Next month we'll be attending a First Holy Communion ceremony for a friend's daughter. I can remember last year around this time when we attended Kaitlyn's First Communion as well. I need to get to the store that sells catholic gifts. I plan on getting her a gift much like the one I got Kaitlyn - a necklace with a crucifix on it. What I loved about it was the fact that it was a child's necklace, so I didn't have to worry about the chain being too long. It was the perfect size.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
My transcription and recruiting responsibilities have increased this week and thus have been running ragged. Because of all of the extra typing, my carpal tunnel has flared up a bit. I am supposed to be wearing wrist braces when I type but I find them to be uncomfortable. I wore them all the time last year when I typed and they really helped a lot, my pain lessened, and so I stopped using them. Well, since it's been a busy week on the computer, I started wearing them again and they've really helped. I guess I shouldn't have stopped using them in the first place.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
My sister and her family recently took a Florida vacation. They did the whole Disney World thing and rented a vacation home in Orlando. They had a great time and the weather was perfect. The home that they stayed at had a pool in the backyard and it was heated so my niece loved to swim in the evening after being at Disney World during the day. I was really surprised at how much she told me she saved by renting the home instead of staying at the hotel. They had stayed at a hotel before and it cost them an arm and a leg. This time around, since they saved so much money with the rental, they're planning another trip this summer! I'm tellin' ya...renting is the way to go!
There have been so many pictures plastered all over the net of Courtney Love in a bikini looking better than ever. Supposedly she had lost 52 pounds by watching what she eats and exercising. She lost all that weight in just four months? Personally I think she had some help in that department, either some kind of surgery or some kind of Ephedra product is my guess. At any rate, she does look pretty good!
Friday, April 20, 2007
Before I decided to stay home with the kiddos, I worked for a company that sold Funeral Insurance. Morbid? Not really. It makes sense. I wore many hats in that company - from customer service, to marketing, to claims. I can't tell you how many families I have talked to who were so grateful that their loved one took out this policy to pay for their funeral. Otherwise, they don't know how it would have gotten paid for. Just a thought....
Thursday, April 19, 2007
What a crazy week it's been. I've been inundated with my transcription work and my recruiting has picked up again. There are times when I feel I'm at wit's end but will usually take a deep breath, take a swig of alcohol (no, I'm just kidding!), and relax. There are times I just need to walk away from my desk, sit on the couch for five minutes, channel surf on the TV, and then I'm all better. I've been doing my walks at night, but this morning I decided to do it this morning and let me tell you, it's a nice way to start off your morning. It gave me time to think about my game plan for the day and listen to my own music and not some of the garbage that Brandon listens to while we're in the van. Heh, I'm turning into my Mom - LOL. Speaking of Moms...it's her birthday tomorrow and the whole family will be going over to my parents' house for dinner. So, a lot of laughing, loudness, and karaoke goin' on tomorrow night. Yup - we're karaoke fools. Hey, even Bryan has made a stab at it too..and that is definitely a sight to see!!
Friday, April 13, 2007
Our big vacation this year is our annual trip to Rocky Point, Mexico but the kids seriously keep bugging us about Disney World. It is so expensive as far as airfare is concerned - especially that we are a family of 5 as well. An Orlando vacation home is the way to go. You don't have to worry about eating out at every meal while you're on vacation, and it's much more relaxing than staying in a hotel. You save a considerable amount of money staying in a vacation home than you would in a hotel as well. We need to start saving now if we're going to end up going to Florida in the next year or so!
I know that's not really big news to most of you, but here in AZ, it is. The temperature actually dropped to about 50 degrees and we had some pretty gusty winds as well. Earlier in the week we were boasting temperatures in the 80's so for it to drop that much was quite a shocker to us Zonies! We're back on track though, it's a nice sunny day out and 70 degrees!! Gonna take my walk in a few.
Now that our kids are older, we have been slowly revamping the furniture in our home. We have a really nice sectional that we bought a couple of years ago and unbelievably it is still in good shape. The kids really adhere to the rule of no drinking or eating on the couch. Now I'm looking for some quality furniture - maybe a leather recliner or something like that. Obviously, the better quality, the longer it lasts. For example, north carolina furniture has a reputation of being top quality, so I'd like to see what they have to offer.
Madelyn has a play date this evening with one of her friends from class. She has been so excited about this - we actually had to schedule it about two weeks in advance since our calendar fills up quite quickly. I hate to admit it, but it was also a great bribing tool - there were times that she was getting a little bit whiny and I told her that she needed to stop or risk not being able to go over to Marah's house. Am I a bad Mommy or what??? LOL.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
It's amazing to me how there has been so much press coverage on the whole Anna Nicole Smith story and the paternal parentage of little Dannielynn. Luckily through DNA, they were able to prove 99.9% that Larry Birkhead is the father. I think everyone already knew what the outcome of that case was going to be, and I'm glad that Howard K. Stern is stepping aside and not going to fight Larry Birkhead for custody. I think the only thing that Larry Birkhead needs to worry about is Virgie Arthur.
Today was somewhat of a cleaning day for me. I did as much as I could and of course I didn't get to everything I wanted to. One of the things on my list was to tackle the Blinds. It's one task that I'm not particularly fond of - especially since I have allergies. What is it with blinds that attract dust so much? We have faux wood blinds in our home and supposedly they said that it's easier to clean those but seriously, I've had both wood and faux in my home and they're both equally hard to clean. I thought about maybe changing some of the Blinds to Roman Blinds, but Bryan pretty much nixed that idea real quick. Okay, anyone got any ideas out there?
*This is a sponsored post.*
*This is a sponsored post.*
It was nice and quiet over here at our house. We headed over to my parents' house for dinner and that was about it. Well, of course we did the whole church thing too - Brandon was the altar boy at Mass. We didn't get to color Easter eggs this year...the girls were kind of bummed but we headed over to Bryan's aunt and uncle's house for her 65th birthday and they had a shrimp boil...Yum!! It was sooo good. I think I ate enough shrimp to last me a while..lol.
Friday, April 06, 2007
I recently read an article on Diet Comparison and it's interesting how some diets work for some and not for others. For instance, I did try the Atkins Diet a few years back but could not handle it even for the first three days. I had major headaches and got lightheaded from it. I have friends who have been on it and lost quite a bit of weight from it (but they gained it all back). They did not experience any of those withdrawal symptoms that I had. It just goes to show that everyone is different. Just because one will be successful doesn't mean that it will work for everybody. You just need to figure out what your own body will do. Unfortunately for me right now, I haven't found it yet. LOL.
I've been stressed this week with work and other things, I wish that we could just take off for a weekend and maybe head to a New York Bed and Breakfast. We could then head over to Connecticut, where we lived for four years. Kaitlyn was born there as well. The only thing I miss about living there was the changing of the fall leaves. It was absolutely beautiful. Otherwise, I'm glad to be back here in Arizona. I definitely did not do too well with driving in the snow and the mosquitoes. Heh heh.
Three years ago, I got an email from Amazon saying that my order was placed and that it should be shipped out in a couple of days. I didn't order anything so I asked Bryan if he had ordered something. He said he didn't and of course I just laughed because I thought he was just trying to cover it up or whatever...he was really adamant that he did not order anything so I had to figure out what it was that was ordered. It ended up being a Polly Pocket orange convertible car. Hmmmm. Never ordered that...I asked Brandon and Kaitlyn if they had been on the computer and no, they weren't. I did remember Madelyn being on a Barbie website that I showed her and so I looked at the site and sure enough, there was that same Polly Pocket convertible. It was available through Amazon so I clicked on it, and it took you right to the Amazon site. Well, I do order through Amazon frequently so I have a one-click order account and that's exactly what Maddie did...she clicked on it and purchased it. Oy!! In the confirmation email it said "Thank you for your using your free shipping coupon". Don't know how in the heck she was able to do that??? Anyways, we asked Madelyn about the purchase. We sat her down in front of the computer and asked her if she ordered a Polly Pocket convertible on the computer. She innocently said, "Yeah, did it already come in?" Oh my God. 3 years old and was ordering things on the computer. Needless to say, we're thankful that it wasn't something much pricier, if you know what I mean. Hey, the girl got free shipping! LOL.
I just remembered that I need to bring over some folding chairs to my parents' house this weekend. When our family gets together (there are 8 kids in our family) it gets kind of crazy! I'll probably just leave them over there - in May the youngest in our family, Jennifer, is graduating from college and we're throwing her a HUGE graduation party. I suspect over 100 people at my Mom and Dad's...Eeks!!
Okay, we've got a big birthday party to go to tomorrow and then Easter is on Sunday so I don't think I'll do too well in the Weight Loss department this weekend. Heh heh. Tomorrow's birthday party will include a shrimp boil - yummo - and you know, the usual appetizer fare. I'm going to be bringing my famous spinach dip. Now that I don't feel too guilty eating...it's got spinach in it, there's my veggies for the day. LOL.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Oh boy, I was not prepared for this one. Madelyn came home from school and turned on Bryan's computer. I was doing my own work on my computer when Maddie asked me how to spell "space". So I just spelled it for her, not really knowing what she was doing, I mean she asks how to spell oodles of words all the time, so no biggie. Well, about 10 minutes later, she says, "I can't see what Mara was talking about. I looked on MySpace and I don't see her picture." OH MY GAWD. I quickly ran over to her and asked her what in the heck was she doing? She seriously was on the main MySpace page and Lordy I was in shock. Apparently her friend in class told her that there are pictures of her on her Mommy's MySpace page so Maddie wanted to see the pics for herself. Oh geez. Kindergarteners know about MySpace? Well, I told Maddie that she was not allowed to go on that site again. Of course she just looked at me with her sad puppy dog eyes and said "Okay Mommy". It's kind of funny to look back on it now - just how computer savvy these kids are nowadays. When Maddie was 3 she ordered something on Amazon...but that's a whole 'nother story...
It's been a busy couple of days with my transcribing. I transcribe a variety of things - medical transcription, insurance statements, focus groups, web conferencing, etcetera. Some of it can get kind of tricky - especially if there are multiple speakers, if one of the speakers has a very soft voice and I can hardly hear them, or if someone has a thick accent. I get through most of it, though, without any problems. This week, unfortunately, I seem to have gotten the worst of it. Arrgh, and it gets me so frustrated! That's when I step away from my computer, take a break, and then come back to it. If I re-listen to it, that's usually when I'm able to catch what I couldn't hear before. Funny how that is, isn't it?
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
I swear I can never find any Pens in this house. After the big "Back to School" sales I grabbed myself a bunch of boxes, but now they seem to have vanished. I am a little particular about the type of pen I use too. I do not like the fine point tip pens - I like them to have at least a medium point and I prefer black ink over blue ink. I know. I'm weird.
If you are thinking of moving to the North Carolina area, then check out the beaufort nc real estate market. They look to be quite affordable - compared to here in AZ that is. I found a beautiful 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home through a search that is absolutely gorgeous for only $289,000. A home like that here in our area would run almost $400,000. So check that out if you're looking to move to North Carolina!
I can't wait to see how those remaining 9 contestants do tonight during Tony Bennett week. I'm curious to see what Sanjaya does to his hair...gah this kid needs to go big time!! Check out my celebrity blog later tonight for a recap!
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I recently upped my computer memory and boy, what a difference that makes! It had been running slow so I increased it by 2 G. I just wasn't ready to buy a new computer. I have so much on here work wise and Bryan had just purchased a computer of his own. I can live with shelling out about $150 rather than another $2000 - definitely the way to go!!
Brandon was so adamant about growing his hair out long that he finally asked to have it cut. I knew it was just going to be a matter of time before the heat got to him..heh heh. It's much shorter and I'm MUCH happier!!
We are trying to teach Madelyn how to ride her bike without her training wheels - we bought this handle that you can screw into the back of her bike so it's easier to teach her, rather then bending down and holding the seat the whole time. Well, she's not too keen on it and no, she hasn't fallen, but she's jumped off several times and has gotten quite a few bruises and scrapes. The last time she fell, she got quite a nasty cut on her knee and I couldn't find the Bactine in any of our First Aid Kits. we must have used them and never replenished our supply. Anyways, now she's refusing to get back on her bike. She keeps telling us that she falls off and we tell her, no, you're jumping off the bike. I'm sure with a little coaxing, she'll get back on sure enough.
The kids were kind of bummed that we didn't go anywhere during their Spring Break. Lots of their friends went on vacation - Sea World, Disneyland, Disney World, etc. Well, the kids have been to Sea World and Disneyland and now want to see Disney World. Ugh. It's so expensive, with airfare and hotel. I've looked at vacation home rentals and found that there are a lot of Orlando Pool Home rentals to choose from and quite affordable - much cheaper than staying in a hotel. That way we're not spending a fortune on eating out either. For a family of 5, that can be quite expensive. So, renting a vacation home..with a pool...is the way to go!
I've been trying to lose some weight these past couple of months but have not really been successful. I haven't been going to the gym regularly and I haven't been walking as much as I'd like to. I have thought about taking some appetite suppressant pills like Phentermine. Hey, if Oprah and all those stars take them and look as great as they do, then maybe there's hope for me!
It's nice to be able to be outside again...it's been so beautiful here in AZ, but it can get hot here very quickly. We've been working on the yard - trying to get that grass grown in spots where it never seems to grow. I need to get some flowers just to spruce things up a bit. I've noticed some of our neighbors have yard markers up as well.
We had a really bad freeze back in January which basically shocked the living daylights out of most of our bushes and I'm so glad to finally see some green back on them. I was really afraid that they were history. But with the nice weather comes a price - allergies. Enough said.
We had a really bad freeze back in January which basically shocked the living daylights out of most of our bushes and I'm so glad to finally see some green back on them. I was really afraid that they were history. But with the nice weather comes a price - allergies. Enough said.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Been feeling under the weather lately - I think that my crazy week last week and some late nights have done me in. It's Bryan's birthday today - just going to lay low tonight...He's taking Friday and next Monday off so it will be a nice long weekend for him.
Gotta get those Easter baskets this week too - well, actually just put stuff in their baskets. I use the same baskets for each of them every year since they were little, kind of a tradition I suppose. Madelyn saw some Barbie perfume that she wanted - ugh, 6 yrs old and wants perfume already? Anyways, I think I'll do that in the morning. Right now I'm working on getting those loads of laundry done.
Gotta get those Easter baskets this week too - well, actually just put stuff in their baskets. I use the same baskets for each of them every year since they were little, kind of a tradition I suppose. Madelyn saw some Barbie perfume that she wanted - ugh, 6 yrs old and wants perfume already? Anyways, I think I'll do that in the morning. Right now I'm working on getting those loads of laundry done.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
It's just nice to have some business cards handy - for personal or professional use. I am thinking of ordering some and putting my blogs on there to promote them, but it's always handy to have them if you need to leave your phone number with someone - for instance, my daughter had a birthday party she attended a couple weeks ago and everyone was writing their information down, home phone number, cell phone, etc. in case of emergency. It would have been nice if I had some on hand and all the information would have already been there. Just a thought.
Are you looking for a way to promote your own business? There are so many different ways that you can do this - promo pens are a simple, yet effective marketing tool. They are inexpensive, and there are a myriad of choices available. My father has attended several medical conventions in the past and each time he brings home tons of these promo pens. They are effective - my Dad remembers a product simply from the pens that he has picked up at these conventions and contacts them from the info provided on the pen. So they definitely work!
