Life as I know it.

Merry Christmas or at least merry Christmas eve. Bug is sleeping in this morning so I figured I would catch up on my blogging. Everything is basically ready around here. I do need to go pick up a few food items but other than that everything is done. Of course just as a I write that i think of 5 other things I need to do: wrap a couple more presents, stuff some stockings, get a goody tray ready for Blue's work, etc.... We will be having Christmas at our house tomorrow, the only downer is that Blue has to work today and tomorrow. You gotta love the transit system around here, (he is a bus driver, if I haven't mentioned that before). So today we will run around and finish things up, then go to our Christmas Eve Church Service at 5. Then when Blue gets home we will cook up some pizza and after dinner we will open our stockings. In the morning we will just be hanging out until he gets home around 1 then we will have a nice lunch/brunch and then the gift frenzy will begin. Actually...

Can you believe it is Dec 1st already? Thanksgiving went well around here, we ended up with 10 people after all, enough to feel festive but not too many to be crowded. Black Friday shopping went well, I even got myself a new laptop (which I am currently using to type this). I picked up a magic bullet for myself and a couple small gifts for Blue and Bug. Black Friday is mainly about pre Xmas gifts for me. My husband is not a big gift giver so this way i make sure i get at least a little something. We have started the Christmas prep around here, we have up the tree but haven't finished decorating the rest of the house, maybe tomorrow. Bug went to a class where he made gifts for family and friends today. He has been sequestered in the office wrapping up his treasures since we got home over an hour ago. The 1st 2 have come out (for me of course, Bug is such the momma's boy). They are wrapped in baby shower tissue paper with 2 kinds of tape (about a roll a piece) and looked like ...

Can you believe it is already the week of Thanksgiving? I am so excited! I will be hosting this year, we will have my mom and uncle (who both live with us), my cousin who doesn't have her boys this year and my friend Brenda and her family. So there will be 9 of us. I love hosting things but always worry about things going smoothly. We will be having the "traditional things:" turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, fruit salad, rolls and a crudite plate. It's funny though you ask people what they are having and they always answer "the traditional things" but if you get them to really give you an answer their traditional things are always a little different then yours. But everybody just assumes that what is traditional for their family is the same with everybody else. When I was a teenager I always loved going to other people's houses for Thanksgiving, not only because there was never anyone home at our house but it was always just fascinating to see wha...

Life is good. But very busy. I am still working 2 jobs, unfortunately the 2nd one hasn't picked up like I hoped it would. I keep going back and forth on whether I should stay with it or not, I'm still only doing 5-8 massages a week so the paychecks pretty much suck. But I figure every penny helps, especially right before Xmas. So at this point I think I will stick it out. I guess I will re-eval in January. My hubby Blue is also working 2 jobs right now, he has a friend that runs a muffler shop and he has been having a hard time with employees lately and since Blue was always there helping out anyway they have decided to pay him for his time, it's not much but as I said every penny helps. We had a fabulous time over in Seattle for Halloween, usually when we go there we are so rushed, but this time we went for an entire week. We had time to see all of our friends and family, go to NW Trek (It's like a zoo, where the animals roam free) and the Pacific Science center. It wa...

It has been too long since I last posted. Life has been very hectic the last month and a half. 1. My husband did buy his new car and is loving it. 2. My son had a beautiful 5 th birthday party. It was a pirate party and we ended up with 35-40 people, everything went fairly smoothly. We had a small accident with the pinata but it was quickly fixed and the kids loved it (see pic, this is from right after the pinata). 3. We started homeschooling my son on the 27 th (so technically he started Kindergarten when he was 4). HSing has been going great, we are well ahead of the projected goals they set for us. My son has been doing well in all the subjects so far. Most of the phonics is review at this point. But I really enjoy how they teach it. They don't teach it that this letter says _, because as we all know very few letters in out ABC's truly only say 1 thing. So they are teaching all of the sounds and then will later connect those to particular letters and letter blends. 5. M...

I'm feeling sad tonight and thought that I would spend some time venting on the Internet to cheer me up. It's pretty sad that I'm too embarrassed to call up a buddy and vent to them. I did talk to my best friend Mike earlier tonight, but then I texted him and told him just to ignore me I was being silly. I feel very unloved lately. My husband has decided to get a new car for himself which I don't really agree with. For one his reason for buying a new car is so that he can have a nice car that he won't have to work on all the time. But he is looking at 6-8 year old cars with 100,000 + miles on them and I just can't see how a car that old and with that many miles can possibly not need to be worked on. We did see a 2006 Taurus when we were out shopping the other day with only about 20,000 miles on it for the price range we are looking at. But he has zero interest in that. I just really don't want to get in debt. A few years back we got in over our heads financ...

I was tagged by my friend Brenda. I am suppose to post 8 random things about my college career. So here goes... 1. I went to Massage School ( Ashmead College) for a year and also took some early childhood development classes at a community college. 2. In my early twenties I got everything arranged to go to Community College to get my AA degree and got a letter saying I didn't qualify for any grants so I figured that meant I couldn't go. So I cancelled all my plans, moved to a new place and got a car. A couple weeks later I got a letter on my Financial Aid package and found out I could have easily gone to college after all. :( 3. I got pregnant immediately after starting college. 4. I was on bed rest through most of my 2 nd quarter, so I had to lay down on the table with my feet propped up during the last 2 months. 5. I had to take 6 months off during the middle of school, due to being sick while I was pregnant, then spending time with my newborn. 6. I was on attendance...

I saw this game on another blog when I was looking around the other day. It's called 3 truths and a lie. I will tell you 4 statements 3 of them will be true and one is a lie, see if you can figure out which one is the lie. 1. The longest I have lived any one place is 4 years. 2. I once traveled to Mexico w/ 10 people and everyone got sick but me. 3. I have been to Disneyland 2 times. 4. I started dating my husband while chasing another guy. So give it your best guess and let me know which one you think is the lie. Life is good around here, God blessed me with quite a few garage sale finds this weekend. The MNO I hosted on Fri went well, there ended up being 7 of us there. We just hung out in the motel room, we had really wierd weather around here on Friday and they closed the pool at the hotel. We never even got a chance to play games or hang out at the hut tub. You know how it can be get a group of woman together and we just can't stop talking. I'm very excited, this week ...

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I ended up being offered that position, but after much soul searching decided to turn it down. I felt it was just too much upheaval for my family. My husband was gone the day I needed to make a decision, so when he got home he said "I though of another con against taking the job" (We had bought season passes to a local ski resort for next year). So I said "that's OK I have decided not to take the job" and he said "OK", no fanfare or anything. I still wasn't completely sure I had made the right decision until the next day when my best friend Mike finally got around to calling me back and when I told him about the job and the things I was thinking he agreed totally that I shouldn't have taken the job, that gave me peace of mind. Thank god for friends! Anyway we have had a great couple weeks around here, my nephew came over for hoop fest (a big 3 on 3 basketball tournament around here) and ended up wi...

Well absolutely nothing got done in the office, (including finding the camera), but it was a nice thought. Yesterday I had my 2 nd interview for that job in Pullman, it seemed to go well. I don't think I blew it but I didn't feel like I aced it either. They are supposed to call me on Fri and let me know either way. My mom, Cole and I went out there together, they dropped me off and then drove around a bit and then went to McD's to play. The interview lasted about 45 min and went smoothly enough. The people there seem nice and i found out there is more flexibility with hours then I originally knew. My mom said she did not like Pullman and would not be moving there. On our way home we tried to find this little town I had heard about that has cheaper housing and ended up going on a goose chase that ended at a Dam. It was a nice drive and we found a neat campground that we will have to check out sometime. We did stop at another little town that is about 1/2 way in between tha...

I was reading a new blog site (the lazy organizer) that I got from a friend and was inspired by her posts on organization and starting new habits. So I thought I should combine the 2 and work on keeping my office clean and organized on a daily basis. For anybody who has seen my office they know this is a daunting task. I get it cleaned up about once a month but since there is very little organization in it it always becomes messy again within a few days.In fact I am trying to find my camera to take a before pic, but of course it is such a mess that I can't find it. Oh well I will have to post it when I locate it under the mess. Don't worry I promise not to clean anything until I find it so you can see more clearly what a daunting task this is. (Isn't that a wonderful way to start my new habit). So my exciting news of the week is that I received a 2 nd interview for a job that I am not sure I want. As you who have been reading along with me know I have recently opened my o...

Well I sold the trail a bike (see pic) that I bought last weekend at the Liberty Lake Garage Sale. I bought it for 5.00 and it sold for 206.25 for a profit of 201.25 , not bad if I do say so myself. The only down side is I now have to find a box pack this up and ship it to Minnesota. Most everything else has sold except a really cute slide that I just can't get rid of for some reason. Of course a new weekend brings a whole new group of things to sell. I have about 10 items listed right now with a few responses already. So here we go again. For someone who no longer has a set job I always feel like I am at work. I get up early on Fri and Sat around 6:30 get dressed and head out to garage sale (I know poor me). I bounce from place to place trying to find just the right stuff for just the right amount. Then I rush over to my new place by 10 or so to work on my 1st client of the day. I have been having about 3 people a day spread out through the day. So I am never sure when I will get ...

Well things have calmed down a bit around here. I officially put in my notice today and my check finally cleared on Fri (the 8th), which took a huge load off my shoulders. They did not fire me immediately so I will be working tomorrow. It might have helped that I dropped off my notice without talking to any one so they couldn't fire me on the spot. The Liberty Lake garage sale went well, I didn't find any big things but I bought tons of smaller things. I have already sold about 1/2 of it, but I have a few key items that haven't drummed up much interest yet. I will see what happens this week and then re list them on Friday if I have to. Oh I do have two bad notes to make. 1st is that I have lost my wedding ring, but I have been too chicken to tell my husband yet. I actually lost it last Wed but kept hoping it would show up, I have now pretty much lost all hope. The 2nd bad thing is that either my husband or I misplaced 50.00 last night, of course I blame my husband. We pre...

Life has been very hectic since I last blogged. As I mentioned before i am starting a new business. I was planning on staying at my current job for at least the next 9 months, but I am now essentially being pushed out the door and will have to put in my notice on Mon. To start off I have been thinking for some time that I need to take my (massage) table home, due to wear and tear on it at work and now taking it home on weekends with me, I didn't want it to get ruined. So I sent a dispatch to my boss letting them know that in 3 weeks time I was planning on taking my table home permanently. I had also mentioned wanting to take my table home about three months prior to this. Anyways so 3 weeks go by with no comment from them, so I take my table home. The next day I get a call from my boss saying that they were not getting a new table so I could start working just Tue from now on (that is the day the other LMP is not there so the table they provided him was available. I was just floore...

My buddy Kat and her girls ended up coming to town after all. They got in at 1:30 this morning. We all got up around 9:00 and spent the day shopping, playing in the fountain at the park downtown, riding the sky ride, then we went and got Mani/Pedi's, so fun! Tomorrow we are headed out to the water park for the day. Yea! It is so nice to have her over, she even dyed my hair for me this eve. I think it turned out cute, it's hard to tell for sure until you wash and style it the way you normally do. It only took me just short of 3 years to get her to come over and visit me, but with all her complaints about the drive I am sure it will be another 3 years before she comes back, but I sure am happy that she is here now. Our bad news for the day is that our oven went kaput. My husband was cooking up Lasagana and it was taking forever. I checked on it and mentioned that the oven didn't feel very hot and so when he checked it 15 min later he realized that the element went out on it. ...

I know some of you may be saying but it's only Thur. But since I only work M-W Thur is a weekend day to me. And of course Thur is cleaning day but have I done any cleaning? Of course not! (Though I have started some laundry) I guess it's another frappucino night, though I'm not sure I can trust myself with them. I went and picked up a Venti Frappucino (that's the really big one) and dumped the whole thing on my car's center console/ middle seat pulling out of the parking lot. So Cole and I spent 45 min cleaning out my car last night. He loved it because he got to stay up late, me I wasn't so thrilled. Now my car has a nice sour milk and carmel smell to it, MMMMmmm. Oh well. Well tomorrow is garage sale day (yea!). So wish me luck on finding lots of great stuff. I still have a toy box that I picked up a few weeks ago that I just have not been able to get rid of. I bought it for 5.00 and it is in perfect shape. But I got a great idea for it tonight. I was in Othe...

My mom found the cards her parents recieved when she was born back in 1949 with their 3 cent stamps on them. One of them was particularily cute so I thought I would share it with you. The card reads: " A lullaby for you and baby, with all the best wishes. According to a lot of books on babies, it is true. That singing baby lullabies is rigidly taboo, but there are times when all else fails. So tuched in here you'll find a copy of a lullaby. The very latest kind". Then tucked inside the card is a little book with this song in it. " A Modern Lullaby," Author's Note: The following is a sample of a modern lullaby. (For best results, sing louder when baby starts to cry.) 1. Rock-a-bye ba-by, time for re-pose. Close your mouth dar-ling, breath through your nose. Moth-er's hy-gein-ic germs can't come near. She gar-gles first, then kiss-es your ear. 2.Rock-a-bye ba-by, tucked in your bed, moth-er will keep you health-ful-ly fed. Vit-am-in con-scious c...

THUNDER STORMS, I just love these, they always bring back strong, wonderful memories of childhood. I remember sitting on my grandmother's porch in Montana watching the rain coming in. It came in like a sheet and you could literally just watch it make it's way across the sky, see it hit the neighbors across the street, cross the street, come up the lawn and then we would make a mad dash into the house as it started to come on the porch. Or when we lived in Texas I remember sitting on the porch roasting marshmallows and counting between the thunder and lightning, listening to the storm come closer, at 1st it's 5 or 6, then down to 2 or 3. One time we were counting out and just as we said 1 there was a huge clap of thunder that sent all of us kids screaming into the house. You may not know this but in Texas (at least in the El Paso area) they don't have street drains. The water just puddles up wherever there is a dip until it flows down into ditches that carry it to the...

After successfully avoiding my cleaning chores all day on Thur, then heading out to do a couple of massages Thur eve. I grabbed a frapuccino on the way home at 9:45 at night and got inspired to do a little cleaning. I then proceeded to clean my house until around 4:30 Friday morning (yes that does mean the AM). About 4:00 am I started to run out of steam but I had managed, to clean the kitchen including sweeping and mopping the floors, clean and sweep the dining and living rooms, clean and mop the bathroom. Here is the real kicker I also cleaned and organized both my bedroom and the office. Anyone who has seen our office at it's worst knows what an accomplishment this was. Oh I also got all the laundry done. I went to bed around 5:00 and was woken up by Blue about 9 AM (about 4 hrs of sleep). Which is why I missed garage saleing on Friday. We then hosted play date on Fri, I had changed the time from 10 to 1 but since I hadn't heard back from everybody we had to be around ...

Today was not a good garage sale day for me. I can usually tell how the day is going to go, by the 1st garage sale or 2. If I haven't found anything within the 1st 3 garage sales I might as well call it a day. I never do of course because I am too obsessed. Oh well we did get a new ATV for Cole today, but I found it on Craigs list (my other mecca). It seems to run great. We have Cole's buddy Ethan today, always a mixed blessing you never know what trouble those two will find to get in to, but at least they pretty much stay out of my hair. We are headed out to the torchlight parade this eve. One great thing about a small town: we headed down town this AM and put out a couple chairs where we want to sit tonight. Everyone tells me that when we get back tonight they will be sitting there waiting for us. Without anyone having moved them or just sitting in them saying they belong to them. I can't wait to see if this is true. Hopefully it won't rain on us as we watch the parad...

BTW I really am looking for one of these swingsets. So if someone comes across one at a garage sale or something give me a call, I will be right over cash in hand to grab it.

Welcome to my blog! I'm not sure why I was inspired today to start this (probably because I am trying to avoid cleaning) but I thought I would give it a try. It is quiet around here, Blue and Cole are gone for the day off to spend some time with their buds. Mom left for work a little bit ago, so I have just been browsing the internet and visited a friend's blog and got inspired to start my own. (Thanks Brenda). Life has been feeling a bit crazy lately, I feel like I am always 2 steps behind and the more I think about what I need to do the more anxious I get, so I am playing hide and seek from my chores today and just relaxing on the computer. I will be making a bold leap in the next few weeks. After a lot of frustration at my work, I was presented with an opportunity to go out on my own. So starting June 1st I will be renting space in my cousin's salon and trying to build up my own massage business. I will continue to work where I do for now, but with the hope that I can ei...