Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

I'll see ya'll after the New Years!

Love always, Joelle "Refhater"

The Christmas Letter...

It's Christmas time... And instead of sending out Christmas cards, I'm going to do a Christmas blog.

It's been a hard year this year. Alot more bad than good. But, like I always say there's always something good about every day even if you have to make it up. That means that there's 365 good things that happened (or will happen) this year.

I'm a firm believer that Christmas letters should be happy commentaries on the year as it's been. But as it was pointed out to me, ignoring the bad won't make it go away. It's important to include it, but to emphasise and dwell the good.

So, without further ado...

I managed to make it through the 06-07 snow season without wrecking my car. It did have a small collision with some ice, but I wasn't driving at the time. My family wasn't so lucky. 3 deers committed suicide by running into family's vehicles. They were able to fix 2 of them, but mom's Taurus was totalled.

Things were going pretty good up until March. My aunt Joyce took ill and ended up developing bacterial meningitis. She passed away a week after taking ill. My last conversation with her happened shortly before she took ill when we were celebrating my Grandma's birthday late in February. We chatted about random things, but before we left, she told me that she was praying for me to find a good husband. 2 weeks later, and she was gone. I take comfort in the knowledge that I'll see her again in heaven and that she's finally happy and at peace.

My sister and her husband divorced this year after 13 years of marriage. I can't honestly say that I'm surprised. I'm happy that My sister can start over and hopefully be happy now. I love my ex-brother in law, but he was difficult to live with.

Physically it's been a tough year. I've had several flare ups of the Celiac Disease and other assorted allergies. Things seem to be going well and then I'm knocked off my feet. I should buy stock in the tums, benadryl, and Imodium companies. But on the plus side, I kept my new years pledge to myself. (I don't make resolutions.) I've been dieting and exercising and have lost 42 lbs since January. I went from a size 18 to a 10-12. Yeah Me!

I became an aunt again this November. My older brother and sister in law had a baby girl on November 21st. (Narrowly missing opening day for white tail deer season.) They named her Susanna Joelle. As you can tell, she was named after me. I can't tell you what an honor that is, to have a child named after you. Especially when it's your niece (or nephew.) I love Susie and her sister Leah more than life itself. There isn't anything that I wouldn't do for those girls. Leah is a joy! I love watching her learn and experience new things. I love how she loves her stuffed bunny and shares all her new experiences with him. I can't wait to see both girls grow up and become the people they are destined to be.

I didn't forget my mom and my little brother. Mom and Jon are both doing well. Mom got a new job and seems to be flourishing there. She's worked hard at both her new job and the rotary and other than being tired seems to be really happy. Jon is doing well at his job as well. He is so talented in everything that he does. He is steadily moving up the corporate ladder and deserves all the blessing and rewards that he gets. I am so proud of my family. I am blessed and honored to be a part of it.

Hunting season went better than well this year. Everyone in our party got at least 1 deer with my dad and brother Bill getting 2. I got a large doe and the boys all got bucks. I got mine at 7:15 opening morning. Spine shot. What an answer to prayer. I was happy to get something bigger than an appetizer and more than happy that the guys did as well as they did. It's more important to me for my dad, brother and uncle (and sister in law when she goes out) to be successful than it is for me to do well.

Work is the same old same old. It's still work, but I love it. It has its ups and downs, but it would be boring without them. I love a challange, and each day at work presents one.

So that's it. My Christmas Blog. My year as it's been so far. I know it's a long long long post, but you'll forgive me since it's been a long long long year. Happy Holiday's every one! All my love; Always and Forever, Joelle "Refhater"

Today just isn't my day...

I'm beginning to think that today just isn't my day.

I've been fighting a headache, sore ears, and exhaustion for a couple days now. Then this morning when I woke up, it was like BAM! I now have ear infections in both ears. And to make it all the more fun, I also picked up a runny nose and a sore throat with a barking cough. I'm so dizzy that I can hardly sit up. Everything sounds like it's in a tunnel or a sea shell. (Insert whooshing sounds here.)

I got to work this morning and discovered that the fridge in the kitchen area had gone on the fritz sometime yesterday and there were towels everywhere with a note saying "Something might be wrong with the Fridge." (Really, what gave them the first clue... could it have been the massive amounts of melting ice pooling on the floor or could it have been the scent of spoiling food?) So, I got to spend a good portion of the day working on that problem. The microwave also went to the appliance store in the sky today. The oven is hanging on by a thread. Work itself went ok. No strange phone calls, only one meeting, and all my co-workers were in a decent mood. But, as I was walking out the door on my way to go home, I slipped on a patch of ice and splatted onto the ground.

So while I pray that no one witnessed my ice capaides, I take inventory of my new injuries. One sprained wrist...Check, One messed up knee... Check, possible hand fracture...still waiting test results! I'll know more when the swelling goes down. Good thing I still have the leg brace from when my other knee was injured when my car was rear ended. Luckily, no one was around to see me fall. I'm sure that the security guys will get a good laugh when they review the tapes from today.

I have to get a Christmas gift for my Grandma. After I find something for her, I'm all done with shopping. My mother suggested that I get Grandma what they call and "edible bird house." It's basically a wooden bird house covered with birdseed. Ok, I thought... That should fall into my price range and Grandma really would like that. So, I call all around town to see if anyone has one I can purchase. After a explaining what it was multiple times, I found one. Guess what. The one place here in town that sells them (And he only has one left) has them for $50. I was shocked. Heck, I'm in the wrong business if I can make $50 a throw just for sticking birdseed on a tiny wooden birdhouse. Back to the drawing board for Grandma gift ideas.

I'm going to take a pain pill or 2 and go take a nap. Hopefully when I wake up, the bad karma will have dissipated. Hope you all had better days than mine.

You know you have a toddler in your life when...

Ok, I was at work the other day and overheard one of the therapists ask their patient "What did the Doctor say?" And before I could stop myself, I blurted out... "The Dr. said, No more monkeys jumping on the bed." Everyone in the gym stopped what they were doing, looked at me, and then burst into laughing.

I've been spending time with my 2 year old niece, and 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed is one of her favorites at the moment. Along with the itsy bitsy spider and all the traditional kids songs. We'll sing/listen to each of them at least 10 times a day. So naturally, their going to get stuck in my head.

So, I totally embarrased myself infront of all my coworers and the patients who happened to be presant at the time. But oh well, we got a good laugh out of it. Most of my co-workers have younger children and can understand how/why I think the way that I do. They've all done the same thing in the past themselves. Just not at work...

Tomorrow I'm going to take both Leah and Susanna to go get thier Christmas pictures taken. That should be fun. Dressing them up in their best dresses and then trying to keep them happy, smiling, and clean is going to be an adventure. Our last trip to the photographer didn't go over to well. Leah wasn't interested in the least in doing what the photographer wanted her to do. She would have much rather ran around the mall instead. That's my girl! A true shopper at heart. Maybe if we're lucky, we can get a picture with santa as well.

Well gang, I'm off to take Leah outside and play in the snow. Talk at ya later!

Let it snow... let it snow... let it snow!

I forgot how much fun it was to play in the snow. Especially when you're playing with a 2 year old. We got our first real snow this weekend. Not a ton, but enough to play around in for a couple of days.

I spent the weekend at my parents house helping to take care of my niece Leah. We watched videos (PLEASE no more Thomas the Tank Engine, I'm begging,) played with all the toys in the house, and spent a good chunk of time outside in the snow.

Leah and I headed outside after getting into our snow suits, gloves and boots. It was quite a production just to get both of us dressed and out the door. Thankfully, Leah is still in pull ups so there was no "I have to go potty" after we were finally all dressed. Leah was adorable in head to toe pink and I looked like an orange Michelin tire man in my hunting suit.

Leah ran around like a bee looking for the perfect flower. First we stopped at the rock pile, then we went to the trees, then we ran around the front yard for a while, and finally ended up at Grammy's Christmas decorations (Also know as "The Boys" by Leah.) She made sure that each boy had the snow wiped off of their heads and faces, and each received a kiss. We looked for the sled, but couldn't find it. Maybe someone can get us a new one for Christmas. (Hint..hint..)While we were out there, Leah spotted her swing set and slide. I was impressed that she could climb up the ladder in full snow gear. We went down the slide about 10 times until both of us were exhausted. Leah loved picking hand fulls of snow up and throwing them in the air. It didn't matter that her hands were fisted in her mittens, that her nose was runny, or that her boot keep falling off. She'd look around and then say "What happened?" "it snowing" and "That's cute."

Being the wanna be photographer that I am, I carried my camera with me and tried to get the perfect picture. I kept calling to Leah to get her to look at me so I could snap a picture. She'd respond by saying "Leah, Leah, Leah" back to me and keep doing what she was doing. I managed to get a cute picture or two, but got far more memories that will last me forever. My camera couldn't quite capture the twinkle in her eyes, the wind as it stirred her hair, or her excited chatter as we ran around and around in the snow.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned from my bunny...

Share everything with your bunny.

Play fair with your bunny.

Don't hit people, but always cuddle your bunny.


Keep bunny close at all times or he could get lost.

Clean up your own and bunny's mess.

Don't take bunnies that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody, it makes bunny sad if you don't.


Wash your hands before you eat or feed bunny.

Flush. Bunny's go potty alot!

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you and bunny really likes carrot cake.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some with bunny.

Take a nap with bunny every afternoon.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we, but bunny never will. (Though He may need some repairs and a swim or 2 in the washer.)


And then remember that bunny will be your best friend forever! He loves you unconditionally!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a wild and crazy last couple days we've had.

Susanna Joelle was born at 3:01 AM on 11/21/07. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 19.5 inches long. She has a little fuzzy brown hair. There were a few complications with the c-section, but everyone is healthy and doing well at this point.

Leah isn't really thrilled with the new addition to her family yet. Her first thoughts were "Susanna.. Cute!"

I'm sure that once she gets the idea that sister Susanna is here to stay, then Leah will warm up to her. But right now it's "Susanna... Cute!" and "Baby.. My sister.."

Our Thanksgiving plans had to be postponed due to Susanna's surprise entrance into the world. My sister Hilary can't have anything to eat other than liquids until tomorrow due to having had the c-section surgery, so there will be no turkey for her. (Unless we get her some of the Jones soda that's flavored like a Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey, mashed potatoes, etc... blech!) Mom, dad, Leah and myself had ourselves a Thanksgiving feast in the hospital cafeteria. Our dinner consisted of Cheetos's, peanut m&m's, and a rice krispy treat with a bottle of diet coke from the vending machines. We're moving the Turkey dinner to Sunday instead.

My older sister and younger brother are both ill, so postponing the dinner works out for all of us really. It gives them a chance to rest up for a day or so more, lets Hilary be eating real food and discharged from the hospital, gives mom a chance to go buy a turkey, and I have time to figure out what I'm bringing to the dinner. (We're doing it potluck style this year.)

Mom, Dad, and I brought Leah back up to mom's house this evening. She did really well for the 2 days we had her at the hospital, but she's only 2 years old. She can only sit still and be quiet for so long. That and she's in the middle of potty training, and a hospital isn't really condusive for that. She's been in a kinda off mood all day today. A bit on the fussy side. Probably a bit overwhelmed with what's all going on.

Grammy keeps a goldfish (Dorothy from Elmo's world) her at her house that Leah helps take care of when she comes to visit. She sprinkles the pinch of food into the bowl, makes sure Elmo and Mr. Noodle come visit, and that Dorothy is dizzy from having her bowl spun around and around. Dorothy being a normal goldfish passed away this last weekend. No one told Leah about Dorothy's demise, we just hid the empty bowl in hopes that she would forget about it. But, much to our surprise, Leah walked into the room tonight and announced to my dad and myself that "Dorothy...Dead!" Our jaws dropped and we just looked at each other. How could 2 year old Leah know that Dorothy's gone to that fishbowl in the sky? Strange! What a smart big girl we have.

Well gang, it's been a busy couple of days. I'm exhausted and planning to get up EARLY to get the day after Thanksgiving sales. I was planning on being in the woods hunting this weekend, but with the arrival of the baby and the fact that I already have the biggest deer on the pole, I'm going shopping instead. Hunting of a different sort per say. I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a Girl!

It's official! Pink cigars for everyone!

My niece Susanna will be born with in the next 24 hours. Possibly as early as tonight. Hilary went to the Dr today and was told that all systems were go. Baby launch is imminent. Houston, we're having a baby.

It's funny really, we've been preparing for Susanna to be born for months now. But now that it's happening, we're all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Mom had to go track down my brother Bill who was out in the woods trying to squeak in a few more days of hunting. His cell phone doesn't work up here. He left straight from the property, not even taking time to remove his blaze orange suit. Mom went back to her house and packed up his stuff and an over night bag for herself and is following Bill down to take care of my other nice Leah. Dad's still at work. (He's swamped from taking 2 days off last week.) I'm here playing command central trying to keep everyone in the loop. I've got my bags packed, the car loaded and am ready to go at the drop of a hat.

Susanna is obviously related to the rest of the women in my family. We're stubborn as heck and do everything when and how we want it. Never when its convenient for everyone else. All of the Thanksgiving plans are all up in the air. Are we going to be at mom's house in Mt. Pleasant, in the hospital in Grand Rapids, or in some restaurant somewhere in the middle? Who knows? We'll go with the flow and take things as they come.

Welcome to the world Susanna Joelle! I'm looking forward to meeting and spoiling you rotten. All my love, always and forever!

Hey all, Just a quick update on Jacob.

Jake had his first surgery today and it went better than expected, he was in the OR from 7:30 until 2:30. The Dr was very impressed with the amount of muscle tissue Jacob had and was able to completely close him without a patch! This was a surprise as Dr G thought at best Jake could be closed with a patch - if even completely closed at all during this surgery!

This means that there should not be any more O related surgeries if all goes as planned (hernia repair will happen in the future - but is not an immediate concern nor nearly as major of a surgery). The 'O' incision looks great - the PICU nurse said it looks better than any she has seen yet. Looks like he got into a knife fight or snagged it on a barbed wire fence while hunting! You would never know he had the 'O' for the last 10 months!

Jake will be on the ventilator until tomorrow at least, but he is doing better than expected. The GJ tube is placed, and we will begin feeds once he gets off the vent. The tube is exciting because we will be able to transition from jejunum to stomach feeds at home - no need for procedures to change it! The fundo went well, although Dr G said he had a hard time seeing around Jake's liver. He also did the LADDs' procedure, removed his appendix (since it was on the wrong side), removed the bands of LADD to prevent bowel obstruction of the intestine, and tacked the intestines down.

So, in all it's good news for Jake. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for him. Reffie

MO-MO and other hunting stories.

As promised, here are the 2007 hunting stories....



Thursday, November 15th. We're up at the crack o dawn. (4:30 A.M) We stagger out into deer camp central. (Also know as mom and dad's garage.) Dad, uncle Dave, my brother Bill and I all running on autopilot and adrenaline as we had stayed up far too late the night before. It's a 25 minute drive to the hunting property, so we can't dawdle too much.



The weather report shows a high in the low 40s and a low in the upper 20's. Windy with a chance for rain and snow. Sunrise came shortly after 7 AM. And the hunt was on. Around 7:10, I saw movement out of the corner of my right eye. The deer are starting to move. I saw 3 doe standing about 40 yards from my blind. I took aim at the largest one and fired. It stood there for a few seconds and then dropped to the ground. Spine shot just above the shoulder. She weighs approximately 150 -160 lbs. Everyone in our group got something on opening day. I got the only doe, dad got a 6 point, Uncle Dave got a 5 point, and brother Bill got a spike. Each of us have a combo tag which means that we could each get a large buck, a small buck, and a doe.

We hunt all day. We're out in our stands from 6:30 am to dark. So, after the initial excitement of my getting the doe, I was in for a long cold day. I sat there and watched about 15 other does cavort around. There was this small doe that was probably just out of fawn spots come around and stand like one of those target practice deers. The stupid thing came around 4-5 times and just stood around as if asking me to shoot it. I plotted to kill the stupid partridges that keep coming around sounding exactly like deer moving around in the woods. I read two books, and partook of my bounty of treats. (Going light on the liquids due to the fact that as a girl, I can't just go in the woods like the boys do.)

With the pressure off after getting my deer, I allowed my mind to relax and wander a bit. I was tired, cold, and on the down slope of an adrenaline rush. I started looking at my rifle for something to do to pass the time. (It's only around 8:30 at this point.) And I noticed some letters on the side of the barrel. I sat there and wondered, Who put MO-MO on my weapon? Then I realized that it said 30-30 not MO-MO. If you turn your head just right and are exhausted and freezing, you all can see it too right? (See photo above.)

Nov 16th. Day 2. Ok, Not quite as exciting as opening day. Dad got a 3 point that I had missed on earlier that morning. The biggest excitement was that our walkie talkies decided to act up that day. We could all hear each other, but were un able to talk back. All of us had problems with them at various parts of the day, so it made conversations interesting.

Nov. 17th Day 3. The coldest day so far. Today was slower than slow. I only saw 3 deer all day. My brother Bill got a really nice 4 point buck. I changed stands with my uncle with hopes of seeing a buck. At this point I've only seen 2. The 3 point that dad got and the BIG boy. Big boy is at the very least a 6 point with a huge rack. The only problem with that spot is that it's up in a huge pine tree. Not a major problem except I'm allergic to pine trees. And, I didn't see any more deer from that spot either. (So now I'm freezing, hungry,I have to go potty really bad, and itching like you wouldn't believe.)

Nov. 18th. Day 4. A day of rest. We decided to take a day off. There's 6 deer hanging from the post, so it's not like we have to go back out. We only get what we need for us and a few friends to eat, so we're not looking to get much more than the big boy. That and Dad and I have to go back to work tomorrow, so we have to get some sort of real sleep. And do laundry. We'll try one more time next weekend and then call it good.

Well gang, I'll talk at ya later. Hope you all had a good time.

Cya, reffie

"Shhhhhhhh, be vewwwy, vewwwy quiet; I'm hunting...

Well gang, It's finally hunting season. My vacation time! Wooo Wooo. I won't be blogging much, but will be sure to post some deer camp stories as time allows. Gotta love a vacation where you're awake earlier than you would on a work day.



We have awards for the deer camp this year. The person with the biggest deer gets the lucky brown boot award. And the person with the smallest deer gets the 2nd place weenie award. There's even trophies to pass out.

So far this season it's deers 2 and hunters 0. Mom and Dad have both hitten the foul beasts with their cars. Hopefully we can even up the score here a bit.

One major concern is that my sister in law will go into active labor soon. We were hoping that the blessed event would have happened last weekend. But, Susanna (the baby) is as stubborn as the rest of us and decided she was happy where she was for the time being. But, family comes first and we'll drop what we're doing to be there when she's born. We may arrive in a blaze of orange, but we'll be there with smiles on our faces. Though I think my brother might have Susie out in full camo the next day. The next guesses for the baby pool are for the week after Thanksgiving, so we're crossing our fingers.

Good luck to all the hunters. Please be careful!

-Reffie.

Lists lists and more lists...

I am by nature a very routine person. Each day starts out with a "To Do" list. And if something happens to disrupt that routine, the whole day is shot. Sometimes I wonder if I have a light case of obsessive compulsive disorder.

Today was one of those days. I started off on the wrong foot because I slept through 3 of my 4 alarms. Then I rushed around trying to get ready for work and get the stuff I needed done before work done. I was only 2 minutes late badging in.

My normal routine in the morning is to get the orders off the printer from the night before. Get them separated by department and scheduled in the computer. (Which was made all the more fun beacuse the printer had run out of paper over night and had multiple orders stored up.) Next I have to check to see if the patients have changed rooms or been discharged. Then I have to get the phone messages off of the 6 phone lines, print out everyones schedules and distribute them. Answering the afore mentioned phones is another large part of the morning. And finally, I go pick up the stats and dictation and distribute them to the 5 offices we have here in town. So, I was no where near ready when another of my co-workers showed up an hour early. Then another co-worker called in sick. So along with everything else I was doing, I had to call and cancel all of her appointments from 7 am to 5:30 pm.

I'm happy to announce that I survived the morning. It was touch and go for a while there, but the world didn't end. Now it's lunch time. I can go eat my chili and rice krispy treat and enjoy my book for an hour. Except that due to the remodeling they are doing to the lobby, there is no place for me to sit and read. Ok, I can handle this... I managed to acquire a chair and sat in the midst of the construction. It would make quite a comical picture I suppose. Me sitting there in the middle of scaffolding and construction workers.

2:30 finally rolled around and I was able to get home without any major catastrophes. I'm going to check my emails (Still dealing with the whole Norton crap,) exercise, watch the Wings game, and continue to cross things off the to do list. I'm going on vacation after work, so hopefully tomorrow goes really fast. I've even got to do lists for while I'm on vacation.

Now, I must get back to my regularly scheduled programing. Now where did I put that list again?

Monday Monday....

"Monday, Monday, Can't trust that day. Monday, Monday, Sometimes it just turns out that way. Every other day, Every other day, Every other day, Of the week is fine, yeah. But whenever Monday comes, But whenever Monday comes, You can find me crying, All of the time."

Ok, it's Monday. I never expect Monday's to be easy days. I expect the worst and am pleasantly surprised when something good happens. Work was as crappy as I expected it to be. I am beginning to wonder if my co-workers were abducted by aliens and replaced with look alikes. Eye rolling has become a big part of the daily routine for us secretaries. Would they like a little cheese with their whine? And it's not just the staff that's gone loony. The patients are way out there as well. I spent 15 minutes setting up an appointment for a guy today. Gave him detailed directions on how to get there. (Helen Keller could have found it with the directions I gave him.) And then at the end of the conversation, he double checks everything and has it completely backwards. And the office radio has decided only to be totally static on every station. You get static mixed in with every song. The only stations that come in remotely clear is the Christian stations. (Is God trying to tell us something??) Then during the middle of the day I remember that I forgot to find the plaque that I need to bring in to the gift shop at work to get the new baby's name added to it. Crap!

After work I had to run to the store to pick up some more ammunition for my rifle. Somehow, the box that I had has disappeared. I had half a box left after sighting in the weapon last month, and now the entire thing is gone. That went reasonably well. I was able to get in and out of the store with only minor difficulties. Then I got home and checked my emails. Guess what. Norton anti-virus auto renewed my subscription. I'm pounding head on the desk at this point. I had shut off that feature when I had manually renewed last week because I wanted to use a different credit card. So I have now been billed for 1 Norton subscription 3 times on 2 different credit cards. I'll have to spend another week on the phone with them trying to sort this mess out. UGH!

Because the whole Norton fiasco my checkbook is screwed up. So, I go to balance it and find that I've totally screwed that up as well. So I spent hours going over the last 8 months and still cant get it to balance correctly. So, now I get to call the bank and double check everything with them. I wasn't that far off, but I'm missing something somewhere.

Good thing I'm going on vacation this week! They'll be checking me into the mental health unit soon..

My sister in law hasn't had the baby yet. She's still having contractions though. I've officially lost the baby pool unless the baby comes on a day that no one has picked. Then we go to size and length as a tie breaker. My niece Leah spent the weekend with us. She's working really hard on potty training. I'm so proud of her. Now it's potty training, tomorrow it'll be driving.

I'm going to exercise and go to bed. I'll end Monday and pray that Tuesday is a better day. See y'all later! -Reffie

Random Rambling...

It's days like today that really make me wonder if I'm sane.

It's been a long stressful week and I'm so so so glad that tomorrow is Friday. Nothing really exciting has happened this week. Though there is the possibility that my older brother's new baby will make her appearance sooner than we think. My sister in law has been having some contractions this week. Even though she isn't "officially" due until December. If the baby (Susanna) comes this weekend, that would be exciting. Especially since I picked November 11th for the baby pool.

I had the hardest time concentrating on anything today. My thoughts ran the gamut from a "to do today" list all the way to "I wonder if they make pickle flavored ice cream for pregnant women." Don't tell my boss, but I'm pretty sure that I spent at least 10 minutes today at work making a paper clip chain. Don't get me wrong, I did everything that I needed to get done. But, I to the scenic route mentally to get there. My mom surprised me and showed up at my work for lunch. That was fun, even though we had to have hospital cafeteria food.

I should be doing about 15 other things right now. But, I'm stalling. I need to pack for the weekend as I'm going out of town. I have to replace my shower curtain with the new one I spent 20 minutes deciding what color to get. (Ended up with a plain white one.) Then there's taking the trash out, running the dishwasher, and exercising. Stuff like that.

Next week will be alot more interesting. I only have to work 3 days, then I have Thursday and Friday off for hunting. There's always some good deer camp stories which I'll post here as they happen. We could have the new baby at that point. And, we're in the middle of potty training 2 year old Leah.

Just a side note in closing... I looked it up. They did at one point make pickle flavored ice cream that they marketed to pregnant women. They stopped making it due to lack of interest. But that brings me to another interesting random thought. "Is there a niche in the food market for a 24 hour store that sells only foods that pregnant women crave?" See what I mean?? What sane person thinks of things like that. I must need more sleep or something...

Round and round she goes....

"Round and round she goes... where she stops nobody knows!"

Do you ever feel like you've been strapped to one of those "spin the wheel" games and there's some idiot throwing knives at you? You helplessly spin round and round praying 1. That the knives are fakes and 2. The idiot tossing them has perfect aim. As dizzy as you get, you begin to think that if you survive this rotating brush with death you're in for one hell of a show.

It's only Tuesday, but I'm already counting the days, hours, minutes, and yes even the seconds to the weekend. I checked the calendar, and the full moon isn't for 2 more weeks. Though you could have fooled me. All of the loonies are out and about around town. Left overs from Halloween? Maybe!

Work has been really stressful as of late. The staff are going through their whiney stage. It's like working with toddlers with PMS while on a cross country road trip with a flat tire and a dog with gastrointestinal problems. (Complete with the whole "I'm not touching you" routine.) If we did that team building exercise where you have to fall backwards and trust that your co-worker was going to catch you, we'd all be on the floor with head injuries at this point. Who knows why we're all pissy right now? All I know is that you'd better watch your P's and Q's around there right now or you're likely to find one of those knives that afore mentioned knife thrower is tossing in your back. We'll pass out the cookies and milk, have nap time and everything will be back on track sooner than you know it.

I finally got a new cell phone. After the benefit on Saturday, I went to the local Verizon store armed with all the info from the company headquarters. The guy who helped me this time (Brian Hatrick) was much better than the last employee I worked with. He went out of his way to apologize and to try to make amends for the way I had been treated the last time I was there. (You can read about that in previous blogs.) Maybe it had to do with the fact that we reported the store to corporate headquarters and made a big to do about what happened last time. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets oiled! The only problem that I encountered this time is that the car charger that he gave me went to a Motorola phone and I got a Samsung. I took it back to day and they switched it for the right one.

Another source of fun this week has been my computer. I use the Norton anti virus to protect my computer. My subscription was running out and I renewed it online. But, I accidentally hit the button twice and downloaded the update twice. I panic ed and immediately contacted Norton. They responded within hours (impressive) and assured me that they would only bill my card for the one I activated and they would cancel the 2nd one. Ok great, I can handle that. But then yesterday afternoon, It decided that the file I downloaded was corrupt and wouldn't activate the new update. Leaving my computer open for a virus or 7. I contacted the company again and they responded right away. At 2:30 in the morning no less. I did what they said to do, but it still wouldn't activate the update. So I contacted Norton for a third time and this time, they called me and walked me through re installing the update. So now I'm protected from computer viruses.

I'm sure you're wondering if I'm ever going to shut up at this point. Well, never fear... I'm drawing this blog to a close. Even with all the crap that has gone on this week, there is a bright spot that far outweighs all the crap. Something that makes up for all the bad stuff that happens this week. I'm going to focus on that and forget about the rest. We had the benefit for my coworker/friends baby this last Saturday. We were expecting around 300 people and had around 700 show up. The caterer blessed us by only charging us for 300 people and donating the rest to the baby. Everything went off without a hitch and people gave freely to help out the family. The person who won the 50-50 raffle wrote the baby's name on the back of their ticket, so Jacob got all of the $ from the raffle. The current total for funds raised at this point from the ticket sales, the bake sale, silent auction, raffle, and donations is at $15,500. What an experience to be a part of. I am blessed to have been able to be a part of that. I know how much this is going to help Jacob and his family.

Well gang. That's it. I'm done for the night. Time for me to exercise and then call it a night.
I hope that you all have something good happen for you this week. Even if that something good is that their was tp left on the roll when you needed it or that your room mate didn't use up all the hot water.

-Reffie

Wish us luck!

Morning All. Wish us luck today. Today is the big day! Today is Jacob's pancake breakfast benefit. We've sold 300 tickets to the event and hope to sell a few more at the door. There are over 100 donated items for the silent auction and lots of goodies for the bake sale.

It's amazing to me what people can do when they set their minds to it. No one had to help us with this benefit, but they did. People from all over went above and beyond to help a little boy that they've never met. Or probably will never meet. And it means the world to Jacob and his family. It's proof that there is still some good in the world. Sometimes we just need someone special like Jake to remind us of that. Even though he's spent his most of his short life in the hospital and struggled with each moment of his daily life, he's always smiling. A bright reminder that life is precious.

We wish to thank all of those who helped with this benefit. From the cash donations to the lady at the car wash who donated her employee car wash certificates because the corporate office had a policy about donations. We couldn't have done it with out you! Because of you and your generosity, Jacob, Jill, Todd, and Jenna will have some help that they desperately needed.

Wish us luck today. And Hopefully you'll all have as good as a day as we do!

Reffie

Awww Nuts!

Today I look like side show freak from the circus! I am allergic to nuts and accidently got some walnuts at lunch today. Stupid chicken salad! I take one little bite and BAM! I even spit the stupid nut out. Now my face and lips are swelling and one eye is working it's way to being swollen shut. I have hives like you would not believe. It even itches under my finger nails. I took as much benadryl as the box said I could and am planning on trying to sleep it off. I'm going to skip exercising tonight and make it up tomorrow.


Other than that, today has been a decent day. Nothing really exciting happend. The local radio station started playing 40 Christmas songs in a row today as well. I like Christmas so I don't mind listening to 40 Christmas songs in a row the day after Halloween. But even I, the person who starts the countdown to Christmas the day after Christmas thinks November 1st is a bit early to start playing Christmas music on the radio. If it were me in charge, I'd at least wait until the day after Thanksgiving.

We're putting the finishing touches on Jacobs auction today and tomorrow. We did get a tich of bad news on that front as well. Jacob will not be able to attend his benefit due to trouble with his immune system. There will be too many people there and there is too much of a risk of his getting sick. He is scheduled for a surgery to insert a feeding tube on the 19th, so its important that he stays as healthy as possible. At the last count, we have raised just over $1,000 for him and his family. And we haven't even had the benefit yet.

Well gang, I'm off to a benadryl induced coma. Talk at ya later, Reffie

Tuesday's Rambling!

I have been so tired lately. It seems like no matter how long I sleep it's not enough. Other than a slight headache that's been dogging me for a couple weeks (probably sinus related) I'm feeling great. No hacking cough, no flu like symptoms, not even a case of the sniffles. I fall into a deep sleep every night and even take naps sometimes. Must be the weather. Something about it being colder outside always makes me want to sleep. I cocoon myself in my 7 blankets that I keep on my bed and its lights out Jo Jo until I'm forced awake by one or more of my 4 alarm clocks.

So far this week has gone fairly well. (Yes I know it's only Tuesday!) While today wasn't as good as yesterday it still wasn't terrible. Work was ok. Lots of phone calls to deal with today. I had to beg, borrow, and promise my firstborn to get all the therapy offices in our system in the phone book this year. And do you think anyone even looks at it. NO! I swear I transfer at least a third of the calls that come in each day to other offices. So, with 3 phones with 2 lines apiece it makes for a long day of answering the phone. BLECH! And to make it all the more fun, the construction crews accidentally cut my bosses phone line so we had to answer all her calls as well.

Jacob's auction is coming along well. A bunch of us got together last night and combined a bunch of the little items that were donated into bigger baskets. For example, we put the one night hotel stay, a gift certificate for Bennigans, and the bottle of wine together to make a "date night" basket. 2 of the free video rentals and some gourmet snacks together to make a "Video night" basket. I even got a Certificate from Damon's Restaurant in the Mail today to add to the list. The local newspaper did a really nice article about Jacob and the auction today. It even made the front page. You can check it out by going to http://www.ourmidland.com/ an clicking on the story on the health page. (Baby born with rare birth defect, displaced organs.) The benefit is this Saturday, so we're hoping for a large turn out. So if you happen to be in Midland between 10-1 this Saturday, swing by and join us for some pancakes, fun, and maybe get one of the fun auction items. (I have 3 extra tickets if anyone needs one.)

And for today's just for a laugh moment, I'm a winner again! I got a call telling me that I'd won a T-shirt in the Coca Cola drawing that they held at work. That makes 3 times in the almost 5 years that I've worked at the hospital that I've won the coca cola prize. There was the tailgating package (portable grill, 4 cases of coke product, and certificate for food) and the all inclusive trip for 4 to Club Med in Florida. Maybe I should go out and buy a lotto ticket like everyone suggests. That's 2 wins in 2 days, Not bad odds if I do say so myself. It's been said that good and bad things happen in 3's.

Well gang, I'm off to exercise and then settle in for the Wings game tonight. Hope you all have sweet dreams and a good day tomorrow.

Reffie

Not Bad for a Monday!

Well for a Monday, this one wasn't half bad. I had stayed up way to late last night watching the Wings play Vancouver. Those 10:30 pm games are killer when you have to get up at 5:00 am. And, though it pains me to say this, the refs did a decent job too. I rolled into work late and expecting the worst.

But, much to my surprise. No one had called in sick, the order printer didn't get shut off, and the radio came in nearly static free for most of the day! We got a good report on little Jacob. My co-workers baby that we are doing the benefit for this coming Saturday. Jacob has made it up to just over 16 lbs. (see picture above.) He's cutting 2 teeth and turning into a little stinker. He's still fighting a lung infection and they had to cancel his stomach surgery because of it. The doc's even cleared him to spend an hour at his benefit this Saturday. Normally, he can't be out in public often due to his little or no immune sytstem.

As for the benefit, we've sold about 190 tickets and have a little over $1,000 for him in ticket sales and donations. We hope to raise more with the bake sale and silent auction. The silent auction has a list of about 72 items ranging from free coffee at Mcdonalds to the Autographed Red Wing hat/puck that I got signed at the Wings training camp this last September. (Thanks to my family and everyone who donated items!) The local media is starting to report on the auction now, so maybe that will help with the tickets sales. The Midland Daily News Newspaper will have an article in tomorrow's paper if you want to check it out. Just go to www.ourmidland.com and look in the health section.

After putting in 8+ hours at work, I came home and checked my emails. I had entered a contest on an authors website and won a autographed copy of her book. I even had time to sneak in a quick nap this afternoon. Monday's don't get much better than this. The only way it could get any better is if Ed McMahon showed up on my door saying I'd won the sweepstakes for a Million $'s.

Hope you all had a somewhat decent day as well. Here's hoping tomorrow goes as well as today.

Reffie

Ok, you're walking through the grocery store. Minding your own business and then suddenly, you think you hear your name. You pop your head up and look around like a nervous squirrel. Not recognizing anyone in the vicinity, you keep shopping. Then it happens a second time. Again, you look around and don't see anyone that you know. You keep shopping thinking that you must be more tired/stressed than you thought, because now you're hallucinating. Then when it happens a third time and someone taps you on the shoulder from behind. You twirl around to find a smiling face staring at you. You have no idea who this person is as they proceed to start with the "Didn't you hear me calling your name?"

Not wanting to admit that you have no idea who they are, you apologize and mumble something about ear infections stuffing up your ears so you didn't hear them. (Way to think on your feet!) You allow them to ramble on, offering only non committal responses while racking your brain trying to figure out who they are. 5 or so minutes later you come up with some excuse and tell the person that you're glad to have run into them and hope to see them again soon but you really have to go. Then a day or so later, you get a call from a friend of a friend's friend saying that so and so ran into you at the grocery store and was so glad to see you again. Ohhh, you think... So that's who that was.

That happened to me the other day. It had been a particularly hard day at work, I wasn't feeling all that great, and I had to pick up a few essentials at the store before I went home. I've got my cart loaded up yogurt, a few other little items, and was in the process of picking out some toilet paper (I splurged and got the good stuff) when a lady approached me. She went on and on for a good 10 minutes about her kids, her husband, and about sports. "You'll have to come over and watch a game or two with us" she says. "The boys are starting practice tonight, you're gonna come to their games right?" And "How's work been going for you?" Luckily, she was the one that had to rush off. So I was spared. Then the next day my boss comes in the office after a meeting and tells me that "Sherry" told her that she ran into me at the store the day before. Apparently, the stranger in the store was the PR lady for the hospital and her son is a co op that sometimes works in our department.

Life is fun sometimes isn't it. As the movie says "life is like a box of chocolates..." Only my box seems to be filled with nut clusters lately!

I'm so so so glad that its almost the weekend. It's supposed to be rainy and cold, but at least it will be the weekend. You can tell that the full moon is this week. one more day and we're free everyone. Here's to a better day for all of us tomorrow.

What's in a name?

Shakespeare once asked, What's in a name?

Think about when you were in school. When the teacher checked attendance each morning. You probably heard names like Emily, Michael, or John. In fact, you might have had a couple kids in your class with the same name who had to be designated by the first letter of their last name. Ex: Jennifer D. and Jennifer T. When I was in school, one of my teachers had the brilliant (and I use that term loosely) idea to sit me between the 2 Joel's that were in my class. So there we sat, Joel/Joelle/Joel. We never knew who he was talking too.

While in school and after graduation, I worked in Medical Records. And during the 17 years that I worked in that field, I came to the realization that my name was not as unusual as I had thought it to be. I came across names like Tight Banks and Quadralon. There was the sweet little lady of Asian decent named Phat Ho. (Pronounced exactly like it looks.) The brothers, Cassius, Cashmere, and Cashmoney. There were the kids named after the alcohol that their parents were drinking when they were conceived; Jack Daniels and Brandy Wine. One of my duties as a medical records clerk was to do birth certificates. You'd be amazed at what people name their children. It wasn't uncommon to see kids named after movie characters, animals, or even foods. Then there was the "normal" names with the different spellings. (Sydni pronounced as Sidney) Heck, I went to school with sisters named Sundown and Earlie Mist. Compared to those names, Joelle seems rather normal doesn't it?

When you think about naming your children, remember that they are the ones that are going to have to live down the monikers that you force upon them. Before you slap that name on them consider how you'd feel if you had to use the same name yourself. Naming your daughter "Mystique" after the X-men movie might seem cool to you. But imagine her applying to an University and having to explain 200 times that their name is pronounced Miss-teek, not Mistake. Think about it. You name your pet Sam or Max, but your child is Eolande or Atreyu? Also, avoid initials with odd spellings such as “RAT" or "ASS."

Well gang, It's time for me to exercise and then go to bed. I'll talk at yall another time.

-Joelle

They say that waking up is hard to do...

“They say that waking up is hard to do
Now I know, I know that it's true
Don't say that this is the end
Instead of waking up I wish the dreams were starting up again..”

I am not by definition, a morning person. I am forced to be on due to having to start my work day at 6 AM. It takes 4 alarm clocks to drag my rear out of my bed each morning. I have each clock set a few minutes apart. That way if I turn one off, the power goes off in the middle of the night, or I set the alarm for pm instead of am, then I still have at least one back up. While that works great during the week when I have to get up on time, it sucks in a big way on the weekends when I can sleep in if I want to. My internal clock has been set up to get up at 5 am, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I don’t eat after 8 pm, but I do tend to consume a lot of fluids between 8 pm and when I go to bed around midnight. So, Nature kicks in and gives me what has been termed a Native American Indian Alarm Clock. The more fluids that you drink in the evening, the earlier that your kidneys wake you up the following morning.

Why am I rambling on about this you might wonder? Well, I went to bed at 2 am this morning after watching the Red Wings play the Phoenix Coyotes. (It was a great game despite the efforts of the Referees!) I thought to myself before I finally fell asleep, “Tomorrow is Sunday, you don’t have to wake up until at least noon.” But, do I sleep in at all… NO. 5 am rolls around and I have to get up to pee. There’s no going back to sleep for me after getting up. So, now I’m sitting here exhausted and in dire need of some caffeine. I tend to be somewhat of a Chatty Cathy first thing in the morning. Much to the chagrin of my co-workers, family, and friends.

So please forgive my random ramblings this morning. I’m going to trek over to Detroit to watch my mother get big check for the foundation she works for. It’s going to be one of those big cardboard ones that they hand out at golf tournaments. My older sister and younger brother also live over there, so I’m going to visit with them as well. I hope you all have a good day. I’ll see ya’ll later.

PS… In case you were wondering about the Magical Trevor song that was stuck in my head in my last blog. You can find it at http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/magical+trevor/ They have a series of Trevor songs. My older brother linked it to me one time and I got hooked. Oh, crap… Now its stuck in my head again…

Ever notice that the only other people besides hockey referees who wear black and white striped outfits are prisoners. Heck, even the armbands that designate them as referees are prison jumpsuit orange. Irony in its truest sense if you ask me.

I watch alot of sports, but mostly hockey. In my humble opinion, the refs are ruining the game. It's no longer a game of sport, but now has become figure skating with sticks. I realize that there has to be some sort of control in the game, but what the NHL is doling out isn't control, its a giant ego trip. It's obvious that the refs are losing control early in the games and spend the rest of the game trying to re establish that control. With little or no success! When over 20 minutes of a 60 minute game is spent in the penalty box (total for both teams playing) something is wrong. I don't think I'm alone in my thoughts that some teams are more favored by the refs than others.

What tweaks my buttons is that the NHL supposedly "punishes" (fines) refs who screw up during games. (disallowing obvious goals, not calling obvious penalties, and such) But, as there have been no evidence that that actually happens, I don't believe they are held accountable for their actions. The league almost trips over themselves to announce the players fines or suspensions, but you never hear about the refs punishments. Anyone else see the double standard here?

The teams and the players have no way of defending themselves. Its mandated in the NHL rules that if the player or team says anything about the referee's they get fined thousands of $. Even if their complaints or comments are valid. It's almost like frontier justice. Most of the lawmen (referees) were corrupt and abused their power. And the persecuted people had no recourse because the powers that be were the corrupt lawmen themselves.

Isn't it funny that the director of officiating for the NHL stepped down when it was discovered that he was giving referees that gave him loans to cover his gambling debts were given preferential game assignments. That in itself showed me that the NHL officiating system was corrupt . Something that fans of the game have been saying for years.

LOL, that's enough of my rant for now. You'd think that my favorite team had lost their game wouldn't you. But, surprisingly they won and won in convincing fashion. Its 2 am in the morning and I'm wide awake. I took a late nap so I'm no wear near tired. I have to get up in about 4 hours because I decided to ride along to Detroit to see my little brother's new apartment.

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? A melody that keeps tormenting you at odd times during the day? Today was one such day for me. And it's been years since I even heard the song.

"Everyone loves Magical Trevor 'Cause the tricks that he does are ever so clever Look at him now, disappearin' the cow Where is the cow heading right now? "

That's the song that I've been humming today. Believe me, you get funny looks when you catch yourself singing "What did he see in the parallel dimension? He saw beans, lots of beans, lots of beans, lots of beans. Oh, beans lots of beans lots of beans lots of beans. Yeah, yeah!" at your desk at work. At least this one is better than Oats, peas, beans and barley grows, The wheels on the bus, or the Elmo's world song. (Can you tell I have a toddler in my life?)

Today was a blah day. Maybe that's why my mind is trying to entertain itself with musical medleys. I had to go sit through a retirement benefit meeting at work. I left it before they finished because it was mind numbingly boring and they had provided all the info into a handy packet for us to read. Complete with phone numbers if we have any questions. And, after and hour and a half, they had only gotten to page 6 of the 11 page document. We've had 2 days of rain, so you can't really do anything interesting out side. There's not even anything good on TV tonight.

I decided to do absolutely nothing this weekend. The last couple weekends have been spent either in the car for multiple hours, babysitting my 2 year old niece, or a combination of the two. I'm going to curl up with a book or 3, take long bubble baths, and take long naps. The weather isn't going to get much better, so its a prefect time for an "Ugly day!" Ugly days are days when I get up late, run a brush over my teeth and through my hair and call it good. No make up, the most comfortable clothes I can find (which are not required to match) and then veg out. I might work on my co-workers baby's auction a little, but other than that and a Wings game tomorrow.. that's about it.

I'm stalling about exercising tonight. I stayed up way way to late last night watching the Wings play the San Jose Sharks. (They won 4-2 complete with a fight in the third period.) But, It must be done... No rest for the weary. I'll get my aerobics in for the night and then crash. You all have a good weekend. Cya later.

What to wear or what not to wear... That is the question!

What to be or what not to be, that is the question. It’s almost time for Halloween and I still need to pick out a costume for the festivities. The best idea that I’ve come up with so far is to wear black underwear with fishnet stockings and boots and go as Britney Spears from the 2007 VMA Awards show. But as it’s October in Michigan and the weather is unpredictable and at least some of the parties I’m invited to are outdoors, I’m more than likely going to want something warmer.

I went to the local costume shop and was disappointed in their selection. It ranged from the classic witch to the sexy bimbo collection. While I’ve lost weight this year, I’m not ready in my own mind for one of the belly baring mini skirted outfits quite yet. The Britney costume listed above shockingly provides more coverage then some of the outfits I found there. Plus, I'm klutzy enough that I'd probably kill myself with those 6 inch spiked heels! And the classics witch is so so so boring.

I’ve looked online and found some interesting ideas. It just comes down to picking out and getting it ready in the next week or so. Here are some of my favorites so far:

Cheap Date - Dress like a date (wear a black trash bag with holes cut for arms and legs). Attach a large price tag, with $1 crossed out and changed to 50 cents, and that crossed out and changed to 25 cents.

Chip-monk - Dress in a monk's robe, rope belt, etc., then hot-glue (empty) potato chip and/or tortilla chip bags all over.

Blind Date - Take a day of the week calendar and tape the days all over your body. Throw on a pair of sunglasses and get a cane and you're all set to go.

Dust Bunny - Wear a dirty old white bunny costume and carry a feather duster, or "dust buster" vacuum.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon - Get an appropriate costume, such as Bullwinkle or Snoopy. Attach long strings all around and then attach tiny plastic clowns at the end of each string. Then walk in slow motion humped over with the clowns just dragging the floor.

Ceiling Fan - Write "Go Ceilings!" on the front of your shirt, carry a foam finger and don’t forget to cheer.

What are you all going to go as for Halloween parties? I might borrow some of ya’lls ideas. I’m sure that there will be at least one costume contest at one of the parties. In the past I’ve dressed up as a bag of trash, a referee (which is both evil and scary,) and the year before last I dressed up in a clown outfit and wore a Hello, my name is Garry Bettman name sticker. I was sick last Halloween, so I stayed home and passed out candy to the 3 or so trick or treaters that came over.

Have a safe and fun Halloween everyone!

Ok, it's been almost 24 hours and I'm still mad at the refs. In case you're wondering, I'm referring to the NHL Referees: Gord Dwyer and Tom Kowal. They were the ones who officiated the Wings/Ducks game last night.

This dynamic duo lost control of the game early in the first period and it went down hill from there as they attempted to regain it. They were calling the most attrocious penalties against both teams. Even the announcers were wondering what in the He double hockey sticks was going on. 13 Wings penalties and 11 Ducks penalties. 24 penalties x 2 = 48 penalty minutes. That's over 2/3 of a game spent in penalties. Only a third of them were deserved by either team.

Work today was rather blah. One co-worker drove me insane. She works at another site but has access to our scheduling grid. (I have access to hers as well.) She called and asked which of my therapists she could schedule a patient on. I told her which therapist treats that diagnosis and told her not to over ride a blocked for ANY circumstances. So what does the twit do? She changed the block to schedule the patient for tomorrow. And then denied it when I called her about it.

Normally scheduling a patient for the following day isn't a big deal. We just call each other and let them know. Blocks are put in place so that the other secretaries know if that therapist has something going on at a specific time that isn't an actual patient appointment. IE.. Dr appt or doing inpatient evaluations up on the floors. I originally had blocked that therapist to do inpatient evaluations from 7 am to noon. There is no way that I would have only scheduled her upstairs until 11 and left her with an hour to twiddle her thumbs until lunch. We're too busy for that. So I know beyond a Shadow of a doubt that Laura changed the block to get that patient in from 11-12 tomorrow. What am I going to do, I can tell my boss, but She's going to deny it. And with blocks, I can't prove that she altered it. But, everyone in my department knows she did. UGH!

Health wise I am doing good. Other than my less than graceful tripping over the copy machine cart yesterday which left a pretty bruise on my knee. I'm ramping up my diet and exercise this week because I haven't lost any weight for the last 5 weeks. (I haven't gained any either though.) I am so so so craving junk food right now. I'm going through my carnival food phase again. I want corn dogs, caramel apples, pretzels, and cotton candy. Ahh... but I want to be skinny more than I want all those things. So I'm sticking to my salads and yogurts (good thing I have a good imagination and can pretend that they taste as good as the others) and increasing my exercise for each night.

Well, I'm off to exercise and then to bed. It's been a busy last couple of days and its going to stay busy for several more. You can tell that the full moon is coming next week. Cya'll later.

Life, Leaves, and Luck of the Draw.

Its fall here in Michigan. The temp has dropped, the leaves are changing and the NHL season has officially began.

I am happy to report that I am doing significantly better from the dentist appointment. I no longer look like a reject from a horror movie with a swollen face and contorted lip. Thank you... Thank you very much... (I was looking alot like fat Elvis for a couple days there.)

It's been a rather boring week as a whole. Same old same old with work. Other than 2 trips to Mt. Pleasant, one for the dentist and one for the business expo, nothing else really interesting happened. I'm looking forward to this weekend though. My niece will be back up to play as it's my brother and sister in law's anniversary this weekend. I took some pictures of the leaves last Sunday. The pictures really don't give the colors justice. In a few weeks, we'll have a dazzling array from nature.

On Monday as I was walking out the door after work, I saw an older gentleman with a neon blue 4x4 post it note stuck to his forehead. I must have made a face of some sort because he blushed and said that his wife made him do it. Then, yesterday I went to the business expo at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant. This year both of my parent's offices had booths. I usually will go, steal all the pens and goodies I can get my hands on, and enter the contests that each booth has. In the past I've won a $200.00 car care kit and an attache case. Then I partake of the buffet which has some incredible food. Well, I got a call today saying that I had won a fall centerpiece from the local art gallery. So in all, for a $5 ticket (which was thankfully provided by firstbank) I left the casino with 4 bags of pens and goodies, a gourmet dinner and now a fall centerpiece.

The hockey season has started again. I'm happy to report that the Wings have gotten at least one point out of all their games. Their current record is 3-0-1. One of my friends has sent me a funny video clip from one of the games where the linesman fell down 3 times during the game. It's so hysterically funny that I watch it every day.

Well gang, I've got lots to do before tomorrow and only a little time to do it in. Talk at yall later!

Please kill me now! Pretty please with sugar on top.

I am so miserable right now it's not even funny!

Today I had to go to the dentist to have a filling replaced. The one that had been put in years before had started to break apart and in order to keep a new cavity from forming, the dentist decided to replace it with a new one. Ok sure, I can handle one measly little filling.

Let me just start out by saying that I love my dentist. He wouldn't say we needed to replace the old one if he didn't think that it would save me significant pain and problems later. He really is a quality dentist and an all around good guy as well. It's well worth the hour drive each way to go see him.

My appointment was set for 3:20 this afternoon and took around 30 minutes to complete. I got one shot of anesthetic and we were off to the races. I HATE needles, and he has this really cool thing that vibrates the needle so instead of the needle itself you feel the vibrations. I was out of the office around 4:00. (I chit chatted with the staff for a few minutes.)

Well, it is now 8:30 in the evening and I'm in agony. My face is swollen grotesquely. My head, face, jaw, ear, and neck hurt. I still have the Elvis lip curl thing going on because of the anesthetic. They said not to eat until the lip curl thing stops, so I'm starving. (I had lunch at 11:30 this afternoon.) I shudder to think what it's going to be like when the rest of the anesthetic wears off. I'm going to have a slim fast so I can have something on my stomach when I take a pain pill. I tried to put ice on that cheek, but that just made it throb worse.

So, tonight I'm going to take a big ol' pain pill, take a bath (because I'm woozy and might drown in a shower) and then go to bed. I'm going to give myself the night off of exercising. The thought of doing aerobics isn't a good one right now. I'll make the missing exercises up later this week. I'm sure that I'm probably over reacting, but DANG this hurts more that it ought to.

Oh Happy Day!

Oh happy day!

I found my missing remote tonight. It was in the box of envelopes that I keep on my computer desk. Why in the world I put it there, I'll never know. I must have set it on top and it fell into the open half empty box. UGH, that was a frustrating experience. I looked for the stupid thing for days.

It has been a busy couple of days around here. I took Friday off of work to babysit my niece. We had quite the adventure together. We went shopping, out to eat (She actually ate the hot dog this time and skipped the fries,) and went to play at Dow Gardens. Leah loves the outdoors and Dow Gardens has a nice kids garden area. We saw the big pig statue, climbed up and down the big structure, and ran through the tunnel. It wasn't all fun and games though. The gardens have a water feature that radomly shoots a small blast of water up at varying intervals out of 3 holes in the ground. Leah being the water bug that she is went over to investigate. She watched it come out of 2 of the holes and leaned over to check out the third. Only to get nailed in the face by the water. (I got it on film) We went home after that. It was funnier than heck, but I felt so bad for her having to experience getting nailed in the face.

Then on Saturday, we treked down to Grand Rapids for Leah's birthday party. First we went to the mall down there and got her 2 year old pictures taken. That didn't go well. 2 year olds don't have that long of attention spans to sit and pose for pictures. The photographer was terrible. She tried for 15 minutes of our half hour time slot and gave up. We've been to that place since Leah was born, and never have had such bad service. For our efforts, we got 3 ok pictures. For what we paid, they weren't worth it. After that, we took Leah to her house for her party. She got lots of nice gifts such as puzzles, a wagon, some clothes, and some plastic farm animals. She had to play with each thing that she unwrapped, so the gifts took forever.

Then today was a day of rest. I took 2 naps, did laundry, and played on the net. I went out and took some pictures of the coloring leaves. The weather was beautiful.

Well gang, I have to exercise and then go to bed. I'll talk at yall later.

I'm not stupid! I'm just a blonde!

I am so so so frustrated. Lately for some odd reason, whenever I set something down I lose it. My address book, an important paper, my sunglasses, oh and the TV remote. I swear I just had all of those items and my apartment isn't that big. Now where did they all go? Who knows?

I finally had time to pick up my apartment Wednesday evening. No previous commitments or things that just had to be done. So, I turned on the Wings game (with the remote) and set to work. As my schedule has been abnormally busy the last 2 weeks, just picking up was going to be a major undertaking. Lately I had come in late, thrown whatever was in my hands down, did my exercise, showered and collapsed into a coma for 4 hours before the alarms (I have 4, but that's another story) wake me up to start running again.

By the middle of the second period of the hockey game, I had made a good size dent into the chaos. The books were stacked, the papers sorted, the mail gone through. So after the 2nd period draws to a close, (Wings down 1-2 at this point) I decide to take a quick break and flip the channel over to the weather station to see what I should wear for the following day. Normally, I keep my remotes (TV, stereo, DVD player, etc...) on the edge of the coffee table. Only this time, the TV remote is gone.

Where did the stupid thing go? I had it in my hand a second ago. So, I abandoned my cleaning endeavor. (It's not like the stuffs going anywhere) I searched and searched, but still cant find the remote. I looked under the couch, in the kitchen, in my room, and even the bathroom. I moved the entertainment center and dumped out the bag of trash, but it wasn't there. I even went as far to check the dishwasher as maybe just maybe I dropped it in there while loading and running the unit. (In case you were wondering, the Wings had tied up the game in the 3rd period and had won the game in a shoot out.)

So now, it's a day later and I still cant find the dang thing. It will turn up weeks from now and I'll groan and tell myself how stupid I was for putting it there. (Wherever there is.) But, for now I'll just be frustrated and grumble each time I have to get up to change the channel. It's a good thing that I don't watch too much TV on a whole.

I'm really not stupid. My IQ was measured at 140. Which is why I think I'm so frustrated. I should have placed the remote back in its designated spot and I wouldn't have this problem. But I've come to the conclusion that really smart people do really dumb things sometimes. Such as losing the remote, or scrubbing the pine pitch off the Lincoln with a steel wool scrubber. (I didn't do the Lincoln one, my Dr. did.) We're all human and therefore make mistakes. And as a blonde, I make my fair share of them.

Hopefully I'll find the remote soon. Talk at y'all later, but till then I'll be searching for it and my sanity.

"YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!

Happy Birthday to my niece Leah. Congrats on turning the big 2 years old today. May this year be even better for you than the the last one was. You're a beautiful, intelligent, funny little girl and I'm honored to be your aunt! I eagerly look forward to every moment that we will spend together for the rest of your life. Please know that you are loved always and forever!

I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. My very first thought when I saw you for the first time was that you looked exactly like your mom. A second later, I thought what a miracle that you were. That you were a perfect little angel sent to us from Heaven. Watching as you've mastered new experiences and skills has amazed me. Each day I look forward to see/hear the new things that you have mastered. You melted my heart with your first smile and wrapped me around your finger the first time you said "Luv you Jo Jo."

As you grow and mature, please know that I will always be there for you. If ever you need someone to talk to, someone to cry with, someone to laugh with, or someone to be your designated driver, please give me a call. Regardless of the day or the time, I'll drop what I'm doing and be there.

Happy Birthday Sweetie! I love you,

Auntie Jo Jo

Celiac Disease Awareness Month

Ok, think back... What did you eat today? Did you have Cheerios for breakfast? A slice of pizza for lunch? Sweet and sour chicken from the local chinese resturant for dinner? Or maybe you were good and had a can of slimfast for breakfast, a chicken wrap for lunch, or a salad for dinner with low caloried cookies for dessert.

If you have Celiac disease, all of those foods I just listed could kill you. Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease that damages the villi of the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. What does this mean? Put simply, that the body is attacking itself!

Celiac disease is triggered by consumption of the protein called gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye. Researchers have determined that celiac disease is a genetic condition, meaning that it is inherited. Roughly one out of every 133 people have celiac disease, but 97% remain undiagnosed. This means that almost three million people have celiac disease and only about 100,000 know they have it. Left untreated, people with celiac disease can develop further complications such as other autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, thyroid disease, and cancer.

Symptoms of celiac disease may include one or more of the following: gas,recurring abdominal bloating and pain,chronic diarrhea, constipation, weight loss/weight gain, fatigue, unexplained anemia (a low count of red blood cells causing fatigue,) bone or joint pain, behavioral changes, tingling numbness in the legs (from nerve damage)muscle cramps, seizures, infertility, recurrent miscarriage, delayed growth,pale sores inside the mouth, called aphthous ulcerstooth discoloration or loss of tooth enamel, itchy skin rash called dermatitis herpetiformis

The only treatment for celiac disease is to follow a gluten-free diet. A gluten-free diet means not eating foods that contain wheat (including spelt, triticale, and kamut), rye, and barley. The foods and products made from these grains are also not allowed. In other words, a person with celiac disease should not eat most grain, pasta, cereal, and many processed foods. Despite these restrictions, people with celiac disease can eat a well-balanced diet with a variety of foods, including gluten-free bread and pasta. For example, people with celiac disease can use potato, rice, soy, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, or bean flour instead of wheat flour. They can buy gluten-free bread, pasta, and other products from stores that carry organic foods, or order products from special food companies. Gluten-free products are increasingly available from regular stores.

October is Celiac Disease Awareness month here in the USA. Celiac disease is one of the most missed diagnosis due to it's mimicking of other conditions like IBS. If you have any of the symptoms listed above, please ask your doctor to be tested for Celiac disease. I was diagnosed with Celiac 10 years ago. And since adapting to the gluten free diet, I've never been healtier.

Bring on the Deer!

Yesterday my parents and I hiked up to my mom's parents house. It's been a while since we'd seen the Grandparents and it's time to sight in our rifles for the upcoming whitetail season. Mom and Grandma worked on piecing together a baby quilt as we've had quite the baby boom in our family recently. And Grandpa, Dad, and myself went out to sight in our respective weapons.

Dad brought his 30-06 rifle that he's used forever but recently added a new stock too. I brought my 30 30 (similar to the one seen in the picture.) And Grandpa hauled out his mega binoculars. Grandpa's been a gun dealer for years and already had his weapon ready to go.

We trapezed out to the back acres of Grandpa's property and hung up our target board. The board was about 3 feet of plywood painted white with 6 black "targets" artistically drawn onto it in various locations. We marched about 75 yards away and set to work. As I was the only "lady" in the bunch, I went first. I'm happy to report that I hit the target 4 out of 4 times. A little high and to the left, but all 4 shots hit the target. Dad went next, but wasn't able to actually fire his rifle. Since he had replaced the stock recently, the bolt isn't striking correctly. Good thing we went out early and still have time to get that fixed.) Grandpa then fired my rifle once to see if he thought my sights were off since everything was going a little to the left. And then I went again at a closer distance since most of the shots that I'll have from my blind are going to be less than 75 yards. (Stupid brush gets in the way.) So, in all I hit the target 6 out of 7 shots that I took. I'm sporting a nice bruise though. I didn't have my weapon exactly the right way on my shoulder and it kicked back into my bicep. Dad worked on his weapon a bit more and will have to take it somewhere to get it worked on again.

I've been asked how I could hunt. "It's cruel to shoot innocent animals" I've been told. Well, I'd rather have the animal die a quick relatively painless death with my rifle than either be hit by a car (which I assure you is a lot more painful than being shot,) dieing from tuberculosis or other various illnesses, or starving to death. Plus, I enjoy spending the time out in the woods. Usually at that point, most of the things I'm allergic to have died off (other than the mold.) The sunrises and sunsets are incredible. And, I get to spend some quality time with my dad, brother, uncle, and occasionally my sister in law that I dont normally get to during the rest of the year. And, take a couple of vacation days from work which in itself is a bonus. And, we eat all the meat that we get. We don't hunt just for huntings sake.

Well gang, here's to happy hunting for everyone who hunts. Hope you all had a good day or a good one tomorrow. And as Elmer Fudd says... "Be very very quiet, I'm hunting Whitetail!"

Can you hear me now?

The only phone that I have is a cell phone. It is cheaper than having a land line and more convenient to travel with. I've had the same phone since 2003 when I received a phone for Christmas.

Now, my current phone is not the original phone that I was given. The original one never worked right. And when the company headquarters couldn't get it to work either, they gave me the one I have now. A $200 upgrade on phone value. They gave me the make and model of a new phone and told me to bring in the one that wouldn't work and have the store replace it with the new model.

Everything had been going fine with said phone. My only complaint being that I couldn't get service out at my parents house. I figured out all the bells and whistles, had it programed to have a different ring and color for each person programed into it, and even used the alarm clock a couple of times. The GPS in it really came in handy when I was rear ended 2 years ago.

Unfortunately, it got broken while I was on my vacation a couple weeks ago. It appears that someone stepped on it and broke it. It was a flip phone, and now the top comes completely off the bottom. Ironically, if you line the two pieces up just right the phone still works.

I went to the Version store to replace the phone. I had been told in the past that I had a $100 credit towards a replacement phone. I get into the store and have to interrupt the sales lady to get any help. I explained what had happened and she looks up my number on the computer. Since my parents had given me the phone as a gift, their name is on the account, not mine. She then told me that unless I signed a 2 year contract and had my name added to the account, then there was no way I was getting a replacement phone.

I was confused by this, so I called my mom (on my broken phone) and had her add me to the list of users. I asked how much longer we had on our current contract and was told that I could only have "Limited" information since my name wasn't on the account. While I waited for mom to add me to the list, I looked around and tried to decide what new phone I wanted. Mom called me and let me know that she talked to the headquarters and they told her that I should be able to get a new phone free. I went back up to the counter to relay the new information to the sales dragon... I mean lady. She curtly informed me that she was with a "Customer" and it would be a minute. I stood there thinking... Ok, I was your customer a minute ago... what am I now? Chopped Liver?

When she finished up with her "Customer" I waited to be acknowledged again and relayed the information that we had been given by the headquarters. Then the witch went off saying that it didn't matter what the headquarters said, that was them and this was her store. If I wanted a new phone then I had to sign up for a 2 year contract or pay full price for the phone. She said that the only way I was getting a free phone was if I bought their 2 for 1 special phone. She checked the computer to verify what I had said that the headquarters had said and said that they shouldn't have added anything about a free phone and that they had made a mistake about that.

I have never been treated so rudely by a retail person before. It's not my fault that someone stepped on my phone or that the company headquarters said to give me a free phone. I finally said forget about it and left with my broken phone. I'll contact the headquarters and file a formal complaint. I'm seriously thinking of switching providers. It's not like Verizon is the only company out there. You cant around without some company offering you a better deal.

Hey Verizon.... Can you Hear ME Now! Your customer service sucks! And I'm going to be sure that everyone I know or talk to knows how lousy your staff treats customers. I'll get as many as I can to switch provides as well.

I'm going to bed gang. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day for all of us. Except for the Verizon people... remember what goes around comes around... I hope someone treats you exactly how you treated me today.

The joys of living in an apartment!

I live in an apartment. A third floor apartment to be exact. The building was built back in the 1940's. So that means there's thin walls, noisy plumbing, and no elevators. But, the location is perfect, the rent is affordable, and the landlord is nice.

I have 800 square feet and a view that includes the parking lot, the highway, and the 24 hour gas station on the corner. There's 2 bedrooms, a small bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. And it's all mine!

There are some unique joys of living in an apartment complex. I don't have to shovel the driveway or mow the lawn. There is a pool and patio, but it hasn't worked right for 2 out of the 3 years I've lived here. I have a car port to park my car into, but its about a block away from my front door. But, I'm only 2 miles from everything. 2 miles from work, 2 miles from the mall, and 2 miles from the grocery store. If needed, I could walk anywhere I needed to go.

My neighbors are an interesting lot. Across the hall is a single guy who's about my age. I rarely see him other than the occasional crossing in the hall. Below me is a couple in their mid 70's and the wife's mother. I'm sure they just love it when I do my exercise routine late each night. My neighbor that shares the big wall with me is a 20 something college student. She's the noisy one. The one that drives me crazy. Her schedule is the exact opposite of mine, so when I'm trying to sleep she's wide awake and moving about like an elephant in a china shop. Shes prone to taking multiple hour long showers at random times during the day. (And she uses all the hot water available!) There is one more neighbor that shares a side wall with me. I've never met them, but they've created some interesting memories. As I've mentioned before, the wall here are rather thin.. One night I was in the bathroom, and I heard all this thumping around. It sounded like someone was trying to break into my apartment. I grabbed the first available thing I could reach (a shampoo bottle) and cautiously opened the door. It turns out that they had called an ambulance and the thumping noises were the ambulance crew getting them out of the bathroom that shares a wall with me.

My apartment is decorated in early garage sale. I have a red white and blue checkered couch, a pink rocking chair, my computer desk, and entertainment center in the living room. The kitchen table came from the goodwill and the chairs from my parents old set. In my bedroom I have just the bed, a book shelf, and a couple dressers. The spare room is basically a store room, so it doesn't have much more than bookshelves and boxes. There is a hockey theme that decorates the entire place as I collect sports memorabilia. The bathroom is decorated in butterflies. (I had to have something girly in the place.)

I really should clean my apartment. Right now it's a disaster. I've been really busy so everything has just been thrown down as I pass through. I usually keep it picked up, though dusting is not high on my list. I'll admit to being a pack rat. So I have alot of stuff around that I probably don't need. But, I might need it someday so I can't get rid of it. Most people have a junk drawer, I have a junk room. My spare room has one wall of just book shelves. The rest of the room is filled with boxes I have yet to unpack from moving in 3 years ago.

Well gang, I have to go exercise (3 miles tonight) and then I'm going to crash. I'm so so so glad that tomorrow is Friday. I can't wait for the weekend.

Love always and forever!