Beeping

A couple month ago our faithful washer crapped out. So MD and I went on a search for a new washer & Dryer (MD likes MATCHING sets.

This is what HE picked. He went on and on about Bosch, how reliable they are, what a great company they were, and on and on. I sort of tuned him out after I saw the price (yes I am the penny pincher of the house). I have been so nervous about purchasing this type of machines. I have several friends who went all "high efficiency" and have nothing but bad luck with any brand of these machines.

Well I have to report that we have not had one teeny tiny problem. As a matter of fact they are supper quiet AND laundry time has been cut dramatically! Which of course in turns saves me money on the utility front also. BONUS!

MD was in a spending mode that day..... so he also talked me into a new dishwasher.

I will have to admit our dishwasher was a bit noisy, but it worked fine. You just had to turn the TV up a bit. But in the end, AGAIN, he was right. Life is a little quieter and utilities a little lower with the new appliances.

This week is not starting out well at all.

At work a bird flew into our transformer and it blew. A blown transformer means no power, and no power means no computer, microwave, or AIR CONDITIONING. I have never seen AmrenUE respond so quickly to a call though. I will have to give that cudos to them. Luckily I had a bit of work to do that did not need a computer, and we have plenty of windows which provided enough light to work by. But it did start to get a bit warm.

AmrenUE got the transformer fixed within three hours. That time count started as soon as we lost power to the minute it was back on. Like I said, never seen them respond so fast before. Makes one think.

Then I get home and Devin, Mikayla, and David are in the living room. No I did not inherit or have another child. They had a friend in the house when I got home. (and that breaks one of the rules of the House). As the kids and I chatted, I wandered around the house putting things away that were not where they belonged. As I approached the living room I noticed "things" were missing and/or out of place. The missing item I started asking about. Everybody responded like I was an idiot and didn't know what I was talking about. Finally after roaming through the entire first floor without finding it. Going up stairs to change (ranting the whole time) and coming back down stairs with it not produced in front of me. I proclaimed that everyone was grounded until my missing item was returned.

I knew something was up because I could hear Mikayla telling Devin, "If you don't I am" which is a sure sign they both know what is going on and that Devin had something to do with it. Mikayla does not like "snitching" on her brother, but likes being grounded even less. So finally with enough prodding THEY came down and told me.

Devin now has to clean all the baseboards in the house. All three floors totally 4500 square feet of house which all rooms have baseboards. And yes that is including the finished basement. He is none too happy about it, but I explained that I am none too happy about my broken stuff.

Tit for Tat.

Wondering what tomorrow holds in store for me........in addition to the 100 degree temps everyone is talking about.

No Words can explain

I am playing catch up today. Don't get too excited. I am playing catch up on reading every one's blogs. It is hot outside and my "TOM" showed up this morning so I really feel like doing nothing.

What is TOM. Well the ladies will know TOM and know TOM well. It is my youngest daughters way of telling me her "time of month"has come. I thought it was cute and it stuck. So that is TOM.

Anyway, I was catching up reading, boy I have been gone a while. You all have written so much and done so much. I feel sometimes that I have been standing still, not accomplishing much, just getting up, going through the motions, going to bed, and doing all over the next day. Nothing really to write home (or to you) about.

Sure I could rant for ever on the progress OR there lack of with Devin and his whatever they are calling it now. Me I call it a royal pain in the ass. Different doctors diagnose him with different things and let me tell you nothing they do help for any length of time. It all starts out promising, but within a few months the demon seed comes back.

Or I could go on forever on how excited and proud I was that Felicia broke off her 5 year relationship-engagement. I could tell you that she is trying desperately to not get serious with a boy she is seeing and failing miserably. How she is enjoying/hating a long distance relationship (they live 5 hours apart). How she is rushing on trying to figure out what to do with her life. Though I keep telling her not to rush, there is no need. She sis graduate from college a year early. So enjoy the year then worry about life. I keep telling her the grind of life will all still be there next year.

Or I could go on about Mikayla and her quick sarcasms make me smile most days. Though I am NOT ready for her to be in High School, be interested in BOYS, or grow up as fast as she is. I guess being the youngest of three will do that.

But really they are the same stories over and over. And I really do not want to make you think my life is so horrible that all I can do is complain all the time.

Actually I do have a saying about complaining in my house. You are allowed to complain about a topic once and only once. Then you have to make a choice on what to do or not do about what ever it is you are complaining about. You either do something to fix said problem or you deal with it but if you are choosing to just do nothing about it then you loose the rights to complain any more about it.

Oops I totally got off track of what I originally was wanting to write about. TOM has my brain on off today also I believe. Sorry about that. As I started out saying in the beginning of this babbling brook of words. I was catching up on your lives and doings. I happended across this Blog post Its My Pink. She moved me to tears. I mean serious tears. Her feelings were so powerful in her writing they came right out of the page. Made me kind of put my problems right into perspective that is for sure.

IDIOTS

I'm just saying.........

Some people are just so......................

They just make you wanna drop kick them across the room!

Can you tell it was a bad day?

Paybacks

Did you ever notice that when you are going to go on any kind of vacation you have to work like twice as much at work the week before you to make sure you have everything done before you leave?

Then when you come back you have three times as much work to do than you normally would have. Like no one else could do your job while your gone.

Does that mean if you left the company your job would never get done?

Makes going on a vacation somewhat depressing. What is with that!

Administrative Professionals Day

Today is Administrative Professionals Day.

And seeing that this is what I and two others in the office do for a living (among other things), my coworkers had a luncheon (I think this was already planned) and gave us this cool cookie bouquet.

I am sure I have said this before, but I work with "Professionals" (using THAT term loosely). They are a bunch of Geologist, Engineers, Biologist, Environmental Scientist, and mixtures of each. I am assuming you have to have a "strange soul" be be one of these people.

But as strange as they may be, they do make work interesting sometimes. And that is good, because working with numbers and scanning all day can get quite monotonous.

I am grateful for the people I work with, they are some of the reasons I like my job, and some of the reasons I want to scream at the end of the day.

Defiantly keep things interesting.

Thanks Guys!

A Little Giggle and a Little Wiggle

Friday my sister, Jodi, and I decided we wanted to go dancing on Saturday night. I wanted MD & Le to go with us, but oh no they did not want anything to do with that. The party poopers!

So we all decided to go to Harra's casino, we went to dinner at the steak house (yea cannot remember the name just now), then the girls and I went to the Vodoo Lounge and the guys went to gamble.

For the first time in YEARS I was carded. I asked the bounder if he was kidding. He said he had to card anyone who did not look over 30. I just looked at him, laughed and told him I LOVE YOU and gave him a hug. Then handed him my ID and told him I was the oldest in the group. He looked at my ID then to me and said he would have never guessed I was 43. Lier but that's okay made me feel good anyway.

The band playing was Paint the Earth. We discussed (like school girls) which one we thought was the "cutest". Jodi was all up into the singer, Audrey and I dug the base player. To me the singer looked like he might have been in his early (if that) thirties, but the base player looked more my age and looked FINE.

Yea I am married but so not blind or dead.

Anyway, we had a really good time. I even enjoyed the free drinks I was getting from the guys hitting on my sister and Jodi. When I snuck away to see MD he wanted to know how many were hitting on me. Told him none, duh wedding ring. He said I was supposed to tell him all kinds were.

He is such a goober.

Sup???

I sit here trying to catch up on everyone blog lives. And wonder.....do all of you REALLY have such exciting lives or is it that you are all just able to tell ordinary things in extraordinary ways. Story telling is definitely not in my arsenal of talents. So kudos to all you great story tellers!


Anywaaaayy.


Felicia is home for spring break. Too broke to go anywhere else (and no I am NOT giving her MORE money to go on a trip) so she came home. She brought home a friend with her. His name is Rolland (a.k.a. vampire which is Mikayla's nickname for him)and he is from Alaska.




He is such a laid back fellow (which is a really good thing with staying here for the entire week), very polite, gets along with everyone here and all her friends at school, AND most importantly he has not gotten on MD's nerves.





He is currently sitting here with Mikayla quizzing her for a Social Studies test tomorrow. I think Mikayla is developing a slight crush. She thinks he is "cool" and "fun". It is a good thing he feels comfortable sitting here without Felicia, she is currently up in her room on the phone arguing with her boyfriend.





I personally think they are "cute" together. They look a lot alike. And he is the perfect height for her.......she is 5' and he is 5'5".


They been to the butterfly house (because she had an interview for an internship), Union Station, the Arch, Bush Wildlife. Tomorrow she said that they are going to a few museums. That is if they get up before noon. She said they also plan on hitting the Science Center.

A Birthday Party He Will Not Soon Forget

MD's birthday party once again was a surprise to him.

He repeatedly said that he did not want a party. HA is all I had to say to that!

I am actually very surprised myself that I was able to pull it off without him finding out.

I thought for sure he had suspicions. He did get very sneaky.

I had originally planned to have the party at a place called SpyBar. Michele, Jodi, and I went one evening in December (under the veil that we were Christmas shopping) and fell in love with the place. And the name went perfectly with the James Bond party theme.

But as time went by I had kept trying to contact the manager to get things finalized and I kept getting no answer. One night in January I called the number again and it was disconnected. Needless to say I FREAKED.

I went on a mad scramble to secure another location. I thought I was doomed. It was very difficult locating another restaurant/bar that would be able to accommodate the group I had coming. Finally I contacted one of MD's Pepsi clients, it was a newly opened establishment. Rich was all for it, and so excited. He normally did not cater but said that he wanted to do it up right for MD.

Finally I had a place so I got back on the ball making his invitations.

And got them mailed as quick as I could as it was about three weeks before the date that I was having the party. And it could not be changed as I had people coming in from out of town and tickets were already purchased.

In the mean time Mr. sneaky britches was rooting though my email seeing if he could find out if I was up to something. He found an email from a photographer I hired for the party.

He had been dropping hints for about a week and a half that he knew something was up. So I fessed up. Told him that I DID plan a party. I confessed everything........well everything about the party at SpyBar. But I told him that SpyBar closed. That they turned into an under 21 club!

I told him about the other places I tried. Told him about the manager at Blue Sky (what a JERK). Told him that I was unable to locate another location that would close a section for us on a Saturday evening. They all said that they could not accommodate the size party I was planning. So he was getting his wish, he was NOT getting a party.

The following day he informed me "HE" received an email from a photographer saying she was going to meet me at SpyBar. Sneaky bugger! I asked him to give me the email. That I needed the phone number or email to let them know the party was canceled. But he said he deleted it. How convenient!

I kept that ruse up until the very end!

Now the excuse to get him dressed up you ask???

Well that is another creative fib I had to come up with. My neighbor Michele is a nurse in a cardiac cath lab. SOOOOOO we came up with ....... now wait here it comes......

The St. Louis Heart Association Annual Dinner Benefit

Jim & Michele said they had two extra tickets and wanted us to go with them. Totally worked like a charm!!!! Oh, and why were we going to Maxwells first? Well had that covered also. Michele said that they were meeting another nurse there and then going to the banquet hall. She even had another friend of ours call her while we were on our way "asking where we were at".

Michele was perfect. She even explained the personalities of the "doctors" that would be attending the dinner. She had Mike totally fooled!

The party was great. Mike has not relaxed that much in YEARS. I mean he danced, talked, played, ate and drank.

He got silly with me and the kids (yes I talked the bar owner into allowing Devin & Mikalya in the bar until 9pm). We had an all male dance review (they kept their clothes on however) going on early in the evening. It was soo funny seeing all these grown men dancing on the dance floor with absolutely no women out there. And having fun.

No one had a care in the world it seemed.

Devin was amazing and so well behaved. And some of MD's coworkers were flirting with him. Devin just ate it up. But I have to admit he did clean up good!

MD's sister, brother in-law, and nephew came in from Georgia. I was disappointed, I barely got to speak with them.

His Aunt Sophi also came. I just LOVE this woman. I have known her since I was a kid. I have known MD's cousin Jon since I was 15. He is partially the reason MD & I met. But that is another story for another day.

MD and I use to dance all the time. I have missed that and it was so much fun just letting loose and dancing all night.

We danced with everyone. And had a lovely time.