ducks in a row

Joshua loves the water. I think the only reason he asks for a bath each day is so he can play in the water. Today was a swim day at school. He class wound up not swimming because it actually wasn't a swim day...if that makes no sense then you are following along.

On the way home we were talking about that he didn't get to swim today. He asked where Nefi was. I told him Nefi (my sister, Stephanie) is at home. To which he stated, very matter of fact, "I go see Nefi, I go swim". He still hasn't forgotten this and asked about it again at bedtime amongst our good nights. We will have to work in some swimming this weekend.

Joshua in the bath the other night.

One of his favorite bath time activities is lining his ducks up in a row on the edge of the bathtub. He always makes sure that all of the ducks are facing the same direction.

He also in the last month or so discovered that all of his ducks had eyes. He had them all facing inside the bathtub, so they were looking at him and suddenly he exclaimed, "Has eyes! All has eyes, mama". The light bulb above his head shone so bright that I was blinded by his silly-ness!!

After he lines the ducks up, he does this....

Speaking of getting ducks in a row, Jeff and I have been waiting on a deal from HUD and it finally came through. It has been nearly a year since the process was started. It is a relief and a huge headache we hope to never again expierence. This next week we are on vacation. Not do much of anything. Just a few things around town and around the house. We are hoping to get the shed in the backyard down and the sunroom emptied so that it can be torn down.

I also start permamnet on Monday at my work. I had been helping out with refunds since February and they finally decided that they needed another full-time refund person. That is me!! A promotion of sorts, more money and awesome benefits.

been a long week

I have tried to have a less busy week. It worked out somewhat well, but this week just seemed to drag by. I made a significant dent in the work that was handed to me in my new position as Refund Analyst.

I scheduled a CiCi's fundraiser for me on July 28th. All people have to do is come in and leave their receipt in the basket and I will get 10% of the evening's sales, will probably be $80-100. I don't feel like I am meeting my goal for the 3-Day. I am working on a couple of other fundraisers for myself, but it is slow going. We do a pink bra contest scheduled for July 31 at Baxter's in Hurst, this will be our third and they are always fun....if we have the right crowd. If you can come out you should.

This morning I went walking with my team, I don't often walk with them. Actually, I have really fallen off the training wagon (see fundraising issue above). The girls are some really nice people. Joshua did good in the stroller for about 2 1/2 hours. He ate a good breakfast when we stopped...fruits & yogurt.

After we got home from the walk, I set out to clean/organize his room. All part of my Mission:Self Organization (more on another blog...coming soon...when I get it organized!). I thought I would try some big boy underwear on him. I stayed on him for about 30 minutes, asking every 5 minutes if he needed/wanted to sit on the potty. Each time the answer was no. Then, I got slightly distracted and missed a 5 minute asking point. At this time we are in the office and I am on the computer. Joshua says, "Uh-oh, I pee-pee". I turned around in my chair and he has taken a step back. I said, "It's okay, let's go sit on the potty now." As I stand up, he says, "I splash" and slams his hands right down into the puddle of pee. Y-U-K!!! "No, we don't play in pee-pee." Potty time and hand washing followed.

We went to my sister's tonight for dinner, dinner lead to pool time. Their pool exploded last weekend at my nephew's party and they have replaced it. Tonight, it was finally ready to be played in. Joshua did so well. He only initially fussed, but was soon kicking his legs and splashing everyone. I am glad he did so well.

Jeff will be home shortly. Tomorrow is semi-planned. Sometimes things just pop up out of nowhere and somethings are planned out.

no barking

Monday night, I talked Jeff into walking with me. We walked a mile and half, which wasn't bad. Joshua is loving riding in the stroller for walks. Tonight, Steph & I went and meet with our team the 60 Mile Mamas and walked 2 and a half miles. Which is great. We walked at the Bedford Boys Ranch which is a great place to walk. Jeff kept Joshua at home. Jeff said that when I left, Joshua went and sat in his stroller and cried because Mommy had left him. I thought about Joshua the entire time I was gone because I felt guilty for not bringing him. He really seems to be looking forward to my walking. When we walk our neighborhood, we barks back at the dogs and after spending Sunday evening in my brother, Jeromy's backyard, Joshua now says, "no barking". Joshua seems to not like larger dog barks. They are the ones that are told, "no barking". The little dog barks, he barks at and then tells them "no barking".

I am taking an Excel class at work. It is part of a grant that my company got for continuing education with Northlake. I learned several new things today that I didn't know how to do and was refreshed on things I haven't used in a long while. The class continues Wed, Fri & Mon. Being on the campus really makes me wish I had finished college and perhaps someday things will work out and I can go back.

Two night of eating in now....seems easy enough...especially considering that I got new things that we don't normally eat. I need to get to bed...5:30 is going to come really early.

hooray!

I had a great Friday and a great Saturday...will Sunday be great also??? I hope so!!!

Friday morning I woke up and while I was getting dressed, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that I could see into my neighbor's backyard. I turned my head to get a full head on view and yes...there was my neighbor's backyard....green grass....no weeds....flower bed along the back fence....in all it's glory, my neighbor's backyard. So I asked myself, "Self, why can you see in the neighbor's backyard?". And then I answered myself, "I don't know. Where is the fence?" My conversation continued with myself for a few moments as I moved closer to the window. I looked out and there was my fence, on....the....ground. The winds had blown through ferociously on Thursday and I had gotten home after dark and did not notice this until now...Friday morning when I am getting ready for work. I called Jeff, money is tight right now, and casually asked if we had $200 to spare this weekend. He asked why, so I told him and at first he was speechless and then thought that I was joking. I wasn't. Friday night, I again got home after dark...geez....I really stay out too late! I also called my brother-in-law to find out if he could help me figure out what supplies I would need to fix the fence....he, of course, said yes and that he was available on Sunday. I ain't fixin' the fence if Jeff ain't here to help so it would have to wait until Sunday when I knew he would be home. I then called in an old return-favor from my cousin...see I help him put up his fence years back when they had first bought their house. So, now I had my cheap-labor lined up and just needed the supplies.

I went off to work on Friday...in a great mood....it is amazing what a little planning will do for you! At work, I was pulled away into a one-on-one with my supervisor and offered an earlier shift. Of course...I would love to work earlier. It has been difficult getting to Joshua before his daycare closes. My day sailed along smoothly. I was super productive...but then my phone didn't ring non-stop like it had all week. I left work, picked up Joshua and had a great dinner at an place in Irving I hadn't been to in at least 2 years. It was tasty as always. Funny thing, as a side note. The place was Angelo's and Angelo's used to be over in the Plymouth Park area of Irving...at Irving Blvd and Story. So way back when....like 50+ years ago, my great-grandmother used to work there. In fact, her picture is still hanging on a wall as part of a newspaper article that was done about this booming little Italian restaurant. I am proud of this but not sure why.

Saturday morning, my mother drove up to my house to go running around. I think she was glad to be out of the house again after Thursday. We traveled with my sister up to Sam Moon to look at luggage for a birthday party my sister had to go to this afternoon. She found a cute bag that any 10 year old girl should love. We split with her as she headed to South Irving to the party, Mom and I headed to Sweet Tomatoes. If I am on that side of town, I almost feel obligated to stop for lunch. The buy one get one coupon that Mom had helped too! After that, we stopped in at Wal-mart to pick up a few things for Mom and dinner makings for tomorrow night. We headed back to my house and finally Joshua fell asleep. But woke up a mere 40 minutes later...I don't get it...he takes a two hour nap at school, but regardless of what we do on the weekend...he never sleeps that long for me anymore. We weren't home very much longer, my brother-in-law had gotten off work and stopped by to help access the fence situation. We determined what we needed. I should mention that I went over to my neighbor's house today to let him know that we would be fixing the fence tomorrow, Sunday. He said great, and would split the cost with us (which is great). He said he wanted to help, but after he got home from church. Awesome. Steph's group and Josh & I grabbed dinner and headed to Lowe's. $435.11 later, we have all fence fixing material. So now...just have to wait for tomorrow afternoon to get here for the fence raising party. Wanna help???

Also, today, Saturday, April 4, Joshua pee'd in the potty twice...not just once...twice!!! How freakin' awesome is that??? I was quite giddy after the second time. He loves to help pour the pee into the big potty and flush it away....he always says, "bye-bye peepee". It is funny. Joshua and I have been working on some new songs, one of which I got from another blog I read. It is a song, I know you know...If you're happy and you know it, shout Hooray! Hooray! He loves it...we sing, If you're sad..frown, sleepy..close your eyes, elephant..swing your truck, bird..flap your wings, monkey..wave your arms. Between this new found fun song and Ring Around the Rosie, we are doing a whole lot of singing.

That pretty much wraps it up.

pro-duck-tive

Today was busy at work. Before I knew it I had missed my first break by an hour, but took it after speaking with an upset provider. Then I went to lunch 30 minutes late....I didn't even realize it was lunch time. When my last break rolled around....well I was an hour and a half late for that. But I was mostly productive all day. The two new girls on our team have been making all of our outbound calls to the providers...only making outbound calls. That leaves me...one person...to take all the return calls from the voice mails they have had to leave. I did get to learn another step in the refund process...only one more step for me to learn.

When I got out of work and into the truck...I hadn't even started the truck and my phone rang. It was my step-dad, David, and at first I panicked thinking something was wrong with Mom. There was nothing wrong with her except she wanted to get out of the house and they were calling to see if Joshua and I wanted to go with them. To Chinese...I don't get Chinese very often. And there is this great place down in Mansfield that we went to meet them at. It was my first time to see Mom since her surgery and she was moving around better than I expected her to be. Joshua, of course, wanted Nana to pick him up, and I don't think he ever understood that Nana couldn't. All in all, it was a good dinner and Joshua played for a bit after we got home and went to bed with little fussing. He hasn't been wanting to go to bed lately....he just wants to be "wake" meaning not "seep".

Tonight after we got home, I was productive. I managed to get two loads of laundry going...one in the washer now and one in the dryer....not bad for my lazy bones. And I also got a load of dishes going. I am going to have to do some hand dish washing this weekend, because that pile is bugging me.

I was super productive today at work and at home....and now....I am going to bed.

ring roun rosie

Monday was busy at work...most every day has been super busy at work this week. And hectic. And it is only Wednesday.

This morning on the way to school, Joshua surprised me with something new. We had stopped to get gas and were nearly to school when he started singing, "ring roun - pause - ashes ashes we fall down". I looked over shocked because he and I haven't done this song. He was so proud of himself that he then had to sing it again, "mommy, ring roun, ashes ashes we down". I was impressed. So I sang it and he looked at me as surprised as I was looking at him...like wow mom you know that song too? It was great. We sang it some again and again on the way home today, but today at school he picked up another word so now he sings, "ring round rosie, ashes ashes, we fall down". He also clasp his hands together and dances them back and forth.

Then tonight at dinner, he burped and said, "excuse you". It was so hard not to burst out laughing. I know if I had laughed he would have thought is was funny to burp and it would never stop. But I am laughing now as I type this. I am truly amazed everyday with the new phrases he comes up with. This past weekend, we discovered that he will count to 10. He had never counted beyond 5. His ABC's are coming along as well...he can almost sing all of them...it helps if he is in a mood where he wants too. And I have noticed that he seems to know the colors red, blue, brown and green. Though he likes to say purple...probably because it feels funny to say.

I wish tomorrow was Friday, but it is not. Two more days and this week will officially be over and down with.

it's the weekend...finally

Tuesday...seems uneventful....dinner out, I just don't remember where. Jeff went to work. Blah, blah, blah.

Wednesday...dinner with Mom, David and Steph's crew. Work went like work does. Blah, blah, blah.

Thursday...had a meeting in Plano in the evening after work. It was a business opportunity and it was a good meeting. More to come on this in the coming weeks. Didn't get home until nearly 10pm. My mother had surgery Thursday morning to have her gall bladder taken out. She is doing fine recovering at home for the next three weeks.

Friday...work was a typical Friday at work. I got kudos in a meeting for my work on the refunds. I don't like being singled out for recognition and felt uncomfortable as people above me went on about how well I was doing....and I could tell me teammates didn't really care. No one talks to me anyway....and I really don't care.

Tonight my sister picked Joshua up from school. I went to her house after work for dinner. Once dinner was all over and it was time to go home, things got interesting. You see.....I got Joshua in his seat in the truck. He was all buckled in and I locked his door as usual...I don't want anyone to steal him out of the truck. I had thrown the keys on the dash like I always do. I was talking to my sister about how cold it was and I closed Joshua's door. As the door is shutting I realize that I have just locked my keys and my son in my truck and it is flippin' 30 something degrees outside. I panicked....meaning that tears started flowing. My sister thought I was joking and then went inside to get my brother-in-law, Brandon. Brandon has had other opportunities to break into my truck and has never succeeded. My truck is locked down good. I remembered that Jeff was headed to Dallas so I called him and he had just pulled into the Averitt yard in Grand Prairie. He also thought I was joking, he talked to my sister who confirmed that I wasn't. He dropped his truck and trailer and jumped in the car to head to my sister's. He has a key to my truck. I have an extra key but it was also locked in the truck...in my purse. Maybe 30-40 minutes total Joshua was locked in the truck. I was panicked the entire time. I know I gained at least 80 more gray hairs during this time period. Joshua is fine...my sister and I kept talking to him through the window. He stayed comfy in the truck away from the whippin' cold wind. Thanks to my husband....my hero....my Jeffy. At least I am not as bad a mother as this stupid woman or this idiot girl/woman.

Nothing majorly fun planned for the weekend...except to get Joshua some new shoes. The ones he has must hurt his feet as I hear a lot of "oww mama" when I put them on him. And he pulls them off every chance he gets. At least the weekend is here!

another monday down...40 more to go

Just another Monday. Work was work. Joshua was his cute but fussable self. He was full of giggles tonight...and I will gladly take those over fussing. He has been so proud of himself lately. We are constantly hearing, "Josha got it" and "I did it". (We are so proud of him too!) He has learned to climb into and out of the car. We can just unbuckle him and he starts climbing down and out. It will be quite some time before he can do this in the truck. He loves to play outside. Don't ask him to go outside unless you are ready to go out and play....a fit will start if you don't follow through.

I am going to take a few more days off before I start walking. I am having one slight issue and once it is gone, I will start walking again. I am bothered that I am not walking.

My mother is having surgery on Thursday to have her gall bladder taken out. I joked with her about that she couldn't even wait a week after mine surgery to get her one. I'm not convinced she took it as a joke. Either way, it will be nice to not have her in pain. She will be down for a couple of weeks afterward....sounds like time for resting to me.

We checked out a new-to-us BBQ place with Mandy for dinner. It was pretty tasty. Better than the chain we normally go to. Mandy seems to really like her new company and job. I am happy for her and hope all works well this year for her and my brother.

Jeff took his glasses back in today and they verified that the lens had been cut wrong. They are going to redo them and have them ready next Monday. Hopefully this time all will go well. He also had to get the brakes and rotors changed on the car today. I have this song for Joshua from this site that I changed to "vroom vroom went the little red car one day....went vroom vroom grrrinnnd".....no more...new brakes and rotors don't grind. YEA!!

That's about it...it has just been another Monday.

two more days down, one more to go

Yesterday was a busy day at work. This is my fourth week to work refunds. I am really enjoying it. Tuesday night was busy. I had to work late to get a project finished. I didn't get home until like 7:15 and Jeff was working on dinner. We had an appointment at 8:30 that night and my brother, Jeromy, and sister-in-law, Mandy, showed up around 8 to keep Joshua. I didn't get home until close to 9:30 and got Joshua in bed...he suckers Aunt "Mani" into letting him stay up. (She is a sucker for him.) Jeromy & Mandy left before 10, I think. I messed around the house and hit the sack before 11.

I think I have many shows in the DVR to catch up on. I missed Dancing with the Stars & The Biggest Loser this week. And I know that I didn't record The Biggest Loser. Oh well...I will get all caught up some day soon.

Tuesday morning I also went for my pre-op and registration at the hospital for my surgery on Friday. Blood work, EKG & a chest x-ray. When the lady was taking my blood she had found a really good vein but wasn't pulling anything out of it. She would re-position the needle and still nothing. She kept feeling it and said she was in the vein but still nothing was coming out. She apologized many times and then had to stick me again.....in the vein I told her to use the first time. It was no big deal. Needles don't bother me....I can't watch them stick me, but can watch the blood flow out or a liquid flow in, like a shot. The EKG was fine and the chest x-ray must have been fine because I haven't heard anything on that. I go in Friday morning at 9 and go back for my surgery at 11. I will be so glad when it is all done.

Today, was more refunds at work. My brain is exhausted by the end of my work day. Then I get to Joshua's school to pick him up and on his daily paper it has a note..."Sat in time out today for biting". What??? It has been a long while since he last bit. There was no accident report and they said his teacher must still have it and they will get it in the morning. The note goes on to say, "He was really fussy today. He has a bad rash on his butt." I think he is fussy because he is getting molars. He keeps grabbing at his mouth saying - owee, owee, owee. Could be a reason for biting too. His poor bottom....his fair skin....he can't seem to catch a break. All it takes it 30 seconds too long in a dirty diaper and his gets a horrible diaper rash. HORRIBLE!!! I was hoping to let him soak in the bath tonight, but we didn't get home until nearly 11pm. Way past his bed time. He was half asleep, so I just got him some jammy bottoms and put him to bed in his shirt he wore all day. No biggie...sometimes....it just works out that way.

Tonight after dinner with my sister, we went for our three mile walk. It was a walk moderate night....the first. I think we actually averaged worse tonight on time than we did our first two nights of walking. Mostly my fault. We all kept stopping to stretch. My leg muscles haven't seen this much workout in a few years...if not longer...probably not since 2002-2003. Oh my...that was a long time ago. In 2002, I gave up red meat and started walking every night. I lost almost 60 pounds that year. It was a good healthy year for me.....then I met Jeff...and now look at me. (Just teasing honey!-love you!!) I need to work on the right stretches before we start walking....and not just stretch for 60 seconds and go walking. I am satisfied with my progress so far. I think I am doing good for living such a sedentary life.

I am needing to get to work early tomorrow since I am missing Friday. So I really need to get to bed.

just another monday

Worked today...got a lot accomplished. I feel like I am starting to fully get the hang of the refunds. Making sure we have all necessary documentation and is it a refund or an adjustment. I am getting better in my verbiage when I have to call a provider about needing more information. We have two new girls on our team and today they went on the phone for the first time. It was funny listening to them....did I sound like that 3 months ago??

Tonight we tried a new Mexican place...well, new to us anyway. Rio Mambo on 121. It was tasty. A bit expensive, especially when you add two alcoholic drinks to the tab. All the kids meals were $4.99. And since we had never been, we opted to get Joshua one...of course he didn't eat but two french fries....then wanted rice and beans off our plates. He could live on rice and beans. Hmmmm....wonder what he would think of cheese covered rice and beans...he would think he had died and gone to heaven.

An update on my giving up french fries....about a week in, I was craving piping hot, nicely salted Wendy's fries. But now...I don't really crave them at all. I look at them and they are starting to look gross...like I can see the fatty grease on them. I even felt guilty ordering them for Joshua tonight....the second they set them on the table...I thought, oh no what have I ordered for him. Looks like fries are about gone from my diet just like the coke's I gave up over 10 years ago. If I can do it...so can you!! What are you going to give up???

Tonight, my sister and I walked another 3 miles. I had a harder time tonight. I don't think the shoes I am wearing are going to work. They are Reebok walking shoes, but they have a high arch. I don't. And my foot and leg are compensating for the high arch and it hurts. Next walk, I will use my Saucony's. Tomorrow is an off day for training but I will probably get at least 1/2 walk in to make up for Monday. Remember you can always donate to my cause by visiting my site.

Tomorrow morning I go to the hospital for my pre-registration and blood work. I plan to be there super early....about the time I normally start waking up. So for me...it is bedtime.

one two fingers

Why can't it be Thursday??? I wish it was...no particular reason. My day flew by again today at work, mostly because I was busy all day. We have two new girls that just started on my team. One of them will last, the other won't. I give her but a couple of months and they will have a good reason to get rid of her.

Joshua was in a good mood tonight. It was raining when I got to his school, not bad by any means but raining none the less. He was very curious about it. This spring/summer season will really be his first to be aware of the weather. (All holidays this year are going to be super fun too!) And once it stopped raining he talked to me about Owen & Jacob his buddies from school. I don't always understand what all he tells me about them, but I love that he tells me what they did. And I always know who was bad in his class because during the course of this conversation he will say a kids name and then say, be nice. As in, "Josha, be nice, Josha". Today it must have been Jason who was bad at school. Today on the way home he also changed his ABC song. It now goes, "A-B-C-D-Q-R-S-T-U-V-Now I know my know my A-B-C-D". He seems to always sing the 'know my' twice...I think it is funny. And as a surprise to Mommy today, we were nearly home and he shouted Mommy and said one, two, three and held his fingers up for one and two but not yet three...that will take a little longer. I was so impressed that the guy behind me had to honk to get me to go since the light was green.

That is my update for today. We had dinner with Jeromy & Mandy tonight. I like having dinner with them and Mandy loves getting her Joshua time. (He is helping spread the baby fever in her direction.)

bathroom is done

No computer problems tonight so I can actually update.

Thursday turned into a long day at work. I left late and was stressing about not getting to Joshua on time. Everyone I called didn't answer...so much for back up. They all called back later. But it all worked out because when I got to Joshua's school there was a note on the door about lice. Yes, lice. When I walked in the convo went like this, "Did you see the note?" "Yes, was it in his class?" "Yes." "Dang-it!". Apparently an after schooler brought it in to the daycare and has a sibling in Joshua's class. Both siblings had it but so far none of the other kids in Joshua's class have turned up with them. Thank God!!! Here I am all glad that we have been three straight weeks with no illness (I know I shouldn't even be typing it much less saying it out loud) and then Bam! this happens. I checked Joshua's head when we got home and seen nothing that looked unusual to me. His hair was full of dirt from playing outside....which is not uncommon for my little monkey. I gave him a bath Thursday night, mostly because he needed one because he was filthy and again checked his head and nothing. I checked again this morning and still nothing. Thank God!!!

Today my brain worked too many numbers...I feel as if I worked a whole day in accounting. I am loving the challenge that is coming with my job and learning new things. But it is leaving me exhausted at the end of the day.

This weekend will be busy. We have consignment sales to hit (there are two in our area this weekend), I need to get my truck to my brother-in-law for an oil change and stuff & we have to get some of the papers for our house redone and more information gathered up to Fedex on Monday. I also need to do a little grocery shopping.

And BIG NEWS!!!!!! ALERT!!!! My surgery has been scheduled for March 20th. Isn't that exciting??? My mother seems to think so as her response was "good, you get the surgery and then we have more babies". Joshua is really to an age where he is needing a sibling. He is old enough and mature enough to understand a baby. And he would love to have someone to rough house with. He rough housed with his cousin, Ethan, tonight for at least 20 minutes.
disaster
Also the bathroom update pictures have been uploaded onto flickr....so check them out

one of those days

I haven't been sleeping well. I have had a lot on my mind lately and just lay in bed with my mind racing every night. I haven't climbed in bed before midnight in over a week. I am averaging going to bed around 2 which makes it difficult to get up early for work in a few hours. I am irritable and angry and frustrated all at once. I think that my hormones are out of whack again, with me coming off my birth control, there is nothing to regulate them. It frustrates me that without them, I am like this. I will talk to my doctor about it soon. I will call the office again tomorrow to follow up about getting my surgery scheduled. Sadly, I came off my birth control because it was costing a lot of money since it was not covered by insurance. I could have gotten on a daily pill, but that is just not an option for me...not a good one anyway. They tend to not work in controlling my other issues, that is why I have been on the patch for many years. I can't concentrate at work. My lack of concentration is just one of the things I have been stressing about. I am stressing so much that I feel like my blood pressure is way up. It doesn't take much of a rise for me to notice but lately I feel like it is way way up.

I have also been having an issue with my truck this week, an unusual noise. My truck occasionally has an odd issue that will come up. Nothing major has ever been wrong with it and I am thankful for that. I stopped by my brother-in-law's tonight and of course it wouldn't make the flippin' noise...that is what always happens. Joshua was in a great mood over there and played with everyone as much as he could given that they were trying to fix dinner. Joshua and I came home and he turned into this screaming kid. SCREAMING is an understatement for what he morphed into. He wanted a drink and I just couldn't get it fast enough. And apparently, he wanted milk and I gave him juice. I was trying to cook dinner and feeling very rushed with someone SCREAMING in the background. He wanted to be held and I can only do so much cooking holding a whining kid. I finally put him in his chair and got him some snacks...apparently they just weren't good enough for him and back to SCREAMING he went. He pushed the plate across the table, the cracker mix went flying all over. I smacked his hand for this and that went over oh so very well...SCREAMING ensued. He continued SCREAMING for about 10 more minutes and finally starting crying for his monkey. I went and got monkey and instantly it was quiet and good in Joshua's little world. If anything ever happens to monkey....it will be the end of my world. I never wanted him to be quite so attached to a lovey, but sometimes I appreciate monkey....and oddly enough....I tell monkey that I appreciate him often. Anyway...I get dinner done, get Joshua's plate together so it can cool. Set it up in front of him and he picks up a piece of chicken says hot and starts SCREAMING some more. Now, I know that his chicken is not hot...heck mine ain't even hot at this point. He pushed him plate away and instantly started whining to get down. After five minutes, I thought I would save my sanity and get him down. I got him down and he collapsed on the floor SCREAMING. Apparently he wanted to be in my lap. I got him up and sat him on my knee. I continued eating and he picked up his cup and started drinking. He emptied his cup and requested in a very nice tone that he wanted more juice. I got him tea instead and he didn't even know. Then he decided that he wanted his plate so I moved his chair all the way over next too me and he ate...one and half chicken strips...about 3 inches x 1 inch of chicken. That is all he ate for dinner. By the time dinner was finished, it was his bedtime....I stretched it 30 more minutes and then put him to bed. After dinner he and I played in the living room and he was happy as a clam....a clam who didn't eat much for dinner.

I am going to get the trash out and take something to help me hopefully get some sleep.

A-B-C-D

Today at work our portal (our main system which hold every-freakin-thing possible) went down. And then came up for 5 minutes and went down. And came up for two minutes and went down. This is pretty much how it was all day until 5pm when they took it down for good. Seems an update didn't go well. All of this made for an incredibly unproductive day. There will be lots to do the next few days to get caught back up.

Joshua had a great day. He has been singing "A-B-C-D, Now I know my A-B-C-D's" over and over again. He often sings the song and has now changed his version to this. He has gone through periods of singing L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-A-B-C and then for a while it was A-B-C-D-E-W-R-S-L-M-N-O-P. His newest version is very cute. It makes me laugh that he is catching on the last line about knowing his ABC's. He also has his own version of Twinkle Twinkle that he sings. He has been Daddy's buddy the last couple of days and it ain't bothering me one bit. It is nice to get to do a few things without him standing right up under me. And it has been a while since he has taken to Daddy so well.

We had a slight plumbing issue tonight. Jeff did get it fixed and the crisis was resolved. We have this extra faucet in our kitchen that gives you this nasty tasting water...like all the good stuff was taken out. It was leaking and he just bypassed that part of the pipes since we never use it. At least that is my girl version of what happened. We followed this up with pancakes, eggs & sausage for dinner all of which I made....and it was tasty as usual. I make a good pancake if I do have to say so myself.

Been a long day of waiting around and I am heading to bed.

thirsty hero

Today was a pretty good day. At work, both of the other girls on my team were out (one sick and the other in off site training all day) and it was just my lead and I in our little area. The supervisor came over and asked my lead to work some refunds, since our refunds guy has made an emergency trip to AR. And my lead taught me the first few steps in processing a refund. And told me in not so many words that she thinks I am better suited to work documentation than handle just calls. She said that this training would be good for me and that people are noticing. I suppose that is a good thing. The refunds gave me a steady headache, much like I had when I first started helping with supporting docs.

Joshua was in a great mood tonight. He is perfecting his pouty lip and the start of his so called fake crying. I have been telling him to "dry it up before it starts" and he does. And then smiles at me as if to say that he was just joking anyway. He is becoming quite the comedian. I have also noticed that he is bossy with his monkeys and cars. He will sit and tell them, "no monkey, monkey be nice". Makes me wonder if I say that too much??? Oh yes, this morning, he woke up at 7....45 minutes early. He was fussing so I got up and headed in his room. When I got in there we chatted for a couple of minutes, changed his diaper and then I brought him back to my room and went to sit on the bed. He didn't want to sit on Mommy's bed. He wanted to 'gitdown'. I helped him get down and then it was "mommy gitdown'. I got up off the bed and told him to show me what he wanted. He lead me all the way back to his room to his wooden train set. The set was Ethan's and is now Joshua's. So from about 7:05 until 7:30 this morning, we sat in his bedroom floor playing with this train. At 7:30, I told him I had to go take a shower and suddenly it was okay to leave the train set. I hope this does not become a morning routine with him.

Late tonight, I had let Chanci in. I knew she was thirsty so I filled her water bowl up and even put in extra water for her. She, being the goofball she is, stood in the kitchen and drank the entire bowl of water. Moments later I hear her starting to yak in the living room so I rushed in there. I barely missed seeing the explosion. Had I seen it, I would have joined her. It was so bad that she didn't even want to step over it to go outside. The smell....was H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E!! I just don't handle puke very well. I messaged Mandy online, who thankfully wasn't busy, and she came over to clean it up for me. It was so nasty....so nasty. I am thankful to Mandy for coming over to be my hero of the night. They are taking off tomorrow and I wish them an awesomely safe trip!

It's late and you know what time it is.

i have the power

So lately, every time Joshua bumps something, falls down, trips over his own feet or just has something that aches...he comes to me whining and pointing or telling me what hurts. I kiss it and it is all better. I have some serious healing power in these lips of mine. Most of the time, I don't even think he really hurts...he just needs to know that he is okay....but even still...I feel so powerful. If only I could have kissed his recent bouts of illness away.

He actually went to school 5 days this week....all 5 days....all day....every day!! And I in turn worked a full 4 days this week (Monday was a company holiday). All 4 days....the payroll folks are going to wonder what happened and why they are having to pay me so much suddenly. It feels great to have worked a full week. Here's to keeping this streak going!!!

I was ticked at the end of Private Practice Thursday night. I can't believe that I spent three weeks watching this crossover event to have the character who's story brought the two shows together decide that he is just going to up an leave to go back to New York. If it were my brother, I would be hard pressed to help him out again. All in all, it was a good crossover event, except that now I am aware of the goings on for Private Practice and will have to start watching. That is what the producers wanted though isn't it?

Today, I worked my fingers to the bone. I looked at some many lines of information that my brain was in overdrive. I worked a 113 page doc, called the provider back just to get her voicemail and left a message. And this urgent matter she was so irate about this morning, wasn't important enough for her to call back on this afternoon. Oh well...I bet I looked at close to 800 pages of information today. Tonight, I had dinner with my brother and sister-in-law. We went to Candlelight Inn. Mandy wanted to see the bar that my step-dad works at, so we drove down the street to check it out. Not a whole lot of people were there, but as usual Joshua was the life of the party. Everyone always loves him when he goes in there. Jeromy, Mandy & I played two games of pool. Mandy won both games...beginner's luck! Technically she lost the first game because she scratched...but even still....beginner's luck.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I will work on painting the bathroom. My mother is coming over mid-day to help paint and entertain Joshua. I am hoping to have it all painted tomorrow and then the border wallpaper can go up once Jeff gets home Sunday. Jeff won't be home until Sunday morning sometime. He has been from Dallas to Birmingham, AL to Dallas to Lubbock to Dallas and is now headed to New Orleans. 'Tis a great week for miles.

joshua, joshua, joshua

Nothing bad came of our lunch meeting today. Just lunch and routine work stuff. Stuff everyone should already know and be doing. We are still moving our desks around and it should be happening this week.

I still haven't found my keys. I am convinced that they are in this house somewhere. I am sure they will turn up. It is beginning to feel strange not having my keys. I know I have Jeff's set of keys, but his aren't the same. They don't fit my hand well....even though they are the same keys. And they aren't colorful. My old keys were colorful and all of my store cards were on there. I miss my keys.

Tonight for the second night in a row, I let a pan boil over on the stove. Tonight it was because Joshua had spilled his tea and had slipped and fallen in the aftermath. He was fussing (and I was trying to get him up out of it before he fell again trying to get up) and I turned around and the pan was boiling over. Water/milk/butter mix everywhere. Great...just great.

On the plus side....Joshua was in an awesome mood tonight. He even ate his green beans, something he normally doesn't. He ate the 5 I gave him and even requested more. I gave him 5 more and he gobbled them up. Shocking....and Daddy missed it....I can only hope that Joshua will eat them when Daddy is home. Joshua and I played with his fish puzzle. We took the pieces out and I handed them to him one at a time so he could put them back in. We go over the colors of the fish as we go. He has stopped saying yellow and orange. All the others he says just fine...even purple. After we would put the puzzle together, he would clap his hands saying "yeah!". I asked for a high five and got one. I have taught him the....high five, down low, in the hole....thing. Now, he wants to do it all every time we do a high five...what have I done?

Joshua is not like taking a bath in the big bathtub in our master bath. I think he is overwhelmed by the size. And his head doesn't come above the tub so he can't really see out. A few more days and I will move him back to his newly decorated bathroom and he will be so happy.

Joshua was also convinced that his daddy was at home asleep. When I picked him up from school, he asked "Daddy?". To which I said, "Daddy is at work". Normally Joshua says work and moves on from this subject. Today he responded "Daddy sleep". I told him no, Daddy went to work. After a minute he dropped the subject. When we got in the house, he said "Daddy sleep". I said no. I had to go into the bedroom for something and Joshua of course followed me. He looked up on the bed and didn't see Jeff. He asked "Daddy" and walked around to Jeff's side of the bed. He checked the bed again and still no Daddy. I again told him that Daddy went to work and he again asked if Daddy was asleep. He checked the bed again and again and again. Finally he agreed that Daddy must be at work because he isn't in the bed. I think Joshua is figuring out that Daddy isn't home all the time. We knew this time would come and hope that it is followed quickly with an understanding that Daddy is at work and will be back in a few days.

Joshua also says, "J-O-Josha. J-O-Josha". It is funny. He will be reading something, like his paper from school that says what all he did today and he will read on the paper, "J-O-Josha". It is very cute.

It is Wednesday night, so I need to get the trash out.

have you seen my keys?

Today was my first day back at work after 6 days off.....I am tired. And I am told that I will need to go back to working my regular hours again starting tomorrow. We also have a big lunch meeting tomorrow....sounds to me like they are buttering us up for something.

I have lost my keys. The last time we had them was Sunday evening. And now....I don't know where they are. We have looked all over the house, checked both the car & the truck and nothing. Jeff left me with his house key, mailbox key & truck key. I will tie them together with string in hopes that I don't lose them too.

Joshua's cough seems to be much better today. Thank goodness. I stressed all day thinking that the daycare was going to call and I would have to go pick him up. I am stressed that it will happen in the next three days too since Jeff will be gone. I really don't want to miss more work. I think the time I have needed off in the last two weeks is why they have put me back on my crappy shift. (It is not a crappy shift...after all, it could be worse.)

Now, I am just looking forward to Thursday night when the final Grey's Anatomy - Private Practice crossover comes on. But in the mean time, I must sleep and work.

22nd

The Great Dane is ranked 22nd on the AKC's list of most popular dogs. They should be ranked first since they can whip and squish all the others. And they could do all that while smiling. Chanci smiles all the time. You just look at her and she grins at you. Joshua felt like Chanci was getting in his way....well, more like she was occupying Daddy's attention...and he didn't like it. So he attempted to push her out of the way. She wasn't budging so he ditched the whole idea and came to Mommy. (Mommy is cooler anyway!....but don't tell Daddy)

Speaking of Daddy, they sent Jeff to work tonight. Finally! He is going stir crazy...got cabin fever...whatever you want to call it. He is such a homebody that it is funny to a certain extent that he is getting stir crazy. I am glad they have sent him to work tonight, I am not sure I could handle another night of him. I love him, but he is going stir crazy. Now he is off to work and hopefully will not return for at least two nights.

Work was busy today. Since I have been taught how to do something new, it is really keeping me busy. I really like being busy. I really like that at the end of the day, I can just go home. No taking work home to do. I just log all out and leave. It is strange feeling sometimes to not have work to do at home. Not that there is not work at home to do....laundry and dishes are a never ending chore. CHORE. I hate doing them both, but am working on getting better at it.

Joshua was in a great mood tonight. He tried the potty at school again today. And we tried again tonight. I think he just likes reading the book. At the end he says "all done" "again". Then, we start all over again, and again, and again. He also is to busy poking at it to actually use it for business...if you know what I mean. I swear he is going to pee in his eye. We will see. He ate dinner semi-good tonight. He rejected the green beans at first, but then ate a few. Green beans have never been a favorite....peas are a favorite and corn. I spiced up some hamburger meat, it was a little too spicy for Joshua and almost too spicy for Jeff. Joshua dinner consisted of mashed potatoes, a few green beans and mixed fruit. He ate the mixed fruit in one inhaled move, I swear. Joshua has also gotten to where only Mommy can put him down for bedtime. This isn't good. We have tried with Jeff putting him down, and he just sits in bed screaming until I go in there. I pick him up and set him back down and he is out. I don't know how to fix this.

Just another Wednesday

So, after I went to bed last night, I was thinking that I did have other updates. Major one...my shift has been temporarily changed to earlier at work. This is great....now I get off when it is still daylight. And today, my lead taught me how to do something new. It kept my day moving right along. The three other girls that started with me are all looking for other jobs. One of them wants better hours and better pay, but through the grapevine, she ain't worth the pay she is making now. Another is gossipy and I avoid her at all cost. The other has been out sick and came back yesterday. She wishes she had been looking while she was home sick. There ain't many jobs out there. Anyway, it is all going great for me at work.

Joshua was grumpy this morning because he had to get up an hour and a half earlier than normal. He was so grumpy, he argued with Jeff over everything this morning. And had a mini-melt down when we got to school. At dinner tonight, he ate and ate and ate. Spaghetti. When he was all done, he looked like he had a clown smile. He also played with markers today at school and his hands are blue. One hand is almost good. The other hand...will just have to lighten with time. Even with a bath, the one is still blue.

Jeff's work has been slow lately. S-l-o-w. Since Christmas he has probably only worked about 1/4 of the time he should have. Not good. Not good at all. His work is thinking that it may be March before things pick up again. Not good. Not good at all.

I put in 20 minutes on the wii fit tonight, for the first time in a week and a half. I am finally feeling like my breathing is good enough to do the exercises.

Guess that's it for today.