Everyday Epiphanies

mes"MRAZ"ed...

I am lost in "Mraz" Land... I've been buying his music and listening to it all night long! Here's my recent favorite, "Sleeping to Dream"  I love love love his live versions.. the best!!!  Ooohh.. 

Sleeping to dream about you
and I'm so tired.
Of havin' to live without you
But I don't mind.
Sleeping to dream about you and I'm so tired.

Random thoughts through out the week, I repeat very random... not sure what occupies this brain of mine sometimes...

• I'm Thirty-One.. Thirty One!  Another year. Feeling so thankful and blessed indeed.  So many riches in my life, so many reasons to be thankful.
  
• The thing about first time "schoolers" is they believe everything that comes home with them needs to be looked at right away and turned in the very next day...  My kindergarten'r insists that she buy tons of books from those Scholastic Book Flyers, then she asks me to read the entire Aurora Newsletter to her, even the part about the rules and regulations, she insist I fill out all the PTA papers, or join the Running-Club because it's a pretty pink paper.. She gets really upset if I just leave it on the dining table and tend to it later! 
• This quote stuck to my head: "The first rule of Fight Club is - you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is - you DO NOT talk about Fight Club."  But my real thoughts was aimed at Paula for grasping the idea or rule, that on our outings, one must share photos within 4 hours of the event, so that one will have photos to blog the next day.. 
• All this driving, dropping them to school, picking them up from school, dropping them home, going back out to pick the other one from Basketball Practice.. is going to get very old.. soon!
• I really like the Jonas Brothers..  but I like Nick oh wait, maybe Joe.. "I'm burning up for you baby!" yeah I'm 12 all over again!
• P-Diddy!  and his latest comment.. "Alaska? Alaska? Alaska? Alaska. Ala-- Come on, man. I don't even know if there's any black people in Alaska. There's not even no crackheads in Alaska! There's not even no black people. There's not even no like -- crime or, uh, uh like -- Foreign policies.."  Ha, ha.. Oh some people can be so "un-edu-mi-cated"  And in case your wondering, this is a very diverse state and we do indeed have crackheads!
  
• My mom is not doing well.  She has continued to be in serious pain from her second round of chemo where she got the "shingles". I can't stand to hear her cry.  I cried for hours the other day.. like a little kid wanting to go home to her mommy...
• Ha, ladies if you only knew what I wished for when I blew my candles out the other night.. it will knock your socks off, or rather your snow boots, I should say... 
• Weighing in.. trying to find some kind of widget or ticker to keep track of my weight.. anyone know?  Longing to be a size 4 again and getting rid of my "Muffin-Top" or my "Cinnamon-Roll" whatever you call this bulge hanging over my jeans..
• Eating much better though.. (except for all those Twix candy bars found in my gift bags!) I snack on Edamame a lot! My portions are the size of my fist, and I have small hands, I add veggies to all our meals, and I dump that more on my plate than anything.. I think last night all I really ate are Asparagus'.  Snacking on my new favorite fruit, Pluots
• "Honey, I know we have like 4 computers, but I would love a new laptop. Please, pretty please (insert batting of the eyelashes!)  Wouldn't it be nice to take my iChat Buddies to bed with us?"

Alright, now it's officially Friday.  It's been a few days since I've stayed up this late.  Lately I've been in bed by 10:30 pm, on the weekdays that is!  So I'm officially over-tired.  But I enjoyed Jason Mraz, while I was at it... Another day of work tomorrow then we are off to a BBQ that was planned several weeks ago.  Hopefully it will be nice out, well by nice I mean, not pouring raining!

Okay one more Mraz Music.. that makes me (and the family) move!

30 + 1

That would be me, as of September 2.

It turned out to be a "Not-So-Bad" of a day after all.  It started off on the wrong foot, wrong side of bed, wrong direction, just wrong, wrong, wrong... "things" left me grumpy, dumpy, and mopey.. even the hubby felt the sting of my "crappy" mood.

But I could not help but to smile at the Facebook Shout outs:

Then there's the persistent friends who insist that you celebrate your birthday!  Dulce and Erica had planned dinner that night... and as crappy as I was feeling, I text them that I would not make it to my own birthday celebration and wanted a "Raincheck".  The phone rang 2 seconds later with Dulce sounding a little disappointed but always so understanding, "Why?", she says.. Then all I have to say to her is "It's just one of those days.. nothing is going right!" Oh she knows what I'm talking about. If it's one thing Dulce has learned about me in one short year, is that, she can tell by the sound of my breathing, when I've already have had a bad day.  Then, the cat was out of the bag... She said she planned this big dinner with not just her and Erica, but our other girlfriends from the Scrapbook Store too.. The list went on and on.. Then I felt so bad, how could I rain on her parade? Well, technically my parade. How could I let a rotten start to my day, ruin my day?  I decided to still go to my "surprise" dinner after work.  I did let her know before we hung up, "I don't like surprises!" 

I got to work this morning, busy as could be!  Go figure!  But my girls quickly brought me coffee and a scone! *Thank You!*

We met up at Ichiban, my new favorite sushi spot!  And enjoyed a delicious dinner!  (I do have photos, cough*cough* Paula, I'm still waiting...it's now 11pm, what do you think your doing, going to bed?)

But thank you ladies for all the gifts!  I *heart* them all, you ladies are so sweet!  I know I see you guys more at the store during work or at crops, so this dinner was such a nice surprise!

One of the highlights of a Not-So-Bad-Birthday-After-All was this:

 

LOL! I guess you could say my "Not-So-Bad-Birthday" was indeed a very good day after all. 

A New Week, A New Month.

September already?  Really, where does time go?  At stores, Halloween and Christmas things are already on display. There is definitely  a crispness in the air early in the morning.  The leaves are slowly turning. I've even turned on the heat in the mornings! We've already talked about getting studs for my truck, parking in the garage, going Snow Tubing, and getting our yearly Winter Gear.  Some people dread winter.  I just dread how long it really is here.  I don't mind being a homebody, cause I just am... I am quite content staying home and scrapbooking... seriously. But I do dread driving in the winter!  You can bet the only places I drive to are work and the kids to school! 

The first week of school, came and went for my little Izzy.  She enjoyed every bit of it.  She's surprised me in becoming quite the early bird.  That girl is up and ready for breakfast at 6 am!  Thank goodness I beat her to the punch at being awake at 5:45 am!  The only thing I need to work on is getting dinner at the table by 5:30 pm!  If I wait any longer she will already be asleep! Last week was an easy going week, mainly because I took the week off.  This week, I will be at work, so now I have to juggle my work-role and my mommy-role.  Hopefully it will go just as smoothly.

Until then.. been doing some digi-scrapping (of course, what else do I do?)... I just need to journal!

Enjoy yet another new week!

Monday's Jibber-Jabber.

No School means Kids are home today.  But it will be a relaxing day.  The hubby actually has today off, not because it's a holiday but it just so happens it coincides with his day off. 

This was a week of Political Jibberish in my house.. Now the views that are about to be expressed are my own thoughts and personal views that stemmed from a week of watching the Democratic Conventions and now the introduction of our own Governor Sarah Palin as McCain's VP running mate.. I am not a very political person.. in fact, it's the least of my favorite subjects.  I hear the word politics and I run.. It's like that clip on House Bunny where she's on a date and he asks her, "So who are you going to vote for?" and she says, "Well, I always agree with Paula and Randy, I barely listen to what Simon says.. That would be me..

So what started this rash of odd behavior and strong sense that my teeny-tiny vote could make a difference?  Well, it has never seemed so apparent as it does now.. that this year is the time of change. This election is by far reaching more people and more importantly to the younger crowds, the crowd that never had a political bone in their body! ..  Maybe it is because this is the first time America has faced a presidential candidate of color.. or the fact that we could, for the first time in history, have a woman as Vice President!  Now don't you want to be a part of that history?  I do!

I did write a bit more about my personal politcal views, but I know it would end up being like a novel or some horrid short story, so to spare you the skimming I wrote the rest of it on a new PAGE.  As I read more about our Presidential candidates I know I will have more to add. 

Let's recap shall we?

• It was Hubby's Birthday on the 25th.  His spanking new present has yet to arrive in our house in the form of a 46" flat screen tv:)  Soon baby... soon!  He had to work that day so we didn't do much.  But we can always celebrate anyday!

• We celebrated Logan's (Erica's Hubby) Birthday which fell a few days after Rudy's at Ichiban.  I've never been there before and I must say I was quite impressed. It was good!

• We drove to Wasilla and visited some of their Local Scrapbook Stores out there where I spent more than I should have and enjoyed some lunch at Chilis.

• I've been spending some time in my Scrap/Computer Room enjoying the "quiet" of having this house to myself!  I've been trying to finish some old photos from when we first moved here back in 2004/2005.  Nothing like multi-page photos to finish the job.  (This was back in May 2005)

• My hubby and my oldest went Paintballing again this week, they had so much fun!

Well the first week of school for Isabel has been really good. She really enjoys it.  I am still adjusting at waking up every morning at 545 to start our day. (My oldest starts school so much earlier!) By the time dinner rolls around I am as tired as can be.  Let's see what this week brings!  I'm sure I will fill you guys in:)  Enjoy your Monday off!

No Kid Thursday.

Now that I've gotten over a few emotional roller coasters... Here are some things I've begun to notice as a MOM OF THREE WITH ALL THREE IN SCHOOL:)

• Suddenly... I can hear.. actually hear my own thoughts! And boy they are a LOT going on in there!
• The Grocery Store is my new hangout! It is actually not a painful chore, not anymore. I no longer have to hear which Fruit Roll Up we are bringing home.
• Empty Hands. I don't know what to do with them. No little hands to hold. I felt like they were swinging out of control.
• Time goes by faster. Yes.. next thing you know, they are already home.
• My house is a home. A comfy home too!
• I automatically change the channel to the Disney Channel. 
• Seriously? Days of Our Lives characters are still there!  Stefano? Marlena? John? and Beau?
• I can't sit still.  I feel like if I do, I have just wasted 5 minutes!  So today I cleaned, did laundry, stripped off bedsheets, made dinner by 1 pm, and just kept moving... so that tonight I can scrap :)
• I enjoy my evenings a lot more because I'm not scrambling trying to do everything in the evening!
• And my favorite part: The "i"'s  I can go out, like anywhere, and anytime as long as I pick them up, I can eat lunch whenever and with whoever, I can have some peace, I can go shopping!, I can talk on the phone without interruptions, I can be on the computer all day if I wanted to (although I'm barely on!), and I can SCRAPBOOK! Wow.. I never use "I" so much in a sentence before. 

Enjoy your Friday!

So...

I bet your dying to know what 2 days of NO KIDS in the house has done for me? But first, to document about that "little hole in my heart..."

Along with the pure heartache of watching Isabel become such an independent young lady. I am truly soaking up my newly founded "me" time. I even decided to take the rest of the week off from work, to adjust to such drastic changes in my life.

I admit, Izzy's first day of school was not an easy transition, for me that is. I was choked up from the night before, thinking of having to let her go.  I thought of ways I could dodge Kindergarten.  I don't know, home school, maybe, or find a Kindergarten that's half day.  But it was inevitable.  She was going. More so, she was so excited to go.  Now I can't take that from her, right??? Driving to school, I can't even count the times I looked in the rear view mirror to see her fidgeting with her little hands.  Only if she knew how my heart was racing 100 mph along with this giant knot in my throat. Wishing I could just stop the hands of time, at this very moment in time.. just to let her know how I wish I just had a few more years of just she and I.

We walk to her class, find her cubby and her desk. Click, click, click.. My shutter speed is going crazy at this point. I look around and see who is in her class. Looking at all the parents, wondering if they are going to start "balling" on their way out too.  A few minutes passed, I see the parents lingering out the door, but not me. I just can't quite leave, without reminding her that I will be waiting for her after school, and telling her that her teacher can help her if she needs any help, or to remind her one last time where the bathroom is. She looked over at me and anxiously said, "okay, okay.."  Then I said "Bye" for the 100th time, and she finally looked at me and said.."Just go already!" 

Phew.. well in that case, that I will!  She's lucky she's so cute:) 

In that short drive going home, it was like I was strolling through memory lane. I saw glimpses of my 8lb 12 oz baby girl that was handed to me on a Sunday morning.  I envisioned her first steps, endless nights snuggled in bed with one hand on my chest and the other on my cheek as we faced one another, snuggled so tightly. Fast forward to my little "sweet & sassy" Izzy with the most adorable (and sometimes quite annoying) hi-pitched voice that mimicked all I do.  Everywhere I went, she was sure to be right behind me.

And now I just dropped her off to Big-Girl School, in a shirt she picked out, her hair in curls, with a backpack bigger than her, a lunch box with a ham sandwich without the crust, her nails a pretty shade of pink, and me, empty handed.. no little hands to hold as I walked through the parking lot to my truck. I looked back to the empty seat behind me. And tears just streamed down my face. I sat there asking myself if "Where did time go?" and most importantly, "Did I make the most of it?" Both with the same answer, "'I'm not sure.."

Gearing Up.

I've been sick this weekend, and still not feeling so great.  Not only do I suffer from massive migraines once a month, I have a horrible cold.  But you know us moms, we need to keep going.  However, Saturday, I was down!  I worked till 2 pm, came home to a quiet house, hubby took the kids to the pool, so I snuggled up in bed and took a nap till 8pm!  But my headache would not budge.  So by 11 pm, I caved in and took a prescription that I've had for a while but never took because I hate taking any medication that could make you "sleepy".  But it was so bad that I had to take it.  Shortly after that, I slept for another 10 hours!

So needless to say, I'm still trying to catch up from sleeping so much on Saturday.  I'm up doing some laundry and making meal plans for this week.  Isabel starts school on Tuesday.. and you will hear my thoughts on that tomorrow!

But on Friday, I decided to go out anyway with Erica and Dulce to see "HouseBunny".. it was hilarious! 

Here's my ride.. Ms. Erica at my door, now you know I need a booster to climb up this sucker!

Sushi again.. Erica's such a good sport, cause she hates, I mean hates, sushi! So thanks girl for watching us devour sushi!

Rewind, here is the text message before Erica knew what was for dinner between Dulce and I:

Dulce:  We can go eat sushi

Me:  Sounds good to me

Dulce:  What about E?

Me: Not sure she will be here soon

Dulce:  Don't tell her LOL!

The movie kept us repeating that funny way she talks to say names... :)

Until then.. I completed a few Digi-Layouts.  One is for my February Recap, I still have to add a few more journaling and I think I will add some brushes too!  (I'm still doing a month-in-review, but some of the big events will be in mini books, like my mom visiting or hubby going to Hawaii).

And this was the other side to a page a made a while back to our sushi night and the movies:

I'm doing the Digi!  And I bought some great stuff over at Designer Digitals this weekend.. I must say my good friend, Anna ROCKS!  Her stuff is always amazing.. can't wait to use it!

Lost Love.

I love paper.
I work with all things paper.
I love buying paper.
I love looking at paper.

But once in a while, my photoshop turns me on too :)

One quick page and I'm done scrapbooking her Lesson One Swimming Class!

In a matter of minutes, I scrapped 25 photos!  That's it.  Memories recorded and preserved. And I've already moved  on to the next set of memories!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! The hubby is off this weekend, plan to hang out with the family, maybe finish some much needed cleaning up in the house and garage, we vowed one another a night out with our friends, so I'm headed out to dinner and the movies, House Bunny (looks hilarious!) and he will be Paint Balling. 

First Day...

Of School.. came and went!  Quite honestly I was way too tired to be excited for any of them.  My oldest woke up at the crack of dawn, got dressed, stared at himself about a hundred times in the mirror, fixing his hair at least a thousand times, but it looked exactly the same?  Then my hubby took him out for breakfast at Snow City at 6:30 am.  Uhm? I'm sorry I don't function at 6:30 am, yet alone at 8 am too! The hubby actually let me sleep in, he came home with food for my middle guy. So I did not have to cook!  (Did I mention, I love this man?)  And then, to top it off, he even took Ethan to school!  Gotta love those shift schedules when he is actually awake at the time in the morning!  (He was up since the night before!) Needless to say, I do not have have tons of photos, or any good ones for that matter, of the kids first day of school. But you can bet, Izzy will have tons of photos next week!

 

Instead I was all bright-eyed for my day with Izzy.  We met her Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Barnes and she did an Assestment Test with her while I filled out a stack of paperwork!  Then she gave us a tour of the school and explaining what to expect.  It was nice. And I seriously cannot wait!

After that it was a mad-dash to go the grocery store and I was able to make dinner by 5 pm! Just before hubby left for work. Then I was on "Mommy-Mojo".  After dinner and cleaning up, I got the kids in their PJ's, I even cleaned the bathroom, did more laundry, and planned dinner for the rest of the week. Phew, yes, my "Mommy-Mojo" is back baby. Yeah Baby.  (Said in Austin Powers character)

T'was the night before...

the first day of school, well for two of my three.  And excitement and anxiousness fills the air at 10:00 pm.. Everyone is restless!  We sit around, finishing up some Olympic Coverage.. clapping aloud for Shawn Johnson who took home the gold on the balance beam!  The boys are still giggling at how they can just drop and sit on the balance beam!  (I guess it's a boy joke:) And I, on the other hand is so dead tired, I guess the weekend is finally catching up on me, that I actually took a nap earlier this evening. So now I know I'll be up for quite a while tonight, which will probably be dedicated to finishing up the laundry while watching recordings of The Office and CSI.

My 8th grader is so excited, especially since he is not a "Sevy" (that's what they called him when he was a a 7th grader).  He's a little more excited this year, now that he knows his way around the school now.  He's happy that he's only got 2 AP classes, Language Arts and Science, as oppose to last year when he had all AP Core Classes, which he said was too hard, or as I called, "not enough social time".  I guess this is the age, where they "care" about their outfits and matching shoes and what nots.  So he's got his first day all planned out.  Might I remind you that he no longer fits in the kids section... all of his stuff were men's sizes, and I thought I was gonna hurl at the prices! One pair of shoes alone was nearly 100 bucks! And of course, you can't have just one pair at this age!  So I spoiled him a little, knowing that he deserved it.  He "babysat" his siblings this entire summer so I could work, so he deserves it!  

On the other hand, my 5th grader... My "Ethan", the sweetest boy in the world, is the most laid back kid! All he wanted was stuff his brother had, but it was hard to shop for him. Unfortunately Pac Sun did not carry youth sizes, so I shopped a lot at Zumiez and Nordstroms for him. (Not a whole lot of those, skater type shops here).  He didn't get quite as big of a pile as his big brother but it didn't even phase him. He always tells me, "I don't need anything new mom, I'm fine!"  How sweet.

I'm sure I will have some photos to post tomorrow of their first day of school, even though both boys have said that they are fine walking to their classrooms themselves, I insisted on being there, for Ethan maybe. Caelan starts school to early for me :) So tomorrow it will be just Izzy and I for another week. And then she is off to school too!

So it's officially back to block schedules, to-do lists, earlier dinners, earlier bedtimes, homework in the afternoons, and extra-curricular activities, soccer, dance, swimming.. I'm Ready!