March 4, 2008

I voted today, did you?

Update

An update blog- nothing really interesting or life changing, but I haven’t been excited to speak about anything in particular, but have wanted to put “pen to paper” all week, and nothing seems to come out well.

Josh is enjoying his new job, it has its good and bad days and challenges. But I think that it is something he can excel in and I am excited to see him loving his job again.

Emily did well in the science fair. It was a few weeks ago and everybody got a participation ribbon. She enjoyed herself and was proud she had entered. I have a feeling we will be conducting 2 science experiments next year. She also has started to do better in school. We received a progress report last week and she has raised most of her grades and only one of them is below what we would like it to be. I think it was this time last year that she started doing better, so maybe it just takes her a little longer to grasp the concepts and run with them. When I gave her a spelling test last night she only missed 2 and they were the hardest 2 words, one which I still struggle with today. So I think we are trucking right along with school. The dreaded TAKS test is on March 5th and I am anxious for that to be behind us and get ready for the next one. I am confident she will pass, but nervous at the same time.

Jacob is going to drive me crazy. Plain and simple. He won’t eat, he poops in the bathtub and he has turned into this horribly whiny child. Last night we had another showdown over dinner. We had lasagna, which was really good for coming from a frozen box and he tried to throw up while “trying” it. I was so angry. It just about threw both Josh and I over the edge because all he eats is chips, crackers, carrots and rice crispy treats. Ugh, I don’t know what I am going to do with him. He got into big trouble at school this week and lost recess for the week and the Wii at home. He is just struggling in every way possible.

I am doing well. I am in the process of getting prepared to start looking for teaching positions again this spring/summer to begin in the fall. Hopefully if I hit it hard and fast this spring I will be able to go into the summer knowing that I will be in the classroom this fall. Also, I am busy planning our fabulous trip to Disney World and now a cruise with my best friend Amy. I love to travel and feel like this is the year to do it. I want to do and see as much as possible. I want to take the kids and expose them to as much as possible. I got called for Jury Duty! I am so excited. It is in a couple of weeks and I can’t hardly wait! I know it sounds silly, but I have wanted to be called for a while and I am so excited that I finally was. I hope I get picked and actually get to see the entire process.

So that is all for us. Same boring stuff as usual, but I need to break the writers block that I have.

The Nerds

In high school we were the nerds. We were a group of friends that were relatively smart, liked to have a good time and were relatively well behaved. We had our stupid high school moments, like Kathryn yelling at the poor lady at a restaurant about some chicken in her salad, Vance letting me drive his mustang, Annika and I with our spider, Heather and my time in Germany, the drive to buy Garth Brooks concert tickets which resulted in a speeding ticket for me and our “Senior Trip” to White Sands. These were the people who I spent hours upon hours with, laughing, learning and just being kids. Many Friday nights spent at Village Inn, the Movies 8 and at all of our homes.

Just 2 years ago the last of my friends from high school got married. I was the first almost 10 years ago and Kathryn was 2 years ago. Two of my dear friends are pregnant right now, adding a fourth and fifth little “nerd” to the group of people. Three of the “nerds” don’t have children, yet. We are all busy living our lives in several different parts of the country and do our best to keep in touch via twice yearly email rounds in which we all update each other on any events that have taken place in our lives. If a significant event has taken place, such as an engagement or pregnancy we update each other immediately. It is exciting to be involved in these peoples lives still after all these years in any way possible. So far, any special update has always been great, wonderful news but unfortunately we all received horribly sad news about a week ago. My dear friend Annika, whom I have known since the 2nd grade has had a horrific event take place. The person who I confided in about a lump I found in my breast in high school and repeatedly urged me to tell my parents. The one whom with I created and performed a play in the second grade and wore matching Esprit sweatshirts in the fourth grade. She was the one friendly face in my classes when I moved back from the three years I spent in Germany. The spider. My dear friend Annika’s mother was in Puerto Rico a few weeks ago on vacation with her husband and was snorkeling. She fainted in the water and was taken to the hospital there in Puerto Rico and was there for several weeks. Last week they transferred her to Fairfax (where they live) and after consulting with several neurologists decided to take her off life support. She passed away Monday morning.

This news has devastated me and cemented me into my “middle-age” status. When I thought we were all doing well, getting married and having babies we are all shook by the event in which all of us know is coming. We all know all of our parents will eventfully pass away, but we are supposed to be quite a bit older than we are now. This kills me for Annika, for her siblings, for her father and for her little unborn baby boy who will never know his grandma “Big Mama.”

NKOTB part II

With the probing of my dear friend Amy I thought I would let you into what it was like to grow up in my house. I am an only child and was privy to many “adult” conversations and included in the sarcasm fests that would often time take over our house. My parents, a conservative and a liberal (in ALL ways, shapes and forms of the word) made for an interesting time growing up. I like to think I came out right in the middle- a little bit of both mixed together and created the mess that I am. Now because they are as opposite as white and black, they have always “bickered” over things which really don’t matter. Not ever really fighting, no chairs thrown or angry words but a good jabbing from both of my parents to each other and myself has always been the norm. And then it crossed into blogland.

I never knew I would get such a strong reaction from my post on the great NKOTB. But apparently my parents have some strong feelings about the concert that I was taken to back many, many years ago. Here are their comments from my previous entry.

Lets make one thing very clear. Your parents did not drive 8 hours to see the NKOTB
concert. They drove 8 hours so you and your friends could see the concert. Dear old Dad
never even went into the concert hall - he spent the evening in the hallway with the rest of
the taxi drivers.DoD

Your father complains a little too much. The truth, as I remember it, was that he begged to go
to the concert and you FINALLY conceded to let him go. I think he was on the front row
singing along to "The Right Stuff".Momwho has a much better memory that DoD

And there you have it. I am surprised that it ended there, to be honest. But I think what is even funnier is the image of my very conservative father on the front row with his hand in the air waving along to “The Right Stuff”. And if you have ever met my father, this should be hilarious to you as well!

NKOTB for LIFE!

So, what is one to do with a few hours to kill on a Sunday afternoon and no desire to clean her house?

Why this of course:
http://www.nkotb.com/

I watched every video and sang to every song and hoped and prayed that a reunion was in fact going to happen. As they were the first boy band of my era, they will always hold a place in my heart. I knew every song they sang- but none of the dances, because living overseas at the time, we did not get MTV, and I didn't see many of the videos until years later. But my parents did drive me over 8 hours on their anniversay to see them in concert, so I can't complain too much, can I?

Life has really been eating me alive this week. I have been super, duper busy with not a moment in time to work on anything truly fun. with the exception of actually booking the trip and making quite a few other plans.

So, let’s see, what has been going on here…

On Tuesday night we had a second failed attempt to attend the science fair. We now know FOR SURE it is next Tuesday. We got a note home yesterday confirming this. I am about ready to kick myself over it. Plus, you have to love how the PTO hi-jacks the affair and requires that you attend the PTO meeting before the Science Fair. I get that that the PTO is important, but, everybody volunteers in their own ways and the Sumpters have sold their soul to all things Scout.

Wednesday night we hurried up and headed over to church. The kids have this new class that they really seem to enjoy- it is more activities based and they are excited to attend church on Wednesday night, which is more than I could say when I was their age. I also enjoy going because we have begun a new Beth Moore study. I think I will really enjoy it, I just got my book this week, because I was out of town last week. So now I am playing a little bit of catch up but I am excited at the possibilities.

Last night we had Boy Scouts, at our house. 7 boys that are 7 years old running around like hose monkey’s, need I say more?

And then, there is the cookies. Thank goodness we are only 2 full weeks away from the end of the sale. Emily is about 380, still a ways to go to hit her mark, but we have three booths this weekend and hopefully we will boost those numbers up here this weekend. Work has dried up, I have only sold like 6 boxes all week, yuck. I was selling 20 boxes a day the first week. So, I hope we can make our goal of 540 and she can earn all the stuff she is aiming for. I am ready to be done, because I am afraid we are going to end up with a ton of cookies. I am not checking anymore out because I am afraid to have to turn them back in. I am not going to be the one to turn in too many. Not me, no sir-ee.

So there is our life in a nut-shell.

I have nothing today. Work has sucked the soul right out of me. I have tried several times to be cute, witty, profound and I got nothing. I can tell you all about the property I saw last Monday if you like, but trust me, you don’t want to know.

Wow, it is actually going to happen

Wow, it is almost real. We are really going on this long awaited trip and I can hardly believe it. I have wanted to return to Disney World since I last left it almost 8 years ago. I love the magic and whimsy of it all. Even though I have seen the underbelly of the “show” that they produce everyday while working there, I still love the idea of taking my children to such a wonderful place. Even though I have seen The Little Mermaid smoking out back with her fin unzipped, I want more to see my kids faces light up when they see the castle.

We have been planning this trip for years, the kids have heard me talk about it time and time again. I think Jacob is excited at the possibility (as he gave me the money he made in his garg sell yesterday to go towards our trip to Disney World, even though he doesn’t know we are going in 3 months!) of going, I don’t think he even really knows what the whole thing is about, but he is still excited at the possibilities. And even though Emily has been to the Magic Kingdom she doesn’t remember it, and when we talk about it her eyes light up. I can’t wait to see their faces when they see where we are going.

And now it is almost real, because today, I bought the flights for Emily, Jacob and I. We will see if Josh is going to come, haha- I am half a credit from getting a free flight, so we are holding off to book his, as I should get that extra credit sometime soon, hopefully. And then it will only cost $10 to book his flight to join us. It is an amazing feeling knowing that we are actually going. I can’t wait. It’s only 88 more days! I think I might drive Josh a little crazy talking about dining reservations and height requirements (Jacob can ride all but 2 as it stands right now, and he is only 2 inches short for those 2!). But I really don’t care who I drive crazy because this is our big vacation that I can’t wait to take!

Now I just have to get over my fear of calling and booking the room/tickets/meal plan. That really scares me for some reason.

Grag sell for kids

So what do you on a Sunday afternoon when mom has kicked everybody outside because it is finely a nice day and there is NO need to be inside playing on the computer, Wii or watching TV?

You have a garage sale for kids:


And someone actually gave my son money for half used pencils. I have to wonder about these neighborhood kids!!

A two week update

It has been a day or two since my last post and many things have happened around our household.

Most importantly I turned 30. It was a great day, I got everything I wanted and more. Except the promotion, but I didn’t let it dampen my day at all.



Cookie sales are going very well. As of this morning Emily was at 258 boxes sold and we have both a Wal Mart booth and a Wag A Bag booth tomorrow, so we should be able to kick it up over 300 in no time. We are ALMOST half way there. I am not sure we will make it, but I am sure hopeful! She is neck in neck with another girl in the troop for most cookies sold. It will be a race to the end!



Jacob had his pine wood derby last weekend. He only won one race in his heat, but he had a great time and I feel good about next years race. There were a ton of boys participating and there were some really neat cars racing.




Josh received official notification that he has been released from the county last week. A bit of a bummer, but not a surprise at all. The surprise is that because he could never take/have any time off his check for unpaid vacation and holiday pay is enough for us to take a nice little vacation. We are planning a nice little SURPRISE trip to Disney World this spring. We are not telling the kids, but I am so excited I may pee myself. Plus we can’t really tell the kids, because we have been having some trouble with behavior and don’t want it to seem like we are rewarding the bad behavior.

I guess nothing besides cookies and planning a surprise trip is going on with me. But that is plenty for me. And the whole turning 30, well, that was exhausting. I am glad its over and the stress of it has past. Now I just have to figure out how to get my face back up where it used to be.

Sometimes the storm is the blessing- TOTALLY stolen from Amy

I have been having an extremely difficult time at work lately. It has gotten to the point that by the middle of the afternoon I am just about to loose my mind. I want to poke my eyes out and scream in pain because of the way that they are allowing me to feel. I leave at the end of the day feeling helpless and feeling as though I have no self-worth because my soul has been sucked from me within the last 9 hours. I am usually simply a shell of a person. It takes me between 2-3 hours after I leave to begin to feel like a normal human being again with an ounce of self worth. I hate it has gotten to the point where I despise coming to work every day, but I do it everyday because of the darn work ethic that was instilled in me many years ago. But I hate it.

I have spent a lot of time talking to God about why I was in this position right now. What am I suppose to learn? Who was I suppose to learn it from? How can I ever figure it out because, Good Gracious, I want to poke my eyes out!!!!!! Just tell me, God! Just tell me NOW!

Needless to say God has not taken my threats lightly. You know how he likes to reveal things to you in his own time? Well, he has been taking his sweet time for about 2 years now. And I am as patient as, well, I am not patient at all.

However, only recently did I begin just asking for my purpose at this place of employment to be revealed. I wanted to know what I needed to learn. I really do believe that people are placed in certain situations to learn from them. And I think this was one of those situations. I had to believe it was or I might simply go crazy.

I sat down this morning before work started and got on-line. I checked out a few web-sites that I enjoy and settled in for another long day at work. At least it was Friday and I had the weekend to look forward to. And then I clicked onto one of my regularly checked blogs: It coulda been worse. And then I read her post for today. And she speaks of grace. I have spoken on grace before, but in a different perspective than she does on her blog. And it hit me.

Sure, I am fully aware that God has given me grace. Daily. When I want to poke my eyes out at work, he gives me grace. He gives it to me thousands of times a day. But do I ever dole some out myself? Rarely. I do give grace to Josh and the kids. I give it to my friends. But I don’t think I have ever given grace to anybody in my work environment. Not even once. Not on purpose. I forgive and forget, but not just blind grace. I am going to try to do that today. And from now on. I will attempt to be gracious to my superiors while I am here. (Even when they make me want to poke my eyes out.) I will allow for Jesus to sit next to me while I work on my reports. I will bring God with me into my meetings. I will show grace to my boss, who I almost can not bear to look at for the fiery dislike that fills my being. And I will show grace.

I hope this is the lesson I am meant to learn here. I want it to be. So that I am able to move on and be filled with the happiness of a thousand puppy dogs and butterflies. And show the folks here what grace is all about. And get the heck out of dodge.

Myspace, fun for the whole family

The whole myspace thing is a little crazy. I will admit that I love me some myspace, yes I do! I made an account over 2 years ago, but only because you have to have an account in order to look at someones pictures. I used it a lot then to get in touch with folks about my 10 year high school reunion. It was great. Then, with the encouragement of my dearest friend Amy, we took myspace by storm. It was a fun competition to see who could have the most friends (she is still beating me, but by less than ten- I just checked) and we worked out the kicks together, over IM’s and had a great time with it. And then we were addicted. At least I was. Goodness, I couldn’t get enough. Looking for old friends and finding them and reconnecting. It was great.

Now, I was the one reaching out to people. I rarely had a surprise Friend request. I may have been surprised that they finally had a myspace, but not that they were adding me.

But this morning, I had a surprise friend request!

When I was 12 my parents picked me up from my very cooshy life and threw me into a foreign country away from my friends, my surroundings and my native language. They threw me into this horrible place where I didn’t know a soul and was scared to death. Until Mr. Hunter, my 6th grade teacher sat me and one Miss Kelly next to each other. We were mortified. “Seriously, her? I have to sit here? Ugh, why me?” said in only the way a horribly moody sixth grade girl could sound.

But, you know what? That Mr. Hunter, he knew what he was doing. He sat me next to my soon to be best friend while I lived those three years in Germany. It didn’t take long before we were hanging out before school, after school on the weekends. Her sister Tara was who introduced me to REM, a love which I still have all these years later. I even bought my first cassette tape of REM (Out of Time) with my money from bagging groceries at the Shoppet, at the Shoppet. Oh, and Mr. Big, ahhh, those wonderful bands from the early nineties. We would walk to the bakery that was minutes from her house and buy kinder chocolate, which I still crave and can’t get my hands on. We were great friends. Then in three years, I moved back to New Mexico and that stinky Abbie Decker* followed me there (a story for another day). But we were friends before the whole internet thing was as widely used as it is now. We found each other once, many years ago- honestly I am not really sure how we did that. We emailed a few times, but quickly lost touch.

And she found me on myspace.

Who knew?

Seriously?

She is the first friend from my time over seas that has found on the myspace thingy, and I am SO happy that she did. I totally have to post a picture of her on and once I get my hands on them. I think they are at my parents house. She makes me want to try to find Melissa, Samantha and Jennifer. Of course they are probably all married and I will be unable to find them, since their name will have changed. Oh well, it will still be fun to look.

*And yes, I have looked for that stinky Abbie Decker, but I can’t find her. I guess somebody married her and she turned into some sort of decent human being- I hope!

Some pictures....

They are nothing special, but I did get out with my camera this past weekend. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

My new love affair with books

So I think that my big “resolution” this year is to read more. Read more actual books. I read plenty on the internet everyday and I read magazines way more than is necessary. But I used to really enjoy diving into a book. Just ask my parents how I saw Europe when I was a tween, head in a book, with a set of earphones on. NKOTB all the way! I have found that my excuse is always time. But I don’t think that is a valid excuse anymore for myself, anyways. I need to make time. I have found that this whole writers strike because they are making little to no money of internet downloads, according to this site, which has basically taken down many of the television shows which I love to watch off the air. While I support these folks, it really has made me aware of how much time I spend watching television. I have now begun to re-direct that time to reading. I have picked up a few books which have been recommended through people, blogs I read or through other media outlets.

I love the way a book feels in my hands. Especially if it is new, never been opened and ready for a good read. I recently took an armload of books to Half Price Books and picked up a book, and several I had ordered came in the mail yesterday and I kinda wandered around just holding them and smelling them. It was very nice. I had begun reading the one I picked up at half price books and now I am anxious to finish it and get started on another one. So that is all for today. I am beginning my love affair with books again. As much as I miss all my wonderfully written television shows, I think I am going to enjoy my books just as well.

Yeah! Weekends

So the weekend was successful. I accomplished everything on my list, except for the cleaning of the bathrooms and that was replaced with a nap for Jacob, Emily and myself yesterday afternoon. Emily had a sleepover the night before and didn’t go to sleep until 1:30am. I was lucky she made it through church Sunday morning. But a nap was needed and had by all. And it was wonderful.

We had successful cookie pick-up. I know have 107 cases of Girl Scout cookies in my living room. Lord help me.



The laundry is as done as it can be. There is ALWAYS dirty laundry. But right now, in the house there is maybe 1 ½ loads to do. And that is a stretch. I am going to see how long I can keep the lack of laundry going.

The kitty box was cleaned by Josh. I didn’t ask him to do it, but he did it before I could get to it. So I was thrilled that it got done and that I didn’t have to do it.

Jacob had is homework done Saturday morning before we left to get the cookies. This may or may not have had something to do with the fact that I told him Friday night that he could not play the Wii until the homework was done. He was on me to get it done Saturday morning.

We made it to the Girl Scout shop and spent lots of Girl Scout money and money of our own. It was a good time. I got a yard sign for Cookies that is WAY cool.

And we went “treasure hunting” on Saturday after Josh got off work and before Emily went to her sleepover and I was presented with several wonderful opportunities for pictures. I have not uploaded them into my flickr account yet, but they are off my camera and on my computer at home. I will have to wait until tonight to load them into flickr and post some tomorrow.

I did accomplish a few things that were not on my list of things to do from Friday. I cleaned out the top of my closet. It isn’t done, but I not have a huge bag for Goodwill but I am going to wait until I finish cleaning out the closet to take it down there. I have a feeling some of my Home Interiors stuff is going to make it to Goodwill this trip. I think I may be over the whole Americana theme in my home now.

I successfully spent more money at IKEA. But that isn’t difficult. I think I am inflicting a self imposed ban on IKEA until we have saved up the $299 We need for the new bed frame that I want. We are selling things on Craigslist and we are up to $100 and when we have “earned” the entire amount from Craigslist we are going to go back and buy the bed frame and our bedroom will actually maybe look like we intend to live there for a while.

Overall it was a great weekend. To short as usual and to busy as usual, but good all the same.

Weekend plans are SO exciting, NOT!

It is Friday, Hooray! I have lots of “big” plans for the weekend. I think I will share them and we will see how well I do next Monday.

• We have our giant Cookie Pick up for Girl Scouts. That’s right ladies and gents, its that time again, COOKIE TIME! I will begin the painstaking process of counting and recounting boxes of cookies for the next 2 months. And it all starts tomorrow. I know that I will accomplish this goal, because I actually have NO choice in the matter.
  
  
• Finish the laundry. The washer and dryer have been on the frits since the whole lice invasion of 2007 and they finally last Friday got back to “full speed” and I was almost caught up when I had to head back to work on Wednesday. Needless to say only one load has been completed in the last three days. And it is starting to pile up and I have to get a hold of it before it takes over our lives again.
  
  
• I absolutely need to clean the bathrooms again. I have been successful in keeping the new clean bathroom clean this week and I want to continue the trend. And the kid’s bathroom could use a little attention. We are usually better about it than the master bedroom but God bless my son, he is simply the nastiest person on this whole entire bathroom. Especially when he is by himself, locked up in a small room where you are allowed to take your clothes off.
  
  
• The poor kitty box needs some attention. Really what more can I say?
  
  
• Jacob has homework. He forgot to bring it home the Wednesday night before the break and therefore it was not finished and turned in on Thursday, the last day of the break and it was sent home to be completed. We have procrastinated this one big time. School starts Tuesday and I have to make sure he completes it before then.

Now for the fun stuff:

• I get to take Emily to the Girl Scout shop and spend a little money on her and attempt to get her excited again about Girl Scouts. Not that she isn’t excited about it, but it has been a month since we last met and we are trying to gear back up for it. Plus I need to buy patches for the Caroling we did last month.
  
  
• I want to take the kids out and * attempt * to get some good photos with them. I have this fabulous new camera and I don’t know what to do with all the buttons and I want to figure it out a little more. I want to be able to take pictures that people are impressed by. And to do that I need practice. Luckily I have 2 fabulous models at my disposal and hopefully the sun will be up and the temps won’t be down and we can hit the world and see what happens. I just want to stop taking blurry pictures. So I have got to practice. So practice I will. This weekend.

So those are our big plans. I am sure some Wii and a movie night will be thrown in there as well, but these are the things which I truly hope to accomplish in the 48 hours which are my entirely to quick weekend.

My name is Susan and I am addicted to the Wii.

"Hello Susan."

I think I need a support group to come off the Wii. I don’t want to ever stop playing. I have to make myself stop. It has become Mommy and Jacob time together. We have a love affair with Super Mario Galaxy. We play it all the time. It may become a serious problem once the kids get back in school. But we enjoy our time together. And we have collected 7 of the 8 stars we need to unlock the next part of the galaxy. (I am SUCH a nerd.)

But I cannot describe how I feel sitting there on the couch with my little boy in a fit of excitement as we battle some sort of crazy “evil” being. We work together to defeat the evils that are trying to kill us and enjoy every moment of it together. Jacob and I have never had an activity in which we both enjoyed it so much that we longed to do it. But we have found it. I enjoy every moment of it. I love playing, because it is fun, but I also enjoy watching him play and become excited when he is able to defeat an enemy in which he has struggled with. He is so proud of himself and I am so proud of him as well.

But don’t worry, after a while we turn it off and he will go ride his scooter or bike and run around and terrorize the neighborhood with all his little friends. So he is getting time outside as much as he is playing the game inside.

A headache story

I have had a headache for at least three weeks. Since before Christmas. I simply have attributed it to holiday stress/MIL stress/work stress/allergies and other general what-nots. However, yesterday I headed out and did a little shopping at IKEA and headed over to Amy’s house. During our visit the headache continued to pound and pound. Which made laughing with her and her husband increasingly difficult. Finally, I simply stated that I thought I had a brain tumor- right here- and I needed to curl up in a ball and die. She offered me some Excedrin and icy water and I swished them down, grabbed my children and went home. It was only 3pm and I grabbed my pj’s and went to bed. Jacob entertained himself with the Wii and Emily hit the block with her friends. I tried to die. After about an hour I thought that Amy was crazy and that whatever she had given me simply was not going to work because I simply still felt horrible. I continued to try and die until, suddenly, I felt fine. Not only did I feel fine I felt the best I had felt in 6 months!

We had purchased this beautiful new dresser with some Christmas money and are in the process of trying to clean our room and move out of the old dresser and into the new dresser and organize the HOT SPOT that is the master bedroom. Not much work had been put into it the project because of the horrible headache I had had for the past three weeks. But then, I suddenly felt good. And so I moved, and grooved and once Josh got home, he moved the old dresser into the garage and we moved some other bedroom furniture around. And I cleaned the master bathroom. Now, this is a feat in itself. I hate to clean the bathroom with a white hot passion. I HATE it. But it was disgusting and I had to clean it. But I never could convince myself to clean. But know I felt so good and I had some cute new bathroom stuff from IKEA that I wasn’t going to put into a filthy bathroom. So I cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned. I cleaned the drawers in the cabinets out and I cleaned under the faucets and I comet cleaned the tub. It was amazing. It is so beautiful that I would let anybody use it right now. And that’s saying something.

I filed all the loose documents into our file case and cleaned off our bookshelf of the books that need to go to Half-Price Books and threw away things that were 4 years old. Things that had not been gone through since we moved to Austin. It was a big day, because Josh threw away all the documentation from the assault in New Mexico. And that was amazing to see him say, “Just toss it.” I still have TONS of work to do to get the entire bedroom clean, but it is cleaner than it has been in years. There is still a kitchen table on its side and piles of pictures I need to go through and sort, but I also have at least three clean table tops and a desire to get it all done. Hopefully tonight. Josh had to finally make me stop working at 10 because I think I would have kept going all night if I didn’t have work to wake up for today.

It was simply fabulous. I know that I am stopping at the drug store at lunch and picking up some of that fabulous Excedrin, because I haven’t felt that good in years. And if I have been living with a Migraine for the past couple of weeks I know that I don’t want to have to live with one for one more minute ever. I wish I had taken before pictures, even though it would have been so embarrassing to show those, but I will defiantly post after pictures once I complete the entire project.

Christmas 2007

Christmas was loads of fun, most of our family was here and lots of fun was had by all. Here is a picture story of Christmas…


Opeing presents...

We got a Wii!

Sewing with Memaw.

Riding her new bike.

And I got a new camera! Yeah!

It was a lot of work, and I am exhausted from it, but it was a good time. I need a vacation from my vacation now. I am thrilled with my camera and I have already taken many blurry pictures and I have a lot to learn, but I am excited about it. I have wanted this camera for over a year and now, I finally got it. I can not wait to really learn how to operate it!

It is nearly Christmas. We of course have some little last minute purchases to make, but overall all our shopping is complete. I am excited that I have 5 days with my family and can hardly wait to spend every minute with them. It has been way to crazy in our house the last month and I am looking forward to laying low, baking some stuff with my new mixer that I love and making memories together. I want to try and not get too caught up in the commercialism of the season and remember why we celebrate. To spend time with the family and enjoy it. Watch some movies together with cookies and hot cocoa. And most of all to simply relax and not stress out about much of anything.

A little Christmas Cheer

Emilys Christmas Performance

For the last 6-7 weeks we have started to go to church on Wednesday nights again. the kids are enjoying it as Josh and I are as well. Emily really enjoys it because they have been preparing for the Christmas performance. The class she has been attending is the 3rd-6th grade girls. I think she likes it because she gets to hang out with the older girls and feels really cool about it all. She is finally at an age where church is become a social time for her as well as for the whole, I don’t know, learning about God stuff.

Anyhow, last night was the big performance. We had a great time. She did great, and was quite nervous. But I love her for it. Here are some videos of it, if you care to see. She has her hair all curly, because the night before she wanted me to curl it in rollers for her. So it is SUPER curly. She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not, but I think it is too cute. Of course, she was ready to wash it and get the curls out last night.

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And I am sorry for the shakiness of the video, I had Jacob pulling on my arm.

Whirlwind

We have had quite a crazy 10 days. Life has come at us fast and we are gearing up for the Holidays. I don’t think it plans on slowing down anytime soon! Last weekend we had Emily’s birthday party and everybody had a great time. Nothing like a pool party in December to create a memorable birthday.- I will post pictures later, I forgot my cord, and they are still on the camera.

Friday night was my company’s Christmas party. Josh and I got all dressed up and left the kids with a sitter. And a real sitter. She was 16 and Emily thought she hung the moon. They had a great time and so did Josh and I. At the party this year they had a casino night and Josh loved getting to play poker and I enjoyed a roll of the roulette and a few hands of black jack.

On Saturday morning we had Girl Scout caroling in a nursing home and it was great fun. We had 6 of my 9 girls show up and both the girls and the audience seemed to enjoy the performance. After that I dropped the kids off with Grandma and headed up to meet an old office friend in Salado. This is a fabulous little town with even more fabulous shopping. We shopped till we dropped and then headed home, but it was such a good time. I got nearly all my lagging Christmas shopping completed during that time. Once I got back home Josh and I took the kids over to the mall. We are in search of a very specific item, and I know that I am going to end up having to order it and that frustrates me. I hate to pay shipping. But we were unsuccessful in our quest for that item, but I did find some wonderful shoes! So, all was not loss.

Sunday was left for church and more shopping. We picked a name off a tree at church and had to find the little tyke some gifts. We joined up with Josh for lupper and went home and attacked the pile of laundry that has been looming over us and growing on a daily basis for the past 2 weeks. We made it through a few loads, and when I say we, I mean Josh. I had nothing to do with any of it.

It was a great weekend. It flew by entirely to quickly, but it was super fun. There isn’t a day left in the month that we don’t have some sort of plans already. Some highlights from this week to come are: Boy Scout Pack meeting, Emily’s performance at church, Bunko!, and I have to make 3 dozen cookies tonight.

I love the holidays.

Gingerbread houses everywhere

Here is what I have been working on this week. Our department is having a cubical decorating contest. Several folks have created beautiful areas that look like you would see at someone’s home. I went another way with it. Here is my “life-sized” gingerbread house. I made it from PVC pipes, brown paper, and lots and lots of scrap booking paper. I am glad it is done and am super happy with the results. I just hope I win.




On another note:
What is the sweetest sound you can ever hear?Your nine year old daughter humming and singing the new church songs she learned at church last night.

Pictures

This is mostly for my parents, because I know that SO many of you look at my pictures through my flickr site, but I am changing my settings so that only “friends and family” can see the photos. There has been some crazy things going on over on flickr and Josh expressed his distrust of having the kids pictures out there for all to see, so I am changing the setting. Now all the old pictures will be able to be seen for a while, as I have over 2,000 pictures and it will take me a while to change them from open to closed. Also, if you are interested in seeing my photos, I do not have a problem in the world with it. If you want to look at my crazy, not so great, wish I was better photography just open a flickr account and add me as a contact. If I know who you are, then, it is no big deal. If I don’t know you, but you find my life so interesting and want to continue to enjoy my children’s pictures simply email me and let me know you are not an internet stalker and I will add you as well.

I plan to leave regular pictures, which show no children in them open, so if you click on the flickr page there will still be pictures, but eventually you will be unable to see any pictures of my children or any of their friends.

Questions

Why is it that my child who can remember outrunning the cops 6 years ago can not remember where she put her shoes the night before?

And why is it when I send her into her room to look for her belt, she comes out in no less time than 15 seconds later unable to find it. But when I walk into her room not a minute later I see her belt lying on her bed?

Why is it that if I can’t find the remote control to the TV, the first place I have come to look is either in the children’s bathroom or in my son’s room?

Why is it that I can eat my cereal with out spilling milk all over my table, chair, floor and myself, but neither of my children can?

Why is it that my children cannot remember when they are out of lunch money at school until I find the note from the cafeteria in their backpack, pants pocket or daily folder?

Why is it when I tell the children to go get in the car because we are leaving and I walk out side and they are everywhere but in the car?

Weekly update

I have been “on the road” this last week and while I had more time at home, I felt busier than ever.

On Monday we had the Boy Scout Pack Meeting. Jacob received his Bobcat award. It really was something special. I will post pictures once I download them off the camera which I intended to bring with me today, but sits on the low wall of our house.

Tuesday night I honestly do not remember what we did. Nothing officially planned that I remember doing.

Wednesday we headed out to church. We have recently begun attending Wednesday night services again now that the children are old enough to keep out past 7pm. And they love it! Especially Emily. She participates in a program they have for 3-5 grade and she thinks she is hot stuff. I am excited that she is excited to go to church.

Thursday night we had a family night and went to Subway and ordered sandwiches for 3 of us and a pizza for 1. Can you guess who ordered the pizza? Then we went home and watched Kid Nation from the night before and really enjoyed eating our sandwiches in front of the TV as a family. Laughing together and being silly.

Friday night we had a family night again. We rented Shrek the Third and giggled together as a family and went to bed as a family at 8:30pm. All 4 of us, to bed at 8:30. It was really rather pathetic.

Saturday was a fun filled day with Girl Scouts, the last soccer game of the season, a trip to the mall, a fabulous spaghetti dinner at the table and an early bedtime.

Sunday was filled with a little bit of Christmas shopping, and a party for one of Emily’s friends at Main Event. We had a great time.It was a crazy busy week and this doesn’t even begin to tap at the surface of it all. But I have too much work to do since this is a short week and I have so much to do. Crazy busy times around these parts. We have to pack tonight for our trip, we leave tomorrow after I get off of work. So I have lots of packing to do and loads of work to catch up on. It is going to be fun, but a lot of work in the mean time. Plus, can you believe that Emily will be 9 in less than 2 weeks. Shoot me now.

Ramblings

Yeah! It is Friday! That makes me more excited than almost anything! And it is a 3 day weekend! Yeah! And the kids are in school on Monday! Yeah!

So an update on me… because it is all about me. My throat is feeling better. A little better each day. I am really hopeful that by this time next week I will be able to say, “Pain? What pain?” It feels more like an incredibly sore throat now, which is a vast improvement over the shards of glass I had been swallowing for the last 11 days.

We are very excited to travel to New Mexico and see all my family and friends. We haven’t made the trip in over a year and are excited for some green chili and beautiful sunsets. By golly, my throat had better be healed before we get there. The kids are excited to “treasure hunt” with Pepaw and I am excited to Black Friday shop with my mom. This is one of the things I miss most. Almost as much as I miss Burger Time. And that is saying something!

Mom has always been a shopper and she is an even better bargain shopper. “Look at all the money I saved!” is a line that I have heard from her more times that I can even remember. Once I was in high school I would drag myself out of bed the day after Thanksgiving and we would hit the Burger King for breakfast (since it was one of the only places open at 5am) and wait for the stores to open. It was great. After I was married and had moved back to New Mexico we would meet up early in the morning and shopped until noon when we would stop for lunch and maybe catch a movie. It was so much fun.

After we moved 10 hours away we both continued to shop on Black Friday. I would go alone. I thought that I would have a better chance of finding the great deals because now I lived in a big city and there were 5 Target stores just with in 20 miles rather than the 1 store in Las Cruces. But with those 5 stores came about a billion extra people and I was unable to find some of the deals as easily as I was back in New Mexico. It was very sad. Because I love to shop. I love to shop the day after Thanksgiving. I love to take care of 95% of my shopping that day. I rarely do any prior to that, I always forget I bought anything. So I do most of it that day, and I love it. But I have missed the shopping with my mom.

Until this year! I am SO excited to be going to New Mexico because we are going to get to sop together again! I have been scouring the internet sites where the ads are already posted and creating a list of things I want to try to buy. And I will probably be able to.

My only problem is going to be getting them back home without the family seeing them.

So we are excited to travel so far and enjoy a meal together. I am thankful for the opportunity to do so and ready for the fun to arrive!

The red hat

This is what I found when I saw Jacob heading to his room for bed with a glass of water:




All tucked in:


And fast asleep:


Only my baby bone head would sleep with a hat on but not a shirt.

Because all I can think about right now is me.

Well because I have been asked to update from all the people who read (dad) and because it has been a while I thought it might be time.

Since we last spoke quite a bit has happened. Most importantly (to me) and painful (to everyone who is within earshot of my screams) I had my tonsils out a week ago today. It has been an interesting adventure to say the very least.

We woke up at the crack of dawn and got the kids across the street to the wonderful Mrs. Ann’s house so that we could be on our merry little way. Once we got into the van it would not start. The lights would dimly come on and then nothing. The car would not crank. So we figured it just needed a good jump. So we opened up the Tracker’s hood and attempted to jump it. For like 10 minutes. At this point I am scared we are going to be late and the Tracker while it does get us from point A to point B it NEVER leaves Round Rock. NEVER. And we had to go to Austin. I was worried, but we had to be on our way. So we hopped into the Tracker and headed off into the darkness of night.

We got into Austin and got lost. I knew where we were supposed to go, but it had been at least 3 years since I had been to that hospital and almost that long since I had been in that part of town. When we finally rolled into the parking lot we were 5 minutes late, but I figured they would be forgiving. By this point I had to go to the bathroom like nobody’s business but I had been told to hold it because they had to perform a pregnancy test on it before I was put under. But I had to wait for like 15 minutes before they called me back and I was allowed to use the potty. I was not pregnant, big surprise. Then I got to get all dressed up in this beautiful gown, cap and footies. I was stylin’ like you just don’t know it. Then they tried to start my iv. Tried is the operative word. I was poked 4 times before they finally got it to “stick” in my hand and I should have remembered that from all the other times I have had to have an iv, but, I forgot and was punished for it.

They gave me the good stuff awhile later and the next thing I know I am waking up in the “recovery” room. There was no recovery taking place, just lots of pain.

Then we go home and I sleep and take all the meds like I am told to. And the pain is killing me and I am SO itchy and my tongue is numb and I am having quite a bit of trouble breathing out. And that is not normal. So the next day we call the doctor because the itching was horrible, all over horrible. In between my toes, on my nose, the back of my knees. I am sure I looked like a meth addict I was so itchy. The nurse at the doctors office told us to go the ER, so we go. I am SO out of it because I can hardly speak and I am high on the drugs and they determine that I am allergic, big surprise. So they give me some benadryl and tell me to call the original doctor again. So we do and he is mad that we were told to go to the ER, but in hindsight, I am glad we went. Not for the $50 co-pay we had to pay, but because we went to the new hospital right by our house and we were in and out in an hour. That is good info to have in case of a real emergency (and we all know my kids, it is only a matter on time) and because they gave me benadryl which is what I continued to dope myself with even after getting a new Rx from the doc because the new one did NOTHING for the pain, so I went back to the old one and just threw some children’s benadryl over it to help the itching. And it worked.

So I am now a week after the surgery and I am hungry and in pain still. But I am alive and hopeful that I will feel better to eat turkey by Thanksgiving. And pie. I miss pie.

And if you are curious about the van the battery was indeed dead, so dead it would never start again, but still new enough to be under warranty so we were not out anything but time and a little frustration. And when I say we I mean Josh because he took care of it while I was in a narcotic induced coma after the surgery.

I am tired

I have got all sorts of drama unfolding around me at rapid speeds. I almost don’t know how to deal with it- so I have almost just stopped trying. I am feeling so overwhelmed it is a bit ridiculous.

Let’s just start with this weekend. It was good, good and busy. Jacob had a soccer game that he played in and did well. He seems to be catching on a little more and more each time he is on the field. He is getting the sport, to a point. The games are enjoyable to watch and he seems to enjoy himself during them. On Saturday afternoon Chelsa had a Halloween party and the kiddos got all dresses up and headed over there for 4 hours of crazy sugar filled fun.




On Sunday we had the Girl Scout Chili-Cook off, which was great fun and I had 8 of my 11 girls come and enjoy. It was a good time and I am glad it went as well as it did. I am tired and ready for bed now.

There is lots of drama at work and I am not even sure what is going on. Unfortunately I am in the middle of it. I am not “in trouble” so don’t worry mom and dad, just lots of changes and it is stressing me out. Hopefully I will just get promoted this week and all will be well. But I am not holding my breath.

My 365

So I ran across this idea that this guy came up with that I think is fabulous. You write about 365 people that you have met in your life. You write one a day. You only use a certain amount of letters. It is fabulous. I am very excited about it. I started my page, it is linked to the right.

I think this is pretty awesome.

It has been a week since I updated and well, so much and so little to tell you all about.

The family and I will be traveling to New Mexico for Thanksgiving! I am SO, super excited about this. Josh was given both Thanksgiving and Christmas off, so we decided to head down to visit the family and friends in New Mexico.

Do you hear that Serina? We will be coming to see you in a few short weeks!!!!!

Also, I found out this morning that I will be having my tonsils out in a few weeks. I am excited and a little nervous about it. Well, not about the actual surgery part, but the recovery. I am scheduled to travel the week after, unless I get promoted and then who knows, and that makes me a little nervous. I will have 6 days of recovery under my belt before I have to travel, but I am still a little nervous. I am sure it will be fine, as long as I have lots of meds to take with me. In fact it might work out real nicely, because I will be able to rest in the afternoons rather than being stuck coming in to work, because I do not have but a weeks worth of sick leave.

Jacob had his first soccer game of the season, and we have moved up out of the “kiddy” league. He is in his third “season” with YMCA soccer, but he has only been playing for 1 year. But now there are referees and the game has transformed from a bunch of kids in a pact all trying to kick the ball into a sort of real game of soccer. There is SOME actual playing taking place.


An action shot of Jacob running after the ball

Jacob played the first and last quarter. He wanted nothing to do with soccer during the middle two quarters. He was crying and acting extremely un-Jacob like during that time. And then, he wanted to play. And he played the best he had ever played. The kid is just weird. But he enjoyed it and I think they won. I seriously have no idea, Jacob says they did and I am going to just take his word for it.

We also did a little shopping for Emily as she does not have many cold weather clothes and Lord willing, fall is coming. We ended up in Aeropostale and picked up two very cute shirts that she just loves to bits. The only personal problem I had with them was in order to get her a t-shirt that wasn’t inappropriate for her as far as fit and tightness, we had to get an extra large! Ugh. But she loves them and they are very cute on her. Now we are on a quest to find a decent pair of pants that fit her well. Wish me luck!

Weekend Update

I had a perfectly wonderful weekend where I did next to nothing. Like I said, it was wonderful. On Saturday the children let me sleep until 8am. They were up, but they did not bother me, but once to ask if they could watch TV, to which I said “sure, leave me alone.” And they did. It was fabulous. When I finally rolled out of bed around 9 I got myself cleaned up and went to the grocery and came home. And stayed home. I hardly even talked to anybody. It was the best day I have had in months…. no offense to anybody.

On Sunday we hit the Target, Michaels and the hair salon after church and went home. I did a little decorating for Halloween and then did nothing until Small Groups. I seriously think it may have been the best weekend ever. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing stuff. I love to be busy, but after the last month of nearly killing myself trying to do too much, it was SO nice to do nothing. We gear back up this weekend with Girl Scouts and Jacob’s first soccer game of the season, so we will be busy again, but I loved this weekend.

Life...

So I am SO very overwhelmed with everything going on in my life. I am not even sure what I should be doing. I am going to quit my job at The Disney Store today. There are a million reasons why, I really do not even know where to start. I hate to just walk in and quit, but when I tried to talk to them last night they still somehow roped me into going in last night. I didn’t stay late and was clear that I needed to leave when the store closed, for my own sanity, but I have a feeling that if I don’t just walk in and hand them my shirt and say, “I won’t be back.” That I will end up having to work there forever. And I hate that. Because I don’t ever want to work there again.

I also decided it would not be financially responsible to student teach this spring. I simply cannot justify student teaching if I am not going to have a second job. And well, I am not going to have a second job ever again if I can help it. Which leaves me back where I started and confused as ever. I think I will put the teaching on the back burner and try it again next year, but hopefully I will be able to gain employment and won’t have to go through all of this again. I was thinking about doing an alternative certification, but after thinking about it, I think I am going to stick with the Family and Consumer Science and try again next year.

So there is my drama…. blah.

We need a chew toy

We have a chewer. And it is not the dog. Well maybe we have a chewer in addition to the dog. Jacob is our chewer. He never was much of a chewer when he was a baby, it really wasn’t until he was much older that the chewing became an issue. And he does not discriminate. Anything that he can get his little hands on is fair game for chewing.

Take for example my very first fabulous Coach bag. It was wonderful. Josh and I had searched literally all over Austin to find last years bag. When we found it I was thrilled and I carried for almost a full year, until Jacob got a hold of it. He chewed the leather strap almost right in half. And when I asked him about it he didn’t know why he had done it. He actually hardly even remembered that he had done it.

He has effectively chewed on DVD cases, his fingernails, buttons off his shirt, pillows, blankets, and pencils. The pencils are the reason for this post today. You see last week Jacob had to pull a card (get in trouble at school) for chewing his pencil. Now the child is not a few teeth marks on the pencil kind of kid. He is a chew the eraser down, through the metal kind of kid. The teacher did everything right, but, he still got in trouble. I just hope he can break this habit, because he was quite crushed about the situation. So I took him to the doctor yesterday and nothing is really “wrong” with him. He is not deficient in anything, they did a finger prick. So I do not know what his problem is. On the other side he got 2 shots and a flu mist up the nose. Emily got 1 shot and the flu mist. Yea!!! Shots!! Jacob cried for like an hour.

Turdy, RIP

I may or may not have mentioned the latest addition to our house in the pet department. Last summer while the children where in Kentucky with my parents, Emily caught a turtle. And because Josh and I had yet to join them in Kentucky my mother thought it would be ok for the kids to keep the turtle.

Now keep in mind that we already have to very obnoxious dogs and one king of the household cat.

So she purchased a cage, some food and a name for him (Turdy) and he came all the way back home with us from Kentucky. He lived on our kitchen counter for all this time. Now Oreo, the cat, has taken an interest in the turtle. But he would only lean down and look into the cage and push the cage out from the wall. I could tell he was interested, but he never seemed menacing, or appear to be a true threat to Turdy. He was after all, in a cage.

Well, the circle of life has shown its ugly head her in our house. Oreo figured out how to open the cage. My mother in law found the cage open a few times on Thursday, but always closed it back up and went about her business. On Friday morning, the cage was open and the turtle was missing.

Josh and I received a frantic phone call at 6am from Emily telling us that Turdy was missing. She was quite beside herself and was weeping into the phone. About 10 minutes later we received another call informing us that he had been found in the hallway, and that his shell was cracked, but he was still alive.

People, that is not good news, at least according to the internet.

So they placed him back into the cage and off to work and school everybody went. However, once they returned home, he was no longer with us.

Josh and I returned home from Little Rock that evening and we held our second family funeral. It was very sad and mournful. Emily was so distraught she was unable to participate, or attend the entire service. It has been a rough week and hopefully we will all heal in time.

Bullets, again

I have hit a bit of a writing block. Not that all of my loyal 3 fans are missing anything fabulous in my writing, but just fir prosperity I am going to write a little bit… in bullets.

• Last week I was in Little Rock, AR for my job. I was told I “get” to drive a company car, rather than fly and because of this Josh came with me. We had a nice time, but it was no vacation, like I think Josh expected it to be.
• Emily got in trouble in school while we were in Arkansas, for calling a kid a butt face. Yeah, Emily- at least she didn’t hit him this time. So we are making progress with her. Now we just have to work on expressing our anger in a positive way.
• This weekend Emily spent the night over at her friend Claire’s house. Claire does not live in the neighborhood and Claire is usually very nice to Emily. Emily had a fabulous time and enjoyed herself so much. When she got home I asked her how it went and if she had fun to which she exclaimed, “YES!” I responded with, “Isn’t it nice to play with girls who aren’t mean to you?” I was thrilled she got some good girl time.
• Jacob is growing like a weed. He is eating constantly, too bad it is pop-tarts and cheetos. Last night Josh made something new for dinner and of course Jacob wasn’t interested in eating it, so he ate an apple, carrots and grapes. I have such a weird child.
• I finally bought new glasses last night. The ones I currently have were purchased at least 2 and a half years ago, if not even longer than that. And when I got the contacts that I currently have my prescription had changed quite a bit with my astigmatism and now I can see so clearly with my contacts. I have just been dealing with my glasses, only wearing them when absolutely necessary because the prescription is so bad, but I decided I just needed to do it and I went out last night and bought a pair. And, if I had wanted to, they would have been ready last night! I am going to pick them up today, but they were ready in the same day!!!! That has NEVER happened to me before. Usually when I walk into an eyeglasses store that has glasses ready in around an hour they tell me, “Well ma’am, for most prescriptions, but not for yours.” I am thrilled and can’t wait to be able to watch TV in the evenings with a clear view.
• In very exciting news… Josh changed the breaks in the tracker and, wait for it, fixed the car door!! We now have 2 cars with at least 2 doors each that work!! It is very exciting news in our house. Jacob was thrilled to help with the breaks and even more thrilled about the door. He had been quite worried about it for some time now.
  

That is about it. We are in the thick of it here, with school, scouts for both kids, dance and soccer starts soon… oh and both of us have 2 jobs. We are living life to it’s fullest. I just hope it doesn’t catch up with us anytime soon.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Yes, it is me... Susan. So my old template died on me. It simply disapeared. I have NO idea what happened- so we are going to try this. I just can't figure out my links!!! ACK!

I am going to go to a Girl Scout leaders weekend today and will be gone until Sunday. I am excited! I hope that I recognize a few faces.

The new job may kick my butt. I was up until midnight last night and then had to be up at 5:30 to get to work by 7:30 this morning. I am BEAT!!!

Luckily Josh is helping me pack and being wonderful. I love him so.

yee-haw

I got the job. I was not surprised, I am now a part time employee of the Disney Store, again. I worked yesterday and thought I might die. My feet were killing me. But I think I have recuperated. I needed this job because when I begin student teaching in the spring- I will have no other income and well, that just won’t work. It isn’t the highest paying job (in the least) but I plan to just take it and dump it into a little savings account and have it ready for use next year. And I am sure I will get plenty of hours during the holidays.

I also officially will not loose my tonsils, yet. I have been put on a 30 day regiment of antibiotics to try and kill the infestation that is taking place in my tonsils. He said that if I get strep again that I would have them out. But I have a follow-up appointment in a month and I think I am going to lay out my situation and ask if we can’t just take the bad boys out. I don’t want to wait to get it again. Really. I hate having strep. It takes me forever to feel normal again.

The kids are doing well. Emily went to a last minute slumber party at Chelsa’s house on Saturday night and had a great time. I had to work in the nursery and she helped as well and loved being with the babies. She was real nervous at first, but became very comfortable. She asked if she could help every Sunday. I think it is a combo of liking the babies and getting out of service. I think we can compromise and let her work once a month. She seemed cool with that idea. But she did nap on Sunday afternoon. She was beat. Today is her first dance class, I hope she enjoys it.

Jacob is a mess. Nothing new there. His first tiger scout meeting is tomorrow, and I think he is very excited.

Sikness and Business

Ugh, I have been sick. I have had strep throat again. It is the third time in 9 months. Almost exactly. I am sick and tired of having strep throat. So I have an appointment on Monday to find out what my deal with strep is. And there is the possibility of having my tonsils removed. Because seriously, who needs them? I don’t, and if it keeps me from getting strep I am giving it the green light. I hate having it. It is really sad now, because I don’t even have to ask Josh to look into my throat and say, do you see any white spots. I wonder if this is strep, hmmmm. Nope, I wake up and I just know. I make an appointment and get some drugs. Only they wouldn’t give me the shot this time. Which was not cool. The shot totally helped me last time. I felt SO much better SO much faster. But I guess that I “caught” it to fast and it hadn’t mutated as much as the previous time. Luckily the kids and Josh don’t show signs of the illness, so it is just me that is having issues.

On another, more fun note- We were the sign your kids up for everything people yesterday. We are officially signed up for Soccer and Boy Scouts for Jacob and Dance class (1 for now, but we maybe adding another) and of course she is already signed up for Girl Scouts. Josh volunteered to be the leader of Jacobs “den” for Boy Scouts and so I think we might be a little bit crazy. Between all that, our regular jobs, our second jobs and my school. Wow. Oh yeah, I am pretty sure I got a second job as well. Gotta start saving for my student teaching in the spring. I should find out real soon if I got it, but I feel more confident about this one than any other job I have tried to get ever. And we are keeping our neighbor girl on Tuesday nights over night. (That should be interesting, we may have to have her sleep in Jacob’s room, to get her and Emily not to chat all night long) So, our poor little cars are going to be going a million miles this year, but I am excited. Once we get into the routine we should be good to go. The kids should be beat on an almost nightly basis. Which is always a good thing!

Our weekend recap

I was out of town for the end of last week, and my work computer crashed while I was out of town so I had no opportunity to blog anything until I got home and then we had a fabulously busy and productive weekend with little time for writing.

So on Friday afternoon I flew home and was able to pick my kids up from school. It was great. They were so excited to see me when they walked out the door of the school. I was thrilled to see them as well! I really do miss the little boogers while I am out of town now. I used to enjoy a few days of freedom, but now, I just miss them.

Once we had walked home we loaded up and off we went to the outlet mall. I needed to pick up a gift for a wedding we were attending and both children needed new church shoes. I found the present pretty easily and I even found a new dress for me for 50% off! We headed over to Payless for shoes because my daughter, my 8 year old daughter wears a size 6 in womens. I didn’t wear a size 6 until after I had given birth to her. And adult womens shoes at the outlet mall are all stripper shoes. We were successful after a bit of a pity party on Emily’s account and a mad search for shoes in Jacob’s size.

On Saturday we headed out early in the morning to the Home Depot for their childrens activity. The kids love doing this and they enjoyed this one as well. We built football hangers. We were also able to get the last project which was memory boxes. I think Emily will really enjoy doing this when we do it in the next couple of weeks.

After that we went home and fixed the fence that the dogs had broken while I was out of town and stained the bench that sits in our front lawn. It is a beautiful color now. I just love it. At this point we all got dressed for the wedding and headed out to Liberty Hill. Emily loves weddings and I always enjoy going to weddings, so we had a good time. Emily always thinks that the bride is beautiful.

After the wedding we dropped the kids off with grandma and Josh and I had our first date in ages. We went and saw the Bourne Ultimatum and ate at The Saltgrass. It was fabulous. I loved the movie and the steak.

The next day was fix a bunch of broken stuff and do laundry day at our house. We were highly productive and it was really nice.

On Monday I had a gift certificate for Build a Bear Workshop, so we headed out to the mall and built some bears. The kids had a great time and love their new bears. While at the mall I passed by Dillards and they were having their 75% off sale on shoes, so I poked around a bit and found a pair of shoes for me and Emily with a total of under $20. After the mall we headed over to Amy’s and hung with her for a while. We headed out with her and her children to a teachers store as she is home schooling and I needed multiplication flash cards for Emily. We both found lots of treasures, but were extremely well behaved. And then we went to the Goodwill Outlet. Who knew such a store existed? Amy found lots of clothes and I found a few things for Emily and a bike for Jacob. He needs a new bike as the one he has is made for a 2 year old. So I picked him up a bike for $6 and while it needs some TLC I think that Josh will have it ready for him to ride by the weekend and without killing our budget.

So that is my lovely weekend all rolled up into a whole lotta boring. But I had a great time, hanging with my husband, my kids and my best friend. Who could ask for anything more?

The First Day of School (only a day late this year!)

Yesterday was the first day of school for the kids. Emily was up early, ready to hit the road. She is super excited about school. She loves her teacher and I hope she continues to like her throughout the year. This year they don’t have a treasure chest, like she has in the past years, but a Scholar Dollar system. They earn money for behavior and special projects. In time you can earn up to 1000 scholar dollars and “cash them in” for items, like stuffed animals and even a bike! Emily is trying for a bike. I hope she can do it! She is also anxious about the TACS test. I am sad that she is already apprehensive about a test.

Jacob was not as excited about school, but as the morning wore on, he became more excited. I think he will enjoy being in Mrs. O’Nan’s class. He proudly read his first little book last night and seems to be more excited today. It appeared that he was ready for school after the first day and proudly told me that nobody had to pull a card in class. Something he remembers vividly from when Emily was in first grade.


So here they are ready to go. I can hardly believe that they are as old as they are and as grown up as they have become. I will go weep now.

Back to school night

Last night was Meet the Teacher night for the kids at their school. We are very excited that Jacob is in Ms. O’Nans class, just like Emily was. We loved Ms. O’Nan and the way in which she helped Emily, so we know what to expect and we are super excited.

Emily is in Ms. Mudra’s class. She seems to be a very nice and very young. I think this will be the first time, but not the last, that I am older than my child’s teacher. I thought, having started having children so young, that I would be younger than the teachers for some time, but that is not the case. It should be interesting. I hope that it all works out for Emily. She needs a strong teacher, I hope Emily doesn’t “break” her. I know she can if she tries.

So overall it was a great success, and now the kids are ready and eager to start school again. I am excited for them!

Emily's haircut

Emily and I went for haircuts last night- to get ready for school. Here it is:




I love it! I love how it curls again and I love how sweet and girlish she looks. She loves it as well. I just hope I can actually make it look like this again. She also wants me to buy the $40 worth of products that the lady used on her. I am not sure that is going to happen.

My 100 finally and becasue Amy did it.

1. I am a Christian
2. I am a child of God
3. I am a wife
4. I am a mother
5. I met Josh when I was a junior in highschool
6. I was way to cool for him
7. I didn’t date him until 3 years later at LCU
8. I dated him for 5 months before we were engaged
9. I was married 14 months later on May 30, 1998
10. We will be married 10 years this coming May
11. I will be 30 in January
12. I have 2 children, a girl and a boy
13. I love them more than almost anything
14. But they drive me crazy!
15. I love Snickerdoodle cookies
16. Yummmmm, Snickerdoodle
17. Sorry, where was I? Oh yes, me.
18. I love Weiner dogs, but I have two ginormous dogs- Biscuit and Brownie
19. I love cats and have a perfect cat named Oreo
20. And we unfortunately have a turtle- Turdy Green bean Sumpter
21. We name all our animals after food.
22. It is a fun little game our family has. We like it.
23. I think we would have even more animals if we had the space to keep them in.
24. The problem with animals, is keeping the house clean.
25. They like to shed entirely too much.
26. And the older dog is very jealous.
27. I like to read.
28. I have always enjoyed reading.
29. I saw most of Europe with headphones and my nose in a book when I was a pre-teen.
30. It drove my parents crazy.
31. And now I understand why.
32. I have been to at least 15 countries.
33. I have been to Disney World twice.
34. One time I worked there for the summer with the college program.
35. I worked at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom.
36. It was really, really cool.
37. I spent the summer riding all the rides for free. I loved it.
38. But I had to leave my then 18 month old and husband to do it.
39. That was sad.
40. Emily broke her leg while I was away “playing”
41. I never saw her in her cast
42. I still have the cast
43. It kinda stinks now
44. But I had a great time. And I learned a lot.
45. I want to go back so much it almost hurts
46. I love to watch movies.
47. But don’t ask me my favorite, because I have so many that I enjoy it is not even funny.
48. I think my favorite changes like the seasons of my life (gag)
49. Right now, I really like Office Space. It speaks to me right now, like no other movie does.
50. I also watch a lot of TV.
51. I love TV.
52. I usually like shows that end up being cancelled, because I am the only person watching them.
53. I really love DVR. It has saved my sanity.
54. I am a bit of a TV junkie.
55. I am not necessarily proud of it, it is just the truth.
56. I want to be on Oprah.
57. Even though I would never be on another show.
58. I really am way to shy to do that.
59. But if Oprah comes a calling, I am so there.
60. With Amy. Of course. That is our life long goal.
61. After the cruise.
62. Amy and I plan to go on a cruise next year.
63. I am taking donations.
64. I think I want to travel more.
65. I want my children to see the world.
66. But I will take their ipods and books away from them.
67. I don’t like hot beverages.
68. I will drink hot tea, but it is only on a rare occasion.
69. I have discovered Fresca- it is my new love.
70. I like pink.
71. I have a pink phone.
72. I have several pairs of pink shoes.
73. OOOOOoooooooohhhhhhhhhh, pink.
74. Where was I, oh yes, me.
75. I love pizza.
76. I will never turn down a slice of pizza.
77. I am lumpy.
78. For some reason my body likes to create balls of liquid that like to hang around for a while.
79. I do not particularly like these balls of liquid as they usually cause me some sort of pain.
80. I am not a big fan of pain.
81. I love to write letters.
82. I like to think I am ok at it.
83. My mom always told me to get letters you have to send letters. I love to get letters.
84.I think I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up.
85.But I can’t seem to get hired.
86. I never thought it would be this difficult.
87. But I keep trying.
88. I need to get my passport updated.
89. But then I would have to take a picture.
90.I don’t like to have my picture taken.
91. But I love to take pictures.
92. I would love to have a Canon Rebel
93. But they cost more than my first born, so I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
94. Yummmmmmy Canon’s
95. Sorry, where was I, oh yes, me.
96. Like I said I don’t like attention.
97. But sometimes I will take it.
98. Usually ungracefully, because well. I am ungraceful.
99. Even after years and years of ballet. Sorry mom.
100.Yes, I took ballet, you gotta problem with it?

We have been having another bought of Mean Girls here in the neighborhood.

I hurt having to stand back and watch Emily muddle through such a difficult time. But I know I can only show support and share ideas of how to handle the situations that are constantly coming about. I am not sure how else to handle it. I want so much to run over and pop the Double A’s in the mouth for how hurtful and mean that they are to Emily, but I know that will not help the situation at all.

I know she is learning that not everybody in this world is going to want to be her friend, or even play with her on a hot summer day. But it still hurts me to see my sweet first born have to learn these horrible life lessons at such an early age because of a couple of nasty kids that have no adult supervision and have not once in their lives heard the word “no” come from their “parents” lips.

She is only 8 for goodness sakes. She is already over being a grown-up and ready to be a kid again.

All I know is that we are super excited to watch High School Musical 2 together tomorrow night while Josh has to work. We are going to Bop-Bop-Bop to the top!

A conversationwith my son

One of the most annoying things that our children do is say our name multiple times and when we finally answer say “Nevermind.”

This became so frustrating that we made it into a little game. We mostly just play with Jacob, because he will play longer than Emily without getting frustrated.

We say “Jacob?”

Jacob says, “What?”

“Nevermind”

“STO-P IT!”

And then we do over and over again.

Last night Emily was spending the night over at Gabby’s and Josh took me and Jacob out to eat as my day was as bad as one could be. After dinner we had been playing the Nevermind game for a few minutes when I said, “Jacob?”

“What?”

“I love you.”

*silence*

Josh says, “Why didn’t you say STOP IT!?”

And my sweet little Jacob says, “That is one I want.”

At which point my day became considerably better.

A weekend in San Antonio

For Josh's birthday which is in a week, we went to Six Flags this weekend. He has to work on his birthday, so we headed up there this weekend. The kids had their free tickets and we had enough points for a free night at a Hampton- so off we went. And we had such a great time. The kids were SO excited and they each only had one meltdown each. A new record for an overnight trip. It was a wonderful way for us to spend some time together as a family before school and all that involves begins and it got my mind off stuff that needs to be forgotten for the time being. We had our traditional Western photo made, I will have to figure out were I can get it scanned electronically- We look super silly this year!

Here is Jacob checking out the map, waiting for the rope to drop.


Here is Emily waiting next to a big sign at the front gate.


Emily and Jacob with Scooby Doo. The ONLY character Jacob would have anything to do with.

Run Scooby Run!!!!!

We had a great time and I am so glad we were able to go. The kids had a great time and we enjoyed ourselves. Emily is now tall enough to ride ALL of the rides- so she and Josh rode all the big coasters, except I got to ride the Rattler with her, since we rode it together the last time we went to Six Flags. Jacob and I hung out together riding some of the smaller "kiddy" rides, but he had just as much fun as she did. But I think the new ride- Tony Hawk's Big Spin was the family choice winner. We all could ride it, the line was never horribly long and it was really cool. In the words of my eight year old "It totally ROCKED!!!"