Why I <3 my job.....

The babies LOVE the bubbles. I LOVE watching the babies play with the bubbles. It's a win-win situation. =) There are days when I have to remind myself *why* I do what I do....But then I get to go look back at old photo's/videos and remember allll the good times. Lucky me!

Non-family Family Reunions

Jody used to work with a young guy named Clayton. They went all over the country (or the East Coast at least) doing installs together, and if Jody left one company, Clayton followed. Clayton ended up moving back up to DC a while ago, but they still keep in touch. (yes there is a point to this rambling!)

Clayton called Jody a few weeks ago. Seems like there was going to be a family reunion in Orangeburg, SC and we were invited. So yesterday, we loaded up the cooler, grabbed Kelsea and rode on down. We arrived in the country on the road where Clayton's grandma and a few other relatives lived. We could see the 3 big barbquers going with a huge tent set up with tables under it. The uncles had the hog on the fire since early that morning, and you could just smell that yumminess in the car.

We couldn't find Clayton when we got there.. He had taken one of the uncles trucks and went fishing. I guess he doesn't get much chance to do that up in DC. We went looking for Clayton's mom (I asked Jody what her name was, and he looked stunned for a second and then said... "Mom") by heading over to Grandma's house. There were pictures of one the aunts with her family at the white house, posing with: George H Bush and Barbara, Bill Clinton and Hillary and George W Bush and Lara. In the picture with GHB, Barbara was actually holding one of the children! Crazy, right?

We wait around for Mom to show up, she and some of the "girls" had to go shopping. =) After she arrives, we walk back down to the "party"... and that's when Jody points out the aprons a few of the uncles were wearing...

They had the White House crest on them, one of them said EXECUTIVE CHEF... Jody then mentions that most of Claytons family works as chefs for the White House, or are in the CIA. Kinda cool, huh? The food was, in a word, YUMMO! They roasted a hog, grilled up some chicken, there was some chitlin's (I didn't try that... ), lots of homemade mac and cheese, in a word, too much food to keep track of! I brought my Chocolate Pudding cake, but after finding out the White House Chef's were there, well, I'm not too sure how that went over (but I didn't see any of it get thrown away.)

We were enjoying ourselves, a few of Clayton's cousins took us under their wings and taught us (well, mainly Jody, cause by that time, i was a wee bit tipsy!) how to play domino's. Looks like it will be fun to play. The DJ showed up, and the music started blasting and the kids started dancing. Now I'm wishing I had let go of my inhibitions and just got out there too, but well, I really AM shy and didn't want to make a fool of myself.

All in all, we had a good time. We were made to feel like family, even though we most definently weren't. =) Emails and phone numbers were exchanged with our domino's group at the end of the night (they wanted us to go back to their home and continue the party, but we had to get home so Kelsea could get some sleep so she could get back to her house early this morning). We were invited to go to next year's reunion. How cool is that? Sorry I didn't take any photos, but well, I left my camera at home and wasn't sure how well an "outsider" would go over taking photos and then posting them on their blog. =) So you just had to deal with my rambling. What are your plans for this long weekend?

Woodpeckers, squirrels and DRAMA

So, Jody and I bought a suet feeder for the birds at the daycare. We know how much the babies love to look out the window and see the birds in the morning, and wanted them to see more than the finches that show up. The other day, THIS is what we saw. Pretty cool, huh. I'm guessing she's female, because the crest is missing. She doesn't come by often, but at least I was able to get a semi-decent picture on my phone. After I snapped this picture,I remembered I had my actual camera with me, zoomed it in, to get a real nice shot, and NO LUCK. She wouldn't come back! I was sad. =( So far, I've seen some kind of jay (it has gray coloring, and no blue to be found!) wrens, finches, chickadees, cardinals, woodpeckers, A dove, and some rust colored tiny bird that I can't quite identify yet. We put that feeder up for a variety of birds, and we sure got it! If the babies are fussing, we take them to the widow to see if the birds are out there... that usually quiets them down for a little bit. It's kinda cool.







I was trying to describe the squirrels antics. I could sit and watch these silly things all day long. =) Our babies love to watch them, call them "keey-hee". It's so hard to sound out the noises that the babes make when they are trying to talk. These guys can clean out that bird feeder in a day and a half! YIKES! It's a good thing Jody loves those babies too. He's the one that pays for the bird seed to feed the critters, because he knows how much the babies enjoy them.


So, there was some drama at work yesterday. It shouldn't be too surprising that you get drama when working with just a group a women. I hate it that we have lived up to the stereotype. Here's the deal:

DSS (Department of Social Services) requires that all children go outside for at least a half hour daily. Outside, in the sunshine....not ouside on the covered porch. The one exception is the baby room. (whew, we aren't equipped to do that!) Anyway, down in my building that hasn't been happening with all the children. If you get down to the nitty-gritty, it's because it's starting to get hot and my coworkers don't want to be uncomfortable. AND, I do have to admit, it's kinda a pain to get the kids out there. HOWEVER. As the building director, we've had a few parents ask if their children were going to be taken outside to get their daily dose of vitamin D or not. I assured them that I would talk to the teachers/the director and see what could be done about it....

I mentioned it to the teacher that was having the problem getting the kids outside. I got the whole "I'll do it when it's convienent, not too hot, blah blah blah" line, so took it up with the director. (I mentioned it casually to the coworker, without saying a parent was having a concern, because she would know which parent was asking and make a HUGE deal out of it!) H assured me that she would send out a memo, not pointing fingers, but reminding teachers that kids need to be out side for at least 30 mins a day. The teachers read the memo and automatically assumed that it was for our afterschool teacher, because she too was having problems getting the kids outside! After hearing them bash her, I told them that from my understanding it was a program, wide problem, and that the ALL the kids needed to be taken outside.

That started the whine fest, and all the reasons they couldn't take the kids out... I told them to make a list of what they felt needed to be done in order for them to be comfortable taking the kids out side, and I would pass it on to H.

Here is a sampling of THE LIST:

*cut grass
*sand flees
*sticks pick-up
*trees need to be cut back (by trees, they actually meant bushes, and I was supposed to read their minds!)
*mosquitos

(yes, i tried to remember THEIR spelling!) On top of it, I was asked why H didn't know this stuff already because the former owner, Lara walked the playground everyday and took care of stuff, blah blah blah (every time someone has a complaint, it always goes back to what the former owner did/didn't do). They KNEW this list was going to H.

So, I called H and gave her the lowdown on THE LIST. Ok, this was something that I asked for so I could give her the lowdown. Needless to say, she was kind of upset about the whole thing. And I did ask her why she didn't walk the playground everyday, like the previous owner (told her that was a question asked!)

So, all HECK breaks loose. H calls her aunt, the new owner of the facilty. They have had it. Usually A is very much "keep the peace, I'm sure they didn't mean it the way it sounded" type of person. Well, she shoots off a memo to them, addressing ALL their concerns about the playground, why she and H don't walk the playground, etc.

The girls (I say this lightly, one is 25, another is my age, and the oldest is in her 50's) in question get their memo yesterday morning.... OH MY GOODNESS! You would have thought that they had been accused of abusing the children or committing treason. They start yelling at me because I told H what they felt needed to be done. The "matriarch" of the group started talking to me while I was in my room and she was in another, about how some things needed to stay in the building, and not be talked about with H. WHAT? THEY WROTE THE LIST! THEY ASKED THE QUESTIONS!!!! Holy Cow! Well, I was ready to walk out, but I didn't.. I called H and told her what was going on, FORCED Jody to take me to lunch, and tried to have a decent day. I'm just hoping that things will blow over by Tuesday.

Anyway.. I'm just glad we get a 3 day weekend. *whoot* Jody and I are taking Kelsea to a party/bbq/family reunion with Jody's adopted family today. Should be a good time! I'll post pictures and tell stories later. I'm hoping to take a drive up to Concord and see Danielle. I wont even anticipate seeing Adam, he is still avoiding me like the plague. I know, I know... he's young.. he'll grow up. I keep holding onto that hope.

Anyway... Not much of an update.. more of a gripe session, huh? sorry!

Mother's Day 2009 (yes it's taken me nearly a week to write this!)

I figure since it's been a few weeks I should at the very least post an update. We've been on a pretty even keel these days, I'm still working and Jody has been doing camera installs for Charlie. Yeah Charlie! They are mainly doing installs in (on???) shopping centers these days, which is nice, except when there is bad weather. :(

Ahh, Mother's Day. Jody and I received phone calls from Tansy during the week with problems with her car overheating. Jody suggested some things she could try, but they didn't work. So, we got up fairly early and headed to the junk yard on our way up to Durham. You know, Durham, that town where Tansy lives... and is on a good day 4 hours away? Yeah, that Durham. Well, there was no luck with the radiators at the yard, so we went to the parts store and picked up a radiator, and got on the road.

Did I mention that Durham was 4 hours away.. yeah. We finally get up there around 3:00pm. Jody immediately gets to work taking out the old radiator and installing the new one. Doesn't take him long. He starts the car and water starts squirting. NOT GOOD. Looks like a blown head gasket. We decide that *maybe* this product will help get her limping along until we can get the car down to us. Go to parts store, invest $25 in this crazy looking goop, go back to her apartment, dump it in the radiator, and Jody drives off. He didn't get too far when the car starts smoking, he drives it back, and breaks the bad news. Best case scenario, blown head gasket, like we thought. Worst case scenario, blown engine. It's something that will have to be worked on down here, or in a garage somewhere. I told her she needed to talk to Vicky (David's mom, who *owns the car*) and see what she would like to do.

Yes, it's something Jody can do. The timing really stinks though! Jody finally has the work rolling in so "spare time" is at a premium. HOWEVER he says that he doesn't mind working on it (as long as she promises to keep on maintenance from now on!)

We then went down to Concord, hoping that we would be able to see Danielle on the way home (and oh yeah, pick up the cargo trailer!) No such luck. Danielle was hanging out with her boyfriend.

Happy Mother's Day!

Jason (George's son) sent me a text yesterday to wish me a happy mother's day, I got to see Tansy and Danielle called me. Adam? Well, Adam still isn't talking to me. I guess I'm still on his hit list.

OK OK OK!!! So, I started that Sunday night, it is now Wendsday night, and I haven't posted this. I guess I need to wrap it up, huh? One more story then I'll let you go.....


I have a window in my room at work. There is a bird feeder hanging outside said window, and for the longest time the bird feeder hung empty. I did some exploring and found a barrel of birdseed in the pantry. Needless to say, we now get visited by birds and squirrels.

The babies LOVE the squirrels. MissP (remember her?) calls them "kit-eee". The kiddos know when I'm due into work, because they start watching for me, and hanging out by my door so they can RUSH my window and look for the squirrels. So, we've run out of birdfood. What do "Uncle"Jody and I pick up after our dinner tonight? Not only do we get some sunflower seeds for the squirrels, we get ANOTHER feeder for the birds! Sweet, huh? Nothing is too good for the babies. =) Don't even get me started with the bubbles. That's another story for another day....