Tired of moron employers..

Jeff was ill on Saturday and had to call off from work. He has never called off in the 11 months he has been there. So the assistant manager gets a wild hair up his ass and starts giving Jeff a hard time about not giving him the required 7 hours notice. First of all Jeff woke up at 9:30 with a raging fever and since his shift started at 4 he called as soon as he could. Stupid Jerks... just because they cannot hold onto to workers and they have a turn style business doesn't mean that all their employees screw them over.

Jeff has been begging for additional hours at work. He gets a measly 7 hours a week. The other days he babysits for the Gen. Mgr's son. Jeff told off the asst. manager (while sick mind you) and when he went into work yesterday, Jeff found out that he was given additional hours this week because a few people had quit. You may think well good for Jeff, but it won't last long because instead of splitting up the hours between the employees that are still there the dumb Gen Mgr will hire more people! Does that make any frickin sense people?

I am beginning to feel that Jeff is a babysitter first and then an employee of Auntie Anne's Pretzel Company. It's so frustrating!

She wants everything she sees...

My daughterKatie, That is. She is turning 8 on October 19th which of course she asks me daily how many days are left until her birthday.
While I was doing my routine cleaning this weekend and updating of the Regalo Boutique site. Katie wanted to help me. So she started to look over the products I had waiting to be uploaded to the site. As she was looking through the products she came across a section that I have been working on for awhile now. "For the Family" has a section for girls and she just salivated over the "Princess collection".

It's hard to explain to her that I would love to decorate her room the way she wants to, however, she has to share her room with her sister, Brittany, that in just 8 days after Katie turns 8, will be turning 18! No way does Brittany want to have anymore pink stuff in the room
doesn't matter that they are supposed to be sharing.

There is no room for toys in the room. Katie has pretty much been pushed out of the room except for her dresser, which is getting to small to hold most of her clothes. I would hang her clothes in the closet but there is no room there either. I have resorted to utilizing my closet for Katie's toys and clothes. Now it looks like I will have to empty some of my drawers to accommodate her clothes as well.

Christmas will consist of nothing more than clothes, per Chris, because there is simply no where to put the toys that Katie wants. I am not saying it is fair but there is not much else I can do.

In Mourning....

Potter, Katie's hamster of 4 1/2 years, passed last night. I went to make sure that he had water and food before tucking Katie in bed and I saw him laying right next to his food dish, which had plenty of food in it. I knew the moment I saw him that he was gone. I picked up his limp body, rigor mortis had not set in yet so I knew he just expired, and I tried to discreetly take him downstairs in hopes that Katie would not notice, but she did and the tears just streamed down her face.

Chris and I both explained to her that Potter lived a very happy and long life and most hamsters do not live more than 3 years, but because she loved him so much and took very good care of him she added to his life. When she calmed down and realized that, she took Potter and lovingly wrapped him in tissue and put him in the shoebox we got for him.

Then she suggested that since we have 6 mice (don't ask, miscalculation on Chris part for feeding the snakes) that they need a bigger home so she wanted to clean it out and let the mice live in the cage. When all was said and done and I finally tucked her in she whispered in my ear that she would like to have another pet. OY!

I need a bigger house...

either that or more storage. Chris and I have been steadily working on the girls room to accommodate both of the girls and their "rightful" space. Not easy when the age difference is 10 years. We have been packing up some of Brittany's stuff that she doesn't use on an every day bases and storing them in the garage but trying to make it readily accessible in case she would like to get something out of one of of her totes. Poor Katie has been reduced to storing her toys in my closet for the time being until we can come up with a better system. Most of her clothes are hanging in my closet because her sister has bigger clothes and is taking a large amount of the decent size closet.
I have been contemplating creating a better way of storing "stuff" in our garage so it doesn't look so damn cluttered. I think since we have "necessities" stored in the garage that it should look as neat and orderly as possible. I am thinking of putting in garage storage cabinets that would allow "stuff" to be accessible but out of the public eye or even better out of the way. I envision cabinets all along the wall, preferably top and bottom cabinets with some counter space as well. I like the UltiMATE Garage line because it looks so versatile and would suit our needs just fine. It just looks so easy to arrange and organize all our necessities. It certainly would benefit Chris. With all the tools Chris has he should also have his own work area as well. He has so many "toys" that you can barely walk through the garage to the door.
Eventually I want to see that vision a reality but until my parents find their own home we are currently storing their stuff as well. So my garage has become a self storage until they do find the house they want. Maybe we can arrange the garage better and still be able to put in the cabinets that I want. Hmmm.....

I need to be smacked....

or jump started or something.... my motivation is quickly evaporating by the second. I spent my whole weekend cleaning and laundry and still did not get it all done. The kids have their chores and they did it without incident (otherwise they don't do crap the entire weekend).

Britt and her boyfriend went to Busch Gardens on Saturday, Jeff worked his measly 7 hours on Sat/Sun and Katie pretty much kept to herself. She did help clean with me but nothing to strenuous. She is only 7. Chris was his usual self. If he is not doing anything entertaining he gets bored. So he made any excuse to go to Wal Mart to get out of the house while I "slaved" away at home:)

We had both mine and Chris' parents over on Labor Day for dinner. Not the usual cook out. Chris made corn beef and cabbage and I made hamburgers for those that don't like corn beef. It's the FIRST time that both sets of parents got together. My parents have already met Chris' mom for the first time last October... Chris' dad was out of town or not feeling well.. I can't really remember. But they hit it off and I was so happy how well they did hit if off.

One day I will have "Good Furniture"

It is never a good idea to have "good" furniture when you have young ones around. The furniture never seems to outlast the children's wear and tear. Chris and I have been given most of our furniture through the years. Not that we could not afford buying our own furniture but because we felt why waste the money when it definitely will not last the kids.
I will tell you this though, when we finally buy furniture when Katie finally gets a little bit older I am starting with new dining room furniture. I absolutely loved the set my mother had. She just recently gave it to one of my sisters up in Ohio before my parents moved to Florida. My mother had this whole dining furniture set complete with 8 chairs, two extra leaves for long dining table and a two piece China Hutch. It was a dark cherry oak and it is gorgeous. Chris and I looking into getting a bed in the immediate future. We have been sleeping on a queen mattress and box spring without any type of frame for almost 4 years now.
We used to have a frame but Chris was goofing around and we are left with just the mattress. When we do finally find one it's going to be a king size because I am tired of getting a sliver of the bed.

I'm Back.

Sorry it has taken me so long to post. I have been competing with my teens for computer time. I have been FORCED to post from work. That's not always possible since I do work from time to time haha...

I have come to the conclusion that we are a family in need of multiple computers. Since we have Verizon Fios (Fiber optic) cable, Internet and phone we can accommodate more than one computer with the wireless capability. So... Britt will be getting her own Desk unit, courtesy of Grandma, who is buying a new computer for herself and therefore passing her old (barely) onto Britt. Since Jeff will need a laptop for College in 2009, we will be getting him one this coming March so he can get acclimated to it and of course Chris will need his own laptop. Me? I am getting a better monitor (flat panel). My computer is still good. It could use more memory since I am a SIMS nut and would love to be able to install the damn game on my computer!

Ok.. gotta go there is work to be done:(