Well, this has been some week and it's only Tuesday. We just got home from Kaelyn's Kindergarten night. We got to visit her classroom and the playground. Guess which one she preferred?!?

A long chapter in my life is coming to an end. Change is always hard but as much as I have agonized over this decision the past few years, I just knew the time was right. I am excited about what the next chapter will be for me and my family. I plan to spend the summer at home with the girls and then see what autumn brings. But for now, I am gainfully unemployed! And very happy to be!

Getaway

I am feeling better tonight. Just in time for the weekend. And I actually have the whole weekend off. Wowza! Kevin and I may leave town for a night and stay at a bed and breakfast. I'll see how I feel tomorrow. We do need the time away, to spend together. It is so hard to stay connected in our busy days and I hate that. I spent the evening searching the net for some place to stay. Many places were full but I found some great places to go next time we want to get away. Here are a few that look good: http://www.chateauavalonhotel.com/ , http://www.yateshouse.com/ ; and http://www.thegardenhousebnb.com/ . We want to go somewhere close to home and somewhere we havn't been before. Last year we went to St. Charles and stayed here : http://www.booneslick.com/ . We stayed at the cottage and it was so nice. Kevin is sitting on the porch of the cottage in the above picture. And here I was, enjoying my favorite part!

Great Grape Taste

It's pretty sad when you're sick and all the medicine you have in the house is Children's Dimetapp Cold and Allergy Elixir in Great Grape Taste and you feel so bad that you take it anyway. And for an adult, that means four teaspoons every four hours. Four teaspoons is a lot of elisir, Great Grape Taste or not! And then as we are out of dishwasher detergent, there isn't a clean spoon in the house so I used the children's syringe to take my medicine.

I still feel like crap.

I went to Barnes and Noble and bought four books earlier today: Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky, Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield and The Ultimate Cheapskates's Road Map to True Riches by Jeff Yeager. What to read first?!? As with most things in my life, my reading tastes are qutie eclectic.

I went to happy hour on Tuesday with my co-workers to celebrate our supervisor's birthday. I had really good Bruschetta (but not as good as Bucca di Beppo Bruschetta) and two Pomtinis (pomegranante martinis's) Yum!

Happy Belated Anniversary To Me (Us)

I have been so busy that the days and weeks are running together. I can't believe that it is only Monday! Of course, working on Saturday and Sunday makes "weekends" obsolete.

But...things are looking up and we have gotten a lot accomplished at the home where I have been spending much of my time. That's the important part, the paper work will wait.

Yesterday was my marriage anniversary. I say it that way because we also have a wedding anniversary. Six years ago, Kevin and I eloped to Las Vegas and tied the knot. It was the most spontaneous thing either of us have ever done. We are both pretty cautious and reserved. After we did it, we were both scared and decided not to tell anyone for awhile. Kevin left me in the hotel room and went down to the lobby for a cigarette. While he was gone, I started calling people and left messages with our big news. Kevin was back when the calls started pouring in. His eyes grew wider and he finally asked "how many people did you call?" Just my family and my Woodhaven family!

It's been a good six years and we have accomplished a lot. Kevin graduated with his Bachelor's degree in 2004. We will both graduate with our Master's degrees in a few weeks. We have two beautiful, funny, and intelligent daughters that light up our lives. We have jobs that we love "most days" and a warm and inviting home. Well, not so inviting at the moment but soon it will be again. As soon as Mom comes over to help me clean it. We may need a bulldozer.

I am hoping to get shifts covered and be able to go to St. Charles this weekend for a quick getaway. We need it.

And yes, I do expect present for BOTH of my anniversaries.

Little Princesses

I am back at work for another awake overnight. I just got fully recovered from Wednesday night!

I have been here for 2 1/2 hours and already gotten a good deal of work done. That's the silver lining, I guess.

Today was Kaelyn's birthday party. She chose a princess theme, but not Disney Princess. I found cute decorations on-line and worked from that. It all came out nice. We had the party at mom and dad's because our back yard is very muddy and quite frankly, I just haven't had time to clean inside the house! Actually I think Kevin and I are at a impasse over the house. We are both frustrated and tired and nothing seems to get done. At this point, I need to take a weeks vacation just to get the house picked up. It's that bad.

There isn't time for a vacation anytime in the near future.

But back to Kaelyn's party. It all went very well and we had seven little princesses and one little prince attend the party. I had bought foam tiaras for the kids to decorate and bought the little boy a visor instead. He chose to decorate up a tiara though. He looked pretty cute in it too! The funny part though is that when Kaelyn and I were making invitations and counting up how many we needed, I mentioned Tyler's name. He is one of Kaelyn's oldest and bestest friends so I knew he would be at the party. But when I mentioned his name, Kaelyn exclaimed, "But he isn't a princess!"

ER Visit

I did an awake overnight last night. That means I had to go to work and stay awake the entire night. I am way too old for that business. I had a lack-of-sleep hangover all day because of it. I tried to nap this afternoon but just couldn't do anything more than doze. And just when I thought I had both girls in bed and was ready to hit the sack myself, Kaelyn starts screaming that her cheek hurts, and her ear hurts. Uh oh, I know what that means. Ear infection! Every time Kaelyn has a cold, like she did this weekend, she gets an ear infection. She was screaming and hitting her ear, inconsolable. I finally got her to take some Motrin and called mom for advice. She came and got Kate and Kaelyn and I headed in to the little hospital in Boonville. We were in and out in thirty minutes and Kaelyn is back on antibiotics. And now I am really tired but sleep still eludes me.

My Baby

It has been a whirlwind of a week. My days have been constant running, trying to get everything done, with no end in sight. I keep reminding myself, "I love my job, I love my job, I love my job". I am so thankful though for the awesome people I work with. They have made this time of change so much easier.

So, I'm not getting too much work done on my internship. I have some great ideas though. If only there were more hours in the day.

And last but certainly not least, I registered my baby for kindergarten today. She seemed to do very well with the screening and seems excited for school. I was thrilled to learn that they may have summer school and the pre-kindergartners can go two times a week for half days. I was trying to figure out something for Kaelyn to do this summer so that would be great. It is looking like there will be 15 kindergartners in the fall. My graduating class had 15, so that is a good number. The teacher seemed very sweet.

Here is my baby, almost five years ago. Kaelyn's birthday is Friday. I am going to school with her in the morning, taking cupcakes for her to share with the class. I'll stay for the rest of the morning, as it is "Trike Day" whatever that means. Ms. Gerhard promises it is fun so I am looking forward to it. Afterwards, I think we'll go to Columbia, have some lunch, and then go to the mall for haircuts and manicures. I can't wait!

Yawn

Just finished my second fifteen hour day in a row. I am tired, tired, tired, tired...going to bed now because very soon now, it will start all over again.

Never quit!

Read this on the web tonight and wanted to share.

Life happens. It will happen again and again - the routine demands of life will overload you, or unexpected events will blow in from nowhere and threaten to drive you off course.

You might run into a crisis at work and feel overextended, your kids
might get sick, your computer might burn itself to smoldering
microchips (as mine did while I was writing Unstoppable Women), or your babysitter could announce she's moving to Des Moines.

Life has infinite possibilities - and infinite ways to complicate your plans.
When such things occur, we all must confront the urge to give up. Don't do it! When you're tempted to rationalize - "Well, I'll quit for now, but I'll get back on track tomorrow or next week" - seize the day! Take one immediate action to get yourself moving toward your task before the temptation to once again throw in the towel gets too strong.

Quitting is a habit. Every time you quit, you damage your self esteem and send your psyche the message that you're incompetent. You are competent! And each time you take action and stick to your commitment when you felt like quitting, you'll gain a newfound confidence that makes the next step increasingly easier.

Blessings

Today has been a very long day. Some days it just seems like everything is futile. I could sit here and complain, but instead, I am going to list my blessings...

I have two beautiful daughters who are healthy, happy and fun. They always make me smile.
I have a handsome husband who also makes me smile.
I have a loving family who supports me in all I do.
I have a beautiful, warm home...mess and all.
I am educated and will graduate next month.

There are so, so many more that I can't begin to list them all. I am thankful for them all, though.

I am so very blessed and do not want to waste time feeling sorry for myself. So, I won't!

Fairy Dust Glitter

I had a surprise visit from my old BFF this morning. We were all still in bed asleep when I heard knock, knock, knock. I tried to ignore it but she just kept knocking. My house was a disaster! I hate to have people see how we really live! I managed to push that aside and sit down and have a nice visit with her. Despite only living a little over an hour away, I haven't seen her in three years. We are just both busy with our lives. When I am with her, I become seventeen again. It's kind of nice for a few hours!

I am still working on Kaelyn's invitations. Once I get the prints made, I glue them to cardstock, and then add a bow and other adornments. I printed out the address labels and addressed the envelopes. I used glitter glue on part of the invitation and then dusted the entire card with fairy dust glitter. I got more on my floor then on the cards. Oh, I also stamped stars all over the back of the cards. They look nice. I'll take a picture of the final project tomorrow. The part is only two weeks away and I am so not ready.

I just looked down and I have fairy dust glitter all over my bosom. Nice.

I just had to do a google search to find out how to spell "bosom".

Sad Day

I am feeling a little sad today. I have spent a lot of time this week on the phone with my best friend from high school. We shared some wild and crazy times together. She was there for me during a very hard time in my life. She is having some hard times of her own now so we have been talking and reminiscing. Some of the memories make me laugh and some make me cry. It was the best of times and it was the worst of times, I guess.

You're Invited

Hello Dolly!

So, Dolly Parton was on American Idol last night. Side note: I love Dolly! Jolene, Here You Come Again, 9 to 5...great music! Anyway...Kaelyn walks into the room and sees Dolly on the screen. "I know her!" she exclaims. I look at her dubiously, certain she has never heard of Dolly Parton before. "That's Hannah Montana's Aunt!" she told me. And of course, she is right. I have seen Dolly on Hannah Montana lately. And that is why she is the smartest kid in the world.

Bathroom Makeover

I must have felt bad for doing nothing because I decided to makeover my bathroom. Tonight. I have one coat of Sycamore Grove paint on the walls and one coat of Bright White on my vanity and medicine cabinet (they were oak colored...too much brown!) My bathroom is really small so it didn't take too much time. Kaelyn helped me paint and she was so cute, stripped down to her underwear, painting with her little brush. I bought a new shower curtain, although it is the same one I already had.

I love the colors on the curtain but I was never happy with the way the walls came out. It matched okay but it was a Crest toothpaste blue color. Now the walls are a chocolate milk color with the white trim. I think it will look nice. I'll post a picture after Kevin gets it done tomorrow. Notice, I start the mess and Kevin gets to clean it up!

Lazy Weekend

How can an entire weekend have gone by and I have done NOTHING? I sit amongst the mess I call home and can't muster the energy to do a thing about it. Kaelyn had some "sick bugs" yesterday and woke up vomiting. I didn't get much better. She slept most of the day. Today Kevin seems to have caught the same sick bugs and is still in bed. I am just praying that Kate doesn't get it.

I did take a nice walk with Mom and the dogs yesterday. It was a little cool but felt good to be out and about. My goal is to do some sort of exercise daily. I found the cutest little water bottles at Walmart yesterday. Each one hold 32 oz. of water and are easy to handle. I bought three of them and plan to go get a few more to give to my biggest loser team members at work. They come in pink, lime green and blue...of course, I bought on of each. Still, they were only $1.47 each.

And that is all that is going on around here!

My Hometown

I took a long walk yesterday around my Hometown. I love this little place. Someone recently insinuated that because my family has not lived here our entire lives, that this isn't really home to us. I beg to differ! Home is truly where the heart is and my heart is in this little town.

My grandpa came here in his early twenties to work the pipeline. My grandma moved here as a teenager when her mother married a local man. They met, fell in love and married. This was home to them. I never met them as they passed away before I was born, but my dad and my aunt and uncle made sure I knew them through sharing stories and memories. They seemed a little adventurous and they lived in a lot of different places and worked various jobs, but this town was always home to them. It was always home to my dad, and even my mom, who has her own hometown, has a soft spot for this little town. And it will always be home to me.

After we moved to Missouri, and I was struggling at the school in Columbia, Mom and Dad made the sacrifice to drive to work every day so I could go to school here. I can never thank them enough for making that decision for me. I loved every minute of going to school here and now I am making that same sacrifice for my own children.

Despite only living here for six years, while I went to school, every time I visited before moving back, I was made to feel welcome. My grandma only went to school here for six months, and my dad for nine years, and I for five years, but I am still proud that my daughter will be a fourth generation Panther next year!

Happy Easter

We had a great time in Kansas City. I highly recommend Disney productions. Before the show, we ate lunch at Famous Dave's barbecue. I had never heard of it but I guess it is a chain place. It was really good and the service was great considering there was eleven of us, and five of those under seven!

I will post some pictures from the show tomorrow and a longer weekend update. I am too tired tonight.

TGIF!

Today was a pretty good day. I went to the Biggest Loser competion at work and got signed up and weighed. That was depressing. We are in teams of four and have twelve weeks to lose weight for case prizes.

After work, Mom, Dad and I went to look at a house that I have had my eye on for several years. My parents and I are kind of strange like that, we love to look at houses. I know the realtor hates to get our calls. Anyway, I loved the house but it is really out of price range. It is unfinished and will get pretty pricey to finish it. Someday, perhaps. We have bills to pay off first.

Speaking of depressing, depression is a funny thing. I knew I had been down in the dumps for several weeks. I had no energy and no motivation. Then today, it is like a cloud has lifted and I feel better. Maybe now I can get my house cleaned!

LOOOONG Day

Today was a very long day. I have some vacation hours to use up so I thought I would take a half day off. I wanted to get the girls' Easter pictures taken. That didn't happen. Both girls were absolute terrors the entire day. I put Kate to bed at 6:30 as she hadn't napped all day and I got Kaelyn laid down at the same time with a movie. Kate went right to bed but Kaelyn is still awake. It is almost 11 pm! I don't know how she does it. I have tried everything. It is crazy!

In other news, I put our Biggest Loser application packet in the mail yesterday. We each had to complete a 10-page written application, submit photos and the 10-minute video, which was more like 14 minutes. So, now we wait.

We have our trip to Kansas City coming up this weekend. I am way too excited to see Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes for the second time. There are eleven of us going: the four of us, Kellie, Mom, Devan and Clairice, and we are meeting Tracy, Greg, and Lily there. Then we are going to stay the night in Kansas City.

I want to go back to the Italian restaurant down at the Plaza that Kevin and I found when we went to the city for his 40th birthday. It was so out of the way that we almost walked past it. We had been to three other restaurants that had waits of over an hour each, and we were starving, so we popped in there. It was called Bucca di Beppo's and it was the best Italian food I have ever had. I have been craving their homemade bruscetta since then. Basil!