Sometimes you just never know....

My mom is an office manager for an upscale condominium on Longboat Key. Numerous residents are having renovation work done to their condos and many of them use different contractors. I stopped by yesterday after finishing a cleaning in another condominium complex to say hi to my mom. I could tell that she was distracted when I arrived and as usual she was on a phone call so I waited patiently.

When she finished her phone call she told me what was going on.
She was waiting on a lock smith because one the owners had just fired their contractor and apparently the contractor took the lock box and all the keys to the unit. This was after the owner fired them. My mom didn't know until after the fact and had told the owner that said contractor was there this morning. My mom thinks that maybe the contractor or his employees took things out of the condo that they should not have.

When the lock smith arrived my mom took the man up to the unit so that once he got it open (he would have to pick the lock) she could see exactly what was taken. She was very upset when she came back to her office. She immediately called the police and then the owner. Apparently the unit is gutted. There are no interior walls. Every piece of furniture is gone. Windows were taken out and all the doors right down to the door hardware are gone. The only thing they were supposed to be doing was remodeling the kitchen and bath. There was absolutely no reason to touch anything else.

The police have started their investigation. The owner is on her way down and will have to stay in the guest suite because there is no way she can live in her own unit. The contractor has called my mom repeatedly and he is harassing her. Stating that she had no right to call the police and she better watch her back. Oh yeah the police know because the dumbass called while they were still there.

Apparently he is a legitimate contractor and has all his credentials in order but I am not sure why this one particular job went so wrong. But, to actually threaten another person because what you did was wrong is asinine. I just can't understand the fact that after the owner fired him why he would come back and take the lockbox and all the keys. I mean if you think you did the best job and someone wasn't happy about it, you would feel bad but you wouldn't railroad yourself just because you may be upset. This contractor went over the deep end big time.

Keep shining Katie... I love you

Katie is in the second row, first one on the right.


On Tuesday, Katie was recognized by her teacher and her elementary school for being an outstanding student. I can't say how much this pleased me.



Katie was diagnosed with ADD (attention deficit disorder) in the middle of the school year. Chris and I both knew that something more than just her hearing was affecting her. She has had an extremely difficult time with school ever since she started kindergarten and I chalked it up to her loss of hearing that made it quite hard for her to comprehend and retain anything that she had been taught.



She has done a remarkable job this year and I am so happy that her teacher thought so as well...

Also, Katie and her second grade class has been working hard on their Patriotic Performance for the whole school as well as some of the assisted living communities in Sarasota. I was told by one of the office administrators that Channel 40 would be there to highlight their performance this afternoon and then the parents will be treated to a performance this evening. I can't wait to see her doing what she loves to do best.

On my honor

Monday, May 11th 2009

Katie is the little ham second from right in the back row.

She is the happiest when she is with her troop and she loves every minute of being involved with the Girl Scouts. I am very proud of her.

Sunday is the big end of year party for her troop and we will all be going to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. Then it's no more meetings until September.

Battle of the bulge.

You would think with all the non stop activities in my life and how extremely busy I am that weight would not be an issue for me. I actually did not start to gain all this extra 40-50 pounds until after I moved to Florida. I am not sure if it was all due to stress of moving and not knowing anyone except family or if I was unhappy.

I was not an overweight kid. I was actually pretty slim, even though I thought I was chunky in high school. I don't know why I thought that of myself. I was in great shape! I will have to admit that when I was pregnant with Jeff, I gained at least forty pounds. I was a stressed and miserable mess back then. I did lose majority of the weight after giving birth but still kept about 10 pounds.

Then the yo-yo cycle started to happen. I would lose weight without doing anything and then gain it all back and then some. When I tried to diet, nothing worked. I tried just about every diet pill out there. The only thing that I found that really worked was Ephedrine. Yes, I know all about the side effects and the dangers of Ephedrine. But you know what? If it weren't for the idiots that didn't know how to follow directions it would have not be banned.

Then it got me to thinking about all the diet supplements that are out there. I have surfed many sites promoting a certain product and other sites that list diet pill reviews and it just made me wonder how many of us are dealing with weight issues. I don't really think that a lot of Americans are overweight because of lack of exercise. I think it's because we are well over our daily portion levels. We have forgotten the basics of why we need to eat. We eat more out of pleasure and not out of necessity. Our portions are way over the daily requirement.

I have been trying to get my family to stick with portions. We start off our meal with a full glass of water before we even touch our food. We are eating less and we are not snacking after 7 p.m. I have noticed some weight loss not as much as I had hoped to loose in one week but I know that by doing it the right way it will stay off for good because our bad habits are being replaced with good ones.

May is turning out to be my worst nightmare!

With the school year almost at an end, May is the month where all the odds and ends need to be wrapped up.

Katie has several engagements that need to be attended to.

• She has a Bridging Ceremony on May 11^th. She will be leaving behind Brownies to become a Junior.
  
• She is receiving some kind of award on May 12^th from her elementary school in which I will attend and take lots of pictures because Chris won't be able to take the morning off.
  
• Her class is doing a Patriotic Performance at her school on the 14^th. Her teacher told me she and a few other girls will be signing one song. Katie's voice overshadows everyone else and the teacher thinks Katie should major in Drama…. I could see Katie being an actress with a side talent of singing. She is my performer.
  
• Her Brownie troop is throwing an end of year party at the Lowry Park Zoo on the 17^th. Chris and I will both be attending with her. I just found out the zoo now has rides. Really?
  
• Her last day of school is May 29^th. She is already marking the calendar off. Not a good sign, sigh….
  

Jeff is busy with 4 major projects all due by the 14^th. I think the teachers are setting the pressure cooker on extreme to get the young adults ready for the college scene and to drive the parents into an early grave because Jeff is stressed to the max right now.

• Jeff will be picking up his cap and gown on May 19^th. Hopefully we can score a few extra tickets for the Graduation Ceremony. They are initially giving out 5 and our family needs seven to include both sets of grandparents.
  
• Graduation Rehearsal is on May 29^th
  
• Graduation Ceremony at 9a.m. Jeff will need to be there all ready to go by 7:30 and the family will need to be in their seats by 8:30. I don't know who the jackass was that scheduled such an early ceremony but apparently they think we all wake up super early on a Saturday with nothing else better to do.
  
• Jeff's Graduation party will follow a few hours after the ceremony. Chris wanted to get it over with so I won't be a complete bitch for another week trying to get everything organized and ready. Apparently I am difficult to live with when something major is in the works. Can anyone guess why that is? Hmmm….
  

Meanwhile I am busy with getting graduation announcements out and also designing the party invitations and getting them all ready to go. I have about a bazillion addresses to get from my mom and grandma. Apparently they want announcements sent to every known relative. Some of whom I haven't seen in decades.

So with all that typed out I am going crazy figuring out how I am going to survive the month of May.