I don't know if I've mentioned it since I've been so busy lately, but my beautiful daughter can walk with very little problems as of the last two weeks. She has been cruising around this house like she's always been walking. She is a little wobbly now and then, but she is just too cute. Here is a picture of her walking around our living room.

And here are a few other pictures I've taken over the last week:

I am beginning to plan for Gabrielle's first birthday party. My sister bought Gabby a beautiful pink dress to wear at her party. Look at how cute it is! Unfortunately it isn't a great picture because my batteries are just about dead and I had to be quick. It says "birthday girl" and has a tiara on the front. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.

I am going to order a cake from our "cake lady" to match the whole pink princess theme. Of course I am going to purchase plates and napkins and cups and balloons that also match to bring the whole thing together. I am so excited. I can't believe our daughter is nearly a year old.

We rented Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer to watch tonight. My niece is spending the night tonight while my sister has a "girls night." I am far too tired to party after working all day so I'm looking forward to a relaxing night eating some pizza and watching a movie with my husband and the kids.

I had to work today and let me just say that working on Saturday sucks at this place. It's the first time I've worked a Saturday since starting this job five months ago and I thought it would be a piece of cake. It wasn't. It was busier than it is during the week. I don't like it at all. It's a good thing I only have to work every third Saturday - which works out to once a month most of the time. I have to work two Saturday's in December. Blah.

Our son is going to spend the night at my sister's house tonight. Even though I have to work in the morning, we are planning on having a nice, relaxing evening and will probably stay up late watching movies or playing video games. I started playing the Resident Evil series again this morning. Now, after seeing the third movie, I want to play every game again. Perhaps that will hold me over until the next RE game comes out in 2008. Fingers crossed.

Today is my husband's birthday. He's a whopping twenty-six years old today. Boy, don't I feel old? *grin*

We went to see Resident Evil Extinction this afternoon. It was fantastic! I don't know why they claim that it's the last movie because there is no way they would have left it open at the end if it was. Besides, we came home and looked it up and there's talk of a 4th movie. Already looking forward to that.

Happy birthday, Jeremy! I love you.

I've been thinking about the next Thursday Thirteen I'm going to do for this week. I'm trying to come up with a list that is interesting and informative. Is there anything you can think of that you want to know about me? Anything that's still a mystery after all this time? *grin* What thirteen things do you want to know about Neptunebaby?

I'm so happy that our shows have started to come back on. Prison Break has been on for two weeks now and so far it's been really intense. I was a little worried about what they were going to do with it this season, but I'm loving it. We're watching a new show that comes on after Prison Break called K-Ville. We've watched the first two episodes and are already totally digging it. Good find on my husbands part!! Tomorrow night the new show, Private Practice - the spin off from Grey's Anatomy, begins and on Thursday Grey's starts another season. I'm hoping that something great happens on Grey's because I wasn't thrilled with how it ended last season. It didn't leave me hanging and wishing for the summer to fly by. I really hope I'm not disappointed by it this year. The rest of our shows don't start until mid to late October, but I think this is enough to hold us over for now.

I've made this week an extremely easy week to make up for all of my hard work last week. I got off work at 4pm today and I have Thursday and Friday off. I do have to work Saturday, but at least I have 2.5 days off during the week. My husbands birthday is this Friday so we have lots of plans to do things during the two days I have off.

On Thursday we are both getting our hair cut - something we both desperately need. I have decided to chop more off because it's past my shoulders again and I'm tired of spending the majority of my time getting ready blow drying my hair. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm thinking of doing the short in the back to long in the front style. I might change my mind, but I doubt it. I can't stand layers in my hair because it takes more work to style it (totally defeating my reason for cutting it) and layers have never looked good on me.

After our hair cuts, we are going "window" shopping. We might pick up a wireless Playstation controller because our daughter can't seem to leave the cord alone when anyone plays a video game, but other than that.. we'll just be looking. On Friday we are going to see Resident Evil Extinction. I can't wait to see it!

Today is my mom's birthday. She and my dad are going to the Tigers game this afternoon with my sister and brother-in-law, then they are coming here for dinner. We are making chicken and a homemade baked macaroni and cheese and a few other things that I haven't figured out yet. I am also going to pick up a carrot cake from Bakers Square because my mom loves carrot cake. This is the first time we are having people over to our new house for dinner and such. I hope everything turns out good. I plan to take a lot of pictures and post them here later.

Jeremy and I watched the movie Next with Nicholas Cage and Julianne Moore this afternoon. I love all Nicholas Cage movies. I know there are some people out there that can't stand him, but my husband and I both adore him as an actor. He's probably one of my favorites. I think people either love him or they hate him. The only movie I didn't like that he starred in was The Wicker Man. That movie was just plain dumb. I was a bit upset that he would even agree to play a part in such rubbish, but hey.. everyone makes mistakes. It's only one bad movie out of dozens of great ones. So, anyway... the movie, Next, was really quite interesting. Not something I would have seen at the theater because it takes a really special movie to get me to the theater, but definitely worth the rental fee.

Speaking of seeing special movies at the theater, my husband and I are going to see Resident Evil Extinction on his birthday this Friday afternoon. Yes, we're going in the afternoon because we can't stand all the annoying teenagers that frequent the theater on the weekends. We go to the theater to see the movie, not spend two hours getting pissed off at all the brats around us.

It seems like it has been so long since I've taken any pictures. I finally pulled my camera out - two weeks after moving into our new house. Here is our little dancing queen. She's walking pretty well now, but she took off "out of the gate" too fast this go around. The quality of the picture isn't too great with the light behind her and my batteries being nearly dead, but I still had to post it.

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 am home for lunch today. Well, I'm usually home for lunch because I only work about 4 miles from home. But today I have an hour and a half lunch. They gave us an extra half hour because it's "clean your desk day" at work and since my desk is always clean and organized, I have nothing to clean. They even let us wear jeans today because we're supposed to clean. Nice. I will only have to work 3 more hours when I get back to the office. It's a nice little break from my long day. I can't wait until tomorrow is over though and I have two whole days away from the office. I also have two days off next week. That will make up for all this overtime I've been putting in.

This has been the most enjoyable day. It's been so nice to be at home for most of the afternoon and evening with my family. I think work would be much more tolerable if I could have every Wednesday off to break up the work week. Obviously that won't happen, but one can always dream. Two more twelve hour days and the weekend will be here.

I'm sitting in my living room watching Rock of Love starring Bret Michaels with my husband and getting paid for it. Our company picnic let out at 2pm, but I'm getting paid until 5pm. How cool is that? So, anyway.. Rock of Love is a "reality" show much like The Bachelor except it's got a group of skanky want-to-be rock-n-roll bitches with their boobies hanging out trying to win the "love" of a washed up musician. It's absolutely hilarious. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

I have to admit, being an insurance agent is not as much fun as being a debt collector. Sure there was a lot of stress involved in my last position, but I was able to speak my mind a little bit more freely when I was collecting. At this job I have to be extremely nice even when people aren't so nice to me and I have to say certain things during each conversation and I am graded on all of it all of the time. Sometimes I miss my old job, but that's the way life goes, right? I have to look at all the good that comes with this job - I make more money and I'm closer to home. If it wasn't for the money they pay me we wouldn't be able to afford the house we just got. My life is good. My family and friends are happy and healthy. I have a wonderful husband and fantastic children. I can't complain.

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 working 8am to 8pm this week to make some serious overtime cash so I'm sure I won't be posting much this week. I'm tired already and it's only Tuesday. Come on weekend!!

Jeremy and I have been together for nearly five years, but today is our first wedding anniversary. We ate some of the cake last night that we had wrapped and put in the freezer last year on this day. It was almost as good as was when we got married. We're wondering how many other people follow the tradition of wrapping and freezing the top layer of their wedding cake and then eating it on their first anniversary.

It's been a nice, relaxing weekend and we plan to spend the rest of this day doing a bit more vegging. We rented several movies to watch last night, but only got through one: Vacancy. It was pretty intense and kept us on the edge of our seats, but we were slightly disappointed that it ended so abruptly. Overall I'd give it a 7.5 on a scale of one to ten. Today we are going to watch Zodiac and Premonition.

We had so much crap to put out on the front curb last night. I think it's expected when you first move into a house. The funny thing is that half of our garbage is gone now because the "garbage pickers" have come by several times. I couldn't imagine driving around the city and picking through the garbage of others. It always amazes me to watch people rummaging through rubbish.

Yesterday was the longest day ever. I'm so glad it's over and the weekend is in sight now. Only two days of work left and then I get to relax - finally. I'm hoping that today goes by a lot faster. I am NOT volunteering to work overtime next week. I need a week off from that. I think it will be an every other week thing.

It's Wednesday and I am hoping that the next couple of days goes by as fast as possible. The weekend is finally in sight! It's the day after tomorrow! I know, I'm a bit excited about it, but I really need a day to relax. Plus, our wedding anniversary is Sunday so I'd like to spend some time with my husband to celebrate it.

I am trying so hard to keep my eyes open for just a bit longer. I have been so tired lately when I get home from work, but if I don't try to stay awake I will never have any time to myself. I don't imagine I will be up much longer, but it's nice to be able to sit at my computer and spend a little time blogging - even if it's about nothing at all.

I am working overtime all this week to make extra money for all the new bills we have. I feel like all I am doing is getting up, going to work, coming home, going to bed and starting all over the next day. All work and no play makes Neptunebaby a very irritable girl. I'm already needing the weekend to get here and it's only Tuesday. I'm so tired, but I love our new house so it's worth it. I just wish I got to spend more time in it.

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.

I am so tired. I can't seem to wake up this morning. I don't know why. I got sleep last night, but I feel like I could go back to bed and sleep half the day away. Unfortunately, I have to go to work. Blah. I'm so glad it's Friday.

I'm also excited that tomorrow is moving day. I can't believe this is our last day/night in this house. I think my dad and husband are going to take a lot of stuff over to the house today. I know they are taking the appliances over and getting them all set up. I'm sure my husband will be so excited once they get moved in that he will start moving other things. He already took a big load of boxes over last night. I have one big tote left empty to pack the last minute things that we needed to get through this week. I can't wait to get everything set up at our new house. I'll take pictures after we're all settled in.

Gabrielle turned ten months old yesterday. I meant to take some pictures and post them here, but I had so much to do yesterday and I was beat by the end of the day.

I took the day off so I could take Evan to school. It was his first day at a new school. I was so nervous for him, but he did great. He made two friends his first day and had a really good day.

I had to make a bunch of calls to doctor's offices and such to change our address. I also sat at the Secretary of State for an hour yesterday morning with Gabrielle to get my driver's license address changed. I was dreading going there with the baby, but she was very well-behaved. She just sat on my lap and watched all the people coming in and going out.

Oh, and... great news... the cable company is coming out on Saturday morning to hook up our cable and internet! That means I don't have to go the weekend without.

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 just had to jump on here and report that my daughter, who will be 10 months old the day after tomorrow, just took her first steps. She's taken a step here and there over the last week or so, but she just let go of the ottoman and walked about 8 steps to where I was sitting! It's so cool to witness all of these new things that she can do. She is such a smart girl. She does the sign for "milk" and the sign for "eat," she can play pat-a-cake and she claps when you say "good girl." She also waves hello and goodbye. She is just so cool.

Here are some pictures of Gabrielle from a week ago.

Playing in the toy cupboard:

Getting sleepy in her highchair:

Just kidding mommy, I've still got plenty of energy:

Hanging out with Uncle Mike:

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.

Today is the last day of my three day holiday weekend. I have to work tomorrow, but then I took a vacation day on Wednesday so I can get some last minute things done before we move. It's also Evan's first day at a new school so I am going to take him and help him find his class. Then I have to go to the Secretary of State to change the address on my drivers license, then spend the day making phone calls to all the people that send me bills (the kids doctor's offices and such) to change my address with them. I've got just about everything packed for the move. I think I might have one more box full of stuff to pack and then we're all set. I'm so excited. I can't wait until the weekend! The only bad thing is that I believe I will have to wait until next Monday before we have cable and internet because I don't think they will come out on Saturday to install it. Can I live without the internet for a weekend? I guess we'll find out.

I actually got motivated enough to start packing today. I would say that we are officially half packed. I'm taking a break for a while since Gabby is taking a nap and I still have things to pack in that room. I think I'll go kick back in the recliner with my ice cold soda and watch a little boob tube.

I haven't done any more packing since my last post. I've decided that since I have tomorrow and Monday why do it today? Yes, I can be quite the procrastinator. Instead of packing, I've been vegging on the couch watching Curious George with the kids. Now I am one of my moods and have decided that making dinner sounds like something fun to do. It's been a while since I've felt like making a real dinner. It's nice to be at home with no real obligation to do anything other than what I want to do. That's what holiday weekends are for.

It's hard to believe it's September already. This is going to be a pretty eventful month for this family. Evan starts school on Wednesday, we move into our house next Saturday, our wedding anniversary is 15 days away and my husband's birthday is 27 days from now.

I started packing up our things today since we are moving in seven days. I began to realize after packing only one box that I don't like packing. We're only moving 2.81 miles away. Can't we just throw the stuff into several trucks the way it is and ship it over there? I guess not. Well, I guess I should get back to it. I really don't feel like doing anything today. It's my first day off for the three day weekend so what I'd really like to do is just camp out on the couch with the remote control and be super lazy. It doesn't look like that's going to happen.