Saturday, December 22, 2007

It's Almost Christmas

It's the Saturday before Christmas and I have so much to do. Well okay not too much. Today was supposed to begin 6 days in a row off for Justin, but as with being the boss you have to make sacrifices. His Assistant General Manager has pneumonia and can't work today so he has to go in. We can deal with that because he still has 5 days off and we will have Tuesday - Thursday off together. The only problem is we were all going to go out today and get the rest of the food that we need to host his family on Tuesday for brunch and my family for dinner. Now i have to take all three kids out on my own and get the things that we need. I just pray that the kids will not make this too hard for me today. The one I worry about the most is Kaleb. He is get bored and walk away and sit somewhere sometimes and as crowded as places will be today I worry about him getting lost or taken. Trust me when I say that we will be going over in great detail how we will act today and what we will do and of course I will bribe them with some kind of treat if they behave. Well I better go and get ready so we can get this done and over with.





Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Weather Outside is..........Confusing!

This morning around 8a.m. the snow started falling and falling fast. Within about 2 hours we had almost 3 inches of snow. Then it started sleeting and then it all turned to rain. Now it has been raining most of the day. The tempeture has been just above freezing hense the rain and not snow. Tonight its supposed to switch back to snow and drop a couple more inches. I don't know I guess I'm glad that it wasn't all snow today but at the same time I would have really liked the snow. We're supposed to have a Live Nativity at our church tomorrow night. It's not just one of those drive by ones either. It is more like a dramatization of the night Christ was born. We have shepherds and Roman guards and live animals and all kinds of things. Now with the weather I'm not so sure how many people will come. I don't particularly want to stand outside in the cold and the snow (the high is only 28 tomorrow) and I don't really want to deal with my kids in the cold and snow either. Luckily this is one of the things that I am not involved in. We'll just have to see how tomorrow is.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Anyone seen a Wii

Justin and I had decided a couple weeks ago that we would get the kids one family gift this year. Are plan is to get them a Wii. One it looks like fun and two we have a game cube and all the games we have for that can be played on the Wii. Now what we should have done is bought what we saw when we made this decision but we didn't. So for the last two days I have been checking ebay and bidding on several but I am just not will to pay what some are asking for. A couple weeks ago the price wasn't too different than in the store. Now that there are none anywhere but ebay they are going for at least double the store price. I guess we'll see if this is what we actually get the kids now.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I just wanted to wish everyone out there a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is getting to enjoy this day with friends and family. I will be spending it at Justin's families for the first half of the day and mine for the second. My goal is to not stuff myself today.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

House For Sale well maybe Not

After much whinning and complaining from me we finally put our house up for sale at the end of August. At the beginning of the year I told Justin I wanted to move and this was going to be the year we did. I was tired of living with his brother and wanted our own place. We've been in our house for 4 1/2 years which is much longer than we've lived anywhere else in the 10 years we've been married. In the few months the house has been on the market we have shown it twice. I knew it would be hard to sell our house just because of how the housing market is right now. A couple of weeks after we put the house on the market and I finally started listening to what God was trying to tell me and not just making it what I wanted it to be, I started feeling like maybe we shouldn't be trying to sell our house right now. That maybe I was pushing what I wanted more than what was in God's plan. Also after looking at our budget we realized that right now we are in the best place for us. I know that I have complained about living with Justin's brother basically since we have started living together and I have finally grown up enough to stop complaining about it and start making the best of the situation. There was another time this summer when Abbie looked at me and said mommy you don't like uncle Jimmy very much do you and that really hit me. It hurt that my kids had heard so much of my complaining and thought that I didn't like Jimmy, that Abbie could see that and had picked up on it. I had to explain to her that I love uncle Jimmy but at times he gets on my nerves. She thought about that for a second and was ok with it. I knew then that I needed to get over myself and stop complaining all the time. In all honesty it wasn't as hard as I thought it would. I just stopped letting everything bug me. I have to say things are better in our house and we all get along. Jimmy didn't mind taking the house off the market either. He hadn't really looked at anything yet and again it is probably the best situation for him too.

Monday, November 05, 2007

5 Years Old

Today Kaleb turns 5. He has been so excited about turing 5 and being old like his dad. He thinks turning 5 means that all the things we said he was too young to do when he was 4 he is now allowed to do. Kaleb is very much a loving sweet soul who often asks, "who am I going to marry mom?" He loves to give hugs and cuddle, which would be easier if he wasn't so big. Kaleb has such big thoughts sometimes but can still be a little boy. This weekend he had his first basketball game. He was a little shy at first but by the end he was doing really well. He's playing in the Upward program that one of the Baptist churches in our area is part of. This is a great program if you want your kids in athletics but in a good teaching atmosphere. It is a Christian program and they do a devotion and prayer before each game. For Kaleb's age they don't keep score they are just teaching them the game. It is such a good thing for a child like Kaleb who has such a sensitive heart. That is one of the worries I have about him playing football. His dad and I have had a few talks about that, we'll see were we go with that.
Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

Friday, November 02, 2007

changing

Back in February I said that I was joining Weight Watchers again and really trying to lose weight. Well it is just over 8 months later and I have lost 53.6 pounds. At this time I weigh less than I have in over 8 1/2 years. I have my good days and my bad but I have really changed a lot of what I eat but still enjoy some of my favorite foods but in moderation. I get up and exercise every morning at 5:00a.m. I feel great and have enjoyed going to my weight watchers meetings. I have met some great people and have reconnected with some old friends. It really is amazing who you will see at a weight watchers meeting. I love the lady who leads my meeting. She lost 140 pounds 11 years ago and has kept it off. She makes the meeting exciting and for someone who needed to loose 105 pounds to get into the right place for her BMI she is also an inspiration.

Justin and I recently went to a wedding of a friend who I grew up going to church with. I knew I was going to see some people I haven't seen in a long time. It was great to actually feel a little more confident in myself when I went.
So I still have a ways to go but I feel great and I have loved getting to buy new clothes. I loved the day that I went from shopping in the plus size section to the misses section. Like the night I went shopping for the dress I really dindn't wamt to go shopping. I had just had one of my teeth pulled and my mouth was a little sore. I had to shop though because there was no other time that week to go without three kids and how am I going to try things on with three kids around. I ended up having a great time buying 2 dresses and several shirts that I can wear to work. I have to say it helps me to keep working hard to get to my goal being able to see how much I have changed and how great I feel.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Trick or Treat


Last night I took the kids out trick or treating for the first time. Abbie and Kaleb had so much fun. Sophie did great sitting in her stroller and still asking for her candy. Justin had to work because for some reason Halloween is a very busy night in the pizza business. We live in a huge neighborhood. The front is townhouses and as you move back there are houses all over. we live on one of the newer streets and we are right up against another big neighborhood. The police actually check your i.d. if you come into the area from 5:30p.m. on. We really only covered 3 streets but the kids still made out candy wise. I sat a big bowl out on a chair for people to take a piece which I was surprised it actually lasted till 7:30. Overall I think it was a great night.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Funerals

I've decided that the one thing I do not like about my job is the funerals. Yesterday we had a funeral here for an older gentleman who I have known my entire life. His wife and him have attended here for many years. Bud had a terrible lung infection for many years and is much better off now. Today we are having a funeral for the mother of one of the ladies who attends here. Rosemary was 91. In the three years that I have worked here we have had 10 funerals here. I know the men from T.P. White and sons funeral homes on a first name basis. I don't mind the funerals so much but it is seeing everyone crying. I may not be close to the family or the person who passed away but my heart goes out to each family member. So, for the last two days I have done everything I can to just hide in my office. I've had a lot of work to do for the weekend anyway so I have a good excuse. Funerals can just be too emotionally draining.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Changes

A few months ago I blogged about hating Tuesdays. I did hate them. I hated all the running around I had to do and how I just never seemed to get anything done at work. Well that is all about to change. Beginning August 7, Tuesday will be a day off for me. A couple of weeks back I aproached my boss about making Sunday a work day for me. For a long time now I have run the computer for our Sunday services and that has never bothered me and I always felt that it was my volunteer time. Slowly things have started to change on Sundays and I have started doing more work before the services start and people from the congregation want me to help them with something or ask questions things like that. My boss was all for me making Sundays a work day and then taking Tuesday off. The board agreed so now on Tuesday I will have some time with just Sophie once the kids are in school. We will save money not having to pay a babysitter. All around it is a great change.

Also on Tuesday, August 7, Justin will begin working at another Donato's location. He has not enjoyed the store that he has been at since late October last year. The store he's moving to is a smaller store and technically a step back, but it is half the distance than he is going now to work. It's in a much better area. He is very excited about the change.

We are still slowly working on getting our house ready to sell. Part of me keeps wondering if we are trying to rush God because this is what we want so much. I don't know. Both Justin and I have wanted out of the house we are sharing with his brother for a while now. The only way to do that is to sell the house because both of their names are on the mortgage. We could refinance but we would rather move somewhere a little more convenient to our jobs and family. We have been working toward getting our house up for sale most of the year. We are actually pretty close now. We are going to clean up the kids rooms and in the process of that move Sophie in with Abbie and give Kaleb his own room. The house won't be perfect but I think that it will be a great home for a family who needs an affordable 5 bedroom home. They are small rooms but the family room is very nice, I just don't spend anytime in it.

I need some pray for my attitude towards our Assistant Pastor here. Stan is a nice guy but when it comes to being an assistant pastor he just doesn't quiet get the job done. There are issues there with learning disabilities that I know I can't fault him for. The biggest problem several people keep having is that he doesn't really put the time in at church. He rarely spends 20 hours a week here and is not held accountable for what he is doing. Many people come to me and complain because I am here and I see things. I keep trying to take myself out of things because I have to work with Stan everyday. I have a hard time though when he complains about not getting full days off because he has to come in for a couple of hours on a friday, which could have been prevented had he spent more than 2 hours here the day before. See this is what I mean. I have a negative attitude toward him right now and it is so hard to change that. Also there are many people who would like to see him gone at the end of the year. There are several people on our governing board who have already told me they will not vote to keep him next year. This is causing other problems in our church and it is hard for me to watch it all and keep silent. The thing is I don't think Stan even knows that there is a problem.

Well I was really going to try to get through this blog without whinning but it didn't happen.

On a side note I was very happy to read in Joe Boyd's blog that he and Debbie will be moving to Cincinnati. That made my day today.

Monday, July 02, 2007

So Much to update










The past few months have been very busy and I think that I am finally seeing the end of it or is it just the beginning of life to come. Abbie graduated from Kindergarten on June 6. It was very cute they were caps and accepted little diplomas. Kaleb finished his first year of pre-school and is ready for Pre-K in the fall. Sophie just turned 2 last Thursday.




This year I was the director of our Vacation Bible School as well as working at the church part-time. It was a lot of time and work but it was all for a great cause. We had an average attendance of 65 kids each day and they had a blast. We do a penny challenge each year with the boys vs. girls to raise money for various outreaches. This year since our VBS was a sports theme we wanted a sport outreach. The kids raised over $1100 to give to Cincinnati CityCURE's D.R.E.A.M. team outreach. We are able to help several urban youth go to basketball camp and buy uniforms for the team. Former UC Bearcat Terry Nelson (he was part of the 92 team that went to the final four) is the director of the D.R.E.A.M. Team for CItyCURE, came and spoke at our closing program. He has a great testimony and is doing so much in the lives of urban youth. The hardest part of the whole week for me was getting up in front of everyone at the closing program. I hate to have all eyes on me but it was good to step out of my comfort zone.








Justin and I both took off work last week so we could get some work done around our house. We are putting it on the market and looking for something by ourselves. Many of you know that my brother-in-law lives with us. We are finally going to move into a house without anyone else living with us or vice versus. It really is a great feeling. Now if we can just find the right house. We took Abbie and Kaleb to King's Island last week too. That was so much fun. They are both able to ride all the kid's rides which there are a ton of. It was nice to get a chance to do something fun like that with them.








Life is crazy but it's good. I am posting several pictures on here. I am going to try harder to update more often.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Rain Rain Go Away

I was woken up this morning, just 15 minutes before my alarm was to go off, by a thunderstorm. I love thunderstorms but Kaleb does not. My first thought this morning as I looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:45a.m. was that I hope the storm didn't wake him up. We had left the kids window open just a little the night before because the house had been very warm. We've had some unseasonable warm weather the last few days but I refused to turn the air on in our home. Luckily Kaleb did not wake up until just after 6:00a.m. which really is pretty much normal for him. Now as I sit here at my desk in my nice little office and look out the window I can see it pouring down rain. It's dark and gloomy outside and it is supposed to stay that way. At least I can see in my office though. When I first began working at the church the light was so bad in my office that if it was gloomy like it is now it was almost dark in here. Now I have two very good overhead lights that make my office very bright. Just recently the board approved a new monitor for me. Since I sit here each day and work on the computer putting bulletins together and PowerPoint presentations and all the other things I do, and my little 15 inch monitor was just not cutting it. I was able to get a 22inch wide screen monitor. It's almost double the one I had and it makes working on the computer so much easier. I can see everything I'm working on at once and I don't have to magnify it 200% to read it. Since after going 30 years now without needing glasses or contacts my eyes are beginning to feel my age.

Well I am just a rambling on and on about nothing really. I guess you could say I'm a little board. I could start working on some of the things I need to do for Vacation Bible School since this year I am THE DIRECTOR. The last few years I've been the co-director and this year I have kind of taken it over. I just have to really push myself to organize it and get it together. I have many wonderful volunteers who help and without them I could not do this. This is a big leap out of my comfort zone. I have to get up in front of the church and make a few announcements and I will have to get up in front of the kids and talk some too. I just really felt that this is what I was supposed to do this year.

I have this part of a newsletter up on my wall here from one of my favorite Christian fiction writers, Susan May Warren. She writes, "I spoke this past month at a school, and used 1 Thessalonians 5:24 as my basis- "He who called you is faithful to do it." Yes, that verse is talking about perfecting our salvation, but I also think that when God asks us to do something, like be a mom, or run children's church, or even write books, He's already there, providing crayons or patience or even bull-riders. I don't know what God is asking of you today, but I pray that you see him providing in surprising, delightful ways that remind you that you are not alone in this. Because, God has your back."--- Whenever I am in need of that little boost I look over and read that and I know that God does have my back.
Well I think this is a great place to end my rambling blog. I hope you feel God at your back in all that you do.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

I HATE TUESDAYS

Why do I hate Tuesdays you ask? Tuesdays I am up at 5:00a.m. I only have time to exercise for 10 minutes because I have to get in the shower because Justin has to get up at 6:00 and get ready for work. It is the only day of the week that he goes in early. He leaves at 7:00 while I finish getting myself ready, Abbie and Kaleb fed and Abbie ready for school. I get Sophia up and get her fed while I get Abbie on the bus at 8:00a.m. I finish packing up lunches and the diaper bag and get Sophia and Kaleb in the car to take to the baby sitter. I drop them off and get to work and finally sit down after being awake for 4 hours already. Then at 10:45 I leave work drive to Abbie's school and pick her up, because here Kindergartners only go to school for a half day. A half day that is really only 2 hrs. and 45 minutes long. After picking her up I bring her back to work with me. We stay a little late since it takes a little more than 30 minutes to pick her up and get back to work and then I go get Kaleb and Sophia from the baby sitters. Finally around 2:00p.m. I head home and work on laundry and all the other fun things that I have to do around the house. This is why Tuesday is my least favorite day of the week. I know that it's really not all that bad but it makes for a very long day.

Abbie has tonsillitis now. She's had strep 2 times and now tonsillitis in less than a year. It's the only thing she ever gets. She is rarely sick and now you wouldn't even know she was sick except she sounds a little weird. She has more energy than I could ever hope for. She is in constant motion. She is doing great in school even though it's not a long day. She brings a book home to read every night and then has to answer reading comprehension questions on a computer about what she read. She has math work she has to do each week and they even have health and social studies. These are things I do not remember doing in Kindergarten.

Kaleb is doing well in pre-school. He's going to be are shy one though. He doesn't like to bring too much attention to himself. For some reason if he messes up he says "I Quit" "I'm just a dumb boy" I don't know where he gets this and why he says it, but Justin and I have been really working on him to realize he is not dumb or stupid or anything like that and that he should never just quit something because he messes up.

Sophia has decided to potty train herself at 21 months old. I am certainly not complaining. I was really not looking forward to potty training because it was so hard with Abbie. Kaleb wasn't so bad but Abbie was over 3 before she was fully trained. Sophia has decided she wants to be like her older siblings and use the big potty. She's doing pretty good we have a ways to go but she understands the concept and isn't scared of the toilet which helps a lot. It will be nice to have her potty trained and out of diapers. No, this does not mean that we are ready to have another baby. That is something that at this time is still up in the air as to whether we even have a 4th child.

I am beginning my 6th week with Weight Watchers. I've lost 8.6lbs. I'm at the spot where I always seem to get stuck so I've been working really hard to get over this mark and move on. I have to say that I love going to the meetings though. I really enjoy the lady who runs them. She lost 140 pounds on Weight Watchers 11 years ago and has kept it off. It is really helpful though to go and get to interact with other people who struggle with their weight just like I do.

Wow this blog is super long. I guess if I blogged more often I won't have to type such long ones. Now that I remember my password I may actually take the time to blog more often. Well It's about that time for me to leave and go get Abbie.

Until later:)

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Weight Watchers

All my life I have struggled with my weight. I have always been heavy. I remember weighing over a 100 pounds in 5th grade. I did lose weight at one time and kept it off for a few years during high school but then I was only down to 150. I was that weight when Justin and I got married but by our first anniversary I was close to 200 pounds and by our second lets just say I was over that. After 3 kids and the fast pace of life my weight has gone up and come down many times. Last year I started Weight Watchers online and I did pretty good through May losing 30 pounds. I kept that off but didn't loose any more the rest of last year. Well with the holidays and all I have put back on 10 of those precious pounds that I had lost. I want to loose the weight and be a healthier mom for my kids but I have a love hate relationship with food that I struggle with every single day. I have the support of a wonderful husband who I know loves me no matter what but would like to see we loose weight because he knows it will make me happier. So yesterday I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting. I have never actually gone to a meeting always choosing to go the cheaper route of using WW online. I can get a monthly pass now for the meetings and I really felt I needed something different. I didn't know what to expect last night and I was very nervous going into something like that not knowing anyone. Those of you who know me know how hard that is for me. I have to say though I was a bit surprised by how many people were there and how many of them were just like me and have the same struggles that I do. This time I am so much more determined to keep this up and really make a change in my life. I don't want my weight to be a hindrance in my life any longer.

I'll try to keep you posted on how I'm doing. I'll come back and update you on family things later. Now I must get busy with work.