Halloween

This is my favorite holiday. I absolutely love it. I love dressing up as something completly different and acting the part for the day. It's not the candy that is my favorite part it is the dressing up. I do usually get funny stares and I have some people laugh because not very many adults dress up for Halloween. I love it. I wish Halloween came twice a year. I love Halloween because you can dress up and pretend to be something you are not. You can be something silly, scary, crazy, it doesn't matter. As long as you have fun. Yesterday we went to visit some family friends who wanted to see the kids in their costumes and I, for once, didn't dress up. The kids didn't know what to think. I have always dressed up with them on Halloween and the night before when we went visiting family and friends.

I have been a witch, both pretty and ugly (wart covered nose and all), a clown, a vampire, a ghost, a puppy, a big baby, a hippy, a bag lady, Raggety Ann, Pippy Longstocking, and a rock star. Those are just the costumes that I have worn in the last few years.

This year is a little sad for me. My twelve year old daughter told me that this year is the last year she is dressing up. I tried to talk her out of it saying I dress up every year but it didn't work. She said she is done. My eight year old son also told me that this year is his last year trick or treating. He said that next year he just wants to dress up and pass out candy at home. I knew, as a partent, that someday this day was going to come. Still it saddens me. It shows me that my babies are not really babies anymore. They are growing up. I don't like it. :( Oh well, that is life. We all grow and move on. Even though they are finished I will still continue to dress up and I will still continue to decorate my front yard.

People Watching - A more improved version

People Watching

I arrive at school early today. I sit in the atrium and decide to kill time by people watching. A guy walks into the atrium, catching my attention. He walks in with his head down and a little hunched over due to the overloaded backpack on his back. He reminds me of a hunchback as he schelps along. I cannot see his face. He scans the room searching for the perfect table. He picks the most secluded table in the room. He sits at his table, like a loner; no one near him. He starts digging in his backpack and unpacks his stuff. His digs out his laptop and sets it out on the table although he doesn’t pay attention to it yet. He sets out his book, a notebook, pencil, and highlighter and lays everything out on the table in an orderly way. He lines up the pencil and highlighter neatly beside the notebook which he has already lined up perfectly beside the keyboard of his laptop. He yawns and stretches and leans back in his chair with his feet extended out in front of him, crosses them at the ankle, and then puts his hands behind his head. Like a quiet observer he turns his head side to side, surveying the room.  Again he doesn't look directly at me so I still cannot see his face. A few minutes later a woman walks over to him and sits down beside him at the table. They scoot their chairs beside each other and hold hands. She rests her head on his shoulder. A group of guys walk up to them. Suddenly he becomes the group’s comedian. He stands up; waving his arms as he talks to the group. They are all laughing at him. I can see part of a tattoo on his left bicep as he lifts his arm. Curiosity gets the better of me and I crane my neck trying to see the blue green art work hidden by part of his shirt sleeve.  Unsatisfied the artwork stays a mystery to me. A few minutes later the woman and the guys leave. He sits back down at the table and puts his head down. He appears to be tired. I sit and watch him and the others in the room for a little while longer. I think he may have fallen asleep. Suddenly his cell phone starts vibrating on the table. He jumps up and starts tossing things back into his backpack. Because of the reckless way he tosses things in his back pack it becomes evident that he feels rushed. As he quickly leaves the room he pauses at a couple of tables to say a few quick words to people. He moves from table to a table much like a social butterfly. As he heads off to his new destination his path has him walking right past my table. I look up at him now that I can finally see the front of his body. He has on a light gray t-shirt with OTC written across his chest, his blue fuzzy house shoes, and his hair sticking up in all different directions. It makes me wonder if he got dressed this morning or did he wear that to bed last night and when his alarm went off this morning he just got up and came to school without bothering to change or to comb his hair.  As he walks closer I pray that my mouth does not fall open in shock because surely my eyes have deceived me. He has a pair of small round dark colored framed glasses perched upon his unusually large beak like nose although the source of my bewilderment has nothing to do with the size of his nose. Flabbergasted I stare at him with my mouth agape as he walks right past my table. The guy has a lot of make up on! I have never seen a guy with that much eyeliner, eye shadow, and bright pink lipstick on before. Disgusted with that image I have decided that I have had enough people watching for the day. I head off to my class trying to think of something else, anything, to remove that image from my mind. 

Mona Lisa with a gas mask

What a strange writing promt for us to write about. A picture of Mona Lisa wear a gas mask. This picture reminds me of movies where people think the world is ending, of old war photos, or "end of the world survival packs". This is so strange. I'm not even sure what to make of it. Why would someone even do this to a classic piece of art work? Not that I think the Mona Lisa is a beautiful piece of art anyway but it is a classic. I think it is one of the most recongizable piece of art work.

My favorite type of artwork is of beautiful scenery. My favorite artis is Thomas Kinkaid. I have some of his stuff in my house. Okay so only one thing is really his the others are copies. However, I think they are beautiful. One of my favorite is a white gazebo in a garden. The gazebo is round with tall white tillars. The room is a soft shade of blue. they are all different colors and kinds of flowers in bloom all around the gazebo. I have this paining hanging up in the middle of my kitchen wall. Another thing I have of his is a beautiful gold trimmed butterfly. The butterfly's wings are painted with his artwork.

The strap on the top of the gas mask on Mona Lisa looks like a latch. It reminds me of the kind you would see on a straight jacket. I find this fastener weird. Almost like it really doesn't belong.

People Watching...edited version

People Watching

I arrive at school early today. I sit in the atrium and decide to kill time by people watching. A guy walks into the atrium, catching my attention. He walks in with his head down and a little hunched over due to the overloaded backpack on his back. I cannot see his face. He scans the room searching for the perfect table. He picks the most secluded table in the room. He sits at his table, like a loner; no one near him. He starts digging in his backpack and unpacks his stuff. His digs out his laptop and sets it out on the table although he doesn’t pay attention to it yet. He sets out his book, a notebook, pencil, and highlighter and lays everything out on the table in an orderly way. He lines up the pencil and highlighter neatly beside the notebook which he has already lined up perfectly beside the keyboard of his laptop. He yawns and stretches and leans back in his chair with his feet extended out in front of him, crosses them at the ankle, and then puts his hands behind his head and surveys the room. Like a quiet observer he turns his head side to side, surveying the room.  Again he doesn't look directly at me so I still cannot see his face. A few minutes later a woman walks over to him and sits down beside him at the table. They scoot their chairs beside each other and hold hands. She rests her head on his shoulder. A group of guys walk up to them. Suddenly he becomes the group’s comedian. He stands up; waving his arms as he talks to the group. They are all laughing at him. I can see part of a tattoo on his left bicep as he lifts his arm. Curiosity gets the better of me and I crane my neck trying to see the art work hidden by part of his shirt sleeve.  Left unsatisfied; the artwork stays a mystery to me. A few minutes later the woman and the guys leave. He sits back down at the table and puts his head down. He appears to be tired. I sit and watch him and the others in the room for a little while longer. I think he may have fallen asleep. Suddenly his cell phone starts vibrating on the table. He jumps up and starts tossing things back into his backpack. Because of the reckless way he tosses things in his back pack it becomes evident that he feels rushed. As he quickly leaves the room he pauses at a couple of tables to say a few quick words to people. He moves from table to a table much like a social butterfly. As he heads off to his new destination his path has him walking right past my table. I look up at him now that I can finally see the front of his body. He has on a gray t-shirt with OTC written across his chest, his blue fuzzy house shoes, and his hair sticking up in all different directions. It makes me wonder if he got dressed this morning or did he wear that to bed last night and when his alarm went off this morning he just got up and came to school without bothering to change or to comb his hair.  As he walks closer I pray that my mouth does not fall open in shock because surely my eyes have deceived me. He has a pair of small round framed glasses perched upon his unusually large beak like nose although the source of my bewilderment has nothing to do with the size of his nose. Flabbergasted I stare at him with my mouth agape as he walks right past my table. The guy has a lot of make up on! I have never seen a guy with that much eyeliner, eye shadow, and bright pink lipstick on before. Disgusted with that image I have decided that I have had enough people watching for the day. I head off to my class trying to think of something else, anything, to remove that image from my mind. 

What if...

What kind of writing can I start with using this topic? There are so many ways you can finish this sentence. What if I had a million dollars
What if I had went to college immediately following high school?
What if I had nevr met my husband?
What if I had my own daycare center?
What if I had managed to talk my husband into having six children instead of two?
What if I had never had any kids?

Wow there are so many qusetions you can create with those two words. I don't like to think of all of those type of questions. Most of the time they are not realistic. Any one can dream wild dreams. I prefer to think of what I can do/accompish realisticly. Also those questions raise regrets in ones life. Three are very few that I have and even though I do have some I wouldn't change anything. I'm afraid that if I was able to go back in time and change one of them it would change my entire life course and I don't like that idea.

I'm not really sure what else to say about this topic.

I am getting really frustrated with this computer in class. The screen is so dirty that the whole left side of the screen is brown. The clear part of the desk that you look through to see the monitor is scratched up and dirty. I can see smudges all over it. The keyboard is filthy. It also has sticky keys which makes typing even harder because you hit a button but not hard enough and you have to backspace to fix your error or you don't think you hit the key hard enough so you hit it twice only to realize that it was hard enough the first time. I think next week when I come to class I am going to bring a couple of glass cleaner wipes so that I can clean this thing. It is driving me crazy. I know we are only half through the course so I should be able to hang on and complete the course with this computer but I don't know if I can.

People Watching

For an English assignment we had to go walk around the college and find personality traits and physical traits and make a list. When we got back to class the teacher told us to pick a few of the things from our list. After we picked a few items from our list we had to describe a person and that person had to exhibit all of those traits we had selected. Here is my list of traits and my story to go along with it.

16 personality traits

1.       Social butterflies – girl that went from one table to another table to another table and said something to someone at all three tables

2.       Outgoing – speaks with no concern to their volume

3.       Quiet – sits alone listening to music/not talking to anyone

4.       Flirt – boys walk up to a girl, smiles, and talks/laughs with her

5.       Comedian – guy telling jokes or a story to a group of people because he made them all laugh

6.       Loner – someone sitting outside all by themselves, engrossed in their own thing (music, studying, listening to music, writing)

7.       Observer – someone sitting at a table by themselves but watching everyone in the room

8.       Self-conscious – girl walking across the room tugging at her shirt (pulling it down)

9.       Tired – guy sleeping

10.   Loving – couple snuggled together

11.   Studious – people doing school work/head stuck in a text book

12.   Relaxed – guy reclined back in a chair, ankles crossed, arms folded behind his head

13.   Rushed – someone walking very quickly down the hallway

14.   Nervous – feet tapping on the floor/pencil tapping on the desk

15.   Bored – sitting and playing angry birds on cell phone outside a classroom door

16.   Neat – everything sitting on the table neat and orderly

10 physical traits

1.       Walking hunched over due to overloaded backpacks

2.       Hair not styled – did they even brush their hair today?

3.       Some dressed very nice and some still in their house shoes

4.       Tattoo on a guy’s arm – looks like a snake although I could only see part of it

5.       Girl with way to much make up

6.       Someone with glasses – small round frames

7.       Guy with a big nose

8.       T-shirt with OTC written across the chest

9.       One person’s face with lots of acne

10.   Smiling faces – lots of them

People Watching

I am sitting in the atrium at school. I am early today. So to kill time I decide to do some people watching. The first person I see is a guy walking into the atrium. He is wearing a back pack. The back pack is so heavy that it causes him to walk a little hunched over. He reminds me of a hunch back as he walks to a table with his head down. I cannot see his face. He stops at a table and sits down. He is a loner, no one is sitting around him, it’s like he picked the most secluded table in the room. He starts digging in his backpack and unpacks his stuff. His laptop is out sitting on the table although he doesn’t pay attention to it yet. He sets out his book, a notebook, pencil, and highlighter and sets everything out on the table. He is so neat about how he lays everything on the table in an orderly way. He yawns and stretches and leans back in his chair with his feet extended out in front of him, crosses them at the ankle, and then puts his hands behind his head and surveys the room. His is a quiet observer as he looks around. A few minutes later a woman walks over to him and sits down beside him at the table. He is lovey towards her. They scoot their chairs beside each other and hold hands. She rests her head on his shoulder. A group of guys walk up to them. Suddenly he becomes the group’s comedian. He is standing up and waving his arms as he talks to the group. They are all laughing at him. I can see part of a tattoo on his bicep as he lifts his arm. I’m not sure what it is and it leaves me curious. The woman and the guys leave. He sits back down at the table and puts his head down. He appears to be tired. I sit and watch him and the others in the room for a little while longer. I think he may have fallen asleep. Suddenly his cell phone starts vibrating on the table. He jumps up and starts tossing things back into his backpack. He is rushed. As he quickly leaves the room he is like a social butterfly, stopping for just a second at a couple of tables to say a few quick words to people. As he heads off to his new destination his path has him walking right past my table. I look up at him now that I can finally see the front of his body. I am surprised at what I see. He is wearing a t-shirt with OTC written across his chest, his house shoes, and his hair sticking up in all different directions. It makes me wonder if he got dressed this morning or did he wear that to bed last night and when his alarm went off this morning he just got up and came to school without bothering to change or comb his hair.  As he walks closer I hope my mouth is not hanging open because I cannot believe what I am seeing. He has a pair of small round framed glasses perched upon his unusually large nose, although that is not what catches my attention. What has my mouth agape is the fact that he is wearing way to much make-up. I have never seen a guy with that much eyeliner, eye shadow, and such bright lipstick on before. After seeing that, I have decided that I am done with people watching for the day. I am going to go to class and try to think of something else to get that image out of my head.

Blue Feather - Combine the response and the description

There is so much color and activity from the art work that it almost gives you a headache just looking at it. There is a lot of red from the background and bright colored splashes of color from the geckos. The picture is nauseating due to the bright red background with its clusters of stripes in different colors. I'm not sure how long one could look at all the red, which there were a couple of different shades and the contrasting bright colors. There was bright yellow, neon green, and vivid blue. The blue feather with its white spots almost is completely blended in due to all the other varisous colors. The feather is in the center of the artwork and the three geckos are in a circle surrounding the lone blue feather.

On gecko in particular is a bright shade of green, almost a neon shade. He has red spots all over the side of his body and his arms/legs. Running down his back are red diamonds. The diamond shape is half red and half black. It gives it a look like it is cut into this back. The toe nails of this gecko are strange. The are long thin cylinder shaped. Each arm/leg has three nails sticking out of it.They are the same red color that his spots are. When you look closer at them they resemble red spools of thread. He looks like a kids toy. Like a plastic blow up toy. His arms/legs are rounded and are located on the top of his of body unlike the others. This gecko reminds me of a plastic alligator my kids used to have in the pool when they were younger. This was my daughters favorite pool toy. It was a large green alligator with black marks on it and two handles on top of it at the back of its head. Bridget would struggle to climb up on top of the alligator. Sometimes as she pulled her little body up over it it would flip over from all her weight that she put on one side of it. When she finally climbed up on top of the alligator she would shout "Mommy I did it! I'm riding the alligator!"

Board Games

I love board games. To me they are more fun than computer/electronic games. My favorite is Monopoly and Life. I love the game Life. Where else can you have six kids and you don't have to let them grow up, send them to college, or have them get married.? They just sit there in your little plastic car. LOL I think it's funny. Sometimes I wish my kids were as quiet as the little pink and blue pegs that I put in my little plastic cars. However, real life is nothing like that game. You actually have kids that talk (sometimes more than you want), bills to pay (besides the basic ones in the game), and curves that real life throws you. Because of the way the economy is now I wonder if they will redo that game. Maybe put in a space that says "Oops your job company went under so now you have to stand in line at the unemployment line", "Sorry you are no longer the bread winner; your wife now makes more than you; deal with it", or "Alcohol is not the way to live your life; you must now attend 3 months of AA meetings", "You and your spouse are now divorced; you only see your kids every other weekend." Wouldn't it be funny if that is some of what the game really says instead of the 1950's "perfect" life stuff the game really says? Another reason I like that game is you can roll the dice and pick a card and bam you now have a college education, with no extra work.

Monolopy is fun too. In the game I love taking risks and buying property, little green houses, big red hotels,and trying to make as much money as possible. In real life I am nothing like that. I want the security. I want to know that next month I will have enough money for whatever it is that I want. With Monolopy I don't have to worry about that.

My 1994 Published Poem

Here is a poem I wrote in 1994 for an English assignment. My librarian told me about a poetry contest and told me I should enter it. My poem was selected to be printed in the book Seasons to Come. It is published by the Library of Congress. This is one of my favorite writings.

Everlasting

His touch was heaven gentle and caring
She herself smelled like a flower garden in bloom
deep red emotions paralleled the setting of the sun
     and together they tasted ecstasy.
As they held hands and said "I love you"
     their souls became one for all eternity
The only sound other than the two lovers was the crashing waves.
The tide rushed in and out - in a hurry
     to leave the two lovers alone once again.
The ocean spray was salty and covered their bodies
     making them glitter under the sun like the sky
     on a cool, clear night.
Together they walked on the beach happily holding
     hands and dreaming of each other and their future still to come.
They looked at peace - those two lovers on the beach.

In and out the tide follows
dreaming of long ago people from a long ago time.
Then a couple approach, fingers intertwined,
and it was reminded of those people on the beach
who's love was...everlasting.

Bitchdom

I found this one day. I'm not sure who the author is only that it is not me. This is something that I used to have hanging in my office. This is something that I love and that I have always felt to be true.

Bitchdom

When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a bitch. When I stand up for those I love, they call me a bitch. When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts, or do thing my own way, they call me a bitch. Being a bitch means I won't compromise what's in my heart. It means that I live life MY way. It means I won't allow anyone to step on me. When I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a bitch. The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead of being every one's maid, or when I act a little selfish. It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and I won't become anyone else's idea of what they think I "should" be. I am outspoken, opinionated, and determined. I want what I want and there is nothing wrong with that! So try to stomp on me, try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me. You won't succeed. And if that makes me a bitch, so be it. I embrace the title and am proud to bear it.

Blogging Reflection

My blogging success and challenges…How do I begin? Let’s do bad new first. I didn’t really care for this assignment. I mean I did like the blogging part but I thought it was a little too much. I think what saved me is the writing we did in class every day. I work 45 hours a week, I go to school, I have to take my kids to school and pick them up every day, when I get home I have to cook dinner, clean, help kids with their homework, and try to do my homework. This doesn’t include football games and martial art classes the kids also attend. Just to try to squeeze in a few more minutes in an already packed day I had to drop my self-defense class. I hated doing that because that class is the one thing that I do for fun for myself. It’s my outlet, my stress release. But since we had class time to blog, almost at least one blog every day, I think I did okay.

I really think my biggest challenge (besides my hectic schedule) really was that most of the writing I do I do on paper. I write almost daily about some part of my day, a dream I had, a thought that I had, or a story I have just made up. I have gone through many notebooks where I just jot down thoughts, feelings, and little stories I felt the need to express. I am working on this. I am trying to do more things on the computer but it is hard. I like the feeling of the pencil in my hand and the soft scraping sound the pencil makes as it glides over the paper. I am amazed how quickly a blank lined paper can be filled with words that can tell a story. Also it is so much easier to carry a scrap piece of paper and a pencil vs. a computer.  This has by far been my biggest challenge with this assignment. However I am working on it. I cannot just use the computer because sometimes a thought comes and you have to write no matter where you are so I am working on converting some of my paper writings to the computer. Doing this is a good thing because as I type my paper writing I am able to add to it and expand a little on some things.

Good news…for the most part I liked the blogging. Maybe not every day…but I did like doing it. It has been a nice way for me to write some thoughts down. I tried very hard to not make it a gripe session about work, which would have been very easy to do. I really liked doing some of the blogs. Some I wrote down, not giving them much thought, and then read them later and got a good laugh from them.  My husband read some of them and laughed. We had a good evening one night thinking back on all the things we said as teenagers since that was one of my blogs.

Did I discover anything and if yes what was it and what did I like/dislike about it. I discovered that I can be a very good writer, with only a little effort, when it comes to writing something I enjoy. The blog about Bridget talking and the blog about the slip-n-slide I thought I wrote very well. The opposite holds true if I’m writing about something that I don’t enjoy. A few of the blogs from class are good examples. I’m vague in the description and details; you can just tell overall if it’s a topic that I don’t care for much.

 I don’t think that I have changed any as a writer because of this assignment. I am a “blogger” in my own way all the time. I don’t usually blog on the computer/internet but I do a lot of journaling on my own. Because of my schedule I don’t do it every day but I do write.  However, I do think that I have changed some as a person. I am a little less scared to write and have people read my writing. I’m not saying I am completely okay with people reading my writing but I am a little more comfortable. I know I would still have a panic attack if I had to read my writing in class but at the beginning of class I was petrified about people reading any of my writing but now I would say I’m only scared. So I know that I have grown some.

Overall I did like this assignment. I am going to try to continue with this blog and try to post more of my writings on it. I love to write when I have time. Even though most of my writing/journaling I do on paper I am going to try to do more of it online.

Blue Feather Description

Choose one gecko and describe him.

I chose the green one.

He is a bright shade of green, almost a neon shade. He has red spots all over the side of his body and his arms/legs. Running down his back are red diamonds. The diamond shape is half red and half black. It gives it a look like it is cut into this back. He looks like a kids toy. Like a plastic blow up toy. His arms/legs are rounded and are located on the top of his of body unlike the others. This gecko reminds me of a plastic alligator my kids used to have in the pool when they were younger.The toe nails of this gecko are strange. The are long thin cylinder shaped. Each arm/leg has three nails sticking out of it.They are the same red color that his spots are. When you look closer at them they resemble red spools of thread.

Blue Feather response

I don't know what to say about this picture besides I don't like it. There is way to much red on it. The colors are kind of blend together. I feel like that if I looked at the picture to long it would have given me a headache. The other colors that are on it are bright colors. There is a lot of green. It's a bright green. There is one gecko that has a lot of yellow on him. The third gecko blends in with the background. Don't know what else to say about this picture.

The back ground is a deep red. There are narrow strips on it in clusters. The stripes are a lighter shade of red, pink, blue, green, yellow, purple. There is a light blue feather with four white spots on each side of the feather. The feather is surrounded by three geckos. One gecko is a bright shade of green with red spots. His red spots are just a shade lighter than the background. It looks like a kids toy. Like a plastic blow up toy. Another gecko is striped like the clusters in the background.  The third gecko has yellow sides and a blue zig zag stripe down his body. The stripe goes from this nose all the way down to the tip of his tail. The yellow on is sides is outlined in red. The yellow is also dotted with red spots.

No idea what else to say about this picture. It is not something I like nor does it remind me of anything else. I am getting bored. How much time do we have left? I'm sure that there is a reason behind this assignment but I am not seeing it so far. This assignment is not something I like. Some of the writing prompts we get are okay and some are not. This is one that I don't really like.

I don't like geckos. To me they looking like lizards and the creep me out. My son wants one for Christmas. His class at school has a pet gecko and he said he has gotten to touch it a few times. He really really wants one. I told him before I even consider it he would have to be more responsible and lately he has been.

Blue

Bluuuuuueeeeeee - What a nice calm relaxing color. When I think of the color I think of the sound machine I have in my room. I have a thing in my room that when it is turned on it makes the sound of the crashing waves. Blue I love this color. A nice crystal clear deep blue. It's the same color of my eyes. Growing up the only person that had blue eyes besides me was my grandpa. Now my husband and both my kids have blue eyes. My dad used to tease me when I was younger because the rest of my family has dark hair and brown eyes. I was the only blue eyed blond haired child in our family. Even all my cousins have brown eyes. I used to think that people with blue eyes were special. That's why only me and grandpa had them.

Some day I would love to see the ocean. My husband has seen it. He actually grew up close to it. He said it is a nice shade of blue. I'm hoping someday soon I will be able to see it. I would love to stand on the coast and feel the sun beating down on my back, feel the warm soft sand between my toes, and to see the cool blue ocean waves crash up on the beach and cool off my feet that are warm from the sand.

I painted my kitchen blue. When I told my husband that I was going to paint the kitchen blue he said absolutely not. Not the best thing to say to me. Cause guess what color my kitchen is?  BLUE It's a nice shade of blue. My kitchen is small so I painted it a nice light ice blue. My husband doesn't like it so he calls it white with a hint of blue. I call it ice blue. It's nice. It's a light enough color that it made the room seem larger but it's still a nice calming blue. I love to just sit in the kitchen and read a book while I am cooking dinner or doing my holiday baking.

Overwhelmed

I am finally beginning to feel overwhelmed. I thought I could juggle the workload from my two classes, work, getting the kids to/from school, and getting them to/from their activities. Until last week it wasn't a big deal. I started off the first couple of weeks of school getting behind on paperwork at work. But I got into the swing of things. I managed to get caught up on paperwork (and a little ahead), homework was getting done on time, and the family wasn't complaining about the time I did spend on school work.

However I took a weekend off. I spent a weekend not doing anything work or school related and just spent the time hanging out with the family. Big mistake. Homework is still getting done (although to close to the deadline for me) but I am getting farther behind in my paperwork at work. I don't think it would have been so bad if state hadn't decided to change some of the rules/regulations. Because state said we now have to have an emergency disaster preparedness policy I am having to scramble at work to create one. I have no idea how to even begin to do it. When I mentioned it to the owner she said she would help me. I am still waiting on her at the same time I see the clock ticking down to the time that it is suppose to be done. I have been spending my free time at work trying to do research on how to create one. Google has become my new best friend. Looking at what I have accomplished now I think I am at least making progress on it. I will just be glad when this project is done. I think when it is complete and I can get back in my groove of paperwork for work and my school work I won't feel so overwhelmed anymore.

Ugggg Teenagers

My daughter is getting ready to turn into a teenager. She is twelve but will be an official teenager in about 5 1/2 months. I am dreading this. Last week she told me that she has a boyfriend. Gray hairs started sprouting on my head the moment she said this. She spent all weekend texting him. As a sneaky mom I looked at her phone when she fell asleep to see what kind of things were being said (or in this case...what was being texted). All of it was fine. Just a lot of "can't wait til Monday so we can see each other again", "I love your smile", and "who is your best boyfriend...you are sweety". But it was enough to give me a minor heart attack. I know this is normal. This is the kind of things that I used to say/do when I was her age but I don't want her to do this stuff. When I look at her sometimes I still see the silly little girl that wanted me to make her hair special by putting in three pigtails instead of just two like other girls or the little girl that would dance around the house on her tiptoes singing songs she just made up or my favorite the little girl that couldn't say her l's but didn't that didn't stop her from giving me a great big bear hug every night and telling me that she wuvs me. I miss that little girl. Now I have the preteen girl that always wants her friends to spend the night, has cheerleading practices and games and the drama that goes along with it, and wants to be dropped off early for school so she can spend some time with her boyfriend.

One object or person in our perfect weekend

He's about 5 foot 8 inches, he's bald (not by nature - he shaves his head every couple of days), he has an amazing smile. When he smiles you can't help but smile back. He has blue eyes that sparkle when he smiles at me. His laugh is very contagious. He is quick to think of things to say. Someone says something and he quickly blurts out a question or a comeback. He's almost never lost for words. He is considerate of others. He doesn't like to sit still. When we are doing the barbeque he has to be the one watching the grill that way he can keep getting up and down. He's a great listener. When someone is talking to him he listens completely. He turns his body to face them, he looks at them, his body language is relaxed. Downside, he smokes cigerattes. So when he is sitting down in his chair is smoking. He is drinking Orange soda since he cut down on his caffine (he used to drink Mt. Dew all the time). Everyone wants to sit by him. However, I always try to claim the chair beside him. When we are sitting side by side he always puts his hand on my knee or holds my hand.

A Place in my Perfect Weekend

My backyard....

Taste: the barbeque that just finished cooking on the grill - mouthwatering, the cool sweet taste of the tea and ice in my glass, the water on the outside of my glass

Hear: the laughter of the children playing outside, the chatter of the family as they sit around on the back deck talking to each other, the cooing from the baby crawling around under our feet, the loud sound of my neighbors lawnmower (i really think the guy likes to mow because of how often he mows)

See: The smoke rising from the barbeque grill, the children jumping on the trampoline, the adults playing ring toss and horseshoes - the dull metal of the horseshoes, the bright red and blue of the rings, the bright green stake for the ring toss

Touch: the hard plastic from the rings from our ring toss game, the heavy warm metal of the horseshoes, the heat from the sun pounding down on anyone unlucky enough to step out of the shade, the feel of the hard plastic chairs that we are sitting on and how your legs stick to the chair if you are wearing shorts

Smell: the wood smoke and charcoal smell coming from the barbeque grill, the smell of fresh cut grass from my neighbor's yard (he doesn't care how loud his mower is or the fact that people have company...he just mows anyway)

Decribe A Perfect Weekend

In my perfect weekend the laundy does itself. The house magically get cleaned. My kitchen is magically stocked with enough groceries to last my family another week. I have no homework in my classes. My employees and my boss have forgotten my cell phone number. My daughter is not dating a boy and spending all her free time texting him. My son and daughter get along (reads NO FIGHTING or ARGUING)

I wake up in the morning completely rested and not dreading all the errands and chores that lay ahead. I get to spend the weekend with my children.

We drive down to Galena and rent a cabin. The cabin has no tv, radio, cell phones, ds, ipods....nothing. However it comes fully stocked with board games. We rent a canoe and go floating. We are gone all day. Soaking up the sun, swimming, and floating down the river. After a nice long relaxing day on the river we head back to the cabin. The kids sit around reading a book or outside exploring the woods behind the cabin. I am inside cooking dinner for the family. My husband is helping me in the kitchen (you did say a perfect weekend). After dinner we sit around the table as a family playing board games.

Another perfect weekend would be the four of us just hanging around the house doing the same things. Like yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch and let the kids pick out their own pumpkins. Then we went home and this year we decided the kids were old enough to carve their own pumpkins (with only a little help). We bought the little tools they sell at WalMart for carving pumpkins. The kids picked out their favorite design, taped it to the pumpkin, and started cutting it out. The pumpkins were amazing. After carving the pumpkins we roasted the pumpkin seeds. The kids thought that was really cool especially because they pulled the seeds out of the pumpkins themselves. We watched a movie together as a family and then when it got dark we lit the candle in the jack-o-lanterns and sat outside looking at them.

Another perfect weekend would be a family barbeque. I love it when my parents, my sister and her family, my brother and his family, my grandma, my cousin all come over to my house. We hang out in the backyard playing games, eating good mouthwatering food, sipping on ice tea, and just talking and joking back and forth. Many weekends have been spent like this. I love them. We set up the horseshoes and ring toss and in the summer we have the pool and slip-n-slide set up. Just a warning to those that don't know this. Slip-n-slides have an age limit! An adult's body is not made to go running across the hard ground only to belly flop on a paper thin piece of plastic. You will get hurt. You will bruise your ribs. It will take a couple of weeks to heal. You will have trouble laughing, breathing, and doing anything that involves movement. Great pain is involved. However....it is a ton of fun. There is nothing like standing at the end of the yard waiting your turn and then taking off, running at full speed. As soon as you get to the plastic you throw yourself onto the paper thin plastic laying on the ground stomach first (picture a belly flop in the pool without the splash). During the few seconds it takes your body to slip down the plastic you can feel the cool mist of the water on your back. When you reach the end of the slip-n-slide you are laying in an inch of water that has collected at the end of the slid. You stand up breathless and look around smiling. As much pain as I can promise you will be in I can also tell you that it is also fun. While the pain will outlast the fun to me it is worth it in the long run.

Ms. A

Not sure what to say....I like the class. It's different from other english classes I've had before. In here we focus more on writing and not on grammar. In the past it's been different. I find it funny that she has a daughter the same as age as mine. Some of the things that she has said that her daughter has said is something very similar to things I've heard my daughter say. I really don't know Ms. A well enough to really write anything about her on here. I know that she likes to bake. That's pretty cool. I like to bake also. I don't get to do it as often as I would like but when I have the chance I'm all for it. Sunday morning I made a batch of fudge brownies. The kids loved them. Last night my husband asked me where the brownies were because he wanted one. I laughed and told him that the children ate the entire pan before 1pm. I made the brownies when the kids were sitting at the table eating breakfast. I don't really like chocolate and I actually ate two of them myself; that is rare for me. Usually when I make something chocolate I only eat one little bite.

Steve Jobs

Do what you love & Don't settle

These are two things that Steve Jobs said that I really loved and agreed with. When he said do what you love I really understood that. That is exactly what I told my husband I had to do when I gave up my job at Diesel Exchange for a job in childcare. I made fifteen dollars a hour, had good health insurance, and a nice 401K but I gave it all up for a job that pays eight dollars a hour and offers no benefits. My husband didn't want me to do that and even gave me a guilt trip about it. "You are hurting the whole family by giving all that up. What if something happens to us or the kids and we no longer have health insurance? How are we going to have money to retire if you give up the 401K?" He really tried to work on me to not quit but I just told him that I would rather go to work everyday and struggle financially with a job I love getting up every morning and going to verus a job that I do good financially but dread getting up every morning to go to. To me this was a no brainer...it took me a long time to convience him. Sometimes he still questions it but he understands me a whole lot better since he had to make a similar decision a couple of years ago. He gave up a nice, secure job at Reliable Chevy (that he had for fifteen years) to start his own shop; his income dropped down drastically and his job security went out the window.

But looking back at all of it and the decisions we both had to make....We wouldn't change a thing.

We are both doing something that we love and therefore are a lot happier for it. The atmosphere at home has completely changed in the last five years. We both come home from work less stressed and we both don't mind going to work every morning. Our kids have both noticed a difference. Our hours at work are different so we have more time to spend together as a family.

Doing something you love is probably one of the best things a person can do for themselves. I have done it, my husband has done it, and we are both better people because of it.

I lied

My sister called me this morning and wanted to come over to my house when I got off work to borrow my computer for a little bit. At 10am I told her it was okay but by the time I got home I didn't feel like company so I called her and told her that I was tired and not feeling good so could she please come over another evening. I wasn't that tired but I just didn't feel like company tonight. I feel like my writing this I am justifying myself.

• My nephew is high strung so he would have spent all night either bugging us about something all evening or he would have spent the evening in my son's room messing it up.
• I have homework to turn in tonight so I would need the computer myself. 
• There is show on tv I want to watch and I wouldn't be able to do it if she was here
• I had a rough day and work and all I want to do is put on my pajamas and lay on the couch

I'm sure these reasons are not good enough but I did it anyway. I'm sure this little white lie will come back to bite me sometime but for now I'm going to bed in a nice quiet house.

An eventful weekend

This weekend has been a long weekend. Saturday morning I was up by 6am. Apple Butter Makin' Days in Mt. Vernon was calling me name. I took a quick shower, got dressed and put my make-up on. Then it was time to get the kids up and ready to go. On my way out of town I had to stop at my daughter's friend's house to pick her up. Then I had to drive out to Halltown to pick up my mom, sister, and her two kids. Finally 8:45am and I am in Mt. Vernon. I had enough time to look at a couple of rows of craft booths before the parade started. The kids enjoyed it. Bridget (my twelve year old daughter), her best friend, Zach (my eight year old son), and Clayton (my twelve year old newphew) all stayed at the front of the line for the next hour and fifteen minutes picking up candy that the parade participants threw to the spectators. The parade was fun. There were marching bands from all over, old cars, clowns, politicans, church groups, girl scouts, and boy scouts all there in the parade. After the parade we all started walking all around the square looking at the craft booths that were set up. I saw a few things that I would like to make myself and I saw a few things that I thought anyone could make those. At noon we all bought some amazing food and sat on the courthouse lawn to eat our lunch. The weather was perfect for this kind of activity. I finally left Mt. Veron at 2:30pm.
     I headed over to my parents' house to hang with the family for a little bit before heading out to the Vernona Corn Maze. When it got close to dark we headed out. My son gets scared easily so I had planned to go before it was dark but he said that if the people only jumped out and screamed he thought he could handle it ~ as long as they didn't touch him he said it wouldn't be to scary. How wrong he was! So we gave it a try. I walked through the entire corn maze with my eight year old clinging to my shirt, one arm wrapped around his shaking body, and one hand covering his eyes. It was funny. Instead of scaring us all the employees kept asking me if he was okay. Our group consisted of fourteen family members and my daughter's friend. The men in my family love to try to scare the women and children. So throughout the maze they took turns walking away from the group to only catch back up with us and scare us. My daughter's friend was scared easily because she didn't know to expect the men to keep doing that so finally at one point, after just being scared by another family member, she shouted "What is wrong with your family". All of us stopped and laughed. It was so funny. No one even had an explaination for her. At least her friend was a good sport about all of it. We finally got home around 10pm.
          Sunday was no better. I got to sleep in until 8am but as soon as I got up it was time to run to Wal-Mart to get the grocery shopping for my family for the week. Wal-Mart had very few lines open at 10am and the few lines they did have open was manned by sssssllllloooooowwwwww cashiers. I get home just in time to quickly put away the groceries. I still had to print iron on transfers to attach to two t-shirts for a birthday party we had to be at at noon. I got them done and we left the house twenty minutes after the party started. The party was for a friends little boy who was turning two. The little boy is adorable. He has white blonde hair and blue eyes. But don't let his looks fool you. He is an onery but in a kind hearted way. He has very nice manners and is very lovey but the boy just never sits still. No one can say the party didn't go out without a bang. One of the adult guest had left his very nice cell phone sitting on his chair when he got up to talk to someone. The birthday boy saw it and ran over to grab it. He picked it up and started running as fast as his little legs would move. My son and I saw him. Zach ran after him to try to catch him before he did something he shouldn't have but my son was a second to late. The minute the little boy thought he was about to get caught he decided to get rid of the evidence. He chuck the phone into the fire pit as hard as he could. I jumped up and ran over shouting there is a phone in the fire. Someone else close by grabbed a piece of wood and tried to scoot the phone to the edge of the fire. I picked up the phone and sat it on the ground. Someone told the owner of the phone that his phone was in the fire. He thought they were joking until he looked over and saw all us bend over starring at something on the ground. He walked over and yelled, "My phone!" Now he realized we were not joking. I'm not sure who cried first...the owner of the phone or the birthday boy's mom when she realized her son is the one who threw it in the fire.
          When I got home the kids and I decorated the house for Halloween and picked out our Halloween costumes.
          Now all is done and I'm taking a break before making dinner, cleaning the kitchen back up, and getting homework done. Sometimes it seems like my weekends are busier than the weekdays but I love it and wouldn't change it for anything.

This is my all time favorite saying

Preteens

          Tonight my daughter had her best friend over at the house. I got to leave work early so I thought it would be okay for her to come over for a few hours until after dinner. The girls were so funny. As I stood in the kitchen cooking dinner and baking a cake I over hear the girls talking outside the kitchen window. (it's not cool to hang out in the kitchen with mom) All I kept hearing was "I know, right?", "Dude","She said what", and endless giggling . I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I heard all this. I couldn't believe what they were saying and how they were saying it. They sounded so silly. Then I started thinking back to when I was younger. Surely I didn't sound that silly. But I guess I did. I can't help but laugh out loud at the things we said back then. "Gag me with a spoon", "Dude", "Totally Awesome", "Psych", "Take a Chill Pill", and "In Your Dreams". If I even tried to tell my children about the things we used to say they would be rolling all over the floor laughing at me.
          I remember laughing at my mom. I told her that I was "going out" with a boy one time and she said oh, okay where are you going? I remember trying for ever to explain to her what it meant but she just had a confused look on her face the entire time. Finally, I said we were dating. You could see the light bulb come one. She said "Oh, I get it. You two are going steady!" I rolled my eyes, shook my head, and bluntly told her that NO one says "steady" anymore.
         I really hope that as my children grow up the old becomes the new new and they will speak the same language that I did when I was younger and then maybe I will understand them when they do talk to me.

Your Only as Young as You Feel

I don’t like the saying “you are only as old as you feel”. To me this is negative and makes you feel even older. I prefer to say you are only as young as you feel. As I write this it is hard to believe that many of my classmates, and half of my employees, are fourteen to fifteen years younger than me. I don’t feel that much older than them. It’s hard to imagine that I was crossing the stage to accept my high school diploma the same year that they were carrying their kindergarten mat on their first day of school.

When people find out that I have kids many ask me how old they are. I feel strange saying that they are eight and twelve. I don’t feel like my children should be that old. I feel like it was just yesterday that my youngest started to crawl. I have been married for thirteen years. Wow! That is almost the age difference between me and some of my classmates.

I have arthritis in my hands. It is something that runs in my family. We usually start getting it in our teenage years. There are some days when the arthritis is so bad that I can barely hold a pencil in a grip tight enough to write my name on a piece of paper. I have thrown my back out many times and when it happens it causes me to either walk hunched over like an old woman or makes it difficult for me to walk for a couple of days.

Age is just a state of mind. I believe you are as young as you feel. If you feel young inside then it doesn’t really matter what your body says. Everyone should feel young at heart.

My grandma lived her life like this. As kids we would tease my grandma about her age and she would say it is just a number. The only thing it means is that she has had more birthdays than us but she is the same age as us. As a kid I used to think it was a bunch of bull that she would feed us to get us to stop teasing her. Now at the age I am, I am just now realizing how right she was. Until the last six months I never even considered the thought that I was any older than some of my classmates or my employees.

I try to live my life like I’m still young, although maybe a little smarter than I was then. I will never use the excuse I can’t because I’m too old. That is something that my children, and my grandchildren (when I eventually get some – hopefully in a long time) will never hear me say.

Some say the secret to a long life is being active, which again plays a part in my belief. Young adults are the most active. If you feel young inside you will want to do more things and therefore be more active.

I don’t like the people that say “I can’t. I’m too old for that.” You can never be too old to try or do anything.

I believe my job helps keep my young. I get to run around outside playing red light green light, mother may I, and tag. Inside I get to sit on the floor and color, put together puzzles, string beads. In the classroom I get to use my imagination. I can put a hat on and be a construction worker, I can stack blocks up really tall and be an architect, and I can put a dress on and be the world’s best dancer.

My children at home are the same way. At home I can help my son with his martial arts stunts and his shooting aim. I can help my daughter with her cheers and her gymnastics tricks.

With so many opportunities throughout the day for me to feel young it is a wonder if I will ever feel like I am getting old. I hope not. I love feeling like this. I truly believe that you are only as young as you feel.