Update

Crissa's battle for life has ended.

She was determined to be brain-dead, and her parents made the heart-wrenching decision to pull the plug this afternoon.

Not long after I wrote earlier today, Crissa went to be with the Lord.

Please continue to keep her family in your prayers. They are all completely devastated.

My brother went to see her today. It must have been right before.

It's hard to imagine that the little girl I once held as a baby has passed away before any of us. 11 years is not long enough on this earth.

Note: Pic is of Crissa (in the purple) and her sister a couple of Halloween's ago.

post-weekend

I got my NordicTrack today... in all its fragmented glory. Every possible piece is separate from each other. Wow...this is going to be an ordeal just to put it together. I hope it only needs a Phillips head (just kidding - I do have more tools than that)!

We have our first Furman Lakeside band rehearsal tonight. I'm excited to have a semi-obligatory ensemble to play in during the summer. Don't get me wrong, I love the band I play in year-round. It's just nice to not HAVE to go unless I want to. Concerts in the summer are done in a week, with no further obligation unless you want to do the next one. The year-round concerts require a month or more of rehearsal attendance to be able to play.

Since we were off yesterday, I've been trying to play catch-up again today. I think our sales department is making up for it too LOL.

Oh, I finally bought a little half-gigabyte flash drive for work. I can stop emailing important documents to myself and just save them on that instead. I swear I've heard them called "jump drives" before too. That's what I went looking for when I went shopping. Maybe not!

No new news on Crissa. Things are, thankfully, no worse, but sadly, no better. Please continue to keep praying for her. She needs all she can get.

Prayers needed

A little friend of mine was in an accident today. The whole situation has actually made the news, too.

Our childhood friend's (mine and my brother) oldest daughter (only 11 years young) was rescued from a local lake earlier today. She was climbing up a pier ladder and either jumped or was knocked off. No one is really sure, but she cannot swim, and she's a very obedient little girl, and she wouldn't have done something she wasn't supposed to do. The other girl with her turned for a moment, turned back, and she was gone. She immediately started screaming for help, but she was not found for around 5 or more minutes, only 9 feet from where she fell in.

Some people nearby were nurses-in-training, and performing CPR until EMS arrived. They said she was blue and had so faint a pulse that EMS couldn't even shock her. Brain damage has already been mentioned and partly confirmed. That is, if she even pulls through.

I think of her little face and cannot imagine it being blue. It's almost unreal.

I was ok until I saw her school picture pop up on TV when I turned to the news earlier. Then I just cried.

The last time I saw them all was on Halloween. I even got a cute picture of the girls I had always planned to copy and send over to their mom and dad.

Lauren, my niece, is 11 also. I can't imagine that happening to her.

She's just too young.

Please put Chrissa in your prayers tonight.

Aww

I'm so mean - I haven't posted in 16 days. My fault! Yeah, I've been busy... who hasn't?

Supposedly, if the tracking is correct, my new NordicTrack will be in my living room by the end of the week. Yay!

Work is going fine. Normal work status. :)

Concert band is wrapping up this week, well, practice at least. We have one more concert in a couple of weeks. I have Furman University Lakeside band rehearsals starting next week. We only have five concerts, and the rehearsals are in the same week as the concerts, so it's not a huge commitment. Plus, Josh is FINALLY getting a car of his own again, so I won't have to worry about whether I have a ride somewhere. -happy sigh-

I'm listening to not-so-calm music on my pod. I think I'm going to switch LOL. Not impressed with angry rock today. This is not normal!

Ahh - now our accounting system is down at work. Not cool. Makes my job harder. :( This kind of blows the "i'm not working today" plan out of the water.

Band Funding

Nice news - I just heard that funding for our local music programs has been increased by our school board. Considering that for a long time, the funding has been cut, it's a wonderful change.

I'm glad to see that the board is aware of how important arts (of all types) are in our schools.

Yay!

Quiz 4

Ok, I wouldn't make fun of anyone's pet, but the comedian part is pretty accurate.


Take the What Type of Friend Are You? quiz.

Quiz 3

Well, there wasn't a pic for band geek. This was as close to that as possible. LOL - Oh yeah, and I don't want to kill anyone.


Take the What High School Stereotype Are You? quiz.

Quiz 2

What type of Fae are you?

Weekend Wrap-up

Picture is of my Mom walking my niece.



I had another concert this past Friday night. It went pretty well. Most of our pieces sounded better in the auditorium we were in that night (a high school auditorium) vs. our normal concert hall (a college auditorium). At least schools get the good ones, though. Kids need to hear how music is supposed to sound without carpet and bland walls absorbing or bouncing their sound all over the hall.

I kind of put myself in a pickle, though. Well, no one else knew, but I did. We played with the high school kids and one of them was asking all of us what kind of flutes we all have. She came to me (I have the oldest and most generic flute out of everyone, as I am not as concerned with having a good flute as I am with my piccolo), and I told her it was my "bad one," when actually, it's my only one. I have had it since 11th grade (15 years). It needs some work, but it has a beautiful upper and middle register. The lower register, though, needs some serious work. However, I betrayed my good old flute and told them I had another. I'd love to have another one, but this one is just fine, and I'd rather have a Burkhart piccolo, as you well know by know if you've read any of my music posts. Oh well. Next time, I just might admit that this is my only flute LOL. Shame on me today.

Hubby was at work, so Danielle came over and we went to OTB for Cinco de Mayo (NOT the Mexican Independence Day, by the way... look it up if you don't believe me). No, I'm not Mexican, but neither was ANYONE else there except a waitress and a bartender. We got a drink right away since a bartender was walking around getting orders, but we waited for a table for over an hour. We went up three times to see how far up the list we'd moved. We ended up finishing our drinks and getting our food to go b/c they kept upping the time on us. So, we took our food home and watched Buffy reruns! We still had a great time. Forgot to bring my camera. Dangit.

Oh, I bought a NordicTrack last week. I don't think I have covered that here yet. It's a little expensive, but it pays for itself by the time I add up all the monthly fitness club fees I have had to waste over the past year with only having one family car. Besides, I will be able to work out much more by having something so handy. Even if I can only work out a small amount at a time, I will still build up more time faster since I can keep coming back to it any time of the day I want. Wear myself out for five minutes, take a rest, do some laundry, drink some H20, come back and work it out again. It makes so much more sense than to wear myself out for ten minutes at the club, try to do some weights while still worn out from the cardio, then give up and go home, not getting another chance at it later. Besides, whatever I have spent on exercise equipment is pocket change if it means I will be healthier.

That's all for now. I have to iron clothes for tomorrow.

Mouse

Ok, I just love this. Sad, though...



MOUSE TRAP

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

What food might this contain? The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:
There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me."" I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.

"Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital , and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

REMEMBER,
EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY;
OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.

quiz 1

Take the Villain quiz.

Ha

I was perusing IMDB earlier and I found out that I share a birthday with the following peeps:

Johnny Carson
Ang Lee
Ryan Reynolds
Cat Deeley
Doug Flutie
Sam Raimi
Weird Al Yankovic
Nancy Grace
Martin Luther King III
Dwight Yoakam

Yup, that's all I have to write about. :)

Taking a break from sorting music. Going back now.

Drifted

Well, it's official. My mind has drifted for good LOL. Today has been my slow day at work. I have been finished with my required tasks since 10AM. Since then, I haven't really done much of anything except keep my customers in check. And about the time I say that, here comes the big boss over to say hi! Luckily, the power of the alt-tab combo works fast.

I have felt blah all day. I don't really know what's wrong with me, other than maybe it's near girl time. That usually doesn't affect me, though. Maybe I still have baby fever. Maybe I am sick of someone here at work. Who knows... If I had a "happy pill", I'd be taking it right now.

In a couple of weeks. I think Josh and I are going to go to Reedy River and go on a picnic. We talked about it once before and decided it would be fun to do again. We haven't done so in awhile. I think it would be nice. :)

I accidentally kicked Lucy in the head this morning. I felt so bad! I was half-asleep and turning over in the bed. I barely remembered that she was at the foot of the bed. I felt my foot hit something soft and I heard a bell jingle. I knew right away what I did. Of course, she jumped off the bed and I only saw her when I left. Bad Mommy… poor piddy.

We’re going out to the Golden Corral tonight. It’s kind of like a Ryan’s steakhouse, for those of you unaware. A steak buffet is like heaven for my hubby. The buffet might need its last rites when he’s done.

Oh, I am half done with the music sorting. Josh and I did a lot when Rusty was still playing Star Wars. Josh had the whole floor covered with about 40-50 different pieces of sheet music. I think there was a total of about 800 or so sheets of music he dealt with. Yikes… thank goodness for hubbies. Especially mine!

Songs of the Day:
The Diary of Jane: Breaking Benjamin
Leaves the Pieces: The Wreckers
Apparently, I’m not in any certain music mood -LOL.

Refresh

Well, it's a new week. I spring-cleaned all weekend. I even got our new steam cleaner out and clean 1/3 of our living room. That is mainly the high traffic areas due to "Mr. I work with raw rubber and get it on my shoes and track it on our beige carpet and don't bother to take off my work boots." Well, from now on, he has to, according to me. The other night, he knocked on the door wanting to be let in since he had his hands full with groceries. I peeked through the door and took his groceries, tell him to take his shoes off before he came in. I'm hoping to make this a trend LOL. Cleaning solution is expensive!

I also went with my Mom to my sister-in-law's candle party. I love those things, but I always spend more than I intend. I meant to spend only $20 but ended up spending $37. The good thing, though, is that I am set for a LONG time. I bought all tealights, so I'm happy for quite some time!

My hubby has company over today. I'm so glad I cleaned. He and his best friend, Rusty, are playing the Star Wars computer game (oh yeah, that was another tax $ purchase. It was only $20!!).

It's probably a good thing that he has company. I have music to organize before Thursday. Not only am I in the band, but I am also the librarian... a bad one at the moment. I have a lot of our music at home that I need to organize and bring back to our library. Luckily, the pieces we need for Thursday are already done and ready to use... well, except for the Patriotic folders, which is a task in itself. I don't even know what goes in those right now. I have to email my conductor to find out.

Yeah, ok. Enough for now

Drifting

My mind is really random today. Not entirely sure why, other than the fact that I'm a little tired. I didn't get much sleep last night. Oh well, no big.

I have band practice tonight, so I won't get home until near 9:30. The only disadvantage to this is that I probably don't get to eat since I'm getting home so late. I hate eating late b/c it causes acid reflux and I really shouldn't let food sit on my stomach when I go to bed. However, we did have our OTB day (as indicated in previous post) and I had my fill of cheese dip as expected. Happy tummy.

I am anticipating a seat move today at work. I have heard rumors. I am prepared (well, about as much as I can be without having "where's my item" issues) to move, but we have to be hush-hush, b/c seat moves usually come with account moves as well. That would be the hush part. I really hope I do not lose the accounts I have right now. I have worked hard to get them where they are, and to give them away to someone who might screw them up again will tick me off. As of right now, who knows what will happen?

30 minutes later...

Woo-hoo! No account switches. The seat move is happening, but I am not moving! I was one of the lucky few. Plus, I still have the same boss. Yay! Such a huge sigh of relief right now. Same boss, same seat, same customers. Whew. Now, we who are not moving get to watch everyone else's accounts while they trek across the department.

2 hours later...

I am annoyed with these crazy people moving their crap all around the department. I am SO glad I am not moving.

Must concentrate - 19 minutes left.

anti potty-humor

We are up to our elbows... in water. Our toilet overflowed!! And no, we have no plunger. We are about to in a moment, when Josh comes back from an emergency Wally-World trip for that and some Draino. I woke Josh up from his semi-nap yelling about it while throwing towels everywhere on the floor. I'm basically doing this to keep my mind off of why I wanted to go into the bathroom in the first place LOL.

In the meantime, I'm watching the last hour of the movie Hostage.

In all, I had an ok day at work. It wasn't bad, just not the party scene you'd imagine work being. One of my accounts surprised me by actually paying us (highlight of the day LOL). I froze my butt off all day, though.

Oh, the pids like their waterfall. Well, they didn't hiss at it or run away. Lucy still drinks with her paw, even though there is a lovely waterfall. Bless her little heart.

I am having a craving for spicy food. Luckily, two co-workers and I are taking our bi-weekly trip to a Mexican restaurant called On the Border tomorrow, so I'll get my fill of spicy cheese dip. :)
11:40PM

10 minutes later...

Potty fixed.

Going to bed.

Dizzy Girl

Ooo - I have a nice case of vertigo today. If you want to get a natural high or need an excuse to be a klutz, you should be me today. It started off with a little car sickness earlier today and has not stopped. Luckily, I have drugs. :)

On to the day's events so far...

I forgot to recharge my iPod last night, so it is on its last leg of battery power. Oh yeah, I forgot to say before that my sweet hubby re-bought me a new iPod for Valentine's Day. It's red! It's so purty. Plus, he had a sweet message engraved on the back for me.

I also forgot to turn off the iron this morning. I was worried about it all day until I could go home at lunch and check it. However, apparently I have a new-fangled iron, because that bad boy was plugged in, but stone-cold when I checked it. Hooray for technology that realizes I am not at home and have helpless pids.

I am setting up Macy and Lucy's water recirculator tonight when I get home. I forgot to do it last night. Macy's used to it, but I hope Lucy doesn't think that her water bowl is mad at her. I'm sure she'll love it, though. She usually doesn't lap up water, rather she cups her paw and drinks from it. It's so cute!

Oh, I made chicken and dumplings on Sunday night. I am so proud of myself! I don't know how healthy it is (is it?), but it was good! Actually, that probably means that it's NOT good LOL. Who cares? That was some good stuff! Plus, I actually made something from scratch (well, almost totally from scratch - I bought the dumplings since I didn't have time to make dough). I even used my own chicken broth and -gulp- used a whole chicken. Josh didn't understand why I wanted a whole chicken, but I wanted to do everything myself. Though, next time, I might take advantage of the times and buy a pre-cut-up chicken, bless my heart. Cutting it up took almost as long as making the dang meal.

That's all for now. I have 45-ish minutes left at work, and I need to concentrate.

Frivolity

Ok, one could look at my receipts for the weekend and have no problem whatsoever realizing that we got our taxes back. We spent a LOT of money. I am glad there was not another day in the weekend.

Here is the list of things we bought (I think it's complete):

Paper Shredder
Fireproof Lockbox
Portable File Holder
Steam Carpet Cleaner
Recirculating Waterfall station for the pids
Sneakers for me
Dress shoes for Josh
3-tier cookie rack and new cookie sheets
Clothes for Josh
1 t-shirt for me
Disney Puzzle

Here are my excuses. I feel the need to explain.

You can look at the list and see that we really did need most of that stuff. You can't blame us for needing most of it, especially the steam cleaner and the fireproof box, since we do live in an apartment. We rented a cleaner once, and it cost us about 50 bucks total for two nights. As much as the pids mess up things and as klutzy as I am, we really needed one. Fireproof box is self-explanatory. Would you trust your attached neighbors not to burn down your marriage certificate, pet's medical history, etc? No, you wouldn't. We should have gotten one a long time ago.

The paper shredder was necessary as well. Besides, it keeps me from doing what I have been doing, which was taking all of our spam mail to work and shredding it there. We plugged that bad boy up last night and shredded everything we could find. We were like kids with a new toy. When we got done shredding the pile of junk mail we had, we went after more. We even shredded credit cards (yes we can) and a newspaper. Oh yeah, we knocked out the power, too. Apparently we cannot plug in and run more than a couple things on one side of the apartment, so the shredder must have been just too darn much for our pitiful fuses.

As for the waterfall, Macy had one a long time before Lucy came along, but we didn't take good care of it. We let it get broken and unrepairable. Therefore, we technically owed Macy that item.

Portable File Holder should be self-explanatory. Besides, Josh was getting tired of having to search for our important papers every time we needed one (those that don't currently fit or deserve to be in the fireproof box are going here). This is to hold everything that would have fit in the larger fireproof box that we couldn't afford.

I have not had a new pair of sneakers since Josh and I were dating when he'd gotten me a pair for Christmas (4 or more years ago!). Besides, mine were 1/2 off since we got Josh's at the same time (gotta love Shoe Carnival's buy one get one half off sales). As for Josh's, I just love the way he looks in brown leather shoes LOL.

Disney Puzzle. Ok, whatever. It was only $10 and I have been wanting a new puzzle for a long time. Besides, this one will take FOREVER, so I won't want another for awhile. At least I didn't buy the Pooh & Friends puzzle plus the puzzle roll-it-up mat as well!

Clothes for Josh: He really needed new clothes. Besides, we put that in the tax budget. We decided we'd could afford to let him have $200 for a clothes budget. He has been wearing the same things for a long time.

My one t-shirt: Well, it was cute.

Cookie Rack & Cookie Sheets: I have alway wanted a rack that wasn't a broiler pan and didn't warp my precious cookies. As for the sheets, Josh cooked chicken one too many times on my Calphalon cookie sheets and they finally peeled apart (yeah ok, only one was Calphalon, so maybe I deserved one of them croaking). Technically, he owed me two sheets, but they came in a pack of three. That's not really my fault. They did show their future stubbornness, though, as it and the entire tribe of pissed-off cookie sheets jumped from the rack and attacked me. Grab one and they all take up for each other or something ("you ain't taking us without a fight!"). Luckily, my husband knows my fourth octave yelp and came running to help me and the poor Bed, Bath & Beyond girl who came to my rescue.

I therefore reject the term "frivolity" for the most part and insert the word "necessity."

Ok, I have written enough for now.

M&Ms

Josh and me as M&Ms. He's wearing an iPod and I'm holding a camera. Typical us.

Other than that, though, we're a little naked!

Enjoy!

De-stressing

Hey all!

We were invited by one of my co-workers to her husband's 30th birthday party last night at a place here called Chief's Wings & Firewater. We had a pretty good time! About 40 people were there (most of them I knew from work, others were her hubby's friends).

We'd also had a team-building exercise at work all day yesterday. Afterward, we had a cookout, complete with "liquid refreshments." I had my share! In fact, I didn't have all that much at Chief's since I'd already halfway filled up at work. Ha. Spent less $$.

We got our taxes back a day or two ago. Josh is getting half for a car. We're spending a little apiece on new clothes, probably getting a steam cleaner, and we're not sure what else. We'll more than likely put it toward paying off the furniture.

By the way, speaking of buying things on credit, I am so DONE with the amount of sweet little retail cashiers asking me if I want to save 10% on my purchase today by signing up for their 29% interest store credit card. Of course, looking at the bright side, at least that do-not-call registry has done some good, as I no longer get the same offer via phone. I have to actually go somewhere to get asked now.

We had a date tonight. I love date night! We went out to a restaurant called California Dreaming. They have the BEST beer-battered chicken strips and loaded potato soup. I always end up taking half my food home, though. I usually don't eat appetizers since I know I can't handle that plus a meal, but I can't pass up their soup. We also saw the movie "300." I was a little reluctant to see it before. I wasn't in the mood to watch yet another dramatic battle movie, plus, I wanted to see "The Number 23." However, I'm glad I let Josh pick the movie. I'll give my synopsis of 300 later on. It was well worth the ticket price.

Well, it's 3:30 in the morning here, and for some reason, I am wide awake. I'm going to go finish my current load of laundry, finish watching Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, pick up my snoring hubby off the loveseat, and put my bod into the bed.

Estimated time of arrival in bed = approximately 1 hour.

That's just not normal.

Funnies

Words Only Women Use (I wouldn't have posted this, but it's so true!)

1. FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2. FIVE MINUTES: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. NOTHING: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4. GO AHEAD: This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it!

5. LOUD SIGH: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6. THAT’S OKAY: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. THANKS: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or Faint. Just say you're welcome.

8. WHATEVER: Is a women's way of saying SCREW YOU!

9. DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT, I'VE GOT IT: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking, "What’s wrong." For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Mad Kitty

Poor kitty. Leave him alone!

Ticker

New ticker added at the bottom of the page. Getting rid of some others later on.

Bunny Pics

Bunny cake in all its cuteness, as promised!










All that was left was its poor little head...









Our Easter Eggs, once brown, now beautiful colors of the rainbow. Brown eggs work really well, by the way!

Updates

I'm still playing around with my template. Just as an FYI, I have added some blogs to the "You Should Read" section. Apparently, I am reading more blogs lately!

I'm going to make more changes later, but I am at work, so my resources are limited.

Icy

LOL - there are icicles on the volcano-cam today.

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

Happy Easter!

For those who celebrate, have a happy Easter!

Don't forget that it's not just about bunnies, ducks, and hiding eggs (although that's fun).

Masterpiece

Bunny cake is done! However, I cannot find my camera. As soon as I do, the bunny cake will show up here in all its cuteness.

The cookies, however, did not fare as well. This goes to show that playing around with recipes does not work as well in reality vs. theory.

Bunny Cake

I could literally fall asleep standing up today. Below is why.

I have CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome). Mostly due to typing all day and having played an instrument for 20 years. Most of the time, I can get away with having no pain and it leaves me alone. Yesterday, though, it flared up big time and is still hurting even today. It makes sense that it's happening this week, since I have had quadruple the amount of playing time last week and never really rested my hands and wrists like I used to (I used to soak them in warm water after long practices and take an alleve right before I started practice). I had forgotten how much CTS can hurt, as I have not dealt with it on a regular basis in a long time.

Anyway, I took some excedrine yesterday at work. When nothing happened later on, I took Panadol (like generic tylenol). I had dinner and sat with Josh for a little while.

Yesterday was also Lucy's 2nd birthday. So, at about 9:15, when Crossing Jordan was on, Josh called me into the bedroom so we could pet Lucy together and wish her Happy Birthday (yeah, we're silly, but they're our babies). I remember petting her, laying down on the bed, and watching her jump off. After that, I don't remember much else. I missed the rest of Crossing Jordan and the entire Medium. Those are two of my favorite shows, which I wait all week to see, and then I fall asleep before I can watch them LOL. Oh well.

Anyway, the reason I told you all that was to explain why I could fall asleep right now. I woke up SO groggy, like I had been literally knocked out or something. I have been like that all day. I need to stop listening to lite music or I'll really fall asleep!

Oh, all bunny cake materials have been purchased. I'm so excited to make something cute! Funny thing is, I don't even like coconut or carrot cake. I'm just making it for the family. I'll post a pic when I make its royal cuteness (or the fallen disaster pic, whichever it happens to be).

I'm also making lemon cookies and probably red velvet cookies. I learned a new cookie recipe recently.

your choice of CAKE mix (my first one will be lemon)
1/2 cup of oil
3 eggs
3 tablespoons of water

Mix until it is a cookie batter consistency (thick, but manageable for you first-timers).
Bake for ten minutes on a regular cookie sheet or 12-15 on a pizza stone (just an estimate - you have to really watch them) at 350 degrees.
Poof - cookies are done!

I have already tried the lemon ones. They are SO good.

I am at work right now listening to the Gladiator Soundtrack and working sort of diligently LOL. Actually, I have been working my tail off trying to get some things finished. So, I have to go. See you later!

Potter

I just found out (yeah yeah, later than everyone else who already knew) that the 7th and final Harry Potter book is coming out this summer. Woo-hoo!

Of course, Josh and I have already agreed to go stand in line at our local Barnes & Noble until midnight to be one of the first to get the new book.

I'm so excited!

Blah

The following is a complete mind-blower. This is also why I have had a migraine headache for a few days now. I wasn't going to write about this here, as I usually keep my "issues" to myself. However, I am past the point of caring.

I had a semi-blowout with a friend/co-worker (known hereafter as F) a couple of days ago. It just so happens that one of my best friends (BF2) had the same situation with the same person on the SAME DAY. Except hers was so much worse than either of them realizes.

Yeah, I was ill for a couple of days, but eventually I decided life's too short and literally said "I'm over it." I have tried to not necessarily be friends with F, but to at least be nice and not bring up anything. F is VERY sensitive in the first place (which is actually how the whole problem started anyway). I have never had to walk on eggshells more than I have with F.

Here's the problem:

BF is so NOT over it. For a long time, BF has put up with F's sensitivity and bullying. Yeah, that's harsh, but it's true... at least from an outside perspective. I'm also not the only one to notice. Someone else asked me once why BF hasn't blown a gasket and told off F. I had no answer.

Therefore, while BF is totally justified in this, I am in a wierd position, especially since we have all been lunch partners for awhile. I can't mention going to lunch without F getting huffy and ignoring us both all over again.

First, GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK.
Second, I no longer have any tolerance for bullpoopie. I'm 30 and ready to have babies and I don't need the stress.
Third, I have more important things to do than worry about being a friend-fencerider.
Fourth, I don't CARE anymore. Get over it. Both of you.
Fifth, I will no longer suffer physically and emotionally for someone other than myself.

Actually, that's not TOTALLY true. I do care.
But I do mean get over it.

Sleepy

Quick post before I go to bed.

More $$ for the piccolo! We're getting a decent chunk back on our tax return. Half is going toward getting Josh a car. The other half is going to be a small clothes budget, probably my flute overhaul, and a little toward my future piccolo. Yay!

Happy stuff. :)

We have no practice on Thursday, so I have a free Thursday night for once. Don't get me wrong, I love being there, but it helps to have a night off every once in awhile. Plus, that will give me the chance to catch up on organizing the part of the music library I have at home.

For now, I'm off to bed.

My hubby is awesome!

While I was gone playing the first night of my Easter gig, my hubby finished cleaning our apartment! Bless his heart. :)

He's not just awesome for that, but that was a nice surprise!

Oh, and I got paid for the Easter thing tonight. Woo hoo! That's $200.00 I'm probably spending to have my flute overhauled. Either that or to save up toward my future Burkhart piccolo. Com to think of it, maybe I will put it up for the piccolo.

I just priced it again. With all of the extras I want, it comes to $6300.00 before tax/shipping or the special case ($300.00 for the one I want). Yeah, it's expensive, but it's what I want. If I'm going to get something like that, I may as well get the extras. Plus, I will play SO much better on that one. That may not sound true, but ask any instrumentalist . The better materials that are put into an instrument, the better a person plays on it.

I told Josh about it and he wants to help me get it, but it'll be a long time before I can afford it. I'm just going to save all music related earnings.

New pics of the girls

As I said before, we had a b-day cookout for my Mom on Sunday. Here are a couple of pics of my nieces from that day... maybe even one of Ben, the squishy puppy dog.

Work fun

Here I am at work, slaving the day away. LOL - actually, it's not so taxing today. I DO need to clean my desk, though. All the dust particles have invited their relatives and having a grand time in my personal space. I'll post a pic one day so you can join in the ridicule of my messy mini-kingdom.

On the other hand, I have band practice tonight of a different sort... like the paid sort! I was asked to play in an Easter recital for a local baptist church. How can I say no? I have the nights available, plus it pays $200 for those with perfect attendance. The only downfall is that I don't get the music until 15 minutes beforehand. That wouldn't normally be a problem, but I have no idea what caliber of music to expect. Yikes. I'll update tonight if I have not had a musical breakdown. -mini-shudder-

Template

Well, I think I have finished most of my template. I have at least put everything on the page. I can edit and move later. Woo to the hoo.

See? I promised I'd be back today. 11:30 is still officially today, thank you very much. :)

We had a cookout for my Mom's birthday (actually today) yesterday at my brother's house. I got some adorable pictures of the girls. As soon as I find my cable, I'll upload my newest pictures.

Oh, we got our new furniture already. We went ahead and got everything on an Ashley Furniture account since we don't have to pay interest until 2011. I figure we can easily pay off $3,000 in a year or so and still get Josh a car. Yeah, I said I don't have credit cards, but that's still pretty much true. We have that card, but we won't put anything else on it until the initial amount is totally paid off. Even so, the no-interest part keeps me truthful in saying once before that I don't keep credit card debt. :)

Well, I just started writing, but it's too late to keep going. I have to get up early to take Josh to work if he's called in (gotta love mandatory call-in days).

I'm going to go to sleep in my new PJs. :)

Goodnight!

I'm back!

Ok, hopefully, I am back for good. I have gotten over my anger at not having bloggerbot. Yeah, it still sucks not being able to post more than five pics at a time, but I have no choice. Alas, life goes on.

Anyway, I am busy doing the "template upgrade." For the non html-savvy folks such as myself, this idea is perfect. I can go back to being html-lazy and let blogger do all the work LOL.

I'll be back tomorrow.

For real this time!

There's no place like home... no place like home...

Poor me... no more iPod. It sits here like a little lump of used-up metal. My hubby's iPod taunts mine. My iPod feels inferior.

We have a broken couch as well. It actually fell apart when we sat on it. It'd been slowly weakening, and finally, one of the wooden pegs holding it up split in two and crashed the couch to the ground. I had to take off the other three pegs, so it's no 6-8 inches shorter. Our behinds probably come close to touching the floor when we sit on it now. It's 15 years old, at the very least. Our whole living room suit used to belong to my Mom-Mom and Pa-Pa. They gave it to us, and they'd had it for a long time prior. It has been well worth its cost. You can't knock free things!

Time to get my red couch, finally! LOL - time to have a set that actually matches the things we've bought.

The money piggy has been re-established. Proverbial crack in the piggy from the last piggy bust-out has been repaired, and the count is:

$ in the Piggy: $300.00 - official marshmallow (mattress) fund. No, I don't believe in putting something like that on a credit card. Besides, I don't have credit card debt... why, you say? Because I don't have any credit cards (besides our jewelers card that has had no balance since we got our wedding bands paid)! It's funny how that works. If I don't have the money, I don't get the item. Yeah, I have suffered sometimes, but I've never starved or been stranded. I have learned to make the most of what I have. One can learn to adapt when they have no other choice.

Wanted CDs: River by Sarah McLachlan, The Fray, possibly Teddy Geiger

That's all... g'night!

#19

After an entire year of fixing what the bad dentist did to my molar, I FINALLY have a nice, new crown on the tooth I have officially come to call #19. Funny thing is that they sent me home with my teeth molds and the old temporary crown. So, if anything happens to the one in my mouth, I'll bring all that mess back and they have to make me another one. Let's hope THAT doesn't happen. This was too much mulah to spend on one tooth.

Let's see what was done to my tooth over time:

• broken due to weakness from cavity and pressure from wisdom teeth. (December 2005)
• incompletely filled by 1st dentist (December 2005)
• left for a year to get worse (I didn't want to go back to him anyway... he was NOT a customer-satisfaction type of guy, so I was without a dentist for a whole year)
• new set of panoramic x-rays (January 2006)
• filled with medicated filling by new dentist (& permanent, by the way!) (January 2006)
• filled with normal filling to see if it could stay that way (February-ish 2006)
• root canal (6 months ago)
• drilled down to a nub and a temporary crown attached (6 weeks ago)
• permanent crown attached (today!)

I can't even think right now of how much this cost me... yikes.

Anyway, I also meant to say in my last post that I finally grew the required length of hair to donate to Locks of Love. So I took myself in all my red-headed, tangled glory and had it whacked two weekends before Christmas. I donated 10 inches of hair and had an additional 2-3 cut off for styling. My hair hasn't been this short since 6th grade!

I feel - SO - much better now. I was getting incredibly irritated with my long hair. For some reason, it was getting more and more unmanageable by the day. Plus, I really wanted a shorter style anyway, so having it get longer and longer was a pain. The ONLY thing that kept me from cutting it off six inches ago was the fact that I was donating it.

I actually ate normal food today as well. Since I've been sick, I couldn't bring myself to eat anything of substance. I think I got my nutrition from Nyquil and Sprite. I finally discovered the joy of Saltine Crackers and Popsicles the day before I tried to go back to work.

Oh yeah - in December, while I was on vacation in Pigeon Forge, TN, I dropped my iPod Mini into a bubbly jacuzzi tub and left it there, without knowledge, for about 20-30 minutes.

Needless to say, it's toast.

FYI: Electronics and vibrating water vessels do not mix.

Katelyn 3

Katelyn 2

Katelyn

Ahh... Can't use BloggerBot. WHY......

Eternal Slack-dom

Good afternoon, all. It's been awhile since I posted.

No excuses... my bad.

Promise to do better.

In fact, I'm so slack that you probably have not seen my new niece at all. I'll post pics right afterward. Shame on me! Yeah, well, I've been sick for awhile. Be nice. :)

Pids are up to no good, as normal. While I'm home sick, they're taking advantage of extra Mommy time and snuggling more than usual.

Pics coming soon. I will have more to write when I feel better.

Slack me

I haven't been on in awhile! I have been busy with training for my new position at work, and hubby just started a new job two weeks ago. We have had no extra time, really. I even abandoned my neopets for a month. Unheard of!

I hope I didn't lose my two or three faithful readers! Don't go away!

I don't have any important things to say in this post, but I'll catch up later. I do have plenty to write!

Until then...

Hubby pics

Since I haven't posted many pics of US on here, I'll start with hubby. :)

Gettin' our picnic on at Paris Mountain State Park - 2006...


...exhausted during our wedding reception


Chillin' with the pids...


Chillin' with the pids again


Lucy doesn't like to be held like this, so you probably won't ever see a pic like this of her.


Gettin' our Christmas Eve on...


Again...


Pitiful hubby...


Kids get bored at adult birthday parties.


A doggy since passed... what a sweetie he was.


Sad face on the last day of our honeymoon - we don't want to come back to civilization!


Cutie pic - Christmas 2003 @ Grandma Shirley's


2nd trip to Tennessee - Red Lobster - of course, I had chicken.


Sleepy time.

Party party!

My best friend's daughter's first birthday party!

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