No Contest

So, you know how I told you my baby-sitter is out of town for 2 weeks & I'm trying to work and have my child with me in the process? I also announced I was going to win Mother of the year, right? Well, Thursday I decided to go ahead and seal the deal! One of the less "pretty" parts of my job is to evict non-paying tenants. I have had this one tenant for only 2 months, and she's paid less than a full month's rent the entire time. Nevertheless, she was apparently shocked that I was telling the truth, as was the Sheriff, when we told her she was to be evicted. Well, through her own sheer luck the process took 3 weeks longer than it should, so I thought for SURE when I showed up on Thursday with a crew, 2 Sheriff Deputies (and my 3 year old) that the house would be empty...wrong!!! The house was full of furniture, clothes, food, everything. They hadn't even packed a box! SO, I officially brought my child to an eviction. I know, you don't even have to tell me, great parenting skills at work :)

No child was harmed in the process. She had no idea what was going on & I didn't even let her come into the house in question.

On a separate note, this quality individual that was evicted apparently had no clue, once again that this was even possible and didn't even show up until over 24 hours later. Needless to say at that point, scavengers had taken anything of value & she was livid. Um, how is this my fault? But apparently when a tenant is having a bad day it's always my fault. For real, it never fails. She called me numerous times, the Police called me because she was claiming to be "wrongfully evicted" Really, how's that? Her sister and mother also called me to voice their opinions on the matter. Some days you just gotta stop & say "ok Lord, I'm thankful I have a job" otherwise, you'll drive your car directly into a tree.

Attention all Mom's

Any of you that thought you may put your name in the running for Mother of the year, don't even bother, I've already claimed the title.

I have a flexible job in that I have a home office that I can work out of, (even though I still have to go to the neighborhood I manage on a daily basis) so I'm very thankful for that fact when I have a sick child, or when my babysitter can't work, etc. Our babysitter has taken off two consecutive weeks for a much-deserved cruise she's on, and I don't have any backup childcare, so we're just in survival mode for the next 2 weeks.

Well, my little angel HATES it when I'm on the computer or phone, or doing anything that takes full attention away from her (like all children, I'm sure). So, this morning I had been checking e-mail, working on some accounting stuff, making phone calls, etc. when I told her that I would be getting into the shower & to please not get into anything. I'm sure all good Mom's wake up before their children to take a shower & get themselves ready for the day and if that's you...don't judge me. Anyway, I turned the water on & checked on her right before I got in because as we all know "don't get into anything" in the mind of a child clearly means "I'm going to not pay attention for a while, do whatever you want but don't get caught".

So this is what I saw:

I asked what she was doing, and she said she packed her lunch for school. Well, she had a lunch bag beside her with an apple, 2 pieces of bread (not a sandwich, just bread, and one was an end piece, ew) and a cookie. Maybe she thought I wasn't going to feed her? I'm not sure, but when we went to Chick-fil-A to eat lunch (I really do feed her every meal) she refused to eat because "I already ate my lunch I packed, remember?" um...ok
About an hour later, on our way to the neighborhood I work at, she couldn't take it anymore & fell asleep. Just another quality naptime in the car.

I told you, Mother.Of.The.Year!

Easter Weekend

We went to visit the in-laws this weekend in Tennessee. It was storming like crazy with tornado warnings and the whole scary deal on Friday night so we opted to leave on Saturday AM. Well, we were told (and double confirmed via the weather channel) that the weather there would be really warm and nice on Saturday and Sunday. I am notorious for not packing the right things for myself and my child, so I was determined we would be good this time. Who needs tennis shoes (or closed toe shoes for that matter) when it's going to be warm & sunny? Well, note to self: always bring warm shoes just in case! It was C-O-L-D at the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday with my Father-in-law's church. Normally, we would've skipped it & made up some story for the little one about why we couldn't go, but he's the pastor, so we felt like we should go and have "fun" freezing though we were!

It turned out to not be so bad, we had fun despite the weather. It just would've been a little more enjoyable if we had the right attire. I'm sure a lot of the people there were considering calling Family Services on me for having my kid in sandals, I wanted to put a sign on her that said "Don't blame my Mommy, we're from out of town!"

She got LOTS of eggs because all the smart, not-so-brave parents stayed home with their kids. Oh well, more candy for us :)

Here she is with her Grana & Grampa after the egg hunt.

Easter Morning started pretty early, with our little Princess, who is terrified of the Easter Bunny & every other dressed up character wanting to see what the "Girl Easter Bunny" brought her...she says she's only scared of the boy one "Um, ok sweetie, the one that brought your basket is a girl"
She's not drunk, just trying to be nice & fake smile so I'll let her get into this basket!

She got lots of goodies, mostly related to her new mail obsession. Cards, letters, envelopes, stickers, stamps, etc. She LOVES to send and receive mail.
And she promptly got right into painting and stamping cards for people. Oh, and yes, That paint under her nails was really pretty for church, you can imagine!

So, off we go to get ready for church, and she looked just beautiful in her new clothes!

We had a really nice service at their church, and back at Grana & Grampa's came lots more egg hunting and pictures with the family followed by lunch on their deck because it was a BEAUTIFUL Easter Sunday.

And of course, no day is complete without changing clothes a few times! She did a little dance in her new "ballet outfit" and Tinkerbell shoes, and then we had to leave and come back home. It was a very fun, but tiring weekend!
I always feel like when you have children that the meaning of holidays gets lost in the fun & craziness of the traditions. I know she's too young, but I hope that in the coming years we can reflect on the true meaning behind the 'New Life' that hunting eggs represents & make sure that she knows it's not about candy or a bunny, but the sacrifice that Jesus made for us so long ago.

Happy Easter!

My job is...

WOW! Some of the things I've seen and heard with my current job are hilarious, amazing, appalling...you name it. This week, however, I got the phone call to end all phone calls for a Property Manager.
It went down like this: I have a family that moved in early Feb. The husband called me in March to tell me his rent would be late because his wife was in jail (that's right, in jail!) He wouldn't tell me why exactly, (you know I tried to get that one out of him!) except that it was some sort of mix up. (Isn't it always, everyone in jail is there because of a mix up, right?!)
Anyway, he paid the rent, and assured me this would NEVER happen again.
Me: "OK, I hope not, good luck with all that"

Well, April rolls around, and they mail their rent in on time. I'm thinking, good, I guess everyone is out of jail & doing better. WRONG!
The wife calls me this time, frantic, babbling on & on & on about how I just have to help her & I'm the only person that can help her right now & she really needs me.
Me: "Uh, ok, maybe I can help, what do you need?"

This woman goes into a crazy story about how she & her Husband BOTH got arrested with their numerous children in the car & she was stuck in jail while her kids were in custody of DFACS.
Well, I swear I'm cursed with tenants that sent out a memo to one another that I'm a complete sucker for the baby card...this chick goes on for 10 minutes about her "babies" and crooked cops and how they're NOT criminals, and it's all gonna get sorted out, blah blah blah.
OK, then she gets to her "need". She wants me to refund her rent payment, the one she made the day before, PLUS a couple hundred dollars. Yes, just give her a little money (for 24 hours she says) "to get my babies back".
Me: "You want me to bring money to the jail made out to the bond company so you can get out of JAIL?"

I really thought I was in the twilight zone, or was being Punk'd or something insanely crazy!
Well, even longer story short, after a couple of talks with my boss, I declined to bail her out, and the Officer I talked to informed me that I made the right decision, and hit the highlights of the very lengthy criminal history of the husband that fully scared the crap out of me, and made me wish I could only remember what he looks like (just in case I ever need to break & run, or go for a weapon if I come across him).

Whoa! That really happened. I couldn't have made it up if I tried!

Early Easter Fun

Our city had it's annual Easter Egg "hunt" this Saturday in the park. We decided to go since we're going to be out of town for Easter & my Mom wanted to go with us since they won't be with the little one for Easter, either. Well, it wasn't much of a hunt, you know how they are now, just a bunch of those nasty marshmallow sugar eggs thrown on the ground waiting for the free-for-all "go" and it's over in 30 seconds...and it was over in literally 30 seconds, if that. We had fun though, and got to play a little at the playground after. Now that all the Easter Eggs and baskets are out of storage and in the house though, we have to play "find the eggs" over and over and over again. I can't wait for Sunday when we're all dressed up and hopefully can get some cute pics. I love family pictures, much to the dismay of my husband :)

I will also be excited to put the eggs away and be able to stop hiding and finding them in the house all the time!

Ready for the Big "Hunt"

She minded her manners well & didn't take too many eggs

She's happy about any amount, any type of candy. If it's sweet she loves it!

Her Biggest Fan, Gammy

Finally a good picture of the two of us, even if I did have to use threats ;)