VD Surprise!

Not THAT kinda VD, you goons...Valentine's Day!!!

Laura shocked the Hell outta me yesterday afternoon. I was at work, and had taken a bathroom break. Upon my return to my office, my next-door neighbor and teammate, Josh, poked his head into my office and said, "Man, you've been paged twice, what's going on?!?!?"

"What? Really? Nothing I know of is happening...guess I'd better call the receptionist to find out."

Just as I turned to pick up the phone, it rang, and it was the receptionist again. She tells me I need to get upstairs to the reception area right away. When I asked if it something was wrong, she simply replied, "I just need you to come up here."

For some reason, I'm thinking I'm getting served a subpoena, or some thuggish mess is getting ready to transpire - that's how CLUELESS I am as to why someone would be asking for me at 5PM on a Friday afternoon.

I get up to the 27th floor, and start to look around to either side of the receptionist's desk as she greets me. To the right, I spot a familiar sight: Laura, and she's wearing a shit-eating grin and giving me this cute little wave. I instantly ask, "What are you doing here!?!?!"

"Taking you on a date!"

"...Whaaaat? Whoa...OK! C'mon downstairs for a second!"

I was TOTALLY surprised by this...and, what a great way to be surprised! We went to Fogo de Chao for dinner, then hit Circle Center to shop for new shoes (an established V-Day tradition for us), then out to Avon for a viewing of Slumdog Millionaire. I'm truly the luckiest sumbitch on the planet!

(K)

Job Security

Back in January I left Simon for good. For quite a few months I had been working part-time at Simon and part-time at Clarian West in the HR department. Believe me, I was ever-so-thankful that I was able to maintain employment at both locations. Yes, it was difficult to bounce back and forth between the positions, but I had to do what was necessary. I'll admit that it made the weeks go by very quickly! My last day at Simon was January 5th, and I was able to work full-time in HR at West starting January 12th. Given the fact that so many people are without jobs, I feel blessed that I've been afforded this stability over the past 5 months. I also want to note that Kyle and I thought it would be best that one of us move to work closer to home. Since it's a little easier for me to find something rather than for him, I opted to take over this role. I love that I can run home over lunch, or to Target, or to see the kids if needed. I recently drove downtown and can say that I do not miss that trip one bit. Sure the quite time was nice, but I like being closer to home. Perhaps that goes with age. Besides, it was tough for the kids to be bound down in the car for such periods of time each day. They are only 10 minutes from home which is proving to be a blessing as well.

Starting next Monday (2/16/2009) I will be taking on another role. I will be alternating days between the HR department and Case Management. Again, I am extremely thankful that I have the option to work at full-time status. Sure, I'd like to only work 20 hours per week and spend the other time with the kids and maintaining the household, but that's simply not in the cards. Perhaps one day I'll be able to work a limited schedule. Until then, I will enjoy my time at West.

A few things I love about working at West: it's only a 6 minute drive from home, about 12 minutes to daycare, the staff and culture are simply amazing and I love the work that I'm doing. I'm so glad to be back in HR working in a position that is rewarding and stimulating.

I promise to document more of my journey as it continues.

until next time...lc

First, an Apology, and then...Happy Birthday Sara!

First, a quick apology...I've been so out of it lately. Not "out of it" in a literal sense (although I was a bit sick last week), but just not feeling the writing urge. I knew I should help in providing some updates to the blog, but still...writer's block or some such business. So, sorry for the lack of updates. It's a bit frustrating, but, if there's anything that can prod me to slam down a few keystrokes, it's celebrating OTHER people getting older.

Last Saturday, we celebrated my baby sister's 22nd birthday. This is very surreal to me - Sara was like my first child in some ways. I was 12 when she was born, my dad had recently died, and I was the primary care giver after school while my mom worked nights. Certainly not MY child, obviously, but caring for her was absolutely my first insight to what parenthood might be like.

So, I've now lasted long enough to see her become a full-fledged adult. And, an impressive one at that. She and my brother are the only 2 people that have maintained a steadfast unwavering presence throughout most of the years I've been alive. It's exciting to see her grow up and become such a wonderful person - I'm honored to have this experience. All this, despite having Ryan and I as her big brothers! At least we gave her plenty of indications of what she SHOULDN'T do with her life. Ha ha ha ha...

We went to Buca Di Beppo, downtown, for dinner Saturday night, then broke away from Laura, Miss and the boys for a Campbell Sibling Triumvirate bar bounce. Drinks were had (mostly by Ryan and Sara, I played the DD), stories were told, and probably a bit too many details were shared that remained obscured until drunkenly divulged. It was a great time, and I hope we get the chance to do it again some time - my turn to drink, next time!

(K)

Homemade Tattoos

***NOTE: There are lots of new posts to read!***

For quite a while now, to keep our kids stimulated at the grocery store, we allow them to draw something small on the backs of our hands. I know it’s probably not the best example to set, however it passes the time and redirects their focus. We started out drawing smiley faces and have graduated onto bigger pieces of art. Jackson generally sticks to the rules, but on this particular day cabin fever set in and he was a bit ornery. He says it’s a shoe, but we think it looks a little different. At least his art skills are developing, right?

Kyle’s arm

I love their chubby little fingers.
An example of Jack sticking to the rules and Kian getting his turn with the pen.
until next time…lc

Poop Face

Well, not in a literal sense, but every now and again Kian ends up looking like just sucked on a turd. In most cases, he’s just enjoyed some chocolate, but this looks appears more than we’d like it too.

until next time…lc

Appliance Overload

We’ve been in our house for just over 6 years. It doesn’t really feel like we’ve lived here all that long though. A couple of weekends ago, our washer bit the dust, leaving us little opportunity but to stimulate the economy with the purchase of a new washer & dryer. We’ve, okay, I’ve, always dreamed of the day we’d be able to upgrade to a front-loading, high efficiency washer. I’ve always been excited by the little things in life, and this proves it. We spent a bit of time comparing prices at Lowe’s and hhGregg and settled in on this pair. And for hte record, hhGregg had the better deal...obviously. My new love affair:

Kyle thinks I’m a bit obsessed, however our laundry is clean. Enough.said.

Moving onto this past weekend. Our dishwasher ceased to function. So back to Lowe's and hhGregg we went. Thankfully we were able to have this bad boy installed on Monday evening. Too bad we don't have enough dishes dirtied to use it!

until next time…lc

All fall down!

One night after dinner a few weeks ago, Jack and Kian entertained us with a few rounds of Ring Around the Rosie. When it was time to fall down, Kian was doing this thing where he would lift both of his legs into the air simultaneously and fall on his bottom. Thankfully he only had about 11 inches to fall. Oh, and that he still has a bit of padding on his bottom. I think it's the 3rd time that he gets it right for the camera.

Oh, and then there's the whole, "Let me see" episode that cracks me up. We made the realization a while back that our children will never know what film is. You know, like for a 35mm camera? I guess we're assuming they won't get into photography. Seriously, they may learn about this in a book some day down the line, but they've grown up with digital cameras. Yeah, new things are invented all of the time, but it cracks me up that they know they can see the image just after it's taken. Heck, I was excited back in the day that we had a microwave. I'm sure glad that stuck around. Speaking of microwaves, this past weekend while at hhGregg, we saw the first microwave drawer. Weird!

until next time...lc

Children's Museum

Papaw and Nana Hop gave the boys a year-long membership to The Children’s Museum. We broke it in as soon as we had the opportunity, January 4th. Actually, we went the next weekend too. They boys absolutely have a blast there. (I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have fun as well.) The first time we went happened to be the final day of Jolly Days. They turn the grand staircase into a Yule Slide. We must have gone down that thing 6 times. Oh, and we packed a lunch for the first time. And along with the membership comes unlimited rides on the carousel. Again, another 6 rounds and we moved on to the next display.

Here’s the Yule slide….

And a photo-op at a display in the Jolly Days area…

No trip would be complete without a trip to the dinosaur exhibit.

We’ve all come to realize that taking a picture of Kian can prove to be quite a challenge. We ended up with 6 pictures of his silly faces. I guess 6 was the theme for the day, huh? I suppose this is where a digital camera proves its usefulness.

until next time…lc

Where, Oh Where has the time gone?

Kyle and I have discussed many times of the past few weeks that we need to blog. It just seems as though we've stayed constantly distracted. Oh well, perhaps we'll get around to it one night. Oh, I'll have to write about my new love affair!



until next time...lc