she who holds invite to housewarming

It has been a crazy busy week. With all of the travelling to celebrate, work and visiting the house we really haven't had a spare moment to relax. Our main focus for the week is getting the house ready for painting. We spent one whole night washing walls and removing light switch covers and vents all in preparation of the painting party we had at our house Friday.

My FABULOUS aunts She who gives out Indian names and She who bangs stick into walls volunteered to help us paint. They enjoy painting and are damn good at it. It was a day that I will cherish forever. We don't see each other enough and to have them there making our house into a home meant more to me than they will EVER know!! We had SO MUCH fun! We spent the day talking, laughing and catching up on everything. Windows were almost taken out, paint was spilled and walls were painted. The day went by so fast it was such a blur but the end product was well worth it!!

At one point in the day we had 5 people manning painting utensils! It was amazing! My mom stopped by to help and visit while on her way through to Farm and Fleet. It has been hard for her as she has wanted to help but hasn't had the energy to do it. Which is fine as we know she isn't feeling well and would rather have her rest than come over and wear herself out even more.

We painted the living room a color called wooded path. All I can describe it as is a dark sagey olivey green. It is absolutely gorgeous! It is so warm and cozy. The kitchen hallway is painted Basketweave, also know as Crikey Khaki or Blimey Brown as the color reminded us of Steve Irwin's pants, with an accent wall of Brick Fleck. The red has been more challenging than I expected. The 5th coat sealed the deal and it is BEAUTIFUL! Thanks to all of our help we went home on Friday night with a painted living room, kitchen, hallway and the majority of an entryway.

Saturday was another productive day. She who gives Indian names called and asked when to come and help. When she left on Friday night she said that she may be back on Saturday. She spent the whole day painting the bathroom. If we had thought about it we would have primed the bathroom on Thursday night. At that point I wasn't sure what color I wanted to paint it yet. Josh and I finished the bedrooms downstairs which is great because we really don't have to0 much more to paint. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

We are so grateful for all the help. I am not sure what kind of nightmare it would have been without it. I have never painted before and I actually really enjoyed it. I think that I may actually be good at it too.

All is Calm, All is Bright

Busy, Busy week!! The closing on our house went wonderfully! I cannot believe how EASY it all was. I kept waiting for something to pop up and screw it all up. I wasn't even overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork. We have been VERY busy over there. Right after the closing we went to Menards to buy supplies for the house. Paint was on sale so we bought a bunch. I hope that we got enough, but we weren't sure how much we were going to need so we guesstimated the best we could. We have spent pretty much all of our time there removing wallpaper borders and cleaning all of the glue off the wall.

We have so many ideas of things that we want to do our heads are swimming. We have categorized them as immediate, before the housewarming and someday. It is really hard for me because we are changing the color scheme so dramatically. I just want to change everything. I think with the colors that we have picked bronze or wrought iron will be our choice of fixtures throughout the house. Those are things that we are going to want to change slowly, but I am pretty excited to do it and want it done NOW! Josh is good at grounding me and reminding me of the money end, which coincidentally I am always reminding him of.

Needless to say, we are VERY excited about owning our first home! We cannot wait to get in, but at the same time realize that there is SO much that we want to do before we get there. The walls are filthy. I know that we are painting but I wonder how people live like that. I am sure it just happened, especially since they were not living there. EVERYTHING needs to be scrubbed! The showers are so filthy and they are just taunting me every time I go into the bathrooms! The cupboards need cleaned. I want to take down all of the lights (not that there are many) and run them through the dishwasher. Everyday we see something new. Yesterday while removing glue we took down the window treatment in the master and the blinds (vertical) are so filthy so we have to vacuum them. The list is never ending!

T minus 43 hours and counting

We close on our house Friday at 10am. I am SO excited that I have been driving my co-workers a little crazy with my constant jabbering and ranting. I don't really get nervous until I think about it and then I want to puke! There is just so much that I want to do that I cannot even fathom it. I keep thinking of new things like putting in a programmable thermostat and buying a new chandelier for the dining area. We cashed in our change bottle and we should have enough in there to buy at least 4 gallons of paint, depending on price.

On top of the excitement of the house closing we are going to a Packer game on Sunday! I am really hoping that my knee doesn't interfere with my walking too much! I would be severely pissed if it did as I am really looking forward to the Packer game! This may be the last time we have a chance to see Brett Favre at Lambeau Field. Who knows if he is going to stick around another year or not!

Untitled

It has taken me a long time to decide on whether to write this post or not. I finally decided that I had to write this. My sanity has come to depend on it. I need to get this out and on a screen as maybe it will help me deal. This is what a blog is supposed to do. It would have been too hard a month ago but, I am ready. This is mostly what has kept me away from here and posting so infrequently. I would be writing but there is a huge elephant in the corner staring at me. This is the majority of what is going on in my life right now. Mom, I hope that you are OK with this!

My mom has Breast Cancer. We found out the second to last weekend in October. A family meeting was called and no one knew why. We have all coped with this in different ways and none of us very well I am afraid. I think that I am still stuck in the first stage of grief which is denial currently served with a side of depression (I can cry at the drop of a hat). I had truly thought that I was on my way to acceptance until my mom shaved her hair off because it started to fall out. I lost it! Not only did I lose it in front of my mother that day, but that evening with Josh.

I lost it because for the first time my mother looked ill. She didn't look like the same person that I saw the day before. I didn't recognize the woman that had been there for me my whole life and that scared me. Scared that this disease would actually win. Scared that she wouldn't be there for me much longer. Scared that she was suffering. Not wanting her to become another one of those Cancer patients so sick and bald headed. Hoping that she was fighting the disease with every ounce of energy she has in her.

My mom's Cancer is very treatable and it isn't very aggressive so it hasn't spread far. However this forces you to think about your parents mortality. When you are growing up your parents are superhuman and you don't want to think anything less. You never want lose your parents. As the circle of life keeps turning you realize that is closer than you want it to be, especially when disease enters the picture. At this point you just want to hold onto every moment that you have with them. You want the world to stop spinning and the days to stop. You don't ever want to leave them.

That is all I need to get off of my chest right now. I will have to post these from time to time to help me through this. Maybe I can skip anger and bargaining and go straight to acceptance. I think that I am close. The only anger I will have is at my brothers not helping out enough around the house!!

Play that Funky Music

I know that I have been quiet lately but there has been a lot going on. I know that is no excuse, but I haven't really been in the mood to write. Yes, there is a certain mood that you should be in so that you aren't babbling like a brook. Everything is going smoothly with the house purchase. We close in 3 weeks and 2 days so we are VERY excited about that. We went and bought a fridge last weekend. We have paint picked out and are organizing a painting brigade. I am very excited to get in there and clean and get the ugliness off of the walls. I just hope the next three weeks go very quickly!!!!

As far as everything else in life it is OK. Work is going to be insane next year due to our recent acquisition. I am not looking forward to seeing my in-laws this weekend. I had to make a jello salad. I'll be damned if I knew how to make one. I had to search online for it. I hope that it tastes good! If not oh, well they will never ask me to bring that again. I have just been in a funk lately with everything going on in life. I am glad that I have a new house to move into and enjoy!! Hopefully by the time that is over things are getting better!!!

My Hubby the Killer

Here are pictures of Josh and his deer. It isn't a big one, but it is better than nothing. He shot twice, injuring one that he wasn't able to find and this one. Other than that Mitch's brother shot once and missed.

What a Difference a Year Makes

One year ago today I had my hip surgery. I cannot believe that it has been a year. It seems like just yesterday I was lying in that hospital bed. I cannot remember the pain and suffering that I went through at the beginning, nor do I want to. Those days were very trying! Sometimes I am amazed at how strong I must be to make it through all of that and still be here to tell the story. I know look back on this year and ask if it was all worth it? I used to say "yes" until my knee started hurting. Now I just wonder if I am ever going to be "normal" again. I still limp and cannot walk long distances. I know that I am not in as much pain as I once was, but pain is relative. I guess I will have to see what my doctor says next week.

The thing that really surprises me is where we are now compared to last year and even 2 years ago. We are buying a house!! Something that I thought would never happen. With Wal-Mart we were stuck in a vicious cycle of relocating. Thanks to Wal-Mart, Josh was able to get a job where he was appreciated AND we had quite a boost to our savings account. The good thing is that we made it through and haven't looked back, through the surgery, the job loss and other problems!! We have learned to forge ahead!

Hopefully all the strength that we have gained in the last year will help with our latest challenge! We have been dealing with something VERY tough and personal! I may talk about it someday but out of respect for the situation I will not post it here now. The pain is still to raw and I don't know what to say and how to handle myself. How do you keep your strength when the one person who has always been your rock needs you to be theirs? When I figure that one out I will let you know.

Fired Up!

This morning on the radio they were discussing the Michael J. Fox (MJF) commercials that are airing across the country supporting candidates who support stem cell research. It got me so fired up because you really realize how IGNORANT people can be. I am not saying that I am not ignorant on some topics, but stem cell research and the government's support of it is not one of them. I was OK with the calls until a girl called and said "Why would MJF care about a race in Wisconsin?" At this point I knew it was all down hill from here. How can people not realize that a University of Wisconsin Scientist discovered Stem Cells? How can they not realize that we are currently a front runner in stem cell research? We hold the most of the "government funded" stem cell lines HERE is Wisconsin.

The caller that pushed me over the edge stated that "Stem cell research has no place in the political arena." HELLO!!! Where do you think that the money comes from? Also, Wisconsin is really on the edge here. We have lost so many smart people from Wisconsin, referred to as "The Brain Drain". Our intelligent people are going to other states for school and work. So if we hire a candidate who bans stem cell research in Wisconsin (Mark Green) we will become a state that is no longer a state at the forefront. The environment will seem hostile to researchers and they won't come here to perform their research. California took our Dairy state title away, we may as well just give them the stem cell title too if they are banned.

I am not saying that you have to vote one way or another, but don't just ignore this topic, it has more consequences than it seems, because it is a cause and effect situation. In this case the effects may be terrible for the state. Educate yourselves and THEN vote !!

Home Sweet Home

It is ours! We heard on Sunday afternoon at 3pm that we booted the primary buyers out of contention. We will close on December 15th!!! We are VERY excited!!!!

Patience is Not My Finest Virtue

Well we put an offer in on the house that I spoke of in my previous post. We wrote the offer up last night and Sheela submitted the offer to them last night sometime after Grey's Anatomy. The offer was written to expire by 7pm this evening.

Well 7:30 rolled around and we hadn't heard anything yet. I called Sheela and left her a message. She got back to me a little before 8 and said that they sellers called her and said that they haven't had a chance to look over and talk about the offer yet. They would get around to it tomorrow or Sunday and get back to her with their answer. Which 1 makes me very uneasy, because we have to wait longer for the answer. I know that them selling this house isn't their number one priority as they already have an offer in on the property, yet I don't know if they realize the agony of waiting on the other end. We set a deadline for a reason. So Sheela said at this point we have every right to walk away. The sellers may in the end accept our offer, but we have to rework the offer contract.

UGGGGHHHHHH I am not wanting to wait at all! I am in love with this house! I know I shouldn't have fallen, but those unlucky in love knows that you just cannot help it!

Keep Ya Posted!!!!!

Decisions, Decisions.

Well we found a house that we like. So, begins the flurry of insanity. First things first, the offer currently has an offer on it. The offer has a Bump. What that means that the other buyers (them/they) have a contingency of selling their house, but if another buyer comes along (us/ours) and puts in an offer the sellers can accept ours if they aren't able to (within 72 hours) get their financing settled/change that contingency. They have the option of a double mortgage, obtaining a bridge loan, maybe their house is close to an offer, or just letting the house go. Which is sad for them, but good for us. So we are looking at the house tomorrow with my parents and if we see everything as kosher we will go ahead and try to bump the others out. I know that it sounds pretty mean, but oh well. It is the nicest house that we have seen and we really liked it when we did the drivebys. So if luck is in our favor (or if God is holding the house for us, as my mother-in-law would say) we may have a house!

Tomorrow I will take pictures and I will post them here to show it to you. I will keep you posted. Better than usual too because I am way excited about this and will talk to everyone and anyone about this! I am really anxious about it all!!

Way to Go Bucky

A couple months ago site was sent around to vote for this year's inductees to the mascot hall of fame. There were several pro and college mascots on the ballot, including our very own Buckingham U. Badger. I was curious as to whatever came of that voting. Well today I went to the Mascot Hall of Fame website and found this years inductees.

Bucky will forever be a famous mascot!!

Red Faced

This weekend I had a funny thing happen to me. I went shopping to find a dress to wear to the wedding that we attended. At the store I asked the woman to measure me for a bra. I have been having problems with the fit and comfort of the bras that I currently am wearing. So she measured me and told me that I needed to wear a cup 2-3 sizes bigger than I was currently wearing. I told her I couldn't believe it. She stated "Honey, you have huge knockers, embrace them." I about died! I couldn't believe that she said that! I laughed and laughed all weekend about it.

Yesterday I came to work and had to share the story with some of my close female co-workers. They too thought that it was hilarious and got a good laugh out of it. I was in the lab when another female co-worker came in and I told her the story. She has shared breast related stories with me in the past so I knew that she would get a kick out of it. I told her in front of my close male co-worker, whispering the sizes to her so he wouldn't hear, and they both laughed and laughed and joked about calling me "HK" from now on and had fun with it. Well THIS female co-worker decided to tell EVERYONE male and female in the lab the story. She left out the cup sizes, which was smart, but I didn't want or need everyone to know. So know anyone who works in the lab knows my huge knockers story and I won't be able to live that one down for a while.

Running Around

This week has been a hectic one. We have met with two Realtors this week. We have two good ones we talked to and have to try and decide which one to go with. We really liked both of them. I have an appointment with the bank on Friday to talk about loans and to pre-qualify for a loan. I hope to learn more about the different types of loans available to us and how much house we will be able to afford. This all makes me nervous. This is a big deal! I am making sense out of it all by studying up on it all. I have 2 books that I am reading. One from a co-worker and one that I bought. They are both very helpful so I am feeling better about it all. It will really hit me when we go out on showings. Thinking about it makes my tummy tumble.

We are off to my friend Jen's wedding this weekend. Jen and I have been friends since the third grade. We haven't been that close as of late but I love her to death and I am anxious to meet her husband. The first time I will meet him will be on Friday. We are staying with the outlaws for the rest of the weekend since there house is only 5 miles from the reception hall.

Other than that trying to keep exercising and figuring out if I limp more or less with my knee brace on.

DOGS!!!!!

We went to the farm this weekend to visit. Jackson wasn't too sure about Daisy but we did get some pictures of them together.

Dirty Dan & his Dangerous Dogs

Aren't we the cutest pups ever?

Tired from a long day of playing

Darling Daisy

The Chicken Shit

Look Right

I have changed the sidebar of my blog a little bit today. I changed my blogroll to Current Faves and The Old Standbys. Just because sometimes you need to shake things up. I have added a few links. Some are links that I used to post on here about fertility issues and such. I weened down the list of infertility websites that I read to two of my faves who are now Mama's. They are very entertaining and worth the read.

The link that I added is for the writer's blog for Grey's Anatomy. I am ABSOLUTELY in love with this show. I cannot rave enough about this show. I drive Josh crazy talking about the show all the time. I found this link via another blog that I read. The writers post after each episode. They often post about what inspired them to write that story line or why the characters did or said certain things. Definitely a good stop for a person as obsessed as I am!

Chloe Suellen

Colin Meeting His New Sister

The New Family

Pretty in Pink!

Welcome to the family!

There have been two unexpected additions to our "family" in the past week. One was expected but not so soon, where the other came out of no where. First off, my parents adopted a dog last week. This is surprising because we were always told that when the dogs that they owned had gone to doggy heaven that they were done. We all knew that this wasn't true because of the way that she fell in love with our little Jackson. She loves to play "go fetch" and makes him cock his head from side to side so that he looks like he is intently listening to you.

We were up in Clintonville seeing my sisters new house and hanging out with the family. We went to the city pound (Brad's group is in charge of care for the animals) to see the cute puppy that Brad was talking about. I think that it was love at first sight for Danny. He loved that dog! She is a cutie! We stole the dog away to the house to meet mom. Mom was guilted into saying that Danny could adopt the dog. So little Daisy is now at the farm raising hell.

The second addition came a little sooner than expected. My friend Heidi was pregnant and due at the end of the month. Betsy's birthday to be exact! I received a phone call Saturday night while I was in the dells for a bachelorette party (another post all together). It was Mitch (Heidi's husband), the message on my voicemail was all scratchy with no voice. So I left the bar and headed outside to call back. I was informed that Heidi was in labor and if I could please come as soon as possible they would like me to tape the birth. We were waiting for the cab to come and take us to another location which was across the street from where we were parked. I ran to the car and called Mitch said I am in the car I am about and hour and a half away, I was gonna stop at home to change clothes and grab overnight stuff and head out. By the time I got home she had already had the baby.

According to both Mitch and Heidi the baby pretty much just fell out. Her labor started at 10:05 at 11pm they called the doctor, she said come in and get checked out. She was at 4 cm and they sent her up to be admitted to her birthing suite. When she got settled in (15-20minutes later) they checked her cervix and she was 5.5 cm. At about 12:30 the anesthesiologist was ordered for the epidural. The anesthesiologist walked out the room at ~12:41, Heidi rolled onto her back at 12:42, baby popped out at 12:43. No big push, baby just came out. The anesthesiologist walked in a few minutes later and took out the epidural. The drugs didn't kick in until after she gave birth. The only people in the room when it happened were Mitch and the nurse. No doctor, nothing.

Welcome to the world Chloe Suellen! I will post a picture tonight!

Finally an Answer!

Well today's Dr's appointment was a complete 180 from last weeks. The MRI went well. I didn't have to go into the machine as far so I wasn't so claustrophobic. I got in to see my doctor with little waiting even though I was almost 2 hrs early. When I scheduled my appointment the receptionist told me to come straight over and check in and I would be seen. So I read only 1 magazine this time. I had an athletic trainer see me instead of tweedle dee and tweedle dum that I saw last week. She even let me know where I was in the line up after I had been sitting there for a little while.

First of all the fact that my knee cap is multipartite is right. BUT it is MUCHO multipartite. The top corner of my knee cap is in a bunch of little pieces held together by cartilage. The doc said that my knee looked solid and that he wasn't sure where the popping was coming from. He felt that scoping my knee would be a waste of time because he would probably get in there and see nothing. He did however prescribe a fancy knee brace for me to wear. The brace isn't all that cumbersome, but it is sweaty. I see my therapist tomorrow and he should be able to give me some further guidelines about when and how long to wear this contraption. So know we can go house hunting without worry of me being off work again for my knee.

Let's see what Dr Mann says about my other hip in November. Let's hope that he has messed with me enough for now. I know that I initially wanted to have the other hip done right away. I am however very nervous about having both sides of my body weakened. I have enough trouble lifting my right leg up I don't want to be unable to do that with both legs. Not right now. I can live with the other hip for now.

Incompetence at it's finest

As you know my knee has been bothering me for a little while now. So I was looking forward to seeing my knee doctor. Well I went to the Dr.’s office yesterday and it was a nightmare. I had to wait in the waiting room for a little while as usual. Then I went into the exam room and spoke with the nurse. The nurse took my medical history and left me for the residents. The residents came in 15-20 minutes later. They asked me all the questions and jerked my knee around every which way and back. They left talking of x-rays and talking to my Dr. Then I sat, I read 2 magazines. I was getting pretty frustrated and was getting ready to poke my head out of the door when the residents and my doctor came in. My Dr. asked if I just came back from x-ray and I said “No. I was never sent to x-ray.” Then the Dr left the room for a bit to determine what to do and yell at the residents. So he came back in and said that he wouldn’t waste anymore of my time and asked about my problems. He popped me up on the table and jerked my knee around some more. He told me that he wanted an MRI done on my knee. When I had my MRI, I was to have the x-rays that weren’t performed during that visit. I was sent on my way. Or so I thought. I got out to the front desk and the receptionist informed me that I didn’t have the proper paper work and they stuck me back in my little room to fill it out. I could then go on my way. From what the receptionist was saying I determined that the residents had just rotated from the spine clinic. So they were new and had little knowledge of how the sports med clinic worked. I did not get my x-rays due to confusion of who was supposed to send me to x-ray.

So after an hour and a half at the Dr.’s office I have no answers. I do however have an MRI and x-rays scheduled for next Wednesday the 13th!

I'm So Excited!

This weekend is going to be a big weekend for several reasons. 1) My grandparents from Florida are going to be in town. Since I had surgery last year we couldn't go down and see them. So it has been over a year since I have seen them. That is entirely too long. On top of that we are getting together with that WHOLE side of the family. It will be nice to have the Ruskoskys back together again!!! 2)It is the cow chip craft fair. Which means a trip to Sauk and looking at a lot of cute crafty stuff. My goal is to find my sister something sappy to hang in her house. Since her fiancee thinks that our apt is too sappy, I am going to find something sappy to give her whenever I can! 3) While we are in Sauk my mom and I are going to scope out some neighborhoods in Sauk. Actually we are looking at houses, on the outside, to see if they are in nice neighborhoods. WE ARE LOOKING AT HOUSES!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited! I feel like we have been waiting FOREVER to buy a house. Now that Wal-Mart pumped up our savings account we will be able to find a permanent residence. We have been scoping houses out in Sauk City and Lodi since Josh accepted his job offer. We are hoping to find something and move in sometime in January. I really don't want to move before Christmas unless absolutely necessary. The plan is to talk to banks after Labor Day and see what they have to say about us and our credit and how much house they are willing to finance us for. We have an idea of what we want to spend. Let's hope that the bank tells us that is in our price range!

OH THE INSANITY!

I have been so crazy at work the last week I don't know if I am going to be able to keep my head on straight for the next 5 days. I am currently working on a bunch of stuff. I got an assay to work today that I didn't think that I was going to be able to. So that is exciting but I have to write a report now and have it done by Monday. That will be over $100K that I have brought in for the company in that past 4 months. I know that they can never get rid of me I am a cash cow!!! The bad part of this is that I am getting the rep of being able to get any difficult assay to work. That isn't cool. That means that I may be getting all of the hard assays from now on.... I definitely don't want that.

Josh is really enjoying his job. He is pretty crazy there too as the office is SEVERELY short staffed. On top of that his boss has been out the past 2 days moving. He is enjoying his job very much. He has just come into a situation where they are months and months behind on their work. It is hard enough to play catch-up when it is your own work and you know how to do it, much less coming in with no experience and picking up someone else's slack.

That's all from the Casa de Honer.... hopefully it won't be a week before you hear from me again....

Short Term Unemployment

Just 14 days post Wal-Mart, Josh has a new job. Not only does he have one but he started today. You will remember last week when I said that Josh got a call from the Kalahari for an interview. Well he got the job offer Friday and accepted it on Monday, what a whirlwind! Josh spent his last day of freedom in Danny Daycare, shooting clay pigeons and scaring the crap out of the dogs. Just the way I am sure that he wanted to go down.

I am sitting here hoping to hear something from him about how his day is going. I am not sure that I will hear from him but I hope that I do so that I don't burst before the end of the day. I am planning on surprising him with his favorite dinner of Swedish meatballs for supper. I am sure that he will appreciate that surprise.

I will let you know if I hear anything!!

Home Sweet Home

I got home Friday afternoon without any troubles at the airport. I was all prepared to be let down when I got to the airport. I was planning on having to stand for a long time everywhere I went. I was equipped with the number for American Airlines so that I could call and complain if I was bumped or cancelled. The lines were incredibly long at the terminal. My advice to anyone is E-Ticket. I don't think that they give paper tickets anymore unless requested. E-Ticket is totally the way to go. I was pretty nervous because the curbside check in lines were VERY long. I heard some people complaining of a 30-45 minute wait. I walked into the terminal, asked where the self service kiosk line was. The line was a tenth of the line for the counter agents. Within 15 minutes I had my bags checked and my boarding passes in hand, heading for the long security line. I missed the bomb sniffing dogs on Friday. When I was hanging around on Thursday they were constantly running up and down the terminal. I didn't see any Friday morning.

I was standing in line behind a family from the middle east. The son, who was in his late 30s or 40s was the one who was traveling. As we were inching towards the security check point a TSA agent came and pulled this man aside. This man could hardly understand what the agent was saying. Each question was repeated at least once. The man was traveling through London Heathrow with a final destination in Pakistan. At first I felt very sorry for this man, this was an instance of racial profiling at it's best. However, after leaving the checkpoint and listening to more news I felt comforted as there were arrests of Pakistanis in connected to the thwarted security plot. I am well aware that not every middle eastern person is a terrorist and that all terrorists aren't middle eastern and you hear stories of the increased percentage of middle eastern travelers who are always pulled aside for secondary screening but, I did feel safer.

I stopped to buy some souvenirs, a book to read and a bottle of water. I made it to the gate and had plenty of time to sit and read or surf the internet. I was however a little nervous because my boarding pass for the flight from Chicago to Madison said that I had to see a gate agent to get my seat assignment. I didn't know if that meant that I didn't have a seat and had to go on standby or if they were just waiting to hand out seat assignments due to not knowing how many people were going to be on the plane. When I got to the gate I was happy to see that it was that they hadn't assigned seats yet. It was such a quick flight to Madison, I believe it was something like 25 minutes from Chicago. I was so excited to get home! Don't get me wrong, I had a great time in Boston, which I will post about soon, but my extra 20 hours in Boston really wore me out!

Stuck

Here I am stuck in Boston. My co-worker and I went to the airport this afternoon to head home. I had to check my bags and my co-worker didn't. So he headed off to security and I went to the counter to check my bags. We agreed to meet at the gate. I got to the counter and noticed that my itinerary had been changed. My flight out of Chicago had been cancelled and I was booked on a flight for tomorrow. I didn't know what to do. I paged my co-worker to meet me at the American Eagle desk. I waited, I paged him from the info desk and I paged him from the American counter. No luck! In between pagings I called our travel agency. I was told that I could either get a one way ticket through Milwaukee for $650, I decided to get a hotel room for the night. I left my boss a message telling her I lost her husband and that I got a hotel for the night.

I got to the hotel, checked in and e-mailed my boss telling her let me know if she heard anything to call me. She called me within a half hour to tell me that he called American and got a flight on Northwest and will be home at 8:30 tonight. That lucky bastard! I didn't know that you should call and complain and they will re-route you. So I am enjoying Boston for another night. I am staying in and checking e-mail. I am heading down to eat dinner now. Let's hope the hotel restaurant is good!!!

Josh update

I am just dropping you a quick line to let you know that Josh's interviews with Verizon and Gander Mountain went very well. Verizon ask about calling Josh's references which according to the books means that they are considering on offering him a position. Gander Mountain went pretty much straight from his first interview into his second interview. Both companies promising to give him an answer within a week. Two other companies called him this week for interview; the Kalahari in the Dells and Jo-Ann fabrics. He interviews with them Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

I am currently in Boston for a conference. I am going sightseeing tomorrow morning. I will write all about it when I get home. I should have pictures to document it too!!!

Mitch-ah-palooza 3.0

This weekend we got together with out college friends for the annual celebration known as Mitch-ah-palooza. Mitch told us that we could bring Jackson along with us. We decided to take Jackson along. What a mistake!! Jackson got out of the car and ran around a little bit. When Opie, Mitch's parent's St Bernard, saw Jackson he immediately took off chasing him. We were informed that Opie thought that Jackson was a cat. So we had to call my mom and have her meet us somewhere so that they could pick him up. I felt really bad that I had upset their evening plans. I hate being an imposition on them. My parents do so much for us as it is. I feel bad asking for more. We had a fabulous time. We played ladder golf, the guys played kickball and croquet. I spent some time in the swimming pool. I got out of the swimming pool on my own this year. I was really excited because I was humiliated by being stuck on the pool last year. I had to be pushed up from the pool from behind.

Josh drank all day and ended up being the evening entertainment. Josh was performing running belly flops into the pool. He bought a straw cowboy hat especially for this celebration. He jumped into the pool with it on and completely soaked it. He kept everyone entertained and in the process probably bruised some ribs in the process. We are very lucky to have such wonderful friends who want to get together and spend such a chunk of time together. I cannot wait to next year's camping trip!!

The End

Today is Josh's last day with Wal-Mart. I am both excited and scared for him. I am happy that he had the guts to realized that he wanted to get out when he had the chance. It is a hard decision to leave a job that no longer makes you happy. I am scared because Josh still hasn't found a job. We are hopeful that the interviews that he has next week will pan out. Also, the USC interview went EXTREMELY well yesterday! The woman there said that if he didn't hear anything from the Wisconsin area recruiters within 10 days to call her back. Let's hope.

Hunt Fish Camp and Can You Hear Me Now?

Josh has two interviews next week on top of a recruiting call this week with US Cellular. On Monday afternoon Josh will be interviewing for a store manager position at Verizon Wireless. On Tuesday afternoon Josh will be interviewing for the Fishing, Camping, Apparel and Footwear Manager position with Gander Mountain. Let's hope this plethora of activity leads to something good!

My Fashionable New Accessory

Today I went to visit my physical therapist. It was a much anticipated visit because my knee has been giving me problems for a while and it seems in the last month that it has gotten worse. I don't know if that is because I have been using it more this month or if it was because my alignment is all off. I have been tempted to just call my knee doctor and tell him what was going on. I didn't want to do that without talking to some sort of medical professional because if this could be fixed by therapy that would be wonderful. I think that I really threw my therapist for a loop because of the amount of pain that I have been experiencing with my knee. I told my therapist that I really feel that is where my weakness in my right leg is rather than in my hip. My therapist really screwed around with my knee today and I am VERY sore! I found out that I have a multipartite patella. That means that the knee cap is in more than 2 pieces. I now have a new, VERY fashionable taped up knee to make sure that my knee cap stays in the right spot. I have to tape it up daily and remove and night. I am sure that I will have to ice it too. This makes me feel really stupid. What I really have to say about the situation is it is SUMMER for crying out load! I wear shorts and skorts a lot! I am going to look like a big DORK walking around with tape on my knee. I will try to wear capris at work so that I don't have a big loser arrow pointing at me. I guess I will look like a dork until further notice.

I will see my therapist in a week to see if the taping is helping, then I will see my knee guy, Dr Graf on the 6th of September. I wish that I could be normal. I really do!!

Family Dynamics

I don't think you truly understand how different families are until you get married. When you are engaged you know, but once the ink is dry on the marriage license the need to hide family oddities becomes less necessary. When you are growing up, your siblings learn your personalities and know how to handle your quirks. You either learn to love then or use them to annoy the shit out of them. Also, there are no set parents the same. Some want a hug and a kiss when you walk out the door, even for a short time. Where as others you get the kiss and hug on special occasions. Some parents yell and others discuss. Parenting styles lead to how the child interacts with people for the rest of their lives.

As my siblings "pair off" into relationships I have begun to see how different families are. One set of in-laws are quiet, don't yell are a little weird, another set picks on each other's faults and riddles their children with guilt. My in-laws have plenty of quirks too, their religiousness, the inability to pick up a phone and call, plus more that couldn't even describe. I am by no means saying that our family if perfect either. How do you learn to deal with these as you decide to become husband and wife or decide to start a family? Do you ever learn completely? Or is it a continuous learning process? Or do you just give up the fight?

Why is it so hard to mesh families? Why can't a family open their hearts and homes to people that their child or sibling loves? Now I am not saying that we as family members should roll over and accept anyone. You should not accept the man who belittles your sister or the woman who is constantly ordering around your son. I am saying that if the person is nice enough, your brother loves her, why not let them be happy? Who cares that they aren't the same religion? Who cares that they don't play golf or watch tractor pulls? Why do we have to find their faults? Especially when we ourselves know how hard it is to try and belong.

Worse yet, how do we move on after the conflict? How do we realize that you promised to love honor and cherish this person forever and their family is part of the package deal? How do you get past the nasty comments or the knock-down drag out fight you had? You have to learn the art of forgiveness and have the courage and integrity to move on. You have to learn to say to that person, you wronged me, but I forgive you. For the good of the family that you and your spouse have and will create, you have to move on. Now I don't expect forgiveness to be granted for such actions as stealing, abuse, or other crimes. When a fight happens you need to get over yourself, your embarrassment or your anger and look at the bigger picture. Do you want to have this hanging over your head your whole life? Do you want carry that anger and resentment for the rest of your life? Or as long as your marriage lasts? There is one person that I am related to by marriage that I want to read this but I know never will. I know that this person will never get past their selfishness to realize what their hurt feelings are doing to not only their spouse that is stuck in the middle, but to the family that desperately wants to get past this and enjoy what they have because we know that it won't last forever! Maybe THAT is why we like to get together so often!!

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

We had some pretty big excitement for our neighborhood this weekend. Friday night the apartment building 2 buildings down started on fire. About 8:45pm we heard police sirens in our neighborhood. Now police sirens aren't that rare where we live so I though nothing of it until they stopped VERY close by. I looked up the street and saw a cop car blocking the street. So I went out the front door to see what was going on and saw flames lining the roof of that apartment building. Since the fire department wasnt' there yet people were running up to the police department and giving them their fire extinguishers to help fight the fire. There is something about a fire or tragedy like that that you have to watch. This was no exception. If you add up all the people that I have seen in the neighborhood since we moved, the number would still be shy of the number of people out there on Friday night. There were fire departments from Waunakee, Deforest and Marshall responding along with the Sun Prairie department.

The fire seemed to start in the closet that contains the air conditioning/heating unit and spread into the apartment and the attic. It was very obvious that the fire was in the attic as the siding started to peel off the building and smoke was billowing out of the attic vents. We watched the fire departments saw into the attic and put the fire out. By 10 the fire was out and the crowd had thinned. My mom was spending the night so she took Jackson out for a walk to watch what was going on. We think that he ruined the news coverage that Channel 3 provided because he was doing his growl/bark at the people standing there. Including the news crew.

There still isn't a report of what happened yet. There were some early pictures in the Sun Prairie paper this week. I will have to buy one next week to see what happened.

My Gravy Boat Adventures

This past weekend my mother and I went to the Corelle outlet in Oshkosh. At the outlet store I purchased a gravy boat that matched our dish set. I was very excited about the new gravy boat as I did not have one. I had to use a bowl and a ladle and that just isn't as cool as a gravy boat. I was planning on making a pot roast this week so that I could make gravy to use my new gravy boat. I only had rib roasts and mom told me that those weren't the right cut for a pot roast. So this week while I was at work mom called to say that she brought me the pot roast and we could meet to pick it up. When I got off the phone I told my co-workers about my new purchase and how excited I was and how mom was bringing me this roast. It was open season for teasing. They couldn't believe how excited I was over a stupid gravy boat. The running joke now is that I should start the website mygravyboatadventures.com and just take it places or photoshop my gravy boat into pictures of favorite landmarks. I could make up stories about my gravy boat and things of this nature. I have a hard enough time keeping this website going some days I don't think that mygravyboatadventures.com is going to happen. But for today consider this website, mygravyboatadventures.com.

Here is my new Gravy boat and the fabulous adventure we had tonight with it holding gravy:

Time for Gravy Boat's Close-up

It's dirty work but someone has to do it

As you can see gravy boat is still casual enough for just the two of us but has a skirted saucer to dress up dinner a little bit. All-in-all I believe that this was a smart purchase. Hooray for Gravy Boat!

Where to Now?

A dear Josh letter was received in the mail yesterday from Kohl's. He was pretty bummed about it. He told me yesterday that the woman he spoke to did not know if the positions in Madison were opening up for sure or not. We knew that the Store Manager Position might be a stretch but it you never try you can never succeed. To us just getting the interview was a big shot in the arm. We aren't concerned yet. Josh is still with Wal-Mart until August 4th. So we have another month of income plus his very nice severance package. In the famed words of Freddie Mercury, "The show must go on".

On a related note, one of the guys that we went to college with lives across the street from us. He and the rest of the guys had a falling out 3-4 years ago so he isn't included in our gatherings. When he is invited he just doesn't come. About a year ago I got an IM from him asking if we lived in Sun Prairie and deduced that we live kitty corner from each other. I invited him to come over anytime to hang out or whatever. He of course denied the invite and turns his head every time we drive by or attempt to wave at him.

So I was at Pick N Save on Tuesday and I ran into him. I walked up behind him and said "Hey Jimmy" and got ignored. So I pushed my cart up to him turned my head towards him and said "Hey Jimmy, how are you?". This was the beginning of a short uncomfortable conversation during which he didn't introduce me to his bitchy looking pregnant wife whom I have never met. She ignored me and continued shopping. I was walking away saying "well it was nice seeing you." when he asked me if Josh was still at Wal-Mart. See Jimmy started working for ShopKo right out of college and had nothing but awful things to say about the fact that Josh was working for Wal-Mart. To which I say, yes Josh had to work long hours and holidays, he was under appreciated. You know what? It paid the bills and Josh has learned a lot and he even had fun once in a while. Not everyone has their dream job and loves going to work everyday but, we muttle through like anyone would. Sorry for the tangent here, so the guy who ignores us and only talks to me when cornered wants to help Josh out. After I told him Josh's story he told me that ShopKo is looking for managers, which we knew. Josh refuses to apply because, in his words "He doesn't want to work for that asshole."

Kohls update

Josh said the interview went well. He talked to the lady for 20 minutes. She asked a lot of questions and Josh got talk a lot which is different than the first interview he had. So he felt pretty confident in his answers. She told him that it would be 2-3 weeks before she got back to him. She did say that he was in the running for assistant or a store manager position. Plus he found out the pay is a lot better than Wal-Mart's base salary.

Oh and Jackson caught another chipmunk. It was quite entertaining to see it happen as I was absent from the original catching of the chippy.

We are headed to Rhythm & Booms tomorrow and off to the Farm Sunday for the 3rd Annual Redneck Fireworks Extravaganza. I am sure I will have some interesting stories to share after this weekend.

Kohl's

Last week Tuesday I was home alone and searching for Josh jobs. Hey there is nothing on TV this time of year and I want Josh to get a job soon! I usually make a list of the positions that I find and then at night or on his day off he applies for the jobs that he likes. Well last Tuesday we hit Job hunter's GOLD! There was a store manager position open at the Kohl's in Lake Delton. Yes it is about a 45 minute commute from Sun Prairie but, it is a Store Manager position. Josh called on his cell phone on his way home that night and I told him of the position. We talked about it for a little while and he came home and he was still talking about it and was VERY interested in it. He just went on and on about it and how excited he was and all the changes that he was going to make to his resume to help himself stand out. I honestly don't know how he slept that night. I am sure that he was up not too long after I left in the morning and was working on the resume.

On Monday of this week a Store Manager and an Assistant Store Manager position in Madison opened up. Josh re-emailed the recruiter and said that he wanted to be considered for the Madison positions also. We expected to wait a little while to hear anything as job hunting is a fairly long process. Yesterday Josh got a phone call to set up a phone interview for today. HOPEFULLY, keep all your fingers crossed, he performs so well in his phone interview that they set up an actual interview!!! Let's hope!! I will update afternoon to tell you the results of the interview.

Killer

In the past few weeks Jackson has been driven insane by the family of chipmunks that have moved into the landscaping in front of our apartment. Josh occasionally lets him off his leash to smell them out and chase them up the rain spout. Well tonight Josh did that as usual and a little chippy ran out of the drain spout. Well ,he met his maker pretty quickly as Jackson killed him pretty much instantly. This is surprising because Jackson is usually scared of his own shadow. We wouldn't expect him to actually catch and kill another living animal. It is really hard to believe that something this cute:

Could do this:

I am sure that you think that I am weird for taking this picture, but people take pictures of trophy bucks all the time. This is Jackson's trophy kill. I doubt he will catch anything ever again.

I Missed It Again!

I had it marked on the calendar at work so that I would remember. My second Blog-i-Versary was on Wednesday. Two years of keeping this thing barely going. I have just been so preoccupied lately with work and helping Josh with the job search. Work has been CRAZY busy for the last month or so. I am going somewhere and my projects are mostly progressing well. I just have so much to do. Hopefully I will be slowing down a little bit soon.

Josh has had one interview. He hasn't heard anything back yet so he is calling today to see what the status is. He has gotten a few Dear Josh letters. That is fine and to be expected. There are 2 new jobs available that he is really excited about. One is a Kohl's Store Manager and the other is a District Manager of Blockbuster overseeing the Madison, Milwaukee districts. We shall see, he only applied for those positions on Wednesday. I really hope he gets the call on those because he is really excited about those.

As for me I am going to the Crafts in the Country with my mom and sister this weekend. This is a yearly tradition and I cannot believe that it is already that time of year. The summer has flown. Josh brought home strawberries yesterday. We didn't do anything with them because he only brought home a pint sized thing and that isn't enough for shortcake so he is going to bring more home tonight and then I will be making shortcake. The 4th of July fireworks have been purchased so we are ready for that! Yeah!

The Search is On

Well, the job hunt has officially began. It is funny because I have some time during the day I am sending new job openings to Josh quite regularly. I know that he appreciates me spending the time. However I am not sure if he appreciates receiving several e-mails a day with new positions attached. It is quite the undertaking. I will keep you posted on the progress.

I am just blown away by the love and support we have received from our friends and family. I am not shocked because I know how great and wonderful they all are! It is just mind blowing to have that re-affirmed in a situation like this. It makes us feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful support system!

On to other things..... Hmmmm... I am gearing up to attend a conference in Boston in August! I am pretty excited about that. I have to work on my endurance because I am going with at least 2 other people and we are going to take a day off and take the Freedom Trail. So I will have to be able to walk for 2.5 miles without whining. I don't want to show that side of me in front of my co-workers. So I am pretty excited about that.

A Brighter Outlook

Josh has more answers today. He spoke to his manager today about his options and what is going to happen in the next few months. First of all Josh's position is in existence until September. I am not sure if that is the beginning or end of the month. Within the next 2 weeks Wal-Mart stores with reassess their assistant manager needs. Meaning that some new positions will be opening up within all the stores to accommodate all of the suddenly available personnel. At that point Josh can apply for any position within Wal-Mart that he qualifies for. If he isn't offered any of the positions that he applied for, he is allowed to leave Wal-Mart with a 7 week severance package. This at least makes us feel much better today than yesterday. Hopefully we will get a whole bunch of responses from the resumes we sent out last night!!

A Real Kick in the Teeth

Today I came home to a sullen husband. A husband with a beer in his hand and Tupac blaring from the stereo. Josh said something about listening to Tupac when he is depressed. I just figured that it was another bad day in retail. So I said "what happened at work today?" I quizzed about work, I asked if he got fired. To each I got a "no". I was told that he would tell me in a minute. I knew that this was bad. My husband isn't the type that has to compose himself before he speaks. Josh looked at me with eyes welled up with tears and told me that they have eliminated his position at Wal-Mart. It is not only him but all management in photo, optical and tire/lube express. This goes straight to the top. His boss loses his job and his bosses boss loses his job and on up the food chain. It doesn't matter if you have been in the position 1 or 20 years your job is GONE!!! That is 2-3,000 positions with in Wal-Mart! Each employee has one of 2 options 1) apply for a job as an assistant manager or 2) leave with severance pay.

Josh has secretly been applying for positions for a couple weeks now. Nothing too serious. Just sending random resumes out for positions that sound interesting. I don't know if this is fate's way of stepping in or what? We have no clue where and what to do next. We hope that Josh can find a job and quick. Good thing between our savings and stock plans we have our 3 months of bills saved up. I think with my income and our savings we can make it 6 months before being flat broke. After that it will be just paying the bills and that is it. No extras. No food. No Gas. Let's hope that if Josh decides to leave, his parachute is golden. PRAY for him to find a new job swiftly. I don't know what else to do. We are just numb.

Another One Bites the Dust

This past weekend my brother Andy graduated from High School. It is hard to believe that 18 years have passed since he was born. I remember waking up that December morning and my Aunt Marcia was there instead of my parents. I was so happy to have a little brother. Because of Andy we got a minivan. Something that was a big deal back in 1987. 4 kids didn't fit to well in a car. In fact I cannot even remember what kind of car we had before the blue minivan. Andy's life has sped by. Granted I don't feel like it was just yesterday that he was born because I was in 3rd grade when that happened. I do however feel like the time since my high school graduation has flown. He was nine when I graduated. I still remember him at that age. The years that I remember the most are "the dork years" Andy, bless his soul was a dork. He wore tractor hats (still does), high waisted pants and those big glasses. Of course what sticks out the most is stupid things that he said. Those years came and went and he has grown up to be a very well adjusted young man. I am very proud of him!! I know that he will succeed in his life wherever he ends up he has great drive and determination! Way to go Andy

The DOG

Sometimes being a doggy parent is very wonderful and rewarding. Other times it is frustrating. Take yesterday as an example. I put Jackson in the bathroom as I usually do when I leave for work. When I came home I was greeted at the door by a little wagging tailed beast. I was bewildered as to how he had gotten out of the bathroom until I realized that I had locked him in the bathroom without shutting the pocket door to the spare bedroom. There were shredded Kleenexs EVERYWHERE. It wasn't until a little later that I found the chewed up tampon applicator from the bathroom garbage and gagged. All I have to say is at least it wasn't a tampon!! The thing is he knows that he is in trouble as soon as you get home and he huddles near the door all curled up so that you feel sorry for him and you don't yell at him. So I didn't say a word to him and let him out.

One of the funny stories that I have neglected to share was an experience we had the last time that we were at the farm. Betsy and Danny were playing catch. Betsy had to go inside for some reason and let Matt play with Danny. Either Jackson wasn't outside before or he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, but he begins to chase the ball. He is running back and forth from Danny to Matt and back waiting to catch the ball. When a ball went soaring over someone's head he would race them to go and get the ball. He quickly realized that the ball was way to big for his little mouth then he forgot. Because each time the ball was overthrown he would run after it again. It was one of the funniest things that I have ever seen! That stupid dog will chase anything that you throw.

MY Sewing Machine Pictures

Another Person's Trash

This weekend we spent yet another weekend with the out-laws. Josh's parents are moving yet again next month. Josh's mother has been getting rid of a bunch of stuff! So we were chit chatting in front of the house Sunday afternoon while Josh's mom was looking through there stuff. She called me over and said "I have offered this to several people and no one wants this". It was an antique singer sewing machine in a sewing machine table. I was so excited!!!! I have never had anything that old and just wonderful! I was VERY happy to have it.

I had the spot picked out before we even left his parent's house. When we arrived home I moved the things around that needed to be moved and placed the table. I cleaned years of dust and grime out of it. I spent an hour cleaning it up. I used a cloth and a toothbrush to get into all the nooks and crannies. It cleaned up VERY nicely.

I did look up the machine by it's serial number. It is a model 127-3 made in Elizabeth New Jersey and the distribution date was March 30, 1920. There were 25,000 of them made. I printed off a scanned in copy of the owner's manual and maybe I can figure this bad boy out.

Here is a picture of a similar sewing machine. I will have to take a picture to post here for you to see.

Finale

It is that time of year again! When the shows that we have addicitively been watching for 9 months come to an end. I hate this time of year! I hate not having anything to watch on TV. I hate going to Movie Gallery and trying to pick through the movies that you have seen to find SOMETHING to watch. I guess it is a bonus that we haven't rented any movies in a month.

This time of year is also hard because you have to say good-bye. Leaving behind shows like Will & Grace, 7th Heaven, That 70's Show and The West Wing. Losing wonderful and touching characters like Denny Duquette , Libby and Michael Gallant. I look forward to sitting on the edge of your seat while trying to figure out what they are going to do next on Prison Break, 24 and Housewives. There is the excitement of crowning the next American Idol, Survivor or Apprentice. Then there are the questions: Why is everyone on Srubs pregnant? Why did Meredith have sex with McDreamy? Is Izzy really going to quit the program? How far can the prison break fugitives run? The list goes on and on. So I guess I will have to suffer through made for TV movies, repeats and Hell's Kitchen until that glorious week in September. A time when we will be reunited with those we love.... until then dear primetime TV...until then.

A Sign of the Times

As many of you are aware my hubby works for Wal-Mart. I think that I have also made it publicly known that I am really itching to buy a house. Well a sign of hope popped up on my drive to work yesterday. There is a sign in front of the old Monona K-Mart that reads, "Future home of Wal-Mart Supercenter" with a sign next to it for the construction company. I have been waiting for some sign that yes there was going to be a Wal-Mart there. The reason? If Josh transfers to that Wal-Mart we can both live 15 minutes from work. That is a luxury neither one of us has shared, EVER! We have been living in limbo the past few years waiting for a place to settle and if Josh can get a position in any of the new Wal-Marts in the Madison area we can finally begin our lives together.

No Rain on This Parade

Sorry folks another AI post. Last night's results show shocked most of the nation. Katharine and Chris were the bottom two vote getters last week. With Chris going home. First of all people who bet on this show are screwed!!! Never bet on American Idol, NEVER! I say this because Chris and Katharine had the highest odds of being the final two. People who watch this show religiously know that there are always upsets. It happens it is Idol and America can be finicky. Secondly, if you listened only to their performances on Tuesday the voting is correct. I believe that Chris absolutely MURDERED the Elvis songs that he sang. His songs were suspicious Minds and A Little Less Conversation. Two of my favorites and I hated his versions of them. I told Josh while we were watching it that I wasn't impressed with Chris' performances this week. Chris will get a recording contract anyway there is no doubt of his talent. I told you on Tuesday how I feel about Katharine, I cannot stand her. I think that she is screechy and annoying. This week proved no exception, I had to leave the room when she sang. Final point, I didn't vote I have no right to argue or complain. My opinion is that if you don't like how people are being voted off the show, do something about it. I didn't cast my votes this week so I am not complaining.

Way to go Elliot and Taylor for being the top two vote getters. Sing your hearts out next week and we will see you in the finale.

Jackson

Since I am on a photo post kick this week I decided to add another to the list. It has been a long time since I have done a Jackson post. Since Jackson did a kind of quirky thing this week I wanted to show you.

A view from the back

This is where Jackson sleeps daily

A Little Less Conversation

As many of you know I am a HUGE American Idol fan! Usually by this point I have a favorite. This season is an exception. The final three gentleman in the contest are absolutely AWESOME! I cannot pick between them. I have no patience or tolerance for the final female contestant, Katharine McPhee. I find her annoying and cannot stand her voice. The funny thing about the final three men is that they are all different. Chris Daughtry is the cocky rocker. He sometimes softens up so that you can see what a sweetheart that he "could" be. Elliot Yamin is the crooner who is constantly on the edge of tears. He has risen from several health problems and has come out a VERY strong person. Finally Taylor Hicks! He has an excellent voice but he has so much energy. He is the type of person that you would really like for a while but is SO hyper that you have to take him in small doses.

Tonight as I sit and contemplate who to vote for I cannot decide. Tonight was Elvis Presley night so everyone sang 2 Elvis songs each. People at work make fun of me because I have a voting system. I vote for all the people that I like. I vote for them in order of how much I like them. I will sit and vote for my favorite until I am sick of pressing the button. Then less for the next favorite. I am to the point where I should be picking one person to vote for and not voting for almost all of them. So I guess that I will have to decide quickly as the time to vote ends......

Chicago

Here are some Pictures from our day in Chicago

This is the U505 at The Museum of Science and Industry

Josh with one of the pistons from the U505

View of the Sears Tower from our hotel room

A view of the street from our hotel room

Way To Go Jr

Congratulations to Dale Earnhardt Jr for winning tonight's NASCAR race in Richmond Va!! It was a very exiting race. The last 10 laps were very intense with 2 cautions and Jr having to fight to keep control of the lead. This was only his 2nd win in the last 47 races. The last being 27 or 28 races ago in Chicago last summer. Lets hope that he doesn't keep us waiting another 20+ races to win again. This season is a vast improvement over last season. Earnhardt fans everywhere can wear their colors proudly!

Welcome Home Ben

To Honor Josh's Brother's return home for R & R from Iraq, I am posting some pictures that he sent us at the beginning of the year. There are over 200 pictures on the disk that we received. I picked a few to show you.

This is the sign that is on the back of their vehicles

This is an IED also known as a roadside bomb

This is just a stunningly beautiful photgraph. Amazing in all of the fighting and devastation beauty does exsist.

This is Josh's brother Ben

A New Attitude

I decided that it was time that I redesigned. Maybe this change in design will give me a change in attitude towards posting here. It isn't that I don't like to post or that I don't like to write. Sometimes it feels like a burden. Pressure to come up with something that is funny or witty. A story that someone will relate to. It is spring, a time for new beginnings. Here is mine.

I would like to make a few comments on the changes. I have stopped reading almost all the blogs that I used to have linked. I am going to work on keeping the links current to what I am reading now. So keep an eye out on that.

If you are a soap fan the Early Edition and Genoa City News sites are GREAT! These sites through some sort of magic are able to get tomorrows episodes of DOOL and Y&R (the Newsbrief) early. So if you don't want to tape the episodes and still keep up on what is happening in Salem and Genoa City you can. These are two of my must read blogs every lunch! So check them out!

Let's Go, Vertigo

A little more than a month ago my husband suggested we take a trip out of town. Since I had instructed him to take off the weekend after my birthday I suggested that we go somewhere that weekend. After many decision changes we decided to go to Chicago. I found a hotel near Michigan Ave that was reasonable and close to things so that we could walk or take a cab wherever we wanted to go.

Friday morning we get up and out of the house by 9 so that we can make it to The Windy City around noon. After a short stop to catch a bite to eat we arrive at The Museum of Science and Industry. Since it is the off season we had until 4 to look around and take it all in. After our very interesting walk through the museum we headed out to our hotel. With relatively no problems we arrive in the parking ramp and haul our stuff into the hotel. I was absolutely exhausted, that walk through the museum was a real test of my strength as it was the longest walk that I have taken since my surgery. We decided to rest a little while before heading out to eat. Josh had his heart set on going to Giordono's for pizza, he looked up the nearest establishment while I rested. After resting for a little while I got up to go to the bathroom and the world started to spin. Not long after that I started to vomit and have bouts of diarrhea. My insurance company like so many others have a Nurse On Call Line. I called them and there advice was "you are in shock. Hang up the phone and dial 911." I explained to the woman that I was not taking an ambulance but I would take a cab to the nearest hospital. Josh and I spent 6 hours at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I wasn't nauseated or dizzy by the time I was seen. I was pumped full of liquids given anti-nausea medications and sent back to the hotel saying that a virus was causing my illness.

Having felt fine I expected our to be tired the next day but head out to some museums. I was sadly mistaken. I awoke to a spinning room. I have never had Vertigo before. I wish to never have it again. Needless to say I told Josh to pack up we were going home. I was feeling worse and the dizziness was getting really out of hand. I couldn't handle it any longer so I again called a nurse hotline (this time my Dr's) and was told to go to an emergency room as they had the neurological capabilities that a Urgent Care Facility didn't. This time I spent my evening at Meriter Hospital in Madison. Now anyone who lives near Madison knows that this past weekend was the big Mifflin Street Block Party. We waited patiently while belligerent drunks were hauled in. We heard them yell and curse, treating the staff that was there to help them very poorly. I waited only 90 minutes to be seen. The doctor gave me something to ease the nausea and the dizziness citing a virus was to blame. I was sent home to rest and drink plenty of fluids.

Now I stopped vomiting on Saturday and the diarrhea went away by Sunday night or Monday AM. The dizziness has stayed. Monday and Tuesday were spent on the couch. On Tuesday I could watch the TV without feeling nauseated. I have been unable to concentrate on things, read or type. Today I said I am the best I have been in days I am going to work. Work proved to be a difficult task. I was frustrated and called my clinic and said "I HAVE TO SEE SOMEONE!" I feel high, spaced out not good conditions to drive with. I finally saw someone who eased my mind. No one at either Hospital explained things to me, no one told me that the dizziness could and would stick around longer than other symptoms. I was told I have labrynthitis. I should be back to normal by the end of the week. If not I was told to come back. For the first time in almost a week I relaxed. I knew that the end was near. If it wasn't I knew what to do next.

I don't expect to return to Chicago any time soon. I expect someday we will look back and laugh, but now we are disappointed and sad that we lost our time together. We instead strengthened our relationship in another way. Josh's visits to the hospital were rare before we met. Now he is learning not to be so scared and learning that it is ok to be scared for the one that you love.

What exactly is normal?

This weekend was the birthday of our Godson Colin. It is hard to believe that a year has passed since his birth but it has came and went. I now I talk about my own family here. Just for today I want to talk about my friend Heidi's family. I love Heidi to death. She has issues... as we all do. I really needed this weekend to put it all into perspective for me.

On Saturday I went alone (Josh had to work) to Waukesha. It was only Colin's family and Godparents (Josh and I) invited to this party. I was a little nervous because I have had a few interactions with Heidi's family in the past. Heidi's mom is a VERY dominating person. She is the type that you don't disagree with or second guess. The funny thing is that she can be so sweet and nice one minute and just go off the next. By the time I had left Saturday afternoon Heidi was neither speaking to her mom nor her sister. In fact her sister had packed up her family and left town. First of all, I feel bad for Heidi and Colin that her family had to ruin Colin's first birthday for her. Secondly, I really feel badly for Heidi, at one point in the afternoon I heard her yell "Why can't we have a normal fucking family?" I feel that the way Heidi was raised she has turned out pretty well balanced. With a mother who asks her 25 year old daughter if she has brushed her teeth and showered before she leaves the house, you have to be a little off. I spent a weekend with her mother last summer and almost couldn't handle it myself. I could not last a lifetime of the pestering.

Needless to say I will take with a grain of salt the bossing around of Mitch because that is all she knows. Hopefully someday she learns how to ask him to do something for him instead of bossing, but hey we aren't all perfect!

42%

Our annual reviews were this week. I really wasn't too nervous about it since I had gotten a sneak peek at what my manager had said. Our review process is one where you set goals at the beginning of the year and at the end you review yourself and then your boss reviews your performance. I wasn't able to do my self evaluation because I was out on leave yet my boss still had to do her review. This process is done online. The only way for me to write my review was to write in the same document where my supervisor had already written. I knew that she was happy with my performance for last year. In fact what she thought was really great that I completed all my goals in 10 months time.

I knew that I was going to get a nice wage increase because my boss's husband (who works at my company too) told me about the fight that my boss had about my wage with upper management. He told me about this about a month or so ago. I had it in the back of my mind and have been anxious to hear about it. I was absolutely floored when I read the amount. It is even 29% higher than when I started here. That equals about $10,000/year more. Which is 42% higher than what I was paid at my old job. Just keep in mind these changes are all within a 2 year time span. I have my 2-yr anniversary here on the 24th of this month. I think changing companies was a smart decision!

NCAA pool final

The office braggart won the NCAA pool. So now we get to hear about how awesome he is. Uggg...... Only 2 more months until he is obsessed with his Bocce team.

It's HERE!!!!!

The Computer is here and installed!!! Josh spent yesterday afternoon playing with it and putting it all together. I was up until 11:30pm transferring songs from my CDs to my iPod. It will be another night of that. It takes about 5 min/CD. I want to get most of my CDs transferred. Then I can start to decide about buying/downloading more songs. Off to WORK!!!

The Tale of the $1100 iPod

Yesterday Josh called me last night to ask me if he could by an iPod. The story behind that is some guy returned it full of rap music without a receipt. Therefore Wally World is unable to return it to their distributors. They just sell the item at a generous discount to their associates. The proceeds then go to the Children's Miracle network. So we ended up paying $100 for this iPod. I told him that it was up to him if we bought it or not. A guy with a decision about electronics will inevitably buy whatever it is.

We get it home and I checked it out. Since the thing was full of Rap music I wanted to get it hooked up to the computer so that I could get it off. I insert the disc and wait for it load. A pop-up came that said we need windows 2000 or XP. We have Windows ME. Now we have been looking at computers for a little while now. A couple times when I was off and even last month the computer has crashed and had the computer restart in DOS mode and unable to start up. So last night was the straw that broke the camel's back. We bought a new Dell.

The thing is this time we are going to take VERY good care of this computer. We are going to keep our spyware up to date and our virus protection current. We cannot afford not too. Especially if we will be getting a bunch of new music off the internet. We will also back it up so if it crashes on it we won't have to go back to square one.

Bracketnesia

Every year I fill out a NCAA bracket. Every year I fail miserably! Yet, each year when March Madness hits I succumb to the hope that I will do better this year. I have even started filling out 2 brackets. Trying to hedge my bets. In the end, I end up losing anyway. It is only a 3 dollar pool, so what do I have to lose? Not much in the grand scheme of things. Although each year I enjoy the last minute victories and the Cinderella teams. It is worth the $6 ride.

Other news from the week...... I have to apologize to my mom. I didn't tell her about the extent of our money troubles. I guess the way I saw it was we didn't want anyone to know at the time how hard the times were. Since it was all repaired rather quickly I thought it would be OK to talk about. I know that she felt like I didn't want to share this with her but I would share it with the internet. Really that wasn't the way that it was. Mom, I am REALLY sorry!!! Along money lines, Josh thinks that his bonus is going to be taxed as regular pay instead of a bonus! Don't ask me how they get around it. I think that we will be credit card debt free this time next week!!!!! yeah!!!!!

I have really started to research houses in the Madison area. I am pretty well aware of what are high prices and what kind of prices to expect where. That should really help this time next year when the house hunt has begun! I will continue to look around until then! Of course we will save, save, save!!

I also had a little mishap this week. Friday I was walking out to my car and in the shadow of my car was and ice patch. I ended up slipping and pulling some muscles in my leg and butt. I skipped the pool that day and went to the pool yesterday, but I am still pretty sore. I really hope that I didn't mess stuff up too badly.

The final excitement for the week was, I had a chance to go to England, but graciously asked another co-worker before I committed. I knew that he may want to go. Plus, I have to update my passport and didn't think that I could do it in 3 weeks. We don't have copies of our marriage certificate. We never requested official copies of it. So I have sent out for those and have the passport papers all ready to be sent so that I can get a new one. So that I don't have to pass up that opportunity ever again!

I Feel Lighter Today

The weight is starting to lift off our financial shoulders. 2005 was the year to recover from the wedding and get our lives completely meshed. It took a while to get my spending habits and Josh's spending habits synced. Sometimes they still aren't. Also, we had to start to figure out how to pay off the mass amount of debt Josh piled up in college. He was paying minimums and not getting anywhere. His money was a HUGE taboo until we got married. He often felt like I was snooping and that it was none of my business. When it came close to the wedding he finally came clean. We made some smart decisions and consolidated a lot of it and paid off the smaller balances. So besides store cards with don't always have a balance, we had 2 cards with the money on them. I also saw the end of the tunnel on my car loan and started paying almost double the payment to get rid of it sooner.

All was well and good until I went on leave which happened to be the same time as Christmas. Then the nightmare of not getting my disability happened and we had to dip into our savings to make ends meet. I had to sell stock to pay the bills for February. It wasn't pleasant. It was just an incentive to really pay off all the debt that we can and to save, save, save.

I FINALLY received the check from my disability back pay that I was waiting for. We were able to put the money back into our savings that we took out to pay our bills while I was off. The check was also sizeable enough to pay off the balance of my car loan and leave us a little extra.

Here is the financial plan: Use our tax returns and my bonus to pay off Josh's card. Then we will use his bonus + 1 or 2 months payment to pay off my card. Then all the debt that we have is school and 1 car loans. Paying only that AND our monthly bills we should be able to save up enough so that next year around this time with our savings, tax returns and bonuses we should have a nice down payment so that we can buy a house. That is the goal. I have been wanting to buy a house since before we got married. We just had to pay things off first. I want to be able to afford a house that we don't have to completely remodel when we move in. I want to be able to paint and buy window treatments and still be able to afford furniture to fill the house. I know the financial responsibility of home ownership and being an adult is great. I want to go into it as prepared as you can be. I don't want to have my children see the money struggle the way we saw my parents. I have waited this long for my house I can wait another year can't I?

Nap Time

I am so tired I don't know what to do with myself. Since I have been back to work I have been wiped out everyday. Being at the pool 3 times a week tends to wear me out. This is my pool workout:
15 minutes water walking
10 minutes skipping
8-10 minutes side lunges with wings (walking sideways, not crossing legs, wings are to provide resistance)
3 reps of 20 step-downs/leg
2 reps of 20 hip side to sides (in and outs)
5 reps/leg of balancing on one leg for 30 seconds

Then the other 4 days a week I do these at home:
2 reps of 15 bridges with squeezing ball between my knees.
5 reps of balancing on L leg for 20 sec
3 reps of 10 side steps with resistance band around ankles
2 reps of 10/leg skaters touch (touch backs) with resistance band around ankles
3 reps of 8 side leg lifts with resistance band around knees
10 reps of tummy suckers holding 10 secs/lift. These suckers are hard if not damn near impossible.

I have piles of books to read no wonder I can't get to them huh? Things are getting easier, but I am definitely keeping busy with it all. The bonus is that between all the pool stuff and not snacking so much at work I am starting to lose weight again. I pretty much maintained my weight (within 5lbs) while I was off. Which I am proud of, but now I am at the low end of what I was right after surgery.

RENT

I really liked RENT! I liked it a lot! I love the rock n' roll soundtrack! I thought that it was touching and funny. I really enjoyed the performance. I am glad that I went to see it! My complaints have more to do with the Overture center. We were sitting in the second row from the top. So, not that great of seats. I don't know if it is the way the music should be or if they were having technical difficulties but you often times couldn't understand the singers or even hear them over the background music. Therefore it was hard to understand the plot at times. We got together at the end of the performance and were able to put the plot together. Now that I understand the plot I am going to see the movie and see how it compares and to fill in any things that we missed. I bought the soundtrack (could only find the movie version) from Wal-Mart this morning on the way to work. I really enjoyed the songs and thought that I should own the soundtrack. Being able to hear and understand the words I appreciate the music even more.

Off to the Theatre

I am attending my first broadway musical tonight and I am WAY excited! Some co-workers and I are going to see RENT tonight at the Overture Center. It has been a long day of waiting and working. I don't think that I can put into words. I am off to re-curl my hair and touch up my make up! I will give you a report tomorrow.

Frustration

Today I had my 3rd therapy appointment with my new therapist, who I will only have for one more appointment. She is leaving the beginning of March, she is an intern and that is when her internship ends. Then I will have to switch to the guy who helped to evaluate me. He seems very kind and easy spoken. I don't need someone who is harsh.

My frustration has nothing to do with my therapist, I have found at the therapists I have had wonderful and supportive. I don't think that I could have asked for anyone better. The problem is my body. Since I have developed as I have and walk the way I have for so long I am getting frustrated at it. I have problems with my toes pointing out all the time. Now my hips aren't aligned straight. I have REALLY had to work on my stomach muscles!!! Talk about HARD! I think that I am going to have a 6 pack by the time I am done with this.

I am beginning to be frustrated at my lack of progress. I have progressed pretty regularly. My therapists have always been pleased with my progress. I was able to show them weekly how much better I have become. Now I don't make enough progress in a week, I have to go every other week. I know that I should see it as look how far I have come. It just means that we are getting to the fine tuning. Which is great! As many of you know the fine tuning is often the hardest part because you have to tinker and prod and poke and try and figure out what to do to make it all run as it originally did. You tinkerers know the frustration I feel it is only worse because it isn't an engine or car, it is your body, you use it for everything. If it doesn't run right you know.