Our Carly

Photo by Leslie

Dry Gulch

Cassi and Salani (either in the middle of a blink or she has had too much egg nog!) at Dry Gulch waiting to ride the Christmas Train. Thanks for Uncle Tom and Aunt Therese for taking them......

Team Jacob

We loves us some wolves around here.....

Time Flies

My girls are growing up so fast.

Carly turned 15 on November 16th and Cassidy turns 10 today.

Happy Birthday Bubble Girls!!

Twilight is Everywhere!

Mattel is in on the Twilight madness. Here is an Edward Cullen "doll" we found at KMart this weekend. He even sparkles......

CassiJo Golightly

CassiJo wants to be Holly Golightly for Halloween....it's a work in progress. How do you think we are doing? Final product. Cutie patootie!!

Ginormous Guys

They aren't giants.....the house we are visiting just has low ceilings in the kitchen.

The Wheels on the Bus

Kai is all boy. Give him a few cars or a big bus and plenty of passengers and he is happy!

Maya Gets a Guitar Lesson

Uncle Joe playing with an electronic guitar with Baby Maya.

The Original Spiderman Kiss

I love old romantic photos. :o)

Bat Bug

I want to buy one of these for Uncle Joe.

16 Years of......

Today is our 16th anniversary. Can you believe Uncle Joe has been able to put up with me and my silliness for that long?? :o)

Dear Joe,

Thanks for being my BFF, my love, my husband, and the father of our girls. You are awesome and I am glad to share my life with you.

Love,

AJ

Summer Fun

Cassidy gives a thumbs up to a go-cart race with Mom on our Branson trip last weekend.

Pie So Good You Might Drive to Oklahoma and Hug Me

Peach Pie

3/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. all purpose flour
4 ripe peaches peeled and sliced
(about 5 cups)
1T lemon juice
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 ground nutmeg

Bake at 425 for 10 min then reduce to 350 for approx 40 minutes
in the following pie crust::::>

NEVER FAIL PIE CRUST

3 c. all purpose
1 t salt
1 1/4 c. shortening BUTTER FLAVOR CRISCO
5 1/2 T water
1 egg
1 t. vinegar

sift flour and salt together. Cut in shortening. Mix water, slightly beaten egg and vinegar together and add to flour mixture.

Roll our on lightly floured board (add more flour if too moist)

Makes (2) 9'' pie crusts

My Kid is Funny!

Recently, Cassidy and I were driving (well I was driving) and listening to Black Water on the radio.......

I said, "Cassidy did you know we got to see these guys sing this song for real the other day?"

She replied, "Mom, who was it? The DOOZIES?"

I Cracker Heart You

UJ doesn't whisper sweet-nothings in my ear. He spells them out in crackers.

Past and Future

Do you spot anyone that looks AJ-ish?
(Back row third from right.)

This is the year that we nicknamed Angela, Peanut. Can you see why?? She is on the bottom row second from the left. Tiny little thing isn't she?

Good times......

This is the camp that Carly is attending.....I had so much fun when I went waaaay back when. See me? Third row from bottom, second from the right. My BFF, Mindi is right in front of me in the sunglasses.

Sweltering hot, but good times.........

Cassidy and her new cousin :o) I think they loves each other!

Cassidy test her chop-stick skills in OKC

Here is my brother and his new bride.

Our summer is going well. We bought a pool at the end of the season last year and got it up and have been enjoying it a lot. Moonlight floats are wonderfully relaxing.

Cassidy

Cassidy July 4th, 2009

Hey!

My BF, Carol and I had a GNO last night.

She had her maiden voyage at Sam & Ella's and we tried the Dominiquer pizza. (ranch dressing for sauce, chicken, bacon, mushrooms, black olives and onions) It was tasty and different but nothing compares to Rock Island Red. :o)

We went to see My Sister's Keeper, a movie based on the book by Jodi Picoult. It was pretty accurate til the end of the movie. I was SO disappointed! It did not end like the book did. I wanted to stand up and say, "HEY!!!!"

I hate it when the movie isn't as good as the book. Don't you??

We had to go get a frozen yogurt/ sherbet from Braum's after the movie to cool down. Mmmmmmmm

We had a much needed respite from being "Mom" and just got to be our silly selves.

Eureka!

This weekend our family traveled to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to watch my brother, Tom marry Therese and begin their new life together. The ceremony was very sweet and they even included Therese's 6 yr old daughter, Therese Yvette in the ceremony. Tom presented her with a beautiful flower pendant and necklace to represent and remind her of his committment to her and her mother.

Eureka Springs is a beautiful old town hardly touched by time. The streets are narrow and perfect for motorcycles to maneuver down, and a little more tricky for passenger vehicles. You can see very quickly that it is a destination for many many motorcycle travelers. We managed to get around after driving around several times to get our bearings. UJ said, "One thing you will never happen here: widening the streets!"

We stayed in The Piedmont House bed and breakfast compliments of Tom and Therese. You can see our room: The Magnolia Room. It was very beautiful and you could just imagine yourself going back in time (except for the cable tv and airconditioner!) It was a very fun experience and we hope to go there again.

Have any of you stayed at B&B's?? What was your experience like?? We had breakfast with everyone in a family style setting and it was very nice. It looked like a lot of work and a lot of fun.

We drove downtown and walked up and down the hills looking in several shops and treating ourselves to some new cook books, some new TEVA flip flops for me. (Thanks for recommending them Susie! I love them!) UJ must have been wearing pheremones or something because several of the shop keepers were very chatty with him and engaged him in looooooong conversations and I just browsed around with a smile on my face. :o)

All in all we had a very nice weekend and a wonderful time together. My parents took our children Saturday night after the wedding so we could have a peaceful night in the B&B. We were very grateful. :o)

If you go to Eureka Springs, be sure and get either a really good map or a GPS because it is very hilly, windy, narrow and confusing....but very beautiful and fun.

DB's

Last week Uncle Joe and I (along with 3 additional friends) went to see:

that's right.....The Doobie Brothers.

They came to our little state and put on a great show for us. I am sad to report the arena was FAR from sold out, but they gave us our money's worth in good Southern Rock. It was great to hear the whole audience singing along with all their famous tunes: Old Black Water, Takin it to the Streets, China Grove, and one that I hadn't heard but LOVED: Dangerous.

I have great photographs but was forced to promise not to post them. I will email them privately for a small fee and a waiver.

Note to self

Ask "So, how big is your yard? What kind of mower do you have?" BEFORE offering to help out and mow someone's yard.

I learned that the hard way......3 hours, a mile of walking, umpteen trips to empty the grass bag later.

Whew!

Randomly Photographic

Welcome to my "catch up" positively photographic post!

I have had problems with my camera lately and someone finally got these downloaded for me. :o) Whoever you are, thankyouverymuch.

In random order:

Joe prepares to devour his Mom's Curry at Siam House in Denton. He smiled the whole time. The curry was fresh and very yummy.

See what I mean??

He licked his plate clean!

The birds even enjoyed some left over Thai the next morning! Terry and Sharon dropped their go-box and the next morning we found the local birds having a chow down. Those Texan birds sure do have good pallettes!

On our mosey home we found a Piggly Wiggly. I can barely remember having one here in our area and I loved going. Who wouldn't love going somewhere named Piggly Wiggly!? Joe went in to inquire about a t-shirt and came out dejected that they didn't have them on site, but with our photos maybe we can make our own. :o)


If we ever opened up our own place.....this might be what it might look like. :o)
(except it would serve coffee too!)

Cowboy Batman?

I was pretty happy to be in Denton with friends

We wore Sharon out at the Jazz Fest. She took a small snooze. We allowed it and didn't even bother her......except for the taking the picture part. heehee!

Who knew caterpillars liked jazz?? Terry did apparently.......

I think they were going to have a Mullet Contest later. This guy won.

not really

The first musician we saw. Joe, what was their name??

Joe and Jo's Big Jazzy Adventure 2009

We had a very nice and relaxing trip and look forward to next year when we can go again. Next year we promised to take Cassidy. She will be 10 and that is the age that Carly first went and of course she wants to follow in her sisters footsteps. That should be interesting.....she might even end up on a stage as much as that kid sings! :o)

Please Stay Tuned Jazz Fans

I have not forgotten about my poor little bloggie here....just been busy at work and home.

We had a great time at the 5th Annual Joe and Josefina's Big Jazzy Adventure down to Denton Texas April 25th. We went to the JazzFest and had a laid back and relaxing time.

Since I have started my new job and I am currently considered "in training" I did not feel it wise to ask for a day off, so we left town after I got off work at 415pm. We arrived in Denton about 10pm, right on schedule. (and no wrong turns!)

The only mishap on the way down there was supper. We will (hopefully) never set foot in a Carl's Jr/Green Burrito again. UJ ate a green burrito that turned him green a little later. Bleh......

The weather on Saturday was very nice: sunny with a little wind. Perfect for sittin', readin', eatin' , relaxin' and visitin' with friends.

We had a good time sharing some JazzFest fare: ginormous cinnamon roll, strawberry crepe, hot coffee, strawberry lemonade, gyros, roasted corn and Mr. Pibb. :o) My only complaint was about the vendors. None of the vendors I was looking forward to seeing were there. I had certain things I was looking for and didn't find them....and I had a hard time choosing anything else, so I left with nothing NOTHING! Can you believe that?

Terry and Sharon arrived mid afternoon and after we had our fill of the music, we trekked off to our next destination: Siam House, our fave Thai restaurant in Denton.

Russell, the owner has always been our server and he remembers us each time. This time he and UJ got to talk shop: music. In particular: guitars. It took us 2 1/2 hours to eat our meal due to their chattering. I had a good time listening to them talk......they bantered back and forth about who was the better guitar player and I was smiling to see Joe go head to head with him.

We must be getting old because that was just about the extent of our fun for Saturday, other than our bedtime visit to the Finish Line convenience store for late night snacks for us. :o)

Sunday morning we slept in and decided to mosey home after check out time. We stopped and shopped at World Market and bought the girls something to take home and headed back to Oklahoma after a loud lunch at TGIFridays in McKinney.

I had bought us some new tunes to listen to on the way: Brad Paisley, Foreigner and Lynard Skynard so we belted out some songs all the way down there and on the way home. (even with all that practice I still can't sing!)

All in all I would say it was a great weekend. Any time spent with the one you love is good in my book.

Stay tuned for pictures. I have had difficulty downloading pictures this week and haven't figured out why.......

Chilly Chili Cook Off

Saturday was the 25th annual Chili Cook Off in Muskogee.

UJ went and sampled a boat load of chili and came away thinking maybe our (ok his) chili might be our favorite. :o) The weather was overcast and we left minutes before a downpour came and washed all the chili eaters away.

A classmate of Joe's had a booth and gave away Dinky Links. DL's are a hotlink made with a secret recipe that is guarded by a security system that would rival Fort Knox. :o) I tried one bite of one and my stomach was on fire the rest of the day. He won 3rd place in hotlinks. He was robbed!

I got to meet my future SIL and had lunch with her, her 6 yr old daughter, my mom and Cassidy. We went to Flair and had a nice visit. Cassi isn't quite sure she is ready to relinquish her spot as "Baby Grand-daughter". I could tell by the look on her face.......

Aside from the rain.....buckets of rain, we had a nice weekend. Friends, Family and Food!

Have a good week where ever you are Blogger Friends!

Toasty Goodness

Next time you eat Angel Food Cake put it in the toaster for a bit and get it nice and toasty warm and crunchy.

WOWIE! It was good!!

Fresh berries and whipped cream and you have sweet delights!

Land of......

Yesterday as we drove through town Uncle Joe said

"Josefina I think we should rename JoeTown....Land of a Thousand Speed Bumps."

Maybe it is a coincidence, but it seems there ARE a lot of speed bumps and dips in our town. There are two speed dips on our way to Nana's house and I hate them so much (after driving on them over 20 years) I will drive out of my way to avoid them. There are several speed bumps in and around the school and we are driving those roads constantly!

When I was in High School my friend, Carol used to pick me up for early band practice at 7:00. Let's just say we are not known for our punctuality....so it was usually 6:59 and we would go FLYING down Walnut street and FLY over the speed dips. BAH DUMP!! BAH DUMP!! (SPEED UP!) BAH DUMP!! BAH DUMP!!

We loved the speed dips when we were in Elementary school on the school bus ride home. If you sat in the last seat, when the driver went over the dip we would fly up and plunk back down in our seats screaming with delight.

Bah-dump!

Sing Praises

There is a sweet song bird on my porch singing praises to Jesus....He is risen!!

9 Ways to Get Happy in the Next 30 Minutes

I found this article on Yahoo! today and thought it had some great mood-lifters. We have not had enough sunshine in Oklahoma this month- We have had unseasonably cold weather the past few weeks and it has definitely dampened the mood in the Joe house.

We already do a couple of these suggestions and I am glad to say UJ has engaged in cleansing and purging the garage of useless stuff we brought with us in our move and have accumulated since we arrived. Garage sale next week! Yay Joe!!

from: Real Simple Magazine
byJay Gosney


In the next half hour, tackle as many of the following suggestions as possible. Not only will these tasks themselves increase your happiness, but the mere fact that you've achieved some concrete goals will boost your mood.

1. Raise your activity level to pump up your energy. If you are on the phone stand up and pace. Walkt to a co-workers office instead of sending an email. Take a 10 minute brisk walk or, even better...

2. Take a walk outside. Research shows that light stimulates brain chemicals that improve mood. For an extra boost, get your sunlight first thing in the morning.

3. Reach out. Send an e-mail to a friendyou haven't seen in a while or reach out to someone new. Having close bonds with other people is one of the most important keys to happiness. When you act in a friendly way, not only will others feel more friendly toward you, but you'll also strengthen feelings of friendliness for others.

4. Rid yourself of a nagging task. Deal with that insurance problem, purchase something you need or make that long-postponed appointment with the dentist. Crosing an irksome chore off your to-do list will give you a rush of elation.

5. Create a more serene environment. Outer order contribtes to inner peace, so spend some time organizing bills and tackling the piles in the kitchen. A large stack of small tasks can feel overwhelming but often just a few minutes of work can make a sizable dent. Set the timer for 10 minutes and see what you can do in that time.


6. Do a good deed. Introduce two people by e-mail, take a minute to pass along useful information or deliver some gratifying praise. In fact you can also....


7. Save someone's life. Sign up to be an organ donor, and remember to tell your family about your decision. Do good, feel good. It really works!


8. Act Happy. Fake it til you feel it. Research shows that even an artifically induced smile boosts your mood. And if you're smiling, other people will perceive you as being friendlier and more approachable. There is not need to walk around in a constant state of worry. After all, what's the worst that can happen if you bounce a check or leave wet clothes in the dryer?

9. Learn something new. Think of a subject that you wish you knew more about and spend 15 minutes on the internet reading about it, or go to a book store and buy a book about it. Be honest and choose something that really interests you and not something you think you should know.

~OK Bloggie Buddies, hop to it!

Chicken Enchiladas

We found a really EZ recipe for Chicken Enchiladas

3 boneless chicken breasts boiled and shredded
1 pkg cream cheese cut into cubes
1 small can green chilies (do not drain)
2 cans green enchilada sauce
tortillas (we used flour)
shredded cheez (we used colby jack)

preheat oven to 400 degrees
spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray

mix shredded chicken, cream cheez and green chilies in a skillet and cook over medium heat until cheez melts.

place a large spoonful of chicken mixture in tortilla and roll up. Place seam side down in pan.

cover enchiladas with green sauce then sprinkle cheez over the top.

bake 20 minutes

I got lots of praises from the Family Unit on this one and I believe it will be added to the supper rotation. :o)

February Throw Back

My photo for work has just been posted on the work website today.

I started 2-2-09. :o)

I had a good hair day...

I Betcha: You're Crazy!

Lately I have taken on an annoying habit. When Uncle Joe does something silly or outlandish (which is often) I say, "You're crazy!"

While that in itself is not annoying, the accent I take on is. I say it like Jack Black's character in Nacho Libre.

You can imagine how annoying that is after about 18 times.

He proposed to me, while we sat at the Sunday dinner table that he would pay me $1 per day if I would not say that phrase to him for 1 month.

"Deal!" I said, thinking it was going to be the easiest $30 I had made in a long time.

"But if you mess up even once, you lose it all....." he added.

Thirty minutes later as we cleaned up the kitchen he said something, well, crazy and I slipped.

I didn't even make it one hour.

Oh well.......I'm crazy!! Now I can say it all I want since I already lost for the month. haha Uncle Joe!! I win!!

Crazy Doesn't Even Begin to Cover It

Uncle Joe had an idea to go to Frisco, Texas to visit the IKEA store there so we could look around and hopefully purchase some nice barstools he found in a catalog. I was up for a road trip so away we went.

Hotel with indoor pool: check

Truck cleaned and gassed up: check

Google Mapped directions: checkmate

We headed out midmorning Saturday. The trip was estimated to be about 4 hours. It was a long 4 hours with little voices in the back seat singing loudly and asking every 5 miles, "Dad are we in Texas yet?"

Our Googlemap directions were not clear so we made one wrong turn, but eventually got to our hotel. I was embarrassed to admit to UJ that I had no idea what hotel we were staying at. I had looked at several and forgot which one I chose. I did however keep the phone number just in case we needed it. :o) Silly AJ!

We let UJ rest and the girls and I went swimming for a bit in the heated pool. Wow that was nice. If I had ever been a heated pool it has been so long I forgot about it. We splashed around for a while then went back upstairs and got ready and went to IKEA.

IKEA

There are not words in my vocabulary to express the confusion and near panic this place caused us both to feel. Escalators and elevators going up and down exiting on different sides, people elbow to elbow all over the place and The Joes wandering around looking for the stuff we came to look at.

I looked at Joe and said "This place makes me dizzy." He agreed whole heartedly.

We made our purchases: wine glasses, meat cleaver, apple corer, candles, candle holders, Swedish chocolate, fish roe, pickled fish, crackers and aprons and got outta there!

We had dinner with Sharon, our friend from Texas at TGIFridays and either we were really hungry or the food was exceptional. Joe had a thick cut pork chop that was very tasty and I had a steak sandwich with fried plantains!


Sunday we went on another accidental adventure while searching for World Market. It was recommended by my desk mate from work, Lynn. If I would have had her telephone number I sure would have called her! We got so confused. Apparently "on the corner of 121 and Preston" means the BIG corner....not the small street corners we could see. Apparently everything is big in Texas even the HUGE INTERSTATE that hid World Market from our view. The shops around this intersection were so plentiful that we could have visited one shop per day for one year and not have seen them all. It was huge!

World Market gave us our first large painting purchase. I loved the picture the moment I saw it and so did Joe, so of course we bought it!! I will post photos later. We will be repainting our living room to coordinate with it soon I hope.

Our tummies told us it was lunch time and our baby girl told us it was her turn to buy something so we headed to Stonebriar Mall where we at lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. (my only regret....$$ lunch!)We had our first gourmet appetizer: Ahi Tartare. Mmmmm! Very tasty!! We walked around the mall two times bought a few things and headed out for home.

Four hours later we were pulling into our home sweet home.

Our bed sure did feel good that night. It was a lot of fun crammed into 24 hours!

Spring Broke

It really really stinks for the kids for Mom to get paid the last day of Spring Break .

Our Spring Break was sprung broke.

Good thing I didn't procrastinate, as in past years, and got our taxes done and sent before Tax Day and we should have in our grubby little hands, a nice tax refund check and go on a little day trip with the girls down to Texas.

We shall be springing hither, thither and yon and will keep you posted on our progress and purchases we have planned. :o)

It Took Me

What a great Sunday afternoon at home.

I jacked up the fish I tried to grill....heretoforevermore I will let UJ be the Official Meat Griller. But the veggies were a success. Here is our menu:

Grilled Cod (well mostly grilled...then finished in a pan)
Grilled Zucchini and Yellow Squash (THE BOMB!)
Roasted potatoes, onions and carrots.
Lemon Cake with Lemon icing

Very yummy and light.

A nap overcame me once my tummy was full and I let it take me and I finally got caught up on some of my missed sleep.

oh. i. feel. good.

How was your day??

I think I need a cuppa coffee to wake up now.

A Bit of Sad Trivia

I was looking around on the Veteran's Administration website today and found the following facts:

• Since World War I, more than 142, 000 Americans have been captured and interned as POWs
• 93 of those were women
• 93,000 additional Americans have been lost or never recovered
• About 29,350 or one fifth of America’s former POWs since World War I are still living
• More than 90 percent of living former POWs were captured and interned during World War II
• At the end of the Vietnam War there were 2,583 unaccounted for American POWs
• As of September 1, 2006, 1,798 are still listed as missing by DOD—90 percent in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia
• 126 Americans are still listed as missing in action and unaccounted for from the Cold War

The one with chocolate cake

I got to take the whole cake home too! Mmmmm

40 ain't so bad so far.......

Suz Chef

Last night Uncle Joe and I made home-made pizza. He texted me at work and can apparently read my mind because I had just been trying to decide what to have for supper and pizza sure did sound good.

Text: Pizza at home for supper?
My reply: Yesss! You are reading my mind!


I stopped at the grocery, list in hand, to pick up some last minute things for the Pizza De Jour. I only had to call Joe once to ask about yeast preference and only had to go back for one forgotten item. (Good thing I was still in the parking lot!)I got home and he prepared all the toppings: Ham, pinapple (fresh!), onion, mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage and cheese.

The recipe for crust we found was easy and tasty. I would recommend you try it next time you want to impress your family. :o) This batch makes TWO regular crusts.We made two batches of this dough after one other recipe flopped. Our company loved it and the girls had fun making their own pizza.

Quick Pizza Dough

1 pkg Quik Rise dry yeast
1 cup luke warm water
2 T olive oil
1 T honey *** yes honey! it was delish!
2 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt

*this recipe also calls for 1/2 t garlic powder and 1/2 t onion powder, but we didn't use it.

Mix yeast in water in glass bowl. Add other ingredients. We used our stand mixer and it worked beautifully. Place in a bowl that has about a teaspoon of olive oil..just enough to coat the bottom. Cover and let it sit for 15-30 minutes.
Turn out dough on lightly floured surface. Cut in half. Flatten out on a floured surface and place in pizza pan. Add sauce, cheese and toppings of your liking and bake at 450 degrees for 12 (or more) minutes.

I was in charge of mixing dough. UJ patted most of the pizzas out and i topped them. I didn't do TOO bad for my first "Suz Chef" job. Hey... at least I got lots of kisses while I was working. I bet Chef Gordon Ramsay doesn't kiss his sous chefs!

My 39th Year

My 39th year.

Hardest by far and by far the most rewarding.

On the eve of my 40th birthday

I am stronger

mentally

physically

emotionally

and spiritually

than I have ever been.

40?
Bring.It.On.

Holiday?

Just sittin' @ home enjoying a cuppa joe with Joe on my first Federal Holiday!!

Be My Valentine?

Do you see love?

********

Have I Told You Lately

Song by Rod Stewart

Have I told you lately that I love you

Have I told you there's no one else above you

Fill my heart with gladness,

take away all my sadness

Ease my troubles,

that's what you do

For the morning sun and all its glory

Meets the day with hope and comfort too

You fill my life with laughter,

somehow you make it better

Ease my troubles,

that's what you do

There's a love that's defined

And it's yours and it's mine

like the sun

And at the end of the day

We should give thanks and pray to the one,

to the one

Have I told you lately that I love you

Have I told you there's no one else above you

Fill my heart with gladness,

take away all my sadness

Ease my troubles, that's what you do.

******

Dear Uncle Joe,

Will you be my Valentine?

Love,

Aunt Josefina

Hurry Up and Wait

Well my first week of Federal employment is over. I heard from our trainer that there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" going on.

Oh. How. True.

With 88 people in my trainee group, it takes us a while to do ANYTHING.

When we do something in unison, like getting on the internet, we crash the system. (Tech guys said they were glad we crashed it because they had been asking for more bandwidth....now they'll surely get it!)

I sit by a really nice lady.....Beth. She is so quiet and I have to lean over every now and again to try and make her crack up. The lady behind us however is pretty close to getting hurt. She doesn't know what is going on because she won't keep her mouth shut. She talks loudly making it difficult for us to hear. Since she doesn't know what is going on she has to ask a "coach". She dominates them with her incessant chatter and I am getting very annoyed. We haven't been doing any real training yet so I have been patient, but if she causes me to miss something I will have to tape her mouth shut and tie her to her chair. Let me also add that I sit on the back row.....a very different experience for me. I am a "B" so I am usually at the front, and it is very weird being in the back. (although at break time, I get to the bathrooms first!)

So, I am enjoying NOT anwering the phones, NOT having to deal with difficult patients in person or on the phone, NOT pulling faxes, NOT filing charts,and NOT balancing my money. I know that this job will ramp up real soon and all these slow days will be a thing of the past.........

Have a great weekend!

First Days

My first days at the new job have been good. Very busy with do's and don'ts, training and orientation. There are 88 people in my "class" that is a lot of new faces and names to learn. We are the largest group to train in the history of this office.

The hours are 730 to 415 and if any of you know me I am morning challenged. It will take a concerted effort from my whole family to get everyone up and ready on time and get me out the door by 710am. I may be putting my shoes on on the car, but I will be on my way!!

It was so nice to be in a room full of people who are "thrilled to be here", "tickled to have this job", "happy to serve our Vets", etc. everyone WANTS to be there and will work very hard to maintain the awesome reputation of the Muskogee Office. Let me say here that in all the Veteran's Services that Muskogee offers.....we are the top office in all of them. We get extra work because we rock it out so fast.........can you believe that?? Okies know how to work and we ROCK!!

Gotta skitter.....look at the time.

Closed for computer maintenance and upgrades.....

Y'all come back now...

Fortunately

Today we went to Whole Foods in Tulsa. What a beautiful store! When we walked in I thought I would like to work there. It was so vibrant and colorful and the smells were heavenly......

We have seen Alton Brown and Emeril shop at Whole Foods and we have wanted to visit one for a long time. UJ learned there was one in Tulsa so we went on a spur of the moment today.

Came home with several interesting items: Tandoori bread, veggie chips, sweet potato (ha UJ I spelled potato right!) chips, roasted veggie dip, beets, clementines, and an organic frozen pizza.

We stopped off at Pei Wei for lunch and here is the fortune I got:
A secret admirer will soon send you a sign of affection. I can't wait!! I love affectionate signs. I hope it is a sweet love note. :o)

Don't be jealous

I am getting my an up close and personal concert at Tedly's house. Uncle Joe and Tedly are jammin away........I am listening and blogging. :o)

It just isn't fair when on your first day "off the job" you are awake at 4am. Just. Isn't. Fair.

Onwards and Upwards!

Today was my last day at the office.

I arrived and there was a gas leak. We couldn't open the clinic for about an hour. There was no sense in everyone standing around getting asphyxiated so I suggested they go get breakfast and I would remain behind to answer the phones. If they came back and found me comatose then they would know the gas company didn't show up. (The smell actually was very faint and we had plenty of ventilation so I was in no danger I was assured by the physicians)

what a memorable last day on the job!!

I said farewell to my 8-5 family and left knowing that I am doing what is best for me and my family. Onwards and upwards!!!!!

The List

This scene takes place at the Sunday dinner table.

Cast: CarlyJo, CassiJo, Uncle Joe and Aunt Jo

UJ: AJ did you all go to church today?

AJ: Yea, we just went to big church though, we missed Sunday School.

UJ: Good, that'll keep you off Papa's List.

CassiJo: What list?

UJ: The list.

CassiJo: What list?

UJ: The list you get on if you don't go to church.

CassiJo:............... You're on the list.

UJ's drink almost came out his nose.

New Beginnings

Good news Blogger Friends.......

I got a new j-o-b! woohooo!!! I have been with my current employer for almost 20 years and finally decided it was time to try something new. I am mentally prepared and ready for a new beginning.

I will be starting a Federal job on Feb 2nd.

I am very excited to be getting a raise, a few more paid holidays, great benefits and better hours.

Yay!

.....and We're Back

Did you EVEN know we were gone??

Our computer has been ill with several nasty viruses and various computer germs and we have been computer-less for several (long) days.

My Computer Genius Brother In Law, Ron has disinfected and de-virus-ized our little machine and we are back to normal.....and somewhat faster thanks to his computer prowess. :o)

Getcher Free Smile......

Did you hear about the NEW corduroy pillows?

NO?

They are making headlines all over the world!

:o)

Colder Than.....

It is so cold here my eyeballs got cold when I ran last night.

The Buttah Post

Aunt Lil got us some sheets for Christmas. White sheets (antibacterial too!)250 thread count.....and they feel like buttah! They remind me of the hotel sheets in Chicago. I could hardly go to sleep last night for rubbing my feet on them while I snuggled in for the night. :o) Ahhhhh

I think I hear them calling me now.......

New Year

Last night was JorySan's final night at home. He left with his family and Outlaws early this morning. They should be in Japan late tonight.

Before their departure I got one last dose of lovin' from the children. I arrived at G-moms shortly after the office closed and picked up Maya as soon as I arrived. She was getting a teeny bit fussy so we went to the rocking chair and rocked for a long time.........a very long time. She looked around and smiled at me, pulled my hair, scratched me a while and wallered me while I rocked her for miles. I thought I might give up when she started making I-don't-want-to-go-to-sleep-but-I-am-about-to sounds and the end was in sight. I didn't miss the opportunity to snuggle with her so we went to G-mom's big tall bed and got under the covers and had ourselves a little nappy. It was sweet to wake up and see her little face smiling at me with sleepy eyes.

We all had such a good time with the children. It will be several months before they have a chance to come back. I wonder what they thought of our family of what probaby seemed to them to be GIANTS? :o)

Oh and Happy New Year! Thanks for reading my blog for one more year........