Lazy Weekend

This past weekend I didn't do much of anything... maybe two loads of laundry (which really is all there was) and paid the bills.
I had Ian Friday night, he had a sleepover with one of my friend's sons from my work. They had a blast and played nicely. They even slept in a bit (9am) on Saturday morning.
There is stuff I need to do at the house, I just didn't feel like it... I kind of needed the break, it's been a whirlwind of a couple months and I think last week it was all catching up to me.
So I'll get to the stuff I need to do (like hanging curtains and pictures or working on my scrapbooking which I haven't touched in 7 months). But for now, I was kind of just happy for the break.
TTFN
Pamela Lynn

A Signed Contract

Today at lunchtime we went to the realtor's and signed off on a counter offer to the bid on the house.

Then at 5 I got the call that they had accepted what we modified and signed off on it. Yay!!! I'm so happy, I can't even begin to describe it.

They want to move in on the 28th of February. Between now and then it will be busy... the house has to be inspected and appraised... then the sellers have to get all the title work in order and we have to hire a lawyer to review the closing paperwork. It's going to be a fun month... note that "fun" is sarcastic.

TTFN
Pamela Lynn

Yay - An Offer On the House

Finally an offer on the house... thank goodness.

Jeffrey was actually not too happy, I think he would rather stay in the house... but I'm not going to help him pay the mortgage forever and he can't afford it on his own.

We have to meet with our realtor tomorrow morning to sign paperwork to accept the offer. It is pending the sale of the buyers current home and they are looking to move in at the end of February.

Keeping my fingers crossed that all will work out.
TTFN
Pamela Lynn

A Long 7 Months Away

Well, I know it's been a long time since I've posted and lots has happened... more so in the last couple months but a lot along the way.

The biggest thing that has happened is that I've left my husband Jeffrey. For a very long time now I've been unhappy and not many people knew it because I tried as best I could to hide it. He was very controlling whether he knew it or not. He also made fun of my weight, even though he just said it was because he loved me. I never thought I could leave... I thought I had to stay, I felt stuck.

Then I switched jobs last June and the people there made me realize how strong a person I was. Then I started paying attention to how much I did at the house. Then I thought for a little while that I needed to stay for Ian's sake. But I realized I could be a much better mother if I was happy. So I made the decision that there was no turning back and I was leaving.

I moved out on the 15th of December. I've found myself a nice two bedroom townhouse. We share custody of Ian. The only thing holding the separation back is the sale of the house, which I pray will be soon.

I'll write more about everything as time goes by but for now I just needed to jot down some thoughts... figured it had been long enough that I'd been away.
TTFN
Pamela Lynn

God's Message

A friend sent this to me and I just wanted to share it.

7 Things

Found this on Michelles's blog Fluttering Butterflies.

7 things I want to do before I die:

* Move home to PA
* Travel to all of the states in the US.
* Figure out what I want to be when I grow up...
* Go to school for whatever it is I want to be when I grow up so I can do it when I move home to PA
* Watch my blessing Ian grow up and graduate high school/college
* Learn to get along with my mother
* Get completely caught up on my scrapbooking and stay there

7 Things I can't do:

* Eat properly (every time I try there's just something else tempting me)
* Exercise regulary (every time I start there's another excuse)
* Get regular sleep
* Get along with my mother (may seem mean but she's a very controlling person and several other things which would be a long blog post)
* Walk with my head up
* Have a clear mind (I'm normally scatterbrained)
* Stop apologizing for anything and everything, it's ingrained in my brain to do it...

7 things that attracted me to my spouse:

* The fact that he laughed with me as soon as we met
* His family and how important they are to him
* His sense of humour (although this can also be a downfall)
* His clear blue eyes
* He's an awesome dad!
* His outlook on life
* His ability to know when to let me alone

7 Things I say often:

* Anyhow...
* Awesome!
* I'm sorry.
* I don't feel good.
* Baby (to Ian who is now 6 this is awful)
* Um...
* Alrighty then...

7 Books I love:

* Left Behind series By Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins
* Left Behind: Prequel series By Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins
* Flutterby by Stephen Cosgrove (Actually any of the Serendipity books)
* Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
* Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews (any of the series really)
* The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (the series is awesome)
* In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

7 Movies I could watch over and over again:

* Pretty Woman
* The Princess Bride
* Beaches
* Sixteen Candles
* Breakfast Club
* Pretty in Pink
* Any of the Star Wars movies (but this is mostly because Ian is in love with them)

7 People who I'm going to tag!
Anyone who would like to play along...

Had to edit to fix the books... sorry...

Also, Susan has played along.

Bad Blogger

OK, so I know I've been a bad blogger... and I'm sorry, my life has just been so crazy this last weekend and several days... I'll try to get better at at least checking in...

Wanted to share the news of my going away luncheon... my coworker and friend made this sign up for it... life this morning and yesterday since the news has gone out has been really spinning... a never ending reply to emails about why/where/when and people stopping by to see if all was OK... It's nice to know I'm loved...



TTFN
Pamela Lynn

Thirteen Weird Blogging Habits

I got this from Susan who got it from Jeana who had made up her very own meme to list 13 weird blogging things I do. Like Susan, I'm not sure I can list 13 things but I will sure try.

1. I like to try to be the first to welcome new Blogging Chicks.
2. To make sure I Welcome all the new chicks, I copy the list and paste it into MS Word.
3. I love comments, so I like to leave them for others in hopes of getting some of my own.
4. I love to play along in meme/games.
5. I have all the blogthings I've put in my random section of the side bar commented out, just in case... (I'm not sure of what the just in case is).
6. I've been working little bits at a time to get my own design done for the blog and I'm not even half done cause I can't dedicate enough time to it.
7. I read the blogs of people who have commented first.
8. After comments I read in random order of friends.
9. I consider those that write blogs I go to often to be friends.
10. I get worried if someone who posts regularly hasn't posted.
11. I will put things off to work on a post, especially if it's a meme/game.
12. I like to link-back to posts whenever I can and it doesn't worry me if that person doesn't do the same.
13. I talk about my *friends* in real life as if I've met them.

Play along if you can!

It's Official

I have a new job! Yahoo! This new job is actually my old job prior to become a USAF civilian employee, so I know the environment, the people and the job. And from my interview I apparently had done the job well, very well. The interviewer couldn't quite put a face with my name, so he asked around to try to jog his memory... and everyone he asked told him that if he had the chance to hire me back because I was very good at being detail oriented and a hard worker. Besides taking my breath away and then saying thank you, I didn't know what else to say. The interview today, really wasn't your typical interview, it was more of this is what you will be doing and do you feel comfortable because I really want to get you on this team. Also, it was a little strange because I will be working as a subcontractor to the person I interviewed with so it was a little bit about how he expected business regarding time cards/leave etc to work. Then I got to say hello to all the people who I'd worked with before and they were extremely glad to see me. :-)
As luck would have it, the program manager who would actually be hiring me for the subcontract was down today from Northern VA for a visit, so I got to meet him and the HR rep that I'd been working with. That was a nice chat, during our talks he needed to know where I was born for my clearance paperwork so of course I told him and he says I didn't grow up far from there and named the town... small world because the town he was born and raised in is where my parent also lived, I just happened to be born in a hospital a few towns away. Then the HR rep mentioned that she was born and raised in the town my husband was in when he and I met... Who knew three NJ people would meet in VA like this, years after we'd left the state?
For those that may have read about Jeffrey and my Five Year Plan, this is one of the first steps. If you are wondering why, it's because I'm going to be getting a very decent pay raise. This will allow us to pay off some debt from when I was furloughed a couple years back because a contract I was working on ended and also to save a good bit of money. Yahoo, the plan is already starting to move... I can't wait!
TTFN
Pamela Lynn

Which Pirates of the Caribbean character are you?

Which Pirates of the Caribbean character are you?

Busy Week

Why is it that anytime I volunteer for something, that week tends to get
busy with other things as well, even if my calendar was clear for that
week?

A month ago, I volunteered to coordinate the luncheon and going away
gifts for a co-worker. I did it for many reasons but mostly because of
the people that work with or near her I've known her the longest, she
was even my supervisor for four of my years in this building.
A week and a half ago, we ordered new furniture for the bedroom (pics
another time, because I haven't uploaded them yet) and it was to be
delivered yesterday.
A week ago, I arranged to have a job phone interview on Monday.
Then Sunday I got the start of an awful head cold.

The interview got timing got confused - the interviewer thought I still
worked for the main contractor so I couldn't apply legally without
permission to a sub-contractor and the HR person didn't get a hold of
him in time to clarify the situation.
The furniture was delivered fine yesterday with one exception, the knobs
are missing from the night table but this will be remedied (actually
they are ordering a complete new set to ensure the night table matches
both dressers). But the rest of the day was busy playing catch up.
Mostly it was for the luncheon, which right now I'm praying goes well,
because I had to run around yesterday and get menu selections from those
that had RSVP'd and hadn't sent menu selections. Which was awful 'cause
they treated me like their waitress.
At some point after 2 in the afternoon, the interview was rescheduled
for 4:30 that afternoon, more on this another time, like maybe after my
in person interview tomorrow.

So here I am at Wednesday already, the frame for one of the gifts did
not come with hardware, so I'm going to have to run it back up to the
hobby shop to get it fixed, the luncheon is at 11:30 and I'll be glad
when this day is done.

Almost Glad It's Monday

Well after this weekend I'm almost glad it's Monday and that I'm back to work.

Friday night after getting out of work, we went to dinner and then went to Sam's club to get our shopping done from there. Fortunately that only took a little while. Once we got home, I we had to unload the car and separate all the meats. Then I made cupcakes for Ian's soccer party the next day. Since I knew Saturday would be busy, I went to bed early.

Saturday was extremely busy. We got up early to go to Ian's soccer game at 9:30. Before we could leave, I had to run to Walgreens because I had forgotten to get the coach a card for the kids to sign. While there I picked up some blue hairspray (the Cougar's team color) because I thought the kids would love it. While the kids were warming up, I had them ask their parents if it was OK to use it and all but one little boy got their hair sprayed, I felt bad cause his dad wasn't there to ask but I didn't want him to get in trouble for having it. Finally that dad showed up at half time and said it was fine. That extra little morale booster did an awesome job for the cougar's confidence during the game and man did they need it. The other team was rough, their coach was even rougher, and o-man I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley... The first quarter was good, no one scored on either team, it was like a tennis match - our defense would kick it out and their defense would kick it back. The second quarter was rough... the kid who played goalie for us really prefers to play forward so two times when he was out of the goal the other team scored. Jeffrey had to leave to pick up pizzas before the third quarter and missed Ian in goal. He did an awesome job! The one mom knew I was nervous because Ian will sometimes freeze when he's nervous, and it was just that type of game. So she went out and encouraged Ian and told him he could do it (even bribed him with some lollipops). Well that must have worked because Ian did the best job at goalie that he's ever done before - he didn't care who was after the ball, he would just dive in and grab it! He stopped 3 goal attempts! I was so excited I didn't even take pictures 'cause I forgot the camera was in my hand. He even did an awesome job throwing the ball out to our forwards down the sideline. We scored three times in that quarter, so it was 3-2. The final quarter was kind of scary and got ugly, thankfully Ian was out. The other team had been pushing/pulling/tripping/elbowing the whole game, the ref won't call it unless it is blatant and the kid is hurt. Well the fourth quarter, one of our kids got hurt and ran off the field, so another guy went in. He'd been in all of two minutes and got elbowed really hard, so they let him come off to get a drink quick and his mom told him (loudly enough for the other coach to hear) if they're going to play ugly and push, just push them back. So the game resumed and that's exactly what happened. Then the scary other coach said to us, you best tell your kids (meaning the whole team) to stop pulling on shirts. And that mom said to her, just as soon as you tell your team to stop pushing/pulling/tripping/elbowing. Man it was scary and these are the 6-8 year olds... At any rate, it was like the ref's watch knew it was getting ugly because the quarter seemed to be over in no time after that (I really wonder if he forgot to pause it for the two time outs). So all the Cougar parents yelled way to go Cougars! Then the scary coach turned around and was like it's not like you won. Almost unanimously we reminded her that indeed we had 3-2. The look on her face was horrific when she realized they'd lost. I think she and the other team deserved to loose, like they'd needed that lesson. After the game was said and done we went to one of the picnic shelters for the party, coach couldn't even talk he was so proud of them.
Once we got home, I started cleaning the guest room and our bedroom because we are getting new furniture tomorrow and our old bed stuff was going to a family in need (the dressers are going to my nieces). So I needed to make room in the guest room for two extra dressers (until my sister can get here to pick them up) and I needed to get the bed taken apart. While I did that, Jeffrey mowed and took care of the gardens. Once my friend from work picked up the stuff that was going with him to the family in need, we went to do the Target and Farm Fresh shopping. After we were home for the night some friends came over to play board games (Elfenland and Settlers of Catan).

On Sunday, I woke up so congested I couldn't breathe (silly allergies). Then after I took a shower, the toilet overflowed and made a general mess. I was supposed to go to a birthday party and a candle home party but I had to cancel on both. So I could clean. Well using the bleach did nothing to help my sinuses. Also not helping the sinuses was the fact that Jeffrey decided to do a coat of paint in the bedroom since all the furniture was out and all the pictures were off the wall. Amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for a room. I ended up trying several different medicines to try and help the sinus pressure (throughout the day not all at once ;-) but they really weren't helping and as the day went on I lost my voice. I went to bed early because I had medicine head in the worst way. Jeffrey let me sleep in the bed with Ian (since we don't have any furniture in our room) and he took the couch.

This morning I got up and the shower helped a bit but I don't really have a voice. This will be interesting this afternoon because I have a phone interview at 4. Yikes. Any how, I'm glad the busy weekend is over, and so in that respect I'm glad it's Monday.

Saturday Photo Hunt - Flowers

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This photo was taken about a month ago when I went on a scrap booking beach retreat. It's the welcome sign to Sandbridge in Virginia Beach.

Layout: My Pumpkin

It's hard to say whether this title is because Ian is My Pumpkin or because Ian found his pumpkin and that's all he would say. Maybe the title should be My Pumpkin's Pumpkin???
Needed something to do to un-wind yesterday and I was able to finish this layout in 20 minutes to relax.

Layout: Rainy Day Play

Our house has a water run off ditch between it and the next house, also the slants in our driveway creat quite a nice lake whenever it rains. Ian was soaked head to toe but he was having fun so it didn't matter.

Layout: Spiky Hair Dude

For this hair cut, Ian told and showed the stylist exactly what he wanted done to his hair. He knew what he wanted and found it in the book all by himself.

Layout: Celebrate Birthdays

October is a busy month for birthdays in our family especially with all the cousins. This layout is actually for a couple of the parties we went to.
Left Hand Side:

Right Hand Side:

Layout: Soccer

This layout uses one of the Mystery Page ideas from ScrapShare to make the Pinwheel shape.
Left Hand Side:

Right Hand Side:

Blogging Chicks

The Blogging Chicks blogroll is getting very close to it's 100th blog.
The 100th blog will get a place of honor at the Blogging Chicks!
Go here to see how to join.

BloggerChicks

I've added a new blogroll to my sidebar.
Click here to join BloggerChicks!
TTFN~Pamela Lynn