March For Babies

I've signed up to walk the 5 miles again this year to raise money for premature babies. Last year it was called WalkAmerica. This year it's March for Babies. This is something really important for me, having lost premature twins. If anyone would like to donate, I would greatly appreciate it. Click on the link to be directed to my website. Maybe some of y'all might join me in this walk. Thank you all in advance.

Did I mention???

We bought a new car? I know I mentioned the Lincoln...promptly named Lizzie. But we also won a '90 GMC Suburban off eBay. A local seller that had it less than a mile from Jimmy's work. So now we have two vehicles that will seat all 6 of us, plus money left in the bank to allow us to take the kids to Tennessee for Spring Break. We're going to see my in-laws. I cannot wait! We haven't picked a name for the Suburb yet...though I think it might be named the Suburb since that's what we've been calling her. LOL

I'm so not used to driving either yet. Well I haven't driven the suburb yet. But I drove Lizzie downtown last week because Jackson had an appointment. And let me tell you....me, Lizzie and the Rutledge parking garage do NOT get along. My arse was clenched so tight, I was so nervous I was going to hit something...I drove to the top floor so I'd know I could get in and out easily enough. LOL I was going around the corners when other cars were coming that freaked me out. I am so not used to long front ends anymore. LOL

I kinda took on another tentative job. One of Jay's friends...his mom needed a sitter for her two younger ones. Her daughter is the same age as Korinne and her youngest son is the same age as Jackson. So they all have someone their age to play with. I've watched them twice so far and it's been easy. Her job is flexible so we've got it worked out that when Jackson has an appointment, she'll take the time off and watch Korinne for me. Plus she has an acquaintance that has a catering company and on Mondays always has leftover stuff. She gives it to my friend, who splits it with me. I had so much fruit this week, I sent a lot with Jimmy to work. But I have to admit, it's nice having a fridge full of delicious and healthy snacks. LOL

I'm long winded. I've been so busy I haven't posted in almost a month. It's all catching up with me. LOL I'm done now. My fingers are starting to hurt. LOL

People amuse me

Seriously. LOL I've been working at a grocery store 5 minutes away since just before Jimmy had his surgery in October. Just when I think I've seen it all, here comes this woman tonight. She comes to my register already belligerent. As I'm ringing up her items, she's commenting on how such and such is buy one get one free, how such and such it reduced price. She says every time she comes in she goes home with her receipt and realizes she was charged for something she shouldn't have been charged for. So she says, "I'm not paying for anything until we go over the receipt." Patiently, I attempt to go over the receipt with her. This week, our Lays chips are BOGO. She's purchased a bag of Lays and a bag of Ruffles. She insists the Ruffles are BOGO also. So I tell her I'd go check. On the way to the chip aisle, I grab our assistant manager for a witness. No, the Ruffles were not BOGO. They happened to be placed beside the Lays, which clearly say BOGO...the Ruffles did not. Then we have select varieties of the HungryMan meals BOGO with a limit of 2. She's purchased 6. She argues that she should have gotten 3 free. It upsets her more when I point out the sale paper says a limit of 2. So she grabs two and tells me to void them, which I do. At this point customers behind her move to a different register and start complaining loudly about her. She glares at them and says, "If they would get their prices right, I wouldn't be holding up the line." The other customer retorts, "If you paid more attention to the sale paper and the tags on the shelves, the line wouldn't be held up." Of course this pissed her off more. She tells my assistant manager that last Wednesday (which is when our new sales begin) that she bought Ruffles and they were BOGO. She said, "I can bring the receipt and show you." To which the AM says, "Ok, please do." Of course that pisses her off more. She demands the district headquarters number.

After her receipt finishes printing, I circled the toll free number for her then cheerfully told her to have a nice day. If looks could kill, I'd be dead thrice over. LOL She came back in a few minutes later and caught the manager. She was complaining that when I voided the two Hungryman dinners, she only got one for free...remember...it said select varieties. Our shelves are clearly marked which ones are BOGO. I went and checked. So to appease her, he refunded her the money for one of them. As she left, I again cheerfully told her to have a nice evening...pissing her off even more. A few minutes later, here she is again, assaulting the manager about the chips. He patiently explains to her that neither the AM nor I did anything wrong and that her receipt is correct. Again, as she leaves I give her a cheerful farewell. LOL She comes in AGAIN a few minutes later to get the district number. Again she recieves a cheerful farewell.

I do not do well with people in my face cussing at me or having an attitude. But I realized quickly that I could piss her off more by being so nice and professional than I could losing my temper as well as my job. LOL That was really fun! LOL Oh and get this....she calls later in the evening yelling at a co-worker to get the district's number. LOL

Seriously...isn't it easier to catch flies with honey? This woman was maybe early 50s....completely showing her ass....and ended up looking like a fool to the other customers. She told the manager that she shops there all the time, yet those of us working, who are there at any given time during the week have never seen her. I'd love for her to bring in her last receipt. I guarantee it'll be before Wednesday of last week. Cause I know the Ruffles were not on sale after Wednesday. How do I know? I not only work there, I shop there. I take advantage of the BOGOs....but I tend to pay attention to what's really BOGO. LOL

On another note, our store has been asking for donations for Easter Seals for about a month or so. Easter Seals is a charity that helps disabled children in Charleston. I've been the top seller since it began. I don't know why, but I have. Maybe because a lot of my customers are regulars and have heard a little about Jackson's problems. Well tonight when I walked in a co-worker told me that now that I was there, a competition begins. The first person to sell 30 cards for donation will recieve $20 out of the AM's pocket. I was there 20 minutes when I said, "I'm halfway there, Old Man!" LOL Of course, I won the $20. In the end from the time I clocked in to the time I clocked out, I sold 65 cards. That keeps me as the top seller since we began selling them. And I'm only there for 4 1/2 hours a few nights a week. We raised a lot of money for Easter Seals and that makes me happy. I'm so grateful for all the help Jackson has recieved that I'm an advocate for others to help.

News

We bought a car today. YAY! A '91 Lincoln Towncar. It's in emmaculate condition. One owner, garage kept, has only 103k miles on it. Runs awesome, according to Jimmy...and he works on cars for a living. LOL Its something we can use until we find what we really want.

In the meantime, I made a drastic change in my hair. It was long enough to reach my bra strap in the back. I chopped it off and dyed it darker. See below pic. LOL It's not very flattering. I'm not photogenic. LOL

I do it!

I just love that stage when toddlers insist on doing everything themselves. Jackson has reached that stage. It doesn't matter what it is. I hear, "I do it!" It's escalated to my favorite chore...vacuuming. LOL Yesterday morning, after cleaning up the numerous toys that accumulate all over the living room, I pulled out the vacuum. The first "I do it" was unraveling the cord. Then it was plugging it in, which he does with me standing beside him. Then it was turning the vacuum on. Finally the "I do it" was the actual vacuuming. LOL It's so cute watching a 2 year old trying to vacuum. I just had to whip out the camera for a pic. And he even grinned! LOL I love a man that cleans.

Shopping around

That's right. We're shopping around for a vehicle. This weekend is crunch time. Jimmy wants to find something that we can share to just get back and forth to work. I want to find something that seats 6 so we don't have to give up our family times on the weekends. We were lucky enough that our settlement check from the insurance company was $6700 after our deductible. That gives us more options. The check should clear tomorrow. My bank put a 5 day hold on it because it was a check over 5 grand. We really cannot afford the rental car any longer than Monday. (I didn't have rental coverage on my insurance.) Luckily, where Jimmy works has a rental company in the office so they've given us a tremendous discount on the van we've rented. We have a few things we're looking at that hopefully one will pan out for us. So wish us luck!

Lucy Blus pics

I feel so lucky. Looking at the pics Jimmy took and even seeing her in person, I wonder how I walked away without a scratch and not having my air bags deploy. For those that live nearby, this happened on I526, at the beginning of the guard rail AFTER crossing the Ashley River Bridge. The guardrail that starts until the first Ashley River Road exit. Here are some pics of my belived Lucy Blue. When we drove by the site this afternoon, Jimmy was impressed that I kept the van in a straight skid. Appparently, about three hours after my accident, another van had an accident in the same area, only that van flipped over. He could see additional skid marks. I know mine was straight across. I didn't weave in and out anywhere. My marks were much deeper and he could see where I went and where the other van went. I'm so thankful that my kids weren't with me, and also thankful I walked away only shaken.

This is Lucy Blue when we first got her.

This is Lucy Blue Thursday morning.

Lucy Blue Thursday morning.

Lucy Blue is no more. :(

That's right. My Lucy Blue is no more. I totalled my van today. The entire front driver's side wheel flew off. Not the tire, the whole damn wheel. It went one way, I went another. I hit the brakes and was pulling off the road. Slid in the shoulder and hit the guardrail head on then swung around into the side of the road. I was shaking so bad when I got out of the van I couldn't even stand. A car that had been directly behind me pulled over. I called Jimmy and one of them called the police. They waited with me calming me down until the first officer took their information. Thank you to those two wonderful women. I really think had I been alone on the side of the road I'd have been more of a wreck than I was. Well City of Charleston showed up to write out the report. I was given a ticket for too fast for conditions. Though the officer told me that when I show up for court it will be dismissed. He said it's policy that when there's an accident a ticket has to be written. I won't say what my FIL (retired deputy sheriff) said when I called and told him about it. EMS showed up even though I'd denied medical assistance. The one that showed up said they had driven by going the other way and turned around to make sure I was unhurt. I thought that was very nice of the EMS workers to stop without being called just to make sure I was ok. Trust me when I say I'm lucky I wasn't hurt. The van looks THAT bad. I hit the guardrail so hard the back suspension broke.

Well Jimmy was home with the kids. I was by myself thank goodness. And if by some miracle none of you happened to drive by today, I was lucky I wasn't hurt and even more lucky it happened where it did and not while I was on the bridge. I have a real fear of going over the side of the bridge. Anyway, Jimmy called one of his bosses to have a tow truck come get the van and take it to their work. He told me to just ride with the tow truck driver and get a rental car when I got there. However, when I was getting my purse and stuff out of the van, one of Jimmy's co-workers pulled over. He'd seen me and the van on the side so he turned around and came back. When the tow truck driver showed up, he pulled in too far and got himself stuck so he had to call another driver to get him and my van. LOL

I have a rental for a few days until we can figure out what to do. When I went to the store I work at tonight to pick up a couple items, one of my friends says, "Hi honey how are you feeling?" I said, "I'm fine." She said she'd heard about the accident. I said, "How on Earth did y'all hear about it? I haven't talked to anyone." LOL Apparently one of the kids I work with drove by on his way to school today and told the other kids I work with then told the people I work with. Funny how news travels that fast huh? LOL

Anyway, I'm unhurt though a little sore. I'm sure it'll catch up with me soon. Thankfully, Jimmy still has some painkillers from his surgery in October. Time to find another van. I liked Lucy Blue. I'm sad I have to find another van.

Report Cards...

I got Justin's report card today. He's making almost all As. His one B is in Social Studies. But this is what his teacher wrote in the comments section..."Justin is enthusiastic about participating. He catches on quickly to everything we do. It is wonderful that he made SAIL for next year. I am so very proud of him. This is quite an accomplishment, especially for someone who skipped first grade! :)" SAIL is the gifted and talented program. They tested all the 2nd graders and from what Justin told me, only three 2nd graders made it. He was the only one in his class. I am so proud of him! Not only did he skip a grade but next year, he'll be in the gifted and talented program. The best part, is he is so excited about it.

Jay's report card will be mailed out tomorrow.

Sick Jackson

It's that time again. Time for Jackson to get all sick on us, worry us, then run around like he's the picture of health. LOL

He started running a fever yesterday, nothing to worry about. But his breathing was awful! He was wheezing so bad and the nebulizer didn't seem to be helping too much. So this morning, off to the doctor we went. They gave him another breathing treatment then sent us for a chest xray to rule out pneumonia. There was no school today so I had all four with me! Talk about stressful. The xray technician gave me a hug and told me it would be better soon. Jackson xrays came back clear thankfully. But he was still in a clingy mood today. You can tell he's sick cause his eyes are all puffy looking. But he's running around all happy.

I hope he's better tomorrow. I do not like when he's sick. Of course, now Jimmy and I are both coming down with something. It's only a matter of time before it hits the rest of the kids.

Freedom of speech...

This morning, Jackson had a doctor's appointment. After his appointment, I had to go to my bank to withdraw money to put in Dh's bank for our van payment. On the way to Dh's bank, I was stopped at an intersection. On my left there was a man holding a banner that said, "Hillary's Holocaust." On my right was a man holding a banner that originally said Hitler's Holocaust, but there was a sticker with Hillary's name in the spot not quite blocking Hitler. To my upper right was another man holding banners with Hillary's Holocaust displayed, as well as pictures of aborted babies. One pic at 23 weeks...the age I lost my twins. The other at 30 weeks.

I'm all for freedom of speech and all that, but this was so upsetting and disturbing to me on so many levels. I was so glad that the children I had with me don't pay enough attention outside of the van. Had my older two been with us, they would have seen and asked questions, especially about the babies. I'm glad they weren't with me because the pic of the aborted 23 week gestated baby looked nothing like the babies I gave birth to.

At what point do you think freedom of speech is going too far? And why?

Just because

Justin had his first basketball game tonight. Because the kids are all 7-8 they don't technically keep score. The kids do though. LOL Justin team is sponsored by Coastal Burgler Alarm. My son is a Burgler! LOL Anyway, he had his first game tonight and his team won 10-6. There are some good players on his team.

Below are some pics...

Korinne in her cheerleading uniform

Jackson trying to get the camera at the game.

Justin's the one that looks like he holding his shorts up. LOL

Happy New Year!!!!!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I had to work last night...scheduled for 6:30-11:00. However a co-worker wanted to switch with me to work in my place. Far be it for me to say no. LOL I ended up being able to go home at 9:30. So Jimmy and I were able to spend time together ringing in the new year.

This morning, he had to go in to work for a few hours, so the kids and I joined him. I cooked breakfast in the break room. We left just before noon. After lunch and Jackson's nap, we loaded up and headed to the West Ashley Park. We were going to attempt catching minnows for fishing since it was too windy to fish. But the park gates were closed. We know there are other fishing places that we can take the kids to, but we just can't seem to find them. Other than state parks or whatever, we can't find other public access places. So we came home instead and cooked.

Speaking of cooking, no we did not have collards and black eyed peas. EW! We had fried chicken, homemade mashed taters and lima beans. Oh it was DELISH!

Saturday, after budgeting the money, we decided to rent a couple of movies. One of the girls working there likes me and always deletes any late charge we have. I went in fully expecting to pay the charges we had, which I estimated to be almost 20 bucks. When we got there, Korinne slipped getting out of the van and scraped her knee. When we walked in, my girl had just answered the phone, put it on hold and asked her co-worker where a certain movie would be. I automatically said comedy, then showed her where it was. LOL Then the girl found Korinne a bandaid and made her feel better. After picking the two movies we rented, we went to pay for it. I brought up the late charges and she said, "Oh I took care of it." That was so nice! I think these people recognize me and know I'm in there enough that I'm not going to just stiff the company with a bill. Cause she's the third person that regularly does that for me.

Anyway, this evening, Jimmy decided he wanted to move one of the bookshelves from the dining room into our bedroom. So I unload the one with the DVDs and the kids books and place everything in stacks. We move that one unto our bedroom. Then we unload the other bookshelf filled with ves of my books (double or triple rowed each) and 1 shelf of his books. The kids are moving my books to the room. When I dare look in there, I see all my books in piles...not neatly stacked like I did their books. I almost had a heart attack! LOL Though when I did go in the room, Jimmy was halfway putting my books on the bookshelf. Just my books are on it now. A 5 chelf book case and some shelves are double rowed. LOL

My dining room is still in disarray but at least the books and DVDs are back on the book case. The rest of the stuff that had been stored behind the book cases needs to be put up. The speech therapist is coming over tomorrow but I'm not gonna stress over how that area looks.

I finally converted Jackson's bed into a toddler bed. Okay all I had to do was take off the side that moved up and down. He wouldn't nap in it today...insisted on napping in my bed with me. But tonight when he told me he was ready for nite-nite, I put him in bed, tucked him in and put a baby gate at the door. He's been in bed since. I figured it was really time to take the side off since he climbed over it all the time, it wasn't doing any good. LOL He looks so small in the bed now that the side is gone. He's getting so grown. :(

So sad!

Yesterday, we decided to take a trip to the Hatchery in Moncks Corner. What we saw was completely depressing. We took the kids fishing there last year and it was such fun. When we went over the summer, the water level had dropped a couple of feet but was still fishable. This. This was just devestating! There's no way to fish now. Boats can no longer enjoy a ride through the lake...not that that mattered to me since we have no boat. LOL

Here are some pics I took...

We used to stand by the tree closest to the water on the left.

A view from the boat ramp...that is blocked off now. We're actually walking where the lake should be. A tree or something, that used to be under water. A dead snake I almost stepped on. I didn't realize it was dead until after I screamed and ran. LOL It was curled when I almost stepped on it. Jimmy said it was a water mocassin.

Grrrrrr

There went my goal of posting every day this month. Something happened to my computer yesterday. I have no idea what. I was online in the morning, logged off to watch The Nanny Diaries. (Loved the movie, by the way.) I looked over at one point and saw my screensaver on. When the movie was finished, the monitor was black, like the computer had been turned off. So I turned it back on. However Windows wouldn't load. No matter what I did. I called my computer guy and left a message.

So I plugged in our other computer, but it couldn't detect my cable modem. I talked to my computer guy this morning and we went through all kinds of things on the first computer to get Windows to load. No luck. So next time he's down here (he lives in Columbia) he'll take the computer back with him and fix it. So he tried helping me get my comcast to work on computer 2. No luck there.

I called Comcast and after talking to three different people and being on hold collectively for 30 minutes, I was told all I had to do was hit the reset button on the modem. I didn't see a reset button. It was so small and I had to use a safety pin to hit it. Obviously, it worked! LOL I'm back online. I can now breath a sigh of relief. LOL

Busy day

Today was laundry day this week due to the Holidays. LOL Also had to pay bills. That's always a chore itself. The kids were all good for a change. Jackson insisted on napping with Korinne and me. So we all snuggled together in my bed. I had to go back to work tonight. But time seemed to fly. Now here I am, everyone else is passed out and I'm trying to wind down. That's about it for me today.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I had such a wonderful day! I cooked my first ham...ever. I cooked it in my electric oven roaster I bought just before Thanksgiving. It turned out awesome! I didn't do anything to it, no glaze or anything. Just stuck it in the roaster. We also cooked a whole chicken, homemade mac and cheese, homemade mashed taters, corn on the cob and rolls. Oh it was delish!

We went no where! Not one outing. That was awesome. LOL My sister, brother and my sister's kids came over this evening. We called our Dad together. My house is now more trashed than it was. LOL But I have all four kids home this week, so guess who will be cleaning while I'm doing laundry tomorrow. LOL

The kids LOVED their MP3 players and digicams. They've been walking around half the day either listening to the music they picked, or taking pictures. LOL

Me? I've been enjoying my new digicam. Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure...

Dusk shot, just to see how the camera worked. From left to right...Justin, nephew Ronnie, nephew Alex, Korinne, Jackson, brother Billy, nephew Christopher, Jay Jackson playing with Justin's Flywheel, with Jimmy in the background peeling potatoes. Me and Jackson last night after I took my contacts out. LOL

New Digicam!

I got a new digicam today. My old one somehow got moisture under the lens. So the pics were all funny looking. I got a Nikon Coolpix. Here are some pics I took this evening...

Jackson with Jay in the background

Korinne with parts of Jackson Jimmy and the three older ones...Jackson was in bed. Jay giving a real smile. LOL

Free ham

Did I mention I got a free 10 lb ham yesterday? During our second trip to the store for ingredients needed for all the stuff I cooked, I was behind this man buying over $777 worth of ham for his employees. After he finished paying, he asked if the bagger could help him load the ham into his truck. Said he was going to pull his truck up front. So I told Jay to help him since I could see his truck and see Jay. We pay for our items and go outside to help also. When I pick up the last ham (he had 4 carts full) to hand it to him, he said, "It's yours." I protested. And he said, "I always buy extra just in case. You and your kids helped me with the ham. You keep it." I didn't catch his name but he had on a shirt with the name Lawn-O-Green, Inc. So thank you to the man that gave us a ham.

I don't even know how to cook a ham. But I'll figure it out. LOL I'm searching for how to cook it in an electric oven roaster. So if anyone has any tips, please share them with me by Monday night. LOL Thanks in advance.

Are you kidding me?!

I came across this article about a 60 year old man that works for Reader's Digest suing an 8 year old boy for a ski collision. I just recently bought a subscription to Reader's Digest and if this asinine lawsuit continues, I will most definitely cancel the subscription. This is just ridiculous!