Oh my!

So it has been a long day for being so short! Sunshine cried out in his sleep I bet every half hour or so. I finally woke him up and asked him if he was okay, he said, I fine mommy and went back to sleep only to keep it up. He had a breathing treatment before bed and did fine for most of today, he needs to take another one.

Today it was 61 deg in the main part of the house...burrrrrr. I turned on both space heaters and the dryer this morning, it quickly got up to 70 and I shut the all off. We are going to get K1 tomorrow incase we need it later this week. We also drained the water heater to see if it had crud in it. I'm fustrated that we didn't use the water instead of letting it run down the drain, but with how our hook up is, we had no pressure to make it go upstairs...therefore no choice. While it was slowly draining we went into the hardware store to pick up the shower surrond we saw on sale. While it wasn't what we wanted, it was the right price and only needs to last 2 years. We are going to put an actual shower in when Smiley gets older. I really want the one with the seat, but we can always buy a seat if we need to. I enjoy sitting while trying to shave my legs...when I actually get the privacy and time to shave. While there we did pick up a watt meter, plumbing for the sink that is leaking, a chop saw for the energy project wiring for the electric stove. We were looking at a convection oven, but it just didn't make sense, the oven will be up this week. I couldn't believe how much wire was, it is stupid. We also bought a motion sensor switch for the boys room, so tomorrow we will be rearranging again. I think that when Duck goes to school I will work on the boys room.

We are pretty sure that there is no money unemployment for Duck therefore we will be living off my wages alone. Time to get back up to 40. We have worked out some things to help us including the food aspect of growing our own, possibly buying a pig when we save or half a cow. For those who are sitting there with a puzzled, bewildered look on their face, we would buy them from the butcher already taken care of. We just need another deep freezer and have no budget for it. Something else that we will have to save for.

Today's reading is 8334-8280 = 2250! Wow that's still really high, but it can't be worse than having the gas heater on. We didn't get the solar heaters done this season, I'm hope to add those to our list for this summer...the list is getting so long. Duck will more than likely not be able to be finished with school this winter, more than likely next spring.

Well I've gotta go back to work....
toodles

today.

8280-8229 = 2125 wph. YIKES. that is getting bad. Monthly total so far 8280-7803 = 1807 wph. That is really high, but considering the fact that we are using the space heater a LOT, especially since we are all sick, I guess that isn't bad. We did just get a notice from the elect. company about a rise in our energy bills. That stinks..

We also paid for our hotel room for the convention. I'm feeling a lot better than I did at 5am. I thought I was going to be sick. That seems to be going around work also. I hope to find a rid tomorrow. We are putting up the entertainment center to move the TV, we will move the old TV upstairs, the TV in our room to the boys room and the TV in the boys room to the garage to be given away.

I want to put up the rack upstairs for the plants today. This way we can up the new plants on them and get them going well again.

Gotta run, need to get some things done. We are also looking at bringing in the keroscene heater for the next couple of nights.

Indiana Labor Law...

Are employers required to provide breaks to employees?
Indiana state law does not generally require employers to provide rest breaks, meal breaks, or breaks for other purposes to adult employees. Minor employees (under 18 years of age) who work six or more hours in a shift must be given one or two breaks totaling at least 30 minutes. These breaks may be taken at any point during the minor's shift. Indiana Administrative Code 610 IAC 10-3-1 requires break logs to be maintained by the employer to document all breaks provided to minor employees.

Certain other categories of workers, such as airline pilots, truck drivers, and workers covered by a union collective bargaining agreement may be entitled to mandatory breaks under other applicable regulations or by contract. Check with the appropriate regulatory agency or with your union representative.

http://www.in.gov/dol/2345.htm#B4 <----website it came from..



Question: When must breaks and meal periods be given?

Answer: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require breaks or meal periods be given to workers. Some states may have requirements for breaks or meal periods. If you work in a state which does not require breaks or meal periods, these benefits are a matter of agreement between the employer and the employee (or the employee's representative).


http://webapps.dol.gov/dolfaq/go-dol-faq.asp?faqid=317 <-Department of Labor webiste

I'm so sick of people talking out of their ears...when they have no idea what they are talking about. We are only required by law to give meal breaks to those who are minor....and there goes the smoke breaks...they aren't required by law. Now if they want to move to a state that allows it they can find those facts on the DOL.gov website.

I love it when I'm right, while that doesn't happen often, I'm right about this!

Me.

It's Friday...

Today I should be happier. I have the next 4 days off. I planned on going to the assembly but we are all sick with that stupid cold/virus thing. The boys are still really congested. Sunshine is now running a fever, he woke up yesterday crying for a treatment, he was having troubles breathing. 8229 in 47 hours makes it 1382 wph. That's awsome! I've gotta get ready for work, I certainly hope that when I come back after my 4 days off that everyone is healthy. This is not fun, all 4 of us are sick. I've slept for about 12 hours straight and still feel like I could sleep another 8.

On a side note we found an amazing deal on a tv last night. We weren't going to buy one, but this was worth it. Now we will have to find an entertainment center for it.

Well just got home from work and I need to look up some things. There are those who think they deserve more legally than they do...or at least the last I looked.

I also found something out that was interesting. The first admendment is regarding the government. No one can say something that is against the government that implies injury, but as far as freedom of speech, that doesn't apply someone is say on a job. They can be told not to speak about certian topics, or a certain way. One of the other mgrs is taking a political science class and this was covered in the past week.

So I'll print off what I can find.

toodles..Katy

Didn't take the reading last night...

So here it is 36 hours later.

8164 today 8095 last time. 1917, that wasn't as bad as I thought. I thought it was going to be much higher. I did 2 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, ran the space heaters and hot water heater. Today we plugged in the solar/wind backup, we'll see how long it lasts, and how much it will help us.

Gotta run, I want to take a nap before I have to go back to work.

long day...lots of energy. :(

Daily reading was 8095 YIKES Oh my, that is really not good.

70kwh 2917 wph.....oh my, oh my, oh my.

We had a mgr meeting today, this next week is going to be interesting. Today the store was late getting opened, the mgr was really really late. I really wish the openers would have called me.

Okay, I need to go to bed, it's late.

night...

Third time is the charm...

That is how many times I clocked in and out at work today...I certainly hope that this isn't every Sunday...Although I really enjoy being able to go to the meeting here in town and would do what I can do to make that happen. I'm really pleased with the meeting today, Br. S did a wonderful job!

I'm feeling very under the weather. I picked up some more cough drops, vit C drops and some cough drops for the baby. There isn't any cold medicine that I can give him, he is either underweight (which is what our doc said is most important), under age or both. So for now it will be breathing treatments, motrin/tyl. switch, vit C and rest. Speaking of rest...time for bed.

Night!

Yet another long day....

So I opened this morning. NO one called me to tell me that I didn't have a prep person, D said that she didn't have my number nor access. To top it all off, another mgr changed thier schedule totally screwing me. The deal is simple, if I get to leave for my meeting, I can come back and help during truck. If I don't I have to drive nearly an hour away and can't come back for truck. I thank B and D for helping me make it to my meeting...I only wish that other mgrs would help out.

I'm getting sick, my throat hurts, my chest hurts and I am exhausted. After tomorrow I will have worked 46 hours this week...not my idea of fun. While we need the money but don't I really would rather not work that much, it makes for little time for my faith and my children. The baby is still sick, he is cought, well both of them are. We started breathing treatments to help break up the stuff in their lungs. One is crashed out and the other seems as if he is going to. I took a few hour nap today, thankfully! The time change has screwed everybody up in one way or the other...mine is sleep.

I'm really really really sad about my plants, it has now been determined that it was the children who used scissors to cut the plants for some unknown reason. They are nearly a total loss and I will have to start over tomorrow. I will use the peat pots again since the germination time is nill.

We have decided that as long as I use the gym, I can sign up. This will be a month to month thing. As long as I still go, I can keep paying the dues.

Daily reading is 8025.. That's 41 kwh or 1708 wph. better!!!! It was cold today so the heater was running and the dryer a bit. It is vital to keeping the usage down by turning off the water heater off...

Well I must go, I need to go back to work in about an hour...not sure how long I will be there.

Horrible day...

Well, the car isn't fixed, the day was so long at work, it was so bad it isn't even funny. Why are we forced to settle for substandard?

Christian is getting worse, he is still funning a fever, he is even more cranky, his eyes are reddened, he is stuffy, coughing and conjested. Poor little guy. Time to do the humidifier stuff. I think we will give him a treatment in the morning...speaking of which, the time change is today, I need to hurry and get my stuff done...

07984 tonight's reading...OUCH! -7890 94kwh in a day... 3916 watts per hour. Okay, so let's face it, we have been heating the house with the dryer and space heaters, it is going to be high. That leaves our 4 day average at around 1885 per hour. which isn't really bad, but isn't good either. We will work on this...

ON a more sad note, apparently my plant hating cat had gotten into my bedroom, he broke and chewed up all my starts, they are all now trashed and I have to start over tomorrow. The good new is that the peat pots only take a week or so to germinate. We will put the shelving unit this weekend, install grow lights and start nearly completely over. I was happy to see a few of either cauliflower or broccoli had made it, but that was probably it besides one of the green bean plants.

This was Sat post.....forgot to hit the publish post button.

oh what a long day!

I worked 7am to 4:40 pm. I'm exhausted! Then I come home and Smiley is running a 102 fever. If it wasn't that he is happy and moderatly energetic for a 3 yr old with a fever, I'd be worried. Poor little guy has goose bumps on his body that is radiating so much heat. Last night he work up at 5ish....

Smiley: Mommy, where's my blanket?
Mommy: getting blanket, he you go baby.
Smiley: Mommy, where's my Clifford?
Mommy: I don't know (turning on cell to have a small light), did he fall on the floor?
Smiley: There's my Clifford. (Tucks Clifford in and snuggles up to me)

Then there was silence for a moment (and I mean only a moment)

Smiley: Mommy, what are you doing?
Mommy: Honey, mommy is sleeping, she'd tired...please go goodnight.

He stayed awake, but laid there quietly until I left for work, I asked Duck to crawl up next to him so he'd feel more comfortable to sleep.


Okay, so work was long, tiring and quite frankly I didn't want to be there today. I was tired from being up all night making sure that Smiley was okay, covered up and at the end of my horrible sleep..quiet. I'm just plain tired.

Our energy usage has seemed to go down a bit...from 7890 to 7935...that is 1875 per hour which is still high, but all in all not bad since we have been running the dryer all day and the space heater a bit to keep the inside a bit warmer since the baby is sick.

Well I need to go, I want to pick up the livingroom and then get my uniform washed and get ready for bed.

Night.

It's meeting night...

reading is 7890...that is bad, that means 56 kwh, that's 2333 per hour.

Yikes....that means that leaving the water heater on all night and the electric skillet (major mistake) was a horrible mistake in terms of energy usage. The only difference was the florscent light was on all night but that doesn't draw hardly any wattage.

Okay...time to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Gotta get ready for the meeting.

toodles!
Katy

One of many....

wonderful, beautiful days outside with the munchkins.... It was so nice we took the boys outside to clean up the yard. The boys took it upon themselves to clean up all the sticks in the play yard and we worked on the two holes that Duck fell into. Apprently we have a well established mole running around...his holes are big enough to knock a grown man over and for my 3 yr old to sit in. NOT GOOD. I dumped last years potted soil on top of them and stomped for a bit. We also covered compost number one with one bucket of soil and will put a black tarp over it. Tomorrow I will buy worms on my way home to throw into the new compost bin. We will also put the rest of the straw into the new bin and keep rolling it. We are going to pull up the fences and start putting in sections privacy fencing. I asked Duck if we could buy a new patio suit and he agreed that the one we saw would suit our needs and was reasonable enough. I will get rid of our old one in exchange. He is also building me a cold frame either this evening (he thinks he has enough stuff in the garage) or this weekend when we can pick up the rest of the stuff. We are going to hand till the garden unless we can find someone to do it really cheap. I want to get the ground covered laid and get the beans and tomatoes into the ground. The beans are growing so fast I can't keep them inside much longer. I was thinking about doing one of those topsy turvy things, but I am not so sure about how well the beans will grow in there.

Well I need to run, we have the windows open so the fresh air can come in and I will make sure that we have laundry to dry tonight to warm the house back up when it cools down too much. It is currently a nice 70 degrees inside the house with the window fan sucking in some much appreciated fresh air.

I think that I read the meter really wrong yesterday the reading should have been 7803 not 8803. Today's reading is 7834 which means in one day we used 31 kwh which breaks down our hourly average is 1292 watts per hour...that is really really good. Usually we run about 1666 per hour.

Okay...gonna shred some paper and get it ready for compost.

Toodles.!
Kate

And the hits just keep coming....

Let's just say that I'm very happy it is getting warmer. I do hope that the warmer temps keep coming..to a certain degree of course. I'm thinking that we are going to start beaking the ground up tomorrow and Thursday. I would like to see the three tomato plants that are big go into the ground with the protective covers. As soon as I figure out how to get my pics uploaded, since my phone is giving me trobles I will post the latest pics of my plants. They are getting really big. We are going to be looking at a wood furnace addon coming up. Most of any of our free time will be spent this summer either tending the garden or cutting up wood.

We are going to be doing daily meter reading...to see where we are at. This will also help us keep track of how much our bill is going to roughly be. Normally we are around 1200 kw per month.

Todays reading is 8803. I am also running the four biggest energy suckers at the same time :(. The dryer is keeping the house warm, the washer is keeping the drying running which is keeping the house warm, the dishwasher is cleaning the dishes and the hot water heater is keeping the water hot for the dishwasher. Since I was in cold it isn't running more for the washer. I will do my best to keep it running less but keeping the house confortable and chores done.

Well I need to get going, I have to make sure my uniform is clean, my keys are somewhere I can find them and I need to take a shower before we shut the water heater off for the night.

Toodles.

What a bad day..

So we thought we found a lawn mower for $100. too go to be true right...we it was. The lady said that it was a newer one, it was much older than she said, it was also about an hour away. On the way there we got lost and had to turn around and the truck started giving us trouble. It feels like the axle or bearings are shot. It was a scary trip home with a trailer. Good thing we didn't have the mower with us. Now we spent more money driving there, and have to fix the truck immeadiatey.

Now the truck is broke, we didn't get the mower and wasted all day and didn't get stuff done around the house. We will have company in the morning and now I'll have to be up all night getting ready and finishing up what I needed to get done today.

One a lighter note Duck hung the door on our bedroom, I will get the dished done tonight about a bunch more laundry. At least that will b...e something. I also want to mop the livingroom, it could use it again.

All in all it was a crappy day.

busy, busy, busy....

So obviously I have been really busy lately. We have picked up A LOT of things for various projects around the house. We are getting going on those tonight and get a few done this week. Hopefully that rain will stop by Tue and I can go out into the garden and do some hand tilling. Wed I hope to build the cold frame and get the lettuce plants under them atleast. The beans are growing by leaps and bounds. I have also taken down the sorting table that I had all the starts on, it seemed as if they got a lot more sun when they were all on the table next to one another. Also the beans got a lot more sun.

I still have yet to clean all the canning jars that we bought, just haven't had the energy or the time. That is my biggest goal for this weekend. I also want to get the rack up, the grow lights mounted, the shelf moved from the boys room, get our bed moved, get the 220 times installed, get the bedrooms completely cleaned, ALL the laundry done, the front porch cleaned off and yard and start on the basement. We have an apt on Tue afternoon and I'm going into FSM tomorrow.

Last night we found some killer deals at Wally World. $3.00 for a pack (6 and 7 per pack) of boys undies...okay so what's the bid deal right? They were 6 per pack before the clearance. Sunshine will not need undies for a couple of years. Today I bought some of those topsy turvy things, I'm disappointed in the fact the they don't come with seeds. How much do seeds cost really? Worse than that..I can't find any seeds for strawberries. So in the one that is suppose to be strawberries, I will put leaf lettuce and the one that is for tomatoes I will put some roma's in. On another note I did see that Lowes has asparagus, which I'm really surprised. It was a good price, but it just takes so stinking long for those to grow it is unreasonable. Work has been fun, Sat we were busier than I have ever seen, or we were just so short handed we felt it! All in all it has been going a lot better for now...not sure how long that will last.

Well it is off to cleaning and purging, I'm sacking all the stuff that needs to go and getting rid of it to those who need to take it. I also am going to start sorting the boys present bags for the convention. I've been buying misc here and there, toys that are on clearance, puzzles, playdoh, crayon etc...stuff they'll enjoy.

Hopefully I will have more tomorrow!

Katy

Today...

Well I'm on my third batch of bread. Tomorrow I'm going to make some for a diabetic neighbor and then I think I'll make some more banana, some cranberry and then some chocolate chip. Yummy! I didn't have to work today. I have a huge stock pot of chili on the stove right now. The house is sitting warmly at 81 which means that we will freeze tonight when the temps drop back to normal. I really need to consider pumping some of the heat upstairs...Okay...now that that's done and the soup is stirred the baby has awoke from a short nap. His fingers must be asleep and tingling, he is upset but doesn't want to be touched. He keeps trying to pull his fingers down and then he cries...poor guy. Sunshine is FINALLY getting his adult tooth in from where it feel out two years ago. YIPEEEEEEE. That really does explain a lot for him this past week, including the fever that just came on and went away quickly without meds.

Tomorrow after work we are heading into town to get a shelving unit. I have also learned that my hydroponics idea is not going to work, so it is back to plan B. Hey atleast I had one right? I still wondering if the pea gravel is going to work, I'd rather not buy hydroton if I don't have to. The beans are so big that they are climbing, I had to run to our little hardware store and buy some dowel rods. Hopefully they will keep until I can plant them safely. I think that I may start the hoop house over the bean area that way I can directly plant after a week of warming them up. Since I'm planting 60 bean plants I really want to get started on getting them transplanted so I can reuse their containers. And since I'm stage planting this helps as well.

I just tried the strawberry bread..not to bad. Probably not something I'll make often, but it has a good taste. I really want some blueberry, but the prices are so high. I will have to catch them when the go on sale. My last batch of muffin/bread is in so I will get the kitchen all cleaned up, or as much as I can do tonight and then start folding clothes and getting ready for bed. I'm sorta tired but not so sure that I'm tired enough to go to sleep. I took a very short nap this after noon from pain, but it was enough to make it go away. It seems that everytime I lift something well....let's just say that my incision is still ripping from time to time and it isn't pleasant.

Well it's off to stir the chili and unload the dishwasher and change the clothes over and lay my clothes out for tomorrow and stir the chili again and get the livingroom picked back up....well you get the picture!

Toodles
Katy

Ahghhggrrr

It has been snowing (flurry) since 4 am. Yes 4 am, that is what time my day started. It finally stopped moments ago, it will be really nice to see spring. I can hardly wait.

We got our electricity bill today. We used 1231 kwh last month...that's a lot for us expecially since we haven't been running the electric heater. That avg out to be 1769 watts per hour. OUCH. We will see where we can cut. I know that if we don't have more sunny days the solar panel doesn't do anything for us durning the winter. I think that shutting the water heater off more will certainly help. We are also looking to install motion sensor lights upstairs (that are really awsome) that we will get from the local hardware. They are a bit expensive but as long as they save us some money since the boys are not shutting the lights up.

On a happy note Smiley woke up in the middle of the night to use the potty! YIPEE....this is a great step!

Well I need to put all the clothes away that I folded last night and finish washing the bed sheets!

Toodles!

So far...so good!

Today I was very happy to go into service this morning. I was a good day. When I came home Duck was doing his homework the boys were playing so I started the dishes, started the laundry and then started on the netty pots. I used the yogrut containers from work that they toss and a soldering iron. I hope that this will work, I have a few more pots to do so I can put them in the tote. Tonight I will mix the nutrient solution and let it set overnight.

I transplanted most of the beans and sunflowers into bigger pots. Tonight I will plant some more beans and tomoatoes. I'm thinking about starting them out in bigger pots, I know for certain that next year I will be starting earlier and in bigger pots. I think that I'm going to be behind.

I went ahead and planted a few more tomatoes and broccoli. Tomorrow after work I will create an inventory of what I need and what I have. I will go ahead and plan as if I have the lettuce in the garden, if the hydroponics system is functioning (the one outside) by then, I will replace with tomatoes since it is best to grow cabbage and tomatoes together to cut down on cabbage worm.

I got a LOT of laundry done tonight, I will put it away and head to bed. I have to be up early so I need to hop to!

Night!
Katy

Another Blah Day.....

Nothing really new here. I'm really happy to see some more seedlings from 2.8 growing well under the grow light. I am excited to get the new lights up to introduce more plants. Duck picked up the pea gravel tonight so that is a start on the hydro systems. I am very interested in trying the system out this weekend, I really just needed the motivation to get it done. I also am trying to go out in service in the morning, I wanted to this morning unfortunately I woke up too late to get ready. I think that I'm going to take my shower tonight. The boys have been ruthless today, they have been fighting and screaming. We are working with the baby, he loves to scream all the time...sadly this is one of the signs that Sunshine showed when we first thought about ASD. While I don't think that this is a possibility, we are working hard on getting this behavior changed. Smiley is very affectionate and very strong willed. It is amazing to see the two when they see the sunflowers that they planted growing, like kids in a candy store. Well it's time for bed, I need to get up in the morning and try to get my shower done tonight. Another lazy day, not a lot done, but a dent in the chaos of our lives!

Toddles!
Katy

By the way, the one in the 2 liter is an experiement, I started it out on the 8th as a tomato plant, it has grown really really well!

Here is another pic of the lot of them. I am very excited at the beauty that Jehovah allows us the pleasure of witnessing.

Planting spurt..

The first planting took place on 1/25 or 26th I can't remember but I have it written down on the popsickle sticks that I used to label each plant, the second was on 2/8 and then the third today. I have some pics that I'm downloading right now. I'm trying to get my hyrdo system up, hopefully we will get one up this weekend. I'm lacking the following...netty pots, gravel and fertilizer. Miracle grow is the cloest thing that I can find right now at 20-20-21. I'm going to have to try it atleast. If it doesn't work then I will use that mixture to water the rest of my plants, clean the items and then order some from the internet. I really rather not do that, but I will. I have found a system that I really want to try, it seems the best for my needs for inside the house. So I would like to let everyone know right now and finally, my hydroponics system if for vegatables ONLY nothing illegal which I've been asked if that is what I'm doing. Hello! If I were doing something illegal would I post it? Would I spread info about it? Nothing is further from the possible truth. We are very excited at the possibility that we will be able to eat fresh lettuce year around. Here is one of the systems that I'm going to be trying..I'm really looking forward to seeing the results: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHiKKuAanyE&feature=related

Okay...so I really enjoy planting. I've read that Farmer's Almanac in parts that pertained to our area. I've leared a lot of useful info and we will be getting material for the cold frame which I hope to have pics of this weekend. (my work weekend) if we get them done that is!

Next it is locating a tiller...hopefully my neighbbor comes home soon :) If not we will have to either pay someone to come out and do it or rent one.

On a funny note I hurt myself really bad last night...in my sleep. The funny part is doing something that I hate to do...yoga. I was dreaming that I was doing yoga, which is really odd, then I felt a HUGE sharp pain and quickly woke up in a yoga pose. I pulled the muscle in my sternum and I would like to say, it hurts REALLY BAD.

Okay, I hope that you enjoy the pics, the youtube video and if you get bored...go to youtube and type in hydroponics. On a side note, it would be good to stay away from those referring to marijuana. There is some wonderful info and check out the verticle gardening ones too, they are really cool!

Night, Kate

A bit better today..

I feel a bit better but I still feel this heavy burden on my shoulder..not sure what it is or how to explain it. In the mean time I think that I will do more reading in the society provided material on family and children. I plan on going out into service both days this week as long as it is atleast nice.

On a lighter and much happier note...I would like to propose a question...What does $50.00 get you? Late last night I saw an ad on Hoosiertopics.com for 200+ canning jars..make an offer. I stated all I could give would be $50.00. They even delivered them to us today..now my front porch is covered with canning jar...guess what I'm doing tonight? Yup...cleaning jars. This also means that I will have enough this summer for all my tomatoes, peas, corn and beans. YUMMY, and oh so exciting...

Gotta go..toodles~

Working upstairs today....

We moved all the plants upstairs, I'll try to post some pics if I get them. I'm really rather depressed today at some news I rec'd. I really hate it when people degrade my parenting. Last time I checked they were my kids, since they aren't abused and they aren't bad children. We don't have conventional teaching as most in the day in age. We don't do anything without our children and again we are told that's wrong. (well there is only one thing that we do without our children...but to keep this G rated, it is left up to mommy and daddy time) Why is it wrong? Why would we have children if we didn't want to spend time with them? In 12 yrs Sunshine will be 18 and will be off doing his own thing...infact I probably don't have to wait that long, I'm probably looking at 9 or 10 yrs....why waste a minute with them now?

Okay, today was a bad day. I am still really upset and not sure how to approach it. While I think that I will ride this one out, in the mean time I'm not sure what to do or think. I'm really tired, my eyes are sore and hurt so bad. I am just dumbfounded.

This afternoon we cleaned the spare room and set up the plants inthe window, they perked up today so I'm thinking it will be good lighting for the starts and the hydroponics. Now I just pray the boys leave the plants alone. I will put in a grow light so that I can have the 16 hours that they want. We will go get the tubing for the hydro systems this weekend (mon or tue since I work in retail). I think that I have enough buckets to start and I will order some offline as well since I want to use the right mesh pots. If I can grow all my own lettuce that would be great! That will free up a LOT of room in the garden to plant more tomatoes. We are also going to build a hoop coldframe.

Goals/Plans for this weekend (done by Tue)

Fold and do all laundry tomorrow (fri)
Finish up boys room (Sat)
Laundry Room (Sun)
Kitchen (Mon) Hydro system
Livingroom/Hall (Tue) solar stuff

Okay I need to go, I see a shower and motrin in my very near future...

Me.

ye-ha!

First of all I really want to say that I'm so happy that my adorable kitty came home. I really missed him, he shows me affection when I'm just sitting doing nothing and the boys get a big kick out of feeding him and opening the door for him to come in or go out. He is a wonderful member of our family that will never be able to be replaced!

The Ye-Ha...I bought some coupons off the internet the other day...off ebay. They were for those totino's pizzas. The local little store had a special 5 for $4.00. That means that they were 80 cents each which is a huge savings from even save-a-lot or Walmart at 1.25 each. Then...with my coupon I saved $1.00 for every 3 that I bought, which means that if I bought 15 then I would save $5.00 off the $12.00 bill leaving a difference of $7.00. This would have made each pizza only 47 cents vs the reg price. Over all I'm very pleased with my coupons and savings...

Today was a rough day...I got up at 10 til 3 this morning and started my day. I picked up CB and had her come in a hour early so we could get prep done. It was nice to have it all done in the first thing in the morning. It gave us a good start to the day and got it off on the right foot. I'm irritated at the people who constantly stand around or lean over everything instead of doing their work...if you are bored find something to do. How would they like it if I asked them to work off the clock and not get paid? Why should they get paid for doing nothing? It really is one thing if they are totally done with their work, the store is clean and there is nothing left to do, but I see an excess of laziness. While I admit that I have a few moments where I stand, I'm seeing it a lot in the crew and some of the mgrs. Quit being lazy, find something to clean or sweep...or go home. If your going to be a waste of time and manhours...why even come in? Okay, enough with that...I was happy to leave early and come back, but it made for a really long day. I had to stand during the meeting to stay awake and try to stay out of pain.

I was very happy that my wonderful Duck let me take a nap..the boys were so cute, they came up and woke me up, they were so loving and adorable.

I need to go, I want to get some things done.

Toodles...

Seedlings....

Since we are staging our garden we are happy to report that the first set of seedling have germinated. They were planted on 1/25 and have sprouted really well. I was also shocked at how fast sunflowers grow. Sunshine, after watching Walle had one of his overstimulated excitement skits of how happy he was to see the plant...of course now all our shoes are at risk..he keeps wanting to put the seedlings in a shoe. We will start round two on Monday, I will transplant the seedlings to a green pot and then start over. I want to get more seed trays, they are a bit costly right now, but if they are heavy duty it is something that I will enjoy using years to come. We think that we've found somewhere to get the fertilizer for free...and they will even load it. I will of course give them money, it takes gas to run a tractor and time, that time and cost should be compensated. If they refuse, I will take fresh veggies to them this summer. I am so happy to have found someone..we need approx 5 loads in the trailer and maybe one for the neighbor. We will also be doing a potatoe experiement this summer. While the potatoes worked just fine in the tire idea..it was a pain in the neck to dig them up and there is a lot of chemicals on tires. So I'm going to use old dogfood backs that are turned inside out. Since they have good drainage and they are made of a tarp material they will work well for my sack and I don't even have to spend that much money on them since the dog eats the food and we just throw them away. We are also going to cut his pen in half, since he is the only dog left out there, he doesn't need all that room. We will bury a cattle fence around it so he can roam free. We will also consider the double gate idea as well. I would like to pour a concrete run for him for at least part of it. We will use the other side for corn and beans and loofah. We will be working on the apple trees again this year...but the biggest project thus far will be they hydroponic system for the lettuce and tomatoes.

Well I need to get to work.

A full day at home...

Well Okay, I woke up this morning still feeling weighed down in the chest...and no, it wasn't my boobs. I feel like I've been punched and the perps arm came out the other side. This generally means that I'm getting sick...DARN IT. I don't have time for this. I did however manage to get some stuff done today. I'm happy with what little progress I made in the laundry room, I'm going to try to finish it off before heading upstairs to bring down the dirty laundry baskets and bed sheets. I took a five minute nap today and it really did me wonders...not sure why, but it gave me the boost that I needed.

I am very thrilled to report that we found that the broccoli, cauliflower and bean plants that we planted on the 25th have come up...this is right about on time. Once they are a bit bigger, probably next Monday I will transplant them into the green pots, which are bigger, and start them over again. I will keep each stick with the plant to document which live and which don't. This will give me a much better idea as to how much and when to plant. Since I want to start the tomatoes and some stuff early and do it in bi-weekly phases, it was important to start early. This will give me an early crop and a staggered crop which will prevent waste and allow a run of supply, not just one time frame.

a couple of happy pics...

My fav breastfeeding pic...I was parked in the car one day, Duck took the pic, he was such a happy baby.

This is him now....he's such a big boy...



Sunshine is getting so big to! He is getting so smart day by day. He is teaching his brother so much and has started drawing again...which makes me happy. Now if he'd only let me keep his work.

I'll have to get the new pics off the camera to show you how big he's getting.

Apollo came home finally. I was brought to tears to think of the fact that my cat had more than likely frozen to death in the below freezing temps. He finally came home, best to our thinking he was probably stuck in a garage or shed or something until whomever set him free. He was hungry, very hungry actually and thin. He ate so much and then rested and wanted back out.

Well I need to run, I have to be up really really early.

Me.

hydroponics....

So...looking at this title many will think that my mind is heading down an illegal raod. On the contrare. It is a wonderful idea! Building a garden in water makes sense for those who don't have access to land to build garden in and who want to grow year around but are like me who are stuck in a cold climate state. The ideas are amazing~you can grow things faster and inside year around....oh.and the best part is...it's cheap to do. We have plans for three different types of systems, two that can be put inside and one that is strictly for outside. If we can get it done in time, this will grow all of our lettuce plants. Well we are going to have company tomorrow and I want to get my stuff done today...I'll look up more on hydroponics...here is a youtube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah3zrGRmx80&feature=related

Service and cleaning...

Today we went out into service, we had a great time. I was very very very pleased to have the opportunity to speak with one of the other sisters. I found out that she batch cooks for herself once every 6-9 months and will be doing it again really soon. WOW I really love the idea of batch cooking and I feel that canning soups and such falls under those ideas. I volunteered to help her if she needed any...I can't wait. I will also give some seeds to her from my seed share for her neighbor who gives her veggies regularly. I also heard that another sister would be great to get into contact with about a possible garden for her...I have some seeds set aside for her as well. It is amazing how God really does bless us.

Duck had school today, it seemed to go well. I will help him type up any notes he needs to get done, this way he won't have to spend hours upon hours of typing, he can dictate and I can type. I have several loads of clothes to fold so I really want to get to it before it's too late. I want to get them all put away tomorrow so I can purge what needs to be purged and go on to possibly painting.

Toodles.

I strongly dislike....

bird food. I'm not a bird...I'm a human, there are humans who have made good yummy food for us to eat which I love to consume. Now, this being my first day, I can't have any. Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: yogrut, fruit and walnut salad

Snack I had 2/3 can of mandrain oranges drined (in light syrup)

Lunch: 1 cup mixed white and brown rice, 1 cup mixed veggies, 1/3 chicken breast baked.

Let's see what dinner holds out.

Dinner: 1 1/2 cup of mix rice with soy and teriaki sauce, 8 oz of nonfat yogurt

I will probably have a snack of either fruit or yogurt, I could eat yogurt for every meal...

Me.

Day two and the funk...

Day two of potty training has been a success. While Smiley is still really upset he can't wear a diaper he is really looking forward to getting cars undies. I tried to clean a bit today and it worked well, I got some done. I know that this house doesn't get dirty or messed up all at once, so I can't get it all clean at once. We are working on a schedule that will be good for all of us.

Today we got our gas bill...ouch! It was over 200 dollars. This isn't going to be a good week at all. We will just have to watch it.

I'm starting my diet in the morning, this will hopefully be the one! I've been in such a funk lately, I have no energy no nothing. I'm feeling rather depressed and just down, I need to get this done, this weight off and get more motivated to get things going. So I will make a rewards list for myself. This way I have something to work for other than loseing the weight. Something small but rewarding all the same. We'll see how it works.

Today was the day...

when I got up this morning I went to my meeting, I came home after talking to S. I decided that today was the day I was going to potty train the baby who is now 3. He has been refusing to take off his diaper, to wear underware. Well I now know he can do it. He has had one accident all day long. That is unbelievalbe. He has gone all day long going to the potty until we left to go to a friends house for dinner. It was a good time, good friends, good meal, good times. Gotta take little big man to the bathroom.

Toodles.

What to compost...

In case any of you were ever wondering.....here is a list that someone put together of things that you can compost. This is estimated to reduce the amount of waste by 1/3.

http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm

Copy that link and put it in the keyword search to see all the different things you can compost. Some of the most interesting that I found was urine, dryer lint and tea bags. I think that we are going to try to do a lot more this summer with compost, we are going to set up a two bin compartment.

Well I need to jump up and get some things done around here, S was nice enough to give me the day off since labor was bad and we got a new manager back.

My heart breaks....

I watched some videos after I posted last. My heart breaks for those in Haiti and all over the world that is struggling. We are worrying about which TV we are going to buy or which dish washer I want and there are people starving in light of a serious quake. I've been told that we've lost at least 16 brothers from the Haiti congregations, relief work has already started for the congregations in that area. They are already rebuilding the halls and finding refugee for the families. There has got to be something that I can do, even if it is small. I heard a story about a mother who's 2 yr old was at daycare, she ran to the daycare to find it crushed, but she could still hear her daughter. She talked to her for days while rescue crews arrived and started to pull away the rubble, she made it out alive and nearly unhurt. The torment that must play on a parent is gut wrenching. To think that the are down there searching for thier families and finding dead bodies or have to listen to them pray to live and in most cases still die from the time it take to reach them is impossible to think of as a parent. For the 2 or 3 minutes that Sunshine was missing that day, I nearly passed out from not being able to breath and scared to my wits end....I couldn't imagine going through this.

Tonight was the first night that we forced our kids to sleep in their own bed. Sunshine told me that he was sad. I laid next to him for a few minutes and told him that he'd be fine that I would be right across the room. He kept waving to me and signing I love you. I'm really proud that he made it to fall asleep, we'll just see if he stays that way.

I should get off of here, I want to be up in 5.5 hours and I have a meeting in the morning.

Tata...
Me.

A great day...

We all went to the meeting today, it was nice. I spent most of it in second school with the speaker down with the boys. Sunshine has a sensitivity to the loudness of the speakers in the auditorium. He did very well in the beginning, it was smiley that was having a problem sitting down and listening. We will work on this, being 3 it is tough to sit and listen for 2 hours. It was a really good talk.

We came home, had lunch and I took a nap while Duck worked on his homework. I'm really happy see him doing it in a timely manner. I really want to get him done with school, he is really smart and really ready to make something of his life.

Sunshine is really starting to talk well, he is also understanding a lot more. I'm really happy with his progress lately, he is shocking us all. The two of them have conversations that are so cute. He said the funniest thing the other day. He was made at his dad and he said, "Dad, short people aren't funny!" It was so funny!!!

I'm really happy with my garden plans, I am so happy and excited. I can't wait to start the seedlings.

Well we are watching a movie and I need to go, I'd like to wash my uniform and fold the clothes before bed.

Night.

I love my husband...

So we were both on the computer for a bit today...I thought I'd send him a private message, just to be silly. We kid with eachother all the time..like we'll say, "how's your girlfriend doing? or Tell you boyfriend to stop parking in my spot!" So today I sent him an IM that said, Hey sexy, wanna father my children? We're married, we can have fun...well then I saw who I sent it to...let's just say that it wasn't my wonderful husband, it was my uncle. Now...before everyone freaks out, NO I don't feel like that at all toward him...he has a wonderful family, they are actually our age and have fun like we do so he is probably going to laugh about it and tell the whole family. All in all, I was embarrassed and can only chalk it up to the wonderful relationship I have with my husband. So what's the first thing my wonderful husband did? Called my dad....that little rat.

Garden Plot

I have drafted a new plan for my garden plot.

I will be putting things as recommended on the packages with minor adjustments...

There will be 7 broccoli
5 cauliflower
5 cabbage
4 zuchinni
3 squash
2 buttermilk squash
2 egg plant
4 regular cucumbers
5 pickling cucumbers
8 roma tomatoes
3 cherry tomatoes
5 regular tomatoes
12 mix salad bowl lettuce
11 head lettuce
8 spinach
18 peppers - mix from various color and salsa
9 celery
16 peas
4 kidney beans
2 great northern beans
1 pimento bean
14 green beans
5 rows of 23 corn on the west side

On the pergula I will have the Loofah and grapes and more loofah around the dog pen.

I have a spinach bush coming and I will need to find a place for sunflowers.

The egg plant, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers and peas will all be supported. I have a support system in mind and will pick it up with our tax check. With the ideas I got from the master gardner and his layout, this should be a very productive year. I just need to find some way to keep it all watered and happy.

Once the corn comes up it will be replaced with beans, the cucumber will either be replaced with more tomatoes or squash stuff. I will replace the cauliflower and broccoli and the peas. Since I won't have a need for more cabbage unless I know someone who wants them, I will have no need ot plant more. Depending upon the need for the egg plant, I will decided wether or not I'm going to plant more. Tomaotes are our biggest concern... While we gave a lot away this year, we only made 20 pints of salsa which is gone except one pint.

Okay...need to run gotta make some dinner.

Me.

Nestle Boycott...uh....

Okay so I read a blog and while I've heard about this before I did a lot more digging this time...

Okay...I have a few questions. Before I start I want to say that in 99% of the cases, breast milk is the best for the baby. It is cost effective since it is free and on top of that it is designed1 for the baby by the mother. The one percent is the mothers that either can't produce enough or when the milk is not right for the baby which is what I'm 95% is sure that is why it didn't work the first time for me. Since it was literally making him sick. Okay so now to my questions:

1. I understand that Nestle is the biggest, but why are they the only being boycotted?

2. I watched several video from the Phillipines and a couple from other "3rd world countries"...the biggest problem I see isn't with Nestle it is: Governments who don't enforce laws, crooked doctors, nurses and hospitals who take bribes and commericals (which can be controlled by the governement since it is happening here in the US) But the #1 problem is in the water and education. Formula isn't best for babies, but there are millions of babies who grow up healthy on it, the problem is in the water that is mixed with the formula. It is causing illness and death...not Nestle. So...a possible solution, instead of the repeated attacks on the company..why doesn't every ban together and get them to provide (AT THE SAME COST OR LOWER) the formula in a ready to use version? It would have to be singles since most people don't have access to a fridge...but you get my point?

Why isn't more being done to educate these women? The biggest benefit to breastfeeding bar-none is the fact that it is free. Most of these poeple spend over half their monthly income, which they can't afford, on formula. Perhaps if the government would enforce their laws this would be a non-issue to an extent. Everyone in life has a choice, heck women have the choice to have an abortion, doesn't mean it's right for the baby. It really boils down to education, unforutnately in these countries influence is their education..that and crooked healthcare.

As for me and my household, Nestle is in my cabinets, I won't boycott a company on the grounds that they sell the most or have the biggest advertisements in countries that promote an option for women. That would be like boycotting McDonald's for selling more hamburgers because of their ads or Walmart for having he lowest prices. To me it is obvious that the few possible hundreds of thousands and even possibly million people who are participating in this boycott are not making enough of an impact on the company...obviously it is thriving. I also heard somewhere in the documentry that there was only a handful of formulas at first, now there are 30 some..or something like that. Here's a boycott idea..why don't we boycott the Phillipines or other countries until they toughen their laws on such things???

As I said at the beginning, I am all for breastfeeding, I would do it again with any child I had and for as long as I did. It was free, it was ready, I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night and go to the kitchen to heat up a bottle, it was easy and very bonding. The health benefits remain to be seen. One child while being autistic (which didn't happen because I gave him a bottle) also has sevear asthma which he had to take steroids for to help his lungs. My breastfed child who is "normal" also has asthma and has to take steriods for, he is also anemic, under average for children who are his age (which their father was also). Both are happy, energetic and loving little boys.

While I appreaciate there are people out there who are so passionate for a cause, perhaps there needs to be solutions found/created based on what is and not what should be, since it isn't the way it should be. Wouldn't that be a more productive use of everyone's time...including the babies everyone is trying to save? On a side note, if this is the direction being give by these doctors, can one only imagine the other gross malpractice that is going on in those countries?

Just a thought...a very sad situtation with no apparent possible joyful outcome...until the end of this system. Rev. 21:1-4

Puttin' through...

Well not a whole lot has happened, I feel better while I still have an episode here and there. I can't wait to get health insurance so I can get my heart checked out again. All in all I feel fine. I worked early this morning and did everything that I could to get the store on the right foot, I sure hope that everything worked out. I'm not worried, I just hope that I did everything I was suppose to. It has been slow at work, I don't remember it being this slow last year, but maybe it was.

Duck starts back to school tomorrow. Wed we went down to see GG, I was called and told that hospice has been called in. If I can make it down in a couple of weeks, I will.

I'm about ready to order my seeds and I realize that I will have enough for 2 or 3 gardens..that's a ton. I'll just store them for next year or find someone who wants some. I'm going to try egg plants soon so I can see if I like it. I'm also going to move the garden around a bit, I've got a different plan and I need to make sure that I put more salsa stuff, we have gone through over 19 pints since the garden was harvested 3 months ago.

Well I've got a long day ahead tomorrow. I want to start putting together my starts and schedule for planting.

Toodles.

Holy Puke Batman...

Everynight before the baby goes to bed, he throws up. This has been going on for 3 days now. He'll feel fine, jump, play and be rotten, and then all the sudden, there he blows! If he keeps this up he will be going to the doc. This is annoying and it really upsets him. You can tell he feels yucky afterwards, which means another bath and then he seems like he is very embarrassed by it.

Okay, I need to scoot.

Me.

AHHHH.....

Okay...so I've been working with Duck to try to get his class schedules set up where he can be done in the fall/winter. I don't see it happening. Today he will get his revised circulum and he is going to be 2 classes off. The only way to him through would be for him to take the max amount of classes between now and then...it isn't possible. He's bauking at 15 hrs...there is no way I can get him to do 18. Now to the hard part. I need to see if I can get my schedule set on a fixed schedule until the end of this term and the I think that I will be able to stick with the same schedule.

Smiley lost all of his dinner again last night, I'm wondering if he is getting a cold or something and getting a mucus backup, it seems to happen more when he coughs or gags. I know that sounds obvious, but now he has more symptons of having a gi bug. NO FUN.

Sunshine hasn't been eating as much lately and he has been asking for his breathing treatments so we are doing what we can go make sure that he is staying healthy...he is the on that I worry most about healthwise.

I'm feeling a lot better, the medicine seemed to do the trick..I still have a spell now and again but nothing major. I can't believe how hard it was to do anything besides focusing on walking. Unless you've ever had that you probably wouldn't even know what I was talking about. I hope that you never do.

Well I want to finish rearranging the upstairs and fold the laundry and get it put away. I all need to FC the toddler bed.

TTFN.
Katy

and the winner is:

well both boys...for the child that could wake mommy and daddy up in the worst (while not their fault) way. At 2:30ish Smiley woke me up hacking..I knew what was coming...a long night of catching his puke. Yipeee....how did I get this prize? So then at 4ish, Sunshine woke up doing the same...oh my. Now I'm going to have two children throwing up on each side of me. My poor brand new pillow was scared. I scrunched him up as small as I could and turned him verticle so he would hopefully stay out of the damage path. So far so good. Hopeing it was over this morning when Smiley was lively and smiling, I was sadly mistaken...He just did it again. So that makes it now 5 times and he has already cleared his stomach for a second time. The only thing that I worry about with him is the fact that he is so tiny, he might dehydrate quickly. As for Sunshine, he had nothing to really put up, he didn't eat hardly anything at all yesterday.

Well I have to get ready for work, sine I'm feeling better it would be a good idea to go in instead of loafing around here. The med is really working well, it just makes me so tired.

Later...toodles.

Plans for this year...

* We are going to buy a electric furnace for the house and we are also going to install a wood furnace.

* Second wind mill

* Solar heater

* Respectable clothes line

* Lose weight

* Start exercising 5 days a week 1-2 miles a day

* Plant two plot garden

* Finish basement

* Paint entire inside of house

* Learn how to make clothes

So far that is all I can think of...I need to get going. I feel a lot better today, the medicine is working and I hope that I can return to work tomorrow. Thankfully S gave me the day off.

Toodles.
Me.

Results and a reflection...

Okay so I'll start with the results...I broke down and went to the doc today. I have what is called Vertigo. I go through spells of dizzyness, some worse than others. I'm feeling a bit better after taking the meds she gave me the only problem is that I can't drive on them and they make me sleepy. On the other note...she said that I need to refrain from making sudden movements. YEAH RIGHT!!! I live with two toddlers and work at a fast food restaurant. She gave me a pass for today and if I'm not feeling great I'll have to get another for tomorrow. My speech is still slurred and when I try to move or refocus on something my eyes will bounce and try to stop and focus. I did make it to the meeting tonight, about half way through I started to feel a bit better but standing and walking to the car was well...tough. It's crazy, it takes me two or three times as long to do simple tasks because I have to concentrate so hard on trying to stay focused and not fall. I hope that the medicine works, I really don't like feeling like this. On a side note I've gotten a month's worth of sleep in the past three days. I'm so tired of being so tired.

I read another's blog today and though it was a good idea to give a reflection over the past decade...let me see if I can remember that far back.

2000 - Moved out of my apartment after I bought my first house, stopped using drugs, fell in love with my furture husband. Oh and best of all I made the step to reunite with my father.

2001 - Very boring year, I left fastfood for a desk job which I loved and then at the end of the year we had 9/11.

2002 - In feb I was dian. with a heart condition, actually 3. I turned 21, other than that..noting significant.

2003 - Went through heart surgery in April, got married in June, buried Duck's Dad in August, found out we were pregnant the day we buried him, buried his uncle in Sept, buried Samantha and Amanda on the same day in Dec. Overall it was a life and death year. Then I was laid off in Dec.

2004 - Duck made 9,000 in Jan selling cars :). I found a job that I didn't care for a great deal in Feb. Sunshine was born in April, diagn. with Asthma in Oct. He took up most of our year.

2005 - Was called back to R&K, bought new house in Sept, Duck moved in and we followed in Oct. Had a rough start, but we were making it.

2006 - Started working at the pallet company, Sunshine was hospitalized for a week after a long stint of being sick and I was pregnant again for the second time a month later, and was delivered in November.

2007 - I had to quit working and become a stay at home mom due to finances and Sunshine being diagnoised with Autism and needing special education services. We started to think about becoming more self sufficient and frugal. Grew as a family.

2008 - I started studying the bible, I never realized how much was in there nor the depth of it. Smiley was hospitalized for asthma at a month old. Duck got laid off from his job and I went back to work part time. I was able to run a business for 7 months successfully until the economy dropped. We also put in a windmill.

2009 - A rocky year, Duck is in school, Sunshine is home in school. I'm still working....grrr. It's been a long year but it is over. Nothing significant.

Well it took me two hours to get to 2009 last night, so I'll post this and start a new one.

K

What is going on???

For the past two days I've felt like crap. It started yesterday morning before dad was suppose to be up here, I felt so naueous that I literally had to lay down. Then an onslaught of other symptons started showing up. Let just say, I make frequent potty visits. I just wish I'd throw up already so I can get the junk out and get better. I'm now so dizzy that it is taking a consciencous effort to stay sitting up and not leaning. I cerainly hope this passes tonight, there is no way I can work like this. If I'm not better in the morning I will have to go into the doc, I can't function very well like this.

Gotta go.
me.

wanna read something disappointing???

http://www.rd.com/make-it-matter-make-a-difference/slideshow-13-things-your-childs-teacher-wont-tell-you/article165082-12.html#slide

Oh...my! If teachers really hate their job that much..find another one. Infact, let's trade places. The only positive statements that I found was the one about turing off kids texting abilities during school hours....great idea...why not limit it anyway..a little more often than just during school hours. And the one about children telling everyone your family secrets...how very true. Other than that it is just teachers complaining about their jobs...the afterall, chose to be teachers. Change jobs or stop complaining...I hear a lot of local fast food joints are hiring...how does 7.25 per hour sound vs the 51,000 per year you are making now?

Okay....that was annoying...

Got a few things done...

I've started a new blanket...this one is different, I'm doing it:

Darker baby Blue row
darker baby blue row
darker baby blue row
multi color row
burgandy row
burgandy row
burgandy row
multi color row
brown row (chocolate)
brown row
brown row
multi color row
hunter green row
hunter green row
hunter green row
multi color row
and repeat until finished....

It looks really nice, I will keep this up in the future as opposed to my same old pattern although I like them both.

I bought new curtains for the livingroom and will move our bedroom curtains to the boys room and put new ones in ours...they are redish and not really a boyish color. I'm looking forward to getting them up until I can sew new ones for the boys.

I'm pretty sure at this point that I'm going to have to break down and see the doc about my shoulder....it is really starting to hurt again, and pop everytime I move it. I need to work on the biggest loser thing for work...that's less than a week away.

I also want to start getting my seed order ready for my spring garden. I also need to find some quality compost. Well that's something that I will think about doing...I also read that roma tomatoes are amongst the best for the fact that they have a low water content, which would be perfect for the sauces that I like to make and the canned tomatoes and salsa.

Okay gotta run, want to get some laundry folded before bed...toddles.
Me.

Good thing....

Duck wasn't awake to see that...Mandee just pulled two keys off my laptop trying to jump up on my lap. Grrrr. Silly girl! She is still trying to get used to us and finally using her box again..thank GOD. She decided that she didn't want to climb the stairs anymore so we moved it down stairs. I will say that the pine litter is really nice, you NEVER smell the cat dropping. My fott is still killing me from when I stepped on the megablock the other day..ouch..then lastnight I got something stuck in my eye and I think I now have it infected. It was oozing and pussing last night...I know TMI. I nearly overslept this morning, apparently no one heard my alarm which has been going off for over an hour. I must have been really tired. Smiley slept on the top bunk last night, he didn't wake up until I asked Duck where the baby was, he must have heard me. I work until 4 today which is a much different shift for me, but I'm really looking forward to it. I do like working Thursdays with the acception of the few bad apples that try to spoil it for everyone it usually makes for a really nice day. I certainly hope that today is no different. I kinda think that it will be busy since people are going to be out shopping for the secular holiday. I had a long discussion with my dad about this holiday. The sad thing is that he agrees with me except for the fact that he thinks no matter what we should celebrate Jesus Christ's birthday, I gotta figure out how to show him that the bible doesn't approve. He knows that it is a false god worship day (the sun god) but he says that it is too hard to changes since everyone else does it. He seemed kinda peeved that we don't celebrate. In due time he'll understand, even if it takes me to the end of this system to show him. Well I need to scoot, I have to get ready for work...toodles!

What happens when....

you change a blind mans living room around? Okay..so we've all heard that joke before, but what happens when you move an autistic kids room around? Today was rough to say the least. Sunshine was so beside himself, it has been unreal. I'm praying we don't end up with a seizure. Then not thinking he wouldn't let Smiley on the top bunk (which is Sunshine's bed) to play I removed all Sunshine's Buzz Lightyear bedding and put them on the bottom bunk and move the Cars bedding to the top. I was trying to prove a point at the end of my wits, it was a split second decision. Why didn't I just throw myself to the lions? Right now he is not allowed upstairs unless we are up there since they can't play nice, they can't play up there. We'll let them play downstairs and we will work on letting them go back up there later. We have rearranged the upstairs, I'm washing the 2 load of dishes, I hate the new dishwasher and can't wait to get our tax check, then I can buy a new one. Today has been short, rough and trying...but as a mother you will have those days.

I've gotta run, it's time to change the clothes over and wipe down the kitchen.

Toodles.
Me.

Vaccine...

So after talking to one of the people at work, she was contact multiple times by the school in regards to getting her 6 yr old girl vaccinated with the H1N1 shot. I found it interesting that the schools are harrassing parents to get this shots for their children, I would not have put up with it at all..thank goodness I kept Sunshine home this year. I read at a local new station that they have recalled 800,000 doses of the vaccine for children. Siting that they believe they aren't even potent enough to protect children from the virus. SO let's look at they cycle here...child unwillingly gets stuck with a needle, full of a concoxation that is not believe won't prevent them from getting sick, they still run the risk of getting sick due to the vaccine, get stuck again since most kids need two shots and still wind up sick with the flu. HUM...where is the logic here? None the fact that it hasn't been tested enough. The most alarming fact of this virus is the range of people that it is attacking, and most that it is very deadly for pregnant woman. All the same...I'm really glad that I don't have to worry about my children who are being presurred into getting this vaccine.

I'm off to rearrange my upstairs. I want to get the boys new special beds made tonight and on top of what happened yesterday I'm ready to get my home clean and NOT leave. We got stranded in the local town about 25 minutes away. We were stuck in our cold car with only blankets and waiting for 30 min for a wonderful brother from the Hall to come and rescue us. He spent most of the evening with us, we had to stop 2 times to charge the car battery enough to just get us home. The alternater is going out....and the worst part is that a remanufactured one is 125.00 OUCH. We will pull one off the parts car and replace it at tax time. We are going to be putting 15-20 fuel cells in it and try to run it soley off of water...I wanted to get it hooked up for solar/electric but Duck wants to try the cells first since we'll have to pull parts off for the electic anyhow.

The semester ended today, we'll get him set up for classes for next semester today. He'll be set up for 12-15 hrs this time. He should graduate next summer. I'm not sure if he is going to transfer his credits over but I can't wait for him to get a job. I long for the time when I can aux pioneer and pioneer fulltime. I've been going out a lot more recently and the joy it brings me is amazing. Well I need to get working on the boys room, I'm working a lot tomorrow and won't be able to do anything else.

Katy

It's been a while...

Brown recluse...I think that's how you spell it. I'm nearly certain that I found one in my house the other morning. I killed it and in the care of trying to identify it it got lose and squished all over my work shoes. We are working on the house. Dad is going to come up, I can't wait. I haven't seen him in so long.
Last night when we were writing Duck's final speech we decided to write his eulogy. It is a way to have fun with it and hopefully it will have the shock and awe that the teacher thinks it will have. It was something! Life has been busy and not a lot has gotten accomplished around the house...so it's time to get up and get it done!

me.

A week of tantrums, little sleep and insanity...

It has been rough at work for a while. I'm doing as best as I can at work. I would have never thought it would be possible for a 40 year old to throw a bigger tantrum than my two year old...but I saw it with my own eyes. All in all it was hilarious. I need to remember that it isn' nice to laugh in people's faces when they are acting stupid. I'm try to work on that...it has always been a weakness that I've had. We are trying to work on getting all of our policies in line, I know that while every restaurant can do it, I also know that they don't. So what is the harm in working on it? It is a work in progress, not something that can get changed in one day, one lunch or 3 hours. Enough said...it was a funny day...and worse than that some people have nothing better to do with their lives than to try to make other people misearable. How sad for them that they feel they need to do such things.

The assembly today was rough to say the least. Duck started getting very nauseous, I think it was a mixture of heartburn, heat and greasy breakfast. Poor guy! Sunshine was beside himself, he has actually started sniffing his food which indicates that he thinks I'm hiding medicine, which means that he is sick or getting sick. He has had two breathing treatments tonight so....it seems he needs to go into the doc. Smiley on the other hand has moved from terrible twos to totally terrible three's. His attitude needs to be put into check. He's learning so much and he's so adorable, but I can't let him get away with everything...he'll start walking all over me if that happens. All in all he's a bright young boy.

I'm thinking about asking for a few days off of work. I need to get some things done when Duck is on break. I also need to remember to find out if Sunshine has a skin condition that I can't even spell. If so I'm needing to find him a particular soap.

Okay, well I've got a lot to get done tomorrow, so I need to get off of here and get some rest.

Katy

Kicking myself in the butt.

So Today I was suppose to be at work at 4 and I never heard the alarm go off. I feel awful, I can't believe this happened, I'm so mad at myself. I got up a little after 6:30 and called in first thing praying that someone was reached, mortified at the amount of trouble I'm in. CRAP. I can't believe this. There aren't enough words to say how sorry I am, this is not my character and I can't believe this happened. DARN IT. So I'm picking up one of the managers shifts that came in early today to help cover. I haven't been in yet to see the extent of the damage that I created nor the amount of trouble I'm in. Considering I don't have a running vehicle when Duck takes his to school. I'm beside myself...I laid back down to try to calm my very racing heart back down after I called in this morning and laid there for about an hour before I finally dosed back off. This is not going to be good, but I will accept any dicipline given, I have no other choice, I made the mistake. I'm still really ticked at myself. GRRRRRRR.

Going to be another long week..

So the other day I found out that my theory about why everyone is mad at me is correct. I could really care less, I was doing my job and I'm quite frankly tired of feeling like I have to defend myself. The point was made to me that they felt it wasn't fair since they always joke inapproiately and this was the first time anything was done about it. Okay..he physically touched another employee inapproiately and nearly did it to another who would not have welcomed such an inapporiate gesture. So is this why it's quiet all the time? It is because they don't feel comfortable joking like that around me? HELLO!! This is work, not a bar. And this person made the choice to leave the job which is something that I found out today, it wasn't that he was fired, while I new they quit, I didn't know it was their decision. I am easy to get along with, I just want people to do their job, that's it! I was told today that my performace was appreicated and good, that I should keep it up. That was a boost.

The meeting was great tonight, I can't wait for the special assembly. I have no idea how I'm going to get Sunshine dressed for it, but I've gotta do something, I have to figure this out.

I almost looked up receipes for cat today. I may have no other choice but to build a large cage for Mandy if she doesn't quit peeing. This is getting so old I can't imagine going another couple of days like this. The very next time she will put in the bathroom at night and I don't know where during the day. We may just put a door on the laundry room and put her in there. I'm at a loss....I can't wait until she can go home...I'm sure that she would be happier there. She does come out when the boys are asleep and cuddle with me and let me pet her.

I'm going to bed, I have to be up early.

night,
me.

Productive day..and painful.

I cleaned all the carpets upstairs and the beds and stairs. WOW, that was a lot of work. My shoulder was killing me and popping a ton, we'll see how if feels tomorrow. I'm going to rearrange things tomorrow night if I can move. We also have a meeting tomorrow night since the CO is in town. We have decided to leave the boys in the bunk beds for now, and get them moved to their own room. Since this will be a work in progress and it is cheaper to heat one room than 2 at night we will move our bed temporarily into their room and go from there. We are going to insist they sleep in their own beds, we have even gotten them new cool bed spreads. I will need to pick up one more plastic sheet for Smiley's bed. Since he is still in diapers and doesn't leak it isn't a rush, but I need to try to do it in the next couple of weeks. We are also going to buy everyone in the house new pillows, it's time. I'm going to set up my sewing table in the other room and ban the children from being in there. We will put up a door and a gate at the tops of the stairs. Well I need to get to bed, but find my phone first, it's been missing for 2 days now...how peaceful.

loosing momentum

I've been so tired, so incredibly tired. I took a 4 hour nap today and could've slept all night. Yesterday I posted a wanted for the hooked on phonics system. So someone told me that they saw one at Goodwill the day before and recommend I check there, so we did that today, we got the whole system for $5.99. WOW!! We also picked up two or three suits for Duck and a couple of pants and sport coats. I love deals..now I just have to get them dry cleaned. Sunshine is ready to start reading, I want to get him into it. He can do all his Pre-K and K stuff so the next thing is the to teach him to read. We will then start picking out parts of the bible and giving him assignments for the Watchtower Study so he can speak. We are working on our schedule and getting him set up. I am going to call to see if I can get him into the doc, he needs to be checked I think he may have an ear infection or something, he is acting funny. Well I got a carpet cleaner so I need to get things started tonight so I can go over them again in the morning.

How to get rid of the cat pee smell...

So the cat peed on Sunshine's jacket and of all places...inside the dryer..AHHH. Okay, it's an animal...should be thrilled it is alive, but it's an animal. I racked my brain all day as to what to try and I found some ideas on the net..one mentioned, febreeze. Okay, so I'm thinking that febreeze, vinegar and soap is going to do the trick...guess what it worked so incredibly well. Not a hint of the smell is left and the cat is saying it's prayers.

Well I've gotta be up at the crack of dawn...oh wait, it won't crack dawn until I'm at work for a few hours...anyhow gotta take a shower and go to bed.
Night
Me.

What is we could....

Save 80% on our home energy usage?....and still run the dryer? Would you do it? It's going to take some work, but we are going to give it a try. I could not imagine spending only 20-30 dollars a month for our utility bill. That would save us so much money..better yet if we could run a electric furnace and only pay 50-75 dollar a month and never pay a gas payment again. That would save us about 250 dollar a month during the winter. Wow....what a though. Our monthly electricity bill is down to about 100, just under a month as it is. If it is true and we can build solar panels for $100.00 each, we are looking to put up about35-50 units. It would then only make sense that we would pay for them in about 60 months. Since they will last 25 years, that will be a good return on our investment. The return is about 20,000. That is worth it. Then if 6 windmills can provide about about another 3000 watts per hour, that will allow us to bank what we aren't using for months that we may use more like summer or winter.

Okay, well I've got a lot to get done, I need to get the laundry finished up so we can move the washer and dryer and hopefully we can move the deep freezer...we'll see.

Toodles.

What's good for the garden???

So I did a research part today on what to compost. So I found out that in Britian they pee on their compost piles. Yummy. Can't say that I plan on doing that anytime soon...too public.

So I've worked the past two days, infact the past 4 have been really nice considering. There have been a few minor unhappy points, but overall, it's been good. I'm really happy to see everyone starting to pull together. It's about time we real team work going. Sat was great and today we wonderful as well. I've been so overly happy at how well things have been going.

Anyhow, things are chugging along, not nearly as I'd like but I've gotten a bit of an eye opening thought. What if, and the way the economy has been, it got a bit better and then went so much worse...like the great depression. A sister today made a comment that some analysists are predicting that to happen and happen within the next year. So what can be done? On an individual basis and on a group/global basis?

Well I'm going to try to get the boys up really early to possibly go into FSM.

Toodles.

Me.

Oh happy days....

Okay, so first of all..work...you could cut the tension with a knife. While people are starting to follow one policy it makes me happy to see that it is really starting to work, but there are those who still blame me for what happened. First of all I want to say this: Sexual Harassment is against the law, and it absolutely can't be tolorated in any work enviroment, allowing such horse play and harrassment go on leads to lawsuits frivilious or not. Second..it wasn't my decision to let said individual go, I liked that this person worked, said person seemed to work well, and it was sad that the uppper managment had to take the steps that they did, but said individual left, they weren't terminated. By not reporting this event it would set me up for all kinds of potention trouble. The other manager who didn't report it would have faced the same blame. I did what I was suppose to and I'm again getting cut down for it...how is this right? Horse play has no room in the restaurant period. I want to have fun while I work, I want to have a good time, but I don't want to put my job at jeopardy doing so. It is time for everyone to just move on, do their jobs and either have fun and not make others miserable. I refuse to be miserable at work because of any of this. I'm serious about getting the job done right, but I can have fun doing it. I think that others take me wrong, they seem not to care to get to know me, otherwise things might be different. I so tired of getting critized for things that others do, I won't ask someone to do something that I wouldn't or don't do. I'm not going to be leaving any time soon, I won't be forced into leaving, if others are that unhappy that is very unfortunate. I want everyone to be happy at work, what else can I do?

We got new phones, I'm really happy with the phones but not so sure about the plan. I'm nervous signing contracts but the plans seems like it is going to fit. All in all, I think it is going to work out fine for us. We dropped the home phone to practically nothing and the cells will have 550 plus our extra.

Tomorrow I'm going to enjoy the day off with the boys. I'm going to have a good time getting their bedrooms ready for remodel and getting things moved around. I want to make sure that I get all the windows taken care of as well. We've pretty much given upon the idea of the wood stove, we were misled into thinking this would work with our current system, although I kept saying mixing gas fumes and potention fire particles doesn't make much sense.

Well I need to scoot, computer is about to die and I want to get a head start.

Thanks to everyone who did a good job today and who tried to do a good job. I notice things, even when I don't say anything...I notice.

K

Call out the dogs....

And light the fires, change is in the air. It's time to make a difference in life.

The past two days have been interesting. I've been in an unbelieveable amount of pain, tonight I'm pretty sure that I've taken care of most of it, I relocated my shoulder. I simply finally found the spot and pushed. It was releiving, I still have minor pain but feel better.

BOB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixMvFdeo-F0&feature=related

Got about 3 min? Check out this video on youTube...I LOVE IT. It lists the book of the bible in order to a song. I even went to this guys website and he has so many more. www.bigsbyshow.com

Just thought I'd share it.


Me.

Another day.

I had to be at work at 4 am this morning. Then I answer the phone, the opener in the kitchen called off. Okay, so for most this isn't a big deal, but let's face it, I've only opened kitchen once, and I still have a bum shoulder. This was not going to be fun. I did as much as I could and we got the store opened on time. I had to leave at nine as much as I didn't want to, I had to. Duck had to go to school. I had my final bible study today, now it is up to me to make the adjustments to continue to study. I've started reading one of th books I got from Sister T. Smiley really seemed to like it he sat there while I read an entire chapter, Sunshine joined in through the middle of the chapter.

Later we went to pick up my check. I was happy with it, I had a LOT of hours on it. I had to cash it today at the local store since the banks were closed. We then went into town and picked up a few things. I now need to go up and fold the clothes. I'm trying to get them all put away so I can get them completely purged and see what the boys have and don't have for winter.

Boy it's cold in here, it was 65 when I got home this morning, but it feels colder than that now, I may have to turn on the heater.

Night.
Me.

How do you...

teach an old dog new tricks? Work was yet again rough. We need so people who know what they are doing, and are willing to do the job that they are bing paid to do with very little to no lip. I will be looking into policies to see what I need to brush up on myself. There are some things that I've been taught how to do the wrong way.

Smiley is sick, he's running a fever again. I will need to call the nurse tomorro and see what they want to do about it. This isn't a huge concern yet, but I found out that he has been exposed to three people who have had and recovered from h1n1. I'm not going to freak out about this, I must protect Sunshine though. He is unable to take any of the flu meds as they either aren't for people with breathing problems or they are penicillin dirivatives. (not sure if I spelled that correctly)

I'm really tired today and if my arm isn't any better by Friday I will see if I can get into the doc myself. I wonder if I've torn my shoulder. The pain isn't always intense, but it isn't going away.

Well I need to go, I want to I want to wash a couple loads of laundry tonight so I can hang it out first thing in the morning.

Toodles.

Wild day..

I was hoping to get off ealy so I could go to the get together tonight. I got a phone call at 9:15ish and it was S asking me to come in early so I could leave early. SURE THING. Even if I had to wear damp clothes, which I did, it would have made a wonderful day. It was busy today, so busy, but for the most part good. A few try to spoil a good day, but I won't let it spoil mine. After work I had so much fun, we got smores and hung out with friends. I think I've found a couple to take the boys when we need a couple of hours to get some things done.

I need to get going, I want to get a few things done before bed.

Toodles...

Crappy day...

I feel like my shoulder is dislocated. It hurts, not as bad as it did last night, but it still aches. The rice pad worked really well, it feels better with rest. I have to work tomorrow and certainly hope that it is more fun that it was today. I certainly wish that I could drop a few packages of midol in the stores water supply. Some days the employees are more rude than the customers. And for the record, I don't want anyone's job, if I did, they'd know it. I'm happy in my current position and I don't intending on making this job a life long adventure. I'm happy that right now I'm getting as many hours as I'd like and happy that I can get the days off that I really need.

Gotta run!

Toodles.

Odd day.

Today seemed to be an odd day. Work was odd, people are cranky, but I'm sure they will get over it. Came home, got the boys ready, Sunshine didn't fight as much as he usually does and at the meeting they wouldn't stop talking, so we went to the back room. After the meeting we stopped for our treat at work and our order was so messed it it wasn't even funny. I had to end up going back in to get a partial refund since we were overcharged and still didn't get the food we were even rang up for. Hum... When we came home we hung out as a family and now I'm cleaning and Duck is doing homework.

On another note the tv ran for 3 days without interruption soley on the power provided by the sun and wind. It is obvious that we need more batteries and need to set the windmill up on a pully system. The solar panel isn't producing as much as I'd like to see, but we have to reset it as well. MJ had it set to power his batteries a different way, since we use the box with it, it needs a blocking diode which will stop the drain on the batteries when there is no sun. We are also working on the solar heaters, I hope that we can get those done soon. I still didn't get the carpet cleaner, I want the wide one and I'm willing to wait.

This is the plans for the next week.

Get the dryer reverted
Get the water system hooked back up
Get the rain barrels delivered
Get the plastic up on the windows
Get the curtains put up.
Get garden pulled and tilled
Get the wood to the basement and the heater
Get JM solar heater built.
Get the wood cut for the beds
Get the carpets cleaned.

Okay well that's a lot for one week, so here goes. I'd like to at least get 1/2 of it done.

Toodles.

a lot done today.

I finished going through the clothes for the most part upstairs. Gave 2.5 bags away to a lady for her son today. I am going through all of our shoes and purging. We need to get the beds taken care of so we can get the boys in them. I've washed and folded all Smiley's new clothes and will put them away. I have a couple loads on my bed to fold and put away tonight. Tomorrow we will get the carpet cleaner and clean the beds, floors, stairs, truck and then the floors again. I wish that we could wait until the last Thur as the local store is closed and usually they let me rent it for free for the second day. All in all....it was a productive day. I need to go through the boys toys and get them purged as well. I think I may try to do it with the boys. I will give them a box and let them pick what they want, then I'll go through them again without them. They have far too many toys and quite frankly, they only really play with the ones downstairs.

Well gotta hop to, I have work tomorrow and want to get this stuff done.

Toodles...
Me.

Drama, drama, drama...

We are never in short of McDrama. I just love to hear the rumors that float around that aren't true. If people can't say tell the truth....they need to keep their mouth shut. All in all while I dropped the ball at the beginning, I learned a very important lesson today, two actually. One is to act quicker and don't forget to ask the questions that no one else is asking. All in all, what go handled must be handled.

Tomorrow I plan on finishing up the laundry, finish changing out the clothes for winter and get the rooms moved around.

I also want to get the wood moved and the heater put in the basement. We want to cut about 30 - 50 cords of wood next summer. That is an obscene amount of wood that will take about 3 or 4 years to season. This should help us a bunch, and we will only need to cut about 5 cords a year to get what we need.

Anyhow, I need to fold some clothes and get ready for tomorrow.

Me.

I'm just trying to see if that worked, that is my Sunshine. He's bigger now, but still looks the same.

I made out a menu for this month. This will hopefully help us eat the food we have and spend less money on eating out. This is in prep to losing and income that helps a lot. Yesterday we spent $15.90 eating out.

Today I've found were the stupid fleas are coming from....time to eliminate the problem. I'm going to steam clean the carpets on Wed, today and tomorrow I'll pepper the area and vacuum a few times. I found out some really gross stats on fleas. They can live for sever weeks or a few months. everday a female flea can lay 50-60 and between 500-600 roughly in her lifetime. They hatch within a week or two depending upon conditions they are in. In my cleaning rage today I found 3 bags of clothes to pass on to others, two to a lady at work and one to a single mom who asked. I also found another bag of clothes for my baby. He's got far too many clothes and I need to make sure I'm pulling out the ones that don't fit. I have been working on laundry and hope to have it all done and put away by Wed. This way we can see what we have and what we need to get rid of. For a family of 4 to have this many clothes is crazy and selfish. Okay gotta run, I need to get some wood cutting done and get some wood done.

Toodles

Eating out costs: 15.90
Grocery costs:$0

Full day...

This morning, we went to the meeting, my husband shaved most of his beard off and looked so nice in his suit. I was so impressed. Then during the meeting, the boys had had enough so we went back to the other room to listen and Sunshine had to go potty. While in there we heard my husband, who has NEVER commented comment. I was so proud. I'm sure that I don't tell him enough how much I appreciate him but I do. I left work early, labor was high and we were dead...so time for me to go. I get home and we are going to work on the house, and hang out. We just got back in from playing outside and surveying the work that needs to be done. Duck was throwing the ball to Sunshine and he was hitting it with the bat, he was doing really well. Well gotta get to it, I want to get some things done before I go to bed tonight which hopefully is earlier than later.

I must remember to get a salad ready for dinner tomorrow, we are going to friends. This is going to be cool!.

Katy