So we got hit with an ice storm on Tuesday night and I chose to stay home on Wednesday (the office opened at 10ish). I really wasn't feeling well so calling in sick was not a total fabrication of reality. With the luck I have with my stupid car (deer, hail, rear-ending trucks), I just knew ice was not a good combo w/ car so I stayed home with the kids. E is going thru a most horrible phase (Foul Four's) where he cries about EVERYTHING! So staying home with him all day is not exactly a 'vacation' for me. After starting the morning with tears because he wasn't going to GaGa's house, followed by tears over the breakfast I made, followed by tears over the t.v. show his sister wanted to watch - I finally put my foot down. I just told him that we were not going to have a very good day together if he was going to keep up all the crying. I explained that it really grates on Mommy's very last nerve when he spends every waking minute crying or throwing a fit about something and that I was not going to respond to that type of behavior anymore. Lo' and behold - it worked. He's a bright kid and he adores me (the upside to having a son!) so to him the thought of pissing me off all day was not an option. He was amazingly wonderful all day long after that and really has been great with me ever since. When he starts to pull a fit, I give him my 'look' and walk away. He dries those tears quickly and apologizes for his behavior. He's such a good boy.
Besides finally getting my four year old in check, I was able to use my ice day at home to get some things accomplished on the computer. I updated my A Phi scrapbook with all of the 2008 gatherings (except Christmas as I didn't take pics that day so I'll have to get those off the Phi blog or Kara's FB page). It was nice to have that book updated and can file it away until Camp this summer. I am doing all digital scrapbooking for that book and adding the embellishments to the printed page - I love it because it is so much faster than traditional scrapbooking and I still get to add my own touch of bling. I wish I would do the kids books that way but I have so much invested in paper that I cannot bring myself to make the switch.
So all in all, my ice day was a good day (would have been better if I had not sneezed all day but hey, you take what you can get). I finally watched "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium". I listened to some good music. I even fell on the ice while running a quick errand for A. Luckily, I fell to my left knee and not on my rear end. My tailbone is finally healed from the July 4th fall in the pool - there is no way I want to go thru that pain again by landing there ever in my life!!! Of course, my knee hurts like hell but I can still walk and I don't sit on my knee so life is still golden!
Today it is sunny and 60+ degrees - you gotta love Texas weather.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Right Now
Right now......I'm totally enjoying the Twilight Soundtrack and Pink's new CD "Funhouse". Both CD's instill completely different emotions when I listen to them. Twilight makes me feel mellow, a bit romantic and fills my head with visions of scenes from the movie. It is probably one of my favorite movie soundtracks of all time (after Grease, of course). Funhouse is a collection of songs Pink wrote as her marriage fell apart. It is a mix of sadness, blame, self loathing, promise of change, and typical Pink craziness rolled into one CD. It actually makes me sad if I listen to it straight thru so I try to jump around to my favorite upbeat songs so I don't get too depressed and run my car off the road.
And E's joy for life, the way he looks at me when he's happy about something I said, his never ending amount of energy, the silly faces he makes, the way his hair smells whether he's clean or dirty. Right now....they bring me much joy.
Right now.....I am wishing for the stupid ice storm to hit so I can stay home tomorrow. Not feeling 100% and would love a good day snuggled up in the house watching tv.
Right now.....I am totally enjoying my totally clean house. We had the carpets cleaned yesterday and with the maids coming every two weeks - my house has not been this totally clean in years (at least since E was born). There is guilt in having someone clean your house but I have to let go and just enjoy it. It wasn't getting done to my satisfaction otherwise since I'm rarely home and there are not enough hours on the weekends w/ everyone else in my family out of the house for me to clean it to perfection. I was wearing myself out trying to squeeze in a little cleaning here and there. Merry Maids is fabulous and I highly recommend them!
Right now....I am enjoying my children at their current ages. A fascinates me with her intellegence, optimism, concern for the environment, fashion sense, humor, love of life, and
compassion for others. I love that she's at an age where we can share the same interest in movies, music and books (Twilight)!!
And E's joy for life, the way he looks at me when he's happy about something I said, his never ending amount of energy, the silly faces he makes, the way his hair smells whether he's clean or dirty. Right now....they bring me much joy.Thursday, January 22, 2009
Life Uphill
Sometimes I feel like I'm peddling thru life uphill in all directions and cannot ever find that spot where I can cruise down the hill w/ my feet up on the handle bars and the wind blowing in my hair.
Take for instance, my weight.....I decided a few weeks ago to get healthy. I honestly thought that by cutting portions, working out (when I find time) and ordering healthier - I might actually lose some weight while getting healthy - wrong. Been at it two weeks and not a single pound has been shed.
My house....we fix or update one thing and something else breaks or needs updating. It is a never ending battle keeping this 30 year old house together. It's never been my favorite place anyway and sometimes it is hard to find anything about it that I like. We remodeled the kitchen and realized how out of date the bathrooms were. Now we are easing into redoing the bathrooms but w/ each decision to change something brings up another problem to be fixed. We bought a new light for the dining room and realized the old one was installed improperly and should have burned the house down years ago so now we have an electrician coming out on Saturday to correct the issue.
My hobbies....I never can find the time to do the things I love like scrapbooking or photography. Everytime I decide 'today is the day', something happens that requires my attention and everything else gets pushed off to "another day". The only thing I do find time for is reading but even that is not easy because there is never enough time to read.
My kids.....keeping a balance of attention between a 12 yr old and a 4 yr old is never easy. He is more demanding of my time and she suffers in silence. I try very hard to give them each some undivided attention but it never seems like enough in my mind. I always feel like I'm shorting one of them (usually A).
My husband...seems like I neglect him the most. It's so easy to take any and all of my frustrations on the rest of my shortcomings out on him. I am not openly hostile to him but I do tend to ignore him most of the time. We talk...but never about anything besides the kids schedules and what happened at work. I punish him because I didn't have the time to work on my scrapbooks. I get angry at him because he trys to help around the house but gets it all wrong. I get angry when he doesn't help around the house.
I just wish sometimes I could glide thru life for a few minutes......but don't we all.
Take for instance, my weight.....I decided a few weeks ago to get healthy. I honestly thought that by cutting portions, working out (when I find time) and ordering healthier - I might actually lose some weight while getting healthy - wrong. Been at it two weeks and not a single pound has been shed.
My house....we fix or update one thing and something else breaks or needs updating. It is a never ending battle keeping this 30 year old house together. It's never been my favorite place anyway and sometimes it is hard to find anything about it that I like. We remodeled the kitchen and realized how out of date the bathrooms were. Now we are easing into redoing the bathrooms but w/ each decision to change something brings up another problem to be fixed. We bought a new light for the dining room and realized the old one was installed improperly and should have burned the house down years ago so now we have an electrician coming out on Saturday to correct the issue.
My hobbies....I never can find the time to do the things I love like scrapbooking or photography. Everytime I decide 'today is the day', something happens that requires my attention and everything else gets pushed off to "another day". The only thing I do find time for is reading but even that is not easy because there is never enough time to read.
My kids.....keeping a balance of attention between a 12 yr old and a 4 yr old is never easy. He is more demanding of my time and she suffers in silence. I try very hard to give them each some undivided attention but it never seems like enough in my mind. I always feel like I'm shorting one of them (usually A).
My husband...seems like I neglect him the most. It's so easy to take any and all of my frustrations on the rest of my shortcomings out on him. I am not openly hostile to him but I do tend to ignore him most of the time. We talk...but never about anything besides the kids schedules and what happened at work. I punish him because I didn't have the time to work on my scrapbooks. I get angry at him because he trys to help around the house but gets it all wrong. I get angry when he doesn't help around the house.
I just wish sometimes I could glide thru life for a few minutes......but don't we all.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Weekend Update
It was a busy weekend but nice to be home most of the time. Friday night, I surprised A by arranging for Dr. T to pick us up after dinner for a 7:40 viewing of "Twilight". She's been begging to go see it again and was a bit peeved at me for sneaking out to see it w/ Dr. T a few weeks back. Ms. K and her daughter joined us on the adventure and the five us had a purely wonderful time dreaming about Edward on the big screen. I must say that I've never ever seen a movie this many times in the theater (this was my third viewing) and I enjoy this movie more and more every time I see it. It is pure 100% escapism at it's finest. Romance, adventure, angst - what more could you ask for?? A sequel - that's what. I am already waiting anxiously for the sequel to come out this November. If you have not read the Twilight series yet - you do not know what you are missing!! The entire theater the last two times I've gone has been filled with women between the ages of 30-50. There is a scattering of pre-teens and teens but the audience is mostly middle aged women.
Saturday, the day was spent running errands, straightening the house and going to church. That night we watched "Day after Tomorrow" on DVD with A. She is very into 'going green' and I knew the message of the movie would appeal to her. She loved it. She's an action/adventure junky like her parents.
Sunday was off to see "Tale of Despereaux" with the kids while hubby golfed. A had read the book in elementary and loved it so she was looking forward to seeing the movie. She said it did not disappoint at all. It was a wonderful story and I think even E enjoyed it. After that, it was off to Cotillion for A and home to scrapbook for me. I actually finished 2 pages in E's book and finished 6 pages in my Alpha Phi book. I'd printed the guts of those pages last June but never had time to put them in the book and embellish. Last night, I made myself sit down and finish them before the work I had done got lost or ruined. Now I can print the events that have taken place since last May and get the book caught up before Camp this year. It felt so good to be back at the scrapbook desk again. I've been away since last Sept. Life just got in the way.
This weekend, I have a Scentsy open house in Cedar Hill so I'll be gone all day Saturday. The same the next weekend when I do one at my BFF's house. Then there will be tennis the following Saturday so this was my one shot to get anything done at home for awhile and I'm pretty pleased with myself for actually Accomplishing something!!!!!!
Saturday, the day was spent running errands, straightening the house and going to church. That night we watched "Day after Tomorrow" on DVD with A. She is very into 'going green' and I knew the message of the movie would appeal to her. She loved it. She's an action/adventure junky like her parents.
Sunday was off to see "Tale of Despereaux" with the kids while hubby golfed. A had read the book in elementary and loved it so she was looking forward to seeing the movie. She said it did not disappoint at all. It was a wonderful story and I think even E enjoyed it. After that, it was off to Cotillion for A and home to scrapbook for me. I actually finished 2 pages in E's book and finished 6 pages in my Alpha Phi book. I'd printed the guts of those pages last June but never had time to put them in the book and embellish. Last night, I made myself sit down and finish them before the work I had done got lost or ruined. Now I can print the events that have taken place since last May and get the book caught up before Camp this year. It felt so good to be back at the scrapbook desk again. I've been away since last Sept. Life just got in the way.
This weekend, I have a Scentsy open house in Cedar Hill so I'll be gone all day Saturday. The same the next weekend when I do one at my BFF's house. Then there will be tennis the following Saturday so this was my one shot to get anything done at home for awhile and I'm pretty pleased with myself for actually Accomplishing something!!!!!!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Family
So my husband informs me last night that his brother called and is considering selling the family house to the church across the street. A year ago when we sold our half of the house to his brother, I thought it was with the understand that he not sell it and had to keep it in the family. I had wrongly assumed his brother was a man of his word. I've found out since that he may be nothing more than a shyster and it really hurts me on behalf of my husband.
When they were dividing up their parents estate a year ago, his brother brought out their father's 32nd degree Mason's ring. It was in pristine condition and R had taken it to get appraised. The diamond in the ring was worth $8K. R told my husband that instead of selling the ring to divide the value, he'd like to hold onto it for 'sentimental' reasons since both their father and grandfather were so involved in the Masons. My husband agreed without a 2nd thought. He felt that it was only right that the ring stay in the house. At Christmas, I found out from R's oldest son that when R had fallen quickly in love with a local woman a few months before, he'd taken the Mason's ring to a jeweler, had the diamond removed and mounted into an engagement ring. He took their father's ring and turned it into an engagement ring for a woman he barely knew. Now, months later, the engagement is off and she still has the diamond. My nephew only let the news slip because he was so mad at his father for ruining the ring and then not having the guts to get it back from his ex fiancee. I don't think he realized he was spilling any beans. I was so furious the rest of the visit that I could barely speak to R. I didn't tell my husband until we were on our way home and the kids were asleep. I wasn't sure what his reaction would be. Well, he was hurt. Hurt that his only sibling would deceive him. Hurt that his brother didn't have the guts to tell him himself. I felt so bad that someone he'd put so much trust in the last year had outright betrayed him. It also made us wonder what other valuables were in that house that we were not made aware of and what happened to them? We never did find their mother's wedding ring - what did he do with it after we'd asked where it could be??
Now he's going back on his promise to keep the house in the family. It's not about the fact that he probably low balled us on the fair market value when he bought us out. It's not about whether or not my husband wants to live in that house. It's about another promise that his brother is breaking when their father has only been gone a year. The two brothers had become very close this year and now R has driven a wedge between them that might never be repaired. It's about the hurt in my husband's eyes when I look into them.
I wrote my brother in law a short note this morning letting him know what I thought of his decision to sell the house and what I thought about the ring. People told us in the beginning not to trust him but how do you not trust your own sibling? Lesson learned.
When they were dividing up their parents estate a year ago, his brother brought out their father's 32nd degree Mason's ring. It was in pristine condition and R had taken it to get appraised. The diamond in the ring was worth $8K. R told my husband that instead of selling the ring to divide the value, he'd like to hold onto it for 'sentimental' reasons since both their father and grandfather were so involved in the Masons. My husband agreed without a 2nd thought. He felt that it was only right that the ring stay in the house. At Christmas, I found out from R's oldest son that when R had fallen quickly in love with a local woman a few months before, he'd taken the Mason's ring to a jeweler, had the diamond removed and mounted into an engagement ring. He took their father's ring and turned it into an engagement ring for a woman he barely knew. Now, months later, the engagement is off and she still has the diamond. My nephew only let the news slip because he was so mad at his father for ruining the ring and then not having the guts to get it back from his ex fiancee. I don't think he realized he was spilling any beans. I was so furious the rest of the visit that I could barely speak to R. I didn't tell my husband until we were on our way home and the kids were asleep. I wasn't sure what his reaction would be. Well, he was hurt. Hurt that his only sibling would deceive him. Hurt that his brother didn't have the guts to tell him himself. I felt so bad that someone he'd put so much trust in the last year had outright betrayed him. It also made us wonder what other valuables were in that house that we were not made aware of and what happened to them? We never did find their mother's wedding ring - what did he do with it after we'd asked where it could be??
Now he's going back on his promise to keep the house in the family. It's not about the fact that he probably low balled us on the fair market value when he bought us out. It's not about whether or not my husband wants to live in that house. It's about another promise that his brother is breaking when their father has only been gone a year. The two brothers had become very close this year and now R has driven a wedge between them that might never be repaired. It's about the hurt in my husband's eyes when I look into them.
I wrote my brother in law a short note this morning letting him know what I thought of his decision to sell the house and what I thought about the ring. People told us in the beginning not to trust him but how do you not trust your own sibling? Lesson learned.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Friday
So it's off to a tennis tournament this weekend with the whole family. The four of us are staying in a hotel in Tyler since A's matches on Saturday and Sunday start at 8am. Not sure how E will handle two nights in a hotel w/ little to do but we'll see. Since the house is clean and I spent last night doing everyone's laundry, I won't feel too bad about not being home all weekend.
It's been a long week at work. Not sure why everything is piled up but it is like they are expecting me to do 3 wks worth of work in one. My boss just tried to blame an accounting oversight on me but he is the one who told me to hold off on submitting this corrected paperwork to accounting back in mid-December. He seems to be suffering from early dementia as when anything goes wrong, he cannot ever remember being the one at fault. Now accounting contacted our client about the discrepancy and he's upset about it. Of course, when I tried reminding him that I had drafted a note for his approval on 12/16 and he told me to hold up - he looks at me like I'm a loon. Funny how this job can go just fine for awhile and then I just sit and fantasize about just screaming "I quit" and walking out the door. I know w/ the economy the way it is right now, that would not be a smart option which is why I always hold my tongue and control my anger. It never does me any good to tell either of the guys here that they are wrong or they misplaced something or they made that bad call - it's ALWAYS my fault. I finally got the balls up to say something about it at the end of December and my boss seemed to appreciate my candor. Things were good for a few weeks and now it's back to the same old ways. Oh well, either my Dad's company needs to take off so he can hire me or Scentsy needs to take off (not possible).
I'm not going to let things here get to me though because 2009 is about "me". I'm turning 40 this year and I plan to spend the year getting into shape, being more creative, enjoying life and being happy. If you don't make me happy, get out of my face. I don't have time for negativity. 40 is a milestone year and I plan to make the most of it.
It's been a long week at work. Not sure why everything is piled up but it is like they are expecting me to do 3 wks worth of work in one. My boss just tried to blame an accounting oversight on me but he is the one who told me to hold off on submitting this corrected paperwork to accounting back in mid-December. He seems to be suffering from early dementia as when anything goes wrong, he cannot ever remember being the one at fault. Now accounting contacted our client about the discrepancy and he's upset about it. Of course, when I tried reminding him that I had drafted a note for his approval on 12/16 and he told me to hold up - he looks at me like I'm a loon. Funny how this job can go just fine for awhile and then I just sit and fantasize about just screaming "I quit" and walking out the door. I know w/ the economy the way it is right now, that would not be a smart option which is why I always hold my tongue and control my anger. It never does me any good to tell either of the guys here that they are wrong or they misplaced something or they made that bad call - it's ALWAYS my fault. I finally got the balls up to say something about it at the end of December and my boss seemed to appreciate my candor. Things were good for a few weeks and now it's back to the same old ways. Oh well, either my Dad's company needs to take off so he can hire me or Scentsy needs to take off (not possible).
I'm not going to let things here get to me though because 2009 is about "me". I'm turning 40 this year and I plan to spend the year getting into shape, being more creative, enjoying life and being happy. If you don't make me happy, get out of my face. I don't have time for negativity. 40 is a milestone year and I plan to make the most of it.
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