Not Getting Paid

I started my part-time job a month ago.  It's an OK job.  Nothing spectacular.  I wasn't looking for a career job, just something to do to cover the smaller bills with my pay.  On my first paycheck, I only received 20 hours worth of pay.  I work 20 hours a week, so my paycheck was suppose to be more than 20 hours of pay.  When I talked to the office assistant (not sure of her actual title), she said that wasn't right (umm.. duh), and that she would tell the manager and get me a check by Wednesday with my missing hours.  Wednesday came and went and there was no check.  I told Heath I wasn't going into work until I got all of my missing hours.  I am 40 hours short.  Not one or two hours, but a huge chunk.  If it was just a couple of hours, I wouldn't be so upset.  The next pay period is the 27th and I'm afraid that my hours will still be short on that one.  So, I am refusing to work until I get all of the money that is rightfully owed to me.  I'm calling in sick on my scheduled days.  I've talked to other employee's and was told this kind of thing has happened to them in the past too.  This isn't a first time "oops!", this is an ongoing problem and that's why I refuse to go in until I'm paid for the work I did the past couple of weeks.  This is a company that's pretty much impossible to get fired from.

It's just beyond irritating.  If I don't see all of my money on the 27th, I'll be making a call to the labor department.  I'm currently looking around for a new job, but it's hard to find a place that will work around my silly schedule.  On weeknights, I can only start work around 5:30pm or 6pm.  The 5:30pm schedule would have to be for a place really close to our house.  Weekends aren't that big of a deal, it's the weekdays that I need to be very flexible.  I really do hope I'll see the correct amount of hours/pay on my check next week though.  I don't mind working where I do.  But I do mind when people try to screw me over.  We have bills to pay, you know?  If I didn't pay my bills, or didn't pay exactly what I was suppose to pay, I'd be charged late fees/interest.  It would be nice if I could charge this company a late fee and interest for paying me late.  That would be nice.

On Monday night, my in-law's fly into town.  Oh joy.  However, they already know they are not welcomed at our house when Heath is at work.  So I won't have to entertain them all day.  That's not my job.  You fly out to Las Vegas and not verify with us if those days work first?  Cool.  Enjoy casino hopping.  They will be here a few nights a week for dinner after Heath is done with work and then on Saturday & Sunday.  I don't want them here every night for dinner though.  I'm not going to entertain people who feel so entitled to believe they are welcomed in our home whenever they decide to fly out here.  What's so hard about calling someone and saying, "Hey, we are thinking about coming to visit you guys on X dates.  Do those days work for you?"  Common courtesy goes a long way.

Tailbone Injury

On Wednesday night, while getting ready for work, I managed to injure myself.  I always sit on the stairs to put my shoes on.  When I sat down that night, I missed the step somehow and slammed my tailbone right into the edge of the step.  Ouch.  It hurt so much.  It took awhile for me to get up and try to walk it off.  I went out to my car to head out to work.  When I was backing down the driveway, that small little bump gave me more pain.  I continued to drive, but every little bump I hit, I could feel the pain.  So I decided to turn around and go back home.  I was hoping if I just relaxed and slept it off, things would be fine the next day.

The next morning, I was still feeling the pain.  I had to text Heath and have him come home because the pain was so intense when Amelia fell asleep on me.  I could not move.  When I did try to move, I felt pain every where.  It was awful.  In order to get up, I had to roll Amelia off of me and then slowly move around until I could tolerate the pain just enough so I could stand up.  My pain doesn't hurt when I'm standing or walking, only while sitting or bending over.

Once Heath got home, I went to the ER to get checked out.  I got some x-rays done.  The results came back negative.  There was no fracture.  I ended up spraining/bruising my tailbone.  I was given some pain medication and a work note for 72 hours and sent on my way.  The hydrocodone I was given works, but it makes me feel nauseous.  I hate it.  But like I said, it helps with the pain.  I cannot wait until I don't feel the pain anymore.

I'll be going back to work on Tuesday.  I only work part-time, so my next scheduled day after my work note expires will be Tuesday.  At that point, I'm still going to avoid driving certain cars.  I have a hard enough time getting out of my car, which is a sedan that doesn't sit that low to the ground.  I have a feeling I would get stuck in the Corvette's, Mustang's, and Camaro's.  I think I'll try to stick to the SUV's and bigger sedans.  I just want to go back to work.  My job is only part-time as it is and I hate not going.

The Anxiety and Stress

This is another extended family related post.

I have been unable to shake the stress and anxiety I am feeling over the extended family coming out to visit.  I honestly don't want people here at all.  Everything nasty my in-laws have ever said about me before their two year cut out from our lives is coming back in full force.  At this point, I don't even know why we allowed them back into our lives.  I guess it was my "guilt" of wanting them to know their granddaughter.  We allowed them back into our lives about a month before Carleigh was born in 2009.  Since I know their true feelings about me, I'm trying to understand why I allow them around me at all and let them in my home twice a year.  If it wasn't for having their grandchildren, they would more than likely still be cut out of our lives.  I'm tired of having these two faced people in my home.  I'm tired of hearing about what Heath's dad doesn't like about our house, as if I'm suppose to give a fuck what he thinks anyway.  Examples, "I don't like your cats.", "I don't like your couch.", "Are you sure you can afford this house?", etc... First of all, I don't give a shit if you don't like items in my home.  Furnish your own home how YOU like it.  Second, mind your own business when it comes to our finances.  Obviously we can afford our house, you twit.  We don't own two brand new cars and don't rack up debt just to keep up with the Joneses.  We have one car paid off and another to follow soon.  And once the second car is paid off, we are not going to go out and buy another new car just so we can pay someone a monthly payment for the next three to five years again.  I'm sorry my in-laws chose to pay $900/mo for their brand new cars.  That's their deal.

Last post, I said I wanted visiting hours to be from 11am-7pm.  But as their visiting dates get closer, I'd love more than anything to move that time from 11am-4pm.  They don't need to be here for dinner every night.  Nor do they need to be here eight hours a day.  Since I start my new job tonight, my hours will be 6pm-11pm on the weeknights.  I'm only working 20 hours a week.  So I'd like to not have them here all day and deal with them up until the time I leave for work.  Right now, I have Sunday, Monday and Thursday off.  If my schedule stays the same, which it more than likely will, I'd only have Thursday off and away from them during their visit.  I'm not including Monday since they are getting in late that night.  And we're only getting Thursday to ourselves because Heath has to work that day.  Heath told them to find their own things to do on Thursday.

I'm also irritated because Heath wasn't home with me very long after Amelia was born.  He had to save up his PTO for when his parent's were going to come out and visit.  I wish we would not have chosen that route.  Who gives a crap if he didn't have enough PTO for their inconvenient visit?  Nobody asked them to come out to see us for an entire week.  I would have rather had Heath home for a week after Amelia was born to help out around the house.  Instead, he went back to work four days after Amelia was born.  It's not my problem if Heath didn't have vacation time when his parent's came out.  They need to learn that we can't drop everything going on in our lives just to cater to them when they fly out here.  Yes, we live in Las Vegas, but that doesn't mean we can drop everything and go and explore the city and do everything they want to do.  They can go vacation in a different state if that's what they want to do.

Then my mom seemed disappointed when I told her I had to work at least 20 hours a week, even during their visit.  I'm sorry that money doesn't magically appear in our bank account when I chose not to work.  We have bills to pay too.  This part-time job is to help pay off our credit card debts and get more money into savings.  I told her I could try to shift my work schedule around a little bit, but either way, I'd still need 20 hours a week and some of those working days would cut into their visit.  But honestly, I don't go into work until 6pm!  I told her they would still have the entire day to visit until I have to go into work.  It's not the end of the freaking world.  Or is it?

I just can't take it anymore.  I've been trying to lose weight since Amelia has been born.  That weight loss was going well until this stress and anxiety started.  I weighed myself this morning and I gained another two pounds.  Gained!  I got really poor sleep last night because my mind would not turn off from all of this stress.

My mom's crazy is showing again.  I swear she thinks she is psychic.  When I was pregnant, before my mom knew, she told me her and my aunt (her sister) had a dream that I was pregnant.  At that point, I wanted to deny it, but decided not to when I would just announce my pregnancy a few weeks later.  So I said, "Yes, it's me.  I am pregnant... but don't tell anyone yet."  My mom's response was, "OK."  Then a couple of minutes later, my mom said, "I'm texting your aunt right now to tell her her dream was right and that you are pregnant."  WTF?  I just told you NOT to tell anyone.  Then last night, my mom told me her and my aunt (again, her sister) had a dream that four people are pregnant.  My mom said, "I know Ashley (my best friend) is pregnant and I just found out a girl I work with is pregnant.  So we still have two other people not accounted for."  Ugh... So I flat out said to my mom, "you know, dreams are just that dreams.  It doesn't really mean anything."  She said, "I know, but those two other pregnant girls will turn up soon."  OMG, STFU.  I'm tired of it.

Honestly, I've had enough and I just don't want to deal with the crazy anymore.  I decided this morning that we (our little family of four) will celebrate Carleigh's birthday a week before her actual birthday.  Probably on June 22.  Her birthday is June 27.  We can give her her gifts, have some cake, and let her spend her day how she wants to.  The only thing I'll do on Carleigh's actual birthday is say, "Happy birthday!" and leave it at that.  She will be able to have fun and play with friend's before my in-law's get here.  Will that be a big enough hint that they (in-law's) don't need to be here on Carleigh's exact birth date every year?

I think I've vented enough, but I'm sure I'm not done.  I'd just like to go back to feeling normal again.

Maternity Leave

I am finally on maternity leave!  My last day at work was yesterday.  My doctor scheduled my induction for March 19 at 6pm.  I had my last prenatal check up with him this afternoon.  I was only 3 cm dilated today.  My doctor believes that I will have the baby delivered before midnight on the 19th.  That is if the baby wants to stay put until then.  Who knows for sure when she's going to make her grand entrance into the world.  I'm having some contractions right now, but they aren't that bad.

It's just nice to finally be out of that stress case of an office.  It has been nothing but one thing after another there since September.  Too many changes all at once.  The extra days of rest before the baby comes will be greatly appreciated.  I don't know how some women work right up until their water breaks.  I didn't do it with Carleigh and I knew I wasn't doing it this time around either.  I understand that some people don't get short-term disability benefits through their employer.  I'm so thankful that I do so I can take that extra time off before I pop.

Carleigh's last day at preschool is on Friday.  She will be home with me until she starts kindergarten.  I plan to give her worksheets and art projects to do while home.  I have all of her kindergarten paperwork ready to go since registration starts next week.  It's so crazy to think I'll be sending one kid off to kindergarten this summer.  Since our schools here are year-round, I'm going to pick the schedule that gives her the summer break around her birthday.  For kindergarten, it's not really a big deal since she's only doing half days.  And you can't even consider it a half day since it's only 2 1/2 hrs a day.  The full day kindergarten is "tuition based", even for public school, so you have to pay extra.  Forget that.  I'm not trying to brag about my kid, but she's really smart and she gets bored with preschool work sometimes.  So I know she will get bored with kindergarten if she went all day.  I plan on throwing some first grade lessons/worksheets in with some of her kindergarten work to see how she handles it.  On her educational websites, she likes to play math games directed at first graders and she does pretty well at it.  So the math worksheets will be some of my go-to's.

Nothing else exciting is going on here.  We're all just waiting for the baby to come and enjoying the warmer weather.  My next blog update will probably happen after we bring the baby home from the hospital.  I'm sure there will be a time in between feedings and nap times that I'll be able to update the blog.

Bed Rest

On Monday, I was put on bed rest after taking yet another trip to triage.  My bed rest was only for a week.  Unfortunately I will have to go back to work on Tuesday.  I was getting some sharp pains in my left side and contractions while at work, but by time I was in triage and hooked up to the machines, all contractions and pains had stopped.  I wonder why?  Couldn't possibly be the stress from work.  I also had another cough attack and bloody nose while in triage that afternoon.  So the laborist/doctor wrote me out for a week on behalf of my doctor.  Her main concern, I believe, was to help me get over my illness and to make sure I can relax until I am considered full-term.  Since I've been home, I haven't had too many issues with contractions.  I get them, but nothing like while at work.  They aren't as frequent at home.  There would be no surprise if I end up in triage later next week again.  I really hope I am wrong though.  I wanted my doctor to take me out of work completely when I was in his office Wednesday, but he wouldn't.  Guess I'll make another case to him if I do end up in triage again after getting back to work.

The doctor did mention I could be induced at 39 weeks if I would like to be.  I will let that all depend on how I'm dilating.  If I feel like it's progressing quickly, I'll figure out what day would be best.  I'd like to pick March 20, because that's the day Carleigh guessed her baby sister would be born.  I want to let her win our little household contest.  I picked the 17th and Heath picked the 22nd.  So if the baby doesn't arrive before 39 weeks and I'm 'OK' to be induced, then I'd love to have all of it done on the 20th.  It would make Carleigh happy.

My bed rest week has included watching a little bit of Netflix, but mostly playing GTA: Online.  I've turned into such a gamer since being at home every day.  I don't feel bad.  I should get all my play time in while I can before the baby is born.  I won't have much free time to play once baby A is here.  Carleigh will be out of preschool and home with me all day too at that point.  So no time for anything really.  Just taking care of the baby and helping Carleigh with some kindergarten prep.

I hope the next time I update this blog, it won't have anything to do with another trip to triage.  I'm kind of tired of being there.  I'd like to not go back to the hospital until it's time to deliver the baby.

A Trip to Triage

This morning I had to leave work after being there only an hour.  I started to get frequent contractions.  They were a few minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 30-60 seconds.  Once I got to the hospital, they sent me into triage and told me to pee in a cup and put on my gown.  They hooked me up to track my contractions and blood pressure.  Heath showed up maybe five minutes after I got there.  The contractions kept coming.  The nurse and doctor told me it was probably a UTI.  Getting a UTI is very common in pregnancy.  The doctor (who delivered Carleigh) checked for dilation and found that I was only one centimeter dilated.  So I'm starting to open up down there, but nothing to be alarmed about.  I could stay that way for the next couple of weeks.  Once the doctor confirmed that I had a UTI, they gave me a lot more water to drink and some cranberry juice.  I was also given a shot to stop the contractions.  That thing hurt so bad.  It felt like the needle was still in my arm after the nurse took it out.  The shot did work and the contractions stopped.  I was released around 11:20am.  They sent me off with a prescription for the UTI.  It was so exhausting being in there.  It's quiet in triage and nothing to do in there.  Thank goodness for smartphones.

Heath & I went out to lunch after I was discharged.  We got some fattening Carl's Jr.  It was delicious and I am not regretting it at all.  After my prescription was filled, I headed home to relax for the rest of the day.  I sent a text to my manager and let her know I'd like to stay home to rest all day tomorrow.  Since I got approved for that, that's exactly what I am going to do.  While home tomorrow, I'm going to work on the baby's room a little bit more and try to get things ready.  Today was a sign that the real thing is right around the corner.  At least to me.  The nurse said she wanted to see me again in four weeks, which would put me at 39 weeks.  I'd really love it if baby A would stay in that long too.

Getting Off My Lazy Butt

My blog has lacked an update or two over the last few weeks.  I've been meaning to blog, but never got around to it.  Naughty me.

Family was in town two weeks ago, but they are now gone and back at their own houses.  It was a busy two weekends with family.  I'm glad it's over.  The weekend my parent's were here, it was 117 degrees on Saturday & Sunday.  The entire valley was under an excessive heat warning, so we stayed indoors all day.  We had food delivered for lunch and dinner.  It was awful.  Carleigh received her power wheel ATV on that Saturday, but in the evening when it was "only" 110 degrees.  She rode it around for about 10 minutes but her face was getting red, so we parked it in the garage and she went back inside the house.

The temperatures have dropped back down to their normal range for Las Vegas.  Today was around 101 degrees.  We go outdoors in the evening to enjoy the weather and let Carleigh play with the neighborhood kid's.  She can also enjoy her power wheel too.

Work is the same old thing.  We are slow.  Guess people aren't really buying houses or refinancing much after the slight rise in interest rates.  I still have enough to keep me busy since I am cross-trained in three different jobs.  My friend & I go to the Farmer's Market every Friday on lunch since it's right around the corner from the office.  That's the only thing I look forward to at work most weeks now.  I'll be making blueberry muffins with all of the blueberries I purchased yesterday.

On Wednesday, I had my one month Lasik check up.  I'm seeing 20/15 in both eyes which is fantastic.  My right eye is experiencing a little bit of dryness, but that could be from our hot, dry climate.  There was also smoke in our air from the Carpenter 1 fire on Mount Charleston last week.  It was really bad.  The dryness isn't that bad though.  I just need to add a couple eye drops in my right eye and it's better.  My next appointment isn't until September.

And last, but not least, I recently received my Sunkissed VoxBox from Influenster.  I will be going through everything in there one by one and doing some reviews on my blog.  It would be nice to actually get one or two reviews done tomorrow.  I have BB Cream and nail polish in there with a few others.  Those two items will be the easiest for me to review.

I look forward to updating in between baking my blueberry muffins and painting my nails.

Summer Colds

For the past week, I've been stuck with a cold.  It started Friday morning when I woke up with a sore throat.  It really hit me Tuesday when I could barely talk, had a nasty cough, and a runny nose.  I took the day off from work so I could let my voice come back.  On Wednesday, I went back to work when I should have just stayed home.  My nose was dry and having the dry heat here in Las Vegas definitely was not helping.  I got a bloody nose three times at work and once at home.  It was awful.  While at work yesterday, I requested today off in case I needed it.  I'm not as sick as I was on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it was a good idea to let my body heal itself.  We, as a team at work, will be doing volunteer work at Goodwill tomorrow.  It's something I really want to do and don't want to let the team down and skip out because of an illness.  So it was a good idea to stay home and rest.  My voice isn't 100% back yet, but at least my nose isn't a faucet today.  My only issue is the coughing fits I get.  The cough medicine helps.

Next week is my big surgery date for Lasik.  I am really looking forward to it.  I'm more excited to go shopping for a pair of sunglasses this weekend, even though it's going to be 111 degrees.  At least the mall has air conditioning.  I also have to purchase decorations and order cakes for Carleigh's birthday parties.  She will be having two since our families will be flying in on separate weekends.  The parties will be on the 22nd (Heath's family) and the 29th (my parent's).  It would have been nice if everyone would just agree to come out and visit for the same weekend, but whatever.

My biggest rant with family coming out to visit is the time frame people chose.  Everyone is flying in on a Friday evening, landing around 10pm.  That means that will arrive at their hotels around 11:30pm-12am.  Then they fly out on Monday afternoon.  That means we will only get to visit with them on Saturday & Sunday.  The parties will be held on Saturday afternoon.  My mother-in-law wants to take Carleigh shopping on Saturday for her presents, but we won't have time to do it.  She can go shopping before stopping over at our house.  The party starts at 1pm.  So yeah, I'm not really sure how these two weekends will turn out.  My dad has a $100 dining voucher for the casino they are staying at and they want us to eat with them to make sure they use it all.  That means, let's eat $100 worth of food on Sunday.  They don't really need us to eat with them though.  This is Las Vegas.  It's easy to spend $100 at dinner with two people.  My parent's chose a casino that is kind of far from our house and I'm really not in the mood to drive that far, but again, whatever.  No one ever listens to me.  When I tell you a casino is far from our house, and then give you a suggestion for a casino much closer (and off strip), maybe you should take my advice.  After all, I live in this city and know my way around and which casinos are good places to stay.  And to finish, since everyone will only be here for two full days, they will all complain and say, "I really wish we had more time to spend with Carleigh."  And my reply will be, "Well, I didn't book your flights."

I just had to get that off my chest.  Feels great.  :)

Happy Hour

It's Happy Hour time in our household.  Not alcohol.  Starbucks!  I noticed this afternoon that they had their half priced frappuccino's back.  We got two venti drinks for $4.96.  Holla!  Now that I am caffeinated, I have the energy to blog.

One of our plants in our front yard died and we had to replace it.  I walked around Star Nursery for awhile looking for the perfect plant and the Dwarf Bottlebrush stuck out to me.  The plant attracts hummingbirds so I knew it would be a win for our house.  Heath put it into the ground yesterday and it looks so great.  I want to get more!  There is another plant that looks like it's struggling.  I keep clipping off any dead branches.  If it won't flourish back to life, I'll replace it with another Dwarf Bottlebrush.

Mother's Day is next weekend.  Where has this year gone?  Heath bought me a touchscreen aftermarket radio for my Jaguar.  I'm excited to get it installed and be able to sync my phone and radio with the Bluetooth.  The radio should be here by the end of the week.  I can't wait to play around with it once it gets installed.  Heath wants to go to the local butcher shop to get some filet mignon to grill for Mother's Day too.  All I need is some good steak (or salmon, I'm not picky), sweet corn, and a bottle of wine (as long as no positive pregnancy test appears within now and next week) and my Mother's Day will be complete.

Carleigh has made quite a few new friends recently.  There were two kid's who recently moved in across the street.  The family who is renting the house next door have a little girl too.  So they are always outside playing together.  All of the kid's have those Razor scooters, but Carleigh doesn't have one.  Since her birthday is next month, Heath & I are going to get her a scooter.  My parent's sent me money to buy Carleigh an ATV power wheel from Sam's Club for them so they won't have to go shopping after they get here.  Carleigh is going to lose her mind when she sees what she gets this year.

Work life has been kind of slow.  I'm waiting for it to get busy again.  I hate slow periods.  So here's to hoping we will get more busier over the next few weeks.

Mind Your Own Business

One thing that really gets under my skin are people who try to tell you how to handle your life.  I work with this woman who feels the need to criticize anything and everything I do.  At lunch, she will take a look at my food and say things like, "You're eating pasta?  That's going to make you fat."  This woman is at least 80 lbs overweight.  So for someone who weighs far more than myself, don't give me nutritional advice.  I count my calories on a daily basis and know what I am eating.  I do not judge her for eating those sodium-loaded Ramen Noodle cups every single day.  If someone wants to live off of Ramen Noodles, go for it.

This woman also tells me instead of driving to San Diego, our family of three should fly because it would be cheaper.  I'm not sure what planet she lives on, but it costs so much more to fly then to drive.  Even if gas was $5 a gallon, it would be far less expensive to take the five hour car ride then to get on an airplane and pay $465 round trip for the three of us.  I get it, the plane would get us there faster, but why spend hundreds of more dollars when it's easier to take a car?  I'm not a fan of getting groped by the TSA agents.  And has anyone flown with a pre-school aged kid?  It's not exactly fun...

I am the only person she criticizes on a daily basis.  I'm not exactly sure what I ever did to her, but it has gotten so annoying.  I'm not sure if it's jealousy or what.  She never acts this way towards the other woman we eat lunch with.  If she doesn't stop with her nastiness, my inner bitch is going to come out and she's not going to ever want to be in the same room as me.  I could stoop to her level, but what would that prove.  It wouldn't be too hard to move my lunch schedule around and go at 12:30pm instead of 12pm, but it would suck because I really do enjoy eating lunch with the other two women.  Since I don't feel a workplace should be treated like high school, I'm not going to put the other two in a position where they have to chose who to sit with at lunch.  That's just childish.

If I don't show up at lunch, maybe she will start judging and criticizing someone else.  Her toxic behavior will slowly start to infect everyone else.  I can't avoid her completely because we are on the same team.  So I have decided that the best way to avoid any of her bullshit is to take a later lunch.

Potlucks

We had our potluck at work yesterday.  I had entirely way too much to eat, but couldn't resist trying at least one bite of everyone's dish.  Since I had too much to eat yesterday at lunch, I barely touched my dinner.  I found a Grape Salad recipe on Pinterest and brought it as my dish.  I wanted something simple to bring and this was it.  You more than likely already have all of the ingredients in your home to make this.  I stuck to the basics.  Cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla extract, and sugar.  I only used red grapes this time around.  Once I was done mixing everything together, I added the crushed Butterfingers.  The Butterfingers give this salad the extra crunch.  Once I brought my dish into our meeting room and took the tinfoil off, everyone went crazy and wanted to know what I had made.  After everyone gave it a try, I had everyone telling me they wanted the recipe.  Not bad for having never made this before and taste testing it on my co-workers.

This Grape Salad will probably turn into my next comfort food.  Yeah, it's not the healthiest thing in the world to eat, but what's the fun in life if you never eat something like this once in awhile?  One of my co-workers suggested using yogurt and crushed graham crackers in the recipe which would work really well too.  I'll give that a try next time.

With all of the overtime I worked last week (17 hrs), it was nice to end my week with a potluck.  My manager informed us that we will still have voluntary overtime available next week too.  Definitely going to take advantage of that.  I had my performance review earlier in the week and it went well.  My manager did mention she wanted me to take on more leadership roles, but did not go into detail as to what she would like me to do exactly.  I hate taking charge of something because it might step on the toes of another person.  I'll figure something out while I work on my portion of the review which is due on March 7.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

It's Been Too Long

Happy 2013!

It's been way too long since I have updated my blog.  My sincerest apologies.  I lost interest in my blog and realized I needed a topic/subject that will keep me motivated to blog about.  Over the past month, I've really been into trying new recipes found on Pinterest.  I'd love to start reviewing some of these recipes on my blog.  We have a potluck at work this Friday and I found a delicious looking recipe for Grape Salad.  Since I've never made it before today, I'll be using my co-workers as my taste testers.

Speaking of work, we are back on voluntary overtime.  Since I am addicted to overtime, you know what I'm doing from 5am-5pm Monday-Friday.  The extra money is so nice.  Especially while saving up money for our landscaping in the backyard.  I'm really tired of looking at dirt and rocks.  I will never understand how people can live in a house for years and never do anything with their backyards.

The weather is getting nicer here and I'm really looking forward to spending a majority of our days outdoors.  Heath & I are going to buy a Weber grill next pay period.  We would have bought one sooner, but the Jaguar needed new tires and an alignment this weekend.  Since we don't put cheap junk tires on our vehicles, the new tires ate up pretty much my entire paycheck.  The car rides so much smoother now with the new tires.  The alignment was all out of whack from the previous owner, so I am so glad we were able to get this all taken care of this weekend.

I'm really looking forward to blogging more often.  Not once a month or once every six months.  There are so many recipes and DIY projects I want to do this year.  It will keep me busy and give me something to blog about.

Baking Day

Today is my first official baking day since moving in.  There is an aroma of banana bread spreading throughout the entire house, and surrounding homes, currently.  The next tasty treat on my to-bake list is pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  I could probably bake some chocolate chip cookies today too.  That might be way too many sweets in our house for just the three of us though.

My Christmas list has measuring cups as a top priority.  I would love to get a really nice set of stainless steal ones.  The current ones in our kitchen are okay, but the handle on one of them is falling off.  I think it was from the heat of the dishwasher.  Brand new measuring cups will make my baking days even more fun.  A cute apron from Flirty Apron's will too.

We are having a chill day in our household today.  Heath & Carleigh are out in the backyard working on the landscaping.  Carleigh is playing in the rocks while Heath does the hard labor.  I'd go out there and help, but I am busy watching the oven and getting ready to bake more tasty treats.  It will be so nice once the backyard is 100% done.

Work life is the same as always.  I'm back in training again and once I am proficient in my new skill, I can work a bunch of overtime.  I miss all of that extra money on my paychecks.  That overtime will be nice for Christmas too.  Carleigh has already started telling us what she wanted from Santa.  It's nothing crazy and over budget, thank goodness!

Rainy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!

Our weather is absolutely lovely today.  We have rain moving through the valley and it has cooled us down from the 105 degree days we were having.  The temperature is sitting at 77 degrees with a light breeze.  The smell of fresh air and rain is relaxing.  I am excited to have our A/C off in July.  We can thank our monsoon season.  I hope the rest of our rainy/storm days are like this.  I'm not sure if we can get that lucky though.  We would love to pay a little less to the energy company before we move into our house.

My parent's were in town last weekend for Carleigh's third birthday celebration.  They got into Las Vegas after 6pm on Friday, so we didn't do too much with them that night.  We brought Carleigh to the hotel to play with them.  Saturday was a big running around day.  We took my parent's out to our house to show them the progress and our soon-to-be neighborhood.  We drove them out to the community that had our house as a model home.  My parent's really enjoyed it and can't wait to visit us when our house is complete.

We had a little birthday celebration at our apartment for Carleigh on Saturday afternoon as well.  She picked out an Angry Birds cake from Sam's Club.  It was a delicious cake and we will definitely order more from them.  Carleigh received a lot of new clothing.  My parent's bought her 21 new outfits.  A few of those included pajamas, but you get the picture.  She is very spoiled.

Later in the evening on Saturday, we went out to Lake Las Vegas to watch the fireworks.  They had their show on the 30th.  The firework show was amazing.  I took some pictures of the show and they came out good for a simple little point and shoot camera.  All I did was upload them to the computer and haven't gotten around to editing them yet.

Carleigh was excited to see fireworks, but once the show began, she freaked out.  She was crying and chewing on her finger.  Heath took her up towards the casino area to help her relax.  Once the show was over, she felt better and told us the fireworks were too loud.  Poor thing.  I hope she will enjoy fireworks for the next Independence Day celebration.

On Monday, my parent's wanted to go to the M&M Store before heading out.  We spent at least an hour there.  Carleigh was in love.  She loves the M&M characters.  I found an M&M bathroom set on clearance and bought the set for her bathroom at the new house.

I have overtime available at work again.  Tuesday was really hard on me because it was my Monday.  I went into work at 5am and was ready to fall asleep by noon.  Of course today is a holiday, so no work.  Then it's back to work tomorrow and Friday at 5am!  I hate these screwy weeks.  It's no fun when a holiday falls mid-week.  My body will be back to its regular schedule by Monday.  That's when I'll really kill it with the overtime hours.  Our bank account will love us.

A recent picture (from Saturday) to end the blog.  The house should have the exterior painted by this Saturday.  Oh and I should add, Saturday is our five year wedding anniversary!  Time flies...!  We don't have any big plans yet.  Heath & I agreed on having a nice dinner at home with some wine.  Keeping it simple.

Chest Sprain & Stomach Bug

I feel like I have abandoned my blog.  I meant to update the site last weekend, but I was in too much pain.  Last Thursday, I started feeling some weird pains near my chest/breast bone.  When I went to urgent care on Monday morning, the doctor said I more than likely sprained my chest.  Yeah, don't ask.  I'm not exactly sure how I managed to pull that off, but I did.  It's starting to feel better now.  At least I can pick up Carleigh without feeling major pain.  I only get a nasty pain when I lift her up too high.  I'm just glad the chest pain wasn't anything more serious.  I can live with a chest sprain.

Yesterday I missed work due to a stomach bug.  I started feeling like crap on Thursday night.  I felt very nauseated, but didn't vomit until Friday morning.  Not to go too far into detail, but I just could not stop throwing up.  I was going to go into work at 8:30am instead of 8am, but the vomiting would not let up.  I hate missing work.  At least we are not swamped and on mandatory overtime.  We have been low on loans, so I know I didn't miss too much excitement.  Today, I am feeling much better.  It would have sucked to have been sick all weekend.

We have been going out to our house for the last couple of weeks to track the progress.  The foundation has been poured.  Exciting!

It's funny how tiny the house looks at this point.  As you can see from the house next door, the houses are anything but small.  The house should be done by the end of August or first week of September.  Just one more summer in this poorly insulated apartment.

Learning Phonics

Carleigh was pulled aside for some one-on-one with a teacher at daycare. The teacher showed Carleigh letters to see how much she knew. Carleigh got all of the letters correct on the first round. She was the only kid in her class that got them all on the first try. The teacher was impressed and knew it was time to move Carleigh onto something a little more advanced. The teacher suggested Carleigh start a phonics class. So this week, Carleigh will be starting her phonics class two days a week with two other girls in her class. I'm very excited for her. She catches on quickly. I give thanks to Preschool Prep Company. I bought Meet the Letters, Numbers, Colors and Sight Words 1 & 2 from them so far. I plan on purchasing Meet the Phonics: Letter Sounds next. These DVDs work wonders. Carleigh loves these movies and asks for them all of the time. I'd like to buy her the workbooks too.

I'm still working a lot overtime. I put in 16 hours of OT last week and hope to do the same this week. My original goal was to do 20 hours of OT, but I cut it short because I was getting worn out. Turns out getting up at 3:30am and working until 5:30pm can make you sleepy by the time Thursday rolls around.

Tomorrow, I'll be faxing our updated loan application to our loan officer. We are hoping to have a pre-approval letter by the end of this week. We would like to start putting offers in on the houses we really like. The sooner we get out of apartment life, the happier we will be. I just want my own private yard and no shared walls. Of course, that also means a cheaper monthly payment compared to what we are paying here. This place is robbing us every month.