Tuesday, January 27, 2009

All of the Rumors

So, as many of you know, General Motors is laying of even more employees in April. Our plant in Lordstown is going down to one shift. Larry still isn't sure if he is safe. They haven't announced the "cut off" date. Meaning, if you were hired by a certain date, you will probably be safe. Larry's hire date is 3.30.95. All we are doing now is praying that he will continue to work. I can't imagine things getting any worse than they are right now. He did go back to work this week (a week before all of the other people on the line). He is a coordinator and they are supposed to be reconfiguring the line and combining jobs, but yesterday, he said they did absolutely nothing. Way to go GM...pay them to just stand around and do nothing when you are trying to save money. Sounds like a swell idea to me!

On another note, I started babysitting for my friend Kelli yesterday. I will continue to do so 1 or 2 days a week. Her baby, Emma is 5 months old. She is so stinkin' cute. And such a good baby.

I also go this Thursday for my federal and state background check so I can be a para-professional sub in the Austintown School system. Once I am approved by the board, I can sub as an aid or even in the cafeteria at any of our schools. I am hoping I can work a few days a week.

I also wanted to congratulate AbsolutelyFelicious for getting her new job at Lake County Children and Family Services (I hope that is right). Her first day was yesterday. I hope it went well being the "new girl", and I hope you didn't have to eat lunch in your car or by yourself!

Well, keep us in your prayers.

Until next time...(and I hope it's with good news)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Time to Laugh, A Time to Cry

This weekend was a very busy, emotional weekend. My Uncle Tony passed away on Thursday after a long time of being sick. He was 71 years old. He was my godfather as well. We spent a lot of time with my Aunt Diana and my cousins over the past several days. Two of those days of which we made five, yes count them, five, photo boards of pictures of Uncle Tony from when he was a small boy until just recently. There we tears shed while we were looking at gobs and gobs and gobs of photos. They were tears of sadness and tears from laughter. Gina, Celeste, Aunt Diana and I laughed until we cried more than once. Looking at the old pictures where the funniest. The ones of the boys...Celeste thought they were having an identity crisis...some of them looked a bit feminine. Then there was her husband Jack with him "man perm", and the one of Anthony with "man boobs". The best one was of Anthony's birthday when he turned either 5 or 6 and we couldn't figure out who the other kid was in the picture. Well, it turned out to be me! My parents always had my hair really short, and I couldn't even tell myself in the picture. This long process helped me to make the decision that I do not want photo boards at my funeral. Looking at the old pictures and reminiscing was great, but I don't want anyone to have to do a collage of my life.

So, things will get back to normal for my family soon, Uncle Tony will be missed a lot, but he is in such a better place. And some day all of us will meet again. So in the mean time, wake up in the morning with no regrets, love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

Until next time...

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Well, that sucks

Yes, it really does suck! Today, NYAJ, absolutelyfelicious, my cousin Emily and I were supposed to go to Archivers in Fairlawn to scrapbook for the day. Well, it was canceled due to the snow that has piled up since yesterday. Actually, they closed the store @ 1pm due to the weather. On Friday, we were all still planning on going, because we never get the amount of snow that they say we are going to get, well, this time, I think we got more. And according to The Weather Channel on my iPod touch, we are having a winter weather warning!

So, now my goal for today is to upload all of my recent pictures to Shutterfly and scrapbook the rest of the day. It is now 2:39pm and I haven't even started. That is typical for my day. I did start making homemade chicken noodle soup though.

Emily and her friends, Sami and Megan were outside for awhile and played in the snow and even took a walk in the woods up to the park and back. It is actually a beautiful day out...if you don't have to drive in it. Larry did have to go to his parents and bring in wood from the garage for them and he said even the main roads are bad...and he loves to drive in the snow.

Well, off to get something done....

Monday, January 5, 2009

Back to Real Life

So today the kids finally went back to school after being off for a long Christmas vacation. Emily was glad to go back, but Jared wasn't so thrilled. As soon as he walked in the door after school he said he didn't like school...because he got a lot of homework on his first day back. Sorry Jared, that is the way it goes when you are in sixth grade.

Larry and I took down all of our Christmas decorations today. I never let them up this long, but since we were away for a few days, it put us a few days behind. I love decorating for Christmas, but when it is all taken down, that is a great feeling too.

Larry if off for most of the month due to the General Motors layoff. I told him that we can either get a lot of things done while he is off or he is going to drive me nuts because we will be spending so much time together. So, check back at the end of the month to check on his status! I think he will survive.

Well, I'm off to make chicken quasadillias and rice for dinner.

High School Musical...the ice tour

Troy actually took his shirt off for a brief second...I can't believe he did that in front of so many children. Sorry, Gina that you missed it. Your sneeze had really bad timing.

Anyway, the show was really good. All of the girls liked it. Emily and I and her 2 best friends, Kelly and Tiffany went along with their moms, and Jared and his "friend", Alyssa went too. Jared says he didn't really like it, but I thought it was more of a "girl" thing. He did have fun with Alyssa though.

Afterwards, we met Kelly's dad and big brother, Steven, and Larry for dinner at Quaker Steak and Lube for dinner. Today is Steven's birthday, so they came along to celebrate that. Happy Birthday Steven.

I'll post again soon...

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Our Recent Visit

We just got back a few hours ago from Cincinnati. We were there visiting my big brother, Raymond, my sister-in-law, Danyal, and my niece, Rachelle. We got there around 4:30 Friday after a 4 1/2 hour drive with our 22 pound dog, Jack riding on my lap the ENTIRE time. The ride did seem to go rather quickly. The weather was nice and the sun was shinning part of the way there. This is to be expected since we live in Ohio...mostly gray skies!!

Once we got there Raymond made us dinner, some delicious pi aha with chicken, shrimp, sausage, and mussels. It was really good, except for the mussels...sorry Ray, but yuck. Thanks for a good dinner though. We had an enjoyable night just catching up and having our Christmas together. Thanks for all of the presents. Emily and Rachelle got to spend a lot of time together. They were mostly on their own computers, but they were in the same room holding conversation at the same time.

Breakfast was good too...Danyal made us pancakes and eggs...yes, you eat them together...first a pancake, then an over easy egg, then another pancake, and you top it with syrup. I have never had that either. My dad used to eat it like that, but I always thought it looked gross. But let me tell you, OMG, it was so good. I can't wait to make it at home. Yes, you too can try this at home!!

The ride home today was a bit longer than getting there. We stopped a few more times to let the dog out. And of course we had to stop in Columbus so we could go to my favorite scrapbook store in Polaris, Scrapbook Art. I had to twist Larry's arm a bit to take me there, but he finally gave in. I got some good stuff, I just hated to pay full price for it.

Now it is time to get ready for bed. None of us slept well last night. I don't sleep well when I'm not at home, plus Jack was very restless and was growling and barking at something part of the night.

Tomorrow, we are off to see "High School Musical" on ice. Emily and I along with her 2 best friends and their moms and Jared and his "friend", Alyssa. I'll let you know how it was.

Until then...