I forgot to tell everyone I received beautiful flowers from my daughter and the police department my mom works at. The pictures didn't turn out very good , probably b/c I was still a bit drugged up and trying to stand lol My husband took pics of my ear with the cone on and off. So I could see what the doctor did but there was no way to get close enough to see my whole ear sliced up in the back.

That picture of my bare ear is the day after surgery. Not as gross as I thought but still very creepy to know that it was sliced open completely lol

Way behind in Blogging lol

I finally had a chance to check out my mom's blog tonight and it hit me.... it's been several months since my last post ! A lot has happened since July. We moved , crazy things have happened, string of bad luck of course and I finally broke down and found a new ENT (ear doctor) b/c I was tired of the last 3 telling me they can't see why I was in pain. I had been having headaches every morning for several years , always fetigued during the day for no reason, and just got to the point where I couldn't deal with the pain any longer. All I did was pick a doctor out of the phone book and he was awesome. I have never been to an ENT where they actually ask in the paperwork if you wake up with headaches. This in itself amazed me. He immediately requested a CT scan and sent me to a specialist. About a month or so later I had surgery on the horrible ear of mine. It had a desease I had never heard of, but the symptoms made sense. After all these year my mom and I were in shock that someone could possibly fix my ear. I am now in a very long recovery and with many restrictions but in the long run this was worth it. The surgery scared me but not as much as it scared my husband. He was so worried about me that he couldn't sit still the whole time in the waiting room. There were complications but everything turned out the way the doc wanted. And my doctor calmed mom and Greg down by explaining every detail of what he did and why. My sweet husband stayed home with me all last week to take care of me and I'm so happy he did b/c I couldn't even walk let alone take care of myself. He was so wonderful and patient I couldn't believe it! He cut up all my food in tiny little pieces just so I could eat, which it still hurt to eat but no where near as much as it would have. Even a week later I still can't do anything strenuous , sneeze, cough, well anything that I normally do lol. 6 weeks of recovery I think is too long but with a rebuilt ear drum, new Temperal Bones (hearing bones) and a very large slice behind my ear.. I guess a long recovery is what I need after all that huh. Well, it's time for bed, I've been sleeping alot lately and it doesn't seem like it. Maybe it will soon

A long awaited visit

I have been a bit busy since my last post. Raine was getting out of school, had field day and game day to attend , working with her on her math all summer etc. Although it's summer, we've only gone to the beach once and really haven't had good weather all this time either. Sort of ruins summer for kids and adults huh. But with everything else going on, I received an invitation from my friend that I haven't seen since 7th grade. I knew she was sending me one for her baby shower but the waiting and anticipation was killing me lol. Just knowing I was going to get to see her finally after all these years and spending the past 10 of those years searching for her, and her probably looking for me, the day had finally come! Saturday I was up and ready to go way before the kids even got up lol. All the way there Raine kept asking me questions about who she was and of course how much longer will it take to get there:)

I pull up in a complex that I grew up in , the pool hadn't changed , only the buildings but once I was there I knew where I was going. It was funny , when I walked up to the door a guy was standing there... I asked him if he was Tina's husband and he imediately knew who I was lol. Tina had been talking about me coming to her shower and hoping I would show. I think her husband was just as excited as Tina and I were at our reunion so he told her I was there and her reaction was a huge smile and hugs lol. After 15yrs she still looks the same, it was like no time had passed. I haven't had a hug like that in so long. Tina was too funny trying to tell Raine how we met and when and since Raine is going into 4th grade this could be the time she meets a friend for life. Now that Tina is only in Wisconsin we can see each other as often as our schedules and lives allow us to lol. I can't wait until I see her again and can catch up !

June Bug already?!

This year we've had snow in April, barely any flowers in May and now I have a June Bug on my back door screen! What is going on in the Midwest? Well, the way I see it is if there are going to be early June Bugs then warm weather better get here really soon. Today was so nice and the sun was out all day, yet every few days it seems cold weather doesn't want to leave. Raise your hand if you want to move to a warmer climate... I do I do lol If we didn't have bitter cold winters and tons of snow then I'd be fine but this year went way below it should have. I like all four seasons but in moderation :) And definitely not in one month like we had in April. ( I think it was April lol) .
I was going to take a picture of that noisy June Bug but not too sure what I did with my camera but tomorrow night I'm sure the bug will be back so I'll post it then. Go figure.. Raine thinks all bugs bite so I had her sit here looking up information on them and she was quite grossed out. Apparently the bugs can help save lives and are very nuriting . Also , they supposedly taste like molasses and some kind of syrup ,gross and interesting at the same time. But I had to show her or she would've been freaking out every time she saw one and I can't stand the whining and screeching. Well, I'd better bring Herbie in , he's chasing the bugs around the yard LOL
Have a good night !

All of us wonder when things will look up and some may get what they wish for but others (most people) will continue to wait and keep truckin through life as it is. All my life I have noticed that people who are good , trust worthy, will do anything for others no matter how small etc, they get the shaft! But some still continue to be good. My husband's truck was doing fine, getting him to and from work and I had my car (old but runs) for emergencies, arrands etc, his truck decided to break down. But not something simple of course, that would never happen. My hubby changed the head gasket and fuel something or other and the engine runs like a champ, go figure the clutch had to go out. Job hunting was hard enough around his and Raine's schedule with 2 vehicles as it was, but now job hunting is on hold until a miracle happens to fix the truck. What's really sad is we're used to things going wrong lol . We always say if we didn't have bad luck, we wouldn't have any luck at all.
Some good news though in this crappy time, my cousin in TN looks and seems well (my mom told me) , my husband changed departments and went to 2nd shift this week (better boss and less stress on him at work) , my Aunt's emergency sugery went well and is doing ok and hopefully will be able to move where she can survive with just one small income. So some good news to spread. Even little things give some light at the end of that long tunnel, it brightens my day when someone has good news to share. Keeping our heads up and living the best we can is the best thing to do in this troubled economy and constant bad luck streak we all seem to be facing. So today I will be smiling as if I have no stress and hope for the best to come

Herbie's Surgery

Today is Herbie's snip snip surgery and I feel so bad for him because he's just running around this morning like he always does in his happy little mood . Chasing Boots all through the house is his favorite thing to do bright and early lol. But when I leave the vet's office without him he's going to wonder where his mommy went off to. I hate lookin at those sad puppy eyes on a normal day but this will be much worse. I know I should've done this a long time ago but wasn't able to. With Herbie being so wild and cray all of the time, it's going to be really difficult to keep him very tame while he's recouperating (however that's spelled lol) . I have to leave him alone tomorrow most of the day and he goes crazy when ever I walk out the door, so my fear of him opening his stitches is very big. The vet said they would give me something to keep him calm during this week while he recovers (hopefully). Since these aren't disolvable stitches like Botts had, Herbie will have no choice but to see his vet a couple times after today. He's not gonna be a happy puppy after this lol. The look he's going to give me when I pick him up tonight will be pretty heartbreaking also. Well, here we go....

Graduation came and went

Yesterday was my graduation. I will have to watch it again when the kids aren't here though. They didn't want to see it with me and made it clear it boring the entire time I was trying to hear the speakers congradulate the class. It got to the point where I told them to go ride their bikes or do something . They both have been very rude lately and rude everywhere we go. What is their problem? I have yet to have figured out why the sudden the constant "me me me " spoiled act. Especially Raine lately. The rest of the day was spent outside cleaning up my yard. The kids played on the next block over from morning until 4. They were tired and hungry but didn't want to admit it lol. Even though they fell asleep really late last night , they were actually quiet during the two movies we watched. Which was really nice because normally if it's a movie they don't want (mostly Raine) then they will talk and complain the entire time it's on so it ruins for everyone else. Always tons of fun in this house huh . Hopefully soon this new found attitude of hers goes away but by that time he teenybopper attitude will show it's ugly face. Oh how time flies and the sweet inocent little girl just disappears without anyone the wiser until the mouthiness begins lol.

An Early Easter

The EasterBunny came to our house a day early this year , since my step son's mom needs to have him home early tomorrow. So we made colored eggs this morning but boy was that a major hassle with the two turds lol. Finally they stopped arguing for 5 minutes to finish them. Herbie had his 1at boiled egg today and couldn't figure out how to eat without it slipping out of his mouth lol. He ate half of it and the yolk but the rest he left alone. While the kids were riding their bikes and yelling at each other I decided to bring Herbie up front with me and play catch. He's getting so good at it and today he flew up in the air to catch the ball! All four feet/legs were off the ground. But at that time I forgot to bring my camera out . I do however have some pics of him but they are a bit blurry because he was moving too fast. These are so cool...

He's flying! You can see the ball still flying towards him also.

What's really funny is right now Herbie's chasing a little reflective light from the Wii remote lmao. He crawls up on the wall, couch , and tries to get the light off the ceiling. He's nuts! I couldn't get any pics of the kids because they were too busy complaining and arguing back and forth while riding bikes. I'm quite suprised they didn't crash lol. Hopefully all three little turds (Herbie included) sleeps quite well tonight . They all have had a busy day. I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

Herbie's 1st Bday and Raine's picture day

Well Herbie had his 1st Birthday and boy was he cute with his new stuffies lol. But since he doesn't like nasty weather , he wanted to play indoors. What a goofy dog huh?!

Today is Raine's picture day and every time I dress her in a cute outfit and do her hair she tries to fix it herself and the end result is a goofy picture lol. So today i took my own pics of her before she left for school. She never smiles nice though, she's such a butthead lol.

See this little miss attitude! lol I love those glasses, so cute on her. Well , I guess we'll see if her pictures turn out from school.

Is Spring finally here yet?

Well the question I have for Mother Nature is ... "what crawled up your butt?!" lmao She must be in a bad mood to give us beautiful warm weather and then out of nowhere snow on us. Raine had fun in it and so did Herbie but me , I'll just stay cozy and warm in the house until 75 degrees hits lol.

On one of those nice days we had , I think last week or the one before, Greg had a bonfire going. Right before he did this he changed the oil on my car and did something with the tires. The rags he uses to clean his hands or a car , usually goes in his back pocket. Well, that's where this one was when he bent over and got his tush on fire ! None of us noticed the smoke until they were flames and by then he finally noticed the heat and pain. Here's the burnt shorts he has now...

A sideways picture but clear enough to see the crispy hole he has lol. Damn rednecks lol (j/k) .

I finally received all of my grades for those last classes, A , A , B . Not bad if I do say so myself. Not only do I receive my Assoc degree in Accounting diploma, but I also have 2 certificates I've earned in the process. Nice huh! I am really starting to miss school and the hussle n bussle trying to keep up on homework. But one of these days I'll go back for my BA. Well, it's getting late and I want to relax the rest of the short evening. Have a good night all!

Graduation!

Well, I am officially done with school ! Yay! Although I don't have my final grades yet, I still know that passed all 3 classes. I can't believe I made it through 3 in one 5 week session?! I wouldn't have made it through all of the stress and constant quick thinking to get each paper done on time without my pen pal Christina :) She and I have been in several classes together over the last few months and we worked together and calmed each other down when we'd freak out and panic lol. We paniced alot , so it seemed. Since she doesn't live far from me we will one day get to meet in person. I wonder what we'd do? We both said probably burst out laughing for no reason lol. I woke up yesterday with the thought that I had more homework to do and sat here looking but I had finished everything. It's a strange feeling not to have any papers to write or a chapter to read, you know? This will talke some time getting used to. The bad thing for me is that I love school and the rushing getting the papers done. Yes I was stressed , frustrated, and my brain was exhausted but I'm going to miss it.
Graduation is in April , online of course since I couldn't go to Colorado. But a graduation non the less :) Congradulations Christina! And a pat on my shoulder to myself ! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

Today I dress all in green (if I could find my green shirt lol) and wear goofy earings and make my daughter wear goofy things also . We are Irish in this house, accept for my husband (Sicilian) . But everyone is Irish for today and many people celebrate by getting completely drunk lmao. I have Baily's Irish cream for tonight, cornedbeef, and I will be making a traditional Irish dinner today (with all of the fixins). Since Raine doesn't have anything green to wear I gave her my Oscar the Grouch t-shirt and it fits! My shirt fits her?! Oh is that sad lol. On top of it being one of my favorite holidays , it's going to be 70 degrees today! Woohoo! So, I am finally going to do homework outside and enjoy this beautiful weather.

Since my mom AKA Nat Red Knit's blogger, is a bit behind because of her crazy work schedule, I 'm going to post a picture of my little Leprecaun sitting on my desk bringing me good luck (he'd better give some luck lol). I'm also goning to do my best to locate a very old movie for my husband since he's never seen it. Darby O'Gill And The Little People . This is classic! I hope everyone has a great day!

2 Wekks left of school! And beautiful weather also!

How nice is this... beautiful weather and still have homework to do lmao. Yup, now I have to choose writing a paper or going outside... which would you choose? Haha I went outside . But now I only have today to do 2 papers and 8 more papers to go for this week and begining of next week. Not much has been going here in the Rymer house. But my husband and I switched bedrooms and now my step son has a room by himself. Of course it isn't ready to be used by any means but it will be by the end of the week. So because of the craziness around here, I didn't spend any time on homework, oops. This morning I will be working on what's important (yuck) and then hopefully finish my house and get it organized. Sort of like spring cleaning but haven't gone through anything to get rid of yet. (kids' toys) .
Since graduation is right around the corner , I'm beginning to really miss school even though I'm still there. Normal people don't like school but me on the oher hand, I love it! Yes it's stressful to get everything done on time and trying to balance Raine , home, and school is a bit nuts . But I like it. I'm definately going to miss being able to talk to my good friend from school. I have a few I keep in touch with but one of them I talk to every day. One of these days I'll get to meet her in person :) She lives only a few hours away from me so the trip wouldn't be bad at all, and it's worth it. Well, I have to get back to studying and then work on my house. I hope everyone has a great St. Patty's Day!

30 assignments in 5wks! They're nuts! lol

Classes started yesterday but I had the chance to start early which is good b/c 3 classes is a bit much to keep up on. My plan was to finish the 1st 3 assignments this week that are due monday but I've only finished one so far lol. Even though it's only a 6 day break between sessions (classes) you fall out of the school mode quickly and it's hard to get back into the groove of things again. I figure if I complete the 1st 3 assignments before tomorrow I can hopefully finish the next ones that are due friday. If I can figure out how to do them :( But I'm staying hopeful and continue to try to get ahead or be on time. 5wks go by so fast but this session I really need it to go slow so I have more time to work on these lol.
I just found out my dad is up here from Iowa :) This time he's coming to my place instead of me driving out where he's staying. It's a nice change. So I'm putting the bird in the oven (as soon as I can get past the gross part of taking gizzards out yuck!) . I have a very weak stomach lol. Well, time to get my house ready and then back to homework :( Almost done though yay!!!

Tomorrow the virtual campus doors open to give students a chance to look at the upcoming assignments and see if the teachers are too demanding or not lol. After reading a little of the World Literature book I received, I soon realized truly how long it's been since I've had to write papers about the meanings of the stories, poems and plays. I'm hopeing these 3 classes aren't as bad as I think they will be. My ast session draws closer and closer and I'm not sure if I'm ready to be bombarded by large papers I may have to write. Many sleepless nights to come, I think.
I have also been thinking about what I am going to do when school is done. I know I'll be searching for work in this field (Accounting) but I wont be busy with homework , and won't be logging into school every day. I think I'm really going to miss the deadlines and the rush I get from worrying if I'm going to get the papers done on time, having so many to do at once, and getting the final grades at the end of that struggle. Yup, I'm a nerd! Well, it's 8am I'd better enjoy my last day before school resumes again... Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Warm Weather! Ahhh so nice

I was so cold yesterday morning that my hands couldn't move the shifter in my car but around 2pm I ventured out and low and be hold it was warm! I went to let Herbie out this morning and it's even nicer out. I got to have a cup of coffee outside and I loved it. Nothing really exciting going on lately accept I will be graduating very soon! Even though my next 5 week session is quite scary looking with 3 classes (30 assignments and 30 live chats ) all in only 5 weeks to do all that work, I'm still very excited to be graduating. Out of this entire time at school I have only 3 grades I don't like but at this point I passed them . I'm hoping that World Lit class will easy and interesting, some of the information in the book has Ernest Hemmingway and Emily Dickenson which love their poetry. But My management class and Accounting 2 class seem a bit scary. Hopefully the assignments aren't very big since I have to do a paper per day just to keep up with all of it.
See with all that information above... nothing interesting lol But to me it's very exciting! :) I was talking to a a good friend from school and we both agree that even though we're so tired from all this homework and some sleepless nights, we are really going to miss all of this craziness and miss having access to the outside world. But it's all worth it!

Raine's Birthday

Plans always change and originally I had planned on having a party for Raine's birthday and maybe one or two of her friends sleep over. Since it would have been her first slumber party I wanted to make her a cake I found online. Even though we didn't have a party I still made the cake but figures I forgot to get some of the items needed to make lol. So it turned out a bit goofy looking but she loved it and I improvised. All we did on Wednsday was send doughnut holes to her class and had stuffed pork chops for dinner. Since she got a Disney Junior Monopoly game we decided to just have a family game night. Boy was she happy about that and completely forgot about having a party. Next year I plan on doing something for her birthday or maybe just what we did this year would be fine for her. Here is the goofy looking slumber party cake I made... It didn't look like the pivture but she liked it just the same.

Twinkies are the girls and I had to put green and pink gel hair on them lol. And I didn't realize I needed at least 9 cans of frosting to do the blanket over the twinkie people so the blanket just covered their imaginary feet. As long as she liked it that's all that mattered and she wanted to eat her twinkie self so I had to cut out the middle of the cake. All in all her 9th birthday was great, we had a nice dinner, fun eating the people on the cake and playing monopoly for a few hours. She also went to Chicago with my mom (Mimi) on Saturday so she made out pretty good this year and had a blast. Time goes by so fast and soon she won't want me to make her a cake and do all of the cute little things I've done for her for so many years. I'm going to miss all of it but I have pictures and tons of fun memories. In the mean time I'm going to make every little moment count until I am no longer mommy, very soon I will just be mom. :(

Graduation is quickly aproaching

I received and email from the career department at school, to finish my graduation file (forms). Which means that in the next 2 months I will be done with school! Yay! Although I can't get too excited because my last 5 1/2 week session coming up very soon, has 3 classes at one time :( Boy am I scared. If I thought 2 classes were hard to keep up on, depending how difficult the class has been... what am I going to do with 3? I good friend from school is on her last session for her Associate degree and she gave a great tip to get through it.. She said "do one assignment each night just to keep up" . She's nuts! lol. This session is almost over and I spoke with her a couple nights ago, she's exhausted and can't wait until this is done. But she is continuing with school to get her BA. So no breaks for until 2010. I'm hoping that my last 3 classes are easy and run very smooth so I don't feel all of that stress. Not gonna happen lol, stress is inevitable. So very soon I will MIA to the world until March 28th and then hopefully I pass with flying colors and receive my hard earned degree! Keeping my fingers crossed! Have a good everyone!

Relaxation may come soon

The other day I found an old rocking chair that I just had to get for my husband. I had been looking for quite a long time for the right one and this was it! Since I already had mine I wanted his to be as close looking to mine as possible. Plus I already had the stain color I was going to use on them :) Now they're both stained, in my eyes, to perfection. His is much darker mahogany than mine but every couple I have seen over the years the old man's chair was a bit darker , so they turned out great. Since this was a suprise from my husband he was completely shocked when he saw it lol. Though I wish I had taken pics before I stained them just to compare but the pics I did take look fantastic (the chairs not my photography skills lol)

You can see the difference but can you also see that my chair has that antique rustic look? Darker spots and lines make this chair so inviting. Greg's may be darker but his also has the weathered rustic look . When they finally dry I will definately be relaxing and reading one of my novels and Greg will probably fall alseep in his lol. Well, time finish my to do list. Have a good weekend everyone!

Way Too Cold!

No matter how many winters I have been through , I still hate the cold! I have friends that seem to enjoy this "cool" weather as they put but I think they're all nut. I may look goofy when I dress in my kid size snow pants , scarf, hat, big thick gloves and boots but at least I'm somewhat warm. I'd love to hibernate all winter and never leave the house or better yet.. move to a warmer climate. I bundle up and my soon to be 9yr old daughter doesn't feel she has to. She says she's too hot with her coat zipped. Ha I tell, too bad lol.

So miss smarty pants that she is , she proves to me every time that she's not cold. (brat) I think even if she was cold she wouldn't admit any way. Tomorrow her class is going on a field trip. An out door field trip, yet it's going to be in the single didgits! I'm half thinking they're going to reschedule it , I think it's way too cold for a trip outside.

Her birthday is coming soon and little miss Raine is going to be 9! Wow time flies. I can remember all those cute baby things she used to do and now she's already acting like a teenager.

Aww there's my peanut..

And there's my olive girl with her step brother Ethan , goofy kids lol. Now that I'm finally all toasty warm I can do my homework I guess :( It's due tonight so I'd better get it done lol

Idiot Drivers

I had to drive my daughter to school yesterday and I actually thought the main roads had at least been plowed.. nope not in my town! So I get about 1 block away from my street and could not see due to the drifting snow on my back window from the wind and my front windshield went from clear to frosty again. What normal people do is pull over to their right or pull onto a nearby street (to the right) . That's what I was doing and I stopped my car thinking I I slid into the curb pulling over, which is fine as long as there were no other cars near by. Well low and behold there was a car behind me and slid right into me! I got out to clear off my car since I had no idea a car hit me, and this lady had the nerve to scream at me! Who hit who? Duh! I looked at her like who the heck are you to talk! I of course asked her if she was ok and I told her I wanted her insurance information , nope, she screamed a bit more , told me she was now late for work because of me! Because of me? What an idiot! Like I said in the title, idiot drivers. Now a sensible person would pull over like I did and idiot drivers will try to go around a car because they're in a hurry. Well what this lady did was try to get around me on the right while I was turning right! The funny thing was she only had a scuff mark on her bumper and I had a scratch on the back of mine lol. I told her before she left ,that there was a child in my car and things could've been worse... All she did was throw up her hands and leave lol. Next time maybe she will have patients on the road and watch where she's going.

2009 Already?!

Wow, how time flies, 2009 is already here and I'm not ready for it lol. How was everyone's Christmas ? Ours was great, the kids received all the things (acceptable things ) they asked Santa for and it was wonderful to have my step son for Christmas morning to see his face light up. I hadn't had my coffee that morning so ,you guessed it, I forgot to pull out the camera lol. I eventually did and was only able to get two pictures. One of Raine with her presents from Great Grandpa and one of Herbie eating his present. Ethan was too busy with his toys and refused to take a pic though. My mom got the kids Wii for Xmas and boy were they excited! I was asked to set it all up for them right away and of course while I was doing that they were in the kitchen teasing the dog with their skateboards lol. Yup Santa had gotten them their skateboards they asked for, they even had their names on them :)

Yes, in Raine's pic above she is holding a Harry Potter book and a chocolate covered frog! By the way she loves it and has already began reading the book. Xmas eve we spent with my family at my Aunts house, like we do every year and every year my Aunt does a wonderful job with dinner and having the house all cozy. Lasagna is my favorite meal and she makes it home made every Xmas yumm. The kids were so excited about their gifts from them and Raine had this look of "what the heck?" on her face when she opened one of her presents . It was can of olives lmao. I think Raine is worse than everyone in the family about her olives and this was the cutest gift I have ever seen her receive. My aunt is too funny. Spending the holidays with my mom's side of the family and this year we were finally able to see her for Xmas eve! It was so great to finally spend Xmas with mom after all these year of her working on those days.

Yesterday was my one year anniversary! Greg was able to take the day off to spend time with me. We couldn't really do anything but we took advantage of Raine going back to school and walked around the mall for the day. I got him a book (really cool book at that) about Vampires and I found a book with all of Emily Dickinson's poems in it for a buck! A rare find let me tell ya. I was so excited that we spent the rest of the day reading our books in peace n quiet. That's the best anniversary gift I could ask for. Well, it's time to put Raine on the bus and get crackin on my homework. Have a week ya'll!