I must be feeling better OR I'm just crazy.

Anyway... I've put in almost 22 hours at work so far this week. That's quite abnormal for me. It would be a bit different if I could bring some of the work home with me, but that's not the case. I did pull together the two different slide shows I'm in charge of for the rodeo event coming up in Vegas. Productive days are always welcome, even if they may be long.

I would like to take this space on my blog to give a shout out to Amanda.
HOLLA!
Amanda stepped up to the plate and blindly called several rodeo competitors to get random tidbits of information we need for the program. Trust me, not an easy task to get information out of those guys!

Well, it's time for me to continue on with my evening. I'm so happy to be able to watch the Bradley game online tonight. GO BU!


P.S. The cat in my lap has bad breath.

I've learned recently that...

...it's possible to startle a sleeping cat with a growling stomach.

...with proper placement of a tissue and the correct force of nose blowing, you can fog up your own glasses.

...Granite City is a restaurant that has a very unique chicken wrap on their menu, and it's not located in Granite City! (it's actually East Peoria)

...a Z-pack is quite helpful when dealing with a horrible cold/flu bug.

...Family Video doesn't have me in their shared database, so I'm getting the new member half price discount right now :-) (you can't beat 4 DVD's for a buck!)

...Eggo's multigrain waffles are quite delicious for a quick breakfast.

Busy Weekend

I saw 27 Dresses on Friday and it was a very nice little romantic comedy. Saturday I had lunch with Tom and Laura at Childers before Tom and I went to the Bradley game. I feel like I have spent most of today driving around Peoria looking for PVC pipe. I was finally successful and can't wait for the basement to dry up, so I can start and finish the water corralling project.

I'm not sure if I should name it Lake London or London Pond. With the wind picking up, maybe I should have tried to get a photo with whitecaps on the water.

Frozen Garage Door 1 - Jane 0

In case you haven't heard, my garage door does not like this frigid weather. It got soaked during the rain last week and promptly froze, making it heavier than heck. With this below freezing weather, it's just too heavy for the automatic opener to lift it up off the ground more than half way.

Anyway, here's my story from yesterday:
1. Park the car in the driveway.
2. Unlock and shove my way through the side door.
3. Unlock and raise the garage door.
4. Start the car and pull in.
5. Close and lock the garage door.
6. Go outside and attempt to close the side door.
7. Go back in garage and look at what part of the door is catching.
8. The door is now wedged to the point I can't pull it back open.
9. With no inside handle I attempt to pry it open with a screwdriver.
10. Survey says the screwdriver is going to break first.
11. Kick the door all the way shut and lock the door.
12. Now that I did open and close the garage door, maybe it will actually open by itself.
13. Unable to to get to the ladder, launch myself up from the bumper of the car to relock the manual pull thingy.
14. Jump up again and push it the correct way.
15. Push the button and the chain opens without having caught the door.
16. Push the button to "close" the door.
17. Pull the manual cord again.
18. Launch myself from the bumper to click manual lock into place.
19. Push garage door button.
20. Watch garage door creak open 3 inches and lurch back shut.
21. Pull manual cord again.
22. Lift door manually.
23. Close door.
24. Notice light was left on.
25. Open door.
26. Turn off light
27. Close and lock door.
28. Enter house and attempt to unzip jacket.
29. Feed cats while fingertips warm up.
30. Escape out of jacket.

I can't help but laugh about how it took me a good 20 minutes to get from my car into the house yesterday. I'll definitely be welcoming the warmer weather!

Oh my.

My shoulders are not real happy with me right now. The whiffle ball took it's toll. I guess I should not have been swinging as hard as I did. Unfortunately, we did not win a single game. The first game was quite fun... we went into extra innings with the other team. The second game, we played "Jimbo" and his drinking buddies... not fun.

I did well, I gave up two homeruns... one to Tom and the other to Luke (our CAT recruit). To clarify, you pitched to your own team, so in this case, giving up homers was good. I got on base once in the first game and hit 3 for 4 in the second game. Below is a photo of Tom with the trophy we did not win.

Friday Afternoon

Long weekend = Long week

I really enjoyed that long weekend I had, but goodness gracious did this week ever drag out! I'm so excited Friday is tomorrow! I didn't think it would ever get here.

I have quite a bit to look forward to this weekend. Friday I get to go watch Little Women at Peoria Players with Mom. Saturday is a whiffle ball tournament at the Riverplex, followed by another Iadipaolo birthday party, and then I hope to have dinner with Naomi. Sunday is my day, and if I'm lucky, I'll get to meet Nick for lunch again.

That's the scope from my world right now. Let's hope tomorrow's 8 hour day flies by in about 15 minutes! Wouldn't that be great!

Gotta Love a 3-day weekend!

This a picture of me during my last day of work before the 3-day weekend. I had fun making snowballs on my afternoon break and throwing them at my coworkers' windows. It was great.

We got a snow day on Friday, but I had to go into work in the afternoon to correct some files for the printer. By that time the roads had all been cleared and it was actually nice to have a reason to get out of the house.

Since shoveling my driveway on Friday, I haven't gotten outside to play in the snow. I'm really enjoying keeping warm inside. Last night I helped celebrate Sandra's birthday. We all ate at Jalapenos and went back to the Iadipaolo's for dessert. It was a fun evening with all her friends and family. Today I'll just kick back, relax, and watch the SuperBowl.