A perfect weekend

This past weekend is what I would category as a perfect weekend.  Friday I got a few things done around the house. Then I showered and got ready for Brannon to get home from work. The kids were with their dads. When Brannon got home we went out to dinner with some friends. After a wonderful dinner and lots of laughs, we parted ways with our friends and Brannon and I headed to Target. I had seen a few bikinis that looked interesting to me. I grabbed about 6 bikinis and Brannon and I headed back to the changing rooms. There was no attendant when we got back there, so Brannon walked into one of those family dressing rooms and told me to come on. I was mortified. I said, "honey, these 'family' changing rooms are not meant for us as a couple, they are meant for a mom with a huge stroller and 2 screaming kids." Brannon didn't care, he grabbed me and in we went. I tried on all the swimming suits, none of which worked out. Brannon got a few cheap thrills, (although it was kinda fun, it was naughty). I was whispering the entire time. When it was time to leave, Brannon just walked out with all the swimming suits in hand while I just made a bee line OUT. The attendant was back by that time and I walked out of there so fast I never had a chance to make eye contact with her. I have no idea what she must have been thinking. After Target we went over to Best Buy. They had one laptop that Brannon was interested in, but they happened to be out of that one. The guy at BB told us to come back the next day because they had gotten a truck in and maybe the laptop that we wanted would be in that load. We thanked him for his time and went home. 

Saturday morning Brannon and I woke up to snow on the ground. I wasn't thrilled about that, but we weren't going to let that slow us down. We got ready and headed up to the Home and Garden show. It never disappoints. We talked to several people about coming out and giving us bids for the front landscaping. We need to build up a brick or rock flower bed/retaining wall sort of thing. Brannon could probably do the work himself, but that would be alot of Saturdays. So we are expecting a few phone calls this week so they can come out and estimate the damage. While we were at the Garden Show I ran into one of Mike's old classmates, Sally. She and I had a lovely conversation, so that was nice. After Brannon and I got ideas for our yard, front and back, we left and went to Walmart to pick up a few party favors for Lauren's birthday that afternoon. By the time we left the show the sun was shining bright and had melted off all the snow. Brannon took me out to a quiet lunch. After lunch we went to visit our chimney sweep's fireplace showroom. There we talked to Vernon, our sweep, and talked about what it was going to take to line 1 of our 2 flues.  We talked about price and looked at all the different inserts he has. Then he took us out back to look at used ones that he had. I think we will definitely go with a used one. He has some really nice ones that are in great condition. A new insert will cost anywhere from $2500.00 to $3600.00, so $900.00 for a used one seems really appealing. 

When we were done with all that, Brannon and I came home. We put together all of Lauren's goody bags for the party. That lent way to a perfectly heavenly afternoon of laying around and being lazy, hugging and kissing and just enjoying each other. After a long afternoon together Brannon and I gathered up all of the birthday paraphernalia and headed to the Springfield Gym and Aquatic Center. About 10 minutes in we realized that for the first time ever, almost everyone we invited actually showed up. In years past, we have invited about 30 people to Lauren's parties. And in the past, about 10 have shown up, or less. So this year I told Lauren that she could invite ALL the girls from school, ALL the girls from her girl scouts, EVERYONE from ballet, and EVERYONE from church. So, she did. And I figured, like every year, people would be busy, people would have the flu, people wouldn't show up. Boy was I wrong. We had 26 ankle biters in that gym. It was completely WILD. And that was still only about 2/3 of the people we had invited. We had TON'S O fun. We ate pizza and had cake and opened presents and ran into each other. Lauren was thrilled to pieces. After the party Brannon and I tipped our hostess and came home. We had gone to Sam's Club that morning before we went to the Garden show and had picked out some chickens. So after that entirely perfect day, Brannon and I came home to spend the evening in our kitchen together. Brannon made this fabulous chicken and angel hair pasta dish very similar to the one we eat when we go to the Macaroni Grill. 

Not to be outdone by Saturday, Sunday was just as lovely. Several weeks ago when we were in Kansas City for Lauren's dance competition, Brannon and I had snuck away for a couple of hours to shop at the County Club Plaza. While we were there Brannon bought me two gorgeous dresses for our anniversary. One of them is my new little black dress, which I am waiting for an occasion to wear. The other one is just as delightful and is this black and white tiger print dress. I wore that dress yesterday to church. 

Brannon wore his black Italian suit and we looked like Mr. and Mrs. Fabulous. Needless to say, we got TONS of compliments. Even in Sunday School Mark and Tim (even guys notice) that Brannon and I just seem so completely happy and settled and just...happy, content. It's a whole new life from where I came from. I could say so much. After church Brannon insisted that he show me off some more so we went out to a wonderful lunch. From there we decided to go back to Best Buy and see what was on sale this week. Boy are we glad we did, because we found the laptop we have been looking for. It's a Dell and has 4 GB instead of the 2 or 3 you get and a 2 Duo Core processor and 350 GB of Hard drive space. So we came right home and played with that all afternoon before it was time to go to choir practice and evening services. After church we ended the day with the kids playing a new board game that Lauren received for her birthday. 

And that is what I call a perfect weekend. 

A little update

I might be a bad blogger. I don't keep up. Since I am home sick today I thought I would take the time to update. The sad thing is, there really isn't anything new to report. Today I have a fever and a headache the size of Texas. I also have a quiz again today, so I better get to feeling better before class tonight. I am taking advil around the clock, so hopefully the fever will be gone by 4 this afternoon. I also have lab tonight, and I don't dare miss lab. Anywho. 

Lauren had another dance competition. They did ok. It wasn't their best showing. Hopefully TOPS will be better. As long as they are having a good time that's all that really matters. 

School is going ok. I get my test results from the last test tonight. I didn't feel that great about it when I left. Surprisingly I felt I did ok on the essay portion, its the multiple choice that have me worried. 

Brannon and I miss our dog Whiskey terribly. We find comfort in the fact that she no longer hurts, but there is definitely a void, especially when we go to sleep each night. Whiskey had her spot in our bedroom and now it just seems empty without her there. I miss the way she would come and check on me on my side of the bed first thing when she would come in after a potty break every morning. She was the sweetest dog. 

I've been trying to declutter again. I go in waves. Over the Christmas holiday I didn't do much. I had started my 1 box a day, but that quickly got shelved. It seemed that every afternoon after work there was choir practice to go to, or laundry to get caught up on, presents to shop for and then wrap. Parties to attend. Birthdays. More shopping and wrapping and decorating. Maybe I'm just getting old, but it seems to be harder and harder to do Christmas every year. I'm always out of energy. Maybe I just don't have a good plan. I hope that next year will be better. I've been in the house a year now and I'm just now starting to feel settled.

I find that everything I am doing this winter soon to be spring I do in comparison to what I was doing at this time last year. I was thinking the other day that I have too many boxes to go through right now. But then I remember what I was doing last year at this time. We had found this house and we were packing up boxes in the other house and in Brannon's duplex. We had a pod in the drive way and we were trying to get all the banking stuff done. It seems like a lot compared to what I am doing right now and as soon as I think about that, I feel so much better about everything. This spring is going to be so much quieter than last. I will not be planning a wedding this spring. I will not be trying to pack up one house and be moving into another. I will not be merging my things with 2 other households of things. I will not be spending every waking free moment at the other house remodeling. I will not be trying to figure out where to put things, what to get rid of, and where to even start. I will be able to plant flowers and still have time to water them because I am not trying to care for two households. I am so much farther along than I was at this same time last year.

If I have just repeated myself over and over again, I do apologize. Maybe it's because my head feels like it's full of sand. Yeah, we'll blame that. 

Trying to be real

I try to keep this blog positive and upbeat. But yesterday was such a bad day, sometimes I just need to vent. Poor Steph, she has gotten more than an earful the last couple of days. Yesterday...was just bad. It started that I got distracted and got up a half hour later than I wanted to. My day never starts well when that happens. So I'm behind all morning, and as I'm leaving I noticed that the trash didn't get moved out of the snow pile. So here I am in 4 inch heels trying to move this OVERFLOWING trash can (because they couldn't pick up last week due to all the snow and ice so they told me they would be doing double pick up this week) over a pile of ice. In the process I broke the pearl necklace that I was wearing. It was 12 degrees out, I'm in high heels and stooping over to pick up pearls off the driveway. Nice.

So I get to work. Stacks of crap piled up everywhere. I am not the only person in this office, but believe me, there are days I wonder. Do you ever just have those days where you feel like you are the only one that does anything? Geez. So I start tackling piles of things. Then the boss tells me his printer his broken, so I try to fix that. I can't figure it out. He wants me to call Brannon and have him fix it, but Brannon is out of town. Great. Then the boss tells me he wants me to start doing all the filing of the Firms taxes. Do I look like a CPA? He said, well, you already do payroll and I said yes, out of sheer necessity, but half the time I wonder if I'm doing it right. He goes on to tell me that I'm smart and I can figure it out. I'm thinking youdon'tpaymeenoughtobefiguringitoutarrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh. That's why we have an accountant. Let's just add that to the fact that I am using a very involved billing system that I have had NO TRAINING ON!! I could go on and on, but why risk being dooced.

So then I needed to run some errands. I don't know why the hell I was wearing 4 inch heels. By the time I got home an hour later, my feet where killing me. Then the kids had early release, so I didn't get a thing done yesterday afternoon. Couple that with the fact that my phone was ringing OFF THE HOOK, by the time it was time to pick up Lauren from Girl Scouts, I was so frazzled I didn't know if I was coming or going. Then Brannon calls me after I get home from picking up Lauren, he wants the number to our vet. He's making an appointment to have our dog put to sleep. On Thursday. So now I've got that on my mind. Of course I'm upset, everyone who knows me knows how much I love animals, and having to put our beloved doggie to sleep tugs at the old heart strings.

Now it's time to go to class. Yay. But...NOT. If I go to class and stay for lab, I miss Jacob's very first band concert at school. If I miss lab, I miss the quiz, I miss the lab points, and I get to make up NONE of it. No points. And we are getting our test results back, so if I bombed the test, I'll need those lab points more than ever. So I make the decision that I am going to stay for lab. Brannon and I just bought this great new camcorder, so he is going to record Jacob's concert for me. When I get home from class, Jacob and I can enjoy it together. I get to class. Our classroom is FREEZING and we are just all miserable. We get lectured at and have so many notes our hands are cramping from all the writing. And she is going really fast through all of this. Chemistry. An entire semester's worth in a week. Great. Love chemistry. It's been 15 years since my last chem class. A review you say? HA HA HA HA HA. Then we get our test back. I did alright, a B. I can live with that. I'm watching the clock. If we can get through this lab fast, I can make it to Jacob's concert. It's a microscope lab. Do you have any idea how many times I've done a microscope lab? This will be my 3rd or 4th. I've already taken microbiology, it goes without saying that the ENTIRE SEMESTER OF MICRO, THAT MICROSCOPE WAS MY LIFE. Name the parts of the microscope, you got it. I found all the slides in record time, I think my lab partners were surprised. But alas, I did not make it out of lab in time to see Jacob's concert. Brannon and the kids got home. There was a problem with the camcorder, ie, user error. None of Jacob's concert got recorded. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I was so upset about missing the concert, I was so upset about the entire day's events, I completely broke into tears. I went downstairs to my bedroom. I cried for awhile, and feel asleep.

I'm not over any of it yet. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. I spent extra time with Whiskey this morning before I went to work. I am still very sad that I missed Jacob's concert and now I need to try to find someone, anyone, who might have also recorded it yesterday so that I might get to enjoy it too. I might try to call the school and talk to Mrs. Sauer and ask if she knows anyone who got it on tape. I'm mad about work right now. I have so much crap to do. We have to go to Kansas City again this weekend, and honestly, the thought of seeing my ex husband that much in a weekend, again, just...yeah. Well, that is my rant. I've vented. I don't feel any better. I just want to go home and go to bed. I didn't sleep worth a crap last night. Life isn't much fun right now. I just want this week and weekend to be over and for it to be Monday. That's about all.