Bubby's job (or lack there of)

Brian called last night and said that he had something that he needed to talk to Tom and I about. Well, when one of your kids calls and says that - you get this knot in your stomach and it won't go away. When he got here he ate most of the leftovers out of the fridge and then started telling us about his day. You see, he works for a telephone company in the internet department - and he is a union employee. He was told that they had to attend a meeting. In this meeting, they were told that the department he works in was being eliminated and 4 of the 7 people were losing their jobs - NOW. Brian is one of the lucky 3 that is still employed - right now. They have 3 jobs open for them to apply for if they want to stay employed. One is for a Network administrator, one is for computer repair, and one will move to installation in the telephone department. Brian is worried that he will end up with the telephone installation - which he really doesn't want. I am not sure what is going to happen. I know that we can't afford to support him and with the ecomony the way it is I am afraid that he won't be able to find another job before he goes under. We will see what happens.

And by the way...

Last night I told Kristi that if it was a nice week-end next week-end I thought about taking Alayna to the Z-O-O. Alayna perked up and said "I know what that it." I said "you do, what is it?" Which she replyed "I am not sure, but I know I like it." So, we will see if she really likes the Z-O-O!!

Week-end fun

Well, this was a busy week-end. Very, very busy. It started off Saturday with getting ready for a couple of ladies to come by and "shop" in my used scrapbook stuff. I have decided to downsize some of the scrapbook stuff that I have - and these ladies wanted to see what I had to get rid of. Sold about $20 worth, but now the word is out and I have a couple other ladies who want to come and look. I have not been scrapbooking lately, and really need to get back into doing it. I just don't have the desire to go up there and start. I go up there, but usually sit and watch a movie looking at the pictures that I need to scrap. It was fun to clean the stuff out because I found stuff that I didn't know I had.

After I got that stuff together, Tom and I left to go hiking. I went by myself last week-end and did about 3 miles. I am so proud of myself and surprised that I didn't hurt more after I got done. This week-end, Tom and I probably hiked about 2 miles total. We went to the southern most tip of Boone County in search of 2 old bridges we had been told about. One was right off the road and really neat. It had once been a bridge for one-way traffic but was redesigned for foot traffic. We crossed the bridge and started to hike the trail but it was way to wet so we turned around and headed back to the van. We were looking for some of the gorgeous colors of the trees turning colors, but didn't see many. We decided to search for the other bridge and headed down this road called "Backbone Road." Now, there is a reason this is called Backbone road. It is very narrow and has a HUGE drop-off on one side and a rock wall on the other side. Scott, the guy who told us about the road, warned us not to drive this road (which he did in his F-150 pickup) so we parked and walked. It was straight downhill to the other bridge. We commented that we can't believe anyone would drive this road. The bridge was really neat. The floor of it was gone and trees were growing where the floor used to be on the banks. Today, Tom looked at the arieal maps of Boone County and found that there is a beautiful house at the bottom of Backbone road - so people drive it everyday. They have my sympathy. Once we made it back up to the van we went down Johnson Cemetery Road - in search of the cemetery and found it. Of course, we had to walk that. Who in their right mind would pass a cemetery and not walk it????

After we got home mom and I headed to Independence to see Larry and Gail. Larry finished his first round of chemo and is doing really good. We had a nice dinner and great visit and then headed home. I can tell you I was really tired.

On Sunday, Tom and mom moved around all the outside plants and then watched the NASCAR race - GO CARL!!!! Kristi and Alayna went to Booneville to see Granny and Grandpapa. They had such a nice visit but Kristi is paying for playing all week-end because tonight she is going to be doing homework all night.

I had to put this picture on here for you to see. I love Alayna's expression...you can almost read her mind!!! Gotta love kids...

What a busy couple of days...

Let me start this blog with the statement to the vast unknown...."How in the heck did I drive an 84 passenger school bus full of screaming kids, everyday....and enjoy it???"

With that said, let me tell you that I am sitting at McDonalds on Clark Lane in Columbia in the play area. I resorted to putting my earphones in and turning my music up to drown out the noise level - didn't work!! I came here because I need to finish a download on my ITunes and since we have a slow internet connection at home, I am always looking for a WIFI joint to finish these that I start at home. I told Alayna that I was going to go to McDonalds to work on my computer, and of course this means playland. I know, I should not have said anything and went to Panera's to do this...but she has been good today and needed to burn some energy. She is having a blast (and I am having Vicodin!).

Yesterday I decided to take a half-day of vacation to go see the Geek Squad at Best Buy about my computer. I have a 3 year service plan and am having issues with my computer. Tom swears it is Vista, but who believes him!! :) They ran a virus scan at first to determine if my issue was a virus. 3o minutes later I returned to my computer doctor to hear that she has a virus and that it would cost $130 - $200 to fix it. I told the guy to get me a report and I would ask Brian or Tom to check it out first. I called Brian who was at work and he told me to bring it out to him and he would look at it. Now, it is 45 minutes to Auxvasse to get to Brian from the west side of Columbia - but my computer begged me to get some help. I dropped my computer off with Bubby and headed back home. About 10 minutes after I left Bubby he called and said that the issue was a program that he had downloaded to my computer to take to Tom and Tom didn't delete it when he was done. I am glad that I didn't pay for that!!! Brian was able to work on my IPOD at the same time as my computer and we are up and running. Bubby is the bomb!!

Last night we went to Booneville to see Tom's parents. We had pictures for them to see that we took last week-end and wanted to see how their home addition was coming along. We had a good visit topped off with a birthday cake for me. What a nice surprise.

Today, I cleaned house while Tom did the "Adopt a Highway cleanup" with work. When he came home he was really tired so we rested while Alayna took a nap. Then it was off to the punkin patch to get 3 punkins for craving. This year Alayna is getting into Halloween and I think it is from school. We have never taken her trick-or-treating, but guess we will have to go this year. Thanks to Uncle Larry and Aunt Gail she is going to a Fairy Princess. They bought a play costume and it fits really well and Alayna think that she wants to wear it. She really looks cute with it on. I can't wait to take a picture of her for them.

My doctors office called on Wednesday and my biopsy was negative. Because of the type of object in my bladder and mom's bladder cancer I have to go back in one year for this again. He said that we need to be really watchful of this spot - that he doesn't like the way it looks.

Well, most of the kids have left and I can finally sit in quiet...I am going to finish my download and then off to Wal-Mart for a few items before going home. Any bets on whether or not Alayna will be asleep when I get home???

Will probably not be the last...

Yesterday, Alayna came home with a disciplinary form that she had to actually sign (boy won't that be great to show at her wedding!!!). Seem that she bit a boy named William. We are not sure what really happened since Alayna was tight-lipped about it. On the form it said that they had contacted Alayna's parents, but none of us heard from them. So today Kristi was going to let the school know that she is not happy that it stated that they called and they didn't. This school cost $200 a week and I really am not sure if Kristi is getting her moneys worth. Don't get me wrong, Alayna is learning so much everyday but the teacher has as much personality as a flat tire. We did find out that Alayna will be performing at Jesse Hall on the MU Campus in the Nutcracker around Christmas time. I will make sure the camera is charged and maybe pull my video camera out of mothballs for the first time.

Next week will be a fun week at work. I know of 13 people who are being either laid off or fired for cause by Monday. With our company making brakes for Japanese cars we have been blessed with more business then we could handle, but now I am not sure. I hate to see anyone lose their job with the economy like it is right now, but I guess this is what other companies are dealing with.

Yesterday the IT and HR department came to our house for lunch for my birthday. I am not sure how I got roped into buying, making and serving my own birthday lunch but everyone wanted my lasagna instead of going out so that is what we did. This is my late week (I work 9:30 - 6:30 this week) and that helped me get everything ready for lunch. We had a nice lunch which was very relaxing. Last Sunday, we went to Shelter Gardens again to take pictures. We got some really good shots and know where we want to go for our family pictures for Christmas cards. Now, I have to get everyone together to actually get the picture taken - that is the tough part.