Fun was had by all.....

No, I did not fall off the face of the earth. I've just been busy. Working a lot for the holiday, Christmas shopping, etc. etc. And of course planning Shawn's surprise graduation party. Now that is over and I can get back to blogging.

The party was a huge success. Shawn was totally surprised, which is what I wanted. Everyone looked like they had a great time. Of course having Dan there for the entertainment surely was a great touch. By the end of the night almost everyone was dancing and singing along and laughing...and drinking...a lot. Our friends sure can drink we went through 3 kegs of beer!!! So to wrap it up in one word....unforgetable!!!!

WE ARE.....

HERE'S TO THE WEEKEND WINNERS OF THE BIG GAMES. THE FIRST WIN AT "THE SHOE" SINCE 1978. WE ARE PENN STATE!!!!!

Reality....

You know how sometimes reality slaps you in the face?? Well that's how I felt about a week ago. Since October is breast cancer awarness month there seems to be alot of info about it on TV, etc. So I watched the episode of Oprah with Christina Applegate talking about her resent battle and her choice to get a double masectomy. First of all, her only being 36 kind of got me thinking "should I be getting mammograms?" She said she has a family history so she was getting checked since she was 30. In Oprah talking to her and her doctor, she was mentioning some facts, one that shook me up was that 70 percent of breast cancers are not hereditary. I thought I didn't have to worry until I was 40. Now that fact makes me think I have a good chance of getting a form of breast cancer. Then she says "in the time you have watched this show 20 women will hear the words "you have breast cancer" and 5 will die from it" every hour. Holy crap, 20 women an hour!! I can't believe we don't have a cure for this yet. They put a man on the moon but they can't cure cancer. Like I said, reality slapping you in the face.....

Annual Crab Fest

This past weekend we went to the Harford County Deputy Sheriffs Department annual crab fest in Jarrettsville, MD. This is maybe the third year we have gone. We always have a lot of fun. We go to support Chrissy's sister Kim and her husband Donnie who both work there. The crabs looked really good but this year I wasn't in the mood for them so I just had the buffet. That was good too. Shad and Lee put a hurtin' on the crabs, I think they ate them until they were gone. We always stay there until it's over and then go to a local bar. This year we went to a bar close to Kim and Donnie's house. That was fun but it was outside and I was freezing. We only got there like an hour before last call so it was a short stay. Then we went back to Kim and Donnie's and called it a night. Got up the next morning and drove home. All in all we have a great time, like always....

Over the river and through the woods to ...Potter county we go...

Well, another great weekend in Potter county. Minus the weather being a little rainy on Friday the rest of the weekend was fun. Shawn got to do some hunting for coyotes which turned out to be unsuccessful, Sam got to swim in the creek down by the road and the pond(which he wasn't allowed to) and run after the 4-wheelers and the mule. That tired him out pretty well. We got to watch football all day Saturday and eat and drink our way through the weekend. I am so happy Shawn and Tia invite us to the sugar bush lodge, and the Gerhart's let them bring us. THANKS Stauffer's , THANKS Gerhart's. Another great trip with lots of lasting memories....

Is there something in the water????

It must be that time of the year or it was that time of the year. I just found out yesterday about someone else that I know is pregnant. I think that is now 6 women, including friends and coworkers and clients. So, is there something in the water??? It seems like alot of something has happened in the last 6 months or so. Of course I'm HAPPY for everyone of them and wish them the best. I guess I have to start thinking about what I'm going to get all these new babies. And what to get the parents(first time or not). It's very exciting but I must say....I'm staying away from the water....at least for right now!!

It's all over?!?!

I can't believe the summer games are all over. I looked so forward to watching them on TV and now it's all over. I so enjoy the summer games better then the winter games, better events. How about Micheal Phelps, all those records he broke. He is a true athelete. I watched the track & field events when the men's & women's relay teams both dropped the baton to be disqualified. How much of a jerk would you feel like if you dropped the baton in the race of a lifetime. A race you trained your whole life for?? I also watched the women's beach volleyball match when we won the gold, that was a great match. Those are just some of my highlights. I guess I have to wait until 2012 to see it all again, I can't wait....GO USA!!!!

And so the journey begins....

As some of you know for the past 5 years or so I have been doing a part time job working in the education department of 2 different product lines that we carry in the salon. It was a lot of fun going into other salons, meeting other sylists, traveling a little but at the beginning of this year in talking to the manager I worked under she said it was going to be a slow year. I decided to step away from the position for a while, maybe find a different company to work for. Here it is August and I still don't have a part time job.

As some of you also know I am a little...you might say obsessed...about going to the gym. I can say that I like going, I feel good when I go and I think I need to go. Three times a week I take a group cycling class(some gyms call it "spinning") and I love it, the other days I run on the treadmill or at home outside. So I get this in my head to ask the fitness manager what I would have to do to get certified to teach classes and she says they do it all there. She would train and certify me for whatever I wanted but they need more people for the group cycling classes. PERFECT!! because I love that class....I have thought about it before but I thought you had to have some other kind of backround. So today I made the call to get more info and get the ball rolling on my new part time job, I hope I can do it!!! So, let the journey begin on a new path, wish me luck, I might need it.......

I Got Nothing

Well, I don't have too much to blog about this week. Work is quiet but busy, not too much about the homicide now that things have calmed down. And, life, well that's pretty quiet as well. Of course, when I have exciting news about something I will surely let everyone know about it. The last blog I apparently offended my husband so there won't be anymore talk about him because as you all know I will NEVER hear the end of that...so I apologize to him.....

Home Sweet Home

Ok, so we built our home about a year and a half ago in a development, much to Shawn's dismay, in a good location for both of our jobs. The development has a homeowners association with rules and even a rule book. So one of the rules is NO FENCES of any kind. So I had high hopes that when we got Sam that I could train him to stay in our yard. Yeah, that's still a work in progress. He runs out of our yard every time and of course, right into the neighbors yard that are less then freindly to us. So,I got an estimate for one of those invisible fences. I wasn't thinking it was going to be $1350.00. So now our only hope is that I can train Sam to stay in the yard while we are still "thinking about it". We have a little trouble spending that kind of money at one time.

While we are at it, we got some other estimates as well, I had a landscaper come out and see how much it will cost to continue around the house with the flower beds. He's going to send me the paperwork in the mail in a few days. I can only imagine the cost based on how much it cost us to do the front. Just so you understand where I'm going with this, Shawn is not a "handy" kind of guy if you know what I mean. I also had someone come out and give me an estimate to stain our deck out back. That will cost us about $800.00. Yeah, that's too much work for Shawn also. I even offered to stain the deck but that didn't even get a second of thought before a "HELL NO"came out of his mouth--it can't be that hard, right. Neither can the landscaping around the house but that also got the same response. So I guess we have to spend the money if want these things done. This homeowning thing is going to get expensive and why didn't you guys tell me I was marrying a deligator instead of a laborer oh , that's right Shawn only likes to be a laborer for everyone else.....

Life in the small town

Well, I just got the news today that the local police made an arrest in the Roseboro homicide. I can't believe it, they arrested the husband. This just can't be!!! He always seemed like such a nice guy when he came into the salon. He seemed respectful to his wife and family, I can't see it. It came out last week that he had been having an affair, OK that doesn't prove he killed his wife...but in this small town I guess it does. There are so many poeple in the salon that were convinced that he did it, people that didn't even know him or the family. People that are just hungry for some kind of drama, checking the news and papers everyday, having something to say about it. I felt like just saying to them"Just Shut Up"it was like whisper down the alley you used to play as a child, everyone added their own thought to the story and made it as though he brutally beat his wife and drowned her in the pool because he was having a passionate love affair behind her back. PLEASE!!! The only people that know how the marriage was is the two of them and you know what, that's how it should be. I feel the most sad for the 4 children who have to go through this whole thing. They arrest the Dad, who gets to explain that to the kids. What if he gets aquitted, who gets to explain that to them. They lost their mom and now they might lose their dad as well. It's such a gut wrenching situation for everyone involved.....

At the salon

So when I got back to work after a weekend off, I come to find out that one of our clients is really, really pissed off at Amy Sue. Now when I say pissed off I mean so pissed she is taking us to court, yes I did say court. A week or so ago she got hair extensions put in-the ones that cost like $ 1200. She called a few days later saying they hurt and felt heavy and she thought they were damaged. So our policy is to have the person come back and we can fix the problems. Which she did and all seemed fine. Then on Saturday she came back and wanted them taken out, now keep in mind she just spent $1200 a week earlier to get them put in. So naturally you know she wanted her money back but we did our job to her satisfaction, she was happy both times she left. So now her husband comes into the picture(he conveniently was in Korea when she made her decision to spend the money) and he is pissed off too, comes in the salon which is full with clients and makes a huge scene, wanting his money back and being just out of hand. So she gives him the info for the company to call to see if they will give him the money back. About an hour later he calls back and said she is responsible for the refund. She's still holding her ground and said no. Fast foward to yesterday, we get a letter from her lawyer that they are suing us to get the money back. And to top it off we also got a letter from the better business bureau that they filed a complaint there as well. That's when Amy Sue got pissed they didn't have to take it there. So she said "bring it on, they are going to spend way more money then the $1200 they aready put out".

Can you believe what poeple won't do to get their money back. I guess it's different when it's $1200 verses $100 for color and a haircut. We never had someone that we couldn't make happy. As this goes on I can't wait to see how it unfolds......

A few more pix from quad fest...Thanks to Tia!!

QUAD FEST

Well, Quad Fest was alot of fun. I was a little leary to get on the 4 wheler again but it went well. Of course, mean greenie didn't hold up for the whole weekend so I had to ride someone elses. You worry about wrecking someone elses quad when you do that. It was an easier quad for me to handle so I was happy to ride it. The trails were really dusty so it was hard to see what was coming ahead. It was hot during the day, but cool at night. All in all we had a good time. I'm glad Shad & Chrissy found out about the event, we had a blast!!

At work

I am SO happy!!! We have this stylist at work that takes advantage of Amy Sue every chance she gets. She's always late to work, does what she wants all the time oh, and did I mention she is a CRACKHEAD... and apparently she has sticky fingers. Her name was in the paper for retail theft. That was the end of the line for Amy Sue. She told her a while ago if her name is in the paper, she's fired. She's gotten caught with drugs in her car, past due parking tickets, underage drinking, need I say more....I'm surprised her name wasn't in sooner. So yesterday she got the call that she was fired...oh poor girl...Whatever!!!!! It was not too soon for me, she just had some kind of drama all the time. So now we are back to our happy little family with everyone that has normal lives and normal families and normal friends....Well, at least they seem normal!!!!

Happenings

Well, we participated in the 2008 Muddy Buddy this past Sunday and... well we didn't beat the guys. I know,I know you are all in shock, so were we. I guess they were just faster at it then we anticipated. The thing that's upsetting about it is the guys only started training for this like 4 weeks ago. Susan and I have been running for years. We thought we had it in the bag. So did everyone else based on all the side bets among our friends. I think we lost alot of money for some people. Note to them: only bet on a sure thing!!!!! We'll come back next year, I can bet you that...and that is a sure thing!!!!!

At home

As you all know, Sam is like a child to me. On Sunday when we got home from our weekend in NJ visiting Ryan, Betsy and Wil we noticed a tennis ball size lump on Sam's shoulder. Well, of course I think the worst right away. Our visit at the Vet said different, it was just a bad bruise from some kind of trauma. I'm not sure what the trauma was but at least it's not some kind of tumor....

Happenings

This weekend myself, Susan, Shawn and Rich are competing in the 2008 Muddy Buddy in Richmond, VA. Is a running/biking race where teams of 2 complete a 6.3 mile course leapfrogging from running and biking and a few obstacules along the way and apparently alot of mud pits to try to win!!! Of course nothing like this goes without a freindly bet between teams, girls against guys. The winning team gets dinner from the LOSERS. Well, that means Shawn and I pay no matter what. I get pretty competative when it comes to this kind of thing so this should be good.....

Well, I just had to do this. Tia sent me her blogpage and it looked like fun. I hear all kinds of things at work and some I just can't let go without telling someone. So now if I have to talk about it I can and you can comment on it as well. I'll also throw in some stuff about me as well just to keep it personal.