Mastectomy Law Change

I'm not normally an "involved person", but I can't sit back and watch insurance companies try to dictate patient care; especially in the case of women having a Mastectomy - Out Patient Care, are you kidding? Please sign the petition today. See the email I received below:

http://www.mylifetime.com/community/my-lifetime-commitment/breast-cancer/petition/breast-cancer

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Proposed Mastectomy Law Change

(written by a surgeon);

I'll never forget the look in my patients eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the
insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an
outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

This Mastectomy Bill is in Congress now. It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. Please take the time and do it really quick! The Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill is important legislation for all women.


There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a
few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support.. Last year over half the House
signed on. PLEASE! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.mylifetime.com/community/my-lifetime-commitment/breast-cancer/petition/breast-cancer-petition

Savannah - Wrap Up

Well, we are now home from our trip to Savannah and I must say it is nice to be here. That being said we did have a nice, relaxing time. I think Hapaw really enjoyed it as well; which was the entire point.

We stared the day at the Continental Breakfast - which was pretty good for free :) I still stand by my earlier blog on the hotel; it was really a nice hotel and the bed rocked. OMG I want that mattress in my home! But I digress; after breakfast we ran by KMart so I could buy a sweater; with the wind it was pretty chilly. Instead I bought me a nice coat that I'll wear a bunch :) Then we went to the visitors center in Savannah.

We walked from the Visitors Center down to Colonial Cemetery which is several blocks away. We stopped at St. Michael's (or Johns) Cathedral on the way. It was so pretty on the inside; I really hope my pictures turned out well. We then continued our leisurely walk down to the cemetery. Once we go there we realized it wasn't the one Hapaw had wanted to see so we walked around a bit more and then headed out for food.

We walked several blocks to Mellow Mushroom and had lunch. The walk was leisurely and I of course took tons of pictures. After lunch we headed back to the visitors center and took a drive out to Bonaventure Cemetery. Hapaw wanted to see it and I have to admit it was beautiful and eerie. With the old oak trees with the moss hanging out of them + the old tombstones.... It is certainly something worth seeing. We took some more pictures and then headed back to Atlanta.

It wasn't a long trip and we certainly didn't even begin to see Savannah, but it was what she wanted and we enjoyed it. In the end that is all that counts, right?

Till next time - Have a blessed evening blogland!

Savannah - Evening 1

Well, I''m here sitting in my comfy hotel room relaxing ... We went to dinner at Bernie's down on the Savannah riverfront. Not one I recommend... our food was good, but not good enough to match the prices. $14 shrimp basket I expect alot of shrimp and I expect them be killer; instead we got some shrimp that are pretty good and fries that tasted like they were poured out of the frozen food bag. The atmosphere was loud and barish (not good when w/ older people who can't hear well); but it was food and I was hungry.

I could have walked on the river front for a while after dinner and enjoyed the atmosphere, but the temperature dropped drastically when it got dark and none of us were dressed for it so we came back to the hotel. However, when we were helping Hapaw in the car a man made and gave her one of the straw roses. He spoke very nicely about her being blessed to live so long and that she was a rose. I'm not really doing it justice here, but it was sweet, well spoken and she loved it. Probably made her day! I know it would have mine.

Now we are back at the hotel and I'm telling you about our adventure thus far. It is probably a good thing we are at the hotel - we need to get some rest anyway - Hapaw gets tired easy and I want her to enjoy exploring tomorrow. We brought her wheel chair so that should help some.

We are only staying the one night so tomorrow I will be blogging the rest of the trip from my own home. You know I love to travel... If I had my dream job it would be a nature photographer for the National Geographic, but this weekend I really wouldn't mind being at home playing Evercrack II. Horrible I know -- Tomorrow will be fun though; if not I'll fake it till it is :) Fake it till you make it!

Good Night Blogland

Savannah - We are Here

We decided to take a weekend stroll to Savannah with Mama and Jack's grandmother, Hapaw. We arrived at the hotel about an 20 minutes ago and are 'resting' before going out to dinner. When traveling w/ the elderly resting is a requirement. Unfortunately it also equals sitting in a hotel room board and facebook is apparently down - so you all get to hear me ramble on about nothing.

We are staying at the Comfort Inn and Suites. I'm not sure I've ever stayed at one before and I must say I'm impressed thus far. It wasn't expensive and the rooms are clean, spacious and bright! All good signs, plus the bed seems really comfy!

On a completely different topic we are having dinner next week with an friend of mine from high school. I haven't seen him in ... well at least 11 years, maybe 12. I'm looking forward to it and my brief conversation with him today reminded me of why we were friends, but at the same time I'm nervous.... People change alot in 11 years. Lord knows I have - Man 11 year's ago I was the super "Christian" Girl at school. The one nobody really cared for cause I was so vocal in my beliefs and well let's face it I was never "popular material", now I'm ... I'm just me. The girl who cusses worse than most sailors; has a drink when she feels like it and generally just lives her life. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a christian and I still try to live my life with a certain degree of responsibility, but the fanatic is gone and Thank the Lord for that.

Will he like the me that exist now? Will we still have things in common, will the conversation flow or be full of awkward silences? You know general worries that will disappear the minute we start talking.

I'll let you know how it goes. For now I'm signing off - dinner awaits. Have a great weekend blogland.

Mood

I'm in a mood! Not sure what it is; melancholy, irritable, reflective, combination thereof? Who knows... Here are my symptoms (cause I know your dying to know):

• Little things are irritating me royally! I mean little things like Jack chewing too loud, telling me where to go inside the EQII game and well generally everything.
• I want to stay home and not go anywhere while at the same time I want to be out having a nice dinner and dancing...
• I am reflective - Find myself reading old blogs, thinking on my life and how I got here, etc...
  

Anyone have a diagnosis? I'm thinking I'm just crazy... yep that sums it up; Mylerna the crazy.

On another note I was reading a comment from my blog in 2007 from a friend from high school and my response. She works for a non-profit relief organization now and is spreading the Word of Christ around the world. I can't say how proud I am of her for making a difference and how honored I am of any minute impact I may have made. I need to start living my life in such a way that I can once again say I stand for something! So that I am not just meandering thru this existence with no real purpose in life. What will the world remember about me when I am gone? What will I have done to make an impact? Is what I am doing pleasing to the one that created me? These are the big questions and while I don't know the answers I'm closer to wanting to figure it out.

Knowing

We just got back from the movie "Knowing" and while I can't say it's my favorite movie of all time it did cause me to think. To think about what will happen when the "end" comes. Where will I be? What will I be doing? Will I be right with my maker? You know the big questions...

The movie itself was suspenseful, scary at times and well done. It's not one of those movies you watch more than once and it's not a movie you watch when you want to be in a happy mood but it was good.

Recommend it on a reflective night!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Hooked on Idol

Ok, yes I'm hooked on Idol - sad, I know but still.. I'm hooked.

Here's my ranking thus far :)

1) ADAM - OMG. He is beyond original. Last week... I agreed with the new judge. It left me "confused but happy". This week it was just stunningly great! Dear Lord, boy got some vocals. As good as Melinda Doolittle's "Funny Valentine"

2) ALLISON - Girl got some serious chops! I love her gravel. Just love her sound; girl has some serious chops.

3) DANNY - Man is all heart and it shows... His voice is incredible and his presence is infectious.

4) LIL - She has one of the most powerful voices. Not her strongest performance, but she will be around a while. Love her personality.

5) KRIS - Has a good voice and is interesting. He's not my favorite but he has career no doubt.

6) ANOOP - Has really grown on me. His voice is pure... the man has some serious vocals.

7) MATT - He sounds good... has a bluesy sound but not my favorite. Just don't like his stage presence very much.

8) MICHAEL - Forgettable, but good. Love his comebacks to Simon. Want him to stay around if for nothing more than that.

9) SCOTT - Yes, he is blind and yes he is sweet. I think he has some talent, but he isn't the next Idol.

10) MEGAN - Please go home... I wanted her gone weeks ago! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GO AWAY.

House Projects Suck

Yep, we had our list. Lord knows I hate home projects... read about the horror below. I'm telling you I don't think the #1 cause of most marital fights is money - I think it's home projects....

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This Weekend - Get Ready For Inspector (we are refinancing our home, interest rate almost a full point lower)!

Mama's Apartment

1. Rug/Tile Join - Fix (Jack) - Jack did this but hated it. Screws wouldn't go into concrete; he finally got it done but he was pissed before it was over.
   
2. Shampoo Carpet (Jack) - No Clue if he's done this or not... Afraid to ask.
   
3. Trim in Kitchen (Jack) - He's working on it now...
   

Main Floor

1. Fill in nail holes from previous owners (Mylerna) - DONE
   
2. Touch up paint (Mylerna) - Not done, can't find matches... Yep the paint in the garage has broken down and is no longer the same color so I have white patches everywhere and no paint to cover it up with. Took a piece off of wall to Lowe's but nooo it wasn't big enough to match so we came home and got a bigger piece. Haven't taken it up there yet... Very irritating. Furthermore, when I was stirring one of the cans of paint a hole was punched in bottom so our garage floor has paint all over.
   
3. Kilz Ceiling & Paint (Mylerna) - Don't have heart to try this yet. I could Kilz it but then what if the paint doesn't match... how do a I cut a hole in the ceiling to get a paint sample? grr.
   

Upstairs

1. Clean, Clean, Clean -Yea, right...
   
2. Finish Decor in Master Bedroom (Mylerna) - Was I joking?
   
3. Clean Some More - Seriously what was I thinking?
   
4. Change Lightbulb in Bathroom - Let it stay blowed, who gives a crap?
   
5. Put Media Center Back together (Jack) - Yea... he might beat it with a hammer at this rate.
   

Shopping

Lowes - DONE

• Foot Sliders for Barstools - DONE
• Door Stop for Back Door - DONE
• Trim For Mama's Kitchen - ADDED - DONE
  
• Joiner for Mama's Carpet ADDED - DONE
  

Grocery Shopping - We will just have to starve

General Items around House

1. Stand up Smoker Stand -LOL, yea it will be there in 2015
   
2. Fix Outside Bricks - They are find laying on ground, who cares?
   

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Later Items - will probably never happen... I just don't care anymore.

1. Paint Around Front Door Handle/Fix Front Door Handle (Jack)
2. Clean up Garage
   
3. Finish Red Room
4. Finish Yellow Room
5. Wash Base Boards - Before May is my goal
6. Wash Windows - Before May is my goal
7. Mop - Soon
8. Buy Stand Up Freezer - DONE
   
9. Go Shopping at Meat Market
10. Talk Mama in to growing some veggies
11. Finish Budget / Spend Less

List Progress

It's Saturday.. I'm supposed to be working on my list... yep supposed to be chugging away. Progress is slow, see below for details (I know it's sad).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Weekend - Get Ready For Inspector (we are refinancing our home, interest rate almost a full point lower)!

Mama's Apartment

1. Rug/Tile Join - Fix (Jack)
2. Shampoo Carpet (Jack)
3. Trim in Kitchen (Jack)

Main Floor

1. Fill in nail holes from previous owners (Mylerna)
   
2. Touch up paint (Mylerna)
3. Kilz Ceiling & Paint (Mylerna)

Upstairs

1. Clean, Clean, Clean
2. Finish Decor in Master Bedroom (Mylerna)
   
3. Clean Some More
4. Change Lightbulb in Bathroom
5. Put Media Center Back together (Jack)

Shopping

Lowes - DONE

• Foot Sliders for Barstools - DONE
• Door Stop for Back Door - DONE
• Trim For Mama's Kitchen - ADDED - DONE
  
• Joiner for Mama's Carpet ADDED - DONE
  

Grocery Shopping

General Items around House

1. Stand up Smoker Stand
2. Fix Outside Bricks

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Later Items:

1. Paint Around Front Door Handle/Fix Front Door Handle (Jack)
2. Clean up Garage
   
3. Finish Red Room
4. Finish Yellow Room
5. Wash Base Boards - Before May is my goal
6. Wash Windows - Before May is my goal
7. Mop - Soon
8. Buy Stand Up Freezer - DONE
   
9. Go Shopping at Meat Market
10. Talk Mama in to growing some veggies
11. Finish Budget / Spend Less

Tax Return

Ok, so when is the last time you read something good about the IRS? Well here goes... We filed our taxes less than a week ago and our return is sitting in our account! I mean... do you remember the days of 8 to 10 weeks and you get your may get your check in the mail??? Not anymore... less than a week!

Yea I know technology has come along way, but geesh! Go IRS! Love you for about 10 seconds... or until I see the next deduction in my paycheck.

List / Lots of List

I sit here tonight with list on my mind, list of what I need to do, what I need to buy, what I need to budget for... etc... Maybe it is the new weather, the birds singing or the fact that the sun is up past 5 pm, but I'm in the mood to make my list and get them done. So here is what I have so far.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Weekend - Get Ready For Inspector (we are refinancing our home, interest rate almost a full point lower)!

Mama's Apartment

1. Rug/Tile Join - Fix (Jack)
2. Shampoo Carpet (Jack)
3. Trim in Kitchen (Jack)

Main Floor

1. Fill in nail holes from previous owners (Mylerna)
   
2. Touch up paint (Mylerna)
3. Kilz Ceiling & Paint (Mylerna)

Upstairs

1. Clean, Clean, Clean
2. Finish Decor in Master Bedroom (Mylerna)
   
3. Clean Some More
4. Change Lightbulb in Bathroom
5. Put Media Center Back together (Jack)

Shopping

Lowes

• Foot Sliders for Barstools
• Door Stop for Back Door

Grocery Shopping

General Items around House

1. Stand up Smoker Stand
2. Fix Outside Bricks

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Later Items:

1. Paint Around Front Door Handle/Fix Front Door Handle (Jack)
2. Clean up Garage
   
3. Finish Red Room
4. Finish Yellow Room
5. Wash Base Boards - Before May is my goal
6. Wash Windows - Before May is my goal
7. Mop - Soon
8. Buy Stand Up Freezer
9. Go Shopping at Meat Market
10. Talk Mama in to growing some veggies
11. Finish Budget / Spend Less

So that is my list to date... Feels good to have a list. What I do with it is another question :)

Pensacola - Continued 2-13-09

Ok, so now to finish giving a summary of our Vacation day in Pensacola - 2/13/09

We woke up in our cheap, Ramada, hotel room and were happy. I slept like a brick... we then ate the free breakfast which was nothing to write home about, but hey it was free! Then we set off to explore more of Pensacola.

First we went onto the Navy Base and set about to explore the several tourist items available. First was the Aviation Museum. Planes, planes and more planes. We took a trolley ride back behind the building and saw all the large planes and several retired blue angel planes. There were planes taking off and boy were they loud! It was quite fun; our tour guide was an overly opinionated retired man who used to drive the Goodyear blimp. After our trolley ride we began to walk thru the museum; it was pretty interesting. I watched a Bob Hope USO video which was funny and Jack took a ride in a flight simulator. He seemed to really enjoy it.

We then ate a cheap lunch at the museum and left to see the light house. It is an active light house that was neat to look at; I of course took lots of pictures. We then proceeded to Fort Barrancas, which is also on the base. It was neat to explore; of course when you've seen one fort you've seen them all but it was a fun outing. One thing I noticed that was pretty neat were the arches in the fort along the wall. It was pretty cool. The fort also had a fairly interesting history with several flags flying over it through the course of history. I made a crappy joke about wondering if the fort had figured out it's nationality yet... The guy at the gift shop of the fort was really nice and we talked about photography and the sunlight on the base.

Once we left the fort we went to the Historic Pensacola Village which was ok. It was neat to see the old buildings and the church was beautiful! We only went into a few of the buildings; the commerce museum was the coolest. The inside of the commerce museum was an old street scene with stores set up like they would be in the late 1800's thru the 1920's. It was pretty cool. We then went to the Museum of Industry which archived the history of Pensacola's industry with brick making, lumber yards and fishing. It was pretty cool what they have done and the houses in the area were beautiful.

We then headed back to the hotel. We stopped at Krispy Cream for a relaxing desert and coffee. The doughnuts were good; the coffee not so great, but I'm fairly picky about my coffee. After we ate are doughnuts we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. We chilled for a bit and then got dressed. We went to eat at Skopelos it was really really good! The food was delicious, the atmosphere relaxing while still being romantic. I had the crab cake and lobster tail. The crab cake was great though I have had better and the lobster was good. It was my first time having lobster so I have nothing to compare it to but it was good. The steak Jack had was OMG good! I can't even begin to describe it to you; lets just say that I wish I would have gone for the beef. We then had fudge brownie pie and ice cream; which was great.

After eating dinner we headed back to the hotel for a romantic evening. Tomorrow we head home.

Pensacola - Our Journey 2-11-09 Thru 2-13-09

Attendees: Jack & Lisa

General:

We took this trip to get away; to escape our everyday life if only for a few days. It was as much an escape as it was a celebration of Valentine's Day and our Anniversary (4 Years Aug 2009).

2/11/09
We left home and traveled down. It was an uneventful trip with only a few spurts of conversation here and their. We arrived at the Crown Plaza around 1 am. The hotel was exceptionally nice, but expensive $145 a night. When booking it I expected a view; we found it to be between 2 interstates w/ a brief glimpse of the bay. The bed however was heaven; like laying in a cloud... OMG it felt so good after the long drive. We slept like a dream; well except for the trains that came thru on multiple occasions. Apparently part of the hotel used to be an old train depot and trains still run. A tidbit I did not notice when booking the room.

2/12/09
We woke up after a fairly decent night sleep and laid around a bit. I got a nice hot bath while Jack surfed the net and generally relaxed. We looked at other hotels in the area and decided to move to the Ramada which was only $70 a night and also did not have a view. So we packed up and check out. Good bye luxury. We ate breakfast at the Waffle House where everyone was really nice and seemed to know each other. Then we headed out to explore.

We drove a bit and got a sense of the place and then we stopped at the Visitors Center. It was right on the water with a trail for bird watching. Several pelicans were hanging out and we enjoyed watching them dive bomb for food. The day could not have been prettier with it's blue skies! We then drove down to the Pensacola beach and the National Seashore. The sand was so white it looked like snow. We saw crabs of various sizes in the wild, fishes jumping out of the water to grab the insects on tip and of course birds. There was one stork in particular that was enjoying standing and looking out over the water. We laid on the sand beach on the bay side (the ocean side was within walking distance and we did walk it a bit as well) and enjoyed the sun on our face and the quietly lapping water hitting the shore. I almost fell asleep it was so peaceful. We then ate lunch at Hemingway's. A very nice restaurant with a great view. It was expensive but luckily they had a lunch menu; Jack had ribs which were apparently good and and I had shrimp Alfredo dish that was great! We then shared a key lime pie; me not a big fan of key lime pie but Jack seemed to think it was heavenly.

We then took the scenic drive up to the Ramada Hotel and checked in. It certainly isn't the luxury of the Crown, but the room seemed clean and he staff were only semi incompetent. We checked in and I took a much needed nap. Well 1/2 of a nap - couldn't really get to sleep. Jack watched tv and surfed the net. We then decided to go grab some dinner to end our day. We decided to go to Flounders, but on our way out the door Jack checked and email from work that caused a little bit of stress; well alot. So the real world invaded our cocoon and the evening seemed to have a shadow on it for the rest of it....

On the way out to dinner we stopped at a park that has a board walk down to the beach. It was dusky and generally a relaxing walk... or would have been otherwise. We then drove to Flounders for dinner... The food was ok, the service ok - the food expensive. We spent roughly $50 and I didn't eat 2/3 of my plate; it just wasn't that great... Live and learn. We then came back to the hotel and called it a good day!

2/13/09 - Will update this later as I've got to get ready for my V-Day Dinner; Here comes Sexy Lisa :) HEE

25 Random Things

From Facebook - 25 Random Facts about me.

1) I love tv/movies /etc... any good story and I can escape my life for a short period of time. Love IT

2) I get easily addicted to games like EQII - I'm playing again now, but I'm guarding my life from EQ II addiction though by limiting our playing time.

3) I'm not a primpy person...I hate spending time on my apperance, but love looking good -Go figure

4) I'm not dedicated to any hobby. Several things I enjoy but there is no passion to learn/expand/etc..

5) Photography is one of my biggest hobbies. I don't research how do to it better and have no desire to learn how to do the light tricks etc... but enjoy finding the perfect shot and taking it. I take tons of pictures,800 in one day while I was in Scotland. Over 80 GB of pictures on my hard drive.

6) I love to travel, but hate to read about where I'm going,etc... I just want to go see and explore.

7) I can't multi task very well...

8) I have an MBA and am generally a smart person, but I don't care to learn... I am thinking about going back for my law degree, but I'm not sure I have the dedication for 3 more years. I'd be going for the degree / money it would bring only, not the knowledge - is that the right reason to go?

9) I plan everything - My vacations are generally mapped out 2 years in advance. May is Alaska, Grand Canyon is October, Washington DC and maybe Niagara Falls are 2010, Europe in 2011.

10) My husband is 100 times smarter than me - I do my best to keep up and seem intelligent but... most the time I fail and he has to teach me and/or do it for me. It frustrates him I don't get it as quickly, though he won't admit it.

11) If I had to do over again I would have explored my career options more.

12) I have no real favorite food - I like strawberry shortcake (especially from Maggianos), I like cabbage (cooked), fried okra and Olive Garden's shrimp dish, but I have no OMG that's just my favorite.

13) I generally am not passionate about everything but put off the illusion of being passionate about lots of things, how I don't know... I guess my opinions come out in a passionate nature.

14) I love my kittes and wouldn't trade them for anything.

15) I'm very silly when it's just Jack and Me. I'm really 3 people: Lisa at work, Lisa around friends/family and Lisa at home with Jack. I don't know why but they are distinctly different - just ask Jack.

16) My husband and my Ex husband were once friends.

17) I want to have a child and home school my children - I don't want to work for a living, but I'm not sure we will ever be financially stable enough for me to do that.

18) I'm generally lonely - I wish I was one of those people surrounded by friends, but well I'm not. I can't generate the BS conversation required to get to know people so developing friendships is hard. Plus I'm not one of those people that draw people to me... Neither is my hubby. We have a few good solid friends and are appreciative of them...

19) I am generally pessimistic...

20) Save the Last Dance is my favorite Move

21) Nora Roberts is my favorite author.

22) My mother is my best friend.

23) I like to play board/card games.. wish I had some more people to play with

24) I take alot of things personally I shouldn't. I get defensive quick.... I hate that about myself.

25) I am competitive in nature.

Good Bye 2008 - Hello 2009

2009 is officially here! It is 2:32 am and I sit here looking at pictures and reflecting on past years. What we did, why and etc... So how did 08 go?

2008 – What can I say! It was a year challenge and a year of great change.

First of all we can’t ignore the fact that the country spiraled into a recession the likes of which I have never seen. A mortgage crisis has hit the nation like a tidal wave with hundreds of thousands losing their jobs and home. And gas prices soared to over $4 a gallon.

On a more personal level Jack and I had a good year in our marriage, but it was a challenging year. One where we fought and made up, where we compromised and learned, one where I believe ultimately we grew as a couple. It was also the year we bought a house with a basement apartment for my mother and moved to Mableton. Having her live with us is something I'm glad we did and I love it - however, it has been an adjustment. One we will continue to make in 2009 I'm sure.

Professional it has been tough. The company I work for was on the verge of bankruptcy and was eventually acquired by another larger company. Staffing has been difficult and management has been worse. It may be time for a change - only time can tell.

2008 - Overall a good year, but challenging to say the least. Here's hoping 2009 is better.

Christmas Eve 2008

Its Christmas Eve 2008. Another year is almost over and its time to begin reflecting. Jack and I have family plans with his family tomorrow and my family and I are on ... well we still speaking to a degree. By family I do not include my mother who I have a great relationship with, but rather my brothers who are... my brothers.

What does that say? That on Christmas I can't set aside the anger and be with family? What does it say that Jack and I decided not to exchange gifts and on Christmas eve we sit here and mess around on computers while not acknowledging that it's a special night and we should be celebrating it.

I don't know what it says but I'm going to reflect and figure it out. In the meantime I wish you and yours a great holiday! Merry Christmas, may God bless you in the upcoming year.

Time Flies

Wow, time flies whether you want it to or not. Just yesterday I feel like I graduated High School and began this roll-a-coaster called 'adult life'. Now my 10 year reunion is coming up and I'm wondering where it all went.

I signed up for Facebook the other day. A cool site I recommend to anyone, but I digress... I signed up and was reminded that I haven't blogged in oh, forever! Do you miss me? Probably not, but that's ok. I miss you... I miss my random thoughts going out into the cyber void to be archived for the world to see. I miss the sharing of my life. So why not blog you ask??? Well, the truth is I have no life. I come home, I go to work, I eat with Mama/Jack, I go dancing, I come home, I have dinner with Hapaw, etc... Nothing exciting, no earth shattering discoveries, no moments of clarity - Just the mundane task that make up my life. Pleasant for me, yes - but entertaining for blogland - probably not.

Thus, I will write occasionally as thoughts pop into my head but for the most part I will exist and try to be happy that I do .

More Pictures to come to www.mylerna.com soon.

Love you - I'll be in touch - Eventually.

Where Have I Been

I changed my reading of blogs and now have "google reader" or my homepage. However, I realize now that by doing that I no longer go to my own blog to see my fav blogs and therefore haven't updated my own. I would think about it occasionally but never did it. Go figure - have you missed me?

Probably not... But that's ok. I still love you.

What is going on here??? Let me see

1. Work
2. Work
3. Work
4. Jack - Love of my Life
5. Ballroom Dancing
6. Still Boxes to be unpacked- they mock me daily... I just turn the other cheek
7. Tons of household projects.
8. Work

Yep that about sums it up. More to follow later... will try to post more and will log on soon to give a more in depth review of Mylerna's world.

Hickory, NC

We are on our way back from Hickory NC. We drove up there with Steve and Leo to purchase some furniture. The word on the street is that the furniture is extremely affordable.

Here is what my thoughts are on the subject:

- We got everything we wanted and just went a little over our budget. The prices were lower than some retailers, but not as low as I thought they would be given the reputation the place has.

- We bought all of our furniture at the Catawba Mall vs. the Furniture Mart. The Furniture Mart was very overpriced! I take that back, we did buy one piece in the clearance store of Boyles, but it has scratches which was the only reason it was affordable.

- The people in the stores appear to be paid an hourly salary vs. commission. Which is normally a good thing because you don't get high pressure salesmen. However, in this instance we found that we got mediocre service... There were some exceptions, and we bought our furniture from those exceptions, but I didn't get the feeling that the malls really wanted or needed our business. Let me give you some examples:

• The Catawba Mall is owned all by one company, except for Ashley Furniture. Steve and Leo purchased a bedroom suite from one lady at Flexsteel, and she was very sweet. She told them that if they bought any other piece in the mall they could just add it to the account they had set up. The went to the Kathy Ireland Store, owned by the same company, and wanted a mirror. The store manager called the lady at Flexsteel (I was sitting at Flexsteel making a purchase) and had a fit because the mirror wasn't enough money and she was mad because she had to write up a ticket on it. The mirror cost over $250... I mean come on, it's 1/2 a sheet of paper.
  
• I had a problem with the same lady at Kathy Ireland. Yesterday she was super sweet because I was looking at several pieces. However, I found some more I liked better. Thus, today when I went to make the purchase I only purchased the entertainment center and the dining room set. A purchase of over $2,000. The minute she found out I wasn't buying all the pieces she showed me, which only included 2 additional items, she got pissy. Then when I informed her we would let Ashley Furniture's 3rd party handle the shipping she really go bitchy. Keep in mind that this is a 3rd party shipper, they all use 3rd party shippers, and nothing off her bottom line. Instead of saying thank you for your business I was almost upset I gave her my money.
• Yesterday we went to Ashley Furniture and Jack was taking a picture of a chair. We took pictures in all the stores because we were seeing so much that it is hard to remember from one to the next. Some little shitty salesman came over and got on to him and we left. We came very close to not coming back. The only reason we did is because they were open earlier than the other stores today and because we reasoned that it was just him. Granted today we got excellent service in that store... better than the other stores combined. I made sure to tell the manager about my service yesterday and to tell her what a good job the lady did today. But it's just one more issue that we had...
• We went to the Furniture Mart yesterday and walked thru the entire thing. I went upstairs and was looking at a trundle bed and asked the price. At these malls you can haggle a bit and get the pricing down. I told her that JC Penny had a bed very similar that was less and asked her if she could meet the price. JC Penny did have a bed we really liked - she got bitchy with me for telling her that her pricing wasn't low enough. COME ON its your job. WTF!

Overall though we are very happy with our purchases and the cost. I got most of my stuff at the Ashley Store and I believe we are going to love it. Glad we went back in.

We stayed at The Jamison hotel and the price was reasonable and it was clean. However, we booked it thru Expedia. When we first got there the stupid woman, who was apparently the assistant manager, and she couldn't figure out why we only had two reservations vs. three. It was extremely annoying. Glad Leo handled it vs. me = Super Bitch would have emerged.

Then this morning, check out was at 11. We get a call at 10:15 wanting to know if we had checked out yet. It was almost like we wer getting chased out of the room... I felt it to be very rude and I won't go back. So if you go to Hickory don't go to the Jamison

Just wanted to give you guys a review in case you want to go get some furniture. Have a good night guy!

Boxes Boxes Everywhere

Well we are in and love the new house. The boxes are everywhere and moving around is difficult but we will get it done - little bit at a time.

Just wanted to give you an update when I have more time.

New Home Owner

Closings complete - Moving Begins Woot!!!

**thanks to those who commented and continue to read. love you***

Still Rolling

Well, I'm still rolling here. We had a couple minor glitches but everything is back on track. Mama is out of her house and living with us. I don't think I could even fit a piece of paper in the storage building holding her stuff.... Our house is set to close next Thursday and we will be moving into our new home. I can't wait.... I can't wait for the stress of real estate deals to be gone, I can't wait to wake up in my big new spacious house, I can't wait to only drive 10 miles to work, I can't wait to get to decorate a new house :) I just can't wait....

Other than that things around here are trucking along. Working, Working, and working...

Sorry I don't have more to share. Hope you are all doing well!.

Hey, btw does anyone ever read this thing anymore? If so give me a shout out so I know I'm not talking into the void.

Whirlwind

Well, my life has turned into a whirlwind. A tornado of excitement and blessings.

• Mama's house is closing on Monday and at this point only a stick of dynamite could stop it. The people purchasing her house are extremely excited about it... We are truly blessed.
• My house is set to close 4/9. There have been some glitches along the way - Appraisal, Her Loan, My sanity, but its all coming together. We dropped the price slightly and I'm keeping my appliances. Everyone is happy... Next hurdle is the inspection, pray its not too bad. I don't think it could be given our home, but I've heard nightmare stories.
  
• We have found the PERFECT house. I would link it but since it's under contract they have taken the pictures off the web. It is absolutely perfect - I can't think of one thing we are compromising on it. The basement is finished, with the perfect spot for a kitchen. So that will be easy to add, the upstairs is spacious and beautiful. Rooms galore and the Master is well - to die for. My closet is big enough for a small bedroom. I LOVE IT! It is also set to close on 4/9.
• We have a great set of friends - Steve and Leo. Leo used to design kitchens and has agreed to design Mama's! WOOT! Jack and I would have spent a great amount of time, figuring it out. To have someone volunteer their expertise is just amazing - Hopefully we can repay him someday.
• Mark, a friend of Jacks, knows how to lay flooring. Thus, replacing the basement carpet with something mopable - per my mother's request, will be easy! Just one more blessing! If you are wondering why we are doing that - she has a small dog that well gets excited and oops bladder... He's cute though!
• Rusty, Jack's uncle, is a plumber and has agreed to run the plumbing for us to the new Kitchen. Between him and Leo we have all the expertise we need - Jack and I just get to play manual laborers. Hey I can do grunt work when I need to!
• And Steve said he would help Jack run the network cable thru the house!
  

Moving is going to be fun. Rolls Eyes. We are moving Mama next weekend. All of her stuff will go into storage and she will stay with us. I am out of town attending a conference so I will get out of most the heavy lifting. I feel bad about that, but this thing has been on my calender and paid for since late January. Steve, Leo, my nephew Aaron and Jack will be handling that move. There will be others there helping, but those 4 are the big strong men there to do the heavy lifting!

We are moving the following weekend. If everything goes as planned we will be moving directly into the new house. WOOT. Nate, Melanie, Jack, Billy and hopefully Brian and Tripp will be here for that day. We are trying to move boxes out and into the storage building as we go to hopefully minimize the move. We have a lot more furniture than Mama who has been purging like there is no tomorrow.

All I can say is that we are super super blessed to be haven given such great friends and family! Without them this process would be much more expensive and therefore much more daunting!

Given the fact that all these deals have flowed together so flawlessly all I can say is that God had it in his master plan. Thus, I have faith they are going to work out. Faith is the only thing keeping my sanity otherwise I would be even more worried than I am and you all would be calling the men in white coats to come pick me up.

Welp, I'm off to home depot to get minor house repair items. Trying to fix anything the inspector may think of finding before he gets here. Hey, its a game - anyone want to play? Yea, me neither but hey we do what we have to.

Have a great Saturday!

Looking At Houses

We shopped for houses from 1 pm today to 8 pm! Let me just say I'm exhausted, but we saw alot. Only problem is most of them have the basements unfinished; which means we can add $50K to the price of the house because we are going to have to finish it...

Here are the top 4 so far - please share your thoughts:

Huntcrest
Brookmere
Vinings Lake
Wandering Lane

Off to bed now. Will go see more Saturday

Lisa

Pray

God is good! We got an offer on both properties. I've accepted the one on the Dahlonega property and am still bargaining on this one. Both should be under contract by tomorrow! Can you believe it? Pray these go thru!

OMG I'm so excited. Also stressed - closings are on very short notice.

Welp, wish us luck.

Wii

I found a Wii WOOT

Today

Today is a day like any other day, its not great but its not bad. However, I find my self sitting her needing to lash out, to scream for no reason other than to scream. Why you ask? Answer: I have no friggin clue!

My life is good at the moment. Here's some of what is going on:

1) House is on the market and we have had it show several times, which is impressive in this market! I'm anxious for an offer, but I know it will be a while in today's real estate realm. If you know anyone interested in the Stone Mountain, GA area send them my way. Pics of house are here: Amy Orr With Re/Max

Its the one with the red porch and stucco walls.

2) Mama's house is also for sale and its shown several times! I'm praying something comes thru soon. Again if you know of anyone wanting roughly 4.5 acres in North GA (Dahlonega) send them my way. Details can be found here: Joy Walker With Re/Max

3) Work is good. Having trouble being focused lately - Gotta get my head back in the game. Just got a pretty good bonus though; especially given our office didn't meet our numbers. Will know more about raises next month - keep your fingers crossed.

4) For those of you who don't know I was in a car accident in 2002. Allegedly I ran a red light - honestly I don't know if I did or not. I went out into lala land. Anyway, the lady that I hit had a passenger who was injured. Part of her injuries may stem from the accident, but many of them were pre-existing conditions. The lawsuit is set to be heard in June and expected award is somewhere between $250K and $500K - Yea SCARY! Insurance company will be on hook for it according to my attorney due to a bad faith situation but still SCARY! The case went to mediation yesterday and they are so close to settling and I'd be free and clear. One item holding it up and I should know something soon. Pray, Cross your fingers, toes, legs, cross whatever you have that this settles and goes away! I need this to go away!

5) Jack and I are good. He's conservative, I'm not. He's a saver, I'm a semi-saver. He wants this, I want that. We are opposites and always have been. Its a good thing cause we can normally compromise on the big stuff. I love him with everything I have. Have to be careful though - his will can run over me sometimes, must stand up for somethings, which is hard when he refuses to argue or "discuss". He just stops talking or makes finate 'this is what we are doing statements'. Well, he is not God Almighty and his word is Not always Law. Sometimes you need a good argument to clear the air - then you can "make up"...... I'm not backing down on this issue though; he's just going to have to deal. Not going into details and it's not important other than to know I love him, will always love him and stand by him but I'm not giving in on this.

6) My kitties are cute and cuddly. Sox has taken to laying w/ me on the couch while I watch tv. He gets in crook of my arm, turns upside down and meows for me to rub his belly. Patches on the other hand gets between Jack and I when we go to bed and sleeps there all night. Sometimes he's on my chest, other times on my pillow. Too cute. I have to move him in the mornings to make bed, if it was up to him I'd make it up w/ him in it. (Yep making bed everyday now that house is showing. I could get used to it, kinda nice to get in a made up bed and it doesn't take too much time in the mornings).

7) I started playing EQII again for a few weeks but then I stopped. Guess I should 're cancel' my subscription. I may login in here in a few and see if it's fun; no sense keeping it if I don't have a good time playing.

8) I want a WII! I want a WII now :) but no one has them. If you know me personally and see one pick it up and I'll pay you for it (no more than $300). If you don't know me personally... i.e you don't have my cell number then ignore said request.

9) Finally was given a few of my own accounts at work. I had to fight for them but I got them by golly. Never going to get a promotion without them!

Well, I guess that about does it. Not exciting but I needed to release, to vent, to spew or whatever this is. Tomorrow is a new day and I'm going to go in it with gusto. I'm going to enjoy it, I'm going to be happy, because I have no reason not to be!

G'Night Blogland

Protect Women's Rights

Lotusknits pointed out the following article to me regarding Women's Rights to Abortion & Use of Contraception.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cristina-page/what-the-huck_b_82630.html
http://www.personhood.net/

If you live in GA please email/call your representatives today and protect women's rights. The government should not tell us what to do with our bodies. I don't want children and I take EVERY precaution not to have them.

Now, if I got pregnant tomorrow I'm not sure that I'd go get an abortion but I want the right to:

a) protect myself against getting pregnant
b) get an abortion if pregnancy occurs and we decide to go that route.

Government needs to stay OUT OF MY BODY! Contact your representative today

2008

2008 is approaching fast. I'm not sure I'm happy with the speed time seems to be taking. I mean just last week it was July and now it's almost New Years. In 2008 I'll be out of High School 9 years. In 2008 my nephew will be 16. It just seems to early for me to feel this old... This week I've been in a very reflective mood; almost a self destructive one. I've been seeing all the things wrong with me and my life. Not a great attitude to have, so as 2008 rolls around its time look at what I want to change, but before I do lets look at the goals for 2007 and see how I did.

2007 Goals

1) Exercise more - I know I said I was going to do this during 2006's visit but now I shall try again. I was doing ok with this; we bought an exercise bike and I was using it till the holidays came around and it had to go in the garage to make room for the tree. But I made progress w/ this goal and have every intention of getting back on the bike soon.
2) GRADUATE with my MBA Done
3) Grow in my relationship with my husband There is always room to grow so this goal will never be truly accomplished but I feel we've become closer this year. We've talked more, shared more, laughed more and if possible loved more.
4) Become more social - Make new friends - Nurture and grow my relationships with old ones. I don't have too many 'old friends' but the couple I can name haven't really been active in my life in 2007. I wish Amanda and I were closer but I know she is there if I need her and I hope she knows that about me. The other friend I have in mind... well some things are better left to fade into sweet memories before the become bitter ones. As far as making new friends I think we have; actually we've made a nice set of couple friends. Nate and Melanie are kin but I consider them dear friends and Steve and Leo are new to our lives but a blessed addition. I could have done better with the 'social' part of this goal, but progress was made.
5) Become more self sufficient - Learn More - Enjoy learning for the sake of learning. Welp, I failed miserably at this one. I've learned some and took a photography class to learn more but I still would prefer someone tell me how it's done rather than figure it out on my own. I'm just lazy like that. This is something I will continue to work on at my husbands behest but well lets just say I'm not optimistic.
6) Complain Less - Appreciate More I love to complain and I hate myself for it. I think I've done a little bit better job with appreciating my life but I'm still a queen complainer. I love to bitch... I wish I wasn't like that. This will be a goal for 08!

Overall I think I did ok with my goals for 2007. Now for 2008 - what shall I do? Whom shall I become? What is important to me right now?

1) Complain Less - Appreciate More
2) Stop Worrying what Others think or What they are saying about me? Learn that people don't talk about you every time your back is turned and if they do don't worry about it. This is going to be a tough one.
3) Femininity
4) Control My Moods better.
5) Stop Nagging or at least slow down
6) Compliment More

Well, hopefully 2008 will be full of love, hope and success. Hopefully it will bring with it a sense of newness and awe. Hopefully, it will help me get out of this emotional turmoil I seem to be in. Hopefully, it will be glorious for both my family and yours.

Good night to all and sweet dreams.

Big Decisions & New Friends

I don't blog much any more but I enjoy having this release for my soul. I enjoy coming to share my ideas, thoughts and fears on the world wide web to be read or ignored by the masses. Odd maybe, but well then so am I.

That being said we've made some new friends; Steve and Leo. Its nice to have some friends close by to go hang out with and it's really funny because we have so much in common. Jack and Steve are both homebodies who would be just as happy at home on the couch watching tv where as Leo and I are the social butterflies. I love it - we met up last night to go to dinner and a movie, but got to talking so much that we ended up skipping the movie and going to dinner and then coffee. We talked from 7 to 9:30 - who knew people could talk that long. It was alot of fun - only downside is we went to Starbucks...Must train them that Waffle House and Dunkin Doughnuts have the best coffee. Yes, Melanie they do :) !!

I'm excited to have friends that are close enough to hang out with. Melanie and Nate are really the only couple friends we've had and well they are over an hour away. We still see them ALOT more than we used to but... it's still quite a ways. Better than 5 hours though!

On another topic Jack and I are faced with some rather large decisions in the near future. Mama has fallen twice and the house she lives in is 125 years old. Pictures are below and yes it looks great, but it has no central heat/air, it has very steep steps to go upstairs and well it's a lot of maintenance.


So we are talking about selling this house, selling the house and property in Dahlonega (4 3/4 acres) and buying a house w/ a basement apartment or cottage house that we can all live in but still have the privacy we all need. In today's market I think we could buy a lot more house for less, but on the other hand we have two properties to sale, which is not favorable in today's market. I don't know - big choices to be made. Anyone had an experience selling/buying - I'm open for any and all advice.

Welp, we're off to buy Christmas presents... fun fun. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Mylerna.com Up and Running

www.mylerna.com is up and running with Pictures! Moere are added daily; check it out and give me your thoughts :)

My Life in Pictures

I love pictures. I love taking them, looking at them and playing with them. I'm currently taking a photography class and absolutely loving it! I so wish I could take a year off and drive around photographing the nation, but I will never make that much money. Oh dare to dream. That being said if any of you are interested in photography there a couple links you may find interesting:

Karen Russell
The Pioneer Woman

I've just started reading The Pioneer Woman and haven't read her photo tips yet but she takes some great pictures. Karen Russell on the other hand I've been reading for over a year and I just love her photography, her outlook on life and she gives some pretty good tips.

I'm taking classes thru The ShowCase school in Atlanta and I'm really enjoying it. I'm learning about the manual features of my camera and how/when to use them! I love it.

Once I finish getting my pictures sorted and finish learning how to upload them using Lightroom I'll get them on my website. Check it out if you have time www.mylerna.com; it's not much right now but it will be one day :)

Chat w/ you later - have a great night!

Time Flies

Wow! Halloween 2007 - Already! Where has the year gone? I was looking at our weekend schedule from now until Christmas and I only have 3 weekends free in which to do all my Christmas shopping - how did that happen? Not that I mind the busy schedule, just lots of shopping to do! I'm really looking forward to the holidays this year though. I'm having a celebration w/ friends on 12/1 that I'm hosting and then I'm hosting another get together for my side of the family on the 15th! Going to be loads of fun, after I get done stressing. I really do love to cook these big meals, until the day I'm cooking them at which time I stress and cry before I can enjoy the day - crazy I know!

Anyway just wanted to check in and say Hi! Everything is good here just. We are just trucking about our daily lives. Oh, Melanie you are going to be so proud. We bought an exercise bike and have put it in the living room where we will actually use it (I'll move it for co. of course). I've worked out twice this week! 3o minutes at a time; it's not so hard w/ the big screen to watch tv on while I'm working out. Plus Jack is in here w/ me so I don't feel alone.... Keep your fingers crossed I keep with it. 5 Miles ridden today...

Plus I'm down to one coffee and soft drinks at meals. Other than that it's water! That's not a hard and fast rule, but generally I'm sticking with it. Funny though the more water I drink the thirstier I am ... odd... ! anyway since you are my health conscience I thought I would give you the update.

Have a good night all! Sleep well!

Movies

Have I told you that I love movies? They are a slight obsession of mine! The funny thing is that I'm not a 'hollywood' addict. I don't know but a few actors/actresses name, I don't know directors and I don't give a shit about what happens in their personal lives but I love the movies. I normally will equate actors to their roles. Such as ... saying hey do you remember that guy that played in 'Sweet Home Alabama' or that girl that played in 'Save the Last Dance'.

Why am I telling you this? Well, I'm not really sure except to tell you that I had some retail therapy today. Hollywood Video is going out of business which means all DVD's are on SALE! We got 22 movies for $139!!! I bought 4 or 5 movies at Best Buy the other day for almost that amount. Yes, we buy a lot of movies. We tried to rent, but ended up paying more in late fees than the movies and well I like to own them. It's about the only thing I collect. We have approximately 1000 movies (very rough estimate) and some of them or are on VHS. MUST REPLACE! And I love to decide hey I need a happy mood, or I need to kick some ass, or I need some adventure and be able to go into my movie collection and pull out a custom ordered mood. I can put the movie in and slip away for a couple hours into a world, into a life, into a town that is not mine. For those 2 hours I am a reporter, a superstar, a fighter, a dancer or what ever/who ever's world I decide to slip into. You can not ask for more, you really can't.

Tonight we watched "Holiday" a movie where two women trade houses/cars and lives for 2 weeks. GREAT FUN MOVIE. Full of laughs, drama and a general feel good movie. I loved it and it was exactly what I need. Jack even liked it. Now we have slipped into the world of sex, violence and drugs in Miami Vice. Life is good; Seize the Moment!

My Life.... When Did I turn Left?

Have you ever been going thru your life its day 1, day 2, year 26 and then suddenly you say HEY! How in the hell did I get here? What choices did I make in life? What twist and turns did I make that turned my life down this road?

If I would have joined the Air Force as I planned - how would my life be different?
If I would never had married my first husband what would have happened?
What if I would have branched out and looked at different colleges?
What if I would have explored myself and chosen a major that wasn't expected of me?
What if I would never have gotten into insurance?
What if I got pregnant?
What if I don't get pregnant?

And then you ask the really hard question.... Is this .... This path in life, this road... this space and time ... Is this where I want to be?

The answer to that question for me is generally yes it is. Yes I am on the path that I want to be on to go to the place in life that I want to go to. Will the path have more twist and turns before the end of my journey? and if so where will they lead me? No, I'm not a fortune teller so where is not one I can answer, however I can tell you that the twist will come... the choices will be made. The life will change. My only prayer is that wherever it ends up I have Jack and my family with me.

Happy Life

Everything is good just working, reading, watching tv and sleeping :) Tonight I'm going to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant, with our friends Melanie & Nate and Steve & Leo. I'm so excited. I've never had fondue before - I'm so excited...

Well, I don't have a lot to talk about. Hope this weekend finds you well!

Down Time

I'm taking some much needed down time this weekend. Lord knows I really need it, but my goals for the weekend are 1) don't think about work, 2) don't work 3) veg... that being said it's not exactly working out as planned. But I'm still refusing to do anything work related. Jack has gotten it into his mind we are going to stain the deck my brother came and helped us build last weekend. It looks really good! But I'm not sure I'm up for manual labor lol.

Here is a pic before the deck, paint, roof, and gutters. You can't really see how bad the porch was, but trust me it was horrible!














And now:


I'm not really sure where all the grass went... but we are going to put big gigantic rocks on that hill side and fill them in with river rock... We are staining the wood a tile red that will come close to matching the trim work around the house. It looks so much different.






Well, I'm off to read. Barnes & Nobles loves me as I went and purchased like 5 books yesterday. I was determined to not buy an author I have read previously so I only go one Nora Roberts book - tee hee.

Have a good weekend blogland.

Strike Against Stess

Yes you read correctly - I am striking against stress! When ever anything pushes my stress button (which has been pushed often lately) I am striking against it. What does this mean exactly... let me give you an example:

A) You have 4 temporary workers @ your office @ 8:30 am to help with a project that is due on 9/1 and that with even 4 people working 8 hours a day will more than likely not be complete.

B) Those for workers do not have computers at 8:30 am and the project requires a computer so you must find something for them to do. HIT THE STRESS BUTTON. Stress button gets pushed and Mylerna's strikes against it. Instead she gives them some paperwork that needs holes punched in at and puts them to work; follows up on their computers and commands herself to smile.

C) 11:30: they have punched a whole in every sheet of paper available, the computers are being installed and Mylerna takes them out for a 'welcome to the company, however temporarily you are here lunch'.

D) 12:30 Get back from lunch to find that they have computers but no login and password to get into the system. HIT THE STRESS BUTTON. Determined to strike against stress, Mylerna smiles and forces herself to breathe in and out several times. She then follows up with several people for the logins, ask if anyone has any ideas what she can do with these ladies and waits...

E) 2:00 Mylerna follows up on the login's again to find out that "no they are not ready and we have no ETA" HIT STRESS BUTTON. Again determined not to stress Mylerna kindly explains the situation to the temporary workers, sends them home and ask them to report back at 8:30 the next morning.

F) 3:00 Mylerna informs administrative assistant that she sent workers home and that they would be back tomorrow. Administrative assistant gets upset and states she had items they needed to do. HIT STRESS BUTTON. Mylerna still determined to strike against stress smiles, kindly explains that when she asked earlier if there was anything for them to do she was told no and that she did not feel it in the companies best interest to pay the workers to sit and be pretty. Stress is beginning to seep thru the picket line and all sugar coating of the situation is slowly deteriorating.

G) 4:15 Mylerna gets email from Bosses' Boss asking why he had his assistant go thru the trouble of hiring temps if they have nothing to do. HIT STRESS BUTTON THREE TIMES. Mylerna breathes in and out, says a few curse words and remembers her dedication to the strike against stress. She emails her bosses boss explaining that while we have work for them to do it does require them to be able to login to the computer and setting up of employees in the computer department has absolutely nothing to do w/ her job.

H) 4:30 Email system on Mylerna's computer crashes. STRESS BUTTON IS PUSHED AND HELD DOWN. Mylerna forgets about her strike against stress, picks up her stuff and decides to finish the day from home.

I) Next Day: The strike against stress is reaffirmed and we go thru another day!

Join with me in the strike against stress in your life.

Two Post

Two post in one week... yep Jack's gone and I'm bored :) tee hee.

Guess what ???? I got an outstanding achievement award at work today along w/ $100 that I can spend on various gift cards. I was pretty excited!

Well, off to bed - sleep well dear friends.

Flying Solo

Jack is out of town all week and this weekend so I have the house to myself. I do ok with the house to myself most of the time but I get lonely and bored. He's only been gone a day and I'm already starting to feel it... not a big deal but well I miss him. I imagine this weekend will be horrible but ah well.

Work is overwhelming. Way too much to do - when I get done w/ this post I have at least 2 more hours in front of me tonight. But the good news is I still love my job! The people are good, the pay and benefits are excellent and overall it is wonderful. Just need to get caught up :)

Onto other news I've done something to my back - no idea what. I went to bed Sunday w/ no pain and woke up Monday hurting. It hurts to bend, stretch my arms out or to rotate right/left, it even hurts to bend my neck. No clue what I've done - any ideas? I have my annual physical Friday and if its not better I'll talk to her about it....

Patches is walking around the house meowing (he's looking for Jack)... sweet if I don't kill him before he shuts up :)

Well, I gotta get to work TTYL

WoW - Life Is...

Life is such a gift. Many of us are walking thru our current existences wondering why we are here, where are we going next, why did THAT have to happen. It is so hard for us, myself especially, to stop and say WAIT this is just another day. Nothing that happens today is going to cause the world to end; it may seem like it does at that moment but in reality life will go on.

Lately I've been walking thru my life like a zombie:

1) Work
2) Work some overtime
3) Come Home
4) Watch TV or Read
5) Go to Bed & Start Over again

The house has gone to crap and as much as I want it clean I have no desire to clean it... Don't get me wrong my house is not nasty, it's just not clean. The floors need to be mopped, the laundry caught up, the dust bunnies need to be cleaned up and my bedroom well.... it looks like a tornado hit it! The problem is I don't care enough to do it.

Work is nutz. I stayed Friday until 8 pm to get caught up - then I had a migraine that put me in bed for two days this week; so know I'm even further behind. Not sure how to get caught up now I'm sooooooo far behind it's not even funny and it just keeps getting worse.

But life is a gift and he didn't give it to us so that we could sit around and worry about the next moment. We need to appreciate the moment we are in (even if you are cleaning house)... I need to remember that! I need to appreciate what I have and work to make it better. I need to breathe for just a moment and remember that life is good; treasure the moment!

Recovering

I don't drink often - ok very rarely would be a more accurate term but last night I put a few back, more than a few. Shelley a girl I work with and a true friend of mine came over and we grilled out (4 cosmos) then we went out to LeBuzz in Marietta and watched a drag queen show. Loads of fun and I have no idea how many I ended up drinking, I lost count of the fuzzy navels but I had a lot of fun - today I'm recovering; paying for my drinking to excess. Won't do it again for a good long while but had fun! Drag Queens are a hoot! Man some of them look better than me and I can tell you that I would fall and kill myself on some of the shoes they wore, 5 in hills omg! Loved it though - Jack even went with us as my DD, he's so good to me! I love him more than life itself.

Have Fun, Be Safe, Break a Few Rules :)

Loving Life

I have nothing really new to say other than I love my life. Right now I'm pretty stressed but happy! It's a great feeling. This is the first job I've had since '04 that after 6 months I wasn't thinking about finding something else. Great feeling!!! Gotta go to sleep now since I have nothing of great thought to say but have good night blogland!

Pictures

I forgot how much I love pictures. I take a ton them yes but I don't look at them very often. I just looked at pictures, really looked at them from Oct 06! I glance but I don't take a lot of time until I'm ready to do something. Tonight I decided I wanted to print some of my pics to hang on the wall in my new area, yes I have a wall! It's a cube still but now I have windows and a wall! I know your not impressed. Anyway - I went on the search and realized that I take some very good pictures; if I do say so myself. I know you think I'm cocky - but trust me I take just as many bad ones. I really didn't think I could sale my photography - I've thought about it but just as a dream then my sis-in-law mentioned it the other day and I think I may give it a shot. Especially after I printed the three pictures to go in one of those frames that holds 3 5x7 pictures. I framed them up and then sat back and looked. It is as good as anything I see in the store and it's something I can be proud of. Well, anyway I just wanted to share.

I'm not going to post the pics I'm mentioning here because I may very well decide to sale them later and I haven't figured out how to watermark them for blogger yet. However, here are a few others I printed tonight and put in another frame.

Amanda, my niece - aren't her eyes just perfect?

Jack took this one of me and Mama. I didn't do it I tell ya :)

And here's one of Kaylee, one of my other nieces - Fun Days :)

As soon Jack get's it where I can host www.mylerna.com here I will be moving my blog and hosting tons of watermarked pictures :) I'm excited to begin playing with it and maybe I will try to sale some of them; we shall see.

Good night blogland - More Your Dreams come true :)

Girls Day

I'm off for a girls day - Mani / Pedi / Shopping the works :) Woot - have fun today guys :)

Long Long Time

I would say I'm sorry for not writing in such a long time, but heck its a blog, a online journal - not a daily requirement. So I'll say that I've missed sharing with you instead. I have been reading several of my normal blogs, but not all (Jae I've got to get caught up with you - can you resend me your new blog address so I can change it on my list?) ... for those of you that I've missed I'm sorry and please trust I'll be checking in soon.

My life is uneventful which is a great thing. I work, I come home and I go back to work. I'm not, as I thought, done with school - now I'm taking a 16 week insurance course for my CPCU designation (1 of 8) and you probably can guess - I'm behind. I know shock right! Not really my fault seeing as my office manager didn't order my books like she said she did.... but ah well. Work is nutz. I've been working till 7 and 9 o'clock most nights and I'm still so far behind I can't see but I love my job which is a feeling I'm so happy to have. For those readers who have been with me a while you know I've struggled job wise to find my fit and I think I have... it's great!

San Fransisco was good. I was sick all week, which sucked but we had fun. I'm still going thru pics and I will share them when I do. In the meantime well it was fun - the city itself not my favorite but the area around it, with it's views and the seals omg that was incredible. I saw a baby seal born in the wild! AND I GOT IT ON FILM!

I also started knitting again on my way out there - I need to work on it some more, time is a precious commodity I don't have alot of right now... but I'll get it done eventually.

Well, that enough for tonight - sleep well dear world.

Back

Well we are back from CA and we had a good time. It was certaintly adventerous ... but currenltly I'm sick and want to just go lay down so I'll tell you about it later. Just wanted to let everyone know we got back safely.