On the road again

My aircard didnt quite workout like I had planned, so it was a real boring week in the boonies. We did have a pretty good time visiting family and being lazy though. Saturday we spent the day watchin football, first we rooted for our home team the Gators, then we switched over to our second home team Alabama. It was a intresting day of football to say the least. By the time the Gator game was over I felt like I needed a drink or two to calm my nerves. But hey a win is a win! For the Tide game we went to our cousins and ate dinner, Beth made Chicken Spaghetti that was out of this world. No tomato sauce but it was good, and KC loved it! I painted a bathroom while I was there (fun), saw a bunch of deer, rode 4 wheelers, and went into Tuscalosa do do some shopping and get my Starbucks fix. Other than that it was pretty uneventful. i'll be home in hopefully 6 hours or less.

Wish me luck!

Gone, baby gone

KC & I are gone on a road trip this week with Nan & Pop to Alabama. This is when its fun to not be strapped down to a 9 to 5 job, and to be able to enjoy life. This will make 3 times this year we have made this trip except this time its just the 4 of us, and this trip is for nothing special except to enjoy each others company....I hope anyways! Im really glad Im able to share these special times with my grandparents and my son, because you just never know what life holds in store. But for now Im living in luxery at the Hampton Inn in a king size bed with free cable and free wi-fi.

Aliceville here we come!

***My aircard may, or may not work in the boonies, we shall soon see***

ok Im really back this time....I swear

KC, Mom, & I left Wednesday night for a family reunion in Aliceville, Alabama. We went there back in March, but this time we got to see about 200 family members from all over. I also volunteered to coordinate a family cookbook, wait I volunteered? I never do stuff like this, what was I thinking? I made a special email for family to send recipes to, and I got over 20 recipes at the reunion already! This should be a fun project, and I have a entire year to work on it so thats a plus. Feel free to give me your favorite recipes also. This was KCs first reunion and it was so neat taking my son to a place I in a sense grew up. We then rushed back Sunday so Mom could be at work Monday, we got home after 2am and let me tell you it was a long car ride. My Mom is not a good traveler and after about the 9th hour we decided it would be best to not speak. Im used to it so its just better that way. I love my Mom to pieces but shes set in her ways. Thank goodness for dvds because poor KC wouldnt have made it otherwise, he watched Oswald, Clifford, Wonder Pets, and Fraggle Rock and he was out by 9:30pm and we were only past Tallahassee. Monday was spent cleaning up my disaster of a house my Hubby left me, doing laundry, and sleeping!

Today, well today KC started preschool! Im a little freaked out but not to bad, hes only going 2 half days a week from 8-12. I dont have alot of friends with younger kids, so I thought it would be go for him to socialize with other kids his age and learn new things. I struggled to find the right place for him for a few months because its hard leaving him with someone I have no clue about. I found a place close where I actually knew some of the people working their from high school and it made me feel at ease. KC is not a morning person (he takes after his mama I think) so I thought waking him up would be a process but he was fine. I also thought being a so called mamas boy he would not want to stay, but I was wrong on that too. He went right in, came back and gave me a smooch and said bye bye, bye bye. Wow! Take that mama! I came back to pick him up and they said he did so good! They said he follows directions and listens so well already, and I must say it made me feel pretty darn good. I hope Thursday goes just as smooth, but I think hes really going to adjust ok.

It my now extra free 8 hours a week I will be joining a gym, getting a personal trainer, and signing up for some sort of school. Im thinking of getting a surgical tech certificate or something medical where I can work in the hospital. I have always been a creature of the night, so Id really like to work night shift so my daily schedule doesnt change to much. Im just thinking about all this, I havent made any decisions yet but I know I want to do something.

Hubbys treatments having been ok, hes done 3, so now 3 to go. Last week they postponed it a week becuase they were thinking he was starting a infection becuase of some burning he had so hes back on for this Friday. In the last month we have learned of 3 other family members and friends who are also battling various cancers. Our close friend whose in his late 50's discovered he has stage 4 bone cancer in his jaw, and also several lymphnodes. He is also going to Moffitt, and he may be starting chemo and radiation first, or may have surgery first to remove his jawbone and lymphnodes. While at Hubbys treatment, I saw a family friend who used to work for my grandparents business and he has stage 3 colon cancer. He was there getting his chemo treatments and he has 6-8 weeks of that and he will then have surgery to remove part of his colon. And also while in AL one of my Pops cousins, (my 4th or 5th cousin) recently had gastric bypass and lost alot of weight, and discovered he had enlarged lypmhnodes so went to get it checked and he was told he had cancer and he is getting treatment at a cancer center in Auburn. Its just astounding to knew first hand so many people going through this disease. Its really not fair! Please say a pray for those you know, and may not know dealing with cancer.

Thanks for sticking around! :-)


Here is KCs first day today

KC & my SILs nephew

KC & Mrs Donna

Not Me Monday...thanks to the handy scheduler

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not watch from inside the house with a/c while my hubby slaved away at the blanket of leaves in our front yard. It did not take him and a worker 1 1/2 hours to finally see the dirt bottom where there used to be grass.

There was not a hoax going around that gang members getting initiated were going to kill 3 women at Wal-Mart which closed the local store. I did not get a phone calls from 5 family members telling me not to go in town and certainly not in WalMart. What is wrong with this world??

to go along with the messed up people in this place....

Our friends son did not call his Dad to come pick him up from school on Wed. because the school was on fire. The fire was not started by some dumb kid that did not want to be there. The kid did not light the bathroom toilet paper roll on fire. The fire did not cause the entire school to evacuate, over $3000.00 in damage, and a close a whole section of the school for smoke damage. Dummy!

I did not leave on Sun. for a whole week with KC, Nan, Pop, Mom, & Lola in AL for a week of relaxation and rejuvenation, that week will not probably include manual labor, cooking, cleaning, hollering, bickering, and a more than likely eventual manic episode from my Mom. It never fails!

I did not prepare this Not Me ahead of my departure so Im on top of my game. Im probably not already missing my blog buddies and enjoying reading everyone elses Not Mes.

Not leaving until tomorrow..sigh

We arent leaving until tomorrow ugggh! I was all packed and ready to leave this morning but I learned last night nope, not leaving until Sunday.


In the meantime MY laptop threw in the towel finally and decided it needed a vacation too. So Im off to Best Buy for check in time so my little baby can get some much needed down time, and a gentle massage. Im using my old laptop and this thing is so ancient it wont even recognize my camera USB. I hope the 7 - 10 working day things is true, that way I can pick it up not to long after I come home the next weekend. I prescheduled 2 posts while Im gone and I had 2 more lined up but I cannot upload pics on here. I am taking my camera cord incase I find a computer so I can hopefully add the pictures real quick. Wishful thinking!

Aliceville, AL here we come. HAHA! That sounds like a Jeff Foxworthy joke in the making!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not start my week off being bad consuming the last cinnamon roll from the fair I will eat until next year. My BIL did not bring it back to me from the fair piping hot out of the oven, still warm and gooey all covered with icing. I did not immediately devour it all right on the spot not sharing any at all. It was not after 9pm when this occurred and that cinnamon roll did not go straight to my already inflated hips.

I did not spend an eternity on this phone this week trying to get my hubbys surgery set up at Moffitt. I have not been keeping my fingers crossed and saying my prayers that he gets approved for financial aid so his surgery is paid for free and clear. We are not thankful for programs like this to help people like us since regular insurance companies will not provide insurance to people with pre-existing conditions.

On Thursday while doing laundry while KC took a nap, I did not playfully drop kick my dryer door to close it and then trip & fall in the laundry room floor like a fool. Yea Im not 14 anymore and putting your feet above your chest might be good for you heart but certainly not for your butt!

I have not been looking for a preschool for KC 2-3 days a week for just a few hours so he can be around other kids and play. I have not come to the conclusion that it would benefit him so much to be around others his age, and be able to learn things that maybe Im missing. And incase I return to work this would not be a better option for KC than becoming prisoner in a office with me all day.

We did not start a new routine in the kitchen on how things are done to keep it clean. The hubby did not roll his eyes and pitch a fit like a 5 year old when he learned he was no longer allowed to throw his dirty dishes in the sink with no worries. He did not also grumble about having to wash his own dishes if the dishwasher is full & if the said dishes are not communal. I have not decided that Im tired of picking up after everyone in this house thats older than 2, and put the smack down on the whole situation by starting new chores and rules that we all must follow, me too! This has not been the easiest week ever since Im not picking up a gazillion cups, and plates and that other members of this household are at last helping out. Good Job!

We did not go to Erics birthday party Sunday and have a absolute blast! We were not there for 4 hrs straight and with KC having no nap!! He was not having so much fun playing on the playground with 2 other kids his age. He didnt get to play in the water with his new friends, and get soaking wet. Eric did not turn 5 either, I was not there the day he was born, and I have not watched this little baby grow up into such a great little boy! Time does not fly by like they say anyways! KC did not finally crash out at 4pm, and Mama did not promptly wake him up 55 minutes later so he would go back to sleep.

and the last one...

I am not the least bit excited about leaving for a week, even if we are going to a super small town in AL that doesnt have a WalMart, McD's or even a CVS. I wont be sleeping on a air mattress while Im gone either. I will not spend the week getting packed and trying to make sure I do not forget anything. And for Sneaky Momma, no, I will not be taking my laptop because I know for a fact I will not be getting any service out in the boonies where we will be. And I know my phone will not be functioning way out there so that wont help. I hopefully will be able to log on at my cousins house when we are over there visiting. I will not be going through withdrawals being without it either.

I know my Not Me's were pretty boring this week, hopefully you did something more exciting than me! Head over to MckMamas place to read the long list of Not Mes the link to her blog every Monday. Happy Monday!

Money, money, money, money,....monnnney! (To the tune of The Apprentice)

I know I havent posted anything in awhile, but I have been so busy. KC & I are leaving next Sat. for a week long vacation with my mom and grandparents. We are going to a place they (the gparents) just bought in Aliceville, AL where my Pop (gpa) is from. We go there every year in June for a family reunion, and my Pop was given the opportunity to buy some of his families old land back so he did. It has a mobile home on the property so we are going to furnish the place and get it ready for everybody to stay in for the reunion this June. This is also something they wanted to do for our family, so that when they are no longer here we will always have a place where we have roots so my Pop says. So this will be a working vacation, but hey anywhere except home is good enough to be called a vacation to me. We also have my best friends son Erics birthday party to attend tomorrow at 1pm so today I finished up gift shopping and bought KC & me some new shoes. I had a coupon from Stride Rite for buy 1 get 1 50% off and KC is just about to outgrow his size 5's so he got 2 new pairs of shoes. A cute brown pair, and a cute navy blue pair. I dont get to buy all the cute frilly girly shoes, so he atleast has shoes to match. I got some cute brown Roxy flip flops because for some reason I can only locate one of my favorite pair that Ive had forever. I wonder what KC did with it?? I just found his John Deere boots Ive been looking for for about 2 weeks, they were behind the entertainment center so I can only imagine where my left flop will turn up. I never never spend money on myself, I always buy for KC, the hubby, KAS, and then there always a gift for birthdays etc., so today the Hubby gave me $40 bucks and told me to buy some new flip flops for myself. He said if I came home without them or spent that $40 bucks on anybody but me I couldnt buy KC another thing! HAHA! Yeah right, but I got his point anyways and came home with about $3 bucks leftover.

I felt so guilty today even buying anything when we went shopping. I spent $42 bucks at Childrens Place, $15 bucks at Gymboree, $35 bucks at Tillys, $78 bucks at Stride Rite, $37 bucks at Dillards, and $62 bucks at Target and that equals $269 bucks total. Thats like a whole electric bill! Finances have been tight in our house since Christmas, and Im on the verge of going back to work...hopefully not though! My hubby does land clearing, landscaping, lawn care, and also has a tree service but he has been slow for months. We are hoping things are going to start picking up soon with the spring season and people getting their tax money back to spend. And I know this is going to sound insane, but a hurricane would be really sweet! Not a Cat. 5 Katrina or anything, but a nice Cat. 2 or 3 with some strong gale force winds to knock down some trees would be a a dream come true. I live in Florida and yes I just wished for a hurricane! I could go back to work at my familys business and be able to take KC with me everyday, but uggggh the though of having to go back to work at the family enterprise is not appealing. But then again the job market these days sounds pretty rough, so having a job at all if I needed it would be a for sure blessing! I have gotten quite used to not working and doing my own thing and Id like to keep it that way. Finances causes my mind to spin non-stop. I will be 30 this year and I have come so far and been able to have so much, the thought of loosing my footing drives me loony. I have been very fortunate growing up to have a family that has gone above & beyond caring for me and giving me alot in my lifetime. Its different when you grow up, move out of the nest and starting paving your own path, you no longer want things given to you, you want to do it for yourself. Once you get used to that, having to back step and then ask someone else for help just blows your self esteem out of the water. On top of that we have dealing with my hubbys EX who thinks she still runs things, about more money of course, and I found a lien against me while looking for something for a friend. There are 2 actual liens adding up to almost $5000.00, 1 from late 07, and 1 from early 08. The state is saying my business was open much longer than it was and they estimated my taxes through the month I really closed in April of 07 thru the whole year of 08. I have all my paperwork to prove this but its a pain to get it undone. I cant file my income taxes this year until this is cleared up because they will hijack my tax refund, and I need it damnit! If it only grew on trees for real! I know so many other people that are way worse off than we are, so just complaining about my situation makes feel un-entitled. I pray every night that our situation resolves itself here soon. I have been selling stuff on ebay and craigslist and that has been giving me some cushion, and is helping me rid my garage of unused baby gear..bonus!

Tommorrow should be fun though, there will be a bunch of kids running around so KC will have a blast. Erics birthday parties have always been at a nearby huge county park with lots to do!