TennesseeSully

SEARS SCREWED UP

2009-03-20T08:29:00.002-05:00

The question is will they take the steps to make it right?
Problem #1
Delivery is scheduled for 2:00pm. My husband takes the afternoon off work to make sure everything is ready for them. Old appliances out cleaned the room and all that jazz. I received a phone call from Julian, the delivery guy. He says he will be late expect him around 4. I told him We are available until 5 because the children have Karate. Okay he says I will put an extra step on it.

4:46 rolls around NO DELIVERY

I call and they say they will bring it tomorrow. Problem with that is my husband took TODAY off not tomorrow. Anyway, he sends the washer and dryer with someone off the sales floor and arrives at 5:15 (the MINUTE we have to leave with the kids). At this point I have left a rush order that HAD to be done to come home. I had to go back and finish it after this.

PROBLEM #2

Let me first state their is a sidewalk that runs from my driveway ALL THE WAY to the concrete ramp up to my back porch with a door that leads DIRECTLY INTO my laundry room. Probably the easiest delivery path of ALL time.

He has the dryer on the dolly and scraps the bottom of the front of the dryer on the metal part of the door frame. I paid $1,412.00 ( I rounded the change up to a full dollar) for a scratched up set?!?!?!?

Looks GREAT!! right?

PROBLEM #3
He ripped THREE holes in my flooring. This one is about a quarter in size. Of course it is right in the walkway to the back door so perfect!!

At this point he has said he will give me a little money back on my dryer, but has not named an amount. He said he will have to come view the floor. I will see how he does.

Hopefully I will not be disappointed further. I know I will NOT be shopping at Sears again. I only shopped there this time because I know the economy has been rough on all the "small" stores in our area and I was trying to not shop at Lowe's or Walmart. I should have purchased at Lowe's.

Augustine Lily Rose of Paris

2009-03-06T09:37:00.002-06:00

My mom has the cutest dogs that ever existed. I love my dogs and think they are super cute, but Mom's dogs are just cuter.

This is Auggie from my Wordless Wednesday a few weeks back. This picture was taken today.

A local paper is considering using her for their ad. I think they should because she will definitely get attention!!

Just updates

2009-03-05T14:15:00.004-06:00

Anniversary
Kevin and I have been married almost 2 years. We have been together for almost four years now. I will post a bigger post about it on the day. I am a very lucky woman!

Karate
Alec and Kyle are BOTH loving Karate. They are so excited when we leave their school that they are twice as loud in the car as usual. Kyle is doing good. Alec is doing GREAT. I am thrilled that Kyle is loving it. I really had to push him to try it. Now that he tried this he has decided to try T-Ball this year.

Foster Pup AKA Duke AKA MarmaDuke vonn Punkerdoodle
This little guy is really fun. We really enjoy having him around. I believe that if some loving family would give him a chance he would steal their hearts away. I hope he finds a home soon. He won't be a puppy forever. If he ever gets adopted I do plan to foster again after a month or so vacation from it.

T-shirts
It is the time of year for fraternities and sororities to get their shirts. I am busy busy busy. I love working with the college students to get their shirts just the way they want them. They come up with really great ideas!! Several of the members that I work with will be graduating this year and many of them have brought by the person that will be doing the t-shirt orders. I am thrilled that they took the time to do this.

BRAG
I have this wonderful friend, Amy Childs. She makes homemade items (soap, diaper bags, quilts, etc). Her website is still under construction, but she is WONDERFUL. Her peppermint soap is my favorite.
www.hillsidehandicrafts.com

This week....venting.

2009-02-27T10:01:00.003-06:00

This picture has nothing to do with my post. I just love this dog. This is Captain Cracker Jack Sparrow. He is an American Bulldog and he loves EVERYONE with all of his big hearted self. He makes me smile every time I see him. He is Charlie's daddy.

has been a long busy week. I have had people accuse me of mischarging them because they forgot about SALES TAX. They yell first and then don't apologize when they realize they are wrong. I have had to deal with my least favorite customer of all time and ask them to find another company to do their work. My husband is working midnights and they are calling him in early every night so I have not gotten to see him this week. I mean we saw each other a few fleeting moments here and there, but not quality time. Alec (6) has been more drama prone than usual this week. Oh, and the sinus headache is just about to push me over the edge. My favorite forum that I am a member of had issues this week. We had to move to a new host temporarily. We ended up losing a few members because I do not have their contact information. I have known these people online for over 4 years and I hope we are able to find them.

I just had an overall not good week. I refuse to be a totally negative person so here are my positives to balance the negatives.

1. I have wonderful sweet doggies.

2. My children are healthy.

3. I have a wonderful marriage and actually miss my husband when he is not home.

4. I found a pan that is just exactly what I have been looking for (It is a red Paula Dean pan from walmart...5qt saucepan with lid)

5. My diet has gone decent this week.

6. I cleaned up my desk and it feels good to have it cleaned up.

7. Someone acted interested in adopting Duke.

8. I have agreed to foster another dog if Duke is adopted.

9. I ordered new business cards and they came out PERFECT! (vista print premium-great deals)

10. I have a couple of new customers and they are VERY nice people that are great to work with (thank you M.E. and C.C.C.)

11. A few of my regular customers are more like friends that just customers.

12. Life is good even when things aren't perfect.

13. I don't have many close friends, but the ones I have are the best friends someone could have.

NewPurse

2009-02-23T14:09:00.005-06:00

I purchased this new handbag on etsy.com and I just adore it. The lovely lady who makes the designs and the handbags lives one town over from me. I am really impressed with the quality of the work she does and I LOVE the design. Check her out if you get a chance.

http://www.etsy.com/search_results_seller.php?search_type=seller_usernames&search_query=designsbymelissame

This is the bag I purchased. It was a very reasonable price for such a lovely bag ($28).

wordless wednesday

2009-02-18T14:36:00.001-06:00

Karate Kids

2009-02-09T08:35:00.004-06:00

Alec and Kyle just started taking Karate lessons. Actually last week was their first actual class. They learned the high block. Kyle on left/Alec on Right

In this picture they are trying to strike a "cool" pose. silly boys.

This week they will learn how to tie their white belt. I tied them in this picture and I am sure I did it wrong, but I wanted a picture in their Gi before they stain it up. I have high hopes for Karate. Alec is super into it and it will be a good energy release for him during and between sports seasons. Kyle's gross motor skills are okay, but could really use more refining. He is clumsy like me (sorry Kyle). I am hoping that Karate lessons will help Kyle be more aware of where his hands and feet are and maybe give him more self confidence. Alec should be able to defend himself better also. Hopefully he won't need it, but with that big kid named Mason knocking him down and wishing him dead at the after school program he might just need the extra help. OR maybe the teachers will watch the kids and notice when the same kid is knocking my kid down daily without me having to go and tell them (I have done this now, but I had hoped it would work itself out without Mommy having to save him).

Check out the trim around my front door...it is the wood that is leaning in the corner...it has only been a year since the new door was installed. *rolls eyes* My husband is motivated, can you tell?

The 7MSN Ranch: I guess the joke's on me

2009-02-03T16:11:00.000-06:00

The 7MSN Ranch: I guess the joke's on me

Pioneer Woman's Action Set

2009-02-03T13:38:00.002-06:00

I downloaded PWs action set for my Adobe Photoshop CS2. Anyway, I thought it was fun to try out the actions on this baseball photo of Alec.

This was Alec's first year playing t-ball. He thought it was lame that they couldn't get each other out. I don't know what he was doing when we took this picture, but I love it!
Original

With the "fresh and colorful" action.

Randomness

2009-02-03T10:34:00.002-06:00

We received a free sitting and one free picture from Olan Mills Photography for donating money to a local volunteer fire department. The pictures are okay. There are shadows on our faces in the family portrait. I did like how the photographer caught each child's personality in this photo.
Alec is in the back (Mr. Smart), Jacob in the middle (Mr. Cool), and Kyle in front (Mr. Comic).

We still have not been able to find a home for Duke, our foster pup. He really is at the perfect age for someone to train right now. I have him trained to come, sit, and stand, but he needs his forever home.

I am getting my hair cut today. I hope it turns out nicely. The person who normally cuts my hair no longer works there so I don't know who will be cutting it this time.

My Favorites

2009-02-02T14:31:00.002-06:00

I love reading blogs. I love to learn about other people's lives and I have a question...What are your favorite blogs?

http://www.the7msnranch.com/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

http://paradigmfarms.blogspot.com/

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

My favorite fun websites to check out daily are

http://failblog.org/

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

http://ihasahotdog.com/

So...What do you like to check out on the web first thing each day?

ICE in Tennessee

2009-01-30T09:20:00.002-06:00

I know the headlines have been all about the ice storm here in Tennessee. The part of Tennessee I live in is really close to the Kentucky border. Just 10 miles north of where I live people have been without power for days. This is the only day the ice was bad where I live and by noon you could drive without troubles throughout town, just stay away from the back roads with bridges.

Rocko was checking out the snow/ice for the first time this year. I stayed inside MOST of the day. I did make a trip to Walmart.

How bad is the weather where you live?

The Dogs are really too much fun!

2009-01-26T15:50:00.003-06:00

I love dogs. I ESPECIALLY love MY dogs. They are so fun and funny. Here are a few pictures from this past week.

Rocko (big dog) does NOT like Duke. He doesn't understand why that little punk is on the couch with him. Of course, Duke doesn't understand why Rocko will not play with him and be his friend.

I brought home a new bag of dog food. The bulldogs were excited so I let them snack from the bag. Duke tried to squeeze in, but the bulldogs did not let him in.

This is my problem child, Charlie. When I am in the kitchen he wants to be in the house. He has resorted to standing on the grill and looking in the kitchen window at me. I spray him with the water sprayer on the sink and he won't do it again for a few days.

This is Duke howling because he is sad. He does this every time a customer leaves the office.

Snowing in Tennessee

2009-01-20T15:15:00.001-06:00

This is the first snow I have seen this year. It was also all melted well before lunch time and still below freezing.

Motherhood

2009-01-18T18:27:00.006-06:00

Stomach Viruses...I know what a disgusting topic, but let me tell you...whew have we had a rough time this last week. Alec started it Sunday night and Kyle joined in Thursday. I have washed more sheet and blankets, given more showers, and missed more work in the past week than I normally do in a 6 month period of time. I think I will be out of work again tomorrow because Kyle is still not eating and is taking really long naps all day. He still have a funny tint to his skin, too.

My birthday will be here this week. I am going to be 29. It seems like yesterday I was turning 18. Time flies by faster and faster each year for me. Six years ago I was living in Phoenix City, Alabama with Alec being a tiny little guy. Five years ago I was living on post at Fort Benning, Georgia and Kyle was an infant. A few months after that I adopted Rocko, a Rhodesian ridgeback boxer mix. Four years ago my ex husband and I separated and I moved back to Tennessee to be close to my parents. Three years ago I met Kevin and more than one year ago we married (April 2007). One year ago Kevin adopted Alec and Kyle and now we are a complete family. Somewhere in there we bought an American Bulldog and named her Neela. She had puppies and we kept one and that is our big boy Charlie. Kevin's uncle now lives with us and we have a wonderful household full of people and dogs (the dogs stay outside mostly).

Rocko

Neela (She just turned two years old)

Charlie was pictured in my last posts.

I wonder what 2009 will bring us.

Fostering a Puppy

2009-01-13T15:11:00.003-06:00

I decided to foster this puppy for the humane society. He is a cutie. They said he is a miniature pinscher, but their guess is about as good as mine. I think he is a feist minpin mix or something.

Anyway, he is terribly cute and I shocked that no one has claimed him yet. He is barely 4 months old and as cute as can be. I have been working on a few behavior issues that puppies have and well other than the house training (harder with small dogs than it was with my big dogs) he is doing GREAT. He no longer chews on us like we are chew toys. His anxiety has decreased by leaps and bounds. He is just a wonderful little guy.

I am glad I have had a chance to teach him to sit and come when called. Hopefully some family will take him to his forever home soon. I will miss him when that happens very much.

Duke sleeping in the sun at my work.

Duke tugging on the wrist strap for my camera while I take his picture.

Duke is a baby or a puppy? I am still confused.

Horses, just not my horses.

2009-01-08T19:17:00.005-06:00

I am not a rider of horses. I am simply a lover of horses. I do not have any horses of my own. A really good friend of mine, who happen to also be the Paternal Grandmother of my children, has two beautiful horses. The first picture here is Buck. He is 27 and doesn't know he is that old. He is amazing. He will let anyone ride him, even me. I prefer to pet them and give them treats. I am a dog person and I treat almost all animals like they are dogs. Jenene, the owner, and my youngest son, Kyle are on Buck in the first picture. Kyle does not hold on well so they go slow.

The second picture is Jenene and Alec, my 6 year old, on Buck. He only went fast for just a minute. Alec thinks it is the best thing ever. Hopefully someday they can live near us and Jenene can teach the kids more about riding.

This is Buttercup AKA Butter or Butt. She is a big dog. She will protect me from the dogs and give kisses and is just the best sweet little horse anyone could want. Jenene is the only one that can ride her. If anyone else gets on she will run full speed until she decides to stop.

During my pregnancy with my first child back in late 2001 to early 2002 I lived on Jenene's farm with her. My exh (husband at the time) was in the military and I stayed with his mother while he was gone to save money and pay off bills and things. I helped to take care of all of her animals and it was great fun. I don't know how all of the horse people handle having a full time job and horses though. They are a lot of work.

Buttercup got sick with some type of infection...don't get me to lying I don't know what it was called or anything. The vet said she would never run again and would at best be a pet. Jenene didn't sleep for months I think. Buttercup still doesn't have full control of all of the muscles in her face, but she can be ridden and she loves to run still. She is totally back to her old self except her lip on one side sags a little. It is fun to grab when you give her a big kiss on the nose.

help with how to properly size my pictures into this blog...worded for a computer tard would be wonderful!!

WOW!! I am some kinda super blogger.

2009-01-07T15:38:00.005-06:00

Seriously. It has been more than a year since my last post.

All is well with all of us. A few changes have occurred since my last post. Lets see...everyone is a year older. We added a dog to the group at my house. Our female American Bulldog, Neela, had a small litter of puppies and we chose to keep one. We had her spayed because the nursing of the pups was too hard on her immune system. She is a wonderful girl and I will not make her go through that again. Her son Charlie is definitely a keeper(pictured below). He will be one this month and is a big ol' baby. He is almost 90lbs and still growing. He is a couple inches in every directions of being as big as his dad at this point. Rocko, our beautiful mixie (mix breed-Rhodesian Ridgeback boxer dog), is doing great at age 5. His little face is starting to gray. It makes me sad because dogs just don't last as long as they should. Especially the really good ones.

The little guy in the picture with Charlie is a humane society doggie I am fostering. He is a fun little guy. Hopefully some family will welcome him into their home soon. We call him Duke. He is about 3.5 months old right now.

My Granddaddy has past away this past year. Every holiday or event that he would normally have been at makes me terribly sad. I miss him very much.

The children. Jacob is 10 now, Alec is 6, and Kyle is 5. Jacob is a sporty quick-witted FIFTH grader. Alec is super smart video game loving people pleaser. Kyle is a comedian that thinks in black and white.

Kevin, the husband, and I are doing well. We were able to take a little mini-vacation and spend the night in Nashville. We had fun going out with just the two of us.

This is a picture of the lovely room we stayed in...thanks to a wonderful friend that paid for it!! Thank you again, Mark!! I am going to start blogging more...hopefully. Until next time....

Life in General

2007-12-12T09:17:00.000-06:00

As usual my life is crazy busy. I never two years ago would have though I would be where I am not, but here is a great place. I have received a raise at work, but I had to go to salary to get it. It is worth it because my son will be starting therapy again soon and I will be coming into work late at least two days a week for months.
Alec is really happy about his last name changing. He thinks he is totally cool with the same last name as mommy and daddy. Alec did really well in his school's Christmas program. He was in the back so the video isn't worth sharing, but he did all of the motions right on cue.
Kyle enjoyed school for a change. Of course it was because there was a Christmas party with presents. That and he got to wear pajamas to school.
I still dont' have presents for the teachers. I am really unsure of who all is considered a teacher for Kyle. How many gifts do I need to send out??? I know he has at least three that work with him directly. I am thinking of a monogrammed bag for Alec's teacher, Kyle's two main teachers, and the speech therapist. Note to self: ask mom about the bags.
Kevin is on night shift for a little while and he is sooooo tired that he can barely function during the time we see each other.
I need to call Jacob's mom and find out if he is having a Christmas program so I can go if he does.

Anyway, Life is Good.

Our Day in Court

2007-12-03T12:40:00.001-06:00

well after the 30 day waiting period (to give the biological father time to respond) we received our court date. Then the Friday before our Monday court day we get the call. My lawyer says that the post office was only supposed to allow Mr. ______ to sign for the letter and they let his wife sign for it and this could get our case thrown out.

All weekend I was sooo sick. My stomach turned all weekend.

Monday morning at 10am we get to court and we are the first people called. They put Kevin on the bench and ask him if he understands what adopting the children means and how it could effect him if we divorce. Then, I am on the stand. I have to testify about the communication I have had with Mr. _______(R) about the adoption. I told them about R agreeing to sign the rights of the children over to Kevin. Then I went to speak with a lawyer, Teresa Marshall. Once R received the papers he stopped returning my calls. He called my lawyer and told her he would NOT sign the papers unless I paid all of his back child support (7k). My laywer then informed him that that is illegal and we would do no such thing. If he did not want to sign the papers we will just terminate his rights through the court without his signature. (I didn't say this in court, but just FYI) He told my lawyer, "Tell her to try it and I will take that F'n B@#$% to court for full custody". Now let me remind everyone that this is from the man who has not paid support in who knows how long (7k behind) and we are 2 months short of TWO YEARS since he has seen them. Okay back to court....oh before I went to court I was informed that the judge we have is huge on making sure Dads have their rights and are pushed to be a part of the kids lives. *gasp*

Anyway...as soon as I finished with the explaination that my lawyer had talked to R and he did know we were pursuing this even though his wife signed the papers...the judge said that the judgement would default in our favor, R's parental rights are terminated and Their last name is now W******.

WOOT

sigh Vent by ME

2007-11-27T14:04:00.000-06:00

well...life is a little stressful these days. Uncle Scotty is living with us now. That isn't a really stressful...just something I have to get used to. Some other people that affect my life are not making good decisions and this causes me stress. Not feeding their pets because they dont' have money, but not getting a job or even trying. Just bum money off everyone you know so everyone hates you...that is always a good choice. Oh, then go buy some beer with the money you borrowed from people who dont' have enough money for themselves.

Adults please act like adults and take care of yourselves. Thank you so much.

Life

2007-11-12T13:34:00.000-06:00

You know, my life is good. I am so lucky to have all of the things I have. I am surrounded by wonderful children, husband and parents. I have a decent car, a nice home and nice clothes.

Life is really good.

I am thankful because I have it good.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Parent Day

2007-11-08T13:27:00.000-06:00

Today was Parent Day at my children's elementary school. I could only miss a half day of work. I spent from 7:20am until noon at school.

My boys are such good little kids at school. Now I will not say they are perfect or that they don't have to have anything said to them ever, but they are genuinely good kids. They don't hurt others and follow directions pretty well. I enjoyed meeting more of the other parents and watching Alec do his work.

Memories
I ate lunch in the cafeteria today. Let me tell you...it really was as bad as we remember. The burger cannot really contain any beef. The other thing that we had to choose from was a "crispito". I asked a teacher what that was and she said, "nasty". I had wanted to know actually what it was...she said she tried it once and would NEVER do it again. LOL

I have a hard time in Kyle's class. One little girl wouldn't look at me and it took me back to when Kyle was that way. Well he still is with strangers, but not with me. It made me sad to see the other children who will also have trouble functioning in a normal classroom next year.

Tomorrow is Kyle's Doctors appt.

My first blog post.

2007-11-07T15:18:00.000-06:00

Well, I have no idea what to do with a blog. I have a ton of things going on in my life.

1. I am a mother/step-mother of 3 boys (Jacob (9), Alec (5), and Kyle (4))
2. I am Kevin's wife.
3. I am an assistant coach for a basketball team and an indoor soccer team.
4. My husband and I are in the process of him adopting my two boys (alec and kyle).
5. Kyle is going to the doctor to get diagnosed with whatever it is that he has (communication delay).
6. I work full time as a office manager for two companies. I also do embroidery, graphics and screen printing for the company my mother and I own.
7. I volunteer at the school my children attend whenever the need arises.
8. I am a full time student in the Success program at Bethel College in McKenzie, Tennessee.
9. I am sure I am forgeting something...who wouldn't with my schedule.

Basically, I have a verra busy life.

My biggest stresser right now...I am sooo worried that the doctor will diagnose Kyle differently that what I am expecting. My heart hurts over it. My second biggest stresser right now is my nightmares about Kyle. I wake up crying over him getting hurt again. He is sooo accident prone. None of the accidents have been worse than stitches in real life, but in my nightmares he is burned badly or broken because I cannot protect him all of the time. I cannot make him answer me when I call him.

One of nightmares was (....it is hard for me to type it out. I remember my nightmares, but actually trying to type them out the details evade me) my house was on fire. The fire was between my room and the boys so I went outside to their window. Alec made it out, but he forgot Kyle. By the time I made it into the window he was burnt badly. Then it skipped forward. We had sold our house and we were living with my parents to be able to pay the medical bills and we were trying to save up to fix Kyle's face. His was horribly disfigured.

whew....feels good just to get that out of me.

TennesseeSully

SEARS SCREWED UP

Augustine Lily Rose of Paris

Just updates

This week....venting.

NewPurse

wordless wednesday

Karate Kids

The 7MSN Ranch: I guess the joke's on me

Pioneer Woman's Action Set

Randomness

My Favorites

ICE in Tennessee

The Dogs are really too much fun!

Snowing in Tennessee

Motherhood

Fostering a Puppy

Horses, just not my horses.

WOW!! I am some kinda super blogger.

Life in General

Our Day in Court

*sigh* Vent by ME

Life

Parent Day

My first blog post.

sigh Vent by ME