Hump Day

This week is just flying by. It's funny how time flies the older you get. This week has been a little bumpy to say the least, but I am really amazed and happy that my newfound positive attitude for the most part is staying with me. Sure hubby has been annoying and I still get lonely, but for the most part, things are good.

Work is calming down a little, so I need to really get off my butt and the computer and start getting caught up on my job. I've been in the back assembling and helping customers so much, that my accounting is WAY behind. Woopsie, the government and vendors don't like it when they don't get their reports or get paid.

Last night was actually kind of a nice evening. We picked the kids up and went to Sir Pizza for dinner. It's the only restaurant close to us, other than McD ( yuck) so we actually went and sat down, which we hardly ever do anymore and it was nice. Elena was a little wild, but the kids actually ate a little and it was just a nice evening.

I also accomplished my SMIL shopping. In case you're ever looking for a cool hat, don't go to Kohl's. All they have are big floppy sun hats. So I was off on a wild hat chase and finally found a cute little pageboy hat buried under a bunch of ugly ones at TJ Maxx. It was cheap too which is always good. So I ended up getting her a cute hat, a really neat pair of sunglasses, and a Feng Shui candle set all for $25. Score!!!

Jackson is still asking me if my hair is growing. That boy has a very odd fascination with hair. I got to meet his little "girlfriend". He had told me the other day about Kaity Beth. He said she was his friend, but a girl. I said that's fine, girls can be your friends too, but he said it in such a way, that I knew something was up. So I asked him if she was pretty, yep, he thinks she is. How did I know?? lol The boy is girl crazy. So today after we dropped the kids off at school, I asked his teacher which one is Kaity, she showed me and I couldn't believe it. She's a blonde!!! Nothing against blondes, because blonde is pretty, and they probably do have more fun, but my boy is ALWAYS into brunettes, always has been, so this little blonde haired blue eyed girl really surprised me. She is adorable though, my guy does have good taste. lol

Both kids seem to really be liking their new school and it makes me so happy to be able to drop them off with smiles on their faces instead of them whining that they want to go home and crying. It would be nice to be able to stay home with them, but that just isn't my life. Bummer. I'd probably go crazy at home, well crazier than I already am, and Lord knows I would never get out of my jammies, but hey I would save a fortune on clothes and makeup since I would never wear them. hee hee.

Well, off to work.

Another weekend flies by

How in the world do these weekends fly by??? It was a good weekend. Saturday we had a housewarming party at a friend's house. I decided to actually make a dessert. In my Mom's group, one of the members had posted a wonderful recipe for Oreo Dirt Cake. I decided to give it a whirl. Since this was a housewarming and food and gift were required, I decided to try to make the dirt cake, and for a gift, we were going to do a plant. Also since I didn't have a big enough bowl to serve it in, I stole said members idea of making the desert in a planter complete with gummy worms and plastic flowers. I have to say it turned out beautifully! I found a great planter at Kmart that was supposed to be $20 for $5, in a nice golden color and I lined it with a plastic bag, then tons of saran wrap, put the layers of dessert in, and had Jackson put gummy worms on top, then a bunch of pretty red fake flowers, that I washed and then put in there. It was really pretty and was the hit of the party. She can now take the plant I gave her and re-pot it in the nice planter the dessert was in. We had a great time! Jackson played with his best friend, Elena and I made a new little friend, I'm telling you this little girl loved me. She gave the biggest belly laughs I've ever heard a little kid do, it was absolutely hysterical. I met some new nice people and the friend that was hosting the party, offered to take the kids off my hands for an evening soon, so John and I can have a date. That was so nice of her! Elena absolutely loves her, and she's the mom of Jackson's best friend, so it's kind of a win-win for the kids, and me too. lol

Today we went to a birthday party and had a great time there as well. It was a great party and the kids got adorable little goody bags, so they were happy campers. I had to drop John off at work afterwards, which stunk, then I took the kids home and we had a good time and I also managed to get the house back in order. It had looked like a tornado hit the kitchen ( from the messiness of my culinary delight the day before) and the living room had been lucky enough to have all of the kids toys spilled out earlier.

I'm hoping for a good week at work, and then next weekend I"m doing pictures of Elena in our family's heirloom dress. It's been in our family for almost 100 years. I hope it goes well. Then my Mom actually asked if she could take the kids back to Dickson with her after we do pics. I was shocked. Part of me wanted to say no, but I have to be a bigger person than that, and think of what's best for my kids, and I know Jackson has been dying to stay the night with her, and he adores playing with my nephew, so I suppose she will take them Saturday and I will pick them up Sunday. On the positive at least John and I can have a date Saturday night. Maybe we can finally go see the Dark Knight. woo hoo!!!!

Time for the weekend

The week has flown by and now I'm ready for the weekend. Thursday I went to the Sheryl Crowe concert with my sister and niece and we had a good time. We went to dinner beforehand, then the concert. It was very nice! James Blunt was pretty good, and Sheryl Crowe was awesome as usual. I need to check out her newest CD, some of the new songs were pretty good. She put on a great show, and my sister even bought me a cool t-shirt. A very nice evening.

Tomorrow brings a house warming party and Sunday a birthday party. Should be a fun weekend!

14"

That is the amount of hair I had cut off yesterday! Holy crap!!! John and Jackson hate it, it's not quite what I asked for, but it's hair, it will grow back and it's nice having it short for once. It's like a fresh start for me to go with my new attitude. The only reason Jackson didn't get upset is because I told him I was donating it to people who are sick and don't have hair, but he still doesn't like it. He asked why I got it cut this way. lol Kids. I will try to post pics soon, but seeing as how I am not good at that kind of stuff, I will have to rely on hubby and he sucks about having the time to do that. lol

I just had some yummy Chinese food for lunch and can't wait to hit up the consignment sale tonight. I'm hoping for a good day! Why is it that DH and I can never be on the same page with our moods? When he's in a good mood, I'm in a bad mood, and vice versa. Grrr, he needs to get on the same page with me. Maybe I should start drugging him. lol

Short

Work was fairly boring today. Tomorrow I have lots to do, and I plan on going to the pre-sale at the consignment sale. I hope I find some good stuff. After work, we got the kids, went and got hair cuts and then to Big Lots. I even got my hair cut. I was going to wait until I could get into a good salon, but I've been ready to say goodbye to all this length and was ticked that I had tried to get an appointment at Norman's place and they never called me back, so I got it cut at Supercuts. Granted, it's not a good cut, it doesn't look like the pic I selected, but oh well. It WILL grow back, so who cares? Actually hubby and Jackson don't like it, which makes me feel a little bad, but oh well, it's not horrible and like I said, it will grow. I guess I will find a good salon to go to and get it shaped better in the next couple of weeks or so. I can't believe how short it is. I haven't measured how much was taken off, but it's the shortest I've worn my hair since before I met John 18 years ago. Wow!!!

Made it through the weekend

The shower gift got here in time, and was adorable. The punch turned out fairly good. The shower was nice. I worked late Friday and John finally got the printer working okay. He finished up the order Saturday while I took the kids to the antique show with my Mom. She really does drive me crazy. She just doesn't even seem to want to spend much time with them. It makes me sad that my kids are getting shortchanged in the grandparent department, but there's only so much I can do. All I can do, is try to let them do stuff with their grandparents when they can, and shower my children with all the love, affection and attention that they can stomach from me. lol

The kids went to bed way too late last night, and they got up way too early this morning. It kills me how no matter what time they go to bed, they still get up early. Jackson didn't fall asleep until 11, then crawled into bed with us at 3, then he was up for good at 5. Seeing as how it was John's turn, he was pretty ticked. I got to sleep in a little, but John was mad, because he thought I slept too long and should have gotten up earlier to let him go back to bed. Heck, I was up from 3-5, then I got up around 7 with Elena for a bit, then went back to bed until 10. Holy cow! I probably got about 5 total hours of sleep. Yes, I am so incosiderate. Can you sense my sarcasm? So this morning started off rough, then we went to Smyrna to shop a bit, and it got better, then the kids started acting up again, which made him mad. I'm still trying to keep mostly positive though about everything. Jackson hopefully will be in bed in a few, and then hopefully we can just chill and enjoy some peace and quiet.

Oh Elena peed in the potty the other day and also pooped. She's definitely interested in learning, but she can be a little difficult since she will sit, then stand, then sit, etc and it makes for a messy process. Please Lord help me through this and let her learn quickly. Jackson took quite a while and I would be totally thrilled if I could have her trained by 2. Wouldn't this just be super? A girl can always dream. lol

I pray for a good week, with orders completed on time and not a lot of stress. I've got the Sheryl Crow concert this week, which should be a good time. She always puts on a good show.

Well, off to tuck my sweet little man into bed. Good night!

Really testing my patience

Today has really been a test to my new attitude. I got a 4:40 AM wakeup call from the police dept saying that my building at the shop had been broken into again. On the positive side though, at least my shop wasn't broken into, nobody was hurt, and the police are actually patrolling the area and noticed it. It took me forever to get back to sleep though as I had the WORST headache I've ever had. It hurt so bad I wanted to cry, but I finally managed to get a little sleep before the kids woke me up at 6.

So then it was off to work, where I got some stuff accomplished, but then decided to call AT&T because I really need a new cell phone and wanted to bundle all of my services. Easy enough right? Wrong. It took me over 2 hours, several calls, since they kept disconnecting me and transferring me to the wrong depts and while I have a new cell phone on the way, they are supposed to be calling me back tomorrow because the lady trying to bundle my services couldn't figure it out and so she's going to get it done tonight and call me in the morning. Yeah, sure thing. It would make things so much easier if one person could do all of it, but they have to have different departments do different things. sigh. Oh well, the good thing is I have a new cell phone, a new plan so I can finally cancel my home line ( yahoo goodbye Comcast!!!), and I picked out a sweet little red slider phone. I can't wait to get it!!!

I went to Walmart to get the ingredients for the punch that I am making for the baby shower and I was once again reminded why I NEVER go to Walmart, they didn't have everything I needed, so I am going to substitute. Seeing as how I'm not handy in the kitchen, I'm sure it will work out, wink, wink. lol On the positive side though, I found a new wallet that I think might be big enough for all of my crap. That would be awesome!

Oh and my baby shower gift, that I paid a rush charge for isn't here yet either. Yahoo!!! It better be in by tomorrow or I will be majorly ticked, there's no positive on this one.

Poor Elena's been having a hard time with her teething tonight, Jackson's been talking non-stop to me and wanting me to do everything with him, hubby hasn't been able to hear hardly anything I've said to him today, I could go on, but why bother? So needless to say, I am stressed, my patience is well worn, but I am hoping for the best tomorrow. The old me would be totally livid right now, but I'm just trying to take it all in stride and praying for the best. Wish me luck.

Ups and Downs

Totally was a totally different day than yesterday. It was stressful, then nice, then not, then nice. lol A total rollercoaster, but at least there was some good things thrown in.

I started my day looking forward to free coffee from McD. Nope they stopped that promotion. I also bought a Transformer for Jackson so we wouldn't have to eat more of their crappy food. So my " free" coffee run, cost me $3.50. lol Oh well. So work was a little hectic, since I was such a slacker yesterday.

I had a good lunch with some good friends, and the service was definitely easy on the eyes as well. That never hurts, lol. Then off to Kmart, where I bought my little girl a "big girl" bed. Awwww, my baby is growing up. I won't put it together just yet, but it was such a good deal I couldn't resist. It's a dark cherry kind of sleigh bed looking bed, that got great reviews ( I had hubby look it up online before I bought it) and it was supposed to be $180 for $36, and the bedrails were on clearance too, supposed to be $50 for $10. Yee haw!!!! So a bed that was supposed to be $230 for $46 . Sounds alright to me. I still need to get a mattress and sheets and a safety rail. I probably won't put it together until she's a little closer to 2. I can't wait!!!

I got a decent bit of work done, and we had to stay late because of some goofball customer who got there so late, I was almost late picking up the kids. Would not have been good, as they charge you by the minute for being late. But we made it on time, and the kids were cranky. Oh joy! I love how you look forward to picking up your kids and then the whining and fighting starts, but we got home, jumped on the trampoline, got in the pool, and jumped some more on the trampoline and had a GREAT time! I really love my little family. Poor little Jackson's eye has turned very purple and it just hurts me to look at it. My sweet little guy!

I talked to my Mom tonight and what a surprise, she is watching my nephew. Oh well, it's something that I am gradually starting to just let roll off my back. I'm telling you, I'm getting a whole new way of thinking, sometimes it just takes me a minute to remember to just let things roll. I need to stop trying to control the things that I can't control and just roll with the punches. I also need to remember " it's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got", which by the way, that concert is next week. Woo hoo, I can't wait, I LOVE Sheryl Crow and could really just use some feel good music. I've also noticed I'm getting much more into my music now too. I find myself driving and dancing while I'm driving. I'm just trying to enjoy the little things more right now and it's awesome!!!

Wow

2 posts in one day! Wow!!! So today was a good day. I didn't want to go to work, but once at work, I really didn't get much accomplished. I caught up on email, mine and the kids blogs, internet stuff, my fave Chinese for lunch. It was a good day! Tomorrow I guess will be a different story, although I probably won't get much done tomorrow since I need to hit up Kmart's clearance and I have a lunch date with some friends. I hope it will be a good day too.

So far so good on my new outlook. I've been in a good mood today, and got to spend some quality family time. I'm sipping on a glass of wine, might take a bubble bath and I plan to spend some nice time with my hubby. A very good day indeed!

Time for new beginnings

Hubby and I had a talk last night and it really opened my eyes. I've really seemed to lose myself the past 5 years. It seems like childbirth had really changed me and I lost sight of who I am, what I want, etc. Not to say that I don't like being a Mom or don't love my kids, because I love them more than anything in the world, would die for them, etc, and they are the BEST thing I have ever done in my life, but it seems like I have a hard time juggling everything. I seem to focus on one thing and really slack on everything else. Well, for almost 5 years, it's all been about me being Mommy that I've lost sight of being a wife, friend, environmentalist, animal champion, etc. It's time to regain some of that. I hate to admit that I usually put my hubby last and I feel terrible for that. He used to be my best friend, and I totally lost sight of that. I need to work on that friendship again.

Other friendships I need to nurture more as well, I have really slacked off on some of my closest friends. On the other hand, people that I once thought were my friends, I am coming to find out that they aren't, funny how that sometimes works. Anyway, it's time to find myself, even hubby admitted this last night. I've changed and I really want to get back to being " me". So if you see me or talk to me and I am acting or talking strangely, maybe this will explain things. I'm just getting too old for some of the BS and I am really looking forward to hopefully finding myself. Hey, I just might end up liking myself. lol

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Chandra. http://fertilelychallenged.blogspot.com/

Here are the rules:

a. Link to the person who tagged you

b. Post the rules on your blog.

c. Write six random things about yourself.

d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blog.

e. Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.

f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up..

Six random things about myself:
1) I went to college on a legal scholarship and then proceeded to drop out after the first sememster. I really should have tried harder, but I just wasn't serious enough to put in the effort.

2) I've always been the black sheep in my family. I love the idea of family, just not my own. lol I do love them, but it's just not the family I always dreamed of having. My hubby and kids are the family I wanted and I hope to be the kind of grandparents I always dreamed of having.

3) I only have 24 teeth. I had to get my wisdom teeth extracted and 4 pulled all at once so I could get braces. I got braces in high school and wished I had gotten them earlier.

4) I took two years of French and can barely speak any of it.

5) I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. I wish I had a clear plan in mind, but I don't. I tend to be very disorganized without any clear plan in mind. I like to leap before I look.

6) I wish I had more tact. I tend to speak my mind, and while I admire my passion and honesty, it gets me into more trouble than I would like.

I am tagging:
Ellen: http://mom2chaos.blogspot.com/
Monica: http://mom2bryce.blogspot.com/
Meredith:http://loveinc.blogspot.com/
Kristen: http://gymratmama.blogspot.com/
Heather: http://havenfromreality.blogspot.com/
Lisha: http://lishabphotography.blogspot.com/

The weekend's over

So it was a nice weekend, but I'm ready to get back to normal. John got the pool up this morning so we all went swimming. It was actually very fun and nice, until the neighborhood kids came over and got in too. grrr They are all always over here, and we had to warn the trouble making kid several times. He can be such a bully to Jackson since he's so much older than him. One of the other kids dented in the plastic double swing, he's a big boy and hubby was ticked to hear that one. I swear I wish we could just hurry up and put up a fence to keep them all out, but Jackson and Elena love the company. Where the heck did they get that from, as DH and I are so not about having people over and entertaining. It's not quite our thing.

I got the house cleaned up some more and finally went through some clothes that a friend gave me for Elena. Thank you Tanya! I think she will be able to wear most of it, and there are some really cute things in there, I will donate what she can't use. Jackson is completely exhausted after a day filled with trampoline bouncing, swimming and playing on the swingset. Poor little Leny is completely bitten up by bugs, the poor girl has little welts all over her, and ever her little eyelid has one on it. I put bug spray on her, but they love her skin. They bug me a lot too, Jackson and hubby not so much. I guess they don't taste as good as us girls. lol I wish hubby would just fill in that darn pond. We get such bad mosquitos from it. grrr

Tomrorrow I will keep Jackson home for a bit, then off to the Fire Dept for a playdate then back to school. Little Elena will be going to school as I don't think she will care much about the Fire Dept. Work should be busy as it always is when we take a holiday.

Loving the Holiday Weekend

It's so nice to have a long weekend. Friday we spent the day going to see Wall E with my sister and nephew. The kids really liked it, and I thought it was pretty cute too. Very good animation and boy do they have a message in the movie. lol Afterwards we were going to go to Adventure Science Center, but since they were only going to be open for about another hour, it just wasn't worth it. We'll go back maybe this weekend or next. So we went to Opry Mills, which I've been wanting to do for a while. I like going there, but rarely go. DH and Leny got new shoes, and the kids both got some cute toys on sale. Mommy got nothing, oh well, I just bought some stuff from QVC so I guess I didn't need to get anything at the mall. lol I had no idea they were closing early for the holiday, so we didn't get to go to many stores, which was a bummer, but the kids did have a great time playing at the Bass Pro Shop. We played on lots of boats and I found two party barges I would have LOVED! What a nice life!!! They also went into the stingray exhibit, I stayed outside, it stunk and I didn't feel like petting them and getting icky. We were going to eat at Rainforest, since Jackson really wanted to, but the wait was over an hour, and it was already almost Elena's bedtime. Since the mall was closed, it left fast food as an option. MCD's for the kids, and Burger King for us. Well, we should have just all eaten at M's because the food was GROSS! Yuck!! DON'T try the steakhouse burger, it is NASTY!!!

We came home and just watched fireworks on the lawn, some of the neighbors had some awesome displays. Overall it was a very nice day.

Today ended up being a bit of a lazy day. John finally finished getting the netting put on the trampoline, and the kids are really loving it! Safety is always stressed. We even bounced on it some tonight. The pool still isn't up, hopefully tomorrow. I managed to get just a little cleaning done. I swear, how do you get anything done when your children are completely dependent on you??? Elena's pretty good about entertaining herself sometimes, but not Jackson, geez the boy wants you to keep him company just going potty. It's driving me nuts!!

I suppose once we get the pool up, we'll have more playdates here for Jackson's friends as we'll have the swingsets, pool, trampoline, slip n' slide, picnic table and sand box. The kids definitely don't want for anything. lol

Better

So the past week, things have fortunately been better than the last one. I don't even want to talk about all the annoying crap that took place last week. So, what's new? Well, Jackson is doing awesome at school! I'm really proud of him. He's learning lots of stuff, making new friends, eating foods he NEVER would have tried before AND he stood up for a friend of his who was getting picked on by another kid. This kid took a toy from one of Jackson's friends, and he went over there, took it back and told the kid to play nice. That's my little man!!! He's got such a big heart for such a tiny body.

Elena on the other hand, I'm not so much liking her class. The teachers aren't very good, but hoorah, we hear that they are bumping Elena up into the next class in a week. Yay!!! It's a MUCH better class, so I am hoping it works out well for Leny.

I've felt really bad the past few days. My stomach has been hurting and I was sick this morning. I'm hoping it's just a bug and nothing more serious. This weekend should be a fun one. We don't work until Monday, yahoo!! We've got plans to go see Wall E with friends, Adventure Science Center, and hopefully John will put up the new pool we bought. It's just a cheapy, but it's still better than nothing. lol He did get the trampoline up and the kids LOVE it! We're totally stressing safety and Jackson is doing really well to behave on it. Now if the neighbor kids would just listen. John had to get mad at one of them tonight for roughing up the kids on it. Good thing I wasn't home, or kid would have known I was NOT happy.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!