Owie.....

We went to the "new" studio this morning for a couple of hours. This is what I got in the first few minutes while I was trying to get rid of just a small section of chipboard......

Hand should not have been between hammer and crowbar!

Hurt like crazy! Still hurts, but only when anything bumps it. Let's see- the side of the palm of my hand- no, that never gets bumped on anything! Yup- that was sarcasm alright.

We did manage to get the office walls all up. Now when the electrician comes on Wednesday, he will have walls to drop the outlets to. Kind of important I guess. It would be nice if we could get the changing room wall up this weekend and then we can work on skim coating the other walls this week. I say "we", but really I think I am just more moral support than anything. I want to be more help, but sometimes I feel like Scott would rather just be there by himself. He kind of has to be there himself to get the floors done, cuz the stripper is too toxic to have the kids around. That is a slow yucky process!

I should be working on taxes right now....can you tell I am procrastinating? I am quite fearful of what the end result will be. We did pay in some estimated taxes, but I am sure not nearly enough. There was just never an extra amount to send in........but then again, when is there ever?

I suppose - if I don't get started, I'll never get finished.......wish me luck!

Friday- WOO HOO!

It's Friday! I'm not sure why that would make me excited......no big plans for the weekend or anything. I guess I am excited that I can sleep in tomorrow. I am sure Will will get me up by 6, but that is still sleeping in- if only I would go to bed at the same time as usual, but no, I will probably be up at least 2 hours later than normal and maybe get to sleep in one hour later than normal. I don't know why people think they get more sleep on the weekends, I sure don't!

The girls helped me get the house cleaned this evening so maybe tomorrow morning I can help Scott at the "new" studio" for a little while. He has some appointments in the afternoon so maybe I can use that time to start working on our taxes- YUCK!

I took Bandit to the vet today. I was actually psyching myself up for bad news and to prepare the kids for a hard life lesson. Turns out the huge "tumors" are probably just lypomas (fat lumps). Not hurting him, just big and ugly. He also has a really gross sore in his ear that is most likely from the stupid Beagle licking them all of the time. Yet another reason that it is so disgusting. So, for an 11 year old dog, he is actually still pretty healthy. At least the kids don't have to learn that very hard lesson quite yet.

Well, I think Scott and I are going to watch Transformers tonight. I know, I know- WHAT? I guess it's supposed to be a really good movie and Amy gave it to Scott this afternoon for us to watch, so, what the heck? Why not?

It's been a really bad diet week and an even worse excercise week. Back to torture next week, but I think I will finish this week of really well with a couple of vanilla cokes while I watch the movie!

my everything hurts

Yup, everything hurts but the worst is my back and my hands. But- we got all the carpet up at the new studio and all of the chipboard and tile is up. We have so much more work to do. I thought getting this far would feel like an accomplishment, but all I can see is everything that is still left to do. What on earth have we gotten ourselves in to?

The kids were even trying to help today. Haley was helping scrape off the paper that is stuck to the floors and Hannah was helping me with the wallpaper mess. We also got all of the wallpapered walls cleaned up today. That was yucky too. All that glue nastiness- BLEH! Luckily, we are just going to skimcoat over some of the glue stuff so I didn't have to get it all off. I would still be there and would probably be stuck to myself!

Since the kids were so good today, Scott is on his way to ColdStone to get them some ice cream. I think it will be a good night to snuggle and watch a movie. I know I don't have the energy left for much more than that!

Well, off to find something to watch for the night. I think tomorrow will be a manual-labor free day!

Haley's new accessory.....

Glasses! I didn't really even know she was having trouble seeing until last weekend. Scott said she was having trouble reading some road signs when they were driving back from Ames. After talking about that, Haley started saying how things outside look different than they used to and she can't always tell who people are until they are really close. Ok, call the eye doctor. Took her in today and they got her glasses right then and there. She is actually quite near sighted. Crazy- less than a year ago she was slightly far sighted- big change in not such a long time.

I spent some time helping Scott at his new studio location today. Oy- we have a lot of work to do. The floors are going to take longer than he hoped. The walls that were covered in wall paper will need to either be skim coated or re-wallpapered. We got the ceiling tiles down today - I don't think there were any surprises there, so that's a good sign. I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of evenings and weekends sweating until the place is ready, but it will be satisfying to know we did the work ourselves- (as long as it looks good when it's done that is).

Well, I'd better get Will out of the tub and in to bed. Poor guy didn't get a nap today and he is tuckered out. All that scraping and pounding is hard work!

single mom for another day

Scott and Haley left at 4 am yesterday morning to head for Ames Ia for the state Lego League competition. The plan was they were going to head back home after the awards ceremony. At about 6:30 last night I had a voicemail on my cell phone stating that they were at a Super 8 in Boone, Ia. In 10 miles they had seen 8 cars in the ditch. They decided a hotel for the night was a safer idea. I am so glad Scott took the safe route. It's not really like him to be afraid of the roads, so I know they had to be pretty scary. Anyway, they just left about a half hour ago to head home, so I will be playing the part of single mom for most of the day again. I am enlisting the help of Colleen for a bit this morning as I have to cover for Scott at the studio and do a wedding consult. I could bring Will and Hannah with me, but I know they will have a much better time at grandma's house! (plus the fact that I haven't done a consult for awhile and I don't think I need the distractions)

Tonight we are headed to Dr Bell's for supper. It is for our staff holiday party. Dr Bell is cooking the full meal. I'm not sure what we are having, but I have heard she is an excellent cook. The kids are going as well, gonna need to cover the "best behavior" speech a couple of times before we go. Our kids are usually really good, but I am always worried about them acting up at someone else's house and especially the doctor that I work for. That would be truly embarrassing.

Yesterday proved to be a pretty productive day. We cleaned house, took some clothes to Once Upon A Child, took some cds to Last Stop CD Shop. Didn't get rid of a lot to either place, but enough to buy lunch and hopefully a tank of gas. I made some soup for lunches for the next few weeks, made some chocolate chip bars from a mix that I got as a Christmas gift, Hannah got to work on one of her craft projects, we stuffed and labeled 300 baby mailers, we did about 15 loads of laundry and went to Brandon for the Bakker Christmas. You would think after a busy day like that I would have slept really good. No such luck, with Scott and Haley in podunk Iowa, I had a hard time falling asleep and then staying asleep. I didn't feel very good either so it was a restless night and an early morning. At least being up so early, I got on the elliptical this morning and burned off some of last night's pizza!

Well, I should go check on Will and Hannah. They have been really quiet the whole time I've been on the computer. Something must be up!

mid- January?

How did that happen? One of the ladies that I work with told me today- "tomorrow is hump day for January." What??? Life goes so fast sometimes. Then, Haley blurts out today "I only have 1 more year of elementary and then I'm going to be a middle schooler!" Oh Hell NO. I am not that old, that is entirely impossible! But alas, it is so. My baby is closer to 3 than 2, my oldest is soon going to be spending hours on the phone talking about boys and Hannah will just be watching and learning from her sister so that she can make me crazier sooner. I think I should buy some stock in Prozac now, always good to invest in things that you know you can use later!

Well, it was another busy weekend. We had our second bridal show of the year on Sunday. We booked 3 weddings, so at least it felt a little worthwhile. Hopefully a few more will call in the next few days too. We are waiting to hear on a new space for the studio. Too bad the agent in charge of leasing the place is a complete idiot! I am starting to wonder if he has even told the landlord we are interested.

On Saturday Scott and the kids went sledding on the little hill across from his parents' house. Last year Will wasn't too excited about getting snow on himself. This year he really had fun! He was so excited to go cuz I bought him his own inflatable sled! I tried to catch the girls as they were "ramping" their sleds. Too funny!

Well, it's about time to send the munchkins to bed and Scott just got home so I should go spend some quality couch time with him. 5 am comes way to early most days!

Just another manic Monday...

How many of you went "whoa, whoa, "? Maybe I am the only one who gets that song in my head all the time. Whatever-

It was back to work, back to school, back to routine this morning. Well, for a little bit anyway. Amy called Scott around 8:30 this morning cuz she dropped a bench (with Will on it) on her foot. Scott had to pick up Will so Cameron could take Amy in to the ER. She broke a toe- yikes! Just think how bad it hurts and how many naughty words come out when you stub a toe. Broken- more pain for longer with not really anything to do for relief. No cast or anything! Hopefully toes heal fast!

So - Will got to spend another morning at the studio with daddy. Other than that it was a routine day! I will not use the word normal cuz I don't think there is such a thing anymore!

I did it- I got on the scale this morning and actually maintained my weight over the holidays! Now it is time to get back to work getting rid of a few more pounds. Wish me luck on that!

I just have to share this pic of Will. He got bubble bath for Christmas and he thinks it is the coolest thing ever! I went in with my camera and he got all excited about getting his picture taken with his bubbles. He wanted a bubble hat- so here is Will in his "bubble hat"-

Hey- I guess that means I actually used my camera for a random picture- way to go me! Time to go make fun of Haley. She has been in the shower singing since I sat down at my computer. I can't even tell what she is singing, but she sure is getting into it!

new year, new blog

I thought I would change things up a little and change the look of my blog. I'm not sure I like it, but I was feeling pink today so it is what it is - for now at least. Scott and I spent the day at a bridal show. The turnout was good, but we were really hoping to book a couple today. I think everyone is more picky about what they are spending their money on these days. People tend to take longer to make decisions now than what they used to. Not all bad, but makes instant gratification a lot harder to come by.

School is back in session tomorrow! Thank goodness! The girls are definitely getting sick of each other and I think Scott is ready to get back into a routine as well.

I really want to post pictures more often. I have even taken my camera out and set it on the counter thinking that might get me to take random pictures more often. So far it hasn't worked, but I will keep trying.

Tomorrow is back on the scale day too. That is kind of scary. I will see how well I did with my goal of maintaining. I might even give you an update- we'll see.

Well, better get the girls ready for tomorrow. Could be a tough morning!

Hello 2009!

It's official! We survived another year! I was even mostly awake when it turned over to 2009! (I haven't stayed up that late for a few years) Last night we went to Steve and Colleen's for food and games. It's nice to have somewhere to go for New Years without having to find a sitter. Not like we are big go outers anyway. The kids did their usual poppers around 8:30- Will came in the house with a handful of streamers to show me. I knew by the look on his face that he would be cuddling with those streamers at bedtime- I was right. At 5:30 this morning he was sobbing becuase he couldn't find his fireworks. Oh lord, Bubba, it's just some streamers, go back to bed and we'll look in the real morning. So when he got up again at 7, we had to spend some time digging thru his bed. Still haven't found the same quantity that he went to bed with. Who knows- maybe they disintegrate?

I have been pretty lazy so far today. I did force myself to work out this morning. Probably a good thing- got me moving at least. I have done a couple loads of laundry and hung up the girl's holders they got for Christmas. I have an album to put together for the bridal show, but Scott is still printing the pics for it. I got a little bit of reading in too. I should probably get started on some year end stuff, but who is in the mood for that today? Certainly not me! Maybe I could get some stuff together for Goodwill- there's a project I have been putting off since summer- nope not in the mood for that either. Huh, seems all I want to do today is nothing. I'll never get away with that. My conscience is too annoying for that.

I didn't make any resolutions for the year. Not formally anyway. There are a few things that I would like to change or improve on this year. Of course there is the ever present- want to lose weight thing. I have kept my goal so far of maintaining over the holidays. Now it's back to trying to get rid of. I want to be more organized. I used to be really good at keeping up on the bank statements and paying the bills - both at home and the studio. I have let things slide more this past year than I would like. I need to get back to being on top of that stuff. What else?......One thing I really need to try harder at is dealing with Haley. She is a really good kid, but she is starting to get the "teenager attitude". I don't have a lot of patience with her when she acts like that- need to find a better way to talk to her to get my point across without getting upset right away- that will be a tough one, but is definitely necessary to get thru the years to come!

I think it is time to do nothing or something or whatever. I need to get off this chair at least!

Happy New Year!