And now...your weekend update...

Everyone was home this weekend. We even played a family game of Yahtzee....

Kiel is back at school. I could tell he was getting better - his attitude was back.

Mellisa applied at two more schools this weekend - Chicago University & Chicago State. She wants to be in Chicago - plain and simple. She will have loans forever. She is hoping that either might pick her up for volleyball. She sent stats and film clips so we shall see! Any scholarship would be great!!

Alyx was the gymnastic superstar on the beam Saturday. New skill so she got to ring the bell (this is a big deal - everyone stops and claps). She is on the tall beam now - and has zippo fear. The rest of the class are still on the low beams. She did three tuck jumps in a row and landed each one. Very exciting...

Riley's basketball team dominated (that was her word - so cute). They reset the clock again since it was so lopsided. They are 3-0 - and all were blowouts.

AJ's friend Holly came over one night. She is so sweet. She is an only child and we probably scare the hell out of her. We are a wild bunch...

Chris' dad and girlfriend Roberta came over for dinner last night. It was really nice. Lovely meatloaf - Chris' famous mashed potatoes - Paula Dean's green beans and Texas sheet cake. I am even more excited as I have them for leftovers for lunch today!!!!

Music

Recently, a good friend of mine asked me what songs make me think about good times.... Interesting question - and there were three that popped into my mind instantly...

My first love was Roger. I remember he was picking me up for the Sweetheart Dance and I played 'How Deep is your Love' by the BeeGees over and over and over so it would be on when he walked in the door. That was in the day of records - so I probably wore that needle out! I hear that song today - and smile. Bittersweet memory... And for my children that are totally embarrassed now - hey - I was a freshman in high school and times were different then...

Secondly - after my divorce, I had a - shall we say - special friend, Michael. Anytime we went out, we would dance to 'Play that Funky Music' - I still giggle when I hear it...

And of course, my wedding dance song - 'Just the Way you Look Tonight'. That one makes me tear up every single time...

One of my favorite people that I have had the pleasure to know was one of my college roommates - Donna. Today - out of the blue - I rec'd a Facebook friend request. Go figure. I looked for her once in awhile with no success. So to my list, I have to add absolutely anything by Michael Jackson. She knew every move - and had every video down. I miss college - those were fun times....

Sigh...

My poor cousin Erik was laid off... Been there, done that.... It is very hard to be the spouse of someone that is work-less. So love to Erik and Jennifer....

On the opposite side of the spectrum - I was assigned another part of a job - no duties went away though - so fun! I have been given the task of procuring, tracking, working on contracts with our leasing company, returning at lease end, etc. for all of the network hardware in both the field and our home offices. Yikes!!! The fun part - no one has been doing this job for over six months. I will have to put on my Sherlock hat and find this crap too.... It may sound like craziness -but I actually love this kind of stuff!!!

My baby Kiel is still sick, sick, sick. Fever is down to 101 - so I hope that is a sign that he is getting better. I had to wash his sheets last night - they were just soaked... Poor guy. I am trying to pamper him and keep liquids in him. And I never forget his bendie straw...

Meesie is coming home today - so everyone will be home again this weekend. I am the only one that managed to get a flu shot and I can't wait to play nursemaid for the whole clan when we are all infected!

Little post...

Mellisa called - she is being inducted into Phi Theta Kappa... Go Meesie - not many freshman get awesome grades!!!! Heck - not many college students period!!!

Kiel's nurse called - he is sick. I am picking him up in an hour or so to spend the night and go the doctor tomorrow... She doesn't think it is concussion related but wants us to make sure....

Schools...

Mellisa is looking for another school. Long story short - her coach at Lincoln was a total ass and had ZIPPO idea what he was doing. It took every ounce of strength in my body not to hurt that man and tell him what I thought of his skills...

It's scary to think that Mellisa was the more mature one when she told him that she would not be back next year... Need an example - he took her picture off of the school's website... Grow up...

So - looking for a school. I wasn't sure if she would want to continue to play volleyball or not (he was that bad). She thought long and hard over the holiday break and thinks she still has some gusto left in her!

We drove to Eureka College on Saturday. Wow - very, very small. I am sure it is gorgeous in the fall though. All of the buildings are brick - and old. This was Reagan's Alma mater. There is nothing going on in the town however. So we are still looking. She sent an email to University of Chicago - so maybe they will be interested. I know she would love to be in Chicago!!!!

Alyx's room

Back in 2000 when we were building the house, we thought it would be cute if the girls had a 'fish' decorated room. So, the walls were bright blue - and we added a cute fish border along with fish light switch plates, fish accessories, etc.

Riley moved out of that room and took over Kiel's 'monkey' room when Kiel moved to the basement. Riley was not a monkey fan. So - the old messy border came down but we left the dark green paint. It is gorgeous paint - soothing and den-like. I found the coolest landscape stuff - and now she has one wall that is covered with a giant waterfall in a beautiful forest. Yes, I am that good...

So poor Alyx is now in the fish room alone. And hated it. Lord knows she complained about it every time she cleaned it. So, in order to appease the princess, Mellisa and I brainstormed. Mellisa wanted to do something like the walls in Toy Story 3 - you know - bright blue with clouds. Mellisa wanted to paint white fluffy clouds all over the existing bright blue walls. I spent one day getting the fish off the walls - which was a mess but I lived thru it. Although the paint was a fun idea - I didn't want to have to cover that up in 3 years when Alyx changed her mind again. Thank goodness for the Internet. I found very cute clouds, butterflies and an inspiring quote that were wall-art (which means SUPER simple to apply).

Alyx had a sleep over one night. Mellisa, Riley and mom spend a few hours applying all of these 'stickers'. It turned out so cute and Alyx was so happy and very surprised!

I also spent some quality times with some damn beads and made two butterfly mobiles to hang in her room. I bought the butterflies about five Christmas's ago when they were on clearance (they were ornaments). I knew one day they would come in handy...

Long story short - pics to follow!!!

Meetings...

Normally, I don't ever miss a meeting. I pride myself on attendance at all of the volunteering events that I have. Last night, a CAC meeting - which is part of the school board. Yea, I skipped it.

Instead, Chris, the girls and myself crawled into jammies. We popped popcorn. We all snuggled and watched 'Blindside'.

What a perfect evening! I need to skip more meetings... Twenty years from now, I won't care about CAC but I sure will love remembering movie nights...

And - 'Blindside' was wonderful. Made me laugh, made me cry - and what a message....

Virtualization

Technology is good. Change is good. Losing one's job - not good.

The place that I work is catching up with technology and is actually going to implement virtual desktops to the field offices. Now - what we don't know yet is how that affects my department.

I work in Assets and Deployment. Our department buys, installs, moves, ships all the hardware and everything that makes an office 'go' (like networks and phones). We might not be in the hardware business any longer after this implements - we might partially be in the hardware business - or nothing may change at all.... They are in Pilot stage right now...

We find out soon what will become of us - we have been told that we will have jobs regardless.... Time will tell...

She's back...

New year... already blew that blog daily resolution!

Of course, tons has happened since my last installment. One day at a time - and I might get everyone up to speed!

Let's start with resolutions. My big one for this year was to stop bouncing. At some point, I developed bouncy legs. You know - some people click their pens - I bounce. I guess I might click my pen as well but I don't buy clicky pens as that sound is annoying to me. My coworkers give me grief about my leg bouncing. I can even get a table moving. One of my friends will put her had on my leg to draw my attention to it. I blamed it on my crazy medication. Unfortunately at my December checkup, the doctor said nope - it's just a bad habit.

Great... I can blame no one but myself....

So far so good - no bouncing this year. I do squeeze my toes in my shoes once in awhile when I start to bounce but I have almost made that 21-day habit milestone.

My other resolutions? The blogging is still an ongoing effort. I am drinking only water at work now. That is about to kill me - but I am saving money on soda and it is better for me. Plus it flushes the kidneys that are full of alcohol. Yea - that 'cut down on drinking' resolution failed on day three....