i forget

i had a title, it was really clever, and there was a whole post associated about ... something... but i have completely forgotten the whole thing.  hopefully i'll remember later... 


for now - today has been really nice!  up on time, starbucks green tea frap (no whip), work ... wow ppl are really, really... i just don't understand them!  i'd forgotten the feeling i get when i have to deal w/ claims sent in at the last minute that have something wrong with them.  it's like - i don't WANT anyone to lose any money, but at the same time - the rules are RIGHT ON THE FORM!  when you send in a form that says "only a & b are reimbursable," and you send in multiple claims for x, y or z... i just don't get it.  it's your first year?  READ THE FORM.  it's your 5th year?  you should KNOW THE RULES.  especially if you are waiting until the very last day to send in your claim!  i can't do anything to help you when you do things like that.  altho i do try.  i send urgent emails, i try to find a home email (because it's saturday & who checks work email on saturdays, generally?), i call home numbers... all to let you know you have mere hours to correct this & submit a claim that will follow the rules so you can get your money back.  


and it's a little stressful, worrying about these ppl losing their money!  *laugh*  


but i made it thru the day.  it wasn't as crazy as it could have been, and altho i'm sure monday will bring a whole new set of stresses, i can handle it.  i'm an expert!  ; )  (well, i am, but that sounded like i was bragging or something, which i didn't mean!)  oh, AND because the last two hours weren't as crazy, i was able to get thru all my backlog of 2012 claims, so i don't have that hanging over my head for payroll cutoff on tuesday.  WOOT!  


after work, i headed to WM for groceries.  i love shopping for groceries!  oh, but first, i stopped at family video to get some movies!  My Future Boyfriend (cuuute abc family movie starring barry watson & sarah rue.  so happy they put that out on DVD!!), Monte Carlo (nother super cute movie that is one of my favorites!  mom & i saw it at the cheap theatre back in the day - i believe it was a double feature w/ judy moody & we walked out of that; that one was horrible!!)...and a couple other cute rom-coms that i'd never heard of, but colin firth is in one.  : )  and also season of the witch because i like nick cage.  


they were having a raffle, car wash & bake sale to raise money for the national lymphoma society.  i bought a raffle ticket (a year of free rentals?  that would be awesome!) & then as i was leaving thought i would see what the bake sale was about.  i interrupted the adorable guy at the table who was eating a cupcake.  i donated some money & got a free hot dog.  well, really i paid an outrageous sum for a hot dog - but the hot dogs were free and i chose to donate, so ... ya know?!  and i may have chosen to donate more because he was cute and friendly and tripped over the step getting my hot dog and i interrupted him eating his cupcake lunch... *laugh*  


in a bit i'm heading over to mom's to hang out w/ her & phil & leyton.  her birthday is tomorrow.  she & auntie carol.  : )  they had their birthday brunch & canasta tourney w/ grammy & aunt jan & aunt janie today.  i wonder who won...?  


how was your day?


ttfn!

hunger games

today i felt a little insane.  i processed claims.  and claims.  and more claims.  i remembered why i am happy w/ a job that allows me to multitask!  *laugh*  my most amusing claims are those that wait til the last minute to submit & then submit for things that aren't covered.  these are also my saddest.  i feel bad for them, that they might not have time to get qualified claims to me in time to get their money back.  but at the same time, i think - well, they obviously know when the deadline is but not what's covered, so it's their own fault!  


ya know?  


after work i picked erin up & we went to arthur's for dinner (turkey bacon cheddar sammich, YUM!) & then to see hunger games.  now, you know i was kinda conflicted about the series.  i still don't know if i want to read the books again, but as time has gone on & i think of various scenes at random times, i think i probably WILL pick them up & read them again... and i really enjoyed the movie.  i think they did an EXCELLENT job of translating the book to the screen.  erin liked it, too, and she has not read the books.  


also, i've always had a word-crush on peeta, but the guy who plays him made it even worse!  LOL  he is definitely on my "going against type & enjoying younger men" list.  : )  oh, ALSO also, i got to see my first preview for the last Twilight movie.  SO EXCITED!  and it reminded me that trish & i need to watch the last one still (again)... : )  


what else?  am going in tomorrow at 8, which means i have to get up by 6:45 (cuz i'm gonna want to stop for coffee), so i should get to bed.  tried to watch battleground, but the computer is still in :p~~~ mode, so i finished off my dvd of california dreams instead.


i hope your friday was great & that you have a blessed weekend!  : )  ttfn!!

aaron jackson

watching california dreams & aaron plays mark winkle.  i wondered if he can really sing/play piano, and he can!  : )  


i had a lot of 2011 claim stuff going on today.  not the claims themselves - i think i only processed like 30 or something.  but the back & forth w/ ppl to get the claims right, to get their accounts fully reimbursed and to make sure they had acceptable receipts for my audit.  and then there were some time card issues, as well, that were rather time consuming.  i got to talk to some really interesting ppl about stuff, tho!  i was planning on leaving at 5, but then one of our specialists came up just as i was clearing off my desk & asked me to send out an email.  heh.  so i stayed a bit later & then headed to trish's.


marinated chicken on the grill, hash browns & a great snap pea stir fry!  mmm!  i love hanging out w/ trish & al.  : )  we watched fabulous episodes of missing, secret circle & awake.  good times!!  : )  trish also told me about these coffee bags, like tea bags but w/ coffee.  the cup i had was goooooood!  oh, and she had some romance novels for me from cleaning out some bins.  woot!  


goodness, i have to go to bed!  tomorrow's busy again, of course.  looking forward to after work - erin & i are going to see hunger games.  yay!!  i'm excited about the movie, but even more so... POPCORN.  


ttfn!  

game night

after work today i went over to mom's.  leyton was having a full blown FIT when i walked in, because altho he'd chosen to go to steak & shake, he had decided he didn't want to, he wanted to stay at gramma's.  gramma seemed at the end of her rope (not sure how long he'd been caterwalling before i got there)!  LOL  i wasn't really too keen on going to steak & shake, so when mom said, "well, if aunt carrie wants to stay here w/ you, then ..." and i was like, "sure!"  he continued to carry on for a bit more, and then crawled in the chair & was okay.  


then phil came out (he'd been awakened by the cacophony!) & i offered for him to have a munchkin that i'd brought in.  (uh, the donut hole from dunkin donuts, not like one of those characters from wizard of oz.  in case there was any confusion as to why i was bringing home little fairy tale creatures, let alone offering them to my brother...)  and leyton wanted one, but gramma had JUST said he wasn't allowed any more sweets until he ate his dinner.  the tantrum came back.  phil retreated (thanks, brother!  phhtt) & i had to talk him down again.  altho, really, i didn't talk him down.  LOL  i got up & opened the fridge & said, "hey, which lunchable is yours?  do you want to play a game after you eat?" and he came over & got it out & decided he was hungry enough to eat that instead of a donut hole.  and he said, "why don't we play Uno while i eat?" in his cute little leyton voice & i said okay.  : )  


so we did.  phil came back out & we all played a few games of Uno, Sorry, and Dominoes.  : )  it was quite a lot of fun & i was SO HAPPY that phil was up & hung out w/ us!  : )  : ) : )   mom brought phil & i culver's & i shared w/ leyton because he was still hungry.  growth spurt, anyone?  heh!  


we watched wheel of fortune & survivor also while we played.  (my friend bethany is gonna be ON wheel - how neat is that?!)  phil brought leyton home after survivor, and i stayed & watched design therapy or something like that.  it was good!  mom & i had a good discussion about our theory as to why leyton was having his melt down.  


i'm so grateful for that little dude.  even when he's being whiny & throwing fits, i'm grateful for the opportunity to teach him better ways to react, the right way to communicate when you're unhappy about something, good sportsmanship when playing games - and that you don't always have to win, that you should enjoy PLAYING the game even if you don't win every time.  he has a hard time w/ that concept, i think because so much importance is placed on WINNING in our society.  and at home.  lol  i think he parrots anthony's bad habits sometimes.  so i try to tell anthony to make sure & be a better role model.  oh, and i was sad that i didn't get to see him tonight!!  *pout*  


anyway, i am grateful for today and tonight, and praying that tomorrow is productive & blessed as well.  i think the plan is still to go to trish's after work, but i know starting next week she & al will be CAMPING ... *sniffle*  ah well... happy for them anyway & will pray for nice weather.  cuz i'm nice like that.  ; )  


i think that's all for now - i'm off to bed soon!  ttfn!  

the floating rib

confession - if you didn't see it on fb - i love boy bands.  : ) 


one direction is my newest discovery.
take that
backstreet boys
boys II men
98 degrees
n'sync
the monkees
big time rush


i love made-for-tv - movies, bands, whatevs.  high school musical, glee, miley cyrus, hannah montanna - any disney or nickelodeon star/band, i have probably enjoyed at one time or another.  


watched what i think is unfortunately the last episode of Endgame.  *sigh*  i wanna know what happened!!  stupid cancelled shows.  boo!  also got to catch up a little w/ GH tonight - saw the one group of scenes i DID NOT want to miss - john & sam meeting.  you see, many moons ago, they were on a soap called Port Charles.  john was a vampire named caleb, and sam was his obsession, the love of his life, livvie.  LOVE!  so, of course, having them in port charles together again, making cracks about how they seem so familiar, and stakes to the heart and don't be afraid of the dark... it was perfection!  : )  


now, tho, i am going to take a break from GH & watch celebrity apprentice & then hit the hay.  i am sleepy!  today was quite hectic & exhausting!  


ttfn!

surf dude, with attitude...

anyone but me know what that line's from?  LOL  i'm watching my DVD of random episodes & looking up TNBC shows on wikipedia.  i'm sad that i can't find much information on a lot of the actors from these shows.  it's always frown-inducing when the interwebs fail me... LOL  kidding!!!  oh!  i did get to watch an episode of OUAT but then my computer said NO MORE and so i'll try again tomorrow... i keep falling further behind!  grrrr.  i did get to chat w/ april for a bit, tho.  yay!  i switched us to google chat when i got my new phone because that way if (when) my computer goes all wonky while we're chatting, it doesn't have to completely screw up our conversation!  LOL  i can just switch to my phone while the computer reboots.  : )  


today was more insane that usual.  over 300 emails - i about fell over!!  thankfully, 200 of those were acknowledgement warnings from time card tickets.  *laugh*  two tickets generated 200 warnings that i hadn't done anything w/ them yet.  seriously?!  someone needs to dial it back a notch, bro!  anyway, i also had 2 meetings scheduled, but one of them was rescheduled for tomorrow.  so that was helpful.  the other meeting was off-site, ack!  but it was a REALLY good meeting, so i didn't mind.  heh.  i'll be working late all week anyway, and on saturday, since that's the 2011 deadline for claims.  gonna be a buuuusssyyyy week!  


and i was pretty tired today from the fun weekend!  *laugh*  and i pretty much told you about it in caption format w/ the pictures yesterday!  *laugh*  leyton did have one melt down, but otherwise i was so proud of him on this trip!!  he even took a bath w/o any trouble & did really great w/ the hair washing!  : )  he said his favorite part was hanging out w/ "the boys."  heh.  sarah & i are planning to go to omaha in july after joy has her baby, so maybe leyton will come w/ me.  : )  


see, as exhausted as i am, i can't wait for the next road trip!!  LOL 


ttfn!

road trippin' (picture heavy edition!)

i'm too tired to write a proper post about this weekend, so i'm just going to share a couple bunch of photos & then i'll tell you about it tomorrow.  : )  

 We arrived in MC around 4, and immediately worked off our car energy by jumping on the beds.

leyton did - i don't jump on beds!!  

 Debi, Adam & Jacob arrived about 15 minutes after us, i think.  

Adam & Leyton jumped jumped jumped while Debi got the room unpacked.

Jacob wasn't keen on jumping on the beds yet. 

 Everyone was keen to get some swimming in after the road trips.

Then we met Sarah, Chase & Stephen at Applebee's across the street for dinner.

The girls were slightly outnumbered all weekend!

 "Cousins"  I adore this picture.  

 I LOVE the expressions in this one.  

Adam & Jacob look like rock stars.  

LOL 

 Together again.  Man, I miss these girls & all my nieces & nephews!!!

So glad we were able to get together!!

Sarah (Bug), Joy(ums), Debi (Bob) & me (Boo)

 haha!!  The expression on Joy's face makes me laugh every time i look at this picture!!

 William turned 5 in December.

Leyton will be 5 in April.

heehee (doesn't leyton look thrilled?  he was tired of pictures right at that moment!!)

 Bowling!!!

Leyton bowled an 85.  I think I beat him by 10 pts or something.

lol

 This is Joy's Bobby.  He is an awesome dude & we love him.

He's also a hoot!  : ) 

 Stephen!

 Ariyana was lovin on Aunt Sarah!  

 William showed off his mad dance skills!  

 Jacob doesn't look too sure about his blue drink, but Stephen's enjoying his green one.  

 Sadly, the train you can climb aboard doesn't open til May.

D'oh!

Come on, ppl, it was a GORGEOUS weekend!

 LOVE IT any time i can get pics of all the kids together.

this one's missing Chase, tho, as he was napping.

 Stephen is 8, Jacob is 7.

Leyton, again, will be 5 in April.

Heh...

Oh, and they were feeding deer thru a fence.

But none of the deer were really hungry, so they stayed away from the fence.

we were all hungry, however, and went back to Sarah's for 

TACOS!  (after debi & i went to hy vee to procure the fixins!)

*grin*  

we had a BLAST, but he was quite happy to see gramma!

and daddy & mommy, i just don't have pictures of those reunions!!  

hope your weekend was TERRIFIC, too!  ttfn!  : )