The weather today has totally sucked.  I am just glad that for once, the weather people were semi correct on their reports.  I just hate driving on slushy roads.  St. Louis has a problem with giving up on plowing until the storm is over.  Listen up plow driver guys.... there are people that still have to drive on the roads... plow them!

In other news.  My brother Adam called today and said that the surgery that my sister in law was scheduled for on Friday has been canceled.  They did a biopsy and some other tests and the Doctor said that the results were quite shocking.  He told her that he believes the cancer is much worse than originally though.  They want to do a Petscan this week but first have to see if the insurance company will pay for it.  Apparently, insurance companies see such things as Petscan's as being an elective procedure.  It's a load of crap b/c this will allow them to see exactly where the cancer is and if it is spreading.   I hope to find out this week what the verdict is.  The doctor is going to speak to the insurance company tomorrow.  I hope and pray that if it is worse than expected, there is still time for them to find it all and give her the treatment that will allow her to fight through this and come out with a clean bill of health.  I will keep everyone updated.

Yes, I have thrice again been struck down by some cold that has been going around the St. Louis area.  This is the 3rd time I have been sick so far this season and I am down right tired of it.....

For those of you who have not heard, I have quite the baking fest @ my house last Saturday.  My mom came into town and with the help of my amazing sis-in-law Cyndi and 2 amazing girlfriends, we were able to stir, foll and freeze 70 dozen cinnamon rolls for the fund raiser we are doing for my brother.   The funny thing is that I am just about out so we are going to have to make more soon.  Fun fun fun. Who's up for another fun night @ my house.

Tim's been working crazy late nights the past couple of weeks now and I'm getting use to it for the most part.  I hate going to bed after midnight but if I want to see him in the evening,  that is what I have to do.  Sacrifices you make for the one you love.

Today was a crazy day.  I got to work, got my pay check only to find out that even though tomorrow is Christmas and the office is closed, they still put the 25th on our checks which means that I cannot cash it until Friday.  That sucks.  Oh well.  It all worked out in the end.  That just means that I will have to go to the bank as soon as I do my early morning day after Christmas shopping.

I ended up getting all the way out to St. Charles this morning for work only to find out that all of the CNA's out there thought I was off today so they showered all of my residents for me.  I was shocked.  And, to top it off, they were all in the dining room doing Christmas crafts... so, I came home.  I did not want to sit there with them all day doing nothing.  I still had to go shopping for Tim's stocking stuffer gifts.  I hope he likes what I found.  

Well, that is all I know for now.


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

And I have a million things to do b/f I can leave for South Dakota. I kicked butt this morning at work (thanks to the help of all the girls @ Woodlands) so I am now home and have 2 hours b/f I have to leave. Mom wants to leave around 2:00. I believe her class gets over @ 2:20 but I want to swap cars with Emily and make sure that I drill her on driving my car. I don't want anything to happen to my Yoda while I am gone.

I also need to get some lunch sometime so I am not starving when I get to Bowling Green. 

I hope that we will be in Sioux Falls by midnight.  I hope we are there before but midnight would be ok.  It is so windy here and that means that it will be windy the entire way.  If you have never been to SD,  they could power the state using windmills.  No kidding.

Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend.  Be safe out there if the roads get bad

Liz

and for some reason I keep thinking it is already Thursday. It's got me all sorts of confused.

Tim and I are finally doing our Christmas shopping tonight. I am so excited to actually get it done. I know, I know... It is the week before Christmas and we have not even started. Don't get me started. It's hard to find the time when you both work full time and come home and want to pass out. But, tonight is the night......

I am leaving for South Dakota with my mom on Friday. I am leaving as early as I can on Friday to head to Bowling Green, Mo and as soon as my mom is done with work, we are going to blow this popsicle stand. It is an 8(ish)hour drive from my mom's to my brother's house (he lives on the other side of Sioux Falls) so, I think we should arrive around 11ish if we don't make many stops. My brother has already called us and told us that it is FREAKIN FREEEEEEZING in So Dak. I am very much looking forward to this trip.

Well, I hope you all have an amazing rest of your week!

I am sitting in the kitchen @ my in-laws house watching Tim cook sweet & sour chicken. I am so hungry. I am ready to eat!!!

We had quite a full weekend. Friday was crazy busy @ work. I got off of work around 5:30, came home, jumped in the shower and headed off to the bowling alley. Tim bowled for a friend of his that has run into a little bit of trouble. Besides the fight that just about broke out next to us, we had a great Tim. I wish Laura did not have to leave early but I understand why she did. Too much stress. Saturday we got up and hung around the house for a while and then left to go to the parade that they had in DeSoto, Mo. Tim's work decided to have a float in the parade. It would have been better if it would not have been so freakin cold! 15is minutes before the parade started I had to use the bathroom really bad (too much soda @ dinner). So, I walked to one of the near by gas stations. Not only did I have to wait in line for the bathroom, there were a million people in this tiny gas station that wanted to buy hot chocolate. I decided it was not a half bad idea and got in line to get my warm beverage. As I was walking back to the float, I took my first sip of what I was expecting to be very hot beverage. But, to my amazement, the hot chocolate was anything but hot, it was COLD. I was so disappointed. I think there were so many people buying it that the machine could not keep up with it all. I was so sad!

We got up this morning to go to church and Tim was coughing really bad. He has had a cold for the past week or so now and after him coughing all night, I decided he needed to spend the day laying in bed and getting over whatever it is that is making him sick. From the sounds of it, this is going around big time. I hope no one else catches it. It's icky.

Well everyone out there, I hope you all have a wonderful upcoming work week.

Liz

and I am still in shock that the holiday is actually upon us. Amazing!

I went to the gym today after work and I am excited to say that I have lost my first 1.5 lbs. I know it does not seem like much but you have to start somewhere. This giving up soda thing is really working out for me. My headaches don't like the idea too much but eventually they will go away when they do not depend so much on the nasty stuff the put in soda.

I am cleaning the house tonight so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow night. Wednesday Tim and I are leaving for my moms house for turkey day. I just want to make sure that when we come home on Thursday everything looks good so I can curl up in bed and go to sleep!!

I hope everyone is having a great week!

I cannot believe that the year is finally coming to an end. November is almost over and I feel like the last 1 1/2 months are going to fly by.

Next Thursday we are having Thanksgiving and a surprise 80th Birthday party for my grandma. I am excited to see most of my family. From what I know, my cousin Adria is not going to be there and hopefully my aunt Angela and my cousin Olivia will not be there. Everyone else I am excited to see. All I know is Tim and I will be there and so will my brother John. I am so excited to see him.

Saturday I leave to spend the weekend with my mom. She works until four on Saturday so I am going to have Chelsea cut my hair and then I am going to color it and have my mom put some highlights in it when she is done with work. I am excited to see how it is going to turn out. I am ready for a change.

My workouts have been going well. I feel like today was my worst day. I was so tired and on top of it my butt has been hurting really bad from the elliptical machine. I need to stretch before I finally go to bed tonight.

I hope everyone is have a great Wednesday!

But I thought I might as well post something every once in a while.

I have been going to the gym 3 days a week so Wednesday I will see if my efforts of no Dr. Pepper and watching what I eat have paid off a little. We shall see I guess.

Timm has threatened to take over doing his own laundry so I have been kicking myself since Friday because the past month, I have been terrible about doing laundry. I am going to finish it up tonight and make something for dinner. I think Hamburger Helper sounds like a swell idea.

For all of those that have not heard, Tim and I finally have concrete where our garage is going to be. Hopefully as soon as spring gets here, we will have concrete where our driveway should be. We have concrete now but it is covered with mud and rocks.

That is all I know for now. I hope everyone had a great weekend and a wonderful Monday!

Enjoy!

I am laying in bed right now sick. I have had this horrible cold since Friday morning and it has done me in today. I got up this morning and went to work and by the time I went got to St. Charles I had a temp and was feeling my m head was going to explode. I hope that I start feeling better soon so I can get on with my day tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a big day for our country. I am anxious to see how things turn out. I can only hope for the best but I am prepping myself for the worst. I believe that Obama will become our next president and I am very saddened by the thought. I am excited for the day to be over so the Democrats will stop being so stupid and so mean and they can shout "I told you we would win" and then move on with our lives and watch our economy come crashing down around us.

Well, my head is throbbing so I am going to go. I need to find out where we are scheduled to vote tomorrow. If anyone in Jefferson County, Mo knows, let me know.

Yep, you heard me right!!! Tim is at work and he is wanting to smoke a turkey... so, guess who gets to do it.. ME! He instructed me on how to get the smoker ready and what to do with the turkey. Now I am waiting for the smoker to get to 200 deg and then I can put the turkey on the smoker. I really have no idea what in the world I am doing but so far, nothing is burning and I have not caught fire. All is well....

I am soooo very excited. Monday, my wonderful mother-in-law and I am joining a gym. My goal is to lose 30lbs before May. Tim and I are going to a wedding in St. Thomas (Virgin Islands) and I want to be able to buy an amazing bathing suit for the trip (to two). I don't want to feel like a beached whale. I did some searching online and found a gym called Club Fitness. They have one in Webster Groves (off of Watson). It is only 9 miles from me and it's only $14.95/month. It only allows you to go 3 days a week M/W/F or T/Th/Sat. We are going on M/W/F so we can sleep a little on the weekends. My goal is to lose 1.5 lbs/ week. We shall see what happens but that is my goal and this time I am going to stick to it. If anyone would like to join me.. let me know. It is going to be a lot of fun!!! If you have kids, they do have free child care. I thought that would be a great bonus to some of you women out there.

Well, I need to get back to the smoker. The temp was somewhere between 150 and 200 a few minutes ago and I am anxious to get the turkey on the grill so I can FINALLY start my house cleaning. Tim's older sister is coming into town for his Dads surprise 60th birthday party and she will be staying with us, so I want to make sure my house is just right.

Also, Tim and I are dressing up for the float that Jackson Hewitt is going to have in some parade tomorrow night. I know it is not very original but I am going to be a nurse. Hey, I have to be at his office at 4 p.m. which means I have to go straight from work to get there in time and don't have time to change into something different... It should be fun!

I spent the weekend at my mom's house and had such a great time! I drove to Hannibal, Mo Saturday morning and took my grandma out for breakfast. After living in the family farmhouse for the majority of her adult like, she is finally selling the house and all 87 acres that it rests on to her nephew, Tommy who lives in Oklahoma. She has decided to move into a retirement community in the town she currently lives in because she is tired of being responsible for so much space and taking care of so much land. The apartment only has one bedroom which means that she has years and years of stuff that she needs to get rid of. While eating breakfast I asked her about the Christmas villages that she has been collecting for the past 30+ years. She told me that she did not have anyone in mind that she would want to have them but if I wanted them, She would love for me to have them but that she wanted to keep a few. So, I drove to her house Saturday night to go through all of the villages (which consists of light houses, churches, schools, homes, people, pets, fake snow, trees, etc). She picked out 3 THREE pieces that she wanted to keep and told me that she wanted me to have the rest. Let me give you a visual of how much stuff she gave me (LAURA, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THIS BETTER THAN ANYONE) These boxes filled up my right front passenger seat, my entire backseat from the floor to the ceiling and my entire trunk. You can fit a large mexican family in my trunk. I did not have any idea that she had that many village pieces.

So, now I have to take them out of my car and place them in the closes of the spare bedroom. Thank goodness it is empty. Although I am overwhelmed by how much I have, I am so glad to have this small piece of my grandma. It really means a lot to me.

I am off to make dinner! I hope you all have a great night!

Why does it have to be so damn hard sometimes? I was talking to my dad tonight on the phone and he told me that John had a bummer weekend at reserves. He's in the Army and has an ass as his commanding officer. He has been waiting to be promoted for 2 1/2 years and now he has to wait yet another 4 months because of this guy....... errrr. And to top the cake, he was officially served his divorce papers today. That means that one month from today, his divorce will be finalized. I think a lot is hitting him at one time and I wish I could give him a hug and tell him everything will be ok. I just wish he would answer his phone when I call or give me a call from time to time. I know he is going through a lot. I know they have been separated since the middle of February and that he has known for a long time (a little over 7 months now) that this is coming but I think there is a difference in feelings knowing that something is eventually going to happen and then it suddenly coming to pass. I now hope that he will move on with his life and find someone who will love him for who he is and be a strong solid woman in his life. I know how much he loved and spoiled Libby, I cannot imagine what he will be like when he finds a girl that is as good to him as he is to her. She will be one lucky person!

Tim and I are heading to my Dad's tomorrow. He was in Texas for a month due to the hurricane. He is so excited to be home. I am going to clean his house tomorrow while he is fishing with my grandfather. I cannot imagine how dusty he house has to be. He hates to dust. I am looking forward to seeing him. I may try to stop by Applebees on our way through Columbia and see if John is working.

Not much else is new in my life. Tim and I went to dinner tonight at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was really good. They have a new southwestern chipotle sauce that was really good.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. Be safe out there!

I cannot believe September has come and gone so quickly and October has graced us with her presence.
Work today was long but good (I think). Nothing too exciting happened. I do have a resident in ST. Charles that I could do without. Sometimes I think he is crazy and sometimes I think he is with it. I think I am going to mention to my sup tomorrow that I may not be able to work with him anymore. I was trying to get him into the shower today and he kept grabbing my butt and my boobs and telling me what he was wanting to do to me...GROSS!!!!!!!!

Anyway,
That is all that has happened today. I am heading to the airport to pick up Tim later tonight. I am excited for him to be home again. Well, I should get going. I have things to do around the house and a cat that I guess is in need of some attention (what is new about that though).

I was @ work today and had a mild altercation with one of our nurses. Nothing too big... just frustrating. I hate it when people do not believe that something has been done when it is... I gave a lady a bath today and my nurse who was in the building at the time checked on her and said that her skin was too dry for me having given her a bath.... stupid. It's over with but my anxiety get's the best of me and although nothing will come of it (I am sure), I am still nervous about work tomorrow. I know it will end up not being a big deal and I will end my day saying to myself "see, you had nothing to worry about". I have tried so hard the past couple of months to make my life as stress free as possible, today kinda put a kink in my chain.....

moving on............

I took Tim to the airport this afternoon. We had a great trip there until we got onto the topic of having the right to carry a firearm..... I am just glad that neither one of us blew is too much our of proportion and life is good again. I hate saying good buy when one of us are upset at the other. I always tell Tim that if we have learned something over the past 4 years of marriage it is that we have learned to fight better.... he says that he likes to think of it as we have learned to love each other better. Although I agree with him, I don't say it b/c I like hearing him correct me :0) (blush)

I have a new calling (job) in church right now. I am in charge of the Relief Society (womens organization) monthly newsletter. Although I dreaded doing it since August, I finally buckled down and decided that I would complete the October newsletter. I was shocked at how well it turned out. I did not have the birthday list when I was typing it up so I had to handwrite that in on Sunday afternoon before class but other than that, I really enjoyed putting it together. Although it is not much, I think I understand why I have this calling. It is just what I need. It allows me to feel apart of Relief Society and not feel like I am in the stoplight at any time.

Well, since Tim is gone tonight, I think I am going to go to bed. First I am going to turn on the attic fan and curl up in bed with a glass of hot chocolate. The attic fan will make the bedroom cold and much more enjoyable when I consume my hot drink. I guess I should take a shoer first, that will help relax me.

Wow, this is the longest post I have done in a long time.

G-night everyone!!!!!!!!!