I was watching 19 Kids and Counting last night and I was reminded of my childhood as a slave laborer. I kid. But the Duggars teach their kids to pull their weight in the family business, which I believe is managing rental properties (on top of their duties as reality show stars). They had the kids painting, the girls tiling floors in their skirts - all without complaints! Probably because they have 18 brothers and sisters helping them! While I was growing up, my parents owned 3 rental houses in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and we made frequent trips throughout the year to do major cleaning and house projects. My brother and I washed screens every March in the freezing cold, installed cabinets, washed and vacuumed more floors than I care to remember - all with the reminder that it was part of the family business and that it was all going to be ours someday. Lies! He sold those houses right out from under us in 2002! As luck would have it, my parents received a rebate check for a few hundred dollars from Hatteras Electric and you better believe that Jim and I screamed about getting our due payment after all those years of free labor!
Bottom line is the Duggars have got it right! Those kids march in line and don't talk back. Just compare them to the hellions on Kate + 8! I remember being a teenager and mentally counting the number of times I would have to empty the dishwasher before I had a daughter that I could boss around. For now, I will have to settle with bossing Billy around. :)

-Billy comes home today - hooray! And from what I understand, he made it through the weekend unscathed. The dad of the bachelor did get a DWI on the pontoon boat the rented. What a buzzkill. Just glad Billy narrowly escaped the law on that one though! One of the guys kept my FIL and I entertained with pictures throughout the weekend, which I appreciated.

-Thank you, Michele Bahmann for continuing to prove my theory that Republicans are better looking than Democrats.

-I realized yesterday what an emotional person I have become in the last few years. I can cry at TV shows, songs, talking to my mom...basically anything. What is the kicker is that in high school and throughout college, people would say that I was as emotionless as a ham sandwich. What happened? All my mom asked me yesterday is if I was doing ok and I just lost it. Being home by myself for 5 days and only talking to Patton probably wasn't the best primer for that conversation!

-People said that because of our massive drought, that the gators are coming out of their habitats looking for water. One got a weimaraner not too far from here when the owner was walking him near a canal- and that is a BIG dog! Patton is so friendly, he would not sense the danger, which makes me want to keep him on a leash. I have not spotted a gator within a mile of our house, but I know they're out there!

-I'm in the final countdown for my current job/office. My new building is just the one next door to where I work now, but it is an entirely different world. I plan on blocking facebook from my computer and trying my best not to be mistaken for an undergrad on an almost daily basis. I am not sure how to do this...new haircut? More collared shirts, more high heels?

-Have a great week, my faithful 5 readers!!!

Conversation between a coworker and myself:

Me: Just to let you know, I'm going to be working in another office as of July 13th
CW: Congrats. I'm going to be working here forever. If I were to switch to another office, I think I would be fired.

At least she knows it, right?

Billy left today for his bff's bachelor party. He woke up at 6am because he was so excited! So he decided to join Patton and I for our sunrise walk. We call these excursions with all 3 of us "family walks" and Patton always appears to be so happy when we're all together. He thinks we're all a part of the wolfpack I guess...
I gave him 3 rules for his party/vaca:
Do not get arrested
Do not get hospitalized
Do not spend all of my money

I'm fairly certain everything will be ok...but he's already planning on going rogue and going without a Virginia fishing license, so for all I know, that could be the gateway to something far worse....

10 thing Tuesday

Such a blogging block right now....so here is a list.

1. Saw my new office yesterday and it is awesome.

2. Had a great weekend and a quick trip down to Miami for Father's Day.

3. Billy leaves for a bachelor party this week. I'm just thankful it's at a lake in VA and NOT in Vegas.

4. I have not made a real dinner in about a week. Hot d

ogs, cereal and quesadillas are about all that have been on the menu.

5. I had to write a paper on a Morgan Freeman movie. Something tells me I'm not at UVa anymore.

6. I don't think we'll get to vacation in NC this summer since we have so many other trips to make :(

7. I bought the store brand Oreos and tried to convince Billy they were real. He almost fell for it.

8. I went to a wine glass painting class last week and didn't learn much. See below.

9. With the awesome Old Navy groupon, I bought myself 2 shirts, a shirt for B and a pair of shorts for him all for $12!

10. Hopefully this week will provide more things to write about bc this has been a struggle!

Remember this job that I did not get? Well that dept. called me back for another interview this week for an equally awesome job and they OFFERED it to me! To say I am thrilled is an understatement! I loathe my current coworkers and welcome the opportunity to work in a new environment with wonderful people! We still don't know for sure what is happening with Billy's plans, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it! For now, I will just be happy!

Some people don't like change, but I love it. In every part of life. I grew up as a military brat we we were always moving. It was always hard to say goodbye to friends, but it was fun to look forward to new places and new experiences. I had my brother close in age, so I always had a built in friend wherever I went. Now I have a built in husband, who will always be there. Luckily, he likes change too! I think we both have short attention spans and are always looking ahead.

Having a fat day? My advice to you is to go to a theme park. We went to Disney this weekend and man oh man do I feel better about myself. It was painfully obvious that the majority of the people there - and their kids were extremely unhealthy. My mind was just boggled.

It was sort of a last minute trip with our friends, and we had fun. It is not my ideal vacation, but since they had season passes and got a killer deal, we decided to give it whirl. It gave us a very candid picture of what to expect in several years when our kids want to go to Disney. But everywhere you turn, there is something to pay for or something for sale. After EVERY attraction and every ride, they funnel you through the respective gift shop. For kids, I can see the fun part being meeting the characters and going on the rides...but just for grownups? I'm not sold just yet. Either way, it was nice to get away for a weekend and have a couple nice meals - the bonus was that our friends were preferred members at the Swan/Dolphin, so all of out food was 50% off. Can you beat that??

BOO for Sunday but hoping for a good week ahead!

It is a good thing that I laugh at myself more often then I get down on myself. Yesterday's incident of having my sweater buttoned wrong as I gave a presentation to 20+ students and their parents, while dropping all my stuff on the floor twice, and then picking it up while having a skirt on is really more comical than maddening. I even had two co-workers in the room with me and they didn't say anything. They said they didn't notice, so let's hope no one else did either!

It may be because I'm still on a high from Tuesday when I got my electric bill. Our air conditioning is now working full time since the heat and humidity are back and I have been waiting to get the bill in my email. As soon as I did, I logged on to compare it to last year and it was over $100 cheaper! Take that, Florida Power & Light! The end of last year was no fun because our old unit had to basically be jump-started every time it came on. Meaning when we heard the hum, we had to go outside and start the fan with a stick. WT. I know. So when we got our tax return back, we knew we had to bite the bullet. We just didn't know how much energy the old unit had been wasting! So yes, we are so pleased that we will no longer have to fork over $250-$300 for our summer electric bills! Whew!

A little known fact though...it is actually cooler down here than the rest of the country during the summer months!

This morning I was perusing the list of the top 10 books college students are reading right now and #9 caught my eye. 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth. Really? What happened to Catcher in the Rye?
I have never heard of this book before...but maybe it is just something going around like the Chuck Norris jokes from my day. But let me tell you, I would punch a turtle in the mouth! This weekend I got out of my friend's car to move a turtle out of the road and when I picked it up, it projectile shot some nasty liquid waste all over my leg with the force of a garden hose!
That's the last time I intervene with nature! Good luck on your next suicide mission, Turtle!

Patton loooves his new shades. But for real, I have seen people (mostly geezers) walking their dogs around the neighborhood with real dog sunglasses on. They have UV protection, fog-proof and shatterproof. What the heck?

For your entertainment, here is a glimpse into my marriage:

Me: You know we've been together 5 years now?

B: Yeah, that's my longest relationship. Usually I mess them up long before 5 years.

Me: You have, but I'm legally bound to you.

Luck be a lady!

I do not believe in luck, superstitions or "jinxing" as my husband would say. I think things happen for a reason and you can not affect a scenario by doing something unrelated. An example would be our secretary who is a Jewish woman and will not buy her daughter in law and son any baby gifts until the baby is born because she believes in the superstition that if she does, then something bad will happen to the mother or baby. WHAT? I had never heard of this! She said in the Jewish culture, no one even has baby showers! So when she had her baby, her husband went to the store to buy everything while she was in the hospital.

So lately, Billy said said that I am "jinxing" him by looking up information about an area that we could potentially move to. Come on! There is no way that by me "googling" some information, it would in any way affect the outcome of the situation. All I'm doing is continuing to be by controlling self!

I get that people have lucky socks, or lucky suits. Whatever makes

you feel more comfortable is fine with me! Obviously, our boy Hines Ward had his lucky dancing shoes on!