Hunna's Happenings

Wagoner Photography

2008-09-25T22:28:00.001-05:00

Wagoner Photography is officially open for business! Go check it out!!!

The End

2008-03-10T23:04:00.001-05:00

I've decided that I'm not going to be blogging for awhile. At least not on this blog. I will continue to post on my adoption blog. I'm considering starting a new blog elsewhere for various reasons. If you would be interested in following me to my new blog when I start it please leave me a comment or send me an email and I will make sure to let you know where to find me in the future. Thanks for reading for all this time!

Jessie

Crazy

2008-03-04T23:51:00.002-05:00

It's been a crazy couple of days at work! We have a huge project that we were told about on Monday morning and it is due tomorrow morning. Not much notice and quite a bit of stress. So long hours and a bit of panic in my world. I'll actually be glad to go to class tomorrow to get a break from the craziness. Go figure!

With all the hours at work it has really helped to keep my mind off the other stuff. I figure that is never a bad thing. I did get a nice bouquet of flowers today from the adoption agency and a very thoughtful card. That was a nice surprise. And luckily for me everyone at work is getting used to this whole routine so they don't make a big deal out of it anymore. That helps. I hate talking about it and hate that look people give you when they feel sorry for you. It reminds me of when my mom died. I hate that look!

So off to bed for me so I can get to work early.

Jessie

Manic Monday

2008-03-03T08:13:00.003-05:00

You find that your best friend has stolen money to pay for medical treatment for a seriously ill relative. What would you do?

I would encourage them to return it and apply for grants to help with the cost of the medical treatment. There are lots of hospitals that have funds available to help.

What three things you regret not learning to do?

Learning to make gravy like my mom.
Learning to play the piano.
Learning Spanish

Menu Plan Monday

2008-03-02T22:40:00.002-05:00

This is my first Menu Plan Monday. I usually plan my menu in advance but I've never taken part in this meme. So I thought this would be a good week to start.

Monday- Sloppy Joe Tator Tot Casserole

Tuesday- Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Wednesday- Leftovers

Thursday- Chili Mac Casserole

Friday- Turkey Sandwich, Fruit, and a Salad

Saturday- Dinner Out with Family

Sunday- Meat Loaf, Scalloped Potatoes, and Salad

What's on your menu?

Regrouping

2008-03-02T22:35:00.003-05:00

Sundays are the best for regrouping. I got a lot accomplished today. I went grocery shopping, did laundry, played with Lena, cleaned my bedroom, paid some bills. Basically I stayed busy and kept my mind off everything else. Nothing like busy work to keep a girl going.

Tomorrow will be a busy day at work. I have a staff meeting in the morning and a meeting with the county attorney in the afternoon. I have a ton of reports to go over and emails to return. So I'll stay preoccupied most of the day there. That's never a bad thing.

I wish I could say I'm bouncing back from this failed one like I have the others. I'm not as sad as the other times but I'm still really angry. I don't really know what I'm going to do. I don't know if this is the end of the road or not. I'm not in a good place and there are no clear answers. Maybe tomorrow when the sun comes up I'll have a clearer picture....

Jessie

Not Again

2008-03-01T21:40:00.003-05:00

Miss S gave birth to a baby girl on Thursday. After several drama filled days of going back and forth she has decided to parent the baby. So I've now hit failed adoption number 3! I think I may be getting close to a world record in failed adoptions. If anyone is reading this and has had three or more failed adoptions please leave me a comment and let me know how you deal with this.

I'm so pissed off right now. I'm not pissed at Miss S I'm pissed at the universe and God. I don't understand why this keeps happening. And I really don't understand why I'm a person that can't just get pregnant and have her own baby. It's horrible having to ask someone for a baby. And it pisses me off that I have no control or power in this. So now I'm back to waiting. Always waiting.

So that's the scoop of the week.

Jessie

Top 10 American Idol Boys

2008-02-26T21:13:00.006-05:00

I think this week was much better overall then last week. Everyone seemed a little more relaxed. They also seemed to really be enjoying themselves more. I like to see that. It makes it so much more fun to watch!

Michael Johns- I still love my Australian boy. This week wasn't my favorite performance of his but I love Fleetwood Mac and I thought it was good. What's interesting is Michael's worst performance is still much better than most of the others best performance. I like him. He gets my vote this week.

Jason Castro- Oh honey I just wanna touch your locks. I so love that hair. I think he is great on the guitar. I am so glad they let them use instruments this year. That makes me happy. What a pretty boy with a wonderful voice. Good times watching him!

Luke Menard- I just really can't get excited about Luke Menard. The boy looks great. He's hot as fire but his singing is cold as ice. I just don't feel like he is really into it. And I don't feel like the audience ever connects with him. But then it might just be me. Thumbs down in my opinion. I wouldn't be disappointed if he went home soon.

Robbie Carrico- I love love love him still! The rocker makes me happy inside. He is so comfortable on stage and I enjoy that the most about him. He looks like he is supposed to be on stage and has been doing it for years. Rockers don't seem to last long on Idol but I think we could see him get a record deal out of this regardless of how far he goes in the competition.

Danny Noriega- It just hit me why it is that this kid creeps me out a little. When I watch him sing I feel like I'm watching an after school special about coming out to your parents. He is a cute kid, has fun hair, and is a great entertainer. But I can't get away from the fact that it's always a show and it seems like he is totally acting rather than really enjoying his moment on stage. I don't know if that makes any sense but he just doesn't set well with me.

David Hernandez- Every season there is the one contestant that makes me think he might be a child molester. I always get that Pee Wee Herman he's not quite right feeling at some point each season. This season it's David that give me that feeling. He just creeps me out. I honestly can't even tell you what I think of his singing. I can't get past the creepy feeling to listen to him. Bye Bye David!!!!

Jason Yeager- This week was like watching a totally different person. This week didn't even compare to last week. He was so much better. I still don't think he will last long but he at least seemed to be with it and seemed to have some fun. Way more energetic. He might make it another week with that performance but I think he will still be in the bottom two or three.

Chikezie- I like his voice. He actually reminds me a lot of Luther Vandross in his early years. But I think he is to old fashioned for this competition. I think he would be a great recording artist and I think he could get an album and do fairly well. But I just don't see him fitting in this competition much longer. Very talented guy just not quite right for American Idol.

David Cook- Another sexy rocker. You can never have too many hot rockers. I actually think he might be able to hang in there for quite awhile. I am going to predict the top 8 at least. I really think he has a unique voice, is versatile and would sell records. He has my vote this week.

David Archuleta- This kid blows me away!!!! He sang one of my favorite songs this week. Imagine. Let me tell you I can imagine him in the finale! He has mad skills, control, passion, and crowd appeal. LOVE HIM!!!! Two votes from me this week. I think this boy could take the show!

So that's my opinion of the boys this week. We get the girls tomorrow. I'm excited to see what the girls do. I think tomorrow will be a fun night too.

Jessie

Upset

2008-02-24T02:38:00.003-05:00

Someone named Roy Keighley is upset with me. He doesn't think that I should post on my own blog about him being a thief. He doesn't like for people to know that he is stealing my credit card information and bank information and purchasing things without my permission. He doesn't want the public to know he is a criminal. In fact his anger is boiling over and he is being pretty inappropriate.

Tonight while I was trying to sleep he started text messaging me. Since he doesn't have any defense for his actions he started to attack my sister and I personally. He texted about my failed adoptions and tried to use that as an attack on me as a person. Pretty low I think. Then he moved on to making racist comments about the possibility of me adopting a child of another race as well as my sister dating a man from Africa. I think he is reaching a bit and making poor choices while his ship goes down.

He seems to think that he will scare me into silence. I'm not going to be silent. What he is doing is wrong. I have proof that he has stolen from me. I have plenty of evidence. I'm not going to stop until he is in jail. I will continue to contact law enforcement regularly and I will continue to encourage them to pursue him. I want them to arrest him and ensure that he will never do this to another person.

Jessie

School Daze

2008-02-23T21:13:00.003-05:00

I had my Saturday class today. I'm so disappointed with this class. I was really excited when I enrolled in it. It's a Bowen Family Systems Theory class. I love Family Systems Theory. I just really get it and it's very interesting to me. So I thought the class would be a great opportunity to learn more about it and improve my skills. But it is so BORING! Listening to the prof is as interesting as watching grass grow. What's sad is that it's so basic I could be teaching the class. So getting up at 6 to make it to class on time is rather hard to do.

After wading through the boredom of class I rewarded myself with some Mattie time. I spent the afternoon hanging out with Shawn, Amanda, Kaitlyn and Mattie. We had a fun time. Mattie is walking all over the place now. She will walk and walk and then she drops down on the floor and just laughs! She is such a silly little thing.

Miss Lena and I are going hang out tonight and play a bit while I work on some homework. Fun times.

Jessie

Saturday Special

2008-02-23T00:13:00.000-05:00

Pastime Repeats ~ What Is The...~

1. One Movie You'd Watch Over & Over Again?: The Butterfly Effect
2. One Book You'd Read Over & Over Again?: This Much I Know Is True by Wally Lamb
3. One TV Series You'd Watch Over & Over Again?: Lost
4. One Song You'd Listen To Over & Over Again?: My Wish by Rascal Flats

Beef Potpie with Biscuits

2008-02-22T23:06:00.002-05:00

I meant to give you all the recipe for the Beef Potpie that I made. But I posted the last post without including it. So here it is.

1-1/2 pounds boneless beef top round steak, cut into 1/2 cubes
2 cups frozen peas and carrots, thawed (I used organic)
1 large potato, peeled, cooked and diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jar 18 oz beef gravy (I just used two packets of gravy mix and followed those directions)
1/2 t dried thyme
1/4 t pepper
1 tube refrigerated biscuits

In a large skillet, cook the beef over medium heat until no longer pink, drain. Stir in the veggies, gravy, thyme, and pepper. While I was cooking the beef I was also mixing and cooking the packet gravy.

Transfer to a greased deep dish pie plate. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Place the biscuits in a single layer over the meat mixture. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until biscuits are golden brown.

Very easy and delicious!

Jessie

Cooking

2008-02-22T22:23:00.002-05:00

My sister-in-law Amanda is an amazing cook. She makes all kind of things and they are so delicious. I'm always envious of her cooking skills. I'm not a bad cook but I'm for sure not as skilled as her. So I've been paying attention to her and I'm learning a few things from her.

1. Spices are important. Amanda has an amazing spice rack and she uses it. This is something I need to get more comfortable with. I'm always a bit fearful about what some of the odd spices will do to the food.

2. Plan ahead. Amanda is good about planning her meals ahead of time and having lots of options on hand. I tend to buy groceries ahead of time but it's more like sandwich stuff, cereal, easy to make stuff rather than real meal makings.

3. It doesn't have to be hard. Sometimes I think a really great meal involves hours and lots of pots, pans, skillets, etc. She makes some really great meals involving one pan and 30 minutes.

4. Try new things. I tend to stick with the same 5-10 recipes and don't go much out of my comfort zone. Amanda has lots of cookbooks and tries lots of things. It makes every meal a surprise and you don't get sick of stuff as quick.

So to challenge myself to try the things I'm learning from Amanda I got a cool little Taste of Home Casserole Cookbook. Amanda got the same one so we are taking turns trying the new recipes. Last night I made Beef Potpie with Biscuits. It took a whole 30 minutes and everyone loved it! It was really good. Tomorrow Amanda is making the 4 cheese chicken fettuccine. Next Thursday when they all come over I'm going to try another new recipe. It's kinda fun and I'm learning new things. I even minced my own garlic! I'm cool like that.

Jessie

Struck Again

2008-02-21T22:31:00.004-05:00

The identity thief has struck again. Today $506 worth of jewelry ordered in his name arrived on my doorstep. $506 of really crappy tacky jewelry. So I instantly ran to check my accounts and sure enough he somehow managed to get into my bank account again. I'm now overdrawn. I'm so freaking pissed!

I filed another police report which is probably useless. They aren't doing anything to help me anymore. My case isn't "high profile" enough at this point. How many felony charges does it take to make someone "high priority"??? My credit is in the gutter, I have no cash available to me at this moment and no one wants to help. It's ridiculous. I could potentially be on maternity leave in a few weeks with no available cash. Thanks a lot asshole!

So since the police don't want to help and he seems to think this is fun I'm going to take matters into my own hands. I'm placing an ad in the newspaper with his picture warning the public that he will steal from you. I'm also going to start mailing him a letter everyday with a picture of the local jail.

So Roy Wayne Keighley you are on notice. I know you read this blog so take note. If the police won't help me I'll help myself. I'll warn others of the things you do. I may never get my money back but I'm getting my power back. My advice of the day is if you encounter him you should hide your purse, computer, and any cash. He will rob you blind.

Jessie

American Idol Girls

2008-02-20T21:34:00.003-05:00

The top 12 girls performed tonight. I was really excited to see the girls but honestly I was a bit disappointed. The weren't as good as I thought they would be. Shockingly the boys seem to be off to a better start than the girls. I really thought they were all very nervous and off tonight.

The Girls I Love

Brooke White- I really like Brooke. She is just pure and gentle when she sings. I like that. She is also very unique and I like that. The girl can sing. She was a bit nervous tonight and she didn't do as well as her previous auditions. Even with that said I do think she will hang in the competition for quite awhile.

Alaina- This girl can sing. She is a young thing. Only 16. But she came out looking like a champ tonight. You would have thought she had been singing for years. Very controlled voice, fun performance and a lot of energy. She is off to a wonderful start!

Amanda Overmeyer- Gotta love my rocker girl! I really dig Amanda's voice. She has a really strange and amazing voice. I wasn't feeling the song she picked tonight but I still really love her. Her other auditions were wonderful. While I love her I don't think she will make it too the end. It seems like the rockers don't stick around to long. But I guess we will see.

Asia'h Epperson- Asia'h has some mad skills. She sings from her soul and she can entertain. I love her personality and every song she sings she makes it her own. I think she is going to go pretty far in the competition.

Syesha Mercado- LOVE HER, LIKE HER, WANNA KEEP HER! She is for sure my favorite right now. She has a big old voice and she has a great look. I love her hair and Heather and I think she has a bangin body. She has the look and the talent. I think she will be in the top 6 for sure.

The Girls I Can't Stand

Amy Davis- Amy made me very sleepy. I just realy don't like her at all. I don't like watching her on stage and I really didn't like her song choice. I'm hoping she won't last long.

Kady Malloy- I'm not feeling Kady at all. She can impersonate Britney Spears but she has no skills of her own. I don't expect her to last long at all. She really is just very bland.

Joanne Borgella- I really wanted to like Joanne. The whole fat girl unite part of me just really really wants to like her. And I do like her. She is really a beautiful girl and has a fun personality. But I don't like her voice at all. I just can't get into it.

Carly Smithston- The judges love her and I'm just not seeing it or hearing it at all! I find her to be a bit frightening. She is so dark and vampire like. I just really don't like her. I just want her to go away soon!

The Girls I Don't Care About

Ramielle

Kristy Lee Cook

Alexandra Lushington

Tomorrow night we will find out who stays and who goes. Don't forget to vote!

Jessie

Wonderful Wednesday

2008-02-20T21:28:00.002-05:00

Today was a really good day! Libby came back to work and I feel like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. It is really wonderful to have her at the office. Today she started wading through all her emails and staffing cases with her staff so she will be back in the game in no time. I'm so excited to just get back to my regular responsibilities.

School was good today too. My prof actually got my name right! I'm no longer Jancy. That rocks. I have a lot of homework to do this week so hopefully the weekend will be pretty quiet so I can get a lot done. I just love writing papers. :-) That's always good times.

American Idol is about to start so I gotta run.

Jessie

Wordless Wednesday- Birthday Girl

2008-02-20T01:13:00.000-05:00

American Idol Boys

2008-02-19T21:51:00.004-05:00

Tonight was the first night American gets to vote for the new Idol. The top 12 boys performed tonight. I am so excited we are too this point. I love the voting piece. This is when I think the show gets really fun. So here is my run down of the top 12 boys....

The Guys I Love

Robbie Carrico- He sang love is the Lonliest Number. I really dig Robbie. He is one of my favorites. I like the rock star quality. I thought he made the song cool again and really proved himself. He looks like a pro on stage.

Danny Archuleta- This boy is 17 years old and he has pure talent in my opinion. He just makes you feel like you are watching someone do something great when you see him. I think he is going to go pretty far in this competition. For being so young he really has a great voice and great control.

Danny Noriega- I think that Danny will hang in the competition for awhile. He is fun to watch. He has a lot of energy and is a fun performer. I didn't like his song choice and he can be a bit annoying but I think he will end up with a good following of people.

Jason Castro- This boy is HOT! I love his hair and his beautiful eyes. He is very talented. It just seemed right to see him on stage. Gotta love that guitar and his sweet as sugar voice. We are going to be seeing him for awihle.

Michael Jones- He sang Come On Baby Light My Fire and trust me he lit my fire. I love his accent, his voice, his look. He could sing to me every night. He picked a great song for his voice and style. Very good choice. We are gonna see him for awhile too.

The Boys I Can't Stand

Garrett- He sang Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. Well breaking up with him wouldn't be hard for me. That boy is weird. He looks really sick and he scares me a litlte bit. What's up with the weird hair and the odd little creppy mustache. Not a big fan of him. I think he will go away this week.

Colton- He sang Suspicious Minds and didn't sing it well. I don't like that. I'm a big Elvis fan. I don't like it when people mess the songs up. He also seemed really fake on stage. I'm guessing he won't last long.

Chikezie- I really liked him in the auditions but now I'm not a big fan. He didn't seem real comfortable on stage and I don't think the crowd was really feeling him. He just seemed really nervous. I'm hoping he can come back next week and get it right.

Luke Menard- Luke is really handsome and I thought I would really like him. I wanted him to be really good. But his song made me tired. He doesn't sound right and doesn't seem comfortable. I'm not sure what the deal is but I don't dig him.

The Guys I Don't Care About

David Hernandez
David Cook
Jason Yeager

So get to voting folks. The girls perform tomorrow and then they start eliminating on Thursday. I think we have a fun season ahead.

Jessie

I Made It

2008-02-19T20:37:00.004-05:00

I've been covering a lot of extra responsiblities at work for the past 12 weeks. The other supervisor has been on maternity leave. But Libby is coming back to work tomorrow. This has been an incredibly long twelve weeks. Lots of hours, lots of work, lots of stress. But I made it through and so did all our staff. In a way it's been a good experience because I've really learned how to manage many different things at once. I've learned how to delegate and ask for help when needed. So there were lots of benefits but I'm sure glad Libby is coming back tomorrow! It's going to be a wonderful Wednesday!

Jessie

Ten on Tuesday

2008-02-19T01:48:00.002-05:00

Ten Things I Love

1. My camera

2. Greenworks Cleaning Products

3. Product Red items

4. Books

5. Crystal Light

6. 100 Calorie Snack Packs

7. Wii

8. Blogging

9. Lost

10. Diet Dr. Pepper

What 10 things do you love?

Tackle It Tuesday

2008-02-19T01:25:00.004-05:00

This weekend I had a big birthday party for my sister Heather. I love having parties. I love the decorating, the cooking, the planning, the food, and most of all the houseful of people. But I hate the cleanup! So I put it off until I couldn't stand it anymore. So I had no choice but to tackle the mess of the house and the fridge. So I cleaned up the living room and got it back to it's normal state. And I sorted through all the leftovers. Here are the before and after pictures.

Birthday Pictures

2008-02-19T01:22:00.002-05:00

I finally got the pictures from Heather's birthday party edited and uploaded. It took me awhile but I had a bunch of them. So here they are!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kaitlyn

2008-02-18T23:16:00.005-05:00

Miss Kaitlyn really wants me to do a blog post all about her. Mattie gets lots of posts and Heather gets some so Kaitlyn really wants a post about her. So since I rock I'm giving Kaitlyn a post complete with pictures.

This is Miss Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn is 16 and enjoys talking on the phone for hours on end, listening to her ipod, trying to figure out ways out of doing chores or homework, and spending time with her niece Mattie.

This is Kaitlyn with Mattie

Kaitlyn is like most teenagers. She loves her family a lot. She is a happy kid. She helps out and trys to do nice things for others. But like most teenagers Kaitlyn's mood can change with the wind. Here is the proof of that. These pictures were taken just minutes apart.

So Kaitlyn here is a post all about you! Hope you enjoy it.

Jessie

Busy Weekend

2008-02-17T09:33:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy couple of days around here. My Dad and Cricket flew in late Thursday night because we were having Heather's 21st Birthday Party this weekend! We had it last night. We had a lot of fun but the rain and snow kept some people away. We still had a good turnout and a good time. I'll post pictures later.

Everyone else is still sleeping so I thought I would log on for a minute or two. I've got plenty of cleanup to do today so I might as well get started before everyone else wakes up. I love parties but hate the aftermath. I really thought when I went to bed last night a little fairy would come and fix the house in the nighttime but no such luck. I better get on it.

Jessie

Love Thursday

2008-02-14T08:46:00.004-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I'm not a real big fan of Valentine's Day but for some reason this year I'm a little more into it. My Dad and Cricket are flying in tonight and I'm excited about being able to see them. That may have something to do with it. At least I get to spend the day with folks I love! Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day.

To see more pictures of love visit Shutter Sisters.

Jessie

1000 Posts

2008-02-13T22:48:00.003-05:00

This post is post number 1000! How cool is that. I'm pretty excited about it. When I started this blog I just mainly had friends and family reading it. Now becausse of this blog I've made new friends I never would have met before. I have blogging buddies that know me better than some people I know in real life.

What's also weird is that when I started this blog it was for other people. I was going to keep my people up to date on the things going on in my life. But the more I wrote and the more I blogged the more it became about me. It became my sanity, it became my daily routine, it's what has helped me find who I really am. I'm so grateful for that.

So here's to 1000 more!

Jessie

Wordless Wednesday- Dog Days

2008-02-13T01:56:00.000-05:00

Writers Strike Is Over

2008-02-12T23:53:00.002-05:00

WAHOOOOOOOO!!!!! The writers strike is over. The writers will be going back to work on Wednesday! I think I'm going to send them a thank you card. This may mean that Grey's will have a few more new episodes before the official end of the season!!! Let's have a party people! I was beginning to think that the strike was never going to end.

Jessie

Tackle It Tuesday

2008-02-12T01:00:00.000-05:00

For some reasons my kitchen cabinets always get out of control. I have way to many plastic containers and not enough lids. So I tackled the plastic mess of my cabinets today! Here are the before and after pictures. It only ended up taking 12 minutes to get it done. Yes I timed myself. Now why do I wait so long to do these things????

Age Gap

2008-02-11T21:38:00.001-05:00

My sister-in-law Amanda has a younger sister Kaitlyn that is 16. She recently moved here from Michigan to live with Shawn and Amanda. She is going to the same alternative high school that I went to as a teenager. Anyways, Amanda got sick over the weekend so to help out I brought Kaitlyn and Mattie to my house last night to spend the night. We had a good time and things went well but I'm starting to realize that there is a reason parents don't usually space their children out with a 15 year age gap.

I first noticed on the drive in that while Mattie and I were listening to calm yet fun Alicia Keys music on the radio Kaitlyn had her ipod blaring some music I didn't understand at a volume that I'm pretty sure could cause deafness. I also noticed in the car that Mattie wouldn't quit babbling and talking yet Kaitlyn only answered questions in one syllable grunts over the blaring music.

We got to the house and Miss Mattie immediatly went to play with the dog and toys while Kaitlyn made a beeline for the internet. So I spent the evening running between Kaitlyn and Mattie supervising very different activities. I kept checking to make sure that Chester the Molestor wasn't instant messaging Kaitlyn and then running back to get Mattie off the coffee table or out of the dog food. So while their interests are totally different they both live in the land of no... Kaitlyn can't talk to boys online and Mattie can't eat dog food. Kaitlyn can't stay on the cell phone non stop and Mattie can't tear up every magazine in sight. Poor girls!

Seriously though they both are really good kids. They get into things but they were both good for me. We all hung out and played. Both girls were in bed by 9 with no complaints or crying. Everyone slept through the night and woke up happy this morning. It was good. What's crazy is even with a teenager and a toddler around I got out of the house on time and in a great mood.

Though this morning the age gap presented itself again. Mattie did not want to get dressed. She fought and fought the changing out of her jammies into some clothes. And Kaitlyn couldn't wait to get dressed but I wasn't sure about her outfit or the length of her skirt. Weird kids.

But we made it out the door on time. When I dropped Kaitlyn off at school I made sure to tell her to have a great day, not to kiss boys, don't cave to peer pressure and just say no. I also hugged her and waved and honked. She explained that I'm really a dork but she thinks I'll be a good mom. I think that might be a compliment coming from a teenager.

Such is life....

Jessie

Manic Monday

2008-02-11T09:58:00.001-05:00

What is the most romantic movie that you've ever seen?

I'm not a big fan of romantic movies. But I like romantic comedies. I thought that Raising Helen was a good mix.

If you could be the lover of any person alive other than your current lover, who would you pick?

Denzel Washington for sure! That would be one hell of a good Valentines Day!!!

What scents remind you of a loved one?

Cheer detergent

Can You Say Happy

2008-02-10T01:20:00.002-05:00

Today I went and picked up my dream camera! The Canon Digital Rebel XTi is officially mine!!!! I've been wanting this camera for a long time but didn't have the money to get it. So I've been saving my change for a good 2 1/2 years now and I thought I may have enough. So I went and cashed it in and there was $972 in change!!!! Enough for my camera!

I'm so excited. I had class in Topeka today and then I was able to go pick it up after that. And since I bought my camera at a certain store I get to take two photography classes there for free. It's included with the camera purchase. So hopefully one Saturday when I don't have my social work class I can go up and take one of the photography classes. This evening I've read the manual, watched the tutorial DVD and taken some pictures. I can't wait to use it for real! I'm going to do some portraits of Amanda and Katilyn and Mattie this week sometime so that should help me get used to it. And Heather's birthday party is next weekend. So I'll have it broken in in no time at all.

Cameras make me a very happy girl...

Jessie

Boogie

2008-02-08T22:42:00.001-05:00

I loved my Wii before. In fact I was a bit obsessed with my Wii before. But I got a new game today called Boogie and now I'm so freaking excited! This game is too much fun. It's a dance and karaoke game and I'm so hooked. It has a bunch of fun songs that you make the person dance too. You control their movements and I can tell you my little gal gets freaky when I'm home alone. :-) Just kidding. She is actually kinda klutzy and off beat. That may have something to do with my lack of rhythm. But it's fun and I dance like a crazy woman. Lena doesn't like it so much but I'm thinking it might just make my butt smaller... How cool is that!

Jessie

Prayers

2008-02-07T22:44:00.001-05:00

I spend a great deal of time praying for a baby. In fact it's what I pray for the most. I probably say that prayer about 20 times a day. God please bring me a baby. God please let me have a baby. God please please please. I don't even know if it's a prayer anymore as much as it is pleading, begging, desperation. But something happened today and my perspective changed a bit.

Today I was supposed to meet Miss S for lunch and to visit. But even though I was doing that the plan was to stay unattached, uninvolved. I wasn't going to sonograms or the birth or any other stuff this time. I was going to protect my heart. In fact as I was driving to meet her I was praying. I prayed that God would help me to express myself, that he would help me show her I would be a good mother, that he would bless me with her baby, my baby, our baby. But most of all I prayed that he would protect my heart. That he wouldn't let me get attached.

But something went wrong. Maybe I didn't pray hard enough or loud enough or fold my hands tight enough because the next thing I knew I was arriving at a hospital with a very pregnant, very sick Miss S. Her blood pressure was really high, 170/120 and she was feeling miserable and scared. And she didn't want to be alone of course so I stayed because it was the right thing to do. And I prayed that God would keep her safe and would protect my heart.

And before I knew it there was a baby girl on a tv monitor and she was kicking and her heart beat was racing and she looked small yet perfect. All 4 1/2 pounds of perfect beautiful baby and my heart was unprotected and I prayed again that God would make sure she was okay and that Miss S was okay.

The doctor admitted Miss S. I stayed till her family could come. I hung out with her all afternoon and we laughed and talked. We had a good time, minus the beeping blood pressure machine, blood draws, and me tripping over a chair. We talked about what adoption meant to us and what we wanted the future to be like. And before I knew it I felt like she was my friend and I didn't care about my heart. I cared about her and her being safe and it hit me.... This isn't just about me. This adoption and these prayers aren't about me...

It's really about a complete coming together. It's about complete trust and faith in one another and in God. She has to trust me to care for her and for this baby girl. She has to know I won't jump ship when it gets hard and she has to know that I will be true to my word. And it's about me trusting her enough to let her in. It's about trusting God to not lead me into something I can't handle. While the other failed adoptions have been horrible, I've gotten through them. While my heart hurt he protected just enough to help me push forward and not give up. He did it before and he will do it again. I have to have that faith.

So my prayer is changing. Instead of praying for just a baby I'm going to pray that God leads me to the baby that he has planned for me. And instead of praying that he protects my heart I'm going to pray that he lets my heart open to this whole process. I'm going to pray that he lets me come together with the right expectant mom and that he guides me in that relationship of trust and faith.

Amen!

Jessie

Snow Day

2008-02-06T17:47:00.001-05:00

We ended up getting another 5 inches of snow last night. It rained all day yesterday and then the snow started around 9:30 last night. So this morning when I woke up there was a lot of beautiful snow on top of quite a bit of ice. Good times!

All the area schools were closed including the university. That never happens. So I ended up having no school. I haven't had a snow day in years! So since I don't have any kids to play with in the snow I took Lena out for a bit. She wasn't quite sure about playing in it. She really doesn't like snow balls but she sure was cute. Now she is hiding under a blanket on the couch trying to get warmed up.

My guess is the snow will melt in the next couple of days. I can't believe how much snow we have gotten so far this year. And who knows how many more snowfalls we will get. This has been one long odd winter. Lucky for me I love snow!

Jessie

Wordless Wednesday- Bird Boy

2008-02-06T01:06:00.001-05:00

Ten On Tuesday

2008-02-05T00:09:00.002-05:00

Ten Things I Can Do Instead of Watching TV

1. Blog
2. Read
3. Do a puzzle
4. Clean
5. Workout
6. Work in the yard
7. Play Tetris
8. Play the Wii
9. Sudoku
10.Hang out with friends or family

Bad Restaurant

2008-02-04T23:58:00.002-05:00

Today we had our group staffing at work and then we all went to lunch together. It's not very often that all of us can go eat out together anymore so we were all really psyched. We picked one of our favorite restaurants and one that is known for being fast since we had a limited time to eat before our afternoon appointments all started.

So we got to the restaurant at 11:30 and there were only 3 other people there. We ordered drinks and the drinks came. But all the sodas were nasty! All it tasted like was carbonation. It was really bad. So the drinks got sent back and new drinks came and we ordered our food. It's now 11:45. Time starts ticking by and the food doesn't come, refills don't come, but more people come in. By 12:25 the restaurant is full and the people beside us are starting to get their food even though they have only been there about 15 minutes.

At 12:30 the waitress comes over and tells us the grill is full so it will be awhile???? What it's already been awhile. Then at 12:50 we see her approach with food. Yeah we are gonna eat. But no not everyone. Two people in our group got their food but no silverware because they are "out of clean silverware"! Again WHAT???? So we had to wait until other people finished eating so she could wash the silverware and give it to us.

The last person in the group to get their food was me and it came at 1:15. I was not impressed. By then the first person in the group was done eating so I got to use her fork. It's nice that we are all good at sharing. We asked to speak to the manager and he wouldn't come out to speak to us. He told the waitress to tell us that he wouldn't charge us for the soda and that usually they automatically add gratuity for groups of 8 or more but he wouldn't do that.

That's the part that really ticked me off. Basically he was going to punish the waitress for the kitchen not managing orders and time well. It's not her fault they screwed up. We ended up tipping her pretty well anyway but I was really not impressed. We won't be going back there again obviously but I thought he was pretty chicken shit for not talking to us. Ridiculous!

My food wasn't even that good after the whole wait and I've thrown up three times since we have eaten lunch. I don't know if I'm getting the stomach flu or if it was bad food. Who knows. The point is just don't eat at Wings!

Jessie

Manic Monday

2008-02-04T00:46:00.001-05:00

Is there anything to serious to joke about? If so, what falls into that category for you?

I personally joke about some pretty serious topics. In fact I've been known to have horrible boundaries about that kind of thing and I have a pretty sick sense of humor. No topic is off limits when it comes to me and jokes. While it doesn't really offend me I do try to be somewhat sensitive to others. If I know something will offend them I try not to joke about it in front of them. But inside I'm gonna be cracking up!

Would you rather be a tortured genius or a happy simple-minded person? Why?

I'm good with being happy and simple-minded. I'd much rather be oblivious to whats going on and have a good time then to know what's coming and be worked up about it.

A dear friend or family member has a terminal illness and is in agony. He/she wants you to help him/her die. What would you do?

I'd pray for them, support them, and try to get them the best pain management plan possible. But I wouldn't kill them. I think the most important thing to do is to support and love someone until God decides it's time to let them go.

Super Sunday

2008-02-04T00:40:00.002-05:00

It's really been a super Sunday. We celebrated my brother Shawn's birthday today. That was good times. He got some cool gifts and it gave us an excuse to eat cake. Well I actually passed on the cake but everyone else had some and seemed to like it. Then we all hung out to watch the SuperBowl. Gotta love it when the underdog wins. That's always makes my day.

Too top of the superness of the day I actually finished the last of Lost. I've watched three seasons now in about 3 weeks. I'm about Lost out. I'm glad to be done with it. I really like the show but I've watched way to much of it lately. So now that I'm done with that I may have time to get caught up on all the other shows I've got TiVo'd and haven't watched yet.

I'm dreading Monday! I really don't want to go back to work yet. It seemed like a short weekend. Now that my classes have started again the weekends feel really short. Trying to cram homework in with everything else is a real pain. But I have a staff meeting that I'm in charge of tomorrow so I have to go to work. No fake sick day for me.

Jess

Saturday Special

2008-02-02T01:49:00.001-05:00

Words Ending in ARY ~ I Say You Answer~

1. Diary...you answer?:
2. Primary...you answer?:
3. Ordinary...you answer?:
4. Extraordinary...you answer?:

Diary- Secret
Primary- Election
Ordinary- Me
Extraordinary- Miracles

Numbers

2008-02-02T01:36:00.001-05:00

Today I had a brief moment of panic. I was cleaning out my purse and wallet and couldn't find my mom's social security card. I freaked out. After some digging and crying I found it. It had gotten stuck to the back of one of my other cards. I am really weird about my mom's social security card, insurance card and driver's license. I carry them with me at all times.

I'm not sure why silly numbers and identification have such a hold on me. But for some reason they are my proof to the world that she existed. It's like if I carry them no one can say she wasn't real. For some reason when I can't find one of them it's like a part of her is gone and the world will forget. I know that makes no sense.

I have heard that I am like my mom. And I know that my sister is a lot like her. So I know that as long as we exist a part of her exists but not everyone knew her. So for the world I carry the cards. I carry the proof that she was real. And thank God I found the card. No more panic.

Jessie

Friday's Feast

2008-02-01T00:53:00.001-05:00

Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of cereal? Honey Nut Cherrios

Soup
When was the last time you purchased something for your home, what was it, and in which room did it go? Just a few days ago I bought a new smoke detector to put in my hallway.

Salad
What is the funniest commercial you’ve ever seen? I love the Altel commercial where there are three girls standing around together outside. Two of them are holding cell phones looking at the other girl and they say "you really got a pony". It's basically meaning that they got new phones for christmas and the other girl really got a pony. Then they say "does it bite" and the pony is eating the roof off of the shed. For some reason it just cracked me up.

Main Course
Make up a name for a company by using a spice and an animal (example: Cinnamon Monkey). Ginger Mouse

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I haven’t __talked without sounding like a frog____ since ___January 11th___.

Rematched

2008-01-31T23:05:00.001-05:00

I got a call from my social worker today and I am rematched with another expectant mom. I met with her and her family on Saturday and the meeting went well. So she would like to move forward with an adoption plan with me. While I would usually be very excited about this after two other failed matches it's not nearly as exciting. In fact it's almost terrifying and a little depressing. All I can think is that this is what happens before she changes her mind... Horrible isn't it.

But I'm going to try really hard to be optimistic. I'm going to make myself believe that the third time may really be a charm. I'm going to try to believe that maybe I am meant to have a baby girl and that's why the others haven't worked out. This baby is a little girl so maybe it will work. I'm going to try very hard to pray and have faith that God has a plan and no matter how this ends up it's all part of his plan. And I'm going to cross my fingers and my toes and hope like crazy this is the last time I have to go through the horrible waiting process....

Miss S is due on March 11th. Not to far away. So hopefully the time will go quickly and I will know the end result soon enough.

Here's to hoping and praying...

Jessie

Jancy

2008-01-30T22:25:00.001-05:00

Today I had my Family Therapy class. It's actually a pretty interesting class. The best part is that we have two papers and two tests and that's it for assignments. No group projects, no role playing, no stupid filler assignments. Thank God for that. I hate busy work! The bad part is that the instructor never remembers my name.

Today he did attendance and said my name right. Right after that he called me up to give me a copy of the syllabus and then as I was walking off he called me Jancy. I corrected him and said no it's Jessie. 15 minutes into class he looked at me and said, "Jancy what are your thoughts." I corrected him and said it was either Jessie or Jessica. This went on another 5 times before class was over! It's only at 3 hour class!

The real kicker is that Jancy sits two rows in front of me. Jancy is actually a really hot black guy that is about 6'2, 250 pounds, with beautiful dreads. He is a beautiful beautiful man that I would love to date! We kinda flirt back and forth but haven't really talked a whole lot. He is loving it that I get called his name. He thinks that I'm going to get him a great grade in the class! I'm just shocked that the instuctor can't tell Jancy and I apart... I don't get it...

Jessie AKA Jancy

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-29T23:31:00.001-05:00

Ten On Tuesday

2008-01-29T01:17:00.001-05:00

10 Things I’d Buy If I Had a Million Dollars (and I had to spend it on myself)

1. Pay off my student loans.

2. Pay off my house.

3. Pay off my vehicle.

4. Go on a trip to Europe.

5. Go on a trip to Ireland.

6. Buy land in the country.

7. Finance 4 adoptions so I could have my houseful of kids.

8. Buy a new computer.

9. Buy a chocolate diamond ring and matching necklace.

10. Get a yard boy!!!

What would you buy with a million dollars?

More Lost

2008-01-28T21:18:00.001-05:00

I've been watching the Lost DVD's like a mad woman. I'm trying to get through the first three seasons before Thursday when Season 4 starts. I don't know that I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna finish Season 2 up tonight but I'm thinking getting season three done before then would be pushing it. So I may have to record it and watch the premire later.

I just really love the show though. I thought Season 1 was amazing but now Season 2 is even better. Each show gets a little more intense and a little more enthralling. I don't know how people come up with this stuff. Whoever writes Lost should get mad props and a raise!

Jessie

Manic Monday

2008-01-28T01:47:00.001-05:00

If you could have a servant come to your house every day for one hour, what would you have them do?

Clean, Clean, Clean, and in their free time pay the bills!

Has your life ever been changed by an apparently random occurrence?

I don't think any occurrence is random. I think everything happens for a reason.

You're having dinner with several friends and acquaintances. They all criticize a close friend of yours (not knowing he/she is a friend). The criticism is unjustified. What would you do?

I would explain that he/she is my friend and explain why their criticism is wrong in my opinion. Then I would ask them not to discuss him/her in my presence unless it is in a positive light.

Happy Birthday Amanda

2008-01-27T23:32:00.001-05:00

Today is my sister-in-law Amanda's birthday! We had a birthday lunch for her. Good old spaghetti. After we recovered from eating to much at lunch she opened her presents and then we had chocolate cake. I always make everyone's favorite cake for their birthday and she requested chocolate. It was really good. It's been a long time since I've had chocolate cake. I'm glad that was her pick. After lunch we all hung out and some of us enjoyed ourselves. For some reason Mattie was in a horrible mood today. I've never seen her be so unhappy. I kept trying to explain that it was her mommy's birthday and she should be nice but she would hear none of that. So while she was busy being crabby the rest of us enjoyed ourselves. All in all it was a good day. I love birthdays!!!! Hope you had a great one Amanda.

Jessie

Mattie Adventures

2008-01-25T23:37:00.001-05:00

There are new Mattie Adventures going on all the time. The latest adventures were captured over the last few days. Mattie stayed the night at my house last night to keep me company and lift my spirits. It's incredibly difficult to be sad when you see this little face and all her antics. So enjoy the amazing adventures of Miss Mattie!

Who needs toys when you can have kitchen utensils????

I like lemons....

I don't like lemons...

My smile will distract them...

And then I will sneak away....

And have a drink or two...

And maybe I should take one for the road...

Regrouping

2008-01-25T23:21:00.002-05:00

I think I've gotten regrouped after the newest disaster. I only worked half days at work yesterday and today. That way I would have a little time to myself to rest up, get caught up, and get back to normal. It's been nice to sleep in and do some of the things that make me feel good. I think I'll be able to head back to the office on Monday feeling ready and focused.

This weekend I have to go work an independent living retreat for the older foster kids we serve. It's just Saturday that I have to work so it won't be bad. The kids are usually pretty fun and honestly they pretty much run the meetings and events. I just need to be around to supervise and make sure they don't do anything crazy. They are really a good bunch of kids so that means I don't really have to do much.

Heather is coming home again tomorrow. I'm gonna get spoiled on seeing her every few days now. She wants to make sure I'm okay. Also we have our sister-in-law Amanda's birthday party on Sunday. So she has to come home for cake and ice cream and gifts.

I'm also going to meet with another expectant mother tomorrow evening. I know it's really soon after the last failed match. Only a few days. But I've got to keep pushing forward. So I'm going to the meeting and we will see what happens. What's that saying, God doesn't close a door without opening a window. Maybe this is my window. I wouldn't want to risk not checking out the view.

Jessie

Home Alone Again

2008-01-23T22:19:00.001-05:00

I hate making these posts but I get to do it once again. Since I hate these posts so much I'm going to crosspost the same thing to both blogs. It saves me the little bit of sanity I have left.

At 12:30 A.M on Tuesday I got the call that Miss T was in labor. I made the frantic middle of night disoriented drive to the hospital. I made it in time to witness the birth of an amazing little boy and cut the cord at 4:30 A.M. To say it was a miracle is an understatement. Miss T and her family and the hospital staff were wonderful to me. I had a security band so I could be with the baby and take him to and from the nursery, I was able to have a private room and kept him with me the first 24 hours of his life. Heather and Darby were with us and were able to hold and love on him too. He was precious.

This morning when the time came to sign relinquishments mom choose to parent rather than move forward with the adoption. So yet again I packed up our things, kissed a sweet boy goodbye, and had to call the people I loved and tell them one more time never mind. I've heard all the platitudes, said all the prayers and cried more tears then I ever dreamed. But I'm home now and I'm without a baby but I'm really not alone.

Heather came home with me for awhile. She headed back home to go to school late this afternoon, Darby took a shift with me and Shawn, Amanda and Mattie did the dinner and evening shift. I'm gonna head to bed shortly and I'm looking forward to some rest in my own bed.

I won't lie I want to lay down on the nursery room floor and bawl. I want to throw things and scream and fight and give up. But I won't. I think back to my mom and how she fought for us. She adopted me after many miscarriages and she had a very tough pregnancy with Heather when doctors told her she would never carry a baby to term. And then she fought our whole lives to give us what we needed and be the mom God wanted her to be. And then when she found out she had pancreatic cancer and was going to die she fought till the end to stay with us. She didn't want to leave her children. It was her job to be with us so she fought and fought and fought.

She fought for her children because that is what mothers do. And I know that I will be a mother and I will fight until I have those children and I will fight till the day I die to be their mother. So instead of laying down and giving up I'm going to go back in that nursery and I'm going to pray to God that he will give me the strength to fight and wait and become the mother I'm meant to be.

Jessie

Planning

2008-01-19T20:33:00.001-05:00

Today Darby and I went to Kansas City to meet with my adoption attorney. He is a very nice guy and very competent and calming. We went over the process and fees and all that fun stuff. I'm glad that piece is out of the way and we can just focus on getting ready for this little guy to debut. It looks like it could be happening pretty quickly. While I'm trying not to get too excited I'm also trying to be realistic. If this all works out and the little guy comes home with me I want to make sure everything is ready for him. So I've been working on things like a mad woman to prepare. I'm crossing my fingers and praying like crazy that this will work out like I'm dreaming it will.

Jess

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-16T02:29:00.001-05:00

Lost

2008-01-16T02:23:00.001-05:00

I've been living under a huge rock and missing out on one of the best shows ever! LOST IS AMAZING!!! Since I've been sick and burnt through all my movies my sister-in-law Amanda brought me Season One of Lost. Oh Lordy! I think I may have to stay home sick the rest of the week to watch all three seasons. I'm totally hooked.

Today I sat on the couch and watched the first four discs of the seven disc set. I think I only moved to go to the bathroom and heat up soup. I've laughed, I've cried, I've yelled at the TV. I'm obssessed with Lost!!!

Seriously I am going to work tomorrow but I figure if I hurry right home after work I can cram another 3 or 4 episodes in tomorrow night. I for sure won't be putting in any extra hours at the office this week. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Jessie

Sick

2008-01-14T20:02:00.001-05:00

A week ago my throat started hurting and I started coughing a lot. I thought it was just allergies. It was always bad in the morning but then by around 10 or so I would start feeling better until it got bad again in the evening. Well yesterday I started losing my voice. Today my voice is pretty much gone and my throat was like fire. So off to the doctor I went. Because I haven't been in like three weeks and that $50 was just burning a hold in my pocket.

So after spending my money and waiting in line for over an hour at the pharmacy I now have a prescription for strep throat and a double ear infection. Good times! I don't know what the deal is but the last year it feels like I'm always on an antibiotic for something. Even when I try to wait it out and hope it will go away on it's own I end up having to go to the doctor. I hate that. I hate how much it costs everytime I have to go. What a pain.

So I had to stay home today and since I'm contagious until I've been on the antibiotic for 24 hours it looks like I'm stuck at home tomorrow. YUCK! Lena and I have spent the day napping and watching movies. I decided that if I was going to be stuck here I was going to be as productive as possible. So while watching movies I've been putting all my mom's old pictures in photo albums. I've filled two albums so far which means 1200 pictures. And I'm halfway into the third. Hopefully all the rest will fit in that last one. It's been something on my to do list for along time so at least it's getting accomplished.

Jessie

Annoyed

2008-01-13T19:33:00.001-05:00

I've spent the afternoon taking down my Christmas decorations. Yes I know I should have done it a long time ago. But I hate doing it. I hate putting them up and I hate taking them down. But I love the in between part. It's just such a hassle. Hauling it all in from the shop and spending all the time to put them up to only take them down a few weeks later. And then nothing goes back in the same boxes. I always end up with more stuff than I started with. And then dragging it all back out to the shop. Why do I even mess with it?

And my phone still isn't working right. I'm booked solid with appointments tomorrow for work so who knows when I'll be able to get it fixed. I've been using my work phone for pretty much everything. It doesn't have all my numbers in it but at least I can call out on it. As long as I have my immediate family and Darby in the phone I'm good to go. Everyone else can wait till Tuesday. Maybe then I'll even be able to check my voicemail.

Jessie

Stupid Phone

2008-01-12T21:59:00.001-05:00

How can we put men on the moon but I can't seem to get a cell phone that works when it should. My phone has been turning on and off all day. It only works half the time. I can see that I have voicemails but I can't listen to them for some reason. And since the phone shuts off I can't even tell what calls I've missed. At this point it won't even stay on when I turn it back on. It will load up, beep that I have voicemail and then shut right back off. I've taken the battery out and put it back in and I've charged it. So who knows what is wrong with it. Any ideas how to fix it between now and Monday when the phone place opens back up????

Jessie

Old Chicago

2008-01-12T19:30:00.001-05:00

Amanda, Mattie, and I loaded up today and headed to Wichita to see Heather. She couldn't come home this weekend and we were tired of missing her. So we decided if she wasn't coming to us we were going to her. We ended up meeting Heather and Kelci at Old Chicago for lunch. Oh my gosh the food was so good. I have eaten there before and it was good but it was really good today. I'm still full!

Amanda had never seen Heather and Kelci's place before so we took her over there to give her the tour and to hang out for awhile. Mattie thought Heather's was a pretty fun place to play. It was a fun afternoon. Mattie was enjoying the ride back home but Amanda and I had a great day. Now I've just got to get motivated and do some stuff around the house now that I'm back home. I have a lot to get done to get ready for the baby to come home. I'm trying not to do to many baby specific things just in case but I'd like to get some things in order that would relieve some stress if a little baby did show up sometime soon.

So I better get to it.

Jessie

Matched Up

2008-01-11T18:49:00.001-05:00

Today I had a meeting with an expectant mother who would like for me to adopt her baby boy. She is due at the beginning of February. We had a very good first meeting and I feel really comfortable with her. She is a really neat gal. She already has two year old twins and they are really cute kids. Her little girl and I made friends quick thanks to the necklace I was wearing. Kids love beads! So at this point we are officially matched and now I just wait. I am going to try my hardest not to get too attached yet and to stay cautiously optimistic. I am so fearful she will change her mind after he is born like Miss N did. I don't know if I can handle all that again. But God has a plan. If this little guy is supposed to be mine then he will be. I just have to have faith this will all work out the way it is supposed too.

Jessie

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-09T04:57:00.001-05:00

Shots Rock

2008-01-08T23:40:00.001-05:00

Well it happened tonight! I've been waiting for weeks and it finally happened! My blood sugar was below 200! In fact it was 174!!!!! That is still high but it's so much closer to normal. I'm making progress. The shots are working. Finally some real success!

What's crazy is that every day as I've seen it go down it's made it easier to stick with the eating right and the working out. It's like now that I finally have the help from the shots it's not like I'm trying and seeing no results. Now it's worth it. There is a payoff. I was so thrilled when I saw that 174 pop up! I was so happy that I wanted to reward myself with a big old bowl of ice cream but I didn't do that. Healthy me is not going to sabotage this! So I worked out and I had a really healthy dinner and I just did a happy dance. I can't wait to see what number pops up tomorrow. I think I might be getting this under control.

Jessie

Spring...

2008-01-06T22:53:00.001-05:00

The last two days it has been in the 50's and 60's here. All the snow has melted and the sun has been shining. It's really nice. The only downside is that my allergies kicked in today. I've got a sore throat and I've been sneezing like crazy. At least when it's 20 degrees out I'm not sneezing while I'm freezing...

After Mattie went home today Darby and I went to the mall for a bit. She is the one that wanted to go but I ended up buying stuff. I found a couple great deals on things for Heather for her birthday so I couldn't pass that up. And I got myself a new pair of jeans and a couple shirts. Somehow I ended up with a credit on my Maurices credit card. So I just used that rather than wait for a check to come in a couple months.

Since I've started my injections for my blood sugar I've lost 10 pounds and gone down two pants sizes. The injections not only help regulate my blood sugar but they also shrink my stomach. So I have to eat really small amounts. I've also been forcing myself to exercise more often. I worked out 5 times this week. Between the injections, the working out, and cooking at home I'm really starting to notice a difference. So the jeans I bought today are pretty tight right now but hopefully they will last a little longer before I have to get another pair. I figure if they are tight now they won't be in two or three weeks.

If I keep up losing at this rate then I should be down about 60 pounds by June. That is amazing to me. Who knew a shot could do so much. I thought I would hate doing the shots but now I feel foolish for waiting so long. It doesn't hurt and I feel so much better on them. Each day my blood sugar is a little lower than the day before. I can't wait till it's in the normal range. I can't even imagine how good I'll feel then...

Jessie

The Mattie Adventures

2008-01-05T23:40:00.001-05:00

Tonight I'm babysitting Mattie so my brother and sister-in-law could go out. She is a lot of fun! The last time I posted pictures of her she was having fun digging through the dish towel drawer. Tonight she found a bench and had a blast figuring out how to climb up and down on it. She figured out that if she stood on it she could get the stuff off my end tables. So here are the newest Mattie adventure pictures.

The girl just kills me. She and Lena spent along time playing. My dog is a psycho but when Mattie is around she is pretty chill. She still has lots of energy but she is way more gentle with Mattie then she is with anyone else. Mattie loves her and will laugh and laugh whenever Lena runs close to her. Heck between the dog and the bench I don't think she even played with any real toys tonight. She is easy to entertain that's for sure.

Jessie

The Strike

2008-01-04T21:50:00.001-05:00

I'm really getting sick of the writer's strike. It's been going on for weeks now. At first I was understanding. I get that they want more money. They write the jokes they should get the credit and the cash. But now I'm getting tired of it. Darby and I watch Grey's Anatomy every Thursday together. It's what we do. Well for the last several weeks no new episodes! Next week there will be a new episode but it's the last one until the strike is over. Now I'm getting annoyed. I'm half tempted to just shut my cable off. There have been some good side effects to the strike. I'm reading more, I'm caught up on some things I had put off, and I am spending a lot less time watching TV. I'm thinking if it doesn't end soon I'll say farewell to cable and just stick with my books and netflix....

Jessie

Goals For 2008

2008-01-02T21:57:00.001-05:00

Well my last post was a summary of the goals I set for 2007. Now that the New Year is here it is time to set new goals. I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. That has never worked for me. Goals are much better. It gives me something to focus on yet I don't have to freak out if I don't meet them. So here we go...

1. Adopt a baby!
2. Attend church at least twice a month.
3. Grow a vegetable garden.
4. Get a better balance between work and personal life. No more than 50 hours a week at the office or on the cell phone after hours!
5. Get my A1C level (diabetes level) to 7.5. It's currently 10.3 which is really really bad. 6.0 would be perfect non diabetes. 6.5 is what the doc recommends for diabetics.
6. Go to Chicago!
7. Have a garage sale.
8. Work out at least 3 times a week.
9. Visit my Dad and Cricket at their house in South Carolina.
10. Start my final practicum for grad school.
11. Only eat out one time per week.
12. Go to a ballet.
13. Go to Exploration Place in Wichita.

So that's my list of things I wanna do this year. Some are tough but some are fun. Good balance! That's actually my biggest goal. More balance in my life. Balance between work and school and my health and personal life. That would be a very big accomplishment.

Here's to a great New Year!!!!

Jessie

Year in Review

2007-12-31T19:03:00.001-05:00

Last year I made a list of 13 things that I wanted to get accomplished in 2007. I thought it would be fun to review them and see how I did.

1. Go to Greece! Due to the passport fiasco I did not get to go to Greece. Heather and Kelci went to Greece. After Darby and I finally got our passports the two of us went to Mexico. It was wonderful!!!
2. Take piano lessons I went to one piano lesson and haven't been back since. I just don't have time right now. Hopefully someday I'll be able to do this.
3. Keep my diabetes in check Wow this one so did not happen. In fact my diabetes is worse now than it has ever been. But I'm doing injections now and starting to feel better. I think this is just going to have to be a life long goal!
4. Pay off the last of my credit card debt I DID THIS!!!! It feels wonderful!
5. Complete my first practicum for grad school I DID THIS TOO!!!! I hated every minute of it but it's finally over. I only have three classes and one practicum left to be finished!
6. Spoil my niece Mattie like crazy. I think that this is going very well. I love that little girl more everyday. And now that she lives close by it makes it easier to do!
7. Get my homestudy done so I can move forward with the Ethiopian adoption process. Wow the adoption journey has really taken up most of my year. My homestudy is done, I'm approved through immigration, I'm also approved to adopt domestically. I've had a failed adoption after the birth of a wonderful little boy and now I'm just waiting!
8. Work out consistently. Ugh if I had done this maybe I'd be in better shape with my diabetes. This didn't happen. I don't know why I don't force myself to make time for working out but I'm very bad about it.
9. Raise $1000 for the Relay for Life. I didn't raise $1000 but I did raise a little over $800 which makes me very happy!
10. Organize my shop building. Heather and I got the shop building organized but it's now unorganized again. It's ridiculous. That building is one huge mess!
11. Go see the chalk pyramids. I haven't done this. I still really want to go. Maybe some day soon.
12. Meet all my work objectives. I did this and then some. I took a promotion and I'm now a supervisor. I've never worked so hard in my life. It's crazy. I don't know what I was thinking!
13. Get my yard fenced. The yard is now fenced. Lena and I are both loving it!!!

So that's the review. In the next couple of days I'll post a list of some things I'd like to do in 2008. I have a feeling it's going to be a great year.

Jessie

Shrinking Sally

2007-12-31T01:50:00.002-05:00

I used to work with a gal years ago that was pretty heavy. She probably had about 150 pounds to lose. I hadn't seen her in a long time when I ran into her this week. She has lost a ton of weight! She had a lap band procedure done to help her and looks amazing! She told me a little about her surgery and it's interesting but scary to me.

Any surgery scares me. I won't lie I'm a baby when it comes to things like that. But the idea of having that big of a surgery really scares me! However, there is now a laproscopic lapband procedure that is less invasive. That isn't as scary to me.

If you go to journeylite.com you can learn a lot more about the procedure. Journeylite performs laproscopic lapband procedures at several different locations. So if you want you can go to central florida lapband and enjoy some time at the beach before or after your procedure. They have a ton of information on their website about it. It's pretty amazing what doctors can do now. I never would have guessed that type of procedure could be done so easily. Pretty amazing!

Jessie

Busy Weekend

2007-12-30T20:51:00.001-05:00

What a busy weekend! We had Mattie's first birthday party yesterday. Man I love that kid. She tore her cake up. It was pretty dang funny. She may not understand the present piece but she totally gets the cake smushing piece. Makes for great pictures.

After that we headed to our third and final Christmas celebration with my mom's side of the family. We had a great time! Our aunts are so funny. They do so many things that remind me of my mom. Heather and I laughed a lot. They got us some wonderful gifts as usual. Those gals have us figured out.

This year Heather and I sorted through all of my mom's Christmas decorations. Keep in mind between my mom and I there are 2 trees, 13 rubbermaid containers, and 2 large garbage sacks of decorations. Yes that's a lot! So we went through everything and decided what Heather and I wanted, what we thought the aunts might like and what just needed to be retired due to wear and tear. We ended up with a good size tub for the aunts. So we took it yesterday for them to look through. They were pretty dang funny about it! It was hilarious watching them pick through, barter with one another, trade it up, make deals. Funny gals.

I love my family.

Jessie

Paintball Knowledge

2007-12-30T14:01:00.001-05:00

As you know my identity was stolen a couple weeks ago. As I've been sifting through all of the reports, transactions, and drama surrounding that I'm learning all kinds of things. I noticed some transactions related to paintball and I honestly don't know much about paintball so I've done some investigating. I wasn't sure what a couple of the things were that I alledgedly bought so I surfed the web until I figured out what each item was. Heck if I'm paying for it I want to know what it is right!

One thing I have figured out for sure is that there are a ton of paintball supplies out there! I had no idea how many different paintball guns there were, that there were so many different kinds of paintballs and that you could spend so much money on it. I actually am kind of interested in playing some paintball now.

I came across one huge online paintball store that is pretty impressive. Luckily for me there person that stole my identity didn't find this site. They could have had a hayday on here. This store sells everything from the spyder vs2 gun to paintball pants, gloves and neck protectors. They have Tippmann guns and extra parts. They even have reuseable paintballs! Who knew you could go green with paintball!!!

So if you need to shop for any paintball supplies they are the folks to visit. And if you have questions about paintball it's shocking but I might be the girl to ask.

Jessie

Christmas Number Two

2007-12-28T23:33:00.002-05:00

Tonight we had Christmas number 2! Lots of fun! Shawn, Amanda, Mattie, Amanda's parents, her brother and sister, Monte, Kathy, and Heather all came to our house for dinner and gifts. I think everyone had a really great time. Mattie was of course her adorable entertaining self. She wore a little Santa dress that was just too cute! She wasn't to into the presents but she did like pulling the bows of my packages and eating them. Good times.

I got some wonderful gifts. Heather got me a blue tooth for my phones. Since I spend so much time on my work cell phone I thought it would be nice to have. She also got me a beautiful ring. Shawn and Amanda got me a new family picture of them and the game mad gab! It is so much fun. I can't wait to play it on New Years Eve. Amanda's family got me some earrings and a couple of great adoption books. Gotta love that! And Monte and Kathy got me two beautiful nativity sets. One is actually an angel with a nativity in the middle of it. Very stunning.

So Happy Christmas for me! Tommorow is Mattie's 1st birthday party. That's exciting stuff. Then in the afternoon Heather and I are heading to Topeka to do Christmas with my Aunts. I think Christmas Number 3 is our final Christmas celebration. After all that I think I'm going to spend Sunday sleeping. :-)

Jessie

Mattie Moo

2007-12-26T23:35:00.001-05:00

Tonight I went out to Shawn and Amanda's house to visit after work. Amanda's family is in town for the next week or so and I haven't seen them in a year! So it was nice to visit with them and catch up a little bit. It was also wonderful to see my niece Mattie Moo. I missed her while I was in Texas. It's weird how spoiled you get so quickly. I've really adjusted to seeing her every few days so it seemed like a long time to go without.

She is quite the trouble maker lately. She is really into exploring everything and finding whatever she can get into. Tonight she figured out how to open the drawers and get things out. Luckily it was the drawer that all the dish towels were in. She had quite a fun time throwing them all out! Everyone but her parents thought it was pretty cute and funny. Needless to say they weren't as amused. We made her stop after I snapped a few pictures. Fun stuff!

Jessie

Honey I'm Home

2007-12-25T23:18:00.001-05:00

Heather and I made it home from Texas safe and sound tonight! Christmas Day is the day to fly! Our flights were on time, there wasn't a crowd and people were in great moods. On our last flight there was maybe 15 people so we all got to spread out and have a section of seats to ourselves. Very nice!

It was really beautiful flying into Wichita. There was a bunch of snow on the ground and it made for great sightseeing. I love the view from the plane! I thought the cold would be a real shocker when we got home but it wasn't bad at all. It was about 45 when we landed but no breeze so it was all good.

It was wonderful to walk in the door and have Lena girl all excited to see me! I really missed her while I was gone. She and I both had a bunch of Christmas stuff here at the house from Monte and his friend Cathy. I got great healthy stocking stuffers like graham crackers, crystal light, a splenda cookbook, some sugar free gum, lotion, and a calculator. Lena had a new toy cell phone and a new sweater!

Now that I have unpacked a little I'm gonna go to sleep in my own bed! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Jessie

Warm Christmas

2007-12-24T20:51:00.001-05:00

Wow it's Christmas Eve and it's mighty warm here in Corpus! I can't believe that we spent the day at the day at the beach. We had a good time. We collected shells, walked a lot, played in the water a little bit, and took some fun pictures. It's been between 60-80 every day since we have been here and no RAIN this year!!! Good times.

Heather and I head back to Kansas tomorrow. We are missing a huge snow storm there. I guess they got 8 inches of snow back home while we were enjoying the sun. Go figure. I love big snows like that. Hopefully we will another big snow after I get home. The time at the beach was worth missing the snow though.

We opened gifts a couple days ago and I got some great things. I got a jump drive for my computer which I really really wanted! I needed that very badly. I also got a crockpot and a cook book. Is someone trying to give me a hint about my not so great cooking skills? I got some candles, the Mania perfume that I love (that stuff is liquid sex), and a couple cool ornaments. I was very pleased. My dad got a digital picture frame that my Brother-In-Law has all loaded up with pictures for him. It's really awesome. Now that I've seen that I really want one of those. Maybe for my birthday right...

Okay hope you all have a great Christmas Eve!

Jessie

Quirks

2007-12-18T23:32:00.001-05:00

We all have quirks. And I'm starting to realize that I have a lot of my mom's quirks. When I was a kid I thought she was really weird for doing this thing before we would travel. She would always empty all the trash cans. She would do it if we were leaving for an overnight trip or a week long vacation. Whenever I asked her why she would say, "well if I died on the trip I would hate for someone to have to worry about my trash". I always thought that was so stupid. We would be worry about other things rather than the trash.

Well I caught myself tonight being quirky like her but even worse! I'm leaving to go to Texas on Thursday night for Christmas with my Dad and Cricket. You should see my list of to do before we leave. It's ridiculous. So I started thinking about it and I do this with every trip. I pay all my bills a month in advance before a trip. I clean the entire house, wash my bedding, empty the dishwasher, do all the laundry, stock up on dog food and household supplies. It's ridiculous! And you know why I do it. Because if something would happen to me while I'm gone I'd hate for Darby and Heather to have to worry about all those things while they are trying to straighten out my dying or injuring myself. My God I'm my MOM!!!!

It makes no sense. If I die in a plane crash Darby really isn't gonna care if she has to buy my dog food or empty the dishwasher. She will just do it and take care of everything because that is what she does. But I would hate to make it more work for her so I do it. And I'm stressing out trying to get it all done. It really is a dumb thing to do to myself. But I have a feeling I always will.

And while I type this up I'm wasting time I could be mopping or scrubbing the toilets! Gotta run!!!

Jessie

The Pantry

2007-12-16T22:21:00.001-05:00

Well as promised I ended up cleaning out my pantry. It really needed it. I actually ended up doing it last night because I was on a roll and thought I ought to just get it done. What's crazy is it only took me 15 minutes to do! Why did I let it get so bad in the first place. 15 minutes is nothing. I went ahead and took pictures of the nightmare pantry to show you. I am embarrassed that I let it get like this but maybe the embarrassment of showing it to the world will prevent me from doing it again. So here are the pics.... Ridiculous!

Notice the bulging doors. Yes you should be frightened. That is never a good sign!!!

It's dangerous to open. You never know what will fall out. Luckily the box of Cheerios isn't that heavy. I could have ended up with a broken toe if the canned items had fallen out. Hazardous I say!

And here is the pretty pantry after I got done. How nice and neat. Amazing what you find when you clean it out. I have four cans of Bush's Chili Magic so I guess I'm making Chili this week. I also have a bunch of tuna. Good stuff. Several boxes of cereal and a total of 30 boxes of jello. Yes 30! What's crazy is the stuff I threw away. A can of Enchilada sauce that expired in 1997 and a jar of pizza sauce that expired in 2002. Let's not forget the huge jar of cherries that was 2 years old. SCARY!!!

Jessie

The Great Purge

2007-12-15T20:57:00.002-05:00

Since it snowed like crazy today and I didn't have anything else productive to do I decided to purge the house. I try to do this every year before Christmas. I figure that more stuff will come in due to excess gifting so I better get rid of things to make room for it. So this year I went crazy and really did some serious purging.

I ended up taking out 5 garbage bags of clothes, 2 bags of books and magazines, 2 garbage bag of random what the heck is this and why do I have it stuff and a bag of shoes, flip flops, purses, and hair stuff. Wahoo! There is room in my closets, my coffee table is clear and nothing falls out of the bathroom cabinet when I open it now! That's success!

Tommorow I'm going to purge the pantry and kitchen cabinets. Then I'm going to give the whole house a good cleaning. A little above and beyond the regular cleaning I do. I think there are some dust bunnies living on fans and behind furniture. So I need to evict them and freshen the place up a bit.

Good times!
Jessie

Sports Injury

2007-12-13T23:12:00.001-05:00

I have my first sports related injury. Tonight I was playing a rousing game of tennis with Darby and she whacked me in the arm with her Wii Remote! Talk about pain. But there is no gain without it. The adrenaline rush from the injury forced me to kick her ass! She had no chance of winning after that.

So tomorrow I'm going shopping for a helmet and body pads so I can be protected when I play with her. She is vicious! I may beat her at tennis but she gets even when it's time to golf. I can't golf at all so it's gauranteed that she will beat me everytime! I actually set a personal record at golf tonight with a +8!!! How pathetic is that!!! So sad.

All the ice melted here today. So no more wiping out in the parking lot at work or my driveway like I did earlier this week. That's good. But tomorrow we are supposed to get snow so I'm guessing by Saturday it will be yucky again. Gotta love winter weather.

Jess

Bad Boys Bad Boys

2007-12-12T23:29:00.001-05:00

I feel like I'm living in an episode of Cops. I spent half my day meeting with police officers about the identity theft crap. And I spent the other half of the day dealing with my bank and all the credit card companies. Fun times around here! While it's been a total pain in the ass I do feel like I'm making progress. Charges have been filed and it seems there is some really good evidence so hopefully they will be able to make the charges stick and really hold him accountable for all this.

I'm really impressed with how serious law enforcement takes identity theft. They have been so helpful in trying to correct this. They are getting me free copies of my credit reports, they have helped contact banks and credit card companies when I was hitting road blocks. They have just been very helpful and supportive. Impressive for small town cops!

So I'm off to sleep and hopefully in the morning I'll wake up to an uneventful day!!!

Jess

Identity Theft

2007-12-11T23:36:00.001-05:00

Well my identity has been stolen. And with my identity it appears that about $3200.00 has been stolen too. Luckily my credit card companies and my bank are good about fraud detection and noticed so I won't be charged for any of it. I guess they questioned me spending $300 at the apple store in the middle of the night. I don't seem like an apple store midnight shopper. They also questioned all the other crazy charges.

What's funny is that the person that stole my identity is my ex boyfriend. I guess there is always a reason they are the ex. He wasn't even sneaky about it. I ended up getting an email from one of the businesses that he was using my info at that had his email included in it. So it wasn't hard to figure out. What I can't figure out is how he got all my info. The real kicker is that he maxed out one card at $1300 so he paid it off with money from my checking account! Then he put another $1300 on the card before it got stopped. So the money will be returning to my account and the other charges are being credited also. The only way the credit card company will do that though is if I file a police report.

Due to the horrible weather here the police department won't take the report till morning which is fine by me. I'd like to go to bed soon. But after that they will just have to arrest him. I'm really not even mad. I'm really disappointed that he made these choices that are going to land him in jail. Stealing is just wrong. While I'm not mad yet I may be mad when the credit report I just ordered shows up. If he has done other things that aren't so easy to fix I'm going to be very upset. I work hard to maintain good credit so he better not jack that up.

Good times here!

Jessie

Ice Storm

2007-12-10T23:30:00.001-05:00

There is a big old ice storm a coming through. It's been raining and freezing like crazy. Not pretty. There are a lot of people already without power so I'm preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. I've got my flashlights and candles ready. I've got food and water and a good book. It's gonna be fine.

I've been watching the news too see if SRS will be closed tommorow. I'm crossing my fingers and toes. If SRS is closed then we can close our office which would make me a happy girl. I hate getting out in crummy weather. While I was watching all the closings roll across the screen I noticed that the Topeka Driving School is canceling there classes tomorrow. SHOCKING! Why would they even list that. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that if there is an inch of ice on the roads they aren't going to try and teach people how to drive. Fools!

Jessie

Pictures

2007-12-10T00:24:00.001-05:00

Today I tried to take Caden's Christmas pictures. Caden usually is one of the easiest kids to photograph. But today he wanted NONE of it. He just wanted to play and goof off. Which makes perfect sense because he is three and fun and who wants to mess with silly Christmas pictures when you can run really fast and chase cats and pretend you are superman...

So we ended up with a few cute pictures and quite a few Christmas card rejects. You can see the end results below. But most of all we had fun. Caden is turning into such a big boy. He was hilarious at lunch after the picture attempt. He talks so clearly now and he adores me which just makes my heart happy. If all else fails at least I have an adorable three year old as one of my biggest fans. It doesn't get much better than that.

So here are the pics... Enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Jessie

Hospital Horrors

2007-12-05T00:24:00.001-05:00

Today I woke up not feeling so great. I had a bad headache and just felt funny. I went to work and felt a little better briefly and then I felt pretty rotten. I guess I wasn't making much sense so my co-workers took me to the hospital. My blood sugar was really high so that explains it. They gave me a shot of insulin and I felt better almost immediately.

They had to run lab work which was good because they figured out I had an infection which is why my sugars are high. The bad part is that I think they sent the oldest lab tech in the world to do it. He was a pretty old guy and I think he must have failed the course several times. He ended up blowing out the vein in my left arm.

So now I have this huge red purple lump on my arm. It looks like a blood blister the size of a golf ball. It's throbbing like crazy. I ended up calling back up to the hospital and asking what to do about it because it keeps getting bigger. They said to just put ice on it and try not to bump it. Great advice. Try not to bump it. Like I wasn't trying to do that already!

I have to go back to my regular doctor tomorrow and have more lab work done and possibly get another insulin shot. Hopefully my antibiotics will kick in and my blood sugar will go down on it's own in the next couple days....

I'm sure this is going to cost me a small fortune. ER visits are never cheap. When I called back up there tonight about my arm I asked the nurse if you get the visit for free when you leave with an injury.... she didn't think that was so funny. I wasn't joking though. I think if they don't get the blood on the first try you should get the visit for free... Maybe when I'm boss of the world I'll start that program.

Jess

Wii Wonderful

2007-12-02T00:02:00.001-05:00

I'm loving my Nintendo Wii! I've been playing it a lot and it's so much fun. Tonight Heather and Darby came over and played it too. We laughed so hard. Heather is quite the tennis player and Darby kicked my butt at bowling. Unfortunately we all suck at baseball. And the really sad part is that we all will be hurting tomorrow. For a video game it sure takes it out of ya! I'm anxious to see how much weight I lose this week from playing that thing.

Tomorrow Shawn and Amanda move home. Good times. We have to unload everything of the moving truck tomorrow. YUCK! I love that they are moving home. I'm dreading the unloading. Hopefully it won't be raining the whole time.

Off to bed!

Jessie

Christmas Parade

2007-11-27T23:14:00.001-05:00

Tonight was the annual Christmas Parade here in town. I was really looking forward to going. I came home after work to change into warmer clothes and eat something before I went. Lena wanted to play so I stopped to play fetch with her and then we were playing on the couch. The next thing I knew I was waking up and it was 10:00. I fell asleep and slept through the parade!!!! I guess work wore me out today!

So now that it's time for me to go to bed I am wide awake. That's a bad deal. I guess I'll surf the net for awhile and do some house work and maybe I'll be able to fall asleep again later....

Jessie

Addictions

2007-11-25T23:31:00.001-05:00

I have to admit that I have a few addictions. Darby calls me on it from time to time so I guess I'll just admit it to the world.

My first big addiction is playing tetris on my phone. I seriously play all the time! I play so much I have to charge my cell phone two to three times a day. I also play so much that two of the keys on my RAZR are coming off because they are the ones I use the most. That fast drop key is almost gone completely. Pretty bad that I will have to get a new phone because of it.

I think now the tetris thing has become a comfort thing. I used to tear up paper during meetings as a way to keep my hands busy. Now I put my phone on silent and play. I also play when I'm watching tv which really drives Darby nuts. So tetris is a bad deal for me.

My other addiction is all Darby's fault. She is the one that told me about bidz.com and got me hooked. If you haven't gone to bidz yet you should proceed with caution. Once you start it's very hard to stop. But I've gotten a ton of jewlery cheap because of it. In fact I have enough jewlery being shipped to me I could probably open my own jewlery store. Pathetic but oh so true...

Jess

Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T21:03:00.002-05:00

Wow Thanksgiving was great this year. On Thursday, Heather and I went to have Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family and we had a wonderful time. We played a game called Fact or Crap and we laughed like crazy. Fun game but lots of crap! :-) The family time was fun and I was ready for some laughing so that made me very thankful!

Friday I headed to Tulsa for Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family. Again I had a wonderful time. The food was amazing the family was great and I did lots more laughing. I already posted about the fun with Parker. Well there was fun to be had with lots of people, not just the Amazing PMan. My cousin Todd and his wife Sara were able to come in from Chicago. Their little boy Elliot is just adorable and his sister Evelyn so "pretty". She has great self esteem for a 2 year old. This was the first time I've seen Elliot in person and he is 10 months now. He looks just like his Daddy.

I really had a great time with my family. It's very hard for me to leave them. I cried when I left today and I cried when they called to check on me as I was driving home. I just love them so much. What is really great is that when I am with them I feel like my mom is around a little bit. It's funny how much I crave being with them because I feel her but then leaving them makes me miss her more. It's just hard to love so much because then the leaving is hard. But it won't be long till I'll see them again.

Here are some pics I got over the weekend. Too many cute kids. I'm so hoping that next year I'll have a little one to have pictures of too. I can't wait for my baby to meet all my family. Whatever baby I get will be so loved.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Parker's Post

2007-11-24T19:57:00.001-05:00

Parker has to be one of the most amazing young men I have ever met. And luckily he happens to be my relative! I'm a lucky girl. His birthday was on Thanksgiving this year and what is really strange is that ever year I get more and more thankful for him!

Last night Parker really wanted me to stay the night at his house. He wanted me to be his "guest"! He is absolutely the best host in the world. Parker informed me as soon as I got to his house that I could do anything I wanted and have anything I wanted. I think I'm going back to his house often. It's pretty rare when I get everything I want! So since I got to do anything I wanted I became addicted to his Nintendo Wii and played that for hours! I also got to have as many kool-aid jammers as I wanted. Needless to say I barely had one finished when Parker would bring my next one. I had a lot to drink!

Parker not only kept me fed and watered but he also provided hours of entertainment and he let me be a part of his movie making ventures. If he ever gets on the big screen I hope he remembers me and sends me some money or some kool-aid jammers.

I promised Parker that he would end up on the blog. So here is some video of his crazy robot dancing. I love you Parker boy!!!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Catch Up

2007-11-24T19:13:00.001-05:00

Wow it's been a week since I've blogged. I'm bad! Yes I've gotten your phone calls and emails. I'm not dead, I'm just really busy and blogging has gone to the bottom of the to do list. But I promise I will get caught up this weekend. I took lots of fun pictures at Thanksgiving and have some stories to tell so I will get caught up!

I haven't posted the Blogging Biggest Loser results and I get a big BOO for that. But the most important thing to know is that Natalie is the Biggest Loser of the whole sheebang and the biggest loser of the week with another pound lost. That puts her at 15 pounds lost so far! GO MISS NATALIE!!!! Please give her visit and a big congrats on all her hard work!

Okay I've got pictures to sort through and edit and then I'll get more up!

Jessie

Wacky Week

2007-11-17T21:14:00.001-05:00

What a wacked out week. It has flown by and I feel like I've gotten nothing accomplished. It's been pure chaos at the office and I'm working all weekend so no break until Turkey Day. That sucks but it will make Thursday feel wonderful!

I honestly feel like my brain is fried and I can't even think of anything to blog about.....

8 Random Things

2007-11-13T20:05:00.001-05:00

Good old Natalie tagged me for this meme.

Now….here’s the rules. When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to eight other people. It’s fun. Give it a shot. It's also a great way to get to know other bloggers.

1. I didn't learn to ride my bike without training wheels till I was like 12 years old. Lame I know. I hate bikes! Mainly I hate falling off the bikes, hence the training wheels.

2. I can't whistle. When I was a child I used to make the "whoot whoot" sound to mimick a whistle. Again lame but at least I was creative.

3. For some reason any plant that I put in my office at work dies. Right now I have a pot of dirt with sticks poking out of it as all the leaves have died.

4. I want to live in Alaska for a brief period of time before I die. Not a long time just awhile.

5. There is only one brand of underwear that I like. I'm not telling you what kind but I'm picking about panties.

6. I don't like staying the night at other people's houses. I'll do it but I would much rather be at my own house or a hotel. I just feel funny about being in people's space.

7. I haven't been on a date in so long! I was thinking about this the other day and it's really depressing! So if you know any single, employed, non alcoholic, kind, christian men that don't have a criminal record send them my way.

8. This is crazy but on my list of 100 things to do before I die I have run a marathon written on it. What's so funny about that is that I'm a fat kid that hates running. For some reason I think I want to run the marathon but not have to train or move from my couch.... is that possible.

So that's my 8 random things. I'm not gonna pick 8 people to do this. If you read this and want to do it leave me a comment and I'll link to ya.

Jessie

Vacation Over

2007-11-12T23:44:00.001-05:00

My time off work has come to an end! It was hard to go back to the office today but I survived. I have so much to get caught up on. I love getting time off but hate the going back. My desk gets scary when I'm away!

Tonight I worked late, Shocking I know. Then I came home and watched a weeks worth of Days of Our Lives that I had on the DVR. I don't ever watch the whole episodes. I probably watch about 20 minutes of an hour show. I fast forward through the people I don't like. I know that's bad but why waste time on folks and stories you don't like. I just stick with the good parts and skip the rest.

While I was watching my soap I guess Lena got bored. She chewed all the way through my cell phone charger cable. Not a good deal! That dog kills me. She is almost 2 years old yet she still acts like a puppy. I just don't understand it!

Google That

2007-11-11T23:46:00.001-05:00

Tonight I was checking my visit stats. I always like to look to see how people find my blog. Today someone found my blog by googling "Darby's Boobs". That's hilarious to me!!!! Darby is my best friend and I actually did a post about some guy staring at her boobs and that led someone to my blog. Too funny! So Darby your boobs may make us famous some day or at least it will bring more visits to my blog! I knew I loved you for a lot of reasons. Had no idea your boobs were one of them. :-)

Jess

GARTH GARTH GARTH

2007-11-09T11:51:00.002-05:00

This week is Garth Fest in my little world. Went to the show on Wednesday night with Aunt Betty and we were so close to the stage! I've never been that close in my life. We were in the third row and could see EVERYTHING! I loved the concert. He played for 2 hours and 15 minutes and was amazing the entire time. I can't believe he can play that long and be so high energy but he pulls it off. We didn't sit down or stop screaming the entire show. My ears and throat still hurt and it's time to do it again tonight! I'm so psyched. Betty, Donna, Darby and I are going to tonights show. I have a feeling it will be just as good.

Jessie

Mom's Birthday

2007-11-09T11:45:00.001-05:00

My Mom's Birthday was on Wednesday. The picture above was from her birthday three years ago. It's the last birthday she had here on earth. Last year to celebrate Heather and I took balloons to the Cancer Center and handed them out the to patients receiving chemo that day. This year Heather and I couldn't be together so I just went to the cancer center alone. There were only 9 people there this time but I gave them all balloons and they really got a kick out of it. I had fun doing it too. It's such a nice way to be able to do something in memory of mom and also make others feel a little better. So happy second birthday in heaven mom!

Jessie

African Footprint

2007-11-09T11:31:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday night my friend Molly and I drove 2 hours to see African Footprint perform. It was totally worth the drive! I was so impressed. African footprint is a group from South African and they are so talented and entertaining. You really need to visit their website and see where they are touring. If there is a show anywhere close to where you live you just must go! I LOVED IT!!!!

If anyone in my family is reading this and still hasn't gotten me a Christmas present I would love to have the African Footprint CD! The show was a great mix of singing and dancing and I loved the music. I'd like to be able to listen to it whenever I want. The thing I love about African music is that it's so fast paced and it just makes ya happy inside. I don't know if it's the drums or what but I love it.

Jessie

Blogging Biggest Loser Week Eight

2007-11-09T11:27:00.001-05:00

Wow time is flying by! We are already to week eight of the blogging biggest loser competition! Miss Natalie is our biggest loser again this week. Natalie is rocking it out! She lost another 2 pounds. I'm impressed!

We also added another member this week. So welcome to Darby. She started off with a 1 1/2 pound loss so that rocks too!

Hope you all have another great week!

Jessie

Today

2007-11-06T10:41:00.001-05:00

Today is weigh in day so don't forget to let me know your gains or losses for the blogging biggest loser competition. I for sure won't get the totals up tonight. I have a busy day at work and then tonight I am going out with a friend and won't get home till late. We are going to an African dance show so it should be fun but it's a couple hours away so it will be a late night. But starting tomorrow I"m on vacation so that rocks!

Jess

Confession

2007-11-03T19:06:00.001-05:00

I have a confession to make. I can't believe I'm going to admit this to the world. It's been my dirty little secret for quite awhile now. But I'm obsessed with Dog The Bounty Hunter. I've been watching his show for years. I DVR every episode. It's not so much Dog that I love but his oldest son Duane Lee. I have a secret wish that Duane Lee will fall in love with me through the screen and come and sweep me away from the plains of Kansas and love me Hawaiian style for the rest of my life. So I watch and I wait and I love that they kick ass and take names. And I dream of having my own sand bag shooting gun and pepper spray foam. It's sick and lame but it's the truth.

And now Dog has ruined my dream. He went and made all those racist comments to his stupid son Tucker and now the show is canceled. And too top it off he is a racist and that is never cool. So now I'm sad and my dream is ruined. Who will I love on TV now. Who will sweep me away. Who will pepper spray people and catch the bad guys? Dang it Dog what were you thinking. Didn't he know I needed Duane Lee. Didn't he know that the whole world is watching and now he looks like a total jack ass! Hasn't he heard of Imus????

So that's my sick confession. I'll keep watching the repeats and praying that Duane Lee will come find me...

Jessie