Category Archives: Life

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A little shy of 3,000 words today. I am immensely proud of myself. It seems to be getting easier with time, which is good. I have so many notes and random scenes that need to be put into a flowing and coherent story.

I have started following some of my favorite authors on twitter and I believe that some of their words of wisdom may actually be rubbing off on me. I try to take their advice into account when working on my writing; I just cannot devote hours at a time to it like they suggest. I am lucky if all my little moments stolen here and there equal an hour. I would not give up my time with MJ for anything though 🙂

snow

snow

MJ got to play in the snow for the first time last week. He had a blast! We made a little snowman, which he promptly knocked over because he wanted to eat it. He rolled around, laughed a little, and then took an amazing nap for mommy 😀 I am so glad I get to spend so much time with him; I wish it could be more.

New puppy

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While we were staying with my grandparents, our chocolate lab, Marley, got used to there always being someone home. Even though she is home alone for less than four hours on average, we could tell that it was starting to get to her. For our birthday, CJ and I decided to spend some birthday money on a friend for Marley.

CJ started doing some research and found a litter of puppies on the Open Arms Rescue website. Their adoption fee was more than reasonable and included everything. We went to an adoption event and were able to play with all the dogs they had there and make our selection.

The puppy we chose was not yet ready to leave her mother, so they had us write our name on her collar. We then had to provide the phone number for our vet as a reference to being responsible pet owners. Also, the OAR does home visits. As we live about an hour away from their headquarters and the weather was bad that weekend, we were allowed to send in pictures of our home.

We picked up the new puppy this past weekend and brought her home; named her Presley. MJ absolutely adores her. This is great because once she is house trained, we want her to sleep in with him. Marley already sleeps with us and we cannot fit another dog in our bad.

MJ seems to be the only “child” who likes her so far. Marley seems to not care for Presley at all. We are trying to constantly reassure her that she is still our girlie and we love her. Hopefully, she quickly gets over her shyness and will start playing with Presley. Marley needed a friend and I do not want her to act weird around her sister forever.

Presley already adores Marley and attempts to follow her around, when Marley will let her that is. I think MJ will be the one to finally get the girls to the place were they are okay with each other and play with one another.

MJ and Presley - sibling love :)

MJ and Presley – sibling love 🙂

Surprised…NOT

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A few years ago, when I first began this blog and then abandoned it, I had written about the child care I worked at. If was affliated with a hospital. The higher-ups at said hospital decided that the child care was no longer making the amount of money they wanted it to, so they closed it. The kicker – other local child cares knew what was happening before we did because they had been informed of a possible influx of children.

I am now employed at the same hospital on a part-time basis and really rely on this position.

Yesterday, CJ called me from work. His co-worker had come into his office with the newspaper. She wanted to know why he had not told her that the hospital where his wife worked is closing. He had no idea what she was talking about. He looked up the article himself and then called me. This is how I found out that I am most likely going to lose my job if the hospital cannot restructure into an urgent care. Even then, the evening shift would not be the same, if it even was eight hours.

Lots of my other co-workers found out about the closure on the news. Absolutely none of the “average” staff were told ahead of time. Doctors, nurses, registrars, NO ONE. The only people informed ahead of time were the members of the board who sat in and made this decision.

Back to the drawing board to find new employment. I do not think I will be able to find anything that is so flexible with finding a sitter for MJ before CJ gets home and is so close to our house.

I was schocked about the closure, but not really about the way the hospital handled it. I mean, that was the same way that they had handled closing the child care, so…

Here is to speedily finding something to help with the fact that we just bought our home and really need to be able to make our mortgage payments :/

My Thursday

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Thursday, I entered work and was approached by my supervisor. She informed me that she had offered out my services to a friend saying I would not charge them. I was upset, not because she said I would do it free of charge, but because of what it entailed. She wanted me to tutor an autistic girl to help her pass her GED exam. I was schocked that I would not be allowed to make my own assessment to see if this was something that I felt was actually achievable. Later in my shift, she told me that I needed to start running a fire drill with the kids, but I had to wait and do it when she was in the building so there would be an adult there. I was a little offened since as a wife, mother, and homeowner I assumed I was an adult. I guess I was wrong. Maybe that is why she felt she could dictate what I did with my free time.

My sister called me during my shift, and as she was watching MJ, I panicked and answered my phone. Since she knew I was at work, she made it short and sweet. She said she had to go out and would be taking MJ with her; not to worry, they would be home before I got off work. She had not texted to say they were home and it was nearing the end of my shift. I tried to text her; no reply. Obviously, I freaked out. I tried to call her and it went straight to voicemail. Next, I tried calling her husband. He responded and said not to worry, they would just bring MJ to me at my work.

When they finally arrived, I was walking out to my car to put MJ’s car seat back in it and my sister pulled the door of my work closed behind her. It was locked and my keys were still on the desk. At least my sister was kind enough to let me sit in her car while I figured out what we were going to do. I had the phone number for one of the volunteers who lived close, so I called her. She said another one of the volunteers who lived close had a key and she would get ahold of them for me. We waited about fifteen minutes and then I was able to get back into the building, get my keys, and go home – which I was more than ready to do by that point.

Once I arrived at home, I was attcked by the dog, who is always beyond happy when someone comes home. I took her out with MJ still in my arms (which is a process all in itself) and then went inside with the intent of starting dinner. As I was walking through the dining room, I noticed something strange on the floor. I turned on the light and realized that when CJ had changed the trash bag in the morning, he had not taken the old bag outside and so the dog (who we cannot really blame) got into the trash and my kitchen and dining room were a mess. It was extremely difficult to clean the mess while keeping MJ out of it so it did not become any bigger. Then I still needed to get dinner going for when CJ came home.

By this point, after everything that had happened, I had had enough so I called my mother acting more upset than I probably should have been. She talked me down (she has a knack for that) and as soon as she could hear my tears had stopped, she started laughing at me! She said I needed to lighten up and realize that it was pretty hilarious I managed to accomplish all those things in only one day – thanks, Mom. I do not know how she did it, but of course I started laughing too. That women truly has a gift.

Of course, now the whole thing sounds extremly ridiculous and I laugh thinking about how crazy that day was. I too am impressed by the amount of havoc that I can cause/be a part of all in one day.

:-)

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I already knew CJ was a great guy, but a few days ago was one of those days where you can really see what you have and be so unbelievably amazed by it.

While we were out shopping, MJ and I had drifted off and when I rounded the corner to the aisle, CJ looked up and saw us. As he looked our that direction, he saw a woman struggling to put a large bag of dog food into her cart. With no hesitation, he walked over to her and said, “Ma’am (yes, he said ma’am!), can I help you?”

She looked completely relieved, as no one else had stopped to help her. He proceeded to help her load two large bags into her cart and then we went on our way, finished our shopping, and went home.

When we got home, I pulled the pork out of the crockpot and began to shred it for dinner. MJ puttered his way over to me and stood between my legs while I was working. I heard CJ ask, “Where’s my baby boy?” MJ stuck his head out from between my legs, looked at his dad, and laughed. He laughed so hard – I adore baby giggles.

CJ continued asking where MJ was and MJ continued popping his head out and laughing. As all babies do, MJ played this game way past the point where it was actually fun, but CJ continued right along without sounding frustrated or tired of it.

He constantly surprises me with how he has seamlessly transitioned into being a dad from having never been around small children before. He is just absolutely amazing and I hope he knows that I realize how lucky I am to have him.

YCN

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Today marks my first day as a published writer on the Yahoo Contributor Network. I know it is not a lot; CJ tells me all the time that anyone can publish stuff on there, but it is a step in the right direction for me. Anything that furthers my writing career is okay in my book. It is not a very big article, there was only a 400 word limit after all, but I am proud of it anyway.

There are still far too many boxes to be unpacked and MJ is having a field day trying to get into every single one. It is really hard to unpack around children; I am glad we only have one at the moment 🙂

CJ tried with all his might to get the wireless working so I could be up and running on here, but for all his efforts, he just could not seem to make it work. He is normally such an IT wizard that we were both shocked he could not make it work. Surprisingly enough, I am the one who got it to work although if you asked me I could not tell you how I did it.

MJ has been taking four or five steps only for the most part, but I just saw him walk across an entire room! He is only 10 months old!! Where did the time go? It really needs to slow down and it can happen at any time now.

Nap time for the little guy now, so time to get some unpacking done. All but one room that we wanted painted is done so no more pink! Will post a few pictures once there are less boxes to mar the view.

Internet

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Quickly I am dropping the ball on my promise of at least five posts per week. It is an awful hard promise to maintain considering there is no internet in the new house yet. It is supposed to be installed this weekend – I am so excited! Is it sad though that internet access has become such a necessity? CJ is feeling the loss of not being able to use his Netflix account and I did not realize just how much I liked writing on here everyday until I was not able to.

It has actually been an okay thing that I have not been able to write because MJ has been sick and considering it is the first time he has really been sick, he needed more than normal attention. He pulled through like a champ though. He is such an amazing little boy.

Hopefully, I will be able to return to regular blogging next week. I look forward to sharing some of the “face-lift” pictures of the house.

Night One

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We my have closed last Friday, but last night was the first night we slept in the house. Attempting to paint and move by oneself is awful hard.

The woman who lived in the house prior to us must have had a great love affair with the color pink. Four of the rooms in the house were an “awesome” shade of pink. They had to be painted, especially MJ’s room. There is no way CJ was alright with his son sleeping in a pink room 🙂

A large number of people offered to help us this past Sunday, so we ordered a sheet pizza for them all, then no one showed up. Unwilling to have spent all that money for nothing, CJ and I set our Paleo beliefs on hold and ate pizza for three days straight.

CJ had to borrow a dolly from work so we could attempt to move some of the larger furniture oursleves. Very few things are in the place where I want them and only three rooms of the five I wanted painted are finished. Hopefully we will be able to accomplish a lot this weekend as CJ’s parents made the six hour trip to come and help us.

Last night, CJ made our first night special. He surprised me with some sparkling cider, romantic lighting, and “our song.” He danced with me in what will eventually be our dining room. Can you say major “brownie points?” He may like to pretend he is all gruff, but he can pull out some of the sweetest moves of any guy. He is making this whole process much less stessful than it could be and I am so thankful for him.

WTH

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Today, CJ and I had to drive to the city to sign our closing papers. That is right! You read correctly. We are now, finally, homeowners.

While we were gone, my cousin watched MJ for us. She absolutely adores him and bonus – does not charge 🙂 She was snuggling with him when he fell asleep for his afternoon nap so her nineteen year old self could not ignore the photo op. She took a picture of the two of them cuddling and posted it on Facebook.

Being the proud mama that I am, I commented saying, “Custest baby ever.” Obviously he is mine and I would think so. My sister, being her ever callous self and having no social filter had commented, “I beg to differ.” It would have been less rude if she meant that she was partial to her kids, or something along those lines, but that was never stated; just that she “begged to differ.” My son was not cute whether it be only in the picture or in general.

I feel like I should not have to constantly remind myself that she has no filter and that she does not always mean what she says as she does not think before she speaks. She is an adult with two children and one of the way. Is it crazy for me to expect her to grow up, act her age, and practice good social graces?

D and D

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Yesterday, some boys came into the community center where I work. They are part of a group who plays Dungeons and Dragons every Wednesday.

This particular day, they asked me if I wanted to play with them. To be honest, I have always wanted to play it, just to see what it was like. The boys were there from 2:30pm to 4:30pm and all we accomplished in this time was making characters. I had no idea how much was involved!

You had to decided your class, then your race. Pick a name and occupation for yourself. Choose weapons and special abilities. Note down armor stats and roll to see how much dexterity, etc that you had.

There were five boys in total that day, plus they were making characters for some that were not there. I think they were very excited that a girl was going to be playing with them. Next Wednesday we are supposed to be starting our campaign (at least that is what I think it is called). I am not going to lie, I am probably a little more excited than I should be. I have no idea how to play or what is going to happen, but as I am stocked with a longbow and punching daggers, I think I will be alright 🙂