Memoirs of a Mad Woman

Bueller....Bueller....Bueller

2011-08-24T18:04:00.003-04:00

So I'm sitting in the hallway outside of class because I am obsessively early anywhere I go. I guess that is a good trait but it can be very stressful to me. Anyway, I'm sitting beside this Asian girl who is munching on chips. Don't get me wrong, I wish I had some chips right now but Lord, it can be very nerve-wracking in a silent hallway.

Okay so I didn't get to finish my blog. One of my classmates walked up and started talking to me so I shut down the iPad and went into class. Im pretty sure I had some really great things to share but honestly after 3 hours of class I simply cannot remember what it was. Oh well, I never really claimed to be a good blogger.

9 years

2011-06-08T16:56:00.002-04:00

Today is mine and Williams 9th wedding anniversary. We've been together for 12 years but married for 9 and I have to say I am just as in love with him today as I was 12 years ago. He is the greatest husband, father, and companion anyone can ask for.

After 9 years in this sacred institution of marriage, I can safely say: there's no one with whom I would rather be institutionalized!

Happy Anniversary Baby, I love you!

Stand still

2011-06-02T14:51:00.003-04:00

We are currently at a stand still with the decks. We have, however, made great progress. We have 3 decks built, 2 of them stained, and have run out of wood. We have wood left, just not enough to really start on the rest of the decks so we're stopping where we are until we complete a few other projects. Namely the back door and windows.

I have to say this is the best project we have done at this house, other than the pool. William and I have really enjoyed spending time on our deck in the evenings. I dare say it has brought us closer as a couple by allowing us to spend time together in a setting that we both enjoy.

I am hoping to get started on the back door in the next few weeks. This has been the last week of school so there are many activities going on with Britt and the next two weekends have been dedicated to working on side/service jobs so I fear we are at least 3 weeks out on the door. Unless, of course, William gets frisky and we just do it one day.

In any case, we're at a stand still and I am ok with it. Until we start building again, I am perfectly content curled up on the couch, on the deck, with my glass of wine.

Moving forward once again

2011-04-29T20:25:00.002-04:00

After 3 weeks of everyone in the house being sick, we are finally working on our projects again. Over the past week we have slowly been setting the blocks for the pool. When I say slowly, I mean at a turtles pace. We finally bit the bullet tonight and put up the wall of the pool. Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. William said he had been watching videos and studying up....thank God for that, otherwise we would be hiring it out. Anyway, the pool wall is up and we're ready for the liner; hopefully by June we will have that. Of course, William does have some side work coming up so that's always helpful in getting us a little ahead of the budgeted plan.

I have to work tomorrow and so does William and, tomorrow night we have to go see Kelsey race so I imagine we won't be working on anything then. Sunday will probably be the day we start back. I hope we start with either the deck or the back door. I would prefer to start with the back door but honestly, at this point I don't really care as long as we keep moving forward. I cannot wait to see the finished project. It is going to look so good. I've been documenting the progress through photos and I looked back through them tonight, we have come so far and it already looks so much better.

Well, I'm off to get a glass of wine. This tired ol' body is in desperate need of relaxing.

Update

2011-04-08T07:24:00.002-04:00

We managed to get the pool taken down last weekend and did the ground work for getting it set back up. Unfortunately William started getting sick on Sunday and we haven't done anything in the last week. I doubt that we will work on anything this weekend either considering he is still sick, getting better, but still sick.

Of course I'm just happy that we're making progress. We knew it was going to be a slow process and we were okay with that but I was worried that it would eventually become a project that we gave up on and never completed.

I can't wait to get the pool set back up, although it will be June or July before we can get the new liner for it, and start working on the last deck. We don't have to wait until June or July for the deck build, just set the pool up. After that, it's all easy stuff. Replace the windows in the living room and the kitchen and of course the back door that is sitting in my garage. I look at it every morning and every afternoon when I get in my car to leave/come home for/from work. Eventually I will be looking at it from my living room and overlooking my deck! YAY!

After these projects are complete I think I'm going to focus on the granite for the kitchen. It really is the easiest of all but it's also very expensive. Well, I say it's expensive, it helps that I work for a company that does granite countertops but even so, my discount is still more expensive than I would like.

Then, after that, I'll work on the granite for the bathrooms. The master bath will be a complete overhaul...come to think of it....both bathrooms will be a complete overhaul.....hmmmm, we'll stop at this, I'm getting way too ahead of myself here. Right now I'll just concentrate on the pool!

Regrets

2011-03-23T07:38:00.003-04:00

I've never been the kind of person that has regrets and in my lifetime I have very few of them. I believe everything happens for a reason regardless of how good or bad it may be. I do have to say though, I do regret wasting so many years fighting for something that was inevitable. If I had known then what I know now, I would not have fought so hard to make my family a family; I would have concentrated on my own family because in the end, the only person hurt, was me....well, and my family.

It's amazing when I think about how much time I wasted for nothing. It's amazing that it took me 12 years to realize it. I truly do feel used and hurt. To grow up in the family environment that I did and to crave the same for my own and never really get it just hurts my feelings. Furthermore, for me to be the only one that seems to even care makes it even worse. It's just disheartening that the people involved may never realize what sacrifices were made for them.

I am, however, not one to dwell so I have moved on and have vowed to live my life the way I want and not how someone else believes I should.

That monkey is finally off my back.

The pain

2011-03-06T20:00:00.002-05:00

So two of the three decks are built now. We have also drained the pool. We're going to take a break on the decks because we have to move the pool in order to build the last deck. In the meantime we will finish Britt's window, install our new backdoor, and then install the other windows in the living room and kitchen. And then, the projects will be complete and we can focus on our other projects. Not to get too far ahead of myself but after we finish all of these, we're going to concentrate on granite countertops for the kitchen and bathrooms and then an all over painting (both inside and out).

Whew.......did I mention we have a lot of work to do on our house?

It's all worth it if you ask me. I have no plans of leaving my house anytime soon, in fact, I'm hoping to have the house paid for in the next 7 years so I want to get the majority of the remodeling done prior to that. Despite my soreness right now I'm excited about the progress we're making and am eager to get started on the next project.

Well, I'm tired and I think a muscle relaxer is in my future so I'm gonna run and take a hot bath and get ready for bed.

Decks

2011-02-26T21:48:00.001-05:00

The existing deck has been raised up and does have a lot more work to do before it is finished however, the lower deck is coming along nicely. The posts have been placed and are currently drying. We should be able to finish that deck tomorrow. Depending on how long that deck takes, we may actually get the existing deck set up as well. It's going to take a lot of work because we have to sand each board and that is going to take forever. I almost believe it would have been quicker to buy new wood BUT, we are trying to save money because our little project isn't cheap at all. In fact, I was hoping to get taxes back to offset some of this cost but as usual, we owe the IRS. I wish just once we would actually get taxes back but, that's a whole other blog.

I knew we would start on the decks before the windows despite our grand plan but I have to admit I'm glad we did. I cannot wait to have a real deck i can actually relax on.

Well, I'm off to rest, I'm pretty sore after working today, plus, I'm typing this on the iPad and it's not as easy as a real keyboard.

Biggest shopping day of the year (a.k.a. my birthday)

2011-02-23T22:53:00.002-05:00

So tomorrow is the biggest shopping day of the year and I absolutely could not wait for my gift. So, after much begging, William and Brittany gave it to me early. An IPAD!! I was so excited to get that, I never thought William would actually buy me an IPAD. Although, it is what I asked for, I just never thought he would do it and live to give it to me. He did say it hurt his chest a little bit to spend that much money but it was worth it.

And let me say, I absolutely love it. I have the best husband and daughter anyone could ever ask for. Things are going so well for us right now, it's just great.

We have the materials to start our projects on the house so we will be doing that this weekend. We actually started last weekend by replacing Brittany's window and although it isn't quite finished, it is in the works. I've been sick all week and William has had to take care of me so we haven't done anything around the house.

BUT, this weekend, we can start on the decks. All of the material was delivered yesterday so all we need to do is start it.

However, we won't concentrate on any of that until this weekend. Right now, we're focusing on my birthday tomorrow and that's it.

Happy birthday to me....happy birthday to me....happy birthday to MEEEEE, happy birthday to me!!

I'm off to play on my IPAD now.

Construction starts....

2011-02-17T14:54:00.001-05:00

We’re starting our projects this weekend, Saturday to be exact, and I cannot wait.

I have to appear at the home show on Saturday for a few hours and once I leave that, William and I will be visiting Lowe’s to order our windows and possibly a door. We are undecided on ordering the door from Lowes; we want to shop around on that one. What we desire is a sliding glass door with the blinds inside the glass. Although sliding glass doors are typically cheaper than French doors, these particular ones are very expensive. We may just go with the French doors with the blinds inside the glass.

We also have our deck designed and sent the material list in for a quote. We have a close friend that can quote this for us with a major discount so I’m excited to see what he comes back with. Oh, and this friend is also getting us a black, chain-link fence, for FREE. Yes, I said FREE. Granted, it will only do half of our yard (400 feet) but that is plenty to set our doggies up with a play area and, did I mention, it is FREE?

I’m sure William will want to start on the deck and the pool on Saturday however, to be perfectly honest, I would really like to get some mulch and work on our landscape. We can’t do much with anything else until the material comes in so yard work would be ideal until then.

I don’t know that I will post pictures here, on my blog, it isn’t as secure as I would like but I will post them on my facebook, in which no one can see them except my immediate family and friends. I plan to take a lot of before and after pictures.

Oh, and although this is off the subject, for those of you that care to bother with my blog, I’d like to remind you that it’s 7 more days until the biggest shopping day of the year J

Almost ready

2011-02-11T07:49:00.002-05:00

So by next weekend we should be starting on our projects. We have since recruited help that can also get us a discount on the material needed so I am excited about that. I love a deal :-)

Although we really need to start on our windows first, I'm thinking the porch and pool will probably be the first to get worked on. That's the item we're most excited about. Not that it won't be nice to save on our electric bill because Lord knows, any savings there will be a blessing.

BUT THE PORCH/POOL.....it is going to be so nice to finally have a porch I can sit on, cook out on, and jump into my pool off of.

It's terrible that I get this excited over home repairs but I truly miss doing things like this with William. We used to have so much fun working on our house even if it was something as meaningless as cutting the grass and pulling weeds. Anytime we can work on something together that we both enjoying working on, well, that's a good day.

Well, I'm off to do some actual work but secretly I'm just going to be daydreaming about my new deck.

Construction is near

2011-02-07T07:56:00.002-05:00

So I have about 2 weeks before construction starts at the house and I am excited. This has been a long time coming and I believe we have finally decided on the projects. The windows will come first of course. We desperately need to replace these 19 year old windows with some that are more efficient.

Then, we have decided to build a back porch and move our pool. This is the part I am most excited about. We are going to have a 3-tier porch. When you walk out of the back door, you will turn to your right and step up to the deck that will be around the pool. This deck will also have a seating area and a shower to spray off before getting into the pool. When you come out of the house and step down to your left, this will be our outdoor kitchen area. It is all going to look wonderful. It will be a lot of work but will definitely be worth it in the end.

During this long, tiring process, we will also be doing some landscaping around the house as well. New mulch, barriers, dog kennel for the mutts to run around in, repairing the circle driveway and just general up-keep. I'm hoping by the end of summer my house is going to look mah-velous!

Not to mention, William and I LOVE working on the house and it has been a long time since we've done any projects together.....I cannot wait!!

It's been over a year

2011-01-25T13:01:00.002-05:00

It's been over a year since I've posted anything here. I guess I actually have a life huh?

A lot has happened over the past year but I have to say that things couldn't get much better right now. William and I are doing great in our marriage. We've finally gotten back on the same page after much disruption from other people.

In a few weeks William and I are going to start a complete home makeover project and I am very excited about that. A few of the ideas we're tossing around in our head are:
*Replacing windows
*Replacing doors
*Paint the outside as well as the inside of the house
*Get a new roof
*Fence in the yard so the doggies can run around
*Landscaping....definitely landscaping (said in a rainman voice)
*A deck around the pool
*Outdoor kitchen area

In addition to these outdoor projects, we will be working on the inside, getting it repainted, new carpet, granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, and oh yeah, I almost forgot, completely remodeling my bathroom. I cannot wait for that project!!

Hopefully I will not be so consumed in the projects that I can't post the progress and maybe a few pics as well.

As for now, I'm going to go finish cleaning around the house as this is my day off...

It's been awhile

2009-10-18T09:00:00.003-04:00

It's been 9 months since I've posted anything on my blog and quite honestly I had forgotten about it. I was updating some information on my Facebook and saw the link to the blog and as usual was sucked into it. I am so addicted to the computer it is ridiculous. I'm sure there's a support group out there somewhere for people like me.

So what's been going on in my life....hmmm....lot's of stuff actually, it's been like an emotional rollercoaster the last 9 months and I have no idea where to start so I'll just start fresh.

I'm going to the Hurricane's (closed) practice today and am really excited. The owner of my company gave me two tickets (he's a season ticket holder) AND a bottle of white wine. Not too shabby. I tried the wine last night for the first time and really liked it. I'm not a big wine drinker, more of a Smirnoff Ice kinda gal myself, but I have found that I love the Olive Garden Principato Blush wine and now this one that my boss gave me. It's terrible I cannot remember the name of it. All I can remember is it came from South Africa and the only reason I remember that is because I had a conversation with my boss about him being in Africa and my husband being in Africa when he was in the military.

Anywho, what else has happened? OH, I received a package from Aunt Dee Dee on Friday filled with goodies! There was a comforter set and a quilt for me. Which looks great on my bed and kept me super warm last night....thank you Dee Dee! She also included some jewelry, a few necklaces to be exact, for Brittany however I've already gotten my hands on a couple and worn them myself so I may have to share with Brit as I like the necklaces too! :-)

Well, I hate to run but I need to go ahead and get a shower, start breakfast, and get ready for the Hurricanes! I really hope to get to meet Cam Ward today after the practice. I've been told they hold an autograph session afterwards. Of course they lost to the Devils last night so they may not be in the mood for anything...??!!

Out sick

2009-02-15T12:42:00.002-05:00

I just spent the last week getting over a cold. I started feeling bad last Saturday. I woke up with a scratchy throat and assumed it was just my house being so dry as it tends to be with a heat pump heating system however I progressively got worse as the day passed. By Sunday, I felt as though Horton were sitting on my chest. I spent Sunday cleaning out the office with William and the girls. We did our own version of "clean house" where we emptied the entire office into sections: "Keep, trash, goodwill, and recycle." It was a long, tough day, but I had hoped that with the beautiful weather and me staying busy all day, I might not get sick. I was wrong.

By Tuesday, the congestion in my chest moved up to my head. I thought, "Great, progress to getting better." Again, I was wrong. By Thursday I was just plain miserable. My head hurt so bad I could barely open my eyes. Between coughing, sneezing or not being able to sneeze but needing to, and spending the most beautiful week indoors, I have officially come to the conclusion that I hate colds. It's been a week and a day and I still have congestion that I'm coughing up. Granted, I'm much better but still sick.

Through all of this I have learned that there should be a law against co-workers coming to work sick. All of this started with three of my co-workers being sick and coming to work to share their germs. Now I've missed a week of work (with no pay mind you) because they feel loyal. Now, I could have done the same and gone to work because ultimately I am the reason I missed work but I just don't see sharing the germs. It has to stop somewhere right? Otherwise, we're just going to keep getting each other sick.

You know, I've often wondered how people do it in medical office's. They are faced with germs all day every day with sick people coming and going, how do they keep from getting sick? Is it an immune system thing or do they just have the high-tech cleaning that keeps their office germ free? Hmmmm, kinda makes one wonder.

In any case, I am 3/4 myself and will be returning to work tomorrow. Kind of glad too, I can't sit around my house any more!

The crud

2009-02-09T04:04:00.002-05:00

So I've been sitting up ALL night fighting off this stupid cold that my co-workers have shared with me and wishing I could go to sleep. So far, I have washed and folded four loads of clothes, put away the dirty dishes, and cleaned all the old files off of my computer. Of course in cleaning my computer, I ran across my blog that I haven't written in in months, hence my incoherent rambling now.

I am super tired but cannot sleep. I am having trouble breathing as 'Horton' has landed on my chest. It hurts when I swallow, it hurts when I breathe, and basically I am just plain miserable. I thought about laying down in hopes to fall asleep however, Brittany will be getting up in an hour and I must take her to the bus stop so what's the point in going to bed now?

Ultimately I will either take some theraflu or Tylenol PM but am afraid in doing that, I will sleep all day and have the same problem tomorrow night.....insomnia!

A word of advice, if you are sick, please don't go to work. It's not viewed as being a loyal employee, all you're doing is getting everyone else sick!!!

Raising Teenagers

2008-12-07T01:05:00.002-05:00

When you first have a child, it is the single, most beautiful thing in the world.

When they get to be teenagers, you have to wonder.....why in the hell did I have children?

I'm glad that it is just a (few years) phase but even knowing that, it doesn't make it any better to deal with.

My step daughter is always sick, angry, hormonal, and just plain miserable. I'm starting to think she just hates being at our house. It doesn't matter what we do, she hates us. I know it's a teenage, hormonal, battle that she is going through, but it is very difficult on our household to deal with.

My other daughter is going through this grunge phase, which again I know IS only a phase but I SO dislike it.

Two teenage girls in the same household....I must be being tested for something...strength, ability to ward off gray hair....I don't know!!

I guess all I can do is my best as a parent and hope that when my girls get older they will realize what we do as parents is only making them better people. Honestly, I disliked my parents growing up because they had RULES and wanted me to clean my room....the nerve of them, who did they think they were? It's not like they paid all the bills or something....oh wait.

In any case, I just wanted to vent for a few minutes and share my battle's of raising teenagers.

911 SUCKS!!

2008-11-15T23:38:00.002-05:00

A few months ago William and I were coming home from a hockey game and got in behind a drunk driver. We followed this drunk driver from the arena all the way to Knightdale. We called 911 to report him and the lady that answered the call was extremely rude. I gave her the description and license plate of the truck and left it to the authorities to deal with. In the meantime, I did continue to follow behind him just in case something bad happened. As we got closer to the New Bern Ave exit, I realized he was getting off of the highway so I called 911 again to update them on the new location. Again, they were very rude and treated me as though I was bothering them. How dare I try to save someone from a drunk driver!! Since she was so rude and unwilling to help, we gave up on her and called the Knightdale non-emergency line. Knightdale police do not play around so when we called them to let them know this drunk driver was heading to Knightdale. The guy realized we were following him and turned off at the Chili's so we followed him and happened to be on the phone with the NE operator giving directions to the 3, count them THREE police officers that responded. If nothing else, that was one less drunk on the road. Of course the aggravation was almost not worth the hassle.

I tell you that story to tell you about my experience with 911 again today. As I was leaving home and getting onto the highway, there was an older gentleman sitting on the side of the road with a bottled water. He flagged at us when we drove by which I thought to be very odd. I decided to call the Non emergency number for Knightdale because I thought the guy may be trying to flag some help down as he didn't appear to be hitching a ride. My fear was he was in need of medical help or possibly a silver alert (as one had been put out this morning). Knightdale NE operator didn't even let me finish talking before transferring me over to Wake County Sheriffs office. After several rings, a lady answers so I proceed to tell my story of the older gentleman sitting on the road and may be in trouble etc. etc., when she just hangs up on me. Here I was trying NOT to tie up 911 and these rude, ineffective workers were ridiculous. I broke down and called 911 because at this point it had started to pour down rain. I felt so bad for that guy and I truly hope he is okay, no thanks to the emergency dispatchers!!

Right lane, fast lane?

2008-09-18T13:12:00.000-04:00

When did the right lane become the passing lane?

I was taught in driver education class that the left lane was designated for the faster traffic. If you were in the left lane and a vehicle going faster than you drove up that you were to get over and let them pass by. When did all of this stop? Do they not teach that in driver education class anymore?

Every morning I get behind these cars that ride (very slow) in the left lane, some aren’t even doing the speed limit AND, most refuse to get over. Three lanes of traffic and they hang out in the left lane. I have had this conversation with enough people to know that a majority of the drivers that do this are intentionally doing it in attempt to slow down speeders. I don’t see the justification in that as it’s not their place to slow us down. Yes, I say us, because I am one of those speeders.

I found myself weaving in and out of three lanes of traffic simply to get down the road at the posted speed limit. Otherwise I am stuck behind 15 other cars doing 15+ miles an hour below the posted speed limit. I recall watching other cars weaving in and out of traffic and thinking, “What idiots,” they’re going to get them killed or kill one of us. I now realize that is what has to happen because of the idiots riding in the left lane. They aren’t prohibiting us from speeding; they are forcing us to drive more aggressive ultimately creating more of a danger.

There is the other side of the story also that us speeders could just go with the flow and leave our house an hour earlier to accommodate the left lane drivers but I refuse. There is no sense in it as far as I’m concerned. A little courtesy on their behalf and everyone is happy. If you see a car speeding up behind you simply move to the right, let the car pass, and then move back into the left lane and proceed at snail speed. EVERYONE WINS!!

I was pulled over by a cop one time for doing 5 mph over the speed limit while riding beside him. I was stuck behind three lanes of maybe, 15-20 cars, and weaved myself up to the front of the pack only to realize there was a cop in the middle lane; hence the reason for the back up. Once I realized that I set my cruise control to 70mph (speed limit was 65mph) which put me directly beside the trooper. He and I were traveling at the same rate of speed and everyone was happy because I wasn’t stuck in the back of this pack doing 45-50 as I was before. Of course he did decide to pull me over for speeding which sort of baffled me as I was traveling beside him but he did let me go with a warning….hmph…guess he figured he couldn’t really win that case without being deemed guilty himself.

In any case, I have learned that if I stay in the right lane, I actually can pass everyone as though I were riding in the left lane. It seems as though the rules have changed and the left lane is no longer the fast lane; the right lane is.

Floating Away

2008-08-22T21:19:00.004-04:00

Mom and Dad are floating away in Florida. Not literally, but they did send me pictures of the flooded yard. Tropical storm Fay went through Jacksonville starting yesterday and carried through today. I've called them several times over the past two days to assure they are okay. Now that Mark has moved, they don't have any family close by. Of course if Mark were still in Florida I would be just as concerned for him.

Mom said 5 tornado's have come through today alone but they're not like regular tornado's, they're more like the tornado's in the Midwest. Either way it's still kinda scary.

Well, it hasn't been all scary as Dad actually attempted to ride his bike through the neighborhood yesterday when it first started. The power went out so it became a little boring inside the house, I guess. I could hardly talk to Mom she was giggling so hard. Unfortunately she didn't take her camera with her as I would have LOVED to see that. Why not have a little fun during a scary time huh??

I'm glad the worst part is over with and other than a lot of water and maybe a few snakes and alligators that may swim up, Mom and Dad are okay.

And Dad, as long as you don't start riding your bike in the rain, in your underwear, we won't have to commit you <3

I suck at blogging

2008-08-01T23:27:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I just spent 30 mintutes updating everyone on my blog and how I suck about it and somehow lost everything in the editing process......dammit!

SO, I am too tired to retype all of my incoherent babbling thus I will post again at a later date :-}

Zazzle

2008-05-18T10:07:00.003-04:00

http://www.zazzle.com/hollydrake

I know it's been a long time since I've posted and I promise it's due to my overwhelming changes in life. I have been dealing with my mother in law living with us, Williams taken a new job with Wake County, me being laid off, getting a speeding ticket, my mother in law living with us, all of the PTSA events at the end of the year, did I mention my mother in law living with us? AND, the best one of all......

I GOT MY JOB BACK!!!

They missed me and realized what a good job I did and since I left on good terms, they hired me back...woo hoo! I am so excited because I really do love my job. I can't believe I get paid to play all day, and sometimes throw in a little work. But best of all, it get's me away from my mother in law :0)

Oh, if you were wondering about the link at the top of this blog, it goes to my zazzle site in which I have made up a few items you can purchase such as a tshirt and a bumper sticker. Okay so I haven't created that much yet, didn't I state earlier I've been a little busy? Anyway, the proceeds of these sales go to ME--I have in turn told my step son that anything I make I will give to him to apply towards his college expenses SO, please feel free to stop in and buy one or two or several as college is very expensive!!

Gotta run and go clean some house now~~~

Happy Birthday Will!!

2008-04-20T11:19:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to say:

Happy 18th Birthday WILL!!!

I'm much better now

2008-04-20T11:12:00.002-04:00

I just want to post that I feel so much better now!!

Not sure what the change was other than I slept in and took a shower when I woke up. Maybe the first few days of detoxification are the worst and now that my system is somewhat "cleansed" I'm good to go forward with my so-called diet.....???

Whatever the reason, I don't care, I'm just happy that my headache is gone and I feel much better :0)

Insomnia sucks

2008-04-20T03:17:00.003-04:00

It is approximately 3:18 in the morning and I cannot sleep. I have had such a rough week this week and I'm not sure why. I have started my new diet, well, can't really call it a diet because I'm still eating the same foods as before however, I'm eating less of them--I count calories. In any case, it involves a detox period to wash out my system and I think that is the cause of my insomnia tonight. I should be partying this weekend as my mother in law decided to go stay with her daughter, my girls are at the "others" house, and William is in school so essentially I have the house to myself. I should be happy, but I'm not. My head hurts so bad it ultimately can be considered a migraine AND as if that wasn't bad enough, not only am I getting ready to start, but I feel nauseous. I hate feeling nauseous; I would rather throw up and get it over with.

I just have to make it through today and I start my exercise routine on Monday so maybe that will make me feel better. It really is ridiculous that I am feeling this bad and I have no doubt stress plays a role in it however, things are pretty good so I shouldn't be feeling the way I do. I think maybe I stayed positive for so long that now that things have somewhat fallen into place, I'm in panic mode that it all works out for the best. Which I don't know why I'm in panic mode because I trust the Lord will work it out for us. Everything happens for a reason so me worrying about something is a waste of time and energy.

In any case, I'm going to go get my first glass of water for today so that I can start my regimen of peeing every 30 minutes :0)

Diet, exercise....ugh

2008-04-18T14:40:00.002-04:00

I have been blaming my mother in law for my lack of exercising due to the fact that she moved into my gym. I have been struggling to work out. I started out as I always do with so much motivation it's ridiculous. I started walking twice a week at the park and trying to walk the neighborhood at least every other day if not once a day--yeah, that lasted for about 3 weeks and now I do good to walk to the mailbox.

Not a big deal, I decide to bring my ab lounge to my office (from my gym that mom in law is living in) and guess what, I used it religiously for about two weeks and now......NOTHING.

I just recently picked up some books from the library regarding detoxing my body so let's hope I can at least find the motivation to read them and apply some of it to my quest.

All in all, I have 50 pounds that I MUST lose, 90, that I would like to lose total so wish me luck on my quest!

I'm off to pick Brittany up from school so maybe I'll get her to walk the neighborhood with me or something :-)

Family

2008-04-09T22:49:00.002-04:00

Being a stay at home mom again has really shown me how much I love my family. This has been a true blessing being able to stay at home and do all of the things that I feel a "wife/mother" should do. I know there are probably some liberal women out there that feel that is crazy but I do have the beliefs that a wife/mother is the one that takes care of the house, cooking, cleaning, kids, etc. That's not to say that William and I don't work together and do a lot of stuff together as a family but when it comes to the nuts and bolts of the household, I gladly accept that role. I feel with Williams new job and my new stay at home position, we are growing together as a family again. We've gone back to the basics. I do admit the girls don't care to spend much time with us anymore as they are getting older and really just want to spend time with their friends or in their room and texting their friends, but that to me is normal; I did the same when I was their age. Well, I didn't text my friends because at that time they didn't have cell phones that you could carry around in your pocket. Mine was bolted into my vehicle :0) I did however spend a lot of time on the house phone.

In any case, I just wanted to post how great my famiy is and how much I love them and I love staying home and taking care of them.

It's been awhile

2008-04-04T23:22:00.002-04:00

It has been awhile since I've written and I don't have a good excuse as I really don't do much during the day that prohibits me from writing. Maybe that's why I haven't written-nothing to write about....

A little update, I'm still on unemployment doing my usual stuff during the day. William has taken a job with Wake County Inspections as a general inspector which is awesome!! Great pay, benefits, and the best of all, he can make the bills and I get to stay home. At least until the girls get into high school and then I'll go back to work. At that point I will have received my degree!! Woo hoo. I haven't decided yet what degree I want. I started out working towards a Bachelors in Business Administration but was going to change it to accounting for the business. Although accounting sucks....it is sssoooo boring......snooze! Pays good but I couldn't stand my job if that were the route I took. BUT now that I have the time to think about what I want to do, I would like to move into the law field. Maybe criminal law or something to that nature. CSI-Knightdale :0) Who knows, I'll decide one day.

Okay I'll post more later, my mother in law insists on sitting here asking me questions like I don't look busy or something.....sheesh!

Update to the unemployment status

2008-03-19T09:21:00.003-04:00

I am happy to report that I am loving this unemployment!! I really thought that I might turn into a bum by sleeping all day, watching tv, etc. but I haven't. I still get up at 6:30 in the morning unless I feel like sleeping in to a whole whopping 7:00. I make my bed, get my Pepsi Max (Wake up people) and then proceed to my office in which I check bank balances, emails, and work on PTSA stuff.

I run my errands during the day if I have any and mainly spend my day cleaning my house. I clean one floor one day and the other floor the next day. Tomorrow I will be working on my yard--pulling weeds! Granted I'm not really looking forward to that as much but I love to come home to a nice looking yard and our yard is in desperate need of attention.

Oh and I get to do all of this while still getting paid---you can't beat it!!

Well, I'm off to go run my errands....

New beginnings

2008-03-17T08:59:00.002-04:00

William started his new job today and we are excited. He has worked so hard the past nine years to get here and it has paid off. We have to praise God for such a blessing. We were talking about all of the events in our lives over the past few months and everything just seems to be falling into place. We aren't by any means out of debt, we still live week to week but, you know what? We're happy!! And isn't that all that really matters? It doesn't matter how much money you have or how important your job is if your not happy with what you have or what you are.

I couldn't have asked for a better life. William and I are going on our 10th year together, our girls are wonderful, my family is healthy.........ah, bliss!!

Okay, enough goody goody stuff, I'll let you in on one dirty, unhappy secret.......

my house is a mess :0)

Okay so it wasn't that funny of a joke but in all seriousness, that is the only thing I am unhappy with so I'm going to go take care of it right now!!

Happy Birthday Dad

2008-03-14T11:30:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to you--Happy Birthday to you--

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DADDY!!!!

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Now everyone that reads my blog will have sung happy birthday to my dad because you can't read it without singing it in your head!!

Inspector William

2008-03-05T14:30:00.003-05:00

Okay, for the past few months now I have been in a "No stress" mode. I have made a point to not worry about anything, trust that God knows what is best for me and whatever path he is taking me down is for the good. I have also instilled this "trust God" into William. It was a little harder for him to accept things than it was me as he has the mentality that he is the husband, the father, the man of the family and he must be able to take care of his family no matter the cost. Which he does by the way however, it has been a little more difficult to just go with the flow and have faith. WELL, I hate to say I told you so but,

"I told you so."

Today, everything fell into place, let me explain. I mentioned in a prior post that we had to fire our help and hire new help. That in itself was a huge jump in faith for us being a new company but the help we hired has done more work in the past week than the other two guys could do in a month's time. We have started and finished 2 major jobs and a handful of service calls and, the work is just flowing in with very little search efforts on my part. (I spend a good deal of my day surfing sites looking for work.) On top of that, Bill has sold 2 basement's and is ready for William to do that. That work in itself is very profitable although not very stable yet. AND, the ultimate is William was offered his "dream" job today.......inspector. He has worked his hiney off for the past 9 years to obtain the certifications needed to become an inspector and it paid off today. Not only was he offered this great position that he has worked so hard for but it will pay him the amount we need to make our bills every month, give us the retirement benefits we want, give us the 'mack daddy' of all insurance AND, I get to stay home even after my unemployment runs out to do whatever I want to do. Of course, going back to school is top on my list since I had to set it aside for the dot and our business plus, let us not forget my PTSA. I am so excited about this I can't stand myself :0)

How great is God? I knew if we just kept the faith, it would all work itself out.

Well, I'm off to celebrate with a little chocolate!!

Slug

2008-03-04T08:15:00.002-05:00

I feel like a slug today...??? I don't know if I just didn't sleep well last night or what is going on but I cannot find my motivation. Normally at this time (8-9am) I take my morning walk but I can't seem to get the 'umph' to get up and go. I know if I do I'll probably feel much better but I am struggling. Of course I have been up since 6:00 this morning working so technically I am done for the day and can go be a bum on the couch should I decide that's what I want to do.

On the other hand, I do need to go grocery shopping and get my license updated as it expired on my birthday but again, I just don't feel like doing anything.

Oh well, I'm going to go sit on the couch for a little bit, maybe my motivation will find me!!

You're fired

2008-03-01T15:06:00.002-05:00

Okay so we had to fire two employees on Friday which really sucks. I hate firing people, especially when one of them is a relative. These two employees broke one of the two rules we have at The Electrical Contractor (yes we only have two rules).

Rule #1: Don't "smoke" while in our vehicle or on our jobs.

Rule #2: Don't take our vehicle anywhere other than the job or job related errand.

I guess thinking back on it, they broke both rules, they took our truck WAY out of their way to pick up some "smokes."

It's funny how people don't really take you seriously until they make you prove to them that you're serious!!

It's okay though because we have hired another individual and he has two people looking for a job that we may end up hiring on as well and all three of them are experienced where as our previous two were in training.

All in all things are looking up for our little business and I am tickled to death to be more involved in it now.

Happy Birthday

2008-02-24T14:32:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to me...Happy Birthday to me....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOO MMMEEEE!!!

Happy Birthday to me!! (You were singing it in your head weren't you?)

Okay so this birthday wasn't quite what I expected. Everyone in my family is sick so today's party was cancelled. We are all vegging in our PJ's and watching TV. Which is fine with me because although I'm the only one that isn't sick, I still didn't feel much like entertaining today. I did get to see my mom and dad though so all in all, I've had a great birthday!!

William bought me my wrought iron frog (Yard decoration) as a present plus he is supposed to finish painting my room and hook up the heat in my office so I'm happy!! Things are wonderful at the Drake household!

I just wanted to post quickly about my birthday but I am going to take my PJ wearing self back into the family room to watch some tube!!

One more day...

2008-02-23T13:46:00.005-05:00

One more day until the biggest shopping day of the year...woo hoo!! I'm so excited--especially since my parents showed up. Speaking of, Mom was feeling bad last night and woke up this morning with a fever so we went to the urgent care to get some med's for her so she won't have to be sick on my birthday and driving back to Florida and guess what she has???

THE FLU!!! Yuck!

We got some good drugs, fed her, dosed her up, and she is currently sleeping until this evening when we will proceed to celebrate my birthday early for my parents sake. We are still having the originally planned party tomorrow but since my parents have to leave in the morning and can't stay for the party, we're throwing a pre-party for them...or for me, for them...well, you know what I mean. And who am I to complain about two birthday parties anyway?

Okay, gotta run to Lowe's with Dad.

Surprise!!

2008-02-22T23:52:00.001-05:00

Okay, so I have to share this quickly before I go off to bed. It is 2 days until the biggest shopping day of the year and I just got the best gift!!

My mom and dad drove up here all the way from FLORIDA to surprise me. This wasn't an easy task either because my mom is deathly sick and she still came to see me!!

I love them!!

My mom told her boss she wanted to leave early on Friday to come to NC to see me because not only was I laid off of work but my daughter has bronchitis and while telling her this on the phone, I was pulled over and given a ticket for speeding--all in a weeks time. You know, I was pretty happy with the way things were going until she put it in perspective that way. Actually, I'm still happy with the way things are going--can't get any better than this!

Good night for now--I'll post more later!

I almost forgot...

2008-02-20T21:11:00.000-05:00

4 MORE DAYS UNTIL THE

BIGGEST SHOPPING DAY OF THE YEAR!!

If only I had known

2008-02-20T21:05:00.002-05:00

This concludes the third day at my new job and I am loving it!!! If I had only known how much stress I would have taken off of myself by leaving the dot, I would have done it a long time ago...sorta. At least by being laid off I can collect unemployment so essentially I will be bringing in a paycheck through the end of August. That gives me 6 months to boost The Electrical Contractor's business and get our debt paid down, if not gone, so that I can continue to stay home.

I know it is redundant but I am so enjoying myself. I have zero stress, I can come and go when needed for my kids without the hassle of finding someone to cover for me or the guilt of taking yet more time off work, and I can do my PTSA full time now. It's great!!

Okay, enough gloating (sp?) for one day, I'm going to go settle in on the couch with Brittany to watch American Idol before I send her off to bed and curl up with my book to do a little reading.

To speed or not to speed

2008-02-19T14:50:00.002-05:00

THAT IS THE QUESTION!!!

Okay, so I finally got a speeding ticket. I have alluded the police one too many times.

I was traveling down Knightdale Blvd today after leaving the doctor's office, talking on the phone with my mom, not paying attention, and speeding.

As soon as I passed him and saw him pulling off to come after me, I just pulled over to get my license and registration out. Thinking back on it now, he may not have been coming after me as I was in a group of speeding cars and was the only one that stopped but, that's neither here nor there now. The bottom line is I got a ticket for doing 60 in a 45 and no inspection sticker.

I feel confident I will get this dropped as I have a clean driving record; I haven't had a ticket in 6-7 years, and I will have had the car inspected by my court date so I will get this dropped or go for a PJC.

I just thought I would share with all of you that curse me for getting out of tickets that I finally got mine!!

New Job

2008-02-18T14:58:00.003-05:00

So I started my new job today. I am now the CEO of The Electrical Contractor...woo hoo!!

When I was laid off at Yellow Dot, I was actually happy. William and I have wanted to run the busisness properly for almost a year now and just couldn't because of my job at the dot. I wouldn't quit the dot to work for myself, unless of course we were just rolling in money, which that hasn't happened yet so when they laid me off I was quite relieved. I started work today at 8:00 just like normal, only this time I was in my pajama's. I did my morning work, left to go pick up Brittany (I had to get dressed then), ran a few errands, ate lunch, and now I am back at work to finish up my afternoon before going in to start on dinner.

Not too shabby I'd say.

I now have the ability to run my business the way it should be, do my PTSA work at the school, and am pretty much available to William and the girls whenever they need me without the guilt of leaving work early or coming in late. I am really enjoying this.

Well, I'm off to search the net for some business!!

Happy Birthday to you!!

2008-02-13T13:30:00.001-05:00

Happy birthday to you...

Happy birthday to you...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER.....MMMMMAAARRRRKKKK!!!

Happy birthday ttttooooo yyyyyoooouuuu!!!

I love ya'!

~Now send me my dollar!!~

So I fell off the map again

2008-02-12T12:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I fell off the map again. It's not like I don't have a lot to do!!

I had actually forgotten that I reinstated my blog until the other day when I played a prank on one of my co-workers and thought about starting a blog to share this prank with everyone! When I signed onto the blog guess what..??? My original blog came up on the page...woo hoo.

My attempt is to start posting to this again but, I'm not making any promises.

So let me tell you about my ultimate prank!! I have a co-worker that likes to play pranks and him and I have been doing it for 4 years now (playing pranks on each other that is). He left his camera sitting on the table outside of my office so I grabbed it and hid it in a desk drawer. When he came by to get his camera and his drink, he picked up his drink and walked on as though he had forgotten about the camera. Well, I couldn't let this go--this is just too good so, I decided to take goofy pictures around the office with his camera so he wouldn't know who took it. I had pictures of the computer, a mouse (computer mouse), my shoe, my eyeball, other people's pictures, etc. You get the point. Again, this was just too good so I had to take it a step further. I decided to have my friend Julie call and leave a message on his voicemail saying:

"This is your camera.....I have been kidnapped.....please send money soon!"

Of course she said this in the most pitiful voice possible to add humor to the situation.

AGAIN, this was too good, I couldn't stop there---I was out of control!! I decided to box up his camera as though it had been shipped to the office and the next morning my boss was going to ask him to go take pictures of some damage and when he couldn't find his camera, I was going to put the box on his desk as though it had just arrived for him!! TOO FUNNY!!!

Oh--the ultimate prank--he can't top that. Well, my humor was put to an end when the receptionist came to me and said that it was not funny, that she had been interrogated by this co-worker and human resources about who called. I thought she was joking--we play a lot at work--so I walked up to the front desk to find out what was going on and how about human resources lady was standing there so I kind of stalled for a moment before asking what in the world was going on?

This is where it goes horribly wrong....

Human resources lady thought the voice mail said: "This is grandma.....I have been kidnapped....please send money soon!" Once I explained to her the whole joke, she said that was such a waste of her time. I apologized to human resource lady as well as the receptionist for their involvement in it and returned the camera back to my co-worker and apologized to him and told him that would never happen again. I was punished via my boss and took it for what it was. This co-worker is not allowed to come into my office again nor his he allowed to play any sort of jokes on me--he burnt that bridge.

BUT WAIT...it get's better; this is me we're talking about. On my way home I stopped to pick up my mother in law to go to the grocery store with me--get's her out of the house. Anyway, I call Julie to tell her how my prank went horribly wrong and I'm walking through the grocery store gabbing like I'm the only one there (I hate it when other people do that). I made the comment that I really didn't care that I got in trouble because the prank was funny as sh**!! (my exact words) and this lady behind me starts laughing. I didn't really pay her any mind, assuming she was easedropping, no problem, but then I keep talking and Julie answers me AND I hear her in the phone and then I hear her echo behind me so I turn around and how about Julie is standing a few feet behind me gabbing on her phone. I didn't realize she was behind me and she didn't realize I was in front of her--justa' gabbing on the phone to each other!!!

C---O---M---E---D---Y!!!

Everytime I tell that story, it get's better and better, I am so amused by it, which is why I had to share it so enjoy!!

Until next time!