The DDA Trouble Free Zone Part 29

[my3princes]

I just completed the LAST outfit for our vacation, I promise!

I thought of Vicki and Tia the whole time I made this. I remember them talking about the Mr. Potato Head parts, and making lists for them.

Here it is, I think that Leighanna will wear this to H&V lunch.

The applique that I stole from a too small tshirt that Leighanna had, also came with pieces that you can stick to the face via velcro.

Here are a couple of different faces that I did.

I made a pocket on the skirt to hold the pieces when they aren't in use.

Time for bed!
Good-night all!

Tom this is amazing. Has anyone told you that you are in the wrong business? You could make so much more money marketing your sewing creations than you ever could in the bakery. You wouldn't need to do Copyrighted characters, you have such creativity.

 

[my3princes]

Wow, it's quiet. I guess you all know how messy the house it. If there is no one posting I'll have to clean

 

[tmfranlk]

I just got yelled at by Channon while I was on another thread. (just kidding, she beat me over the head with a fish )

I hope all is well with you wild and crazy people.

I have been up to my armpits in normal life and new things. Remember my step-DD came to live with us (3 wks ago) and things are fine for now. She has tossed out a few tudes and things, but so far so good.

Bethie and her growth hormone deal has been a pain. The insurance (yes the military has a form of insurance when you go outside the military for care) and the drug company are fighting back and forth, so we have no meds for her yet. We did see her Dr the other day and she plans to try a different route to get Bethie some help. She said Bethie is the size of her two year old daughter and it's not right.

Then we have DH who is up to his armpits in work, organizing a golf tournament to raise money for a group on base. The other day I thought he was going to bow a gasket, he is so busy.

I am still learning how to be a loan officer and doing what I can to get loans (have yet to get one) but happy to be doing it.

The we have Ellie..... remember me telling you she sang at a tomato festival? Well she has now sang at another festival and will be at another next month along with singing at an NBA game (Golden state Warriors). Nov she sings at the town tree lighting for Christmas. AND in Jun of 08 she has been asked to attend the International Performin Arts Conference in LA (Universal City, Hollywood) . So I am now on the rampage to raise money for this 5 day event and have no clue what to do (and trying to figure out how to add a DL trip on the end of it )

Oh did I add we are planning our Nov DL trip as we speak . I have lots of autograph pages to print yet.

That is our life in a post (nutshell).

to all who need them.

for all who have done great things.

to those who have wild and crazy lives.

Sounds like a good, crazy life going for you right now! Congrats to Ellie for the invitations! She must be so excited. that you can work out the LA trip. I am so glad that life with your step-daughter is going smoothly so far. You have our continued prayers that things will remain as smooth. Buckets of that Bethie gets the meds she needs ASAP. When is you Nov trip? I don't think it would happen that quickly, but there's a chance we will be in SoCal by then. Decisions are still being made, but I got over one hurdle in that Terra is comfortable about either staying or moving. She sees the good and the bad in both and told me that it was okay whatever we decided.

 

[tmfranlk]

Well Mr. Hancock is almost completely done with his projects!

They are all now zip-lock bagged up and ready to put in the suitcase!

Here are a few pictures. Leighanna actually wanted to "model" all of the ones that she hadn't tried on yet!

So cute!! I really like them all, but this fabric is great. Where are you getting all of your Disney fabric? Seems I can only find a little here and there. Any one source you used for it all? In case I don't get back in the next 1 day and 18 hours (YIPPEE for you!!!!) have a great trip!!

 

[lovespoohbear]

Good night, Elin!

DS brought home a Science Fair packet today. Science fair is my nemesis, although DS won second place last year. I "help" with the projects. A lot. This year there is a timeline and the whole freaking project has to be FINISHED before the Christmas break! There is also a research paper this year, with 5 resources documented by Halloween. Brilliant. At least I have an idea of what his project can be, and it won't require weeks and weeks of data collection. That research is going to be a pain in the tushy.

do they have to do it? when i was in school we had a choice.

 

[lovespoohbear]

I just completed the LAST outfit for our vacation, I promise!

I thought of Vicki and Tia the whole time I made this. I remember them talking about the Mr. Potato Head parts, and making lists for them.

Here it is, I think that Leighanna will wear this to H&V lunch.

The applique that I stole from a too small tshirt that Leighanna had, also came with pieces that you can stick to the face via velcro.

Here are a couple of different faces that I did.

I made a pocket on the skirt to hold the pieces when they aren't in use.

Time for bed!
Good-night all!

what a fun interactive dress. if she wears it to school remember to keep the pieces at home. sorry thats the teacher in me talking.

 

[ButchsLilPrincess]

ok i think i've finally read and caught up with everything .. i did have my note book going the entire time 'till last night when i ran to the potty and my "angel" shut my lap top down .. ugghh so ... a blanket of & i'll try to remember as much as i can ... but i'm suffering from mush brain at the moment lol ..

Jennifer and Becky Welcome Home. Glad to hear you both had such a great time.

Deb Nick's pics were amazing he reeally does have an eye for detail .. YAY for the boys all winning at the car show and YOU GET BETTTER !!!

Elizabeth, I'm sorry you had such a hectic start to our monday and such a long day/night for that matter .. I hope today goes a bit better for you.

Glynis, Yay for a great weekend. I love hearing about yu making jams and the like reminds me of my mom and i when i was younger .. good memories. i'm glad the sickies seem to have left all of you alone now. and I hope Alan does get home a little early .. now he told you " go to your happy place" I say start looking into fairs and have a good weekend with the crew next month ..

Elin .. I was thinking of ou this weekend and with all that you guys have going on. I'm sorry to hear about the problems with your MIL. I hope they get things figured out fast and she can go home and be comfortable. aslo have you heard anything back about your daughter's tests ?

Bernadette- I love your trip report and all of the wonderful pictures. You all look like you had such a great time. and happy belated anniversary !!

Tammi, gald you and the kiddles had such a good time in DC. the blurry could also be an issue with the shutter time. It took me the longest time to realizze i could change the shutter time on our camera and EVERY picture up to that point was blurry ..

Tom. again all of the outfits you've made are just as beautiful as your little princess. I hope you have the best time and I can't wait to read your trip report and see all the wonderful pictures you take.

Baloo, my thoughts , prayers and heart go out to you and your family in this time. I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. No matter how much we think we're prepared, we're never prepared for such a thing. Just know that she's no longer in pain and she can now watch down over you and your family with a clear mind and open eyes and she can catch up on all that that awful ailment took from her.

Robyn, thanks for asking, yes RJ got his cast off as of 1:30 pm on Fri. he was such a crack up in the office .. he actually was fighting with them about taking it off.. HE WANTED TO KEEP IT on .. the nurses couldn't believe it .. a kid that actually WANTED to be in a cast. we got to see the final x-rays .. and other then the white line showeing where the bone had broken .. he looks as good as new. we have to go in on nov 2nd just for a follow up and to be sure he's not stressing it too much .. but other then that the ortho said he's good to go .. he on the other hand begged for another cast to go on .. and begged me to " tape the old cast back on" he's still pretty stiff, he refused to try to walk on it at all fri , by sat he would only walk if one of us were his "crutches" and sun he woke up and went to the store with nana ..she said he did well on his own they just went slow and took their time and stopped when he needed a break.. his knee is still pretty stiff with the movement and such but the dr said that's gonna be normal and he's still walking as if the cast were on with his knee and toes pointed slightly out that's a little concerning but i'm gonna give him a week and see how he does before i call back into the dr. i was told give him 2-3 weeks till he's walking normal and 3-4 months before his running is up to speed .. i told the dr i was fine with his running never being back to the speed he was before lol but for the most part he's doing well, we just have to watch the swelling and call in if we think it's "excessive".

Butch's truck is still under repair , and yesterday we woke up to no water .. we have well water and the pump went over night. i'm still trying to get all the air out of the line and the sedament cleared but over all at least we have water again .. can't wait for that bill then last night i got a call, apparently my aunt the nun , fell over the weekend and dislocated her right shoulder. because of her heart problems they couldn't sedate her to pop it back in place, so they have her on mild pain killers and are giving her till thurs with a sling to see if it pops back on it's own, other wise they'll put her under a local and pop the shoulder and pin it .. some dr's make no sense to me .. if they're concered with just sedating her to pop it back why would they then decide to put her through even more with the sedation, poping and pinning it? to me there's more likely to be problems after the surgery then just the initial replacing of the shoulder .. but then i didn't go to school for it .. i just wish she'd get a 2nd opinion .. then this morning my MIL calls to tell me she fell getting ready for work yesterday brused her knee up pretty darn good and took a few layers of skin along with it .. got her self cleaned up and out the door for work. stopped to drop off her insurance payment and came out to brown water under her jeep .. the freeze plug in her engine went .. so she said " that's when i knew it was a sign" so she's taken the rest of the week off ( good for her, other then a week in april she hasn't taken a vacation in at least 4 years) .. then the good news .. her sister will be coming up from florida for a long weekend the weekend after RJ's birthday and we'll have her all to ourselves lol she's coming alone !! at least things are starting to look up

 

[Glynis]

Did anyone watch Dancing with the Stars last night? I was impressed with most of them!

I did. I loved all of them except the second one. She's the swimsuit model. I thought she looked good, but when she moved, she became really stiff and awkward! I loved Jennie Garth! Marie did really well, too. I didn't get to see Jane Seymour. How did she do?

 

[Glynis]

Glynis - Well, maybe there is still hope! Research your airfare and then tell him what you find!

I would love to, but unfortunately, it ain't gonna happen. The DDA trip is at the same time Alan and I will be in New Mexico. We've been invited to attend a Storyteller's Conference in Santa Fe by a client of Alan's. Alan will have to work, but I will get to attend the conference and sight see with a friend of mine. Best of all: NO KIDS! Yup! 4 whole days, kid free!!!

 

[Glynis]

do they have to do it? when i was in school we had a choice.

It's required for the 5th grade, here. Not sure about the older grades.

 

[my3princes]

I felt much better this morning though I'm a bit achy now. I may have overdone it a bit, but laundry is looking good and I poured the concrete into the Lamp bases. It is beautiful here, near 90 degrees so I wanted to get us outside for a while. I think we'll pick the kids up at school and head to my parents a bit early. I have to be at work at 4 today so I should be home earlier tonight. I hope everyone has a great day.

Deb

 

[bear74]

Okay caught up. Now to get a shower and head to work. I will try to check in tonight from work.


Tom I love the latest outfit.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

do they have to do it? when i was in school we had a choice.

It is mandatory and it is a huge chunk of his grade. And the way it is spread out it will be a huge chunk of his grade over multiple marking periods. I noticed last night that it says "no open flame" may be exhibited. OK, I don't want to exhibit it, but it will be necessary for the project. Can we use open flame as long as we don't bring open flame to the actual Scince Fair? I need that to be clarified. But I have a way around it if they say we can't use open flame at all. Since he was in 2nd grade the projects have been mandatory, but now the format is much more formal. The way it is this year is the way I remember Science Fair, so it isn't unfamiliar, it's just a pain.

I would love to, but unfortunately, it ain't gonna happen. The DDA trip is at the same time Alan and I will be in New Mexico. We've been invited to attend a Storyteller's Conference in Santa Fe by a client of Alan's. Alan will have to work, but I will get to attend the conference and sight see with a friend of mine. Best of all: NO KIDS! Yup! 4 whole days, kid free!!!

Well, a weekend away is better than a weekend at home, even if it isn't WDW!

I am not having a good day. I am very cranky.
I was just dreading swimming. The lesson was OK, but when I went to dress Princess I discovered someone used ALL of the diapers out of the diaper bag! So she had to go commando for the ride home. Luckily she didn't wet in her seat. I didn't even think about checking the bag - it didn't occur to me that yesterday was Monday and she was at school so I haven't used the bag since last Friday. Duh!
I called DH after I got a diaper on Princess. Tuesdays are "one on one" meetings with his supervisor. Well, lucky us, DH's route is being taken away in about 2 weeks. The supervisor just gave him this song and dance about how this is procedure and he knows how hard this is for DH (NO, he doesn't know crap because it isn't HIS paycheck at stake!). EVERYTHING is based on seniority, only seniority. Performance and merit count for NOTHING. DH is the #2 producer in his district, he never misses a day of work EVER, he picks up tons of extra shifts, goes to help other drivers when he finishes his own route, and NONE of that counts for anything. The route goes up for bid and whomever has the most seniority when the bid closes wins. Period. DH will be given a crummy route or he can become a "specialist" which are the guys who cover the routes for vacations. He thought he WANTED to be a specialist but after talking with several of them he doesn't want to after all. Well, those are his only 2 choices. He had interviewed with Blue Bell (ice cream) before Frito hired him and they didn't hire him because he didn't have route experience at the time, just retail. Now he has 2.5 years of route experience so I think it might be time to revisit Blue Bell. If Frito doesn't want to retain one of their top salesmen then DH needs to look for a company where performance DOES count for something. They obviously plan to jerk him around and they expect him to just sit there and take it. Well, since he didn't have any solid info before today (they said back in April that he MIGHT lose his route in October) I guess he will be stuck with a crummy position for awhile, but I am encouraging him to get out ASAP. As long as he can find something else that pays the same amount and has about the same benefits we'll be just peachy. If they stick him with a bad route his paycheck will decrease, which adds insult to injury. I just don't understand how a company that struggles to retain employees thinks it is good business to shaft the good people they do have.

 

[Glynis]

I just don't understand how a company that struggles to retain employees thinks it is good business to shaft the good people they do have.

Oh, Elizabeth! I'm so sorry that this is happening to you and your husband! Hopefully he'll be able to find another company that will value his work ethic, and his loyalty. I'll keep my fingers crossed for all of you. If he does leave Frito, what would that do to your insurance? Would there be a time of non-insurance before another company's benefit package would kick in? What would that do to the meds for your son?

What lousy timing. I know you had said it might happen, but this really seems like it came out of the blue!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Glynis - Most companies have a 30-90 day "probationary" period before you get insurance. We can elect COBRA coverage but that's REALLY expensive. Although I learned when he left his last job that you have like 45 days to enroll, and it can be retroactive. So if someone has a major illness/injury within the 1st 45 days of DH leaving his old job we can go back and enroll and it would be covered. Of course if the new insurance isn't effective for 90 days then you could really be in a pickle if you don't do COBRA - after 45 days you're toast. I am sure if he leaves Frito and I explain the situation to our pediatrician that he can figure something out. But you are right - it is tricky since the meds are a controlled substance and we can only fill the scrip 30 days at a time. I know when DS tried one of the other meds we had samples from the drug company. If push really comes to shove we'll just suck it up and pay for the meds OOP for a couple of months. DH is on meds too (for ulcers), but he gets his from the mail-order pharmacy in a 90 day supply. It is NOT a controlled substance and his dosage fluctuates so we can re-order those anytime. If he is quitting we will order some the day before he turns in his notice!
The other thing it screws up is DS's braces. The insurance pays a little at a time as he progresses through treatment. I think there is still $400 pending from insurance, so if DH leaves we will probably have to soak up the difference. Yay.
DH said his supervisor is going to talk to 2 of the "higher ups" and see if they will make an exception and let DH keep his route. Right. The supervisor just wants DH to be quiet. If they let him keep his route then all these petty little juveniles who are wating to bid on his route will whine and snivel that it isn't FAIR. It really is grossly unfair TO DH. But if DH dares to say it's unfair then he'll be labeled as "hostile" and escorted off the property. (DH told me that happened to a guy last week who was quitting because his paychecks were so paltry. That guy was a swing driver who was basically at the mercy of his 2 lead drivers for whatever money he made. And one of the leads is a guy DH had the misfortune of working with awhile ago - the guy is a SLOTH and DH's checks were smaller than mine for several weeks.) The whole thing is really an insult to DH. Nothing that he has done over the past 2 years has mattered. All of his hard work and effort aren't worth squat. They are willing to basically demote him to a route with lower revenue just because. Since everything is based exclusively on seniority he will never, ever get ahead. It's very frustrating. And the supervisor had the audacity to tell DH not to worry about it!

 

[Glynis]

Elizabeth - I definitely think that your husband needs to find a company that will appreciate him! It seems like Frito's policy would be counter productive to keeping good workers employed!

Well, I have some GREAT news!!! The trial is over and Alan will be home tomorrow afternoon!!!!! I'm so excited I can't stand it!!!!! I was so worried because this morning the judge dismissed one of the jurors and replaced her with an alternate. They had to start deliberating all over again. However, they were able to reach a verdict within 4 hours!!! I was positive that Alan would be gone for another week! It looks like his boss is going to give him Thursday as well as Friday off, since he's racked up so much OT the last 2 months. I hope so!!! That would just be heaven!!!

 

[yellowfish78]

Elizabeth - I hope everything works out for your family! I'm sure it will in the long run.

Glynis - That's great news!!! Make sure you and Alan have a Date Night scheduled for just the two of you!!!

 

[babytrees]

Elizabeth - I definitely think that your husband needs to find a company that will appreciate him! It seems like Frito's policy would be counter productive to keeping good workers employed!

Well, I have some GREAT news!!! The trial is over and Alan will be home tomorrow afternoon!!!!! I'm so excited I can't stand it!!!!! I was so worried because this morning the judge dismissed one of the jurors and replaced her with an alternate. They had to start deliberating all over again. However, they were able to reach a verdict within 4 hours!!! I was positive that Alan would be gone for another week! It looks like his boss is going to give him Thursday as well as Friday off, since he's racked up so much OT the last 2 months. I hope so!!! That would just be heaven!!!

I saw that the trial was over and thought...WOOHOO Alan gets to go home. I gotta say I was happy for the outcome too. That man gives religion a bad name.

Hope Alan gets closer, shorter assignments here soon!!

 

[Glynis]

Elizabeth - I hope everything works out for your family! I'm sure it will in the long run.

Glynis - That's great news!!! Make sure you and Alan have a Date Night scheduled for just the two of you!!!

Don't you know it!!!! We'll be heading out on the town either Thursday or Friday, whenever our sitter is available!!!

 

[Glynis]

I saw that the trial was over and thought...WOOHOO Alan gets to go home. I gotta say I was happy for the outcome too. That man gives religion a bad name.

Hope Alan gets closer, shorter assignments here soon!!

I was happy for the outcome, too! It's about time, I say!

I'm hoping for some assignments closer to home, as well!