Roses are Blooming...

Happy Journaling...

I miss my journal...

Hello! I'm here... and I now have two days off!! Inventory is over!! I haven't heard yet how we did... On Tuesday at 4pm I finished opening the last box, phew... Except for setting the ads on Sundays, all I have been doing for the last two weeks is opening boxes and boxes of shoes... Wednesday was inventory in our department... I only worked 9-1pm as it is my usual day off as son3 gets out of school early... The inventory team started counting at 6am and were done with the sales floor and almost done with the stockroom by time I got there... that included our associates checking counts behind them... Our department was completely done before 10am... last year we finished about 11:30am... with more people counting... we were way more prepared this year... So I did my weekly scan of the floor for our display reports... Worked the exception sheets for inventory... and straightened the displays as we couldn't move anything or take out any stock... time went quick though, I was worried it would go slow, lol... Thursday it was just me in the morning again from 9-1pm as son3 had early day all this week for teacher conferences, he didn't have one... So I stocked work boots the entire time and still have a lot more to bring out... But that will have to wait til Monday, as Sunday is ad day, and start on the boxes that have now come in on my days off...

I finished reading all the Twilight books... I don't know why but that was very stressful, lol... I just wanted to get to the end and see what happened... It took up five weeks of my life, I couldn't move on til I finished... I have since started another book and it is nice and relaxing and Bentley Little is a bit warped and freaky... I will say that the fourth book of the series was the best and yes I like the ending... They all live happily forever and ever and ever and ever... Which I figured, it was the how I needed to know...


Son2 got a text from son1 last week... Nothing extensive just that he was working a part time job three nights a week repairing motorcycles in addition to his full time job at Cycle Gear... well probably not too full time as his hours are cut according to budget with the cut backs this year... So I'm assuming he and girlfriend are still together or living together out of necessity or he left her and is at a friend's... Don't know until he is ready to tell us...

Son2 turned in his papers for cheerleading and found out he is not the only guy trying out... He has a meeting on April 23rd and then try outs are May 2nd I think... He got a 50/50 on his Call of the Wild report and a 50/50 on his Romeo and Juliet report... He was also asked by his construction teacher to join the competing construction team, he felt really good about being asked but after thinking it over through the weekend, he told his teacher it wasn't something he was interested in...

Son3 did not have a teacher conference this week which is for students that are possibly failing, so I guess I will accept that he is going to the third grade... However the teacher asked hubby to see her before school on Monday as there were some state testing results that she wanted to share with us so we could work on it at home while studying... He got his progress report yesterday: Reading C, Language B-, Writing C, Spelling C+ and Math B...


And I even started the taxes! My goal is to be done before April 1st... Just one more week and the boys have two weeks off for spring break and just two more weeks and I have a week of vacation for Easter... We are open Easter day.... The Easter Bunny is not even ready with the boys baskets yet... Today the boys are off at school, hubby is off at work and I have a whole day just for me... I am on the second load of dishes in the dishwasher, the third load of laundry in the washer... I have my list ready but two days to get it done; ecards and cards for April holidays and bdays, water plants, fill the bird feeders, son3 needs a haircut badly, straighten up, clean up some of son3's toys that were left outside too long so I can put them back in his room, sprinkle snail treats, balance the checkbook, taxes, vacuum, Netflix movies: The Miracle Worker, Open Season 2 and High School Musical 3, make some teriyaki chicken for dinner, read journals and get sucked into Facebook several times a day.....

Happy Journaling...

Cornbeef and Vampires...

We are celebrating St. Patrick's Day today, on Wednesday, since I had to work the last six days in a row and I am finally off today and have time to cook the cornbeef that is simmering on the stove as I type.... mmmmm can you smell it....



We have inventory at work one week from today... I am frantically trying to get all the new spring/summer shoes opened and put away.... Our stockroom is looking pretty good... I think we are ready... and we have been busy, all those people shopping with no money?.....



Son3 got his new glasses and prescription... He is doing good in school... well of course hubby has been doing homework with him now, lol... his stress now, not mine, except on Wednesdays.... It is getting toward the end of the school year so they start to focus on the next grade, so his teacher is now treating them like third graders... where they are expected to do their work on their own, so he has been bringing home classwork along with homework.... don't know what hubby decided to do on talking with the office yet... yesterday son3 was reading me a story he wrote and I thought he did really good reading out loud and knowing every word, he is a good loud public speaker... so maybe he will be ok in third grade... of course the first part of third grade, they review second grade... and maybe this summer we will be good and do practice work....

Son2 announced yesterday that he wants to try out for cheerleading... I had talked to him about it before and of course we want to support him but the things he comes up with, lol... he even got all the information yesterday... I told hubby don't think about the money or anything yet as he has to try out... does he even know how to do a cartwheel.... of course there is a meeting at the school next month for the parents of what all is involved... why does everything have to involve the parents... can't I find stuff out after I find out if he even got picked yet.... I'll wait and see if he remembers next month... This morning he wanted to go to school with two different shoes on, one black, one brown.... hubby and I said No.... then I told him just don't announce it and you would have been off to school and we wouldn't have even known, lol... so he tried that but hello I'm still standing here, change your shoes.... meanwhile he has had a whole month to read Call of the Wild, he writes the report in class tomorrow... He started the book a month ago, read all through class yesterday and said he will finish it tonight.... nothing like the last minute with him...

Hubby had son2 text son1 on Sunday.... to tell him to call us... son1 responded who is this, my phone numbers were lost from my cell phone... son2 text him who... son1 responded oh that's what I thought... son2 text a lol or something... nothing back from son1 and no he still hasn't called... we figure when he hits bottom he will be at our door... meanwhile he is taking care of things himself.... no more phone calls from the girlfriend...


Holly is still working out her own routine in the family... I don't think she likes being home all alone all day while we are at work and school.... and I am sure she is still a kitten as she wants to play all the time.... she likes to be in a room where we are except in the evening she sleeps in my computer chair... while I am on the computer she sleeps behind me on the back of the couch... right now she is outside as it is nice and sunny and she is getting some fresh air... she is still pushing her luck at getting to stay in at night instead of spending the night in the garage.... between 2 and 4am she decides it is time to get up and sits on our heads while we are sleeping.... if we close our door she wakes son3 so he will call us and then we too are awake, lol... son2 is safe as his door is always closed... she also likes to crawl all over the radio alarm clocks trying to turn on the radio knowing that will wake us up... however if she is on the bed while the alarm goes off she looks at you so concerned with her face saying it wasn't me and goes to try to turn it off, lol... she is such a character... she still tries to bite us but I think she just wants to play and not mad.... she does however meow in protest if she doesn't want to do something when you pick her up... son3 loves that she lets him pick her up....


I am on the fourth book of the Twilight series, boy did I get sucked in.... However most books you don't want them to end, you are enjoying the characters too much... these books I just want to be done so I know what happens... no, don't tell me... son2 is saying nothing, but I told him I better like the ending or he's gonna get it, lol... We both had read the first book before Valentine's and then I got son2 the whole set... He has been done with them for a couple of weeks already and I am on the last one... You just can't put them down... I get to work early in the morning after I drop son3 at school, so I'll read then and then again at lunch and then every second in the evening when I get a chance.... I'm not thinking she is gonna be a vampire though..........




We got Captain's Courageous from Netflix and we were gonna watch it on Sunday but the boys are it's black and white, nooooooooo don't torture us.... So I said fine we are gonna watch half on Monday and half on Tuesday... So on Sunday we watched Shangai Noon... Monday comes more protests but we put it in... I set the timer for forty minutes so the boys could get to showers by 7:30pm, the timer goes off, I say time to turn it off, the boys say nooooooooooooo.... lol... they loved it! It was so funny partly for good writing and partly cause of the things they said back then compared to now.... so we watched it til 8pm and finished it last night...



We also have been busy keeping up with all our shows: Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, Masters of Illusion, Reaper, Criminal Minds, CSI NY, Bones, CSI, 11th Hour, Smallville, Supernatural, Ghost Whisperer, Numbers, Terminator, Dollhouse, will be glad when Fringe returns and we started watching a new one, Castle with Nathan Fillion, so funny...

We are looking at temps in the mid 70's this week... but dropping back to the 60's with rain this weekend...

And now as usual I have a million things to do on my list.... I liked the comment that Tina left in a few entries back: we are never done, only in progress, or better yet under control... I like that under control... so now my new goal is to get under control...

Happy Journaling...

A-Z Photo Challenge-X

To Play Visit Martha at Menagerie....

I'm gonna add a little twist to this week's challenge and just mention my favorite X-Men.....

Wolverine/Hugh Jackman...



































and I did find some X's in the garden....

























































Happy Journaling...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Happy Journaling...

Mornin...

I am up! Hubby is off to work, son2 is off to school... we are working on a morning schedule with everyone up at the same time now, lol...

I got most of my chores done yesterday except never did get to the bathrooms... Son3 got all of his homework done and hubby was home early... Sent hubby to the store for me some cola and salad and bread for dinner... He also picked up a carrot cake for dessert... We settled in to watch Transporter 3 that came from Netflix yesterday and it wouldn't work in the family room DVD player but worked perfectly fine in the bedroom DVD player... Every so often we run into that problem with DVD's from Netflix, haven't figured out why.... So we watched an old Incredible Hulk on the retro channel, studied son3's spelling words and got the boys in the showers... I was back on the computer for a bit and discovered that Linda at Linda's World had lost her dear Gabi... She and Raisin had a long distance relationship going... now they are both together and my heart is just breaking... Then the phone was ringing all evening; son3's new glasses are ready to pick up, son2 has his second tardy in a class that the teacher does not accept tardies, one more and he is in detention, son2 had missed his bus yesterday on the way home and took a bus that we do not approve of that he has to cross a major expressway to get home, and girlfriend called crying and wanting to talk about son1 two times, no I did not pick up, I haven't heard from son1 in three weeks since he called to ask if he could move back home....

So we did not have a relaxing evening and we were all in bed asleep by 9pm....

Now I am off to get ready for work and get son3 off to school...

Happy Journaling...

Days are Flying...

Wednesday again... My morning time just for me...

Got the boys off to school this morning and hubby off to work... I see him in the mornings now that he goes in at 6:30 instead of 5:30am.... I am now all caught up on email, journals, and facebook... I have had a cold for a week, stuffy nose and low grade fever... I am finally feeling better today... Now son2 is getting it.... might explain why he has been so grumpy lately besides being 15... We have had temps in the 60's, however the last two days we have woke to ice on the cars, but then by next Tuesday it is supposed to be 79 degrees...

Sunday I went to work as usual to set the ad... Supervisor and I were confused however as the report said only two signs to put up and over 400 to take down... Also when I got there, there were only two other cars in the parking lot.... hmmm guess everyone has a small ad.... So I take down all the signs ending on the 8th and proceed to put up more than two signs I had for the 9th.... Print all the signs I needed to replace ones I had taken down, stop at restroom, set down signs and wonder why they all have the end date of the 8th, did I click on wrong date to print... Start thinking and remember that Sunday is the 8th.... Understand completely now that the ad did not end on Saturday but on Sunday and I had set up the ad for Monday.... why do they play with my mind, lol... Meanwhile this weeks ad ends on Friday instead of Saturday and we set the new ad up on Saturday instead of Sunday... Just keeping us on our toes I guess...

but of course I could of had Sunday off and had more than fours sleep due to the time change but then I wouldn't have had Monday off with hubby....

Sunday I came home to hubby and son2 mowing lawns and washing cars... I can't even remember what we had for dinner or watched... I have moved to the next step of perimenapause: brain fog and memory loss, lol...

Monday hubby and I got the boys off to school and we headed straight to Walmart... needing shampoo, cat food and such, not to mention the $5 DVD bin where we found movies we had to have... We watched Sahara last night... the others were Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, a Vietnam documentary for hubby, Smokey and the Bandit for son1, Transporter 2 and all Lethal Weapons in a set (this one was $13)... and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember, Easter egg dye, socks, humming bird juice, blank cds, ............ came home to find the DSL was down and it never came back on til we were eating dinner... So I watched The Women from Netlix and hubby hung up my humming bird feeder from Christmas.... then it was boys home from school and homework...

Tuesday I was back to work... Asked supervisor if she noticed anything about the ad, nope... No complaints about the signs coming up the wrong prices, nope... so I proceed to take down all the signs that I had printed for the tables and such that I had reprinted with the ending date of the 8th cause that sale really did end on Sunday and found the rest of the signs and finished putting up the signs for Monday... Helped Supervisor put up our new ceiling signing, so we were on ladders most of the day.... I have a ton and a half of boxes to open, will work on those Thursday and Friday.... I so wanted to call out on Tuesday with my cold but it turned out to be an easy day any way and I'm feeling better now....

Tuesday hubby picked up son3 from school and he and three other parents were ambushed by the teacher who wanted to let us all know that our children were the slowest in the class and that she couldn't hold up the rest of the class for them anymore.... And that third grade is not gonna wait for them, they will have to keep up... Have we not been telling her our concerns and she continues to say everything is fine because she wants all the control.... We are torn between requesting to hold him back and pushing him into the next grade hoping things will get better... Did I mention that teacher/conferences are the end of the month for those below average... I will be surprised if we have one... We had similar problems with son2 and he finally got a clue by fourth grade or just a better teacher, I'm not sure... I just know I never recognize his fourth grade teacher when she says hi cause I never had to know her, lol... Son3 has made some good improvements with his maturity and control of his anger and getting along with others plus I can hear a big improvement in his reading and I even hear him reading the screen when he is playing his video games now.... His thing now is being able to do his work independently.... I don't know if he just thinks he has to wait for permission to proceed with each work problem or he can't read it or he doesn't listen to instructions or he is just afraid of being wrong or a combination of all of the above.... Hubby is going to still talk with the office so next year we will have record of our concerns so we can have some support from the office staff.... on whether he needs reading lab or anything...

Now I am off to do my chores... straighten up, dishes, put away laundry, pay bills, clean both bathrooms from top to bottom ( I never seem to finish this one), fill the bird feeders, clean out the magazines, vacuum, pick up son3 first and then do homework.... I think we will have pasta and garlic bread for dinner....

Happy Journaling....

End of the week, finally...

I'm so glad it's Saturday.... Hubby was off to work early... The boy's are off playing their video games... I've been back and forth between facebook and blogger all morning... I did start a load of laundry, had a fried egg sandwich and showered and dressed...

Work was up and down all week, with us wondering how stressed we should be about the visit we had yesterday... We didn't get everything done but we are way under control compared to this time last year... and I didn't think the visitors would really have time to see the store as they were locked up in their meeting all day... I have a ton of boxes to open tomorrow but it is a small ad so I will have time to work on them... Plus I want to reorganize all our signing back into our stockroom... I work both Saturday and Sunday next weekend as we start our Mad About Shoes Sale... So I have this Monday off with hubby... We are going to Walmart! We haven't had a chance to shop in a while and I am out of shampoo and son3 still needs some more jeans as he is outgrowing his clothes lately....

Hubby has been doing good with his 6am-2pm schedule, however he crashes at 9pm, lol... so we have all been going to bed early and getting up early... Next week however hubby moves to 7am-3pm, as they changed the store hours... He has also been doing most of son3's homework, so I have been reprieved from homework for a couple of weeks now... He and son2 however are working on a new afternoon routine and learning who son2's friend's are and that dad has stricter rules than mom, lol... I warned son2....

The last two days have been lecture days for son2... First off son2 doesn't really see his friend's outside of school much as they live on the opposite border of the school boundaries but we are all for him seeing his friends and encourage him to establish a routine of hanging with his friends... however son2 will see a friend and then nothing for months... and then we'll get into a situation like yesterday where son2 has been asking for a week to go to his friend's who have somewhat of a band... but then come Friday it is now at a different friend's house and now we are not going to do band stuff we are just going to hang for a friend's bday, with no time limits so hubby agrees but gives time limits, phone rings, now we are going to a 3hr R rated movie but K's mom is taking us and watching it with us... Now our yes has turned to a no and we are the bad guys... but his friends do this every time... I ask son2 why don't you ever invite your friend's to do stuff so I can see how many times their mom says no.....

Son3 had a good week at school after he was done being sick... Tuesday he had an eye appointment and got new glasses, we are waiting to pick them up, she also said that his right eye improved by two points and his left lazy eye improved by four points so we don't have to wear the patch anymore if we don't want to.... she said we did great and hubby said he hadn't really worn it since before the holidays... she said well probably all the focusing and concentrating with school work probably helped too... I was thinking maybe all the video games on weekends, lol.... Wednesday he wore his Cat in the Hat shirt for Dr. Seuss week, Thursday he wore his Incredible Hulk pjs, I was surprised he did and Friday was red and white day.... Also on Friday they had a special guest of the Cat in the Hat himself, well herself, son3 said there was a girl in the costume.... He also got a bday invitation but it is for next Saturday the one Saturday I have to work, grrrrr.....

Still no word from son1....

Tomorrow night is the premiere of the Extreme House Makeover that was filmed in Fresno... and don't forget to move your clocks forward one hour tonight.... that means it will be 3:30am old time when I get up for work tomorrow, ugh....

Netflix movies this week: Martian Child with John Cusack, very cute with sad parts; Appaloosa, we'll watch tonight; Strange Wilderness, son2 and I will watch; and Surfer, Dude that I thought would be like Fool's Gold but was just Matthew McConaughey being grungy, so I didn't watch it....

I still need to watch Ghost Whisperer from last night... Melinda is telling Sam what she does and that he is really Jim...

And I want to watch some old episodes of Emergency online while I get my tax papers all together... Need to get started on these taxes soon!

Son2 is bored and I just gave him a 'so where are all your friends' lecture... I know it sounds mean but after all the drama of him having to go out with them last night and now there will be nothing for months... There are at least ten friends in his group, and he can't call at least one to do something...

Son3 is in my bed watching Godzilla and Mothra and son2 is texting with his friends who I am just finding out didn't get to see the movie cause the mom didn't know she had to actually sit with them through the movie, she thought she could just buy the tickets.... so they ended up watching a DVD at someones house...

Ok I'm off to do a bit of chores, make oven fried chicken and a chocolate cake and get those tax papers together, oh and watch Ghost Whisperer, might not get to the Emergency shows....

Happy Journaling...

A-Z Photo Challenge-W

To Play Visit Martha at Menagerie...

White Feather...












White Fluffy Clouds...
























Waiting...
























White Allysium...












Wings on a bird...












White Pear Blossoms...












White Holly in a Tree...












Wet Raindrops on Rose Bush Leaves...












Wings on a Bug...

Happy Journaling...