Resolutions for 2012

Lets see, what shall I make for my Resolutions for 2012 1-Since I am doing Weight Watchers TRACK TRACK TRACK what I consume and follow the plan better than I did in 2011 2-Similar to above excersise to help me succeed with #1 3-Again with #1 I have tons of healthy cookbooks and magazines so VOW to cook at least 1 healthy recipe a week. 4-Take more pictures. As I look at 2011 I barely took pictures. I want to try and take a picture a day. That is a big order, but I am sure that there is always something going on that is picture worthy. 5-Continue with the same attitude I started with at the job I started in May of 2011. Do your job and don't get involved or emotional about any of the BS that happens in the office. Go with the flow and accept any and all changes with little or no complaints. 6-Tell my family members I love them often. 7-Focus on Me and my spouse more. and finally 8- have the will power to accomplish all of the above. HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope if you have a resolution that you find the will power and mind set to stick with it.

Merry Christmas a day late

I neglected to post a Merry Christmas here yesterday. Since we lost Dillinger on Christmas Eve, we have just been going through the motions of Christmas without really feeling the day. Hard to be happy when you lose a family member. So a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Sad Day Today

Today is a very sad day at our home. We had to but our dog Dillinger down. He was sick a couple of weeks ago and we thought it was a sinus infection or a tooth that got infected and the infection got into his sinus cavity. The vet put him on an antibiotic and a pain killer and Dillinger bounced back to his old self. Yesterday he started up again with a bloody nose and reverse sneezing. This morning he wasn't any better barely moving and blood still coming out of his nose. I was sitting in the dining area when I heard a strange sound I looked and saw poor Dilly having a seizure. We called the vet and they told us to bring him in. It took quite a long time after his seizure for him to reconize any of us for us to get close to him but we were able to get him to the car and to the vet. Once the vet examined him we were told that by the looks of the swelling on the top of his head that he either had a brain tumor or he had sinus polyps that had encroached on his brain. Either way they said it would probably be best to put him down. We could have waited until after Christmas but after seeing how Dilly could barely stand up and discussing how if something were to happen Christmas eve night or Christmas day, we with very sad hearts decided to stop his suffering and have him put to sleep. I really didn't think I would take it as hard as I did. He was my pain in my butt in a good way, but such a loyal and good dog and protector. We will miss his playfulness and those sad eyes when he wanted to be petted. RIP Dillinger Dillinger Christmas 2010

16 Days

19 Days

Back to Work

After 2 weeks & 2 days off I return to work tomorrow. My body is physically ready to return but my mind isn't. I am so afraid of what will be waiting for me when I return. Before I went on leave I filled in for a co-worker that was off for 7 weeks, I know I did the best that I could while she was gone. I am wondering if she did the same for me. We will find out in a little over 12 hours. I will either come home happy or totally pissed off.

Black Friday....Not for me

If you know me, you know I hate to shop. On Black Friday the only way you get me out there is if I think a deal is really really good. I can count the number of times I went out on Black Friday as an adult on one hand. So yes, this morning I got up for something that went on sale at 4am. I dragged my butt out of bed at 3am got dressed, brushed my teeth, put a baseball cap on and went to the store. OMG what a mad house. I asked people what their line was for and was happy when I found the line that I was there for only had 1 person in it. By the time 4am hit there were 4 of us in line for this item and guess what, the friggin store only had 5 of the item. So thank goodness I got one. The funny thing is there was a limit on this item 2 per person. Well HELLO stupid retailer. If you put a limit of 2 on something, you should have more than 5 available. What if there were more people in line or one of us in line wanted 2. DUMBASSES for not ordering more product per store. Anyway, now this item will be put away until Christmas. Oh, did I mention that it is a gift for me? LOL yes, I went out at 3am to get my own Christmas gift. Merry Christmas to me. LOL

Happy Thanksgiving

To all who may read my blog:

One More Week Off

I went to the doctor on Thursday to see how I am doing after the surgery. I am doing ok. My one incision isn't quit healed enough yet, I think because where it is that my pant rub against it. So I will be taking one more week off and return to work on Monday 11/28. That's OK. I guess I can get ready for Thanksgiving while I am recouperating. Looking forward to returning to work. Staying home all day gets a little boring.

bilateral laparoscopic salpingo oophorectomy

Yep, that is what I went through on Thursday 11/10/11 at 10:00am. Well that's when it was scheduled for. I didn't get in surgery until closer to 11:30am because the assistant surgeon wasn't available until then. I was able to come home a little later in the day than anticpated on Thursday evening due to nausea from the anesthesea and I kept falling to sleep. But, by 5:00pm the nausea passed and I was home by 6:00pm and in bed by 7:00pm. Occasional pain getting up for a sitting position, but otherwise doing ok. So glad the surgery went as planned and wasn't more than anticipated. I will see the doctor on Thursday to see if I can return to work on Monday. I will work for 3 days than off for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Thanks to everyone who sent prayers and positive thoughts!

And it's all down

All the Halloween decorations are now all down and packed away until next year. So sad to see them go, it's one of my favorite holiday's. Todd had off of work today so when Jordan got home our Christmas lights got hung. Yes Christmas. We always hang them the weekend after Halloween because we never know how the weather will be Thanksgiving weekend, plus with putting up the tree and other decorations on Thanksgiving weekend it gets pretty exhausting. Mind you, we don't light them until after Thanksgiving, we just have them up and ready. This year we purchased new lights and clip for them to hang from the gutter. We purchased LED lights and they seem so much crisper and lighter. Can't wait to see what they look like in the dark. I was told they were so much easier to hang. If pictures turn out, I will post them here after the holiday officially begins.

Happy Halloweeeeeeeen!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Party 2011

We had our Halloween party last night and I hope that everyone had a good time. We played Bunco and if you can believe it, I had 5 Buncos. WTF I hardly ever get Bunco's at the monthly Bunco group that I am in. LOL There were prizes for best costume male, female and most creative. Prizes for Most Bunco's (I won that) Most Wins and 2nd Most Wins. Plus a booby prize for most losses. Here are a few pictures from last nights party Jordan as a pirate he won Best Male Costume

Todd as a tatooed biker and me as Olive Oyl

Raelynn as Minnie Mouse and Gary as a Oakland Raiders fan

Julie as a QVC return she won best female costume

Peggy made this unique costume a childrens book. She won for most original costumer

There were others that wore costumes but we didn't get pictures of them before they took them off. It was a fun time and will probably do it again next year.

Yep, changed the background

Yep, as Halloween gets closer, I changed the background and I like it!

Annual Scrapbooking Weekend

I have spent Friday evening through most of today at a scrapbooking retreat with my sister and her friend Jennifer. I have not had an opportunity to scrapbook since the retreat we did last year. We had to find a new place to have our retreat. The Bed and Breakfast that we did last year and really liked, closed down so we tried a retreat held at a hotel. It for the most part has been very pleasant. I took a 2 page class on Saturday and got 29 pages done. I still have to title some of the pages and journal them, but for they most part they are assembled. I am very pleased by this accomplishment because I really didn't have a chance to coordinate pictures with paper and embellishments. I brought what I thought I would need. I actually finished scrapbooking around 9:00pm Saturday night. I still had pictures that could be scrapbooked, but I didn't bring or have the right paper to go with the pictures. I brought along the gifts I am making to give to my stamp campers at my Christmas card camp that I did work on on Sunday morning, but I had to stop working on that also because I didn't bring everything I needed for that either. LOL So we scrapbook pictures correct? So what did we do, forget to take pictures of this event. Some scrapbookers we are. LOL The retreat reminded me of an Archivers crop and I think we decided that we would so this retreat again in the future, maybe again next year.

Time for a new background and to decorate for Halloween

For most holiday's I always decorate 1 month before the holiday, except for Christmas where we decorate the day/weekend after Thanksgiving. I changed my background to a Halloween theme, but I am not sure if I like it or not. I will leave it up for a day or 2 and then decide if I want to change it or now.

Arlo and Janis September 29, 2011

Oh Janis if it was that simple I would be doing it all the time. Click on comic if you need to view it larger.

Farewell to 41 years

I remember one of the things that I would do over the summer, over winter breaks and spring breaks and whenever I had a day off of school for a federal holiday, teachers inservice or if I was sick. The one thing I would do is watch All My Children. My mother watched the 4 ABC soaps. Ryans Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital from as long as I remember up until she passed in 1975. I remember her telling us to leave her alone during her soaps; but I also remember watching all 4 of them with her at times when I was able to and I was always able to catch up with what was going on. I remember Ryans Hope being change or replaced by LOVING which didn't last long. I remember Luke and Laura's wedding in 1981 on General Hospital; but I do also remember giving up on General Hospital when Luke and Laura were going to save the world from if I remember correctly the Ice Princess or something like that. I though that they were reaching for story lines that were quite unbelievable. I think when I graduated high school I stopped watching One Life to Live because I had my own life to live, but I continued watching All My Children. I would tape the episodes on the VCR and would record over old episodes until the tape wore out and I had to get a new VHS tape. When I 1st got married, I work for the village I grew up in. I was given an hour lunch from noon until 1:00pm and I would go to my father's house during my lunch and would watch All My Children. My dad was retired so he got hooked into watching All My Children with me. He loved the Nico and Cecilly story line and name 2 of his fish Nico and Cecilly. He too watched until his passing in 1991. When I had children I was a semi stay at home mom I would watch the episodes daily and tape them if I couldn't. This was me time while my boys were babies and toddlers. I returned to working full time once my children hit high school age and up until the last episode that aired yesterday I was DVRing All My Children and watching it after dinner. This is when my husband starting watching with me and that was for about the past 6 years. I will miss the story lines that dealt with current events, I will miss the humor that some of the characters brought to the show. I will miss how they focused around families. I will miss the holiday celebrations that they would have on the show along with the parties, wedding and tributes to characters that my have passed. I will miss the beautiful costumes/clothing some of the characters would wear. But must of all I will miss something that I dedicated a big part of my life to.

Farewell to 41 years All My Children, you WILL be missed.

Fall is almost here!

Boy, where did summer go? I know mine was non existant because I started a new job at the end of Spring and had to for the most part, learn my job by doing. It has been a rough few months but I am finally feeling that I know my expectations at my new job and I am starting to feel comfortable with my surroundings. With that being said, my summer was gone in a blink of the eye. Now that I have some vacation time built up I can enjoy our soon to be here autumn season. Fall is probably my favorite season of them all and I am so happy with being able to take a brealth and enjoy it. I love the fall colors and all the pretty and scary decorations. There are so many different ways of decorating for this season and I try to enjoy it as much as I can. Plus we can pull out our hoodies, long sleeve t-shirts, crock pots and delicious soup recipes. YUMMY! I even changed the background on my blog for the season and will probably change it again in less than a month to celebrate Halloween. Happy almost fall y'all!

OT here we come

My boss had a meeting with our group on Tuesday. She wants to focus on closing the month in AP a different way. So she drop hints about putting in as many extra hours as we could for the next week and a 1/2. I am already working 9 hours day so I think I will work 10 hour days toward the end of this week and until close is complete and then also work Saturday the 27th.

So OT here we come. That paycheck should be sweet.

The Tree

Well we got the tree that we ordered from QVC yesterday. I sat in the big box for 24 hours.

Tonight the tree went up and the tree came down. LOL That quick.
Actually it took Todd longer to get it out of the box then it did to assemble it.
About 10 minutes to assemble and I only think it took that long was because he had to take the string that held each section of the tree off.

It is a pretty tree, full with a lot of light. We showed Ethan and Jordan and Jordan said the same thing I said. "Hey, we can actually put presents under the tree." Our old tree sat so low to the ground that you had to put presents in front of the tree.
Our old tree is still in good condition but it used to take a couple of hours to assemble including the lights.

If anyone need a tree, I give away our old one if you hall it. LOL Otherwise I am going to try and sell it at a garage sale. If it doesn't sell, then it will be sitting at the end of our driveway on amnesty day.

Christmas in July

QVC this weekend is celebrating Christmas in July. I always like watching this yearly because I love to see what they are offering, how they have their set decorated and I love the Christmas season.
Anyway last year they had a prelit Christmas tree that I thought that next year I am going to get that. Our current tree is about 7 years old and we speed hours pulling each branch out of the box, shaping them and then Todd and Jordan work on the lights. By the time the tree is up no one wants to spend time on the decorating of it.

This morning I logged in to QVC and guess what the "Today's Special Value" was. The prelit tree. It isn't the same tree as last year but pretty close to what was offered last year. I told Todd that they are offering the tree on easy pay (monthly payments) and he told me to go for it.

Later in the day QVC showed the tree again and how easy it is to assemble. 3 steps and the tree is up and lit. This coming Christmas our tree will be up and lit in no time then all we will have to do is put the ornaments and decorations on it.

Happy Independence Day! America's 235th Birthday!
We must always remember those who have fought and still fight today for what our fore fathers stood for.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

It's Been Awhile

I just realized it's been about 2 months since I posted anything here. So let me catch you up on what's going on.
1st the good news. I was offered a job about a month ago I started on May 23rd and so far everything is going well. The people are so nice and friendly. The work atmophere so different from my last place of employment, I am still getting used to it.
I have attached some pictures of the building that I work at.

I enter from the parking garage from the back of this picture. This is what I get to enjoy looking at every morning on my way to the office.

Some of the plants on the 1st floor of the building I work in.

More plants

These are by the front enterance of the building.

The outdoor eating area

The indoor eating area

This is the waterfall on the 1st floor of the building that I work at. I see this everyday on my way to the elevators.

The front enterance of the building

The 5th floor elevator hallway. I work on the 5th floor.

The door to enter the company that I work for.

My desk. Long and narrow. It is nice and clean. Notice the 2 monitors and I have a scanner on my desk too.
So, that is my new home for 8 hours of the day.

Stamp Camp Project

This is one of the projects we made at Stamp Camp this weekend. No stamping involved on this project but we did use the BIG SHOT to make it. You need a colorful aluminum can and a few other small accessories to make it. I got the idea from Dawn Griffith-thanks Dawn!

Where have I been?

I am still around, not in much of a mood to blog right now. I thought that I would just do a little post today to let you know what is going on.
On March 17th I was let go from my job that I worked at for a total of almost 7 years. It came as a complete shock to me and in my opinion was unjust. I will not go into detail as to why I was let go, I have told those who I feel need to know, and I feel that posting this information would not be something wise for me to do at this time. I will say though that I was dedicated to what I did at my job and I stepped up when others didn't and was willing to learn everything I could to make my job as productive as I possibly could. I will also say that the reason I was let go had nothing to do with my job performance.

I have been involved in an investigation being done by unemployment to see if I will receive unemployment benefits and just this morning learned that the ruling on my case was that I will receive benefits. This is wonderful news. I just hope that my past employer doesn't dispute the ruling. If they do then I will probably have to testify, not something I really want to do.

So now to look for a job. If anyone knows of any Accounts Payable job openings in the Chicagoland area please send me an e-mail.

Tom Hanks on Jimmy Kimmel

I posted this on my Facebook status today but had to post it here too.
This is so gosh darn funny, take a few minutes to watch it and enjoy the laugh.
Mute the music on my page in the left hand column 1st.

Blizzard 2011

We were hit last night with a blizzard. The snow started here at about 2:00pm immediately with white out conditions. Work announced at 3:00pm that if we wanted to leave that we could (but you would have to make up your time if you were leaving early). Since I was already there at 6:00am I left at 3:00pm. What usually takes 20 to 30minutes to get home took approx 90 minutes to get home.
Ethan and Jordan plowed throughout the day and Todd plowed once in the evening.
Both colleges closed their facilities for Wednesday and I in anticipation took Wednesday off as a vacation day. We turned off all our alarms and decided we would get up when we got up.
We woke up to this, 16" of snow:


Here are a few pictures of my 3 men plowing us out.
Todd starting the process of plowing:


The small area that we dug out to get the front door open:


The path down the sidewalk, the snow is up to Jordan's knees:


Ethan helping dig us out:


Jordan helping dig us out:


This last picture was taken between the side of our house and the neighbors fence.
We call it Catch a Wave because it looks like an ocean wave.


The village's snow plows finally came by at about 11:30am so even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have made it to work anyway. The snow finally stopped right around noon and now we have a bright sunny winter day. Thank GOD we were all home safe during the major part of the snow storm.

2nd semester of college

Jordan started his 2nd semester of his 1st year in college this week and his 1st day was very stressful.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are a full day for him so needless to say Thursday which was the 1st day of school he had major problems finding parking which stressed him out and made the rest of his day hard for him.
Monday, Wednesday and Fridays he has 1 class for an hour, kind of silly to go to school for 1 hour but with the problems we had with financial aid he had to register late and had to take classes that were open.
He also attends school on Saturday. BLAH He has a 3 hour business math class that he is taking on Saturdays. He could have opt to take Math on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays but he want to do the Saturday 3 hour class. So basically he goes to school Monday - Saturday's
I think he should be OK with his school load once he gets used to the hours and routine.

RIP Cousin Ed

Tonight is the visitation for my cousin Ed. My memory is spending the summer when I was 15 babysitting him and his brother Doug. Ed was very personable and was able to approach anyone and have a conversation with them.
Ed you will be missed.