Work From Home?

I've been doing some searching for things I can do to earn money from home. I've found a lot of work at home jobs that you have to pay to find out about, sure sounds like a scam to me, but I really don't want our future children raised by other people. Childcare is so expensive; I don't know how else to bring in a paycheck and stay home with the family. I don't really want to do transcription or medical billing, but I'm not sure what else is out there besides paying $50-$100 to learn how I can get information about data entry. I suppose I could watch other children too, but I might lose my mind being a new parent too :-). A few years back I looked into writing children's books, I'll have to find the book I bought about it and look further into that again.

Any ideas?


***There is NO bun in the oven, just trying to get my ducks in order for the future***

Grad Night

Here are a couple photos from graduation. I took the day off work since rehersal was early in the morning, so Doug and I went to watch Iron Man and then before graduation my parents came down and we ate at Elephant Bar.

Red Lobster

Doug got home from work yesterday evening and suggested we go to Red Lobster as a way to celebrate my graduation. He knows I love shrimp and love Red Lobster. We both ate about 2 dozen shrimp and their YUMMY biscuits and Doug got a dessert to go. I’m so lucky to have Doug, he always feels bad because he works so much, but I love the things he does for me! He always asks what he can do for me and it is wonderful!

Appreciation Week

This week is employee appreciation week at work. Monday we came in to flowers on our desks and Tuesday there was a bag of chocolates. I won’t be at work tomorrow, so I told our boss to not do anything fun – last year our bosses had breakfast catered and served us whatever we wanted. Should be fun to see what they come up with this year! **Update – I have Wednesday off, but was told to come in hungry on Thursday – woo hoo breakfast again! I’m not sure what they are doing Wednesday, but my boss told me there would be “extras” when I got back on Thursday.

BBQ!

We used our barbeque for the first time on Sunday. We had a fancy dinner of hot dogs and Velveta shells and cheese! I love Velveta shells and cheese and Doug loves hot dogs, so it works out!

Taryn's Birthday

Saturday, my coworker/friend Christy and I went to a park in Davis for another coworker/friend’s daughter’s 2nd birthday. I think it was a cool 103 that day. Jennifer had a bounce house for the party, but the top of it was open and the sun made the plastic so hot. After about an hour there was shade over half of the inside so they could use that side. There was a cupcake cake in the shape of a dragonfly, which held up pretty well in the heat. We had a couple squirt guns and some ended up using water bottles to splash each other with water to cool off.

Justin update

Justin is doing well. All his labs came back negative; he just has a nasty virus. His fever finally broke Saturday and hasn’t come back. He’s got a pretty bad cough, but all in all he’s fine.

Just an FYI

Regarding the mold lawsuit...a lot of people ask how much I am getting - yes, I still haven't gotten the check yet! - but we are not telling anyone how much. The closest answer you will get is, "I got enough" or "not quite" if asked a dollar amount. I really don't feel people need to know. I've already gotten a comment of "here comes the rich girl" and no one knows how much it is. Is it enough to cover the loss of sentimental items, 15 months worth of stress and debt, replacing all furniture and loosing a couch and chair my grandmother had made for my grandfather who has since passed?....NEVER

Grad Surprise

A long week of work was broken up by my wonderful friends/coworkers. I don’t know how many people have the privilege of calling their coworkers their friends, but I do. I work with a group of really great people and we are always looking for an excuse for a party!! Well, I was the excuse this time! Becky and Kristie ran an “errand” and surprised me with a graduation party! Kristie is our resident cake maker and she made a cute cake with matching cupcakes. Although, I haven’t seen her not make a cute cake!! It kind of matched the bridal party cake she made for work. Becky helped me throw away all my nail polishes and beauty things from the moldy place, so they replaced some of the nail polishes, removers, and things like that. So great!!! So, my toe nails are painted for the first time in a year and half, with the exception of our wedding. WOO HOO!!! I don’t think you really want a picture of my toes, so you’ll have to miss out on the pretty color.

Sick Brother

The other night I sent out a MASS text message that I’m not even sure who it all went to, but I’m so thankful for all the prayers and thoughts for my brother Justin. For those who didn’t get my mass text, my brother was in the ER Tuesday night and had a spinal tap done to find out if he had Meningitis or not. The test came back negative, but because he had been out of the country they aren’t sure what it could be, so he had labs done for exotic diseases. I called him yesterday and he has been soaking in baths of ice water for 45 minutes to get his temperature under 100 degrees. He said his fever broke on its own Thursday; hopefully it will stay that way! He had been completely miserable and said he felt so much better after the fluid was taken from his spine – he said the headache and neck aches went away almost immediately. It didn’t last terribly long because the pains came back while still having a fever of 104. He said he felt like he had been thrown down a flight of stairs. Thank you sooo much for your continued thoughts and prayers for him.

Diploma!!

It’s official!! I received my diploma in the mail finally. It feels much better having it in my hands. Now….trying to get to campus before graduation on Wednesday to get a cap and gown. I completely forgot to go a couple days ago and because it’s summer they aren’t open on the weekends. Shouldn’t they worry about MY needs?? Sheesh!
You are welcome to come to the ceremony on Wednesday the 21st at 7pm; it should be funny to hear them try to pronounce my maiden name. Just let me know and I can send a map with directions (I sent maps to some people in the mail).
I’ve also been saying I’m going to have a party for a while now, but I feel weird throwing myself a party, so if I get one together, I’m going to say Doug is throwing me a party. Okay? Works for me. It can be a graduation/done with the mold party. My sister-in-law, Bonnie, suggested having blue cheese there, but I’ve had enough mold to last me a lifetime! Really funny idea though!

***Update.....Doug picked up my cap and gown! He's so great!!

Here it is!!

I blocked out the rest of my name as you can see; just trying to avoid using last names to keep some level of security - that's why we don't have a profile either. If you can in your own blogs, please avoid using our last name. Thanks.

Book Drive!!

Here is the email that was sent to our offices...

We are excited to announce our hosting of a Million Books for Kids Book Drive through our partnership with The I AM Foundation, a 501(c)3 educational non-profit based in San Diego, CA. The I AM Foundation gifts books to children worldwide. Before you ask how on Earth we are going to donate a million books, don't worry our goal is 2008 in 2008. Not quite a million but a great start!

From May 1st through June 30th, each of our offices will be collecting books for children in each of the areas our offices are located.

You can invite friends and families to help by asking them to gift books. Collected or donated books need to be appropriate for ages newborn to 15. You can chose to gift any books except books of a violent or religious nature, which are not appropriate for this program. Many parents and teachers have children's books they no longer need, so you may ask people you know for donations of books.

Please let me know if you would like to help with our book drive. I don't have books to give for ages newborn to 15 years old, but I know I can buy them at the dollar stores or find them at garage sales and second hand stores, so if anyone wants to help out, please do!! - Please remember: none that are violent or religious in nature.

Crazy animals

Our duck was back the other day, without it's other half though. It stood outside quaking until I came outside with some bread. See, I figure the duck was calling Doug and me, not it's mate - that makes me feel important!! HAHA.

Then while at my parent's house a turkey came to visit. It stood by the tub of water for hours. I've seen plenty of wild animals at my parent's house, but I can't remember ever seeing a turkey out there, especially all by itself.

Denio's in Roseville

I'm so excited to show you the fruit and veggies that Becky and I got on Saturday!! We spent some time walking around Denio's and then headed for the fruits and veggies. We ended up with 2 backpacks stuffed FULL and way too heavy for us. They had some great deals out there, my favorite was 6 pounds of oranges for $2, so I ended up with $3 worth. We have so much fruit now, I love it!! Doug loves mangos and they are hard to find good enough to a mango pulled of a tree in Brazil, so we'll see how good these are. Becky ate all her snap peas before the weekend was up!

15 months waiting

I signed the final paperwork on the 15th!! When I got back to work the gals had decorated my desk as a congratulations. How fun!! They had signs hanging up and streamers all over the place. I had pulled some down to get into my desk to take the picture. It's taken with my cell phone so it's not that great. So after my story of my "Tank of Death" and giving away my last 2 fish since there wasn't anything for them to eat now I ended up with another fish...I gave the fish to my coworker and requested the cup back so I could put my betta fish in to change the water. She kept forgetting the cup and just went and got me a new cup - with another fish in it. So now I have a blue betta at home and a red betta at work. The new betta's name is Fishy Smurf. The red betta at work I got in January 2007 and his name is Spaghetti the Noodle Fantastic. I call him Noodle. I suppose I should have named the new fish "final paperwork" since I got him the same day.

Lawsuit.....

Holy crap!! I FINALLY get to sign the paperwork tomorrow afternoon and finish the lawsuit!!!!!! Wait, I bought more !! at Costco, so here are more
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend fun...

This weekend was my Shade Shirt party. I had a fun time having people over. The party ended at 5, I tried on a few shirts myself and then helped Sasha load the merchandise back into her car. While out helping Sasha I missed a call from Doug. I called him back and he was stuck on the side of I-80! His spark plug blew out of his engine and he was screwing it back in. He called back when he got on the road just in time for me to hear it blow out again. He said he would pull over to screw it back in and be home in about 30 minutes or so.

It got fairly late before he called again and told me Jake had come to his rescue and towed him off the freeway. The cylinder head where the spark plug screws into was stripped and wouldn’t hold the spark plug anymore. Doug asked if I could come pick him up at Jake’s house. Before I left, I called the auto store to see what I could get to fix the problem. I stopped by Kragen’s and picked up a Helicoil, it’s a kit to retap and rethread the cylinder head. Seemed easy enough, right? Well, after 2 hours or twisting and twisting to tap and thread a new hole, it stripped again. At this point it’s 10:30pm and we all (Jake and Shannon too) hadn’t eaten dinner yet. We gave up for the night and left Doug’s car behind.

Sunday morning we got up and started trying to figure out how to get the 4Runner home. Doug called around to find a tow dolly (trying to avoid the cost of a tow truck), which they would either call him back when they found one, or they would confirm one was in the area after he knew the grade of the vehicle that would be towing. Being the “patient” person I am….yeah right, not with stuff like this….I called around to different tow companies. I found one that would do it for a flat rate – other companies charge just to hook it up and then mileage. I gave to phone to Doug so he could give directions and the man said they could be there in an hour. We left to see if his car was still there and in one piece. We didn’t want to wait around for the tow truck so we headed to Doug’s parents house to wait. An hour went by, so I called the tow company for an ETA. He said, “Oh I was getting ready to call you guys, we had to fix a flat on the side of the freeway.” Okay fine. Another 30 minutes went by, I called him again. No answer! I waited a few minutes more and called back again – still no answer!

At this point I’m pretty bent, so I contact the nearest tow company and tell them our story. They said they could be there in 15 minutes and would do it for the same rate! Doug and I jump in my car and head over to meet the tow truck, hoping at this point the first tow company didn’t take it by now. His car was still there and as soon as we get out of the car, the second tow company is at the light at the corner!! Holy cow – he almost beat us there! I was so grateful to see that tow truck! He hooked up Doug’s car and followed us to drop it off.

Now, Doug and I had to head out to my parent’s house to pick up a truck they were going to let us use in the meantime. We stopped to get my mail, what a blessing that the amount we overpaid our state taxes was in the mailbox!! We got to my parent’s house at about 3:30 and my mom knowing we hadn’t eaten all day was preparing food for us!! YEAH MOM!! I must also tell you that it was 80 degrees and sunny until we got to my parent’s; it was windy and sprinkling and 60 degrees. What a difference 30-40 miles will make! We played with the dogs, ate some food and headed back down the hill.

Monday, after Doug worked his first job, he stayed home from his second job and worked on his 4runner. After some time I would bug him to see how it was going. Doug called after some time – he had gotten the tool stuck in the cylinder head. I began to worry and worry. At this point the hole could have been stripped again and now I’m worrying about the cost for a mechanic to fix it. I called a mechanic and he said to get the tool out and repair it – IF they could retap and rethread it after it had been done twice – would cost about $300. If they had to pull the cylinder head off and rebuild the hole it could be quite a bit more. The guy was so nice on the phone. When I told him our story he said, “Oh no! It went from bad, to worse, to ugly.” It was good for a laugh. I told him I would call Doug and see what he was up to. Doug got the tool out! He was able to rethread the hole and how had to apply the compound to make sure the helicoil would stay in place. In the meantime Doug bought new spark plugs and stuff he needed for an oil change.

To end this very long story – 6 hours later Doug fixed his car and changed the oil!! As Doug put it, “I saved hundreds of dollars by switching my car insurance to Geico.” Yeah right, he saved us hundreds of dollars doing the hard work himself. I am so thankful to have Doug in my life! He is so talented and he is thankful his dad was able to teach him these things.

Cost of a tow: $75
Cost of parts: $75
Cost of gas to pick up extra truck: $50
Being able to do the work yourself: PRICELESS!!!!

Pick up...

Drop off...

They got there in 15 minutes!!

Looking out from the bridge in the canyon heading home from my parent's house. Why not end on a better note....pretty huh?

Free Comic Book Day

Apparently the first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day! You can go to http://www.freecomicbookday.com/ to find a location near you. So go get your free comic book today!!! I missed out on the ice cream the other day - the lines were super long, but it was for a good cause, so that's great! But, I'm sure Doug would love to take advantage of comic book day.