You can accidentally leave the bunny pen gate open! Jessie had a bunny for a few years. I don't remember him running around the house, but he was a sweetie.

My dogs love bunny poop! They get it in the front of the house. Is it really bad for them? Sometimes, I look down and see them chewing away in the yard. Either it's bunny poop, or bugs.

Rex looks like he has a new mission in life.

I'm going to Kassidy's basketball game. I told her last night that I'm coming, and she said, "Grandma, you better set your clock for 6:00 because, you know, you live further away than we do."

If you ever need someone to take care of you, make sure you get everything right, and remember all the things that you ever told her, Kass is your girl!

I better go...I don't want to miss the big game!

Unlike most of you...lol...I don't have to worry about the dogs eating bunny poop. What a topic...LOLOL. But you know if you feed them....something comes out the other end. I was just wondering though.....if a dog eats bunny poop and then poops....who's poop is it? :D

Last night my niece Dusti took me out for supper at the Olive Garden. It was so good and I ate way too much, but enjoyed the time with her so much. She is the daughter of my older brother.

Mom seemed much better last evening than she did earlier in the day. It was such a relief. She still has fluid on her lungs but they are trying to get it off.

This morning I have to clean a few areas of carpet where Joey had a bit of diarrhea. I'm also trying to catch up on the computer and then I'll head over to see Mom a little later. Still have laundry...a never ending job it seems. Sometimes I wish I lived alone...it would be so much easier keeping up with things. Also wish I could go down to only two dogs, but that will never happen. Guess I'll just have to keep on..keeping on...like I have been.

Did want to say that the weather has been in the 50's and 60's and I have been having thoughs of flowers and veggies....lol. Now the weather is going to drop back down. Mother nature is such a tease!

OH OH! basketball is my favorite sport - but MY granddaughter plays volleyball! I so wish she'd played basketball! I hope her team won!

After work yesterday we went to Subway :) I have been craving a sub for weeks! We went to my grandma's house to visit for an hour or so, and then left to visit my friend and her husband, because they were house sitting for her parents. They live about 3 hours from us, and her parents' house is right in the middle!

We got there around the same time, and Scott and Tyler were watching videos of him sledding up north, and Jen and I went through some of her horrible wedding photos! Their photographer was so bad, so Jen has been going through them all in photoshop and fixing them up herself. She even had to hound them to get all the pictures! They were married in September and finally just got them now.

Anyways, then we played Wii for awhile, and then around midnight decided to get in the hot tub. I'm not usually a fan of outdoor hot tubs in the winter because my hair and ears freeze so badly! But theirs isn't so bad because her dad has put up walls around it to cut down on the wind. We ended up sitting in the hot tub until almost 5 am! Jen and I went in before the guys, and hung out in front of the fireplace with Layla :)

We didn't wake up this morning until 11ish. Jen made us some waffles for breakfast and we were on the road home around 2. When I got home, I put a load of laundry in, crawled into bed, and fell asleep until 7! I should probably make us something to eat now, and hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight!

But it's all worth it :) We had such a good visit! Since they moved away I rarely see them anymore.

Lindsay! That sounds like such a fun evening/night! I love sitting in the hot tub in the winter, but it isn't nearly as cold down here. Of course, we don't have one now though. Once when we lived in Oklahoma, we got in Gary's uncle's hot tub and it started to snow. The cover was the kind that folds into fourths (kinda hard to explain). Anyway, we made a tent out of it so that it was just over the middle of the hot tub but like an upside down V in the middle so we could sit there and not get snow on our heads! LOL! It was FUN!

It was almost 80 degrees today, and I've quit complaining about using the air conditioner - it just is what it is!

We were sitting in the back yard just before sunset and there were FOUR pairs of cardinals in our ornamental pear tree right beside us. It was soooo neat to see them. I think they roost right behind our back fence line. It is wild back there, no buildings, and they come and go that direction so I think that is where they hang out!

We worked at the Austin house today trying to get more things hauled away, given away and ready to sell. The neighbors came over and asked what we were going to do with the house. Gary said we were going to sell it, but I'd be willing to rent to them - or their family I should say. They have lived next door to us for about 15 years. They are from Mexico and are really nice people. The husband's sister and family has been here living with them for a few months. It would be so great if they were interested in renting or buying our house. I know that is highly unlikely to happen, but one can dream! LOL!

I didn't sleep well for some reason last night. Up around 2 a.m. and back to sleep around 4 a.m., BUT....I did sleep till 8:30. I was going to go see Mom this morning, but we've had rain/sleet/ice overnight so I'll have to wait until some of it melts a bit. It will give me some time to catch up here at home.

Gayle...even though 80 is pretty hot....I would love to have that weather here. So tired of winter, but hey...it can't last much longer can it?

Before I do go to visit Mom I need to stop by her house to check on things, get mail and checks. We were paying her bills yesterday and had one more bill to pay....and no checks. She can sign her name (not the greatest) so I write out the checks and she signs them.

If she keeps going like she is...they may let her go home Monday or Tuesday. Her 88th birthday is Wednesday and she doesn't want to spend her birthday in the hospital. I hope she gets her wish.

Janet, I'm glad to hear that you are getting some rest, even though you had to be awake 2 hours during the night. It could be worse though, my granddaughter came in to her mom and dad's bedroom at 4:00AM and said, "I don't feel good" so they let her get in bed with them and then she promptly threw up in the bed. :eek: Nothing like changing the bed linens in the middle of the night.

Janet, you might consider having your mom put you on her checking account - i know that might be an issue with your brothers, not sure, but if she isn't able to sign the checks, at least you'd still be able to pay her bills. You don't have to have a power of attorney for her to just put you on her checking account. Do you (or someone) have her power of attorney for health care and one for finances? If not, you should do that NOW!

Today was Gary and my anniversary - 29 years! We agreed to not get each other anything since I spent so much money on the house. We had a fun day together. We did some shopping, bought a purple martin house, and had dinner at Red Lobster. Janet, I wish you could have gone with us - I know how much you love Red Lobster!!!

You will never believe this - I hardly do, on the other hand, it makes perfect sense to me. Brooke, Abi, and Emma are moving over here with us this weekend, instead of moving into our old house. Why, you might ask? I'm saying why why why? :eek:

It's because my 34 year old daughter is afraid to stay at my house in Austin. It's in a lower middle class neighborhood, with lots of Hispanic neighbors - a few Black, a few Asian and a few White neighbors. She has never lived alone - she left my house to be married. And the main reason is that she won't have anything to "do" in Austin. I'm just shaking my head.

It's OK, but it will be grand central station here. They will only be here till April 15 when they will move to Houston. Abi is going to do the last 6 weeks of school down there, which I think is good - she'll meet some friends for the summer and next school year. If Abi didn't have to finish up her club volleyball play (she's a starter on a good team), I think they would just move to Houston this weekend. But they have to stay in Austin till April 15.

They will arrive on February 25 and Gary will leave to go camping/fishing for a month on March 5. So really it will only be us four girls most of the time. BUT we only have a king sized bed (mine) and a twin bed for my daughter and the two girls. :eek: Oh, and only ONE closet for them.

Brooke and Emma will sleep in the travel trailer until Gary leaves and then for the week after he gets home. It is parked in our backyard. Then I suspect I will get kicked out of my king bed, or have to sleep with Brooke or Abi - which is OK (I think). We have a twin aero bed that we can set up in the office or in the extra bedroom for Emma and Abi has a bed in the extra bedroom that she or Brooke can sleep on.

It would be so much easier on everyone if they stayed in our Austin house - but NOOOOOOOO - - - - Oh Well, I guess it will be like a big ole slumber party for a few weeks. They'll be gone to Houston 3 weekends, and then we'll all be gone the week of spring break - so it really isn't that many nights. I think my daughter said it would be 26 nights they would actually be here. Of course, when they move to Houston I'll miss them like crazy, and wish they were still here with me! LOL!

Grand Central Station, I tell ya. I may go live in Assisted Living with my mom. LOL! :D

Gayle, I don't know how you are keeping track of who is coming and who is going! Adult children just make no sense sometimes! They have a whole house to stay in, and you and Gary lived there for years!

Oh well....I bet you will love having them all with you, especially with Gary going away for a month! Enjoy!

Lol that sounds like fun! We ended up pulling the cover over half and just squishing together because the water wouldn't stay warm enough. It was about -29 C (-20.2 F). The worst part was getting out and going inside to use the washroom! Especially when Scott accidently closed the door to the garage all the way, and then I had to go so I had to stand there and keep dipping my hand in the hot tub so it wouldn't completely freeze to the metal door handle! But I made it inside lol. I think it's easier for us girls because we wear little bikinis, and the cold isn't as bad on bare skin as it is on long wet shorts for the boys :D And, the drinks helped too :D :D

I just dropped Scott off at the airport. I miss him already! The house feels so empty. I need to get myself busy with something. I'm alone here for the next two weeks :(

Two weeks - that's a long time. Gary will be gone a month, but I'll see him every weekend and one week over spring break!

Your hot tub story is cute - not so cute trying to get inside in THAT temperature!!!

I know Judy, it makes no sense - but even if they'd stayed at the other house, they would have been over here all the time anyway. Six weeks, six weeks, six weeks! LOL - I'll make it.

Looks like you're going to have great girl time Gayle. It will probably go by a lot faster than you think and you'll wonder where the time went. I do know how your daughter feels though....I was probably her age when I finally got tired of being afraid and now I love having my alone time.

I think I'd feel better if I was seeing Scott on the weekend! His company said if he needed to come back, they would fly him back, but if he is able to get away from the office for the weekend he wants to go snowboarding in the mountains with his friend :(

Yesterday was a stat holiday here (Family Day) and I had planned to get a lot done after dropping Scott off at the airport, but not long after I got home I got a call from work asking if I can drive to the office for some last minute work :mad: I said no, I just drove home from the city! So I told them to send me the work and I'd work from home. At about 9:00 I was done, but worried they'd be calling for more edits so I didn't have a bath or relax like I had planned. I watched tv until 11:30 and was still all worked up over that project, and didn't get done what I needed to do during the day, and worried about getting ready and out the door without forgetting anything this morning... I ended up not being able to fall asleep until at least 2:30 and I woke up at 5:45. I'm a little tired today :( But I did get out the door with everything, and was only a few minutes late for work because of a train!

After work today I'm meeting Scott's friend's girlfriend for some food. Her boyfriend is out of town too so she asked if I'd like to get together with her. We don't really know each other very well so I hope it's not too awkward!

I'm sure that it will be crazy but knowing you, Gayle......you'll end up loving it!!! I'm sure at times that you'll wish for some privacy but you won't have long until they move.

I haven't posted much since Glen's Mom passed away. The family has decided that our house is the "meeting place" so we've had a lot of Glen's family here. Glen's sister, Brenda, has been staying with us since the funeral and I'm not sure when she's going home. Brenda and Mark, Glen's older brother, are co-execudors of Althea's estate. The family has had a LOT of talks about what to do with her stuff and how it will be handled. There are a lot of emotions with everything. The girls want to do things the way their mother wanted things done.....which is just having them go through things.....but the guys just want to get in there and get it done. It looks like....according to the will that Brenda and Dana, Glen's youngest sister, will be the only ones to go in and clean things up and disperse things to the family. Brenda's daughter is getting married this spring so it's not going to be a quick process. Althea lived in a huge two story house that is filled with stuff!! It does look like the kids are going to get some things that they were wanting. I'm happy for that.

The funeral was so hard......not just for me but for my husband and his older brother, Mark. When I first looked into her casket I had some of the worst thoughts come across my mind about Althea......and then to have people come up to me and tell me how sorry they were. I've never felt this way about anyone and I'm ashamed to even admitting that I felt that way. She was loved by so many people but yet my sister-in-law and I never felt that way about her. My husband and his brother have really struggled with the hoarding and the way it affected their family and their Dad. Althea and Frank really didn't get along and the reason behind every arguement was the hoarding. All the things that I heard at the funeral and what was put in the paper were not about the woman that I knew.......some of it was because the boys didn't want to make the girls upset about how they felt about their mother........like I said it's been a hard week.

Glen's leaving to go snow skiing in the morning. Jaci and Nate are going too.....it's with a group from church. I'd go but if you're not skiing it's a long trip out and back.....besides Brenda's here to be with me. I think that Thursday I'm going to KC and pick up a child's hoosier cabinet that I bought on e-bay. I'm soooo excited to get it!!!

Oh Diana, I can see that you have been just over the top busy and distracted the past few weeks. I knew you had not been on the board much and I thought it was due to Glen's mom. You are such a good person and i know you feel badly about the feelings that you have toward her - but it is not like you JUST feel that way - it was her behavior that created all the turmoil - and deliberately caused it over a very long period of time. Yes, I know we are supposed to turn the other cheek, but after years and years and years of problems, it just is not that easy. Good luck with everything -hopefully, things will be back to normal in a little while.

I agree with Gayle, Diana! Keep your head up and get through this, and things will be getting back to normal. I'm glad the kids will be getting what they want!


Well, last night was awkward. I met with Scott's friend's girlfriend for supper. I think I've mentioned her before, she did a party last year for some cosmetics and I felt really pressured to buy but didn't. The stuff is way too overpriced, and I've tried it and am not super impressed. Anyways, I thought we'd get to know each other and just have a nice friendly meal. But conversation turned to her company pretty quickly, and all the perks, and how I'd fit in so well with her "team" blah blah blah... she got Tiffany's jewelry for a bonus at Christmas and she should be getting a Mercedes in August :rolleyes: I don't buy it, and I'm not comfortable with it. I'm just too nice to say it straight to her face. She tried SO HARD to recruit me and it was getting pretty awkward. She wants me to go to a conference with her on Saturday, and I still need to decline. This morning she had sent me a message on facebook to tell me she can't stop thinking about how well I would fit with the company! I HATE THAT! Can't we just be normal friends?

Anyways, I'm also really stressed out with work, again. I worked a lot of overtime last week, worked on my stat holiday this week, worked through my lunch break today.... I was JUST getting ready to leave, thinking I'd be sneaky and leave immediately after handing my prints in, but I was just putting on my jacket when I got called in the board room :mad: There were changes. My car had been running for 15 minutes already, warming up. So I turned my computer back on, started my program back up, did the changes, closed it, and handed it in. Wait, those changes aren't good enough... so I had to go back and do it all again. By the time I left my car had been running almost an hour and I was ready to cry. I just got home and I have about 4 or 5 hours of work ahead of me tonight, and a full day again tomorrow. I have been holding back tears all day at work and now that I can let them go, I just feel too exhausted to cry. I want my life back. 5 more months and I'll be back from Europe and I can quit this job.

OH Yuck! Lindsay, you have such an up and down ride with your job! I think they take advantage of you.

If I understand you correctly the girl was trying to recruit you to sell cosmetics? If so, I can understand your discomfort. I just hate pushy salesmen of ANY sort. I would have been so uncomfortable too.

I think they take advantage of me too. If they want to leave their projects to the last minute, they can go for it, but when they depend on me to get their projects done, I hate that they feel I should just always be available. I have other projects to work on and a nice timeline set out to have them done on time, and then last minute things come in and screw up my whole system. Then the people who actually DO give me enough time, end up getting their stuff put on hold :( I hate doing that to them!

And yes, she tried to recruit me to sell cosmetics. Well, cosmetics and skin care, etc. I think they even have energy drinks and things like that too. My cousin had a couple of their products a few years ago but had an allergic reaction so she gave them to me. They were a facial scrub and moisturizer. Well, the scrub was no better than anything I can buy at walmart, and the moisturizer was really greasy and made me break out! The scrub alone costs $90!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know anyone who has that kind of money to spend! I certainly wouldn't spend that on myself. And I would definitely never try to push anyone else into spending that kind of money either.

What did I do today??? Well....I'm ashamed to say I lost my temper big time. My son has a habit of not writing down in his checkbook his debit card transactions. Neither he nor his Dad could figure it out so I tried and just got so pi$$ed I yelled for him to get out of bed and get dressed. I think it was the fastest he'd ever done this. Then I handed him his checkbook and statements and told him to get his 'you know what' to the bank and let them help him get it balanced.

Then I had to call Mom's bank in Florida to close out her ck. account there and have the money sent here. I absolutely hate those man machines...push this button....push that button. After I got mad and threw two phones and broke them, I got my mission accomplished. I did scare my Mom half to death and she thought I was losing patience with her. I felt so bad, but finally made Mom realize I had already lost my patience.....with Ricky. That she didn't do anything and I wasn't upset with her at all.

After that...I went and got my hair cut...and of course I love my hairdresser and ended up crying my eyes out. After that....I felt so much better. The rest of my day has been good.

Janet. S.T.R.E.S.S. Don't let it get the best of you.

I'm sorry you had such a bad day Janet, but I'm glad you got your frustrations out and feel better.

The "salesgirl" just will not let up. I wrote her a very nice message today saying it's just not for me, I am just not comfortable with it, but thanks for thinking of me and I hope she does really well. I got back a 4 paragraph reply :eek: about how she knows exactly how I feel and she felt the same way before she started but then she started and it changed her life! I opened up to her when we went out that night, and she used everything I said to promote her company. I don't want to stay at my job... well I could supplement it with this income and not have to! I want a career where I help people and make a difference... it's what they do every day in her company! (But really? By selling overpriced cosmetics and skin care items?) And on and on and on... I just feel stupid because I thought she wanted to be my friend but really she just wants to make money off me. She told me, again, she wants me to go to the conference with her on Saturday so at least I'm giving it a fair chance, for both of our sakes. Oh and, "I really want to take you to the top of the company with me!" Pffffft.... I can't just blow her off because I can't avoid her forever, so I need to write another nice reply saying I'm not interested. This is so flipping awkward!

School was cancelled for today because of ice and snow....although I don't think it's that bad. Not sure what I'm going to do today...maybe nothing at all except be on the computer. I've missed being on it so much. I check here of course and do my moderator duties, hope I'm keeping on top of things..lol.

I may run the sweeper, but again I may not...lol. I need a day off and this just may be the day.

well today didn't start off very good, first got woke up at 3:30am to Keith leaving for work, it was snowing, so i went back to sleep for a little bit before it was time for me to get ready for work, when i got out of bed i stubbed my toe on the hutch at the end of my bed, it hurts so bad, it's bruised and throbbing. That was enough for me, with the snow and my toe i decided to just stay home, even wearing my slippers hurts. What a way to wake up in the morning huh !!

Poor Lynne!!! My day started bad yesterday, sorry you're having a bad one.

Well the moving truck took all our kids things away yesterday - that was really hard for them, since none of them really want to move........:( I think it will be fine and I think they will really like Houston, once they get over the shock of having to leave Austin. They are only about 5 minutes from the ocean and 20 miles from Galveston Island. They love the beach and those kinds of activities, so I know they will like it after they get there. But just wait till the first hurricane is headed their way! :eek: The traffic is horrible, and they don't like that, the humidity if awful and they really don't like that, but there are loads of things to do and I know it will be OK.

It will be really cozy here for a few weeks - one of the hardest things is that they have a cat that we can't let out of the bedroom because she will go out the doggie door and might be gone! She was a rescue and had been abandoned outdoors so she LOVES going outside - but they have never let her except for her accidentally shooting out when the door is open. Since she is in a strange place, and if she got outside, we are afraid she might run off - which she probably wouldn't but we just can't take that chance. So, she is in the back bedroom where Abigail is. She's Abi's cat so she is perfectly fine staying back there with her - but the Yorkie boys want to (ahem) "visit" her - which translates into "chase" her. We had to tape plexiglass outside the door so they don't destroy the door by scratching on it!!!

Mom had been needing a new winter coat so we headed to Lafayette to Penney's. They were so crowed in the coat section because of them being 80% off. Plus...so not suitable for a wheelchair to navigate. We ended up at Kohl's where she finally found one. We then went to Olive Garden for lunch and then to the Dollar Tree so she could get some cheap reading glasses. Right now she is in the kitchen playing Yahtzee with my brother Brad. I think tomorrow my other brother and his wife are going to take Mom to their home for the afternoon. It will seem so strange for her not to be here for awhile.

I just came home from Jessie's house. Mackenzie made Junior National Honor Society, and we had a celebration dinner. I am so proud of her! Her inauguration ceremony is 3/4, and her school play is 3/11.

She also got her first period 2 days ago, so it is National Mackenzie Week in our family!

WOW! Way to go Mackenzie!!! This was quite a memorable week!!!

Judy...you must be so proud of her...what an accomplishment. Also becoming a young woman...wow...time just goes way too fast doesn't it?

Wow! They grow up way too fast don't they ladies??? My granddaughter turned 14 on the 20th!


Today..I have set on my butt most of the day watching movies on Starz with hubby:D

Congratulations to Mackenzie for her accomplishments!!! I know that you're very proud of her!!!

Lindsey, you may need to get blunt with your pushy friend. Just let her know that you're not interested because your job keeps you busy enough and that you're not willing to take on any more at this time......which is true.

As for how you're treated at work......Can you tell them when you're called into the office as you're leaving that you need to be home at a certain time and that you'll finish it first thing in the morning? You should be entitled to your time off at the end of the day!!

Janet, I'm sorry that you're stressed right now. Ricky is certainly old enough to keep track of what he spends. I'm sure that he'll catch on one of these days!!! LOL At least he has a great mother that cares!!

Gayle, I know that having your family move in with you will be a strain.....but you'll love it and that they'll love being there with you and Gary too!!

Lynne, stubbing your toe wasn't a very fun way to wake up in the morning. I hope that by now it's better!! At least spending the day off of your feet and watching TV was a relaxing way to spend your day!!!

Glen got back from snowskiing last night. He had a good time. It's been really quiet with him gone. We still have Glen's sister, Brenda staying with us, at least for a couple of more days it looks like. She's working on Althea's estate....trying to get credit cards canceled and other things like that. It looks like she's buying Althea's house. I'm glad that it's staying in the family but I hope she takes care of it. I'd hate to see it go any further downhill than it is.....it's such a neat house!!!

We were in a tornado watch this evening......I'm not ready for this kind of weather yet!!! At least the worst of the weather was south of us!! I'd much rather have snow!!!!

I'm sitting at the outpatient surgery center waiting for Gary. He's getting a steroid injection in his neck. You may remember his shoulder pain. Well that's getting better, but in the process of checking out the shoulder, they discovered a pinched nerve in his neck. He's been going to physical therapy and it is helping both his shoulder and neck. But the is going fishing for a month and will not be able to attend PT during that time so they decided to give him the steroid injection to decrease the inflammation of the disk that is pushing on the nerve. I hope it helps, although he is markedly better with PT. If this helps at all, he should be fine.

Sorry to hear that Gary's having trouble. I know that you're so very good about staying on top of his problems. If you say he's doing fine then I know that he is because he's in good hands!!!

Today.......welll.........so far I've got NOTHING done!!! And here I am on the computer AGAIN!!!! I DO have the washing machine and dishwasher going so I'll be busy in a little while.

I've got to go and get my little cabinet but Dae Lynn and Jaci want to go with me so I'll have to wait until a little later this week. I'm so excited to get it!! Here's a picture of it!! It's only 42 inches tall!! I paid quite a bit for it but it's in excellent shape.....well, I guess it's missing a handle but it's still that's not much to complain about!!!

The cabinet is so cute Diana. I see the real thing at auctions all the time here. I just those cabinets. I would have loved to seen the whole house Althea lived in. The outside area is so nice that I bet it was really something when it was new.

Today I ran our paperwork to the tax man. Hopefully we'll get something back. When Ricky's tech school to add, I just didn't know if I would be able to do it and around here...it's just too hard to try and accomplish something I would have to concentrate on.

This week we have a busy week ahead. Tomorrow I take Mom to see about getting a hearing aid. I heard they are really expensive and Mom said she wasn't going to get one if it was. I told her then she wouldn't be hearing very much then because I was tired of the TV so loud...feel like I'm going deaf myself at times. Right now I have cotton in my ears...lol. Then on Wednesday I go back to the Dr. about my wrists/carpal tunnel. The shot he gave me in my right wrist on my last visit didn't help. It is still numb feeling and my left hand is really bad. Not sure what is next on the agenda, but I hope this isn't permanent...it's so unnerving. Then on Thursday I take Mom to her Dr. and then Friday is a free day...yayayayayayay. LOL

Wow...you do have a busy week ahead!!! I hope you get some good news about your wrist.

The thing about the cabinet is that it's not full sized.....it's actually a child's cabinet and is a little over 3 feet tall!!! That's why I'm so excited about it!!! It's actually very rare.....especially in this condition!!

I finally just said to her "I'm sorry, it's just not right for me" and she finally wrote back and said "Okay, fair enough" so she wasn't happy, but probably more unhappy with herself for not being able to recruit me. The more people she gets working under her, the more money she makes :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, that's not how my company works. When they come in with work at the last minute, they expect it done immediately. Especially when it was due a few days prior. They are so disorganized! Work is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing for everyone who works there, and I don't want my life to turn out like that. I guess I already feel like it's turning out like that because I feel guilty for taking time at home to get over being sick. I miss so much of my life for it, I've missed family gatherings, nights out with friends, I even missed my birthday last year (on a SUNDAY!) and Scott ended up bringing take-out Chinese food to the office to eat with me that night, so I wouldn't be totally missing out on my birthday.

The thing that amazes me is that Scott got sent to Vancouver for two weeks because they had TONS of work for him to do out there. Every day he's been there, he has not worked more than one hour after work hours. Sometimes he'll get two hours overtime if he works over his lunch break. But for other companies, "TONS" of work means maybe an hour of overtime every day. For us, "normal" work is 3 or 4 hours of overtime every night, and at least a couple of weeks a year where we work anywhere from midnight to 6 am before we are allowed to go home :( That's just expected. I'm sick of it! I'm counting down until we're back from Europe and I can really start looking for a new place to work.

Sorry I started to rant there!

Lindsay, you are right - work is NOT everything. I have been through that - working 10-12 hour days, 6 days a week. It is no fun and very hard. I don't do it anymore because with Gary I never know when he might get really sick and I want to spend as much time with him while he still feels good. But I did it to get tenure and promotion at my University and I would do it again, because it was the right thing for me at the time.

Sometimes we have to do things we don't really like (like spending too much time on something) for various reasons. And many times they are good reasons - to get ahead, to get a promotion, to start a business, etc etc. This is not necessarily a bad thing - because we all like to get ahead, make more money, or whatever. But when it becomes distressing and causes us to be upset, then that is time to think about other possibilities. Sometimes we don't have other options, sometimes we do. It's a balancing act.