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I had a great birthday weekend! I got to see friends and family, sleep in, have a delicious birthday dinner, and sing some karaoke at a gas station. It doesn't get any better than that!

Yesterday, my friend, Katie, and her boyfriend, Gary, came down from St. Louis. We had planned to go sing karaoke at a local restaurant, but found out midweek that they no longer have karaoke due to some management changes. We made some calls and the only place we could find that was having karaoke Saturday night was The Lil Country Store at Neely's Landing. We decided to give it a try. Katie is from this area, but Gary is most definitely not a country boy and he was a little reserved at first. It ended up being a hilarious evening. My sister, Juli, met us there since she is karaoke junkie. The store is literally a gas station/bait shop/diner with about 4 little tables next to the potato chip display. The food was awesome. At first it was a little strange to be singing karaoke with the liquor cooler behind us and the beef jerky display in front of us, but we rolled with it. We ended up being the only ones that showed up! It was mainly me, Juli, and the karaoke guy, with Katie offering up her version of the song "Tequila", complete with the PeeWee Herman dance. I will venture to say that very few people have had the honor of celebrating their 32nd birthday by singing karaoke in a gas station. Such is life in rural America.

Today I slept in then Greg and I went to see The Bucket List.l I enjoyed the movie. Greg didn't care one way or the other. We went to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Juli, Ashley, Rachel, Jeremy, Riley, Mom, Dad, Grandma Pat, Greg, Carson, and I well there. I got some lovely gifts, including ITunes gift cards, new flip flops, a beach bag, a rice cooker, a new purse, the movie Enchanted, a flower from Carson, and some cash. Mom cooked my favorite dinner of kettle beef, funeral corn (corn with cream cheese and sugar), mashed potatoes, rolls, and cousin Patsy's salad. Yummm-o! The best part was the fresh strawberry pie that I chose rather than cake. It was delicious!

After dinner, we stopped by Greg's Mom and Dad's where I got some cute cherry dishtowels for my kitchen and some money to put toward getting our new ceramic tile in the kitchen and bath. I think I got enough money to almost pay for the flooring. Now to find enough down time to have Greg's dad install the tile. That may take awhile. When I got home, I found a beautiful hanging basket of flowers from Becky. They are so pretty that I hung them outside our front door so we can see them from the living room.

This week is packed. I work tomorrow, although I need to try to get to the doctor in the afternoon. I am having severe allergy issues this year. I think I need a shot. Tuesday is my class filed trip to St. Louis Children's Hospital. Wednesday and Thursday are full of appointments and Friday I'll have to pack for our trip to see Carson's eye doctor in Springfield. I work in Kennett all day Saturday, then we're leaving from Kennett to drive the 5 hours it takes to get to Springfield. We're going to take it easy and see a few sights on Sunday, then head home on Monday after the appointment. I'm tired already. Have a fabulous week!

When things slow down

I have this list of things to do "when things slow down." I am coming to the realization that I am the one in charge of making sure things slow down. It ain't gonna happen this weekend or next week, but it's time for things to slow down. I like busy, but I have really pushed it lately. I'm tired.

I worked until after 6:00 tonight to get my portion of documents ready for our monitoring visit. I still have to make copies of every document, but I feel better knowing that I have at least located everything I need. My calendar for next week is so covered with work appointments and personal obligations that I literally cannot write another thing on 5 of the 7 days of the week. May has got to be slower or I'm going to start getting very difficult to get along with. I'm starting May out with a scrapbook retreat, so I'm going to try to stick with the relaxation theme for the rest of the month on into the summer. My shorter summer workdays are only 2 weeks away!

Tomorrow Carson and I will be straightening and cleaning the basement in preparation for my new BeautiControl business. I plan to keep some inventory, so we're making room. Tomorrow night is Crazy Croppers. Saturday is my BeautiControl University, and a night out with friends for my birthday. Sunday is church, then dinner at Mom's with the family to celebrate my birthday. Not much time to relax this weekend, but lots of celebrating!

I'm off to bathe Carson and get him to bed. He'll be staying up later tonight in the hopes that he'll sleep in tomorrow. I doubt it, but a mom can dream. Goodnight!

Monday, Monday

I had the most productive, quiet, noninterrupted day at the office that I have had in a very long time. It was wonderful. We have our annual monitoring visit (kind of like an audit) at the end of the month and I get several things checked off my list for that. I headed to Culvers at lunch and had the very yummy pot roast sandwich and mashed potatoes. I'd highly reccommend it.

I went to see my babies after work, then headed home to get my stuff ready for class tomorrow. Praise God that tomorow is my last night to lecture. This has been the craziest semester with all of the unusual weather and two flu bugs I went through. I feel like this class never really got good and started and now it's almost over.

I decided to undertake a new venture and signed up as a BeautiControl Consultant today. I am in love with their face products and decided to join to get my products at a discount. I'll be attending BeautiU on Saturday with several friends/relatives who are also joining. I'll be booking spa shows for anyone who is interested. You get lots of pampering and great products at great prices. I'll post more details after Saturday. I'm not interested in doing this full force like I did with Pampered Chef, but I'd still like to do a few parties a month. Fun stuff!

Tomorrow I'll be working at a child care home in Zalma. It's a very small town about an hour from Jackson. I'll be completing a rating scale for the environment, which is a nice break from evaluating kids with special needs. It should be a good day!

Thanks to Becky and Rebecca for the menu tips and to Dawn for checking in with me after my little hiatus! I love you guys!

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Be the hero of your own life story.-Alex Rover in Nim's Island

Weekend Update

I've been back for a week and I'm still trying to get back in a routine. This week will be super busy, so hopefully things will slow down eventually.

Friday night, Becky and I went to the late show to see 27 Dresses. It was very cute, but definitely a chick flick. There were 8 women in the theater. There were no men. It was a fun night out.

Yesterday, we went to Messy Morning, a community event that has free activities for young children. Usually I have to work in the booth that my office sponsors, but I was able to skip working this year and just enjoy visiting all of the booths with Carson. Greg's cousin, Amy, and her twin girls met us there. The kids had a great time getting messy together.

After Messy morning, we went to Shogun for lunch. I had it in my mind that it would be so much cheaper to go at lunch, but it was still $40. Not exactly a frugal decision. Oh well, it was really good and Carson has a blast watching the chef cook on the hibachi grill. After lunch we went shopping for ceramic tile. We want to put tile down in our dining room and kitchen. I have 4 tiles chilling out in my kitchen floor, just waiting for me to decide which one is my favorite. I change my mind every time I go into the kitchen. We also want to pull our carpet up and refinish the hardwood flooring in the living room, hallway, and bedrooms. I think we'd probably better wait until the tile is done before we start another project.

I'm out of the office 2 days this week. I have 2 parties to attend. I have class on Tuesday night. My birthday is on Sunday. I'm already tired.

My class is winding down and while I'll miss the extra money, I can't wait to have the extra time to get my house really organized. I want to take a few days off soon to really declutter and get things in order. Life seems to run so much smoother when I'm not fighting piles of clutter.

I have stocked the house with tons of groceries in an effort to quit eating out. I need to menu plan, but that may have to wait until tomorrow. Anyone have any menu planning tips or yummy recipes to help motivate me? I also need to convine myself that I like leftovers again. We used to eat them all the time when we first got married.

A little update on my mom: she got sick about a week after her 2nd round of chemo, but her doctor is convinced she had the stomach flu, since my dad was also sick. She had another round last Thursday and was feeling well enough to go with my dad and grandma on a little trip to Gatlinburg, TN. She's lost most of her hair, so she alternates between her wig, turbans, and hats. She can no longer feel the tumor from the outside, so hopefully, it's shrinking. Keep up the prayers!

Thanks for checking in! I'll try to post more often this week, but I'm not making any promises.

Day 4 in DC

Today was another awesome day! We had sessions this morning and afternoon, then we were off for some more sightseeing. I was with a different group of Missouri girls because my other buddies flew home today.

We took the Metro to The White House. It was my first subway ride! It was surprisingly clean and easy to navigate. The White House was much smaller than I had imagined and literally sits in the middle of the city, surrounded by office and government buildings. We talked to a Secret Service agent for quite awhile, but we couldn't take his picture. He said his job is very boring and that the only time he gets any excitement, it means that something is very wrong at The White House. It was interesting to talk with him, and several of the girls thought he was cute. He was way too short for my taste. :)

We then walked to the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Wall. I had seen them on Day 2, but it was nice to see everything in the daylight, since our tour was at night. From there, we walked around the Tidal Basin, which is where most of the famous Cherry Blossom trees are blooming. We then walked to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, but they were out of tickets for the day.

We hopped back on the Metro, switched trains at Metro Center, (aren't you impressed that we managed to figure out the subway routes?!?), and got off at the China Town exit. China Town was bustling with people and not nearly as impressive as we had hoped. Instead of neat shops of imported goods, they had Bed, Bath, and Beyond and McDonald's. We ended up eating at the Chop House in our own private dining room. It was awesome!

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference. We'll be in session in the morning, then catching our flight at 3:30. It's been a great trip!

Days 2 and 3 in DC!!

Discalimer***I am exhausted and have chosen to ignore my typos. If you love me, you'll do the same.

Yesterday was great! We had conference sessions all day, then went on a Trolley Tour last night. It was awesome to see the monuments lit up at night. The tour pics are in the slide show. We had a fantastic tour guide and a fun group of tourists on the trip. I was absolutely in awe of how big all of the monuments are. The Lincoln Memorial blew me away.

We had limited time at each site, so my new friend, Becky Kircher, and I literally power walked at every stop to make sure we saw every possible sight. I was exhausted at the end of the night, but glad I got to see so much on the tour. The only thing I still really want to see tomorrow is The White House. The forecast is cold and rainy, so we'll see.

Today we met with our Senators and Reps on Capitol Hill. What an eye opening experience. I try not to get too political on the blog, but the Republican congressmen where very good at glad handing and offering a photo op, while the Dems took notes and listened to our comments. A certain Republican candidate literally told me that the way to solve child care issues was for women to stay home with their children. He was a scary, scary man. I did take a pic of John McCain's office, but unfortunately, I didn't have time to find Hillary or Obama's offices. Capitol Hill is a truly gigantic place and took lots of time to travel to our various appointments.

Late this afternoon, Becky and I toured the National Air and Space Museum, where the Treasures of American History are temporarily housed while the American History Museum is being renovated. I say lots of cool things, including the hat Abe Lincoln was wearing when he was shot, Dorothy's ruby slippers, Babe Ruth's baseball, R2D2 and C3PO, and lots of other fun stuff.

Unfortunately for us, we could not find a cab back to the hotel when the museum closed, so we got to walk 15 blocks in the pouring, freezing rain to get back to the hotel. Did I mention I was in a windbreaker with no umbrella? It took 30 minutes for my arms to thaw. We took cabs to and from dinner to avoid catching our death.

Tomorrow is more meetings and more sightseeing! Thanks for checking in!

Day One in DC

I arrived safe and sound! Security took forever in St Louis, but the flight was great and we got to the hotel without any problems. After checking in, my roommate, Penny, and I met up with several of the other girls and walked many blocks to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We mad a very quick run through since we had 30 minutes until closing time!

After the museum, we met the rest of our group at the hotel, then walked to Union Station for dinner at America, then did a little window shopping. I ordered Thanksgiving on a Roll, which was turkey, stuffing, creanberry sauce and gravy on a huge roll. It was delicious! Union Station is beautiful inside. Actually, everything has been clean and beautiful so far, with tons of friendly people everywhere. The cherry blossoms are blooming and they are gorgeous!

Today we're in conferences all day, then tonight we're going on an evening tour of DC. Tomorrow is our day on Capitol Hill. So far, everything has been great!