Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Happy January

In my boredom, I decided to read through a little of my blog, and saw the past few posts, haven’t really been informative. Things have gotten pretty busy and stressful. Since I’m bored, what a better time to blog haha.



My boredom comes from being back to my normal job. Kristen came back to work, so I had to go back to being the receptionist. I have to admit, I was a little happy about it, because her job stressed me out. I got stressed every time I had to do the Komatsu America check run, every time I had to stay late, etc. But what I soon realized was that I was not quite ready to go back to my job. Don’t get me wrong, I like my job, most of the time. I get paid a decent amount to do a fairly easy job, which I’ve become pretty good at. The thing I didn’t think about…..was the boredom. I am usually occupied in the morning hours, because I have to open the mail, receive deliveries, change the boards, etc. The afternoon however, I almost always have nothing to do. Dee-Ann was so sweet and brought in a book for me to read, but I haven’t ready in a long time, so I don’t know how easy it will be for me. I’ve started the book, and so far it’s a good book, but I find myself searching for other things to do instead of reading it. I got a new computer shortly before I left to cover for Kristen, which has a DVD player, so I guess if things get too bad, I can start watching movies while I’m at work. I know, the fact that I can watch movies at work, probably is making ya’ll wonder what I’m complaining about. If only that was the extent of my problem.



A couple months ago, the director of Killian’s daycare/preschool, Jill, stopped Jase when he dropped Killian off in the morning. She proceeded to tell Jase that she thinks Killian has a developmental problem. Based on how long it took him to “get” potty training, and some of the other problems in his class, she thought it could eventually become a serious problem. Well, now we are at that point and need to have Killian checked out by a psychologist to see if he has ADHD, Autism or another kind of mental disorder. I personally think ADHD is a big possibility based on the symptoms. Killian hasn’t quite grasped certain activities that the other kids in his class have been able to do. When this happens, he gets frustrated and decides not to participate in the current activity. It has caused him to be mean and a bit rough with a couple of the kids in his class as well, which has caused parents to voice concerns to Jill.



I started working with Killian at home to see if we could improve his focus and get him caught up on the things he was struggling with. I haven’t been doing it long, but it was a big slap in the face to see what Jill was referring to. It has been a real struggle for me to get Killian focused, so I can imagine what it’s like for his teacher to handle him in a class of 6 other kids. I also found out yesterday, that the other kids in his class are all younger than him, which was painful for me to hear. It’s really hurtful to think about him struggling. I don’t want him to feel inferior or lose his friends when they move to the next class up.



My cousin, Nicki, is a social worker, so she gave me a couple recommendations for places to take Killian to have him tested. One place was covered by our insurance, but the other wasn’t, so I started with the one that was. I was given information for the child and adolescent center, but when I called them, they stated they didn’t take any insurance and the costs would be completely out of pocket. She then told me a 2 hour assessment would cost $340, so I decided to find somewhere that was covered by our insurance. I called Valley Mental Health yesterday and a couple more people today, but had to leave messages, so I’m a little stuck. I hope that we can get this done quickly, so we can find out how to help Killian get better.



In the past couple months, we’ve gone through Christmas and New Years and I have to admit, I’m glad 2008 is over. It was a really tough year for Jase and I, and I hope this year brings new and prosperous things. I plan to pay off some of my silly extra bills, sing more, and try to be overall happy.


One of the things to do to be happy is focus a little more on myself. I’ve kinda let myself slip a little and haven’t kept up on things I should have been. I’ve gained a tad bit of weight, so one goal is to start working on that. Another goal is to keep a steady schedule of cutting my hair. I just got a hair cut last night, and I feel great! I had let my hair get so long and it just started to get so scraggly. It was almost always in an updo, and I got so sick of it. Now my hair is short, and almost short enough that I CAN’T put it in a pony tail haha.



So far this year hasn’t been the best, but I’m hoping it gets better soon. With the Kristen stuff, the Killian stuff, having to put new tires on my overpriced car, and Jase’s uncle dying, it’s been an emotional and busy couple of weeks. I didn’t know Jase’s uncle, Scott, very well because his health had gotten worse before I became part of this family and he didn’t attend too many family events. But despite that, it was really hard seeing Karen, Jase’s mom, and Scott’s wife, Rosalind have to bury him.



They had a viewing at a place called Starks, which was a beautiful place. The room that they put the casket and all the flowers in, was a golden yellow color. The ceiling of this room was painted blue and there were clouds and gold colored stars painted on it. I assume it was supposed to be symbolic of heaven, and they really did a wonderful job. The baby’s room in our house is painted blue, so I really think I’m going to copy this and make it “heavenly”. If we have a girl, I will of course add some rainbows.



When everyone left the viewing, us, some of Jase’s family and some of Rosalind’s family stayed after for family prayer and the closing of the casket. I’d never seen the process of closing the casket, and I don’t know that I will ever want to again. This for me, was the saddest moment of the whole night. It was so sad to have to watch Ros touch Scott’s face and hold his hand for the last time. When the casket was being closed, Karen let out a sob and it just broke my heart. Even though he wasn’t in the best of shape, his death was still sudden and hard. I pray all the time for Jase’s health and safety, because I really don’t think I am a strong enough person to be without him.


Well, I think if I don’t stop now, this post will be never ending. I really need to get better at writing more often. Maybe now with my boring job, I can do that. Until next time……be safe and happy new year!

Friday, January 2, 2009

My husband

What is his name? Jason (Jase) Patrick
How long did you date? Before we got engaged, about 5 months, but we were engaged for over a year
How old is he? 29
Who eats more? definitely Jase!!!! It pisses me off because he's thin!
Who said "I Love You" first? He did
Who is taller? Him of course
Who sings better? I do, but he has a decent voice
Who is smarter? I think he is. He reads a lot and knows a lot about a lot of stuff.
Who does the laundry? I do it more, but recently we both do cause we've gotten a bit behind
Who pays the bills? I do, cause Lord knows what would happen if he did (love you anyway though)
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me, most of the time. Some times I like to trade cause I have neck issues
Who mows the lawn? He does
Who cooks dinner? We both do, but he more recently
Who drives? He usually does, dunno why
Who is more stubborn? I am, for sure
Who kissed who first? I'm pretty sure he kissed me first.
Who asked who out first? Um, I dunno
Who proposed? He did
Who is more sensitive? Definitely me
Who has more siblings? We both have 2. His are older, mine are younger

Who wears the pants? I think I do, but he may disagree :)

Fives

Fives

5 TV shows I watch:

1. The Office
2. America's Next Top Model
3. Stylista
4. Desperate Housewives
5. American Idol

5 Restaurants I enjoy:

1. La Puente
2. Salsa Leedos
3. Cracker Barrell
4. Sizzler
5. Anywhere that is cost effective in regards to feeding my husband.

5 things I have done today:

1. Finished my CD
2. Finished watching "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"
3. Read quite a few people's blogs (a couple of people I'm not really friends with, but went to highschool with, and they intrigue me)
4. Did some dishes
5. Took a small nap (not a good idea cause now I feel crappy)

5 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Giving my CD out
2. Going back to MY job, and not doing A/P anymore
3. Having a baby
4. Adopting my stepson
5. Paying off some of my dumb bills

5 things I love about Fall:

1. cooler weather
2. leaves changing color
3. my birthday
4. Halloween
5. thanksgiving

5 things on my wish list:

1. a baby
2. a new hair cut
3. a new re-done living room
4. less weight on my tummy (not including a baby haha)
5. a new bedroom set

Monday, December 29, 2008

Goodbye 2008

Where did you begin 2008?
I think we went to a movie, so maybe in the parking lot or driving home?

Were you in school (anytime this year)?
nope, all done with that nonsense

Did you have to go to the hospital?
My friend Kristen had a baby

Did you have any encounters with the police?
Most likely since we lived in our apartment half the year. Neighbors were a bit ghetto

Where did you go on vacation?
went to St. George, almost to yellowstone


What did you purchase that was over $500?
haha my house!


Did you know anybody who got married?
Nope but a couple who got divorced.


Did you know anybody who passed away?
A few people


Did you move anywhere?..
I did, into my new house!


What sporting events did you attend?
um... don't like sports so none


What concerts/shows did you go to?
Dokken/Poison


Where do you live now?
In Murray, in my new house, duh

Describe your birthday:
It was on a sunday, so we had family and a few friends over for cake

Did you get any tattoos or piercing?
nope

What's the one thing you thought you would never do but did in 2008?
I dunno

What has/have been your favorite moment(s)?
Buying my house, moving out of my crappy apartment, Killian being potty trained, etc.



What's something you learned about yourself?
I have learned a lot about myself actually. I'm good at my job, I stress out easier than I thought I did, I hate people who are inconsiderate, my car is soooo not worth it, I am grateful for all I have cause I've fallen on my ass a few times.



Any new additions to your family?
Marshmallow, my kitty. Well my sisters kitty, who lives with me for a bit.

What was your best month? I think June...Jan through May kinda sucked, Jase didn't work July or August so I was stressed, September I started training for a new job which has since stressed me out, October too many things happened, November was ok, December was Christmas.

What music will you remember 2008 by?
Um I dunno.

Made new friends?
I sure did, and became better friends with some friends and realized I don't wanna be friends with some friends anymore.


Favorite Night[s] out?
had a good time at the Poison concert


Any regrets?
I always regret something....but it's usually how I reacted to something.

What do you want to change in 2009?
Myself, my finances, my living room (dang it)


Overall, how would you rate this year?
I am grateful for it, but it was a bit of a hard year for us.



What would you change about 2008?
I would have lightened up over certain things, but I did learn something from it all.



Other than home, where did you spend most of your time?
work prolly, which sucks

Have any life changes in 2008?
Bought a house.....and tried to have a baby...guess that will be 09


Change your hairstyle?
A couple times....already wanna change it again.



Get a new job?
kinda, stopped doing warranty stuff at work and went back to the front desk full time, and now covering for Kristen while she's on maternity leave.


How old did you turn this year?
27

Do you have a New Year's resolution?
I would like to be a better mom, help Killian, take care of myself, be nice to certain people


Did anything embarrassing?
I'm sure there was


Buy anything new from eBay?
nope

What was/were your favorite purchase[s]?
Redundant....my house!


Get married or divorced?
Nope, celebrated my first wedding anniversary though

Get arrested?
lol no

Be honest - did you watch American Idol?
I did


Did you get sick this year?
a couple times


Start a new hobby?
Not really

Been snowboarding?
nope

Are you happy to see 2008 go?
yup... bye! It was stressful

Drank Starbucks in 2008?
nah, not a coffee person


Been naughty or nice?
I'm always nice.....



What are you wishing for in 2009?
a baby, a changed living room, financial stability

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Jase and nothing but the Jase

1. Where did you meet?
KEC. We both started working on the same day. Something about him intrigued me, and we just kept getting chances to talk. One thing led to another and here we are.
2. How long did you date before you were married?
a year and a half. We were engaged for a year and a month.
3. How long have you been married?
A year, and 2.5 months
4. What does he do that surprises you?
He makes special dinners just for me, puts a new mic on my computer when I'm not home, etc. He really does a lot for me.
5. What is his best feature?
His eyes and his smile
6. What is your favorite quality of his?
He's a goon! I love weird humor.
7. Does he have a nickname for you?
Hunbun, baby, Jenne Baby, etc.
8. What is his favorite food?
At first I thought it was Mexican, but he seems to be a fan of Italian and Chinese just as much.
9. What is his favorite sport?
I'd say Ultimate Frisbee, since it's the only one he's ever played haha
10. When and where was your first kiss?
In the parking lot at work. We spent all day talking to each other via email, and he said he wanted to kiss me. We walked out to our cars together and were both so awkward and it just happened out of nowhere. I was really worried someone would see us.
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
We have fun doing anything as long as were together.
12. Do you have any children?
He has a son, who I've pretty much adopted. But we're working on a second child.
13. What are his hidden talents?
He is amazing with computers, he knows a little bit about everything, he sings pretty well, he does great impressions.
14. Who said I love you first?
I think it was him. He was on his way to CO to see his Ex and we were texting.
15. What is his favorite music?
Hairbands and rock (Metallica, Iron Maiden, etc)
16. What do you admire about him?
He does a lot to help people, without complaint.
17. What is his favorite color?
Red, Yellow and Orange
18. Will he read this?
Maybe
19. Who do you tag?
Whoever wants to blog about their hubby. I stole this from Malissa Jones, so thanks!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Stress

I have come to the conclusion, that I am a spaz. I stress out way too easily and let the silliest things get to me and really get on my nerves. My discovery of this fact, came due to my new/temporary job. Since my last blog, Kristen has gone on maternity leave, leaving me to do her job....by myself. The first day or 2 after she left, I was a little bit overwhelmed because I couldn't quite remember how to do everything, but Kristen was great and let me call her for help. There were a couple days, I'm sure she regretted it, but she never let on to her annoyance if she was at all annoyed. She was very sweet and really made me feel better about doing ok.

The next few days, I was in a little panic to get a few things done. Debbie, the other A/P lady, was getting overwhelmed herself so she gave Kristen/I a few of her vendors to take over. She gave me a stack of invoices about 3 inches thick, so I was worried, I wasn't going to get them taken care of, and eventually they'd pile up. I spent a couple hours getting them all entered and paid, so now my weekly check run load isn't quite as bad.

Then the big stress came....Komatsu America. Komatsu America is kinda like the sister company/owner of my company. Every month, we get invoices from them to pay. These invoices are split up by branch and a check is cut for each branch. I spend the whole month entering these invoices, then once a month, I cut the check. I add all the entered invoices onto my check run, and fill out a spreadsheet with all the information on the statement. There are some invoices that I don't pay, due to machines not being sold, no copies of invoices, etc. I list these invoices on my spreadsheet. After I add all my invoices to my check batch, my total should equal the total of my spreadsheet, after all the not paid invoices are included. When it matches, I have the go ahead to print the check. If it doesn't match, I have to figure out why and correct the problem. So the Friday before Thanksgiving, I start my KA check runs. I cut the check for Vegas with no problem. Then I add invoices for Elko, and my balances don't match. I figured out my error and printed the check. I cut checks for the other branches, and wait to do SLC last. I enter my invoices and my information doesn't balance. I made sure every invoice was on my batch, and everything I wasn't paying was listed on my spreadsheet....still not matching. I went back through and made sure all the amounts were correct....they were but still no match. I decided to ask Debbie, the A/P manager for help. She takes my binder of over 700 invoices to see if she can find the error. At this point, my confidence has gone down the toilet. I got home and just bawled and bawled. I felt so stupid and incompetent by the end of the day, that I was dreading going back to work the following monday. I will sick with panic and worry.

Monday came, and I had to go back to the dreaded evil place called work. Debbie still had my binder, so I worked on other things. Tuesday, I did my weekly check run...Debbie still had my binder. Wednesday, she finally gives me back the binder. She didn't find the error, but did find some things that weren't listed on my spreadsheet so I made the necessary adjustments. Still didn't match, so I went through everything again.....this time I had found my errors! I corrected them, printed my check, had all my checks signed and FedEx'd them to Komatsu America. I was kicking myself in the butt for not finding my mistake earlier, because it was so simple. A little bit of my confidence had been restored. Now, I just have to make sure I enter all the new invoices and hopefully the check printing will go better next time.

Last Wednesday, Kristen had her baby....little Sophie Ann. She was a week late, and started contractions 2 days before and the docs at the hospital kept sending her home because her contractions weren't close enough together. Wednesday morning, Sophie entered the world. Jase, Killian and I went to see her in the hospital that night. What a darling baby girl! I got to hold her, and it just felt so neat. And Kristen was great and explained the experience to me. One thing, I love about Kristen is that she is open and not afraid to talk about things. When Sophie had the hiccups, Kristen let me feel her tummy and I just thought that was so cool. We spent a little time with her, then left because Killian started to act up a bit, but I am really glad we got to go see her. I really cherish my friendship with Kristen and hope we can continue to be friends and grow closer. I can't explain it, but there's something about her that makes me really want to be her friend. I just hope I don't creep her out haha.

To add to that stress, a couple weekends ago, I got in a fight with Jase's mom. We wanted to include everyone on Thanksgiving so we asked her to change her dinner time to an hour earlier so we could spend more time at their house. During the email conversation, she got offended and got mad at me. She didn't say it outright, but I had the feeling based on what she was saying to me. The following weekend, we went to their house to get something, and I could tell she wasn't quite herself. While Jase was outside helping his dad with something, she looked at me with a very sturn look in her eye, and very firmly said that Killian was her grandson and I needed to share. With my emotions on the edge, I started to tear up and walked outside, which caused Jase to ask what was going on. Jase then asked his mother and she went off and started complaining about me. I jumped in and we basically argued for about 20 mins. Turns out she was mad because we were going to more than one place on thanksgiving, and she expected me to pick one place and eat there. I think it boiled down to us not eating at her house alone and then she accused me of spending more time with my family than I do with hers. At that point, I lost it because we do a lot to spend time with her and she was completely over reacting. After a week of calming down, Jase talked to her via email and found out the root of her problem. Jase's brother Chris, joined the army and spent almost a year in Iraq. during this year, his wife, Peggy basically fell off the face of the Earth. She didn't come to any events, any parties, any dinners and moved and didn't even tell anyone. Karen was worried we were going to start hanging out with my family more and forget about her. I assured her that would never happen, so things have seemed to level out. We still went to their house for Thanksgiving and although it was a little awkward, it was pretty calm. It was scary for me to get in the argument with her because it's very important that she like me, but on the other hand, I think it was good for us. I think she realized that she over reacted, but also realized that there was some truth to what I said. We can't drop everything to accomodate everyone so some negotiation is needed to make everyone happy.

Things at home are doing ok. We put up our Christmas lights, our tree and our decorations and our house has a great Christmas feeling to it. I absolutely love Christmas and love lights! And this year, we have a house to decorate and it's a wonderful feeling.

Brittania is still living with us, and still isn't home too often. She seems to go back and forth a little bit with the relationship she is in, and I can't help but feel bad for her. I wish there was more I could do help her, but I think it will have to be something she works out on her own.

Brittania is paying us rent each month, and we've decided to use her December rent to make a CD. Some of you may know, but I love to sing, and every couple years or so, I make a CD for my family. It's good to do around Christmas, because it's an easy way to do gifts for everyone. It's also reasonable in price, so that helps too. I am really excited because I haven't done a CD in 3 years. I also think it will bring a little of my sparkle back. For the past little while, I have been depressed about not being able to sing as much. When we bought our house, one of our goals was to turn the downstairs bedroom into a singing room for me. I wanted to paint it, and set up all my stuff and just have a place to go when I'm sad or angry and just sing. Singing makes me feel so peaceful and it lets a lot out of my soul. Unfortunately, I can't have my singing room right now, but hopefully doing a CD will help me feel like me again.

Well it's late, and I've gotta get to bed. If I don't go to bed by 11:30, I have a much harder time waking up in the morning. Goodnight.

Monday, November 10, 2008

so it's been awhile since my last post, and my last post wasn't really an update, so i thought i'd do one.

things have been a bit stressful the past few weeks. i started training with kristen, and we hired a "temp" to cover my job. since they found a temp they really liked, it was decided that i would just stay in the other building and let them temp take over my job. at first, i was a bit weirded out by it, but it turned out to be a good thing. for the past month or so, i've been training with kristen and learning all i can about her job. as of this upcoming friday, she is gone for 3 months and i am so freaking nervous. i feel like i keep forgetting little things, and i almost feel incompetent. i hate that feeling. i am so good at my job and i want to learn new things, but i'm very worried i will lose everthing i've learned next week. and to make it more worrysome, next week i get to do the komatsu america check run. komatsu america is a big part of that job and once a month, i get to cut checks to them for each of our branches. the checks are in the millions of dollars, so it's a big deal to make sure i do it right. i think after i do the first check run by myself, i will feel a bit better about things. at least i sure hope so. i really don't want to be a disappointment. *crosses fingers*

home life has gotten a bit interesting lately. my friend brittania moved into my basement a couple weeks ago. the last time i had a friend stay with me, it was a bit conflicting because sometimes we got on each others nerves and sometimes arguments broke out. not necessarily with me, but it made me nervous in regards to brittania staying with me. i really don't want to ruin a good friendship. but i wanted to be a friend and she needed somewhere to go.

so far she's been with us a couple weeks and it's been a little hard to talk to her. i know she's in a rough period and i don't want to pry into her business or make her talk about things she doesn't want to talk about. so right now, i've pretty much been there if she wants to talk, but not asked a lot of questions. i hope she figures out what she needs to and finds some happiness. it doesn't seem like she's happy and i know from personal experience that that isn't a fun place to be.

tania has a little girl, who comes over a couple times during the week and every other weekend. that part has also been a little difficult for me, because it's hard to discipline someone else's kid. i think it's also hard for tania to do it, because she doesn't see her all the time and wants things to be fun. but sometimes she steps over boundaries and jase and i have had to get a little strict to get her to listen.

since tania has moved in, marshmallow has been peeing on our couches. at first we thought it was matsu so we tried to come up with ideas as to what would make him not use his litter box. we decided that maybe he was threatened or mad at us for tania moving in, or maybe that harmony was being a bit rambunctious and he was afraid of her. we testing our theory and locked matsu in the spare room during the times we weren't home and discovered it was actually marshmallow. we haven't figured out why he's doing it, but we lock him up now so our couches have been pee free. we've deep cleaned them to get the smell out of the cushions and the cleaner we got says it's got a pheromone that will keep him away, so hopefully that will work. the smell got so overpowering that it was hard to be in our front room and our big tv is in that room, so it was hard not having our comfy area.

in other news, we made it through the tightness of october and are doing well. we're still working on paying a few things off, but i'm optimistic that we'll continue to do fine and get better along the way. we survived halloween, killian's birthday and my mom's birthday and this month is much more relaxing. killian turned the big 4 at the end of october, so we had a party for him. we really had a great turn out and he got some great stuff. i love his birthdays, especially because he always gets new clothes. my mom's birthday was a couple days later, so we took her out to dinner. halloween followed and it was really fun! killian dressed up as superman and we got to take him trick or treating in our neighborhood. our neighbors are so awesome so it was a great night. one of our neighbors parked a van on his grass and put dummies underneath his tires. he had music playing, lights flashing and a video camera that showed everyone walking up his driveway. another house a street over had a bunch of stuffed zombies in their yard. the people who lived there dressed up as zombies too so it was so neat. they put a table in their driveway and put bloody body parts all over it. one house decided they were done passing out candy so they dumped the rest of their candy into killy's bag. it was almost half a big bowl, so he was so excited. we're still eating candy every night haha.

well it's time for bed, and i'm tired, so i'll update more later. goodnight.