Time off is a wonderful thing…

 

Yes…I FINALLY have a day off (after 2 weeks)!  ‘Tis nice, especially after this last week…it was a DOOZY!!  And may I say that …DAMN…I’m TIRED!!!

We (as in the company I work for) had our Project Mangers and field Secretaries all join us out here for our Annual PM Meeting.  This usually consists of 2 days of packed with information regarding subjects that the Project Managers like the least.  However, it’s a necessary tool in implementing our day to day requirements for the company.

Now I work for an electrical contractor…which to most of you just spells out C..O..N..S..T..R..U..C..T..I..O..N, and that’s perfectly fine because it is part of that field.  The company builds substations, transmission lines, fiber optic lines, underground and distribution cabling.  (WTF?? huh?) That means that all of those really huge steel structures that you usually see along the road sides (and for some of you they are wooden poles that usually look like an “H”) are built by companies similar to the one I work for.  Not excited yet?  ‘Tis okay…that’s not the exciting part of our industry, nope…that part is the actual work that’s involved.

It’s an extremely dangerous industry! The men and women that are building these structures are working with thousands upon thousands of volts of electricity…and can easily be electrocuted if they make a mistake.  That’s the exciting part…it’s an adrenaline rush!  They are working with a deadly element that is not easily controlled…and that is usually what drives them, believe it or not.  I’ve become friends with many of our people who work out on the jobs, and let me tell you…these people are not only brave, but they are in shape (have to be to climb those structures) and they can usually out drink anyone…LOL. 

Anyway, most of our Project Managers are hands on workers and are quite the crazy bunch!  After our meeting on Thursday, which lasted from 8am – 5pm (this is the day I worked 14 hours straight) we all headed over to the brewery down the street…to wind down a bit and have some dinner.  Of course, this was on the company so, we enjoyed every single minute and all the food and beverages that were being served, just a little bit more than usual.

It was nice to be able to hang out with everyone and laugh and tell stories and such….it let off some of the tension that was there earlier in the day during the meeting.  However, spending so much time there that evening made my day quickly turn into a very long night as well.  I’d been awake since 3:30 that morning. Why you ask?  I had to help get everything prepared and the meeting room setup and the refreshments in place as well as conduct a 3 hour training session later on in the day.  So, this meant that I had to meet with a co-worker over at the meeting room at 6 am…along with bringing other items that were requested.  I live about 30 minutes away from where the meeting was being held…and well, it took me at least that long to just wake up that morning!

All in all, the meetings went well and all the hard work that I’ve done this past week has paid off.  But I tell you what…I’m so happy to have a day off it isn’t even funny!! 

I’m still a bit tired…but I think it’s just mental exhaustion now…haha.  I’m looking forward to this next week…not just because of the holiday weekend, or that I turn 28 next Wednesday…it’s mainly because my boss is NOW on vacation!!! Woohoo!!

I think that I get more excited about him going on vacation than taking a vacation myself…hmm…that’s just not right is it?

Oh well…I’m home today and tomorrow and I’m enjoying sitting here not doing too much.  I just made breakfast for the kids (after the boys were dropped off by their dad) and now I’m typing this. Jason had to go to work and I won’t see him until 10pm tonight…so, I’m just hangin’ with the kids today praying that they don’t drive me insane.

Hopefully they will let me have enough time on here to read your sites today…if not, I will get to it this weekend some time.

Have a great weekend m’dears and enjoy the end of June!

~Maria

I’m SO glad that you enjoyed the photos that we took on our mountain trip!!  We most certainly enjoyed taking them…and taking in the scenery.  I hope that it’s something that we will be able to do again in the near future.

A Little Update…

Jason is doing MUCH better and is looking better as well!  His blotches have almost all diminished now and so it just looks as if he has a slightly blotchy tan (does that make sense?).  Anyway, he is happy and relieved to see the redness dissipating! (understandably so!!)

I had to work this last weekend…what a drag that was!!  I was supposed to attend a baby shower for a friend of mine yesterday and was unable to, due to work.   Sometimes, life is just not fair ya know?

Anyway, I do have a few baby items for her and will give them to her tomorrow!  She’s excited (1st baby), I’m giving her the crib/dresser that I had for Corin (my youngest daughter) and a few baby clothes (newborn of course) and some crib sheets (can’t have enough of those!).  I think that THAT will help her out a bit..don’t you?

Other than that, I’ve just been trying to take each day as it comes and not stress myself out TOO much (easier said than done).  However, working this last weekend DID stress me out a bit…but I’m attempting to relieve some of that (with some much needed help from Jason) and my boss has promised some compensation time for it (thank God!).  So I’ll be able to take a few more days off around the time for the wedding…that should help a bit…I hope!  I’m sure that I will need it by then… 

Well…as soon as I can catch my breath …I will be around to visit you, but PLEASE take care of yourselves and know that I’m wishing you well!!

~Maria

Mountain Trip

Okay…I know that some of you are VERY curious as to what occurred on our recent trip up to the mountains…(Wil).  And YES, there were plenty of roads without guardrails along the way…and tons of sharp turns and winding mountain roads…but most of all, there was Jason…and myself…without children for a time, enjoying the sites and the company of one another!

We traveled up to Frisco, CO…which is in the (I believe) 3rd range of the Rockies.  Frisco is just West of Silverthorne and Dillon…and that’s where we took these lovely pictures of Lake Dillon about 1 mile from our hotel.

I got us a bit lost (thanks to some faulty directions from AAA mind you…geesh)…but we found our hotel and checked in just after snapping these photos.

We then headed out to see the surrounding towns…and found that there was a museum in downtown Frisco…so we decided that would be a nice place to visit and walk around.  We strolled down the main street of the quaint village of Frisco and took in the breathtaking views of the little town surrounded by mountains.  The museum, which I sadly did not have any photos of on the digital camera (I do have some that will be developed though…and will share once they are done) was quite informative and a reminiscent of our time in Mackinaw City, MI last October…but this museum was FREE!  That’s the best kind eh?

After wandering a bit, we decided to dine…so off we went to have burgers (isn’t that what everyone does when they go to a romantic village in the mountains? ).

Once our appetites had been satisfied, we drove back to the hotel and settled down for a while.  We did venture out one last time before turning in for the night…but it was only across the way to Safeway (the neighborhood grocery store) to get a late night snack!

The next morning, I awoke a bit early (we wanted to get an early start so that we wouldn’t have to rush back to the city and could take our time site seeing) and I noticed something wasn’t quite right about Jason.  His skin was covered with these tiny red bumps…and it was blotchy!! 

I woke him up and showed him what I was seeing…he was a bit taken back and asked what they were…but I didn’t have an answer for him.  It seemed to me that he was having an allergic reaction of sorts…but I wasn’t certain…for the bumps resembled the measles as well.  The good thing was that he hasn’t had any other symptoms that coincided with having the measles…so I didn’t believe that was the answer.

We got dressed and checked out of the hotel and Jason had mapped out a different way to head back to the city…a more scenic route.  We drove from Frisco out to Breckonridge.

We drove to downtown Breckonridge and parked in the parking lot just West of the River Walk (pictured below).

We ate breakfast at a cozy little coffee house/bakery just on the other side of the River Walk.  After breakfast (which at this point Jason was not looking any better) we got back in the car and continued our journey out of the mountains.

Now…this is where the winding mountain roads that seem to keep going up for eternity and those lovely roads without guardrails come into play…because once we got on top of the mountain…we landed here…

…the Continental Divide.

After stopping here…we didn’t pause again until we were about 15 minutes outside of Morrison…when we saw this running along the side of the roadway…

It was so beautiful that I just HAD to take a another photo of it…

Once we arrived at the house…Jason laid down to take a nap…his skin was now dark red and completely covered with the red blotchy bumps…this looked very bad.

Later that evening he started running a fever and I decided that it might be a good idea to call a nurse and see if I could get some insight on what this might be…so I did just that.

The nurse seemed to think that he may be having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic that the doctor had put him on the week prior for strep throat.

He went to the doctor the next morning and the doctor gave him the same diagnoses as what the nurse had suggested…a really bad allergic reaction to penicillin!! The doctor gave him another medication to counteract the reaction in his system from the  penicillin…and stated that it would take a few days for it to clear up.

So, that was Monday morning and it is now Thursday night and he is looking a little bit better…his face is starting to look normal again and well…the rest of his body now looks as if he has been sunburned…but it’s still very blotchy here and there.  The poor man has just been sick of seeing these hives all over his body..(not that I blame him)…but he even went back to work today (I’ll let you know how that turned out later ).

So…keep him in your thoughts…and I hope this clears up soon so that he doesn’t feel so self conscious.

Other than the hives…we had a FABULOUS time on our weekend getaway!!

~Maria

Wedding Info Update

(WARNING…post contains info that most men probably are not interested in reading…sorry guys)

Okay…here’s a wedding information update for you!!

Now…last time I posted about wedding type information, I told all of you that I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to afford to get married this Fall or not…but we ARE getting married this Fall!!

In fact, we thought about getting married right here in Colorado…but, after doing some thorough research on a comparison between a ceremony here with what we want and a ceremony in Las Vegas with what we want…we looked at both locations with pricing side by side and decided that it would be less expensive (by a huge amount) to just elope to Vegas.  So that is what we are doing!!

On October 8, 2003 at 5pm…Jason and I will say “I do”!!

We found a quaint little chapel (located not far from the Stratosphere, where we’ll be staying)…that was willing to work with us and I even received a call from the owner herself to offer us some special options…so that was a relief and a nice surprise as well!  She arranged a package that will give us 2 rolls of film worth of professional photos…which is something that I felt was a necessity considering we’re eloping instead of having a wedding with guests.

I’ve been busy lately, picking out the little items that I will want for the ceremony…and a few necessities that just come with getting married (i.e. wedding announcements & a tux for him would be helpful eh?).

So…here’s what I’ve come up with!!

Just to the right you will see the bouquet that I’ve chosen!  Now…if you remember, my gown is ruby and ivory(pictured below)…but, Jason’s favorite color is purple, so I got a bouquet with purple accents in it and will have an ivory ribbon.

 

I think that the two of these shall match quite well…don’t you?

I’ve chosen not to put any orange or yellow into the color scheme.  I know that it will be an Autumn wedding, however…where I’m from, the most beautiful colors of Autumn are the reds and purples.

 

 

I’ve looked at a few tux’s for Jason…and I think that I may have found the one that suits him best (no pun intended..haha).   Since I’ve incorporated purple into the color scheme…I thought that this would satify him and look great as well!

I know…it makes the attire quite colorful, but hey…it IS a Fall wedding right??

And Fall, as we all know, is the most colorful time of the year right?

So why not have the wedding attire be colorful…as long as it’s not tacky in the process.

Anyway…I’ve tried to go over all of the arrangements and items for purchasing VERY carefully considering we are on a VERY strict budget!! 

This includes the wedding announcements.

We wanted to get announcements that would reflect the season…but, that would also fit into our budget. 

I came across these and I feel that they do both!  This picture doesn’t do them justice…but, the ribbon (that looks almost gold in the photo) is ivory and there are purple and red tones throughout with a hint of other Fall colors.

 

What do you think?  The smaller card that is on the right side of the picture is an RSVP card and won’t be used.  We are only going to need to order the announcement itself…since we are eloping.

I’m now searching for the perfect hairstyle…and I haven’t yet decided on exactly how I’m going to arrange this.  I’ve thought about having a hairstylist come to my room and do my hair for me there…but it’s not exactly in the budget.  I will be wearing a small tiara, which is the only reason that I’m thinking that styling my hair myself may get a bit difficult (I will be wearing it partially up, but with the back of my hair down). I have very curly hair…so that helps.  I’m sure I’ll figure something out..I’ve seen a couple of styles that I like…so, I may just go with one of them.  We’ll see eh?

That is, unless any of you want to volunteer to come out to Vegas and do my hair for me?! hehe

Well…that’s about all I have for now, I will soon post about the trip to the mountains that Jason and I took this last weekend (I need to upload the photos).  Boy do I have a story to tell about that one!!

~Maria

Guess What?!?!?!

Jason and I are going to finally spend some time together!!!

Nope…that’s NOT a missprint…it’s TRUE!!

Jason has tomorrow and Sunday off…for the first time in over a month…so, I’m kidnapping him and sweeping him off to the mountains for the weekend!

I apologize for my lack of visits this week (let alone posts)…but I’ve been busy making wedding arrangements!!  I’ll share with you all soon…I promise!

So…how was your Friday the 13th eh? hehe

Have an incredible weekend y’all…and I’ll let you know about our adventures next week!!

~Maria

First of all…let me just say that while I’m NOT shocked by all of the comments that you left (because I have THE greatest readers on all of Xanga), I am touched deeply by what was stated in those comments.  Thank you all very much for taking the time to comfort me and to share with me on one of the saddest days of the year for me.

Although I miss my dad greatly…I would never want him to have to come back to this earth…not from where he is now, that just wouldn’t be fair to him and very selfish of me to even think of.  That doesn’t mean that I miss him any less though…and I can’t wait to see him again.

Okay…moving onto a different subject.

I finally got a chance to spend some time with my honey this weekend!! YAY!!

BUT…unfortunately, he and 3 out of the 4 children contracted strep throat!!!

So, I couldn’t get too close them until after Saturday when they’d been on the antibiotics long enough to not be contagious anymore.  Jason was home all day yesterday though (and feeling quite a bit better I might add)…it was nice to have him with me for the day…I miss spending time with him…but hopefully that will change soon and we’ll get some more time together.

He’s been planning my birthday (which is only about 3 weeks away)…and he is bursting at the seems to tell me what he has planned…but I don’t want to know so that I can be surprised!  I do know that no matter what he has planned I will love it because he did it.

Caleb starts his first day of summer school today…which is good because he needs the constant reinforcement.  Besides, it will give him a break from his siblings and he loves school so much!

Not too much going on this week…I will be watching the Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight between the Devils and the Ducks…that should be pretty darn exciting!!

Well m’dear xangans…I hope that you all have a wonderful Monday and start to your week!!

~Maria

Five years ago today at 5pm my phone rang…

me: hello?

my brother:  Ria?  (urgency in his voice)

me: Mark…what’s wrong?  Is mom okay?

my brother:  Mom’s fine…but…I need to tell you something…

me:  Just say it…if you say it quickly, it won’t be so bad.

my brother: Dad’s gone Ria…(starts crying)…he’s dead.

me:  What?!  Noooooooo!!!! (crying uncontrollably)

Mark handed the phone to my mom after that…she proceeded to tell me that my dad had suffered a massive coronary and that the artificial valve in his heart gave out.  He died before he even got to the hospital.

Even now that phone call haunts me.  I miss him SO much!!

Did you hear me Daddy? I miss you…I love you.  I think of you everyday…and I always will.

 

In Loving Memory

 

of

Mario F. Savastano

Aug. 29, 1927 – June 5, 1998

A BIG thank you to all of you who stopped by Jason’s site yesterday!  I know that it means a great deal to him right now to know that others are thinking of him.

Today is one of my closest and dearest friend’s birthday!! Yup…that’s right…she’s turning  ___ today!!! (it’s not polite to disclose someone’s age when they are over 35 or so is it?)

Happy Birthday Sherry!!

Have a wonderful day everyone…I’ll visit you soon!

~Maria

Today is a difficult day for my Jason…

Today is his dad’s birthday…if he’d have lived, he would’ve been 72 today.

If you could, please stop by Jason’s site and say a word or two.

Thanks!

~Maria

An Explanation…

I apologize for my absence as of late and for the impression that my last post must have left you with.  Everything is okay here…just has been extremely hectic as of late.

As I had stated in a previous entry, my Mom had totalled my minivan in an accident (in which niether she, nor the other party involved were injured…thankfully).  Although this unfortunate incident came to me at a poor time (being sick with the flu and all)…the final outcome of it was actually quite fortunate indeed.

Let me elaborate a bit on that…

You see, the fact that my Mom had totalled my minivan meant that I was then left without a vehicle…so, to rectify the situation, my Mom decided that she was to purchase a new vehicle for me.  This, while not under the best of circumstances, turned out to be quite a nice benefit to me.   I’ve never owned a “New” car before…several “used” (or to be P.C. “previously owned”)…but never a “New” one.  So I was a bit excited about picking out and obtaining this new vehicle. However, I was also under some extremely tight time restraints.

I suppose that given the situation and the surrounding circumstances that I could’ve very well have taken advantage of my mother’s generosity in offering to purchase a new vehicle for me and have chosen a premium (which usually means expensive) vehicle…but I didn’t.  After searching and doing a great deal of thinking…I decided that I would choose a vehicle that would be not only inexpensive (and save my Mom some money) but also ecomonically fiesable to me as well.  So I decided to get a 2003 Ford Focus SE.  This car is highly rated and is marked as one the most dependable and cost efficient vehicles on the market.  It’s gets, on an average 34 mi. to the gallon on the highway and 27 in the city…and considering I drive over 20 mi. everyday to my work (one way) and am on the highway quite a bit…I thought that this would be the best vehicle for me.

I chose a manual tranmission (5 speed) with antilock breaks (ABS) and a traction control device to help control the vehicle better in winter conditions.  It is a front wheel drive black vehicle with charcoal interior.  This wasn’t my first choice in colors…but considering I was under time distress, I didn’t have much of a choice.  It was the only color that was available with the options that I wanted.

I have a friend that works for a Ford dealership here in town, he was more than happy to work a deal out for me and was able to take $3,000 off of the MSRP…but there was a catch, we had to have the car signed and paid for by Monday!!  Well, considering I was being informed all of this on Friday was a bit distressing…and didn’t give me much time to “weigh my options”.

I went over to the dealership straight from work that afternoon and looked at what was available on the lot.  I chose to stay with my original choice…and he handed me the keys to take the car home for the evening and to call him in the morning.  So I did just that.  It drives beautifully…has an incredible stereo system in it (AM/FM/CD/MP3)…and is easy on the eyes as well.  The car was listed for $16,215…but after the discounts (thanks to my friend and a few pulled strings) and taxes, titles, and licensing fees…my Mom wound up paying $13,489.68 for it.  It comes with air conditioning, power steering, power locks,traction control, anti-theft system, remote keyless entry, coded key system (so my keys cannot be copied), child locks on the doors, split pull down back seat, a spacious trunk, 2.0 liter 16v engine, tilt steering wheel, and adjustable seating.

I don’t think that it was a bad choice…and I’m very grateful that I was able to get it…thanks to my Mom and to my friend.  I think that we paid a great price for a great car…and I’m now the proud owner of a brand “NEW” vehicle for the first time!! I will take a picture of it as soon as it stops raining here.

Jason likes it a LOT…in fact, he said to me “Can we trade?”…I think that’s solely based upon my stereo system…haha.

I was very stressed this past week…not only due to the vehicle situation…but because of work as well.  I’ve been beyond swamped and so has Jason.  Neither one of us have had much time to do much of anything as of late…and that includes spending time with each other…unfortunately.  This is a situation that we both are eager to rectify.

He drove down to see me on Friday and took me out to lunch…it was his only day off last week.  I went and visited him yesterday at the bookstore…so we’ve been attempting to see each other even though the circumstances haven’t been accomadating. 

Thanks for your comments…and concerns…but, it’s not as bad as I guess I made it sound.  I do apologize for that…but as you can see, we are okay…just having to deal with life’s little problems.

Take care m’dears….and I WILL visit soon…I promise!

~Maria