I can't believe this is the last day of June already. The first six months of this year have flown! Why is it that the older you get, the faster your life passes by? The other day my son told me about something he wanted - a toy, I believe - and I told him to put it on his Christmas list because that is always what I say to him. Then I started thinking about it and he could very well start a Christmas list now because it's not really that far away! That's a scary thought.

It's rainy and gloomy outside today - the perfect day to be lazy. I don't plan on doing anything today. I did, however, get up extremely early today. I was so tired last night and there wasn't anything good to watch on television so I went to bed at 11pm. I woke up at 7am this morning and have been up ever since. It's strange, I've been waking up at 7am every day for the past week. Until this morning, I just closed my eyes and went back to bed. It was kind of nice being up before everyone else today though. I put on a pot of coffee and sat quietly surfing the internet.

Oh, and last night we sat down as a family and watched Bee Movie. It was so cute! We all enjoyed it a lot. It was well worth the four dollars to rent it. I love having a family night and spending quality time together. Last weekend we watched Yours, Mine and Ours. That was cute too, but not as good as Bee Movie.

I stayed up way too late last night watching television. I just couldn't bring myself to shut it off and go to bed. I was watching CSI re-runs and then What Not To Wear. I think I finally shut the television off a bit after midnight, fell asleep around twelve-thirty and then my daughter woke up crying at one-thirty. I didn't need to go into her room, but she still woke me up and it took me a little while to fall back asleep. So, the alarm going off at six this morning was not a pleasant experience for me. I'm going to be ready for a nap by lunch!

We had a great time at dinner celebrating the June birthday's. I ate way too much and then ate cake and ice cream at my parent's house after. I'm still so full! But everything was delicious and I love spending time with my family. Now I am at home in my pajamas, lounging and getting ready to a little television before bed. I wish I could stay up late again tonight, but I have to be up at the crack of dawn for work. Blah. I hope it goes by quickly so I can get back home.

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It has been a lovely day off so far. I slept until nine-thirty and have been lounging around for the last two hours. I do have to get in the shower soon though because my mother-in-law is stopping by. I also have some running around to do this afternoon and then dinner at 6pm for the June birthday people in our family.

In eight hours I will be home from work and happy that I have tomorrow off. I have to work Saturday so it's not really the weekend, but close enough. I love days off. I really hope this day goes by pretty fast. My fingers are crossed. I want nothing more than to get home to my family.

We have been so busy at work this week that I haven't had much time to do anything else except work. I hate being that busy. I feel like I have no time to catch my breath. One call after another after another. It's slightly irritating. I enjoy having my time to surf the internet and do all sorts of non work related things while I'm getting paid to work. Heh. I can't wait until tomorrow night when I can leave here and not worry about having to get up with an alarm clock on Friday.

My new favorite television show - Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood

more wordless wednesday here

Tori & Dean is on tonight! This has been one long week. I feel like it was two weeks ago that I was watching it instead of only one. Heck, this day alone is dragging on forever. I'm tired and I don't want to be at work today. I need a vacation; some serious time away from work. Unfortunately I won't be getting that any time soon. I used up all my vacation time for the year already. I have no will power.

That had to be the shortest weekend ever! I feel like it didn't really happen it was over so fast. I have this Friday and Sunday off and I have to work Saturday, but then the next weekend I get a three day holiday weekend. I am so looking forward to that!

In other news, our pool is worthless. It's one of those pools that has the inflatable ring at the top and you fill it and it raises. It was about 3 feet deep. Not much, but enough for us and the kids to swim around in and enjoy. Unfortunately, there was a hole in the ring and we thought we found it and patched it, but apparently there is another hole that we just could not find. So, every morning when we would wake up the ring would be deflated and half the water would be gone. It's all very depressing (as will my water bill when it comes). I'm hoping we'll be able to buy one soon. They have them on sale at Dunham's Sporting Goods for $200 and it's actually a bigger pool. It would be silly not to spend the money now since we already spent $150 on things for the pool; a vacuum, skimmer, cover, etc. Fingers crossed.

Hooray! It's Friday!! I can't believe I've almost made it through this week. It's been like a trip through Hell. I can't wait until the fourth of July weekend so I can get an extra day off. I have no plans for this weekend. I just want to relax and enjoy every moment of my time away from work. Hopefully we'll get the pool back up and running for this weekend. We've had some really irritating pool issues this week. I'm going to be really upset if we have to take it down. Keep your fingers crossed that we'll finally get it fixed for good this weekend.

Last night I colored my hair from a very light color (strawberry blondish) to a deep auburn red (like the girl on the right side of the banner over at Two With A View) and only one person at work noticed. There's no love here. What's amusing is that for the past several months people constantly asked if I kept lightening my hair and I hadn't colored it or lightened it at all, but I make a drastic change and no one pays any attention. Whatever. At least my husband loves me.

I just read that Tori Spelling's beloved Pug, Mimi LaRue, died yesterday. How sad! I just started to love that dog while becoming addicted to their show. Poor Tori. I know how hard it is to lose a pet. It's like losing a member of the family.

Thanks to Perez Hilton advertising the show on his site, I watched Tori & Dean (Tori Spelling and her husband's reality show) last night on the Oxygen channel. I didn't know it was season three. I caught up a bit watching the reruns of the previous season prior to the premier and now I am totally addicted to the show! I can't wait to see next weeks episode!

My pretty little girl

Don't forget to check out my other Wordless Wednesday at Two With A View to see my handsome son.

More Wordless Wednesday here

We are absolutely dead at work today. I'll probably regret saying this, but I've only been transferred eight calls in the last five hours. It does give me time to surf the internet and do what I want, but there is only so much that I can look for and read about. I'm growing tired of sitting here. I don't know what's worse - sitting here surfing the internet and being bored or being slammed with customers. Probably the first because I don't have to deal with anyone when I'm surfing the internet and when we're busy it really doesn't make the time go by that much faster.

There won't be any swimming going on at my house most of this week. The temperature has dropped to the mid-sixties for the better part of this week and there is quite a bit of rain predicted as well. My poor kids and niece. They were so looking forward to spending a lot of time in the pool. Sure, they have the whole summer, but I still feel bad. It's supposed to get back into the eighties by the weekend. I hope that actually happens.

This has turned into a very long Monday. I can't believe it's only ten minutes before five. It would be nice if I was leaving work in ten minutes, but lucky me... I get to be here until eight. I love being able to sleep in, but sometimes I hate not being able to leave at five. I wish I could work from 11 to 5 and still get paid the same salary. That would be lovely.

The weather channel is predicting scattered showers and thunderstorms all week, but so far today it's been nice and sunny. That makes it even worse being at work. I would love to be at home right now with my bathing suit on. Is it Friday yet? Heh.

We had a fabulous Father's day weekend. It's a shame that I'm sitting back at my desk again, but I did really enjoy myself over the weekend. Our Mexican theme dinner was a total success yesterday. I'm actually still stuffed. I love spending time with my family. There's nothing better in life than having a family that you love and enjoy being with. I'm a very fortunate person.

Well, I got to work on my tan for a little bit today and jump in the pool once. Now it's starting to storm outside so we had to cover the pool and head inside. We're having a Mexican theme dinner for Father's day today. My sister and brother-in-law are coming over this afternoon and my mom is also coming for dinner. Our dad won't be here though because he is gone for the weekend fishing with his buddies. My in-laws might come over, but haven't heard from them yet. For dinner I'm making chicken quesadillas and quacamole with chips and salsa and my sister is going to bring her taco bake. Mmm, mmm good. I can't wait.

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, I'm over the half way mark for the day. In less than four hours I will be done with this work week! Thank the Lord. I don't know why I am so cranky today, but I know I will feel much better once I get home and am able to relax with my family for the evening. Having two alarm-free mornings over the weekend is sounding really good too.

How are you spending your weekend?

I was in a good mood this morning. I walked into work with a spring in my step because I was so happy that it's Friday. But my day is turning to shit. I've had calls transferred to me that shouldn't have been and strange customers on the phone today. Grrr. I've tried not to let these people bother me, but a person can only take so much. I just need this work week to end!

Deep, cleansing breaths.....

Has it been a rough week for anyone else? I swear I feel like I've been on the go without a moments rest this week. I've gotten a good amount of sleep each night, but I feel like that is all I have been doing - work, run around, sleep - all week long. Enough is enough. Time for some rest and relaxation. Sure, gardening is still work, but at least it will be in my yard with my husband and children close by. I'm tired of hearing my kids say "bye mom" all the time. Heck, even when I'm not leaving the house my daughter says "bye mama" every time I stand up to go into another room. That's bad. It's a shame that people have to work so hard these days and spend so little time with family. It's just wrong.

It's finally Friday! Woo hoo! I don't even care that it's Friday the 13th. I'm not superstitious so it doesn't matter to me. Although, our computer system was down this morning. Heh. That was due to the thunderstorm, not the date. Unfortunately they got it working again. It would be nice to have an extra day off though, wouldn't it? I hope it's nice the rest of the weekend because we plan to get a lot of yard work done over the next two days.

I have not had a call in over an hour and I am bored out of my mind. I shouldn't be complaining because at least I'm not dealing with any irrate customers, but man am I ready to get the heck out of here. I still have two hours and fifty minutes left of the work day though. Blah. Is it Friday yet? Please, please, please can it just be Friday now?

My oldest son, the graduate! Doesn't he look handsome in his cap and gown?

Don't forget to check out Two With A View for my other Wordless Wednesday photo.

More Wordless Wednesday here

This has been one helluva week already and it's only Tuesday. I'm really going to enjoy the upcoming weekend after a week like this. I can't believe how slammed I've been at work. It's truly exhausting. I'm so happy that I have both Saturday and Sunday off this weekend and next. I'm going to cherish every moment I'm away from work.

I have such a stupid schedule this week. My team is handling retention calls this week from three to seven so I have to take my lunch from 2 to 3 so I'm back in time. Well, my morning break is at 1:15. I'll get back to my desk at 1:30 and then go to lunch at 2. It's just dumb. They might as well give me an hour and fifteen minute lunch that begins at 1:45.

It's hard to believe it's Monday again. I didn't really get much of a weekend and I'm kind of bummed. At least I have the next two weekends off. I hope it's warm and sunny so we can enjoy that pool. The kids are addicted. We took Gabby in it yesterday and even though she was cold (because we had just filled it) and her bottom lip was quivering she did not want to get out. It's going to be a fun summer! Maybe I'll have a better tan that I normally do since I'll be pool side on my deck half the summer.

I hear people talk about Craigslist all the time, but had never gone to the site. Today, since I'm at work and have plenty of time to surf the internet, I decided to check it out. I've been on the site for over an hour now and have found all sorts of things for sale (and free) in my local area. It's like garage sale hopping without leaving the house. There are some really good deals out there too! Does anyone else buy or sell on Craigslist?

It's Friday, but it sure doesn't feel like it to me. I have to work tomorrow and I had an odd schedule this week so I am completely off. I had Sunday and Monday off, then only worked 3.5 hours on Tuesday so it sort of feels like Thursday to me.

I'm hoping we can get our pool going this weekend because it is hotter than hell here in Michigan right now! I'm looking forward to having a pool this summer. I'm also glad that we have central air conditioning and that I work inside with air conditioning. I couldn't imagine working outside or in a machine shop in these temperatures.

Let's go Red Wings! and they did. It was an intense game all the way down to the last second, but we did it! Another Stanley Cup win for our team. It would have been nice if they won it here at home, but I'm happy they won.

Oh, and how could I forget that Henrik Zetterberg won the Conn Smythe Trophy for MVP! Go Zetterberg! You rock!

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.

The graduation ceremony was wonderful last night. I'm so proud of my son. I got some pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet. The pictures on the stage didn't come out so well - a bit dark, but maybe I can lighten them and make them look alright. We got some good pictures of family outside of the auditorium though so I will post them once I get them off my camera. We all went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's after the ceremony and had a great time. It was a perfect night.

My beautiful girl...

More Wordless Wednesday here

I started a new, temporary position at work today. I was approached by my boss last week to see if I wanted to take the opportunity for a 4 month special assignment. Of course I took it. I would be stupid not to. I am down on the escalation line -- sort of like an assist line, but I now quote specialty vehicles such as motorcycles, boats, ATV's and such.. and then umbrella policies and other specialty policies that I never had to worry about before. So, today is my first day. I'm only here until 2:30 PM because my son's graduation is tonight. It's kind of a good thing.. moving into this new position slowly. I freaked out at first.. forgot everything I learned last week when the first phone call came in. But now I've slowed down and had a chance to catch my breath and it's all good. I'm going to break now and then only an hour left!

By the way.. that Red Wings game was intense and I was so not thrilled with the outcome - especially since we HAD the cup almost in our hands until the last 34 seconds of the game! Who think it will end at game 6? and who thinks we'll be back in Detroit for game 7? Let me know your thoughts.

Can you believe this game? Going into a third OT now! If Zetterberg would have just shot the puck down the ice in that last minute we would have celebrated the Stanley Cup win and been to bed by now, but nooooo... I'm having a heart attack waiting for yet another OT at twenty five minutes past midnight.

It's been a long, hard week, but I made it through and my weekend is finally here. I have today and tomorrow off and then a half day on Tuesday because my oldest son's graduation is on Tuesday evening. Woo hoo! I'm so proud of him. Jeremy is out in the back yard for most of the day today rotatilling and getting the back yard ready for greatness. Well, maybe not greatness, but a good start anyway. My mother-in-law is coming over to visit today and my aunt is stopping by too. I'm hoping my sister and brother-in-law are coming too and we can BBQ some good food for dinner.

I wasn't able to watch the hockey game last night, but Go Wings! I knew they would win it. They'll win the Stanley Cup next game here at home too. Mark my words!