Lost

Oh my gosh! Lost is good again! I think I almost bit off all of my finger nails! Many I wish it were next thursday already! Darn you Lost! Darn you! Any one have any guesses as to what is going to/has happened?

Great Websites

I came across some great websites recently. There is this new website called zafu.com. They promise to "Find your perfect Jeans, pants, & Bras in 3 minutes." You take a mini quiz about your body shape and voila they pop out the Jean, Pant, or Bras that would best fit you. I took the Jeans quiz and it was on the money. Some of my favorite types of jeans were on the list. So if you like shopping online, or would just like to stream line your shopping trip this website can help you out.

For those of us who admire many a celebs star style ,but not the price tag, there is fashionunder100.blogspot.com/. She dublicates celebrity outfits for under $100. She comes up with some amazing stuff. I believe she updates it daily.

Now I am currently getting ready for an awards dinner in the Uk. So I have been scowering the internet for easy hair dos. Because this is a formal function I have been looking for something that will look great with my dress and that I can do my self. Two sites nexxus.com and fordmodels on youtube just might be the answer to my prayers. They have easy do's with lots of instruction. So if any of you, or someone you know, needs a glamours style done fast and at home, I highly recommend these.

Lastly, with election season in full gear glassbooth.org/ can help you figure out which canadate best represents your views. It not only tells you the top 3 canadates that are compatable to you , it gives you their answers to the same questions you answered. It is a very informative site.

With that I am off! It is time to put a little sick guy down for a nap. If I'm lucky I will get one too! ;)

Made it out Alive!

The other half doesn't travel for work as much as he use to. However, when he does he is usually gone for 5days or more. Those times when I am left on my own with C & G give me a renewed appreciation for having a partner in parenting! Last week He left for his BIG annual work conference. He was gone about 6days. By day two I was at home with two children that were crying for daddy at the drop of a hat and not hesitating to call me a "Bad mom." I had to tell them that," If making them clean their room, do their homework, eat their dinner, or stop fighting, made me a "bad mother", then yes I was." *Sigh* The life of a "single" parent. I wish I could say the days got better but they didn't. G's ticks were in over drive. He was repeating things more than normal, which was starting to drive me mad. It made me appreciate how nice it is to be able to tell G,"Go ask your dad." When his repetition of the same question or spelling word has got me to my breaking point. But alas, I just had to suck it up. It is also nice to have someone to help C with her homework while I am helping G with something, or visa versa. My hats off to you Single Mom's, you are amazing!
Thank God for good friends. I was able to get out for a few hours on Tuesday night and go to a bible study at my friends house. She has a 13year old son that she allowed to babysit for me. I had figured I would pick Joel up at 6, he would babysit at my house from 6:30-10pm and I would run him home. Well bless his parents heart, they called me before I picked Joel up and said they wanted to "serve" me by picking Joel up after bible study, that way I wouldn't have to wake the kids up and drag them out into the cold! How sweet! It was sooo sooo very nice of them and it made my life so much easier.
Well Sunday evening came and the Other Half arrived home to big hugs all around. The kids were relieved to see someone other than me and I was relieved to have reinforcements. It is amazing how much of a difference 2 parents make. It is so nice to have another person there to pick up the slack when you need a break or if the kids do, even if the break is for 5minutes.
To all the single parents out there, you are amazing. You deserve a medal. I have all the respect in the world for you!

Simplicity

What is this? This is no ordinary cardboard box. This is The Dream House! How beautiful is it that children look at this and see potential?! All I had to do was cut 2 windows and 1 door. They did the rest. What you can see is flowers drawn on the top and sides. Every dream house needs a garden, right? On the inside C and G drew furniture and animals. After they were done decorating they christened their new home "The Dream House". How beautiful. "Be it every so humble, there is no place like home!"

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008! I am so glad it's a new year, but I am,already, missing all those holiday parties and the busyness of the holiday season. We were really blessed with being invited to quite a few parties. The Eco friendly Christmas party with gift exchange was loads of fun. I received shade grown organic coffee and Endangered species chocolate. When we discovered our goodies the other half exclaimed," endangered species in Chocolate, that is just sick!" Haha, but I did look at the chocolate differently after that. Not to differently, it made it into my belly in less than 48 hours! What can I say, Chocolate is chocolate!
Our friend Michele purchased a soap stone figurine of a mother and child to give at the party. Problem is, it didn't really resemble a mother and child and the men pointed out it looked more falic in nature. Needless to say, the statue was given at a White Elephant party the following week. Michele, happened to be the person to pick it. She opened it and there was her stature with a provalactic on top! Luckily she has a great sense of humor and it is on her mantel at home! We have all decided that his notorious statue has to the "roaming gnome" of our group. So The Other Half and I are taking it to England, in February, and we will get pictures of it watching the changing of the guard. Several other friends are traveling this year and guess who will be traveling along? ;) We are a sick group, I know.
We attended a great family party on New Years Eve. It was hosted by our friends Megan and Glenn. They opened their homes and their kitchen to, what seemed like, hundreds of us. ( I think it seemed like more people were there due to the high kid to parent ratio and boys being boys. :) ) Glenn is from South Africa. He prepared a traditional dish that I can't pronounce, let alone write, but it tasted very good. We all agree it tasted like meatloaf with curry. I don't know whether or not Glenn found it to be a complimentary comment, but the dish was quit good! Later at the party our Canadian friend, Mimi, started enlisting volunteers for a New Years day Polar bear swim. The men totally wussed out and the swim was all set to be a "girl friend thing" at 11am the next day. About 11:30pm our kiddo's started become VERY cranky so we hopped out of there and headed home to watch Dick Clarks Rockin' Eve. It was probably for the best that we went home when we did. That way I could get a little more sleep before my swim the next day.
C enjoyed watching the ball drop, G feel asleep on the couch at 5 til midnight. It was heart warming to see Dick Clark doing his thing again. I commend ABC for supporting him. I also commend Ryan Seacrest on his demeanor. He was so respectful of Dick Clark. He seemed to really see him self as second fiddle and I thought that was really great. I don't watch American Idol, so I don't know much about Ryan Seacreast other than he has billions of jobs, but seeing him co host, he seemed like a humble guy. That is so rare in his business and with his degree of fame. Kudos.
Onto my polar bear story! I slept until about 10, receive the call for our meeting spot at about 10:45 and I was out the door. Man, I was so tired that I forgot to pack a towel! We met at my friend Annie's, who lives near, a major creek in our town. We had coffee and tried to psych ourselves up. Kevin and Brian, two of the husbands, came to document the whole thing and raze us about being crazy. It was some where around 10 ,or so, degrees that day, so we were in agreement with us being crazy. We took some pictures and headed out. At this point I should let you know what a dork I am, if you hadn't guessed already. I was wearing shoes and sock, but changed into flip flops before leaving Annie's house. I did this for two reasons, I didn't want to try to put wet feet into socks (the whole forgotten towel thing) and I thought we were closer to the creek than we were. Luckily my friend Megan followed my lead and we commiserated for the 5 or so minute hike to the creek. It was fun. Angela wore a shower cap, I wore a wizards hat, Mimi a funny looking hat, Sara and Michelle wore Sherpa hats, and Annie and Megan sensible,warm, hiking hats. The hubs followed taking pictures all the way. We got to the creek and it took a couple of minutes to find a good spot. Once found, we all looked around and said who is going first? I don't know who disrobed first but some one did and the rest of us followed QUICKLY! Before we jumped in we all posed for a bathing suit clad photo, and then someone again said who is going first? Kevin blew the Conch shell and someone jumped in and the rest followed. Sarah, Angela, Annie, Mimi, and Michele made it to the middle of the creek, neck high! Sarah caught Michele's flip flops as they floated down stream. Michele was so cold she didn't realize they had been lost! Megan and I weren't as daring. Our frozen toes were hurting so bad that I made it shin high and Megan made it waist high before we jumped out and started asking what the first signs of frostbite were! Mimi, our leader, was the last one out. They got some great pictures of her trouncing about in the winter water. She was cold but enjoying every second of it. I will admit it I was first out, I wore my gloves on my feet all the way home, but I felt triumphant, I think we all did. It was fun, crazy, zany, so many of those adjectives. If that 2 hours of our New Years day is any indication as to the rest of 2008, then I think we are in for a great year!

I hope all of you had just as great a new years eve and new years day. Happy 2008 and may it be a great one!

If you would like to see the card my friend Sara put together,just click on the title of today's blog entry. The picture she used is our "before" shot. Enjoy!

My Mind is all a Swirl

I have so much flying through my mind right now! I was sick last week and the kids were under the weather this week; so I am totally thrown off. I am late/behind on sending out my Christmas cards. My shopping is behind and I totally need to go to the grocery! I have tonight and Sunday night to get stuff done, no pressure. I don't think I have ever been this behind. I did manage to buy some things online last week. I am hoping they make it on time....

On top of that, I have been seriously considering renting my house out. We have tossed the idea around for many years. We have recently met many people who have 1 or more rentals. A good friend of mine recently acquired her second rental property. Her realtor told her not to sell any of them right now,because of the market, and that renting was the way to go with this crappy market. I have read that the sell of homes are down 6.7% from this time last year. Due to the huge amount of foreclosures and the mortgage industries tightening of standards, there are more people out there renting than purchasing. So, I don't know.....We are both going to pray about it. Renting out your house can be a big deal. So the other half and I are going to pray about it ALOT and have dinner with my good friend K and her Hubs and hear how they have gone about having 3 mortgages and 2 sets of tenants. I have always wanted to have a rental property, weird I know. But they can afford you some financial security when you are older. The properties could also be sold at a later date and pay for C or G's college or any extra expenses we may incur due to G's delays. It's alot to think about. So we are praying about it. We also seem to be running into quit a few acquaintances that have a property or two and have been more than happy to share their experiences with me, which is lovely of them to do.
So my question to any of you is, have you ever had a rental property? If so what was your experience with that, tenants, lawyers, and realtors?

Thanks!

Have Yourself and Eco-Friendly Christmas...

We are headed to a "Green" Christmas Party tonight with a gift exchange. My first thoughts when I was invited were: is this a spin on a white elephant but I bring something green, and that's a cute incorporation of the Christmas seasons use of the color green. It was good that I asked about the whole "white elephant" thing, because I was sooo wrong! It is to be an environmentally friendly gift. We have to be creative and the gift must be an,"interesting and fun gift that is either made from sustainable materials or will help in some way, by it's very use, to reduce energy consumption to put under the tree for a gift exchange." This struck me as a fun challenge. I mean it's easy to find eco-friendly things, but to find something "fun" and "creative" that seemed to pose more of a obstacle. So I have spent the past week racking my brain and scouring web sites. Last week I read a great article in our local paper that helped me on my journey.


According to the newspaper, "going green" for Christmas is the thing to do. So much so that the accounting company of Deloitte & Touche surveyed on the subject. They found that 12% of people in my state plan to buy more eco- friendly gifts this year. while 20% will use less plastic bags when they make their purchases. 19% of people, state wide, were planing on not wrapping their gifts with traditional wrapping paper. (It doesn't recycle, so it just sits and landfills.) It was good to see I was in good company this holiday season, but this didn't help with where I could find cool, green, gifts pronto! Further in the article I had my answer! It would seem that Home Depot, Target, Yahoo! and Walmart (?!) all have environmentally friendly products on their websites! How great is that?! So I perused Target, Home Depots, and Yahoo!. Great sites all. Great selections. Now I didn't end up buying anything from the site, though I may in the future. (I didn't have enough time for the shipping) But I did do something that I know to be easy on the planet and that is: I shopped local. There is a Wild Birds Unlimited not too far from me. On top of selling bird seed and bird things, they have a good selection of eco-friendly soaps, jewelry made from natural materials,and natural jewelry by women in Africa. So I chose from that and am putting my gift in a reusable tote. I think that meets all the requirements. We'll see. I am off to have a good time and I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with!


More Tips For a Planet Friendly Holiday:

• Buy a potted Christmas Tree. Replant it in the spring or donate it to your local parks department.


• Use LED lights on the tree. They use 90% less power that traditional lights, but they do cost more to purchase.


• Make your own gift. Who doesn't like something so thought full as something made by hand? From candy, to soaps, to scarves, all ways a way to make it creative and personal.


• Make your own wrapping paper. You can use the comics, maps, brown bags, ect. I did this one year using brown bags and paint. I painted the bags free hand and I used potato and rubber stamps. It was alot of fun!

Links to Websites listed above:

Home Depot http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/

Yahoo! Green http://green.yahoo.com/

Target http://www.target.com/b/sr=1-1/qid=1197750629/ref=sr_ilm_1/602-6617218-2806255?ie=UTF8&node=357202011

O Christmas Card! O Christmas Card!

I was at a Christmas party several years ago. Someone there expressed how they found the end of year letters, that some people put in their Christmas cards, to be annoying and self important. I was opening cards, yesterday and reading some letters, when I was reminded of this conversation. I love those letters. I am not the best on the phone. My lifestyle does not provide a lot of time for the phone or meeting up with my friends on a regular basis. Plus, some of them live out of state. So I find these letters give me a chance to find out of all the fun things that have happened to them this year. It gives my friends and I something to talk about next time we meet. I also enjoy each persons unique writing voice. Receiving such a letter makes me feel that the giver finds me to be a close enough friend that I probably do care about what has transpired in the last 365 days. So, to all of those out there who fill their cards with an end of the year synopsis, keep 'em coming! You are not gloaters! 98% of we recipients get a joy out of reading your years joys and adventures. Bring 'em on.

And to those of you that feel these letters are "annoying and self important", don't read them. That way you aren't annoyed by someone who has mistaken you as someone who cares. Also, don't complain at parties about these things. You run the risk of hurting the feelings people who only have the best of intentions by sending these letters. If you think about complaining openly then you have to ask yourself ,"Who's the real self important one here?"

Wordless Wednesday

This picture sums up their sibling relationship!

Ten Rules to Live by

The topic for Letters to my Daughters writing project is "Ten Rules to Live by." I have tried to give this a lot of thought. I really have. However, I am not sure what my "rules to live by” would be. So we will stumble through this together.


1. I do believe you have to believe in something higher than yourself. It gives some reassurance to know I am here for something bigger than to eat, drink, breath, work and die. I find meaning in believing in a force bigger and more loving than myself.


2. Strive to be and do better. Everyday should be a new day to try to be a better, more loving, more forgiving individual. Making the world a better place starts with you and your smile.


3. Get outside. When we take the time to get outside and take a walk, garden, or just sit, we have the opportunity to unwind and see what it is all about! When one takes the time to observe the outdoors it takes you out of yourself. It gives us a reason to want to preserve the planet.


4. Take risks, stretch yourself. It can be any kind of risk. Go to a new coffee shop, travel to a place you have always wanted to go. There is such a feeling of freedom and accomplishment when you push yourself to do something new, learn something new, or go some where new!


5. Do not be afraid to fail. We are all afraid to fail. Failure is inevitable. Every great somebody failed many times before they succeeded. The secret is to learn from the failure and head back to the drawing board!


6. Never quit, never give up! See #5 :)


7. There is a reason for everything. I believe this with all my heart. Too many things have happened in my life that back up this theory. The trick is being patient enough to find out what the reason is or was.


8. Travel and learn about other cultures. If you can't afford to hop a flight, go to the library and check out a book. Learn about people and countries other than your own. You will find we are all more alike than we are different.


9. Study the arts. There are so many to choose from, you are bound to find something that tickles your fancy and lets you see the world in a whole new light!


10. Love. Love someone, love something. A pet definitely counts! When you love and take care of something other than yourself, you become less selfish and there is such a freedom in that. It is not easy, it never will be, but it is a necessary and useful journey all the same.


Hey look at me! I was able to come up with some stuff!! I think I just learned a little more about myself, this is always a good thing.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love the holidays! One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is to have a nice hot cup of Starbucks Christmas blend and mint M&M's. These are two things you can't get any other time of the year other then December. I love them so much that I usually try to stock up on a few bags of both before they leave the stores for another 11months.
Some times it just the little things, ya know?

It's Official

The Other half has officially killed his knee. Last Saturday ,while playing basketball with his "Old Fogey" league, he did a jump shot and blew out his knee. A 4 Doctors visits, 2 xrays, and one MRI later the verdict is in, his ACL is toast. The other things in his knee are either stretched or blown out too. We have been told that his ACL will have to be reconstructed with either his own tendons or cadaver. My vote is for his own tendons. (Please pray they can use them) They will do some scoping/scraping will they are in there too. We meet with the Surgeon on Monday to get the full rundown of all the fun and to get a date for surgery.
This will be surgery number 2 for The Other Half in less than 12months. SHESH! I told him he's getting expensive and I might just have to trade him in for another model! ;) His sister texted him and said,'You might not think 30 is old, but you knee sure does!' That had me rolling!
On a serious note, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Him having surgery always makes me nervous. And I am not looking forward to paying off yet another surgery. Thank God for insurance!

Random Quote

Me: "G, I need you to get ready for bed."

G, is ferociously strumming his sister's pink barbie guitar to some Goo Goo dolls song.

Me: "G, Listen to me! You need to get ready for bed!"

G, still ferociously strumming:" I can't! I NEED to rock and roll!"

This comment comes on the heels of him having broken my mixing bowl while drumming to the sounds of the Foo Fighters. *Sigh*

Me, tiredly:" Ok, five more minutes of rock and roll and then off to bed."

G: "I NEED to rock and roll!!"

Me: "Five minutes or I take the guitar NOW.Which is it?"

G: "Ok, five minutes."

Even rock stars know when not to mess with mom!
;)

Wordless Wednesday

My 3 Boys

Thanksgiving

I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here. This year has passed very quickly for me and my family. There is so much for me to be thankful for this year. Yes, I may not have the house I thought I would, but I do have a house, a roof over my head. I am thankful for that.

I am thankful for C's school and staff. She is flourishing there, even more than we thought she would. She hates being sick on school days! What?!

I am thankful for G's school and staff. With out those amazing women he would not be communicating even close to as well as he does now. They are miracle workers.

I am thankful for my friend The Psychologist who has helped to guide us with G. Without her expertise and friendship G's delays would have gone undiagnosed for several more years. I can't tell you how many people use to dismiss my concerns of his delayed speech, hyperactivity,and over sensitivity as him "just being a boy." She was the first person close to me that had the training and the confidence to say," I'm concerned too." I am so thankful for that.

I am thankful for The Other Half's new position and for his self growth. I am thankful that he is such a great father, lover of cats, and that he loves my dogs more everyday.

I am thankful for good friends and their love and understanding.

I am thankful for my self growth this year. I hope I never forget it.

I am also thankful for family and that they really do pull through for you when the going gets tough.

Last but not least, I am thankful that this year is almost over! This has been one big fat funky year and I can't wait to finish taking the lessons from it and move onto next year. Clean slate. (Ya ever have just one of those years?)

We will be traveling during this holiday. I love gearing up for it by making a mix cd or two. It kinda gives the travel a sound track, other than the 2 wild children fighting in the back seat and asking why the car is stuck in traffic and why aren't we there yet! I have found that sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to feel hip and sane while parent or traveling. So my mix cd's usually has something hip, something old, something new, something emo, and something Laurie Berkner or Ralph's world-ish. I can truly say my cd's are eclectic!

To those of you that are traveling, I wish you safe traveling and I hope you keep your sanity.

For those staying near, I wish you a happy holiday as well!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!

Yet another leg of the Journey

I have written a little about my sons sensory processing disorder. Well now he is at an age where they need to find out if some of the things he is dealing with are in the autism spectrum or some other kind of delay. So this weekend I filled out a form that will rule out (or in) "regular" autism. His teachers and therapist have assured me that they don't think he is autistic. But by having me fill out this form it will help them to start to narrow down what is happening with G. In February we start another leg of our journey into special needs by having G tested by a woman who is amazing. She comes to us highly recommended by friends of ours who are colleagues of hers in the field of psychology. She is the go to woman for high functioning autism and a plethora of other things. She has no agenda other than the child's welfare. Sounds good.
We are doing all of these things in hopes of getting G the right programs and help when he starts school next August. By getting him tested early we can get him started on the way to learning in a way that he can understand. These test results will also help his teachers to help him and understand him better.
I have had many friends talk about being uneasy with children being labeled. I understand that. I really do. Unfortunately if you want any help, your child has to be "labeled" so that those around them know how and why to help. I am hopeful that whatever the out come G won't ever feel like "I am a kid with speech delay" or "I am the high functioning autistic kid." Our goal at home, and away, is to for him to be G, our son, who learns the way he learns, and is just as special and cool as anyone else.
This is an interesting leg of our journey.( Not that any twist or turn with G has ever been dull or uninteresting.) I feel that we are getting even closer to having questions answered that have tugged at my heart for the 2years that we have been on this road. I don't want my son to be anything that he is not, but I do want him to be comfortable with who he is. I really feel that these tests are getting us one step closer to getting us all there.

If you would like more information about Sensory Processing Disorder, The SPD Network has a very informative site. http://www.sinetwork.org/

If you would like more information on Autism, Autism Speaks will keep you informed. http://www.autismspeaks.org/

Christmas Shopping China Free

A local artisan turned me onto this great site called Etsy. It is a website filled with crafters/artisans from all over the world, but mostly from the US. I have yet to order anything yet because I still have to narrow down my gift ideas. There is so much to choose from! Most,if not all,of the artist take paypal. Etsy tells you how much that "shop" has sold and its approval rating. There is something for everyone ,or anything, on your Christmas list at Etsy. If you like giving one of a kind gifts,without breaking your budget,you are bound to find something on Etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/

Long Time no See

Well October was one crazy month that did not go according to plan. To make a long story short we were suppose to sign the papers on both homes the first Friday of October and be out the following Tuesday, 4 days later. Something came up for our buyer and so we had to post pone closing every week for the next 3 weeks! Then the buyer went MIA therefore voiding our contract. It turns out she was not pre-qualified like her realtor had told us. The buyer was so frustrated with the people she was working with that she just stopped returning phone calls. It has been a disheartening situation for all of us. The kids are very sad/mad that they won't have their new bedrooms. Because our buyer wanted all of our appliances I went out and bought new appliances, of which are currently in my garage. To top it off my house is emptier than ever and for the month that it has been back on the market we have not had one showing. We have always had,at least, 2 showings a weekend. So, I took it upon myself to list the house on Craigslist, in addition to it being on our Realtors website. I am really struggling to understand Gods rhyme and reason for all of this. We have had our house on the market almost a year. I am really getting disheartened/ depressed about this.

On a good note, The Other Half started his new DM job at the end of October and loves it. His districts numbers are totally in the toilet. These poor guys have not had a manager that cared. And for the last 6months they didn't have a manager at all! Luckily for them the Other Half is a total optimist and loves a good challenge. He has met every single one of his distributors and they were all down in the dumps, but they are hard workers, and are ready to do better, they just want someone to help them get there. Most of these guys already know The Other Half because he trained them to do their job or they've met at work conferences. We both know this has helped him get off to a good start with these guys.

A week after the Other Half officially started his DM job we went with some friends to San Francisco and Napa. I will post more on that later, with photos. It was a great trip!

To sum it up, October was interesting.

My House is in Contract!!!

This is a quickie update. I hope to post more in the up coming days. A quick recap of the past 2weeks and why I've been on hiatus. The kids started school! Yippee! We all have been passing the flu around the past 2weeks, booooooo! On Tuesday of last week the other half received a promotion and on Wednesday a woman put an offer on our house?! Crazy great! By Thursday we had finished negotiations and I had the real flu, leaving my sick self, The Other Half, and our realtor to look at houses all this past weekend. We have to be out of our place by the second Tuesday of October, No pressure! It is a challenge to find a house you like when you are well, but let me tell you it is down right no fun when you are sporting a 102 degree fever! But we think we found something we like, out of the 20 we saw this past weekend! I kid you not, 20 homes and I have only found one that seems to have what we need. Just our blessed luck it happens to be Bank owned and in PERFECT condition!!! So we place a bid on Tuesday and we should know by tonight or tomorrow what the bank thinks.
Please say a prayer that we get the right place for the right price. God has really been moving the past two weeks and it is so exciting! I am so excited to see what he is going to come up with when it comes to our lodging!
I hope you all are well and I will blog more soon!
:)

Mini Hiatus

I will be back and blogging in the next couple of days. Life has been a little crazy with all the back to school stuff and getting use to the new schedule.
Best of luck to all of you gearing up for the new school year as well!