Middle School Boys

For the past two weeks, the middle school boys teacher has not shown up to teach at our church.  For the first week, he was away doing sleepaway camp, but we were in Tampa so I didn't know about it.  The second week, he just didn't show....he told me to today that he simply overslept.  I like the middle school teacher a lot.  He's 25 and really has a heart for kids, seeing as how he's the oldest of 6 kids.  I ended up teaching last week, which was a total disaster because 1) I wasn't prepared 2) My own children are in that class, and I don't like teaching a class where my own kids are, because they don't tend to participate.  However, not knowing what was going on with the teacher, I created a lesson, just in case he was a no show again.  One of the other kid's pastors must have noticed what was going on, because he ended up staying in the class with me, and then the normal teacher showed up about 20 minutes late.  I was already in the midst of my lesson, so I continued and Mr. Teacher will just have to use his lesson next week.



I look like crap today.  Wanna see?

Decided to part my hair in the middle to avoid the crazy piece of hair.  After seeing these pics, I know remember why I don't part my hair in the middle.

Despite the double triple chin action, I like this profile shot.

I wore my Target necklace set again.  And my dark pink Merona dress, and my pink and purple striped tank from WalMart.

Middle school boys don't scare me.

Birthday Lunch

I went to lunch with my sister today at Olive Garden.  Olive Garden is not a great choice when it's your first day back doing Atkins.  However, I managed to do quite well.  I had three bowls of salad (I absolutely LOVE OG salad, their dressing is tops!) grilled chicken and veggies, with two glasses of lemon water.

I intended to take pics, but my sister wasn't having it.  She is in the middle of closing on a house and is completely stressed out.  I took pictures of me instead.

This humidity...and that one piece of defiant hair over my right eye...is driving me crazy.

Looking forward to spending time with my sister!

Pewter mani pedi, pewter shoes. 

Me in my office.

I love this cute Target necklace and earring set.  It was $12!

Ok, piece of hair.  You may have won today, but I'm going to grow you out and pull you back very, very soon!

Off to Olive Garden!  Happy 34th birthday to my sister Kelly!

Grouch

You'd think with all the good news we've had lately, I'd be in a better mood.  I don't know about you, but if I don't get sleep, it doesn't matter how good things are; I'm still a grouch to be around!  Ever since we got back from vacation, Roscoe has gotten up at 5am EVERY SINGLE MORNING.  And has either vomited or urinated in his crate.  So every morning, I'm letting him up, mopping, and spraying his area because it absolutely stinks.  Except this morning, not only was I awakened by the dog, but the sonic boom from the last shuttle coming home.  Because I live so close to the coast, it is like gunshots next to your head.  I literally flew out of bed, thinking someone was shooting my house. 

My heart truly goes out to the people who work at NASA...the Space Coast is about to become a total ghost town.  All the good jobs are leaving, and so many other businesses depended on NASA.  I have a cousin who is a cop in that area, and I pray for his safety as well.  When money gets tight, people tend to get violent. 

Makes my lack of sleep seem like nothing.

The New Testament in 40 Days

I saw this on a blog, http://shelookethwell.blogspot.com/ , and decided to join.  After all, I had been lax in reading my Bible lately for a long time.  So I was delighted to join.
I'm on Day 2, and loved reading the Sermon on the Mount again.  How wise He is!  Would you like to join me?  Here's the schedule:

Here is the schedule, all you need to do is print it up!

The New Testament In 40 Days

Day 1: Matthew 1-7
Day 2: Matthew 8-12
Day 3: Matthew 13-18
Day 4: Matthew 19-24
Day 5: Matthew 25-28
Day 6: Mark 1-6
Day 7: Mark 7-11
Day 8: Mark 12-16
Day 9: Luke 1-4
Day 10: Luke 5-9
Day 11: Luke 10-13
Day 12: Luke 14-19
Day 13: Luke 20-24
Day 14: John 1 -5
Day 15: John 6-9
Day 16: John 10-14
Day 17: John 15-19
Day 18: John 20-Acts 4
Day 19: Acts 5-9
Day 20: Acts 10-15
Day 21: Acts 16-20
Day 22: Acts 21-26
Day 23: Acts 27-Romans 4
Day 24: Romans 5-10
Day 25: Romans 11-1 Corinthians 1
Day 26: 1 Corinthians 2-9
Day 27: 1Corinthians 10-15
Day 28: 2 Corinthians 16-2 Corinthians 9
Day 29: 2 Corinthians 10-Galatians 4
Day 30: Galatians 5-Philippians 1
Day 31: Philippians 2- 1Thessalonians 2
Day 32: 1 Thessalonians 3-1 Timothy 5
Day 33: 1 Timothy 6-Hebrews 1
Day 34: Hebrews 2-10
Day 35: Hebrews 11 -James 5
Day 36: 1 Peter-1 John 1
Day 37: 1 John 2-Jude
Day 38: Revelation 1-7
Day 39: Revelation 8-15
Day 40: Revelation 16-22

When It Rains, It Pours!

We had stopped looking for a local job for Mr. R for now.  Nothing is out there, and even those jobs which are open fill up so quickly that Mr. R has been unable to get to Orlando or Sanford to fill out applications before those positions get snapped up.  However, I didn't turn off the automatic emails I get from CareerBuilder, which are deposited in my inbox every Monday morning.  I was flipping through my inbox this morning, deleting stuff, when I saw it.  I almost didn't read it.  Almost.  Then I saw something which caught my eye; the name of my city.

What's so odd about that?  Well, there are NO jobs in my city.  Yeah, fast food and stuff.  But I live in what is known as a bedroom community, meaning there is nothing but houses as far as the eye can see, plus gas stations and Walmart.  It is not a city known for commerce.  There's a trucking company in my city?  I had to click on the link.

And what a link it was!  A trucking company, linked with the US Post Office, needing a local driver.  I immediately called Mr. R and told him, and he agreed that we should fax over his resume.  I read his resume very quickly just to make sure there were no typos or outdated info (none!) and faxed it.
Mr. R called me 20 minutes to say that this company had called him within 10 minutes of receiving the fax.  Wow!  He had spent the last ten minutes talking to their recruiter, and Mr. R liked what they had to say.  It is a local job, six days a week, Monday-Saturday.  It starts at 4:45am, and runs until about 10:30.  Then, he has a very long break, and back to work around 3pm, until 6:30.  Odd hours, definitely, but who cares...it's WALKING DISTANCE from our house!  It is literally a 15 minute walk from our front door to their location.  He'd be home for lunch every day (for almost 4 hours!), and home for dinner every night, and Sundays off so he can attend church.  He wouldn't miss any more of Tiger's band performances either!

The pay is decent...definitely a living wage.  The only bummer is that they insist that the employee get covered under their insurance plan, which is a LOT more expensive than the one we have now.  But only Mr. R has to get it, not me or the kids.  I guess we'll get to that step when we get to it. 
After work today, I have to fill out the full eleven page application and fax it back in, and then they're going to set up an interview. 

I'm sitting here literally GIGGLING wondering what God may have in store for us next!  All of these wonderful things keep happening!  I sure hope this job pans out, and that my husband will be home every night!

STOP THE PRESSES!

Vasectomy reversal doctor called.  They have an earlier opening available...JANUARY 3!  As in, FIVE MONTHS FROM NOW.

And I took it.  :D  Which gives me five months to come up with $4000. 

~whimper~

Pray for us to find this money!  I have $2000 of it in my bank at work.  And I get that money on December 31st.  So we really just need $2000, plus about $500 to cover hotel, fuel and food for two to three days in Tampa. Plus, we will need to have either Mr. R's mom or sister to stay with the kids for a few days, and I will need to pay them.  Not a ton of money, but Sissy would have to take off work, and I'd want to compensate her for that.  Mr. R's mom has never babysat/watched the kids for me unless I paid her, and that was even when they were little.  (Do all grandmas charge to watch their grandkids?  My mom didnt!)

But yes.  Yes, please pray for this money to come to us.  :D

Eyebrows and Humidity

No one wants to take my pictures anymore.  Plus my good camera is not working, so I'm stuck with this tiny point and shoot.  It does the trick, but I miss my Canon.  Anyway, all these pics are neck up.  It's all I could manage.

I was trying to take a before shot of my eyebrows before waxing.  It was bad.  But I have a good natural arch.

I have skin tags on my eyelids.  I don't like them.  But insurance doesn't cover taking them off, so I live with them.

Oh Buck.  I triple fluffy heart wubs you.  Such a muffin!

Humid.  OY IT'S SO HOT.  I give up on hair until October.  But hey, I waxed and my eyebrows look great!

It's not glare, it's not raining, I'm literally standing in a cloud of humidity.  Swamp life, yo.

I love how my eyes tend to change color based on my clothing.  Green dress, green-ish eyes.  Blue dress, blue eyes.  Gray dress, gray-ish eyes.  But they mostly stay blue.

HOT.  IT'S HOT.  I HATE HOT.  I didn't even bother bringing a cardigan.  Not wearing it.  Fat arms flap in the wind, I don't care.  This weather is a beast.

Haircut, or grow it out?  All I do is throw it up in a bun when it's hot...which is 9 months out of the year!

I love church for many reasons; air conditioning is one of them.  All the little old ladies sitting behind me today were complaining about how cold it is in church....and I'm wondering how many more clothes I can take off before I'm banned.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but it's hot and humid today!

That's it.  I'm getting in the car.  I have AC.

Oh, let me take a shoe picture first.  My black Target flats.  Pewter metallic pedi. 

Back to work tomorrow.  Going to clean kitchen, clean my desk, do a load of laundry, and stay INSIDE.  Until November!

Day 3

Day 3 of our vacation was Monday, July 11th.  We let the kids sleep in after the long exciting day at Busch Gardens.  The hotel had a pretty good continental breakfast from 6:30 to 9:30.  My body gets up at 7am whether I like it or not.  I hopped up to get some vittles.  Mr. R begrudgingly joined me.  This was the day, honestly, that I was the most excited about.  We were going to meet the vasectomy reversal doctor to see if Mr. R was a candidate for the procedure.  We left the kids in the hotel to watch TV and eat...and we had our appointment at 1pm.

The doctor was super nice.  He asked us how many children we had together (3), the age of our youngest (13), our ages (38 and 36) and how many years we had been together as a couple (21.)  Then he burst out laughing and asked us why we wanted more children when we had teenagers together: "You have three teenagers and you aren't crazy yet?"  LOL...we get this a lot.  Then he examined Mr. R...apparently you can feel when directly palpating the scrotum, where the vasectomy incision is.  It had never occurred to me to try and find it.  On one side, there is a centimeter between the two parts of the vas deferens, and on the other, only 1/2 of a centimeter.  Doctor said Mr. R was an excellent candidate.  We, as a couple, only have a 50/50 chance due to our age (mostly mine, actually) and the amount of years since the initial vasectomy, which was 13 years ago.  By the way, do you know what's weird?  Watching a total stranger, who happens to be a man, touching your husband's private parts.  I had to turn around.  It was too weird for me.  We are scheduled for the vasectomy reversal on June 12, 2012.  However, we are on the waiting list to go earlier, but not before January.  We still need $4000 to pay for this.  I should be getting around $2000 on Dec. 31 when I get my end of the year pay out.  That gives me a few months to put cash away, in case they call us before June 12.  Plus, Mr. R's mom will have to come to the house to watch the kids (Mr. R is not interested in having the kids around while he's recovering from scrotal surgery...cannot blame him one bit.)  Plus hotel room for another three days in Tampa.  At this point, I am thinking we need right around $5000 more to make it all happen.  Ai yi yi.

Well, we did other things besides seeing scrotum doctors.  (I like the word scrotum...it's funny to me.  lol)  We went to Clearwater Beach!

We didn't stay very long.  First, the water was filled with tons of sea grass.  Mr. R complained that he felt sticky when he got out.  Remember, this is the Gulf of Mexico, where the oil spill was a year ago.  We only spent two hours here and gave up.  Besides, the charge to park was ridiculous.  $2.75 an hour!  In Daytona, you can park on the beach for $5 all day!

I am forever a beach girl; however I don't think I'm a Clearwater Beach girl.

He looks thrilled to be with us.  The only thing Bucket bought on vacation were these aviator glasses...HE. LOVES. THEM.  So much that he wore them everywhere we went, even at night, in dark places.  He bumped into lots of walls.  But it was ok...he looked cool.

I'm wearing the only thing Tiger bought for the vacation; this ridiculous Mountain Dew hat.  You can see, it's about to storm behind me.

Random beach shot.

 We finished out our day with a free slurpee at 7-11.  Actually, I did not, they're full of sugar.  Missy got a Coke slurpee, Tiger got cherry, and Bucket got a mix of sour apple and raspberry.  It was a good day!

Day 2

On Sunday, we went to Busch Gardens.  I've lived in Central Florida for nearly 24 years now, and this was my first trip to BG.  It was FUN!  Very well laid out, and the lines were not awful.  Unable to take pictures on any of the rides of course.  Here is what I can share with you:

The cheetah enclosure in front of the...wait for it....cheetah ride.  I didn't get on.  Only because I was carrying my bag with my diabetes crap in it, and everyone ran to the line and I got detained.  So I ended up waiting an hour.  I was TICKED. 

A beautiful snake in the zoo portion.  Very glad he's behind glass.

These would be frogs.  I LOVE FROGS.  I think they are just the cutest!

As Bucket candidly remarked, "HEY MOM.  THAT KANGAROO IS A BOY."  Of course he said this in his OUTDOOR VOICE in front of many people.  I love that boy.

Do not feed kangaroos while standing on your head!  It's dangerous!

Typical Florida...flamingoes!

After walking around the park in the heat for a few hours, the boys got on Sheikra, and Missy and I needed a sit.  I had to check my sugar and rest my poor feeties. 

I didn't ride, but I got a cup to prove....nothing.

Check me out!  Skirt with bicycle shorts underneath.  Worked like a charm, no chub rub for me!

Do I look like a tourist?  Sure.  Do I care?  Not even a little.

Busch Gardens, this was the nastiest part of the day.  Sitting down to have lunch and this guy actually ran within three feet of my legs.  Yes, that's a RAT.  Please, get an exterminator!  How disgusting!

Day 1

Mr. R and I took the kiddos to Tampa Bay.  We arrived Saturday afternoon.  After unpacking (throwing suitcases and backpacks on the floor) we decided to go to the Hard Rock Casino.  I know, I brought kids to a casino.  What can I say, I'm classy like that.

How many of you started to sing the song when you saw the picture?  I know I did.

My girl in front of a store.  It had to happen.

Awesomely weird guitar.

I took tons of pics of guitars, because both Mr. R and Tiger play.

I was standing directly below, trying to get a shot.  It was huge, and very tall!

Waiting to get dinner.

He has a Mountain Dew addiction.

We were right near the kitchen, so she was watching the chefs.  And was dismayed to see not a single female chef.  She LOVED the Hard Rock. 

Me and my handsome husband!

Ok, now, Florida has a very strict no smoking law for both bars and restaurants.  It honestly did not occur to me that this casino would have smokers.  After about two hours, poor Tiger started feeling sick.  He has a condition called costrochondritis which smoking does tend to affect.  Costochondritis is when the cartilage between the ribs because inflamed and a person has difficulty breathing.  It is not asthma, but a lot of the symptoms feel the same.  Well, I ended up taking Tiger home early.  Luckily, our hotel included free shuttle service back and forth to the casino.  So I called them on my cell phone, and they came to pick us up.  We walked in the door, and I immediately ordered Tiger into the shower so he could steam up and get the smoke out of his lungs.  Then I took his clothes and tied them up in a plastic bag so he couldn't breathe it in.  Hey, want to see our room?

This was Tiger before the costochondritis issue.

Mr. R called this "the dirty pond view."  I laughed for a good five minutes after he said this, but I am very easily amused.

This tiny sofa was a double bed, and this is where Tiger slept.  There are two reasons why he got this bed to himself.  1) He was so gassy that no one wanted to be near him.  2)  He had a major case of chub rub and had to sleep with only underwear on, and lots of powder.

We shared one bathroom for FOUR DAYS.  Worst part of the vacation.

They were fighting over something.  I don't even try to find out why anymore.

Tiger watching TV, Missy trying to look cute.

Me and my handsome husband again!  Stay tuned for Day 2!