A Raise

After two weeks of finding available time to meet with my boss (the first week he was on vacation), I finally had my annual review with my boss. We talked about my first year & a half there. He told me how he has received several compliments on my work from various people that I have been working with. And because of that, I will be receiving a $2,500/year raise! With the state of the economy and all that, I never expected to receive a raise. I'm just happy to have a job. My boss told me that not everyone would be receiving one and that there's always a possibility that they MAY have to lay off a couple people before the end of the year. But he assured me that I would NOT be on the list.

Kids Say The Dardest Things

Since Maddie's been talking more and starting to put words together into simple sentences, she's starting to say some of the cutest things. The other day she was playing with her "palm pilot". It says all the letters & numbers. When you reach the end of the alphabet, it shows fireworks. I said, "look Maddie, fireworks!" And she replied, "fireworks day." She repeated this over and over again for like 20 minutes straight. I told her she would have to wait about a year for another "fireworks day" (4th of July).

Then last night, she & Bryan were looking at one of her picture books with animals in it. Bryan would point to all the animals and she would name them every time (she's so smart). Bryan kept pointing at the dog, and she said, "dog." Then Bryan asked, while pointing at the dog, "what do you want for Christmas?" Maddie replied, "horse!" He tried again and she did the exact same thing! I haven't laughed that hard in so long.

Perfect Weather

You couldn't ask for more perfect weather this weekend. I spent most of Saturday de-weeding our flower gardens. They had gotten quite out of control. But I'm at least trying to make them presentable when we put our house on the market.

25 years ago, Bryan's parents hosted an exchange student from Finland. They've kept in touch over the years and this past week, he & his family came for a visit. On Sunday afternoon, we all went to a Royals game. It was yet again, a perfect day for a baseball game. We were even able to sit in the shade. I was surprised at how few people were there. We watched Friday's game on TV and the place was packed. But yesterday, I would say it was just over half full - on such a gorgeous day! We still had fun despite yet another loss. Don't worry, I'm still a Tigers fan through & through. And when they play each other, the gloves come off. It would take a minor miracle for the Royals to get even within an earshot of being in the running for the playoffs this year.

My Little Mommy

When Maddie plays on her own, it's so much fun to just sit back and watch, especially when she starts talking. Most of it is still jibberish to me, but it's still VERY cute.

Last night after dinner, she was playing with her baby dolls. She tried to "feed" them some of her left over vegetables saying, "eat baby." Then she laid them down on a pillow on the floor saying, "night night baby." It was so precious.

Bad News

A few weeks ago, we applied for Obama's Home Affordable Loan Modification. Well, last night we received a letter stating that we were denied the modification, or any other kind of financial help. What this means: we're going to try to sell our house or risk foreclosure.

**UPDATE**

Some good news: Bryan called the bank this morning. The reason we were declined is that they assumed Bryan was collecting $2,900 a month in unemployment benefits (wouldn't that be nice) which would put our mortgage-to-income ratio above 31%. Anyways, they are sending us some forms to fill out which will hopefully remedy the situation. There's still hope.

Happy "Fireworks Day"!

Vacation Update

Sadly, my vacation in more than half over. It's been going way too fast, but I've been enjoying every minute of it. We had a great time at the Lake of the Ozarks with my parents. We stayed in a brand new 2-bedroom condo at the Four Seasons resort. There was a great view of the lake from our balconies. There was an Adventure Club for Maddie to play at and there weren't any other kids there. We also enjoyed swimming in the pool. Tuesday was our 2nd wedding anniversary. Bryan & I went out to dinner at a restaurant that overlooked the lake. The food was ok and a bit pricey, but still a nice evening. Unfortunately I forgot my camera (among many other things like Maddie's suitcase). So I don't have any pictures to share. I'll have to leave that to my mom to share. We came home Wednesday afternoon. In the evening, we invited Bryan's parents over and had a little barbeque/picnic. We shot off the fireworks that my work gave me (since Bryan is working all weekend).

Today we had our microwave looked at. The guy fixed our door so we can use it, but he's still going to order us a new door because this one is all dented (probably from shipping). I took Maddie to the library this morning for storytime. Other than that, I watered the garden and did some laundry.

Only 3 days left until it's back to the grindstone.