Christmas and all the jazz....

Christmas morning was splendid...

I picked my two very special guest up at 8:15am in Gig Harbor. Then we were off to grammy's house for a quick visit and gift exchange.
At our house the kids had a blast opening their gifts... Mazie was so entertaining to watch, this year was her first Christmas that she actually understood what was going on so that was super fun!
Ryder was on cloud nine when he opened the big present for the whole family---A XBOX 360!!!
Both the kids got to open the other super big present for the family----Rock Band!!!
Other than new shoes, clothes, games and babies the kids were very grateful...

Then I made a very yummy breakfast for the four of us... Eggnog french toast,bacon and eggs.
Tim,Ryder and Mazie were in heaven...
Then I made a cheesecake to die for to have after all our yummy Christmas dinner delights.

That night we had friends over to play with our new toys!!! Tim and I stayed up until 3:30am playing Rock Band together, hey we had to start our career geez.
Saturday Tim took Ryder to Cabela's with him and Andrew... While Mazie and I had girl time with my sister and niece......
Sunday was my day to spend with my kids, we went to lunch, to the movies to see Alvin and the Chipmunks and then to Target so the kids could spend their gift cards... It was the most wonderful holiday weekend I have to say... Its sad that it is over and here I am back to work on a Monday that seems to drag on forever...
Now I am in partay planning mode yet again... We are having a adult/kid 2010 New years party... So here I go again being the hostess with the most est, don't get me wrong I love to host parties and get togethers its the best way to try new recipes and old ones too.
Bring on 2010!

Smooches,
Andrea~ Mommy of two~
Ryder~8
Mazie~3
Hoping for #3 someday soon...

A Festivus for the rest of us....

T'was the day before Christmas~
Wow time just flew by didn't it? To think Christmas is just a day away and I still have a huge to do list:
Work-7am-12pm
Meet up with my sister's-12:30
Go shop and fight all the craziness and crowds... Good thing I will have my two sissy's to keep me sane and laughing!
Go home and prepare my annual Christmas eve snack foods such as Teriyaki meatballs, mini sandwiches, hot dips and chips.... oh and you can't forget the hot buttered rum's to go along with my yummy sugar cookies.
My Christmas doesn't start until tomorrow at 8am when I pick my babies up. I will be preparing a perfect Christmas breakfast and a dinner for my children and The Bates family at my home. I am super excited to share my cooking skills with everyone yum PRIME RIB! I will let you know how that goes....
My kids are all I need to make my Christmas a wonderful delight... All the hustle and bustle of the holiday madness is well worth the looks on my kids faces as they look under the tree, the giggles, the excitement, and the family memories all wrapped into one big present for this mommy right here.
My son Ryder will be telling us the story of the real meaning of Christmas (it is one of his favorites to tell). Any 8yr old boy is super stoked for the presents,candy and treats of the holidays, but that boy never lets us forget what its really about. I love that my son feels so strong about his beliefs and loves to share them with his little sister.
It gives me comfort to know that on the many days I don't have my children my son can still
keep the faith alive for himself and his sissy bear. He is a amazing big brother,protector and leader for her.
Mazie Lue is going to be a delight, she is 3 and is now starting the understand the excitement of the Holiday...
She has asked Santa for BABIES! Now mind you my sweet little sugar dumpling is super cute, of course she knows it. Which can be a issue at times... You see my Mazie Lue can be a bully at times, has that sassy tude and won't take crap from anyone.
This is sometimes perceived as bad behavior, but it is in the works... Mommy may have to get a lump a coal for her stocking one of these Christmas' (hehehe). For those of you who know my daughter will get the humor in that one!
My little miss bossy pants is just like her mommy... As a little girl baby dolls where my world, and yes they were treated as if they were real... My mumsy was always good at playing along with me on that. I was always in the kitchen with my mumsy watching and helping her cook, I loved the idea of being a homemaker from day one. Now I enjoy the time in the kitchen with my daughter, I sit her right up on the counter top and she sits and watches, helps and asks 21 questions about everything I am doing. I adore each and every moment of it!

Does anyone know where I got the title for this blog from?

First one to answer wins!

May your days be merry and bright!
Smooches,
Andrea~Mommy of two~
Ryder 8
Mazie 3

Me&My Drum

A Christmas play to remember....
Since my children are not partaking in any Holiday plays or performances, I had the opportunity to attend my Niece Ja'Kayla's performance in Me&My Drum.

Now a little a bit of information about this spunky little girl we call "Kayla". She is full of talent, in showbiz that is. She is a mini diva for sure... She loves to sing, dance and act. She even plays a bit of the acoustic and yes she is only 6 years old.

My mother saw this special talent in Kayla and signed her up to be in the Church holiday Play/Musical. Kayla has been go to rehearsals every Saturday since September.
The play was great! I was so proud of her and seeing her get some of that energy and talent out there for all to see.
I hope she can start taking acting/signing lessons cause next year she will be ready for a lead solo part. She has a awesome voice and not a shy bone in her body.
She was excited to see her Auntie there for support! She was presented with a bouquet of carnations for her final show from Grammy.
It was a great ending to my weekend of family Christmas parties,last minute shopping and cookie baking.

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year!

Smooches,
Andrea

The Candy Cane...

The legend is...

It was invented by a Christian in England in the 17th century at a time the government would not let people celebrate Christmas.
So a candy maker made candy shaped like a shepherd's crook to be a secret symbol of Jesus. The three small stripes represent
the father,the son, and the Holy Spirit. The large red stripe is for the life of Jesus, that He gave up for us.
The candy cane was a double gift, a sweet treat and a symbol of Christmas.


A patient gave me a candy cane the other day with this story attached to it. It made my heart smile!

How ever you celebrate the holiday season in your own special ways or beliefs, I thought this was a good way to share a little of mine with you.

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year

Smooches,

Andrea

Frosty the snowman

Allow me to introduce FROSTY......

Yes the jolly old soul is here at our office to visit for the holiday season. He is a year old and stale as can be...

You see Frosty is made out of candy, yep all eatable goodness. He is very popular here at the Front Office. People just go gaga over him, he has this special power over everyone that passes by...he makes them all hungry for sweets!

Frosty was made a year ago by my co-worker George and a few other ladies in the office. George is the one who designed Frosty and did the cardboard cut out. The ladies helped him hot clue gun all the candy delight on. This took them a good 4 days to finish.

Making frosty:

The hat-Black licorice & Laffy taffy

The nose-Orange slices

His eye-Black jelly beans

His mouth-Red hots

His scarf-Christmas tree peeps, red gum drops and red licorice

His mittens-Green gum drops

His cane-Red licorice and white mints

His head-mini marshmallows

His body-Regular marshmallows

Now our Frosty stands about 5 feet 3inches (he is a big guy).

I wanted to share this fun & yummy holiday project with ya'll that is fun for the whole family.

So give it a try and take pictures cause I would love to see how they turn out.

Smooches,

Andrea

Another day another dollar....

So here I am at the end of what I call a off day.
Not an off day because I was off work... but a off day because I am so not with it today.

It all started this morning when I rolled out of bed, over slept and rushed to get myself ready for work.
Of course I was late... but then I kept making mistakes on scheduling and the same person had to come out and point them out. Not to me, but to my co-worker George. That just irritated me even more, if I make a mistake I would rather it be pointed out to me so I am aware of what I did...
Then I had my mind focused on other things, such as getting custody of my kids and having to find a lawyer, paperwork and just all the life lessons I am going through.
I would say bah humbug! That is just not me... I am determined that off days like these can only make you stronger. Right?
Hey I am trying to look at the bright side of things which has been very challenging for me as of late.
I have to say that I am very thankful to have a great co-worker to calm me down and give me good advise through out the day to keep me just a little bit on the sane side.
Thanks George you ROCK!
I am now ready to spend a nice evening with my wonderful friend Jeni... We need to have some girl time and catch up. We are determined to bring each other's Christmas spirits up no matter what.
Smooches from the loving mother of two, Ryder Ion 8 & Mazie Lue 3
Andrea

Here comes Santa Claus...

This is my mumsy w/Santa. She wanted the kids to know they better be good.... Cause Grammy is good friends with Santa. Watch out!

Yep you read that right... Here comes Santa Claus!

Well the reason for this blog title is simply because its true in so many ways for me and my family this weekend.





Tonight after work my children will be joining me at the annual building Christmas party. Its where every department in the whole Gig Harbor Medical Park building has a holiday get together for employees and their families.





There will be stocking decor contest,cookie decorating, games, treats and my favorite KARAOKE!!!


Ryder and Mazie are super excited...


Then tomorrow after Mazie's dance class we are going to visit Santa for some pictures and hot cocoa. We will then take a slight detour to Kent to go look at some cars.





Then at 4pm we are venturing off to Down Town Puyallup for the Santa Parade...


We can't wait to welcome Santa who will be arriving on one of Puyallup's finest fire engines. Now do you get the title?


I plan to take tons of pictures and will post them as soon as I can.





Our final destination for our holiday fun filled weekend is to go pick out our Christmas tree and decorate it... I am going to try and control my OCD this year and really let the kids help. Not like I do every year when let them help. As soon as they aren't looking mommy rearranges the ornaments where I would like them (hehe). I promise, I will even post pictures of the final tree lighting to prove it.





Happy Friday to everyone and hope you have a nice fun weekend, I know we will.





Smooches,


Andrea

All I want for Christmas...

I have been thinking about my Christmas wish and it did not take much thought...

Something I have been craving and needing since December 2007 is full custody of my children.

As most of you know I have been dealing with a recent custody battle with my ex-Miles. Since he decided to no longer be friends nor civil with me anymore back in July 2009. He has tried in every way to keep my kids from me. Now mind you Miles and I never had issues like this before. It was never a fight for me to see my kids, in fact we did stuff all the time as a family with our kids. For some odd reason just weeks after starting his new relationship that normal lifestyle for the kids and I came to a complete halt.
Our current parenting plan is a joke! I would of never signed it if I knew he would come back and use it against me 2 years later. When he first sat down with me to go over the plan (2yrs ago) I read it and did not agree with it, I told him I can not be with out my kids that often. He looked in my eyes and told me: "Andrea, you can see the kids and have the kids anytime you want and this can always be changed". Pretty much he wanted on paper to have more custody so I would have to pay child support (he couldn't afford the house on his own). So I agreed and I trusted him... Big mistake!

Now I only see my kids 2 nights a week, I get a total of 10 awake hours a week with my babies. I had my son and daughter cause I wanted them and I always had the desire to be the best mother I could be. Now I have their father/ my best friend of 12 years keeping me from succeeding as a mother for our children.

The most hurtful part is my kids miss me so much. I have not seen or talked to them since Saturday afternoon. I call and leave messages every night to talk to them. Their dad will not return the calls back.

Who is this man I was once married to, had 2 children with, just months ago loved me and would do anything for our children not to be with out both their parents?

Well I am done trying to figure that mystery out. I have been very cooperative with him the past 2 years with the kids schedules... I will no longer sit back and let him have control of when and where I can see my children.
I am a good mother, I have done nothing to deserve this and neither did my kids. I have a full time job and a nice home to provide and support my children in every way I can. I even relocated my job back to Gig Harbor so I could be closer to my kids and have them more during the week... Now he won't even let that work out for us.
So how does he think that he is more of a stable parent than me?
All I want for Christmas is my babies (Ryder Ion and Mazie Lue)... My heart breaks everyday I don't see them or talk to them. I just know a day will come that my children will know that it was not my choice to be away from them.

The things that tug at my heart strings:
Ryder: "Mom every time I hear your voice my hearts starts to beat fast, cause I love you so much"
Mazie: "Mommy I want to be with you". Her brother says she talks about me non-stop when I am not around.
These are some of the things my children say to me over the phone. I call my kids every night I don't have them just so I can hear their voices and let them know how much I miss and love them.
Ryder and Mazie are my babies... My number ones!

I would love to get any feed back on this subject. This is a matter that I feel so lost and alone about...
Smooches,
Andrea

4 day weekend.........

Back to work we go...
Thanksgiving was very calm for me. I woke up with no kids, only had to get myself ready for the day.
To start it off I cut myself shaving, then I fell down my stairs racing out to my jeep to get my make-up bag. Yeah you read that right I fell/slipped, I hope you realize what a long way done that is for a tall gal like me to fall. Its all good I landed on my big bum, pulled my groin and hit my elbow and shoulder on the stairs. I will explain about my clumsiness later, November was my month of cuts, bruises and falls.

I then managed to get up and take care of making my fabulous Sweet Potato casserole dish. Sped off to Mom's and was there just in time to help out with the cooking. My mother and I love to be in the kitchen together, we both just laughed and talked. Dinner was great it was just Mom,Alisa,Kellie,Greg, Me and my 2 nieces. It was very calm and quite, which is not the norm for the Jackson family.
Later I went and picked up my little ones from their Dad and took them back to my mom's to see the family for a bit and have some sweet potato pie.
We called it a early night, so I could get up at 4:30 to set off to do some black Friday shopping...
One word to explain black Friday.... Crazy!!!
I brought Tim along with me and he had a rude awakening on what it was all about... Crowds,lines and sold out. Just put it this way, I will be doing my black Friday shopping solo from now on. Or try and pull the all niter...
After all the shopping madness, I went home and made the family crepes for breakfast and made Pumpkin and Chocolate cream pies. This is how I do my black Friday, I make my thanksgiving dinner... I made a Turkey, Sweet potato's, mashed potato's, oyster stuffing, and plain stuffing, gravy, asparagus,corn, rolls and Mac n Cheese. We have tons of left overs, got to love that.
I also got all my house Christmas decor up (minus the tree) and started putting the out side lights up on the house. Our house is huge so it is a process...
Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and hope you survive the holiday season.

Smooches,
Andrea

Thankful....

Wow! I know, I know its been a minute since I blogged...

So I will start out by catching you up a little on my life for the past two months.

Remember when I was going to move out to Gig Harbor? Well that has been put on hold for now.

I realized that I love my house and the area I live in, and actully thinking of buying the house as well. I am still working in Gig Harbor, I am enjoying it very much... Love my schedule, my co-workers and being so close to my kids during the work day, it makes for a easy pick up/drop off.

As some of you may know Ryder just turned 8 last week on the 18th... He had a super fun Laser Tag party and then moon light bowling afterwards. I as well just celebrated my 29th birthday on Sunday the 22nd. Wow! all in one week I have an 8yr old and I am on my very last, final year of being in my twenties.

That is when Thanksgiving comes in to play... Yes, comfort food! Its what I do best around this time of year, after turning a year older and preparing for the holiday seasons and a new year a girl needs to get her grub on.

I do not get to have the joy of sharing the Thanksgiving holiday with my children this year, oh the joy of sharing... sharing is caring right? I will be spending the day cooking in my mumsy's kitchen. She only gave me one task this year and that is to make yummy sweet yams. My mumsy knows I can't just sit back and allow her to cook everything else on her own. So she invited me to come over early and help... We both love to cook, especially for our family and friends. The best part is to watch them enjoy every yummy bite they put in their mouths...Priceless! Its what we do... and it is what I am thankful for.

So tomorrow as you all are busy cooking, cleaning, relaxing and enjoying family & friends try to ask the ones around you what they are thankful for?

What are you thankful for?

First day of 2nd grade....

Yesterday was my son Ryder's first day of 2nd grade... He was super excited! More so to see all his friends.

Grandma and Momma took him to his open house on Tuesday evening to meet his teacher (Mrs. Wate). Geez I never knew how popular my boy was until we got to the school and all sorts of kids were saying "Hi Ryder" with big smiles on their faces. He got a spot right next to his good buddy Nolan, so we will see how that works out. His teacher was so very nice and she is the teacher he was hoping to get.

So yesterday morning, I got my little man up and at em, he took his shower, got his new geer on and ate some frosted flakes. After that he brushed his teeth and wanted his hair spiked in the front and flat in the back??? Okay for those of you who have never seen my son or my hair it doesn't work like that. So I told him hey how about I "spike" the whole top? He was good with that, so I used gel, which he does not need on his tight little short curls. But he was looking and feeling cool.

Then we were on our way, momma packed him a yummy first day of school lunch. He loves to ride the bus, but I gave him a ride instead. Thank goodness I did cause it for some odd reason took his bus that is suppose to pick him up at 8:05 almost 50mins to get to the school, that is 5mins away from Grandma and Papa's house.

He did get to ride the bus home and that was another ordeal. He was greeted by Momma, Dad, little sister , Grandma and Papa. I was of course camera ready! So he had a wonderful first day and loved his lunch!

I will always remember my 2nd grade year, my teacher was Mrs. Allen she was so pretty and sweet. Omg that was back in September 1988, I will always remember that school year... I won the young authors award that year and got to go to the big conference they have or use to? My book was called "All about babies". Of course at age 8 I only thought I knew all about babies, but I still won a award for it. See that was the year my mumsy was prego with my little brother, so I was not only excited my mom was having a baby, but even more excited I was finally getting a brother.

Sorry I am rambling, just thought I would share that story with you...

Do you remember your 2nd grade school year? or better yet what year it was?

Smooches,

Andrea

Dancing Machine....

Good afternoon~

So I am super duper excited about my Mazie's dance class... She starts next Saturday at Just For Kicks dance studio. So next on the to do list is to go get her leotards, tights, PINK ballet shoes and black tap shoes. This will be a fun thing for mommy and Mazie to go out and do. I hope she really enjoys taking dance.

As a little girl I always begged my mom to put me in Tap... I would even try or pretend to tap with my fancy church shoes. You girls know what I am sayin. It never happened, my family was into the sports scene. It was either softball or basketball. So the day I found out I was going to have a little girl, that was the second thing that came to my mind... Dance! You may not want to know the first thing that came to mind.LOL

So here we are preparing for my little sweetie's ballet/tap class. I can't wait to see my little Mazie Lue looking all cute with her dance attire and her long curly locks pulled up in a bun. Oh yes mommy will be there every time camera in hand.

*For those who were wondering; I did go to urgent care the other night and my rib pain is still a mystery... So if it is still there next week, I will have to take this to my regular doc. So no dancing for me at this time! :o)

Smooches,
Andrea

Hot mess!!!

Okay so here is the deal, I am getting ready to turn 29 this fall... Yeah I know yikes! Say it, I am falling apart and there is nothing to do about it.

So almost a week now I have had this pain in my left lower rib. It hurts when I cough, laugh, talk, sing, its pretty much constant. yeah I said sing, you didn't know that I am a singer. Oh yeah I do some killer karaokee and I just did some singing last Friday. So it is a mystery on why my rib is on the fritz? I am going to get some answers tonight at good ol' urgent care... GO MULTICARE!

As I am dealing with this rib issue, I go do some grocery shopping and as I am taking a bag out of my Jeep to take into my house... BAM a big can of Campbell's soup lands right on the top of my left foot, bare foot that is. Ouchy!!! Okay maybe I said some other choices words and hopped up and down. My neighbors probably thought I was a freak. By the way the plastic none durable bag was from walmart, note to self.
So this morning I go to put my nifty puma's on and yeah no way this swollen foot was gonna let that happen nor my high tolerance for pain. So I risked it and wore my pink slippers to work. Note: My supervisor was not in today (hehehe). So I have been hobbling around the office all day looking like a gimp.
So this was a blog to whine and let you all know and to let myself know life could be way worse and I just have to deal with the glitches. Hey I may be getting older, it only means that my injuries and mystery mishaps may just take a bit longer to heal now.

moving on to the Harbor...

Okay so I am not the best at this bloggness, like I said I mainly use it to update all my peeps.

I put in my 3 week notice last Monday at my current job... This was somewhat a hard but easy thing to do. It will be hard to leave my lovely co-workers and patients. On the other hand I have accepted a job transfer to the Multicare Gig Harbor location starting 9/14/09. It will be closer to my children's schools and daycare. So what this means is I can have my kiddo's any night of the work/school week. Plus it will be easier to go watch Ryder's sports and take Mazie to her Ballet/Tap combo classes every Wednesday.

Our next step is to move out to Gig Harbor!!! So we are currently looking for a house to rent in the Gig Harbor/Lake Bay area. Hopefully we are going to look at a place tonight, which I am already in love with... See I am already starting to get my heart set on something and my current lease isn't up until November 1st. Calm down Andrea my goodness. So the house search is on!!!

So I am enjoying these last two weeks here at the Northshore clinic. I am glad I was a part of this clinic this past year. But it is time for me to go back to my roots, back to the Harbor.

Totally off subject: I was rear ended last Monday on my way home from work. I am fine and no I did not have the kids with me. I was driving solo... The good news is my jeep will be getting fixed and then I plan to trade it in... Not for sure what I want to get yet? I think its time for a Chevy!!! Let me know what you think I should trade my Jeep in for?

Smooches,

Andrea

Back to School...

Wow what a busy summer of fun, family and so many life changes... (I won't go into detail about some of those life changes)
Ryder finished his 16 day reading program at Summer school. Not sure if it was much of a success but now he just needs to read 20 minutes everyday and I am sure he will catch up. He is super excited to be done and have a normal summer again. He is doing very well in his guitar lessons, he meets with his teacher Tim once every other week and is having a great time learning how to play new songs. Its too cute!

As for me I have been working the past two weeks on getting my stuff together and planning to go back to school to get my AAT in Culinary Arts. I love to cook, it has been a passion of mine since I was 4 years old. The first time I helped my mumsy make breakfast! I come from a line of cooks. Its what we do!
My great grandfather was a chef, he cooked for at least one president if not two. He was also a cook at The Cornish Arms in New York. My auntie Bobi has menus from the places he cooked at.

My mother was a cook in the Navy as well... So I can say its in our blood.
I am super stoked about this program and hope to someday have my very own restaurant/catering company.
First things first is I need to juggle time with my babies, my full-time job and manage to go to school full time for the next two years. Wow! So it has always been a goal of mine, but it has always been so intimidating for me. Since I have had some life changes in the past two months I figured its the best time to focus on me and my goals in life. I mean geez I am almost 29 years old. Don't get me wrong I don't think that is old at all, in fact I still consider myself young... So I know I can do this with or with out help.
I have all my financial aid in the works and now I am just waiting for Clover Park to contact me to go to that next step. Not sure if I will be starting this Fall or Winter, my goal is this winter considering my day job I have.

So step two would be to figure out how to still work and go to school... That may be a challenge but I think a good challenge is what I need in my life right now. Well at least a challenge that will keep me more focused on my future career.

I am also planning to move back to Port Orchard for a few months, mainly to be closer to my kids as Ryder is starting 2nd grade and Mazie preschool. The second reason is to have some alone time to find me and figure out who "Andrea Lynn" really is. I have always had someone to have as a crutch or for security. I want to prove to myself that I don't need that anymore and to be in a relationship I need to love myself and be happy with myself. Its the only way I figure any new or old relationships can work out for the better.

On that note I would love to share my journey with whom ever is out there who can relate with my new life changes...

Smooches,
Andrea

My Sweet Bee!

Oh my dear sweet Bee... What I would ever do with out a oh so sweet girl like you?

Yesterday evening I drove out to good ol' Port Orchard to go pick my kids up from Mr. and Mrs. Hunter's home. These two are amazing, wonderful people and we are so very lucky to have them in our lives. Bee (AKA Mrs. Hunter, Brittany) has been a good friend of mine since 2004. When she first met my son Ryder, (who was two at the time) they both fell in love. Bee has always shown my kids love and respect since the day she met them both....

It was so awesome to arrive at their lovely home with my children just as happy as could be. They were just sitting down for dinner, Bee was getting the kids settled at the table and Jon was serving the pizza. After dinner the kids played and played with Bee, jumping on her, wrestling with her and just having a blast. I am so glad Bee still has that energy that I have started to slowly loose in my age. Gosh Ryder was jumping on her back a whole bunch, I think it hurt my back just watching it. Mazie and Ry love playing with Bee's baby Paco (her doggie).

I finally got to see all the wedding photos in black in white in frames and they were just beautiful...

After that Bee and I went outside and had a great heart to heart talk about life and my issues. For someone younger than me (Bee is 24), she has such good advise and wisdom on life, relationships and kids. Bee and Jon have not started their family yet but I know with out a doubt in my mind they will make wonderful parents. I believe this so much that Miles and I are making them our children's godparents. I told Bee on her wedding day that I was just waiting for her to marry that perfect man for her and it was official.

Thank you Jon and Bee for treating my children so well and wanting to take the little rugrats just for the fun of it.

As for the wonderful day at the office I am having...

I know exactly why I do not like talking on the phone.... I just got off the phone with one of the regulars who was talking my ear off for a good 22mins. Now mind you I take around 115 calls a day and that is just on a average. Don't get me started on a busy day when we are short staffed. So for all of you who never get a phone call from me or I text you instead of call this is why, I spend 40hrs a week on the phone. Talking all day, now I can still do that no matter what. Oh and to make my health even worse my lunch sucked! I went over to QFC to get a cup of soup, but no my eyes wondered over to the fried rice behind the glass case at the deli, so what do I do? Ask for some fried rice, then the lady asked "would you like a rice bowl with the sweet and sour pork?" I felt pressured and said um.... OK. Big mistake and a waste of 4.49$. I start to eat it when I got back to my desk and it was horrible, yucky just plain nasty. So now as I sit here writing my blog between helping patients and answering phones my tummy is starting to grumble and make noises as if I have starved it and deprived it from any food all day. So here I am with an hour and thirty minutes left on a Friday afternoon hungry... Thanks QFC!

Have a wonderful weekend to all my peeps...

I will be taking my baby girl to get her 3yr pictures taken.

Packing and getting ready for camping at the ocean next week.

Going out to dance a little with some friends (Saturday)???

And Sunday I will be getting down at the No Doubt and Paramore concert....

Smooches

A day at the OFFICE...

I work as a medical receptionist for a family practice office. I work with some of the most honest, cooky, serious,fun girly girls I know.
There is Jannell~
She is around my age, she is a wife and a mother of two beautiful kids... Oh and she is a identical twin!
Jannell has been at the Front office the longest almost 7yrs (She is the Veitran). She pretty much hold it all together here, she is the know it all at the Northshore Office for sure. The office wouldn't be the same with out her. She is for sure the best at calling Candice out. LoL
Well today behind our building there was a fire in a shed I had not idea was even there. Well Jannell being the nosey Nora she is went in the shed to see where or what the fire was about, as she waited for the firefighters to get here. Well needless to say it was probably some punk ass kids that hang out in the parking lot skateboarding. Oh that is not all, since Jannell went into a burning shed she came back to the office with a oh so lovely smell... Yes she smelled just like a campfire or better yet a BBQ, hair, clothes and all... So now I am craving a nice BBQ Steak tonight for dinner thanks Jannell. Oh and by the way the Lucky You perfume I let you dowse yourself with to get rid of the hickory smell, did not help much but your still cute!
Then there is my lovely Candice~
Candice is a single vibrant mother of a handsome boy. She has been working at the office for over 2yrs. She is the loud one out of all three of us girls, yes there is someone louder than me.
She is the one with ADD and always has some crazy,funny stories to tell. This morning Candice got pretty much, wait yeah all the crazy, rude and impatient patients that called the office. I thought she was going to blow if she got one more. That is one of the entertaining parts of the job is getting people that act as if they were my daughter not getting her way and just pitching a fit about it. Here we are teaching and raising our children not to act like that "Cause that is not how you get what you want". Not when it comes to customer service... We have learned in our many years in this profession that if you do kick and scream, cry and whine or just be a complete jerk, you in fact do get what you want. Funny how that works, I deal with my 3yr old and sometimes my 7yr old trying to pull that crap with me to get what they want... Then I come to work and deal with grown people acting like a 2yr old pitching a tantrum, and yes they pretty much always get what they want, go figure.
Then there is me;Andrea~
I am known as the really tall one when patients call and can't remember my name. Yes this is true I am the tall one as always, but of course I am called that when I work with two lovely ladies who are both under 5'5". I am the comedian in the office, as always... I was voted best sense of humor in my school days and always the class clown. Poor Jannell has to work with two loud girls with ADD. But I know she wouldn't have it any other way :o)
My day at the office has been pretty laid back, no attitude from anyone, even co-workers. I gotta say its a good day.... At the office that is, if I get that steak dinner I mentioned before it will be a GREAT day!
Smooches

The things we do for love....

So these are my two sweet pea's. My Ryder "bug" and my Mazie "Tink". They are my pride and joy. I love being a mommy, when I was a little girl that is all I ever wanted to be, my baby dolls were trated as if they were real. Even after helping my mother raise my little Sister and Brother, I still wanted 4 children. Well I have these two beautiful children, whom I share with their Daddy (Miles).
Miles was born to be a daddy there is no argument about that... As the past almost two years have gone by so FAST, I as a mother have missed out on so much of my kids lives. After the divorce I agreed for the kids to stay at their home with their daddy. After a year of tons of driving and fun filled week nights and weekends with my kids it just wasn't enough. I found myself extremely depressed, and crying so much about wanting to be there to tuck them in every night as I always did before and working part-time so I could have 4 full days off to be a stay at home to be a momma. Now that I have a nice house in a great area (since 11/1/08) I have slowly but Shirley gotten to have my daughter more through out the week. Now that summer is here I have my son every other week and we both love it, cause we miss each other so very much. The nights and days I don't have my kids, I call then constantly. I just can't get enough...
This emotional separation from my babies has brought to my attention that they need me everyday/night. So now I am making a big move on trying to get full custody of them both...
Is this selfish of me?

Slow Poke...

Well this is my very first blog and I will try to make it interesting... Yeah right me interesting? HA! So the reason for the title SLOW POKE is because that is exactly how this week has been at the office...

We have had only one Doctor in all week except Tuesday (my half day)... Then it was so slow on Wednesday I volunteered to take the afternoon off. That was nice no kids, no T and no appointments. So I just spent some QT on the computer, watched some boob tube, weeded my flower bed, water/fertilized my plants and did laundry. Oh yeah I even snuck a 45 minute nap in too, since I had a headache.

Speaking of headaches, I have had one every afternoon/evening for the past two weeks... Now I am trying to crack that case.? I use to get freaked out when I would feel a headache coming ever since I had Meningitis at age 23, worse pain I have ever had to deal with, I would not wish it on my worse enemy.

Anyway what could be causing these daily aches, I know they are not migraines. Or are they? Gee it could be my stupid IUD I got back in April (that I am so ready to get out), or it could be my job, maybe I am burnt out listening to random people everyday complaining or being just rude. Everyone says drink water, hey guess what I drink water all day long. So what could it be??? Maybe I am having withdrawls from my medication I stopped taking 2 weeks... No it would be out of my system by now or STRESS? As you can tell by my rambling it is extremely slow at the office today. Candice (My co-worker)is keeping me company but she is dealing with her own issues at this moment.

I only have 1hr and 30mins til I am free to start my weekend... Which is going to be the complete opposite of my work week. I will be a busy busy bee....

First I get off work (YES!)

Then its off to Port Orchard (My home town)

Then I go home get all dolled up

go shopping for my lil' Z's 3rd birthday

then more shopping for the party (Food/Decor)

and then T asked me the other day to go dancing with him, he loves to dance and so do I. I am so super stoked about it!

Then early tomorrow morning I will be preparing all the food for the birthday luau party for my baby girl. Then party time!

After that I have a BBQ to attend to see my lovely Coley, Daisy and Brady visiting from Iowa.

Then off to Lake Tapps for antoher Birthday party for T's friend Jenny.

Then Sunday is my lil' Z's 3rd Birthday, and daddy and I are taking her to the Aquarium just us three no big bro (Sorry Ry).

Wonderful weekend ahead!

Smooches....