Coffee Talk

I'm a Toys R Us Kid

2006-10-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, time for another update!

Sorry it’s been awhile, but I’ve been really busy. Lee and I have been talking for awhile now and decided that it was time to call it quits. Its not that we don’t love the kids, but we felt it was time to walk away before things got bad. I had mixed feelings about this at first, but now I’m glad we took that step.

For those of you who were mislead by that opener, no worries, Lee and I are not divorcing (sorry single women, didn’t mean to raise those hopes! He’s still mine.). We are, in fact, doing really well in the relationship department. I am talking about the Daycare.

We closed our doors earlier this month. My home is now a home and not a business. I am now working for Toys R Us as an “HRA”. That is a glorified term for “recruiter”. Unfortunately, it is a seasonal position. They said it “may” turn into a permanent position, but in retail, you know not to hold your breath.

I really enjoy the job itself. I like many of the people I work with. I feel bad because they need people now and I can’t hire them fast enough!

Last weekend we did a suicide road trip. It was for a good cause. Lee’s grandmother turned 80 and the family was throwing a big party for her in Pittsburg. Yes, I said Pittsburg. We spent 22 hours in the car and 3 to 4 hours at the party. It was worth it though. She was happy, we were happy, everyone was happy. We had a nice time catching up with Lee’s cousins and meeting extended family.

The kids and the dog did really well too. Hardly any fights, accidents or anything else that could have gone wrong. Both girls threw up on the way home and the dog went potty on a blanket. I know that sounds bad, but really it wasn’t. They were quick fixes.

So that is pretty much it. I’ll keep you posted on more events coming up. :)

What a Weekend!

2006-08-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a weekend I had! Saturday had so much going on that I’m not sure where to begin!
Well, my daughter turned 5 this month. I thought it would be nice to invite her class to the party, along with a few of the neighbor’s kids. Because of the short notice about the party, I was expecting a low turn out. Boy was I wrong!

We had 16 kids show up! To make things worse, many of the parents just dropped the kids off. This left Lee and I handling the kids alone. Two parents took pity and stayed, but it was still difficult. Especially since a couple of the kids was high maintenance. I can’t say that the kids were difficult, just challenging managing that many. I can’t really complain either. It was a good turn out and the kids had a great time.

In between all of this I had graduation. Luck for me, it was online, but non-the-less, it still added chaos to the day. That also went off without a hitch. Now, you are probably wondering why I would plan a birthday party and graduation on the same day. It is because my graduation only required 30 min of my time AND it was the only day I had available for said daughter’s party.

Now, onto the next part of the day…

We were supposed to go to a neighborhood BBQ that evening, but plans changed very quickly. My in-laws had been out of town for a few weeks and due back on that Monday. A neighbor had promised to look after the house. The in-laws gave them our number in case of an emergency. An emergency did arise.

The neighbor called complaining of a strong odor emanating from the in-law’s home. He told us that the power had been out for sometime. Come to find out, about a week prior, he saw the power company pull the meter from the house, but did not bother to call us until the house stench was so bad that you could smell it from their home.
When I opened the door to the home, that smell hit me like a ton of bricks. I am not going to go into details about the cleaning, but I can honestly say that it was rough.
To make things worse, after I thought I was done, I discovered that there was a freezer in the garage. By this point all I could do was throw out the contents and come back the next day to clean it out.

“What caused all of this?” you ask. They have a brand new home and come to find out, there was a mix up at the electric company between said company and the builder. This caused a work order to be kicked out to remove the meter from their home.

All is not lost though. The president of the electric company personally came to the home to evaluate the damages. He is making sure that the electric company does everything in their power to make everything right again, including replacing the fridge, freezer and hard wood flooring (the fridge leaked onto the floor.), along with other miscellaneous costs and damages. So this bad situation is coming to a happy ending.

Even More Updating

2006-08-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

Yes I have more to tell! A lot has happened over the last year, so I am updating as I remember to! :P
In May my husband and I managed to slip away for a week and take that vacation that we’ve never taken. We settled on Vegas. It was a lot of fun, but after a week, it made for a long trip.
We started off going to California over Memorial Day weekend to visit my family. I had promised my mom we would come out to visit before going to Vegas and decided to stick with the original plan after she passed.
My dad threw a party for us (dad’s are great, aren’t they?)! My Aunt Bonnie made an awesome spread with Turkey and all the trimmings! Talk about good eats! Later we cleared off the kitchen table and let the real fun begin… Poker Party! My family is porker playin’ fiends! These are the down and dirty bunch. Lee did really well and held his own until the end. Sleep deprivation got the best of him and my cousin walked away the champ. It was a good game.
The next day we visited my mom and had a great lunch with family and then flew out to let the real party begin! We met up with two other couples who stayed a few days with us.
After getting checked in and settled, we set our sails to the Wynn. What a beautiful hotel! We were there to see the last show of “Avenue Q”. If you have a chance, find out where it is playing and go see it! That was the funniest show I’ve seen in a long time! Well worth it! After that we went back to our rooms, hung out for a bit and then crashed hard!
The next day we wandered up and down the strip checking out the different hotels and such. It was HOT!!!! Each stop at a hotel was a welcome refuge from the heat. We checked out the fountains at the Bellagio; which is pretty cool. Later that afternoon we did the “Borg Invasion” at the Hilton. They have one part of the hotel completely dedicated to Star Trek. They have a small museum with featuring set costumes and small props, a gift shop filled with more Treky mementos the one could ever imagine, an awesome restaurant and two rides. When you purchase tickets to either of the rides, the museum tour is included. This is self guided. I learned little tidbits and trivia about Star Trek. Now the rides… They were both well done. They have live actors that interact with you and make you feel like you are apart of the experience. My biggest issue though was how much bang you got for the buck. Not being an obsessed fan, I felt that it was over priced. It cost $40 a piece to ride both rides. Like I said, I was impressed, just not $40 impressed. After the ride we headed to the restaurant. It is set up like XXX’s Bar. They had these awesome drinks that were too big for one person. The food was okay, what made it unique were then names of everyday items, i.e. hamburger = hamborger. After that we headed back out to enjoy the strip.
The next day Steve & Amy left, leaving Arik and Sam to pal around with. This was a lot of fun. We again set out to wander the strip. That night we saw Zumanity. It was the naughty version of Circus Sole. What a great show! If you have not seen any Sole show, you must! It is amazing!
The next day I don’t remember much, but I do recall that Sam and Arik left later in the afternoon and that Lee and I wondered around the strip that night. Later that week we saw “Tournament of Kings” at the Excalibur. That was fun! We were in the Black Knight section, which meant we were to cheer for the bad guy. You know that evil never prevails in the medieval times, but it was fun non-the-less.
We also went to see Anthony Cools. That was hilarious! He is a hypnotist… a dirty hypnotist. He had people running around doing things that would make a sailor blush. I know this to be true because there were some sailors in the audience (including one of the victims) and yes, they were laughing, but also blushing!
Since we were “kid-less” we decided to hit up the movies. This was one of the cheapest events we went to. Even the bottled water was reasonably priced! We saw the “Davincci Code”. Great movie, but read the book first. I don’t recommend going to the movies at night though. The theater is tucked away in an alley. There are scary people attending and standing around outside. It was honestly scared that we were going to get mugged and we were there during the day!
For the most part, the food was great, but there is one place that I urge you to avoid at all costs… even if you are the biggest NASCAR fan! At the Sahara (where we were staying) is a section dedicated to NASCAR. The food and service was the worst I have experienced. The food had no flavor to it. The service was horrible. We actually got up and left without leaving a tip. It wasn’t worth it.
Other then that, we did gamble a little and left in comfort knowing that Vegas is not in any threat of going out of business because of us.

I'M DONE!!!

2006-08-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

I’M DONE! I’M DONE! I’M DONE! Thank God, I’M DONE!

I’m finally done with school! I’m done! That’s it! I have my MBA and I’m done! Saturday my loving husband had a drink ready for me to toast the occasion when I turned in that last assignment. Let me tell you, this has been an uphill battle for me, but I did it and I’m done!

Onto other happy news, we have a new addition we happily welcomed into the family about 3 weeks ago. We have a Yorkie puppy! He is absolutely adorable! The poor thing went almost 2 weeks without a name because I couldn’t figure out what would suit him. Finally with a little coaxing, I went with Toby. My loving husband bought Toby for me as our 10th anniversary present. Our anniversary isn’t until September, but Toby was a perfect fit! I recommend YuppiesPuppies.com. I spoke to this woman for almost 6 months before deciding to adopt from her.

Along with all of these wonderful things happening, I got an awesome haircut! This woman introduced me to a straightening iron and I have been straightening everything I can get my hands on! That thing is fun to use and my hair looks awesome!

Let me tell you, the time has flown around here. My son started the 3rd grade today! I’m floored! When did he get so big? Who gave him permission to grow up? Even more unsettling, my middle child is starting Kindergarten on Thursday! She is getting so big so fast! She cannot wait to start!

Catching Up, Continued

2006-08-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

OK, Time to continue on with my story. As you know from the last post, I have not had an easy time of it. When my mom died, I had the heartbreaking task of breaking the news to my sister who is mentally handicapped. We weren’t sure how she would react. She was shocked, but wound up being the champ though all of this! I find inspiration through her.
We were warmly comforted by many people whom I have not seen in a long time. I was quite shocked to be honest. It is encouraging knowing that you still have friends even if you do not keep in constant contact.
Planning the funeral is a blur and to be honest, not something I want to share with the world. My Aunt Vernie (dad’s sister) and my cousin Larry (Vernie’s son) and his family came down and supported us through every step. My dad and I were grateful.
My Auntie Mern (who is my mom’s sister) is a renowned florist. We asked her if she would do the casket spray. She was honored. I’ve learned a lot from her. She made me feel comfortable with the parts that were either socially unacceptable and/or emotionally scarring. She had lost her daughter to cancer 3 years prior to this. She recommended that we allow everyone to remove a flower from the spray to take as a sentiment to remember my mother by. This was such a thoughtful and beautiful idea, how could we say no? She also gave my sister, father, my kids and husband, myself and all my mother’s sisters a pink rose to remember her by. This was my mom’s favorite flower.
Let me tell you, I was not ready for the responsibility that was passed on to me. My father and I have been working closely on getting my mother’s estate together. That has not been an easy task. I’ve been trying to remember what my mom has said over the years on who gets what. The nice thing about this though is that my mom has a beautiful and bountiful collection of pins. All of the women will have an opportunity to have one. I won’t have to listen to “I didn’t get ANNYYYTTTHHHIIINNNGGG!!!!”…whiners.

Speaking of which… What really surprised me about this entire ordeal are all the people who came out of the woodworks wanting things that they are not entitled to. We had people ask for things that were still on the wall! Believe me when I say beware if you are ever in this situation! A close family friend is a probate lawyer. He had warned me ahead of time of this and highly recommended that I take her jewelry home with me and put it away until I’m ready to go through it. I’m very glad I did.

Now the real hero though all of this is my husband. At the time, I ran a daycare out of my home. He contacted the parents for me and ran the business in my absence. He called it “Daddy Daycare”. Even better, the kids came out alive and well! He flew out to Cali almost immediately to support me and flew back a week ahead of me to take care of our home. I cannot express how grateful I am for this!

Thank you Sweetheart!

So that’s my story. This is an evolving process and I will try to keep you posted.

Catching Up

2006-07-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

So, a friend of mine kindly reminded me that I have not updated my blog in quite some time. Yes I’m guilty, but in all honesty, it has not been a priority for me. My life has taken a full spin this past year. Let me give you some of the highlights.

As you know, we purchased our first house. This is one of the best highlights for us over the past year. This has been an adventure to say the least. I had a constant sickening feeling in my stomach. As the date to sign got closer, the worse I felt. The day of signing was a relief, but created new anxieties. If something breaks, we have to pay to get it fixed. Over the past year we’ve been lucky, but I have a feeling that our luck is going to change… more on that later.
Another great highlight is I finally got my BA in HR…. too bad the next day I started my masters. I finish that in August. I’m ready to claim my life back. I have projects that are now demanding my attention and I can’t give it to them until this is all done. August 12th, here I come!

I’m hesitant to tell you the next big event in my life because I don’t want it to be a pity-party, nor do I want it to be taken as a cry for attention. This is another chapter in my book that I’m telling you about.

Let me give you a little background. My mother has always had heart problems. She was one of the very first open heart surgery patients at UC Berkley. She had a hole in her heart that went between the two chambers. At the time (in the ’50’s & ‘60’s), they did not consider this a threat. Since then the medical world has discovered that this is in fact a problem.

In August of 2005, she was told that she needed to have surgery to repair this, but because of other ailments going on, she was not strong enough to have it done right away. Eventually it was aimed for February. She was in and out of the hospital until November when she fell and fractured her hip. She was in the hospital until just before Christmas.
She was doing ok and getting around but, In February she was in the hospital because of a mysterious pain.

They couldn't find what was wrong and sent her home on that Thursday. Over the weekend she got worse. She refused to eat and wouldn't take her medications and grew very weak. On Feb 13 my dad took her back to the doctor who in return admitted her into the hospital. The doctor felt it was her heart.

The next day my dad spoke to her doctor at the hospital. She said that it was my mother’s liver and kidneys shutting down and that she would not be leaving the hospital. So the kids and I flew out on Wednesday the 15th.

By Friday she was getting better. She wasn't eating much, but she was eating. In fact the doctor said that she would be home the following week. Friday I took the kids to my cousin's house to play and spend the night. My dad and I had a mission to go in on Saturday and motivate her to get better. Around 1 or 1:30 am Saturday morning the hospital called and said that she was not doing well and we needed to come in right away. She died before we got there of congestive heart failure. He heart just stopped beating. This came out of left field.

You really find out who your friends are when something like this happens. I had people who I had not seen in years come out and give support. This was very uplifting. I promise I have more to say about this subject. It has not been an easy road for me, but I can honestly tell you this; I have become a stronger and better person because of this. My perspectives on life have changed for the better.

I promise to update more soon. There is so much more I want to tell you.

Plan B

2005-05-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

Time unveil they mysterious news that I’ve been keeping under wraps. As you know, Hubby was trying to find a job in VA. He recently had a very promising interview with a company trying to acquire a contract with congress, but this comes with strings attached.

We have a lease that is about to expire at the end of June. We don’t like the area we live in right now. He has a great job with a lot of promise here. After a lot of talking (like two months) we decided to come up with a “plan B”.

Plan “B” says that if this job doesn’t pan out, then we put the search for a job in VA on hold to beef up his skills even more and buy a house.

Unfortunately, with our lease about to expire, we don’t have the luxury of waiting until we hear word from this current prospective employer. So about 3 weeks ago we started our quest for a new home in an area that normally goes for well above what we can afford. We find 3 houses that we could call “home”. The first two were only two doors down from each other. Of those two, the first had a contract on it. It was nice, but didn’t really have that “wow factor” to me. The second house was really nice, but it needed work. Both gates were broken, there was no landscaping and the cabinets needed to be fixed, but the home held a lot of potential (most importantly, potential that we could handle).

So, now to house #3; House #3 had everything we wanted, including a finished basement. Basements are really hard to find around here because of all the rock. It’s completely landscaped and the work that needs to be done is all cosmetic (update kitchen and master bath). So nothing that really requires immediate attention. It’s in our price range so we are happy. But wait, we still don’t know if Hubby got the job yet, so we put in an offer with the contingency that we will purchase if he does not get the job. We had until May 2.

May 2 comes around and no word from the company. In fact, it’s now Thursday (a week after he was suppose to hear) and still no word. Now, this house stood on the market for 2 months and we were the first to even show interest in the place. Don’t you know that over the weekend 3 other people put an offer in too? So we had to decide on Monday what we were going to do.

I’m sure you can guess what I’m going to say next? Yes, we got the house! We’ve been approved for our loan and all is looking well. It’s going to be very strange being a home owner now.

A Whole New Me

2005-05-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I got my eyes checked. I’m not happy with what the doc had to say. My eyes are getting worse, but I’m told that I have nothing to worry about. I’m not sure that I believe him considering I can only see about 6” away from my face without squinting. He assures me that I only have about 10 more years of this and then my eyes should stop changing. Great! So by the time I’m done, I should only be able to see only 2” from my face… that’s reassuring.

On a lighter note, I got a really nice pair of glasses. They make me look smart… how does that saying go? Looks can be deceiving… heehee.

I guess it has been the weekend for a make-over for me. I also got a new hair cut. It’s kinda short, but I have to admit, it’s really cute. I even got my eyebrows waxed. That is painful, but it looks really cute when it’s done.

So I’m back on the quest for a new job. I’m all set. I have the suit, hair, glasses, and resume. I’ve started hitting the force hard. I’ve applied with several agencies, sent my resume to several companies that I’ve been interested in and searching daily on several job boards for that perfect job. I hope it doesn’t take long to find it.

This week is going to be life changing. I’m not sure how but I will tell you more as I get more information.

Vader For Katie (ForKatie.org)

2005-04-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

Who knew that Vader could be so companionate? Well, actually, it’s my friend Wizzer (www.wizzer.org). Wizzer is a nice guy and will do anything to help out a friend, but this has to take the cake!

Wizzer recently returned from a trip to CIII, in Indian (http://www.starwarscelebration.com/swchome.aspx?file=swc), where he acquired a rare toy figurine of Darth Vader. He decided to put it on E-Bay and give all the proceeds to Katie’s family to help with medical bills. He is even willing to pay the shipping and handling charges for the toy!

This is the link to the auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5972273463#ebayphotohosting

Here a little background about Katie…

Katie is a 6 year old girl from Columbia SC who recently was diagnosed with a glioma brain tumor located in the pons of the brain stem. It is virtually unreachable surgically. This makes the tumor much more threatening than a tumor found on the cortex, where it can be cut out with relative ease. This has cast a pall over the prognosis of the cancer, but we are not giving up.

Katie's father, Albin, founded the Fan-Based organization known as the 'fighting 501st'. This organization's focus was ironically enough fund raisers for children’s charities, the 'make a wish' foundation, and various children’s hospital visits as costumed Star Wars characters. That along with the community service and sacrifice he had personally given makes the families story all the more compelling. The family has a deep personal faith and strength but faith and strength can only go so far with mounting bills, from medical to travel to get the best help for Katie.

A website has been set up for Katie; ForKatie.org. You can check out how Katie's doing or make a private donation.

Happy Birthday!

2005-04-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday. I’m not telling you how old I am because you wouldn’t believe me if I told you anyway! J We are aiming for a quite evening at home, but with 3 kids, that won’t happen. Most likely I will be going to my son’s BB game (I love watching him play so it’s not too much torture! J)

Hubby took me to a great Japanese place for lunch! My youngest (who turned two last week) actually used chopsticks! She’s very good at observing what other people do which means that we are really going to have to watch our P’s and Q’s around her.

Tomorrow I’m going in to get my eyes checked. That is a scary thought! I’m already blind as it is and I don’t want them telling me I’m getting worse! I’ll keep you posted on how everything goes!

Life Is Kinda Fickle Sometimes...

2005-04-13T21:12:00.000-07:00

Life has a funny way of rearing its little head. Fortune has told us to wait a couple of days, the answer will come to you… well, the answer came and told us that we have to wait even longer; depressing to say the least. Here is the situation:

Hubby got a call a couple of weeks ago about at job working for Capitol Hill… the Capitol Hill. It’s a contract position. It’s his dream job. This is something he has waited his whole life for, but there is a problem. About two months ago he went in for an interview doing forensics for another company. They told him that he was “too junior” for the position. This crushed him, which caused him to question his ability in his profession. I think what the problem is now, is that he’s afraid to fail. What if they say “no”? I think that this is what’s weighing on him the most. To be honest, it means that he just needs more training and to try again later. I have no doubt in his ability. He’s an intelligent man. If he wants to succeed he will.

Here’s the other part of our situation… plan “B”. Plan “B” says that we buy a house here and settle down for awhile. I started looking at houses in the surrounding area and found a gorgeous all brick, 4 bed, 3 bath, with office, 2900 sf, in an area with great schools for only $273k (I’m from CA, a house like this would go for $750k +)! Currently, He has a great job that he can grow in and get the training needed to get a great paying job in DC (provided that plan "A" doesn't pan out). We are close to family, which is great because we have kids, but as he put it; his friends are not close by.

I don’t know… I might be over-thinking this too much. But for now, we are stuck waiting until April 20th to see what fate has in store for us. If he is offered the position, then we move… if he isn’t, then we stay. Life is kinda fickle sometimes.

“I SMELL LIKE COW POOP!”

2005-03-29T06:30:00.000-08:00

This it what my daughter told us last night while drive to dinner. Considering that there are no dairy farms in the area and it’s been awhile since we’ve visited my aunt in CA (she lives near a bunch of dairy farms), I’m not sure how she knows what cow poop smells like, let alone the fact that a 3 year old can be self-conscience about the way she smells. After further investigation, we discovered that she was referring to the “sandbox incident” that happened last summer.

My cat decided to use the girls sand box as a litter box while they were playing in it. Needless to say, the girls were bathed and the sand was thrown out. Why she made that comment last night? I have no clue. But it provided a good laugh!

I’m looking forward to Friday. We have what’s called the Southern Women’s Show. (http://southernshows.com/sws/wna/?PHPSESSID=b738e48aff2843dac5c3aaa315ff312a)

It has shopping, pampering, food, stripping fire fighters (it’s for a good cause), celebrity guests and enough fun to last for days. Last year I dragged my husband with me to see Doug Wilson from “Trading Spaces”. I was expecting designer tips and I got an ego-driven bio. He stood on the stage and spoke about himself and sung songs for over an hour and of course ended with “Buy my book and I’ll sign it for free”. We left.

But this year the celebrity guest is Richard Simmons! I LOVE HIM! He’s so hyper that it makes him lovable! This year I talked my Mother – In – Law into going again and hopefully her sister too. Hubby has been spared! Last year I went back the next day with my MIL and we had a ball!

School is kicking my ass! I have two classes this session and both are taxing me. I’ve helped myself out by hiring a tutor for the math. My management class I can handle, but it’s very time consuming. I have 3 chapters, plus a 44 page scenario to read. I’m hoping to have this assignment done by tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Life In The Fast Lane

2005-03-20T17:10:00.000-08:00

My son has started baseball. From what the coach says, he’s pretty good. I’ve been working with him, but I have to admit… my age is showing. Today we went out and practiced and I’m hurting. But I have a feeling that this is just the beginning. /groan

I got my schedule for my next session of school; Algebra and Global Strategic Management. Normally I only take one class at a time, so it looks like I’m not going to have much time to do anything extra for awhile. I have to admit though, a friend of mine has it worse. He is taking a two week boot camp for his MCSC. When I say two weeks, I mean it; 8 am to as late as 10 pm, 7 days a week; but he will walk away with his certification in the end. At least his hell will end next week. Mine has a few more months. I have until mid August (remember, each session is only 5 weeks long).

Hard Parenting and Poor Planning

2005-03-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

I had a hard day of parenting today. Part of it was my fault. Poor planning caused me to cut the girls nap short. I was punished from the moment they woke until the moment they went to bed (luckily without struggle).

I was in such a state that when I got home I grabbed hubby and went out to dinner. I purposely chose a place that was loud and gave the kids a little freedom to be kids. As soon as we walked in the door we put them to bed and I walked out the door. I put Bonnie Raitt in the CD player and skipped to my favorite song. I was overwhelmed by how relaxed I was suddenly becoming. I didn’t expect it. It hit my mood exactly and instantly I was transformed.

I needed some lingerie, so shopping I went. The song made me feel surreal. I quickly made my purchase so I could get back into my car and listen to it again. I needed that.

Now I’m sitting here listening to it on repeat. The mood of the song is very deep. Even though I’m not going through with what it is about, I can still relate. It is the music itself and the passion of the voice singing the words. Your heart wants something it can’t have.

I want to live somewhere where I’m accepted. I don’t feel like I have that here. Where I am now, I have family that tolerates me. They are kind to me because I’m married to my husband and because of the kids. Otherwise I don’t believe that they would have anything to do with me. I have to drive to Arkansas to feel a glimmer of the love I feel back home. It’s tough. My husband does all he can to make me feel loved, and I feel it, but he is one person and it would be selfish to ask anything more of him. I come from a family that sticks together through thick and thin and gets together every chance we get. Not just holidays. We make up reasons to spend time together. My family accepts people for who they are and treasures them for it.

I have a dotted family. We truly have been through it all. We all live by the theory that “what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger”. If you are hurting, embrace the pain. If you are going through something wonderful, bask in it. But no matter what, learn from it. That’s what life is about. I think that’s what makes us so resilient.

Live and Let Live

2005-03-13T15:27:00.000-08:00

Why do people have to be so petty? For instance, my husband and I like to play MMORPG’s (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). He started off with EQ and then switched to SWG (Star Wars Galaxies) where I joined in. We played this together for well over a year. We were fortunate enough to play with several good friends and made may others. But the game has problems. They were bad enough that it wasn’t fun to play anymore, so we and most of our friends left in quest of a new game. I took a break from gaming all together. Meanwhile hubby and our friends moved on.

For some reason though, people are bitter about what game you play. I’ve started playing SWG again, but have been quiet about it because I’m scared that I’m going to be ridiculed for my choice in games. I don’t want to hear about how the game is bugged. Show me a game that isn’t and I will show you a lie.

Now I’m considering trying out The Matrix Online. I was very hesitant about the game until they had an open beta. The game is really cool. It has this City Of Hero’s/SWG kind of feel to it. Not to mention the music! It by far has the best music then in any game I have seen. Hands down! Why is this important you ask? Because when you are sitting in front of your computer for hours playing, you get really tired hearing the same tunes repeating.

Now, back to the question, why does it matter what game I play? Why do people feel that they need to dictate how I am to have fun on my computer? Live and let live. That is a good motto to live by.

Bitterness and Forgiveness

2005-03-13T15:15:00.001-08:00

As you all know, I’ve had a falling out with my sister-in-law. It was due to some poor choice in wording about her in my blog. Now I’m condemned to her “sworn enemy” list because of these words. I called her and left a message, she refused to call me back, so I wrote an apology on my blog to let the world know of my mistake. To refresh your memory, here’s a little background:

My sister-in-law left for the Navy. She came home for Thanksgiving. There was something very different about her. She seemed very bitter and miserable. I hardly saw her smile and she barely had something positive to say.

We would go over to my in-laws for dinner or visiting and she was constantly on my kids for something. Now, I’m strict with my children. They are well behaved in public because I have little tolerance for misbehaving kids. I get a lot of complements on how well mannered they are. They good kids… key word there being KIDS. My sister-in-law doesn’t understand children. She feels that they should be “mini-adults”. Because she can’t have an intellectual conversation on her level, they are considered unworthy to be in her presence. After several weeks of this, I’d had enough. My husband had to drag me to my in-laws for family events, which says something because I really enjoy their company. What’s worse is that she was affecting everyone around her. I noticed that people were being uptight. They too weren’t really smiling and attitudes were changing.

Since I didn’t want to start anything with my husband’s family, I kept quiet and went along with it. I listen to them jump on every move my children made and counted the days until thing were going to return to normal. But, I’m also the kind of person who doesn’t like to keep things in. I used poor judgment and took it out on my blog and later wrote an apology for it. But there is more to the blog story….

You see, my best friend couldn’t access my blog so I had a friend step in and help. Come to find out it had to do with the underscore in my original blog address, so he changed it to what it is now. About an hour prior to this I had written the cursed blog which was on the old address. After the fix I went back and re-read that post and decided that the comment was too harsh and deleted it. This left it on the old blog which had not been purged from the system yet with the “unedited” version.

My husband that night had spoke to his sister telling her about his blog, which has a direct link to my blog and at the time was my old blog address. After reading the comment she called and spoke to my husband, but never asked to speak to me. I called her back and she would not answer the phone. She has called here since and told my husband that it was “too late”. With a reaction like that, you would have thought I killed her first born! People make mistakes. Lower your expectations of people a bit. Even though I felt the way I did, I still took her places, and did things with her. Why? Because she’s a good person regardless of attitude.

Fo Shizzle. Fo Realizzle.

2005-03-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

I’m not sure what to think of this website. It’s a Google-parody website for gangsters. If you search for something, it translates it into –izzle talk. Here is the article from MSNBC.com:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7143332/

I think it’s funny that someone did this, but at the same time it offends me and I’m not exactly sure why. The site was made to pay homage to Snoop Dogg. I can respect that. Maybe it’s because I’m so far out of touch with jive talk that I need a site like this to translate what people are saying. Back in the ’80, older people were confused because bad meant good. In the ‘90’s dude was the universal word to describe what a person was doing (and still is today); while shaking your head you would say “Dude, your toast” or while high-fiving your buddy you would say “Dude, that was awesome!” or pissed off “DUDE! WHAT-THE-HELL?” All of which are easy to comprehend, even to the most novice of speakers. But this generation bumped it up a notch. You actually need a website to translate what your teenager is saying. Kudos to John Beatty for bridging the gap between teens and parents!

Who Has The Best Husband In The World? I Do!

2005-03-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

As you saw in my last post, I haven’t been feeling too well and to add insult to injury I’ve been fighting dehydration. Hubby stepped up to the plate and became “Super Dad”. Not only did he take care of me, he managed to care for 3 kids, get his homework done, and still find a little time for himself!

My medication rendered me useless. I could barely walk to the bathroom (and with all the liquids he poured down my throat, I went a lot). I felt bad for him. I was in his shoes just a week ago, so I understood that he was stressed and tired. On Sunday morning I was feeling a little better. I tried to help out by letting him sleep in. I got up to feed the kids’ breakfast. I walk into the kitchen, turn around and make a beeline into the bathroom and regurgitate everything I’ve eaten since birth. So much for that idea….

I hate it when I get a bruise. I feel like it puts my husband in a bad light because they are usually deep and dark. For instance, a few years back I had surgery done. From what I was told, the IV was put in a bad spot which is why that vein clotted. If you’ve ever seen this happen, it’s not pretty. My arm was black and blue from my wrist to my elbow. Someone actually accused my husband of beating me! My gentle giant would never do that! So now, I feel like I have to put my guard up again because while I was having blood work done last week, my vein blew (remember, I was dehydrated). I have a 3” bruise that looks like a finger mark. /sigh

To make up for all of his troubles, this weekend I’m going to let him sleep in. I love you, honey!

Moving In Slow Motion

2005-03-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

So I’ve been having this pain in my back on my right side only and a fever of 101.6. This made me very nervous because about a year and a half ago I had a bad kidney infection. I had never felt so close to death as I had at that time. It was horrible! Through some heavy antibiotics and lots of TLC from my hubby, I was able to recover.

About 6 months ago I had a kidney stone. In fact I had several. They sent me in to have them broken up by ultrasound because I have the unusual jagged shaped stones… great.

Now to the present time, I have this pain in my back. I go to the Doctor’s yesterday to have my worst fear confirmed, I have a kidney infection. Very scary… but at least this time we caught it before it got out of hand.

So the Doctor prescribed a ton of medications. It’s really funny. They make me tired, dizzy and feel like I’m moving in slow motion. The sleeping part isn’t a bad thing though; I’ve been having a problem with falling asleep. I’m hoping this will fix that problem.

The Quest For a New Job

2005-03-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

Why is job searching so hard? You send your resume out to all of these companies hoping for a nibble and nothing! I have had about 12 companies in Nashville wanting to interview and I can’t because of the move this summer! UGH!!!! I’m not looking for a free ticket to move. We have that covered. I just want a job to pay those student loans that will be hitting soon. I feel like I have a life waiting for me in VA and the road to get there is under construction! This is frustrating.

Gratefully, I have a lot of people in my court. My school is working hard to find a job for me. I’m using just about every job board available and I’m even networking through friends. Unfortunately the only bite I’ve had was from an agency (groan). I have nothing against agencies, but I feel like a commodity instead of a person. You go in, they look you over, test you, tell you that you are “ok” (and in my case a horrible typist. I can’t dictate, oh well) and then send you on a ton of interviews for mediocre pay. Once you are hired on, you have to do major politicking to ensure that you keep the position, or they will “send you back” for someone else. You know that one time I worked for a company for 3 months and one week before I was to be hired on permanently, I was pulled from the job by my agency. Apparently the manager of the company I worked for was good friends with the manager at my agency. They had a huge fight (about personal stuff!) and broke the contract. So it was taken out on me and 7 other employees (it was a large company). Luckily, my agency let me work directly for them while they found another position for me. So, I don’t want to go that route again.

CLEAR SKIES ARE IN THE HORIZON

2005-02-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Life is returning back to normal. The boy is feeling better and the hubby is slowly recovering. My sleep schedule is back on track, so I’m returning to my loving self. My house looks like a tornado went through it. After this posting I will be doing some power cleaning.

I’m not sure what to think about school. My instructor seems to be very strict. We’ll see how the class goes this time around.

I’m really getting anxious to move. I’m ready to settle down, buy a house, go back to work and have a life again (not necessarily in that order). I see where we are headed and can’t get there fast enough. As I mentioned before, I’ve started purging the house of junk and clutter. Next month we are having a garage sale to rid our home of this stuff. My daughters’ closet is getting full quick.

I Will Kill You All (metaphorically speaking of course)!!!

2005-02-18T14:49:00.000-08:00

This has been a crappy week for me. Not only am I suffering from the “winter glooms”, I have been playing nurse to my husband and son. On Tuesday I kept my son home from school because he had a sinus infection. I decided that he needed to see the pediatrician, who in return prescribed some heavy antibiotics. No biggie. Later that night my husband came home looking like death. He had a temp of 102.5! Apparently, while he was on his trip his good friend decided to share the flu. Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy. You would think this was enough right? Wrong! I sent my son to school who, an hour and a half later called me to say that he had vomited in class… guess who else has the flu now? I had to call the doctor’s office back to make sure it wasn’t the medication. Thanks Doc! Next time you feel like sharing an illness, DON’T!

Last night was probably my worst night. I got sucked into watching a documentary on TLC about the new plane that Airbus has created. I was up until 1 am. About 10 min later my daughter comes in crying that she was all wet. She wet the bed. No biggie, she’s 3 and 3 year olds are known to be “accident prone”. So I got up, cleaned her up and changed her clothes and sheets and tucked her in. About 3 hours later I’m woken up by a stumbling noise and then a bright light. Hubby’s medication wore off and he was coughing up a storm. I guided him to the medication and 15 minutes later I was asleep. At 7 am the kids were awake and my youngest was chanting “mommy” over and over again until I got her out of bed. So I feed the kids. Eventually the hubby rolled out of bed and I feed him too. Today was “referee day”. My kids would wait until I was out of site and start fighting. The children have been purposely defiant, my middle child being the instigator.

While hubby was at the doctor’s today (I made him go), I put the kids down for a nap with the intention of taking one myself. Of course, the middle one has to rebel. So it was a short nap for me.

Now I’m sitting here, writing my blog, feeling really grumpy and ready to kill someone (metaphorically speaking of course).

What a weekend!

2005-02-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

I had a fantastic weekend! I had much needed time to myself! My hubby left on Thursday for a job interview and a weekend of fun with his buddies. The kids went to the in-laws on Friday and most of Saturday. I had nothing but time on my hands and I was grateful.

I started my vacation with a trip to the mall on Friday night. It was the first time I went out and not feel guilty for being out so late. I made a couple of purchases and went home. The funny thing is, since I couldn’t really have a “girls night out” (my BF lives in Cali), I improvised and called her. We spent 2 hours on the phone! I loved it!

After being woken up at 8:30 am by the young boy upstairs knocking at my door (he wanted to play with my son), I managed to get another hours sleep. I got up and got ready for my day. This is the day that I had been looking forward to all week long. I was truly going to spoil myself. It started off with me going to back to the mall to return the stuff I bought the night before. When I got home the night before I tried on everything and didn’t like the way they look – no biggie.

Off to OpryMills I go. I start my day off with lunch at Chili’s. I sat at the bar, ate my lunch, had my Margarita and people watched. I had fun! Next off to get a manicure and pedicure. That was an adventure! I actually had a great time! In fact it was my highlight of my day, but anyone who knows me knows, shit happens to me! For example, to make things easy on each other my parents send money for the kids’ birthdays and tells me what to buy. This particular time my mother tells me that she wants me to buy a toy from Walmart. I’m not a big fan of the place and try to avoid it whenever possible. It’s around 10 pm (I like to shop after the kids go to bed). I’m in line waiting to check out when this ear-piercing alarm goes off. Someone had the nerve to rob this Super Walmart that has about 15 employees in the checkout area, about 100 customers in the store and off duty police officers for security. This man wasted 10 minutes of my time and not to mention the huge headache from the alarm going off (yes the alarm was going off the entire time). You have to wonder what was going through his mind.

So anyway, I’m sitting at the table getting my manicure when this woman and her little girl storm in. Next to me is the owner of the nail shop. He is working on someone’s nails. The woman walks straight over and demands that he pay her for some work that her husband had done to the shop. He tells her that she needs to wait outside and when he’s finished working on this customer he will help her. She blew up! Went off about how in his country it may be OK to treat their woman like trash but in America you treat them with respect. I literally had to bite my tongue. You see, I grew up in Westminster, California in an area called “Little Saigon” because of the heavy Vietnamese population. I went to school where there 75% of the students were Vietnamese. The owner of this nail shop and his workers are all Vietnamese. In fact, one of the workers is from my home town! I know a little about the culture. I know that Vietnamese woman are really sweet! They are very giving. They will do anything for you, but they are also the toughest and most ruthless women I have met. So, when that woman came in making derogatory remarks, I was ready to defend them, but it wasn’t my fight. Eventually, the owner was able to break away and pull her into the office. All of the sudden there was a huge outburst and security was called. Security escorted the woman out of the mall, but not without incident. She made a big scene, yelling and screaming… DRAMA QUEEN!!! Of course, being women we all start talking. We all agreed that the woman was ruining our time. We go to these places relax, not to see a show.

After the dust settled, I headed out to the mall and went shopping. I didn’t buy anything, but I had a great time!

Later that night I picked up the kids and we had a “pajama party”. We rented “Wako’s Wish” and had fun. On Sunday we took it easy and picked up Hubby from the airport. It was a good weekend.

The Sign of Success

2005-02-10T06:55:00.000-08:00

OK, so I haven’t written anything in awhile… sorry. I’ve been feeling under the weather and uninspired to write. I don’t want to bore you with mundane details like “I took some Sudafed because I was coughing”… BORING!!! I will tell you though that I’m very proud of myself. I just got the final grade for my last class. It’s the highest percentage that I have received in my college career. I got a 97%! That brings my GPA to a 3.89. This next class should make me eligible for Summa Cum Laude (that's providing I get an "A")! Woohoo! OK! OK! Enough bragging…

I’ve been preparing myself to re-enter the job market. I’m very ready. As you know, I paid someone to do my resume. Having someone do it for me gave me the confidence I needed. When I saw the final product, it reminded me of what I can do and have done. Its tough to write your own resume because you don’t want to come off as conceited, so you down scale your success thinking “well, what I did wasn’t that great”; when in all reality it was. I highly recommend Chapman Services! They take the time to get all of the details needed and work with you until they get it right. I got a lot for the price too. They gave me my resume in 3 different formats and a cover letter for the same price that most places charge for just 1 format and no cover letter. Here’s the link:

http://www.chapmanservices.com/

Bimbos and PMS

2005-02-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

My husband sent me a link today that I think is worth a look. I couldn’t help but respond with”No wonder why those blonde bimbos sleep with any man they meet! It’s not that they want sex... they need a little "pick me up”!”

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2457

The next link is the perfect way to communicate to men exactly how you (as the female) feel. Just say “Level Orange” and they will know how to respond! Yes guys, you'll get a big kick out of this too, but if you want to show this to your female companion, make sure she is in the green! ;)

http://tinyurl.com/4yx2z

A word to the wise...

2005-02-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

I’ve been a busy little bee this week! The dinner with the in-laws went off without a hitch! They loved dinner! Hurray! Here’s a word of advice for all you active military people out there… get a copy of your medical records and of everyone in your immediate family (aka Kids) AND keep them in a safe place (that’s where I failed). I went through a year and a half of hell trying to obtain a copy of my son’s records. I started in August of 2003, in March of 2004 they told me that I sent the request to the wrong department and they would forward it. In April of 2004 they told me that they couldn’t locate them. After a few phone calls to Illinois I discovered that this was not going to be an easy quest, so I called in the big guns! Yes that’s right! I called my hubby’s daddy who is a commander in the military to help me out. He in return forwarded the info to our Senator, who in February of 2005 was finally able to obtain a copy and forward them to me. I am extremely grateful to our Senator and to my FIL. Without them, I would still be trying to obtain these records!

My Demise

2005-02-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

OK, remember me mentioning before that my in-laws were coming for dinner? Why am I a glutton for punishment? The dinner itself is going to be simple, but dessert is going to be my demise!

I found this recipe for a Philippine cake. It looked really good and the recipe is fairly simple to follow… so I thought. Instead of “cake” it has layers of meringue. So to save myself some time, I wanted to start it last night. Off to the store I go to buy the ingredients. The recipe calls for caster sugar; had no idea what it was, but figured it should be easy to find. Nope! So I ask the guy in the bakery if he knew what it was… no idea. But he did try to find the answer for me. We came to the conclusion that it was confection sugar. So I pick up a box and come home – just to find out it was the wrong stuff. I picked up the wrong box! So before I trek out to the store again I decide to look it up. Come to find out, it was ok, just grind regular sugar in your food processor and you are good to go! Awesome! …except I burnt the nuts that I needed for the meringue. Off to the store at 9:30 pm to get what I need.

Nothing I did was right! I follow the directions and my mixture did not resemble the picture. I decided to give it a go and bake it anyway. It’s 11:15 pm at this point. It’s only supposed to take 45 min to bake. At Midnight I check on it… still raw. I didn’t turn the oven on! So at 12:50 I finally had my end product. You would think that this would be the happy ending, right? Nope. They are hard as rocks! I can make pavers out of them (the cake calls for layers of meringue)! I give! I have a frozen pie from Thanksgiving in the freezer that will make a fantastic substitute!

Clean closets and good soup

2005-02-01T06:42:00.000-08:00

Yikes! I actually got the storage closet cleaned out last night! What a mess! We still have to go through all of the videos, but I’ll add that to my “honey do” list for the weekend. I filled another huge box, plus I have some big items. It feels really good to purge the house of all this clutter. Tonight’s mission is going to be a little different. My in-laws are coming to dinner tomorrow, so tonight is going to focus on cleaning the carpets. I’ll start purging again on Thursday. :)

www.frontiersoups.com

So here is my shameless plug of the day. For Christmas, a friend of mine gave me a soup kit. I say “kit” because it’s not an “instant soup”. It has most of the ingredients needed to make a home made soup. My friend gave us the Minestrone Kit. Fabulous! The best soup I’ve ever had! After a little coaxing, I found out that the only way I could buy more was through the internet. Of course, I ordered more. All month long, about once a week I’ve been preparing a different soup. I have yet to find one that no one likes. For the price it makes enough to feed my family of five two meals. I’ve started freezing the leftovers so everyone doesn’t get tired of eating it. :)

Monday.... yep

2005-01-31T17:14:00.000-08:00

I have to say that the closet was a total success! Hubby really pulled through for me! 60% of the junk in the closet was either thrown out or boxed up for the garage sale. It has inspired me to tackle our storage closet, which I will do tonight. I’m very ready to eliminate the clutter.

Call me crazy, but I’ve already started my Christmas shopping… well… sorta. We have too many people to buy for. In order to accommodate our budget, I have cut the list way down. I’ve also decided that I’m going to make a majority of my gifts. Right now I’m embroidering by hand a pillow and I’m making a bread basket liner that is cross-stitched. Lucky enough, I’m actually making good time and may finish all of my projects before we move.

I decided with all of the changes I have gone through career wise, that it might be a good idea to pay a professional to rewrite my resume. The current one I have has a lot of heart but lacks the sparkle needed to make it stand out. I have an appointment on Thursday. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Until Then: A Tribute to our military families, and their heroes.

2005-01-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

I received on of the most touching e-mails today. It was from my mother-in-law. It was a link for a slide show showing American Troops in Iraq. It showed the human side of not just war but military life. The slide show is called "Until Then: A Tribute to our military families, and their heroes." The music in the background is "Homeward Bound" from The Road Home by The Choirs of Brigham Young University. It’s worth taking a moment and watch.

http://www.clermontyellow.accountsupport.com/flash/UntilThen.swf

2005-01-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

Wow! Three kids are messy; especially when they are all under the age of 7! My house looks like it exploded! My mission today is to deep clean the living room, dinning area and kitchen. This sounds like a lot, but the areas are small. Hubby doesn’t know it yet, but we are spring cleaning our room this weekend. It seems to have become the catch-all. “Company’s coming… throw it in our room!” It’s time to purge and find those items that have been lost and forgotten about.

I feel bad for my son. His best friend is moving to Oregon today. He woke up depressed. I’ve been bending the rules and letting him go out and play with his friend before homework is done. It actually hadn’t been a problem until last night. I forgot that it needed to be done and when I gathered all of his stuff this morning, I discovered my mistake. So it became a race against the clock this morning. I'll probably do something for him tonight.

Blue Water; But Not From Hawii

2005-01-27T14:39:00.000-08:00

I have yet another “You Did What?” story about my kids. I’m working in the kitchen today and my three year old comes in giggling saying “Look at me, mommy! I’m a princess!” Expecting her to be in dress-up clothes and shoes, I turn around to find her face and hands colored in marker. I’m not talking a little either. She was covered. Upon further investigation I discovered that not only did she cover her hands and face, but both legs, feet, toes and around her navel. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to handle this, but something told me that I need to check on my youngest (22 months old). She too was not only covered, but was in the process of coloring her feet. So off to the bath they went.

The girls jumped into the tub while it was still filling it. The ink was so bad that the water turned completely blue – dark blue. I drained the tub and started again. I couldn’t get the ink all the way off, but now my youngest looks like she’s wearing blue eye shadow on one eye. Those kids keep me on my toes!

My Story

2005-01-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

The trend right now among my group of fellow bloggers is to tell their stories about life changing events. Mine happened when I was in the third grade, at the very beginning of October in 1983.

Here is a little background before I start. I have only one sibling. She is my big sister (who I am very close to). When my sister was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her throat, cutting off the oxygen to her brain, causing permanent damage; mostly to her short term memory, so repeats things... a lot. Currently, she has the mentality of a teenager, but doing really well.

So here’s my story…

Where I went to elementary school, they had a program that allowed kids that were mentally handicapped to attend school with us. My sister had previously gone to a school that specialized in her needs. This was her first year at my elementary school. I was ecstatic about her being there too! I got to play with her at recess and eat lunch with her!

The first week of school my mother was called in by my sister’s teacher for a conference. She told my mother that my sister needed to wear name-brand attire. When I say name brand, I’m talking high-end. I didn’t grow up poor, but my parents (like most people) had to stick to a tight budget. Buying $50 clothes for a growing kid wasn’t in the budget. This upset the teacher.

At the end of September, my dad’s birthday came around. We gave him the traditional gift of clothing. This time it happened to be a shirt and some pants. My sister was really excited about the gift and ran around saying “daddy pants! Daddy pants!” and then would quickly rub her two hands in a fist, up and down her thighs. Something that I didn’t mention before is that my sister can “sign”. She learned it at the first school and the teacher at my elementary school also taught it.

The teacher took full advantage of the situation and reported that we were being sexually abused by my father and were immediately put into protective custody. I still remember that day clearly. I was called into my principal’s office. Along with the principal, there was a police officer, my sister, and another person sitting in the room waiting for me. I sat really close to my sister and we held hands. She started crying. I was so scared. The principal started to ask me very personal questions. I defended myself the best I could. Then my mother walked in. She was upset! She made them take us straight to our doctor’s office where he examined us with the officer present and determined that we were healthy kids. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough. All three of us were taken down to the police station. They took my mom in one direction and put my sister and I in a holding cell where there was a very ugly and mean looking woman sitting. We both started crying. The officer came and got us and took us to the “Albert Sitting Home” Which is a place that they put kids in protective custody until they are placed in a foster home.

They normally divide the kids up by age and sex (5-10 f live in these quarters, 11 – 17 f live here, etc.), because of my sister’s condition, they felt that it would be too much to separate us so they allowed us to stay together. At the age of 8, I lived with the other teenagers. We were subjected to even more invasive medical exams. To make things worse, they had us talk to a councilor who made us draw pictures of our family and point to parts of a doll to indicate where they hurt (Gods truth, I always pointed to the heart). Inside this place, they had a school for us to attend. My grade was full, so the only opening was the 6th grade. I had a tough time. I have to say, the people in my quarters really looked out for us, both teens and supervisors. They read my sister and I stories, gave us treats and made sure that we were happy well as happy as you can be in a situation like that. My parents were only allowed to visit once a week for one hour. They would bring us whatever we asked for (usually books and favorite stuffed animals).

After 6 weeks at this place, they pulled us into the office. Apparently, they were going to separate us and put us into different foster homes. When word of this got out, several members of our family stepped up and tried to get custody of us. They (meaning the court system) decided that my mom’s sister would be the best for us. So off to her house we went.

My aunt enrolled us into school. I had a hard time adjusting. My aunt lived in a high end area, so the kids had money and let you know it. I was experiencing one of the worst times in my childhood, so I didn’t want much to do with anyone and then the added stress of normal childhood, I was miserable. We still got to see our parents once a week, but now it was for four hours instead of one. I remember going to church with my aunt every Sunday and praying that we could move back home. I wanted to be with my family and friends again.

Thanksgiving came around. I remember going to a cousin’s in-law’s house for dinner. They had two turkeys, therefore two wish bones. With all my heart I asked to move back home. It was all I wanted. Both of them broke in my favor. This was a sign for things to come.

One week before Christmas (to the day) my parents were granted custody of the two of us. While in court it was discovered that the teacher did indeed intend to do harm to our family. She was an evil lady. Unfortunately, we were not the first to suffer her furry, but we were the last. She was fired and band from teaching. That Christmas my parents told me that Santa wasn’t going to be giving me much for Christmas. That year I didn’t care if I got coal. I got the best thing I could have asked for, or so I thought. After all that my sister and I had been though, everyone fighting hard to make sure that we stayed together, I was given one last blow. After the first of the year she wasn’t going to live with us anymore. My parents thought that it would be in her best interest to put her in a home that could “cater to her needs”. I was devastated. My parents kept partial custody of her and she came home and visited on the weekends, but who wants a part time sibling? It was a tough adjustment for both of us.

My mother would not allow me to go back to my original school where all my friends were. I had to start over, yet again. The girls at this school were worse then the last. I was not allowed to sit at the “girls table” so I sat with the boys. Being a tomboy and have gone through what I had, this wasn't an issue. But there is a saying that “to every cloud there is a silver lining.” In my case it came in the form a little girl who was suffering from cancer. You see, my teacher had to home school her because she was too sick to come to school. Everyday I went to my teacher to see how she was doing. I had never met this child, but I had to know that she was doing fine. I think I did this because I understood at a young age what a tragedy she was experiencing. The little girl was able to return to school and the friendship grew, helping each other through our ordeals. To this day she still remains my best friend.

Religion In Public Schools; What Do You Think?

2005-01-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

I got an interesting email today from someone who had nothing but good intentions behind it. This is not the first time I’ve received it, nor will it be the last. It was a forward asking the president to reinstate prayer in school. It’s entitled “Presidential Petition” and goes something like this:

Dear President Bush:

Many of us were deeply touched to hear you recite a portion of Psalm 23 in your address to this great nation in the dark hours following the terrorists attacks. We, the people of America, are requesting that you lift the prohibition of prayer in schools. As the pledge of our great country states, we are to be "One nation, under God." Please allow the prayers and petitions of our children in schools without the threat of punishment.

Currently, adults and children in the schools are prohibited from mentioning God unless, of course, His name is uttered as part of a curse or profanity. II Chronicles 7:14 - If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and PRAY and SEEK My face and turn from their wicked ways, THEN will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and WILL HEAL THEIR LAND!!! (Read that again and again until it gets down in your spirit! This is America's ONLY answer! God is calling us to repentance!)Madalyn Murray O'Hair is dead. Let her legacy of atheism in our schools die with her!

Sincerely,

The People of America!

Mark 10:13-14 "People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

I thought we were a country based on freedom of religion? This means that people have to freedom to worship without persecution. Aren’t we persecuting those that don’t worship “God” by formally allowing prayer in public schools? In all honesty, if you want your child to study religion outside of the home, there are a ton of private schools out there that will accommodate you. “But I can’t afford that!” You say.

Well, where there is a will there is a way! I knew a lot of kids growing up whose parents didn’t make much and were still able to go. See if your state has an assistance program. Many schools will work with you on financing. You also have the option to home school. If these options are not practical and your child absolutely must go to a public school, then check with your church for after-school type programs. Keep public schools neutral. By formally allowing prayer in school, you are starting a new era of segregation; this time in form of religion instead of race.

Now, suppose this petition does pass, whose faith are we going to base the “rules of prayer conduct” on? Everyone has their own customized version on how it should be performed. Who has the “right” version? I’d like a front row seat to see that battle!

The other issue that I have with this email is irrelevant to its content. I received an email the other day asking to add my name to this never ending list of other names and forward it to all my friends (I have received a lot of those too). Have you noticed when reading those that there are no return e-mail addresses to forward the message to after the list is complete? Or even a date that tells you when the project should be completed? Poor little Tommy sent that email for a science project 8 years ago and already won the award and we are still circulating it. The problem is Tommy really isn’t a kid with a science project, but rather some 40 year old guy who feels that he has been wronged by the government. So to extract revenge he is clogging the internet with emails that contain just enough information to make it believable and we being the helpful, loving people we are, forward them on. This also applies to all those chain letters that say something like “you wish will come true in 10 seconds if you forward it to 89 people” or the guilt ridden “if I’m truly your friend, you’ll send it back to me and 20 of your closest friends”.

I have to admit though, that some of those emails are so well written that I do get touched, but then it’s ruined when at the end is attached a note that says “Forward this to everyone in the world…. twice and you will win the lottery!” Let’s be smart and stop the madness!

You Put WHAT, WHERE????

2005-01-26T08:07:00.000-08:00

It has been a whirlwind of excitement in my house lately! My newest story is about my oldest daughter, who is 3. Yesterday, I was in the kitchen fixing lunch when my daughter comes in crying hysterically. "I can't get it out! I can't get it out!" is all I could get out of her. After calming her down, she tells me that she "put something in her nose and now it's stuck." Great! So I take a look and sure enough, she has a flesh colored round object stuck way up in her nostril.

I calmly took her by the hand and told her that I was going to try and get it out. She's happy and smiling at this point! It was was up there and I needed more then a fingernail to get it out. Well, my daughter saw me with the tweezers and was going to have nothing to do with that! Fearing that I may hurt her in the process of removing it, I decided that the cost of the co-pay was well worth the price for removal of this object. I called the pediatrician some-what panicked (my sister did something similar when she was little and it was ugly!), so I was a little put off when the nurse on the other end of the phone was laughing. Putting me on hold, she consulted the doctor to see what I should do. Meanwhile, I started to think about the situation and realize how funny it really was (sometimes you need an outside point of view to bring things into perspective). The nurse comes back (still laughing) and says you need to see an ENT (ears, nose and throat specialist) and your appointment is at 12:45 (it's 11:40 and they are 30 min away).

Hubby had to come home because my car won't start (another story for another time). By the time he got home I had only 40 min to get there. Well, hubby wants to give-it-a-go and try to extract the mysterious object. She was game until he had the tweezers in his hand, so off to the ENT I go.

I called the ENT's office before I left for directions. The lady told me to take this exit, go straight; it's a quarter of a mile down on the right. I take the exit and discover if I go straight it will put me on the highway. I chance it and go left. I proceed 3 miles down the road and catch the building out of the corner of my eye on the LEFT! I checked in 5 minutes late and of course was punished. It took an hour for the doctor to come in and see us. I looked like an idiot because while in the room waiting, we were singing songs, playing games and doing whatever we could to pass the time (and to keep her calm).

The extraction would have gone off without a hitch, but my daughter doesn't like strangers touching her. Well, actually... she doesn't like anyone touching her, but doctors especially because they give shots.... anyway... It took me and 2 nurses to hold her still so the doctor could get that thing out of her nose. Prior to this the doctor asked her what she shoved up there. She said a toy nose. Hmmm... a toy nose? Sure enough, it was a foam nose from a stress ball that is in the shape of a face. This thing was a quarter of an inch in diameter! How it fit, I don't know! But after a lollypop and a sticker, she swore she would never do it again (we'll see)!

Laughter, Tears and Hurt Feelings

2005-01-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

What was supposed to be an insight on my life is has turned into laughter, tears and hurt feelings. During the holidays I experienced some life testing moments. From family visits to "friendly get togethers", it has been a whirlwind of chaos.

I feel I need to make an apology to those that I have hurt with postings I have made on this blog. Namely - my sister-in-law. The statement in question was way too general and led to the wrong conclusion. After reading how harsh that statement was, I deleted it... so I thought. Apparently, there was a step I missed when I was editing and the statement remained untouched. I do feel I need to explain myself, but only to those involved (sorry all you gossip hungry people). I am really sorry for hurting her feelings.

Let me make the point clear, I love my sister-in-law. I think she's intellegent. I think she's fun to talk to and great to have coffee with.

Forgot some!

2005-01-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

You know, there is so much that has happened since the November that I forgot some stuff!

Through school I’ve made many friends that I keep in contact with outside of class. One I actually had the pleasure of meeting face to face. She doesn’t live too far from me and happen to be in the area, so I met up with her and her husband for dinner. We had a great time! It was nice to be an adult for a couple of hours. Too bad I was tired and couldn’t speak. I swear, I had all these thoughts going through my head, but when I tried to speak it wouldn’t come out. It was all I could do to keep from making an idiot of myself. Oh well, so much for first impressions! LOL
During our trip to Cali, my kids wanted to meet a real life fireman. My cousin is the Captain of a Fire Station. My mother made some phone calls and setup a tour of the station. Everyone had a blast! My sister loved sitting in the driver’s seat of the truck! The kids loved talking on the headsets the firemen use to talk to each other when in route to an emergency. Everyone had a great time! It was also great talking and catching up with my cousin. I haven’t seen him for a very long time.

New Year’s was brought in quietly. Since we were all sick (We got the California Crud), we kept it low key. I bought a “party in a box” and a ton of food and Hubby, the kids and I watched movies, played games and just had fun!

This year I have resolved to take better care of my health. After going home, I managed to loose more weight (yea me) and want to keep it up! Happy New Year!

Holidays :)

2004-12-30T21:10:00.000-08:00

OK, it has been quite awhile since I posted last. The trouble is finding the time to sit down and write my thoughts. So here is my update:

For Thanksgiving our friend Steve and his girlfriend Amy came out to visit. Amy and I had a great time being girls. We shopped, and did girl things. It was fun! The guys stayed around and gamed most of the weekend, so they had fun too! The highlight of the trip was taking Amy to the Symphony for the first time. She looked mesmerized by it all!

On to December… my parents both turned 60 this year. I wasn’t able to be there for my dad’s birthday, but bound and determined to be there for my mom’s. So, on December 14th the kids and I flew out to California to be there for the celebration. I should have known that this was going to be a trying trip when my daughter decided to fry my brand new laptop (btw, hubby bought me a laptop for Christmas. He spoils me!) while flying out there. She was mad the Nemo movie was over and it was time to watch something else. Luckily it’s still under warranty. Anyway, so the kids and I fly out there. When we landed, the kids and I trucked our way to pick up our luggage. Since I had a stroller I had to take the elevator. I pick up our luggage and waited for my dad. Now, my dad is notorious for being early for everything. You tell him to be there at 1 pm, he’s there at 12:30. I’m starting to get worried because it’s been 40 min since I landed and no sign of him. So I get out my cell phone and start calling people. Apparently, we kept missing each other – it was almost like a bad episode of Scooby Doo, because they were waiting for me at the escalator instead of the elevator (my fault) and every time I walked outside to find them they were inside looking for me and vise versa. While making the phone calls I managed to stay put long enough to finally cross paths. We made it home safe and sound and managed to get In-N-Out Burgers on the way.

My poor dad spent the rest of the week chauffeuring me around. We went to the beach one day. It was beautiful out. The sun was shining, 80 degrees out and not a cloud in the sky. They only problem - it was a little windy. Since we weren’t going to swim, we opted for this area near the jetties. There’s a nice beach there and choice seashell hunting. Well, the waves were a little rough, but not overwhelming. My oldest daughter and son go seashell hunting. The tide started to come in and the kids get a little wet – no biggie. Well a big wave comes in a knocks my daughter over. I run over to help her up and another wave comes in and starts to sweep her away! My heart leapt and I jumped in after her! Apparently there was a wicked undertow. I dived in (yes I dived), grabbed her quick and brought her to safety. What’s really funny about all of this: I had a bunch of shells in my hand and didn’t loose or break a single shell! I didn’t realize I still had them in my hand, until I felt a sharp pain. I don’t know why I help onto them either… weird.

That Friday was my mom’s birthday. We went out to dinner with some close friends of hers and my father’s. So, it was a quiet and uneventful night! On Sunday was her party. Once a month my parents and a group of friends go out to dinner at this restaurant to celebrate whoever has a birthday that month. Apparently, I was the outsider; welcomed to join only because I was family. I’ve known these people all my life, so I was a little offended when I was asked to move seats because I was sitting in someone’s “special spot”. This is a Denny’s-type restaurant! Excuse me for trying to be social and talk and catch up with everyone! I was told that I had to sit at the end of this long table and there was no one around to talk to. Feeling a little spiteful, I encouraged my kids to act up by giving them sugared sodas and candy. Do you think I tried to stop them when they got up and ran around (it was a private room)? Nope! They were laughing, screaming and having a good time. Keep in mind, my kids are well behaved. I can take them just about anywhere and they will mind and be good. I get complements all the time about this, but this was war, LOL. I would not react this way to being snubbed, and just chalk it off as their loss, but after the treatment I got from these people, I had to give them something to talk about for the next dinner. :P

My sister came home on the 19th. It was a lot of fun having her there. On the first night she was home we had a slumber party. We watched movies, ate popcorn and laughed all night! Sisters! I swear! Heehee! She was nice enough to help me with my baking. I had a lot to do! I made dessert baskets for everyone as gifts.

Not all of my trip was bad though. My family (aunts, uncles and cousins) made it a point to come see me and I went to visit them. We all laughed, joked and talked. It was really nice! My oldest daughter and my cousin’s daughter are the same age (3) and hit it off instantly! Whenever they were together they never left each others side! If one was crying or mad, the other was there comforting. When they said good-bye they gave each other a hug and kiss. It was adorable!

Hubby joined us on the 22nd. He was my saving grace in all of this insanity. Not only was he there for me emotionally, he brought his Xbox which saved my insanity. The kids played for hours at a time! Yeah!!!!

Christmas was great! The kids were spoiled! I think they got everything they asked for… and we had to carry it all back! Oh well. My mom hosted the traditional feast that I ended up cooking. Christmas Eve was spent at my aunt's house. So it was a nice holiday surrounded by family and love.

Our plane trip back was uneventful, with the exception that my brand new stroller is in Phoenix, AZ waiting for someone to claim it at the gate. Grrrrrr… Well, you win some and you lose some…

hope you had a great holiday! Have a fun and safe New Year!

Time is all relative, right?

2004-11-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

Life is a little wild at the moment. I have so much going on that I've had to start giving stuff up. Despite my best effort, my husband said I couldn't give up house work and laundry so instead I gave up some games I played online and TV time.

This past weekend I felt like I partied all weekend! Hubby took me out for a nice dinner. We ate at the Aquarium. For those of you who haven't eaten there, it's a restaurant with a 9000 gallon tank in the middle. It is full of sharks, fish, and even an eel (eww... I'm not a big fan of eels!). After dinner, we went home and did our homework... Oh well, I got a little romance at least! Saturday my in-laws went with us to the Zoo. It was a little disappointing. They had tons of candy for the kids, but most of the zoo was blocked off. Thankfully we have a membership or else I would have been upset that I paid money to get in. Thankfully the in-laws were with us because it was crowded and it honestly took 4 of us to handle 3 kids! On Sunday we went to my hubby's Aunt's church for a carnival they were throwing. The kids got tons of candy again, but I felt really uncomfortable at the Q & A table. I think those little old ladies had it out for us because they were asking question that I don't think God himself knew the answers to. That night we went to his Aunt's house for Chili and then over to his father's to do a little trick or treating. Needless to say, we were busy!

I started Yoga on Sunday. Yes, I'm learning how to fold myself into a pretzel! It's actually fun and relaxing. I think I finally found something I can stick with! Why Yoga you ask? Well a few things played into it. My doctor just told me recently that I may be Diabetic. With a father who is and a few other members outside my immediate family who are Diabetic also, I'm not taking this lightly. I'm currently going through testing, and I will keep you posted as I find out information. So... exercise is important. Also a friend of mine is taking yoga classes and without knowing it, he talked me into trying it. Thanks Woal (he does it for all the hotties in the class though (; )!
I'm in the last week of Management Accounting and it is going well. I still have an "A". We have a week off after this class. I need it!

I'm really excited! We're going to California for Christmas! I can't wait! I haven't been home for two years and the last time wasn't under the best of circumstances, so it will be nice to relax and actually visit with everyone (my father had a double aneurysm in his brain and walked away almost unharmed! Tough blood in my family!)!

As you already know, next year we are moving to VA. I've started preparing for that. I've been getting rid of clothes and boxing up stuff to sell at the Garage Sale and e-bay. I want minimum stuff taken with us. I've been finding stuff that I thought I got rid of a long time ago! oh well!
OK, I've talked your ear off long enough! I'll post more later!

Happiness in blunders

2004-10-05T23:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry if I scared any of you with some of these past postings. Perhaps I could have said things a bit better. Sometimes you just have to get things off your chest!
Life has been pretty blasé for the most part around here. I think my father-in-law is going to skin us alive when he gets back into the country. You see, he's in the reserves and was deployed for 30 days. Before he left, he asked us if we would pick up his car from the airport. This has worked out well in the past so it was no problem. Well, during the time frame he left Hubby and I had a lot going on. We had school, work, job interviews and kids to deal with. The thought never occurred to us to pick up his car until we received an e-mail reminding us to drop it of. Normally, he sends us an e-mail to tell us where he parked. He didn't do that this time. So, there his car sat for over 30 days at $10 a day. He took the news of our blunder rather well. As he jokingly replied, he's going to have to re-mortgage his home to pay for the parking.
Other interesting tidbits that's been happening in our little, mundane world is we had some unexpected visitors stay with us for a couple of days. It truly was a lot of fun. A friend of my hubby's from Okinawa (pre-madam) was passing through with his family. He has 3 adorable little girls. His wife is awesome and we hit it off! It was really nice to spend time with people who have kids (especially when our kids and their kids are about the same age). I made a true southern meal on the first night and before they left on the second day, managed to stuff a lasagna in them. The wife (name's are always withheld) wanted to try out this new garlic bread recipe she had. OMG, was it good! I had to copy down that one! It had no butter, but made with garlic, parm cheese, mayo and whipping cream.
The kids got along really well. 6 kids running and screaming! It was chaos! I loved it! I think the funniest moment was when Hubby and his friend came out of my son's room after the kids had gone to bed. My son is 6 and his daughter is 5. They wanted to sleep in the same room. Both sets of parents agreed that it would be ok. My son slept on the floor and the girl slept on his bed. Well, they were being kids and started to get loud. So, Hubby and friend go check on the two of them. Friend comes out of the room with a rather pale look to his face, looking slightly disturbed. Apparently, my son climbed into bed with the daughter. Mind you, nothing happened, just two kids sharing a bed. But, the sight of his daughter in bed with a boy was not one that he was prepared to see yet. Heehee

Here's an update: My son got back his GameCube! It took a miracle but he got back all of the books! I passed my accounting class with an "A". Now, I'm embarking of the wonderful world of Financial Management. Considering who is in my class, this ought to be my funnest class yet (yes I know, 'funnest' isn't a word)! More on that later...

stress

2004-09-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a week this has been! Between group projects at school and my son’s fundraiser tuning into a disaster, I’d have to say I’ve had my fair share of stress! My son’s story I can laugh at now, but if you asked me when it happened I probably would have exploded. Here’s the scoop; my son had a fundraiser at school to sell these discount books for $20 a piece. He sold 5 of them. When the day came for delivery, he didn’t understand that people had PAID for these books and gave all but one away! I was livid! I could not understand how an intelligent boy like him could have done something so stupid! Currently we have recovered two of the books and are still working on the other two. Don’t be surprised if you see his Game Cube on E-Bay to recover those costs (tough love)!
My hubby and I both had group projects at school this past week. It’s extremely stressful! My group was having issues from the get-go. It started off that our group leader had a death in the family. Being the wonderful person that she is, she somehow managed to get all of her portion of the project submitted before she left. Bless her heart! So, someone else decided that she’s step up to the plate and be GL. No problem. She had stated how she wanted to do the project and when she wanted everything in by. Again, no problem…. Until I noticed that her method was not the most efficient so I suggested another way. I even used those words 'suggestion'. This bent her all out of shape. For the rest of the week I got verbally punched at. Since this was getting out of hand, I wrote a message and apologized for the misunderstanding and explained that it was never my intention to “step on her toes” and that since we are a group, I was merely suggesting another way to do the project. BTW, I did do it the way she asked since she was writing the paper. The final straw was when she responded with this: “Madam (named change to protect the innocent), my request was, once again, to make observations on one of the three possible combinations of concepts… Just as you realized would be the best game plan on your own.” What??? Once again? Realized on my own? I was being a team player! I did it her way in the timeframe she asked! Why is she bringing this up 3 days later? So my response was this: “Please explain this comment: ‘Just as you realized would be the best game plan on your own.’ I'm not sure where you were going with that, but honestly, it sounded like a cheap shot.” And then continued with this: “As group leader you are suppose to handle yourself in a more professional manner. Inappropriate comments do not present yourself in such a way. Please use discretion when choosing your words.” BTW, she also continued to go on and say that the way that everyone had written their papers, it was very difficult for her to write it and needed help! So wait, my method would have been better? Grrr.

Another Rant

2004-09-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

I noticed something about the American culture today. We are extremely resistant to change. Take these new diet fads. It seams like everyone is on the low carb diet. Instead of changing their habits, they make everything and everyone change around them. They trade in those tasty burgers and pastas for bun-less burgers and reduced carb pasta. Some are less willing to part ways with bread and have resorted to the low carb options of dry, tasteless, sliced bread and tortillas. YUCK! Whatever happened to portion control? Personally, I have fallen back on a classic; a low fat, 1200 calorie diet that includes at least 20 minutes of exercise a day. Believe it or not, it works! I started it about 2 weeks ago and have lost 6 lbs. My goal for the first month is 10 lbs and then 2 lbs a week after that. No pills, no reduced carbs, just healthy eating and exercise.
To be honest, I’m scared to death to try any other methods. I keep hearing rumors about how once you are off the Adkins diet; you put all your weight back on. But people still want to give it a go. What about the fact that Dr. Adkins died of heart failure? What caused this… too much meat? It’s rumored that he weighed 258 lbs at the time of his death! The family claims the he weighed 200 lbs before his accident, but that happened on April 10th, right? He died on the 17th, so in 7 days he gained almost 60 lbs? Anyone remember Mark Hughes, the founder of Herbalife? He died at the age of 44. His death was ruled as accidental, but doesn’t that make you raise an eyebrow? His products contained ephedrine, which has been linked to cardiac arrests, strokes and deaths by the Food and Drug Administration. He was also sued by the State of California for not listing the ephedrine on all of their product labels.
OK, so I went off the deep end a little, but you get my point. Instead of going to these extremes to lose weight, try something that is tried, true and doctor recommended.

Here’s where I got my information from. You can read these and decide for yourself.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/04/10/atkins.hospital.reut/

http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/10/atkins.widow/

http://www.rickross.com/reference/herbalife/herbalife9.html

http://www.rickross.com/reference/herbalife/herbalife8.html

Blah, Blah, Normal

2004-08-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I've just finished a much deserved 2 weeks off from school. I didn't do much. Went to the zoo with the kids, picnic'd at the lake, yadda, yadda, yadda. Like I said, I didn't do much. It was fun playing with the kids though. :)
I know I've been saying this for awhile now, but I really mean it this time. I'm going back to work. I love my kids, but I need more adult interaction. When Hubby stubbs his toe and your response is "aww, did you get a Boo-Boo?" and mean it, it's time to get out of the house. I don't want a job that requires a lot of thought because of school and family, so I'm going to go with what I know and apply for admin-type positions. Wish me luck! :)
This new class I'm starting look like it should be much easier then my last. It's Accounting Management. It looks like I have a good instructor.
I'm looking forward to the class. Well, that's all for the moment. I'll try and post more interesting content soon!

Whew! It's over!

2004-08-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

My hell is over with. Sadistics (Statistic for those of you who enjoy that type of torture) is done and I barley scrapped a “B” out of it. I'm happy with the grade, but my perfectionist ways are trying to get the best of me. I keep wondering what I could have done to get an “A”. Obsessive, I know.
I have done more laundry over the past two days then I care to admit and still have more to go. Kids go through clothes like tissue! Hubby was really sweet last night. I had also given the cat a bath so the tub needed scrubbing. He volunteered to make it sparkle so I could take a nice hot bath! How nice it was! I took one of my favorite books with me (Where the heart is, by Billie Letts) and soaked through 11 chapters! It wasn’t until I noticed the water getting cold that I realized how long I’d been in there. The book was too good to put down and what’s really bad is that I’ve read it before, so it wasn’t like I didn’t know what was going to happen! I’ve been so busy with school, that I forgot how much I enjoy personal reading time!
My oldest started back to school this week. It’s amazing how quickly they grow up. I’m confident that he has a good teacher this year. When I walked him to class, several parents and students who had her in the past were fighting their way into the classroom to say hello. I can’t get over how smart he is either. Watch out world! Proud mom on the loose!

Here goes nothing...

2004-08-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

Hello - For those who know me Hiya, for those who don't, enter at your own risk. I can't promise that all of these posts will make sense, but I will do my best to make them as clear as possible (wish me luck with that).
here's my load down: I'm a 29 year old wife, student and mom of 3. It leaves me very little time to myself, so I try to make the best of what I do have.
I feel like a pioneer. I'm going to school online. I love it just as much as I hate it. The classes are 5 weeks long. There are no tests, but lots of homework. It is very flexible with my schedule. If I can't make it to class I can log in later and see the whole discussion (it's also great for those times when I don't understand what they are talking about). I am a business major with a focus on HR. Yes folks, that's right! I'm training to be the enemy! :p
Right now I'm taking a class in Statistics. I've figured out that this is what hell is and I want out! Statistic is hard on its own and for some reason I thought it would be OK to take in 5 weeks. After all, I aced Econ, why would statistics be any different, right? WRONG!!! Those formulas look like some cryptic writing from outer space! I swear whoever thought of this had taken one to many bites from the scooby snacks!
This week is Group project week. This is where 5 random students from the same class are thrown together and forced to work out a problem together. I have to say that I do have a good group. We play quite nicely together. Our problem that we have to work out is taking us each out, one by one. It's horrid! But enough on that (unless you know how to run a test on a two tailed hypothesis, then I would be quite interested in hearing from you!).
Today was Hubby's Company picnic. It was fun, but I spent most of my time chasing after the kids while Hubby played ball (not his fault, company politics). His team kicked ass and he scored the winning run in the final game! So his team won First and he got a nice gold metal! LOL! Now, Let me back it up a bit. I met up with Hubby at work so we could go together. Prior to leaving I had everything gathered up and got the kids out the door. On my way to his office I noticed that EVERY SLOW DRIVER IN NASHVILLE IS ON THE ROAD!!!! What normally took 20 min took over 30. The traffic wasn't heavy, I can't figure it out. Well, we arrive at the picnic and as we are getting out of the car he askes "do you have your tickets"? HUH??? TICKETS!!!! FREAK!!! I LEFT THEM ON THE BAR BACK HOME!!! Hubby's team is up first, so I leave him there and drive home to encounter more slow-ass drivers! That is one of my biggest pet-peeves on the road. What should have taken me 20 min, took me another 30 min. So I get home, grab the tickets and head out. Here is proof that God has a since on humor and she really does like me (you only joke with the ones you love), On my way back I get behind a slow driver on a one lane road. By this point I'm starting to break. Patience is wearing thin. What should happen? A train, yes that's right, a train! So now, I'm behind a slow driver (who was talking on the phone) waiting for a train to pass and there is nothing I can do about it. Finally, I start yelling! What else can I do? Being a native Californian, I'm scared to tap on the drivers window and ask them to stop talking and start driving because I don't want to get shot! The kids are blown away because they have never heard mom blow up like that before and start yelling at me to keep it down (I had to laugh at that. They were right, I needed to calm down). I was able to get around that person at some point and fight my way to the stadium an watch Hubby's game. I'm glad those only come around once a year!
Well, that's all for the moment. I will post again soon and I promise that I will try and make it shorter!