quick post...........restaurant deal

Someone posted a great deal on my fave message board that I thought I'd pass along for anybody who happens to stop by my blog. You can purchase $25 gift certificates to local restaurants for $3 at Restaurant.com. Just input your zip code and set your search parameters. Once you're done adding to your shopping cart, input the discount code: PREZ. This will take 70% off of your purchase. I'm not sure how long this discount code will last, so you may want to hurry. I've purchased $100 worth at $12 for a few restaurants that Mr. R and I have been wanting to try. Good luck!

Busy, busy bee!

Well hello there *waves* Has everybody been as busy as I have in the last 2 weeks? I hope not! At work, our Pension Coordinator graduated from nursing school and has taken a position on a nursing unit in the hospital. Guess who got to take on 80% of her duties...........ME! As if I didn't already have enough on my plate! I don't think my boss took into consideration the amount of time it takes to deal with retirees, beneficiaries and employees with 401k questions/requests. For the first 2 days after I was given these new duties, I was interupted every 10 minutes to sign authorization forms or meet with a retiree who problems with their benefits. I formulated a system on day 3 and so far it's working out. Please believe I will be requesting a significant pay increase during my next eval. We eliminated a position that cost the department $45k, so I'm gonna need some of that to make it's way toward ya girl!

I have caught a few spare minutes here and there to get a little scrappin' done. I participated in an online crop over at Two Peas in a Bucket last Friday. It was my first time participating in an online crop, but it was fun! The offered hourly challenges/chats and gave away prizes for all four hours. I won the prize for completing this layout for the 9:00 challenge:

I also completed this layout for the 8:00 challenge:

Here is a layout that I completed last week using a Becky Fleck PageMap:

So how was your Valentine's Day? Mine started out a little so, but turned out to be pretty good. Mr. R was called away to the group home for a busted water heater and a possible pipe leak in the foundation......NOT GOOD! We didn't really get to see each other until after 5:00. He did call me earlier and led me to my hidden V-day gift! I had not mentioned it to him, but I'd been looking to purchase a new handbag. He knows that I love Coach, so I found this stuffed behind the sofa in our family room:

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my hubby? It's very rare for him to take time to plan a surprise so this makes his gift even more special because I knew he had to think about it. Usually, he gives me gift cards because I'm so picky that he likes for me to pick my own gifts.

We also made our way down to Daytona for NASCAR Speedweeks (pics to follow in a later post)! I love NASCAR and have been going to the track for the past four years to watch these crazy guys do even crazier things at 200 mph! At first, Mr. R thought I was crazy for wanting to watch guys drive around in circles for hours. That was until I got him to the track last year for his first race. Now he's hooked. We're hoping to be able to make it to Atlanta for a race this year also....we'll see how the finances shake out.

Have a good week.

weekday recap, a lil' football and a lil' card making

So what did you do with yourself this weekend? I spent most of yesterday re-organizing the garage and purging (yet again!) some clothes and shoes. I'm trying really hard to only keep things that I use. I've found that my life is much less stressful when things are decluttered, organized and in their respective proper places.

Now today is somewhat different. I'm spending the better part of my morning completing work for Mr. R's business. Did I mention that we're small business owners? Probably not.....anyhoo. I have handled the admin/HR portion of the home healthcare business since it's establishment 1 and a half years ago. I try to support him as best I can and making sure all employment guidelines are being followed is my way of doing that. Of course this is free of charge (as best he can tell), but here lately it has begun to interfere with my day job.....you know, the one I actually earn a salary for doing. So, I've decided to set office hours for the homehealth business. This week was the trial run and everything went pretty well. Aside from one of the employees thinking it was okay to yell at me because her trifflin' tail submitted a direct deposit form for an account that her bank closed! In her words "I went in to close my savings and they closed both accounts." Now yall know that heifa knew that was a lie when it left her lips! So she got a "Mmm hmm. Well per the authorization form you signed, you will be responsible for the $35 rejection fee." That's when the yelling started and that's when I had to remind her that this is a business and her place of employment so she *might* wanna lower her tone! We'll see how my evening and weekend schedule works going forward. I'll keep you posted.

So, what am I doing with the rest of my day.......preparing for Super Bowl XLIII of course! We've invited over a few friends so I have plenty to keep me busy before the first guest arrives around 6:00. I'm not making the wide variety of food that I normally do. I have my eye on a dvd/navigation system for my truck and I was not about to drop $300 to feed this group! Here's what I have on the menu:

• Wings (honey BBQ, mild buffalo & teriyaki)
• Fried fish sandwiches
• Spicy Spinach, Artichoke & Shrimp Dip
• Seafood Pasta Salad
• Fruit Salad
• "No Yo Mama's Banana Pudding" (this is a Paula Deen recipe & it's the best I've ever had!)

I was also able to get a lil' card making done this week. Here are some Valentine's Day cards I was able to finish for my friends:

After today, it's back to the grind. I hope you all have a fun, productive and stress-free week :-)!