climbing back onto the earth

yes, i did fall off the edge of the earth for a while....but i'm back!

thanks for all the birthday/anniversary wishes! last week was fun but hectic! on monday our sitter told us she needed to go to mexico right away for the rest of the week. so we were scrambling trying to find a way to get the kids taken care of for the week. i ended up staying home two days, jerry stayed home one, and a friend watched them for us for one day. and i do my best (practically only!) blogging from work - hence the long absence....

the astros game was great, even though we lost 14-1. i mean, it was the most terrible game i've ever seen, but my sister and i had a great time. we made three cool, sparkly, witty signs, and were sure that we would be seen on tv, but no such luck. that is, unless jerry (who was instructed to watch the whole thing) was doing his flipping channels during commercials thing, and missed us. who knows. but we didn't even get on the jumbo-tron in the stadium?!! they don't know what they missed....

we waited for saturday to do sadie's bday - so her big brothers would be there too. pink cake with pink frosting - she loved it, and made quite a mess! i did my best, but there is still pink cake stuck in the crevices of the high chair. it's not fair - with other stuff, you clean it, and it looks pretty good. but with that bright pink cake, it practically glows, so you have to get every speck out to make it look clean. i'll have to really attack it this week....

so i got a sewing machine for my birthday!!! i'm so excited! i had told jerry it's what i wanted, but i wasn't sure if he took me seriously. i just really wanted something i can do something creative with - as a stress outlet. and i've always thought it would be cool to be able to sew things for myself and the kids, like my mom did when we were kids. she made several prom and banquet dresses, halloween costumes, etc. and i can't wait to try it too! i know a little - like how to read and cut a pattern, and some of the terminology, but i will be starting at page one of the manual, and probably get some beginner books and we'll go from there! yay!

next - i didn't get the job i applied for, but my friend bianca did! i'm so psyched for her. she and i have been in HR together for the past year, and both applying for many of the same positions... i think she's a better fit for that position anyway. she'll do great. but now i have to find someone else to go to lunch and snark about co workers with!!

so now i'm off to catch up on all of your blogs that i haven't read for a week!

but i'll leave you with a photo of the april/may birthday club - this was the party we had at my mom's a few weekends ago.....enjoy!

in recent news...

i've been a bad blogger. here's a recent update of all the things i've meant to write sweet and thoughtful posts about, but never found the time between cooking, working, commuting, baseball, diapers, etc..........

aidan turned 3 a couple weeks ago. i know! and sadie turns 1 next wednesday. cousin lucy turned 2 last week. so two weekends ago, we had a party at my mom's house for all the birthday kiddos, one big cake and three big candles. it was very cute and very fun. and yes, the pictures are still stuck somewhere in the bowels of our computer, as we hedge our bets that the modem won't crap out during the download. last time i tried, i only got 20 or so of the 148 pics uploaded to the online picture album, which is the only way i can get them here to my blog....anyway, i can't believe how fast my babies are growing up. if i could only get aidan interested in potty training, i'd be happy. he's talking much better, more and more every day. and i think sadie said "ball" yesterday. she already says "uh-oh!" and "hi!". and thinks that both of these words are big jokes, and she laughs after she says it. wow. so big.

mother's day was great. i told jerry all i wanted was to sit in front of the tv and watch the astros game - with the stipulation that i got to control the remote. he is a flipper. you know what i mean - those people who can't stand to watch commercials, and will flip channels to find something else to watch for the couple minutes of commercial time between segments. consequently, we usually miss the first at-bat or so of every inning, because jerry got interested in somethings else between innings. but not on sunday! that remote sat in my hot little hand the whole game, and jerry didn't complain at all. well, except when the sonic commercials came on, because he really really hates those idiotic guys. i think they're funny. but i digress. even though i told him not to buy me any presents, he got me a six pack of bud light and $10 of lottery tickets. is he not the most romantic guy in the world? well, maybe not, but at least i won $6 on the tickets! and oh how i do love bud light.....

anyway, on to the next exciting event - our anniversary is today! 4 years. i'm leaving work a little early, and cha cha is coming back this evening to watch the babies so we can go to the best steakhouse in town for some goooood grub, "sin ninos, todos solos!!" she is so funny, i think she was just as excited as me. she really is too good to us. i can't wait to sink my teeth into a huge juicy filet mignon. and this place has crabcake appetizers that taste so good, it's a shame to have to swallow them. and blueberry bread pudding with whiskey sauce. oh.my.god. the guy who is the chef here used to be a white house chef. like for the president. and now he's right here in this little hick town outside of houston. why not?

and next, my birthday is next week! so my sister and i are going to an astros game on sunday. just us, no kids, no husbands! fun! i just got our tickets yesterday. i'm pumped. we're on the first row of the terrace deck, which is pretty high, but good seats anyway. good for some foul balls, maybe! and since katie's pregnant, i can drink all the $8 beers i want! (or at least all i can afford....) (which means i can have one. cool!)

and finally, here comes the broken record. i'm interviewing again for another supervisor position. y'all must think i am a total loser. let me splain. no, is too much - let me sum up. here working for my department, rarely is anyone given a promotion outright. everytime there is a vacancy in a manager position, they hold interviews, and go from there. so it's not like other jobs in the private sector world where bosses just promote people on their merits. no, we're ass backwards here, so it all has to be done by comittee and procedures, bla bla bla. anyway, i'm interviewing on monday. it's a supervisor in the court unit, bla bla, you've heard the pitch before. so we'll see....maybe it will be a good birthday present!!!!

and that's that jack sprat. busy may.

the munchkins

as promised, some recent pics. here's aidan with his spiderman popsicle that ended up about 3/4 inside him, 1/4 all over him.





and here's sadie in all her toothy glory!!



and this is sadie and cousin lucy, hangin' out.

Job posting - who wants to apply?!

POSITION:
Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Ma

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an, often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION:
Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:
Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS:
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies out there!!!

7 interesting facts

i love being tagged, and i can't resist a meme, so here goes.....

I was tagged by Janeen to tell you 7 facts about myself. I'll try and come up with 7 things I haven't written about before.

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. i wear a size 9 shoe
2. i have found that baby wipes make a pretty good makeup remover. actually, i'm usually too lazy or tired to wash my face before i go to bed, so i just use baby wipes.
3. i graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in Criminal Justice
4. i really wanted to go to Notre Dame, but we really couldn't afford it. Did you know that Notre Dame only awards academic scholarships to kids in the top 5% of their graduating class?
5. i graduated in the top 6% of my high school class.
6. i was a national merit scholar though
7. i'm glad i ended up at tcu, though. i love fort worth, and made wonderful friends there!

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 people, but i'm opting for the "break the chain, and you will have bad luck for a year and none of your wishes will ever come true" option.


and by the way, i know everyone thinks i'm either a terrific tease, or a big liar because i keep promising to show pictures of birthdays, swingsets, easter, and everything else. i swear to you that our pictures are stuck in the hard drive of our home computer because the &*^%^&* time warner people can't fix our internet. they've already buried the cable (because our dogs chewed it up....oops) and replaced the modem, and it's still not working. so be patient, little ducks.

silly

hee hee.

giveaways!!!

so y'all see the mother's day button over there?! they're giving away free stuff - cool! it's open to non-bloggers too, (katie!) so click on over here and enter.

mother's day....ahh. all i want is to sit on the couch, do no housework, eat ice cream, and watch the astros game. don't have to buy me any jewelry, although flowers would be cool. that's it. i'm easy to please.

our anniversary is the 17th, though.....we'll have to think of something good to do. maybe even (gasp!) a night on the town? get a sitter and all? wow. can i just tell you i don't even remember what the inside of a bar looks like. sad.

my sister and i are planning to go to a 'stros game sunday after mother's day for our birthday (which is the 25th). leave jerry with all the kids. he may need to call for backup....

so anyway,still no easter or swingset pics. now our internet is down at the house, and i can only post from work. ggrrrrr. time warner is coming out today. so we'll see.

happy wednesday!!

a funny thing happened about the swingset

so still no pics, but here's a funny story.

jerry got the swingset at walmart (i know, we're supporting the conglomerate, and i'm not thrilled about it either, but you can't argue with saving $400.)

he went asking for the set that was advertised, and they had a bunch of them in boxes. some sets were comprised of 2 or 3 boxes, some were contained in only one. the one we wanted cost about $500, and was in 2 boxes. there was one a little smaller that came in one box. so while they were looking for ours, they found a set that was one step nicer/bigger than ours, originally $850, but marked down to $500. right on! so they set out looking for the boxes for that one. it comes in 4 boxes, and they could only locate 3 out of the 4. oh well. so we got the $500 one.

so jerry and his brother start putting this thing together. on the directions it says it will take 2 people working together about 2 hours to assemble. they started at 7 pm sunday night. they were out there until about 12:30 in the morning, and still were only about 1/2 done. and these are handy guys too. i mean, jerry fixes appliances for a living, and his brother is a mechanic. they know their way around power tools. but anyway, jerry finished it up on monday morning, and the kids went nuts. they climbed and played and played and climbed.

but guess what - they still had a whole box full of parts and wood left over. apparently the boxes that the skilled and clever walmart workers gave him consisted of 1) box number 1 of 2 of the set we purchased, and 2) box number 1 of 1 of the set that is smaller. so the set that is in our backyard that the kids are in love with only cost about $300 (except that it cost us $500). and we have 1/2 of the $500 set sitting in the backyard. so jerry went back to the store and told them what happened. the manager was very nice, and said they would just write it off, since jerry wasn't about to spend however many hours taking the thing apart and packing it back up. so they gave us the second box for the one we bought, and now jerry and his brother (if he can be bribed into putting another swingset together...) have to spend another 8 hours building the big one! we're going to donate the first one to our church bazaar for the auction. (hello, tax write-off)

but in the meantime, the kids will be playing on the one we have....jerry has to work the next three saturdays. lord only knows when he'll actually get to work on the next swingset.

nothing is ever simple.