Accomplishments

Today is the last day of my daughter's first year of middle school. There were so many new things ahead of us last August when she started school. I think I was more nervous than she was. She jumped right into middle school and conquered it with flying colors. There are so many accomplishments I want to share with you - but I will get to that in a moment. You know the old saying they say "Kids grow up so fast?" It is so true. I am finding as our kids get older the time flies by even faster. I feel like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital and in a few short hours she will "officially" be a 7th grader. My sweet angel that took me 4 years to conceive has 5 years left until she is an adult. (Momma is getting weepy)

This year I made several accomplishments myself. I am an over OVER OVER protective mother and this year I had to do some letting go. I know the months and years ahead of us will call for more of my letting go - I don't think I am truly ready for it - but I also know I cannot hold my child back. (Teary, teary eyes)

One of the first things I noticed that my daughter was growing up was by her school pictures this year. As I went to put her Fall 07 picture in the picture frame I compared it to the Fall 06 picture. In the Fall 06 picture she looked like a little 5th grader - so sweet and young. In her Fall 07 picture she had highlighted hair and no glasses - she totally looks like a young lady.

In elementary school she loved being a "parent pick up" or "car rider". She would beg me to get off early so that she could ride home with ME. I am heavily involved in the PTA and there were several days where I had to be at an event before or after school and I would tell her that she could ride with me to or from school. She would tell me that she would just ride the bus with her friends. =( I am still number one to her at home but I knew sooner or later her friends would become the cats meow to her.

So for some of her accomplishments:

* She started wearing contacts which I was a little leery about her doing. The first few weeks I believe she tore 3 pairs but ever since then she has done a wonderful job with them. She does a great job taking them out and putting them in each day. Great job K!

* In elementary school I would have to wake her up each morning, pick our her clothes, make her breakfast, brush her hair and remind her to put on deo and brush her teeth. Now this year she has been incredibly responsible by getting up with an alarm, picking out her own clothes (apparently I am not the fashion queen for her that I thought I was), she does her own hair, makes her own breakfast (she doesn't want me to do it). I still have to give the deo and brush your teeth reminders. =)

* She got a cell phone when school started which I was also a little leery about. She has been incredibly responsible with it as well. She only "lost" it once inside the house (of course the ringer was off so that is why it was so hard to find). She also did a fabulous job with her cell phone minutes. We opted for the Kajeet service which I highly recommend for small children. (www.kajeet.com) With Kajeet parents have all the control of the phone through the Internet. I can select the hours the phone is on, who she can and cannot receive calls from, etc. It was only costing me about $10 a month for the service. That is until she discovered texting with her friends. Now it costs me about $30 a month, which includes an unlimited texting pack. Still over all a great job with the phone.

* Her most major accomplishment is she carried a 4.0 gpa the whole school year long. She could not wait to get out of elementary school so that she could start getting "letter" grades opposed to numbers. My husband and I are strict with our kids about their education. We do not expect a 4.0 gpa but we do expect them to complete their work on time and to do it to the best of their ability. K took it upon herself to get all A's. She did extra credit when it was offered. She would bring home big assignments in order to give them that extra mile that she would not be able to if she just finished them in class. She was also extremely organized in her binder and for the most part brought home the needed materials to complete an assignment. I am very proud of her and I hope she continues to have those high expectations of herself as she continues her education.

I am glad this school year has come to a close. I think our kids all work so hard in school and deserve the summer break that they get. They need the time to relax their minds and have some fun - they have their whole adulthood to work. So to children everywhere have a great and safe summer! I think parents also deserve the break. Whether you are helping with homework or volunteering at school - we need the break to have some free time to ourselves as well. So parents enjoy the summer too!

Slip Slidding Away

Fishing ended up being so much fun! I caught two little fishies and my husband caught a nice big bass. We did the catch and release thing....which mine would have been releasers anyway. We also seen a couple deer and a snake (yikes!). We were fishing by the boat docks where boat owners come to put their boats in the water. It amazed me to see people with boats that had to cost thousands of dollars, in which they put hundreds of dollars of gas in them, only to have them in the lake 10-15 minutes and then they would load it back up and leave. It hardly seems worth it to me. Once we got home we found out that we were infested with tics. Yuck! Nasty little critters. I was the only one that had one embed his head in me and my husband had to burn it out of my stomache. Still 4 days later I feel like I have bugs crawling all over me.

Early Saturday morning a storm rolled through. Our dog is terrified of thunder and my husband is not the dog lover I am and refuses to let our dog sleep in our bed. So I had to go upstairs and sleep with her on the couch when she woke me up at 4:00AM crying because it was thundering so loud. It took about an hour for her to settle down and go to sleep. In the meantime my 50 pound dog was walking on my face, hair and body. At 8:00AM I am awaken again by my husband screaming "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I ask him what is wrong and all I hear again is "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I immediately think he is having a heart attack or something so I jump up to run down stairs. I had socks on my feet (remember I have a bum ankle....and I don't wear my brace at night time) and we have hardwood floors.....so you know where this is going? Things happened so fast but I believe my ankle gave out as I was running because I slipped on the floor and this all happens at the top of the staircase. The next thing I know I am doing a summersault and then was bouncing down the stairs on my back head first. Now I am screaming "Ahhhhhhhhhh!". I turns out my husband had a charlie horse and since I was not down there to rub it out he tried to get up and walk it out - which didn't work. I have a huge ugly bruise on my back and my right gluteus maximus hurts like hell but (no pun intended) other than that all is good.

Vote for DAVID COOK!!!!!!!!!

Vote for our hometown hero, DAVID COOK on American Idol tonight!!!!!!!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fish = fun????

A few weeks back my husband and I decided to take this Friday off so that we could have a 4 day weekend. Out of the blue he calls me yesterday at work and says "On Friday I want to do something really fun." I start thinking a movie, perhaps plant flowers in the yard, or go to some historical site. He then follows up with "I want to go fishing." So, I guess what he really meant was something really fun in his eyes. Fishing! Is fishing really fun? I mean, I have been fishing before and it is alright but the way he stressed that he wanted to do something "really fun" fishing was no where in my realm of thoughts. At home last night he was so giddy about going fishing on Friday. He was researching the different lakes of where we should go. He even got onto the Bass Pro Shops website and picked me out a pink and black fishing pole. We are having a little bit of controversy though. You see, I will go fishing, but I won't touch worms or fish. Toooooo slimey and alive! So he tells me he doesn't want to spend the day having to work my fishing pole because I won't touch the bait or fish. I am not budging - there is no way I am going to touch that stuff!!!! I probably should make it a point to go get me another book just in case I am too much of a pain in the hiney I will at least have something I can do while we are out at the lake. =)

sTori Telling by Tori Spelling

I don't know if I ever posted that I finally found the Tori book. I had to go to 3 different stores before I finally found it. Kel - you were right - it is a page turner. I read the book cover to cover in 3 days. I am big on passing my books on to others after I am done but I am going to be keeping this one. It may even become a part of my decor for a conversation piece. Good..good...good book! You will laugh and cry while reading this book.

Way to go Tori Spelling and Happy Belated Birthday!

This and that

Things are so much better in our world again. My husband took the child support check over to Brad's mom last night and she told him she was not even expecting him to pay this month since Brad has turned 18. My husband told her he had planned on paying her through this month but was going to begin the process of terminating child support. He told her about how he had talked to the lawyer and the cost of it being around $1000 to terminate. She told him she didn't want him to have to pay that and that she would sign whatever she had to so that he wouldn't have to. (Wasn't that nice?) So hubby and I did some investigating on the internet and found that we can file to terminate the child support on our own for the measly fee of $26.00. So we are going to go that route instead of letting some lawyer pocket the remaining $974.00.

I always like coming to work on this day. Not May 16 per say but today is our company picnic right after work so we always get to wear jeans to work. It is the ONLY day we get to wear jeans to work each year. I wish we could wear jeans every day. It is kind of silly that we can't. I work in a secure facility meaning no one is getting into my building that does not have badge access. You have to go through a bollard system where your id card is checked at the gate. The gate is manned by a Kansas City police officer. There are also two electric fences around the perimeter of our building. So while our downtown buildings are not as secure and guests/clients are allowed into those buildings no one comes to ours without approved access but yet we still have to dress up. I don't get it?? Anyhoo, I am grateful to have my Gloria Vanderbilt jeans on today.

So as I said we will head to our company picnic afterwork. We will go home get our kiddos, go get something to eat (food is provided but we never eat there - it is buffet style outdoors and flies are flying all around in the food - YUCK!) and then head to World's of Fun. Our company rents out the whole amusement park; however, we have so many associates that it is like going on any given day the park is open. There will be some 40,000 people there tonight!!! We are all looking forward to it.

Austin and Sean will be at the Chiefs stadium Saturday and Sunday because Austin is participating in a football camp. Kay, Blake, the dog and I will be at home. The one thing I want to get accomplished is to get my truck cleaned up. It needs to be vaccumed and washed so bad!!!

Oh an update on the Grain Valley trial. Eddie was found guilty on all four counts and will serve life in prison without parole. Justice has been served in this case. Will let you know the outcome of Taylor's when it is tried in August.

Later alligator!

PAYPAL SUCKS II

American's are beautiful people and a pleasure to work with.

I went to my American bank and talked with my American personal banker who graciously waved the overdraft fees from my bank account. I deposited my American money into my American bank account and life is peachy again. Once I was done with my transactions my personal banker asked "Is there anything else I can do for you today?" Such a refreshing difference from Paypal Supervisor Justin rudely hanging up on me on the phone.

Justin - if you are ever in the USA please stop by and see me and I will buy you a bag of American made Cheeto's and you can stuff them where the sun does not shine!

RED WHITE AND BLUE!!!!!

United Missouri Bank Rules

PAYPAL DROOLS!

Paypal Sucks Bigtime!!

Boy! After the day I had yesterday I really need this blog therapy session! Oh where to begin??

First off my day at work was very busy. I found myself several times on my desk phone, having one or more people in my office and my cell phone ringing all at the same time. I am one person here......take a number and get in line!

After I read Kelly's blog where she mentioned the Tori Spelling book and of course me jumping online and reading the rave reviews from it I had to have it TODAY. I remembered seeing it at Walmart and HyVee grocery store (of all places) so since both stores are close to my work I headed to them at lunch and sadly came back to work empty handed. It must be a great read if I can't find it at either store I had seen it at previously.

My oldest stepson turned 18 and graduated from high school last week. He moved out of his mother's house (against her wishes and ours) two and a half months ago in order to move in with his peroxide hair job girlfriend at her grandparents house (yes....VERY Jerry Springer!) He didn't want to follow house rules at his mother's house (after all he told us he was "kind of" an adult at the age of 17) and he was lying to us all so much that he didn't even know what was true anymore. So, since he is now of age and has no plans of going to college (also against our wishes) my husband has contacted a lawyer about stopping child support. So my husband calls me a little after 4:00 to let me know he talked to the lawyer. We find out that in the state of Missouri child support does not automatically stop when your child meets the state's criteria of no longer needing the child support. Nope! You have to file paperwork at the whopping cost of $900-1,000. Is that not ridiculous? When my daughter meets the states criteria I will tell my ex husband to quit paying me. The state of Missouri can kiss my right butt cheek because there is no way I am going to have him have to pay that much money. Good old Missouri, the Show Me State, the state wants you to Show them the money! We are going to get a second opinion but I am sure we will have to pay that much.

Ok so I leave work and decide that on my way home I will stop by the HyVee by my house and hopefully they will have the Tori book. No......they have an abundance of the Valerie Bertinelli books but no Tori. Uuuugh!

Now the Paypal issue. A few months ago our garbage disposal company notified us that they will no longer be picking up yard waste so we had to go seek another company. We found one and my husband promptly signed us up for the new service. He let me know that we could pay the yearly fee online through Paypal. The Paypal account is in my name and I rarely use it. I have a bank account registered on the Paypal account that is used only for online purchases. I also have a credit card registered to the account. I told my husband when he paid for the service to use the credit card because I never put money in the bank account tied to the Paypal account unless I am going to make an online purchase. I watched him as he completed the transaction and he selected the radio button that would charge the credit card. Well low and behold what do we get in the mail? Yup....a statement from the bank showing that Paypal charged the bank account and of course there were not sufficient funds in the bank account to cover. I immediately get on the phone to my bank and explain the situation and they tell me to come into a branch office the next day and we will get it all worked out. I then call Paypal. I had this problem another time with them and they basically said "sorry about your luck!" Of course this time was no different except this time the call went to a foreign country (Good old USA sending our jobs overseas....you gotta love it....NOT!) where I could barely understand the rep on the phone. I explained the situation to her and she told me "Sorry" and that is all she had to offer. She asked me some out of the blue questions like "Was this an ebay purchase?" No! And would it matter if it was? Then one time she asked if I could see my screen.....???? It was like a long silence after I said something to her and then she asked "do you see your screen?" I said "yes" and that was all she had to say. I finally asked to talk to a supervisor who was more pathetic than the rep. He gets on the phone and says "I understand YOU made an error when making a purchase through Paypal". Ok first off, in the USA, we know about customer service and how the customer is always right. WE would never start off our initial contact with a costumer saying they were wrong. (WAY TO GO, PAYPAL big wigs for moving your corporation to a foreign country where they treat your customers like crap! But I am sure you don't mind as long as you are making your millions!) I told "Justin" to hold on and let me set the story straight for him. Of course even after I explained there was absolutely nothing he was going to do. So I told him I would never use Paypal again (Yes, I deleted my account last night) and I would spread the word to everyone I know about the way they do people. Justin told me to do that and then hung up on me. (Anyone that knows me knows that I am not a cusser so I never said anything fowl to either one of the reps I talked to. I did raise my voice but was always respectful.) So once again..... real crappy service - American's would NEVER treat customers that way. So I am doing my duty as I said I would to Justin. PAYPAL SUCKS!!!!!! I will never ever use the service again. I am sharing my story with anyone who happens to read my blog as well will continue to tell everyone I know.

So after all that we take my stepson's home (they come over for dinner on Wednesday nights) and afterwards my hubby and I drive by Target and I finally find Tori. Mission accomplished! I get back home, clean up, get my daughter into bed, get lunches made, hubby into bed and at 10:00PM I get all comfy on the couch to start reading my Tori book. I decided I would read until 10:30 which turned into 11:00 which turned into 11:30! (You are right, Kel, it is a real page turner) Love my Tori book~!

At 11:30 I put Tori down because I still had to run up to the gas station to get a stamp and some batteries (no, not for that.....my daughter was taking the camera with her to the Royal's game for Kid's Day at the K and the batteries were out.) The gas station tells me that they are out of stamps so I get the batteries and then drive over to the Post Office as there is a self service area that is open 24 hours. I am scared to death to be out all by myself but I walk inside and attempt to purchase a stamp when I find out the only way you can now purchase a stamp is with a debit or credit card. Now, why would I put 42 cents on my debit or credit card? So I leave there and head to another gas station (after all who else is open at 11:50 at night?) and am finally able to purchase a stamp. I had perfectly good stamps at home but not the ones that reflect the recent price change. Uuuuuuuugh! I drive back home, take the dog out, brush my teeth and go to bed. This girl has had enough for one day!

Don't forget to pass the word that PAYPAL SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!

Know who it is your kids hang out with

There is a trial going on right now that I would like to attend. One that hit too close to home. In April of 2006 my oldest stepson started talking about a new friend Taylor. We had never heard him mention the name before so I was asking him some questions about Taylor. (Call me nosey but I want to know who it is our kids hang out with) From what he told me about him he seemed like an ok kid but we had yet to meet him. About a month later on a weekend we had my husband's boys my oldest stepson asked if he could spend the night with Taylor. My husband and I are night and day when it comes to our kids. I am extremely over protective and my husband is not so much. He immediately told Brad that he could spend the night with Taylor but I chimmed in and said we don't know the parents or if they are going to be home etc. I insisted my husband call Taylor's parents to get the scoop. My husband talked to Taylor's mom who told us that she was aware of Brad coming over to spend the night and that her and her husband would be home the whole evening. When Sean dropped Brad off at Taylor's house, Taylor's mom Pam, came out to my husband's truck and introduced herself. When Sean got back home he told me that Taylor's mom was very nice and that they seemed like good people. After that weekend we didn't hear Brad talk much about Taylor anymore. I inquired if he was still hanging out with him and he told me that he was but not as often as before.

Two months later as I am flipping through the channels on the TV I see a blurb about what would be coming up on the evening news and it stated there was a murder in Grain Valley. Grain Valley is where Brad lives. It is a small, somewhat country town. Murders don't happen in Grain Valley. A few hours later Brad shows up at our house and could barely speak. He asked us if we heard about the murder in Grain Valley and he kept saying, "It was Taylor!". I immediately began thinking how to help Brad deal with this. He had lost two friends already this year and now another. Brad wasn't making alot of sense as we tried to understand what he was saying. His words were not coming out clearly and he was all chocked up. Then finally he says...."Dad, Taylor is the one that did it! He killed his mom!". Shock went through my body. We just let our son go spend the night with a boy that killed someone and not just someone his own mother!!! I was so consumed with making sure the parents were fit enough to allow Brad to spend the night at their house and didn't even think to question the kid he was hanging out with. After that I was forever changed as a parent. I was already over protective of our kids and now I was in super over drive.

As the story came out, there was another boy from Brad's school who was also at Taylor's house who the police are saying is the one that actually did the killing. They also attempted to kill Taylor's step father but he survived. The two boys took off in one of Taylor's parents cars and were located two days later in Colorado. The trial that is going on now is for Eddie, the other kid, who is being charged with the murder. Taylor's trial will be in August. They both are pointing the finger at each other. The prosecutors are saying the idea was Taylor's and Eddie did the killing. The boys were both 16 at the time of the murder and are being tried as adults. I really hope they both get the maxium punishment. This was absolutely uncalled for and a terrible crime. I will keep you posted.

The Weekend

I hope all Mom's had a great Mother's Day! My husband took me out for breakfast and when we got home my daughter gave me a home made card (aren't those the best?) and then together they gave me a Hallmark card and the Juno movie. Can't wait to watch that! We then lounged around for awhile and then had to run down to Kohl's so that we could get Kay some summer clothes. We ended up only getting 2 outfits because she was tired of trying clothes on! I don't think she has the concept yet of when your parents are willing to buy you clothes to get all you can! I know when I was a teenager I certainly would have taken advantage of it if my parents were that generous. At least she was somewhat pleasant when we were shopping so I can't complain too much. So after shopping we met my sister and her family and our parents at Logan's Steakhouse for Mother's Day dinner. I was getting restless because it was an hour wait for a table. (I don't like waiting) But the wait was certainly worth it as our dinner was delicious!! My husband and I agreed that we found our new favorite steakhouse! Sorry 54th Street!

I borrowed an air cast from my brother in law in which is helping me to get around really well. The swelling has gone down in my ankle but I am so afraid I am going to injure it again that I am wearing this thing for the next 6 weeks or so in order to get it strong. The thing that sucks is I bought two new pairs of high heel sandals 2-3 months ago when I was in a winter depression (I can't stand winter) and I have been dying to wear them.....now it looks like it will be July before I can.

Tonight I am making a new dish for dinner. It is chicken in creamy basil sauce. I decided that I am tired of eating hot dogs, pizza, waffles, etc. in which is all our kids would eat in the years past. We sucessfully got one graduated from high school this weekend, have two that will become teenagers this year and one that will become a teenager next year so it is time they take some adventures on the pallet. I remember being the same way as a kid. I just hope they are willing to open up and try new things.

Have a great day!

What a day!!!!

First off, in this day in time, where everything is available at our fingertips it really irks me when companies have dense websites. (I''ll keep to myself that I am talking about Fashion Bug today) I was not in a good mood for the fact that last year I lost 40 pounds and my newer skinnier jeans are now fitting a little snug. (Imusthaveputonafewpounds...yikes!) So I needed to head out this morning to get a new pair of jeans. I go to the website to see when the store opens. At the website I was educated enough to have everything but 3 credit hours in order to obtain my Computer Science degree through the FAQ section but there was NO WAY I was going to be able to find out the store hours. I guess Fashion Bug finds it more pertinent to educate their website viewers on how to disable pop up blockers and how to enable cookies than when to let them know when the doors of the store are open. So I take my shower, get all dolled up and drive up to Fashion Bug. I arrive at 9:40 only to find out that the store does not open until 10:00. Uuuuugh! I am too impatient to wait in the parking lot so I take a scenic drive around the city which was not long enough because I was back in the parking lot at 9:53. Do do do do do - I still have to wait to go inside. Once the doors are open I go inside and find that there is not one pair of size 14 jeans available to purchase in the store. Not one pair! Oh they had 87 pairs of size 4. I tried on a pair of 16's but they were too big. What a waste of time! I get back in my car and drive over to JCPenney and found a pair of jean fairly quickly - which were actually $5 cheaper (hey, that a tank of gas!) Let me stop and back up a bit. Just a week ago I fell and sprained my ankle. This was my second day to be back into regular shoes and I was walking regularly opposed to my pull my right leg along with me walk. As I am walking out JCPenney's door I must have stepped on a rock or something and my right ankle did the rubber band effect. Oooouch! I was in so much pain! I had parked fairly far out in the parking lot and was wondering how I was going to make it to my car. I waited for a few minutes to see if a customer would come out the door in order to ask them for assistance to my car. No one came out so I made the long painful walk to my car. By the time I get into my car I am in tears from the pain. I had to find a way to be able to drive myself home which I did but it hurt so bad. I had to crawl up the stairs in my house (past my crutches that I quit using just a few days ago) and called my husband. I needed to leave the house in about 45 minutes in order to go work the PTA sponsored carnival at my daughters school. I told my husband there was no way I was going to be able to drive to the school and stand on my ankle for 3 hours. He called the school to notify them I would not be coming and I have spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch with my foot propped up and icing it. I was down just last weekend and now it looks like I will be down again this weekend.

On the brighter side the very recycled air that I am breathing today is also being breathed by the *gorgeous * sexy * talented * Mr. David Cook! Yes! The American Idol hopeful is back home today and there are many celebrations going on around town in his honor. He was interviewed on the news this morning, did a mini concert in our Power and Light District, and is currently in a parade and will be doing another concert at his high school in about 15 minutes, and will also preform at the Royal's game this evening. I was offered two tickets to the concert and I would have gone if I had not already committed myself to working the carnival at the school. However, my klutzy ankle decided that I wasn't going to do anything today.

Have a great weekend!

First post

I have blogged in the past but gave it up several months ago. I have thought alot about it in the recent months and am glad to be blogging once again. Blogspot is new to me so I will have to figure everything out here. (I am techinically challenged so that could take awhile) My beautiful friend, Kelly, is the person who introduced me to Blogspot so I may have to call upon her for some assistance. My last blog was about my family but I think I will use this blog more for me. But we will see where it goes to. That is all for now....