Bugs are rampant

I spent my day at work doing nothing but changing poopy diapers and washing my hands. There's this horrible stomach bug going around that presents with diarrhea and vomiting but no fever and we sent two kids home with it today. Then we sent a third home with a temperature of 101. Plus, a fourth kid was out because she has strep. I'm down at least three kids tomorrow, maybe four if the one with the fever isn't any better.

As a precautionary measure, we sent everyone's blankets home today and sprayed down their cots. Some of the parents weren't happy but we figured it was better to be safe than sorry. I know I'm going to end up getting this stupid virus because my immune system sucks. I'm taking some vitamin C before work tomorrow and for the next couple of weeks until the bug has flown through the school. At least tomorrow should be an easy day with so many kids out.

On a positive note, I went to my cousin's dance class tonight and she nailed her back handspring! She's been practicing so long and after a fall she took last month, I didn't think she'd get it. But she did them all by herself tonight at practice so I'm excited for her. We're going to have a sleepover this weekend to celebrate. :-)

Alright that's all I've got. I'm off to shower and go to bed.

Traveling bug

Ever since moving to Cincinnati, I've had a traveling bug. Glenn's family loves to travel and they vacation somewhere at least once a year. Disney World has been by far my favorite place to travel to and I've been at least six times since 2001.

My hope is that this time next year, I'll be just about down with winter quarter of my first year in my Master's program and looking forward to spring break, preferably somewhere warm. Of course my eyes are focused on Disney but I thought it would be fun to do something different and take a Disney cruise instead. I want to do a four night on land, three nights at sea cruise. This way, I have the best of both worlds!

I can't see what prices for next March are like yet so I've been looking at December, which is the furthest you can book out to at this point. For $2, 248, I can get airfare to and from Florida, reservations at a Disney resort on land (Port Orleans French Quarter-my parent's favorite!), my stateroom on the ship, my park tickets, plus all of my meals and entertainment while on the ship! You can't beat that price, especially if all I'd have to pay for are souvenirs and then meals during my four days on land.

I really want to do this. I'm already plotting out how much I'm going to save each month and pending no horrible emergencies that I need to use my savings for, there is no reason I couldn't afford a cruise. Now, I just need to figure out who I can convince to go with me...

Kids say the darndest things

Me: Savannah, why are you so loud?
Savannah: Because Hedder (since she can't say Heather)-my mouth is big!

Logan: I think sissy pooped in the bathtub!
My mom: What?
Logan: I saw little brown things!
My mom: Those were a toy!
Logan: But I saw little brown things!
My mom: You are a little brown thing!

Logan: I don't have to cry anymore. I'm five!

Savannah: My tummy is hung-y again.
Me: Why didn't you eat all your pizza?
Savannah: I did! I ate it allll gone!

I'm sure this list is only going to grow. Good thing they're so cute!

Bullets

Since I'm absolutely exhausted this is going to be brief. Eventually I'll feel like I have the energy to write.

--My trip to Youngstown was great. Mommy and baby are doing wonderful and I'll post pictures soon.

--This week at work makes me want to pull out my hair. My co-teacher is in Florida (today is actually her wedding day!) so I have a sub in with me all week who teaches in another room of the school. She hates my class so it's not a lot of fun to work with her because the kids pick up on her tension. I'm counting down the days for Holly to be back on Monday.

--I'm planning a girl's night out for Friday night, something I hope to achieve at least once a month. I miss nights out with just the girls.

--We're getting ready to start studying Mere Christianity at small group. I think this is what I need because it's time for our group to get deeper.

--I went back to Cru last night which was awesome. Let's hope I can keep motivating myself to go.

Ok that's all. I feel sick so it's time for bed. Two more days and then I can sleep in.

He's here!

Denise had her baby tonight at 6:15 p.m. He weighed in at 6 pounds 5 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. I'm holding back on pictures and the name until Denise posts them out of respect to the new mommy so she can post them first.

Both mommy and baby are doing well. Denise is resting comfortably and I'm heading to Youngstown tomorrow after work for the weekend to visit with the new mommy and my beautiful new nephew. Auntie Heather can't wait to meet him!

In labor!

Hey guys! I just wanted to let everyone know that Denise is in labor! She went into labor at 2 this morning and as of 11:30, she was 7 cm dilated. I haven't heard from her since but hopefully things are progressing well!

I'm planning on going to Youngstown tomorrow night after work so now I need to find a place to stay. I can't wait to meet my new nephew!

The church isn't a good place to hide from tornadoes in!

We're currently under a tornado watch for the next half an hour. Today has been crazy weather wise. There's a cold front moving in (buh-bye spring-like weather) so it's been ridiculously windy and stormy all day. This afternoon it got so bad that shortly after our snacktime, the tornado sirens went off and we had to take all the kids in the school to the hallways until it passed. I don't think there was an actual tornado but some pretty severe storms apparently moved through the area today. We only got rain and high winds at work.

During my drive home, the sky turned pitch black and it started pouring. After about five minutes, it stopped and the sun came out. It's definitely getting colder though. I have to go back out because I need gas in my car. Boo. I'm exhausted and really don't want to move.

I went to dinner with Megan and Dave tonight which is always fun. During dinner, Britt text me to tell me that maybe we should cancel small group tonight because of the wind. I told her it was her call and she text me back and was like, "Well the church isn't a good place to hide from tornadoes in." It seriously gave me the best laugh I've had in awhile! I called Seth to tell him we canceled and couldn't even get the message out because I was laughing so hard. I think I laughed for a good ten minutes straight. Poor Dave. Megan and I were doubled over in laughter and he just stared at us. :-P

Oh, about the creepy guy from yesterday. Apparently it was someone from the landscaping company and we only found this out this morning when our director talked to the landlord. She told the landlord that next time they need to come in a work vehicle or in uniform or else she's going to continue to call the police because that just gets all of us teachers stressed out and concerned about the kids. Common sense tells you that if you're going to a place with children, at least poke your head in the door so people don't get concerned and call the cops. *rolls eyes*

Alright, I'm out to brave the windy night to go put gas in my car and then I'm coming home and soaking in a nice hot bubble bath!

What a day

I've been meaning to update since the whole paycheck fiasco but I just haven't had the motivation to do it.

I went into work on Friday and talked with our co-director who told me that apparently our director's husband deposited the funds for our checks into their work account on Friday but they didn't clear until Saturday. However, the funds apparently only transfered for people who bank with the same bank they do and not anyone who uses a different bank. This caused all of our checks to bounce, other than those who use the same bank as the preschool.

I not only got my paycheck (in cash) but all of my overdraft fees as well. Everything got cleared up finally and I went home from work glad that everything was over. Or so I thought. I tried to use my debit card at Starbucks that night and wasn't able to because loss prevention had put a hold on my card. I was told to call the next morning (a Saturday) to clear it up. Well go figure loss prevention is only open during the week so I had to wait until yesterday to use my card. Even then, I could only use it in an atm and not anywhere else until today. I haven't even tested it yet to see if I was able to use it or not.

We get paid again this Friday and I'm really hoping this doesn't happen again. When I went into the bank on Friday afternoon to deposit all of the money into my account and asked them about what I had been told, the lady who was helping me told me she had never heard of something like that happening before and wasn't sure if things like that did happen.

I know nothing about financial matters or banking so I have no idea if what I was told is true or not. What I do know is that I'm hoping it doesn't happen again this week. I think from now on I cash my checks and then deposit them just to be safe.

In other news, I think I might be going to Athens this weekend to see friends. I haven't decided if I actually want to make the drive or not because it would only be a day trip. I was going to go up for the whole weekend but I signed up to work parents' night out at work Friday night and don't want to drive that late so I'm going to just go and have lunch on Saturday and then drive home. I haven't been to Athens since fall and I miss my friends so it'll be good to see them, even if just for a couple hours.

I went to the gym tonight for the first time in a week. My knees have been sore since my workout last week but I decided to go tonight and do something low impact. I spent 25 minutes on the bike and my knees are even more sore now. I don't know what to do about them. Both knees are sore but my left knee is the worse because it feels swollen as well. *sigh* I don't know. We'll see.

Oh, I just remembered! Today at work we went on quasi-lockdown! My class naps from 12:30-3 every afternoon and during that time, we close the blinds in our room so the room will be dark to help the kids nap. Around 2:30, our director came in and told me to keep the blinds closed for the afternoon because some guy had been walking around the school trying to look in the windows! She had alerted the cops but wanted us to keep our blinds shut just to be on the safe side. How creepy is that?!? My class is on the first floor so he would have had easy access to look into our room. Luckily, our blinds were already closed when this happened.

It has been such a crazy couple of weeks. I'm absolutely exhausted. I'm off to shower and go to bed because tomorrow I'm working, then having dinner with Dave, and then it's my week to teach small group and I haven't even looked at the lesson yet. I need a vacation. :-P

Heads are gonna roll

I am livid right now. I had such a good day (minus a bad afternoon with the kiddos in my class) and an amazing workout on a guest pass at my aunt's gym (which makes me wish I hadn't signed a two year contract to Fitworks because her gym is amazing) and then I come home to this.

Let me back up. Last week was payday at work. (I'm sure you can see where this is going). I deposited my check and have been using it all week to mail in bills and get little things at the grocery store. Tonight on my way home from the gym, I stopped at Kroger to get milk and bread and something I could microwave at work tomorrow on my break. I went through the u-scan and it wouldn't take my debit card. It was declined three times! I finally had to put everything on my credit card and I left the store to go to an atm to find out what was wrong.

When I pulled up my account balance, it told me I was in the hole $416. Yes, you read that right. I have had no big purchases and the only bills I wrote checks for this week were a $40 check to the doctors for lab work from months ago and a $30 check for my credit card. How could I be in the hole that much?

I called Megan and asked her to log on to my National City accout and it turns out, my nice $466 paycheck was returned. I'm pissed. My freaking paycheck bounced! That means tomorrow at work, someone has some explaining to do. I'm not going to put up with this. There is no reason my check should have bounced. If I didn't think it was completely irrational and stupid, I would walk in and quit. However, I love my job and I love where I work so I'm going to give them a chance to explain what happened.

This fiasco has created problems, as I'm sure several items on my statement are overdrawn and I'm going to have to pay the fees on them. Buh-bye nice paycheck. Good thing all that's due next week is my Fitworks bill. Plus my tax refund should be coming sometime next week too so that should hold me until next Friday when I get paid again, as long as that check doesn't bounce too.

I just can't believe my check bounced. I am not happy right now. Someone better have a pretty good explanation for this tomorrow.

Snow again

It took me three and a half hours to make what is normally a 30 minute drive home from work tonight. This morning the weather was calling for a dusting of snow. Instead, our dusting turned into eight inches of snow by the time I had left work and it's not supposed to stop snowing until 2 a.m.

Three and a half hours to get home. That's absolutely insane. At this point, I don't even want to think about driving to work. I honestly might make my parents take me or wait and see if I can go in later because I am not messing with the roads myself at 7:00 a.m.

During my nice three and a half hour drive, it took me 30 minutes just to get down the hill to the highway from my work. That usually only takes about two minutes in good weather. As I drove down that hill, I started to slide and I almost ended up stuck in a snow drift.

From there, I slid all over the highway and when I finally got to my exit, I stopped for gas but couldn't get it because my gas tank cover was frozen shut. Luckily I have half a tank and was only filling up incase traffic is this bad again tomorrow.

I guess the plus side of all this is that I'm learning to drive in snow. I just wish I had an SUV with 4-wheel drive to learn in instead of my car that hates snow. And rain. And anything wet. *sigh* I really hope it clears up by the time I have to leave for work tomorrow.

Oh did I mention my crazy stepdad is out driving in this mess? Yeah, he is. Just for fun. He's so odd but I love him. And he has 4-wheel drive so he can do it. But still, I would much rather stay inside where it's warm and not snowy!

Ok, time to find dinner and get ready for bed. I have a feeling it's going to be an early morning tomorrow.

I'm an idiot!

So I'm definitely an idiot. I went to H&R Block tonight and got my taxes corrected. Apparently I entered some incorrect information which landed me in a schedule A, which I apparently wasn't supposed to be in. Because of this mistake, I am actually entitled to $488 more dollars on my tax refund. Over all, I'm getting back almost about $950 overall from my taxes this year.

It wasn't cheap to correct this mistake at all but the $80 I paid to correct it is so worth it in my opinion. Next year, I'm just going to let them file for me! I'm so glad I went and had this corrected tonight. I feel relieved now that it's done and over with. Now I just have to wait for the money to come in.

Taxes

I just got done doing my taxes online and I'm a little annoyed that I'm not getting as much back as I expected. Those stimulus checks we got last year were considered taxable income so that took $300 away from my federal return. I'm so annoyed about that.

All in all, I'm getting about $450 back between federal and state taxes. I thought I was going to be getting back about $700ish and I was going to use part of it on a plane ticket to go see my cousin in Denver but now the sensible side of me is telling me to use part of it to pay off some of my bills and then put the rest in savings.

The thing is, is that I haven't seen my cousin in about seven or eight years and I want to go visit. I know it's not smart to use all of my tax return on a plane ticket but the irrational part of is saying to do it. I probably won't. I'll probably just start saving for one. If I take about $50 from every check and put it aside, I should be able to get out there soon.

Argh. I don't want to be an adult anymore.

*edit*

So from some comments Christina and I have been leaving each other on Bloop and facebook, I'm starting to think I may have goofed up my taxes somehow because other people have been telling her that their stimulus didn't affect their returns at all, so somewhere along the line something must have gone wrong. I'm going to call H&R Block tomorrow during my lunch break to see if I can straighten it out, even though I've already e-filed. *sigh* I feel like such an idiot now.