Category Archives: life

Working Mom

Today I am a working (away from home) mom.  Brian owns his own business, and I used to work with/for him.  I was put on bedrest with Matthew our youngest, in June of 2003, and since that time I have been a stay at home (working) mom.  I feel very privileged to be able to do that, and I love my husband dearly for the hard work that he does to provide for our family.  I also miss seeing him throughout the day like we did when we were together at the shop, and have toyed with the idea of going back once Matthew goes to school.

Brian thinks he is Superman and lifts things that should really require 3 men to lift.  Due to this, he is laid up in bed today with severe back pain.  As I was trying to help him out this morning, he asked me to do him a favor.  I, of course, said “what?”.  Well, he asked me to go into work to help them out with answering phones and stuff.  (Big pause here for you to breathe and digest.  That’s what I needed to do, so I’m allowing you the same.)  At the time he asked, I had been cleaning the kitchen, and was in the midst of mopping.  I had grand ideas of all the projects that I was going to finish today, and I was really going to do it.  Not like most other times!  I was motivated, and then this dropped in my lap.

I didn’t let it get me down though.  I spritzed myself with deodorant, took the sweats off and got dressed, left the hair in a pony tail, and came in.  So far it’s not been bad.  Dare I say I’ve actually enjoyed it?  Umm,, yeah.  It’s been good.  Kind of slow for me, but I do have blogging to do!

Maybe tomorrow I’ll still be in the mood to clean, but I seriously doubt it!  I’ll probably just do what has to be done, and spend time playing with Matthew.  I do miss that little ball of giggles!

School Supplies

The majority of our afternoon was spent between Office Depot and Wal-Mart for back to school shopping.  We went with lists in hand that were supplied by each school, and were checking things off as we went along.  Office Depot had folders for $0.05 each, so we scored big with those.  Paper Mate 10 packs of pens were $0.25, so we bought 4 packs.  Of course the pencils that were on sale were not pretty enough for Brooke, so we had to get the decorative mechanical ones that were, like, $6.00.  All in all, and don’t tell Brian, we spent over $300 today on backpacks and stuff to go in them.  I honestly don’t understand why the school system cannot supply some paper, pencils, erasers, and folders.  I’m not saying the teachers should.  I’m saying the school system.  Don’t we pay enough taxes for a little school supplies?  And what’s with the 3 large boxes of Kleenex?  What’s next, a family size pack of toilet paper? 

The whole thing stresses me out.  As we were walking through one store, Brooke asked me why my neck was red.  I told her because stress makes me break out in hives! 

Tomorrow we have the nightmare of registration, where there will be 10 different stations to write separate checks, wait in long lines, and have school pictures taken.  Then we’ll go do it all over again at Brooke’s school.  AAaahh, school is bliss.

Matthew was so cute today.  He wants to/doesn’t want to/isn’t old enough to go to Kindergarten.  He misses the birthday cut off, which doesn’t upset me at all.  I will love to have him home with me for another year!  But he wanted to get some things too, so I told him he’s in Pre-K homeschool, and we picked out a couple of workbooks and colored pencils for them.  He also wanted his very own art box and back pack to keep it all in.  I did manage to talk him out of the lunch box, but I’m toast if they don’t have that particular one next year! 

Lord, please grant me with patience and knowledge when it comes to our Pre-K homeschool experience.  I have a feeling my limits are gonna be tested!

What’s up?

Brooke had cheer camp over the weekend, 2 1/2 hours away from home.  The daytime schedule was grueling, but they did manage to sneak in a couple of hours of social time in the evening.  At one point I was trying to talk to her on the phone and it was crazy loud.  I said, “are you guys having a party or what!”?  She just laughed and said “Yeah”.  There were only 2 mishaps.  One, she forgot her spending money, so she couldn’t buy the overpriced $40 t-shirt that said cheer on it.  The other was, she fell and the coach called me.  Apparently she is a flyer, not something I’m excited about, and one of the bases grabbed her leg in the wrong spot, causing Brooke to bend her leg and fall forward.  She hurt her arm, but the trainer looked at it and said there was no fracture.  She took some Motrin and iced it, and all is fine. 

We went up on Sunday to pick her up and see the competition part of it.  I have learned that I’ll need to purchase some earplugs for the games, because I came out of there with a headache.  It was good though.  I can’t believe the stunts they’re doing already.  I’m used to seeing her gracefully dancing on stage, not flying through the air. 

Last night we went to our dance meeting.  It was good, and Brooke is excited at all the opportunities she was offered.  I can’t believe that school is starting in 2 weeks.  Where has the summer gone?  I was looking forward to a more laid back school year, but now I’m not sure that’s going to happen. 

Our garden is doing so well.  I picked our first cucumber the other day, and bell pepper too.  We’ve had several tomatoes, and we have two of the cutest little watermelons growing.  I get so excited when I go out and spot something new growing.

A few days late

I said I’d be back Monday, but a family vacation happened.  Brian and I flew home on Saturday, so all of us slept in our own beds for 2 nights before we left again.  Brian actually took a week long vacation, and we left on Monday to head over to Kings Island.  We planned on just hanging out in our room and relaxing that evening, but the room was not so nice.  We chose to save $10 a night and opted for the Red Roof Inn, instead of the Super 8.  Note to self-pay the extra $10!  Anyway, we decided to head down the road to check out the Bass Pro Shop.  A good time was had by all, and three out of five of us walked out with new shoes.  HHmmm…..

All of us were hungry, and Wednesday was going to be Brian and my 14th wedding anniversary.  We knew we’d be busy at the parks so we decided to do a nice dinner early.  We found this very nice Seafood restaraunt, and the food was great.  Zach had the fried crawfish, Matthew had catfish, and Brooke had shrimp.  Brian ordered the calamari for an appetizer and we had a little fun with letting them eat it before we told them what it was.  Evil, I know! 

On Tuesday we opened up Kings Island, and left 10 hours later.  Matthew was 2 inches shy of being able to ride most of the big rides, so Zach and Brian paired up and did the roller coasters.  I got away with only riding Vortex, and one of the indoor coasters with Zach.  Matthew kept saying “I love Kings Island!”  He got to meet SpongeBob and Scooby Doo, which was truly a highlight!  There was very little wait time to get on the rides, so I was thrilled with that.  We pretty much walked onto everything except the Rugrats Reptar ride in Nickelodeon. 

The highlight for me was finally getting to do the Xtreme Sky flight.  I’ve always wanted to do it, but never could get anyone to try it with me.  When we walked by and saw the sign that it was only $5 instead of $20, I took that as a sign.  This is where they hook you up, and put you on a zip line that goes up 160 feet in the air, yep that’s 16 stories, and you pull the rip cord and it’s like sky diving and hang gliding.  So Awesome, I’ve always wanted to do it.  I convinced Zach and Brooke to do it with me.  We did have to wait for a while because they only had one side running.  When we finally got close, they started putting the special suits on us and asked who would be the one to pull the rip cord.  Since I was the biggest, I had to be in the middle, so it had to be one of the kids.  Brooke immediately volunteered Zach, and he agreed.  We got up on the platform and they were hooking us all together when Brooke decided she didn’t want to do it.  It was up to Zach and me now. 

We started ascending, and boy was it high!  It took awhile to get all the way to the top, and part of me was thinking/screaming in my head, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING, RISKING YOUR LIFE AND YOUR SONS!!!  But the exhilaration won out, Zach pulled the rip cord, and we were flying.  Flying through the air was so awesome.  We both had so much fun.  What a memory. 

The next day we went to the water park.  Brian, Zach and I all burned the bottom of our feet on the concrete, so that made walking and waiting in line on those horrible rubber mats terribly painful.  Matthew had a blast riding down those huge slides all by himself.  He was making up for being a little short the day before.  We stayed for about 5 hours, then went back to the room for a nap.  Feeling a little rested, we decided to go back to the park until they closed.  The big boys rode the racer and the Beast, while Brooke, Matthew and I made it to the Monster and the Fairly Odd Coaster.  We saw the fireworks and then headed out. 

I was thoroughly exhausted, and so were the kids.  They almost fell asleep at dinner!   We were all excited to sleep in our own beds on Thursday night, even if Brooke and I had to get up early to get her on the bus to cheer camp.  Zach slept in until 10:30 on his 10th birthday, and Matthew didn’t get up until 11:00. 

Summer vacation is coming to an end quickly.  I wish it could go on and on.  It doesn’t seem like we’ve had much time.

Houston

I only have a minute to check in and let you all know I haven’t fallen off the earth.  Brian’s parents took all 3 kids to Tennessee, so I joined Brian this week in Texas.  It’s work for him and I’m trying to help.  We’re also spending some time together and talking, which is sometimes hard to do with 3 kids!  I love my husband, and God is showing up a lot here.  I’ll have to share that later.  I’ll be back on Monday!  Come back then for the rest of the story.

Recap

This week has flown by.  We’ve gone swimming, to the orthodontist, looked at cars, went to see Wall E, and hung out.  Swimming was great, orthodontist was frustrating, Wall E was really cute, and hanging out was relaxing.  Looking at cars was….enough to make me homicidal!  Seriously, the car market stinks!  Unless you’re a car salesman, then all the cars sitting on the lot are very rare gems, worth quite a lot.  And your trade in is worthless!  The whole thing has made me very grumpy!  I’m praying for God’s direction, because sometimes my heart tends to get in the way.  We just want to save a little money, and I would get much better gas mileage with a mini van.  I just never thought I’d drive a mini van.  I don’t feel old enough to drive a mini van.  No offense to anyone, because I actually really liked one when I gave it a chance.  It drives really nice, the keyfob that opens the doors and the back hatch are really nice, it is quite roomy, and has the same seating capacity as my Escalade.  I took it to CVS and got a couple of things, and there was quite a lot of room in the back.  I love the Stow and Go storage.  That would be great for the Hot Wheels, blankets, water bottles and snacks that we seem to always have rolling around on the floor. 

Now it’s decision time.  Anyone out there have a mini van with some suggestions for me?

Courage

I can remember being my daughters age.  My BFF Amy and I, whom I no longer am in contact with but that’s a whole nother story, would sit and watch horrible scary movies.  Freddie and Jason were on the screen alot.  We’d scream and laugh, cover our eyes and yell at the heroine not to go upstairs! 

I guess you could say I had the living daylights scared out of me, and now I can’t stand to watch that kind of thing.  Give me a psychological thriller or romantic comedy anytime! 

Brooke is into the scary movies now.  She has one little friend who loves to watch them too.  A few weeks ago they saw one, and Brooke slept with her light on for 4 days.  Her friend slept on the floor in her parents room.  We laughed and made fun of them, but I can remember that fear and anxiety.  I struggle with it myself at times. 

When Brian travels away from home for business, it’s difficult for me to go to sleep.  I check and double check the doors to make sure they’re locked.  Every little noise seems amplified, and scary when he’s not here.  I’m alone and even more responsible for the safety of my children.  The night before last I really struggled with it.  And then I prayed for a hedge of protection, and gave my fears away. 

I was once told that the Bible says Do not fear 365 times.  That’s once for each day of the year!  So I just wanted to share some of the verses I found that will bless you wth courage. 

“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you.  He will not leave you nor forsake you.”  Deuteronomy 31:6  NKJV

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”  Isaiah 43:1-2 NIV

So we can choose courage and pray.  Ask God to give you courage, and then trust Him.  Last night I slept much better! 

Under Construction

Brian has a rental building that just leased out starting July 1st.  There were some things that needed to be done to it first.  Among other things, carpet ripped up, a new wall, new paint, new lights and vanity top.  I’ve been helping this week, working my fingers to the bone, and spending some time with my sweet hubby.  He’s done an amazing job over there! 

The carpet is being installed next week, and then the big reveal.  I wish we’d taken some before pictures of the place.  It really looks good. 

The downside to all of this work is that my house is a wreck!  We have no food to speak of, and the grass was so tall.  I did manage to get the grass cut this afternoon, but that’s about it.  Just thought I’d check in with the blogosphere for a quick minute.

Three Things

Three things in life that, once gone, never come back:  Time, Words, and Opportunity

Three things in life that may never be lost:  Peace, Hope, and Honesty

Three things in life that are most valuable:  Love, Self-confidence, and Friends

Three things in life that are never certain:  Dreams, Success, and Fortune

Three things that make a man:  Hard work, Sincerity, and Commitment

Three things in life that can destroy a man:  Wine, Pride, and Anger

Three things that are truly constant:  Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

I ask the Lord to bless you, as I pray for you today, to guide you and protect you, as you go along your way.  His love is always with you; His promises are true.  And when you give Him all your cares, you know He’ll see you through.