It's Gone

The Green/Blue shag carpet in the living room!!!!! What started out as a simple, take down the paneling project in the living room has become a full throttle remodel. Sorry to those who didn't get to say goodbye last weekend to our beautiful, crayon covered wall. It will have to live in our memories as the time you were allowed (and encouraged) to write on someone's walls.
When the girls and I took down the paneling during Girl's Weekend, we discovered the previous owners had allowed their kids to write on the wall before the paneling was put up. So, for the past year, we have been writing or drawing on the wall. Alex especially enjoyed this after all the times we've yelled at her for drawing on her walls. They had also dated it so we knew the paneling was put up in March 1971. Which means, the carpeting was there well before the paneling as it matched the pale green very well. Yikes. The curtains matched also but I'm hoping they found those much later.
So, it's all gone. I'm a little sad to see the wall gone and our carpet that I lovingly called the "Blue Grass of Kentucky" To which, Sprout always said "I've been to Kentucky several times and I've never seen any Blue Grass!" But, it will be nice to have a new start in there and fresh paint, on lighter walls. It was always so dark in there.
I will post pictures soon of the progress.
p.s. Amy already called the carpet as her item to burn in the firepit next time we have a fire.

Last night's excitement

After eating supper, Alex was playing outside with a neighbor. Pretty soon, she came in and asked if she could go to the school with Hunter and his mom. And, then asked if I would go too. I told her we would go but, in about 5 minutes. So, when we were ready, she runs out the door and says she'll meet me at the corner. I told her to wait but, since she has my patience, she didn't wait long. About 3 houses down the block, I watched her hit a fence post, over correct the bike and flip over the front of her bike when she hit an uneven spot in the sidewalk. OMG!! I went running down the block to her. She was now screaming. She had two scraped knees, a scraped stomach and both elbows were scuffed. One of her fore-arms puffed up almost immediately and caused me the most concern. But, she was able to move it and said it didn't hurt. So, we went back to the house and iced the arm for a little while. I called my dad (as he had many years of experience with injured children. lol) and he recommended calling the er. As I predicted, they couldn't tell me anything without seeing her but also mentioned Urgent Care as a more cost-effective option. Now, Alex keeps telling me she feels fine we I told her we would go to the school playground for a short time and then go get bandaids and ice cream. The ice cream being as much of a comfort for me as for her as watching your child flip head-first over her bike causes great trauma. Next we drove to the playground but, everything she did caused me to panic. (ok, more than usual.) Especially the monkey bars where my thoughts went to, if the bone was slightly cracked what damage could we be doing by playing here. So, I convinced her it would be best to have it looked at and we headed to Urgent Care. The nurse and doctor were so nice. They checked out all of her limbs and eased her mind when the doctor said she was going to have an x-ray. She was a little traumatized when I couldn't go into x-ray with her but when she returned she said it wasn't too bad. Then we headed back upstairs to see the doctor again. Alex was able to take copies of the x-rays home so she can show her friends. Everything looked good on them and they wrapped her arm to protect it and off we went to get ice cream. The doctor also said we could scrapbook the x-rays. My response was, "oh good, baby's first x-rays!" I wonder what our next adventure will bring.

This is Me

Often we have the opportunity to learn things about each other. Here are some things to know about me.

I am:
Competitive
Impatient
Horrible with Confrontation
Stressed
A pleaser
Human
Insecure

I have always:
Held onto things too long (both good and bad)
Wanted to make things better for others
Been driven to succeed
Given everyone the benefit of the doubt (fool me once, I'll probably give you another shot to get me again.)

I can never:
Be everything to everyone (even though I want to)
Be anyone but myself (flaws and all)
Take back things I've said because of stress or pain

I:
Want everyone to be happy
Remember things most people never would yet forget things I need to remember
Have many, many pet peeves
Always take responsibility for my actions
Put too much pressure on myself
Make myself sick worrying about what others will think of me

So, there it is. I'm not proud of the majority of this list but, it's all me. With the bad, comes the good. And, while I hang onto things for way too long, it's also what helps me remember all the good things. Like taking my cousin shopping when he was 2. Or, eating ketchup packets in Grandpa Schultz's car while waiting for Grandma. Or, building forts in the hay on the farm. Or, doing Justin's hair and make-up. (He's lucky I don't have pictures lol) Or, every one's birthdays and anniversaries - even ones I went to school with way too long ago. Or, buying my uncle McDonald's with my very own money - I got a happy meal (it was in a plastic dinosaur container and super cool) he got one sandwich.

At least now, you know what you get with me.

Home again, Home again!!

We returned from Vegas yesterday about 6:22 a.m. Needless to say, we both slept on and off yesterday. Today it was extremely hard getting up for work. Fortunately, Bob doesn't have to work until Saturday. That was good planning on his part.
Pictures and other fun stuff will be coming shortly......

Email address change

As most of you know, I am in the process of changing my email addresses. Yes, I had multiple aol accounts. Now I am trying to switch everything over from JenDS and JenJenFer to my gmail account so we can stop paying the ridiculous amount aol charges. But, because I've had these addresses for 10-12 years, it's causing some stress. Mainly what's stressing me right now is switching this blog. I know it's only been a year that I've been doing this and I only have 132 posts but, I don't want to lose any of it. So, after a painfully long search on how to transfer a blog, I think I have it. Only time will tell though. If all of a sudden everything is gone, I'll start again and the first blog will probably be something entitled. AARRRRGGGG!!!!!! LOL

Oh, also, my new email address is JenJenFer4@gmail.com.

Monday, Monday

If today is any indication of how the rest of the week will go.... It's going to be a loooooong wait til Friday!!! But, then on Friday, Bob and I leave for Vegas. We are staying at Paris! I can't wait. Sunday we are driving to the Hoover Dam. Ninth trip to Vegas, first time to the dam. It should be fun. Wednesday, Alex and I am taking Troy and Krista to the airport. They return to WI on the 10th. Bob and I fly out on the 7th and return on the 12th. And, Denise and Scott fly out on the 9th and return to MN on the 13th.
The plan is for Denise and Scott to pick up a van at the airport when they arrive on Sunday shortly after 9am Vegas time, go to the dam and visit some outer lying casinos on the way back. Sunday we have also decided to stay downtown. Denise, Scott, Bob and I are staying at Binion's Sunday night for a whooping $19. Cool, huh? And, since our 5 nights at Paris were comped, we are only spending $19 for 5 nights in Vegas. Troy and Krista are staying at the Fremont downtown and the Flamingo on the strip. Denise and Scott got a killer deal when we booked for Bellagio. After I stopped crying, lol, I decided we'll have to meet at their room to check things out.