Survived another year

Yes, I made it through another year of working retail on Black Friday. It was the craziest year yet at our store. There were over 300 people waiting to get in on Friday morning!!!! I had to work in electronics and thankfully I was assigned to the register in that area, so I was not trampled. This year people were so mean to each other. There was a lot of name calling, stealing out of each others shopping carts and one poor lady had a toy taken right out of her hands! I'm sorry, but they are just material items are they really worth getting so mean?!?

I really wasn't even that impressed with the sales this year, at least in department of things that I need/want. I ended up with one digital photo frame that will be a gift for Nick's mom. I was excited to see one floating around while I was on my break. Other than that there was nothing in our ad that I wanted.

I didn't even look through all of the sale ads this year - ok, all at once, gasp!! I had to work the night before Thanksgiving. I was part of the team to pull all the "bulk" items for the 2 day ad and then we took down the ad and set up the ad after the store closed. I was scheduled to work until 1:30, but ended up being there until 3 am! I was up at about 8:30 to head up to Wisconsin. First we went to Nick's step-mom's, where I proceeded to take a "rest" in the recliner while everyone ate. I never eat there, I save my whole stomach for the feast with my family. A little later we headed to my parents, got there just in time to eat. :) I usually eat and then spend time looking at the ads. My sister was coming home with me so we could do shopping on Friday when I was done with and on Saturday. We wanted to leave in time to get home to watch Grey's. Of course we missed it, I WILL be downloading it and watching it.

Friday my sister and I shopped from the time I was done with work until 11 pm. I actually didn't find very much on Friday and was quite disappointed. I slept in on Saturday and then we headed down to Woodfield Mall. We found a lot on Saturday and had a really good time. I put a nice dent in my Christmas list. I went into work at 8pm Saturday night and worked until 5 am on Sunday morning. I was TIRED!!!!!!!! I think I'm still recovering, but have a lot to do today. I need to finish laundry - oh wait, does that ever end? I need to finish getting my Christmas decorations out and get the tree decorated. I guess I should get busy.

Almost turkey time!

Why am I just not into the season of things this year??? Christmas is my all time favorite holiday and by now I'm usually just itching to get my decorations out - not this year! I always enjoy Thanksgiving because I don't have to cook or have it at my house. My dad still wants to cook for the holiday's, which is fine by be. :) He cooks a killer turkey and it always makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside because it takes me back to the holidays growing up.

I was thinking of putting my Christmas stuff out on Wednesday, which I just don't think will happen now. I thought maybe if I got it out it would lite a fire under my butt in getting in the mood, we'll see.

So, I of course will be working very late Wednesday night, actually into Thursday morning. I'm scheduled to work until 1:30 am, but last year we didn't get out until after 2:30 am, so we'll see. The of course I'm opening up on Friday morning and then my sister and I will head out to do some shopping. Maybe that will get me in the mood. Of course we have to find a present for out SIL which is damn near impossible. What do you get for a spiteful, ungrateful bitch?

Nick had his surgery on Friday and all went very well. He's now trying very hard to keep his food elevated. It's very difficult since he has ants in his pants. At least he actually took today off from work - no phone calls even - unheard of. Tomorrow and Wednesday he will be working from home. At least I was able to go out by myself today and get the grocery shopping done. I'm guessing half the workforce is on vacation and they are all getting their Thanksgiving shopping done now because it was just packed out there today. If it's a sign of what's to come we are in big trouble.

I just have to shout out to Michelle that the circle cutter was/is very easy! You were just speeding along on those pages that you were to fast for the system to work. :p I was able to get a lot of pages done, not even close to 41, but a lot done on Saturday and it was WONDERFUL! Thank you, thank you Julie and Michelle for inviting Amy and I to join you. We had a great time and I was very glad that you were able to meet my best friend. She had a great time. :) I think I've even convinced her to join the board.

After our wonderful day of scrapping I was able to get out of work early and Amy and I did a little shopping. While at the big b*ullseye we were shopping for toys and came across some spy gear and almost bought it - wink, wink. We did find a few good deals. I got the boys some robes, not as gifts, but because they have no fat on their little bodies so after their showers they freeze. It looked like I 3 little H*ugh H*efners running around. I have got to get a picture of that one!

Oh and Michelle, sorry I gave it a good shot but just couldn't keep up with the posting every day. You really put me to shame with all that you get done working full-time and being such a great mom!

With that, I'm taking my shameless butt downstairs to watch a movie with my husband. Night all...

This post is really for Tuesday

It's just after midnight, can't this still count as my Tuesday post?

Michelle, it was so good talking with you tonight. Sorry if I sounded funny at times, I was trying to conceal that I was on the phone while I was working. :) I'll be working tomorrow night again, so I'll keep my eyes out for more Cars just in case some come in tonight. I'll be sure to bring them all on Saturday.

Today I took Ian for a haircut, he just loves to get his haircut. He says to me after we left, "haircut looks nice", too cute!

Ethan was snooping around the basement, which he never does for fear a spider just might eat him. Anyway, he found some presents that I got for Ian. Of course he asked about them - thankfully asked me if they are for Ian's birthday. Well, I guess they are now. :( I guess mommy and daddy need to find better hiding spots. I know Ethan is reaching a point where he is starting to question these things and I won't lie to him about anything. I just worry that he won't be able to keep it from his brothers.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week already!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blah

Feeling just blah and down, so I'm not going to post because I just don't want to sound negative. Was a very long weekend and will be a long couple of weeks. Be back tomorrow - hopefully in a better mood.

Very tired

It's almost midnight already. I'm just trying to unwind from work, very busy and I'm very tired it's been a long week. Worked on the ad, very BIG next week.

More tomorrow...............

Teacher conferences

First, Joey, I can so relate to you on the sock thing. I sometimes want to strip everyone naked so that there are no dirty clothes. :) I have recently started paying Ethan (part of his chores) to sort all the socks for me - I hate sorting all the socks.

Tonight was teacher conferences. All went really well. Ethan is way ahead when it comes to math and time and right where he should be for everything else. Aidan is doing very well. The writing samples compared to when he first started school (August) to now is amazing. Much more clear, uniform, etc. He's doing really great also, although he does talk to much - surprise, surprise. Can't imagine where he gets that from - huh??

Thank you Michelle, I am glad you brought up getting stuff together to scrapbook. I had better get started soon so I have it all ready to go next weekend. I am so in need of a good day of scrapbooking. I haven't done it in a couple of months, it's just so hard to find the time throughout the day. I can't leave my stuff out, so it's a big ordeal to get it all out and get some done. I'm still sad that the fun place Amy and I always went to closed down. We need to find a new location so that we can try and do it once month. It's always a good time to catch up on things and our scrapbooks too. :)

I need to check my ebay items again, four days left and already met the reserve on one of the items I'm selling - yee haw!!

A little nutty

Selling on e*bay makes me feel nutty. I get such a rush when people start bidding on my items. :) I am so crazed by it all though; I am constantly checking to see if people are bidding, how many watchers, how high is it at this time. Seven days I do this and sometimes I think I make myself really crazy over the whole thing.

This morning we had a meeting with the school for Ian. Thankfully they feel he doesn't need any other evaluations. We have one more meeting in December to go over everything with them to talk about the plan for his therapy. He was so good and just played while Nick and I had our meeting. Of course this meeting was only a little more than 1/2 an hour, so he wasn't ready to leave. We bribed him out by taking him to the movie store to rent a B*lue's Clue movie.

Ethan and Aidan are off the rest of the week - ugg, what am I going to do with them?? I plan to at least take them swimming one day, but need to keep them busy or they will torture each other. Three days off school for teacher conferences, I don't understand why so many days!

What the hell is up with Brothers and Sisters!!! I am so disappointed that Kitty lost the baby. I shouldn't be surprised, as I wondered from the beginning of that if she was going to actually have the baby. While I felt that way I was still holding out hope that it would happen. I just think it would make a great storyline for the show.

I have already done 8 loads of laundry this week!!!!!! Sometime I am actually going to keep track of how much I do in one week. Am I exciting or what?!? But, I just don't understand how I go through so much product. Not to mention that as soon as I seem to get through the laundry the damn hampers are full again - blech!!!

Almost missed a day already

I was just heading to bed, 3:30 am comes real quick. When I realized I hadn't posted today. We saw Bee Movie this morning, it was cute. I didn't think it was spectacular or anything, but cute. It even had some education behind it. :p

I did some Christmas shopping this afternoon - online. Got to love online shopping. I ordered some things for the boys, nothing exciting, but some usable items. Nick and I are really having a hard time trying to decide what to get this year. It's such a fun time at this age, but they really don't need anything. Legos are a big thing they are getting because they are really into them. Also some new games (game board type) for all of us to play together. I had thought about getting them a Wii, but Nick was thinking a Play Station II, because they are really cheap now and you can get the games much cheaper now. I had really wanted to hold out on gaming systems, but last year we bought a used Play Station with a bunch of kids games and they didn't over play it as I thought they would. All summer they still wanted to go play outside and run around, the only time they are into the games is when they are stuck inside and have gotten bored with coloring. So, I'm not so opposed to getting them something. I guess if we do that we won't have to get much else. I just don't know, it seems like the older they get the harder it gets.

Don't forget to change your clocks!

Real quick

I wanted to make sure that I got my post in today. Very busy day. We went to T*arget first thing this morning, got a few things plus my usual Starbuks. I bet I would easily drop 5 pounds if I would just stop with the Starbucks already. Anyway, then Mr. Ian and I headed down to the C*hicago Premium Outlets - so fun!

Joey, sorry, I didn't find the hat. But, I did find a little gift for little Mr. O that I'm sending along with the cooler. :)

I found alot of stuff today - too much! Oh well, was a sunny, semi warm, beautiful day. Ian had fun stopping at all the little rides and sitting on them even though they weren't moving. :) I got some good deals and got the boys their Christmas Sweaters! I agonize over the whole sweater thing every year. I don't want them to have identical sweaters, but want them to be similar so they look nice.

Nick and I have dinner plans tonight. We are heading out to B*one Fish for dinner with some friends. So looking forward to tonight. So, I'm off to pick up, feed the kids and pick up the babysitter.

I'm going to do it.....

I will post everyday this month - I hope. :) Probably not going to post much today. I worked from 10 pm last night until 6 am this morning with just a 2 hour nap yesterday afternoon. It's going to be a LONG day with an almost 3 year old.

I only got the 2 hour nap because I had to go out with the boys for Halloween. I will post some pictures soon, just too tired to upload them right now. Ian was the CUTEST kangaroo ever!!! Everyone kept saying it and of course then felt the need to give him additional candy because of it. So, after bed last night a bunch of it disappeared. He is now currently walking around with a handful of suckers. Ethan told me his favorite part of Halloween is "free candy". Yikes, isn't it supposed to be dressing up??? At least that was Aidan's favorite part.

OK, I'm off for my lazy day of lounging on the couch. Happy November!

Almost Halloween :)

So, another month has almost slipped on by. What happened in September???? Next week is Halloween and the boys are counting down almost to the seconds. They are so excited to get their costumes on, it's killing them.

OK, as I'm typing this there is a fly swooping around me. Seriously a fly still around, isn't it just a bit cold for a fly to still be living?

I had an AWESOME girls weekend! I am so very lucky to have such wonderful friends in my life. It was great just hanging out and catching up on what's going on in everybody's lives. As hard as I try to keep up it is just really difficult. We ate (a lot), had drinks and laughed (a lot more than we ate). As much as I am a shopper, it wasn't a weekend about that even though we did shop. It was just so great hanging out and relaxing. I need to give everyone a big shout out of all of the yummy left overs and for helping me keep everything so clean. Michelle cleaned way to much for her relaxing weekend.

Nick tripped on the stairs at my mom and dad's house. He had an MRI done yesterday to see how bad the damage is to his foot and ankle. I'm so hoping nothing to take to long or I'm going to need a girls WEEK to recover from his injury.

I have so much laundry calling my name it's not even funny. So, Joey, I'm hoping that the store gets that hat in so that I have a good excuse to get out to the mall. :) I haven't been to that one in so long.

More later...........

This and that

So, Nick went back to work yesterday. It was very nice having him home last week, he was even a little sad about returning to work yesterday. He got most of the basement cleaned up, a HUGE project. Now he's got some sketches about what he's going to do down there in the near future. Our basement is unfinished so I'm not really down there very often. Some day we want to finish it, but we have other projects we want to do first before we save the money to finish the basement.

I even a little "vacation" myself last week. Tuesday I went shopping and out to lunch with a friend, it was so nice and relaxing. On Friday my best friend and her mom came down for a day of shopping. We left at about noon for I*kea and from there made several other stops. We ended up not getting back until 8:00! It was a really nice day. A and I have been friends for over 20 years and it's just so comfortable and easy (if that makes sense). We are totally just ourselves around each other without worrying about what the other one is thinking. We are now only 1 1/2 hours away from each other instead of nine, but I still wish we were closer.

Today is foggy, but it's supposed to clear up and be in the 70's. It's supposed to be really nice until Sunday. So, since the boys don't have school on Friday and I think we're supposed to hit 80 degrees I'm trying to come up with something fun to do. They are off on Monday also, but it's not even supposed to hit 60 degrees so that will be an indoor fun day!

Picture Day

Today is picture day at school for Ethan and Aidan. I had Nick style Aidan's hair this morning with his great spikes! He looks so cute. I hope Ethan's hair holds out until picture time. He's got those lovely little sprouts growing out - eeehhhh! I hate that you have to pick a package before the pictures are taken - I WANT TO SEE THE PICTURES FIRST!!!!

Last week we had a meeting with the school district and Ian's speech therapist. He qualifies for the therapy through the school. He will start right after winter break. He will go every day for 2 1/2 hours! I can have the bus pick him up, right in our driveway, no bus stop. So, with travel time I will have about three hours to MYSELF every, single day!!! I think he will "enjoy" the therapy through the school more so than the therapy he's getting now. It will be in a class setting with other kids. Every week when his therapist comes he melts down, he just doesn't like it at all. They are in the process of diagnosing him, for the life of me I can't remember what it's called, but basically his mouth, lips, etc. aren't getting the right cues from his brain to be able to for his mouth properly to say the words right.

Nick is on vacation this week. We aren't going anywhere just getting some house projects done. :) Tomorrow I'm spending the day shopping and having lunch with a friend - child free. :)

Fall???

We seemed to have suddenly went from summer to fall - NO IN BETWEEN!!! I love that time when you can just throw on jeans and a t-shirt. This morning when we headed off to the gym I had to have a jacket on -eeek! The boys needed them for the trip down to the bus stop. I reminded them dozens of times to make sure they don't forget to bring them home. The school always suggests writing their names in them, but when you pass them down it's difficult to do.

I keep forgetting to blog about how great Ian did with leaving his crib. Sometimes he just amazes me. We just took his crib down a few weeks ago and put him in a cute little bed from I*kea. No crying, no asking for his crib, not even getting out of bed! I feel like I just jinxed myself now, but we didn't have it near this easy with the other two. Although, note to self, get Ian a new sound machine. Since his had taken a dive right before summer we've used a floor fan as sound. Well, last night I didn't turn it on and I guess Ian got up in the middle of the night to turn it on. Nick about crapped his pants wondering who was in Ian's room. Then found himself laughing watching Ian trying to get the fan to where he likes it in the dark in the middle of the night. So, he really needs a new sound machine because he is not going to have a fan all winter long.

Very tired today. And I HAVE to get my stuff up on e-*bay before work tonight.

Frustrated!!

I know it shouldn't be a big deal, but to me it seems huge! My house is a mess and I can't seem to get caught up. I was all organized and cleaned and then we had visitors for the entire holiday weekend. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to have guests, but I need to learn to relax about what entails after the fact. Someday - maybe......



We had an awesome weekend. My best friend and her family were down. The kids played, the husbands hung out and we shopped, scrap booked and chatted. It was a very good weekend. I wish A and I were closer, I would love to be able to hang out with her more often.

Ian's speech therapy just isn't going as well as I think it should be right now. Although, I guess I have nothing to base it on, no previous experience or anything. In two weeks the therapist from the school district is coming out to do an evaluation during his regular therapy time. The State totally stops therapy when he turns three, which sadly, is in a few months. So, crossing my fingers that everything will go well and he'll qualify for therapy through the school district.

Ethan and Aidan now share a room. It's fine since they are both in school now. Although next year will be interesting because Ethan will have to leave about 40 minutes earlier than Aidan. My boys NEED their sleep. Some nights they still want to be messing around, like tonight and it makes me think maybe we shouldn't have let them be together. In the end I think they will have good memories and in a few years I think Ethan will be requesting to have a room to himself again. In the meantime I get to have the spare room and make one room in the house look "girly". While I did go out and get a duvet cover with flowers on it they are blue! Well, I did that because the walls were already painted blue, so I figured I just go with the theme. Hey, at least I did get some flowers. :)

Busy, real quick....

First week of school - EXCELLENT!!! Aidan loves the bus and loves school. Both boys take off every morning on the bus without even a glance at me. :( Anyway, it's good to start the new school year off good and it's good having two of the three in school all day. :)

Having some friends down for the weekend, so I need to finish cleaning and get some laundry done.

Can it be????

I really have a child that just started 2nd grade!?! Sure is, Ethan arrived just 45 minutes late on his first day home. Not bad compared to the problems we had at the beginning of last year with the buses. He seemed very excited. I'm happy that there a couple of friends in his class from 1st grade. I always worry about my Ethan, he's just so shy. I was a bad mommy. : Ethan picked out Transformers binder, folder and notebook. I got a note from the teacher today that he can't use them because they are holding guns. EEEEKKKK!!! I didn't even realize they had guns in their hands, the boys just really liked the movie and wanted the folders, etc. for school. Now, of course, I already feel as though I have a black mark against us. Oh well, what can I do???

Aidan doesn't start until Wednesday and he is just going nuts. Today he proceeded to pick on, tease and whatever else he could think of to torture Ian. Tomorrow I'm hoping his little buddy can come over for a few hours for a play date and keep him occupied. Otherwise I think we'll have to go to the park or something for awhile after the gym.

I feel like we are just moving back into our house. I spend all day Saturday getting Ian set up in his new room (Aidan's old room). His new little bed is so cute! He actually slept in it all night last night - yeah Ian!!! I'm sure I just jinxed myself and tonight will be hell! Anyway, I worked Sunday, so I didn't get a whole lot done yesterday. Today after my morning trip to the gym I came right home and moved all the furniture into Ethan and Aidan's new room (Ian's old room). SO MUCH WORK!!! Although, it's nice that we will now have an actual spare bedroom for visitors. The boys are so excited to sleep in their new bunk beds tonight. Ian shows no excitement for his new "big boy" bed, as a matter of fact he was looking for his crib - uh-oh!

Soccer starts this week. So, Aidan is on Monday's and Wednesday's. Ethan has practice on Thursday's and games on Saturday mornings. I am now working Sunday's (still) and then Tuesday and Wednesday nights instead of Thursday's. So, it's busy, busy, busy. Why can't they have sports when school is out? It just seem so much busier to have extras when school is in session. I'd better just suck it up because it will be like this until Halloween.

Whew.....

MIL has left the building......er, house. Actually it was a very nice visit with her here. The kids loved spending time with Nana, and of course getting presents. On Friday I was able to go out from 11:30 am until almost 5:00 running errands and doing some shopping all by myself! It's so nice to be able to really look at everything and try stuff on without whining, fighting, screaming, running, etc. After I returned from my day Nick's aunt had joined us. I love her, she is really good to us - BUT, she just comes in and takes over my house. She always brings tons of food and cooks/makes things that we are not so fond of, so that was a LONG two days.

We made it to I*kea, I was really excited as I hadn't been there in over a year! I can't believe how close I live and don't go there very often. Wait, yes I do, I don't dare go there by myself with the kids. Anyway, we spent probably four or five hours there! Nana bought Ethan and Aidan an early Christmas present - bunk beds. They are so excited, they have been asking for bunk beds for awhile. I would've liked to have done it earlier into summer, as I wanted them to get used to sharing a room before school started. We also got Ian a big boy (toddler) bed. He sleeps so good in his crib that I'm still not sure I want to transition him to a big boy bed yet. He had a great time climbing around on all the beds while we were there, we'll see if the excited holds up when we get the rooms all switched around. Because not only is the crib going away, he's moving to another room! His room is the biggest of the three boys' rooms, so since Ethan and Aidan will be sharing we will move them into that room. We are going to move Ian to Aidan's room and them Ethan's room with be a spare/office.

So, now it looks like a tornado went through my house. I've got to get everything cleaned and back to order - fun. : Why is it you clean before visitors and then there seems to be even more cleaning after they leave?

It's that time of year

Time for my MIL to visit us. We fly her up once a year so she can see her grandchildren. We get along now, after 11 years of marriage, but I still get anxious about her visiting. I just still feel like I'm on eggshells alot, why is it so hard?

I take this class twice a week at the gym called Barbell Strength, to get 2 of the 3 days of weight training I need. Anyway, on Tuesday we did lunges during the class where we put a towel under the foot that extends and I am so sore! I feel like I should do them everyday at home. Maybe it will help get rid of the fat on my thighs. Is it even possible to get rid of that pesky fat on ones thighs?

So, I think there is a chance of rain all weekend - ick! We wanted to take MIL down to the city for one of the days, but I don't think that will be happening. I had went with some friends back in May down to Navy Pier and had such a wonderful time. It was the first time I actually made it there while in the city and I would like to take the kids. We'll see, maybe.

I've got to get the bathrooms cleaned, sheets changed and vacuum still before MIL arrives later today. So, I guess I should quit stalling by messing on the computer and get to work!

Is it time for school?

I am so ready for this summer to be over! The boys are driving each other CRAZY! Two weeks from today and school it back in session, I think they are as ready as I am. I know Aidan is ready to jump out of his skin he's so darn excited to start kindergarten already. :)

They have just been fighting so much lately. I think they are just tired of being with each other so much. Aidan's had a few playdates, with a couple more coming up and that helps so much. Nick's mom is coming on Thursday evening until next Tuesday for a visit, so that will help fill some time also. It's been harder to play outside all day since it has been so stinking hot! I have always been a big summer person, but this heat is so tiring - BRING ON FALL!

The first weekend of August the boys had their first trip up to Wisconsin Dells. Ian stayed with Nana and Papa and a great time being the center of attention for a change. My sister had a gift certificate for Atlantis hotel. We got discounted tickets from there to Mt. Olympus. We spent all day, until 10 pm at that park. It was so nice, it was just a mini amusement park. It has roller coasters, go karts, water rides/slides, indoor water rides/slides and all kinds of other things to do. Once Ethan had a taste of the go karts he wanted to do nothing else, he loved being able to drive. Jeez, he sure does take after his father. :)

We went back to our hotel that night, Nick took Ethan, Aidan and Ashely for a swim while my sister and I rested and waited for the pizza we ordered - very LATE dinner. The kids ate and crashed within minutes. They had so much FUN! The next day Nick left around 11 am to go for a motorcycle ride. So, my sister and I let the kids swim for awhile at the hotel. Our hotel had three pools with a few water slides (for kids). It was perfect, a little cloudy so it wasn't very hot. We decided to head out and get some lunch and stop at the outlet mall. We had really great timing, right as we got the mall the rain started. The kids did really well spending a couple hours shopping. I was surprised at how eager the boys were to try on clothes for back to school. Since they did so well, at the end we stopped at Build A Bear and they got to try it for the first time. Ethan picked out a dog and Aidan pick a monkey to build. They were way more into than I thought they would be, of course they wanted to pick out every accessory possible. I let them pick one "cheap" outfit and told them they would have to save their own money to buy more items.

Next time we'll have to go for a whole weekend so we can fit in some mini golf - my favorite! :)

I've been really good about not being on the computer a whole lot lately. I've finally got things in my life organized, including my house. I'm hoping now to get caught up on some scrapbooking. I feel really good about maintaining a clean house, laundry up to date, my exercise classes and my little part-time job. I really thought Nick was going to pressure me into quiting, I know he would really like that, but it does help give me some sanity and get me out of the house a little, so for know I'm keeping it.

I have to admit, I really have been getting the itch to go back to work. You know, like a job using my degree in some sort of fashion. But, I remember that Ethan and Aidan will both be in school all day in a couple of weeks and I will get some one on one time with Ian. I know I will enjoy that and I need to because I will only get this chance and I know how fast it will go by. Work will always be there, my kids will only be this age once so I'm still enjoying and putting work off a little while longer.

Speaking of staying on top of things, I heard the dryer buzzer.....................