More Kitchen Pics

I was going to wait until our new backdoor was in and the countertop was installed, but that might not be for another week. So, here it is (so far) the new kitchen.

hmmmm...

I just have to share this with everyone because it cracks me up. Yesterday while at my Pappy's house, I gave my two nephews their Easter baskets that I put together for them. Of course, there was M&M paraphernalia in there, amongst the Spongebob pencils, coloring books, candy, etc.

After their mommy tells them that Aunt Kristy works at the M&M company where they make M&M's their wheels started turning...

"Aunt Kristy, is this your boss?(pointing to the blue M&M on the front of a toy I got them)"

I reply, "No, I work for the red one"



I couldn't help myself, I kept going..

Aiden, "You work for an M&M?" Me, "Yup, he's a pretty cool boss"

Riley, with his smirk "nuh uh, you don't work for an M&M"

This went on for a few more minutes, had me cracking up just the thought of it if I really worked for an M&M! Would be pretty cool though!

I just love having conversations like these with my nephews

A little Trivia

Okay, here is a little game to play. You are not allowed to use Google, or ask any of your co-workers, friends or family! Only respond if you have a good answer for this question or a reasonable educated guess (or you just want to say something funny)!

If Easter is about Jesus and the Resurrection, where did the Easter "bunny" and coloring eggs come in to the picture?!?

We had a big discussion at work the other day, and I was just wondering if anyone has thought about this before. The reason I said not to use google is because first of all there isn't that much solid info out there about it (I already googled it) and it still doesn't make sense to me! I guess it just goes back to Santa Claus...

This was the only decent thing I could find online, among all of the weird ideas that people had! (But don't look until after your take your guess!)

Anyways, HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE!! Enjoy your chocolate!

Miscellaneous Thoughts...

So, I decided to do a little miscellaneous post since I don't really have anything to blog about. I don't really like to post things that aren't good, just happy thoughts!

These past couple of weeks have been extremely stressful for us, between having a few road bumps with our kitchen project (which I will get to later), I had to have surgery last Friday (which I would rather not upset the people who don't know by going into details)but we are both okay about it, and starting a new job (which it's not the job that's stressful, just going back to work in general)

So, thankfully, the kitchen is about halfway there. The last three things that need to be finished are: our new patio door, the hardwood floor and the counter top.

These pics aren't current, but I thought I'd post the progress anyways. The next ones you'll see will be with the cabinets and floor (hopefully)

So, we had to pick out a different patio door for various reasons, research "downdraft retractable vents" for our drop-in oven range that will be in our "island" which we forgot about the fact that we need to ventilate our kitchen (especially for when you burn your food!), re-figure out cabinet spacing because our cabinets are not "custom", pick out another floor sample for the umpteenth time (don't even ask me why, it is between John ans Mike {he is our friend/contractor}), and last but not least pick out our granite counter top. I'm trying to convince my dear husband that it is perfectly normal for this to happen and no one ever stays with everything they originally decided on.



















View from the corner of the kitchen where all of our new cabinets will be



















View from the living room (this is where our "L" shaped kitchen cabinet layout will be)



















This is where our new patio door will be, basically twice as wide as the door you see there now, we are knocking out the back wall on the left hand side of the existing door (and our new window there on the left)



















This is the new entrance to the basement

I wish I could take a bird's eye view snapshot, it is so hard to capture a room this large and point out where everything is

So, I think that's about it for the update, we are definitely going to have a picnic/party as soon as our house is finished. On another note, we are getting the opportunity to go to France, Germany & Sweden in May. John has a work meeting, so I am going to tag along - not too often that you get the chance to travel abroad (especially when it is paid for)! I am hoping to be able to visit the Mars site that is right outside of Paris which will be nice to put faces to the names of people I am working with. I am also going to be traveling to the UK sometime this fall, so it will be another nice visit for John and I. Well, it's late and I'm babbling so I'm signin' off!

Erin Go Bragh! and other phrases...

Erin Go Bragh! (Ireland forever!)

Céad Míle Fáilte (One hundred thousand welcomes!)

Tá mé air meisce (I am drunk)

Fad saol agat (long life to you)

These are just a few of my favorites (some of which appear on things in my house...)

Anyways, just thought I would give you all a little taste of the Irish language on this beautiful St. Patty's Day!

Five Guys and Five Hours Later...

I know I wasn't going to post any more pics of the kitchen til next week, but since I was surprised to see how much they tore down today I have to post a few! Here is our "gutted" kitchen/dining room...

Dream Job!

Since some of you have been asking me how my job search is going, I am pleased to let everyone know that I received a job offer this past week with Flavia (they are a division of M&M Mars) in West Chester. I couldn't of asked to work for a better company, from an onsite gym, free medical coverage, nice PTO policy, not to mention they sent me a Flavia drink station upon my acceptance of their offer!

I am finally where I want to be in my career, this job search (and waiting, patiently) has certainly paid off! I definitely would not make a very good stay-at-home mother/wife (John would agree)! It is also my passion for chocolate & coffee that has me excited to work for a place that manufactures both!

On another note, demolition of our kitchen/dining room is going on beneath me as I type this blog entry. I snapped a few pics for the "before" it probably won't be until next weekend for the "after" pics. Our contractor is coming to install the cabinets on Tuesday.

Cabin Fever

Since I haven't blogged for awhile and my last (probably the most boring post) just won the award on my blog for most comments, I've decided to post another boring entry!

I don't know if anyone else is suffering from this phenomenon this year, but I certainly am. I cannot take another flurry, wind chill and day that the temp is below 50 degrees. Maybe it's because I'm not working right now and I have no stimulation whatsoever but it is really taking a toll on me and is triggering the laziness to come out.

What makes me even more frustrated is the tease that we've been getting with the few days we have here and there of really nice almost 60 degree weather. I actually went down to Wildwood last week with my mother-in-law, to check on the Quinn's beach house. It was so beautiful, the ocean, the sun - I can't WAIT til the weather breaks that we can just spend every weekend down there!



So, ultimately I think I am suffering from "cabin fever". I have to admit, I do like living in this area because of the season changes, but I think the best time of year is when Spring hits! There is just a freshness about it, you want to be outside, you want to deep clean your house, sit out on your back porch with an ice cold beer (you get the picture)!




So, I will suffer through March with it's unpredictable, unforgiving weather patterns with all of the promises in my head about a beautiful Spring/Summer (and mom's pool)!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

For us here around here it should be a nice cozy evening trapped inside because of the weather!

WARNING!

I recently linked my brother-in-law's "MySpace" page to my blog (Sean), more for my own personal shortcut to his page. If you are easily offended, have a weak stomach and/or don't share the same type of humor as him (very weird, but he is truly a nice guy) please don't visit his site. I know, for some of you the curiosity and temptation is dying to go, but honestly don't blame me, I take no responsibility!

PS, For those of you who aren't sure, he is the one in the middle...

Rachael Ray

I just wanted to post a little something about my new favorite talk show that I faithfully watch everyday on ABC @ 10 am. It is one of the best shows to watch offering "practical" advice on home improvement, organization, cooking (of course), relationship/family issues - plus she has some of the best guests on her show!!

I recently did a search on google (with her name) and came across a blog dedicated to the fact that "Rachael Ray sucks" I was baffled. Why would someone waste so much of their time bashing someone else who doesn't even affect them on a personal level. What did Rachael Ray ever do to them? They make fun of her body, the things she says, how she talks out of the side of her mouth like a stroke victim - come on people - get a life. So the girl got famous and is now getting a paycheck bigger than you can imagine. Jealousy is a bad thing.

I don't know why I am so mad about this, but I feel like Rachael Ray is like the "girl-next-door" no, not the goody-goody girl next door, but the one who did get in trouble (a little) had a lot of friends and sometimes could be a little shy. The thing I like about her is that she is so practical - not fussy-fussy like some of these other celebs.

Bottom line here is that there are a lot of people out there that sadly get their amusement from slamming people who haven't even done anything wrong yet and that's just not right!

Progress

Well we are making progress with our home renovation! The paneling was been torn down and the one wall leading from the dining into the kitchen has been knocked down. Thankfully John's dad was able to come by and help out! Here are a few pics.


I will post more - these were just ones that John had snapped himself, I tried to leave the house Saturday and Sunday while he was working (I didn't want to get in the "way"!)

Home Improvement 101

Most of you remember about a year ago when we took on our "bathroom project" and if you don't, just go back into the blog archives and you can read all about it.
When John bought our house I was more than ecstatic because he was finally leaving the nest at the ripe young age of 28. I tried to keep quiet that our house was really a "fixer-upper" even though John didn't think so much that it was (I guess everyone has their own definition of that!)Well, at least it wasn't as bad as the "Money Pit"
Anyways, the house was being rented out by a family who was too poor to pay for heat so they sealed up all of the windows and ran kerosene heaters (yes and with a small child in the house). This left some nice soot all over the walls. The carpeting was also almost black. The basement (apparently it is considered finished, I would disagree with that)was gross, along with the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms.
Thanks to my great mother-in-law and all of her fine scrubbing we at least felt that after cleaning, painting, sanding and installing new carpet we felt at least a little sanitary!

So, the big project last year was the bathroom, this year it is the kitchen.


We are going to re-route our basement entrance, knock out one of the walls leading from the dining room to the kitchen and make our back door into french doors leading out to the patio. I have to say that I am very excited! It will be so nice to have everything opened up and be able to move aroubd better in the new kitchen!

So, we are scheduled to start this Saturday, I will definitely keep you all posted!

My selfish post

Since my husband doesn't blog too much anymore these days I have to post that today (well, yesterday because it is midnight now) is my 27th birthday!

I actually had a great "birthday weekend" so far. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics.

Friday night me, my mom and John went down to AC and came home this afternoon. Davey, Annie and the boys came down and John's parents came over and we all went out to dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill (yummo! - Yes, Rachael Ray)
Thanks guys for making my 27th so special!!

Info-Mercials

Since I am being pested again to blog, I am going to blog about the misfortune that my husband encountered two nights ago (in which I tried to rectify)
Since my ass is now the same size as the huge purse that I just bought (purchased to make my ass look smaller) I had decided after watching this infomercial that I needed to do something about it.
John being the empathetic man that he is offered to purchase these DVD's for me as long as I promised to actually use them.
This is the last time I will ever purchase something off of TV.
As you can see from the above link it is only supposed to cost you about $52.85
Low and behold I hear John yelling the other night "what did you join and why is my credit card being charged all of these miscellaneous fees?"
I feel terrible and take charge in rectifying the situation. Here, the infomercial company signed us up unknowingly to like 6 magazine companies that were charging us, a fitness to fun membership and oh, by the way, the $52.50 total cost was now supposedly only the first installment, here they sent me a workout ball and a Kathy Smith DVD (which I didn't ask for) and charged John's card an additional $33. So, our credit card number was handed out and we were pat=ying for products we didn't even order.
So, here is my conversation with the customer service rep (who hardly speaks clear English)

Me: Stating my problem
Rep: Oh, I'm sorry but that's how much it costs
Me: Why did you give my credit card # out to another company w/out my permission?
Rep: You will have to call that magazine company for that
Me: Can I speak to a manager?
Rep: My manager is on another call, can you please hold
Me: Holding for about 15 minutes, I hang up and call back

Same converstaion all over again (another rep who doesn't speak good English)
I finally get on the phone with a man who claims to be a manager (who doesn't speak good English either)

He tells me that I did order all of these things (which I didn't) and tells me that he is going to go back and listen to the conversation that I had with the operator when I first ordered the products.

I tell him that is impossible, because it was an automated system and it said "push 1 if you would like to order this, and push 2 if you don't" (there was no live operator). They wouldn't even let us send all of the products back because it was one day after the 30 day money back guarantee!

Basically John took over from there and I still don't know if the problem has been rectified. I just felt horrible that John was angry because he was being charged all of these fees and there was nothing we could do about it.



Lesson to be learned from this:

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM OFF OF THE TV IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!
(even if you think your butt is huge and you've found the "miracle cure!)

R.I.P. Bella the Beta

Unfortunately our pet fish Bella died tonight. She (actually a he, but we called "her" Bella - don't ask) was a great fish and brought calmness and relaxation to my stressful days that I had at Cardinal Health. She will be greatly missed by everyone. I actually got her in July (or August) of 2005. Erin was with me that day and we went to Wal-Mart to buy it. I needed something as a sort of stress relief because I was going through such a tough time with everything with my dad. Much thanks goes out to everyone in HR at Cardinal for putting up with it (and feeding it occasionally)!

Anger Management

I received this forward from my father-in-law, so I thought I would share it with everyone! (Thanks for the idea EM!)

Anger Management...

When you occasionally have a really bad day, and you just need to take it out on someone, don't take it out on someone you know, take it out on someone you don't know.

I was sitting at my desk when I remembered a phone call I'd forgotten to make. I found the number and dialed it. A man answered, saying "Hello."

I politely said, "This is Chris. Could I please speak with Robyn Carter?"

Suddenly a manic voice yelled out in my ear "Get the right f**in' number!" and the phone was slammed down on me.

I couldn't believe that anyone could be so rude. When I tracked down Robyn's correct number to call her, I found that I had accidentally transposed the last two digits.

After hanging up with her, I decided to call the 'wrong' number again.

When the same guy answer ed the phone, I yelled "You're an a**hole!" and hung up. I wrote his number down with the word 'a**hole' next to it, and put it in my desk drawer.

Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills or had a really bad day, I'd call him up and yell, "You're an a**hole!"

It always cheered me up.

When Caller ID was introduced, I thought my therapeutic "a**hole calling" would have to stop.

So, I called his number and said, "Hi, this is John Smith from Verizon. I'm calling to see if you're familiar with our Caller ID Program?"

He yelled "NO!" and slammed down the phone.

I quickly called him back and said, "That's because you're an a**hole!"

One day I was at the store, getting ready to pull into a parking spot. Some guy in a black BMW cut me off and pulled into the spot I had patiently waited for. I hit the horn and yelled that I'd been waiting for that spot, but the idiot ignored me. I noticed a "For Sale" sign in his back window which included his phone number, so I wrote down the number.

A couple of days later, right after calling the first a**hole (I had his number on speed dial) I thought that I'd better call the BMW a**hole, too.

I said, "Is this the man with the black BMW for sale?"

"Yes, it is," he said.

"Can you tell me where I can see it?" I asked.

"Yes, I live at 34 Mowbray Blvd., in Vaucluse. It's a yellow house, and the car's parked right out in front."

"What's your name?" I asked.

"My name is Don Hansen," he said.

"When's a good time to catch yo u, Don?"

"I'm home every evening after five."

"Listen, Don, can I tell you something?"

"Yes?"

"Don, you're an a**hole!" Then I hung up, and added his number to my speed dial, too.

Now, when I had a problem, I had two a**holes to call. Then I came up with an idea! I called A**hole #1.

"Hello?"

"You're an a**hole!" (But I didn't hang up.)

"Are you still there?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Stop calling me!" He screamed.

"Make me," I said.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Don Hansen."

"Yeah? Where do you live?"

"I live at 34 Mowbray Blvd., Vaucluse, a yellow house, with my black Beamer parked in front."

He said, "I'm coming over right now, Don! And you had better start saying your prayers!"

I said, "Yeah, like I'm really scared, a**hole!" and hung up.

Then I called A**hole #2.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hello, a**hole," I said.

He yelled, "If I ever find out who you are..."

"You'll what?" I said.

"I'll kick your ass!" He exclaimed.

I answered, "Well, a**hole, here's your chance! I'm coming over right now!"

Then I hung up and immediately called the police, saying that I lived at 34 Mowbray Blvd., Vaucluse, and that I was on my way over there to kill my gay lover. Then I called Channel 9 News about the gang war going down in Mowbray Blvd., Vaucluse.

I quickly got into my car and headed over to Mowbray. I got there just in time to watch two assholes beating the crap out of each other in front of six cop cars, an overhead police helicopter and a news crew.

NOW I feel much better. Anger management really works!

A degree, Finally!

Well, I am really not one to brag about my accomplishments, but I have to tell the world that I have finally obtained a degree! I just received my Associate's degree in Behavioral Health/Human Services with a certificate in Addiction Studies from CCP. All of my friends and family know that I have been working on this darn thing for the past five years! Now on to my Bachelor's - thanks to Erin who turned me on to Bellevue University I should be able to accomplish that in 15 months, they don't let you mess around! I can't wait!! I will be starting in February (loan money willing!)

CHRISTMAS AND STUFF (John's story)

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Jones' house;
That's where the song ends, because there were creatures stirring.
We got in at around 3:30am, which was cool. We were looking forward to getting up with Aiden and Ri-Ri. We didn't sleep. Riley walked into the bathroom threshold at around 4:30am. That was funny. Aiden was in Dave and Annie's room at 4:00am. Did I mention we didn't sleep.
We got up at 4:45 to open presents with the boys.



Here is Aiden opening the first present of Christmas 2006. He is being watched by the maid from Tom and Jerry...remember the lady who used to shout,"Thomaaaas!". Her name was Mammy Two Shoes.






The next picture is Aiden and Riley looking chill in the candy cane PJ's with their Grammy.



Here's a cool pic of the Jones clan. Note Davey's pimp 2-piece PJ's.








It makes me feel like a true slacker for sleeping in a Taun-Taun every night (Remember when Han Salo sliced open the Taun-Taun for Luke Skywalker to stay in in Empire Strikes Back).



Taun-Tauns are cute.

Anyway, that was Christmas. We also jumped on trampolines. Actually Davey and I din't get to jump on it. I was able to help him put up the safety netting, which went quite smooth.

Byyyyyyyye!

Christmas Morning - Two's version

This year Christmas for us was nuts!! We had a Christmas Eve Eve party at our house on Saturday night so that we could see a lot of our friends and family that we wouldn't see on Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at John's parents' house, but we decided since we didn't drink to make the trip up to my brother's house late night. We left Philly around 2 am (yes we are crazy!) and arrived at Dave & Annie's house at about 3:15 am. Everyone was nestled in bed sleeping when we got there. We tried to unwind but to no avail we could not fall asleep. This is the chain of events that led to our Christmas morning:

3:15 am - arrived at Dave and Annie's house
3:30 am - still couldn't fall asleep
3:45 am - I whisper to John - "are you still awake", he replies "yes" and we both giggle!
4:00 am - We hear my mom get up to go to the bathroom
4:10 am - Davey's alarm clock (that is birds chirping) goes off, someone hits the snooze button
4:15 am - we hear Riley fussing/crying and see him run before my mom bare butt because he thinks he wet the bed (but he didn't)
4:20 am - Annie (who hates mornings especially at 4 am) gets up and shuts our door so that we can get sleep (yeah right!)
4:30 am - Davey's alarm clock goes off again, someone hits snooze
4:45 am - I hear "alright, everyone up" time to open gifts
5:00 am - We are all up around the tree with our eyes half open trying to look excited!

And with all of this, I still say it was all well worth it! One of the reasons we wanted to get up there so early is because Grammy (my mom) got the boys a trampoline for Christmas! I just realized though that I didn't take a picture of it - I will when we go up there this weekend.

Anyways, I will let John tell his version (complete with pictures)...