We're Just Fleeky

2011-06-02T23:25:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in a really long time lol. A lot of those months were chaos while taking care of two children, going to school full time, and teaching full time. I new that internship time was crazy... I just hadn't been told how crazy it would be with two very small children.

But... that time has come and gone with me earning straight A's. I graduated and received my bachelor's degree in elementary education with almost straight A's. And now, I'm just spending my time subbing, and looking for a job.

Today is my two year anniversary. Two years ago today, I met my mother in law and sister in law for the first time. I couldn't stop giggling because my husband blew out the unity candle instead of his own candle. We got crazy drunk, and galavanted all over Las Vegas. Sometimes, I really really miss Las Vegas. I get a very strong urge to start planning a trip there. I remember when we were listening to a time share thing so that we could get free tickets. The guy that was trying to sell us a time share told us that people usually only go to Las Vegas one time in their life. I asked him why? He said that once they go, sure they have fun, but there isn't any reason to go back because they can basically mark it off of their list of things they want to do. I think I'm different. Forever, Las Vegas will always be special to me. I will go there again someday.

I can't explain myself very well when it comes to things like that. Memories are so important to me, which then makes places where those memories happen very important to me. Especially when it was very happy for me.

My husband is in the process of becoming sober. He's been sick for days now. Don't get me wrong, but part of me is sad for one reason. If he is truly serious about being sober, that means no more drinking together. I'm not one for drinking but I have really happy silly memories where we both have had a lot of fun on nights out drinking. Playing pool, laughing like crazy, and even crazy drunk uninhibited sex lol. Some of my happy memories. I will always enjoy those memories.

I hold some things so dear even though its from the past that sometimes I have to go revisit it just to calm my head. I'm not sure what it's about. OCD? Sometimes it feels like it. Like yesterday, I had the urge to go and see the trailer that we use to live in. The first place that Aaron and I lived together, the place where I got pregnant before we even had a bed, the stupid speed bumps that gave me contractions in the last part of my pregnancy, and the home where we brought our new born baby. I drove by it, and had the biggest urge to stop and go inside. It doesn't look like anyone lives there, but of course I didn't stop and go instead because that would break the law and I don't do that.

I have that urge for other places too. Every time I drive by certain streets I look down the road at certain houses even though the people don't live there anymore. I go to certain websites to look at and read things that hold some of my past. And for the life of me, I don't know why I do that.... sometimes it really irritates me too.

There are other things that should be important to me but aren't. The place we lived and found out that I was pregnant with Emily and brought her home to. I don't have any urge to go there. If I drive past that street, I don't look. I won't lie... that was not a very good time in my life. In fact it was stressful, and I hated much of what went on during that time. Maybe that's why that house doesn't mean anything to me.

Anyway, I find myself sitting here on my anniversary night alone because Aaron is working, and wishing that instead we were in Las Vegas making another memory for me to treasure.

So far so good!

2011-01-03T00:06:00.000-05:00

Resolution #1 - Lose Weight

Today, I did day two of sparkpeople.com's 28 day bootcamp, and I did another 1.4 mile walk. Still trying to work on making good choices when eating, but, hey, it's still day two!

Resolution #2 - Graduation

I haven't done anything for this yet because I'm one of the lucky few who didn't get registered before the break. Some of my classmates are freaking out because they've been registered and they've already taken a look at the workload in the class. I'm jealous because I can't see the class, but I'm worried because they're freaking out and... I can't see what they see. Hopefully tomorrow I'm registered and Tuesday the class will pop up for me.

Resolution #3 - Financial Organization

I've been looking at different things that should make up a budget but I haven't actually worked on it yet.

Resoluation #4 - Organization

I folded clothes today. It doesn't really sound like organization but I'm counting it. First, we have one dresser and ALOT of clothes so I'm trying to find places for clothing while it's getting washed (or rewashed in some cases).

Resolution #5 - AJ and Emily

AJ and I went to the dollar store today to get Emily some diapers, and then I took him on my walk with me. I know he enjoys getting out of the house, even if it's just for a walk, and he was having a blast sitting in the stroller for our 30 minute walk.

Emily took a very long nap today. I think it's because she's always getting interrupted during her nap and also both kids were awake at 4 am.

Resolutions

2011-01-02T00:11:00.000-05:00

New year, new blog title! I had to figure out a way to include Emily in the title.

The mandatory New Years resolution post. I've decided to make a resolution for different areas of my life to make sure that I'm working on bettering myself all around.

1st - I want to lose weight. My goal is to lose one pound a week, and to make sure that I am exercising at least 3 days out of the week. I started today with a sparkspeople 28 day bootcamp video, and a 1.4 mile walk.

2nd - I want to graduate in May, and then have a teaching job in August. I don't really know what goals to set for this other than to do my absolute best during internship.

3rd - I want us to be financial organized. I need to make a budget, and then we need to stick with it. That also includes saving. My goal for the first six months of the year will be to save at least $50 - $100 a month. It'll basically be all we can afford while I'm interning. I'll reevalute it as needed, but definitely by August when I'll hopefully have a job.

4th - Organization. I need to go through our things in the storage unit and here and get rid of what isn't needed and organize the rest.

5th - My kids. The order of the list isn't in order of importance. I want to make sure that I'm do whats right for my children. I'm already doing this but I want to keep doing this. With school being so demanding and just trying to survive on our tiny income, I start to feel like I'm not doing what I should for them. I can say that this is what I need to do to make sure they have a good future, but instead I'm going to stop what I'm doing and read a book or play with them. I also want to make sure that I keep up with this blog for the sole purpose it was made... to make sure that I have memories written and pictures taken for them to look back on when their older. So that being said.... a picture of each of my babies on the first day of 2011:

2010-06-22T22:55:00.002-04:00

Emily had her one month check-up today! She now weighs 9 pounds 2 ounces and is 20 1/2 inches long. She's gained a lot of weight for two weeks, and the doctor is happy with her progress. I think I'm the happiest because I know that I made her gain that weight. I was so worried that we were going to be wrong about the birth control drying up my milk last time and that it would happen this time. I still want to get past 12 weeks because thats when I really knew it was time to give AJ formula, but I'm feeling more hopefully that I will be able to make it to at least 6 months and then hopefully a year.

Anyway here is my progress so far in the Day Zero Project:

1. Take my vitamin every day for three months (3/90)
2. Graduate with my bachelor’s degree
3. Lose 25 pounds (0/25)
4. Go through the closets (0/4)
5. Make sure the house is spotless before bed every day for a week (0/7)
6. Finish three of my WIPs (0/3)
7. Save $1.00 a day for 1001 days (3/1001)
8. Watch every episode of House (Season 1 - 3/22)
9. Finish this list
10. Buy one scratch off ticket every week for a year (0/52)

I found House Season One full length episodes at http://www.free-tv-video-online.info/internet/house/season_1.html. If you go there, make sure to use megavideo, and if it won't let you then novamov. I don't know that the other ones are safe, and I know that those two usually work.

Day One

2010-06-20T15:27:00.002-04:00

Day One of 1001

So far I have 60 items on my list, and I have decided to work on these ones right now. It doesn't mean that I can't complete other ones, but I want to make an effort to work on these:

1. Buy one scratch off ticket every week for a year (0/52)
2. Finish this list
3. Save $1.00 a day for 1001 days (1/1001)
4. Finish three of my WIPs (0/3)
5. Make sure the house is spotless before bed every day for a week (0/7)
6. Go through the closets (0/4)
7. Take my vitamin every day for three months (1/90)
8. Lose 25 pounds (0/25)
9. Graduate with my bachelor’s degree

Day Zero

2010-06-20T00:49:00.003-04:00

Emily was born on May 23. My dr decided to induce me on the 22nd after an ultrasound showed low amniotic fluid levels. The induction wasn't too bad this time. He used the foley method to start and then I was on pitocin. I elected to get the epidural but everything went so quickly that the epidural didn't even kick in before she was born.

She was 7 pounds 9 ounces and 19.25 inches long. She's absolutely perfect!

I'm really happy that I went through a whole pregnancy without finding out the sex. It was really hard, but very rewarding at the end, especially because she's a girl! I had a lot of people say right after that it's so great I have a boy and a girl, now I can be done. I really don't think I'm done yet. I definitely don't want another one until Emily is older than AJ is now. I think it would be great to wait until she is at least 3 before we start trying, so that would make her at the late end of 3 or maybe 4 depending on when I would get pregnant. Of course I don't know all of the details right now, but I know that as of this point, I'm not done.

So, I've decided to do this thing called Day Zero. You make a list of 101 things that you want to complete in 1001 days. I've made about half of my list so far:

1. Graduate with my bachelor’s degree
2. Take the Pro Ed exam
3. Take the Subject Area exam
4. Get certification to teach
5. Go one full semester without waiting until the last minute to do an assignment (0/16)
6. Join a gym
7. Exercise three to four days a week for a month (0/12)
8. Lose 25 pounds (0/25)
9. Make and take my lunch to work every day for a full month (0/30)
10. Replace 2 cans of soda with water every day for a month (0/30)
11. Take a walk everyday for a month (0/30)
12. Go without soda for a full week (0/7)
13. Go without soda for a full month (0/30)
14. No candy/chocolate/sweets for a full week (0/7)
15. No candy/chocolate/sweets for a full month (0/30)
16. Go to bed before midnight for one full week (0/7)
17. Get CPR certification
18. Donate 1 gallon of blood (0/8)
19. Take my vitamin every day for three months (1/90)
20. Buy a filing cabinet
21. Create a system for my bills and paperwork
22. Organize AJs toys
23. Go through the closets (0/4)
24. Make sure the house is spotless before bed every day for a week (0/7)
25. Don’t eat out for a month (0/30)
26. Potty train AJ
27. Change all of our light bulbs to energy saving
28. Eat dinner as a family at our table
29. Frame our family pictures and hang them
30. Finish three of my WIPs
31. Design and make my own graduation announcements
32. Make something for AJ
33. Make something for Emily
34. Donate one skien of squares to One Square at a Time Charity - http://onesquareatatime.wetpaint.com/
35. Learn to knit
36. Save $1.00 a day for 1001 days (0/1001)
37. Develop a budget
38. Find a new author that I like
39. Visit Aaron’s family
40. Go on a vacation with my family for at least 3 days
41. Watch every episode of House
42. Watch 15 movies that I have never seen recommended to me (0/15)
43. Go 24 hours without having the TV on
44. Go on one date night a month starting in September 2010
45. Go to a Redwings hockey game with Aaron
46. Finish this list
47. Get a new piercing or tattoo
48. Don’t go on Facebook for 24 hours
49. Get up to the alarm without hitting snooze 50 times (0/50)
50. Sleep without an alarm 50 times (0/50)
51. Go fruit picking with AJ
52. See a play
53. Make homemade bagels
54. Write from www.creativewritingprompts.com 20 times (0/20)
55. Build a blanket fort with AJ
56. Donate $5 for every task not completed after day 1001

2010-05-15T17:59:00.002-04:00

It's been about two months since I last posted. I guess I haven't really felt like posting. I think about it, and I sign in to see the other blogs on my list, and even those ones seem to be slowing down.

What's new with me?
I have 18 days left until my due date, and I've had quite a bit of people tell me they don't think I'll last.
I've enjoyed two weeks off of school. I got 5 A's my last semester! The next semester starts on Monday and the first of my classes just showed up so I'll be starting that very soon. I need to make sure that I'm always one step ahead so that when the baby comes I'm not going to be too stressed about it.
I've been crocheting a lot. Right now I'm working on an Elvis blanket for Aaron's birthday. I hope it will be done by then, but I haven't had much motivation to work on it. I'm also working on a newborn dress, bootie, and headband set. I'm in a "babyshower" for my online group and I have to send my partner her present very soon. She's having a little girl. I hope she likes it. So far I've got the headband and both booties done, and I'm working on the dress. If I have enough yarn left I might make a pair of bloomers, but I have to send it out soon because her due date is coming up. I think I have like a week left before the deadline.
I just started working on my baby's things last night. I got the bassinet all cleaned and set up... and that's about it so far. I'm not too worried about getting it done, it will get done eventually... even if that means waiting for the baby to get here.

What's up with AJ?

He's a full blown two year old. He can't talk but think he can so there is a huge meltdown if you don't understand him.
He's rough and tumble with daddy, and tones it way down for me.
He has started to greet me when I come home from work. He comes running at me full speed jumping and yelling, "Momma, HOME" and I can't help but smile everytime he does it because it is just too darn cute.
He freaks out when I try to leave. He even says bye to daddy and tries to walk out of the door with me, but when I have to shut the door I hear him scream and cry. That makes me feel bad, and I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that in the morning because he's still sleeping when I leave.

I'm feeling lazy, and I don't want to get up to get the camera, but I have some pictures to post later.

2010-04-04T02:11:00.004-04:00

I'm feeling the effects of late pregnancy. The drain of my energy, and the soreness of my hips... I really could live without it, but it's all for this child that I'm carrying.

Anyway, I've been busy this week sleeping, and cleaning, and sleeping, and doing some school work, and sleeping, and crocheting. I'm trying something new with crochet that I have never done before, and that is changing colors. I'm crazy though.. I couldn't take it easy and just crochet a blanket that had different striped colors.. I had to do a pattern. I found the perfect pattern to make Aaron a blanket for his birthday. I hope I get it done in time! Here is what I have so far:

It's white, which scares me, but the pattern part of it is black, and it's important that it's that way, because it will say Elvis and have an outline of his face... hopefully... by the time I'm done.

AJ and I have also been working on our second week of homeschool. He's learning about the Jungle, the letter B, and he will learn about the number two tomorrow. We did fall a little behind this week because of my energy problem. Not too far behind that we couldn't catch up during the weekend. Here is our learning poster from last weekend, and you can find the curriculum for that here: Week 1.

My Son

2010-03-23T00:07:00.003-04:00

My son is amazing. I don't take enough time out to think about how truly amazing his two year old self is.

He's extremely smart, and very very sweet.

We went to gymnastics tonight. AJ was the only one there, which was actually kind of nice because the teacher was able to spend all her time with both us making sure that I was helping him correctly. She had nothing but compliments for how fast he is progressing. He can crawl across the foam pit by himself, he can climb ladders by himself, he can almost do a forward roll without any help, and he really tries to do the monkey bars by himself, but he's not really big enough to do it without help. He did wonderful being the only student as well... he barely got sidetracked with the big girls running and flipping all over the place. His class is about 45 minutes long and he lasted about 30 minutes before he tried to escape to see the big girls.

We also started Week 1 with our homeschool preschool. This week's theme is cows. He'll also learn about squares, the letter A, and the number 1 this week. Today though, we worked on coloring a cow, saying the word cow, and saying the sound a cow makes. It takes a lot of coaxing to get him to say the words and the sounds... but I have found out that he can say them almost perfectly, he prefers not too. We read the book Cow by Malachy Doyle, and by the middle of the book he was pointing out the cow, and either saying "There it is!" or "Cow, MOO". Although his cow sounds like his word for car which sort of sounds like "Caw". My expectation was that by Friday he would be saying Cow and Moo... not that he would be saying it the first day. Something else that I was surprised by was that when we started to read the book, AJ stood up and started pointing at the picture of the cow that he colored. Like I said, he amazes me.

I am so lucky to have a little boy who loves to give kisses and blow kisses and give hugs. I am so lucky to have a little boy who is so smart and beautiful, and completely mine. I couldn't have asked for more!

2010-03-15T22:46:00.002-04:00

I can sum up my month of March so far in one word.... YUCK!

Last week was spring break for me, and I had envisioned going places and doing things with AJ while working my fanny off for some extra spending money since I would be free the whole week to work. Nope... didn't happen. I've been sick sick sick. Practically on my death bed! Ok, maybe not THAT bad, but it really hasn't been fun. And, I'm still sick. We're coming up on two weeks of being sick if I don't miraculously recover in the next two days. Since I'm pregnant there isn't much medicine to take to help me, and the medicine that is available hasn't really done much. I've had some good days where I feel much better, but then the next day I'm drained and feel even worse. At least I have a doctor's appointment on Saturday, so if it is still here by then, I'll talk to the doc.

I also had put my mind into working on AJ and the potty. That plan did not pan out. I was not feeling up to that much cleaning! So, instead the last few nights I have been working on getting AJ to sleep in his own bed. So for the last three nights, I have put him in his bed, and put him back in his bed, and back in his bed again and again and again. And for the last three nights, he has fallen asleep in his own bed. Now, he hasn't exactly stayed there the whole night, but baby steps! My goal is a whole week, and then we'll celebrate. It has gone pretty smooth. There are no tears when we walk back into the bedroom. Last night he was the most challenging because he'd run out and then run back to bed, giggling as if it were a game. It has really helped that there haven't been any tears because I'm dealing with a bit of guilt. While I do enjoy having my husband sleep in the bed, I kind of miss sleeping with my two year old bed hog. It's really amazing how such a little guy can take up so much of a queen size bed! Anyway, I have become accustomed to waking up several times in the night to make sure that his roley poley butt is covered with a blanket. Now, I'm waking up several times a night to tell husband to stop snoring. Oh well, in just a few short months I'll have a tiny little baby who will probably end up sharing my bed, and there really isn't room to have AJ sleeping in the bed as well.

Which is a whole new issue that I've started to deal with. I'm going to have a new baby, and I feel guilty because AJ won't have Mommy to himself anymore. I remember singing and talking to my belly all the time when I was pregnant with AJ. I think that I really bonded with the idea of AJ while I was pregnant, and that made it easier to bond after he was born and I wasn't so sick anymore. This time... I don't feel pregnant very often, and I don't talk or sing to my belly. I want this baby, but I don't know if I have bonded to the idea of this baby like I did with AJ. I'm sure that bonding after the baby is born will be just fine, maybe my issue is because I don't know very much about this baby. I don't know whether it is going to be a boy or girl, and I don't know if my due date is very accurate so I don't really even know when it will be here. I hope AJ bonds well with the baby too because he really doesn't have a clue that it's coming....

Relationship Advice

2010-02-22T00:03:00.002-05:00

The title of my post makes me laugh, lol. I am in no way an expert on relationships, and I don't have the perfect relationship... but honestly, if you think you have a perfect relationship yourself, I say look harder, no relationship is perfect.

Actually, I just wanted to post about my husband and how sometimes he surprises me. Those surprise can be so heartwarming for me, and I don't think he realizes it or than any other guy could do something so simple and please their woman just as much as surprising them with flowers or something else like that.

There definitely is a huge stress put on the men to make a relationship romantic and smooshy for their women. AND, when going into a relationship where it is easy to be romanced and loved on... it can be quite disappointing when further down the line the romance doesn't last at the level it was at previously.

Honestly though, showing a woman that you love them doesn't have to be expensive and take a lot of time to plan. I was visiting my husband at work, and we were joking around. My husband's last comment pushed me to tell him that I didn't like him anymore. He responded by saying, "Well, I don't love you any less." First, for less than half a second, my mind registered the complete opposite of what he said and I was going to be angry with him, but when it actually sunk it what he really had said, I left smiling and giggling. His comment has left me feeling loved and happy all evening.

So, all I'm saying is something as simple as saying something surprising can be just as powerful as traditional ways of saying I love you.

2010-02-20T22:12:00.002-05:00

I did it. I finally reminded myself to buy a new USB cord for my camera. So hopefully within the next week or two I'll be able to upload some pictures and actually start taking pictures again. I hate that my camera is full. One reason is that I started a new project and I'm super proud of it.

I had a small dilemma.. at least it was to me, it wouldn't have been for anyone else. Anyway, Aaron has a ton of old work shirts that have bleach stains and are faded or dingy looking. He only wears two or three of the better looking shirts to work and the rest just take up space in the closet. Thing is, he's constantly ruining shirts with bleach so our pile of useless workshirts grows rather quickly. We threw away all of his old work shirts over a year ago when he was let go. He's been back there almost a full year, and I swear there are at least 10 to 15 of those shirts taking up space. When he told me to throw them away, I just had this feeling like I couldn't. So, I looked up a way to recycle those shirts, and I came across rag rugs. So, I started to make one. I've already cut up one shirt and crocheted it into the start of my rug, and I super proud of it. Now, if only I could post a picture, lol. ;-)

Today was day 3 of 30 on my no eating out for breakfast or lunch quest. I'm not counting today as a failure although I won't be transfering the money into my savings account. I had an ultrasound today and my mom came with me. She asked me if I would take her out to lunch today, and how could I say no to that. I love going out to eat with my mom. We have our issues sometimes, but going out to eat is a special time, and I always enjoy it. Plus, my goal for the 30 days is to really stop eating out when I can take my lunch with me. The occasional lunch with a friend or family member shouldn't mean that I failed. I'll say that I just made up for it by not eating out for dinner. :-D So, yes day 3 of 30, and I've saved $12.

Science and Money

2010-02-18T18:45:00.003-05:00

I had a lesson plan and presentation to do for class this week. My lesson had to teach that plants get energy from the sun, air, and water to make food for themselves. So, basically, photosynthesis. It was crazy writing this lesson plan. First, they aren't "real" lesson plans, meaning they aren't the kind that teachers will write when they are actually teaching. They go into so much more detail, and for a 30 to 45 minute science lesson, my lesson plan came out to be 7 pages with 5 more pages of attachments.
I tried really hard to make this lesson plan interactive and meaningful for my "3rd graders" (just my adult classmates). I introduced my lesson by discussing that we breathe oxygen to survive and plants provide that for us, then we did an experiment to show that plants give off oxygen, and then I had made a felt story board with felt pieces to put together a basic diagram of photosynthesis. I was so nervous about my presentation, but I received great compliments and comments, and everyone loves every part of the presentation. Although, I know that I could have presented 1000x's better if it were actually a group of third graders, but it's alright.

A note on that experiment... I had to change it last minute because my previous experiment didn't work. My new experiment required test tubes and I didn't have any and couldn't find any last minute... BUT.. the liquor sells shots in test tube like things and I ended up buying a couple of those and used an SOS pad to get the writing off. I of course didn't drink the shots because, you know, the whole pregnancy thing, lol.

So, I put a lot of myself into that lesson plan and I'm proud to say that I received a 92% on the presentation. I'll know on Tuesday how I did on the actual lesson plan. The lesson plan grade could be different because of all the detailed sections that can be confused and screwed up, and if I didn't get my accomodations correct then I'll take a huge hit on my grade. So, that's my news on school.

In other news, I've decided that while my family is doing well with a small cushion of savings in our savings account, I'm going to alter my life style a little bit. I found that when we have extra money, I decided that it is ok to go out and buy myself lunch, or breakfast if I'm not running late in the morning. For the next 30 days, I'm not going to eat out for breakfast or lunch. I'm making an exception for drinks and coffee because drink so much through out the day so I stay hydrated (preterm labor from dehydration was a reality for me last pregnancy) it would be crazy to carry around that much. I am going to limit my coffee buying though. So, everyday for the next 30 days, if I don't eat out I'm going to transfer 6 dollars into my savings account. I know that doesn't sound like a lot everyday, but if you do the math.... that's $180 on just lunch that just I would be eating!

One of my other reasons for doing that is because I've finally hit my prepregnancy weight and now I've surpassed it by 4 pounds. Now that I'm gaining, I want to make sure that I'm not just eating junk all the time, which is what was happening.

Today was day 1 of 30 and I have saved a total of $6 bucks!

2010-02-05T12:03:00.005-05:00

AJ had his two years doctor's appointment today. He weighs 24 pounds 1 ounce, he's 33.5 inches tall, his head is 19 inches around, and his iron is back at a healthy 11.5! Here he is freaking out over the bandaid that they put on his finger after the finger prick.

I also finished a project last night. Yay! Finally I can cross one off my list :-) I did sacrifice my school work to do it, but it was worth it because I didn't want to work on my school work anyway lol. So here is the finished result of my valentine's day wreath!

Remember, I found the tutorial at Domestifluff.

Burgers Anyone?

2010-01-20T23:20:00.002-05:00

This is what I did tonight INSTEAD of cleaning my house for my mother in law who will be here tomorrow and INSTEAD of doing school work that is also due tomorrow.

Sorry the image is so blurry, it didn't look that way on my phone, and now those burgers are all gone so no more pictures.

Actually, those are what I will be making for AJ's birthday party this Saturday. Our theme is BBQ because that is what hubby will be doing. I ordered a hamburger birthday cake, but it won't be big enough to feed everyone, so I made those cute little cupcake/brownie/icing burgers with cookie french fries. I've already been told that I'm so amazingly awesome and creative.... but... I really am not, and they definitely don't look as good as Bakerella makes them :-) Still, one day my baby will appreciate how much his mama does for him!

Dentist

2010-01-18T15:37:00.004-05:00

AJ's official first dentist appointment was today. But, of course, he's already been to the dentist twice to repair a chipped tooth and then to repair the cap over the chipped tooth after an accident with a pillow and the floor.

He had a cleaning and exam with the dentist. He didn't get any xrays taken because they said that it's very hard to get a child his age to do it right, but they'll try every time. They also said that if I insist on it they'll do it, but I'm not going to force them to torture him. Anyway, from examining his teeth during the cleaning and the dentist looking afterward, he does not have any cavities, which is awesome!

I was a little irritated with the dentist office today though. The first two times we have gone, we went to the office that was open that day, which just happened to be in palm harbor both days. Apparently they have three offices, but I've only heard about the two. Well, the one in palm harbor is absolutely beautiful. The walls are painted brightly, the toys are well taken care of, and they a video game center for the older kids. The back area where they take the kids to wait looks awesome from the pictures I've seen. Just a totally kid friendly office, and the other parents that I've met there have all been really friendly and nice. Both time there were parents to offer me support when I'd start crying... hey, it's hard to send your one year old to the back to see the dreaded dentist!

The office I went to today is normally an adult office, and on certain mornings they share it with AJ's dentist. There were a very few, very worn, very unclean (I mean with black smudges and everything) toys. The waiting area was filled and wasn't much bigger than a walk in closet. Honestly, I was reminded of going to the health department when I was younger. There was even this one little girl who had bright green snot running down her face and she wanted to play with AJ, but I wouldn't let him. The last thing I really need while trying to balance work, school, aches and pains from being pregnant, is to get sick myself or have a sick toddler. The people there were... I don't know a good word... but there was a video game system and instead of letting the kids play, there were some adults playing on them. That is so irritating to me. I know AJ isn't old enough to play, but those aren't there for the comfort and enjoyment of the parent... When I was scheduling his next appointment and cleaning, I told them that I wanted to be moved back to the other office and they did give me a hard time about it. They reluctantly scheduled me for palm harbor, and I'll take the drive there every 6 months if I have to. The atmosphere is just THAT much better!

Project Ideas 2

2010-01-17T12:50:00.006-05:00

So, I was at Joanns the other day, and saw that wreath. I absolutely loved it, but I didn't want to spend $20 bucks on it. I thought to myself that I could make something like it I was sure. So, I left thinking about it. A day or two later I stumbled upon www.oneprettything.com. There are tons of crafts on there that I would love to do. So, while I was there, I found this white wreath made by domestifluff.

That's basically what I imagined mine looking like except for it would be heart shaped, and it would be red. Then a few days later, I found someone who basically stole my idea and did it before I had even really thought of it lol. I can't copy the picture so here is the link so you can see.

Now, you might remember the picture of Paul's Blanket and the chair it was on.

Well, my dining room chairs basically look like that, two of them have different fabric, but I don't like how they look. So, I stumbled across this beautiful chair redone by Centsation Girl.

Now, I won't be changing the color of the wood to white because my table isn't white, but I definitely want to redo the fabric and backing.

Of course there are a ton more things that I would love to do, but these projects are one that I'm actually going to be doing lol.

Project Ideas

2010-01-16T21:27:00.005-05:00

I found this blanket pattern while walking through michaels last summer. Like I said in a previous post, I decided that it would be the perfect blanket for my friend Paul who just came back from Iraq. I'm currently working on it, and I'm almost half way done. The only thing I did was double the size because it was going to be too small for Paul. He was always a big boy, but even though I'm sure he's slimmed up from being in the military, I'm sure he didn't shrink. :-)

This is the next crochet project that I'm looking at. Awhile ago, I found a link on how to make plarn. It's a way to reuse plastic bags, and I won't have to buy yarn for this project. I really would love to make a basket like this, but I don't know how. So, I thought that a bag would be the next best thing. My one concern is that it might stretch out considering it is plastic. Oh well, I guess the only way to find out is by trying!

So, that's it for my crochet project ideas. I have other projects that I want to do but I think that will be another post.

Resolutions

2010-01-14T22:44:00.002-05:00

I wasn't planning on making any resolutions this year. I seem to not be able to keep them if I make them lol. I did notice however that I had decided to make some changes and I have been following through with them so far, and it just happens to be the right time of year to say that they were unintentional new years resolutions.

First, I have been trying my darnedest to catch up with cleaning my house, and slowly it is getting there. My kitchen has stayed clean for the past week now because I have consciously been cleaning it twice a day. First, when I get home from work/school/errands because hubby and son make a mess in there during the day, and finally at night after dinner.

Which actually leads me to my second unintentional new years resolution. We have been a little low on cash so far this year so I decided that we wouldn't be eating out as much. This was a hard decision to make because a lot of the time it is just AJ and I and it's hard to make stuff that won't go to waste. But, in reality there still was a lot of fast food that was going to waste, it isn't healthy for us, and while it doesn't seem expensive up front it adds up quickly. So, I sat down at the beginning of the week and looked through the store flyers and found a store that had the best sales this week. I looked online for some good cheap recipes and found 15 dinners for under $1.50. The whole thing isn't really under $1.50 so it is a little misleading, but each serving of the dinner is suppose to be under $1.50. There are acouple of good dinners in there that I have tried so far, and some that haven't been a big hit. So, I think being in the kitchen every night to actually prepare dinner has helped me with keeping it clean.

So, it's been about a week, and I've kept up with both of these things. I honestly feel 100 times better after making dinner. I also spent less than $75 on a weeks worth of groceries that I may be able to drag out to last another 3 or 4 days, which makes me feel even better, lol!

Of course every semster I have a new semester resolutions of keeping on top of my school work. I already failed that the second day of school today when I didn't have all my chapters read, but to be honest the teacher didn't help by posting the class late either. I really didn't have enough time to read it all. I'll get caught back up before the next class on Tuesday.

Lets see, what else have I been thinking about that I can turn into an unintentional new years resolution? Well, I was really disappointed with myself last semester for getting so bogged down in school work that I couldn't do anything that I enjoyed. So, going hand in hand with my last resolution, I want to keep on top of my school work so that I can do something that I enjoy. I would love to do something everyday, but that might be too ambitious, but I definitely would like to make time for myself a few times a week to do a project, surf the internet, or even just watch tv without feeling guilty about my school work.

Which brings me to what my next post will be about.... I think it's going to be about some ideas that I came across the last few nights while I was surfing the internet.

2010-01-13T17:16:00.003-05:00

Let the CRAZY begin!

I find that I don't blog because of my camera not having a cord. I wanted to post about some of the projects that I was working on, and I'm severly disappointed that I didn't have a camera to take pictures of AJ on his 2nd birthday. I will be borrowing a camera for his second birthday party which is in like a week and a half, yikes!!

So here is what I've been up to:

I finished a blanket for my friend Heather. I started it over the summer but had to put it to the side when school started. I never felt comfortable working on projects when I'm not caught up with school work. At the start of the project, I knew it was going to be for Heather, but it ended up being a house warming gift for her and her boyfriend. Although, it was about a month late. I think I was originally going to give it to her as a Christmas gift, but then a few months before Christmas I found out that they were going to move in together and I thought it might make a good house warming gift. Now, if I had a camera, I could have taken a picture of the lovely blanket!

I started another blanket. This one shouldn't take me so long. The pattern that I was working on for Heather was very detailed. I believe its called filet crocheting. Anyway, this new blanket is just the same row being crocheted over and over again. It goes quite quickly, which also means I go through yarn quite quickly too. This recipient for this blanket isn't a secret. At the end of summer I reconnected with a friend, Paul. I found out that he had joined the military and that he was at that time over in Iraq. It was pretty awesome to be able to talk to him over facebook while he was there. I had told him that I found the perfect yarn and pattern and was going to make him a blanket for when he comes home. BUT... I'm going to use the same excuse. I couldn't finish Heather's blanket because of school work, so I definitely couldn't start a new one. I ended up having to order more yarn for Heather's blanket because it wasn't being sold in any stores around here, so I decided to start Paul's blanket. My goal is to have it finished by the time he gets back to Florida. I just heard that he finally made it back to the states but he won't be back to Florida until February. So it gives me some time... and it should be plenty of time.

That is... if I don't get bogged down with school work again. Yep, another semester has started. I have high hopes though, but I'm still nervous.

I also made invitations for AJ's birthday party. And, I have some ideas in progress about my next few projects. I would love to try my hand in redoing some of my furniture... and I will definitely have a camera for those projects because they're going to be big for me. If they turn out well then I want to document it lol. If not, then I have something to laugh at and remind myself why I should never try redoing furniture again!

So, I'm off to get my school work done so that I don't have a rerun of last semester and my bogged down school work life. I'll leave you with my handsome boy eating a birthday cupcake on Monday! Doesn't he look like he is enjoying being two?

2010-01-02T21:37:00.002-05:00

I haven't written in a while. I think about it everyday, and I even come on here almost every day to check the blogs that I read. I just haven't been motivated to write, and when I do feel motivated, I'm really busy.

December has been busy for me. I finished up my semester, which was by far the most demanding I've ever been in. I baked and baked and baked. Christmas was chaotic. Now, I'm trying to plan for the arrival of my mother-in-law and AJ's birthday day party.

I'm so excited for AJ's party. I don't want him to be two because it went by way too quickly but he's definately not a baby baby anymore. He's a full blown toddler and we've started to work on showing how old he is with his fingers. This does take quite a bit of coordination for the little ones! He really ends up hold up about four curved fingers, but he tries to say two.

I have some pictures of my past month that I'll try to get up soon. Beware, they are only taken with a camera phone because I still haven't gotten a cord for my camera. I will need to do that!

2009-11-21T19:44:00.002-05:00

I didn't keep up with my November posting. Let's be fair though... November is NOT a good month for me. I had soooo much school work due this month it was CAH-RAZ-EE! It was all big stuff too. Also, we've been having some other issues that will go unmentioned for now. Maybe one day... I'll be able to blog for the whole month of Nov and win a prize, just not this time. :-(

2009-11-14T19:31:00.002-05:00

Last night, our play date went fine.

We were suppose to do some "homeschool" stuff which was mostly games but AJ wasn't excited about it in the least bit. He just wanted to play with the trains NOT color, or sort, or even watch the movie Up. He did of course want the ice cream that we went out and bought, lol.

My boy is just a boy through and through. Give him blocks, trains, cars, and lots of mommy love and he'll be as happy as can be!

I do have to say that I'm so very happy that he is also sensitive and not overly rough. I look at momma's who have those types of boys and I truely feel sorry for them because I definitely don't know how you can control that type of child!

2009-11-13T17:22:00.001-05:00

AJ and I are gonna eat dinner soon, and then we are heading over to Laura's house to play with her sons. Hopefully I can get her to take some pictures that I put in here.

2009-11-12T19:20:00.002-05:00

I had an ultrasound today! I'm so very happy to see my baby happily flipping around down there. I was so excited this morning that I actually woke up like 4 times before my alarm went off lol. So, my due date is not June 3rd, 2010, and here is a picture of my little one:

2009-11-11T18:42:00.001-05:00

Grandma asked if AJ could spend the night tonight. YES YES YES!

So this lady is heading over to Heather's house to work work work on school work. Hopefully, I'll get a bunch of it done!

2009-11-10T19:30:00.003-05:00

Darn... I lost my whole post and now I have to write it again...

Anyway, as I said before, I was talking to my friend Laura today and we both have decided that we are going to start homeschooling. So, yes, AJ will start homeschooling by the end of the week.

It's not going to be all the structure and hard work that you are probably thinking. We'll take a few small tasks and focus on them for a week or two and then we'll move on. I found a website that I'm going to use as a guideline, and then Laura and I are going to get together once or twice a week and have our kids practice and play together.

It'll be fun, and I'll feel like I'm actually doing something with AJ. I read blogs from other people and see other friends' children who are all around AJ's age and they are either talking or doing complex activities... and I feel that maybe I have put AJ off to the side a little too much in the name of doing my own school work.

What I am going to start doing is structuring AJ's day with a daily routine. I don't have control over how Aaron takes care of AJ during the day but I'll work on the weekend and evening routine and hopefully AJ will eventually fall into a routine in the morning as well.

Oh, here is the website in case you are interested. Its free and goes from 3 months until late elementary school years. http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html

2009-11-09T20:37:00.003-05:00

So, I'm having a bad day. Aaron and I aren't seeing eye to eye at the moment... and that means that it's just another thing to work on, on top of all of the school work and worrying that I'm already doing. So, I would just like to say this:

To my dear dear dear husband:

I'm sick of your attitude... and I'm on strike from you at the moment!

There it is blog world... my tantrum toward my husband made public.

Fruit Pizza

2009-11-08T14:50:00.002-05:00

I'm posting early because I have a potluck dinner to go to tonight.. but I wanted to show you what I have been working on today!

2009-11-07T21:16:00.003-05:00

Nope, no pictures yet. Unfortunately, Heather's cord does not fit my camera.. she has another one that I'll try but I'm not so sure that one will fit either. *sigh* I'm so very disappointed!

So lets see, what to talk about today...

Tomorrow, my mom and I plan on going to a potluck dinner, and I'm pretty much decided on making a fuit pizza. It looks so yummy in the pictures that I just have to try it... hopefully, mine looks just as yummy. Go google image fruit pizza.. you won't be disappointed I promise!

AJ went to bed nice and early tonight.. so I'm gonna look at what is due for my classes and maybe I'll start working on it.. although, a bath is sounding quite nice right now....

Day 6 of 30

2009-11-06T23:00:00.002-05:00

Today is day 6 of 30 out of my November blog posts. So far so good, although I find it hard to really write anything worth while.

Heather allowed me to borrow her camera cord, so once I see if it fits and of course if it does fit, I'll post some October pictures.

So, I have noticed that my morning sickness has sort of tapered off. I still feel queasy every once and awhile, and I still find that I'm not hungry at night, but for the most part my morning sickness is staying at bay. I hope that means I'm having a girl lol. If you know me, then you know that I really really hope it is a girl this time. If it's a boy, I won't be upset. BUT... I would love to buy dresses and bows and pink and dolls... I want a PRINCESS!

Ok, I waited too late tonight to post, and I'm yawning up a storm... so I'm gonna cut this boring boring post short. Nighty nighty night..

2009-11-05T22:23:00.003-05:00

I had a good day today. I woke up wide awake, which is very unusual considering how I normally am. The school I worked at was nice, the kids behaved, and the day went by fairly quickly.

In other news, I started my Christmas shopping already. I couldn't hold off anymore. I wanted to get some of it done. I went to Burlington Coat Factory and put some outfits and toys on layaway. So far AJ has 3 pairs of pajamas, 3 or 4 outfits in 18 months or 24 months, a kitchen play center, a hockey toy set, a tool set, a potty, and he got Daddy some pajamas for Christmas too. I feel like I've forgotten something but I have my recept and I won't have to worry about it until it's paid off. All in all so far I have spent 150 bucks, although I haven't really spent that much yet.

So, I'm gonna scoot. AJ is going to go to bed fairly shortly, and then I am going to take a bath... and I think I'm going to make one of those no bake cheesecakes....mmmm.

2009-11-04T22:42:00.003-05:00

So far so good, I've posted every day of November! Although, for anyone who reads this it may get rather boring very soon lol!

So, I've been searching for my camera cord since we moved because I have a ton of cute pictures of AJ from October. My mother finally found it and it was torn in half?!? It didn't look like it was chewed by a pet, just that someone had yanked both sized until it tore apart. Completely crazy! So, for now I have to remain pictureless because I have to find a new cord, order it, and wait for it to be mailed. A TOTAL BUMMER!

In other news, I have already taken a break from my crunch week lol. Actually, I worked hard last night and this morning to make sure that all three papers were done. I was successful, but I decided that tonight I needed a small break. AJ went to grandma's and I'm about to go to bed.

So, good night to all!

Crunch Time

2009-11-03T19:32:00.003-05:00

Today is a crunch day. I have three papers due tomorrow and have been working on one for most of the evening. I need to quit procrastinating and just get it done, but I wanted to make sure that I get my post in for the day.

I will be glad with the day comes this semester when I'm done crunching and I can either read or crochet without feeling guilty because I'm not doing my school work. The end of the semester is always hard though because everyone always assigns the most. So, I think that instead of just being a crunch day, this will probably be a crunch week and I'll try to get some of the future projects done before their due dates to relieve some stress.

In AJ news, I'm thinking about taking him to visit his old Kindermusik class. Laura has been trying to get me to visit because our small infant class is still together minus AJ and I and apparently there have been so many changes that it warrants a visit to see all the babies growing up. Like my boy...

Just learning to sit and chew things with no teeth... I think he was somewhere around 5 or 6 months

Sitting up like a pro, eating like a pro, with all of his teeth... oh with a cap... at 1 1/2 years

No idea

2009-11-02T22:44:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I've been sitting here a little while trying to decide what I would write about. My life is full of school work and nothing else that it would be boring to talk just about that. I don't have much else to say about the pregnancy right now because I'm waiting for my ultrasound on the 12th.

So what I want to talk about:

How I'm trying to tame the Christmas beast

I'm ready to go on this Christmas thing... but I don't have the time or the money right now to go all out to get Christmas started here. Plus, it might just be a little too early seeing as we haven't even passed Thanksgiving.

So, what have I been doing to stop myself. I keep telling myself that I'll wait until tomorrow because I have too much school work to do today. I fully plan on going and doing layaway so that I don't have to buy all of the stuff up front right now. And by tomorrow, I say that everyday so that it continues to get pushed off for the ever illusive tomorrow.

Either way, I'm excited for Christmas this year and I can't wait to get started.

NaBloPoMo

2009-11-01T21:38:00.002-05:00

I actually can't believe that it is this time of the year again. It shows me how long I have been following some of my favorite blogs because I read through them last year. I didn't participate last year though. But this year... I'm gonna try. :-)

The goal: post everyday for the full month of November

I think I can do it... my blogging has be slacking lately.

Here is what I'm gonna post today:

It's not a very clear picture because it was taken with my phone, but I thought it was so cute. I did take some better pictures with my camera but I need to find the cord for it... which may turn into buying a new cord for it because I've already looked ;-)

Scroog

2009-10-26T21:49:00.002-04:00

Or however you spell it. I felt like that with my last pregnancy on my babyfit message boards. The first trimester is so annoying when it comes to other pregnant women. We are all about 5 to 9 weeks along right now and they are already talking about how they definitely look pregnant. Give me a break... I don't care how many kids you have had, you don't have a baby bump at 6 weeks!

Yes, I feel that my pouch is sore and getting harder, but would I say I have a baby bump? No, I would say that I look like I'm getting fatter even though I've lost 2 pounds so far. So, forgive me if I spell this wrong but I must be the pregnant Scroog or something.

In other news, I was told that my lab work came back great but that I have a bladder infection. The bladder infection wasn't surprising.. and I believe I've had it for a few months now. So, I'm on antibiotics and I can definitely feel a difference after 4 days of medicine. I wish that they would have elaborated on my lab work a little instead of telling me it all looks fine. I want to know why they took so much blood, what it was for, what it all means. Oh well, I go back to the doctor on Friday, and I'm looking forward to it. I believe I'll be 8 weeks and that should be late enough to hear a heartbeat!

2009-10-06T22:32:00.002-04:00

As the previous post has said, I am preggo with #2! We are very excited. Actually, I was going to wait to tell people, but Aaron sent out a mass text message within the first hour after telling him. So, there is no point in hiding it now.

I've already had someone ask me if this baby was planned. Honestly, it wasn't. We had been trying for a couple of months and then felt that it wasn't the right time with the money problems, house problems, and other problems going on. But in the family fashion this baby didn't want to be planned, but instead waited until we were sure that it would be better to wait instead. So, I can tell we'll have another hard headed stubborn baby :-). Not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

How far a long am I? Well, when scheduling my doctor's appointment they said 6 weeks, but I'm leaning toward 4 maybe 5. My cycles are longer than the average, and doctor's don't take that into consideration up front. The same thing happened when I was pregnant with AJ. I knew I was 4 weeks and they said I was 6 and then had the ultrasound and it turned out that I was exactly right. The only difference is that now, I don't know the exacts of my cycle since it was still all over the place, so I can't pin point a due date like I did with AJ. I'm thinking it will be around June 11, 2010.

Something else that we're thinking about doing is not finding out the sex of the baby. While I would love to know if it is a little girl later on, I think it would be a lot of fun and very exciting to wait until that day. Honestly, I want it to be a girl, but of course if it's a boy there are positives to that too. Like, I already have a ton of boy stuff lol.

So, that's the scoop so far. I have my first appointment at the end of this month, and I'll definitely give an update about this then!

BFP

2009-10-05T18:24:00.000-04:00

Quick update.. more to come later after school work is done... this little lady is a little lady growin' a baby bump!

Quick Update

2009-09-11T21:27:00.002-04:00

Not much posting from me lately. It's been very very busy.

Aaron, AJ, and I have had to move into a bedroom at my mom's house so that we have a livable, safe environment for our family for the time being. I've been very busy getting everything ready for our very quick move. We spent one day cleaning up the room and closet because my brothers are very very messy. The next morning I vacuumed, for over an hour, only because I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. I kept unclogging it. After I finally figured out what was clogging it, and fixed it, I was able to vacuum. I then spent an hour and a half bleaching and washing the walls. They were very very dirty.

So, washing the walls and stuff was yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon, Aaron and I went around looking for houses to rent. Earlier this month we had found a house that was rent to own, and it really was a perfect choice for us, but the lady decided that she wanted to sell it instead. We just are not ready to buy a house, although Aaron really tried to talk me into it. I'm not ready for that kind of stress, considering I have been taking care of this whole situation practically by myself. Thank GOD that one of my brothers was so helpful and that Heather was there to pick up my slack. She fed AJ when I forgot to, she lent an ear that probably got very tired long ago of the complaining, and she drove where ever I needed her too. I wouldn't have been able to get as much done if I didn't have someone to do that for me.

So, anyway, we looked at different houses yesterday. I have been scanning craigslist several times a day everyday for potential houses. The few houses that we did look at looked really beaten up on the outside, and some were charging god awful amounts.

Later in the evening, Heather and I moved my bed with her boyfriends truck, and then I set up our room for the evening. As we were moving the boxspring it started to rain and was soaked, but it seems completely dry now.

That's that for our living situation. Added to that... I've started to work again. So far it has only been one day, but it will pick up. I already have a job lined up for tuesday. And then... on top of that... school work... mounds and mounds of school work. So much that I feel like I don't have time to do anything else, so I have to take time away from that to get my other stuff done. This lady is stressed out to the MAX.

So... on that note, I do have to go and get some school work done. Just thought I would update.

Need some sunshine

2009-08-27T19:02:00.002-04:00

School has started for me, and I am busy busy busy. I am also very stressed out.

Aaron and I had some issues to deal with, and we are dealing with them, but it was intense for a few days.

I have a boat load of school work to do already.

...AND my house is falling apart. There isn't a single part of the house that doesn't need fixing. We need to get out of this house, and now!

We have a few options open to us at the moment. Tomorrow I'll be going to the office to see if we can move to a rent to own and get rid of our house without the whole mess of selling it. Let me make this clear though, I call it my house, my home... it isn't a H-O-U-S-E but a mobile home. That's why fixing every problem isn't worth it. It's probably ready to be torn down to put a brand new one there anyway.

Anyway, if that doesn't work, I'm still going to see if they will take it off our hands. We'll move in with my mother for a month to save and then find another place to buy. I think we would like to find a rent to own house (yes, a real one ;-).

So, that's what has been going on with me. I've been living under a rain cloud for alittle while now, and I'm ready for some sun... I hope life decides that I deserve it for once.

Breast Cancer Walk

2009-08-16T01:48:00.002-04:00

Before I got pregnant with AJ, I had done a Race for the Cure walk. I had told myself that I would participate every year, but the next year I was very pregnant and did not want to try the 5k walk. The next year I had completely forgotten about doing it until it was too late. I literally looked it up the day after it had already taken place. So this year I am going to do it.

This year I'm going to participate in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. If you feel generous enough to make a donation please go here:

2009-08-15T01:38:00.002-04:00

One week until school and work starts again. I cannot wait! I'm ready to get out of this house doing stuff that keeps me busy. Oh yes does AJ keep me busy, but I'm not a housewife type of girl. It's nice the first few weeks of summer but by the end I am dying of boredom.

It's going to be so chaotic those first few weeks though. I'm going to school full time 2 days a week, and hopefully working the other 3 days, although I doubt there is going to be much of a demand for substitutes right away. Lots of early mornings thrown at this girl who is very use to sleeping in, which also means lots of late nights with a little boy who refuses to be tamed and trained into going to sleep at a decent hour.

2009-08-09T23:44:00.003-04:00

So far so good on the list stuff. It's kept me up on my chores, help me feel like I was able to manage better, and completely took away the feeling of chaos that my house can create when hurricane AJ has blown through. As of now, and yes it's only been the second day, the list is going to stay.

Another good thing about my list is that it makes me feel ok to work on my "projects" which really only consist of sewing and crocheting. I'm actually going to make a post about my projects to show what I'm doing, what I've accomplished, and mainly because I'm proud of the work that I've done on them, even if the only one almost completed is a shawl. So, that will come soon when I am more up to blogging about it, and I'm not so stressed.

Last night, I'm not even going to go into it, but it caused some major stress. Stuff that Aaron will have to work through, as well as things that Aaron and I have to work on together. But, that is all that I'm going to say about it because I'm not sharing it with anyone but the other people that were involved, and my mother. For the time being anyway...

So, onto other things. AJ still isn't eating well, but he is taking his iron everyday. It is a fight between me and him. I am quite sure the iron does not taste good because it smells and looks horrible. I feel bad forcing him to take it every morning, but he's got to do it.

AJ had a pretty cranky night tonight. We spent the day with my mom and he was climbing all over everything. He's learned that climbing onto the back of the couch can help him climb onto the desk, and I found him numerous times sitting on top of the desk playing with the speakers and computer monitor. I also found him on top of the table playing with the numerous things that are kept there. Every time I turned around he was climbing onto something. He lost his temper with me quite a few times after I removed him from his various climbing areas. He has my temper. I can get quite cranky and he's inherited it from me. I sure hopes that he grows out of it before he's a teenager... although that is probably just wishful thinking.

I was going to end my post there, but decided that I would say thank you to Andrea for commenting so much on my blog. I started reading her blog, which you can find here while reading another blog that mentioned one of her recipes. I can't remember which one it was, but it sure looked yummy, and her blog has grown on me. She has a cute little family, is going through a very difficult deployment, and is just a very interesting person. Oh, and she takes some awesome pictures!

Organizational Skills

2009-08-08T20:54:00.002-04:00

I lack them!! I can be organized in my work place but when it comes to my home and personal life, I am far from organized.

Today, I started to organize my life and home. Cleaning is not my thing, I've said it here many times before. I'm trying a new way of doing it, along with helping me to get organized. My nightly routine will now include setting out tomorrows clothes and then jotting down a list of things that I would like to complete. That includes my chores and a small thing or two that I want to organize.

I'm the type of person that does get over-whelmed with large projects if I don't have someone to help motivate me. Of course I can't have someone helping me and walking me through the big projects that a home brings a long, so I have to learn to deal with it and find a way that will work just for me.

Now, I've tried this program called Fly-lady... honestly, I don't get it and it doesn't go fast enough for me. But something that always has worked for me is lists. I like to make lists, and I like to check off things off lists... I don't know what that says about my personality, but it works for me.

Anyway, my day has included doing my chores, washing my car along with Heather's car, and her mom's car, and I've slowly started to tackle my closet. We don't have much storage space, so our closet has become just that.

This is how I'm going to tackle my organizational projects. Everyday, I'm going to do a boxes worth or grocery bags worth of organizing and if I'm feeling up to it, I'll do more, if not then I've completed my goal for the day. So, it will be slow going, but I'm confident that I'll be organized just in time for Christmas... which of course will probably de-organize me, if that even is a word, lol.

Lots of talk so far about Christmas. It's my big milestone for my goals, so it will probably continue. I've also pretty much have an idea on the type of Christmas cards I will be making. They are called "waterfall" cards. Example HERE.

I love how it looks simplistic, almost childlike. There is a good probability that my card will look similar.

So, off I am to complete the last bit of chores on my list, and make my new list for tomorrow.

Ta ta for now.

The viewing and Christmas

2009-08-08T00:53:00.003-04:00

My Papa's viewing was today. Honestly, I didn't want to go. The night he died, I was the first to get there, so I got a good little while to spend some time with him and say my goodbyes. I didn't feel the need to go and say goodbye again. Today wasn't the memorial service, that will be next week, but I went because I felt that my family wouldn't have appreciated it if I stayed home. I left AJ at home because he didn't need to be there either. I will be taking him to the memorial service though.

I had my camera in my car and my mother told me to get it after my Uncle announced that we were allowed to take pictures. I felt so wierd taking pictures. I thought that my mother had wanted them, but come to find out she doesn't want to see them at all. I guess it was good though because it did turn out that my Nana wanted the pictures.

I started some Christmas preparations today. Now that I'm allowed to communicate with Aaron's family I needed to update my Christmas card list, and birthday list. I made out a whole list of people who are getting Christmas cards this year, and I found their addresses. I'm even thinking of making my Christmas cards. Making cards is something that I love to do, but when it comes to Christmas time, I find myself very busy and I just buy a box of cards for $1. I would love to personalize it this year. I'm gonna have to do some searching through google for some ideas though. I also need to make a list of names who are going to actually get presents from me and write down ideas for their gifts.

I know I probably sound crazy, but we waited last year to do Christmas and found ourselves with no money because Aaron had lost his job. We did not get to celebrate with presents and the Christmas cards that I sent out never got to their destinations, which was kind of disappointing because they had so many professional pictures in them. This year, I want to be prepared. I want to make sure that presents are bought while we have money, and by the time Christmas comes around, maybe it won't be such a mad dash to find presents and we won't struggle from lack of money.

This year, I am determined to have a Christmas Tree as well... but no real ones. I don't like the smell and mess that a tree makes, and some trees give me rashes after touching them. Plus, fake trees are more cost effective. See... in Florida real Christmas trees have to be shipped which makes the cost sky rocket. A small not so good tree could be bought for $25 bucks if you are lucky, but a medium sized nice full tree can be around $75 bucks... and I have seen trees for over $100. A fake tree, that you don't have to worry about fullness or being lopsided can be bought for $25 - $50 and will last you quite a few Christmases.

Once I get back to work I'm going to start AJ's Christmas shopping. I'm just going to buy him cars and accessories. He'll play hours with cars. I could buy him every single big huge expensive advanced what ever normal kid wants toys and he'll go straight for a tiny one dollar matchbox car. So, I'm going to buy him a ton of those, a case, and a new road rug. No need to clutter up my house with bulky toys, my boy likes cars. He also likes legos, and because his birthday is only a few weeks after Christmas, I'm going to buy his birthday presents at the same time. Of course he won't get them on Christmas. I'm going to buy him legos, and a table to play with it on, I'm also going to buy some stuff for his room because we'll be upgrading his room to a big boy room then too. Don't worry though, I'm not talking about big boy legos, while he does like those he needs me to take them apart, so he's getting the big legos, and his big boy bed will only be his crib converted to a toddler bed. I'm also going to take the door off of his room and put a gate there so that he can't wander at night.

AND... the biggest change of all.....

AJ is getting a potty chair for his birthday.

Of course this is still a little less than 6 months away, but changes are coming for my boy... I hope he's not like me and doesn't try to resist it!!!

2009-08-07T12:06:00.002-04:00

Ok, as promised for quite a long time... here are some pictures. I finally got the pictures off of my camera.

Heather holding AJ after he ate ice cream by himself for the first time... she was very brave for letting him try that at her house!

AJ and Mommy at Planet Jump.

My beautiful boy waiting in the car for Daddy.

One of my favorite pictures from our trip to the beach last weekend.

This is my other favorite picture. Heather's son Thomas is the other boy in this picture.

2009-08-04T01:26:00.004-04:00

Heather and I went to the beach with our boys on Saturday. We had loads and fun, and as I always promise but never deliver... I will post pictures, I really do have to find my camera cord.

While the beach was fun, and I got a lot of exercise from digging holes in the sand, and I did get a wee bit of sunburn... my day over all on Saturday was a stinker!

I went to my mother's house to finish doing her laundry and decided that while I was waiting for it to dry, I would take AJ with me to go visit my Papa since the hospice is so close to my mother's house.

Here is a picture of my Papa with AJ in January after we found out his cancer came back. If any one feels charitable and can make this picture look better so I can frame it, I would be forever grateful!!! I have tweaked it, so if you want the original I can supply it!

He looked bad. He's lost a lot of weight. He literally was all skin and bones. His eyes hadn't been shut in awhile, so they were putting goop on it to keep it healthy. He also was not entirely responsive.

I turned on Disney channel for AJ, which happened to be playing his favorite movie which was a life saver. I talked to Papa about my car, since he use to always ask me about it, I talked about going to the beach, and AJ swimming, and just about stupid everyday stuff. I had seen an empty vase and told him that it was a shame that it was empty and I would make sure that I brought him some flowers for his vase the next morning. He also was facing a balloon that AJ gave him a few weeks ago. Even though we thought he probably couldn't seen anymore, it always looked like he was staring at that balloon. So, I talked to him about the balloon. Eventually, AJ started to get antsy and try to leave the room. I told Papa that I would be back in the morning and that I love him, and then I turned the TV to a movie and I left.

I went back to my mom's house to finish the laundry. By the time I left it was almost 11:00 pm and while I was passing the street that the hospice was on, I felt like I should turn and go check on my Papa, make sure the tv hadn't been turned off, stuff like that. I told myself no, that I was tired and should get home. I stopped to see Aaron at work and was talking to him when my mother called me.

At 11:01 pm August 1st, 2009, my Papa passed away. I had been hoping that his pain would end for some time now, but I guess I wasn't totally ready to let him go. I actually take comfort that I was the last family member to see him alive. I kick myself for not turning to go check on him, because then he would have had someone in the room with him while he passed, but it could be possible that he wanted to be alone for that. I hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks before Saturday. I had felt really guilty about that. He just looked so bad, and I didn't like to be there when someone else was because I hated having someone listen to me talk to him. I'm so happy that I was able to see him one last time... and maybe this is just wishful thinking... hopeful thinking that I maybe I was important to him enough that he waited to see me one last time.

2009-07-30T21:27:00.002-04:00

I'm fighting a battle with AJ... and for the most part, he wins.

His iron levels came back at a 7.7, normal is 11. It is quite low and he's just not eating for me anymore. The doctor says that is normal, but not eating and having low iron is just too much for me to take comfort in "normal".

But, for tonight, I won the battle. I had always told myself that I would not make my children special dinners just because they didn't like what I was making. But, I have to make an exception. This has everything to do with AJ's health and development, and I can't worry about him being a picky eater right now.

I decided to try and make fish tonight to see how he would do. Now, I was told that fish was a good source of iron, but after dinner tonight and doing research on it... I have found that it isn't necessarily that good of a source of iron. Oh, well it doesn't really matter at this point. At least he ate.

So, what did I make tonight? I made home made fish sticks. They were very good actually, and I would have loved to make the dipping sauce that was on there, but the jar of horseradish was actually empty... so I just made tartar sauce to go with it.

Recipe

Now it calls for panko... I didn't have any of that. I just used regular bread crumbs, they were italian seasoned bread crumbs but they still came out awesome.

Update

2009-07-20T00:24:00.003-04:00

I wanted to update my previous post, but I always hate it when someone updates an already written post because I probably won't see the update unless I accidentally scroll to far down and see that they wrote something new. So, I'll make an entirely new post just for my update.

The recipe that was posted below was very good. I didn't follow it exactly, there were a few very minor changes that I made. First, I didn't grease the pan. I used a glass pan, and honestly forgot about greasing it before I put the chicken in. I didn't have a problem with it sticking anyway. Second, I layered the chicken with slices of mozzeralla instead of shedded mozzeralla, and then put the spaghetti sauce over it. I think the slices of cheese helped to coat it better than mozzeralla would have. It was also really good over the pasta. I also bought a loaf of onion bread and dipped it in the speghetti sauce. Yummy!

I started a night time routine with AJ tonight, and I have to say that it worked ok. He has to get use to it, and I'm sure he will. 2 hours after the start of our routine he was finally asleep, and it took some one on one time with Mommy at the very end for about 15 min before he was finally asleep. That's something that I usually don't have to do, but that is because I usually put on a movie for him and he falls asleep during it. I have started to notice though, that no matter how tired he is he'll watch the whole movie instead of falling asleep. So, I gave him the chance to fall asleep to the movie and when he didn't the tv was turned off. Honestly, I can't wait until our AC is fixed so that we can put him in his crib again. I didn't have a problem at all with him falling asleep in his crib. He has no tv in his room, and that is something that I'm going to stick with. As of now though, he sleeps in the playpen in our room where the window AC is and he doesn't fall asleep so well in there.

I also started to work out again. I took a little hiatus there, but my excuse is that it is way to hot in my house to work out and I'm sticking to that! I've kinda just sucked it up though, and worked out in the heat. It's only for a little while and I can manage.

2009-07-19T16:47:00.002-04:00

Not much going on today. We all slept in late because AJ was up late last night. My goal is to get AJ to bed at a good hour and get him back on schedule before the end of the month. I have about two weeks. I'm hoping that I can do it in that time.

Heather came over last night and helped me clean my house, and now it is much easier to manage. I'm so happy. I was able to clean up the house today in less than 30 min, but it was probably only that fast because I took advantage of AJ's nap.

Right now I'm defrosting some chicken for Chicken Parmigiana and pasta. I found a pretty easy recipe here. I'm sure it will turn out well.

Other than that, not too much going on. I have a load of laundry to do after I finish washing AJ's cloth diapers. I started to use our cloth diapers again so we don't go through disposables so quickly, and to save some money. I'm really happy that I bought a whole bunch of them when I had the money. I have to say out of all the cloth diapers that I have, I love the Bumgenious ones the best. I'm hoping that with our next child that we keep up with the cloth diapers more.

Aaron and I have been getting along a lot better now. I think it's really because I'm pretty much done with my period, so I'm not so cranky and hormonal. Also, my house isn't too hot so I'm not so cranky about that. I've opened up the windows and it's been a rainy day so it's been kinda cool out.

Not much else to talk about, so I hope that your day has been wonderful!

Scares

2009-07-18T00:06:00.002-04:00

I wanted to blog about this yesterday but IE kept freezing up on me. My computer has been awefully slow lately.

So, anyway... A few nights ago Aaron called me around 11:30 pm to ask me to go get him some cigarettes. So, I went out to get him some and I also got AJ a milkshake and since he was enjoying it so much I didn't want to get him out of the car to go into Daddy's work. Aaron came out to get them and talked to me for a minute and as he went to go inside I started to close my windows and back out of the parking space. I stopped because this man was walking like he was going to walk behind my car, and I of course did not want to run him over. Well, he ended up changing directions to go in front of my car and I started to back out again. I stopped again because he started to walk in between my car and the car next to me and I didn't want to smoosh him. He stops next to my door and I get ready to back out again and I see his hand going for the handle of my car. I tried to lock the doors but I was scared and started to fumble with the buttons. He opens my door and starts to get in and I scream "GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY CAR!!" He stopped and looked at me and just said "uuhh shit" and walked away.
Now, I'm sure that it was just a mistake on his part, but it freaked me out. All of these different scenarios zoomed through my head while it was going on. It really seemed like it lasted many minutes but I know the whole thing only happen in a few moments. My heart was racing and I was shaking, and my stomach had turned. I definitely locked my door after that.

Then, the next morning I had to get up and go babysit for Laura. I got out of bed and saw that my brother had called me like 3 times early early in the morning and I guess I didn't hear my phone go off. So, I start to call him but he doesn't answer. I decided to go get a drink before I took a shower, and as I walked into the living room I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a person sitting in Aaron's chair in my living room. It took me a second to realize that it was my brother, and another second to realize that I was standing in front of him stark naked. I started to back out of the room, trying to cover myself with my hands, yelling at him for being in my house with out me knowing.
Now, honestly, I didn't really care that he was in my home. He obviously needed a place to go since he was out drinking and didn't want to drive home, which was a good choice. He ended up walking to my house. So, while I'm proud that he made a very good decision... I was still very embarrassed at having my brother see me in my birthday suit.

So, those were my two heart stopping scares of the week.

What else have I been up to?

Heather came over tonight and helped me clean my house. It was a lot of help and I really appreciated it. Next weekend, I'm going to go over to her house and help her deep clean her house. Maybe one day we'll be able to deep clean my house instead of just cleaning it lol.

2009-07-13T00:08:00.002-04:00

Time for another post since I haven't been doing much of that lately.

So so much is going on right now. I have been so cranky and miserable and it's hit a peak this week.... hopefully it won't plateau!

Number one on the list is money. I hate the summers because of our lack of money because I don't work. I'm going to go out this week and fill out some more applications, but it sort of seems pointless because school will be starting next month. Either way, money is causing a huge problem in my life right now.
Yes, we are making the bills but we don't have much left over after that. And yes, it is causing a problem with my relationship with my husband. Don't go and get worried (or be happy if you don't like me ;-) I think this will eventually blow over and Aaron and I will be happy with each other again as soon as I start to work again.

The problem with not working besides not having money, is that I have nothing to do all day. Cleaning is not something I look forward to... so it doesn't count. I love doing the work that I do. I would love it even more if I were an actual licensed teacher, but for now it will do.. and I love it. I miss working. I miss teaching. I miss my life. Right now it really truely feels like I have no life. My conversations have turn to complaining instead of recounting the interesting things that happened during the day ( and boy does it get pretty interesting teaching a new group of kids each day). I actually really don't like complaining. When I do complain it does help me to feel better because I actually was able to get it out, but I prefer to be laughing during my conversations. Aaron use to be able to do that for me... but right now we are sort of disconnected. I'm angry, and stressed, and sad.. and when he makes it a joke.. I get annoyed, which in turn annoys him because he just wanted me to laugh. This happened last summer, and I know that it will eventually go back to normal, but it seems like so far away.

From my past posts, something that was weighing me down was the death of my stepfather. Recently those thoughts have turned into thoughts about my own father. There is much about his death that I don't know. What I do know is that he commited suicide, and that he carried it out by shooting himself. I'm very curious about where he shot himself, what he shot himself with, and why he shot himself. That last question is one that I don't think I'll ever get to know, but I've thought about it alot. And these thoughts don't help my state of mind at the present moment either, because it puts my into a grumpy sad mood. And my Papa being so sick pushes me futher into that mood.

My family is also very grumpy to each other over this whole situation. While it may not be the best decision and I may even regret it later, I have reach a conclusion that I can't go see my Papa when the majority of my family is there. I want the time that is left with my Papa to be special to me.. and my family ruins it... this also doesn't help my mood.

And.. last night I felt the snowball effect of my current situation. This new feelings are mine though.. and will not be written here.

On a good note though, I have felt very creative lately. Some projects that have always just seemed a little to out of grasp for my imagination have come into focus, and plans have been made. My creativity has always lifted my spirits.. maybe because it make me feel accomplished, gives me something to do, and makes me feel unique... or maybe it's just because I like it... ;-)

I believe I mentioned it in another post but I was working on a blanket... it's a present that I won't tell anyone who it is for yet... I've had to put it on hold. I'm actually quite sad about that. I went to the store yesterday and they didn't have anymore of the yarn that I needed and they didn't know when they would get it back in. I've checked other stores and none around here have the same color. Worse comes to worse I can always buy it online, but it is more expensive and then I have to pay for shipping. I am determined to finish it though.. and I got a wonderful card to go with it!
So, I've started to work on another present. This one I will say what it is. It is a pretty pink shawl that I am going to give away for Christmas. I have the perfect person in mind for it, and I know she'll love it because she loves pink and she's perfect for this type of shawl. Maybe I'll scan the picture and put it up here next time I'm around a scanner.

Well, I might as well end this on that happy note because now I'm feeling much more up lifted and now I want to work on that shawl.

2009-06-29T10:31:00.002-04:00

I said goodbye to 23 and hello to 24. Before you ask... it doesn't feel any different. ;-)

This weekend started out horrible... I mean, I don't know how I was strong enough not to break down into tears and try to crawl away horrible. Maybe because I was lucky enough to reconnect with a friend that I needed a little more than a week ago.
Friday was the funeral. Forever I will always have the sharp, clear image of a mother grieving her oldest son.. and I pray to God with all my heart that that image will never be my future. My grandmother (step-family) has been very strong and not shed a tear in front of us since we saw her for the first time in over 10 years over a week ago, and she tried to be strong at the funeral, but ended up breaking down.

I have to be honest.... part of me didn't want to go to the funeral.. and part of me at the funeral felt a very strong urge to open that casket and look inside. But anyway, back to my grandmother. When it was time to put a rose on the casket my grandmother was the first one. She went up to it and kissed it and then sprawl her upperbody on top of it and started whispering to it. I heard her sobbing and my grandfather started to sob and then I started to cry. This immense pain came over me for them. Losing your child has to be the hardest thing I've ever seen, and the worse part for me is that I felt like I could feel their pain.
AJ was very good at the funeral.. only started to whine at the very end.
Then my day got worse... it was hot and AJ was running all over the place. We decided that it was time to leave and as I was saying goodbye I noticed that my brothers had forgotten to watch AJ for me. I turned around and my heart stopped... I couldn't see AJ.. and then when I did he was a step away from the street. That was sooo scary.
Then on the way home, it started to pour. Bryan's car broke down... we were able to make it to a rest stop... it was pouring and I got soaked running back and forth between the cars, restroom, and covered bench. AJ woke up very cranky from being in a car for a lot of the day.
Laura came to pick me up, but in the end it was too late to make it to my job interview, and even though I called them and sent Heather over there.. they won't be calling me back.
I went to a "birthday dinner" as we made our way home.. and I guess I misunderstood because I ended up having to pay for myself and AJ... and in the end she had forgotten her debit card so I had to pay for everyone with my bill money.
Everything just didn't go the way that I wanted them too... horrible horrible day....

Saturday I didn't do much, but Heather took me out for a birthday lunch that I didn't have to pay for, and it was a lot of fun.

Yesterday... I spent most of the day with Heather and Thomas. We went to the pool and AJ and I got a little burnt. Heather and I played scrabble... she won by 3 points. We went grocery shopping, and then sat and talked for awhile. I had a very good day that day... more fun than I've had in awhile.

So.. that brings me to today. Not much planned. I have to clean and that's about it.

2009-06-25T07:26:00.003-04:00

Not much has really been going on besides the death of my stepfather. His funeral is on Friday, and everything about it is starting to annoy me. First, that my mother chose her pastor when I think it is completely inappropriate. Second, that she wants me to help write "nice things" about a man that I haven't known in over ten years and can barely remember when he and our family was happy. Yes, I know that this post sounds a lot different from the last one, but my emotions have flipped I think.
I don't hate him anymore, but honestly my memories of him are not great. Memories that are good.. I can't even say if they are truely memories or stories that I've been told. Not even my mother can think of anything... she called to ask if I was baptised with him. Um... no, lol.
I don't really know how I feel anymore. I know that I feel bad that some people die unnoticed. I feel bad that he died wrapped up in his alcoholism and alone. I feel bad for his family who either tried their hardest to help him or didn't even get to know him at all. I hope that he didn't die in pain, and I know that where he is is much better for him than he could ever have here on earth. I just can't say anything nice about him, and it makes me feel bad.
Another thing is that I got another job interview for a movie store. The interview is right after the funeral. Well, not right after but with driving back and if my grandparents want to eat.. we might have a hard time getting back in time. I did tell the person that I'm interviewing with what I'm going to do, so I hope that she understands if I'm a little late, but I doubt she will... and that will be just another thing to hold against him.
Anyway.. my blog has gone from happy to angsty and I'm sorry about that... maybe soon it will go back to normal...

Normal???

2009-06-23T11:30:00.002-04:00

In an effort to somewhat normalize (if that isn't a word.. it is now lol) my life and AJ's life, I set an alarm clock this morning. Not early, but to make sure that I got up when it was still morning. I took my temp so that I can get my charting down again. I've started to temp again last week and only missed one day.. the day that I woke up to my mother telling me about my stepfather. So, I'm hoping to continue with my chart so that if my period is starting to come back to normal, in acouple of months my charts will be able to tell me when I'm most likely to ovulate so that Aaron and I won't become one of those couples that is constantly trying to have a baby and sex isn't fun anymore.
AJ woke up around the same time I did and I made him breakfast and then I took a shower and got dressed. It is my hope that even if I don't find a job for the summer that AJ and I will be able to form a routine that has him going to bed at a reasonable time and both of us wake up at a reasonable time, and also so that I'll have the energy to get up and clean the house and to start exercising again.
This is very important to me because I've found that I've started to go crazy and I can't even remember what day it is anymore.
Waking up this morning and taking a shower right away and getting dressed has definitely made me feel more awake and ready to start my day. It was not unusual for me to stay in my pajamas for most of the day and I wouldn't get dressed until I had to take Aaron to work... sometimes I didn't even get dressed for that. So, my hope is that starting this morning routine will help normalize our lives. After my morning routine is down, I'll start an afternoon routine. I'm hoping that by the end of the month AJ is back on his schedule and my house will be somewhat clean and organized.
I started a new project as well. Last night by big project was to get the laundry done.. or at least in a managable state. Heather and I had a "laundry party". Really all it was, was both of us doing laundry at our own houses and we each knew it lol. But, I had to go to Walmart last night to get a few things and I decided since I stuck with it, I would reward myself. So, I found a pattern for a blanket that I thought was really pretty and I have the perfect person and reason to give that blanket away when it is done. This tends to be my problem and why I haven't been as crafty as I normally am. I don't want to make something if I can't figure out who to give it to or if it won't go well in my own house. So, when I look through patterns and things like that I think about people who might like it, and I found something that would work... I found the perfect color of yarn... and I started it last night. That really is all the detail I'll give for now, and as time goes by I'll probably take some pictures of it and post it. Then when I'm done I'll make a post about who it is for and what the special occasion is.
I like doing projects and incorporating them into my cleaning schedule. It's sort of a little game that I play. I'll clean for a set about of time or do a set amount of tasks and then I'll work on another part of my project. So, I hope that this will also help me with my cleaning.

Well.. sitting here typing out my blog isn't exactly cleaning I guess ;-) I have to get some of that done before AJ's WIC appointment this afternoon. We also might be traveling to Gainesville this evening but it isn't for sure just yet. Tata

2009-06-21T01:21:00.002-04:00

I took the trip to visit my grandparents today. I took AJ, Bryan, Robert, and Jonathan with me. I wish that Michael would have been able to go but there was no room left in the car.

I saw my stepfather's house, the place where he was found, the place that he went to everyday to make sure he was ok, where he went shopping, and we even met his "roommate" who Bryan was going to beat up... and we were finally able to get him to leave. Apparently, he wasn't a room mate but just a leech that was taking advantage of him and helping him find ways to drink.

We spent a good portion of the afternoon listening to my grandparents telling us about his life from the moment we left up until the moment that he was found. I'm not sure what I put in my other post, but my mother misunderstood some of the information. Apparently, he went missing last Thursday and was found on Monday. They have known all week, but were waiting to tell us because they wanted to tell us what killed him. They were unable to tell us though because toxicology reports can sometimes take months.

I do have to say that I did come back tonight feeling better than when I left this morning. I know that he saw the pictures of AJ. We aren't sure if he ever did get to watch my wedding video. Apparently, he was very adamant about not watching it until he was able to get the sound working so that he could hear everything that I was saying. I do wish that I would have been able to tell him that the sound isn't going to work but the video sucks.. but hopefully.. he gave in and watched it. I don't know though, and I am at peace with him seeing just the pictures.

It was nice to spend time with my grandparents and talk to them. Really it was like ten years hadn't just passed and they saw us just yesterday. It was really nice though! I'm thankful that I was able to follow through with my decision to go see them on such short notice. I hope that when it comes time for the funeral the rest of his family won't hold grudges.

2009-06-20T09:35:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, through out the day I was plagued with thoughts of my stepfather. Things that he had done that he shouldn't have. Memories of his alcoholism... and of times when we were happy. I kept thinking to myself, why am I thinking about him? What brought it on? I was actually going to call my mom and talk to her, but I wasn't feeling well and decided to take a nap instead.

Now... I don't know the reasoning behind my thoughts yesterday. But, today, my mother called to give me news about him. I didn't know it was coming either.

My stepfather went missing on Thursday, he's done this before, but no one tells us because we aren't in contact with him. Apparently, he hadn't gotten a hold of his alcoholism. He was still doing things like drinking mouthwash and getting other people to buy alcohol for him. On Thursday, he told his roommate that he was going for a walk, which wasn't out of the ordinary for him. He didn't return, which was. They found him yesterday, close to his house, in a bush. They've done an autopsy but that won't be back for a little while. What they think happened is that he was drinking, went for a walk... maybe went for a walk to drink but I believe his roommate knew he wasn't suppose to drink... He may have gotten sleepy and laid down in the bush to sleep, where he passed away.

Some people would say good riddance because of the things in his past. I don't feel that way. I feel horrible. This man that I called my daddy for a long time died a lone in a bush. His alcoholism was so bad that help from other people didn't work. I wish that he were able to have kicked that habit... that I would have been more open to talking to him. I harbored resentment for a long time. I should have let that go, and let him see his grandson. He never asked though, and I pray to God that he got those pictures that I sent to him just a few weeks ago. My heart and mind need to know that he saw those pictures, but I'm afraid to call my grandparents. I tried to call them once before, but someone who sounded like my grandfather said that there was no one by that name there.

I guess what this post comes down to is... no matter what this man's past was... I am mourning his death.

Sickness, Weirdness and Sadness

2009-06-20T00:32:00.003-04:00

Sickness: I have a cold. Thank you AJ! I don't know how he got his but it seems to have stuck me 10x harder than it did him. I have a constant headache... something crazy is my whole mouth hurts too. My neck and lower back hurt. Basically everything hurts. I can't breathe, and my eyes are watery. I also have a cough that doesn't help when I feel the need to cough. I hope hope hope it goes away very very soon.

Weirdness: I just read an article about a woman who is not in ICU because of her 6th revirgination. And... she was doing it for her husband every year for their anniversary. Comeon... one maybe two times I guess I can understand, but SIX times?!? Why does your husband need to deflower you every year? She also went into this last surgery knowing that it could make her sick, but she did it anyway. Some people are crazy!

Sadness: My Papa has been given about 8 to 9 months left to live. As sad as this makes me to say it.. I don't think that it will be that long. They have not done a scan of his brain, and honestly I think his cancer has spread there. They have found his cancer in his stomach and also has grown more in his adrenal gland (I think). We are celebrating father's day with him on Sunday. My family has never celebrated father's day together.. and while it has not been said.. I think that they are doing this because this will probably be his last father's day with us.

I can't even fathom how my Nana feels. Being forced to watch your husband die in front of your own eyes. It take a strong woman to do that, and she is taking steps to make sure that she is there for him at all times. She's decided that she'll be quitting her job. I think that would probably be what I would do if I were in the same situation and if I were financially able to do that. Aaron says that the feelings are different between old people and young people. I don't think that I agree though. I think that the feeling would be the same... and not necessarily stronger either way. I would think that an old couple that has been together along time would have the same feelings as a couple who has been together only a short amount of time. The young couple is freshly and probably fiercely in love. The older couple has probably become use to having one another around, to the point where it would be hard to imagine a life without one another. Either way it would be losing someone that you love dearly, and no matter the age no one should downplay the hurt.

I don't like that we've been given a time frame. In a way, I'm grateful that we know, but now it feels like we'll be counting down. We'll be watching for him to get worse and looking at the calendar saying.. yep it's about that time. My Papa is not the only grandfather that I have, but he is the one that I'm closest with.

I don't like going to see him. When I walk through the doors of the nursing home the smell makes me feel sick to my stomach. I've actually been to a nursing home when I was younger that smelled of uring and other nastiness. This one doesn't smell like that.. but it's a smell I can't describe, maybe it is in my head. As I walk down the hallway to his room, I see a wheelchair-bound person in most of the doorways just sitting there staring at me. I try to smile at each one of them, but my heart start to hurt thinking about what happens when we get old. My Papa usually gives me a smile and a hug when I walk into his room, that is... if he is feeling well enought and is awake. The last time I went to see him, I brought my laptop and the dvd of my wedding. Even though the sound is horrible and I knew he wouldn't be able to hear it, I thought that he would have liked to see it. He kept telling me he wished he could go, and then I felt bad for not having a wedding that my grandfather could have gone too. He also would be talking to me but out of nowhere would stop... you'd see his eyes just zone out... his lips would still be moving but no sound would come out... and then he'd look at me like I was suppose to be answering his question. He did that about every 5 minutes that I was there.. and after about 45 minutes I couldn't take it anymore. The horrible person that I am.. I told him that I loved him, I gave him a hug, and I told him that he was very tired and probably needed to go to sleep now... he agreed and I left. I should have spent more time with him, but I am scared to death of seeing him like that. Zoning out, swollen hands, arms, feet, and legs... he's keeps falling out of bed, and so they put him in a mattress with sides on it.. he thinks it is his coffin. It's not right... no one should have to live like that. On the verge of dying and losing their mind from their pain and disease... I don't understand why my uncle wants all this medical intervention. He is fighting to keep someone alive who is being eaten away by cancer. It's inhumane.

Don't get me wrong... I don't want my Papa to die. If I had my choice... he wouldn't.. but I don't want him to live in pain with a disease that cannot be cured. Maybe I don't understand the medical aspects of it all, maybe I don't understand what his children are going through, maybe I'm ignorant or stupid... but I just know that I love him so much and it hurts me to think that I can't even go see him because I'm scared to see him die. He came so close that one night... and it was frightening... I tried to be strong and calm that night, but I can't do it again.

It is enough to make you wonder why God would allow this to happen. Some people say that it is sin and Satan that causes the bad. It's just that good people and even bad people.. they should suffer when they die. Because all it causes is suffering in the people who have to watch it.

The Challenge

2009-06-17T14:45:00.003-04:00

Apparently, my husband thinks that I don't do much while he is away at work but sit at my mother's house and play on the computer.

Honestly, I am over at my mother's house quite often while he is at work, but I do have a good reason! My AC was not working at all... and I couldn't stand to be in the heat anymore. I am not one to sweat normally, but staying at my house would result in sweat dripping down my body. I don't know how guys can handle it. Its sticky and gross and feels like bugs crawling all over you.

One of Aaron's coworkers came over last night to look at the AC. Last year we were told that we had a leak and it would cost more than we had at that time. Through Aaron's boss' generousity he had sent his AC guy to our house to refill our freon. Maybe it was because AJ was only a couple of months old and he felt bad, maybe it was under the impression that Aaron would work more.. I don't know but it was really nice and while we knew it would not last long we did not expect for it to last as long as it did. I would say probably two months ago it started to not work again. So, yes, we've gone about two months without AC. We were able to borrow a window unit to put in our bedroom which we have been sharing with our son to escape the heat. Well his coworker ended up finding out that we do not have leak but that the person who had installed the AC did it wrong. I was taking care of AJ during the time, but I got the gist that it was something like they blocked off the vent that sucks the air in making the compressor work harder than it should which was evaporating the freon. Don't quote me on that though lol. Good news is that he says the fix should be simple, bad news he didn't have the time or the supplies to do it right then. He did put in a little bit of freon so that we could have a cooler house, and he and Aaron will work on it on Aaron's next day off.

Anyway, my title says something about a challenge? Yep... Aaron and I were talking about me trying to get a job for the summer. I was suppose to get a call by today about a job and I didn't. It was for a bowling alley and I was pretty sure I would get it, but he did say that they tend to hire more teenagers. Oh well... I'm back to looking for another job. I actually didn't purposely not look for a job while I was waiting to hear from them, it was just that a lot was going on these past few days. Anyway... back on track... somehow the topic got to how our house hasn't been the cleanest lately, and that's why I was explaining on about the AC... it has been way to hot to even get up and clean. Aaron did some cleaning before his coworker came over and he was dripping with sweat.. he was determined though... and I am not especially because it was so hot.

We had gotten onto the subject of how I was sitting on the computer last night while he was cleaning and taking care of the baby. Really, it wasn't as bad as he made it sound... I wasn't just sitting on the computer. I was out running errands and shopping for things that Aaron asked for. So, he basically implied that since he is out working all the time and I am not at the moment, I should not be at my mother's house relaxing but doing my "womanly duties." Don't go getting mad at him though... I believe it is true. If I'm not working, and he is, I should be taking care of the house and our child. I already take care of our child... it is housework that I hate with a passion. Hating my house and lack of storage space doesn't help either.

Aaron's challenge:
Making sure that our bills our paid solely on his income until I can find a job or August comes back around and I get my sub job back. It really isn't as easy as he thinks. I am not too sure that he makes enough money to pay all of our bills... but he is sure that he can and I will trust him.

My challenge:
I am determined to make him see that I can be a "housewife". I think my challenge will be far harder than his because that is not the type of person I am. Like I just said... I hate housework. I can find a thousand other things to do than to clean my house. It doesn't help that AJ follows me around messing up things that I just cleaned up to the point where I end up giving up and just leaving it. Also, we have a teeny unwelcomed critter living in our house that is a smart little shit. I have tried numerous traps to get things freaking mouse out of our house... and they haven't worked. There have been a couple of times that I was picking something up and I see that freaking thing scurry, and it scares the shit out of me, and then I'm too creeped out to continue cleaning. BUT... if you know my husband you know that he doesn't say whats on his mind until it is bugging him to death. So, I know that even when he is joking about something like this it isn't actually a joke and he means what he says. He wants me to clean and take care of our child. I am determined to make him happy and if that will do it, then I will do it.

I'm not giving up my job search though.. and once I get a job... I'm not doing it all. It that aspect I don't think that just the woman should take care of the "womanly duties". If the woman is working and the man is working both should have to take care of the house.. which means it will go back to how it was before ;-)

2009-06-14T11:21:00.002-04:00

Oh my gosh.. this summer has gotten real boring real quick. Nothing is happening too much on the internet. I guess everyone is out doing stuff.

AJ and I went out to eat at CiCis and to the beach yesterday. We went to the beach later in the evening because I had a job interview, and then I was hungry.

This elderly couple came up to me a few times while I was eating and told me how much of a young gentleman AJ is. Then before they left they came back up to me and told me they were watching me the whole time and that I'm a wonderful mother. It was kinda creepy, but really nice to hear.

We went to the beach for about an hour. AJ is not a little boy but a fish. He runs straight to the water, and I try to sit him right where the water just starts. Nope, he doesn't want that. He starts crawling in even after the waves are over his head. He just laughed about it. Crazy boy! I was so afraid that the waves were going to take him in though because they were strong and he would start falling foward as the waves were going back out. We collected sea shells for a little bit. At first AJ must have thought I was putting sand in the bucket because he was just throwing handful of sand in there, but after a little while he started to pick the shells out of the sand. He really is a smart boy.

A tip if you want to find a good beach that isn't too crowded and is pretty cheap. Sand Key Park is great. The parking is metered but its a dollar per hour which really isn't that bad. The water isn't brown but sort of greenish. It gets deep pretty quickly. It's right next to Clearwater Beach but it isn't packed like Clearwater Beach. Not to long ago we went to Indian Rocks Beach but that sand was sort of dirty and it didn't feel like there was a lot of beach between the parking lot and the water.

Anyway, I think between the beach and walking back to the car, AJ might have gotten a chill. He had a fever late last night, and also woke up with one. Right now he doesn't have one but I just gave him some tylenol. If it comes back I'll probably take him to the doctor. My mother is upset with me because he got salt water in his ears. WHAT? Sand and water gets everywhere when you're at the beach.. what am I suppose to do?

Oh well, still haven't gotten the pictures from Las Vegas off of my camera. I've been lazy about that, and I have to look for the wire that lets me do all of that. I think it is in my laptop case, but I haven't had the interest to look yet.

Looking forward... womanly stuff

2009-06-12T22:23:00.003-04:00

So... I'm married. I'm looking forward to changing my name. I'm looking forward to being called Mrs. Fleek. And.. I'm looking forward to having another baby.

I'm not pregnant though, but we took a big step toward that. In January I want to the gyno after having my girl thing for around three weeks. They didn't do anything, and it stopped by itself. I was offered birth control but I declined it, and let her know that we wanted to get pregnant and soon. Well three months and many pregnancy tests later, Aunt Flo decided she didn't want to visit me anymore, and I went back to the doctor so that we could figure out why. I was sent to get my hormones tested with the results of nothing. Aunt Flo still did not appear, so I was sent to get another hormone test and blood pregnancy test. Man oh man was I hoping that test was positive, but sadly it wasn't, and my hormone test came back fine.

The next step was to start Provera. In April I started taking Provera for 10 days and then in acouple days Aunt Flo was back for a visit. The hopes for Provera was that I would take it for the ten days and it would kick start my body into producing my hormones correctly. And then towards the end of May, I started thinking about taking Provera again because they gave me three months worth just in case. I didn't want to start it when I was getting ready to leave to get married so my plan was to come back and start my pills.

You probably guessed it... Aunt Flo decided she would visit while I was on vacation. Luckily, she came the night before we were leaving to come home. So, even though she was late... my body started by itself which is definitely a step in the right direction. So, this cycle I could either... get pregnant, get my period,.. or fall back into needing the medicine. I would prefer either of the first two.

In other news though... I have a job interview for tomorrow. It's for a birthday coordinator at the bowling alley. It would be very awesome to get this job. I'm sure it doesn't pay too well, but it sounds like a fun summer job. I'm really hoping that I get this job because I do need to have an income. I guess I'll let you know tomorrow if I got the job... that is if they tell me tomorrow.

What changed?

2009-06-10T21:49:00.003-04:00

So, I don't think I explained what I changed about my wedding. If you didn't figure it out, it was my dress and shoes. I had my wedding dress and shoes all ready to go when at the last minute I decided I wanted something much more fun. Really I made the decision when I was out shopping for my mom's dress and I saw it hanging on the wall. I just knew that that dress was the one that I wanted to be married in. I was very happy when they had a size that would fit me, even if the smallest size that they had was still a little too big. It was ok though, my boobs held it up ;-)

So, the question of the week seems to be "How does it feel to be married?" I get that question everytime I see someone who knows I got married. Honestly, it really doesn't feel any different. I've lived with Aaron for so long, and we have a child.. we were practically married anyway. I do slip up sometimes and still call him my boyfriend. That is the only wierd part, calling him my husband. I haven't used my new name because I haven't changed my name on any official paperwork. I think that when I do get my official marriage license and get to change my name that it might be a little wierd then too.

Other than all that, I'm not doing too much. I'm trying to find a summer job. I just started filling out applications today. I'm not being too picky so I hope to find something soon.

Continuation

2009-06-07T18:26:00.002-04:00

So here is what else we did on our vacation (pictures as soon as I get my camera back from my mom).

Wednesday, June 3rd:

I woke up early and took AJ to breakfast with Aaron's mom and sister because Aaron didn't want to see them. We ate at the hotel's buffet and we had a good time. My mom went gambling for a little while but ended up joining us for breakfast. After breakfast, my mom took AJ to the pool with Aaron's family. I went back to the room to wake up Aaaron.
We went to a timeshare presentation for 2 hours because they offered free tickets to go see a show of our choice and dinner for free if we just went to the presentation. We knew we weren't going to get a timeshare, but it isn't a bad idea for later in life when I have a better job.
We ended up choosing to see a show for later that night called Bite.

Bite - This erotic and sensual topless revue revolves around Lord Vampire and his search for the perfect female specimen. Throughout the show, audience members will be chosen to be part of the adventure.

After the presentation we went and ate McDonalds, and went back to the room and took a nap. After our nap we got up and got ready to go. Rode the bus to the stratosphere and ate dinner there. I felt so sick though. The McDonalds had not gone well with my stomach. The fries were soooo salty that my hand was covered in salt. So, at the buffet I ended up drinking a ton of water and diet coke, and I ate a salad. Of course Aaron wasn't affected by the McDonalds and was able to eat 4 huge platefuls. After dinner we went outside to smoke because Aaron didn't want to smoke inside the casino, and it was very windy. So windy infact that it blew the envelope containing our Bite tickets out of my purse. Aaron was able to run after it and catch it. It was a very scary moment, and I ended up laughing hysterically after we walked back with the tickets. After dinner we still had about an hour before the show, so we went around the casino playing some of the slots. I played on just $1.00 for about 45 min. I won probably $5.00 on the penny slot that I was playing, but I chose to continue playing and lost it all. After those 45 minutes though, I was rather bored, and ready for the show to start seating.
We were seated for the show right up front, and there were people in cloaks walking around taking pictures, which we did end up buying because they were good. The show was very good too. Yes, there were times where it was topless, but that just makes it better lol. It wasn't like a strip show though. You could tell that the girls were trained in ballet and some in tumbling. The music was awesome! And there were "fliers" - two people a husband and wife who swung around on a rope. And another girl who did the whole suspended and twirlies on the two long ribbons, like Cirque de soliel.
After the show we went to the bar and got a drink for each of us and walked back to the hotel. One of the great things about Las Vegas is that there are coupons everywhere for buy one get one drinks, also there are ladies walking around the casino passing out drinks too.
After we got back we were very tired and just crashed.

Thursday, June 4th -
I woke up pretty early and went to my mom's room. My mom, AJ, and I went downstairs to the buffet and ate breakfast, and afterwards my mom went back to her room and I farted around in the casino on some of the slots. After that I went back to my room woke Aaron up and had him watch AJ so my mom and I could spend some time together. We were going to go see a comedy show, but the coupons that we got were expired. My mom and I ended up going across the street to the Riviera and played on some of the casinos there. She won 5 bucks on a penny slot. I won 10 bucks off of a black jack machine. Then we went to a souvenier shop so she could buy some shirts for my brothers. We stopped back at the Riviera and played a little bit more in the casino. I won another 10 bucks on a black jack machine. Then we went back to the hotel.
Aaron and I got ready for the other show that we were going to see that night. It was the Love Cirque de Soleil. We took a bus to Mirage, played a little in thier casino, but we didn't win anything there. The Mirage's buffet was really expensive so we went across the street to Harrah and ate at there buffet. It was the best buffet that I have ever eaten at. They had a ton of seafood which is what I really wanted to eat.
After the buffet, Aaron was out of cigarettes and wanted to find a store to buy some at. We walked for ever and I was starting to get cranky. We actually ended up having a small arguement and wasting even more time. After finally finding a store we were going to be late to the show so we took a taxi back. The show was interesting. Aaron liked it, but I don't know much about the beatles. It's beyond my time. I knew some of the songs, but the stuff that was going on during it was crazy. I didn't really understand it, but apparently Aaron did.
After the show we went back to the hotel so I could change. I was really uncomfortable. Then we went to a place called Slots of Fun and played on some of the slots there. Aaron played on a penny Elvis slot and won $40 bucks. I didn't do well. He bought us these HUGE drinks. We walked back to the Stratosphere because we had free tickets to go up to their tower. It was awesome.. very very high. We even went on this one ride up there, I can't remember what it was called, but you sit in these seats which a harnest over your shoulders, and it shoots you up and then drops you down. OMG, I love those rides! This one was really scarey because this was the very top of the Stratosphere and you could see the curve of the earth. I wasn't allowed to wear my glasses so everything was really blurry, but it was still cool.
After the ride we left, and I'm amazed that with how much Aaron and I drank we didn't thow up lol. On the way home Aaron picked up magazines at everything stand that was selling their prostitutes so that he could put a huge stack on his boss' desk at work. We ended up taking a bus the rest of the way to the hotel and crashed as soon as we hit the bed.

Friday, June 5th -
My mom woke me up early for check out. She paid for late check out in her room because we weren't leaving until later in the evening, and it made no sense for us to have late check out as well because we could just store our things in her room. Aaron didn't wake up until the last minute, and after the room was cleaned out and we were checked out, Aaron and I went to the Advenuturedom in our hotel. We rode most of the rides there, and then went with my mom and AJ to the hotel's buffet. After we had lunch, Aaron, AJ, and I went back up to the room for a nap. Late check out is at 6:00 pm so, when we woke up we went to check and see if the bell hop area would store our bags, which they did. We did a little bit of last minute souvenier shopping before our shuttle to the airport arrived at 7:30. At the airport my mom decided to try the slots one more time, and won 40 bucks. By that time though, my mom and I were at each others throats and weren't really talking.

So, all in all, it was very busy. I wish that we could have stayed long, and I think we'll definitely have to go back for another vacation there. There was still so much that we haven't seen or done.

yawn

2009-06-07T00:43:00.003-04:00

My body is so thrown off right now that I'm yawning even though I'm very awake. So, anyway... what have I been doing since I've been back home? Planning our next vacation that's what. I should be unpacking... I should be cleaning... but I'm not. Aaron has told me where he wants to go on vacation next... so I've been pricing it out to see how much it might possibly cost so we can start saving. He would like to go to Cedar Point in Ohio.. and he has been there before, but I have not. We've also talked about going back to Las Vegas. Someone told me while we were there that only 8% of people visit Las Vegas a second time... I'm not sure why though. I would have thought it would be a lot more than that. I mean, we were there for 5 days and didn't even cover half of the strip... there was so much more that we did not have time to do... so many more shows to see.

Anyway.. I sure did have a lot of fun. Lets see if I can get through some of the things we did:

Monday, June 1st: We left for the airport at 11:30 am. Our plane left Tampa at 2:15 and we got into Atlanta around 3:45. We had a very long layover at Atlanta where we walked around and ate a little bit. We did not leave Atlanta until about 7:50 because our flight was delayed, which meant that we did not get to Las Vegas until about 9:30. And yes there is a three hour time difference making our last flight around 4 1/2 hours AJ was an angel the whole time... I love my boy! After getting to Las Vegas we found that the suitcases that we borrowed from my mom's friend was ripped, and Delta said that they don't cover minor tears. We ended up taking a shuttle to our hotel because it was cheaper getting rounds trip tickets than a one way taxi ride. Sucky part.... it took the stupid shuttle operator an hour to get us to our hotel... on the way back from the hotel to the airport it took 15 min... we didn't get to the hotel until around 11:00 pm. We had planned on going and getting our marriage lisence that night but by the time we got to our hotel room it was getting too late even though they closed at 12:00 am. We got to our rooms which were on the 13 floor our room was 1366 and my mom's was across the hall at 1367. My mom wanted some beer so Aaron and I decided to take a walk and look around. We walked forever wondering why the street we were on sucked balls lol. Turns out we weren't on the strip but behind it. We did find a store though... cigarettes were $8 bucks a pack! Aaron called the store a bodega. I guess that's a store that obviously makes more money on drugs than anything else because there store consisted of a can of ravioli, a few beers, a couple packs of cigarettes, and empty boxes where candy should have been. We got back to the hotel and found out that we had to pay for the internet, and cable tv. But, it didn't really matter at that point because we were very tired.

Tuesday, June 2nd: My mom called us early to tell us to get up so we could go get our marriage license. It took a little bit because I had to figure out of the bus went to the license bureau. After a little bit of digging I found out that the bus goes really close to it, but we would still have to walk a little way. So, we got on the bus, walked to the license bureau, filled out the paperwork, and paid for the license and it was all done pretty quickly. According to our map there was a casino near by that had a buffet so we decided to walk there and get lunch. We walked a very long way trying to figure out where this casino was and why we couldn't find it. Considering it is a very tall building you would have thought that it would have been easier, but apparently we walked the wrong way. We got to a cross section that was the same as were the casino was, but it was the wrong one. Why the have two of the same sections in one area I'll never figure out, but we ended up walking to the Stratosphere to eat lunch at their buffet. Aaron figures we probably walked about 4 or 5 miles. We ate a really good brunch and caught the bus back to our hotel. We took a small nap and started to get ready. Our wedding was suppose to be at 6 pm the limo was suppose to arrive at 5:30. So, at about 3:00 I started to get ready. Showered, dried and straightened my hair. I went to get my necklace and earrings and found out that my ring had fallen out of the holder and had fallen apart. So, my mom ended up paying for the internet so that I could get the instructions on how to put it back together. By that time we were starting to be crunched for time because I wanted to curl my hair, and I still had to put it up. I started to curl my hair, but I was getting mad because the curls kept falling out, and I gave up, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out anyway. So, all of us were ready waiting down stairs for the limo when I get a call from the limo driver telling us that he is stuck behind an accident and was going to be late. Luckily though, he wasn't too late and got us to the chapel on time. We got to the chapel and filled out the marriage license and I was taken into the bridal room to get dressed. You can see the wedding video at www.asmvideo.com look up the last name Fleek. The wedding ended up being pretty funny and I wouldn't change it even if I could. It wouldn't be our wedding if everything went perfecty.. there had to be some humor, and it is just fitting that Aaron was the one that messed up. His blowing out the wrong candle made us laugh the whole rest of the ceremony, and then watching it to see AJ walking out on us is even funnier! Like I said, I think that our wedding is perfect and I wouldn't change it for anything. When we got back to the hotel after the wedding my mom took AJ to dinner, but Aaron and I decided to go to the hotel's buffet anyway which is where she was. We did eat at seperate tables though. After that we went upstairs to change, but ended up falling asleep. We still had jet lag and at that time even though it was early in Las Vegas it was still pretty late here in Florida. I think it was about 9:00 there and that would make it 12:00 am here and we had woken up early and had a long day. I kept waking up through out the night because our only window was facing a wall that had a spotlight underneath it which made it look like it was light out all the time.

I'll finish up the rest of the vacation later. AJ is kinda cranky, so I need to go take care of that!

Waiting

2009-06-05T19:41:00.002-04:00

My oh my... it has been so busy and exhausting here in Las Vegas. The silly part is that I wish we didn't have to leave. It is awesome spending so much time with Aaron, walking down the strip with so many things going on around you, but mostly... walking down the strip with so many things going on around me with my husband holding my hand and talking about everything is the best.
Gambling really isn't our thing. Aaron did win 40 bucks on a slot machine, that was pretty cool... and it was an Elvis slot machine lol. Maybe if we had brought quite a bit more money we could have played cards, but that will have to be another trip. I loved the shows... we were able to see two while we were here, and we did some other stuff.. I'll write about it when I get home.
Right now I'm waiting for Aaron to wake up from his nap so that we can go get some souveniers for people and then we leave at 7:30 for the airport :-(

2009-05-31T00:19:00.002-04:00

I'll have to make this one quick because I should be cleaning and packing. I'm leaving on Monday!!! I'm so excited.

I've changed a lot of my ideas for my wedding this past week, but you'll have to watch the video to figure out what: http://www.asmvideo.com/

That video will be ready somewhere around June 2 at 6:00 pm PST and up to 30 days after.

Anyway, so far I've borrowed some suitcases, done some laundry, gotten my toes and nails done, gotten my eyebrows and lip waxed (OMG that one hurt like a b*tch), and bought some stuff. Now I just need to do more laundry, clean the house, and actually pack, and I'm sure that I'll have to go shopping for somethings that I may have forgotten. I also need to pay the rent before we leave.

Anyway, I need to get to that as it is getting late. Hope you get to watch the video. Last name is Fleek for those from my message board!

2009-05-21T19:35:00.003-04:00

Time is going so fast... it seems like just yesterday I was thinking about leaving for Las Vegas in a MONTH... now its less than 2 WEEKS! I feel so very far behind, but there isn't much I can do about it right now.

I need to make sure that all of the bills are paid, along with the rent for June.
I need to make sure that my house is in good order for my wonderful house sitter Lisa. I need to pack. I need to make sure that there is some sort of food for Lisa in this house. I need to call the airplane people and have them move my seats so that we are actually sitting next to each other. I still need to work. I have to figure out how I'm going to exactly take my wedding dress on the plane with me. I have to figure out how I'm going to wear my hair. I have to figure out my makeup. I could probably make the list go on and on and on.

Good news is all of the announcements are done and sent out, and I don't have to worry about it anymore. I love making cards. I like to show my creativity, and I love to see the look on someones face when they find out that I made it myself. This time though, it felt very frustrating. I felt like I did not have a place to work on them, so I ended up putting it off for awhile.
Hopefully, in the near future, I will have a little spot in my own HOUSE.. yep I said it, we are thinking about moving and we have our eyes on somehting.. anyway my own spot for my craft things. That way I don't feel like there is no one for anything. This place is so small, and there isn't enough storage.

Anyway, AJ went to a super hero birthday party this weekend. He dressed up as Spawn. I made his costume in 12 hours, so its not the best looking, but Aaron practically insisted that he be Spawn.

This is my absolute favorite picture of AJ at the moment:

And here is the birthday boy, he was running up the playground ramp:

Poor Baby

2009-05-09T22:52:00.002-04:00

I had to take AJ to the ER last night around 3:00 am. I had noticed around 11 pm that he felt very hot. A not so quick temp check turned out to be around 103F but we didn't get to finish it because he was flailing and screaming. I dose of tylenol and a little while later he felt cooler, but a temp check a little later still had him at 103F. My mom told me to give him a cool bath, but I didn't want to freak him out, so I gave him an almost warm bath, which brought his temp down to 100.5F but 5 min later he was 102F and we decided to take him to the ER.
At the ER they temped him at 104.2, and gave him tylenol and motrin. Turns out he has a bilateral ear infection. It's puss behind the eardrum in both ears. So, on top of the other stuff he has ear drops for pain, and antibiotics for the infection. So, about every 2 hours he's taking some kind of medicine... and he isn't happy about it. As long as his fever is gone tomorrow we can cut out the tylenol and motrin, but as of this point, while his fever is under control it still isn't gone. It lowers for a little while after his medicine but then goes up when it's time for more. Luckily, not as high as yesterday.
Today, he's been cranky... oh boy it sucks. He's normally such a happy little boy, and loves to play, but today it's been crying and whining all day. He's not eating, but the doctor says that ok. He's also not drinking, which is not ok. We're trying everything to get him to drink... applejuice, water, milk, chocolate milk, slurpie, ice cream... nothing worked, but just a little bit ago he did start drinking apple juice... not enough though. We'll see if he starts to drink more tomorrow morning. If not I'll take him to the evening pediatric people.

So, that's the update on my sick little one. I can't wait until he is feeling better!

Fairy Tales

2009-04-30T13:00:00.002-04:00

I just finished watching How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. I've seen it a million times, and to tell the truth I had just turned it on to watch Law and Order after it was over. It's a cute movie, and it got me thinking, even though this movie isn't extremely romantic... what about all of those other movies that are? How many women truely get that fairy tale relationship?

Don't get me wrong, I am truely happy in my relationship with Aaron. Of course after two and a half years we do have arguements, but nothing too bad. Even from the beginning though, it wasn't the fairy tale... probably because I really had already known him from work.

So, I went in search of a statistic that would tell me but I didn't find one. Oh well... I highly doubt many people get that ;-)

Exam

2009-04-24T22:48:00.001-04:00

My exam scores were posted today....

I passed all 4 sections of my test!!!!!!!!!

Virtual Trip

2009-04-23T22:27:00.002-04:00

I joined a walking challenge to add to my exercises. The basic goal of the challenge is to walk to another member's home town.

Person who joined before me lives in Croswell, MI which brings me to a goal of walking 1218 miles. There isn't a time limit. My ticker is on my side bar.

Today I walked 2.5 miles, which leaves me with 1215.5 miles to go, and that puts me in Clearwater, Fl.

Wedding Dress Scare

2009-04-22T13:30:00.004-04:00

I got my wedding dress yesterday. Aaron texted me at work, and I was so excited for a tiny minute I thought about telling the office I needed to go lol. While I was working, just sitting there making sure no one cheated on a test, I was imagine the box it comes in. Would it be really heavy? Would it be really big?

To my surprise when I got home... I start to look a round for this huge box and I come across an envelope no bigger than a manilla envelope. It wasn't the same because it has stuffing in it but still... quite small. It wasn't even heavy either. My heart started pounding, and I could feel the tears coming to my eyes. I had made sure I researched the ebay seller and I was confident, just a little nervous, when I finally bought it. The seller was in china.. so that was were my nervousness came from. So.. I start cutting the tape off of the envelope and open it up.

There it was folded into this little square no bigger than 10 inches on each side. I took it out of it's protective wrapping and felt the fabric. It didn't feel cheap. I started to unfold my dress and out of nowhere it started to feel really heavy... what's up with that? Anyway, completely unfolded... my dress is gorgeous! I stepped into the dress, but couldn't try it on because it's a tie up back and strapless... plus I don't have the right bra yet. The only problem is that some of the beading is a little loose, but no one will ever know, and if I feel like it later I can just sew them on a little tighter.

I've been really slacking on my diet. I haven't forgotten about it, but if I feel like having an extra snack then I do... so I'm gonna step it up. I have about 5 weeks left, and I don't really have to lose any weight, I already fit into the dress. I just don't want to risk gaining weight... and if I lose some weight in the process it wouldn't kill me... my dress will still fit.. remember it ties up ;-)

So... soon I'm gonna go buy my bra and have my friend Laura help me get into the dress. I really should have my mother do it because she needs to learn how to help me, but I told Laura she could help me anyway...

No pictures until my wedding ;-P

2009-04-19T23:51:00.002-04:00

I feel a change coming on in my life. Yes, I'm getting married, but that isn't it. I'm not sure what the change is. Maybe it's the fact that the summer is coming and my job will be ending for a few months. Maybe it's the fact that after we get married we'll be trying for another baby. I don't know, but it feels exciting, and I feel restless. I find myself wanting something to occupy the free time that I all of a sudden have even though not much has changed.

I'm down to one last class to finish for this semester, and it will be finished with in the next few weeks. I don't have an exam to study for anymore. AJ has decided to be more independant in his play. Substituting is starting to become scarce as the teacher are winding down the school year.

Here is what I've been doing to keep myself occupied:
Cleaning and Laundry
Teaching AJ how to chase me
Playing with AJ when he will let me
Surfing the internet
I downloaded a free trial of World of Warcraft and I fart around on it a little bit.
I started reading a new book.
School work

My mom called me earlier today and asked if AJ could spend the night. I have to say that I was quite surprised because I don't think she's ever asked.. I'm the one who usually asks. Even though he's only gone for the night, I still miss him. My house is quiet, and I wonder how I managed when I didn't have him. It's boring... and I don't miss my babyfree life! Usually when he goes to spend the night I have something planned, and getting ready for that usually keeps me busy so I guess that's why I haven't really noticed before. My mom called me not too long ago to tell me what he was up to, and he said Ay-o which in his language if you haven't figured it out is hello. Then he handed the phone back to her. I don't think he quite figures out that there is someone else on the other line even when you talk to him, but it's still cute.

In other news, I stopped taking my hormone pill Provera on Friday. My monthly visitor who hasn't shown up yet this year should be arriving in the next few days, and hopefully that will be the last time I have to take Provera. I guess I won't find out until May about that, but with my luck I'll still be late and get it the day I leave to get married!

I actually can't believe how close it is getting! It really is very exciting. My dress is still in customs, probably because it's Sunday ;-) and I can't wait to get it.

I can't wait to get married period! It's going to be fun, and I can't wait to be called Mrs. Aaron Fleek. A few people have already started calling him my husband, and I've heard acouple people at his work call me his wife. It's sounds wierd even when I type it.

Aaron and I talk a lot now about having another baby. We both think that the best time would be at some point after the wedding, but since it is so close to the wedding now anyway, we don't think it would necessarily be too bad if it happened now. The only bad thing that I could think of at this point about getting pregnant now is that AJ would have to share is birth month. I'm not too sure I'd want to do that. Everyone that I know right now that has two kids has either two boys or two girls, no one has a boy and a girl. I hope I break that though :-) I'd want a girl.

I have to say that when I was pregnant about AJ, I couldn't really decide what I wanted. I know Aaron wanted a boy from the moment he found out, and I didn't want to disappoint him. I also have taken care of boys, and I know what to do. Girls are a complete unknown to me. I have never once changed a little girls diaper! It's a little intimidating because so much could go wrong if you wipe the wrong way! So, I think I was relieved when I found out AJ was a boy.

All of this seems so close, but really far all at the same time. I really can't wait!

Small Teeny Update

2009-04-18T15:38:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to announce that my wedding dress is on its way through customs and I should be getting it in a few days!!!!!

2009-04-14T23:42:00.002-04:00

I am so very tired right now! ...and I slept all day.

Yesterday was physically and emotionally exhausting. I went to visit my grandfather who is in the hospital because of extreme pain from a broken arm... and in a matter of a few hours it went bad really quickly.

I think I mentioned it before, but my grandfather has lung cancer. We found out in January that it came back. Just a few days ago we found out that his cancer has spread to the bone, and then he fell and broke his arm exactly in the spot where the cancer was. They went to the hospital and he decided to go home. My uncles were taking care of him, and I guess the pain was so bad that he was getting morphine every hour. So, Sunday afternoon they decided to take him to the hospital.

He was admitted into the orthopedic ward, and I guess he was very cranky because of all of the pain. Yesterday, at around 3 pm I went to see him in the hospital and acouple of my family members were there. He was sleeping and no one could really seem to wake him up for very long. The doctor had explained that it was a side affect of the narcotics, and that they could reverse it but then he'd be in more pain. We decided to let him sleep it off.

So, other than that everything seemed ok. Of course he has cancer and the cancer is spreading and we all know that his time left here will not be long, but other than that and the broken arm all is well. Then my grandfather started to scream out that he was freezing and so cold, and we start to pile blankets on him. I think I one point he had three sheets and 2 blankets, and he was still shaking and shivering, but he was in and out of sleep during that time. Since he has diabetes and wasn't eating his blood sugars where really low, and my aunt was able to feed him a little bit. Shortly after though he threw it all up. We all started to get kind of worried and had the nurse come in. He didn't have a temperature and his blood sugar was still getting lower even though they had given him some stuff to up it. At this point I was sort of getting upset because we had to go get the nurse, and she was really good and very nice, but I didn't understand why he was in this hospital room when he couldn't press the nurses button. He definitely needed to be in a higher level unit because he needed a nurse to be watching him, and I'm glad that we decided that someone should be with him at all times.

My grandmother and aunt ended up leaving me with my grandfather for a little bit to go smoke, and I was trying to take care of him. He started to scream about his arm, and I went to get the nurse and he was was very delirious. Saying some pretty wierd things, and while I thought it was kinda warm in the room he said that he was beyond freezing. They took his temperature again and even though like 30 min before he was fine his temperature was 101 and then 30 min later it was 103. It really started to get scary. His blood oxygen levels were very low, and they kept cranking up the oxygen and nothing was working. The doctor said that they were going to move him to ICU, and I called my grandmother on the phone to come back to the room. They called a lung doctor to do some tests, and it was decided that he had pneumonia and that he might have an infection called sepsis. Every doctor that came in to look at him and talk to us asked us if he had a DNR and if not we needed to make a decision and soon. We started to call all of the local family to the hospital to see him and make this decision.

My grandfather was finally moved to CCU at about 10, and all of the family arrived at about 9:30. It took 5 hours to move him, and the main reason it took so long was because my mother works in ICU (where they originally want to move him) and they didn't want to compromise that. It really doesn't matter because she works in both places, but really they should have just moved him and worried about her work schedule later.

At about 11:00 pm my family decided to sit down and make their decision... and I was originally told that I could be in on it, but then they decided that it wasn't appropriate. This made me angry... I'm not a child... I was there when things were getting bad and only lost it once in the stairwell when I was calling my mother to get to the hospital. I have an opinion and it is this: He has cancer, and his cancer has spread, he's took sick to do tests to see how far it has spread but we know that it's at least spread to the bones. We also know that this time he cannot be cured, it is terminal. If he starts to die, why keep him alive just to have cancer eat him away even more. The doctors keep saying how painful cancer is... it would be inhumane to let him live through that pain... even if the doctors say that they'll give him pain meds to help. BUT... I don't get to say it because I was not allowed to discuss it. Even now, I'm not entirely too clear on what the decision was. I followed them all around to see what they decided and no one would talk to me. Finally my aunt sort of told me... since he has pneumonia, they have decided that they don't want him to die from that so if he needs medical intervention for that they will give it to him. They won't shock his heart of to compressions since his bones are so weak that they'll just break, but they will let them use chemicals to keep his heart going. I personally don't agree with that last decision... but again I wasn't allowed in the discussion.

Anyway, after all of that my family started to leave. We had gone up to see my papa and he was a lot better. He was able to remember things, and was wide awake. He was still in pain though. It was decided that my mom, my brother, and I would stay overnight with him.

And I'm going to end it here for tonight. I stayed most of the night with him, but there were a few things that went on which I'll discuss later.

My results

2009-04-13T12:44:00.002-04:00

The GK has four sections: essay, reading, english, and math. I took a computer test so that my scores would be graded right away. For obvious reasons though... only three out of the four sections can be graded right away. And for those that don't know what the obvious is... the computer cannot grade the essay. Actually, I guess the rule is that two different people have to read and grade my essay and then they'll find the average.

I was so very nervous while I was waiting for my test results. I ended up going out of the room and I walked up and down this huge hallway twice, talking on the phone to Aaron. When I finally went back into the room the lady behind the desk was printing out my results. She handed me a stack of papers that were turned upside down, explained to me that I won't have my essay results for another two weeks, and that I was only going to recieve a certificate saying that I completed it. For some reason my heart dropped. I knew that wasn't going to have my essay graded but... my ears heard "ONLY". So, I thanked her took my papers and when I turned to leave she say, "Don't be afraid to look at your results." I turned around to look at her, and my heard started pounding so loudly. When I turned it over the first certificate that I saw said that I completed the essay... I fanned out the papers on the desk, and there were four of them. They had a lot of big writing that said my name and the test it was four and the date and some other stuff... and it lettering that was literally half the size of all of the rest of the text the last three papers said... passed. I looked at her and asked her, "Does this mean that I passed?" LOL... duh.. it was the stupidest question I could have asked. She smiled at me and said yep.

The feeling that I felt was so overwhelming. I wanted to scream and dance around. I had been so nervous this past week, and to know I that passed... I just can't describe it. I thanked her and walked out of the room. I called Aaron to tell him but I just started lauging like crazy. As soon as I got to my car I sat in it and start to to squeal and dance around. I'm sure if there were anyone in the parking lot that would have thought that I was crazy. The testing room is inside a bank on the second story with some other offices, so not everyone is there for testing.

And really this is what I have to say about taking the GK... the nervousness that goes a long with it is not worth it. They say that it is just like the 10th grade FCAT. I can't honestly say I remember how easy or hard the FCAT was, but studying for it really helped. Really... I focused all of my testing on math. English, reading, and essay are all stuff that I have to do for college courses, but it's been awhile since I've taken a math class, and I honestly didn't remember a lot of the stuff. Since I really only teach up to fifth grade that is the level that I most comfortable with. I also, took two practise GK math tests, and the practice tests where harder than the real test.

Nervous

2009-04-11T01:32:00.002-04:00

It has been seven years since I've last taken a very big exam like I am taking in the morning. That last exam was the FCAT and it didn't even faze me... I don't think at that time I completely realized what an impact it could have on a student. Besides, I wasn't a bad student so it wasn't too big a deal.

This time it is different... this exam tomorrow holds my future. Whether or not I will be accepted into my degree program. God... who knows how I'll act when it comes time for certification. I guess the good news and something to easy my mind is that they usually will accept you into the program if you've attempted the exam... you just can't get very far until it's passed.

The GK has four sections... mostly to do with reading and english, but the fourth section is math. That's the section that has me all nervous. I took a practice test acouple weeks ago and the score that I got was VERY scarey... down right horrible and if that were my exam I would have failed it. So, for a while now I've been studying the FCAT Math starting from 5th grade up to 10th grade. I sort of stopped at the beginning of the 10th grade FCAT because there is just so much there that I know is in my head. I recognize the problems but I can't recall in my head how exactly to solve them. I also didn't need to go through the 5th grade math, but since I substitute 5th grade quite often I like to be familiar with the programs that they use.

So... at 11:00 am in the morning you know we're I'll be... sitting at a computer in a proctored test room taking my very scarey GK exam. Wish me luck!

Late

2009-04-09T10:57:00.002-04:00

Late... that is the word that describes me lately. I'm late for everything now a days... even more so when it involves taking AJ out. Here is what I've been late on:

My period <-- by 64 days to be exact
My announcements
To work
To babysitting

Just to name a few.

Yes.. I did say it: I'm late, like The Late. But alas I am not pregnant. Nope :-(
My hormones are fine... had all of them tested and had a blood pregnancy test too. As of this point there is no definite explanation. As far as the doctor can tell and she is pretty sure of it.. I screwed my own body up by taking birth control after I had AJ. I'm pretty upset about it... that birth control was the reason I wasn't able to breastfeed... and now the reason that I can't have a period or get pregnant. And it really has come full circle because hormones screwed up my body and now I'm back on hormones to make it right.

I took a break from my wedding announcements. I hadn't felt like working on them, but I have to start again because they are late on being sent out. I worked awhile on them last night... there is still more work to go though.

Well... I'm babysitting and both babies are tearing up a pile of laundry.. I must go now.

Rush

2009-03-26T12:49:00.002-04:00

I'm on my way with the announcements. I have the the actual card cut out, the shaker frame cut out, the shaker background printed out and partially cut out, the transparencies are partially cut out, and the inside of the card is done being created and needs to be printed and cut out. Then it all needs to be put together and sent out.

I have some catching up in my psychology class to do but there might be a good chance that I'll be dropping that class. I am not 100% sure yet.

Some other things have been going on in my life as well. I think that for a little bit I was stretching myself VERY thin. Here was a week in my life:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday:
Get up at 6:00 am
Get ready for work
Go to work
Work until 3:00 to 3:30
Have my mother pester me all day to pick up my brother from football practice
Drive home and arrive at 3:45 to 4:00
Leave at 4:15 to pick up Robert
Get back home at 4:55
Either run errands with Aaron or take Aaron to work at 5:00
If Aaron had to go to work, run errands myself
Get home and get AJ settled
Work on school work or wedding stuff
Possibly clean the house a little
Get AJ to bed
Either crash after AJ is asleep or finish what I was doing while waiting for Aaron to get home
If I last until Aaron gets home, we spend some time together
I usually get to bed about 1:30 - 2:30 am

Thursday:
Get up at 7:30 am
Get AJ and myself ready
Go to Laura's
Watch her two kids, and AJ until about 5:30 6:00
Every other week I do speghetti night
Eat, and help clean up
Spend some time with Laura
Leave about 9:30
Visit Aaron at work
Get AJ settled
Do a very little cleaning
Do AJ's nighty night routine
Either crash after AJ is asleep or finish what I was doing while waiting for Aaron to get home
If I last until Aaron gets home, we spend some time together
I usually get to bed about 1:30 - 2:30 am

I'm not even going to try and put the weekends in here because it is completely different, but rest assured there is no sleeping in for me... and not much break time.

I did have a bit of a break last weekend. Lisa spent the night and then we went to the beach together with AJ. The only horrible thing was that we both forgot about spring break and finding a parking spot was absolutely horrible! When we got there it was fun though!

I do have more to talk about, but as it is Thursday I am at Laura's and somebody has a stinky booty.... me thinks it is AJ. Ta ta for now.

YAY

2009-03-20T00:00:00.002-04:00

BIG NEWS: I got my rings today!!!! I'm so excited, and now I can't wait to get married. My ring is beautiful, and I would have taken a picture if my brother didn't borrow my camera. I'll have to make sure that I post of picture of me wearing it, although my mom says that it's bad luck. I did try it on because I wanted to make sure it fit, and it fits awesomely!!!! Aaron said that his fits well too, but I haven't see it yet because he took it with him to work.

I also bought my dress tonight. With shipping the total comes to $131.00, and that is shipping from China. Compare that to $650.00 and I think I've made quite the deal!

Yes, this is short, but I have to work in the morning and I am so very tired. Nighty Night.

2009-03-16T22:32:00.002-04:00

Lazy lazy... that is what I have been this past week. It was spring break for me in the college department and I sort of took it as a break for everything. One of my issues was actually work. I WANTED to work.. wierd but I did... but I couldn't. It was the week for FCAT in elementary schools and for obvious reasons teacher did not call out, which means no jobs for me. At least I was able to work on Monday and Friday.
The other issue I had which caused some laziness was I was sick. HORRIBLY SICK!!! I actually gave in and went to the Take Care Clinic at walgreens Saturday morning, and we skipped AJ's music class so I could go. Turned out I had an ear infection, respiratory infection, and I have allergies. I honestly never thought that I had allergies... it's never affected me before, but the doctor there prescribed me some allergy medicine to help.
AJ was also sick this week, and he went to the doctor earlier in the week. I took him mainly because he was not eating, and he was starting to not take a bottle. Turns out he had an ear infection too. Mr AJ's antibiotics definitely did the trick and he's back to eating everything he can find.
Then I had issues with my car this weekend. I was driving home on Saturday morning after getting breakfast after I went to the doctor. I was stopped behind a bus, and I looked in my review mirror and his huge truck was driving up behind me extremely fast. He zooms around me and starts screaming at me. Scared me half to death, I was trembling as I tried to figure out what he screamed... "YOU HAVE NO BRAKE LIGHTS". Brake lights or not, there is a huge bus in front of me that I'm sure he saw and there was no reason to drive up behind me as fast as he did. So, Aaron decides that it's the fuses and not the light bulbs. Laura's husband, Adam, tried to fix it for me on Sunday at Thomas' birthday party, but he decided that it was a loose connection with the fuse box. Aaron was able to fix it today by checking all of the fuses. The person who messed with the fuses before me first of all didn't put the cover back on so Aaron had to figure out what all the fuses were for, and then second he had to figure out the mess that was left behind. Someone had changed the fuses but put the wrong ones in the wrong places. So, he put the right ones in the right places and wallah... my brake lights work! Now I can go to work tomorrow.
AJ and I were able to go to Thomas' 1st birthday party like I mentioned. It was a lot of fun, and I've decided with Laura's help that we'll probably have a small wedding reception in her backyard. We could definitely do something really nice and intimate there. Anyway, the party was fun, and Laura and I got to do some girly talking too. All four boys (including her husband) were so exhausted that we got them to take a really late nap and we just hung out.
Laura and I have decided that we're going to hang out the whole week of spring break since we'll both have off. We want to make sure that we go out and do something with the kids each day. It'll be a lot of fun! We're going to go to the beach one day, the park another, and we'll figure some other things out but not completely sure what yet. We'll decided sometime soon since spring break isn't here for other two weeks. Yay for good friends!!!

2009-03-05T01:56:00.003-05:00

Not too much has gone on here in the past couple of days.

I went out today and got the supplies for the wedding announcements. Yesterday, I got just a few supplies for them just so I could make a trial run and see what I liked and didn't like about it. So, I've figured it out, and now I just have to start cutting paper, printing on others, and then put it all together.

I spent some time today trying to figure out what I wanted the announcement to say. I can't just use regular invitation wording because I don't want people to feel like I'm asking them to come, but I also don't want someone to feel like they can't come. Honestly, I don't think anyone but my mom will come, and maybe Aaron's mom if he will actually invite her. I also don't want a lot of people hanging around Aaron and I when we are on our honeymoon as well. I also had to figure out how I was going to include a website on there without making it sound wierd. And then I found something that I thought I might include to put a little touch of Aaron in it too. At the very end of the announcement I'm going to put "...and they lived happily Elvis after!" The announcement isn't going to look formal, so why have it sound formal you know?

An update on my SlimQuick Cleansing stuff. I don't know if I've lost any weight from it. From what I understand, it really isn't suppose to help you lose weight but to help clean out your body and stabalize it so that when you start your diet it will actually work. Man oh man do these pills do some gross things to your body. First off, it gives you some majorly bad gas. It also makes you go number two more often than you normally do, and for me it sort of makes you feel like its a right now thing, and you can't wait. It's suppose to clean out your colon and things like that... and it's not pretty! Thank God it's for only a week because I wouldn't want to be on these pills for a long amount of time!
They start working relatively soon after you start. I had to skip a serving because I left the pill bottle in my mom's car and she went to work, so I think it took me a little bit longer to react to it.

Update on AJ. He had his first popsicle tonight! He LOVE it.

2009-03-02T00:14:00.004-05:00

I'm just sitting here waiting for 30 minutes to be up so I can take these teeth whitening strips off. I'm suppose to do it 2 days a day for 30 minutes for 14 days, but I think I'm just going to do with once a day because it does make my teeth feel a little sensitive, and I'm not sure when I'm going to fit in another 30 minutes of teeth whitening time in my day. So, I might not get as white as I could have, but it'll be whiter right? Maybe I'll get Aaron to use the other half of the box so he can have whiter teeth for our wedding.

Speaking of weddings!! I went dress shopping today. It was so fun, and I felt so beautiful in all of the dresses that I tried on. Both Laura and my bridal assistant kept telling me how well the dresses fit. Normally, you would try on a dress in about your size and you would do an alteration, and then right before your wedding you would have a final alteration. Just so your dress fits you perfectly, and it better for the price of those dresses! Apparently, I'm very well proportioned because everything in my size fit me perfectly. The only real alteration I would need is to have the dresses shorted a little because I'm not tall enough for them, and I can't wear heels or I'll be taller than Aaron. One other alteration that the lady said I might need, but I didn't see it was if I get a lace up dress, I would have to have it taken in a little bit around my rump because it was a little big around there. Like I said... I personally didn't see it. Laura said she could kind of see what the lady was saying, but my bridal assistant helps brides practically everyday so I'm sure she knows how the dress is suppose to look. Either way, I'm not sure if I would have it done. I couldn't tell the difference when she tried to show me.

So, the prices were so high. Most of the dresses I tried on were $650, but I knew going into there that the dress prices would be high, and I was only going in to see how they looked on me so that I could buy my dress online anyway. Here is the dress that I fell in love with:

And here is the dress that I found online:

Top dress is $650 bucks and the bottom dress is $180 bucks shipped. I found acouple of dresses online that I liked that looked like other dresses I tried on today. I'm going to have to ask Laura to tell me what she thinks. I asked my mom and she liked that one over the others. Oh, and I think I posted it on here but I didn't want my mom to see me in my wedding dress, and she hasn't yet except for pictures, but she'll have to anyway. She's going to have to learn how to lace up my dress because I won't be able to do it myself. It's ok though, at least Aaron will see me the first time as I walk down the isle, and so will the people watching online.

Okie Dokie, time to remove the whitening strips, and Aaron will be home soon!

Feb 26

2009-02-26T22:28:00.002-05:00

I had a wonderful day today!

I watched Laura's kids for her, and we all had a relatively good day. I think AJ was feeling a little under the weather so he was clingy and a little cranky but it wasn't too bad. I opened her windows and the door, and the babies just loved standing in the door way looking outside. I wish I had had my camera, it was too cute. To keep them inside, I blocked the door with a coffee table that they had outside that they were getting ready to throw away. It was so nice outside that I didn't have to worry about it getting hot in the house. The babies also took a nap at the same time, can you believe it??? I got to spend some time with Joe, one on one. It was nice, and we had fun. We started some school work. We worked on A and B, and we did a little bit of matching. We reviewed colors, and then we played with tattoos.

I got the terrible urge to clean as well! The sucky part was... I wasn't at my house when I got the urge, which meant my house wasn't getting cleaned but Laura's was. I didn't clean too much though, just because it wasn't my house and I had three kids to chase after. They also messed up everything that I had just cleaned lol.

I made dinner for Laura's family and AJ and I. We had frozen pizza and salad. I do have to say the salad was superb!!! lol. Laura and I decided to start the Walk You Butt Off routine tonight. She's never done it, and I figured since it had been a little while since I didn't it last... can you believe 4 months already?!?! Anyway, I figured that it could possibly work just like it did the last time. We're also going to start a one week slimquick cleanse diet on Sunday. I sure hope it works considering the bottle cost 20 bucks. Now, I'm not really into using diet pills and stuff, but I figure it couldn't hurt to try it for a week. Really, I'm not using Slimquick itself, and the cleansing part is really to help jump start a new diet. So, once the week is over I'll make sure I put up a post about my experience, and I promise I'll be brutally honest!

Our first night of our walk was suppose to be a 15 minute easy walk. We ended up doing a 45 minute easy walk. We were pushing strollers, one of which was a double stroller that we switched off, so maybe we burned a few more calories just for that *crosses fingers*. It didn't even feel like 45 minutes, we were just having a good time talking. We stopped back at her house just once to get Joe a stroller because he was trying to stop and pick flowers, and I almost ran him over a few times.

AJ was really good on our walk too. He just relaxed the whole time, until Thomas tried to take his binky away, and then we had a baby fight going on. We decided to take AJ out of the double stroller and move him to the single so Thomas couldn't pick on him anymore. Joe wasn't too happy about having to move though, lol.

Alrighty, I've got things to do before I go to bed. I have to work in the morning :-(

Sick sick sick

2009-02-25T13:13:00.002-05:00

YUCK!! I stayed home from work today. Shortly after my post yesterday I started to feel very yucky. My lower back started to hurt, and it felt strangely familar to my preterm labor except that it was a lot worse last night. All day yesterday, I had had a very annoying cough that wouldn't seem to go away, and it quickly got worse last night. My throat started hurt, as well as my skin. When I told Aaron my skin was hurting, he said I made no sense. Whatever though, if I don't feel good sometimes my skin will start to hurt, but it can only be described as having a sunburn without having one, and it constantly feels prickly and if someone touches it, it feels aweful. Aaron had forgotten that my skin hurt last night and he smacked me on the back. I felt like crying really, but he appologized so I couldn't stay too mad.
So, anyway, back pain, skin pain, bad cough, sore throat, and my stomach started to feel bubbly. Sort of like I was going to have gas, but it didn't go away. I felt like crap this morning when I woke up too, and decided that I couldn't go to work this way.
Most of the morning, I have let AJ get into everything and anything while I drifted in and out of sleep. Of course, Aaron was sleeping too. I should have woken him up, but I wasn't thinking. Now, AJ is taking a nap, and I think I'm going to join him!

To-Do Update

2009-02-24T18:26:00.002-05:00

Here is my to-do update!

Go to work <--- Have been doing
Clean out my car <--- Haven't done!

Read Ch 42 in Business Law <--- Will do tonight
Business Law Post <--- Will do tomorrow
Ch 42 Quiz <--- Will do later
Read Ch 3 in Abnormal Psychology <--- Have been doing
Ch 3 Post <--- Will do
Finish Team Project for Business Environments <--- Will work on tonight
Ch 23 Assignment for Business Environments <--- Will do later
Final Exam for Business Environments <--- Will do later

Find a wedding chapel <--- Already done!!!!
Book the wedding chapel <--- Did this today!!!!
Dress Shopping on Sunday <--- Obviously has to wait
Get supplies for announcements <--- Will do tonight if I have time!

Yes, you did read right!!! I have booked the wedding chapel, and it is all I could ever want for a wedding package! I spoke to a lady who gave me some free upgrades. Including free webcame and a bouquet upgrade. Now, I just need go get the invitation supplies and work on them. Well, I guess I need to work on a mailing list as well. That's my update, I need to start working on my school work. Ta ta

Short Post

2009-02-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

This is going to be really short because I'm very tired! I haven't gotten one thing on my list done just yet, but I am working on it! Although, I did purchase our wedding rings, and they are being made right now, and will be sent to us soon! I'm so excited!
Ok, I gotta go to work in the morning and I need sleep. Ta ta

To do To do

2009-02-22T23:52:00.004-05:00

My weeks to do list:

Go to work
Clean out my car

Read Ch 42 in Business Law
Business Law Post
Ch 42 Quiz
Read Ch 3 in Abnormal Psychology
Ch 3 Post
Finish Team Project for Business Environments
Ch 23 Assignment for Business Environments
Final Exam for Business Environments

Find a wedding chapel
Book the wedding chapel
Dress Shopping on Sunday
Get supplies for announcements

I took a late nap today, and I really shouldn't have because I'm going to be up all night. I have to work tomorrow, blaaah. So, I'm going to try and tire myself out by straightening up my kitchen and looking for the perfect wedding chapel. I've decided that we are actually going to rent a car while we are there, so I can change some of my requirements for the chapel. Right now this is what I'm looking to include in my package:

Broadcast of the wedding over the internet with archive
Wedding Video
First Look
Flowers

Anything else they include would be happily accepted, but I really want it broadcasted over the internet so friends and family can watch without having to be there. I also want the video because I'm sentimental and I want to keep it. I really want the First Look because while we are getting married in Las Vegas, which is what Aaron wants, I want a semi-traditional wedding. I don't want him to see me in my dress and makeup until I walk down that isle. The First Look will allow us to stay seperate until that moment. I guess I could say flowers are optional but, it would still be nice to have them. Anyway, most of the packages that I have looked at include flowers.

The other day when Aaron and I were out getting a computer chair we got our fingers sized. I'm a size 5 1/2 and Aaron is a 9. So, we'll be getting the rings soon as well. Aaron already has said that he wants the wedding rings to be puzzle rings. So, I think that I've already got them picked out. I'm just looking a little more until I'm completely decided.

This is the one I'm pretty sure will be mine. Aaron's will be the same except his won't have diamonds. Basically I'm getting my engagement ring when I get married lol. So there are four rings in one, they are all attached but if you take it off, the ring falls apart and you have to put it back together. I guess the tale behind these types of rings is that there was a Hungarian man who had to go away on a business trip. He was going to have to leave his wife behind and wanted to make sure that she stayed faithful to him. He did this buy having a special ring made that would fall apart if she took it off. He would not tell her how to solve the puzzle until he got back, so he would know if she was faithful. Aaron likes this idea apparently, but I'll be the first to say that he has nothing to worry about. Anyway, I think they are pretty, and I don't mind learning how to put it together. I think he'll have way more of a problem because he works with food, and it would be kind of gross to get flour and sauce all gunked up on it.

Alrighty, and update on my beautiful toddling toddler. He is getting so much better at walking. He tries to run, and it looks funny lol. He's choosing to walk more than crawl, but if he falls it's usually back to crawling until he finds something to pull up on.
He still has 8 teeth, and one of them still has a crown on it. I check it all the time to make sure it hasn't popped off or cracked.
He's mostly down to one nap a day, boo hoo :-( Oh well, he fights to go to bed, and it's just better to wait until he's really tired. As soon as he gets cranky, we know it's time for a nap. I guess I'm lucky that he doesn't fight it when he's cranky. He's also started to wake up in the middle of the night, and usually he doesn't want to go back into his crib. He wants to stay with me.
He says Ma-ma, and he definitely knows that that means me. He also says ba-ba which is both his binky and bottle (which is a sippy cup too). Everytime he eats he acts like we starve him too, lol.

I'm off to go straighten up my kitchen! Ta ta

Wedding Update

2009-02-22T00:48:00.003-05:00

I have been quite busy the past few days trying to get ideas for many different aspects of my wedding. If you read the previous post you'll know that I have had some frustrating moments, but I have also had some really creative break through moments.

Somebody please smack me on the forehead.... please! I'm seriously considering making my own wedding dress! I don't know if I am actually going to build up enough courage to actually do it though. I've sewed things before, and I've even sewed a renaissance outfit, but this feels so completely different. A renaissance dress doesn't matter... well, I guess when it boils down to it, my wedding dress doesn't either, but that isn't the point! I want it to matter... and so it does. I found a really awesome way to save some money on my wedding dress venture. If I do make my dress, I'll definitely need a dress form. BUT... I could make my own for much much cheaper! Here are the directions! The best part is that it would be my exact figure, and there would be minimal measuring for my dress. Laura and I might just make one for each of us just because lol!

Speaking of Laura... she's my matron of honor. Yes, yes... I know, how can I have a matron of honor if I'm getting married in Las Vegas. Well, it's my wedding, and I'm saying I have a matron of honor, so there! Actually, she's not going to be able to go, but I already know that most people are not going to be able to go. So, I'm still labeling her my matron of honor because she's helping me with everything. Because I am flying my mom with us, so far there will be only four people at my wedding: me, aaron, aj, and my mom. I don't want any of them, except for myself of course, and maybe aj since he won't remember anyway... I don't want my mom and Aaron to see me trying on dresses because I want it to be a surprise. I'm not sure I'll need it, but I might need help when I start my announcements. She's going to be our photographer when we get back, and she's going to help me plan our reception for when we get back. So, she's taking on a big role for me, and I love her for it! She truely is the best friend that I have ever had! We have a great time together, and we talk about a lot of stuff, she deserves to be my matron of honor, and just like traditional weddings, I'm going to get her a gift! I just don't know what yet, lol.

Anyway, I do have an idea about what I want for my dress. The must have is a lace up back, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with traditional white, and probably a ball gown cut, and maybe a halter style top, I definitely cannot go sleeveless, and that seems to be the majority of wedding dresses. We'll just have to see. Laura and I are going dress shopping next Sunday!!!! Can't wait, can't wait! Want to know a secret??? We're going to get a pedicure too, but ssshhhhh, no one can know because we're only suppose to be dress shopping! We're so bad *rolls eyes* lol.

Let's see, what else have I done. I can't remember if I said it in my last post, but I have booked the flight and the hotel finally! I also did get my money back after a lot of phonecalls. Aaron and I got two free tickets to cirque du soleil, with the purchase of our three night or longer hotel stay! This < linky > was the only availability for the day that we wanted it. It wasn't the exact one we wanted to see, but it's ok... it was free!

What else???
I got my hair cut so it'll grow healthy between now and then. I just have to get it cut a month before and I'll be all set! I also had an appointment for a makeup consultation today, and I've picked out my colors with help from my Mary Kay consultant, and I'm pretty happy with it. I had one eye done with one set of colors, and the other done with another set. I actually let her house that way so Laura could tell me which one looked better lol! One was a dark brown and the other a deep purple... it didn't look that much different though, so it wasn't really noticable unless you looked for it but the majority has helped me decide on purple. Here is the cool little application that we used to start out our consultation before we actually used the makeup.

That's it for now. There are other things that I'm working on deciding, but that's for another post. It's time for bed now, sweet dreams!

Absolute Frustration

2009-02-17T00:42:00.002-05:00

... with planning my wedding. I had the perfect flight, with out choice of hotel, on the exact dates that I wanted... and travelocity SCREWED UP!!!!

I've explained my issue about 10 times since Friday night... but I'll explain again anyway.

I was on travelocity.com late Friday night, and I finally found a flight that I liked.. we would leave early Sunday morning, get to Las Vegas around noon... and then leave late Thursday night and get home very early Friday morning. It works perfectly... it gives us the right amount of time in Las Vegas. It gets us there early enough on Sunday where we can run around getting a marriage license and other things, and get married on Monday. The hotel we've chosen has a wonderful deal going on right now through the end of June... around 25 bucks a night!!!

So, I try to book it online but I was starting to have trouble with the flight. It showed it, but then when I was on the last step of checking out it said it was sold out. So, very disappointed, I started over to look for another flight, and there was the exact same flight! I tried to book it again, but again it said it was sold out.

I decided that I would call travelocity to see what was going on, and if they could book that flight for me. I got in touch with this really nice lady, and she was helping me a whole bunch. She saw the flight that I wanted, said that it told her it was available, tried to book it for me, and then it said it was sold out. She looked again, and it said it was available. So, she puts me on hold to call and see whats going on.... we get disconnected.

I waited a little while to see if she would call me back, but she didn't so I called back. I got this guy on the phone. He had a very strong accent, and I had a hard time communicating with him. I asked him to find the lady that I was previously talking to, he put me hold, but came back saying that he would help me... I have a feeling he didn't try to find the lady that was helping me. So, I go through the whole story of what just happened. He sees the flight, tries to book it for me, but then it comes up as sold out. So, we go through the process of trying to find another flight because he wasn't as helpful as the other lady by offering to figure out what was going on with the first flight. I picked a new flight, asked him to tell me how much the new total was, but he puts me on hold. He comes back after awhile and tells me that my credit card was declined. At first I was very upset that he tried to run my card without my permission seeing as I asked him to tell me the total first. I start to yell at him, and he explains to me that he was able to get my original flight, but when he tried charge my card it was decline. I was already upset, but there was no reason that my card should have been declined...

I go and look at my account online, and I see that I've been charged twice for tickets that they haven't even booked me for! I still had enough to try and pay again, but I didn't want all of my money tied up. He told my that they were just holding my money and it will be returned with in 24 hours. Obviously, 24 hours has long gone, and my money is still being held up.

Shortly after I hung up with the guy, I called back to talk to a supervisor because I wanted to make sure that my money would be returned, and I wanted to complain. The supervisor I teld with was a complete idiot and an asshole! He says that my money will be returned in 24 to 48 hours, and that there is no guaruntee that once my money is returned to be that I will be able to book the same plans as before. I yelled at the guy, hung up the phone, and complained to Aaron.

We waited the 48 hours, and my money was still not returned to me. So, last night Aaron called them, and spoke to a new supervisor. The lady told him that she would call my credit card company, get me my money back, and help us book the same plans for the same price. All he had to do was give her the credit card company's phone number. He didn't have it because he was at work, so he said that I would call her right back with it. He called me, and I called the company with in 15 minutes.

So, I called back, and asked to speak to the supervisor, and this guy comes on the phone. I asked to speak to the other one, already I was annoyed that they didn't transfer me to the person I asked to speak too. He says that he can help me, and I said no, I want to speak to the other supervisor. He puts me on hold, comes back and says she has left for the day, but he'll help me. Thoroughly annoyed, I start explaining the problem. I give him the credit card company's phone number, he puts me on hold, and then comes back to say that the company is out on holiday. I said, ok well I have enough money to book again, the other lady said that she would help us get what we wanted before. He tells me, Ma'am I can only give you want is showing up online, there is no guarantee of price. I'm absolutely livid now, and I asked with the other lady would be back. He tells me her schedule, and I said that I'd have Aaron call back.

Now, we are just waiting until she's in the office to give them a call. All I have to say is that I'm probably never going to deal with travelocity again. They've held my money for too long, every flight I've tried to book with them since then has one price, and then on the final step of booking, it says oops, there was a change in your flight price... and it goes up like 200 bucks. It really is ridiculous!

AAARRRGGGG... someone doesn't want me to get married!!!!!!!!!!!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T00:32:00.002-05:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful valentine's day. Ours was very good.

AJ got a valentine's beanie baby, I got him one last year and wanted to get him another one this year.

AJ gave Daddy Guitar Hero II, and Mommy gave him the guitar controller, along with some candy.

I am also very proud of myself. I made Valentine's Day Dinner and it was awesome. We had baked stuffed lobster tails, and the stuffing was made from scratch, homemade twice baked potatoes, and asparagus. It was so good, and I usually don't like lobster. The only bad part was that I had bought some white wine to use when I was making the lobster and as soon as we got home and I was taking it out of the car, I dropped it and it broke all over the ground, so we had to go out and get another one. That put me way behind on dinner! But, from what Aaron said the wine that I had bought was gross anyway, and he went with to pick out the right kind. To be honest, I don't know a thing about wine, and I was having a lot of trouble in the store, so this nice lady helped me, but apparently she has bad taste, lol.

Anyway, after we had dinner we played guitar hero for a little while, and Aaron wasn't too happy that I played it better :-D

So, sweet dreams to all after their Valentine's Day!

One picture, one story

2009-02-07T08:34:00.004-05:00

It's been a little busy here, and this has to be short or AJ and I will be late for his music class.
What's been happening?

We had family pictures taken yesterday, they are awesome.
My grandfather's cancer is back.
My grandfather had a heart attack.
My grandfather is out of the hospital.
My house is freezing, the heater isn't working right.
I went to a mary kay party, and it was fun.
I got so drunk Wednesday night, that I don't remember parts of it.
My team got a 100 on the first part of our project.
I have an individual project that I have not started yet and its due in two days.
I'm being really lazy about uploading pictures.

Ok, so thats about it. I promise I'll hit those topics more sometime in the future, but I don't have time now. I also don't know of my picture uploading laziness is going to transfer to blogging laziness.

I'll leave you with a picture and then a story (which has nothing to do with the picture)

Ok, Aaron, AJ, and I were at Cici's getting lunch on Thursday. I was waiting for some alfredo pizza to come out, and I decided to grab some desert. The cinnamon rolls are so yummy.
I'm sitting down, feeding AJ some cinnamon rolls, and Aaron is talking about something, and I don't remember what it is (must not have been important.) This really old guy... like 70's 80's walks up and says, "May I be rude for a minute, this little guy won't understand." And he puts his hand on AJ's head.
I was surprised by this guy walking up to the table, and I want to say get your hand off my baby but the guy starts talking again.
"I was admiring what you were carrying"... ok he likes the desert what does he want? (btw the guy didn't pause here, he said this all together) "I don't think you are wearing a bra, and my wife insists that you are, which is is?"
At first I looked at Aaron like he was going to answer, but I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking. So, I just looked at him and said "I am wearing a bra" and then burst out laughing. He said thank you and walked away.

Random Picture Challenge

2009-01-31T18:28:00.003-05:00

It's time again for the random picture challenge over at http://4littlemen.blogspot.com/

Nov. 2007 Picture 44

That was my babyshower, and the toy that I'm holding up shakes when you pull it apart. In the picture the toy was shaking. I believe I was about 7 months pregnant, and shortly after that day I went into preterm labor and was put on bedrest.

Random Picture (late)

2009-01-29T00:32:00.002-05:00

I stumbled across a photo game at http://4littlemen.blogspot.com/

Its just a random picture. Its suppose to be from August 2007, the 30th picture. Well, I don't have an August 2007 album... I don't think I took many pictures then anyway, so I went and found a picture from August 2007. It's obviously AJ's ultrasound picture, and that was when we found out that he was indeed a boy.

What's up?

2009-01-27T16:20:00.003-05:00

Not a lot happening here. Trying to keep up with school work, and wishing that it were possible to finally get ahead, but it's not happening until my mod class drops off because of the amount of school work it takes.

AJ has a dentist appointment tomorrow to look at his front tooth. The pediatrician thinks that it's chipped, and he wants a dentist to look at it. I'm very nervous for him tomorrow, partly because I hate the dentist and I don't want them to tell me that my 12 month has a cavity because of that darn chipped tooth. Also, because they aren't going to let me go with him. They are going to take him from me and make me wait for him in the waiting room. We'll see how successful they are in keeping me away. I don't think that I'm going to be able to handle it. I also know that he hates anyone looking at his teeth, and he's going to scream and flail, and I'm afraid how they are going to react to him.

AJ's birthday party is this weekend too. So the rest of the week will be busy trying to get everything ready. I went to this awesome photography studio this weekend and had AJ's 1 year pictures done. They were really good with him, the pictures are awesome, and you get your pictures that day. It's called portrait innovations. We're going to go there next month to get some family pictures done.

AAAHHHH

2009-01-17T00:23:00.002-05:00

I had a rough day today.

My mother called me this morning to let me know that my grandfather's cancer is back and it has spread. He starts treatment on Tuesday.

AJ and I went to visit my grandparents this evening. I haven't given them very many opportunities to see him, not purposely though. I made them dinner, which they said many times they enjoyed. We talked for acouple of hours, and they played with AJ. I got some pictures of each of them with AJ, and some of three together. I wanted to make sure that I got some pictures before my grandfather starts to look sick from the treatment. I can't take the chance of waiting it out... I've promised myself that I'm going to try to get over there at least once a week with AJ.

AJ also went to the doctor today for his 1 year check up. The doctor says he looks wonderful, and he's developing ahead of schedule! He is 30 inches long, and weighs 21 pounds and 4 ounces. He's in the 50th percentile for his length, and 10-25 percentile for his weight.
The doctor suggested that I take him to the dentist. His tooth looks like it was chipped, and the doctor can seal it so it doesn't get a cavity. He also got his first shot today, DTaP. He was a champ! He didn't cry during the shot, but cried after they put the bandaid on.
Right now he's having a bit of an issue. I'm not sure if it is from the shot or because he's getting his daddy's cold. His temperature is slowly rising. about 30 mins ago it was 102.4. So, I gave him some tylenol, and I'm waiting 30 more min to take his temp again. He's been really clingy and sleepy today. He's spaced out quite abit, and he's unable to sleep. So, I'm in for a long night, expecially if his temp does go down. I walked into his room to check on his temp, and he was just laying there looking at the ceiling, boy was that freaky.

Anyway, I'm going to go spend some time on my school work. Hopefully, the time will fly right by, and when I take AJ's temp it'll be a lot lower.

Where is my time machine?

2009-01-15T21:09:00.003-05:00

Tonight has been very exciting indeed! But not in a good way.

My little brother was brought home by the police. Apparently he was with a kid he knew he wasn't allowed to be with, and they decided to visit a house that was abandoned right down the street. While visiting that house, they decided to go into the back yard, and then actually into the house. The house was trashed, and they saw some things that they wanted to take. At that point a neighbor had called the police, and the police showed up.
We don't know yet if he has to go to court. The police are going to file the report, and we'll be contacted once they decide if they are going to take him to court or not. The police said he could be charged with a felony. My 13 year old brother charged with a felony?!?! It's hard to take in.
What he did was wrong, he knows that now. The problem is... he didn't know it while he was doing it. I'm not going to make excuses for him, but I do know that he has truely learned his lesson, and I hope that if he has to go to court the judge he gets will give him a break.
After we got the call from the police, I was extremely angy. It seemed to take forever for the police to get to the house. I stood there watching the police questioning him, and how he was having issues answering their questions. He explained truthfully what happened, but then they started asking him about right and wrong and thats when he had difficulty.
From that point until now the feeling that I have is helplessness. There is nothing that I can do to fix whats happened and is going to happen to him. After the police left, I watched my brother get screamed at by my mother, and making sure nothing got physical. I watched him cry hysterically as my mom slammed his door and went to cry in her room.
I went in to talk to him but then I started crying. I let him know how disappointed I was, and I brought up the fact that his nephew is suppose to look up to him, and how can he do that if he's not doing something worth looking up to. At that point, I found out how really and truely sorry he was about what he did. We talked about things like going to court, and honesty, and remorse. He wrote a letter to my mom. Begging her not to hate him, and that he will try to never get in trouble again in his life.

Haven't you ever wished you could turn back time just to make things right again?

Boy Oh Boy

2009-01-14T16:15:00.002-05:00

Oh man do I have a lot of school work to do! It is absolutely crazy! lol.

This semester I am taking:
Business Law 2
Adv Legal Environment of Business
Art History
Abnormal Psychology

The first two courses I'm taking because of the degree that I am stuck in for this semester. I tried to get back into the Elementary Education degree, but I have to take a test before they will admit me into, and there wasn't any time.
I'm taking Art History because I hope that once I move over to USF, that I can double major in Art and Education.
I'm taking Abnormal Psychology because I already took it once, and I gave up and got a bad grade. So, I'm going to follow through with it now, and get a good grade so I can wipe that bad grade right off of my transcript.

So, as you might be able to guess, my days, nights, and mornings this week are going to be full of reading and assignments. As well as squeezing in a work day.

Onto other news though. I hadn't put it this very big piece of news because I wanted a post just about AJ's birthday. So... .... ..... it will be a week tomorrow night, since AJ started walking! Yes, he started walking 4 days before his 1st birthday. I'm so proud of him, and I love to see him take those funny wobbly little steps. He still prefers to crawl, and won't walk unless someone makes him. He also hasn't been feeling well. He's been sick since Saturday. I took him to the doctor yesterday, and even though he is sick they think he's well enough to kick it on his own. He goes back to the doctor on Friday to have his one year old check up, and if he's not sick his first shot. I'm so nervous for him, the poor baby.

Anyway, I've chatted enough, I have an assignment due tonight that I need to continue working on!

Tata

AJ is 1!

2009-01-11T00:49:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday my beautiful boy!

At this moment in time last year, I was trying to sleep knowing that in just acouple of hours I was going to get up and head to the hospital to be induced. I was so nervous that they weren't going to go through with it.

You've taught me so much this year, and all I can say is that I love you so much. I can't wait for many more of your birthdays to come. To see you grow and learn.

Sweet Dreams my precious boy, I love you.

We're Just Fleeky

So far so good!

Resolutions

Day One

Day Zero

My Son

Relationship Advice

Science and Money

Burgers Anyone?

Dentist

Project Ideas 2

Project Ideas

Resolutions

Fruit Pizza

Day 6 of 30

Crunch Time

No idea

NaBloPoMo

Scroog

BFP

Quick Update

Need some sunshine

Breast Cancer Walk

Organizational Skills

The viewing and Christmas

Update

Scares

Normal???

Sickness, Weirdness and Sadness

The Challenge

Looking forward... womanly stuff

What changed?

Continuation

*yawn*

Waiting

Poor Baby

Fairy Tales

Exam

Virtual Trip

Wedding Dress Scare

Small Teeny Update

My results

Nervous

Late

Rush

YAY

Feb 26

Sick sick sick

To-Do Update

Short Post

To do To do

Wedding Update

Absolute Frustration

Valentine's Day

One picture, one story

Random Picture Challenge

Random Picture (late)

What's up?

AAAHHHH

Where is my time machine?

Boy Oh Boy

AJ is 1!

yawn