A nice quiet evening at home....or so I hope.  Or course now tonight Joshua is havinga sleepover.  Will this madness ever end???  ARGH....

Now I can tell you about my secret outing with my SIL's today.  They both arrived here at about 1:00 and at 1:30 we left in my blazer.  Once in the car I gave both of them a small wrapped gift and card.   The card jsut said how much their friendship and support meant to me.   The gift hada gift certificate for the spa.  We all went to the spa for the day.  My one SIL had an one hour massage and really enjoyed that.  My other SIL I had arranged for her to have a foil, haircut and wax.   She never does anything for herself and is always willing to help us with watching Tommy etc.  She has three kids one has epilepsy, one autism and one speech delays.   She has her hands full and really deserved to have someone pamper her for the day!   She looked great!  I hope she likes it. 

Afterwards we went to a restaurant for appetizers.  And Man did we order appetizers.  It took two waiteresses to bring the food to us.  lOL!!! 

That is it for my day mostly.   I have been taking it easy the rest of the evening as my asthma is acting up, probably from all the dust in the basement or the warmer weather.  I have used my nebulizer once already this evening.  

Well I am off to do a few things, like fold a load of laundry then I will head to bed.  I hope I feel up to going to church in the morning.  

The sleepover boys are still sleeping as is Joshua.  Tommy is just watching TV around them.  The sleepover guys that is. 

Joshua is babysitting for me today.  I am taking my SIL's on a surprise outing.  I can't say what it is yet as one of them might read this.   later I will!    I hope they enjoy it!   Then we will go out for appetizers, should be a great afternoon. 

I will put some supper in the crockpot and enjoy the afternoon.  Tonight or tomorrow I have to make out my menu for the next two weeks since yesterday was payday. 

My sinuses are draining and I have a bit of a sore throat.  ARGH.  I was a good girl and took my asthma meds today.  I have been terrible about taking them lately.  I best go shower and get going on my day since my SIL are coming over at 1:00.   Have a great day!  

Friday night at our house...not too exciting. Erik is having two friends sleep over.   Erik and his friends are now watching a movie and having popcorn. 

Joshua is washing some dishes while I write this as he wants to be able to take my laptop to his bedroom to chat with friends.   Does he look like a boy that wants something from his momma??

Tommy of course fell asleep on the floor....and has been put back to bed.

Hubby is in bed since he has to be up at 4:00 to be at work. 

I think I will turn my laptop over to my oldest son and finish washing dishes and go to bed myself.   Tomorrow is another day!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, tonight I gave Josh his first financial lesson.  I had him reconcile my checkbook for me.  I am having him do it for the next few month before he gets his own this summer.  If he has a job that is.   he did pretty good and even found an error I made, so now I have more money they I thought, YEAH!!

NIGHT!

well my son is keeping working in the basement.  I am doing pretty good and have sorted through about 3/4 of the toys.  I have three large boxes for my neighbor to go through for the twins.  I will give her whatever she wants out of them before I donate.   I took the ball pit down and hopefully my SIL will want to use it at daycare for a while.   It just doesn't get used here much and it takes up so much room.   Josh is out burning boxes, so I better scoot and get back to work on the basement.  I have to leave and pick up Tommy in about 1/2 hour.  Later!   I will take pictures of the basement later to show my progress. 

I took today off since I have the electrician coming on Monday and I need to have the basement done.  Argh...I don't have much energy though.  YAWN!!  I got home last night as I was at book group.  We had a great time and discussed the book atgreat lengths for once.  We discussed Wuthering Heights.  

Since being up this morning I have paid all the bills for the next two weeks and moved money from our various accounts.   I then ran errands quickly.  I went to the Bank for spending cash.  Picked up some gift certs.  Mailed my bills. 

Then I went to take care of Erik's dental bill.   Talk about a very unsatisfying experience.  First of course Erik's mom had been in there trying to help I suspect, but didn't.  But then again that is entirely another story.  ARGH.   I tell the bills lady that this is incorrect and she smirks at me and says, we will enter the checks and I will show you how it works.  OK....she does.  She enters the first check and the balance of the account is 0.  Hmmm....told you this was wrong as I still have one insurance check left!!  ARGH!!  And no I am not giving it to you as my balance with you is 0.  Find your error and fix it.  I explain to her the Erik's mom's insurance is primarily and I have the secondary coverage on him.   She said yes, his mother has come in and told her the same.  Ok...so fix it.  She said she had to check with the main office about changing it.  Excuse me???  If both insurance subscribers have told you they way they want it, you do it.   It isn't your decision which insurance is pirmary.  It is ours and you have heard from both of us already. 

She mentioned that she got my phone call with questions that I had before about primary insruance, etc.  I see the message slip and I mention that the message was from over a month ago (1/20/04) and it has yet to get returned that is why I am in here.  She states she is a bit behind.   (do you think they would mind if I ignored my bill for over a month).   The customer service at that office is terrible and thank God I don't take my family there.  I tell her that the check expires in 90 days from the date I called her, if they find their error I will turn it over.  If not they can go back to the insurance co and resubmit.   Gee seems like she will be calling the main office and getting this straightened out very soon and said she would call me about it right away. Hmmmm...we will see if that happens.  I have never been over 30 days behind in returning messages, that is unacceptable!  I might be writing a letter to the main office, not to mention the snotty response I got from the receptionist when I called stating there was an error.   Gee after graduate school and I can at least add.  6 years of college wasn't an entire waste. 

Ok...enough bitching about terrible customer service!   Makes me thankful for my dental office who is great and even came in on the weekend when the office was closed when Josh had an accident and injured his teeth. 

Well I better grab a bit to eat and get busy on the basement before Josh gets after me.   

Not sure I ever posted these in their entirety.   I have finished the Miserly Moms book and need to return it to the library today.

THE ELEVEN MISERLY GUIDELINES:

MISERLY MOMS – Jonni McCoy – 1996 – Full Quart Press

1.       Don’t Confuse Frugality with Depriving Yourself

2.          Remove Little Wasters of Your Money
3.       Keep Track of Food Prices
4.       Don’t Buy Everything At The Same Store
5.       Buy In Bulk Whenever Possible
6.          Eliminate Convenience Foods
7.       Cut Back on Meats
8.       Waste Nothing
9.          Institute A Soup and Bread Night

10.     Cook Several Meals at Once and Freeze Them

This morning included another trip back to JCPenney.  ARGH!!   I hope this is the last trip.   I ordered 2 -double traverse roads and a 2-1/2 inch valance rod to go with them.  I also ordered the pleated sheers for both windows.   I picked up some more hooks too for the sheers.  Once I get this in the mail I will return the pocket sheers and triple rods we have at home.  What an ordeal!   The funny thing is I hate to shop!  So returning to the store is not fun for me. 

I didn't get to bed until late last night.  That always happnes when I work late as I have a hard time unwinding to fall asleep.  I finally went to bed around 12:00 and Tommy was up shortly after that.  ARGH. 

Looks like I am going to have to take Friday off and get my basement done as Monday the electrician is coming to give up a quote on some repairs.   Our week is very busy, tonight, Erik's school conferences, Wednesday - Josh's Conferences, Thrusday - Book Group (discussing Wuthering Heights).   So that only leaves Friday and maybe some of Wednesday night to get some major things done with the basement.   

My Pampered Chef party is next Friday the 5th of March.  I already have over $100 in outside sales.   I know of over 10 people coming to the party as well.   Should be a good turn out. 

The following day, Saturday, my brother is coming to stay with us for a few days.  He is going to assist to get the old pickup running so we can sell it.  Then we will be down to 3 vehicles in our driveway.  YEAH!!   

Life is a bit busy lately, but then again it usually is!   Have a great day!

The curtains nightmare continues!!!!    My hubby had spent all day putting up the new rods only to find out we hate them!!    The rods only have one traversing rod.  The Sheers aren't on a traversing rod, but we were ensure they would just slide....NOT!!!   The braces to hold up the middle of the curtains rod on the large window are in the way.   This will not work.  My hubby is even a bigger perfectionist than I!    I was ok and wanted to leave the dining room one, but he said we have to return both rods and all the sheers. 

We do love the curtains and ascots.  So tomorrow I am stopping at JCPenney's again and will order from the catalog, the rods and sheers for a traverse rod.   We will return these once the new ones come or we will have nothing on our windows.  What a pain in my butt!

But like my hubby said when you pay this kind of money, it should work how you want it to. We will be having these curtains for the next 20 years or something...who wants to put up with that.   He is right....it is just annoying.    

I suppose I should be thinking about going home soon.  I still would like to work a bit more, but the security guard just came by to remind me he is off at 9:00.   My hubby hates me to work after the guard has left the building.  It is a very secure government building though.   

But my hubby is a bit over protective.  If I go grocery shopping in the evening alone, which I like to do.  He has me call him when I get to the store and when I am leaving.   He is so cute.   And of course I will call him when I am leaving here for the night too!    I humor him, he love me alot and that is very nice.    

Well this is actually my favorite day/night to work.  On Mondays I don't come into the office until around noon and stay until at least 8:00 and usually later.  I am the most productive on Mondays.   I have most of my paperwork done and will be moving on to reports to write next.   It is great to get things squared away on Mondays for the week.  Monday is hubby's day off so that is the only night I can work late.  I am available to families for night homevisits only once a week.   Luckily this Monday I don't have any homevisits so it is paperwork, paperwork.   But  I have homevisits the next two Mondays.   Oh well....I should be pretty caught up after tonight. 

I used to work in a state hospital as a direct care staff and I worked 3-11pm.  My perfect shift as I am most productive those hours.   I am NOT a morning person and my morning at work at worthless some days.   But from noon to 8:30 I can get a weeks worth of work done!  

I best I should go make myself a salad and get some more work done.  Hubby called me and now I have to take back the curtain rod as well.  They are missing parts.  I just returned the ascot this morning that had a tear in it.  I am a bit disappointed by the repeated return trips to JCPenney's.     I hope I can get hubby to stop there on the way to work tomorrow to exchange the rods.  It is out of my way, but close to his work. 

My hubby was wanting me to come home, but I really do need to work.  He has called me once already. He is trying to put up the curtain rods and is babysitting my neice and nephew.  He has his hands full.  It sure is quiet here....*smirk.  I am the only one left on this floor.  I have the copier and printers all to myself!!   I love the quiet!

I just completed my registeration for two conferences.  In March I  attend the Minnesota Social Services Association Conference, here in the cities.   In April I am going to Duluth, MN for the Minnesota's Association of Children's Mental Health for 4 days.  Hubby will be calling me to come home again.  LOL!!  It is a very good conference.  

Some of the sessions I signed up for in Duluth are:

Prevention Role in Intervening with Mentally Ill parents who have chilren 0-3 years old.

Is this Just a Stage" Early Warning Signs of Mental Illness in Children and Adolescents.

Bipolar in Children and Adolscents

Working with Refugee Youth and Families

Autism:  Classroom strategies That Work.   - (I was disappointed this was the only one on Autism.  3/4 of the children I work with are on the spectrum.   My nephew of course also has autism and is struggling in school a bit lately.)

The bonus is I get to stay in a hotel for 3 nights!  YEAH!!   Rooming with 4 friends from work. 

Later!!!