You know you're getting old when . . .

a day at Play by Play leaves you bruised and battered. Warning-The following pictures are fuzzy because they're from my camera phone.

Saturday morning Jeremy and I braved the harsh thunderstorms to take Emma and our 4 year old nephew Holton to Play by Play. This place is absolute nirvana for kids. There are old school arcade games (whack-a-mole anyone?) and a giant 3 story maze of tunnels, tubes, ropes, and slides. I love going to Play by Play because it wears kids OUT with minimal effort on my part! Unfortunately for me this was not one of those days where I could kick back and watch.

Holton was running through the maze like a lab rat on crack (absolutely hilarious) and Emma desperately wanted to keep up with "my Ho-Too" (Emma speak for Holton) but the maze is still a little advanced for her. So being the good mommy that I am I went in with her to help her through. That thing was not created with adults in mind! Holton was zipping through the tunnels and scaling the rope ladders in record time. I was crawling through tubes (luckily not getting stuck) and helping Emma along as well. Not the easiest thing in the world and I have the bruises and plastic burn marks to prove it. Jeremy and I traded off occasionally, he would keep pace with Emma and I would try to keep up with Holton and then we would switch. Mainly because the person trying to keep pace with Holton would be huffing and puffing after about 20 minutes! After a while though Emma got tired of the maze and spent a long time playing with the arcade games. She didn't care if they were working or not which was great.

After Play by Play we took the kids to lunch and scoped out a new sporting goods store in Hot Springs, Dick's Sporting Goods. I'd never heard of it and I wasn't all that impressed. I like Academy Sports much better. But while we were there the cutest thing happened. Holton is at the very mature age of 4 and insists on being treated like a big boy. So very rarely do you get blantant displays of affection like hand holding, hugs, and especially not kisses, but I was lucky on Saturday. While we were at Dick's (really? who thought of this name?) Holton was looking at big boy bikes, aka no training wheels, and he grabbed by hand and gave me the most precious smile and said "Stephanie, when I get bigger can we come and get me this bike? It's really nice." Can you see SUCKER stamped across my forehead? Guess I'm gonna owe him a bike in a year or so! The second time he grabbed my hand and gave me the look was when we were at Chick-fil-a and he wanted to play in the play room. I was a good aunt, I made him eat his lunch first, but then of course he got to play some more. He's a very smart little boy. I'm proud of his mad manipulative skills.

After our big outing to Hot Springs we stopped by Trendy to see my sis-in-law Brittany and so I could shop her fabulous Anniversary Sale. Shameless plug I know. Brittany opened up an accessories store in Malvern a little over a year ago and I have benefit tremendously from this. Check out my sweet new handbag-just in time for fall! Don't you just LOVE it? Jeremy, being your typical man, just couldn't understand why I would need another purse. "I've had the same wallet for 10 years." Whose fault is that? I informed him in my most can't-argue-with-this-logic-voice that since having his child I can no longer shop for clothes like I used to. The only foolproof items I can purchase that will always look good on me are handbags, shoes, and jewelry. So just zip it already! Ha!

Speaking of Emma and digressing into left over baby weight, I started my Jillian Michaels workouts again after about a two month hiatus due to pure craziness at work and home. So on top of the bruises from Play by Play I'm also creaking around like an old woman. Hopefully I'll get accustomed to the workouts again soon because it is pure agony to sit down in my chair!

Newsworthy

Things have been a little crazy around the Johnson household the past couple of weeks. Work is insane and Miss Emma is one big handful. Luckily we have a lot of people willing to help out. (Thanks for picking up the slack the past couple of weeks Mom! I know Emma loves spending time with her Nanny!)

Jeremy's dad had surgery last week to remove some skin cancer. Luckily they were able to remove it all and he's going to be good as new. But, it really got me thinking about my absolute love of the tanning bed. Maybe I need to give that up. But I'm not the type of girl to go around pasty white in the summer. So, if anybody has any recommendations on a good self tanner please pass it along. Otherwise, my vanity and lust for golden skin may outweigh my good intentions!

Also, I chopped off some more hair. Jeremy threatened to ban me from the salon and has decided to grow his hair out as retribution. We'll see how long that lasts! I had to do it though. It is just too stinking hot to have all my thick unruly hair on my neck! The bangs are still the same but the length only comes to just below my chin and the back is stacked. Love.

I've got a lot of projects going on at the homestead. Our bathroom renovation is still ongoing. We've gotten a little lazy since our shower is working. (Maybe I should correct that-the hubs has gotten a little lazy. ) It's tough keeping him motivated because he would rather be spending time with us than working. But hey, I am not one to tolerate disorder and we had a come to Jesus confrontation the other night. The toilet bowl sitting on my carport, added to a hellish day at work, was the last straw. We are not white trash and I went into orbit about the toilet that has been sitting on my carport since we began renovations in MAY!! A girl can only take so much. I love my hubs, truly, but I can't vent to him because it will just delay the project even further. So, sorry guys-you get stuck hearing it! As much as I hate to miss out on my Emma time I may need to see if I can let her spend some time with a grandparent one Saturday afternoon so I can get my house back in order. (Can you hear the extreme guilt I suffer at times for being a working mom?)

I've also prepared Jeremy for my thoughts on Emma's bday party-cowgirl theme! Yee Haw! I'm going pink and purple instead of the traditional blue and red because I've found some awesome stuff online. And I can have the party outdoors because a lot of decorations will already be in place via my fall decorating frenzy. Jeremy already has his to-do list of projects that need to be finished up outdoors. Here's hoping he pulls through and I don't have to cancel or move the party at the last minute!

Going back to work now!

The Smackdown

I'm usually not a confrontational person. My motto is "can't we all just get along?!" I can handle confrontation but absolutely dread them, I get this huge knot in my stomach and just want to throw up. Luckily no one else can tell! Jeremy on the other hand thrives on this crap. I have watched him put people in their place so brutally and effectively he may as well have cut them off at the knees and left them bleeding in the street. Then he walks away with a smile on their face. (I actually admire this at times and its one of the reasons we are so good together-opposites and all that.) But a few things happened this week that made me forget about my hatred of confrontations and want to put the smackdown on several folks Jeremy style.

First was an incident at daycare. Emma's normal teacher (who we LOVE) was in and out for a week or so following the sudden death of her husband. In the meantime a part time girl was filling in for Emma's class. I will refer to her from here on out as Little Miss Thing. Well, I had noticed that Emma was acting a little strange-more cranky and upset at night, a little harder to leave at school in the morning. But nothing I attributed to any problems, just a normal toddler thing. Well, LMT ran up to me one afternoon when I was picking up Emma and went on and on about how terrible she had been, kicking and punching, sitting in time out all afternoon, etc. I thought about it all weekend and talked to her normal teacher on Monday who said she didn't know of any problems and Emma was good as gold for her. I tried talking to LMT again and she had no answers for why Emma was in time out and when I tried to dig a little deeper, like "what prompted her to kick b/c it's not normal for her" she still didn't have an answer and TURNED HER BACK ON ME AND WALKED AWAY! Argh! Long story short, I pieced together a few things and comments from Emma's teacher and I think LMT and Emma just don't click. I'll be damned if my baby gets stuck in time out all the time b/c LMT has some issues. So, I've got a call out for the director of the daycare and Smackdown 1 will be underway. In the meantime I've made sure she is never alone with LMT and I'm going to make sure and sic the director on LMT. She will be sorry to have messed with my baby when all is said and done.

If you see posters like this hanging all over town just ignore them. One of my customers is to blame.

Their company is not pleased about the awesome new contact and customer I am bringing on board at the RR (they think it will be competition and apparently I am not allowed to work with any customers other than them) and decided to call me everything but a white person to my boss. My ethics were called into question and a few other things that were just way too personal and offensive for me to sit back and ignore. So, I channeled my inner Jeremy and set up an appointment for Smackdown 2. My boss was so worried about how this meeting would play out that he flew in from Florida with only 12 hours advance notice to attend with me and have my back. Unfortunately, they backed down considerably in person so I had to reign myself in and the Smackdown was very disappointing. My archnemesis at the company was not present so while I was all geared up for blood I had to settle for only a small skirmish instead. Argh! And yes, I seriously have an archnemesis. You. Have. No. Idea. After the meeting I was joking with my boss that he should get a refund on his ticket because he really didn't get to see a show. Which I guess was a good thing. What's wrong with me that I still would have preferred the Smackdown!?

Our 4th of July holiday weekend can be summed up in a few pictures:

Summer Time!

To celebrate Jeremy's last Saturday off for the conceivable future we took Emma to the Alligator Farm in Hot Springs. ( I know I'm way behind in posting this but work has been hella crazy.) This was the first time I'd been to the Alligator Farm too and I've lived here my whole life, crazy. But Emma loved it. A portion of the Farm is set aside as a petting zoo with baby goats, deer, donkeys, etc. The deer were super friendly. Probably because we had bread. The only animal Emma didn't like was the donkey. It was so much bigger than her and it kept following her around trying to lick her face. Jeremy and I thought it was hilarious but M wasn't having any of that.

Here's the offending donkey and Emma trying to get away as quickly as possible. The baby goat was more to her liking.

There was also a wolf that she desperately wanted to play with because it was a "big dog". And she was not interested in the alligators at all because she couldn't pet them. yeah. My child has a love of all things dangerous.

In other news Jeremy has finally gotten placed on one set shift, so no more rotating and going in at all hours of the day and night. Yay! He's strictly a 5 to 5 guy now. The only downside is that he works every Saturday now; his 2 days off per week are Wednesday and Sunday. I'm not going to complain though because at least now he's home every night.

My work week was slightly less great. You know how bad things always come in 3's? I'll gloss over the first two because nobody cares about a personal issue or market share initiatives. The third happened Wednesday morning and involves supreme stupidity. Not mine, of course, but one of the genuises that work for us. Apparently one of our crews coupled into some boxcars to pull out of a plant (my customer of course) but didn't bother to check if they were empty or still attached to anything. Surprise! The boxcars' doors were wide open with product sitting inside and the dock plates were still attached. So, when our boy wonders pulled the cars out it destroyed the dock plates and a good portion of the customer's dock. Super. I always love to have those talks with customers. But, we're off today so maybe the weekend will turn out better.

Happy 4th of July!

An AWESOME day

I realize that I haven't posted any more pics from Annapolis, but sorry guys, they can just wait a little longer. When it's 10am and you can already call a day AWESOME then it deserves a full explanation.

First, my friend Brittany got wonderful news about her little boy Greyson and I think it is worth mentioning and celebrating even though some of you who read this do not know them. Greyson is a little over a year old and suffers from seizures. (I know I'm simplifying this Brittany so forgive me) Super scary-any mom can attest to that. He was being evaluated for surgery but has been seizure free for 6 weeks, so NO surgery right now. I know that is a huge relief for their family. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers and if you have the opportunity check out her blog and make a donation through First Giving as they try to find a cure.

Reading that this morning kind of puts everything into perspective, ya know? I was focused on other "pressing" problems, the kind of stuff that comes up every day, but when I read Brittany's post it made me stop and just be thankful for all of the good things God has done for me lately. So what if I still can't fit into all of my clothes-I have Emma. So what if I can't afford to buy a special something something I noticed in the store the other day or afford a larger house right now-my bills are getting paid, there is food on the table. There are a lot of people who would love to be in my position right now. So, it's all about perspective.

Following up on the good news of Greyson, I had a meeting with a company I have been courting for several months now. Most of you know my job at the railroad is focused primarily on new business. I work with industries to locate on one of our railroads, starting with site selection, state and local incentives, and go all the way through track construction, etc. Despite the economy I have still had several success stories, but today I landed the BIG ONE. THE BIG ONE. In my greedy little hands are multi-million dollar contracts. Woot! This will be the single biggest customer to hit any of our companies in quite a while, so I think a celebration is in order because I worked my butt off to make this happen! Perhaps my boss will throw a parade in my honor? Highly doubtful. But a little cake and a big fat raise would be perfectly in order!

And on the home front we had to convert Emma's crib to a toddler daybed. While I was in Annapolis she figured out how to crawl OUT and INTO her crib. Pure craziness. She loves her daybed though. Only downfall-since we converted she has only slept the night through in it 2 times. So, Mommy has been missing quite a bit of sleep. It's just too darn easy for her to climb out of bed and decide its playtime!

Over the weekend I decided to do an art project with Emma. She's hard to keep entertained and occupied these days but she loves to paint or color. I bought us some birdhouses at Hobby Lobby, prepped them with paint, and I let her decorate one to her heart's content. I still think more of the paint went on her and me than it did the birdhouse but she had a blast so that's all that matters. I think the dog may have gotten a little too close to her paintbrush a time or two though . . . .

Can you see the paint all over her!? Like I said- a blast!

Annapolis Update

Annapolis is out of this world beautiful. Old architecture charmingly restored and right on the Chesapeake Bay. . . What's not to love about it? (I'll post pics later) It's seriously making me lust after a house on the water despite the fact that it is WAY out of our budget.

Did I mention that I love to travel . . . well I do. Except for this one tiny thing- I miss Emma and Jeremy like you wouldn't believe! Jeremy has sent me a couple of text messages with pictures of Emma and they make me laugh and want to cry at the same time- I miss my baby!! Here's what he sent me today:

My big girl all dressed and ready for school this morning (note the mess in the background-Jeremy's version of housekeeping) and then anxious for her bath this evening. How sweet is that little bottom I ask you?

But all Mommy longings aside I am enjoying myself. After my meetings today I did some serious shop-til-you-drop for souvenirs. Jeremy and Emma expect presents when I come home and I'm not about to disappoint. A sneak peek:

Jeremy keeps saying he's always wanted a sailboat-who's a good wife? Who? Hopefully the bubble wrap will keep it in one piece on the plane ride home . . .

And not to forget Emma Lou- she gets a stuffed pirate chest with animals that bark, sound like a monkey etc. The crab is just for show.

And we can't forget Mama either! My favorite souvenirs are original art pieces, whether they're sculptures, photographs of local sites, or other artwork. I'm getting ready to redecorate our bedroom in calming colors, mainly blues, and these photos will look awesome framed and on the wall. I'm a sucker for a black and white photograph. I also bought an original watercolor of Annapolis and am having it shipped back home.

I bought a few other odds and ends, and after that marathon of shopping I'm flat worn out! I still need to find something else for Jeremy so maybe tomorrow's excursion will produce something good.

Traveling is great, but there's no place like home. I'll just have to be content to rest my tired feet in my room and look out the window at my view . . .

Jealous?

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Sorry, I had that song in my head. Hate it when that happens!


But I am heading out on a plane this Sunday for beautiful Annapolis, Maryland- Sailing Capital of the US. Yay! I love boats and being on the water so I'm really hoping I'll get to try my luck on a sailboat!

Unfortunately I'm traveling for business, not pleasure. But I should still be able to squeeze some fun in! Each year I attend the American Railway Development Association's Annual Conference. Believe it or not the program is great (unlike some others that I attend-snooze fest!) and they are ALWAYS held in awesome locations. Jeremy and I usually try to plan a family vacation around them because Hello! Cheap! when you're only paying for 1 person instead of 2- but we couldn't get it to work this year. So, Jeremy and Emma will be roughing it for three whole days by themselves. Start praying for them now please!

I keep telling myself everything will be fine while I'm gone. And it usually is. Since having Emma I've been very fortunate in that I can limit my number of out of town trips, I'm down to only 3 or 4 "necessary" trips a year. Which is nice. I hate being away from Jeremy and Emma but I LOVE to travel. LOVE IT! I think it's great to go to new places and experience the unique cultures of that particular area. So far my travels have been limited to the US, but hopefully once Emma and any other little ones get bigger we can "cross the pond" and really travel!

And speaking of Emma-she went pee-pee in the potty two days in a row! Woot! For anyone who doesn't have kids I'm sure you think my excitement is totally crazy, but I am ecstatic! Pee Pee in the Potty and No More Dirty Diapers!! (I've got that little ditty stuck in my head too!) Hopefully Jeremy can keep her on track while I'm gone.

I'll be out of pocket for a couple of days, but look for a recap when I get back!