A New Job

I had been waiting tables part time for the past eight months. If you have never waited tables in your life I would encourage you to try it. You learn so much about yourself as a server. A few of the things that I learned while serving is  that I love people, I like to build those relationships with them, I like to be "of service" and I hate the restaurant industry. Lucky for me I got a job offer while I was waiting tables one day from a couple who own a medically supervised weight loss center (that I also happened to be going to at the time)....that I just couldn't pass up. It seemed like the perfect opportunity had just fallen into my lap. It is funny to me that once you become aware of God...I mean really aware of his presence in your life...you can see clearly how he is working and how one step leads you directly to the next. God is NEVER wrong and his timing is ALWAYS perfect. So two weeks ago I started my job as a Diet Consultant. I get to see patients...I get to build relationships with them....I get to be "of service" encouraging and being with them every step of their weight loss journey....and I don't have to step foot in a restaurant :-) Every day I go to work I am amazed that I get paid to do what I do. I love my new job and I am humbled and grateful for Gods perfect timing in every season of my life.

Extreme Makeover the Kid Edition

Here is a little riddle for ya to ponder....what is the direct opposite of cool, calm and collected.....give up?? Okay, okay it is......motherhood. Yesterday started off like any other day for us......and then I took my children to the dentist....and that is where I realized that quite simply my children are brats....I also realized that I may as well be a mute because the second I open my mouth their little ears turn completely off. So there I was at the dentist office knee deep in a nervous break down and I realized (it was apparently a day of realizations) that if something didn't change....and I mean drastically change....this mommy was going to lose it....go completely insane....and possibly quite possibly run far, far away. So today while I sent them off to their very last day at daycare I spent the day making chore charts, house rules and a consequence jar. The second that they stepped foot in the house this afternoon I sat them down and explained it all to them and how the household was going to work from now on. Now I realize (yet again) that stuff like this doesn't just magically change overnight (oh how I wish it did though) and I know that "consistency is the key" to things of this nature. I also know that I have 26 days until school starts back...so I am on a one mama mission to change these little brats that have taken over my house back into the lovely little (with any luck....listening) children that I gave birth to.....Here is to consistency and a whole heck of a lot of wishful thinking....and if all else fails I will be blogging from a beach in Mexico with an untraceable IP address :-)

Manic Monday

Is it just me or was summer break created to drive mothers of the world insane. I mean I love these little people who have invaded my house, but it seems at this point in summer break I start counting down the days to the return of school aka my sanity. I start feeling like laundry has taken over my life...with children home all day everyday...no matter how much I wash...dry and fold there is always more....I would swear that swimsuits...shorts...towels and other various articles of clothing are magically appearing in my laundry room....creating a miraculous wonder of the world. My daily duties start feeling less like mothering and more like refereeing....demanding timeouts and constantly sending these little contenders to their own corners of the house. Mondays have turned manic....my patience starts running thin and just when I think I may lose my mind completely....I lock myself in the bathroom and repeat over and over.....29 more days....only 29 more days.

My Normal

It is constantly being brought to my attention by friends of mine that I don't update my blog very often. My typical response is "I just don't really have much to blog about these days"....I mean sure I could tell you about how many times I clean the house per day (which is insane!) or how my laundry is on any given day completely out of control (and that is a generous understatement)....but let’s be honest no one really cares about stuff like that. When I started this blog two years ago I had a two year old and not just any two year old...I had Paige...those of you who know Paige personally need no explanation to that. So instead of losing my mind every time this adventurous child decided to experiment with pancake batter, shampoo, butter, Vaseline or any other substance...I wrote about it here. Well now my little two year old is four...and while I would like to say she has mellowed out a bit...I am afraid that the truth of the matter is that I have become so used to her antics that they have just become a part of my every day. Two years ago when this little angel of mine decided she wanted to make "snow angels" out of an entire box of pancake batter on my kitchen floor I was so taken back that thoughts like this even crossed her little mind the first thing I did was run to my computer to blog about it. Now, two years...and many....many messes later I don't even really think to blog...I normally just clean it up and go about my day. Conversations that would have sent me into blogging frenzy have now become my source of entertainment. Such as...The other day when I was sitting in the garage with my husband and my oldest started crying..."What's wrong I asked"...."Paige hit me"...."Paige did you hit your sister"...."Umm no Uno probably hit her"...."Paige who is Uno"...."Uno and Dos are my magical friends"...."Oh well Uno is going to have to get a spanking if he can't keep his hands to himself because it is not nice to hit"..."Well that is going to be pretty hard because Uno doesn't have a butt"....Normally I would have died laughing and ran to my computer, but this is SO typical Paige that it was just another every day conversation. And so there I was sitting in my garage when it hit me.....things like this...Crazy...Crazy imaginative Paige...has somehow managed to become my normal.

The Meanest Practical Joke Pretty Much Ever

Okay so around our house we are always playing jokes on one another....scaring each other...and just all out having fun (mostly at each other’s expense.) We especially like pranking our children (I am aware that is not the nicest thing to do...but it is undoubtedly always funny)Most of my practical jokes are improvised....such as tonight when I put on a peel off face mask...(it is just what it sounds like…a mask you put on your face to clean it and peel it off after it dries) I was sitting folding laundry watching a movie with Paige while it was drying and then I had this brilliant idea....I started peeling off the mask when I turned to Paige and started acting like it was my actual skin that was peeling off...over the next three minutes I had to try not to literally laugh out loud as she looked at me with a horrified look and started saying things like "oh my gosh...your pretty skin!!!!!!!!!"...."why would your skin do that?"....."stop picking at it...leave it alone"...."well mom you used to have beautiful skin, but you just have to pick at it"....then she informed me that she has healthy skin and it is not going to fall off. I am pretty sure that could be classified as the meanest practical joke pretty much ever considering my target was four years old...and because she was fully convinced in her heart of hearts...that in fact that was my actual skin that was falling off....but the dramatic...totally "Paige way" that she reacted had me almost completely rolling on the ground. And just for the record...after I gained my composure I told her it was a mask :-)

My best friend is having a baby

My very best friend in this entire world, Carissa, is due to become a first time mama in September. I know it is hard to believe, but I may be more excited than she is. You see....being right in the middle of motherhood is almost like being in a whole other world.....and I have been a mama for (GASP) seven years now....Carissa and I have been best friends for thirteen years...so for more than half of our friendship I have been transported into this whole other universe....and now she will finally be joining me!!!!! I am also completely and utterly excited to be an aunt again and hold....spoil....and love on a little bitty baby. Ready for the kicker....the punch line....the main reason for this blog???? This has given me (YES...the I never wanna be pregnant or birth another child EVER again...me)baby fever. For the past few months I have very, very, seriously been contemplating a third child. I have tried to convince my husband, I have been watching a baby story for crying out freaking loud!!! Then it happened....two nights ago Paige was being VERY quite so we went to hunt her down and found her looking down at her sink in her bathroom....with blue eye shadow spread all over the sink. We stood for a minute and watched then we called her name....she looked up with a big smile......

And just like that I remembered very distinctly why we stopped after Paige.

Facebook Free

I recently decided that I was going to delete my Facebook page. It is sad to me how "big" of a decision something like that actually is. In our world today facebook has a way of becoming our identity if we let it. It is our way of keeping in touch with the world....our family and our friends (funny thing is your not REALLY keeping in touch with anyone most of the time).....remember when we used to have address books and we had every one's address and HOME phone number...and if we wanted to "keep up with them" or see how they were we actually picked up the phone and called...or went to their house to see them....I find it almost humorous that I have 200 something "friends" on facebook and maybe two of them actually know where I live. Facebook is a friend facade if you ask me and I have just been led in the last few months to steer away from my virtual life and start attempting to actually and presently live the one in front of me. So today I pulled the Facebook plug and filled out the little box that says "Delete My Account" and checked yes to the box that says "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT".....and as I venture into this journey sans the virtual world I would hope not to lose touch with friends, but simply to become closer the the ones that I have. So here is to a facebook free existence :-)

All about support

I can find the humor and absolute truth in this.....I mentioned in the last blog that there have been many, many changes in my life over the last few months....it has been an emotional rollercoster of sorts and I just have to say that I have learned in the last few months that life really is all about support....in the good times and the bad....the people that you have on your "team....on your side...in your corner" in this life make the biggest impact on your life (if that makes any sense)...and I for one have learned that over the past few months I have one pretty awesome team in this crazy life....so here is a quick shout out to a few people who have supported me and my family over the last few months .....Carissa....Dad....Lisa...Mom....Linda...Victor...FBC Church Family...and many others....thanks so much for the absolute undeniable support...prayers and genuine love over the last few months.

I will admit......

My blog has been awfully quite lately, but life has still been happening....most days in rare form and full force. So much has happened since my last blog entry...we have moved...I got a job....many...many changes....which all seem to be for the good because life is better then ever at this very moment in time. One thing I assure you that hasn't changed, however, is the craziness that is my three year old. She is just as crazy (maybe even more so) then ever. Two nights ago as I lay in my bed....attempting to drown out the world with trash tv. I hear Paige say "Mom...Brooke got my night time clothes wet with her juice pack" I call Brooke in the room and explain to her that is not something that we do....and off she went. Well a few minutes later they were both screaming at each other so...my husband says to me "I got this one" he gets up goes in the living room and comes right back as if to say "Just kidding...I DON'T got this...and...tag YOUR it" so I get up to see what could possibly be going down in my living room. Well....you wanna know what went down in my living room??? A juice pack fight (almost like a food fight only with juice packs apparently) My entire living room was covered with juice....soaking wet carpet....sticky walls...and sticky children. I couldn't help but wonder what in the world clicked in their little tiny heads that made them think that was ever a good idea. As I am cleaning up this mess and mumbling about how I am NEVER buying juice again that they are strictly forbidden to water.....Paige looks at me and as calmly as ever asks me "Mom....where did your happy go?" I in return calmly explained to her that my "happy" left 10 juice packs ago. Life is better then ever, but some things never change.