oy! another month gone by

work has been less busy since the only program i've had was spring crafts and hop in your jammies. we made butterfly magnets, coffee filter flowers, and bunny puppets. it was fun! jammies had 7 kids and it was perfect for lots of participation. we did london bridges and ring around the roses and had fun animal masks and it was a blast. plus any part of work where i can wear my pajamas is a good thing! cool things - a patron gave us a check for $10,000 and crap i forgot the other thing, maybe it'll come to me.

done lots of fun things with the fam. went camping with my parents, aunt and her boyfriend. we went on a long and lovely kayak ride, watched blind side and talked by the fire. it was relaxing and i read a lot and it was only and little warm and buggy. i did miss brian a lot. it was the first camping trip without him. i didn't have anyone to climb trees with (and their was a giganitc oak tree!) and only could get mom to play yahtzee with me (she got 3 yahtzees in two games!) and no one to do dishes with. i missed his sarcasm and grouchiness and his sweetness and his expertise at putting the camper up and down.

went to trey's 4th birthday party at chuck e cheese. haven't been to one since i was 11 and it was way fun! i got to hold a beautiful baby and laugh and catch up with my church friends from my teenage years and eat pizza. trey was very cute, especially with the presents. last year he wanted to look at and play with everything as he was opening gifts and it took forever. this year it was how fast can i rip this stuff open and get to the next one. karen and justin and i stopped at babies r us afterwards and i got her present. right now i'm working on the invitations for her baby shower. they are green and pink and jungley.

mom and cat and i hung out saturday. we went to the quilt exhibit at the museum and saw lots o quilts. a few lovely and a few weird. some had so much stuff on them glitter and shells and applique and embroidery. quilting technique kind of hit the back burner. but there were a few that took our breath away with their amazing stitching and colors and perfectness. then lunch at crispers and michael's (more scrapbooking stuff-i can't stop!)

i have so many projects to work on. i am furiously trying to finish cat's graduation present. it's not gonna get done on time, but hopefully it won't be too late. i'm doing karen's invites and then trying to make something for the baby. i also need to work on her pregnancy album and a much overdue baby shower book for ishu. i mean her kid turns 2 in july, so it's a bit late. i also want to make a picture book for olive's bday. i'm going to spend a few days with them around memorial day, so i can take the pics i need for it then. however, my camera is on its last leg. i hopefully can get a new one for christmas.

i went to a jewelry party at emily's last week and am going to host one at my house in 2 weeks. a good excuse to work a half day and get my house clean. i got together with the library ladies at emily's saturday and had fun laughing and talking and catching up. i also saw emily's son aidan play football that morning. so cute. 5 year olds trying to pass a football is hilarious. they even have little cheerleaders!

i am very excited about my trip to see susan at the end of may. we are roadtripping to arkansas and maybe missouri this time. never been to either state, so i'll have more to mark off on my places i've visited map. i also booked a cruise for jodi and i in december. i got way more back from the irs than i planned, so i was able to do it. it is 5 nights, 6 days, key west (i've never been!) and nassau. jodi's never cruised and she'll be finished with her pre reqs for pa school, so its a little celebration for her. it was way cheap (not that i'm paying for jodi, i didn't get that much back!)

anyway may brings me doing 4 preschool storytimes, hop in your jammies, a computer info/internet safety class for some brownies (girl scouts), working the first and last weekend, a lunch out with carrie, a planning the shower meeting with kate, my jewelry party (if the girl will ever email me!), a camping trip to payne's prairie, mother's day, aunt susan's bday, bill's bday, cat's graduation (luckily we don't have to attend, cause she isn't walking!), my susan trip, memorial day at the beach with ishu, and the premier of sex and the city 2!!

baby stuff

mom, justin, karen, kate and i headed out quite early this morning to the mecca of baby stuff. we got the gun and started clicking around the store in a counter-clockwise attack. infant care took quite a while. bottles and cups and spoons and bibs and shampoo and lotion and thermometers and nail clippers and wiper warmer and boppy and video baby monitors ($$) and breast pads and nipple butter (seriously what it was called) and burp clothes and teething rings and on and on and on. then we went to justin's favorite the car seats, strollers, bounce seats, jump ups, pack and plays, high chairs and baby carriers.

justin has expensive tastes and likes the blues and greens of the nursery, while karen is paying attention more to price and trying to get some pink/feminine stuff since it is a girl. their theme is the jungle. the nursey has a white chair rail with blue on the top and green on the bottom. sam has painted a massive tree in one corner and so far there is a monkey hanging off. other jungle animals are coming. karen picked out a brown and pink car seat, but looking at their registry online, i see that got changed to a brown and green one. the bouncer is green and brown with monkeys, the jump up is blue and green, i think justin is gonna get the expensive stroller he wants which is navy and karen couldn't find the specific pack and play she wanted. it was fun watching them negotiate. justin is also all about saving the planet, so he wanted to get all the green products. karen is of course also concerned with being green, but only if it isn't insanely more expensive. i think they compromised well.

kate had lots advice of what worked with trey, mom had the expert advice of what she recommends to her wic clients and i was the 'remember the lighter stuff gets dirty quicker' girl. then we went on to the diapers. justin picked out some green huggies. cheaper than the really green ones, but better for the environment than the regular ones. then they eached picked out their diaper bags. they both went for eddie bauer ones. karen's is green and justin's navy. on to furniture. we narrowed it down to three crib sets. cherry, walnut and knotty pine. the cherry was the cheapest, but a bit dark. the walnut had lovely craftman features, which i personally liked the best. the knotty pine was more rustic which goes with new mexican decor in their home. kate in all her brilliance noticed a 50% sign on the knotty pine one. the crib was 1/2 off when you bought the whole set (crib, dresser, changing table). plus if you opened a credit card, you got 15% off the whole set. mom and dad also had given them $300 to buy the crib (which was less than that since it was half off) so when you add it all together that got a great deal! plus the bed is one that can change from crib to toddler to a double. also its sturdy and not babyish, so it could stay with the kid forever. so in the end it was the cheapest set and they ended up ordering it.

by now we were 2/3 done, but the pregnant ladies needed a long rest and some energy. so we headed over to ted's montana grill to eat some bison. i got a philly bison burger. it was very messy and a bit bland, but i also got bison chili and it was amazing! there was some confusion between mom and my tickets and i ended up getting my meal for free! then we hit the store for round 2.

there were four jungle themes for bedding. one was jungle and sports, which looked kinda strange. one was jungle and numbers and letters, which i thought was cute and educational. the third was lots of green and light brown and just jungle animals. the fourth was less babyish jungle animals and had more and darker browns, which mom liked. they agreed on the third one and got most of the accessories with it. then to crib/nursery accessories. sheets and blankets and matresses and crib pads and changing table pads and covers for those too. onto hampers and baskets to organize (green and brown) and stuffed animals (a monkey, giraffe, and gator), a monkey light plate and elephant night light. lots of hangers, a few toys to attach to the stroller and crib. an ocean themed baby gym (they decided not everything had to be jungle. they had picked out ocean stuff and a few elmo things for the bath).

last we hit the clothes. here is where karen finally got some pink. pink and purple and white hats and sleepers and onsies. also green and yellow with animals. pink socks and white ones too. there are some pretty cute outfits but we just got the basics, because people like to pick out what they think is cute and clothes are hard to find off of registrys. all that cuteness almost makes me want a baby. not quite, but it was the most maternal i'd felt in a long time. then we turned the gun in and got a print out of the 18 pages of stuff we'd registerd for. geesh!

on the way home we stopped and got some blasts from sonic. justin paid, so i got a day of entertainment, lunch and dessert for free. what a deal! weird thing, i saw two people from home. one pregnant with her little girl was headed to the bathroom while i was testing out the gliders and the other came into ted's with his parents. granted one just moved there and the other is about to, but come on. 2 hours from home and i still can't get away from people i know. i gotta move!

having too much fun to spend time working

oh it's been so long. keeping busy as usual. had an amazing weekend in st. augustine with my roommate for her birthday. we walked up the lighthouse, had yummy seafood next to the bridge of lions, did the ghosts and graveyards trolley tour, watched men march and shoot old guns at castillo de san marcos, enjoyed a fabulous view from our hotel room and walked on the beach and all over the city. then home to go hang out with the library ladies. had a great time playing games and laughing hysterically.

i've been having huge numbers at my preschool programs. over 100 people. have my last one tomorrow. i've been working on setting up the summer program and today i got asl classes and a pet therapy dog for kids to read to. i also got my other library specialist so now i have two people to do programs with me. we are starting to get a bit more organized in the back office, i should soon have my shelves installed, which will make it possible for me to unpack about 10 boxes! it's been weird only working 1 night a week, i got so used to working late every night. with daylight savings i have so much sunlight to enjoy. its nice.

last weekend i went to orlando. ishu and i had appointments at aveda. it's a cosmetology school, so it doesn't have all the ooh la la spa comfort, but it's way cheap. i got a 45 minute pedicure for $15. plus the girl i got loves to do designs on nails and it wasn't extra. so i got cara mia crimson with a white daisy on each big toe. so cute! then lunch at crispers and shopping at lane bryant, tjmaxx, and ross. home for a nap and then people came over. justin made yummy wings on the grill and delicious sausage pizza. dan and julia brought spinach dip and made calzones to order! then scattegories and monkey bread. around 11 everyone left and the three of us started 'did you hear about the morgans?' justin was asleep in minutes and ishu soon dragged him to bed. so i ate strawberries and finished the movie myself. i liked it a lot!

this weekend karen, justin, kate, mom and i are heading to babiesrus. kate just found out she's probably having a girl too (its still a little early, but the dr thinks that's what the baby is). karen and justin want to register and since kate doesn't know what she wants to do with the nursery, she's gonna scope out some ideas. then lunch at some place that has bison burgers that justin's all excited about. only problem is i gotta be at karen's at 8am. i'm so gonna be late.

that's the big things i've been doing lately. gotta get better at keeping up with this!

boy or girl?

have a yucky cold with a nasty cough. i've had bad headaches the last two days, but today that was better. just crazy coughing. last night sam came over and we watched grey's anatomy and had dinner which was fun. this morning i got called in to work. we'd asked for overtime but it hadn't gotten approved til this morning, so i went in to work 11-1 and then i had lunch with karen and justin. then we went to get her sonogram. the baby is so cute. we got to see her from all angles. yes her! she's perfect. then i got to meet the midwife, jane. she is hilarious! she's from scotland so she has an awesome accent and is just so regular. lots of texting and phone calls ensued. so little marisa emma marshall it is. then back to work, home for sushi and internet time, talking to emily and sam on the phone and debra on facebook. now to read myself to sleep so i can be back to work at 8:30. oh crap i gotta go pay rent, i forgot it was the 5th.

kids

library is crazy!! the kids desk is good, but the front is crazy. hopefully next week when we have a normal schedule it will settle down. i'm sick of living out of boxes! i want storage! i want shelves! i want drawers! okay the whining is over now.

we had our first kids programs today. the little ones laptime had 18 people, which was great. then we had wii in the afternoon. it went pretty well. one little girl kind of took over and making everybodies wii. but they weren't too noisy. i just felt bad for a couple kids whose parents made them do homework instead. what mean parents! like homework is more important than playing games :) i have my first preschool tomorrow and it took forever to find the books i wanted in the many boxes in my office. wait that was more whining. here's one more thing, my dryer broke last night. it'll probably be over $200 to fix. luckily suzi let me dry my two loads of wet laundry at her place. actually she let me drop it off, dried it and folded it for me. what a good friend!

can't wait til friday. day off and going to see karen and justin's baby on the sonogram. gonna find out if its a boy or girl. then my roommie is going away for the weekend, so i have the apt to myself. even though i have to work, i get the place to myself for a little while. i'm thinking sushi and a romantic comedy.

the er floor

my sis karen texted last night at 9:30 that she was going to the er in a great deal of pain. this totally freaked me out because she's 3 months pregnant. she passed out in the er waiting room from pain, so they gave her a gurney to lie on in the waiting room until they could see her. after midnight she got into an exam room and they got some drugs in her to dull the pain. it appeared she had a kidney stone. the baby's heartbeat was fine, but they couldn't do the regular scan to see if it was a stone because of the baby. so they started her on iv fluids to help flush the stone out and gave her something for nausea, because with the pregnancy she has that problem all the time. i was so worried i didn't fall asleep until 4am and then justin called at 5:30 and asked me to met him at their house to get some things for karen and take them back to her, so he could get a few hours sleep and check on the dogs.

i found karen crying just before 7am. the nurse had yelled at her because she couldn't get up to use the bathroom on her own and then when karen asked for a bed pan she was rude about it. she also let her iv go empty for an hour, when she needs as much fluid as she can get so that stupid stone can pass. nursing is one of the very last things i would ever want to do as a career, but yelling at a pregnant, puking, girl in the worst pain of her life is just wrong. fortunately for the nurse, i had arrived at the shift change and she was gone. her new nurse was much nicer and even though the fratboy at the er desk was giving me bs, the nurse gave her pain meds and a new iv when she needed it.

for the next two hours, i got karen in pjs, kept her covered with her quilt, held her hair while she puked, emptied her bedpan, and let her know how much more time until she could get another dose of pain meds. i threw a blanket on the floor and stretched out in between. tile floors are cold. er's are noisy, mostly cause the nurses sit at the desk and yak it up. listening to the drunk girl in the next room was entertaining though. the only thing that got me to smile while there. after her 9am dose of drugs, i hooked up her cpap (breathing machine) in hopes she could sleep until justin came back at 11. then i went home, gave the fam an update and crashed until 1pm.

off to work at 1:30. holy crap the library has been busy! job security is great and all, but why the heck are so many people coming to see us. having to replace the return book bin 2-3 times an hour is just crazy. it was interesting trying to make coherent sentences and sound friendly, when all i wanted to do was curl up under my desk and sleep. at least i got done most of what i needed to and the rest will just have to wait until monday.

came home and got more updates. karen was admitted around lunchtime and has to stay until it passes, but they were able to locate it and it should be able to pass. her midwife came by too and said childbirth would be a walk in the park compared to this and that the baby looked fine. cat and kate's family visited her this afternoon and evening, sam brought justin dinner and then mom came at 9pm to spend the night with her so justin could get some sleep. hopefully they keep her on the meds at the right times and the pain doesn't get any worse. luckily my mom does bitch well, especially when one of her babies is hurt, so karen shouldn't have anymore nurse problems. i'll go see her tomorrow and know more. i complain a lot about my aches and pains, but at least, with the exception of the week before my back surgery, i've never had to deal with that kind of pain. and it only hurt if i tried to sit, it wasn't constant. my surgery was outpatient, so i've never had to spend the night in the hospital as a patient. for all these things, and that the baby is okay, i feel truly blessed.

fun and productivity

orlando was good. friday night justin had to do a work dinner, so olive, ishu and i went to izziban sushi. there were only three waitresses for the whole place and the bartender was also the busboy and host, so even though there were empty tables they weren't sitting people. my diet pepsi tasted funny, so i tried sierra mist, nada, water it was. it only took 20 mintues to get that figured out. the appetizer wasn't good and one of my sushi rolls was really salty. olive was not happy to be there. she bit her styrofoam glass of water and it exploded all over the table. it took forever to get the waitress to clean it up, while olive smacked the table to make water splash. she didn't want to sit in her high chair or eat. she had her 18 month check up that day and we figure the shot they gave her was making her grumpy. she's usually so good in restaurants. after that memorable meal we met justin at home and then went to twisty treat. is was a long drive, but was very yummy.

the next day i slept in late, watched roman holiday for the first time (so good!!) and then ishu made chilli for lunch. justin cleaned the garage and prepped our greek feast while ishu and i ran errands. she had things to return and we hunted down some glassware she wanted for her birthday. we found half of them in tjmaxx and half in ross. the lines were horrible!! we got a snack at chic fil a, which i've eaten at only once, like ten years ago. the salad was good. scrapbooking stuff was 40% off at joann's so i stocked up on birthday stuff. debra and i are making birthday cards for the library this weekend.

when we got home justin had made kebabs and two couples came over. one were people from church who use to live in gainesville that i haven't seen in forever and the other a high school friend of justin's. his fiance is from amsterdam and she had this lovely accent. we had spinach dip and pita bread with hummus as appetizers and then chicken, steak and veggie kebabs with wheat pitas and baba ganuoush. i never had it before and didn't know it was eggplant. it was such a yummy meal. then we played catch phrase, scene it and scattegories. monkey bread for dessert and then i got olive all wound up before putting her to bed. once the couples left, ishu gave me a pedicure.

i slept in again! we had leftover greek food for breakfast and then they got ready for church and i packed up. ishu gave me my christmas present. she designed and made me a bag for my crocheting. it has pockets inside for the hooks and is brown with flowers. she is sooo creative. once i was home it was reading and naptime. then the golden globes in between desperate housewives and brothers and sisters.

today i met carrie at the gym and we did a stretch class and then some cardio. the class is taught by a library patron and she gave me a shout out in the class and said how much she loved acld. then we went to bageland for lunch and exchanged christmas gifts. home to read and nap and then emily came over to borrow some stamps. she had the boys with her and they were a little wound up from their playdate. they had fun writting on me with a sharpie and themselves with a highlighter. i started it my wrighting on myself. i'm such a bad example. then the squealed bloody murder in front of my apartment and were gone. they are crazy but fun!

then i got productive. dishes washed, healthy dinner made and eaten, room cleaned, apartment vacuumed, bed made and craft table organized. watched castle with the roommate. love love love that show! now catching up on email, facebook and the blogs. tomorrow we start unpacking the storage of what will one day be my library again. oh the work in store. 2am and time for bed!

fun and flying

got everything done that absolutely had to get done and then shot down to o town. had a yummy italian dinner out and then went to church today and had yummy home cooked meat and rice for lunch and then chicken and fettucine for dinner. playing with an adorable little olive and giving lots of hugs and kisses!! nap and wii resort and night at the museum 2. being with the martinezes is always fun! tomorrow i fly to my grandma's!! so excited to see her and talk and be in the cold and hopefully see snow!! no internet, maybe a trip to the library to mooch some off them. i have to be at the airport in 5 hours. probably time to sleep!!

take it easy

its been an easy week. i had monday off, most of thursday and half of friday. i stayed in bed all day monday reading and sleeping. tues and wed were slow work days, mostly making decorations and games for the work christmas party. tuesday night i got all the christmas decorations out and most of it up. wednesday i got the tree up and hopefully will get the garland and lights in the window up tomorrow. i need to do dishes, wrap presents, pack and do laundry friday night and saturday morning before i go down to orlando. i'm staying with ishu and justin before i fly out monday morning. i'm watching emily's kids tomorrow afternoon so they can go get a new suv, since her husband totalled there's thanksgiving weekend. sam is supposed to get her car soon, but dad's being having trouble finding the title to her old car. after emily's kids, i'm going to watch sandy's grandson luke, while his mom goes to a christmas party. i've never watched him before, but he comes in the library a lot and is so cute!

today i did a program at a preschool and then went to work for a little bit. then i came home and washed my car. i haven't done that in forever. i took the day off to be with kate and jd, as trey was having surgery today. he didn't go in until the afternoon, so i got to take a nap and read. i went over around dinner time and hung out with them in the playroom and watched him eat lots of popsicles and ice cream. then i went to joanns and spent an obsene amount of money on yarn and scrapbooking supplies. then to publix to get ingredients for lasagna and german chocolate cake for the work christmas party and for christmas cookies. next was cvs to get my 3oz toiletries for my trip to pennsylvania. weather.com says the highs next week are in the 30s and the lows in the teens. and its gonna snow!! i'm so excited, but way glad my cousin is gonna pick me up from the airport so i don't have to drive in it.

after a yucky weekend of no tim and no gator win, this week has been good. hopefully the rest of my busy month is good too!

wrapping up october

how time gets by me. cat came by work on wednesday and took me to lunch. it was great to catch up and i love a free meal! so homecoming weekend was good. the library float turned out well, and it barely rained while we constructed it. the library was pretty crazy saturday afternoon. i got home in time to watch the second half of the gator game. lots of screaming at the tv. we barely won. sunday's storytime went well. just 15 kids, but fun doing a halloween theme. monday was productive. i met sam at the mall and we had fun looking for an interview outfit for me and for accessories to our halloween costumes (gangster princess and minnie mouse). we had lunch at ruby tuesday and then i went out to dad's to clean. justin has been cleaning up the land and it looks awesome! brian and i played some wii and mom and i talked quilts. the rest of the week at work was jam packed. i have a high school intern i'm in charge of. she is great and learns quickly, but its another thing to do. i have a cookbook i'm in charge of for the library's united way campaign and the recipes are poring in. i have to format them and it takes a bit of time. plus doing the daily schedules. wednesday night i went to cat's and we talked for hours. thursday my ear started to hurt, but i left early friday to spend time in orlando with ishu. she and her husband just bought a house and i wanted to see it. we spent the entire time running errands. it was pretty tiring, but olive is adorable and ishu always makes me laugh. i came home saturday and went straight to karen's to watch the gator game. another close one. every since that hit on the head, tebow hasn't quite been himself. sam has been painting a mural on the wall of karen's nursery. justin and her are about to start trying for a baby, but they are gung ho into getting everything ready. sunday was church, where i taught my first sunday school lesson. then i went to the mall with suzi. her daughter was having a scavenger hunt in the mall for her birthday, so i did a trial run to see if the clues made sense. it was lots of fun! then out to karen and justin's for justin's bday party. yummy food and family fun. monday back to work and trying to finish the cookbook, since we are printing on tuesday morning. i ended up staying up the entire night to finish it. both my ears were killing me by now. i got to work a short day on tuesday, so i went to the dr and got some meds, then went home to bed. i ended up calling in wednesday and staying in bed all day. sam came over with lunch and washed my dishes, which was great as they were starting to smell. friday i had my interview and i think it went well. it'll be a couple of weeks before i know who got it. sam's been interviewing for a lot of jobs lately and i'd rather she gets one. at least i'm already happy doing what i am. friday night was the dance at church i looked pretty cute and sam looked awesome. my brother called just before the dance to say he'd got his mission call. he is going to spend two years in the salt lake city area preaching the gospel. i'm so excited for him and think it will be a wonderful life experience for him. i left around 11 and got some sleep. i went to see suzi's daughter run cross-country and emily was their too, so we got to catch up, which was nice. then i went grocery shopping, made potato salad and paid my bills. a bunch of us met at karen's to watch the game, which was really good and then took trey trick or treating. i dressed up and my family thought it was hilarious. my right ear doesn't seem to want to heal, so i stayed in bed all day sunday. i'm surrounded by six loads of clean laundry and no desire to put it away. i have a very weird schedule this month working lots of weekends but lots of weekdays off. my big things to accomplish this month are organizing the house, most specifically my room and getting to the gym. i got a short talking to by the dr, so i need to make it a priority. that's about it for now. off to sleep now.

how do i fit it all in?

let's see. the bridal shower/bachelorette bash went really well. wonderful fun and great pictures abounded. i took emily's son to a bday party sat morning. he was very well behaved and i had a lot of fun. he's finally at an age where you can carry on a conversation with him and he's hilarious. then off to dad's to work. i did dishes, vaccuumed the whole place, and cleaned the area outside the front door. you can actually see the green indoor/outdoor carpet now instead of just dirt. then dad had me take apart a cpu. it was really dusty, but cool. i learned the names of stuff and what they actually do. i've used a computer since 1984 but never looked inside one. it was fun. and he finally gave me a laptop. unfortunately when i got it home, i couldn't get the wireless to work. but i had fun changing the desktop picture and all the colors to make it mine.

sunday i went to church, where my uncle spoke and of course my aunt came up. i had to go to the bathroom and have a good cry. but we sat next to each other in sunday school and talked about his kids and i felt better. then home to the very deep sleep of a long and much needed nap.

tuesday a daycare called and asked for a program the next morning. their fieldtrip to the zoo was cancelled, so i went wednesday morning and did a zoo program. it went really well, the kids participated a lot, which always makes it more fun. wednesday night i had dinner with debra and sam and then hit some sales at joanne's.

i took thursday off to catch up on my web class and work for dad. i learned tables, which was something i was interested in doing to help a web site look way more organized. i did it in the wee hours of the morning, so i made a lot of little mistakes, but finally got it right. at dad's i cleaned 4 of the 8 windows inside and out. lots o cobwebs, spiders, dirt and dust. i did dishes and worked on, or more like watched, him work on his wireless and getting my laptop to connect to it. it finally did, but when i got it home, i still couldn't get it to work. grrr. but i got money and dinner, so it was a successful day.

i worked the weekend. it was busy in spurts. the rain around 3pm saturday cleared the place out which was nice. we got pretty slammed sunday, so much checkin. but the real bummer was that the blood mobile was supposed to come. lots of people showed up for it, but it didn't arrive until 4pm, an hour before we close. i'm not sure they got anybody. when i got home jodi and i did some rearranging. the desk i use belonged to my last roommate, but jodi bought it from her. it didn't fit in her room, so i put it in the dining room for me to use. she needs more space to spread out her textbooks and study, so she rearranged her room and we switched desks. emily gave me her old flat screen, so i was able to get rid of that monsterous monitor. i also finally opened my all in one printer, scanner, fax, copier that i got for christmas. it is small and works great! i just have to figure out where to put all the stuff that was in the big desk. i'm also thinking of rearranging my room too, we'll see.

today i slept until 1pm. 12 hours of sleep. i guess i was tired. now just catching up on facebook, email, and blogging. gotta go to my sister's to help give her cat a shot. she needs them everyday, cause her kidney's are failing, and karen's in st pete on her last rotation! and justin's gone to new mexico cause his mom's having back surgery today. sam is staying with the animals, but needs help giving the shot. hard to hold a cat still and slowly stick a needle in. then we're gonna see a movie. the proposal if my roommate is free or harry potter if she's not. oh and i need to work on my class too. it ends august 7th and i'll be knee deep in wedding prep, so i have to finish this week.

playing catch up, again.

yikes its been over two weeks. i was waiting to do this at home so i could add some pics, but at home i find other things to occupy my time. the fourth of july party at cat and bill's was a great success. we played a new game, cornholing (don't know about that spelling) its like bean bag toss. i crushed my roommate and then my brother and i were a team against my brother-in-law justin and sister cat. the first game brian and i devastated them, the second game was neck in neck tying with 100 pts. cat and justin won the tie breaker, but i want a thrid game to prove who is the bestest! swimming in their pool was lovely. we had races, everybody joining in. i was the big loser of that game. i can't swim in a straight line, so i'm blaming my losing to everyone, including my mom, on that defect (she can't swim a straight line either, so it must be her fault). the fireworks were awesome and no one lost any body parts, although my mom stayed on her feet to run if need be. they were pretty big to be exploding right over our heads.

olive's bday party in orlando was sooo much fun. the drive to and from orlando was mostly terrifying and slow. rain is bad on the interstate. lots o accidents and with all the construction in o town water just sits on the road and you go through puddles and just know you're gonna crash into one of those cement barriers and kill yourself. however, the party was a success. the kids loved the pool and cupcakes. the adults loved the food, the cuteness of olive, and pummeling ishu with water balloons (thanks to me!) i'm going down again at the end of the month for a craft fair that should be way fun. and we're gonna eat at our new place bocca de beppo (spelling again) this family style italian place that is awesome! oh and of course i like spending time with the martinez family :)

carrie's bridal shower is tomorrow! filmed the groom answering questions last night and it was hilarious!! i have a lot of cooking to do tonight though. plus the missionaries are coming over and my sister and dinner must be cooked. i'm making meatloaf. oh how i love it, its making my mouth water. i've been making lists today for all the things i still need to do for tomorrow. i will not be getting to sleep anytime soon. i have to finish her present, i finished the big part last night and i think sam can help with the rest while i cook. that would be oh so wonderful. i really hope all goes well tomorrow night. that people show and carrie has fun and the bachelorette part downtown works like a want. we'll see.

i am getting behind on my web class. i had to do two lessons fast this week before they disappeared. gotta catch up this weekend. i worked for dad last friday. i scrubbed the fridge, it looks really good. we also worked on my hand me down laptop, which im way excited about. hopefully we finish it when i go out this saturday. i'm taking emily's son aaron to a bday party saturday morning (hopefully he behaves, the little rascal) and then i'm going out to dad's and hopefully free movie, transformers, with sam and the roommate. work has been good this week. i don't have any programs for two weeks and finished the booklists i've been working on, so i'm being kinda lazy at work since i'm so busy in the personal life. i did go to the gym three times last week and three times this week. i lost 3 lbs. last week, so we'll see if that continues this week. i hope to get to the gym sat night, but usually cleaning dad's shop is a workout in itself.

i think that's everything. i'm sure it's not, but enough for now. hopefully some pics next time!

tears

today was hard. i finally cried. a lot. the sisters at church had a nice lunch for the family. then the viewing. my aunt didn't like people staring at her, even in death, so it was a closed casket. my mom helped her daughters dress her, that was the beginning of her crying. my mom has been pretty strong through this, but today she looked rough. her eyes and nose were red and swollen. she looked her 57 years. and yet she was beautiful. no black for her. she was in pink and green and looked like spring. i set next to her during the first part of the viewing when it was just mostly family and we watched the slideshow. my mom in the early pictures with her pointy glasses and blond pig tails. ruth was a beautiful woman. i cried through the pictures. her and bob and their teenage love that blossomed into a wonderful marriage with 5 children and 8 grandchildren. she really lived. lots of pictures of all the places she's been. hawaii and jamaica, the bahamas and all over the us. by her side her children and her beloved husband. always a smile on her face and a laugh in her eyes. as i cried i remembered how vibrant and loud and loving she was. i'm going to miss that.

the funeral was wonderful and long. the church was packed with the people who loved her. her youngest daughter and oldest granddaughter just 2 years apart, sung nearer my god to thee. that song always makes me cry. then robyn her daughter spoke. she's closest to me in age and 7 months pregnant. she cried through a lot of it and recounted among other things, the romance of her parents. then her son jason spoke. he recounted ruth's penchant for losing her keys and wallet and glasses. her nicknames for all her children and siblings. she was mama bear. his wife is pregnant with their first child. they just found out it was a boy. someone to carry on the family name. ruth was at the birth of all her grandchildren. he cried when he said how much she had been looking forward to being at the birth of his son. talk about tears flowing. then all her grandchildren sang the song love is spoken here. my mom spoke after that. her siblings said they couldn't do it. she's the rock, the big sister now, so she got the things they each wanted to say and weaved them into a lovely and funny tribute to their sister.

then one of her tuesday night painting sisters spoke. ruth and 3 girlfriends had gotten together every tuesday for 12 years to work on projects, share their trials and triumphs and girl talk. it was nice to hear a friend talk, to share another part of my aunt. during this talk, tiffany's daughter scared us by chocking on a spree. then she threw up on her mother. pregnant, sick, at her mother's funeral, her child scaring her and then puking on her and tiffany's bday is tomorrow. she looked pretty miserable. another speaker - a bit long winded and a operatic singing of the lord's prayer by dr kesling and then the bishop read what my uncle bob couldn't get up there and say. it was to everyone there about how much he appreciated their help these two months. and it was to his ruthie. many tears. to be loved like that. to share your life with your best friend. i want that someday.

needless to say by the end karen, cat and i had a mountain of tissues setting on the pew between us. the gravesite ceremony was short and hot. i stopped at my nana and great grandpa's graves and swept the freshly mown grass of them. poor tiff. after the drama with her daughter she fell when putting the rose on her mother's casket. luckily her dad caught her. we hugged my mom goodbye, she looked ready to collapse, and brian drove her home (he finally got his real driver's license!) the rest of us kids went to my place, just next door to the cemetery and got bbq and talked and laughed about things that didn't matter. when needed a break from all the heavy stuff. then to bed i went. my leg and back hurt from all the sitting and my head hurt from all the crying.

tomorrow the family wants to get together before they leave. we're going to fanning springs. that was always the place they went to cool off at when they were growing up. bob gives boat rides on the river and we lay in the shade and float in the springs. last time i went with them was 20 years ago. i'm looking forward to being with them all. to remember ruth. to get to know each other better. to enjoy each other while we're here. to have fun with the people i love.

weekends of fun!

i did 11 programs in the last two weeks, so i haven't had time to blog at work. the majority of them went very well, puppets and stories and booktalks, and the kids and i had a blast. last weekend i had two bday parties. my best friend's boy turned 3 and my mom got another year older too (see mom, i didn't mention you're 57 :) it was a pirate party (not my mom's) and i dressed up! and yes you get to see me in all my ridiculousness. for mom's party i made lasagna from scratch (my specialty) and a trifle (my first one) both turned out to be quite delicious. then we played much wii, where i got plowed over by my brothers, in both bowling and golf. this weekend i went to alabama to visit a friend and her two year old. we spent yesterday and today at the beach with various friends of hers. beautiful weather and i'm only slightly red. tomorrow we hit the road for a tour of ne alabama. i know that doesn't sound very thrilling, but we found some fun, cool, interesting things to do there, plus there are mountains, which we seriously are lacking in our lives.

busy, fun, drama, i need a break!

so much going on lately. last thursday the girls at church had a luau party, which was loads of fun. that night my friend carrie got engaged and asked me to be a bridesmaid!

then i went to orlando for two days to hang out with ishu and justin and their baby olive. macaroni grill, shopping, playing with the babe, homemade indian and mexican food, movie watching, ikea, sleeping in, and playing the wii, made for a great weekend. ishu did happen to back into my car, but luckily its just a tiny dent and she is fine (well as fine as ishu can be :)

then a long church meeting on sunday, that was very good. thursday my newly engaged friend and i went to see her fiance(!) play in his jazz band. it was an awesome concert! lots of working out during the week. friday it rained cats and dogs, but emily and i still went to body pump and i added more weights! saturday was emily's son's bday party at 9am. yes very early for me. the party was lots of fun and messy (one child had explosive diarrhea). her son opened one gift and promptly gave it to his brother and another he was determined to open and play with. other kids started opening the rest of his gifts. then off to lowe's to buy flowers. i spent three hours preparing the beds, pulling weeds, mixing soil, planning where to put everything, digging holes, planting, and watering. squatting and bending and kneeling and digging for 3 hours left me quite sore. i jumped in the shower (i was pretty filthy) and loaded up the dessert for my dad's bday party. a quick stop at hallmark for an awesome star trek (spock speaks) bday card and then to my sister's. we had a yummy meal, with a little drama with another sister (she went to the wrong house for the party and then her radiator exploded). she took my car to her second job and we had frozen yogurt sundaes piled with fresh fruit for dessert. oh yum! then yet another sister and her husband took me by the house they just bought (closing in 30 days) and i took lots of pics and looked in all the windows. then home for washing dishes and doing 3 loads of laundry. so tired! i slept and crocheted and watched tv all sunday. plus i cooked a delicious pork roast in the slow cooker with red potatoes and baby carrots. someone should really marry me with all the domestic skills i have :) on the diet/workout front. i lost 3.5 lbs this week. that makes a total of 20.5 lbs lost!!! i'm very psyched. with my sister having my car while her's is repaired, i'm walking to work. it was a beautiful morning for it. the family camping trip is coming up friday. i'm so ready to get away from work! i'm slightly worried about not being at the gym for a whole week, but i'm bringing free weights and my yoga dvd (yes we camp in style with a tv and dvd player). plus there are lots of nature trails and a lake to swim in and we have kayaks. plus my brother is 18 and filled with the energy of the young. i'll drag him along with me (anything to escape the parents :)

a wonderful weekend

its been so long since my last post. i've set down many times and gotten a few sentences, but always get pulled away to help somebody. its hard being so smart :)

so my weekend was fantastic. i had four days off and made the most of it. the best adventure was walking to the local park with emily and her boys. on the way back she needed to go to the bank and we decided to cut across a ditch and walgreens parking lot. there was construction, because they are building a cvs next to the walgreens (those two always have to be together), and the ditch had some cement colored mud at the bottom that was cracked and looked dried. so we start across the ditch, emily pushing the stroller and me carrying aidan's bike. halfway across i scream because my left foot has sunk to my ankle. emily starts to sink too, but manages to escape. we start laughing and can't stop. i can't get my foot out, so i hand the bike to emily. i have to take my foot out of my shoe and dig around in the muck to pry me shoe out. then i had to put my poor foot, clad only in a little ankle sock, down into the mushy mess. luckily my right foot came out with the shoe still on. meanwhile aidan goes across further down on sand and has no problems. the fact that he weighs a lot less than us probably didn't hurt either. we stop on the side of walgreens and try to scrape some of the yuck off our shoes. we are still laughing, especially when aidan tells all the walgreens customers coming to and fro, that mommy fell in the mud. after cleaning up the best we can, i put my shoe back on and try not to touch anything with my gray hands. arriving back at emily's, i took of my shoes and socks, with some help from aaron, and scrubbed the drying cement mixture off my hands. a very amusing afternoon walk!

i also went to orlando to see some friends and their adorable daughter olive. we got manis and pedis, did henna tattoos on each other (mine is so cool!) and had jeremiah's gelati. my first try of this delicious concotion. soft serve ice cream layered with italian ice. i got vanilla ice cream with strawberry ice. next time i'll try pina coloda. after coming home, i went to a little surprise bday party and had a blast!! the next day i did a lot of sleeping and then scrapbooked at a friends. i was very sorry to see the weekend end. but i'm going to arizona this weekend for a wedding, so more adventures are in store!