It's a Combination Platter!

I'm gonna have to edit these pics down later...for some reason they're bigger than usual.


So a couple of things...first of all....MY OLIVIA'S BACK FROM TEXAS FOR GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

She's all done with her Army training, but she is a reservist. So, she may have to go at some point. Which will make me sad. :( But I'm still so proud of her for all the work she's done.

It is weird, a tiny bit though, knowing that she's home for good. I'm so glad to having to say goodbye at the end of two weeks. It will be nice when after two weeks this time, I can still call her and ask if she wants to hang out. :)

Also, wanted to post some of the pics from the hockey game. I didn't have my camera on me, but Becker did...so here's some of the pics the she took:

Did I mention how good our seats were?!

WHF and I together...we look so happy!

The boys kissing me...one a little weird...the other one...weird...

Besties!!!

So that was the hockey game! Tons of fun...even though I'm not a hockey fan!

Also, on another unrelated note...only 3 days to go before Florida! Yay!!!

Yay for Hockey!!!

Yesterday, WHF called me while I was on my way to work and told me...check your email when you get to work. I was a little worried. I thought it was going to be bad news about his job, since he couldn't talk about whatever it was.

So, I looked at my email, preparing for the worst, but it was really a message telling me that the GM at his hotel gave him tickets to last night's Blues game for doing such a good job at work.

Yay!!! How fun! I haven't been to a hockey game in years!!!

So, there were 4 tickets, so WHF told me to call Becker and see if her and Chris wanted to go. As soon as I told Becker, she seriously squealed, told me she wanted to kiss my husband (actually she said she wanted to do something else...lol!) and said I'd made her day.

I got off work at 5:30, to make it downtown so WHF and I could eat dinner. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a place, so we just met up with Becker and Chris and walked to the game.

I forgot to mention the best part...we got there and found out our seats row E...we were 5 rows from the freaking ice!!!! And, we were right by the goal...so incredibly cool!

Now, I'm not the biggest hockey fan, but I had a good time last night. It was so awesome getting to sit that close, I could see the player's sweat from where I was sitting. It was a great night and I have to thank WHF for all his hard work he puts in at work...he really is incredible.

One Week!

I have one week left to go before I'm in sunny beautiful Florida. And it couldn't come at a better time. We just got dumped with a buttload of snow. (Our first snow of winter. That took a while.)

I'm looking forward to this trip because it will involve tons of relaxation. That's what the Feb. trip always seems to be about. Relaxing a ton. We get to stay at one of the most beautiful hotels in the world for free and I get to sit in a hot tub!

The major challenge for this trip though...we have opted to drive down. 16 hours in a car...and I've never driven that long in a car before...so this should be interesting. Even more interesting, is we are attempting to do this all in one night. Leaving around 8 pm getting in around noon or 1 the next day. I can only imagine how exhausted we'll be. If all else fails, we can stop at some hotel on the way.

I bought all our provisions for the drive today though: chips, doughnuts, snack bars, cookies, and M&Ms. The only other thing I'll definitely need will be coffee...all day.

Our attemptive plan for right now is to go to the MK on Thurs and I have an ADR at Trails End at 5:40 pm. Then Fri will be DHS day, where I'll get to see the AP preview of American Idol and we have an ADR for 50s Prime Time at 5:40. Then Sat. we'll be exploring Epcot....with no ADRs, but we thought we might hit up Beaches & Cream...yum!

The thing I really hope I find though...is a place that sells strawberries down there. Last year, I had the most amazing strawberries, but got them at the Daytona flea market. We're not going to Daytona this year (that I know of) so I'm hoping I find a roadside place that sells them. I plan on buying a ton too! Those were the best things ever!!!

So, I got the maps printed, got to get navigation put on my phone, got to put lots of podcasts on my ipod (trust me...I'll need them!) and I have to have the determination to drive all that way. Wish me luck! lol!


Oh!!! One last thing...totally random note...the podcast that I co-host won an award, completely out of the blue! We won the Top 5 most popular travel podcast on podbean.com! (And, out of the top 5, I believe we place number 1!) So go us! It really is incredible that that has happened, considering the fact that we've only been around for like 8 months. We're also about to hit our 100th episode, which is pretty cool as well!

Weekend Stuff

Well, this weekend has been eventful...in a mostly good way.

First of all, Friday was my best friend Becker's birthday and her brilliant idea for her birthday was to drag us all out to some dueling piano bar that she's been wanting us to go to for months. Well, of course, we then had to go.

I have to tell you, I had a really nice time. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. (Although, I didn't have the slightest idea what I thought it would be like before I got there anyway.) It was cool because they had like 4 different guys playing each other all night long...splitting them into sets of 2 of course. They were all very good.

The best part was, that because it was my best friend's birthday, she had to get onstage and do I'm a Little Teapot! It was great! She forgot how to do it at first. Then they made her do a sexy version...which, of course, she was all for. :)

By the end of the night, she was plastered...and I had to drive her back to her boyfriend's house. She was definitely feeling no pain when I dropped her off, but I'm sure she wasn't feeling too hot yesterday. lol!

Then yesterday morning, WHF and I got our brand spankin new washing machine delivered. We had this whole debate about what kind to get, going back and forth, but we finally decided on a front loader. I have to admit, I'm liking it so far. I've put in two loads of clothes and I've already fit in more laundry than I had been fitting in my old washer. It's nice actually getting all my clothes of one color clean instead of having to split a basket into two loads!

Today, I have big plans too. I plan on going to see the movie Bride Wars with Becker and my friend Trish. Then we have to go to the funeral home as Leslie's dad passed away from cancer on Wednesday. It's going to be so hard, but we will all be there to support her today. I can't decide if I'm going to the funeral tomorrow or not. I do have the day off and I'm sure she might like to have a friend there...so I might end up going.

So, that's been my weekend so far in a nutshell...it's been full of a bunch of little things, but they all add up to one busy weekend. :)


Oh! And as an added bonus, next weekend should be pretty fantablous too...Olivia comes back home...for good!!! Yay!!! Her army training days will be over. I get her back. Unless, of course, she has to go overseas...which will make me very sad again. But...for now, she'll be coming home!

Sold!

After a little over 2 years of being on the market, my parents have finally got a contract and a closing date for our old house!!!

You have no idea how happy I am that this has finally happened. It will take such a strain off my parents and hopefully, since they'll be able to pay most of their bills off now, they won't have the financial burden that they'd been having. Plus, now, maybe my mom will be happy again. Truly happy. She's been so miserable to be around for the last little while.

This also means there's a good chance my job isn't in jeopardy! I might even get my hours put back into place! Although, I still think my mom would like me to apply for jobs other places...so I might still do it....just to put some feelers out and see if I can get anything else.

But today is a happy day!!!

I Just Want My Computer

You know what's sad? When a computer becomes such an important part of your life that not having access to one for a week seriously makes you antsy. I am such a person.

My computer is currently ill...it's at the hospital right now getting all kinds of tests run on it. The unfortunate thing, as it is with a real hospital, is when they do all those tests and still can't figure out what the hell is wrong. That's where I am.

I dropped off my computer a week ago...first they told me my computer was an absolute disaster. (This from the guy who deals with computers all day...that makes me feel great...) There are so many things wrong, I need to come in, salvage what's important and we're gonna do a reformat.

Ok...

Reformatted my computer...apparently, there's still a problem. I can't download any Windows Updates. My computer and Vista updates are apparently not compatible. (The computer's a Vista...I don't understand!)

Ok...

That's fine...I'll be able to live without updating my computer. Turns out, that's not the problem either. Apparently, there's something bigger. I had to contact Gateway today and they need to send me recovery CDs. Apparently, the recovery portion in my computer is corrupted as well.

*bangs head on wall*

I swear...this whole ordeal has been a nightmare. Now, I have to wait for a response from Gateway, b/c get this...the call center doesn't have access to my computer's info, but I can get the info by email. I have to wait for them to then mail me the recovery CDs and then I have to wait for the nice IT guy (who I think is just as frustrated as I am) to install it and see if that is the problem. If it's not, I might just have to chuck the damn thing out the window.

Anyway...I'm a tad frustrated, in case you can't tell. Being without a computer at home for a week has been very taxing. Luckily, my dad is a wonderful guy and has let me borrow his laptop for the time being.

Let's just hope we get this resolved. Because if not...the IT guy and I are going to beat this computer to a pulp. lol!

New Year, New Oportunities

This year, I can already tell I'm going to be faced with a few new hardships...or what can be conceived to some as opportunities.

First of all...with my job...things aren't too great. I'm already being forced to taking two days off a week now...and am looking for a part time job. As for said part time job...I have decided I might try substitute teaching. They are always in demand, especially during this season, since people get sick these days. And while I don't have much experience in the teaching area of life, this will at least give me the opportunity to gain one.

Which brings me to another "opportunity". Because of all this, I think I've decided if I like substitute teaching, I might decide to go back to school and get an actual teaching degree. It's all very up in the air at the moment, but at least I feel it's a direction I can take.

Also, career wise...WHF might have some issues this year, unfortunately. We heard a rumor that shared services is possibly going into effect in June. (This is where they cut his job and move it to a centralized location...in Nebraska.) I'm hoping against all hope that he's safe, as he was hired to be a staff accountant and not a specific job. I thought that's why they hired him with that specific title, but then again, we can't be too sure. So, things with his job are very up in the air as well.

I was hoping we'd get through these economy problems easily, but apparently, it appears we might not. I'm just hoping that things do end up on the up side. But if they are hardships, I really do hope they are just opportunities in disguise.