Last night my computer crashed and then my server decided to keep knocking me offline so I did what every sensible person does. I yelled at it and then decided to go to bed. My sister lent me some new books and I started Fourplay, she said it was really good and so far I would have to agree. Sara (from work) also lent me The Good Mother. I started that as well but it is so intense that I can only read it in spurts. From the first page you can tell that something bad is going to happen.

So last night John was working late at the limo shop with Bill trying to get the coach back together and I am curled up in bed (alone) with two different books both about women going through a divorce. How ominous is that? (Just kidding John!) ROFL

I try to decide which one to read, the one about the husband who will eventually drag his ex-wife through a horrific custody battle or the one where the ass of a husband leaves his wife for a younger woman, his secretary no less. I went with the second one because I knew the other one would make me cry and besides, I am the younger woman in John's life so there shouldn't be any similarities. hehe Although I guess now that I am 30 maybe I should reconsider that!

I don't remember falling asleep but I guess I did because I was woken up at 5am with John barely getting home! He slept for a few hours and is already at work. And here I sit feeling guilty as hell because I should also be heading to work and instead I am sitting on my ass because I can't seem to get motivated. I so hate mornings!

I had one of those really good days at work today, nothing in particular happened, it just went smoothly I guess. So why do I have this major, throbbing headache right now. Could it be that I still have a sinus cold and can't seem to stop coughing. I've finally started taking the vitamins I bought over a week ago so maybe that will help.

I've been wanting to stop over at Liz's and check out her yummy candles.......note to self to do that tonight. There are also so many blogs I've missed reading. I really have to catch up soon.

This morning I watched the fall of Saddam's statue. I was supposed to be at work, but I found myself glued to the television. As I listened to the sounds of joy as people celebrated their liberation I felt tears come to my eyes. This is what it was all about. I can't imagine that the rest of the journey in Iraq will be easy, I feel as if it will probably get much worse. I keep thinking about how easily crowds get out of control in our own country, how much worse will it be in a nation with no acting government or police? All though these thoughts were constantly playing in the back of my mind, I still couldn't help but to feel overjoyed as I watched the symbolism of Saddam Hussein's terror fall to its knees.

Today Brittany wanted to know why if the people in Iraq were celebrating the arrival of our troops and the fall of Saddam, why are the people in our own country still protesting? I would like to know the answer to that myself.

We finally went and picked up a copy of our marriage certificate. My drivers license has been expired since my birthday and I figured I'd better get around to renewing it with my new last name. I also picked up the tabs for my license plates which expired in February. Wow.....I can finally watch "COPS" without feeling paranoid that they would soon be looking for me! ROFL I'm serious, I'm surprised I never got pulled over just because I looked guilty! hehe

I am having an overwhelming craving for grapefruit juice. Not the sweet, sticky pink, cocktail kind, but the tart, pucker your lips, with absolutely no sugar added kind. How weird is that?

Brittany on the night of the Choral Festival

The concert went really well. They all did a great job. Brittany had a speaking part where she introduced one of the songs with an opening by the composer. It was beautiful and very touching. I had several of the mom's say that she brought tears to their eyes. She has such a dramatic voice. I of course didn't cry, I am always way too nervous when she is on stage to even think about crying! After the concert we went out to eat and then came home and watched movies.

On Sunday we took the kids to the circus. We had fun although Anthony ate way too much junk food. Let's see, he conned my sister into buying him cotton candy, before I realized it he had ate the whole thing! Then he had two snow cones (his and John's), a hot dog, popcorn, and a chocolate bar. I think he probably would have been fine except for after the circus we went to visit John's dad and Anthony kept sneaking cookies. Because no one else pigged out as much as he did, we were all hungry by the time we got home so we ordered pizza. Anthony didn't eat anything and instead went to bed. About an hour after he went to bed he puked everywhere! I felt so bad, I didn't really realize how much he had ate until after he got sick! Bad mommy! :-P It's a good thing that the circus only comes once a year!

On Monday my cold finally caught up to me and there was no way I could go to work. I am still coughing and my body was so exhausted I couldn't get out of bed. I slept just about all day until John and the kids came home. I went to work today but still felt out of sorts. Well, I have laundry to finish, homework to check and a little monster who needs a bath. 'Nite

Proud mommy time again. :-) I don't know if you recall my blogging about the districtwide choir that Brittany tried out for last fall, well, today is (finally) the day of the performance. She had to be at their final practice at 8:30am and she just got home about half an hour ago. We went shopping last night and found her a new dress. She is so excited. They had a long day of practice but she said it was fun. She said at one point the director asked her assistant if any of the voices were standing out the the first person she mentioned was the "girl in the black shirt" and pointed at Brittany. I am so proud of her. The actual performance is at 7:00 tonight and we still have to stop on the way and get her new shoes. So I'd better get going. :-) Oh, I almost forgot, I scanned in the newsletter article about the festival, I emailed it to my dad so please feel free to read it. Have a great night, I know I will. :-)

John actually didn't have to work tonight so we went out to eat and then picked up a few groceries and rented a few movies. The plan was to come home and veg out on the couch but he ended up falling asleep so I am here checking email and stuff. Today was very cold. For some reason I had it in my head that there was a girl scout meeting after school so I rushed out of work because of course as usual I was running late only to find that the parking lot was a skating rink and my van was coated with ice. It had started to rain which in turn froze because it was so cold. I just love driving on roads covered in freezing rain! I knew it would be slick so I avoided the interstate and took the back roads because people around here always drive like maniacs in crappy weather. I was about 3 miles from the school when my gas tank went to zero and I was in the middle of nowhere with of course no cell phone. I drove with my fingers crossed the whole way hoping I wouldn't run out of gas and have to walk the rest of the way into town (there is a gas station across the street from the girls' school). Thankfully I made it to the gas station on fumes and a prayer and filled up my tank. I then went to the school to find it empty except for the secretary who told me that there wasn't a girl scout meeting today.

So I went to my mom's house and did payroll instead. My stepfather had a limo run and about 10 minutes after he left he called to tell me to drive home very carefully because he had slid the limo into a ditch. Fortunately, there was no one else in the car! Can you imagine?! I would have totally freaked out which is the main reason why I refuse to drive until it is summer! He was fine and the limo was fine, so he drove out of the ditch and continued on his run.

Well, I guess I should drag my husband to bed and read for a bit. Have a great night. :-)

After work today I went grocery shopping because there was absolutely nothing to eat in this house. On the way to the store I noticed my wallet of pictures laying on the dash. I had this weird thought that I should take it off of there because there are certain people that I don't want to advertise my vehicle too and they would definitely recognize my kids. I tried to shrug off my freaky paranoid feelings but I removed my pictures all the same. As I zipped into the parking lot of the grocery store (well I guess you can't really zip in a mini van but you get the picture) I just about ran over Eddie (my ex and Anthony's biological dad) and some girl. I completely froze. Thankfully he didn't see me and I actually backed up and went to the end of the parking lot so that he wouldn't see me. I parked behind this big truck and watched as they got into their car. I was actually shaking and it was so weird because I remembered my prior paranoid feeling before I even saw him.

I have no contact with him and for the most part don't even think about him. I refuse to collect child support from him because honestly, John is Anthony's dad and I don't want any connection to Eddie. When Anthony was a baby he would visit but when he realized that we were never getting back together he just drifted away and has never made an attempt to be a part of Anthony's life. He sometimes runs into my family but he never even asks for Anthony. From what I have been told he knows that John is raising him (Anthony) and he considers John to be his dad, which is how it should be because Eddie has never really attempted to be a dad. Anyway, I don't know why I got so shook up over seeing him but I did. I must have sat in the car for at least 10 minutes after they left before I could drag myself into the grocery store.

What freaks me out is that I always have a feeling that I am going to see him and sure enough I do. Last summer I was on my way to pick up my wedding dress when I had this weird feeling that he was close by. I was driving by a construction site and so I just figured that I had that feeling due to association, not necessarily because he was around. But on my way back from the store I drove right by that same place and I had to stop for a red light. As I glanced over to the construction site there he was.

Once I was at work and I actually felt him there before he even walked in. When I felt that weird feeling I looked up and I saw the side of his face as he entered the building. I ran into the back office and stood there until he left. I didn't want him to know where I worked because although I know he has moved on with his life I still have a fear that he will bother me again. I learned the hard way with him that restraining orders don't work.

Anyway, I always feel weird when I see him, I think it is partly fear because things were pretty nasty between us towards the end and he did a very good job of scaring me and also guilt because I have this wonderful little boy because of him and he will never know what he is missing out on.

Thankfully, by the time I finished with my shopping I felt like myself again and was able to come home and make dinner. John is working late at the limo shop so I guess I am going to go to bed and read. I watched part of American Idol but I can never seem to watch TV without being interrupted a million times so there is really no point.

Long boring day at work today. I am still feeling sick so it was all pretty blah. Hopefully this cough will go away soon, I am so sick of being sick but it's not bad enough to go to a doctor cause pretty much they wouldn't be able to do anything anyway. Brittany is telling me a very long boring story about school. I am trying to listen because I know that before I know it she will quit telling me about her day but damn her stories are LONG! She has been talking for at least 20 minutes straight telling me about a fight with one of her friends. I can't even get a thought in edgewise will all of her chattering. So I guess I'll end this post for now and give her my undivided attention so that she can finish up soon (I hope). If she doesn't stop soon I think I'll tell her to do some chores, that should get her to disappear pretty quick. hehe

I really do try to listen to her stories about school but if you have ever heard any of Brittany's stories (or if you have a Brittany of your own) I'm sure you can understand. She can go on, and on, and on.............well now that I think about it, I have had some pretty long posts here so I guess I know where she gets it from. lol

Well I see that blogger is having template issues. Thankfully that would explain all of my headaches last night, I was starting to think that I was offline way too long and had forgotten everything! That's ok, I have to go to work anyway and if it is still down tonight maybe that means that I will actually get some laundry done!

Bill (stepdad) stopped by yesterday, he had to pick up some stuff but he also showed us pictures of him and Bill Cosby. Bill Cosby had a show at a casino not far from here and Bill picked him up at the airport and drove him there. He (Cosby) had two comedy shows and prior to that he did a special show for children. The casino is on a reservation and there are some serious educational issues there. Education is a serious issue for him so I guess he gave a wonderful talk to the children there, hopefully he was able to reach some of them. Bill (stepdad not Cosby) said that Mr. Cosby was very nice. The kids were excited to see the picture of their grandpa with Bill Cosby, Danielle especially was very excited, she watches the Cosby Show on Nick every day. Well, I'd better get my ass to work. One of these days I might actually have to get there on time! ROFL

okay, I actually had my layout, but could I leave it alone? Of course not, so here I am back to square one. I wish I knew if it was blogger doing this weird shit or if it is just something stupid on my end........I really, really have to go to bed so if you see some weird ass layout you know why........it is NOT what I intended, I promise! ROFL

sorry, I lied, I'm still trying to get this damn thing to work.......but this really is the last time........if it doesn't work I'm going to bed! I just wish I knew what the hell was wrong?!

Okay, I REALLY mean it this time! lol I am so tired, I have to go to bed, I don't know what is wrong, this stupid thing is taking my code and replacing it with one of it's own. I am too tired to mess with it but tomorrow I'll go over my layout to see if there is something wrong with it that would explain this. Have a good night and I'll see ya tomorrow, hopefully with my own layout! :-P

Okay, here goes with the new layout, hopefully I didn't mess it up too bad......
.....that was scary, let's try it again......(keeping fingers crossed)........
what the hell??........

okay, this is really starting to piss me off......sorry if you happened to witness the mess as I try to update things here....
still not working, I am either getting too tired or something is really wrong with my layout because this is NOT what this is supposed to look like. So if it doesn't work now I am just going to forget it, go to bed and try again tomorrow. :-P

I should be at work right now but I can't seem to get my ass moving. Yesterday I woke up with a cough and today I feel like total shit. I did spend yesterday working on a new layout but as you can see I haven't uploaded it yet. Hopefully I will have time to do that tonight. Yesterday was one of those lazy Sundays where you look back on Monday morning and wish you would have got more done. I still have laundry to do and my computer area looks like a disaster hit. Between empty coffee mugs and photo albums from where Brittany scanned in baby pics for her autiobiography, not to mention just the typical mess that usually seems to find its way here I can barely find my keyboard! My computer is in the basement of our new home and as the basement is supposed to be the kids playroom there are unpacked boxes of toys, books, and pretty much everything else we didn't know what to do with. Hopefully we will get this organized soon because it is driving me insane.

Do any of you wear contact lenses? Have you ever went to put your contacts into your eyes and open the case to find them empty? If you have, did you wrack your brain trying to remember if you took them out the night before. Maybe you close one eye and then another trying to see if things look blurry because your eyes are tired from wearing contacts all night or is it because you really just can't see. You might stand inches away from the mirror peering into it, trying to see if you can see a contact lens, maybe you push your finger into your eye to see if they might have stuck to your eye ball. You will probably squint into your contact case again, maybe you just over looked them, are they stuck to the top of the lids? As you rule out first one scenario and then another you notice stuck to the side of the sink a dried up remain of your contact lens. It suddenly hits you that you left the case within reach of a four year old. Pretty stupid of you isn't it..........or maybe it's just me.

I miss my brother. Somedays I wonder why it is so easy to go about my every day life as if nothing is wrong when in the back of my mind I can't get over the fact that our country is at war and my brother is on a ship further away than I ever imagined possible at the center of this war.

There are so many opinions about this war, I see the protestors on tv and I am thankful that I live in a place like Fargo, North Dakota where the only people protesting are college kids, and there aren't even very many of those. I can drive down the street and see people proudly flying flags, not burning them. I am thankful that I don't live in a place where I would have to fight through crowds due to people protesting a war that my brother and many others are risking their lives for.

I can't and won't believe that my brother is in danger for an unjust cause. I can't and won't believe that the American lives that we have lost so far are for nothing. I am not a republican but I am proud to support our President and I am proud to be an American and I am thankful that there are brave men and women who are willing to put their lives at risk for the safety of others. I don't think that anyone wants to go to war but I do believe that there are times when it is unavoidable.

So I go about my daily life, washing dishes, going to work, playing games with the kids. I wonder what life is like in Iraq, what is it like to be a mom in Iraq today? My heart is heavy for them because I can't even imagine the fear of not knowing what tomorrow will bring. But I have to believe that someday in the distant future, when my grandchildren are sitting in their history class, they will see a picture of the planes flying off of the USS Abraham Lincoln and they will know that their great-uncle was on that ship and they will be proud to know that he had a small part in helping to make this world a better place. Maybe someday women in Iraq will be able to spend a Saturday grumbling about how much laundry they have left to do and why on earth can't their children stop slamming the screen door as they go out to play without a fear of what tomorrow will bring. Until that day I hold in my heart the wish that my brother, and all of the men and women overseas will come home safe to a crowd of people, not protesting what they did but thanking them for a job well done.

This photo is of my little brother Gilbert
taken a few weeks before he left
on deployment July 21, 2002.

It is Saturday and I have so much to do. After a week of everyone going to work/school/daycare during the day and nights of homework, dinners, projects, etc. we are all ready to have a day of doing nothing. Of course that isn't possible because today is the day to do all of the other stuff that we didn't get around to doing during the week. You know things like cleaning! ROFL Our house is a mess, laundry has piled up, the bathroom needs a good scrubbing, and the basement has toys everywhere.

On top of that, Brittany is working on one of those school projects that seems to require more work from me than it does for her. Her class is writing an autobiography which will have to cover her entire 12 years of life and our family history. We have completed the first chapter. Notice I said "WE". I had to wrack my brain trying to remember her entire first year of life, thank goodness I kept a very detailed baby book.....well actually two baby books, I am a little nervous that Anthony will have to do this same project someday because I never did make him a baby book. Anyway, we had to scan pictures and put them into book style. I know that in the end this will be a wonderful keepsake but for now it is just a pain in the ass, it has been way too time consuming and time these days is something that I don't seem to have much of.

Danielle has to make an "invention" for the invention fair and I have a feeling that this will also be something that I will have to spend quite a bit of time on. To make things even more difficult my printer is broke so until we can get a new one I have to email everything I need printed to either my mom's house or to work so that I can print it out.

But of course things like printers go on the back burner when you have things like transmissions going out. That happened in January and if you have ever had to buy a transmission for a Town & Country minivan you know that they are not cheap. Thankfully, we work for a parts place because we were able to put it on an account and make payments. I hate owing people money so hopefully that will get paid off soon.

I think I mentioned that I have a lot of stuff to do today, notice that I am still here. Maybe if I keep blogging all day I won't have to go and clean the bathroom. Ha! As if that is going to happen. Actually, I have to get going shortly, Brittany is babysitting today. She had her first babysitting job last Saturday and she was really excited to be asked to babysit again today. She also had our neighbors call her last night to see if she could babysit for a few hours today but since she had already commited to babysit for someone else I told them that I would watch their kids because they had to go into work for a few hours. They have four kids so my house will be insane for a few hours and of course it doesn't look nice enough to send them outside to play. Well, I'd better go, it is getting late and I have way too much to do. I made a few visits to my favorite blogs but there are so many that I haven't had a chance to visit yet, so hopefully I will get a chance to do that later. Have a great weekend!

Last weekend it was so warm here the kids played outside in shorts and tank tops. Today I drove home from work with great, big, fluffy snow flakes falling down. Hopefully it won't last because it was really nice to send the kids out to play last Saturday. One of our neighbors came over last Saturday and we drank coffee on the back step while we watched our kids play. It was so relaxing.

Well, I was hoping to get a bit longer post but I have to get going because Anthony told the girls that we were going to have Chinese food for dinner (I have NO idea where he got that idea from!) and they were so excited about it that I couldn't say no! lol Everyone is upstairs waiting for me so I guess I'd better get running.

I am hoping to have time to work on a new layout here tomorrow and when I am done with that I will hopefully be able to visit everyone and say "hello!" Have a great night! :-)

Hmm....It has been quite some time since I've been here, I think I might have forgotten what to do. LOL

I wish I could say that I had a solid reason as to why I have been offline for so long, but I would have to say it has been a combination of things. First, my internet service was acting weird and would kick me off every time I tried to get online, second I still have this damn cable modem sitting on my desk but it hasn't been hooked up because my piece of crap computer doesn't have the right card which I have been too lazy to install. On top of that I guess I would just have to say that my real time life has been so busy that I just haven't had time to be here. I apologize for leaving you all hanging and just up and disappearing, I would completely understand if none of you ever came back to visit me......but I hope you do. :-)

There is so much to share and if you have read any of my blog you know that I can ramble so I will try to put this all in a nutshell. All is well with me and my little family, the kids are getting big, they all had birthdays in the last month or so. Brittany is 12 and is getting very nervous about going into the middle school next year, Danielle is now 9 and is making new friends in our new neighborhood, and Anthony is now 4 and is getting way too big! Work is going very well, I enjoy being back there and all of the problems that caused me to leave in the first place have been resolved. I am enjoying being married probably a little too much because I need to go on a major diet. Why is it that when I am unhappy and alone I am thin and look my best but when I am happy and content I get fat? How stupid is that? Anyway, I won't bore you with that but hopefully I will be able to get rid of this weight because I refuse to buy new clothes! lol

I am desperately missing my brother who is serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln. He left right after my wedding and was supposed to be home in January but if you have watched any news lately you know where he is. I am so proud of him for serving our country but I just want him to be safe and come home. It is hard for me to write about it without wanting to cry. I spend way too much time watching the news and thankfully I am still able to hear from him often via email.

Oh, I had a birthday. I am now 30! Can you believe that? I would say that I feel old but I don't, well some days I do, but for the most part I just can't believe I am 30. Where in the hell did my 20's go? Oh yeah, I was getting married, having babies, and getting divorced. Speaking of divorce, Jorge, my ex-husband and his wife had a baby girl last month. They named her Cassandra and the girls are excited to meet their new baby sister when they go to California this summer.

Well, I guess I shouldn't try to cram several months into one entry and I am having a hard time writing because Brittany keeps interrupting me to listen to a song she is writing. Their school doesn't have a "school song" so their music teacher told them all to write a song and I guess they are going to vote for the best one. So she keeps singing me her lyrics and I keep losing my train of thought so I will try to work on this tomorrow and will hopefully have time this weekend to get a new look in here, something that will help me clean out all the "cobwebs".

OMG...I can't believe how much has been going on and how long I have been offline! First of all, I just want to apologize for not being able to post for so long, I have missed you guys so much! Thank you for your warm wishes and for still visiting me! We are all moved into our new place and we all love it. The best part is that Anthony and I are finally doing better. I still haven't unpacked my digital camera, it's in the basement with the rest of my office which still isn't unpacked except for my computer. As soon as I can find it I will post pictures. It took forever to get a phone but we finally have a phone and now that we are in town I can finally get a cable modem which we just got except now I have to buy an adaptor for my hard drive for it to work. At least I think that is what we need?!

Anyway, I am driving the kids back and forth to their old school because I didn't want them to switch schools in the middle of the school year, they are both doing well in school and Anthony is excited to be starting preschool in January. I have also went back to work. With the new move and all of the extra bills we really needed a second income. I am working in the office where John works again, the one person I really hated is gone so that should help. I am also only working until three which gives me extra time to spend with the kids. Anthony is back in his old day care which he is really happy about because he really loved it there.

We all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, which we celebrated in our new home, and we are trying to get ready for Christmas. The kids are of course very excited for Santa to come and we are busy with Christmas programs, concerts and plays. I haven't done much shopping but will hopefully have time this weekend. Due to a virus (or two?) I have lost just about all of my email and I still don't dare email for fear that I might spread something. I think I have cleared all of it out but you never know. I would rather be on the safe side. I do want to say thank you to the person who sent me the gorgeous bear ornaments for the Blog Ornament Exchange! I am so sorry you haven't heard from me in person but we were in the middle of moving when I received them and I can't find your card anywhere!! I am so, so sorry! I am hoping to hear from Jenna so that I can get your email address so that I can thank you properly! As soon as I can find my camera I will take pictures of them so that you can all see them. They are just adorable, they are bungee diving bears that bounce up and down on tiny little springs. My kids just loved them and they look wonderful on our tree!

Well, I know I have more to share but I have to get going. I have two kids to get in the bath, laundry to finish, and all kinds of misc. things that never seem to be done. :-) If you sent me a recent email and you haven't received a response I am so, so sorry. Hopefully it wasn't deleted with all of the other bad files but if it was please know that I am not ignoring you or being rude. You are all in my thoughts this holiday season and I hope you are all doing well. I'll be visiting your blog very, very soon to catch up on all the latest! ~hugs~

We got our keys to the new place yesterday. The kids made friends right away and I met our closest neighbor on the left side of us. She came out to introduce herself as we were carrying in boxes. I really liked her and I had already heard from Nathan's wife that she was really nice. She is a single mom with three boys. I am looking forward to getting to know her better.

Anthony told me yesterday that he is NOT going to move! He is going to stay right here by himself. Of course when I pointed out that there would be no one to feed him because his daddy would come with me he agreed to move with us but of course he is only doing ME a favor! ROFL

There is still so much to do so I have to get going, I just wanted to stop in and say hi. I haven't had much time to visit but hopefully later this week I will have done enough so that I don't feel so guilty sitting here. I did want to say thank you to Annette for her adorable blog award. :-) And of course thank you to all of you who keep visiting even though I haven't had much time to return the favor. I hope you all are doing well. I'd better get going, have a great day! ~hugs~

There has been so much going on here it has been crazy. The big news is that we are moving out of our small little town into Fargo. We found a townhouse to rent that we all really like. I am going to miss living here because it is nice to be part of a small community but I just hate sharing a house with my stepsister. We each have our own living space but they live above us and it drives me insane because we just don't like each other. On top of that we live in the basement apartment which tends to flood a couple of times a year which of course means that the walls have mold in them and it is cold, drafty and we are all ready for a change.

The place we are renting has less space but I really like it. I'll take pictures as soon as we are settled in. We just kind of made the decision to move at the last minute because as sick as Anthony and I have been we all think it is the house that is keeping us from getting better. The two of us spend the most time in this house and we are the most sick. We are both still not completely better so we are anxious to get out of here and see if that helps. I'll keep ya posted. :-)

I plan to keep the girls in their same school, I will just drive them back and forth from town. Next year Brittany will go to the same middle school as she would have if we didn't move because we are in the same school district but Danielle will have to switch schools. She is a little nervous about it but she will do fine. She always makes friends easily. In two years she will start the middle school and she will have all of her new friends plus all of her old friends.

We got the girls school pictures back last week, didn't they come out cute? :-)

Well, I have a ton of packing and cleaning to do. We get our keys for the new place on Monday. I am hoping to get most of the stuff moved over during the week in small loads while everyone is at work/school so that by the weekend John and I can move all of the heavy furniture and stuff. The only thing I am worried about is the piano. I think we might have to hire someone to move it for us. I do love moving though. It is so much fun to pack up all my treasures and find a new home for them. :-) The other benefit is that I am getting rid of a lot of crap that we don't need.

My kids are all packrats. I have to throw stuff out when they aren't home because they want to save EVERYTHING! The bedrooms are smaller in the new place so I have to be selective as to what we take. The girls will still have to share a bedroom. It is almost impossible to find a 4 bedroom to rent around here that wouldn't kill our budget! The nice thing about this place is that there is a basement which we can paint and fix anyway we want to and the kids are excited to turn it into a playroom. I also have a laundry room down there which is nice because most of the places we looked at had no laundry or you had to share coin operated machines. It is amazing how some people can get away with renting complete garbage! One place we went to see I opened my door and stepped on an empty vodka bottle! I was like....ummmm....no I DON'T think so! lol

After we found the townhome I was surprised to find out that Nathan (limo driver) and his wife live a few doors down! I talked to his wife and she really likes it there. They are both a fun couple and they have kids close in age to mine so I am excited to introduce our kids. OMG I don't post in forever and now I can't shut up! ROFL I do have one of those funny stories that could only happen to us which I of course have to share! So I will apologize for the extremely long post in advance. :-)

Last Thursday John and I went to sign the rental agreement for the townhouse. I had already seen the inside but John hadn't. He's a typical guy, if I like it he likes it as long as he has a garage! hehe Anyway, after signing the paperwork I asked if the rental agent could take us through it again so that John could see it. It was only a few blocks away so she drove in her own vehicle, John followed behind her in the used truck he had just purchased from work, and Anthony and I followed behind in our van. Before I could pull out a police car pulled between John and I. For the entire drive over there is a caravan of all four of our vehicles. The rental agent pulled into the parking lot, followed by John and I assumed that the police officer would keep going straight. He did not.

He pulled right behind John and before I could blink he was out of his car with his gun drawn! I stopped in the middle of the road frozen in fear. What in the hell was going on. I really don't remember what happened but the next thing I knew John was in handcuffs. John who usually looks likes this tough biker, looks ten times scarier when he is in his work clothes. I got out of my van to see what was going on and was informed that my husband was driving a stolen vehicle! I quickly explained that my husband had just bought the truck from his boss who sells used vehicles and offered to call over there to get it all cleared up. He refused to listen to me and the next thing I know there is another squad car along with a detective who took my drivers license. Now remember that all of this is happening in front of our rental agent and Anthony! I was freaking out. I called my mom and then my stepdad because at this time they had John still handcuffed in the back of the squad car. I finally got John's boss on the phone and made the police officer talk to him. Even then the officer didn't seem too impressed and even hung up on him! I was starting to get pissed! Finally they let John go but they had to impound the truck.

Here is what happened. The truck had been stolen and the original owners reported it to their insurance company. When the truck wasn't recovered after a certain time period the insurance company paid the owners for the value of their truck. Some time after that the truck was found on an Indian reservation and when the owners were contacted they returned it to the insurance company who were now the owners since they had already paid for the truck. To recover their money they sold it an an auction where it was purchased by John's boss who buys used vehicles who then sold it to John. The insurance company is supposed to file a report with the police department where it was reported stolen which they said they did.

Somewhere along the line the truck was never taken off of the stolen list and in a small county in Minnesota some dumbass sheriff (with obviously too little time on his hands!) insisted that the truck was stolen even AFTER it was explained to him by the police here what had happened. He didn't care and he still wanted John to be charged with being in possession of stolen property! Can you believe that shit?! It took some convincing but thankfully the officer who originally pulled his gun on John felt so bad about the whole thing argued with this sherrif until he agreed to let it go. John still had to pay to pay for the towing fees and to get the truck out of impound so now he is fighting with the insurance company because they should be the ones paying it not us. Since they knew it had been stolen they should have double checked that everything was clear BEFORE they sold it! Poor John was a mess all night. He was still freaking out about the gun thing when we went to bed that night. The only thing I am thankful for is that Anthony was in the van with me and he didn't see anything that had happened. He almost rode in the truck with John but at the last minute I decided to put him in the van! I was sure that the rental agent would NOT want to rent to us but she was very understanding and after they finally took John out of the handcuffs she showed gave us a tour! ROFL I seriously doubt if this would have happened to anyone but us! hehe