Already August?!

The one nice thing I like about living in our apartments is the 'treasures' you find when someone discards something. Thus far, we've found a patio chair (of which we have since gotten rid of because we got our patio set now) and just the other day, someone was moving and put a gas grill out by the dumpster. Usually, when someone is getting rid of something it is broken. Well, this grill is by no means broken. Jay picked it up and brought it back to the garage to take a closer look at it and the ignitor thing doesn't work, but you can use one of those lighter things for that just as easily. It's a little dirty, but nothing a good cleaning can't solve. New, I'm sure this thing cost $70-80 if not more. Now, we already have a charcoal grill we got for about $30 last summer (which Jay loves using, we've grilled out probably almost a dozen times already this summer), but this one we can use on a moments notice and not have to wait for the charcoal to warm up. And all for free! As cooking illiterate that I am, I may even be able to handle this thing, lol!

I'm feeling more and more confident about the GRE as time goes on and I study more and more. Last night I learned 40 of 150 flashcards that I had made. YEAH ME! Another 40 today and that will be 80. Actually, it is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I am kind of worried about the time that I may spend studying this weekend because I will not be at home, but if I put a few minutes in here and there and there and here I should still be good. I still have Monday thru Wednesday next week and Ayden will not be at home with us so that will allot me even more extra time. I know I should have studied more and earlier, but summer is supposed to be for having fun. I cannot wait for it to be over though so that I can have these last few weeks off and enjoy them to the fullest without the thought of the impending GRE in the back of my head. Plus I will have two good books to read.

Breaking Dawn comes out on Saturday! Although I would love to run out and get it and dive right into, I cannot... My mom is getting it for me for my birthday. Good and bad... bad because I cannot go and get it right away and read read read, but good because I cannot go and get it right away and spend my time reading and not studying for the GRE. Lol, I know, I'm funny! But I'm still super anxious to go and read it.

Jay and I got into a bit of an arguement last night. Well, it was more than just a bit of one, I was pretty pissed off at him for a while. Of course centered around our 'issue' but we got over it in the end and all is well. At least for the time being. Sometimes I don't know what to do about it... but I know that if we are meant to be we will work through it and everything will be fine in the end. And well that is how it worked out last night. He made that salmon for supper and boy was it YUMMY! Honestly, I didn't think that it would taste very good at all, but it turned out fantastic. I didn't eat a whole lot though because I didn't want to get sick.

I need to pack today. Got all of the laundry done yesterday, but of course it's a never ending job because the hamper has clothes in it already. But I don't mind doing laundry now because our washer and dryer is in our closet. I didn't really mind doing it at the old place either, even though we did have to go outside and walk to the laundry room and pay for it. It got done faster then because we could do three loads at once, but it also sucked in the winter lugging it out into the cold and what not. And then I always had to bring Ayden with me when I was home alone. That was fine until the cold weather came in. Then I usually didn't do laundry unless Jay was home. I didn't mind leaving him alone in the house if I was going to get the mail, but getting the laundry usually took a few minutes and you never know what could happen in those few minutes. Paranoid, maybe, but at least he's still safe.

Speaking of Ayden, he was pretty crabby this morning after getting up. First we pretty much had to pry him out of bed because he didn't want to get up and then he pretty much refused to get dressed. Off went the cartoons until he got his clothes on and then finally by the time that we were headed out the door for daycare his mood flipped around. He was excited that today was water day though which was a good thing. Tire him out, then tell him he doesn't have to take a nap today, and then he will sleep the whole trip to Chilton and be okay for the purse party. Well at least I hope so. Otherwise I might have to lock him upstairs with Casey, lol.

Guess what?! I got a text message from my friend who I was talking about yesterday that I hadn't heard from in a while and was wondering if she was coming to Ayden's party... and she says that her, her husband, and son are coming and they want to get a hotel room to spend the night so we can hang out a little more. I thought that was so cool! Like I may have mentioned, we don't get to see each other very often. The last time we saw each other was at her son's birthday party back in March or April and before that was Ayden's b-day party the August before. So, if they do come up earlier, I am definitely excited about it! She helped set up for Ayden's party last year and it was so much fun. And this year his son is older and mobile. I can't wait to see them!

The end of Baby Borrowers was on last night and it was kind of funny to see that none of the couples stayed together after the 'experiment'. Nothing like having a family is fast forward to ruin someone's relationship. But at least they now know semi what it is like to have children. Right? Lol, I still think the show was a joke.

(Written Saturday) I never did finish my posting for Thursday. I did not work very long as my boss had the day off and I had finished what work she did leave me already on Wednesday. I made sure the last few things were done and then headed home to get some packing done. After I picked Ayden up from daycare I told him that he didn’t need to take a nap because we were going to be going by Grandma Wendy’s house later. The afternoon went pretty well, but he did get a little antsy before it was time to leave and kept asking if we could leave yet. I hadn’t planned to leave until around 4pm.

Jay got home around 3:30pm and we got into a pretty big argument right before I was about to leave. I couldn’t believe him and what it was about. I thought we had sorted everything out the night before and then he goes and brings it all up again and changes his mind on everything. I was irate to say the least, but I guess we got over it before I left. I was still a little miffed on the way home, but whatever. I didn’t dwell on it because I was headed off to a purse party. I was super stoked and Ayden was just happy that we had left. The traffic home wasn’t all that bad. I ran into cars here and there, but that is what I love about Hwy 10, it’s hardly ever busy. I thought I would run into more traffic once I got into Appleton because I hit it right around 5pm, but even that wasn’t horrible like I thought it would be.

The purse party was a big success. My sister sold enough to be able to get four purses at half the price I paid for two. I spent way more than I had intended, but I guess that that was okay. I totally love my new purses and Ayden even sort of helped pick them out. I ended up with two new purses, a new wallet and a key chain holder thingy that Ayden picked out. It’s definitely not the one that I would have picked, but I bought it because he picked it out and really liked it. A ton of people came which was good too. Ayden was pretty good for the most of it. Alexis came and he played with her for a little while. I think everyone was pretty much gone by like 8:30 and then Ayden helped the host lady put all the purses into her truck. He was ever so talkative then. It was cute!

On Friday Ayden and I chilled at my mom’s house for the first half the day. We helped with laundry, picked beans, went to Columbia park and ‘fished’ and climbed the tower. Oh that stupid tower! I knew that I shouldn’t have climbed it because of course my legs are killing me today. But thanks to Ayden we were up and down in probably under five minutes. That would do it to ya, lol! Then we had lunch and played outside for a while before I couldn’t keep us there any longer. Ayden kept asking when we were going to go by Grandma Michele’s house. So off we went!

Yesterday afternoon we didn’t do a whole lot. We played outside some at Jay’s parents and inside. Kept a low profile and just relaxed. I have been unable to get any studying done this weekend thus far. Good thing I will have all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after work to study before my test. I tried taking some practice ones tonight, but my brain is just not into right now. I am tired… don’t know why I even decided to do this. I guess because I thought that if I do it tonight then I won’t have to waste valuable study time tomorrow night to write. And I like doing this so I thought I might as well since my computer was already on.

Today, Saturday (even though I know I am posting this on Sunday) was a pretty good day as well. This morning, my mom, sister and I went to Kaukana to try on dress. Well, just Emily and I had to try on our dresses for my cousin’s wedding. And great news, both of ours fit perfect. Well, they each need to be hemmed up, but other than that it’s great! Couldn’t have been better… I told my mom that it must be a lucky wedding because the brides dress fit her perfect as well. Now how often does that happen?! I am so excited for the wedding. This will be my fifth wedding that I’ve stood up in. Two from when I was young and my godmother and then godfather got married (or maybe it was the other way around, don’t remember which came first) and then one for another cousin and then a friend, and now this cousin. LOVE IT! So, just need to make an appointment about two months before the wedding to get it hemmed up and all should be set to go!

That didn’t take very long. After I got home, I played outside with Ayden for a while. He was practice hitting a baseball that I was pitching to him (which I might add with little to no accuracy to wear I was throwing, lol), but even with my bad pitches Ayden was doing pretty good. After lunch I told Ayden that he had to rest on the couch for a while and he ended up falling asleep for a good two hours. I snuck a short nap in there too, probably 45 minutes. And then after his nap, Gerald was home from work and we decided to take the boat out. We ventured to a new lake today, Long Lake. Pretty decent, but not all that big. We decided to do some fishing and because I have my fishing license this year, I was able to fish. We did okay. Ayden even caught a fish, set the hook, and reeled it in all by himself. He was so proud. We stayed out there kind of long and Ayden was getting kind of antsy towards the end, which I could understand. After we got home, it was a quick supper, quick wash off in the tub, and then right to bed. I could hear him playing before, but it’s been quiet for the last couple of minutes so it makes me think that he has fallen asleep.

Despite the fact that I’ve not slept in my bed the last two nights, I have to say that I’ve slept pretty well. This time I brought my own pillows along and remembered my ‘rain maker’ (I have a nature sounds machine that I listen to at night, well just to the sound of rain because I am conditioned to it and cannot sleep in total silence anymore) and I’ve drifted off to dream land quite fast I might add which is not usually normal for me. I was surprised to learn though that a lot of my friends sleep with some sort of background noise as well… ie: a fan or what not. I am not as crazy as I thought. Or maybe we are all just crazy, lol!

Tomorrow I am going to head back to Point alone. I’d like to leave before lunch probably so I can use the afternoon to do some more studying, but we will see how that goes. Ayden knows that he staying here and seems okay with it. He also knows that in a few days he will be going camping with Grandpa and Grandma and Steven so I think that he is looking forward to that as well. Come Thursday night, I will be so wanting to see him again. Well, I will before then as well, but like I’ve mentioned before (I think) I will be really grateful to have those three extra days of peace and quiet to really get some studying done. I’m feeling more and more confident each time I take a practice quiz, but I haven’t really looked at any of the example essay structures and am worried the most about those. Seriously, why do we have to write something? I can’t remember if we had to write something for the ACTs or not. That was so long ago.

I’ve been having some pretty weird/good dreams lately. At least I think I can say good. I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if our dreams are really trying to tell us something or if they are just based on our current worries and/or thoughts before we go to bed. I’ve heard/read many different theories on dreams and don’t know what I quite believe yet. Sometimes I go through phases where I don’t remember my dreams at all and other times I remember almost all of the details. Just another thing to add to the list of my crazy behaviors. Although I know that I am not alone on this.

That’s all for now, although I know I will add more tomorrow (really today, Sunday) before I post this. CIAO! LOVE ME!

Sunday now… back at home. Actually got home around noon today and haven’t done much since then. I sat down and watched a movie from 1-4pm, waste of time, eh? Well, kind of and yet not really. I needed to just relax a little before I jumped into the studying. I just got done taking two practice tests with not so much luck. As excited as I was yesterday about getting better scores and thinking I am going to do half way decent on the test, I am even more so down today. L I did find out when two of my friends are taking the test, both the week after me. At least they have a little more time. I wish I had more time, lol, but doesn’t everyone. This verbal stuff is still kicking me in the butt!

Ayden said he didn’t want me to leave today, but he didn’t cry when I left. He knew that he would be staying for a couple of days and seemed fine with it. My drive home was pretty uneventful which was a good thing. A little more busy than I would have liked it to be, but nothing I can do about that. At least it wasn’t rush hour traffic the whole way.

Currently storming out right now, probably shouldn’t be on the computer, but I just unplugged it so I should be okay. Running on battery power until the storm passes through, or until my battery on my computer drains… which ever comes first. I didn’t know that we were supposed to get bad weather today, but apparently. As long as it doesn’t last that long. Not that I don’t like bad weather.

Jay and I did some grocery shopping today, well we really didn’t need a whole lot. And I saw Breaking Dawn at Walmart and so wanted to pick it up and buy it, but I knew that I couldn’t because I am getting it for my birthday. Plus, if I did buy it I would want to sit down and read it right away and that would take away from my study time. As I’ve said so many times before. But we did get some sweet corn from this road side stand and it was SOOOO GOOD!!! First taste of sweet corn this year and I can’t wait for the next taste. Yummy! I get to attend two corn roasts this year!

Maybe more later… CIAO! LOVE ME!

All Consuming GRE! :(

Jack- For some reason yesterday I was just really tired and didn't feel like doing a whole lot. As you could probably tell from my post because it was fairly short compared to normal. I took a nice long nap with Ayden yesterday and I think it only made me more tired. But it was nice to lay down. I had orginally planned on using that time for studying, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. Hopefully the same thing doesn't happen again today.

My mood lately hasn't been all that peppy either. And I'm thinking it's because of this whole GRE thing. I know it's been a constant source of gripe for me these past couple of days, but I'm seriously worried about this test. Will it just be $140 down the drain or can I pull of a good enough score to get into grad school. This is infantesimally (sp?) worse than the ACTs! I keep doing more and more practice questions and after a while last night I was getting a little higher scores. I've been primarily concentrating on the math right now. I thougth that was going to be an easy go for me because I'm okay in math, but apparently not as good as I need to be. The more I worked on it last night, the easier it became. Okay, that's a step in the right direction. But now what about the verbal and writing section? I think I can do okay on the fill in the blank and reading comprehension because I've been doing okay on those. It's the analogies and antonyms that I'm worried about because half the words I don't even know! Actually it is probably more than half. So today's concentration is going to be on vocab words. Wish me luck! I know, I just have to believe in myself and it will make things better. Okay, just keep telling yourself that Ashley! I CAN DO THIS, I WILL DO THIS, I WILL SUCCEED! I WILL GET INTO GRAD SCHOOL! How's that for positive thinking?!

We did a bit of grocery shopping last night and Jay was going to make our salmon for supper, but he neglected to see that he needed to marinate the fish for an hour before cooking it and we didn't get home until after 5:30 so we decided to save the fish for tonight and just had pizza last night. I hope the fish turns out good. I've never had salmon before so I'm curious to see what it will taste like. Ayden was very well behaved last night. While we were at the store, he was kind of anxious to get done. Mostly he wanted to go do the prize game. And wouldn't you know it, Jay won him a monkey. I was surprised... but this morning Ayden told me that he wanted to give the monkey to someone else because he didn't like it anymore. Okay, whatever you say little dude.

As Ayden and I were leaving daycare yesterday he took a bit of a tumble. Actually, it was more of a bit, he fell down the stairs. Luckily it was only about 7 stairs and he ended up fine, but sent a shock through me and the three teachers upstairs. No tears and it was as if it didn't even happen once we got into the car. What a kid, I tell ya. Thank goodness he was okay though, it looked like it kind of hurt. Not even a bruise! Tomorrow is water day and Ayden keeps telling me that we cannot forget his stuff (I did one time). He's excited! We actually haven't been to the pool in about two weeks now. Crazy, I know! And we probably won't be going for another two weeks. Today is not supposed to be all that hot and tomorrow we are leaving to go home. And after that Ayden won't be back in Point until next Sunday for his b-day party. Luckily, I will be able to see him before then, he just won't be at our house. He will be camping with Grandma and Grandpa.

Okay, so I am at work and have just been delegated a new task. Faxing out press releases... okay fine with me, except, I just tried three faxes with three different numbers and none of them worked! I got busy/no response answers for all of them and I followed the fax directions as written! Argh, I will try again in a little while, but seriously, it should have worked. I haven't faxed a whole lot, but usually when I do it works. I don't know what to do. Well okay, I can ask for help and that is what I will end up doing if the next time they don't go through. It's nothing imperative, but it should go out today. Speaking of work, it's been going pretty good these last few days, but today and tomorrow are going to be kind of slow. My boss is on vacation and she left me a few things to do, but nothing that will keep me busy for a super long time. I'm okay with that, but like I said, I would rather have something to do. The only upside is that I can leave a little earlier to get more studying done.

On kind of a sour note, I still haven't talked to my best friend. And she still hasn't talked to me. I don't really want it to continue like this, but should I give in. Wouldn't that make it seem like I was in the wrong? Was I in the wrong? Or should I wait a few more weeks and see how things go. In the last year or so we really haven't gone more than a week or two at the most without talking and that was probably because of just being busy. We used to go a month or more without talking after I moved to Point, but it wasn't because we were 'fighting' but just because our paths didn't cross. We weren't any less close because of it, it just meant we had more to catch up on the next time we talked. Blogger buddies (if I in fact do have any) any suggestions? If I should talk to her, how do I approach what she kept doing to me? I don't want to act like it didn't happen for fear of starting up again and it was kind of rude. This is in no way the same as putting someone on hold to answer another call. That I'm okay with, but then you usually get off the line with one of the two people. Texting while talking is completely different! It's the same as IMing on the computer and talking on the phone, another thing I don't like, but have been lucky enough to not have to deal with in the recent months. No wonder our elders say that we are getting ruder and ruder, it's true. Lol, but enough about that stuff. Like I said a few posts ago, I think, this whole situation kind of depresses me. I don't like dwelling on it too long.

I'm thinking about taking a semi 'trip' next Friday afternoon to go and visit Lee. It's been about a year since our last visit, I can't believe it's been that long, but Jay is not so high up on the whole idea. I don't need his permission to go, but I don't want to go with him totally hating me for it and it to cause a fight. He seemed half way okay with the idea last week, but I never did completely make up my mind on the whole thing either.

This just in... FAX SENT! Yes, I did get it to work, simply needed to add a 1 before the area code! Must have been implied because the directions do not state that. But they went through! Yeah for me! Lol, I know getting excited over the littlest things.

A bit of a credit scare the other day. We recieved a bill in the mail for one of Jay's credit cards. This being a credit card with a $0 balance on and which we haven't used in over a year. I know, probably should have cancelled it, but had it around for a just in case thing. Well, got a bill for $11 that was an international purchase. Uh-oh!!! Credit card fraud! Immediately contacted the credit card company and cancelled the card. They did not make us pay the balance, well why would they, it wasn't our purchase and explained how people will charge little amounts at first and see what happens and if nothing happens, charge bigger things later on. It's a good thing we caught it and cancelled the card right away.

Afternoon now... decided to let Ayden stay up today and not even take a 'rest'. After we got home from daycare we made a countdown calendar to his birthday party. That was a lot of fun. He also has been helping me with the laundry. Fourth load started, one more to go. I don't remember doing any laundry last week, so that would explain why there is so much this week, and my dad even washed Ayden's clothes from his visit so I didn't even have to do those. That would have probably added another load. Currently Ayden is supposed to be laying down on the couch for a little while, but since he was being so good and helpful I told him that he could get up and play. He is playing and watching Lilo and Stitch. He knows that he needs to be a good boy tonight though or its an early bed time.

I need to pack tomorrow for our venture home. My sister is having a purse party tomorrow night, might have mentioned that before... and I am super excited. I have never been to one before and I hope to find a purse that fits my needs that isn't too expensive. Since I have to bring Ayden along I told him that he could help me pick one out. I need more of a 'mommy bag' than a purse. I take so much stuff along with me the way it is my purse right now is just not big enough. You know all that good stuff you need for kids, but don't exactly need a diaper bag. Yeah, that's what I need. Speaking of packing for tomorrow, I haven't even unpacked Ayden's bag from my dad's yet. Our apartment definitely looks lived in again with Ayden home. I like it like that... toys everywhere, shoes not put away, kitchen a mess, etc... even though I am a neat freak by heart, the lived in look makes it feel more like a home.

I recieved some advice from a friend today on the issue I am currently dealing with my other friend. They stated that maybe I need to be a little more assertive and let her know how I am feeling. Well didn't I already do that already? And what did I recieve in return, nada! They also said that because we've been friends for so long it would be kind of stupid to let something little like this come between us and tear us apart. I agree... but also admit that I know I am being childish about this whole thing as well. Another thing that they said was that maybe my blogging about it is a way to let her know how I feel without actually telling her (but that is assuming she reads this and I honestly don't know) but in all reality, that is not the case. Sure, at times I write as if someone is actually reading this, but a lot of times I don't even think about that aspect and just pour my heart out. As I stated when I started this blog, it's more of a way for me to just vent than for other people to know about my life. The upside is that people can read and get to know more about me and my daily trials and tribulations. Is that good? Maybe, maybe not. I do censor certain things, but most of the time not, as you can probably tell.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Terrific Tuesday!

Jack- Good news and bad news. Bad new first, isn't what that everyone says? I wasted $10 on miniDVDs that I didn't need, but good news, it was only $10. Even better news, I got Ayden's powerpoint to work on the TV and for only an extra $7... I can get the sound to work as well! Okay, so I didn't really want to spend $17 to get it onto the TV if I could have done it for free on the computer, but it looks so much cooler on the TV. I was super stoked last night to get it working. It was just too bad that I didn't find out how to do this before I bought the miniDVDs. I suppose that at some point they will get used and/or sold to someone who can use them. If you are reading this and know of anyone who could use some miniDVDs let me know! I'd rather someone get some use out of them than them just sitting at our place for however long.

I slept really good last night. I didn't think I was that tired, but apparently I was. I didn't go to bed all that early either so maybe that was why.

So, I've been trying to get a hold of a friend of mine for the past couple of weeks and haven't gotten any responses from her. I know that she is supposed to be moving soon, so maybe that is why, but usually she responds to my text messages and I haven't gotten anything yet. And she hasn't RSVP'd to Ayden's party. It's not that I expect her to come, but I just was trying to some sort of head count to know about food quantities. I would also like to catch up with her too because we haven't talked in a while.

Not so much in the mood to blog right now so I thought I would just finish this post up and be done with it for tonight. Trying to get some more studying done. Although, getting more and more depressed because my scores are not getting any higher. Ugh!

ME

Toy Box

'I've been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I've lost a total of 789 pounds. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.'

Okay, so I don't diet... sometimes I try, but I've never been on a specific diet, just the whole I'm going to cut back and/or eat healthier, but it never lasts. I weigh more than I would like right now, but it's not enough to get me to do something drastic about it. I still fit pretty good into most of my clothes. I admit, I have a pair of 'skinny' jeans hanging in my closet that I would love to fit into again. I think I've worn them maybe three times. I bought them after Ayden was born, for some reason a few months after he was born I got back to being pretty skinny again (not even trying) and bought these jeans. They fit like a glove, but not for long and since then, well yeah... you get the point. Until I get any ambition or win a bazillion dollars to afford a gym membership I'm content at just admiring them. At least they didn't cost a lot of money... a Gordman's steal! Anyways, way off on a tangent here... just thought the quote was funny and Monday's need a bit of funny in them!

Hey Jack! You know, this not being home on the weekend stuff really puts me behind on my blogging, but that's okay I guess. Just gives me more to write about when I have the time. So, I think I left off on Friday, right? Pretty sure... Jay and his cousin's and brother did end up going golfing which was a good thing. I got to babysit little Ayla. She was so good! Because she is nearing one I didn't know how she would be with the whole stranger thing, but she didn't cry at all, not one little tear the whole four hours that I watched her. We had fun chasing the cat, tipping block towers over, learning to accersorize (lol, yes I was totally teaching her that already, she loved trying on my rings!), and NOT eating her peas for supper. Mommy said she really loved them, but you could have fooled me. She was more interested in the grahman cracker and would smile everytime she took a bite. Too bad Ayden wasn't there because I know that he would have had fun trying to entertain her and would have wanted to help feed her.

Jay said that he did pretty bad golfing, but I know that he enjoyed it none the less. Steven spent the night with us seeing we were coming home on Saturday anyways. That way Jenny and Jerad didn't have to run him all the way home and then back to Neenah or Menasha where they live. Don't know which town it is exactly, although they are in pretty close proximity to each other. I felt kind of bad though because we didn't have a lot to do at our house that I thought Steven might enjoy. Jay kind of taught him how to play WOW and they both played Play Station for a while. I worked on a shirt that I am making for Ayden's birthday party. The shirt turned out super awesome, at least so far. I am debating if I want to decorate it a little more or not. The sayings turned out good and I'm afraid if I add anything else to it I might take away from the words, but I'm also afraid that if I don't, it will look to plain. Ah, the decisions, lol!

I also finished my powerpoint for Ayden's party! I then tried working on getting it to a DVD to play on the TV, but so such luck yet. I found a program that said would work for me, but it wasn't and I was kind of upset about it because I spent $10 on miniDVDs that said would work, but my computer won't read them. And we really don't need them for anything else. Maybe I will see if someone else can use them. I am still not resigned to giving up trying to get it to work on a TV, but if it doesn't then I guess it will be okay too. I have a few more things I want to try before giving up though. But in any case, the music works with it and the timing and everything are perfect! I cannot wait for everyone to see it!

On Saturday on our way to Chilton we stopped at Walmart and got Ayden's birthday present and some cat litter. We stopped at the one in Neenah because my mom said they had the big bags of cat litter and it was on sale and for some reason our Walmart didn't even have any small bags. So we got two big bags and that should last us for quite a while. The one thing I hate about having a cat is the whole cat litter thing. I like our new cat litter, this Feline Pines stuff because you cannot smell the urine which is sometimes pretty potent, but the BAD thing is that you can smell the doo-doo throughout the whole apartment when he goes. Thus, it needs to be cleaned ASAP as soon as he has done is business. Jay claims he can't smell it, but either he is lieing or has a really bad nose because it's disgusting!!! And well it's Jay's job to clean the litter box, however I do end up doing it probably at least once a week. UGH, I don't like it. It's hard to believe that we've had Diesel for over a year now! Too much time to get rid of him and have Ayden not remember. I don't think Ayden remembers that we had a cat before Diesel for about two weeks.

Okay, back to shopping trip. Btw, we spent SO much money this weekend, and it wasn't even splurge stuff. Okay, maybe we didn't need the $30 helium balloon kit for Ayden's party, but Jay wanted it and I liked seeing him get excited over stuff like that. We also stopped at the party store and got some decorations for the party as well. A few dinosaur things, but they were all out of the big dino balloon that I wanted to get. Prolly a good thing because it was $9! Ayden deserved it though, lol... well he would have if they would have had it in. After shopping we went to a surprise birthday party for three of Jay's cousins and I think it was actually a surprise to one of them. The other two had some what of an inkling, but weren't sure on anything. Lots of people came. Tons and tons of kids. Had we had to bring Ayden I am sure that he would have had a great time. Speaking of that, I really wanted to go see Ayden sometime on Saturday, but I decided against it because I didn't want him to pitch a fit when I had to leave without him. My sister called on Friday night saying that he had a bit of a fever and threw up while they were out. I told my dad that he could give him some medicine if the fever deemed it and I think he did end up giving him some. Ayden threw up twice more at about 3 and 4am, but was completely fine on Saturday and Sunday. One of those little flu things I guess. Alexis didn't get it. I blame Emily on giving it to him because she wasn't feeling very good Wednesday night, even though she said she didn't go by the kids. I didn't care though, he survived and better there than at our house.

We didn't stay at the party late because we had plans to go to bed early Saturday night because we had to get up at 3am to go fishing on Sunday morning. However, I forgot my rain maker noise thingy at home and thus couldn't fall asleep very fast. I am so accustomed to background noise that when it was completely silent I couldn't stand it. I ended up sleep on the futon and Jay in his bed and I think I fell asleep sometime after 10pm. 3am is definitely too early to be getting up and I don't think I've voluntarily gotten up at 3am or early since we went to Punta Cana with my dad. But I really wanted to go fishing so I got up.

We got out on the boat by about 5am. The boats name was the Toy Box! Thought that was a pretty cute name. The lake was by no means like glass, but it wasn't super wavy either. I didn't get sea sick either, yeah! But, the fishing was kind of a bummer. I couldn't believe how many lines Roger had out. I think 13 fishing poles and like 15 lines! And we didn't catch a single fish or have a single bite for the first three hours. We weren't the only one though, according to some other fishermen the fishing was going pretty slow for everyone. We ended up with four fish, of which I didn't reel any in. Jay did two and Steven did two. I did have one, apparently a pretty decent sized rainbow trout, but it got off the hook when it was almost in. I reeled it about halfway in before I could no longer do it and then handed the pole off to Jay. Somehow the fish got wrapped into another line so Jay and Steven were both reeling it in. They got it pretty close to the boat and it looked pretty dead, and all of a sudden the hook came out/off. We high tailed it around as fast as we could with all the lines we had out to go back for it, but then it disappeared. According to Jay and Rog, it was a nice size one that probably could have won a tournament, had their been one. Doesn't make me feel bad that I couldn't get it all the way in then because it was a pretty big thing and well I have absolutely no muscles. Lol, but all in all, it was a fun trip. LONG, we were out from about 5am until almost noon. I definitely got some sun on my face, but I had a sweatshirt and jeans on the whole time.

After the fishing trip we went to my dad's to get Ayden. He was just as excited to see us as we were to see him. We visited with my dad for a while before we left. It was kind of nice and I know that he enjoyed having Ayden for the week. A quick trip to pick up our things at Gerald and Michele's and then off to Point. I drove Jay's truck home because he was so tired. I don't often drive it, especially long distances like that, but I was okay with it. That way I didn't have to freak the whole time on the way back because of his driving, lol! Although the traffic was pretty light so that was good. When we got home it was about 6pm and then everyone pretty much crashed. Ayden fell asleep about half way home (he didn't have a nap yesterday) and I tried to wake him up when we got home, but he didn't want to so we just put him in bed. I didn't think he would sleep until 7am this morning, but he did. Actually, he woke up around 8pm and said he wanted to sleep on the futon in the living room so Jay and I moved him there and that is where he slept for the rest of the night. I don't know why he wanted to sleep there, but I didn't care, as long as it doesn't become a nightly thing. He deserves a treat like that every now and then. He is currently in his room 'resting', may or may not take a nap today, but I don't really care. I'm just happy to have him home.

Next week is Gerald and Michele's week to have him and as much as I enjoyed my free time last week, I am seriously probably going to go crazy without him. I know the grandparents love their time with him and that's how I justify it. Plus, Ayden loves being with them as well. As I'm sure he can get away with just a little bit more than he can while he is at home with us. Lol. At least they will be coming up by us on Thursday to go camping near Lake Emily, which is pretty near Point. Then I can go see him after only four days instead of five. Plus I take the GRE next week and will be really greatful for the extra alone time to study. Which by the way I have already set aside alotted time for the next two weeks to do. I'm going to try and do two hours a day of studying/practice tests to get on my game. I even took my books back to the library early so I wouldn't spend my time reading them. Even the one that I was already halfway through and would really liked to have finished. I will check it out again after my test though and finish it... it was getting pretty good.

Later today... this afternoon went pretty good. Ayden did not take a nap, but he's been very well behaved. I did get quite a bit of studying done, YEAH ME! However, I just get more and more depressed about this impending test because of the answers that I continue to get wrong. I thought this study guide was supposed to increase my score. Maybe I need to work a little harder, who knows? Lol! Ayden needs to take a bath tonight and I will probably study more. John and Kate Plus 8 is on, but only a half hour new show. Laundry needs to get done sometime this week, but it will not be tonight. I'm thinking Wednesday night is the time for that. Always putting it off. I made spaghetti for supper tonight and it turned out pretty good. I haven't cooked a decent meal in a while. Ayden was so excited to hear that we were having spaghetti because it is his favorite! But he told me he likes daycare's better, but then he said that he likes mine too. Made me feel a little better. Right now Jay and Ayden are playing with Ayden's machinery. I like that Ayden is getting older and now Jay can relate to him more.

A few pictures... hope you enjoy!

Me struggling to reel in my fish, which eventually got away in the end!
Jay holding up his fish!
Jay, me and Steven standing by our fish, even though I didn't reel any of these ones in.
Ayden and me at the swimming pool!
My girls (minus Robin) at Six Flags... Leah, Ciera, and Kristi!
Ayla giving me a smile while eating!
Me lounging at the top of the boat waiting for the fish to bite!
View from top of the boat... you can see five poles out and this is only one side of the boat.

Gonna get in a bit of 'relaxation' time before I hit the books again, and not the enjoyable reading ones that I took back to the library today either. :(

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Kind of a SSLLOOWW Week

'Nothing is too small to know, and nothing too big to attempt.'

I kind of like this quote. When you think you can't, believe that you can! Nothing is beyond reach as long as you BELIEVE!

Started Thursday... finished Friday...
Jackeres... There's a first time for everything, but not today... almost bounced a check. I think I may have a few years ago when still living at home, but never with USBank, and it's a good thing because they charge about $20 or $30 for a bounced check. So, it was a good thing when I checked my bank account today and realized that I need to transfer a bit of money. It wasn't anything major, but it showed that I wasn't on top of things like I usually am. I admit that I don't balance my check book on a daily or even a weekly basis, but I do go through them and compare them to the online statements and make sure that they clear. I have been on top of this very good lately because of our shortage of money. I was always making sure that we had enough for our bills. And we do, but apparently one check got overlooked and I didn't make sure it was counted the last time I got online. But in any case, I got online today and all is good because the check wasn't cashed yet so problems are okay. Well, even if the check would have been cashed, I would still have money, it would have been the following two checks that I sent out on Tuesday that would have bounced, and since today is only Thursday, odds are the companies are first getting the checks today and will probably cash them today or soon. All is good!

I had another weird dream last night. It involved needing to build something and the directions were not clear enough and I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I think I was in some sort of contest as well and Jay was with me. He kept asking me what to do next and I couldn't tell him because I didn't know. Stupid directions and building things, lol!

Tomorrow afternoon I get to babysit one of Jay's cousins for a little while. Jay, Steven, and his cousin and her husband are going golfing at Sentry. Jay is really excited because Sentry has an awesome golf course, but it is super expensive to golf there and his cousin has a coupon or gift certificate. Something along the lines of making it cheaper to golf and they have been trying to plan this since last year. Last summer it didn't work out, so they managed to fit it in this summer. However, the weather men are calling for a 50% chance of rain/storms tomorrow afternoon into early evening. Well they aren't going golfing until 4ish so that is like prime rain time. I really hope that it doesn't rain or storm on them because they have been waiting to do this for such a long time now. And I can't wait to babysit. Well, it's not so much 'baby' sit as the little girl is almost one, but it has been so long since I have been with little ones that I can't wait. I love it when they are little, however am glad that Ayden isn't that small anymore. I don't miss the diapers, bottles, etc... but I do miss the tinyness and rocking to sleep. Ayden does give me cuddles here and there, but it is never for very long. Is he already starting the 'I'm embarrased by my mom' thing? Lol... I CAN definitely wait for the day when he tells me, 'Mom, you can drop me off at the corner and I can walk the rest of the way.' And that will be the day that I drive him all the way to the front of school and give him the biggest smooch and squeeze (our household terms for kiss and hug) that any mom can give. LOL! Okay, probably not because then I would probably be getting the silent treatment for the next day and a half. But it was a funny thought. Oh how I wish that day never comes!

Friday now, last night me, Leah, and Ciera ended up getting together at Ciera's to study some. And guess what, we actually did some studying. It got me more motivated to study farther. Yeah! Leah is supposed to be taking the GRE next Friday, but she is thinking about cancelling it, which would cost her about $50 and rescheduling for later. Now I'm not sure if she would get refuned the orginal $140, but I would imagine so. I don't know what she is going to do. Whatever it is, as long as it is best for her. We also had a fun time chatting it up for a while. We only stayed for about 2 hours because Leah had to get back to her sister's, but after two hours of studying we were pretty much ready to call it a night.

As I stated earlier, Jay is supposed to be going golfing later today, but that might not happen. The weather is looking kind of iffy and I don't know if they will end up going if it gets bad. He has been keeping an eye on it to let his cousin know if she should come up or not. He just left a few minutes ago to go practice his swing at the driving range. It's kind of cloudy and drizzly out right now. Overall just one of those kind of days I think.

Jay and I slept in until 9am this morning. Something that doesn't happen very often. We often get up with Ayden around 7 or 8am and then lounge on the couch for a few hours, but to be able to sleep in our bed without interuptions until 9am... better cherish it! Lol, but I am really starting to miss Ayden. When I called my dad last night he said that Ayden was doing fine and having lots of fun. Sleeping good, going potty good, not missing mommy and daddy good. He didn't even want to talk to me on the phone. Kinda sad about that, but I figure it's better that he is having fun and not realizing that I'm not there than crying about wanting to come home. I think I might have mentioned that my brother and sister are also at my dad's house this week so he has them to keep him company too. I know that having my sister there must help a little as well. Ayden knows my dad, but is definitely not as close to him as he is with Emily.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Reading and Relaxation

'I am tempted to think... there are no little things.'

Now, I'm not so sure I wholeheartedly agree with this quote because I tend to like the little things. Sometimes I think those are the things that mean the most, but maybe we should consider the little things big things too?! Either way, I liked the quote and hope my fellow readers do as well...

Jack, today was nice and relaxing. I started a new book, another one by Jodi Picoult. Only 30 or so pages into it and thus far it is pretty good. I also worked on Ayden's slideshow thing for his birthday. It's coming along pretty nice now. Well at least I am happy with it. I didn't watch a lot of TV like I thought I would, but really I didn't have the time. I was busy working away. I also didn't take a nap, which is good so I will be able to sleep tonight.

It's been nice to have Ayden gone for a little while, but I feel myself kind of lost. I looked at the clock before and was thinking, oh about an hour and then it's bed time for Ayden and then had to tell myself, wait, I don't have to worry about that tonight because he is not here. And this afternoon as I was reading, I didn't have to worry about checking on the time to see how long Ayden had been napping for. I kind of wanted to call my dad tonight to check up on Ayden and to even talk to him for a bit (the little that he does talk on the phone), but Jay suggested that I wait until tomorrow and to at least give Ayden a day before I call. I know that he's not missing me right now and I don't want to call and then get him to miss me. You know? I'm sure the first few days will be fine, well I think he might be fine the whole time he is there, but maybe, just maybe he will be wanting to come home by Sunday. He should, lol, I'll be really wanting him to come home then.

Tonight I think I will just work some more on Ayden's project and probably read again. I know that at some point I should study for the GRE and I probably will. Friday maybe when I am super bored with myself. Hopefully we are still getting together tomorrow night for a study session, as we've been trying to get together for about two weeks.

I had the weirdest dream last night about my first boyfriend. I can't remember much about it, just that he was in it. I can't even say if we were together, I was interested, or whatever, just the fact that he was there. But I do know that when I woke up I was like, hey, that's weird that I dreamt about him, I haven't thought about him in gosh knows how many years. I always have weird dreams though so I guess it isn't something new. Some I remember more than others. I also dream a lot about things I shouldn't be dreaming about and I'm not so sure how I should be feeling about that. Always confused, lol.

CIAO FOR NOW! LOVE ME!

No Quote Today

Jack, there will be no quote today and simply because I am feeling kind of lazy and don't want to get the quote books out and look up one. But I do have to say that my all time favorite quote is 'I love you Mommy!' Now tell me a mom that wouldn't melt at hearing those words. Thought so, so hope you enjoyed that and hope all the mom's reading this relish those words as much as I do and all the will be mom's someday look foward to it just as much as I did before I first heard it.

Things have been kind of crazy at work this week so far and it's only Tuesday. It's not what I'm doing, but another section of the office and some brochures that they ordered and the result that came back and the over 5500 that have been sent out wrong! Oh the joyous stories that I've been hearing, it is too funny! Everyone at work is super nice and great and so funny!

Ayden woke up kind of crabby this morning. I thought that we might have a hard time with getting dressed and ready for daycare, but after a few minutes he was fine. He just needed an extra few minutes to adjust being awake. When I went into his room to wake him up his first words were 'I'm still sleeping!' Not the first time he's said it and I know it won't be the last either. In fact, I'm sure it's only going to get worse as he gets older and older. I can't even begin to imagine him as a teenager. My sweet little guy growing into someone like Steven or Casey, ha, lol! But I know that if I blink too many times he will be that old already!

I finished my book this afternoon while Ayden was resting, he didn't nap today. I was kind of upset with the ending, but it's usually that way. Overall the book was good and I stopped at the library today to get two more books to read this week while Ayden is gone. Another Jodi Picoult and a Patricia Cornwell. I haven't read any of her books in a long time. I used to read them all the time and have probably read 3/4 of them. Most of them have the same characters in and I like that. To see them progress as each new book comes out. Although I was pretty mad when she killed off the love interest and then brought him back to life a few books later. Well not really brought him back to life, but he wasn't really dead in the first place.

My dad showed up around 6ish to get Ayden. Wendy and Alexis came with him. They stayed for about an hour and Alexis and Ayden were already playing really well together. I like to see that. Ayden was getting really hyper though and I know it was partly because of the new people here and partly because he didn't have a nap and was kind of over tired. They were going to Mickey D's for supper and I know that Ayden was excited about that. They were going to the play place one at the edge of town. Expend some more energy... I hope that he behaves pretty well and doesn't get too homesick. I don't think that he will because he will have a playmate.

Jay and I went to Pizza Hut for supper tonight. It was nice to just get to go out to eat with the two of us. Doesn't really happen that often, so when it does we relish it. Although, it's too quiet in the house now. Nice to just get that alone relaxing time, but it hasn't even been three hours and I miss my little guy. Lol, I will probably miss him more than he will miss me.

I thought work was going to suck today because I didn't have anything that needed to be done, but then my boss surprised me and gave me a big task which was kind of nice. It wasn't hard and/or super boring and kept me there making money. Plus, I like helping her get things done.

Think I might go work on Ayden's powerpoint thing for his birthday now. CIAO! LOVE ME!

And $800 Later...

'Remember tonight, for it is the beginning of always.'

No comments on this one really, just thought it was nice!

Jack... Today was a good start to the week for the most part. This morning Jay ended up taking his vehicle in. Yesterday while we were driving we started to hear Jay's brakes grind. He said that they still were working fine and we were stopping like normal, but it just didn't sound all that good. So he called the shop this morning and told them of his scenario and to see what a diagnostic would cost. They said not a whole lot and we brought the truck in. A few hours later Jay called me with the bad news saying that his brakes and roters (whatever those may be) needed replacing. He also gave me an estimate which included fixing his exhaust as well, as that has been pretty loud for the past couple of months. The price tag stung a little bit, but seeing as we had a bit of extra money set aside I said to get it all done. There is never going to be a good time to get these things fixed and I was just happy not to have to charge it. I didn't want to dip into the little money that we did have set aside, but at least we had it there. We still do have some left, in case anything else comes up, but I'm hoping that nothing does. And so, $800 later Jay's truck has new brakes, roters, and exhaust and hopefully everything will be fine for the next year, if not longer. Although, I will be needing new tires on my car within the next year because they are almost five years old.

Ayden gets to spend the week at my dad's house this week. My dad is coming to pick him up tomorrow night and Ayden will be with him until Sunday afternoon. I know I will be missing him by Wednesday afternoon, but I know that he will have a blast playing with Alexis. I love when they get to spend time together because it isn't very often. Also, my brother and sister will be at my dad's house so Ayden will get to spend lots of time with them as well. Ayden spends a lot of time with Emily when we visit usually, but not really Casey. I am going to insist that my dad takes tons and tons of pictures. I still need to pack his clothes and get a few other things ready. Ayden is really excited about it as well! I also know that my dad likes spending time with Ayden because we don't visit him as often as I would like either.

Also on Sunday morning, and by that I mean starting at like 2am, Jay and I are going to be going fishing on Lake Michigan. Well, if the weather cooperates and no one charters a fishing trip between now and then. I am really excited and hope that I can reel in a big fish. The biggest fish that I have ever brought in was some little sheephead off of Lake Winnebago and you don't even keep those. I like to fish as long as I get something and it doesn't take too long.

This afternoon we had to take back some window blinds to both Walmart and Menards. We are trying to replace the ones in our windows, but cannot find the right size. Jay is thinking they were custom cut. The string broke on the ones in our room so the blinds are stuck half way up, won't go down or up, and Ayden broke some of the blinds in his room a couple of months back. His still work so I don't think we will worry about that more until we decide to move. But it just sucks that we cannot find the size that we want. We will have to call the manager and see if they can provide us with some new ones.

I decided today that my mom can get me the two books that I really want to buy for my birthday. That way I won't have to spend the money and she will be able to give me something other than money for my birthday. I really wanted to get Breaking Dawn on the day that it came out, but if it saves me money that is good. Also, if I get it that day then I won't study for the GRE like I should be during that time. I hope to get a lot of studying done this week while Ayden is gone as well.

I started a new book by Jodi Picoult... My Sister's Keeper. It is pretty good thus far. I am about half way through it. Reading is just so nice and relaxing and it makes time fly. Something that I wish would stand still for a while here and there, but never does. Too bad, because Ayden is just growing up too fast!

I have to say that this blogging really feels kind of nice. I didn't realize how much I missed writing about my life. I am a writer, well not of stories, but I love to write letters/journal/etc... and I'd like to think that I am semi good at it. I don't know if I can say the same about essays and such forth for school, but I also try to be as eloquent as I can for those. Being in the profession that I am going into, you need to know how to write half way decent. They press that over and over again. So, I try. But really, this outlet, venting, whatever you want to call it, it's really been nice these past couple of months and I hope that I can keep up with it faithfully once school starts again. I cannot promise anything, but I think it is good for my inner self being able to get everything out that is bothering me and not being judged for it. Well maybe I'm being judge, I guess I don't know who all reads this... in any case, it's just good.

John and Kate Plus 8 is new tonight, yeah, because it seems like it's been forever since I've seen a new episode. And next week they meet the characters from Sesame Street. How cool would that be for little kids?! CIAO! LOVE ME!

'Sending Out Invitations'

'Rule #1... No sending out invitations!'

This isn't going to mean anything to anyone but me, but it was the joke of the day yesterday so I had to include in here! And just because we could, we sent out all the invitations that we could!!!

Jack! OMG! Yesterday was the most fun that I had had in a LONG time. Yesterday was Six Flags with the girls from school and it was a blast! It was a long day filled with adventures gallore! It started for me at 5:30am when I got up and got ready. Two of my friends, Leah and Ciera, were at my house by 6:30am and we left towards Six Flags. We were going to be meeting Kristi at a truck stop in Milwaukee and continue from there. I had watched the weather all week to see what it would be like and the chance of rain only increased. We ended up in some rain in Milwaukee which was kind of heavy and actually saw someone in an accident (luckily it was only one car and no injuries). Leah drove the whole day down there which was kind of nice. We took her mom's car because her Jeep is in need of some fixing. Leah has a bit of road rage, but it is so funny. She has a lead foot, but overall a pretty good driver. We made it unscathed so I suppose that is good for something.

I was kind of bummed that it continued to rain as we got closer (well on and off). We successfully navigated to the correct spot to pick up Kristi. I don't think there was a moment of silence in that car the entire way down or back we were all gabbing so much! So much to catch up on and well we are usually talking about something when we are together.

Upon arriving at Six Flags it was continuing to rain, but thankfully it wasn't a down pour, more of an annoying drizzle like rain and the rides were still going. Because of the inclement weather during the early hours after opening the lines stayed relatively short for a while. Leah was a roller coaster virgin so we broke her in with the Viper first. A pretty decent one... wooden, doesn't go upside down... but still good. Kristi and I took the second row and Ciera (had been on coasters, but never to Six Flags before) and Leah took the third row. Kristi and I held our arms most of the way and I'm glad to say that both Ciera and Leah liked it. After the Viper we took a leap and hit up Raging Bull. Now if you know Six Flags, this is a CRAZY ride and has a HUGE first drop! I love the ride, just not the first drop, gives you that stomach in the mouth sort of feeling. Because you can sit 4 across on this ride we took the second row. Kristi and I would have took the first row, but we decided to all sit together and Leah didn't want the first row. I think we could have gotten Ciera to come with us.

I kept my arms up for some of this ride, but definitely not all of it. Leah kept her eyes closes for the whole thing and ended up getting a bit of a head ache and queasy afterwards. I felt kind of bad because that kept her from going on a few other rides with us. After Raging Bull, Ciera, Kristi and I did the Giant Drop. Freaking scary, but fun! Then we hit up Batman and Iron Wolf during with Leah also sat out. We got on both of those rides relatively fast as well so Leah didn't have to wait too long for us. Iron Wolf shakes your head too much and I didn't care for it, but loved Batman. Batman and Superman are my favorite rides. Then we headed over to Superman where the line was pretty long. We had Leah wait in line with us this time because we would be waiting for a while and she could just skip the ride when we got up there. However, about half way through, Kristi got a little queasy and her and Leah left the line. Kristi just needed something to eat and then felt better. By this time it was about 1pm and we still hadn't had lunch. After a total of waiting for about an hour and a half Ciera and I got on the ride! I was nervous that she might not go on because as we got closer and closer she could see more of the ride she looked a little apprehensive. But she came on and really enjoyed it! I was excited that she liked it so much!

Lunch came next. We had packed a TON of food and sat in the car gorging ourselves. It was all so yummy. We decided that while we were here we might as well put on our suits and hit up the water park. Some of the water slides looked super fun and wanted to try them out. None of us had been to the water park there so wanted a new experience. By this time the rain had stopped, but it wasn't extremely warm. In fact, the sun didn't come out until we were leaving at 7pm. So... we toweled up the windows of the car and took turns slipping into our suits. Aren't we ever the innovative group, lol!

The first water slide we went on was called the Tornado, but personally I think the Vortex sounds better. It was a water slide for four. You have to carry this huge tube up a billion stairs before getting on the water slide. We all thought it was kind of dangerous. The wait in line for the water slides wasn't that bad, but kind of cold after we got wet. The Tornado was super fun!!! But the water was kind of cold. I would have liked to go on again, but we decided to hit up some of the others. We did some more rides on tubes and one where you went down by yourself on a mat HEAD FIRST! Now that was a crazy one, but also fun! The only bad part was the water spraying into your eyes. We probably spent an hour at the water park and then decided that we would do a few more rides before leaving to come home.

We did the Viper again because Leah wanted to go on that one and would go on it. Kristi and I took the front this time and Ciera and Leah sat behind us in the second row. Held our hands up the whole time and even Leah had hers up for part of it. We told her we had to do in honor of Robin, our friend who couldn't make it. Lol! After this we wanted to do Raging Bull again and American Eagle and Superman again. But because of the time and the impending three and a half hour drive home, we decided to do Superman again because Kristi didn't get on it the first time. The line was shorter this time and only took about an hour to get through. Leah waited in line with us once again and then skipped the ride once we got up there. Because the line for the front row was just about as short as the other rows we took a chance and went for it. Two front rows for me on the same day! But front row on Superman was definitely the BEST! It was so worth it and I kept my arms up for all of it expect for like two seconds where we were about go upside down. I really wish Leah would have come on with us. She said she will next year.

Yes... Jay quote 'You are already planning next year?!'... we are planning a next year. And hopefully next year Robin can come with us. But next year we are going to rent a hotel room because that was just TOO much driving in one day. Especially for Leah because she had a 45 minute drive before she picked up Ciera and me, and a 45 minute drive after she dropped us off. I can't wait until next year because this year was too much fun! We talked and talked about EVERYTHING! And we definitely sent out invitations!!! I know, you don't get it, but seriously it's just too funny!

Our drive home was pretty uneventful until we got around Fremont. Jay called me around FonduLac letting us know that we were headed into storms and pretty bad rain. Ugh, just what I wanted to know. It was a good thing I brought my glasses along otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see anything. Leah drove until Fremont where the rain got too hard to see anything and we exited and sat at a gas station for a while. Then Ciera said she would try driving and got us home safely. The rain let up after a while and I calmed down a little. I'm a nervous wreck when it's bad weather and we are driving. But the girls were both great drivers! We left at 7pm and got home at 11:30pm! Long drive and even longer due to the weather! But at least the traffic wasn't too bad. We saw enough cops with people pulled over though and for sure thought that we were going to get pulled over at one point, but apparently the cop was not paying attention because he didn't pull us over.

Overall the day was UBER FUN!!! I'm so glad we were able to get together and have some fun. We are planning a study session this following week.

More later... CIAO! LOVE ME!

Raring and ready to go!

'Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.'

Except when it is HOT AND HUMID! I love the summer... being barefoot... going swimming... and just not worrying about being cold, but this humidity is really getting to me! Ugh, but at least it isn't 20 below outside. Happy for that!

Jacko! Plans are finalized and everything is a go for Six Flags tomorrow! Meeting one of the girls in Milwaukee near the airport. She told me kind of where it was, gave me a name on a sign to look for, so hopefully me and the other two girls will be able to locate it. She said she was going to email me the place/directions, but I still haven't gotten an email. Oh well, she called at least which was a good thing. I can't wait. So excited to get together with everyone again (haven't seen them since school got out) and catch up. We always have super good gab fests!

Today was pretty good. Didn't do a whole lot besides get details ironed out for tomorrow. Ayden and I made some puppy chow... YUM! And tonight we made chewy bars... YUM AGAIN! Jay made some french fries from fresh potatoes for supper. Those were pretty good. He got home from work a little early today which was kind of nice.

I bought a new pair of shoes today. They are super cute and got two compliments on them even before I bought them. Hopefully they don't make my feet sore tomorrow. We'll see though. I hope to get a lot of pictures as well.

I know this is uber short and probably pretty boring... maybe tomorrow I will have a super long post about how great of a day we had or some great story about how we got lost (I hope not) or about how great the rides are, etc...

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Extracurriculars?

'Go for long walks, indulge in hot baths. Question your assumptions, be kind to yourself, live for the moment, lossen up, scream, curse the world, count your blessings, just let go, just be.'

Couldn't have said it better myself... nothing more to really say about this one than 'just be!' Sometimes we have to let go and just be and realize we cannot control everything, we DO NOT control everything... it's out of our hands. JUST BE! And smile!

Hey Jack- Six Flags details are slowly getting worked out. YEAH! But the forecast is looking more and more bleak for the day. I keeping my hopes high though! Was able to get a hold of the two other friends accompanying us on the trip. Both had been out of town for the past couple of days so that explains it. Need to take a bit of a detour though on the trip down there and probably on the way back as well, as one of my friends is dropping off her daughter by her parents (her husband has to work on Saturday), and they are going to babysit. She is driving to set location with her daughter and then we are going to meet up with her. I personally think it would be cheaper for her and her daughter to ride with us to set location, but oh well. That way she wouldn't have to pay for her gas on the way there and just chip in with whatever we have to pay. I don't know.

My toe is feeling better today. Still rather black and blue and a bit swollen, but I can walk on a little easier. Good thing for this weekend. Oh, another bummer though... I was under the impression that Six Flags tickets were only $40. Don't know how or why I thought that, but I checked the website today and said price for adults is $54.99! Was it really that high two years ago? I can't remember, but we still have the $20 off coupons which get us in for $34.99, the kids price. So instead of the original $40 that I thought I would end up spending that day, I will probably end up spending about $60 or a little more. Ugh, I hate money, but oh well. Jay and I decided that we will have to tap into our little reserve despite not wanting to. We may be able to get through the summer without having to tap into if we save and scrimp on EVERY LITTLE THING, but what's life without something extra every once in a while. And we would be especially tight since we are going to be doing a lot of traveling in the next few weeks. But we shouldn't have to dip in too far which is good.

I'm not a self proclaimed spender/buyer, but I do sometimes get things I don't NEED. I like to get little things for Ayden here and there. I'm a mom and although I don't give into his every wish/want/gimmie, sometimes he deserves a little treat. Sometimes though, his little treats that he wants are just too expensive and he has to deal with a 40 cent candy bar at the check out. Lol. Why do we have to live in such a materialistic society? I honestly hate it! Why do there have to be social classes and people who thing they are better than everyone else? What happened to treating everyone fairly and equally? Yeah right, did we ever really have that?

Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, stereotypes and prejudices do exsist. We recieve food stamps and day care assistance, but does that automatically classify us as unemployed lazy slobs who take advantage of the system? I sure hope not because both Jay and I are employed, getting college degrees, and trying to do the best for our son. But some people can't look past the fact that we are recieving assistance. Okay, enough of that...

Onto the title of this post, when is the right time to start extracurriculars with children? At what age? How do you know if your child is ready or not? You see, I am considering enrolling Ayden in t-ball or soccer at the Y in the fall. It's about the same price as swimming lessons, and well I think we are getting enough swimming in this summer the way it is. But I don't know if he will be too shy and not want to do anything or if he would really like it. I think he would, if he could get over his shyness. The thing is, I don't know if he would like t-ball or soccer better. He knows what baseball is and kind of what soccer is. Maybe I will talk to the people at the Y and see what they would suggest. I'm not all in it for the competition, mostly for getting out of the house and expending some of his energy. It would be nice if they had a session in the summer (well for all I know, they might, but the next one is in the fall).

Well, I'm getting kind of perturbed with this whole situtation with my friend. All I'm looking for is an apology, I mean, what she did was kind of rude. A simple apology and not doing it again would fix everything. Am I making too much out of this? Isn't what she was doing considered rude? But this none apologizing thing makes me think that she doesn't care and doesn't see that she was in the wrong. What kind of friend does that make her? ARGH! As much as it bugs me... she is after all my best friend (or so I thought), I'm not going to expend any effort towards the situation right now. I'm not apologizing for anything nor taking back what I said because it will only allow her to continue treating me (and others) that way. This just in... proper phone ettecuite (sp?)... listen to who is talking to you and don't text someone else at the same time, we were on the PHONE not INSTANT MESSANGER!!! Whatever though! Needed that little vent...

Work went well today, as did this afternoon at home. Ayden took a nap today which was nice and I worked on some scrapbooking stuff. For some reason my program was moving a little faster today than normal which made me happy. We had some rain, but no severe weather and Jay did not get off work early. More money though, as I explained earlier.

I think some chocolate marshmellow ice cream is calling my name tonight, sounds yummy!

CIAO! LOVE ME!
ME (my signature isn't working tonight)

OUCH!!!

'The past is written! Close the book on pages sad and gray; within the future do not look, but live today today.'

I am a guily one when it comes to relishing the past. Sometimes I forget the past is the past and cannot change it. Always the what ifs and why... but more often than not I need to concentrate on the present and make every moment count for what its worth. I need to stop relishing on the sad things and remember the good things!

Jackers... What are you supposed to do when you are trying to plan a study date with three friends and you can't get ahold of two of them? Either by email or phone? Voicemails have been left and nothing yet. Not to mention these two girls that me and my other friend cannot get ahold of are also coming to Six Flags with us on Saturday. Me and my one friend are definitely type A personalities and super organized. In fact, I think she is even more organized than me. Is that even possible?! Yes, but that is what makes her so great. She is the one of the group without a kid so I'll credit that to being the reason she is so super organized. Once you have children your organization can only go so far, lol. Okay it can really go far, look at Kate from John and Kate plus 8. She is uber organized, but I think with large families you kind of need to be, otherwise there would be too much chaos.

There are supposed to be some pretty good storms today and tomorrow. Might cut into my plans of going to the park a little later. I suppose that that is okay, but being stuck in the house all day isn't always that fun either.

I went and layed down in bed pretty early last night. I didn't feel like computer scrapbooking anymore (sometimes my patiences wears thin with how slow my computer goes while I am running that program) and didn't feel like reading or studying either. Hence, I layed in bed and waited for my show to come on. Tori and Dean was pretty good last night, but before that was on I was watching a show on polygamy (sp?). It was rather interesting...

A little while back there was this big thing on the news about the FLDS (a polygamist sect in Utah- I think) and lots of drama was brougth up. I tried not to make any opinions either way, but some of the stories these people were pretty bad. Was the public supposed to believe this or not? While I don't particularily believe in plural marriages, people are allowed to live in whatever manner they want. Well, although it is technically illegal I think. Anyways, some of the stories that were being told last night seemed to be coming from honest enough people. They didn't deny that there was probably things going on in other sects that shouldn't be, but claimed that it didn't happen in their family. Like I said, it's not something for me, but if it is the way that makes them happy, then so be it. However, this one wife was explaining her lifestyle and how she chose to raise her children and it seemed to be kind of confininig. But everyone has their own parenting styles and I respect that. I may not agree with certain things that other parents do, but then I'm sure some people probably don't care for some of the things that I do Ayden and they are allowed to have their opinions as well.

On to the OUCH part of my post. I think I might have broken my pinky toe on my left foot. How you ask/wonder? Well, I was going through the freezer complining a list of groceries that we needed to get when out slides one of those cooler ice thingy and lands smack dab on my toe. Not even two minutes later my toe is black and blue and starting to swell. Not enough pain to cry, but enough to want to use some choice words up and down. I held my tongue because Ayden was in the room. I can still move the toe (does that mean it's not broken?) but it hurts mighty bad when I walk on it. And talk about great timing too, right? Going to Six Flags on Saturday and will be walking most of the day. At least it was my left foot and won't interfere with driving.

The storms that were called for today pretty much passed us by. They got hit north and south of us, but we only got a little bit of rain, lightening, and thunder. At Jay's work, a couple of miles away he said they had torrential down pours, quarter size hail and lots of lightening and thunder. He luckily got off work early again today which was nice, but once again spent the afternoon on his computer. But like yesterday I didn't much mind because after my toe incident all I wanted to do was lie down and take a nap. Just so happened Ayden was napping at this time as well. So it was nice that Jay got home early, but also kind of a bummer because that is less money coming in, and well we aren't exactly flowing over in that department right now. The weather people are calling for more storms tomorrow as well so we will see if gets off early then too.

Our afternoon was kind of blah. Ayden and I napped from 2-4pm and then we went grocery shopping. Got home and made some supper, gave Ayden a quick wash off because he didn't want to take a bath tonight, and then played some Uno Spin with him and Jay. Oh, I replenished Ayden's prize bag today with some stuff from Target. Everything that I got was $1/piece and it's all educational stuff so I was happy with that. Ayden won't even noticed. He reached his sticker goal today and earned a prize and he chose the dinosaur flash cards. Funny thing is that he knows most of them already. Doesn't quite know the whole alphabet (we are still working on a few letters, I know I know, he's almost 4) but he can tell the difference between a Stegasaurous and a Kentrosaurous and that is pretty good because they look very similiar. He also know the difference between a T-Rex and Allosaurous which also are very close looking. Boys and their dinosaurs, lol.

Tomorrow is the last day of work for the week and then it's relaxing on Friday before fun times on Saturday! CIAO! LOVE ME!

All I Want To Dooooooo....

'In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back.'

-Oh how this is true... if the answers were in the back we'd all be perfect and what is the fun in being perfect. It's the twists and turns, the rights and wrongs, the happiness and saddness that make life what it is. So quit looking for the answers and make them up as you go along!

Jack... Bring on the heat wave! It's supposed to be super hot and humid today and so Ayden and I might just have to venture off to the pool. It's Tubes n Toys night tonight, but they are calling for possible storms so we might go this afternoon and forgot about the tube. We'll see I guess... It all depends on if he is in a good mood. He was this morning when I dropped him off at daycare. I hung around a little longer than usual to watch him play with his friends. It's so cute to watch them interact together with each other. But it's sad because one of Ayden's best friends will be leaving soon. It also sucks because his mom works there and is the 4 year old teacher (Ayden's teacher) and she will be leaving as well and once again I REALLY liked her. Why do all the teachers that I grow to REALLY like have to leave. It's unfortunate. His current teacher is pretty good too, but I liked the other one better.

I cannot wait until this Saturday... going to Six Flags with my girlies from school. Well, minus one, kind of sucks she can't come. But we still have a few details that we need to iron out and two of them are not getting back to me and another girl. We've sent emails... going to have to get out the phone and then if still can't reach them, send out a search party. Hehe. We have coupons for $20 off the ticket price so that is sweet! And if we each pay $20 in gas (I'm thinking at the most, maybe less) our total for the ticket and gas would come to $40, which just happens to be the total ticket price without any coupons. I'm thinking we did pretty good. Also, we are bringing our own food so we don't have to worry about paying high prices for there. When we went two years ago and they year before that (me, Jay, my sister Emily, her friend Sarah, and our cousin John) it worked out pretty well that way. Only we will be extra careful not to loose our keys, lol! That would definitely not be good! Been there, done that, don't want to again!

I still haven't heard from my friend. Is that a good sign or bad sign? Don't really know and right now I'm not going to worry about it. I don't need a friend who doesn't care about me right now anyways. Well, not that I'm being conceieted or anything, well not trying to sound like it, but I want friends who care about me as much as I care about them and as much as they care about themselves.

I don't know what time Jay came to bed last night. I think it was pretty late. I remember waking up around 11pm and realizing he still wasn't in bed and getting kind of irked, but told myself to calm down and that he deserves some time to himself as well. But we didn't get our Will and Grace cuddle time last night. Was kind of getting used to that. Probably tonight though. He is hopefully going to cook some potatoes on the grill, well if the rain stays away. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Night time now... have a habit of starting this earlier in the day and finishing it at night time. The carpet guys didn't come today, so they are going to come tomorrow. Fine with me I guess. I just hope it is when I am not at home. Oh well if it is though. Jay only had to work until 2:30ish today which was really nice. I wasn't expecting him at home that early at all, but it was a nice surprise. Although he didn't do too much this afternoon except play his game. No complaints though because I was on my computer as well.

Ayden and I did end up going swimming tonight. We had loads of fun too! The rain held off, actually the radar is crystal clear and we had potatoes on the grill as well! They were SUPER YUMMY! At the pool we were able to bring the tube tonight, but Ayden hardly wanted to use it. He started to jump in with it on all by himself and then I asked if he wanted to take it off. So he took it off and proceeded to jump in all by himself (not needing mommy's hands) over and over and over again. I was so proud of him. He did that over and over for probably a good 20 minutes. I couldn't believe how brave he had gotten. He was also putting his head under again a lot! My little fish! I wish that we had the money to be able to go every day because I know that he would love it, but that's okay. Maybe we will go to the beach tomorrow because we haven't been there in a long time and it is free. Also the weather is supposed to be pretty hot as well.

I bought a dress today for Jay's cousin's wedding this August. It was the same one that I almost bought a few weeks ago at Penny's and then put back. Well I went back today just to look at some clothes and it was still there and still on sale so I tried it on again just for good measure and really liked it so this time I didn't put it back. Jay likes it too, I think. You can never tell with guys.

I also sat down and studied/read for the GRE today for an entire HOUR! That is a long time for me because I haven't really studied all that much for it in recent weeks. The study guide book that I purchased is really helping me out though. It has a lot of study techniques and is telling me all about the test and the types of questions so I am really grateful for that. I should be well prepared for that. My friends and I are supposed to be getting together again this week sometime, a make up from last week, to study, but only one other person has gotten back to me about it. Even if it is just the two of us it should be okay. Even to get someone else's perspective on it will be nice. I figure we can also do some studying/quizzing on our drive to Six Flags on Saturday. Yeah right, we will be too busy catching up on everyone's summer so far.

Time to relax now... CIAO! LOVE ME!