Day 1 & 2

Future walk-in closet:

Former walk-in closet-future vanity area:

Former vanity area-future shower and toilet area:

Master closet(how do I get to my clothes?:

The ceiling in master closet:




Day 2-Looking like a shower!:


Plumbing for vanity:

Toilet:

Am I Really Ready?

I have had projects done in a house before, but never a remodeling project. And hearing horror stories about remodeling projects, why would I want to subject myself to one? Because I want my house the way I want it, the way I would have done it in the first place if we built it.

It's going to be a challenge to remain calm and let it happen. I am just hoping it all works out the way I had envisioned it in my mind from the onset. I think I'm crazy for wanting this. But in my mind, it looks pretty darn great! And also, it makes sense to me to do this, especially in this house for the purpose of being able to use the actual guest room for guests and not have to share a bathroom with my youngest daughter.

That's right, a bathroom renovation. The current bathroom situation is a 'Jack and Jill' set up. The bedroom has it's own vanity, but shares the toilet and shower. The current vanity area will house the shower and toilet. The walk in closet will be the new vanity area and the alcove right next to the bedroom will become the new walk in closet. It sure sounds great in my head and the general contractor and plumber said it could be done...crossing my fingers...to be continued...

Vacation...??

The definition of vacation: a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel.

You can read how my vacation started from my previous post titled, 'Travel Nightmare'.

Our yearly vacation is to the same place, Vermont, at a very nice family resort, Smugglers' Notch. We have a very nice condo also.

So, all I am asking is, with the definition of a vacation, do I even get a vacation if I am still cooking, cleaning and doing laundry during the vacation? I do these things at home, which I don't mind most of the time, but during a vacation? I would like to be pampered and not do any of these things. Laundry, I don't mind as much, but cooking and cleaning up?

I did get a chance to just relax...only because I had cramps for the latter part of the trip!!!! I think the horrible start of the trip was a huge clue that I shouldn't have gone in the first place. But the time with family was great nonetheless.

Nightmare to Dreams

For years I have not remembered any of my dreams, but the past two days, I remember them. Why is that? I've been sleeping well and I don't think I am stressed anymore. The meeds I am on daily for seizures makes me tired so I tend not to remember my dreams.

I like to self analyze my dreams when I remember them, I like to analyze my hubby's dreams too. I am not sure tho what the past two night's dreams mean.

Sunday night's dream: I was pregnant and was in the delivery room pushing with all my might. In a few short pushes, baby was born, but then came a second baby! What? I told my hubby we had two babies, he was shocked, to say the least. I kept repeating, "we have two babies, we have two babies". That was it, the end of that dream.

This morning I woke up remembering my dream. I was with a group of women, some were eccentric and were analyzing me from head to toe. Other ladies were being critiqued also. I saw one lady with a wild hair do and I said to her I wished I could pull that off. This lady goes onto tell me she could make that happen. I told her to go ahead and see what she thought the best style would be for me. She circled me like I was her prey, lifted my hair and said my hair was too long and so boring. She finally said she had an idea and she would do it. During this time also, other ladies were critiquing my clothes and were pulling clothes off and giving me new clothes to try on.

I was excited to get a fresh new hair cut so I asked this lady how much. She said $1,000!! What?? Really? I was shocked but I was so caught up in everyone giving me a make over so I asked her if she could do it for $800. She looked at me like I had insulted her. She didn't say anything for a bit. Then she said she would cut my hair for $800, sweet! I was so excited, but deep down I was really thinking I was crazy to pay even $800 for a hair cut. That was it, the end of that dream.

The first dream, I have no clue what that dream meant. The second dream, I've been wanting a hair cut, but too scared to do anything drastic. I usually end up with cutter's remorse after a hair cut so i haven't cut my hair for over two years Guess it's time for a change....

Travel Nightmare!

Going on vacation is a sign that things are going to be calm, relaxing and fun. The start of a vacation can be stressful, however. Travel days are the most stressful because you have no control over the mode of transportation you are taking to your vacation unless you are driving there. We chose to fly since we vacation in Vermont. Our flight wasn't until 10:15 am so we had a little more time to sleep over having a 6:00am flight. I receive an email notification from United Airlines that our flight was on time for take off. So off to the airport we go with enoughntime to spare to get thru security.

As we are now seated in the little restaurant in the airport in front of the tv to watch the world cup, I received another email notification stating our flight from Chicago to Vermont will be delayed 2 hours. No biggie. But then I receive yet another notification stating our current flight will be delayed for an hour, still no biggie. The notifications keep coming. Now this service is a great service, but in a span of six hours, I received seven email notifications regarding either my current morning flight or my connecting flight.

We did board our first flight but once all the passengers were on the plane, the captain announces that in Chicago, there is a no wheels up status which means no planes can take off, which is where we are headed to. He kindly informed us that he would try as hard as he could to get a time table for this situation so we would know to stay on the plane or if longer, we maybe able to deplane for a bit. Half an hour later, the captain announces we can deplane if we'd like to, but to be back by 12:15pm(it is now 11:45). We decide to stay on the plane, others deplane. As we get closer to 12:15, people start coming back on. 12:15 rolls around and an announcement is made that we are now waiting for three passengers and if they don't make it back in a certain period of time, we can lose our spot for take off and be delayed further. The three passengers finally board at 12:40. Lucky for all of us, we were cleared for take off.

So we landed in Chicago just fine after suffering thru a family of three sitting behind us that truly did. Ot know the meaning of using inside voices. The entire flight was the parents describing to their son, who was probably 10 or 11 years old very detail about take off and landing and laughing out really loud during the video show of The Office. It was quite irritating the syrupy way they spoke to their son and deliberately had to say his name after every sentence. We were glad the flight was only an hour!

Since our connecting flight was delayed, we had plenty of time to grab a nice lunch with the kids. As we were eating, I received an email notification stating I needed to rebook our flight since this flight was now cancelled. I called United immediately to rebook, my hubby called for hotel rooms in Chicago and a rental car just in case. Myself and three kids were booked with paid fares so when I talked to the United agent, I booked this set first for the flight out tomorrow. I then told her I needed to book my hubby on this same flight but he was using my reward miles. I told the agent(she was in The call center in India)so was really hard to understand her, but I got thru it, I told her to please send the confirmation of his flight to the same email as the four I just booked. When I got off the phone, I immediately received the flight confirmation for my hubby's flight. I waited for the other confirmation email for the four other flights. I never got it. So I called U tied again, told this agent I had just talked to someone a bit ago and booked flights out for tomorrow, but that she had failed to book four passengers and that I needed these booked. No more flights were available for all four passengers, she could split us up. Not an option since they were minors!

We decided we would drive to Vermont then, we already had a car booked from earlier. So my hubby cancelled the hotel for Chicago and I had to cancel his rebooked flight out. When I told the agent to cancel his flight, I stated to please make sure that the four passengers did not have any flights out for June 13th. She said ok, it's done. As we were on the shuttle to the rental car, my hubby and I started talking about the problems with understanding the agents from India because of their thick accents. Then for some reason, it hit us that the last agent I spoke with may have completely cancelled the entire flight itinerary of the four passengers. I called United again and sure enough, the previous agent had cancelled the entire trip for the four people, now we had no tickets to get home on the 20th! We arrived at the rental car place and the line was out the door full of people waiting. Just our luck. With. Othing else to do, I teed calling United again to ask for help regarding our return flights home for the 20th. The agent could book our flights but the tickets cost over $1,000 each!! I had told her it was the previos agent that had cancelled the tickets in the first place so we shouldn't have to pay that amount, just rebook us back onto that flight! She wouldn't do it.

As my hubby was busy trying to get help with the rental car, (and the Presidentail level was closed so he didn't get the immediate attention that comes with that level)I told him about the price of each ticket and so on. We finally got help with the rental car since my hubby had been on the phone with them demanding he gets the immediate attention that the President level is to receive. We get the car and we Re now on our way to Vermont, from Chicago-yeah....but now we had to figure out our tickets home situation so I called United again to try and speak to the agents' supervisor. The agent was not going to help me one bit so I kept asking to speak to her supervisor. A supervisor came on the line, I told her the situation and she still would not reinstate our tickets. That is when my hubby said he would like to talk to her since he knows how call centers works. Let's just say it was not pretty. The supervisor would not help us and did not take responsibility for the mistake the agent had made.

Things are not looking good for us. I am panicked thinking we are going to drive all the way to Vermont and not have a way home. I refused to pay over a $1,000 a ticket, three hours into the drive, we decide to stop for the night and find a hotel. Got two rooms and then had to make a run to the store for the bare necessities we would need since my luggage and my hubby's luggage was checked in. And by the way, you cannot get your luggage where the flight has been cancelled even if the luggage is there, you can only get it at it's final destination. Nothing like going to Walmart for underwear, toothpaste, tooth brush and a spare set of clothes to sleep in. And MacDonald's was right by Walmart so that was dinner. Back to the hotel. The kids went to their rooms and we still had to figure this mess out. We had to decide if we would be driving back to Omaha or Vermont in the morning.

We tried every resource we could think of to help us with this mess. No flights home tho. Both of us were on our computers looking at flights but they were all over $900 or more for just one way. I had made up my mind, we would be driving home, that was only eight hours, Vermont was 16 hours. BUT my hubby was determined to have his vacation and he kept searching for flights, he found some, now we just needed to see if there was room for five people. Flights home now booked. We would be driving onto Vermont. Thank goodness we had a nice car and plenty of room. We also decided to stop at the good ole Cracker Barrel and get a good lunch and also a book on tape to make the time pass by faster.

I will spare you the details of the 16 hour drive but as we were getting closer to the border of Vermont, we saw a sign reading, "Bridge to Vermont Closed"....what the heck? We drove all this way and now we can't even get into Vermont?? Then there were signs that read "24 hour ferry". What? We have to go on a ferry with our car? We were all antsy already and tired so we held our breath as we approached the ferry, sure enough, there was the ferry and cars waiting to get on. Wow! We all were just giddy over this as we had never experienced this before in our lives, living in Nebraska, how would we? We were taking pictures left and right, looked like lightening storm in our car with all the flashes. Well, we did make it to our destination after 17 hours of driving.

I can say I slept like a rock, was able to finally laugh about the whole mess and had a good first day of vacation. That's what it's all about. Memories.

Stage Parents

There are stage parents, then there are THE stage parents. With three kids, I have been on the sidelines for many of my kids' activities; gymnastics, soccer, figure skating, dance/ballet, baseball, basketball, cheerleading. I have been team managers for quite a lot of these activities also. My newest gig, shared team parent for cheerleading. So being a team parent/manager, does that make one THE typical stage parent? Sometimes, but in my case, I am far from fitting that stereotype.

And boy have I witnessed some pretty hardcore stage parents over the years! Who's doing the activity anyway? I've had my childhood years of activities already, I don't care to have to start all over again. I had very successful years of doing what I wanted as a kid so I don't need to live thru my kids.

So what sport/activity brings out the worst offenders of stage parents? Even school projects you can tell a parent did the activity for their child. Yesterday, as I was playing triple solitaire with my kids, we were talking about how sweet it feels to win during this game. My hubby and I would play double solitaire for hours on end when we were teenagers. I became very good at it and very fast. My hubby soon tired of playing against me When my son was younger, I taught him how to play double solitaire. Of course his reflexes were nothing compared to mine, but I did not relent and let him win just because he was a kid. He was a trooper and kept playing and playing. Throughout the years, he would improve and boy was he determined to win just once! He was so determined to keep playing that even I got tired of playing it all the time. But the day came when he actually beat me and boy how sweet it was for him!

We talked and talked about that sweet feeling of winning. I told both my kids that I would never let them just win and they said they loved the feeling of beating mom all on their own. We all have to learn how to lose gracefully and also how to win gracefully, it's all a part of life. We all want the best for our kids but they have to learn how to achieve things on their own and learn how to accept defeat and victory.

Why did I volunteer to be a team parent for cheerleading? Because I like to be involved in my kids' activities and show them my support. I can support without having to live thru them. I volunteer for team parent/manager because I am pretty good at organizing things, not so I can know what the 'skinny' is. I stay away from gossip, that's why I limited my volunteering at the schools. I actually limit my volunteering quite a bit. It's funny how adults think they are speaking for their kids when in reality, they are speaking for themselves. We say we do things in our lives for our kids, do we really?

When Will People Stop Taking My Generosity for Granted?

I have had this post in my save file for awhile. At the time I wrote it, I was very,very angry because the friends I lent money to cut their monthly payment from $100 to $10 and WITHOUT telling us first. Imagine me opening the envelope, looking at the check and wondering if I was seeing things correctly. I thought I was seeing the amount wrong. So I asked my hubby if he had talked to these friends about this change in the amount, no he hadn't. I immediately sent an email to these 'friends' stating we should have been notified, common courtesy don't you think since we were generous enough to get them out of a tough situation? No response back from them, wow really? So now the second check came and it's still for $10. We all face tough situations in life, even I do believe it or not. But something like this, yeah, I would make it priority number one to be courteous to anyone that had given us money. So why didn't I post this at the time I wrote it? Because I was afraid that these 'friends' would read my blog. Well, with the check amounts still the same and NO letter to me stating the change, I have every right to post my feelings.

Here's the original post:
I have learned a lot of lessons in my almost 43 years of life. I don't have a Ph.D, but I do have a bachelor's degree, and I have a lot of common sense, so shouldn't I have been smart enough to know better? I don't mind helping people when they are having a tough time, I love being generous, but...ugh! People disappoint me, the charities that I donate to don't disappoint me, at least I know where my money is going to.

People on the other hand...I have been frustrated lately and this life lesson is only adding to my frustration. So do I have to let the people know my expectations? I've done that, yet life goes on for them like this never occurred. As my hubby would do, do I have to have a 'come to Jesus' meeting with them? At this rate, I don't even think that would work. What about MY life and my family's life? What about my hopes and dreams for myself and my family, OUR future?

We pay the same electric, gas, mortgage, etc. bills. We pay for college tuition(soon we will pay for two), gas for our cars, groceries, all what I call life's basics. We've been smart about budgeting, heck I'm still a penny pincher. Since moving 'out of the city', I've been even better at saving money with not going to the grocery store as often, eating out or shopping at the malls, even shopping online has drastically dropped for me. I am not one to get a manicure or pedicure, I haven't even gotten my hair cut for over two years. I don't belong to a gym, my hubby does, but only pays for the days he actually goes.

So why do others that needed the help in the first place do all of the above and then some? How do I get past this? Let it go? Forget because I offered in the first place? I'm not able to do that, not with the way the economy is today, we can't take for granted that my hubby will have his job till HE decides to retire. He's been stressed down to the core, it sucks for him and for our family. And don't even go there that I could go work, it's not about that.

I think past myself, I look beyond myself, I give of myself, why can't other people do the same?

Lazy Summer Days and Nights

That's what I love about school being out, no more having to worry about making sure kids are up in time for school (ok, I confess, I didn't have to do that either during the school year, my hubby did, but I DID when he was out of town), I know, I'm very spoiled. Anyway, I still think there was a part of me that worried about them getting up in the morning if I found my hubby still in bed past 6:15am.

Today really felt like the true summer, no school day. I had to wake my daughter up at 10:30am only because she had lunch plans with one of her grandmas. I don't think my son would have come out of his room until 3:00 if I hadn't texted him. Yes, I said I texted him in my own house. You have to realize, his room is in the north pole, that's what we call it since he is in the north end of the house. Call me lazy.

So what do I do with my lazy days now? I still catch up on emails, start the laundry, wipe down the kitchen counters, sweep the floor, make sure everything is tidy then I decided to clean up my pile of papers that needed to be filed. These consist of bills, purchase receipts, etc. I laid them all out on the floor according to a certain pile, including a garbage pile and a shred file.

I filed away the most recent papers, threw away the garbage, set aside the shred papers and the filing was complete. Now that didn't take me long at all so why was I so worried about it? Because the pile was bugging me everytime I added to it. Back to checking laundry and put in loads three and four.

Now what to do? I ate lunch with my son and told him we could go fishing in an hour. I did beat everyone yesterday with catching four fish and my son had only caught one. Always a competition. We only made it about half an hour fishing, it was too hot and humid out as the clouds began to clear, no fish either.

And with summer days, I took my shower at 4:00pm. Then my oldest daughter got home with dinner since hubby was out to a business dinner and now here I am, able to post on my blog at 6:20pm. That never happens during the school year!

The lazy summer days and nights have only just begun, I'm lovin them already! Ahhhh...

Blogging for Yourself

Yet this is so public. So why do people choose to use such a forum? For attention? Yes, sometimes. I blog, Facebook, and Twitter as a way to express my feelings. Yes, blogging started off as a form of journaling. When I first heard about blogging, I didn't understand the concept and why would people want their thoughts so public?

I began my blog when I decided to travel to Korea for the first time. It was the best way to journal my thoughts and also was a great way to have family and friends keep up with my travels without me having to write each person individually. Saved so much time when really, you repeat yourself in an email or letter. When other people have traveled, I told them this was the best way to have their family and friends 'travel' with them.

Why do I keep blogging even when I am not traveling? This is still a great way to write down my thoughts when I feel like it. I don't blog everyday, sometimes I don't have anything to write about and the days that I do blog, it's usually about my daily, sometimes boring life. How I blog or post on Facebook is really who I am. My life isn't some great fairy tale, I don't think my life is better than those out there, I really have my ups and downs and sometimes throwing out my feelings to the world is a great cathartic moment for me. This is also a way for family and friends to keep up with what I'm doing if they so choose to read my blog.

Everything with technology is public so people have to realize when they choose these mediums, strangers will read it along with family, friends, co-workers, etc. The work place, this is the part people forget. When on a blog or Facebook, Twitter, etc, you are representing yourself, but also the company, business you work for. This raises controversy, what about privacy and when a person is on their own time and not at work? Common sense, you don't want to post or blog about something that you would be embarrassed about in an everyday situation. You are still representing yourself. If people have an issue about being able to say or do what they want on their own time, then public mediums are not for them.

If you respect yourself, you respect your environment, work, organization, etc and care about how you represent yourself. I am 43 years old, I should act my age, correct? That doesn't mean I have to act all prim and proper all the time or not have fun, it's about knowing when and how to behave in certain situations and I am still modeling for my kids and therefore, I am representing my family. So I will continue to blog, Facebook, and sometimes Tweet, but all with the utmost respect for myself.

Spring Storms

Our winter was bad and now the start of spring storms has started off bad. Last night, as I was watching the radar on my iPad, I had made sure to tell my son to start coming home sooner than he had planned. My husband also decided to come home earlier. Thank goodness, just as my son pulled in, the rain began. All cars were pulled into the garage and everyone was home.

As the rain began, we saw it off in the distance and heading our way, along with the wind. The cover on the paddle boat was beginning to blow, so my son ran down and grabbed it. Needless to say, we had no idea of what was going to happen in the next few minutes.

The rain began coming down harder, the winds picked up and as the entire family watched from the kitchen window, we knew it wasn't looking good for our trampoline. We had bought a really good and sturdy trampoline, brought it with us to our new house and had the trampoline company reinstall it and anchor it down in five places with really strong and long anchors. As the wind began getting stronger and stronger, the trampoline began to lift on one side, then we could barely see it thru the rain and then it was gone. That is when we decided to head to the basement.

The storm was unbelievable, the waves were at least six feet tall and the hail was pounding. No tornado warning, just winds at over 70mph. As we continued to watch the storm from our basement, the rain came down in sheets. As we checked around the house, I looked out my bedroom window upstairs and saw the neighbor's entire dock and pontoon boat missing. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I immediately told my family because I was still in shock that both were completely gone. Then later we saw that their three season room, all the screens had blown out.

Across the lake, I also noticed a house that had the siding all blown out at the top and felt horrible. We lost our dock box full of life vests, skis, and so on, but those can be replaced. Our dock and canopy took the brunt of the storm. We are still amazed that our boat didn't blow away, a few more minutes of the wind and it would have been gone. All in all, about three docks and boats were damaged in our cove.

Our upper deck furniture and three season furniture was blown everywhere. We got all of it back but one cushion, not bad. Funny how our little Buda statue stayed in it's place on the table on the deck, never moved.

I always say how much I like watching storms but this one was way too scary for me. I am just very thankful everyone was home and no one was hurt and our house remained intact.

Here's our trampoline two houses down: