Lazy Day

The Andrew chapter of my life is over. It was bittersweet leaving. There are a handful of people that I will miss. But I'm going to consider this a new beginning and try not to get to sad about the people I'm leaving behind.
Ian and I had a lovely date. We went to Connie's Pizza at about 4pm, the place was mostly empty so it was really nice. Quiet, we could actually talk and hear each other. The food was great. They make the best bread, which they bring out with a bottle of olive oil. Fantastic stuff. From there we went looking for a rocking chair. Couldn't find one at any of the big furniture stores. The sales people of course tried to sell us gliders. But that's not what I wanted. Then I remembered a new store called the Amish Furniture Shoppe. And this was the first time we went in there and they have some beautiful furniture! Including rockers! All but one was already sold, and the one that wasn't sold was made for a skinner person then I am. So, I asked if they'll be getting more in and it turns out that they have 2 in there warehouse which they're going to bring to the store and I can pick one of those. I'm so excited, these chairs are gorgeous. Then we went to Sears and picked me up two more pairs of pants for my new job and some nice warm fall/winter PJs. We stopped at blockbuster and got a couple of movies and home we came. A lovely evening all in all!

This morning Ian is sleeping in, he stayed up until morning (just like what his shift will be at work) and has the alarm set for 4pm. The little man and I had a nice lazy morning consisting of eating a bowl of cereal a piece and of sitting on the couch watching Thomas and the Magic Railroad. Now we might scrap a little more of Daddy's book. Then when Daddy gets up we're going to go grocery shopping since tomorrow is my first day at the store.
Happy Saturday everyone!

Exit Interview

Heading into work for my exit interview, which from what I hear will take all of about 10 minutes! Then say "See-Ya!" to the people that I'll miss and will miss me, turn in my badge, and then out for a date with this cute guy from work...who happens to be my hubby! LOL. Haven't been out just the two of us in quite a while. Should be nice, nothing fancy just grab a bite to eat and do a little shopping. Looking for a rocking chair for my little guys room. Not a glider, but an honest to goodness rocking chair. Haven't found one yet, beginning to wonder if they still sell them.
Gotta go-
blessings to all

Dan the Man

If I took 1 I probably took 2 dozen pictures of Dan playing his drums when we were on vacation, sort of a mini photo shoot. I've been meaning to scrap them but haven't had a whole lot of time for paper scrapping these past few months. So, since I've been playing with the digital scrapping I figured I'd do that for now and paper scrap them later when I have time and an idea of what I want to do with them. So there's the page. The family's future rockstar jamming on his drums. Aidan just thought that it was the coolest thing. He was grinning from ear to ear watching Uncle Dan drum.

Rock on Uncle Dan, Rock On!

Credits: Cheryl McCain's Sampler from the Scrapping Garden

3rd digital page in 2 days

Since Halloween is around the corner, I decided to finally scrap last years Pumpkin patch pictures.

The kit used is Kay Elfin's Punkinhead kit from here .

One more week

...until our lives are altered. One more week until Ian starts working the 12 hour shifts and I start my new part time job. One week until we see how rough it's going to be trying to get Aidan (and me for that matter) onto a more "normal" schedule. Is Ian nervous? He says no. I am I nervous? Good grief YES! Can we make this work? We're sure going to give it one heck of a try! We're going to need tons (and tons and tons and....) of patience on my part (which for those of you who know me know I'm not patient) since I'll be spending more time with the little man (which I'm thrilled about and scared about, because Daddy is his preferred parent), I'll be the one dealing with the meltdowns and having to make sure he doesn't make to much noise while daddy is trying to sleep. This is so going to put a whole new spin on being a mommy for me. Lets hope I'm up to the challenge.

2nd digital page

I've had this picture of Ian's Nannie scanned in for awhile, and just haven't been able to decide what to do with it. Since I was experimenting earlier with PSE4 I decided to try another layout. All of the elements in this one are from a collabrative collect a kit from here , called Carousel. The background paper, ribbon, and brad are by Kay Elfin and the Tag is by Julie Mead. The font used is Tahoma.

First attempt at digital scrapping

I finally sat down to give digital scrapping a try. I've been downloading stuff for months and saying I would get around to doing some digital scrapping when I figured out how to us PSE4. Well I'm not really good at using the program yet, but I managed to make this without bugging Ian with dozens of questions. Credits for all the digital papers and embellishments on this page go to the designers here ; all of the elements are from this months daily download, "Baby Face". The font that I used for the journaling is "Georgia". So how did I do? I'm pretty pleased with it, especially since I have no idea what I'm doing! :)

Who needs popcorn...

when Aidan will eat diced green peppers and celery with the same gusto? I was chopping the green peppers and celery for a pot of chili and up pops my little man. He climbs right on up and is munching them like it was a bowl of popcorn. I had to have Ian grab the camera and snap a picture. What a ham! Then I had to steal the bowl away otherwise he would have kept right on going and there would have been none for the chili. Speaking of chili it sure does look and smell good! I just love making chili, it's so colorful with the peppers and celery for green, the kidney beans for red, and the corn for yellow. Love love love this stuff. Can hardly wait to get myself into a nice normal schedule so I can start cooking and Ian can have yummy left overs for lunch instead of turkey sandwiches everyday (not that he ever complains).
I'm so totally excited about this new job, I'm not as worried now as I had been. We probably would have been alright without me getting another job, but it would have been really tight, this way we've got some breathing room. Plus I just know this job is going to be great! I can hardly wait to start!

I got...

THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The manager left a message while we were out grocery shopping today. I am so excited! I won't be unemployed, which was a worry. My last day at Andrew is the 29th and my first day at Archivers will be October 1st, how awesome is this! I'm so excited. I think I must be floating a foot off the ground. She wasn't even done with the message and I was screaming and jumping up and down and wow I'm excited!

Fingers crossed

My last day at Andrew will be the 29th, because the 12 hours shifts start on the 1st. I had an interview at a scrapbook store on Thursday, I think it went really well, will know next week if I got the job or not. There is potential for advancement,possibly a management position, and she says she really needs someone who can work during the day (and occasionally evening for crops). And I might get to teach there too! How awesome would that be? Especially seeing as Ian will be working 6:30 pm to 6:30 am. Plus I get to work in a store that sells my favorite goodies! Plus I would get a 30% discount. Holy cow this will be a match made in heaven. The ladies that work there are so nice, and the environment is positive. And the store manager that interviewed me really seemed to like me. Just thinking about it has me so excited. So lets everyone cross their fingers and hope I get this! The extra money will be good to have but the interaction with other people that enjoy the same things I do will be really good for me too.

Feeling better and some news

Got a call from my MIL about half an hour after I got up today, what a wonderful way to start the day. Talking to her always makes me happy (I know lots of people don't like there in-laws, but I lucked out and got the best ones out there)!
I'm feeling better today, most of the allergy/sinus thing has cleared up. The cut at the corner of my mouth is doing better. I'm sure it won't be long and I'll get to go back and finish up with the dentist.

NEWS

I'm sure everyone knows that work has been talking about going to 24/7 shifts (12 hour shifts). This is totally not cool and we totally can't both do it. They finally decided when they're going to start them. D-day is October 1st! Ian will be staying on and working from 6:30pm-6:30am (He's up these hours anyway with school work so it will work out ok for him, shouldn't mess up his sleeping or anything). I will be turning in my resignation (officially) this week. I'll have to keep looking for a part time job, and we've tossed around the idea of me taking some classes to do medical billing. I think we're going to be fine, I keep telling myself this.
In a way I've been looking forward to this, I really would like to be a morning person, but that's just not possible working second shift. So I'll have some adjusting to do , getting myself used to waking up in the morning, and getting Aidan adjusted. Hopefully we can finish up this potty training thing (any suggestions are welcome). And then we can start thinking about preschool. Here's to a new chapter our lives, hopefully it's a good one!

Funny little story
We have lots of computer games for Aidan, and he uses Ian's old computer for most of them, but a few won't run on it, so Ian will sit him on his lap and let him play on his (Ian's comp is set up with 2 monitors for multi-tasking...read can play WarCraft on one and do everything else on the other LOL..sorry babe your secret is out!). So anyway this morning Ian goes to load a game on Aidan's computer and it very slow, and Ian comments that maybe we should think about upgrading so the baby can have a faster computer. Do you know what Aidan said to that with much glee? " maybe we can make me one with two screens like yours!" Is this Ian's kid or what? I'm doomed to a house full of techies I think! Oh well, I've got my very own GeekSquad!

Much love everyone!

The Pastor's Ass

The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again. The local paper read:PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race. The next day, the local paper headline read:BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey. The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent. The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day:NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10. The next day the paper read:NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back
the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild. The next day the headlines read:NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE

The bishop was buried the next day.
The moral of the story is....being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery...and even shorten your life. So be yourself and enjoy life... Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer!
Have a nice day!
(got this in a forward from my wonderful MIL! Love you Marcia! This amused me so much I decided to post it.)

Family Tree ~ Birthday Surprise

A friend of ours from work did a wonderful thing for me for my birthday (Dave Meyers you rock!). I've been wanting to start looking up my family tree, and he's done a lot of looking up his, and has a program to put info in and everything. Well he came in on the 18th and said I've got a present for you in the test pit. I figured that he had found a few names for me, I was so excited. Then he walks up with a FAT blue folder full of stuff he's found! I had tears in my eyes, I hadn't expected him to find so much or to take so much time to put to this together. He didn't do it alone either, his wife Sam (who I went to school with) helped type alot of it into their program. I went this weekend and got Family Tree Maker so I could search even more. I started putting in Ian's side of the family too, I want to have as much put together as possible to pass on to Aidan. I've always felt like I didn't know where I came from and I don't ever want him to wonder. It really nice to know you've got roots and where they come from.
Family be warned: I'll be looking for more info so you'll be hearing from me! :)

Complications (let the whining commence)

I went for my double root canal and everything else and guess what? I'm not done, she wasn't able to finish the second one, I was there from 11 am until after 5. I have a very small mouth and she was having trouble getting to part of one of them and we were all very tired, my face was so tired from having to try to open wider. So I have a temporary filling in one, and have to go back on Tuesday so she can finish that and do the build ups for both crowns and pull the rest of that broken tooth. and then I go back for the crowns them selves and to finish the deep gum cleaning. She also mentioned that she's going to have to do some kind of surgery, will have to talk to her about that as I don't remember what she said it was. And to top all of this off I think I have a sinus infection. My nose has been running like a faucet for days, and my head has felt stuffy, and my sinuses have been draining into my ears (which I hate). I hadn't thought I was sick (I thought it was allergies) because everything was clear and lets face it I've been on some sort of antibiotic for 2 and half weeks now. But this morning stuff wasn't clear any more, it was almost glow in the dark green! so not cool. I just feel miserable. The corner of my mouth hurts (and is raw) from stretching it open so far and I've been blowing my nose so much that I'm sure it will start peeling soon. sigh.
We had our company family outing yesterday at Brookfield Zoo. We only went for about 2 and half hours, couldn't get up and moving any earlier then that ( really do feel like crap, and didn't think we'd get the chance to go again this year) . But we had a nice time, the weather wasn't to hot and Aidan walked the whole time except for on the way back to the car, he was just a tired little man, zonked out before we were in the car for 5 minutes it seemed.

That's about it, will update again soon.

Update:Dental

Ok so we know I'm a scare-dy cat when it comes to the dentist. So I went today and she checked it out and I'm going back on Friday to get everything done. 2 root canals, , build up for 2 crowns, an extraction, gum cleaning? , and my teeth cleaned as well. oh boy...I'm REALLY nervous now. Apparently I've still got some swelling, so I start another round of a more powerful antibiotic tomorrow. Once my teeth are all fixed up Ian's appt will be made for his wisdom teeth that need to come out. I just want this all over with. my biggest fear is the root canals, hopefully this won't be TOO bad. I've got my fingers crossed.
Nothing much else is new here, but sometimes no news is good news right?

Well tomorrow

is my Dentist appt, here's to hoping she doesn't hurt me! I'm so nervous about dentists/doctors. maybe it's the white coats? I'm not sure. I wish I wasn't such an anxious person. I drive myself batty, it's wonder I don't drive Ian batty too. Oh well off to rest so I can get up in the morning for my appointment. ::Fingers crossed::

Another year older! and an update

That's right, I'm another year older, and hopefully a little wiser. I don't feel any older, but I am lighter! I've lost 35 pounds since May, not to shabby.
update: I'm feeling much better and have an appointment with the dentist on Tuesday to start getting stuff fixed. So glad my face is back to normal. I really and truly was freaking out when my face was SUPER swollen. The pain is mostly gone, and I'm finishing up my antibiotics.
This little picture is just something I was playing around making online, (if you want to try making one go here- http://elouai.com/ ) I wanted to make something that looked like me, but they only had one body style and here it is. But the hair suits me as mine is always flying all over the place.
Ian and Aidan are both doing great. Ian just started his next class last week, and is still maintaining an A average for all his classes. How smart is my guy! I'm just so proud of him. The little guy is a character, if we could just tone down the attitude in the morning we'd be in business, he's a bit like his momma, not a morning person, although I don't take it out on everyone else like he does. It has to be his way or no way in the morning; or so he thinks. He's learning the hard way that he doesn't always get his way. Ah, the trials and tribulations of being 3! We're trying to decide if we should be looking into a preschool for him right now..I mean he'll be 4 in December should he be in preschool now? or is next year soon enough? We really hadn't wanted to put him in preschool in our area, we're hoping to be able to move first. But we don't want for him to be behind in school just because we weren't ready to let him go. His potty training is still touch and go, he's still just being lazy about it I think. He gets so busy playing that he forgets tell anyone that he has to go. I think he'll eventually just get tired of being wet and will start saying something.
That's all for now, hopefully I'll have some new pictures to post soon.

The left side

..of my face is twice it's normal size, and has been since sometime during Thursday night. I woke up and the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was my left cheek. You know how you can look down and see the tip of your nose, if you kinda cross your eyes? Well I don't have to really look down, and I don't have to cross my eyes, but there's my cheek. The horrible pain from Wedensday. is gone, now it's mostly just an uncomfortable pressure from my face being huge, and it throbs now and then, but at least I no longer have the urge to claw my own face off! I keep hoping that this swelling will go down so that when I call on Monday I can actually make an appointment. Because the way my face is now they couldn't possibly get in there to do anything. Poor Ian he's been so sweet but I know it startles him every time he sees my face like this. but he is the absolute best ! he's really been taking good care of me. I am truly blessed to have him in my life. And the little guy is a sweetie pie too, he keeps asking how my tooth is. I am so blessed!

On another note, Aidan apparently told my Mom yesterday that we're leaving in 7 weeks and they would never see us again. Do you know she believed him? I mean he's 3 years old for crying out loud! I have no idea where he got this info but it's totally not true, I mean we'd love to move, but even if we did it's not like they'd never see us again. I mean really the things this kid comes up with sometimes. And the things my mom believes! Jeez! Welcome to the days of our lives!

Home again

Home again because my face hurts, I've got major problems with my teeth, I'm a bit phobic about dentists, but I hurt so bad I could claw my face off! Waiting for the dentist to call in antibiotic and something for the pain, then I'm to call back on monday for an appointment. Can you say double root canal (holy cow that's scary to me!!!!) and an abcess (how ever it is spelled that is what's causing me the pain right now). I got no sleep last night at all it was hurting me so bad. I went to work just to realize that I could not handle being there while in this kind of pain. This sucks so bad.

At a loss

Not really sure where to begin. Ian has had off from work since Weds. and I've been off since Thurs. for the wake and funeral. Ian managed to make quite a bit of head way going though the living and dining room area and cleaning that. We managed to catalog and box up a whole box of our books. It doesn't seem like much (not even a dent in the number of books we have) but it's a start. I've been in one hell of a funk. Aidan has been crabby, because of my mood? maybe, not sure. We're going to try to get some more done today, going to try tackling the kitchen next. We've bagged up so much stuff that we're just going to toss that we've filled the trash can and have no where to put the rest. which is hampering out movement. Trash day is Tuesday so that will be here soon enough to help ease some of the space issues. Determined to get this place mucked out a bit, although it seems it will never been done. The house has been in a constant state of disarray since we moved in. My scrapping space is a mess again, but it has to take a back burner until we get some other things cleaned up.
The truck has some kind of warning light on for the emission system...not really happy about this as it's a pain to get it to the dealership because of their crappy service department hours. This just adds to my annoying list of things that I need to deal with and don't really know when or how I'll deal with them. We've discussed getting rid of the truck and downsizing to some kind of car. Not sure yet if that will actually happen but it's been discussed.
I want so badly to quit work. The last couple of weeks have been the worst thus far. I'm not happy with how things have been going and have actually started looking for work (part-time) elsewhere. I can only hope that something not horrible turns up soon. The stress of working where I am right now has me very much on edge. I'm a little worried I'm going to slip over an edge into some sort of depression, which is not something I want, I don't want to be a burden on Ian and I don't want to further the negative effect I seem to have on Aidan at times. I'm tired of being moody and snapping at everyone. I don't like what I've become. Some days are better then others, and Ian doesn't seem to complain about my moods, I'm blessed with a loving guy.I'm blessed with a sweet little boy (most of the time anyway). I need to remember these things and try to straighten myself out. As a reminder to myself and to show off a picture of my guys, here they are.