Stupid People

I'm totally covinceded that some people just should NOT be parents. I know it sounds pretty harsh, but read on. I paid bills today and only had one lonely stamp, so in the midst of it SNOWING...I decide to trek out to the post office down the street. If it had been far away, I totally would have stayed home. Anyway, I go in, immediately stop at their new machine that is open 24/7 that you can use your credit/atm card in and buy a book of stamps. I put my 10 stamps on my bills........and I'm pretty thrilled that I made it to the post office before the next "pick up" and maybe my bills will go out today. So, I zip up my coat and get ready to walk to the car. I hear......excuse me ...can you help me out? I look over and there is this guy getting out of his white pick up truck and is now talking towards me. I'm not too uncomfortable as there are other people going in and out of the post office. He quickly asks me to watch his son in his truck while he goes in to get his mail. Well......okay. So, it's cold and snowing and here I am, standing outside playing 'peak a boo' with this guys kid....hoping he comes back. Pretty quickly he comes back and now it's my turn to give him my lecture. HOW DID HE KNOW I WASN'T CRAZY???? I could have stollen his truck with his kid in it and be gone. Was he insane???? He said he didn't want to get his kid out in the cold weather as he had forgotten his hat. My response.......what if you had had car trouble? or been in an accident?? In this weather, one should always be prepared for the worst!! I'm sure he was wishing he had asked someone else after I was done spewing my "what if's" to him. Can you believe it? I would have NEVER left Matthew with a total stranger......for any reason! While, I'm glad he asked me.......since I'm NORMAL. Gosh, this could have been another kidnapping story for this state! This is why people don't leave kids unattended while they go in and pay for gas either!! Now, I'm not a perfect mom, but I do have some common sense. UGH...stupid people make me so mad!!

The President

Yesterday President Bush came to town. He was visiting a local hospital (no, not the one I work at)....but it is very close to my house....discussed his new health care plan and took a tour of the all digital facility. I knew there was a possibility of me being "inconvienced" by roads being closed but thought I had left the house plenty early. NOPE! I head down the street and see a helicopter hovering and two highway patrol cars and local police. So, here I am, stopped on the bridge overlooking.......the Presidental motorcade. Oh it was so exciting. I know it sounds kinda silly to be so thrilled about something......but really, it doesn't happen everyday and it was really quite spectacular. I've seen it on tv but until you see it with your own eyes......well, it was just too cool. I saw the police motorcycles then numerous black cars and then a black limo with flags on it. They were going at a pretty fast pace so no time for a picture. The one I'm using came from the local tv station and it is of the hospital he toured.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

As I'm writing this I am still in awe that my son is 7 years old today. I just can't believe it. Somedays I just look at him and can't believe how big he has gotten this last year. I know someday he will of course be taller than me too. Here I've got a son that is reading, doing math, is sensative and so loving and out going. He's such a fun kid right now. He was SO excited this morning about his birthday that he got up at 5:45 ( I was getting ready for work).....to tell me good morning and play with his CARS truck from his Uncle Blaine in California. Oh it was a huge hit last night. Since I had to work today we had Joe's sisters family and my mom over for a simple pizza and cake party. I wasn't about to cook with my kitchen mess and seriously, we all love pizza.

Around 3 this afternoon the snow started to fall. I love to watch it snow but I'm not fond of having to drive in it. It was an easy snow to clear off the suv and off I went. I was highly motivated to not horse around as I was STUPID enough to wear my Crocks today and not bring my tennis shoes for walking out in the parking lot. By the time I got home, my feet we wet and cold. DUH! We have at least 3 inches but I think we are forcasted to get another 3 before I have to go back to work in the morning. FUN FUN!!!

OH LUCY.......

This morning I watched my friend Cherie's little girl Lucy. She was mesmorized by a Dora DVD! I just had to take a picture. Very cute and again, so well behaved. Off to my favorite store....Target....to get supplies for a little birthday party for Matthew tonight. I really can't believe he will be 7 tomorrow. Wow, has my life changed since then and this ice storm......isn't in my very big 2007 plan!!

Storm Damage

Ah......can you hear it? I call it blessed silence. No more fans and dehumidifer running 24/7. I can hear myself think at least. The ice is melting but must be down far enough that it is no longer coming into the kitchen or basement. YEAH. It has been the best diet as I've really been too nervous to eat. Yes, I know.....it's shocking! I've been making phone calls almost non stop since Tuesday and I've gotten some results. The roofing company has been here but can't 'decide what to do' until the ice is gone.....an insurance adjuster was here who's initial estimate is about $4,000....but that doesn't include anything outside. Monday the contractor is scheduled to come to give me his estimate of repairs. It will take 4-6+ weeks for my hardwood floors in the kitchen to dry......and they are already buckling. I've heard getting that fixed/repaired is going to be a nightmare. The picture is from yesterday and just shows how the ice had melted some and no longer dripping through the ceiling. We are supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow possibly this weekend so I guess the saga continues!

Ice Dam

Well, actually it's more like damn ice. I was about to make a grocery store run for my mom when I noticed water running down my wall in the kitchen. Basically, we had pretty big storm this past weekend. We had a combination of sleet, freezing rain and snow. Today, with a high of only 20 and lots of sun, the ice started melting. I'm not sure the whole logistics of the problem but I never had any problems with my prior roof and I've had snow/ice melt and refreeze before. I placed numerous calls this afternoon to the roofing company and shocking, no one has called me back. So, after a call to the insurance company.....an adjuster is due to call tomorrow....I also called a drying company.....at the reccomendation of the insurance company. So, they came and poked some holes in the ceiling area in the kitchen to get air in there.......so I don't have mold growing. Well, the water also somehow dripped into the basement. So, I've got a bucket down there and I'm just waiting for the sun to come out tomorrow and the melting and mess will begin again. There are 2 industrial floor fans pointed to the walls in the kitchen and a dehumidifier.........and it totally wreaks of wet dry wall. The paint is buckeling and the dry wall is soft and mushy in places. There is a fan in the basement pointed to the ceiling. So my house is loud and stinks. I've got candles burning but I'm still gagging when I walk out into the kitchen/family room. I'm sure there will be more pics to post tomorrow. Did I mention there is no school AGAIN tomorrow? I will say Matthew was overall really good today. I had just gotten off the phone with a co-worker........who was so nice to come by and make sure my sanity was in check.....anyway, I was trying to hold it all together in front of Matthew but I finally just couldn't and started crying. Matthew gave me the biggest hug and I could see the tears in his eyes too. That is a moment I won't soon forget.

KU Squeaker

It was an AWESOME game tonight. I only wish I had been at Allen Fieldhouse to witness such a fun, close game. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK.............KU!!!!!!! Yes, we beat Mizzou again! It was way too close but a win is a win.

On to other news. It is COLD. Oh my gosh is it cold! The weather over the weekend was terrible. We have had freezing rain, sleet and finally today we had snow. They have already closed the schools for tomorrow. Last night it took me 30 minutes to let my suv warm up, melt and scrape about half an inch of ice off the front windshield! After a really stressfull weekend at work, the scraping was actually pretty therapeutic. It was flying off and I was having such a good time I forgot it was sleeting again and I was mega cold. I did have the radio pretty loud too. My hair was wet by the time I got in to go home. Of course I wore my Crock shoes to work and forgot to wear/bring my workout shoes so my toes were freezing! I know....totally stupid and I've learned my lesson. And yes, my Crocks have the little holes in them!

Another work issue: our new uniforms. OH THEY ARE HORRIBLE. First, I despise being told what to wear so it's doubtful I would be happy with anything on this subject. We can wear all white, all navy blue or a combination. There was a committe and everything that choose the company we used. Turns out they were cheap and have given everyone rashes! I washed mine at least 5 times and my legs by Sunday night were itching so bad and beat red where the seams were. No, I'm not wearing them again. I'm guessing it's the dye and the polyester in them. The hospital had trouble with the whole process from ordering to shipping. Yes, there is a smile on my face and I've heard this whole fiasco has cost them about $30K. (they bought the nurses each a pair and the techs 2 pairs) Now, if we are a small community hospital, why didn't we go to the LOCAL uniform store...I'm 100% sure she would have given us a deal.

I guess I'm done complaining. Yes, this is SUPPOSED to be a blog about Matthew....but there are just some days when it's going to be more about me.

The Four C's

So, the last couple of days have been all about the 4 C's. What is that?? Well, I wish it had to do with diamonds! :-) But it was all about my day and attitude. Actually, one of the C's is from Wednesday.......CHASING! and CRANKY! I had to chase the darned trash can 6 houses down the street. Wouldn't you think it would have been the lid? But no, it was horribly windy and that lid was just sitting in my lawn. I was in the beginning stages of another migraine with the flashing lights in my vision.......and here I was, chasing that stupid trash can! I was reminded of about 7 years ago when I was 9 months pregnant and doing the same thing........just wadeling then! Oh I must have been a sight.
The next 2 C's are for CUTE and COLD. This morning I baby sat for my friend Cheri's two CUTE and so amazingly well behaved little girls. They are Lilly and Lucy, ages 4 and 2. Let me tell you how good they were! Of course I only had them for about an hour and I managed to take a shower and they didn't escape or break anything .....or get hurt. It's been a long while since I've had to worry about any kind of baby proofing. Then after Cheri's doctors appointment, we went to brunch at IHOP. So we could get some girl chit chat time in, the kiddos watched a dvd. Are we good or what? Cheri and I worked at Baptist years ago and have known each other for at least 13 years now. She has been trying to get me to go to Children's hospital for years now.....but I'm not ready to take care of sick kids just yet. She does dialysis and that just isn't my calling right now!
The 4th C: COLD. The weather is changing and we are expecting ice and maybe some snow soon.
Lastly, sorry it's been so long since I've posted......I'm still here

I Love Weather

Tonight I went to the first ever weather bloggers meeting tonight at our local NBC TV station...KSHB41. Oh my gosh I had so much fun. The whole meterology team was there but the head meterologist, Gary Lezak is really the main reason I went. He has this amazing enthusiasm for the weather that is really quite contageous. I've been a huge fan for years and was thrilled to finally get to meet him. His dogs are just as famous in Kansas City as he is! Stormy was there tonight as well. We got a station t-shirt, water bottle, and a copy of Gary's book called "Our Spacious Skies"....autographed. Okay, I was a smidge star struck! LOL. Now, I'm not ready to go chase storms just quite yet but watching a storm unfold on radar is pretty cool........just as long as it's not right over my house! In the picture is Gary and one of his dogs, Stormy. If you are wondering where the pic is of myself and Gary? Well, there is one.....but my eyes are closed! Oh well. I had a great time. They taped a little bit of the meeting tonight so maybe I'll be on the news soon!!!

Back to School

So, it was back to school today and guess who was super excited. So excited he ended up missing the bus! I just had to laugh. He could hardly wait to get his coat and new back pack on and head out the door....only to see the bus, come inside and tell me he had to use the bathroom. WHAT??? "Are you kidding me" was my response. So, today he was a car rider. Actually it was rather traumatic and he couldn't get out of the car at school fast enough. Now, maybe that was because I had my hair up in a towel. Gosh, think he was embarrased to be seen with his mom?? Oh I hope not this early!!

Happy New Year!!!!