Not As Planned

We are tracked out right now and yesterday was my day off. I had planned to take the kids out to lunch and bowling for something fun to do together. I should know by now that most things don’t go the way I plan them as yesterday was no different…

Emma went to bed Tuesday sounding raspy and by yesterday morning she had a nasty cough and was wheezing. So, we started our “fun day together” at the doctor’s office. She was pretty tight and wheezy, so they gave her a breathing treatment in the office (which was quite traumatic for her because she had not had one in years and was terrified). The doctor really couldn’t find anything wrong with her and said it was her reactive airway disease (but I’m sure we’ll end up back at the doctor by tomorrow when whatever it is shows itself).


Can you see that she is sticking her tongue out at me? She was not in a good mood!


Really mom???

After the doctor we went to Milton’s for lunch. I ordered Emma a kid’s cheese pizza while Drew and I ate the buffet. When Drew and I were almost done, her pizza had not come out yet. We asked about it, and of course it was forgotten somehow! Poor thing. I grabbed her a slice off the buffet. (And if you’re wondering why I didn’t just order the buffet for her- the kid’s pizza was cheaper and that’s all she would eat off the buffet). We left there and finally made it to the bowling alley. I had checked ahead online to make sure they had open bowling, which they did. I get to the counter and tell the guy their shoe sizes. He tells me that they have a senior league starting to bowl in 5 minutes and all 42 lanes are reserved for the next 3 hours. WHAT?? That’s not what the website said! How on earth was I going to tell a child who wouldn’t understand that after a long wait to get there, we couldn’t bowl. God bless the seniors, but really? Needless to say, it did not go over well because it was not something she could understand. I did get them some tokens to play in the game room but it wasn’t the same. Did I mention my 13 year old was amazingly patient during all this drama all day long? He even carried Emma in and out of the rain all day for me (she hates the rain and won’t walk in it) and entertained her at the doctor. It just seemed it was one thing after another but we made it work.


Making silly faces at the doctor


What a good big brother!

At the end of the day Jon told me he was sorry the day had not gone as I planned. My response to him was that it was okay because in the end, I still got to spend the day with my kids and that made me happy. We ended the night piled in my bed (along with the Darth Vader sounding nebulizer) watching Biggest Loser. Yes the day did not go as planned, but I was still thankful for every moment spent with my precious children yesterday. It was a good reminder to make the best out of whatever life throws your way!



I do owe them a bowling trip though!

Have you ever had those days?

Some interesting tidbits about me:

-I carry a bag around everywhere I go. I have my calendar in it, as well as bills, coupons and anything I think I might need. If I ride with you in your car somewhere, I am very likely to carry my bag with me, in addition to my pocketbook. Yes, I realize this is like a crazy old lady. I like to think I am just ahead of the game.

-I have a very low self esteem. This is not a result of any tragedies in my life. It is just who I am and have always been this way. I also have CLEAR shower doors in my bathroom at our new house. I have decided this will either heal my low self esteem OR drive me to an early grave. And yes, I do have it on my punch list to verify they installed the correct doors!!!! Who wants see- through shower doors???? Not.this.girl.

-I have never eaten seafood in my life (although my mom says I hate clam chowder when I was about 4 years old). Oddly enough I love Red Lobster…because of the cheese biscuits but have never had the seafood.

-Along those same lines, I never tried cheesecake until I was 30 years old. (And I really didn’t care for it). I also never really ate cheese, deviled eggs or any casseroles until I was in my 20’s. Yes, I was born and raised in the south and yes, I now weigh more than I ever have due to discovering these things…oh and I guess having two kids too.

-I am a numbers FREAK. Enough said.

-I am a list FREAK also. Inside my calendar, which lives in my bag…you will find list after list after list in there. It will be a sad day when I pass and Jon has to go through all my lists and realize just how crazy I might’ve been. If you are reading this and something should happen to me, please frame my lists and have them all over the place at my funeral. I will be watching.

-I’m also a calendar freak. I sort of have to be with our busy schedules. If it’s in my calendar, I will be there. If it is not written down, good luck!

-Music is therapy for my soul. Music and I have an indescribable relationship.

-GERMAPHOBE.TO.THE.EXTREME.

-I enjoy rebelling in safe, fun, non-harmful ways. An example-when we lived in our apartment for 4 months, there was a one way round-a-bout. When no one was coming and the coast was totally clear, I would gun it and go the wrong way for fun! Yes I did, I just used my blog as a confessional forum.

-I’ve always wanted tattoos and piercings. Yep. If I were a different person, this girl would have an eyebrow ring, nose ring, tongue ring and several tattoos and my friends would probably disown me! And yes, I had my belly button pierced and several ear piercings before kids. I love it. I love the look. Call me a freak, whatever. Don’t judge. I just said I LIKE the look, not that I was going to do it…

-I have never been outside of the United States. However, if you read my 2011 list of goals, I hope to plan a trip with my husband this year. Perhaps a cruise!

-I started going to Jon’s baseball games when I was 13 years old (Drew’s current age-sigh). From 13 years old to his last game at 18 years old, I never missed a single game of his. Ever. You can ask him.

-If you pay any good attention to my daughter and show me you care about her, you have an automatic entrance into my heart. If you do the opposite of these things, I am likely to hold a bitter grudge against you forever.

-I don’t like minivans. Don’t lash out at me if you have one. I said “I” don’t like them. You can drive all the minivans you want to, but I pray this mama will never drive one!

-I don’t understand football but I can tell you almost anything about baseball. See post above about how many games I have been to. However, my son plays baseball, football, basketball and wrestling so I have to suck it up and pretend like I like all those other sports.

-I am no good at hiding my facial expressions. Good and bad. So, everyone pretty much knows what I’m thinking most of the time. Again, good and bad.

-I use the word “dude” a lot. Don’t know why, always have, probably always will.

-I drive a stick shift. I don’t love it but it’s what I have right now. The better part to this is that my husband can not drive a stick shift which sure has made for some funny stories.

-I do not like it when people respond to a text and only say “k” when they mean “okay.” I know, it’s weird but it drives me crazy for some reason and everyone does it, especially Jon and Jill the two people I text the most!!!!!

-I smell things. Apparently, I’ve had this disturbing issue since I was little. I smell most of my food before I eat it. I smell anything new, like new shoes inside a box. I don’t smell anything gross, nasty, or old though, only clean and fresh.

-I decided one day a while back that I was no longer going to eat fast food. I am proud to say I have not eaten at The Chum Bucket (aka McD’s) in over 5 months. In fact, I have only eaten Char Grill twice and ChicFilA a few times and that’s it for the fast food! Feels great!

-I have only been couponing for about 3 years. I am tracking my savings this year hard core. I saved over $13,000 last year (and that was loose tracking) and hope to do even better than that this year. My grocery budget is around $50-75 for the entire month and I do not pay for cleaning products or any toiletries. I can’t say enough about couponing and what it has done for us!

-I have a kidney behind my bellybutton. This was not discovered until I was about 27 years old. It is a smaller kidney so let’s hope the good one never goes out on me! Who wants to donate a kidney to me if I need it??? Any takers? I’ll trade you some of my couponing stash for your kidney.

-I danced around in my kitchen for 30 minutes the other day when I was home alone. It was fun. It was therapeutic and I highly recommend it. I must confess, I pray my new neighbors didn’t see me, because this white girl can’t dance!

I’m know there’s more but I can’t reveal all my secrets at once. I have to keep you guessing about some things. And also keep your friendships without scaring you away. What are your interesting tidbits?

My Week (Last Week)

The good, the bad and the funny.

The Good Things-

I had two wonderful nights out last week! The first one, I was finally able to sit down with my dear friend Suzanne and have dinner. We talked and laughed. I love how we always pick up right where we left off, no matter how much time has gone by. We missed you Hazlette. It never feels the same without you there :(. Suzanne was able to come see our new house after we had dinner and even brought me a housewarming gift, which I love! Love you Suzanne! My second night out was a mom’s night out with the Triangle Down Syndrome Network. It was a fun evening, with yummy food and great company. I am so thankful for my TDSN friends, as we all share a common bond that only we can truly understand. When I am with them, there is a level of comfortability that I can’t explain.

Drew had school baseball tryouts last weekend and on Monday night we found out that he made the varsity team! He was very excited (he did not make the school basketball team this year, though he made it to the final cut so he was nervous about trying out). One of the neatest things is that his cousin Chase made the team too so the boys will be playing together for one last time before going to different high schools. Did I really just say high school? Uck…

After an off and on two month battle with Verizon, I finally have a new cell phone in route to my house! I am very excited and of course proud to share it cost me $0.00. In addition for my “troubles” they issued me a $35 credit on my bill. Woo hoo!

I am happy to report that Emma’s transition to the new house has been seamless. She has done beautifully. Some may remember when we moved to the apartment she was quite out of sorts and struggled in every area of her life for a while. I’ve been praying for her and it means the world to me to see her happy and adjusting so well.

Jon and I have this little favorite pastime of renting whole seasons if certain shows we haven’t seen before and watching the episodes back to back to back. We did this with 24, Alias, The Shield and our newest one that Jon picked out is Fringe. We have only watched 2 episodes (that had a few graphic parts which didn’t settle with my “sensitive to graphic movies” stomach) but, Jon tells me the scenes to “close my eyes” at and it’s all good! So far, I likey.

I realized this morning that I had not looked at Drew’s grades in the computer in quite a few weeks. It is something I typically check every couple of days but nothing has been all that normal since our move. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my boy currently has straight A’s right now. Go Drew!

I felt sooooo revived when I went to Lowe’s to use coupons this week. It has been a while. I purchased $56 of groceries and paid $5. Yes, I’m backkkkkkkk.

I have been cooking more lately than ever! I love it. I really do. It can however, be an exhausting task. I joked that I need to move my bed into my kitchen since that is where I spend the majority of my time these days. Hey, I have one happy, well fed family though!

I pulled out my camera and grabbed some quick shots of my kids playing on the porch one day. I love both things- photography and watching my kids play and interact. Those moments are priceless and don’t think that I took one minute of it for granted.

Finally, I was able to blog! That is definitely a good week :)

The Bad Things-

I am participating in a new Bible study (this is NOT the bad thing, lol) and our first class was canceled due to the ice. Bummer!

Almost one month later, we still don’t have our new furniture that we ordered in December. I’m sooo ready to get everything in its final place.

Not going to dwell on this too much yet, but we have a lot of “school things” on the horizon with Emma. Soon, she will begin testing for her 8 year old evaluation where they test her IQ level and change her “label” for school and placement purposes. Then we will have her IEP and I already don’t have a good feeling about things. I am like a bear hibernating right now, but I am working a covert operation, getting all my soldiers ready for war!

I LOVE how my bad list is so much shorter :):):)

The Funny Things-


Drew told me that I dress like an art teacher a lot of the time. Now, I have no problem with what an art teacher may or may not wear, but for some reason this struck my funny and concerning all at the same time. Then I was reminded that my mom has signed me up for What Not To Wear on more than one occasion. Sigh.

Emma discovered the word “parents” this week. I believe she overheard me ask Drew if his friend’s parents were going to be home when he asked to go to their house. She ran with the word and kept saying “my parents?” I told her “Daddy and mommy are your parents” to which she replied “Nah, that’s ok. (and waved me off with her hand). Me need different parents.” Um, sweet Emma, you have so much to learn and you are too cute and funny! You’re stuck with us girl!

Elmo face. Let me tell you, Drew has discovered he can do a really good Elmo impersonation. Emma thinks it is the funniest thing in the world. I have never, ever heard her laugh as hard as she did in the car the other day when Drew did it. I was on the phone and had to hang up because she was laughing so hard. I loved it!

I had a welcome greeting from a 7 year old boy on our street. This is how it went... I was walking through the dining room and saw a face smashed up against the glass panes around the front door, with little eyes peeking in my house. Kinda weird. Was he scouting out my house for a break in? I thought he was the youngest robber I had ever met! I went to the door, opened it, said hello and the little voice said " My name is Arsh and I am allowed to go into people's houses to play." Well, alrighty then...

My dad bought my mom an IPOD for her birthday. I thought I knew the definition of the word obsessed, but she takes it to a whole nother’ level. I don’t think there is a human on earth that loves their IPOD as much as Cathy Upton does. I have a feeling that within a year she will be the first inductee into “IPOD Anonymous” which will meet in the room next to “Crackberries Anonymous.” She will need to allow enough time for both sessions. Love you mom and hey, I do give you major kudos for keeping up with society! It’s very impressive.

I hope each of you find time in your week to highlight the good things!

I said I wasn't gonna...

I've always thought New Years resolutions were so cliche and silly. I mean honestly, who really sticks to them for 365 days? Find a friend in April and ask them how there resolutions are going? They will say "Huh? What resolutions?" :)Of course we all want to be thinner, smarter, nicer and better in 2011. It's fun to talk about our ideas, goals etc but unless you truly follow through, they aren't meaningful or purposeful. So as New Year's rolled around, I thought...nope, not gonna do it.

New Years came and went and now it is Jan 4th...

Maybe it's my hidden desire to rebel and do something after it technically *should* be done (Jan 1st), but now that the dust has settled a little, I want to create my own list (NOT resolutions!) for 2011. This "list" is inspired by several things, but mainly our move to a new home. I will be holding myself accountable and welcome you to hold me accountable as well!

So here goes, my list for this year of things I want to accomplish (in no order):

-Blog more(it's so therapeutic)and get more followers!
-Save money to take a nice trip with Jon..preferably somewhere WARM
-Continue organizing my new home
-Join a Bible study (and stick to it...I know Krista!:)
-Create a better learning environment for Emma
-Dabble further into my love of photography, just for fun
-Help others who want to learn more about saving money
-Give more of myself to my family
-Learn to say no at times and not feel guilty
-Start Christmas shopping in August/September
-Pray more
-Give more (in every way)
-Have some fun parties at our new house
-Cook more (especially using the food we already have)
-Survive the teen years...and be the good, Christian parent I need to be
-Work harder at figuring out Emma's triggers
-Reinstate date nights with Jon when possible
-Make sure my friends and family know just how much I love them
-Take more video with my video camera
-Develop 2010 pics and put into albums
-Do something daring (but safe)
-Have a girl's weekend
-Track my 2011 coupon savings
-Continue to be thankful for our blessings

So there you have it. My list. It's a good list for me. I hope I will be able to come back and mark things off this list throughout the year. I challenge you to create your own list, but make sure it has substance. Be meaningful in all you do.

Happy 2011!