Catching Up!

They say that catching up is hard to do... and it's true!

A few days after our Bagley Easter Egg Hunt and Family Dinner, I received this beautiful delivery at my office...



You know how fast thoughts go through your mind... really fast. So, in less than a minute I tried to think "Who would send me flowers at work?" It's not my husband's style (although I've left hints from time to time); last time I received flowers at my office was late last summer. A vendor screwed up one of my jobs and made me cry and so he sent me flowers. However, I wasn't at odds with any of my vendors at the moment; it wasn't my birthday, anniversary or Professional Assistants Day; I wasn't in the hospital or sick at home. Who would send me flowers?

Looking at the enclosure card is usually the best way to solve the mystery, so I read the card... Oh my gosh, they were from Jared & Tami (our oldest son and his sweet wife!) with a thoughtful expression of thanks for hosting the family Easter Egg Hunt. Wow! It made me cry for joy and reflect on how wonderful it is to have children who become adults and appreciate your efforts enough to spend their hard earned money on you! Tears of pure joy and gratitude! Thank you so much Jared & Tami!

Val, my HBL, was out of town for a few days so of course I had to complete a project! Whenever Val goes out of town, I try to do something major which usually involves painting a room and although my intentions are good, I don't finish before he returns. This year I was determined to complete my project so I had to be realistic in what I chose.


Well, a little over two years ago, I decided I wanted to replace the baseboards in the living room (which is staged as a dining room - I say staged because rarely do we eat in there). Anyhoo, we replaced the basebords and I sent Val to Lowe's to get some filler to fill the nail holes and gaps between the wall and baseboard prior to applying the second coat of paint. Being the uneducated folks we are about home improvements, I used what Val brought home (the only instruction he had was to get the kind that could be painted). Now I've used stuff to fill nail holes before and it is very user friendly. Goes on pink, turns white when dry and the excess wipes off with a damp cloth. So I filled holes and gaps and as I journeyed down the room, I wasn't too careful about containing the filler to small areas. I knew I could damp wipe off the excess, right? WRONG! The stuff wouldn't sand, wipe or scrape off. It was awful and I was tired so I cleaned up with a promise to myself to finish the job next week. Ha! Those things have been haunting me forever!

There has also been a very unattractive thing I see whenever sitting down at the island bar in our kitchen... this awful view, to be exact...



So, I scrapped, wiped and sanded the baseboards in the living room, entryway and kitchen so I could paint them. It was a long, tedious project but I finished and they look great! Look at my view from the bar now....












I also attended Mortgage Loan Officer school in April. That was a different experience. I've worked in the Real Estate/Mortgage industry over 15 years as a support person. Never, ever, had the desire to be a realtor or loan officer. So why did I go to school? I've been in my current position 10 years. My responsibilities have evolved, I've learned so much, developed more skills, have nice flexibility with my schedule, work in an almost perfect environment and earn a decent salary, so why go to school? I'm feeling a bit bored and unchallenged.

So, I'm going to get my license and possibly pursue reverse mortgages. I've never been a sales person. I really dislike asking people for money - even when it's for the office birthday, wedding, baby, retirement gift fund - so why this you think? Hopefully for a refreshing challenge.

May is a big birthday month for the Bagley Family. In all, Jared, Laura, Roxanne, Heather, Val, Margaret and Bret have birthdays. Plus our anniversary is in May, as well as Mother's Day. The week before Val's birthday, Heather asked if I thought my sister Charmalee would baby sit for her on May 17th (Val's birthday) while she participated in a Bridal Shower for her cousin's fiancee'. I thought Charmalee most likely wouldn't mind helping her out, but hey, what about me? Thoughtful Heather figured we would be busy celebrating Val's birthday so wouldn't be available.

Hey, I'm still getting plenty of mileage out of the 50th Birthday party I hosted for my darling husband last year! To be perfectly honest, I hadn't even given it (his day) a thought, not to mention planned anything! So, I said forget about Charmalee, bring them to our house... I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate Val's birthday than spending time with our grand-children! That of course got me thinking and I decided we'd have a Grandpa Birthday Party. I made cupcakes, my friend Sherry did up some helium balloons for us, we filled treat bags.

I sent Grandpa shopping for the stuff to go inside and only about half of it actually made it inside the bags. Some things had to be hidden because of choking hazards and other items were too big for the small favor bags (pom poms to be exact) so the bags were a bit sparse but fun anyway! Grandpa, being the fun and funny guy that he is also bought party hats! Kacen was inside taking a nap and missed out on this digital moment.




We had lots of fun playing, popping balloons, exploring our neighborhood, buying pink lemonade at the local lemonade stand, singing Happy Birthday to Grandpa and eating cupcakes!

Tuesday, before Val's birthday, Ellen called with an idea of getting playoff tickets for the Jazz. I love the Jazz and attending games is great fun but playoff tickets? Absolutely YES! So, we surprised Val with tickets to the game and were very disappointed the Jazz did not win.









Well, that's quite a bit of posting for me... but I just want to say, Ellen and Steve, Val, Heather, Alona, Abbi, Kacen, Jared & Tami and everyone else I love.. thanks for creating such fun memories for me! Thanks for reading, too!