Thursday, April 28, 2011

Tornado

We're Okay. the tornadoes went through about 5-10 miles north of us, about 15 miles west of us, and about 20 miles south.

Safe to say it was a close call. We don't even have wind damage. We're totally okay.


This photo was taken 15 miles north west of us.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Sarah's been bugging the daylights outta me to give an update on here so I snagged a few minutes to blog a bit about my life right now....

New York was WONDERFUL. Brent and I had a great time. We knew everything about where to go, what to do, how much to pay, etc and we had a great time. We spent a lot of money but I'd set aside alot of money for it and we really got a huge bang for the buck. We saw Mary Poppins, Spiderman and Avenue Q on Broadway, and we saw a show called "The Unrehearsed Historically Innacurate Story of Mr Rogers" at the UCBC theatre (a comedy improv club). I was actually drafted as a cast member for that last show and it was hysterical. We were given scripts as we went onstage and I laughed my butt off, it was awesome. I swore I'd load up some pictures but I'm not gonna right now, lol.

After NYC we went back to the grindstone for a bit. I got transferred to the Dalton Sprint store because the Cleveland store was closing (not enough volume). Bob quit and we fired most of the Dalton staff, so I spent all of March training and hiring and training and hiring more. Its been okay - not as awesome as I'd hoped, but closer to home for sure.

About a week into the month a man named Andrea Ori with a company called Felplast bought an account from me and set up 2 lines of service. I was my normal cheery self, did my job effeciently and didn't think more of it. About a week later he came back on a Saturday (this was the 2nd weekend of March I think) and offered me a job. He took me to lunch, told me whatever benefits I wanted I'd have and whatever pay I needed he'd give me. I tried the job out for a day and a half (when I was off at Sprint) and agreed to work for Andrea. I'm making $18/hour plus commission, bonuses and have all the benefits I could dream of -- Sick pay, 2 months paid maternity leave, 2 weeks paid vacation per year, health care, and a company car. And plus, he's italian so if I ever want to go visit Italy, I can for really cheap!!

I turned in my notice last week and am working out the last few days of my 2 weeks notice. I'm anxious to be out of retail and into the office style job that Felplast will be. I've already landed an account and sold off a load of material, so I'm making comission before I'm even full time over there which promises a big bright future for me comission wise.

Simultaneous to my job offer and acceptance, Brent decided to quit his job at Walmart and go full time into production. He worked out his notice, and already has solid work through May, plus a play we're producing ourselves and 2 shorts he wants to put together for a film festival, and our camera will be back from repair soon and he'll have our movie to edit as well. Its been AWESOME having my hubby back in bed with me at night. I've slept better and we're doing really well because we get to see eachother alot more now.

On the way home from his first shoot in ATL, Brent totalled our station wagon. Totalled totalled. Gone. He ran a red light and hit a SUV and our insurance isn't paying for anything I missed renewing it two days before. So I'm tabbing the money I'm suing Rick's Automotive for (the one that blew up our Suzuki) for paying the damages for that wreck and hoping it more than covers the tab. All that just happened so we're just waiting to see what happens right now on all that... frusterating but I can't do anything about it.

We bought a van from a family memeber of a chuch friend and drove it for 2 days and found out it had a big problem with its motor. The seller gave us a few hundred off the purchase price and we're putting a new engine into it. Turns out that it will probably be better this way, but frusterating again, nonetheless. The van will be out of the shop in another few days. In the meantime, my new boss, Andrea, rented a car for me to use!!

Last saturday I took the kids over to a co-worker's house for a playdate. Sheila and Derek have 2 kids, Breanna is 3 and Braden is 2. Alina and Raziel had a blast playing and we're going over to cook out on Sunday evening. I'm excited becuase the kids have got someone their age to play with!!

Okay so that's about all for now. Its time to go home!!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

NYC here we come!!!

OMG I am so sick! I didn't get but 5 hours of sleep last night, and I woke up 3 times in those 5 hours, worrying about various things I needed to do.

I've finally planned out everything possible. I've picked up the rental - free upgrade from an economy to a luxury (Crystler 300 instead of a Ford fusion) and I'm so ready to curl up and take a nap in it!

A last minute glitch turned my life upside down when we realized Mom (who was previously child care for this fab trip) was really very sick and didn't need to take the kids. Turns out she has viral meningitus so that was a REALLY good decision. With some persuasion, I talked Steve (brents dad) into keeping the kids for the 5 days we'll be gone. We still have to drive to Charleston to fly out but I'm not too bummed about that - I desperately need the sleep.

We are staying in a hotel in Times Square. We got a great discount from a brother of a friend who works for Marriott. I am glad about our central location. Friday I am taking Brent on a crazy "Day of Mysteries". Basically its his anniversary present - he knows nothing of what we are doing all day and he's gonna get a little paper with directions and a hint about where we're going next at each stop and then off we go. Its like a crazy treasure hunt with the treasure being fun and adventure.


Yesterday when I got off from work, I went to Walmart, dropped off Steve (who brought me my newly repaired and finally running well Tarus) at home, went to Food Lion, went home, cooked 5 meals and put em in the fridge, cleaned our bedroom and the kitchen, packed and handled kids. I didn't crash until about 2am. And then I got up at 7am to clean the living room (a condition of Steve keeping the kids was a clean house) and haul off some trash on the way to work.

My head hurts. I need sleep. I want to puke. I think I have a fever. I am really hoping my "time of the month" holds off another week so I can really enjoy NYC without that extra hassle but I can't remember how many weeks its been so idk if I'm gonna be that lucky.

I am so siked about our trip and I am counting down these last 2 hours at work before I book for Brent and home but on the flip side, I'm not ready to talk with Brent about who's gonna drive cuz he's been up since like 4 am because he's still not aclimated to my schedule (he's on vacation too right now)


I cant wait to share all my happy stories of our 5 year anniversary trip (our anniversary isnt til March 25th but we wanted to celebrate big and its hard to do that so close to Spring Break). I can't wait to upload all the pics and tell you about all the cool stuff we did and all the good deals I'm bound to get in China Town. But right now, I just want to sleep!!

Love and Kisses!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

NYC here I come!

OK so Brent and I argued and fought and bickered and finally resolved to go to NYC for our 5 year anniversary trip.

Brent wanted to do something different and new and adventurous. I like knowing where we're going and what to expect when we get there. I was TERRIFIED to go to another country. I'm doing everything I can to make it fun and romantic and exciting. Brent put major emphasis on it being SPECIAL and so I'm doing everything I can to make it SPECIAL.

We're flying (instead of driving). We're staying in the same hotel we always stay in (because its less expensive). But, we aren't going to any of the same boring places we normally go. We aren't even buying the NY pass because we're not going to a bunch of the places we'd use it for. We're going on a romantic harbor cruise, we are going to a couple resturants cited Most Romantic in NYC and we're going on a carriage ride in Central Park. All these things are super-romantic and super expensive but we haven't done any of it before and I REALLY want to make an impression about how wonderful this trip is gonna be for us for years to come. After all -- its our 5th year of marriage. That's a BIG deal. Its not 10 or 15 or 25 or whatever but its a little big one :-)

So I ordered a small, pretty romantic present for us. He'll like it but it only cost $20. Beside that idk what in the world to give to him.... He ordered some kind of $130 lingerie type present for me that he is so excited about but what in the world do you give a man for his anniversary / valentines beside lingerie?! I can't think of anything that's what I'd really want to do.... idk!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

RIP Suzuki

Thursday was the day I was supposed to get my Suzuki back. We had it taken to a man who claimed to be a wiring specialist since our mechanic couldn't find the problem.

Thursday evening, when I called to see if it was ready, I am informed that my car had caught on FIRE and the entire car was burnt down to the frame. I yelled so much they asked to speak to Brent.

Apparently the guy did not know what he was doing.

He wants us to come talk to him face to face. He also wants to blame our regular mechanic (which we all, including our normal mechanic) just think is hysterical since Lynn had it for 2 weeks and all it would do was a blow a fuze after a few hours and this yahoo has it for 2 days and blows the daggum car up. He replaced a fan and a relay system and it blows up. Hmmmm.

I got the fire report, it was called in at 5:20. So when I called at 5:15 and he was just starting to run his final diagnostics to see if he'd fixed it, it only took 5 minutes until the fire was started and bad enough that he called 911. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it probably exploded into fire as soon as he cranked it. Nice.

Any way you look at it, Rick's Auto Shop in Dalton will be owing me quite a bit of money. We're asking for $5800 (approx). $3200 is blue book value of the car, plus $1900 for all the custom paint and the body kit that was on it, another $600 for 3 carseats and personal items, and $115 for the car we rented this weekend til our tarus is back from the other (non-exploding) shop. I got quotes and print outs and estimates and reciepts to back up all those figures too. We aren't asking for pain and suffering or anything given he plays nice. If we have to go to court, things will get uglier. He will then pay for missed work, personal distress, sentimental value, court costs and for my lawyer. So he can pay us the $5800 or he can pay like $10,000, but either way I'm getting our money for that car.

Brent is super bumbed. He loved that car. And know what he said? The worst part of my favorite car blowing up is that I didn't even get to see it blow up!!

Men.

I'm just glad me and the babies weren't driving down the road in it when that happened! I don't know that I coulda got them all out in time if it spread that fast, you know? Carseats are tricky things!

Well, I'm not sure how things will go. Brent wants to go without me - I think he wants to prove to me that he can handle this and take care of our family. We got into it the other night because I thought we should bring an old guy for a witness and he got upset and I said he wouldn't stick up for himself at work so how am I supposed to count on him fixing this --- and I guess protecting us and protecting himself are two totally different things.

I just hope that he can handle it :-/ it worries me.

Time will tell...

Thursday, January 27, 2011

AAAARG

i am absolutely loosing my mind
i cant even blog right now because the children are driving me BATTY
and my hip is acting up again
AAAAARG

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Life goes On

Good call Sarah who spotted this blog on my prophetic blog... totally the wrong place :-)

Well, day 16 of the car-disaster ensues. I still have niether vehicle with which to grocery shop, haul off trash, or go to and from work. I am still buming rides as is my hubby. Favors are beginning to wear thin. But, I am surrendering to it. Maybe that's the whole point - for me to realize I can't do anything about it so I may as well relax over it. One day at a time. I have a ride home. I have rides to and from tomorrow, and I'm off Thursday. That's all I need for now.

I'm worn thin and so tired of everything that its not funny.

Well, we are going to NYC for our anniversary this year. Brent sorta dropped it on me outta the blue - he put in for vacay for the end of Feb instead of the end of March and I freaked thinking I wouldn't get time off since I JUST took a week vacay... but I think we'll be okay. I've been scouring the internet for days finding cheap romantic things to do in NYC -- we're going to coney island, we're going on a carriage ride in central park, having dinner in a rooftop resturant, going on a cruise on the harbor... a bunch of other fun stuff like that. I was desperate to show Brent I really do want to go on this trip (he doubted since I backed out of Paris and Vesquez) so I spent a ton of time looking for things we haven't done before, trying to make it romantic and different and spontaneous and less planned feeling.

But I'm ready to go and relax some. I'm ready to focus on my hubby and have some romantic nights out. I'm going to get a cute hair cut and some sexy little dresses to take. I'm so ready :-)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Stressful Week

Well, as my vacation drew to a close (ill blog about it later) i was somewhat ready to get back to work. I was ready for things to get back to normal. Sure I'd miss the kids but its life.

Sunday night we got 8 inches of unexpected snow. Brent was sent home from work mid-evening so he wouldn't get stuck in the ice (GA is funny because its not that we have that much more ice or snow than anyone in fact a bunch less, its that we aren't equipped to handle it. no snow plows or shovels or stakes for our tires.) He gets 3 miles from home and the car totally cut off and won't crank. The tarus is already in the shop with a bad headgasket, waiting for the mechanic to get around to it. We have it towed and a nice random person gives Brent a ride home in the snow.

We're stuck Monday and Tuesday. The roads aren't cleared until late Tuesday evening. We can't get out even if we had a car. My employers are understanding. The stores are opening late anyway, everyone is having the same problem.

Wednesday I convince a co-worker to come and pick me up since my Mother in Law still won't drive (VERY frusterating). Around 1pm the guy finally gets to my house -- the new guy they just hired. Talk about akward -- a 40 minute drive with someone i've never met before. I get to work and its normal. Nothing interesting to report really except that the new employee, Michael, seems to know a substantial amount about me as if he has grilled the existing staff or they've been volunteering way too much info. My other co-worker, Bob, is seemingly pissed off with me because Jimmy was fired although that happened on my vacation and (while I anticipated it) I had nothing to do with it.

Thursday I have to wait on Pam to get back from court (she had a ticket for having her dog loose in the neighborhood). Court started at 8am. She got back at 12. My boss was flipping out. I'd told him that I had to wait on her but niether of us anticipated it to take 4 hours. When I finally got to work, I was told to cut overtime that one employee was gaining quickly. I told Bob that he'd need to make arrangements to leave at 4pm so he could cut some overtime. He pitched a HUGE fit about how he's been here all week and its not his fault and he should get to keep that overtime (basically). I mostly say that I don't care and he needs to cut that extra time. There were enough other staff members that there was no reason for him to work extra hours. He sent an email to my boss. My boss told him to go home at 5:30 and we'd discuss in the AM. I sent an email to my boss following this that basically said that things were never going to get better if he didn't back me up on decisions like that. (remember Bob used to be my boss but he sucked at it and now I'm his boss). John (our DM, my boss) told me he understood. In the midst of all this? Bob went home at 2 for lunch and never came back. Friday he told me I said to do that. I didn't say to leave at 2 -- in fact Michael (other guy) and I were texting him trying to figure out WTH he went!

Friday was busy at work - thankfully. John instructed me to ignore the elephant in the room until he could talk to Bob. It was stressful. Friday night I get home and have a letter from the IRS saying I misreported my 09 taxes and owe them $1023. I cry and go to bed.

Today I am already stressed. Both cars are in the shop. I owe the IRS alot of money potentially and idk why. I depend on others to get to and from work. I can't even haul off trash or go to the store. I'm a sitting duck. Brent and I have been fighting off and on since I'm so stressed out about it. I feel like I can't ever get ahead! I am so tired of trying and working hard and doing everything I can and not making any progress. Oh yeah, and not making any progress on the film -- our camera is out for repair but the place we took it can't fix it --- its complicated. I hate the cold. I'm tired of the snow. I want my cars back. I want to go to church in the AM (aint happening).

*sigh* My ride should be here soon. I get to be an hour early to work. I'll blog more probably once I get there.