I'm Still Here
-- 29 January 2007 [Monday]
Normal workday. Not near the stress as last week. Spent most of the day working on my yearly review which is due. UGGGH, I hate doing these things. I mean I really, really dislike it. It seems so political and unimportant in the scheme of life, but is a necessary evil, so I can hopefully get my 3% raise as the company did not have a good year and I expect no more. Hopefully no less either. Amanda has a ladies night out tonight that I hope she goes to with the wives from Carson's class.
-- 28 January 2007 [Sunday]
Carson went to a birthday party for Holden from his class. Amanda took him to it at Pump-It-Up. He had a great time. Meanwhile, Keegan, Ian and I played at home. We started with a clay art project. Keegan built a neat little snow man with a fireplace. Really a great job he did!!! Ian just played with the clay but had fun. While that was baking we went on a nice bicycle ride around the neighborhood and then played in the front yard just as Amanda was coming back from the party. More playing outside (T-Ball) and then dinner. We managed to get another game of Skip Bo in there as well and two games of 'Sorry!'. A lot of fun playing all those games (while Ian slept) and Carson played (he has no interest in games like this right now, and neither did Keegan at that age). I don't know if it was all the sleep last night or what but I didn't get to bed until 2AM! Just couldn't fall asleep. Yikes. I'll pay for it tomorrow though. So I stayed up and watched a lot of American Chopper. :)
-- 27 January 2007 [Saturday]
Was a very nice warm 64F today and sunny. I just felt tired all day. I think my cold caught up with me along with all the stress at work over the past week or so. We played outside all day I was asleep in bed by 9pm and out like a rock too!
-- 26 January 2007 [Friday]
I sure hope it goes better today! It did! Friday was the first normal day I've had in awhile and I loved it. Actually made it out to lunch to El Rodeo (my favorite Mexican place down here) with a couple of friends from work. Found out during lunch that the Golden Corral restaurant on NC 54 and Cary Parkway has closed! Yikes. I was shocked. We loved going there with the kids. It was their favorite spot. I actually felt really bad about it for them, but there is another one in the area (not as close), but its nearer the mall and usually packed so we tried to avoid it. Guess we don't have a choice now. :(
-- 25 January 2007 [Thursday]
Crossing my fingers no more release related SEV 1's. This is really nerve wracking and I don't like it. When a mistake is made up here it breaks all the clients instead of just 1. Keegan and Carson have their first T-Ball class at 4pm today. I'm so excited to hear how they do. They seemed excited about it. I told them all this morning that Ian said he could hit it farther (and Ian shook his head YES and said "Me, Me" when I asked him).... I was trying to get Carson and Keegan excited about going (which they seemed to be). Keegan loved T-Ball Amanda said. he participated in everything and had a wonderful time. He said it was harder than when we practice at home because the ball there was on a T, where as at home I just throw the ball to him (which is really the harder way). Carson would sit with the group when she was giving instruction, but then would run back to Amanda on the sideline when the activity started each time. Still it's a better start than when Keegan attended his first class and sat on the sideline the entire time. Carson will warm up. Ian wanted to get out there the entire time Amanda said, but the poor little guy didn't understand he wasn't old enough yet. I had to work until 8:30pm last night and got home around 9pm (because of SEV 1's again). The kids were still awake in bed though and when they heard the front door open, Keegan came downstairs! It was really sweet and made me feel good. I sat upstairs with them for a half hour and we all talked in bed and then it was time to go back in their bed. Very nice way to end a crazy day at work.
-- 24 January 2007 [Wednesday]
Another SEV 1 from release. Worked from home. Stayed up till 1am dealing with it. Again felt very bad couldn't play with kids more than I did. Ian went back to Dr., has an ear infection so finally he's on antibiotics! This Dr. was surprised Dr. yesterday didn't see this. Makes me mad and to top it off we had to pay for the exam again.
-- 23 January 2007 [Tuesday]
SEV 1 at work from release. Had to leave at 5pm to meet Amanda to get kids as she was off to Spanish class at night. Had a super busy night at home working and trying to feed the kids. felt really bad couldn't spend more time with them. Ian and Carson had their yearly checkups. Both screamed and screamed Amanda said. felt bad she had to take them by herself. Carson doesn't need more shots He got his final 3 today which will last him until he's 10 now! Ian was just not feeling good. Dr. didn't notice anything wrong with him though, other than a 'normal cold'. Called DirecTV at night to get billing fixed, which I finally did after 35 min on the phone. Ugh. I wish I had never subscribed and just paid Dish their $30 service fee. Lesson learned. When this contract is over I think we'll go back to rabbit ears! No billing problems there!!!
-- 22 January 2007 [Monday]
I made it into the office today. Keegan was excited today as Timothy was coming over after school! He was dropped off at Keegans bus stop and walked home with Keegan and Amanda. They had a lot of fun and were just starting to play a race game on the PS2 when I got home. I had to go back out and bring him home for dinner. Very nice to see how excited Keegan was about it.
-- 21 January 2007 [Sunday]
It's Ian's 2nd Birthday today!
He loves his truck and train! We had Amanda's Carrot cake that she made for Ian (with Carson's help). Of course it's winter, so Ian and Carson have a fever again, so the poor little guy is sick on how own birthday, but he still has good spurts of energy and played a lot.
It is very cold and rainy outside so we stayed in obviously (especially with the kids being sick), except Keegan and I went to library for a bit to get new books. I Watched the Chicago Bears game at night and the Bears win and are going to SuperBowl - I can't believe it! I hope they win.
-- 20 January 2007 [Saturday]
We all went shopping today to pick out a gift for Ian's birthday. We went to Toys-R-Us and ended up getting a nice big Tonka Dump Truck for him (he ended up loving it! And is still playing with it weeks later). We also got him his own small electric train for their Thomas set as he is always playing with Keegan's or Carson's and a lot of times they all want to drive their trains at the same time and Ian didn't have one. We slowly took our time going thru the store so the kids could 'play' as we had nothing else planned today. When we got home, we all did a clay art project. Amanda picked up some modeling clay on sale with several different colors where you bake it in the oven when done and it hardens. Kids had a blast doing it as did I. I made our name 'Clarke', but we didn't bake it long enough so it's kind of soft. We'll see how long it lasts.
-- 19 January 2007 [Friday]
Nothing unusual today. I worked from home again though as Amanda had Spanish class all day today. This is to satisfy some of her credit requirements to keep her dental hygiene license valid. Just bad timing as I had worked from home the two days previous as well.
-- 18 January 2007 [Thursday]
I decided to work from home today because ..... it snowed last night!! Carson came into our bedroom as usual and we started to go downstairs and as I approached the railing I saw the white all over the grass (you could still see grass too). He was so excited he couldn't believe it. I wish I had a video camera. He kept saying 'It snowed, it snowed!' and the funniest part was he was running in circles trying to figure out which window to go look out to see it! He ran in and told Keegan who was still sleeping, but Keegan didn't believe him. "No it didn't!" - "Yes, really it did Keegan!" - "Really?". I've never seen Keegan get out of bed so fast and become so aleart. I kid you not, the time it took for them to decend the stairs and be out the door fully dressed was 10-15 minutes max. Amanda and I were laughing so hard about it.
So we went sledding of course! Keegan and Carson had a TERRIFIC time! Even though there wasn't a lot of snow (maybe 1-2"), it was plent to go down our hill with the innertubes, since the kids don't weigh a lot. It was a hard wet snow which really helped. They actually went all the way down the hill and would flip off in the drainage ditch below. They were having the best time. Ian was quite crabby and didn't know what was going on, but he had a lot of smiles now and then, and warmed up to the tubes after a bit (of course we only pushed him a little ways). The best slide of the day I think was Keegan going down and hit the drainage ditch and flipped over and all you see is his yellow hat goes flying and hands and feet in the air. He jumped right up and had a big lead stuck to the side of his face and his hair was all over. It was soooo funny!
Over the course of the day, they went out several times and played. It started to rain later and by night all the snow was gone. But it was just terrific and I am so glad I stayed at home.
I eventually got the sink faucet replaced after I finished working and that solved our problem of no water. Amanda got a nice new faucet with the sprayer built into the main 'neck' so we were then able to put a soap pump into the normal cut out for the spray hole! Yayyyy!
-- 17 January 2007 [Wednesday]
I worked from home today as I usually do on Wednesdays as Amanda had to work in A.M. Nothing unusal to report during the day. The wierd thing happened at night after the kids went to bed. The water flow in the kitchen sink started getting slower and slower until it finally stopped! Huh? First thing I thought of was that a pipe broke under the house as we have that horrible plastic pipping. So I quickly dressed and got some lights and went under there expecting the worse, but luckily all was dry. I checked all the walls in the house were plumbing runs and they all looked dry as well. No leaks at the water heater either. All the other faucets in the house worked. So we figured on calling a plumber in the morning. Luckily Amanda thought to try the spray nozzle out and it worked just fine! Ah ha, something happened to just the faucet. Good thinking on her part, that saved us a lot of money I'm sure. So we need to buy a new faucet. No way this one should have broke after only five years. My parents have had theirs probably 20 years without issue as has Amanda's mom. Just our luck.
-- 16 January 2007 [Tuesday]
Nothing unusual to report today. Went to work as normal and Keegan to school.
-- 15 January 2007 [Monday]
Had today off of work as did the kids from school due to MLK holiday. It was again beautiful outside, so Amanda tackled the huge project of burrying the drainage pipes we have had laying in the back yard that are connected to our downspouts. Meanwhile I finished my brick project from yesterday. Looks great now that it is done!! Helped Amanda finish the drainage pipes as well. That was a messy project with the muddy clay and all. A lot of hard work, but the yard looks much nicer in back now and requires less maintenance!
-- 14 January 2007 [Sunday]
It was very warm outside today which was nice. We spent all day outside doing stuff and playing. I started to tackle replacing the old rotted landscaping ties near the back corner of the house with the nice bricks we have used elsewhere. Not a fun job, but something I kept meaning to do.
-- 13 January 2007 [Saturday]
Sorry, haven't a clue. It's been too long since I was able to go back. Sorry!
Normal workday. Not near the stress as last week. Spent most of the day working on my yearly review which is due. UGGGH, I hate doing these things. I mean I really, really dislike it. It seems so political and unimportant in the scheme of life, but is a necessary evil, so I can hopefully get my 3% raise as the company did not have a good year and I expect no more. Hopefully no less either. Amanda has a ladies night out tonight that I hope she goes to with the wives from Carson's class.
-- 28 January 2007 [Sunday]
Carson went to a birthday party for Holden from his class. Amanda took him to it at Pump-It-Up. He had a great time. Meanwhile, Keegan, Ian and I played at home. We started with a clay art project. Keegan built a neat little snow man with a fireplace. Really a great job he did!!! Ian just played with the clay but had fun. While that was baking we went on a nice bicycle ride around the neighborhood and then played in the front yard just as Amanda was coming back from the party. More playing outside (T-Ball) and then dinner. We managed to get another game of Skip Bo in there as well and two games of 'Sorry!'. A lot of fun playing all those games (while Ian slept) and Carson played (he has no interest in games like this right now, and neither did Keegan at that age). I don't know if it was all the sleep last night or what but I didn't get to bed until 2AM! Just couldn't fall asleep. Yikes. I'll pay for it tomorrow though. So I stayed up and watched a lot of American Chopper. :)
-- 27 January 2007 [Saturday]
Was a very nice warm 64F today and sunny. I just felt tired all day. I think my cold caught up with me along with all the stress at work over the past week or so. We played outside all day I was asleep in bed by 9pm and out like a rock too!
-- 26 January 2007 [Friday]
I sure hope it goes better today! It did! Friday was the first normal day I've had in awhile and I loved it. Actually made it out to lunch to El Rodeo (my favorite Mexican place down here) with a couple of friends from work. Found out during lunch that the Golden Corral restaurant on NC 54 and Cary Parkway has closed! Yikes. I was shocked. We loved going there with the kids. It was their favorite spot. I actually felt really bad about it for them, but there is another one in the area (not as close), but its nearer the mall and usually packed so we tried to avoid it. Guess we don't have a choice now. :(
-- 25 January 2007 [Thursday]
Crossing my fingers no more release related SEV 1's. This is really nerve wracking and I don't like it. When a mistake is made up here it breaks all the clients instead of just 1. Keegan and Carson have their first T-Ball class at 4pm today. I'm so excited to hear how they do. They seemed excited about it. I told them all this morning that Ian said he could hit it farther (and Ian shook his head YES and said "Me, Me" when I asked him).... I was trying to get Carson and Keegan excited about going (which they seemed to be). Keegan loved T-Ball Amanda said. he participated in everything and had a wonderful time. He said it was harder than when we practice at home because the ball there was on a T, where as at home I just throw the ball to him (which is really the harder way). Carson would sit with the group when she was giving instruction, but then would run back to Amanda on the sideline when the activity started each time. Still it's a better start than when Keegan attended his first class and sat on the sideline the entire time. Carson will warm up. Ian wanted to get out there the entire time Amanda said, but the poor little guy didn't understand he wasn't old enough yet. I had to work until 8:30pm last night and got home around 9pm (because of SEV 1's again). The kids were still awake in bed though and when they heard the front door open, Keegan came downstairs! It was really sweet and made me feel good. I sat upstairs with them for a half hour and we all talked in bed and then it was time to go back in their bed. Very nice way to end a crazy day at work.
-- 24 January 2007 [Wednesday]
Another SEV 1 from release. Worked from home. Stayed up till 1am dealing with it. Again felt very bad couldn't play with kids more than I did. Ian went back to Dr., has an ear infection so finally he's on antibiotics! This Dr. was surprised Dr. yesterday didn't see this. Makes me mad and to top it off we had to pay for the exam again.
-- 23 January 2007 [Tuesday]
SEV 1 at work from release. Had to leave at 5pm to meet Amanda to get kids as she was off to Spanish class at night. Had a super busy night at home working and trying to feed the kids. felt really bad couldn't spend more time with them. Ian and Carson had their yearly checkups. Both screamed and screamed Amanda said. felt bad she had to take them by herself. Carson doesn't need more shots He got his final 3 today which will last him until he's 10 now! Ian was just not feeling good. Dr. didn't notice anything wrong with him though, other than a 'normal cold'. Called DirecTV at night to get billing fixed, which I finally did after 35 min on the phone. Ugh. I wish I had never subscribed and just paid Dish their $30 service fee. Lesson learned. When this contract is over I think we'll go back to rabbit ears! No billing problems there!!!
-- 22 January 2007 [Monday]
I made it into the office today. Keegan was excited today as Timothy was coming over after school! He was dropped off at Keegans bus stop and walked home with Keegan and Amanda. They had a lot of fun and were just starting to play a race game on the PS2 when I got home. I had to go back out and bring him home for dinner. Very nice to see how excited Keegan was about it.
-- 21 January 2007 [Sunday]
It's Ian's 2nd Birthday today!
He loves his truck and train! We had Amanda's Carrot cake that she made for Ian (with Carson's help). Of course it's winter, so Ian and Carson have a fever again, so the poor little guy is sick on how own birthday, but he still has good spurts of energy and played a lot.
It is very cold and rainy outside so we stayed in obviously (especially with the kids being sick), except Keegan and I went to library for a bit to get new books. I Watched the Chicago Bears game at night and the Bears win and are going to SuperBowl - I can't believe it! I hope they win.
-- 20 January 2007 [Saturday]
We all went shopping today to pick out a gift for Ian's birthday. We went to Toys-R-Us and ended up getting a nice big Tonka Dump Truck for him (he ended up loving it! And is still playing with it weeks later). We also got him his own small electric train for their Thomas set as he is always playing with Keegan's or Carson's and a lot of times they all want to drive their trains at the same time and Ian didn't have one. We slowly took our time going thru the store so the kids could 'play' as we had nothing else planned today. When we got home, we all did a clay art project. Amanda picked up some modeling clay on sale with several different colors where you bake it in the oven when done and it hardens. Kids had a blast doing it as did I. I made our name 'Clarke', but we didn't bake it long enough so it's kind of soft. We'll see how long it lasts.
-- 19 January 2007 [Friday]
Nothing unusual today. I worked from home again though as Amanda had Spanish class all day today. This is to satisfy some of her credit requirements to keep her dental hygiene license valid. Just bad timing as I had worked from home the two days previous as well.
-- 18 January 2007 [Thursday]
I decided to work from home today because ..... it snowed last night!! Carson came into our bedroom as usual and we started to go downstairs and as I approached the railing I saw the white all over the grass (you could still see grass too). He was so excited he couldn't believe it. I wish I had a video camera. He kept saying 'It snowed, it snowed!' and the funniest part was he was running in circles trying to figure out which window to go look out to see it! He ran in and told Keegan who was still sleeping, but Keegan didn't believe him. "No it didn't!" - "Yes, really it did Keegan!" - "Really?". I've never seen Keegan get out of bed so fast and become so aleart. I kid you not, the time it took for them to decend the stairs and be out the door fully dressed was 10-15 minutes max. Amanda and I were laughing so hard about it.
So we went sledding of course! Keegan and Carson had a TERRIFIC time! Even though there wasn't a lot of snow (maybe 1-2"), it was plent to go down our hill with the innertubes, since the kids don't weigh a lot. It was a hard wet snow which really helped. They actually went all the way down the hill and would flip off in the drainage ditch below. They were having the best time. Ian was quite crabby and didn't know what was going on, but he had a lot of smiles now and then, and warmed up to the tubes after a bit (of course we only pushed him a little ways). The best slide of the day I think was Keegan going down and hit the drainage ditch and flipped over and all you see is his yellow hat goes flying and hands and feet in the air. He jumped right up and had a big lead stuck to the side of his face and his hair was all over. It was soooo funny!
Over the course of the day, they went out several times and played. It started to rain later and by night all the snow was gone. But it was just terrific and I am so glad I stayed at home.
I eventually got the sink faucet replaced after I finished working and that solved our problem of no water. Amanda got a nice new faucet with the sprayer built into the main 'neck' so we were then able to put a soap pump into the normal cut out for the spray hole! Yayyyy!
-- 17 January 2007 [Wednesday]
I worked from home today as I usually do on Wednesdays as Amanda had to work in A.M. Nothing unusal to report during the day. The wierd thing happened at night after the kids went to bed. The water flow in the kitchen sink started getting slower and slower until it finally stopped! Huh? First thing I thought of was that a pipe broke under the house as we have that horrible plastic pipping. So I quickly dressed and got some lights and went under there expecting the worse, but luckily all was dry. I checked all the walls in the house were plumbing runs and they all looked dry as well. No leaks at the water heater either. All the other faucets in the house worked. So we figured on calling a plumber in the morning. Luckily Amanda thought to try the spray nozzle out and it worked just fine! Ah ha, something happened to just the faucet. Good thinking on her part, that saved us a lot of money I'm sure. So we need to buy a new faucet. No way this one should have broke after only five years. My parents have had theirs probably 20 years without issue as has Amanda's mom. Just our luck.
-- 16 January 2007 [Tuesday]
Nothing unusual to report today. Went to work as normal and Keegan to school.
-- 15 January 2007 [Monday]
Had today off of work as did the kids from school due to MLK holiday. It was again beautiful outside, so Amanda tackled the huge project of burrying the drainage pipes we have had laying in the back yard that are connected to our downspouts. Meanwhile I finished my brick project from yesterday. Looks great now that it is done!! Helped Amanda finish the drainage pipes as well. That was a messy project with the muddy clay and all. A lot of hard work, but the yard looks much nicer in back now and requires less maintenance!
-- 14 January 2007 [Sunday]
It was very warm outside today which was nice. We spent all day outside doing stuff and playing. I started to tackle replacing the old rotted landscaping ties near the back corner of the house with the nice bricks we have used elsewhere. Not a fun job, but something I kept meaning to do.
-- 13 January 2007 [Saturday]
Sorry, haven't a clue. It's been too long since I was able to go back. Sorry!
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