I figured it has been about a month since my last post, I should probably put SOMETHING up here. Nothing too exciting has been happening around our parts lately...but a few things did happen. A lot of mixed up ramblings.....
First off, I turned 30...that was lovely. It came and went and I don't really feel older. Just the same. It is hard to feel exceptionally young when I go to work and look around at those in college and think..."oh my heck..." and they look so young. I see girls in cute little outfits and think "I could wear that..." and then realize I would look completely out of place because I am not 20! Truth hurts a little when I look in the mirror and see all the wrinkles. Oh well, life happens.
My car died at the daycare when I went to pickup Brady and Chris had to tow it to the dealership to be fixed. At that point I was thinking the thing wasn't worth fixing. It has approximately 116K miles on it, but it is paid off!! It needed a new starter and only cost about $600 to fix so I figured that was better than $30K price tag of something new. However, I feel the day is coming soon.....ugh. I of course would LOVE a new car, but I would not love a car payment so I have decided I am definitely driving the Maxima until it will no longer be worth it (might be next week...who knows).
Chris has commented that he thinks I am "nesting." However, that is impossible....no bun in the oven for me. But I have been happily on an organizing spree and LOVIN' it! My entire house is pretty much organized, every nook and cranny and closet is awesome at the moment if I do say so myself! One place left...the medicine cabinet. That will be soon. :) I organized and cleaned out my basement, it is GREAT. All my food storage is organized and visible and I know what I have and am now using it much more because I can SEE what is there! However, the one drawback to this organization is that I was very reluctant to pull out all the Christmas stuff! So I pulled out the essentials, and kept it very simple and low key this year, managing not to make a disaster in the meantime. ;)
I took the entire week of Thanksgiving off of work to just stay home and veg with the kids. That is pretty much what we did, I don't recall even getting in the car before Thursday of that week and hardly spent anytime on the computer. I ignored email, facebook and blogging the entire time! My sister came in town from Colorado with her kids and it was fun to hang out with them for a couple days and be able to spend a little time with Brady and take him to a movie, etc. I don't get to do that too much with my hectic schedule. Chris and I did make a new resolution that we are no longer going to try to accomodate both families at Thanksgiving, it is a pain! We had Thanksgiving at my parents and had to turn around and have it at his the same day! Not fun with kids that have to be pulled away from cousins and face a long, exhausting day, everybody, including the adults got cranky. Yuck. So from now on, rotation has begun like the rest of the real world......
It was a little bit difficult to come back to work (mostly getting out of bed) but the week has gone by so fast! It has been really busy, yet productive. I am facing the 2nd round of budget cuts and have had to make some tough decisions and will soon be cutting a few positions as of July 1. I feel bad for those struggling in these economic times. Currently, my brother is out of a job as well as possibilities for others in my family. We have felt the crunch, but I am more and more grateful that I GET to wake up and go to work everyday. The last few months have been a real eye opener for me in feeling a bit of the crunch and then worrying about family members and their financial situations. It is a good reminder to all of us that have only half-heartedly followed the advice of the prophets to be prepared, live within our means, etc. to get our acts together. That is my goal this upcoming year. I want to get to a place where I feel more secure than I do now.
I have been struggling for quite a while with trying to figure out how to help Brady. Chris is convinced that he has ADHD or something, but my research on the symptoms, etc. has not supported that. He is very difficult at times....ugg. Church is really hard and he just will not behave there. This past Sunday, by the time we made it to primary and before the 2nd hour was over I had to call it quits or I was going to have a meltdown in front of everyone. I took him and by the time we got to the parking lot I was in tears! I just don't know what to do with him. It is not only at church, he is such a strongwilled person and sometimes is just so angry! he has a very difficult time listening (doing) anything he is asked to do. I know he sometimes struggles at daycare/school...but not anymore than any of the rest of the kids. Most days he does pretty well there from what I can tell, he even won the "quiet game" the other day and didn't get any checkmarks or go to timeout the whole day. That is pretty good for him! I feel like I try to not sweat the small stuff and let him have his freedom as much as possible, but somedays it doesn't seem to matter. I got home on Sunday and he immediately went to his room for like an hour! I was so upset that if he came out I would pretty much kill him......such a bad mom....I ordered 3 different books from Amazon that day on parenting that I hope might help me figure this thing out...I am sort of down to my last straw...he can be the sweetest, most loving kid one minute and then the most hateful, screaming that he is no longer your friend/son and that he hates you the next. I wonder if he is crying out for attention from us. It breaks my heart because I think to myself "is it because I work?" but I have to tell myself I am doing the best I can and when I am not working I try to do as much as I can with him. I don't even think taking a lot of time off work and making sure to spend quality time with him is even working anymore......ugh. Anyway, a lot of rambling and I just hope it gets better.
We went out with some friends this past weekend and had a great time just hanging out without kids and as adults. We definitely need to get out more......LOL . Well that is my boring life in a nutshell. Hopefully I will have more FUN posts soon. One more week of work and then I am off until 2009!
This time last year Chris and I were setting sail off the coast of sunny Florida on a Carnival Cruise ship. As the depression of winter has arrived, our thoughts and hearts turn to the Caribbean Ocean and our wish that we were again there....so for now, all I want for Christmas is a real good tan!
Living in Utah always has its surprises. It is cold here! The snow is all gone now...but we had fun while it lasted. I am sure it will return soon.
