I WON! I WON! :)

I actually had a relaxing weekend! One that actually felt like it lasted longer than normal. I didn't do much on Saturday. I did a little cleaning, but for the most part I hung out and watched lots of Grey's Anatomy. Jacob got home around 6:00. I sure was glad to see that boy! Yesterday was filled with even more relaxing. Loved it.

This morning I won a radio contest! The station I listen to does it every morning. It's called, "Smarter Than Genevieve". You have to answer 5 general knowledge trivia questions. The guy reads the questions while she's out of the room. Then she comes back in and answers them. If you get more than her then you win. She's only lost 6 or 7 times since November! I'm always yelling answers at the radio, but have never phoned in because I always figured I'd go blank under pressure, but I rocked it and got 4 out of 5. I blanked on the first one, but got the other 4!

For some reason when he said they'd take the first caller I decided I'd dial and see what happened. I expected a busy signal, but it started ringing. I couldn't believe it when he said I was caller 1!

See how many of these you can get right.

1. Which star is closest to Earth
2. What candy bar commercial was Betty White in last year?
3. HNZ is the stock symbol for which company?
4. What chain of restaurants has the slogan, "Down on the Farm"
5. What is the name of the Cajun food made with rice and various other ingredients such as meat, seafood  and vegetables?

I totally guessed on 3 and 4 but I had a good hunch. When he told me I got 4 out of 5 I was pretty psyched! Anyway, I ended up winning a 1 hour massage in Springfield! I was in the best mood ever after I won that! Usually they only do 30 minutes massages, so I got extra lucky.

Now we're just waiting for the big snowstorm to blow through. The ice started around noon. I left work at 3:40 and this was my windshield pre-scraping.

I've heard we'll get about an inch to an inch and a half of ice and depending on what radio station or news station you listen to anywhere from 4-16 inches. LOL! I'm guessing it'll be somewhere in the middle of that. Jacob got out of school at 2 today and I'm guessing they'll call school tonight. Why wait til morning when everyone knows it's going to snow? Unfortunately for me, unless the power goes out at work I'll still have to go. There are only 5 of us who live in town, which means we always have to go in. Sucky for us! I'll probably end up getting called in early too. Boo to that! I want a snow day too! Oh well.

Time to go chow down on some leftover chili and storm snacks. Haha! I totally went to Dollar General for batteries and came out with snackage too. Then some House with the hubby and The Bachelor (not with the hubby!) Heidi and I have a texting date during the show. Here's hoping for no power outages! (Unless it's at my work!)

February's Fun Festivities

Do the weeks seem to blend together in the winter? A part of me feels like the weeks are dragging by, but then I realized today that this is the last week of January! The means another month of winter will bite the dust, and bring us a little closer to spring!

I have a feeling February will go by quickly too. I always like having things to look forward to. Next week we'll celebrate Jacob's 28th birthday! I've gotta get with it and get him some presents! I'm sure we'll go out for supper too.

Next Saturday I got invited to a Stampin' Up card making party with a couple of friends from church. It sounds like fun and I know it'll be good for me to get to spend time with them. Not to mention I've lost all of my drive for craftiness...maybe this will inspire me.

In just 3 weeks I will be in California! I'm SO excited!! I'm excited to see my sister get married and I'm excited to get to spend time with both of my sisters together. First time the 3 of us will be together since June of 2009. I believe Erica's last text sums it up: "I'm getting excited for wedding and sister shenanigans!"

I'll miss my hubby though. Totally bummed that he can't come along, but there are too many music things coming up. It'll be the longest we'll have been apart since we got married. I'm flying out on a Thursday and flying home again the following Wednesday.

Then at the end of the month Jacob and I have tickets to the Illinois/Iowa basketball game. Here's hoping for a Hawkeye upset. I'll be the girl in the Black and Gold sitting in a Sea of Orange.

I'm thankful to have things to look forward to because it helps me get through those days where the winter blues are weighing down on me!

Giving Life and Some Weekend Randomness

I'm so glad that it's the weekend. I didn't even have a bad week, but it's always nice when the end of the weeks comes anyway.

We got more snow this week. It actually amounted to quite a bit. Enough the Jacob's school closed on Thursday. They should've been closed on Wednesday too because it was getting pretty icy out, but that didn't happen. Jacob texted me to tell me he got to school okay that day, but that he almost went into a ditch (and also to tell me that his quick Ninja moves saved him from that happening!) What he didn't tell me until later was that he did a complete 360! I hate ice. I also ended up rescheduling my wisdom tooth appointment because I didn't want to drive to Decatur and risk ending up in a ditch. 2 coworkers ended up in ditches on their way to work this week!

Thanks to the snow, I had a pretty easy day on Thursday. I only had the twins until 11:30. And one other baby showed up at 10:30 and left at 3. Much easier than 8 babies! Yesterday however, I had 5 babies on my own. It actually wasn't bad at all. They were in pretty good moods. Of course, technically I should only have 4 on my own, but it happens to me enough that I'm almost used to doing 5 alone.

I woke up early this morning, and couldn't fall back to sleep so I got up and watched more Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. This afternoon Jacob and I are heading to Springfield to get him some new jeans. His have seen far better days and all have holes in them. Off to Kohls with a 15% off coupon and Kohls Cash! Then lunch/supper at Olive Garden. We have giftcards and 2 coupons. Don't know if they'll let me use both or not, but I'm gonna try! One is for $5 off with the purchase of 2 meals and the other is for a free appetizer or dessert! (Sure wish they had some Pumpkin Cheesecake!)

There was a girl who came to our door this morning asking if she could shovel the drive for us. I wanted to pay her but didn't have any cash so I asked if I could write a check. She said yes and so I asked for her name. She told me and then said, "I'm the girl who had a heart transplant 5 years ago." (I assume since I live in a small(ish) town that she figured I had heard of her.). Little does she know, she inspired me though. For several weeks I've contemplated becoming an organ donor. For some reason I've always been scared to. It's silly, but watching House and Grey's Anatomy lately has been really making me think about it and realize how selfish it would be to keep those after I'm gone. After she told me that I took it as a sign and came in and registered myself as an organ donor. It  makes me really happy to know that other people could potentially live because of me after I die. I mean, if something ever happened where I'd need a transplant, I would be forever grateful to the person who chose to be a donor. Think about it, if you aren't a registered donor. I think it's a great gift to give!

Good Times and a Pity Party

Dang it! Why does the weekend always go by so quickly? It's just not right.

Yesterday I spent quite awhile in Springfield shopping. I went in search of a bridesmaid dress for Erica's wedding. Kendra and I get to pick our own dresses. Our only instructions were they're supposed to be black and above the knee. I ended up picking this dress and I love it!

I actually found it at Kohls. I didn't expect to find a dress there, but I'm glad that I went. I started at the mall and couldn't even find anything worth trying on. I get stressed when things aren't going as I hope, but Kohls was my next stop so I didn't stress too long. Then I went to Old Navy, Bed Bath and Beyond and Target too. Plus I got to enjoy lunch at Panera!

Jacob isn't a Panera fan to I eat there whenever I go shopping by myself. It was nice to shop yesterday. Jacob thinks I don't like to go with him, but I do. I just enjoy days where I can go alone. I can look at everything that I like to look at and don't have to go to the electronics section. :) I've always liked to have times where I shop alone. It's relaxing (if I already have what I've gone in search of, that is).

I also bought presents for my little twin girls at daycare. They're my one of my co-workers daughters. Their birthday party was this afternoon.

These are the outfits I got for them. (I totally want a girl first...SO many cute clothes!)

They weren't sure about everything that was going on today!

Kathleen with her birthday cupcake

JoAnn with her birthday cupcake.

JoAnn got into a lot more than her sister!

Me and the girls! (They were more concerned about the balloon behind the camera, than smiling)

I'm glad that I decided to go to the party today. I wasn't sure if I wanted to or not because I didn't know how many people I would actually know, but a few co-workers came, so it was fine. I usually opt out of stuff, but I've grown pretty attached to the girls. They've only missed 1 day of daycare since they started last March, so I've been with them A LOT.

Plus I just wasn't having a good day up to that point. Sundays make me sad. I don't know what triggers it some weeks, but I probably cry more on Sundays than any other day. I struggle a lot with our church. There's so much about it that just frustrates me and whenever something like that happens, I find myself wishing I were still at Valley View (and then my mind just starts spinning). I miss Valley View. What I miss the most are the people. The hugs. The friendliness of everyone (even Cal...who I was totally scared of at first!). I don't know. It just felt like a big family instead of a group of people that I still barely know.

Yeah...some of that is my fault. I'm not the type of person that just bounds up to people I don't know well to talk to them. People just kinda came to me at VV. I felt like I belonged. I just feel like a misfit at church here and I feel like a misfit at work sometimes too. Pretty much everyone has known everyone else from birth. Because I missed Valley View, I started missing Emily too. My best friend. I don't really have one of those here. I have a few good friends, but it's not the same.  My best friends are scattered. One in California, one in Chicago and one in Cedar Rapids. I miss them all! :(

All that being said, I love my husband. He's always here for me to hold me and listen to me cry. I know he feels guilty at times because he's the reason I moved here. He shouldn't feel guilty. It was my decision. But I'm a big ball of emotions and I still get homesick. I wonder if this will ever subside? I love our home. I love Jacob. He's kind of my rock and I can't imagine my life without him in it.

Anyway...now I've had my pity party so I'll try to get over it. It at least feels good to get it off my chest.

So Long Wisdom (Teeth)

This week has been a little less trying so far. Mostly because the person I work with has been gone. I know that's sad, but I stay much more calm on those days. Yesterday I got to work with my friend all day and today I worked with another one of the girls who kind of floats wherever she's needed. My little guy is still having a really rough time, but it's better than his first day. He's a challenge though. We had another new little boy start yesterday. God must have known I needed a sweet and easy one! He's adorable! I've missed having lots of boys. For awhile it was all girls and one boy...now I'm up to 3 boys!

I've finally caved. I made an appointment with an oral surgeon to get a consult and x-rays for wisdom teeth removal. I know to some it's not that big of deal, but it's taken me 2 years to work up the courage to do this. Really what it comes down to is the fact that several times during the day when I chew my food I feel like a knife is stabbing through my gums. It's not a great feeling. Anebesol isn't cutting it either. It used to. Now it only kind of numbs the pain.

My consult is next Wednesday at 2:30, so if you happen to think of it, pray for me. The goal is to NOT start crying in the chair this time, because I totally did that when I went to the dentist the last time. I'm sure I'm not the first person to do that, but it's pretty embarrassing. Then I'll have to set the dreaded date. We don't have dental insurance so I was hoping that medical insurance would help some. They'll only help with teeth that never pushed through. All but one of my have, which means I'll have to pay out of pocket for most of the expense. I'm sure it would be a lot cheaper if I just got Novocain, but in order for this to actually happen, I have to be put out. I can't deal with the thought of being awake and hearing the cracking. I'd bet money that I'd pass out! When I was talking to the insurance lady at Blue Cross on the phone she told me I'd be okay. She said she is more terrified of dentists than anyone she knows and she did it. We had a nice little chat. Ha ha!

I'm hoping I can get it all over with very soon though, then I don't have to worry about it and I can just look forward to California. I found out this weekend that my mom is getting tickets for Disneyland! I can't wait!

Lazy Day

I've totally wasted this day away, and you know what? I don't care. My head has been killing me and I just needed a day to relax.

I really didn't think my work week was going to end. My little guy is still screaming his head off every day. I'm hoping next week will  be a little bit better for him, but something tells me we're going to have to pretty much start all over again on Monday. I know he'll adjust eventually, but it's hard to wait it out.

You all know that I love having things to look forward to and I really haven't had anything fun planned after Christmas, but now I do!

Erica and Jim are officially getting married in February! Jim's divorce was finally finalized on Thursday! I'm totally bummed that Jacob can't come, but it's right in the middle of all of his music stuff, so it just can't happen. But, I am super excited to be getting the heck out of the Midwest in the winter. Even if it's only in the 50's or 60's it would feel like a heat wave. I think we're getting plane tickets reserved tomorrow. I was searching for cheap flights and the cheapest were on United. I refuse to fly with them. I've heard nothing but bad things about them, and I'm not putting myself through that!

My mom really wanted me to fly into Burbank instead of LAX, but it's around $100 more to do that, so she and my dad offered to pay the overage on the ticket price. So it looks like we'll be flying Southwest and I may even make the same connecting flight with them in Dallas. We're flying out on a Thursday and flying home the following Wednesday...although Kendra has to leave on Monday. I'm so excited to see Erica. I haven't seen her since Jacob and I got married.

Anyway, I'm pretty psyched about this! 40 days...but who's counting?

I think I'll go be lazy again for the rest of the night. At least I cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed, so I accomplished something. Going to go eat some leftover chili, watch House and then some more Grey's Anatomy on our Netflix Instant. I totally love having Netflix on our TV now!

This Week's Woes

I've still been unsuccessful in getting my Christmas pictures uploaded here and on Facebook. We've had some major computer issues. Hopefully they're resolved now, but it's been a giant pain the butt. The other night our computer got super slow and would lock up no matter what you tried to do. We've done lots of defragmenting and purging on the hard drive. (And by we, I mean Jacob) I had 3 entire years of pictures saved to the hard drive...and we all know how many pictures I take. Once we moved those all to an external hard drive it cleared up almost half of the space on the computer. I am not even kidding. It seems to be running much better right now and hopefully I'll get the Christmas pictures up soon. I'm also still working on my annual "Farewell" to the previous year, slide show. The computer problems have slowed me down this year, but hopefully I'll have it up by Saturday.

Monday we had a new little boy start at daycare. He's 13 months old and this is his first time in daycare. That's always a hard adjustment for kids that age. Oh, and did I happen to mention that he really doesn't understand English? That's a new one to me. He's Vietnamese and his family only speaks it at home, although his parents do know some English. He also has a 4 year old sister who goes to our daycare and speaks English fairly well now. She's been there longer. He stayed at home with a grandma or someone from Vietnam who had to go back after they lost their Green Card. Anyway, this poor little guy is miserable. He cries all day. I don't think he knows what we're saying. We're completely foreign to him (literally). We can't get him to drink anything all day. I Googled some Vietnamese translations to some words, but I just ended up more confused.

It dawned on me this afternoon to try and teach him sign language. Every time I'd give him food I'd sign, "Eat" at him and say it over and over. He started imitating me and he even smiled at me (a first!) when I clapped my hands. Please pray for my sanity though because I know it's going to be a good 2 or 3 weeks before he starts really getting comfortable around us and I'm may lose my mind by then.

Last night I started to take down all of our Christmas decorations. Tonight I finished. The only thing left is the tree itself, and I'll leave that job for Jacob. Now my living room is back to normal almost. It's always a little sad to take everything down, but I feel like there's more space once it's done.

Anyway, it's been quite the week so far. I'm ready for the weekend, but still have another 2 days to survive first!

Christmas in Iowa

I'm having major issues with uploading tonight. In an hour I've been able to upload 3 to Facebook and 1 to my blog. I've restarted the computer twice and had it freeze on me about 10 times, so here's a very limited sneak peak to Christmas in Iowa.

Thursday was just a day to relax and hang out. We got to Iowa around 2:00. Kendra stuck around for supper and then headed back until Saturday. I don't think anything eventful happened that day though.

On Friday, Jacob and I planned to meet Rachel and Micah for lunch in Coralville. They were on their way to Villa Grove and pass right by Coralville on their way, so it worked out perfectly. We left early and went to the mall to shop and little and look around. We scored an Office trivia game for 50% off! Then we checked out The Black and Gold Shop outside the mall. It is Hawkeye Heaven in there...but everything is really expensive. I did get an Insight Bowl t-shirt for 50% off though! Then we made a quick stop at Best Buy before heading to Olive Garden for lunch.  It was great getting to visit with Rachel and Micah and exchange our Christmas gifts.

Later on Jacob and I went to see "Red" at the cheap theater. I forgot how much I love that theater! Cheap tickets. Cheap food. And no previews! Loved the movie too! Stayed up until midnight to ring in the new year and then headed to bed.

I slept in yesterday and Kendra and her boyfriend Luke came around 11:00. It was the first time I met him (besides saying hi on Skype once). He's a really great guy. Kendra's got herself a winner! We had lunch and then it was present time! We got lots of gift cards. I got clothes that I asked for, "Unlocked" which I've been patiently waiting to read for months now, some Hawkeye socks, a pink wallet and much more! Jacob was excited to get Rock Band 3 and the keyboard that goes with it!

Last night after supper we played Scattergories. I thought I'd do bad, but I tied for 2nd with dad. Jacob won by a landslide, but it was so much fun to play. Then mom, Kendra, Luke and I played 2 rounds of Apples to Apples. Lots of fun!

Went to church with the family and then out for lunch at Ruby Tuesday before making the drive back home. Got here at 5:30, unpacked and now I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow. Christmas is officially over. 51 weeks til next Christmas!