Showing posts with label About Us. Show all posts
Showing posts with label About Us. Show all posts

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Update #6 - Summer from Hell

Like I said before, this summer has been NUTS. A few of the good, the bad and the ugly updates:

Day-to Day: Work has been NUTS. Mr S and I are so busy - it's a good thing, but it's exhausting too. The other bad thing about being so busy, is not being able to take a little time off and actually take a real vacation. Oh, well...always next year, right?

Flood Fighting: This has got to be the most covered up National Disaster ever. Since the end of May, the whole Missouri River area has been in a flood fight. And why is it covered up? BILLIONS of dollars in lost crops/income, damaged homes/farms, destroyed infrastructure and where places weren't damaged - MILLIONS were spent fighting the flood with new berms/levees, sand bags, pumps, assessment teams and so many other things. Our family was directly affected in many ways including: longer commutes to work since I-29 and I-680 were inundated (and subsequently obliterated) - now instead of getting to work in 40-45 mins - it takes Mr S and I at least an hour to get to Omaha (if we're lucky - it's more like 1.25 hrs or more); I was put on flood watch at work and was required to go to Council Bluffs DAILY at 5:15 AM to track levee assessments/incidents - it was really tough, but as of last Friday, I'm done - I'm SO NOT seeing 4:30 am again for a VERY LONG time. I'm also working on another flood fighting project at our nuclear station - it's really interesting, but I hope not ever have to do this in our area ever again (if I have to travel somewhere else because I now have that experience, fine, but I'll be part of the mob that goes after the COE if they ever flood us again; we were also told that Mr. S's house in the Valley "might" flood, in fact the stupid Army Corps of Engineer's predicted that we would have 4-8 ft of water there! So our stupid renter moved out and left us a HUGE mess and we couldn't get another in with that kind of forecast. What a mess...Probably the only good thing that came out of it was seeing how resilient and how self-sacrificing so many people were. As sucky as it was to work so early in the morning, I was blown away daily by the employees with the City of Council Bluffs at their dedication to their citizens and humbleness to help out how ever they all could.

So sad - so environmentalists, should the stupid birds have their nests (because it's not like they can't adapt or anything) or people lose more homes?

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Seriously! Where does time go?!

Once again, I have to admit to being a SUPER BAD blogger. I apologize. I have PLENTY of good excuses and LOTS of material for blogging. So please bear with me while I sort it all out. (when issue it would be an interesting three months +, I was not intending ton not blog for three months)

Some highlights:
1) the girls and I went on a REALLY fun trip to California
2) the kids have been SUPER busy with sports (softball, baseball, swimming, football, volleyball)
3) school started again - I can't believe I have 6th graders! (and 3rd and 2nd graders)
4) my great-grandmother passed away :(
5) we went on a super-fun birthday trip for mr s and the twins
6)The summer from hell:not only has work been NUTS (cant even figure out how we had time for so much fun), but we've also been flood watching/"fighting", had to clean up after the GROSSEST tenant ever, dealt with bad work commutes, and on top of flooding have had some very serious storms/rain to deal with. Well, all those things and dealing with mr s's CRAPPY, CRAZY ex (a whole bullet on it's own).

What have you been up to this summer?

Friday, April 1, 2011

No April Fools Joke ....10 updates for 7 weeks

Where has time gone? We’ve been so busy and moving at the speed of light most of the time around here. I’ve also had a hard time deciding to write because after mine and Mr. S’s fight before Valentines Day – I was supposed to make a promise to no longer put “everything” out there, I’m not allowed to write posts that will make me or anyone else depressed. It really upset me because I feel like this is MY sounding board and his family should stay out of it. Anyway, I’ve cooled off now so I’ll catch everyone up on the last MONTH. Bare with me on this….

1) Jr Ms S’s LEGO League participated in the Nebraska State competition. They were one of only 5 teams that were invited from Iowa. (If you remember, Jr Mr S’s team went to state in Iowa and got 2nd place) It was a very, very cool thing for the kids. It was held at the Air and Space Museum and both hangers were PACKED with kids and their robots. The atmosphere was almost like being at a Monster Truck Rally (not that I’ve ever been to one – but it’s what I would imagine it to be like). They had a DJ going and Time Warner Cable used the big screens so that they could see themselves competing. The announcers and almost all of the volunteers for the RoboExpo made it a really special event for the kids. And it was LOUD…oh my gosh it was LOUD, but in a good way – lots of cheering and screaming for the kids. Her team didn’t end up getting a trophy, but they ranked at 16th out of 60 teams which their coach said was very good for a first year team with 4th-7th graders against mostly Jr High teams that have done this before. It was a great day for them. We’re always so wrapped up in sports that it was great to see an intellectual thing get the same recognition and excitement as a sporting event. They did a wonderful job and I’d love to go back again if we can.



2) Mr S and I were able to make up our Valentines date after the RoboExpo. We dropped the girls off at my sister’s and went to dinner. It was a quick dinner, but it was nice to spend some time together. And I think our marriage is hopefully improving – I think with wrestling over, my quitting the second job (YAY – I QUIT!!), making compromises on my main job and trying to invest more time in the kids and Mr S has helped. I hope so…

3) Jr Ms S’s team got first place in their last basketball tournament - so that was bitter-sweet for them. In addition to that she had her BEST game ever – I don’t know what got into her, but she was HOT that day. And I’m the biggest retard mom and didn’t pull out my camera until the very last game. She had already played quite a bit of the first three so she only played a few minutes of the last one. The other team REALLY wanted to beat us and the fans were SO loud. But we beat them and this is what it sounded like…
(Geez – my ears hurt SO BAD after the last two days)
Awesome, huh?
4) The boys had a few wrestling tournaments to finish of the season (no surprise huh?). In fact, one weekend they had TWO tournaments because Mr S is so obsessed. They’ve done pretty well at them – mostly getting first places. JrMrS only got 5th place at districts though – so we didn’t make it to state. I feel bad for him but I am SO HAPPY for me. Now we’re done until next fall - - THANK GOD!!! (see, I can be positive about wrestling) Now if only he doesn’t OBSESS over baseball (it’s already starting – I can see it – but this sport is a little better because it doesn’t smell like armpits – or worse, I get a tan, and at least you know after about 1.5 hours or 5 innings, you’re going home).


5) We had fun at the school carnival - well, maybe I didn't - I had to work with the balloon clown (I HATE clowns!!!)



6) In addition to participating in Lego League this year, the kids also did chess club again. This was the first time we tried out a tournament though - it was really tough! The girls tried their best though and ended up about in the middle of their brackets.

7) I’ve decided that life ends after 30. This year has been SO rough and going into 31 doesn’t look to hot either. I have never had such bad health and been SO overweight. It’s sickening. To fix the odd “lady” problems I was having, we ended up having to change my birth control pill and it’s some crappy pill that makes my hormones think I’m pregnant (whoo-hoo – cause I loved the emotional roller coasters of that…grrr). On top of that its been one continuous cold after another – yuck!

8) So I turned 31 and Jr Mr and Ms S turned 11. Yay another year and another year closer to them being teenagers (I’m totally being sarcastic – really)
Whoops - forgot to buy candles, but the two candles I did have worked :)



So in total - all the March birthdays added up to 222 years!
yes - she's fake blowing out the candles since I wasn't fast enough with the trigger
9) The girls performed in the Drill Team show at their school. It was such a great program for them and so sweet of the high school girls to take the time and foster this in them – especially since we’re so far away from club cheerleading (I SO wish there was a place close – LMS would LOVE it). I was SO surprised when my tom-boy girl JrMsS decided to do it. She was so cute.

10) We had some weather excitement (and unfortunately some damage) a couple weeks ago. I was racing home from work to get home to leave for parent teacher conferences when a thunderstorm warning hit our area. I could see the clouds getting dark and moving fast in front of me (I’m such a dork I had the whole Twister soundtrack playing in my head – you know the really ominous one right before the tornado hits) Right as I was coming around a curve on the interstate the front hit and I was pushed by the wind! Scary! When I got to town it was only sprinkling so I thought I’d be able to out run the storm – um – no. I got stopped at the third light in town (how crazy does that sound?) and it started sounding like someone was CHUCKING rocks at my car. Then all the clouds opened up and it hailed HARD. I pulled over under a gas station canopy to try to prevent damage to my car and called Mr S. I was listening to the news on the radio but was worried about a tornado as bad as it was. He wasn’t even watching the tv for me – I was freaking out – I didn’t know if I should make a run for a safe place or what when…the tornado sirens went off..here I am under a gas station canopy – probably the worst place I could be other than on the road itself. So Mr S calls me back and says “Well it’s a tornado, but it’s right on top of you, so if you’re fine, just come home”. Um, SERIOUSLY!!! Eh, it’s a tornado, but just drive home – I can’t even see the freaking road in front of me it’s pouring so hard! Grr… So once it did stop I came home. Right before I got off the highway to go down our road Mr S calls and asks if I’d left yet because now it’s getting bad at the house (oh – now you’re worried?). I got home fine and pulled into the garage. By the time I’d changed clothes it was sunny out and the girls were playing in the hail trying to find the biggest ones. We had some vehicle damage, a hole in our siding and some damage to our gutters, but nothing claim-wise at least. Mr S’s stupid ex wasn’t so lucky, her house looks like someone shot it up with a machine gun – sad, but SUPER funny. Too bad she’s such a b!tch and got on the news talking about how the boys “thought they were going to DIE!” Really? If they thought they were going to die, how come they didn’t say anything about it the next day? Stupid…The worst of the damage happened at LMS’s teacher’s farm (they had cows out, damage to their old farm house, and worst of all the grain bin FULL of corn was picked up and thrown 1/2 mile down the road!)

I felt so bad, she pulled us aside and asked if she could do our conference ASAP so she could get home – no way was I making her stick around – I told her to give me the papers and go – if there was a problem I should have heard WAY SOONER than this (we see each other almost every weekend at kid stuff since she has kids the same ages as ours)

So there are 10 updates for the last 7 weeks. I promise not to go so long anymore… I love blogging and I’ve hated being gone.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Missing my Christmas Spirit

I'm not really sure what it is, but I just cannot find it this year. Is it the lack of time? The lack of gift ideas for my friends and family? Getting over being sick/hurt? All of the ex crap? Just stress from work, kids, life? I'm not really sure.

We have been REALLY busy, we are constantly running from one thing to the next. Last night the stars aligned and Mr. S and I FINALLY got to have a date night. Our last one was so long ago, I can't even remember. Between kids things, working, etc, we just haven't had time (and probably won't again for a while). It's really sad...when did life become this hectic whirlwind? We had a nice night, regardless of the frightful drive home and back in the blizzard, a nice dinner and I got to watch HP7 - I'm such a Pot-head.

I know everyone is trying to get through this difficult economy and a lot of people aren't in the best place, but I can't remember the last time I've had such a depressing Christmas. I have no ideas for my husband, my kids, my family. I have three people done out of my list and that it! It's the middle of December and I'm no where close to getting everything done. No one will give me ideas either and I think that's what makes it the hardest. I have too much on my plate right now to be super-creative. I'm sorry...so PLEASE give me ideas!!

Luckly, I am getting better health-wise. My muscle is almost healed (part of it is still tight and sticking out - yuck!) and my cough is just an infrequent annoyance now. I've met my sick quota for the year, right? Next time I promise to listen to everyone - I'm playing the baby and getting the rest I need.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Cast

I'd like to introduce you to the cast of this crazy little bunch:
First there's Mr. Snowflake:

This is my love, my best friend.  He's currently 33 years old (don't tell him I told you).  He's a pretty laid back guy most of the time and enjoys hanging out around the house watching movies and sports, grilling, and working on his yard (that man is a NUT about mowing).  He also loves hunting and skiing and if you can't tell also loves the cold weather - yuck!  He also shares my love of traveling and eating/trying new places.