Wiped out

We had our last Christmas gathering tonight and I am exhausted! Tomorrow should be a nice relaxing day...but not happening. I am going to psych myself out to get everything all cleaned up nice like it was Christmas Eve. Before the chaos happened....well, before Santa appeared, and we had numerous items strewn about the living room and I started cooking for Christmas with my mom...my kitchen is such a disaster...and I hate cleaning the kitchen....wish me luck. I will hopefully finish early enough to download my pictures tomorrow :)

Luckily, if I don't finish completely tomorrow like I plan, this week is a short week so yippee!! I am off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday again this week for New Years. I am getting spoiled with the short weeks ;)

Best. Friday. Ever.

Not many people are blessed enough to have a boss like mine. Or coworkers. Today, instead of going to work, we met up at 8:00 a.m. and drove to Texarkana to do some shopping. All day. I got home at almost 10:00 p.m.!! I had an absolute blast. We ate breakfast on the way out, had lunch (which included the largest margaritas ever and neither my boss nor myself are much of a drinker so we had a pretty good buzz) and we laughed and talked and goofed off and shopped and had the best time. We are planning on doing it next year but it will be probably be somewhere else and we will likely stay the night. We will see. It will be like a girls time out. Loved it. It was very very much needed.

Oh, and in case you didn't get the memo...CHRISTMAS IS A WEEK AWAY!! WOO HOO!!

one week with no internet...TORTURE

Well, I have had no internet for a week and its been torture!!! So much has gone on and I don't know if I will remember to blog it all!!

First, and most excitingly.....DEREK GOT A JOB!!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! It is in a new field and it will give him the opportunity to have an actual career and not work in a factory/plant setting his whole life. I am so proud of him getting this opportunity and, even though he won't admit it, I know he is secretly excited! :) He has normal hours again, 7 - 4ish and off on weekends. Its laying networking and fiber optic cables and stuff like that I think. Its a different job site every day so he's not in the same spot all the time which is SOOO Derek.

My recovery is going well. I was pretty sore through Monday and back at work by Tuesday. The pain pills were a wonderful help and my husband was perfection through it all. I didn't get up and move much and when I did he was right there to pick me and carry me around and wait on me hand and foot. AND he didnt COMPLAIN AT ALL. Such a sweet hubby :)

Now, my kiddos are off to Aunt Alli's tonight and to the theme park tomorrow so tonight hubby and I can go out to dinner and then off to a friends house to plan there wedding in two weeks! Fun times a comin!!

****special note****To any one reading this, keep my friend Ashley Jo in your prayers. She is pregnant with baby no. 4 and there are some serious complications and she may be losing her baby. She is such a wonderful mother and this has been so hard on her emotionally. She should know today and my heart and prayers have been with her all day. Love you AJ and I have faith it will turn out okay.

I need a vacation...from my vacation!

Okay, so basically my whole week off has been devoted to my home. We didn't do much in terms of getting to do fun stuff as a family like I had hoped. But my home is almost finished for now. So excited!! Carson's room is complete. The bathroom is lacking the trim work and the hall is 95% done on the floors and needs trim work. AFter that, its just Shanna's floors, the living room floors, painting the 5% of the living room walls that are not done, the trim work in the living room and kitchen and we are done! for at least the next 3-4 months. Then we are going to attempt starting the master bathroom, which will then lead into the master bedroom. There is not too much to be done there - So hopefully that won't take too much. I want to do my kitchen next Spring so hopefully my schedule works and the financing will be available! ;) Here's hoping!

I got back to work on Monday. Boo. I so wish I could stay at home more. LIke work part time somewhere and spend more time in the summer home with my kids. That would be spectacular but it is not in the cards for me. :(

I have had two gallbladder attacks this weekend. Painful. The nausea is coming back almost worse than the last time, however, since I was off this week - I cant really go in for surgery in the next week or two and be off another half a week. That would really be bad - so my plan is to hopefully make it to the fall when my boss will be out another week and try to do it around then so I don't have to worry about her being at the office trying to fend for herself. That will take some stress off of me.

Well, that's all for now I guess. Just wanted to update the progress of my house! I am so excited that it is almost whole again.

proof of marriage?

Okay, so this is totally retarded in my opinion...hubby's work wanted proof of eligibility for insurance purposes. Totally get that - they needed proof that Derek was the father of my children and that I was his spouse and therefore eligible to be on his insurance plan. So I send him to work with birth certificates and our marriage license.

Then I get a letter in the mail a day or two ago...requesting proof that we were still married. WTF? How do you get proof that your still married? That is the goofiest thing I have ever heard of! SO I sent him to work to ask...they want a copy of my drivers license. How does that prove that we are still married...We could have divorced last year and my drivers license would still have my name as Shoptaw and my address the same!! THat is retarded!!

Okay, I thought I would share the retardness with you all!!

Lazy Sunday

Well, its Sunday night...and I am doing my laundry frantically trying to get it done tonight so I don't have to worry with it through out the week. Shanna's softball season ended today. We placed 3rd in District so we were excited! It was a long tournament and our girls did good. I hope that next year is better for them. They deserve it. CArson's last game I think is tomorrow. I am really pumped. They did good this tournament - well, so far there have been 2 forfeits, but they still played and they did good.

However, the hubby works graveyard this week (read: BOO) and that means little to no sleep for me...I usually stay awake to make sure he wakes up and gets out the door on time. I know, I am such a good little wifey! ha ha ha....

So, I will be doing all night laundry! YIPPEE!! - well, I say all night, I only have about 6 loads total to do...i doubt I do them all tonight, I may just do a few more and then finish up tomorrow night after the game. I know - total randomness.

Good News/Bad News

okay, so today was a good news bad news day.

Good News: My hubby starts his new job Monday!!! (its at the same place, just a different part of the plant)...so yeah!! Why is that such good news....cause he no longer works the funky 12 hour shifts that alternate between nights and days...which means that no longer will we have two consecutive weekends every three to four weeks to make plans and no longer will I have to be single mommying it for weeks at a time like I have all month!!! Why you ask?? Because NOW my hubby works from Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.!!! SCORE! I am sooo excited to have a normal family life again. I have been feeling so alone and depressed and stressed because I am literally pulling all the family weight solo. It sucks and its stressful. No more!! I get to see my hubby and have an actual marriage again instead of a roomie! YEAH!!!

Bad News: His plant is getting to ready to lay off 40% of their employees until mid July. Boo. No idea which one yet, but I do know that for today, its not him!! Thank the Lord!! I just hope and pray that he avoids the lay off. I know those chances are slim to none right now b/c he's kind of the low man on the totem pole since he's only been there a few months...but hey, a girl can dream!!

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In other news...we start our first softball tournament this weekend. So ready for it! I can't wait. Despite the fact that two of our key players were stolen to another team less than a week ahead of time...we will recover. We got a pretty good little team and I am so excited! But of course, if this rainy weather doesn't let up, we might not get to play :(

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Oh, and more yucky news...I think I am allergic to Maybelline Mascara. It has been bugging the crap out of my eyes. So I am going to have to get new mascara. I fell in love with Sephora at Park Plaza Mall the other day. I would love to go back and play!! I could easily spend some serious money there (but I can't bring myself to actually do that) and waste an entire day there. I want to try this Dior mascara they have there...I have read AMAZING things about it...but not sure I can bring myself to spend $24 on mascara...even if the tube is like double the size of hte stuff at walmart...especially since we aren't sure if Derek is getting laid off soon...so I get to mascara shop this weekend! So excited! If there is one thing I love to shop for, its mascara. I don't know why, but mascara has always been my one "I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT" item since I was like 16. I know, I am such a dork!! But I'll let you know what I find!!

The last Three Weeks....from you know where

Well, I know I have been gone a while...the last three weeks have been a nightmare. First, you know I was sick. Got over it and moved on. Missed one day of work. Boo. I hate missing work for a whole day and I rarely do unless the office is closed and sometimes not even then. But if the office is open, I hate not being there. Stuff piles up, and it is just not pleasant.

The next week, Carson is sick. Bad. And Shanna. Carson has strep and its miss diagnosed for the whole week. He threw up from Sunday through Thursday. Thursday he ended up in the hospital for him to be diangosed with dehydration and an ear infection on top of it. Something apparently his doc couldn't diagnose at the clinic. FRUSTRATING!!!!! I missed two days of work.

The next week took the cake. On Monday, February 16, 2009, the Lord called my Dad home. I was at work and got the call around 2 that he had less than 24 hours. Since I had missed Wednesday and Thursday the week before, I HAD to get a few more things done. I left at 3 and around 4:45 he was gone. I was there with my siblings. It was the hardest thing I have ever done was watch my dad, the strongest man I ever knew growing up, take his last dying breath. It was devestating. The week was spent making funeral arrangements. I worked part of the day Wednesday and was going to work all day Thursday b/c the visitation wasn't until Friday night and the funeral Saturday morning. The school called at 1:00 and said Shanna had diahrrea. So I went to get her. I passed out at home from shear exhaustion and woke up at 7:00 p.m. with fever. I had strep throat. I was freaking out. My hubby got me antibiotics the next morning and the next two days I was in a medicated fog. I barely made it through everything and finally had my breakdown on Sunday night when I was home alone and the kids were in bed and hubby was at work.

The last three weeks have been torture. I am looking for some sunny skys and good times. But I still miss my dad and haven't yet hit the realization that he is gone. We were at the ball park and it just broke my heart that he wasn't going to be there anymore. He loved that ball park. He spent the last twenty years there and he is gone. It is going to take more than I thought to heal.

Crazy Week!

This week has been absolute chaos! First, I get up late Monday, I was an hour late for work (luckily, Monday was a holiday so it didn't really matter b/c we only worked part of the day anyway). I didn't get ANY housework done last weekend so I was hoping to catch up Monday, but b/c I was late, I got jack done. Then, Tuesday, I have to update my computer b/c its acting all retarded and apparently I needed to update the Windows service pack. So I update. and afterward...OMG...It has erased all of my dictation that I had not finished just yet, erased my connection to my scanner and my printer was acting up. Nevermind that it took half the day to update so I had to work on my second computer at the office. Yes, our office is sometimes so crazy and I get backed up and need to work away from the phones and front door that we actually have a second work station in the back for me to work on. Sad huh? :) anywho...Well, then yesterday I can't get anything done for the computer being retarded and several disability appointments. Today? My printer QUIT. It quit! Ok, for those of you that don't know, a legal secretary without a working printer is like a faucet with no spout. basically, useless. So for half the day, while my boss drove to Benton to get a new one, I was unable to do much of anything. So my Friday, which is supposed to be my short day, will no doubt be an extremely LOOOONNNGGG one. Boo.

Oh, and they are coming to tape and mud my walls and get ready to spray my ceiling and walls to get them ready to paint and my house is a wreck and nowhere near ready. I have weeks worth of laundry to catch up on. I need to do the billing at the office (I reckon I will be bringing that home to do). I just look at my little pig pen and go "why me?" I can clean it immaculate and when my hubby and kids walk through the door its as if everything I just cleaned goes 'WWWOOOO HOOOO" and jumps back into the floor, or on the bars, or the book shelf, or the couch and the laundry magically appears back in the hampers. Its crazy.

On top of the stress and anxiety I have about my house, I am very nervous about my dad going back to the doctor tomorrow. I am so nervous that it is going to be bad. Please pray for him. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in July, 2007. We have been so blessed to have had the last year with him. He spent Christmas and New Years of 2007 in the hospital struggling to survive and since he came home in February, 2008, I have been trying to stay closer to him than I have in the past. I am so thankful the Lord felt compelled to bless me and my siblings with another year with him. He got to see my little brother have a baby. He got to see his granddaughter start softball, which was a huge part of his life prior to getting sick. The last year has truly been a learning and growing experience for my family. So keep him in your prayers that everything turns out okay tomorrow!! I am going to attempt to get some sleep tonight, although that hasn't really been in the cards the last couple of days! :)

Until next time...

Poker Night!

We went to our bff's house last night. The kids were begging to spend the night with their great grandmother,who they are extremely close to, so me and the hubby had a night out. :)

We just hung out. The guys had a few beers and we all sat down and played poker. We are goobers and when we play poker we play for change. Or at least we used to. Trav got a new set of poker chips around Christmas and I was not aware we were going to use those. So I got a roll of quarters for nothing! Anyway, Derek and I started with $5.00 each. By the end of the night, Derek was flat broke and I had made $13 (well, $17 if you count the $4.00 I gave him through out the night...ha ha ha). I was pretty stoked! I kept my money, took Derek's and made some money! I was so proud of myself. :)

Well, it was an early night for us. Derek has to work for the next three nights so I will be all by my lonesome. Its also Saturday night so the kids will be with my inlaws (or they usually are). I am supposed to go to my brothers house for a party tonight to hang out with my friends. Its not every weekend that my kids go somewhere every night, but this happened to be an exception. Plus its a long weekend for them, I think they should have a lil extra fun!! Tomorrow is Sunday, which means housework for mom! Boo!!! Talk to you later!

**Courtney**