It’s a SIGN….

So I am taking a cue from Ted Williams. This seemed work for him so I figured I would give it a try on Casey's behalf. Come on cardboard sign work your magic….

References available upon request. All inquires sent to :sullica33@yahoo.com

 

Falling For You

It is cold today.

There was an ice storm last night.

Schools have been called off.

My school is still in session (snow schedule).

My husband was nice enough to get the driveway prepped for my departure.

When he came inside I noticed a trail of what looked like Oreo cookie crumbs behind him.

I asked what the mess was.

The conversation went like this:

ME: what is all over the floor?
HIM: dirt.
ME: dirt?
HIM: Yeah, we didn't have any salt or sand. I put down potting soil for traction.

I did not reply.

I just took out my Dust Buster and cleaned up the mess.

I couldn't make this crap up.

SIDE NOTE:

Potting soil is not effective as an ice melt.

It makes frozen mud.

That is slippery.

I fell.

It hurt.

Toot Toot Baby.

What is that you smell at 10:30 pm????

Why that is meatloaf in the oven, and OH MY a pasta side dish too?!?!?

I think I may have outdone myself.

I worked late tonight and I will work late tomorrow.

Instead of leaving all three of the boys high and dry…I stayed up EXTRA late and made them dinner for tomorrow.

I even went as far to cook if for Casey.

All he has to do is microwave a very well balanced meal prepared with love.

[insert vomit noise here]

I don't usually like to brag but OMG I may be the best wife ever.

Oh…I forgot to mention that I pureed carrots and "hid" them in the meatloaf.

Genius.

Just call me Martha or Superwoman. Whichever is fine with me.

Toot Toot Baby!

Dear Jason’s Deli

Dear Jason's Deli,
This is addressed specifically to your Chesterfield, MO location.
You suck.
In case you were not aware your company is based on 5 core values as stated by your President Joe Tortorice:
Taken from Food & Drink Magazine

While developing the culture of Jason's Deli, "We came up with five principle core values," he states, noting that those include:
•    Being a great place to work
•    Holding the highest personal standards
•    Providing "out-of-this-world" service
•    Serving the highest quality of food
•    Being a healthy, growing company

 I personally take issue with #1, #2, #5 for the reasons below:
#1 Being a great place to work – you were until you laid off my husband on October 8, with no severance package. You may be a great place to work but you are a horrible place to leave.
 #2 Holding the highest personal standards- Really? How much detail do I need to go into here? My husband had to go to training for 12 weeks beginning in October 2009 in Iowa. We live in Missouri. He left his wife and two children (2 years old and 7 months) to live 6 hours away for 12 weeks because he believed in the company he worked for. He was let go less than a year from the opening day. His job was given to a friend of the store owners, the best man at one of their weddings. Need I say more?
#5 Being a healthy, growing company The Chesterfield store was not making the numbers so my husband lost his job. Not so healthy.

I hope you understand the position you have left my family in. For this and countless other reasons I will never go to another Jason's Deli. I have told my friends, they have told their friends, and so on.

 I recommend watching what you say about your company. You may want to check it is true before you put it in print or base your mission upon it. Not smart. Not smart at all.

When it Rains it Pours

I don't want sympathy. I most definitely do not want pity.
I just need to get it all out there.
My recent blog posts have been about life handing you a lemon….
I have used various takes on this cliché to fit our current situation.
Well here is another one.
When it rains it pours.
My grandma always said bad things happen in 3. Here is our recent breakdown:

1. October 8 Casey loses his job
2. October 18 Casey hospitalized for pneumonia
3. October 23 I discover Grant has a trigger thumb which will require surgery.He has his first consultation on 11/8

I have quit saying "well it could be worse" because it keeps getting worse.
Casey is still so very sick which is making it very hard for him to look for jobs. He went on an interview yesterday and it wiped him out. He has probably lost 15 pounds. He is too sick to do this, but he has to for his family and for himself.
His pride and his immune system have been damaged.
I hate to see him go through this.
So how do I feel…
I am still so angry and shocked that we are in this situation. I am in a constant state of panic attack. I wake up with my heart beating out of my chest. My anxiety is off the charts. Writing this now I feel like I could cry.
This is just such a humbling experience, to watch every penny spent.
I am 30 years old and my mom and dad paid my son's tuition for the month. When I found out that they had done that for me I cried. My parents not only take care of me, but they are now taking care of my kids. It breaks my heart. I am so very thankful, but I can't help but be sad. This is my life.
As I said before I know there is a light at the end of this crappy tunnel. I have to believe that. I know we are going to emerge a better family and couple at the end of this. IT WILL BE OK. I tell myself that, I tell my boys that, I tell my parents that. Now I just have to believe it.

Flashback to 1950

I have been working late the past two nights. I leave the house with the boys at 6:20 am and return home by 10:00 pm. SIGH.

On these nights Casey picks the boys up from my moms. I literally have no Idea what he does with them from 5:00 – bedtime.

Grant woke up this morning after a "boys night" with dad. I called Casey to ask how Grant got hurt last night. Casey said there were no injuries to report.

Our conversation went like this:

Me: did Grant get a bloody nose last night?

Casey: No he was fine why?

Me: he woke up with blood on his face and he doesn't know what happened.

Casey: it's not blood it's probably M&Ms. He was eating them in bed before he fell asleep.

AWESOME.

While I am not at home my children are not bathed, teeth are not brushed, and the main source of nutrition is candy. Again AWESOME.

I forgot….when he put a ring on it we left for our honeymoon in a DeLorean
and flashbacked to 1950.

Don't worry dear. I'll take care of it, right after I finish dinner. Can I get you a cocktail while you wait?

♥Don't worry Casey I still love you ♥

Wearing the Pants

In this crazy thing we call marriage, sometimes I win, and sometimes I lose.

Well I won the latest battle. I got to do my bathroom makeover and I LOVE IT. I can't believe I waited this long to make it happen.

Special thanks to Casey for letting me wear the pants on this one.

PS....I kind of like the way they fit...expect me to have them on more often.

BEFORE

AFTER

This One is for You Dear.

I feel a little like Carrie Bradshaw when I say this….but I can't help but wonder…can I really have it all?

This is a blog that has been bouncing around in my head for quite some time. There are things that happen on a daily basis that make me question my sanity. Am I crazy for trying to do all this? You may ask what is "all this"? Well to me "all of this" is being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and full-time employee. I am all of these roles every day. Now I am not saying that by any means I am alone in this venture, I know millions of women strap on a sack and carry this full load everyday of their life and have been doing so for decades. At the same time I do not think that juggling these multiple roles is something everyone can do.

For me the major hurdle lately has been the comparisons. As women we are tough not only on ourselves, but also on each other. So naturally I compare myself to my friends, sisters, and coworkers. I keep a mental set of checks and balances of how I measure up against my imaginary competition (crazy I know). Personally I feel like in most venues, I am competitive with others around me, meaning I am as good as those I am comparing myself to. Now I KNOW others are better than me in countless things and I am in no way tooting my own horn. I am painfully aware of my shortcomings. This comparison, although insane, does not bother me because it is self-induced. I am doing it to myself. The comparison I have issues with is when people in my life compare me to others. When this happens I feel like I never quite measure up. They always look at the grass as greener. I am never as good as X. They love their husband more, they are more outgoing, they cook more often, they are more adventurous, they are –fill in the blank-, they are just overall better. You get the picture.

Although I feel like I need to be everything to everyone all the time, the relationship I feel that I really need to focus on is the one with Casey. I used to feel different about this. I use to feel like once you had kids, marriage went on autopilot and all the energy went to the kids. I would always say that Casey would not die if I did not give him 100%, my kids however could fail to thrive and that would be ALL MY FAULT. I was responsible for creating a person. Flash forward, I am now responsible for creating and maintaining two people. That is a serious endeavor. I would like to preface my next statement by saying it is really stupid….While watching Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood this season (a show which I am obsessed with – so much so I stole Tori's haircut yesterday!) I was reassured that every married couple experiences growing pains after kids. God this sounds so stupid….but I really related to Tori when she was talking about her kids. My boys are a permanent extension of me and while I feel like Casey has the luxury of turning the dad switch off, I never stop being a mom. No matter where I am, what time it is, or who I am with, I will forever be Grant and Carter's mom. Being both a full time wife and mother is something I continue to struggle with. How do you give 100% of yourself to multiple people at the same time? I always feel like I am short changing someone, which brings me to my original question….can I really have it all?

I am not really looking for an answer here, this is more of a very public rant. A deep breath if you will, or as my good friend Vanessa says, I am having a moment.

I have not seen Sex and the City 2 so maybe Carrie will teach me a few things in the second installment. Tori and Dean had the season finale so I will have to wait on the edge of my seat for some more relationship advice. Maybe I should start reading her books…just a thought.

The Text Heard Around the World

I guess what they say is true. When it rains, it pours.

Now of course I am being slightly mellow dramatic when I make this statement. Lets look at today as an example. Last night I FINALLY got my kitchen put back together. The doors are hung and new baseboards up. Sigh of relief. Life may return to normal after the week long tile encounter. Side note here…I do LOVE my new floor. I mean I walk into my kitchen and I actually smile. My tile makes me happy which is a sad statement in and of itself. So the kitchen is put back together and I go to bed. Scene…right? Wrong. Cut to this morning.

Typical morning. I get up, get ready, get the boys up, we do breakfast, and get dressed. I had attempted to get Carter to eat beans for dinner, kidney beans specifically. Side note….I feel like he does not get enough protein, he does not eat meat and by recommendation of his allergist avoids nuts like the black plague. So I tried beans, no dice. So this morning I took the bag of beans that had been soaking for the past 15 hours and dumped them down the garbage disposal. Really stupid move. Fast forward….sink clogged, pipe leaking, garbage disposable jammed. All before 7:30 am. Thank god I had a cup of tea first. My clean, perfect, newly put together kitchen is now covered in a mash of bean mess. Sick. With little time to spare and Casey's plunging attempt a failure. I put a bucket under the leaky sink and leave to drop off the boys. On my way to work I stop for a both a coffee AND a diet mountain dew at Quick Trip, I knew it was going to be that kind of day. I get to work to discover that I had left my laptop and portfolio at home, go back home and retrieve the necessary items. At his point it is 8:45. I have already driven for over an hour and have not accomplished any actual "work" at the job I get paid for. I need to take a moment to feel sorry for myself – insert feeling sorry for myself here - . I make it back to work, and settle into my routine, ready to get down to business. I then hear the beep of my phone indicating a text.

Now the ladies out there know how I feel. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders. You do more before 8:00 am than most people do in a day. You go to a job you resent because you really want to spend your days at home with your babies. You feel like you have burned your days worth of calories running to and from your car. When you are stressed you tend to take it out on your husband. When you need help you don't want him to ask "what can I do" you want him to read your mind and meet your needs.

But anyway I degrees, I get a text. It is from Casey. It is three little words. Think about the combination of words this could be. What could brighten my day? What could ease my stress? Was it I love you? You're the best? You are hot? NOPE. It was three words that sealed my deal. It was the icing on my cake. The text said, WHATS FOR DINNER. Enough said.