It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...

And cry she did. Poor little girl has pink eye in both eyes and what sounds like croup. She's been running a low grade fever for a few days and is just plain miserable. The weather this morning was crappy so I considered phoning the few people I had invited to her party and cancelling....but I dont have another day off for quite a while so I went ahead with it. The kids had to play inside because it rained overnight and everything was drenched. They had fun but poor Abby spent most of her party in mine or daddy's arms. She didnt even get excited about her presents...of which there were many! Eric and I made a cake last night that turned out pretty good. It was one of those betty crocker bake and fill dome cakes. Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling. Mmmm. The icing was green (grassy hill) and Dora and the gang were on it. I might have taken a pic, not sure.
Now for the vent. You thought there wouldnt be one, huh? I invited my father in law to the party last week. I told him it was at 1pm. He showed up at 5 and insisted I said it was at 5. Who has a party at 5? Anyway, that didnt bother me as much as the crappy ass gift he gave her. He stopped at a convenience store along the way and spent about $5....maybe 6 if I include the cost of the gift bag. Its not the cost that counts...I know...but there was no thought put into it either, and the gift is crap! Its a cheap crappy (how many times can I say crap?) stuffed animal that makes noise when you squeeze it. I almost bought some for prizes yesterday but they were too crappy! Said it again. He also threw in a bag of candy (those marshmallow bananas that I love) and ate more than half while he sat and told us how stupid we are for buying this money pit of a house. I managed to not kill him but it took every ounce of self control I could muster. He is why I never changed my name when I married. Ugh!

I am an idiot

Why on earth did I agree to take an extra shift today? Because I am a complete idiot! Went to bed last night at midnight, got a call to reset the fax servers at 2:30am, got back to bed by 3 but didnt fall asleep right away. Woke up at 6 and got to work by 7. I had planned on getting home from work at 3 and having a nap but hubby had to work so all I got was a 20 min. power nap before leaving for work at 11. Here I sit, it's 3am, and my eyes are sticking together. I dont think I can make it til 7am. Need. coffee. now. I just discovered that typing does not keep me awake. Oh well, time to put my head down on my desk and see what happens.

The week in review

Finally, I am blonde. I messed up after trying to do it myself, several times and called a professional today. She quoted me an astronomical price and the time that would be involved just wasnt feasible, so I went back to the drugstore one last time. I bought 2 ash blonde dyes and am a little more pleased with the result than I was with the previous dye jobs. The orange is gone now but I'm not as blonde as I wanted to be. Being blonde requires more maintenance so after a few touch ups I should have the color I want. Phew. Glad thats over with.
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My boss asked me to do something for him last week as he will be out of the country and may not be able to do it himself from there. I am NOT a technical kinda gal but I learned how to reset the fax and email servers at work from home and it isnt that hard! I was delighted to be trusted with this task and just assumed that I was doing him a favor. Turns out I get paid, and paid well, to do it. Sweeeeeeeeet!
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My poor little princess is sick. She has pinkeye, a nasty cold and jaw teeth coming in. She is miserable! Her birthday is on Sunday and its just not right for little people to be sick on their birthday! I spent hours at Toys R Us today looking for the perfect gift for her. She has everything a child could possibly want so she ended up with this cute little desk...and some other small junk that I just couldnt resist.

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School is out!!! The kids finished up today and are now, officially, on their summer break. I am so proud of them both! Their report cards were great. I am super proud of Emma for getting through her first year of intensive french with an 85% average overall! I'll probably use the extra money from work to treat them to some kind of kickass reward. =o)

Do blondes have more fun?

My natural haircolor is a light sandy brown. I havent seen it in many years. As a teen, I had black, blonde, purple, green, funky red and a million combination haircolors. I finally settled on blonde and stayed that way for several years. After I got married, I dyed my blonde locks brown and they have stayed pretty much the same (except for the occasional bottle of auburn dye) ever since. Some people say it looks nicer brown, most prefer blonde. Sooooo, yesterday, partly because of the aforementioned comments, and partly because of a desperate need to make my grey less noticable, I gave myself blonde highlights. This was just to lighten a little without a drastic change. The highlights were orange...a ghastly orange, but only on the top of my head...the bottom half needed more processing time or something because I had rust colored clumps of hair there. I wore a ball cap to work (I can do that on evening and weekend shifts) and ran to the drugstore on my lunch for more dye. Champagne Fizz...I figured to hell with subtle, I'd go all over blonde in one shot. Again, the top half is lovely, the bottom is still dark. I have to work this evening!!! Mom is coming up later so she's going to pick me up one more Champagne Fizz. If this doesnt work, I'm going dark brown and leaving it like that.
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I also wanted to point out that I am a freaking moron! I like my job, so much that I picked up a bunch of extra shifts this week. Ok, so it was more for the money but since the job is great, working a lot doesnt bother me as it would for most people. I go in tonight at 7pm-1am, then again at 6am-3pm. I will be tired tomorrow. On Friday, I work from 6am-3pm and then again...later on Friday...11pm-7am. There wont be time in between shifts for a nap since I have to get things ready for Abby's birthday party. Oh well, I shouldnt complain since I brought this upon myself...but I know how tired I'll be and am not looking forward to it. I should start drinking coffee again.

Ahhh, a nice relaxing day off

No work today! I picked up a bunch of extra shifts but left today free because I figured I'd need the break. I got to sleep in until 9! Had breakfast, got myself and Abby dressed and went grocery shopping. Left her with my sis in law while I did my 30 mins. at curves and then came home to put away the food. We are going to start demolishing our kitchen soon, so I had to move everything into the smaller kitchen next to it. Fitting food, dishes, pots/pans etc etc into 5 cupboards is NOT POSSIBLE! I did my best and will have to have a yard sale at some point as this process showed me what I really cant live without, and the rest is junk. I mowed the lawn, washed/dried and put away 4 loads of laundry and vacuumed everything....plus tidied while I was vacuuming. Grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for supper (I had a lean cuisine) and then headed out to Home Depot to look at cabinets. I really wanted the middle of the line ones but I think we're going to go cheaper as we're selling the house eventually and I just cant bear to put too much into it. I think I picked some decent ones....now we need to measure and order. Then to Walmart for sandals...Abby is growing too fast! Finally got home and had to make lunches, get the kids bathed and into bed, did one more load of laundry (I'm waiting for it to dry now so I can get my clothes ready for work tomorrow) and then I'm off to bed. 5am comes too soon. It's so good to get a day off every now and then to just relax, take things easy and recharge. Ahhh, life is good.

A love of reading

I feel truly sorry for people who dont read for pleasure. I was having a discussion the other day with a group of people about The DaVinci Code. I tried to include one woman in the conversation by asking her if she had read it...she looked at me like reading is gross and said "I dont like to read.". Ummm, you dont know what you're missing, weirdo.
I remember sitting in my room as a child reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. One of the best days of my life was when I walked, by myself! to City Hall (where one of the city's libraries is located) and got myself a library card. They had to call my mom for permission and I got in big trouble for going there alone, but I had a library card, woo hoo! and my punishment was being grounded...with books! LMAO! Real smart Mom. I think I fell in love with Judy Blume first but it wasnt until I was around 12 or 13, and discovered V.C Andrews that I became obsessed with reading.
Discovering an unread book, or finding free time to read, is one of those things that just makes me happy. Seeing my kids curled up with a good book, or having them ask for a ride to the library is equal to a lottery win to me...well, almost. Think of the books I could buy if I won the lottery!

Jo's Nature Park

Over the past few days my backyard has been a wildlife haven. The rabbits must have had a good breeding year because there are oodles of them in my yard and sadly, squashed on the street in front of my house. I caught a bat in a flowerpot on my deck yesterday. It was the first time I had seen a bat and didnt even realize that we have them here in Newfoundland. I have squirrels that are around daily for the treats I put out (and a rat who comes out at night to get what the squirrels left behind) and all kinds of cool birds. My favorite visitor would have to be the moose that stroll through my yard quite regularly. I got a pic of this one a few days ago. There were 2 but one went on across the street and this guy turned around...I chased him trying to get a closeup but those buggers are fast.













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I'm at work right now and I am NOT having fun~! I'm suffering from allergies and the sudafed that I took made me drowsy, and a tad nauseous. The new clients that we have are annoying. Ok, so maybe they wouldnt be if I had a clue about what I need to do when they call. My training lasted a whopping 10 minutes, no calls were taken during this training...all I got was a few sheets of paper 'telling' me what to do. Anyone who works with computers knows that this is NOT how it works. Nothing is going right and I'm frustrated. Ugh! I have tomorrow off so I hope the glitches are worked out when I get back in on Monday.

The Treasure Hunter

A few days ago we took Eric to a nearby swimming hole (empty this time of year) to search for treasure. He 'needed' a metal detector for Christmas after seeing a show about a guy who found old coins that were worth a fortune. He now thinks that he doesnt need a job when he grows up as he will be rich from his finds. Ahhh, to be young and have dreams. He found several hair clips, a few dinkies (hot wheels to you 'mericans lol) and some coins. The coins were older silver ones (50's and 60's) but the best was a 1906 dime. It's too worn to be worth anything but finding it has made Eric even more convinced that his fortune awaits him, somewhere out there, under the dirt.

Do I really need a title?

I'm almost at the one week mark. I'm such a bad dieter/exerciser. I promise myself that I WILL exercise this time and I WILL watch what I eat but by day 2, I'm pigging out on KFC and feeling like a failure. I havent had any junk for a few days and have been walking and doing my crunches daily. Ok, so 4 days is no big accomplishment but I really feel like I'll do it this time. I bought some minutes at the tanning salon and am poking away a few bucks for a new hairdo (I'm thinking I need to be a blonde again). Doing stuff for myself makes me want to lose weight more. I even bought some new makeup! I'm still a member of curves but finding the time to go there...kidfree...isnt easy, especially since I'm working almost every day. I'll try and find a way now that the kids are finished with their lessons and some evenings are freed up. I WILL be thin again! I hope. lol
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My darling husband cannot finish a project. He will start it and be 90% done, then forget about it. The master bedroom finally got done after a year of nagging. The walls were plastered and painted, new flooring etc etc. Looks great, but I still have no baseboard moldings and the room looks unfinished. I did Eric's room last week...I might post a pic if it ever gets done. Same thing in that room. Paint, furniture, bedding, accessories...no baseboard molding. It looks ugly! Now he wants to rip out my kitchen! We have another small kitchen so he wants to use that while he works on the main one. He works full time so the project will undoubtedly take a while, but he doesnt realize that we dont have the money to put a kitchen back. lol. Men, cant live with 'em, cant kill 'em.