All partied out...

Today was Reese' s first birthday party! Everyone I invited (with the exception of 3, I think) came. So needless to say, our house was PACKED!!! We had such a good time. Reese got a TON of stuff (some of which we are seriously considering putting away until Christmas...). He was so cute with his cake - there will definitely be pictures once I have the energy to sit and wait for them to upload. Cory wasn't able to call during the party, as we had hoped, due to a mission, but did call shortly after and got to see his little man on the web cam. Reese had a bit of a reaction to the icing in the cake, but is all better. There for a while, his little face was so red everywhere the icing had been. Fun was had by all (I hope)! Thanks to everyone who came near and far to celebrate this special day with us! And for those of you who couldn't make it - we missed you!
I will be posting pics sometime this week, so check back. As for now, I'm waiting for my love to call and then its off to bed!! I have definitely been over stimulated today!!!

Birthday Boy

Guess who turned 1 yr old today? Reese Michael Trotter! Its been a tough day, filled with many emotions. I will post pics of his birthday party (which is Saturday). But for now, I'll leave you with a pic from the day God gave him to us and a pic from today! Happy Birthday, BooBaLa!!

*On a side note - I'd like to give an anniversary SHOUT OUT to my brother, Brian, and sister-in-law, Annie! I think this makes 7 years... You guys are the greatest and your marriage is such a model for Cory and I! We love you dearly! Thank you for sharing your day with our little man!

Here's your sign

Yesterday, after I dropped Reese off at daycare, my heat went out in my car. Let me rephrase that, the fan broke the blows the heat (and air) in my car. I was so exhausted from working the previous night that I just cam home and went to bed - I'd brave the Kia Dealership later. So after I picked up the girls, we headed out to see what the problem was.
We enjoyed the new amenities at Kia of Greer for over 2 hours. The girls were wonderful, thank God and we got to get all the homework done. Mom picked up Reese, so that was another task accomplished. After watching 2 "Everybody loves Raymond" 's and 2 "King of Queens" 's, the Service lady comes in. Here was our conversation:
Lady: "Well Mrs. Trotter, it appears that you blew a fuse when you tried to use your rear windshield wiper."
Me: "Really, how could I have done that"
Lady: "Did you try to use it when it was frozen?"
Me: "No, I usually don't use it EVER because I forget its there."
Lady: "Well, we're not sure. It could have happened anytime and it just took it now to effect the other parts."
Me: "What does a fuse in the BACK of my car that runs the wiper have to do with the fan in the FRONT of my car that blows air?"
Lady: "Its all interconnected." (as she pulls out this "map" and tries to show me)
Me: "Okay, so what needs to be done to fix it? I have to have heat, I have 3 kids."
Lady: "Unfortunately, Fuses aren't covered in the Warranty."
Me: "Of course not, how convient."
Lady: "All total, its going to be about $175"
Me: "I'll take it to my own mechanic - he won't be near that much."
Lady: "Well, ma'am, we've already fixed it."
Me: "I didn't tell you to, so I'm not paying for it."
Lady: "You brought it to us"
Me: "Because I wanted you to tell me what was wrong, not fix it. You did that on your own accord, and I appreciate that. However, I do not feel like I should have to pay you for it."
*We went back and forth for over 15 min. To make a long story short, I only paid $25 for labor. As I pulled away from the store, I vowed to NEVER go back... and I'm still not convinced that was the problem, it just makes no sense to me.
So today I went up to CarMax to see about having another vehicle that I have done TONS of research on transferred here. Everything went really well until we got to the crunching numbers part. Here was that conversation:
Man: " Mrs. Trotter, we have found a company that would be happy to finance your new vehicle, but you will need to trade in your current vehicle and provide $12,000 for the down payment."
Me: "The asking price for the new car is only $13,000."
Man: "Yes ma'am."
Me: "Well if I could come up with $12,000 for a down payment, I might as well find the extra grand and pay it all and be done with it."
Man: "Yes ma'am. But that's a deal, considering you are upside down in your Kia."
Me: "Do I have something on my face?"
Man: "No ma'am." (he looked puzzle)
Me: "Good, I was afraid I had a sign on my forehead that said 'I am a woman, please take advantage of me'. You can keep your "deal" and your car. I'll take my business elsewhere."
Man: "Let me see what I can do."
Me: "No thank you. You would think that in todays economy, you would be bending over backwards to sell people a car. Beggars can't be choosers. Have a good day!"
*And I left. He called twice while I was driving home.
What is it with Car Dealers? So the search continues for my new car! And as for those wayward dealers - here's YOUR sign!

Down in the dumps?

I received this in an email a few days ago and thought you guys might get a kick out of it! I'd love to hear some of your "worse date" stories!!! Enjoy!
If you didn't see this on the Tonight show, I hope you're sitting down when you read it. This is probably the funniest date story ever, first date or not!!! We have all had bad dates but this takes the cake. Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first date experience. There wa s absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize! She said it was midwinter...Snowing and quite cold... and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and had never met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon. They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte. They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere! Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem, due to the extreme cold. Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about' what is taking so long' with a reply that indeed, she was 'freezing her butt off' and in need of some assistance! He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal! Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way, her first time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down. Or perhaps that should be 'pants down. 'And you thought your first date was embarrassing. Jay Leno's comment...'This gives a whole new meaning to being pi--ed off.' Oh and how did the first date turn out? He became Her husband and was sitting next to her on the Leno show.

Randomness

Is that even a word? Anyway. Just thought I'd take a moment and update on the "goings on" here at our house. Nothing particularly exciting, that's why I haven't posted in a few days. I am actually considering taking an extended hiatus, but I haven't decided yet. Anywho...
*I have received Reese's cake pan. I made a cake in it to give it a test run. Lets just say that if you plan on being here for the party, don't get your hopes up for any masterpiece!!!
*I have been in the market for a new car for a while. I need something with a little more room and a lower car payment. I think I have found one, but the guy at the dealership is being a little shady and its really annoying me!
*Reese is growing at a ridiculous rate. I swear some mornings I wake up and he grew in the night. I cut his hair for the first time last week - its cute but breaks my heart because he no longer looks like my baby - now he's looking more like a big boy!
* The girls are loving school and cheerleading. This week will be the first game I get to see. I'm trying to talk them into taking "hip hop" dancing - Sam thinks its for boys, so we'll see. They crack me up everyday.
* Cory is doing well. He hopes to make an "appearance" at Reese's B-day party via webcam. It will be hard, but OH SO SWEET!!! He has good days and bad days. Luckily, the good days have FAR outweighed the bad! Keep praying!
* I'm still working and just signed up to take a Paramedic Refresher so that I can keep my registration. I need to start studying because I haven't done the first thing on a truck in almost 2 years.
So lifes just going on. Pretty boring, but I'm not complaining! I see that you all are doing ok, as I am keeping up with your blogs! Maybe I'll have something "blog worthy" in the near future!

6 down, 6 to go

In the next couple of days we will roll past the half way mark of Cory's deployment. I'd like to say that it has flown by, but that would be a lie. Truth of the matter, at times it has seemed like I was rewinding certain days and reliving them and then at times it seemed like someone had pushed the pause button just out of spite. None-the-less, I have survived!!!
I am just getting over the stomach bug, again... I forgot what number this was. Hopefully I have done a good enough job of keeping it away from my family. The girls have their first game this weekend - they are cheerleading and are SOOOOOOO excited! I ordered a cake pan for Reese's 1st birthday party. Its a Soldier! I've decided in honor of Cory, we are going to have a soldier cake and a grenade (for his personal cake). I couldn't find anyone to do it for me, so my BFF Amy and I have decided we are going to give it a go together. Should be interesting, to say the least. I can't believe my baby is going to be a year old!
Cory is doing well. He's had several good days in a row. He's started to work out some and is slowing forming friendships with a few other soldiers. We saw him on the webcam this weekend. It was great! I think it did a lot for his morale (as well as ours). He looks so skinny and sick, but I know that can be fixed with some good food and good loving! I am so excited that we've made it through half of the deployment and hope that its all downhill from here.
I have applied for a part position in the hospital that I work for, I think it will be an AWESOME job for me. I'll give more details when I find out if I got the job or not! Lets just say its not a job that just anyone could do, but would be a perfect job for me! Any guesses?
I hope you all are doing well and recovering from the holiday season! Happy Blogging!