I know it's been awhile...sorry...missed my daughter's birthday post with all the poop that was going on...usually I do a picture post to honor the b-days...and I missed our anniversary post...hubby's a little needy right now, and misses me alot when I'm not sitting by him, or available for a reassurance hug.  Poor guy.  I still wanna kick that hag's butt.  BUT...it's a blessing.  Except for the damage it's done to his ego (even though we all need humbled sometime), and his self-confidence it's been a blessing.  Thankfully we still have enough to get by for another month or so, to include paying all bills.  Alot of people aren't so fortunate...we're OK.  And we'll find out if he gets that military contract by the middle of March.  If that doesn't pan, THEN I might start freaking out a little bit.  I DO have faith that we'll be alright, really.  There's a Plan for us in there somewhere, ya know? 

The kids and I both are loving having Daddy back.  They have gotten so much quality time with him over the last month, I sincerely hope that he doesn't go back to old work habits.  It'll break their (and mine) hearts.  Jason has decided to add inventor to his list of "when I grow up", though he's working at it really hard now. He and Dad have made several toys lately...recycling old things and making them into pull caterpillars, semi-truck (made out of an old binder, lego wheels, and pencils-really cute, actually).  I'm loving it.  School pics are today...I really need to post some pics on here...oh...and Jason has his kindergarten musical tomorrow night...it's gonna be SOOOO cute!!!!  And I wish I could put my own audio on here somehow...Jess had her solo and ensemble competition on Saturday...she sang "The Water is Wide" and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  That girl has such a pretty voice.  She wound up getting 1st, with one place being higher at 1st superior.  Not because of voice, but because of twitching and eye contact.  Boo to the judge!   

Did I mention that at Jason's last conference the teacher said he could definitely move to 1st grade?  WOOHOO!  Said he has no problem with the skills, just worried about his attention level getting the better of him.  I said OK, look.  I know you're not allowed to actually use the words your kid has ADD.  Here's what I know.  I think he has possible a little over the borderline ADD, my sis thinks he most definitely has ADD, and my dr. thinks he's just an active, intelligent boy.  She says, "maybe you should go talk to your dr. again".  OK.  When we get insurance, I'll do that.  Or should we start something before school ends, so we can test it before 1st grade?  How does this work???

OK...I've got some phone calls to make, and then I need to go into the Y and teach swim lessons....ya'll have a great week!!!

Well, well, well.  Well. When it rains, it pours.  And that's OK...if it never rained, flowers couldn't grow, right?

I think I told ya'll I quit that job, right?  My husband saying it's OK, we make enough for me to find a job I enjoy and all that?  Guess what?  My hubby got canned last Thursday.  My old position got filled, and they're not hiring anymore.  Ouch.  Can't blame 'em. I wouldn't hire me either, if I quit after 2 weeks of working somewhere.  SO, for now, we have what's left in the bank (not a whole lot, but we can survive for a month, with all bills paid, so long as no one gets really sick and requires a visit to the dr, 'cause we have no insurance either!!!!)  and what I make teaching swim lessons at the Y.  Which isn't alot, let me tell you.  Right now he's out selling meat door to door with my BIL...hopefully he does well...talk about a huge ego pop.  Poor guy...he was defining himself by his job something fierce.  He's trying to get a contract opened up on base come April 1....so we just need to survive until then and pray to God that contract gets awarded. The scariest thing is the no insurance bit.  What if something happens to the kids?  Jason's already sick...had a fever off and on for 2 weeks now, and missing 2 weeks of school.  Doc wants to do lab work today, I'm waiting for a phone call so I can explain our situation right now, and see if we can get any help with it, if it's major bucks.  Never operated without insurance before...scary stuff. 

 Did I mention this happened on my daughters 13th birthday?  We still lived it up for her...that's a special one, becoming a teenager.  Thankfully, we had already spent all the money that was going to get spent on her before the big firing.  We redid her room, painting it soft pink, with lime green dots on the 2 major walls.  The biggest dots being green corkboard, so she can pin in pics of buddies.  Found a green fabric shower curtain with hot pink holders at Target...looks WAY cool in there...need to somehow get a pic...we also got her a cell phone.  Yes, this is something we swore we wouldn't do until she was much older.  However, with crap happening, and her having to make a few emergency phone calls from other people's phones, we got her one.  It is one of those where you have to buy your own minutes, however.  We bought the first 166 minutes.  She has to keep 30 on for emergency only, when she gets down to 30, she's to consider it dead, and then she has to BUY HER OWN MINUTES.  I love that.  I was afraid with a planned phone that she couldn't make the payments herself and it would turn to good ol' mom and dad to pay or pay the huge cancellation fee.  SO, this way she learns the power of paying her own bills.  Very cool. She had a great birthday...my little baby is 13.  Sigh.  2 years and we teach her to drive, 8 years and she's free.  13 years ago, I would have said I"D be free...now I"m not quite so looking forward to it. 

That incredible hag.  I'm referring to the wench who fired my husband.  He had worked at the hospital for 2 years as a contractor, then got hired on in November as the IT lead man.  New director got hired on Jan. 2.  He had heard her m.o. was to come in, fire the heavy highest paid power players, and bring in her own guys.  He went to her the day after she came in, asked if this was true, and if it was, please let him know, he'd start looking now...he's got a family to support and all.  She said, no, of course not, that's just silly...I don't fire anyone, they just usually quit, 'cause I make life hard.  Well, she sure did.  A was working easily 80 hours a week and longer, doing these f'ed up tasks she'd assign.  On his 90 day eval day, where they can still fire him without notice or benefits...she did.  Bitch.  Oops.  Sorry. I do try not to curse whenever possible, but I really just want to kind of want to run her down with my car.  Oh, did I type that out loud?

BUT, it isn't all bad.  A was killing himself working that job.  He was hating it...miserable every day, when we got to see him, anyway.  Kids were missing him horribly, Jason acting up in school.  We didn't save money very well, spending it like water.  This is going to be a training program for us.  Dad gets to learn how NOT to work himself to the bone (he's a workaholic), kids automatically benefit, and also learn that money does NOT grow from trees, and we learn how to budget.  Kind of like learning to swim by being thrown into the ocean.  Forget the nice calm pool...we're swimming with sharks. 

OH WELL....on to the Queen's writing challenge:

Our favorite romantic movies:

1.  Say Anything:  LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie...so romantic, and one of my feller's is in it...can't beat it.  I think this must be the number one.

2.  Phantom of the Opera:  Come on...who doesn't love the "Point of no Return" scene?  That's just hot.

3.  For Keeps:  When he goes running looking for her at the end, with the ring in the flowers, I just sob every time.

4.  She's Having a Baby:  comedy, tears, and reality...awesome movie

5.  Fever Pitch:  I like Drew Barrymore...even though she's a tad annoying with the same pitch of her voice every time...her movies are sappy just like I like 'em.

6.  Ever After:  Yup, another Barrymore production...let's just say all of her movies. 

Ya know, I pretty much like ALL the romances, 'specially if there's comedy thrown in...the only ones I DON'T like is when they decide it shouldn't end happily...case in point, My Best Friend's Wedding...yes, he married the girl, and good for them, but let's face it, we wanted Julia to get him back.  Unsatisfying ending.  Oh, Far and Away also an awesome flick with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman...very good. 

So that's it...if you want to take a look at the challenge and who participated go to Kween_of_the_Kweens...also in my sub list to the left...Have a great weekend folks!