Way to busy!!

There is nothing like the holiday season to keep a person busy. Maybe it is the flu season that is keeping me busy? Over the weekend last weekend, I put up the outside Christmas lights for my grandmother. She never lights them before Thanksgiving, but I get them up for her before then. Of course it was raining and snowing. It never is nice weather when I do my part in that tradition.

I created a stainglass piece last weekend as well. Pictures will be later as it was one of three pieces to complete the project. I have several to get done now. Hopefully I can find the time to do those.

My youngest got a small bout of the stomach crud that was going around here this week, so I was home from work for half a day. Luckily I am set up to do work at home so I was not to far behind. The only problem with that was, I was taking a vacation day yesterday from work so that put a little kink in getting everything caught back up.

After running the kids around to all of their appointments this week, I was looking forward to all of my scheduled events on Thursday. Of which my Thursday was packed in time wise. I dressed up in a "pants suit" outfit. That makes work wonder if I am looking for a new job, and frankly I like to let them wonder that. After work I had to take the sprouts to get their hair cut, then drop them off at their dads. He did not want to take them to get their hair cut, even though I already told the hair dresser what I wanted "the usual". He calls me when they are about done with their hair cuts and wanted to know if we were still in town. He said he was in town and would swing by to pick them up at the hair place. He forgot, and had gone to daycare to pick up the sprouts, but I already had gotten them for their appointment. I was glad he did pick them up because I needed to leave to make it on time for my dinner date. Yep, I had a date this week and it was awesome. We had about an hour together before I had to go to another appointment, which I had scheduled along time ago and the main reason I was 40 miles from home that night. I also scheduled it that way, just in case things were not going well on the date. First time either of us had seen each other. Yep, it was an online thing. After my other appointment I went back into work to finish catching up on everything and finally called it a night.

Friday, for my vacation day I was suppose to go with 14 preschools to a buffalo farm. But, some of the parents dropped their kids off not dressed for the weather, which was not rainy, but a little cold not to bad though. And they asked the teacher, you aren't still planning on going are you. So, she was kind of stuck, so the kids did not go. But, I got to spend the day with my twin sister and my almost three month old nephew and his sister. My niece and my youngest are only 6 months apart with mine being the oldest. These two can't live with each other and cannot live with out each other. We all had a great day. It was grandparents day at school so my oldest got grandma and grandpas attention this afternoon. And got to leave school early with grandma after it was over.

My former in-laws came to grandparents day as well. The teacher did not know they were coming, because my former mother-in-law did not want my sprout to be disappointed if they did not show up. To me that equals I cannot commit my self to coming until the day arrives. That is just has she is and has been her whole life. The other problem was that the kids had art projects to do with the grandparents except mine only had one to do because I sent in the reservation for my parents. My mom let his mom take the art work home and the teacher gave my sprout the stuff to do another one for my mom at a later time. Which my sprout completed it at grandmas house later that evening. There was another issue with her not telling them they were coming in that he is in a wheel chair. Luckily I had given the teacher a heads up on him being in a wheel chair, early in the week. I wanted to let the teacher know that my mom has a physical disability, and would be able to sit in the little kids chairs. She cannot bend her knee on one leg because most of her knee cap is gone.

Well, I am off for swim lessons with the sprouts today, and family pictures as well. I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving. I have to help my grandmother on Friday back about 8 pies for our family gathering on Saturday.

As far as the proposal with my ex. I am still in a holding pattern it has been 17 days since we had a meet and greet with our lawyers, and no word on if he is going to accept my deal or not. Which is fine with me right now, because I get more support from him until he agrees on it. It will definitely be over with on 12/5 because that is the court date.

Finally back online!!!!

These are some more pumpkins I carved on the weekend before Halloween. I tried to post them last week, but there was a serious meltdown with the internet in my area. My home line was down, my work line was down as well. I was almost starting to have withdrawals.

This was the first year I tried my hand at carving a pumpkin. Let me tell you that is a lot of work put they truly are very cool when you light them up. The university of Texas one took me about 6 hours to do. I did the Ohio State Buckeye first, that is why he does not look that good. I am not an OSU fan, but some in my family are, by marriage I might add. The Notre Dame one is my favorite. I gave the Texas one to my pastor at church. He is an alum and now works in Michigan, so I thought that would be fun to give him that. I actually carved 7 pumpkins that weekend on top of the three I carved the weekend before with my sprouts. We put a float in the Halloween parade in town so the pumpkins were actually for the float. My hand was so sore and I had a blister on the side of one of my fingers. It was a good thing I did not have to bowl on Halloween. I would have never gotten my finger into the bowl let alone pull it out to release the ball. I could not even write correctly the rest of the week. That was entertaining enough

On Wednesday afternoon, I had a meet and greet with my lawyer and my former spouse and his lawyer to hash out some things that I have been trying to get hashed out since August. Let's just say a root canal would have more exciting. I finally made a proposal and am waiting to hear if he accepts it.

I finally got to my leaves that were in my yard this weekend. I started on them Friday night. The sprouts helped me with them on Saturday. Actually they played in them on Saturday. The pile was taller than they were. There was a Grand Am parked on the street next to the pile of leaves and you could not see the car at one point.

Ready for Halloween

Well the great pumpkin carving took place this past weekend. On Saturday the sprouts picked out their perfect pumpkin and mom got one as well. Here is a view of all three of them. This one is my oldest's who will be a princess kind of person with wings. A crown and wand were necissary to complete the outfit, and an added touch of lights have been placed around the wings. This one is mine, It says "Trick or Treat" on it. Maybe hard to read for some. (The green in the center is the battery operated light that changes colors.) I will not be wearing a costume, however I have been drafted to ride on the float to watch the sprouts so that they do not fall off. This will be the one time that I will not like snow in the forcast. This one belongs to the youngest, that announced a witch costume will work for this year. Bonus, we had one in storage that is home made and fits. An added touch of lights will be added to the hat this year. The sprouts enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkins and they picked out their design as well. Mom helped carve them for them. A good time was had by all. They really like them when the lights are on inside.

Co-Workers who want to be bosses!!!

I need to vent here for a moment. My boss, who happens to be married to the owners step-daughter, and he and I graduated from college together, also supervises two other women in his department. I am in my own department. I am the only one that works in my department. We all work upstairs in the office of a manufacturing facility.

I was gone all day last Monday on a vacation day. I left early on Thursday because I did not feel well. I am on some new meds that my system is not liking very much. Now, I am not the type of person to leave work every time I do not feel well. I work through headaches, colds, whatever. I am not one to just not come in to work because I do not feel like it. I had all my work done that I had to do before I left and I notified the Vice President of the company I was leaving because my boss was not going to be in until the afternoon, because he daughter who is in fifth grade had mono so his wife who works here at well were taking turns coming in. She came in the mornings because of the stuff she does and he comes in after lunch. He did a lot of work from his home because he could get his work email at home. I had emailed him as well to let him know of the situation, and I left about an hour before he was coming in anyways.

Now, I normally come back into work on the evenings that the sprouts are at their dads. This is usually right after I get done bowling, but not always. I usually am here for two to three hours, sometimes more. I get a lot of little stuff done that I normally cannot get done during the day, because the phone is ringing or one of the 5 other plants needs something or just everyday stuff that is a priority to me gets done first. It is nice to just be able to get a solid couple of hours to concentrate on things. I am salary so it really does not matter to some if they work their necessary hours or not or go an extra mile or not for a company. I does matter to me.

So, on Friday I came into work and got caught up from being gone the day before. Which only took me about an hour to do, there was not much work that needed to be done. I went and put some prints on my bosses desk for him to go over when he comes in later. While I was doing that the lady that works for him and is right next to his office was just ranted up a storm to the lab tech who will get out of any work possible if he can, and has every excuse as to why things are not done yet. This guy never tips a waitress because he has every excuse as to why they do not deserve one. Anyways, they are talking about me being gone and who supervises me when I am here at night and how can I be gone when I do not feel well and on and on and on. I could sit in my office and hear everything she was talking that loud. She has a high regard for her boss as well, because according to her his spine and other parts are missing from his body as well, and she has to do all this other stuff because he won't do it.

I just love these people that have to know exactly what the whole office is doing and that they are following all the rules. I was not aware this office had a rules enforcing police, but apparently she got that position when I was out sick for the half a day. Tomorrow should be fun, I am not going to be in the office at all in the morning because I have to go to another plant to give a training session to them. This is at the request of the Vice President, and my boss does know. Wonder if I should clear it with her to make sure that it is ok that I be gone in the morning? Naaaa, that would take the fun out of what could be an interesting week around here.

Hope You Enjoy The Color!

Here are a few pictures of the fall color from northern Michigan this past weekend.

This is the view I had everyday from the deck of our cabin.

Here is some of the color we saw near Houghton, Michigan and around Keewanaw bay on Lake Superior Saturday afternoon.

This was taken from Presque Isle in Marquette on Sunday.

And these are a few pictures on our way home on Monday. They are all taken south of the Bridge. Yes I was multi-tasking at the time, driving and picture taking.

A great time was had by all. I took my mom and grandmother up with me for the weekend. Grandma had a wonderful time, and she enjoyed the drives we took each day. It was great, we got to eat at all our favorite restuarants on both days and never cooked a meal at home. The weather was in the mid 70's both days. The color peaked probably around Wednesday or Thurdsay up there. We saw some good color but a lot of it was gone. At our cabin most of the leaves had fallen already. The northern lower pennisula of Michigan had better color than the upper and better on Friday than on Monday when we were coming home.

No big wild life around. :( We did see some deer, but I was hoping for a bear or a Moose. There will always be next time.

We were getting things around on Sunday night and mom and I had to go back into town to get a few things and the lady working in the store was going to be heading down state this Thursday. She was heading toward I-96 and US 23 which is in the general area between Lansing and Detroit. I was laughing to myself about her carrying on about her trip. I know where she is going because that is right near my sister, and she said that you would have thought that she was heading to Europe for this trip. I think if the "UPers" cross the bridge it is like entering a foreign country to them and they really have not even left the state they live in.

I was kind of bummed that they were going to be getting snow this week and I was leaving and going to miss it. Only to discover that we have snow in our forcast as well, bonus. I know a lot of you are not that excited about it, sorry.

All 3's

Ok I have been Tagged so here it goes:

All the 3s... Here are some things about me

3 smells I love:
Hot Apple Pie
Cinnamon
Orange

3 smells I hate:
Coffee (Sorry)
Body odor
Beer

3 jobs that I have had in my life:
Engineering Manager
Quality Manager
Video Store Manager

3 movies that I could watch over and over:
Good Morning Vietnam
The Shawshank Redemption
Sister Act 1 & 2

3 fond memories:
Going out Friday nights with my Grandparents
The birth of my two sprouts
Christmas at my other Grandparents

3 jobs I would love to have:
Making stainglass pieces full time
Web page designer
Continuing Education Teacher (Adults not kids)

3 places that I have lived:
Reading, Michigan
On Campus Tri-State University
Angola, Indiana

3 things I like to do:
Do Stuff with the kids
Create stainglass pieces
Work on the computer

3 of my favorite foods:
Seafood
Gingerbread cake w/lemon sauce
Grandmas fresh cherry dumplins

3 places I would like to be right now:
Around a campfire by the lake watching the sunset
Outside hanging out with the kids
With my twin sister rocking my nephew

3 websites that I visit daily:
www.yahoo.com
www.boatnerd.com
www.ebay.com

3 things that make me cry:
Onions
Disappointing my children at times
A Broken heart

3 friends that I am tagging:
All my friends in the tagging world have been tagged

...and it just Freaked me out!!

To add to my busy schedule, the sprouts are taking gymnastics once a week. They have been begging me to take them, so I finally found ones that fit everyone's schedule. The youngest has her 40 minute lesson, then we have dinner before the oldest has her lesson. I was putting the finishing touches on dinner last night and chatting with the 4 1/2 year old about her lesson. I do not stay for it, the oldest and I zip to the library a few blocks away and I do the same with the youngest later in the evening as well. Anyways, I was asking what all did they do today, did you get to do the bar, the trampoline,etc. I asked did you do the balance beam, which is a mat like beam that sits on the floor and is about 6 inches tall and maybe 8 - 10" wide. I saw them do that last week. She says "We had to go sideways, forwards, and backwards on it" excitingly telling me this. Then she says that "It just freaked her out" and on she went about her business. The mind of a child. :) They enjoy it, and they love going to the library as well, so life is good on Mondays.

2 more days before my mini vacation to the upper pennisula of Michigan. It is suppose to rain up there this weekend but I do not care, life is always good when ever I can get up there. I missed the seafood festival earlier this year, so I am glad I can get up there at all this year. I have had to do some last minute arrangements to get the sprouts to all of there stuff this weekend, but I have finally accomplished that as well. Now, all that is left is laundry and packing a few clothes for the trip.

My twin sister was trying to find away to go up as well for that weekend, which would of been really cool because I would have gotten to rock my nephew all weekend. He loves me! Well, he loves to spit up on me. :) I do not mind though, he is such a cutie. But, she is not going, and to be honest none of her SUV vehicles are big enough to pack everything that SHE would want to bring for both kids. Mind you there are lots of toys up there already and the little sprout does not require food yet, and there is a washer and dryer there as well. But, she still cannot make it.

A week in review....

I now have a 7yr. She had a great birthday! She got to take treats to school, had a small birthday cake on Friday, and a bigger cake on Saturday with the rest of the family. We went up to my sisters to have the party, so my grandma could see the baby. Everyone had a great time. The 7yr received her new bike for her birthday and she loves it. Rides it when ever possible. She is so tall that a new bike is in order almost every year, but I think I have found one that will last for quite sometime, it has a lot of adjustments on it. Now I have to take the old bike and make it usable for the 4yr because she is also very tall for her age and needs a new bike as well. It all works out in the end.

I help out with the computer at church and put the music in so that it is ready to go for the Sunday services. Well they have upgraded the program that is used, so Sunday the people running it were pretty much doing it blindly. But it was not to bad. I could not figure out everything I needed to figure out on it, in the 2 hours that I had to work with it. I have since figured out more stuff, so hopefully tonight will be a piece of cake getting the music in.

Besides the birthday this weekend was great. The girls and got to swim together. They have swim lessons on Saturdays so while one is having a lesson I swim with the other one and visa versa. They enjoy it. They have been swimming since before they were 3yrs old. We also stopped by my grandma's house after church on Sunday so she could see the girls clothes the she got them for the birthday party. She was so excited to see us again. I grew up seeing my grandma everyday, she lived only 5 miles from us and in town so we had to go to her house after school, while my mom and to finish up stuff at school as a teacher. Out of the 7 grandchildren and 9 great-grandkids, my sisters and I are the only ones she gets to see often. We try to see her as often as we can just because she enjoys it.

I have decide to take a little mini vacation next weekend, and my mom and grandma are going with me. I am just going to spend the weekend at the family cabin and grandma has not been up there that much this year, and mom won't let me go by myself, so they are both going. I usually ask grandma anyways, being 94 and the original owner of the place it is only fair to take her along. She already has the meals planned out for the 2 days we are going to be there. That will probably change some, but you can tell she is excited to be going.

I usually plan a lot of stuff to do, but not this time. I only have a small road trip planned and that will be no different than going to town anyways for a few groceries, so life will be good. Just sit down by the lake and watch time pass me by for two days. Weather permitting, and a few house winterizing projects to do first, nothing to big though.

Annoying/Applause

What really annoys me are people that always see the negative in everything. When someone just wants a friend to listen, the friend seems to have to take the other side and criticize what you are saying all the time. Luckily I do not have friends that do that anymore, I erased them from my Christmas list. But there are still people out there that no matter what you do or say it is never right in their book and they may not even know the entire situation, which doesn't matter to them you still are in the wrong in their eyes. I personally think those people do it to escape their issues what ever they maybe.

I do not even watch the news anymore, one I do not get any local TV stations and I do not watch the national news either. Someone told me that one "Cable" news stations letters stand for Continuous Negative News after listen to it for awhile I had to agree. I am still up and the news locally, regionally, and world wide. I take what I want and leave the rest.

I am glad that my "venting specialist" is the way that she is. Listens, doesn't really criticize me or tell me that I should have done it one way or the other. She makes suggestions and I take them or leave them, usually when I leave them, turns out I should have taken them. But some "venting specialist" tell people what they should be doing and turns out that made it worse, but that is the way they are. Not saying it is good or bad, and that is what makes this country the way it is. Everyone gets to have an opinion.

So I applaud those people that just listen, but sometimes that is all a person wants is a pair of ears for awhile. To those that do not know when to just listen, eventually you will know when you should have just listened.

Mountain out of a mole hill.....

Well my life the past month or so has been stuck in a legal battle with my former spouse. According to the final papers he has to pay me half of the medical bills after I pay so much first. I used up my allotment back in April. I gave him the spread sheet of everything he asked a few questions said he was going to have to talk to the insurance people...blah blah blah. A month later I sent a certified letter stating what was 30 days past due, he signed for it...fine. Later I sent another certified letter and he never picked it up nor did her picked up the other 3 that I sent over the course of the summer. I asked him in person when I picked up the sprouts if he was going to reimburse me his share of the medical bills and he said yes that he was waiting to hear back from the insurance company. Which now is 2 months later. When I got back from vacation I filed a contempt of court at the court house and got a court date in August. I received an email from him a few days after I filed that said that he had heard from the insurance company. Great now I might get to see some money which is almost half way to 4 digits now. Court arrives almost 30 days after he has heard from the insurance company, no money yet, and he is a no show because he did not sign for the certified letter. Judge sets a new date, and has his papers served by sheriff. A week later I get an email saying that I am going to be getting a check for so much and that the rest he will figure up and get to me at the end of the year. I sent back the spread sheet he attached and filled in the stuff he was missing, and never mentioned anything like "that will be fine to get the rest at the end of the year." I just let the time frame go, no point in beating on it. I figured that he got his papers. A few days later I pick up my certified letter from him, actually his wife did everything, wrote the check addressed the envelope wrong. It was part of the money, and I received a little more the next week.

During this whole time he has changed the visitation schedule to his liking without discussing it with me, of which I told him I did not like that schedule but would be glad to sit down with him to work one out, and he wants other things changed, because he would have to pay for part of it now. Then another email comes wanting to know why he got served papers. Because I did not have any money from you at that time, was my response. He came back with I told you I will get you the money when I get the insurance papers back. I did not respond back, I hate getting into an email "fight" with him, he just sends it to his wife to respond, not worth my time to go there.

So, now the court date has been changed twice by his lawyer and the court because he has filed a motion to have the visitation changed and the child support lowered. Now I really have no money, and grow deeper in debt to my parents for the lawyer fees, and I am not all that confident that the child support isn't going to be lowered. At least my lawyer thinks it won't so that is a good thing I guess.

I have everything in order, have had for almost 2 months now. The new court date is on what use to be my wedding anniversary, hope that isn't a bad thing again. I will be glad when it is all over with, then maybe I can get some sleep and back to my normal life.

The sad part about this, is that most of this could be solved by just simple communication of which will never happen as long as he is married to her. I have sat down with the two of them before and tried to work some stuff out, but that just turned into her telling me how everything was my fault. Not doing that again.

The Verdict part 2

Once again it has been changed. My ex called my yesterday morning to tell me that he was having the oldest ride the bus from daycare to school because of the three hour fog delay, he could not take her to school because he had to be somewhere else. I was not happy because she has to transfer buses to get to her school which he was not aware of. She made it, but the story she told me this morning about it did not have any enthusiasm with it for getting to ride the bus to school for the first time. Anyways, when he is all done with that information, he then says that the court date tomorrow (meaning today) has been change and he gave me the time and day of the new date. Not pleased about this I call the court, which had no knowledge of the change but the person was out and I had to call back this morning to confirm. So, I did and yep he changed it, because he has retained counsel and he of course was on duty today and probably did not want to ask for the time off as well, which pisses me off because I have to get the time off no matter what. SO, I have an appointment with my lawyer soon as well. I am sure he is going to make a mountain out of a mole hill, and I might even try to get the lawyers to work it out now, which would be in the best interest of my ex since the judge is not all that thrilled that he did not show up the last time. Time will tell I guess. What is another couple of sleepless weeks, it is only time anyways, except now it is money.

Hodge Podge of stuff!!!!

The last couple of weeks have been a whirl wind of stuff going on...

1. My nephew has arrived finally, last Sunday 8/27 in the afternoon sometime. He arrived by c-section because he was 11 pounds and 6oz. That is 3oz less than what my twin sister and I weighed together. Mom and baby are doing just fine. His big sister loves him, despite him being a little sister for along time. She is over that now. :) He is a cutie with chubby cheeks and a head full of dark hair.

2. I finally have received some money from my former spouse. I thought it was because he got served his papers for court, but these came before he got the papers. He has brought up a few new issues that I am not happy with so we will just let the court decide on them. I am tired of negotiating with him so that he gets what he wants all the time, to change later because they do not work to his benefit later on. What he tells me in one email changes the next week in another email, so the man in the black robe can make the decision for him as far as I am concerned right now.

3. My oldest has been in school all day now, first grade and loves it.

4. I am going to vent here about my younger sister "red". We do not get along very well, and I will be cordial for the most part. I do not call her up to see how her day is going or anything like that. We have never really seen eye to eye on things for a very long time. She is divorced x2 and has a daughter, the oldest of the grandkids. She pretty much lives off my parents, even though she has her own place in an adjacent town. She works for my dad which is fine, but she seeks handouts for everything. Granted my parents have helped me out during my divorce and continue to do so if I need them to. I paid for my divorce, my parents paid for her 2 divorces. Anyways, my parents took out a lone for me to pay off my spouse from the divorce settlement. I would not be able to refinance my house and car if I had that loan in my name. I make the monthly payments on that loan so all is well. I clean my parents house most everyweekend for mom. She only has one third of a knee cap on one leg and cannot bend it hardly at all, and has been like that most of my life, so she cannot get on her hands and knees to clean stuff. She shattered her elbow a few years ago, rods and screws were required to put the splinter like pieces of bone back together with the hope that she would have at least a 10% movement in it. She lacks about 10% of full movement from it, but is still limited in doing stuff. So, instead of paying someone to come in to do her cleaning, I get paid to do it. Which usually is taken off of my loan payment for the month. I do not mind cleaning the house, I mind cleaning after "red" when she has spent the night at mom and dads. Mind you she only lives 20 minutes at most away. I have to always put away the blankets and pillows that she drags out of the closet in the room she sleeps in. I have to take care of all the stuff she gets out of the bathroom drawers and just leaves them on the counter when she is done instead of putting them back. It is just annoying. She was offered to clean the house for extra money but never did it. Go figure.

5. An exciting moment happened this weekend. 8 of us went to a county fair in an adjoining state on Sunday. This fair was my moms and grandmas fair many years ago. Most of us usually go every year, but this year we piled into an RV and took grandma along. She has not been there for many many years. She was dressed in her Sunday best for a 93yr. We pushed her around in a wheel chair, she only has 50% of her heart working from a heart attack a few years ago so the walking is out. We took her through a long cabin that her brother help build and had some items in it from her grandfather. She was in seventh heaven there. I glanced at a large quilt in the corner than had twelve or sixteen squares on it. Each square had a circle with a name on it and a wagon wheel of names embroidered around it. I asked my mom who a couple of names were and she said they were her grandma and grandfather, then I spotted my grandmas name on it. This quilt was made back in 1927 and the names on it were from the members of a small community back then. The people were so excited that my grandmas name was on it and that she was still living. Someone came through a couple of hours ahead of us and said that no one was still living. They took a picture of my grandma in front of the quilt and she was in her glory.

The Verdict is....

Postponed until both parties appear at the same time. I had a court appearance this week to try to get some money from my former spouse that he owes me for medical expenses for the sprouts, all of which is stated in the divorce decree. He did not show because he did not pick up the certified letter that the court set him stating the date and time of court. I know this because one the court did not have a record of it, and two he has not picked up any of my certified letters to him since he signed for the first one back in May. I still have one at the post office which I will probably get back this week.

I showed up at court and apparently was the only case for the day. The clerk came in and asked me if I knew if he knew he was to be there today. I did not know but told her that I doubt he knows because of the mail situation. She said she was going to have to talk to the judge. She came back and told me to have a seat, that the judge wanted to put in on record that he was not there. It was a quick proceeding, and I have a new court date. So, I get to wait almost 3 weeks, and after the sheriff visits his employer I am sure I will get a phone call after that. Why is it that when the consequences of your actions are not to your liking, you blame other people for them? The judge did not seem very happy that my ex did not pick up his mail. He did not seem happy with the snail mail system either. :)

What can brown do for you......

Take care of a package that is not mine that is what they can do for me. A week ago, there was a package on my front steps when I got home from work. I was thinking to myself, I have not ordered anything to have a package delivered, but my birthday was the next day so maybe it was a gift from someone. NOPE, it was a package for my former spouses business, from the same people that tried to pick up something from my garage about a year ago, luckily I was home when that happened.

I put the package in the car and was headed out for my birthday plans with the sprouts, and find a guy in brown still working so, I turn around and make my way back to see if he can help me. I give him the package and explain that it was delivered to my house today and that it is not mine, it is my address but that person is my ex and has not been there for over two years now. He says not a problem I will mark it moved away, and off we go on our merry ways.

A few days later I get a postcard in the mail, for the same address as the package saying that they have a moved notice and where the package can be picked up at. I write on it not here anymore like the rest of the mail I get that is not mine and send it back thru the system.

This morning I get a phone call from my ex, "Did you have a package delivered to the house recently?", "Yep", "Did you send it back?", "Yep", "I told them the address had changed and gave them the new address a long time ago they just never changed it!" "I do not know what to tell you, you might contact the hub, they might be holding it there." Off he goes on his adventure to find his long lost package.

I have no idea if he got it or not. It was coming from the same town that his parents live in and is only 40 miles away from either of us, so I am not that concerned about it. He could have picked one up himself at some point and time, I have been there to do just that for him before the end of our marriage.

I did not feel that it was my responsibility to deliver it to him either. Either one of us apparently is not that thrilled with having contact with the other person, why I have no idea. I still inform him how doctors appointments go, dentists appointments and such, if I take them. If he takes them, I have to call him and find out how things went. If it was someone else's package that was not my neighbor I would have done the same thing, sent it back.

Awesome Weekend!

I had to fill in for my twin sister in her spouses company golf outing this weekend. She is expecting and due anytime, doctor says she is at 2cm today. A good time was had by all, at least for the 4 of us that made up our team. We took first place! Mind you my brother-in-law and I, and sister have golfed in tournaments before mostly just for fun. Anytime we can get out on the course is a good thing for us, so we really do not care how we do. He came in last place last year, and maybe the year before that, so first place is awesome for us. We were hooked up with his plant manager, and a sales rep. for one of the vendors. The sales rep is a competitive guy, but that did not bother either of us since we had only been able to make it out once so far this year. We rolled right along all day and it truly was a team effort. Everyone contributed off the tee at different times, and we all made putts and some point as well. When all was done we shot a 12 under, and that was good enough for first place by 3 shots I believe. We received 2 rounds of golf at a nice course near Detroit some where. Another road trip for me, but always a good road trip if golf is involved.

I won free gas for getting closest to the pin on one of the holes for the women. That was cool since I was the first name on the list. It was pretty close and we were shooting over a huge pond which was the courses signature hole. That paid for my gas up there.

I even got a door prize, everyone received a door prize.

The down side to the weekend, was that it took me 3 hours to get to my sisters when it normally takes 2hours or less. I got onto 96 and came to a crawl so I got off, I knew there was construction coming up and I knew there was another major road that ran parallel to 96 not far away, so I headed for that road. Thanks, to cell phones my mom helped me find the road I needed, with no problems. After a bit I got back on 96 to go about 1/2 mile and be at a crawl again, for what reason I have no idea but after about 4 miles of it, I got off and went back to the other road for the rest of my trip which took me to where I would have gotten off 96 anyways. That was a fun and exciting time.....NOT! I left work early to arrive at the same time I would have if I didn't leave early. And there is nothing like a 4yr back seat driver telling me where I can get off the highway to go faster and take a "shortcut" to make your evening.

We did arrive safely, and you cannot ask for more than that.

Woo Hoo!!!

I finally got the results from the bowling tournament I was in earlier this summer. That was part of my vacation out west. I did well enough to get some money back, WOO HOO! Not enough to cover the travel expenses and all, but it is better than nothing.

It is about time to start getting back into the practice mode for next years nationals in North Carolina.

Lord's Army....

On the way to dinner Friday night with my mom and the sprouts, the kids were chatting back and forth and then they were singing songs having a great time. The youngest started singing the Lord Army song...I may never ride in the infantry....shout the artillery.....etc...Then this verse comes blaring out....I may never FART in god's army.... I think is how it went I don't remember much after FART I was laughing so hard and trying not to laugh at it as well my mom was trying not to laugh. The tears just rolled down our faces.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Actually, I am celebrating the fact that I survived another birthday on Saturday. This one seemed a little hard to get through, but I had lots of stuff that occupied my time, so it went pretty well.

On Friday, the sprouts and I had appointments at the dentist for all that routine stuff. Not my favorite place to go. Then after work we headed to my parents house. Dad was on his way up to my sisters to work on getting the basement done so they can get the nursery set up before the baby arrives sometime this month. Nothing like trying to beat a deadline and you have no idea what day that is....LOL. Mom and I took the sprouts out for dinner for my birthday a day early. It was their dads weekend to have them, but he was on duty at the fire station and I had things going on for Saturday that I really did not want to have the sprouts at, so I chose Friday to have them for my birthday time. Everyone had a great time, my oldest was disappointed that I did not get sung to. I was not disappointed!

Saturday morning, I got the sprouts up and ready to go with their dad when he got off duty. The youngest ran out and informed him that it was my birthday, not that he did not know that already because we had discussed the change of schedule and why. Of course he looks at his watch to check the date and says "Happy Birthday" "I am sorry" for not remembering it is what he was sorry for. I just smiled and said "thanks". I headed up to my grandma's house because we were having a garage sale during the towns festival days, and it was my day to kind of work it. I hate garage sales, but most of the stuff was baby clothes and toys, of which the new addition will not be able to use. Except I really took on the roll of "go getter" which was fine with me. I went and got the BBQ chicken dinners for lunch, I went a got my niece and we walked uptown and took in the parade, then we went and grabbed ice cream on the nice sunny day. At lunch time when I was picking up the chicken dinners, I came back to have flowers waiting there for me. My mom handed them to me. The card was a happy birthday card, but the name on the card was my moms name that was it. I asked who were they from and she said "who do you think", so I just assumed they were from her, feeling sorry for me not getting anything for my birthday. I found out yesterday that my twin sister ordered them and they were suppose to be from my sprouts. After I help putting everything from the sale away for the day, mom and I went out to dinner and had a nice time. She did invite my younger sister who declined, which I was glad for that because she had been in a mood all day and we just do not get along and I had about had it with her as well.

I was going to go golfing on Sunday but by the time I got everything done that I wanted to get done first, it started sprinkling and I did not feel like golfing in rain so I head home and called it a day. Pretty exciting weekend.

I did manage to get out golfing last night with a friend. We got our moneys worth let me tell you....LOL. We made sure not to short ourselves any strokes or putts...LOL. We had a good time and grabbed dinner afterwards, we have not had anytime to hang out together all summer, so it was nice catching up with one another.

Egg Soap!!!

While entertaining "K" for the morning, I found some bath stuff for kids. There was some soap type thing shaped like an egg and had a surprise in it when it dissolved in the water. It was cheap so "K" picked out a color and off we went. Now being only 4 "K" loved telling "M" who is 6 about what happened during the day and the "treasures" acquired as well. It was like pouring salt in the wound to a 4yr. So after picking them up from camp I was making my way through town, not really paying attention to the conversation but catching bits and pieces of it because they are starting to argue about stuff. I hear .." it is egg soap..." from K and "guess what it smells like" Now I am thinking to myself how does egg soap get into the head of a 4yr and who would use soap made out of eggs. Then I hear " ..it smells like watermelon".. now by this time tears are rolling down my face from this conversation, and M says mom is that true did you buy egg soap.

All of the sudden I realize I did buy egg soap and it was melon scented. Now I have to explain the whole thing to the 6yr.

What a conversation kids can have with each other.

WOW - I finally have landed....

....for the rest of the summer. Last week I spent the entire week in a hotel with the sprouts and my mom. The sprouts had day camp at the zoo all week and I did not want to drive back and forth everyday so we camped at a hotel with a pool for the week.

The kids loved the camp and the hotel as well. We had to time the pool though, there was a youth basketball tournament in town as well and kids from Texas, Kansas, and around the nation where there. Some of the kids had no consideration for others, but we managed to get our swimming in with out incidents.

My "vacation" was from noon until 3 when I picked both sprouts up from camp. Mom and I had to entertain the youngest "K" in the morning until drop off at noon. You can only do so much shopping before a 4yr wants to run and play, so off to McD's for lunch with a playland most of the time. We made a stop at the mall for lunch and a request for roast beef place as well was granted.

Now, I just have to survive the heat and get ready for school to start.

Another story...

Here is another luggage story. When my "twin" sister landed in Seattle a couple hours after me, not all of her luggage made it. Luckily their sprouts "L" luggage made it, but the piece that had her and her husbands clothes in it did not make it. Keep in mind she is 7 months pregnant. VERY Pregnant. So they fill out the paperwork and were told someone would be calling them with the status of the luggage. This was Wed. afternoon/early evening local time.

Thursday morning she calls the number given to her and of course they have not located it yet. We do some sightseeing and stuff for the day. My sister "Red" apparently has some class work to do, so she needs to find a library for on online connection, we all agree to go. I check out my work email and pass the buck on a few things and my twin checks her work email and then we wait for "red" to finish up then head back for dinner. On the way back my twin calls the number again and gets no where, and her hormones are starting to kick in. Apparently the lady on the other end told her that she could get $25 for clothes, that went over well....NOT. The lady said that someone would be calling her in reference to the status of the lost clothes and she said when, because she is the only one that has been doing the calling. Finally, my sister asked the lady where she was located, and she said Dallas. My sister says then how do you know that my luggage is not sitting in Seattle somewhere, and hangs up. Side note: my sister did fly through Dallas on the way to Seattle. Now as we are grabbing some groceries on our way back to the house for dinner, my mom is reading the papers that they gave my sister and she can get up to $2800 per ticket passenger, that is nice to hear since $25 would not cover a maternity outfit for her.

So, after dinner she decides to head to the airport to ruffle some feathers, talk to this nice guy there. It was about 9:30pm when she was at the airport talking to this guy about her luggage. After seeing her being very pregnant he made it his mission to find that luggage and said he would call he later. Yeah right was what she was thinking. Well, around midnight or so they did get a call and he found it, and it would be delivered in the morning. Someone called around 8am to either get directions or confirm something anyways they said it would be here between 0 and 4hrs. Luckily we were just going to go downtown and shop for the day, so we waited for our host to get back from a dr. apt. and we took off. Someone had to be there to sign for it. It arrived around 2pm. Apparently the regional airport they started out at used those tags with the elastic bands on them. Well I think the tag came off during the "careful" handing of the luggage in Chicago. So the piece did not make it past Chicago. Luckily Alaska air flies from Chicago so it got a direct flight to Seattle after being discovered somehow. We all speculate that route because the guy told them that Alaska air had it, but they apparently do not share that info with anyone else you have to march down to there little corner of the airport and ask them. And the reason they think it was stuck in Chicago was because their clothes were damp and it was down pouring in Chicago when they got there. SO after a couple of days things were back to being stress free for the rest of the week. They did pack a couple of outfits in their carry on just in case that would happen.

Funny Story from Vacation!!

Now that I am finally caught up at work, and have a few minutes before ending the work week I thought I would share a story or two from vacation.

Five of us were flying together to Seattle with one short lay over on the way there. My younger sister, "Red" who I do not get along with very well, and her daughter "E", me and my two sprouts "M" and "K". We were all checking in one piece of luggage each and carrying on one piece each. With a 12yr and my 6yr and 4yr I was not in the mood to take care of luggage as well. So, We get to the airport early and check in at the counter, she takes our luggage one piece at a time, according to the "3 foot sticker" label that comes dispensing out of the computer. "K" my youngest at 4yr watches as the lady puts the label on each piece of luggage and places on the conveyor behind her, then it is "K" turn, I put the luggage on the counter and the lady puts the label on it, an places it on the conveyor as she did with the rest of our luggage. We gather up our carry ons and head for the gate. Now the tears start flowing because "K" is sure the luggage is not going to Seattle with us, and wants it back. We finally convince her that it will be in Seattle when we get there. So we are off and headed for an hour layover in Cincinnati. When we land "K" is upset again because the luggage is not with us again. We convince her one more time that all is ok, and head to Seattle. Now, all I can think of is I hope that at least her piece of luggage makes it other wise life as we know it is going to be over.

Well, we finally landed after about a 4hour flight, of which the sprouts did great on. My niece is looking out the window and says there is my luggage. That was almost a comfort. We make our way to baggage claim where my parents are waiting for us, because they have one of the cars for the week, and know how to get were we are going since they arrived a day earlier. Yes, ALL of our luggage made it and "K" was very happy now.

On a side note, "K" was not that worried about it going home. LOL.

Here's an Idea....

Let me recap for you all....Starting on June 18th I head to Mississippi to do some training at the two plants our company has there, then I head to Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon that we to do the same training there. After two days in Kentucky I head home on Friday. I have the weekend to get things ready for my vacation with the sprouts and the rest of my family. I have to be at work on Monday and Tuesday to catch up on the stuff that came in while I was in the south, since I do not have a back up person at work for my job. I am up most of the night Tuesday night finishing packing for vacation because we have to leave the house at 4am to catch at 6:30am flight to Seattle. I am on vacation until the following Wed. July 5th of which I am up most of the night PST because we have to leave at 4am to catch a 6:30am flight again out of Seattle. I have to be to work on Thursday. My mom calls me Thursday morning and says that she is coming down to start getting one of the sprouts rooms ready to paint this weekend. Because everyone has a great idea that this would be the perfect weekend to do the painting. GREAT!!! All I have to do is get wallpaper off the bottom half of one wall and get the rest of my crap out of the other room, and move everything to the center of the room so it can be painted.

I get home from work on Thursday and she has a small portion of the paper off the walls, I help her for a bit then we grab a bit to eat and I took the sprouts swimming, because I promised them I would and I was not breaking that promise. Afterwards we finish moving the furniture to the center of the room and get the rest of the paper off the walls. Now it is 1am and I get to finally call it a day, because I have to be back to work in the morning.

Friday, I drag myself to work of which by now I do not want to be at because I have so much stuff to catch up on from vacation and my house is now a disaster as well. My sister and her husband were coming down to do the painting and were going to be there early afternoon. My mom was going to be there in the morning to wash the walls and get the paint that I had picked out and marked which room each color was for. I get home from work and he has not started to even prime the walls yet. THIS IS A GREAT IDEA!! I am thinking that this is never going to get done, I could have had it done by now I think. We ordered dinner and he finally started to paint something. My mom and sister took her sprout back to moms house and he finally finished painting just shy of 2am. I worked on preparing the other room to be painted on Saturday. It did not need primed, it just needed to have my "stuff" out of there and the furniture moved to the middle of the room.

After a couple hours of sleep I get up around 8am and gander up stairs to peek at the room. Now, I am thinking that the wrong color was applied. I could not find the paint chips I picked out, and assumed that my mom took up the correct color of paint since that was the only room ready to paint at that time. Yep, guess were assuming got me. I called mom to see when they were coming over and confirmed that the wrong color was used. Luckily we did not have to re-prime it because the colors were very close together. One is a light pink and the other is a light purple, same base, one just has a touch of red added and the other a touch of blue added to it. SO, he repaints the room with the correct color, and I finish prepping the other room while another gallon of paint is needed because there is not enough left to do the room. We start tapping the room off and I help him paint the second room. At 10pm Saturday night both rooms are painted, and my house has two pathways through it, to get around on. I was so tired that I called it an evening then as well.

I did make a stop at the fire station, Saturday morning, to drop off some "stuff" to the former spouse that I found in the house and really did not want it, and did not feel comfortable throwing it out. I handed him the box of stuff that I had and got back in my car. He acted kind of surprised that I was not going to stay and chat for a bit. I have nothing to chat about. I ended up making another trip later that evening to give more "stuff" that I came across as well. Again I just gave him the stuff and got back in the car. No chit chat. I am glad because now I know there is nothing else in the house that belongs to him, and it was a pleasant exchange.

I managed to get up in time to make it to church, and made it through the service. I went to mom and dads afterwards to do some stuff at their house, but they did not have all the stuff I needed so mom and I grabbed lunch then headed back to my house to put the two rooms back together. Dad came down later to help out as well. We grabbed dinner and finished up a couple of things left to do and the upstairs was complete and it was 9pm and I called it an evening.

I am ready for another vacation now which I have one planned in a couple of weeks but that is not soon enough....LOL. I did managed to fight my way through work today and get caught up finally.

Hopefully, this week I can relax a bit now.

Another Reason I Need A Vacation Again.....

I got home just after 5pm on Wed. dead tired, and the kids ready to play. Finally I get them to sleep around midnight, I fall asleep around then as well. I am around 6:30am because I have to be to work on Thursday. I get the sprouts off to daycare and go to work. My mom calls me and says she is coming down to get the sprouts rooms ready to be painted. Mind up one of them has wallpaper on it covering the bottom four feet or so all the way around the room. I was not in a hurry to tackle this project but my brother in law is going to paint it and since they have the rest of the week off they thought that would be a good time to paint. So she has part of the room down when I get off work at 5pm. I pick up the sprouts and we head for home and work in the room some more, than go grab a bite to eat and head to the Y to go swimming because I had promised them I would go swimming before my mom had this brain storm. Mom dropped us off to go swimming and she went and picked up some more supplies and we head back to finish the wallpaper removal. At 1am the paper was all off and the stuff moved to the center of the room.

I again have to be up for work this morning and have to take the sprouts to daycare, along with getting their stuff packed to spend the weekend at their dads as well. I finally get up and get ready and get them up and out the door. Needless to say I got up a bit late but finally did make it to work. One room should be done today, and tonight after work we will finish getting the other room ready to paint tomorrow. At least the other room has no wallpaper on it, just have to move stuff away from the walls, and set up a scaffolding for the stairway part of the room. The rooms should not take very long to paint.

The kids are excited about it, and they helped out as well last night. I am kind of looking forward to it as well, but the timing sucks. It is now or wait awhile, this is the last trip my sister can make down to here because she is nearing the end of her pregnancy.

I am back...

....And ready for another vacation! Three weeks ago I was on a business trip to Mississippi. Nothing like Mississippi in the middle of June to keep your blood boiling. :) Mid 90's everyday. Luckily I was only there Sunday night thru Tuesday afternoon. The company I work for had manufacturing plants in Mississippi and I had to conduct training classes for about 10 people. Anyways the training went well, and I even got hooked up with a laptop to do my office work as well since I do not have a backup person to help me out. That was nice not having to go back to a weeks worth of work waiting for me.

My mom rode with me, which was nice. It took 13 hours of driving on Sunday to get to Mississippi, so that I could be at the plant first thing Monday Morning. This trip seem like an adventure for a working "potty". Apparently the one in our hotel did not work well, at least for my mom, I had to use a different one because the one was not working. Let me tell you it was a long 40 miles to the plant one morning, I was not to keen on a gas station when it was dark out in the morning still, and I was by myself at that time. We managed though, then Tuesday afternoon we were off for out Kentucky plant, which was an 8 hour drive, and I have never been there before. Nothing like trying to find a place in the dark with no directions on paper, just find a pizza place in the shape of a "hut" then I will find the hotel. Half hour later the red "hut" illuminated sign is spotted and all is well. We end up on the second floor, but can get a first floor room in the morning. Fine that will work. Except now this toilet doesn't flush at all. The chain came off of the handle, so I fix it and all is fine. After the morning training session, I went back to the hotel to switch to the downstairs room, this bathroom actually worked the entire two days we were there. It was a nice week, hot but nice. Nothing like getting to experience the hottest day of the summer so far in Kentucky were I was at. I SO miss winter... :)

After 2 days at work to catch up on everything else, the sprouts and I and the rest of my family headed to Seattle for a family vacation for a week. We stayed with some relatives there. I absolutely hate traveling, my vacation starts when I get to my destination and with my luggage if I am flying, considering I was flying with my sister whom I do not get along with very well, and her daughter. We were civil to each other and all went well. I had been up all night finishing packing and stuff. We had to leave the house by 4am to catch a 6:30am flight, that was fun with a 4 and 6yr as well, but that went better than expected.

The 4yr watch us all check in our luggage, we all had one piece we were checking and one carry on. Then it was the 4yrs turn to put the piece of luggage up to be tagged, the tears started flowing when it was not returned back to carry onto the plane. We had to change planes and the tears started flowing again because we did not have our luggage with us again. When we arrived in Seattle all I could think of was that piece better be here or I will never hear the end of it for awhile. All pieces arrived and we were officially on vacation at 10:30 PST by now I am dragging, and can really use a nap. Luckily nothing was planned for the day, since my other sister was coming in later in the afternoon, so I napped and the kids played. My sister finally arrived, minus the piece of luggage that her and her spouses clothes in it. She did pack a couple of outfits for them in the carry on, but she is 7 months pregnant not like she wants to go out and buy clothes for a week. The luggage finally arrived two days later, after she went back to the airport the next night and chatted with a guy who I think did not want to see the hormones come out in full force. He made it his mission to find it and did so in about two hours after she had been on the phone all day with people that were not even in Seattle telling her they still have not located it. All worked out finally.

We had a great time, we toured Boeing, and spent one day on one of the islands in the sound, watched the tide while we were there and the kids search for sea shells and had a blast. Went down town and shopped at Pike Place Market, watched them throw fish. My Twin sister and her husband and I took our kids and went to the aquarium for the rest of the day and they had a blast. The kids loved the touching pond, they got to touch different star fish and coral and lots of other stuff as well.

My twin sister and I bored a plane to head to Reno to bowl. That was a hard goodbye for everyone but we would be back late the next day. My mom was giving me instructions on how I should not be separated from my pregnant sister while in Reno. I told her that there may be a chance that she could be at one end of the bowling alley and me at the other end to bowl and there would not be anything I could do about it. I thought that was funny but she did not think it was. We both had a nice two days in Reno, but could not wait to get back to Seattle. We both bowled well in the team event, and I did well in the doubles and singles event, she struggled through doubles and singles, but we had fun. The flight back I could have done with out, but finally it landed and life was good again. :)

Grandma and Granpa took the kids to the zoo and the childrens museum while we were gone. They did not get that much time at the zoo, because my other sister, the one I do not get along with, HAD to send some stuff off by email that was not going to take her long, after about 3 hours she was done, and she wanted to go to the zoo so they had to wait for her so the kids only got about an hour and a half there before it closed. My twin sister and I along with her husband took the kids back to the zoo after we got back from Reno and saw all the stuff they missed, they had a great time, and it was a very nice day, not hot at all.

The kids watched the fireworks, and we left early that morning again for the airport. All traveled well going home. I thought it was going to be an interesting trip because my sister was in a mood and since I usually am in a mood traveling, I thought for sure we would be having words before we made it home, but we didn't.

Unbelievable......

Well the last few days have been interesting. The sprouts had their Vacation Bible School(VBS) program last night. I did not think they were going to be able to go because they were suppose to be with their dad this weekend and all next week camping for their vacation here locally, and he is not that big on having to change his plans. I called him Wed. to let him know that the program was going to be Friday night, he was not thrilled, he said he would talk to the sprouts about it. All I did was ask the sprouts if they wanted to go to the program and they said yes, because if you go you get a prize. I then said well if your dad cannot take you I can get you there. So, I get a call on Thursday night and the first thing he says is, so you can take them tomorrow night, I said "Yes". Then he said are you going to bring them to the campground when you are done. I said "No" I did not want to drive all that way out there to drop them off, we can meet somewhere. He finally agreed to meet, was not thrilled on it though.

I pick the sprouts up from daycare and we head to my parents for a quick bite before the program then off to VBS we go. The sprouts fell asleep in the car on the way to my parents so now the 6 and 4yr are in a great mood, NOT. The 4yr is a little clingy to mom, so mom gets to parade in with the 3 and 4yrs and sit up front with them. They all get up on stage and say their verse and sing their song, of which by now I did not have to go up with them. Then they get their own little prize that is different from the rest of the kids, because the 3 and 4yrs did not earn points for the week like the rest of the kids. Out comes this basket full of stuff Teddy Bears in all different colors, the shaggy kind that are real soft. My lovely sprout who is the tallest of all the kids up there stands and says "I do not want a Bear" HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM. The sprout wanting to go "shopping" wanted to pick from the other prizes that were laying around up front for the rest of the kids. We managed our way back to sit with grandma and grandpa, the whole time rejecting this bear and saying I do not want a bear. Well, by the time it was almost over we did not want anyone touching out bear, and we were loving it. Then the angel left for some reason and we though it would be fun to walk on the pews and sit on the back of them out of moms reach and make annoying sounds out loud. HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM. We finally went out and had a discussion and decided that the cookies and punch that were being prepared and setup were going to be worth being good.

They got their cookies and punch, and then got to pour water on the VBS leader and the pastor, and off we went to meet their dad.

This morning they had their last ballgame of the summer, and good thing is was a tad bit warm this morning. The 4yr was in a mood, but did pretty well. The 6yr did great also. They got trophies, and a medal afterwards for participating. They were so excited. The concession stand was not open for a team pop afterwards so someone went and got water for the team before the game started so the kids would have something to drink afterwards. Well, the sprouts had water with them before the game started and did not want a new water, their dad was getting mad that they did not take water because he chipped in money for it. Then after words, they(she/wife) was telling him that they needed to sort out everything because the ball stuff they bought and the stuff I bought were mixed up. They bought the 4yr a bat and helmet and bag and glove this year, I bought the 6yr her stuff last year. The bat they bought the 4yr was to heavy, but just right for the 6yr, and the 4yr could swing the lighter bat that the 6yr had last year. Life is good, but apparently possession is 9 tenths of the law. He brought "my stuff" over to the car and said that he is keeping on of the mitts because they might want to play catch, I asked if I could have it later this summer when I them and he got into this I bought you bought thing, and really did not want me to have it. Then he said it doesn't matter it is the girls stuff, and I pointed out that he is the one that started splitting up the stuff right after the game, it was not my idea. He just put his hands up and said wait a minute, I was done, I had nothing to say anyways. When only one person hears blah blah blah what is the point. When we get ready to play ball this summer and the girls need stuff to so that at my house I will just go get them more stuff and keep it here. It is just another expense.

It just made me mad about the whole thing. The sprouts each have their own stuff one at one place and one at the other place, what is the problem? I don't even make a fuss about the trophies or medals, he paid for them to play ball, and he keeps the trophies and medals at his place, and I have never said a word about it. The sprouts some times wish they could have them in their room here, but I just tell them that they have to ask their dad for that.

Well, this is long enough and I need to get ready to head out in the morning for my business trip. Hope the weather is cooler in Mississippi. Good Luck with that.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DAD'S!

On Hiatus.....Or Work....

I am almost ready for my Mississippi trip next week. A business trip of which I will be doing some training for my company plants there. Then after a couple of days in Mississippi I will be off to Kentucky to train the plant there as well. I cannot think of a more exciting trip to be on. Wait, I think I can. That would be my vacation the following week to the West.....I CANNOT WAIT FOR THAT. Not looking forward to flying with the sprouts who are 4 and 6, mostly because I am not that great of a traveler. Dramamine is my friend, except I need to be alert because of the sprouts. Luckily, my sister and her 12yr is traveling with me. It will be a family vacation once we all finally arrive at the destination. That will entail 3 different planes for us to all get there. So, I may not be posting for awhile.

I have been working a lot of overtime lately trying to get ready for the training class, and finishing up some data entry that hadn't been done for about 2 years as well. I am finally at a point now where I actually care about work and stuff in my life. For two years I barely got what I needed to get done at work, and that is all they got out of me. I use to have it done right after they handed it me. For awhile I got it done right after they called me looking for it. I had about 7 piles of papers on two desks about 10" - 12" high to be entered into a database or two and filed. I now can say that I have 2 piles left maybe 1" high. All in a months time.

The sprouts have been great lately, which is a major accomplishment for them lately. We finally got to see "Over the Hedge" this weekend, cute movie. We have been playing basketball lately and the youngest loves to blow bubbles and put puzzles together, so that has been fun as well. Their final ball game is this Saturday, and I am not looking forward to seeing it. Only because it is in a small town home of most of the relatives of the "out-laws" (his relatives). The town is known for his last name pretty much. I will still be there, with my smiling face, and hope for the best.

My twin sister has sent me onto an excursion to find a left hand mitt for her almost 4yr sprout, not an easy thing to locate. She lives in a bigger town than me, and made about 20 calls with no luck. I stopped at 2 places and the second place had three of them. Go Figure.

Well it is time to run a few errands before heading back to work to wrap things up for the exciting trip next week.

Have a great 4th of July, if I do not talk to you before then.

An Evening with Dad

Yesterday I asked my dad to come down and help me out with some yard work. I really just needed him to bring down his truck so I could get a pallet of top soil again. Since mom left in the morning to head to the family place with her mom and others, I knew dad would be down. I got the yard mowed and my car washed just before he arrived at my house. I was finishing up some stuff and he starts in on trying to take off an old cell phone antenna from my car window. He got it off, he was not about to quit until he did get it. We headed out in the truck, actually a full size work van that is currently empty except for the two front seats. He is working on turning it into his work van. I am taking advantage of the cargo area while I can. We finally get the pallet loaded from the local store. Had to wait for a fork truck driver who was actually working to help us out. We then proceeded back to the house to unload the 60 40 pound bags. I told him half way through that unloading these bags reminded me of loading up the trucks with fertilizer and seed bags to plant the fields every year when I was younger. He said you remember that. How can I forget, I practically cut off the end of my finger opening the bags up one year. He mad his rounds with the planter and I was not on the truck when he got back. All he had to do was follow the trail I had left from the truck to the house. Anyways, after finally getting them stacked and staying upright, we headed out to dinner. I don't think ha and I have ever had dinner out together, usually I have the sprouts with me when he comes to help me out with something or mom is with him. We had a nice time. Split some appetizers and chatted about what was on the tv and other current events going on.

Can I have fries with that?

Tis the season for new employees, since school is out. Some of them are pretty cool about it all and usually I am ok with it as well. Except this weekend my mom and I took the sprouts out for lunch after their tough game of ragball (little kids baseball with a soft cover ball, and no score kept, everyone gets to bat and run all the bases). We all order the newbie read back the order to me life is good. mom and the kids fine a table and I wait for the food. I have to tell them exactly what was ordered again because for some reason, it only prints our like the first half of everyone's order. Everyone being in my party, that is. There must be a magic button on the computer to get that to happen. Having worked in retail before, training is the key. It just seems now days, that know one has the time to train them properly, they just need a body to fill that position and sooner or later they will get them the training they really need, except the summer is usually over by then.

An Interesting Meeting!

The former spouse and myself had an apt. With the sprouts venting specialist, at her request. I told her to set up the time when he could be there. I was not going to set it up, that never works anymore. We discussed some of the issues the sprouts are having, he blamed the fowl language from the 4yr on me and daycare. Daycare maybe, but it is used in practically every sentenced that comes from him, but I just let it go. Was nice to have a third party run the show that had no ties to us. She just wanted to make sure that both households pretty much use the same discipline techniques as stuff like that. I was really and very nice meeting. I was not all that thrilled with having to have the time changed at the last minute to an hour later, but he did call me and ask if that would be ok. I told him I was not making that call he had to, if they could accommodate the new time, then I will be there.

After the meeting, I just had all this anger built up inside of me. I realized I was mad at him for not trying to make the marriage work. He never did anything that the counselors asked of him, etc. I realized that it was not about what he was going to loose in ending the marriage, it was what he was going to be gaining when the marriage was over. The list of gains is much greater than the loses, if the loses were really considered. You see he has gotten everything he has ever wanted in a year and a half after the divorce was final. So, it wasn't about me, it was about getting to be a farmer finally, and having the truck you always wanted, and the list goes on. This all clear to me when he called me to switch the appointment at the last minute. The excuse had to do with being a farmer, which his is third job, not his main job. I am not knocking farmers by the way, I grew up driving a tractor every summer, but it is different when you never set foot on a farm until 2 years ago. Anyways, finally realizing that it is truly not about you but other things is a big accomplishment I think.

Homework Complete?

I have been working on the forgiveness part of my life lately. Apparently I was suppose to be working on it as well, because everything I came across the last few days was about forgiveness in some way or another. My horoscope even had it in it one day. So, I tackled it, kind of. I wrote a letter to my younger sister for all the hurt she has caused me over the years. I tried to talk to her about all of it a few years ago and she ignored me, like I was not even in the room, so I really have not spoken that much to her since. Writing the letter was hard to do, I am an engineer for one not an English major....lol, and I really did not know what I wanted to say to her, but I started it and a page and a half later and a few more tears I completed it. I will probably mail it to her later this week, I meet with the vent specialist tonight and we will probably discuss it.

I know that discussing things face to face is better than putting it in writing and giving it to the other person, but if the other person is not willing to talk to you face to face they normally will read what you have to say in a letter form. Nobody really wins either way, but I glad I did write the letter, I felt a load lifted off of me when I was done with it. As much as it hurt to write about some stuff, I really did not have the anger in me when I was writing it, so I think that is a step towards progress.

As far as forgiveness for my former spouse, I think I have reached that point. I am not going to write a letter to him, that never works period. I just pray about it, and give him over to god to deal with him. I have seen him a couple of times recently at the sprouts functions for school and ballgames, and I really do not care what he does there, or who he is with. I just do my thing and be done with it. If they (wife and ex) have something they want to discuss with me and it is about the kids, I listen and give input were needed and move on my way.

Stainglass "Story Time"

This was done from a pattern I found online called "Story Time" from Creative Designs by Stephanie and Spectrum Glass. I changed some of the colors that were called out in the pattern, mostly because I could not get them in time to get the piece done on time. I added the clear glass around the girls to make it easier to hang as a panel. It is a 12" x 13" piece. The clear glass has a textured ripple in it. She is wearing a dark purple dress, and has tan colored hair. It was a challenging piece to do, I re-cut a couple of pieces because I was not happy with they way it was turning out. So needless to say I did not get it done when I wanted to get it done, but I did finish it this morning in time to give it to my daughters teacher.

Do you have something you want to tell me?

This weekend the sprouts and I along with my mom set out to do the new season change out of clothes for them. My favorite time, NOT! As I was getting the clothes for them to try on, I hear a wack and then tears started to flow from the youngest. I ask the oldest if she had hit her sister and she proceeds to tell me the whole story of which was not matching my moms who sat there and saw the whole thing, so she storms up to her room for a bit. We proceed with the trying on of clothes and sorting out the short shorts and mid drift shirts, and decide what gets handed down to the youngest for this summer. I hear the oldest "sneaking" downstairs, so I ask her if she has anything that she wants to say she says "No" she does not have anything to say, so I show her the red mark on the youngest back that she made and told her that she needs to go think about it some more. I then go and have a chat with her, and she just does not want to apologize to her younger sister. A great night is mounting I can tell. Finally, she comes down and stands in the middle of things and the youngest turns and with arms folded, looks and her and says, "Do you have something you want to tell me?" Now I am having a hard time keeping a straight face on that one, and her sister didn't really like that comment, but eventually they made up and were friends by the evenings end. Yeah! That was Saturday.

On Sunday, we all got up and ready for church. Usually my mom goes to church with us, but she was headed to my sisters to help out again this weekend on the basement as sprout #2 will be arriving there this summer. I was not to worried about not having her at church because the sprouts go to the gym for the childrens portion of church for the entire first service, and I had to run the computer for the first service, you know put the words to the songs up on the screen at the right time and the versus for the sermon and all of that. I have done that for a while now. During about the second song of the worship service, my youngest appear. Mind you the computer is in the front of the first pew, and the church can seat probably 500 people. So I tell her to go around and sit in the pew, then the second sprout appears, now my bloodpressure is rising because I know I am going to have to referee soon and keep up with the words to the next 4 songs. With the pastor and his wife behind me by the wall and I am near the center aisle, the youngest wants to lay down, fine, except NO she wants to lay on her sister. HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM! They slowly made in thru the offering song, and now the sermon comes and all they hear from me is, blah, blah, blah. Finally, I told the oldest to go back down to the gym, she gets up and walks towards the wall and back down that aisle, I glance up to see the youngest heading down center aisle, only to stop half way down. Now, the two are mirroring each other. I am really not happy now. The youngest cam back and I glanced back to see if the oldest came back as well and caught the eye of the pastors wife, she got up and walked the youngest downstairs where they stayed. I thanks the pastors wife, and she said no problem, she has two the same age as well, except boys. After the sermon, I went to copy sermons onto my thumb drive so that I can burn the CD's for that service later, and while I was doing that the sprouts made their way back upstairs and were impatient with me waiting, so they were walking back and forth on the pews. Why is it that kids always know where the big red button is and exactly what precise time to push on it....lol. When we got to the car they wanted to know if we were still going to the movies, "OH NO, We are going back to grandmas for a bit then home." And they were only disappointed for a moment no tears or anything. Lucky me!

What a weekend!

Where has the time gone?

WOW, May is half over with, how did that happen? School is almost over with for the year, and frankly I think I am more excited about that than the kids. I have done some much running around in dropping them off and picking them up that I need a break for a bit. Last night my kindergarteners school program to place. I would say maybe eighty students at most to part. They sang about 10 interactive songs for all you gathered to watch. It was fun to watch them all, some got into it and some didn't. One little girl in the front row was all decked out in her finest attire and just watch for some songs and participated in others, it was cute. One song was audience participation based, each student had to pick someone from their family to dance with them and then freeze every now and then when the music stopped. Luckily mine chose her dad who was there with all is Fire Crew Buddies. Yep, they were taking photos for incriminating circumstances later I am sure. I did get it all on video as well as I could.

Afterwards, the spouts and my parents and I went and got some ice cream then called it an evening. A fun evening at that.

Stay tune for a new stainglass pic to be posted hopefully by Monday.

What A Great Weekend!!

It was a big bowling weekend for me this weekend. On Saturday I went to the sprouts first ball game of the year. They did great and had a good time. It is fun watching the little ones play ball. After the ball game, I packed up the car and headed to Michigan City for the Indiana Womens State Bowling Tournament. When I got to the hotel, my team was next door grabbing a bite to eat and a few drinks, so I joined them to par take as well. We relaxed for a bit before heading to the bowling alley to bowl the doubles and singles event. I threw very well in both doubles and singles. I even won $50 on top of that. Made my day. There was no cell reception in the alley, which made some people mad. I always turn my ringer off on my phone anyways. I missed my oldest calling me, and it was to late for me to call back. After we were done we made our way back to the hotel which was 20 miles away for that alley, then off to the casino it was for some of us. At 1am we were in the car heading back to the hotel which was only 3 miles away, looking for food along the way. At Rally's crossed our path so there was dinner.

6AM come up quickly for some of us, as we had to be at the other bowling alley by 8am to bowl the team event. Thank god that alley was only a few miles away. We got our team picture taken and the national anthem done and ready to warm up for the team event. After throwing 6 games a few hours ago, I knew I did not want to stick my fingers in the ball, let alone lift it up. Sure enough my ring finger was protesting a bit, and I did not know I was throwing a fifty pound ball as well....lol.....at least that is what it felt like.....lol. After struggling a bit the first game, I managed to throw very good games for me at least. I went in with a 142 average and I threw a 158 average for the 9 games I threw this weekend. So, I am very pleased with that. I think I placed really well in singles and should get some money back. That will be nice. I have to wait until next weekend when the tournament ends. It has been going on for a few months now.

I was whipped when I got home Sunday afternoon. I tried to call the sprouts when I got done bowling. They were eating lunch and he would have them call me back when they were done. I was ok with that, I just wanted to let the oldest know I got her message, but it was late when I was able to call her Saturday night. I dropped a couple of girls off on my way home because their ride was going to the casino afterwards and they did not want to go, so they hitched a ride with me. After grabbing a bite to eat and filling the car back up with gas, I called it an evening. Around 7:30pm I called the sprouts again, because they had not called me back. Their dad said that he would have them call me right back on the house phone, because I called his cell phone and he does not always get great reception on his cell phone at his house. The sprouts did finally call me and we chatted for a bit. They wanted to know if I was coming to get them tonight and I told them no they were staying with their dads tonight I will get them tomorrow. They always stay at his house on Sunday night of his weekend unless he is working on Sundays, then I will get them. I found out the real reason that he had them call me on the house phone was because he was not there he was out hunting. He had to call home to have them call me. Anyways the kids and I had a nice chat. I finally called it an evening, around 8pm.

I was glad I just had to get myself around this morning for work, I did not even want to get up I was still whipped from the weekend, but off I went so I could post this entry....lol.

I get to be the "mean" parent!!

Upon picking up the sprouts from their dads on Sunday, making my way through the information that I needed to give him but had to give to his wife because he was at work, she finally goes through her list of things to tell me. One, the oldest fell and cut the palm of her hand and she went on to explain how they treated the "injury", like that was a concern for me, their dad works in the medical field sometimes. Two, they were not sure if the youngest really had a headache on Saturday or was just playing them. THEY GOT PLAYED AGAINST. Sprout 1 Dad 0. Three, apparently there was some aggressive behavior and attitude at daycare on Friday from the youngest sprout, which this is the first time I am hearing of it. They have tried to deal with it this weekend and curb it some. They make sprout go to room for the evening, which means nothing to sprout. Anyways, some of the attitude involves language, which she tried to tell me that she has told their dad that he needs to watch what he says or he is going to end up in the principles office someday. I just told her "Good Luck with that". Four, as she is putting two chocolate bars in the pocket of the suitcase, she is explaining where they came from. Apparently the sprouts helped their dad on Saturday deliver some stuff. The guy is was delivering to bought the sprouts the candy bars, but for some reason they could not eat them, ALL WEEKEND. Now, I get to be the mean parent and tell them NO they can not have them right now either because it is almost bedtime, they can have them tomorrow. I could not tell if she told me that they do not or do allow the kids to have candy there. If you are not going to let them eat the candy soon do not buy it for them, or let some one else buy it for them. Granted, the sprouts are not big candy eaters, they do get candy now and then, but they do not live on it. The youngest was not very pleased when I said NO you have to wait until tomorrow. Got it on Saturday, could not have it all day Sunday, now has to wait another day. Does not go ever well with them. My shoulders are big enough for that. They are use to me telling them NO now. Now I know why I get all the candy sent home with them, which usually ends up getting tossed anyways.

Homework Assignment!?!

Friday night I had an appointment with my Venting Specialist (Counselor). She gave me homework to do, which I am not that keen on this assignment. She knows I will most likely do the assignment, which sucks from my end. :) She is usually right all the time, which I hate as well. She gets a kick out of it though. :)

The homework I have to do is on Forgiveness. You see I still have not really forgiven my former spouse for all of the infidelity, lies, and pain he has done to me over the 13yrs of marriage. It has been 2yrs since I filed for a divorce and 1 1/2yrs since it has been final, and I rather just remain angry about things, than to let them go and move on. WHY? (I hate that as a follow up question!!!! :) ) I have no idea why I keep the anger. Is it because I think he will get his way again like he always did? Is it because I am still holding out for an apology for all the hurt that I never did get? And if I did get one now, I would not believe that it has sincerity with it anyways.

Why is forgiving so hard to do? I think it is kind of like giving in, either way I lose. I know that is not what it is meant for. I have to be ok with forgiving him, and convincing myself that what he did was not ok, but it is ok for me to release to him from all the stuff that he did to me, i.e. the lies, hurt, and the adultery. Yeah right, I am going to get right on that.

In all reality, I will be working on it. It is about time to move a step up on the recovery ladder. To bad I have a slight fear of heights.....lol.

I think I got a Cavity!!!

This weekend I got alot done around the house. The sprouts were with their dad this weekend, first time since the first of the month. Saturday morning, I got up early and ran a few errands before going to go watch the youngest at ball practice. The oldest had "spring training" for summer ball at the school. I was going to watch practice because I thought that the coach would have the schedules to hand out, and I wanted to make sure that I got one. There is still a trust issue with former spouse and myself, in him getting me information when he gets it. Anyways, when I was running a few errands, he called me, but I missed the call so I called back and spoke to his wife, who is one of the reasons for the divorce. She told me that the "spring training" was in the morning not afternoon so sprout would not be at team practice, which I already knew that, and youngest was complaining of headache so wife was not going to take her to practice. My blood pressure rose a bit, as youngest is playing them with the headache. Score: Youngest 1 Dad 0. The wife tells me that they wanted to let me know that so I would not have to drive all that way to the practice. I call the coach of the team to see if he has schedules to hand out to today, he says he does, so I go anyways. He did not know the sprouts would not be there, of course not, that would mean their dad would have to think of someone other than himself in that case. (venting done there) I pick up the schedules and return back home. I did alot of work outside around the house. I am in the middle of repairing the yard, that has been in need of attention for years, slowly but surely it is coming along. I started to dismantle the 6 foot satellite dish that has been a lawn ornament for years, and I am tired of mowing around it, and hitting my head on it. A friend came over to help me lower it to the ground, where I could finish taking it apart. Now I just need to get my dad down to cut the pole off since it was cemented in then covered with dirt. I called the sprouts later in the afternoon. I could only talk to the oldest because the youngest was sleeping. She had a great time at her "sprint training". I told former spouse that the youngest played them this morning with the headache, he really did not have anything to say about it. On Sunday, I had my final bowling night for one league, then I had to go pick up the sprouts and bring them home. Normally they spend Sunday night of their dads weekend with him, but he had to work today, so when he works on Sundays I pick them up. This my favorite thing to do, pick up the sprouts when it is just his wife there. I would rather have a root canal done than interact with her, but I put on my fake smile and was polite about things. They never have the sprouts ready for me, even if I do call ahead of time, so I have to wait for them to get everything around. I had some stuff to give the her, since he was not there anyways, which is really a mute point, because he just hands it over to her anyways. I gave her the ball shirts and hats for them to use this weekend, since they will have the sprouts again, and their first game is Saturday. I gave her my money for the ball pictures which are going to be taken this weekend as well and I will be out of town this weekend. I gave her the receipt for the "spring training" that came home from school and did not make the suitcase this weekend. She told me about a cut on the oldest hand, and that the youngest was not very good at daycare on Friday, and wanted to know if the headache was real or not on saturday. I just smiled and answered all the questions politely and left. When I got in the car, I think I felt a cavity being formed from being to sugary sweet. I will admit that is really not me. Don't get me wrong, inside I am a very nice person and will bend over backwards for most anyone. I really do not like sugar coating things. I am slowly trying to change that as well, but it is hard to teach old dogs new tricks. I have intimidated people all my life, at least that is the way I come across to some people before I even have seen a word to them, I have no idea why that is, and I do not do that intentionally. I was not raised to be a mean or intimidating person. But I just hate sugar coating, (sucking up) to people that I think do not deserve it either.

Stainglass Cross

These I designed myself. I bought the beveled crosses that are in the center and then drew the pattern for the outside border. I made these for the other two people that were in my DivorceCare Class with me. I had no idea what colors they liked and was going to do a very light pink and clear glass when I came across the clear glass with a rainbow tint to it. It was perfect for what I wanted to accomplish with the pieces. Both pieces are the same with the exception of one having an additional lead border add to it, which makes it look bigger and heavier. Truthfully I ran out of time and did not put the additional border on the other one. They both turned out really well I think. The center cross measures 4" x 6 7/8" to give you an idea of the size of them.

Update/Difference from 2yrs ago

Yes, I am still around!!! :) I have survived a long spring break week. The kids and I went to Cabelas on Monday of Spring Break, it is and outfitters kind of store. They have live fish in streams and ponds that run through out the store. The kids got to help feed the fish. They also have lots of stuffed game through out the store as well. We stopped on the way home to visit the Easter bunny then on to grandmas house for the rest of the evening. I did not have any vacation to use per se so I had to go into work until 1 am while grandma watched the kids. I went back to spend the remaining evening/morning and grandmas when I was done working. LONG DAY! I went back to work my normal 8-5 hours on Tuesday. The kids went to their dads Tuesday night for his week night, I went to bowling at 6 then back to work until 1 again. On Wednesday I was back to work at 8 and worked to around 9pm, while my mom picked up the kids for me so I could work over again. I headed back to moms for the evening after work. On Thursday we all went to the Zoo and had a great time. The weather was beautiful, not a big crowd, the kids loved it. I had a divorce class later that evening, so the kids stayed with my mom while I was at class, and we spent the night there again. The next morning we got up and headed back to town for me to work normal hours again on Friday. It is a half hour drive one way to my moms house. A long spring break but a nice spring break for the kids. The kids father was leaving on vacation out of town on that Friday, for 2 weeks. I had to call him to get some information on some of the kids stuff that he signed them up for and I have to take them to. He apparently called the kids at daycare on his way out of town, on Friday. I am going on week 2 right now of having the kids without their father around. So far, they are doing pretty well with it. I was not sure how they would do. It has been stressful at times and trying to finish up my commitments this month has been a challenge, but has gone pretty well. I have a great daycare person, and she has helped me out quite a bit along with my parents. As far and the 2 years goes. It has almost been 2 years ago that I filed for a divorce. Nope I do not have any regrets about it now either. I have finally started to get back on track on alot of things. My office at work turned into a diaster area for those years, and that really annoyed me. I hated the clutter but just did not have what it took to fix it either. This year a customer came to visit, and that forced me to clean up a bit. I had stacks and stacks of papers to be entered into a database and filed. I have wittled that down by half, and yep I filed papers from 2 years ago. I am working now on the other half of the papers. Realistically it will take about 2 weeks to get done, but I will get it done now. I have had a couple of people say I seem more relaxed now and back to my old self. Doubt it is my exact old self, but I seem not to care about alot of little things anymore. I am better at getting to the stuff that really matters and letting the rest go.