Update on garbage

For now, we get to keep our current sanitation company. Yea!

The plan is going to be reconsidered and revamped over the course of the next year.

Entitlement

I would really welcome responses to this question:

What causes an individual to develop an attitude of entitlement?

My first thoughts on this are centering on self-pity and envy. But I'm sure there are more factors involved.

Garbage (in more than one sense of the word)

For the past 12 years that we have lived in Gwinnett County, we have had the choice of several different sanitation companies to use for picking up our trash.

About a year ago, I learned of a plan by the County Board of Commissioners to divide the county into eight zones and award the trash service for those zones to competitive bidders. Initially, the plan was to award no more than three zones to any one bidder. Also important to note, this plan was conceived and put into place by the Board of Commissioners and was never voted on by the citizens of the county AND the plan is for a private, non-governmental agency (non-profit corporation) to run the whole thing. Something I forgot to put in earlier - normally, there is a $150,000 performance bond required for a business to operate and respond to these bids. However, on these contracts, the County upped the requirement to $2M, which effectively prevents smaller businesses from bidding on the contracts because they cannot afford a $2M performance bond.

About a month ago, we received a letter from our new sanitation company, informing us about the terms of the new service. A week or so ago, we received our first bill for the service, which is a few dollars higher than we are currently paying. We will have to pay for the service out of pocket for the first six months, then it will be added into our property tax bill.

Sometime during the process of putting this plan into place, they changed it by reducing the number of zones from 8 to 6. Then when contracts were awarded, only two sanitation companies received contracts, and both of these companies are out of Florida.

In the meantime, two of the sanitation companies that are effectively being run out of business by this plan have challenged the whole thing in court, seeking an injunction to stop the new plan. I just learned this morning that the challenge has been successful and the judge did decide to put an injunction in place against this plan.

I am in favor of the injunction because I am opposed to not having a choice in this matter and I am also concerned that this plan was put in place without being voted on by the citizens of the County. On the other hand, I'm wondering what happens in two weeks - who is going to be picking up our trash? Anyone? Are we even going to still have a trash can (currently provided by the sanitation company) or will that be picked up and we'll be left with nothing?

Trash pickup is something I've always kind of taken for granted and just always assumed would be there. Never gave it much thought. Now the thought of trash possibly piling up and having nowhere for it go is kind of daunting.

Another good reason to move somewhere else!

Some things end...

I just learned this morning that my boss has resigned and is leaving at the end of the month. I will miss her because she has been inspiring and encouraging to me in learning new skills and developing skills further.

At the same time, I am jealous because she is leaving and I am not. I've been looking for other opportunities and will continue looking. And I'm not looking forward to what it will be like there without her. The three Ms are a real pain to deal with, and it will only get worse without her there.

And today was my 8th anniversary with the company.

Not blogging enough

My darling daughter says I don't do enough blogging. Perhaps if she knew what actually goes on in my head, she would be thankful that I choose not to share it all.

Frankly, I have a LOT of negative thoughts that I work really hard on controlling. And a fair amount of anger and frustration. So now tell me, should I blog more, or just keep it to myself?

Feeling frustrated

I'm feeling rather frustrated right now. I think that after Christmas there will have be to some changes taking place in my household. I know I'm "bitching and moaning" but sometimes it's just necessary to vent. So once the holiday is done, I will be moving into assertive mode and straightening out some things. No more "Hotel Moon."

May sound morbid, but....

I've found a lovely piece of instrumental music (an oboe piece) that I want played at my funeral.

It's called Gabriel's Oboe and it's on Amy Grant's "A Christmas to Remember" album. For some reason, I get a little teary-eyed whenever I hear it. It's a beautiful piece.

Catching up

I didn't really post while Nathan was home. It seems like the time just went by so fast. He left this past Wednesday (the 22nd) to go back to Afghanistan. That was a difficult day but I got through it. Tabitha got an e-mail from him, and it seems he thinks his sergeant is going to chew him out when he gets back to his FOB. Apparently his sergeant was under the mistaken impression that Nathan was supposed to leave the States on the 19th instead of the 22nd to go back. And it seems that they thought for a few days that he had gone AWOL. He shouldn't get into trouble because it was on his paperwork that he was to leave to go back on the 22nd but that won't stop his sergeant from giving him a hard time about it.

Kellyn did something interesting one day this week. Jennifer had put her in her bumbo seat on the living room floor. She was doing something in the kitchen (right next to the living room) and when she turned to check on Kellyn, Kellyn was in the floor on her tummy, just looking around. She's not sure how she managed to get out of her seat and onto the floor. She wasn't fussing so she didn't get hurt in the process.

Tara likes to occasionally accompany me to the bathroom, and when she does, she always stands on the scales and proudly announces "20 pounds!" She actually weighs about 27 pounds but it's a lot easier to say "20 pounds" than "27 pounds." She is so funny sometimes!

Kellyn's newest entertainment

The most recent thing that has tickled Kellyn's fancy is a mylar balloon. Michael bought it for Tara to play with since she loves balloons. It has a pumpkin design on it. The other night Jessica's little boy was playing with it and he accidentally tapped Kellyn on the head with the balloon. She started giggling and laughing and just went on and on. It got all of us laughing because she was so cute! She was sitting in her bumbo seat at the time and she laughed so much that she ended up leaning to one side. I wish we had had a camera ready and could have gotten some video of it, but this was one of those unexpected things that happen. She has such a cute laugh. :o)

Football

Apparently, Kellyn loves football. If you change the TV channel to one that is playing a football game, she will almost instantly become transfixed by it. After a minute or two, she will start cooing and babbling while staring at the screen. She makes several different sounds as if she is commenting on the game. It is so cute and so funny! And it will hold her attention for as long as you leave it on. But if they stop showing the game and start showing a couple of guys doing commentary on the game, she will lose interest and look away. We don't normally watch sports on TV but it's worth it to turn a football game on if she starts getting fussy. We plan on trying to get some video of her watching a game. I recommended to Jennifer that she record a game and save it to use for when Kellyn is bored and fussy and nothing else seems to work!

Tara-speak

We've really been enjoying noticing the way Tara's vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds and how well she puts words together. Some of her words come out really funny and sometimes it's amazing what she's able to express.

Two that have stood out this past week:

"flop-flops" - this is Tara's version of flip-flops

"fusser" - this is how Tara says "pacifier" - amazing how accurate her rendition is!

The little girl loves to talk!

Kellyn - 3 month pictures

There are more, but I guess I should let Jennifer post some of them! But since I scanned them, I decided to post a couple. :o)

I've uploaded this for illustration purposes. I have this photo on my laptop as my wallpaper. Tara knows it's there and will come to me and ask to see it. When I show it to her, she takes great delight in pointing out everyone and naming them. She calls Grace "baby Gace" - r's are still a little difficult for her; I've told her that Grace is also her cousin but she hasn't gotten used to that concept just yet. She can say her own name and Kellyn's name. She alternately calls Kellyn "baby Kellyn" or "baby cousin." She's been learning how to say "great grandma" - sometimes without the r's, of course.

Fingers are yummy!

Fingers are so yummy!

Kellyn loves sucking on her fingers. Jennifer and I have been on Skype a couple of times (better video than Yahoo Messenger), and I have been able to see Kellyn smile and heard her laugh a little bit. Hopefully, she won't totally forget me if she can see me on the webcam occasionally.

Army news

As of today, I officially have a third family member in the Army. Michael was sworn in today and will be shipping out on September 23 to Ft. Sill, OK for basic training. He is going to be training for Tracked Vehicle Repair (tank mechanic). His AIT training (14 weeks & 4 days) is supposed to be at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland.

Nathan will be coming home on leave sometime in October. It will be good to see him but it will be such a long time before seeing him again when he comes home from deployment.

AJ's unit is TENTATIVELY set to return from Iraq around February 15.

New pics of Kellyn

Chillin' with the pacy

All laid back and relaxed

What a cute face!

Our short vacation

Our very short vacation seemed to consist of a LOT of driving with a few short interludes in between and sleeping in a different bed every night.

We actually made it from Atlanta, Georgia to Beaumont, Texas in one trip. I wasn't sure at first that that would actually happen but it went rather smoothly. But it sure takes a LONG time to get through Louisiana.

On Friday, we got up mid-morning and got cleaned up and dressed and met my family for lunch at Alisa's family's home. That was fun with lots of people meeting who had never met before. Especially seeing my mom meet her newest great-granddaughter (thanks to Janet for the picture).

I thought Tara did really well being around so many new people. She seemed to enjoy getting down on the floor and crawling around with Grace and then playing (banging) on the piano.

I didn't take many pictures at the wedding - I guess because I knew Garrick was taking pictures. I'm really looking forward to seeing those pictures (HINT, HINT). I did get a nice one of Stephanie holding Grace and Jennifer with Kellyn. I have other shots where you can actually see Stephanie's face (such a nice face, to quote from one of Tara's Elmo videos!) but in this one Grace was actually looking at Kellyn and seemed to be interested in her.

What a week!

I meant to get back to the blog before now, but it's been such a tiring week for us. As we were traveling back to Georgia on Monday, Michael started feeling bad. I started driving somewhere in Mississippi. At first, we thought he just had an upset stomach but then he started experiencing a lot of abdominal pain. The closer we got to home, the worse it got. He originally wanted to just get home so he could lay down, but then the pain got much worse and he actually asked me to take him to the hospital.

I had my suspicions and they were confirmed after he had a CT scan at the hospital. Kidney stone! They got him on pain meds and laying down so he was soon feeling a lot better. Armed with prescriptions, we got out of the hospital about 10:30 that evening.

He insisted on going to work the next day so I had to drive him there and pick him up, since the doctor told him not to drive while taking the pain meds (Percoset).

The rest of the week passed with him feeling not too bad but not great either. By Thursday afternoon he was feeling feverish and having chills. After talking to our "family doctor" (my SIL's boyfriend/significant other, who is an ER doctor), I called Michael's urologist and finally got a call back about 10:15 that night. When he found out what was going on, he told me to take Michael to the hospital immediately. We got there and they finally got him into a room and did urine/blood tests. The urine test showed a UTI but the blood test came back clean - a very good thing. No kidney infection! If there had been a kidney infection, he would have been admitted and would have been facing some kind of procedure the next day to clear out the kidney.

cute photos

Monday

As I type this, Nathan is on a plane heading first to Germany and then on to Afghanistan. He says it will be about a week before they actually get to their final destination. The FOB (forward operating base) they will be at is named Fortress - supposedly because it has really high walls.

I've tried not to think about it too much today. I had one last phone call with him late last night - I was wide awake after sleeping so much over the weekend with the cold/sinus infection I came down with.

It will be awhile before we hear anything from him. I'm hoping that he will be able to get Internet access after he gets settled at the base. I already know that letters take some time to go back and forth.

This is going to be a tough time to get through.

new baby photos

Jennifer and AJ had photos done while he was home. They had to pack so much into the short time he was here. Jennifer was on the go constantly, which was pretty amazing to me for someone who had just had a baby.

Anyway, I scanned the photos and wanted to post them to share with everyone.

This one is my favorite

Catching up

The trip last weekend wore me out. It's taken me several days to feel like myself again. I guess that's part of getting older. **sigh**

Jennifer and I went to the New Baby Products store to pick up something she had ordered. They had a baby scale in the store so Jennifer got Kellyn weighed. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 7 ozs, so she seems to be doing quite well. She's sleeping for 3 to 4 hours at a time now and staying awake for longer periods of time.

I enjoyed seeing Nathan last weekend but it was also sad to think that I won't see him (except for his leave) until after his 23rd birthday. I thought he would have a 12-month tour but it's going to be a 15-month tour (going back to 12-month tours doesn't happen until August 1).

Nathan at Ft. Hood

Nathan got to meet Kellyn for the first time - he was almost afraid to hold her because she's so small.

Saturday night in Temple, Texas

It's Saturday night in Temple, Texas, where we are staying for the weekend. It was the closest place to Killeen we could get where we could use Michael's Marriott points for our room.

As luck would have it, the main road that runs in front of the hotel is completely torn up - you have to use the frontage roads to get around. We completely missed seeing the hotel when we first got here.

It has been hot this weekend but everywhere we've been, they run the AC so cold that I've been freezing.

Nathan told us Friday after we got to the post that there wasn't really anything to do around here. Turns out he was right. There's not much around here. If Ft. Hood wasn't in this area, there really wouldn't be much here. I thought Ft. Carson was big, but Ft. Hood seems to be a lot bigger. They have two PX's and mini-malls and food courts.

I get amused by the names of some of the streets in Ft. Hood. The street where all of the motor pools are located is Hell on Wheels Avenue. There was another I thought was funny but my memory is failing me at the moment!

We get to spend part of the day with Nathan tomorrow. Have to get on the road by 2:00 to get back to the Waco airport and turn in the rental car and get our bags checked. It's a very small airport so I don't think it will be as big an issue to get through security as it was in Atlanta.

It's been nice to visit with him this weekend. Just felt it was something I needed to do before he's deployed. His unit starts leaving on June 27 and they will all be out by July 1.

June 10

Today was supposed to be the day that AJ got on a plane to go back to Iraq. He reported to the USO at 1:00 as ordered. Apparently they sat around for some time, went to the gate, and then found out there were mechanical problems with the plane. The flight time got changed to 11:00 this evening. After sitting around a few more hours, the flight was canceled completely. He and Jennifer came back to the house a short time ago. He has to report tomorrow morning at 11:00 am.

This coming Friday, June 13, Michael, Jennifer and I are flying to Texas to visit with Nathan for the weekend. His unit is being deployed sometime between the 20th and 30th of this month to Afghanistan for one year.

It feels so strange to know that both of them are going to be away at the same time. I'm going to miss them so much.

Thursday

Stayed home today. Something I ate for dinner last night must have disagreed with me because I felt sick all night and most of today - didn't sleep much last night. I stayed home and felt puny and rested my knee.

Things at work weren't too hectic so I guess it was an OK day to be out. Of course, it's frustrating to be at home when I'm sick because I end up noticing all the stuff that needs to be done and that I don't feel well enough to do. Oh well!

Getting older

Went to the doctor this morning to get a refill on a prescription and mentioned to him that my right leg had been bothering me. He checked my knee, discovered it was swollen, and decided that I have bursitis in my knee.

Getting older is SO much "fun" - one more thing to deal with.

Flickr.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moon_photos/

...sigh...

Not having a good day in a lot of ways...

Baby picture

Holding onto Daddy's hand already

Kellyn Elizabeth Rhodes

Well, it's all over and she's here. Meant to post more yesterday but didn't get around to it. Jennifer did very well and her labor progressed so smoothly with no problems. Mom and baby are doing great and AJ and Jennifer are both very happy.

Name: Kellyn Elizabeth Rhodes

Date and Time: May 27, 2008 - 5:56 pm

Weight: 6 pounds, 5 ounces

Length: 19.5 inches

Hair: Yes, she has some and it appears to be strawberry blonde

Just born

Already holding Daddy's finger (not to mention his heart!)

Getting weighed

I'll post more later. Right now I'm still REALLY tired (not as tired as the little mother but then she's not 50 years old!) and I plan on going back to the hospital today. No word yet on when they come home.

Baby day 1

2:35 PM

We are at the hospital. Got here at 9:30 am today. Jennifer is on a pitocin drip. She is progressing quitely nicely. Her epidural has been started so she is much more comfortable. She is 5 cm dilated and 75% effaced (she was already 3 cm when we got here). Midwife is pleased with her progress. She will come back in 2 hours to check her, and if her water has not broken by then, she will do it.

Almost there...

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Jennifer calls the hospital at 8:30 am to make sure they have a bed available. Provided they do, she reports to the hospital at 9:30 am to start the induction.

Today, we're going to Margaret's house for a relaxing afternoon. A combination celebration for Memorial Day, AJ being home, and Kristi's birthday (Margaret's daughter).

Yesterday, we got another floor down (with plenty of help). It's so nice to get more of that nasty 35-year-old carpet out of the house. We keep hoping that once we get all of it out, the house won't get so dusty so fast (fingers crossed).

Oh, baby!

As of today, Jennifer is still only 1.5 cm dilated but is now 50% effaced. The doctor's office decided to go ahead and schedule an induction for next Tuesday, May 27 in the morning (provided there is an available bed). So hopefully, if the induction goes well, we will have a new baby girl sometime next Tuesday.

AJ's flight arrives tomorrow morning around 9:00. I am taking Jennifer to the airport to pick him up. Jennifer's uncomfortable but she's really happy now that AJ's almost here and the baby's going to be here soon.

A little bit closer

Jennifer was checked Thursday at the doctor's office - she is 1.5 cm dilated and 20 to 30% effaced. I think the baby has dropped some more. Jennifer is tired more and more of the time and her feet have been hurting.

AJ leaves Iraq tomorrow (evening for him, early afternoon for us) to go to Kuwait. Hopefully he will be able to get a flight out of Kuwait the next day and be in Atlanta by Wednesday morning. Michael has to be out of town working this week so I will most likely be going to the airport with Jennifer to get AJ. As far along as she is, I don't feel comfortable with her going to the airport alone. The Atlanta airport is huge and requires quite a bit of walking to get wherever you need to be.

In some ways, Jennifer's pregnancy has been more exciting for me because I've been able to witness so much of it firsthand. And it will be really special to be able to get to know Kellyn in much the same way as I did Tara those first precious months of life (the first outside of Mom, that is).

Every time my phone rings now and it's Jennifer, I'm always wondering if she's calling me to let me know she thinks it's time to go!

Hasn't happened yet

Still waiting...

Ideally Jennifer would like for the baby to arrive just after AJ gets home. He leaves Iraq next Monday (May 19) and the earliest he would get here would be May 21. She is really ready to go. She will be 38 weeks tomorrow and they are supposed to do a check at the doctor's office to see if she has started dilating yet.

We were at Margaret's house this past Sunday (Mother's Day) for a cookout and I took a few pictures of Jennifer so she could send some to AJ. This past Saturday I finished a diaper stacker for Jennifer. The one she had originally registered for at WalMart was not available at any stores or online. So I found some fabric on Ebay (classic Pooh on a pale pink background) and a pattern and made one for her.

I've really missed sewing. Right now all my sewing stuff is mostly packed up and sitting in the dining room but I got it arranged to the point where I could at least get to my sewing machine and basic supplies. It's still going to take a while before I get my sewing room back because Michael wants to move Jennifer (and the baby) into the small room so we can redo the front bedroom (paint, flooring, etc.). THEN I'm supposed to get my sewing room back.

Baby days...

Well, it's getting closer and closer...

Jennifer has been having a good bit of trouble with swelling in her ankles and feet, and some days her hands and fingers are swelling also. She's been having trouble with carpal tunnel-type symptoms in her right hand and wrist, which the doctor said was due to the increased blood volume.

Yesterday, I looked at Jennifer and thought that she looked like the baby had dropped some. This evening, she told me that her SIL-to-be and a server at a restaurant earlier today told her she looked like she had dropped some. When I was pregnant with Jennifer, she dropped only a day or two before she was born. Also, she has been feeling more and more pressure very low. One more thing, when she does a lot of walking, she starts having very regular contractions.

So I'm wondering if this baby is going to wait until AJ gets home to be born. As I told Jennifer, the bright side to that would be that AJ would get to spend his whole leave time with the baby and her, instead of waiting for the doctor to induce Jennifer.

Grrrrrrrr!

I hate this den! I hate this house! I want to move!

I have been trying to figure out how to rearrange the furniture in my den for several weeks now. The room is long and narrow and has several doorways in it, plus a fireplace at one end. Arranging furniture in it is definitely a challenge. Of course it doesn't help that we currently have a dining room set stored at one end of the room (disassembled at present).

After we got the "new" couch, he wanted to keep the old one for extra seating! I told him we didn't have room for it and suggested he give it to his daughter (especially satisfying since we just discovered several weeks ago that her kids stuck candy on the back of the sofa and between the cushions last Halloween - and the candy wasn't wrapped).

I guess what it really boils down to is that we just need to get rid of a lot of stuff. I'm ready to if I can just get my "dear" husband to participate and help with some of it.

Tara's 2nd birthday

This past Thursday was Tara's 2nd birthday. This was our regular weekend for her to visit with us. Tabitha and Michael had a birthday party for her Friday evening. It was held in a park not too far from their home.

When we got to the park, Tara wasn't there yet but arrived soon after. She wanted to play on the playground, so I walked with her to the playground and took pictures of her while she played. She played on the slide a lot and then had fun being pushed in the swing by Aunt Jennifer.

(Some of Tabitha's family and friends were there and they are SO annoying to be around. Lots of cursing, smoking, etc., and Tabitha's mother seems like she's always strung out on pills or alcohol.)

When the food was ready, Tabitha brought Tara back to the pavilion to eat, with the plan being to eat, open presents, and then have the cake. While plates were being fixed for the kids, Tara somehow climbed up on a bench at one of the picnic tables. We don't know exactly how it happened but Tara managed to fall off the bench and go face first onto the concrete floor.

I was the first one to get to her and pick her up. She bumped her forehead hard and hit her nose and lip. Her lip got cut a little bit from one of her teeth and her nose got scratched up. The party broke up shortly after that and we went back to their apartment. She finally calmed down and was interested in her presents and cake (Elmo cake this year as he is currently her favorite character). You can see the size of the bump on her forehead in the picture below.

She finally was doing well enough that they decided it was okay for her to go home with us. We kept her awake for a while to make sure she was really okay. Today her nose, lip and forehead are looking a lot better, and she's acting like her normal self - cute and funny. It's hard to believe she's two years old already.

The "I could have been killed in that accident" club

Last Saturday morning, one of Michael's nephews, who is a Gwinnett County policeman, was involved in an accident while on the job. He was going to a call and had his lights on. Another vehicle did not yield in an intersection and struck Jeff's police car. The photos show the result of the accident.

I don't know all the details but we were told that he came out of this accident without injuries.

Since I was involved in the accident in Oklahoma right before Christmas, I have heard of people being killed or seriously injured in accidents where their cars went off the road or down embankments. I don't know why I was so fortunate but there must be a reason. I was blessed to be spared so I know I must have some purpose. It's just been difficult for me to understand what it might be. OK - enough of that.

The house

Work on the house never ends. There is always something else to do.

Well, we recently reached a milestone. We finally finished installing the new flooring in the third bedroom. Next is the hallway and the front bedroom (bedroom #2). We're also going to be painting the hallway and bedroom. Normally, we could move along at whatever pace we choose. Since Jennifer is living with us while AJ is in Iraq, that changes things a little. We want to get the hallway and bedroom finished as soon as we can so that we can get her and the baby back into the front bedroom. I don't know if we'll be able to finish that much before the baby arrives.

And we've decided that in addition to replacing flooring and repainting rooms, we're going to replace the interior doors to give the house a fresher, updated look. That was my idea - I had to do a lot of talking to convince Michael on that one.

It's difficult to get work done during the week because we're both tired after working all day. Our weekends are limited by the fact that we have Tara every other weekend. And since she thinks she has to be wherever I am and right in the middle of everything, it's not possible to do much in the way of painting or installing flooring with her around.

Oh well, nothing ever gets done as quickly as I think it should, but it eventually gets done.

Trip to the eye doctor

Today was one of my regularly scheduled visits to the eye doctor - I usually go every 4 to 6 months. In addition to getting my pressure checked, it seems there is always another test of some kind being done. No extra tests today, but with no discussion or advance warning, he (the doctor) apparently had decided to do a laser procedure on my right eye to get rid of "vitreous strands." Apparently these vitreous strands can develop after eye surgery around the site of the incision. The use of the laser itself does not hurt; however, the eyedrops to constrict the pupil can and do cause a headache. The lens they put in your eye (like a really big contact lens) before they use the laser is REALLY uncomfortable. Add to this the fact that I had a headache before I went to the doctor. After it was all done, I had a really big headache and my eye felt really scratchy (which the doctor said was normal). What am I supposed to get from this? Supposedly the vitreous strands can cause blurred vision. So I guess this is supposed to help the vision in my right eye - the eye that is the weaker eye.

In other health news, I recently had blood work done at the endocrinologist. My triglycerides are way down - all the way to 118! Yay! Still need to get my LDL and HDL where they need to be. Also my insulin levels have improved to the point where I think I'm not considered insulin-resistant any longer. Another yay!