WE'RE GODPARENTS!!!!

Brian and I officially became godparents on Saturday evening around 7:37pm. Baby William Nicholas came 10 days early, he was 8 pounds 1 ounce, and 21 inches long. He is healthy and happy. Mom and baby are doing fine, came home Monday. Big sister is a little jealous that mom can't pick her up and that everyone who comes over pays more attention to the William.
We visited them last night at home and made sure that Abbie got plenty of attention. After she went to bed, it was William's turn.
We are excited to be godparents and hope that we can be great role models for William.

A sad time for Packers fans

While I would hardly call myself a die-hard football fan, it is a sad day in Packer country. With the announcement of Brett Favre's retirement yesterday, the media has taken that and ran with it. The end of an era, they are calling it. We all knew it was coming, we just didn't know when. Now that it is here, it seems to be consuming our lives.
Brett will be missed and Packer football as we have come to know it will never be the same. As hard as it is to believe that Brett will not be coming back to wear #4, part of me is thinking that this is all a joke and in a few months he will announce that he made a mistake and will be wearing a Packer uniform for training camp. You can see, from all the highlights that they have been showing, that Brett truly loved the game and all the good and bad that went with it.
I respect his decision and am actually glad that it came early and he did not drag it out like last time. He will now have more time to devote to his family and his Forward Foundation. I only hope that Brett will miss Green Bay as much as Green Bay will miss him.
Aaron Rodgers, you have some big shoes to fill, fill them well.

Winter Thunderstorm?!?!

I don't know about all of you, but here in the Fox Valley, we had a winter thunderstorm last night. It was both cool and scary. The cool part was seeing the lightning as it lit up the sky and the shadows that were cast on the slick snow piles that are on the ground. The scary part was when the lightning would light up the sky for close to a minute. At one point, it started out normal and then the sky turned to almost an aqua color. As neat as it looked at first it was a little creepy as to what could follow.
I am glad that I was inside my house last night and didn't have to go anywhere. I am also thankful that our sump pumps were working last night and still are today-and boy have they been running a lot.
So just when the rain lessened the snow piles slightly, the rain turned to snow. So I got to go out this morning and shovel, once again. Why does it seem like I always have the day off when there is heavy wet snow on the ground and no place to put it?!?!
Who needs a gym membership when you live in Wisconsin in the winter. You never know what to expect!

An end to the backups????

Well, the crew finally came yesterday to replace our sewer pipe. No one was home, so we are assuming it is fixed-we were told the old one was broken in 3 places. (That would lead one to believe that they took out the old one, right?!?!) So, we now have a new pipe leading from the house to the street and are even less some snow. Since they needed to move it to do the work, they got rid of it. It is at least easier to back out of the driveway.
So we will see, in a few months, if this solved the problem.

I HATE SNOW!!!!!!

I enjoy Wisconsin winters, most of the time, but this year enough is enough. I am so tired of the snow, and the sub 0 temperatures. I am tired of the snow shovelling, brushing off my car, and trying to navigate snow covered streets that don't get plowed in a timely fashion. Just because I do not live on a busy street, should I have to wait until the day after the snow stops falling to get my road plowed?? (especially if the main roads around me are already clear) The city is really slow at plowing and sometimes my road gets missed completely. I am glad that 5 years ago when i purchased my new car I decided to go with the SUV or I may have gotten stuck coming home a few times. I am guessing that Brian is also glad he went for the SUV. They also help when navigating other streets with idiots that don't know how to drive in this white stuff.
About a week ago I was that I was no longer living in Milwaukee or even Fond du Lac with all the snow they got from Snowstorm Grace. First of all, Grace?!?! Who comes up with these cutsy names for snowstorms. as if that is going to lessen their impact on our lives. So anyway, jsut as I was starting to be thankful for living in the Fox Valley, Snowstorm Hunter comes in and just keeps dumping. Those of you in the Milwaukee area, I think I know how you felt last week.
Not only is this snow annoying, but it is getting in the way of trying to solve (used loosely) our plumbing issues.

That's right, we are still having water in the basement. And a month ago we had, what Brian has called, a poop gyser in the shower. The plumber came out and grinded the roots out of the pipe, once again. The camera showed that our pipe is not squarely connected to the city pipe and that is why we keep having backups. How many times do you need to be called out for the same thing before you look all the way to the street?!?!? Needless to say that we were not very happy with the plumbers-especially since this will be our 3rd, very costly attempt to fix the back up problem. We have already replaced the shower and told that everything should be fine. We then cut sown a wonderful, shade producing tree in the front yard becuase we were told it's roots were causing our problems. And now we are told that we need to replace our sewer pipe. And becuase it is our lateral, we are responsible with no help from the city.
Which is where we get to the snow issues. This was supposed to happen yesterday. Of cource that is when "Hunter" decided to show up. Luckily we don't have to wait long to reschedule, they are going to try for Monday. But, those of you who have heard the weekend forecast know that there is another storm coming Sunday night. UGH!!!

Why can't things go the way we need them to just this once!?!?!?!?!

Good to be missed

So today I went back to the school and classroom where I was a sub all last semester. This time I was the other parapro, so I got to see how the one I subbed for gets on with the kids-at least the little bit that we are actually together.
After being in an EBD room from hell last week, I welcomed the chance to get back to familiar surroundings with students that I knew how to handle. I had never been told by so many people that I was missed. And this was coming from both staff and students. I missed them too, even though it was not that long that I was there.
It seems as though some things just are not running as smoothly, but there is nothing I can do about that. I am not the district hired parapros, I am just a sub who happened to fall into a long term position and create a routine and relationship with the students and staff. Once they got back from break they had to start new routines and build new relationships with a new person.
Everyone seems to be doing okay and I will jump at the chance to go back there any day, even if they are special needs kindergartners. Anything is better then EBD kids that are bigger than you are.

A look back at 2007

2007 was not an extremely eventful year in the Burns' house, but here are some highlights:
*2 years in the house
*finally unpacked that last box
*organized the basement
*labeled all the tubs in the basement
*had lots of water backup issues in the basement
*cut down one of the trees in the front of the house to "fix" the back up problem. (so far so good-knock on wood!!)
*got 3 new windows in an attempt to cut down on heating costs
*had a long term subbing position from the end of Sept. until Christmas break
*Brian changed jobs-twice I think
*bought a new car-Mitsubshi Outlander
*survived 4 years of marriage
*attended a cousins wedding
*taught another successful year of summer school
*attended my 10 year high school reunion and reconnected with some old friends
*got a snowblower (it is dad's old one, but at least we don't have to shovel)
*my "little" (perhaps younger would be more appropriate for those of you who know him) brother graduated from college
*family and friends continued to stay relatively healthy

I think that is it in a nutshell. I think that one of my New Year's Resolutions will be to try to post on here more often. Course, that will also depend on my subbing, now that my long term is done.

I love Teachers Convention!!

And as a sub, I don't have to attend anything. I don't think the teachers in the district do either, but it is still 2 days off from school.
My house can finally get some attention. I haven't done a whole lot today, except catch up on some e-mails and TV watching(taped from the week). And I still have 4 hours of Sylvan today, so I don't want to get into any big projects. Tomorrow will be my big cleaning day since I have no Sylvan and don't have to leave the house.
And my parents might be coming this weekend, so that is a little extra motivation to get things cleaned tomorrow. We have a halloween party Saturday night too, so I don't want to have to clean on Sat and be too tired to enjoy the party!!

Earning money

Okay, so I have been really busy this month between subbing and Sylvan. I have been doing a long term subbing position for a paraprofessional in a Flex Kindergarten situation. I have been there for a month and am not sure how much longer it will last. Part of me, specifically my shins, are hoping that it is over soon.
I guess I better explain. My job is to follow, drag this kindergarten to his classes and make sure he is on task and safe. I am not exactly sure what his special need is, but I think he is a combination between ADHD and Autism, with some other issues mixed in. Nothing has been diagnosed yet, but slowly getting there. So, when something doesn't go his way, he throws a fit and sometimes kicks and hits. It usually doesn't last long, just needs a distraction and other times it does last a while. I have learned to dodge the kicks that I sense coming, but it is the ones I don't' that really hurt-especially when they hit the bone. So I have war wounds from my job and the pay is not really compensation enough, but it has increased since this is long term and I am starting to do better with this boy.
I guess I will stay. Originally I was told this would be till the end of the month, so I figured I could handle it that long. Now I am hearing that no one really knows when this lady is coming back-some sort of medical reason she is out. I know that I shouldn't be complaining because it is one more steady paycheck coming in, but at the same time it the pay worth the abuse.
My answer is no, but it is also not fair to this 5 year old to have a bunch of different people with him all the time. So, I am going to stick with it as long as I am needed.
The up side is that I am getting to know people in the school, including the principal, so this could be an in for next year if something opens up. I will keep my fingers crossed for that one.

food, fun, and fond memories

Friday night was my 10 year high school reunion. After a lot of thought about whether or not to go, I decided that there were a few people that I would be interested in seeing again. And there were also the others that I was curious to see what they were up to now.So, after getting lost in downtown Milwaukee-due to highway construction-we finally found the bar we were looking for (thanks to a phone call to dad) For being 30 minutes late, there really were not a whole lot of people there yet. So, we mingled a little, ate, and mingled some more. It was nice to meet the husbands/significant others of my classmates and hear what they have been up to in the past 10 years. I talked to everyone that I was interested in talking to, and even a few people that I wasn't, and was surprised to hear what some of them had been up to. Not many had kids, but quite a few were expecting. I expected most people to be married and a few that I expected to be were still single.All in all, it was a nice evening of reminiscing with high school classmates. Sharing stories that some spouses may not have heard yet, and hearing new stories of how relationships started. And I was pleasantly surprised that everyone looked pretty much the same way they did 10 years ago, in high school.

and frogs

Yes, I said frogs. I opened the breezeway door and was getting ready to head out the front door to get the Sunday paper when I noticed something greenish brown sitting on the floor between my shoes. I closed the breezeway door (I went back to the safety of the kitchen) and decided to keep an eye on this guy until Brian woke up. The Sunday paper would just have to wait.
10 minutes later when Brian came into the living room, I told him there was good news and bad news. The good news-we have a paper today (since we are only on weekend delivery this is sometimes a problem) The bad news-there is a frog in the breezeway. We then discussed ways to get him out of the house. The simplest was to go around to the front door and pull him out with a broom or something, hoping that he didn't hop all over the place. I told Brian to go for it. His response, "Why do I have to do it?" My response, "I kill all the other bugs in this house, you can deal with the frog."
Once he got around to the breezeway, he thought for sure I was smoking something because there was no sign of a frog. He moved the shoes he was between and even tapped the shelves and walked around, but nothing. I told him there was definitely a frog, maybe he was in my shoe. First shoe, nothing. Second shoe, out he hopped(fell) on his back and was "helped" outside by Brian.
Now, don't go calling PETA on us. The frog was still alive as he landed on the sidewalk outside. And when checked on a few moments later, he was frolicking (Brian's word) in the leaves by the front steps. There were no frogs harmed in this story.

The real question: How did the frog get in the breezeway?? There are 2 theories. 1. He hopped in while we were taking our time getting out the front door on Saturday night. It was dark, so it is entirely possible. 2. Someone put the frog in our mail slot during the night. It was homecoming in the area, so a neighborhood child certainly could have done it. I guess we will never know how he got it, but I am glad he got out.

an end to the plumbing problems????

Well, we are hoping so anyway. Guess we will find out in a few months.

This weekend we had a tree cutting party. The neighbor had a tree to cut down and so did we, so we went in on a cherry picker together. Long story short, the tree in the front of our house that had the roots growing into our water pipe is now gone. Left in its place is the stump and all the leaves and small branches waiting to get picked up during branch pick up next week. half the wood is stacked neatly in our backyard to use for firewood next year, and the other half is sitting in the neighbors yard. (we gave them half the wood for doing the hard cutting part in the cherry picker)

So, now we can see into the neighbors front window and they can see into ours. We have also lost a bit of the shade that was provided by that tree. However, it may help heating costs in the winter as the sun can get through now.

And we will have to wait and see to find out if this ends the plumber having to roto-root every few months. If not, we will have to start the search all over again to determine the problem.

One Problem Solved

Just call Brian Mr. Tech Support. Apparently when he got home from work yesterday he was so pissed off at Dish Network and the local dealer that he decided he was going to mess around with the connections to see if perhaps the cables were hooked up incorrectly (Entirely possible since the cables were not color coded like they were supposed to be and in the switching boxes we may have switched cables). I mean, he couldn't really mess anything up any further, right?!?!
So, when I got home from work last night, I was informed that the cable is once again working and everything is doing what it is supposed to be doing.
We once again have cable, I can record missed shows while I am at work, and we don't have to wait in anger for the installer to come out and look at things. (I think we are keeping the appointment though, just to make sure there really is not a more serious problem.)

Why does bad luck come in 3's???

Starting Saturday:
1. Our flooding/drain back up issue. Look into "The joys of home ownership" entry for more information on this problem.
2. Brian had to get new glasses after the optical tech at Wal-Mart broke his. You never expect that anything will happen once they give their "since you did not buy them here, we are not responsible should any damage happen to them during our adjustment" disclaimer. Low and behold, she broke the tip of his earpiece. The glasses would still do their job, they would just dig into the side of his head. Talk about a headache. So, since it had been 3 years since the last eye exam, we decided that was the best choice and thanked the Wal-Mart lady for her help. (We went to Lens Crafters to have the issue resolved.)
3. After spending close to 2 hours on the phone last night with Dish Network Tech Support, we have come to find out that there is a problem either with our dish or the cables that hook everything up. No big deal, we are still under warranty after recently upgrading to a new DVR, so send someone out. Well, last night we were told that no one could get out here until Friday between 12 and 5. Okay, I guess if that is the best you can do. We can live with the little TV from the basement with the basic channels for a day. Well, Brian called the local dealer, who would be sending someone out, this morning to find out that the soonest someone could be out here was NEXT WEEK Friday. Um, a whole week without cable and being able to tape missed shows while at work-I DON'T THINK THAT IS ACCEPTABLE!!!!!! So I went to work this morning and Brian was going to do some calling during breaks to see what he could get accomplished. I think that because the service lady at Dish told us someone could come out tomorrow, that is what should be stuck too. Why do we have to suffer because the local dealer gave her the wrong information???

Hopefully this is the end of the back luck. I have had all I could handle for a while. Wish us inexpensive luck on all our issues.

The "joys" of homeownership

We have drain backup issues. Every few months, our basement shower drain backs up and sends water out the bottom of the shower, under the walls and out into the basement. It also backs up into the shower. We had the shower replaced a year ago, and were told that was the root of our problems. That doesn't seem to be the case.
Funny I used the word root, because that seems to be exactly our problem. Anyone that has been to our house knows about the 2 large trees in front of the house. Well, it seems that the roots from one of those trees may be growing into our drain pipe by the street, causing occasional backups into the basement.
As beautiful as the trees is and a wonderful shade provider during that afternoon sun, it is starting to get very costly. And since the back ups happen on the weekends, we end up paying the plumber extra for the weekend call. That tree just may have to go.
Today our pipes had their 15 minutes of fame. The plumber came and sent a camera down our main drain in the basement bathroom. Everything appeared to be clear from our house to the street, but at the street is where the tree roots became visible. Upon the advise from the plumber, we called the city to see what they were going to do about it. They sent a crew out to open up the manhole cover and clear their MAIN pipe which runs down the middle of the street. I am told that everything is clear on their end. Then explain to me the video tape that I have showing tree roots growing into my pipe 44 feet from my house. Again, anyone that has been here knows that our house is not far from the street, so the problem would be in the street.
Well, if it is, we are still responsible because it may be in our lateral (whatever that means. That is what the city guy told me) The city is only responsible for the main line and we are responsible for anything else.
So, our pipes have been rotor-rooted, the main city pipe has been rotor-rooted. All we have to do now is wait a few more months to see if we can go swimming in the basement again. Stay tuned for the latest plumbing saga.

Better late than never

I finally broke down and decided to find out what this Harry Potter craze is all about. I bought all 7 books this weekend. Barnes and Noble had 1-6 in a boxed set, and I couldn't seem to resist. Of course, what good would 1-6 be without 7, so that got added on to the purchase as well. I haven't started reading yet, but books 1 and 2 look relatively short, so I should be able to get those done in no time.
If anyone out there reading this had read the series and would like to have book discussions on it, I am all for that.
Happy Reading to all!!!!

Another year bites the dust

Yep, yesterday marked the beginning of my 28th year on this earth. It really doesn't feel any different. Brian keeps telling me to wait until I hit 30 (he will be 33 this year), and he keeps teasing me about getting older. The great things is that no matter how old I get, he will always be older!!
The day was really no different than any other Monday. Except for the fact that there were a few cards in the mail and less bills. I love having mail that doesn't require sending money to someone. The mother in law also stopped by, with one of the sister in laws, to drop off a gift and cake-we all know that Brian wasn't going to make one. And I still had to work at Sylvan, but I did get a gift certificate to Dairy Queen, so I guess it was worth it. And my student load was fairly light and easy, so I can't really complain. Now I just have to figure out how to spend all that birthday money.
The other excitement from the day was that Brian started his new job. Well, the training part anyway. I guess there is no guarantee of a job until the training is completed and passed (whatever that means). I believe that means we have another 3-6 months to wait before we know if he has permanent full time employment.
I still have no full time employment. I did get an application in the mail that I asked for 2 weeks ago. I even e-mailed them last week to make sure it had been mailed since I hadn't gotten it yet. They assured me it had been mailed-that was July 31st when I got that e-mail. The postmark on the stamp said Aug 2. Makes you wounder. Do I really want to fill out that application?? It is only at a day care center for K4. Guess I will wait to see if anything else comes along.

A DMV visit can be accomplished in under 1 hour!!!

I was just as shocked as you are reading that, but I did it today. And I must say it was a firts for me!!! I needed to have the lein removed from my car title (the car has been paid off since May, so I decided that I would finally make the trip in to the DMV). So after teaching at Sylvan this morning, I headed to the DMV, with my title and lein removal paperwork from Ford in my hand, along with a book to read. Walking in, there seemed to be an awful lot of people, so I thought I was doomed. I waited in line to get my number. The time stamped on my number was 11:13am. There were only 4 numbers ahead of mine, maybe this wasn't going to be so long after all.
So, I took a seat and began reading. After about 10 minutes, I was noticing that the 500's were not moving at all and everything else was. (My number was 535) Finally it went to 532 and then they started flying from there. Just before 11:30, I heard that wonderful DMV voice say "now serving 535 and window number 6."
I gathered my things and went to the window. The guy took all my stuff, entered some things into the computer, took my check, and handed me my new title-with no leins!!! I was walking out of the DMV shortly after 11:30.
So for all those of you who dread going, like I used to, it is possible to make it a short trip. The trick is to pick the right day and the right time. Would I have been so lucky at 3pm on a Friday?? Probably not.

Anyone wanna trade lives?!?!?!?

Brian came home 2 weeks ago to tell me that he quit his job at the bank because they wanted him to sign something that wasn't true. When he told them he wasn't' going to sign it, they said they would have to walk him out. so, they walked him out. He couldn't even tell me this face to face, he called me form his moms house to tell me.
So he is unemployed, again. And I am still mostly unemployed.
He had a somewhat promising interview this morning. Sounded like he would get paid to play with toys and other things all day. His dream job. All he has to do is keep his thoughts to himself and things should be fine. Some days whatever he is thinking comes out his mouth, not thinking about what his boss will think.

I have sent out 4 job applications last week and one more today. I still have nothing lined up and am not even getting any interviews. I would even be happy with a NO so that I know that my resume is at least being looked at. Oh well, it is still July.

So, keep us in your thoughts as we hope for the best. If not, I may be writing this blog from a cardboard box or tent in the backyard as we may have to rent out the house.

Sorry its been so long

Okay, so I logged on to see that it has been a month since my last post. In my defence, it has been a very busy month. Summer school started June 18 and ended July 20. (We had the week of July 4 off!!) So my mornings were packed with teaching soon to be kindergartners how school works, what things are done (and not done) at school, and how to behave. Overall, the 4 weeks went really well and there were no real problems. A few kids that liked to act out and need several reminders, but they wouldn't be 5 year olds if that didn't happen.

So, by the time I would get home I would have to eat lunch, do any prep work for the next day and head off to Sylvan. Sylvan has really been giving me hours, so I wouldn't get home until 9. Then I would eat, do any prep work that didn't' get done in the afternoon and go to bed. Even my weekends were busy with Sylvan and other family things.

The week off for the 4th was also busy. We spent that week camping with my dads side of the family. That was fun and luckily it didn't rain-we were in a tent!!

Now things are starting to slow down a bit. I still have a basement full of summer school stuff to sort through in my free time, but there is no rush. I will still be working at Sylvan 4 nights a week, but have also added 2 mornings a week. I hope to have a bit more time to do some postings on here, for all those of you faithful readers that like to know what is going on in my life:)