Recap of the B-day Night

See that gloomy gus in the background. He was a grouch today for some reason when I picked him up from school. He switched to 3 days a week today and I was relieved to learn that a lot of his friends where still in his class, especially "Taylor with the long hair"!



We had Oma's birthday dinner tonight. Jayke got her the flowers you see in the picture and I got her some new pjs and a sinus sleep mask thingy. We had our spagetti dinner and strawberry swirl cheesecake. Oma and Jayke played with his
1970s Fisher Price Sesame Street people on the floor after dinner. Mike and I collected all of the old Fisher Price sets when Jayke was just a little baby and I think he likes them better than the new ones. He plays with this one all the time. We have the house too but it is packed in a box somewhere in the barn. I am going to have to go find it soon because he is only going to put up with this temporary one for a while.



Here is the ch ch ch Chia update...




He seems to have the Willmann(my maiden name) head of hair, very thick! See...



It's Chia Wendy! I seem to have more hair right now than I ever have in my life. I know it is longer than ever. I have been debating whether to cut it or not. I love being able to pull it up and if I get it cut I won't be able to do that anymore. Decisions, decisions.

The Boy did cheer up...



....after I gave him ice cream. Sometimes you just need a little ice cream, I guess!

I wasn't able to sleep at all last night so I'm hoping tonight goes better. I wish I knew what causes me to have nights like that just randomly. I actually fell asleep while my mom was here tonight for her b-day dinner. Oops. Hey, at least I made it to work and through work!

A Birthday and More

My mom hits the big 60 today! Woohoo! Happy birthday Mom! I'm cooking dinner for her tonight. Called and asked her what she wanted...she picked the one thing she knows I do really well. I personally think I cook a lot of things well...at least better than she does! I was expecting to do something elaborate for her but she wants spagetti. I think she picked it because it is my Gramma's favorite.

Tonight I have her birthday dinner, Saturday I have Jayke's big 4th birthday bash, and Sunday I have Grammy's birthday! That should finish off the month for birthdays. I'm really disappointed I didn't get to have a big 40th birthday party for Mike on the 3rd. I had been planning it for a whole year! Oh well, I have plenty of other birthdays to worry about this week.

I have decided, now that I'm working again, that the weekends are way to short! I can appreciate Friday again now and look forward to it. I went out to dinner with 5 girl friends on Friday. Angi was looking forward to going out and being able to stay out late...her husband is out of town working. We tried. We ended up rolling in the driveway at 10:19...I think we are getting old. It is pretty sad when you are sitting in front of the tv on Friday night at 10:30 watching Thursday's episode of er on the Tivo. It was that or Dance Dance Revolution which I nixed since I didn't think mixing DDR with margaritas was a good idea. I think Jayke partied harder than we did over at my dad's with Meemaw and Aunt Kimmy!

You already heard about my wild night at Bob Evans (yes, it is a restaurant)in my earlier post and today was full of laundry and cleaning. Grammy decided today that having my uncle fix up the old chicken coop out back for her to live in might be a good idea. I'm hoping she was joking but at this point you just don't really know. My mom and I just looked at each other and laughed hysterically. As if on cue, my uncle called right after the comment and so she had to ask him if that was a possiblity. He told her he would take a look at it for her. He is good at calling and getting her all riled up then hanging up. I can tell her right now that the chicken coop no longer has a roof on it and I'm pretty sure the current occupants(about a million mice) probably don't want to share their digs with her. I asked her if we could please keep the crazy comments to a minimum this afternoon.

Note: Any funny stories I tell about my grandmother are told with much love. We have the kind of relationship that we can joke with each other and know that we are just joking. I have always had a very close loving relationship with my grandmother and she didn't even think twice about taking Jaykeb and me in in our time of need. No disrespect is ever intended.

The Looney Bin Hits The Road

I'm finding myself spending many evenings at Bob Evans lately. Tonight was one of those occasions. We had a guest who came at dinner time and stayed a lot longer than we expected. Gramma is not one to turn away company. If someone wants to come over it doesn't matter what is going on...they are welcome. I, on the other hand, am not so nice but since it is not my house I didn't really have a say in the matter. Our visitor came and stayed and stayed and stayed.

When visitor finally left Bob Evans was where Grammy decided we should eat. Fine with me...just feed me!

On the drive home we had one of those conversations that just makes me shake my head in wonder that I am still sane.

I'm trying to pull out of the parking lot across 4 lanes of traffic and Grammy is sitting up looking one way then the other then back again...I finally tell her to sit back that I'm driving so what is she looking for! She begins to laugh and go on about something...

Jayke: "Don't talk to my Mommy when she is trying to drive!"

Grammy: "Ok, sorry" (pats me on the arm and says,"Excuse me for breathing.")

Jayke: "Hey! I hear you jiggling up there!"

Laughter from the front seat

Jayke: "I said STOP jiggling! Geesh...excuse me for breathing!"

I am assuming he meant giggling.

Grammy begins singing about the 'Carolina Moon' in the sky..."Carolina Moon, Carolina Moon,,,", in a very low low exagerated voice that only those who know her and love her can appreciate.

At the same time Jayke starts singing The Twelve Days of Christmas..."On the first day of Christmas ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti...",

Both continue to get louder so they can hear themself over the other.

I just drive as fast as I can to get us home the whole time knowing that my friends are just around the corner getting pedicures and I was supposed to be with them!

Random Stuff...Again...

Could it be that I'm a little weird for being so excited that I get my own nameplate on the wall outside my office? I never had a nameplate even when I worked at my mom's store! I may have to take a picture of it when it goes up...hope they don't think I'm nuts.

Work is going well. Apparently I'm catching on faster than they thought I would. It is pretty easy with my medical, accounting, and retail background nothing is that unfamiliar. I hope it continues to go well, I've heard it is a really good place to work.

I've started getting rsvps for Jayke's party so I'm really getting excited now. I have a picture of the treat bags up on my other website. Wendy's Pages. I also have a couple of new scrapbook pages up over there. I'm trying to get all my Halloween pages up next. They are some of my favorites.

I got my little surprise from Mrs. Parker. It is making my car smell like a tropical vacation! I'd like to thank her for getting me addicted to the little Yankee Car Scent thingies...I will have to have more when this one fades!

I don't have any funny stuff from The Boy tonight. I don't feel like I see him much anymore. He was really upset the morning I dropped him off at school and I had to go to work. He cried and cried. I guess he thought I wasn't ever coming back or something. He did a little better today but still was upset. Too many changes lately. He does love spending the day with Oma though on Tuesday and Thursday. He doesn't even have to ask to go over. He has taken to calling me "Sista" or "Girl". Don't know where that came from. It is funny though.

I think that about covers everything I have been trying to remember to mention for the past couple of days. I knew this job thing was going to interfere with my blogging!

Bangito! Crashito! POPito! Skippito!

In need of a great children's book? Buy this one! I love this book! It is not only fun for Jaykeb to listen to but it is fun for me to read. How can you not love a story about a cat who thinks he is a chihuahua?! There are several books in the series so if you love this one you can get more and have the adventures continue.

I just discovered this book recently. I bought it at the evil book fair the school set up in the entrance a month or so ago but hadn't read it yet. The other night I was looking for some books that we hadn't read yet and grabbed this one. I honestly don't know who enjoyed it more, him or me! I enjoyed it so much I MADE him let me read it to him again tonight.

The little cat uses his imagination to turn into Skipito the masked chihuahua and heads out to fight banditos! My family (on my Dad's side) has had a love affair going on with Mexico lately...trips to Mexico, Mexican food, Mexican dogs... so I enjoyed the book even more because of that. Dad has 3 cats and two chihuahuas and I'm not sure if any of them know which is which so I found this extra amusing. I am going to send it with The Boy next Tuesday when he is spending the day over there. Meemaw can read it aloud to all of them...boy, cats, and chihuahuas!

The Working Girl

I'm a working woman again! Started the new job today. I think I'm going to like it! I really like my boss and also the girl who was training me. The work was easy to learn...very similar to the software we used in school and I had the hang of it quickly which allowed my trainer and I to talk...a lot.

I REALLY decided I liked her when she almost fell out of her chair after I told her how old I am. She thought I had just finished at Ball State and was in my early twenties...giggle! When I told her I was thirty-five she almost screamed...which would have gotten us both in trouble. I will be working with her again tomorrow.

My job description is too long and detailed to list here so I will just tell you that today I entered credit card payments into the computer and ran statements to send to patients. Just the first step in what my job entails. Tomorrow I will learn something else.

I think they will be great to work for. My supervisor asked me what hours I want to work. She knows I have a little guy and told me I could do whatever was most convenient for me as long as I was there everyday. If I want time off I just have to work all day one day to cover what I will miss. I was very excited about this since I am only part-time and won't have any vacation days. I am really wanting to take The Boy to Disney World sometime soon.

After I got off work this afternoon around 1p.m. I ran over to Hobby Lobby to get things to make my office look purty. I got plenty of picture frames to put on my desk so everyone can admire my adorable child and a matching box to keep gum or something in. I will do more as I get more comfortable in there but this will be a start.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho....

Off to my new job today...will have to blog about it later!

Ch-ch-ch-Chia!

I am making a new rule. Pay attention grandparents! In the future when you purchase items such as this for The Boy...please plan to do them with him! I finally broke down and opened up the Chia Scooby the other day after much begging and whining. The first problem was that there would be a 24 hour delay in the process. You have to soak a chia over night in water before spreading the seeds so that the clay can retain water. That was when the arguing began. Try telling a 3 year old he has to wait 24 hours for something and see what happens! It wasn't pretty.

After distracting The Boy by telling him to go call his Oma (snicker) I was able to stick Scoob's head in a pan and push him to the back of the cabinet. The next day we went down to see of Scooby was thoroughly saturated and ready for his new do. This is the part where I decided a new rule was necessary. Who would think that one little packet of seeds would scatter so completely throughout the kitchen! They were every where. Every where but on Scooby's head that is. I decided that this wasn't working so I read the directions. Yeah, I should have read them first but I didn't think that spreading seeds on a clay head was rocket science. Turns out you had to get the seeds wet first. Lovely. Now we not only had seeds scattered all over the kitchen but we had big globs of seeds all over us. Jayke got frustrated with the process because I wouldn't stop "helping" him and gave up leaving the job for me to finish.

All I can say is this sucker better have one huge fro by the end of two weeks because I put all of the seeds on then learned that there were enough for 3 plantings. Just then Grammy comes shuffling in to see what was going on. The Boy had retrieved the broom from the garage by now and was vigorously sweeping the seeds into every corner of the kitchen. I then had to go through a very detailed explanation of what we were doing. I am now completely over the Chia Scooby.

Next time The Boy gets a Chia anything in his stocking P'pa will be in charge of planting it with him. If that goes anything like the baking they did a few weeks ago it will be an even bigger mess!

I SOOOO Want to Win This!

I normally don't post contests on here...at least I haven't for a long time but I really need one of these and I get an extra entry into the contest if I post about it so take a look...



Evil Target quit selling my beloved GoMom Planner this year and I was totally hooked on it! I think I may have even blogged about it at one point. Anyhoo...Finding a replacement that is equally as wonderful has been difficult. I got one for Christmas from my Dad (The organizer King) but the spark just wasn't there. I miss my beloved organizer! I don't want a new one, I want the one that has been there for years. The one that is my best friend who I can rely on to always have just what I need. I don't want to start all over getting to know a new organizer...I just don't!

That is why I need to win this one! You can check out the contest at Kailani's website or you can go straight to MomAgenda to see all their cute products!

I think that covers the linkage issues...I will put up my regular post later!

Be Careful What You Wish For

It took him this long but he will finally sit in Grammy's chair with her. She may be regretting this accomplishment though because now he walks in, throws his bible in her lap, climbs up on top of her, and tells her to start at the beginning! I just look at her and tell her it is what she wanted.



I increased Jaykeb's time at school from two days a week to three days yesterday. With that I also get a free membership to the YMCA. This is a good thing because I can now sign him up for all of his sports at half price. Very good deal for a single mom. This also means that I can go use the facility as well. I even got myself a workout partner in case I get a wild hair up my rear and decide to grace the energetic folk at the Y with my presence! Gretchen, who lives at the end of our driveway, works there and she wants a workout partner so she gave me her cell phone number. I should have given her mine...I can't be relied upon to call in these circumstances. I am, however, so very close to fitting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans which I saved. Very exciting! I can't even begin to tell ya how much better I feel.

On the other hand, I may have an eating disorder because I never eat and I don't see the change in my weight when I look in the mirror. My mom keeps telling me I will, that it took her a while to see it on herself too. I can see the change in my clothing so that tells me that I'm losing.

I went to see the movie, PS I Love You tonight. I thought it may be a bad idea to see this kind of movie right now with the current state of my personal life but I needed to get out of the house and I knew I wasn't going to be allowed to say no anyway. It was an okay movie. Not my kind of movie to start with so I didn't have many expectations for it. It was cute in parts and funny in parts. It wasn't nearly as sad as I expected it to be though. This was a good thing...I don't need to be sitting in a theatre bawling my eyes out right now. I can't really say that I would recommend spending the $9 to see it in the theatre, wait for it to go to DVD. I'm glad my date was paying...thanks Ang! I am dieing to see I Am Legend! My friends are chic-flick girls though so I don't see that happening unless I go alone. I've never been to a movie by myself so that would be a new experience.

Another Post From the House of Lunacy and Sneakery

Per my grandmother's request I bought Jaykeb a bible of his own for Christmas. I stood in the aisle and looked over all the choices and finally decided on one that also had cds with a song to go with each bible story. I thought I had really outdone myself since the two of them are singing together every morning. I brought it home and showed it to her and she approved so I wrapped it up and stuck it under the tree.

Christmas morning when The Boy opened his new fancy bible he looked at it and put it down to tear into the next gift...much as he did with every gift he opened that morning. I didn't notice at the time but this must have disturbed the gift giver, I don't know why...maybe because he didn't memorize it promptly. She had all kinds of questions like where was he going to play his cds...I named 5 different cd players he could use as well as my Ipod. She suggested we take it back, much like she does with any thing someone buys for her. I said no and thought we were done with that.

I placed the bible next to Grammy's chair so she could read to him in the mornings when they usually spend time together. A couple of days later Jayke was looking for his bible. My mom called me to ask where it was. This was all on New Year's Eve while I was trying to straighten the mop on my head while sweating from the heat and answering questions as to why it was taking me so long to get ready for this party. "What kind of party takes hours and hours to get ready for?" Lord help me...where is that bible when I need it?

I told them where I left the bible over and over and finally left for the evening, not thinking about the bible again.

Just this evening I was sitting at the table and Jayke brought me the bible. Grammy told me to write his name in it and started talking about writing every one's birthdays in it like she does her own. Yadda...yadda...yadd...WAIT! This isn't the bible I bought! Where are the cds? What is going on here? Normally she would try to use straight denial about this but I think she knew by the look on my face that she was caught. Not to mention she left the price tag on the back that was from a different store than where I bought my bible.

Now, since she doesn't drive I knew someone had to be in on this sneakery with her. I told Jayke to get his Oma on the phone for me. Everyone wants to try to deny their involvement in the bible switching. Turns out she got the lady who cleans for her to take her right out first thing and return that bible! They claim it was too old for him but I am pretty sure I know how to buy for my child and it was age appropriate. I figured I would just let this go since it did not appear I was going to get a straight answer from anyone and I know how once she starts obsessing about something it is no use. She once had to make a secret trip to the grocery store to retrieve the $2.59 senior citizen discount that I had forgotten to get while doing her shopping. She also made my mom rush right over to return the unused bottles of alcohol from my party...HEY! I would have used that eventually! She won't tell you what she is up to either...just calls someone else to come take her and you hear about it later.

Grammy is into teaching The Boy lessons too. This morning she was teaching him about obeying his mother. They must have had a long discussion about it after Jaykeb was scolded for being obstinate and telling me "NO!" I was upstairs when I heard him marching up, yelling back at her, "I'm going to go disobey my mudder!" Um, could he have that confused? I hope so!

The invitations for the party went out today. It was a VIP list...if you don't get one, I apologize...you just didn't make the cut. If you are male you had an even harder time making the cut! The Boy apparently wants to be surrounded by women at his party. I asked him to tell me who all he wanted to invite and he named two boys and 6 or 7 girls! Of course "Taylor with the long hair" was first on his list and got a big cheesy grin out of him. I think he is going to be goofy about girls his whole life.

I have to go now because The Boy's tummy "Hurts like an alien" and I have to take him to sit on the toilet now. Welcome to my slammin Friday night!

I'm In Love!

My kiddo has a weird little habit...okay, he probably has a lot of them but today I'm talking about one specific one. He will chew certain foods forever! I'm not just talking about longer than most people, I'm talking he will chew a peanut for an hour! He will chew meat for an hour. You forget he even has it in his mouth and an hour later you will see him chewing away on something and ask what it is. Meat. Meat from an hour ago? Yep.

How weird is that? I think it is very weird. He just laughs about it. You can tell him to swallow it over and over and he won't...just chews away. You would think his little jaw would get tired after all that chewing! Anyone have experience with this? I would like him to stop.

I have begun working on his party now. I got the room at Escapades booked, I have all the stuff to put in the treat bags, I have the gifts and giftwrap, I sent Mike to the party supply store in South Carolina today because I couldn't find what I was looking for up here (he did), and I have started scrapping the treat bags. I figure I only have 3 more days until I begin working so I better get this stuff done now. I may not have time to be so crafty in the future. I'm sure the kids won't care that I scrapped each treat bag but it will give me something to post on my craft blog and it is keeping me entertained tonight.

I have totally fallen in love once again. Didn't take me long, huh? My new love is perfect! Entertaining, fun, easy to turn on, and so much more! I can't believe I didn't find my love sooner. Wanna see a picture? I know you do!





Here he is! My Cricut die cut machine! LOVE IT! Don't know how I scrapped without it! I highly recommend you get one if you don't have one already...if you do, I know you know what I'm talking about!

He's Wicked Smart!

The Boy is too smart for his old Oma. She was trying to hide from him today since he will be spending the night with her tonight. He often calls and wants to go over to her house and she has a hard time telling him no. Today when he called he asked to come over to her house and she told him he couldn't because she was at the office. He said, "But I called your home phone number!"

Silence followed by a stuttering response.

I was cracking up. Don't lie to The Boy...he may be smarter than you think!

Speaking of The Boy...I started another blog with my scrapbook pages on it. He is my subject, ya know! You can find it under Wendy's Pages listed at the top of the page in my sidebar or just click on this link. I don't have a lot of them on there yet, but I have a few. Just something else for me to mess with.

Happy Rockin' New Year!

Let me start by saying that everyone was warned that I was taking pictures for the blog. With that said I give you some of the pictures from our New Year's Eve party at Angi's. I am calling it ours because I took her place in the kitchen that night preparing all the food with Ryan. Ang had to work late so I stepped up and helped her out...I just roll like that!



This is a terrible picture of me. The ones with Jen in the tub with us were even worse of me so sorry Jen...I'm putting this one up. I have decided I should not ever be photographed...ever! The picturew as taken before I could fix my hair...just want to go on record with that! Anyway, these are the girls in the tub. Why? I don't know...probably because they all found me in the bathroom trying to iron the crease out of my hair from where I took it down. I've decided ironing ALL of my hair is not a good look for me. It was an enlightening night.

Redeeming picture after hair was fixed...



Glad I wasn't in on this...



Shots of Tequila...not for beginners! For the record, I did not do any shots. I guess I was partying like a hotdog instead of rockstar. I just wasn't in the mood. Cabana Boy Specials were enough for me for the evening.








A little Dance Dance Revolution was followed by Pop Star, Guitar Hero, and finally Rockband. Can you tell the party had a real theme going on?



Check out the rocker hair?!?! I have a lot more pictures but I am to tired to put them on here. There was a lot of Playstation and XBox being played. There were many phone calls to the 12 year old in the house behind us to figure out how to hook up the XBox. There was spilled beer on the carpet and one incident where the telephone bounced off the ceiling and rained down in pieces. There was some drama and a lot of hilarity...mostly provided by one person named Jason. (The hilarity...not the drama, I won't talk about that on here.) There was too much food and plenty of drink. At midnight there was kissing, but I wasn't involved in that. There could have been a free trip to Vegas today but no one took the offer. All in all, it was a good evening.

When the phone started ringing off the hook around midnight Jason took it upon himself to answer it...like it or not. He answered a different way everytime. My favorite was HOUSE OF BOOTY, THIS IS CUTIE. I think I will answer my phone that way from now on. Just has a certain ring to it.

I spent the entire day at home today. Did some laundry, cooked for the kiddo and Grammy, called Kelly (finally), and messed with the camera all day. It snowed pretty much all day and is supposed to snow more. That could mean more silly photos of Angi and Wendy trying to look glamorous while sledding with their children.

On tomorrow's agenda...finalizing the plans for the big birthday bash for The Boy!

(For those of you who know you will be invited...save the date! January 19th at 2:30 if that time is available. Mark it on your calendar...stick up a post it note...write it on your forehead with a Sharpie, I don't care, but don't forget! I'm not taking any excuses for not showing up this year because I have given more than a month's notice!)

Just Rambling

My first post of the New Year...hmmm...what to talk about. I could tell you about the party I went to last night but since I'm actually writing this 6 hours before the party that won't work. I figured I would get my post ready in case I don't feel up to writing one. Drunken Dance Dance Revolution could cause unforseen injuries or illness. It is good to be prepared, hence the canned blog post.

I am also getting the third degree from my wee one about who will be at the party this eveing. First he wanted to know if kids will be there. No. Then he wanted to know if other Dads will be there. Yes. Why will other guys be there? "I don't want you to be there without my dad!" he says. Now I have to answer to a 4 year old!


I was trying to think what my New Year's resolutions would be but I have already accomplished most of what I would have resolved to do...

Lose weight

Check! Did that...more to go still though. 3 sizes and counting...Woo hoo!

Get a job

Check! Start on the 7th

Go to bed earlier...stop staying up all night

Check! I can't stay up late anymore...kills me. Guess my arse is getting old. I turned 35 while on my blooger hiatus.

Stop being so messy

Okay, some things are just too much to ask for!

Work on temper

Check! I got new drugs. I get one week off a month though. Some things just can't be helped and that is one of them. Blame Mother Nature...plus I live in the loony bin, remember?!?

Learn how to use all my new electronics

This one could take a while. I have started reading the novel that came with my new camera though.

My last one that I haven't done yet I'm keeping to myself. A girl has to have her secrets ya know!

I've decided it is time for a change with the blog. New Year, new life, new blog. I want to change my title and layout but I'm having trouble coming up with a name that represents me and my ramblings. I had this trouble in the beginning and ended up settling for the current name which I've never really liked. I have one thought in mind but I'm open to suggestions. If anyone has any ideas on what I should call my new blog please feel free to suggest! Be nice though! Kelly...any thoughts? I haven't forgotten to call you back either...just been busy. Sorry. I will call asap!

Conversations From The Loony Bin!

Jaykeb: Mommy, what is New Year's Eve?

Mommy: It is when the year changes from 2007 to 2008 and people party like Rockstars! At least some do...

From the recliner behind us, barely audible over the blaring television we hear...

Grammy: You're going to party like HOTDOGS?!?

WTH?

Insane laughter follows. Jaykeb and I just couldn't stop laughing at the thought of partying like hotdogs. This is a typical conversation had on a daily basis now.

I'd like to wish each and everyone of you a Happy and safe New Year! I hope you all party like hotdawgs or rockstars...which ever you may be!

Easy Trigger!

I think The Boy has some anger issues he may need to resolve. The other day he was playing with Opa,who was sitting in his recliner. Jaykeb ran into the arm of the chair and hurt his arm. The following rant in sued...

Jaykeb: (Pointing his finger at Opa) YOU'RE 400 NASTY AND I DON'T LIKE YOUR DEAD DOG AND I'M NOT GOING TO PLAY WITH YOU ANYMORE!!!

We are not really sure what he thinks "400 nasty" means. I'm guessing he thinks that is nastier than just plain ol nasty. The poor dog has been dead for 2 years so I don't know why he had to bring him into his argument, and as for not playing with Opa anymore...we all knew THAT was not going to happen!

Tonight he was playing with his KNex and was having trouble putting them together. All of a sudden he threw them down and said, "I'm NOT playing with this crap anymore!" Then he asked to go to bed. Sounds like a good place for him with that attitude and mouth! I can't imagine where he gets his temper! Snort!

I Can Bring Home the Bacon.....

It's official! I will be joining the working world once again. I got a job today. It is in Medical Billing which is what my degree is in...sort of. It is only a part time job which will be a start. I'm hoping it will turn into a fulltime position down the road...it sounded like it probably will. If nothing else it is experience in a medical office which will be almost as valuable as the money itself.

When I was interviewing the office manager told me that she had pretty much already made her mind up on two other girls to fill the two positions but my medical degree was changing her mind. As we talked and she learned more about how much office experience I have I could pretty much tell I had the position. She was excited and told me she was thinking of adding another job into the job description that she had been trying to figure out what to do with. My medical degree would allow her to do that. That is why I think it will turn out to be more hours. She called me two hours later and offered it to me. Mom and Gramma took us out to lunch to celebrate. I think it was a celebration for them though, not me. Now they can settle down, get off my back, stop harrassing people at the bank, and all other activities of insanity they have been engaging in.

Jaykeb was very excited but I don't know if he really knows what it means that Mommy has a job. Mommy has never had a job in his lifetime. He keeps asking me how I got it. I think he enjoyed the celebratory lunch more than anyone...I've never seen him eat so much so fast. It was like he was in a food trance or something just shoveling french toast into his mouth hand over fist. When we got back in the car he just sat there giving me flirty eyes all the way home. I thought he was going to pass out...high on maple syrup and real whipped cream! It was amusing.

Tomorrow...shopping for work attire. I can wear jeans as long as I dress them up a little. That is fine except I only have two pair that fit now! I'm so so very sad that I have to go shop...snicker...snicker...

Whew! It's Over!

Can't have Christmas without reindeer food which is usually followed by reindeer poop and many disgusted groans when my dad tries to gross the kids out by eating the reindeer poop! (It is just chocolate chips that he puts out after sweeping the oatmeal reindeer food away.) Here is Jayke carefully placing his reindeer food on Christmas Eve!

We had Christmas at my Mom's house after my Dad's but somehow I didn't get any pictures over there. Probably because I was exhausted from my middle of the night WalMart run and the marathon Christmas at my Dad's earlier. I think I was relying on my mom to take them and send them to me. Like anyone else I ask for pictures from though, I haven't received any. I do have a couple of pictures of Christmas morning at Grammy's though. This first one is of Jayke and Opa on their big scavenger hunt I made for them.

I spent a lot of time writing out clues and hiding them so the two of them could do this fun thing together and I don't think it was appreciated. At least no one was very excited about it. I don't think Jayke really understood what was going on. I had them go all over the house following my very clever rhyming clues and at the end they had to go out on the pier to get their gifts. I had bought Opa artificial fish bait and Jaykeb got a tackle box, bobbers, and rubber worms for the two of them to have a big day fishing this summer. Jayke's tackle box was a Scooby Doo one of course!





Santa brought Jaykeb a new bike at Grammy's. He was excited but was worried what would happen to his old bike. Seems like he flew through his presents as fast as he could which was fine since his dad would be picking him up. I had made a breakfast casserole and fruit salad for breakfast and we finished up just as Mike got there to pick Jayke up.








I headed over to my aunt's house for Christmas after Jayke left. I hadn't been there since I got married because I was usually with Mike's family in Bluffton. There weren't as many people there this year but it was still a lot of fun. There were tons of kids there and I wished Jayke could have been there to play but I knew he was having fun with his cousins at Mike's parent's house. Here he is with his cousin, Cassie, at Mike's parent's house. I think this picture is adorable...I don't know why.





And...just when we thought we had seen the last of Mike on my blog, here he is! His dad sent me some pictures of their Christmas and this was one of them. Mike got Jaykeb a rocket and they are preparing to launch. I'm pretty sure that it will stay in the garage until Mike comes back. I would probably burn the hair off my arm like I did when I tried to light the charcoal grill...that is a whole other blog entry though. There will be no launching of the rocket with Mommy! End of story.

"Sappy" Christmas!

You know it isn't right when the Christmas Eve entertaining is done in the bathroom gathered around the toilet! I've never seen so many people gathered in one tiny bathroom taking pictures! We had to stand in the shower for there to be room for all of us. I'm just glad that my son didn't develop any more toilet issues after he was bribed to go potty and discovered a surprise waiting for him in there! Jayke has issues with his privacy when pottying and didn't want to go with so many people in the house. My sister, Sherri, bribed him by telling him that if he would at least go sit and try to go she would give him a surprise. He finally agreed and below is what he discovered when he opened the lid...




We all posed with the green monster and took numerous pictures. We told Jayke to go tell P'pa to come see what what was in the toilet. I think the exact words Jayke said to P'pa were, "P'pa! I have a surprise in the toilet for you come see!" I wish I had a picture of the look on my dad's face, but he obliged.




It was a crazy night. Jayke got sick, I ended up going to WalMart at 3a.m. to get Tylenol for him and ended up coming home with a new bike from Santa and a lot of other stuff. 3a.m. is the BEST time to shop WalMart! The next morning we began the marathon. Here is a shot of one side of the room...



....and the other...



I must have been really good this year because I got my new Nikon camera and my personal diecut machine! I was really surprised that I got both. Dad tricked me into thinking there was no way I was getting the camera by telling me he had got me the diecutter. I haven't been surprised in a lot of years so it was fun!

Here is Santa bringing in the 2 bushels of fruit for my mom's stocking...



Can you say overboard? All that stuff is her stocking! Her fruit stand was getting in our way all morning. Here is my dad receiving his favorite gift...A Hillary Clinton nutcracker! A gift from the Phantom. The Phantom shows up every year and drops off interesting gifts.



Jaykeb was excited to get all his gifts. His last one was this big Hummer which made his day and got the biggest squeal out of him.



I got other pictures of him opening stuff but they were not very good...now that I have my new camera though!!!I will be able to take better pictures...I hope. You know I've been blaming the camera all along, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the photographer.

That was our first Christmas. I have to go hit the after Christmas sales with my sister, niece, and Mom now so I will have to post about the others later. I've come down with Jayke's cold too so I'm not feeling well. Why do kids always get sick over Christmas?

Christmas Rundown

Tonight is our first Christmas eve. It will be one of many for Jaykeb. I don't know how I'm going to explain how Santa finds him in so many different places and on so many different days! Tonight Mike will bring Jayke home and we will head over to my dad's to spend the night and have our Christmas in the morning.

Christmas at my dad's can be like a marathon. We have a big family and my dad is a big spender when it comes to Christmas so we usually end up taking an intermission somewhere along the line it takes so long. This year may not be as long since one of my sister's and her family did not come home, but I'm sure it will still be longer than most. Some of my cousins are bringing their kids over to play with Jaykeb after we have our Christmas. He always has fun playing with Kylie, they are the same age and Alexa is a little younger. Two girls for the boy to play with!

After that it is off to my mom's on Christmas eve for Christmas at her house including a non-traditional but yummy meal. HINT, HINT, MOM! Steak and seafood would be fine with me this year. We will meet up with Angi and the kids to let the kids all exchange gifts. They are adopted family, ya know! There may even be a trip to the Me's Zoo that evening!

Christmas morning we will be at our house (Grammy's)for our Christmas. I am cooking breakfast and have lots of fun things planned for the boy this year. Oma and Opa will come over to watch The Boy open presents. He is going to have to work for some of his gifts. I've made up scavenger hunts and other fun games for receiving his gifts. I made reindeer food this morning and I have Santa's cookies ready to go. Last year I ordered a Santa letter to come by mail but I think this year I am going to take care of that myself. This is a great age and I think it will be the most fun Christmas yet. We may even make it over to my aunt's house for a little while where there will be more kids than he will know what to do with! That will all depend on what time he has to leave.

Christmas afternoon he will go with his dad again for Christmas with him.


So those are the plans, as you can see we are extremely busy this time of the year. Since I grew up in a divorced family I am used to this though...it is just normal. I've done it since I was 5 years old so I'm a pro at juggling families. Now I have to get back to painting my scavenger hunt box...the creative bug kicked me in the butt this morning and I got up made, Hello Dollies, another batch of faux turtles, reindeer food, painted a special scavenger hunt box that I am decorating with wooden reptiles, and wrote all the directions for the hunt. This is what happens when I am killing time until the boy comes back.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

What's Up With Your Retro Wallpaper?

The Boy goes with his dad today. He is so excited I can hardly stand him this morning. He has called his dad about 5 times so far...I'm sure Mike is not enjoying Jaykeb's new talent at dialing the phone now either.

Lets talk about that wallpaper in the background for a minute. I know it has shown up in many of my pictures now and then you read a post about how I worked in Interior Design for 10 years and probably are thinking to yourself...no wonder she is no longer working! That wallpaper, my friends, is in my grandmother's spare room upstairs and has been there as long as I've been on this earth. I considered painting over it but the last room I painted I no longer get to enjoy so I am living with the 1970s pussywillow and forsythia wallpaper for now. No, it doesn't match anything I own and yes, I do cringe when I see it in the backgrounds of my pictures. I just wanted to go on record as saying it is not my choice. If anyone likes it or by some weird chance has this wallpaper in their own home, I apologize for offending your willows. It is only my opinion.

As I sit typing this I now remember that I had sworn to myself that I would not allow a late pick-up of the boy ever again. He is literally hanging on my neck and won't be quiet. He spoke to his dad and we know he is somewhere in Indiana. I started naming towns but Jayke couldn't remember which one he is in. He could be in Russville or he could be in New Castle...we don't really know. I guess I will know when he gets here since there is about a 30 minute difference between the two. In the meantime I am going to try to sit here and wait with this boy turned maniac. What I'm going to do after they leave, I have no idea...probably miss them.

A Brief Explanation of My Insanity

Kailani wanted to see our favorite Christmas ornament. Well, that would be difficult for me seeing as how I am crazy for Christmas! I should be after dealing with Christmas 12 months out of the year for 10 years!

In my past life...the one before Jaykeb was born...I worked in interior design. I did a lot of different jobs like floral design, in home consultation, visual display design, waited on customers, I even did the books but my favorite part of the job was planning the Christmas trees. I would start in January when the new catalogs came out and begin putting together my themes for our 9 trees. Sometimes I would also be planning a particular customer's special order tree as well. We would go to market closer to Christmas and that is when the fun really started. Seeing the stuff in person was so different than planning from the catalogs. It was exciting!

Since I dealt with Christmas 12 months out of the year it was hard not to change your own Christmas tree from year to year. If not change it then at least add a substantial amount to it. I believe currently I have 4 trees ranging from 9 foot to 4 foot and atleast enough stuff to fully decorate in 6 different themes. Crazy, I know. I couldn't help it!

When Jaykeb was born I decided I needed to go to a more kid-friendly themed tree and have stuck with that them ever since. Yes, I still add to it every year and next year I will need to use my bigger tree if I plan to get everything on it. My Christmas stuff was one of the things I made sure I didn't leave South Carolina without and I have decorated Grammy's house from top to bottom...literally.

So when I saw Kailani's post about showing off our favorite ornament I thought to myself how could I pick just one? Well, I couldn't so I give you several of my favorites and why...



This is a Department 56 Snowman in mercury glass. Department 56 is my FAVORITE company to buy Christmas ornaments from as you will see because most of the ones I chose to show you came from them.




We carried Department 56in our store but back then I was on different themes and wasn't really interested in them. I've had to acquire most of mine through Ebay since they are retired or hard to find. I don't think we ever had Humpty Dumpty in our store but I loved him the moment I saw him and had to get him. I like to have differnt size ornaments on the tree from very small to very large. Humpty is huge!



Another Dept 56 ornament for Jayke because he loves his automobiles!



Dept 56 baby shoes...For The Boy, of course! As you can see I love the mercury glass ornaments!



This one was Jayke's special ornament this year. He is on that Scooby kick ya know!



I'm crazy for The Kitty so I had to have this Kurt Adler collectible Hello Kitty! I like to have an ornament or ornaments that represent each of our likes on the tree.



This last one I had to think about putting on this year. It is the ornament Mike bought for me after Jaykeb was born. It seemed a little strange to put it on there with all three of our names on it but it seemed even stranger to not put it on. In the end I stuck it on...towards the back so it wouldn't constantly be reminding us of what we are missing this year.


Honestly I could have put a picture of every ornament I own on here and told a story about it but that could take weeks. I already showed the Texas Star I got from Tommiea earlier in the week and I got two super cute wooden ornaments from my cousin in Colorado. I managed to select an ornament that matched my tree perfectly from the ornament exchange party...we selected without seeing them first. It was a pair of red mercury glass mittens. Love it!

So there ya go. A handful of my favorite ornaments. So, do you have a fvaorite ornament or are you like me and love them all? Tell me, tell me!

Mr. Telephone Man

Yesterday I had one of those proud moments as a parent. When you look at your child and you can see yourself in him and you are so proud of his accomplishments. Jaykeb learned how to dial Oma's phone number. Now he can call her anytime he wants and as often as he wants...which, it turns out, is about every 10 minutes. He is a chip off the ol block! Anyone who knows me knows how I love the telephone and now my child is taking after his mother.
tear slips down cheek
I don't think my mom is too thrilled with this development, however. Every 10 minutes she gets a phone call that goes something like this...

Mom: Hello?
Jayke: Hello, CAN I COME OVER?
Mom: (makes up and excuse and tells him not right now)
Jayke: Soooooo...what are you doing?
Mom: (tells him something)
Jayke: Okay, bye, I love you, be careful!

10 mintues later the call is repeated.

I just sit and laugh enjoying my son's accomplishment and my Mom's torture.

A Frozen Winter Wonderland

I think I have a sledding injury. My neck is killing me. Must have been that huge bump Jayke and I hit while flying down the slopes. We didn't get the snow they said we would but we got enough to sufficiently cover the huge hill in McCollough park where the best sledding in town is. Angi invited us to join her family for sledding and we happily went. I had located The Boy's snow boots stuffed in his grocery cart and I got him stuffed into his snow gear...not an easy task when he is constantly screaming at me about bumps in his socks and his sleeves not being right.

We got to the park and it was packed. Half of Muncie was there with every kind of sled and snowboard you can imagine. We found a good place and off we went. I have to admit I didn't think Jayke would go down this huge hill but he did. Hopped right on the sled with Angi's daughter, Maci, and went flying through the masses of people right to the bottom.



It didn't take long before Angi and I decided to join them. Yes, we had four sleds but decided to pile up on one for our first trip down the slope. We ran out of room so we had Maci hanging onto the back of the sled going down on her stomach. Good thing, she slowed us down some.



When we got back to the top of the hill I asked her husband, Ryan, if we were the picture of grace and eloquence gliding down the hill. I don't think that was quite the image he got of the two grown women flying down the hill on a neon orange sled screaming louder than all the kids out there. I was hoping the daylight reflecting off my huge silver earrings would alert the people on the hill that we were coming. I think the screaming did a better job though.

After that ride down The Boy had worked up the courage to tackle the hill solo. He climbed on one of the discs and took off down the hill. He needs to work on his technique though, leaning back dragging your hands while your feet are sticking up in the air is not the best way to accelerate down the hill. It was slow going but he made it and then trudged back up the hill carrying his sled.






There was a guy there taking video that we assumed he would use for the news or to get stills from for the paper. He was fond of Jayke and took lots of shots of him. I think he was admiring the technique. I'm hoping to see his rosy cheeks in the paper tomorrow.

After an evening cruising down the frozen hill we had to go have hot chocolate (a Mocha for me)from Starbucks. Daddy had won a bunch of gift cards a while back and Jayke and I are still using them. Even the folks at Starbucks were getting into the frozen spirit and I snapped this while waiting at the window for my order...



I just wish I had a picture of my sledding ensemble to show you. Pigtails, earmuffs, huge silver earrings, soccer socks so I could roll my jeans up on top of my boots, and my new white winter coat. The before and after shots would have been priceless. Somehow Ang and I looked worse than the kids when we got back to her house and peeled off all our snow gear. How does that happen?