"Kill the rabbit"

Yes, folks I believe we have a pesky rabbit making me angry. I have been finishing up our outside lights the past couple of days and discovered yesterday evening that a single pine tree was not working. I ALWAYS have issues with lights. I usually blow fuses, break sockets or blow fuses and then break sockets...all of which are bad and scare my husband.

So, when he came home yesterday to find me peering out the window wondering why my pine tree was dark, he immediately reminded me not to break anything. I calmly went to investigate this unlikely blown fuse because the other trees were shinning bright. The extension cord was good so I walked around to the outside of the fence to check where the lights plug into the extension cord. To my shock I discovered the plug in the extension cord cut away from the lights! What?? I could not believe someone cut my lights and fumed all night about who would do such a thing? It was a clean cut and I wondered if possibly one of the many rabbits who poop in our yard could have chewed on it. Chris said no way, he suggested I set up a sting operation to catch future hoodlums.

Today with the assistance of the sunshine I went out to take my cut lights off the tree and replace them with new lights. I discovered that the lights did look like they had been chewed. Thus renewing my faith in the neighborhood children and banishing all rabbits to hell! How dare they eat my lights!

Catching up

It has been catch up time around here the past few days. The weather has been so beautiful and warm for this time of the year, that we got our x-mas lights up and outdoor things put away. I also have been getting most of the x-mas shopping done. I only have a pesky aunt and uncle to shop for and just a couple of little things for Chris and the boys. Thank goodness. I never used to shop this early but the stores have "pushed up" holiday shopping and if you don't start early you can not find what you are looking for. Enough said!

Wes got to go to his friend Sage's birthday party yesterday. He had a good time and got to play outside a bit. They have horses and he had fun hanging out in the barn and feeding the ducks! I have been trying to prepare him for his birthday party next month. He has this unexplained expectation that he is inviting all the kids from his class as well as other friends to a party. Not gonna happen. He is willing to go along with the bowling party but I refuse to invite just a couple of friends from school and not the whole class. That isn't very nice. And, I'm not paying for 18 kids plus his other friends to go bowling. So, it will be a smaller group and he is complaining about it. Oh well!

Today is the last day of our nice 4 day weekend. I'm always sad when those come to an end. I have grocery shopping to do today and some more x-mas shopping if time allows. Purdue played their last game of the season in Hawaii yesterday. We had entertained the thought of making a vacation out of it, but you can see that it didn't happen. Anyway, Chris was up really, really late listening to the game on the radio (Hawaii time), so he is still sleeping!

Have a great Sunday!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! My parents were down here from Michigan today and celebrated the holiday with us. It was great to have them here and a first. I have never, in 31 years fixed a Thanksgiving dinner before, and now I can say that I have. Chris and I did great. I couldn't have done it without his help. He deep fried the turkey in the cooker and also made the dressing. Everything else I handled with easy! Thanks Hun! And thanks mom and dad for coming down! The boys were so excited they were here!

Happy Birthday to Chris as well. He isn't much for birthdays so I have to keep it low key. His parents are stopping by still tonight for cake.

I have so very much to be thankful for and I am. I am also keeping close to my heart all those families out there who are apart or with sick children. I appreciate every day with my healthy boys, meals on the table, a safe place to call home and a wonderful husband who is a great dad! You can't ask for more than that. Sometimes I feel like the luckiest woman alive!

For our brave men and women of the armed forces who are far away from home at this time, Happy Thanksgiving. My family is grateful for all that you sacrifice so that I can be thankful for the peace here at home. Also to your families who miss you and worry about you daily, thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Over!

Thank goodness, the weekend is over. Those aren't words one usually say on a Monday morning, but I am so very glad to have my craft show done with and behind me. I learned a lot. Most importantly, not to attend the craft show at the Y again. There wasn't much traffic and I didn't have nearly the amount of sales I expected. So, I was disappointed. I got good feed back about my stuff and made some good contacts. I also got two great pieces of jewerly from a local artist! Bonus! While I have a lot of gourds left over I also got a call last night from a woman who was given a Santa gourd as a house warming gift. Her and her mother are stopping by Wednesday afternoon to purchase more gourds!


















We had a great time at the wine tasting. I had to struggle on my own (minus Chris) with Heather and Mike until Chris got there about an hour after it started. He knew he was going to be late because of the Purdue game. Which they won! Thank goodness! So, I had to go it alone with all the executives who were there from his company. That was a bit painful for me. I rely on Chris to get me through those situations. And now, thanks to a conversation between me and the Pres wife, she believes she is getting a boat for x-mas. Don't even ask!

We had a relaxing Sunday. The boys spent the night at G & G's house so we got to sleep in, read the paper and then go pick them up. It was a nice day. The boys were rather grumpy when the got home! Oh well. The price you pay for two days of spoiling at G & G's house!

Gotta go. I'm hosting Thanksgiving for my parents this week and I need to get to the store as well as all the other cleaning that needs to take place around here! Have a great Monday and enjoy the craft show pictures!

Drum roll, please!

Tomorrow is the big day. I have just over 100 gourds to take to the show tomorrow. Everything is packed up and ready to go. I'm setting up tonight and then tomorrow the show is from 9:00 - 3:00. The boys are spending the night tonight and tomorrow night with G & G. We have a wine tasting tomorrow night to attend so babysitting for both evenings was necessary.

Chris has his last home Purdue football game tomorrow against IU. It should be an easy victory for us, but there is no such thing as "should" in football! On the note of football. I'm a Michigan fan and I'm anxious about the game tomorrow...but I just heard the news that our beloved Bo Schembechler passed away. He was a great coach and such a neat man. He will be sadly missed and those emotions will have a huge impact on the game tomorrow! My thoughts are with the Schembechler family! I can relate to the pain of having a man his age suddenly gone because of a heart attack. My Grandpa was taken that way and was about the same age.

It has been a busy week of getting last minute things ready for tomorrow, getting over a bladder infection and just hanging in there through all of that! After tomorrow I can start focusing on the holidays and lists for people. I'm being hounded by my family and I told them to just wait. But, they aren't patient people.

Wes did so much better this week at football. They played their first game and it was fun to watch. Wes seemed to do better on defense than offense, so we shall see where that takes us. He doesn't have a game next week but we will be teaching him how to do jumping jacks and running backyards. Skills apparently he doesn't know how to do!

And, last but not least, for the first time this year we won all our games at bowling. Amazing. And, we bowled a really good time that should have spanked us. They were just really off and we played average, so with our handicap, we won!

Have a good weekend everyone. I'll let you know how things went on Sunday!

Congratulations Laura and Nick

We have returned from our trip to Ohio. We left Saturday morning and had enough time to get to Columbus, go to our hotel and change and then make it with plenty of time to the church for Laura and Nick's wedding. I went to college with Laura at Findlay and we graduated together. Plus, she was my maid of honor, so I wouldn't have missed it! It was very nice and Laura looked beautiful. A few pictures to prove it! Wes just looked at the pictures and said "Mommy you are bigger than her!" :) Yup, that's us!






And, more good news, the boys were good for Heather while we were gone. They got spoiled by Aunt Heather! She took them to see "Flushed Away", they ate a ton of popcorn, they got to play and eat at Burger King! Wow, what more can you ask for in life. A great big thank you to Heather for babysitting for us. It isn't much of a free weekend for her and we so much appreciated it!

Now, the countdown starts to the craft show this weekend. I tried to go to Hobby Lobby to buy the hats I need to finish my snowmen. They were closed today. I was so upset (it is on the other side of town) and tried a few other fabric/craft stores and of course no one else has them. So, we have to go back tomorrow. If they weren't the only store in town that had what I needed, they would have been fired. I would think simply the idea behind "Hobby Lobby" would that people who do hobbies tend to do them on the weekend, so maybe they should be OPEN on weekends!! Bastards! I will be adding this to my other Sunday rule that I hate. No alcohol sales in Indiana on Sundays...okay Indiana and Hobby Lobby, get with it! Some of us have shopping to do on Sundays!

Busy weekend ahead

Happy Friday everyone. We are headed out of town to Columbus to a very good friends wedding. We are leaving in the morning and Heather is watching the boys for us so that we didn't have to drag them along.

I cleaned house today and also managed to get 12 gourds painted. My mom ordered me a bunch of neat bags, wrap and boxes for my craft show. They are so cool I don't want to give them away. Thanks mom!!

Okay, gotta give Chris a haircut before bed and then finish getting things packed and ready to leave tomorrow. I hope that you have a great weekend. And, most importantly, thank you to all the veterans out there who have served our country and continue to do so. I am continually amazed at the sacrifices of our men and women in the military. While I may not agree with our current military situation, I still support and thank all those who are serving now and served in the past! God Bless you!

Sharing her story

Chris and I are emotional these days about how much we appreciate the health and blessings of our boys. With our close friends going through the toughest days of their lives, we are reminded of the little joys in life. So, I thought I would share with anyone who is interested a link to a story about Paige and her parents. Please read if you can and keep their family in your thoughts or prayers, which ever path you take in life!

www.whig.com
(top story on Eric and Rhonda James)

The Wes Post Game Show

Last night had to be one of the funniest evenings spent with my family in a long, long time. Wes had his first flag football game through the Y and his team in called the Packers. They are playing at an indoor dome, so we are not outside. I knew going into it that Wes probably wasn't going to take to the field and shine like a seasoned professional. What I expected was mass confusion and I knew he didn't understand much about football, even though we watch it all the time!

I had no idea he would be as bad as he was! And, I say that the nicest way a mother possibly knows how. He was completely clueless. All day long he talked about being the quarterback and scoring touchdowns. We kept trying to explain how it worked and obviously he was NOT listening!

The coaches showed the boys the basics and how to pull the flag off the other player. Then they lined up to do basic things like snap the ball to the quarterback and hand it off to a running back directly behind the quarterback. Well, Wes seemed to think that of course he should have the ball every time. He was pretty good about waiting his turn but asked his poor coach a lot. Everytime the ball was dead and someone "scored" he would pick up the ball and run for a touchdown, then do a victory dance. For a while I kept telling Chris either he was really excited or had to pee...out of the blue the coach looks to the sidelines where we were sitting and says (because he doesn't know which parent he belong to) "I think he needs to pee" pointing at Wes. Yeah, great. So, I go out there and escort him to the bathroom! He returns to take a snap and rather than hand the ball to the running back behind him, he turns around and PUNTS the ball at the poor kid. The kid just looked at him like "Dude, what is wrong with you?" Of course parents laugh. Wes was handed the ball once to run and rather than run down the field he ran across the field with boys chasing him, then he turned around and ran back across the field. This happened many, many times and was again, met with much laughter from the sidelines! We kept yelling, "Run down the field, run down the field!!!"

Oh have mercy would it ever end. This went on for an hour. I wanted to crawl under a chair and worse yet, our neighbors son is playing on our team and I had to sit with her. Chris just stood behind me shaking his head. I kept turning around and saying...you have to fix this. Fix him before he embarrasses himself again. But, he had a great time and I wanted him to enjoy it...but did he have to enjoy it so much that he did victory dances all over the field?

So, Wes rode home in the car with Chris so that Dad could try and explain a few more football things. He had talk radio on in the car and Wes is used to hearing the Purdue post game show on the radio. So, what does he ask Chris? "Daddy, are they talking about my game on the radio?" Sweet! It took Chris a second to respond and explained that they were not talking about Wes' game on the radio.

So, there you have it. The Wes Post Game Show. Sponsored in part today by Mom and Dad and hosted by the Wes family network! Hope you enjoyed our show and we will see you here next week when the Packers take on the Lions. Should be a good game, you don't want to miss it!

"I Quit Because You Suck" Letter Part II

Yeah, it's been a day! But, thankfully my loving husband knows when to talk me down from the edge. He suggested a few alterations (all of it) to my letter. Apparently I sounded a bit to disgruntled. Really? Huh, I thought I just sounded like a bitch!

So, I rewrote, thanks to Chris' help and will drop off a very PC, short and to the point letter in a bit. If anyone at the Y wants to know more I guess they will either have to read between the lines or give me a call. But, I worked long and hard on my letter and the result was the big mess in the tub...so my letter will get posted here, if nowhere else!


To Whom It May Concern;

This letter is to inform you of my decision to no longer work for the Membership Department of the YMCA. During my employment at the YMCA I thoroughly enjoyed the staff and members that I came in contact with while working there. I was always grateful for the flexibility the YMCA allowed me, considering I only worked just one evening per week after cutting back from three evenings a week.

Since the priorities of the YMCA have shifted from providing quality membership services to a cost cutting, lack of concern for staff or members, I no longer feel that my time is best served in the employment of such an organization. Staffing the front desk with only two membership representatives during peak hours will only result in poor member services, unhappy members and unhappy over-worked staff. All of which are not reasons why I chose to work at the YMCA for the past three years.

I would also like to note that as a former Membership Director of a local non-profit organization I feel it is incredibly unprofessional and rude to not discuss scheduling and shift changes with employees prior to making those changes public. During at least two membership meetings and also in multiple memos, numerous staff members have had the misfortune to discover in front of their peers that they have had shifts changed, hours lost or given hours taken hours away from other team members. While this might seem like an inconvenience during a directors hectic day to call a staff member or ask them to step into their office to inform them of a change, I would suggest that it is the proper and ethical way of treating people and managing employees.

In closing I thank you again for the opportunity to serve our members at the YMCA and will miss them and the other staff.


The End! And, I will say no more about the Y! Unless they say something about me!

"I Quit Because You Suck" Letter

So, it's not been the greatest of days. After a one minute conversation with my now former boss telling her I would no longer be working there, apparently she didn't want to talk to me, I sat down to write an "I Quit Because You Suck" letter to be delivered this afternoon to the Y. Have I ever mentioned I enjoy letter writing? Well, I might not be the greatest at it, but I really enjoy getting a good jab in without being all that obvious.

Anyway...I guess I got a little too into the letter writing. The boys were playing in the rooms next to me, or so I thought, and I wasn't too worried about what they were up to. There was lots of laughter and running around. Again, too much, I should have been alarmed.

Because, this is what I found after getting up from my "I Quit Because You Suck" letter.







Notice the amount of effort on my little hoodlums behalf that went into filling our tub with water and throwing everything not nailed down from within our bedroom into the tub. Notice the books that now need to be disposed of (one of which is my good buddies Heather's). Notice the beer can, okay they didn't place that there. :) Notice the amount of toys resting at the bottom of the tub...and notice the work shirt submerged that I needed to return today. How appropriate is that? I guess I'll have to wash it first! Also notice the "Strong Willed Child Book" floating away!Wow, that book was really helpful! There are so many more comments I would like to make about the items in our tub...but I have to go now.

I quit!

So, a few of you are aware that I had a one day a week part time evening job. Doesn't get much easier than that, correct? Had, is the key word in the previous sentence. Due to a new supervisor and the ED leaving the facility, I have no desire to work there anymore. The local Y was a great place to work because I wanted to get out of the house a bit, make some new friends and talk to adults (not children - or more specifically, my children). My job there at the front desk had always been enjoyable...once again, notice had!

Due to eliminating many shifts, the "acting" ED doesn't believe that there should ever be more than two people at the front desk. Plus, the icing on the cake yesterday was when I went in my non-people skilled supervisor informed me that my shift had changed and I now worked different hours. Hours that I can't possibly even work. Her MO has always been to change our shifts and then let us know at team meetings. Apparently we had a team meeting Sunday during which she changed a lot of our hours! I wasn't informed about the meeting until Friday night and we had some family stuff to do Sunday evening (by the way, who wants to go into a meeting on Sunday evening?). She has never called anyone or spoke to them in advance of a meeting to inform them of the changes in their schedule. To some people that has meant they no longer have hours....but she doesn't seem to think informing someone of that in private is a wise choice. As it was, she told me at the front desk last night in front of members. We had a little discussion about it as well, in front of members. I've never been one to not say what I think! I figured that if the Membership Director didn't have enough smarts to suggest we have this discussion in her office, then why the hell should I care!

She isn't aware that prior to our boys I was a Membership Director for the Girl Scouts, so I actually have a stinking clue of how to manage membership and employees, something she is clueless about. So, I will be calling her shortly to inform her that I am no longer an employee and I will drop off my stuff this afternoon. And, wouldn't you know it the phones aren't working!

I enjoyed my 3 years there and I did a great job, something I guess is irrelevant to her now that members are no longer the priority of the Y but making more money is the top priority! I guess I will just have to work for my family on Monday nights!

Christmas Gourds

Our weekend

We had a great weekend at our house. The boys enjoyed spending Friday night at G & G's house. Chris picked them up Saturday morning while I continued to paint. Between Friday and Saturday I got 25 more gourds painted. I took Sunday off!

Chris and I had a fantastic time Friday night. Chris was waiting for me at home after my hair cut and we went out to dinner. We had to wait a bit for a table but we sat at the bar and talked. It was nice and for a change I didn't mind waiting at all. Believe it or not, we ran into one of the guys from his football crew. I teased them that they just can't get enough of each other. You'd think that 3 months of spending each Friday together would have been enough! After dinner we went bowling. The place was packed with some CRAZY people! We probably waited a half hour for a lane and then had to deal with some very rude children and rude parents on the lane next to us. I bowled pretty well, but I must say I am spoiled by our league! No children and no teenagers.

And more good news for Saturday! Purdue won a game! Finally, I was starting to think that wasn't going to happen again this season! Thank you boys!

Chris had his last Sunday football games yesterday, so he is officially done officiating. I'm glad he enjoys spending time doing something that he enjoys but at the same time I love having his back home with us!

Not much else happened this weekend. I finished a book on Sunday. We ate (I tried but it was too hot) chili that Chris made. I watched him sit at the table and sweat his way through his bowl, so it was hot!

I guess that is about it. I've got more painting to accomplish this week. Less than two weeks to go to the big day. I will be taking pictures later on today to make a little album of my stuff, so I will post some of them when I can.

Happy Monday!

I'm so excited..

...and I just can't hide it! Yeah, this is dorky to be excited over, but I get the day mostly to myself tomorrow. The boys have their flu shots tomorrow at 10:15 and then G & G are picking them up to spend the day and night at their house. Jenny recognized that I really need some time boy free to paint and they called to see if they could take them. Hummm, let me think about that?? Okay!! I'm getting more and more behind because I just can't paint with Trouble I and Trouble II running amuck!

So tomorrow will be painting day with a haircut thrown in (already scheduled but convenient) and most likely an evening out with my husband. Who knew?? Wow, Chris and Katy night. Good for us! And, most importantly, thank you G & G. Hopefully I can get a lot of gourds painted to show for it so that I won't feel guilty about going out.

I'm off this evening to pick up some more paint and hit a couple of shops. I had planned to do that with Heather tonight, but I think she might be under the weather. I haven't heard back from her yet. She is MIA.

Wes had a parent teacher conference today at school. Chris met me there (thank you Hun for being a committed parent too) and it was rather amusing. We knew that he didn't have any issues or we would have heard about them by now. He gets along with the other kids well, like to pretend play and is a big talker. No surprises there. We laughed when we saw a quote of his.."My Daddy isn't a fan of IU, he prefers Purdue!" Awesome. And props here also for Connor. After many attempts at trying to get him into the child care at school in the past I wasn't hopeful about him being a willing participant today. However, he walked in there with Wes and started playing and never looked back. It was a good but scary moment for mom. Now even my little baby is growing up! He had so much fun he threw a fit because he had to leave. Go figure! Just when to think you have them figured out, they break the mold!