Don't Ask....

Because I have no idea why on earth I am blogging. Spent the weekend camping with the Cub Scouts. Volunteering is hard hard hard work. I am not the greatest volunteer, I'll admit that. But you can see why folks don't volunteer, you often feel under appreciated. I see folks who put themselves out there ALOT, and get burnt out and bitter. Told myself on Friday I wasn't going to do that, and that I wouldn't beat myself up if folks didn't like or appreciate what we had planned. Regardless, when you look at the pictures of those cute little 10 year olds (and under) and see how dirty they are and exhausted from playing so hard, all the hard work is worth it. The fact that my body hurts from running around in the woods and climbing a steep hill more than once to go in the creek..........I think that's worth it too. With that I think I might go pass out right about now.

But not until I share a few photo's from this weekend. All the boys in our den had these boots to run around in the creek with. Talk about dirty boy cuteness!

Joey brought his dogs out on Saturday! Talk about sweet and cute! And they were good for puppies too. I am now going to go pass out.

Overwhelmed

I don't know if it's my worklife trickling over into my homelife (honestly that's never happened) or if it's just that time to be completely overwhelmed. Work is crazy busy. I think since it's now been open a month, the fact that a lot of people have no clue what the heck they are doing it catching up to my department and we are feeling the heat. For the most part people are super nice and super patient. But then there are the few who expect you to give them so much to compensate for our screw up. Or the people who really don't have a problem yet want to create a problem so they can get free stuff....come on as if we don't smell you coming! So that's work, and because of work and wierd retail nonsense hours, my house is a "hot mess"! And I've been slacking in my committee chair duties because I can't be at anything cause I am always working when the world is living their lives. So I found this song by David Crowder, and if I close my eyes and just listen, God makes me feel so much better. He knows my needs and rarely gives me more than I can handle. He does however enjoy stretching my limit a little bit more all the time.

I'm dumber Now.....

Ok guilty pleasure. If you can even call it a pleasure. I'd like to refer to it as mindless TV viewing. I am happy to admit I didn't watch this seasons Rock of Love from the very beginning. Therefor not a whole lot of time was wasted on becoming dumber. It did not take many episodes though. I couldn't stop watching, because I had to see if he chose the dumbest bimbo I've ever seen on TV. Seems super mean and wrong. But holy crap 5 min. of watching her the nicest person would feel the same way. I will say if I ever am super sad because a hot rock star dumped me, I will say the same thing she said. "OMG...I want to totally roll up in a ball and eat a lot of ice cream...." BRILLIANT!
So will I waste time on watching the reunion show, and see one of last seasons girls beat up the bimbo that was booted this season. Man might be hard to pass up!

Mother Nature Wins....

OK need I remind you that discussing the weather on ones blog is unacceptable and well....lame...except when you are super happy it's warm out, and then Ohio decides to have (as Joe at church so gracefully put it) a second winter?? You know what that's just mean! So we had hiking plans. And because I am hardcore if I have hiking plans and it snows we hike anyways cause what did I say.....I HAVE HIKING PLANS.....people know this about me. So it rained Friday night more soggy yuckiness, and our plans were for Saturday, hiking without the kid, to create clues for our letterboxing adventure in a few weeks for the Cub Scouts. So we unloaded the kid at Geegaws, and off we went, camelbacks for of ice water, notebook, GPS, and 3 layers of clothing. Seriously it was the nicest, most peaceful hike we've had pretty much ever. We weren't all super romantic and dorky because we were kidless, we walked at our own pace, taking in everything on a trail we'd never been on before. It was lovely. We even discovered an abandoned old cemetery in the middle of the woods. I inherited that from my mom, the fascination of old cemeteries full of dead strangers. It's fun to read the old gravestones. Speaking of beautiful strangers, I found more abandoned strangers at the Antique Mall. I wish I had loads of money so I could buy up all the old photos. It makes me so sad to find scrapbooks full of old photos being sold for money in antique stores. If that's where my scrapbooks end up, I will come back and haunt my family!
Ron and I aren't all that in to antiques. We like a few random items, but we aren't one to purchase furniture or decorate with antiques. We like to score lucky little things like an old Cub Scout handbook, or vintage Cartoon glass's. My friend Abby and her brothers collect cartoon glass's. I was told long ago I could play along with them but never really went hunting till yesterday when it was the first thing I saw when I walked in. I didn't want to jump right in and go with Looney Toons glass's which is mostly what they collect. Instead I went with "Camp Snoopy", sold at McDonalds in the 70's. They were $3 a glass and I scored 2. I was told by Abby part of the fun is to make sure you spend less than $10 a glass. Ok, game on!

Get Up and Dance People.....

Do not let the fact that IT RAINED AGAIN AND MY BACK YARD IS A GIANT MUD PILE, keep you from getting up and shaking your BOOTY!

Happiness....

I requested on Facebook the other day..."can it please be spring already?" And tada...it's spring! What a fabulous day! The new Student Union is now open at church and we walked over to check it out after church. Made me excited for SOS...my one chance to act like a teenager for a few days and then get on with my life. Something else cool I discovered today, you can go get your "wig busted" and help drill a well. I could use a haircut, but I doubt the man would fork over the dough for me to go get my hair did, that just happened about a month ago, and I've had to spread those things out to like every 3 months, to the point that my hair pretty much look ridiculous...otherwise I'd have to go to Great Clips, don't even get me started!

Other things that bring happiness. The magnolia tree in the front yard is blooming. Perry being

Not much of a dare-devil did not climb up there, Ron had to place him up there.

When I was his age you wouldn't have been able to keep me out of that tree. He did get daring at Harbin Park last spring and was climbing a small tree and fell, then I knew that was it. Although this even he and Daddy road around the block, he on his Big Wheel and Daddy on his razor scooter, he asked Daddy to give him a big push, and the Big Wheel flipped backwards, and he scrapped up his back. He got back on the big wheel and road on into "town", (a street with a couple business's near our house, he calls that town), so now he has a cool battle wound.

I think I may have won the battle with the Robin who has been trying to build a nest above my mailbox. She does this every year. This year I decided if she's going to build a nest she'll need to pay rent and/or apologize to the mailman for pooping on the mailbox. She wasn't having any of that and went right ahead and began "attempting" to build a nest. Which I would promptly knock down every morning when leaving for work. Then as I would be getting in my car there she'd be pirched on the outside light starting all over again, and Ron would knock down what she'd done all day long in the evening. Seriously people this went on for a good two weeks, it looked like we had a huge pile of hay on our front porch till we finally swept it up this weekend. She wasn't a very smart Robin since she could have saved herself many trips in search of dead grass since there was a huge pile of it on the porch...duh! Theres a quite a few perfectly good trees for nest building in my yard. The funny thing is one morning after nest distruction I get out to my car and theres bird crap all over it....funny funny...then Ron who is far more anal about his car ecspecially after washing it.....She bombed him too....I think the war may finally be over since no nest attempts have been made in 2 days. We have been enjoying the nice spring weather everyday it's been warm to say the least. I scored a letterbox today on my lunch hour. I won't tell you where but I hear it's the coolest place on earth. And it's pretty much one of the coolest handmade stamps I've ever seen in a letterbox!

HOT HUSBAND/CUTE KID ALERT!!!!

Easter Cuteness

 

In case there was any Question.......

I really love playing around on this new website I discovered. So while investigating some of my favorite bands I came across this....




For anyone who is the parent of a boy this song will be ecspecially meaningful to you. Doesn't matter what Karen sings she sounds beautiful!

Spring Break Love....

Something I am enjoying this spring break is.....Ron's on vacation...so he's been staying up late. Each night Perry goes to bed with me and we snuggle and fall asleep together. Then Daddy puts him in his bed when he goes to bed. I know that kind of lovin ain't going to last for much longer so I'll take what I can get.

SICK

I hate being sick. Yesterday was my day off, I took P to IKEA since he was dying the check out Smaland, and the store. "IKEA is the coolest place ever..." According to the P-man. He apparently didn't notice the 10 min wait to check out, the parking natzi's that instruct you to park 8 miles away even though there are closer spots. The ginormous line for Cinamon Rolls....which made it impossible for me to get one and I wanted one and then the 8 mile walk back to the car....um it was my day off!!! So then we went and saw Horton which I heard was quite good but because of the sickness, and the potential fever I was running I slept through much of it. Upon arriving home I slept for many hours running a low grade fever, with the chills. I forced myself up to finish making 11 Easter cards for my co-workers...cause I'm crazy like that. My fellow work was most appreciated. Although now the fever is gone and I have no voice...try talking on the phone to people with damaged furniture with no voice...."IKEA'S after sales phone sex line, what's damaged..." Ha...I didn't call anyone today. Did as much as I could without calling. Hopefully I have a voice tomorrow.

Emotion

Oddly enough...or not so oddly enough, I think that's just a saying. I'm super happy. Life in general is good. Like I feel happier than I've been in a long time. I work crazy hours, I'm broke as hell, I rarely get to watch TV, I haven't done anything creative in weeks, and I need to empty (Ron's job) and load the dishwasher tomorrow. Just goes to show, one can have quite a few negatives going on in their lives and still be super happy. And this song, Ron gave me (cause I asked for it....geez dude can spend .99 on his wife for her b-day) for my birthday, it's BEAUTIFUL.......

Um...I'm 39...

Holy Crap how'd that happen? Oddly enough I feel younger than I did last year. Maybe it's cuz, I'm working a funner(is that a word) job, with younger co-workers who think I am their age? I attempted to party like I was their age last night for St. Patty's day....yeah....um why does my favorite sweat jacket smell like beer? Not smoke but beer (smoking ban in ohio) It was fun, but old girl couldn't hang after 12:30. Something about strange men (as in strangers) doing a little "grab ass"....hey...get off dude! Other than the occasional grab assidness (new word bonus), and the occasional ass clown, it was loads of fun. We have what's called imports at Ikea (co-workers from other Ikea's in other states who are showing us how to roll Ikea style) and we had to show them how to have fun in West Chester....or the Dub U C....LOL. As if me being a middleaged married women knew how to have a good time in the Dub U C.....yet recalled the Brazenhead being mentioned by some young folks once, and I rolled past it last year on St. Patty's day....I was correct in my assumptions, and it was all the way live. And now the folks from Philly, LA, Boston....and other places think Ohio folks know how to party. Not to worry, I had only 2 beers...small ones...and was home by 1:30.....respectable and responsible, that's how I roll.
HAPPY B-DAY TO ME!

Ikea's Grand Opening

It was 3 days ago and I've just about recovered. Although today was way busier, but today I didn't have to work 10 hours like I was required to do on Grand Opening. You can hit my Facebook and see the photo album there for a run down of the festivities. Or to get a run down of a true grand opening experience you have to go HERE, to see just why a person would camp out for a grand opening. He captures what the experience truly felt like. Very cool!

Fun With You Tube!

Oh my goodness I saw this video a while ago. But then I saw Jimmy's response last week and it's just dang funny. All the bad words are bleeped out but Parental Discretion is advised.


Seriously this one is even funnier!

Birthday...time to Celebrate..

Technically it's a week away, but I generally like to celebrate for the whole month. After all....I've scored free noodles from Noodle and Company and free Ice Cream from Cold Stone. So feel free to send me other coupons as well, oh free cake from Gold Star....it's a free food extravaganza Birthday. Oh it'll be the 9Th anniversary of my 30Th birthday....I know I know....gasp....Stacie's preparing me with information from Skincraft for the nose piercing for next years birthday....she tested the waters and apparently it doesn't hurt. Good to know.

Tight Security?

It's because of crazy people like these that I have to show up at least 30 minutes early to work for the next month. Why you might ask? Because I have to park off site so the customers can take up all the parking spots and then some. Apparently some customers will also be parking offsite with us and taking the same shuttle. Which therefor means not trash talking on the shuttle. These are the folks who show'd up today because they could, and camp out 2 days before the store actually opens. I took the photo from afar because I was a tiny bit scared they'd wrestle me down and take my badge. I have to say they are being treated nicely since they now have 4 heaters out there to keep them warm. Even though the rules said "no heating devices or fires of any kind." That's ok we'll provide them for you. Oh and let me show you a crazy shot of a few of my co-workers hanging at a local bar after work where trash talk is permitted and a lot of it goes down. Left to right you have Kristi...newbie....fitting in wonderfully. Matt, likes to party, nuff said. And Amy, my new homey....whose nickname is Trixie (for a reason)...ha ha..super sweet, one of those people who is aware that I'm not down with hugs but gives them to me anyways. That's a horrible picture of her she'll kill me. So I'll throw up
another one. This one is from the all store party.



The all store party was off the hook. Ikea folks know how to get their party on that's for sure. Oh and big ginormous bummer, Friends and Family day was snow'd out. Ikea was going to let the show go on and the Police shut them down, something about a level 3 snow emergency. I was ready to go snow and all. Oh well, we'll get to practice out customer service skills on the general public now. Yikes!
So don't try and go to Ikea, before Wednesday unless you intend to camp out the security is tight. This is the same security who strolled the store the whole time we were building. While Amy and I were building in the front of the store a few random folks walked in asking how to get a job....um where was security then? Happy shopping people and don't harm anyone on Grand Opening....

All you need is Love....

Sing it Kylie!

Seriously theres nothing cuter than my niece getting her sing on. The big finish with her eyes closed is the best!

Adjustment....

So the reality of retail working is coming at me full force, next week. I left my availability as open, and flexible so I'm working a few evenings....gasp. And I'm off during the week and working on Saturday....again gasp. Life is not as it used to be, where I could listen to 10 podcasts during a week with no problem. No podcast listening for me right now. I hope I can get to that point where I can work it in to my day somewhere.

Friends and Family is Saturday, if you didn't score a pass sorry I only got 4 and gave them to those who would disown me or those excited about Ikea coming and had never been. If you are desperate to get in there on this coming Saturday let me know ASAP and I'll see about any extra pass's folks need to give up. Grand Opening is a week from today.....if you go either this Saturday or anytime in the next few weeks be nice to my co-workers they haven't a clue what they are doing. And for God sake people if you go on Grand Opening buy a freakin' Hot Dog it's only 50 cents and the IFS (Ikea Food Service) folks are trying to break an Ikea record.
Oh and do not be JEALOUS OF MY SWEET SHOE HOOK-UP!

The Fun Never Ends.....

I am tired tired tired. And I am pretty sure that this is just the beginning, of how tired I will be for the next few months. Someone remind me again why I've gone back to retail? I will say if I think I'm tired, I need to thank my lucky stars I am not a manager and I do not have that kind of responsibility or stress. Remind me of that once they figure out I have leadership skills....the answer is gonna have to be a big fat NO! So I just spent 4 days with Ikea peeps, having my head crammed full of all things that are job related. Canton, MI folks are awesome, they have a great team and I do believe we have learned from the best, I just hope we can form a team that is bonded that well. Now I'm off to an Ikea party....then I go to work tomorrow cause I do love these people (not that dang much...but geeze)
Heres a glimpse into my life right now....When I'm not at work.

Road Trip

Totally chillin....as in DAMN IT'S COLD IN MICHIGAN. So I'm totally chillin in Canton, MI. It's loads of fun, yet somewhat lonely, since we have rooms to ourselves, and I'm split up from my peeps cause they are working the closing shift. It was so much fun working today, as in, it won't be hard at all. Grand Opening is going to be off the hook, crazy busy, but I'm glad to have some instore experience before we get SLAMMED. Ok off to enjoy my room all to my self with a GINORMOUS King size bed.