Friday - I thought you'd never come!

Finally Friday! What a long week, even though it seems like it was a short week.... in my land it was extremely long. Wednesday was my third ultrasound. Everything is going along fine, they just wanted to recheck the spine since Arabella was completely uncooperative on the second one to get the pictures they needed. She's getting so big already. She no longer fits in the screen of the ultrasound in one try, they have to take pictures of different parts. It was kind of neat!

This time we got a video (We didn't know for the two times before). Unfortunately they can only record on VHS so Matthew is going to make a DVD so I can upload it online for all to see. Thursday, I had another check up and the glucose test. Man was that stuff nasty to drink! The check up went fine - everything is looking good.

My next appointment is at the end of January and then they will get more frequent from every three weeks to every two then one. Time's running out! March is quickly approaching.

Work's been relatively quiet (except for yesterday). Most of our office is out for the week so it's been really lonely. I don't mind though, I've gotten a lot of random things done in the process. I had a list of random projects to keep me busy, I got most of them done. I think I'll be knocking the last few off this afternoon after we get our proposal out to Pittsburgh. Hopefully, who knows though!

Preparations are underway for our New Year's Get Together. I don't really want to call it a party because it's just really going to be mostly the same people that hang out at my house on a regular basis. We'll have fun though! The boys will probably all be trashed and I'll take lots of funny photos while they do silly things! I'll be the lonely sober one, oh well though. I never really was a big drinker! I told Matthew to buy me some goodies to make some smoothies so I'll at least having something yummy to drink all night.

I'm hoping I can make it to midnight, but it's debatable! I usually pass out somewhere around 11pm anymore but there are occasions I can make it a little later. I'm going to attempt taking a nap at some point on Monday so I can hopefully stay up for the evening. If not, oh well. I'll be well rested for Tuesday when we start tearing down Christmas decorations!

After my ultrasound on Wednesday, Matthew and I stopped at the mall (Yeah, I'm apparently nuts)! I wanted to get a few games for my DS because as much as I love Brain Age, I wanted more things to play. EB was relatively vacant on DS games. The selection had been completely wiped out but I did manage to find two games to play. I'm big on the puzzles and not so much on the action/adventure kinds of things (though I will play them). I picked up another brain game (I forget the name though) and it's fun but the one i really like is WordJong. It's a combo of Majong and scrabble where all you do is make words. I'm completely addicted! I play it for hours and don't even realize it. The game has daily puzzles and challenge modes and more. I love it!

I think in a few weeks I'll wander back down to EB and see what other games I can pick from. I'll let the stock build up again after being decimated from Christmas. What's really a bummer about going down there before though was they had a sale on used games buy 2 get 1 free. Unfortunately I couldn't find 3 used games that I would even play. Ah well, such is life.

While Matthew and I were at the mall we also stopped to see the castle bank at the ornament kiosk I wanted so badly before Christmas. We saw it a few weeks back where they do the personalized ornaments. It was a pink castle bank and of course I fell in love - unfortunately it was a little expensive so we didn't' get it. Well now that Christmas is over, they cut prices and knocked it down to $20.00. Naturally, it wasn't a hard decision for me to buy it and put Arabella's name on the front. It's simply gorgeous! I can't wait to put it in her room!

Speaking of her room, that's this month's project. I really want to get everything accomplished and ready this month before I get too far along in the 3rd trimester and can't do things. For the most part it's just rearranging. I think Matthew and I are planning on setting aside a weekend to do it together. Perhaps later in this month I'll make a long weekend (Take either Friday or a Monday) and get things underway. Most likely a Friday because at least Matthew is done earlier on Fridays.

Well it's about time to get some things accomplished for the day. If you haven't seen yet, visit Arabella's photos as my third ultrasound pictures have been posted for your viewing. Enjoy! Leave comments!

No Rest for the Weary...

What a week! It's only Wednesday and I want another week to recover. I'm so exhausted! I was exhausted long before the holidays but these last two days are a killer! Running from one part of the family to another is very tiring for someone, even when they aren't pregnant!

Overall, the holidays went well. Matthew and I both received some very nice presents from our family. We're quite blessed in that aspect! After returning home late last night, we spent the evening attempting to put away some of the great gifts (Because so many are useful presents) and make some room in the living room. There just wasn't enough room under the Christmas tree for all our things (that's never a bad thing though)!

To recap some of the items we got here's a short list:

Matthew

• Drill and Drill Bits
• Dremmel and Accessories
• Butcher Block Cutting Board
• Mandolin
• Pyrex Bake ware Set
• Martini Glasses/Shakers Set
• Flask with Shot Glasses
• Tag Body Spray
• Moder and Pestle
• Stud Finder
• 3-D Art Dragon Picture
• 3-foot tall Knight with Armor/Shield
• Dragon Wall Art with Sword
• French Fry Maker
• Knife Sharpener
• Cologne
• Plyers and other assorted Tool Set

Hayley

• Nintendo DS
• Brain Age Game
• DS Accessories
• Necklace
• Robe/Slippers
• Gingerbread Tea Set
• Assortment of Shower/Body/Hair products
• Faerie Picture in Frame
• Butterfly Candle Holder
• Faerie on Stand
• Steeler Earrings
• Steeler Feather Boa
• Candle/Candle Holder Set
• Toaster Oven
• Wooden Trunk

Overall the holidays went well, now I just need a week to recover but I can't do that.... back to work I go this morning. At least it's a short couple of days. Today is my third ultrasound (Yeah ... MORE PICTURES)... then tomorrow morning I have a check up. I'm so sick of doctors at this point and I know the closer I get to March the more I'll be seeing them!

Be sure to stop back after tomorrow to see new pictures of the baby!!! I can't wait to see how she's developed. Hopefully they'll look even better than the last pictures (each set has gotten a little more clear and developed).

I think it'll be a pretty calm week at work for me at least. Most of the office has taken the whole week (and some of next week) off for the holidays. There's only 3 of us here out of the 12 that work in the office. I believe we'll be lonely all week too! It's not like much is going on. I think pretty much every business (with the exception of retail/food) is dead during the week between Christmas and New Years. Nothing is happening. No one is creating work, no one is even in the office. Driving into work today took the least amount of time because there's virtually no one headed to work. Most people have time off. I wish I did! In theory, I would have taken this week off too but I'm conserving every hour of vacation time possible for once Arabella arrives so I can spend as much time at home with her as possible because I know I want to!

I'm looking forward to next year so much. The holidays are really going to change for us, it's never going to be quite the same again. Next year will be thrilling with a baby of our own but the following years when she's old enough to kind of understand the concept of Santa Claus will be a thrill! It will be Matthew and I up all night stocking the tree full of goodies instead of just sleeping in and rolling out of bed. Matthew actually got a taste of what is to come this year helping our upstairs neighbor John build bunk beds for his son for Christmas after he went to sleep.

Apparently it took 4 grown men (with horrible instructions) 4 hours to put together a futon/bunk bed late at night. They were spotted by our other neighbor as he was getting presents from his attic at the same time. Oh the joys we've got to look forward too! I can't wait though!

I also can't wait until Arabella is old enough to do arts and crafts as we will most certainly be making ornaments/presents every year once she can do it! I miss making the ornaments with my mother as we did when I was younger so I'm ready to start the tradition back up with my daughter!

I've determined today is just going to drag on and on. I'm so excited about getting my third ultrasound today (but the 32oz of water kills me). I love more pictures of my baby. I'm about to start her scrap book shortly (I was waiting for more pictures so I can do more at once). I need to make a trip to Michael's to pick out the perfect scrap book to start. I was waiting until we found out what we were having for sure and now that we know (and will get a second confirmation at the ultrasound today). I may stop at Michael's this afternoon and pick out a beautiful book. Afterwards I think that I'll be hitting the mall to pick out a few DS games and possibly hit a few sales. I have some Christmas money I'm ready to spend!

Shortly I'll have a nice abundance of money from winning fantasy football as well. When no one thought I could do it, I came out of no where to win against John by two points thanks to SD benching LT in the 3rd quarter. Playing fantasy football has been so much fun this year. I can't wait until next year to play again (especially since part of our bet was naming the losers team). So what shall I call John's team next season? It must be something very funny and girly since he wants to pick on my team name so much! Ah well, I've got a whole season to figure that out!

Now that the holidays are over, Matthew and I have to begin the process of transforming the back room into the baby's room. We were waiting until after Christmas because it's just been completely insane. There isn't much that needs done and most can be accomplished quite easily, it's just a matter of getting in there and doing it! We need a nice weekend to just do it all at once, then get ready for Matthew to paint and then start moving our things into the room. My goal is to get this done in January which is quite feasible if we just get the time to do it.

Well, it's about time for me to go find some random project to do in the office. Perhaps occupying my time with something will make the day go a bit faster (it can't possibly go any slower). UGH! I'm ready to go home already and take a nap. I'm thinking of possibly taking a 1/2 day next week for New Years Eve (maybe even the whole day depending on my workload and what not). Might as well make a nice long weekend of a holiday! Not sure yet, have to see how the week goes and how my work goes. I may need to be here (I may not though).

Until next time! Happy Holidays!

The Story of Artex and the Christmas Stocking

I thought since it's Christmas, I'd share a funny story about my cat Artex and his Christmas stocking.

Last year, Matthew found it hard to believe my cat understands Christmas. He really does though! When I decorated for the holidays last year, I placed our stockings on our dining room mantle. Early on, I had already got Artex an assortment of toys/treats and filled his stocking up. It was up for well over a week and he never bothered with it until early Christmas morning. Matthew and I woke to the sound of jingling bells from him poking at the stocking from a chair below. He wanted his toys because he knew he was allowed them now.

That was last year, now let's talk this year. A much more entertaining story. I was a little slow on getting his toys/treats this year so they have only been in his stocking for a few days. I filled his stocking on Friday night after getting all the items and instead of hanging them this year, we just left them under the tree.

Well Saturday morning, I almost crushed his stocking sitting beneath me on the bed. Somehow it managed to make it's way into the bedroom and I know it didn't grow legs and walk in there. At first, I thought Matthew was playing a trick on me because the stocking was rather large and a bit heavy for a small cat to drag around the house.

I put it back under the tree where it belonged and went about our day. Sunday morning, I woke up to the stocking in the dining room. Nothing out of it (it was stuffed rather well) but it still had made it's way from under the tree.

I put it back again, this time in a different spot. Matthew woke up a short time later and we eventually had a nice breakfast. While sitting in the living room watching tv, Artex started sniffing all the presents and eventually made his way back to his stocking again. He pawed at it for a while trying to get it down from where I had put it on top of other things and then suddenly he took off running with the stocking in his mouth! I couldn't believe it!!!

He stopped in the kitchen and continued trying to get things out of the stocking, but had no luck (There's a box of treats basically stuck in there). I picked up the stocking again and put it back higher under the tree hoping he'd leave it alone and for the most part he did.

The day went on as normal and then in the wee hours of the morning, Artex woke us up fighting with the stocking again!!! Matthew woke up and put the stocking on the mantle and went back to bed. When I woke up for work today, I was stared down from the moment I woke up until the minute I left. He's mad we took his stocking away! I kept telling him he could have it tomorrow though!

Currently, the stocking is on the mantle in our dining room. In theory, he shouldn't be able to reach it but he's a clever little cat. I can only imagine how hard he's trying to get it down!

The moral of today's story - If you buy your pet presents.... put them in a very high location until Christmas!!!!

Christmas Eve

Finally! We've reached Christmas and I can't wait for it to be over. I'm already exhausted from doing so much stuff. I actually worked today (if you want to call it that). The office is literally empty with me, my boss and one other person. We're working until noon but I suspect we'll get booted out early!

There's not much going on so there's not really a whole lot to do. I've made myself a list of random projects for the week to keep me from going insane with boredom! I think just about every business is like this during the week between Christmas and New Years. I know our office is going to be almost vacant with only me and about two others working out of the 12 in the office.

In theory, I would have probably taken this week off too but with the baby coming, I wanted to conserve every moment of vacation time for when she arrives, I know I'll want it then!!! Matthew and I are getting more and more anxious with each coming day. We get to have another look at our beautiful baby on Wednesday afternoon so be sure to pop in Thursday as I'll be sure to post the new pictures of our baby. I can't wait to see how she's grown over the last month.

After the holidays, Matthew and I will be calling InSight in Monroeville to set up an appointment for a 3D/4D Ultrasound. I've wanted one since we found out we're having a baby. They are so neat and we'll actually get to see what the baby looks like. Since we're paying out of pocket for it, I wanted to wait until near the end of the pregnancy so we got some really great pictures. As of now, we're looking at mid-February just before the baby shower so I'll be sure to have the photos for the shower (I know people will want to see them).

We're starting to get down to the wire and about to get the baby's room ready. I thought about burning a few days in the coming months to get the room ready for the new arrival. Weekends just don't seem long enough to get anything accomplished, though I'm going to try really hard. With Christmas, nothing gets accomplished it seems. Though shortly after New Years, hopefully that will change.

For those still wondering, I'm hanging in there for Fantasy Football (Barely). Though right now I need a Christmas Miracle! I'm up by 21 points and John still has his #1 man, LT, to play tonight. LT could easily crush me with 21 points BUT..... the last time LT faced Denver he was held to only 16 points and as I've learned with football this season, ANYTHING can and will happen! Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. With all the family events going on tonight it's a bummer I won't be in front of a TV to even watch the game (unless they decide to put it on at his grams ... which could happen). At least I have my cell phone where I can check my scores all night. So for anyone seeing me this evening if you see me glued to my phone from 8pm on.... I'm probably checking my fantasy scores!!!!!

Well back to finding random things to do with my time this week. Happy Holidays!

It's Raining on Sunday...

What an icky day. Rain, rain, rain and no real nice sunshine. At least it's not really cold! It's actually kinda nice!

Today has been rather uneventful and I'm glad. I went to big lots earlier to take back a table mirror I bought that was broken. I was really bummed it was so cheap because it looked really pretty. Oh well! Finished the absolute last of the Christmas shopping and wrapped the last two presents so I am officially done and thrilled about it.

Tomorrow begins the week of insanity. There is so much going on and I know come the end of next week I'm going to be exhausted! It's been really nice relaxing at home all day watching my football games. Matthew and I just finished watching the Browns/Bengals game. John had two of his keys on hte Browns so I had to watch the game to root against them (for many reasons). You have no idea how much I loved the intercepetions (-2 for each one). Gotta love it! John's still predicted to beat me but we'll see how Tom does in the next game. Tom Brady has been my team (literally) carrying my butt week to week and getting me to the superbowl. I love it! I'm so happy I picked him from the get go. Best decision I made all season. Now if only I could have kept myself with running backs, it'd be better!

Well off to watch the patriots game. I hope it's a good one!

Lazy Saturdays

Ah what a night. Matthew and I had some dinner at Applebees and then off to get the last of our Christmas shopping done. Walmart was a zoo (as if it's not always) but surprisingly it wasn't ALL THAT BAD. We were home by 9:30 so it wasn't too terrible of a night.

Matthew and I rented Armageddon finally last night. I watched it this morning and found us on TV constantly, mostly the back of our heads but anytime something good happened out of the ring in front of us, we were on tv for a few moments. It's actually kind of cool. Watching the matches again, I actually saw most of what I missed when things happened on the other side of the ring, but thats ok because the experience was simply wonderful! I am so happy we got to go!

I finished wrapping most of my gifts this morning. Most of Matthew's things are sitting under the tree unwrapped because he saw me buy them. I'm not worried though, I told him he can't play with them until Tuesday morning (though I did let him play with a few things already).

I bought Artex his presents last night. I opened the one up already to let him toy with it. We bought him a remote controlled cat toy. I think he's more confused by it then anything else, but he's started messing with it slowly. It's kind of neat. I also bought him some cat treats and stuck them in his stocking. When Matthew and I woke up this morning, the stocking was in the bedroom. I think someone wants his presents early.

Well, it's time to start cleaning for the day. I need to get things in order for this weekend before the insanity begins. I swear its going to get done (sooner or later).

Finally Friday!

It's finally Friday! I thought this day would never get here. If you've been an avid reader of my blogs, you've noticed I've moved them from the original site. The reason for the switch is quite frankly, Verizon's blog site is a royal pain to work with and blogger is much more user friendly. Plus it's easier to post pictures and other things into this site then Verizon. The journal was actually taking up a good 10% of our Verizon Free Website space so something had to go. This was the best solution, I've got unlimited space here.

This website also allows for comments (and you don't have to sign up to leave them) so feel free to comment on anything you'd like!

Moving along, what a crazy week. I had a presentation Tuesday evening for work so that was a long day. Last night I attempted to stay up late enough to watch the Steeler game but I crashed shortly into the third quarter. Matthew woke me up at the end to tell me that I won on my mom's football pool for the final (that's a first)... guess I should go to sleep more often during the games I might actually win more!

Work has been great (minus the insanity now and then). We got Christmas presents from our managers today - mine a gift card to Applebees (Haven't even been here that long and they already know me well)! I love Applebees so I think I know what I want for dinner tonight!! YUM! I've been wanting to try their steak stuff. I use to hate steak but lately I've started liking it more and more. They have a garlic butter topping for their steaks and I think that's what I want tonight! I deserve a treat - I think that's what I want tonight!

Matthew and I still have a bit of Christmas shopping to do to finalize everything. I'm hoping we can knock that off this evening so we can enjoy the weekend before the crazy week begins. Ah - Holidays!

This weekend is the superbowl for fantasy football. It's come down to me and John (go figure)! I've been leaving him little jokes all week with pictures of cats destroying knights (My team mascot is a cat - his is a knight). It's all in good fun! Gotta love it! I'm looking forward to the game though, it's going to be a tough match up.... one person doesn't do well and the entire outcome could change. I'm predicted to lose, but predictions mean nothing - as I've learned week after week. It's all just figures what counts is what actually happens during the game!

Most of our games are on Sunday but a big game for John is on Monday so if anyone is around me Monday evening and I'm constantly checking my phone it's to make sure that LT isn't running all over my score!!! LOL! Here's to hoping!!!!

With all the Christmas craziness going on, I've thought about how different next Christmas is going to be with the new baby. I can't wait for the holidays next year.... I'll actually get to have fun! More so the following year when Arabella will be about 2 years old. It's going to be a blast! I told Matthew we'll have to find him a Santa suit in a few years so we can really do it up right - I got a weird look from him with that comment. It's all going to be fun though!

Artex is still lurking around. He's been really hyper the last few weeks. He's very much a child who knows there's some presents under the tree for him (well there will be after tonight when I go buy them anyways). Matt still laughs at last Christmas when he started messing with his stocking Christmas morning. He didn't believe me that he actually knew it was Christmas!

Artex and Arabella still play tag almost every day. I've gotten use to it now so it's not as annoying. He also likes to lay on me and listen to my stomach. I know he can hear her in there because cats have really good hearing. I wonder what it sounds like to him?

Well time to get some last minute things done here. It's going to be so quiet next week with most of the office out. Ah well, at least I can relax at that point!!! Happy Holidays! I'm sure I'll see most of you soon!

Armageddon Recap

Where to begin? What a night!!! I love wrestling but watching from ringside is an entirely new experience. Matthew winning these tickets was the most amazing end to 2007. I’m so thankful we are so lucky!!

So let’s start with a recap of the day. We watched the football games and I slowly watched Tom Brady get the worst score he’s gotten all season long (5 lousy points). Normally, he gets between 20-40 points for me but 5???? I thought for sure I was done for the superbowl of fantasy football. I was only one game away. But alas, the football gods saw fit to screw just about every quarterback apparently because Tim (The person I was playing) had a quarterback (Tony Romo) who only got 5 lousy points as well. So I guess we’re even. As I sit and write this blog at home watching Monday Night Raw on TV flipping between the football game, I’m set to beat Tim by more than 20 points, so long as the Minnesota defense doesn’t do anything useful (PLEASE DON’T DO ANYTHING USEFUL)! If this is the case, it will be me and John battling it out in the fantasy superbowl of the league – Who would have thought!!!

So after the insane games we watched (weather was nuts), we left for the event around 6:30ish when John got home from work. The weather sucked on the way in with some slippy roads, but we were determined to get there. (Thankfully the ride home was great – no problems)!

We got inside only a few minutes before the event started, what a crazy line out front. After literally crawling into our seats (we had to crawl over people smashed at ringside halfway through the row to get to our seats in the middle), wrestling really took a change for me.

It’s a totally different world when you’re so close one mistake could land a wrestler in your lap. They look different close up, many look much smaller than they look on TV> It’s quite weird.

The matches were great, starting off with Rey Mysterio who gave his mask hand delivered to the little boy in the row behind us. What an experience. We had a lot of action on the floor in front of us (See amazing pictures in the photos section). I took well over 400 shots but after weeding through the good and the bad ended up with well over 300 pictures. I put the best 40 or so up on the web (But there are many more good shots).

The ECW match with Kane and CM Punk was great; we just prayed that no one knocked Visera off the ropes into our barricade because he may have knocked us over too! We had many wrestlers run into the barricade in front of us, especially during the last match, which had a lot of action in front of us. Matthew almost had the undertaker in his lap. We actually got to touch the legend himself. Man what a feeling. That man is huge!!! We also had the two fake Edge’s lying in the ring in front of us for quite some time. Pure insanity! I loved every minute of it though.

The Jeff Hardy/Triple H match was amazing. I got some of my best photographs of action shots during that match. Of course, why not with as acrobatic as Jeff Hardy is in every match. I also got a lot of great action shots from the Undertaker vs. Batista vs. Edge match. I love it!

Being so close to the action gives me an entirely new look on wrestling. These people really put it all on the lines; there isn’t an easy way to get flipped upside down because you’re not landing on a pillow top ring that has to hurt! Not to mention getting flipped and thrown outside of the ring on those floor mats, it still has to hurt at least a little bit.

I was a little disappointed with some of the match outcomes; I really thought things could have been better. JBL interfering with Chris Jericho’s match was a little lame and the fake Edge wrestlers were kind of silly, but otherwise it was a really great night. I missed not having John Cena there who’s out on injury, along with a few other choice wrestlers who were MIA for the night.

I guess the bright side of everything is if the Pens get their new arena soon, we’re likely to get some better wrestling events in Pittsburgh, maybe even a major pay per view like Royal Rumble or something – now that would be something to see.

I think one of the best parts of the night was the joy in taking home my chair though. When sitting in the first few rows around the ring, the chairs are padded and decorative with the events theme. Our chairs look awesome and at the end of the night, they cut them apart and you can take them home to keep. We were nice enough to give one to John because prior to the event we made a deal that if either of us won and we did get to take home the chairs we’d split them. It’s only fair and it was a nice way early Christmas gift to each other.

We got home last night around midnight so obviously I’ve been exhausted all day today. When we got home I couldn’t sleep because I was still on an energy rush from the show. I woke up with no problems surprisingly, but I think I’m going to crash a little early tonight anyways – I’m already getting sleepy.

It’s going to be a very hectic week for me this week as tomorrow night I’m going to Waynesburg to give a presentation for work. This will be the first time I’ve had to do something like this so I’m a little nervous, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Waynesburg isn’t that far and I’d hate to make April come from York to do the presentation when I’m only 30 minutes away and she’s hours away. I’m excited as much as nervous though because this is a big responsibility for me at my job. I’m thrilled they trust me enough to do something so important.

The holidays are quickly approaching. I can’t wait until they’re over. It’s been so insane since the beginning of the month. I’ll be happy when it’s all over and life will settle just slightly for a little while.

Check out the pictures I’ve posted on the event. I’ve put up my favorite pictures out of the 400+ I took at the event. Enjoy! LEAVE COMMENTS!

King of the Ring

What a crazy week! But what a great week!!!! Tuesday morning started off with amazing potential as Matthew woke up to his phone going off at 6:30am from Y108 calling him to be in the “King of the Ring” contest for Armageddon (WWE Wrestling) tickets. Basically, the contest is backwards from normal radio contests where you have to be the right caller. Instead, you enter online (I entered his butt) and they call you but you have to answer the phone “I’m Y108’s King of the Ring” otherwise, they hang up on you and call someone else! Of course, I had him trained to answer the phone so he did it right and that easily we won two tickets to Armageddon for Sunday night! Matthew was also entered into a drawing for ringside seats. He had a 1 in 5 chance (Because they only picked one winner per day for the tickets).
So we were very happy. We shared our good news with John and Debbie who also entered the contest online. Wednesday morning, Y108 called Debbie but she didn’t wake up to answer the phone. John attempted to save the chance at tickets and answered but since they were looking for her he could win. He was bummed! Oh well.
Thursday morning, Y108 called John and he did answer the phone correctly. So two winners in one household! How exciting! We just increased our ringside seats to 2 out of 5! Good odds! There was still one more day and no one had called me. I had won last year though, so no big deal.
The whole house was thrilled we were going to Armageddon, let alone all going together FOR FREE (key word there)! It was a buzz all night last night as I was elected to pick up all the tickets since I work in Robinson and Y108 is in Greentree. No biggie just needed copies of their license and a note saying they authorized me to pick up the prizes.
So that brings us to today and the big drawing for ring side seats. I told Matthew earlier that fate apparently wants us to go to this show somehow some way because he knew how bummed I was we couldn’t buy the tickets when they went on sale because floor seats were $175-100 each (little out of my range). At 6:30am today Matthew’s phone rang again (oh he was thrilled being woke up again). He answered… and thus a king was born…. He was crowned King of the Ring for Armageddon and the winner of all the goodies!!! Ringside seats for the show (and man are they good seats), a John Cena Fat Head (Which will probably be sold for lack of ANYWHERE to put it) and my favorite… one bottle of Diet Pepsi Max (not even a 2 liter… a 20 oz! LOL!).
So naturally we’ve both been on a natural high all day today. I picked up the tickets over lunch. I didn’t want to believe he actually won until they were physically in my possession (Which they are now). I still can’t believe it. Tonight we’re going to Walmart/Sams to load up on batteries, poster board and markers/glitter because ya’ll know I’m making a TON of signs for the show! Ah! What a week. It’s been crazy! But I love it and I can’t wait until Sunday! This is going to be the best!
Our seats are on off-camera side, which means we’re to the right of the announcers and directly facing ALL ACTION (as the cameras will be behind us). So I should have lots and lots and lots and LOTS of really great pictures from the show (and I’ll be posting them … if Matthew EVER locates my card reader which is lost somewhere in the house). I gotta clear the camera before we go, I’ll need every OUNCE of room on that card for pictures. Man I can’t wait! I can actually reach out and touch someone (And I will most certainly do so if ANYONE comes near me).
Well, look for a post-Armageddon report on Monday (If I’m still alive). It’s going to be quite a hectic week for me. Sunday is Armageddon, Tuesday night I’m working at a meeting in Waynesburg for my job (Yeah Overtime!), Thursday is our work Christmas part and then we get to Christmas Crazyness! GOODY!!!! Somewhere in there I need to finish making presents for people, wrap what I’ve got so far and finish a few odds and ends shopping. UGH! I’m going to need a vacation soon!

Countdown to Christmas

It’s raining….. Yeah! What a dreary day outside. Makes me wish I was home curled up with my kitty watching movies. Speaking of Artex, he has a new game he plays with me… it’s cute for about 10 minutes…. Saturday I was watching a movie with him in my lap and his paws on my belly (like always). Then he started gently pushing on my belly… when he did this Arabella kicked me in the same spot. This went on for about an hour (cute for about 10 minutes though). He’s done it a few times since then too! It’s like a game to them, kinda funny!
So how about the Steeler game yesterday? Quite a game? Good for me with massive Tom Brady points, bad for Matthew who I’m playing. Our game is still undecided. I need eight points from my wide receiver tonight to beat him. It could be a very close game to see who’s going to round two of the playoffs!
Works a little slow this week. There really isn’t much going on, but I keep finding random things to do to keep myself entertained! Lisa decorated the tree over the weekend so I get to look at the pretty purple tree in front of my desk it’s really pretty).
Our tree is up and running. We need to get a bigger one though, I’ve already got too many ornaments for the tree. I think after Christmas we’re going for a pre-lit tree from somewhere for next year – slightly bigger too. Perhaps a seven or eight foot!
Leeanne and I went shopping yesterday. I had to finish up a few people (Matthew mostly… it’s so hard to buy him presents when he’s always with me). I also got myself a few things at fashion bug! It was lots of fun.
I’m anxiously awaiting this afternoon’s basket raffle at Canonsburg Hospital. My mother told me about it and the baskets are simply gorgeous. They are drawing at 2pm today, I wish I could be there in person. I’d love to win just one of the baskets because they were all so nice (I spent like $30 on tickets!!). Here’s to hoping! I have some raffle tickets going off tonight on the PA lottery too for some Pittsburgh tickets (Steelers, pens, pirates, etc) and then on Friday the Amish Quilt raffle from Angel Ridge goes off (it’s like a $1200 quilt). I’d be happy to win that as well. Mom always says I’m lucky with raffles, we’ll see how my luck does this week!

Driving in the snow

So I woke up today to about 2 inches of snow on my car. Of course my butt wasn’t even thinking of cleaning it off in the cold weather on slippy roads so I woke up Matthew to do it (oh let me tell you how thrilled he was at 7am to be in the snow). After he cleaned my car off, he came back in with my keys (I asked him to warm it up for me too) and told me to park it because I wasn’t going ANYWHERE in the snow!
After a brief discussion (and the fact that his recent footprints were already covered and gone from the snow) I decided it was best to wait until they plowed our hill and salted the street. So I called work to let them know (no biggie) and sat down and took a nap (no sense in wasting a perfectly good time for a nap).
We woke up to the sound of John getting ready for work (upstairs neighbor). He worked at the mall so we kindly asked him to let us know how the roads were once you got off our silly unplowed hill. Well needless to say, he got to work with lots of slips and slides … so I continued my path of staying put until the roads were better.
Around 10ish, the wonderful sound of the snow plow came and I was ready to go to work. Matthew was still very uneasy about this decision but I felt it was ok. I was right, once I got off our hill the roads were simply slushy in town and only wet on the highway. As I drew closer to Pittsburgh, I was shocked to see where we already had about 3-4 inches of snow at the house Robinson had almost NOTHING…. It looked as though it barely snowed here (lucky them).
So I got to work around 11ish today. It’s been fairly crazy since then and just now finally slowed down for a little while. I’ve been watching the snow from my window, Robinson is slowly making up for the lack of snow they got this morning because my car, the parking lot and some of the roads are starting to get covered. There’s at least 2 inches of snow on my car already and I’ve only been here since 11am and it’s only 3pm. Driving home should be a real treat!
One of my co-workers had to go downtown a little while ago and he said the highways were ok, it was everything else that sucked. That doesn’t surprise me though. At least most of my drive home is highway!
Well I’m going to go get a few things done. Be sure to vote on the middle name poll. Matthew and I should be making our decision pretty soon.

Snow is Pretty

Matthew and I took a baby care class night at Washington Hospital. It was rather useful, at least I think. The class covered basics from bathing to feeding and a lot on safety (very important)! I’m really glad I decided to take the course because it was really helpful in planning on what we need to buy for the baby and what we need to check out and consider before buying some items. I just wish the class wasn’t on a Monday night for three hours. Basically, I got home from work yesterday, ate dinner and then went to class … came back home and was ready to crash. What a long day, but very worthwhile. Matthew and I are scheduled to take two more classes in the spring for the baby at the hospital. I’m looking forward to those as well.
So Monday night football was a big disappointment for me yesterday. I was counting on Tom Brady to actually do a nice job and pull some big numbers, but the weather was fighting him with strong winds so they ran the ball most of the game (no major points for me…L). Oh well, I had to let John beat me sooner or later… I just wish it was never! Since Matthew also lost his game last night, he shook up the playoff bracket from what we were expecting and I got the shock logging in this morning to see that in the first round we play each other first! Not exactly what we wanted to do, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. At least for sure one of us will make it to second round… unfortunately not how we wanted to do it though. Ah well, such is life. It’s been a fun journey with Fantasy Football and I can’t wait to play again next year.
I think I’m taking Artex to Petco this weekend to have pictures with Santa. I guess we’ll have to see how well he’ll cooperate with me for this one. I’ll probably try to go up early in the day before it gets really busy and hope there won’t be a ton of other pets to scare him. Then again, between now and then I may change my mind… so who knows! I’d love for him to take a beautiful picture with Santa… but he’s a cat and might get a bit scared… I still may try though. The pictures are only $6.95 and $5.00 of every picture goes to help homeless animals… so it’s for a good cause at the very least. If I actually get him to take a picture, I will most certainly be posting them immediately afterwards.
So it’s day two without a computer at home too. I’m starting to feel lost. My computer has just been building up with junk and I got to the point this weekend to let Matthew finally strip it back to day one. I couldn’t take it anymore. Hopefully it will run much better now; it couldn’t possibly run any worse! He’s not done with it yet, so I’ve been going through withdrawal for not having it. I miss my computer L….. hopefully he finishes it tonight so I can have it back!
JMT converted all the computers over to office 2007 last night. I had been tinkering with some of it for the last month, but now I have real copies of everything. It’s completely different in look and function. At first, I hated it… but it started to grow on me after a while (and I figured out how to customize it to what I wanted) so now it’s really nice. Everything is set in tabs instead of drop down menus, which is nice because you can see all the functions easily and quickly and customize them to what you use most. I love it now. I think I’m going to work on Matthew to get us a copy for the house because it’s really a nice program (once you get over the initial reaction of looking at a screen and being lost)! I really like the new version of Publisher. So much has changed and it’s a much more efficient program. I’ve been messing with Word and Outlook all day, eventually I’ll make my way over to Access and Excel. I’ve opened all the programs to see what’s changed and they all work with the tab functions now. I like it though, it works for me! The new Outlook features are great at work with more customizable screens to see more than just one part of the program (You can put mini blocks for the calendar, tasks, etc so you can see everything at one glance. Great for me at JMT because I was constantly switching between the calendar and the mail to see upcoming due dates. I love it, love love love it!
I can’t believe how much Christmas music is playing on the radio already. It’s barely into December! I’ve been stuck on Y108 for the last two days trying to get registered for Santa’s sleigh, speaking of which I now need to try and do that right now as a Christmas song is on the radio (That’s the cue to call). Yesterday was a major bummer for me when I was caller 17 (they want 18). I like wanted to cry! This year’s Santa’s sleigh is absolutely incredible with a $500 silver necklace, $500 to Lowrys, $500 to some sports store, a $700 personal training package, and Hannah Montana tickets (could care less about the tickets)… I want the personal trainer! I also want to go on a shopping spree at Lowery’s! I promised Matthew if he helped me try to get registered I’d let him have the sports store thing and he can go nuts in the paintball section (or cooking) or whatever! I’m sure he’d find something he wanted! Well, I’ve still got another week before the drawing to get registered… here’s to hoping!
Well I should get back to work for a while figuring out these new programs. It’s been an experience thus far. I think the hardest thing for me is remembering to save it in the old format because not everyone in our company has the new versions yet so if you have to send a document to someone in another office they need to have it saved in the older format or it won’t open.
Until next time.

SNOW!!!

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Monday, December 17, 2007
ARMAGEDDON

Where to begin? What a night!!! I love wrestling but watching from ringside is an entirely new experience. Matthew winning these tickets was the most amazing end to 2007. I’m so thankful we are so lucky!!

So let’s start with a recap of the day. We watched the football games and I slowly watched Tom Brady get the worst score he’s gotten all season long (5 lousy points). Normally, he gets between 20-40 points for me but 5???? I thought for sure I was done for the superbowl of fantasy football. I was only one game away. But alas, the football gods saw fit to screw just about every quarterback apparently because Tim (The person I was playing) had a quarterback (Tony Romo) who only got 5 lousy points as well. So I guess we’re even. As I sit and write this blog at home watching Monday Night Raw on TV flipping between the football game, I’m set to beat Tim by more than 20 points, so long as the Minnesota defense doesn’t do anything useful (PLEASE DON’T DO ANYTHING USEFUL)! If this is the case, it will be me and John battling it out in the fantasy superbowl of the league – Who would have thought!!!

So after the insane games we watched (weather was nuts), we left for the event around 6:30ish when John got home from work. The weather sucked on the way in with some slippy roads, but we were determined to get there. (Thankfully the ride home was great – no problems)!

We got inside only a few minutes before the event started, what a crazy line out front. After literally crawling into our seats (we had to crawl over people smashed at ringside halfway through the row to get to our seats in the middle), wrestling really took a change for me.

It’s a totally different world when you’re so close one mistake could land a wrestler in your lap. They look different close up, many look much smaller than they look on TV> It’s quite weird.

The matches were great, starting off with Rey Mysterio who gave his mask hand delivered to the little boy in the row behind us. What an experience. We had a lot of action on the floor in front of us (See amazing pictures in the photos section). I took well over 400 shots but after weeding through the good and the bad ended up with well over 300 pictures. I put the best 40 or so up on the web (But there are many more good shots).

The ECW match with Kane and CM Punk was great; we just prayed that no one knocked Visera off the ropes into our barricade because he may have knocked us over too! We had many wrestlers run into the barricade in front of us, especially during the last match, which had a lot of action in front of us. Matthew almost had the undertaker in his lap. We actually got to touch the legend himself. Man what a feeling. That man is huge!!! We also had the two fake Edge’s lying in the ring in front of us for quite some time. Pure insanity! I loved every minute of it though.

The Jeff Hardy/Triple H match was amazing. I got some of my best photographs of action shots during that match. Of course, why not with as acrobatic as Jeff Hardy is in every match. I also got a lot of great action shots from the Undertaker vs. Batista vs. Edge match. I love it!

Being so close to the action gives me an entirely new look on wrestling. These people really put it all on the lines; there isn’t an easy way to get flipped upside down because you’re not landing on a pillow top ring that has to hurt! Not to mention getting flipped and thrown outside of the ring on those floor mats, it still has to hurt at least a little bit.

I was a little disappointed with some of the match outcomes; I really thought things could have been better. JBL interfering with Chris Jericho’s match was a little lame and the fake Edge wrestlers were kind of silly, but otherwise it was a really great night. I missed not having John Cena there who’s out on injury, along with a few other choice wrestlers who were MIA for the night.

I guess the bright side of everything is if the Pens get their new arena soon, we’re likely to get some better wrestling events in Pittsburgh, maybe even a major pay per view like Royal Rumble or something – now that would be something to see.

I think one of the best parts of the night was the joy in taking home my chair though. When sitting in the first few rows around the ring, the chairs are padded and decorative with the events theme. Our chairs look awesome and at the end of the night, they cut them apart and you can take them home to keep. We were nice enough to give one to John because prior to the event we made a deal that if either of us won and we did get to take home the chairs we’d split them. It’s only fair and it was a nice way early Christmas gift to each other.

We got home last night around midnight so obviously I’ve been exhausted all day today. When we got home I couldn’t sleep because I was still on an energy rush from the show. I woke up with no problems surprisingly, but I think I’m going to crash a little early tonight anyways – I’m already getting sleepy.

It’s going to be a very hectic week for me this week as tomorrow night I’m going to Waynesburg to give a presentation for work. This will be the first time I’ve had to do something like this so I’m a little nervous, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Waynesburg isn’t that far and I’d hate to make April come from York to do the presentation when I’m only 30 minutes away and she’s hours away. I’m excited as much as nervous though because this is a big responsibility for me at my job. I’m thrilled they trust me enough to do something so important.

The holidays are quickly approaching. I can’t wait until they’re over. It’s been so insane since the beginning of the month. I’ll be happy when it’s all over and life will settle just slightly for a little while.

Check out the pictures I’ve posted on the event. I’ve put up my favorite pictures out of the 400+ I took at the event. Enjoy! LEAVE COMMENTS!Mon, December 17, 2007 link
Friday, December 14, 2007
KING OF THE RING!
What a crazy week! But what a great week!!!! Tuesday morning started off with amazing potential as Matthew woke up to his phone going off at 6:30am from Y108 calling him to be in the “King of the Ring” contest for Armageddon (WWE Wrestling) tickets. Basically, the contest is backwards from normal radio contests where you have to be the right caller. Instead, you enter online (I entered his butt) and they call you but you have to answer the phone “I’m Y108’s King of the Ring” otherwise, they hang up on you and call someone else! Of course, I had him trained to answer the phone so he did it right and that easily we won two tickets to Armageddon for Sunday night! Matthew was also entered into a drawing for ringside seats. He had a 1 in 5 chance (Because they only picked one winner per day for the tickets).
So we were very happy. We shared our good news with John and Debbie who also entered the contest online. Wednesday morning, Y108 called Debbie but she didn’t wake up to answer the phone. John attempted to save the chance at tickets and answered but since they were looking for her he could win. He was bummed! Oh well.
Thursday morning, Y108 called John and he did answer the phone correctly. So two winners in one household! How exciting! We just increased our ringside seats to 2 out of 5! Good odds! There was still one more day and no one had called me. I had won last year though, so no big deal.
The whole house was thrilled we were going to Armageddon, let alone all going together FOR FREE (key word there)! It was a buzz all night last night as I was elected to pick up all the tickets since I work in Robinson and Y108 is in Greentree. No biggie just needed copies of their license and a note saying they authorized me to pick up the prizes.
So that brings us to today and the big drawing for ring side seats. I told Matthew earlier that fate apparently wants us to go to this show somehow some way because he knew how bummed I was we couldn’t buy the tickets when they went on sale because floor seats were $175-100 each (little out of my range). At 6:30am today Matthew’s phone rang again (oh he was thrilled being woke up again). He answered… and thus a king was born…. He was crowned King of the Ring for Armageddon and the winner of all the goodies!!! Ringside seats for the show (and man are they good seats), a John Cena Fat Head (Which will probably be sold for lack of ANYWHERE to put it) and my favorite… one bottle of Diet Pepsi Max (not even a 2 liter… a 20 oz! LOL!).
So naturally we’ve both been on a natural high all day today. I picked up the tickets over lunch. I didn’t want to believe he actually won until they were physically in my possession (Which they are now). I still can’t believe it. Tonight we’re going to Walmart/Sams to load up on batteries, poster board and markers/glitter because ya’ll know I’m making a TON of signs for the show! Ah! What a week. It’s been crazy! But I love it and I can’t wait until Sunday! This is going to be the best!
Our seats are on off-camera side, which means we’re to the right of the announcers and directly facing ALL ACTION (as the cameras will be behind us). So I should have lots and lots and lots and LOTS of really great pictures from the show (and I’ll be posting them … if Matthew EVER locates my card reader which is lost somewhere in the house). I gotta clear the camera before we go, I’ll need every OUNCE of room on that card for pictures. Man I can’t wait! I can actually reach out and touch someone (And I will most certainly do so if ANYONE comes near me).
Well, look for a post-Armageddon report on Monday (If I’m still alive). It’s going to be quite a hectic week for me. Sunday is Armageddon, Tuesday night I’m working at a meeting in Waynesburg for my job (Yeah Overtime!), Thursday is our work Christmas part and then we get to Christmas Crazyness! GOODY!!!! Somewhere in there I need to finish making presents for people, wrap what I’ve got so far and finish a few odds and ends shopping. UGH! I’m going to need a vacation soon!
Fri, December 14, 2007 link
Monday, December 10, 2007
Countdown to Christmas


It’s raining….. Yeah! What a dreary day outside. Makes me wish I was home curled up with my kitty watching movies. Speaking of Artex, he has a new game he plays with me… it’s cute for about 10 minutes…. Saturday I was watching a movie with him in my lap and his paws on my belly (like always). Then he started gently pushing on my belly… when he did this Arabella kicked me in the same spot. This went on for about an hour (cute for about 10 minutes though). He’s done it a few times since then too! It’s like a game to them, kinda funny!
So how about the Steeler game yesterday? Quite a game? Good for me with massive Tom Brady points, bad for Matthew who I’m playing. Our game is still undecided. I need eight points from my wide receiver tonight to beat him. It could be a very close game to see who’s going to round two of the playoffs!
Works a little slow this week. There really isn’t much going on, but I keep finding random things to do to keep myself entertained! Lisa decorated the tree over the weekend so I get to look at the pretty purple tree in front of my desk it’s really pretty).
Our tree is up and running. We need to get a bigger one though, I’ve already got too many ornaments for the tree. I think after Christmas we’re going for a pre-lit tree from somewhere for next year – slightly bigger too. Perhaps a seven or eight foot!
Leeanne and I went shopping yesterday. I had to finish up a few people (Matthew mostly… it’s so hard to buy him presents when he’s always with me). I also got myself a few things at fashion bug! It was lots of fun.
I’m anxiously awaiting this afternoon’s basket raffle at Canonsburg Hospital. My mother told me about it and the baskets are simply gorgeous. They are drawing at 2pm today, I wish I could be there in person. I’d love to win just one of the baskets because they were all so nice (I spent like $30 on tickets!!). Here’s to hoping! I have some raffle tickets going off tonight on the PA lottery too for some Pittsburgh tickets (Steelers, pens, pirates, etc) and then on Friday the Amish Quilt raffle from Angel Ridge goes off (it’s like a $1200 quilt). I’d be happy to win that as well. Mom always says I’m lucky with raffles, we’ll see how my luck does this week!


Mon, December 10, 2007 link
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
SNOW!!!!!
So I woke up today to about 2 inches of snow on my car. Of course my butt wasn’t even thinking of cleaning it off in the cold weather on slippy roads so I woke up Matthew to do it (oh let me tell you how thrilled he was at 7am to be in the snow). After he cleaned my car off, he came back in with my keys (I asked him to warm it up for me too) and told me to park it because I wasn’t going ANYWHERE in the snow!
After a brief discussion (and the fact that his recent footprints were already covered and gone from the snow) I decided it was best to wait until they plowed our hill and salted the street. So I called work to let them know (no biggie) and sat down and took a nap (no sense in wasting a perfectly good time for a nap).
We woke up to the sound of John getting ready for work (upstairs neighbor). He worked at the mall so we kindly asked him to let us know how the roads were once you got off our silly unplowed hill. Well needless to say, he got to work with lots of slips and slides … so I continued my path of staying put until the roads were better.
Around 10ish, the wonderful sound of the snow plow came and I was ready to go to work. Matthew was still very uneasy about this decision but I felt it was ok. I was right, once I got off our hill the roads were simply slushy in town and only wet on the highway. As I drew closer to Pittsburgh, I was shocked to see where we already had about 3-4 inches of snow at the house Robinson had almost NOTHING…. It looked as though it barely snowed here (lucky them).
So I got to work around 11ish today. It’s been fairly crazy since then and just now finally slowed down for a little while. I’ve been watching the snow from my window, Robinson is slowly making up for the lack of snow they got this morning because my car, the parking lot and some of the roads are starting to get covered. There’s at least 2 inches of snow on my car already and I’ve only been here since 11am and it’s only 3pm. Driving home should be a real treat!
One of my co-workers had to go downtown a little while ago and he said the highways were ok, it was everything else that sucked. That doesn’t surprise me though. At least most of my drive home is highway!
Well I’m going to go get a few things done. Be sure to vote on the middle name poll. Matthew and I should be making our decision pretty soon. Wed, December 5, 2007 link
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Snow is Pretty!!!
Matthew and I took a baby care class night at Washington Hospital. It was rather useful, at least I think. The class covered basics from bathing to feeding and a lot on safety (very important)! I’m really glad I decided to take the course because it was really helpful in planning on what we need to buy for the baby and what we need to check out and consider before buying some items. I just wish the class wasn’t on a Monday night for three hours. Basically, I got home from work yesterday, ate dinner and then went to class … came back home and was ready to crash. What a long day, but very worthwhile. Matthew and I are scheduled to take two more classes in the spring for the baby at the hospital. I’m looking forward to those as well.
So Monday night football was a big disappointment for me yesterday. I was counting on Tom Brady to actually do a nice job and pull some big numbers, but the weather was fighting him with strong winds so they ran the ball most of the game (no major points for me…L). Oh well, I had to let John beat me sooner or later… I just wish it was never! Since Matthew also lost his game last night, he shook up the playoff bracket from what we were expecting and I got the shock logging in this morning to see that in the first round we play each other first! Not exactly what we wanted to do, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. At least for sure one of us will make it to second round… unfortunately not how we wanted to do it though. Ah well, such is life. It’s been a fun journey with Fantasy Football and I can’t wait to play again next year.
I think I’m taking Artex to Petco this weekend to have pictures with Santa. I guess we’ll have to see how well he’ll cooperate with me for this one. I’ll probably try to go up early in the day before it gets really busy and hope there won’t be a ton of other pets to scare him. Then again, between now and then I may change my mind… so who knows! I’d love for him to take a beautiful picture with Santa… but he’s a cat and might get a bit scared… I still may try though. The pictures are only $6.95 and $5.00 of every picture goes to help homeless animals… so it’s for a good cause at the very least. If I actually get him to take a picture, I will most certainly be posting them immediately afterwards.
So it’s day two without a computer at home too. I’m starting to feel lost. My computer has just been building up with junk and I got to the point this weekend to let Matthew finally strip it back to day one. I couldn’t take it anymore. Hopefully it will run much better now; it couldn’t possibly run any worse! He’s not done with it yet, so I’ve been going through withdrawal for not having it. I miss my computer L….. hopefully he finishes it tonight so I can have it back!
JMT converted all the computers over to office 2007 last night. I had been tinkering with some of it for the last month, but now I have real copies of everything. It’s completely different in look and function. At first, I hated it… but it started to grow on me after a while (and I figured out how to customize it to what I wanted) so now it’s really nice. Everything is set in tabs instead of drop down menus, which is nice because you can see all the functions easily and quickly and customize them to what you use most. I love it now. I think I’m going to work on Matthew to get us a copy for the house because it’s really a nice program (once you get over the initial reaction of looking at a screen and being lost)! I really like the new version of Publisher. So much has changed and it’s a much more efficient program. I’ve been messing with Word and Outlook all day, eventually I’ll make my way over to Access and Excel. I’ve opened all the programs to see what’s changed and they all work with the tab functions now. I like it though, it works for me! The new Outlook features are great at work with more customizable screens to see more than just one part of the program (You can put mini blocks for the calendar, tasks, etc so you can see everything at one glance. Great for me at JMT because I was constantly switching between the calendar and the mail to see upcoming due dates. I love it, love love love it!
I can’t believe how much Christmas music is playing on the radio already. It’s barely into December! I’ve been stuck on Y108 for the last two days trying to get registered for Santa’s sleigh, speaking of which I now need to try and do that right now as a Christmas song is on the radio (That’s the cue to call). Yesterday was a major bummer for me when I was caller 17 (they want 18). I like wanted to cry! This year’s Santa’s sleigh is absolutely incredible with a $500 silver necklace, $500 to Lowrys, $500 to some sports store, a $700 personal training package, and Hannah Montana tickets (could care less about the tickets)… I want the personal trainer! I also want to go on a shopping spree at Lowery’s! I promised Matthew if he helped me try to get registered I’d let him have the sports store thing and he can go nuts in the paintball section (or cooking) or whatever! I’m sure he’d find something he wanted! Well, I’ve still got another week before the drawing to get registered… here’s to hoping!
Well I should get back to work for a while figuring out these new programs. It’s been an experience thus far. I think the hardest thing for me is remembering to save it in the old format because not everyone in our company has the new versions yet so if you have to send a document to someone in another office they need to have it saved in the older format or it won’t open.
Until next time. Tue, December 4, 2007 link
Monday, December 3, 2007


It’s snowing! Again….. It was snowing on my way to work today and now while I’m at work I can sit and watch the snow fall out our office window. It’s rather pretty… but I know it’s really brutal out there today with the winds ever so strong. It was awfully fun driving to work today.

Another Monday, here we are with a post Steeler game high from last night (That I actually stayed awake to watch). Loads of fun! Matthew and I watched some of the other games as well (gotta love playing fantasy football… it makes you pay attention to everyone’s games). I played John this week (our upstairs neighbor) and now it comes down to my man, Tom Brady and how good he is. I need him to score at least 33 points to beat John (which he can do… especially against the Baltimore Ravens). The game is on tonight and the bummer is I won’t get to watch most of it because Matthew and I will be at a baby class we’re taking at Washington Hospital tonight. Ah well, the baby class is much more important!

Next week starts our fantasy football playoffs and Matthew and I are both in the winners bracket and up for some hard earned cash for the season. I hope we do well, it would rock to win some money! This has been such a great experience; I can’t wait to play again next year. I’ve learned so much throughout the season and did so well for having no clue what I was doing…. John was rather impressed. He apparently thought I’d play and hate it and be in last place… well I showed him! Leeanne wants to play next year too, I hope so we could use more females … though it was fun beating the guys one by one…

I finally put the registry up on the website, so many were asking me for it. I thought devoting an entire page to the baby registry would eliminate a lot of confusion and complication later on. I know the shower is months away (hey we finally have a date and place), but I like giving people ample time to find things and do what they need to do. The registry isn’t complete, but it’s getting there until then at least everyone can see what’s going on.

Well back to work for the time being….