My shadow and me...and dentist visit

Since I have been home I have had a constant companion. Winston follows me where ever I go. I think he is confused now since I have been home so much. He gets a little ticked off at me because I move around so much throughout the home..but he is much happier that he doesn't have to spend all that time in his kennel when we both away at work. He is my cutie. He is behind now on the recliner snoring away. I think he may sleep apnea..do they make little c-pap machine for doggies???


Addie had a dentist appt to have her teeth checked and cleaned today. This was second dentist appt. She did AWESOME! She let the dentist check all her teeth, got them clean and flossed. She cracked me up when the dentist's assistant was rinsing out her mouth with the water pick and the suction device. She would close her mouth quickly and almost got water up her nose.



After we got home for the dentist, Addie was coloring with a dry-erase marker in one of her wipe away books. She decided to color her face. I got onto her about it..she hadn't had a nap at preschool. She curled up in the recliner and feel asleep.




Her little nap didn't last long. I asked Winston if he needed to go outside. As we walking to the back door she immediately followed and played for a bit.

Addie is also my little helper. She likes to rinse the dishes off with the water. I know it is mostly because she can play in the water that she does this. But I still encouraged her to help.

We were at a stop light when I looked over and saw these pretty tulips. I had to snap a picture.

The forecast for Thursday is more rain. It rained here all last night. The basement has water in it again. I tried to suck some of the water out earlier but it was a hopeless case. We are going to have to wait until the rain is gone. Luckily it didn't rain all day. But there is a high chance of severe weather today with possible tornadoes. Hopefully it won't be so bad. The threat for severe weather covers from Houston TX to Chicago IL. When I was poking around weather.com earlier, they said this is a day to make sure you watch and know what the weather is doing. Hope everyone in these areas stay safe!!!

Anybody got plans on how to build an ark?

Yes, I am still alive. I don't know why I haven't posted in a week. Shame on me!

It has been an interesting week. First, I have to say where does all the time go? I thought there would be plenty of time to do all the things on my list but the days just fly by. Okay, last week I was a little lazy. I will admit it.

Recapping the highlights:
Wednesday 4/2--Went to the unemployment office and got signed up. My body was sore from doing the housework the day before. I didn't get much accomplished the rest of the day. Rained throughout the day.

Thursday 4/3--I went grocery shopping. I went through all my coupons. I spent way too much time at the grocery store. I came home and had to put up the massive amounts of groceries. On a plus note, I did save over a $100.00 between coupons and store savings. I started watching American Gangster. Then I went to the library and browsed around before picking up Addie. Bill worked from home that day..so I wasn't very motivated.

Thursday night--Severe weather in the state. We made two trips to the basement because tornado sirens were going off. We were spared. Parts of the county I live in were not so lucky. The tornado barely missed my in laws house. One of the girls I worked with lived in a trailer park that was hit bad. It looks like a war zone! The poor trees were uprooted. And it rained and rained and rained. I think we got about 5 inches of rain.

Friday --Bill was off work. I admit I was just lazy. It was a light night due to all the storms and trying to make sure everyone was okay. I watched some more coverage of the storms. They had to close part of the interstate down for flooding. Mom said it took my sister over 2hours to get to work. Then I finished watching American Gangster. It was a very good movie. I also watched Gone Baby Gone. It was okay. It is not a movie I would watch again.

Saturday -- Bill worked on getting water out of the basement and we went through some stuff that was wet and needed to be pitched. Addie and I went to Home Depot to get some soil and some flowers. (still need to pot the flowers.) Saturday night we went to Bill's parents for dinner for my FIL's birthday.

Sunday --- We worked outside in the yard. Bill cut the grass in the front yard. Then we have decided to disassembled the overgrown weed/flower bed in front since we don't give it the attention it needs. I would much rather put my flowers in pots every year. Less work. I don't have much of a green thumb and neither does Bill. So we started moving rocks. We still have lots more rocks to move. I saw a #2%$ snake. It is a garden snake but still a snake. He slithered back down in the weeds. I did not point it out to Addie because she would have tried to play with it.

Monday--A beautiful day. I worked on laundry most of the day. I picked up the house and swept all the floors. I changed the sheets on Addie's bed. I picked up trash along the fence line. We live on a corner lot. A pretty busy corner lot so we get people's litter. I swept the rest of the grass off the driveway. I watched a movie that afternoon. It was called We Own the Night. It was pretty good. I tried a new recipe that I found in the coupons. It was pretty good. It was called simply Salsa Chicken and rice.
http://www.successrice.com/en-us/recipes/145/SimplySalsaChickenandRice.aspx

Tuesday--Forecast: Rain. It started off as a pretty day but the forecast for the next couple of days was rain, rain and more rain. I decided it was time to haul some crap to the dump. I called my father in law to see if I could borrow a truck. He said I could. So I gathered up all the trash to get it ready to haul. Then I had to go get the truck. It has been 3 years since I have driven a standard. And this was my old truck that we sold to my father in law. But it is like riding a bike..you don't forget. Bill asked me if I knew how to get to the dump. I had to ask him if they moved it recently. Of course I know where the dump is. It has been awhile since I have been there but I have been several times. It is always an experience going to the dump..excuse me, the land fill. I loaded up that little truck and even had to put a box in the front seat with me to get it to all of it fit. It started raining a little after I left the dump. I ended up talking to my father in law for about an hour after I returned the truck. This afternoon I finally started tackling my paper piles. I needed to gather up all the paperwork to do our taxes. Nothing like waiting to the last minute to file taxes. I have my paperwork sorted by types and need to go through it more and get it either filed or shredded. Although I did my fair share of shredding today. I know I keep more papers than I need to but I need to go through my files and pull out the old stuff and shred. It has rained off and on all day. This evening it stormed.

The weather forecast predicts storms and severe weather over the next two days. It is raining right now. I am sick of rain. Friday it is suppose to clear off and be pretty for the next 4 days. Hopefully we will be able to dry out some more.

I need to get ready for a crop I am going to on Saturday. I plan to work on the ATC's for Amy swap so I can get those mailed out next week.

Sorry for the long post and I promise not to go a week without posting again.

1st day at my new career

Monday was the last day of my employment. It was a bittersweet day. We were told in Jan 2007 that we would be laid off due to the parent company wanted to consodilate all of the subsidiaries servicing areas into one. We were told the projected date for this to take place was end of 3rd quarter 2007 (sept). By end of July we were told it would be 12/31/07. In November I was giving an end date of 1/31/08. I was one of 5 in my department that would stay beyond 12/31/07. Lucky me!!! Then mid-Jan I was asked to stay until 2/29/08. And once again, on 1/31/08 I was asked to stay until 3/31/08. Since I knew the job market is not great I stayed.

On Monday I was just wanted to day to be over with. Luckily we got to leave at 2:00. It was very hard to say goodbye to my dear friend, Christie. She hasn't been giving her end date yet. She has been with the company for 16-17 years. We said our goodbyes then I shouldn't have looked back because I saw her teary-eyed. I held my tears in and said my goodbyes. Then my friend, Joy and another co-worker walked out of the department. As soon as the door shut and we were waiting for the evelator..we all three burst into tears at the same time. It was comical. We started laughing in the evelator on are final ride to the 1st floor to turn in our badges, parking passes and our time for that day. Then that was it...well, the 3 of us meet up for a drink right afterwards. LOL

Tuesday--the 1st day at my new career..full time CEO of my household. OMG..it is a physical job too! Okay, so I have neglected the house the last month and I have some major declutter and deep cleaning ahead of me. I spent a good portion of the day picking up, straightening and cleaning. I wanted to get things a little bit in order before I pick a room for the day to concentrate on the deep cleaning and decluttering. I made Addie put her toys up that I collected throughout the house before she could play with her cousin, SB, after I picked her up from school. It was unreal all the toys over the house. I was ready to go to bed at 8:45.

I need to go to the unemployment office and get signed up. I should have done it on Tuesday but it just makes it all final. But I plan to do that after I drop Addie at preschool. Hopefully I can start back scrapbooking some this week too.

tagging you

Amy had this on her blog this week..the rules are- copy and paste this post and change the answers to yours

A: Attached or single: Attached
B: Best friend: hmmm..have lots of friends
C: Cake or pie: um...have to chose?
D: Day of choice: Saturday
E: Essential item: Computer
F: Favorite type of music: I like all music depends on my mood...
G: Gummy Bears or Worms: worms
H: Hometown: Little Rock AR
I: Indulgences: Scrapbook supplies
J: January or July: July
K: Kids: 1 girl
L: Last movie: The Gameplan
M: Marriage date: 4/15/00
N: Number of Siblings: 1 - sister
O: Oranges or apples: apples
P: Phobias or fears: Heights
Q: Quote(s): "Life isn't about finding yourself... Life is about creating yourself."
R: Reason to smile: My family
S: Season: Autumn
T: Tag four : Judy, Deanna, Lisa, Kylie
Unknown Fact about me: I have a tatoo
W: Worst Habit: procrastination
X-rays or Ultrasounds: ultrasounds
Y: Your favorite food: chocolate
Z: Zodiac: Gemini

I can hear again!

Since last Friday my right ear has been stopped up. Then Sunday evening my left ear stopped up too. I couldn't hear very well on Monday and Tuesday. I tried everything I could think of to do. I knew it was probably ear wax (tmi) so I bought one of those ear wax removal kits. It just seemed to make everything worse. I was able to get a doctor's appt yesterday and have my ears irrigated.

Holy Cow!!!! I need ear plugs now. I can hear everything and everything is so blasted loud. I can hear every creak in my floors. The sliding door is loud. I can hear noises outside. I can hear the sound my hands make rubbing together. I miss the peace and quiet...it did have it's advantages. But I couldn't hear my baby girl very well...and I have to hear her sweet voice. (even the volume on her voice is turned up).

Happy Wednesday!

Easter Egg Hunt & Daffodil festival

Saturday we took Addie to an Easter Egg Hunt at the courthouse in the little town where we live. It was close enough for us to walk. It is about 8 blocks away. Here is Bill and Addie walking in front of me. Yes, she has a Spiderman Easter basket. My girlie girl..NOT!

Lots of people showed up. The Easter Egg hunt for 4 and under was at 11:00. There were not enough eggs for the amount of people. They also announced there were $100 savings bonds in two of the eggs. Some of the parents of the other children were rude. Addie was a little timid at the amount of people. I was showing her a egg and had just said, "Addie here is one." Then some rude lady swooped it up for her toddler as Addie was bending down to pick it up. AGHHHHHH..I managed to get Addie one Easter egg for her basket. What a big disappointment it turned out to be.

Only 1 Easter egg........yup..just one. Look at the poor face! Then we stood in line for about 20 minutes to have Addie's picture taken with the Easter bunny. She was fine the whole time until it was our turn and the little toddler before us was crying. Then Addie turned shy and stood behind her daddy. I sat down with the bunny hoping she would come over..Nope, didn't work. Bill snapped this shot. Now that I look at it I am wondering why they had place the Easter Bunny here. This was in a gazebo on the courthouse grounds. I cropped out the "Vote Here" sign on the building behind us. It was too tacky. They should have put the Easter Bunny in front of the bushes. I guess they didn't ask my opinion!

The local humane society had a few animals for adoption. Addie decided she needed to take pictures of them all. Here is the bunny that was there.

Later that day we drove to the Daffodil Festival. There were rows and rows and rows of daffodils. We got some great shots. My friends, Joy, Tina and Holly (Tina's daughter) were there too. Tina took the picture of the the three of us. Bill and I took turns taking pictures. I had to keep asking for the camera back so I could some shots I wanted. LOL

Me, Tina and Joy

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

51st layout

Finally got the picture to upload!! What a pain that was!

Wow..Here is my 51st layout for 2008. I completed it for Lesli's Tuesday Challenge. http://dragonflytime.typepad.com/dragonfly_time/ Please got vote for your favorite layout for the challenge. She has a poll on her blog. Thanks!!!!

The challenge was to complete the following to make a Monochromatic layout:
1) Use a minimum of one photo
2) Use at least 2 different pattern papers and 2 shades of cardstock
3) You must use at least 3 journaling strips
4) You must use ribbon
5) Must have a large title

Wednesday

Last night Addie and I went to a Pampered Chef party at my sister's house. Addie and SB wanted to help cook too. The theme was power cooking. All the attendee's had a station and a job to do. My job was to shred the cheese and cut the hamburger buns into strips. The strips were toasted to make croutons for the salad. Addie was helping me but she decided to help herself to a hamburger bun. Addie grabbed a hamburger bun and put it to her mouth. I caught her just as she put it in her mouth. Since her germs were already on it, I let her eat the bun. She loves to eat hamburger buns by themselves.

The recipe we made was Deluxe Cheeseburger Salad. The recipe was pretty yummy. The dessert was Apricot Angel Roll. It was excellent.

Here are the girls with aprons on. Mom made these aprons for my nephews when they were younger. Hey Mom--don't forget to make Addie and me aprons!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Addie and I wore our green today. That was all we did to celebrate.

Addie has been biting her cousin at preschool. Thank goodness she isn't biting anybody else but I am at my wits end on what to do with her. She and SB are 8 months apart. They are as different as night and day.... Just like me and my sister. They fight just like sisters. But today Addie also hit another little for no reason. She was grounded to her room tonight and no TV. She sat on her bed the entire time except when she ate and took a bath. I told her she could play but she had to stay in her room. I am hoping that she will remember this before she bites again.

Only 2 more weeks left at work then I will be unemployed. I know it sounds weird that I am looking forward to this but since I have known for over a year it was coming, I am just ready for it to end. I plan to take at least a month or two off before I really start looking for new employment. I have lots of projects I need to do around the house.

Happy Monday!

just a photo

We went to a birthday party for one of Addie's classmates yesterday. Here is a picture of Addie and SB.