The Wife

You break it, you buy it.

2008-10-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

I just saw this on GMA this morning and I just have to say....GENIUS!
Apparently, there is a woman in San Diego that had some anger issues after her divorce and has turned them into a cash cow.
The name of her business is Sarah's Smash Shack. You go in with your own dishware or ceramics, etc, or you can purchase what you need at the Shack. You load up on the protective wear and you start smashing! Get out all your aggression, feel better, and (the best part) someone else cleans up the mess!
I don't care who you are, or what you do...we all have stress. I always thought kick boxing was a great stress reliever, but this is way cooler.
Just another awesome reason to vacation in San Diego!

Never!

2008-10-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Just a warning to any and all of you I care about:
Never, ever, ever eat chocolate Skittles! They are not good.
If you and chocolate Skittles are ever stranded on a desert island together...eat the sand.
Your welcome.

Happy Anniversary!

2008-09-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

To the luckiest man to ever walk planet earth! :)

6 down, 94 to go.

I love you!

Post #50

2008-09-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

My final post in my goal of 7 posts in 7 days happens to be the 50th post for my blog.
It must be an extra special day today!
After the long weekend, it was rather difficult to roll out of bed this morning. It was even more difficult to get the girls up. My oldest was 'too tired to go to school today' and had lots of 'crumbs' in her eyes so she couldn't see, (it's a hard knock life when you are 4). Even my baby didn't bother getting up until it was time to load the car, which is VERY unlike her when people are making noise in the morning. I guess we are still getting used to having a school-age child who can't be running around after 7pm on a Sunday and still be expected to have a good Monday morning (well, Tuesday in this case, I guess).
It just goes to show you that Mondays (and holiday Tuesdays) can suck for everyone, young and old.

Food is not your friend

2008-09-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

As anyone who cares about me knows, my husband and I have begun to steer ourselves into a healthier direction. We have been "gym people" for a couple of months now, and in the last couple of weeks I have really been trying to focus on changing my eating habits as well.
I LOVE food! And because of this love for food, I HATE diets. So I have really been searching for the happy medium in all of this, and I hope that I have found it. I have been paying very close attention to what I eat, when and why. I have learned a lot about myself this way. I seem to just eat what sounds good at the time, be it healthy or not. I have never been much of a breakfast eater, some days going until noon before my first meal, and then eating clear up until bedtime. I have also discovered that sadly the reason that I eat isn't usually for the sustainability reason that food exists in the first place. I eat because the clock says it's time to eat, I eat because I'm happy, I eat because I'm sad, I eat because I'm lonely; really only once a day I will eat because I am truly hungry. I have not been using food for its intended purpose...until recently.
Now when I am hungry, I try to drink a glass of water first and then wait a few minutes. Then if I am still hungry, I go and eat something...whatever sounds good. I eat it slowly and really just try to enjoy the food and listen to my stomach and I have found that most of the time I am getting full a lot faster than I used to. This has been especially great at restaurants because Steve and I are sharing plates and we are still really full. We went to IHOP on Saturday and split the usual omelet and I only finished half of my half; and I didn't even touch the pancakes! It was crazy because I was starving when we got there and I could wait to eat, and yet I could only finish a portion of my normal meal. I have seen all the news segments and read all the articles saying that portion sizes are out of control and what not, but I never believed it before this experiment. So far so good. The true test will be on the scale, I guess.

Finding the write words.

2008-08-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

During the last several days, I have found it somewhat challenging to write a blog post every day. I am really finding it hard to think of what kinds of things I should write about. I really have no plans whatsoever to delve into politics or anything too controversial like my crazy counterpart (a.k.a. the hubby) enjoys doing. I like to keep it light; just sticking to me and my life. But I do find that since I am not outside of the home too much that I have a difficult time finding subject matter that would be interesting for another person to read. I mean should I really be logging how many times I am feeding or diapering my children? Does anyone out there really care about that? (If you do, I could start keeping a log.)

Good old fashion backyard BBQ. Mmm...yummo!

2008-08-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight we were unexpectedly invited to our friends' house for a little holiday get-together with food, outdoor activities, and a little Rock Band, of course.
It was a REALLY nice time, courtesy of our friend, Rob, and his highly evolved culinary skills. (Don't let any of them tease you anymore, Rob...you rock the EVOO!)
It's great to get a group together and just hang out and enjoy a spare day tacked on to the end of the usual weekend.

Weekend of bliss...

2008-08-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

...well that's the plan anyway.
I am thrilled that tonight is the beginning of a long weekend. Not that we have anything planned, we are just happy to have an extra day to spend together as a family since the schedule has been so hectic the last few weeks. I need to do some shopping, some cleaning, and a whole lot of relaxing (I think they are calling it chillaxing now). If we were movie people, I would definitely be renting a few.

A day of sweating.

2008-08-28T23:57:00.000-07:00

I went out with some friends today to go hang out in the air conditioned mall and let our kids get together to play and have lunch. I love playdates. I love catching up with friends and having a little grown up conversation.
Just loading the car made me sweat like I was working out in the gym! I don't mind sweating at the gym; it's a sign of progress to me. However, sweating to put a car seat and diaper bag in the car is not okay...I really doubt I'm burning a whole lot of calories, plus I look like crap and I haven't even left my driveway! I'm supposed to go out in public looking like this now?! Great.
Humidity is not too common around here, and I can definitely say that I think it totally sucks, especially when the day's high temp is 99 degrees. I don't know how people do this on a regular basis. All I have to say is that I am totally over summer!

Holy cow, Batman...she posted!

2008-08-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

So I don't get why I posted more consistent blog entries when I was busy with school. Why is it that now that I have less on my plate, I have less posts?
Perhaps I don't feel that I have as much interesting subject matter when my world isn't spinning into a downward spiral of out of control chaos.
My life is still crazy and so busy I often wonder how much longer I can hang on. And yet not as crazy as it was just a few short months ago. I think I am sick and somehow I can get my crap together better with the heaviest of loads. Everyone has a breaking point, but I think I work at my best level when I am one plate shy of that break.
If there is one thing I got out of going back to school (well, other than a piece of paper saying, "Congratulations, you're smarter now...good for you.") it is that I NEED to have a goal, something to drive me, a reason to get out of bed so to speak. Household to-do lists ain't really doing it for me. My new goal...to get one, or several, but let's start small...babysteps.
My first goal is to post for seven days straight. Not exactly mind blowing or life changing, but a goal none the less. It's simple, it's obtainable, and it will give the 3 people who actually read my blog something to do on their coffee breaks for the next week.

Our first day...not the best start.

2008-08-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my daughter's first day of school. We were very prepared. We had all the supplies and we even had her lunch packed the night before. All her new clothes and her new shoes were laid out and ready to go.
The alarm went off very early Monday morning and things pretty much went downhill from there.
First off, my husband left his cell phones on his night stand, so there was absolutely no way of contacting him. I learned of this after I texted him that I was going to the store that morning after dropping our daughter off at school and wanted to know if he had any requests for the week's groceries. I send the text....I heard his phone vibrating from across the room...crap! Oh well, no big deal.
I get ready for the day and then wake up the kids and get them fed and dressed; we are doing great on time. 7am rolls around; time to load everything and everyone in the van. I do that. I put the key in the ignition...I turn the key...nothing...crap!!! Of all days for this to happen!!! The engine didn't even try to turn over. It was just dead. I called my mom, but I knew she was already at work and didn't know if she could help. Thankfully her husband was home and able to come and get us to school on time, (well, 5 minutes late, but not bad considering).
We finally arrive in the classroom and after many hugs and pictures, my daughter was ready for me to leave. I'm so proud of her, she is so big and so excited to take on kindergarten. She has a big job ahead of her...20 years of learning, and she is so ready.
Now I have to deal with MY separation anxiety! I've taught and prepared her as best I could. For 4 years we have been together full-time, learning, living, loving; and now she is gone all day and I'm not there to watch or help her. I can't be there to cry when she cries, to praise her successes, to laugh at her jokes, (and she knows funny...). My time at home with her is over. It was so precious and went by so fast...I am truly grateful for such an incredible opportunity to be a mom to such an amazing little person.
So now we close the chapter on being a precious, sweet baby and start a new adventure in her life...school days.

Less binge, more purge

2008-07-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we began the tedious task of organizing and purging our home of useless junk. We began with a remodel of our home office which required clearing the room entirely. I HIGHLY recommend this if you are serious about ridding yourself of items you don't need. It is not easy to clean out a room completely of all of its furniture and bric-a-brac...so when the time comes to put things back and make the room look fantastic, the last thing you want to do is re-clutter the room with all the junk you just removed! It really forces you to look at all the items that go back in and make sure that they are needed in the room and not just there to take up space or collect dust.
This weekend we will be doing the same for our children's bedroom. It's amazing what we have found stored so far...things we thought we got rid of, or things we thought we needed to buy but we really have 3.
Since this was a personal goal for me this year, it really has been nice to finally begin to carry it out. It has been difficult to find the time to truly purge and organize, but the end results thus far have been well worth it.

Yes...I'm still alive...barely.

2008-07-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

I realize that I have not written a post in quite a while now. Life is crazy and keeps getting worse...but in a good way these days. This just doesn't leave a lot of time for activities such as writing on the old blog. I'm hoping to be back up to writing very soon. Crazy things still happen around here; now I just need to find the time to put it all down in words.

My daughter, the international ambassador

2008-05-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

So we went to visit my mom Monday night. They now live just down the street from a community park that the kids just love. She also lives a few doors down from a co-worker. This co-worker I have known for a few years; she is originally from Russia and her brother just arrived with his family a few weeks ago and they are staying with her. We pass by their house on the way to my mom's and someone is usually outside to wave at.
Anyway, Monday night we walk down to the park and we see the family from Russia there letting the kids play and ride their bikes. Eventually the young girl comes over to the swings where my daughter is. My child is quite chatty and immediately strikes up a conversation with this little girl. When the girl doesn't answer her, she looks to her grandpa and he says, "She doesn't speak English, honey." Not to worry...my kid knows what to do! She turns to the little girl, smiles and says, "Hola!"

Happy holiday???

2008-05-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was very much looking forward to the three day Memorial weekend. My 4 year old had her preschool graduation last Thursday night and we were going to just relax, enjoy some family time and go to a BBQ on Sunday...some much needed R&R.
The graduation went well...it's all on video. All these little kids in their adorable little red caps and gowns, singing their little songs, doing their little motions. The whole thing totally overwhelmed me as I sat there thinking about how big my baby had become and how we are closing a chapter in her life with us and beginning the new and exciting venture of the school years. She looked so small and yet so big up there, all at the same time.
Okay, that was Thursday...what we didn't know was that the "fun" had just begun! That night my poor baby got sick with a stomach bug of some sort and spent the next 30 hours of her life vomiting and dehydrating. I thought we were out of the woods on Saturday morning, but sadly after a few sips of water and a soda cracker, we were back to square one. We ended up taking her to the emergency room, where I knew they would want to give her IV fluids. What I didn't know, or think about, was that she would end up with low blood sugar and electrolyte levels and that we would spend the next two days of our lives in the hospital! We were able to take her home Sunday night and she is definitely back to her normal self, appetite aside.
All I can say is thank goodness for the three day weekend! We actually managed to enjoy our Monday with good food, good company and good/abnormal weather!

Spring cleaning...

2008-05-21T06:59:00.000-07:00

...in the summer?!
Better late than never I guess. I was a tad preoccupied this spring and the cleaning just never got done. ( I was hoping for fairies...but they never came...sad. )
If anyone has a great spring cleaning tip, I welcome it wholeheartedly.
We have too much stuff still and clutter and dust are friends, so I need to rid us of the clutter once again. I think my husband wants to live in an empty house right now, but I need to walk in the door and feel like I'm in a home, not a house. I want a homey feel - a lived in, family atmosphere.
Hopefully I can come to a happy compromise between stark and sterile, and over cluttered. Wish me luck!

Mintie

2008-05-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

I just got my first MP3 player as a graduation gift from my wonderful husband! It's the mint green nano video ipod. It's so cute! The picture is amazingly clear. The screen is tiny but the image is so crisp that you forget it's so small. I really don't know what the heck I'm doing with an ipod, but my husband LOVES his and wanted me to have one too. I get lost in the itunes store!
I like the fact that I can now carry around current pictures of my kids and that I can start listening to books and podcasts too. I have downloaded a Harvard Business podcast and the 7 Habits. I'm excited...can't let all my school nerdiness go to waste. I wonder if they have a dictionary podcast? :)

The Finish Line

2008-05-14T06:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it's all over now. I received my final grades in my classes and I'm happy...I'm trying to be. (Darn that perfection gene!) I got an A and two B's and now it's over.
Whew! What a relief! Now it's just a waiting game to actually hold that stupid degree in my hand!!! I've never been more excited to own a piece of paper! I can't wait; it may have to go on the wall for a while before I file it. I hope it's pretty! :)
(It will be pretty to me anyway.)

I can breathe again

2008-05-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day of school. I don't think my head quite believes this yet, but it's true.

At the last minute I decided to walk in the graduation ceremonies tomorrow. I really never wanted to because I started this fresh out of high school and I was embarrassed that I am finally a graduate at 28 years old. I am not finished yet, I want to continue on to get my Bachelor's, so I felt like acknowledging this degree would be like a stopping point. But I have realized that it's actually a reflection point just for me. I need to take a moment and think about how hard it has been to 'keep on trucking' (that one's for you, babe.) over the last 10 years and actually finish this. I have stopped so many times before and you would think that I would be smart enough to just quit while I was down, but I needed to finish this and actually complete a goal I set out to do so many years ago. I could just never let it be. Time flew by so quickly, and other things in my life took priority...good things, bad things, great things; but it was always in the back of my mind and I would just plug away, one class at a time, year after year as I could.

I don't think this moment would be as beautiful or as meaningful for me if I would have done it in less time. Sitting out at grad practice tonight made me really stop and think for the first time about not only what I have actually done, but what I have gone through and what has happened in my life over the last 10 years and that giving up on this would have been like giving up on myself and I didn't do it! I didn't give up...it took me ten years to finish a two year degree, but I didn't give up. I finished it. And I will stand a little taller and hold my head a bit higher for it.

Lifting a ten year weight off of me...now that's breathing.

One down, two to go

2008-05-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

It's finals week!!!
Tonight was my last meeting in my storytelling class. I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this class since I don't really like anything related to public speaking. But it's over now and I got an A! Go me :)
It will be the only class I will receive an A in...which would normally bug me. I'm usually very unhappy with any grade other than an A, but I am soooo sick of school and I basically just want to pass these other classes and GRADUATE! With one huge exam and a big presentation to go, this week should be good and chaotic.

Sick and tired

2008-04-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

As the semester drags on, I can feel myself getting more and more tired. I need more sleep than usual to function properly; which really isn't possible right now with only a week and a half to go before my last final. My poor babies have head colds and I think my body is really struggling to fight off the germs this time, plus no sleep for them equals no sleep for me. I'm sorry...I don't have time for a cold right now! However, I do fear the worst illness of my life after I come off the high stress level of school. I always get really sick on vacation or the weekend when I have time to be sick; it sucks. But since my brain is about to implode, I am looking forward to any kind of boredom (and/or disease) that comes my way; just as long as it's not in essay form.

Exam

2008-04-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had to drive all the way to the college campus to take an exam for an online course I am currently enrolled in. (I thought the point of an online class was so that I would have to go to campus when I didn't want to and see people I didn't want to, but whatever.) I have only taken three other online college classes before and all of the tests were also taken online as well in a very casual, open note type setting. Not this class! All the exams are online, BUT they are password protected and only the on-campus proctor in the testing facility has that password. So I drive down there through nasty road construction traffic...park...make my way to a little room of about 20 or so computers and feel like I'm about to gain access to top-secret information or something! I show I.D., I give a password, my belongings get taken from me, I sit at a computer, I log in, I am asked to turn around so the top-secret password can be entered to open the test, THEN I take my test, I receive my grade, I log out, I sign out, my belongings are returned to me and I leave. It's exhausting!
I don't get a pat-down...that they don't do!!! (That would be ridiculous!)
Then I decided to drive home a different way to avoid the construction work I previously hit; but sadly the route I chose also had road work traffic. Grrr. I think my entire city is under construction right now. And to top it all off I got a C on the test. Double Grrrr! I really was hoping for a B, even though the material this time was challenging. A lot of this stuff should not be in multiple choice format...it just doesn't work; but what do I know! But I still have a strong B in the class and we only have the final to go. Philosophy is not making me happy right now.

My baby's going to kindergarten.

2008-04-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I got a call from the elementary school that my oldest will be attending next school year saying that she passed her kindergarten entrance test! I can't believe I will have a child going to kindergarten in August! Our life with her has gone by so quickly. She is SO excited about school, and I am very excited for her. I've been home with her for the last 3 1/2 years and we are always together. It's weird to think that she will now have a major event going on in her life that I won't be a part of.
Now I just have to keep her busy enough over the next few months so she doesn't make me crazy waiting for school to start...(she's not terribly patient; she's four, after all). Thank God for the summer preschool program!

Coffee, Wine, Gelato

2008-04-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is the name of a new store in a strip mall on Indian School and Litchfield on my way to school.
Some day I hope to see what it is all about...and live there.
A person can live on these three food groups, right?

In the midst...

2008-04-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

OF HELL WEEK!!!
This may be the single worst week of the semester. Yes, even worse than finals that are coming up. WAY too many papers all due at once, with 2 field trips for research, plus the usual reading, quizzes and an exam! All I can say is AAAUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
I hope to survive...brain and grades intact.
I can't WAIT to get my life back! (3 weeks, baby, 3 weeks)