TGIF

Dinner at Outback + Taxes filed--refund coming + Donuts + Hubby on way home from China = 1 very happy PMSing Mom(if that's possible)!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Every now and then my truck driver brings me donuts in the morning. This thoughtful gesture makes me very happy and it's just what I need after a week without hubby. He actually brought me 3 donuts and when I picked up the bag they felt heavy. So, I weighed them. 3 donuts= 1lb. WOW!! It didn't stop me from eating though!! Actually I only ate 2--I gave one to a sweet older lady that comes into the Office every day. I've kinda adopted her or she has kinda adopted me. She is in her 70's and has no family close. No kids, only an ex-husband that she is still in touch with and he comes to town about 3 times a year. She does all of his business for him and as far as I can tell they get along great. I feel sorry for her especially during the holidays. I've brought her dinner on occasions after our Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. I always get her a x-mas gift and make her promise to wait until x-mas morning to open (it's the only one she gets). She loves to give me advice (even though she has never had kids) and for New Years she even decided what my New Years Resolution should be!! She thinks I should drink more water and add 2 vegetables to my no vegetable diet. So far I have appeased her on the water drinking but I still have 11 months to go on the vegetable thing.

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Grant had appointment with ENT yesterday, and just like we thought he wants to take out his adenoids. From what I was told it is a pretty easy surgery with no down time. Thank goodness he didn't want to take out his tonsils. He still doesn't think this is what is causing his Migraines but hopefully it will help.

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The following is an e-mail I just got from my boss:

When you get home tonight take time to hug your significant other, pet your dog (or even the cat...Argh!!) and have a GREAT weekend! I sincerely appreciate all you do!!


A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a
glass of water and asked,

"How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter.

It depends on how long you try to hold it.

If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.

If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.

If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued,

"And that's the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,
as the burden becomes increasingly heavy,
we won't be able to carry on.

When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.
So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.
Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their
maker.

* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

* The second mouse gets the cheese.

* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

* We could learn a lot from crayons...
Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the
same box.

*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

What does.......

Husband on business trip + Disobeying Kids + No alone Time = A very PMSing Mom!!!!

Yesterday after getting my 3rd piece (yes, 3rd piece) of cake, Grant looks at me and says, "How many pieces of cake are you going to eat??" I will be back to normal next week, but this week I'm eating everything in sight. It's OK because I'm working out so it all balances out!!!

Can I speak to Grant?

For the past two nights our phone rings what seems like every 5 mins and this sweet little girl says, "Can I speak to Grant?" The KDG's must be exchanging phone numbers at school. Yesterday Grant came home with Joey's. Within 10 mins he had called Joey twice and Joey called him twice. And of course that little girl (Logan) called. It is sweet until the phone rings at 9:15 and I leap out of bed to answer and it's Logan and she hangs up on me!!!

How Can......

These two precious God loving kids test my patience?? I think that is why God has blessed me with these two kids. So that my patience will develop. Yesterday was one of those days that I was yet again tested. The kids are at the age where they are either playing peacefully together or trying to kill each other. There is usually no inbetween. Cary left Sunday for another business trip and before leaving talked with both kids about their behavior. And that worked for about 1/2 the day Sunday. Madison is trying extra hard because both kids were promised a surprise when Daddy returns if they have been good. Grant doesn't seem to remember or he's not mature enough to control his emotions. So yesterday when picking them up, Madison told me to call Shane when I got home. Shane, my brother, picks them up from school and drops them off at my Dad's. Somehow on this 10 min. drive Grant lost control and hit Madison. I asked Shane if Madison was provoking him by teasing him about a girl in his class. He said No. So Grant got punished when we got home. No TV and no Cokes for the night. This may not sound like punishment but to Grant it was everything. He literally cried for 2 hours and packed his clothes to leave. He also brought me the phone to call Pa so he could come and get him. OK .....like I'm going to call Pa to get him out of punishment. I took him with me to workout and made him sit in a chair for the entire hour. Of course he cried the whole hour but he sat there.

I didn't lose my patience with him once and he eventually got over being mad at me. I asked both of them this morning if they needed to be reminded on how to act and both assured me they didn't. We'll see how it goes this afternoon:)

I'm Back!!

It's been so long since I've blogged I almost forgot how to sign on. The last part of 2006 became such a whirlwind I just didn't find time to blog. 2006 was a very busy time for our family. We spent lots of time traveling. Some of the places I ventured to this year were Gatlinburg, TN, Chicago, Texas, South Carolina, Jackson, TN. I can't even remember all the places Cary has been to. Although his most recent trip was to China. My job seemed to get a little more demanding at the last of the year. For the past month my job has been less demanding but I feel that will be changing soon.

As you can see from the picture I also got the bright idea to remodel our house in October. This was the biggest remodel project that we have ever done. Before this I thought I would love to flip houses for a living. Now I'm not so sure. We tore up existing hardwood floors and put down new hardwood throughout the whole house. Then we had stone installed in the kitchen and sunroom. I also got new countertops, backsplash, stove, and sink. And all this remodel started over our Master Bath. Guess what?? We didn't even do the Master Bath. That project will happen hopefully sometime this year. But I totally love everything we did to the house. I will have to find the before pictures and post them, so stay tuned.

Grant lost 2 teeth in December. And I caught him last night wiggling another one. I told him to stop, the Tooth Fairy is broke. Madison was in the 3rd grade before she lost her 1st tooth so he is definitely ahead of her on that. School is still going great for both of them. Madison continues to be on the honor roll and Grant has + on everything except patience. He gets that from me I'm afraid. I have zero patience and the kids are somehow picking up that trait also.

Madison has somehow got hooked on Paula Dean, and I have to admit I enjoy watching her shows too. Madison loves to cook, so I let her make a B-day cake for Barbara. Barbara and I have been friends since our sophomore year in High School. Barbara and her family spent the weekend after x-mas with us and we had a great time catching up. Grant's favorite thing to do is to get into the hall closet with his DVD player and watch movies. I have no idea why he loves this small space but it keeps him entertained.

We finished up 2006 with a great party with lots of friends.