Being HCIC isn't always what it's cracked up to be

Today sucked. Today I don't much like my job. I usually LOVE my job. Just not today. Definately not today. Today was an impossible deadline day. Ok maybe not impossible. I read 15 days and thought they meant 15 working days. Um...no. 15 calendar days. So that was today. I realized it at 8:30 this morning. Thus, today sucked.

Lately it feels like I'm in over my head. I know I'm not. I really am not. I just feel like it this week. There's so much to do most of the time that it's impossible to get it all done. I KNOW that. But it'd still be nice to at least have a resemblance of caught up. Or at least my head above water. Oh well. It's still a good job.

Did I mention I had to kick three people out this week? This week sucked.

Pics of the house (kind of)

I was looking for something else and found the link to the listing for our house on the MLS. I was going to post the link. Then it occured to me that that would constitute telling the whole world where I live. So instead, here is the pic I heisted off of Remax's website. :)

The pic definately doesn't do the house/property justice. I'll get around to taking more pics later. Because, as you know, we bought it for the yard, not the house. LOL

Talking when no one else is listening

I do love the internet. It has brought so many people into my life. Some that I love. Some that I have thought I couldn't live without and then realized that they were really sociopaths pretending to be friends. Others are mere acquaintances that I just enjoy hanging out with sometimes. Then there are the millions of others who don't know I exist and who I truly just enjoy overhearing what they have to say. Raise your glasses to the first amendment!!! And thank you to the countries without a first amendment who allow such things to happen anyway.

My favorite part of the internet is things like blogs and forums. It gives my insomniatic self someone to talk to or more specifically talk AT in the wee hours of the evening. I mean, I'd have to have friends overseas to be able to talk to this many people in the middle of the night. And my ADD self couldn't pay attention long enough at this time of the night to say much intelligent for very long anyway.

Thank you Al Gore. I really like your internet thingy.

Anybody else remember the Prodigy forums?

Keep in mind I have insomnia

So if you keep in mind that I have a hard time going to sleep most nights, it isn't unusual that I'm blogging post midnight. But that said, you can hold nothing against me later.

I started reading the tagged blogs on blogspot tonight. Went back through the archives and was looking at blogs of note for years past. I went through several months worth in the 2001 2002 era. Did you know that not even ONE of those blogs had a post later than 2003? I mean, how do you have this blog with a ton of hits and a ton of info and then just quit blogging on said blog? I mean, yeah, I get sidetracked and forget to or choose not to blog for months at a time. But YEARS at a time when you blogged daily? Makes you wonder what happened to them. That or becoming blogspots blog of note equals an impending kiss of death.

So which is it? sidetracked or death? I shall make it my mission to find out.

Planning a Wedding

no budget. Less than a month to plan. A wedding. Can it be done? Do I have a choice?

So Amber decided to get married. In less than a month. I know it's a good thing. Just keep reminding me of that. LOL

They are getting married at our house. Or more specifically, in our yard. Which should make it easier because we don't have to find a place to have it. Right? Um yeah. That just means I have to do the fall cleanup a little earlier in the season. It's going to be gorgous though. Fall has always been my favorite time of year. The colors are amazing. I only hope we can do the season justice with the wedding.

So what are YOU doing October 20th?

I forgot what I was going to say.

I'm having alot of that lately. I'd forget my name if everybody else didn't keep calling me by it. So I had a TON of really good ideas today on what I wanted to say tonight. Now I can't remember any of them. That's been true most nights when I sit down to blog. So I just haven't. I should still ramble. Or should I?

Welcome Rachel!

So there is a new addition to the family!! Meet Rachel Piper. She was born Sept 27th and is a 8 lb 10 oz bundle of joy. Proud parents, Bryan and Jen, are happy but a little sleep deprived. Imagine that.

The other little one in the pic would be the beautiful Emma Rose. Isn't she just a cutie? :)

So the lovely two little girls above have my mom grinning from ear to ear. And rightly so. What Grandma wouldn't be happy to have such beautiful grandbabies?

Scrapping and standing in line

So this weekend was Scrapfest in Minneapolis at the Mall of America. And what a great time! It was nice to do something that was ALL mine for the weekend. The merry team was my mother, my sister, my friend Susan, and myself. We were joined on Friday by the beautiful Emma who did a great job considering she was in a stroller all day and couldn't get down and crawl away. LOL

Tons of make and takes were done. But that of course involved standing in line to get your turn to make one. It wasn't so bad though. One vendor gave away tote bags, another a small brag book size photo album. I learned several new papercrafting ideas for altered items. It was fun! I also took some 45 minute classes on cardmaking, altered art, and scrapbook ideas. The classes moved fast and it was sometimes hard to keep up. And of all the classes only one actually finished the project we started. That was fine though, because they sent us home with enough to finish the project. Some classes gave us WAY more than we needed. Freebies rock! I won two small door prizes. One I have no idea how I'll use it. The other was flowers. My goodness I love flowers!

But lest we not forget. Paper makes me happy.

Happy Wednesday and be well!

Playing Catch Up

OMGoodness! Has it really been nearly a month since I added a new blog? Loyal readers, I owe you a HUGE apology. LOL

August has become a blur. I can't figure out how I planned so much in one month. What was I thinking? And what did I do for September? Oh, about the same thing. Oh well. It's all a grand adventure.

the biggest adventure this month was definately a week long stay in hartford, connecticut. Interesting state. I'll have to fill you in on that week in a separate blog.

Last night we had our first party at the new house. We grilled brats and basically all sat on the porch and avoided the sun. Thank heavens for the gazebo or we would have fried. Nothing like a party to get you to get things done! Eric and I about killed ourselves with yard work on Saturday. And I must say that it is beautiful! The backyard is now in pretty good shape. between that and the fact that the main level of my house is in order, I'm feeling pretty good about the way things are right now. Amazing how a clean house can make you just feel better.

Now if only my back would stop throbbing from being bent over all day Saturday. LOL

Dreams and what not

I woke up this morning from a very vivid dream. It was one of those ones where you forget you are dreaming. And then when you wake up you can't figure out if it was a dream or a remembering. Know what I mean? And now I can't get the dream of just before I woke up out of my head. Almost obsessing over it actually. huh.

I read once that dreams are made out of real things in our life. Dream intrepretation is a big money job for many people. Myself, I usually don't try and read alot into dreams. I figure it's just my brain playing wishing and what if games or making my living fears nightime manifestations. It's kind of nice though when they are based in positive things that you wouldn't mind having happen. :) Or a rememberance of things that HAVE happened that you want to remember.

So last night's dream was not only vivid, it was, well... it was something that I've thought about happening in my waking life. Not exactly the way I would have planned it in the waking version but the dream version was OK too. I can't exactly tell what happened because it's one of those dreams that would be warped if other people read it. And since I can't FULLY explain, I'm not even scraping the surface of it. But if you are someone that is REALLY good at analyzing dreams, call me or email. I'll share that way. :)

So as Jack Johnson says, "All of these moments just might find their way into my dreams tonight." What finds it's way into your dreams?

Happy Monday - aka why not to take two days off of work at the first of the month.

Beginning of the month. Take a two day training. Sounded like a good idea at the time. But that was of course BEFORE I moved the board meeting up a week, planned a week training in Connecticut and a two day trip to NYC, a baby shower, and year end financials. What was I thinking? Oh yeah. Wasn't thinking. See... I haven't changed one bit.

But the training was WONDERFUL. I think I may take up a new life path as a development coordinator. Because NOW I know how to write the grants and a lot more about where to send them to. LOL Now if only I had the time to actually do the writing and do the sending. But that's a story for another Monday. And a wish for another time.

The weekend was rather zooish but not at all unpleasant. Spent Thursday (or was it Monday) night hanging out with Kurt who came to town to go the zoo. We do have a rather nice zoo here you know. See. We even have gorillas. :) www.omahazoo.com



So back to the zooish weekend....

Thursday and Friday were the above mentioned workshop on grants. Saturday had a ton of plans that mostly involved unpacking. (see every post from the month of July) But instead, Eric and I found a little bit of nothing that all added up to taking up the whole day. It was actually a nice, yet zooish, diversion from the mass chaos of the prior weeks. (again, pick a post from July, you'll get the idea.)

So Saturday night, another of my very best friends came to visit after spending an unbearably hot day at the (guess now), yes, you guessed right, at the ZOO. Because as you know from above, we have a pretty cool zoo here.

sidebar - Why is it that every time I, or someone I care about decides to go the zoo, or the amusement park, or say, get married in an outside ceremony, why do we pick the HOTTEST days to do it? If it isn't hot, it rains. If it doesn't rain, it snows. If there was a drought and not we are trying to get away from flooding, the rain follows us. I mean, does mother nature really not like us so much that she says, "oh look. Carolyn and her friends are going to the [insert attraction here]. Sounds like a good day for [insert natural disaster here]." Not like I really believe that mother nature really has time to worry about little ole us, but I'm starting to wonder. End sidebar.

So Saturday night, Erika and brood came to visit. We went to the Old Market and ate at Spaghetti Works. Come to think of it, we went there about a month ago too. Considering we don't go there except maybe 3 or 4 times per year, that's a little coincidental. hmmm. ponder that. oops sorry, got sidetracked.

So Saturday night, E & brood and us, went to eat and have fun and shop and did I mention it was unyielding hot this weekend? We about fried. Good thing for big glasses of water at the SW.

Sunday brought a visit to my NEW house by E & brood. They all agreed that I have a nice yard. LOL The house passed inspection too.

Eric and I planned to do all kinds of more unpacking and fixing and what not on Sunday. But we didn't. He slept all day, and who was I to disturb that.

OK, off for a while. Saga to continue later. I have groceries to deliver. Don't ask. It's a longer story that you want to be subjected to today.

TTFN.

Welcome to Homeownership

So we DID close on the house. We closed on the Friday. Moved a few trips worth on Sat & Sun. Scheduled a moving truck for Tuesday. Then ended up taking us the rest of the week to move. Had it not been for Eric, I would still be moving. He was such an awesome help. I can never repay that. Mom came on Fri/Sat to help me clean. That was nice. Otherwise I would have had to take another day off work to clean.

Now if only I could get all of the boxes UNpacked.

The day that would never come

I quit keeping track of how many times we've been told we are going to close on this house. Now once again, we are supposed to close tomorrow. But apparently it's real. We did a final walk-through tonight. The realtor even took the key so she could give it to me tomorrow. How funny is that. LOL

I've stalked this house since there was snow on the ground and tomorrow night, I might actually get to walk through the door to a house that is mine. A house I PICKED OUT. A house that I can see having my grandkids come visit in.

I think I may burst.

3:00 may never come

So once again, we are supposed to close tomorrow. I'll believe it when we are sitting there. This has been a disaster. I can't believe what we've been through. I'm surprised the seller is even willing to still sell it to us. Then again, they waited a year, what's another 2 months. TWO MONTHS!! This is nuts.

So cross whatever you've got available to cross. Maybe we'll actually close. Or maybe not.

Awesome weekend, wierd Monday

Got to see Jimmy Saturday! How much better can life get than that. He was at a conference a couple of hours north of us. So we went up to spend time with him during their afternoon break. Now if only it hadn't been so flippin hot. Jim and I tried to fish on the way back but that didn't work out. Lots of heat, little to no bites. Jim did catch his record bass though! It was a little bigger than the minnow. It was hysterical.

I've found that the older my kids get the nicer they are to be around. Who would have thought that during the teenage hellion years. LOL I still count myself lucky though that they didn't make the same mistakes I did. At least they made their own new ones. So apparently we did something right. I used to tell them that it didn't matter what they thought of me then but what they thought of me 10 years from then that mattered. They all seem to like me ok now so I guess we did OK. Either that or they are doing a good job of forgiving. Someone get back to me on that when you figure it out, OK?

So speaking of kids, Amber got her CNA certification this week. I am so friggin proud I could split the seams!! Now she is looking for a position that will utilize her new found skills. Did I mention I'm very proud of her?

Jim's birthday was Friday. Friday and Saturday didn't work out for going out for said birthday so we went out last night. We went to Spaghetti Works. That in and of itself is enought reason to count the day as a good day. Double it with getting to scrapbook all afternoon and life is good.

So thus we get to Monday. It was a Monday. That about sums it up.

But hey, we may get to close on the house this week! That's a plus. Until later....

Live long and prosper.

Today was a Thursday that was really a Monday

Today was a Thursday that was really a Monday. Yes, I know. That makes no sense. But it's all yesterday's fault. I mean, I know July 4th is always on the 4th. duh. But I hate when it falls in the middle of the week. Because then people apparently found themselves thinking that Wednesday was really a Sunday and that it had been a weekend and therefore today was a Monday and they felt it necessary to make their Monday phone calls, which of course meant that they had to call my work and ask not so smart questions. (how's that for a run on sentence?)

So that left today as a Monday. Today was supposed to be Thursday (which is usually a very quiet get things done kind of day). Instead Thursday was a really a Monday.

Get it?

But on a lighter note:

Booked tickets today for a trip to Connecticut/NYC. Never been to either so this should be good. If only it didn't involve a week long training and a trip to the federal prison, it could be downright fun! A day trip to NYC should make it worth it. Now I just have figure out what to do in the Danbury area for most of a day on a Friday in August. That and what to do on a Sunday morning in said same Connecticut town.

Connecticut. What does that mean anyway? Sounds like it is a shortcut from one place to another. Can imagine that you can really call a whole state a shortcut though.

Summer sure is flying by. We've come a long way from the winter but when you consider it's really too late in the season to plant any decent veggies to harvest later that usually means you've hit the downhill slide. Dreaded hot though. Our once swampy yard of 8 weeks ago is now so dry there are huge cracks in it. I measured one yesterday that was 7 inches deep. How sad. Glad I'm not dependent on the ground for my living. Can't imagine that anything is prospering very well.

Ok, i'm rambling yet again. Must be time to quit. Until later...

Be well.

Waiting SUCKS!! but Fireworks are cool.

Ok, so here we are. It's Tuesday. Tuesday the third of July. Why you ask is that an issue? Oh yes, let me tell you. BECAUSE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO CLOSE TODAY! And we have not. :( I am so sad. Apparently FHA is backed up. That and they decided to nit pic something that was there before but now is apparently an issue.

Oh well. As my lovely realtor Kathy reminded me yesterday, it's only a few days and after this it won't matter because I'll be in the house for as long as I want to! Which is good, because packing sucks worse than waiting and this is the last time I'm packing for a VERY long time.

On to brighter things. Today being the third of July which is of course the day before the FOURTH of July, there were fireworks at the stadium tonight. We of course HAD to go watch. Y'all would be proud of me. I didn't try even ONCE to take a picture of them. I did however, find a really cool, very specific article on how to take pictures of fireworks. http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/936 I plan to use the tips tomorrow night and see whether or not it works! Now if only I can figure out where I put the tripod. Pretty sure I haven't packed it yet. LOL

Did I mention I bought a house?

Ok, so maybe not "bought" a house but we are BUYING a house. Should close next week. **jumping up and down really fast** as if I can of course jump up and down. LOL

So this is the house that I have been somewhat obsessed, ok, I admit, completely obsessed with. I think everyone that has come anywhere near me in the last few months has heard about the house. Those close enough to SEE me have SEEN the house. See, I'm obsessed. But the obsessed has paid off and the house is MINE!!!

Anybody want to come to a party?

From myspace to My Space

So as much as I love myspace, some things about it bug me. Including that persons that are not myspacers don't much like the nonusablility of my blog there. So the blog moves here. How cool is that?!

June 3rd comes and goes again

Here is what we did yesterday.
http://helpfindachild.com/inthenews/np_20070604.htm
Thank you to those who attended. Thank you to those who were "with us" but couldn't come. Your thoughts and prayers were felt.