Good times
We were broke as a joke this weekend, but we actually had a great time. We went to the park, the library, visited Jay’s folks, and spent a good, mostly lazy day at home yesterday. Well, actually, we had an agenda yesterday, but that’s a discussion for another time. Anyway, thank the good Lord we get paid at midnight tonight!!
I actually have a project I’m working on for the publishing company I used to work for in the Nashville area, so this next month should be a good one. We’re still looking at (and praying about) our career options, though. And we’re also thinking what we can do to cut corners. I think we might just be crazy enough to do something like sell most of what we have, buy a used RV (because it’s just classier than a ‘mobile home’ … haha) and live in it for a couple of years until the kids are in school and I can afford to go back to work. You’d be surprised how nice a used RV you can get in the $30K range. And since our cars are paid off, we’d just be making the equivalent of a car payment, and our nearly-$900 rent payment would go away. I know, I’m totally crazy … but I think living in cramped quarters would be better than constantly stressing over making ends meet b/c I can’t find a job.
I actually found an old college friend on myspace recently and saw that they lived on a Christian hippie commune in Florida. I think that would be absolutely awesome, but Jay would probably rather poke his eye out with a stick.
Yikes … it’s storming outside and I do believe it’s right overhead. The thunder is rattling the window panes.
We are all over our bronchitis now, thankfully – well, there’s still a stray cough here and there, but I’d consider our family mended. It seems like everyone is saying that this is a bad year for allergies … almost everyone I know has had some kind of sinus or respiratory thing this season.
Jay and I are eagerly anticipating the birth of our niece. My sister-in-law is scheduled to be induced on 5/7, if the baby doesn’t come on her own before then. I wish we could be in TN to see her! I really hope we can get out there to visit sometime this summer.
Last but not least, I have found another blog here on WordPress.com that really cracks me up – http://icanhascheezburger.com/. It can be really cheesy at times, but some of the entries - like this one and this one – can be really funny. Or maybe I just have a strange sense of humor.
Smarty pants
Yesterday I was telling Mikaela and Gabriel to pick their toys up out of the living room floor. I pointed to a plastic cup and – momentarily at a loss for words – told Mikaela to pick up “that thingy over there.”
She walked over to it and picked it up, saying wryly “that a CUP, mama.”
Just call me wheezy
So, my asthma is flaring up again. What’s significant about that is the fact that I’m 29 and I’ve never had asthma before this spring. Who ever heard of an adult suddenly developing asthma? What gives?
Any other adult-onset asthmatics out there? I’d like to hear from you.
Yikes again
I talked to our neighbor who had seen the teens trying to break into our car the other night, and he tells me that the police found the kids and arrested them. Then, the police tell the guy that there’s been a lot of house break-ins around our neighborhood lately. Somehow I doubt the kids they arrested are responsible for that, but I guess anything’s possible. Car break-ins don’t bother me as much, but house break-ins? That scares the crap out of me. The last thing I want is to come face-to-face with an intruder, especially given that I have no weapons. Oh, I can’t sit around and worry about it. But I don’t think I’m going to be re-upping my lease come September.
Beautiful
I think this is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.
Yikes
While I was writing my last blog, someone was trying to break into my car. A policeman knocked on our door and told us the neighbor had just seen kids trying to break into our cars and scared them off. I’m glad they didn’t break any windows … not something I want to pay for. There’s nothing in either of our cars of any significant value, thankfully. Punk kids.
A victory
*FYI – this post contains mature subject matter*
I have almost always been the type of person who can see other people’s viewpoints. I may or may not agree with them, but I can put myself in their shoes and at least respect their opinion.
One exception to this general rule of mine: abortion. I will never, ever understand how someone can go through with it. How do pro-choice advocates live with themselves for trying to lie to themselves and everyone else about the fact that this is a LIFE, whose heart is beating before it’s even a month old?!?!
And spare me your “do you want to go back to the days of back-alley abortions that will kill the mothers?” No one is forcing them to do that. Have they ever heard of adoption?
Anyway, the point of this blog entry is this: the recent victory in the Supreme Court, which upheld a ban on the gruesome partial-birth abortion procedure. Good for the Supreme Court. Here’s hoping Roe vs. Wade is struck down next.
Home again
Well, we’re back home, after a very, very long day yesterday.
If you’re just tuning in, I was visiting my family in east Tennessee. We were staying with my sister and family, and my mom and dad came up from B’ham to visit with us, as well. Night before last, they threw me a birthday party, complete with chocolate/raspberry cake (my favorite!!). It was very sweet.
Anyway, yesterday morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, packed everything into my sister’s van and headed for Nashville. The plan was to spend some time visiting with my sister-in-law and our newly-married friends before catching our plane back to Texas a few hours later.
The visit with Tracy, my about-to-burst-pregnant sister-in-law, went well. But, for some reason, when we went to check out our friends’ new place, Mikaela just had a meltdown. I believe it was the worst she’s ever had. She was mad at me because I wanted her to sit still and watch Shrek and not wreak havoc in their very nice, new house. This indignity, combined with the lack of a good nap (and possibly hunger) was just too much, apparently because she felt the need to scream for about 20 minutes. It was one of those fits that makes you look like a total loser of a parent, because there was really nothing I could do to make her happy or to stop the screaming (short of giving in and letting her “explore” in the non-Mikaela-proofed house). Hopefully we haven’t convinced our friends not to have kids!
We said our goodbyes to our friends and our sister-in-law and got on the plane in Nashville (we walked right past Reba McIntyre in the Nasville Airport, by the way), where Mikaela started to have another meltdown. It lasted most of the flight, until she finally stopped fighting her sleepiness and konked out. I tried snacks and stickers and stuffed animals, to no avail. I felt extremely helpless and fairly mortified. We are now officially “those people with the bratty kid.”
I arrived in San Antonio at about 8:40, bedraggled and exhausted. I was so glad to see Jay. We drove home and got in around 11:30 pm, and the kids and I had a very good night’s sleep. Mikaela is being an angel today. Just a couple of minutes ago, while I was typing, she walked up and kissed and then patted me on the leg. 
Nice surprise when I walked in the door from our trip last night: Jay had me a birthday cake and present waiting for me (yesterday was my birthday). He actually lit my “29″ candle and sang to me. Great end to a fairly frustrating day.
Guilty pleasure
When Jay and I got married, I teased him for still owning a pair of tight, stone-washed jeans, as well as a collection of hair metal (on tape).
But, I can’t honestly say I didn’t like any of the songs from that era/genre. Tonight I was looking for a good radio station whilst on my way home from the drugstore, and I happened upon one playing the Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” I turned it up and rocked out.
Happy, Jay?
Things I don’t miss about small town, east Tennessee
Rednecks
Food Lions
Very, very slow drivers
Allergens
Cold weather in April!!!
Slow, drawling talkers (when you’re in a hurry and you just want them to get to the point).
The lack of things to do!
The lack of … uh, diversity
The rest of my side of the family loves it here. To each their own, I guess. I would go nuts if I lived here.
I’m still alive!
I’m at my sister’s house in east Tennessee right now, the land of glorious mountain vistas and snaggle-toothed, drawling townspeople. Okay, I’m being facetious. Kind of.
Don’t get me wrong … there’s things about the south I miss. Like people being POLITE occasionally. There are way too many jerks in the Austin metro. My Texas-loving husband always gets huffy when I say this and blames this on the influx of Californians.
And southern cooking. Mmmmmm. Although, Tex-Mex is a very close second in my book…
Anyway, for the news:
I am currently on a 9-day trip to TN. It started out last Friday, when I flew into Nashville for our friends’ wedding the next day. It was quite lovely. I’ll have to post their pic once I’m back at home. I didn’t get to visit with the newly married couple much since they were so busy with wedding stuff, so I’m going to visit with them some on Sunday before flying back home.
Back to the itenerary – I spent Friday through Sunday morning in Nashville, when my sister drove in from the Knoxville area and took us (the kids and I) back to her house. I will stay here in the Knoxville area until my sister takes me back to Nashville on Sunday so I can spend a few more hours visiting with the newlyweds, as well as my sister and brother-in-law.
Things have been kind of a bummer ever since I’ve been at my sister’s – I’ve been sick with bronchitis, and Mikaela has the same thing as well. I’ve coughed so much and so fiercely that my diaphragm hurts. I’m seriously thinking about starting on allergy shots when I get back home so hopefully I can break this cycle of constant sickness.
Sorry to jump back and forth so much, but back on our Nashville visit late last week: I had a really good visit with my sister-in-law, Tracy, and brother-in-law, Glen. They are expecting their first child in about 2 weeks. We are so ridiculously excited, but just wish we could be in town for her birth. Hopefully, we can come back sometime this summer to see the new little one. Tracy is as cute as a bug – she’s “all baby” – and her beautiful nursery is all fixed and ready to go. It’s really a funny story … Tracy and Glen thought for years that they were not going to have kids, but have obviously changed their minds. The whole family was very pleasantly surprised and we’re all eager to see her.
We also had a great visit with our Nashville friends Brian and Jenny Wood and their daughter, Anna Beth, who is three weeks younger than Mikaela. She was SO adorable, I can’t even tell you. It was nice catching up with the Woods, but by the time we were leaving their house that evening, I was already coming down with my latest illness, so I wasn’t feeling well at all.
Hopefully the next few days we’re here in east TN will find us feeling a lot better, so we can enjoy spending time with family. I’ll post pictures after we return home.
Nursing, here I come?
So I went to the nursing program informational session today at the local community college. I have a lot of hoops to jump through before I’ll be putting on any scrubs.
The simple version of my checklist (not that anyone is really interested, I know – but I love making lists.):
- Apply to the college (after filling out residency forms, gathering transcripts, etc.)
- Meet with an advisor
- Get student aid worked out (get FAFSA student aid report [SAR] back, visit Student Aid office)
- Register for classes @ May 7
- Get immunizations up to date and provide proof
- Register with Continuing Education department for Human Anatomy entrace exam test prep class (4 days in May; $40 fee)
- Take entrance exams to qualify for enrollment in Human Anatomy and Human Physiology. (mid-May?)
- Take prerequisite courses (Human Anatomy, Intro to Microbiology, Math, Human Physiology, Pharmacology), earning a 2.7 or better GPA.
- Take co-requisite courses that I haven’t had yet (Intro to Speech, Human Growth & Development)
- Register for and take the HESI assessment
- Fill out and submit form for ADN (nursing) program
- Cross fingers and hope I gain entrace to nursing program
Two years, lots of classes and clinicals and a final licensure exam later, hopefully I’ll officially be an RN
Horse … er, I mean dog sitting
We are watching a friend’s dog for the weekend while she and her husband are out of town. The dog, Snickers, is VERY large, but extremely sweet. Jay loves big dogs, but I am a little skittish around them. Maybe keeping a docile one will help me get over that.
Updates
We went to Good Friday services at the church tonight. It was very good in a somber kind of way. I guess we can’t really appreciate the celebration of Easter fully until we appreciate the gravity of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on the cross.
I am going to the church again tomorrow night to keep the nursery for the Saturday night early Easter service. I am keeping the 7-10 month old nursery. I am so ridiculously excited. I get to play with babies! Have I mentioned that I have the baby bug again? In a bad way. I know, I’m nuts …. and it’s not like I can do anything about it anyway. It must be an inborn desire in a woman’s heart – it seems like no matter how many kids y0u have, part of you wants more.
Shifting gears … the weather here is getting cold. So cold that they’re calling for sleet and possible snow on Easter! So much for Mikaela’s cute sleeveless Easter dress – it will be covered up by her winter coat. Anyway, the weather forecasters are saying we’re probably going to see record lows. I just hope it doesn’t kill all the pretty flowers.
Speaking of my kids, Gabriel’s been quite the chatterbox this week. He pointed to a fly on the van’s window today and said “papa! a fy!!!”
Yesterday, Gabriel found a dime outside in the driveway, picked it up to give it to me and said, “here go moneys!”
Today, Jay’s mom gave Gabriel and Mikaela an early Easter present – Happy Feet on DVD. Gabriel sat through the whole thing without moving – that’s amazing for a three-year-old! When Gabriel was saying his bedtime prayers with Jay, Gabriel thanked God for Happy Feet. Other items he’s thanked God for recently include pop tarts and milk. That always cracks me up.
I *still* haven’t heard back from the last interview I went on. Deja vu vu vu.
I should be sleeping. I think I’ll go do that now.
Mikaela photos
I took these today. It takes a MAJOR effort to get Mikaela to 1) look at the camera 2) stand still 3) smile – all at the same time. Her usual MO is to run giggling when I get the camera out, because she knows this annoys me – and no amount of coaxing, threatening, or trying to make it seem like a fun game will deter her. I was only able to get these shots of her smiling because I was tickling her.
Shoot, I oughta photoshop her face from one of these pictures onto her bluebonnets picture that didn’t turn out!
Site changes
I’m going to try to start putting photos behind a “read the rest of this entry” link, so all the photos won’t have to load every time you pull my blog up.
Copacetic? 
2007 bluebonnet photo, try #2
Wind, sun and uncooperative children made it a fairly unsuccessful photo shoot, again.
The dilemma
Shopping for clothes sucks.
Especially when you’ve got a hard-to-fit figure.
And really especially when you’ve got a hard-to-fit, plus-size figure.
Most department stores have such appallingly ugly plus clothing that I’d rather hang myself than be seen in them. Macy’s is a good exception, thankfully.
The other thing about plus clothing: many designers make tops that could easily be mistaken for maternity tops. And what non-pregnant woman wants to be asked when she’s due?
Christin, the amazing shrinking woman
My good friend from church, Christin, has lost 100 pounds in five – that’s right, FIVE – months while doing the “Kimkins” low-carb diet. She just found out last week that Women’s World magazine (it’s on the checkout stand at your local grocery store) wants to do a piece on her story and the Kimkins diet. They’re flying her out to L.A. early next week for a photo shoot – she will be on the cover of one of their upcoming magazines.
Random stuff
1. I had the best Chai tea latte at Starbucks last night. It was a beautiful, mild evening and a friend and I had a chance to get away from the kids and catch up. It was nice, although I scalded my tongue with the first sip. :/
2. Still waiting to hear back from the kids’ play place I interviewed at last week. I’ll keep you posted.
3. Today Gabriel said, “I wanna go see Jay. He at wuk (work).”
4. I still don’t have a babysitter locked down for the wedding I’m going to in less than two weeks now. Ugh. Why is it always so hard? I also need to go to the store to buy a dress for this wedding. I look awful in dresses, so I have a feeling it’s going to be a struggle to find something that looks good. I love a good challenge when it comes to shopping! I can’t believe this trip is less than 2 weeks away. I’m so excited.
5. Easter is Sunday and I still don’t have my kids’ outfits bought. Call me last-minute Lucy.
6. My cars are now paid off, but they are falling apart at the same time. In my Ford Taurus wagon, (I didn’t pick it out, OK? It was my grandmother’s.) the air conditioning is out, the thermostat keeps sticking, you have to slam the driver’s door several times for it to shut properly, and the engine sounds awful. Our other vehicle, the Chrysler Town and Country minivan that used to be Jay’s parents’ (we traded them an SUV for it), the check engine light is on, the horn won’t work, and the “airbag” light has been lit up for months now. Anyone know of a good, honest mechanic in the greater Austin area?
7. Next steps toward a nursing degree: I have an informational meeting to attend next Monday that will tell me all about the program. On the $$ end, I’ve already filled out an FAFSA, and I have to ask Jay what I do now (he’s a pro with the financial aid). Because my parents paid for my college [God bless them], I never had to deal with financial aid before.
8. This beats all: you want to know what my dear husband did today? He shot grape-scented bird-repellent out of a super-soaker water gun onto the buildings around the Capitol, in an effort to deter pigeons (and their poop). Somehow I think this wasn’t in his job description …
