DDA Chapter 13

[tmfranlk]

Tammi - I am so sorry about your friend. His family and friends will all be in our prayers.

Becky - Loving your trip report. I would love to do a Panama Repo sometime!

Tom - I love love love the costume!!! She looks absolutely adorable.

Vicki - Good luck with the clothes shopping.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I guess I should share my news with my DDA friends. I couldn't post anything earlier since I was not allowed to tell ANYONE! I have been asked to take a promotion. Normally, it would mean moving to Lansing. I told them I can't move to Lansing anytime soon so I turned down their offer. They feel that it is so important for me to be in the job that they are willing to have me be in Lansing half time but still get the promotion. I'm already in Lansing almost 1/2 time (some months more, some months less) that I took the promotion. Well, actually it is an acting position with a required interview and they have to interview at least 3 people. It is possible that someone else will be better qualified (but not likely). I start in the new level on November 3 as the acting working out-of-class (which means I get a pay increase even during the acting period).

It was very hard to tell my team that I was moving up. They are the greatest team ever. They have been one of the main reasons I have been so successful. However, I feel I can do more for them (& others at their level) if I take this position. Several of them told me I have been the best boss they have ever had. And they are all 29 or older so we aren't talking about people who have only had one or two bosses.

Congratulations!

Cute dress!!! I love Steven's tie!

Nicholas' football pictures came yesterday.

How handsome!!!

We also are having issues with our leader and the way our girls our treated within the troop (our troop is made up of 4th graders, who are juniors and our 3rd graders, who are Brownies. We also have 1 1st grader that joined- we had decided to close the troop to outsiders but she attends the school we meet at so we had no choice but to accept her.) Anyway, the leader doesn't particularly want us there and really excludes us from the things she does and we are to the point that it is just been enough. We feel that we'd be better off branching out on our own but it will obviously bring a lot of drama and then the fact that our troop will have very little start up funds as the Cookie sale is just about over and that money would not transfer with the girls. Lots of decisions to be made. Thankfully, the 4 other parents that are in Emma's section are fabulous and everyone is willing to step up and get involved.

So sorry you're having problems. Lizzy's scout leaders are so great. There are actually 3 troops of just 4th graders. Emma doesn't have a troop yet-they haven't found a leader yet.

My brother Stephen- His left shin is sore
Chris- His arm is broken in 4 places, he has to go back for a Dr. appointment Monday. He was in the suicide seat AKA behind the driver, plus he braced himself
Nick- Is sore from where the seat belt hits
Matt- I am not sure what if any injuries he has

Nick and Chris are brothers. All of them have known each other since elementary school.

My brother was driving Nick's Jeep, his Dad has let my brother drive their vehicles for years. Who knows if this will change. Although they were probably better off in the Jeep then in Stephen's Jetta.

My prior information was incorrect. They were driving straight in the left hand lane of a two lane in each direction road. The other car was coming the opposite direction, and was turning left into the shopping center. They thought that Stephen was turning right into the shopping center. (Without his turn signal on plus from the left lane to turn right) . They swerved but still ending up hitting the front end of the Jeep into side of the other car. The other guy took all the blame. He was OK, as the only person to go to the ER was Chris. We just hope the other guy's insurance was pretty good. As the Jeep is basically totaled.

In due time everyone should be fine.

Poor Chris! Hope it heals well and quickly!

Leighanna has a Halloween party to go to today. I stayed up WAY too late last night to start and finish it.
She loves pink, so this is what I cam up with.

Too many Leighanna Bo Peeps!

WOW!!!! I don't know how you can do by staying up late. I always make stupid mistakes if I try to sew too late and I can't thread my needle late at night-just can't see it.

They found him.

today was Christopher's family bday party...

here's the silly baskin robbins cake that drove me crazy to find

That is really cool!

What sites do you buy clothes from? I'm looking for some nice button blouses and jackets.

Land's End (can make returns at Sears)
J Jill (can make returns at a retail store)

Not mail order but I have had good luck using coupons at Kohl's for their Ralph Lauren line.



I made the hood for Joe's Martian costume. He loves it! Then I made Lizzy a pirate vest-she was much less enthusiastic-I think she likes it but she didn't have much to say about it. I still hope to make her a head wrap and sash before her party tomorrow night.


So we have like no food in the house. I've been sick all week and working long hours. DH is home alone for 6 hours a day. Is it too much to expect him to do the grocery shopping? He did go on a field trip with Lizzy on Wednesday but nothing else all week. He is NOT lazy-just unproductive......

 

[yellowfish78]

Jennifer - the girls are just TOO CUTE on your blog!!! They are totally going to hate you when they are older!!!

 

[marcij]

Anyone else having crappy weather today? Its been raining since last night and if the wind get any stronger, we will be blown away.

I did however enjoy a nice mug of hot cocoa a bit ago.

Oh my -- it was 40 something early this morning, then by the soccer game I would have gotten sunburned if I hadn't had on sunscreen. Crazy weather, but not in the way you are talking about.

They found him.

I'm so very sorry. I really like the pic of Nicholas.

Tom -- darling costume!

Vicki -- congratulations!

Kristine -- cute pics!

Robyn -- sorry for the GS problems. I hope they are resolved soon.

Elizabeth -- if you tell me what you want on Partners card, I'll pick it up for you. Since we had the soccer games mid-day, I didn't get as much as I would have liked to done, but I still made a lot of progress. I only have a couple of family presents left and then the boys.

Lindsay -- I bet you were at the game today. Hook 'em Horns!

Good evening everyone!

 

[PNO4TE]

Tomorrow we are taking a ride up to Skyline Drive to go leaf peeping. We'll probably hike a trail or 2 and maybe even go to Luray Caverns. I hope the weather is nice.

I think it will be a beautiful day for leaf peeping on the Skyline Drive!

 

[PNO4TE]

My mother's heart is a little lighter tonight. Kathrin and her two friends stopped here in F'burg for dinner on their way back to Boston. What a whirlwind trip they have had, but they loved it. They are both very nice guys and she is lucky to have them for friends.

Her poor face is so black and blue and she has lost weight. She cannot eat much and has not been hungry this week anyway. She is smaller than Kristin now. She has a dental appointment on Wednesday for the root canal and hopes to get her permanent crown within the week.

She talked to HR and their deal is that they will pay her COBRA coverage for a month, so she is covered.... I think! She does not seem too concerned at this point so I am not going to be either.

 

[PNO4TE]

I am off to bed. If we work really hard at it, sometime in the next few days we get to leave this DDA Chapter which has not been very good luck for any of us!

 

[ReAnSt]

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Puerto Vallarta

So we slept in today. As we really did not have any plans for Puerto Vallarta. We got up and grabbed some food.

As always, they were cleaning the ship to make it pretty for all the webcams and pictures to come during the PC

Traditional Porthole Picture, I have taken one on every cruise

Eventually we headed off the ship. The ramp off the ship in some of these ports was very steep.

 

[ReAnSt]

CM still hard at work

Under construction

From Sam's Club/Walmart Parking lot, yep they are that close. Plus we actually went to both

$28000 TV anyone?? Ok, seriously it is in Pesos but it looks like dollars

The coveted Wii Fit, I had been looking all over for one and I finally found them in Mexico, although I did not buy it here. But they had a lot As it would not have fit in my luggage to go home

We found the Rum. This bottle was at least 24 inches high, it was huge. We contemplated buying, but knowing my klutziness decided we should not buy a huge glass bottle of alcohol

Then we headed to the mall

We should have brought the laptop to the mall as Starbucks had free internet access

Palm trees inside

 

[ReAnSt]

In the middle of the road, heading back to the ship

Crab anyone??

We headed back on the ship, and then we ordered room service

Chicken Salad

All Hands on Deck

Mickey Bars

We headed up to deck 9 for drinks, we also grabbed some grapes and cheese at Cove Cafe

Then we headed to the WD Theater for Los Caporales Folkloricos. They were alright, it just really is not my thing. But I enjoyed it for the cultural experience, but I would not pay to see a Mariachi band.

I love the motion in this picture

 

[ReAnSt]

We headed back to our room to change for dinner and beds were already turned down

I think we may have played family Magic Quest at this point but I am not sure.

We headed to dinner at Parrot Cay

We found out that our dinner party of 14 was down to 10 as two of the couples changed seating

After dinner we headed to Rockin' Bar D for Ron Lucas, he was pretty funny

A Litle Pixie Dust (Desiree's) husband sorry I cannot recall his name

After Ron Lucas, it was Rock n' Country night

Tonight was one of the rare nights, that the Magic or Wonder is in port after dark. Stephen and I had both talked about getting off the ship to take pictures. Stephen ended up going to take pictures. I stayed on the ship.

Eventually we both headed to bed.

 

[tinker1bell]

Tammi,

Nicholas is getting so very handsome

 

[tinker1bell]

Tom,,,, If I was a little girl right now could you adopt me so I could have those beautiful outfits?????

 

[tinker1bell]

We got it. I wasn't considering it but with the promotion, I may now. It may also change our mind about taking a quick trip yet before the end of the year. We had decided not to go with the state of the economy. However, since I may have some unexpected money before the end of the year, we might go after all. Terry & Stephanie, I know that I've asked you before but when are you in Disney World in December? How about the rest of you that are going in December?

Stephanie and I arrive on Friday, December 5 and will stay at All Star Movies that Friday and Saturday night. We are trying to do four parks in one day that Saturday, December 6. Then on Sunday December 7 we go on the cruise until Dec 11 when we come back to Pop and we will be there until Tuesday, December 16 when we leave to come home.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

Just wanted to say goodnight.
I had such a great night! My brother, his girlfriend, and I ended up going to a Halloween party t a friends house and had a blast. I dressed up as a referee (something we had at home--free!) and it was great...we were there til 230! im exhausted so headed to bed

 

[Tammi67]

I am off to bed. If we work really hard at it, sometime in the next few days we get to leave this DDA Chapter which has not been very good luck for any of us!

Yes, and I wanted to close it right away instead of going all the way to 250 pages, but nooooooooooooooooo, you people didn't want to CHEAT!

 

[Tammi67]

Good morning.

 

[PrincessLeighsDaddy]

I bet you're sorry you asked!! Jackie thought this was the funniest thing!!

OMG! Too funny! Hmmmm....Kristine, you weren't involved with Gene Simmons at any time were you!
Her tongue also resembles that of a dog we used to have! A Chow-Chow. She had the prettiest black tongue!

Tom, have you seen this site? They have a Bo Peep costume that isn't anywhere near as nice as yours for $95.

http://www.missem.com/storybook/bo_peep_costume.html

Wow! I made my for slightly less!

Oh my gosh, that seriously might be THE cutest costume I've ever seen!

Thanks Jennifer!

I thought I was hitting the quote button, but apparently my overnight sewing with little sleep and then 12 hour shift last night has played havoc on my mind!
Thanks to everyone for the comments!

 

[tink2020]

I'm on the phone with Deb. They had a good time but she is not going to get online tonight. When Chuck answered the phone, she told him that they had "just returned from their marriage seminar". Chuck brought the phone to me laughing. For those of you that don't know the story, when we were at Disney and Deb called Chuck's cell phone to get hold of us his message said "I'm at a seminar, please leave a message and I'll get back to you". They thought that was funny and asked him what kind of seminar he was at and he told them a marriage seminar - after all for the sake of my marriage we need to come to Disney World.

Hilarious! I'm glad to hear they had a good time!

 

[PNO4TE]

Yes, and I wanted to close it right away instead of going all the way to 250 pages, but nooooooooooooooooo, you people didn't want to CHEAT!

We should have cheated, we should have cheated, we should have cheated...