Saturday

Walter & I went to the Ford dealership today to test drive a car similar to the ones I want to consider, just different colors, and ended up buying a used '08 Torch Red (instead of Candy Apple Red) convertible that was on the lot! We were not intending to buy anything today, but this car was just what I wanted, plus $5,000 cheaper, still has 2 years left on it's original warranty, and had 12,000 miles on it. It is SO cute!! They had "wild thing" colored on the windshield and I saw it right when we drove up and I told Walter, "that car is calling me!!" They gave us exactly what we owed on the Honda and that sealed the deal! My note is LESS than the one for the Honda and i'd been trying hard just to get the note CLOSE to what the Honda was, plus I am pretty sure my insurance will go down (that seems backwards since the Mustang is a sports car - but it's true - the Honda is a theft risk). So anyway, meet my new baby!!!!


The dealership is going to detail the car whenever I feel like bringing it back, because they didn't get to it today. It really looks fine, but i'll bring it one day and they can do what they want to. Yay!!

I'm getting ready to go to dinner in Baton Rouge with 5 or 6 of my friends from high school that I haven't seen in probably 20 - 25 YEARS!! One of my friends, Holli, lives about 10 miles from me and we're going to ride together. I think the last time I saw her was when I was 16! I am 42!! I'm really excited!! We shouldn't be too late, so maybe i'll post some pictures when I get home.

I got a gift certificate to Land's End from my sister, Donna, for my birthday (which is Wednesday), so i'm excited about that too! I love to buy things!!! My mom is taking us to lunch next Sunday and I think she's getting me a cool crock pot that I told her I want!

Well, i'm off to see my friends! Have a great weekend!

Yay it's Friday!!

I really like starting back to work in the middle of the week, because now, after just a couple of days...it's FRIDAY!!! Yay!! Cameron did even better than that, because he started back to school today, and it's the weekend already!! The orientation at his school last night was good. Some of the teachers are using an online grading system where you can look up grades, assignments, etc. and i'm all about that! That will really help me to follow his progress and see how he is doing. Walter & I took Cameron & Bryce to Walmart after the orientation to get their school supplies. The school gives out the supply lists at orientation so that the parents can go fight the back to school shoppers the night before school starts!! I brought the boys to school this morning & they rode the bus home. The bus driver doesn't like having to come down our street, but the neighbor they were riding home with is a senior this year and leaves school early, so the poor bus driver will have to do her JOB and bring them home. I already had to have a bus turnaround created for her to even come down our street, and then I have to MAINTAIN it since it gets ruts in it from all the other busses using it!! Fortunately, some of my neighbors have tractors and they will go smooth the gravel out when they see it getting too bad. I'm not sure how "bus stop repairs" became my responsibility, but at least we have a bus. When we moved here, I was told by neighbors that it would never happen. Hehehe...they never met ME!!

At work, our kids started back to school today too and from what I saw, things seemed to go to go pretty smoothly. We also met with our supervisor again and they made some more changes to our school assignments, so I got one of my schools back from last year, and it was the one I begged to keep, so i'm happy.

We aren't doing much tonight. Walter is on a new schedule where he has every other Friday off, so he was off today. When I got home, he went fishing on the dock while I read my book on the swing and it was very relaxing. We are just hanging out at home with Cameron tonight and should hopefully have a quiet night! I hope you do too!

Thursday

The lady at the Ford dealer has found a Candy Apple Red convertible Mustang in the price range I want, so I'm going to go test drive a different color one on Saturday and if I want it, she will go get the red one for me. I've already researched their inventory and had found the car myself in Waveland, Mississippi, but if there is no charge for them to bring it here, they can go get it instead of us having to drive there. But, the interior of the car is beige/tan and I don't think i'm going to like it, so I may look into the white one. Kim mentioned that she's started to like the white cars, and I do like some of them too, so I am going to consider it. I just hope they'll give me what I want for my trade-in! We shall see!!

Work went by fast today! I had to meet with the Office of Mental Health (OMH) people along with my supervisor and some co-workers at one of my new schools on the "west side" today. For privacy reasons, I don't want to give out the city or the name of my schools, so i'll refer to this school as "Elementary School 1" or ES1. I actually will have 2 elementary schools and 1 middle school this year, so this is 1. The meeting was to find the OMH social worker a private office at the school (something I don't even have), so that wasn't too exciting for me, but yes, of course they found one!!!! My co-worker who was at this school last year showed me where she meets with kids and it will work out fine, but i'd sure like to have my own office!!! Anyway, the school was WONDERFUL!! I don't know if i've ever been so impressed by staff at a school before. The principal hugged me several times and welcomed me "to her family." It is apparent how much the staff cares about the kids here. I am looking forward to working there and getting to know the staff and kids. Afterwards, we went to the high school in the area, which another co-worker is going to be working at, and got to see the OMH worker's office there! It's amazing how there really IS office space available, if you just make that a requirement!! So, then we went to lunch and then I picked up one of our new counselors to meet with OMH at her high school that I had last year, and yes, saw the OMH's beautiful office there!! Do I sound bitter? Just a little! I was working in a hot, stuffy closet there. Well, anyway, just a lot of meeting and touring and all that sort of stuff. I went over some forms & things with our new counselors and all in all it was a good day and it went by fast. And I love working with Courtney! My supervisor made me Courtney's "buddy," so I get to bring her everywhere I go for awhile. One thing though...those trainings I went to last week? Remember? One thing we did there was discussed the case of a boy who nobody can figure out what to do with. The experts asked us for 2 difficult cases for him to work on with us, and the boy was one of them. He is only allowed at school for 1/2 days and is still out of control during the time he is there. Well, now that i'm on the "west side," he's mine! And he's starting out the year only coming for lunch!! I am supposed to meet him (during lunch with the behavior team) tomorrow, so i'm really looking forward to that - seriously. I've heard about him for a year now, and to suddenly have him on my caseload is fascinating. It should be interesting, not to mention challenging!!!

Walter & I are taking Cameron & Bryce to their orienation at school tonight. They have already got their schedules and I'm pretty sure they are all 3 (them + Bradley) in all of the same classes. Last year they were in none of the same classes. I am wondering how long until the phone calls from the school start. Yikes. And because Cameron's grades were just average last year and he didn't do anything to improve them, there are some big changes coming. He wont be allowed on the computer until 8pm Monday - Thursday (here OR at his dad's - we agreed), and will have a set homework time daily (already did that here but his dad agreed to do it too), and hopefully he will get more done for school AND get outside and have some fun off of the computer. He knows this is coming, but I haven't reminded him about it in awhile. He wont be amused.

Dinner at Hilltop was SOOO good last night!!! It wasn't steak night, but I just made it my own special steak night and ordered it anyway! They have an all you can eat catfish special on Wednesdays and that is pretty good too, but I couldn't resist my steak!

Saturday night is my dinner with some friends from high school. I haven't seen some of them in 25 years, so i'm really looking forward to that!!

Back to work!

While I wasn't happy about having to get up SO early, getting back to work today was good. We got back to find that our office (which is actually a VERY old t-building) had gotten a good makeover during the summer, but EVERYTHING that was moved to replace our floors was still sitting on top of desks, so we spent the morning putting things back where they go and figuring out what was missing and where to find it!! We all went to lunch at Chili's (eating out is my favorite hobby), so that was fun, and Courtney & our other new co-worker, Tammie, seemed to fit right in and everything was good. Our school superintendent & central office employees came out to talk to all the schools, and we had our meeting with our supervisors. I also found out that we got another raise! Gotta love that! That is the 4th pay increase in the year i've been working there! Apparently our wonderful Governor, Bobby Jindal, was able to get the $1,000 per year pay increase for teachers approved. I can't complain there!!

So, anyway, we got our school assigments and I was assigned to 3 of our 4 schools that are in our most troubled area and I feel that it is a huge compliment that I was the one chosen to work with these schools and i'm really looking forward to it. I am also being considered to go to some trainings with our behavior team and to then be able to work with other schools to make some changes. I will get to go to one of the schools tomorrow and meet with the Office of Mental Health employees who are putting a school social worker in 2 of my schools.

Walter & I have been discussing the car situation and it's pretty clear that nobody is chomping at the bit to buy my car, so we are planning to trade it in. As long as I get what I owe on it, i'm ok with that, but I really wanted to sell it and have a down payment on a new car, but whatever works! I am just wasting money on the Honda now because I do not plan to keep it, so it's better to just trade it in and move on. We applied through our bank for a "Blank Check Loan" and we were approved, so the check will arrive here within a few days. We can take the check to a dealer and buy what we want. The interest rate is 5.09, so that is going to be good. I have my eye on 3 convertible Mustangs. The one I really want is Candy Apple red like my old one, then there is a bright red one, and a white one. Any of them would be fine, but I really loved my Candy Apple red one! The white one is the least expensive, so I emailed the dealer to see about getting a red one with the same features, so we'll see what happens.

Steak night is coming early this week because Cathy has a meeting tomorrow night and Cameron has orientation at his school, so we are going to Hilltop tonight. I ate a VERY bad lunch today, so I will most likely have a VERY bad dinner too, but I've been doing really well and have only gained back 2 pounds of my 10 and am doing pretty good at maintaining my weight so far. I am looking pretty good, if I may say so myself, and was even told how skinny I look today. That's all I want - to not be hanging over the sides of my pants, so it's all good.

Tuesday

Ok, first a special request from Molly during my trip to Atlanta - have lunch at a Waffle House, order the Cheesy Steak Sandwich, and take a picture so that she can drool a little bit!

Now, i'll be honest. That really isn't me, I didn't really go to a Waffle House on the trip, and that probably isn't a cheesy steak sandwich. We have Waffle House's all over Louisiana, so I really didn't have any desire to stop by one on the trip, but I wanted to accomodate my wonderful readers, and well, I hope this makes Molly happy! And drooly!!

We had a fun night with Landen and since I have to go back to work tomorrow, I will have to take him home sometime this afternoon. He has had fun swimming, fishing, and playing with all of his favorite toys.

He really cracked me up when he asked me if I would take him to a gymnastics place one day. I said I would, but that he'll have to find out where it is for me. He said, "oh, I will just show you!! This truck is you, this toy is Gram's house, and this yellow sign is the gymnastics place, so you just drive over to it like this!" Ohhhh, well ok then! That shouldn't be hard to find!

So, yeah, back to work tomorrow! I have thoroughly enjoyed having the summer off, and while i'll miss being at home, being lazy, and visiting with friends & family, I am ready to get back to work with my kids. I will be able to talk about the changes in my school assignment tomorrow after our meeting, and i'm really excited! And i'm super extra excited that my friend, Courtney, will be starting work with me tomorrow! Yay! I'm sure my blogging time will be somewhat affected by me having to work, but I do have access to blogger on my work server, so maybe i'll fit it in during my lunch break or something!

Questions & Comments:

Michelle asked if we'd be taking a girls road trip in my new Mustang (assuming I ever get one) and I have to say, hmmm, I don't know!!! If my memory serves me correctly, there is room for 2 people to fit comfortably in the front seat of the car, and then 2 people can cram themselves rather awkwardly in the back, so yeah, y'all can come on a girls road trip, but work those details out amongst yourselves! LOL...I'm driving!

Monday

Landen has been wanting to spend the night with us one last time before school starts back, so I went and picked him up this afternoon. He is starting 1st grade this week and is feeling very grown up! I also got to visit with Mack, so that was fun. He's just too energetic for me to bring home over night, and they live too far away to just pick him up for a few hours and bring him home. Here are a couple of pictures I took of Mack (15 months old) & Elizabeth.

I am back on my low-carb diet today and picked up some good lunch ideas for when I start back to work this week. I am not doing the first phase of the Atkins diet, but am just trying to keep the carbs low. I found some South Beach wraps that will be great for lunch and don't have to be heated up, so that is very convenient for me. I like to eat in my office and don't want to fight the microwave lines, so this is a good option. I ate one today for lunch and it was pretty good.

Bryce spent the night with Cameron last night and they were glad to get to spend some time together. Bryce had lived with us some during the year last year while his mother was having trouble stablizing herself after a bad break-up, and even after she got things together, he still came here every day after school, even on the weeks that Cameron is with his dad, so I am really used to having him around. I made sure with Cameron's punishments not to make it where Bryce couldn't spend the night here. Cameron isn't going to spend the night anywhere for awhile, but I would never tell Bryce he can't come here. He just needs us sometimes, so anyway, it was nice to have him here. He has worked all summer at a local water park and i'm really hoping Cameron will want to work there next summer.

I always get a kick out of Landen. He told me today that he knows how many planets there are, so I asked him how many? He said 9. I said that was great and asked if he could name any of them. He said no, so I named them for him. He said, does Mr. Wizard (our name for Walter) work on one of them? I said, "no, people don't live on any planets that we know of other than Earth." He said, "oh, is that why they are building so many?" He's a funny boy. He's a true southern boy and he proved that when his Kindergarten teacher asked who could name all of the seasons. He raised his hand and said, "dove, turkey, rabbit, and deer." The teacher thought it was the funniest thing she'd heard! He had no idea about fall, summer, spring, or winter! Here is a picture of him in the pool this afternoon. He was determined that those huge goggles would fit him, but they weren't too good at keeping the water out of his eyes!
So, that's all we're up to tonight - entertaining Landen. Walter is supposed to be picking up some bait so they can fish. We really enjoy having Landen around, so it will be a fun night. I am planning to grill some steaks with some sauteed mushrooms! Yum!!

Sunday night

Cameron & I got home from our weekend trip to Georgia this evening, and all in all, it was a good trip. We got to spend a lot of time with my brother and his family as well as my 2nd cousin & her husband (both are turning 80 this year!) We rode with my mom & step-dad and the trip there & back was pretty uneventful. I was surprised to see what the fuss is all about that Lake Lanier is very LOW. My cousin lives on the lake and has had a BEACH rather than lakefront property for the last couple of years!!!

My cousin's house is behind the trees and all of this beach property is usually Lake Lanier!!!

Most of the owners have "rolling docks" that they push further & further out as the lake dries up! And Atlanta's water supply comes from this lake! Yikes!

I grew up with frequent visits from my cousin & her husband and haven't seen them in several years. I have never been to their house and was really in awe of how beautiful it is. We spent 2 nights there and drove an hour to visit my brother in Atlanta each day. She & Cameron hit it off great and spent most of the weekend playing games and being silly!

Daphne's 1st birthday was a lot of fun! We got to spend a lot of time with her before the party, and that was nice. The big stuffed Elmo that I gave her was definitely her favorite toy! She pulled it to her and gave Elmo a hug when she saw him! It was cute!





Before the cake....
After the cake!!

Walter went crazy working in the yard while I was gone! It was too late to take pictures of his projects this evening (we had to spend some time swinging instead!!), but i'll take some tomorrow. He met us at the Picadilly about 30 minutes from our house and we had dinner with my parents and he brought us home.

And the guy who looked at my car called to say that he found another car and was going to buy it, so i'll have to wait and hope that someone else calls. I really don't have a backup plan if someone buys my car, so that shows me that I need to probably actually go find the car dealer and deal that I want before I go getting rid of my car! But that was an exciting thought for a few days!!!

I go back to work on Wednesday and i'm really ready and excited, although it's hard to give up these lazy summer days!!