What else could go wrong?

I know you aren't supposed to verbally or mentally ask this question because surely something even worse will happen.

So here is what happened to me this week.

As you may know, I have been out of town quite a bit during the month of July. One of those trips was with my entire family and my friend Tina and her family to Johnson City, TN to visit our friends. We had a great trip. We left on Wednesday and returned on Sunday night around 7:00PM.

My first instinct was to go up to my office at home and look at the damage (faxes, e-mails, voice mails, etc.), but I decided to get my house in order, get my kids to bed and spend the last few minutes of the vacation with my husband.

So Monday morning when I finally get into the office I was met with the following:
175 e-mails, 30 faxes and 0 voice mails

I knew I was in for a rough day since I had missed 3 days of work (I also do a little work on the weekends when nothing else is going on) and Monday is payroll day, so it is always hectic. I was thankful that there were no voice mails, this was highly unusual.

So I start out my day and it literally when down hill from there.

I received probably another 50+ e-mails and 15+ faxes that day, but that is not the worst of it. First I had all my spreadsheets (20+) open trying to get everything printed out for payroll along with answering the e-mails and printing off the faxes. When my copier/printer/scanner went caput (not even sure that is a word) and it stopped printing. I had to close everything out and re-boot and start all over again. Now I must add that the computer that I was working with was a Dell 2000. It is as slow as a snail if not slower, so this was a 20 minute process. This happened at least once more that day. Then my other printer (color printer) started ripping pages and printing things crooked, so I had to stop using that.

Then I forgot (after working for about an hour and updating spreadsheets) that I forgot to load what was on my travel drive. (I worked a little on Friday afternoon while out of town updating one of my spreadsheets.) So then I had to find the USB port in the back of the computer.......Oh......Wait!.......I dropped the stupid thing inside the mess of cords behind my computer desk. If I was a cussing woman, it may have come out then. I finally (after pulling a muscle in my neck and arm) fished the thing out and found the stupid USB port. Transferred all the files (which took an hour-just exaggerating) and then had to remember what I had done all morning and re-do the work that I had done that morning on the spreadsheets.

If this was not enough, at the end of the day, I was supposed to go pick up my son from VBS at our church. My husband had dropped him off and went to his softball game, so I was picking him up. MY CAR WOULD NOT START. Yes, the same car we just drove 1000+ miles to Johnson City and Back. I frantically called every cell number I had for church members, trying to reach someone to let them know that I couldn't pick him up and I couldn't get a hold of Kevin (he must have been out on the field). After the 15th call, I get a hold of a woman that was at the ball field and she said that Kevin was out in the field and she would tell him to go get Benjamin. Then after the 20th call, I get a hold of one our teenagers, who happened to be working VBS and he then got me in touch with Bryan (our youth pastor in charge of VBS).

So the next day, you guessed it, my car was towed out of my garage. Not the most pleasant feeling, knowing you can't leave the house.

We got the car back on Wednesday afternoon, so it wasn't too bad. Get this! It was a $40 air valve, but since it was in the engine, it cost $400.

You think it is over.....not yet. Stayed tuned for the multiple visits from the Geek Squad......Coming soon to a theatre near you.

The Phone Incident

Benjamin and I were upstairs in the office, Kevin had just walked out to leave to go to church. I was finishing something up on the computer, Benjamin was building some spaceships with legos and I hear this.....Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

What is that noise?

Beep, beep, beep, beep.....

I quickly walk over to the balcony and I see Rachel playing with the phone. I immediately yell...."Rachel Jeannine, No, maam, what are you doing? Put that down."

I hurried downstairs and by then, she had put the phone down, I popped her leg (she knows that the phone is off limits) and sent her to her room. She started throwing a temper tantrum in her room. In the meantime, I notice that the answering machine was blinking.

Oh, no. What is going on?

By the way, this is a new phone and my husband set it up (which is unusal) so I had no clue what all the new buttons were.

So I start pressing buttons and realize that she must have pushed the record button. I press play and I hear the following:


Breathing.....Breathing.....Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...Rachel Jeanine, No Maam, what are you doing? Put that down....Beep, beep, beep...click, bang, wam...Pop, go to your room.....Waaaaaaaaa!

I freak and think, Oh, No! is this the outgoing message. I spent the next 5-10 minutes trying to figure out how to delete it and check the outgoing message. Thankfully it was not the outgoing message and it was just some recorded message capability on the phone.

She is definitely busy and mischevious. I love her.

Cropical Fun!

Tina (Golden Goodness) and I went to Cropical Paradise this past weekend. We had so much fun. Any of you out there that like to scrap this is the place to go. This weekend I did 50 8x8 pages, about 7 cards and 20 journals. The ladies (Cheryl and Mindy) across from us did about 30-50 12x12 pages each. They were hilarious. We had the best time laughing with them.

This is for Tina, Mindy and Cheryl:
I carried a watermelon...
What did you say...
You ate toothpaste...
How to talk dirty to a scrap booker...
Your team...
Well, I did like 100 pages and I started when I was just out of the womb...


A little bit about the joint:
Two ladies (Melanie and Calena) renovated an older home to make it a scrap booking get away. They have painted it to look very tropical. They have these large tables and huge comfy chairs. They have a computer and internet to journal or research. They have stamps and die cuts and a cricut to use. Little trash cans at each chair so you won't have to get up. A small fridge in the scrap room with every kind of drink imagineable. Each bedroom has 2-3 twin beds in them and it is decorated with cute tropical pictures and decorations. The sheets and comforters are very comfortable (the little time you sleep in them). The bathroom upstairs has just been renovated and they have the cutest tropical colored towels and everyone has their own cubby to put their bathroom items. The ladies cook every meal and provide snacks throughout the day along with candy on the tables.


Here is a quick picture I took of the work room after I got cleaned up. There is Tina in the front getting her stuff together. See what I mean about the large tables and comfy chairs.

Hair Cut!

Last Monday I decided to get my hair cut. I have been growing it out since Rachel's birth (January 11, 2006). It was really short then






(I just gave birth to an 8lb. 6oz fatty, so no comments on the looks).




So anyway, I have been growing my hair, no particular reason why and I decided to have it cut last week when I colored it. I had 4-5 inches cut off. I love it. I have always had bangs and I like that they have grown out and now I have a swoop. Here are picture of my before and after.


BEFORE: (sorry, I couldn't get the picture posted, you will have to do some leg work on this one if you want to see my hair)
http://collect.myspace.com/reloc.cfm?c=18&fuseaction=viewImage&imageID=30250841&friendID=68079692&id=



AFTER:

Heber Springs, Arkansas

Me and the kids had a great time in Heber. We went shopping, swimming and saw two fire work shows.

We set off our own fireworks which were amazing. Benjamin, of course, didn't like the noise and surprisingly enough Rachel was terrified of them. I thought she was going to love them, but whatever.

We tried to have a bon fire and make smores, but it just ended up as a bon smoke instead. Smores were made in the microwave and they were pretty tasty.

We always have a blast going to Heber. My sister has five kids, my brother has three and then my two, so there is never a dull moment.

Busy, Busy, Busy as a Bee!

My friend Tina (Golden Goodness) fussed at me for not posting anything, so this will explain my last post.

I have been very busy. Me and the kids went to my sisters house in Heber Springs, Arkansas last Thursday through Sunday. So I am a little behind on my work, house work, laundry, etc.

This weekend Tina and I will be going to Cropical Paradise, so once again, I will be a little behind on my work, house work, laundry, etc.

The next weekend I will actually be home.

The last weekend in July the whole family will be leaving on that Wednesday through Sunday to go visit friends in Gray, TN. Tina and her family will also be going since they are now friends with our friends since the cruise last year.

July has and will be crazy.

I will try to update on each vacation time.

Sleep!

I had 8 1/2 hours of sleep last night.

Tina are you happy now?