The Queen Bee IS Alive!!

I have risen from the blogging grave. Worry no more, folks.

So, per my last post, I was hoping that I would get a lot accomplished in August. Ask and I shall receive!! Here is a quick run-down of what has been going on.

1. I got a job!!! I work at Children's Care Hospital & School. I am a Records Manager and Credentialing Specialist. That's just a fancy way of saying that I deal with every record of every child at CCHS as well as keep the credentials of every Doctor we have. It's just part time (Mon, Wed, Fri) but the pay is great and is a foot in the door for better jobs down the road. It came at THE perfect time.

2. I started school and am elbow deep in homework each week. I literally just sit and type up doctor dictations every chance I get, turn it in, and move on to the next lesson. I'm trying to stay ahead of the game with the workload so that I'm completely done by the time I leave for Florida.

3. I'm going to FLORIDA!! My best friend Vicki moved to FL over Labor Day weekend. My other best friend, Joe, and I decided to buy some tickets to see her in December. Dates are picked, tickets are bought, money is being saved!! Vicki lives in Naples and we are going to take a few days to go to The Keys. Whooop!

4. Christian is going to speech therapy twice a week. He is excited to go and says "Going to school?" quite a few times a day. He is making complete sentences and putting the ending consonant on some of his words! This is a big step up from where he was a year ago. There are still a few things that absolutely nobody can understand but that will come as he is able to form more of those ending letters. I'm sure proud!!

5. With my job being part time, and my sister needing a little help in the money department, I have hired Aunt Jessy to come to the house MWF and most of the day on Thursday. She watches the kids while I'm at work and when I am doing schoolwork and errands. It's working out nicely so far. Eventually, though, they WILL be going to daycare. There are just a few things that need to happen before I'm able to do it.

6. Still looking for places to live but I am on a few wait lists for townhomes. I'm calling around next week to see where I am on the list and to find some more. I'm torn between saving for a few more months and just moving out. The latter is pulling ahead at the moment!!

7. I joined the Christian Education Committee at church. It's a once-a-month meeting but it's sure jam packed with stuff. We are trying to get a group together for the 'working crowd' and it's proving to be a challenge.

and

8. I'm contemplating a second job. What can I say? Single mom, two kids, living at home with the parents. Any money coming in is good in my book!!

Now for pictures since I bored you all for so long.

The day I found out I got the job at CCHS. I was at the park having a Mommy-Bubba day.

My Welcome to work! :-) My boss is awesome.

Ready for church.

Is she not frickin' cute?!

I let them have their own table at Subway (yes, the one in a Walmart) and they were excited about it. They are growing up fast!

Checking out Papa Kerry's tomatoes.

My birthday. Ice Cream Cake!!!!

Playing ball with Bubba.

Matt playing catch with Sarah.

Last family pic before deployment.

The last gathering for the Keefers before Matt left for deployment (minus Kent who took the picture).

Sarah was a big helper while we played bean bags.

Reading the Daily Word to each other. haha

Wrestling with Papa Kerry.


I know that update was SO amazing you could hardly contain yourselves. But there it is. I'm crazy busy, don't have time for a social life, and would love to time travel to June 2012 so that I could be done with school and out of my parents house. Such is life...

Hello, August. We have a lot of work to do.

This month will hopefully be a very productive one. A lot of things need to happen - or at least a few things that I have on the list to accomplish.

A bit of an update on Matt and me first. We are officially divorced and he has now been deployed overseas. He is super busy over there and says he feels a bit of accomplishment doing the job he is.
This is the last picture of me and him together. I have more of all four of us that I need to get from Nancy.



First and foremost, this month I start back up with school. That in itself has been a bunch of craziness. I'm using 12 months of Matt's GI Bill (thank you!) and will be getting my Medical Transcription degree done and out of the way this Fall. Then in order for me to use the GI Bill for my Medical Assisting I have to graduate in December and then reapply in January! It's really a bunch of red tape from the government that I'm going around to get this all done. Either way...it will happen.

I'm still scouring SF for a job. I applied for three of them at a hospital here in town on Saturday and promptly got three rejection emails Monday morning. Nice... I know I will get one but I just don't want it to be at Target. I've done retail, and although I really think that I kick butt doing it, I really don't need to go through it again. So, friends, pray that I find a great job.

Kids are doing well. They will go to daycare soon. If I'm just going to school then they will go part time during the week so that I can get a few hours a day to myself to study. If I get a job they will obviously go full time. I'm honestly looking forward to it. They need the interaction with structured adults and other kids. And this mom needs a break!! :)

I'm also looking for a place to live. I obviously have to get a job and some income before that can happen but a lot of places are hard to get into around here. We'll see. Again, friends, prayers are needed that some things line up and I'm able to make a nice home for the kids to live in. They deserve it!!

Here are a few random pics.
The kids are enjoying the pool that papa Kent bought for them.

My sister!!!

Sarah being a goober.

Anne went to a baseball game with me and a group from church. We had a lot of fun.

The faces this kid makes are TOO funny.

Making cookies with Grandma Nancy.


Still a good summer so far even though there are a lot of things I've been having to get in order as far as the divorce goes. Kids are doing well, I love being around family and friends and I can't wait for school. My bucket list is still going and expanding!!

Here, there, and everywhere!

Well, that is partly true. I haven't been everywhere. I wish, though!

Sarah got a yeast infection, they've both been covered in skeeter bites, scrapes and bruises from playing outside, and they've enjoyed playing on the play set at church. I've been searching and applying for jobs but nothing has worked out. :( Anne and I took the kids to the zoo. It was finally nice out!! My mom had a day off so she came along.

Recently Anne and I went out for a girls date. We got dressed up, took pictures, and then headed to Bracco for dinner. In the parking lot I got rear-ended by someone else's rear end. (I'll post pics at the end). Ugh..it was annoying but we made light of it and didn't want it to ruin our plans. We talked to the cops, exchanged info with the crazy lady driver and then went in to have dinner. After dinner we walked around at the Falls, went downtown, and listened to live music.

At the end of June, Matt was able to get into town for a few days. He saw the kids, him and I talked some, we (Anne also) took them to the pool. It was a good few days with him in town. He will be coming down again for one more day before he deploys. Please keep him in your prayers as he travels overseas, that he has a safe and enjoyable time there, and that his return is speedy!

And now for pictures:














And my sister, just cuz...


And the accident. Oh, my...some people.
Okay, so here is the truck I was driving. The empty spot behind it is the one I was in. I was crooked and going in reverse to adjust myself. I stop to let this van go by. Me AND Anne look to make sure she is passed us. I start to back out again. Well then all of a sudden WHAM!

And her back window ends up all over the back of my truck. She throws her van in reverse and backs up like a bat out of hell and hits me hard enough to just shatter her window. I don't even think I had backed up more than five inches from my parking spot before she hit me!

Here is a pic of the glass on the floor. I think it's funny because me and the husband of the driver are in the cop car, while the driver is picking up glass. LOL

The cops were nice about it all. I even got razzed a bit by the short one about my dad. :-)

Bucket List Addendum!

16. Try a Neti Pot.
17. Publish a second poem.
18. Buy my own home.
19. True Love.
20. Go to a Twins game this year

Bucket List Additions

11. See the Eiffel Tower
12. Completely run a mile, with NO stopping!
13. Give a hitchhiker a ride.
14. Learn to drive a stick shift.
15. Fly fish.

Shrimp and Linguini

I made this a few nights ago for dinner. Make sure to heat up your sour cream and milk long enough...mine could have been a bit warmer. We served it with sliced french bread with mozzarella and cheddar cheese that we broiled.

Ingredients

3/4 pound Uncooked shell-on medium shrimp (about 20-30), peeled, deveined and tails removed

3/4 cup Coarsely chopped carrots

2 Large plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/4 cup Sliced green onions with tops

1/3 cup Grated fresh Parmesan cheese

8 ounces Uncooked linguine

1 tsp Olive oil

2 Garlic cloves, pressed

3/4 cup Reduced fat sour cream

1/2 cup Fat free evaporated milk

1/4 cup Snipped fresh basil leaves

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Coarsely ground black pepper
Preparation

1. Peel and devein shrimp; remove tails. Coarsely chop carrots. Dice tomatoes and slice green onions. Grate Parmesan cheese.

2) Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Return pasta to pot; cover and keep warm.

3) Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saute pan. Add shrimp, carrots and garlic. Cook and stir over medium heat 3-4 minutes or jut until shrimp turns pink; remove from skillet and keep warm.

4) Gently heat sour cream and evaporated milk in same skillet over low heat, whisking. Do not boil. Stir in Parmesan cheese. add shrimp mixture, tomatoes, green onions, basil, salt and black pepper; mix gently. Pour shrimp and vegetable mixture over pasta; toss gently to coat. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Hello Summer.

We honestly haven't done a whole lot lately. Playing outside, going to a few functions at church for the kids, went to help Grandma celebrate being a cancer survivor, and then hanging out at the house with the dogs and boxes of toys that never seem to stay picked up.

It's officially summer, kids are out of school, pools are opening, motorcycles cruising around and....garage sales!! I recently sat in my parents driveway trying to sell their crap. They made $50! I got burned and spent the next three days recovering from the massive amounts of fresh air and sun that I subjected myself to.

I have not thought too much about adding to my bucket list...but I do get to cross one off now!
1. Get a tattoo.
They are the middle names of the kids. It's a bit hard to tell but I got it on my ribcage on my right side. I love it. I want more!!


After I defaced my body, we poked a few holes in Sarah's.

We went to my cousin's HS graduation then stopped at Carol & Gary's house for a visit. I took the kids on for a ride on the golf cart that *I* used to drive around when I was little!


Christian pooped on the potty. Once. For real. Hasn't since...

Both kids also had some pretty nasty blows to the face. Christian fought with a sidewalk and it won. Sarah got the beat down from some kids shoe at the playground. Both walked away with battle wounds. Some more scathed than others...
Sarah has a black eye (right side of the picture). Sorry it's so blurry!

And this is what the boy did to himself while walking the dogs a few weeks ago. The only way I can describe it is a bicycle. He slammed on his brakes, braced his arms and caught himself, but then his back end just flipped RIGHT over and he landed on his face. First thought was 'How many teeth did he lose??' then as I got closer to him I just see his entire left side of his face was red...and then bleeding. A few days later the bruise on his forhead was all the way into his hairline. Poor kid.

Went to a huge park while celebrating with Grandma.




Had some fun making bubbles and going head first down slides some more at the church campout!


Listening to the campfire songs.



I took the kids outside this past week to try and get some cute pictures of them. FAIL! Christian wouldn't sit still and I finally just grabbed him and told him to smile. This is what I got

I screamed at Sarah to try and get her to turn towards me and this is what I managed to get. Cute...but the boy is running off in the background. So I'm having a friend work on this one.
And them together. Le sigh...

And this was the best family picture I was able to get. Thanks for taking the picture, Mom!!