Wow, been a while since I posted anything. Good thing no one ever reads this! :)
Biggest news in our house? Caelyn's about to turn THIRTEEN. Two more weeks until we have a teenager in the house. Not sure I'm ready for that. She's been a teenager for a while in the sense that she's on the computer all the time, talking on the phone, going to parties. This kid has a very active social life! I'm jealous...
Piper turned double digits this year. She's still a little kid at heart though. She idolizes Caelyn, though they have a love/hate relationship. She's doing well in fourth grade, but I think she's bored. She keeps getting caught reading during the math lesson.
Wyatt is having a blast in kindergarten, although I have no idea what he does. I ask him how his day went and he says "fine." I ask him what he did and he can't tell me. So, I guess as long as he's happy to go, it's okay that he can't remember what he did. We had his IEP at the beginning of January and I finally added his autism diagnosis into his records. I wanted to see how things went without everyone knowing, just because I didn't want the diagnosis to affect the way he was treated. But at his October parent/teacher conference, his teacher brought it up. And at his IEP, they all said they "had a feeling." I think they might have pushed me to have him tested if I hadn't already had a diagnosis. At the moment, I don't think his autism is interfering in his learning, but that may change as he grows older.
Larkin is three now. Whoever said "terrible twos" said it before their kid hit three! She's a little stinker. And way to smart for her own good. She lost her speech therapist when she turned three, but I'm thinking I might take her and see if I can get it through the school. I think she still needs some work on it. She's a very girly-girl. Loves dresses and playing with Barbies.
Jay is still at The Order Fulfillment Group. Nothing's changed there. The economy is taking a toll on the company, but I think his job is secure at least for a little while longer. Hopefully if they have to let anyone go, it'll be the helpers in his warehouse instead of him.
I am still at JBS. My temporary job ended a week and a half ago with the hiring of a new customer service rep. The receptionist came back to her desk, which left me with no where to go. So, that Wed was supposed to be my last day, but by Friday I had four different areas wanting me to help on various projects. Not only am I not fired, I now have my own office! Okay, it's really more of a cubbyhole, probably six by eight feet big, but it's got a door that I can close, which is helpful because I think I might have ADD. :) I've been busy this week updating a mailing database for marketing. Next week I start calling vendors for samples of their products. I also should start with one of the sub-companies, copy editing their USDA information. And the accounts payable person says if work dries up at my site, I can always head over to her site and do jobs for her. I've been told I have about two months of work right now, which is good, cause I have to pay for my two Bon Jovi trips. One on March 17th up to Detroit (with Larkin's old speech therapist) and one in July to Chicago. Can't wait!
Maybe I'll update this in three weeks after the trip to Detroit. No promises though! :)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Here we go again!
We're taking off in about half an hour to go camping again. This time it's down south of Bloomington (IN) and it has electricity and water hookups! YAY! And a swimming pool and a playground. Still haven't been able to import my photos from last week. So by the time I can get them done, I'll have tons to show y'all!
Have a good week!
Have a good week!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Our First Camping Experience -- Summer '09
Last Sunday, we packed up the trailer, put the kids in Grandma's car and drove five hours to get to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It was a pretty uneventful trip down and set up of the trailer went smoothly. And although Grandma's trailer has electricity and water hook ups, the park didn't. So, no television for the kids (darn), no running water to wash dishes, and worst of all, no air conditioning!! Unfortunately, it was hot and sticky, with no breezes coming in those tiny windows. Made sleeping even more uncomfortable on that little couch.
Mammoth Cave is not just a cool name that the park rangers thought up. The park sits atop miles of caves. So far they have mapped out 367 miles of caves. Or something like that. Grandma was gung-ho on going spelunking. Okay, it wasn't really spelunking, but it sounds better than "walked down some stairs into the cave." :D
The first tour of the cave that we did was called the "Snowball Tour." They drove us out in a bus and dropped us in the middle of nowhere. Then we walked down 183 wet, cold stairs to get into the cave. Don't know why Wyatt was so freaked out by the stairs, but he wanted to hold my hand the whole way. At the bottom of the stairs, we walked for about a mile, admiring stalagtites and markings from explorers before. They also took us down a side tunnel and made everyone turn off their flashlights/cameras/phones to get a sense of how dark it was down there. No light comes in. I couldn't see Larkin -- and I was holding her! For some reason, I couldn't get any bars on my phone....... We made it to the Snowball Room, which is an underground cafeteria. Grandma had brought some snacks, so we munched on those while waiting for the tour to resume. After lunch, we headed back the way we came. I knew I was going to have to climb those 183 steps to get back out, but I knew I could handle it. Until we got to the incline right before them, when I realized that my legs had turned to jello. But, I was not the last one up those stairs -- I left that little old lady from California in the dust! :D
The second day, we took another tour. It was the "New Entrance" tour. This one had almost three hundred stairs to go down! Not only were they cold and wet, they also got narrower as you went down. Plus, the cave crowded in a few places. Oh, and there was a 60 ft drop off to the side. Good place to get over your fear of heights, small spaces, creepy white spiders and crickets.... This tour was much more fascinating. There were really cool formations of stalagtites and stalagmites. Eventually they will grow together and close off portions of the cave. I highly recommend the tours. They're a great workout!
Wednesday was supposed to be rainy all day, but we decided to go down to Bowling Green and take the kids to an amusement park called Beech Bend. It didn't look like much driving up to it. We decided to let the kids go to the waterpark first. There was a splash pool for Wyatt and Larkin. I have pics, but my cord is acting up and I can't import them. Anyway, there was a jungle gym in the middle of it, with slides and buckets and fountains. Wyatt was having a ball sliding down into the water. Larkin stayed by the edge of the pool. She didn't like the shower of water if she wandered too far towards the slides. Caelyn and Piper took off to the bigger kids water slides. They had a yellow one, which was all open; a red one that was semi-enclosed; and a blue one that was completely enclosed. The girls had fun going down those. Wyatt convinced Grandma to take him up and he came down the yellow and red slides with her. He really didn't want to go back to the baby pool after that. Caelyn and Piper lasted about an hour in the pools before they changed and went on the amusement rides. We caught up to them about two hours later when we were ready to leave. Even with everyone getting a little red, I think they had a good time.
Storms broke around midnight on Wednesday and continued into Thursday. We almost came home a day early, but Grandma, Grandpa and Piper decided to take another cave tour. More power to them! All the rain had soaked our firewood, so when they got back, we cooked dinner in the trailer. The radio was on during dinner and clean up, which was good as there was a tornado warning for us. We got the two little ones out of bed, everyone put on their ponchos and we headed over to the campground bathroom, where we hunkered down while the storm passed over us. Kentucky's extreme weather is like a regular thunderstorm here in Indy!
Friday consisted of getting everyone ready, the trailer packed up and the kids in the car to come home. We apparently didn't learn our lesson as we're headed back out Sunday for more. This time we're going to Spring Hill State Park (I think) somewhere south of Bloomington. At least we'll have water and electricity! I'll post pics as soon as I can get the cord to work.
Mammoth Cave is not just a cool name that the park rangers thought up. The park sits atop miles of caves. So far they have mapped out 367 miles of caves. Or something like that. Grandma was gung-ho on going spelunking. Okay, it wasn't really spelunking, but it sounds better than "walked down some stairs into the cave." :D
The first tour of the cave that we did was called the "Snowball Tour." They drove us out in a bus and dropped us in the middle of nowhere. Then we walked down 183 wet, cold stairs to get into the cave. Don't know why Wyatt was so freaked out by the stairs, but he wanted to hold my hand the whole way. At the bottom of the stairs, we walked for about a mile, admiring stalagtites and markings from explorers before. They also took us down a side tunnel and made everyone turn off their flashlights/cameras/phones to get a sense of how dark it was down there. No light comes in. I couldn't see Larkin -- and I was holding her! For some reason, I couldn't get any bars on my phone....... We made it to the Snowball Room, which is an underground cafeteria. Grandma had brought some snacks, so we munched on those while waiting for the tour to resume. After lunch, we headed back the way we came. I knew I was going to have to climb those 183 steps to get back out, but I knew I could handle it. Until we got to the incline right before them, when I realized that my legs had turned to jello. But, I was not the last one up those stairs -- I left that little old lady from California in the dust! :D
The second day, we took another tour. It was the "New Entrance" tour. This one had almost three hundred stairs to go down! Not only were they cold and wet, they also got narrower as you went down. Plus, the cave crowded in a few places. Oh, and there was a 60 ft drop off to the side. Good place to get over your fear of heights, small spaces, creepy white spiders and crickets.... This tour was much more fascinating. There were really cool formations of stalagtites and stalagmites. Eventually they will grow together and close off portions of the cave. I highly recommend the tours. They're a great workout!
Wednesday was supposed to be rainy all day, but we decided to go down to Bowling Green and take the kids to an amusement park called Beech Bend. It didn't look like much driving up to it. We decided to let the kids go to the waterpark first. There was a splash pool for Wyatt and Larkin. I have pics, but my cord is acting up and I can't import them. Anyway, there was a jungle gym in the middle of it, with slides and buckets and fountains. Wyatt was having a ball sliding down into the water. Larkin stayed by the edge of the pool. She didn't like the shower of water if she wandered too far towards the slides. Caelyn and Piper took off to the bigger kids water slides. They had a yellow one, which was all open; a red one that was semi-enclosed; and a blue one that was completely enclosed. The girls had fun going down those. Wyatt convinced Grandma to take him up and he came down the yellow and red slides with her. He really didn't want to go back to the baby pool after that. Caelyn and Piper lasted about an hour in the pools before they changed and went on the amusement rides. We caught up to them about two hours later when we were ready to leave. Even with everyone getting a little red, I think they had a good time.
Storms broke around midnight on Wednesday and continued into Thursday. We almost came home a day early, but Grandma, Grandpa and Piper decided to take another cave tour. More power to them! All the rain had soaked our firewood, so when they got back, we cooked dinner in the trailer. The radio was on during dinner and clean up, which was good as there was a tornado warning for us. We got the two little ones out of bed, everyone put on their ponchos and we headed over to the campground bathroom, where we hunkered down while the storm passed over us. Kentucky's extreme weather is like a regular thunderstorm here in Indy!
Friday consisted of getting everyone ready, the trailer packed up and the kids in the car to come home. We apparently didn't learn our lesson as we're headed back out Sunday for more. This time we're going to Spring Hill State Park (I think) somewhere south of Bloomington. At least we'll have water and electricity! I'll post pics as soon as I can get the cord to work.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
This one's for Julie!
Getting a lot of flak about not keeping up with this. But really, it's so boring over here! Biggest thing to happen is I got a (temp) job! I've been covering the phones at Jim's workplace as the receptionist does some training. Yesterday was her last day of training, so I only have one more day of work lined up. It's this Thursday while Linda goes and gets some different training. They seem to like me and I haven't gotten any complaints about my performance, so maybe they'll keep me in mind when something else comes up.
Yesterday was fun. It's always going to be a good day when the principal calls. Now, unlike Julie, I didn't know it was the school calling. But when he said his name, I was more confused than worried. I mean, Piper's principal calling me is one thing -- hate to say I expect to hear from her principals! But this one was Caelyn's. Apparently, she's been a little physical with one of her friends. She's been jumping on his back, pushing him in the hallway, into a locker. She thought it was all in fun, but I guess he didn't. So he went to the principal and talked to him, who then talked to Caelyn. Now, this is the boy who on Thursday put his arm around Caelyn and said she was his girlfriend. Which she's not.
I had Grandma ground her until I got home from work and talked to her. She admitted doing the things the boy accused her of, but didn't know he was taking it badly. Her biggest thing was that he never said anything to her, he went to the principal. And she wanted to know if she had an in school suspension because some of her friends thought she did. And they heard it from the boy. Twelve year old drama. Can't wait til she hits the teens!
Yesterday was fun. It's always going to be a good day when the principal calls. Now, unlike Julie, I didn't know it was the school calling. But when he said his name, I was more confused than worried. I mean, Piper's principal calling me is one thing -- hate to say I expect to hear from her principals! But this one was Caelyn's. Apparently, she's been a little physical with one of her friends. She's been jumping on his back, pushing him in the hallway, into a locker. She thought it was all in fun, but I guess he didn't. So he went to the principal and talked to him, who then talked to Caelyn. Now, this is the boy who on Thursday put his arm around Caelyn and said she was his girlfriend. Which she's not.
I had Grandma ground her until I got home from work and talked to her. She admitted doing the things the boy accused her of, but didn't know he was taking it badly. Her biggest thing was that he never said anything to her, he went to the principal. And she wanted to know if she had an in school suspension because some of her friends thought she did. And they heard it from the boy. Twelve year old drama. Can't wait til she hits the teens!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I can't believe 2009 is here already. Where does the time go? It's been a month since my last post and several things happened in there. Jason took off the week of Christmas and we headed down to a cabin in TN to spend Christmas with his parents and his sister Julie and her family. Now, when I say cabin, y'all probably are imagining this one room building with no heat and an outhouse. Well, you were kind of right on the heat thing, but not about the one room building. This cabin was bigger than our house... and much cooler! Here's a link if you want to see:
http://www.cabinfevervacations.com/gatlinburg-pigeon-forge-cabin-rentals/cid/748
All in all, it was a great trip. We got to the cabin Monday night, and found out the furnace wasn't big enough to heat the entire cabin. Thank goodness Monday and Tuesday were the coldest days and we didn't have to use the heater too much! By the time we left Sunday, I think it was in the upper 60s. Christmas eve day was spent making cookies and ornaments. I napped on the couch through the ornament making as the hard bed and my head cold made sleeping at night a challenge. The guys went out and shot a round of golf...Jason blamed the wind for driving his ball into one of the other cabins. After getting Wyatt and Larkin in bed, we were about to follow a Turner family tradition of watching "The Polar Express" while eating popcorn when the power went out. Grandma and the five older kids scrunched together on the couch to watch the movie on Julie's Mac. None seemed to care. After the movie and getting the kids to bed, presents were put under the tree (and some were being wrapped) in the dark, using cell phones, laptops and cameras for light. Deciding we all enjoy living in the age of electricity, we called it an early night and went to bed. The power came on around 11 that night, so at least it wasn't out too long!
Christmas was wonderful. Very low-key, not too many toys that made noise. The kids disappeared for hours to play with new toys. Don't think I saw Wyatt at all the rest of that day. Jason cooked {gasp! I know!} breakfast for everyone. It was very quiet the rest of the day. Mom cooked a wonderful full dinner and things went fine until clean up when the kitchen faucet started to look like Old Faithful! Thank goodness it was a rental and they were able to get a plumber out to look at it on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, he didn't have the right part and had to come back on Friday. By then, Mom, Julie, Caelyn and I were out the door for a day of shopping. We went down a road that has a lot of art galleries and other interesting shops. I think Julie was the only one to buy anything and that was just a small handbag. A whole day of shopping and only one purchase?? Unheard of! :D
Saturday we all went in to Pigeon Forge where everyone but Larkin and me rode the go carts. Caelyn was tall enough to drive by herself, but everyone else had a partner. Not sure Brian or Grandma had all that much fun (Grandma got bumped and spun around) but I think everyone else enjoyed it. While they were doing that, Larkin and I went over to the baby section where she rode on the carousel twice, the airplanes once and the spinners three times. The carny working that one thought Larkin was about to cry. I had to assure her that Larkin was having a blast. She even wanted to spin faster. Think I would have lost my lunch by the third time in a row!
Sunday we came home and had Christmas with my parents. They had spent a good portion of the week painting our bedroom (had the paint since the summer.) Mom had added one of those accents to the wall. It says "Let Love Rain" and there are pictures of all the kids under it. It was a wonderful surprise to see that done! The kids got Wii Music from my parents and we all got Wii Mario Kart from Rob and Steph. There have been a lot of video games played this past week.
It's hard to believe, but Piper turned NINE on Thursday! The day was spent making gingerbread houses and listening to Piper ask when we were doing her cake and presents. Which happened to be after dinner. So by the time it was time to do cake and presents, we were sick of her asking and threatening to take all the presents back! I can still remember her birth... probably because I didn't get enough drugs, but that's beside the point. I cannot believe she's almost into double digits.
Well, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and got to spend it like I did, surrounded by people I love. May 2009 be a blessed year for you!
http://www.cabinfevervacations.com/gatlinburg-pigeon-forge-cabin-rentals/cid/748
All in all, it was a great trip. We got to the cabin Monday night, and found out the furnace wasn't big enough to heat the entire cabin. Thank goodness Monday and Tuesday were the coldest days and we didn't have to use the heater too much! By the time we left Sunday, I think it was in the upper 60s. Christmas eve day was spent making cookies and ornaments. I napped on the couch through the ornament making as the hard bed and my head cold made sleeping at night a challenge. The guys went out and shot a round of golf...Jason blamed the wind for driving his ball into one of the other cabins. After getting Wyatt and Larkin in bed, we were about to follow a Turner family tradition of watching "The Polar Express" while eating popcorn when the power went out. Grandma and the five older kids scrunched together on the couch to watch the movie on Julie's Mac. None seemed to care. After the movie and getting the kids to bed, presents were put under the tree (and some were being wrapped) in the dark, using cell phones, laptops and cameras for light. Deciding we all enjoy living in the age of electricity, we called it an early night and went to bed. The power came on around 11 that night, so at least it wasn't out too long!
Christmas was wonderful. Very low-key, not too many toys that made noise. The kids disappeared for hours to play with new toys. Don't think I saw Wyatt at all the rest of that day. Jason cooked {gasp! I know!} breakfast for everyone. It was very quiet the rest of the day. Mom cooked a wonderful full dinner and things went fine until clean up when the kitchen faucet started to look like Old Faithful! Thank goodness it was a rental and they were able to get a plumber out to look at it on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, he didn't have the right part and had to come back on Friday. By then, Mom, Julie, Caelyn and I were out the door for a day of shopping. We went down a road that has a lot of art galleries and other interesting shops. I think Julie was the only one to buy anything and that was just a small handbag. A whole day of shopping and only one purchase?? Unheard of! :D
Saturday we all went in to Pigeon Forge where everyone but Larkin and me rode the go carts. Caelyn was tall enough to drive by herself, but everyone else had a partner. Not sure Brian or Grandma had all that much fun (Grandma got bumped and spun around) but I think everyone else enjoyed it. While they were doing that, Larkin and I went over to the baby section where she rode on the carousel twice, the airplanes once and the spinners three times. The carny working that one thought Larkin was about to cry. I had to assure her that Larkin was having a blast. She even wanted to spin faster. Think I would have lost my lunch by the third time in a row!
Sunday we came home and had Christmas with my parents. They had spent a good portion of the week painting our bedroom (had the paint since the summer.) Mom had added one of those accents to the wall. It says "Let Love Rain" and there are pictures of all the kids under it. It was a wonderful surprise to see that done! The kids got Wii Music from my parents and we all got Wii Mario Kart from Rob and Steph. There have been a lot of video games played this past week.
It's hard to believe, but Piper turned NINE on Thursday! The day was spent making gingerbread houses and listening to Piper ask when we were doing her cake and presents. Which happened to be after dinner. So by the time it was time to do cake and presents, we were sick of her asking and threatening to take all the presents back! I can still remember her birth... probably because I didn't get enough drugs, but that's beside the point. I cannot believe she's almost into double digits.
Well, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and got to spend it like I did, surrounded by people I love. May 2009 be a blessed year for you!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Final Nano Update
Well, here it is, December 2nd. I'm sure you're all on pins and needles wondering how I did on my novel. I'll have you know that I reached 50,000 words on November 29th. A whole day to spare. However, the novel wasn't done. So I spent a lot of Sunday writing a conclusion to it. My final word count was 53,698 (or something like that.) After a ton of editing, rewriting and hair pulling, I will be sending it on to Julie for her opinion. Hopefully she can sweetly tell me what a load of crap I wrote! :D
After all the angst and sore bottoms I went through, would I do it again? In a heartbeat. There were moments when I beat my fists against my head and cursed my impulsivity in signing up, but those were few and far between. I hope to have this edited and revised in time for a 2010 publishing date. HA!
Thanks to all for the encouragement. And kid watching. And weird discussions on the best way to kill a man and not get caught.... I'm amazed at how many of you want to read hastily written, badly worded prose, but to each his own! :D
After all the angst and sore bottoms I went through, would I do it again? In a heartbeat. There were moments when I beat my fists against my head and cursed my impulsivity in signing up, but those were few and far between. I hope to have this edited and revised in time for a 2010 publishing date. HA!
Thanks to all for the encouragement. And kid watching. And weird discussions on the best way to kill a man and not get caught.... I'm amazed at how many of you want to read hastily written, badly worded prose, but to each his own! :D
Monday, November 17, 2008
Another Nano Update
Hey all. Been working hard on the book the past two weeks. Fell behind a little last week when most of us caught a stomach bug. Everyone's fine now, thanks for asking.
So, we're a little past the halfway point. Which means I should have more than 25,000 words written. And how many do I have? Pause for suspense.... 31,000! The story is the same premise I started out with, but it's not going the way I thought it would. A secondary character has jumped out and demanded attention. A beloved character came to a shocking end. And my murderer is not who I thought it was!
Thirteen more days to write 19,000 more words. Yep, pretty sure I'll get there and I may have even wrapped the story up by then! They group that sponsors this every year announced that another sponsor will print and bind any novel written this November, so I might actually see my book in print!
So, we're a little past the halfway point. Which means I should have more than 25,000 words written. And how many do I have? Pause for suspense.... 31,000! The story is the same premise I started out with, but it's not going the way I thought it would. A secondary character has jumped out and demanded attention. A beloved character came to a shocking end. And my murderer is not who I thought it was!
Thirteen more days to write 19,000 more words. Yep, pretty sure I'll get there and I may have even wrapped the story up by then! They group that sponsors this every year announced that another sponsor will print and bind any novel written this November, so I might actually see my book in print!
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