The Greatest Show on Earth...with 4 kids!

Off to The Greatest Show on Earth! The girls weren't too excited but I think afterward they really had a great time. Patsy was taking Jordan and Chase so I thought it would be a good evening. She got our tickets and we headed out.

As you can see they ALL looked totally overcome with excitement. Lauren, Chase, Allison & Jordan, were all great. Chase even fell asleep BEFORE the elephants near the end. And Chase ate almost the entire tub of popcorn, all by himself!

I usually get pics with the girls so I finally got one with Jordan, he wanted to sit by me. Yeah! And of course, he wouldn't be a Blalock if he didn't show you what he was eating... wonder where he gets that from????
I don't go to the circus every year, but I wondered if it is the same size as when I was a kid and went in Charleston? It doesn't seem quite as big, I remember when they would have 3 rings going and have 3 different performances and it was all I could do to keep up and see everything. But now when I go it doesn't seem quite as big...so Im not sure. They had a ton of acts and it was funny, and it kept the kids entertained. They had one intermission and we were there for about 2 1/2 hours. This elephant picture was near the end. The animals came out during the second half.

And the circus wouldn't be the circus without tigers. It was funny because one of them decided that they couldn't wait for the litter box. I saw a guy scoop out tons of litter with his hands to try to 'dry' everything up. Allison got a kick out of that. I wish the tigers were out longer and did more though, just as you were getting used to them, they left.

It was rather spectacular and all in all it was fun evening. I think if I ever retire, I think I know where I want to work...I found alot of entertaining professions....

Orthodontist..

Allison had her follow-up appointment with Dr. Vinson today. She had 3 teeth pulled back in Nov/Dec and Dr. Vinson wanted to see how some of her permanent teeth were progressing. We were in and out in less than 10 minutes. I love that office! He looked and had some concerns about her right cuspid but wanted to wait another 4-6 months for another follow up and, hopefully, we can get a treatment plan in place by then. She does still have 4 baby teeth left in her mouth that he would like to see gone by then. It made me think back to the dentist when we had the other 3 pulled and I really thought 'wow, I don't want to go through that again', which, by the way, Im sure Allison was thinking the same exact thing!

Color....finally..

After many days of doing everything else that needed to be done PRIOR to actually getting a color on, I finally got to crack the gallon of Languid Blue. Its kind of a blue/gray color and I think it looks more blue in this picture but it is beautiful on the wall. Emilee really should have her own design business. I did get the ceiling paint x 2 coats up today and then got the Languid Blue up. Im going to try to get the 2nd coat up in the morning and then hopefully get the moulding painted and ready to place as well. Things are coming along. I need to get the backboard down and then the tile prior to the wainscotting going up and then finishing up with the vanity, toilet and hardware. And then of course, on to the next room.

No more full-time at Rex

No more full-time at Rex. Kind of funny actually how I got rid of 3 shifts without knowing it coming into work. Management had put out an email about giving up shifts for PDO or time-off without pay. I have so much vacation time that it just fit for me to put in to have the rest of this week and all of next week off. It was approved and before I knew it, today was my last full-time shift at Rex.

All in all it was a good day. Linda was there as a team lead and staff worked well together. Its kind of sad. It feels good to know that the people you do care about are sad to see you go and that they say it out loud. Staff, physicians, house supervisors, its all good. But not my own management team in my own department.

Thats the biggest reason why I am leaving. Linda has been my Team Leader since I started at Rex. For the last 6 years she has moulded me into growing and advancing my career within Rex. She has done everything possible in order to provide me the opportunity for advancement. Beyond that it was out of her hands, and into the hands of the same team that wants me out.

Going to Wake is opening a new door. And when you find out that an old Director from Rex is 'excited that you are coming to Wake' even before I start....makes out for a great new beginning!


Shae lives not too far from me and is our EMS liason. She is my hero in the world of nursing. I guess I always tell her if I was ever brought in on a call and needed immediate attention, she would be the one I would want to see.
Dr. Green and I are UNC buddies. Again, more than actually are sad to see me go. But we will keep in touch and I am still waiting on that boat ride.

Juan's last day was my unofficial last full-time day. I got a quick pic at the change of shift. He is on facebook so hopefully we will keep in touch. He worked nights and I work days so we didn't work together alot but seeing him in passing and interacting with him for a total of about an hour a shift, it was always nice. I hate to see him go.
Renee, is the new Team Lead over the Intake Specialists. I wish her well.

I think this says it all.
We were obviously waiting on something. I took this, at this point, not knowing that today would be my last full-time day!

Bathroom Updating...

Bathroom progress is progressing to say the least. I finally got the toilet and the vanity along with the light and mirror out. Let's just say that google-ing 'how to remove pvc piping' doesn't get many useful results. So when all else fails....call your dad. So I did, I did try to unscrew the one connecting tube but there was no way to get off the shoulder joint (at least, I think thats what its called) other than cutting it. Down to the garage I went, and back to the bathroom with the saw. After a few minutes I got it cut and out came the vanity without much problem. Sometimes I can't believe that I am doing this...but it's going to look fabulous when I am done!
Here's the proof of the sawing. I kept hitting my knuckles on the back of the vanity. No pain, no gain. Isn't that what they say? I wasn't thinking that when I was hitting my hand. ha ha

I got the 2nd coat of primer on today and it is starting to look good. The ceiling looks wonderful without the popcorn and the walls look great. Can't wait to get the color on and the wainscotting up. Its going to look great!

You can't really tell in these pictures how good it looks, but believe me when I tell you that it does!

Michael Deans anyone?

Once I had turned in my 'official' notice of stepping down from full-time status, Jan was on a mission. She had told me she would like to take me out to dinner and had me pick a date immediately. I had chosen January 24 at 1900. Jan immediately put up a sign-up sheet in the breakroom in order to get an accurate count in order to reserve enough room. Jan wanted to go to Michael Dean's Seafood and Oyster Restaurant, which sounded great to me. Once the sign-up sheet had gone up in the breakroom, I was concerned about 'who' was going to show up. After all, I don't like everyone.. ha ha ha... Mrs. Cullen (thats Em for those of you who don't know) heard me say that so she wrote on the bottom of the sign up sheet...'Don't come if Michelle doesn't like you'. I love it.When Jan made the reservation and the manager found out we were from the Rex Emergency Room, he gave us our own room. We found out that his wife had just had a baby at Rex and was treated so nicely that he was going out of his way for us. I found all this out when I got there. The table was beautiful.

Em ordered oven-roasted artichoke dip with a spinach and tomato covered flat bread, which was totally awesome! Jan ordered wood oven roasted crab and sherry dip with parmasan herb flatbread which was also awesome!
How Natalia had time to break away from the Ghidora home renovation show is beyond me, but I am so glad she did. Natalia and I have always worked together well, but I think with the home renovations and us sharing advice we have grown closer. I am so glad. She is such a wonderful person and a great RN! She is one that I will truly miss on a shift-to-shift basis.

Now, Mrs. Cullen..not so sure about that one. I am, of course, the only one that can testify at her sanity hearing. But I guess if she wasn't like that we probably wouldn't like each other as much. One of these days when one of us wins the Powerball and we start our own business, we will probably be on cloud 9. Em is always funny, and we each feed off of each other so I am so glad that even after a terrible 12 hour shift at work, she came to dinner. She is another one that I will truly miss.

This is why I LOVE EM! We are so much alike... in case you haven't heard... she is married to my husband! Michael really loves my fangs more! ha ha. Yes, Em I know, more Restoration Hardware gift cards. Seriously, Em is another one that I will miss dearly. She is as passionate about design as I am about scrapbooking. We really do need 'new hot jobs'.

Demi ordered Snow crab legs, which looked great. As you can see the crab wasn't too fond of her picking him for dinner!

Katie ordered NC stuffed flouder with tasso ham, NC shrimp, and served with wood grilled seasoned vegetables, rice pilaf and a smoked tomato butter.

I can't remember who ordered the blackened tilapia with a roasted red pepper remoulade, seasonal vegetables and rice pilaf, but it looked like I may actually want to eat it.

And here is my plate. Filet, of course, medium rare..you know, let both sides see the flame. Despite being under a cloud of onion slices, it was rather large. Wood grilled filet with garlic mashed potatoes, grilled shrimp, grilled jumbo asparagus and bearnaise sauce. It was wonderful! Thanks so much Jan! You really did great!

Em ordered the sirloin, but I didn't see it on the menu to write about, so I am not sure other than the asparagus and the steak what else was piled under the stack on her plate. She must have liked it enough that she even licked the plate clean.

Charlie gave me some of the names of the drinks that were ordered: a Blue Motorcycle, which I think she is drinking in the picture below, a Before the Affair, and a Pomegranite Martini. I think there was more but I can't remember. And I didn't even drink!

Em ordered a glass of champagne and of course, since she is always wanting to make an entrance, the cork flew over her head and landed on the table in front of her. That is supposed to be a sign of good luck, so she gave it to me! She even signed it. Emilee and Edward...how romantic!
Of course, we can see where the champagne led after she was hit with the cork!

Natalia, Em and Me! I love this pic and I love these girls! Hope we always are best of friends!

This is a new fish species although it hasn't been identified yet.
Demi and Me. Demi has helped me out so much with many different things at Rex and has really been my right-hand in lots of projects and insight. I will truly miss working with her day-in/ day-out. But I am sure we will always keep in touch, maybe even on Thursday mornings at the Cracker Barrel!

Demi, Kim, Charlie, Jan, Katie, Em, Me and Natalia! What a group! Not too bad outside of work, huh?

Thank you Jan for a wonderful night of food, friends and conversation! I love you guys!

All to keep up with the Ghidora's and the Cullen's~

In an attempt to get this house sold at some point in the year 2009, one must progress. After picking out too many sample cards, I brought them to work to have my favorite home improvement queens look them over. We had pretty much narrowed the thick stack down to about 10. I narrowed it down a few more and then went to Lowe's and bought samples of the 6 I had left. I taped the walls in the bathroom and put on all the colors. I told the girls we would leave them up and check them daily to see which one we liked the best after a few days.

I really was leaning toward this blue, but was wondering if it would come across too cool. I'm putting up wainscotting up at the bottom so it wouldn't be a sea of blue, but I really liked it. Blue is my favorite color. Also, I have to keep reminding myself that it can't be what I want or like, it has to be good enough for potential buyers.

I hadn't seen Em in awhile so when I caught up with her at work yesterday I showed her what we colors we had done and she gave me the Sherwin Williams blue color name again, so again I headed to pick up a sample of that.

Here it is! I put it up today and I think I have finally picked a color. It looks alot like the blue sample I pained under the window but this one has more gray to it and I think is going to look awesome with the white wainscotting at the bottom. It is Languid Blue SW 6226 for those of you who love it too.

Off to the flooring... I texted Will to find out how to get the base moulding off without damaging the drywall. I ended up using the crowbar, no not the one from Mob Wars, but the one in the garage, and got it off fairly quickly. Next to tackle was the linoleum. Not as fun. They had stapled down end to end and I couldn't budge any part of it. I had texted Will but he didn't respond. I googled the how-to and found out I needed a heat gun.

Chris brought a heat gun and he didn't even need it. In the amount of time it took me to unload the dishwasher he had ALL the linoleum out. Yeah! Then Will decided to text back and asked 'what are you putting down'. I responded with 'a mural of my a**', his response 'd*** you have a house that big'. I laughed so hard... almost as hard as the 'CLEAR' episode. Not sure I blogged that one but I'll have to.

There was a full wal mirror that took up from the top of the sink to the bottom of the light fixture. WOW, when I took it down, it made the bathroom look so much smaller. I am not putting the same mirror back up but I will have to make sure that one that is impressive goes up to make sure it expands the room.

Well, I hope I am keeping up with the Ghidora's and the Cullen's (even if your legally married to my husband, Michael, of course... not Edward). Or at least moving forward in order to have this in the yard this year.....

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Funny thingat work yesterday, you know Martin Luther King day. I was amazed at how many people didn't want to enjoy the holiday but come to the ER. We definately weren't as busy as we could have been but the forcast was the talk of the day. WRAL ws predicting 4 inches in Wake County and up to 8 inches in Johnston County. I told the staff I was going to walk through the lobby at say out loud, 'hey did you hear that there is 15 inches in Chapel Hill', hoping that would scare off any non-emergency related visits, and give the night shift a great night.

I figured between the threat of snow and the Presidential Inauguration that would make Tuesday a good day. I didn't have to work and around 8pm they had called Wake County schools out. There have been such few instances in the 10-12 years my girls have been alive for them to remember any 'good' snows we have had. Needless to say the girls were way to excited about NOT going to school today.

We got up this morning and everything was white. It was so beautiful. I told the girls that it hadn't snowed and they would need to get up so I could take them to school. I opened Allison's blinds and Allison looked out and saw that everything was white... and then she yelled at me!

It snowed most of the day until late afternoon, pretty steady snowfall. It was so beautiful. That is one thing I miss about being in West Virginia. So the girls have loved being outside enjoying the snow and are hoping with the temperature drop tonight that they will, again, call schools off. If they do we have already picked out a sledding site. More to come. Hope you all enjoy the pictures.