Saturday, December 29, 2007

SICK :(

Today has not been a very good day. It was an even worse night. I went to bed last night with the sniffles and about half way through the night ended up with a full blown sinus stuff headcold, whatever, body aches, fever, coughing, thingy. I am feeling just a bit better, but not real great.
Our eldest daughter came over today. She had a wonderful trip to the Florida Keys and back with her boyfriend. She got presents for everyone. It was nice of her to think of us while she was gone. They had a great time. She snorkeled for the first time and saw things she has never seen before. I am glad their trip went so well. Now they are planning a trip to the Upper Peninsula in February to visit her brother at school. It is during Winter Carnival week at Michigan Tech. Their snow sculptures are absolutely awesome and they both are looking forward to seeing them.
I have not done any school work today. I am just not up to it. Hubby and son got groceries, then hubby made dinner. I laid around and slept most of the day. I think I will read over some of my notes then head to bed, maybe I will sleep better today.
I am enjoying reading everyones' blogs, they are all so good. It makes me feel closer to everyone, cause I get a bit of insight into their world.
Well, my friends till tomorrow or until I get another chance I will TTYL

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Two days after Christmas....

Okay, it is 2 days after Christmas, doesn't anyone have to work anymore. At work, we finally went back to our before the holidays schedule, YEAH!! We had people lining up outside our gate this morning before we opened. Go home, people, we really don't have that good of sales going on. It was chaos all day. I am so happy this is my last Christmas season in retail. I cannot wait to be done with school!
Eldest daughter called her dad today(yeah, he is off work til the new year, the bum)she and Joel are headed home from Florida. They were headed for Nashville, TN to stay the night and possibly check out the sites tomorrow and then were headed home. I know she had a grand time. She has barely ever been out of Battle Creek and she is almost 30 years old, WOW! she is almost 30, how can that be, I am not that old, where has time gone. She will always be my little girl, even thought she is all grown up now, LOL! She still calls me mommy and I love it.
Well, our New Years' Eve plans have fallen through. I guess the VFW doesn't want us there because we are not members, so hubbys' band will not be playing there this year. Although they have played there in past years. They have new blood at this VFW and they are so anti-anybody not in there clique. Oh well, we made plans to go to dinner with my brother- and sisiter-in-law. I guess we are going to go to Red Lobster, have a nice dinner and drinks and head on back home before the crazies come out.
My hours for next week, at work, have been cut drastically. This company thinks you can run a huge store with 3 people. So all of us have our hours cut to the bare bone. Only the managers will get hours and most of the rest of us get about 10 hours next week. Oh well, I guess it will just give me more time to work on school work. I could have used the money to build my savings back up after the holiday, but we will be ok.
Hubby made beef stew tonight, it was yummy. It made the whole house smell good. I am in my office(downstairs) and I can still smell it.
James, our college son, is out with friends, this evening. He has 2 really close female friends that he really enjoys hanging out with and he made them some awesome pictures for Christmas. He actually matted and framed them all by himself. They turned out really well. They are pics of his that he has taken. One is a waterfall and the other is beautiful pink flowers. He has quite the eye for photography. Maybe that could be his hobby after college and after he gets a real job as a full fledged electrical engineer, LOL!!
A bunch of friends have started blogs and it is so much fun reading them. Hallie is a pusher of blog writing and is encouraging more and more people to take it up! You go Hallie!!!
Anyway, I need to go study some more so I will TTYL!!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Here I am!!

Hey all, I have been neglecting my blog, again. I am so very sorry. I have been so busy with work and the holidays and all.
Today was the day from H... at work. So many people with so may returns and complaints, I just wanted to crawl under the counter and hide. I hope that everyone got all that out of their systems today and tomorrow will return to some semblace of normalcy. I could oly hope.
We had a very nice Christmas. Went to the in-laws on Saturday. It was a bit weird, cause alot of the grandkids were not there, so it was real quiet. Except whe my grandkids(the only great-grandkids) showed up, LOL! We sat around and chatted and drank white russians, yum and chatted and drank white russians.......you get the drift.
Sunday I had my daughter, son-i-law, Justin and the 2 grandkids, my mom, my brother and my son, here for brunch. It was so yummy and everyone ate, alot! The little ones opened their gifts and had a real good time playing and being goofy all afteroon. Hubby had to leave around 3 and go to bad rehearsal. So everyone decided it was time to go too. I sat around the rest of the day doing homework and some transcriptions. Then headed off to slumberland.
Monday, my daughter came over to wrap presents for her kids. We hide the gifts here, cause even thought hers are only 2 ad 4, there is no safe spot in their house to hide them. We got everythig all wrapped up and made a plan for me to bring them to their house after the kids went off to sleep.
My eldest is having a great time on her trip to Florida. She called us several times and let us know where they were. They have visited the Tampa Aquarium and the made their way to the Florida Keys and have gone snorkeling and just had a general great time.
Jamie and Alex had to work Christmas day so they opened their gifts on the 23rd and they called to say thanks. Jamie is starting her ALS right after the new year and the is headed to Lackland in June for her level 7 training. Hopefully she will sew on her new stripe in February. She only has 20 months left to serve and she is going to get out. Her hubby is staying in and making the AF a career, so she will transition from being a soldier to being a soldiers' wife.
I forgot to tell you that my eldest just got a big promotion at her job. She was so excited, it is another 600.00 per month and it comes with some supervisory perks. I am so happy for her. She has been at this job for 7 years, now.
Hubby surprised me with some perfume for CHristmas. It is not just your ordinary kind. It is something I use to wear when we were dating(over 30 years ago) and no one sells it anymore. He found it online and bought me 2 bottles of it. I was so surprised, that was so sweet of him.
Well, time to get back to my studies. I need to take a test and get on with the rest of the respiratory transcriptions. Oh by the way, I received my HOI exam back and I got a 99.3 percent I am so excited. That is my best transcription score yet and the end is now in sight, I am getting more and more excited.
So until I write again, TTYL

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Christmas Joy

Well, I know I have not been keeping up with this like I probably should, but I have been so very busy with work, getting things together for Christmas and for my son to come home from college and with school work. But no more excuses, I am here now and am updating my blog.
I really don't have alot happening right now,just studying real hard and trying to get through these last few chapters of my coursework. I am getting very excited about entering the MT world. At the same time, I am very apprehensive about it. Will I be good enough to make a living at this. Even before the making a living part, I am gonna pass my final, I am not a good test taker and am really worried about that one. What about the RMT test will I remember everything well enough to take that when I am done? I truly hope so. I want this so very bad and have worked very hard to get this far and will continue to work hard to get to the end of this road, come to think of it, I don't think there is a end of the road. This will be an ongoing process.
Oh I just thought of something that I need to share. I work in a store in our local mall. We are a sporting goods store. I am near the front of the store(cashier) and there are lots of windows that look out into the mall. I am always people watching, when I get the chance anyway. Today these young, very fresh from boot, marines came into the store. They were so cute in their freshly ironed, perfect uniforms. They even still walked with their hands cupped by their sides. They came into the store to buy some toys for the Christmas Angel tree that has been set up outside our store front in the mall. They were all chit chatting and I congratulated them on their graduation and becoming marines. They asked about my Parent pin,which I wear everyday and have for 4 years. They thought it was cool I had a daughter in the AF. Anyway, after all their snappy yes ma'am's and their wonderful, refreshing politeness, they took their bounty out to the Angel tree. Every morning our mall is filled with dozens and dozens of seinor citizens, who come to the mall for their daily walk. This morning was no exception. Except among them were these 3 fresh recruits. I counted at least 40 people who came up to them to shake their hands and thank them for their service. I was so moved, of course being an AF mom and missing my girl, I cried. Tears were just flowing, customers were giving me funny looks. Well, one of the recruits must have seen me crying cause he came back in the store and asked me if he could give me a hug. I cried even harder and thanked him. He said to me, " No ma'am thank you, cause I won't get to see my momma this year for Christmas and you made my day." Oh my goodness, every one thought I was loosing it, I cried so hard and thanked him for making my day. So how cool is that. Oh darn, I am crying again! I invited him to our house for Christmas, but he will not be here in town. So I got his name and made him promise to email me when he gets where he is going and to keep in touch. He promised, so I will keep you updated. Meanwhile, please keep this wonderful young man in your prayers. *I had to come back and add my marine friends name is Shawn.
So 1 more day of work, then I am off for 4 days, YIPPEE!! We are having in-laws Christmas on Saturday, my kids(the ones that will be here), my mom and brother are all going to be here Sunday morning for brunch and present time. I am really excited about that. I am making biscuits and sausage gravy, pancakes, homemade cinnamon rolls, bacon, hashbrowns, some hot cocoa and tea and a fav of mine Mimosas, yum. We will also have some fresh fruit and whatever else I think of between now and then, LOL! Should be fun and who knows this may become a tradition.
Well, time for more studying, so my friends until tomorrow, TTYL :)

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Productive day

Today was fairly productive. Hubby and I headed out early to get groceries and go to our fav breakfast spot. It has become a ritual of sorts for us on Saturday mornings. It gives us time to talk about things, like the state of the world and our kids and work and whatever comes to mind. I really enjoy our Saturday mornings together.

Well, went and picked up all our groceries and then headed home. It started snowing and hasn't stopped yet. They are predicting 6-15 inches tonight and into tomorrow. WOW! May be another good day to do nothing again.

I wrapped up all of the presents I have and stuck them under the tree. Dusty, our cat, thinks they are hers and has laid claim to one package by laying on it and taking a nap.

I read all the required reading for the respiratory chapter and am now taking notes on the power point presentation, then on to the exercises, tomorrow. I haven't gotten my transcription exam back yet, but I really didn't expect too until maybe Monday or so. Until then I will continue to work on the respiratory section.

I also made hubby and I a pretty good dinner. I tried a new recipe. I made a mexican lasagne, it was really quite good. Hubby said he thinks this is a keeper recipe. It had burger, salsa, sourcream, black beans, onions, tortillas, lots of sharp cheddar cheese and it was really simple to make.

We are suppose to go to dinner tomorrow night with our eldest and her boyfriend, but with the weather the way it is we may just have to stay home and make pizza or something, it is getting pretty deep out there right now and it is not suppose to stop until late tomorrow, so instead of taking the chance and driving to Kalamazoo(a 20 minute ride) I may try and convince them to stay here and I will find something to make.

My other daughter has tomorrow off, so just maybe she will bring the kids over to see us. I am not holding my breath on that one, but maybe we will get to see them. :)

Well, I am really not thinking straight right now, must be all the studying I did today, so I am cutting this one short. So my friends, TTYL! I <3>

Friday, December 14, 2007

Holidays :)

This pic was taken when Jamie was home on leave, at Halloween time, this is her and my grandbabies on our front steps. Jamie and Alex will not be home for Christmas, either, she hasn't been here for 3 years for Christmas, her and Alex have to work 12 hours that day, boohoo!
Ok, I thought as my kids got older the holidays would be easier, but ya know, they just keep getting more and more complicated. I won't be spending Christmas with any of my kids, they all have other plans, even my mother has dumped me in favor of my sister, who by the way did not invite me over. We are having a Christmas dinner with our oldest daughter, Jodi, and her new beau, Joel, on Sunday. They are going to be in Florida for Christmas. Then the following Saturday, my in-laws are having their big Christmas fiasco at their house. Fun, NOT!! My SIL, Teresa and I usually bring a couple bottles of wine and drink and make fun of everyone, behind their backs. Hey, gotta do something to relieve the awful tesion when everyone gets together. Not a real close family, my in-laws. Then the next morning, around 11-ish I am having my next oldest and her wonderful family over for brunch, yum, my fav meal to make and eat. Oh I guess my son will be here so one of my kids will be spending Christmas with us, maybe, if he doesn't have other plans. Christmas day will most likely be spent studying, cause I won't have much else to do. Kinda good, I guess, cause it is the only day off I will have that week.

I submitted my HOI transcription exam tonight, wish me luck. I really have a good feeling about this one though. It just seems to be getting easier. I guess it should, I don't have very much longer until I am done with the course and then on to my internship. WOOHOO!!! Did I tell ya that I am excited about this new career path. Cause if I didn't I would be happy to tell ya now. Cause I am sooooooo excited, I already am in love with the reference material and the transcription and I could go on and on. TRSi is the best on-line learning environment out there and I will be so proud to display my diploma from them and to work for them. YEAH!!

Well, it is getting late, no work tomorrow, but need to get groceries, so I need to go work up menus and lists for the store. Yeah, I actually do menus, saves me tons of time and money on groceries. I really like to do it too. My family has gotten use to seeing my menu on the fridge every week. When they come over, even now, they look to see what I am making for dinner. I so love to cook. So it is off with me for now, so my friends I will TTYL

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Warning bad rant!

I have been home from work for 7 1/2 hours, wow! I made hubby a nice quick dinner, we had homemade coleslaw, yummy salmon burgers on english muffins with a nice fresh cucumber sauce and some garlic and parmesan fries. It was very nice, quick and so summer like. I needed to put a bit more warmth in this house. Baby its cold outside, brrrrrr! WInd chill is a numbing 19 degrees. The wind is howling tonight and all I wanna do is curl up with a blanket and watch a bit of TV. But instead I did about 3 hours worth of studying. I am waiting for my practice transcription to be checked before submitting the 1st draft of my exam. In the meantime I have started reading the section on Respiratory. I am almost done with the reading and will continue on with the exercises and transcriptions for this section while waiting for the others to be graded.
I have to go to the ugly place again tomorrow, ugh! I really envy those of you who can work retail and enjoy it, cause I really truly DO NOT!! Had a older lady in today that just about caused me to commit a crime. Oh she was rotten and mean and she just made me so mad(she also made my boss mad and he asked her to leave the store). I also had a real weirdo in the store today who thought he was pretty cool. He wouldn't stop talking and my line kept getting longer and longer. I finally asked him to step aside. I didn't need to listen to him talk about himself anymore. My boss got a chuckle out of that. He said he couldn't believe I asked him to get out of the way. I said I didn't say it like that, he said yeah I know but it was funny, when he realized that you really weren't interested in listening to him talk about himself.
What is up with people thinking because I happen to be the one that answers the phone at work that I know everything. A lady called today to ask me to look in the phone book for the phone number to our competitor. I hung up. Sheeesh! A few days ago a lady called and wanted to know what the phone number to the store across from us in the mall was. Hell, I don't know, do I look like the yellow pages, Look it up!! I work at a sporting goods store, ok! I get paid minimum wage to take abuse from some pretty awful people. But I have to smile the entire time. Ok not everyone is a moron that comes in the store, but quite a few are and I try very, very hard to be nice to almost all of them, hehe! Some of them I just can't be nice to, cause they just tick me off. Okay that is my rant for the day, I am done. But now you can see how much I donot like my job and how much I cannot wait to be done with my studies and working in a totally different environment(home, yeah). I cannot wait for the holiday season to be over, then we have about a week of solid rotten return people who argue about everything and won't take no for an answer or no matter how many times you tell them that they have to have a receipt to return an item and bathing suits and jock straps are NOT returnable, that one always amazes me.
Ok I need to calm down, I am going to go drink me some green tea and possibly have a 1/2 an english muffin, curl up in my fleece blanket and maybe watch some tv(maybe with my eyes closed, hehe) So my friends I will TTYL!!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Getting on with it


Today was a very fun day, I didn't have to work today and it seemed a bit weird, but GREAT weird. Is this what it will be like when I am working from home, if so I cannot wait for that day to come.
I woke up around 6am, made coffee, watched the first 30 minutes or so of the news, and headed to my office. I finished my Lymphatic transcription exam last night and wanted to check it over again before submitting it. I am actually waiting until my practice transcriptions are graded before I actually submit the exam for the first submission. I want to make sure I don't have any major mistakes on them before committing this exam. Everyday that I get to spend the majority of it working on my studies makes me extremely happy, but nothin' makes me happier that my grandkids.
Went and picked up my daughter(Jen) and granddaughter(Kimberly) around 11 am, we drove over to pick up my grandson(Ethan) from preschool. He came running out to my van, calling my name. He was happy to see me. We then went to Jens' best friend's(Mindy) house. Today is Mindy's b-day and we were taking her with us to see Santa and then out for lunch. Mindy recently lost her job of 10 years, due to downsizing, so she really needs us now. She is married, no kids, thank goodness. We drove to the mall and went in to see Santa. Kimberly went running to him calling out Santa, love you, Santa love you, it was too cute. Of course Ethan just sort of sauntered up to Santa and proceeded to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. After giving Santa a big hug we left to walk to the other end of the mall for lunch at Applebee's. It is quite a long walk for a 2 and 4 year old but we finally made it. Kimberly had to try and stop everyone we saw and talk to them, she is quite the social butterfly, LOL! Ethan just kept saying, Come on Kimmy, I am hungry! It was so funny. We had a nice lunch and the kids sang Happy BIrthday to Mindy(which she loved). Then they went to the play area and played for a bit. Ethan is just so cute, he had all the little girls following him around in the play area, LOL! Took everyone home and came home to get back to my studies.
I made a wonderful Swedish Meatball Soup for dinner with Alexia Fresh French Rolls, yum! Perfect dinner for a cold night.
Hubby and his brother had rehearsal tonight, so while I was studying I was serenaded, well not exactly serenaded, but I did listen to them while they were rehearsing, "Oh Suzy Q, Oh Suzy Q, baby I love you, my Suzy Q.....love that song and Mustang Sally, they sing and play so well together. They are actually in a "real" band and will be playing together for the very first time(in public) on New Years' Eve at one of the local VFW halls. The name of the band is Split Image and I and my sister-in-law(Theresa) are really looking forward to this. Hubby and I have not done anything on New Years for many years and this should prove to be fun.
Well need to get back to hypernea, eupnea, asphyxia, Kussmaul respirations, etc. yeah I am moving on to the respiratory section of my studies. YEAH!! progressing nicely, but cannot wait to be done!
Well, my friends another day is done, TTYL

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Getting back at it

Ok, Ok, I was reminded today that some people actually read my blog, so I am going to try my best to come here every day and post something, LOL! I do have some good things to post, though.
First, my Airman daughter, Jamie, passed her PT eval, this was so important because it was either pass or be discharged. She has done so well in the Air Force and to just be tossed aside because of a run time or a few pushups or situps was very upsetting. But they have done this to others and will continue to do this(at least at her current base). She also received
another(her 3rd) AF Achievement medal. This is given for outstanding performance in duties and is a very prestigious award. She received this from the command at Aviano AB, Italy, where she was last stationed. I am so very proud of her. They (her present command)nows realizes how valuable she is and they will be looking at moving her from guard duty(which she hates) to that of controller, which she did in Italy, and loves. She takes her ALS(airman leadership training) in January, sews on her newest stripe (Ssgt) in March or early April, then she has to head out to some training she has to take. She will be going back to the place this entire journey started, the home of AF BMT, San Antonio, Texas. She is not looking forward to this but it is a necessity. She has also been informed that her bucket will most likely be deploying in August. She wasn't too upset about this until she found out that her hubby is in a totally different bucket and they will not be deployed together. More than likely, she will deploy(unless he can volunteer to go at the same time as her), then she will return and he will deploy. That will be about 1 year that they will not be together. I am sure all of this will work out and things will be fine. They have a very strong relationship and they will survive.
Anywhoo, my son will be home shortly for his Christmas break from college. I am looking forward to that, love his visits, and also, LOL, love it when he returns to school. Hubby and I are loving being empty-nesters. James is in his fourth year at Michigan Tech and loving every second of it. He is getting his Engineering degree. He informed me a few weeks ago that he most likely will have to go for another entire year to complete his degree. That's ok, though, he is learning and doing so much. His education will be priceless when he graduates, I have faith that(although not in the state of MI) he will be able to get a very good paying job.
My eldest is still seeing the love of her life, they have been dating now for 2 months and they are just so cute together. I am so happy for her. She has dated alot of jerks to get this wonderful man. It is hard to believe she actually found a guy, her age(30), that hasn't been married, has no kids and is so suited for her. They will not be here for Christmas, they are taking off to go to Florida, no plans, just driving to Florida. I am excited for them. Jodi has not been much of a traveller and is looking very forward to this trip with Joel.
My other daughter, Jen, has had another disappointment and I wish there was something I could do to help her. She is a key manager at the same place I work. She has been there since before she graduated from high school(1998). She applied for an asst. manager position and it was given to a outsider. She is so devastated. She really deserved this position and has worked hard to someday do that. Now she just wants to find another job(there aren't any in MI) and move on. Her hubby is doing okay at his job, but wishes he could do better, also. Their babies(my grandkids) are the most precious kids on earth, yea I am prejudice. I cannot wait until Christmas and to have them here to open their presents that Santa forgot to leave at their house, hehe.
Well, school is going great. I got a bit sidetracked whe Jamie and Alex were here, but I am back on track. I just finished the practice transcriptions for the Lymphatic section and will be starting the transcription exam for this section tonight. I cannot wait to be an MT. I ca work from home and never have to set foot in the "ugly" place again.
Well, that is about all for now. I promise to try and write everyday, even if I have nothing to say, hehe! For now my friends take care and TTYL