No signs of celebration?

Today there was another birthday celebration at my son's school.

It's was "J's" 3rd birthday. The kids had cupcakes for their afternoon snack.

Nothing weird about that right?

The thing is...it was the teacher that bought the cupcakes. Her family didn't take the time to bring anything to celebrate.

So you parents....

In daycare or preschool, do YOU bring anything for the class to celebrate your child's birthday?

If so, what?

Code Black

So THAT is what it means!

For those of you who don't watch Grey's Anatomy you might as well stop reading....

Bailey is having her baby! I thought it was the cutest when George was gazing into the room while Bailey's cervix was being examined by Addison. And George didn't warn the Chief before HE looked into the room. And then McDreamy also got a good look. He-he-he! But both George and the Chief were ecstatic that Bailey was IN the hospital. Just her presence seemed to make them feel settled.

Totally weird that Burke doesn't want to call McDreamy by his first name. But will allow Mrs. McDreamy first name privileges. Just because Burke doesn't like him. It must be a matter of respect. He doesn't respect McDreamy even though the two have had surgeries together. I found that interesting. Burke can be cordial but not friendly. Makes him more like Cristina. Makes them being a couple less odd.

I couldn't believe that Addison was so calm about it all when she went into that elevator with George & Izzy.

"Yes. It's bad."

What I thought was crazy was Izzy's take on the whole thing.

"Cristina & Mere are do-ers. We watch. We're watchers."

And then she goes and does her business with Alex.

What was shocking was that the anesthesiologist left. He just left. He acted all nicey-nice showing the paramedic (Christina Ricci) how to squeeze that bag. And then he walked out. Can you believe it? How the heck was she supposed to squeeze that bag with one hand? A hand that had a glove on it. And I'm sure she was sweating bullets underneath it. That got me SO mad!

It also made me upset that Bailey's husband was injured. All in his excitement to get to the hospital. And strong, strong Bailey breaking down broke my heart!

"I can't do this without him..."

She's a tough cookie but she is like every other tough career woman. Hard shell. Professional. Precise. But all gooey inside. I adore her more because of that vulnerability!

I LOVE THIS SHOW!

It only took 2 people this time

The last time we all went to get family haircuts, it was a fiasco.

The Bear was NOT a happy camper.

He sat on my lap where I held him sitting straight forward. And to keep him from jumping down off the stool.

The Hubs had to hold the Bear's head in position.

Then there was the poor stylist who had to cut my little guy's hair.

THREE adults to cut a 2 1/2 year old's hair.

Yesterday morning?

The Bear sat on the booster seat all by himself.

The Hubs held his chin forward.

The stylist worked quickly around and got the job done.

There was only a bit of protesting towards the end. I could tell my little guy was at the end of his 'brave' rope. His face was all screwed up in a tight pout. He was trying his hardest to keep his face forward but his little feet were swinging back and forth in protest.

But the job got done in less than 15 minutes.

It was a much better experience this time around. Halleluia!

You know you're sick when...

you sneeze with such force that it stuns you for a moment.

What's even worse is when you sneeze with such tremendous force that you end up with a ugly mass of back-throat lougie on your hand.

EEWWW!

"Disss-gusss-ting!"

Yep. I have been that sick....

Unexpected playdate

Beautiful day today. High wispy clouds. A very slight breeze. The sun was shining...82 degrees! Absolutely gorgeous.

After running some quick errands in the morning, we all came home. I ran inside to see if a website that I needed to access for work was working (it had been down all morning). The Hubs and the kids stayed out front playing.

I could see them running around. Jumping. Laughing outside the office window. I shot out there as soon as I could after doing some work. The kids were so happy that both Mommy and Daddy were outside supervising.

I spotted my little guy's JOhn Deere gator at the bottom of the driveway.

{{{ding-ding-ding}}}

I turned the Gator to go up the driveway. And I sat down on it.

Ok. Calm down folks. I should tell you that I sat carefully onto the little yellow seat with my legs pointed forward.

My daughter picked up on this quick. She ran over behind me and PUSHED me up the driveway. Then we turned around and she pushed me back toward the street. After my daughter pushed me back up the driveway, there was a shift change.

The Bear could NOT be left out in this "fun". So he had a turn of pushing me down and then back up (oh so slowly) the driveway. My boy? He is STRONG!

Anyway, the kids were having a good time and our neighbor's daughter (ND) came riding up on her Razor.

ND: "My Dad said I could come over to play!"

So ND, the Bear and the Princess played outside for another 30 minutes.

We all headed indoors after that. It was 11:30am, so the Hubs mentioend that he was going to make some lunch for the kids.

Me: "What can ND eat?"

Hubs: "I dunno honey."

Me: "Why don't you go ask her Dad (aka Good Neighbor - GD)?"

I walk over to GD's house. He was working outside prepping his pop-up camper for a trip.

Me: "Hey GD!"

GD: "Oh hi!"

Me: "We're going to make some lunch for the kids. We wanted to find out what ND can eat."

GD: "You know she's real picky. Just give her whatever your kids are having and hopefully she'll eat a bit."

ND? She ate all her grilled cheese and tortillas chips.

Anyway, the girls played upstairs for a while. Then they played in the backyard for a while. They did some art project together in the kitchen. Then they played upstairs again.

All of a sudden it was 4:30pm and there was a knock on our front door. It was GD. The afternoon had flown by. And everyone was happy.

GD: "Hey hi! We realized it was getting late and that we should probably pick up ND."

Me: "Okay."

GD: "How was she?"

Me: "She was fine. She ate lunch. She had some drinking yogurt for a snack about half an hour ago. The girls did do some art. Here's the stuff ND made."

GD: "She always plays so nice with the Princess."

I know for a fact that when ND plays with my daughter she's a lot more calm in her play than with the other girls in the neighborhood. I guess she gets a little wild at their houses. And the fact that his daughter was at our house for 5 hours without coming home attested to him that he could leave her with us with no problems.

Both the Bear and the Princess had a grand time with ND. The Bear didn't play with ND the entire time of course. The girls did play alone in the Princess' room for quite a while. I think my little guy was just happy to have someone over.

I walked outside to chat with GD's wife who I hadn't seen in ages. As we talked ND's little sister (LS) started to walk up and down our driveway. ND, being a typical big sister know-it-all, picked up LS and carried her back to where the adults were chatting. Being a typical younger sibling, LS cried out in protest of being controlled.

GD: "ND! Put LS down! She hasn't cried the entire time you've been at the Princess house."

What's funny? Having ND over at our house prevented MY kids from getting on each other's nerves.

Hmmm....Sounds like typical sibling rivalry...

But it was GREAT to have such a good day. It just flew by too quickly....

Scratchy-scratachy...Cough-cough...Hack-hack...

I've got that awful scratchy throat thing. I'm usually fine. When I'm upright. When I lie down? [scratch-scratch]

I even managed to cough some of the ickiness up. GROSS!

Leave it to me to start feeling yucky when it's forecasted to be in the low 80s today and through the weekend.

So I'm feeling icky.

But at least my blog looks cute!

How you liking the photos of the kidlings? Adds a little something, eh?

I can only do SO much with a free account.

I knew he gave me an icky feeling

About a month ago, a new guy (NG) started working at the company. Fine and dandy.

Since he worked at the main office, I never got to meet him face-to-face. I only spoke to him on the phone about half a dozen times. A couple times were on conference calls.

The one time I had him on the phone, it wasn't pretty. I wanted to do was ask him a couple questions and get some simple answers back. Nope. It was 20 minutes of listening to him ramble. The call should have only taken less than 5.

Another time, he called me to ask me some questions. I was swamped trying to complete some work on another project. And he kept on rambling on about what HE needed from me. I tried to put him off. I stopped what I was doing. Mid-stream and I tried to access the information he was inquiring about. But he kept talking. And talking.

NG: "Isn't there a standard set of reports? Aren't you the expert on these reports? All I need is..."

I finally had to lay it on the line...

Me: "Well, I could get you some answers but I'm talking to you. Right?"

Dead silence. For the first time on the call.

Me: "Why don't you give me about 15 minutes and I'll email you the information. Okay? Bye."

He seriously got on my nerves. I would have been fine if he'd just sputtered on for a couple minutes. And then stopped. But he woudn't (or is that couldn'tI even had to vent about the call to another co-worker (CW).

CW: "No I've never had to work with him yet. I've seen him in the office. He seems like a nice enough guy..."

But the doozie was when NG was supposedly the point person on a project. A project that he'd been working on with the head honcho of the company. We had a conference call with these new clients. The head honcho was tied up with another client and couldn't make it to the call. And NG had no idea how to lead the call. He had no idea what the objective of the call was.

And the call ended up being horrible. Uncomfortable. For us. And the client. We're lucky we didn't lose them as a client!

The only good thing about that call was that one of the guys who started the company was in on the call. He tried valiantly to 'save' the call but NG just kept on talking. Us into a hole....

But I found out yesterday that NG is gone. Flown the coup. No longer a part of our team.

And he's left the two projects he's working on...in shambles. He didn't model his documentation like anyone else. He went doing his own thing. Now no one can figure out what the heck the status is on what he was doing based on the documentation.

And from what I can recall on the one conference call with the client. It was a simple project. Find out what the client uses. Get sample source files. Get the finished product the client creates. Find out how the client uses the source files to make the finished product. And BANG! Done!

I just can't believe the nut-job was making more money than me! OY! What a mess he created....

Keep me OUT of that store!

Have you been to Tar-jay lately?

OMG! They suddenly have the CUTEST home accessories.

Yes. They did have some framed mirrors. Those bathroom accessories. Those basic book cases.

But now they've got dark stain magazine holders. BIG candle holders. Large glass vases.

SEE? SEE? Interesting stuff.

My husband always thought it was okay for me to go into that store and NOT spend an arm and a leg. NOW? I'm not so sure...