The madness begins tomorrow

does everyone have their brackets filled out and ready to go?

I picked OU... go figure! What is funny is that a guy I worked with picked OU too, so I definitely won't be lonely in my cheer section. He's a Domer and since Notre Dame didn't make the tourney, he decided to go for my team.

I even got several people at work to do a bracket challenge, so it will make the work days go by a little faster :)

In other news.... I worked a table for Premier Designs at the Women's Expo last weekend. It was great! I talked to a lot of wonderful women, sold a few items off my table and got ALOT of contacts to follow-up with. I am hopeful that I will be able to fill my calendar in the next few weeks. Prayers needed please :)

The new car is running great and it was fantastic to drive around in 75 degree weather yesterday with all the windows down. Ah... I love spring! I have been in such a fabulous mood because the weather is better. Funny how a simple thing like weather can change your attitude so much.

Now, let's get serious for a moment bloggers. There is something very important we need to talk about.... AMERICAN IDOL! I am going to make some predictions this year. I always say that I will make some early predictions, but never do. Well, this is the year my friends.

Drum roll please........... I predict that our top 2 will be: Adam and Allison.

Country week was rough this week, but it always is. I love country music, but I can't even tell you of a country performance in year's past that just blew me away. So, even though Adam had a rough time (You don't mess with Johnny Cash buddy) and Allison did alright (love the raspy sound to her voice), I really think they have the best stage presence (with the exception of Lil, she rocks too). Adam's ability to "make a song his own" reminds me of Chris Daughtry and David Cook. I think we desperately need an Allison to win, or at least be a top 2 finalist. We really haven't had a cool rock chick and I would love to see that! Alexis has it too, but I think Allison's stage presence and her tone is better. And, let's not discount Danny and Kris. I think they are both really great singers and, if you would have asked me a few weeks ago I would have picked Danny as a top 2. But, I worry about his consistency. We will see.... you never know with American Idol! :)

What do you all think? What are your predictions? Let's chat!

I've been a bad bad blogger

ARGH... I hate it when I slack on blogging. I just haven't had anything interesting to say lately, I guess. I still don't, but for the sake of blogging here's some randomness for your Tuesday reading.

1. Hicks bet me that I won't be able to keep my new car clean. (I have a habit of drinking water bottles and tossing them in the backseat). I told him it will look the same in 3 months as it does now. We will see... I am trying real hard. :) Hicks may be a bettin' man, but this is one he is going to lose.
2. Jared's hair is outta control and I am convinced he does it just to get under my skin. :) Jared's hair is curly, a coarse curly that grows out instead of down. He likes to get out of the shower and run his fingers through it and puff it all up like an afro. He is so weird. He thinks it looks "sexy". I say otherwise. At least he plans to shave it all before the Kraft wedding.
3. I miss my sister like crazy. She has a new boyfriend and life is turning around for her and I am so happy for her. I just want her to come visit me. :(
4. I have a table for Premier at the Expo for Women this weekend and I am really excited and hopeful for new contacts and bookings.
5. My first friend I ever made when we moved to South Bend moved to Milwaukee last weekend. We didn't get to hang out a lot before she left because we were both so incredibly busy. I wish her the best and I hope to make a trip up there this summer sometime.
6. I got my hair cut last week. Tanita said I needed to do something dramatic. Well, it isn't dramatic, but she did cut a lot off and gave me more layers and long sweepy bangs. She says she will get me out of my box at some point.... we will see. I have had pretty much the same hairstyle since high school except I have changed it with layers and long bangs, but it has always been about the same length.
7. I am SO EXCITED for my friend Sherry! Her and her husband Chris are expecting their first child in September. I am almost certain it is a boy, haha. I have known Sherry since 4th grade and we used to always talk about how scared we were to have kids and we didn't think we could handle it. Well, here we are and one of us is expecting a baby. We are all grown up Sherry! I can't wait to see your lil' guy and I am so glad our friendship is still just as strong as ever. I love ya honey.
8. Our lil' house in Girard has been getting more action! YES! They have been showing it a lot more lately and I am hopeful that someone will fall in love with it like we did. *Fingers crossed, prayers being sent up*
9. My cat is getting fat. Seriously... ever since she had her teeth fixed she has been eating like a pig. Anytime I go to the kitchen she runs over to her bowel and bag of food and whines like a lil' baby. Then, last night I was working on a display board for Premier and she kept jolting through the house and running all over my board and then laying down next to me and trying to bite me. ARGH... I told Jared yesterday that if she was our child she would be in time-out right now.
10. It is becoming Spring northern Indiana and I have never been so happy! I will never ever ever take Spring and Summer for granted AGAIN after this brutal winter I have endured. The ducks are quacking, the rabbits are hopping and my flower bush that Jared bought me last year survived the winter and has buds growing on it already. Ah spring.... hurry hurry. We need you!

Come on spring!

I've got spring fever real bad

This morning I stared into my closet and wanted so desperately to put on some cute gaucho pants, spring-y top and flip flops. But Mother Nature shut down that dream rather quickly with a 12 degree morning. YUCK. I am certain my feet will need a major overhaul before spring. I don't think I have seem my little piggies much this winter, except in the shower and even then they are covered with water because our drain is slow. I haven't even painted them since probably October... gross. :)

Anyway, the Birk Family is anxiously awaiting spring and much of the residents of northern Indiana are as well. Apparently, this winter was really bad, according to the locals. So, I guess Jared and I got introduced to the worst of it, hopefully next year will be better.

Other than that, things have been pretty calm. Our budget is working out tremendously well and I think we will be able to pay Uncle Sam soon! That will be a huge sigh of relief for us. We are still hopeful that we will be able to make it to S.C. for Jeremy and Marla's wedding too, but it is too early for us to say yet... even though it is a month away! (I know... we are total procrastinators).

I watched my friend's little girl Sunday for a little bit while they were moving and I have to say, I did pretty well. We played and watched her favorite movie "Horton Hears a Who" and then I smelled it. Yep, it did no good for me to say "please don't poop while I am watching you" because she did it anyway. Like I have said before, I am baby retarded. I have changed one diaper my whole life and now, I have changed 2. And seriously, how does it get all over them? Really? I bet I used a whole box of wipes trying to clean her up while she bounced her legs all around and laughed. I bet she thought I was quite a sight to see. Surprisingly, the smell and the "contents" didn't bother me too much (which is good). I struggled with everything else, haha. That little bundle of joy was bouncing around so much I could barely get her new diaper on and by the time I did she was crying. Well, at least I got it on! Then I worked as fast as I could to get her pants and shoes on (she loves shoes and she screams if you don't put them on her).

Then she was hungry, so I fed her some peas, crackers and few cookies that her momma had set out for me. She was giggling and had it all over, but it was fun. Thanks Genevieve for teaching this "rookie" how to do it. :)

Ain't she purdy

her name is Lola

and she is definitely a show girl!

**This is the only picture I got so far... my cell phone was lacking memory. But I will try to get more with my camera this weekend.**

Jared and I took the plunge and bought a car last weekend. With his truck broken it was becoming difficult to deal with just one car. So, we decided on a 2006 Toyota Camry to keep our 1999 Toyota Camry company :) Of course, I get the new one and Jared gets the older one, haha.

Let me tell you a little story

it involves the common household pest.... or rodent, if you will

My first memory of having a mouse in the house was when we lived in Moore, Okla when I was just a wee little girl. In fact, I don't even remember how old I was, but the memory is still pretty vivid. Mom, you can correct me if I am wrong, but this is how I remember the incident that I will affectionately call "Standing on Chairs".

My mom had noticed that "something" was eating through the dog food bag in the cabinet underneath the sink in our kitchen. I can't remember if mom and dad set traps or not, but shortly after she said that I remember sitting at the dinner table (maybe doing homework, maybe preparing for dinner, I can't remember) but my mom opened the cabinet below the sink to get a roll of papertowels (for some reason I remember that she was getting papertowels... weird) and she let out a scream that was made for horror movies, seriously.

She slammed the cabinet door and yelled "Rob, Rob, AHHHHH, Rob get in here. There's a mouse, hurry up!!!!" The next thing I remember was mom, Alicia and I all standing on chairs in the dining room watching my dad chase a mouse around the kitchen with a broom. I don't know if Alicia even knew what was going on, but because my mom was freaking out, so were all of us. I remember her saying "Rob, oh, he's in the laundry room now, oh my.... hurry!" My dad, poor thing, was in there obviously being defeated by this little freak of nature called a mouse. I don't even remember how he finally was able to take the son of a bitch down, but I remember seeing him pick it up and place it in a garbage bag. Gross. I think we caught a few with sticky traps after that because I remember opening the cabinet and seeing one moving around trying to get out of it... uuuugghhh... gives me goosebumps thinking about it. I never saw another one again after that in my parents house and mom and dad made sure their new house in Kansas didn't have a sink on an outside wall. :)

FASTFORWARD TO 2002:
Jared and I had moved into a little house in Pittsburg together. It was a rental, it was one bedroom and it was really old, but we didn't care. We were out of our parents houses, I was out of the dorms, we were together and this little one bedroom shack was all ours and we were happy.

I was on the phone with my mom one day, sitting on the couch watching TV when I glance over towards the front door for a second and I see a flash of brown with a tail run from underneath the loveseat to underneath the couch I was sitting on. (I have to admit, at this moment I realized that I was becoming my mother). I screamed "Oh crap, oh my God, I just saw a mouse run across the room". So, I do the only thing I know to do, and stood on the couch shrieking on the phone to my mom. Pretty sure she couldn't even understand what I was saying. I was freaking out. At that moment, Jared walked in the door. What a sight I must have been... standing on the couch, totally freaked look on my face and a phone to my ear. "I just saw a mouse!!!" I tell him. he said, ok and walked around like it was no big deal. TIMEOUT: Seriously, why does it not seem to bother men that little disease carrying rodents are running amuck in the house? TIME-IN: So, we get traps, we get sticky traps and we get steel wool to fill around the pipes going in and out of our house. Apparently, we had the Harvard Mouse (or Mice, hell, there could have been more) because we never caught that little demon. He would eat our cheese, lick our peanut butter and avoid our sticky traps of death. Eventually, we put out poison and were convinced that when we packed up and moved in a few weeks that we would find a dead mouse. We never did. Still boggles my mind to this day. He must have escaped, but it still baffles me.

Well, amid all of this excitement, my mom purchases us a Ridex thing for our house. I have no idea what the magical powers are behind this little device, but once I plugged that thing in I have never once seen a mouse in any place I have lived since!!!!

FASTFORWARD TO MARCH 2008:
We are finishing loading up our moving truck for Indiana. Jared points to our ever faithful Ridex and asks if we are taking it with us. I said "well, since this place may sit empty for a while, I would rather it be here so we don't have a mouse infected house while we are trying to sell it". He agreed and we left it there.

FASTFORWARD TO ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO:
Jada was acting weird. Constantly laying in front of the stove staring underneath it. We couldn't figure it out. We said either she had knocked toys under there or she was staring at a mouse, which we kinda laughed nervously about. Jared checked under the stove and no mouse, but he put some sticky traps under there anyway and we kinda forgot about them.

FASTFORWARD TO YESTERDAY:
Hicks is standing in the kitchen and says "do you smell that? something smells rotten?" For some reason, I didn't smell it. But Jared said he had smelled it the other day. They start investigating the kitchen. I said... "um Jared, didn't you set traps under the stove?" OH MAN... yeah I did. With some further investigation, they found a dead mouse underneath the stove stuck in a sticky trap. YUCK! I couldn't even be in there and even if I was I would probably have to stand on something because that is what us Drennan's do! :) It was gross and made me sorely disappointed in Jada's mouse catching abilities. She is way to spoiled now to remember how to hunt, apparently.

So, point is.... I need to get another Ridex cause at my age, and my weight these days, standing on chairs may not be a great idea. :)

I just need 10 minutes to vent

Anyone who knows me very well knows that when I am overwhelmed, stressed or something is making me angry I just need time to talk about it and get it out there and then I am better. I will normally say, "I just need 10 minutes to vent and then I will be fine". Misty, my friend from Kansas, knows this all too well when we worked together at Greenbush. I still ask her to lend an ear via the phone when I need to just "talk it out".

Well, blog world. I just need 10 minutes of your cyber space time to vent and throw myself a pity party. You are all invited to attend if you so choose. :)

Why is it that just when Jared and I think we are getting ahead and our finances are improving that something else has to go wrong! First, his truck breaks down, second, my jewelry shows cancel and thirdly, uncle sam decides to take us for all we are worth.

I look around at other people our age and I am filled with jealousy and anger because I just don't understand why we can't just get ahead. It is so unfair, and I know life isn't fair, but this is such complete bullshit. I look around and all my friends own homes (that they actually LIVE in), they have nice furnishings, take awesome vacations, and many of them having babies (something that I yearn for). Then I look at us. We own a home we DON'T live in and can't seem to sell. We have debt we are able to manage, but can't get paid down. Everything we own is a "hand-me-down". We live in an apartment with a roommate, which we love Hicks but would love to have a place of our own. We have a broken vehicle and I have to drive him to work in Elkhart and pick him up everyday until we get a new one. We have to pay over $1,000 in taxes this year because of my contract job over the summer, which has temporarily pushed back our car purchasing adventure. It just isn't fair.

I know, I know.... everyone has their issues and I KNOW it could always be worse. I know some of this we brought on ourselves. We could both be unemployed (thankful we both have jobs), we could be homeless. It could always be worse. But this is my 10 minute pity party so this is how I vent about it.

Jared, bless his heart, has held me together these past few days. When we were sitting at H & R Block staring at the screen that said "you owe..." I was about to lose it. We were aware that working as a contract employee would mean paying those taxes at tax time. We set money aside for this exact reason. However, it wasn't enough and we thought that the money we got back on our other W2s would balance out what we owed and we would get nothing back or get very little back. We never expected THIS to happen. It is a good thing I was showing a loss on Premier Jewelry for last year or we would have been paying upwards of $2,000!!!! I could feel my face getting hot, my hands starting to sweat and my leg shaking. I was panicking. But, Jared (who was just as panicked as I was) sensed that I was on the verge of a breakdown and he held it together for us. He said, "we can do this", "we can make this work", "we will be ok". God, I love that man!

After going through our budget we will be able to make it work. It may be April 13 when we send it off, but we will get it done. Which explains why I am sending this blog from the Jake's Warehouse. Jared needed some help getting ready for a new scanner system and Hicks needs help setting up a new show room. So, here I am... again. But, it is money and every little bit helps so I can't complain. I am also even more motivated to get shows booked that will hold.

I know that God is testing me. I asked him to be with me and help me and I have been trying to control everything again instead of putting it in his hands. I've let Satan come knocking with his pessimistic attitude and I can't let it get to me. I've got to see, believe in and grab a hold of that silver lining because I know it is there somewhere. But, for now... I just needed my 10 minutes to vent. Thanks for listening and I feel a lot better.