This is the first time I've been in the house in hours. My entire afternoon was spent in the pool and laying on our deck. I actually have a decent tan going. This is going to be a fantastic summer! I love having a pool to get into and being outdoors soaking up some rays. I think people from the North, like us, really appreciate the summer after being couped up in the house during the cold and snowy winter.

Now I need to work on making some dinner because I am starving.

I slept until 9:30 this morning. What a treat that was! I sat around for a bit with a delicious cup of coffee to wake up and then started to clean the house. I love a clean house. It helps me relax. I took some chicken out of the freezer for dinner tonight. I think I'll make Mexican Chicken Lasagna for dinner tonight. Yum. If you're interested in the recipe, you can find it on Two With A View.

My wonderful husband has spent the day working in the yard. He's now at the pool store getting the vacuum and skimmer and cover for our pool. It's nice enough out that I would like to actually be able to get in the pool later this afternoon.

I love weekends!

Well, this is a good week so far. I'm proud of my oldest son because of his graduation from high school last night and I'm proud of my youngest son for being such a good kid and student. Here is what his teacher emailed me today:

Evan has been doing a great job. He is such an intelligent kid. He amazes me with how astute he is; he will notice the smallest detail that everyone else would overlook. I love that about him. He has been so interesting to work with; I am going to miss him a lot. Students like him don’t come around very often. You have done a great job raising such an amazing kid.

How wonderful is that? I sure do have some fabulous kids! Reading that brought tears to my eyes.

I've been in a pissy mood most of the day because of the news I got earlier. Well, there is a little light shining on my dark day now. I get paid bi-weekly which usually turns out to be twice a month. This month we get paid three times (the 1st, 15th and tomorrow, the 29th). Since we get an extra paycheck this month, they won't be taking out the money for insurance or any other benefits so it will be a larger check than I'm used to - plus I'll have a few hours of overtime on there too from last week. That makes me happy!

I'm finally home from work and the "boys" just left for the movie theater. My husband was nice enough to put my daughter to bed before I got home in hopes that I would have a quiet evening. Unfortunately she is in her room crying right now, but maybe if I let her be for a few minutes she will find her "binky" and go to sleep. If I have to go in there, she will most definitely want to get out of her crib and hang with mom for the entire night. She stopped crying now so my fingers are crossed that she is content and on her way to dream land.

I can't remember the last time I was home alone. I really have no idea what to do with myself. Maybe grab some left over dinner and rent a movie from OnDemand. It's kind of exciting knowing that I can do whatever I want with my evening. I sound pathetic, don't I? This is what happens when you're married and have young children.

My children bought me a manicure and a pedicure for Mother's day today! It's been a long time since I've been pampered like that. I think I've only had my nails professionally done one other time since Gabrielle was born. They look so pretty and it feels wonderful having them done. We also spent a little money shopping at the mall. I got two new outfits for work and some new dress sandals too. Of course my kids and husband got a few things too. Evan got a new leopard Webkinz and Gabby got her first Lilkin - a white kitten. Evan will get the code for playing online, but she's in love with the kitty.

My husband and I are going to watch movies, have drinks and play House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return on the Wii tonight. Then we're having family over tomorrow for a barbeque - fingers crossed that it won't rain even though it's heavily predicted.

So far it's been a fantastic weekend! I hope everyone else is enjoying theirs as well.

As some of you know from reading my blog, my husband and I purchased a house last August. The upstairs bedroom (the house is a bungalow) was not really suitable for living. You could move the walls with your hands because it wasn't drywalled - it was an old cork board type of thing that they used to do those upstairs bedrooms in. It was also bright purple with purple paint all over the hardwood floor and the half wall that stops you from falling down the stairs moved like it was going to fall over with very little effort (a death trap). So, we've been sleeping elsewhere in the house for almost 9 months now. It really sucks not having our own bedroom yet.

Well, my parents are home from Florida now and decided it was time to get this project started. We are getting the dumpster to go in our driveway at the end of this week and doing the destruction portion of it so we can start rebuilding. Woo hoo! I know that doesn't mean that we'll be sleeping in our bedroom any time soon, but at least something is getting done.

I've been looking forward to today since I got to work on Monday. It's been nice just hanging out with the kids this morning and not hearing Gabby cry when I have to leave for work. I have to get in the shower in the next hour so that Evan and I can go pick up my sister and niece for the Webkinz Extravaganza at our local Hallmark store. They are both so excited about it. Then tonight we'll all gather at my house (husbands included) for pizza and drinks and fun times. Ah.. how I love the weekend!

The weekend if finally here! Thank the Lord. I'm hoping for a quick work day so I can start enjoying it. Who's got plans for this weekend? My sister and I are taking the kids to a Webkinz party at our local Hallmark-type store tomorrow afternoon and then in the evening she, my brother-in-law and my niece are coming over to hang out. Sunday I plan to do a whole lot of nothing. I have several recipes that I want to try out over the weekend too.

My in-laws are wonderful people. My mother-in-law and I are great friends and I'm so happy about that. We had our rough patches in the past, but we've never been closer and I believe that we will continue to get closer as time goes on.

My mother-in-law's friend is moving to another state so she had a moving sale. Jeremy's mom immediately contacted us and asked if we would be interested in her king size guest bed with mattress cover and memory foam top. Hell, yeah.. we are interested. We have a queen size and have always wanted to get a king. My in-laws went in half with us and it's now all set up and ready to be slept in. I'm looking forward to going to bed tonight!

I am so happy that Friday is finally here. Only six more hours (blah) until I'm out of work! No alarm will be scaring the crap out of me in the morning. I do have a lot to do tomorrow, but at least it will be at my house and at my own pace. I'm thinking about going to get a manicure and pedicure tomorrow. It's been a while since I've had someone else do my nails for me. It would be nice to have them looking their best with the warm weather now. I'll be wearing sandals very soon and I'd like to have some pretty toes to flaunt.

It's Friday! It's Friday! I feel like singing a song. It's a beautiful day outside. The funny thing is that I left the driveway this morning singing the theme song for Sesame Street! Sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away... Yes, I am a mother of a 16 month old girl. Can you tell?

I'm bleaching my hair tonight with this...

I hope it works. I also have another dark blonde color because I don't know how light I'm going to want it. And then I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow evening after our day of shopping (if I don't like the color, she can fix it). It's going to be a fabulous weekend! I hope the work day goes by quickly.

It is so nice outside today! Well, compared to the long, cold and snowy winter we've had to deal with the last three and a half months. It's 53 degrees and the sun is shining. It's almost not necessary to wear a coat today. Nice weather sure does put me in a great mood. It's unfortunate that I'm stuck inside until eight o'clock tonight, but I enjoyed it during my lunch hour.

Oh, how I wish it was Saturday. My husband and I are going shopping at IKEA and Home Depot on Saturday while my mother-in-law watches the kids. Then we are all going to head to the mall to get outfits for the kids for Easter! I love shopping!! I can't wait until the weekend!!

Today is the best Monday of the year! My supervisor passed out our bonus checks this morning! I am so happy. Who could complain about it being Monday when you're handed a check first thing? Needless to say, I'm in a really good mood this morning!

My husband is at a Gogol Bordello concert tonight and I just put the kids to bed. Ah, a little peace and quiet after a long "blah" day is just what the doctor ordered. Sure, I would have loved to see Gogol Bordello tonight, but hey.. I had to work and I'm perfectly happy with the silence in my house right now. I think I'm going to exercise for a little while and then enjoy watching a few episodes of Sex and the City.

I'm so happy! My husband bought diet Coke yesterday and I actually like it! Yay! That means that I can drink pop without having to worry about any points against my diet! It will also make my sister happy because we will always have diet Coke in our house when she comes over.

I'm so excited. My sister is taking me to see James Blunt with special guest Sara Bareilles for my birthday this evening! We're leaving at around 4pm for dinner at our favorite place - Red Lobster - and then we'll be making the one hour drive out to Ann Arbor to the Michigan Theater for the show. I'm listening to the very talented James Blunt as I am typing this. I have to clean the house now and then jump in the shower to get ready. My husband is nice enough to go do all the running around needed (grocery shopping, etc.. ) so that I can stay home and do what needs to get done here before I leave for the evening.

I'm so glad it's Friday!! I have both Saturday and Sunday off this weekend. Then I work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week and have Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. I took two vacation days so I could have a four day weekend for my birthday! Thursday and Friday I have nothing planned and then Saturday my sister is taking me to see James Blunt for my birthday and Sunday (on my birthday) we are celebrating the Pisces birthdays (me, both of my boys, my brother and brother-in-law).

I hope today goes by quickly. Have a great Friday!!

I'm counting down... three minutes until I'm out of work for nine days! Today didn't go by as slowly as I anticipated. I'm such a neat freak too. I'm cleaning my desk before I leave - even though my desk is always extremely tidy. Hey, it gives me something to do to pass the time. I won't have to worry about finding a way to pass the time in just two short minutes!

I got word today that my vacation time for next week has been approved! After tomorrow I will be off work for nine days!! I know it's an odd time to take a vacation, but I get three weeks total so I figured now would be a good time for the first week. I really need a mental health break from work.

In other news, I've signed up for Blog 365. Yep, that's right... I have to blog every day in the year 2008. How much fun is that? Loads, I tell you. Wish me luck!

Is it really Friday? I can hardly believe it! This has been the longest week ever. After today I am done working overtime until next year. I am taking it easy the rest of this month and the beginning of next. I'm planning on taking a week off the second week of January so that will be nice. Four days off this weekend, a day and a half off next week and nine whole days off the week after that! Woo hoo! Merry Christmas to me!

As you may have read, I got my hair cut last Saturday. I wasn't going to do anything drastic, but it ended up that way. I loved it on Saturday after she styled it, but then on Sunday I was starting to regret doing it. I felt that way because I tried playing with it and it wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to. Well, I figured out how to make it look good and I have had nothing but compliments from everyone at work. When I say everyone that doesn't mean a handful of people in a small office. I work in a corporate office that employs hundreds, if not thousands, of people. All day long for the last two days I have heard how wonderful it is, how much it suits me, and also how much younger I look -- always a good thing right before your 35th birthday. The compliments are coming from everywhere and everyone -- supervisors, co-workers, management, people who work in the cafeteria, security guards, men, women.. heck.. people I don't even know. It's an awesome feeling! You know which compliment means the most? The one that came from my husband.

I can't believe it's finally here - Friday! Actually, I'm quite amazed at how fast the week has gone by considering I've spent the majority of my time at work. If I don't have to report for jury duty on Monday (which I will find out when I call after 5pm today) I'll work some overtime next week too.

It's extremely busy here at work today - right from the start. There are some pretty cranky people out there today. I don't know why. It's Friday!

I hope everyone has a fantastic day!! And I'll try not to start drinking before I leave work. *grin*

My sister, brother-in-law and niece are coming over tonight for drinking, video gaming and blogging/surfing! I'm so excited. My sister and I will be attached to our laptops with drink in hand while my husband, my oldest son and my brother-in-law will be in the living room playing video games and the little kids will most likely be downstairs watching television and playing with their Webkinz and playing video games on their Nintendo DS's. We're going to have fun times tonight!

I just found out that I am making "time and a half" for working today. That's cool. I had no idea.

Do you know what's even cooler? Management just handed out raffle tickets to everyone in the office. They will be drawing tickets throughout the day and if my ticket is drawn, I get to leave early. They just sent out the first email with 9 winning tickets. Mine wasn't drawn. What a drag. But, hey.. who knows.. maybe I'll be in the next drawing. I'll still get paid for the day, but regular time - not overtime. Hell, I don't care. I want to go home so badly that I would go home with NO pay if those were the rules. I didn't even know I was getting paid overtime cash today so it wouldn't hurt me to get paid regular time. Keep your fingers crossed that my ticket will be drawn - soon.

I am overly happy today. I believe that I'm irritating people at work (co-workers, not customers) because I'm so chipper on a Monday. They'd be happy too if they had so many good things going on this week including not having to work all that much. Hey, I deserve this after working nearly sixty hours last week.

I'm leaving for lunch in a few minutes which means that my day is already half over!

One hour and forty-five minutes until my weekend starts. This has been the longest week I can remember. My husband said he thinks it flew right by. Apparently he likes not having me around *grin* because time usually only flies when you're having fun, right? I have been having no fun at work, therefore it seems as if time hasn't moved at all. The calls have started to slow down this evening and I can only hope that it will stay this way.

My sister is the best! She looked up Prison Break to see if it was being cancelled like I thought it might be and just let me know that it is NOT ending. Yay! I'm so happy. I didn't want to look it up myself because I was afraid I might run across spoilers and I don't like reading ahead. That ruins the show, in my opinion. Thank you, sis. Now I am really looking forward to seeing the two hour event in two weeks.

Yes, I do have to work tomorrow so it's not as great as it would be if I had the entire weekend off, but it's still Friday. My oldest is coming over for the weekend. I don't know if he's planning on moving in or not, but we'll discuss that while he's there. I am just looking forward to spending some time with him again. Two weekends in a row is a big shocker. He's usually too busy with his friends to hang with his mom.

It's my day off and it's perfect weather for it too. It's rainy and slightly cool - that weather that makes me want to stay in my pj's and "veg" all day. That's exactly what my plan was and now I don't have to feel guilty about it. We are currently watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on cable. I forgot how strange and confusing the movie is.

I only have one hour and twenty-eight minutes until I'm out of here and I won't be returning until Friday at eleven. I hate working Saturdays, but I sure do enjoy the day off during the week. I had a doctor's appointment tomorrow, but I cancelled that because I don't want my day off to be interrupted by anything. I know, that's what my day off is for - doctor's appointments and other things I normally can't do during the week because of work, but I really just want to enjoy my day and not have to worry about any outside obligations for the thirty-nine hours I have away from this place.

It is absolutely gorgeous outside today! It's hard to believe that it's mid-October and nearly seventy degrees. I hope it's just like this on Halloween so that we can enjoy the time we are out trick-or-treating with the kids.

I have to go out this weekend to buy shoes for Gabrielle to wear with her costume. Up until now, we haven't bothered with shoes for her because she won't keep them on her feet. Since she's walking now, I'm going to buy her a nice pair that will hopefully last a little while. For as long as they fit anyway. I also need to get her a cute pair of dress shoes to go with her birthday dress! I can't wait. I'm taking my baby girl on her first shoe shopping trip. *grin*

We are going to have a full house tonight. As I stated earlier, my sister is coming over to hang out. My niece (her daughter) is also coming over with her baby, Rebecca, and my other niece, Allison, is coming over to hang out with Evan. My oldest son will be over for the weekend as well. So, there will be Jeremy, Jamie, Evan, Gabrielle, Jennifer, Bethany, Allison, Rebecca and myself at our house tonight. Holy smokes! Is there enough room? Hahahaha. We'll make room. It's going to be a blast!

My father and mother-in-law just came by for a visit. They were in town for my brother-in-laws wedding yesterday and stayed the night in a hotel. It was so nice spending part of the day with them today. We don't get to see them often enough. I wish that we lived closer to each other so we could spend more time together.

They brought us a fabulous house warming gift - a new Black & Decker blender! I've already made chocolate-banana smoothies and plan to use it to make Strawberry Margaritas next weekend when my sister comes over. It's an awesome blender too. It even has an "ice crush" setting on it. Much better than any blender I've used before. Woohoo! Party time.

It was nice not hearing an alarm clock blaring through the house this morning. It's been a great Saturday morning already. I got Gabrielle's decorations ordered, called the cake lady to order the cake - although I had to leave a message, paid all the bills we currently have and we received Gabrielle's Halloween costume in the mail.

Jeremy is going to his brother's wedding today (he's standing up in the wedding) and I am staying home with the kids because we don't have a babysitter. The kids and I are going to Halloween USA to get Evan a costume and then going grocery shopping. I enjoy spending lazy days with my family. Grocery shopping may not sound like fun to anyone else, but I like it. I think I'll make something nice for dinner tonight.

The weekend is almost here - right after I finish another 12 hour day. I hope today goes by fast. My supervisor is doing a "side-by-side" with me today to grade me on my calls. I hate when people sit with me. It makes me nervous and uncomfortable. I always end up getting the worst calls and they go terribly wrong. I have to get used to it though. My supervisor will be sitting with me to grade two calls four times a month. That's the worst part about this job - all the analyzing. Why can't they just let us do our job? I understand that they want to make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, but I find this to be a bit ridiculous. Besides my supervisor sitting with me, I am also rated by a manager who listens to and picks apart four of my recorded calls a month. Back off, people!

Anyway, the week is almost over and I see two relaxing, lazy days ahead of me. Light at the end of the weekly tunnel, if you will.

I'm so happy that tomorrow is Wednesday. I actually get to spend some time with my family tomorrow evening. I am not working a twelve hour shift because I won a contest at work. At noon, the people who won the contest are going to Hines Park for a catered picnic! I am looking forward to being at the park eating some delicious goodies, but more importantly I won't be at work and I will get home early and be able to relax with my husband and children. That's the best way to break up a a long week filled with many working hours.

I'm sitting in the recliner in the living room of our new house watching Aeon Flux. Life couldn't get any better. I love our new house. It was a bit overwhelming yesterday moving everything in and trying to figure out what to do with it all. All of the clutter is in a storage room in the basement and the main floor is now very comfortable. I've done two loads of laundry this morning, hung all of the clothes I wear most frequently and am getting ready to start putting Evan's clothes in his dresser drawers.

I slept really well last night for being in a new house. Gabrielle did too and that surprised me. She only woke up twice for a bottle between 10 last night and 8 this morning. Not bad for her. My husband appreciated that since he is the one that gets up to get her bottles at night.

Oh, and one other great thing - we are getting every movie channel on our digital cable right now. I don't know how long that will last, but I'm enjoying it for now.

Tomorrow is moving day. We already have a dining room full of boxes to sort through and have so much more to take over there. I unpacked a couple of boxes while I was there this evening. There is a lot of moving and unpacking to be done tomorrow. I'll be happy when it's all done and we can settle in. The good thing is that we don't have to get up too early tomorrow because the group that is helping us move things won't be available until at least 10am. Plus the cable guy is scheduled to be at our house between 10 and noon. So, I figure we'll get up and have some coffee, finish packing the last minute things here (which is more than I thought now that I'm wandering through the house and looking around at what is ours) and head over to the house around 9:30. I'm off to get some sleep now.

Happiness is:

Turning on HBO On Demand, learning that there are 8 fresh episodes of Sex and the City available, and eating half of a can of Reddi Whip straight out of the can while you watch them.

I took the kids over to our new house this afternoon. It's coming along nicely. Being in the house and seeing how nice it looks makes me want to move in right now. Unfortunately I have to wait another five days. Five days. It seems so close and yet so far away. I just want to take our things over there right now and start unpacking and putting everything in it's place.

I don't think I've ever been so happy to see the weekend. This past week at work has kicked my butt. To say that I am exhausted would be an understatement. The funny thing is that all evening I kept thinking that it wasn't Friday and that I had to work tomorrow. It was nice every time I realized that tomorrow is Saturday.

I got another tidbit of good news today. I won't be changing shifts at work as soon as I thought. I was originally going to be placed on the 11 to 8 shift a week from Monday, but now I won't have to change until August 24th - three weeks from today. The longer I can stay off that shift, the better. I don't mind the 9:30 to 6:30 shift I'm on right now. I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and it gives me a chance to see my husband and children for a little while before I leave for work and everyone is still awake for several hours when I get home. I hope that there's a shift bid soon after I get put on the late shift. I would like to get back to my current shift sooner than later. For those of you that don't know - it's a requirement that new people take the late shift and then we can bid on a different shift every so often throughout the year when the opportunity arises.

The inspection on the house went very well yesterday. There's pretty much nothing wrong with the house other than a couple of outlets that aren't grounded and a face plate that is cracked. The roof is good, the furnace is good, the siding is good, everything is .. well... good. The only thing that we have to do is go in and clean the house, paint the rooms, get the carpet cleaned and we're good to go! The closing will be around the end of this month and we'll be able to take possession at that time. I'm so excited!!

September is such a fantastic month. There are many wonderful things happening in the month of September. First is my wedding anniversary, always a good thing making it to one of those. *grin* The 2nd great thing is my husbands birthday, although the older he gets, the older I get soon after that. And, I just found out that Ben Lee is releasing a new album this September. The 18th, in fact. Perhaps I will buy it for my husband for his birthday.

Well, the first item I put on eBay yesterday already sold last night. Someone in NC purchased it using the "buy it now" feature so I just made $35.00 on a game that I paid sixteen dollars for on eBay back in February. How cool is that? I'll be tearing my house apart today looking for other things to list. That is.. after my hang over disappears. We had my sister and brother-in-law over last night for drinks and to play the Wii. We had a good time although my sister and I spent most of the time on our laptops. My brother-in-law called us a pair of computer geeks. So, yeah.. now I'm waiting for the Advil to kick in and get rid of this headache. Then maybe I'll look for other things to list on eBay.

I just listed my first item for sale on eBay. I'm so excited! Now, of course, I am looking around the house to see what else I can sell.

It's Friday!! I'm so glad the weekend is here. As much complaining as I've done this week, it's actually gone by pretty fast. I guess that's what happens when you start going to bed between 7 and 8 o'clock every night. I stayed up pretty late last night - 9pm. As far as I know, Gabby slept pretty good. Or perhaps I was just so tired that I didn't hear Jeremy get up with her. Anyway, I slept better than I have all week.

It's nice being home with the kids today. Unfortunately my husband is working, but this evening, after he gets home, my sister and brother-in-law are coming over to hang out. We're going to have a few drinks and play the Wii. I'll have to make sure I do a lot of studying today and use tonight as my break.

It has been such a great day. The whole family went shopping again. First, I got another couple inches cut off my hair - mostly because it was totally uneven the first time I got it cut - and picked up some really good shampoo and conditioner to repair the damage done by trying to strip the color out. Once that was out of the way we went on a massive shopping spree. We got more clothes for everyone so now none of us will need any clothes for a long time. The most exciting thing we purchased was a Wii!! I can't believe we have one now. Jeremy is hooking it up as I type this. We also picked up Wii Play which is another bundle of games and a second controller. I don't think we'll be leaving the house the rest of the weekend other than to go to church and get Gabby's pictures taken tomorrow.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. On Friday night I am taking my sister to Red Lobster for her birthday (which was this last weekend). Mmmmm... my mouth is watering just thinking about it! Can it be Friday already?

I don't think much is going on for Saturday other than hanging out and relaxing, but then Sunday we are getting Gabrielle's pictures done, as I mentioned in a previous entry, and I'm excited about that. So, yeah... I'm counting down the hours until the weekend hits.

We are going to noon mass today and then spending the rest of the day shopping. I love shopping!! We are going to go to Dunhams first to get Evan a new pair of baseball cleats, then off to the mall where I have a list of stores we need to go: Childrens Place to get clothes for both Evan and Gabrielle, Buckle for my new pair of jeans (since my size 6 jeans will NOT fit yet), PacSun to get Jeremy new jeans, New York & Co so I can get new clothes for work, and we'll probably stop at Best Buy just for the heck of it.

Meet Brutus. I found him on the internet while surfing for English Bulldogs. Jeremy and I are going to buy one after we move into our house next year. Isn't he gorgeous?

And check out Brutus' offspring! Isn't she the sweetest thing you've ever seen?