Alot of little things contributed to putting me into a positive mood today....
*One tiny piece of mail....my driver's license with my post-divorce last name (my maiden name) finally arrived today in the mail. Bonus? It's a great picture of me..well for a license picture it's great!
*My fantastic "MIL" brought over some extra school supplies I needed for the kids which is only possible by the grace of God alone that I was able to get them all taken care of anyway.
*Though my bank screwed up, they not only fixed the error but APOLOGIZED!
*I made a delicious chicken marsala for dinner that practically melted in your mouth.
*I made a kicka$$ cherry coffee cake for breakfast tomorrow morning so I don't have to cook in the morning!
Though my life is not without its MAJOR complications right now, I'm choosing to be grateful for what God's given me....including a lot of little things. :)
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
End of the Summer Rundown
Admittedly, I've been soooo lax the last several weeks because I've been dealing with job stuff, school prep and a million other things. My apologies. I generally like to do an end-of-summer rundown on how things are going so here it is.....
I'm ready for the kids to go back to school. This is not just for my personal gain, though the humdrum schedule that comes with the school year's day time and how on-task my kids get is definitely enough motivation for me. On the other end, THEY'RE ready to go back. They want to see their friends, get back into the swing of things and stop "being bored."
How did my garden grow? Not so bad. Granted, my garden was just a wee little guy this year but it grew pretty well and I definitely got back my green thumb AND my desire to do bigger and better next year...more vegetables, more pretty flowers, more pizzazz. My proudest moments in the garden were getting clearance plants from Lowe's that I nursed back to health. It made me feel like the botanical Dr House.
Trying to keep the house clutter-free is like trying to flush a stubborn turd...just when you think you've got it down, it pops back up again. I'm pretty sure that's self-explanatory. I hate clutter and it just keeps popping up.
Tweenage/Teenage girls are the equivalent of an emotional lottery...you never know what you'll get. I literally have no clue what emotion to expect from moment to moment. Some are more pleasant than others. I realize that this is my rite of passage as a parent and I remember feeling emotionally up and down as a teenager so the mental breakdown of it makes complete sense to me. With that being said, a tired working mama and a tweenager flipping out over a neighbor girl saying that she didn't have her hair cut at the right salon don't mix well. Not only do I spend a good portion of my time saying, "It's alright...relax....don't get all worked up," but I also spend a good portion of my time wanting to punch people in the throat for getting her started on the emotional roller coaster that causes these little meltdowns.
Tweenage/Teenage boy are the equivalent of zombies....they seem to have lost their brains and just wander about lazily. I'm sure this isn't true of all teenage boys but it seems that when the hormones of puberty really hit (as they have with one of my sons), their brains are replaced with foul body odor and the phrase, "I don't know." I'm convinced his brains fell out of his head one day (when it comes to common sense; the kid's still the most book smart kid I know) and he somehow lost the ability to tell time, clean a bedroom without shoveling everything under the bed, and about a dozen other common tasks. Again, I know it's a rite of passage but it doesn't stop me from going, "What the....what?" pretty frequently.
It is impossible to gauge just how big your kids have gotten when you see them every single day until you look at school clothes. Admittedly, I don't fully get the concept of having to buy 14 new outfits for school just so they can outgrow them. I was more concerned, in general, with getting the kids set up with enough fall clothes that if the weather suddenly took a pooper, they wouldn't freeze. Conclusion: they've all grown leaps and bounds over the summer. Sydney is in the clothes that Alyssa was a couple of years ago (Alyssa used to be extremely petite but the Colorado air has been good to her), Anthony and Daniel are living off hand me downs from someone else but have gone up a clothing size each in a matter of months, and Alyssa has officially grown out of every single pair of jeans she owns. I remember when that little girl wore the same size essentially for three years running....ahhhh those were the days. Now she grows like a weed, which is great health-wise but not so great on the bank account.
School Supply Lists are nothing short of CRAZY!!! If I actually bought every single solitary items on the kids' school supply lists, I'd have to buy stock in Puffs, Brawny, Clorox, Crayola, and whatever company makes #2 pencils, notebooks and folders. After buying every single item to a tee last year, I watched the kids ALL come home with half of their supplies unused. Therefore, I've come up with a plan (my budget has a lot to do with it but it's also my experiences speaking): I have contacted their teachers/staff and told them that I'm not buying the paper towels, tissue, and extra supplies. IF they run out of aforementioned supplies, I will buy more but I am not throwing my money out the window on it now. Ironically, the teachers are okay with the concept and understand that it's not a vengeance thing for me; it's purely about not wanting to waste.
I really need to start penciling in stuff instead of saying, "We should..." I have a bad habit of saying that we should go and do something instead of just setting a day/time and saying, "Let's plan it out." I love planning things and knowing that I'm prepared. I'm not a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of gal. I need to start setting a day and time so I can say, "We're going to St Mary's Glacier on Sunday the 3rd" and we can plan accordingly. Otherwise we end up going, "Nah, we'll do it another time." There's something to be said for planning.
Menu Planning Rocks!!! I've gotten back onto a schedule of menu planning and it is amazing. Last night, I ran late but when I got home, all I had to do was boil some noodles and throw the garlic bread in because I'd pre-made my spaghetti sauce and had it in the crockpot all day. Why? Because I knew that's what I was making for dinner and I knew I'd have more time before work. It's completely eliminated the whole "oh no...what are we gonna make" problem. I love it! Now if I could just get on par with doing it for breakfast.
I'm a Greek Yogurt convert. My surgery had my eating habits pretty messed up. I was eating weird amounts of food, certain foods tasted gross to me, and my eating schedule was completely off. Now that I'm recuperated completely, I've gotten onto some sort of eating schedule and tried some new things. One of those is Greek Yogurt...one word...YUM! Some Greek yogurt with a little fruit...delicious! My other new favorite is stuffed jalapeno burgers which are absolutely delightful with a little cheese and tomato on the top.
Staying Up Late is Great but I'm Glad They're Getting Back on Schedule I admit...after a full day's work and being a mama, I'm exhausted earlier in the night than I was when I was younger That's part of the reason I appreciate the back-to-school schedule. The kids are in bed earlier which means I can be in bed earlier and wake up at a decent time without feeling like crap. Yay for the school year!
I'm ready for the kids to go back to school. This is not just for my personal gain, though the humdrum schedule that comes with the school year's day time and how on-task my kids get is definitely enough motivation for me. On the other end, THEY'RE ready to go back. They want to see their friends, get back into the swing of things and stop "being bored."
How did my garden grow? Not so bad. Granted, my garden was just a wee little guy this year but it grew pretty well and I definitely got back my green thumb AND my desire to do bigger and better next year...more vegetables, more pretty flowers, more pizzazz. My proudest moments in the garden were getting clearance plants from Lowe's that I nursed back to health. It made me feel like the botanical Dr House.
Trying to keep the house clutter-free is like trying to flush a stubborn turd...just when you think you've got it down, it pops back up again. I'm pretty sure that's self-explanatory. I hate clutter and it just keeps popping up.
Tweenage/Teenage girls are the equivalent of an emotional lottery...you never know what you'll get. I literally have no clue what emotion to expect from moment to moment. Some are more pleasant than others. I realize that this is my rite of passage as a parent and I remember feeling emotionally up and down as a teenager so the mental breakdown of it makes complete sense to me. With that being said, a tired working mama and a tweenager flipping out over a neighbor girl saying that she didn't have her hair cut at the right salon don't mix well. Not only do I spend a good portion of my time saying, "It's alright...relax....don't get all worked up," but I also spend a good portion of my time wanting to punch people in the throat for getting her started on the emotional roller coaster that causes these little meltdowns.
Tweenage/Teenage boy are the equivalent of zombies....they seem to have lost their brains and just wander about lazily. I'm sure this isn't true of all teenage boys but it seems that when the hormones of puberty really hit (as they have with one of my sons), their brains are replaced with foul body odor and the phrase, "I don't know." I'm convinced his brains fell out of his head one day (when it comes to common sense; the kid's still the most book smart kid I know) and he somehow lost the ability to tell time, clean a bedroom without shoveling everything under the bed, and about a dozen other common tasks. Again, I know it's a rite of passage but it doesn't stop me from going, "What the....what?" pretty frequently.
It is impossible to gauge just how big your kids have gotten when you see them every single day until you look at school clothes. Admittedly, I don't fully get the concept of having to buy 14 new outfits for school just so they can outgrow them. I was more concerned, in general, with getting the kids set up with enough fall clothes that if the weather suddenly took a pooper, they wouldn't freeze. Conclusion: they've all grown leaps and bounds over the summer. Sydney is in the clothes that Alyssa was a couple of years ago (Alyssa used to be extremely petite but the Colorado air has been good to her), Anthony and Daniel are living off hand me downs from someone else but have gone up a clothing size each in a matter of months, and Alyssa has officially grown out of every single pair of jeans she owns. I remember when that little girl wore the same size essentially for three years running....ahhhh those were the days. Now she grows like a weed, which is great health-wise but not so great on the bank account.
School Supply Lists are nothing short of CRAZY!!! If I actually bought every single solitary items on the kids' school supply lists, I'd have to buy stock in Puffs, Brawny, Clorox, Crayola, and whatever company makes #2 pencils, notebooks and folders. After buying every single item to a tee last year, I watched the kids ALL come home with half of their supplies unused. Therefore, I've come up with a plan (my budget has a lot to do with it but it's also my experiences speaking): I have contacted their teachers/staff and told them that I'm not buying the paper towels, tissue, and extra supplies. IF they run out of aforementioned supplies, I will buy more but I am not throwing my money out the window on it now. Ironically, the teachers are okay with the concept and understand that it's not a vengeance thing for me; it's purely about not wanting to waste.
I really need to start penciling in stuff instead of saying, "We should..." I have a bad habit of saying that we should go and do something instead of just setting a day/time and saying, "Let's plan it out." I love planning things and knowing that I'm prepared. I'm not a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of gal. I need to start setting a day and time so I can say, "We're going to St Mary's Glacier on Sunday the 3rd" and we can plan accordingly. Otherwise we end up going, "Nah, we'll do it another time." There's something to be said for planning.
Menu Planning Rocks!!! I've gotten back onto a schedule of menu planning and it is amazing. Last night, I ran late but when I got home, all I had to do was boil some noodles and throw the garlic bread in because I'd pre-made my spaghetti sauce and had it in the crockpot all day. Why? Because I knew that's what I was making for dinner and I knew I'd have more time before work. It's completely eliminated the whole "oh no...what are we gonna make" problem. I love it! Now if I could just get on par with doing it for breakfast.
I'm a Greek Yogurt convert. My surgery had my eating habits pretty messed up. I was eating weird amounts of food, certain foods tasted gross to me, and my eating schedule was completely off. Now that I'm recuperated completely, I've gotten onto some sort of eating schedule and tried some new things. One of those is Greek Yogurt...one word...YUM! Some Greek yogurt with a little fruit...delicious! My other new favorite is stuffed jalapeno burgers which are absolutely delightful with a little cheese and tomato on the top.
Staying Up Late is Great but I'm Glad They're Getting Back on Schedule I admit...after a full day's work and being a mama, I'm exhausted earlier in the night than I was when I was younger That's part of the reason I appreciate the back-to-school schedule. The kids are in bed earlier which means I can be in bed earlier and wake up at a decent time without feeling like crap. Yay for the school year!
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Favorite Quote
"You can't always get what you want but if you try, sometimes, you get what you need."
Calla-pilla
I definitely am not a mom that makes fun of any sort of speech impediments; however, my kids have all gone through phases where they mispronounced things that I thought were adorable. Here are some of my favorites.....
Alyssa-My favorite of hers was always how she pronounced her brother's name. "An-no-nee". One of my other favorites was that she always called my older sister, "Yaya" because she couldn't say her name (Shannon).
Anthony-Though he rarely pronounced things incorrectly, he did say "hop-sital" for a really long time, which I thought was adorable. He also used to call his sister, "Sissa" because he couldn't say her name.
Daniel Andrew-Let's see....he had a few. "La-mama" for lasagna, " "bats-it-ball" for basketball, and "Ham-boogers" for hamburgers. Those were my favorites.
Sydney-My absolute favorite is "calla-pilla" for caterpillar". I'm sort of sad that she outgrew it.
I wish I could capture some of these little moments and keep them in time forever! My babies are growing up!
Alyssa-My favorite of hers was always how she pronounced her brother's name. "An-no-nee". One of my other favorites was that she always called my older sister, "Yaya" because she couldn't say her name (Shannon).
Anthony-Though he rarely pronounced things incorrectly, he did say "hop-sital" for a really long time, which I thought was adorable. He also used to call his sister, "Sissa" because he couldn't say her name.
Daniel Andrew-Let's see....he had a few. "La-mama" for lasagna, " "bats-it-ball" for basketball, and "Ham-boogers" for hamburgers. Those were my favorites.
Sydney-My absolute favorite is "calla-pilla" for caterpillar". I'm sort of sad that she outgrew it.
I wish I could capture some of these little moments and keep them in time forever! My babies are growing up!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Sound Off About Role Models
I would like to take a moment to sound of on so-called "role models". I should preface this by saying that I'm a big fan of the Disney channel and the Disney company in general. While I think the parks are overpriced, I am definitely very confident that they are well worth the memories. With that being said, the Disney Channel child stars seem to be falling off the edge. For some strange reason, half of the big Disney stars feel the need to pose nude or nearly nude shortly after they're "of age." Get it together, girls! You were stars before you did that crap and you're obviously good performers or Disney wouldn't have hired you. Stop feeling the need to strip down to "prove you're all grown up." You know how you can prove you're a grown up? Act like a damn lady. Save your naked or nearly naked body for your own private space and prove your a grown up by ACTING like one, not trying to show off your hoo-ha. Let's face it, there are enough perverts and half naked women walking the street. Don't think that just because you turned 18, little girls aren't still looking up to you. You wanted the responsibility of stardom and it comes at a price. No, your parents are NOT responsible for you dressing like a harlot nor is the company that gave you your start. THEY didn't dress you like that and THEY aren't the ones trying to be something you're not. So to the so-called "Disney child stars" that are flaunting everything but the kitchen sink, thank you for nothing. You've made me lose respect for what I thought was a talented actress with some sort of common sense.
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