The Dramatic Downlow

Our Italian Holiday!

2011-11-14T14:50:00.001-08:00

This week I will start posting about our trip.

Life Lessons

2011-10-25T18:00:00.001-07:00

When the boys were small and they did something like throw a fit, I could just tell them to stop. If they did something "wrong" I could them it was wrong and to stop. It seemed like when the boys were smaller things were so black and white. They could or couldn't do things. Things were right or wrong. I could tell them to yes or no and that was it. If I wanted to tell them my thoughts I could and I did because they didn't know any different. BUT now that I have a teenager...I guess I have to filter. Cody doesn't love to listen to me when he is happy let alone when he is upset. So trying to get an effective message through in the heat of the moment can be challenging. Learning to be patient or bringing up topics at the "right" time can be tricky. And sometimes choosing to just NOT say anything at all is the most challenging.

Today, Cody was in a minor car accident. Basically Cody went to turn left, a car cut him off to turn left as well, he swerved around back to the right, there were girls walking on the street, he over corrected, swerved again, and landed in the ditch. He was ok and the girls were ok.

For the most part the car doesn't look too bad, but I haven't gotten the report from the body shop yet. Cody was obviously pretty shaken up. I could hear it in his voice when he called to tell me about it. I stayed surprisingly calm. One thing that I know about my boys (and most kids) is that they can be a bit emotional and the more calm that I stay the more calm they will stay. When I got to the "scene" Cody gave me a big hug and his scare turned into anger about the car that cut him off. The thing that Cody does not know is that as an adult, and an adult with a bit of road rage, I know how aggressive a driver can be when they have been cut off. Cody blamed the car that cut him off and wanted that car to the one at "fault." The police officer told Cody that it was the 2nd car's responsibility to be far enough behind the other car to be able to correct in enough time not to crash into anything or anyone else. That upset Cody (but better the cop than me) and he continued to try to tell me how he was not at fault. I really had to choose my words carefully. I did not want to make matters worse. The only thing that I could stress to Cody is that no matter whose fault it was his car was the car in the ditch. It was really hard not to lecture him at this point especially as he continued to try to act like he was driving perfectly. I did just mention to him that I have been driving long enough to know how accidents like this happen. And in the end, his car was in the ditch. I did not say too much more about the situation. I just told him that this is not a good situation but it's not as bad as it could have been and car accidents happen (in my mind I wanted to say so hopefully you won't continue to think you are a hot shot and drive so aggressively). I reassured him that it would be ok and that he would make it through this event. After his accident he hit his car and put a dent in the back door. The only snide comment that I made was to ask if that made things better by hitting his car, he said it did for that second but not now. My response was that he would have that dent in the door to remind him of that. Maybe I should have said more in the moment, but I think this lesson/conversation is not over...

Weekend Happenings

2011-10-23T17:28:00.001-07:00

I actually spent a FULL weekend at home. And of course it was full of fun activities. We had a lot of good family time this weekend. We started the weekend by meeting Dusty (see Friends post) for dinner and then going to see the Marshfield/Hillcrest football game. The boys go to Nixa and we don't know anyone on either team. Why did we go to that game? For Hillcrest's number 5 Dorial Green-Beckham. I guess this kid is like the number 1 college draft pick in the nation. So, the fellas - Josh and Dusty wanted to see him play. When we left the score was like 40-something to 0. And apparently, Dorial put up some great stats that game.

Saturday we had some down time at the house. That was nice. I was preparing for an evening of sports. Josh wanted to watch the Notre Dame game (ha that rhymed:)) and of course Cody and I were going to be watching the Cardinals win game 3 of the World Series.
We did get out for some bowling. This was the first game's ending scores. The 2nd game, Josh won by a landslide. He got 3 strikes the last 3 frames. But since this game was so close, I posted these scores :)

Josh's girls were in Springvegas this weekend as well. So Sunday after lunch we met them and they spent the afternoon with us. We went to the pumpkin patch. And as all great family outings go, it started a little rough. There may have been some bad attitudes, fit throwing, and yelling then there were the kids... But we survived and ended the outing with smiles and ice cream.

Although, I am getting used to our two families hanging out, it sure is different. Doubling the number of kids in a matter of minutes takes some adjustment every time we get them all together. The biggest adjustment is adding girls to environment. It is an adjustment for all of us. However, our little families are blending nicely and I enjoy the times when we can all get together.

Josh, Brayden, Jill, and Elle carved their pumkins. This is Elle and Neo posing with the finished product. The others didn't really care to have another picture taken. I can always count on Elle for a picture :)

This Run's 4 Vaughn

2011-10-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to the big town of Dexter, MO to participate in an ALS 5k benefit run/walk. Shawn's (see Friends post) dad past away last year from ALS. I never got to meet him but I've become friends with his whole family (mom and brother). Although I did not meet Vaughn, he raised two great sons and this benefit run/walk will continue to help other families with ALS. My cousin's Grandfather on their moms side was recently diagnosed with ALS as well. I am happy to be able to help raise money and awareness to the disease that affects many lives.

Dexter is about 3 hours from where I live and has about 6000 people in it. We had 7 (8 including baby Kinley) of us from Springfield that went to support the Wright family. Shawn's brother and sister-in-law went and they are from Springfield as well. The organizers said that there were about 100 participants and I actually finished 3rd in the event. According to my iPhone/GPS the course was right at 3 miles. The 2 male organizers finished before me. This was my first 5k and I was able to run the whole thing. I finished route in 26 minutes, but I went a full 5k in about 28 mintues.

Words

2011-09-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

When I was in school, I was not very good at spelling. I'm still not good at spelling. But in school, I didn't really care and I didn't like grammar either. Maybe I didn't like it because I wasn't good at it, maybe I wasn't good at it because Korean was my first language. I tried to blame the fact that I wasn't good at spelling on the fact that Korean was my first language, but I highly doubt that had anything to do with it. As I've gotten older, I've taken more of an interest in words. Maybe it is because I work at a University or maybe I just like words or maybe I care more. Anyway my interest in words are 2 fold. #1 I like pronouncing words correctly. The biggest one that I am known for at work is "verbiage". We use that word regularly, but most people pronounce it without the "i". The correct pronunciation includes the "i". However, my coworkers have called me out for "churching" up chosen words. They don't allow me to pronounce certain words differently just because it "sounds" better. Like envelope. I think it should be pronounced like "on"velope, the correct way is line "in"velope. But I like "on"velope better. For the sake of correctness, I will say "IN"velope.

#2 My 2nd interest about words is learning new words, using new words, and using words properly. Oddly enough (I know, I'm a nerd) my new favorite website seems to be dictionary.com. Here are some of my favorite words, try to use them today:

Kerfuffle - misunderstanding, or disagreement. A brouhaha
Brouhaha - see above :)
Kvetch - to habitually complain, a complaint, a habitual complainer
panache - grand or flamboyant manner, flair
verklempt - choked with emotion
Palpable (this one became a fave because it seemed to have been the buzz word a couple of years ago) - obvious, evident, capable of being touched, felt, or tangible.
Qi (thanks to words with friends) - chi
AND...
floccinaucinihilipilification - rare, yes this long huge word means RARE!

A Friend

2011-09-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

I realized that in my last 3 posts, I have referred to "a friend". In an effort to avoid my friends and family thinking that I still have imaginary friends, I decided to name said friend. This is him. This is my friend Dusty Butler. Not only is he my friend he is my insurance agent. Cody prefers to refer to him as our insurance agent and not just my friend. Makes spending so much time with "our insurance" agent seem kind of creepy, but I don't care. I figured since I have referred to him recently, he deserves to be called by name from here on out. From this day forward he shall be know in this blog as Dusty.
I cannot have a blog post about friends without talking about my best friend Holly. Since I moved away from her, I don't get to have my weekly dinners with her, nor do I get to stop by whenever I want. For now we have to settle for lunch here and there and seeing each other whenever we can. Not only is she my best friend, her son Trevor is Brayden's best friend. They are a great family and I am lucky to have them in my life. We have enjoyed many sad and happy times together, and I cannot wait for more (happy times anyway).
AND this post needs to include my new besties Shawn and Morgan. Shawn and Morgan both work with me, so not only do I spend around 40 hours a week with them, I spend several hours outside of work with them, and take vacations with them. They are practically family. Morgan is definitely Aunt Mo to Brayden. Since Shawn and Morgan are about to have their first baby, I will be Aunt Kira to him or her. I will most definitely be spending lots of time with this baby so prepare for many post/pics. From this day forward that baby will be known in this blog as my little niece or nephew!

Happy Birthday to JOSH!

2011-09-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

I spent Saturday and Sunday helping Josh celebrate his birthday. Today is his actual birthday!! Saturday we went shopping. He bought himself a new birthday outfit. From head to toe he was decked out. I provided a watch as one of the new items and birthday gift. And of course, I bought myself a thing or two while we were at the mall to celebrate his birthday.

We had dinner at Fedora. A local fondue place in Springfield. It was Yummy. This was my first time to eat there and his first time at a fondue restaurant. I must say it was a bit different from the Melting Pot. I need to take him there so he can see the difference. Most of the fondue at Fedora is cheese and you don't really get to cook any of your meal, it's precooked. That's good and bad. Bad because the experience is not AS fun and good because you don't the steam facial. But all in all still a good meal.

Then we met up with some friends to watch some of their friends in their band. We enjoyed...the company. I'm pretty sure Josh will appreciate this picture. ACTION SHOT!

Sunday we celebrated by spending the day inside watching TV. Since it was a rainy day, it was perfect for that. How was watch TV celebrating Josh's birthday? Well, we spent most of the day watching football. 4 different football games to be exact!! YIKES!! That was more football than I've watched in a whole season!!! I actually fell asleep quickly after the 4th game started, and yes that was about 8:30!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

2011-09-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

NO - you know why I don't love football season? Because people get SO obsessed with football. I, for one, never get obsessed with anything. However, seriously, I never hear guys talk so much until football season. All the guys at work talk about is football. So many posts on Facebook about football. I went to a baby shower and the WOMEN were talking about football. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Friday (in prep for the weekend) it is football. Football, Football, Football.

AND - football tickets are so expensive. Who can afford to go to these games. For me, it would require a 3 hour drive, an overnight stay, and about $600!!! WHAT? Ridiculous. Cody can go to an NFL game, when he is an adult and he can pay for his own ticket and drag his wife to a game! Since I have 2 sons, I do have to indulge them in some football talk. I will here and there try to know a little about football and talk a little football for their sake, but that's enough for me.

I have friends that are so determined to turn me into a football fan. I keep saying that I will resist. One friend is determined to wear me down and prove me wrong. Josh tries the argument, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's not going to work either. I will dig in my heels and stand firm. I don't HAVE to be a football fan!

The Hang Up

2011-09-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

You know how you have those dreams that seem SOOO real, you can't shake the dream for like the whole day. The other night I had a dream, not one that FELT so real, I REALLY thought it happened.

Basically, I thought Josh called me at 6 AM and when I answered he was singing to me (which I typically enjoy him singing to me) and I say something like, really singing? And he's like yeah, why you don't like singing. I respond by saying not when I'm trying to sleep and I hang up on him. Then he sends me a text and I just ignore it.
When I woke up, I decided to look at the text and there is one from Josh that says Good morning, I can't wait to hear about your night. I thought to myself, wow he seems very understanding about me hanging up on him. So, I text him and I'm like I'm so sorry for hanging up on you. I only vaguely remember our conversation but I should have just not answered the phone. He responds back, what? I didn't call you. I didn't believe him, I still had no idea that it could have been a dream, so I look at my call log on my phone, and no calls from Josh...

I actually believe that had happened and I even told one of my friends about the whole situation before I realized it was a dream!

Here Fishy Fishy

2011-09-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

One of our nights in FL, Emmanuel and Jodi got Emmanuel's sister to watch the kids and we headed to a nice restaurant called the FISH House. As we are waiting for a table, there is one table right on the way to the restrooms. At one point, Jodi says, "I hope we don't get that table." Guess what?

So, the nice thing about this table is that it is right by the fish tank and I can watch the pretty little fishes. I look over ater a few minutes at the table and see this fish laying on the rocks. I may have freaked out a little bit... we mentioned it to the waiter, and he's like oh no it's sleeping (I may have believed him for a second or two). Apparently the fish died earlier in the day and they just left it there. AND I may have continued to obsess about this dead fish for several more minutes. ok, ok I know you all are shocked that I was a bit dramatic about it. But seriously, it was disturbing. Finally, Jodi thought of the brilliant idea to put a menu up against the tank to block the fish. Thankfully, I was able to move on...

Then to top it off we just happened to get the fortunate pleasure of sitting under the leaky a/c something or other. So, Josh and I had some serious water dripping on us. Luckily, we had a large booth and we just moved down. Believe it or not and despite the above unfortunate events we had a really nice dinner. Good food and good company. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know Josh's family a little better.

And look at them being willing to pose next to the dead fish for a photo op!

Labor Day - FL

2011-09-03T17:45:00.001-07:00

For the Labor Day weekend, I am with Josh in Pensacola, FL visiting his sister and her family. Jodi is Josh's sister and her husband Emmanuel have 2 adorable sons Ian and Dominic. The trip started out not awesome when the air conditioning in my car went out on the way to Tulsa. So I drove for about an hour in 100 degrees. I was a gross sweaty mess when I got to Tulsa. But the drive to FL was pretty uneventful. We took the puppies and they were great travelers.

We stopped at the Louisiana boarder to use the restroom, let the puppies out, and of course take pictures. We missed the Alabama rest stop... :( And I figured we would take enough pictures of Florida.This is Dominic the baby. He is about 9 months old. He is soooooo sweet. He almost let me rock him to sleep. He loved the puppies.

This is Ian. He really loves having his Uncle Josh here to play with. And Ian REALLY LOVES Neo. Neo has been really patient with the boys.

We did actually make it to the beach even though it rained most of our first day here. It was super windy so we did not get into the water nor did we stay on the beach long. We shopped on the Boardwalk for awhile, had lunch, then went back to Emmanuel and Jodi's. We all just took it easy the rest of day. It was the perfect rainy day for naps and movies.

We shall try the beach again...

Kindness...

2011-05-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

We ended our day Saturday with a Drillers game. It worked out for us because the Drillers played the Springfield Cardinals. The Drillers beat the Cardinals, I used to go for the Drillers but I was conflicted this game, my loyalties get stronger and stronger for the Cardinals.

Jill and Elle had never been to a baseball game, so it was interesting to watch them. Even though I am a girl, boys sure are a lot different than girls... Brayden got a ball from one of the Cardinals players and he gave it to Elle. Elle had a good time getting player's signatures.

Tuesday, Brayden was honored at school during the monthly Character Parade. The character word for May was kindness. This was the 2nd time this year that he had been honored at school for one of the character words of the month. At the beginning of the year he was honored for responsibility. I don't think that he really appreciated that one, he asked me if responsibility was that important, lol.

Tulsa Time Part 2 – Blue Dome

2011-05-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

After we met the girls and we all had a chance to get to know each other, then we all headed down town to Blue Dome Art Festival. My sister-in-law was the administrator of the event and their ship the Sea Wolf was part of the festival. The benefit of being the sister of the Captain is that you get on the ship for free and get to say that you are the Captain’s sister. The downfall of being the “annoying little sister” of the Captain is that you get pointed out and hauled off to the brig for public humiliation. I got “arrested” and got to sing and dance my way out of the jail. I sang I’m a Little Tea Pot. I’m sure it was a great experience for the kids and Josh and that they enjoyed seeing me. I know the experience gave my brother great joy!!

We also met up with my high school youth Minister Mark and his wife Sandy. We had dinner with them after we walked around Blue Dome. It was great catching up with them as well.

The kids had a fun time at the Art Festival. They had their face painted (except Cody, we asked Cody if he wanted you, but he declined). It was funny the 2 dark headed boys running around with the blonde girls and everyone thinking or calling them brothers & sisters.

Somehow, Brayden got poison Ivy on his face and really started getting irritated that day. It was awful. I felt so bad for him, but he worked through the day like a champ.

Tulsa Time

2011-05-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

The boys and I headed to Tulsa on Saturday to spend a couple of days with some friends and family. Saturday was a pretty full day with TONS of pictures (I got a new camera!!! So picture taking resumes). So each event from Saturday will have its own blog posting. Today, I will start with the beginning and end of our trip. The main purpose of my trip was to meet Josh’s daughters Jill and Elle. Jill is 9 and Elle is 7. Saturday we had lunch with 2 of my childhood friends Ericka and Stefanie. I met Stefanie’s husband Greg for the first time. I have known these girls since 4th grade and they lived in my neighborhood so I saw them almost every day til 8th grade. I really enjoyed visiting with them again, and we had a good time.

Josh’s daughters are super adorable and a lot of fun. We had a really good time, and I had really enjoyed having girls around. It took the boys a little bit to get used to having girls around, but they all got along really great. The girls are so loving and sweet and that I think I would literally have to be the Wicked Witch for them not to like me. But apparently I got the seal of approval from them. Sunday, after lunch and a trip to Cherry Berry, we played family Twister, and then I headed home through the storm.

Before we played Twister, my friend Morganne called me to see if I was on the road yet because the terrible tornado that hit Joplin, luckily I had not left yet. We decide to hang out a little bit before heading home to make sure that I was not driving into the storm. Once I got through Tulsa, Matt informed me that 44 was closed by Joplin. So between Matt and mom, they directed me another way to get home. They had 44 blocked off about Afton and I missed my 60 turn off so I was able to get back on 44 at mile marker 18. There were dozens of police on the highway. At one point I saw 15 emergency cars in a caravan headed to Joplin and then later 6 ambulances in a row headed that way. I had SEVERAL people checking on me on my drive home and it was SO super nice to have such caring thoughtful people in my life! Our campus is off to give blood for the people in Joplin today.

Bray Bray

2011-05-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

Brayden had his first baseball game this week. They only played 3 innings. He pitched 2 of those innings and played 3rd base the last inning. Of course he did a great job the whole game!!! He did hit a boy one time, but the 3rd inning that same boy got hit by the next pitcher!!

At 3rd base he stopped the ball and had a good throw to first, but first base dropped the ball and the kid made it on base, but it was still a good play.

Aunt Mo and Uncle Shawn came to watch him play!!!

Then on Wednesday I went to have lunch with Brayden at school. I had a VERY proud mom moment. When I got to the school, his teacher pulled me aside to tell me how much she loves Brayden. All year she has told me that his a really good and that she is happy to have him in her class, and every conference she has told me what a great kid he is in class. But that day she was so sincere about what a great kid he is. She went on about how caring he is and what a great example he is in the classroom. She said that he has so much integrity and is just a natural leader. She was like he is a fine young man and you are doing a great job raising him. I started to cry! That made me feel so awesome that she had such great things to say about him. I was so proud of him, I hugged him like 100 time during lunch.

Florida

2011-05-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I took mom to Orlando. The last time she and I went on a trip together was about 6 years ago, she went with me to LA for work. But this trip was purely for pleasure. The resort we stayed at was beautiful and the weather was fabulous. We got into FL on Friday and mom realized that she left her ipad on the plane! We realized it before we left the airport but when we went to the ticket counter, the flight attendants could not find it!!! It WAS found. They called us on Sunday to say that they had it. So the trip was not ruined or hindered by that ONE negative occurance!!! Friday evening we went to Downtown Disney and ate some really good crab legs. I have not had crab legs in a long time and they were delicious.
On Saturday, we spent the day at Universal Studios. And the weather was great. It did rain in the afternoon but by that point, we were ready to leave. We had a late lunch/early at Hard Rock Cafe.While at Universal, we did this ride that was like a pretend casting call/movie shoot. Mom got to be one of the "actors" in the movie. They really wanted a little old lady but they asked for a grandma, so I volunteered her. In the little clip she gets hit by lightening while gardening.
Us outside of the Mummy ride.

Sunday we got up and headed to Daytona beach (by way of the airport to pick up the ipad).

When we first got there it was cool but the sun came out and ended up being a great day!!!! Mom got sunburned and I got a little red.

On our way home we stopped by the Space Center. They were preparing for the last shuttle launch that happened on Monday. Monday morning we went back home to a cold 60 degrees!!

Josh

2011-05-15T18:31:00.001-07:00

Since I started my blog about 5 years ago, I have not typically writen about my quote/unquote love life. But I have been dating a guy for a couple of months now. Being with him has led to several interesting/good situations in my life, so I guess I will share some of those. His name is Josh and he has numerous great qualities, some of which include being really good with the boys, being able to read me and "manage" me, being a peacemaker, and the list could go on and on. So, the other day (the day that Cody got his new car), Cody had a minor car incident while driving, that really upset me. And Josh called me and advised me that I should probably not make a big deal out of it and let it go. He said that the fact that Cody knows that I saw what happened was probably bad enough. So when we got home, Josh asked Cody, so what do did you think about that guy honking at you, and Cody was like well I was more afraid of my mom's reaction. I guess I did not need to say anything after all and it saved me some frustration and stress.

Then that same night, I was making a Taco Salad and I bought some chips for it and I see that the chips have been opened. I asked Cody if he ate the chips (when I say asked I mean started to get on to him for eating the chips) and he responded, "No, Josh..." I instantly, think that Josh ate some, so I yell, "JOSH." And Cody is like no, no. I started to eat them and Josh was like, "aren't those for dinner? You can eat them, I don't care, but I think your mom might get upset." Needless to say Cody did not eat them, I was then calmed down, I apologized and thanked Josh! Pretty sure we all like having Josh around!

New Wheels

2011-05-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Cody got a new CAR!!!!! (new to him) It is a 2002 Grand Am. I surprised him with it last night. He had NO idea that he was getting a car. So he is SUPER excited. The car is in pretty good shape, but he is already thinking about and considering the maintenance for it.

The funny thing is that the day before, Brayden and I went to look at it and pretty much make the deal, so Brayden knew the whole time. He kept it a secret too. Then that evening Cody was getting upset about not having a car and being able to get a job or work certan hours. I just let it go, but after he got his car, Brayden told him that he wanted to say stop getting mad at me because I was buying him a car!!!! Cody said that he felt bad but couldn't believe that Brayden kept it a secret. Such good boys.

Side note: I went to a Springfield Cardinals game on Saturday and left my camera at the stadium and they have not found it. So no camera, and I had to take the pics with my iphone, which takes great pics during the day but at dusk or at night, it takes bad pics. So, this is why the pics are not that good and why I need a new camera!

Cosette's Teeth

2011-04-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my mom:

So Cosette, did not have such good luck with her teeth. She had 3 abscessed teeth. She had to have them pulled and she needed a really good cleaning. Since they put her to sleep (not death as Brayden thought that meant) to pull teeth, I went ahead and had them cleaned. $280 later, she has pearly whites. Now I am supposed to brush her teeth weekly, uh, not really doing that... Now all she needs is doggy braces since she has an under bite and they are very crooked.

Pearly Whites

2011-04-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

I had a dentist appointment today and it was the best one ever. I know that people are going to think that I am crazy, but other than getting sprayed in the face with the water the whole time, it was pain/discomfort free. The hygienist didn't even scrape on my teeth. It was pretty awesome. The last time that I was in, I asked about coming in for cleanings every 3 months! They said that I didn't need to come in that often, but she did give me one of their little scraper tools!!

So, I've been scraping on my own teeth & It's GREAT! So, I'm sure you are all very happy to know that my teeth are nice and clean.

25 Random Facts

2011-04-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

I posted this 2 years ago on FB, recently read it again & there have been some changes. I decided to update: 1. I'm not sure there are 25 random facts - I'm an open book & not too random. Still an open book but I guess I forget that there is still a lot that people don't know about me... 2. I have been to Oprah 2 times. Also made it to 2nd round of Wheel of Fortune 3. I was born in Korea. Still true 4. I have lived in 7 states & 15 houses. 16 houses 5. I have been dating long distance for 3 years. I've been broken up for almost 2 years! 6. I won a hula hoop contest 2 times - once my senior year for hula hooping for something like 45 minutes and my second was when I was pregnant. Yep 7. Both of my boys were born premature. Yep now Cody is almost 7 inches taller than me. 8. I am a total tech geek - I love techology. On my 4th iPhone but won't get the iPad 9. I have never broken any bone in my body or been in the hospital besides to give birth. Thank fully still true 10. I am very type A personality - but I scrapbook - I can do like 20 pages in 1 hour. It drives my bff crazy. I get my ideas & throw them together. I took a personality quiz recently & it appears that I am loosening up in my old age... 11. I love to cook and think that I am pretty good at it. :) so do my co-workers 12. I am a total girly girly - love pink but hate hearts. I have only one hole in my ear - no other piercings and no tatoos. Surprisingly still true 13. I grew up with tons for animals but do not like animals/do not have any now. OHHHHH, so NOT true anymore. 14. I volunteer at the hospital 4-8 hours a week - I am the youngest volunteer in our group. Had to quit when we moved :( 15. One day I spent the whole day at home & did not talk to a single person. I enjoyed it. One and only day, need to do that again, maybe 16. I apparently have OCD traits, but I am not OCD. I like my carpet to have perfect vacuum lines & my lawn too. 17. I was adopted & found on the streets in Korea - so we do not know my real birthday - but they say it is today! This year I celebrated all January & seriously had 3 or 4 bday parties. It was AWESOME! 18. I love meat - steak & fried foods. But I also try to eat really healthy. 19. I try not to drink caffine so sometimes a soda will keep me up all night. Drink coffee every day now & a diet soda! 20. I am a work out junkie & little obsessed with it. 21. I don't have cable & haven't for 6 years but I love the food network. Have DishNetwork now 22. I wish I were closer with my siblings. 23. Everyone that I am close to is on facebook excpet my bff - she's on now, not very active but at least she is on. And so is my Grandma (I don't even think she checks it) 24. The majority of my cars have been white. 25. My family is like the show Brothers & Sisters but instead of all the brothers & sisters that would be my cousins and aunts. I LOVE that show and I LOVE my family.

Grandpa

2011-04-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

After 5 long years of fighting illness after illness, my grandfather passed away on March 25. We had his service last Friday and even though we are relieved that he is no longer suffering, it was a very hard day for me. I have lived close to him for the past 10 years and will miss seeing him as much as I did. Even typing this now, my eyes are tearing up just thinking about how much I will miss him.

My mom asked me to say something about him for the service, but it was really hard for me at that point to wrap my mind around my feelings. But I've thought about it a lot. My fondest memory will be of the doll house that he built for me. I still have it & will cherish it more now than ever before. He was such a talented man, I'm pretty sure my grandpa could build or fix anything in the whole wide world. He was more like the guys from Grumpy Old Men, but he always would sit at the table with Grandma & I and visit with us when I was over. He used to love to ask me about working at the bank. And even in his last days we discussed my job at UOP. He seemed to always want to learn about new things. That must be where I got it... :)

Not only did I live close to him recently, we actually lived with them for a couple of months and I just remember him always saying that he drove by the school and saw me kissing my boyfriend. I was in 3rd grade!! He loved to tease me. And as I got older, I loved to tease him back.

I have many more memories of him and I am happy that I have them. I spent a lot of time this past week looking at his pictures and having those memories, and I am happy to have them and happy to have had him in my life as long as I did.

Tea Tree Oil

2011-03-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

After my brilliant idea to get a perm last fall, I got a the great gift of dandruff. I went to the beauty supply store and the lady there told me that tea tree oil would help with dandruff. I've been using it for about a month. I'm not really sure that it is helping, but the jury is still out. But researching the stuff, I found a ton of other uses for this stuff.

bedsores

mouthwash

plant spray

deodorizer

put in dishwasher

put in washing machine

helps with mood

put it in a humidifier

helps with memory

all purpose cleaner

And suposedly dandruff...

Penelope

2011-03-10T12:22:00.000-08:00

Have you ever known anyone like Penelope? Someone that just is constantly one-upping you or trying to one-up you? I have known some people that once in awhile will be that one-upper. Well...I now work with Penelope. EVERY single thing that is brought up she has done, or knows, or experienced, or been. It drives me CRAZY!! AND today, she even stated, "I have one better than that." It was a story that she was one upping ME on about my son. 1/2 of my co-workers emailed me and said that her story was NOT better than mine. I guess it really bothered me today because I was trying to share a cute story about Brayden & she just could not let me/Bray have our moment, so I felt vindicated when her story was not better than mine. I will have to admit that today, I did subtly one up her a couple of times, but I'm sure she did not notice (and I may have exaggered a bit when I one-upped her).

Once Upon a Mattress

2011-03-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

My mom, Cosette, and I took a break from hospital duty this weekend to run to Tulsa for the day. We had lunch with Richie and Theoden. Then we headed over to TCC Pace to see Sarah in a leading role in Once Upon a Mattress. This play is based off The Princess and the Pea. It was a really GREAT production. They did a good job and Sarah was AWESOME! Here are some pics and I will try to post some video clips, once I can size them down enough to go on here!

Back in the day

2011-03-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

Remember these?? Who could forget Bart Simpson writing on the chalkboard all of his sentences? What about those kids that had to hit the erasers together (I never had to do that :))

We moved from the chalkboard go the whiteboard and now we have the Smartboard. If you have never seen a Smartboard, they are really cool. You can "write" on it, it goes to the computer and it is touch screen.

The other day I saw a news report and a kid was writing on a chalkboard. It hit me that I had not seen a chalkboard in forever. Oh these times, they are a changin.

Mary or Martha?

2011-03-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

I did this lesson the other day in our women's bible class and it asked if you relate more to Mary or Martha. As I thought about that, I sadly realized that I don't relate to either. I know that my mom's generation had the tendancy to be a Martha, constantly busy with "good works" but then getting worn out and tired. It seems like we went through this change of making sure that we are not Martha's that we missed being like Mary. I am not busy with church work, in fact, I'm too "busy" to commit to church work but I'm not taking that time to be still and know God. So, if you are not a Mary, would it be better to be a Martha or neither? Just something to consider.

No Reason Part 2

2011-02-25T18:47:00.000-08:00

Back in a post in July, I wrote about a decision that I made to wear the same color all week. I have done this every week since then. For 7 months, I wore something that went with the color of the week. Well, this week I went back to just picking something out of my closet. I had 9 weeks worth of colors, so basically I would not wear the same shirt or dress for 9 weeks. I decided that sucked. I was wearing my favorite shirts every 9 weeks. I will admit, that I was at a loss this week on what to wear. It was not as easy to choose my clothes every day. So, we will see how long this will last. Although it seemed odd, it was easier to pick out clothes every morning.

Mystery Texter

2011-02-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

On the iPhone, you can get an app that will let you text for free. When you get this app, you get a new number assigned to your texting app.

Ok, so 2 weeks ago I get this random text message from some saying that they have been thinking about me. When I ask who it is, they respond that it is my husband/love of my life. I then ask if this person knows who they are texting and they respond, yes Kira.

So, they know me. I still don't know them. They give me some hints on who they are, but they could be lies, which I'm pretty sure that they were. I continue to try to guess and I text this person back and forth for the evening.

By the next day, I get bored and stop responding to the texts. I call the number & it is a texting only number, thus I assume an iPhone user. So I starting calling some possible iPhone guys and get no where.

About a week later, I told this person to stop texting me if they are not going to tell me who they are and they still randomly texts me every other day. Today, I got 2 texts. What am I going to do?

Dirty Toilets

2011-02-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

I had this dream the other night & I looked up the "meaning" but I would like to know what you think:

I have to go to the restroom at this restaraunt, I go into a restroom and I can’t find a clean toilet. There are like 20 toilets in the room and none are clean enough from me to use. Then one of my friends comes in & want to use the restroom and she’s like what are you doing. And I’m like none of these toilets are clean enough. I have cleaned them & they are still dirty. And in the dream I REALLY have to use the restroom. I’m like omg I really have to go the bathroom but they are all so dirty. I tell my friend that I have cleaned them all but they are all still filthy. Finally, I have to go so bad, I just choose one, but I wake up before I actually go.

Happenings

2011-02-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

Since my last post we have:

Taken a trip to DC to visit the Spillers (really before my last post, but for some reason I did not post about it)

Went to WI skiing for a week. We had a BLAST. It was another great vacation with the 3 of us. Cody did injure himself the 2nd say, so not as fun for him.

Took the boys to a Thunder game in OKC, Brayden's first NBA game, and the first that Cody can remember.

Cody, got a job, I cried, Cody didn't start his job, I was relieved.

And the count down is on for him turning 16 and getting his driver's license.

Helping my friend with her blog & I decided, to update mine as well!

Boys

2010-12-03T11:11:00.001-08:00

I just have some random stories about my boys for this post.

#1. On Thanksgiving Brayden was sick and I posted on fb that he was sick. Then a teacher at his school saw that & asked him if he was feeling better. He was like how do you know I was sick. Then he looked at me & asked "did you post that on Facebook?" I admitted it and he told me that he did not like me posting HIS business online...

#2. Cody gets $150 a month for his budget. But he has to buy everything including his lunch. The first month of school he spent almost $80 on lunch. Then the next 2 months he spent somewhere around $40-50 for lunch. Yesterday, he brought me home a free & reduced lunch paper. He asked me today if I filled it out. HA!!! He is so funny, I guess he wants ME to get free lunches so he doesn't have to pay out of HIS money!

#3. College news - Cody has been working on getting enrolled into the Jr college to do concurrent enrollment for the last 2 years of school. We just found out this week that it is totally free. Since he will be taking 1/2 a day to go to the Jr college, it is supplemented by the school. He will be taking 6 credits each semester. So, he will graduate with 24 college credits! I WAS SO EXCITED. I was willing to pay the $80/credit for it just because the school that he wants to go to is like $300 per credit hour. That will save me $9000 in college tuition!!!!!! VERY GOOD NEWS!! Most of you know, I LOVE a good deal & $9000 savings is AMAZING!!!!!!!!

Right this second

2010-10-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

This is a new series which requires reader participation for different fun questions. I don't know what to call it yet so suggestions are appreciated Leave your answer and suggestion in the comments!

The first question is

What's On Your Nightstand Right this Second?

(don't clean it off first or tell me what you wish was there or wasn't there. Be honest!)

Side note, my night stand right now is a plastic tub that has a bunch of purses in it.

* iPod alarm clock
* purse to go into the tub
* eye mask
* remote
* USB cord for my camera
* coin purse that needs to go into the tub
* Uncle Phil's calendar

No picture because this was a spur of the moment post.

Genius Boys

2010-09-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

So, I'm sure you guys saw on Facebook that Cody is in 5 honors classes. I am so proud of him. I knew he was so smart, but he really did not apply himself. And I know that people say that but he really was not applying himself.

Brayden just got his MAP scores (school testing scores) and 689 is advanced in the 2 categories. In communications he got a 698 and in Math he got a 709!!!!! Very proud of him. He is having an IQ test soon & hopefully he will be going into the gifted program.

First Day of School

2010-08-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

Cody has not had a first day of school yet. School was supposed to start on Monday, but the school did not have his records. They do now & he has his shot, but they have not scheduled his classes yet. We BOTH hope that will happen soon.

Brayden did start school and he did ride the bus. As the bus drove away, he was sitting alone on the bus looking out of the window. It made me very sad. I almost cried. But then I looked back and a lady that was dropping off her kindergarten girl, was crying her eyes out. I felt so bad for her, I couldn't cry over my 4th grader.

When he got home, he was so happy. He had such a good day. When I was waiting for him at the bus stop, a lady that we know from church was waiting there too. We were both relieved to see each other. She was thinking about letting her son ride the bus but it was making her nervous, so we both felt better. Then I met the lady behind me, who has a 4th grader AND he is in Brayden's class. She asked if her son to walk to & from the bus with Brayden. It was really great!!!! I felt so much better. Everything worked out just fine, as everyone said that it would.

I said my little prayer of thanksgiving today as Brayden went off the the bus for his 2nd day!!!

Updates

2010-08-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Virginia - To make this short & sweet. We went to Virginia Beach, we stopped by Williamsburg and then our last night there we went up to Baltimore to Inner Harbor. We met up with the Poff family & really enjoyed that time. THERE IS A LOT OF TRAFFIC in that area - ALL OF THE TIME. We did a lot but still have a lot left to do up there. I really appreciated the Spillers' hospitality

Wardrobe - still doing my color weeks. Last week, I did blue week. This week was black week. I think next week will be light pink week or purple, I haven't decided yet. Probably light pink.

School - I found out the bus pick up/schedule and I have accepted the fact that Brayden will be riding the bus. He only has to walk like a block to the bus stop. And Cody will be home before he is so Cody can make sure that he gets home safely. I think I am more anxious about the new school year than they are.

I'm back in classes & should actually graduate with my first bachelor's degree next year!!! My new major is now Communication Sales & Marketing.

A decade in the making

2010-08-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

Brayden's birthday was on Monday. He turned 10. I cannot believe it!!!! He is getting so big.

On his actual birthday, he was with his dad. So, I met them for lunch. We all sat together and had lunch. This is the first time that I have been face to face with Shannon for more than 5 minutes in the 5 years that we have been divorced. Lunch went fine and I was ok with it. But it was a bit uncomfortable. And Shannon was pleasant but he hardly made eye contact with me the whole time. Later Cody asked me if it was awkward. I told him not really for me but it seemed that Shannon was uncomfortable, he said that he was. Just because we have not done anything like that since our divorce. But I'm glad that we did it for Brayden.

WORLD wide web

2010-08-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

I ordered some movies last month. I found this website from my scanning app on my iphone. And all the movies were $6.99. So, I decided to order a couple. $25 purchase was free shipping. The website was simple but nothing odd about it.

After about 2 weeks, we still had not received our movies. I sent an email and I got a response back that said please allow 15-25 days. I got a little nervous, but it had only been 15 days. The email had some broken English/bad grammar (which is a sign of phishing).

But we finally got them, AND I see why it took so long. They came from CHINA!!! And the covers are in Chinese. But the movies are English. Thank goodness.

AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am looking at the photo below just now & realized that I just bought a blueray!!! I don't have a blueray player.

Back to reality

2010-08-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

So, I am back from vacation, and I am not going to post my pics on here. I posted most of them on FB & I took like 300 pictures. I have decided that I do not have the time to post them again.

But I will take the next couple of posts to talk about my vacation a little bit.

This was my first time on the East Coast and I LOVED IT. We had a totally great time and my cousins the Spillers were awesome to us!! The boys liked DC the best. I am very surprised by that. But I think it is because they have read about DC and heard about all of the historic monuments but it is a different experience to actually see them. Cody said that he never thought that he would actually go to DC or the Smithsonian. They were awesome during the very long day of walking too. It was hot, we walked A TON and then we got rained on and the whole time they had great attitudes. I was so proud of them. I told them like 10 times!!!

DC was probably my favorite part of the trip too. BUT the beach would come in a close 2nd. Already planning my trip back!! Too much to do & I missed going to DC cupcakes!!

Back to School

2010-07-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

I am currently on vacation, and I am having a great time. But in the back of my mind, I am still a nervous wreck about school starting. Probably more nervous than the boys. Not just because they are going to a new school and there is change this year, but because I am going to have to make a big decision on before & after school care.

Previously, not only did we live 1-2 blocks away from school, and my best friends lived in my same neighborhood, the school had before school are for $1 and after school care for $25 a YEAR!

Not an issue anymore for Cody but for Brayden, now before & after school care will cost me $120 a WEEK!! That is more than daycare for a school age kid. I really don't get it, but it is what it is. So, I really just cannot afford that. Then my other option is that Brayden would have to ride the bus. He has never ridden the bus. Cody hasn't ridden the bus in 9 years. I rode the bus. I lived and I did not have any life changing experiences on the bus. But the thought of Brayden riding the bus is just seriously giving me an ulcer. He will be 10. I know it will be ok and he will be ok. But I'm not very happy about it.

VACATION TIME!!!

2010-07-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

The boys & I are leaving for VA tomorrow!!! Will be taking a blogging break, but rest assured that there will be tons of pictures when I return.

No Reason

2010-07-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Because I have a lot of clothes, I am compulsive, I have nothing better to do, I don't like to pick out my clothes, and my brain works in odd ways, I decided that I am going to start dressing in weekly color themes. This week was hot pink week. I have A LOT of hot pink. I wore hot pink all week. I have a lot of light pink too, so I will have a week of light pink too. We will see how it goes. I did not take a picture of every day, but here is a sample from this week:

This day was a Spirit day at work. We had a Western theme, but I managed to incorporate my hot pink theme!

Not Making Lemonade

2010-07-20T13:15:00.001-07:00

I saw the Dr. on the Today Show say not to have lemons in your water because they cut the lemons, let the knife sit & get germs and then cut the lemons again. YUCK!!!!! Call me a germ-a-phoebe (because I am) but in this case, I'm not making lemonade out of lemons.

MORE Cosette

2010-07-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

In my last post, my cousin Laura commented about how they fell in love with Cosette too. This is proof!!! But it did make me think of all the pics of different family members/friends that I have with Cosette. She is pretty lovable.
One of my best friend's husband & son with her.
Of course, Cosette & mommy.
Cosette loves her Grandpa.
And her grandma.
Uncle Sam & Cody with her.
Cousin Evan.
CODY is a good big brother.
oooooh, and GG. Even though GG say she looks like a dog.

I could not find the pictures that I had of Carter, our neighbor, Neviah or Brayden with her.

Cosette

2010-07-15T18:41:00.001-07:00

Since my last posts I have added a member to my family. I would like to introduce you all to my daughter Cosette. We were "puppy sitting" in December and I guess she never went home. Cosette is a year old.

Only one person the whole time that I have had her has gotten the origin of her name. I did not name her, her breeder did. But still, her name is from Les Miserable.

When I was younger, I remember watching a TV show where these people kidnapped a dog & were trying to get a ransom. My mom has had a dog at all times that I can remember. I made some kind of comment to her about how ridiculous it was that someone would pay a ransom for a dog. She basically said that I was being insensitive and if ever had a dog of my own, I would understand. And she proceeded to tell me all the wonderful things about having a dog.

Well, I have had dogs since I have been an adult. I had a chocolate lab for 5 years. But she was an outside dog. I think
that we had 2 or 3 inside dogs but we did not keep them for more than a month or 2. I SERIOUSLY LOVE this dog. I have never been a dog person nor did I think that I ever would be. But this dog is so stinking cute!!! And she is small so I can take her with me wherever I go, so that is another reason why I have become so attached to her. She is so playful and funny. She cries when I leave her, even when grandma is watching her. I guess I understand what my mom was saying.

So, this stroller. Trust me, I have heard my fair share comments about how crazy this stroller is. Well, I know & I don't care. She is little, I do not like to leave her at home. I like to run and I run for a long time. She cannot keep up. SO THERE! I have a stroller for her & we like it.

Right Now

2010-07-14T06:31:00.001-07:00

Due to the suggestion of a co-worker, I have revived my blogging. I had not really been too motivated to blog lately. Actually, I just have not had the energy. I'll start with this blog & see how it goes:

watching...My Computer screen right now but a lot of baseball at night
reading... BLESSINGS
listening... to my co-worker's radio
knowing... that I am blessed and that work is just 40 hours a week
drinking... Diet DP
wanting... to be on vacation
embracing... being single :/

Work, Week 1

2009-09-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, I spent most of my time in Milwaukee, WI. I was there for training. It was training. Nothing too exciting. I met a lot of really great people & I am glad for the experience. I did manage to see the Cardinals play the Brewers. Other than that, I did not get to experience much of Milwaukee.

I just completed my 3rd full day at my new job. All I have been doing is OJT. I am still getting used to the schedule. The boys are finally a little used to it, and I am getting used to it. I will save my job duties for another day, but let me tell you about a man I met today.

Right now, I just go & meet with potential students of my co-workers. I had my first observation today & I don't' know a lot about this man, but he came in today to fill out his financial aid paperwork. I was warned about the people that come in (to a University known for online classes) that can't type or really manage around a computer. Well, 1st student that I get to meet was THAT student. He didn't even know his own email address. Talk about hunt & peck. My co worker Paige jinxed me on that one (thank goodness he ONLY has to fill out paperwork, turn in homework & check email on a computer). Then when we got to the financial aid eligibility questions, one of the questions says something about the fact that you have not be convicted of possession of drugs or a drug conviction while receiving financial aid. The guy pauses, and says "not possession, but selling". My co worker, just repeated the question stressing WHILE RECEIVING FINANCIAL AID. Then he was like, oh no. Whew, details, details, details. This student will be attending class at the campus - I'm guessing he is going to need face to face instruction. I get to meet with him again tomorrow because he came to fill out financial aid but didn't bring his taxes.

Matt mentioned that he would be interested to hear some of my student stories, but mine are probably going to be a bit different since my target students are working, adult students.

Movie Review

2009-09-02T05:51:00.000-07:00

So I have seen a lot of movies lately. I'll give you a quick run down on the ones that I have seen. I probably will not remember them all nor will I give you a review on all of them. I will just review the most memorable ones.

G- Force - Ok - I liked it. I thought it had more of a story that I expected and was not a hookie as I thought it would be. I also saw Harry Potter, which hello, it was good. I feel as though I saw another kids movie but don't remember it too well.

The Hangover - Pretty funny. Kind of a guy flick. But I found it to be very funny. Just as funny as everyone said it was. I'm pretty sure most guys LOVE this
movie and it is probably funnier to them to us "chicks".

The Proposal - Hilarious. This is not really just a chick flick, but
seriously it was SO FUNNY. MAYBE "chicks" will think this is just as funny as The Hangover or funnier, but all people can relate to this movie I think. It is predictable story line, but it is the stuff in between that is so funny. My friends saw it multiple times in the theater already.

Funny People - LONG movie. It takes a long time for people to

be funny I guess. But seriously, it was funny. The storyline was
nothing of what I expected. There was a long serious part in the movie
it seemed like it drug on for awhile. But all in all a decent movie. Just too
long in my opinion.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Ok, I was super excited about this
movie. A little disappointed. I am usually not that critical of
movies. I am easy to please when it comes to story lines. But
this one needed to be better and had better potential. The movie

was not that consistent and the storyline didn't make 100% sense.
I understood the movie & followed but without giving it away,
when he travels through time there were times where there were
2 of him & times when there weren't & unless he was traveling to the future, there should have always been 2 of him. So maybe I just need someone to explain it to me better.

Julie & Julia - the whole reason I'm writing this blog. I really liked this movie.

I could relate to the blogging part. So Julie decides to cook her way through
Julia Child's cookbook and then blog about it. And YUMMY looking food. The
movie totally made me hungry. The only probably I found with doing something like this, not only are some of the recipes ridiculously time consuming, there is no way that I would like every recipe in a cook book. So not only would I spend a lot of money and spend a lot of time, I would not even eat every recipe. So not a realistic idea for me personally.

The only movie of the summer that I did not see that I actually wanted to see
was My Sister's Keeper. EVERYONE that I talked to said that they cried their
eyes out during this movie. Well I kind of expected that, but one person said that
people were leaving because they were crying so hard. Well, I'm not too fond of
doing that in a theater full of people. So, this is totally a rental.

My Life

2009-08-18T05:21:00.000-07:00

So, for the past 3 years I worked for New York Life as an independent Financial Services Rep. I have worked from home for the past 4 1/2 years. I have really enjoyed it, but I have to say it is hard. Especially with kids and summer break. When I first started working from home, I had set things that I had to do. I had set files to work on. I only worked 20 hours a week. So, I got my work done and I still had plenty of time to volunteer, play with kids, shop and help with family. Then I started working "full time" and it seemed like I never worked 20 or more hours. I did not have set things to do and so I filled my time with all these other things. AND to top it all off I had a really good month in May and basically I did not work all summer. That might seem fun and nice for some of you but for me I felt lost. I felt like I was wasting my life away and doing nothing. I felt like I needed more direction. I felt like I needed more purpose and routine. So I started looking for a "real" job. I am happy to announce that I found one. I will be working for the University of Phoenix as an Enrollment Counselor.
I have to admit that I am pretty nervous about it all. Working full time and all. But I am excited about the job and excited to be working with people. And I'm excited about benefits and a regular schedule.

I have to go to training for 2 weeks in Milwaukee, WI. I'm ok with that. Thank goodness my mom is here to watch the boys. Otherwise, I don't know how that was supposed to work out. But I don't start until Sept 8, so I guess I have a couple more weeks of my vacation- like I need it.

Julia Story

2009-08-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

When we are traveling I take pictures like this: Scenic pictures. Pictures of building/skylines/things. I also have them in my scrapbooks. Well we were looking at them the other day and Donna (Aunt Ev's sister) thought it was funny that I took these pictures & comment that I was taking pictures of the "road". Which I was not. HOWEVER, Julia did take pictures of our roads. Just the road. In Germany they don't have long straight roads like we do (highways). She said their "long roads" are curvy so you can't even tell how long they are. But she was shocked by our long straight roads & how many of them that we have.

And the worse thing that I heard about Germany was that scrapbooking is not really done there!! If it is, she has never heard of it or seen it!

It is fun to hear about the differences in other countries even in the 21 Century.

What a week

2009-08-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

Whew what a crazy busy week. Let's start with last weekend. Friday, I headed to OKC, with a stop in Tulsa to eat lunch with my old youth group friends. Especially Angela & Giovanni visiting from Italy.Left Tulsa to meet up with Katie at Matt's new job to see him and to hang out with her a little. We had a little quality cousin time.

Saturday, Ashley came to OKC to see us. So had some more cousin time and then headed to two parties. A BDay party & Matt's 3rd of July Party that was held late due to scheduling issues this year.

Sunday I picked up some of my 3rd cousins Elliott & Oliver to spend the week with us while their mom & sister hang out with their Grandma. My great Aunt Ev that has pancreatic cancer. Monday, I took the opportunity to go work out, look for a new job and go on an interview for a job (it was ok-had a 2nd interview on Friday-I'm not sure how I feel about the job). Then Tuesday all the "kids" and I headed to Silver Dollar City - minus Cody - he had band practice.

Wednesday the boys got to hang out with more of Aunt Ev's grandsons Phillip, Michael and Anthony(Anthony is only 6 months old). SOOOOOOOOOO cute though.

Wednesday got some pool time in during the day.

Then Dixie Stampede that night. This is Julia (silent J). She is from Germany and she is staying with the Spillers this year. She loved Dixie Stampede. She really like horses & they have mostly formal horse shoes. And nothing that you could eat a meal & watch a horse show!!!

Thursday, the boys hung out with their mom & I went to volunteer at the hospital then I just took the two girls to Ripley's Believe it or Not. We couldn't believe it...

Friday was another relaxing day of hanging out & then that night we went to a Springfield Cardinals game. The Cards won. They played the Drillers. I was going for the Drillers. Julia wanted to make sure that she was supposed to be going for the Cardinals & she wondered if I was like the only one going for Drillers. I assured her that I was the odd one! Then they had fireworks at the end. She really enjoyed that. They aren't as free with fireworks in Germany as we are here in the states.

Crazy week but lots of good fun!! Happy to have this time to spend with this family. They go home today. Now Bray's birthday Sunday!!!

Winn Reunion 2009

2009-07-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

This was our group this year at our family reunion in Branson, MO. Let's see, did anything exciting happen this year?

Ummmm, for 2 weeks Aunt Ev & Uncle Phil have been in St. Louis due to her health.

Wednesday before reunion, Mom called me to tell me that Marvin was in ER. He had cut himself & was getting stitches. I guess he was already almost done by the time mom called me but I decided I better go up there anyway.

When I got to ER, my parents' neighbor & friend was sitting there too. She had brought Marvin's dad up right after Marvin had come to ER. Good thing I went up there. I got 2 for the trip of 1. Luckily he only had a UTI. So, mom was coming home from STL to go to Grandma I's stress test. So we met her at McD so she could see the guys, then went to Gma's.

Friday reunion starts. Oh, Grandma I decided we were having a boring week. She ended up having a low blood count. The found it due to some lab work they had done. So she ended up spending the night in the hospital too.

But somehow, Saturday things came together nicely. Grandma came home and Lisa & Uncle Phil were able to come home for the weekend from St Louis. It was a good turn out and it was nice to see the family that was able to make it.

I have to admit, I was a little wired & stressed up. I drank a lot of coffee too so I was a little high strung, but I made it & I think with little casualties.

Sleep Over

2009-07-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Neviah (my 2nd cousin) came over to spend the night with us the other night. We had fun. We didn't do a whole lot but she found my shoes. She kept putting my flip flops on and saying that she could fit. I told her if she liked those then she needed to come check out my closet.

We found lots for her to put on & the "fit" her. She also did really good at posing for all the photos. She would put one pair on & then tell me to take a picture.

STL Summer 2009 Part 3

2009-07-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

This was my 3rd trip TO Saint Louis this summer (several through). I went with Holly again. Carter had 2 doctor's appointments. So while we were heading that way we could stop & see Aunt Ev & Uncle Phil.

Well, Carter's first appointment was for a hearing test. He had fluid in his ears so they couldn't do it. Then the 2nd appointment was for a vision test & he had pink eye. So a wasted trip for Holly. :(

But I got to see Aunt Ev. While I was there, she had a room mate that had been on drugs, fell, hurt herself and ended up in the hospital. Apparently she was coming off the high and the doctors told her that she had a crack in her neck & needed to wear this neck brace. Well the male nurse tried to put it on & she kept saying to stop restraining her. She was yelling that the nurse was attacking her. After she yelled VERY loudly for some help & they struggled she ripped her IV out of her arm. That made the IV alarm go off & it was quite loud too. So that woke up Aunt Ev. Well Aunt Ev decided to tell the male nurse that all that girl needed was for him to turn off the alarm. He replied with, "ma'am this would go a lot easier if you would stay out of it."

Well, Aunt Ev involved or not, it did not go easier. The girl was screaming, running into the hall & attacking the staff. They had to call in 3 doctors, 3 nurses and 4 or 5 security guards. They finally sedated her, restrained her & moved her. But not before quite a scene and several bad words yelled out really loudly. And not before Aunt Ev could announce that the nurse was being a little S**t.

Lisa and I both had to keep Aunt Ev from going over to the other side to interfere.

In Uncle Phil fashion, he said he hoped that they would get a refund for that day's rate.

Bad Day

2009-07-11T06:54:00.001-07:00

I usually take these encounters in stride & handle them better than I did the other day, but I must have just been having a bad day.

I went to Wal-Mart to pick up some pictures. I told this older gentleman at the counter (that I have seen several times) that I was there to pick up pictures. He looks at me & says "Quan?". I reply, "no Perkins". He finds them & tries to pronounce my name with an accent and like rolling the "r", he made a couple of attempts at it & I just let it go. Then of course he continued. He then asked if the name was Korean and instead my typical response of no, but I am Korean, I responded with "no". Well then he kept trying to guess & I just said, "my parents are American and they gave me an American name, don't know what to tell you."

I grabbed my pictures & left.

Leaky Leak

2009-07-07T18:57:00.000-07:00

Right before I took Brayden to St. Louis, Bray discovered a very wet play room floor. When I went in there, the whole closet was wet & so was Cody's bathroom closet. When we first moved in, the same thing happened. But it was like this super gush that we noticed right away. Apparently this is like a consistent leak.

So, I called my insurance agent on the advice of mom. The adjuster gave me a hard time at first that they were not going to over the leak. But in the end, they did.

Marvin & Ron had to come in through the kitchen because the leak was upstairs in Bray's bathroom. So they took out a cabinet in the kitchen to get to it.

After they re sheet rocked, mudded & taped, I painted. I have paint from when the house was built but the paint is not labeled very well. So I found paint that I thought matched. So I painted the 2 closets & the shower. Then I decided to touch up the walls. And then found out that the paint does not match!

St. Louis Trip 2

2009-06-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

8 days after going to St. Louis with Holly & boys, I had to go back. So I took that opportunity to take Cody. We went and saw a Cardinals game. The Cards won. And I took him to Six Flags too. It was SUPER hot so I guess not a lot of people want to go to Six Flags in that kind of heat. So we did not have to wait in the lines very long. There were several of the big fun rides that we rode back to back.
I Pricelined the hotel downtown & we got the Hyatt for $50. Right next to the arch & 3 blocks from Busch Stadium. That was super awesome, did not mind walking and not fighting the traffic.
Cody in the stands before it really started to fill up.

During the game, the guys above us were playing Cups - a baseball gambling game, where money is passed around. They kept dropping money, so Cody & I made $7.00.

Then at Six Flags, we went to the water park & I sit down next to this lady in the lazy river & she asks if I'm Kira. As soon as she starts to tell me her name, I realize that it was one of my really good friends from when we lived in Indiana. She was there visiting a friend & we happen to see each other at Six Flags. Very random but happy to see her & catch up a bit.

Meet Me in Saint Louis

2009-06-23T09:36:00.001-07:00

The beginning of the month Holly had to take Carter to St. Louis for some doctor's appointments. She was going to be there for a week. So Brayden & I joined her for a couple of days. I believe it had been exactly 4 years earlier we had met our friends from Indiana in St. Louis and we did pretty much the exact same things this trip. A little deja vu ish but Bray is a lot older now and he will remember this trip better. We went to Six Flags, but we ended up getting rained on for most of the time. So we left and had dinner at Apple Bees. But we ended up going back after dinner. It was pretty dead there & we were able to ride a couple more rides. Brayden was even able to ride Batman (which he is technically an inch or so too short for).

We also went to the Arch. Here we are at the top!

This is a cool pic of Brayden & Trevor running up the stairs with the sun & the Arch in the background. A little Rocky-ish.

We went to Union Station & Bray did this trampoline thing where he was strapped in & could jump & do flips. He is so light, but has a lot of muscle control/body control, he was able to go pretty high and he managed 3 back flips in one jump, he loved that.

Here we are at the zoo, obviously. We fed the sting rays. That was pretty fun. We also ate at this place that makes their own Root Beer. That was fun & in a part of St. Louis I had not seen before. A cute little area.

Since we were going with Trevor & Carter, Cody decided that he would rather stay with a friend. So, last week I took Cody to St. Louis, that post to follow...

Topsy Turvy

2009-06-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

I have had a REALLY crazy busy couple of weeks/weekends. And the thought of posting all of that stuff was a little overwhelming, so I am just going to post about my tomato plant. I will get to my other stuff sooner or later.

So, short story long, I have a big back yard with plenty of garden space, but my garden is too big for me. It is too much trouble to keep up with & it produces more food than I could eat or give away. So I just went with the Topsy Turvy.

Well, it's not working out so well either. When I bought it, I thought it would be great to hang from my deck. Well there is no wood on my deck for me to hammer a nail into - just aluminum siding. So I had to hang it from my lower patio. So I forget about it all the time & I don't think it gets enough sun cuz the top deck is blocking. It has not grown much since I hung it 2 weeks ago.

But I'll keep my fingers crossed. Mom has one too - and hers looks much better!

Dance Lesson

2009-06-02T19:38:00.001-07:00

I have started doing Zumba, which is a latin dance/exercise class. But my skills do not compare to Paul Rudd's.

8th Grade Completion

2009-06-02T02:09:00.000-07:00

Friday was the last day of school for the boys. This is Cody & I at his 8th Grade Completion. They don't call it graduation because they don't want kids to think this is it & stop going to school or relate it to graduating from school in any way. Which what ever, I can see that. They handed out awards too. Cody got one from being a teacher's aide. And the teacher said that Cody said he was more a maid than an aide. That sounds like Cody.

This is the whole 8th grade. Where's Cody. He is wearing a light shirt, last row, on the left side of the picture. Bray ran off & would not take a picture with Cody.On Friday, the 8th grade took a class trip to SDC. These are some of Cody's friends. They weren't too thrilled about all the pics that I kept taking. Cody wasn't either. But I told him that I'm a mom & a mom that scrapbooks, so he had to endure.

And another picture with mom. Going into SDC.

New Used Furniture

2009-05-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

I got some new furniture recently. And best of all it was all FREE!!! I got 12 of these chairs from the school. I put them in the boy's room, down stairs with the card table and these are extras for when we have people over. Then I got a student desk to put in the play room. the school called the furniture "surplus" and I got it all for free.

Then I finally got upstairs furniture. This set used to be Esther's. She gave it to Mom & Marvin & M&M gave it to me. I got it several weeks ago, but I had in the garage cleaning them. They cleaned up really nice. And go great in my living room. The pillows I alread had.

Starting to recover

2009-05-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty crazy weekend. Friday Cody spent the night with a friend, Bray & I went to Carter's preschool graduation & then over the the Letterman's house. Bray spent the night with Trevor.

Saturday, we went to the pool with Neviah, Cody & Ashley. Then I stopped by Uncle Phil's house to see his new ride & help him out with the bluetooth phone. Then a cook out with Aunt Teri's crew.

Sunday, had lunch with Ashley & Neviah before they headed home. Then we went to mom's for a cook out with her crew. Which included the grandparents, Richie, Sarah & Theoden. Bray took this picture of us & I said, "Bray you cut my head off." To which They replied, "ouch."

Then the boys & I went to see Night at the Museum 2.

Monday I managed to clean my carpets upstairs & clean a sofa & love seat that mom gave me. Then 9ish hours of shopping with my new friend Amy. ALL of which were super late nights.

I think I am going to be recovered by tomorrow. I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend.

WOF Follow Up

2009-05-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is the email that I got this week inviting me to a try out for Wheel of Fortune.

Congratulations! You have been selected to attend aWHEEL OF FORTUNE contestant audition (by invitation only). We have reserved the following appointment for you:

When: June 3, 2009 Time: 1:30 PM

Where: Welk Resort Hotel Branson - Stage Door Restaurant ( Located inside Theatre lobby )
1984 State Highway 165
Branson, MO 65616

You are responsible for parking.

Keep in mind that Wheel of Fortune's contestant team is looking for enthusiastic puzzle solvers.
Ask yourself these questions before deciding to attend the audition:

*Do you think you can solve puzzles under pressure on national television?
(Everyone is good at Wheel of Fortune in the comfort of his/her living room!)
*Can you be heard calling out letters? (It sounds simple, but sometimes we cannot hear people.)
*Do you have a good presence and energy?

Please - don't spend time and money coming to the audition if you will not be able to show us your enthusiasm!

You need to RSVP as soon as possible to secure your place in the audition. Call (888)569-4335. When you RSVP, please do the following:

1) leave the date and time of your audition
2) leave your name (spell if difficult)
3) leave your phone number

Please do not leave any additional information.

Print out a copy of this invitation and bring it to the audition.

Be prepared to show picture identification.

Please read the following information carefully. It applies to everyone attending the audition:

*It’s important to be on time. Arrive about 15 minutes ahead of time.

*Unfortunately, we cannot change your audition time or date.

*All expenses incurred while interviewing and appearing on the show are your responsibility. Due to the fact that's it's difficult to become a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, we discourage people from making long trips and incurring expenses (gas, hotel, baby sitters, etc.) to audition for the show.

*Due to limited seating, the audition is closed. If anyone does accompany you to the audition, they will be asked to wait outside the audition room. Please do not bring children.

*This is a group audition. Dress is casual/neat. You’ll play a series of simulated Wheel of Fortune games. You’ll also take a five-minute written test based on the word puzzles that are used on the show. If you’re selected at the end of that part of the audition, you’ll be asked to remain and play a more intensive series of simulated games. You may be asked to stand in front of the group and talk about yourself. Depending upon how far you advance in the audition process, you may be there anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. (Note: please do not chew gum during the audition.)

*If you need glasses, be sure to bring them with you. No one can assist you during the test.

*You must be at least 18 years of age.

*You are not eligible to play Wheel of Fortune if you work for or are related to anyone who works for Sony Pictures Television Inc., Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., the Canadian Broadcasting Company, any television stations or networks (including advertisers and related radio stations) which broadcast Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy!, The Griffin Group, CBS Distribution Group, or prize suppliers. You are not eligible to appear on Wheel of Fortune if you have appeared on another game show/relationship show/dating show/reality show in the last year or any three of the above types of shows in the last ten years. You are not eligible if you have appeared on any version of Wheel of Fortune (including "Teen Week"). If you have eligibility questions, please call (310)244-1234 and ask for the contestant department.

If you are physically challenged in any way, contact the Wheel of Fortune contestant department at (310)244-1234 prior to the audition.

We reserve the right to refuse the test, interview, or guarantee an appointment or an appearance on Wheel of Fortune.

We look forward to seeing you at the audition!

Best Regards,

The Wheel of Fortune Contestant Department

Wheelmobile

2009-05-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday, I got myself up to go try to try out for Wheel of Fortune. The back light post is where I was standing at 10 AM.

So, I'll start my story with the process. 1000 people go into a room & they randomly draw 5 names at a time. They get interviewed & then do a speed round. They do not spin a wheel. Each person just guesses a letter & they get 3 seconds to solve the puzzle. Then they start the process again with 5 more people. They do about 7 groups in an hour. Then everyone leaves & tries to come back in for the next show. They did 3 shows Saturday & Sunday. And it was pretty

easy to get into all the shows after the first show.

This is me by the mobile Dry Erase puzzle board.
So here are some highlights of the weekend.

1. No one would/could go with me so I went by myself. Surprisingly so did a lot of others. I met a lot of people there.
2. Going 3 hours early was not necessary.
3. Bring food & water.
4. When you do a random drawing, you don't always get peopel that are that excited about wheel of fortune.
5. 3 seconds to the wheel people is really only 1-2

6. A LOT of people in this area like to fish & that's it.
7. A lot of people in this area say they do NOTHING.
8. Sometimes people really give me a head ache.
9. I am pretty good at Wheel.

So, just because you got on stage did not mean that you got to go back for the finals that will be in Branson in a month. And they do randomly pull more names for the final.

I went both days, FYI. I did not make it on stage. But I was glad that I went.

My Bump My Bump

2009-05-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

I have other things to post about since I haven't posted in awhile, but I don't have the pictures on me right now.

So, I will post about my latest app on my iphone. BUMP. Basically you can fist bump another iphone & it will transfer contact information to the other person.

While in OKC, last weekend, several of us decided to download this free app & try it out. Well both times that I did it, I dropped my phone when we bumped. I guess this is a manly app, as the guys that I bumped did not drop their phones. I had a weak grip on my phone. And needed to be more firm with my bumping. But I do like this app. If you an iphone, download it & next time I see you we will iphone bump!

Today Show Guy

2009-04-22T06:10:00.000-07:00

I have noticed for several weeks that there is the same guy in the crowd for the Today Show. I finally decided that it was the same guy & wondered what the deal was. So of course I went to the WWW. And I found this article which was all messed up when I read it. But I also found his picture. I guess you really can find anything on the web. But that made me happy because I was not the only one that noticed him. And I guess he has been there for a long time. But no one else that I asked knew what I was talking about. I guess I watch too much TV.

Ma Bell

2009-04-20T19:39:00.001-07:00

This is Brayden's egg coloring fingers. But those fingers have apparently figured out the land line.

I got a call today from my house. I use this phone for my fax machine. But when I answered, it was Brayden on the other line. I talked to him for a bit & then asked him why he was calling me from the home phone (which we have used when Cody has had problems with his cell phone). He told me that he did not want to ask Cody for his phone to call me so he just picked up the phone to call. Well, that showed initiative on his part but I was also curious because our cell numbers are long distance from the house. So I asked if he dialed the 417 first & he said yes. Well I asked if the dialed the 1 first. And he said, "not the first time but the recording told me that I had to dial 1 or 0 first." At least he can follow directions. I guess he can figure things out for himself, a bit scary. We will see where this new found discovery of the land line phone will take us. I'm pretty sure he knows he is only to use the phone with my permission - but I will have to make that clear.

Dreams

2009-04-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Every week there is a dream person on the radio station that I listen to & they interpret dreams. He says that in your dreams things symbolize other things. So if you dream about a house then the house represents your body. Not that you are just dreaming about a house.

I don't know that I really believe that because there are a lot of times that I just dream about the TV show that I just watched or I dream about what just happened to me that day. How does a TV show or what actually happened that day symbolized my subconscious?

So here are a couple of dreams that I have had recently & maybe someone can tell me what they meant:

1. I watched part of Family Guy where Superman had x-ray vision & saw Louise & he could see in her belly & she was pregnant. Well that night I had a dream that I was pregnant & Superman could see in my belly.

2. Last night I had a dream that I don't all the way remember but it was Easter & we lived out on the land where I lived in high school but we invited Jeremy's parents but it wasn't really his parents. He left me there with all the parents & he didn't show up. Then a friend of mine from high school was in the dream. Then my preacher's wife was in the dream. She was keeping a prayer scrapbook for someone & I was so relieved & comforted that she was doing that. But she didn't want anyone to know (kind of like Hurley on Lost last night but it was a scrapbook not a journal).

3. A couple of nights ago I had a dream that I had a baby. The dream started when I was giving birth. My mom was there & apparently I was not married or the dad was not around & he was not part of my dream. But I lived in a house that I have never lived in & was digging around for a bunch of baby stuff that I could use because I didn't buy anything for the baby. I was totally unprepared. Which I think I had that dream because my nephew was over & I was digging around try to find him clothes last week. And my cousin is pregnant & she was asking about what to buy for her baby. But I had the same dream when I was pregnant with Cody, that he was born & I just had nothing for him nor was I prepared for him. But in this dream, I was telling my mom that I tried to do everything right this time - and I still ended up pregnant without a man & nothing for the baby.

It might sound like I have a lot of baby dreams but I don't. The first dream happened a long time ago & those are just the ones that I can remember right now.

OH, I do dream all the time that the breaks do not work in my car. That really could symbolize something.

So if anyone has any ideas feel free to interpret.

Easter's Over

2009-04-13T15:00:00.001-07:00

Easter is over and I have realized that I did not take very good photos. I missed about half of the family members that were at Easter lunch! And with all of the scrapbooking that I have been doing, I should have been better about my picture taking.

Friday night we had dinner at Grandma's house. The Westons, Westons and Greens were in town. Kim & Shelley are sisters but I think my mom could be one of their sisters too. Not only was I confused but Brayden kept asking me which one was his grandma. Then Kim's little grand daughter called my mom grandma too. And to confuse people more they all had on similar sweaters, crazy.

This picture turned out a little blurry but this was the best one of the 3 of us.

We colored eggs Saturday night at mom's. We also decorated Easter cookies ast home Saturday afternoon. Cody had a friend spend the night and he helped us. He was also at "Family Dinner" Friday. Uncle Phil got a picture of him so he might show up on the family calendar. He also thought that Hawaiian Haystack was Korean food. I informed him that, if he did not notice, no one else in our family is Korean so we do not eat Korean food.

Between Deviled eggs and decorating eggs, I boiled 4 dozen eggs and only broke 2. It was A LOT of eggs!

Thrift Stores Galore

2009-04-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I decided maybe I would like to have some cowboy boots. I will not wear them a lot, so I do not want to spend a lot for them. So I decided that I should try some thrift stores. Well I have been a thrift store junkie ever since. I still have not found cowboy boots or a bike that I was look for for my grandpa. But I have purchased a glass bowl, a computer, a desk and a wall hanging.

I used to go into thrift stores/flea markets in the past & I never had any luck. I guess because I always had something specific in mind & I could never find it. Well now I go in with an open mind & if I see something that I like, then I try to find a place in my house for it. That's probably not a very good idea because I have been buying too much stuff. And I don't do "stuff". But I have been happy with all of my purchases and they all have served a purpose.

This weekend I did get to spend a lot of time with Holly!! We hung out, scrapbooked & got to spend some time at the Landing.

Friday Theoden came over & spend the night. We had fun. He enjoyed Brayden's bed/slide. We colored & watched Spiderman. He is a lot busier than some of the other little ones that I have babysat lately!

Friday I took Theoden to school! We went to school with Bray to have lunch. It was fun.

Cody's 14!!!

2009-03-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

This is Cody & me 14 years ago. He is about a month old in this picture. His birthday was Sunday. So Saturday he had 7 friends over. We had dinner at the house then they went to a game place to play video games. They had a good time.

This is one of his friends Josh.

This boy Austin spent the night. He goes to our church.

Cody with his cake, Zane & Gavin - Gavin has been his best friend since 2nd grade. Sunday after church we went to a Japanese Steak house for Cody. We all love those places. And it went without incident this time.

We also saw Monsters Vs. Aliens. Another movie that I liked but a lot of my friends did not. I must be easily amused. Oh, I am easily amused. And I guess I never have that high of expectations for movies.

There were so many movies that came out around Christmas that I missed some that I wanted to see, so I am glad that they are starting to come out on DVD. And so far I have 3 free Red Box rentals!!

Willis Tower

2009-03-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that the Sears Tower will be renamed the Willis Tower. After the new major tenant the Willis Holding Group take occupancy.

I understand this company wanting their name on a building, but they should find another building. Companies should be allowed to put their name on a building if they are paying enough money, I guess. But they should not change the name of US Landmark. And to top it all off the Willis Holding Group does not even own any part of the building - they are just renting the space.

News reports stated that many Chicago residents may never make the adjustment, but I'm sure sooner or later they will. I guess I will have to take the boys back & take a new picture with the new name. So off to the Willis Tower.

Saturday Road Trip

2009-03-23T12:56:00.001-07:00

Saturday the boys, my mom, Grandpa, Grandma & I all loaded into my mom's mini van & hit the road to Tulsa. It was quite a day. We got a lot in, but it was pretty fun.

After sitting in some traffic before Tulsa we stopped to see some long time friends of my grandparents Tony & Linda. I enjoyed the visit too.

Then we headed to lunch and met my cousins BJ, Larry and my friend Mollie. I really enjoyed my visit with Mollie as the "adults" visited with BJ & Larry.

The boys sat in the very back of the mini van & they enjoyed watching the DVD. I think Grandpa enjoyed it too but he did not listen much because he did not want to miss out on all of our girl talk.

Marvin was doing a job in Tulsa so we stopped by that job before heading to Richie & Sarah's new place.

Here is my mom with her grandsons!

I had a more "normal" picture of my brother & I but I guess this is the "normal" picture of my brother & I, so I chose to post this one.

And Sunday in church adoption was mentioned and I realized that so many people in my life may not even know that I am adopted. I also thought about all of my family picture and how people might question why I do not look like any of the people in the pictures. I guess since I have

been an adult I either was around people that knew I was adopted or people that never saw my family. But now on the WWW people that know me are seeing pictures of people that they do not realize are my family. What was the point in all of that? None really, just a thought that I had in my head that I decided to share. And I guess the realization and reminder that things that are obvious to others are not always to obvious to us.

Volunteer Story

2009-03-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

This is not my tale to tell, but I'm going to tell it anyway. One of the other volunteers today told me about something that happened to him yesterday & I thought it was so funny I have to share. Now remember that most of the volunteers that I work with are over the age of 65 - this man included.

He said that a lady came into the hospital yesterday carring a "big" child & the child was sick. So he offered to help her carry the child. She said no & he asked if she was sure. She said yes she was sure, she could do it BUT she did need him to pull her pants up for her!!

I'm not exactly sure how he got out of it, but he did not help her out.

S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E

2009-03-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

I was never a big fan of Scrabble, mainly because I can't spell. But recently I have been playing it and kind of like playing. I appreciate the challenge. Today on Yahoo there was this article about changing the scoring system due to the addition of some words. Three words to be exact. The 3 words are Za (slang for pizza), qi (something about a bodily function or urban dictionary said like a spirit around your body) and zzz (like sleeping). And since these words were being added and used what used to be unique letters that the scoring for those letters should be lowered.

1. I have not even heard of 2 of the 3 words, so would never even know to use them.
2. I probably will not remember the words again to use them the next time I play.
3. I hope I never become so crazy about Scrabble that I care that z's & q's can be used now so the score should be lowered.
4. I am happy that there are more words for Z & Q, I always felt like they were not pulling their weight in the alphabet. Now for that crazy X!

Have you used these words, in life or Scrabble?

Kid Update

2009-03-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

The boys are on spring break this week. But before Spring Break Brayden had move to music week. Friday was 70's day - that is why this teacher is dressed the way she is. That is not her typical look. Brayden is eating cow tongue in this picture. The rotten banana looking thing next to the teacher is dried cow tongue. Then she had some for the kids to try. It looked like dried chuch roast but it smelled disgusting. Brayden said it tasted like steak but he stunck after he ate it.

Cody is doing distance running in track. He has been training this week to. He recently switched to contacts. So this is an updated picture of him glasses free. I'm pretty sure he likes it.

Happy St. Patty's Day

2009-03-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

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Bearack Obama

2009-03-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I volunteer at the hospital. Well I have recently moved to the gift shop. This is one of the musical plushes that we have in there. I think it is funny (funny odd). This is no reflection of my political beliefs. This is just for "entertainment".

Baby News

2009-03-04T05:33:00.000-08:00

Congrats to my cousins Ryan & Katie on being pregnant!! I am very happy for them. While they said they did not want unsolicited advice, I feel I have to warn them about doing the following. The following is a no-no:

KETTERING, Ohio (March 3) - Police in
Ohio say a woman has been charged with
child endangering after another motorist
reported she was both breast-feeding a
youngster and talking on a phone while driving.
Police in the Dayton suburb of Kettering
say the caller told them he saw the woman
Thursday.
Officer Michael Burke says authorities used
a license plate number to track down 39-
year-old Genine Compton.
He said the woman told officers she was
breast-feeding and wouldn’t let her child go
hungry.
Burke said the legal concern is that Compton
had a child in her lap while driving, not
that she was breast-feeding in public.
He said the child was under 2 years old.
Police say the woman faces up to 180 days
in jail and a $1,800 fine if convicted of the
misdemeanor.

What A Guy

2009-03-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday I had a Home Interior Party. I told my friends that they could bring their kids because mine would be home too. Well Cody ended up spending the night with a friend but Brayden was home. So Jeremy ended up taking all the kids downstairs and keeping them entertained. AND he did this without even being asked. WHAT A GUY! He played with them, put in a movie & even fed them. He had the following ages 9, 8, 5, 5, and 2.

He did a great job. I was very impressed given that fact that I'm not really sure he has ever technically babysat before.

Hermit Crab Update

2009-02-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

Each one of the boys has had a Hermit Crab die. Brayden's died first at the beginning of last week & at the end, one of Cody's died.

I believe that both of them got too big for their shells & would not move to the bigger shell. None the less, dead Hermit Crabs are more disgusting than live ones.

They each have one left.

Bird Brain

2009-02-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

This must be where that phrase came from. This is the THIRD year that this bird has come back. Every year it bangs into the widow several times a day, through the whole spring. How does this bird fly away in the winter & then know to come back to MY house. I am pretty sure it is the same bird too. I have tried everything to get this bird to not run into my window. We will be moving toward more drastic permanent measures this year.

For some reason it does choose a different window every year, but the same side of the house. This video is in Cody's room downstairs.

It never gets old

2009-02-13T13:49:00.001-08:00

These type of stories never get old - to others. They get old to me, but to be expected so I enjoy sharing.

Today at Wendy's I ordered a side salad. She asked what type of dressing I wanted. I asked her what my choices were. She said, "we have Oriental." (pause)

Then I ask, "well, do you have Italian?" She replies, "yes and we have ranch."

31 and counting...

2009-01-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

One full year of my 30's down and 9 more to go. Last year was pretty uneventful & my 31st birthday was less than uneventful. Here is what I did yesterday to celebrate:

8:15 woke up & laid in bed
8:30-9:00 took a work conference call
9:00-11:00 played on the computer & answered some great birthday wishes
11:00-11:30 decided to wash face & brush teeth
11:30-12:30 went to rent a movie, tried to go to gym, came home
12:30-1:30 made grilled cheese sandwiches & chicken noodle soup
1:30-3:00 watched soaps, played on computer some more
3:00-5:30 played guitar hero
5:30-6:45 cooked & ate a ham dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing & green beans
6:45-8:15 watched Igor with boys
8:15-9:30 watched TV & went to bed

NOW please contain your excitement about what a funfilled day I had. Where did my day go??And even with all that I had to do I could not manage to blog, but I did manage to throw some laundry in there. So my next post will be about how I've gotten tickets to the Oprah show. For now, I hope you all will strive to have your birthday as exciting as mine!

Oprah Take 2

2009-01-26T12:31:00.000-08:00

I got the opportunity to go the Oprah show again. The first/last time that I went was 2 years ago in January. My trip this time was not as much of an adventure.

Matt & I drove up on Thursday for the Friday taping. We did not know the show topic but knew it was her Oprah live taping. Usually there is a panel there and we were excited for that, but since they had just been in DC, the panel did not come back for this week's live episode. Caroline Kennedy was supposed to be on there but she canceled & Garth Brooks was going to perform but he couldn't make it. So they were just going to show an already taped episode. Then they remembered they were going to have a live audience there. So, they had one guest from the Chicago Sun Times scheduled and they threw the rest of the show together. And it showed.

Jeremy's mom came with us. So the 3 of us went to the show. It was a good experience just like last time, but again, I felt like I got ripped off on the show. Last time they changed the show to the boys that were kidnapped in Missouri and I was disappointed with that show because it was so sad. This time they just threw the show together & Oprah was so tired & it seemed very blah. During a taping of a regular show there are not any commercial breaks. Well on this one since it was live (in Chicago where it airs at 9:00 am there only) there were commercial breaks and Oprah was not very social during the breaks.

Since it was Oscar week they did discuss the Oscars and tired to Skype some of the Oscar nominees. They had problems with Skype Friday too.

Oh well. We got a Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. And Oprah is helping promote the volunteering/giving back agenda along with Starbucks. So we got a pledge card from Starbucks for a free coffee if we pledge 5 hours of community service and the whole audience received a $20 Starbucks gift card. I was pretty excited about that. And since I already volunteer then the pledge was easy to do.

After the show we managed to find the Oprah store, which Holly and I did not see last time. We even commented on how it was weird that Oprah did not have a store. So I bought something for Holly this time, since she could not make it this year.

Tomorrow I will post on how I got tickets both times to the show.

Hair Dresser's Nightmare

2009-01-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

I guess that is me. I have had short hair for about 3 months now. Including the first time that I moved to my new do, I have had it cut 5 times. I am not going to post new pictures because I am sure it is just my own "issue", but you can refer to my original post to see the major difference. Although now it really doesn't even really look like the last picture. OH well.

But after 5 haircuts I'm still not very happy with my hair. I cannot decide if I like it short because I am not 100% happy with the style. I have gone to 3 different people & none of them have done it the way that I have asked. The first time it was too long, even after I went back a 2nd time to get more cut off. Then the next person cut it too short & stacked too much in the back, then the next person made it lop sided. Today it is ok, but I had to ask her to keep doing little cuts like 10 times. Then I came home today & whacked on it myself. Now I think it looks ok, but again maybe too short. I feel like just giving up!! I think I should just go back to longer less difficult hair.

I am really not blaming the hair people, maybe I need to realize that my hair just will not do what I want. I have come to that realization with several other hair styles. Let's just say I do not have white girl hair. My hair seems to be pretty difficult to "style" & cut. I know this so I try to not be too difficult, but I want it to look the way I want it to look. Is that too much to ask for? My "regular" stylist is my friend & she told me today that if we could still be friends after today's visit she must REALLY like me! I really don't obsess over my hair more than the 15-20 minutes in the morning that it takes me to do it, but that whole time I analyze exactly what is wrong with it.

What do you think, should I give up or keep pressing on to the goal of a perfect "short" cut?

My Grandpa

2009-01-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

I went to visit my grandpa today in the hospital. He has been in the hospital off and on for the past 3 years. When this all first started I went through a lot with him so I thought nothing would be shocking to me when it came to him. Well...

Some might call him a cranky old man, even I might call him that. But I love him, he is his own person and he always makes me laugh. He wears his hospital gown backward so the gown will open in the front. He likes to leave it open when he gets hot. Today a nurse asked if she could do anything else for him besides leave him alone & he replied no, that should to it.

But the best part of our visit was that instead of going to the restroom (where he could actually make it to) he used the port-a-potty in the room. My grandma, mom, two boys & I all just sat there with him while he tried to have a bowl movement. Then my mom & two boys decided to leave while he was still on the toilet (he was constipated today) and they all hugged him good bye while he sat on the port-a-potty! Brayden didn't seem to mind to much but I think Cody thought it was a little odd. I just looked at my grandma & we both laughed.

I am happy that my boys get to have their Great Grandfather around life has been fun with him.

Sopa

2009-01-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if you have ever had my Grandma's Sopa but it is one of my favorite dishes. I am not really sure why except I love corn and this is just a good mixture of pasta, spice, crunch & cheesiness. She has been making if for YEARS & I have only attempted to make it a handful of times. It never seems to turn out as good as hers (except for the time she used cinnamon instead of chili powder that was not a good time). And I have tried all of her techniques.

So, I am going to post the recipe and anyone that would like to try it - go ahead & let me know what you think. Some tips would be that she just slices onions (doesn't chop them) and she adds a small can of tomato sauce to it.

Sopa De Fideo

1/2 lb. Vermicelli, broken in small pieces
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
2 cloves garlic
2 c. onion, chopped
2 c. chopped celery
1 1/2 c. chopped green pepper - I usually leave out - which could be the problem but doubt it
1 can whole kernel corn with liquid
3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2/3 tsp. chili powder
1 lg. can tomatoes
1 c. water
Grated cheese for topping (or sliced cheese) - Grandma uses sliced - it's better

Saute Vermicelli (watch carefully-burns easily) with ground beef until brown. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and cook gently for 25 minutes. May need to add water if too dry. Uncover and cook 5 minutes.

Family Pet

2009-01-13T14:59:00.000-08:00

I am not a fan of pets - for myself. Sometimes I think I want a dog, but then I realize not really. Growing up I had LOTS of pets. I like animals, I just do not want to take care of them.

I feel bad for the boys because I know they really want pets, as do most kids. I have thought a lot about getting fish, and I did get Jeremy a Beta fish to test it out. Fish are ok, but he has to clean the tank every week or two, still seems like too much for me. But still a possibility.

So, this is the best solution for now. The boys got Hermit Crabs. They really gross me out. The top crab in the picture below is totally brown & looks like a spider when it comes out of the shell. So I really dislike that one.

The crabs are really low maintenance. They do get bathed 2 times a week which only takes about 5 minutes and the boys can do that without supervision. They just put some water in the sink & put them in there for 1 minute. Then they air dry.

The Hermit Crabs love bath time. That is the only time I see them out of the shell & very active.

Brayden decided to spend some of his Christmas money on the Hermit Crabs. Cody lucked out because they were buy one kit get a kit free. So, Cody & Brayden split the cost of 1 kit (one kit comes with 2 crabs) and they each got two. Brayden named his Stripes & Pinchers and Cody named his Home Slice & Home something else.

Let me introduce...

2009-01-11T15:06:00.001-08:00

??? - I don't know their names because I do not know who they are. I just decided to smile as I walked through the photo that Eric was taking of them. Eric works for Kodak at SDC & he was supposed to take their photo, but I do not think that I was supposed to be in the picture.

Happy 2009!!!

2009-01-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone. The boys are back to school and "vacation" is over. And as expected I did not manage to get anyother treats or crafts done except for the marshmellows. I did manage to take them to Silver Dollar City after Christmas one day when it was 60 degrees out. Everyone else must have had the same idea because it was PACKED that day.

I also managed to get the boy to do their thank you cards - so if you sent us a gift, you should be getting your thank you soon.

I have no resolutions by the way.

For New Year's Eve, we went to downtown Springfield to do First Night. Several businesses open for you to do various activites. It is family oriented and there are a lot of music performances but also several other activities. We actually ran out of time & did not have enough time to do all that we wanted.

We started by taking the shuttle from the car to the first location. 1/4 of the shuttle was taken up by singers & people playing music such as this man here! We decided after that we could walk every where else.

We started at the YMCA and did the rock climbing wall. Or at least the boys did the wall. Neither one of them made it to the top.

At first Brayden did not want to go to the YMCA because he thought that we were going to me singing the song. Then even after we got there, he asked if we were still going to see YMCA. He knows more about the Village People then the organization.

We had our faces painted. We had to wait in line forever for that. There was only one lady & she was super detail oriented. Brayden's is a dragon.

We went to 1984, which is an arcade. We had fun but WOW have video games changed.

We stopped by the Discovery Center but we did not have a lot of time to go there, we just stopped in to see what it was like, we will have to go back another day. It looked fun. Our final stop before the New Year was ice skating. At the entrance was this monkey. The owner had a service animal sign next to the monkey. She looked fine & when Brayden asked what the monkey did, she said it is a service monkey!?

We watched fireworks & drank some sparkling cider to ring in the New Year. It was fun!

Craft #1

2008-12-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

I'm not committing to anymore posts. I have some great plans for some fun crafts with the boys this week, but I do not know how many I'll done.

But these are the first. They are chocolate covered marshmellows rolled in goodness. I am not a big fan of marshmellows but the ones rolled in nuts are yummy.

The boys got hermit crabs this week. They really freak me out but I will post pictures tomorrow. Cody will be bathing his today.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-22T09:53:00.001-08:00

I'm stealing this idea from my cousin. Merry Christmas & this is your Christmas card.

I have no update on the Blue Screen of Death - still getting it at home & not at the computer repair place & still do not know what's causing it.

Blue Screen of Death

2008-12-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

This is what my computer has been doing for the last week. The problem had been getting progressively worse, but it would make my computer reboot. Well this problem kept occuring & my computer was set to reboot every time this screen came up.

I have a friend that fixes computers & they refer to this screen as the "blue screen of death". They told me that the name is worse than the real problem but I did not believe them. My computer was doing this just once a day but it go so bad it was doing it every time I turned the dumb thing on. So I took it in yesterday to get fixed. I was there 30 minutes and the screen never came up. So, he fixed it so it would not reboot & then this screen would stay up & I could get the code from it so he could trouble shoot from there. Well, as soon as I got home the blue screen of death came up again. So I called & gave him the code. He told me to bring it back so he could check a couple of things. I took it back today & I was there for over an hour and it did not show up & everything he checked was fine.

Long story short he narrowed down that it was "enviornmental" and asked me what all I had plugged into my computer at home & when I told him, he informed me that it was my wireless mouse. And sure enough it is. BUT I am not sure if the whole mouse is the problem or just the fact that it needed a new battery. Because the light has been on for a week that it needed a new battery. But when I got home & turned on my laptop WITHOUT plugging in the wireless mouse it still gave me the blue screen, I had to actually take out the battery before it fixed the problem. I have not put in a new battery yet because I am afraid. I will try it tonight. Wish me luck, otherwise I will be getting a new mouse.

OOPS never mind all that - I still just got the blue screen of death - NEXT???

Citizen of the Month

2008-12-15T16:02:00.001-08:00

Brayden was Citizen of the month for November, for his class. Every class chooses a citizen. Every month they have a “character word.” November’s character word was Citizenship. Which meant being loyal to your country. I asked how Brayden demonstrated being a good citizen and he said that he did not know. At least he is honest. They have the same character words every year & he has never been citizen of the month before so I guess some how he showed good citizenship.

My guess is that in October & November they did a lot of studying of the elections. And Brayden seemed very political, so maybe the teacher saw that & realized that he was loyal to his country by being so active in the political system. Or something like that. But seriously, he was very interested in the elections.

Leftover Night

2008-12-11T06:31:00.000-08:00

I have been a bad blogger because I have been sucked into the Facebook world.

But last night was our first of many Left Over Nights. I do not like leftovers therefore I do not keep left overs. I guess I also thought that if we were going to eat leftovers then we needed enough of one meal to re feed all of us again. But the other night I was somewhere where we each picked out which leftover meal that we wanted. What a novel idea. It is weird how we just think in a box sometimes & the simplest ideas are right in front of us.

SO, last night & every Wednesday night will be left over night. It was as to be expected. Mediocre at best. I know lots of people that just eat left overs when they do not feel like cooking. And when I do not feel like cooking I microwave a dinner or some easy thing. If we ate them when I did not feel like cooking, I would not feel like eating left overs that night either. Looking forward to next week!

Do you eat left overs?

Thanksgiving Pictures

2008-11-30T15:06:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving this year. We had 23 people, including all of the kids.

This is my mom with my 2 Grandpas. Her dad & Marvin's dad.

This is our group at the table.

The kids sat at the bar, expect Neviah, she sat next to her mom at the table.

Mom instructed everyone to take a picture of the couple sitting accross from you. This is my grandpa & Esther.

This was the couple sitting across from Marvin - empty seats (not the walker). Matt & Eric were not there yet. They both came late.

Grandpa & Grandma

Uncle Phil - Aunt Evelyn did not make it.

Mom & Marvin. She did a really good job with Thanksgiving dinner. We had a nice time. The weather was great & we had TONS of food.

Sam & Teri. They left right after dinner to head to his family's in Arkansas.

Ashley & Neviah. They left right after dinner too to go back home to Oklahoma.

Eugene & Sarah or Richie is his real name.

Me & J

Uncle Rick & Aunt Mona came from Oregon.

Matt made it just as we all had started.

Eric made it too.

Brayden Video

2008-11-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

Every Tuesday Brayden's school does Rise & Shine Assemblies & each week a different class does a "show case". This week Brayden's class demonstrated their progress of learning sign language. They signed "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

Another Weekend in the Windy City

2008-11-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

I was off to Chicago again this weekend. But I brought a little piece of home with me this time. My friend Suzanne & I traveled to Chicago together. She has friends & family there so we decided to go up & hang out. We spent one evening together, but then she spent the rest of the time with friends.
Friday night Jeremy & I went to PF Changs, it was super good as usual. Actually it was better than usual, but it could be because I had a real taste for it. We went to the one downtown, which was a bad idea. We had a hard time parking, we had to fight traffic & we had to pay $19.00 to park!!!

Then we met up with Suzanne and a couple of her friends for a couple of hours.

Saturday we just hung out & did a lot of nothing. But we did spend some time babysitting Jeremy's niece/god daughter Sophia. As you can see we have some mad babysitting skills. We were having fun, but I do not think Sophia felt the same way. When Chris, Jeremy's brother, got there he informed us that she had never been left with anyone other than the sitter & grandparents & she had NEVER been left without her big sister. So we were pretty excited about that. But this was right when they left. It only lasted about 5 minutes then she was totally fine!

Sunday we went to see Role Models. UBER funny!!! Then we did some shopping. And I got to see my first snow fall of the year.