A t-shirt, a mock urinalysis, and a KITCHEN!!!

Today was an exciting day! I won another contest – Nearly Impossible Trivia – on the radio station, and I’ll be getting a Morning Splash t-shirt. That’ll be cool! The question was about a survey that had been conducted, and this was the thing people dislike most about going through airport security. When I called, the phone rang right away and I answered taking your shoes off and I was right! Woohoo!

Class was a lot of fun today. We had a practical exercise with the paperwork in the morning – had to fill out completely the paperwork for a list of 12 soldiers being tested. There were a few twists and it caught some people off guard, but I caught them all and did my paperwork correctly the first time. The scenario (date, type of test, list of soldiers, etc.) was given to us in our books. We also had a mock urinalysis. We broke into groups of 3 (there are 21 in the class) and we had one donor, one observer, and one UPL. We rotated so everyone got to do everything. I was the most correct out of my group – I did miss one minor thing, but it wasn’t anything that would have negated the test and I learn from my mistakes so I’ll be good when I start doing real ones at the unit. At the end of the day we learned about the computer program that will do our random selections for us using given criteria we enter in, do our paperwork, etc. It’s a really neat program and I can’t wait until I can get it set up at work.

I picked Robbie up on my way home and we came home to wait for the guys to come finish the kitchen. They were a bit late tonight, but it’s ok. Ryan stopped at McDonald’s on his way home and brought supper. We ate on the living room floor for the last time. The guys showed up – Dustin was the same all throughout, but the other guy was yet another new one. At least it’s done! Here are today’s pictures:
Putting the trim back around the door

Hanging the cabinets

Reinstalling the stove hood

Dustin, standing by his work (yes, his eyes are closed and he looks like a dork, but he’s a really nice guy!)

It’s done!!

After Ryan gets the cabinets stained and I get the rest of the painting done, I’ll post more pictures.

High: 28
Low: 9

UPL 2 and Kitchen 6

Today’s class was much more interesting. We began learning the proper procedures for doing paperwork and actually conducting a urinalysis, ways to notify the personnel being selected to test, when to test, etc. We had some quite interesting discussions about tests we’ve taken and other stuff. We were even done a little after 3:30 so it was a little bit shorter of a day. I stopped and picked Robbie up on my way home and we had fun playing until Ryan got home with the pizza (I called and ordered it and he stopped on his way home from work to pick it up). We ate on the living room floor again – Robbie thinks it’s fun! And since he picked what to eat, I figured we could do another picnic too.

The work crew showed up a little before 6. One guy was different from the previous days, but the replacement was nice too. Here are today’s pictures:
Starting on the ceiling and checking yesterday’s mud spots. . .

The first bit of color!!

Working on the ceiling more

Touching up the corners

Done for the day. . .

Time for me to go crochet and watch TV. More tomorrow. . .

High: 31
Low: 20

UPL Day 1 and Kitchen Day 5

I started the Unit Prevention Leader course today. Once the week is done, I will be certified to conduct the unit monthly urinalyses, and will also be in charge of the quarterly training on drug and alcohol related topics for the unit. There is another guy from the band there with me, so I’m not the only one. Today was pretty boring, but there were a few interesting moments. We talked about the referral program, how alcohol and STDs are related, how alcohol affects the brain and other organs, and stuff like that. It was a long day – 9-4 with about 45 minutes for lunch (we got out for lunch a little late cuz we were having a good discussion).

Ryan left work a few minutes early so he could be home by 4:30 when the work guys got here. I stopped and got Robbie on my way home and then at Subway to get supper. The guys did a final sanding and some touchup mud in a few places, took a quick dinner break and were back to start cleaning and then they did the primer coat. My kitchen is starting to look really nice, as you will see from the pictures.

How many guys does it take to fix a light switch?

Final sanding

Painting the corners

And the ceiling

Primer coat is done!

Off to my stitching now!

High: 28
Low: 19

Sunday

Yes, today was Sunday. We didn’t make it to church – completely slept through our alarms going off. Robbie did wake up about 6:15, but I told him that it was still night-night time and to go back to bed. He did and only cried for a couple of minutes. Of course, it might have been longer, but I was out almost before I got back in bed. Ryan woke up about 9:25 and I got up about 9:45. Even if Ryan had woken me up when he woke up, we wouldn’t have made it to church seeing as we need to leave between 9:20 and 9:30 to make in on time. So I took a shower and all got dressed and went to breakfast and then did some shopping. We got home and played for a bit before naptime. While Robbie was sleeping, I got caught up on newspapers – actually read today’s today! The guys came and sanded and put coat #3 of mud today. No new pictures as it pretty much looks the same as yesterday.

Once Robbie woke up, he watched the race with us for a while (it started during naptime) and we played and then we went to McDonald’s for supper. Mmmmmm – Shamrock Shakes!! Then we did some grocery shopping and came home to play some more. After Robbie was in bed I called Mom & Dad and stitched and we watched the end of the race.

Off to bed now. . .

High: 26
Low: 0

Kitchen – Day 3

Ryan had to work today, so it was just me and Robbie. We did crafts with pom poms and pipecleaners (and paper plates and glue) and it was a lot of fun. Here is what we made:
And a close up of the flowers and bugs. . .

We also read books, colored in Robbie’s coloring book, and drew animals. We went to the Golden Unicorn and met Ryan there for lunch. Robbie sure was excited to see him!

For supper we had a picnic on the floor. It was a lot of fun. We had pizza.

The work crew wasn’t here very long today – just enough to sand and put a second coat of mud. One more sanding and coat of mud and then they should be ready to paint. Here are pictures from today:

High: 18
Low: 7

Kitchen Work – Day 2

While the guys were here, I chatted with a couple of friends on the computer, and then I stitched. It was a pretty boring day.

Here are today’s pictures. Starting on the ceiling. . . The wall is started. . . Mud time. . . Done for today – mud drying. . .

High: 19
Low: 12 (current temp)

Kitchen Repairs – Day 1

I brought Robbie to daycare this morning and then came home. The work crew (3 guys) showed up about 8:45 and started tearing my kitchen up. They got all the cabinets down that needed to be moved, all the old sheetrock, and the wet insulation from the ceiling. They got the new insulation up and were about to start doing the new sheetrock when they discovered they still had a drip. So back up to the roof they went and totally removed the rest of the ice from up there. There’s a box of some sort on the roof and there’s no flashing around it, so of course it’s leaking. But with all the ice gone now, it can hopefully dry out before tomorrow and they can finish up. They left for the day a little after 2 since there wasn’t anything they can do until the drip dries. While they were here, I chatted with my buddy P – haven’t chatted with him for a while, so that was nice. And I called my friend D who gave up the internet for Lent and I told her I’d call her once in a while to pass on info from the message boards, chat, etc. And I got some stitching done. Once Ryan and Robbie got home, we played for a little while and then walked up to the Chatterbox Diner for supper. Really good food for a good price and HUGE servings. That’ll be a go-back-again place.

Off to stitch now, but I’ll leave you with some pictures from the day:

More to come tomorrow. . .

High: 36
Low: 23 (current temp)

Shovel, shovel, shovel

PT this morning was shoveling snow (aka snow removal). The Brass Quintet members (all 3 of us that were left between leave and doctor’s appointments) started 30 minutes before formation, but the snowblower wasn’t doing much good because there was so much ice from the snow melting and then refreezing. So after PT formation, we got a few extra people to help out and we got some chopper things to break up the ice a little and then I was working with a shovel from one end and the guy with the snowblower was working from the other end. I did about 3 times as much with my shovel than the snowblower guy did. But we finally got that one sidewalk done and then moved on to the other one. About 7:50, we stopped so we all could get home to change/eat/etc. After the 0930 formation, two of us from the BQ went out and finished the last sidewalk. Shoveling heavy frozen snow is hard work.

The rest of the morning I didn’t do much. I put in a pass request for tomorrow through Sunday so I can be here when the contractor is doing the work in my kitchen and I answered the Ops phone a couple of times. After eating my lunch, I crocheted on my lunch project (that is still a secret for now. . .) and had a nice chat with JS who was also eating lunch in the office. About 1330 we were told to go home if we didn’t have anything else to do, which we didn’t so we went.

When I got home, these were waiting on my desk for me!! My Valentine’s Day present from Ryan. It’s a bit late, but that’s ok – he’s been working hard. Once spring comes around I’ll put the roses in a bigger pot and they’ll go out on the front porch. The candle is aromatic rainwater, and it smells really good. I’ve already burned it a little. Thank you Sweetie!!

We picked Robbie up from daycare and headed into Watertown to go to Walmart, Staples (cuz they didn’t have something we were looking for at Walmart), Wendy’s for dinner and church. We were about 3 or 4 minutes late for church and missed the beginning of the service, and that was because fast food at Wendy’s wasn’t exactly fast tonight. It was dinner time – 5:30 – when we arrived and they had ONE cashier working. And he was filling the orders as well. And he didn’t know how to do our gift card that Ryan had. And then the credit card gave him problems. We finally sat down to eat about 5:45 and church started at 6. Luckily our church is like 2 buildings down from Wendy’s so we were close, but still. . .

The church service was pretty short. We got there just in time to get our crosses of ashes on our foreheads. Robbie kept pointing to mine and then to Ryan’s and then to his. There were some lessons and some hymns, but no sermon. There were mini-sermons after each of the three lessons, but I couldn’t tell you what two of them were about because I was trying to keep Robbie quiet. One of them was about having patience. Gee, how fitting with trying to keep a toddler quiet. LOL

Once we got home, Robbie played for a little while, and we got the cupboards emptied and everything off the tops of them to get ready for tomorrow. Then Robbie headed up to bed and we got to sit and relax and watch a little bit of TV. I crocheted on a dishcloth that I’m working on.

Here’s my latest cross stitch finish. It’s called Christmas Blessings – Friends by Lizzie Kate.

Heat Wave

Ok, so it wasn’t quite warm enough for shorts, but it was above freezing all day! I had the day off from work for a comp day from Friday night’s hockey game. The contractor and his crew were here shortly before 9 and started getting rid of the ice off the front of the house (remember those BIG icicles?) and the ice and snow from the garage roof. They were done with the front (2 guys) shortly after 10, and the whole thing was done by about 11:30. I picked a good company. Ryan’s been talking about them to the guys he works with and heard lots of good things, and my contractor gets most of my supplies from none other than White’s Lumber. He’s also going to be getting another job because of mine – the doctor’s office next door will be calling him to do their ice and snow. They had hired someone but he kept calling with excuses and stuff and after seeing the guys work today, my neighbor got a business card and told my guys that he’d be calling them.

The rest of the day was spent starting to clear out my cupboards and counters on the side of the kitchen that will be redone, computer stuff, and crocheting. It was a pretty relaxing day off. Oh, almost forgot – my insurance company approved the estimate so we can go ahead and have them do the work. They’ll be starting on Thursday providing I can get a 4-day pass to have Thursday and Friday off to be here.

After Ryan and Robbie got home, we ate (monterrey chicken, mashed potatoes, and crescent rolls) and then played until bedtime. I crocheted more while we were watching TV after Robbie was in bed.

High: 38
Low: 18

No work and all play!!

Robbie and I had the day off today due to the Presidents’ Day holiday. So we had a nice mommy/son day at home. After breakfast (cocoa puffs for me and fruit loops for Robbie), we spent the morning playing with his balls, trucks, and blocks. We read some books – he really loves his animal books and knows all his animals and their sounds. We made a cow out of a toilet paper tube and some pieces I printed off the internet. We played some more. We ate pb & j for lunch.

During naptime, I went through a couple of boxes, did stuff on my computer, and stitched while watching TV. When he woke up, we played some more until Ryan came home from work. Then we played some more while Ryan worked on straightening up his end of the craft/hobby room for a while and then he played with Robbie while I made spaghetti for supper. I think Robbie ate as much as I did. Then we had a fun bathtime with lots of splashing and coloring (his tub crayons), and I read a magazine while keeping an eye on him having his water fun. Once he was in bed, Ryan and I folded clothes (oh yeah – I did laundry during naptime) and then stitched and watched TV. It was a good day!

High: 13 (current temp)
Low: -10