Long, long week

It's been a very long week. The ice storm started Monday afternoon and finally stopped about 6 am this morning. We lost our power at 7:20 yesterday morning and still don't have power. The kids have actually been staying next door at my in-laws because they don't have central heat/air, only their wood burning stove, and a propane heater. Their house just stays warmer and they have more sources of light with lanterns and candles, etc.

I'm not primitive by any means. I don't like it. I'm sooooooo ready to have power again. My house is a pig sty, my laundry baskets are overflowing with clothes, and I just had to take a shower up at work because we don't have any more hot water. Yuck.

I will say, however, that I'm luckier than most, because the majority of the citizens of Springdale don't have power and they don't have a fireplace or any form of heat. We have a wonderful fireplace that has been going nonstop since 8 yesterday morning. Our house has stayed the perfect temperature for me and Gene.

Gene was actually sick Monday night all night and tried coming in to work and got sick again in the back parking lot so they sent him home. That's another reason the kids have been out of the house. We definitely don't want to pass that nasty stomach virus around again.

I feel like I'm rambilng, but this is the first opportunity I've had to even get on the internet and do anything with electric that's not dispatching or answering 9-1-1 calls! I'm enjoying it!

An average amount of calls that we put into our computer on any given day is about 300 or so. The most I've seen in my 4 years is about 450. Well, last night when I left work at 10 we were up to call 618. Oh yes, we were SLAMMED ALL NIGHT long. We were so so so sick of hearing people tell us that they didn't have power, cable, phone, heat, light, ect! People were calling us for everything, and I mean everything. Yesterday we were apparently not only the police/fire/ambulance, but also the electric co, phone co, tree service, taxi service. It was bad. I had never been more ready to walk out of this room than I was last night.

Not only that, but Gene has had to come pick me up every night in our Bronco because I obviously can't drive my car on icy roads. My father in law has been driving me in and he's been picking me up. It's fabulous!

Ok, I'm tired of typing now and I feel like everyone in the room is looking at me!! We've finally slowed down, and the city is starting to come back together. Slowly, but it is. It also looks like a war zone here with all the ice and the trees and power/cable lines that are down.

Stay safe and warm!

Weigh-In & Icy Weather

Well....today we had our first weigh in since Biggest Loser started at work and I have lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks!!! Our total team weight loss is 29 lbs and we are tied right now for 2nd place!! I was so excited when I stepped on that scale!!



This week I'm doing the tuna diet. I have a tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread for lunch and dinner. This is my 2nd day on it, and so far it hasn't been bad. It actually is supposed to last 6 days but I'll probably only do it 5 since the 6th is actually my Saturday and that's my cheat day. I'm also going to start working out more regularly so I can start taking it off better!!



If you live in Springdale please stay home!!! We have had soooooo many accidents since we got here at 2 that it's not even funny! It's finally slowed down a little bit because people are making it home from work. I'm hoping it stays calm like it is right now the rest of the night. I'm taking a break in the back of the room right now to eat my tuna sandwich then it's back to it!



Have a good night and stay warm!!!

My Future Scholar

Yesterday while I was doing some laundry and cleaning Grace decided it was time for some reading. She grabbed a pillow and tossed it on the floor and said "cover Mama!" She had grabbed her blanket and wanted me to cover her up so she could read her book!

She laid there for quite a while just talking to herself and reading her book!

Big smiles!! She is so so so smart and I can't wait to watch her grow up into a young lady and watch her make her dreams come true!

For now I'm going to help her buckle her baby doll into her baby's stroller!

Happy Sunday!

Day Trip to Tulsa

I have had such a wonderful weekend! As most of you know, Harper is still in the NICU at St. Francis in Tulsa and I had told Mom at the first of the week that I wanted to drive down to visit the Stamps' family. Mom was able to take yesterday off from work so we met up around noon and bought a few things that Harper just HAD to have then we headed for Tulsa!!!!

We made it there a little after 2 and the hospital was super easy to find. The NICU...not so much!! We parked in the parking garage at the Children's Hospital thinking that it would be in that building. We were wrong! After a nice tour of St. Francis we wound our way through and found Kelly!! Mom and I had only met her once, at Hillary's wedding, so I wasn't sure if she would realize who we were but she did and was soooo sweet! We got there at just the right time because it was just her and her in-laws. Shortly after we got there her husband Scott and her parents showed up so we got to visit with all of them for about 20 minutes! Kelly looks great for just having had a baby and they were all in such high spirits!! Kelly said they'd had a really good couple of days because Harper was improving so well. Kelly opened Harper's gift and was happy with everything so we were excited!!

After our visit we wound our way back out of the hospital and headed for The Cheesecake Factory!!!! Oh yum. It was delicious. I know I know, Biggest Loser, but I hadn't cheated at all so I decided yesterday I would treat myself. Plus I only ate half a burger 2 small pieces of pizza and about 3/4 a piece of brownie sundae cheesecake! It was wonderful and a very nice treat!!! After we ate we looked for a place to get some cute and unique birthday invitations for Grace's birthday party but no such luck there. We headed back home at about 5:20 or so.

It was such a great mother/daughter day!! Since Grace was born Mom and I haven't done much without her, but my father-in-law kept her yesterday while Gene worked so we could have a kid-free day! It was nice...but quiet! I was ready to get back home though because I hadn't seen the boys in 2 weeks since they were with their mom last weekend and I don't see them through the week since I work evenings.

Today's been somewhat productive. Gene, Grace, and I left this morning before 11 and dropped Layla off at Petco to be bathed and then we went grocery shopping. Boy was that a nightmare. Everyone and their dog was at Wal-Mart! We hadn't been big time grocery shopping in over a month so we were out of everything and by the time we left our cart was heaping. It wasn't a pretty sight! We are all stocked back up too! We brought the groceries home and unloaded everything, and then I cleaned out our pantry. It was a cluttered mess, and I hate clutter. However, it's no longer cluttered!

I also have washed all the sheets but Grace's, cleaned out the refrigerator and the freezer, and cleaned the kitchen!! Tomorrow morning I intend to do some more cleaning, but for the rest of the night we're just going to watch movies. When Corey and I went in to pick up Layla we stopped and rented Horton Hears a Who, Eagle Eye, Swing Vote, and Appaloosa. Now I just hope they're all good!!

Till next time.....

Oh yea......

I also meant to say that Grace will be 2 YEARS OLD one month from today. I can not believe my little girl is already almost 2.

Grace Elaine Johnson

8 lbs 1 oz

19 3/4 in long

February 21, 2007

She is so absolutely perfect and I love her so much more each and every day. I'm so glad God gave her to me!!!

Bubba Time!

So, I pulled up our pictures on the computer and was going to find one that I could post about and I found a folder titled "me and grace home alone....don't mix!! HAHA." Oh I laughed out loud! On Tuesday nights Gene trains with the other K9 after he gets off work so the boys are home with Grace. There was a high school basketball game last night though and the band had to play so Colt had to stay after school, therefore, it was just Corey and Grace until after 9 last night! Now Grace LOVES her bubbas. She misses them and talks about them when they're gone and squeals the minute they get home and walk through the door! They take such good care of her, and it's nice for her to be able to stay home and I don't have to worry about them. Corey kept sending me text messages last night telling me that she was being really clingy to him and just wanted to rock with him. I told him it was because she was so tired and just really missed her bubba! She hadn't seen them since last Thursday, and truth be told, they can't wait to get home to her either! So, I've decided to share some of the many pictures he took last night!

Is that not cute or what?! See that chocolate on her mouth?! Wonder where that came from....

These maybe?!?! Corey's a picture nerd.

You can see in the background the cookie in Grace's hand, and Layla's tongue sticking out thinking about that cookie!! Either that or she was tired of Corey taking her picture. Ha!

He loves taking pictures of himself like this. There are so many different ones similar to this on our computer it's not even funny! He's a goober.

More chocolatey lips! Please please please excuse the mess of the entertainment center! We are in desperate need of a DVD rack, because I can't stand the clutter that is our collection!

Corey, Layla, and Bear. Hmmm...American Idol anyone?!?!

Corey loves giving Grace a bath too and she loves it when he does it too because he'll let her sit in there and play forever and he plays with her bath toys with her! Too cute. My guess is...this is her saying "CHEESE!!" She always squinches (sp?) her face up and says it!

I just had to share that with you guys! It made my day this morning when I saw them. I love having 3 happy kids.....and 2 happy dogs.....and a happy husband!!!

P.S - I've actually lost closer to 8 lbs. I weighed myself at work on a scale that weighs closer to the one that we weighed in on and it said I'd lost 8-9 lbs!! Yay! I'm anxious to see what the one says Monday that we originally weighed in on!

P.S.S - I'll give you $5 if you guess what movie Grace and I are watching right now................... ;)

A Few Random Things!

1. My child has become a fan of movies. Not tv shows. Movies. Musicals more specifically. She LOVES Mamma Mia! with a passion and we have to watch it at least once everyday. That's just with me in the mornings; she usually watches it again at night with either her Daddy or her Nana and Papa!! She's so funny too because she'll get down at her favorite songs and start singing along and dancing to the music. She also likes The Sound of Music because we watched that for the first time Sunday and same thing with the music! She used to never sit still long enough to watch anything, but now she'll usually sit through at least most of a movie that holds her attention and we're finding more and more that she likes!

2. It's already been a long mentally draining week at work and today is only my Wednesday. We had a bank robbery yesterday morning and then yesterday afternoon after my shift got there at 2 they located the suspect vehicle and ended up doing interviews with the occupants and then checking an apartment complex in our city for the main suspect that was still loose. I can't really go into it as of yet, but it was a MESS!! We had all but 3 of our officers helping the detectives that were out and there was just so much radio traffic back and forth on 3 different channels that I was trying to keep up with at once and vague information and it was just a headache. I don't think I've ever been so ready for 10:00 to get there! I also just started training one of our newer people on police side and training gets stressful. I love doing it, but at the same time it's tiring when you work the same radio position for 7-8 weeks teaching someone else how to do it. As I've posted before I like to be in control of every situation so I can assure it gets done and gets done right so having a trainee is difficult for me sometimes, because I have to refrain myself from just pushing them out of the way and doing it myself when it gets busy!! Anyways, it'll be fine!

3. I know everyone has been keeping up with Kelly's blog and aware of the updates on Harper, and I am just so amazed and in awe of God's power and the power of prayer. That precious little girl has so many people praying over her and for her right now, and she is a fighter! I know her Mommy and Daddy and grandparents are probably worn out, but they have all stayed strong for her too and the doctors say she should be just fine!! Mom and I are planning to drive to Tulsa on Friday to visit them and show our support!

4. I'm doing sooo good on my diet! It's been one week and one day and I weighed myself this morning and according to our scale I've lost 4 lbs. and that is really good for me!! Yay! I'm going to do really really good this week and absolutely no cheating because we weigh in again on Monday and our team has to be at the top!!!

5. I'm so glad that American Idol has started back up! I love love love American Idol, and am actually impressed so far by the new judge! I can't wait to see how it goes this year!

6. For our anniversary Gene got me a gift certificate from Arty-Crafty (a fabulous home decor store in the mall) and then for Christmas I got 2 gift cards from Kirkland's (another home decor store)!! I was so excited since I've started decorating our house. I mean it only took me almost 2 years to finally put some stuff on our bare walls! A couple of weekends ago Mom and I went shopping and I used both of my Kirkland's ones and part of the Arty-Crafty one. I have posted pictures below to show you my new stuff!!

This one hangs above our front door, and I bought it at Arty-Crafty! It says "Grow old with me...the best is yet to be.

I had been trying to figure out what to do over our fireplace because we have 22 ft tall ceilings in our living room and folks that is A LOT of bare wall!! I knew it had to be a big picture so that it didn't look tiny and out of place. Mom actually found this one at Kirkland's and I fell in love with it. I even got it on sale! I don't like the black and white pictures of the kids in the black frames because it kind of clashes with the brown, but Gene's going to take some new pictures of them in the sepia tone and get some brown frames so that it matches better. I got the "dream" and "home" from Arty-Crafty, and honestly didn't do it with the intention of spelling out "dream home" but it works! This is my dream home!

This cross I also got at Kirkland's and originally was going to put it over our bed, but it just didn't look right there so I put it on the other wall in our dining room. I plan to get some smaller ones to go up there with it eventually.

The "J" picture I got for Christmas and I had actually found it at Kirkland's and then Mom snuck back in later and got it so Granny could give it to us for Christmas!! The sconces I got at Kirkland's, and I think they just go perfectly!! Sorry about the glare, I couldn't keep the flash from causing it. The picture on the far left of the piano is one of Steve, Jennie, Gene, and myself on our Route 66 trip, then Coltster, then Tanner, then Corey, then Gene and myself at the pd Christmas party!

This obviously is the picture I picked out for over our bed! I also got it at Kirkland's! I'm very pleased with it! The color in this picture didn't turn out very good either, and I apologize, I am NOT by any means a photographer!! I'm not quitting my day job!! Ha!

So, those are my new pretties and our house is starting to really come together! Thank you Aunt Cathy and Steph for my Kirkland's gift cards...as you can see I put them to good use! Thank you honey for my Arty-Crafty one!!!

That's it for now! Have a great week!!

Prayers for Baby Harper!!!

I'm sure most everyone who read mine is already aware, but there may be some readers who don't know yet about sweet Harper Brown Stamps that was born last night to Kelly and Scott.

Kelly has become a friend through the blog world, and I actually got to meet her at my cousin Hillary's wedding. She is such an amazing woman of God and she needs everyone's prayers right now for her precious baby girl that was born with pneumonia, and had to be flown to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa. You can read a lot more about the whole situation here.

Please, please, please pray for this super sweet family!!

I'm Hungry

We started "Biggest Loser" yesterday at work. I'm so hungry!

Everyone at the police department, court, city clerk's office, mayor's office, and City Attorney's office was able to form a group of 4 people and enter the competition. It was a $25 entry fee and the team that loses the most total weight wins the entry fee money.

Teresa, Stacy, Crystal, and myself make a team! We all work together on a daily basis and have all had the desire to lose weight. Enter perfect opportunity!! So...we embarked on the adventure yesterday. We all got weighed in and will have to weigh again in 2 weeks. I personally am doing a low calorie diet and cutting out all fast food, sweets, and coke. In all reality it's not really been that bad, however, we're only one and a half days in.

Please pray for me.

Sunday night and last night I had to work until 2 am because midnight shift is shorthanded right now so I've been tired the last 3 days. It hasn't really helped me stay strong....but I have held it together. Grace woke up at 7:30 this morning and I wanted to spend some time with her because I didn't get to see her at all yesterday. Gene works drug interdiction on Mondays and doesn't go in until 2 pm so he got up with Grace yesterday morning so I could sleep and he had taken her to my in-laws before I got up to get ready for work so I missed her all day. I was sooo tired this morning when I got up so I fed her and then made myself sausage and scrambled eggs (cooked with light butter might I add) and then I took her next door and I'm fixing to lay back down for a nap before work.

I just wanted to post about Biggest Loser because I'm going to be posting about my progress on here! Tomorrow when all 4 of us are back to work together we're going to take individual before pictures and then a group before picture and every 2 weeks when we weigh in we'll take pictures. I'm very excited about the prospect of losing weight and getting back into shape!!

Best Friends

My weekend has officially started. Woohoo! It's actually been a pretty good week, and it went pretty fast so I can't really complain. I've been so excited about tomorrow night that I was afraid the time would creep by but didn't!

I'm excited about tomorrow night because we are having a GIRLS' NIGHT at Teresa's house!!! Teresa (pictured with me above) is a co-worker and one of my best friends! When I first started at the pd, almost 4 years ago, I started out on dayshift and Teresa was my call-taking trainer. We became friends quick and she was an excellent trainer! After I finished that phase of training I was sent to evening shift where I've been ever since and Teresa stayed on days for about another year after that. She then came to evenings for a short time but then ended up on midnights as their supervisor. Last summer she came back to evenings as our supervisor and I was so excited to work with her again!!! We have become very good friends over the last few months and I just love her to death!!

Stephanie, my absolute best friend of 10 years now (WOW!!!), will also be at girls' night and I cherish every chance we get to spend together. Steph and I became best friends pretty much from the first time we met when we were in 8th grade! We were literally inseparable all through high school and after and we worked together at Harp's for almost 3 years. Six months after I started at the police department Steph and I moved into an apartment together and lived there for about 6 months. It was great!!! Probably 6 of the best months of my life!! During that time Gene and I started dating and then I got pregnant and Gene and I got married and Steph went to work for Metropolitan National Bank during that time so our time together diminshed. She was working during the day and I worked during the evening hours and of course I was busy with a newborn and family and we just didn't get to spend as much time together as we used to. She was there for me ALL day the day I had Grace, even though I know she had to have been bored!! She never left my side!! Since my days off switched to Fri/Sat we have been able to spend more time togther and I'm so happy! She and Teresa have become good friends too and we all have so much fun when we hang out together!

Jennie, who I only met last July, has become one of my really good friends too! I'm so glad that we met and took our Route 66 trip together. I must say, I had my hesitations taking a week long motorcycle trip with a couple that I really didn't know, but we had a BLAST. I am soooo looking forward to our next road trip! She's my riding buddy and I love her dearly! We get along so great and are so much alike, and she also gets along great with both Teresa and Stephanie. Even though Jennie and I haven't even been friends for a year I feel like we've known each other a lifetime! I love this picture of us too because we look so happy and goofy. As I recall Gene and I were hanging out at the tattoo shop and Gene and Steve had been making fun of us and we were in turn laughing at ourselves!!

Diane, Jennie's good friend, will also be there tomorrow night! I met Diane at Bikes, Blues, & BBQ and she was also at our last girls' night and she fits very nicely into our group!! I will have to make sure and get a picture of me and her together tomorrow!!

It's so awesome to have such good girlfriends that you can hang out with and be yourself and laugh and cry and have a good time without worrying about anything. My kiddos will be home with their Daddy and I'll be enjoying some much needed female bonding!!

Have a great weekend!

Boredom

I'm sitting at work and it's only 3:54. I still have 6 hours and 6 minutes to go. AHHHHHH!!

It has been so slow since we got here, and I'm hoping maybe it'll pick up a little bit because otherwise it's going to be a really long night.

New Beginnings

Ok, this picture has absolutely nothing to do with my post, but I love it! Grace got a Dora tent with a tunnel attached to it for Christmas and the last time Tanner came out to the house he was playing in it with her! She wants everyone to get in there with her, but we're all to big! Tanner just picked up the tent and crawled under it! I took this picture from the end of the tunnel!

Well, it's the 4th day of January and I'm optimistic about the new year. We don't really have much going on this month other than the boys getting started back in school and trying to get back into our routine. Things have been a little crazy around here with the holidays and hopefully now things will settle back down!

In February there's quite a bit going on. We will celebrate Grace's 2nd birthday, my 24th birthday, and also my 4th anniversary at the police department. It's hard to believe my baby girl is already almost 2. She's so smart for her age, and it's been so amazing to watch her grow into a little girl!

Grace went with her Nana Friday night to stay at Granny's house so Aunt Cathy could spend some more time with her while she was here from Georgia. Grace loves her Aunt Cathy and Granny and I hear she played her little heart out! Mom and Aunt Cathy dropped her off yesterday about 12:30 because they had a wedding to attend. Gene had gone motorcycle riding because it was such a beautiful day here, so Grace and I just hung out together all afternoon. After Gene got home he grilled cheeseburgers and vegetables and we ate dinner. Grace was so exhausted and had a bath and was ready for "big girl bed" by 8:30. I took her upstairs and she wasn't even interested in me finishing her night time story. She just wanted me to come sit by her and she was out like a light in no time. My sweet girl, I love watching her sleep! I stayed up long enough to finish watching season 2 of Sex and the City then I was in bed before 11.

Grace woke up about 8 this morning and ate a ton of cereal. I'm thinking she's going through a growth spurt or something because she has eaten like nobody's business this past week! I then started laundry and got my bed made and sat down with the computer to try and find a new background for my blog. I think I like it...what do you think?!

Grace and I are watching Charlotte's Web and I'm fixing to put the computer up so maybe we can lay down on the couch and take a little nap!!

Have a good Sunday!!!