Too Long

Sorry its been too long since my last update...know that I am working on some BIG potential life changes, and if things go as planned, I will be blogging again..

Life lately has contained work, graduate school, family time, re-finding out who I am, and healing the wounds the divorce and relationship left me with...

Thank you for bearing with me as I figure this all out...hopefully things will go as planned, and I will be starting a new chapter in my life!

April

I had the pleasure of spending Easter this year with Jon, Amanda, and Hayden, while the rest of our family was in FL, then TN to visit the Komolls (I was so wishing I was with them to see our other family!) and finally they stopped in IN to visit when they were passing through.

Jon, Amanda, and Hayden came up to WI on Friday night, and I saw them for a second as I was heading out of the subdivsion to head to work and after work on Saturday I got to the house to let them in (imagine that, Hayden locked them out of the house when they were leaving to see their friends, I just cant imagine my perfect nephew doing anything like that!) So when they got back to the house, I was there, and Hayden came running and gave me the BIGGEST hug, it was amazing, and made me realize how much I miss them...so I have decided once I get through vacation time, then I am going to take one weekend off a month from my part time job because I need it to recharge and see the ones I love. I have not been taking care of me, and that needs to change. Take this week for example. Obviously I work Mon-Fri at my Full Time job, and then I was on call Monday night, Tuesday night I was at the theater guild, Weds I was able to see my family, last night I was able to see them, now tonight I at the theater guild, Saturday I work and do theater guild, and SundayI work, and then the cycle starts over again next week....so anyways once August hits I am going to start working on taking better care of me. ..back to Jon, Amanda, and Haydens visit...

Saturday night we just hung out, ate some dinner, and then they went shopping for Easter clothes and I got to have Hayden stay with me! It was so much fun! We took Codee for 2 walks, played with chalk outside, played with the stroller, came inside had a snack, and were just sitting down after playing with Jons old matchbox cars while watching The Chipmunks, when they walked back into the house and it was bed time. What a great time I had with Hayden, he is just amazing, full of energy and talking so much..sometimes I had to ask him to repeat himself, and I had to re-learn what I lovingly call "Hayden talk" but we did good together.

Easter I was over early to see them and spend as much time with the three of them as possible before they left to head back to IN. It was fun watching Hayden play with all of his Easter toys...the one thing he was most excited about was going to" Auntie Pats house" for Eater brunch....that is what he focused on all morning, it was too cute, and then when we got to Aunt Pats he hugged her and was off playing with the toys all over! Enjoy a few pics from our time together, and then those afterwards are what the rest of our family was doing while we were stuck in the midwest! Enjoy a few pics of their vacation time from FL, TN, and IN.

                                         Going to take Codee for a walk

Sidewalk Chalk

All Set for Aunt Pats in his Easter Best!

Playing with his second cousins, Trevor & Kylie!

Some of the family enjoying the beautiful weather before brunch

Of course Codee joined us because Jon and Amanda took her to IN for the week with them!

A family photo..such a great one!

What the family did while we were here in WI

Their Easter in FL with Grandma, Grandpa,  and Aunt Gin & Uncle Bob

Visiting the wildlife parks around Ocala, FL

In TN with Norah and the Komoll family...

Aunt Hailee, Aunt Gabi, and Hayden in IN...too CUTE!

A whole lot of nothing....

My life is so boring I have not posted recently much..if you read my past posts its the same thing..so I thought I would spare all of you from reading about the same things for a few weeks...but now its time to update again...about what? Well you'll have to see.... (BIG surprises are ahead I am sure)

So my life (i.e. work) has been going well lately. I have found that I am being scheduled to work with the same managers (O.K. so there are only 4 managers, but I love them all!) on the same nights and weekend times most of the weeks, so therefore I have gotten to know them all very well, and feel as if I am working with friends rather than bosses or co-workers. In fact we have fun together, and the past few weekends when a certain Journey song or Ace of Base (Yes, we are old school when it comes to tunes the store has you play..its great!) comes on we karaoke to it in the store, and laugh, and overall have a good time. I have been asked the burn out question a lot lately, with the 2 jobs am I feeling burned out, or over worked? The answer is honestly some days yes, somedays no...I am sorry I can not be more specific. I think it depends on what I have to deal with at my FT job during the week, as sometimes that can be very stressful and then those weeks it can be hard for me to get MUST do things completed like grocery shopping, laundry, and cleaning, however for most of the time/weeks I cant wait to get to my 2nd job and see all of my co -workers, when I have not worked with them in 4 or 5 days it feels like I have not seen my friends in forever..and thats because we are friends who work well together and enjoy where we work...

Other than that exciting news flash, I dont know what I am going to do, Mom, Dad, Hailee, and Gabi are leaving for Florida this week for about 12 days..I may or may not have Codee...and I dont know what I am going to do without them! My Life will not be the same for a few days...BUMMER! But I know they will have a fun time...I will be missing them and the weather, but I will not be missing the long car drive down...unless I am driving or sitting chatting with someone car rides are terrible for me because I cant sit still!
I had the honor of attending Gabi's re-adoption hearing last week, and yes like the sap I am, I cried because it was so emotional, now nothing can take her away from our family, we are her forever family and she is forever my sister, and to watch her go from being so nervous she cant sit still wondering what questions they would ask, and what would happen to grinning from ear to ear as the judge declared her forever ours..it was a magical moment...in the end it only took about 10 minutes, the judge let us take pictures inside of the courtroom...it was something I will never forget. For the first time I was not nervous about going to the courthouse...it had nothing to do with my divorce so it was sweet for me! Nerve-racking for Mom, Dad, and Gabi. Hailee...she was just excited for it to be official.

As the month comes to an end, I realize that in another short month I hit a mile stone birthday....I have to say for the first time in my life, I am having a problem with how old I will be. I cant put my finger on why, but I think it has to do with the fact that I had a plan for my life...and of course that plan didnt work out, and so now I am starting over...and no where close to the plan I had originally for myself...stinks doesnt it...I know many people will read this and think "you are so much better off...or what are you talking about?" to those I can say I understand, and agree with them on some level, however, on a much larger level I feel a loss and see the long path I have ahead of me to get where I was and want to go..which is a daunting thing to look at...very disheartening..and a very large mountain to climb. At this point I am leaving it that I have faith that what is meant to happen will happen, and I need to keep doing what I am doing and see what happens. Maybe I should look at it as an adventure instead of a task? Easier said then done is all I have to say.

Welcome to Texting

First some good news about the home, (no it did not sell, I wish), however it took me exactly 1 week to find new tenants for it...YEAH! And it is the 2 guys that were part of the "incident" with James... I am glad they did not hold that against us as landlords...

Last night was a first for me...I helped to welcome my parents into the world of "texting" and it was alot of fun!

We decided that it would be better for all of us to combine our seperate plans and hop onto one plan, and since I get a discount through where I work, they came onto my plan...so we  try to go to the sprint store, and all in all, it took about an hour to get 2 new phones, and 2 lines added to my plan...both Mom and Dad are now able to text with the plan unlimited ones, and it was fun to have them learn why so many people enjoy texting throughout their daily lives. 

Here are the phones they got, Moms is blue, and Dads is orange, I am so happy that I can now text them when needed instead of calling three phones trying to find them!

Priceless Moment

I experienced my first PRICELESS moment on Thursday...a moment I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall for...and of course it involes my ex husband  James...let me explain...

Last Sunday I received a call from James. (for once he was not nasty, and he was okay on the phone to me) After a few minutes of talking, I learned why he is no longer with his old employer and everything..so progress on the being able to communicate with him eventhough I dont want to, but have to front...anyways, the reason he called was that our tenant of 2 years is getting married, and so she gave us her 60 day notice to move out.

I am okay with it, so I posted the townhome for rent on Craigslist, and James puts the sign in front of the house. I have been taking probably about 4-6 calls per day about the home since it went up on Tuesday.

I get this call from this potential tenant, and I talk with him and his roomate for about an hour, and decide that I would like for them to see the unit to see if they are interested in completing an application for it. I called James, and told him that they wanted to make an appt to see the home, and that they would be driving by the area that night (Thursday) to see how the drive was and how the neighborhood was. He said, oh, I will just let them into the unit if the tenant is not home tonight so they can see it...I did not agree with him, but he is the one on sight and said he would call me later.

I waited, and waited, finally an hour later I got a phone call back from the potential tenant He said, the unit is beautiful and they are interested in renting it, and then he thanked me for spicing up his night...I thought ..WHAT?...could he possibly be talking about? Hmmm...interesting....so I asked. He told me this story:

"So, we see the home, and stood talking for a few minutes inside of the unit about the history and what we as landlord want, and then we turn to leave...all 3 of us walked out of the unit after viewing it to six police cars with lights blazing, a paddy wagon, and several police officers with their hands on their belts asking for our hands up and to explain what we think we are doing robbing the home..."

Of course I am shocked into silence...and trying not to laugh at the situation...so after I finish talking to him, I called to speak with James, and found out that because he did not tell the tenant he was showing her side of the home, a neighbor saw lights flicking on and off, and called the tenant, who then left a message for James, and when he did not return her call, she called the police about intruders in her home trying to steal her things.

If I am being honest...this is the....FUNNIEST thing I have ever heard!

I can not help but burst out laughing when I get a mental picture of James with his arms up in the air, trying to explain to the officers that he owns the home and he is just showing a potential tenant through the unit.

To make a long story short, everything is ok, I think we may have found our next tenants after having the unit up for rent for only a few days, and I now have experienced a PRICELESS moment that I will never forget!

Birthday

I am a day late doing this, I meant to post this yesterday, however with the snow storm my laptop at home was having problems connecting to the internet all night..so...this was meant to be published yesterday....SORRY!

I wanted to wish someone special a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a beautiful, wonderful, person, someone who I am lucky to call family.. Amanda!

You came into our family a few years ago as a sister-in-law...but I consider you so much more than that...I feel that we have been blessed to have you in our lives, and I am so happy to be able to call you a friend and sister instead of "in-law" because you are so much more...you are family, and someone we all (myself included) love dearly!

I hope you had a wonderful and special day...and here is to many, many more years of laugher, scrapping, and being family! Here are a few of my favorite pics from this last year....

Time

I know it has been awhile since I have updated. That reason is simply because my life has consisted of working my two jobs....and working....and more work! I wish I could stay ahead of things ... but of course my ex husband is not making this whole selling a home thing easy, nor is he copperating on getting things done...doesnt surprise me anymore...someday soon I will be able to live my life normally and not have to worry about him. I have wasted too many years on him already.

Last week I received the news that I was officially accepted into Graduate School. I will be attending Concordia University, the main campus is in Mequon, but for Grad students they hold classes in Kenosha and Racine. I will be enrolled to complete my Masters of Business Administration with a Human Resource Management (MBA/HRM) emphasis. A common question has been about my work schedules, and classes, the nice thing is that their MBA program classes meet once per week from say 6-10, and then there is about 15-20 hours worth of homework and out the classroom work for each student to complete, the classes are on average about 6 weeks long, and you only take one class at a time. So this will take me about 2 years to complete the program, but all in all, it will be worth it in the end, and I will be attending classes on campus, it is not an on-line program...I know there are alot of good ones out there, however I guess I am more traditional and prefer to take in person classes to have that one on one interaction with classmates and professors.

Of course, for me the hardest thing about the process was writing a heartfeldt admission essay as to why I wanted to enroll, and why they should chose me to be accepted into the program. Yes.... I have my Bachelors of Arts in English Literature and Criticism...you would think it would've been a piece of cake for me...however this was not on a book, or a subject...this was about me...surprisingly Caryl my admissions coordinator said it was a great essay, but I can not tell you how scary it was to hit that "send' button on the e-mail with my finalized essay and resume...I think I was afraid of the rejection...you put yourself out there mistakes from college and all and they disect every bit of your life: Resume, Essay, Past grades, Letters of recommendation, an application, and much more paperwork. I will be the first to admit I made my mistakes with classes and grades, and majors I decided to switch too (no jokes about the 4 different majors I declared  in River Falls please :*) ) and those mistakes I was able to surpass at UW Milwaukee, and come out with a good GPA...however for Grad school they looked at River Falls & UWM...thank goodness they could see that I grew up, and have an excellent track record with companies through my resume, and was able to get people here that I work with now to write about me and how I would be as a student in a program.

I always said that I wanted to go back to school....and it was never the right time for me...then I realized that there never would be a right time..this is a small exerpt from my long entrance essay that I feel sums up why I decided to take this step in my life for me: "This January, I experienced a devastating loss; I lost two of my Grandparents only 12 days apart. Losing them sharply put my mind into focus and reminded me how short life is not only for us, but those around us, and this realization made me re-evaluate my priorities in life. This is my time. Time to move forward with my future, and it starts with this single step...."

I found out that my Bachelors program requirements did not hit all of the pre requisite courses for the MBA program, therefore I have to take a few pre req courses before starting the official program. We all know how fond of Math I am right? Well of course 2 of the classes I did not have to take for my Undergrad degree but I need for my Graduate are...and yes...just my luck...Accounting and Finance! Yeah...and lets add Economics and Marketing, and that completes my round up of the pre-reqs I have to complete...so as long as everything falls into place, I am looking to jump right in and start in March...I will keep you posted!