So Discouraged

I haven't felt much like writing anything because frankly my roof has been on my last nerve. After Friday I was promised they would be there Tuesday or Wednesday if the weather was nice. The weather was great yesterday so I figured they would be there. There was no reason for them not to be there.

I made arrangements for my dog once again so he wouldn't be in the house. I call the roofing company around 10am just to check in and had to leave a message. I call back around noon and don't leave a message. Now I am getting suspicious. I call around 1 pm and leave another message. Now I am getting pissed. They changed their voice mail message to say Tuesday May 29th our office hours are 8-5. Still no phone call back.

My sister in law drives past our house around 2:30 and said there is nobody there working on it. WHAT!!

I call the company again and leave a nasty message. I call our sales guy's cell phone and he said he didn't get a phone call back from the office either but he will leave another message on my behalf.

At about 3:56 I got a message on my work phone apologizing but they thought they were coming on Friday and thought I was told that last Friday. That the girl who works in the office is out sick and she is home watching her sick niece.

Now I say if you are going to change your voice mail to that same day but you know there is no one in the office actually taking those calls then why on earth wouldn't you check the messages throughout the day.

I called back again and left another message reiterating the fact that they are about to lose our business.

She called me back at 8:30 last night. I was in the middle of getting Belle to bed so I did not answer it. Now we have to talk about it today.

And unless the weather report changes there is a 50% chance of rain on Friday. So there is a good chance this won't happen on Friday either.

New or Not So Much

I am so frustrated today.

At the end of March we had a price given to us by a roofing company to tear off the existing shingles and put up new. As well as replace our gutters.

We told them that we would be paying with our income tax returns and we would give them our deposit when we received it.

We also told them that we wanted to work to be done the first week of May.

No problem. We can do that. Just let us know when you get your refund money. Etc.

The sales guy gave us "friendly" calls once or twice a week for the three weeks until we got our refund. He then drove to our house the same day we told him and picked up our deposit check.

I have called countless times to get the addresses of houses they have done in certain colors so we could pick a color. That has been like pulling teeth.

The first week of May comes and then goes and we still haven't been given the color references. I keep calling.

We finally get what we are looking for and I call and tell them what color. I ask again about the schedule. I had been told before that they have been really busy because of the rain and winds and people having leaky roofs. I had told them that since ours thankfully wasn't leaking that we are ok with them helping those people but I want to be put on the schedule for the 19th (since originally we were told we had to be there by the sales guy).

I am told they can't do the 19th but they can the week after during the week. I say we won't be home but I am then told we don't need to be. That they do this all the time when people aren't home because of the noise. So I agree a bit reluctantly to be put on the schedule for today May 25th.

I call on Monday of this week to see what time they will be there and how this all works.

I make arrangements to get my dog out of the house for the day so that he doesn't go completely crazy.

Fast forward to this morning at about 9am and I call the roofing company and of course had to leave a message. I say I just want to confirm they are there and wonder if they will still be there when I get off of work, blah blah blah.

I get a phone call back around 9:30 stating they can't do our house today since their job from yesterday ran over and they won't have time today to get to ours. But they promise next Tuesday or Wednesday. UGH>>>>>>

I again voice my frustrations at their scheduling and say that fine put us down but I will have to see if I can make arrangements for my dog again. Keep in mind I was assured on Monday that the only way they wouldn't be at our house is if it rained. It isn't raining! It is quite sunny, in fact.

So the moral of the story is to not be nice and accommodating but to get on the schedule before you hand over any money. I think I am going to ask them to give us some more money off for the hassle. What do you think?

They better be there next week.

Pre-School "Graduation"

Ok. So it wasn't officially a graduation but it may as well have been.

Yesterday I went to work until 9:30 and then drove to her school for her last day of school celebration. And then back to work by 12:00.

It was so cute and I had to choke back the tears more than once.

The teachers had the kids make almost life size pictures of themselves from cut out pieces of construction paper. They painted the pants and shirts to decorate them. They could add stickers if they chose. They had to draw in their faces and glue on yarn hair. They were just adorable. Of course Belle started off the girls with putting nail polish on her picture's finger nails. A couple of others also did it too but Belle was the first girl ever to say she wanted nail polish according to her teacher who was laughing about it.

The kids walked in when their names were called and they shook their teachers hand and they got a certificate.

Then they did a "play" to the book The Seals On The Bus (can't remember who wrote it). There were chairs set up behind a big cutout of a bus that is looked liked the kids decorated with faces in the bus windows. The kids also had masks for each of the animals that were in the story and they would switch out who was sitting in the bus according to the story. Belle was a lamb and did a great job. Then at the end all of the kids were standing behind the bus pretending to be the people on the bus screaming. It was really cute.

They also sang a couple of songs, brought us pieces of cake that they frosted and decorated.

We took pictures with her friends and her teachers and I just wanted to cry. She is growing up so fast......

Yay Me

Ok. Now that I have done it and found that it is really quite easy I am ashamed to say this but....



I figured out how to put a personal type picture on my header. It is way big and needs some tweaking but there is something there that isn't so plain...


Yay.

And who doesn't love a pretty sparkly tiara?????

Finished

Here is the picture of the finished felted bag. It isn't a great picture but hopefully you can get the idea.

Other than this I have got nothing at the moment. Too sleepy from watching basketball and 24 until late last night. Too bad I don't like coffee.....

Where Has The Time Gone

I can't believe it is Monday again so soon. I feel like I am drowning under an ever growing to-d0 list.

My knitted bag is done, felted, and put together. I had taken pictures of it but forgot to get them off of my camera. I will post a picture soon.

I have been trying to teach Belle how to ride her bike without her training wheels. That has been interesting. I can run along side her well enough but my back can't take being bent over that far for that long. And to ask daddy to help was a big mistake. He wanted her to do things his way and when they didn't happen for on half of our driveway he walked away. She was bummed so her and I picked up where we left off. I will just continue to work with her. After her fall and her badly scraped knee she is leery of hurting herself right now.

This is Belle's last week of school. Bye bye pre-school. You have been good to us. We made some presents for her teachers which she will give them on Wednesday, her last day. So far we made pipe cleaner and pom pom flowers in a pot. Of course the directions said that hot glue was the best to use so I pulled out my hot glue gun and we proceeded. Friday night I burned my thumb. Man did that hurt. Then on Saturday Belle burned the tip of her little finger. She was dropping pom poms into the pot and decided for whatever reason she wanted to push one down and ended up getting the glue on her finger. This of course was excuse for whining all day long. Some justifiably and some just fluff whining. On Sunday we put her hand prints on a canvas bag in the shape of a heart. She took fabric markers and wrote I love you on top of the heart and the teacher's name at the bottom. On the other side I had scanned a copy of her self portrait she drew in school and printed it on transfer paper. I then ironed that on. Tonight she needs to writer her name and the year on the back as well as spray the whole thing with glitter spray so that it can dry for 24 hours before we give it to them. I think I will also have her make them bracelets, too.

We have her second to last soccer game tonight and our usual Monday type clean up. There is a little girl on her soccer team that we exchanged phone numbers with so that they can get together to play some time. I have never done a formal play date so this is all new to me. I just wish I had tons of free time so that it wouldn't matter when they called. I also wish my house were always clean and organized so that we could host the play date at a drop of the hat. Since I want to be the house where the kids all go instead of her going to other kids houses as she grows up I had better get my act together.

Anyway, busy at work as well so I had better get a move on.

Happy Monday-yeah right. Is it Friday yet?

Making Progress

I have made a lot of progress on my knitted bag.

As you can see I have knitted the whole bag. I have knitted the i-cord (strap).

Now all I have to do is felt it and put it all together which I will do while doing my laundry this week. It will need to be dried for a couple of days also. So maybe by this weekend the whole thing will be put together. Yeah!

Don't Run With Scissors

We have all heard the warnings. They have been imbedded into our brains.

Don't Run With Scissors. Hold them blade down.

But did you hear you also shouldn't run with flip flops on?

See it is the totally cool and hip thing to do there are countless pairs of flip flops in the house for just the 2 of us girls. (Boys & flip flops or even sandles is a major no no in our house)

Picture the fact that I am trying to run out of the house so that we have a few minutes before Belle's soccer game Saturday morning to make it to the shoe store to find her some proper sandles for the summer.

We go out our side door and she of course runs towards the garage.

I realize it is much cooler out than I thought and tell her to come back in while I grab my jacket. I didn't have time to change my flip flops into warm tennis shoes.

Belle proceeds to run back towards the house with me trying to yell, "don't run. don't run...."

Bam. Down she goes. Inches from me.

I gasp.

She cries while I pick her up to survey the damage.

She managed to scrape her knee on the cement step outside our door as well as bang her ear into the screen door I was holding open for her to get back in.

Pictures taken this morning 2 days after injury. Look closely at the corner of her ear and you can see red/black and blue.

I dropped everything in my hands (her soccer bag, my purse, keys, cell phone, water bottle and who knows what else) and run to the kitchen sink and get a cool wet paper towel so she can hold it on her knee since it is now starting to bleed. I didn't mess with her ear too much since I saw that was not bleeding - thank goodness.

I come back to her and she is freaking out at the amount of blood on the paper towel (not really a lot but just the shape of her wound).

Now I am running back and forth to the bathroom to get a proper size bandaid. I can't find one big enough. UGH>

I finally find one that will work well enough for us to stop at the store to purchase larger ones.

Somehow I get her into the car and we still stop quickly at the shoe store. We find her a pair of cute white and pink straberry shortcake sandals as well as a watch I didn't have the heart to tell her no about and we head to the drugstore. We find our 2 packages of band aids just to be safe and head to her soccer game.

We get there with about a minute to spare and my MIL and SIL are waiting. My MIL is trying to yell to Belle to hurry up and get out there because they will be starting soon. In my head I am thinking shut up-do you know what we just went through-we are not just simply running late!!!! But I smile and we get closer and then they see she is hurt.

I get her chair ready because now I am carrying everything I dropped earlier plus 2 chairs, extra band aids and the arm of my wounded child as she is limping across the field.

So she sits and I re-bandage her up which of course involves a bit of drama since she hates to take off the band aids.

She is all wrapped up, soccer socks on, shin guards on, soccer cleats on and the off she goes into the field.

Don't you know she ran as if there was nothing wrong. She even fell twice. And she scored 4 goals.

What a trooper.

Happy Mothers Day

I had the privilege of going to a Mother's Day Tea at Belle's preschool on Wednesday.

They did such a nice job. She served me punch and Strawberry shortcake. Her class performed a little song.

My mom is special. My mom is special.
Look and see. Look and see.
A very special person. A very special person.
That's Mom-my! That's Mom-my!

It was so cute and brought tears to my eyes. But then again I am a sap like that.

She made the place mat, folded the napkin, made a card, flowers in a jar, and even grew marigold flowers from seeds.

She got up this morning and sang her little song for me again. She is making me another card as we speak and gave me 3 more cards already as well as a wind chime.

Friday WIP

On this fine and beautiful Friday I am sadly stuck inside.

But I wanted to share what I am currently working on.

The picture is a little blurry as I took it with my cell phone at work.

But it will hopefully turn out to look like a bag. A Booga Bag to be exact. (that is the name of the pattern)

I will continue knitting it. Then I will felt it. I can't wait.

I am hoping to finish this over the weekend. We will see...

Oh so Crafty

There are so many people who go to work, go home, maybe read a book, and piddle a bit around their house.

I do a lot of those things as well but I also have a need to be crafty.

I have dabbled in so many different types of crafts that I have lost count.

My current obsessions are my scrapbooks, knitting, sewing, and jewelry making.

I have a spare bedroom in our house that I keep slowing taking over. I love that I can keep a project out on the table that is in there. Even Belle has a small kids table set up next to mine. She loves to paint, draw, make jewelry, play with play do, and so many other things.

I have a hard time understanding how someone can have no desire to have a hobby that lets your creative juices flow. These type of people seem to be out there everywhere but I think they can't possibly be happy. Even if they are super busy they need to have something that is their own that they love to fill in the spare moments.

I may only get a few minutes at a time to work on a project but those moments can be so fulfilling. You get great satisfaction looking at something you made yourself.

You belong in ????

I should have known....

You Belong in 1981

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

Me? A product of the 80's? I never would have guessed it.

These are so fun!

Hot

I am stumbling bumbling for the words to express my feelings in this post.

I am not sure how to say this.

I am not sure where to begin.

I guess I should set the stage.

We are driving. J is the actual driver. I am in the passenger seat. And Belle is in the backseat behind J.

We are all just talking to each other and J says something about being hot.

Belle then tries to tell us a story about what happened at preschool.

I finally figured out that Nicky (boy) whispered in Timmy's ear and Timmy then said out loud what Nicky whispered.

He said, "Belle, you're hot!"

WHAT!!!! THESE KIDS ARE 4 AND 5. THIS IS PRESCHOOL FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

I was at a loss of words. I just couldn't believe it. I chuckled a little and then had to talk to Belle about this.

I told her that is really a grown up thing to say. But what it means is that he thinks she is cute but little kids really shouldn't say it that way.

I knew I had to worry about her when she got older because she is really cute if I must say so myself. And she has the "it" factor. People are always drawn to her. Even her teacher (female) said that say is one of the coolest kids she has taught. And the way she was saying it you could tell she was being sincere.

Heaven help me. Not only am I afraid of the bad attitude she may have as a teenager but now I know for a fact to worry about the boys.

She's hot..... Oh brother......

Surprise

You Have Low Self Esteem 40% of the Time

Generally, you feel pretty darn great about who you are, even when you mess up or fail. Occasionally, a huge setback will make you question yourself, but you pick yourself up quickly.

How is Your Self Esteem?

I took this test from Stepping's post. It is a bit interesting. I was surprised by the answer too.

I always find these things amusing. If you want try it.

WW

I believe I have said it before about joining weight watchers. I just started this session and had my first weigh in yesterday. I kept getting on my scale at home all last week and was feeling pretty good about it.

My weigh in time isn't until lunch time so I had eaten my breakfast and drank some water but all in all it was still good.

I was so excited to see the scale go down by 2.2 pounds for last week. This brings my running total loss to 7.6 lbs.

How exciting! I realize it isn't all that much yet but I hope to keep having that number go up and up.