Day 4: Balloon Museum and Bowling

On Thursday was the first part of the bowling tournament for Duner. We had to check in at 12:30 pm so we quickly went to the balloon Museum to check that out before having to sit for 5 hours at the bowling center. The kids had fun assembling their own hot air balloons and testing them out, tying knots, and basket weaving. We managed to escape with 2 inflatable blimps and 1 ship with aliens.

When we returned to the hotel we did some laundry, and began to shower and get dressed up for spectating the bowlers.

The night before the kids were coughing in the pool area, the chemicals were a bit strong, so we decided to take a day off.

The kids did really well, I warned them how boring it was going to be for them so they were prepared. Reece and Brock brought game boys, Zeb had his inflatable blimp.

We went to the lanes and waited for Duner and his team to appear. Once they got set up and bowling we went for a walk. The kids had been sitting for 2 hrs by then and we slowly went out to the car to look for Reece's glasses. That morning he had bent them some how, so I told them if the are not on his face they need to be in the case. He was afraid that he left them on the floor somewhere in the bowling center. Thankfully they were in the car.

We grabbed some nachos and hot dogs and went back and waited. We only had 90 minutes to wait. Yay!
Duner didn't do great, but he recovered in the 3rd game.

After the bowling we headed out to a nostalgic diner called Route 66 diner. I wish I bought the camera, all of the wait staff had vintage dresses and they played oldies overhead, it was a neat experience.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Hinkle fun Center. The kids got to ride the go karts and play laser tag. The kids were so excited with that they talked non-stop about how many times the got Zeb or got hit themselves.

I managed a few pic's of the kids getting into the go carts but I wasn't able to get any of them riding in them, they all just turned out blurry.

Day 3: Land of Fire and Ice and Route 66

Wednesday we drove to a city just south of Grants New Mexico. It was a very interesting brochure that led us to this location. We pulled onto this very bumpy road with loads approx 29 volcanoes all around us. (We learned that from the tour. We pulled into what looked like a north woods Wisconsin cabin, just a bit more rustic. We paid our fees, Brock is considered an adult, but Zeb was free so that worked out ok.

500 yards away was the "ice" part of the area. It had 20 feet of ice and year round it never goes higher than 31 degrees in that area. Just in case we all brought our jackets but really it wasn't so bad.

Then a bit of a longer walk the other way was where the volcano began releasing the lava that went on for 22 MILES. It is hard to get a good picture of the area because it doesn't fit in the window of my camera, it is so HUGE.

We also learned this area is prone to lightning strikes due to the high amounts of iron in the lava, which attracts the lighting.

After that area, we drove on sections of Route 66. Apparently they have built this new interstate over sections of the old Route 66 so there are only sections of 66 that are left. I could only find the name painted on the road so we quickly had the kids get out for this picture.

Today we are going to the Balloon Museum and the Bowling Center for Duners bowling.
Today's Temp is going to be 66.
Yesterday according to our car, it got up to 72!

Day 2: Science Museum and National Monument

Tuesday we were able to do one load of laundry while the kids swam, then we all got ready to drive to Santa Fe and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Santa Fe is less than an hour away. The speed limit here is 70 mph, so we got there in less than 50 minutes, but we just drove through since the Science Museum is in Los Alamos.

As we drove through Santa Fe, I noticed they had a Trader Joe's!!! I had to stop! I love my Dark Chocolate and Pistachio covered toffee from Trader Joes. It is essential for dessert. I always get that when I stop there. I also picked up veggie crisps, apple sauce and huge water bottles for only .29 cents each!

The Science Museum was very interesting, all about atomic bombs to computer chips and DNA. I learned so much in the 2 hours we were there my head hurt. I was worried the kids would be board but we had a hard time peeling them away from the hands on activities!! The best part was the museum is FREE!! We didn't even pay to get in!! And they loved it!

They also had a war section that talked about WWII, and Manhattan Project. They also talked about how they are trying to make sure the current supply of nuclear weapons stays safe without testing them. Very interesting!!!

After we finished that it was time to head to our next stop, about 20 minutes away, Bandelier National Monument. We got directions from the science museum and headed out. We had to got though a strange security point. It looked like a toll booth area, but a security guard just waved us through. All along our drive we saw Tech labs, places in which they are testing the nuclear chemicals with out testing the weapons. They all had large signs that said LANL site 49 (or whatever site you were at).

After seeing a few mule deer we pulled into the national monument and paid $12 for the park pass. The rest was free. I bought a book for $1, for our walking tour but that was it. The entire Los Alamos area is where a volcano erupted a very long time ago, so you were able to see the areas where lava carved lines down this huge mountain. We walked a long a one mile route and learned about the Ancestral Pueblo people's homes and living habits. Did you know they had diapers made from tree bark?? Talk about diaper rash! They also had blankets made from turkey feathers.
As we walked along the trail and up the dwellings, we learned they were small and skinny people. At one area, it was so tight anyone more than 40 inches wide would not have been able to get through. Lots of stairs, It was easy to get winded.

While we were walking the trail we saw about 10 mule deer that seem to know we are not supposed to leave the trail. In fact one waited for us to walk by before crossing the trail. They were about 45-65 yards away.
We were toasty warm as we walked along the homes, but then we crossed a stream and came into the woods and snow! They had signs along this path with information for us. At one point the signs talked about how Ponderosa Pines have vanillan so the bark smells like vanilla, and it Does! Every time after that Brock just had to stop and smell the pines!

Needless to say ALL the kids slept on the 1 hour 30 minute drive back to the hotel.

Today's agenda? The land of Fire and Ice.

Todays temp? A nice 68 degrees!

Sandia Tramway: The Longest tram in the world

Monday we went to see the Longest tramway in the world. It ends on top of the Sandia. It was perfect sweatshirt weather here.

They have 2 trams, they both run opposite each other. Infact, you are not allowed to get off, until the other is docked safely.

They have some insane men that monitor this and instead of riding in the tram they ride on TOP of it!! We actually saw them do this!!




We get discounts on some attractions because of being a bowler, so after we checked in at the bowling center we got our coupon book. It saved us 5 bucks for the tram ride! Yay!

This was my favorite picture. It is the view from the tram as we got to the top of the 2.7 mile long tram ride. We passed many rocks precariously looking like they may fall down the hill at any moment, one they affectionately call Nemo.


Zeb was pretty nervous about the ride. In fact at first he proclaimed, "I am not going on that thing", but when he saw another boy and girl his size he settled down right away, almost to say "Hey, I am not afraid" to them.

He only held on to this pole for a little while.




I noticed this sign about bears wandering this area and we thought it would be cute to do this pose.








They had this scope set up for specific points in the area. From on top of this mountain you could see places (on a clear day) over 100 miles away. We were able to see a mountain that was 68 miles away without a problem.





For supper we went to Fuddruckers, home of the Worlds Greatest burger. Reece, Duner, Brock all had 1/2 lb burgers with fries. But, Brock was so hungry he went for a SECOND 1/2 LB BURGER. We told him we are going to Target and getting him some Raman noodles to eat the rest of this trip to help save on our food bill. Yesterday we picked up a bunch of water bottles, some soda and snacks to keep in out fridge at our hotel room so we aren't buying so much while we are out.

Now we are off to the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos New Mexico. The best part in the Free Admission!!! I love this place. Not very expensive to visit, low admission prices all over, and the FRIENDLIEST PEOPLE I have been around since we went to Mexico.
High temp for today is 64. Enjoy!

Albuquerque: Day 1

I must first give some praise to Duner. For as much as I may jab him from time to time he really in the end is a very good guy. It really shines whenever we travel. I have a tendency to panic at times, I know it is a trait I get from my Mom. I am very picky when it comes to my kids at the airport. I feel like I am constantly checking to make sure I still have all 3. I really hate letting them go to the bathroom alone. Even through Brock is now officially 13, I just don't want to let go yet. Maybe more so in 3 years. (?Driving??? Double yikes)
For all my complaining, "Go get check on Reece" or "Stay with him", whenever we get settled into our rental card Mr Optimist, happy-go-lucky says to me "As long as you guide me I know we will get there, I just couldn't do this without you" or "You got us a pretty nice car Honey". Thanks Babe!
And now on with the post...
Bright and early our adventure began.

Actually not really. It took us until 11 am to leave but that was pretty good considering we weren’t really expecting to leave until noon. We had some extra time so we stopped by the Cabela’s Store on the way down. Duner and Reece had a buffalo burger they were cooking outdoors on a grill and I had a chicken sandwich. We had gotten some tokens from the front desk “dude” as Brock calls him and the kids were in a hurry to get to the shooting gallery. After about an hour we decided it was time to go.
Duner was surprised that I hadn't printed out instructions to get to the airport, but I figured we would just follow the signs. It worked! After driving around for 20 minutes we finally found a parking spot in the covered garage. As we headed to our check in counter we heard someone say "We forgot to set our clocks ahead one hour so our plane will be taking off in 15 minutes." That sucks!

We dropped our luggage off, I feel sorry for the luggage people. My bag was HEAVY!! Glad to get rid of that one. Then we headed to our gate. They had a nice small play area for the kids, with foam wedges and chairs.

Our plane to Minnesota was delayed, only 20 minutes. They said it was because our plane left from Newark late. That doesn't surprise me, I heard NY is the work place for being on time. Zeb was BEYOND EXCITED.... He could not stop wiggling his feet. We had to wait for them to de-ice our plan and he giggled with excitement while the spray was on his side. We ended up being slightly delayed on the runway, so Zeb kept asking "When are we going to go?". We had to wait for a truck on the runway that was inspecting it.
When the plane finally took off, Zeb giggled even more with delight as we climbed. He was so happy. Duner said "I don't remember the last time he was this happy." The first flight was only an hour and we were done in no time. When we flew in, we could see the bridge that collapsed. It was still half there, but the debris in the water looked cleared away.
We ate supper at Chili's in the Airport, and headed to our gate, on our way we saw a section of army guys that were going to Amsterdam.
Our next flight left on time. Brock went through a liter of water and that was for the take off!! We had them refill his water bottle for the way down, but he was sleeping so hard I couldn't wake him up. I figured if it didn't bother him I would leave him alone. Let him wake up on his own.
While we were getting our rental Car, a Chevy Equinox, we asked the woman helping us about "critters" such as scorpions. She said just avoid construction and you will be fine.
Just to be more safe we asked the clerk at our hotel about them and she said they have no problems with critters.
Right now the kids just got up and are enjoying the free hot breakfast and the free wireless internet included with this hotel. We don't know what activities we are going to do yet today, but the first is get to Wal-mart so we can fill our fridge with beverages, preferably healthy choices.... But if I know Brock he is going to play the 'It's my Birthday' game.

Our Saga Begins....

The kids have been counting the days all week long!! They are getting so excited about the trip.

Zeb, in particular, has had a very hard time decided what to pack.
Hmmmm. Should it be the lego creation or the giant Lighting McQueen car? Should he bring black shorts or the pants that can be shorts (with one half of the leg mysterious gone) ? Or maybe, any mix of 4 different stuffed animals. I am hoping to end up without a lego creation, giant car, black shorts, pants with half a leg and 2 less stuffed animals.

Reece has been singing songs all week about how long or where we are going. But, we had to spend about an hour yesterday trying to get him to calm down after Grandma told him about some of the dangerous animals that live out in New Mexico. NOT something you need to tell a kid that can't even watch sci-fi network without begining to worry some freaky creature is going to kill him.

Brock has been fighting a bit of congestion and a runny nose. He says he is faithfully taking his singular and vitamins. At least for the first time ever his is blowing his nose A LOT trying to get rid of this little bug he has. Since his birthday in on Monday (Yikes, I will be the owner of a brand new TEENAGER!) He has planned that day down to the beverages we will have at his special birthday meal.

When I was clearing out the fridge I noticed we have a brand new gallon of milk that I bought earlier in the week needs to get used up.

I can't wait to get into our hotel and sleep tomorrow night. I put in almost 30 hours at the Y and my usual clinic 60 hrs (in the last 2 weeks), so I am very much looking forward to none of that. My head hurts from all of the thinking. I don't even have an agenda for our trip. We are just going to see where it takes us.

Tomorrow, it will be donuts with milk for breakfast. Dump the dogs at the kennel. Then we head out about noon....

And so it begins....

One for the Looney Bin..

It has been a week of weird happenings. Loads of strange things goin' on.
At one job we saw A LOT of flu like symptoms. When I asked the Doctor if we were running a special, she replied " The scary part is how many are coming back positive." YUCK! So people LOAD UP ON VITAMIN C, ZINC AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU MAY BE ABLE TO DO!! Oh yeah, wash your hands!! Before and after everything!! You can never wash up enough, People!

While I was at work on Friday Brock (aka THE PITT) called me to let me know Grandma had brought over some food. It was an chicken and some 'noddles with white stuff' (aka pasta salad) and some 'potato stuff' (aka potato salad). He then went on to say, "But their isn't enough for you. You'll have to get your own". So sweet of him isn't it? Hmmmm...

I also saw a kid that had just tossed his cookies (2x), sprained ankle, and multiple abrasions requiring aid that was at the YMCA! I worked 2 full days this weekend. Another kid tried to have in indoor snowball fight. We had incident reports flying off the shelves. A man and a woman tried to buy a 'Youth pass' for 8 bucks, but when she gave me her date of birth she slipped up on the year and told me she was born in 1981. When I mentioned it, she said, "Oh yeah, I mean 1990." 1981 is not even close to sounding like 1990. Ok math is not my strongest subject, but I can quickly figure out that she should be over 20 if she was born in 1981. Geez. And the price difference between the adult and youth-18 pass is TWO FLIPPING BUCKS!!! Is it that hard to spend the extra dollars? And she wasn't even paying for it, it was the guy she was with!
A local gymnastic place in the area closed down and was giving all of his equipment to our Y. He was bringing in today some beams, parallel bars, a ZIP line (that will be fun for the kids), and some containers that hold that powder you put on your hands to grip better. It was SO NICE while he was doing it because it was BEAUTIFUL HERE this am. The sun was shining and it was finally warm! 38 degrees. That was a nice change!

Speaking of cookies, we had gotten our 5 boxes of girl scout cookies on Friday. Duner got them from someone at his work. Before he could make it home, on box was gone. He had opened up half of another, so I tried to salvage what was left and was going to bring it to work but I had forgotten it at home and they ate all the thin mints!! We only had 2 boxes of peanut butter patties left.

One box I gave to my Dad for his birthday, along with a gift certificate for the Barbershop for Men (he may not have much hair but they give hot towels and massages- it is an experience..and only for men.), and the other box, didn't make it the night. We went thru 5 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in 30 hours!!!

Ok, so he doesn't have a tattoo of a man with a lawnmower on his head but it is kinda close!

It is currently rain storming out side right now, it is kinda cute, every time it flashes lighting, Zeb yells "Look and the lighting!"... every time. How quickly he forgets...

We now have an ice rink instead of a driveway, so if your in our neck of the woods be careful!

My Gym kid.

This week I took it upon myself to sign Reece up for spin class.

They have a program for 10 to 13 year old kids to get healthy and get a chance to be as the grown ups for a while. It was Monday, when I signed him up. The class was Tuesday. He had no say. I came home after working out at the Y and said "Guess what! Your taking a spin class at the Y!"

He answered in his laid back way, 'Uh, ok, but next time ask me.' (As if he had other major plans for Tuesdays at 6pm for 45 minutes)
So we brought him there and dropped him off, as I left him I told the instructor... "He is mine feel free to beat him."
And she kicked some butt! He was sweating pretty good. While he was in class Duner and I went to our local home improvement store to scan some ideas for our upcoming basement project. When we got back, he was dragging, but he LOVED IT!! He asked us to sign him up for the Thursday class as well. He asked me to put Brock in the class, but Brock is so skinny, and I don't need him feeling like he needs to eat more.

Tonight I ran on the treadmill while he did the class. Then she had the kids walk a mile before leaving.

So every Tuesday and Thursday for the next few weeks we are going to the gym together so we can work out.
I am really beginning to love this gym thing.

The new job

So we have officially received the all good to proceed with the new job for Duner. Duner talked to HR Monday. He will be starting March 24th. Which is the Monday we get back from our vacation to New Mexico. Duner had the physical and drug test last week which he passed, even though his hearing is not so good in one ear. (The doctor told him it is because he hunts, when firing the shotgun or rifle)

He will be working a straight night shift, but he will have to be on days for 2 weeks for training. Apparently they are taking him out for Lunch on the first day. That is what the HR lady told him.

We will not get health insurance until April 25th or so. Due to the that, Duner will be working TWO FULL TIME JOBS, and his part time job until the insurance kicks in.

NOW BEFORE THE LECTURE, READ UP.... Duners current job has had postings for voluntary lay off for weeks now, and there are postings up through summer for volunteers to take unemployment. Now, Duner will NOT be taking the money from the state, but he is just going to sign up for the unemployment until our health insurance kicks in. Given his seniority he has a good chance of getting off for most of it.

So technically he will not be working both jobs, at the same time, but even if he does have to work both jobs one week or two, he is willing to do that. Luckily one jobs shift schedule runs 10-6am, 6-2pm, 2-10pm and the other runs 11-7am,7-3pm, 3-11pm.

Yes, insane, no lecture needed, it is only temporary.

New Project on the horizon.

I am currently typing this on our new hard drive. So far so good. I will have to reinstall many programs, I did have a back up disk made in 2007, so I may not be in such bad shape. We will see.
Gateway allows 2 hard drive failures before replacing the entire computer. Yippeee!

Earlier this week I sat down with my husband and marked up our calendar to direct us on our upcoming basement refinish. Today was 'Organization Day". Today we moved all of the STUFF out of the areas we are going to be finishing. We will have a storage room, so that was the designated STUFF room. We moved the TV, Computer, Desk and PS2 into some very happy, all TOO eager to help us kids rooms. Reece and Zeb now have the PS2 and TV, while Brock has the Desk and computer.

We swept and vacuumed up all kinds of bugs and dirt. (Probably some toys, too... Opps!) With tape measure, straight edge and chalk in hand we marked off the imaginary walls to get a visual on how it will be looking.

We were pretty happy with how it turned out. Thanks to a recent visit to a newly remodeled basement and some super websites, we have so many ideas.

Now we are not doing anything else until after we get back from New Mexico in 3 weeks. I can't believe we leave in 2 weeks from today already! Where does the time go?

One B-A-A-A-A-A-A-D Parent

This is what I wanted to do today... Some laundry, housework, and maybe recuperate from this congestion that has a tight grip on my head and chest.
So What did I do today?
I wake up at 4:30 unable to sleep thanks to the congestion and cough. I go to turn on the computer and get this lovely black screen telling my something about put in some reboot disk. That can not be good. Yep, my 13 month old computer died. Grrr.
After getting the boys on the buses, I get in the shower, get Z in a bath and get ready to take him to the Y so I can do some mandatory training on How to abuse your child. errr, make that how spot child abuse and prevent it. One of the perks for working at the Y is Z can be in child care for free since I had been working.
We got done with that in time to grab a quick bite for lunch and then drop off Z at school. I met the bus driver and told her I would be picking Z up after school too.
Then it was off the the Middle school to meet with Brock's LD teacher for his IEP. He is a real joy to be around... hmm, Who knew? (just kidding!)
After that I run home, grab our computer and receipts so I can bring it to the boys at CC so they can pretend to work on it. I am always amazed how they stay open considering they only have 5 cars in their parking lot every time we go there. So after looking at it and asking about any power surges we may have had, how old our house is, blah, blah ,blah... He says our HARD DRIVE IS SHOT. Gee, My first Gateway lasted 3 wks and our next lasted 13 months. Gotta love Gateway. Thankfully it is over a year so we no longer have to call Gateway to get replacement parts. We should have our desktop computer back within a week or so if it was the hard drive . Thankfully we have the laptop from my sis!!! Thanks Sara!
So then I head to Brock's and Z's school to pick them up. I find Brock and pick him up and while I am driving away I notice a kid on the ground in the snow without mittens, then this kid starts jumping on him and kicking him. Something in me snapped. I stopped lowered my back window and yelled at the top of my lungs...

"Hey Stop it! What is the matter with you? How old are you???"

As soon as that came out of my mouth, the kleenex box that Brock was holding magically popped up perfectly blocking his face from the view of the kid I just yelled at, while Brock mumbled "I am so embarrassed". I told Brock if that kid says anything to him, just tell him he is lucky that I was sick or I would have gotten out of the car and really gave him a piece of my mind!

I can't help but giggle when I think about it, now.
I keep seeing flashbacks of my parents driving down the main drag in Appleton on a Friday night with the Polka tunes blaring with the windows down... and us kids held captive in the back seat.

Closed.

We are all hunkered to our homes around here. Everything is closed in anticipation for snowstorm Isabella. It began as rain/ sleet then turned into snow. When all is said and done were supposed to have 5 to 8 inches they said. It seems pretty minor compared to our neighbors to the south.

They have even closed the MALL and the YMCA. I don't remember the last time that happened. I am glad we made it to the store first thing this am to load up on oranges, bananas, fruit juices, ice cream (for sore throats), Robotussin DM and dog food. We are good to go.

I am pretty happy since I am fighting off a bug. No working out for me lately, I really need to get rid of this thing. Cough, congestion and nausea thanks to the intense post nasal drippage. Yah, good times at our house.

Brock woke up with some nicely swollen glands today, it looks like he has a nice double chin. He already proclaimed if it was not gone by tomorrow he was not going to school. I found this nice website from my work that tells you when to see professional advice. I wish more of our patients would use it sometimes.

We received an email from the school district yesterday that said Presidential candidate Barack Obama was supposed to stop by the High School (right down the road) for a Town hall meeting. Of course, today that too was canceled. I wasn't planning on going but it would have been neat to hear about it.

Duner's boss from the restaurant even called and closed the restaurant for the night. Sounds like lots of us are staying inside today.

College Express

The boys had a half day on Friday this week. Brock spent the afternoon going to UW Oshkosh campus and checking it out with his TRIO group.
What really sealed the deal for him was that lunch was included with the trip. When I asked him how he liked the trip he said

"Their pizza was GREAT. I also had a Cheeseburger and fries too!"

Brock is the great pizza connoisseur, if it is on the menu, he most likely will try it. But then he hasn't tried a pizza he didn't like yet.

As for the rest of the school? He liked the dorms with the mini fridge and microwaves. He approved the different types of beds. His favorite part was the computer labs, they are open 24hrs.
He said

" I could get up at 2am work on a paper and then go back to bed if I wanted too!"

Hmmm. Not sure if that would ever happen... but ok.

In the end he said he would like to go to a 2 year school first, then if he didn't like that he would like to go there but we still need to check out other schools first.

Sign of the times?

Zeb had his first trip to the eye doctor today.
The doctor asked him if he wanted to use numbers, letters or pictures. First Zeb went for the letters, but then he quickly changed it to pictures when he didn't know the first one. The doctor asked him if he knew what each picture was. There was a heart, house, circle, telephone, etc... When he got to the telephone picture, the doctor commented to me about how funny it is that kids actually know what that is considering how much more common cell phones are.

So, the next time Zeb came across a telephone symbol he called it a cell phone.
The doctor said "Well your ears are definitely working."
Everything went well. He has near perfect in one eye and better than perfect in the other.

And now the rest of the story...

So After we finished the taxes on Thursday, We were greatful to be away from the computer. After we put the kids to bed Duner had some unspent energy and began tickling me. I returned the favor by getting him on his side where he is very sensitive. He jerks and his stomach tightens every time I touch that spot.

While I was hold his arm with my left hand, I reached around him and touched the sensitive spot and he jerked. Apparently I didn't have a hold of his arm like I thought I did. He slipped out of my grip and his arm dropped right on my face. Below my right eye. Now I have a pretty colorful eye without make up.

I missed out on a pretty fun time the tri-club was putting on at Lambeau field because I really didn't want to have people say...
"What happened to your face?"
or
"Oh Honey, it is called Denial." (that happened to a coworker of mine)

I can try to cover it but it doesn't help. the dark spot still shows through. At least I don't have to meet with Brock's teachers until next week.

He was feeling really guilty.

The good news is I already got a pretty nice Sorry/ Happy 13th Anniversary gift. An Aquamarine ring.

Is the week done already?
Geez,

Monday the appraiser called to see if he could come and evaluate the house for the refinance we are doing. He had time right then and I just wanted to get it over with so I said sure. I warned him that it wasn't clean but he could come over. He told me he was going to give us $1000 for the deer mount to the house just for that. (He was kidding, of course.)
Also, I helped out at Zeb's school. I painted kids hands so they could make their hand prints on a calendar. Zeb's teacher was due to have a baby on friday, and she looked sick of being pregnant when I was in on Monday. We learned on Wednesday she had a baby girl, so Zeb has a substitute teacher until late April.
Tuesday I managed to get in some laps in the pool, grocery shopping and much laundry.
Wednesday we both worked at our two jobs. That should be the last time I work during the week at the Y. I am now scheduled to work only Saturday's. I do have some annual training coming up, but that will be only once a month.
Thursday we grabbed some fast food burgers for supper and warned the kids we were going to need time to work on our taxes. We bought a program to complete and file our taxes online. It took us about 2 hrs. I hate all the long words they use for different terms. But overall I think it went well.
Friday was the first time I was able to cook for the most of the week. We had Chili. I really wanted to get some kind of a workout in. I am finally really noticing the weight coming off and I really want to keep it up. I only have 15 more lbs to go till I reach my Happy Weight.
Saturday was my first real day at the new job. From the minute I got there it was just one thing after another going wrong. One of the 3 front desk employees didn't show up. It was just me and one other person. Scanner wasn't working. 3 out of 4 computers not working. 1 of 2 dryers on the fritz. Dangerously LOW on towels! Vending machines low on change, apparently due to Youth Night the night before. Craziness I tell ya!
The day just FLEW BY!! I had to take 4 groups of people on a tour of the Y. We sold 2 memberships off of those tours. One already had a membership and one was pretty excited and probably going to do it.
By the time I got home it was dark, I fed the kids and sent them out to shovel. They had the day off, it was their turn to work.
Now my turn to relax. I will tell you how I got my lovely black eye next time....

Nice Change

So I have worked for 2 weeks at the Y now. So far so good. I do really like it.
The atmosphere is more laid back than the doctors office I usually work at. Not so serious.

We have had our share of crabby people yesterday. 3 to be exact.
Psychology was one of my favorite classes. It is so interesting to see how different people are. Some people get really worked up and in front of their kids show exactly how NOT to behave in public. Some try really hard not to take it out on you but clearly are mad beyond belief. Thankfully I haven't had anyone vent specifically to me yet. But I am learning a lot. This group really seems to stand up for each other.

Whenever we have a chance we are to be folding towels and doing laundry. I really like that. I am glad it is not just a sit down all day job, like my other one. I like that I am burning calories while I am working.
I picked up my first paycheck yesterday... I would love to cash it but it was wrong. I only make 7 bucks per hour. It showed that I worked 42 hrs. So it was over 200 bucks! I only worked 4 that week.

Saturday was Kidstage at the High School for Reece. It was very cute. He put on a skit with a girl from his class. He played a boss to a Happy-go-lucky girl selling oranges. As he started out he sat on stage and she stood near the oranges. Customers kept coming up to her asking her questions...
1 question.. A customer asked...What is on sale today? Her Answer: I don't know. Cue Reece to explain that Oranges are on sale and she needs to say Thanks and Have a Nice Day to all who leave.
2 question.. How much are they? Her Answer: I don't know. Cue Reece to explain the oranges were only 2 cents each.
3 question..Are they fresh? Her Answer: I don't know. Cue Reece to tell her they are very, very fresh.
4th question was from a police officer that asked her if she was getting fresh with him and she said 'Very, very fresh' so the police officer took her off stage.
Reece then grabbed a Help Wanted sign and put it in front of the stage.
It was cute.
Then they played a game called 'Hey, What are you doin?'
Your supposed to silently sit and pretend to do something and when you are asked, you tell them something else then they are supposed to pretend to do that suggestion. Reece asked a kid what he was doing and he said "Pretending to be Elvis", so Reece had to pretend to be Elvis. At first he didn't know what to do but he quickly recovered with a hip gesture and with his hands pointing to the side he said "Thank you very much" in his best Elvis way. He got the entire group laughing. It was cute. Afterwards he was worried since they were not supposed to talk, but he did great.

Job Status

It is 7am on Saturday and all are sleeping so I finally am able to post something!
I can give a little more detail regarding the job issue. Ok, Duner's work is trying to recover from the 3 years it was owned by a company that didn't really know how to manage its money. They had employees work INSANE amounts of overtime, and missed a few payments to the bank and had to get sold to a company called Kohlberg & Company, an investment company that buys companies in financial trouble, reorganizes them and fixes the problems and gets them on track.

This new company has cut out the overtime completely. Dropped orders that were not at least X % profitable, Shut down all 3 shifts at times only to work 2 shifts for weeks at a time and asked for volunteers to take weeks worth of unemployment. They forced everyone to take unemployment the week of Christmas.

You think, gee, that is not so bad?
Sure, if you don't have a second job.

Duner has a 2nd job. He has worked part-time for YEARS at a restaurant. The way 'Unemployment compensation' works is they see the second job as income. So they do not give you benefits since he was 'AVAILABLE' to work at the second job. Or if they do it is minus what you made while you were off of the other job. But you wait about 1 month while they 'investigate' your claim...

We learned that nugget of knowledge a few years ago. So we didn't even bother. We were able to get by without a paycheck for that week.

So, now he had began applying at jobs around the area. I just rolled my eyes and thought- Why are you doing this? He has been at his job almost 6 years already. He has 2 weeks vacation. Some seniority. Why?
Then they offered the job. Almost the same pay. Cheaper Dental, Union Dues, and stable employer. (They make belts for the other industries) No vision insurance, no vacation and no more free paper plates but maybe some overtime. It has given us LOTS to consider. It was a really tight race until...

They decided this week to eliminate 4 jobs at Duner's position. Thankfully NOT Duner's!
At the end of April they are going to cut those peoples pay by $3 per HOUR.
That, my friends, is what you call a deciding factor.

We have been though a previous 'mill shut down' and been forced to be unemployed once before. It does make you more aware of things.
When they did that move, that just showed us what they could do for us. His current job does have a few other plants in the area and rumors are flying high in the plant about his plants work being transferred out to those other plants. I used to not believe those 'rumors' until one turned out to be true, when the shut the mill down.

Now the kicker is we are going on Vacation in March for 9 days. The new employer says, if you go on vacation you will have to take 'points' for those non-worked days. Ok. Not good. Duner usually doesn't call in, but at his current job they allow up to 9 points before 'corrective action' is taken. It would really only be 6-7 points he would use, but we don't want that to effect any raises later.
We asked if he could start the job the day after he comes back? They said maybe, but they suggested a different position on a different shift, BUT that job has to be offered to internal employees first. We have to wait a week to see if they have any takers. That job would be a straight nights position. The other would be 3-11 shift. We prefer the Nights, only because his second job and his golf league in the summer. It would be nice to be on a solid shift to plan you life around.

So wish us Luck this next week!

No Time

I can't believe it is Friday already! Where did the week go?
I still don't have much time right now, but I wanted to let you know I didn't go missing. I have been so busy!
Sunday I had to rescue my husband and kids up at the cabin, where my husband had accidentally locked the keys in our RUNNING truck. I was in training at my new job, so by the time I got the message it had been running over an hour. I made it up there just about 3 hours after it was locked. He insisted it was some mechanical problem and it wasn't his fault. But finally he said "Maybe my finger hit it, but I don't think it did!".

Ok. Whatever. (but it hasn't magically happened since)

I did more training on Tuesday for the Y- also had a sick kid at home, Wed I was back to work and working out, Thursday I worked both jobs, and now it is already Friday...
We are in the middle of refinancing our mortgage, for a better rate, finding a kennel for our dogs for our upcoming trip, and entertaining a possible job offer for Duner.

Yikes! Busy, busy, busy!!

Finally, FREE TIME!

It is amazing how much extra time gets eaten up by shoveling, working out, and jobs. I can't believe a whole week went by already. Geez.
Early on in the week we had a bunch of snowfall. It apparently wasn't enough for them to call off school or a 2 hr delay, which would have been nice since I would have liked the extra help clearing the driveway. My neighbor and I began clearing our driveway's about the same time. It was really lite fluffy snow, so it wasn't too heavy, it just flew around easy. Making it extra work for you. In the time it took him and his snowblower to do his ENTIRE driveway, I managed almost a THIRD of mine. He felt sorry for me, so he came over and did the rest of mine for me. So NICE of him! Since I had extra time I made him some Merry Berry Cheese Bars with Zebbies help. Zeb didn't want to share too many of them, since they are his favorite, so I waited until Zeb was at school and ran a plateful over to them.
That was the day I stepped back into the swimming pool for the first time since July. Yikes! That kicked my butt! Duner asked me the other day if I ever get winded anymore. He didn't see me try to get 20 minutes of lap swimming in. I can run at a 6.5 mph pace on the treadmill for 10 minutes and no be as winded as I do swimming. So when the neighbor was able to help me out on the driveway, my arms were very grateful.
The rest of the week FLEW by... between working, eating, working out, I really didn't have much time this week. Thursday was quality night with the kids we took them out to eat. We hadn't really taken the ENTIRE fam out for a long time. It was a good lesson in manners. I found myself saying things like...
'Don't touch your brother.'
'Chew with you mouth closed.'
'Don't play hog! Only one thing on your plate at a time!"
'Get your FEET off the bench!'
'Sit up please'
When we are at home, and they chew like horses, is one thing. But they need some courses on how to act in a public place. I think I will check out the courses they offer at the Y while I am there.
Friday was a half day. We need this really cold weather to LEAVE!! The kids are getting sick of being house bound all the time. I picked up some movies on my lunch hour and ran into two other neighbors at Family Video. They must have the same problem. I rented the boys 3 movies. That was supposed to keep them entertained until I got out of work. I still got a phone call from Reece. Brock was acting like a snot nosed brat instead of a babysitter, so I had to set him straight.
Saturday Duner took the boys and snowblower up to the cabin for the night! Yeah!! I was alone with the dogs. Which I gleefully volunteered to take care of, in order to stay here. So I was alone with NO kids for a whole 24 hrs. I spent the time shopping. I first went to an outlet mall in Oshkosh, to Vanity Fair store. They have some good deals on Lee and Jansport clothes, then I went Gap Outlet Store, got a coat for 18 bucks and two long sleeve t's, Then on the Mall in Appleton.
There is a store in Appleton called Steve and Barrys. It has a huge sale going on right now, EVERYTHING is 9 bucks. So I bought 4 pants, 3 shirts, and a jacket. Yep, 9 bucks each.
I spent 4 hours shopping Saturday, without anyone asking if we can leave now... or asking to use the bathroom,... or screaming how HUNGRY they are! (Which I heard from another girl while I was in Target, and I just smiled)
I came home, tried on some of my purchases and decided which ones I will keep (some I didn't try on) and figure out which will be going back. Scrubbed the boys toilet, (it really needed it) Watched a movie and went to bed!
Ahhhhh...pure bliss!

Weekend Events

Friday I had the luxury of being Alone... Ah, to be by myself. To do what I want, when I want it. So what did I do?
Shovel in frigged temps for an hour and a half. What fun. Not really but it was nice to not have "Mom!" Shouted in my direction for an evening. I really wanted to make it to the gym.
(Ok, deep down I did)
I was SO COLD by the time I was done, that I just sat in my living room with my fireplace going and under a nice blanket and my laptop for warmth. I didn't warm up fully until the next day.
I didn't quiet make it to the gym that night, but I did get my entire driveway snow free.

So Saturday I woke up and braved the cold to head to the gym. 30 minutes on a treadmill and headed out to get the kiddies. They had spent the night with Grandma Z. Brock loved it, Reece not so much. Zebbie had seen them a lot this last week so he was ready to go when I got there.

Earlier this week on Monday, Duner was getting into the Camry when the door handle broke off. Hmmm. Must not like cold temps either. Duner was sick of putting so much gas into his hunting truck (aka- the Durango) So he was itching to get a new truck. I wanted to get rid of the Camry. Due to the $500+ it will take to fix the muffler, the broken window washer, broken CD player, broken center console, broken and leaky tail light... you get the picture.
I love the car, I love how cheap it was, but now it is beginning to nickel and dime us.
So, Duner says to me "Lets go check out cars tomorrow" (that was on Friday). Gee. He wants to do that on the coldest day of the year!? Why not.
After doing some research it was decided we are probably going to be looking for a Saturn VUE. The gas mileage for them is the same as our Camry, yet the ground clearance is better. We were looking for a 4x4, but as long as we have the Durango, we should be ok with only one 4x4. The most important thing is the gas savings.
We did find a few prospects but we don't really want to jump into anything right away.

Sunday we were invited to a neighbors house for the Packer Game. They had just finished their basement and the kids were really excited at the possibility of playing on the Wii game system they had gotten for Christmas. Duner had to work till 5pm and rushed home to quickly change, and leave to make it to their house in time for kick-off. They have done a great Job on the basement. Nothing that I can afford to copy any lifetime soon, but it was a fun place for the kids. I was doing great until about half-time when I suddenly came down with a MEGA sinus headache. I have never had migraines but I think it was close. I have heard of people 'tossing their cookies' due to them and that is what happened to me. Thankfully I was able to sneak away and go home. I was afraid to take anything for the pain, so I just came in, and crawled in bed with the heated blanket on waiting for it to go away. I was able to lay there for about an hour before I had to go back and pick up the kids and husband, but it sounds like they had fun. I just hope the lecture I gave them about manners paid off.

Now for some strange reason, It is 12:50 am and I can not sleep. But I was able to take some Advil liqui-gels and my sinus headache is gone and no more cookies in sight. Yay!

Souper Stress

We have a patient at work that insists on bringing us the recipes every month from a local radio station. It is very sweet of her but we usually don't want them, since she wants us to make copies and give them to everyone... on company time, with company paper and machines... not high on our priority list. We like to stay employed.
Well, this week was Super Soups. There were two that caught my eye, so I made myself a copy. (only ONE!)

Stuffed Pepper soup and Reuben Soup.

I made Stuffed pepper soup on Tuesday. 1 lb ground turkey. 6 cans tomato soup. 2 cans tomato sauce, some green peppers, rice and onions... and wahla! It was magical. It worked! The kids liked it, the husband liked it... AND it only made it 2 days.

Ok, next up... Reuben soup...
It sounded good, all ingredients I like.

Red and Green peppers, onions, half and half, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and butter. Sounded good to me!
So I had all the ingredients and began to throw it together. Everything was text book, saute' this, blend that, combine a, b and c. It looked GREAT! I left it sit for a few minutes to finish 'cookin'.

That is when I began to look at my darn Scrabble game on Facebook.

by the time I finished making my move... it was BURNT. ARRRRRGGGHHH!! Cream soups hate me I swear.
Maybe it is a hint. I didn't need those calories anyway. Grrrrr. All of the cheese turned chunky, and it looked more like broth soup than a cream soup. *sigh* Oh the time I spent cooking that!!! All Wasted... all for nothing! Whaaaaaaa Wha! snif... snif.

Ok Change of menu, Hot Dogs and tortilla chips...

Never Ending Snowfun!

It has been snowing daily here lately...



Shoveling snow seems to be a daily chore around here...



So we turned it into fun..




Managed to get the dogs out and about too!

I'll Take a workout, oil change with a side of Pink Stuff,Please!

I had to squeeze in my workout, quickly before an oil change. While I was getting my oil changed I get a phone call from Z's school. He had a fever. 101 (underarm). He had been coughing for a few weeks now but he didn't have a fever.
Today he wasn't acting abnormal. He woke up with a aching head this morning but said nothing else all morning, so I sent him to school.

I picked him up, he was not happy. He really likes school and did not want to go home... until I told him I was going to take him right to the Doctor's office. I was still in my workout shorts, hair back in a ponytail, even water bottle in hand yet. One of the perks of working at the Doctors office is I can pretty much come down whenever I need to, which is nice.

After registering, we weighed him at 46 lbs (with his shoes on yet). He kept asking to go home. He was on the verge of tears the entire time. I think he was in so much pain from his head. The nurse gave us some samples of Advil Chewables to take for the pain. He loves the grape flavor Advil. The doctor was in quickly and he was diagnosed with an nasty ear infection. We got the yummy pink medicine Z likes.

He was so tired he fell asleep on the way home, We tried to get him to eat a Tuna melt but only a few bites made it in.
We managed to give him at least one dose of pink medicine before he fell asleep again.

Now, per doctor's orders, he will be off school until Thursday.

My Son, The Plumber...

My oldest has his heart currently set on becoming a plumber.
*Sigh*
He doesn't want to go to a 4 year school after High School. We were viewing some other possible options, like architect or engineering but nope, I couldn't get him to change his mind. It said, either, he had to be good in math and science or had to write reports. He didn't like that.
*sigh*
His favorite part of the job?
The plumbers crack.

I am going to help him out whatever he decides. I can only wish he aims a bit higher. I think computers are more his thing. He is not exactly an active kid. He likes to use my building program on my computer. I hope the Trio program at school knows of something that will help him find a job he will truly enjoy.

Happy New Year!!!

So here it is 2008.

Welcome everyone.

Some reflections? It was a pretty good year. Lost some weight. Kids are old enough to stay home alone. YES! Kids are old enough to know what I expect from them.

Brock has in some ways become a young man. He is beginning to realize when to kiss up. He has continued to kick some major butt with his grades!! (All A's and B's for the first Semester!)
He is still painfully shy. He plays more with Reeces' friends than kids his age. I believe it is because he doesn't read cue's real well and can come off as VERY annoying at times. Maybe we can work on this with him.
Reece has discovered food is fuel, not just something to do when you are bored. I continue to try and work on burning energy for him instead of "Here, eat this...", like it seems was the case when I grew up. He did a triathlon. Ran a few miles for me. He has done some push ups. His teacher at school even has a 2 minute drill every day they do 2 minutes worth of exercises. Reece has discovered how well he can do push ups. I think next summer I will add something like that to his chore sheet.
Zeb has grown up so much this year too. He loves school especially the bus ride with his friends. He doesn't want to grow up. He said he would like to stay five forever. He doesn't want any more birthdays. Today he asked for Star Wars Lego 2 video game and I suggested he ask for it for his birthday but he said, 'No, I don't want any more birthdays". Hmmmm. Maybe I will have to work on that with him. Right now I will settle on him learning to tie his shoes. That would be nice.

Last night, for my birthday, we took the kids out to eat at BJ's to eat and to the movies, Enchanted and I am Legend, then went home to play some games of Apples to Apples and Sorry Card Revenge. Reece was be big winner of the evening. As you can tell we partied HARD!

As it came to 11pm (midnight in New York) We opened the sparkling cider and the fancy plastic champange cups and went around talking about our goals for the year.

Brocks was to do better in school and get more friends. And do better at hunting. (that was just for Dad I think)

Reece's was to do 'more' with girls??? He would not elaborate, and get involved more in sports.

Zeb's was to get more lego's and cars. He doesn't quiet understand the concept yet.

Mine is to drop 20 more lbs. Win some money. Kick some triathlon butt. Simple. Just not easy.

This what greeted me the other day when I came home from work.
Guess who found a scissors and felt the need to cut his hair?

I quickly returned the gesture with my own scissors and trimmer.







He doesn't quite look like the same boy....

I got some shoes!

I will be starting the new year off right with my new Brooks Axiom running shoes. Thanks to an error with purchasing a left handed golf club for my husband, we had some extra funds that I was able to buy me some new shoes! It took 2 trips to Oshkosh but a very helpful young man (that runs an insane 90 miles per week!) at Run Away Shoes, researched for us to find us some size 11 shoes for my HUGE feet. I am SUPER excited.

In the sport of triathlon BRICKS are what they call it when you do one exercise block immediately followed by another. Such as biking and running or Swimming and Biking.

Today I did my first training Brick of the 2008 season. (I am beginning early) I am hoping to get 3 workouts a week and one Brick a month. Gradually getting longer on each brick.

I can tell the 'Resolutionist's" are starting to come out in full force too. (Hey Julie- Jason is back at the Y again, just in time for the new year) When I arrived just about all 20 of the ellipticals and Arc Trainers were full. There was only a handful of treadmills open.

But... the bikes were just about wide open.

I signed up for the bike and the treadmill. Just as I was finishing up on my bike, whad do you know... some one was on MY treadmill. Luckily many more were open than when I arrived, but Geez, Did nobody explain the theory of signing up for the machines to this guy??? It's not even the new year and I am getting shorted on my treadmill!

Today's workout was only a 20 min bike and 20 minute run, but total it was 40 minutes and that was hard enough.

Will I ever come out on top?

Aunt Sara is the Best. I don't know how she does it. She just has this knack for gift giving...
She seems to tower over me.

I asked the boys how they liked Christmas this year they said 'Great.'

I asked them what gifts were the best... Here they are...

Brock
1. StarWars Battlefront 2- Aunt Sara
2. Civilization Computer game (Thanks Aunt Jill!)
3.MP3 player- from Me

Reece
1. Lego Airport-Aunt Sara
2. Helicopter (Thanks Grandma W)
3. All the other gifts

Zeb
1. Airport play set (At least 1 got one right!)

Zeb didn't have any others. He just began naming everything he got. (I think he said the airport toy because Reece named a different airport toy, but I will take it)

Maybe it is the stigma of the 'Parent'.

Money, Money and More Money!!

So I had purchased this MP3 player from the internet.

I had thought about the IPOD and the Zune. Both expensive.

While working out these days I see all kinds of music players on the arms of fellow YMCA'ers.
I thought there has GOT to be a way to put music on those non specific machines.

Bzzzz!

Wrong! Not an easy way, at least.

Walmart.com is BAD for songs. Any songs you BUY WILL BE DRM PROTECTED. Meaning you can not use them on any other system. Even though you PURCHASED IT!

Rhapsody.com is also bad for songs. Any songs you will BUY will be in .RAX format, also is DRM protected. Great.

So far Zero for two.

Ok. Enter in the google search for WMA converter to MP3 and Convert DRM protected music.
I found many websites willing to sell my a DRM converter for the low price of $14.99. I was able to find a very helpful website called SWITCH that helped me convert some WMA's to MP3's but was useless since I needed to remove the DRM protection. I tried another one called tunebite (I think) but it only let me do a 60 second download??? Who wants sixty seconds of music? That really helps... Not! So, I tried looking up NERO.com, again "pay me". No thanks!

Mind you I PAID FOR THE MUSIC ALREADY. Why do I need so much grief to play MY music on my son's IPOD?

Ok. So I was VERY tempted to download one of the DRM protectors that I saw, but it was the principal of the deal. I had already paid for the music. They didn't need anymore money.

It took SO LONG to download the tunebite software and so many of those VISTA flags kept popping up I am thinking with have a good chance of having some spy ware on our computer somewhere now. I will fix that later.

Ok. On with the story, I finally decided to see if I could convert my I tunes to MP3's.
I stubble on this wonderful site that describes how you convert a song to MP3 format by burning it to a disc and importing it back as a Mp3, Now I will have 2 of the same song, but at least one will be in the correct format. Sheeesh.

Needless to say 3.2 hours later, I have downloaded 1 song on two the Mp3 player.

Yippeee!

A New pet? I dont think so!

Saturday night I was awoken from my sleep by my family to tell me that we acquired some new pests, er... I mean pets.

Duner went out to the Fridge we have in our garage to get a beverage, when he heard a noise. The kids soon joined him and located the source of the noise.

Our Dogs food bag.

We have 2 labs that stay mainly outside or in our garage, in the winter. We keep their food near the coop. We do have a storage container for it, but that is more effort to use in this cold weather than any of us want to fumble with, so we just open the bag and dig out their food when needed.

We feed them twice a day. Once in the am and once at night lately.
I had given them the usually nightly feeding that night. I noticed nothing.

The mice must have an internal clock and know when to hide out and wait.

It was 2 mice.

Both in the bag. Duner grabbed a empty milk gallon and tried to coerce them into the empty gallon. No takers for the first one. The kids said his butt was too big.

Need a bigger opening. Ok, so he grabbed the container we use to give the dogs water and gets one in. He actually got him to go right in!
The next one was a little more involved. The second mouse had fallen between the wrappers of the bag.

Those of you that don't know large dog food bags frequently have multiple layers of paper to keep the food contained. The second mouse had a hole in the bottom that they must have been using to negotiate a trail to and from the food source. He didn't want to come out of the layers but Duner squeezed the layers to make the mouse go in the correct direction.

Once both were in the water bottle the boys found a cover and sealed them in the container (since the mice were just about jumping up the 9 inches of the container!), to figure out what to do with them in the am, since they woke me up to ask me what to do with them and all I could say is 'I don't want them here. I don't care how they go away, just not here.' They were trying to tell me how cute they were. Did I mention it was around Midnight? Yes they are CRAZY.

No pets.

My thoughts briefly flashed back to my own experience with a mouse when I was 6 yrs old or so, I picked up a mouse that I thought was my neighbors hamster. It didn't appreciate me and bit me. It was squashed with a broom, so we were even.

Anyhoo, The next morning I woke and asked the kids about the mice.
Reece explained how Brock was worried about them so he put some water and food in the container so they would be ok overnight.
Yes, Brock was FEEDING the pests.

Reece went to go check on them shortly after that.

They were dead.

The water that Brock put in the bottom was a little much and they were FROZEN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE CONTAINER.

Great! Problem solved.

Thanks Brock!

Ventilation, Time to exhale...

I work at a doctors office. We get crabby people somewhat frequently.
But today was a extra special.
What people don't seem to realize, yes, they only see the Doctor for X # of minutes, but they don't realize the work on the back end. Lab testing, possible x-ray testing, calling in med's, and the dictation the Doctor will do on you that with recap the ENTIRE visit. Not to mention the phone calls, and faxes from pharmacies, nursing homes and hospitals. *that do usually need to be signed or replied to in some way.*

Then add in the time spent making specialist appointments or testing that will need to be done.

Not to mention any prior auths for the meds that were called in!! (Gotta LOVE medicaid)
A 'Prior Auth' is when your insurance says 'Uh huh! We like this med, use it first." or 'Patient had to have tried and FAILED on X, Y AND Z before we will CONSIDER your request'. Even with that some STILL get denied.
Doctors do make a LOT of money. I agree. But on days like today. NO Thank you!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the perks like going to go deliver a baby after the office closes or having to spend the night in the hospital just in case the woman delivers since your home is 30 minutes from the hospital.

We saw over 30 people. Between 8am to noon and 1pm to 5pm.
Basically 15 in the am and another 15 in the pm. That is 4 people per hour on the average. Not bad. BUT WHEN YOU ADD PEOPLE IN THE ALREADY OVER BOOKED SCHEDULE TO HELP THEM OUT....
DO NOT COME TO THE OFFICE EXPECTING TO BE SEEN WITHIN AN HOUR!!!! You are the exception. We are STUFFED! We tell you that when you call. We are WORKING YOU IN!!! No whining allowed!

My personal fave is the patient that asks to speak to the Dr because 'US STAFF' are useless, or the person that calls the Dr a 'Quack' because he won't prescribe pain medication. How old are we? 5 or 8?

I like to go to work to not have to listen to the whining!!!

ah, hm...

Thank you for listening to my small tirade. Carry on...

Brother Power

We finally were able to make it to Target to make use of a gift card and some money Reece received from his birthday.

We HAD to have everyone with to help him pick out a gift, of course.

We head right away to the toy department. Specifically Lego aisle. After much pondering, it was decided to not get Lego's and buy a R/C helicopter. We stopped over at my parents house and he immediately asked for batteries, it worked Great! We left the batteries there, and headed home, since I had some at home.

He played with that for a good hour or two, then....

...the driving gear shifted. It wasn't working right. It couldn't fly. Reece, (AKA- Drama King), immediately began the tears and sulking.
... and more tears.
... and more tears...
Sigh...


I told him we can see if with can exchange it tomorrow. He was better. In the meantime Brock, who desperately wanted the board game Risk, was bending Reece's ear about what fun the game Risk is. Brock is not one to mention something only one time. You can expect to hear things over and over and over and over, again. Poor Reece probably had Brock whispering that in his sleep!

The next morning we took the kids sledding at a local park. They had fun. Zeb was all by himself on an super tube. He loved it. He would put his belly on the edge and leave his feet drag behind him and that was how he went down. Over and over again. He would use his legs to direct himself. He was quite good.

Brock and Reece went down together, Brock had taken off his coat he was too warm, he got knocked off the tube, but Reece got some 'Snow Burn' and out came the 'Drama King' in him. He was Waaaaaaaayyyy down at the bottom of the hill and we could hear him just fine. Kids on the hill were stopped looking at him to make sure he is ok. Brock was fine and he walked up to Reece and stood there trying to get him up. We knew Reece was fine. Brock would have tried to get our attention right away, but he just kicked the tube a few times trying to get Reece off to bring it up to the top of the hill.

After 10 minutes of ignoring him, Reece realized that no one was going to come to him and walked up making Brock carry the tube alone! Brock should have left Reece down there to carry the tube up by himself! We let the boys continue for 30 more minutes or so after Reece had some time in the truck to regain his composure.

After that we dropped the boys at home and brought in the helicopter.

They let us return it! Yay! We tried to get a new one but they were out. Reece was bummed. He tried to find something else to buy, but everything he thought he wanted was more than he had.

We happened by the game of Risk just happened to be on sale. After a quick phone call to Duner and Aunt Sara (got voice mail), to figure out if that was the game she had gotten him, I realized I must have deleted that email so the boys wouldn't find out what she bought them. Argh!

I think she had gotten that for Brock for Christmas, but after much discussion I couldn't talk him out of getting it. (Sorry Sara!)

So he brought home the game Risk and some Lego Clone Troopers.

Where is it all coming from?

I don't remember a December that we had so much snow within a week!
Granted, we didn't get it yet but wow! I love it!
Yes, the roads are bad and it is so much work to clear up... but we are heading to a WHITE Christmas!!
Talk about holiday spirit.
Yippee!

The boys got some gifts from St Nick last night, much to Brock's Dismay St. Nick did not drop off a game boy Pokemon game. Bummer. Considering Brock suggested it the night of St Nick visiting I told him right out; "GOOD LUCK, but it wont happen."
They each did get a mini Lego set, PJ's, Hershey kisses, mini peanut butter cups, an ornament, a flying saucer toy and a lifesaver holiday book.
Brock was showing me the life savers he has left, I was amazed to find out he hates CHERRY!! YUM!
Those are my favorites! His favorite is GREEN! I told him I hated those I used to throw them away.
Geez, Kids these days!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

The weeks are flying by.
I am barely able to get the 'normal' stuff done! Then add to that decorating, Christmas cards, tree trimming, baking oh, and why not toss in the volunteering at the school!
We came home from the water park and Duner had the house picked up and looking great, so all we had to do was unload and put away our stuff.

I can not tell you how happy was on Monday to find a lost video game and card that we temporarily misplaced!

Reece school needed some school supplies for kids in a foreign country, Zebs needed food for the local food pantry and if Brock's needed something I don't know. He hardly drops me piles of paperwork like the elementary schools do. Thank Goodness!

I did manage to grab the kids gifts and wrap them safely without them around. That is one reason why I love school for them. Yay!
I was just finishing wrapping Brocks when Reece and Zeb came home. Brock can't wait for St Nick to come tonight, he was begging me to fill the stockings last night. He said "If we can open presents on Christmas Eve then we can have St Nick come one day early too!".
Nice Try buddy!

So far, SO GREAT!!

So, What do you do when there is a winter storm warning on the horizon?

Why not head to a water park? We did. Especially when you son's birthday was the occasion, Not like you can really say 'lets do a rain check on this ok?'

It was a little over an hour away, but the drive went quick as the snow began to fly. The kids were occupied as they played their game boys. As we got closer Brock was our navigator. He did a good job since we made it directly to our location.

As we pulled in the kids were in awe of the mere size of the place. Enormous. We pulled in to check in to the place. As we walked in some valet's acted as Doormen for us, the kids were impressed with that. The lobby was impressive. 3 stories tall, with a huge staircase going up to the second floor. It was decorated with trees and garland all over. In the center they have a neat fountain with dolphin's the kids liked.

Thankfully, We were early to check in but we were still able to get a room. Our room was on the 4th Floor, it had a vaulted ceiling, a small living room area, two queen beds, small fridge (but nice size, bigger), microwave, granite counter tops, and 37 inch TV with Nintendo Game Cube. The kids loved it. Reece said he was in heaven. After changing we head down to the water park. The have 7 water slides. Two that you use with an intertube, 2 body slides and 3 kiddie slides that Zeb LOVED! I think I spent an hour watching him go up and down those alone.
They have a huge tank that holds 1000 gallons of water and dumps it every 10 minutes or so. By 4pm Zeb was ready to take a break at the room. We headed up an let Reece and Jake play one more hour. There were lifeguards all over and they were mainly playing with the slides and the water toys. They were having loads of fun.
We ordered Dominos pizza and one hour of playing time from the Nintendo game system to give time while we waited. When our pizza arrived, I had to go down and get it. But they had about 10 drummers from a local school in the lobby doing a small show. It was packed. It was neat to see but I didn't even know it was going on! The room was quiet. It was neat to see. Zeb helped me bring the food up to the room. Thankfully I had brought the laptop and the free internet was a help for giving us quiet time before we go swimming again. By 6pm they were ready to swim again. I wasn't going to get into my wet cold swimsuit, so I just staying in my clothes. I knew Zeb would probably be using the slides mostly anyway. There was not a lot of people in the Water park this time. It was very nice.
We were able to see some snow lighting and hear some thunder, even over the noise of the water park.
Zeb was being chased a lot by this one little girl that he didn't appreciate. He kept running up to me to ask her to leave him alone.
By 8pm, we headed back to the room. In my search for a water machine, I learned they had Milk and cookies for the kids and they were reading them a story on the steps of the lobby! I quickly grabbed 4 cookies and a big glass of milk for the kids before she was putting it away.
I noticed they had an ice cream and dessert shoppe, so we headed down there for some ice cream. Reece picked a vanilla cone, Zeb had bubble gum ice cream in a dish, Jake had orange cream dream in a dish and Brock had Maple Nut in a dish. I just got a bottle of water. I knew Zeb wouldn't finish so I just waited for him to give it to me.
After the ice cream, we checked out the arcade. Zeb's first choice was a driving game, no surprise there. The chair you sat in actually moved when you hit a wall, It was neat!
We headed back to the room and the kids played more on the internet, and watched a Harry Potter movie that happened to be on TV. Zeb was tired but he had a hard time drifting off to sleep with the boys talking and the lights on.
Currently we are waiting for the time to pass until they can go into the park this morning. This morning's breakfast consisted of leftover pizza. I had thought about getting room service, but I figured we will just get a nice lunch instead.
Well, the toilet had been unclogged- Thanks to Brock and Maintenance (later...), and the boys are ready to go, so I better change myself and head down to the water park.

Sad News.

I was shocked and saddened to see an email pop in to my box on Friday...
She was 58 and it wasn't exactly expected. I had just heard on the Sunday before that she was even sick.

It said...

Some of you we have tried to contact, others we have already had the opportunity to talk to. For those of you who have not heard the unfortunate news, our mom passed away today while at AMC in Appleton. Most of you knew how sick she was, but it still comes as an unpleasant surprise. She had a rough night at home last night with shortness of breath and being exhausted. This morning she was scheduled for some lab work at the hospital but she was so weak that dad called Gold Cross Ambulance non-emergency to take her for her appointment.

While she was at the hospital, she went into cardiac arrest. They tried several times to revive her, and even got her pulse back once or twice, but it didn't last. They tried everything they could for her, but in the end it just wasn't enough. They don't know exactly what caused her death, but they speculate that her heart threw another blood clot that went into her lung. The nurse said she put up a good fight and did not suffer. There will also be an autopsy to find the final cause. Dr. Hari from Froedtert even called today to talk to dad and say how unexpected this was and that dad can call him anytime if he needs anything.

I will be attending the visitation, but I am unable to go to the funeral. My Mom suggested that I bring Zeb with since it is something he will need to experience sooner or later. It will be his first experience with death. I am going to research online what to expect from him so I am better prepared. I don't remember how the kids acted when Duner's Uncle David died. Reece was really young, and Zeb wasn't around yet. Brock's always been care free.


She was a nice person and will be surely missed by those that knew her. I feel bad for them. This time of year is extra hard with the loss of a loved one.

Unfortunately, they will get reminders every year when Media and Marketing talk of Black Friday...

also known as the day of her passing.