Listen UP!

OK.. since my blog is a topic of conversation lately because of the controversy it caused between my coworker and I... I need to make a few things clear.

I am NOT going to change anything about my blog. NO WAY! I have thought about this and thought about this! This is MY BLOG. I feel that I am entitled to post about what ever I want and whom ever I want ( I wont use your real name) because this is about MY life.

If you dont like it, dont read it.. SIMPLE! If you feel that only one side of a story is being told here, then feel free to leave me a comment.. as a matter a fact, I welcome all comments.

I will make no promises to anyone about anything that has to do with my blog. I do this because I like to write and I like to share my life with my friends and family and whoever wants to read this. And it's also a way for me to release my feelings at times of need.. get rid of my BS.. so no one else has to feel the pain! lol..

End of story!
~Peace

Catching UP!

Im out of it! I have been out of the loop on my blog, facebook, checkbook, laundry and just life in general. There has been too much going on.. not enough time in the day or week to do everything.. and with no thanks to a short stint in the hospital for me. That threw a kink into all.

Well, we can start by saying that my parenting experience was successful! The kids were very well behaved and that time we spent together was memorable and a lot of fun! We went to the water park at The Holiday Inn in Elk River, MN. Our group included the following: Myself, my dad & 2 brothers (Andy & Aaron), Kelsie, Jonathan and 2 of their friends (Hunter & Noah Litzau). The water park was super cool and they also had Halloween festivities for kids of all ages. We spent the night there on Friday, Oct 17. Then we proceeded to go up north to the lovely Aitkin, MN to my aunt & uncles house on Saturday afternoon. It was on our drive up there that my throat began to tickle and started a wacky cough. I was begining to feel the effects of having no sleep and running kids around town all week.

We returned to Mpls on Sunday evening, after the Vikings lost to Chicago.. lame ass losers. By Sunday evening, I was spent.. tired and all I wanted was my own bed and a good nights rest. NOPE.. not happening! I go home to sleep.. and nothing. Here I am, in the comforts of my own bed and I cant friggin sleep. The reason I cant sleep is because I have this cough and im starting to feel really shitty!

The problem with me getting a cold, is that it usually hangs around in the head area for about a week and then makes a nice home right in my chest for another week or two. And the problem with all of that is.... I have ASTHMA. Well, when I woke up on Monday morning, I was hurtin for certain! I got out of bed and into work and did what I could. Went home and to bed. Slept for a few hours and then had errands to run. Back to bed at 10pm. And then it all starts:

I woke up at 1am to some pretty bad wheezing in my chest. I was having a really hard time catching my breath. I was wondering if I should consider going to the ER.. but thought that perhaps I was over reacting. I never fell back asleep because I couldnt get comfortable and when I laid down, I couldnt breathe. I finally roll out of bed at 530am and decide to go to work and make a doctors appt. I get to work and now my breathing is really bad.. bad enough that even walking took all the breath out of me. I get to my doctor at noon and he tells me that I look completely miserable (Thanks Dr. Pinchback)... and I do feel completely miserable. I get a nebulizer treatment, a couple perscriptions and im on my way. Dr. Pinchback (whom I totally love.. he's a great doctor) tells me on my way out that if I feel I need to go to the hospital, that I better get to the hospital. About 230pm.. im hysterical.. cant catch my breath.. starting to get really scared.. wondering if im dying.. and SHOULD I GO TO THE HOSPITAL? I decide to call my mom @ work.. she's on break. I get in my vehicle and drive to my sisters house. On the way, my mom calls, I immediately start crying and tell her inbetween of trying to catch my breath that I need to go to the hospital because I cant breathe!

I get to the hospital and they take my vitals and realize that my O2 level was well below what it should be... and they admitt me right away. I did have a chest x-ray which revealed that I did NOT have pneumonia.. which is good. They told me I had a severe asthma attack. I stayed in the hospital from Tues 3pm until Thursday 6pm. And we all have hospital stories.

I get to my room and a couple hours later, my roommate has some major seziure.. they move her out. The next morning, they bring in a little old lady and she's very sick.. By that eve, she was puking (go fucking figure) and I was freaking out. The next morning, they move her to a nursing home and a little while later, they move in another lady who is having severe abdominal pain.. which causes her to... GUESS! PUKE! UGH.. by now im going completely CRAZY.. and scratching the walls to get the hell out of there. When my doc came to see me, I BEGGED him to let me go. He said I was boarderline and should stay another day.. but OK, I can go home. yeay!

So, now it's Wednesday and Im a lot better. Im still very tired out and need to watch myself. Ive had a very busy week and it's not gettin any better. Im in a wedding this Friday, which I talked about a while ago. Im very much excited for it, but also looking forward to it being over. I forgot how expensive it is to be in weddings.. it's been a while.

Well, I came back to work last Friday to find out that our Minneapolis Grain Exchange is closing it's doors to the trading floor... and yes folks, that's my job! As of Dec 19, 2008 I will be out of a job.. maybe. I work for a company that trades wheat on the floor and im hoping that we are able to find different positions in the company.. move to another department.. something. Dont they know that this is a horrible time to be laying people off? Merry Christmas to me! I will keep you updated! If youre interested, I linked the article from the Mpls Star & Tribune above if you click on Mpls grain exchange. The grain exchange has been open for 127 years! Sad to see it close. The building itself will remain open as they lease space to other companies.. it's just the actual trading floor that will close.

Still Alive & Learning!

That's right.. im still alive here and ive been doing the "parenting/babysitting" thing for 3 days now.. today is day 4. The kids are still alive too! It's amazing! And my sister was worried? pffff.. piece of cake! NOT!.. So for today's post, I decided that instead of giving you the day to day details of my week, I would give you a list of things I learned so far about being a parent of 3 kids.

1). Kids dont like to take showers

2). Kids dont like to brush their teeth.

3). Things dont change much between 9 & 37.. we all hate getting out of bed in the mornings.

4). Kids dont care what they look like when they go to school.. as long as they can sleep in that extra 10 minutes.

5). Im 37 & still dont know if im ready to have kids yet. They are a lot of work.

6). Bribery still works with the 5 year old!! Yeay for bribery!

7). Bribery does NOT work with the older 2.. they just dont care if you take playstation(or whatever it may be) away from them.

8). I realized that im super organized and have no problem coordinating everything.

9). I also have a good memory and didnt forget to take out the trash on "Trash day" (even though that was Kelsies job).

10). Happy that the school serves breakfast in the morning so I dont have to.

11). Ive learned that I sleep like CRAP at my sisters house.. I only love my bed!

12). Im wondering how many activities parents can fit in to ONE day (from after school til 9pm).

13). Im a lot better at this than I thought I would be.. and Im in control of myself.. not getting pissed off so easily. Take everything with a grain of salt.. esp when dealing with these kids!!

So, weve had fun so far. Ive had a little time to myself.. not a whole lot... but for sure cherish the alone time I get. I took today off work so that we can do something fun for the weekend. I have already sent Camryn (my youngest niece)off with her grandma, who is taking her up north for the weekend to Grand Marais (which is way up near the Canadian boarder.. in the arrowhead part of MN). Johnny, Kelsie, 2 of their friends and myself are meeting my dad and his 2 boys at a hotel/water park this afternoon. We are spending the night @ the hotel. There is a halloween party for the kids and of course, the water park and never to forget that there is a BAR in the water park for the 2 wacked out adults.. myself and my dad!! lol... Tomorrow we are heading up to lovely Aitkin, MN to my aunt and uncles house for the remainder of the weekend.

I am officially off kid duty on Sunday evening... Then my life can go back to normal. I see how I have settled in to my single lifestyle so comfortably, now that ive had it taken away from me for almost a week. A couple of my friends have asked
me to go for happy hour.. or meet them later for a beer, to which I thought.. hmmm.. who can I get to babysit for me already? lol.. But to calm everyones mind.. I rejected all the requests for socializing because it's more important that Im with my wonderful nieces and nephew! See, I dont need treatment after all! :)

This has been a great experience for me to see what it's like to have kids, work, have activities, keep a home clean, keep the kids organized and in line, feeding the kids, getting them to bed and up in the morning.. plus getting myself ready for work, etc. Yes, it's a big job, this parenting thing. The one thing I thought about the other day when I did have about 45 minutes alone was: How do families do it? Both parents working, kids in school/daycare, after school activities, dinner, baths, fighting (lol), keeping up with the house & laundry, etc... all of it? Geez, it really makes my life seem quite easy! I only have to take care of ME! And for now, that's how I like it!

Have a great weekend. I will post again on Sunday.. pics and stories from the weekend.. if there is anything good to talk about!

~Peace!

The Word is OUT!

Yup, thats right.. the word is out at work about my blog! lol! This is funny to me because it assures me that everyone loves a little bit of drama.. even me sometimes. My coworkers arent reading my blog just because they are intersted in my life.. they are reading it because of the drama it caused with the coworker! All the feedbacks arent in yet, but so far TWO positive responses. One even stated something about "Freedom of Speech". Horray for Freedom of Speech. And just in case some of you ppl out there have forgotten exactly what it is, feel free to check it out here!

With all that being said, i've been debating whether or not to talk about this topic anymore. The reason is because we are in "sessions" now (trying to be sensitive here..) and it's probably best to just hack out the issues in person with the one involved and not write about it on here. But that's boring. Drama makes for good reads! lol.. ok.. but since I DO have a sensitive side, I will rest my case for the time being. Although, the coworker claims that she is no longer reading the blog... hmmmm.... I personally think it's too hard to resist. If she's not reading it, someone close to her probably is reading it. I think it's the right thing for now.. not that I wont fill you all in at a later date.. :)

Did I ever mention that I work with a bunch of adult males that act younger than my 5 year old niece? The pics says it all. We have been very slow at work lately, and that's when the alter-ego personalities appear from nowhere. One minute, they are cussing you out, the next minute they are dancing to "It's Raining Men". Since im not about using real names, I wont name this trader.. but this is not an unusual sight in the trading pits. I personally find these guys extremely entertaining and find myself laughing a lot at their strange acts! It's good to have a good sense of humor.. and also a sense of self confidence, such as Mr. Dork here to the left!

So, what's been going on with me.. well, i met my old boyfriend, Mark out the other night. It's been 14 years since we have seen eachother last and it was really nice to see him. We reconnected on F-ing Facebook(which i will touch on in a few), just as I have reconnected with a bunch of old friends. I had a lot of fun catching up & laughing about old times together. We drank some beer, ate some pizza and watch the Vikings beat the Saints on MNF. And no, there were no sparks! I have decided that I really do enjoy being single. I guess I think that if I settle in with someone, I wouldnt be able to go and meet up with Mark.. drink beer and catch up on life. But then again, it depends on who your with.

This facebook thing is a trip. I have reconnected with so many people from my past, it's freakin nuts. I ended up joining this Facebook revolution because someone sends me some pics to view online. But Oh.. no... in order to view these pictures (which i really wanted to see) I had to become a member of Facebook. I caved in!! So, on our girls weekend up north a few weeks ago, we were talking about joining Facebook.. blah, blah, and Lana states that she had to join F-ing Facebook for the same reason I did!! From then on, F-ing Facebook stuck! I have met out with 4 of my friends so far, which has been totally awesome! It's so strange to reconnect with someone after a 20 year absence..but at the same time, it's so much fun!

Im going to babysit my 2 nieces and nephew next week.. to which I say.. are you F-ing nuts? My sister and her husband decided that they are over worked and need a vacation to Mexico (assholes), so are leaving on Tuesday morning and returning the following Tuesday. I have volunteered to stay at her house and lock her kids in the closet! lol.. I get to play mean aunt for a week.. well, almost a week. I get that following Mon & Tues off from them. Im wondering who is going to come out of this alive.. me or the kids?? No, it should be fine. Im a fun auntie, but when I mean business.. they know they better fall in line or I will be crackin skulls! hahaha.. if they are reading this, they are totally laughing right now! lol.. like me! We all get along just fine and I dont anticipate any problems.. RIGHT KIDS? They have MEA next Thurs & Fri. I took Fri off from work and we are going to head up north to beautiful Aitkin, MN to harass my aunt & uncle! They can babysit and I will be ready for the booze! :)

Im aboot (the MN way of saying about..lol) sick of the freakin election shit and the Bailout shit. YES, it's a freakin bailout.. not a rescue! I did catch part of the presidental debate last night.. and must say I wasnt too impressed with either party (that's why im voting for Ron Paul). McCain reminds me of a little weasel.. the way he stands.. the way he talks.. the way he looks like he's going to have a stroke any minute now. Obama is a very well spoken man, in my opinion.. just not sure he would make a good President. I have mainly associated myself with the Democratic Party, but this year, im going to claim to be a Libertarian. And that Palin.. holy shit. Who let her out of Alaska? Speaking of entertainment.. she's freakin hilarious. Speaking of well spoken.. shes definately NOT! If you havent seen the SNL bits with Tina Fey, it's a MUST SEE! They give her the Minnesota accent as well.. it's a gut busting performance by Tina, I must say!

I just freaked myself out here, which is a definate sign to end my post for the day. I forget that these auto save as you type.. I just made one wrong slip of the finger on the keyboard here and all of a sudden my blog screen went blank. I thought I erased everything i'd been typing for an hour and a half.. ugh! It's good to be back after over a week! Stay tuned for more drama.........

~Peace