Keep Warm Illinois Update

We FINALLY have rid of Dear Blago!!! I have been sweating bullets because I am speaking at Lakeland College on the 26th of February and absolutely DID NOT want to say I was a representative for Governor Blagojevich. As of 4:00 yesterday morning all the state websites had already been updated to say Governor Pat Quinn but the Keep Warm Illinois Website had not. This morning, I log on and Hallelujah!! they changed it. Now I need to get busy and change my powerpoint. I am SOOOOO relieved!!

Oh, shameless plug for the website and all those wonderful winter tips:
www.keepwarm.illinois.gov
Sponsored by GOVERNOR PAT QUINN (sorry just had to say it again!)

An Evening with My Mom

I had some major grocery shopping to do for Sunday's big party (the youth group + planning night= Superbowl Party at my house) so I took off work early yesterday afternoon, ran down and picked up my mom, who, besides her daily walk down the road with the dog, hadn't been out of the house since the snow hit, and headed to Mattoon and Tuscola shopping. We had a really great time and she even decided she wanted to eat at the Chinese place in the mall --I found this funny because we only introduced her to Chinese a few years ago and she wasn't overly excited. The food is really good in the one at the mall though and she found a lot of things she liked, including frog legs (yuck!) When we got back to her house at 9 last night, the temperature was -6! By the time I got back into Newton is was back to 9. Sometimes, I'm not sure I like having a thermometer in my van! Anyway, we had a great time, I really enjoy when we can get away, just the two of us for a while!

Playing in the snow- the JEEP edition

A Real "Snow"!!!

It has been a long time since Andrew and I had seen snow like this, Robert never remembers seeing this much snow. When we lived in PA it was a regular occurance. Our back yard had over a foot of snow in it, I haven't heard any "official" accumulations but I can show you what it was at our house---
I just loved this picture, it is right out our back door, the tree is ours, the barn, our neighbors but it is a pretty site.

The guys got to shovel snow ALL morning, where the snow plow had came through, there was a good three feet of snow. There was no way my van was going to get out even tomorrow. Andrew took the Jeep out first things this morning and of course, it busted right though but short of taking me to work tomorrow, something was going to have to be done about the driveway.

Check out the sidewalk, and my urn.....

At least I was being a good wife and mom and made hot cocoa, why is it marshmallows can never stay in supply in my house?????

(I think I got it hot, don't you?)

Andrew's brother Kevin lives in McAlester OK, they got ice instead of snow. Yesterday the had a half inch and the forecast was at least for a half inch more, hope they still have electricity by now!

I love these unexpected snow days, our office was closed today and it is one of Andrew's days off so we are all home. The guys are now working on changing the oil in the Jeep and I am getting ready to scrapbook. It has been a great day and it's not even 2 o'clock!

Another "Robert" saga

I don't know how things work out for the kid the way they do, but...they do. I think I had mentioned that his grades were all A's and B's for second quarter, which I was extremely happy about. The report cards don't have a semester GPA, it's just per quarter. Well, Robert's 1st quarter was 3.64, and his 2nd quarter was 4.36. When you add those up and divide by two, you come up with a perfect 4.0 GPA. I was really excited because this would mean he would get the extra discount for his insurance.

So, I called the school to see what I could use to take to the insurance company. I was told he really didn't have a 4.0 because of this, that and the other. The first one was because PE didn't count, which I responded, "He didn't have PE". ANYWAY.....I was told he didn't make honor roll and that he wasn't qualified for our insurance discount.

Low and behold, the paper came out last week with Honor Roll....his name is on it......he gets the discount (which, by the way, will make insuring the El Camino all that much easier)......what will he luck out of next??.......

So it begins

Robert officially got a part in the musical.....Kenneth. We really have to admit we don't know who Kenneth is but we were very happy he got a part!

I have to tell on him though. The list posts at 6 p.m. so a little after 6, he told me I had to go with him because he was too scared to go by himself. He had tried out for Bum Fu, one of the chinese guys and even though, he wasn't picky about what part he got, he knew out of the ones that were being tried out for that was the largest part he would get so when we got there, he got out and went to look at the door. Jared Britton was standing there and told Robert congratulations, Robert looked at Bum Fu, saw he didn't get it, looked at the dancers and saw his name and told Jared, "you too" and came back to the van. He got in the van and I said "So???" and he said, "I didn't get a part" and I said, "I am really sorry" and he said, "It's fine, there was a reason". Where did he get this??? It isn't from me because quite honestly, I was hurting for him and he was like, "Hey, I still get to be a dancer" which I told him I felt like it was because he was such a good dancer last year (and he was).

So, he had to play at a ballgame last night so he dropped me off and went back to school. About 10 minutes later, he comes running back in the door..."I DID get a part!!!" You have got to get on the internet and look up Kenneth!" Well, I did, and all I could find was who played Kenneth on Broadway but we still don't know who he is. He had went back to school and everybody was congratulating him and he was thinking--okay????? Then Tika brought him a rose and was all excited and he was questioning her so SHE was the one to tell him that he actually got a part.

My funny boy.

Good to be home

I made it home around a quarter til 5 last night. I think the cutest thing is that when I got to the river bridge, I called Robert and asked if there was anything parked in my garage, when he said yes, I told him to move it. He said, "So, I take it your on your way home?". And I said, "I'm at the river bridge." And he said, "Oh Hallelujah!!" I thought it was neat. As I said in a previous post, he wasn't acting like it was bothering him that I wouldn't be him to see him off before auditions, but it sounded like he was glad I was going to be. I was glad too--really glad- once again I avoided the conflict between being mom and having my career.



Even though I tried to watch some of the shows I missed while I was gone, my main event of the evening was falling asleep in my recliner. I slept every night I was gone, but there is just something about being away from all the stress and being back in your own little sanctuary that really makes me realize that I hadn't relaxed in 4 days. I have to tell you the guys did a wonderful job with the house while I was away, it was great to not be walking into a mess, and Robert had even had friends over yesterday evening and it still wasn't messed up.



As for the training, it was good, I am just "back-up" and tech support for this program and it really does seem like it is going to be a breeze, once everyone learns it.

It's FINALLY Thursday!!!!

I think we get to come home at noon today!!! We were supposed to have to stay until 5. That means I might make it home before Robert goes to his audition for the musical tonight. Eventhough, he hasn't seemed to mind that I was going to be gone, I was really a little disappointed to miss wishing him luck in person. I am very fortunate to have a job that lets me cater to my family most of the time, once in a great, great while I have a conflict though and today was going to be one of those times. Now, maybe not!

Jasper county, here I come!!!

Greetings from Springfield!

What a whirlwind weekend! It seems like we had a million places to be, all of which were important and places I wanted to be but nonetheless, creating a hectic few days. Yesterday morning, I was in Terre Haute at 8:20 for a periodontist appointment, Effingham at noon and met my traveling companions in Greenup at 2:30 to come up here. We made it to our rooms around 7, after a stop at Red Lobster, and I think I was pretty happy just to sit and relax for a while.

Today starts our training for the new program. I am excited yet a little scared. This is actually something I have never worked with that much and I am here because of my computer abilities, not my knowledge of how the program runs. That's a little intemidating to me. It will be fine, it will be a breeze- so I have been told. Hope it's right!

Meanwhile, back at my house, the boys are "baching" it this week. Robert plays at a ballgame tonight, has Awana tomorrow night and musical tryouts Thursday night. He is really excited about the musical. It is his favorite time of the year, it even outweighs band by just a little. I don't think I ever told everyone about his report card, second quarter, he got all A's and B's, he has never done that in his life! His first quarter grades were just a little too low for him to make honor roll, but he is definately on the right track.

I will be home late Thursday night, it is going to be a long week but hopefully a good one! Take care everyone! PS. Hi to my guys, I love you!

Check out this website

Ms. Cummins, aka, my friend Amy, and the web design class at the high school has started a wonderful edition to the NCHS website- The Eagle Eye. Check it out here:
http://209.174.248.190/nchs2/EagleEye/eagleeye.html

Give it a couple of minutes to load, but it will be worth it, you will probably recognize a few feet and faces! It will change weekly so check back often.

Oh I love my job!!

The greatest thing about my job is I get opportunities to really do something great for people. Because of confidentiality, I can't say a whole lot, but we have a client who is a single mom who is trying to get out of the system. She is in her second year of college at a junior college, heading for an associates degree. She is months away and she had a need that needed met that there was no way she could do it herself financially. This week, I got to help in making that happen. I am so excited and can't wait to hear how she reacts. As I said about teaching the other night, I don't get to be around the clients that much anymore but this girl was one of my computer students a couple of years ago, in fact, she claims that was what helped spur her decision to go back to school. Anyway, it has been like Christmas for me the last couple days (more so than Christmas was to me this year!)

Next week, my job is taking me to Springfield for most of the week, although I hate being away from my guys, I am looking very forward to this too as it is stepping out in a new adventure for our agency.

Three of My Favorite Quick Recipes

Here are three of my favorite "every night" suppers. These are actually from years pasts "Quick Cooking" which I believe now is the "Simple and Delicious" Magazine that is put out by the same folks as "Taste of Home".

Corn Dog Casserole
1 c celery
1 TBSP margarine
3/4 c green onion
1 pkg hot dogs
1 egg
3/4 c milk
1 tsp sage
pepper
1 pkg corn muffin mix
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Saute celery and onion in margarine, set aside. cut hot dogs in halves then thirds; saute until light brown. Add hot dogs to veggies, Set aside 1 cup of mix. In large bowl, combine egg, milk, sage and pepper, add remaining veg mix. Stir in corn muffin mix. Add 3/4 c of the cheese. Spread into shallow 1 1/2 quart baking dish, top with reserved mix and remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until golden brown. Makes 6 servings.

This one has always been a favorite and it sneaks in some veggies.

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta
8 oz. uncooked pasta
6 strips of bacon, diced
1 lb ground beef
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
bbq sauce, mustard (optional)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a skillet cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain and set aside. In the same skillet, cook bacon until crisp; remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels. Discard drippings. Drain pasta; add to the skillet. Add soup, beef, and bacon; heat through. Sprinkle with cheese, cover and cook until the cheese is melted. Serve with bbq sauce or mustard if desired. Serves 6

Ham and Swiss Stromboli

1 tube (11 oz.) refrigerated French bread
6 green onions
1 1/2 c swiss cheese, shredded
6 oz thinly sliced deli ham
8 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

Unroll dough on a greased baking sheet. Place ham over dough to within 1/2 in of edges; sprinkle evenly with onions, bacon and cheese. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch seams to seal and tuck ends under. Place seam side down on baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut several 1/4 in deep slits on top of loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 26-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly before slicing. Serves 6.

These are far from "gourmet" meals, but they are all "comfort food" at our house. When we lived in PA, we had "real" Stromboli, it had a potato bread crust and it really didn't taste a lot like the recipe above, but we still like this one too. Sorry, no pictures!

Enjoy!

What a Crazy Week!

The thing at Charleston that I posted about earlier this week totally had me pulling my hair out. Yesterday afternoon, the techs from the phone company were there, hopefully, Monday morning will start out a normal week for them.
It did make me decided something, I am going to start classes this summer on Networking. I pretty well have the basic computer stuff down and can find the problems in most programs when they arise. What I am not grasping is the modems and routers and we have a lot of them in our agency. If I would have decided this a couple weeks earlier, I probably could have gotten into a class now but it is probably best to wait until summer anyway.
I start teaching computer classes again on the 17th of March. This is one of my absolute favorite parts of my job. When I first started working for ERBA, I worked with the clients, now most of the clients I work with is just a few minutes on the phone. This gives me an opportunity to connect with them, and the thing is, every one of them are making an initiative to better their lives--and I get to help and witness it. I can't wait!

Been one of those days.....Heading to lunch, hope it's better when I get back!

Back to Normal--kind of

I have to admit, Sunday I wasn't ready to go back to work. Yesterday morning though, I was up and around a little after 4 right on schedule. So, I dropped Robert at school and was on my way. I had cheated most of my vacation and kept an eye on my work e-mail as well as my link to my LIHEAP work so I knew what I was facing. Yesterday was pretty smooth all day long. Today, however was a different story.

Did anyone happen to watch Knight Rider? I know it's cheesy and I haven't honestly watched the whole episode but I have a 16 year old grease monkey in the house so anything with 4 wheels gets watched, over and over and over. Anyway, in this episode, there was a computer virus, a virus that at one time had teeth showing on monitors and was sending bolts of electricity out of the system. Today, I swore I came face to face with the same virus in the Charleston office.

W have 7 computers all together in that office, 6 hooked to the internet through a gateway from the 7th, meaning the 7th one is really the 1st one and the only one that is hooked straight to the internet. This computer has been acting up, badly. On top of everything else, it can't stay on our online program that it needs to be on. Funny thing...all the computers that are hooked TO it are fine. We had the guy from MASS computers there all afternoon Friday, he left scratching his head but thought he had it semi-fixed, well this morning, our girl calls, stuck again. So, in my spare time at work I am the IT person so away I go to Charleston. One of the other "weird" complaints was parts were missing from her system like not being able to get to her internet tools. There are some obvious places to look to fix this, none of them panned out. So, I took her one of the laptops I use for classes and was going to, if everything else failed, just hook up the laptop and bring her tower home so I could clean it out and start over. When we hooked my perfectly good laptop up to her internet connection, all of the sudden it had the same problems. Okay, never, never, never heard of a virus that could live in a modem but now I am beginning to wonder. To top it off, I brought the tower home, hooked it up in my office and it is FINE!! Strange days indeed. I have a partner in crime in this particular office, I called him before I left work and let him chew on all this info too. Tomorrow, he will start working on changing out modems but this has been a really odd one, I think it is funny that MASS didn't even find it (no offense, I love these guys, but it makes me feel good that I'm not the only one that gets stumped!) I always come home thinking I will be glad if tomorrow is calmer, but truth is, I think I like the puzzling days the best. Sure keeps my job interesting!

It's Done! It's Done! It's Done!

I would have taken a picture of both of them with it but Robert hot footed it in the house to get cleaned up to go to the girlfriend's. They did it! Andrew and I took it for a test drive. You don't realize you are up any higher until you realize that you can even see that a pickup truck has a sunroof. Okay, I have no idea why he wants it this tall but apparently, it's a JEEP thing!

Per Sarah's Request

Here is Robert wearing the scarf I made.

Work in Progress

Well, the days have come...the guys started "lifting" the jeep. To say this makes me nervous is an understatement. This was supposed to be done last weekend so if it didn't get finished by Tuesday, Andrew could take the van to work. Now, I have to go to work which means it HAS to be done by Tuesday, when he goes back to work AND nothing, I mean NOTHING can go wrong!


They are "half" done...kinda. They had talked to a buddy who was going to weld the gear shifter for them. When we called his house this morning, his dad is in the hospital and I didn't want to even bother him with it, so we called another friend, he is out hunting and is supposed to call us when he gets back in. Without the extension welded on, the shifter can't move out of neutral, a little bit of a problem.... The pictures shows the "half" part, as you can see, one side is higher than the other. What I found out today is the stepside up into it will stay in the same spot (Thank goodness!) You can see the difference in how far it is from the stepside to the passenger door. The drivers side hasn't been done yet. I didn't know a three inch lift kit would be that big of a deal, but it is definately going to be taller! Just pray everything continues to go well!!!

UPDATE Jack made it home from hunting and has welded the piece, they now "think" they are home free- hope they are!!

Happy 2009!!!

This is the day I have been headed for lately. Although nothing singularly bad happened to us in 2008, it seems there are lots of things I want to put behind us.

Thanks Keckie for the terrific party last night, Andrew normally has to work (as he did last night) and I normally sit at home, it was nice to be with friends.

Every year since we have been married, we had "family meetings"- a big one at New Years and then once a month. Last year, my guys turned their noses up at it so we didn't. I pursueded them this year to go back to planning our lives a little better. We, as a family, didn't accomplish much last year. I feel much better knowing we all have a plan and we are all on the same page and look forward to a more fruitful year. I know the whole idea sounds funny, but I am an organizational freak and if I can plan, it just makes me feel so much better. So, we have specific goals for January and I have no doubt but what they will all get done--I think they know this too. I am ahead of the game, one of my goals for January was to crochet Robert an orange and blue scarf. Would you believe, Robert WORE the scarf to the party last night!?! I wanted to get back to crocheting, it's something I used to love to do, along with sewing, which I haven't done forever but am getting ready to start.

I don't believe I have ever been this excited about a new year, I hope your 2009 is great! Happy new Year!!! (and I'm still enjoying my vacation!!! so far....)