At the airport...

Gotta love technology, I'm sitting at the gate waiting to board the plane and blogging on my phone. Sweet! We made it through security ok. I didn't know to take off my hoodie do I got a pat down. No biggie, it's private security, not TSA, no I didn't get groped :). We go from KC to Cleveland, then on to Buffalo!! So far no snow there, but pray for lots of it! That's half the reason we are going. Hopefully, it will be a nice relaxing trip. Supposedly Jason's mother has no idea we are coming east, so there should not be any issues with her. If she gets wind she's only 5 hours away and could be there in 1/2 a days drive. We do not want that!! Hopefully I'll get decent reception and can update often. Jason's grams lives in the boonies, so don't hold your breathe. P.S. I already miss my sissy and her family something terrible!! I hate not spending Christmas with them!!

Nervous Breakdown

Tonight on the way home from work I was talking to Josh and Pam(my 2 bosses).  They are heading back from St.Louis where they attended a CEO Boot Camp with our coaching company.  I was supposed to go, but decided  the last minute to stay back b/c we had 6 closing n 3 days.  Anyway, Josh asks me when I'm going to get my real estate license.  He purchased the course for me in August.  My original goal was to have it done the end of October.  I'm so far behind.  I 'm so tired.  I feel so overwhelmed.  Like someone always wants a piece of me. There's no down time.  No rest time.  Always go-go-go.  Work is non stop.  I barely eat lunch most days, I come home and it's family stuff, then bed.  Week ends are full of errands, cleaning, sports, family time.  It's not that I don't love this life I lead, I do.  It's just a very busy life.  So when Josh asked me when I would could commit to getting it done, I said the end of Jan., then he said the end of Dec.  I said no way, and then I broke down crying and babbled on about all the stuff I have going in  my life.  I would love to just have a weekend away.  I don't wanna sight see, I don't want to "vacation"  I want to sleep.  Be lazy.  NOT clean.  NOT  check e-mail.  Just be.  With nobody asking me for anything, expecting anything.  It's selfish to feel that way.  Terribly selfish.  I've spent 15 years devoting almost every moment of my life, existence, soul, heart, blood, tears and sweat to my family, to others.  I don't want to change that.  I just want to start devoting time to myself too.  To read, to sleep, to learn new things, to be alone without having to justify it.  I mean should I really have to ASK people to leave the bathroom and let me pee in peace?? NO.  I think I made Josh feel bad.  He told me we'd talk about the class later and then sent a text saying that he didn't mean to make me cry. I know he didn't.  It was just the straw that broke the camels back this week at work has been so stressful and busy.  I'm exhausted.  Tomorrow night we have this big company evening planned for exceeded our goal in November.  A party bus to drive us to the swankiest Christmas light displays in town, then back to Kanai, the BEST Sushi in town hands down.  It's going to be awesome and you know what?  I don't want to go.  I mean I do, but I don't.  I really want to stay home and relax.  I won't though.  I'll go, I'll have fun, and on Sunday I'll be exhausted.

Testing

Posting from my iPhone.... This might make me blog more. Maybe I'll do this instead of status updates!!

3 months....

So much has happened there's no way I can completely recap.  I can't even remember Sept. or Oct.  I'm sure lots of stuff happened, but I can't be sure :O)  Life is just flying by.  I feel like yesterday Harrison was a baby, heck, I feel like yesterday Jonathan was a baby!

Right now we are counting down to Christmas.  Jason's Grandma bought the family tickets to New York, so everyone is pretty excited about that.  I hope that it will be a the vacation I really need.  I've taken on a lot more responsibilities at work and it's really wearing on  me.  Don't get me wrong, I still love my job and I enjoy the new things am I doing and being involved in...it's just very tiring.  We don't leave for 3 1/2 weeks and I'm already freaked out about what's going to go wrong while I'm gone. Agh.  I ordered my real estate class 3 months ago and have not cracked the book but once.  I think part of me is scared.  It will have another layer of complexity to my job and right now, I don't think I'm ready for it.  I'm so overwhelmed all the time.  I'm no longer on top of things how I used to be.  There's always so much going on.  Work, Jason's school, the children's school stuff, sports.  I know everyone deals with it and most of the time it doesn't bother me.  That's not the case lately though.  I just want to relax!  Read.  Watch a movie. Sleep in.  Do NOTHING!   Wishful thinking.  Jason does a TON and I am so lucky to have him.  I can't fathom how I would feel if I added laundry and cleaning to all that.  Right now I do very little of those.

I'm going to start seriously running again.  I'm going to do the 1/2 marathon in my hometown in April.  I've gained back all the weight I lost last year, so I know that doesn't help my attitude.  Get rid of the fat clothes sounds like a good plan when you are skinny.  Gain it back though....and you wind up with a closet full of clothes that don't fit.  It sucks.

I'll try to be better about this whole blog thing....

So much to tell...

We are all moved into the new house and mostly unpacked.  I think Jason and I are going to work on the MB tonight after Harri goes to bed.  I HATED our old house.  I tried not to think about it, but now that we're gone....AGH, I hated it so much.  I'm so happy to have a house that is newer, nicer, and bigger.  It's much more "me".  I know that's snobby and horrible of me and I don't care.  I want to live in a nice place.  I won't feel bad about that.  We were going to go back and work real hard to get our deposit back, but we've decided not to.  Jason did a final walk thru with our Landlord and he wants about $400 worth of stuff done(steam clean carpets, repaint 3 rooms, fix window)  Most of these are things that need to be done.  I personally think the paint is "wear and tear"  we did live there 2 years.  I do believe we need to fix the window and clean the carpets though.  Here's my concern.  We spend $400 doing wants he wants and he still doesn't give his back our deposit.  OR We spend $400 and 8-10 hours man power to get it done and he gives up back our deposit. He's already told us he's taking off $60 for the plumber b/c the last time they came out that was our "portion" of the bill. So we are down to $540 minus the $400 and the man hours we put into it.  So we actually get $140.  It's not worth my time to spend a whole Sunday for that.  I feel very confident that no mater what we do he won't give us back our full deposit. So I'm going to basically cut my losses and basically "pay" him to put it in the condition he wants it.  We've already cleaned, wiped, and mopped.  That's all he's getting from us.  He can do all that other stuff.

Got a big bonus at work today :O)  SOOO excited.  I'm working on getting everything paid for 6 months so the (way) higher rent we pay won't be such a pinch each month.  It's worth it.  I love my house.  I've already paid 6 months of insurance and I'm going to pay off the credit cards too.  I think with the bonus I'm going to pay 6 months of van payments too. I also have to start planing for Jonathan's big birthday party too.  The Dj quote we got was $240 and the country club rental is $150-200.  Then there's decorations, food...  I'm so glad he only has a golden birthday once!!  It's gonna be so fun though.  I think I even got a photographer too :O)

I'm having a REALLY hard time with Jonathan going to middle school. Tonight we went to the football meeting and I couldn't stop thinking about the bus rides to and from games.  He's growing up... and I don't like it.  I was sick all day thinking about if he could get his locker open, if the 8th graders were bothering him, could he find his classes, did he get lost, was he late, was the teacher mean to him if he was...  I was SO happy to see him at 5:45 practice, to know he was alive and okay. Sounds silly I know, but he's my first born., my baby.

Tired

I slept lousy last night.  I was supposed to meet Josh at 7:30 for book review and I'm SO glad he postponed.  I got to sleep in a little and I needed it. We ended up meeting over lunch instead.  We are reading one of James Maxwell's books again.  LOVE IT.  Love him, his books are so great.  So much is happening at work.  The team is growing so fast and our systems aren't growing with us.  We are having growing pains to say the least. We have a couple of agents who aren't team players.  They need a good spanking, however that's not the best way to lead...so we deal with it for now.  We got the moving truck tonight and started loading up.  OK, I didn't load up my awesome husband did.  He did pretty much everything he could with out a dolly.  We'll go rent one tomorrow or Thursday.  So ready to be in the new house.

2 blogs in 1 week??

i miss blogging and when i'm not in front of a computer i can think of all sorts of things to blog about, but when i sit down i draw a blank.  the house is almost packed.  i'll bring home the company truck this weekend(perk of working for a real estate office) and we'll get to loading.  we packed a lot over the weekend and jason and the kids will finish up tomorrow.  then 5:30 friday we meet the lady to get the key! woo-hoo!  i can't wait! i'm freaking out a little about the increased rent, but i'm already planning on using my bonus's to off set the higher monthly amount.  i haven't been running :O(  no reason really other then heat and laziness.  i'm going to pay for my entry next week that way i'm committed to doing it.  i still have time to do a descent train up.  i'm hoping that school starting will help. i hate the havoc summers reek upon my schedule(or lack of)  savannah will be playing vollyball in the fall for the rec center and jonathan will be playing football, of course.  for the middle school... scary.  7th grade...  it really creeps me out that he's going to school with girls who have boobs.  thankfully he seems to have a good head on his shoulders and i keep a super tight eye on him and his friends. it seems a lot of parents these days use facebook as babysitters for their children.  more than once i've had to get on there and regulate his friends b/c their own parents don't  :O(  work is going good, busy, but i love it.  i love what i do and i have the most awesome boss in the world.  in addition to my normal bonus's he called me into his office last week and told me to book a night at the great wolf lodge for the family, on him.  just to say thanks for all the extra work i've been doing(we've been SO busy!)  we are gonna stay in sept when we go to k.c. to see taylor(woot-woot)  the kids are stoked.  our business is growing so much!  we have 26 closings in august for a total of almost 4 million in total sales and 100k in gross commission income.  who says the real estate market is down??  it's definitely a buyers market, but there is a market!!

A full calendar month?

I can't believe I didn't post at all in July?  Crazy.  No real reason other than laziness and lack of time.  I'm SO glad this summer is almost over.  I'm a total advocate of year round schooling!  Summers are torture on parents, especially working ones.  As you can tell I'm excited that school starts 2 weeks from today!

Before school start though, we'll be moving!  I'm sooo excited! We've lived in this house for 2 years.  It was a good fit for our family then, but I'm glad to be moving on.  Our landlord is a jerkface.  He never wants to fix anything.  We've washing dishes by hand for weeks.  I'm DONE.  It got so bad that earlier this week Jason told him to F%&k off.  Ya, no lease renewal after that! LOL!  Derby has a tons of perks, and b/c of those perks it's an expensive place to live.  You can get 3 bedrooms pretty descent, but 4 bedrooms...Agh.  PRICEY!  We bit the bullet and upgraded :O)    Next weekend we will be moving into a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 living area, 2 car garage twin home(aka duplex).  It's WAY newer than the house we have now.  It has a whirlpool tub, I think that's my favorite part.  It's been years since I've been able to enjoy a bath!! Not excited to move, but excited to be moved.

My sweet Harrison is almost potty trained!!  He wears a diaper at night and during nap, but wears undies all day.  He even poops on the potty!  It's bittersweet.  Of course I love that he's potty training, but he's my last one....I think.

Keep Praying!

We went and looked at the house yesterday and we weren't feeling it. We liked it, but we didn't love it.  I wanted to go back today with Josh, Grammie, and my sister to get their input.  Josh ended up not being able to come, but Sister and GG liked.  By the time we left tonight.  I almost love it.  Their is still a lot to work out.  I'm giving it to God and letting him take control.  Please pray that His will be done, and hopefully that means a new house!

Persistance pays off!

Every so often Jason and I will check Craigslist for houses.  We want to upgrade, but we don't want to lose space or pay much more.  As much as I loathe this house, it's big and cheap. Last year we saw a house on CL on my grammie's street 5 bedroom, 3 bath walk out basement, Hard wood floors.  I fell in love.  It was only 7 houses down from Grammie.  Perfection.  I called about it and it was $1200 a month!  Yikes!  So we dropped it.  Well, this summer we saw it again on CL with rent to own or owner carry terms.  Neither of which are appealing at all!  I would prefer to rent it for a year, then purchase it out right next year when Jason graduates(which sucks rates are expected to go up).  Anyway, I decided this year I was not going to let this house get away.  I called the automated number 2x a day for 5 days leaving a message.  When that didn't work I looked up the owner via tax records and sent a letter to their house!!  I told Jason they are going to sell me this house or arrest me for stalking.  Well guess what?  It worked!  Mr. Owner called me today!  We had a nice chat and come to find out he's an agent with the West side Keller Williams(I work at the East side KW!)  The currant tenets are supposed to be out at the end of the month, so he said he'd get back with us about looking at it then.  $1200 is out of our budget, but if they'd be willing to come down on the rent a little, knowing that we'd purchase it in full next summer... It'd be a dream come true...7 houses down from GG... PLEASE PRAY!!

Is blogging dead?

Jason and I were talking the other night and we've pretty much decided that blogging is dead.  Everyone is so connected on Facebook that there really seems so reason to blog.  Most everything is already out there.  I suppose I could give details, but my life really is't all that exciting right now.  Praise Jesus.  Sometimes I'd like to blog to vent, but I don't make the time.  Between work, games, housework, sleep and trying to run there just isn't time for much else.  Not even my beloved blog :O(

A Month???

I can't believe it's been a month,  Wheew, so much to talk about there is no way I'll ever do it all justice, but I'll try.

Mom and Grampy-  Both are doing well.  Grampy's surgery went great and he was home in 4 days.  He's still kinda puny.  Grammie says it's b/c he's a wienie, but he's healing slower than most, even according to his doctor.  He does his nightly walks and and eats pretty normal.  He's just really tired all the time.  Mom's surgery went well too.  Although they had to take 1/2 the lung instead of 1/3.  They are confident they got all the cancer and will be doing chemo to be safe, no radiation.  Mom's Dr. put her in for a clinical trail the hospital is having.  It would be a better chemo and help with the cost.  Which would be awesome financially of course.  Cancer isn't cheap and insurance companies don't always play nice :O( 

Kingston Angelo is here!  He arrived May 19th at 3:32 a.m..   His was was the first birth I was able to be at without being an active participate in and it was AMAZING!  So amazing that it almost makes me want to be an OB nurse.  It was so cool.  I was a little concerned about the fact that babies come a certain way and well, that's my sisters....ya know.  However,  it wasn't weird at all(at least to me!)  I didn't even think about that fact it was a vagina, it was totally just the method that my beautiful nephew came into the world.  It was the greatest thing.  I hope that my daughter and daughter in laws will allow me to me there for my grand children's births.  I think that's the only thing that could top this one.  Kingston is perfect.  While he's not technically my first nephew, I'm not close to my other sister, so he almost feels like the first.  He's such a doll(quite literally, he's TINY!)  I love him so.

Right now Jason's grandma is here visiting.  So far, so good.  I was concerned given that his mother, is her daughter, but ED hasn't really come up much.  Praise Jesus.  Harrison has really taken to her.  They are thicker than thieves!

Wednesday I start running again. It's been to long.  I finally went back to the Dr. and got back on my thyroid meds.  It's amazing what they do for you.. A normal functioning thyroid operates at  level of 12.  Mine was 5.35.  Way low :O(  So, lesson learned.  Don't slack off on the important stuff, even if you don't have insurance!!  I should be able to start losing weight again too!  Whoo-hoo!  energy and weight loss!  Yay me.  I'm excited to get back on track.  I'm going to start training for the 1/2 marathon in October.  It's the same one I did last year with Jason.  Except this I'm gonna do it with my friend Tara and hopefully my sister.  We'll see if I can get her on the running bandwagon.  I hope so!

Better

I'm feeling much better.  My tooth is gone and so is the pain that went with it.  Praise Jesus.  The tooth next to it has a cavity and that has to be fixed, then once they make sure the infection is out they will put in the implant. Not looking forward to screw being drilled into my bone and fake tooth screwed into the screw, however it is better than the gaping hole that is currently in my mouth.

I've been praying about my mom and grampy and I feel better about both situations.  It seems to have been caught early in both of them so that's a blessing.  My mom has even stated that she intends to stop smoking! YAY! What an answered prayer that would be!  I'm going to put it out into the universe!  You get what you give, ya know!  Next we'll work on the drinking....  I think that my moms diagnosis was more of a "when"  not "if" type of deal.  I've fully expected her to get cancer for years.  That or cirrhosis of the liver.  You can't live hard forever and expected no consequences.  My grampy though...that was a shock.  He's been sickly for awhile now and the doctors couldn't figure out why.  Now we know, hopefully he will be able to recover and get back to his crotchety self very soon!

Today was a good day.  Both the big kids stayed the night with friends since I had my tooth pulled yesterday.  So this morning me, Jason and Harri had breakfast at McD's.  Have you had their cinnamon melts? YUM-O!  Then we got Savannah from her friends house and headed out to the soccer game.  Her team won, they are undefeated!!  Then we came home and I took a nap while Harri did.  After that we headed over to the park.  I hung out there for awhile, then went and tanned while Jason and the kids played.  It was SO beautiful out! We went and got some ice cream and headed home to start the fire pit!  We roasted wienies and s'mores.  My sister's boyfriend came over with Ashyra and we introduced him to S'mores!  Can you believe he'd never had them??  Jason, CM, Jonathan, and Jonathan's friend  played football in the back yard and have now headed over to the park to play some b-ball.  It's been a great day. Today, I <3 my life.

What a week...

First, and least important, my tooth.  It's been bothering me since Saturday.  I finally went to the dentist yesterday and they will do the extraction tomorrow afternoon.  I will have to wait about 2 months for the infection to clear up then they will place an implant.  Pray for a smooth and quick healing, I'm supposed to run a race on Saturday!

Second, Cancer.  A couple weeks ago I put on FB that my mom was having a biopsy.  It came back cancerous.  She had a test on Friday to see if it's spread and it has.  She also has 2 small spots in her lymph nodes.  She meets with the surgeon tomorrow for all the details, but as off right now they are planning on removing the bottom 1/3rd of her right lung.  I'm guessing there will be some sort of chemo and radiation too, but I don't have the details.

Last weekend my Grampy had an emergency appendectomy. He went back today for a follow up and to get some test results.  The results:  colon and stomach cancer.  He is having surgery on Tuesday to remove most of his colon and part of his stomach.  The doctor said the appendicitis was blessing b/c with out it they may not have found the cancer in time.  They seem to think they can cut everything out and he will not require chemo and radiation.

I'm ready for this week to be over!  Have I mentioned I HATE April!

I wish you could see me naked!!

Don't be afraid to scroll down, there's no nudie shotsI promise!  About a week and a half ago I started tanning. I did it for several reasons.  My skin was looking uber pasty, and I was hating it.  I've also noticed that women who tan look thinner.  It's an optical illusion I know, but one I wanted to have!  I've been trying really hard lately to be more girly and put more effort into myself. I am worthy and I deserve it!  I tanned 3 days in a row, then began every other day.  I must say I am looking HOT!  My fat hasn't went away(duh!) but I will admit I am LOVING my brown body.  I love looking at my naked body.  I can't wait until I'm thin and tan!  I feel sexier and I've gotten so many compliments.  I've been doing my make-up, straightening my hair and getting out of my fashion comfort zone.  Yesterday I wore leggings, a long sequined tank with a jacket sweater over it, and knee high boots!  I was scared, but it was hit!  I received many compliments :O) So, if you are looking for a way to splurge on yourself to make yourself look and feel better, I vote tanning!  It's also so relaxing!  I love it! Go, do it now!

Facebook Rant

I've been steering clear of Facebook for a week or so now.  I'm not sure if it's me or my "friends", but people and their status updates have been driving me crazy.  I'm SICK to death of the following:

1. Complaining about stuff that you KNEW about when you made the decision.  For example.  I moved to Kansas knowing that the weather changes on a dime AND we get tornadoes.  Therefore I DO NOT complain about the weather every time it changes or whine about being scared every time the sirens go off.  It's part of living in my state.  I know this and don't post about it on Facebook 4x per week.

2. Woman who think they are the first pregnant woman EVER.  Do not ask a question about pregnancy, get 34 comments from 34 woman WHO HAVE BEEN PREGNANT BEFORE, then proceed to basically say they know nothing because Baby Center said.....

3.  Husband bashing posts OR my husband is the greatest posts.  Yes, we all have good husbands and like to brag about them, OCCASIONALLY.  However if you are posting 3x a day about how great your man is, I'm led to believe that you are trying to convince yourself that he's great, not that he really is.  On the flip side, if your husband is truly the biggest piece of shit you know, then LEAVE HIM!  He won't change just b/c he reads your Facebook status and has an awakening.

4.  The AF wife who speaks endlessly of her husbands 4 month long deployment.  It's nothing compared to the Army wife who is without her husband for 18 months.  Not to mention they don't get to skype everyday like you do.  You see he is really fighting the war, gun in hand and all.  He's not in an air conditioned office defending our country, he's on the front lines.

5. People complaining NON stop about their shitty lives.  We all have bad days, but when your bad days turn into bad weeks and bad weeks into months.  I have these 2 options for you: 1. Get antidepressants  2. Stop putting your shit on Facebook.  Especially when your friends try to point out the bright spots in your life and you do nothing but verbally vomit negativity back. Then go lay in bed and cry, that's fine, just get your ass off Facebook.

6. Weather updates every 15 minutes.  If I wanted the weather updates I would have "liked" the weather channel damnit!

I hate April

 I hate this month more than anything. I feel like every April a scab it ripped off, and there it is again,  a bleeding, gaping open wound.  Once May comes it starts to heal up, slowly.  I have 11 months of healing.  Then it starts all over again.  Everyone used to think it was so neat that I am so good at remembering dates.  Trust me, it's curse this time of year.  This next week is going to be hard.  So hard,  My stomach is knots just thinking about making it through. Today sucks, but Tuesday, Tuesday will be the roughest.  If you are of the praying kind, please pray for me on these days.  I hate that I remember these days, when I know that they don't.  They have NO clue. NONE.  In some ways I think that's good, but it some ways I don't.  I hope that they have days that when they look at the calender their heart is ripped out.  It's not Christian, I know.... I'm working on that.  Sometimes I wish I could cry, but I'm past the crying phase.  I don't have any more tears left.  The only time they fall is out of frustration. Frustration that I didn't know sooner, that I didn't stop it (let's be real here, not that I could have), frustration that it hasn't turned out the way I want (although it is as good as it could be, I suppose). Frustration about the aspects of my life that it effects or will effect.  Aspects that were never thought about at that time.  Aspects that effect so many more people than the people that started the whole debacle.  Sometimes I hate them all.  Sometimes.  When I get into that mindset I try really hard to remember the good that has come of it.  I'll be honest though.  Sometimes when I put them side by side, the good doesn't always out weigh the bad.  Sometimes, I'd turn in all that good to go back and change it. Am I horrible for saying that?  I don't think so, and what I think is all that really matters.  I stopped caring about what people think about this situation a long time ago.  If I didn't I'd have gone crazy.  Everybody has an opioion, everybody thinks they know what'd they do.  You don't.  I promise.  And I pray you never have to find out.  My God is big and awesome.  I know this.  I know he is all knowing.  I wish that I knew why things happen.  In Church the sermon series as been about agony and how God uses it to make us more like him.  How we can't fully minister to others unless we've suffered.  It's very true.  You draw closer to God, when things are the worst.  You draw from His strength when you have none of your own.  During that April and May I was the closet to The Lord.  Closer than I've ever been.

I stopped this blog, and now I've lost my momentum. I'm still gonna publish it, but it seems to stop rather than end.  I may come back in a few days.  We'll see how I feel.  For now though, it felt good to get this off my chest.  Later...

My future daughter in law

I sO want her to marry my Jonathan.  She's the bestest. I've told them both my future intentions for them.  Neither of them have refused to be married or even said "Ewwww".  I find that promising.  

They even let me take their picture together.

Jenna and Jonathan

So Busy
So Tired
So Much to tell

A blog from Highway 71

I feel like I constantly waiver between nothing to talk about and so much that I forget something. First, remember a couple of posts ago when I was whining about not getting a raise?  And how I love my job and I love my boss?  Here's why, let me tell you a story.

We have been waiting on our tax return which has been delayed at the IRS due to circumstances beyond my control.  We were hoping to have it in time to buy a van before we left for vacation to Alabama.  Well, because we are the Hallock's it did not arrive.  So we decided to try and get a loan to buy the van.  We didn't really want to get a loan, we want to pay cash, but we also didn't want to drive 12+ hours in a Kia Spectra with 3 children.  On Thursday when our tax return did not come, we decided to go to the bank.  We bank at USAA and do not have a local bank so I made an appointment with the SVP that our office does business with and that I have worked with in the past.  I took him everything that I thought he could possibly need, explained the situation and prayed for a miracle.  That afternoon back at work Josh(my boss) calls me.  He asked if I got my tax money, and I said no.  Guess what happened next?  HE OFFERED TO LOAN ME THE MONEY FOR THE VAN!  That's right here's $5700, no hesitation in his voice at all.  That's why I love my boss and my job.  Not many boss's would offer to do that.  It totally made me feel like a dirt bag for being so ugly to him all week b/c I was cranky about the lack of a raise.  I do deserve a raise, however I have so many perks that are not measurable.  Him offering that solidified to me that I am in the right place.  Thankfully, I didn't have to take him up on it.  The bank approved our loan and we got the van!! Now I can't wait to get my tax return so I can pay it off!!

Technology is a beautiful!  Ya'll know I upgraded to the iphone, which is fantastic in itself.  Now I've turned on the  personal hotspot function so the kids get use it for internet while we are on the road. Which means we also have net for the ipad and laptop.  So Jonathan is on his itouch watching a netflix movie and I'm on the laptop blogging while driving down the road!  I LOVE IT!  Poor Jason he's a little jealous, but daddy's are drivers.  Hehehehe!  We had planned on staying in Memphis tonight, but I was totally thrown off by the cost of Graceland!  $70 to see all the sites, and $30 for the half-assed don't get to see everything ticket.  Well, I had not planned on $280 to see the king, that's craziness! So, we  are skipping Memphis and going straight on to Birmingham!  Whoo-hoo!