I heard yesterday that The White Stripes broke up. My little rocker heart broke when I heard that. Jack and Meg White were one of the greatest pairings in musical history. The show they performed beat a lot of shows that five-member bands perform. Jack has already joined another band, and I'm curious to hear what they'll come out with, but I have a little hope that maybe they will work together again sometime in the future.

For now, though, I think I'll go sniffle into my little red, black, and white tissue...

 

 

It's been a little while, sorry. Combo of being busy, procastinating, and being unsure of what to write. I'm not sure, but I think it's all the change we've had in the last month, that's made me a little emotional and almost manic depressive.

I've been very emotional, though quietly, about sending Cece back to daycare. I miss our Mom and Daughter time, laying around in our pajamas drinking "chocolate coffee" and watching Franklin. It's not only a guilt I feel, but a homesickness-like feeling when I'm away from her. On the flip side, I'm finding myself to be more affected by her attitudes and moods. When she's in a bad mood, I don't deal with it as calmly as I did when I was home with her all day. I think it's because I think of her idealistically when I'm at work, and when I pick her up and she's crabby or in a bad mood, I get a little angry that MY time with her is spent scolding and yelling. I know her happy hours, when she was in a good mood and not tired and cranky, were spent with someone else...

I'm hoping things will slowly adjust, and she's adapt better to her new schedule and my role as a "working mom" again.

At work, I'm doing well. Everyone has been very nice to me. I'll admit, my first few days were a little tough. Everyone there, with the exception of one welder, is at least twice my age, and I regularly speak with doctors and psysicists about radiation therapy products, and other things I really don't understand in the least. I felt very stupid my first two days, then after that, I sat myself down, told myself to settle the hell down, take it as you can, and I've been doing fine since. I'm slowly understanding the world of gantry levels, protons and electrons, and isocenters. I use the word "mezzanine" on a daily basis, and that makes me secretly feel a little smart. :-) Overall, it's a very interesting job, and I think with time I will have a good grasp of the business, and will do a wonderful job at it.

I'm posting some pictures like you guys requested.

The first is the boys (Nick, Austin, and Phil).

2. Spooky picture of Jovi-Cat!

3. The boarded-up resturant/ bar on the hill I can see from my backyard. I was going to get a closer picture, but didn't have time today.

4. My little garden I did at the back of the house. Only got five feet (of 20) done so far, so I took a picture of it.

5. Front view of the house.

6. Cece zonked out on the couch today at 5:30pm

7. Our backyard. Ahhhh....space!

We're here, in our new house! Almost everything is moved in already. I had TWO days here before I started my new job (more on that later) so I was Tiffany on crack putting things in their right places. Got a lot accomplished, and it's looking pretty darn homey around here.

We've been here 10 days now, and I'm getting comfortable. Our first day here, I found a sparrow's nest in our front hanging basket. The mother sparrow was stuck in some fishing line she tried to use as part of the nest, so we cut her out of it and discovered a featherless baby in the nest along with four other eggs! Cece has had a great time checking the nest everyday to see all the baby birds (there are four or five now) and seeing how much fluff they have.

There are lots of birds in the yard, mostly robins, and they like to sit on our fence.

 

I've begun to find the unique characteristics and features of the house and of the yard. For instance, there are two very different views from the back patio. In the daytime, we have a clear view of the boarded-up SCARY old resturant in the nearby hills (we're kind of in a valley). It's so spooky to me I've even dreamed about it! A few days ago I drove up there to see it up close, and it was even scarier! And to top it off, there is a pioneer cemetery across from the creepy resturant! Ah! At night, however, we have a gorgeous view of the lit-up church steeple down the road. It's really beautiful to look at in the dark.

 

Cece began her new daycare this last Tuesday, and she is doing well there. Honestly, I miss Julie's (our old place) but Stacie is very nice, has kids Cece's age, and has a beautiful home as well. It's hard when you had to leave a daycare you loved to have your child at, because in comparison, nothing seems as great.

 

Like I mentioned, I began my new job on Tuesday as well. In brief, it's going pretty well, even though it's challenging. I will hopefully write more on this later- maybe tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing great!

We're back and we survived Hellapalooza! Yes! It actually turned out to be a pretty good time. There was lots and lots of drinking and smoking, and barbequeing, and music...

 

We got up there early Friday evening, unpacked the truck, and Nick, Austin, and Ryan decided to go fishing for a while, so they took the boat and off they went. The rest of us decided to hang out at the Chateau (the cabin). We played bean bags and polish golf, made some wienies on the grill, then decided to go to the motel/bar in town for drinks. The town is pop.99, and the motel is titled "Laundromat/ Motel" and it sits convieniently across from the bar. 3 beers, approx. 6 shots, and 10 jukebox dollars later, We were pretty sloshed. My husband helped me across the parking lot to the motel and I spent the night with his mom, her fiance, and her brother in their room. I wouldn't have made it back to the Chateau.

 

Saturday morning I woke up feeling remarkably good, considering, and I went out to breakfast with my bunkmates before we headed back to the Chateau and camp. Nick, Andy, and Austin were all already gone fishing when we arrived, and I spent the next 6 hours staring at the bonfire, sweating my pants off (it was 90 degrees), reading my book I brought, smoking like a chimney, and not drinking. The band arrived at 4pm, and were set-up by 7pm to start playing. They were a country band from a nearby town, but they were actually pretty good.

 

As the night went on, the music played, the drinking picked-up, it got dark, more people came, and it got a little crazier. Nowhere near the 100-200 people mentioned were there, it was more like 40 tops. High/low lights of the night include us dancing on top of a school bus, some games of Gay Chicken, Nick's mom saying she would "do me", and very much later on- me having a one-girl rave party in the middle of the woods by myself dancing to the Beastie Boys. Also, at I-have-no-idea-what-time-it-was, Nick, Austin, and I went for a semi-blind atv ride on the old logging roads. Nick drove, I was sandwiched in the middle, and Austin took up the rear. It was a tight squeeze, but more of a problem was that Nick's headlights were out, so we only had the light from his "cat-eyes" on his hat to light the way. I realize this was incredibly stupid, but at the time, it seemed like super-fun idea-- riding 50 mph through the dark with too many people on the atv. We ended up making it back in one piece, only to crash in the yard when we got back. Nick tried to do a wheelie and it obviously didn't work out too well, the four-wheeler came up from under us, and all three of us were spit of the back of it into the dirt going about 10 mph. No one was seriously hurt. That, however, was a cue that it might be time for bed.

 

The next morning we woke up and I decided to go fishing with the boys, rather than spend another 6 hour afternoon sweating in the woods with nothing to do. Normally, I don't care for fishing. But the lake was so beautiful and secluded. The weather was perfect on the water, with a nice breeze. I felt so happy there with "my boys". Plus, I caught a pretty good sized walleye that we kept and brought home!

 

So that was our weekend at Hellapalooza, which turned out to not be so bad after all. I do have a pretty severe sunburn, but other than that, it was a good trip. We went fishing again today, and brought along Cece. Who knows, maybe this fishing thing will turn out to be a family staple.

 

Oh! Also- that job interview I had last Thursday... I got the job! Yay! I'm so excited, and proud of myself. I'm so thankful, and this totally changes our finacial situation for the way better. I also found a daycare, which I was referred to by one of my mom's friends, and we go to check her out on Thursday.

 

Tomorrow is my last day at Sally's (my part-time job), Wednesday we close on our Townhome, I tour my new job office, and we meet with our Insurance agent. Friday we close on the new house, and hopfully start to move, then Saturday we're out of town again, this time for a friend's wedding. Busy, busy week, so my apologies if I don't post for a while. In the meantime, have a wonderful week!

 

 

Today was eventful, even if it was a smidgin' stressful and unpleasant.

I got to work this morning, did all the morning money duties, and went to the bank with the deposit. The store is supposed to open at 9am, but it's usually totally dead on Wednesday mornings, so when I left the bank at 8:59, I decided to Fudge it and go get coffee. It took longer than I thought at the coffe shop, and I got to the store at 9:09. Oops, oh well, I thought, what are they going to do- fire me? I already quit. Haha. But as I neared the store I saw that the trainee we have this week was outside (she wasn't supposed to get there until 1:30pm) I told her she wasn't scheduled until the afternoon, and she argued with me a little until she realized I was actually right. So then I felt a little silly sneaking back to the store late, but she felt silly for showing up over 3 hours early, so I think we pretty much broke even... :-)

At 11:30 I had my "yearly" Dr. appt. Ladies, you know how great those are. And to top it off, they decided I needed to finally have my cholesterol checked, so they drew blood. Understand, I faint very very easily, and I'm no fun to take blood from (I take after my dad on this one.) The nurse was very nice and gentle. They were  very patient with me, and I apprecited it. It actually went just fine, so passing out at all.

After work I went to the store to gather supplies for this weekend (the bachelor/ bachelorette party in the woods with no indoor plumbing.) I was informed last night that there are possibly more than 100 people coming to camp out and see the band they hired. So anyhow, I stopped at the store for food and tioletries for this weekend (which I am now affectionately calling "Hellapalooza.)

The big event of the day though was my job interview at 6:30pm with a local medical product design/ distribution company for a customer service/ shipping/ receiving position. The the pay is super excellent, and it sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. The interview went really well, both the President and his daughter were very nice, and I asked intelligent questions, and gave good answers. Apparently, though, they've had a lot of interest in the position, and I have  alot of competition. Tomorrow is their last few interviews and then they'r emaking their decision. I hope, hope, hope, (hope) I get a good call on Friday or Monday......hope...