Life with three boys...

Soo...

2010-08-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

This blog is so neglected. It's weird. I went from blogging daily on xanga, to here where I blogged consistently at first. Then myspace, now facebook. I did blog on myspace, but I don't on facebook. I guess I just don't really have the urge or drive to write much anymore. I barely even update my facebook anymore. I think some of that is because I have too many co-workers added as friends.

Well, what's new?

* School (for me) starts up again next week. I have this semester and next semester before I graduate in April with my 4 year Accounting degree.

* School for Todd Jr and Luc starts Sept. 7th. Luc is starting 2nd grade at his first year in an Emotionally Impaired class. Todd Jr is starting 6th grade.

* Todd Jr is 10 (11 in October) and he has a summer job working with a friend of mine at her produce stand and out in the fields with her boyfriend picking the produce and doing anything else that needs to be done.

* Luc is 6 (7 in October) and he is going to have ear surgery soon to repair a ruptured eardrum. He has had numerous ear infections throughout his life and he had tubes in his ears at a year old. The past few summers, he has gotten really bad infections in his ears after swimming that caused his eardrums to rupture. Every time that happens, the tissue that grows over to heal the hole gets thinner and thinner. This time, the hole is very large and the surrounding tissue is just too little to repair itself. He meets with the surgeon on Thursday (August 19th) for the consultation.

* Benny is 3. He is so smart and so active! He loves super heroes and dressing up as them. He has a Super Why cape and mask, and he has a new Batman mask that he wears every second of the day if allowed.

* Todd is good. He is getting back into playing out and he is trying to get into another band.

* Work (for me) is going okay. I don't too much like my job, but it is rather easy and it beats having to invest the time it would take to find a new one. Especially since I will be done with college in 9 months, and will then be looking for a professional job in the accounting field. I am sick of retail work, but it is convenient so I guess I'll stick with it until I finish school. I'll have my 2 year anniversary with this company in October.

* I am, yet again, trying to lose weight. As of last Monday, I had lost 5.5 pounds, and I feel good about this week. I will weigh in again on Monday morning.

Will I update again soon? Not likely. You never know though!

Long time, huh?

2010-02-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

Yeah. I sign in daily to read the blogs I follow, but I never have much to post about. Todd has to see the urologist again in a few months to see what the changes look like. Luc has been in therapy since September. He just started taking Intuniv last week. He is on 1 mg and it does seem to be doing what we were hoping for. He has been doing better (behavior-wise) at school since the therapy was started. He started going to special education classes since his last IEP meeting, and his teachers are positive about how the medication is affecting his behavior.
I am nearing the middle of my first semester at Northwood. It is hard, and I wonder if quitting is worth it sometimes. I will get through it, but it is a challenge.

2009-10-01T10:06:00.001-07:00

So, Luc is now going to weekly therapy sessions and still being evaluated by his school. On top of all of that drama last week, this is the week of drama for Todd (jr). Last Friday, we let both Todd and Luc spend the night at Grandma's house. They came home on Saturday afternoon. That evening, Todd went to the bathroom and kept yelling for me to come in there. The nice mom that I am, I kept saying "Why???" By the time I finally got in there, he was mad at me. He wanted to show me the blood in his urine. Eeew. But, seriously blood in his urine. Not like slightly pink, red.
So, I was unsure of what to do about it. Todd (sr) and I talked about it and decided to wait to see how it was the next time before racing to the ER. The next time, it was the same. He peed normally and then at the end bright red drops of blood. He wasn't in any pain, he hadn't been tackled or anything else that brought internal injury to mind, so we decided to wait until Monday and go to the pediatrician unless something else happened that seemed worse.
We took him in on Monday, but by then the blood had not been seen again since Sunday. He had a few urinalyses done and lab work. We went for a kidney/bladder ultrasound on Tuesday. The blood work came back normal, and the first urinalysis showed blood in his urine. The results of the second urinalysis haven't been called in yet. The ultrasound showed thickening of his bladder walls. So, now I am waiting for a return call to set us up with an appointment with a urologist. He will be 10 in two days. Isn't that a bit young to be seeing a urologist? I mean, I'll take him anywhere to find out what's wrong, but I did a google search just to see what the possibilities are and the only results are involving older men or women who had recent hysterectomies. WTF??

The latest

2009-09-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

So, today I took Luc to the therapist. I haven't written about what's been going on with him, but he's been having lots of trouble at school (suspended once already within the first week of school) and the school asked me for permission to have a behavioral analysis on him to see if he qualifies for special education services. They said that they were concerned that he has ADD/ADHD and/or Asperger's Syndrome. My immediate reaction to Asperger's Syndrome was "no way, not Luc". I have seen other children with Asperger's and I seriously doubt that he has that. As far as ADD, I knew that was a serious possibility, but I didn't think he would have ADHD. So, I took him to an outside therapist on my own to see what another opinion would be. Today he was diagnosed with ADHD, dysthymia, and over-anxious disorder of childhood.
I feel sad. I also feel like a jerk that I have seen his sadness and his worry but put it all off as "that's just Luc". He's always been this way, so serious and sad. Always.
Now I feel like I should have known that it wasn't normal. Todd says he isn't surprised, but I am. I wish I didn't feel so guilty. I mean, he knows we love him, but I feel like I failed him.

2009-08-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

I feel like I rarely have anything to say, but I guess I'm the only one who reads this anyways, so no real reason to hurry with updates.

Summer has been pretty good. Well, except Shirley getting sick and dying. The garden has been awesome, and I am already making plans for next year. I need a lot more space than I had this year. Everything is growing into everything else. I have two pepper plants that are completely in the darkness of looming tomato plants. I bought some teeny, tiny mums at WalMart on clearance for $.50 each. I built a flower bed just for them, and planted them a while ago. They were small, scrawny, and I just wasn't sure what would happen with them. They are doing great! They are getting bigger and bigger and I know they will have flowers this year. The peonies and hostas I planted may be a whole other situation. I am not holding out much hope for any of them. Which is sad, because I really was looking forward to having them.

We are preparing for back to school. I bought all of the school clothes a week ago. Luc still needs socks. Todd needs a backpack. They both need shoes. That's it. We even started new bedtimes last night, even though school doesn't start for another month. I was saying today that we should probably consider new bed times starting next week, but Todd told me he already started new bed times a few nights ago. I guess when I work evenings and then have homework the evenings that I am home, I just don't know what's going on.

I'm getting prepared for school again in the fall myself; even though I'm not yet done with the summer class I'm taking. It sure is going to be nice when I finally have the degree I'm working for and can be done with school. It's been so long now, though, that I don't know if I will be able to function without some type of learning. Seriously.

Lazy summertime, but getting a lot done at the same time.

2009-07-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

How weird is that? I watched tv for about two hours today, yet I still cleaned out the junk drawer, the boys color book cupboard, the shelf above the kitchen sink, the canned goods cupboard, the kid dishes cupboard, the snack cupboard, the top of the refrigerator, and the bulletin board area of the kitchen. AND I cleaned up the garage, cleaned the cement with the push broom, and watered the mums, onions, and the peonies that I hope decide to grow next year. Whew! that was a lot to type! The junk drawer and the coloring book cupboard took the most time. There was so much stuff shoved under there that just didn't belong! I have another box full of stuff for our someday garage sale, and a whole pile of papers that went into the recycling bin.
I use a lot of coupons. I mean, A LOT. I will buy any condiment if it's on sale and I have a coupon that makes it $.50 or less. I should take a picture of the condiment shelf I made today in my garage. My cupboard was so full I couldn't tell what was in there. I have 13 bottles of bbq sauce. Seriously. 5 containers of Miracle Whip. 5 bottles of mustard.
I have a lot of boxed stuff, too, like macaroni and cheese, Hamburger Helper, stuffing, and boxes of noodles. I wanted to organize that stuff a little, but I couldn't make a shelf in the garage because we could get mice or squirrels or spiders or whatever in there. Our garage kinda sucks. So I moved all of the kid's little plastic plates and cups into the cupboard with all of the adult dishes, and moved the extra boxed stuff onto that shelf. I am really happy with how I can see what we have now.
I did a lot of organizing, too. The top of the refrigerator has been a place that everything is thrown. There were about 6 different chargers for various cell phones, camcorders, whatever just thrown in a pile up there, so I wrapped them all and put twisty-ties around them and put them all in a little box in the cabinet with batteries and extra stuff.
I have a 500 word article review due tonight at midnight and I haven't even found a topic much less an article yet. I really should, but I think I may be putting it off until tomorrow. I started my period today, and I feel awful. I never feel like this. I am crampy and grumpy, and all I want is to eat ice cream and chips and onion dip (separately of course) and sit in the recliner watching Clean House. NO KIDS ALLOWED! But of course, that isn't how it is. I'm sitting at the kitchen table with the breeze blowing in the kitchen window, typing on my laptop.
Hope you all have a good night, I think it's going to be an early one here.

I have veggies!!

2009-07-12T19:30:00.001-07:00

My garden is exploding!

2009-06-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here are the tomatoes.

See the green pepper in there?

My cucumbers are climbing right out of the garden! I had to dig out the chives and transfer them to the area under my living room window because the cucumber vines were strangling them. They have lots of flowers, too!

My single pumpkin plant has a flower! A few more are forming, but they aren't open yet.

The tomatoes are getting big!

Here is a side-view. I'm so glad we decided to do this this year! I'm excited about it!

I even decided to put in a flower bed next to our shitty old garage. We bought some perennial ivy plants because we want to have ivy climb up and cover the wall. (We have siding on the rest of the house and garage, just not this side wall.) After getting the ivy, I had to put in a bed because it's all cement there. Once I built the bed and added the dirt and the ivy, it needed more. Petunias are so pretty, so I bought a flat, and I LOVE IT!! (If you click on the picture, it will enlarge and you can see the ivy better.)

Benny got a new chair for outside, but decided to bring it inside and sit in it ALL the time.

And Todd got...
an EARRING!!!

2009-06-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

My tomatoes!!

I've been working on this. I put patio blocks around the garden, and I planted the bean sprouts and banana peppers and a pumpkin.

Luc lost his first tooth!

Todd caught a fish.

Luc caught his first fish.

Todd enjoyed fishing so much, that he kept at it when everyone else was ready to go.

My tomatoes!!

2009-05-28T09:15:00.001-07:00

So here is one of the cute little green tomatoes! I took a pic of the other one, but it was too close and blurry.

Here is my pepper plant that has the first flower.

Here are the cucumber plants in front of the peppers and tomatoes.

And this is a big stinky bush that I HATE, but Todd insists we keep. It is so big! I drive a Suburban. You can barely see it behind this monster.

2009-05-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

So, I gave my speech. I am not a public speaker. I get so nervous, I feel like my heart is going to explode. So, I got through it (just barely) and got a 90%. Not great, but not bad.
I came home, and guess what I found? Two of my tomato plants each have one little perfect green tomato! Those little tomatoes made me so happy! I take a walk over to my garden whenever I come home; just to take a look. Today and last night, we've had a lot of rain, and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. I noticed the flowers were on the tomato plants even before I planted them. Today, I looked closer, and saw two shiny green tomatoes!!! My pepper plants are getting tall and looking so healthy. The cucumbers are low and getting kind of spiky. The chive onions look good, too. So, I'm happy.

I need a topic

2009-05-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

I have to give a speech on Wednesday. I have to introduce a (hypothetical) speaker. I can choose anyone; real, dead, fictional. Any thoughts on who I should pick? I hate having to narrow things down like this. It would be so much easier just to be assigned someone to introduce.

It's... Planting Day!!!

2009-05-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

And we're done. Mostly. I've decided that I want to add some beans, so I bought the seeds, but I'm going to start them in small pots inside and plant them in a week or two. I have 1 Burpless Cucumber (just to see if they really are better), 5 Marketmore 76 cucumbers, 3 Health Kick tomatoes, 3 Cherry tomatoes, 4 onion chives, and 5 California Wonder Sweet Peppers.
It's amazing how much soil I needed! I used 8 40 lb. bags of topsoil, 3 40 lb. bags of Miracle Gro potting soil, and 1 40 lb. bag of Scott's garden soil. That's a lot of dirt! And the garden is pretty full, so by the time I'm ready to transplant the beans I'm getting ready to sprout, I'll need to dig another section to add next to the garden which will need garden soil, too!
Wanna see what we did? Sure you do...
I have two different angles, and one from far away because it looks small up close. (You can see larger pics if you click on the pic.)

Outside a lot!

2009-05-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have been outside so much in the past few days! Benny is loving it! I have my garden dug, but I think I will be making it bigger either tonight or tomorrow. I have Miracle Gro soil to add with the regular soil. I'll mix it in together in the plot I dug out and then tomorrow is the big "Planting Day"!
We used to have two garages. We have an attached garage and when we bought the house there was a second one car garage about 2.5 feet away from the attached garage. It was a mess and the roof was falling in. Years ago, maybe 7? Todd and some friends tore it down. It had a cement floor, so we have a nice sized cement slab next to the garage where the boys can ride their scooters or skateboards. I decided to dig up the dirt between the garage and the cement slab and I wanted to plant some sunflower seeds in that strip. I went out with my shovel to pull out the weeds and the small rocks and just turn over the dirt. It's all cement! It had about 2-3 inches of dirt on top of cement! Crazy! We've lived here for 11 years and I didn't know that!
So, now I'm considering putting in a little garden box on top of the cement and still growing sunflowers in it with some mulch and a nice little wooden border. We'll see. I dug all of the dirt and weeds off the cement earlier.
Benny will be 2 in a little less than two weeks. Today I plan on starting the birthday shopping. I'm thinking outside toys like a little wheelbarrow.
The boys' school year is almost ending! June 8th is their last day. Todd is almost done with 4th grade and Luc is finishing Kindergarten. I feel old, and these white hairs aren't helping.
You know what I hate! I hate how Luc's name is always underlined in red when I type it as though it is spelled wrong!! It is SO ANNOYING!!

Dug up the garden

2009-05-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

I made a garden today. Kinda. I think it will need to be bigger. All I really did was dig out the top part with the grass and chop up the earth underneath. It doesn't look very big, but I'd say it's almost 4 feet wide and at least 5 feet long. It's supposed to freeze tonight, so I'm glad I wasn't ready to plant my veggies yet. I'm going to go out and buy some good garden dirt in the next few days. Then I'll mix it all up and plant my stuff. I'm happy about this. It's going to be fun!

Here are my plants. They are spending the night in the kitchen since it's supposed to be low thirties tonight.

And Luc learned how to climb a tree! He only got about 3 feet off the ground, but he was so proud!

Spring time

2009-05-14T10:55:00.001-07:00

So, it's spring. New classes (of course I have to mention school up front, right?), and new ways of life. This year anyway. I have really been thinking about the things I do in my life and how it might (or might not) affect others.
So, I've stopped using plastic grocery bags. I now have 12 reusable grocery bags made from recycled cloth. It was kind of hard at first to remember to take those bags into the store with me. Then, whenever I forgot them, I just told the cashier I didn't want a bag and had to to carry my things out. I quickly started to remember them. Also, Kroger gives you a 5 cent rebate on your purchase for every bag you bring in yourself! When I go grocery shopping, I buy a lot. I have three kids, a husband, and a dog to buy for; those 12 bags are handy.
I've also started recycling. I have considered it before, but where I live there is no pick up for recyclable items. So, I've looked into what is allowed and what isn't allowed. I have four bins in my garage and we put all of the recyclable things in those bins and once a week we drive to the recycling center to drop it all off. I went from having three full trash cans of trash a week, to one that isn't even full! Now, if Benny would just become fully potty-trained, we could cut down even less.
I've also started buying more recycled things. Specifically toilet paper, paper towel,, paper, and aluminum foil. It might cost a little more, but it makes me feel good.
I have been a coupon freak lately! I am saving so much money. Kroger doubles coupons up to $1, and for a while KMart was doubling up to $2. I won't have to buy shampoo or toothpaste for at least a year!
The final new thing that I've been doing to change our lives (haha, that sounds so silly, but it is at least partially true) is I'm starting a garden. This isn't like last year when I was like "I'm starting a garden". This is me going out yesterday and buying 24 3.5 inch potted plants to get it started. I had Todd and Jason out in our yard a few days ago. They cut down two trees and a bunch of branches that were in my way. I dug out two old stumps yesterday. This weekend, Todd and I are going to get an area ready, dig it up and put some topsoil in, plant our garden, and put a cute little edging fence around it. If that doesn't keep these monsters, I mean kids, out, I will buy razor wire. Or maybe just keep a better eye on them. We'll see.

Help??

2009-04-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

I am looking for a book I need. I have looked on ebay and other sites like amazon, a1books, dualj, and half.com, but I'm not finding what I need at a price that I like. I did find what I wanted on ebay and I did bin, but when I got it, it was the wrong book. (I don't know all of the ebay rules, but I think it is wrong to list the ISBN number of a different book, and then farther down in the listing say it isn't that book.) Anyways, this is the book I'm looking for. I did find one auction on ebay that's at $40, and another copy on half.com that's $59.99. The biggest problem I'm finding is that a lot of the books are international copies, or instructor's editions. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

It's all come down to.....

2009-04-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

this...
I have gray hair. Just a few minutes ago, I found the 6th gray hair on my head. SIXTH! I'm only 26. This is bull shit. I am going to have to start dying my hair if it keeps up like this. Todd says it's not a big deal, and I mean, yeah it could be worse. I don't want to get old. Even more, I don't want to look old. This sucks.

2009-04-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

I swear all I ever post about online is school. Apparently that's all I have on my mind. Ever. So, I got an email about two weeks ago saying that my financial aid for the spring semester was denied. I resolved myself to trying to think positively about having the summer off even though I was pretty disappointed. This morning, I got a second email telling me how much my student loan was approved for. AFTER I canceled all of the classes I was signed up for. Nice.
Easter was nice. The boys got small Easter buckets instead of big baskets. They got some candy, but no toys this year. I think for not being religious people we should scale back on Easter.
Todd shaved his head again. He had been growing his hair out since January because I wanted him to. It was getting too crazy, so he shaved it off again. I'm getting used to it again, but I really liked it longer.
I have to leave for class in a few. I've been waiting around for the mail to get here, but I guess it'll come a few minutes after I'm gone.
I've been reading Fast Food Nation for my business ethics class. Pretty interesting.

P90X Day 4

2009-03-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

Todd and I started P90X together this past Monday, so today is day 4. He already wussed out of today's workout because it was stupid yoga. I know it's kind of stupid, but it was a lot of work, and I sweat a lot, so that has to be good, right? I've already lost 2.5 pounds in these first few days. I'm a little sore and tired, but otherwise feel pretty great. I feel extra fat doing some of the yoga moves, though. It's a lot harder to do them when I have a lot of extra stuff in the way. I can't wait until I'm smaller and I'm able to do these things properly.
One of the weird things about this program, is that I'm not really very hungry. I follow the diet guidelines and I'm eating more food than I would have thought to eat on a diet. I eat every few ours and I'm hungry, but not hungry like I was before. Before I was REALLY hungry a lot more often. Now, I'm kinda hungry. It's more a feeling like I know I should eat, more than actual hunger.
Not a lot new going on besides the workout program. One of my classes ended and I passed with 99%. Another class ends in two weeks and I'm sure I'll get an A in that class as well. I have three more classes that run through the end of April. Two I know I'll pass with an A, well one might be a B, but I'm striving for the A. The third class, though, I am really worried about. I have to pass with a C and I just don't know if I can. I am seriously considering dropping it and taking it in the fall semester with a few easier classes. The sad thing is, if I do that, I will be postponing my graduation from May until December. I have been really looking forward to graduating in two months. Kinda sad about this whole thing, but I just can't get up the motivation to really get into this subject. It's tough.

Busy as ever...

2009-02-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

Five classes to keep up with and all that... You know how it is... and... We got a bigger bed a few weeks ago, so I'll admit I've been spending a lot more time in bed. I've watched more movies lately than I have in a while. I finally got to see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I wanted to see it for so long. It was pretty good. I'm glad I finally got to see it.
I don't even have much to post about today, but I figure it's been long enough to warrant an update.
Valentine's Day was Todd and my 7 year wedding anniversary. It was a nice day. He surprised me with some Valentine's gifts that I didn't expect. I was supposed to work that day, so he left them in the truck to surprise me and give me a good start to my work day. I ended up calling in sick instead. In my defense, I was kind of sick to start with, but I felt better after a little while. We actually took the boys and went and visited with my mom. We never really go there since it is a bit of a drive. It was okay. The visit wasn't too bad and the drive was pretty nice. Then, Todd and I took another drive today. We drove about 40 miles away. Not a long drive, but it was kind of relaxing and nice.

197.5

2009-01-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

I just tried to sign in to type a new post. It took me about five minutes, and I was getting pissed off. Apparently my email address that I know I use for this site, was not a registered username. It was to the point that I went to my email account in all of my old emails that confirm registrations and stuff and was looking for my username. I gave up and decided to give it one more try when I realized that two of the letters were mixed up... Nice.
So, I've lost a little more weight. I'm happy. I'm not putting a ton of effort into exercising at home right now. I do the workouts during my fitness class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also, in the next week or so, my husband and I are staring an exercise program called P90X. I'm excited about it. A little nervous, too, though.
School is going well. Lots of stuff to do, of course. In about two weeks, I'm going to Accounting Day at Northwood University. Sounds like a dork-fest, huh? I am really looking forward to it, though. I will have my Associate's Degree from Delta in just a fw months. I am going to continue on another year at Delta and then transfer for my last year at Northwood to get my Bachelor's Degree. I have been back and forth the past few months on what I plan to do about my education. I eman, sure I could get the two-year degree adn take some time before coming back to do the remaining two years of the four-year degree. But in the meantime, I would have to get a job and start repaying my student loans. Also, anymore a two-year degree isn't considered much better than a high school diploma. So, I have finally made the decision to just keep at it and get teh four-year degree with no time off. It has both positive aspects and a few drawbacks. A big drawback is that I was really looking forward to having some time off from studying, but at the same time it is better to continue while it is all still so fresh in my mind. Another drawback is that I have made a few obligational promises to be fulfilled once I graduate which are now going to be postponed another two years. I'm sure it isn't going to be a big issue, but it is a little disappointing, especially to the people to whom I made these promises.
My Dad called me the other day. I was really surprised to get a call from him. He called about this postcard that Luc had sent to him about ordering magazine subscriptions from school. I talked to him for probably half an hour. It was nice that he called, but now he probably won't again for another few months. I just don't get it.

198.5!!!

2009-01-21T14:37:00.001-08:00

Holy shit!! I can even see a difference!! I wanna cry I'm so happy!

202.5!!!!!

2009-01-17T05:11:00.000-08:00

Before my class on Thursday (really, only Thursday??)... I weighed myself before I went to school for the physical assessment that day. I weighed 206. I weighed myself at the college wearing more clothes and my tennis shoes and after eating lunch, and it said 209. I have really been staying away from foods I shouldn't eat and excess food that I would normally eat just because it's good. Every day at school, I do TONS of walking beyond the actual fitness class, and work is constant movement, too. Three and a half pounds! I have a big smile that I just can't quit.

Another Friday...

2009-01-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

School was canceled for the boys today because of how cold it is. That's kind of dumb. It didn't snow again, so I think it was a waste of a snow day. It didn't matter for Luc, though, he wasn't going to go today because he got suspended. From Kindergarten. Again. I just don't know what I'm going to do with that boy.
Classes are going well. Lots of work, but that was expected.
Benny is pulling all of the pots and pans out of the cupboard as I type this. He is getting so big and using so many words now. It's so amazing to think he was just a little tiny baby not so long ago. Now, he tells me when he wants to "nuh-nite" and goes and lays on my side of the bed. He is so incredibly sweet. I love when he's falling asleep and he rubs his soft little hands on my neck or my face. Love just radiates from my little man.
I have to work tonight and tomorrow night. I wasn't scheduled for tomorrow, but I'm covering for someone. The extra money will come in handy. Especially since my pay checks aren't even big enough to pay my energy bill unless I use two pay checks for one energy bill.
Not too much else going on right now. My Mom is laid off from work for a few months, so I can already see her drinking increasing. That isn't good since she already drinks every evening. This past week was her first week being laid off and she has called me trashed and lonely twice already. In four days!
I haven't heard from my Dad in quite a while. I don't think I will ever understand that man. That's about all I have to say about him.

How awesome is this??

2009-01-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

11 years ago...

2009-01-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

On this date, 11 years ago, life was so different. I lived in a foster home. I was with my mom for a weekend. Since I basically hated her, I was actually spending the weekend with my friend Jackie. She had convinced me to come over, telling me that there was this boy she knew who was cute, had long hair, and was in a band. That's all I needed to know! LOL! I was 15; those were the things I liked then. Jackie grew up in the same neighborhood as Todd, so they had known each other for years and their families knew each other, too. So, I was hanging out with Jackie and her cousin Marcie when I met my husband.
Marcie was an ugly, disgusting girl. Todd showed up with his friend Mario. Todd and I liked each other right away. Marcie liked Mario. So, when they left, Todd and I traded phone numbers, and so did Marcie and Mario. Mario gave Marcie the number 777-7777. Yeah. She was mad. I kind of was, too. I mean, he could have made up a number that was at least believable, right?
Knowing that the weekends I could go to my mom's meant that I could go to Jackie's and hang out with her and Todd really helped me get through the whole foster home situation. Within a few months, I moved back home with my mom, and then not long after that, I moved in with Todd. The rest is history...

Been feeling like shit today

2009-01-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

I have a ton of sinus pressure and I feel like shit. It started a few days ago, and I have NEVER had sinus pressure before. It feels like there is something trying to rip it's way out of my forehead! So, yesterday I had made plans with a friend to bring the boys over to play with her kids and we could hang out. I had such a headache but I didn't want to cancel. So, I stopped at Walgreens on the way and bought some sinus pills and a drink. The idiot who rang me up put them in separate bags, but I didn't know that until I got to my friend's house and couldn't find the pills. I called Walgreens and she said they were still there at the register. So, Todd and Luc were whining that they wanted to stay. I left them there to play and took Benny with me to go back and get the sinus stuff. I got there, and there was this crack head walking through the parking lot. I took Benny out of his seat, and went in, grabbed my stuff, and walked out. As soon as I get out the door, I see that crack head shutting my drivers side door!!! That fucking loser! I yelled "What the fuck are you doing?!" and he ran off! I went to look inside and everything was fine. I had my cell phone in my pocket instead of in the cup holder like it usually is, so he didn't have anything to steal. I hooked Benny in his car seat, and got in and called Todd while I drove back to my friends house. He said there wasn't any point in calling the cops, but I should tell the manager. So, I called them and told them what happened. It was only a few minutes after I had left, and the girl I talked to said that she thought he was in the store and she would get a manager. I hope they had him on surveillance tape or something and had him arrested. Bastard!
Today, I thought I was over this sinus bullshit, but I was wrong. I have stuff to take care of today, and I still have all of this pressure. I took some more of those sinus pills, but they haven't helped yet...

I'm not pregnant!!

2008-12-27T19:29:00.000-08:00

Haha!! I certainly shouldn't have been pregnant, but I was worried. I had my sterilization procedure done in September. I had a regular period in October, and just about 30 days later again in November. I was pretty certain I'd have another regular period around December 15th or so. Not the 15th. Or the 16th. Or the 19th. Not the 21st. Not even by Christmas! I was getting worried that somehow the surgery had failed and I had gotten pregnant. I've been off work since last weekend, and today was my first shift since last week. While I was there, I got my period!!! That is really not something I want to have to stress about...

Completed all Santa tasks...

2008-12-24T20:19:00.000-08:00

I just finished eating the cookie that was my reward for staying up later than Todd and Luc. I waited about 15 minutes after I was certain they were asleep to go into stealth mode and remove the stockings from above their heads and retreat to my room to fill them. The hardest part was putting the filled stockings back on the hooks without waking them up. I got Luc a kaleidoscope for his stocking and all the little beads in it made all kinds of tinkly little noises as I tried to get the loop of the stocking back around the little hook.
It would have been much easier if they would have just slept in their own room, in their own beds. But they are on opposite ends of the couch just hoping to get a glimpse of the old man when he arrives.
The whole idea of Santa is so magical, that I want them to believe. I hate to lie to them, but my Mom told me there was no Santa when I was in kindergarten or first grade. (I know for sure that I did not believe in first grade, but I can't remember if that was the first year or second.) I just want my children to be children as long as they can. I want them to wonder and feel the magic; even if that means lying to them. I don't know, but I am fairly certain this will be the last year that Todd will believe. He is nine and in the fourth grade. He has doubts, but he also still wants to believe. We went to a Christmas party at the VFW hall that Todd's sister works at last weekend, and we knew Santa would be coming. Todd Jr kept glancing back to the entrance way every time we heard anything that might indicate Santa was there. When Santa did arrive, just seeing the look on Todd's face was great...
Fall classes are over, and Winter classes are soon to begin. My grades posted yesterday. Economics-A, Business Law-A, Federal Tax Accounting-A, Intermediate Accounting I-B+. Eh. I was .21% away from an A-. The grading in that class sucked. I mean, I work hard for my grades and I wouldn't complain if I had not worked hard enough to achieve an A, but this teacher assigned a bunch of writing assignments that were worth a lot of points and then didn't grade very fairly. I should have had an A, but I would have been okay with an A-. This B+ pisses me off. So, after 3 straight semesters of 4.0 gpa's, this semester was 3.8. Not bad, but not what I worked for. On the bright side, though; I will receive both my accounting certificate and my advanced accounting certificate in the mail within the next three weeks. I will be framing them as though they were my degree, which by the way I will have in April. I've worked for these suckers!!

The craziness!!

2008-12-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

Wow! Where to even start? Okay. It's almost midnight. I am sitting in my kitchen on my laptop with peanut butter cookies cooling on the countertop. I got out of work at a few minutes after ten o'clock tonight and still had to bake cookies for a bakesale at the boys' school tomorrow morning. Yes, the boys' school. Tomorrow is Todd;s first day going to the same school as Luc. I am back and forth about how I feel about this decision. The school Todd was going to is a great school, but as a talented school, a lot of the work he has, I get stuck "doing". I have enough school work of my own, thankyouverymuch.
As long as I'm on the subject of school, I am almost done with this semester. I have a final exam tomorrow morning in my tax class, I am completely done with both Economics and Business Law, and my Intermediate Accounting class ends Thursday. I still have one chapter of accounting and a semester-long project that I (gulp) still haven't started...
Work sucks. Not much else to say on that.
I love the new hair.
I want to eat some of these cookies.
It's almost Christmas. I have all of the shopping for my kids, sister in law, mom, and Luc's teachers and bus driver done. Now I have my mil, fil, and dh left to shop for. I know what I want to get my mil and dh. Mil is getting another shutterfly photo book of the boys. (She cried last year.) I want to get dh a new robe, but not sure what else yet. How is your shopping coming??

I have been craving change.

2008-12-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

I found this cute purse a few days ago. I wanted it, but at the same time, knowing how close it is to Christmas and the shopping I still have to do, I didn't want to buy it for myself. Today, I did. I also did something else I have been contemplating for a while now. What do you think??

My middle son...

2008-11-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

He just melts my heart.

What do you think?

2008-11-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

Okay, here's the thing. I have two sisters with kids. Between them, they have 5 kids. I have 3 of my own, and I know I'm not going to have a lot of money to spend on my nieces and nephews for Christmas. But I want to do something nice for them. I want to make it a tradition that I make/buy them all the same thing each year, but personal. I am thinking about doing stockings with their names on them this year. I am thinking this because the youngest one is my nephew who is only about 6 months old. I had considered making them all matching pajamas, but I don't want him to outgrow them super fast, so I will wait for things like that for about two more years I think.

I am okay with a sewing machine, but I don't have a ton of time to spend on each item. I am looking to spend about $5-7 each.

My questions are:

What else could I make for them that wouldn't be too hard to do or too expensive?

OR- what would be a good way to do their stockings? I am thinking about buying them each a nice plush stocking and then adding their names somehow, but how??

Any thoughts???

My oldest son...

2008-11-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

My baby. He is making me feel old.

My new job

2008-10-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Today was my third day at TJ Maxx. I am so back and forth about whether I like it or not. I don't like it because it's retail and it's stressful and the hours suck and the pay pretty much sucks. BUT the hours are the same I would get in any retail job, the pay, too. It's stressful in possibly a good way. How? Well, it keep s me active. Extremely active. I think stress like this can actually be good for me. It's a responsibility. It keeps me thinking. Of course I have someone to answer to, but if it doesn't go right or if it doesn't get finished, I'm not going to be upset or get a bad grade or anything. The people I work with all seem really nice. I was scheduled to work this Friday (Halloween) from 5 to 10. I was upset because I wanted to take my kids out trick or treating. I asked this one girl if she would want to trade shifts so I could have that evening off. She agreed to do it right away.
They have contests with how many credit card applications you get. I won a can of diet Pepsi and a popcorn ball for talking with someone about a credit card when they brought it up to me. I wasn't pushing it or anything.
So, I hate it, but I like it. We'll see in the next few weeks as it gets more into the holiday season and people piss me off more.

Winter Semester!!

2008-10-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

I currently have 69 credits, so I get to preregister for classes on Monday!! I only have 4 classes left that I'm required to take, but those 4 only equal 11 credits. To keep my financial aid, I have to take 1 more credit. So, I'm registering for 5 classes. The optional class I'm taking is Outlook. Seriously. It's a 1 credit class to learn about Outlook and email and calendar options of Outlook. Okay. Could I get an easier class? I don't think so!!

Too long

2008-10-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

yeah. It's been entirely too long. I haven't had internet at home in over a month! Insanity. It has been corrected, though. I re-ordered DSL with AT+T over a week ago; close to two weeks. Every day they tell me that my DSL will be reconnected the next day. Every day, the same thing. So, I called Charter and had cable installed today that is FIVE TIMES FASTER for $10 less every month. I also got a wireless router so I can go anywhere in the house on my laptop while Todd uses the desktop in the bedroom or games online with the 360 or PS3 (or PSP, even). I am so happy I can't even describe. This whole time we've been without internet at home, I've spent hours of most days at the public library or at Todd's parents house with my laptop doing homework. It sucks because most of my work is actually online and inaccessible without an internet connection, so I was very limited in what I could get done at home. The one class that took up the most time, was an Economics class. It ended last weekend. It took up so much time because it was a condensed class; 14 week course completed in 7 weeks. I am SO glad it's over!
In other news, I got a job!! A sucky job, but a job nonetheless!! I start on Monday at TJ Maxx. I had basically swore I'd never do retail again, but I have bills to pay and kids to feed, so until something better comes along, it is what it is.
Luc has been acting up in school. His teacher has basically said he's not ready for kindergarten, but I can't put him back in preschool (by law) since he already turned 5.

More later...

First class

2008-09-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today was the first class of the fall semester. I'm taking 4 classes; Intermediate Accounting I, Business Law, Federal Tax Accounting, and Principles of Economics I. Tonight was Intermediate Accounting I. It was okay. Now I have a realistic idea of how much work there will be. There will be a lot. So, now I know for sure that 3 of these classes are going to be a lot of work. My 4th class starts this Monday, and I'm pretty sure that one will have a lot of work as well. I'm getting a little nervous. I'm starting to think I may have jumped in a little too deep. I know I worry like this at the beginning of every semester, but now that I'm so close to graduating, I know the work only gets harder. Aaaaaahhhhh. I just need to quit worrying.
Tomorrow morning, I get to take Luc to his Kindergarten meeting. It's just us and his teacher, so he can get acquainted with the classroom and stuff. I'm sure he'll have fun.
The past few weeks, I've read 4 books by Nora Roberts. Just the past few days I read her book Genuine Lies. It was really good. Really good! Now I won't be able to read for enjoyment for a while, so at least I can remember that the last book I read by choice was worth it! Tomorrow I have to start reading for these classes. I have by Monday to read one chapter of Macroeconomics and another chapter of Business Law. By Tuesday to read one chapter of my accounting book, and 3 chapters of an accounting writing handbook. Now that sounds like fun!!

Tomorrow...

2008-09-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

My oldest son starts the fourth grade. I remember being his age very well. When I started the fourth grade, I'd already been wearing a training bra for about a year. During the fourth grade, a few specific things stick out in my mind. First, I was second place in the spelling bee in our school. I ended up in second place after I spelled receive, "recieve". I kept telling myself in my head "i before e". I guess I left out the "except after c" part. The second thing that I remember also coincides with the third thing. During class, we always had to do multiplication facts out loud. The teacher would pick any kid in the room and give a problem, and we would have to answer. I never got any wrong. Ever. When we did timed sheets, I was always the first one done and never had any wrong. (Being perfect was important to me.) He picked me. 7X6. I responded 41. Wrong!! "I'm sorry, it's 42." I could have died! I know it's no big deal, but it was to me. I was very shy and had a hard time speaking up as it was, and then I got that wrong! How does that tie in with my third memory? I developed my first big crush in the fourth grade. Who was it? Mt teacher. Yeah. That's embarrassing to admit, but I did. So, I looked like a failure (in my mind) to this person that meant a lot to me. It was rough.
So, now my baby is starting fourth grade. Our lives are very different. I was also the oldest child. I also had to wash the dishes all the time. But, I had more freedom in the aspect that I could play outside in our yard whenever I wanted, and did. Todd also loves to be outside, but he can't go out whenever he wants and he can't be unsupervised. He has never climbed a tree or walked in the woods alone. We just don't have that here.
School work was fun to me. It was a challenge and I felt good every day doing my homework as soon as I walked in the door. My Mom never checked my work or asked if I had any. With Todd, not only do I have to ask if he has any, I have to tell him when to do it, and I have to check it as he goes.
By the time I was in fourth grade, I had had the "sex talk". It was probably the worst experience of my young life. I never told my Mom about it, or anyone else now that I think about it, until I told my husband about it. We were at a friend of my Mom and George's. (George is my Mom's husband. They started dating when I was 4, just after my Mom left my Dad. They got married when I was 16.) My Mom and George were always heavy drinkers, and they had taken me and my two sisters and brother to a friend's house so they could drink and we would all spend the night. After a few hours of watching movies with the other kids, I was the only one of us kids still awake. I have no idea how the conversation was started, but it was just George and I. He said something about boys, and then asked me if I knew what sex was. I said that I did, and he asked if I knew how it was done. I said no and was really, really embarrassed. He told me, and I swear these were his exact words, "It's when a guy puts his thing between a girl's legs." I knew before that point it involved a penis, but that was the extent of my knowledge. What he said confused me and made me very uncomfortable. He was drunk and smelled like beer. He was very close to me, and I just didn't think we should talk about things like that. I didn't understand. I thought it was literally done like that. The thing between a girl's legs. I didn't understand what the big deal was about that. I don't think I even knew I had a vagina. It was a very uncomfortable experience, and sadly one that I've never been able to get out of my memory.
My son will be nine in just about a month. (October 3rd) I haven't had any sex talk with him. He has learned some things in school, and we have talked about how babies are born. He asked how babies got in the Mommy's tummy. I have read in different places that you should answer kids questions directly and not add extra information unless they ask for it. So, I told him that the Mommy's have eggs and the Daddy's can turn the eggs into babies. He seemed happy enough with that answer, so until he has any more questions, I'm just going to leave it alone.
So, I am very proud of my son. He grows and learns every day. But at the same time, I am very sad that he is getting older. Very sad.

My family...

2008-08-31T14:28:00.001-07:00

2008-08-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

Just cuz they're so cu-ute!!

(Thanks Leigh, I love them!!)

About time for an update, huh??

2008-08-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost time to be going back to school. Todd starts the 2nd, and Luc starts the 8th. My first class is Thursday evening (the 4th). I have Luc's bus schedule and we have a kindergarten meeting set with his teacher the Friday before he starts school. It's just to get used to the classroom and meet the teacher again, and just get comfortable. I'm still waiting to hear from the transportation department with Todd's bus schedule. His class list will be posted online tomorrow. I think they are waiting way too long to post it, but I'm just a lowly parent. That's one thing I really like about Luc's school so far; they really seem to care about parent opinions.
Today seemed like the first day of fall. It was overcast all day. I haven't left the house even once. I spent the day baking. Todd Jr and I baked three loaves of banana and 5 mini loaves. I started cooking some stewing beef last night, so I let that cook all day and added some carrots and frozen homemade noodles. Have you ever had homemade beef noodle soup?? It's awesome. While we were eating dinner, we noticed a tree outside our kitchen window. All of the leaves at the top of that tree are turning red.
I love fall...

Crafty Days...

2008-08-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today, Todd told me he wanted me to make him a bag out of these fabric squares I have. (They look like bandanas; they're called batik squares.) He didn't have any idea what he wanted, so I decided to make a messenger bag. I used the batik for the sides facing out, and two layers of this soft, thin black fabric for the inside. For the flat parts like the front and back and the flap that hangs over the front, I put pieces of cardboard wrapped in batting between the pieces of fabric to keep the shape of the bag. I don't have a strap for it yet.
Here it is before I sewed the sides together.
Inside... (those white spots aren't really there, must be my camera...)

Here it is sewn together...

Looking inside...

Side view...

I think it's too wide. I'm considering taking a few inches off each side. First, I want to get a strap on it and put some books in it, and see what Todd thinks.

Here is the blanket I made after I trimmed the yarn ties down to an inch each.

Thoughts??

2008-08-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

I'm making this blanket for my friend's son for his 5th birthday. (He's a dino-freak!) It's on Saturday and I am just about done! It took me four days start to finish. I just finished tying off all of the yarn. I'm putting all of these pics here to show as much of it as I can. Should I cut the yarn ties shorter? I would have rather not even used yarn, but I have a small sewing machine and couldn't fit the whole blanket in to do the quilting. What do you guys think of it? Specifically the yarn ties?

The weekend

2008-08-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

Not too much going on. We are almost prepared for school. If it were up to me, we would be completely done getting prepared for school, but the boys insist they need new backpacks. I mean, I just bought every thing they could possibly need brand new. Why do I have to buy another new backpack for each of them when the ones they have look new still? I guess if I were the one going to elementary school, too, I would want a new one. But I hate to do it. So, Grandma is. I told her I didn't think it was necessary, so she offered to buy them. She also bought them each three pairs of pants and a shirt for school and mailed them to us. My Mom is a really good Grandma at times.
We organized all of Todd's school stuff yesterday. He got a list of necessary supplies with the letter that gave us the date for orientation. Luckily, we have everything he needed, plus a lot more. We still need to get him a red ink pen. Can you believe that in a house with three students, I can't find one damn red pen?? Other than that, I bought way too much stuff. When I find Crayola crayons on sale for $.20 a box, I can't resist buying 8 boxes. I'm waiting for Luc's orientation to see if there is a list of needed supplies for him.
I went out to the college the other day and bought my books for my four fall classes. Four classes. Five books. $751. Seriously. I still can't breathe.
School starts for Todd and Luc on September 2nd. My first class that I have to show up for starts that Thursday, the 4th. I have two online classes that start before then, but they don't have any specific time. I can do that stuff at 2AM if I want. Only two more semesters. 7 1/2 months. I can barely wait.

2008-08-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

What do you think? Cute. I just wish Luc would wear more than just underpants...

You are NOT gonna believe this!!

2008-08-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm still in shock!
I was laying in bed last night and I couldn't sleep because of my fucking neighbors. It is unbelievably how some people behave! I went to bed too late last night because I was reading a book that I couldn't convince myself to put down. I knew I had to get up at 7:30 to get Luc up for school, but I didn't turn my light off until about 12:30 last night. I woke up to shouting around 1:00. I looked out my kitchen window to see a group of people on the porch of one of the houses down the block. They looked like they were drinking and having a good time. It irritated me, but whatever. I turned on the air conditioner in my room to drown out some of their noise, shut my door and went back to sleep. I was really tired. I woke up to screaming. Not just regular screaming; it sounded like the person screaming was saying the same thing over and over. My first thought was someone's house was on fire. I got up and went to the kitchen window again, and it was those same people. No fire, though. They were holding one guy back from fighting someone else. All of them were screaming. It went on for over hour. They started in front of their house which is two houses down on the opposite side of the street as our house. They went out in the street. They went in front of their neighbors house. They crossed the street and were on the sidewalk in front of people's houses. Screaming and screaming. Todd called the cops. After about an hour, a group of them, obviously drunk, got in a car and sped away. The guy who had been held back was still out there screaming at the people who were now in the house. The last I saw of him, he was walking down the street screaming his thoughts to no one but himself. Then, a few minutes later the cops finally drove past.
Back to my point... I was laying in bed and couldn't sleep. My thoughts were just everywhere. I ended up thinking that Benny is about the age the older boys were when I put the potty seat in the bathroom so they could sit on it when other people (Todd, myself) were going to the bathroom. Considering both boys were potty trained pretty young, I want to give him the same start. So, when I got up and used the bathroom this morning, I pulled the potty seat out for Benny. It was weird because I asked him "do you want to go potty?" and he made a noise that was both interested and seemed like a yes, and he pointed to the corner I was planning on putting the potty. So, I got it out. I wiped the dust off it, and put it in the corner. I picked Benny up and took his diaper off, then sat his naked little butt on the potty. I turned some water on to trick him into peeing. Then, brushed my teeth. He just sat there. As I was rinsing my toothbrush, he got up and was trying to open the box of wipes that was on the floor. I went to pick him up and take him to put a diaper on. I looked over and saw....... POOP IN THE POTTY!!! Pee, too, but I expected that. Oh. My. God. All I can say.

Haha!!

2008-08-12T14:38:00.001-07:00

Monday...

2008-08-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well, weight loss sucks. Or maybe just lack of weight loss sucks. I am very disappointed and feel like I wasted a whole week. I know, deep down, that it was a positive experience and even if I didn't lose like anything, I am stronger. I know that I can do something if I decide I want to. I can get through a week, yes a whole week, without chocolate. I walked multiple miles every day. I did 50 push ups every day. I did at least 100 crunches every day. I lost two pounds. That two pounds registered the 2nd morning. So, I feel that the last 6 days made no progress. I am pretty despondent, but I'll get through it. It just sucks.
I found a position online today that I applied for. It's a part time accounting clerk position. I am crossing all my fingers and toes. My only problem: I worry about my experience and resume. I've never done anything like what I'm studying. I know without any doubts at all that I can do the work flawlessly after a short time of training. But I don't have any previous employers who can back that up for me. The ad says that they want a student majoring in business or accounting, so... I hope!!! My stomach hurts when I think about it because I know this would be the perfect start for my career.

2008-08-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

bla bla

2008-08-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

What's going on with me? Nothing to say lately.
I've started the past few days to work out every day and really trying to watch what I eat. It's hard because I'm still breastfeeding this monster-child. Now that my thyroid levels are finally normal, I hope that this makes a difference. Isn't that crazy? I had that sucker removed in April of 2006, and the levels have just recently normalized. Between the thyroid being removed and the following pregnancy/breastfeeding extravaganza, my body just doesn't know what normal is.
So, wish me luck. I'm trying not to focus on weight, but I guess more... size. If that makes sense. I want to fit in all of the clothes that I have outgrown by Christmas. I think that's realistic. And then, I want to be able to wear a nice dress at my graduation in May. That's almost a year. I've heard of many people who have lost 100 pounds in a year, so I should be able to slim down, right??
Luc went to his summer program all last week. He really enjoyed it. He ended up sick on Sunday night. He was better by 11:00 pm, so I took him and dropped him off Monday morning. I took Todd with me to a local park and we went rollerblading. (I told you I'm trying to get in shape!) By the time we got home, Luc was laying on the couch. ??Uuummm?? What?? Grandma went and got him because he was sick. So, he didn't go again today just to be sure he's feeling better. He hasn't needed tylenol today and he's been playing so I think he's back to normal.
About the rollerblading trip... There is this pond in our town that has a paved path that surrounds it. We went and rollerbladed around it. I just got the rollerblades because Todd just learned how use his and I thought it would be a good thing to do together. I hadn't rollerbladed since I was about 15, so 10 years!! The first time around the pond, Todd fell about 20 times. When we got around by the parking lot, he decided to put his shoes back on. He went to play in the park, and I went around on my own. I went around 4 more times. I was feeling good. I was moving fast, too! The 4th time around, I was about 3/4's of the way to the end, and I lost my balance. There was no stopping it. I fell. I skinned and bruised both knees and my right wrist. I was so embarrassed! It didn't look like anyone saw me, but I felt like an idiot anyway. So, I got up, and poured water on my bloody wounds to clean them up. I thought about taking the skates off and walking back to the parking lot, but I sucked it up, and limp-skated back. I put my shoes on and walked around again twice.
Today, I started jumproping in my garage. At least in there, my neighbors won't laugh at me...
So that's it so far.

a few days

2008-07-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

So, I've been blank a few days. Well, maybe just here.
I've joined an awesome new forum. I really encourage any mommy friends to join there! I've only been a member a few days, and I love it!!
In ebay news, both of the items I listed for auction sold. I didn't make much money, but I am quite happy anyway. I did make a little cash. Maybe a gallon or two of gas.
For next time, I have to figure out how to sell only to buyers in the US. Nothing against anyone in any other country, but I get charged more through paypal and shipping costs more. The swimming trunks I sold are being sent to Germany. Addresses confuse me. US addresses make sense, but addresses in other countries confuse me. Are all the letters supposed to be lower case?
Still searching for a job.
Tomorrow Luc starts Kindergarten Kamp. I'm excited for him, but at the same time extremely worried that there is going to be a problem. Luc first of all, has apraxia. He is harder to understand than other children, and some people mistake that for him being less intelligent. He also is very self conscious. He will not sing, dance, skip, or anything that makes him uncomfortable. Even in a group. I have just got him to sing his ABC's. Even overlooking all of these things that put worry in my mind for my baby; this is a ghetto school that is hosting this program. Very ghetto. I don't need him being bullied or being pushed around. I also don't like the influence some of those kids will have on him. I hate to say that just because the program is held there, that that is the way things will be, but I can't say that it won't. The best I can do is give it a try. If I take him and the people who run it or the children who attend it, seem to be a bad influence or just plain mean, then I just won't take him back. Hopefully it will be great and a good experience to prepare him for Kindergarten in September. I want him to make friends and have fun.
Todd's parents invited us to their house for a bbq this afternoon.

It's TUEsday...

2008-07-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

Not much to say. I cooked and cleaned today. I've become addicted to a forum. My baby bit my nipple through my clothes (!!) while we were diaper shopping. It sucked. That's it for today.

2008-07-21T12:53:00.001-07:00

Term GPA

4.000

Sections
	Course Section	Title	Grd 1	Grd 2	Grd 3	Grd 4	Grd 5	Grd 6	Final Grd	Credits	CEUs
1	POL-103W-P4	AMERICAN GOVERNMENT							A	3.00
2	PSY-101W-P1	APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY							A	3.00
3	ACC-212-P2	PRIN OF ACCTG II							A	4.00
4	CST-155-A1	MICROSOFT EXCEL							A	3.00

I'm an eBay seller!!

2008-07-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

As of today, I am now a seller!! I have a few things I want to list tomorrow, but I have to get them weighed in boxes so I can figure shipping costs. If anyone has any tips, please share. So far, I have listed the cutest little Tommy swim trunks and a blu-ray Spider-Man 3 DVD. I just hope I get some bids. Tomorrow, I'm going to list one of the pairs of shoes I just bought because the damn things don't fit and I can't get a refund. (The really cute heels don't fit, either!!) I'm also going to list a Maya Wrap and an Evenflo baby carrier. If anyone is interested and wants links, I should have them posted by tomorrow evening.

I am so bored lately. No school, no homework. I have so much time and nothing to do...

I'm a good kid...

2008-07-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

That's what the drive-thru guy at Burger King tells me. Oh, wait... he calls me "kiddo". Nevermind.
But, I'm still a good kid. So, what have I done to be such a good kid? I'll show you. I bought this for my Mom. (She's the biggest Elvis freak ever.)$90 later, I'm the good one for today. And at Christmas, I will also be the good kid!

I took the boys out to play for a while tonight after it cooled down a bit. I pulled the old baby swing out of the garage and hosed it down so Benny could swing. He never has before and he had a lot of fun!! So, I got a video of it. No sound; it's just my digital camera. At the end, I told them all to wave bye-bye, so watch Benny going crazy waving.

2 Posts in one day??

2008-07-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah. Pretty amazing.
So, I won the shoes I was bidding on. See, I have crazy-big feet. Not girly at all. I wear a size 10 1/2. Eew. Well, a lot of companies only make half sizes up to 9 1/2. The companies that do make 10 1/2's don't send many of them anywhere near me because it is so hard finding any. So, for most shoes, I rely on online shopping, and eBay is my favorite. That is usually a lot easier. When I have a bidding war with someone on eBay, though, I usually always have the thought in my mind that I am warring with a transvestite. I mean, how many women besides me really have feet this large?
So, Todd and I took the boys swimming at his sister's boyfriend's house this evening. It was pretty nice. I didn't swim, though. I knew that I would be having to deal with finding all the clothes and towels for everyone while dealing with the baby, and sadly, that takes the fun out of things like that for me. Much less stressful to just deal with all of their crap and not have to be wet and change my own clothes and all of that.
We stopped at 7-11 on the way home for ice cream. Every time we go there, Luc asks to have his picture taken with this big hot dog. Since I had my camera today, we did it. He loves it!

New clothes...

2008-07-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

I bought some new clothes for when I get a job. I am excited because they are cute, and make me feel cute. I also bought some new shoes. I bought a boring pair of regular black shoes at WalMart. I also bought this really cute pair of flats. I'm planning on winning the bid for these super cute heals. Do not bid on these. I will hunt you down.
There really isn't much else to say today. I went grocery shopping this morning after I bought some clothes. Prices are insane. I ordered meat and have to pick it up this afternoon.
Today is the first day of yet another diet. Yeah. I had to buy all of my clothes in a 16-18. Eew. And some things were tight... Eew, again. So, I made an extra effort not to buy any junk food at the grocery store. Only bottled water to drink. When I go pick up my meat, I'm going to buy more fruits and veggies.
That's it for today...

The job search...

2008-07-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

has begun... I updated my crappy resume on a local job search site. Then I searched the jobs. I found two that sound good for me. I emailed my resume to one of the places, but the other I have to apply in person. I hate how my resume is on that site. You have to fill in your information, and then it automatically compiles it into resume form. The resume I email is much better. So, how amazing would it be to get a job out of the first two positions I find?
Todd Jr is fascinated with myspace right now. (Yeah, my kids have their own myspace accounts. I have all comments set to be approved and I check everything before he does just to be sure he doesn't see anything he shouldn't.) He is also fascinated with Weird Al. So, guess what his layout is? Yep. Weird Al. Guess what video he has on his page? Yes, again, Weird Al. What a weird kid. Weird Al is actually going to be in a festival in a town pretty close to us next week. I just remembered to look up ticket prices. $24 - $37. Hmm... I don't know if it's worth that to me. This could easily turn into a $100 evening. I know he would love it, though.
Who wants to tell me who they are voting for in the upcoming presidential election? Are you a Republican or Democrat? Are you very political? I just took a Government class this past semester and I have become much more... aware. More on that next time...

My Friday...

2008-07-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Pretty much just laundry. That will be my weekend, too. Sad. See, we don't have a dryer- wait, that's not true. We don't have a working dryer. So, these past ten months (wow, ten months!!) that I've been in school, Todd has been in charge of laundry. He washes it, takes it to his Mom's to dry it, balls it all up in the basket, and leaves it to wrinkle before I could fold it and put it away. I just handle everything else around the house. Fair workloads, right? Hmm, not so much.
So, since he has kept up the laundry, why is my weekend going to be spent on laundry? Well, see, him being caught up on laundry means that our laundry closet is full of dirty blankets and pillows because his mom won't let him dry those things at her house and we don't have a clothes line to hang them out. That has to wait for me to take to the laundry mat to use the huge washing machines. Okay.
Well, since the laundry closet is full, we had dirty laundry in a hamper in my kitchen next to the basement door (the washer and broken dryer are in the basement). Somehow that one hamper overflowed to the floor. I washed, dried, folded, and put away FOUR loads of laundry in the last two days, and STILL HAVE SIX LOADS LEFT!! Yes, six. Not a typo.
See, now I should have done my chores the same way as him, and I could be watching him scrub moldy dishes that have been sitting since Christmas!! I am a bit irritated with him. I love him, but I would like to suffocate him with a dirty, smelly pillow!

A conversation with Luc...

2008-07-10T14:26:00.001-07:00

Luc: Why do we have a baby?
Me: Cause he's cu-ute!
Luc: How come?
Me: Cause we love him.
Luc: Why did the doctor take him out of your tummy?
Me: Would you rather we left him in there?
Luc: You should put him in that big hole.
Me: What big hole?
Luc: You know, the big hole the doctor got him out of.
Yep...

Wednesday...

2008-07-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Not too much going on today. Me and the husband slept in a bit later than usual. It was pretty nice. After we got up, I made lunch for the boys. Yeah, we slept late enough that it was time to make lunch. Nice, huh? Then, we went over to my husband's parents house for a little while. We had a short visit, then we dropped Luc off at Todd's aunt's house to spend the night. Once we got home, the news was on. Apparently, we will have thunderstorms tomorrow, again. So, I decided to mow the lawn since it will be out of the question tomorrow. Our lawn looked like shit. Todd should have mowed it over the weekend while we (the boys and I) were at my Grandparent's house. So, while I was mowing, a guy showed up to put up the FEDERSPIEL for Sheriff sign I requested. Then, I took a shower when I was done mowing.
So, I have this awesome spa body scrub. I only use it when I feel really good about myself, or when I want Todd's hands on me. I love the stuff, but it's expensive, so I rarely use it... I got a forwarded email from my sister in law today. You know the ones that everyone forwards. Reasons why you should tell people you love them and why you should cherish each day. Well, it made me think. The email said to use your good china for small things like losing a pound and wear your special perfume to go to the post office just because it makes you feel good. Why save everything for tomorrow when it isn't guaranteed? On top of that, I've been reading Matt Logelin's blog for a long time now. He recently posted about having to start removing some of his wife's toiletries. Thinking about having to take Todd's things out of the bathroom if something happened to him or him having to remove my things really upset me... So, after considering all of these thoughts in my mind, I used my expensive body scrub, and the perfume I rarely wear but Todd likes. Today should be just as special as any other day.

The first post...

2008-07-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

So, I've blogged on xanga and myspace. I've also been a member of a few forums. It just takes up a lot of time, and then I get busy and lose touch. So, this is where I want to be. I think.
I am a busy mom. My husband and I have three little boys. Our oldest is 8.5, will be 9 this fall; our middle son is 4.5, will be 5 this fall; and our youngest son is 13 months old. I get asked all the time if we'll have more or when we're going to try for a girl. Honestly, I think that would throw off everything we have going right now. I think three is it for us, but don't quote me on that. My husband has made it quite clear that he isn't interested in having any more children, especially once he's 30. (He's 28 now.) His Dad was 30 when he was born, and he just feels that's too old. He wants to be a part of everything that happens in our boys lives. On the other hand, I'm just not sure. I can see another baby in our lives in a few years, but I am also quite happy with the three boys we have and the happiness we have as a family. So, in time we'll know what we're going to do.
I am a college student. I actually took the final exam for the last class I was taking for the Spring Semester this morning. I will be going back this fall. I will graduate this coming spring with an associates degree in accounting. Then, in two years, I will have my bachelors degree. I've been back in school since last August and I am so happy to have the rest of the summer off. I have worked so hard these last three semesters. While being a mom, I went to school full time and got a 4.0 GPA three semesters in a row! I am so proud! Maybe a little braggy, but it is a great accomplishment to me.