Beavers and Buble, must be Canada!

You know when you have to put time off in for work? Well, this weekend I felt like we had to do that for everyone in our lives! We needed at least a whole day to ourselves! Michael and I have made of a list of everything we have to do before Aprilish. I am going to work on things during the week I think. Just doing a few hours of tasks a night will make the weekends a lot more open!

Michael took the day off Friday to be with the munchkin! They had a fantastic day together. Jake had to tell me all about it when they picked me up from work. Jake couldn't stop talking about how he got to drive the car at Home Depot. I swear, we live at Home Depot! I love that place! Jake loves to drive the car carts around. When he was napping Michael stepped into a new world for himself. We have had this huge dent/hole/large crack in our wall since 2007. Michael was moving something and it went through the wall. We will not discuss this incident any further. Well we got it appraised and it was going to cost about $100 to fix, paint and texture the wall. Whatever. Michael being Michael did some research and decided to fix it himself. If it didn't work, we would have the guy come and fix it anyways. Well it worked like a charm! He sanded it down, patched it, and even textured it. It looks amazing!! You can't even tell it's been done! He then got patch work happy and fixed everything! It's fantastic! He's such a hand-man! I love it! I got home from work and was completely surprised. Some may think this is a ridiculous gift, but to me, it's perfect! Thursday while Jake took a nap, I taped the whole entry way. After we ate dinner, I got very excited and started painting! We weren't going to start till Saturday but I was too excited. By nine we had 100% of the walls trimmed and 75% painted with the first coat! Ugh, such a relief! Michael and I had a painting date! We turned up the tunes and had a blast! I love that we can make anything we do fun! He's so my other half it's ridiculous! I love him so.

I love him even more because I went to bed at 10 Friday night and he let me sleep till 10 in the morning Saturday! Yes, I was lame and went to bed at 10 on Friday, but we had a very busy week! We only had dinner at our house once last week! We were lucky to have friends open their doors to us! Anyways. I got up, ate some breakfast and by 3:30 we had the whole entry way painting and I even painted the hallway on the main floor. I did that area all by myself. Start to finish! I felt extremely proud! Plus I did it in 2 hours! Michael made fun of me because when I took off the light switches on both walls, I put the screws and the faceplates in a baggie and labeled them. What?! I like to be organized and know what goes where! We then had a real date night of dinner and a movie. We went to see that Percy Jackson movie. Michael really wanted to see it. His kid side coming out! I'm lucky the movie didn't give me nightmares! The kid that played Percy, reminded me of Zac Efon with a pinch of Harry Potter. I loved it because Owen Hunt was in it. Okay, so his real name is Kevin McKidd but still. Something about that man. He's Scottish, so he has an accent. Reasons why I love Clive and Gerald. We then stayed up to about midnight watching "Couples Retreat". I loved this movie! I will now have to go out and buy it! So fantastic! I then stayed up till 2 watching a movie on TV that we own. How ridiculous is that?! Oh well. 

This afternoon we headed back to Home Depot and got more paint to start the Hallway of Death as I like to call it. I am going to try and get most of it trimmed out this week. Then Saturday we just have to roll away. The rest of the day consisted or grocery shopping, laundry and catching the last few hours of the Olympics. I am sad to see them go, but I do miss my normal TV show being on! This week is the big Office episode! Can't wait! I heart that show! AH! As I am writing this, Michael Buble just came on the Closing Ceremony! So amazing! This totally made my day! I love that man!! Anyways. We did have a Jake incident this weekend. I fell asleep and Michael was doing something, I still don't know what. Somehow Jake broke out of his nap and dumped all the kitty litter out of the 10lb container. He crawled into bed with me and woke me up. I went to give him a hug and the kitty litter fell out all over. It took about an hour to clean up the mess the kid made! Oh well. All in good fun!


Ok, all I can say is there are giant beavers and mean running around with canoes on TV. This has to be Canada....wow. If you could only hear Michaels roaring laughter. Wow, just plain, wow! Beavers, Buble, Lumberjacks, Little Men in Canooes a kid as a hockey puck, inflatable Mounties...wow, just wow.

The day just flies by

Days off seem to always just fly by. No matter if it's the weekend or a random weekday. Today, I had to take the day off. My mom needed the rest of the week to be there for her family. My uncle was finally having a surgery to repair parts of him from his fall. He is doing better and everything went well! My mom needed today and Friday off. Michael took Friday off to get somethings ready in our house so it worked well!

Being home on a random weekday, other than Friday, was...interesting. I kept thinking it was Friday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I actually wake up in the morning! I tried to keep in as routine as possible. We got up our normal time. Bummer. It's amazing when you can actually sleep in on your day off. Not today. Jake and I got up and had omelets for breakfast! I think he ate 4 bites of his and maybe half of his apple. We spent the morning coloring and playing with his toys. He is obsessed with this new TV show on the Disney Channel. Chuggington. He goes spastic every time there is a commercial for it or whenever it starts! He runs around in a circle screaming "CHUGGINGTON, CHUGGINGTON!" It is the only TV he really sits through. I have never really watched it because, well I work during the week! Let me tell you what. The animated characters are extremely attractive. I was just staring at them. It's amazing. Especially this one named "Eddie". I think a lot has to do with the fact his name is Edward. Ok, yes I need help. Anyways. All the "human" characters are very attractive. Computer graphics are just amazing sometimes! (Wow, I need to go back to work!) After that we colored some more and cleaned up his room. Lunch eventually rolled around. This kid will not eat. What is up with that? He had chicken nuggets and a banana. He ate two bites of his banana and 1 chicken nugget. He then informed me he was done. At this point he had eaten as much food as a normal adult would put in one mouthful. Then came the "hurt me now" TV show. Cailou. Oh my word. I do like that Cailou is a sweet little boy and it does teach wonderful things, but come on. His laugh? Wow. It makes me want to hurt myself. Big bonus though, Jake will sit on my lap for the whole show and actually cuddle! This is a rare moment for him. He barely sits still for 2 minutes. 30 minutes?! I'll take it! He then took his nap. I thought I would use this time to start taping for painting and clean the kitchen. I loaded the dishwasher and tapped half the entry way and up the stairs. Then I sat down on the couch to check something and I woke up an hour and half later. Sitting up. Guess I was tired. Zoey was sleeping on my lap and Hawkeye was next to me on the couch, his head resting on my shoulder. I then went into panic mode and started running around. I obviously needed a nap but it didn't help at all with my to-do list! Soon enough Michael came home and we started dinner together. The day just sped by. I still hope I wake up for tomorrows work day! I have so much to do!

One thing I am trying to do is really practice the guitar. It's tough. I have such short fingers. I feel like I am going to pop a finger out of place stretching for certain chords. I need some go-go-gadget fingers! It's tough. I am trying to work through it! I hope I can get the hang of it soon enough! Almost every time I practice, Kinnick has to come up and attack my hand. He is such a spazz!

289% Fiber intake

For the past 5 days, I have had some extremely horrible stomach pains. It wasn't cramping. It felt like someone was stabbing me. It started last Friday morning. The first time it lasted about 4 hours. It was horrible. I woke up in the middle of the night even with these stomach pains. After the first time, they only lasted about 30-40 minutes. I had them everyday, multiple times a day till Tuesday. I finally had to find out what was causing it. After a phone call, and a few laughs later, turns out I was getting way too much fiber. Jana told me how fantastically awesome Kashi cereal was. It is. For something so healthy, it was quite yummy. Well turns out, I was getting way too much fiber from it. It was basically tearing through my stomach lining. I stopped eating the cereal and now, no more stomach aches. I also thought fiber made you "regular". Lets just say, I stopped eating the cereal and my body went through a detoxing! At least it is all over and done with and more stomach aches! Too bad I have to find something else for breakfast!

I feel like no matter how much sleep I get, I'm still exhausted. This weather needs to turn around quick. Today, I thought I could fall asleep at the stop light. We were heading over to our friends house for dinner and I took a nap before we left. I never do that. This week has just been exhausting and I am ready for the weekend! I think we are going to start painting!! We are going to start one thing at a time. I just hope and pray our house sells quickly once we get it on the market. We will have to see and keep our fingers crossed!

Need to wake up!

Weekends. A time for relaxation and serenity! Not if you are a Janzen! I think it comes with marrying into the family. You always seem to have something going on or something always pops up!

Friday. This whole week at work I have been so exhausted. I can barely keep my eyes open at my desk and nothing was perking me up. Coffee, soda, music, certain TV on DVD, nothing. It was horrible. I had no motivation when I got to work and somehow made it through. In the evenings, I could have probably fallen asleep the moment I got home and slept through the night. I didn't though. To make matters worse, I woke up every night this past week for about 5 minutes. Just having that small interruption threw me off. Up until about 3:25pm on Friday afternoon I was exhausted. The drive home from work was an eye opener! What happened to this "dusting of snow". It was probably the worst commute I have had. Nothing was plowed and the it was just awful. I didn't get home till 4:45. We decided to have a at home date night. We waited for our dinner and ran Jake out of energy till about 7:15. He was begging to go to bed! We then had a cooking date. Which I love! We made an amazing dinner, just for 2. I love cooking together. It's something we both enjoy and have a lot of fun doing. After a delicious stir fry, we watched a movie together. It was a perfect evening! He still gives me butterflies.

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for the day. We got our taxes done! Eh oh! One of my favorite parts of winter. We then headed to my parents house. I had a little surprise for them. I had bought Norah Jones tickets a few weeks back and they finally came in. I think my dad was surprised. I had already told my mom. I hope they enjoy a lovely evening out. We chatted for a bit and then we headed home. I had about an hour to make myself "yes, she is my friend" worthy and then met up with the ladies at JC Mall. First of all, it took me about 20 minutes to park. The snow needs to go away. It takes up way too many parking spots. Plus it was the wrestling tournament. Mall was on overload. After a fantastic pedicure which was entertaining in so many ways, we headed to dinner. It was a 40 minute wait at the Cheesecake Factory. Thanks to Beth we were able to get a table top in the bar pretty quickly. That girl can stalk a table better than anyone I know. I did get sung to (thanks Beth) but all is well! It was great to be able to go out just us ladies!! We do not get to do it enough but it was a lot of fun. The rest of the night consisted of starting laundry. Always a fun job on the weekends!!

I have no idea what has come over me today. If I were pregnant and in the nesting stage, I could understand. I am not though. We had to run a few errands this morning. We finalized the flooring we are putting in and we grabbed a ton of paint examples for the hallways, our bathrooms and our bedroom. We still have to figure out what to do with Jake's room but it's going to be very hard to paint over all that work my parents did. After running errands and grocery shopping, we came home for a very late lunch and Jake went down for a nap. I then went into psycho cleaning mode. I cleaned out our "junk" drawer. Then I moved to the coat closet and cleaned out all that and then went through the cupboards. One body bag trash bag later, all organized. I then kept up with the laundry and went through some of Jake's old clothes. I feel so much better! Haha. We haven't really done much the rest of the evening. We try to no do much on Sunday evenings. We made dinner as a family, which Jake loves to do. We colored and read for about 3 hours and then Jake went to bed. Since then Michael and I just have been canoodling on the couch and debated about going to bed early! Bunch of old farts we are! Oh well. I'd pick this evening over and over again!It was suppose to snow, but has yet to spit out a flake anywhere around us. It's always the opposite of what they predict! I'll take it though!!

Hopefully I can perk up this week at work!

Dentist = Suck

Yes, I used the word suck. I'm pulling the 2nd grade card. The dentist has to be on my top 3 list of phobia. I hate the dentist. The sounds, the smells, the fact that I cannot see a thing they are doing. Ugh. The dentist and I do not get along. Especially after today.

I drove in. There were no parking spots! Thanks to the piles of snow every where. After driving around for 10 minutes keeping my fingers crossed a spot finally opened up! Great start! The receptionist, always a dear. Very pleasant and can make anyone laugh. The hygienist called me in. She first started scolding me right away. What?! She got mad because I hadn't been there since October! Isn't it every 6 months?! It's only been 3! Give it a rest. You are lucky I even show up. After today, I never want to go back! He looked at my lovely chipped tooth. I called it. Root Canal. The fireworks went off! I was right. Now I get to schedule that tomorrow. Can't wait for that one! After he looked at the crater in my mouth, the hygienist (life ruiner) started a deep cleaning session. A what?! She said you are suppose to get them every 2-3 years. Today was my lucky day.

First off she did a regular cleaning. Fine. I watched some cooking show on the Food Network. Next came the pain. She got out an electric drill and started chipping away. Ok, maybe not a drill but still. It was basically a scrapper that was motorized. She dug it deep in my gums and in between by teeth. I have never felt pain like this. Contractions were better then this. I felt like I was in a horror movie. Was this going to turn in to Saw XXIV! I thought I would need a blood transfusion after the hack job she preformed. After my bottom teeth were done she headed north. At this point I think I was in so much pain, I didn't even notice nor care. The noise wasn't helping either either! The sound was like nails on a chalkboard. It was horrifying. I finally caught a glimpse of myself in the TV screen. Wow. I had blood drops on my face and on my lovely little bib they hang around your neck. Again, Saw XXIV! A few times she wasn't even paying attention. She caught my gum because she was watching "Take Home Chef" and she seemed to be really interested in what he was making. Hello! Patient here! Pay attention! She was getting ready to move to the last section and was like "Oh my goodness, I forgot to numb you!" YOU THINK?!?!?! No, I have just been squirming, probably whimpering and flailing around for fun. Seriously?! NUMB ME! At that point she just kept going. After my hack job she said "See you next time!" If there is a next time! She then wrote me up an lovely little card to give to my endotontist on how to deal with my root canal. Another visit, another reason not to like them! I didn't even see the actual dentist more then 2 minutes.

I repeat, I dislike the dentist! A lot!

Rest of the weekend (sorry this is so long)

We didn't go to bed early by any means on Friday. One, it was my birthday. Two, we were child free. My parents were wonderful and took Jake overnight. It sounded like he had a lot of fun. After we got home from dinner and being out and about, I put together a little surprise for my bestie. She was participating in the Red Flannel Run. I have to give her kudos because it's winter (cold) and because she can run! Haha. I put together a little blow pop bouquet for her first. It was a challenge at the beginning. Just trying to figure out how to wrap ribbon around the foam cone. The ribbon we picked out was a little thick and wasn't very easy to maneuver. Michael once again pulled out the electrical tape. (EH OH!) Worked like a charm! Here is what the finished product looked like:

 

I also thought she needed a medal. Even though this wasn't an actual race, she needed one. I couldn't find one I liked. Once again, why not just make a ghetto fab embarrassing one! I made it in Packer and ISU colors. That kind of made my heart break. Haha. (EH OH!) I only have one photo and it's with the bouquet also:

We got up bright and early! It wasn't all that cold. Yes, it was still only 26 degrees but that is a heat wave! My mom would probably get angry with me but I didn't wear a coat. I had gloves and about 4 layers on! We met up at the Trimbles house and headed downtown together. I believe Jana and I sang "We are the Champions" while trying to find a parking spot. (EH OH!) Jana got ready:

 

We headed down to the start. Let me tell you what. It may have been in the upper 20's but some of these costumes....W O W. Many people had little clothing on, were in shorts, a few bare feet, shirtless, body paint and the costumes, they were spectacular! (EH OH!) I have a few photos of some that we caught while running. After the race started we headed to on our own 5K. Not really but here are a few sights we saw before watching Jana finish!

We refueled!

Nationwide (EH OH!)

 

 It looks like it's falling on Jeffery

Here are some photos of people running or some of the costumes we saw. There were so many! It was fantastic!

Before the race...

 

It didn't stay so well once he was running...haha

These boys needed a little more fabric in their "man" area. Kudos for the body paint in the freezing cold.

 

Hawkeye Pride!

Capt America!

  

This is not a sweater!

  

There were also some very encouraging and uplifting moments of the race. Watching parents run with their kids. Just watching some 10 year olds run the race and finish.

One thing the brought a tear to my eye was seeing an elderly man running while pushing a friend in a wheelchair. It still gets to me.

There was also the Flintstones mobile!

I loved the expression on peoples face as they finished the race. Some were exhaustion but most of the was accomplishment, excitement and "I actually did it" expressions!

They ran in the full military gear

This guy had a fantastic costume and he ran in moccasin boots!

Finished!

I was most excited to see my Jana!! She finished the race and did it at a great time!! I am so very proud of her! Here are some shots of her finish!!

Woot Woot!! (EH OH!)

I love running face!

 With her medal!

  

Cheese face

Again, I am super proud of her and I can't wait till the next one!!!!

After the morning, we headed over to my parents house to get our little Jake! We went out and I got a guitar hard case for my new beauty and then we went out to lunch! After a short lesson from my dad, we headed home. Jake got his normal 12:30 nap at 3 and Michael took a quick snooze on the couch. We then headed over to a friends house for dinner! I love these folks! They are fantastic friends! After a delicious dinner we watched a Red Box. It as one of those movies that left you "that is it?!" It needed about 5-10 more minutes. Maybe show a few days later or even 1 year later. Oh well. It was still nice spending time with good friends. Jake was very good for being up so late. He even brought Norah and Mary roses. It was precious. Almost as adorable as listening to him talk to Norah when she was crying after she was put to bed. It was so sweet! Our trip home was an adventure. It had once again, started snowing. I have decided how to tell when it's going to snow. Every time the roads get perfectly clear on Meredith and our street, it snows the very next day. For the 6th time, it did. Oh the joys of Iowa winters!

Today is Valentines Day! In a way, I don't really like celebrating it because I love my family and friends the same about today and any other day. I don't think one day needs to be were I define my love for someone. We always agree never to buy each other gifts. I just got Michael a very heartfelt card and made him some coupons for massages and all that fun stuff. Michael, well he for once in his life, threw out the rule. He got me the most adorable card I think he has ever gotten me. I got teary eyed just reading it. It was beautiful. He handed my some amazing chocolates. Actually they were ice cream. It was a Cold Stone sampler, bite sized ice cream covered in chocolate samples. It was adorable. I said "Thank You" and then he told me to open them up and try one. It was 8am! I guess it's never too early for ice cream. I opened the box and there was a new camera!!!! What?! Are you kidding me? We have our larger camera for certain events but I love having a small one for parks, keep in the car, concerts, all that. Our old one finally got put to sleep after an incident involving the cat. It was 3 years old anyways. I am so excited to have it and use it!!! I felt so special that he remembered how badly I wanted on. I felt bad because I didn't get him anything. 

The rest of the day consisted of us just spending time as a family. We played with Jake and his trains and cars for about 2 hours! He loves them! When he went down for a nap, Michael and cuddled and watched Love Actually! I love that Michael will sit there, arm around me, watching a movie. Even if it's not his favorite. For dinner Michael made us some heart shaped blueberry pancakes! They were amazing. After we put our mini valentine to bed, Michael and I had a lovely evening. He presented me with another gift. This may not sound that exciting to the rest of you, but I know how much time and love went into this. He gave me a double CD set. He said since I loved music so much, he went through a ton of songs and picked out ones that expressed as many as his feelings as they could. This means so much to me. I know he had to of spent hours listening to songs to pick out the right ones. I will share the list. Some are corny but I fell even more in love with the man. It's a long list since it was 2 CDs.

1) On Bended Knee by Boyz II Men

2) That's How Strong My Love is by Alicia Keys

3) I Do - 98 Degrees

4) I Wanna Grow Old With You by Westlife

5) A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton

6) Hold My Heart by Tenth Ave North

7) You're Still The One by Shania Twain

8) 1234 Plain White T's

9) Bless The Broken Road by Rascal Flatts

10) When God Made You by Natalie Grant

11) God Must Have Spent A Little More Time on Your by NSYNC

12) Come What May Moulin Rouge

13) Hold On by Michael Buble

14) Amazing by Lonestar

15) You and Me by Lifehouse

16) The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face by Leona Lewis

17) You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban

18) Beautiful Disaster by Jon McLaughlin

19) For Your Love by Jessica Simpson

20) We Can by LeAnn Rimes

21) I'm Yours by Jason Mraz

22) Everytime I Look At You by Il Divo

23) The Reason by Hoobastank

24) 100 Years by Five for Fighting

25) Devoted to You by Everly Brothers

26) You & Me by Dave Matthews Band

27) When You Love Someone by Bryan Adams

28) Always by Bon Jovi

29) The Luckiest by Ben Folds

30) More Than A Love Song by Augustana

31) I Swear by All 4 One

32) I Don't Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith

33) Sarah by Jefferson Starship

I said this list was long. But very sweet. I made this as a playlist on my iPod as a reminder that I am very lucky!

That pretty much wraps up the weekend! It was busy and I loved it!

***If you are wondering about all the EH OH's! It's our new expression we are over using! I'm going to get Jeffery to use is!!! Haha

Birfday!

Today marks my 27th Birthday! In the words of Andy Bernard "Eh Oh!" What's in a number? I have never been one to take the number of years as a factor. I am extremely happy! A number is just a number. I still can't get over how fast a year goes. I don't even remember being 26, hence why I thought I was this year. Oh well. Old age I guess! (Eh oh!) I am very thankful for where I am at and for the people in the my life. God has truly blessed me with an amazing, supportive, beautiful and loving family. Friends, I can't even express my gratitude and love for them!

I woke up bright and early. 4:15am to be exact to a lovely phone call! After a lovely song, at the top of his lungs, I was wide awake! I got ready for work and headed downstairs to finish up. What is that? A guitar? No way! (EH OH!) I turned the corner and there stood a brand new guitar in a stand with my name on it! At first, I didn't know how to react. Them a think squealing and a few "Seriously's" popped out. A long time ago, I had told Michael I wanted a guitar. Once we had Jake and just life happened, I sort of put it on the back burner. We had talked about it a few months ago but not very much. Well, the hubby got me! I was totally shocked! I am so excited!! Now, I just have to pin my dad down to teach me!! Work was good. I only had to work till 12:15! (Eh Oh!) I received some beautiful flowers from my hubby that had a very heartfelt card with them and another from a friend! Some might not understand this but my dad picked out a flower for me. He picked a pink orchid. He said because it was beautifully unique and a little crazy, like me. It still brings a tear to my eye knowing he said that. We had an evening planned with good friends, good food and a good time. Unfortunately that didn't happen. We had over half cancel and we just decided to postpone the whole thing. Most of the food is salvageable. The candy bags will still be there next week! =) We ended up having a good night anyways!! (EH OH!) Spent the night with some of our favorite people. You know those two people you can just always be yourself around and always have a great time with no matter what and they love you no matter what you talk about, what you do, what you say, or what come back you have? Well we have two of them for sure. They are amazing and I couldn't imagine my life without them!! (EH OH!)

Thank you to everyone for the birthdays wishes, texts, calls, and cards. I am extremely blessed to have all of you in my life and I thank God for you everyday!! I am truly blessed!! Thank you all! Much love to you all!!!!

Here are some photos of my surprises!!! They are all cell phone pics! Haha

How my guitar was set up in the morning!

Yay for Snuggie Parties!!!

My flowers and candy from my hubby, my daddy and friends!

Legal

Odd post. I don't care though.

Today some of us ladies (and gentelmen) can now dream about this "man" without consequence! I may not like Jacob Black, but I can stare at him when he looks like this! So Happy 18th Birthday Taylor. You make Jacob Black so much enjoyable and desirable for me! That is something I never thought I would say.

I forgot!

I am done with that wonderful Rater Curiosity class! They rushed through everything so we could be done today. I am thankful for that. I survived. Now back to work where there seems to be an overflow! =)

I want your love......love, love, love

My Valentines cards and treats are done for work tomorrow. All the bags for Fridays shindig are filled to the top too! That was a fun hour tonight! That is all for today! 

This should surprise no one

Josie's even though she isn't here! Rater Love.

 

All the candy for work and the Par-tay

 

Side note: I couldn't find any that were just Edward. Made me a little sad to buy some with Jacob Black on them. What a waste!

Raise the Roof for the Raters!!!!!

**Disclaimer**

If you are not in the "Rater" joke. I am sorry. I apologize if you have no idea what I am talking about.

This week I get to partake in a lovely class. It's three and a half days of complete and utter boredom. The minutes seem to be going backwards and I want my iPod. I can feel it calling my name in my purse. I want to put my purse on the other side of the room so the feeling of neglect will disappear. We spent an hour and 15 minutes on a website. A website. One that we use everyday, and that I have used for the past 3 years. I think I know it inside and out. Our trainers have us do all these exercises and then are shocked when a few of us know what we are doing. No offense to anyone, but coming from DMRO, we were given leeway to think for ourselves! Also, no offense to our field underwriters but they send quite a few applications over blank. So us "raters" get the opportunity to think outside the box. Being the professional "rater" I am, I take pride in being able to practically underwrite a policy from start to finish without blinking an eyelash! I can't speak for all of us "raters" but I feel that I know everything they are going over. I looked on to see what the next 2 and a half days have in store and snooze fest. We also don't have a very vocal bunch! For a while "rater" Billy Joel and myself were answering all the questions in a monotone voice. I need a caffeine drip! I kept emailing people on my cell. I had to. I wouldn't have survived otherwise. My day brightened when I saw that green blinking light on my phone. I woke up at one point when Billy sneezed. Another when AJ (CJ, BJ, ZJ, etc) moved suddenly, and when I almost poked my eye out on my pen because I had slowly fallen into day dream land. Watching paint dry would have been far more entertaining. Having a professor speak in Latin for a 4 hour lecture would have been more beneficial. I know I should complain, but honestly. I would so be better off just working. Being the outstanding "rater" that I am! During the most exciting training experience in my life, the weather was surely keeping everyone on their toes.

I really need to pay attention to the news. I never do. It snowed all day. It seems to be an occurrence on Mondays. Not fun. Mondays = Snow and Tiredness. In all honestly, the roads were not as bad as I thought they would be. I went about 50mph on the interstate and the average mph on the side streets. Only bad part for me is Meredith. Ugh. That road. It's my downfall in the snow. It was a complete white out. Luckily I am only on it for 2 miles. I am going officially say that I am tired of the snow. I don't usually mind it, but I am so over it. I just wish people would learn to turn on their lights. Especially if they are driving white cars! Seriously, I want to be able to see you when you cut me off!  Oh the days of the sun and flowers. I am ready for Spring. Bring it on!! Of course it is going to snow some more tonight. Think positive Sarah! 

I have written this on every page of our binder so far. I had to take a photo and send it to my fellow "raters". I'll have to remember to send it to B tomorrow morning! =)

Weekend Round Up

Here is a brief rundown of our weekend. Nothing too exciting. Just the life of being a Janzen! =)

Friday. We needed Friday. Michael was home for the first time in 2 weeks. He was so tired so we didn't go out. We had planned a date night but all he wanted to do was make pizza and watch Smallville. I am totally game for that. We cuddled on the couch and had a date night in!

The alarm went off nice and early for another Saturday. Once again, Michael left before the sun came up. He thought it would only take about 4 hours to get the house done. Not! The ground was frozen solid and he didn't get home till like almost 6! Jake and I spent the day reading, playing games, doing laundry, coloring and cleaning up the house. We were suppose to go to HOB to listen to our friends band, but Michael was exhausted. He needed a night to just veg and not even thing about anything that is going on!

Sunday (today) was our insane day. We went to run errands and ended up having car troubles, all to be fixed by a new tank of gas. We were running extremely late and finally got home just in time to babysit. While baking and cooking, we were entertained by 4 kids! We had some detours and eventually made it to the Trimbles house! Sorry to say this, but the Superbowl and commercials were extremely lame. I made it an adventure searching for Kardashians! Kept me on the edge of my seat! After great company and amazing food we made it home to crash.

We are suppose to get snow...how much? I have no clue! Once again, another Monday with snow!

Ready for the weekend!

Well my plan for going to bed early didn't work out like I thought it would. I probably got to bed around 9ish but woke up at 10:30, 1:45, 2:30, and 4:15. What in the world? I fell asleep right away but still. Waking up that many times just makes me feel even more exhausted. I laid in bed till the last possible minute. Oh the days of sleeping in. How I miss thee!

Today we went to lunch for my birthday. It's still a week away but a few people are going to be out next week. Josie is going to visit one of her daughters in AZ and well, tomorrow Sam will have a new baby!!! We went to Drake Diner and it was fabulous! Once again, I did not have room for a malt. We decided we need to go some day just for dessert. I was very thankful for the group around me. We are one big family and I am blessed to have them all in my life! They gave me a very thoughtful gift and I can't wait to use it. There are so many options!! One of the top highlights was watching Mike climb out of the Denali, twice. That was fantastic and I wish I would have had my video camera ready! That made my week! Thank you all for making everyday so great!

I got a little surprise for my parents today. I had to finagle my way and I think it worked. It's not the best it could be, but I tried. I really did. It's the thought and the experience right? I came to a road block right away but after a few phone calls, I got two! Happy late Valentines Day to them! =)

Superbowl weekend is a coming! Last weekend of football till next season. I can hear my heart breaking away. Tennis is going to have to get me through! Michael is rooting for the Colts because that is his #2 team. I, well, I just watched the game and the commercials. I don't really care who wins but if Michael is rooting for the Colts, I hope they win. Then I don't have to hear about it till next season! Haha. 

For the first time in about a week and a half, Michael is home! He has been working on Chad's house forever it seems. After Saturday, it should be done!! He has been working late into the night and Jake hasn't seen him all week. We get up and leave before Michael even gets up! Jake was a little excited to see him tonight. He was a little hyper!

Tomorrow is Friday! This has been a very long week. Why? I have no idea. I think maybe because we were running low on work. The underwriters should be home now, so lets hope we have a full load of work next week! This week has just dragged on and on. The work days felt like days instead of hours. Maybe because this was a full week! With the weather and holidays, I feel like I haven't worked a full week in months!

Speaking of weather, we are about to get another dumping of snow!! They said about 3 inches over 12 hours. That isn't too bad. I would like to go one week with nothing! I can only dream! I am just so excited and ready for the weekend!! =)

All I have to say is...

Is that it's 8:24pm and I am going to bed. Been up since 4am. Good night!

The fire is shooting at us!

First off, I would like to say I locked myself out of my own blog due to using this:

DMRO

********

Now if you work with me, you will realize that this is the log-in for the D&B website. Someone hurt me.

Second, I think we are the only people on the block, in suburbia, in the state, not watching Lost. We have never watched it nor have we had the desire to. Get over it people.

I have a slight addiction. It's called "The Office" and I do need help. I can't stop myself. If I see it's on, I have to keep it on that channel. Whether I am watching it or not. I can nearly recite the episodes word for word. I just can't get enough of it! It's pretty sad that my son stops whatever he is doing and dance and hums to the theme song. He has since he was about 1. I just can't help myself!! Someone needs to break my habit. It's unhealthy.

You know when you don't know the face that goes with the name and you make a picture in your mind? Well I had about 10 of those in my mind. Today, the answers were revealed and I was WAY off. Our field underwriters made a trip to Iowa for some good meetings and training. Sounds like they are having a fantastic time (sarcasm). I finally got to put names with faces. It was quite funny in my mind. Somehow the "raters" managed to sit in the center of the room. Then awkwardly we all just looked at one another while some management gave out some info. Eventually someone (on the underwriting side of course) wanted all the Techs to identify themselves. Kristin came to the rescue and introduced us. The tables were turned and the underwriters ended up standing and announcing themselves. Some of the speeches deserved rewards. Andrews for telling quality it's always him, not us. Too bad quality wasn't there. Joe Schmo that said "I have worked with a lot of raters in the past, and these raters are good". Raters? Honestly? Also, most underwriters thanked us for putting up with them and apologized for anything they had ever done wrong. Once all that funness (totally just made up a word) was over, we finally just got to chat it up. It was good to finally meet the people we work with 5 days a week. I think everyone enjoyed it. We had a few good laughs. Only problem I had was I had to drive home in rush hour. I never work that late!! It was worth it though.

Speaking of working late, Michael is still at it. Hopefully Saturday morning will be the last day! Don't get me wrong, the extra $$ is not bad at all, but I miss my hubby at night! He doesn't get home till about 8:30 or later each night. Jake always wants Michael to come in and give him a kiss before bed. He loves his daddy. This week it hasn't happened and he gets upset. I just explain to him that daddy will wake him up. Ready for this job to be over!

Tomorrow is Wednesday! That means the week is half over! It's been a long week already. I haven't quite put my finger on why. Maybe because the underwriters are not there to IM or just call. I even blasted through the 2nd season of Arrested Development. I might have to break out Glee or The Offi...nope! Not even going to say it. I will stick with Glee or just my musica! I think I won't listen to 4000+ songs in one day but I hope it will speed my day up!

Here's to the rest of the week!