awwwe, kittens and puppies

For our community service this month, we volunteered at Waywide Waifs. The majority of the morning we did "busy work" ... filing paperwork, cleaning out a storage closet and getting paperwork ready for scanning. The rest of the morning, we socialized the kittens and puppies. Basically, we got to play with the kittens and puppies. Being a cat and dog lover, I had so much fun! I had one 'lil kitten (whose name was Chatty Cathy, imagine that!) that just latched onto me and cried everytime I put her down. As soon as I picked her back up she purred and just loved on me. We moved on to the dogs... and OMG melt my heart! Derrick was my friend, he sat on my lap, ran around for awhile and then sat on my lap some more. *sniff*

I got one pic of one of us with the kittens but that is it...but here are some with us and the puppies.


the gang

Brenda trying to give me a kiss

Brenda and me

Brenda chewing on Pam's pants

J and Derrick. Aint he cute??

Mike playing with the kittens.

I had so much fun that I applied to do some volunteer work on my own. The place was a 'lil rank - but that's to be expected with all these animals.

Its a weekend of R&R for me. Have a few things I need to get done but no real plans. Have a great weekend ya'll!

I need another day off

Last week flew by... it's been about 6 weeks since I've had a "normal" work week. We had a new hire start Monday, her boss and a trainer in town this past week and then I was off Friday so it's all a blur.

My parents got into town at about 6:30 Friday night. We ran and got Subway for dinner and came back home.

Saturday we were all over the place...we had breakfast at ihop, headed down to Prydey's Kitchen o try the pie and then to Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops, Kohl's, JcPenney's, JoAnn Fabrics - ate at Arthur Bryant's...seriously, all over the city!

Sunday was "fix-it" day. Mom finished painting the kitchen, Dad tore apart the island and put it back together and we took care of a few other "problems" around the house. Dad took down the nasty blinds in the dining room / patio area and put up a new rod. The panels should be in soon. We ate at Texas Roudhouse for dinner.... MMMMM.

They left this morning after we ate breakfast. It was such a good weekend, I miss them already but it will only be a few weeks before I see them again!

Other than it being a 4-day work week, the week should be pretty normal.

I must say, I'm pretty proud of myself... I have over 100 pics from last week and this past weekend and I only ended up uploading "a few"!

in Denver at the hotel

*sigh* I love the mountains

This past weekend, 3 of my very good girlfriends came down from Iowa. We laughed so hard, had so much fun and are planning another one in the spring!

They got in around 4:30 Friday afternoon, after unloading their car, we talked for a few minutes then left for dinner.... Texas Roadhouse, yum!

Mmmmm.... beer
Patti being funny

After 2 or 3 silly ones, finally... a good pic!
here's to you Shaun.... hehehe
Amanda and me

After dinner, we ran across the street to Wal-Mart for drinks and snacks for the night (which who would have thought we'd need snacks after dinner... geesh). Anyways, they had punkins (my version of pumpkins :o) ) for $1.98 - the big ones! Patti wanted one that was at the very bottom of the box and the shortest of us all, Tammy, decided to climb in the box and get it out for her. We all almost pissed our pants laughing at her. People were stopping to take pictures of her.

After Wal-Mart we decided to start the night off right... at a bar! Hehe...

Tammy's drink and shot... that I ended up drinking.
My drink
3 of the 4 shots empty - 4th one is above, I just had yet to drink it.

We tried to convince M to stop by, but he wussed out. Patti made him promise and threatened him if he didn't show up. I told him we'd stop by at 2 am if they didn't show up since he promised. After we agreed he wasn't going to show up, we decided to come back to my place to drink some more.

Towards the end of the night....
Dancing the night away!

Glamour... work it Tammy!

We followed through on our threat to M that night... not sure what time it was but we headed over to his house to leave him a nice present since he broke his promise. LOL - he was cleaning it up as we drove by Sat AM.

The night ended at about 3:30 am...after puking twice. I couldn't believe it, I've drank way more in the past and only ever thrown up once before. I tried to lay down next to Patti but woke up around 4:15 b/c she was snoring in my face... silly girl. I was up at 7:30 for our nail appt.

We were all so tired, the pedi felt so good to all of us!!

We ate Mexican for lunch and then headed down to Crown Center for the punkin fest / patch.

Patti, Tammy and Amanda with the scare crow

Patti in the firetruck
Amanda in the firetruck

Patti, Tammy, Amanda

It was pretty warm Saturday afternoon... the kids all looked like they were enjoying themselves. From Crown Center we headed back to my place. Patti and I took a nap while Amanda and Tammy watched a movie. We ate a late dinner and then lounged around my place afterwards.

We got up Sunday morning, had brunch then the girls left, of course not before we got a group picture.

Haha... Tammy is a bit on the shorter side, so I wanted to make sure the camera position would get her in the picture. I set the timer and showed her where to stand, she thought I meant right beside me - this is me pushing her into the camera view!

To my girls: I had SO much fun and hopefully you did too. I will cherish those memories forever, including the "incident" while at M's house Friday night! I can't wait for our next girls weekend!!

picture of the day

It's FRIDAY!!!

Most people are always excited when Fridays roll around (those whose spouses or themselves have the weekend off) ... and while I'm excited because I don't have to work for 3 days, I'm more excited that I'll have 3 of my very good girl friends here in about 8 hours!

We're having a girls weekend and pretty sure we're all pretty excited about it! I'm not 100% sure on what our plans our since money is tight for all of us, but what I do know is that we all need this and we're going to have a freakin' blast! The camera is ready so I'll have pics to post next week.

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Iowa trip and more

Though I'm an Iowa Hawkeye football fan through and through, the boys are really disappointing us. Their loss today puts them at 3-3. One of the commentators made a very true statement about being a young team who can't finish strong. Anywho... on to other things.



Before I go on - here are a CRAP LOAD of picutres - you've been warned!



It seems like just yesterday I left for Iowa, but it was actually over 2 weeks ago. I got to my parents house around 7:30 p.m. on the 18th. I unpacked a few things, ate dinner then laid in my parents bed with my Mama. We talked until almost 10. I love doing that, and I'm pretty sure she enjoys it too :)



Friday I got up in enough time to get ready to leave for "town" with my Pa to have lunch with Mom. We ran to the store to pick things up for the party on Saturday. That night M called, very, very drunk... what a freakin riot. Although I'd only been gone a day and a half, he was already "missing me". Here are some pics I took while I was talking to him...
















Sunset over the corn field behind my parents house.


My old piano that I once used to play. It was falling apart and hadn't been tuned in over 15 years.... poor thing. Dad couldn't give it away.




Saturday morning my parents and I went to my nephews flag football game. It'd been 9 months since I'd seen my neice and nephew, damn they had grown like weeds!





B all the way at the end ... in the jeans.



Run, buddy!



After we got back from the game my parents got things ready for the party while I watched the Hawkeye game. family started showing up around 4:30 and the last ones left around midnight. It was my Grandma's 75th birthday and my grandparents anniversary... plus it'd been about 4 years since we'd all been together. We laughed a lot, drank a lot and had a load of fun. Here are some pics...

One of my many drinks for the night... malibu rum & pineapple.

cousin B with his back to the camera and Uncle T... who is normally so camera shy it's not funny.


cousin E and her mama, Aunt D.





All but 1 of us Ackles grandkids.


Great-grandkids, grandkids and their spouses.


The whole reason for our party, my grandparents.



My mama made me my favorite breakfast... homemade cinnamon rolls! MMMM....









Sunday morning we went to see my brothers new house (if everything goes through okay) and then we went to see my Aunt J, Uncle J and cousin B. It was great to see them. On the way to see the house, we saw a sundog...







Monday we ran some errands "in town" then had dinner with my other Aunt J, Uncle R, cousin C, BFF Amanda, Shaun and Sam. MMMM, Pizza Ranch! Tuesday we ran to Coralville to do a little shopping.



I took some pics of the sweet potatoes my parents picked from their garden...check these puppies out...











A few random pics from time at my parents before I left for Cedar...



Sleep.... per chance to dream. Painted in my parents bedroom.



My parents bed.



my Dad's guncase that is full of guns, watch out boys :o)



Pic of a pic, so not the best... but this is the school house my Pa went to growing up. It has since been torn down.




Wednesday morning I left for Cedar to see my friends. Had lunch with Kesa and Tara at Vito's then headed to Chantelle and Randy's place. Watched them play volleyball Wednesday night, saw a couple of hotties and a couple of familiar faces. Stayed at their place Wednesday night.



Thursday I had lunch with Em and got to catch up with her! I spent the afternoon with my other BFF, Patti. She had just got back from Cancun so I got to see a lot of pictures and hear lots of stories :) That night I had dinner at El Rancho with some co-workers and friends. I had such a good time and got some good pictures!




Griffin, son of Jake. Is he not freakin adorable?


Em and her man, Chad.



Owen! Now, let me tell you a story about this 'lil guy. He is obsessed with cell phones. He has about 5 old ones that he carries around. At one point he had two in his onesie, one in each carpenter pocket, one in each pocket and one in his hands. He sleeps with two at nap time and bed time... he's pretty damn good at saying "peace" when you're leaving too!

Margaret and Randy.



Tammy helping Kara with some of her 42 oz. margarita.

After dinner I went over to Tammy's house to see all the upgrates - man the place looked great! We talked a little bit about the girls weekend then I went to Michelle's, where I stayed for the night. Her crazy cat, Molly, kept me awake most of the night.

The pic is SO close up because she was RIGHT beside my face. Apparently Molly lays right by your shoulder with her face to yours to feel you breath.


When I pulled the cover up over my head, she moved down to my feet. She'd lay between my legs and bat at my feet or legs.

Friday morning I was "homesick" already so I went back to my parents. Took a much needed nap then mowed the backyard.

Saturday mom and I went to Cedar... we drove around to look at the flood damage then spent the afternoon with Patti. We ate at Chili's then dropped Patti off since she had to work. We were sure to get a pic first though :)

I heart you mamasita!!

I left Sunday and arrived back in KC around 5:30 pm.

Returning to work on Monday was hell... M barely spoke to me all day, but I also had so much work to catch up on... it sucked @ss. Tuesday morning I flew out of KC and arrived in Denver around 11:30 MST. I was training 3 new OMs...typically it wouldn't have been such a challenge but I had 3 different OMs at 3 different skill sets and we only had about 9 hours total to train. We made it through everything though and I think each one feel a little better about their job. While in Denver, my phone died. Seriously - it was gone. It wouldn't turn on, the battery wasn't not-charged, my phone was just plain trashed. Crappy timing, huh?

Okay... I am honestly beat after this post! Going to get a little rest before I crash for the day and bust my @ss around the house tomorrow! Have a great week ya'll.