Breathtaking. 

From August. Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mtns. National Park. Yes, that is a bear. Click the picture to open a window to view it larger. 

I wonder who owns these barns. I like the rustic look. Picturesqe East Tennessee. 

Another view from the hospital. The bridge is part of I-140, aka, Pelissippi Parkway 

The view from the lake shore at Peninsula Hospital  

Behind

I really want to read my regular blogs, but I have no energy. I have slept all weekend and my husband has done all he can do to make me feel bad about it. I finally drank some coffee this afternoon and had some more energy. Sometimes I think his expectations of me are way too high. Are my expecations of him too high? Is the behavior I should be modeling for a change?

My training for my actual job starts tomorrow. I hope to get to leave the office and go on some calls "in the field." I know that mobile crisis is a sort of "necessary evil," but I've not seen the incompetence that I expected to find... so far. There are some (one) PRN people that are questionable. All I've seen so far are people wanting to help the people who come to them (I guess the voluntary people are easier than the involuntary. That probably goes without saying.)

I've spent all glorious weekend with my boys. I'm smelling something stinky and realize that cole spit up on me before he went to bed. yum.

We are being invaded by the tiny black ants. I think Cathy had a problem with ants several months ago. I'm surprised that they have not invaded earlier in the summer. It's almost fall now. Speaking of fall, we had some BEAUTIFUL weather here this weekend. Love it!

Uploaded new pictures.

I need to be making a birthday card for my brother but here I am on blogger. I find that I don't get to keep up with my blogging now that my job is not in front of a computer most of the time. Probably a good thing as far as my productivity is concerned...

My orientation is over except for a one day training next Friday for CPR and First Aid. I'm just ready to learn my job and go do it. It's already more exciting and interesting than my old job. Maybe it's because the job is new, but it's also crisis work. There is always something strange and dramatic going on. And I'm wondering if I need some of that in my life.... quite possibly.

I've sat in on two assessments so far. The assessment seems like the easy part. The hard part is, of course, dealing with insurance companies, hospitals, other professionals, etc. etc. Why does accessing the care one needs have to be so difficult? this one poor client was severely depressed. it made me sad to listen to him and just even LOOK at him.

Anyway, I guess I better get to making Cody a card. He will be 14 on Monday and we are going over there to eat pizza. I'd like to have a garage sale this weekend, but I don't know if i can get my stuff together tonight. I wonder if the weather is supposed to be nice. I hope so; I need to dry out.

coffee coffee coffee!!!!

i have been up since 4:30 am. I don't know if I can say that I've been awake that whole time, although my eyes have been open. I forgot that this is Cory's early morning when he has to be there at 5:30 am. I had been planning ahead for the day on the night before, but I was so exhausted last night that I didn't do that.

Our bed creates more problems for us than it does restful sleep. Sometimes I have a hard time getting out of it to go to a crying baby because my lower back hurts so badly. The Tempurpedic and Sleep Number beds look like good options, but they are expensive. However, it might be worth the investment if I knew that they really helped you sleep and reduced the body pain. has anyone got one of these beds? We both have tempurpedic pillows and we love them, but I just don't know about the bed.

Despite having to sit and listen to some boring stuff yesterday, I enjoyed the first day of my new job. With a large company, you just have to endure some of the boring orientation stuff. Hours of it. I've also never worked in health care. The regulations and rules are astounding. You know, HIPPA and all of that.

The president and CAO of the company spoke to us for a little while. She was very inspiring and motivating. She is on the board of the non-profit I used to work for. But I never heard her speak about her company or her vision. She is a great leader. They brought her in when the company was losing an astounding amount of money and she turned it around. There is no money in mental health, she said. But they are managing to provide the necessary services in an efficient manner. Wow. I never heard any of that at my old job.

I need to get going.

First day of new job today. I just have orientation. My training doesn't start until Friday. My new supervisior gave me my schedule thru october. I'll start working F, S, S, M in October. I won't have to work any later than about Midnight on some of my shifts. My coffee consumption is already high, it will probably go even higher on those days. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will be golden with the boys. They are with daddy today since Monday is his off day. Cory is such a great dad, in spite of all of his faults.

I was gonna post but babies are crying. gotta go

I am pooped so this won't be a long post. I was at Bearden High School in Knoxville, TN today. I'll be there tomorrow as well. I am so glad I get to spend my last two days doing the thing I like least in my job. Speaking to groups is OK for me now; I got over that anxiety eventually when I started this job. Speaking to 15 year olds about mental health is not OK for me. They don't care. And this school is one of the better ones. At least half of the class is awake.

I asked my boss if i should reschedule the schools since these were my last days. He told me to go ahead and get them out of the way. Yeah, so YOU don't have to go to them, right? Is what I'm thinking.

This weekend is the consignment sale at my church. I have several things that I am going to try to sell. I hope people buy my stuff. I'm going to purchase a picture package for the boys. I think my MIL thinks we aren't going to get professional pictures because she keeps obessessing over having them. It's all she talks about, oh, besides the usually comments about her being fat.

The boys are growing more and more. They are wearing me out. Good night!

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

I am having trouble with this bedtime and nap schedule thing. When do babies start getting on a regular sleep schedule? Last night we put them to bed at 9:30 pm. I had to get up several times to soothe one or the other back to sleep.

sidebar: with twins, it is always something and there's no break. one would wake up, I would get him to sleep, I go lie down, then the other one cries out. Rinse. Repeat.

they finally woke up fully at 3:30 am (!) that's about 6 hours of sleep, but i wasn't asleep that whole time. So now I am a zombie. Or I will be tomorrow. Any suggestions? How did you get your infants to learn to sleep through the night?

Work stuff
Thursday and Friday are my last two days at my old job. I will miss my coworkers, Linda and Stacy. We went out to lunch today to Wasabi Japanese steakhouse. It's one of those places where they cook the food in front of you. So much fun! I ate so much that I do not feel the need to eat dinner.

I am looking forward to this new job because I am stuck in my old job. I do the same thing over and over again with no room for growth or creativity. Now, this new job will be the same thing over and over again, but at least I will be working toward a goal of gaining hours and experience for my social work licsense. I will also be learning new things and meeting new people. My brain is starved for new experiences and knowledge. I need to start reading again. (yeah. when?)

the boys have been asleep for an hour now. I'm going to go wake them, one at a time, and give them a bath. they LOVE their little bathtub. I can't wait until they can sit up in it. it has a little net that they lie in until they can sit up. they just lie there all relaxed. so relaxed sometimes that they pee in my face! i'll try to take some bathtime pictures for half naked thursday.
love ya, bye!

Blogger is working again! Phew!

My pictures are up now. Go see go see!!

Inspired by Pregnant In America, I have my own list of stupid things people say to me and my response (internal responses, I don't say these things out loud. Although, I probably should...)
"Are they twins?" No dumbass, I had one and my mom had one.
"Are they boys or girls?" Are the blue clothes with sports motifs a clue...
"Are they identical?" Look at them... NO
"How do you tell them apart?" We just had one of them circumcised.
"I wish that I could have twins!" The hell you do.
"Oh he must be hungry/tired/sun in eyes..." How would you know? Are you psychic?
"You'll spoil him by holding him too much." Seeing as how there are two of them, I DON'T think holding them too much will be the problem.
"Are you going to have any more?" Do you think I am thinking about that now with 3 month old TWINS??

I tried to upload some pictures to my blog for the boys. Hello and BloggerBot said that the upload was successful. I go to the blog edit post page and the posts are there. However, the posts are not posted on the webpage when you open it. Blogger is being poopie tonight.

I need to take a shower and go to bed. I have an early day tomorrow. Cory has to be at work at 5:30 am and possibly will work 12 hours tomorrow. What is he doing? Playing a video game...

Nausea. blech.

Busy busy busy. My schedule for the week:

Tuesday: 1. Clean out office of personal stuff. As a pack rat, I have way too much of my own stuff in my office. Boxes. This is ridiculous. 2. Tie up loose ends with schools to be scheduled this semester. 3. Make some phone calls for other office loose ends. 4. Pick up boys from my mom's. 5. Go home and feed/take care of babies all night.
Wednesday: 1. Go to a school in the AM. 2. Lunch? for Stacy's birthday 3. More loose ends at the office
Thursday: Teach Mental Health 101 at a local high school
Friday: (my last day at work) Teach Mental Health 101 at a local high school (same school as Thursday. it is a very large school)

Somehow in there I need to price items for this weekend's childrens consignment sale at our church. Oh, and I need to make copies of the student hand outs for these schools. I wonder if I would be allowed to just take them to Staples for copies????

If you don't hear from me much, this is why.

Bored bored bored bored bored.

I want to know of more blogs written by people I know. I want to live vicariously through their lives. Rachael, Keri, Aaron, Amy, anyone else out there reading who does not have a blog... make this your obsession, now! Entertain me!

I'm sorry. I'm still alive. I think...

We had the symposium, a great weekend and a busy beginning to the work week. I usually do not feel like getting on the computer in the evenings when I get home. So if I am at a school presenting or at an event, I won't have time to post.

The boys have been sleeping thru the night now, yay!!! However, that phrase "sleeping thru the night" is deceptive. I would sleep from 10:30 pm to 6 or 7 am. They slept from 9:30, 10:30 to 4 am, 5 am this morning. woohoo!!!

Hopefully I can blog some more later today.