Catching up

It's amazing how much we rely on the electronics around us (I know I'd be LOST without my Android now). New Years Day our router decided to crap out on us and it took us several calls with the internet company, a new router, and several more calls with the internet provider to finally get going again. So now that we're back in business and I have a free evening, here's what the Snowflakes have been up to the last couple of weeks:

My parents had to go back to AZ :( It was nice to have them around - I feel bad that we hardly did anything, mostly because I felt so crappy most of the time. We did get to have a nice dinner their last night here.

Playing with the panoramic again :)

Bullets for Friday

I have WAY too much to catch up on - so for now, I'll just bullet the last week and a half:

• Sorry I haven't been around lately - our stupid router took a dive last week and we didn't figure it all out for a few days (and after MULTIPLE calls with our stupid service provider). Bought a new one yesterday and it's SO great to be back into cyber-world. So we're back and after another round of calls to the service provider and arguing with them about the data transfer - we were being charged for the data transfer twice of what we were getting. Butt holes! After Mr. S fought with them over the phone - we now have TWICE as much data transfer - yay us!
• Okay, so let's start with the good news - I got a pretty nice raise this week. It's nice to know that management sees how hard I work and is willing to recognize it with this.
• At work tonight I picked up my last two paychecks (kept forgetting to get them - they were only $13 each) and attached to my "Christmas" one was an envelope with a $20 bonus. Yeah, it's not much, but I NEVER would have expected a bonus there - again, so nice to know that management recognizes hard/quality work and rewards it (yes, even $20 is a reward).
• For the first time EVER I got all of my Christmas decorations down before New Years - it was so nice to "ourge" the house of the clutter.
• That's all I got for good - so on to so-so: We didn't really celebrate New Years which really disappoints me. I LOVE New Years. Of all the dorky, Hallmark holidays (Valentines, Halloween, etc), New Years is my favorite. We stayed in and Mr. S went to bed at 11 pm even though he promised to stay up. He promised to give me a New Years kiss when I came to bed, but he couldn't even roll over to do that for me. Really disappointing.
• I don't know, it's probably just me, but things between us seem to be back in the blah zone - why do marriages have to be like this? All I want is a LITTLE attention rather than treating me like his stupid chew toy - sorry, I don't know how else to decribe it. It's like if I give up the effort (or am SO stressed out I can hardly breathe) - he doesn't pick up the slack - why?
• So the bad - My co-worker quit this week. We were already at super capacity with work and now I have to cover BOTH of our jobs. We're looking for a replacement, but I'm stressing so bad that it'll be like trying to replace my last job - it took 4 months! I can't go 4 months without help...
• This probably should have been in my so-so list but, since she's leaving, my boss is going to push for more training/education for me so I can be a better designer/web developer. This is great except - when the hell am I suppossed to do it!!!??? Since I'll be working like 70+hours a week for a while and with all of my family/kids/part-time job responsibilities, I DON'T have the time! I know it will work out - I just don't know how.
• So, I'm so stressed out that I kind of bit back at one of the PM's at work - probably my BIGGEST supporter. He's very different from others - if you make a good impression he's your biggest advocate/supporters, but if you come off on the wrong foot or are unprofessional, then he's gonna boot you so far you won't know what happened to your career. I've been continuing to "support" him ever since the new girl started - she screwed up with him and you only get one chance. He asked me to do something the other day when I was SO overwhelmed and for the FIRST time I said no. I think it upset him. So I decided to try to search out the perfect person to support him. Yesterday I spent an HOUR going over some project initiation sheets with her so she could help him. I told her to pre-fill them in and then he'd mark them up. So today she called me down so we could both go to his office. What did this idiot do? She brings OLD forms - I have never actually seen him "boot" people and I was SO surprised the rumors were true - I couldn't believe how fast this admin got booted out the door and then he spent another 45 minutes going on about how incompetent she is. Wow! How am I ever going to be able to move on with all of these incompetent people not being able to help me out?
• My crappy ex is bugging me again. He sent me some stupid Facebook message about wanting to talk in person (wait..I thought Facebook was a place for communicating). Why would I want to talk to him in person? I can't stand seeing him across the rotunda at court, why would I want any conversation with him? Then he has the gall to tell me he has different priorities now than when he was 27. Really - took him 10+ years longer than EVERYONE else on this planet to figure out he should have priorities? And why should I "trust" him now? He needs to get the hell out of mine and the girls' lives. And, he didn't even ask to see the girls - it was all about HIM and how HE needed to be able to support himself. Ugh! On top of that, my crappy-ass lawyer BARELY got our court date rescheduled today when I HAD TO call and remind him. There's another dumb-ass I need to get out of my life.

I guess that's it for now. I'll have more tomorrow...
What do you do when you feel so hopeless?

Top 25 New Year’s Resolutions Every Stepfamily Should Make

This is a new blog I’m following and I thought it was great for blended families like ours: The original post is at: blendedfamilysoapopera.com

Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions Every Stepmother Should Make:
1. I will carve out 30 minutes a day just for me. Whether it’s taking a walk, reading a book, relaxing in a bubble bath or watching my favorite television show, I will make sure to make some “ME” time.
2. I will resolve not to make EVERYBODY IN THE STEPFAMILY’S problems my own by focusing on “fixing” something that I didn’t break in the first place.
3. I will not force the issue of being one big happy family and instead, allow my relationship with my stepchildren to naturally evolve (whether that takes 2 years or 10 years).
4. I will support my husband and offer advice when and if necessary, but ultimately allow him to handle issues with his ex-wife and trust that he will make decisions that are best for our marriage and family.
5. I will not blame the ex-wife for issues that MY HUSBAND can control. For example, if he goes over to fix her kitchen sink, I won’t be upset with her for asking. I’ll be upset with HIM for going. (Not a problem in our house luckily)

Kicking off the New Year and Weighing-in

We rang in the New Year as a family this year. We spent NYE at a friend’s house with his family and had dinner and watched some bowl games. On our way home about 10 pm the boys mentioned they’d never celebrated NYE before, I couldn’t believe it, so I showed them what NYE was all about (I’ve always celebrated with the girls, even when they were tiny babies). We got home and all changed into PJs, then watched 9 to stay awake (boring movie – I fell asleep). The movie ended at about 11:50 and we switched the tv over to one of the NYE celebrations to watch the ball drop. I poured Sparkling White Grape Juice for everyone (even Mr. S and I) and we did the countdown together. After all the kissing and hugging – we were in bed by 12:05.

10 for 2010

I can’t believe this decade has flown by already. It’s been a roller coaster of a time the last 10 years. In the last ten years I've had two beautiful girls, experienced my first marriage falling apart and had a divorce, made 3 major moves (AZ to KS, KS to NE, NE to IA - I NEVER saw myself in the midwest growing up), started two great jobs and lost one of them, bought my own house, and I met a WONDERFUL new guy, married him and also gained three stepsons.  I guess those are the “highlights” of the decade in our corner of the world.

It’s time to start thinking about the New Year and new decade coming up.

To start, I need to get organized (see #1), so I’m copying another person’s blog and listing my 10 for 2010.