Big dreams in a small town...

That's what it says under my blog title. So, to that end, I thought I would share a few of my future hopes and current daydreams with you today. There is a lot of rambling here as I find writing all this out to be therapeutic for me, so read at your own risk! Here goes:

I would like my first and only marriage to be long-lasting and happy. I want my husband Craig to be in love with me 50 years from now, and I with him. I want to make him cups of tea without him asking me, and I want him to open doors for me just out of habit. I don't want to go to bed mad at him, and I don't want either of us to say anything to one another that we'll later regret. I want to be his rock, and I want him to be mine.

Like most people, I love my family to the ends of the Earth (and some of them are much further than others--waves at my fave in laws in England-- If I could wish and have those wishes come true, we would all live long (and prosper, but that sounded too Star Trek!) happy, healthy lives. Cliche? Sure...but I still wish it.

If for any reason I can't have my previous wish, I would then wish that we all be strong enough, physically and -- even more importantly -- emotionally, to contend with the hand we're dealt with as much dignity, self-respect and perseverance as humanly possible to get us through.

I very much hope that *every* member of my family knows how much I love them--no matter what, unconditionally. I may not *always* like them or what they do, but I will always love them, and always hope for the best for them and for all of us. always.

I hope (but will never ask, insist, badger, or otherwise try to induce!) that when Corey gets old enough to live on his own and perhaps is married with his own family one day....that he won't live too far from me. I know the things that drive me crazy on a daily basis now...one day I'll miss.

I dream of one day going to Italy, France, Greece....anywhere romantic. After Craig and I have been married for some years I would love to take a trip somewhere, just the two of us, and remember why we got together in the first place.

I dream of getting back to England, but all three of us going this time--to (most of all) see my in laws and Craig all of his family and friends, to show Corey where his dad came from, to absorb more of the awesome culture there (I made a trip for two weeks at the end of 2004, as some of you know), and just because we CAN this time!!! (We were still applying for the visa last time we both *had* to travel back and forth, so obviously had to travel alone.) I think that plane ride would be SO different with someone to talk to all the way there and back! :)

I dream...and OH DO I DREAM...of owning a new car one day. It is, actually, as silly as it sounds, one of my very dearest dreams at this point. At least of the more minor and materialistic dream variety! I am nearly 36 years old and driving a car that was born in 1992. Not cool. Oh. and I want a spoiler. (yeah, do I even need to say this? You were already thinking it! A spoiler for the spoiled.....) :)

I hope AND I dream that Corey will make something good of his life and will be a wonderful husband and father. He has had a really good example in his Grandpa and I have tried to raise him well to the best of my ability-- and now Craig is here helping as well. I hope he's always as good of a person as he is right now. (I feel very lucky THUS FAR to have such a good kid, considering the fact that he is now 15 years old.)

I want to own this house, or at least *A* house (but probably this one) before TOO much longer. Even though our rent is very minimal compared to a lot of rents out there (thanks, Mom and Dad!!!) I could have very nearly b ought this house by now. This is NO reflection on my mom and dad taking rent...they have to...they could have sold this house and gotten their money back otherwise, so I certainly don't mean this as anything about THEM...we just need to be doing something about our financial future SOON.

I hope I can get full time at Walmart and Craig can get more than 25 to 30 hours a week. We need more income. Any ideas for side jobs anyone???I would be willing.

I hope that eventually my back pain will get sorted out. Some days the medications keep it well under control and other days I'm utterly miserable. Something will have to be done eventually. The fact that Mom has had 5 surgeries and Dad 3 scares me, however. What if it's still not fixed after surgery?

I *really* hope my dad can get his pain sorted out soon. He can hardly walk and that's just not like Dad.

I hope Mom can learn to take more time to just sit around and read a book instead of working so much. There's *always* going to be something to do. Like Dad, she's worked hard all of her life. Sometimes the work can wait.

I hope I can learn to like and respect myself more. Some days I do. Other days, not so much.

I hope my husband and I can learn that what I think of him and what he thinks of me is *much* more important than what *anyone* else (here on Earth, at least) thinks of us. As much as we love one another (and that's a lot) I feel that we both forget that FAR too often.

I hope to get our basement organized (with Craig's help) before the end of this century.

I hope Corey does go to culinary school after he graduates. He loves to cook and, so far, that's the plan. We all know that at this age though, plans change. often.

I dream of being thin. I mean I REALLY dream of being thin. a lot. OFTEN. (every day.) I wish and hope I learn to get off of my big, huge hiney and get busy doing something about it instead of dreaming it. It wouldn't create world peace or anything but it would make this one particular girl in the world a much, much happier (and healthier) person.

I hope very, very, VERY much that we can get out of debt at some point in our lives. I don't care about being rich, but I would really love to be able to pay the bills every month without calling this one to say I'll pay you this much next time because I have to pay this one more this time and on and on. Robbing Peter to pay Paul gets old. One day....NO MORE, ugh!!!

I have a LOT of hopes and dreams. Some of them are more materialistic than others. I hope for more purses. I dream of more shoes, more clothes, just MORE of the girly stuff we all like. For the most part though, that stuff is just fun to think about. Sure, I'd like to have it....but I know what's really important to me. So...for now I will just leave you with one last hope and dream. Maybe I will share more another time.

I hope I can keep this blog up a LOT more regularly than I did in the month of June--because I really love that the world suddenly seems a lot smaller just by putting some words and pictures on a page and sending them out into space. See you next time! :)

Bruce & Rina

Since I have been SO lax with my blogging, this post is a bit out of date. HOWEVER, since I have such good lookin' family, I'm still going to put these pictures up. My brother Bruce and my (was going to say little here, but not so little anymore!) niece Sarina decided to surprise those of us way up nort' here and visit for a weekend a couple of weeks ago. They arrived Friday (I think?! I didn't know they were here until Mom and Sarina walked up to me in Walmart on Saturday!) and left the following Monday. Bummer, I had to work the whole time they were here, but I did get to see them for a little while anyway. They stopped to say 'bye on the way out of town, and I snapped a couple pics.

I know with the price of gas nowdays, AND the fact that we all have a lot to do and only so much time to fit it all in, I am very grateful when anyone (and especially family) makes the effort to come and visit. :)

Pansy

My mom gave this pansy to me for Mother's Day. It was pretty small (of course!) when she first planted it, but I think it's doing quite well! Perhaps it's difficult to kill pansies...I don't know...but, unfortunately, I managed to off the one my sister gave me last year in pretty short order, so I'm glad this one made it out alive! Like my sis, purple is my favorite color (especially when combined with green, sage in particular) so I'm really loving this plant! Mom *did* plant it in the pot that housed the one Sis gave me....so it lives on...kinda, sorta. :) Isn't it purdy?

Odds and Sods

• In England, the word "sod" is used for a myriad of different things (you can't even imagine how diverse this word is there!), so after being around my husband for a few years now, that is the word that came to mind for this post! I have a few other blogs to make but I'm charging my camera batteries right now so can't get the pictures off of there just yet, and the things I was going to tell ya are just odd and ends as we here in America would say...or odds and sods as my husband's countrymen would call them! So let's update you on what's going on in our life a little bit--just the "odds and sods" of it. :) Here goes!
  
• I told Corey we would go to Escanaba State Fair this year. We don't do enough of those type of things together because money is always tight (like for so many people not just us!), but I decided we're just doing it like Nike says! :) He lovesssssssssss the fair and starts talking about it WAY early every year, so we're doing it twice this year. We are going to the Escanaba fair (about an hour drive for us) on August 15 and then we will go to our normal "hometown" fair in Norway, MI (about 25 miles away) in early September as usual. It will be a great time and he's really looking forward to them, especially the Eskie fair now, as one of his favorite bands will be in the grandstand. I can't think of the name just now....
• Another fun thing I decided we will do together this summer: probably on Monday or Tuesday during the first week of August (Bruce, Crystal and the gang will be here that week as well), I am going to let him invite about 25 friends (probably 15 will show; you know how that goes) and we will all meet up at Lake Antoine and "party!" :) We will provide the food and grill burgers and brats, I will make potato and pasta salad,get some chips and soda, and I bet Mom will make a chocolate cake for their contribution...and the kids can swim, play soccer and volleyball in the park and we could probably even hang out at Bruce and Crystals campsite for an hour or two around the fire if any kids choose to stay that late. It's all up in the air right now as far as the details, but we're going to do it for sure. I don't let Corey have kids over to the house very often, so this will be a way he can have friends without them being here at home. (various reasons as far as why they aren't normally allowed to come to the house much....) All we will have to provide is the food and they will probably have a great time!
• Today Corey is heading out to my friend Gayla's cottage on Lake Emily (their old house) and his friend Autumn's with a group of kids. There will probably be about 10 or 12 of them and they are going swimming, tubing and having a meal there. He is really looking forward to it. When he gets home, we may head out to Mom & Dad's to visit for an hour or two. The three of us went to Peking for Chinese food for supper yesterday and it was YUMMY. Why does it fill you up SOOO fast though?? We were really enjoying it and after one plate we were full! Ate another one though...maybe that's why the weight problem???
• As already mentioned in a previous post, soccer playoffs July 12 & 13. Go team! :)
• We don't have any plans for the 4th of July, but I work all day 9am to 6pm and Craig works that evening. I also work the surrounding days, so we can't really make any plans. We always get situated and watch the Florence fireworks, though--they put on a pretty great show for being a tiny town. Since I get home about 6:45 that night, I will probably let Corey grill some burgers or something if it's nice out. He loves to cook and he likes to grill, so....yay for me not having to cook! :)
• I am a bit too nervous to start the patches just yet, so my doctor prescribed 10mg pain pills for me now. He also gave me 10 more per month> I really need 120 per month to do much good (4 a day as I take them 2 at a time or they do nothing at all for me) but I will take what I can get. So far they are working alright. Not phenomenal, but they *are* better and help keep it controlled, so we'll work with it.
• Craig is enjoying his job at Subway a lot more now that he's been working *with* someone again during the week. Unfortunately, he still has to work Saturday and Sunday shifts alone (don't understand why THAT is as it can get pretty busy and he runs constantly all night) but at least he has help Monday thru Friday on the days he works. For many months he didn't and it was tough to do it all alone every night....aside from the fact that there would be *no one* to talk to all night aside from whoever came in.
• It's not birthday time yet (and believe me, nowdays I'm feeling like they can take JUST as long as they like to get here!!!), but I have my eye on a Canon camera that I'm getting myself this year. It's 25.00 less online than it is in our store for the same item, and I can get my 10% off online too...and then ship it to the store free with site to store shipping...so I'm going to do that. It was inspired by the Kodak (I think) that Stacy and Damon have....I loved it when they were up here visiting. This one is very similar but I liked it just a bit better when I looked at both of them in the store and it has great reviews and takes terrific pics supposedly. It's the same price as the Kodak I was looking at; I can't wait to get it!!! (I will be blogging SO much more after I get that thing...you just watch me!) ;)
• I miss my In laws in England (and I know Craig does too!!!) I don't keep in contact with them nearly well enough, so I'm going to try to improve on that. We think of them SO, so often, but how are they to know that??? We love them lots....... same goes for a lot of my family that I don't see very often.
• I have today off, so I'm going to R-E-L-A-X! (oh yeah..and clean a little bit too! ugh. and to that end.............)
• Lastly for now, I have a big mess in the middle of my livingroom floor right now. It's going to take me about an hour to sort it out and I need to get it picked up before Craig gets up for the day, so I had better stop procrastinating! (a biggie for me!) I found a set of 12 really heavy cardboard boxes (the type you put together yourself) on clearance for 2 bucks at Walmart (they were 12 or 13) and Corey and I put them together tonight and I am organizing my armoire a bit. It was pretty messy. It gets that way because it becomes a dumping ground for whatever "odd and sod" ;) is lying around, sooooo... time to clean it up a bit!

Working at Walmart

Sneaking a "page" from some of my other favorite blogs, I think I'm going to create the Working at Walmart portion of my blog and make it a regular feature. Goodness knows enough interesting ;) things happen during the course of a workday at Walmart to provide a bit of interest to you all. I've already had the downright disgusting, openly obnoxious, and lightheartedly laughable...and many more. So....I'll tell you a few stories about my workday.

 
For my first Working at Walmart post, I'm going to toot my own horn a lil' bit. :) I know it's not nice to brag, but I can hardly resist this time--because, in my humble opinion, Walmart is very good to their employees--and I know this is contrary to some popular opinion out there. I was started at a good wage, IMO, they have a great "open door" policy, nearly every single coworker from the top to the bottom has been friendly and helpful (OK, I did say NEARLY...there are always exceptions!) ;) and we get a lot of nice perks and rewards. One perk is 10% off most of the things in the store (most grocery is not included, though some is) and one reward is getting a nice meal every so many days that we, the employees, remain accident free. Just since I've been there we've had tacos, a junk food/healthy food bar, and most recently...steaks with all the trimmings! (that was for 120 days accident free, and these meals are done all day for all three shifts) :) Not too shabby, right?


Well another reward is what I'm going to brag on a bit today. At least once a year and sometimes twice, Walmart does a fundraiser for the Children's Miracle Network. It's a great charity and the money goes directly to the hospital closest to your particular store--in our case, Milwaukee Children's Hospital. We had to sell "balloons" (the ones like are shown in the picture above...not actual balloons) and whoever sold the most won a free day off with pay. Great reward I think! Second and third place received gift baskets with a dvd, popcorn, candy and soda for a movie night at home. :) Anyway....one woman apparently wins *all the time.* She has kind of got the reputation of being unbeatable. Well. Heh. Heh. Heh. Enter yours truly. ;) So ok...she DID beat me by 5 balloons in the end. But. BUT (I think these are very valid points, so bear with me here...) ;) management said the contest was over and so I stopped selling. I should have continued anyway, as it's such a great cause, but after a full MONTH (yes, a month!) of asking people if they would like to donate a dollar to Milwaukee Children's Hospital, I was fed up with it! So...I stopped and my competition carried on. The store manager had told us we could keep selling them until the balloons were gone if we wanted to, but my assistant manager said the contest was over. So...I stopped. Four days later I found out they extended the contest an extra week....ARGH!! So--I started selling them right away again, but we were pretty close by then. (I had gotten pretty far ahead, but after four days I was still only losing by 3 or so!) So...I caught up and passed her again...but the very last day of the contest was a Sunday and I had the day off....meanwhile, my competition had a full eight-hour shift that day. ARGH, again! ;) So...she ended up winning by five balloons...but the store manager thought that we both worked so hard that he wanted us both to have a day off with pay. I though that was pretty decent since he wasn't obligated to do so! Next time I'm gonna beat her fair and square though...no draws for this girl...I'm glad it went in my favor in this particular instance, but I like to WIN!!! ;) Lol!

Our store goal was $3,000 and I believe we ended up with about $3,400 for them. M. & I raised about 1/3 of that between the two of us, so we were pretty happy--and one day we'll be lounging around and home and rakin' in the dough at the same time. Can't beat it! So...there's my brag for the day and my first Working at Walmart tidbit for you! So far I love it--and unless I'm offered something really great, as crazy as it sounds, I can see myself working there for a very long time. Who knows? :)

Division Champs!

So, I'm not keeping up with this blog thing very well, am I?? :) Life gets in the way, but I want to get back on track... not a lot has been happening, but a couple great things happened, so I'll get you updated on those--and then perhaps a post about some fun things coming up for the rest of the summer!


First of all, Corey's team managed to obtain the title of Division Champs for the second year running! Go, Corey! (well, er...and team!) ;) The teams *are* different every year, but he had the same coaches this year (my good friend Gayla and my other friend Carrie's husband, Roger) and a great many of the same kids. Last year they won it "all," so let's keep our fingers crossed for playoffs on July 12 & 13th! I didn't know the dates for playoffs until just a couple of days ago, and we have to ask for days off (at Walmart) about a month ahead of time, so the assistant manager in charge of my schedule was really great about making sure I got those two days for my days off that week. Thanks, Carol! (Carol is the temporary front-end manager--my manager Marcy is out for 3 months having an ankle replacement...she's about my age but was in an accident several months ago and ruined her ankle. But, as usual, I digress!) Here is a picture of Corey in his full soccer regalia:



and one of the team at the end of the game:

and a couple of his wonderful Grandma and Grandpa who show up at each game, without fail, pending any major crisis....how awesome to have such supportive grandparents, right?? :) In fact, Grandpa is bummed because he has always liked to go to an event here in Florence called "Hooked on Fishing" (not on drugs) since they've started it up the last several years. He usually takes his boat and Corey and several other kids. They go all day, have lunch and fishing experts (famous in their way) even come to our lil' ol' town! Well, this year playoffs and Hooked on Fishing are the same day--and Grandpa *really* gets into both of them! So...I guess he'll have to choose! Cute pictures of them though, right? :)

Congratulations! to Corey and the rest of the team for earning the Division Champs title--and good luck in playoffs--we'll be there cheering you on!!! :)