GRAND SALAMI

In the famous words of Dave Niehaus......

Jackson hit his very first GRAND SLAM at last nights baseball game. You should have seen the smile that completely overtook his face! He was ecstatic. As was I and the entire crowd. First home run of the season for the team.

He had 3 hits, and 5 RBI's out of the teams 10 RBI total. Not bad.

It was quite sad, a few weeks back Jackson was in the dugout on deck and one of the coaches overheard him talking to himself. "Please let me get a hit, please let me get a hit." Coach Rick was so moved that decided that he'd take Jackson on as his own little project and start working with him on the side. So Jackson's been over at his house a bunch of times since then working with Rick on his batting. Apparently it's worked!

Jackson's first thought, of course, was how much money will Aunt Whitney pay me for this? Hey, if money is what he needs to keep the bats going, then I'm all for throwing down some cash!

Thursday Night and not an activity in sight!

I've been overly blessed this week with 2 nights, yep I said 2, with absolutely nothing to do!!! It's an odd feeling. I'm used to driving here and there constantly. Neglecting my rising gas bill and burning thru my gas tank. However, today has granted me freedom from the pedal. Thank goodness! A girl could go insane keeping up this schedule.

So, since I have nothing to do I had to plan something right. Sal, my friend, and best friends hubby is a guitar player. Not sure how great he is at it, but I can make out the songs when he plays which is good enough for me. Tonight we are going to have our first lesson!

Talia got a little play guitar form her dad at Christmas, and I've commandeered my moms that she bought back in college. I don't ever remember her playing it, probably since she can't, but I borrowed it for a semester in high school. Too bad I don't remember anything. Maybe it will all come flooding back to me tonight.

I'm not very musically inclined, but I'm going to put as much effort into this as I can. I'm really excited to start!

Maybe that song "King of the Road" will come back to me.

No SEX past 26

That's right people! If you have turned 26 there is no sex for you!

I had to go in for another "women's visit" yesterday. Seems like I go in way more then I should for these. The routine goes like this: Oh, it's a been a year, must shave my legs to go to the doctor. Am I the only one who does this? It's like going on a date or something. Only this one has you pay them. Doesn't seem right.

First the very cute MA wants to weigh me. Why? I was just in 3 weeks ago, did it really change? I've never had a male MA, but holy crap! I think he was trying to see if my arm would fall off when he took my blood pressure.

So he has me change into the backless gown, wrap the giant paper sheet around my waist to compensate for the backless gown. Then, I gracefully climb onto the table (covered in yet more paper) all in an attempt to be graceful and not show my bum to the all too convenient door right behind me.

To help with the awkwardness beneath the sheet, I start chatting with my Dr. I asked her about this new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Since I seem to have abnormal paps and biopsy's done each year I was thinking this might be a good one to get.

Apparently the insurance companies feel that women over the ago of 26 should no longer be having sex though. It's like we become unwanted and baron! They won't pay for it unless you're between the ages of 12-26. 12! Seriously! I say they bump the age up as to who should get it in their 20's vs a 12 year old.

I've been half tempted to call my insurance and force them to pay for this. It's causing me emotional stress at the thought! I guess it's 3 different shots over a few weeks and cost hundreds of dollars. Maybe they'll re-think the age limit.

WORK Woe's

Ever wonder if they really want you to do a good job and stay with the company? That's the sense I get wondering around here this week. They have turned our managers into well paid babysitters! Someone even suggested this morning that they put out a babysitting tip jar.

I got a written write up a few weeks back. Now if they want to slap me for taking an extra break then fine, but to give me a write up for not signing into my computer for the first 12 min I was on the clock is so absurd! I timed it this morning. It took almost 4 min to clock in, walk to my desk, turn my computer on and wait for it to log me in. So that means I really got a slap for 8 min of unproductive time! I had to disagree with this.

I argue that when I get here and mail my claims, fax some and check my voice mail messages it's being productive. Can we not agree that this is work? I'd say YES! Only they have no response as to what I was doing this one morning. I had to go as far as checking my bank account to see if I bought breakfast, which I didn't. Nor do I run to Starbucks, or make my own little personal pot of coffee every morning like others do, or cook breakfast. I swear, that break room is swarming with people for a good half hour when they walk in the door.

So my beef is, one more slip up and I'm fired! Can you believe that. For the 6+ years I've worked here, to have 8 min unaccounted for. If they want to be that anal then they are going to be kicking a lot of good people goodbye.

PS. I wasn't the only write up, there were quite a few. Someone is on a power trip and eventually they are going to hit the ground. Hard. Then there will be nobody left here who knows squat.

Pictures from Cancun

As I said, I'd post some pictures from our trip to Cancun, Mexico. I've been to some cool places, but this was so much fun! I hadn't taken the kids on any of my trips this last year and they were overdue for some fun time with mom. Having your grandparents and Aunt Whitney tag along makes it all that much better too.

My little guy likes to think he is a monkey and can climb trees to gather coconuts for out little tribe.

Talia made me laugh the first night we got home. Since the kids and I and Whitney shared a room they had to share a bed with one of us as well. Love Whitney, but there is no way her and I are going to share, let alone fit, into a double bed. Talia got the honor of sharing with Whitney and she says when we got home, "I'd like my own room, but my own bed is good enough". Ahh, the small things in life we take for granted :)

I'd like to thank my mom for stealing my bandanna on the boat. I managed to fry my poor brain! My face fell off two days later. Jackson also thinks he is superman and can fly. Lucky for him there is a nice warm pool to break the fall.

There were these awesome night shows! These guys were amazing! I wish I could do this! The picture of me is at the Michael Jackson show. This guy was so much like him! Crotch grabbing an all :)

One night they had this Mayan ritual sacrifice show. They killed a this women. Not sure what the point was, but the costumes and head dresses they wore were huge!

Since our hotel was all-inclusive we were able to take a shuttle into the "hotel zone". There were other Palace resorts and we could use their beaches, pool, eat all their food (which we did plenty of too). The "Beach Palace" was about 12 stories and they has a roof top pool/bar area. It was fully glass enclosed, which is where we took these pictures at. You could see the entire hotel zone. The waves here were so big too! Could only make out a little ways before it would have pulled us out to sea. Whitney and I took the chance to let the sea undress us a few times. I'm sure my dad loved the nude show we invited him too. Next time we know to wear tighter fitting swim suits. Another wonderful show was my mom rolling on the sand being tossed on shore. It's so hard not to laugh at her at times like this. Between being thrown around, keeping your clothes on and trying to run to dry land, it's quite a show!

This is my very first blog! Minus myspace of course, but that was lame. I've been inspired by my sister Whitney, Thelma, Devin, Katie, and Suzy to create one. I feel like it allows me to see into their crazy lives without actually being witness to it all. Kinda fun. Or maybe I'm just a follwer of the crowd and want to be just like everyone else. You decide.

This has been a crazy year for me. I feel the need to recap just a bit on places I've been and things I've seen. Not much else seems to have consummed me like the need for a bit of escape.

First trip of the year was to London with the now ex-boyfriend Will in March. It was so wonderful! After a few days there we went to Paris. One of the most wonderful places on earth. Loved it! I think I found every single church in town and insisted we enter all of them.

The next stop on my world tour was to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands with my wonderful sister! Thank goodness for Verizon Wireless and all the money they gave her. She paid for me to go and it was beyond wonderful!
We spent a ton of time playing on the beach and swimming and being on a boat and parasailing. With such sucky weather that has hit WA these last couple years it was a much needed vacation in the sunshine!
Next on the list for me was a month long adventure in Cyprus and Egypt with Will again. Must say, a month away from home feels like forever! Thank goodness for webcams, otherwise I would have missed my poor kids way to much to have stayed for so long. Egypt was amazing and so huge! Got to ride a camel and go in the pyramids and scuba dive in the Red Sea. Again, thanks to Will I was able to do all this. Couldn't ask for better friends!



After Egypt/Cypruss I spend some time in Calgary and then just recently we hit Cancun, Mexico! Went with Mom, Dad, Whitney, and the kiddos. No pictures to post yet, but this has been an amazing year!