"Mr Slim" is doing well

Mr. Slim is my new nickname for steve. He had his lapband surgery on Monday the 9th. He came through fine. We had to be there at 5:30am. YES! My ass was up at 4:30 am!!! It was painful. I don't go to bed early, so I got about 3-4 hours of sleep. We were happy to be the first one of the day, because that means first to go home...right! NOT! After his surgery you have to meet certain milestones before you can leave. One of which, being to pee more than 100cc's. Steve absolutely could not pee. The first time was about 15cc's. That's when we found out it had to be over 100cc's. We were like "lady, we are going to be here all night". Our nurse was on duty until 9pm and Steve and I had a bet who would be going home first...him or her. I was betting on Steve, but steve just knew the pee wasn't going to come quick enough. I mean my God. He had 2 bags of saline, and was drinking 1 oz of water every half hour and NOTHING! FINALLY at about 6pm he finally did it...BARELY! THANK GOD! But once he got home he was peeing like a racehorse. Most people who have the first surgery of the day leave by 1pm...so we were way behind schedule. Needless to say...It was a VERY long day!

RC let Peyton spend the night on Sunday night so we didn't have to get her up so early. Thanks to RC and Kev. Then took her over to Andi's on their way to work. Andi kept her all day for me. So much appreciative of ya'lls help. There is no way she would have made it up at that hospital that long. Then Andi bought me and Peyton Chicken express for dinner with a nice big diet coke. It was so good and much appreciated. I was way too tired to think about what to do for dinner.

Steve is very sore. He also had a hernia fixed so that is causing him some pain too. He has 6 holes in his tummy. YUCKY! But he is getting around pretty good. Today he went without pain meds all day until about 7pm. I had a meeting this AM and showing ALL day so he took and picked up Peyton from school. Can't drive with taking the pain meds, so he managed. What a guy! Thank God...Not sure what I would have done today without him here helping. Probably would have had to hit up Andi. ;) Aren't you glad, Andi. ha

Steve has now lost 30 pounds. He lost 25 pounds on the Optifast diet for the 2 weeks. Then tonight he weighed and has lost another 5 since Monday. He has to be on a liquids for this week. He had some potato soup, chicken broth, a pumpkin pie concoction that his mom made and was good he said. He had pudding last night. So he's just happy to be eating (drinking) decent food. It's funny. I made his potatoe soup tonight and he said it was spicy. I added some pepper but that's it! He said, "seriously, it's spicey..taste it." I did. It had absolutely no flavor. Not spicey. Tasted like really runny mashed potatoes to me. I think his taste buds are ultra sensitive or something. Weird.

Anyway, thanks to you all for asking about him and keeping up with his condition. He is doin really well and looking forward to seeing his progress and living a whole new life. It will be awesome for him.

Otherwise, just juggeling taking care of him, working, and Peyton. So it's been a busy week. I have had a headache I can't get rid of for 2 days now. It is driving me crazy. I think it's hormonal..so let's hope it goes away tomorrow.

Happy 16th birthday to Ashley Tisdale. Happy 29th ;) birthday to Aunti S. Actually it was several days ago...but ya know we love ya. Hope it was great for both of you.

Peyton is doing well. We are trying to keep an eye on her diet. We weighed her the other day and she is 61lbs. When I told RC this her eyes got freaky big and kind of in shock. I guess most 2nd to 3rd graders weigh pretty close to that. It's not that she's fat. Yes, chubby...but not fat. She is just a big girl. She is as tall as most 1st graders and really big boned. Thick is a good word. I just want to watch her diet because she is a candy nutt! She asks for candy all day every day. She asks for food all day every day. She wants to eat every 5 mins. I am going to get some grapes and keep a bowl of them in the fridge and she can snack on that as often as she wants. But we are knocking out about 3/4 of the amount of candy she was eating. A piece of candy every other day or so. (As I write this I am watching how they make Hershey bars....lol)

She is doing well in school. No problems. She talks about a kid there named Seth. I guess he's a trouble maker. She tells me he throws socks at her and told her she had ugly eyes. He apparently gets put in time out a lot. I talked to her teacher about it to make sure he isn't picking on her, and she said he is just mean to everybody..he is not specific. Always one in every group.

Otherwise...I need some business people. I have a couple of people working, but nothing that is going to bring me some immediate income. So come one...help me out and send me some business. I sent most of you, that live around here, and email tonight about the federal tax credit being offered for first time buyers. Let me know if you know of anybody that is thinking about buying and I can contact them and let them know about the interest rates and the tax credit. Seriously. Please help me out if you can. I have no closings this month, and am starting to get worried about March since I don't have anybody going yet.

Anyway...Other than that...nothing else to say. Sorry no pics. I haven't taken any in a while. I will get some taken and post some, hopefully, next time. Ya'll have a WONDERful Valentine's Day and a great weekend.

Busy, Busy

These are pics of our "snow day".

Peyton and I slid down the driveway on a cardboard box. We have a steep driveway so it makes for a good hill to slide down. We enjoyed the ice for the small amount of time we saw it. It was pretty much melted by noon that day.

All has been well here. Steve has lost now 21 pounds in 10 days!!!!! On that optifast diet. 2 weeks of the liquid diet before he can have surgery. Wow! That stuff works for sure. ha But I just think if one was to do that as their diet, once they eat real food the weight would come back on. My theory anyway.

So I have a 16-17 year old with really bad teeth. Chloe always has had bad teeth. We have gotten her teeth cleaned numerous times. It is something that looks good for about 2 weeks then it looks like crap again. They get really infected looking, and I really do think they hurt her. I have been hesitant to get them cleaned...for one...it costs $500, and second do you put a 17 year old dog under to have her teeth cleaned. I kind of think we should because I think it is affecting her quality of life. What are your thoughts?

Anyway...just thought I would post some pictures and touch base. We are here and hanging in. I am at work right now and fixing to go show. So I will blog again later.

I am on Facebook.com now if you want to be my friend. ;)

I am trying to post a video for ya...Have tried 3 times and it isn't working. So I will try again another day.

Take care and have a great day!

Ten days!

Here are a few pics for ya..





Brittany at her Regional concert last week




Peyton and Syd at the concert


Peyton hamming it up for the camera

Woops! Been 10 days since my last blog. I wouldn't say because it's been too busy around here. Actually, not been that busy lately. We have enjoyed some time together. Not really doing much, mind you.

We are at home this afternoon because there is an impending ice storm. Peyton got out of school at noon, and Steve got let out of his meeting/class/work at 1pm. So we are all at home safe and sound watching tv with a fire going. Such a nice, and unusual luxary for an afternoon. I am thinking of a nap too. Sounds like an ideal afternoon to me.

So Steve has started his optifast diet. He is doing ok on it. He has a headache from no caffiene, I am sure. He can have some tea and coffe but just not a lot. He says the optifast is pretty good, but I tasted it and didn't have the same setiment. I am not a fan AT ALL of powdered drinks. I guess it's the consistency. Grosses me out. but as long as he can handle it, it's all good. He and I went to the "class" yesterday on what to expect right before surgery, during the surgery, and the weeks and months afterwards. Sounds like something he will be fine at doing. He is very excited and I am excited for him. We'll keep ya posted.

Superbowl is this coming weekend. Steve and Kevin are extremely excited. They are going to the Buffalo Wild Wings again. I think the sisters and I are going to Dads to watch some of it and eat.

Jessica had her baby girl. She is so pretty. Congrats to the Rogers.

I have a closing on Friday. woo-hoo. But other than that, I have nothing on the horizon. Been kind of slow the last couple of weeks. Ready for that to change. If I'm not busy, I don't make money!

I was cleaning Peyton's glasses today and they snapped right in half! WTF! I didn't do anything to make them break..just cleaned them. They must have already been cracked. The frames are the original frames we bought..what...2 years ago.

I started this blog this afternoon....my freakin computer locked up and I had to shut it down. It luckily saved a draft so I didn't have to start over. I was too mad to come back to it earlier. But saving graces....here ya go. A new blog for ya.

It is icing REALLY bad outside. We won't be going anywhere in the AM. And the bad thing is we only have like 3 pieces of firewood left. ;( I must say..I am bored. Ready to leave the house and go do something. But, but noonish Wed. it will all be gone and back to life as usual.

Ya'll those live here be safe...for those who don't...be safe anyway.

The joy of motherhood/wifehood!

So how was your week bloggers? Ours...busy would be a good word. A lot of work going on this week. I am going to do my darndest to not work on Sunday. I need a day off. Although, for the most part, I was off on Friday. Minus the 20 phone calls from the same client I had to answer. uggh. Be glad to get them closed and finished. Had a closing on Thurs. But my client didn't apparently get her money transferred from her online savings to her checking to get a check....she didn't have the funds available. So really, I don't get paid until Wed. of this week. For crying out loud! come on people! You gonna buy a house, have the money ready to go! Otherwise...just one of those headaches of a week. I have been so braindead that I have lost my keys 3 times this week! I never lose my keys. I put them in the same spot in my purse. But I have been running from one place to another, that I forget where I put them. 2 of the times I had to just run into the house for a min. from being out and about, and I get out to the car again and have no idea where they are! One time they were in the ignition (after 15 mins of looking) and another they were in a weird pocket in my purse. The other...I don't even remember where I found them. I know....interesting stuff. ha

We went to Brittany's regional honor band concert tonight. Very good. Well done Britt. Really, we are soooo proud of her! She is an awesome kid who is so smart and talented. She does have a great head on her as well. I can only hope Peyton will be as great of a kid as Britt. So afterwards....we went out to the Olive Garden for dinner. Peyton had been telling me that she was thirsty even before we left the house. I poored her a drink and she said she didn't want that to drink. I told her that's what I got for her she can drink it or not. She didn't. So once we got to Olive Garden she was parched. I got her milk. She had that sucked down in no time. I ordered her some more milk. Sucked it down too. So our dinner came....I took a bite of my meal...cut peyton's up. She got one bite down and said she needed to poo poo. Got up took her to the bathroom. She sits down, and throws up all over the floor in the bathroom! OMG! This is what I mean by the joy of motherhood....One other stall was out of order, so there is only one other available. People kept coming in. Yack on the floor...Peyton with her pants down. Me standing there not sure what to do. I tried getting some paper towels to pick it up, but it was too runny. So it took a nice woman going to get an employee who brought in a roll of paper towels. She handed them to me as I picked it up. Then the mop. Cleaned peyton up while waiting on her to get the mop. Cleaned myself up too! By the time we were done, the whole clan was walking to the lobby to leave. Dinner over. I wasn't in any mood to eat anyway. What a waste of a $40 dinner! I think Peyton drank too much milk and too fast. She isn't hot, and seems to be fine. Poor baby. She kept saying, "I'm sorry, Mommy. I didn't mean to." I felt bad for her. I kept telling her I know, and that she is fine. She is not in trouble. It happens. All part of being a mommy, I know. But that part sucks. ha

So here is some news for ya.....Steve is having lapband surgery on Feb. 9th. Steve has struggled with weight, as many of us have, for a long time. Although, it seems he tries and fails a lot more than some people. He has had enough. He feels he needs medical intervention. I agree. His weight has risen in the past year, and I think the more he tries and fails, the worse it gets. A vicious cycle, nonetheless. I really am excited for him. He is up for a manager position at work, and when he told his current manager that he is thinking about doing it, she said that it had been brought up by the higher ups! WHAT! Really! You hear about weight holding you back in your career, but really...I didn't believe that too much. But there is a stigma attached to it. Even though Steve is the hardest working, most respected employee in his dept. it is assumed by the higher ups that he is lazy and disorganized. His manager quickly dispelled that, but still. So that kind of nailed the coffin, so to speak, on that decision. He is going to do it and I am proud of him for making the tough decision. He has to be on an optifast diet for 2 weeks before. This is a liquid protien type drink. It is an 800 calorie a day diet!!!! Nothing else. Just 5 of these drinks a day. He can have sugar free drinks other than soda, jello, popsicles...that's it! OMG! He is going to be a bear over the next month or so. Because after the surger he is on a liquid diet for a period of time too. He has his preop stuff on the 26th and that's when he starts the optifast. Lordie....should be interesting. He was quickly approved from our insurance co. and turns out our insurance changed at the first of the year which makes the approval process from insurance a lot easier. The other insurance he would have had to do 6 months with a nutritionist, phsych analysis...etc. Jumping through hoops basically. So be thinking about Steve. I will keep you posted though.

That's all I got folks. I hope you all have a great week. Adios!

Happy Birthday Addy!

As you can see from the pics...It was Addyson's first birthday yesterday. Who can believe it's been a year already. Unbelievable. She is soooo adorable. A happy baby indeed. Well...until the crowds and the noise start. She does not enjoy being in a crowd or having too much noise. She enjoys her quiet house with all the normal stuff.

People...was it just me or was this week not the biggest ass whoppin'! OMG! I guess it was becuase it was the first day for everybody to head it back to work, or something. Although, I didn't get time off, so that wasn't the reason for me. Too much drama and problems creeping into my week. I have a VERY demanding, rude, total disregard for my time, idiotic client going right now. Unbelievable! I won't bore you. But please! I will be enjoying a good alcholic drink once I get these people closed.

Speaking of closings...Got one on Thurs. of this week. Woo-hoo. Payday for momma. Money is already spent, but hey...it's money I wouldn't have had. Then the other more challenging clients should close Jan. 30 assuming all goes well with them. We shall see. I can't imagine this one going smoothly at ALL! 2 closings a month...the goal for the year. Got my 2 for Jan. (hopefully), now I just need to get Feb. going. Maybe my lakefront folks?? I don't know. Maybe? I pray!!! Found one they love and we are more into the process than we have been in the past with getting his loan and such, but we shall see. I would LOVE to get that one closed. Then we just may be irresponsible and go on a Hawaii trip with the Harris'. Never been. Would love to go!

Ok...Here is a picture for ya. Peyton without her glasses. But what's weird about it is the red eye from the camera too. Looks weird. I don't like to take pictures without her glasses on because she is sensitive about her eyes crossing. Although, lately not as much. We go back to the eye dr. this month, so we shall see if she is on schedule. Basically she is to stay in glasses until she is a teenager. She told me the other day while swinging on her swingset. "mommy, I do not have my glasses on. I am not Peyton without my glasses." So true. She has gotten so used to them, i don't think she could imagine things without them. In the mornings she runs in her room and puts her glasses on by herself. Just habit? I am not sure.

Peyton Spent the night at Nana and Papa's house last night. She enjoyed herself as usual. She woke up at 5:30am again! Not sure what is up with that. Maybe just not sleeping in her own bed...or something. She is so tired. She fell asleep on the way home from picking her up. I tried to get her to take a nap but she wouldn't. She just layed there. uggh. Then her and her daddy went to watch the Steeler game with the other loser Steeler fans at the Wild Wing place where all of them gather. I had to work today, so Steve had to take her. Although, even if I didn't...Steve still has to take her. He made her into a Steeler fan, so if he wants her in his "club", then he gets to take her to the games and Steeler social events. He may be regretting that decision a little bit. hehehe Maybe I will get her back on my team. We shall see.

Alright...Gotta put sleepy head to be. Night folks...have a good week.

Happy Birthday Peyton

Ok...Her Birthday was really on Tuesday of this week (1/6). Peyton turned 4 years old! Can you believe that! 4 years! Oh my Gosh! Time sure does fly by. On Saturday we had a small family party for her at McDonalds. Quick, easy and Peyton loves it. We did the same thing for her 3rd birthday. But I figured I better get away with "cheap and easy" while I could. Because soon she is going to have very specific ideas of what she wants to do for her birthday. All she sai she wanted was a sleeping beauty party. So that she had. Well, it was more of a princess theme, because I couldn't find just sleeping beauty stuff.

Here are some pictures:

Peyton wore her REAL princess crown that Santa got her. She won't wear it very often. We can't figure out why, but she did want to wear it to her party. All her cousins were there including her cousin Brittany. Which is great. Brittany misses a lot of things because of her schedule, plus it won't be long until Brit is gone to college and we will miss her at a lot of functions. Ash and Syd and Addy all seemed to enjoy themselves. We ate our food, opened presents and had cake. Me and Peyton made her cake together. As I found out on her 1st birthday, bakeries close down the first week of Jan. for vacation. Yes...ALL of them. Can you believe that. So I always have cake issues. I made her first bday cake. Which turned out adorable, If I say so myself. I have had to get one from Cosco, my mom's friend has made one too. Here is a picture of the cake we made.

That's the princess castle and all the Princess on the side. 4 candles and "Happy Birthday Peyton" written on it. She wanted white cake and chocolate icing...so that's what she got.

Thanks to all of those that came to the party, and for the gifts...she loved them all.

Then on her birthday, she and I made cupcakes to take to her school so she could share them with her friends. She told me which cupcake would go to who. Of course the biggest one was for her. ha Then we went to El Paseo with Steve's folks. They didn't get to go to the party because nana was sick. So we all went to dinner. One of Peyton's favorite foods is chips and queso. So that she got. She had people singing to her all day. She had a great birthday.

So happy Birthday, Peyton! Tomorrow is Addy's 1st birthday. I can't believe it's already been a year. She is so cute, and REALLY loves her aunt Ally. Now...Auntie Rae...not so much. LOL It is so sad. The second Auntie Rae walks into the room, any day, any time...she cries like somebody just pinched her. We think it's because during a football game RC kept jumping up and screaming at the TV and would make Addy continuously cry. It's really the only thing we can come up with. I hope She will be ok with her in the room for Addy's party. That would suck.

Hope ya'll had a happy new year. The reason I haven't blogged is so I could slurp 08's blogs to blurb.com so I could make my blog book. Well..there's a glitch and Andi and I will have to work it out. So I just went ahead and blogged without doing it. But that is the reason for the delay. '09 is going to be devine! I just know it. Night ya'll.

Happy New Year!

Above is sleeping beauty and Milo as Cinderella. ha
Below is Peyton digging for one of her new toys


Peyton climbing into her new castle.

The princess eating our Christmas tradition of pull apart cake for breakfast.

Our tree and gifts after Santa had come.

Happy New Year to all! 2009 is going to be a GREAT year! A new start. This year my hope is only for health and happiness. Truley. No new years resolution for me. Just for my family and I to be happy and healthy. Enjoy some pictures below of some Christmas fun from last week.

Peyton left out a nice snack for Santa. We have a special cup and plate that we use for this. ;)

Peyton in her new Princess wrap

Peyton with her new Sleeping Beauty movie

This was xmas eve at nana and papa's house. Papa giving Peyton a hand with her gifts

This picture totally cracked me up..now did I already post this pic??? Ok, if this is a duplicate I appologize. I can't remember. I am getting old. Anyway, she wanted this puzzle to magically do itself.

We had a great Christmas. Peyton so enjoyed herself. I think by the time we made the rounds and enjoyed 3 days of Christmas she was over it. ha

Christmas eve we went to Nana and Papa's house. Ate a nice dinner and opened some great gifts. Thanks Nana and Papa

Christmas day we did our little family christmas here at the house and then went to the Gaylord for brunch. YUMMY! Totally good food. we enjoyed a nice meal there and went to the ICE display there. Amazing is all I can say about that. And cold. We all enjoyed it. Then went to Dad's to open gifts. We are all very spoiled, I know that for sure. Thanks Dad and anna for a nice Christmas day.

Friday we went to my mom's for some good eatin' again, and opened gifts. We enjoyed it, and reflected on our year. Mom has had quite the year....thats for sure. So it was nice to spend Christmas with Mom and John. Thanks Mom and John for a nice day.

Steve has been off since Christmas Eve. He did go into work for a couple of hours on Sat. last week, and will again this Sat. Othewise, he has been hanging around. ;) He has done some work around the house, took down our xmas lights and we took down all our inside xmas stuff. I have worked a lot this week, while he has been chillin'. Let's just say yesterday I looked at 6 houses and wrote 2 offers. Don't get too excited. These are both repeat offers. Low ball offers that keep getting declined...so whatever. Waste of time.

Steve got an xbox 360 from Dad, and thus has been spending a lot of time playing that. Productive, I know. But he is for sure enjoying his vacation. He has gotten to spend a lot of time with Peyton. I am telling you, come Monday, when Steve has to go back to work, Peyton is going to be unbearable. She is turning into such a daddy's girl, and has really bonded with him this week, which will make Monday an ughhh kind of day, I am sure. I am glad they got to spend such great time together. They have had fun.

So hope you enjoyed your New Year's eve. Ours was low key and just hung out with the sisters, bro-in-laws and the kids, minus Brittany. ;( Just played some poker and ate goodies. Steve and I lost our butts, and I think Brian Linder was the big winner for the night.

Today we are going to eat some black eyed peas and cornbread at Nana Papa's house. Not a huge fan of the black eyed peas, but will have a few for luck.

This is the final blog for '08. I am going to get our first book together and see how it all turns out. I think i is something that will be neat for Peyton to have for when she is older and can see what her life was like day by day and week by week. Now just gotta find the time to do it. ha

You all have a fabulous new year, and take care of yourselves.

2009 IS GOING TO BE DEVINE! HA