Sicky post...

I'm still feeling yucky. YUCKY! I've been fighting this head cold thing for DAYS now and I thought for sure I'd be on the downward side of it and starting to feel better, but alas.....not so much! At first it was mostly the coughing-at-bedtime-so-you-get-no-sleep thing, but now it's a full-blown head cold, complete with accompanying stuffiness and misery. bah!

Our weekend has been okay. We intended to stay home, but somehow we ended up here in Fairfield, visiting with my parents. Friday night we just hung out at home....watching TV and doing not much of anything. it was nice to be lazy, especially since i felt crummy. oh, and we bought a movie off pay-per-view.....so we all watched 'Journey to the center of the Earth'......not bad. The kids liked the dinosaurs and the other strange animals. I'm thinking I should read that book one of these days! So that was Friday.

Saturday, I had to go to the dentist, which is always fun. Note to self: don't break a crown and you won't have to have it replaced! :P Thankfully I'd gone through all the miserable parts, so this was a quick visit.....Karl got to take all the kids to swimming lessons in Alton. As soon as I was done, I went down there to meet them. It was so hot in the swimming pool area, we abandoned our seats for the comfort of the lobby and played out there with Zach and then Matthew and Zach once Alaina's class started. After swimming, we went to Steak N Shake for lunch, as cheesy fries are a Herman 5th food group! After a yummy lunch (milkshakes and cheese fries......so healthy!) we went to the mall for a little retail therapy for me.

I had a crummy week. CRUMMY. I'm past the initial shock of the whole reassignment thing at work and now I've moved on to the hurt/bitterness stage. BUT, I've decided to just do what I can to find a job in another department. I've applied for 8 openings already, and my boss said she'd contact the hiring managers for me. So I'm fairly optimistic about finding another job before January. What I'm afraid of is not liking where I end up. I've been in departments where there's nobody under the age of 40 and everybody has a chip on their shoulder about something. *sigh*.....I'm going to really miss the guys I work with now. So pray for me, friends! Say a quick prayer that I land on my feet in a fun group where I'm not stuck mucking through paperwork for the Department of Defense....BAH!

oh, and while I'm asking for prayers, keep my SIL Stacy in mind as well.....she had an even worse week than moi, as she found out Wednesday that she was fired. No severance, and the boss is probably going to fight her on drawing unemployment. BOO! :*( So if anybody has any leads for a graphic designer to find a job quick-like in St. Louis, let me know! What a way to start off the holiday season, huh?

So anyways, back to my retail therapy. Karl, my fashion-conscious hubby, had a coupon to Macy's, so we hit their sales. I wanted a dress for Christmas for me and for Alaina. I'd found the boys matching sweater-vest outfits at Target, so I was hoping for something to match/compliment their outfits (since I always like to TRY to match for pictures).......I didn't find any dresses I liked since I already have 4 black dresses, and seriously, how many more black dresses does a gal need? I didn't want black! But I did find a skirt and a sweater I liked, so I got those.....then we went to the girls' section and Alaina went nuts........and I gotta hand it to the marketing geniuses here.....they definitely pulled one over on the parents this time...

In the girls' section, they had some dresses on this one rack (which of course was more expensive than others) that had a matching American Girl doll dress attached to it. Seriously, how smart is that? The INSTANT Alaina saw those matching doll dresses, she was sold. Forget all the other frilly/sparkly dresses on the next rack....she HAD to have a dress that had a matching one for her doll. HAD TO. And I'm a sucker for giving my daughter what she wants, and Karl's an even bigger sucker, so she got the dress...........she's ecstatic.

Then we had to head to another store at the mall to continue the quest for a dress for me. I didn't want black.....I didn't want red. For holiday dresses, that eliminated 99% of the choices! Sheesh! I must be the oddball that doesn't want a red dress at Christmas! I found a blue one, tried it on, and that's the one i got. So now our family won't really MATCH, but we won't look completely stupid. I hope.

oh, funny sidestory from our trip to the mall.....I was either still browsing the racks or dealing with the kids, 'cuz Karl was doing the paying (I tend to chicken out when totals come across the screen and put everything back....Karl, however, just pays the bill......he's good to take shopping for that exact reason!)......and halfway through the checkout procedure, the cashier looks at him and says, "your name is Karl Herman?"...and Karl's like, 'yes....'.......and she started freaking out saying, "Oh My God, this is SO WIERD!"........at the register right next to Karl was another guy making a purchase, and his name was Herman Karl. Yeah. The irony confounds the mind, doesn't it? So Karl Herman went over and introduced himself to Herman Karl.......everybody found it ridiculously funny.........when Karl told me later on what had happened, I just started humming the theme to "it's a small world".........

oh, and we also went to another store in the mall where I bought more clothes I really didn't NEED....but I got a couple cute tops, one of which I'll be wearing to the New Kids on the Block concert tomorrow night........yes, that's right......my new top will TOTALLY catch the attention of my longtime crush, DONNIE WAHLBERG! OH YEAH! I got a couple new pairs of jeans and a pair of pants for work....and then decided that since I don't absolutely, positively have a job after the end of the year, I should probably curtain the unecessary spending for one day! :P

After my shopping spree, we headed home....and having talked off and on all day about it, decided to drive out to Fairfield to visit my parents. Saturday night was the congregation's annual Turkey Supper, so that was one reason to come out and visit........the other reason was that the following day, Sunday, was going to be a special service up at Brush Creek for my uncle Bill and aunt Lill Caudle. And we kinda thought we should be there for it. So after quickly packing, we headed off to Fairfield.

We got into town to catch the tail end of the turkey supper, so our dinner was turkey and all the trimmings...the kids weren't thrilled except for the pumpkin pie! then we went back to my parents' house and hung out. I sent Karl to walmart (which happens every time we visit since I ALWAYS forget SOMETHING) for cold meds and pantyhose......we just hung out here and talked with my parents. We stayed up pretty late talking and then everybody went to bed.....Zach didn't sleep much...he kept hollering for me in the night (all 3 of them were in the living room on the sleeper sofa....the arrangement didn't work out so well), so I think I got up probably 5 or 6 times to deal with him.....so I basically got zero sleep!

This morning, we had to carefully orchestrate bathroom time, as my parents new house only has 1 bathroom! Once we were all ready, we loaded up and headed to Brush Creek for services. Gosh I miss going to Brush Creek more often! I'm really thinking we should try to make it up there for reunion this summer......cross your fingers I get a cool boss so it's a possibility! We had our service to honor uncle Bill and aunt Lill....then they had potluck afterwards. I met a few relatives I didn't recognize....saw a few cousins I don't ever get to see....introduced my kids to some kids of cousins (which would make them something insane like 6th or 7th cousins I think if we did the math).......The kids went and ran off outside to play on the playground they just built......it was FREEZING outside, so I'm sure they'll all be sick by morning! I went outside and took some pictures of the campground since I haven't been up there in awhile....adn I don't recall ever taking pictures in the fall of the lake, etc. Then we headed back here to hang out again at my parents' house. They're sitting around now talking, and I'm sitting here blogging........we're going to order some pizza for dinner and then we'll head home. uncle bill and aunt lill are supposed to show up for dinner........so my grand plans for getting the hallway floor done ain't happening this weekend at all! But that's okay, we've had a fun weekend anyways.

And now, lemme see what pages I've done this week for posting.....

Here's Matthew's Halloween costume and class party one.....made using one of Sya's new templates, from her November Grab bag. He was Darth Vader, obviously:

And Alaina was a Pirate Princess....

And this is of the kids trick or treating... with another of Sya's templates:

The other day, everybody was outside while I was in the kitchen and I heard Karl laughing and hollering at me to "come look at this!".....I went into the garage and found Matthew underneath one of the Power Wheels pretending to work on it like a mechanic.....

And this is in honor of Napoleon Dynamite......Karl convinced Matthew to take a 'sweet jump' with his bike......the first one, which was pretty low, wasn't too hard and he did just fine....then Karl raised the ramp up a little higher....and the result was pretty disastrous, just like in the film! And us rotten parents were laughing ourselves silly....Karl had the video camera going and I was taking pictures.......Matthew's on the ground crying and we're laughing. We're such rotten parents sometimes, but GOSH that was FUNNY! This was again with one of Sya's templates from her November grab bag:

These last two are from our UK trip this past summer....I'm nowhere near done scrapping this, but I hadn't done any pages in awhile, and I decided to go through Mrs. Pohlman's pictures that she'd taken and given us copies of....and I came across this one of me and Karl in our wool hats that we bought in Blarney (I'm thinking I'll be wearing my hat this week as it's turned FREEZING here overnight it seems!)....this is using one of Sya's older templates ("the chosen one") and Vicki's new kit, "Enchanted Forest".....I'm trying to multitask my CT duties here! :P

And this is of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We didn't go to the 'main' area where they do the big dog and pony show....this was at some side entrance. I'm glad we weren't late, 'cuz the whole thing was over in like 5 mintues! It was neat to see though....they're very regimented, as all military are......the kids just loved those "fuzzy hats"!!! I used Sya's template "Totally square" for this one, but moved stuff around so much I dunno how much it resembles the original anymore!

And lastly my blessing for the week.....in honor of what has transpired this week....I chose my right to vote as my blessing. I did this layout before the election results were known, as I didn't want my journaling to be skewed with who ended up winning....and I was nice and gave equal space (well, almost equal) to the McCain/Palin logo even.....but anyways...it's the RIGHT to vote that was the blessing....not who was running!

Journaling: "Today we make History... I’m blessed to be an American. I’m priviledged to have the right to vote...to have my voice heard at each election I choose to participate in. Voting is important, and this year it’s more important thanever. This year we have the opportunity to be a part of history. We will elect either the first African-American President, or the first female Vice President. That is huge for our country, and I’m so happy to have a part in the whole process. My great-grandmother never had the right to vote...I do. So in her honor and for all the women who wanted to vote but were never allowed....and for all the soldiers who have died to defend our freedom to vote...and for my children who will live with the consequences of my vote, I voted today. I made my choice and my voice was heard."

so that's it for now....hope everybody had a great weekend.....I'm off to find some more cough drops! Tomorrow night, it's NKOTB in St. Louis! My SIL Nicole and her friend Emily are headed down and we're going to have a tug-of-war over the rights to swoon over Donnie! We all went to the Madonna concert together up in Chicago a couple weeks ago and had a great time, so tomorrow night should be fun! Can't wait! If I manage to sneak a camera in, I'll post pics in a few days.......TTYL!

Good News and Bad News

the Good News: Barack Obama is our President-elect! YAY! My brother owes me $50 for this little piece of history per our bet from many many months ago.......the bet was over which we'd see first: An African-American MAN be President, or a White FEMALE......and I told him that the glass ceiling is still firmly in place and I took the former position, and looky what we have now! So pay up, Deano! :P I voted, bright and early, on Tuesday morning, and even at our tiny polling place the line was abnormally long. And we got those fancy schmancy new optical scanners........but what about CHAD? Oh I'll miss you, my friend the 'hanging chad'......before the 2000 election, who even knew those little bits of paper had a NAME, right? So anyways, it was a very amazing day....I spent the night online seeing friends comment on our Facebook pages.....refreshing CNN (even though the TV was tuned to it 6 feet away)......and was shocked at how 'not-even-close' the race ended up being. Now.......let's go change the country, shall we? Yes We Can!

now....the Bad News: I got the news Monday morning (as to "not ruin your weekend" per my manager, gee thanks) that as of Jan. 1, '09, I am being "reassigned".........as in "you're kicked out of our group, go find another job"......well, maybe that's not exactly what it means. But since the funding for my project was cut, they decided to cut me too. Ouch. I wasn't expecting this at all, since I didn't have a 'project' at this same time last year either, but they managed to find something for me to do all of THIS year....I just assumed the same thing would happen again. But that's not the way they're going. So as of the end of the year, I'll no longer be working in Phantom Works. *sniff* I'm really bummed about that. Phantom Works has a certain clout, ya know?

Don't freak out or anything....I still have a JOB.......SOMEWHERE......I just don't know WHERE yet. According to my boss, she will be working with another manager to find me an opening with another department. I'm a little bitter about the whole thing right now, as I'm feeling like I'm some sort of leper that they're trying to forget exists.........like that wierd relative you want to disown in public......know what I mean? So anyways, I've applied for every job opening I've seen internally that I'm qualified for....and a few that I'm NOT qualified for. As long as I'm still getting a paycheck, I guess I'm content for now. I just don't like being in limbo. I went through this once before on another program, and the process stunk then too. So as of now, I feel homeless, so to speak. I will miss my coworkers horribly....we've become a pretty tight-knit group and it takes me forever to make friends.....I dread the thought of starting over with new people.....and it's doubtful I'll get put into a group as nice as this one was. And then there was the schedule thing I had going.....being able to work from home on Thursday/Friday was such a nice thing for me and our family. Most likely that's going to disappear too, as most other organizations aren't as 'open minded' as Phantom Works is. So I'm bummed about that too. And then most likely I'll have to switch buildings, which will increase our commute time.....yada yada yada.....the whole thing is just stinky, stinky, STINKY!!! BAH!

so that's my whine for now.......I have pages to post, but I'm just not in the mood. I'll do it another day. Wanted to get that mini-rant off my chest for now.

Happy Halloween!

Ah, Halloween!!! It's not my favorite holiday, and I feel bad to admit that I never even got around to decorating the house for it! But Halloween is a day for children, and as a mom of three of them, I can hardly ignore it! So it was a Happy Halloween around our house this year....

First up, Trick or Treating of course! DUH.....that's the best part of the holiday, right? Our trick or treating was actually held on the 30th (Thursday night), so our trick or treating has been over for a couple days already.

So here's a couple pics from that.....Zach tried to keep up, but Matthew and Alaina were so excited with the prospect of all the candy, they kept taking off and leaving him in their dust! Buzz Lightyear, Darth Vader, and a little pirate princess set off to get as much candy as possible!

We only go to the one neighborhood, because going up to Grafton Hills gets us all way more candy than we'll ever really need! And Karl gets SOOO excited in anticipation of "the cool house"....the one house that outdoes all the others.....they go all out with decorating and acting their parts to scare the kids..... This year they had a 'pirates' theme, which actually helped to NOT scare our kids, since they were playing the soundtrack from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride from Disney World, and the kids just started singing along....but they had their house decked out so well with pirate skeletons and stuff.....

Plus, they gave out full-sized candy bars...what's not to love, huh? :P

So that was Thursday night! On Friday, it was the kids' class parties at school, and I was room mom for the Kindergarten one. I had been coordinating with other moms over the last week getting this party ready, so now it was showtime! Plus, I had to keep tabs on Alaina's class party as well. As soon as I got there, I gave the kids their costumes and they went to change....I had to help Alaina put her eye makeup on for her pirate costume....and then I had to break a school rule and run into the boys' bathroom to help Darth Vader get his pants on! :P Then I got the other moms to start the Kindergarteners' games and crafts and I went to go take some pictures in Alaina's class of what they were doing:

then they had a parade for the parents, and since it was so nice outside (like 80 degrees!), we went outside the school for that:

And yours truly somehow, once again, managed to take pictures with the big camera AND do video with the camcorder. It's a gift! :P

Then it was party time! Each class made a craft....Matthew made a bat, Alaina made a ghost....then games, then snacks!

And that was Halloween for us! Friday night, since we'd already been trick or treating, we went grocery shopping! Then Karl made the brilliant (just glad it wasn't MY questionable parenting decision) move to stay up late and watch Poltergeist with the kids. Uhm, that movie scared the CR@P out of me when I was way older than Alaina or Matthew.......and it still does, darnit! :P i lasted all of 10 minutes and then bailed and went back upstairs. :) Evidently though, it didn't scare them.....I guess our children have moved beyond the 80s horror flicks? I wonder if Freddy, Jason, or Michael Myers would scare them? Uh, we're NOT testing that hypothesis......yet!

Saturday, Matthew started swimming lessons, so he and Alaina both had swimming classes to go to. I stayed home with Zach and did dishes and made lunch for my parents, who came over for the afternoon to visit. They all got home around 1 for our late lunch of soup and sandwiches....then we spent the afternoon visiting with my mom and dad. Poor dad.....he's shrunk! He's the same height as me now, and he used to be 5'10"! Sheesh.....getting old really stinks! We went on a drive to check out the fall colors at Pere Marquette State park.......it was very pretty, and with it being such a nice day out, really crowded! After we took our drive, we came back here for some dinner and then my parents left for home.....so that's our weekend so far....

So that brings me to update you on all the scrapbook pages I did....since I had some airport time on my hands I got a few pages done earlier this week that I haven't posted yet...

Here's one from the Halloween Carnival at the school last weekend:

This is a layout of us getting our pumpkins at Eckert's And carving said pumpkin into our scary jackolantern:

This one is with some pictures I took over a month ago of Zach playing in the ditch after a rainstorm.....it doesn't drain very well, so it's like a giant puddle, and this was the day that Zach discovered the joy of it....fully clothed of course!

And the Madonna concert Monday night!
And then to finish up, this is my blessing for the week.....it seemed appropriate, given the lovely scenery......the season of Autumn:
So that's it for me....might post more tomorrow, but doubt it! :P I got my blessing done early, so now I feel like I've got extra time on my hands.....oooh, plus we get that extra hour of sleep tonight, which I'm going to go thoroughly enjoy...right now!

MADONNA CONCERT PICS! :)

yep, I was there people! and yep, I snuck a camera inside (along with THOUSANDS OF OTHER PEOPLE!). So here're some pictures I got during the concert. I haven't been to a ton of concerts, but this was by far the best one I've ever been to....the woman was amazing, up there dancing basically nonstop for almost 2 hours....where does she get that energy? And can I have some? :)

Our seats were on the corner of the stage, so our view was at an angle....we had a much better view when she was out on the little runway thing....

this little circular jumbo-tron thing was cool.....they put lots of video clips on it and it moved up and down at different times.......

this is probably my favorite shot I got 'cuz you can read the quote on the screen, and I really liked that one!

these are pictures of one of the overhead screens....since our view was from the side, it was sometimes easier to see what was going on from these screens, so I snapped a couple pictures just to see if they'd actually turn out!

and of course, being madonna, she had to something really over the top:

yep, there was a car on stage.......how cool is that?

So I had a blast at the concert, it was worth it! If only she'd sang 'Material Girl', it would've been perfect!!! It was awesome!

blogging from the WINDY 'windy city'

Here I am, safe and sound in the suburbia of Chicago. I'm in town for the most important of events.....tomorrow night's Madonna concert at the United Center! :)> I haven't been to a concert in FOREVER, so I'm definitely ready to go have some serious 80s girl time! Bring it on!

As for the rest of the weekend, it went quite well. Friday night was the Halloween carnival at school, which we of course went to. And remind me to either give Karl some instruction or to never let him have the camera again, because most of the pictures are beyond blurry. BAH! I had to spend most of the time volunteering at the 2nd grade booth and at the Kindergarten booth. The 2nd graders sponsored the ring toss, which is always popular since you win a bottle of soda if you toss the ring around it. The Kindergarteners had the best booth I though....pig races! It was too funny....these little toy pigs would race to the music of 'who let the pigs out'......oh the madness! :P But anyways, here are some pictures from the night:

Saturday was Matthew's last soccer games. *sniff*.....he was so cute playing soccer, but he was the type of player that was good for about the first quarter of the game and from that point on it was a struggle to get him to actually PLAY! :)

Since it was the last game, his coach handed out trophies to all the boys....

So until next season, we're done with soccer......

After soccer, we went out for a celebration lunch at the chinese buffet and then to Eckerts' for our Halloween pumpkin. The kids weren't too cooperative with me for pictures, so this is the best one I got.....the terrible twos aren't much help with group pictures! :P

Saturday night we grilled some chicken for dinner and Karl and the kids carved our pumpkin.

Today, we loaded up all my stuff and headed to church. Alaina said her first prayer during the service. I helped her write it out Saturday night. I think it was maybe 2 sentences, but it was all her own words (and mispellings, but she could read it and that's all that mattered). She sat up front during the service and acted so grown up! She did a great job! Then we were on a mad dash to get me to the airport on time (which ended up being totally unnecessary, but oh well!)

We had a quick lunch at Steak n Shake 'cuz we'd promised the kids milkshakes.....and Karl dropped me off at the airport a little before 1 for my 2:27 flight. Security is usually not a big deal unless it's a high travel day like Monday/Friday, so I wasn't too worried about making my flight on time. I breezed through security, even with the 2 laptops, the little bag o' liquids and my big carryon ('cuz i'm way too cheap to pay for a checked bag!).......and who wears heeled boots to the airport? oh right, ME! dumb. :P

I got to the gate, got my venti china green tea and saw that my flight was "possibly delayed" to O'hare.....which of course means it was GOING to be delayed, they just didn't have the cajones to put it up on the screen yet! So I sat there, and being the forward-thinking gal I am, started scrapping! Our 2:27 flight got delayed to 2:59....then 3:15.....around 3:15 we boarded, and once we were all sitting there, and the captain SAID we were getting ready to push back, somebody somewhere changed their minds and we got to sit at the gate until 4:50. yep. We SAT ON THE PLANE AT THE FRIGGIN' GATE FOR OVER AN HOUR AND A HALF!!!! can ya tell how thrilled I was with that? CAN YOU? :P Actually, I'm a very easy-going traveler, especially when I don't have any connections to make. I just felt bad for everybody else on the plane since nobody made any of their connections! I think I made it outside into Kurt/Nicole's car about 6:15.......only about 3 hours late!

So now I'm hanging out in Nicole's family room and watching Desperate Housewives...

And now for the pages I've scrapped since my last post....

From our team community service event:

And our team dinner and concert:

This one is with Sya's new kit, called "It's a Girl's World", so I had to do something with Alaina in it, so I chose this cute shot of her and her friend, Samantha:

And this is one I did during my long wait for the airplane today.....of the girl scout hayride last weekend:

and of course my blessing this week......our home. Working for the day in the homeless shelter made me really appreciate our home, so this is it...."the blue house" (that's what the kids call it!)

And that's it for now.....I'll post whatever pictures I can sneak of Madonna with my cr!ppy point and shoot camera and from our crummy seats behind the stage! :P