A fun time waster

(Lifted from this random blog that I somehow accidentally stumbled
across)

1) My mother once: ran a red light with me in the car (she was talking,
not really paying attention, and came to the red
light...stopped...looked both ways...and went! LOL)

2) Never in my life: have I broken a bone (*knocking on wood*)

3) When I was five: I threw up on the floor of my Kindergarten
classroom, and was SO embarrassed!

4) High school was: the best I've ever looked and felt

5) I will never forget: the births of both of my sons

6) I once met: Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton

7) There's this person I know who: got rid of her "pet" mouse by holding it by the tail and whacking it against the ground. (No, this is not a close friend of mine, it's just a girl Joe works with who apparently has a psycho streak in her.)

8) Once, at a bar: I thanked our friend Kevin for some "advice" he had given Joe (won't go into details, as that would be way TMI).

9) By noon I'm usually: done eating my lunch at work (I just get so
hungry before actual lunch time! lol)

10) Last night I: was in a pissy mood.

11) If I only had: time at home by myself to get things done!

12) Next time I go to church/temple: it will be long overdue.

13) Terri Schiavo: shouldn't have been the public's business at
all, in my opinion

14) I like: time alone, by myself (which is extremely rare these last few years).

15) When I turn my head left, I see: the left side of my desk/office,
printer, phone, piles of papers, etc.

16) When I turn my head right, I see: the right side of my desk/office,
cabinet, piles of papers, piles of stuff on the floor, etc.

17) You know I'm lying when: I can't keep a straight face

18) In grade school: I was part of a large group of friends, and we
would always get in "fights" with each other so that we could go to
the school counselor's office to talk out our "problems" and miss class. Haha

19) If I was a character written by Shakespeare: I have no clue who I'd be.

20) By this time next year I: hope the addition to our house is almost
complete (wouldn't that be a miracle!)

21) A better name for me would be: ???

22) I have a hard time understanding: how I can spend all weekend
cleaning only for the mess to be back within hours.

23) If I ever go back to school I'll: be amazed! I have no intention
or desire to go back to school, ever.

24) You know I like you if: I continue to communicate with you.

25) If I won an award, the first person I'd thank would be: my
parents.

26) I hope that: I will master FLYing soon (see Flylady.net if you
don't know what I mean)

27) Take my advice: into consideration, and then do whatever you want
and feel is right for you!

28) My ideal breakfast is: biscuits with "Granny's Groovy Gravy"
and sausage.

29) A song I love, but do not have is: "100 Years" by Five for
Fighting and "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me

30) If you visit the town/city I live, I suggest: you be very alert
when driving around because the college students will walk
out into the road right in front of traffic and look at you like how
dare you be driving there. (There are 3 colleges in our town too, so
there are TONS of college students wandering around)

31) Tulips, character flaws, microchips & track stars: Tulips- are my
favorite. Character flaws- are part of life. Microchips- No comment.
Track stars- run fast. lol

32) Why won't anyone: pick up after themselves in this house

33) If you spend the night at my house: you'll have nowhere to
sleep...my youngest son doesn't even have a bedroom, so you *know*
there's no guest bedroom either!

34) I'd stop my wedding: it's 8 years too late for that!

35) The world could do without: wasps...couldn't it?

36) I'd rather lick the belly of a roach than: be stung by a wasp

37) My favorite is: drinking around a campfire with my husband and
friends.

38) Paper clips are more useful than: tits on a bull (lol, sorry, old
expression my granny use to say)

40) And by the way: I believe everything in life happens for a reason.

41)The last time I was drunk: we were on a vacation with several of our
couple-friends and everyone's kids, and I forgot that I had not eaten
anything since breakfast, and after about 6 beers I was suddenly
reminded! Normally 6 beers wouldn't make me sick, but on an empty
stomach, it was not a pretty sight. I threw up, and then was too weak to walk, so Joe had to help me to bed, and I stayed there until the next
morning. No hangover, but was a little embarrassed!

42) My grandmother always: amazes me. She's in her upper 80's and
still runs around in shorts (and looks good in them!), and takes care of
her house, her huge property (not sure how many acres, but it's a
lot), sews, fishes, paints, makes dolls, cooks, goes out with her
friends, drinks, tells dirty jokes, is fun, and is just a great lady.
She has also out-lived 3 husbands!

Okay, now it's your turn to answer all of these on your blog!

The addition discussion, Adam's fall, and cranky me!

My mood overall has been so much better lately...that is until last night. Ugh! I was really irritated and frustrated from several things, Brendan was testing my patience, Adam was fussy, and well, even though I'm generally a quiet person, for some reason I can't keep my mouth shut when I'm irritated & frustrated! lol So basically I just made everyone else more upset too. Then after the boys were in bed, Joe and I got in a "discussion" about the addition we want to do on our house. I am about to go crazy in our little bitty house with no doors, and nowhere to "get away" ever. Yes, I love having 10 wooded acres, but wow that house is just not meant to have a family of 4 in it...especially not with a little one that can get into everything. Anyway, Joe keeps putting off moving forward, because he's afraid we can't afford it, and a bunch of other fears of his. I say lets take the first few steps of planning, getting some real plans on paper, and get some estimates so we can FIND OUT if we can afford it! We can sit on our butts and daydream about "someday" for the rest of our lives, but if we're going to get it done we have to DO something about it! We need it now...Adam doesn't have a room at all, and he's too young to share with Brendan. Not to mention Brendan's room is too small for 2 kids anyway. Our bedroom has no doors, it's an open loft. The rest of the house is open floor plan, which looks kinda neat, but wow I had no idea how annoying it would be to have no doors to shut, and nowhere to hide! LOL We have a small living room, tiny kitchen, Brendan's small room, tiny laundry room, bathroom, and master bedroom & bath. That's it. That's our whole house. The addition we'd ideally like to do would add: New master bedroom (and our current one would become an office/guest bedroom), laundry room (our current one is really supposed to be an entrance-way), a living room (our current one would become a dining room), and another bedroom for one of the boys (the other boy will be in Brendan's current room). Oh, and a garage. If it turns out that there's no way we can afford the addition, then we need to look at ways to work with our existing conditions, and/or a smaller addition to get us by. But we still have to take the first steps to even find that out!!! I have no doubt that if I had never said another word, that Joe would continue to keep this addition as a "someday" and it would never happen. He admits that that is possibly true, even though he really does want the addition. He's just not the type to jump into things without totally analyzing and agonizing over them and thinking of all the reasons we shouldn't, and how money is too much an issue, and how all the conditions aren't right, etc, etc. Conditions will never be perfect for anything in life, so if he's waiting for that, it's not happening. I've had to push forward on everything we've ever accomplished/done to get anywhere, because he just won't take any leaps of faith on his own. He even admitted that everything in the past that I've pushed for and taken leaps of faith on have always worked out fine. But he was also defensive and taking things personally in our "discussion", so I guess I wasn't being as nice as I could have been. But dang! Nothing ever gets done if I don't keep on it. *sigh*

To add to the frustration, this morning we overslept, and then while I was getting ready, Joe forgot to put up the baby gate on the steps and he went out of the room for a minute...Adam climbed up the steps and I hear a series of bangs and bumps, followed by Brendan yelling that Adam fell, and Adam started crying...I ran in there thinking Joe was already in there to find Joe nowhere in sight and Adam had tumbled down from near the top of the steps (according to Brendan, and I believe him since I heard it as Adam tumbled down!) and was upside-down on the next to last step. Scared the crap out of me! I scooped him up and gave him lots of hugs and kisses. Turns out he is perfectly fine, no signs of any injuries or anything, thank goodness! Then as I'm rushing around, already late, I go outside to the car and it is covered in frost. Ugh! Had to stand out in the 16 degrees and try to scrape the windshield while already so late, while Joe sat inside on the couch eating his cereal. Grrrr. My arm is still sore from the flu shot yesterday, and I'm achy all over, tired, cranky, etc. (Gee, can I whine any more? LOL) So this morning I was still not in a good mood. But, I'll get over it.

Not sure I can come up with the 5 things to be happy about today without a lot of thought! lol But I'll try...

5 Things to be Happy About Today

1. I was finally able to get badly-needed groceries on my lunch break today

2. I was able to use 8 coupons on our groceries (not a lot, but better than none!)

3. It's Thursday again, so Survivor is on tonight again

4. I actually did my menu planning for the rest of this week, and next week like I'm supposed to do as part of the FLYlady system.

5. ????

Almost forgot...

Almost forgot to post my 5 things to be happy about today! So here goes...

5 Things to be Happy About Today

1. Enjoyed a yummy (& free) Thanksgiving meal at the boys' daycare

2. Brendan was so excited to see me and Joe when we ate lunch with him...always makes me feel good when he's happy to see me :)

3. It's sunny today (Even though it's turned cold, at least it isn't raining like yesterday!)

4. I finally got 3 boxes to the post office today that I've been needing to mail since last week!

5. I found out today that the Taekwon-Do class (which is in my area of supervision at work) made the front cover of our Department's book of winter activities & classes. (Usually they put a photo of parks, or aquatics, or something like that as the cover, and my recreation classes rarely make the cover photo, so that was a nice surprise).

Okay, gotta run- time to go home! Yea!

Turkey Feast at preschool

Today was the "Turkey Feast" at Brendan & Adam's daycare/preschool. I guess they wanted to have it early to avoid the busy holiday week next week. So, Joe and I went there for lunch today. Brendan was so excited when we arrived! It was kinda fun to eat lunch in the 5-yr-old room, on little bitty chairs and a little bitty table. heehee. They had turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, macaroni & cheese, rolls, and a few other typical Thanksgiving foods. And then there were all the yummy desserts...pumpkin pies, brownies, cakes, cream puffs, etc. Now I'm sleepy, and still have 4 hours left to work :( They gave us a card that has Brendan's picture on the front, and the inside of the card is a turkey made out of Brendan's handprint. So cute! I'll scan it in tonight and post it on my photo-a-day blog, and I'll also upload a pic I took while we were there. Adam was taking a nap, so we didn't even go back to his room at all. Really we were hesitant to anyway, because we were afraid he would get upset and cry if he saw us and then we left him there for the rest of the day. So it worked out well that he was sleeping anyway.

Well, time to get back to work, so I'll end for now.

The Nerd Test...I passed...or failed...or however you want to look at it! lol

>

LOL! Saw a link to this on Kathie's blog, and had to take the test! Above icon shows my results! I am somehow not only a non-nerd, but says I also despise nerds! lol Not true, I married one! Heehee...just kidding! But anyway, just a fun little test, that I have to admit I was nervous to take, as I thought it would be my luck it would come out 100% nerd! lol Okay, who else has the nerve to take the nerd test?

Catching Up Again

Okay, so the annual Christmas shopping trip went just fine. My sister & my aunt got a lot done, and the rest of us got a few things done. I was able to get my 2 nephews finished, a couple little things for my Box Project family, and 2 shirts & a pair of pants for myself. I am always in desperate need of clothes. Since I don't like shopping, and since Joe doesn't like it when we spend money, I just don't end up with many clothes. Casual Corner is going out of business, so I was able to get a $50 pair of khaki pants for only $24. Also found 2 shirts at Sears.

Joe hunted Saturday and Sunday, but didn't get a deer. He's planning to try again this coming weekend.

Sunday we had planned to take the boys to the free showing of Madagascar at the local theater, but they were out of tickets so fast we missed it. Brendan was so upset, he busted out crying, poor little guy. We felt bad, so we took him to Burger King to eat and play on the indoor Play Place instead. He had a lot of fun, and Adam was in awe of all the bright colors and such. Both boys behaved VERY well the whole time we were there! If I had known we were going there, I would have brought my camera along!

Last night I went to another Tastefully Simple party. I love their stuff. And the parties are fun because you get to sample all sorts of the food! lol I ordered several more things for my family, and also a gift pack for Joe's mom, so I spent quite a pretty penny. Ssshhh...don't tell Joe. lol

I didn't think I was going to be able to go last night, because during the day I had this really weird sudden on-set of extreme dizzyness, followed by nausea and got really hot & sweaty. It took everything I had to make it home and collapse into bed! I passed out for 3 hours, and felt much better when I woke up. Very weird.

Today it is raining like crazy, and the temperatures are dropping as the day goes on. This morning my drivers side windshield wiper all the sudden stopped working. What timing! It was pouring down rain, and here my windshield wiper isn't working! Yikes! The other one was, thank goodness, so I'm leaning over trying to see out that side of the windshield while driving. Ugh! Joe came by my office to take a look at it during lunch, and he just got done fixing it.

Well, that's about it, I think that catches me back up to today!

5 Things to be Happy About Today

1. Joe fixed my windshield wiper!

2. Got to smile this morning seeing how cute Adam looked in his hat & mittens

3. Got to laugh this morning when I dropped the boys off at daycare, and took Brendan's hat off...OMG his hair was sticking up and out in every direction possible, it was hilarious!

4. Biggest Loser is on tv tonight

5. Both boys were good this morning

Quiz

Lifted from Carolyn's Blog (who lifted it from Amy's blog)

2 - names you go by: Courtney, Mommy

2 - parts of your heritage: German, Welsh

2 - things that scare you: wasps, all bees

2 - of your everyday essentials:
computer/internet, Sugarfree Red Bull in the car on my way to work.

2 - of your favorite bands or musical artists:
Collin Raye, Kelly Clarkson

2 - favorite songs: I can't pick just two! lol Two *of* my many favorites that pop in my mind right now are, "I Volunteer" by Collin Raye, and the first 5 songs on Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" cd. lol

2 - things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
respect for me and my goals/dreams, feeling and acting like a team

2 - physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex):
eyes, smile

2 - of your favorite hobbies: scrapbooking, camping

2 - things you want really badly:
To be happy inside & out, a clean/organized house with all our excess stuff and clutter gone, and I have to add a 3rd one here...getting the addition on our house built ASAP!

2 - places you want to go on vacation:
back to Wyoming and/or Colorado (I love mountains!), and would like to take the boys to Disney World in about 5 years.

2 - things you want to do before you die:
see my boys grow into adulthood, see Alaska & Hawaii to finish visiting all 50 states

2 - ways that you are stereotypically a chick:
I ask my husband to kill wasps & big spiders for me, and I don't know much about cars

2 - things you are thinking about now:
Hoping I don't start feeling dizzy & nauseous again, wondering what the UPS guy just left on my doorstep! (I'm gonna go see, be right back! lol)*

2 - stores you shop at:
Wal-Mart, Michael's

2 - people I would like to see take this quiz:
anyone that sees this

*(By the way, if you're wondering what the UPS guy brought, it was a gift for Adam from my aunt...Vtech Sing & Discover Piano from our Amazon.com wishlist! It's so cute & fun, he will love it!)

We took time to stop and smell the...cows?!!! LOL

Sooo...I think I'm going to try to incorporate doing something a little out of the ordinary every day that I can, to keep things interesting and kinda fun. Not a big thing, just little tiny things that maybe I wouldn't have otherwise done. This morning, that was stopping along the way to daycare/work to take pictures of cows!!! LOL! I decided that my photo-a-day blog was getting a little too predictable with photos of my boys, so I wanted to shake it up a bit. Every day on my way to daycare/work we pass by fields of cows...so, I thought I'd take a quick pic of some of the cows we drive by every day. Heehee. Brendan thought it was really funny that Mommy stopped the car to take pictures of cows. Then he said, "Mommy don't forget to take pictures of all the birdies and snakes and snails too!" LOL If I didn't have the boys in the car, I would have ventured closer to the cows, but I didn't want to get far from the car, so they are not close ups of cows or anything like that, but they are cows! I will upload them tonight to my photo-a-day blog. And, we counted the properties that had cows, and wow I had no idea we passed by SIX different fields of cows every morning on our commute! If you had asked me yesterday, I would have guessed maybe 3. So, see there...I learned something today too! lol

I need to hurry this up and leave work, but before I go for today:

5 Things to Be Happy About Today

1. It's Friday, and I can leave my office in 5 minutes

2. I made Brendan smile this morning by taking pictures of cows

3. Brendan still loves playing with his Leapster that we bought him for his birthday

4. I treated myself to roast beef sandwich and yummy chicken & dumplings soup from Lion's Choice today for lunch.

5. I have 3 more Christmas gifts done, thanks to a few quick clicks on Amazon.com, including Joe's dad who is usually very hard to buy for!

Christmas shopping (ugh!)

Yes, it's that's time again. Every year as far back as I can remember, the ladies on my mom's side of the family have gotten together one Saturday in November for the annual Christmas shopping trip. Tomorrow is the day. So, tomorrow me, my sister, my mom, my aunt, my cousin, and my grandma will get together at the mall. Usually we end up going to the city my mom lives in, but this year we're actually going right here in my town. (That helps, because Joe will be hunting seeing as it is opening day of deer season, and there's no way we would have been able to go out of town and miss that! lol) So, I *am* very much looking forward to seeing the relatives and eating lunch & dinner out with them...it's the shopping part I'm not looking forward to. I am not crazy about shopping. The appeal of wandering around for hours around a crowded mall looking for things to spend money on is lost on me. Actually, there are many "stereotypical female" type things that are lost on me, but I won't get sidetracked on that right now. For me, if I need to buy something, I want to go quickly, go in, get it, pay, and leave. That's it. Online shopping is my favorite. I can just sit down for a few minutes and get 3/4 of my Christmas shopping done in just a few minutes and few clicks. Then lo & behold several days later boxes are delivered to my door and, viola! Shopping done. See, now wasn't that easier? But alas, once a year I give in and go shopping for hours on end in the name of family tradition. Wish me luck tomorrow. LOL Seriously though, I *am* looking forward to seeing my relatives, no matter what we're doing, so for that reason I will enjoy it.

If You Give...

Okay, for those of you who are moms, and are familiar with the books like "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" and others in that series, then perhaps the following will make you chuckle like it did me when I accidentally ran across it on another blog...

IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN

If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her
she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook
("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse
that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two-year-old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.

She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her
that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are... If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

~author unknown
(where I found it...posted by KDubs on her blog)

I think I thrive on change & new experiences

I've had bits and pieces of random thoughts & revelations these last few months, and one of the conclusions I've come to is...I think I thrive on change and new experiences. So many people fear change, but I think I crave it. I am pretty laid-back and quiet most of the time, and I got to thinking how I haven't really felt excited about much or felt passionate about anything much lately. And I know I use to. Thoughts of "maybe I'm depressed" passed through my mind several times this past year, but then an episode of Dr. Phil (or was it Oprah?) a lady was talking about her situation and she said her doctor told her, "you're not depressed, you're just bored!". This lady needed shocking excitement in her life to keep her happy. I laughed, because it kinda clicked inside me. No, I don't need "shocking" excitement, but when I think about the times I am the happiest, it seems to always be centered around times of change and/or new experiences. We have really fallen into the daily grind so much these last couple years, and I think I'm bored! In a way I can't believe the word BORED is even in my vocabulary right now...as on one level I feel totally overwhelmed with the responsibilities of every day life, lol, but I think my soul is bored. Does that make sense? I need to be rejuvinated and experience new things and keep myself excited about life. I've actually been feeling pretty good (except for being sick) lately, and I think it's because I've been busy planning for both boys birthdays & party, which is something out of the ordinary daily grind, and with the holidays coming up, I'm starting to PLAN for upcoming things. I am a born dreamer & planner...so if I have something to plan for it keeps me (and my brain) entertained.

So, now, how to work new experiences and excitement in to my every day life? How to keep myself (& soul) excited and alive. I will be working on that. (see, that gives me something to PLAN! lol)

In the meantime, I think I'll start keeping a daily "5 Things to Be Happy About Today" list on my blog :) Corny? Maybe. But hey- it's my blog and I can do whatever I want, right? lol

So, here we go:

5 Things to Be Happy About Today

1. Brendan made his bed, got dressed, and fed the cat this morning (his 3 morning chores) without us having to yell.

2. I've already finished 14 of my employees timesheets, and they aren't due in until next Thursday.

3. Survivor is on tv tonight.

4. Tomorrow is Friday already.

5. It is not too hot or too cold today, it's cool like it should be for mid-November.

Brendan's birthday!

Today is Brendan's 5th birthday. It's funny, we had to convince him it really was his birthday, because he kept saying "no I already had my birthday"...thinking of his party. I made cupcakes for his preschool class, and hung up the happy birthday banner at home, so then he was convinced it really was his birthday. lol Tonight we'll have cake and I saved a present back to give him on his actual birthday. I think I'll get him McD's or Burger King on the way home too as a treat, if he wants to.

As for me, I've not been feeling well. I've had a cough for 3 weeks now, and yesterday I stayed home from work sick with a sore throat & ear ache too. I also had a migraine the night before, which really knocked me on my butt. I'm still not feeling well, but if I keep taking ibuprofen it is tolerable. I probably should go to the doctor, but I really don't want to. If this continues much longer I will have to.

Geez, I really need to clean/organize my office! I'm surrounded in piles of papers and such right now, and it looks terrible. I was in a meeting from 8:30am-11am this morning, and have another meeting at 3:30pm today. Not much point in working on anything else, so maybe I'll take these couple hours before the meeting to straighten things up a little! I'm sure my employees that work at my desk in the evenings are annoyed by my mess! lol

But now I'm just babbling, so I guess I should log off.

Whew! Birthday Party is over!

Yesterday was Brendan & Adam's birthday party. It went pretty well overall. In addition to several family members (adults) we had 9 kids total bowling. They all were so cute. (Well, Brendan wasn't so cute when he got tired of bowling and threwa fit, but the rest of the kids were. lol) We were a little annoyed with the lack of instructions from the bowling alley though. We had to ask them every little step of the way what the procedure was and what we were supposed to do when, and such, I think if we hadn't asked, they would have let us just sit there doing nothing the whole time. They also apparently don't allow you to bring in any food or drink except cake, (but they didn't tell me that ahead of time). They provide the kids' meals w/ the party, but I had brought some soda and snacks for the adults, but they said we couldn't. So I felt terrible telling the adults I couldn't have anything for them but cake. We also had to wait a long time for the kids' food & drinks,which made us have to majorly rush through the food, cake, and presents at the end. So it was kinda hectic, but overall I think the kids all had fun. And Adam & Brendan had fun playing with all their new toys last night too. Unfortunately Brendan had a fever last night after it all, but he seemed okay this morning, so hopefully he's fine.

Tonight was supposed to be our date night for this month, but we decided to cancel. Between Brendan's fever last night, Adam's fever off & on, and the fact that Joe & I are so tired, AND the boys' presents from yesterday are strung all over the living room waiting to be put away...we decided to cancel the babysitter and stay home tonight.

Now we have Brendan's actual b-day on Wednesday, deer season starts Saturday, and then a very brief break before the holidays get in full swing.

I'm hoping to get all the Christmas shopping started & done before the end of November, but I'm sure that won't happen. It's nice to dream though. lol

Water problems, but a Fun Weekend Ahead!

Joe left on Tuesday morning to go out of town for work. Wednesday when I got home from work our water had been shut-off. Note said for non-payment, but I know I paid. My check registry showed I paid on 10/21. Their office was closed by the time I got home, so we had to do without water until the following day. Called their office, and was told they never received our check. Ugh! Since the check I wrote did not clear the bank, I had no proof that I did send payment. So we had to pay a $50 reconnect fee. So frustrating! We've never missed a payment before..never ever...doesn't seem right that they would just cut off our water the first time they don't get a payment, and without warning at that! So we're not too happy with them right now. And when I got home that night, our dishwasher had stuck somehow and was running all day without any water! The whole house was hot & humid from the heat of it. Thank goodness it seems to be running okay now that the water is back on, so hopefully it wasn't damaged.

Joe should be home sometime today. I think Brendan missed him a little more this time than usual. I know he'll be glad to see Daddy tonight. Tomorrow my mom is taking Brendan on an Amtrak train ride, and then to see the movie Chicken Little. He's also going to stay the night at her house (this was her idea! Yippee!). Then she'll bring him to his birthday party the next day. Yes, Sunday is the boys' party. Adam of course doesn't know the difference, but Brendan is very excited! I still haven't gotten an RSVP from most of the kids in his preschool class, so I'm not real sure how many kids to plan for. I hope I have enough goody bags made up. I still need to wrap presents, and figure out what decorations I want to do, and get stuff packed up & ready to take to the bowling alley. Cakes are ordered, just have to pick them up at noon on Sunday. I'm hoping all goes well, and everyone has fun.

My baby turns 1 today!

Today Adam turned 1 year old. Wow, what a mixed year this has been. It's been hard on me & my stress level has been pushed to the max, but it's also been filled with lots of blessings and I've enjoyed watching Adam grow. His baby smiles and babbles can melt my heart. He is getting cuter every day, and doing more & more. I know he will be grown before I know it, and I will look back & wonder where the time went. Heck, I'm already wondering where the time went this past year! It doesn't seem like it's been that long. I'm really looking forward to watching him grow & develop and becoming more independent and able to do things on his own, but I will also miss these little baby days. Tomorrow we are getting his 1 year photo taken. Tonight we had cake and gave him a couple presents. See a few pictures from tonight here.

October weightloss :)

Now that October is almost over, I'm happy to report that I've lost 10 more lbs in October, bringing my total baby fat lost since January up to 35 lbs :) (this is in addition to the 18 lbs I lost after giving birth to Adam up until January) Adam turns 1 year old TOMORROW, and I still would have liked to have lost 15-20 more lbs by now, but at least it is still coming off (even if it has been ever so SLOWLY! LOL) Hopefully I can shake off those last 15-20 lbs soon! Now let's see if I can keep from eating too much birthday cake this week, Halloween candy next week, and then Brendan's birthday cake the following week! lol

Wise words from FLYlady

FLYlady always has great advice and words to live by, but part of one of her emails from the other day really grabbed me...I felt like she was talking directly to me. These are definitely words that I need to remind myself of every day!!!

"None of us have enough time, yet we all have the same amount. It is time that we quit whining about this and accept that we can't get it all done and just do what we can. Do you understand this? Life is too short to dwell on what doesn't get done. Celebrate what you do every day and start fresh each morning." -Marla, aka FLYlady

Catching up again

We've actually been pretty busy these last several days. Last Saturday we took the boys to get pumpkins and apples at a nearby farm. See a couple pics here. Wouldn't ya know it, Brendan picked the smallest, ugliest pumpkin in the whole patch! LOL That's fine, whatever he wants. We also got 2 larger pumpkins for the porch.

Sunday we went to my step-grandfather's 80th b-day party. After that we were...are you ready for this...KID-FREE FOR 2 DAYS!!! My dad & his wife watched the boys from Sunday night until Tuesday night, and Joe & I took off work Mon & Tues! We tried to get a lot done around the house, but of course as usual I didn't get nearly as much done as I'd hoped. But, we also went out Sunday night for hot wings & beer, and then Monday we went to a movie, Just Like Heaven (it was good!), and then to a place called Grindstone Brewery for their Monday Night buffet w/ crab legs special. Overall, it was a nice break. I wish I could have had one more day though. lol

Now we're in full-swing of the boys' birthdays & party planning. We've decided to do their party at the bowling alley. They offer a fun birthday package of 1 hour bowling (with bumpers) and 1 hour party in the room, all the kids meals are included, and the birthday boy gets a real bowling pin that says Happy Birthday and all the guests can sign it with a permanent marker. They also include invitations, thank you notes, goody bags, all plates, napkins, cups, etc. Pretty good deal, for $9.95 per child. Brendan is excited. We put invitations in the cubbies of all his friends in his preschool class yesterday, and we already have one child coming. We also sent invitations to family and our friends that have kids around Brendan's age. I'm not expecting a lot of people to actually go, but as long as a few kids come, it should be fun!

Adam's 1st birthday is next Wednesday! Even though the party will be for Adam too, we're going to have some cake for him at home on his actual b-day.

And Halloween comes in there too. Brendan is so excited to be the black Power Ranger this year. Adam will be a frog.

Well, after being off for Mon & Tues, I'm swamped here at work, so I better get off the computer & get back to work!

Brendan Acting Up, but Adam is Sleeping Better!

Brendan has been acting up at daycare lately. He's been "written up" by his teacher every day this week so far for various things...
-play-biting his friend while playing Power Rangers (he said he was being the dog Power Ranger- whatever that is?!)
-dumping sand on another kid's head on the playground
-talking back and saying no to his teachers
-not listening during their lessons
-copying his friends (don't all kids do this sometimes?)
-yelling at his teacher when he got in trouble
and the day he didn't do anything "wrong", she wrote him up for kissing his friends too much(?!)

None of the incidents were too serious, but I certainly want to nip it in the bud. I don't understand WHY he's acting up...can't think of anything that's changed at home that would make him act differently. They recently changed teachers in his room at daycare, so maybe he's just testing her? I don't know. She seems to write him up for every little thing. (including for kissing his friends?!) Joe's starting to think the teacher just doesn't like Brendan. I wonder if he's been doing things like this all along and the other teacher just didn't think it was bad enough to write up?
Seeing as it is after-the-fact by the time I pick him up and get home, some things, like time out, for example, for something that happened hours ago doesn't seem appropriate. I always have a talk with him and we talk about why he shouldn't do what he did, and tell him what he needs to do from now on (be nice to his friends and teachers, listen when they sit down for lessons, etc). And he doesn't get any treats or anything like that that night. And then when I drop him off in the morning I remind him to be nice to his friends and teachers and I ask him what he needs to do at lesson time and he says "be quiet and listen, and do what my teacher says". This has worked in the past when he acts up for 1 day, and then he's fine for a long time, but this week it's been something every day!
I'm not sure where to go from here. I guess the next step is to take away toys/priviledges at home.

On a good note, Adam is sleeping SOOO much better! In desperation I moved his crib into the bathroom off our bedroom (it's a big, long bathroom with plenty of room for the crib) because it's still close, but has a DOOR. So now we're in the process of training him to fall asleep on his own (which we SHOULD have been doing since he was born, but we didn't have him in a room that the door could be closed, so we were feeding him a bottle until he fell asleep and then putting him in his crib...sometimes at 9pm he was still awake!). Now, we give him his "night night" bottle, and if he doesn't fall asleep, well, it's still bedtime anyway. I take him into the bathroom, turn on the nightlight and some soothing music and put him in his crib, close the door and walk away. He, of course, cries, but it is only for a few minutes now before he falls asleep. OMG I can't tell you how wonderful this has been!!! Why didn't we do this sooner?! I actually have part of my evening back and don't have to stress over trying to put him to sleep. Now I can focus on Brendan and getting things ready for the next day instead of falling into bed myself as soon as Adam goes to sleep. Now he is in bed by about 7:45pm every night. I can't wait until we can put the addition on our house, which includes a bedroom for Adam, but in the meantime the bathroom will do!

I'm feeling a little better today. Adam didn't get up until 5:30am, so that was better. My dad & his wife are taking the boys on Sunday night and keeping them until Tuesday evening. Joe & I have both arranged to take off work on Mon & Tues. So, we'll get a little break. This was already planned awhile ago, and was supposed to be a time for us to go down to a cabin on the Black River, (as a late anniversary celebration) but the cabin was already reserved. Oh well. We really need the time around house without the boys anyway, so it works out. We both are so looking forward to being able to sleep! lol And we'll take time to go out too, in addition to getting some things done around the house. Can't wait!!!

I think I'm more frustrated with myself than anything. I have so many things that I want to work on to improve myself, and make life more fun like it used to be! I was thinking today that I really need to just start doing things that I enjoy again, somehow find a way. It's fall, and I love fall! Why am I not enjoying it? And I always have to work every Halloween night, but I've been so lucky to be offered by my boss to be off this year!!! I LOVE Halloween!!! And yet I'm about to let Halloween and Fall sneak up on me and go by while I'm having a pity party. So, today on my lunch break I went out to the local garden center and bought 2 big potted mums to put on our porch. I almost got pumpkins too, but decided I want to wait and bring Brendan to pick out his own pumpkins. Maybe seeing those pretty mums on my porch will inspire me to get excited about things. I think I've let little enjoyments go over the years because I knew they weren't important to Joe and that he thinks things that aren't useful are a waste of money. Well, you know what? So what! Why am I letting that stop me from enjoying things I enjoy? *I* think little things that bring me joy *should* be important. So what if he wouldn't choose to do them himself...*I* can choose to do them for me. And I don't mean to sound like I'm blaming Joe here, I'm not, I'm blaming myself for stopping doing things just because he doesn't think they are important. I wasn't intentionally doing it, but I kind-of came to that realization today. I'm going to make a concious effort to do little things that bring me a smile. Why am I waiting for happiness to just fall into my lap? I know better than that. lol