Heading Home

My honey is heading home!  He's sleeping at a little truck stop in Jacksonville right now - just waiting to deliver at a Burger King distribution center.  His delivery isn't until 2:30 a.m. and then they will either send him another load closer to home or just send him on home.  Either way he'll be here some time in the morning.  I'm so excited!!!!!

Meanwhile - Jim is FINALLY leaving California and heading back to Illinois by way of Arizona and Texas.  Yah, that's on the way...  LOL

Happy Easter

Here is what everybody is doing at our house after a great Easter Sunday service.

I'm always a little surprised when I look out the bathroom window and see this... 

Hi Buddy!

This is Jim's guinea Pig.  Bet you can't guess his name........

Kyle is enjoying a little lunch.  (We have Rhodes dough rolls in the oven and some chicken thawing for the BBQ but you know those growing boys...)

Ozzy is always near when there's food....

Or when a random person walks by.  He's always up for a "pat".

Bison WAS laying quietly, but I disturbed him.  He loves to hang out near his fan.

Duke was busy chasing the horses, but comes when he is called (sometimes...)

We had a "mini" easter egg hunt this morning.  Ok, I put 3 eggs in Kyle's bedroom while he was in the bathroom...  Church was excellent with lots of really good music.  

Hope you are all enjoying your Easter.

UPDATE:  Rod is heading to Pottsville, PA.

Jim is in Pomona, CA.

Rod is heading HOME this week!!!!!  Can't wait to see you darling!

Saturday and I'm Off!

Wow! It's been such a long time since I've had a Saturday off!!!!! 

However, I woke up at 3:00 and realized we didn't turn off the sprinkler in the pasture (again).  It has an auto-shutoff that seems to be malfunctioning - so it just keeps running and then blows the hose off and floods the little pasture.  Which, in itself, isn't terrible, but my pump runs non-stop and that can't be good for the pump.  Or my electric bill!  (grin)

The hose got stuck so the sprinkler was still going - I turned it off and headed back in to bed.  The moon was SO bright - I was tempted to go for a walk in the woods!  (might have too, if it weren't for all the wild pigs out there...) (Ok, stop freaking out - I wouldn't REALLY walk in the woods by myself in the middle of the night... but it WAS a tempting thought.)

Unfortunately, once back in my bed, sleep evaded me.  So I turned on an old episode of "What Not To Wear".  But she had a body type similar to mine and I actually enjoyed their suggestions.  And then it was 4:00.  So I turned on an old episode of Clinton Anderson (horse trainer) and he put me to sleep teaching a horse to load in a trailer.  (lots of standing around... informational, but boring...  LOL)  Next thing I knew, it was 6.  Got up and opened my door so I would know when/if Kyle got up at 6:30.  He has to go into work early on Saturdays so I wanted to make sure he was up in time.  He was.  Good man!

He came out with me and helped me fix the sprinker and then he went to work and I fed the horses and let the dogs out.  Was going to do a workout, but it was SO glorious out there, instead, I put a saddle on Andy and my darling husband and I went for a ride. 

Well, Rod was driving across Indiana and I was riding across the Cameron Preserve - but I had my cellphone strapped to my waist and a bluetooth in my ear - so I phoned him and we chatted while I rode and kept him posted what trails I was on.  It was almost like he was riding with me! 

I took Nancy along with me too - well at least I wore the cute hat she sent me for my birthday...  Love that hat!

With all the lacy edges, when I bend down to go under a branch, I can still see ahead of me and don't get clocked unexpectedly by another branch.  (ask me how I know...)

Speaking of Nancy, SO glad Nancy's news was good yesterday!  YEA to the power of fasting and prayer!

Update:  Rod is now in Ohio...  Jim just went through Flagstaff.  (Kyle will be jealous...)

Addiction

Kyle made a disturbing confession the other day.  It seems he has a serious addiction he has been trying to keep a secret.

A month ago, when Rod was home, I was cooking his chicken to take with him.  While sitting in the kitchen doing pounds and pounds of chicken on the George Foreman, I brought in my laptop and turned on Hulu.  There I discovered all the old episodes of Bewitched!  So I started watching them from the beginning. 

At some point, Kyle came in, pulled up a chair and watched several episodes with me.

Seems, now he's unable to get it out of his mind and wanted to know if I would watch a couple more episodes with him one evening.  LOL

Aaah, Sam - you are still Bewitching.  

Updates: 

Rod is heading to the Port of Philladelphia to pick up some Chiquita bananas to take to Shelbyville, Indiana.

Jim is somewhere in Mass - heading - somewhere.  LOL  He was making a delivery this morning so must have gotten a new load.

Fuzzy

Today we lost our little Fuzzy.  He had a heart defect from birth, but had 9 happy years despite that.

Here are a few memories of his and his brother Ozzy

They were awfully cute little guys.

This is his last picture - Sunday morning sitting down at the barn with Bison

Rest in Peace little Fuzz.

Raining

It's raining, It's pouring, I WISH I were snoring!!!

Perfect weather for my languishing pasture.  It's far too early in the season for my pasture to look this sparse.  So this weekend (while I have all this EXTRA time) I will be seeding it.  Buying some bags of grass seed when I hit town Saturday afternoon (or maybe even this afternoon if it stops raining...) and then spreading it.  Kyle's job will be to run to Cocoa and get the part for the 4-wheeler so I can use the powered seeder instead of walking around looking like I'm feeding chickens.  But either way, it needs to be done.

Meanwhile...

My 3 sisters are hanging together in Tucson. 

 Boy do I wish I were with them.  But I'm there in spirit!!!!!  (although I'm actually heading to Miami...)

Rod is in Jersey - HATING every single second of it.  Those people are CRANKY!
Jim is in California - doing local runs for a day or two.
Kyle is at the dealership reveling cuz he doesn't have to dry the cars after he washes them.  (Not much point when it's raining, eh?  LOL)
I'm finishing up here for the day and then heading home to pack and head south.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Love to you all!!!!!

My life is an Aesop's Fable

Remember the old Aesop's Fable about the lady with the tiny house?  She went to the village wiseman and complained that her house was too small.  So he told her to bring the cow inside. 

Are you KIDDING ME?  Bring a cow inside my teeny tiny house? 

Yup.  Bring 'er on in.

So she did.  And now she had a teeny tiny house with a cow inside.  So much worse!  Back to the wiseman.  Who, of course, told her to bring in the goat. 

She agreed and brought the goat inside.  Which naturally made the situation oh so much more uncomfortable.  And back to the wiseman she went.  His advise?  Bring in the chickens. 

After a few days with a cow, a goat and the chickens in the teeny tiny house with her and her family, she was nearly ready to lose her mind.  So back to the village wiseman. 

He said - well let them all out again!  She did - and was AMAZED at how large her house appeared!

Here at the office, my office has been the "dumping ground" for everybody's extra everything.  We used to have five people in here, now we have 2.  So since we have all this space, we were also home to 30+ storage boxes piled up everywhere.  Over the weekend, they came and took them all away.  When I got to work Monday morning I couldn't believe how open and spacious my room seemed!  My roommate and I even laughed about bringing in my dvd's and working out in here!

Then I got to thinking about how that applies to the rest of my life.  If you read my blog yesterday, you know last weekend was a little "full".  Yesterday I found out that this weekend's 4-day class has been cancelled and all I need to do is drive down to Miami Friday evening, teach a 6 hour class Saturday morning and then head home again to grade papers and email the students their results.  Suddenly I'm nearly lost with all this extra time!  LOL 

So the question is.  What will I do with that extra time?  Will I take my horse for a ride?  Will I take my son for a walk in the woods?  Will I actually CLEAN my house (instead of just closing doors?  LOL)  Will I spend some time curled up with a good book?  I'm hoping to spread a little of each of those activities around.  I'm learning that curling up with a good book isn't something to feel guilty about.  As long as it's not the ONLY thing I do for the entire day.  (I once read 5 of the Work and the Glory books in 3 days - no eating, sleeping, or anything else, but a friend lent them to me and needed them back...  that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Today Jim is in Montclair, CA - I think that's where they are delivering.
Rod is just outside Baltimore MD - heading to his delivery at 2:00
Kyle is at work where they finally got him a new extension cord.  (The last one caught on fire!)

Today I am wearing my beautiful yellow topaz and seed pearl necklace Nanc made for me for my birthday.  I feel pretty... Oh so pretty.... I feel pretty and witty and .... actually super thirsty.  Better go get some more water.  I did a good workout this morning and my body is PARCHED.

Love to you all!

Still Here - I think.......

My goodness!  It has really been more than a MONTH since I last posted anything???  Shame on me!

But in my defense, I’ve been a “little” busy. 

Let’s see.  Rod update – he is currently doing his laundry in a truck stop in Ohio, waiting to pick up his next load at 2:00 this afternoon.

Jim is in Texas (love the new Google Latitude – I can keep track of my guys!) heading to California.

Kyle is at work with his newly painted truck.  (Painted it himself in the barn – looks pretty good for a first attempt using spray paint… his poor finger nearly fell off after 16 cans of paint!)

I’m sitting at my office, opening envelopes and planning out my weekend.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve made a quick trip to Jacksonville, taught a couple of classes in Ft. Lauderdale, a class in Miami, and a class in Boynton Beach.  This past weekend was the definition of TOTAL insanity!  I drove down to Boynton Beach (2 hours) and taught from 5-10 pm.  Then up early Saturday morning to drive down another 30+ minutes to Ft. Lauderdale arriving at 7:50.  As I was getting out of my truck, the school director called to see if I was “on my way”.  He got a call from someone saying there were a zillion students but no instructor.  (School doesn’t actually start until 9:00 but there was a registration mix-up and it said 8:00…)  There were lots of cars, but no people!  Went to the front door, the class is held at University of Phoenix (looks good on my resume…) and there were at least 20 people in the lobby.  Except the school is LOCKED.  So I herded everybody back out.  (The janitor let them in on his way out…) 

We are only contracted for a room that holds 25 students and I had a roster with 24 pre-registered students in my hand, so once everybody got outside, I called roll and anybody pre-registered got a book.  That was their ticket into the classroom.  (There were 12 registered folks, everybody else was a “walk-in”) 

The security guard showed up just as I finished calling roll and let us in early.  She also graciously set us up in a room that would hold more than the 25 we were supposed to have.  (based on the number of people already there…) 

Once we got to the room and got everybody seated and signed in and books handed out, I did a head count.  51.  Wait.  What?????  51 students?????  Are you KIDDING ME?????  Now, I had plenty of books and plenty of seats (actually, we used every chair in the room, including MINE) but I only had 35 exams.  So how to decide who tests and who doesn’t…  (Passing my test means the company pays for your state exam up front – otherwise you pay and we reimburse you – so you’re getting a free license either way, but this is easier…)  Anyhow – I figured I’d come up with an answer as the morning went on, so just jumped in and started teaching.

About 11:45 (the exam is supposed to start at 12) the back door opened and the director of the school walked in.  His jaw HIT THE FLOOR and he mouthed “who ARE all these PEOPLE???”  It was the highlight of my day!  LOL  I explained to him my problem and we were agonizing over what to do when he said, Surely there is a Kinko’s around here somewhere!  Grabbed one of my exams and headed out to make copies.  Came back with an extra 25, so problem solved!  Yippeeeeee! 


 

Next problem.  (ok, challenge… you aren’t supposed to say problem…)  How on earth are you supposed to grade 51 tests between 12:30 and 2:00 (when they kick us out) when they don’t even FINISH the test until 1:45?  Solution – have them all hand them in and I’ll grade them and email their results.  (threatened them with death or at least a cell phone call in the middle of the night if I couldn’t read their email addresses…)

Next challenge.  Class lets out at 2:00 and I have to jump back in the truck, snatch a sandwich somewhere and head back to Boynton to teach the next session of my regular school at 3:50 until 8:40.  When exactly am I going to grade these tests?????  (Dan, the director can’t come to my rescue, since he has to spend the rest of the weekend finding a new, better location for the class.  The university thing isn’t really working out…)  Solution – I’ll just grab a salad after school, head to my hotel and do it there. 

Which is what I did.  Taught until 8:40, hit the Chili’s next to my hotel for a salad and a couple of bottles of water, and then up to my hotel room.  Started grading at 10:00.  Finished grading and emailed each of 48 people (3 left before the exam) their results, breakdown, and “what to do next” instructions.  Last email was sent at 2:20 (a.m. in case you were confused).

Next challenge.  I have to be back at school in Boynton at 7:30 to teach another 10 hour session.  And I can’t drag myself out of bed.  LOL  Solution – do a quick set of HoeDowns (T-Tapp) a GREAT little move for getting the blood and brain moving and then teach it to my students and do a set at every 10 minute break throughout the day.  Also spray B12 throughout the day.  (I keep a spray bottle of B vitamin spray in my purse for times just like this… sadly I have LOTS of times like this!  LOL)  (I also keep a bottle on my desk at work, and another on my bedside table at the house…)

Next challenge.  Staying awake long enough to drive from Boynton to the house – arriving at 8:30.  Solution - marry a wonderful man who talks to me on the phone the whole way, keeping me laughing and singing and arriving safely at my front door.  LOVE YOU BABE!

Of course, then Monday morning I had to compile all the paperwork from both classes and get it all faxed and over-nighted to the home office.  The emails from HQ started around 10.  What do you MEAN we had 51 students in a class that only holds 25?  How many people did you turn away?  How are we going to contact them?  NO NO NO, I let them all in, taught and tested them all.  Which resulted in an emergency conference call scheduled for 1:00.  I’m sitting at my desk TRYING to get something done when Rush Limbaugh comes on the radio and I think, wow, it’s noon already?  WHAT?  It’s NOON?  I’m supposed to be at the Meet and Eat with my VT sisters at noon.  Sheesh.  Jump in the truck and dash to Tropical Smoothie to meet 2 of my ladies.  Nice lunch, but had to dash out early to make it for the conference call.  Which ended up lasting until 2:30!  Followed by about 200 more emails back and forth.  Not to mention phone calls between me and Dan the Director.  And then Emily the trainer.  And then Cindee the QUEEN OF THE ENTIRE PROGRAM.  I finally called it a day at 5:45.

I’m waiting to hear what this weekend is going to look like.  I’m scheduled to teach my 4-day school starting Friday here in Melbourne.  But I’m also scheduled to teach an 8-2 review class in Miami on Saturday.  LOL  Should be interesting.  I’m REALLY hoping the Melbourne school gets cancelled – but no news on that front so far.

I’ll keep you posted… 

Update:  Just cancelled the Melbourne school.  Whew!  I get to have a Sunday off...  That will be nice.