needed and was COMPLETELY shocked to find that I only need a couple more things and I am done! I even shipped Jerin's gifts to Italy on Tuesday........I must say that having that done early really lets me enjoy the holidays :)

First Snowfall 2009

2009-12-02T12:25:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to record it....it was beautiful when I got up this morning and the back yard was a blanket of white and big fat snowflakes were falling. The great part about Texas is - we had that but here it is 12:30 in the afternoon and its all gone - so no treacherous driving - just the beauty of it all.

Tech Vs. Baylor

2009-11-29T21:23:00.004-06:00

On Saturday we went to the Tech/Baylor game - the game was real good - and close and we yelled and yelled and game out victorious. Thanks to Staci for getting the tickets. Cowboys stadium was amazing and being in the company of good friends was a double blessing. But now..its back to work and real life :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T08:30:00.006-06:00

Iwant to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends/family.....Mother of the American Thanksgiving, Sarah Hale wrote, "Let this day be the grand Thanksgiving Holiday of our nation, when the noise and tumult of worldliness may be exchanged for the laugh of happy children, the glad greeting of family reunion, and the humble gratitude of the Christian heart".

And while your at it, please remember all our men and women in the armed services who can't be with their families on this day, and say a prayer or your own, for each of them. They certainly deserve Thanksgiving.

Happy Birthday Navy Boy - I appreciate your service and every time I proudly wear my United States Navy Mom sweatshirt - I have at least a dozen people who ask me to tell you how much THEY appreciate your service. So to you and your friends, those with whom you serve, I hope all of you know you are appreciated and that I love you with all my heart!

Homeopathic Medicine

2009-11-23T09:50:00.002-06:00

First of all, let me say, that I am HUGE believer in homeopathic medicine. Several years ago I was suffering (and I do mean suffering) from what the doctors called, Chronic Ulcerative Colitis. My GI doctor had me on 3 different medications, one of them a sulfer drug - which is really not good for ANYONE to take and so I went on a hunt to cure myself of this condition. I took myself off of ALL the medications and began taking Aloe Vera and Salmon Oil gel caps (cuz liquid aloe vera tastes like feet and Im not ever drinking that again!) (Oh and my side note to keep me out of trouble 1- I am NOT a homeopathic doctor or herbalist or anything and 2 - if you decide to try something like this, please consult your doctor) ok, now hopefully i won't get sued......anyway, I completely cured myself of the "Chronic" illness that had plagued me.....at my next visit to my GI doc he said, whatever your doing, keep it up - you have cleared up all signs of the colitis - OK YEAHHH I rock! So, moving on......growing up a I NEVER had issues with allergies....I turned 30 and it was like WHAM - and the evil sinus monster SPOKE "NOW YOU HAVE ALLERGIES and THEY WILL BE BAD" and yes, they are. I heard of a homeopathic sinus spray called Sinus Buster - ok, a normal person might have said - Sinus Buster ? Really? Let me know how that works out for ya....but me, even after I saw the picture of a red pepper on the front of the box AND read "contains capsacin" I said "how bad can it be?" so I bought it. Took it home, opened the box, read all the labels, yes even the part about the "temporary sensation" and used the spray..............................................................................have you ever been hit in the nose so hard it made your eyes water? Imagine that and then multiply it by about - oh, I don't know - 100 ? And you can't get it out - its a very fine spray and when its there, its there....so I waited - it seemed like a really really long time but Im sure it was probably 30 seconds or so - and the "sensation" was gone......and I was like Wow, ok - my sinuses ares opening - its a miracle!!!! But it didn't last terribly long so I knew this was one of those homeopathic remedies that you have to build up in your system - which meant the "sensation" would be felt MANY TIMES OVER.......hoping that round 2 would be better was short lived - I sprayed, my eyes watered, I made some kind of sound between a groan and a yelp - 30 seconds later, gone....all better......and then again this morning. I thought WHAT IS WITH THIS STUFF, why doesn't it get any better ? But Im not giving up - I WILL PREVAIL!

Wore Myself Out!

2009-11-23T09:24:00.002-06:00

Friday night we stood in line for over an hour to see New Moon - ok, yes I admit it, it was worth it - the special effects and characters are just fabulous. Saturday we hit the ground running, we took College Boy's car to the Subaru dealership, drove to Denton to watch UNT barely lose to Army (it really was a good game), went to dinner with my parents and College Boy, took College boy back to campus, then went home - at this point, I was already a little tired. Then Sunday we went to church and as we always do, went to lunch afterwards with Hubby's parents - since Hubby and I needed to go to the mall anyway to finish shopping for Navy Boy, we ate lunch at the mall, did some shopping, went to another store, did some shopping (I am being vague on purpose in case Navy Boy or College boy reads this blog, which Im pretty sure they NEVER do but still, playing it safe) and then headed home to change and finish our errands....it was about that time, that I remembered that I was supposed to call my bestest bud and see about going to the movies (Sorry "A" I didn't forget you, I remembered before I forgot again - I still love you) and then we resumed our rat killing (errand running for those not "in the know" on that term. Target, Grocery store, etc. The highlight of the day was buying a stand mixer - I have wanted one FOREVER - but the Hubby, while watching America's Test Kitchen on Saturday - discovered which one was best, so it was time to buy me one...woohoo! By the time we got back home - I made some pumpkin muffins for breakfasts this week, cleaned up and I was DONE, FINISHED, OVER. Somehow I always need Monday just to recover from the weekend.

With that said - Hey "A" lets do lunch, call me!

Kinda Sad

2009-11-19T14:35:00.002-06:00

I was just sitting here thinking, when I realized that Navy Boy's birthday is in 9 days.....this makes the third year in a row that I do not get to spend his birthday with him. When he turned 22 - he was in Great Lakes, IL in Navy boot camp (he did get to call me, but he was so sick, and they had taken out his wisdom teeth, and he had dry sockets - when I hung up the phone, I must have cried for an hour). When he turned 23 - the "poor" boy was in Greece, on the island of Crete....STUCK on an island in the Mediterranean. And then this year, turning 24 - he is in Naples, Italy. So, while its really cool to be him - having birthdays all over the world, I am sad for myself not getting to see him or spend it with him. However, I always send boxes of good stuff for Halloween, Thanksgiving/Birthday, and then a bigger, better one at Christmas.....so he knows Im here and that I love him ...... I guess in the big scheme of things, thats all that really matters, that he knows I love him and that he is safe, huh?

YOUR SO FUNNY!

2009-11-18T16:20:00.002-06:00

I have this very quirky personality (yes Im sure there are a couple of people who will comment on this statement) but the first thing people usually say - within about 10 minutes of meeting me is, YOUR SO FUNNY! Its also very common, when Im really angry and going on about something for people to say, YOUR SO FUNNY WHEN YOUR MAD.......well that one throws me a little because sometimes when your mad, you want SOMEONE to take you seriously....well - that seldom happens. But the most perplexing thing to me is when Im trying to be funny, or WANT to be funny - I am sooooooooooooo not funny. I am the SINGLE WORST joke teller on the planet...I NEVER EVER get them right. I guess that just kinda proves that you gotta be who you are and not try to be who you aren't and work with what God gave ya!

Tuesday, really? ugh

2009-11-17T12:04:00.001-06:00

This week is dragging........I don't even have alot to say......just that!

Good Weekend

2009-11-16T08:23:00.002-06:00

I picked up college boy on Friday night - I actually took he and one of his college buddies to dinner (the buddy took college boy to the DMV when college boy LOST HIS WALLET for the 2nd time this semester) - I promptly informed him that I was not cancelling his debit card, buying a new wallet or worrying over his lost drivers license - he could do it all HIMSELF this time and then MAYBE he would be more careful. When he bought his new wallet - it had a chain that attached it to his pants........maybe THAT will work!

Oh yeah, about the car - HE LOVES IT - he called it awesome and spent all day Saturday running around town in it.....so I was happy about that.

Saturday afternoon, there was an impromptu gathering of some old friends from 20+ years ago and we had a great time, we laughed, we took silly pictures and we just caught up - but the funny part was - it was like we had never been apart - we just picked right back up :) It WAS SO MUCH FUN! "A" fixed chili - oh it was good :) And later she fixed hot dogs but "K' and I had to stop her and ask her what the heck she did, as we were watching. She put water in a pan, put the hot dogs in the pan and then squirted a bunch of ketchup in the pan........we were skeptical but we must admit, the dogs were good!

We will do this again soon - it was too fun not to!

A Day

2009-11-12T16:09:00.003-06:00

I was off yesterday, it was Veteran's Day and the credit union is closed. It is so nice to have a day off in the middle of the week when most other people are working.

I went with the hubby to pick up college boys "new" car - and that was ridiculous: The guy who sold us the car, shows up, has us sign papers, takes the money, hands me the keys, and off he goes. I, being a responsible adult, lock the car doors and go up to take the tour of hubby's office. I come back down, get out the key to unlock the door, slide the key into the lock and it won't turn - hmmmm - so I go to the other door - slide they key into the lock and it won't turn - same thing with the trunk.......Now, keep in mind.....I took this key OUT of the ignition - this key STARTS the CAR! So, I call THE GUY who sold me the car....."Whats the deal with the keys? I can't open the doors", "Oh yeah, that key doesn't work on the doors, there is no key to the doors", "What? You gave me a key to the car that won't open the doors?", "yeah", "But I locked the car, now I can't get in, what am I supposed to do?", "Call a locksmith, I guess", "Did you know about this?", "yeah", "Why didn't you tell me there was no door key", "you didn't ask, maybe you should have checked the car out a little better" - OHHHHH NOOOOOOO I was NOT having that - so I told him HE COULD CALL THE LOCKSMITH AND HE COULD PAY FOR IT. After "some discussion (those of you who know me, will know how that conversation went and I that I DID NOT LOSE said discussion) THE GUY sent me a locksmith and he paid for it. However, now we know that we have to replace the ignition switch AND rekey all the locks to fit the new ignition key....oh joy! The fun of buying a used car! Other than that, that is one awesome little car.

Later, I went to meet an old friend for lunch - we met at 1 - when we finally left the restaurant - it was 3:45 - I bet our waitress was not very happy but the restaurant wasn't crowded so its not like we were keeping someone else from sitting down.

Followed by choir and dinner out before heading home totally and completely worn out :)

All in all, it was a good day :)

Veterans Day

2009-11-10T15:16:00.002-06:00

While I am thinking about it....tomorrow is Veteran's Day - not just myself but many of my friends have children scattered about the world, protecting our freedom - even while I worry about the way things are going here in the good ole USA. However - I want to say now - in front of all who read my blog - I am proud of our family members -fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, sisters - everyone who has or currently serves in our military - you are the reason we have what we have and why we ARE the greatest country in the world. My wish for you this day is to stay safe and always remember.... YOU ARE AN AMERICAN - BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE!

What the heck just happened?

2009-11-10T14:11:00.003-06:00

So Im working......like any normal work day - my phone rings and someone says to me "Hello, this is a blast from the past" they use my name......so Im a little confused until the voice says "This is your old friend "A" and I have been looking all over for you" - Well you could have knocked me OVER with a feather. I have been friends with this wonderful lady for about 24 years but we had been estranged for probably 7 of those.....we lost touch and just quit talking. Life gets in the way - as we all know. We also have a mutual friend that I had had a HUGE falling out with some 5+ years ago and they were back in touch, as well. I tell "A" "well I will be ready to move on if "K" calls and apologizes". (Unfortunately, my memory is good and pretty long and it had been a very hard few years, without my other dearest friend) I hang up with "A" and moments later the phone rings - it was a voice I would have recognized anywhere - It was "K" calling to apologize but the minute I heard her voice, I knew the apology wasn't necessary. Out of no where two of the three Musketeers reappeared........and The Three Musketeers Ride Again.....it has been a very very good day :)

The CAR

2009-11-09T13:03:00.006-06:00

Saturday morning the Hubby and I drove to Carrollton to see a man about a car (no really, we did) and we wound up purchasing said car for College Boy. You see, a few years ago we bought College Boy the cutest truck - a little white Mazda B2500 with blue and green pinstripes and looks almost new. BUT....it has a manual transmission - yes, we tried to teach him to drive it, and yes "technically" he can, BUT I am a mom and my mom brain says - teenage boy, who has trouble driving a stick shift, driving around in what amounts to a big tin can - ummmmm no. Now he has a 2000 Subaru Impreza -now, I would tell you the car is cute but College Boy takes offense to that so I will instead tell you - ITS COOL. And it really is a GUY car. He has not seen this car yet, but he is the one who found it and sent me pictures and info so he KNOWS about it. He is pretty excited to say the least. Now - who wants to buy a really cute little truck?

New Roomate - the Saga of #3

2009-11-05T13:02:00.004-06:00

Well it appears that college boy has had it with roomate #2. See roomate #1 was PERFECT - but last year he had requested a private room and none were available but when he got to school - well, one became available, so perfect roomate #1 - moved out.

Enter roomate #2 - not such a perfect match. Roomate #2 is the type that drinks Perrier and joins greek fraternities (ummm have you met my son? He is SOOOO not the type to do that stuff). Besides roomate #2 is a bit of a NEAT FREAK - so if College Boy was gone for the weekend - he would chunk all of his stuff into the closet :( - AND if he didn't have an 8AM class he would get up and turn College Boy's alarm clock off so HE would then miss HIS 8 AM class - I told College Boy - that better stop or I am going to take care of THIS problem......if he wants to pay for you to re-take that 8 AM class then fine but if not, he had better not touch your clock (yeah Im kinda mean when you rub me the wrong way).

So today I get a text message from College Boy - "Probably moving into a new room tomorrow"
- So I said to him "Whats up, call me when you get out of class" - here is the SHOCKER - HE DID - he called me when he got out of class - EEEK - I think he might be possessed !?!?!?!

Anyway - a guy downstairs roomate just moved out - this is a guy that College Boy is kinda "cool" with (these are his words so please don't judge based on this post) so they are going to room together.......*sigh* I just said good luck, don't leave anything behind AND call me with your new floor and room number........

I hope this is a better roomate for him.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHH

2009-11-03T14:03:00.003-06:00

I am going to rant for a minute - so if you don't like ranting then don't read my post. Home Builders are the WORST. They are criminals who get away with stuff, and I for one am sick and tired of it. So sick and So tired in fact that if I find an attorney who will take my case (and only get paid if we sue for attorney's fees and win) then Im suing! I have had 5 years of pain and suffering over my well! It was not dug deep enough and now including all the PAST problems with not being able to drink the water and having decent water pressure and having a faulty pressure tank - NOW all my appliances including my toilets and shower are being ruined by sand and sediment (and oh yeah, dead ant pieces) that SHOULD NOT EVEN BE GETTING INTO MY HOUSE! Today the home builder's construction person was so rude to me that I just wanted to scream! Its just a matter of time before I have to replace all my appliances because of the sand and sediment.......I wrote a letter to the CEO, I wrote a letter to consumer affairs.com and in 5 days , Im writing to the better business bureau and the Texas Homebuilders Association AND the media.....I have had it - its not like I did something to cause this - this is faulty workmanship at its core - and someone needs to pay for it BESIDES ME!

Ok, rant complete - anybody have any suggestions?
Im calling Shelly Slater at Channel 8 :)

WHY?

2009-10-29T11:04:00.002-05:00

Why do I have to be the one who works closer to home? That means that I am the first one home in the afternoons......when your the first one home to a house with THREE BOXERS living in it - you never REALLY know what your going to find. Even though they are "sequestered" to particular spaces there is still that GREAT unknown - as boxers are VERY CREATIVE animals. But on this particular occasion it was not their creativity so much, as the fact that ONE of them was not ummmmm (looking for delicacy here) feeling well. This is the 2nd time in a month that I have come home to (again delicacy) a huge mess and since I get home almost a full hour ahead of the hubby - I have to go ahead and clean it up alone. So I pulled on my rubber gloves and got to work. I had just finished when the DH came in the door all smiling and happy - I on the other hand.....was NOT! His first question.....Uh oh, why do you have the mop and bucket out?

Man, I HATE being the first one home!

Got Bored

2009-10-28T14:36:00.001-05:00

So I changed my layout - tell me what you think?

Sounds of the Stadium

2009-10-28T08:20:00.002-05:00

The Hubby and I got off work and made the trek to Denton to see College Boy and BAND perform last night. It was called Sounds of the Stadium and if you have never heard a full college band perform INSIDE a coliseum - it is something to be heard - though you will likely NEVER hear anything else again :) - We didn't realize we had the added treat of getting to hear all 3 high school bands from the Denton area (being band parents and boosters all through high school, we enjoy this sort of thing) The area schools are Denton High School, Guyer High School and Ryan High School - now, no offense to those high schools but the difference between these guys and when UNT took the court - was staggering - and when UNT plays You'll never walk alone (which is kind of their THEME song) it will almost make you cry.

Afterward, we took college boy to dinner - cuz goodness knows they don't get enough to eat at college (yeah right) - and we had a very nice visit. Of course, afterwards he says - can we run by the grocery store? I need a few things - and YOU all know who paid for those few things, right ?

Ahh the life of a college kid.

30th Reunion

2009-10-26T09:26:00.002-05:00

Saturday night we attended my 30th High School reunion - about 70 people (out of a class of about 300) showed up - it was really very fun - most of the folks I was closest too were there (see a few pics on my facebook page) Its listed under Selita Sprunger - so not hard to find :) There aren't many of us out here in the world (Im sure there are several of you who will say Thank Goodness) hahaha - Anyway - I thought everyone looked pretty good and there is a rumor of a big reunion this summer involving the first 5 graduating classes from our high school. I always like to remember that MY class was the "Charter Class" - first Seniors to ever graduate from our high school - so it was cool ...now if I just had my class ring back :( (someone stole it from me, Senior year).

HE CRACKS ME UP

2009-10-23T15:02:00.002-05:00

Ok, get this....college boy (who has come home every NON Football game weekend since the semester started) calls up and says - Im not coming home this weekend - I have plans with "the guys" - "ok..sounds good" (saves me 2 drives to Denton, right?) - "What are these big plans", I ask....."ohhhh we're just gonna go to the park and hang out and stuff, cuz thats what we do" - I said "oh please - Im not so dumb that I believe that you and your buddies "planned" a weekend of hanging out in the park" - so I let it go for a day or two - finally today, I text him and I say - so you gonna tell me what YOUR REALLY doing this weekend? He makes me promise not to get mad *rolling my eyes* College boy is headed to Austin with 4 of his buddies to some medieval convention where they will stay in some kind of tent village "for the full medieval effect" he says. I thought - the boy is 18, what did he think I was going to do, ground him? HA HA HA HA HA YEAH , RIGHT! So, safe trip college boy - call me when you get back!

Who knew?

2009-10-20T09:40:00.002-05:00

I guess when I had my children - wrapping myself up in what they were doing, being all about them and their needs and just "being there" were the most important things in my life. It was what everybody that I know did - but now they are 18 and 23 - out in the world doing their own thing (how many times have I said that lately? I am still trying to convince myself that it is a good thing). So where did all my friends go? Where did all the people I knew when I was doing what they were doing go? Its strange, but I was planning to go shopping the other day and everyone was working and it popped into my head.....I have no friends.

Don't get me wrong - I have lots of aquaintances and alot of people I know, but if I needed someone to just call up and talk or maybe talk into going shopping with me or I don't know, just have lunch (that is not a family member)......I have no one. Is that sad and pathetic or just me feeling sorry for myself? Work, Home, Church, repeat.

I guess I wonder who knew this would happen? I used to have friends, I used to have people to hang out and do stuff - or just talk on the phone to - but mostly it was for our kids and less for us. So if I can give any advice to those who are going through raising your children and keeping your life like a moon revolving around their little planets - don't lose your friends......one day you will wish you had them.

Diet Update

2009-10-14T08:20:00.001-05:00

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - diet is still going - really I am shifting from calling it a diet to a lifestyle change because clearly I can't go back to what I was doing, after all - thats what GOT me here, right? So, unofficially (since I haven't seen my doc yet) the count is 17 pounds. So at least Im going in the right direction. Motivation is starting to lag a bit just because Im pretty sure Im coming up on a plateau (I can tell when the loss starts to s l o w d o w n) and THAT is what always gets me.....so I have to figure out how to MUSCLE through the plateau.........so - on we go.

Children

2009-10-08T11:18:00.003-05:00

I guess I just did it all wrong. Somewhere I lost my manual on how to raise a child. Somewhere I must have messed up and flipped the whole thing upside down. My boys are now 23 and 18. The oldest is off with the US Navy, in Italy somewhere - I get occasional emails letting me know he is still alive and well. The youngest is off at college doing whatever college, freshman, boys do - I really don't hear from him unless he needs something.

So - last night Im on the internet because Navy boy had emailed about Oktoberfest and said to go to his facebook page and see pictures - which I promptly forwarded to everyone in the family(including his dad and step mom) so everyone could enjoy the update........only I see one of the lines on his page tells me: (MY son) has listed (step mom's name) as his mother.....hmm, I think....well thats nice to know. I actually found that I was very HURT by what was probably an innocent statement. Later, Im talking to college boy, who informs me that my calls to him are NOT helpful, in fact they are distracting so I told him, ok, you know my number, call me if you need me. Afterwards I thought - wow - what did I do? One doesn't claim me as his mom - despite 23 years to the contrary, the other tells me I am distracting him - all I can think is - wow, I must have done this parenting thing alll wrong.

Family Weekend

2009-10-07T08:31:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot to talk about Family Weekend and as soon as I pull the pictures off my cell phone, i will add them to this.

Family Weekend at UNT turned out to be more fun than I expected. While Friday night didn't really START out that way - Saturday redeemed the weekend for me (even though UNT lost the football game in true UNT fashion). Friday night the MIL and I (the hubby was returning from a business trip) went up for dinner and "we thought" watch the college boy perform at the Pep Rally - well apparently when you have a band the size of UNT's band your pep bands are broken up into different squads........pep rally wasn't the college boy's squad.......do we wound up going to the mall instead where he bought a new jacket and all was well with the world.

Saturday, was fun -we ate, hung out in mean green village and then watched the mean green march.....LOVED IT - there was a hilarious guy dressed in a green suit that covered his face and all - the dancers (seperate from the Cheerleaders) are on par with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (Yes, they are THAT good) and over all, I was impressed.

The Band - well, what can you say about one of the top ranked bands in the US - they were exceptionally good and Dr. W (the director) is without a doubt one of the nicest, most laid back and competent marching band directors I have had the pleasure to watch.

We had dinner with the college boy, after the game and then took him back to the dorm and drove home.....it was a first for me, seeing a college game and all those crazy kids that dress up in the school colors and paint themselves - It would have been nice, if they had won but I supposed UNT is not "known" for its football program - but just for good measure: GO MEAN GREEN

Arborlawn's Got Talent?

2009-09-24T15:57:00.003-05:00

We participated in a little program at our church called Arborlawn's Got Talent....and I guess mostly it does......but sometimes things just don't really go the way you plan - the FIL and I are singing Unforgettable - a duet - a couple of lines or words in the song - his mic goes out and it becomes mostly a solo of ME......kinda messes up the purpose of harmony. We survived.

Craig did a "singing skit" to Anything you can do I can do better. It was actually cute and very funny and got good reviews. Craig was incredibly nervous :)

come on Microsoft, really???

2009-09-22T16:13:00.003-05:00

Where to start......College boy got a Zune for Christmas......by June the screen went out on it and then it refused to ever charge again. After QUITE the run around and some rather ridiculous conversations with support people who DO NOT speak english, I sent it back for "service" - I made sure to enclose a typed, signed letter stating DO NOT send this to back to my home address because it comes via UPS and they will try 3 times to deliver it and if no one is there to sign for it they will kindly send it back to Microsoft. I just got email notification from Zune Support that (a refurbished) unit was sent to - - - wait for it, are you ready.....can you stand it??? MY HOUSE! And whats more, what is up with the whole refurbish thing? I sent them a pretty new one.......it better be better than what I sent them (and believe me, I took pictures).

Next - we love to play Halo - to the point that we have all the maps for Halo 2 pretty much memorized....we play against my brother in law, sometimes my sister in law joins in sometimes it my beautiful little 7 year old neice......so we decided HEY lets all upgrade to Xbox 360 and play Halo 3 - before we used to hook up through a software program and play remotely from our own houses.......however, apparently Microsoft didn't like that so they made all the new programs where you can ONLY play through Xbox LIVE AND you have to PAY to do it......now, mind you, its not enough that the Xbox costs a fortune and only comes with 1 controller and 1 headset (who plays video games ALONE anymore?????) but now we can't even do what we want to do which is play together online remotely without paying MORE MONEY!

I am really NOT loving Microsoft...I think I will buy a Dell laptop!

I knew it!

2009-09-22T14:07:00.002-05:00

So.....after much drama with the bank I now hate (the cancelling of the debit card), more drama with UNT (getting the college boy a new ID so he could EAT) and further drama by making the college boy take care of business on HIS end, instead of MOM TO THE RESCUE....College boy calls - the conversation goes like this "Hey mom, wanna hear something reeeeaaaalllllly funny?" "Am i going to think this is funny ha ha ha or funny as in Im going to kill you later?" He says "oh no, your gonna think think this is hilarious" - I said "ok, lets have it" - "Dr. W just sent me a text message, he has my wallet"....................................now I ask you - would find this funny ha ha or funny as in DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO LOOK THERE ?????????????

For Crying OUT LOUD!

2009-09-22T11:44:00.002-05:00

Im just having "A DAY" - the hubby is out of town on business AGAIN - same as last week.
Last night we had big thunderstorms which was really enough all by itself, but then - there was a very LARGE scorpion crawling through the living room that Buster (the YOUNGEST of our boxers) decided to "protect" me from - so while Im trying to "catch it" so I can take it outside (yes we have a cup we use for CRITTER removal) he is steadily barking at it, growling at it and jumping at it trying to GET IT FOR ME! I couldn't take time to put Buster up for fear that the scorpion would hide and then I would have a large, loose, scorpion in MY HOUSE!

I never sleep very well when Im alone in the house - its like the house suddenly becomes UNSAFE - so I had chairs under the front and back door knobs and I lock my bedroom door when I go to bed.....and then every noise, every squeak has me sitting upright....well the thunder and lightining from the storm did not subside until around 2-ish this morning (and now you know how I know this).

I get up, its raining again - so it was a fight with Pete (the OLDEST of our boxers) to go out in the rain and do his business, but finally he did after some physical pushing to get him OFF the porch. I get to work, which is going to be a busy day anyway only to discover that I left my cell phone at home.....ok not a big deal - so I text the hubby and the college boy (using my computer) to let them know if they need me to call me. EXCEPT THAT I get a return text message (to my computer) from college boy, telling me he has lost his wallet.....since he is in class, I had to deal with cancelling his debit card....I then remember - his drivers license AND his student ID was in that wallet. He can't EAT on campus without the ID - which I think he has to pay $10 for which he no longer has a debit card to pay with and without his drivers license I don't think he can write a check AND how do you get a replacement ID with out your drivers license to prove that you are the student requesting it and how do you pay for it with no identification ??? Losing your wallet is a very very very bad thing.

I am being OVERLOADED by negative Energy!!!!!!!!!! Where is the Chocolate?

Sometimes It is just the LUCK of the DRAW

2009-09-17T08:11:00.002-05:00

College Boy sent me a message last night - "I have AWESOME news" - I can't imagine what it is......so he tells me he is playing at the Cowboy's Game on Sunday - in the new stadium and everything - "once in a lifetime chance" he tells me. They are unveiling Tom Landry's statue and the Cowboy's star.......I said "how did YOU get a spot? Your a freshman, thats not normal"...apparently ALL the upperclassmen get to go for sure then they held a lottery for the remaining spots (apparently only 200 of the UNT band get to go) - Well Travis "won" a spot and will be playing at the game this Sunday......now, how cool is that?

As the world turns

2009-09-16T08:20:00.003-05:00

So the diet continues - its going well - i was pretty proud of myself - last night in 30 minutes, I walked 1.61 miles and 3550 steps - now this is based on a pedometer that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.....one night I got back from my normal walk and it showed I had gone 21 steps......so - take it for whats it worth :) I AM going to buy a NEW pedometer. I don't go back to my weight doc until the 28th so giving a report until then won't be "official" so you have to wait until then for my official total lost - so far :) In the meantime, if you haven't ready the Flat Belly Diet, I highly recommend it (no, unfortunately, they are not paying me to say that). Although they have made a believer out of me with this MUFA business.

The college boy is ok - he was sick yesterday. I got a text message that said (and I quote) "could you have someone bring pepto at some point because i had a really bad stomach problems that caused me to get up several times in the middle of the night" - I felt really bad for him but I wonder who he thought I was going to get to bring him some Pepto at 11:30 am? I will definitely send him back with some after this weekend. Then we got to talking about an English paper that he has to do this week - he gave me a very long list of reasons why he couldn't do the paper, we discussed and argued back and forth - so I finally said to him "it sounds to me like you don't WANT to do the paper - that being the case, why don't I just come get you, withdraw you from school - try to get some of my money back and you can go to school again when YOU can pay for it" he didn't like that idea, and soon began working on the paper. At last check last night, he was almost done and its not due until Thursday.....It is particularly frustrating because he is such a good writer - if he would just use his skills to write what the teacher wants, he would probably make an A. So we shall see.

The navy boy is good too - he has a BIG test today (he is testing for Petty Officer) - he said he is prepared so good wishes for him to do well on the test!

The Hubby is off in Birmingham Alabama - this consulting work is GREAT FUN for me (said dripping with sarcasm).....but he seems to love it and admittedly he is very good at what he does. But he will be home soon and all will be well again.

So back to the daily grind - and OH Happy Birthday to my baby sister (tomorrow). Thats her on the far left...isn't she adorable?

As promised

2009-09-14T16:11:00.002-05:00

I started a new diet - oh about........31 years ago (no Im just kidding, this one is wayyy more recent). Anyway I am seeing a diet doctor who is giving me a GREAT appetite suppressant and monitoring me once a month - the first thing he said was "fix your plate as you normally would and then.....cut everything in 1/2 - take it off your plate and put in a seperate container and put it in the fridge or throw it out" - so I did. Well it worked and I knew this was going to be all about calorie restriction without counting the calories - except that Im a tad bit OCD about some things so - I count them anyway......so, while doing this I ran accross a little thing called "The Flat Belly Diet" and it gave me lots of ideas for low calorie meals that are filling and have enough protein that it really stays with you and consequently I have cut my calories probably by about 1000 calories a day (I was a pretty BIG eater and I am also a stress eater which Im learning to deal with) and I walk for 30 minutes a day - at first it was barely a mile but now Im up to 1.5 in 30 minutes so Im walking faster and working harder. The benefit of my hard work to date is around 15 pounds.......BUT I have about 50 more to lose soooooo we will see how it goes....stay tuned :)

Update on the College Boy

2009-09-11T08:37:00.002-05:00

I guess its all going well - of course, now that he is "on his own" (right Im still paying all of the bills but HE is on his own) anyway, apparently I have no right to know what is going on.....he is still trying to see how many activities he can get involved in and meanwhile all i want to know is ARE YOU GOING TO CLASS AND DOING YOUR SCHOOL WORK.......of course he gives me that "attitude" that I so can't stand so I usually end the conversation before an arguement ensues....

This weekend will be the first HOME football game so the band will be busy (I wish we were going but we have other obligations this weekend) and its supposed to rain but thankfully, I don't think they are supposed to be in full uniform...I think this weekend is Khaki's and UNT t-shirt. UNT won the first game (away game) so lets all cheer for the Eagles (ca-caw)!

Anway - I guess time will be the only thing that will tell the tale - he will make good grades and stay at UNT or he will make bad grades and come home to work and go to TCC. Its his choice.
Anyway, Happy WEEKEND EVERYONE! Next week I will tell you all about my new diet and how its working ;)

Mom's Birthday

2009-09-02T08:30:00.008-05:00

My Mom turned 60 on Saturday - I took charge, gathered "The Gang", made a reservation at Abuelos (if you have never been there and you like Mexican food, it is a MUST) and had a great birthday lunch with Mom. Now let me say that my Dad just turned 68 in July. Look at this picture and tell me, do these people look in their 60's to you? (I had a picture on here but was told by my mother to remove pictures of her from MY BLOG on the Internet)

I must have some pretty good genetics to draw from here :) (we can only hope). Anyway, after the lunch and really fabulous birthday cake

(It was a Tres Leches with strawberry filling and fresh strawberries on top) all the girls went shopping. As is standard -Mom and I found NOTHING - a few of the others found a few things - but it was a fun time :) - Happy Birthday Mom!

A Day In The Life...

Introducing Alexander

Off to Arkansas

Bonnie

State Fair

Going Good

FINALLY

The Waiting Game

IS THIS IT ?

You need the bad to appreciate the good

August - Who needs it?

Time for Prayers

Wanderings

Report from July 2009 - still darned funny

Same cat different day

8 - 9 - 10

The Wedding

Funniest Cat Picture EVER

Kids

Great Uncle Don

Another One Gone

Nothing Yet

HOPE HOPE HOPE PRAY PRAY PRAY

Nuff said

FINALLY

Still walking

Melodrama

Friday

Sometimes it just a poem

April 30th!

So it begins

2 months and 5 days :(

Its TIME

Things

The first glimmer of hope

*&^@ Cars!

I don't get it

The Furniture

Lemonade anyone?

Almost April

U.S.S.A

Same Song Second Verse

So Long Johnny High

Spring Break

Waiting, Praying and Hoping

Riding the Rollercoaster

JUST STOP

Ummmm Well......Ok......Wow

UnReal!

No I didn't fall off the planet

Update on the Subaru

Navy Boy

Pete

Im just SO MAD

Hmmm

Susan G. Komen

January *ugh*

Simply Fondue

SIGH

College Boys Birthday - #19

30 Day Shred - Day 2

30 Day Shred - Day 1

Heard at the Office

The coolest email someone sent to me.....

Darned Navy!

The Rush To Christmas

A real first

First Snowfall 2009

Tech Vs. Baylor

Happy Thanksgiving

Homeopathic Medicine

Wore Myself Out!

Kinda Sad

YOUR SO FUNNY!

Tuesday, really? *ugh*

Good Weekend

A Day

Veterans Day

What the heck just happened?

The CAR

January ugh

Tuesday, really? ugh