Saturday, October 24, 2009

Welcome to the World Huxley Tyler!!

Well I promise now to try and be better about things since my blog has take a backseat to my hectic and often crazy life. I am hoping to be able to work hard to promote things and hopefully get into a better position with my writing where I call more of the shots and have fewer problems than what has currently been happening.

I welcomed my third child just over a week ago into this world. Things were rough for him at first as Huxley Tyler was forced to undergo five spinal taps in order to get the needed spinal fluid and further there were a number of other things that were involved in his needs. He was having some difficulties in his breathing and they were unable to pinpoint things. He is doing great now but he still has some breathing difficulties at times. We just have to watch him close especially around large crowds of people and make sure that he is not passed around when we are in a group. They said that passing a baby is one of the most stressful things that you can put them through. It kind of sucks in some ways to have to tell family and friends that they can't hold your baby but in other ways it is kind of nice as I am able to hold him and when I don't want him passed around (I hate the pass the baby game!!) I have a real excuse instead of just looking like a psycho mom bitch!!

Althea is adjusting to her little brother well. She loves the baby and gives him kisses and cuddles all of the time. It is adorable to watch the two of them together. Andrew is doing well too, things have been rough after a vacation with this dad (the first time his dad ever took him anywhere) and he came home to where it was like taking a step back to a year prior. We had worked so hard to get him to start behaving and being the little boy that he used to be and then it was like a huge backtrack when he started behaving this way. He gets completely out of hand and out of control and most of the time it is just because he is having problems. However he is doing great in school and really enjoying so many other areas of life.

School is going okay. I am doing well in two of my classes which have been going great. One of my classes I had to drop as I am not good at science and math and it got to be too difficult for me. I guess I will have to find an easier lab science to take sometime down the road when I am able to do so. Things are going well in every other area of life. Writing is picking back up so I am able to at least start paying all of my bills next month and hopefully I can earn some extra income to be able to make enough money to buy some Christmas presents as well. I keep hoping to find a part time job as well. My goal is get a job at the YMCA but who knows if that will be possible. I really want to work in their child care room as I would not have to leave the kiddos and could enjoy my time with them while I was at work as well.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

October 2009 Update

Wow!! It has been forever, not that I haven't wanted to update but really I just haven't found the time to do anything extra. Thanks to some much needed insomnia I am up, doing laundry and catching up on some writing. I thought that since I should be sleeping anyways that I would give myself a little bit of a treat and update my blogs. Things are finally coming together with my life. I am so happy and hoping that the baby will be born sometime in the next week...come on baby!! I am so ready to start feeling good, to be back on my medications so that I can think more clearly and to have a better time with things overall.

Let's see I'm not even sure where to begin...there is so much going on so I am just going to go through each person in my family and talk a bit about how things are going.

I guess I'll start with me. I am doing okay, lots of late term pregnancy issues so really ready to have this baby. I am now battleing the dreaded end of the pregnancy insomnia. I can't sleep at all...lol!! I am so ready to not have to sleep all of the time, to feel awake and to feel good and not be sick any longer. I am excited to meet our littlest man and to have my family complete. However there are so many projects around the house that I need to get done...plus I need to earn some big bucks somehow in order to be able to finish up buying some things that I really need. Right now there are so many things that I need to buy for the house and some things that I need to buy for the kiddos. My kiddos have never had to do without anything but now that I am staying home, writing in the freelance form and been so sick last month the money just isn't coming in like it will be after the baby is born but that still doesn't help with things as I do need to be able to earn some money and do better overall. I am also hoping that I can find a regular part time job after I have the baby. I am hoping that the YMCA here in town will hire me...this would be great as I want a Y membership but can't even think about being able to afford it right now!! Lol!!! I am committed to getting an actual work schedule together for myself as well. I need to be able to do this and to make more money especially since Andrew's dad is no longer paying child support. I don't know how he thinks that this is right and how he thinks that he can get away with this. He is able to live by himself, have vehicles, have a boat, have a Harley and still not pay for his child...it is past the point of riddiculousness and frankly I am pissed off. At $50 per week he actually is up to oweing me $1,119.80. I can't believe that he is behind this much. It has almost been 6 months since he has paid. What does he think that I am supposed to do? I need to get him new bedroom furnitture and he needs pjs right now but I am actually having to wait to buy him these things until we have a bit more extra cash. It sucks to see him actually do without things and to not be able to do anything about it but wait, never in my life have I been in this position and it makes me feel like shit. I guess I just need to get on top of my financial situation, settle how things are going and be able to work through things. I guess part of my insomnia could be excitement and the other part is probably nesting. For the past few weeks I have felt so bad that I didn't have any of the hospital bags packed (they're almost done now and will be in the car today!!) and I have a ton of laundry and other things that need to be done to make it easier on myself when I do have the baby and then after that it is just the upkeep of our home!! Plus today I get my stiches out of my cervix so baby could literally come anytime...I would be so ecstatic if he decided to make his presence tonight!!

Now to update on Shane. Some big work changes are going to make him even more busy than he has been. This means that he will have more oncall time and more time to be secondary oncall as well. Shane's been amazing with my pregnancy ending, spoiling me, cooking, cleaning and even giving me back rubs on a regular basis without him I don't know where I'd be...I'm guessing I'd be a hell of a lot more uncomfortable and grumpy than I already am.

On to Mr. Andrew. He has started 1st grade...I can't believe that he is that old and that big already!! He is in Mrs. Vogel's class and is loving it. He also has a nuumber of different things going on. There are so many things that are happening in his little life so this is really an exciting time. I am just trying to keep up, stay on top of things and be able to follow through with how things are going. He likes to read, do his homework and really had fun when he had a literacy bag (special bags that come home every few weeks for us to do activities together). He is now on swim team and that sure keeps us busy, swim team has practice Mon-Fri from 4:15/4:30-5:15/5:30, he goes Mon, Tues (when he's with his dad), Thurs and Fri. On Wed he starts going to the church program at the Methodist church. This will be good for him as he really enjoyed it a lot last year and it was something that entertained him which is always difficult. So it will probably equate to my working days being Tuesdays and Wednesdays as those will be days when it is easy for me to go to my mom's and not have to rush back to get him from school. I am going to talk to mom but back to Andrew....he also has swim lessons on Mon and Wed from 6:15-7. Then after swim team is over wrestling will start so we are looking into a busy year. Next year he wants to play soccer as well but I am not sure how that would work with swim team as I think that they are at the same time. I need to find a nice spring/summer activity that he can enjoy so that he is in one thing year round. Not sure that we will find any spring/summer stuff though to be completely honest. Today I am going to be headed to Dick's Sporting Goods after leaving my Md's office to get him a swim cap and some good goggles at least I am hoping that they will have some...I guess we will have to wait and see.

Miss Althea is doing great. Her vocabulary is expanding daily...she says so many things. I have been trying to list them all so that I don't forget her milestones here are the ones that she says or least attempts to say. Mommy, Momma, Daddy, Dada, Maw Maw (grandma), apple, cheese, yucky, hot, drink, baba, book, bite, potty, poopy, ball, baby, bubba (brother), AJ, hi, bye bye, pretty, Allie, uh-oh...I know that there are more but these are the main ones that I typically hear in a day!! She is beginging to put words together...the other day she dumped a box of cheese crackers and said uhoh cheese after she did it before giggleing. She is getting so tall and has the ongest legs ever. She has a wonderful and happy personality as well. She is constantly giggleing and laughing about everything especially when she is doing something that she knows that she is not supposed to do. It is so cute to watch her be honory and to know that her personality is developing in the process.

I guess that it looks like rain...it has just started thundering and the sound is actually quite comforting in a quiet house as I have been up for a while by myself...well duty calls my laundry just got done so I am off to go and switch loads!! Hoping that it goes quickly and that soon I will be able to update you all with news of a little one!

Oh and if you read this blog, please help me think of a 1 year daily blog that I can write about something that will get me some readers. I really want something that I can get my name out there (I am going to be working on a novel) and that way people will already know me. So right now I am looking for a one year blog that is an amazing idea and that will really get the readers going. I am thinking possibly my journey through weight loss after baby but if anyone has a suggestion then please please speak up and let me know what type of blog you would enjoy reading and what you would enjoy hearing about. Remember this next blog isn't going to be for personal satisfaction like my current blogs but rather it is going to be for readers and in hopes of one day being published.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Camping and Fun Times During Our Busy Summer!!

Things are crazy!! We are having a great time with this being the begining of the summer but there has already been a lot of busy times.

Here's what's happening in our world.

Well Memorial Day weekend we headed to Chillicothe IL and went to Summer Camp Festival. It was a good time and both of the kids enjoyed it a lot even though they both got pretty worn out.

Then the following weekend when we had Andrew (this past weekend) we ended up going to Elandorf Music Festival. We had another great weekend of fun and camping!!

There has also been a sign up at the library to get Andrew involved in the summer reading program and several trips to the pool. It has been such a good time!!

So, what do we have planned for the rest of the summer, well it's a gonna be a busy one for us!! We have some time off, then we have Phish in Apline Valley while Shane's mom stays with Althea and Andrew is at his dad's (a little alone time for the two of us)....several pool and library trips in between!!

July 9 and 10 we are going to Six Flags in St. Louis...staying overnight in the hotel and then headed to the park. July 18 is the kids birthday party for family, August 1 is Andrew's birthday party with his friends, July 15 is Althea's birthday and we are headed to the zoo and July 30 is Andrew's birthday with an evening trip to Cartsville and he also gets to go to with grandma and grandpa to a Cardinal's game that week on the 28th! Then there is his friends birthday party on August 1st (won't be too big as his friends from school never responded so there are just three little boys from his class and his one friend from Decatur if he can make it, I am emailing his momma early though so hopefully!!).

Also sometime we need to travel back to Kansas or Kansas City and that is happening either Sunday August 2-Sunday August 9 or Wednesday August 12-Wednesday August 19, with Phish in Chicago on August 11 and going to Chicago on Thursday August 20-Sunday August 23!

So we are going to have one hell of a start to August with school starting on the 24th!!

Busy busy busy months ahead!!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Wow!!

Things are going great!! Things are busy and crazy and things are going great with writing, just keeping busy working on so much! The freelancingi s really picking up and I am not even to the point of having to turn down jobs and I don't bid on anything through the two websites that I was bidding on jobs through. I have a ton of writing to do today and all in all a crazy day with the kids.

We are going this morning to deliver cookie dough to the wonderful people that I used to work with. Then we have to go and pick up Althea's pictures, next is sorting photographs and getting pictures ready for the family, then picking up Andrew for the dentist, somehow getting some writing done during all of this and then delivering the final cookie dough to the friends and family who are only home at night!! It is going to be one long and busy day and I am sure at the end of it I am going to be super tired, especially since I have articles, papers and blogs to write!! Wow!! So much going on and so little time to do it!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Baby #3 is Healthy and Cookin' In the Belly

So we got to see baby #3 on Wednesday and the little thing is cooking away in there. I was 11 weeks and 5 days which puts me just over 12 weeks now. I can't believe that with Althea only 9 months old that I am going to be doing it all over again. I feel like she deserved to get to be the baby a bit longer and I am determined to give her enough attention so that she does not feel resentment towards the new little one. I do not know what I am hoping for as for a boy or a girl there would be up sides to both but I do know that I want the baby to be healthy and smart and as beuatiful as the other two kids. I am just hoping for a bit smaller baby this time and that I don't get as huge as I did with the last two.

In preparation for this one I am working on eating healthy and getting my house in order as well as getting into a set routine for things. Things are going good overall with the pregnancy but I am sick as well, I throw up all of the time but other than that life is very good.

Well, here is an update on the family. My extended family is all well. We just had some close friends, Matt and Carmelle expereince the blessing of life with their beautiful daughter Olive. Shane is great, still lucky enough to work from home and even in the economy it seems that he has some job stability. He is great with the kids and I love him so much!! We definitly feel blessed for all that we have. Andrew is doing well. He read a book to me last night. He also has been being good for the most part, he is honory all of the time. Althea is doing well as well. She is talking quite a bit but only half of it is real words, she smiles all of the time and she climbs and stretches and is pulling herself up. Both kids are the light of my life.

Now on to me, well I am working from home as a writer now. I am doing good, making enough money and feel truly blessed to be staying home and spending all of the extra time with my beautiful family.

Monday, March 30, 2009

My Last Week is Proving to be Crazy!!

So it is my last week of work and I don't feel like I will ever have enough time to get everything finished like it needs to be done. I feel like I am simply put, going to go crazy in the process. I just have so much going on all around me and I have no idea how I am going to finish it all in time. The worst part for me is the whole documentation thing, well yep that is what I have let slide and I have like a million notes to type tomorrow as well as finish up all of the treatment plans and reviews that need to be done so I am going to spend my last week literally going crazy trying to get it all finished.

However it is my last week and my income from writing is going well. I do have three papers to complete tomorrow and 20 short articles so writing is taking off and busy busy busy but I know that I can get it all done and then that things will be going well overall. Not much else is happening, just hoping that I really do have time to get everything finished prior to my leaving.

There are some personal things that I need to get done too. Activity charts and charts for Andrew's bahavior all need to be completed as well so just more hecticness for me!! LOL! And I have to prepare and develop a chore chart. So we will see how it will all get done!!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Update and Ready to Begin Again!

Hey All...so here are the huge changes that are happening in my life!! Well, I am no longer going to be slaving away and working full time. I am going to be writing part time and enjoying my life as a stay at home mom with the kiddos!! We are going to have to get some schedules and for sure plans in place as I have one crazy and honory kid who needs major structure but I am sure that we can make it work!!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Just a Quick Update

You can all expect to hear more from me on here, through the great mom's site that I have been neglecting (sorry ladies!!), on myspace and facebook after I am finished with the full time job. I have been lacking trying to make some extra money freelancing before moving on to freelance on a full time basis. Yep, I have left my full time position and will be just freelancing as of April 2nd. It was odd to leave, it was a lot of stress at first but now I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders!! I can't wait to be able to log on more often and share more with you all on a regular basis. I have just been ill and the two job thing and trying to do as much as possible with the two kids and it has been kind of tough so soon we will be in better touch!!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

New Job Hopes

Well, I have officially started freelancing. I am actually getting jobs and currently have around $600 worth of writing to do and found out that I will be able to make around $60 per day with one job so my dream of freelancing full time might be a reality in a few months. I have standards for myself including being able to make a steady $2000/month for 2 months before I leave my full time job but I feel like it is accomplishable.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Looking Forward to the Weekend

The weekend can not start soon enough. We had one heck of a night tonight and I had a long long day...I am ready to relax with some good tv if there were just some on it would be so cool but the problem is that it is that there are only reruns of shows that I like. Odd thing is that both of my children are actually sleeping at the same time, kind of a rare occurance in our household...lol!! Shane is already in Texas so here I am writing, I am starting the series The United States of Tara about some lady with multiple personality disorder, if nothing else it should at least make me laugh. I kind of have a feeling that I will be sleeping in the living room on the couch tonight as I hate to sleep in our bed alone and I don't want Andrew to sleep with me and he is in our room anyways because he had a meltdown and was supposably afraid of our room (yep you will get more on that one later.).

Let's see the day started out with Andrew being a grumpy gus this morning, let's just say that he is not a morning glory like his mommy...lol!! He was kind of freaking out about everything and I just assumed it was because I was home rather than him just being here with Shane as the usual. It started out really good but somewhere between when he ate breakfast and when it was time to leave for school he lost all of his ability to listen and follow even the simplest directions. Then I took him to school. Then I went into work to lead our team meeting...woo hoo!! Fun times, there it was actually pretty cool leading it and I got to propose my new attempted flexible schedule to the team today to see what they thought, it was that I would be working Monday and Wednesday from 6:30 am to 4:30 pm, Tuessday from 6:30 am until 8 pm and then on Thursday from 6:30 am to 1 pm. I really am pretty excited for this to start as I will only have to send Andrew to one day of after care since he will be at his dad's on Tuesdays so really I will spend so much more quality time with him..

Let's see though, back to my crazy day, I left work after my team meeting, yep doing some treatment planning and a few client phone calls from home tomorrow to make up for the hours. Then let's see I took Shane to the airport and we got some lunch along the way, it was so odd to drop him off and to know that it was going to be two days before I would see him again. I hate separation. I still cry every time that Andrew goes to his dad's, so this weekend there will be a lot of tears for me, when I left Shane at the airport, when I take Andrew to his dad's, when I leave Althea with my mom, I am such a sappy one!

Then I came home and fed Althea again, went to Andrew's school and talked to them about being contacted if his dad had him to school late as this would hurt him and will suspend his visitations. I then surprised him to pick him up at school!! He was pretty happy for all of that. I then brought him and Allie home and allowed him to have Noah over, so yep just me and three kids for the majority of the night. Then he had a meltdown about ghosts so yep I am going to be ot allowing Harry Potter for a while as he told me that it was the Harry Potter ghosts and that he did not want to finish the book, well we were actually on the last chapter so I am going to go back to reading him Animal Farm...lol! Something that I will enjoy that he might like.

Well now I am going to do some work from home and watch Festival Express on the tv while I do so.

Peace, Love and a Safe and beautiful weekend for all of you!!

I am headed out to Austin tomorrow. I am pretty freakin' excited for some grown up time with Shane as we do not ever really get that without one or both of the kids around. I am also excited about the weather.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Keeping My Fingers Crossed

Well Phish tickets went on sale today for Deer Creek (or Verizon Wireless in Indy) and we did not buy them, I am hoping that it works out that we will be able to get tickets to that show and to the two at Alpine Valley but Shane wants to wait until next week so I am not sure how probable it is for us to get them...oh well, I guess I can just sit here and keep my fingers crossed with the whole if it is meant to be then it will happen mantra!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Interview!

Well I should be interviewing this week or next for a supervisor position here at my agency. I would lose my four day week but with the pay increase it would all be worth it for me. Plus I feel like I would be more challenged in my day to day skills and to be able to move up would be so nice. It would be odd as all of the co workers that I had when I first started working in mental health are now supervisors and team leaders and it was like we were pruned for these opportunities by our wonderful team leader at the time, Dr Mike O'Brien. He was the best and after having learned from the best I feel that there is nothing out there that I can not do. I know that I have made some mistakes in the past and that I fought for a long time wanting to do this type of work as it is stressful and it wears on you but in the end, well this is what I was meant for and I have come to accept that and I love what I do!

Productive Weekend

Well this past weekend I was actually productive, I know hell must have frozen over. I don't know what type of weird bug has gotten into me but I am super into getting my whole house in order and getting things perfect. I am even going to start on closet cleaning soon and I am just going to set a goal each week and then each weekend. My weekend goal of getting Andrew's room done was accomplished. My week goal is to get the laundry done and completely put away and to get the floors done throughout the house...just a little bit of work each night and all of my goals will be accomplished.

So I am super happy about all of this and all in all well I just want a nice and beautiful home to come home to each night and I know if I do a bit of extra work each night then I will not ever be in the position that I am in now. Althea has all clean blankets and sheets after this weekend and next weekend I am going to do Andrews and then the following week I am going to do Shane and I's. I am gong to take our comforters to the laundry mat as they are too big for our washer and drier over the weekend and then I will replace the sheets and wash them before my the weekend as that way my mom will have clean sheets to sleep on while we are in Austin.

I am now in the process of making a master cleaning list as well as every other weekend big cleaning jobs that way if I do one basic chore each night and just the regular pick up for the day things will be kept in order. I also am making lists of all of the big projects that I have left, cleaning out totes, catching up on scrapbooking, cleaning those closets, etc. I also am in the process of organizing a shopping list of what is needed when I get my tax refund. I know that summer clothes are not needed for the kids, a second swimsuit for Althea and two swimsuits for Andrew are needed as well as their sandals, getting Andrew some Keens, getting Allie some Tevas and a pair of Keens that unfortunately will probably not fit her until next year but I am going to have all of her shoes bought through size 4s so that she is good as well as Andrew two pairs of tennis shoes in the next size up, he still has crocs that will fit this year so that is nice but he will need some tennis shoes and he wants a pair of converse and sketchers so I think that I can handle that and his Keens! For Shane and I just a few clothing items, some new shoes for me (Keen sandals and black shoes for work and a pair of Earth brown shoes for work) and then a North Face coat for each of us and the winter clothes for the kids for next year!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

My Busy Day Today

So I awoke to horrible weather outside. I was all ready to leave, started my car at 5:25 am and then went to check to see if there were school closings. I ended up waiting until nearly 6:00 am to see that my son's school was indeed canceled. Then I ran upstairs, woke him up, threw some snow pants, boots, coat, hat, gloves on him and grabbed some clothes to take to grandma's. I also grabbed the baby and an extra outfit for her as well as some socks for both of them then threw the baby in her snowsack and headed out the door. The drive was very slow and it was kind fo a pain knowing that things were going to take so much longer today than needed and necessary in my opinion as they are just going to be busy and my three trips to Chillicothe and back are going to be painstakingly long. I am working on getting some stuff together to start some clients on some new programs and had planned on doing some of that today but with the extra drive time to factor in those are just going to have to wait a week or two.

Other than that, well I am on my way to head out for the day. I just hope for no accidents and if there is an accident, well I hope for a totaled car and to have my complete health and not to be injured. Only hope for totaled if I wreck as my car is worth far less than I owe and I have the GAP insurance so that I would have my loan paid off if the car were to be totaled.

I am just hoping to be successful in all that I am doing and that I can really get on top of things and do an overall good job and make everyone around me happy and all of that good stuff. So I am hoping to keep up on this more as well, just haven't had a lot of extra computer time lately, but after the tax return time that will no longer be an issue as I am planning on getting a mini laptop so that I can access the internet at anytime and keep on my posts on here, my myspace and facebook better and to be able to continue to work on a book as I really would like to at least finish a book within the year 2009 and have it sent off to publishers if not yet a contract signed for it. So with all of that on my plate I have a long way to go and the mini laptop seems like the first step for me to start doing better.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Wild and Crazy Weekend

Well I am still not feeling up to par. Just feeling kind of ill and weak. We found out the Phish schedule and it looks like we are going to attempt 6/16 with the kiddos and 6/19-6/21...not quite sure how this will go as the 21st is dad's day but it is my weekend and since Andrew's dad is pissed at me, well he is not wanting to trade or do anything to make my life the least bit easier.

Court went well. The OP for Andrew's dad not being able to spank him went through and he was ordered by the judge to take parenting classes. The judge was really a good one so I am hoping that she will be hearing the rest of our case. Not much else is going on, just busy and hoping to get some things in order.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Beautiful Story

So my good friend Holly had this story on her blog on myspace and I thought that I just had to post it as it actually brought tears to my eyes and was one of the most beautiful stories that I have ever read. Thanks again Holly!

My question is: "Would you have made the same choice?" At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves childrenwith learning disabilities, the father of one of the studentsdelivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff,he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is thenatural order of things in my son?' The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other peopletreat that child.' Then he told the following story: Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understoodthat if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. I approached one of theboys on the field and asked (not expecting much)if Shay couldplay. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losingby six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.' Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a smalltear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy atmy son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning,Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and playedin the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands. Inthe bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now,with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning runwas on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At thisjuncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance towin the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyoneknew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't evenknow how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with theball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitchcame and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow groundball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been outand that would have been the end of the game. Instead, thepitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, outof reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and bothteams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!' Neverin his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and strugglingto make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on theirteam who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too,intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming,"Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay!" Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the gamefor his team 'That day', said the father softly with tears nowand rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world. Shaydidn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, havingnever forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her littlehero of the day! *AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousandsof jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but whenit comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyber-space, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressedin our schools and workplaces. If you're thinking about forwardingthis message, chances are that you're probably sorting out thepeople in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' onesto receive this type of message Well,the person who sent youthis believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day tohelp realize the 'natural order of things.' So many seeminglytrivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanityor do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world alittle bit colder in the process? A wise man once said "everysociety is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongstthem.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Hmm...

So my thought for the day is about this wonderful quote that I found.

"What is life for? It is for you." Abraham Maslow

It makes me think about how we each have our life and we need to be thankful for that wondeful and precious gift and that we need to be willing to stand up and fight for what is ours and be able to have courage in so many areas and things. I just want to be remembered for good and doing good things for others and being a good person. I don't want my past mistakes or the mistakes that I continue to make to override what a good person I know in my heart I can be and to override the good works that I see it fit in my life to perform.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Busy Sunday!

So Sunday was very busy! I went to church with Andrew and my mom and some of her friends and then we went to lunch at Old Chicago. It was a good time. Andrew really likes going to church and that makes me happy as he seems to really get something out of it and he also has been behaving and being such a good boy lately. I really hope that it continues to go in this direction as he is making me so proud and he really makes me want to do lots of special and fun things with him now that I know that he can behave.

So then we went home and I cleaned our horrifying kitchen, so much work!! I then ended up putting away the ornaments and getting our tree ready to be carried outside. I am going to really need to get on things with Andrew's room and I am so excited to clean my floors with the Shark!! I am going to do those two things tonight and work more on the laundry and then next weekend it is cleaning all weekend long.

I have a very busy week ahead of me. I have to go to court on Friday!! That is going to be one heck of a trip in itself but I have faith that all is going to be working out for the better in the end. I am super stressed, just freaked out thinking that I had missed traffic court and it is on January 28th not December 28th as I had thought that it had been. So I freaked out and stressed for no good reason at all. I also realized last night that I had expired tags on my car and that I need to go and take care of that tomorrow as well. And then I had a bill come late to me from the Children's Place and I have to run out there to drop off the payment to avoid getting a late fee and I am so freaking out and afraid that I am going to forget something. Plus I am trying to get things in order for me to pay off bills and get things in order. I am super happy that I am going to be able to pay off some of the bills when I get my tax return and that I am going to be able to buy some of the stuff that I would like to for the two kids. I am going to get some winter clothing for next year for both of them and each of them a winter coat and then I want to get Shane and I each some clothes as well. After tax returns though I am going to pay off one of my big loans and one of my small credit cards so that will be some extra cash each month that I do not have right now!

So cheers for paying off debt and feeling better financially!! And best of luck to you all!! I hope that your days are going well and that good blessings and good fortune will come to you as well!!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Prescription Crisis

So as you all know, I am a bit hyper and high strung, duh!! Anyways I have always had a hard time focusing and following conversations and such and I got a prescription for Adderall. I did not know that prescriptions were only good for 10 days and I took it to the pharmacy today to get it filled and could not have it as it was over 10 days from when the prescription was written. I am freaking out as my MD is out of town and I do not know how I am going to be able to get in to get a new script. I am hoping that I can get something worked out over the phone on Monday otherwise it is going to be a long week without my medications!! I am going crazy right now my mind has been racing all day and all I want to do is to get my medications and feel normal and to be able to focus again!

New Blogs!

Well ladies I am at the blogging machine, lol!! I am going to be doing multiple blogs to keep myself accountable in different areas of my life and one that just looks at a passion of mine for food and cooking. Yep, I'll admit that I have a passion for eating...lol!!

So my weight loss journey and the journey for a healthy BMI will be blogged about at
http://amandas-losing-weight.blogspot.com/
Here I will talk about my struggles to lose weight, the embarassing and the frustrating times and my overall journey on obtaining health. I will also be chronicalling my work outs through this site and I have my goals set high in this area and not just for the time but for the rest of my life as I know that the true key to health is pushing the limits of our body.

My other blog is about food...yep the good, the bad and the plenty!! It is going to be my chronicle of making healthy meals and healthy food choices for my family and also to give out some great recipes of the dinners that I am preparing for my family. So if you are interested and you enjoy cooking or trying new things, this one might be for you! There will of course be some days when I use the easy way out and don't cook all natural meals but my goal is that we not eat prepackaged or preprepared foods more than two times per week! So I know that I am going to have to put in some extra time to give my family good and healthy meals each and every night of the week!
You can read this one at
http://amandas-journey-with-food.blogspot.com/

Friday, January 2, 2009

And the Year is Off

January started off with a bang at our house. We had so much fun! We hung out with friends and family and celebrated the coming of the new year. Andrew got to stay up extra late (10:00 pm) and toast the new year with some sparkling grape juice as we did two toasts that night, one with him and one later with champagne with the adults. It was a good time that actually seemed to commence a bit early for how wound up I was with the hopes and prospects of what a new year could bring. Who knows where we will all really be in a year? I am convinced that positive changes are going to occur in my life and therefore I will make a more positive impact on those around me.

I am so excited to watch the kids grow and change and to be able to share in some great memories and happy times with them.

Now for my goals of the weekend, well I want to update some pictures on here, myspace, and in my Wal-Mart photo albums so that I can order pictures as soon as possible.

Tomorrow Shane and I are going to head to Peoria to get lunch together at One World and go shopping at the International food mart to get some needed ingrediants for me to start cooking some good food from our new cookbook with Thai and other Asian recipes, I am so excited to make some good Thai food and such. I do know that since I am wanting to do this one purchase that I will make soon is going to be a food processor. I don't have one and for several of the recipes that I would like you need one so I am going to have to hold off on those until I get one.

Not many other plans for the next few days. Andrew wanted to go to grandma and grandpa's for a night and he is going over there on Saturday afternoon so that he and grandpa can build a rabbit trap together and then he is going to stay the night and I will meet him at church the next morning. As for Allie and Shane and I well I want to get the house all picked up, holiday decor put away and get things organized after Christmas. I am hoping that I can accomplish all of this...I am going to be positive and say that I can!! Oh and I want to start doing menu planning for every 2 weeks so that I have a guide for what I will be purchasing at the store and to make grocery lists, which I hope to accomplish today. There will be one for a generic grocery store (Wal Mart, Hy Vee, Kroger, Schnuck's, etc) one for the international food mart, and one for Aldi (hey you gotta save money when you can!!).