It must run in the family

So...just a little over a month after our tree disaster, you'll never guess what happened.

A tree fell on my brother's house.



And the deck of his pool.



Ok, honestly, it wasn't the whole tree that fell...which is good, cuz it's a BIG tree. (I didn't realize just how big it was until I looked at the photos, honestly.) From what I understand, it didn't do much damage to either. I haven't been there, but it looks like it mostly fell in the yard. Thank goodness.

We're blaming it on my oldest son. He was at our house when our tree fell, and he was at Jeff's when their tree fell. Blame Alex!

Still here

I'm still here. This management class is kicking my ass. I have both an individual paper and a group assignment due every week. I don't know if I'm coming or going, usually.

My schedule at work has eased up a little bit and gotten regular. I'm working strictly Tuesday-Saturday. Tues is a 4 hour shift, Wed-Fri are regular 8 hour shifts, and Sat is a 12 hour shift. It gets me my 40 hours without driving me too insane. I do like that my first day back after my weekend is only 4 hours. That's handy. And I don't mind having a 12 hour shift on the weekends, as it gives us more time to accomplish stuff.

So, in other news...Darcy has been complaining about her eyes hurting, so I took her for an eye exam. Turns out, she needs glasses! It's an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny prescription, but she needs them. She looks absolutely adorable in them, too.



And holy cow, how did I get lucky enough to get a kid who looks good in THE CHEAPEST FRAMES AVAILABLE? The more expensive ones looked silly. Amazing. I got her a second pair, but they won't be in for quite a while. They're kind of a magenta/burgundy color and look fabulous, too. What I don't like about either pair is that they make her look older. That's SO NOT FAIR!

I had Perrin's eyes checked at the same time. His prescription has actually gone DOWN a little bit. He was a +3 in one eye and +2.75 in the other. Now both eyes are +2.75. We got him three pairs. Two of which are exactly the frames as he had last time because he looks so good in them. The other is going to take a while, too, but it's similar to his old ones, just gold. He gets three pairs because he breaks his glasses A LOT.

Insurance paid for the exams and one pair of glasses for each kid. Lenses were on sale when I bought the other three pairs. So all told, two exams and five pairs of glasses cost me just over $225. Not too shabby at all. My last pair of glasses cost more than that!

I'm published!

A poem I wrote has officially been published in a book! A real book! One with a UPC on the back and everything!

The book is available for purchase on Amazon (click the picture):

Goodbye, Grandpa

My parents made it to NY for a very brief visit with him before he passed, but my brother and I were not so lucky. We got there on the 24th, and he passed away on the 23rd.

His wife and their baby were with us. Let me tell you, nothing brightens up a very sad situation better than an adorable, happy baby that is learning how to crawl.

Anyway, close to 100 people attended my grandfather's memorial service. This is a testament to how great a man he was. He was 96 years old, and many of his 12 brothers and sisters and his close friends preceded him in death. Still, seventy chairs were set up for his service, and when all of those filled, more were brought in. When those were filled, people had to stand.

He and my grandmother were married for 67 years as of this month. They haven't been apart for more than a few hours since they retired...and they were retired by the time I came about nearly 34 years ago. I can't imagine how hard it will be for my grandmother to adjust to being a widow. I hope I never have to be in her shoes.

I just hope that Grandpa is as happy now as those he left behind are sad.

Cutest baby ever!

This is my nephew at 6 months:

I could just eat him up!

Overheard: "Congratulations, Butthead," followed by, "Thanks, Assnose."

Tai got a new job tonight! And it is in his field!

He interviewed with a sign making shop yesterday, and it sounds like the job is right up his alley. It pays well enough that he should be back in the realm of being able to make a house payment with one paycheck...something we've been lacking for a long while now.

So amidst the chaos, a sudden ray of sunshine appeared.

Thank goodness.

This is generally NOT what you want to see when you look out your kitchen window.

Father's Day was a nice day. A little on the warm side. Sunny. Breezy. At least it was...until I went to take a shower.

While I was showering, I heard a noise that sounded like someone fell down the stairs. Uh oh. The lights flickered, but I didn't hear any screams, so I thought it was all good. Then it sounded like someone fell down the stairs again! And this time, the lights went out.

OK fine. I figured I'd been showering for 33 years or so, now, so I could go ahead and finish, since nobody was screaming. Then someone knocked on the door and told me that I'd lost the tree. I figured he meant just a branch or something...the thumps weren't big enough for it to be THE tree.

Boy was I wrong. That picture above? That's what I saw when I stepped out of the bathroom into the kitchen and looked out the window. We'd lost the big tree. Or at least part of it.

Anyway, to give you an idea...the tree came from my backyard and fell (mostly) between my house and my garage. Of course, it hit my house, my garage, my car, the neighbor's house, and the neighbor's garage in the process...oh, and the other half is still standing. For now. They're working on cutting it down...for $8000. Eek!

Teehee!

more cat pictures

I didn't find this myself

...but it's well worth a look. I found it over at Typingfool. Apparently, Duck Tape has a contest called "Stuck at Prom." The contestants have to either make their outfits out of duct tape or cover existing outfits with it. It's totally awesome, and I'm impressed with the artistic ability of some (ok, most) of these kids. Check it out.

I'm lost.

Tai started a new job last week. It's third shift - which he has now been on for two nights. And I'm lost. I came home from work tonight and cried because I couldn't tell him about my day. (And it was an eventful one, too, including a 5 hour trip to the ER!)

With him working 3rds, and me working 2nds, and Mike working 1sts, I'll never get to see him. He'll come home, spend an hour or two with the kids while he winds down. I'll sleep in a little bit since I don't get home until 11:30 or so and need time to wind down, too. And by the time I get up to be Mommy, it'll be time for him to go to bed. We will see each other for maybe five or ten minutes. :( And then I'll leave for work before he gets up to spend the evening with the kids.

This is going to totally suck.

But the job pays better than his last one did. And it's a temp-to-hire position, which means there will probably be a big raise in three months. (There'd better be!) And it works out so that there is always an adult home with the kids. So we're just going to have to suck it up and deal. Blech.

I finished my first class with University of Phoenix. I don't know when I'll get my final grade, but before our final group project, I had a 98.5% or so. Not too shabby for not having been in college for quite a number of years. I can deal with that.

Except that our final project kinda sucked. Mainly because I let someone else take the lead on it. It's a PowerPoint presentation, and someone else had more experience in it than I did. Ok, fine. But there was no proofreading of the notes. And I had to recommend a change for one particular slide like 18 times before she finally changed it. (It had the decision-making process listed BACKWARDS, for goodness sakes!!!)

I'm scheduled to start another class on the 17th. Between now and then, I'm trying to figure out which classes I might be able to waive. Unfortunately, Illinois State University's course catalogue has been of NO help whatsoever. I need to use that description to waive out of courses at UoPh. But when their course descriptions are simple one line entries, that does me no good at all! At over $1500/class, I need to waive as many as I can, thank you very much! I might be able to waive 6 or 7 classes...if I can get a decent course description from ISU. But that's looking like an awfully big, BIG IF. Blech.

That's about all that's going on...what's new in your world?

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Oy! School is exhausting!

I don't know what on earth I was thinking...going back to school while working full-time and having a big family to boot. I don't have time to sleep anymore!

I'm in the last week of my 5 week class. I got my first paper back - I got a 99.5/100 on it. As my instructor put it, "An exemplary piece of writing. The only flaw is that you justified the right margin."

Grrrr...I hadn't even looked at that in the APA manual. I should have. Duh!

Just a tip

If you aren't computer literate, and you just bought your first computer...maybe that same week is not the best time to sign up for online classes.

*pulls hair out*

Methinks someone got hold of my camera!

I don't usually take pictures of the computer screen:


Or of myself sleeping with the cats:




Or of my ex-husband at an odd angle:


I suspect it was THIS little girl who did it! 


I can't imagine WHY I would suspect her!


Ok, my husband took the pictures of the cats.  But I think Darcy Min is the one who got the others!

I'm at it again

I decided to go back to school. The new way.

I've signed up for a class with Phoenix Online. Kinda nifty how that works. One class at a time, five weeks each.

Had to change my major, though. They didn't have social work. So I went for what was closest... human services/management.

Could be interesting!