Connecticut at Campbell Parkway (Flooding in the GHETTO)
I am sooooo bored!! Incredibly, utterly, insanely bored. This is night two of "the boredom". I don't want to watch television. I have read every book I own, MULTIPLE times. Jeremy isn't home, Tanner is in bed. I already shaved my legs and painted my toenails. WHAT'S A GIRL TO DO??????
When I worked for Matt, I would come home utterly drained with energy enough to cook supper spend some time with Tanner and then crash (while stressing about something that needed to be done). I don't HAVE that anymore...which is wonderful, but I have excess energy now, and nothing to do with it.
This weekend, I mentioned to Jeremy that I would like to learn how to DO something. Like maybe sew or crochet. Then I had a flashback to junior high home economics class and Mrs. Pitts telling me that I would NEVER be an interior decorator because I COULD NOT sew. Of course, I also recall not learning HOW to sew because I was too busy staring at a cute guy in my class. But that's not the point. The point is that I have time to fill and nada to fill it with. So , I ask you, the family and friends that I adore so much...any suggestions??
Tanner is enthralled with his Bible Story Book. Every night we read one of the stories from it, we look at the pictures and talk about God, and then we tuck Tanner into bed (storybook in hand). Last night Tanner was "reading" the book to me. He told me about the "pretty garden and the Bad snake", and he told me about "peoples putting a baby in the water and the queen finding him". When he got to the part about Moses and the burning bush he studied the picture for a while and looked and me inquisitively.
I do two things every night when I get home. I get Tanner a snack, and I sit down at the computer to check my e-mail and get caught up with all the news that's fit to report. Usually the news is pretty straight forward. Weather reports, traffic reports, the occasional interesting headline. Sometimes....SOMETIMES I get a story that really makes me want to cry with the simplicity of it. I had a winner today.
It's June 1st!!! I was shocked and amazed when I looked at the calendar this morning. Where in heavens name did the time go??? Before we know it 2007 will be over...I hope you are all having as much fun as I am.
I really am having fun. For the first time in a long time, I love my job, I love the people I am around, I love myself. I have been processing claims for two weeks now with seven weeks of training left to go, and every day is a blast...we laugh, we learn, we get frustrated together, and then we take a deep breath and figure out. My co-workers are quickly becoming my friends...and a wonderful support system. Although, we don't always communicate as effectively as we should.
(Scene opens on Juli and co-workers chatting before work this morning. It is Friday, everyone is in good spirits and Juli, as always, is incredibly smart (and beautiful, but that's not really the point right now)).
Angela: Do you work on tax???
Juli: (blinking rapidly several times in confusion) Huh?
Angela: (Patiently) Do you work on tax??
Juli's Inner Monologue: What on earth is she talking about?? I don't know what it means to work on tax! I am obviously stupid or I would understand what she is talking about---well I should fess up that I don't know what that is.
Juli: I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by "work on tax".
Angela: (obviously stunned into speaking very slowly) Dooooooo. Yoooooou. Wear. Contacts.
A voice from two chairs down: Of course I know how to relax!
(cue the hysterical laughing at Juli's stupidity...close curtain)
The weekend is here. I am hanging out with Tanner. We are having a wonderful gourmet dinner of bologna sandwiches and Cheetos (Tanner's choice). I have given you ample time to laugh at me. So I will bid you all adieu and go spend some much needed quality time with my favorite little man. XOXOXOXO
We've been back to reality for a few days now after a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. It's always wonderful to spend some time with family and just relax. How surprised and blessed I was to see friends and family that I wasn't even expecting!! My only regret is that it didn't last as long as I would have liked. I wanted to just sit down tonight and share some pictures that my Dad took of our time together--his camera is WAY cooler than mine! I am MUCHO jealous. On a brighter note, he did say that if he gets the camera that he REALLY wants for his birthday, then I can have his. Please send donations to me by August.
My parents have the PERFECT hill at the side of their house. Had the ground not been wet, I might have found it the right time to show Tanner how to roll down it. Remember doing that as a child?? Remember doing that in high school, with your friends, during rehearsal for Oklahoma? Perhaps I have said too much? Even though the ground was wet, Tanner and Grandpa still had a blast running up the hill and down the hill, up the hill and down the hill, up the hill and down...well you get the picture.
Monday, we went to the Sedgwick County Zoo. According to their website they are the 18th largest zoo in the country. I love zoos and I particularly loved this one. The animals were very well cared for, and I felt like I was actually in their natural environment. I have a bazillion pictures that I could post from the day, but I picked a couple of my favorites for your viewing pleasure.
I adore the shot of the gorillas, Dad. AND I am kinda fond of the one with my boys in it as well. Thanks you guys for an awesome weekend and for helping us make memories that we will never forget. Tanner misses you...I miss you (Rocky misses April), and we can't wait to do it again soon. 
Here is a view from the street. It's on a corner lot...the largest on the street.
And this is a view of part of the living room. The large opening in the middle is where the fireplace is going to go. And now, we just need volunteers to come and move furniture with us...any takers???
Today I am twenty seven and a HALF years old. Tee hee. This is something my brother and I used to make a HUGE deal of. We thought it was VERY cool that my half birthday is a day before his birthday and that his half birthday is a day after my birthday. I was thinking about the best time to call him tomorrow and the memory just popped into my head. I will accept love in lieu of presents...gracious aren't I.
Pat O'Reilly
I am currently uploading a video on you tube that I hope to post later...if it doesn't take until tomorrow!! Our computer is soooo slow. For now I will leave you with a picture of my boys (ALL of them) lounging on the couch and taking in some Basketball (I can't WAIT until it's OVER for the season).
Tanner on Mommy's new job: (Practically crying) "Why aren't you going back to your old job anymore???"
Mommy tries to explain things like being happy where you work and sometimes needing to give up something you've done for a long time so that you CAN be happy, and of course there's the MORE MONEY part.
Tanner on MORE MONEY: "So you can buy me more toys?"
Like there was anything else!
Tanner on having to wake up early this morning so that Mommy could be at work on time: "But Mommy, it's only fifteen o' clock."
"I know Tanner, we usually get up at "twenty o'clock", but Mommy has to be at work earlier now."
Tanner on the big, beautiful jetted tub that comes in Mommy and Daddy's new bathroom at the new house: "I can have your bathtub and you can have mine...it's ok, I don't mind"
Ummmmm, NO...a girl's gotta draw the line somewhere!
Tanner on Basketball practice: "I am going to practice ALL THE TIME."
Mommy: "Good job Tanner, that will make you really good!"
Tanner: "Yeah and hot chicks will like me"
(Note to self...have sit down with Jeremy--bring duct tape)
I am so very lucky to be that little boy's Mommy. I adore him. Tanner presented me with his very first free pizza certificate he received from Book It for Beginners. Treasured times, people! I remember going to Pizza Hut with MY mom and using my Book It pins.
It's 8:40, it's bedtime...I had forgotten how very early 5:45 can come (especially if you have stayed up until midnight the night before). Remember the semester I took a seven a.m. french class??? Who WAS that girl???
Today, I am GLOWING with all the beautiful things that are happening in my life. Sara's comments about a new job, a new home, and a new life are right on. I feel so peaceful right now, so at ease with the way things are turning out. I will admit that in the last few weeks, I have done my share of worrying. Worrying about leaving the Miller Companies, worrying about whether I was making the right decision about Tanner's educational needs, worrying about if we were ready to buy our first home...and I might even go so far as to say that sometimes I enjoy being able to worry. It keeps life exciting and it gives me something to do.
Joyce Meyer nailed me to the wall last night! It was one of "those" sermons. You know, the kind that make you feel like you are the only person in the room, and she is speaking directly to you?? (A little background for those of you who haven't already heard: Joyce Meyer spoke at James River Assembly last night in front of a crowd of 3500 beautiful women...myself included. It was a time of amazing worship and praise and inward reflection for all who were there. In a word it was phenomenal.) I mean, she even specifically mentioned the whole school issue that I have been facing...public schools, christian school, home school??? I have been worrying about something that won't even need to be addressed until next year! I have been praying on it and have really felt that I just wasn't getting a clear answer as to what decision I should make. She told us a story about a man who was having the same troubles. He had an important decision to make and prayed and prayed and still had no idea what to do. One night he had a vision of a road that came to a fork, and he could choose to go to the right or the left, he stood there pondering it for a while and then God clearly spoke to him and said, "No matter which path you choose, I will be with you." I was stunned by the simplicity of that answer which seemed to make everything that I have been worrying about melt away.
I have complicated things with my worry, enough that I forgot that God is with me every step of each new journey and that if I should make the wrong decision, he won't let me get too far before he reminds me. When I let go of all of that stuff that holds me back and clouds my mind, I can really truly shine...with the grace and peace that only God can give. So that's what I am going to do. I am going to embrace the newness of my world and Shine. I am going to trust that I am capable of making the right decisions and trust even more that if I don't God will smack me upside the head and redirect me.
In September, I am going to St. Louis for a three day women's conference at which Joyce Meyer will speak again. Why don't all of the beautiful women in my life meet me there, and we will be blessed together.
I am zonked! ZONKED I tell you. And I never lie. This is the third week in a row that we have seriously been house hunting. From two to four we shop til we drop. We seem to have honed in on one particular town. The thriving metropolis of Clever, Missouri. I think it has a little over one thousand people and is about a fifteen minute drive from Springfield (5 from Republic). I have become pretty insistent that I don't want Tanner to be in the Springfield school district, and since Jeremy is even more insistent that he doesn't want to move back to Joplin...our compromise was somewhere on the outskirts of Springfield...I lost on this one folks, it's not REALLY what I want. The houses are new, and the prices are way cheaper than anything we could get here. We have compared similar size houses in both towns and Springfield runs about 20 thousand higher. The lots in Springfield are so high!
So we've been looking and I have been telling myself not to get too attached to anything just yet, since we don't talk to a lender until later this week. Today, I fell hard. Jeremy did too. We walked into a brand new home and our jaws just dropped. It's a lot smaller than what we are in now (by about 500 sq ft.) but the interior was gorgeous and we really do have too much house here. We found ourselves in the living room mentally arranging the furniture and picturing cozy nights in front of the fireplace. It's a steal people. I want it...badly.
On another subject...F-I-V-E days left. I have to admit that now that my last day is getting so close that I am a little scared about what the future holds. But, I am going to hold my head up high and walk in preparing to do the very best that I can do. Five Days.
Jeremy is snoring on the couch behind me and I feel like doing the same, so for now, I will sign off and be on my way to bed. I think I will leave hubby on the couch tonight, then there will be more room for me ;) G'night all. We love you.
8 days, that's it people, 8 days. I told myself this at work today after hanging up from a particularly yucky phone call (those of you who want to play can guess who I was talking to...winner gets a prize. HINT--I think they are the center of the axis of evil...and GO). In 8 short days I will pack my belongings into a box and be done. Matt called me into his office today to tell me how much he was going to miss me...I almost threw up on his shoes.
Tanner is on day two of preschool and is doing splendidly. Today "the Zoo Lady" brought in a rabbit and a bird for the kids to see. Now he is all psyched about going to the zoo...but not with Mom and Dad. Apparently we are no fun. He told me on the way home, "I don't want to go with YOU, I want to go with your mom and dad." So we called Nana and Papa when we got home to inform them that Tanner was ready for another trip. He LOVES Nana and Papa and I have learned that I will NEVER be as cool as them, but that's ok.
Tanner had some popcorn before bed tonight and he put his bowl on the counter and came up to me with his little hand clenched.
Mommy: What's in your hand?
Tanner: Popcorn seeds, I am going to take them and plant them and grow a BIIIIIG popcorn tree.
:0)
We have deposited the seeds in a plastic baggy until we can plant them this weekend. I love having a four year old! I only wish he would stay four forever.
We'll end this post with a humorous story (at my expense, of course). Those of you who know me best will appreciate me at my most graceful. Yesterday, I was at work trying to get caught up on some of my filing (nothing too bad, just accounting stuff from last fall!!!). I was sitting on my heels and reaching into the back of the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet. I went to grab a file, but alas, my hand was stuck. And I mean S-T-U-C-K. Somehow my wedding ring had gotten wedged in between the next drawer up and the files in the drawer I was in. And the drawer was so full that I couldn't push the files back far enough to dislodge the rock on my ring. I was hopelessly trapped and trying to figure out just how I was going to carry the cabinet home with me when Chyna walked by me.
Now I should mention that I hadn't asked for help yet because I was too embarrassed for anyone to see me stuck in my filing cabinet. Chyna, of course, wanted to know why I was looking so incredibly uncomfortable and quietly so no one else could hear, I told her. What a sympathetic friend she is...she immediately burst out laughing at my predicament. I hate her. After shooting her the "I will set you ablaze with a mere glance" look she came over and removed some of the files from the cabinet so that I could remove my hand. Happily freed I went to stand up and was immediately overcome by a foot cramp. I could feel my foot curling up underneath itself but could do nothing to stop it. So I shrieked and began hopping around on one foot.
Right about that time, Todd, one of the construction guys walked into the office. Oh, an audience, I must perform! Luckily for them, my boot heel got caught in the cuff of my pants and turned my hopping into what I imagine looked like some kind of eighties free style dancing or Indian fertility ritual. I was trying to find ANYTHING to grab onto, my arms were flailing madly, and nothing was in reach. So on and on I twirled and hopped around like a professional ballerina right up to the point that I fell over the corner of my desk (where was THAT when I needed something to grab on to??). Thankfully the floor broke my fall.
I lay there boot heel still trapped in my pant cuff waiting for the floor to open up and swallow me whole. I looked up at Chyna and Todd who had said nothing...it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. "I'm ok", I managed to choke out, "Just gimme a second." Then the snickering started. I shot a scathing look at the two of them...but it didn't work. The snickering grew into full on choking laughter. Todd came around the desk to help me up and was laughing so hard there were tears streaming down his cheeks. I, completely in control and with GREAT dignity, got to my feet and primly sat down in my chair. I was trying to be cool and act a little wounded that they would laugh at my expense...this lasted all of two seconds and then I was howling right along with them. Today Todd left a note on my computer that included a list of emergency contact numbers, and Chyna called me "Crash" all day. But I don't mind...cause in the end I am way cuter than Chyna and not quite as hairy as Todd.
Love me, people, just love me. I am helplessly clumsy and not very good at math. I sing loudly in the car and sometimes I even dance (white girl...very white!), I am afraid of spiders and mice and can't broil things in the oven. But I am adorable and highly entertaining...so love me.
I may be a day late on the Easter post, but I truly hope that you all were blessed with a wonderful Easter Sunday. I love celebrating Christ's triumph over the grave. He is Risen Indeed! Easter is one of my favorite holidays...first and foremost because of it's beautiful story, and also because it is smack in the middle of Spring, and I love Spring time. Flowers are blooming, trees are budding, birds are singing. New life is everywhere I look and it is beautiful. Springfield is especially beautiful in the Spring, I can honestly say that I don't think I have ever lived in another town that was quite as pretty.
And onto the actual dying of said eggs...
We had to do the hunting in coats this year...Last year I believe we were in shorts.
I tried really hard to get Tanner to hold still so that I could get a couple of shots of him in his Easter outfit, but after all the candy he had that was a definite no go. Before the weekend ended he was the proud recipient of three Easter Baskets. Here he is in a moment of calm (thank goodness, I almost had to get out the tranq gun!!)
We had a Really fantastic Easter together, but we wish we could have been with the rest of our family as well. We love you all!!
Well people, today is April 6th. Tanner and I spent the better part of the day snuggling under covers, indulging in some SpongeBob and watching the snow flakes fall from the sky. EXCUSE ME, OLD MAN WINTER...YOU'RE DONE FOR THE YEAR...TAKE A BREAK!!! Apparently he didn't get the memo. I think we will be hunting Easter eggs in coats this year...blech!
I found THE preschool today. I have given them the "one time, non-refundable application fee" and Tanner will begin on the 16th. It's called A Touch of Nature. Once a week the "zoo lady" comes and brings animals for everyone to see; every other week a lady comes in and teaches the children how to use a computer (Tanner is tres excited!); and then also once a week a gymnastics teacher comes in for some gym time. It will cost us a little more than what we were paying Carol, but I really think it will be money well spent. He's so giddy he can hardly stand it. I'm glad, because this transition will not be easy...on me. So knowing Tanner is happy will help.
I have really been struggling with leaving Carol. I was talking to Michele about it and she said something that made sense to me. I'm not struggling so much with him not being at her house as I am with how I feel about her illness. She reminded me that I would have to deal with THAT in a completely different way. She's definitely right about that! Carol is finally out of the hospital and I haven't been able to walk out of her house this week without crying. Thankfully, she has been asleep every time I've been there so she hasn't seen the tears, but I apparently have a lot of issues I need to face.
Tomorrow is the long awaited Baby shower for Kayla and Kurt. Little Easton Dale will be here in May! I shall come back from the shower armed with cutsie pictures and more than likely pregnancy envy. I also want to get Tanner's Easter pics finished for your viewing enjoyment. His little outfit is adorable! Well, it is officially time to go and tuck TW into bed. Check back tomorrow night for pictures...I promise they will be here. Hecklers!
I am dancing. You can't see me, but I am gettin' down with my bad self. (step, bump, step, bump bump, kick ball change, pas du beret, pas du beret, step, clap--I know at least ONE of you knows what I am talking about....SARA) I am in the sort of euphoric state that can only be brought on by Starbucks coffee, a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, or an icy cold Diet Dr. Pepper.
I. GOT. THE. JOB
Let that sink in for a moment and then join me in the dance. It's ok to groove a little. I have been groovin' all day. This means that in 17 (working) days, I will leave the Miller Companies and all that is evil about it behind me. I shall walk away from this place that has drained me and will never look back. Good Riddance. For the first time in a year, my shoulders don't feel as heavy when I think about work tomorrow...there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel.
Don't get me wrong, there are things that I will miss about my job---well, mostly the people. I have enjoyed the casualness of the office where the guys say whatever they feel like saying...and "grout testing" is practiced on a regular basis. I will miss the fun little games that Chyna and I play to make the days go by more quickly. I will miss Michele depending on me to eavesdrop in on Matt and Kim's conversations. I will miss finding random pictures of shirtless male office personnel on my computer desktop. I will miss paging Chris to inform him that his herpes medication has been delivered. I will miss making coffee.....NOT!!
I will not miss Matt, or Kim, or the stress of being in the same room as people like them. I will not miss having my hard work turned in as someone Else's. I will not miss being underpaid and overworked. I will not miss downtown traffic or having ceiling tiles fall on my desk. I will not miss the smell of cigarette smoke wafting up from the bar downstairs. I will not miss walking on eggshells because of overly sensitive people who HAVE to be complimented each and every day in order to feel like they are worth something. I will not miss crying over a job that simply isn't worth it.
I am celebrating 2007 and all the new beginnings it is offering me. Celebrate with me.
PS
I am keeping my stapler!!!
