Pieces of Us...
Now I Know Why I Drive a Honda..... - Tuesday, May 22, 2007

I posted this on my local mommy board today. I just had to share here to.

This is a long story, but I just have to tell you guys about it.

I have a 2002 Honda Odyssey with 103,000 miles on it. I have driven a Honda since 1987. Love em, they usually last us over 200,000 miles.

Last week my drive light started flashing on my Odyssey. We called the Honda dealership in Burlington and they said that normally means something is going on with your transmission. We all know how expensive a transmission can be.

So we take it to the dealership in Burlington and they say the transmission is going out and will need to be replaced/rebuilt. It will be $3200!!!! I just paid the van off in April!!!!

Well I don't want to take only one person's word for it, so we take it to the dealership in Greensboro and they say the same thing. :-(

What are we going to do? We don't have $3500 lying around? I'm upset, crying, etc. So I decided to call my hometown dealership back in TN where I used to buy my Honda and spoke to the service manager there. He was so nice and talked to me for about 20 minutes about the situation.

He said a transmission should not be going out on a Honda at 100,000 miles. He suggested I contact Honda Customer Service and tell them I am a long standing Honda customer, that my Hondas have always lasted over 200,000 miles, that I knew some of the 99-01 Odysseys had problems, etc. (a long list of things I should say). He said sometimes Honda will pay 10-50% to have something like this fixed.

So I called and was super nice and sweet and said all the things he suggested. That was last night at about 7:00 p.m. They opened up a case file and said they looked at these situations on a case-by-case basis. She spent about 45 minutes on the phone with me while I explained everything and she asked dozens of questions.

So this morning I get a call from the dealership in Burlington. Honda is paying to replace our transmission!!!! Now that's what I call customer service!!! Now I remember why I drive a Honda......

IF the guy in TN hadn't told me to do this, then we would have never thought about it. I called him back today to thank him. I asked for his supervisor's name and plan on writing a really nice note about how helpful he was.

I just had to share... sorry it was so long!!!!
Now I Know Why I Drive a Honda.....
Monica; 9:03 PM 9 comments


Just Another Day... - Wednesday, May 16, 2007


I can't figure out what in the world is wrong with this thing. For some reason it isn't remembering the paragraphs. It is driving me bonkers. I really only use blogger and then repost in myspace. Its easier to type up in blogger, but it looks better in myspace. I'm to lazy to try and figure out what is wrong with it. I'm lucky to sit down long enough to post much anyway.

Tonight Jonathan is in Charlotte. One of his corporate sponsors (Sprint) gave him tickets to the NASCAR Pitt Crew Challenge. Here is a
link. Only my husband could score some tickets like that. I wish we had a babysitter tonight and I would have went with him. Although I wasn't fond of driving all the way to Charlotte and then having to go to work in the morning. He ended up taking a friend who has a condo down in Charlotte. They are going to spend the night there and then drive home in the morning.

Tomorrow night I am meeting some of my mommy group at a place called The Melting Pot. Its a fondue restaurant. Remember how popular fondue was back in the 70's? Of course I was just a kid and never really experienced it. I've only had fondue once and that was at a friends' house on New Year's Eve. I'm excited to go. I think it will be fun. And best of all....they have chocolate fondue! Woohoo!

Tonight the kids and I went out to eat and then to get ice cream. We do things like that when Jonathan is out of town. Also when Jonathan is out of town, Skyler sleeps with me. Shhhhh, don't tell Jonathan. Skyler and I pretend its a secret. Jonathan knows she sleeps with me every time he goes out of town. But we pretend its something exciting. She secretly wishes for him to go out of town sometimes so we can be "snuggle bunnies."

The kids have had their baths, Chase is in bed and Skyler is watching cartoons. So I have a few minutes to myself. Oh those minutes are few and far between and so precious.

Did I mention I got a new 42 inch plasma television for my bedroom? Jonathan has this huge 55 inch television down in the living room. My birthday is next month and Jonathan never buys Christmas, anniversary, Valentines, birthday gifts, etc. So I decided to treat myself to a "all rolled into one" present. Happy Birthday, Christmas, anniversary, Valentines Day, etc. to myself. Hmph!


Its hard to believe that school is almost out and summer is almost here. The water park will be opening up here in a few weeks. Jonathan still hasn't cleaned up the boat or "unwinterized" it yet. I really wish we would just sell it. He is too lazy to keep it up and we barely have time to use it anyway. Not to mention that gas is a freaking fortune right now and the nearest lake is probably 45 minutes to an hour's drive away. Its a lot of fun, but a big hassle to.

Oh what to say. I guess I just haven't been that talkative lately. At least not online. And I know I still need to finish my story of how Jonathan and I got together. I've even taken my laptop with me when I've traveled for work. But by the end of the day, I'm just too bushed to even worry about the Internet. Luckily I'm one traveling until September. The first few months of this year were just a whirlwind at work. Things will be slowing down for me a bit here after July 1st. I can't wait until then. Its just been crazy at work. Enjoyable, but crazy nonetheless.
Well enough rambling for one day. I can't believe I have two posts in two days. I haven't posted since April. Anyway, until next time....
Just Another Day...
Monica; 7:55 PM 1 comments


Yes We Are Still Alive... - Monday, May 14, 2007

I know, I know.... You have pretty much given up on me ever updating again. I tell you what, our lives have been so hectic, I barely have time to breath. Much less update this blog. I haven't read my friends' blogs in ages.... Work has been hectic, the kids' schedules have been hectic. I think you get the idea.
Yes we are still alive and kicking (although sometimes I think its just barely). I wonder what we are going to do when the kids get more active in sports and school. I will probably just completely keel over from complete exhaustion. I think I'm about to do that now!
Let's see, where shall I begin... Well I will say one good thing. Two weekends ago my friends Lynn, Sam and I had a "Girl's Weekend" at Myrtle Beach. No kids, no husbands, just girls having some fun. We had to be the most BORING of all girls in Myrtle Beach. I guess that's what happens when your a married mom in your 30's. Lynn and I were just glad for the break away from the kids and a chance to sleep in until 9:00 a.m. Ahhh, heaven..... Sam likes to get up "at the butt crack of dawn" as Lynn and I like to say. But she was nice enough to not bother us when she got up. It was wonderful.
The only bad part of the trip is the weather decided not to cooperate. It wasn't real cold or anything, but it definitely wasn't sunny and wonderful either. We didn't even walk out on the beach! We laid out by the pool one afternoon, but not once did our toes touch the sand. Hard to believe, eh? I told you we were boring!
In other news, Skyler has started playing t-ball. Although I'm not sure why they call it "t-ball" because they don't actually use a "tee." They pitch to the kids until they get tired of it and then finally pull out the tee. That's not the way it worked when I was a kid, but whatever. She has practice once a week and two games a week, so that is keeping us busy for now. Luckily its only going to last until the end of June (if we make it that long).
We have been more places and done more things these last two months. But I guess I'm not in the mood to really talk about it today. I did want to just update and let you know we are still alive and kicking!
Hope everyone is having a great spring and I hope to update again before Christmas! Take care.....
Yes We Are Still Alive...
Monica; 9:06 PM 1 comments


Here I Go Getting Slack Again.... - Thursday, March 15, 2007


Here I go again getting slack about posting to this blog. I get on a roll for a few days and then it falls to the wayside. And I really wanted to finish my story on Jonathan and I... Alas, I am not inspired to do so at this time. So we will leave it at that for now.

As usual, we have been so busy my head is still spinning. It seems we never get a break around here. The good thing is we are going to have some free time to ourselves next weekend.

Next weekend Jonathan and I will celebrate our 16th anniversary. It is so hard to believe we have been married that long. God we are old. So we asked Jonathan's friend who owns the house at Myrtle Beach if we could use his house and he graciously agreed. (Thanks sooooooo much Steve, your a lifesaver). I've never even met his friend. But I love him dearly for his graciousness.

So tomorrow we are heading back to Kingsport to drop Chase off at my parents' house. I'm sure it won't be much of a restful weekend because my mom just had a shot in her spine and isn't feeling very well. Not to mention Jonathan will most likely be glued to the television most of the weekend watching the college basketball playoffs...yawn, sigh, boring...... I will never understand this man's obsession for sports.

The good news is I have asked (well not really “asked”), we’ll say I have “demanded” that next weekend on our 4 day weekend to Myrtle Beach there will be NO television. Yes, no basketball games, races, golf tournaments, etc. This weekend is all about US. I was surprised when Jonathan was all for it. He wasn’t exactly happy about it, but he graciously agreed. Later on in the week he did whine a bit about it. He informed me that if I fell asleep he was sneaking into the living room to catch up on the games. Geeze

Well enough bitching. Like I said before, we have been so busy these last few weeks. Not just at home, but at work also. My work is in total drama mode. People leaving, quitting, coming. It has just been wild. We went like 3 years with no turnover and then all of a sudden its total chaos.

I have been so busy with work these past few weeks. This is my busiest time of the entire year. All of my forms committees are in full swing and I’m getting ready to travel for most of my programs. I will be gone quite a bit over the next month or so. I actually like traveling for my programs. I enjoy getting out and mingling with the members. I love my instructor. He has been instructing for us for about 6 years. And not to mention that I get to stay at really nice hotels. Its usually long days, but very fulfilling.

Last weekend we took Chase and Skyler to the
Museum of Life & Science in Durham. It is a totally awesome museum. They have this exhibit called Magic Wings Butterfly House. It is so cool. Its this huge building that is about 80 degrees year round and has thousands of butterflies flying around in gorgeous vegetation. The kids absolutely loved it. However, as usual, I can’t get many pictures of Chase. He just doesn’t like having his photo taken. You can view all of our pics here.

When I picked Chase up from daycare today his teacher was very excited to inform me that Chase had pooped in the potty for the very first time!! Woohooo!!! We are well on our way to potty training. He has been peeing in the potty full time now for about 2 months. But not once has he pooped in the potty (don’t you just love hearing about stuff like this). This is quite a breakthrough for us. I commenced to jumping up and down and clapping and making a general fool out of myself. Luckily my only audience was the teacher and a group of about 15 two year olds who commenced to clap and jump up and down with me. Hopefully he is getting the general concept down of crapping in the pot instead of in his pants. Keep your fingers crossed for me please. I think he is doing fairly well to only be 2 ½ and be of the male persuasion. I won’t get too excited though because we still have quite a long road ahead of us.

Well hate to cut it short tonight, but Grey’s Anatomy is on and I must run upstairs and watch it. Its been a rerun for weeks. Oh the things that get you excited when you are my age….
Here I Go Getting Slack Again....
Monica; 9:48 PM 4 comments


In the Beginning - Monday, February 26, 2007


We did absolutely NOTHING this past weekend. Saturday we stayed home and worked on cleaning the house and washing clothes. Fun (not).

Sunday we had full intentions of getting the kids out of the house. Just like us, they get a bit stir crazy if they stay cooped up in the house for more than a day or so. What can I say, none of us have ever been "homebodies" that's for sure.


We really had full intentions of taking them to the park, the science center, children's museum or something. But no, Sunday morning it was peedle pouring outside and cold and wet and just plain ole yucky outside. So it was another day of hanging around the house being bored. Fun. Like I should bitch after just spending a week in the Caribbean and then a weekend at home in Tennessee. I'm never satisfied.

Sundays are my days to sleep in. I slept in until 9:30 a.m. It was sheer heaven. For some reason I had a hard time falling asleep Saturday night and then I couldn't seem to drag my butt out of bed Sunday morning. The kids weren't screaming, yelling and fighting like normal. Jonathan had fed them and all was well with the world. But if I had slept any later, I definitely would have felt guilty. So I drug myself out of bed.

Jonathan and I watched You, Me and Dupree Saturday night. It was the longest and dullest comedy we have seen in awhile. For some reason I had also put Donnie Darko on my Netflix list. I knew going into it that it was a pretty weird movie, but 20 minutes or so into it, we just shut the thing off. It was S-T-U-P-I-D. Maybe we should have given it more time, but we just couldn't. So we ended up watching last night's episode of the Amazing Race on the DVR. Such an exciting weekend.

Again last night I couldn't fall asleep. Jonathan was snoring logs beside of me in his blissful sleep, and I was laying there thinking utterly stupid thoughts.

I was thinking, "You know, we've lead a pretty interesting life." "I really wish I had kept a journal of our history together." "Maybe I should start writing our history down or something...."

Don't even ask me where this stuff is coming from. But as I was laying there I got about 15 chapters into my thoughts. I know no one really gives a crap about my life, but still it might be interesting to write it down. I'm very interested in my family's history and I have always loved hearing stories from my grandmother, father, aunts and uncles, etc. I really wish that someone would have taken the time to write some of our family stories down. Most of them are probably forever lost as each relative passes on.

I'm sentimental in ways. I have every single letter that Jonathan has ever written me. The letters start in the fall of 1989, the month that Jonathan went into the Army. I have them in chronological order from 1989 to 1999. After that we didn't use "snail mail" anymore. No one actually writes letters in this day and age. Its a thing of the past.

But anyway, the letters start in 1989 when Jonathan first went into the military. The two of us were just friends. We had tried dating (for about 2 weeks) way back in high school. But for some reason, we had just always been friends. Very close friends mind you. But only friends.

We spent a lot of time together in the last few weeks before he left for the Army. But he met this girl right before he went in and fell madly in love (well lust). So the letters start out in a friendly kind of way talking about this girl he met and how basic training is going and what not. Just general stuff.

But as the letters progress we grew closer. I only have his letters to go by. I used to write him NOVELS. I mean like 10 and 15 pages of typed letters. I'm sure he probably took my letters with him to the john to read, they were really that long. His letters are just a couple of pages. Sometimes he would write really big just to fill up more pages because I fussed that his letters were so short.

As time moved on we talked about our lives. I discussed my current boyfriend at the time and he told me he was going to be stationed in Germany. I was sad because I knew we probably wouldn't be seeing each other for a very long time. I made plans to visit him at his basic graduation, but one thing lead to another and I didn't make it down there. (My mistake).

He ended up meeting someone when he was in AIT (the training you take after basic to learn your military specialty. Its usually about 10 to 12 weeks long). Its funny, he never really mentioned her in his letters. It was an "AIT Romance." You know your missing home, you find someone who you have something in common with and you latch on to that person.

So as the time drew closer and closer for him to ship out to Germany, I kept promising myself I was going to drive down to South Carolina to see him. I wasn't quite as adventurous in those days. I was afraid I would get lost going down there, it was a long drive to make by myself. You know excuses.... So I never made it down there to visit him before he left for Germany sometime in early 1990.

Once he got to Germany the letters continued. We grew closer and closer through letters and phone calls. I had met someone new and been dating them for about 6 months. The two of us became engaged....

All through high school Jonathan was my person who I told all my secrets to. He was the person I talked to all the time about my boyfriends, my life, my dreams, etc. He always listened and never judged. And best of all, he agreed with everything I said (he still does that to this day to keep peace in the house). ;-)

So when things went bad with my boyfriend and we were on the verge of splitting up, I picked up the phone and called Jonathan in Germany. It was 3:00 a.m here in the States, but it was early morning in Germany. Jonathan picked up the phone and I began sobbing and telling him about my current mess. He was like, "Oh come on over and Huck will make it all better." "I'll give you a hug and you can tell me all your problems and we'll work it out."

And I was like, you know what, I might just do that. He kind of laughed and told me to come on. I know he thought I wasn't serious. But we hung up the phone and I made a few phone calls and found a flight for $300 round trip. I was going to Germany to visit my buddy.....

TO BE CONTINUED........
In the Beginning
Monica; 8:44 PM 2 comments


Boring Weekend - Saturday, February 24, 2007

Nothing much going on this weekend. I was so far behind on laundry, I've spent most of today working down the massive piles of it.

The weather was actually pretty nice today. I think its around 56 degrees now. The kids spent about an hour and a half playing in the backyard on their swingset and playhouse. Me, I was still in my pajamas at 3:00 in the afternoon. No reason to get dressed up to do laundry. After walking outside to see what the kids were screaming about and seeing neighbors walk by, I figured it was time to haul my ass back inside and put some clothes on.

The picture on this post is actually a photo of The Caribbean Princess. Its the ship Sam and I cruised on a few weeks ago. Its their newest ship and was quite lovely. But I wasn't as impressed with it as I was Carnival's Liberty.

This photo was taken while we were on Princess Caye. They tendered us in from the ship. Sam and I stayed on the ship until late morning. We didn't want to stand in line to get a tender from the ship. I love the beach, but can't handle more than a few hours of it. The water was ICE cold, so we really didn't swim very much. Of course you couldn't tell it was cold by all the people in the water. But it was definitely too cold for me. Princess Caye is somewhere in the Bahamas.


This is a picture of Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. Its one of the top 10 beaches in the world. Jonathan and I spent 4 days in St. Thomas back in 2005, and we went here almost every day. This photo was taken from the mountaintop. There is a small restaurant and gift shop there that sells "world famous" banana daiquiris. Since neither Sam nor myself are really drinkers. We passed on the alcohol and just enjoyed the view.

The water in Megan's Bay is just gorgeous. Can you imagine having a house up here looking down at the ocean. It would be wonderful.
This is a view of Princess Caye. I thought I had some photos of Coki Beach, in St. Thomas, but I guess I don't.
This is pretty much the extent of my picture taking on our cruise. I do have one additional photo of Sam sunning in her bikini. But I think if I posted it, she would probably disown me as a friend and possibly kick my ass. Therefore, I will refrain from posting it at this time. However, should she ever piss me off.... (jk Sam)

That's pretty sad that I only took like 4 pictures on my trip. I think Sam and I would have a lot better time if there had been a group of us going. Next time we will try and get some other girls to go with us. I know there will be a "next time" because Jonathan is already planning another weekend trip to our friend's beach house with the boys. He takes 3 or 4 weekend trips with his buddies and I add them up to my week long trip with Sam. Of course it may take us another couple of years to save up the money to take another cruise. But we can start pre-planning.

Speaking of pre-planning. Our 16th Anniversary is next month. We usually don't do very much for our anniversary. Reason number one is we don't have any family near to babysit the kids. Reason number 2, well we've been married 16 years and we have pretty much seen and done it all. Reason number 3, Jonathan is pretty slack when it comes to anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, etc.

However, this year, I think we will try and go out of town to celebrate our anniversary. It will be nice to have a couple of alone days away from the kids. Not that we didn't just have an entire alone weekend in January when I won the trip to Charlotte. I guess I didn't blog about that, but I won a 2-night stay at the Hilton in Charlotte and suite tickets to a Bobcats game. It was pretty sweet. We had a great time and it was a lot of fun. However, babysitting for the weekend set us back about $100. If we had family that lived by, we wouldn't have to spend the extra money. But again, that's the price you pay with no family near. Oh well, bitch, moan, groan....

Well anyway, its getting late and I need to get supper started. Its pork chops tonight. How much do you wanna bet that the kids won't take two bites and will ask for hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.





Boring Weekend Monica; 4:02 PM 1 comments


What Another Update?!?!? - Friday, February 23, 2007

One of Jonathan's high school buddies sent him this picture. Its of Jonathan way back in high school. Just thought I would share. Jonathan has very few pictures from his younger years. So it was nice to see one. Thanks Richie!

I know, I can’t believe it myself. I’m updating again and its not been six months! I sat back and I thought, “You know, I really miss my blogging.” Blogging on my own personal website was refreshing sometimes. Just getting it out there and talking with other moms and acquaintances about family/child problems. I even started posting most of my (well a trimmed down version) of my posts on my personal myspace page. I miss the girls I used to talk and blog with. I know we all get so busy with work, kids, family, etc. its hard to stay in touch sometimes. Not to mention sometimes you just don’t feel like blogging or listening to your own problems, much less anyone else’s. But sometimes its therapeutic to write things out and get them out of your system. Not to mention its nice to have someone who can relate to what your going through. I think that’s what was so much fun about blogging for me. And when your gone for so long, you kind of lose touch with those girls you kept in touch with before.

But anyway, this has been a pretty crappy week. This week I was fortunate to have the dreaded
Norovirus. Oh the joys of that one, let me tell you. Having your bodily fluids spill out of both ends is not fun, let me tell you. Poor Jonathan just had a whole week of single fatherhood while Sam and I were on our joyous Caribbean “girl’s only” vacation. It started about 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. Its funny as Jonathan and I went to bed Tuesday night, we were laying there and I said to him, “I have a feeling of dread.” He was like, “Oh hell, you and your “feelings.” Little did I know that feeling of dread was about to hit me in about 5 ½ hours. Oh the horror of a stomach bug. Nothing can be worse. The bad thing was I had eaten Hummus and some pita bread for dinner. I think I will never ever eat Hummus again. You know how you just can’t get something like that out of your mind. It is not lovely coming back up, let me tell you. Like you want to hear about that.

So I was down for two days. Jonathan just started his new position this week and here he was having to take care of both kids, by himself once again. Speaking of Jonathan’s new position. I know I originally wrote about it on my last post. But I had to go back and remove it. I was so excited about it that I put it up on my blog, but then realized that it hadn’t been announced yet, so I pulled it back down. Nothing like one of his employees reading it on my blog before the district manager had made any announcements or anything yet. Doh! Me and my big mouth. But everyone is in the know now, so we are good to go.

Last weekend Jonathan, the kids and I packed up and headed home to Tennessee to see family. We hadn’t been home since Christmas and Jonathan really wanted to see his grandmother. Not to mention our trips home are the only time Jonathan and I get to have much “alone time” or going out to dinner time or anything. I’m thinking this is where I probably picked up my lovely virus. Mom came down with something Saturday afternoon. So Jonathan and I went out to dinner on Friday night and Saturday night. Sometimes its nice to just get away without the kids. But the funny thing is, we end up talking about work and the kids anyway.

Poor Little Man is still in shock over me leaving him for a whole week with Daddy. He won’t let me out of his sight. Every time I step out of the room he is like, “Mommy pease don’t weave me!” “Momma, where are you going?” I know he loves his Daddy deeply. But he is definitely a “Momma’s Boy” right now. I think it hurts Jonathan’s feelings just a wee bit that he is constantly wanting me. I told Jonathan its just a phase, that eventually it will be Daddy and Son. But he is most definitely a momma’s boy right now. Sometimes he’ll just turn his head and completely ignore Jonathan. He wants “Momma to do it!” I think it all suits Jonathan just the same. Since he is constantly asking me for stuff, its just one less thing Jonathan has to deal with. I will give Jonathan credit, where credit is due. He loves his kids more than anything else on this earth.

We have absolutely no plans for this weekend. I am so far behind on laundry, it isn’t even funny. And the sad thing is I took all of the kids’ laundry home with me to my parents’ house last weekend. How pitiful is that? But since I was gone two weekends in a row with my trip with Sam, I was already so far behind. And then us going home last weekend, it put me even further behind. Laundry. I hate that word. It never ends. I have a never ending laundry pile! I see dirty clothes in my dreams at night! I’ve pretty much given up on ever having a tidy and clean house again. I think sometimes you just have to prioritize. Hmm, playing in the floor with my kids or mopping the kitchen. Why playing with the kids of course comes first!

I’m sorry I don’t have anything more exciting to talk about this week besides stomach bugs and dirty laundry. Its just the ever boring life a working mom and mother. I would update with a bunch of pictures of my trip. But I only took like 4 pictures on our entire trip. So nothing exciting there. I can’t wait until its warm weather again so we can get the kids out and do some stuff. Staying cooped up in the house is for the birds. I hate winter.

So anyway, enough boring stuff for today. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Maybe I’ll have something more exciting to talk about next week.
What Another Update?!?!?
Monica; 2:54 PM 1 comments


about me
name: Monica
Home: Somewhere in NC
About: The life and times of a working mom with two kids who needs a break!






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