Shaken up

My mind is spinning.

My company had a big shake-up.

Based upon expenses & revenue that's coming in....they let about 8 people go. EIGHT people! Thankfully, I'm one of the SEVEN people who they've decided to keep on.

The people who are being let go are leaving TODAY!

I'm getting IMs from the people who are leaving. I just am at a loss for words when I'm talking to them.

I'm dizzy and confused. But thankful that I still have a job. I'm sad for them but relieved for me. Is that wrong?

Weekend Happenings

Saturday was our first celebration for the Princess' 7th birthday.

We were obligated to drive up and get together with the Hubs family. Since the Hubs and the kids were going to the football game last night, then the Hubs let his mother know that we'd be by in the afternoon to hang out. We ended up having an early dinner. She ended up making spaghetti. When I heard what we were going to eat, I looked at the Hubs and said "Brian!" That was the boy who served spaghetti at his wedding reception. Anyway, I bought an ice cream cake yesterday morning and had it in a cooler. It was good. Strawberry! YUMMY!

I booked the hotel where we spent the night -- which now receives a HIGH ranking compared to the other hotels we've stayed at this year. It had TWO QUEEN BEDS! Not just the normal "full" size we've seen. It smelled nice and was clean. There was hot coffee in decanters and lemon-water available on the main floor. It was right near the freeways that we need to get to the ILs, the stadium and home. PLUS, there were stores within walking distance around the hotel. So I told the Hubs that he could take the car instead of me dropping them off and having to pick them up. It was all good. The Hubs stopped about a block away from the hotel and dropped me off -- in front of a Bed, Bath & Beyond! woohoo! And off they headed to watch football, while I headed into look at housewares. I hit about 4 stores. My evening ended hanging out at Borders drinking a decaf and reading a book. It was NICE! I could have headed about a quarter of a mile up the road to the Z-Tejas and grabbing an adult cocktail but the Borders was a quiet way to end the evening.

The Hubs and the Princess were konked out cold this morning until about 9am. Of course, the Bear was up at 7:30am (sleeping in for him), so I had to get up. We headed out to a bagel place and grabbed some food. We ate in the lobby so that the two sleepy ones could catch some extra ZZZZs. But 9am was my limit. We went up and woke them up. And then promptly changed into swimming stuff. Yes. The hotel had a pool and I felt the kids needed a treat. We only spent an hour in the pool, but that was enough. They just wanted to get into the water. The COLD water. The Princess' lips were shaking by the time she got out. We took quick rinses and were headed home by 10:30am. And it took just over an hour to hit out driveway.

It's been a fun weekend. We're all still kind of tired. The laundry is going. The Hubs is down for a nap. The kids are playing with the new Leapster games that the Princess received yesterday. And we'll eating some barbecued steak in another couple of hours. YUMMY!

And how was YOUR weekend?

**

Heard this weekend:

"Oh my gosh! I can't BELIEVE IT! Did you see that? McQueen jumped!" followed by hysterical laughter. You wouldn't have known that the Bear has seen Cars about 30 times already.

"Mom! Did you see the Bear? He's HUGE!" This comment was made by the kids' cousin when they arrived at my ILs house. They just saw the kids about 2 months ago so we all found it funny.

"What? We've going to the pool? We ARE? Wahoo!" I surprised the kidlings with their swim suits this morning (along with their swim vests).

"Mom! You're going into the pool with us? No WAY!"

All but one test back

Remember how I had my first physical recently?

I received a call from my doctor's physician's assistant yesterday. They are still waiting for one more test - the DEXA. But everything else? It's all good.

Blood pressure: 118/78

Pulse Ox Level: 68

Cholesterol: 167 (under 200 is good)

Diabetes: Negative

Thyroid Test: Normal

Intestinal Test: Normal

Mammogram: No abnormalities

DEXA: Pending

There are a few more tests they ran but I don't remember the specifics. I'm going to drop by the office and get a list of all the tests that were taken (along with the results).

But I'm healthy! Woohoo!

Is anyone seirously watching this?

Is anyone seriously watching this coverage on OJ in Las Vegas?

OMG! It's on every friggin' news station. It sickens me that it's been given front page coverage. I'm going out of my way to avoid anything related to this freak. Just the same kind of way that I avoided any kind of coverage on the Monica Lewinski drama that happened way back in the day. How I'm avoiding coverage on anything Britney and Paris and Lindsay. There are just some individuals and their antics that DO NOT deserve our attention. Well....they don't have my attention. I just avoid things that I don't want to hear about.

I don't have any of the check-out magazines in my house. You know the ones I'm talking about. People. InTouch. It's just a waste for me. It's a waste of my money. A waste of brain space.

People do read those magazines. I don't begrudge the curiosity about what celebrities are doing. My Mom LOVES to read these magazines. But I consider celebrities as people who have actual talent. I don't consider people who are related to someone famous as a celebrity. I also don't respect anyone who thinks that behaving badly is something cool. All those 20-somethings who act like spoiled brats? Crazy. It's just crazy!

Anyway, so you know what I'm doing today. I'm in avoidance mode. No CNN. No FoxNews. No Headline News. None of that for me today. How about you?

Cracking down on drunk drivers

Today, a new law comes into effect in my town. And it's the TALK of the morning.

Folks who are tested with DUI levels above 0.20 will be considered "superextreme" offenders. And these people? Get a mandatory 45 days in jail. The people who test below 0.20 get 10 days in jail. And ALL these people (even first time offenders) have to get a device installed into their vehicle for 12 months that "tests" their alcohol level before the vehicle starts. What's interesting is that these offenders need to PAY to get the devices installed (est = $100) AND must go in somewhere to get monthly maintenance and pay for that maintenance ( est = $80/month). WOW!

If you want more info on this new law, go to this link.... http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/63157.php

Do I agree with this new law? Well, all folks need to do is get a designated driver. Agree which person in your group is going to NOT DRINK for that one evening. How hard is that?

I just find it interesting that people are all up in arms that the law is going into effect.

Games people play

No. Not the way people play on each other.

It's the games that people learn as they grow up.

I played "Life" and "Sorry". I loved to do word searches.

The Princess? She has JUST learned how to do Sudoku! The Hubs can't even figure out how to do the game. But the Princess? After a couple minutes of instruction from me, she basically did one on her own. I guess she got tired of watching me "play" with numbers and wanted to join in. And she was easily able to get the logic of it. She amazes me.

So today I've printed off a few puzzles from the internet. A few EASY ones. I told her that I would print her out a few so that she could work on it on her clipboard, while I worked on the puzzles in my book.

Hopefully, the Bear will want to "play" with numbers in a couple years. Then we can all sit quietly on the couch together doing these. What word or number games do your kids like to sit around and do?

Hello? Welcome to Hotel Grace...

I emailed my family about 10 days ago about how we were going to celebrate the Princess birthday on Sep 29th.

Our neighbor whose daughter has the same birthday (not the same birth date) is having her party Sep 22nd. So I wanted my family to know what was going on. I let them know what we were planning. That it was going to be a celebration at a place in the mall that was geared to the little girls that would be in attendance. That it wouldn't be a big shebang here at our house.

Lil Sis and Shorty were the first to let me know they were coming out. Flying in Friday and flying out on Sunday. Fine and dandy.

Then about 5 days later, I got an email from my Mom saying that she and my father would be coming out. AND that they'd be bringing one of my nieces and one of my nephews.

Y'all...I've got SIX people coming out and staying with us! ARGH! Yes. I know. I emailed them and let them know what was going on. But SIX people?

This is the reason I made such a big deal about purchasing towels at Tarjay on Saturday. I had to some new towels. Ours are fraying. We haven't purchased a totally new slew of towels since we were married! Yes. We are still using those 10+ year old towels. But they were great towels. They've lasted a good long time. But we've been gradually throwing them out as the fraying has become more and more extensive. And now? I've got 10 new towels sitting on my couch. I'm planning on hitting Tarjay again tomorrow to see if they've got more of that same kind on the shelves. And if they do? I'm going to grab about 6 more. Or should I grab another 10? TOWELS!

But I also purchased a new mattress for the Bear's room. He's got an empty platform frame sitting in there. When we first got his bed, I didn't want to invest a bunch of money on a mattress and got him this inexpensive one. It's only about 6 inches deep. And for any adult it's as hard as a rock. No give whatsoever. But the Bear doesn't seem to mind. That mattress is in the corner of his sister's room. And THAT is where he sleeps. So that's why his bedroom frame is empty. So we're planning on putting all 4 kids (my two and the other two) in the Princess' bedroom all together. Then Lil Sis and Shorty will get the guest room -- which has a queen bed. My folks will be in our bedroom because it's the only one downstairs (my Dad can't climb stairs). So the Hubs and I will be in the Bear's room. On a new foam mattress that I just finished ordering. It's one of those foam mattresses (12 inches thick), so I hope it'll be mushy yet supportive. We'll see.

So we're going to have a full house not THIS weekend, but next weekend. It'll be nice seeing my family. I miss them!

Girls just wannt have fun **updated**

Today, actually later today will be GIRL TIME!

The Hubs and the Bear will be heading up to watch a football game. AND they are going to spend the night up there. The at-home games start at 7pm and normally end after 10pm. So the two boys will have alone time together. I think that my FIL is going to take the extra ticket (as the Hubs has 3 season tickets).

But the Princess and I? We are going to have OUR time together. I'm planning on running errands. All the things I put off to when I'm alone, but now I'm going to have my girl with me. She and I are both looking forward to it. She likes going out and looking at things. I like the fact that she and I can leisurely look around. We'll head to Tar-jay for miscellaneous stuff -- towels, shampoo, etc. I'm planning on some time in Barnes&Noble. Hopefully we'll be able to fit a movie and dinner in as well! Just the two of us.

There will be no time limits for our outing, since the boys won't be back until lunch tomorrow. So we might just even go out to breakfast tomorrow morning and head out to the park. Just the girls. Like it used to be before I had the Bear when I didn't work. Time to relish how interesting and beautiful it is to be with my daughter. My girl who will be turning 7 in less than 2 weeks.

Now what are YOU doing this weekend?

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It's now 9:30pm and the Princess is out cold in my bed.

We managed to run errands. Tarjay awaited us and we went. In and out of aisles. We could have stayed in there another hour or so, but we had what we needed. I can't believe how much I spent on BATH towels! I only ended up getting 10 of them. I wanted to get a few more but that was all that was on the shelves. I'll probably go back during the week and grab more if Tarjay has restocked the ones I selected. Were the towels unique in any way? No. Just large white towels. No one gets their "own" color. I like to throw them in bleach every month or so. And I can't stand having nothing matching. That's how I grew up. With a few towels of one color. A few towels of another color. NOTHING MATCHING! In my type-A mind it drove me crazy. But I wasn't the one who purchased them. I was stuck with what was in supply.

The MAIN reason we left the store was because I was starving. I was beginning to feel dizzy because I was so hungry. So we ended up at El Pollo Loco (thanks Jeff Lewis for all the marketing during your show!). We sat and talked and ate. We shared our entrees. It was nice. She's definitely my child. She loves the crispy chicken skin.

Then we headed to the mall. We got our tickets for Stardust. We meandered the mall. We checked out the clothes in Old Navy. We hung out at Barnes&Noble. Then we finally got into the theater. We got bag of popcorn & lemonade to share. Theater #5 was empty when we got in there. So the Princess ate popcorn and danced to the music. That is what she did until the lights went down. I have to tell you that it was FREEZING in that place. The Princess ended up sitting on my lap for 3/4 of the movie. Thankfully, we sat in the row behind the handicapped section. So no one was in front of us -- only the metal bars. So I was able to sit relatively comfortable with my legs up on the bars with her on top of me. That cold theater just gave me an opportunity to hug and to hold my girl for 1.5 hours. And then it was over.

"Mom. Where are we going now?"
"Home baby."
"But I'm hungry."
"You're hungry?"
"I am."
"Okay. How about XXXX?"
"Oh yeah. Let's go there!"

So we ended up stopping at a place that only she and I got to. We ate there. And she ATE like she hadn't had any popcorn. It's crazy how much good she can put away when she's hungry.

But now, she's asleep. Tired as tired can be. She'll be in bed with me tonight. Sleeping the opposite direction than me. I've got a big pillow set up between us. It was nice. I loved spending this time alone with her.