We the jury

I finally served. And you know what? I'm glad I did. I think at least 85% of people who get the notice for jury duty in the mail, cringe. I didn't. I really wanted to do it. Isn't that odd?! So last Tuesday, there I was "reporting for jury duty" with a bazillion other Camden County-ers and I actually was picked to serve one of the juries. It was not as bad as most people make it out to be. I seriously felt like I had to be the ONLY person sitting there who, on the inside, was happy about it. I guess I'm a dork. Ours was just a civil case, (even though I was secretly hoping for a criminal case), and it lasted 3 days. So I ended up having a sort of 'vacation' because I was out 3 days at work and then my regular days off followed and that made for 5 full days of not reporting to the office. The court that I had to report to was literally (less than) 10 minutes from my home so that was a nice change in the morning last week too. Being that my normal commute to and from work is 30 minutes. I believe the law is that you only have to serve every 3 years so I guess I'm done for a while. But yes, all in all, it was a really neat experience.. I had no idea what to expect but it was just like Law & Order!
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In other news, I've been way behind on my posting lately. Time to update the Wedding Blog too. Sorry if anyone has tried to read it and it was not there. I had to change the URL and when I did, I guess it didn't update on my front page. It's fixed now and I also even put a link to it on this blog on the left side ( I think).

Birthday Treats

Aww... they remembered. *hee hee* It's come to my attention that I have signed up for entirely too many 'clubs'. You know: the Cantina Club, the Habaneros Club....etc.
Case in point? My birthday is this coming Saturday. Over the course of this week and beginning at the end of last week, my inbox has been flooded with coupons/free stuff.. etc. Here is the rundown:
♥ On The Border: Free Empanadas
♥ Uno Chicago Grill: $10 off of $25
♥ Don Pablo's: $10 (loaded onto my Habaneros card)
♥ Cold Stone Creamery: Free Ice Cream (duh)
♥ Texas Roadhouse: A Free Appetizer
♥ Chuck E. Cheese: free tokens or something (how did I end up with this one)

Luckily, I don't think I signed up for anything else.. so the flood should stop now. I do think it's pretty comical though. And just an FYI, if you like mexican/Chi Chi's style food.. SIGN UP for the Habaneros Card at Don Pablo's. It really is worth it! There is NO cost and I'm telling you, you will save a lot of money. I think the most you can save at one time is $10, but my friend and I go often, as do Jeff and I... and on occasion my friend Stephanie has used her $10 coupon on her total bill and ended up paying like $4.00 for her whole meal, including her drink and a cup of queso. Seriously! You can have $5 and $10 coupons on the card at a time, you just can't combine. The savings are loaded at all different times too. Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays (just about EVERY one). Awesome. So, I really have my options this weekend,huh? I guess no matter what I choose, it's nice to have the option to finish off with some ice cream at Cold Stone. Too bad I don't really eat ice cream.

Hoppy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. I'm working but just as well. Remember the reason for the season and remember that it's not just about baskets of goodies & ham dinners. Although I'm a big fan of those ham dinners! I think sometimes when we celebrate Easter & Christmas .. we get away from what it is we're really celebrating. So today just take time to reflect on the meaning. Have a Blessed Easter everyone.. and if you don't celebrate Easter... well, have a Blessed Day anyway.

John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Easter Weekend

I'm working today AND tomorrow.. so it's going to be a normal 'ol day for me on Easter. I hope I can make it to the in-laws' before they put all the ham away. Gotta get me some yummy Easter ham. Hopefully the weather clears up soon. I don't like this rain.. it's so gloomy. I was driving in at 6:30 this morning and it was so nasty out. The roads were crappy and my fellow road-buddies were driving like tards as it always seems to be the case when the weather's like this. I was at the store yesterday and it was so packed! People waiting til the last minute to stock up on the Easter basket goodies etc. I try my hardest not to be a last minute shopper at the holidays. I definitely am with Christmas but as for Easter and Valentine's Day? You need to get that stuff as soon as it hits the shelves or you'll be scraping the bottom of the barrell and putting whatever you find, into the cart and praying that they'll like it. My big thing every year is to find white chocolate bunnies. I never did like chocolate when I was growing up. My basket always had white chocolate in it. I still love white chocolate. Funny thing: Jeff does too! One of the many things we have in common.

I'm going to try and upload an ancient Easter pic of my sisters and myself. They'd freak if they knew I did this.. Tammy moreso.. she's the one in the middle! haha

Ahh, spring...

Could it be? The weather today is beautiful. A bit chilly but for the most part the sun seems to really want to be here. I just want some sunny days already.
My weekend started a bit early .. I was off today. Unexpectedly, at least as of yesterday afternoon, but nonetheless here I am. I'm working on Saturday to cover for another co-worker & then of course I work Sunday too. Eww, I don't like working on Easter. I think it's a major holiday but evidently my employer doesn't. Not nice. I really like getting together with family and having the traditional Easter Dinner. I wish I could just work Monday through Friday. But then there are days that I like having my Fridays off. Jeff and I really only get to spend ONE full day together. He works on Fridays and I work on Sundays, so Saturday is the only day, start to finish, that we can actually spend together. Doesn't really put a strain on things .. at least I don't think it does. ??? Just stinks sometimes with this schedule I guess. I'm going on my 5th year with this schedule so ya think I'd have stopped whining about it by now. I will.... Eventually. Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL FRIDAY!
- Peace out -

Looking for that sun ...

What's that thing about 'when it rains, it pours'. I feel kinda like that. I never wanted this blog to have a Dear Abby theme but that's what it feels like lately. I have the oddest tug of war going on with my emotions right now. On one hand I'm all happy-go-lucky, in the throes of planning my wedding. (Our wedding). Then there's the mess that is my family life. I'm really thinking of sitting down tonight and writing a letter to EVERYONE. Meaning everyone in my immediate family. Telling them how I feel about the state of our family and how disgusted I am that everyone allowed it to fall away to shit. And how we better all pick ourselves up off the ground or step down from whatever high horses we're on and start to repair the relationships that have been severed. I see other peoples' blogs or just people in my life and I see so stability and closeness - I envy that. I know that all families are not perfect and just because I see something so desirable on the outside, I do realize that you don't always see what goes on inside. But as for my family, I just want a little bit of normalcy. I want everyone to be in touch and I don't want hard feelings between people. Hell, if there is something that is keeping someone away from the family then lay it out on the table. I have a sister who is estranged. I have a brother whom does not speak to my stepmother and RARELY speaks to my father. My two sisters have not spoken in months.... And all the while I'm trying to devise a way to get this all fixed. I'm banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to get everyone together and put the pieces back together BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9)


Jesus' own instructions were for the offended to go to the offender and for the two of them to find a way to reconcile their differences.