Happy Birthday Jude!

I want to wish my dear Canadian friend Jude a very Happy Birthday. This video is just for you. Enjoy!

Kitchen pics

Before


Sanding down the original stain


On the left, before I cleaned the original hardware, then on the right, after a good scrubbing


The finished product!


Hubby's mom standing next to her new cabinets. She is so happy!

We have been very busy around here as usual. My oldest has the lead role in "Our Town" which we are excited about. The show is May 29. I will post some pics of course. Prom is May 10th and graduation is June 8th. So many events coming up. Then we leave for our cruise June 14th. I am very stoked about that!!

Many of you may recall we had a foreign exchange student last summer from France. Her name is Eva. Well, we have been keeping in touch since and she called the other day and asked if she could come back and visit us again this summer. We told her of course!! She is coming in July for 3 weeks and we are extremely excited about that. She is flying in from Guadaloupe, a French west indies island that her and her family have been living on since last August. She is originally from Toulouse France. She is not going through the exchange program this time. It's great that she wants to come see us again. We are invited to come down and spend the holidays with them this December. I really hope we can afford to go.

Hubby and I went to see Wicked a couple of weekends ago. It was one of my Christmas presents. I loved it. The book was better, but I still enjoyed it very much. It was my first Broadway musical, so that was exciting.

Well, I'm off to catch up on some blogs. Sorry for my absence, btw. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I'm back and ready to show some pics

This post I will show some pics from the concert. Remember I said I am a terrible photographer so be forewarned. Plus the band was moving like crazy so a lot of my pics blurred. I am showing you the best ones. I had to sneak in the camera since they had big signs posted "No Cameras or Audio Equipment." That's a first for a DL show, but whatever. I didn't take any of Styx. Long story short I had gargantuan

man in front of me when they were on. Needless to say I moved to get a better view. So I am starting with a couple that I took of Reo Speedwagon.


Bruce Hall (bass guitar) and lead singer Kevin Cronin



close up of Kevin Cronin


The boys doing an acoustic set


This is my favorite of Sav


A little blurry, but it shows off Phil's physique so well!


Sav in black



Viv


This pic is dark, but true fans will recognize the little Welsh man that walked up beside us to check out the sound. None other than Malvin Mortimer, tour band manager

Well, that's all for now. I will post some before and after pics of the kitchen next. Have a great weekend everyone. And I will catch up on some blogs this weekend as well.

I am fine

Sorry for the long absence. I have been busy with many projects. We have been remodeling my in laws kitchen for one. I took some before and after pics that I will post soon. I am heading to Pittsburgh for a few days so I will check back in when I return.

Have a great Easter everyone!

I am feeling bad

with a head cold right now, but I am getting psyched up for the show next month. A friend posted this on a bulletin on myspace and it really got me in the mood. Check it out:



I wonder what Sav is going to where on this leg of the tour Jude? I will try to get you some good pics, no promises though!

We are celebrating Steph's bday with the family today. I have to get the house cleaned up and head to Wal-Mart to pick up a cake. I also have to go down to the ball field and sign up the girls for softball. Busy, busy day. Then Steph and 7 of her friends are staying at a local hotel for fun and swimming and such. I stayed with them last year, but I am passing this year. Most of them are 18 now, so I am giving them some space. Besides, with my cold, I am just not up to it. They will have a great time I am sure of it.

Well, I better get busy. Have a great weekend everyone!

P.S. Leave me comments at the beginning of the posts so I can respond on my haloscan. I haven't figured out how to take the other ones off yet. :)

My oldest is turning 18!

I am dedicating this post to my oldest child who will turn 18 on the 18th of this month. Her father and I are so proud of her, and she is the best daughter anyone could ask for. I am posting a slide show of her to commemorate this special occasion. I love you Steph!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Winter Court pics

Sorry for the long absence. I am just making a quick post to let you all know I didn't die. Most of my evenings are being spent working out so I can look good when we go on our cruise. I've lost 5 1/2 pounds so far in a little under 3 weeks. Not much I know, but I am okay as long as the number keeps going down. I don't have a goal weight. I don't believe in setting one for myself. I will know when I am happy then I will try very hard to maintain it.

Stephanie and I are preparing to go to a special Open House that NC State has for future woman students next Friday. I hope the weather is going to be good since most of it will be outside walking from place to place. We are going to look at different options for accommodations, dorm vs apartment and such while we are there. She went there with her friends back in the fall to check out the campus and this is what she ended up doing:



I really hope we avoid that room at all costs since that would be one of my bigget fears. YIKES! I still can't believe she held that thing.

Hubby and I have been busy. We put in a new light above the kitchen table, I think I've mentioned that in an earlier post. We also put in a new kitchen sink, stainless steel and I love it! We had a stainless steel one in our previous house and I missed it. We finally bought a new flat screen tv. 46". Of course hubby loves to play his XBox on it. Go figure. We are breaking it in proper this Sunday for the Super Bowel. Go GIANTS!! I hate the Patriots and Tom Brady so I have to go for Eli and his team.

Also we had Winter Court which Kim participated in. Here's a pic:


Kim and Tyler

I call him Mouse since he is so quiet you never know he's there. All the girls friends have nicknames. It's much more fun that way.

Well, I'm off to get some treadmill time in. Have a great week everyone!

Good news and bad news

Well, I have some good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad.....

We woke up this morning to no water. We have a well and apparantly the pump broke. Yeah!!! Ken stayed home from work and had someone come out to fix it. $1200 down the drain. So that pretty much puts my home improvement plans on the back burner. NUTS!!! At least we will have water when I get home, (hopefully!)

My good news is I was able to secure 2 tickets on the floor, 18th row to see the boys at the end of March. A nice perk for fan club members. It's the first time they have played in Greensboro since 1987. I usually have to drive to Charlotte or Raleigh to see them. I didn't go last year, so I have to get my fix this year.

Connie, I hope you are able to see them dear, and NOT go into labor at the show, lol!

Well, that is pretty much what is going on. I need to get back to work, so I will say goodbye and have a great week!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2008. I don't have a New Year's resolution. I don't keep them, so what's the point? I do have a very busy, fun year ahead of me. We are planning some home improvement projects which we started New Year's Day with a new light fixture above my kitchen table. I love it. It's so pretty. We are planning to put in a new kitchen sink, stainless steel and replace all the hardware on my kitchen cabinets to a brushed nickel to match my new light. :) Then my bathroom needs some updating. It's early 90's "Solid Gold". All the gold fixtures are being changed out to nickel and I am replacing the hideous vanity style lights above my mirror. We are either buying a new entertainment center or having one built for the family room. We are getting a bigger tv and it won't fit in our current one. That's about it for house stuff.

Of course we are already busy getting ready for Stephanie to start the big "C" in the fall. :( We are making plans to tour the campus and look at dorms vs. apartments and such. Of course there is the planning of the graduation party and getting all that organized. I started planning her Sweet 16 almost a year ahead of time. I'm OCD that way. So I better get busy!!

We are going on our cruise in June for Steph's graduation present!! I am very excited about that. All in all, a very busy time ahead.

Well, I better go. I'm supposed to be working. Shhhh....

Christmas tree crisis!

I woke up Saturday morning and discovered tiny black bugs all over my carpet near my tree. Upon looking at the trunk closer, we discovered bigger ones feeding on the sap. Gross!!! Hubby said they were aphids. We quickly took off all the ornaments and lights and disposed of the tree. So here I was 3 days before Christmas with no Christmas tree. My oldest started freaking out that she wasn't going to have a tree her last Christmas home before she went to college. (That depresses me to think about so I'm not going to get into any details about that)

Her and I went on a hunt to find a tree. We had to visit a few different places, but finally found a 9 foot pre-lit artificial one (not taking any chances!) at Home Depot, and it was half off, score! We brought it home and put the decorations on it. It looks fabulous. Much better than the last one. Crisis averted.

I wrapped all the girls presents last night so now we just have to wait for tomorrow morning for them to open them. I actually have hubby stumped this year. He always manages to figure out what I got him. It's killing him that he can't guess. He he.

Well, I'm off to cook some dinner. The natives are getting restless. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

My Christmas Cards

We finally got around to taking the picture of the girls for the Christmas cards today. It's so hard to find one that they both agree on and we can use. They narrowed it done to these two. I liked the first one better, but they liked the second one so that's the one I ordered. They should be ready to pick up in a couple of days.





I like sending out cards, I just don't like addressing and licking all the envelopes. Ewwww!!! I refuse to lick them. That's just gross to me.

I have all my shopping done except for one gift for my mom. I know what I'm getting, I just have to go to the store and get it. I will probably go one day next week.

Oh, and we heard from NC State yesterday and Stephanie got in!!! She said she was going to accept no matter what Chapel Hill told her. We shall see if that's true next month when Chapel Hill sends out their letters.

We have had the weirdest weather here lately. It's been 80 degrees most of this past week and today it was cold. They are actually calling for snow tonight. That's so strange. I wish it would make up it's mind. Don't get me wrong, I am loving the warmer temps. I don't care if I ever see snow again.

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Stay safe and warm.

My tree

Our Tree



This is the job Steph and Will did to the outside of the house. Sorry it's blurry. It was cold and I was in a hurry!!




Also, it was Will's 18th birthday Monday and we had a cake for him.

My busy week went well

We had our wine tasting Thursday night and it was fun. We learned some new things about wine that we didn't know before. We sampled 12 different wines from all around the world. My favorite from the states is still Washington state. They produce some awesome wines. New Zealand is the best for Rieslings so far. I tasted a really good red wine from Argentina as well. All in all, it was a great night.

Our Christmas party was last night and we had some fun. My friends and I danced the night away. It's nice to let loose and act silly every now and then.



Hubby and I. Do you like me new auburn hair? I love it.




My crazy co-workers. Amy, Me, Shannon (she did my hair), and Stacy. These girls keep me laughing every day.

We are going to get our tree today, hopefully. We haven't done the first bit of decorating for Christmas. I am such a slacker this year!!

Have a great week everybody!

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth

Sorry for the absence. I have several things going on right now to keep me away from the computer. My Christmas work party is this Saturday and we give gag gifts to each of the doctors and they have assigned me to write the poems to go with them. It's really fun and they have to stand up and read them in front of everyone.

We also have a wine tasting social for the neighborhood that we are hosting tomorrow night so I have been getting ready for that as well. I am also hosting a purse party next Friday and we have our monthly Bunko the following Friday. Busy, busy.

My sister's birthday is tomorrow so we all went out to eat tonight at PF Changs. I love that place. I saw my younger sister, the one who is having problems with her son and she didn't take my advice. He skipped school today actually. I don't know what to say about that. She asked me if I would trade one of my girls for him for a month. I told her that he would be praying for military school by the end of the month. I'm not willing to give up my kid to find out.

I am going to finish my Christmas shopping this weekend. I am usually done by now. I hate the crowds. Oh, and I am also getting my hair done on Saturday. I haven't had it cut since July. I am in desperate need!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

P.S. Aren't you proud of me Jude? I managed to change my layout all by myself, lol!

Just a little update

Tyler's mom is healing. She broke her bone under her one eye. The guy was her crack head neighbor just trying to start some trouble. He's in jail, thank goodness.

The holidays are creeping up on me. I am going to do some more shopping this weekend. I have decided to get hubby the XBox 360. He loves his video games. Men and their toys, lol!

My sister has come to ask for advice about her 15 year old son. He's failing all of his classes (he's in the 9th grade for a second year), mainly because he's skipping school. She takes him every morning to make sure he goes, but at some point, he leaves the school grounds. Obviously, this is easy to do. His father is out of the picture for some time. She has remarried 7 years ago and new hubby is no help. He has a 16 year old daughter from his first marriage that can do no wrong, and he doesn't discipline her for anything. She wants to send him to military school, but can't afford it. I told her what I would do if this happened to me. I told her to set up tutoring sessions after school that are mandatory for him to go to try to bring his grades up. Then I would take everything out of his room except for his bed and his clothes. No tv, no video games, no guitar until he brought his grades back up. I would also have him do some chores around the house. He doesn't do any now. She thought that was being strict, but I think she is way too lenient with him. What do you guys think? Any suggestions for my sis? She could use all the help she can get.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far!

Finally some good news!

Stephanie heard back from East Carolina University today and SHE GOT IN!!! I am so proud of her. She is still waiting to hear back from NC State and Chapel Hill. ECU is her 3rd choice. It's 3 hours away, so it's my third choice as well, lol!

Connie left me a not so cryptic message the other day that I am still on cloud nine about. I am anxiously awaiting some details on that girl!!

We have started Christmas shopping. The girls wanted docks for their iPods so we got those and we got them Guitar Hero 3 for the PS2. Kim also wanted the soundtrack to Across the Universe, so I picked that up. She is a huge Beatle's fan. She appreciates music the way I do. She has very eclectic taste like me. She also has a love for reading like me. She's joined a book club at school. She has a love for writing like me and writes short stories too. She really is my mini me.

I am really enjoying my new car. The girls at work call it my British Mobile since I have the union jack on the front. They love to ride in it at lunch time and we blast some 80's music and act silly. I will post some pics. Every time I go to find my digital, one of the girls are using it.

Kim brought home a baby hamster the other day. His name is Todd. He's pretty cute. He has this elaborate cage with a wheel and stuff. One more animal to feed!

Have a great weekend everyone!

What in the heck is the world coming to?

Last night Kim's boyfriend's mom was attacked in her own back yard while she was feeding her dogs, then they robbed her house. She is okay, physically anyway. Kim didn't get the full story, but they did find out that the person(s)responsible lives down the street from them. Am I going to have to carry a weapon walking out into my back yard now?!! WTF!!

I am tired of bad news, let me tell you. It's time for a break!!! Hubby went to the doctor today because he felt something in one of his testicles yesterday. He stopped by afterward to tell me that it was just a cyst and everything was fine. I really don't think I could have handled anymore bad news right now. I am at my limit.

Softball is over for another season. It will start back up again with sign ups in February. Kim will have to move up to play with the bigger girls since she is 14. The good thing is she will get to play with her big sister. They haven't played on the same team together in probably 4 or 5 years, so that will be nice.

Nothing else is going on, thank goodness!! Too much drama right now. I feel like I am on a soap opera or some kind of reality tv show. My fellow blogger Dick just came from Hawaii and posted some really great pics on his blog you should check out. It makes me want to go so bad. I know it makes you want to go back Jude, since it is one of your favorite places. Hawaii is definitely on my list of places to see. My other blogger friend Susan posted a blog recently about 50 things that you would like to do before you die. I don't think I could come up with 50. Most of mine would be places to visit, not so much things to do. I have a long list of places to see. For now I will have to live vicariously through fellow bloggers to see pictures until it is my turn.

I thought it would be fun and interesting to see what are some things you want to do?

Another day, another dolllar

That's how I feel sometimes about work. I need to work, but I don't want to work. I think today all the crazy people are coming to our office. There are some days I just can't handle another person and I just want to poke my eyes out! I get sick of all the dumb questions, and I'm not talking about questions that the average non-medical person wouldn't know the answer to in a million years. I am talking about stuff that people should know if you have half a brain cell in your head!!!

This morning I had a patient's mother ask me if ultrasound was safe for her grandchild. That is a perfectly reasonable question. I told her that it has been around for a very long time and there were no known bio-effects from it. She was still very skeptical. I then proceeded to tell her that she was surrounded by sound waves all the time, and they didn't seem to be affecting her. Her response is what gained her a free membership into my stupid question hall of fame. She said and I quote "But I'm not surrounded by water." WTF!!! I ended the conversation because the smart ass in me was dying to come out. That is just one of many dumb questions I get on a daily basis. I am going to start keeping track of them and sharing them with you all. It will give you a chuckle if nothing else.

My co-worker hasn't returned back to work yet. She posted a bulletin on myspace that made me cry. She was very close to her brother and thought of him as her own child in a lot of ways, since she is a few years older. It really breaks my heart. And we got bad news #2 out of the comes in 3 thing. Our neighbor's 26 year old son died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack. He was a brittle diabetic who was not under the care of a physician because he refused to see one. He had been complaining about not feeling well for a few days and came to stay with them. They said he usually would do this. By the time his mom dragged him to the ER it was too late. He died soon after they arrived. The sad thing is they may have been able to help him if he wouldn't have been so stubborn about going. I would have dragged him kicking and screaming when he first felt bad. They are feeling a lot of guilt now because of this. All we can do is be there for them now and comfort them as best as we can. As parents we aren't supposed to bury our children.

On a brighter note, Halloween was uneventful. The kids had fun trick or treating with their friends. We didn't get many kids this year, just a handful. It's dwindling down every year which is a shame. We used to have such a blast growing up on Halloween. Nobody wants to participate in it anymore. So many people think it's evil. It's only evil if you make it that way!!! Okay, I won't stay on that soap box long.

We are enjoying some nice temps in the 70's. Very nice for the fall. I hope everyone is enjoying their week and has a nice relaxing weekend ahead of them.

And I want to wish my dear friend Janna a Happy Birthday. Rock on sista!

We are getting so much rain now

I am so glad. It's a shame though that just when we get all the rain we need, California sure could use some about now to help with all those fires. What an utter tragedy. I would gladly give up some of ours to help them out right now. Since it has been raining so much, I haven't had a chance to take any pics of the new car. I guess I could take some while it's inside my garage, but I don't think you want to see the inside of the garage. It needs some cleaning. We have too much crap in there! Everything and anything is stored in my garage. We are thinking about getting some of those pulley systems to hang the bikes on just to get them off the ground. We are going to give it a good once over now that the weather is getting cooler.

I got some bad news when I got to work today. One of the medical assistants that I work with called in today. Her brother was killed in a car wreck last night. It must have been bad because they were asked to go identify the body. I don't know any details. We have had so many wrecks with all the rain we have been getting. It's been dry for so long that people have forgotten how to drive apparently. My heart really goes out to her and her family. She is such a sweet person. I hate that this had to happen to her.

On a lighter note, we are attending a wedding this Saturday out of town. Well, not too far out of town, less than two hours away. My best friend's son is getting married. It's supposed to stop raining by then, so that should be good. We were supposed to have a softball game tonight, but I don't see that happening with all the rain. It will be the first one we would have to reschedule due to weather. I would much rather go home and relax tonight anyway. We have had a busy week, as usual.

Enjoy your weekend everyone and stay safe!

I actually picked up my new car today!

Finally! I will post some pics soon. Of course the first thing I did was put my union jack license plate on the front. It looks good on it. I love it and On Star rocks!

The fake baby is a pain in the ass. It cries too damn much. I'll be so glad when she turns it back in tomorrow. We are getting our carpets cleaned tomorrow and I am so happy about that. They desperately need it. One of neighbors has a carpet cleaning business so he is giving us a great deal to do the whole house. There are things on my kid's bedroom floors that I have no idea what they are and probably don't want to.

Well, I'm off to read a little and get to bed. I just wanted everyone to know that I got my new ride!

Have a great week!