Smarty Pants

Yes, I know I completely skipped the obligatory Halloween post, and I’m OK with it. Summing up: It was fun. The kids were cute. They trick-or-treated for almost 2 hours and still have tons of candy to prove it. Sweet! Moving on…

On a different yet equally exciting note, this past week was Parent Teacher Conferences. I was a little worried about the reports that I would hear. It’s a new school for my kids and there have been a lot of adjustments for them… for ALL of us. I really wasn’t sure what to expect.

I am thrilled to report that everyone got rave reviews! Ian is doing great. He is one of three male social butterflies in the class (aka… blabbermouth), but in a way I’m glad to hear that he’s met so many new friends and is so social. Alex is an amazing reader (2 grades above the “norm”). She needs to slow down and work on her handwriting, but she is a very bright girl. She’s also very respectful and gives the teacher NO trouble at all. Cooper is academically above grade level and is doing great. He still struggles with following directions and staying focused, but his teacher said that even just in the last 2 weeks he’s been doing better. As far as the report card goes, Emma’s report was near flawless. She too is a talker, but I couldn’t be happier with how she is doing.

It’s been such a crazy year for our family, one full of wonderful experiences as well as some curve balls. I am so proud of all of our kiddies and what wonderful kids and students they are. Despite the sometimes controlled (usually) chaos, grumpiness, normal sibling arguments, etc., I wouldn’t change a thing.

Anything For Love

Class Dismissed

Do not underestimate the power of a correctly spelled word or the proper use of punctuation.

I’m not saying that you need to start addressing me as “Professor”, because I’m sure a few things slip by me every now and again. But nothing detracts from an attempted statement like a simple spelling error. Even worse is a poorly written sentence or paragraph. You know the type of offenders I’m speaking of… people whose emails/letters seem to go on endlessly with nary a comma or period in sight. The ones who repeat themselves over and over and over and over again, saying the same thing in various ways without really saying anything. People, periods are your friend! And sometimes saying less is more (or at least it gives others less evidence that you’re not the sharpest knife in the drawer).

The likelihood is that not everyone out there in the world is your biggest fan. Try avoid proving to them that you are not just an a-hole, but are an ignorant a-hole as well.

Round 2

Remember my resolve to take one child each month and spend an evening with them doing something of their choice? If not then you should read here or even here (did I forget to post about Emma’s date? Hmmm.).

The other night was the end of round 2 of me taking all of the kiddies out for their special “date” night. Cooper, the youngest, even if it IS only by 2 minutes, is the last in the rotation. He chose to go to Cheese Cake Factory for dinner, which is something he’s talked about since I took Ian there about 6 months ago. He said it was better than he had even imagined. Oh to be a kid again and feel exhilaration caused by the little things.

The original plan was to go to Boondocks after dinner but last-minute he decided that Nickelcade would suffice (since he really was most interested in Air Hockey). Sure it’s slightly disgusting and 1/4 of the games are out-of-order, but you can’t beat the price. AND they do have hand sanitizer conveniently placed around the arcade. Screw Boondocks. Plus, it’s insane how long $4 in nickels will last you. Towards the end I was just shoving nickels in random machines to use up our supply.

After about an hour and a half, Cooper cashed in his tickets for some really stupid shit delightful things — a Whoopee Cushion and two lollipops. SIDE NOTE: The lollipops were for Emma and Ian. Cooper thought it would be nice to bring them something from our outing. He is SO DAMN SWEET!

Like I’ve said before, my alone time with the kids is rare and as always, I really enjoyed the evening. Cooper is such a fun and loveable kid… it’s hard not to have fun with him.

In honor of my two Emma “date nights” that for some reason I failed to post (I swear I wrote a post about at least the first one… I even remember downloading the photo! It must be a plot against me), here is a super fast recap. She is goofball and I couldn’t ask for a more helpful or caring daughter.

Date #1: Swimming and I-Hop:

Date #2: Dinner downtown and the Miley Cyrus concert:

And Deep Breath Out…

It’s been quite a month, which is my (valid!) excuse for my lack of posting the past few weeks.

We’re down-shifting from the crazy remodeling/fixing up the house phase, which I am not complaining about. Most of what we wanted to do is done AND it looks like we may be holding off listing the house for a little while… something that is bitter sweet to me.

School is keeping the kids as well as myself busy. In a few days I will begin the “Art Awareness” program that I volunteered for (if volunteering means that I didn’t get the whole story when I agreed to help out, but once found out what was really involved, felt too guilty to back out). This on top of my regular volunteer schedule means that I’m becoming well acquainted with the layout of the weirdly designed school that mirrors a perfect corn maze. Guess that’s a plus.

After a minor “surgery” (and I use that term loosely) and the antibiotics I was required to take, my stupid cold, which I think was a sinus infection, that hung on for almost 6 weeks finally resolved. SWEET!

I’ve been able to begin training for a short race in Moab in a few months. It feels good to be moving again, although my stupid shoulders might not agree. I’m taking the “screw it” approach to dealing with the pain.

Jake, our beloved dog, has been keeping busy getting into the garbage as well as digging holes. Ah, to be a canine.

Much more has happened. Drama. Blood. Sweat. Tears. Vomit. As well as other exciting things, but some things must remain untold. And I’ve got some Halloween decorated to do! Adios.

Someone Save Me

So tired. And so covered in dust, mortar, and probably 10 other dirty and gross things. And I’m feeling my age plus about 89 years. I hurt every where. The worst/most difficult part of the job is over, but I still have enough work left to do to seriously consider whoring myself out to Bob Villa or even Norm Abram (if you don’t know who he is, you’re a home improvement loser) to get it finished. Ugh. The rough stuff will be over tomorrow, and I will be left with simple tasks like painting.

If you love me, you’ll send a masseuse to my home. If you don’t, do it anyway.

And It Continues

For all of the home improvement projects I’ve gotten myself into over the years, and for every time I tell myself that I will take BEFORE photos, I find it annoying and stupid odd that it is something I rarely actually accomplish. Grrr.

We’re still elbow deep in redo’s and renovations. After a lot of thought, Mr. N and I decided to go ahead with gutting the shower in the master bathroom and putting in a tub/shower. Reasons? Let me count the ways. First and foremost, the size of the shower is a definite issue. It is possible for me to shave my legs, as long as sit down and extend my leg above my head. I’m not kidding. And while standing under the running water, there is about a foot between your face and the wall. The second issue is that the tile was not overly attractive… a lovely green, probably installed when the house was built in the late 70’s. Not quite the impression we’re trying to make. And lastly, we are getting ready to put the house on the market. My thinking is that I’ve always wanted a tub in the bathroom, so if the house doesn’t sell (or doesn’t sell quickly), then I’ll have the tub I’ve wanted. Otherwise having a full tub in the master will help it show better and improve the value. SO I figure we can’t lose. We’re doing most of the work ourselves, so with only a relatively little money and a lot of time and work invested, it’ll all be worth it. The only annoying thing (besides living is some SERIOUS dust) is that we’re finally doing the stuff we’ve wanted to have done BUT with the prospect of not really getting to enjoy it all that much. Such is life.

Until the bathroom is done and ready to use (which I think/hope will be in about 5 days), and between doing the tiling in the tub/shower, I’m going to attempt to tackle some of the de-cluttering in the storage room as well as depersonalizing the house. Oh the joy of selling a home.

Bathtubs, Bats, and Noseblows

I keep waiting for things to slow down a little bit… just enough so I can stop, take a breath, and relax a little. Seeing as it’s been 9 months without much down time, it’s finally set in that this is the norm. SWEET!

The kids are back in the swing of things at school, and between helping them with homework and volunteering in their classrooms, it’s keeping me busy as well.

Mr. N and I are going to be listing our house for sale in the next couple of weeks (at least that’s the plan). The prospect of buying a home together is exciting, but everything that needs to be done to sell THIS one makes my head ache. Since I can sometimes be a perfectionist and over-thinker, as well as an agent, it’s set me into this tailspin of trying to get a ton of projects done in a very short amount of time.

Kitchen backsplash tiled. Check.

Upstairs ceilings painted. Check.

Holes patched. Check.

Touch up of old paint. Check.

TO DO: Paint living room and kitchen. Rip out retardedly small shower in master bath and install tub. Tile said tub/shower. Paint master bedroom and bath. Paint downstairs bath. Install closets in bedrooms. De-clutter, clean, and in general just get ready to show. In hopefully less than a week. Ugh.

Yeah, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment, which is probably magnified due to the fact that I am sick… AGAIN. But I know we can get all of this crap done and it will be worth it in the end.

On another super exciting note… Mr. N and I are coaching my sons baseball team (ok, I’m just the lowly assistant coach). Their first game was pretty, um, pathetic interesting. After that game we were pretty worried about what the rest of the season would be like. But the kids have improved so tons from one game to the next and it’s been really fun to watch them get better and better. Last night we played the only undefeated team in the league. The team we happened to have played our first game. Which was a team that absolutely KILLED us (I’m not sure what the final score was suffice it to say that we scored ZERO runs). The coach of the team that really rubs me the wrong way. In all fairness, he seems like a pretty nice guy and a dedicated coach, but he in a little too intense for my taste. They are 9 and 10 years old, and I find it a little odd that he actually has hand signals for the kids up to bat. And that yells a little too loud at his players. PLUS, they are a team that has played together for a few years, and he requested certain players be on his team. OUR team was made up of the “left over” kids. So, last night we beat them and I am more excited about it than I probably should be. Not only did it feel great to beat Coach Overzealous’s team, but it was so fun to see our boys reactions and the pride they felt as a result of their win. Woo hoo!

Whew!

What a relief! GLAD® came up with a new plastic bag that clicks so you can make sure it’s closed. Because the whole red-and-blue-makes green closure just wasn’t cutting it. Millions of innocent people have suffered an unmeasurable amount of anxiety due to not knowing if their sandwich bag was really, REALLY closed.

Health care reforms? Deteriorating ozone layer? Child abuse? Pfttt! Who cares now that I can sleep well at night knowing my food is safe when I hear that click. Although it requires ME to actually do the closing. Maybe GLAD® will improve upon this masterpiece by including a helper monkey to close the bags for me.

From Good To Great

It’s 10:30 am on a Sunday morning and I should be out of bed, cleaning up the mess from the party Mr. N and I threw last night. But trolling the good ole’ internet while in the comforts of my own bed is a lot more tempting. And proof that it was a good decision… I just happened upon a little statement that PERFECTLY captures something that I’ve been trying to blog about for awhile now, but couldn’t quite find the way to say it.

“I’ve finally realized that sometimes you lose the good things in life to make room for the great things”.

That is a concept that has been rolling around in my head for awhile, and each day it is solidified. My past life really wasn’t so bad. For the most part it was OK if not good. But without the severing of certain ties and making some drastic changes, I would have never been given the opportunity for what is often a great life. And I would still be in a situation that was mediocre at best and would have continued to decline (in my opinion).

During the shin-dig last night there was a point where I sat back, looked around, and let it all sink in. I felt so grateful and lucky to have met and married what I can only describe as someone who is perfect for me, and to be surrounded not only by some of my long time friends but new and wonderful ones as well. Ones who I would have never had the chance to meet if I hadn’t given up the good for great.

I’m definitely not advocating that if things aren’t going your way that you should jump ship on your current life and search for a new one. I’m just saying that sometimes, in your heart, I think that you know when things aren’t what they could OR should be. And even though it’s scary, there are no rewards without a little risk. I do believe that things happen for a reason, even if it’s difficult to see the reason in the midst of it all, things just have a way of working out for the best.