Christmas Rush

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

I am enjoying the remaining few minutes until I begin the Christmas rush.
Tomorrow we are going to my dad's house in Crystal River. We will spend the night and come home some time Sunday. Then, Monday I have to work and I have a playdate scheduled for lunchtime. I have cookies to make for Santa and a few things to wrap because they are in hiding and/or too big to wrap (the kids will notice a big box if it's wrapped but a plain box blends into the garage mess,LOL)

I can't figure out how to get the stuff off the hard drive in my video camera. I really would like to video Christmas morning so I need to do that.

I have text books that I need to get up on ebay very soon (tonight preferably)

And on top of all that Stella saw a VERY cute Tinkerbell stocking, so I got it for her, BUT it's a felt one that you have to sew on all the pieces and some beads. So I MIGHT or might not get that all done before the big night (wish me luck since I'm a slow sew-er)

I hope to have some great pics of my stay at dad's house and Christmas for you all next time I post. Until then, have FUN!!!

YUP!!

Yup, because I opened my big mouth.
She peed in her pants.
Not once.
Not twice.
But three times since I posted Saturday morning!

I said I was jinxing myself,
I knew I shouldn't of said it,
but I did anyway,
look what I got for it,
A big pile of pee-peed laundry to do!

No more diapers

So I even hesitate to post this because I know it'll jinx me ......
buuuut........
I will anyway because I'm so excited for her! (and me!)

Stella is pretty much potty trained at 2 yrs and 5 months old. She only wears a pull up at night time, but only because I don't 100% trust her. She doesn't wake up wet and she has even woken me up at 2:30am to take her to the potty. I also keep a potty in the car for those times when no potty is available. So she has been wearing big girl panties and recently we haven't had any accidents except the one time Lucas was in the bathroom and dad was in the other one and she just couldn't wait any longer. She was mad about that one. I felt bad for her too.

Now if she could just get her pants back up all by herself. She still needs help with that part. I'm OK with that because I don't have to buy diapers anymore....

ever!!!!

Christmas lights

I love to drive around and look at Christmas lights. Do you? I like to see how creative and festive other people are. One of my friends says that her neighbor rents a lift thingy to get his lights up in his trees and up to the top of his tall palm trees. I think that's a bit much, but it does look really nice. But there's no way I would do all that!!!

I've been secretly wrapping gifts while Stella naps during the day. I have just under half of them wrapped. I'm a slow wrapper. Plus, this year I want them to actually look good. In previous years I just didn't care about presentation. I mean they are just doing the 'grab and rip', right?

So this year I'm being a copy cat. I am going to make really pretty and big gift tags for all of Santa's gifts (That equals one gift to each kids so I'll be making 3 tags) I want to make them all super fancy and special and magical. Maybe it's something they will remember and do for their kids. I also want to do the secret elf thing (You know where the elf watches and if they are good they get a couple of pre-Christmas gifts in the weeks before that are just small but helps them to remember to be good) but funds were really tight this year. And funds will probably be that way for at least 2 more Christmases (I'll be a full time student= poor family) So for now I'll do fancy tags.
Really, it just makes me feel like I'm making Christmas a little more magical for them. Of course, they will grow up thinking that their crazy mom thought it was cool to make those dumb giant tags that she thought made us think it was really Santa bringing the presents when we have known since we were 7 that it was just her and dad.......

Did you follow that?


Nope.... Me neither!

Check out my Meez... and duck!!!!

Christmas break

I finally got my grade for my Microbiology and I got A's in both the lecture and lab portion! (Did you think I wouldn't???LOL) I got a 94 on the lab final and an 82 on the lecture final which was cutting it really close for the A in the class. So now I have Christmas break until Jan 7th.

ba-zillions of cookies

I feel like I am making ba-zillions of them, they are everywhere!! LOL We (my mom's group) are having a cookie exchange tonight and I, of course, have waited till the last possible hour to make them. I am making Andies Candies cookies. I hope and pray that they turn out good, I haven't made them before so I'm taking a huge chance.

Last year I made Chocolate Rum Balls. Most people said they were too boozy.... hello?? they are RUM balls, they are supposed to taste like rum!!! Oh well. At Least my good friend Julie liked them. She liked them so much that she posted that she is going to make some this year for her and family (or maybe just her).

OK, my timer is going off, I must go,
bake...
cookies...


I do hope they are good!!!

Christmas Parade

For the first time since living in Lakeland, I took the kids to the Christmas Parade. It was fun. I would never have gone but I met a good friend down there and I hung out with her and her family (They were really nice to share their space with us!) You can go see pictures on Jen's blog. Sorry but I don't feel like down loading pics right now. I went without Andrew because he had to work. Thank goodness I did meet a friend down there because Stella is potty training and there were several times I had to just pick her up and practically run to the bathroom with her. She made it all night with no accidents !!! That wouldn't have happened if I would have had to gather up both boys every time she had to go. So THANK YOU JEN(and John)!!!

As for the rest of my weekend... it was miserable!! I came down with a head cold and felt terrible and I also had an abscess that was not draining and VERY painful. Hunter was very helpful with Stella since I pretty much spent the whole time on the couch. I feel much better today!! Head cold almost gone and the abscess is draining on its own, no surgery needed (whew!!)

I took one of my finals on Sunday for my Microbiology class and did well enough to get an A for the class!!! YEAH Now I just have the lab final to do by tomorrow night. Wish me luck!

One more thing, the girls in my Moms group want to have our very own little blog-a-thon for the month of January. Who ever post the most wins. Wins what? we're not sure yet, but sounds fun and it'll be nice to go read their blogs and have something new to read!

Finals

Finals are this coming week. I'm looking forward to having it over with and being able to enjoy the holidays. I'm so anal about my classes that I have sat down and figured out what the lowest grade is that I can receive on the finals to still get an A in the class. In the lecture portion I have to get at least an 80% and in the lab a 67% or higher will do it. Send good grade vibes my way, please!!!

I am signed up to take 2 classes for the spring semester. I will tackle Human Nutrition and Sociology. Sounds like fun to me too!! J/K!

I have started to check out daycares in the area to prepare for me going to school full time next fall (August). I have not been too impressed so far. The only place that I like doesn't open early enough for me to get to school on time some mornings (some days classes start at 8 and other days at 9). My mom suggested that I put Stella in the daycare at the college but then on days I need to study and don't have school I'm outta luck unless I want to pay someone over and above daycare cost. I don't know if that's an option because the going rate for a babysitter is about $10/hr. Maybe a co-op with another mom would be an option. We'll see. I still haven't checked out the center at the college to know if I would even leave her there. I'm so nervous about putting the kids in daycare. I'm so nervous about going to school full time. I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it. People do it all the time. There's no reason I can't. I'm just........stepping into new territory for me. I'm not one of those people that just jumps in to the pool, I wade in slowly.
very slowly....

new things everyday

I do learn something new everyday. Ta Da! I now have music for you to listen to whilst reading my fabulous blog!!! LOL I will have to add more songs and change them for the seasons and/or moods.

The house is starting to look like the holidays are coming. I'm a little behind this year. Actually I'm right on track with all previous years of being the last to decorate. oh well! We have a tree up but not decorated yet. It's fake! I am tired of spending $100 for a tree that will die in 3 weeks and won't even be green on THE day. I mean really. So we got a fake, which is great for Hunter's and Andrew's allergies.

I'm pretty sure we are done X-mas shopping! whew! Now for the cards to be made out and mailed. And wrapping the gifts and keeping it all hidden.

Oh I almost forgot. I painted the front door finally and it looks great. BUT, Andrew thought it would be a good idea to replace the threshold that was sorta rotting and needed replacing. Which it would have been if it were not for the fact that in this house, NOTHING is that simple, nothing!!! Turns out the door frame is rotting at the bottom too. It had never been painted apparently. Paint protects wood from the water. WOOD + NO PAINT + WATER = ROTTEN WOOD. Thank goodness my dad is a skilled carpenter!! He's going to mill us a new door frame out of PT wood (pressure treated= more weather resistant) and come down and install it for us! I do wish we had the know how and tools to not have to rely on someone else. Anyways, so now the door is painted but not the frame because I'm waiting for the new piece that is not rotten.

Me

So no one has commented about my Meez. You know that thing above that sorta resembles me. (At least what I wish I looked like, you know the whole make up and hair done and nice clothes) The props are cute and funny too. They even had glasses that resemble mine!LOL You can add one to your blog or myspace and it's free!! It was fun and easy to do.

Stella is currently playing with Playdoh. I hate that stuff. I know Amy loves it, that's the reason she had kids so she can sit around the house sniffing Playdoh, LOL! (You could post every now and then too, Amy, not just read others!!)

I am here typing this post because I told myself this morning that I would clean the house, or at least part of it. But here I am typing still. Procrastination is a big problem for me. The thought crossed my mind to go shopping for Christmas stuff today since I have no other plans (sinceI'm trying to forget that I WAS going to clean) What else needs to be done beside cleaning, hmmmmm, let me think.......


...............

...............

..........................

Ummmm.........

well...........

Ugh, I guess I have to clean!



Oh, yeah..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!


Oh, in case you are wondering, I'm 29!




he he he........

Christmas Shopping

I haven't even started. I am one of those people who end up getting stuff last minute. I also usually don't have a list. But this year I do have a list. I know exactly what I'm buying the kids and how much it will cost. I have been working on my lists for them for a while to get it down to those things that I think will be hits and/or something they have asked for. Stella of course is the easiest of the three and then its Hunter. Hunter actually doesn't really ask for anything in particular just whatever toy looks cool on the TV. There are things though that I know he will like. Lucas on the other hand asks for a TON of really expensive things, like an iPhone and games that are $50-60 a piece. We are planning on getting him the iPod. We gave him a cheapy mp3 player last year and it started playing the songs at high speed so he thought he was stuck in the land of the chipmunks. So I think he would make use of the iPod enough to choke down the $150 price tag for the smallest one that has a screen. Andrew is definately NO help ... At all. He wants to get *cough* Lucas *cough* the Guitar Heros III with the guitar controller. Uh huh, sure, that's for Lucas. Lucas is like totally into all that like head banger hard rock from the like 80's and like 90's. If you believe that I got some land to sell you in south Florida that's high and dry and really cheap!!LOL

Anyways......... The Christmas tree thing is bothering me too. The frugal part of me, that I inherited from my mother, is having a REALLY hard time spending $100 on a tree that is going to die in 3 weeks. I would rather spend that money on my kids. But I also HATE fake trees. I thought about buying a live tree that we could plant in our yard after we are done with Christmas. Andrew thinks that idea stinks and thinks what is X-mas with no pine tree. ????

Oh well.....

On another note, my good friend Julie has been posting everyday this month, you can check it out here She is doing a great job remembering to post EVERYDAY!!! Way to go Julie!!!!!

Grandma is gone now

Grandma's visit seemed so short. The kids are asking when will she be back. I think sometime in January so not too long in between visits this time. While she was here she took us to Novemberfest at Nativity Catholic Church. For those who don't know it is a mini fair, with the rides and food and games just like a state fair only on a smaller scale and no farm animals. The kids had a blast! I would post pictures but my camera's batteries were given to someone else. They were given to Hunter's preschool teacher who we saw at Hunter's elementary school for a 'parade'. Her batteries had run out and we were leaving so I kindly handed mine to her so she could take pictures of her child. I then promptly forgot that my camera didn't have it's batteries. So I couldn't take any pictures this time. Oh well! I did get some great pictures of Grandma playing with Hunter and Stella. The first 2 are in our backyard and the last one is from the Book Character parade at Hunter's school on Friday the 16th.





My camera is on it's last leg, I think. the button that changes the settings and steers around the menu only works to go left, well, to select all my options you have to go right. I also can't set my date and time stamp either. I need to set it because the batteries were out of it for a few days. As you can see the date is messed up. Just one more thing that needs to get done, or replaced, or fixed.

I don't get it

So I'm in the parking lot of the gym, trying to find a space to park in. I'm not one of those people who will drive around to get the best spot. I find one and I park. So I notice all these people...circling ... and circling.... looking for a spot that is close to the door of the gym. So I'm wondering why don't they just find a spot, even way out in the boonies of the lot, and hoof it to the door?
I mean, they are there to exercise, right?

What's a little extra walking gonna hurt, yes?

I don't get it, are they afraid to wear themselves out just getting to the door?

That walk is so tough compared to the 30 minutes on the treadmill or that one hour long step class!

Hello!?!

Glasses: Take 2

So my glasses ended up being too heavy and hurt my nose. I went back to the vision center and picked out a new pair, well actually pairs since I also got Rx sunglasses. I put a picture here but you can't see them too well. I just picked this picture because my eyes are closed and Stella is making such a goofy face, it made me laugh when I saw it. It is from yesterday when I dragged Andrew to the park that I just realized is there. It's pretty close to my house and I guess it is new. It's really nice, partially shaded and part sunny, lots of places for the moms (or dads) to sit and even some swinging benches. Oh, and no swings for the kids. Bad for them, good for moms who have to push the kids, LOL!

Report Cards

The boys got their report cards on Tuesday and both did very well! Lucas got 2 A's (Band and PE) and 6 B's ( Lang Arts, Reading, Critical thinking, Earth science, Math, Geography) . Hunter's very first ever report card was excellent. They don't grade on the ABCDF scale but on an S and N, which stand for Satisfactory and Needs improvement. He got ALL S's!!! He also got an above average rating on the word recognition part and his letter recognition part. So they are both doing well.


I don't know if anyone has been watching my weight progress, or lack of, I just wanted to let you know that I haven't totally given up and I am still going to the gym (This last week I went 5 times!!) I haven't really lost any weight but my body fat % has dropped so there is movement, just not the scale. I had a slow few weeks there. I am back on. I am actually going to be putting an effort into it! As the Tortoise says "Slow and steady wins the race". It might take me 8 months at this rate but I'll get there one day, I swear I will!!!

School work & glasses

I am very busy with school work and will continue to be busy. Right now I have 2 experiments in the works. First is a fermentation experiment making Kimchee and second is a decomposition experiment. The decomposition experiment is basically letting bread and fruit rot in a dark cool place somewhere in my house. UGH!! Kimchee is a Korean dish of fermented Chinese cabbage and green onion and other spices. I'm not sure if I will be able to eat it knowing that it has just been sitting on my counter for several days to a week. Everything tells to me to just throw it away like I should throw away moldy bread and mushy cucumbers. Know what I mean?
I also just finished boiling red cabbage to make pH paper for the Kimchee. That was neat. Testing all the stuff in the house to see how acidic or alkaline it is.
I also have due next week my two bacterial unknowns. (but that'll be easy since I have the book WITH the answers in the back, he he he) Then after I turn those in there will be only 2 more weeks of work then a week to study for the final. So I'll be done by the second week of December!!!

I think I need to go get lighter glasses. The ones I got are kinda bothering my nose. They leave red marks where the nose pieces sit. Walmart didn't have much else that I liked so I hope I can get the Rx and go somewhere else. Visionworks is running a 2 pair special for $99. Maybe I'll check them out later this week.

Blind, apparently

Yea, so apparently I'm blind. Not as blind as a bat, but barely legal to drive a car with out corrective lenses. That does explain all the headaches and shoulder aches I've been having. I had my eyes examined on Thursday this past week and stood there looking for frames with 2 kids acting not the greatest. So picking out frames is not easy. I want something pretty and functional. I also need sunglasses. I would have preferred plastic frames because I don't really care for the nose pieces but then I would have needed a second pair of shades and the budget doesn't allow for that right now. So then I thought about transitions lenses but they won't work in the car because the windshield blocks the UV rays that make the lenses turn dark, so those wouldn't do either. So my last option are frames with the magnetic shades that clip on. So this is what I picked out:



I took the picture myself so that's the best I could get. You can't really tell from the pic but they are sort of a coppery color. So what do you think??

Grade and Work

I just got the grade on my other mid term, the Microbiology Lab. I got a 100%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel so relieved to be doing well. I'm not normally this excited about it because usually I know that I'm doing well, but this class is really making me work for it. In the past I have not had to put in this much effort into the class to get good grades.

Because of work, I have realized that teenagers don't have a clue. About anything! There is one girl who is barely 16 and she thinks that she has it all figured out... if she only knew. I also realize that I was just like that. My mom is probably laughing at that and thinking: 'just wait until it's not co-workers but my own kids.'

I'm not looking forward to it. Just so you know.

Some Halloween festivities

Here are the kids all dressed up in there costumes ready to go to my friend Heather's party. Hunter is an Ice Wolf Ninja and Stella is Dora the Explorer. (Really, did you think she would be something else??) If you're wondering where Lucas is, he was at his mom's for the weekend.


Here they are at Heather's house at Kolbie's party. There weren't too many people there and the house was pretty much busy being readied for the older kids party that night but Hunter had enough fun that he didn't want to leave, so a good party in my book.This was at Carter Rd Park by our house. It's where we have soccer practice. They had a Haunted hayride and bouncy things set up and carnival type booths and the fire rescue. Food was provided by a local school band booster and they also had 'Trick or treat village" so the kids did get some candy but not too much! We didn't go on the Haunted hayride, I was afraid that it might be too scary for Stella and Hunter, plus it was getting late so we turned in for the night.
We were waiting our turn on a bouncy thing.....
Here is Hunter and our neighbor friend, Duncan, in front of one of the fire trucks with the "jaws of Life" behind them.
and here are the fire rescue team using the "jaws of Life" to 'rescue' a woman from a mangled car. That was neat to watch them open a car up like that. They just peeled it apart like an orange!! Of course, they weren't too rushed because it was just a demo and the woman was fine the whole time. The picture is a little blurry so you can't see them using the Jaws but, they are.
So now we are just waiting for the real night. The kids are looking forward to it and the candy, of course.

I also picked up a few extra shifts at the gym this weekend. I worked Friday night and then Sunday afternoon.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.... I had been waiting for my midterm grade in my Microbiology class. I was hoping for anything above an 80% but do you want to know what I actually got??? Do Ya, Do Ya???
To my surprise I did amazingly well and got a 94%!!!!!!! I was so shocked to do that well. This class is VERY hard and the class average for the midterm is a 72.18%. So I'm doing very well in comparison. YEAH!!!

Not well...

That's how this losing weight thing is going... not well! But it is moving along slllooowwwwlllllyyyy. very slowly. Well 'they' do say the slower it comes off the more likely it will stay off. My friend Melodie has put her weight loss on hold for the moment. I am still working out but certainly not the 4-5 times a week I was aiming for. I have a hard time going when I know that Stella doesn't like to be there without me or her brother. Last time I went with just her she cried and they had to come get me. I did go this morning and missed the Bodypump class I was going to take by like 5 minutes so I just did my own version of it. I am concentrating on my legs because that's the part I hate the most so I make sure I work them almost every time I go.

Next.....

My mom is coming down in about 2 and a half weeks. She is taking the Family to Novemberfest to play. Here are some pictures from the last time she was down.




I also don't think I posted a picture of Stella's blanket that my mom and I made last time she was here. It has Dora in pink on one side and Deigo in blue on the other.

Oh and some more news is that Lucas will be having another brother to add to his family. I just love that our taxes are paying the medicaid bill for that ultrasound because she won't get her dead ass of the couch and get herself a job. Her alcoholic boyfriend is just as bad. He has only been working a couple of days a week because of the rain. HELLOOOOO.... is anybody home??? You're getting ready to have a baby, GET ANOTHER JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He can't afford to support her and Jillian now and they are adding another baby!! What's wrong with people??? Heck, I found a job that I can take my kids with me. They can certainly find SOMETHING. They hire those mentally and physically handicapped people at Publix, that would be perfect because they already know that Publix hires the mentally challenged!!!!!!!!!!

Still Looking

I'm still looking for some gainful employment. Yes, I'm still working at Lifestyles but that's not really helping to pay any bills. Everywhere I've gone has told me that my availability ( or lack there of) is why they won't hire me. I just can't justify putting the kids in daycare to make slightly above minimum wage. Any ideas are most certainly welcome!!

Dollar Dinner Night Garbage

Last night was dollar dinner night at Hunter's school. They trick you into coming for a cheap dinner but then get you to spend money at the book fair. But in all fairness they did have a slice of pizza and a soda for $1 and afterwards they had a magic show. I didn't get any pictures of the magician (not that you would have seen the magic) but the kids seemed to enjoy it. So we walked into the library where they have the book fair set up and they have all that stuff that is NOT books set up right in front so the kids can see it ALL and BEG for it from their parents who are guilted into buying at least something because ya know that the profits all go back to the school. The teachers also have a wish list so those parents can buy them stuff too!!! How nice, right!! So we managed to get out of there just buying Stella a Dora book and Hunter a book called "Dictionary of Dangerous Creatures". Lucas bought his own slime making thingy (because I would have bought a book, but that's NOT a book to read, so he has to buy it). I had a good time all in all, but Andrew looked as if I was dragging him through burning coals and the nail bed was coming soon!!! LOL. Oh well.


The Garbage part of this post concerns, well, garbage of course, and the fact that the neighbors stupid dog keeps getting out of his yard and perusing the neighborhoods garbage. He does this by knocking over the can and spreading the garbage out over the lawn to properly see ALL the contents. Now my neighbor knows that his dog is doing this and does NOTHING!!!!! I know that I could just put the trash in the garage but I don't have room nor do I want it stinking up my garage. I went out and bought a 'locking' trash can. That did not work. Trash is still all over the yard! Did I tell you I HATE having to pick up the garbage, not once but twice! Once inside the house and again outside. So this past weekend I made Andrew show me how to use the circular saw and I proceeded to build an enclosure for the trash cans. See how nice it looks! There is a chain across the front so the dog can't pull the cans over. All my idea!!


Now the question is, do I take my neighbor the bill for $50+ for the materials that I had to purchase and the $30 trash can I bought to try to keep his dog out but didn't work because he can't keep his dog under control???

Fall T-ball

Hunter has been signed up for T-ball since the last week in August. So far he has been to one practice. The organization had some problems and for some reason couldn't figure out how to get in contact with us. Apparently the whole different area code really throws these people for a loop. Well we finally got in touch with one of the higher up and he got in contact with the coach and the coach finally got in touch with us. Now mind you, the coach knew on a Tuesday how to contact us so we could be in the know about practice times and dates, but I didn't receive an e-mail or call until the following Monday morning. She called me Monday to let me know that practice was that night. (Thanks for the great heads up on that!!!) So they sat around on the phone number for like 6 days and didn't think that I might want some advance warning. Then tonight is the first game, which I don't know what time it is supposed to be at, why you ask?? because our coach doesn't seem to want to call or e-mail to let his team know anything... at all.... UGH!! I want to call and complain but what good is that gonna do, right?!? I think I will call that guy that is supposed to be in charge and ask for my money back. I'm just frustrated. This is about the kids but I can't even get a phone call to find out when stuff is at. I called her(the coach's wife and team mom) today and haven't gotten a call back yet either!!

I guess we'll try again in the spring, that's the busy baseball season anyway.

No Change

I'm frustrated because there is no change! I didn't lose any weight this week. I'm exactly the same 157.0 that I was last week. Maybe I lost some fat and gained the same amount in muscle. I didn't have time to check my body fat this morning so I'm going with that answer!! I have been working out so that MUST be it, right?!?
On Wednesday I worked with the PT and she really made me work it! It hurt to sit down and stand up and move my arms, well,.... move anything really!LOL!! This morning I went back for some more punishment. I did a Bodypump class and that kicked my butt. I hurt now, but in a good way.
I'm picking up another day of actually working in the Kid's Club. I'll be working on Tuesdays and Fridays now. Not too happy about it but I felt like I couldn't say no, but I will tell her in a few weeks that I don't want to do 2 days anymore. There is another girl that wants to work there just to get the membership so I won't feel too bad about it.

Nothing else too exciting going on. I know I'm boring, but that also means nothing bad is happening either!!

Do they know people are waiting...

Ah hem... do they know?? I have several friends who just seem to not like to update their blog too often. I click on the link and there it is the same old same old that's been there for what seems like MONTHS!! I'm waiting for something new and interesting to read about.


On a totally separate note, I went to talk to the program director of the college program that I want to enter next fall. My biggest concern was getting into the program and how competitive is it really. Well they only accept 12 students a year and last year they had 59 applicants. So that works out to be the top 20% or so. They base admission solely on GPA of the prerequisite courses and so far I have a 4.0 in those courses and I only have the one course I'm currently taking to add to that GPA. So I figure that even if I get as low as a B, I would still have a 3.83. She said the range of GPA's that were accepted this past fall was from 3.5 to 4.0 and there was only one 4.0. So the way i see it I'm pretty much in!!! My other concern was pay scale of a Dental Hygienist when they first get out of school. She said that this past summer she heard from her students and the lowest was $25/hr and the highest was $32/hr. So that would be a significant increase in our yearly income even if I only work part time. I mean at $28/hr (which is mid range) and working 32 hours a week (4 days) I would make about $46,000 a year, not bad for a part time gig I think! I'm excited about the prospect of it. But it does seem a long way a way........ Oh and paying for school will be a whole other issue. The majority of the cost are NOT tuition which I thought it was and was hoping it was because I have that part covered by the Fl Prepaid. I guess we will have to do student loans but I don't know if I can get enough to cover the cost at school and daycare for the kids. UGH, I'm so stressed about it. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

My Goals

I have them, I really do!! My goal is to lose this extra weight that I've been carrying around since I had Hunter. About 20 extra pounds!! Since I work at the gym and have a membership I have gone twice. I know that's not much. To my defense I wasn't sure how Stella was going to do without me in there. She does great, in fact, she cries when we leave if you can believe that! On Friday I went and had an evaluation done which basically tells you what you weigh and what you should weigh and how to get there. So I weigh in at 157 with 24.6% body fat. Their nifty little computer model says that in 13 weeks of doing cardio and resistance training 4 days a week I should drop about 19 pounds as long as I'm following a sensible diet. Which I am 90% of the time because of Andrew being diabetic. So that means if I don't cheat, I can be a hot tamale by Christmas!!! (and I can wear my skinny clothes) So be prepared for me to post some before and after pictures by then. ( I won't horrify you with any before pics now)

PS. I was going to go to the gym this morning but the time got away from me and the kid's club is closed now and I can't leave them with Andrew because he just had surgery and is always on the verge of a medicated slumber! I definitely want to make it tomorrow!!

Employed

I am happy to announce that I am now employed. I mean outside the home, LOL. I went on Monday and filled out applications at Books A Million and at Lifestyle Family Fitness. Well, today I got called backed from the woman at LFF and went for an interview and was hired!! It's not that it's a great job but it's only 3-4.5 hours a week and I can have Stella with me (or the others too, if there is no school) and I get a free membership at the gym, YEA!!! That was really the reason I applied there. I am also hoping that BAM will call me too and I can work there in the evening and make some extra money for the household.


Maybe I'll actually be able to get in better shape by my birthday at the end of November! My goal is to fit into the jeans I have hanging on my wall. They are Lucky brand size 28. I think I'll need to lose about 15lbs before I'll fit into them again. I was ALMOST into them when I got pregnant with Stella (3 yrs ago) I hope they are still stylish when I can wear them again, LOL. I think that between the new cooking regime (because of the diabetes thing) and a membership at the gym, that dropping the extra pounds won't be too hard. (I hope).

4 Rooms

All 4 bedrooms are in use now!!!!! So far it's been easy and no fuss. In case you didn't know, Stella has been sleeping with Andrew and I in our room since she was born, on her own bed but still in the room. For a short time when we first moved into the house Hunter was also in there with us on a bed of his own too. Now since this past Friday night Stella has been sleeping in her big girl room on her big girl bed!! There were 2 nights that she woke up and called out for me but she went back to sleep fairly easily. I am hoping for continued success!! Andrew and I are excited to have our private space back! So finally, after over 2 years of being in the house, we are finally using all four bedrooms and that is one of the biggest reasons we moved out here, so all the kids could have their own room. This is a picture of Stella's big girl bed but ours is in white. (Thanks Mom and Norm) While my mom was here we made Stella a blanket, one side is pink with Dora the Explorer and the other side is blue with Diego and baby jaguar on it. She sleeps with it every night and carries it out with her in the morning.

On a totally different note. Andrew has diabetes. I now HAVE to cook better and I'm know that I'm going to struggle with it mainly because I know the kids will resist having to eat their veggies and I don't want to cook stuff that Andrew can't have because of the whole temptation factor. I like eating veggies, I know that I feel better when I eat better. I know that Andrew is struggling with it, he seems to still think he can eat McD's. I know it's hard for him but it's a reality check for him, and I think he is resisting and he really can't because he'll make himself really sick.

Oh and one other thing is that every day Hunter resists going to school and whines and cries and begs not to go but every day I pick him up and he seems so happy and excited and he ALWAYS tells me that he's had a great day!!! Go figure.

They don't hate it!!!!

Well, today Hunter came home from school in a good mood!!! He stayed home with me yesterday because his cough had kept him up most the night. This morning he cried and whined and stomped his feet and insisted that he was not going to school and that school was awful and no fun! Today upon entering the car in the car line he was smiling!! He also remembered his car line number (the number we parents must display in the car and that the teacher calls out in order to pick up our child instead of using a name tag in the windshield) which helped his good mood! I don't know what made today better but it was, thankfully!

Lucas on the other hand has come home everyday in a good mood and has said that school was good, and he meant it too! I think he really likes the changing classes 6 times a day and not having all the same classes everyday. It must make him feel like a big kid (his word would be "pre-teen"!! *gasp*)

Hopefully this trend will keep going ....and going... and going!!!
Please let it keep going.......

Lucas's first day of Middle School

Luke went to the Boo Hoo breakfast with me but left early with the neighbors grandmother. He asked to ride with them (well, Cole) so I said sure. I could tell he was nervous and I think just being with someone else he knew made it a little better. He said it was awful but I don't think he really thought that. I just think he's so used to saying that that it just comes out. They have a weird schedule, some classes one day and other the next and some classes everyday... very confusing!!! He's taking band. I just wonder what horrible sound I'll be listening to ... Trumpet?? Drums?? Flute?? who knows...
His mother finally called at 6:30 last night to find out about his day. At least she called him this year, last year he had to call her on the second day of school.
His mom also keeps telling him she will open a savings account for him, but it hasn't happened yet. She also didn't get him anything for his birthday. He got stuff but it was from his aunts and uncles and grandparents (all 3 sets) and my auntie Cindi and us, but nothing from her. Too sad for him.
I think it's interesting that one of the papers he brought home yesterday had a place for the students to fill out mom and dad, and Lucas filled in Andrew's name and my name, I don't know if that means anything or if he was just putting down who he lives with ...???
I hope that she will keep in touch with him now. Since school has started she will only see him 4 days a month. He notices when she doesn't call and it makes him sad but he won't say that, I can just tell.

Hunter's first day of Kindergarten

Well, yesterday was his first day of Kindergarten. The school has what they call a "Boohoo Breakfast". They invite all the K parents to the lunchroom to have breakfast with their kids then they call the kids up to the front in group by teacher and sit them down and read them a story. After the story they call the kids out by class and lead them out of the lunchroom to their classrooms, leaving all the parents to boohoo.... alone! I teared up but no tears fell. I thought I would lose it when I got to the car but (thankfully) Stella started fussing and giving me a hard time about leaving so I was able to put my mind on that and not that my big boy just started Kindergarten.
I went and picked him up using the car rider line which was VERY long. He wanted to know what in the world took me so long to pick him up!! He said he didn't have very much fun. He did like art class and he did see his friend Duncan, but that was pretty much all he said.
This morning was NOT fun. He didn't want to go to school. He threw a fit and yelled and I eventually just carried him out to the car and strapped him in. I finally got it out of him that he wanted to stay home to play with Lucas. I had to remind him that Luke would be leaving to go to school, too. He finally calmed down and when we got to school and I dropped him off in the car line he seemed alright. Although today was much harder for me than yesterday because he just got out and walked away....... no wave, no kiss..... nothing! : (
So I hope today is more fun for him. I don't know what special (ie. art, music or PE) they have on what days so i will ask him when I pick him up today to find out what he did. I hope he can tell me more today than yesterday!! I don't want him to not like school, at least not till he's older!!

"Skating"

My kids have discovered they can 'skate' on the tile using cardboard blocks. It's too funny to watch. I don't know how they discovered this, but whatever keeps them entertained, right?!

Baseboards

Yes! baseboards. I want new baseboards in the whole house. Well just the part that has that crappy, supposed to be door frame casing, dust collecting, horribly put in, cut too short in places baseboard. The baseboard don't touch the floor in some places so the dirt just gets stuck up under it. I feel like I can't get my house clean. It would cost probably about $300 plus a gallon of paint but after spending $7500 on our new room that's just not gonna happen.
I also need to take the front door off the hinges and give a good coat of paint and the door frame and outside casing. But it's just too hot to have the door wide open like that, so it'll have to wait till a cooler day probably sometime in November. I would like to paint the hallway with some kind of washable paint. Right now it looks like crap! Actually, compared to the new room, the rest of the house looks like crap!

Butterfly

While I was in the backyard cleaning up all the stuff from the remodel, I came across a caterpillar that was attached to the tar paper and getting ready to turn into a chrysalis. I cut the piece of tar paper off and brought it inside so we could watch it. I was hoping to actually see it come out. I didn't get to. Andrew noticed it first. He was like, "What the hell is THAT?" It had fallen to the ground and was inside a toy so it just looked like a BIG bug moving around. He forgot that I had the chrysalis hanging up on the wall. So I picked it up carefully and all the kids were in awe. It was really pretty. We all went outside to let it go and she flew away into the trees. I have always thought butterflies were neat and it's cool to show the kids the whole cycle of it.

So later I looked online to see if I could find out what kind it was and I did manage to find it. It was a Spicebush Swallowtail. I attached a link to another site with lots of pictures. Hopefully it works as this is the first link I've tried to attach.

Ummmm... I can't think of a good title...

So today is Friday and I just got back from grocery shopping. I had to plan for Lucas's 'party' (he's just having a sleep over) and he asked to have s'mores on the fire for dessert. His mother called this morning to find out what he wanted for his birthday!?! We are just going to give him $$$, which is what he wants so he can go buy his own stuff. Cheaper and easier for me.

I need to at least start thinking about the sprinkler/messy party that I am having next Friday. We want to make it messy, but how??? Slime? Is that a good idea? Jello? Hmmm..... No more spaghetti, it's a pain to get out of the grass and to cook all of it too.
With a bunch of people coming over I need to get the house all the way put back together. I don't know what to do with the old family room. I guess I'll just line the walls with all the toys like it was in the old playroom. I also need to clean out the garage so people can walk through there with out falling down and stuff.

Next Wednesday both kids have a dentist appt and Shannon is just going to drop off Luke so I can take him since it's her week with him next week. Then on Thursday both boys have their orientation at school. Luke's is in the morning and I'll meet Shannon there. Hunter's is in the afternoon so at least I won't be running around like crazy. I should have enough time in between to clean the house and mow the yard for the party on Friday!LOL

Then Monday is my baby boy's first day of school, sniff, sniff. I am looking forward to it actually. He NEEDS the structure that I can't give him. He behaves better when he's at school and getting that structure. I'm just not good at structure, I would stress out about it too much. Plus he will meet some new friends.

Post more later.....

Stuff

In general stuff is going on in my life. Just yesterday we finally got all the furniture and TV and new area rugs put in the remodeled playroom that is now the new family room. It looks fabulous if I do say so myself. It came out exactly as I saw it in my own head. I know that sounds weird but I knew what I wanted and just had to find the right things (flooring, wall color, rug, curtains) to make it match the picture in my head.




The colors in the photo aren't quite right, but you get the picture. Those of you who had seen it before can see the difference from the wood walls, vinyl ceiling and green carpet.





Next news is that Stella is doing great not nursing. She is (for the most part) sleeping through the night. Woo Hoo!! Now if I could get Hunter and Stella to both sleep through the night on the same night and to get Andrew to quit snoring I could get a good nights rest!! LOL





The next tidbit is that Shannon, Luke's mom, who is preggers with her 3rd kid, is no longer together with the baby daddy! Yea, you read that right. She apparently is mad that he isn't becoming the family oriented guy she wanted him to become. I guess no one told her that you can't change a guy just because YOU want to have a baby, and a baby won't change a guy. He's 30 something and still drinking and partying and she's surprised that he's still drinking and partying now that she's preggers. So now she's living back with her parents with Jillian (her 2nd kid with no daddy) and with no job and no good job prospect. Good luck to her though because she's gonna need it. Thankfully Luke is living with us and isn't getting moved around.

Weaning my Baby

I'm happy and sad all at the same time. It has been 2 complete days since Stella last nursed. Today at nap time she only asked about 5-6 times to nurse and then she just stopped asking and started to settle down and it only took her about 30 mins to fall asleep.
I'm so happy that I finally decided to just do it. It also helped that the first night I wasn't here. I was out for an all-nighter with some friends so that left Andrew on his own without the possibility of giving up.

I'm sad, too. My baby is no longer any hint of baby. She is a little girl now. Full of spice (and sometimes vinegar!!)


I'm glad to finally be getting my body back and to not have to share it with another person. I've been pregnant or nursing for almost 3 years. I'm glad I did it though. I don't think it's something I could ever look back on and say I wish I hadn't done it. I think if I hadn't done it I would have wished that I did. I'm also very proud of myself for pushing through the hard moments and continuing even when I wanted to quit nursing her and just give her a bottle of formula. I'm also so grateful for all my friends that lent their support without judgment or criticism. You know who you are!! Thank You!!

Tidy or Tricky

So the other morning I set up a Dora DVD in my room so Stella could watch it and I could play one on one with Hunter. She was very quiet and when the DVD was over she came out carrying her new Dora and Diego dolls and Hunter's play time with me was over.

I suspected nothing.

That night laid down with Stella as usual. I feel something weird on the sheet next to me, like it's all shredded. So I get up to turn on the light and this is what I find:


Stella just looks at me. Giving no hint that she has done it. So I ask her if she did that....... she just stands there looking at me. So I ask her where the scissors are? She hops down off the bed and opens one of my dresser drawers and pulls out a package that has been opened, cut, and sort half put back together.


These are my scrap booking scissors. (I've never used them because, well I've never scrapbooked, but I intend to one day). They have been stashed so long I forgot they were there.

So did she put them away so she wouldn't get caught OR did she put them away because she was being tidy and putting them away after use????

Hmmmm..........

Naked

Every time I turn around there she is, naked. For no apparent reason other that she has figured out that she can get her shorts off and take her diaper off and just stand there, naked. She can watch TV, naked. She can play with her toys, you guessed it, naked! It's driving me crazy.

I get her dressed, I go make sure Hunter is dressed, then I go get ready, so we can go... where ever it is we need to go, and there she is.... naked, again. I mean jeesh, I just got her dressed!! She just looks at me and smiles, that beautiful, dimply smile. How can I get mad at that smile?

I mean really, how could you get mad at a naked little girl smiling at you like that??? She is so proud of her nakedness.

On another note, I haven't had to clean a poopy diaper in about a month!!! She is going #2 in the potty all the time now. We haven't quite mastered going #1, maybe that is the reason for the nakedness. The diapers she takes off always have just a little bit of pee in them. Sorry, TMI.
Yeah!!! for Stella!!!

My list of things to do...

I know I keep posting about the remodel of our playroom but it seems all consuming right now. Things left to do:
paint doors and trim,
finish putting siding on,
install window sills,
sand drywall,
prime drywall,
paint drywall,
attach and paint baseboards,
get rid of all the garbage that was made during this thing,
pick flooring (which cost $$ and agree with Andrew about it),
install flooring, (or just put back the old carpet, free)
move in furniture,
enjoy!!

I know it won't be too long but the part that is the most difficult is the agreeing on flooring (what and if we should get it) and paint color.

I will post updated pictures another time, the kids are being crazy right now and dinner is cooking.

Phase 2

Well today we start on phase 2 of the room. By the end of this part we should at least have drywall up but probably not moldings or baseboards or flooring. Which is why I'm posting. The flooring is going to be an issue between Andrew and myself. He wants something really high end but we can't afford that nor does that stuff hold up as well as say.. laminate. He says laminate looks fake and cheesy. I say it's durable and easier to clean than carpet. He says the kids will ruin it by spilling a drink on it, I say same with carpet. He says the dogs will ruin it and it'll look crappy too quick, so I ask him what he thinks and he says , "I don't know." Typical man answer!!! Grrrrr......

We can't seem to agree.

New Room before and after pictures

There are lots of pictures

This one is a before pic of the roof. (It's from when we first bought the house)


Another before picture of the playroom/back of house.


This is the rafters on and plywood being put on.


This is plywood done.


This is tin all done and the A/C work is being done before we close in the gable.


Inside before...


Inside being framed in for replacement window.


New window in place. (so much better than the old crank windows!)


Window and sliding glass door before....


and after with new window and french doors!


So whaddayu think?

So what's left to do you ask?

Some electrical, run cable for TV, replace vinyl siding, frame in windows and doors, drywall,baseboards, paint and probably some other things I'm forgetting. I will post totally complete pictures next time (hopefully)

Oops, she did it again...

Lucas's mom that is. She has done it again. At least this time she has set a record. She has managed to get one guy to stay around long enough to get her pregnant twice! I know that's mean, but really, Andrew is still there to take care of Lucas, but Jillian's dad ran. Not only did he run but apparently to another country to get away. I don't think her boyfriend realizes that he's gonna be stuck with her for 18 years!! Lucas's is none too thrilled about it. I think he might be starting to realize that his mother sucks. I just found out from his friends mother that Shannon has passes to BG, SW and AI for her and Jillian but not for Luke. She also takes Jillian to Disney, alot, he hasn't been in years. She pisses me off. She can't even take care of the 2 she has (Jillians' speech problem is very apparent to everyone but her and her family, I guess, and Luke just gets ignored) and now she's gonna add another one. IDIOT!!

Alright I'm done with my rant.

The count down

5 days, only 5 more days and my dad will be here to start our remodel of the playroom into the family room. We have a garage full of supplies and the french doors we are going to put it. The windows have been ordered. They are not the windows I wanted but the windows I really wanted were 3x the amount of the ones we are getting, so I settled....

My dad will be here on Thursday to start. I don't know exactly what he will be starting (ie. prepping, or measuring or pre-building the rafters or who knows what else)

We close on the loan on Tuesday night. I'm really looking forward to that being done and over with. I've sort of been stressed about that part of this, especially since we have ordered and bought all the supplies and it all is contingent on the re-fi.

Her Masterpeice

This is from a few days ago but I thought I'd share anyway. This is the first time I let her have her own way with some paints at the kitchen table. For the most part she kept it on the paper. She was so serious while painting.

Can you hear her saying, "Ta daaa" ?

It's a Jungle out there

We went to Sarasota Jungle Gardens yesterday. I think Hunter had a really good time. We saw all sorts of animals, mostly small things like birds and reptiles and small monkeys. He got to feed a flamingo and some ducks.



The best part of Hunter's day was getting to hold an American Alligator. Stella went up with Hunter and touched it until she realized what it was she was actually touching. Check out her face in the second picture.




We saw a bird show, critter show and a reptile show. Hunter got to take a picture with a bird of his choice (he chose a blue and gold macaw) and we walked around the 'Jungle' and were able to see a variety of palms and other trees. Along the path through the 'jungle' were cages with various birds and small monkeys. My camera (of course) stopped taking pictures because it ran out of battery about 3/4 of the way through our day. I still got a lot of good pictures though.

If you are noticing a look of pain on his face, that's because the birds' claws are digging into his skin. At least he didn't drop the bird!!LOL

Drama Queen, Already

I just have to share this picture of my little girl practicing for her teenage years. This tantrum was because I wouldn't let her keep watching Dora the Explorer on TV for the eleven hundredth time. LOL!! She was not happy that I had the camera out. It was very hard to get a face shot, she kept turning away when she saw I had the camera poised to snap a picture.

On to Kindergarten

Last night my little boy graduated!! From preschool that is. He was so cute walking across the stage and getting his 'diploma' and his bible. I am so surprised that I didn't shed even one tear. I think it was because my husband had to work and I was getting both kids ready and dinner and cleaned up and dressed and in the car on time (sort of) to get to the school so they could get him dressed into the cap and gown. Stella behaved for the most part. On the video we can hear her just babbling away and she keeps tugging on me so the video is REALLY wiggly. Then after the classes sang their songs and they did the whole walking across the stage one by one we went and had cookies and cake. Then we went, for the last time, to his classroom to pick up any last minute things and his teacher, Ms. Leslie, had made all her students cards with pictures and a little blurb about them. They were really nice, like little scrapbooking pages.


Now the next step is on to Kindergarten. Hunter will be in kindergarten and Lucas is going to middle school. I'm kinda bummed that they won't go to school together at least one year. Oh well!

I'm also still kinda shocked that Lucas's mom hasn't asked to have him move back to her house. She had said at one point that she was GOING to get him back and that she only let him move in with us because she was SURE that it was going to fail and he would be begging to leave here. Boy was she wrong, I think he actually likes it here. Anyway, that situation has been on my mind, things change so quickly that I wonder if it will be that way by the end of the summer. I like to plan things and having a Ex involved seems to screw that up more frequently than I would like.

T-ball Party

Today was Hunter's T-ball party at the coaches house. We had a really good time. All three kids swam in the pool almost the whole time. The only time they got out was to eat and pee. Coach Ken passed out the trophies to the kids and we (the parents) gave him a couple of gift cards as a thank you. I got some great pics of Stella and Daddy playing and a couple of Hunter being launched in to the pool like a cannon ball.


Daddy and Stella


Hunter being launched like a rocket!

Daddy and all three kids!