Saturday, December 29

Emma makes me laugh

I am in Brainerd now, Em had a hockey game this evening in a nearby town, and a game tomorrow against Brainerd, so she and I and JP are staying in a hotel.

On the ride here, Emma was giving me such giggles, I had to write them down, so I'd remember it, so I could share... One of those (two, actually) "Kids say the darnedest things"

First off, she gets on the subject of Noah's ark, how she read about it and then says "It was HUGE". Me, not being a big bible reader (this is where she is getting her info from) I automatically refer back to the Bill Cosby stand-up routine I remember from my childhood... and I say "What's a cubit?" a la Bill in his Noah & God conversation.

Emma says (from the backseat, maybe she didn't hear me very well) "Cuban?"

Before I can correct her, she says "Isn't that an animal?"

Little later on, she's trying to stump me with... have I ever heard of a... kind of stuff. She says "Mom, do you know what a gnu is?"
me: Yeah, it's an animal sort of like a yak... cow family, right? (I look to JP for confirmation...)
Em: it's not a yak, it's a YAM
me: Emma, a yam is a vegetable... a tuber.
Em: No, a yam is a gnu thing, with horns... it's an animal
me: No, I can take you to the produce section of the grocery store and SHOW you a yam.
Em: do they sell yam meat?

UGH! She's so funny.

Friday, December 28

Workin' for a livin'

I've been putting in alot of hours at the bank over my winter break, holy crap, it's been nice. My supervisor talked to me today, and told me that as of January 1, I won't be able to work more than my "student position" allows, which is 17 hours per week, which I have NEVER done, and it will suck on the paychecks, but will be nice on the family time.

ANYWAY, she said that Monday is my last chance to get monster hours in, and would I like to work longer than she had me scheduled for? UM, YEAH, go out with a Bang, not a whimper!
So Monday end of day is the end of the pay period, and I will have (ball park) 65 hours on that check! WOO HOO! That'll help with holiday financial recovery! I'm planning on that check going entirely to my Target card.

My "excess" grant money after tuition will PAY OFF the Kia. That will show up in mid to late January.

My big check from the school for working at the bookstore for that week (I'll be doing that the 7th thru the 11th of January) will go to the Gander Mountain card... that JP opened JUST to get Alex's gun... and ended up getting his gun and this and that and the other thing and before you know it, HOLY SHIT! It will make a dent in the total, but nowhere near enough. Well, that's fine. I'll just chip away at it...

There's more to talk about, I got some GREAT "traveling in '08" news to yak about, but I think I will do that tomorrow after I get home from work.

For now, ya'll just had to be bored to tears while I figured out my financial plans... I was really just "typing out loud"... not a great post, but I'm making a friggin' effort, throw me a bone!

Tuesday, December 25

Ok, my New Year's resolution...early

I haven't posted since the 19th, that's bad.
My resolution is to be better.

I had a good Christmas here, I hope to do some detailed posts this week about different things, but here's a quick rundown:

Steven got his puppy, loves her, and best of all, SHE'S GONE!!
I got the BEST gift ever, from JP, an auto start for the Kia.
No more cold Kia after work and before going to classes! No more scraping frost off the windshield! He is the best, it is EXACTLY what I need!

I also got my final grades for the fall semester... another 4.0! This one feels better than the first 4.0 that I got last spring...maybe because this semester has been hell. The classes were just tough, either difficult to understand, or difficult to stay awake for. Now my GPA is up to a 3.95! I have 13 more credits, 3 classes, in the spring, so I'm actually hoping for a cumulative GPA of 3.97 or better, but honestly, I'm happy with what I've got. And I'm happy that I've only got 3 classes left before I graduate.

The kids love their Wii, they even got JP and I playing some WiiSports games for awhile.

Oh, yeah, they talked me into opening gifts last night... on Christmas Eve!! And when I say "they", I don't just mean the kids, JP and my mom were in on it, too! I had no chance... if I said 'no', I'd have been the scrooge. I have to admit, they made good arguments... the main one being that if they had all their gifts, then they wouldn't be knocking on my door at 5 am to open gifts then. And it worked wonderfully, I lolled around in bed until after 11 this morning, got up and ate a bit, then napped some more. I did not get out of my pajamas all day! We just watched a movie (Pirates III, kids got it for Christmas) and now I want to go back to bed. I have to work at the bank at 9:30 in the morning, it's going to be a long day. JP is off the rest of the week, so at least I don't need to worry about the kids being home alone and killing each other for not sharing the Wii.

This'll do for now, hopefully I can be a better blogger now that the stressful and frantic holiday time is over...

Wednesday, December 19

Magenta poodles shitting in my yard

Mom and I ran to Fargo this morning, finished up the shopping and had a celebratory lunch at Red Lobster.

We got home at 1, and I had to work at 3:30. I was exhausted, so I decided to lay down and try to take a quick nap... set my alarm for 2:30 and got into my footie jammies.

I had a dream... a bad dream that gave me a headache. It was happening right before the alarm went off, because I actually heard the music and WANTED to stay in the dream to finish what I was saying (yelling, really)

I looked out my window to see a large magenta poodle taking a shit in my yard. I opened a kitchen drawer, looking for something to throw at the little bastard. I found (I remember this very distinctly) a white and orange hand mixer. I ran out the screen door and hollered at the poodle " Get out of here you piece of shit" and I SWEAR, IT ANSWERED ME!! It yelled back "No" I threw the mixer, and was instantly pissed because I threw like a girl... only in my dream (nightmare) would I throw like a girl!
So I started running after this mutt, chasing it back to it's house, across the street. I was about halfway across the street when a sweet little old lady opened the door and the mutt scooted inside. She asked me (rather stern and pissy, actually) what I was doing chasing her sweet baboo! I started telling her that I was getting sick of her mutt shitting in my yard, I have 3 large dogs, I have enough shit to deal with!

And then I heard the music and my mind told me to wake up, but I so wanted to stay and finish ragging out that old bitty... who the hell dyes their dog MAGENTA??

I went to work with a headache.

Tuesday, December 18

getting it done

Well, I had a productive day!
I went in to school for a few hours, helped Michele clean out her office, then I came home and tended to Eric, who was "sick" at home. Then I ran out and got little gifts for each of the girls at work plus the gifts that Emma and Eric need to take to school for their parties.

Came home and wrapped all that, AND wrapped the gifts for kids that I don't know. There's a tree in the lobby of the bank, with paper ornaments with kids' names written on them. These kids are less fortunate, and each paper had the kid's sizes, age, and a few "wish" items listed. I took the ones I could find that were closest to my own kids' ages and sexes, too. Then we went and picked out presents for these kids. My children need to learn how fortunate they are, and they need to learn to care about other people. Of all my kids, I think Emma really "got" it the most. She was very concerned with getting this girl (think her name is Katherine, Katrina, something like that) the JUST RIGHT gifts... my Em is such a tenderheart.

I brought these gifts, along with the gifts for the girls into work, and after work we had a department meeting. That lasted until 7... long afternoon, but it was an additional hour and a half of pay, so I didn't mind too much.

I came home and yelled at the kids, mainly Alex, for being slackass little buggers who don't do their chores. JP called, and I had to tell him I'd call him back, I was in the middle of an ass-chewing!

Then Mom and I ran out to Walmart and picked up a few things, I got the kids even with their gifts, everyone has the same number of gifts to open. I also grabbed a couple of stuffers. I want to get some more, came up with the bright idea of stuffing their stockings with socks... socks in their socks! And I'm going to get them each a watch, too. No more of this "I didn't know what time it was" when they come home late!

Now I should be going to bed, but I have a ton of emails to deal with and online banking to do. Mom and I are going to run to Fargo tomorrow, finish everything up.

Steven and Mark are coming up on Friday, and Elphie will be gone on Sunday morning. I cannot wait for that! I love puppies and all, but holy crap, she's alot of work, needs to pee all the time and it is COLD outside. She's really doing well with the housebreaking though.

That's it, I have to get to those emails and crap... Goodnight all!

Monday, December 17

Bowling Night

I had a good night at the lanes.
My average was a 117 before tonight.
I got a 110 (not great) and then

AND THEN

I had a 146 and a 137!!

I had a few Mike's, and when I got home, I got to watch the rest of the Vikings game. Monday night football against the Chicago Bears. It was a great game. Of course I say that because they won. If the Vikings had lost in a close game, I would be saying how much the game sucked ass.

Well, I do have to go in to the school in the morning, Michele wants help with her office, sort of a spring cleaning project. What the hell do I care? I get paid no matter what I'm doing for them.

I'm off to Pogo.com to play a game for awhile before bed, I get to sleep in for an extra half an hour tomorrow, JP is getting the kids up and started! Yippee!

Sunday, December 16

Vegtable Day

JP just called, he and Emma are on their way home, it's a 4 hour drive.
Emma's team made it all the way to the Championship game!!
They got a nice big trophy for 2nd place, and she sounds really happy.

It's a nice change, for those girls to be winning as much, if not more, than they lose. These last 3 years, it was all losing, and now they're getting a taste for how it feels to win. Even getting 2nd place in that tourney makes her pretty much over the moon happy.

I like it when my kids are happy.

I am trying to get things done around here, the living room is half done, I got my scrapbooking and school desk sorted through and packed up, it's a big living room, but I need to make room for the whole holiday stuff in there. So my table will leave for awhile.

Tomorrow when the kids go to school, I will bring out all the gifts that have been hiding in my room, and get them all wrapped. I just don't seem to have the ambition today to do much of anything, but I really should.

No, ya know what? I deserve today. The rest of my time off is going to be filled with work, and working at the school, and getting ready for Christmas celebrations, so today... today is MY VEGETABLE DAY!! I am going to be a veggie today!
I'm wearing my pajama pants all day, and my soft sockies, and a ratty sweatshirt that I got out of JP's side of the closet, and I don't think I'm going to do much of anything. I think I have earned a vegetable day... maybe I'll even go steam some broccoli...be a cannibal!

I did do one thing "productive" today! I counted my silver change jar. It's not quite half full, and there's $195 in there. Yeah, that'll do, that makes me happy. I still don't know what I'm going to do with it, but someday, I'll figure it out, and it'll be there. That's nice.

Holy crap, how dull is my life? Don't care... compared to a year ago, when my life was nothing near dull, this is great. I'll take dull and settled ANY DAY.

Wednesday, December 12

Flashback to 15 years ago

Fifteen years ago I was walking with my boyfriend in the mall. We were Christmas shopping. We came upon a Goodman Jewelers. I asked him, jokingly, "Do you want to see the ring I want?" We had been together for a year and a half, and it just seemed like the relationship was cruising along just fine without us having one of those "where are we?" talks. It was just common knowledge that eventually we would marry, you know?

So we walked in and I started browsing the ring area. They had these displays set up, little trays with like five rows of rings and each row had probably five rings in it. Just to freak him out, cuz I'm mean like that, I said "See the third one down, on the left end?" (It was GIANORMOUS, and very expensive!) His eyes got big and he said "Yeah?" with a kind of gulp swallow.

I grinned and said "Yeah, the one NEXT to it, that's the one I like!" I could literally SEE the relief wash over his face. I had chosen a simple 1/4 carat diamond solitaire, princess cut, just a classic beautiful ring.

About that time, a saleswoman came over and asked if I'd like to try something on... um, DUH! So she brought "my" ring out and I slipped it on and it was a perfect fit. Now that in itself is unusual for me, my fingers are... weird. Long and skinny looking, but in reality, pretty pudgy.

The saleslady asks if we were interested in financing. JP looked at me and then turned to her and said "Could we have a minute to talk alone?" I assumed he was going to ask if we could just do this some other time. We didn't really plan it, after all, we were just looking. Mainly, I wanted to show him the kind of ring I liked so someday SOMEDAY when he went to pick a ring for me, he would know my preferences.

After the woman walks away (I still have the ring on my hand here!) JP says "If I ask you, will you say 'yes'?" I love this guy. He never ACTUALLY asked me to marry him. That is so like him, just sweet and seems to not realize how wonderful he is. Of course I'd say yes!

I told him "Um, hon, I wouldn't be here if I was gonna say 'no'..."
He called the saleslady back over and we proceeded to pick out the wedding band, a 6 diamond wrap that fits around my solitaire.
That was the day we "technically" got engaged. December 12, 1992

Tuesday, December 11

Bowling last night

Well, I've hit a bit of a slump with my bowling. Yes, my first game was great, 129, but after that, it all went to hell. 110 & 102. Pretty rough night.

Today is my last full day of classes, tomorrow we have just the morning classes, then we are having a "party", complete with pizza delivered and Guitar Hero. One of the guys is bringing in his Playstation, and we are borrowing a TV from the AV geeks. Feels like the last day of high school, but it's better than prepping for a final exam!

Then next week, I will be in the school during finals week, being teaching assistant to 3 teachers, helping them get everything wrapped up for the semester. I should be able to get quite a few hours in, too, so that's a nice check coming right before Christmas.

I went into the bookstore yesterday to pick up my work study check from last week, and while there, Donna, the bookstore lady asked me if I'd work for her the week before classes start up again in January. That week is just nuts for her, everyone's financial aid comes through then, and they all come in to get their books for the next semester. I told her I would, that's another big haul of hours to add to my work study check! She said it would be great if I could be there from 8am to 2 pm Monday through Friday that week. Plus I work at the bank at 3 or so every day, that's going to be a nice chunk of change! Plus, it's nice that Donna went to Bonnie, head of the work study people and requested me, asked Bonnie to look into my schedule, see if I COULD work that many hours, if it were possible... Donna is a real nice lady, too.

That's all for now, maybe I'll post later today about my weekend, plus there's Macro tonight, LAST CLASS BABY!! He has told us that we can throw out our lowest test score, so when I do that, I end up with an A in Macroeconomics!! How the hell did that happen?? I'm very pleased.

Monday, December 10

spank me

I'm so naughty...bad, BAD blogger!

Ok, so maybe I just really want a spanking... whatever. But I do apologize for my lack of blogging. This last couple of weeks of classes have been a little nuts, plus trying to get the shopping done, and already starting with some Christmas get-togethers!!

Maybe I can chat more about this weekend after I go bowling. It was a fun time down in Southern Minnesota, I can tell ya that!

More later, got to go throw down some balls now...
hehehe... I'm funny.

Wednesday, December 5

Cell phone camera



I just took these outside between classes... not too bad for a cell camera.
Minnesota sucks sometimes, too cold, but it can be pretty.

Tuesday, December 4

Winter comes to Minnesota

It snowed significantly this past weekend. On Monday, as we were digging out and recovering, we hear that another storm is coming on Tuesday. And it certainly did, or IS actually. It started this morning before I got out of bed, it's now 1 in the afternoon, and it has not let up yet.

The public schools are closing in half an hour, and my college classes were cancelled as of 2pm... so that means NO MACROECON. TONIGHT!! Yippee.

Added to the fact that classes on Thursday will not happen, and my "days to go" is really getting short! So I am relaxing a bit before I have to get ready for work. Yes, the whole town could shut down, but NOT THE BANK. The one thing is, when the weather is crap, nobody thinks "Oh, I have to get to the bank before we get snowed in for a day and a half" Hell no, those people are hitting the grocery store, and hitting it hard. Glad I don't work there!

Well, that's all for now, I'm going to veg on Pogo.com for awhile... y'all go there? I recently discovered that they have Bingo there, and even though I suck and almost never win, it really is addictive. So that's the plan for the next hour or so... I can barely stand the excitement... I know y'all must be on pins and needles too.

sorry, that's all I got today.

Sunday, December 2

Promises of better blogging

It's December, and I only have 2 weeks left of this semester of hell.

AFTER THAT, I think I will have more time and less stress, and I will be a better blogger, both posting and reading!

So technically, I only have 8 more days of classes, since I do not have classes on Fridays. THAT is encouraging. I can do 8 days.

If I can get through this weekend of 3 huge tests to do, I'm done with one, halfway through with the second, and I have a plan to get help on the 3rd tomorrow.

I took another Macro test last Tuesday night, got 100% on it (It was kind of a collaborative effort, the instructor gave us an early Christmas gift!) and I only have 2 more of those classes, one of lecture, and then one more test.

Just wanted to pop in for a second, on my homework break!