I LOVE my camera!!!

And the subject of my obsession!!!

   

 

CIAO! LOVE ME!

The Secret Life of Bees

Decided finally to start a new book, even though I don’t exactly have the time. I was bored today after Ayden and I got home so we ran to Walmart to see if I could find anything as far as Christmas gifts go (because I forwent the craziness of Black Friday this year) and happened upon this book… I had seen the previews for the movie and heard it was a pretty good book even before I knew about the movie. Then my boss kept saying that it was such a good book and a quick read so I picked it up, along with another book. I am a bookaholic. New books are my type of drug, lol! My mom and I have quite the library going, although my taste of books is greater than hers. She prefers to stick with the mysteries/killer/suspense books where I like a good love story here and there as well.

Anyways, I am already almost 80 pages into the book and hope to have most of it done by tonight. So far so good, and it has proved to be quite the fast read as well.

My Thanksgiving went pretty well. Thursday afternoon we headed off to Wisconsin Rapids to celebrate with my dad’s side of the family and it was quite enjoyable. One of my aunts said something to me that kind of irritated me. Not worth going into on here, but I basically said it was too bad to her and I wasn’t going to do anything different. In any case, nothing to get stuck on. We stayed there for a few hours before heading out and off to Chilton to celebrate with my mom’s side of the family. I was surprised because we didn’t end up eating too late which was good. That was enjoyable as well. My cousin’s and I always have a pretty good time and we had some good laughs. That’s what it is all about… just having a good time.

Yesterday, good ole Black Friday, I did not attend the annual ‘family Christmas shopping’ fiesta. Although I don’t know if you could call it a family fiesta when no one really went together. Oh well though, I wasn’t really in the mood for it and Ayden and I hung out during the day. We went to my mom’s in the morning for a little while before she had to go to work and then back to Jay’s parents to take a nap. Both Ayden and I got a good nap in, thanks to him waking up pretty early Friday morning (even though we went to bed late). And then Friday night Jay’s mom made Thanksgiving supper and his Aunt Sam and Grandma came over. That was fun and Ayden was bouncing off the walls hyper. We played some dominos and chatted it up for a while.

Today we didn’t do a whole lot. We played in the morning and then left to come back to Point around 11amish. I decided that we were going to eat at Arby’s when we got into Point for lunch because I didn’t really want to cook anything. Ayden was really well behaved so we did and because he slept most of the way home I told him that he didn’t have to take a nap today. He was really well behaved all afternoon which is good. He is currently enjoying Jurassic Park and soon it will be off to bed. He asked to take a bath at like 4:30pm and so I let him. He stayed in for a good hour. I actually didn’t have to cook for supper either because I had a bowl of cereal while he was in the bath and that is what he said that he wanted as well. So cereal for supper it was. That is okay though.

Tomorrow I think we will chill around the house again. I need to practice for my class presentation tomorrow for Monday, but that shouldn’t be too bad either which is good. I also need to study for a test on Tuesday and just make sure I have all my clinic stuff in order for our party on Monday. Shouldn’t be all that bad of a day. It has been nice to have a few days off. Even though we’ve been gone for two and a half of them. Nice to get away, but still get some time at home as well. Three weeks left and then a nice break! I am excited for it to be done!

Jay has been pretty much hunting the whole weekend (except Thursday) and even when he isn’t/wasn’t out hunting we really haven’t talked. Don’t know, just haven’t felt like it. Not really an air of madness between us… like I said, don’t know. We kind of got into it a little bit on Thursday before we left. I guess I must have said something or done something and then he goes and says that if I am mad at him for any reason in the future I need to tell him and that he is done trying to figure it out and assuming that I am mad. Whatever, though… don’t really care right now.

So, I really didn’t get any Christmas shopping done. I got half of one gift and like a 1/3 of another. Guess I will need to pick a weekend in the following few weeks to get out and get it done. Time goes so fast that Christmas will be here before I know it, right?

I had this amazingly real dream last night and when I woke up I was so hoping that it could have been real. And then I went back to sleep and dreamt some weird dream about Twilight and Edward and about becoming a vampire, only it wasn’t another vampire that was trying to turn me into a vampire, it was our cat Diesel. Lol, crazy weird dreams, I know. And as I write this, Diesel is currently trying to cuddle up to me. Our poor deprived kitty who hasn’t had any attention in the last three days, just trying to get some love. Ayden would love to cuddle with him. I just sent Diesel over by Ayden to get some loving. He is too cute with that cat.

Okay, I suppose I should go now… more of my book is calling to me. Uh-oh… might have started my book reading frenzy back up. I usually go through some spurts where I read about five or six books at a time and then go a few months without reading any. Last one I read was the last Twilight one before school started. Long time to go without my favorite past time. Need to just get swept off into another world. Always good for my soul… going to curl up in bed after Ayden goes to sleep and drift off into someplace else…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Struggling…

I got to sleep in this morning for an extra hour! How sweet was that! And what was even more sweet, me taking an 'attitude day' as my mother would put it and not going to my first class of the day. It's not as if I would have actually learned anything anyways. Besides, every now and then people need a break, and hey, I am going to my second class. That should account for something. Mostly because we actually learn something in that class and I need to be there to get the notes so I can do good on my test. I need to only get 7 wrong at the most on the final test to get an A- in the class. Doesn't sound too bad, right? I don't know though. The first test wasn't overly hard, but I didn't do as well as I would have liked. The second test shouldn't be any harder, but I just don't know. I believe I can do it. I know I can... get straight A's this semester (well including any A-'s that might appear on my transcript, lol) but in my mind they still count as A's.

Doesn’t look like Ayden is struggling much with that bag and his scissors. What kind of mom would allow her son to stand on a kitchen chair and cut a paper bag into little itsy bitsy pieces and then take pictures on top of that? Me, of course!

 

Look at that look of concentration on his face. He was pretty intent on getting the perfect cut. And let me tell you, that bag was pretty demolished by the time that he decided he was done making his masterpiece.

Our afternoon was rather lax. Ayden and I did some truck puzzles. He was all for me helping him do the puzzles, but then when I did try to sit down and help him he only let me put in like three of the 24 pieces. He has done those puzzles so many times that he knew where every piece went without even having to think about it. It was fun watching him though. He also played a lot with his legos tonight. Every few days he gets some really good ideas and builds the most amazing things with his legos.

Tonight was also bath night. Ayden took a bath while I folded some laundry and put my jewelry box in order. It really needed it. I also changed my earrings because the ones I had in were cheap ones I had originally gotten for my cousin’s wedding because I didn’t have any gold ones that would match the dress. However, the ones that I have in now are not any more expensive, just different I guess.

The movie The Lake House is on TV right now. I really like this movie, but I am not really watching it. More like listening while I blog. Definitely addicted… both to lurking and to writing. I love seeing what everyone else is up to… isn’t that what blog lurking is all about? And I enjoy the relaxation that the writing brings me. The outlet it provides… and even the occasional comment. And definitely the Not Me Monday idea from MckMama. And it’s crazy just how many others enjoy that as well. When I first started blogging I had no idea I would get this addicted or that it was such a big thing. Ha, I go from one addiction to another. In high school it was Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and even ICQ… then it was nothing for a little while until I got sucked into the whole Facebook thing. Still kind of an active Facebooker (yes, I can say that), but definitely an addicted blogger. An addicted blogger who loves to change her layout WAY too much! Just trying to be creative I guess.

So, anyways, I’ve been struggling lately with the direction that my current relationship with Jay is taking me. We’ve been together for five years now. The other night Jay and I had an argument/discussion and he told me that he thought we were more just parents than a couple. I really couldn’t disagree though. At times it does seem like we kind of cohabitate together and parent Ayden together, but are not the couple we used to be. Obviously after any extended length of time in a relationship I think you get comfortable with each other that some of that new romance ‘lust’ dwindles away, but the spark shouldn’t. I feel sometimes like the spark has.

As I sit here writing this, I am contemplating just deleting it… should I really be pouring my heart out like this to the world for anyone to see. Shouldn’t this be something I should discuss with Jay first?! Maybe, probably, I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like Jay and I were kind of put together because of Ayden. Like we didn’t get the opportunity to date around, if that is what you want to call it, to find 'the one’. Of course that is not to say that people cannot find their ‘one’ at a younger age, etc… or that everyone has to date around to find that one. But I sometimes wonder if maybe I missed out on something. It’s not that I don’t love Jay or cannot see a future with him. I can imagine it all…

I guess I don’t really know what I’m talking about. I keep hoping that I can see the right path and know what should happen. My head is all a mess… okay, enough of that. Can’t think about it anymore right now…

On a brighter note, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am thankful for all of the family and friends that are in my life and every moment of every day because even if every moment of every day isn’t exactly perfect or how I would like it, at least I got to experience that moment. Thankful for every breath, every feeling, just everything… what are you thankful for?

I was able to see all of my friends today from school and wish them a good weekend. Normally I wouldn’t see any of them on a Wednesday, but seeing them put a smile on my face. It has been one of those kind of weeks I think. Good thing it will be a busy day tomorrow and maybe Friday if I decide to go shopping. Not that I need to spend any money, lol. We have to pack everything yet in the morning though because I was too lazy to do any of it tonight. Shouldn’t be too bad though, just us three. I’m thinking we need to be gone by 11:30am for sure to get to Rapids on time. Spending a couple of hours there and be gone from there about 3pm for sure because we need to come back to Point to get the boat and my car and then drive to the other Thanksgiving which would put us there right around 5pm, a little after I am thinking. Depends on how much fun we are having in Rapids and how cranky Ayden is getting. Most likely he will sleep on the love drive to Chilton, a nap at the time would probably be good because it will most likely be a long night. But fun though!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Slow day…

The semester is coming to a close. Okay, so I really have about three weeks of class left (including finals week), but that is NOT LONG! Not long at all! I cannot believe how fast the semester has gone. I know I've said it before and will probably say it again and probably have said it about past semesters as well. But that means, only one more semester and I GRADUATE!!! Me... a college graduate! Can you believe it?! I certainly am amazed at how that sounds, but it really doesn't seem all that true yet. Argh... I suppose that it will come May! I have almost made it through one full semester of clinical practicum and I was by myself for most of that. I did speech therapy all by myself and my client has actually begun to make some progress. I feel so awesome about this! Just need to believe that I can do and wouldn't be placed with something that I cannot do. Faith...

Okay, at work right now. Some lady came in looking for someone from the Continuing Education office. First off, we have a room number outside our office and it is 103. She is looking for 025. Hmm, you think the person you are looking for is in this office? Probably not... and besides that, we have the people in this office names right outside the office. Do you think the person she was looking for was on that list? Nope! So, I direct her in the way of the office that she was looking for. I told her to go up upstairs because I thought she was looking for an office in the 200s, not the 20s. So, she came back... and figured out where she was really wanting to go and directed her to the basement. Hopefully she found the office because if she comes back I do not know where to direct her to. Kind of sucks that my little 'work station' is right by the door of the office because anyone looking for any place comes in and asks me, and do you think I know where ANYTHING is around this campus besides the areas that I need to go to? NOPE! I know where my classes are and where I work... that's about it. And how long have I been going here now, lol! But I don't really need to know where else to go, do I? Not a good campus rep, am I? But I don't need to be. In any case... I can rarely help the few individuals that do come in and need help finding some place and often have to ask fellow coworkers if they know where the place is.

Our afternoon went pretty good. We had swimming lessons tonight and Ayden did great! He very well could have been in the next class up with the stuff that he was doing tonight. He is sticking his head in all the time trying to ‘dive’ for the little sinker at the bottom. He was floating on this back really good (better than he ever did with me) and was jumping into the deep end with no help! Next week is the last week and I am hoping that they turn on the water slide. I do not know if Ayden is big enough to go down by himself (I hope so), but I would really love to see him go down. He also really liked it last year when we went down together. For the littler kids they have someone at the bottom catching them. And the waterslide really isn’t all that big either so maybe?!

It was left over night for supper tonight. I had some left over pizza from last night and Ayden had some pancakes that he brought home from Grandma Michele’s house. His choice… not mine. Fine with me because then I didn’t have to cook. And so the rest of the night will be spent relaxing and chilling because I got my ‘homework’ (actually clinic paper work) done already and turned in another copy of my final therapy report earlier today. Of course after I turned it in I realized something that I am going to have to change once I get it back. Oh well though…

Prison Break was pretty good last night, but they totally threw everyone for a loop and I guess the best twists and turns are yet to come. I was really surprised and yet mad that they did what they did with the story lines. There are for sure two more episodes left and the synopsis for the last episode I could find on the episode guide seems to leave it open for another ‘season’. Here is what I think will happen, it will ‘end’ in two weeks and then start up again in March like the last few years. Part of me would be glad if they came back again because I really like the show (don’t ask why, I’m weird like that because it is definitely not a chick flick show, and even though it has my super hot Wentworth Miller in, I’d watch it even without him) but I also think that they are sort of stretching it out now. I don’t know…

End of the week tomorrow, well for classes anyways. And then travelling day on Thursday for family gatherings. But I’m excited because last year we (the cousins) had so much fun at the one gathering. Purple pigeon dress anyone?! Yah, you know what I’m talking about! With our luck, the guest of ‘honor’ won’t even show, lol! Ah, we’ll still have fun anyways! Even if we have to wait until midnight for the cake, because you know we will.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Bring on Not Me Monday!!!

Hop on over to MckMama’s blog at mycharmingkids.net (if you didn’t happen here from there) and check out her Not Me’s and everyone else that has linked from her page. It’s great fun!!!

I most certainly did not start my Not Me’s early so I would have a little bit of something to write about/remembered because my previous Not Me’s have been kind of boring and short and I wanted to provide anyone that happened here with something fun to read. I always write my Not Me’s on Monday because I always have time on Monday’s as I don’t have clinic that day and Prison Break (and my lovely Wentworth Miller) is not on Monday’s so what else would I do besides get my Not Me’s done. Mondays always allow extra time for me… it’s like the clock stops just for me! If only…

I did not make my Christmas cards already and because I was so 'inspired' to make them one night, I did not just look through old photos to decide which ones to use instead of waiting for the right time to take a recent family one or waiting a little closer to Christmas. It's not too early to play Christmas music the day after Halloween so it's definitely not too early for me to have my Christmas cards made already. At least I don't have them all printed already and mailed out. We got our first Christmas card from my brother and his girlfriend two weeks ago already. Yes, for those of you who know me personally, Casey and Becky have a Christmas card this year. Too cute! Maybe I'll scan it in so you can see!

I did not swear at the computer when I was emailed that a class I wanted to take next semester was going to be cancelled because it did not totally RUIN my whole 'plan' for next semester. I did not sulk because now I had to go back to the drawing board to figure out a new schedule for everything. Wouldn't be so bad, but I have daycare costs and work to fit in there somehow. I did not manage to get everything figured out (I think) and am not relieved to once again have some order to how things will go in the Spring.

I did not tell Ayden we could go to Mickey D's after swimming on Tuesday because he asked so nicely. I had only planned on going through the drive through and getting him a happy meal... then when Jay asked if I wanted Taco Bell, I did not concede and we did not go through both McDonald's drive through and Taco Bells drive through to get some yummy fast food for supper last night. Because fast food is not cheap and fast when you are in a lazy mood, but it is definitely healthy, right, maybe, some of it, lol!

I did not procrastinate a little more than I would have liked on my grad school stuff. I totally got all of it done when I wanted to and do not have to worry about it anymore. I wrote this amazing letter of intent and everything is off to my prospective recommendation writers to get me into grad school. I am not worried about what they might write and I will not worry about getting into Point because it is not the only school that I am applying to.

I did not get sick of listening to a friend go over and over about their drama over the course of the past week. The same thing over and over and over. I did not try to offer any good advice only to hear the same thing. I totally believed her when she said that she doesn't like drama because she always seems to be in some sort of it. I also believed her when she said she doesn't make things bigger than they should be. I cannot wait to hear what the next drama filled segment of her life is. On a serious note though... I did try to offer some good advice and help her with her situation, it was just kind of funny at parts.

I did not enjoy two lovely nights sleeping alone while Jay and Ayden were gone hunting for the weekend. I do not love having the bed to myself because I most certainly cannot hog the whole thing and ALL the blankets and stretch to my hearts desire. I was not ready for my boys to be home on Sunday though and was not ready to share my bed again because that big bed always feels comfy when you are alone.

I did not get overly excited when I had a message from my client saying that they would not be able make to make it to therapy on Thursday. I also did not forget half of my therapy materials at home that morning so it was not a good thing that my client couldn’t show because I most certainly would have had everything I needed to make the session go smoothly.

And I was not relieved to not have to worry about my clinic write up Thursday night… it did not leave me time to make cookies (that were not chocolate chip with fudge inside- that we definitely not just bought from the store and plopped on a pan) and have fun with Ayden.

Our lovely neighbor lady did not stop by our place and drop off a CD of the Chipmunks (you remember the Chipmunks, right?) music for Ayden because she was making them for her grandchildren and she thought he might like it. That was most certainly not the sweetest thing and she is definitely not the sweetest neighbor we’ve ever had! Who could be nicer?!

I did not get to sleep in on Friday and did not relish it with every second that extended my slumber! But I did not get to sleep in until 6:30am which is not only 15 minutes later than I normally get up.

I did not get so excited about the Twilight movie coming out that I checked the cinema schedule four or five times last week just to see when it was playing. I also did not contemplate going to the midnight release of it… isn’t my sleep more important? Most certainly not! I did not come to the conclusion that I could/should probably wait until the weekend when I had the time to actually go to the movie.

I did not misread the time on the net that Twilight was playing and leave at 6:30 for what I thought was a 7pm show. The movie did not really start at 7:30… since I was already there I did not wait in my car for about ten minutes because I didn’t want to be THAT early. When I did go in I did not think I should have come even earlier because the line was not already super long when I got in it. I was not afraid that I wouldn’t get a seat and did not TOTALLY LOVE the movie! I most certainly did not go to bed Friday night thinking about Edward!!! (Real opinion on the movie- mediocre for the budget they had which was pretty low I heard, but they followed the book, got some laughs, so even though in my opinion it wasn’t an A list movie, I walked out totally glad I went because it gave me that same feeling as reading the book).

I did not get up an hour earlier that normal on Saturday to go visit a friend and did not have a totally great time visiting with that friend all day!

I have not been putting our fuzzy blue blanket in the dryer whenever I get cold just to be able to wrap up in a warm blanket because that would not be silly. And it is most certainly not toasty roasty when I take it out!

I did not dig out three boxes of old personal items and reminisce over them this morning. I did not look at pictures and remember old moments from my life and then relive memories from my old journals. No, I never go back to the past and do things like that.

I did not get so annoyed with my neighbors incessantly loud music that I banged on the wall so hard it hurt my hand. People are just really inconsiderate these days. I am very confrontational so that is why I pounded on the wall instead of actually going to tell them to turn it down. Getting in people’s faces is definitely what I love to do!

What did you NOT do this past week?!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Come home please…

I wish my boys were home right now. When the fact is that they will probably not be home until 8pm or later. I texted Jay earlier today to see if they would be home for supper and he said no. That is fine with me, but I miss them. I guess it leaves me more time to procrastinate on my homework, right?

I was able to get my summary article started. I have probably about a half hours worth of effort to put into it yet to get it completed and ready to turn in on Thursday. I also finished the four assignments for another class that are due on Wednesday. I have one small question to answer yet, but that will take like two minutes. I need to ask another classmate about it before I write my answer.

After I am done with my post here (how long can I put it off) I want to get my grad school stuff done and ready for tomorrow as well. That shouldn’t really take all that long either. I’d say about a half hour to an hour of putting the finishing touches on it, if that. I also typed up some questions for my group presentation and emailed them to my group.

Tomorrow will be my last day of clinic for actual teaching. I am kind of excited, but I also hope that it goes well. From the looks of it, I will not have a lab for my speech science class so I will be able to go to work for a little while. After work, when I should be on my way to pick up Ayden, I need to go to the library for a meeting for our group presentation. We are going to be learning how to use the clickers. Hopefully the rest of my group shows up. I’ve emailed them twice now reminding them. If they do not show up, then we will not be using the clickers unless they take the initiative to learn how because I am done putting the effort into this. I don’t like being the ‘group leader,’ but because I NEED to get a good grade on this assignment, I have kind of taken over that part. It’s not so much that I need a good grade to get a good grade in the class, but more so because I am a perfectionist.

I guess that will be all for now. CIAO! LOVE ME!

P.S. Be on the look out for Not Me Monday… and head on over to MckMama’s blog to see where the fun began!

Early Morning

I got up bright and early this morning so I could go and visit with my friend. It was a nice day long visit and we were able to talk about a lot of stuff. Sometimes getting up early is worth it, lol!

But now I am home and it is cold in my house. Probably won’t be warm until I want to go to bed. However, a good movie looks to be starting on Lifetime soon so I might lay down and watch that and then go to bed. My plans for tomorrow are to sleep in for a little while, get my article summary done for my ComD class and FINALLY finish up my grad application stuff. I don’t think I have a whole lot more to do other than that. Should be like three hours of work, or less actually. And then it will be time to sit and wait for my boys to come home from hunting.

I just got off the phone with Jay and he wasn’t lucky enough to get a deer today. His brother, Steven, did though. A nub buck! Speaking of that, I saw a pretty good sized buck while I was driving home tonight. I was so thankful that it decided to stay on the side of the road, but it scared me pretty good. Just another reminder that we need to be keeping watch for them. And if that wasn’t enough, about a block away from the apartment, I saw one wondering down the street in town. Didn’t get to see if this was one was a buck though.

Jay is really hoping that he can get a shot off on the big huge buck that he saw this morning. That would be nice because I know how bad that he wants to get one. The only sucky part is paying for it to be processed. I talked to Jay though and he said that if they just get it chunked out or something like that that it wouldn’t cost as much so that would be good. I know that he would love to put another rack on our wall. If he had his way he would get the whole head done like his dad. Hmm… I’m not so sure about that. Especially if he planned to put it up right where his other antlers are. I can deal with just the antlers, but a whole head? Not so sure about that one. We’ll see though. If it is really huge and he is totally in love with it, maybe it can be part of his Christmas present (because it is not cheap to get it mounted).

Ah, Christmas! Day after Thanksgiving shopping… which of my readers are crazy enough to get out with the masses and partake in this?! I am proud to say that I am! I have for the past couple of years, minus Ayden (thank you Michele, Jay’s mom, who doesn’t like shopping that day!), but I don’t know if I am going to go this year. It’s usually a family thing, and well I don’t even know if that side of the family is getting together for Christmas. But do we ever know when that side of the family is doing anything? Nope! Usually find out a day or two before, or sometimes even the day of. Guess that is just our family for you.

In any case, my mom has to work that day and so I don’t know if I am going. My sister would like to, but of course not by herself. I really just don’t want to have to drive. I am not good with busy driving like that! I don’t really even have any lists made out either! I feel behind, but it is only not Thanksgiving yet. I have over a year month to worry about that yet. Jay and I think we know what we want to get Ayden for Christmas, at least part of it anyways.

Okay, good day is going to end with a good movie, or two… CIAO! LOVE ME!

Twilight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a quick note… I went to see the movie Twilight tonight. As if you couldn’t already figure that something with this post was going to be about Twilight. Came home with a smile on my face. Actually, still sitting on the couch thinking about the movie and will most likely dream about it tonight. At least I hope so!

It left me feeling the same way as the books did. I can only hope that they come out with the rest of the books in movies. I cannot remember which book it is, but one of them is mostly about Jacob and Bella and really they could do without that, lol, because I am totally an Edward fan. And if you haven’t read the books you have no idea what I am talking about.

Not for everyone, but definitely a good love story!!! I didn’t think I would like them, found the first one used and decided to see what all the fuss was about and fell in love!

Okay, enough for now. I have to get up uber early in the morning! CIAO! LOVE ME!

Chocolate Chip Fudge Filled Cookies…

…need I say more?

Too bad they came from the store and all I had to do was put them on a pan and in the oven, lol!

It was super cold and windy today and I hated it! I didn’t want to go outside at all. Just wanted to sit inside and stay toasty warm! But did I get to do that? No, I had to go to therapy and class and work and walk outside lots and lots. But I survived and am at home and warm again so that is good!

Actually, my therapy session was cancelled today which was probably a good thing considering I forgot some of my stuff at home.

Jay and I did some grocery shopping as well and got stocked up for when the boys will be gone this weekend.

Kind of excited about going to possibly see Twilight tomorrow or Saturday or Sunday.

Going to visit a friend on Saturday and pretty excited about that as well!

Just really want to lay down and relax tonight. Did some laundry, now it is almost time to enjoy Grey’s and ER! Tomorrow is Friday! Another week gone… less one week of school to worry about!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Tagged?!

So, I’ve seen blogs before where someone has been tagged and/or someone has tagged someone else. I guess it was only a matter of time before I got ‘tagged’ and wouldn’t you know… my cousin Amanda bestowed that upon me yesterday… First I will fill out the ‘FIRST’ little quiz that she got from Renee over at myspecialks.com…

1. Who was your FIRST prom date? Hmm, goodness. I’m not even old and I don’t really remember. I’m inclined to say that the first PROM that I attended with a guy was with a guy named Dan. I attended a ‘Sweetheart Dance’ before that with my a guy named Joel.

2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? Don’t think I really loved anyone until Jay and we are still together. Do I still talk to other old boyfriends, here and there…

3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink? I think it was vodka mixed with something else and I definitely remember it not tasting good AT ALL! Maybe that has something to do with why I don’t drink, that and a few other variables.

4. What was your FIRST job? I babysat for many years, but my first real job was at my mom’s work just being an office assistant. It was okay… money at the very least and a free ride to work everyday.

5. What was your FIRST car? HA! My first car that lasted a whole two weeks maybe until Jay crashed it into a tree!!! A mercury something or another. It was gray and had power steering, lol! But I actually prefer my current car over that one… Chevy Metro (even though I’m dying to get a Jeep Liberty- may be in a few years)

6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? Twitter update from someone I ‘follow’…

7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning? Ayden and whether or not he would wake up before I had to leave for school or not.

8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Sister Lorraine… I think?! Went to a Catholic school thru 6th grade.

9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? Maryland on a family trip to visit one of my mom’s childhood friends… lots of fun, I love planes!

10. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them? Tiffany… we had a sort of falling out in like 8th grade and didn’t talk for years. We talk here and there now, if we happen across each other.

11. What was your FIRST sport played? On a volleyball team in 7th grade… first and only sports team I ‘played’ on.

12. Where was your FIRST sleep over? Probably at Tiffany’s house…

13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? Jay, he was awake before Ayden.

14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? My godmother’s or godfather’s. Can’t remember who got married first, but I was a flower girl in both of them. So cute, right?

15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Shut my alarm off and dreaded getting out of my bed into the cold room!

16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? Actual concert? I’m thinking something along the lines of the Trans Siberian Orchestra! LOVE THEM!!!

17. FIRST tattoo or piercing? Ears pierced at five, tattoo at 19…

18. FIRST foreign country you went to? Canada with mom, Punta Cana with dad… oh how I miss those cabana boys, lol!

19. What was your FIRST run in with the law? I don’t have run ins with the law. Although, I did have a cop tell me once that I needed to watch where I was going while driving in the high school parking lot. Maybe he needed to watch where he was going. Didn’t hit him or anything for that matter, didn’t know what his problem was?

20. When was your FIRST detention? Don’t think I was ever privileged with that…

21. What was the FIRST state you lived in? Wisconsin and only Wisconsin…

22. Who was the FIRST person to break your heart? Lee… what a complicated and messed up situation.

23. Who was your FIRST roommate? My sister and I were roomies for many years…

24. Where did you go on your FIRST limo ride? First limo ride just happened to be a few weeks ago for my cousin’s wedding!

Wanna try? Consider yourself tagged! Link back to me and leave a comment here when you post so I can see what your answers are. Love being nosey!!! Really, try it! It’s fun! Okay, maybe just have fun reading my answers, boo on you, lol!

Onto the other part…

Here are the rules: Mention the blog that gave it to you (already did, thanks Amanda!) and comment on their blog to let them know you've posted your award.

Publish these rules: Share 6 values that are important to you and 6 things you do not support and grant the prize to 6 people.

My answers:

6 Things I Value:

1. Jay

2. Ayden

3. My family and Jay’s family

4. My friends… in person ones and online ones, and especially the girls at school who have kids as well and know what I’m going through this semester

5. Warmth (I hate the cold!)

6. A little bit of me time at the end of a stressful day

6 Things I Do Not Support:

1. Cleaning the litter box and doing the dishes (Jay’s jobs, lol)

2. People who think they know everything and are always right

3. Having to do a Speech Practicum for your undergrad if you are going into AUDIOLOGY!!!

4. Crabby little boys who tell their mommy’s they don’t want to talk to them right now!

5. My messy house (I prefer everything being in it’s one ‘designated spot’ but of course that happens about once every two months or when Ayden and Jay happen to be gone for a weekend.

6. Cold and windy days like today because it just puts a chill in your bone that you cannot get rid of!

However, since I’m rather new at this blogging this (still under the year mark, is that new or old?) I don’t ‘know’ many blogger buddies and ones that I do have already been granted this award. So I will forgo the passing on of it for now and maybe will bestow it upon some lucky person at some point in the future!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

I don’t want to talk to you right now!

Those be the words that my lovely four year old spoke to me as I put him in his booster seat after daycare today and started asking him about his day. What?! He didn’t want to talk to his dear mother?! Okay, so it is nothing new. We get into the car after daycare everyday and I ask him the same questions about how his day was and what he learned and who he played with, etc… Some days I get a really energetic little boy who talks the whole way home with me, and other days (like today) I get a crabby boy who needed to sleep an extra few minutes. So, I told him that was okay and I wouldn’t talk to him until we got home. You see, I’ve tried talking to him in the past and getting him into a better mood, but it only puts him in a worse mood usually. I didn’t talk to him and he fell back asleep for our 10 minute drive home and wouldn’t you know that he was ready to talk to me when we got home and was in a much better mood as well. He even raced me to the house!

With that, is it really Wednesday already? This week just seems to be flying by! It doesn't even count that we still have two days left because before I know it, I will be waking up tomorrow morning and Thursday will already be half over too. I'd like to say we've been busy and that is what has made the time go so fast. And although we did have swimming lessons last night, we haven't been extremely busy. Monday night Ayden and I played a lot of games while waiting for Jay to get home from work. We played Uno Spin and Go Fish and even did some basic addition, if you didn't happen to check out his awesome video from Monday. Then Jay got home and we had some super yummy frozen lasagna (Ayden passed, he hates it for some reason and he had chicken nuggets). And the rest of the night was spent playing and then me watching Prison Break at 8 and then a my paused John and Kate Plus 8. It was the episode where they renewed their vows in Hawaii. It was super cute... always love that show.

Tuesday... BRRR!!! It was cold yesterday! We did swimming lessons at 4:15 until 5pm and Ayden was a champ again. This time he was all ready to go and didn't put up a fuss at all. Hard to believe that we only have two more weeks of it. Time goes by so fast! Doesn't help that we missed the first week though. Jay told me that his friend JT said not to sign him up for anymore because him and his girlfriend Kelsey both used to teach swimming lessons and that they could teach Ayden. That would be great, only where are we going to go swimming for free? I don't know... in any case, I would love the one on one because I realized that the older classes have more kids in them and thus they end up spending more time sitting on the edge waiting to take their turn with the teacher. I will not pay $50 for swimming lessons for my kid to sit on the edge of the pool for half the lesson. Right now Ayden has three people in his class (including him) and because they are in the shallow water for most of the class he is in the water for most of the class which is what I like. In any case, I really just signed him up so he would have something to do. We don't have the money to go overboard on classes, but one a week is pretty nice I thought. He keeps asking me when he gets to play soccer next. That is probably a good thing...

I have been a bit more of a slacker with my grad school stuff than I had anticipated. I wanted to get the stuff out today, but now my goal is Friday. It will still give my prospective writers (well at least two of them, the third I work with, even during break) four weeks to get the letters done before I will no longer have class to go to. Three weeks if you discount finals, but who knows. I hope that they can get it done for me in that time. I also know that I am not the only one who hasn't gotten it done yet.

Tonight I need to get my powerpoint stuff written for my group presentation in two weeks. That shouldn't take too long, but you never know. Jay works and will probably be working late so that kind of bites as well, but we will survive. I was also going to work on finalizing my grad stuff since I really didn't do anything except get my clinic stuff together last night which really didn't take that long either. Spent most of last night just chilling after we got home from swimming lessons. Ayden really wanted to watch Madagascar so I watched some of that with him and worked a little bit on my computer as well. It has just been really cold and when I'm cold I don't ever feel like doing anything. Anyone else feel that way? I don't want to move... just cuddle with a huge quilt and be warm! As I type this I can feel my fingers getting cold. Of course they are always cold this time of the year anyways.

Our cat, Diesel, has been really loving on me lately. Usually I am all but pushing him away. Not that I hate him or anything, but he can really just be annoying at times. As I write this, he is sitting all curled up in my lap and being nice. I almost let him sleep in our bedroom last night. For the past couple of nights he has been curling up by my legs as I watch some TV before going to bed. Last night was no different and I almost told Jay that he could stay in our room for the night. The thing is, we lock him out of our bedroom at night because when we first got him he would wake me up at 2am every morning and not leave me alone until I finally locked him out. I stopped that by just locking him out before we went to bed. That way I wouldn’t have to get up at 2am. And the thing his, he was only waking me up… not Jay. Totally not fair!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Not Me’s!

Hop on over to mycharmingkids.net and get in on the fun with MckMama (the wonderful creator) and everyone else who didn’t do things this week!!!

I did not make Jay empty out half of our kitchen closet just so I could sweep under the stuff that was in there. That’s being TOO clean and my house is never THAT clean!

I did not pig out all weekend and think on Monday I would stop with the junk food. And then I did not have a candy bar after my lunch today. And even if I did have that candy bar, it’s okay because they are really full of nutritious value.

I did not procrastinate on my graduate applications this weekend and finally start my letter of intent yesterday late afternoon. I did not say that I could finish it on Monday and relax for the rest of the night.

I did not have tons of fun playing with play doh yesterday because only little kids play with play doh. Oh wait, I’m a mom and can do things like that!

I did not have a rather uneventful week last week (to which I am happy for because a relaxing end of the semester is in order) and thus have tons of Not Me’s this week… could have just skipped it, but I look forward to reading everyone else’s and though I’d add what I can to the mix!

Have a Wonderful Tuesday!!!

Adding at 4?

Okay, so it's not really adding, but more counting the bugs. In any case, I'm super proud of my big guy because he was really working hard today and he knows what his numbers look like and what not and really getting the hang of this thing. Obviously it will take more and more before he really can do it, but it's a start!

You know that proud feeling you get when your child learns something from you... I'm beeming! Is reading next? Lol... no hurry...

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Moody!

Feeling a little moody tonight and there really isn’t a good excuse for it… just thinking about a lot of different things and it’s kind of been a downer on my mood. I feel a little bad about it because I feel like I kind of have been short with Ayden. Ayden seems kind of oblivious to it, but I know I have. Maybe it’s been a day of just not doing anything that has gotten to me. Allowing my brain free roaming of thought…

The morning was quite full of activity around the house as I got our bedroom and Ayden’s cleaned. Vacuumed the rooms and washed quite a few blankets that needed to be washed as well. The kitchen was cleaned and the floor as well. The bathroom wasn’t cleaned, even though it should be. The living room is pretty messy and full of toys yet, but at least some things got put away. I was happy with the progress that was made.

I didn’t do any of my grad school stuff today, but I told myself that I was going to take Saturday and do nothing with it, which is exactly what I did. Tomorrow is my ‘work’ day.

I hope this next week is good! Don’t have any tests or papers due which is good. Once again, only clinic stuff to work on, and that as well hasn’t been taking as much time. Where many people are being bogged down these last few weeks of the semester with projects and what nots, I am feeling rather relaxed and in the swing of things. I have this sense of calm over me in that area of my life.

Actually, I have to that overall things have been pretty good. Ayden is the light of my days (even on the days that he is driving me crazy, because I am allowed to feel that way sometimes) and I cannot imagine life without him. Jay and I have been good. In the past we have had episodes of fighting, but I’m happy to report it has been a while since that has occurred. I feel as I write this that I may be jinx things, but I hope not. I have really just tried to sit back and let things happen as they will. I do not have control over anything and need to know that my life is in God’s hands and he will show me what to do. I know that my life will not be perfect and I will have many obstacles to over come and get through, but as long as I know that he is there with me everything will turn out okay in the end. I’m not perfect, but no one is, and he knows that…

So with that said, I’m going to go and help Ayden clean up some of the living room in preparation for our bed time routine. CIAO! LOVE ME!

I like to…

MOVE IT MOVE IT!!! We went and saw Madagascar 2 tonight and Ayden was a super star while sitting in the theater! He was such a good boy watching the movie! The movie was alright. Definitely not something I would have paid to go see myself of course, but overall it even had the adults laughing at parts. Some adult humor, but still funny for the kids too! And definitely expensive enough for a family of three. I think we spent almost $40 for the movie. $18 for the tickets and then we got a big popcorn, two sodas, and I wanted some nachos. Kinda pigged out, but it was our first movie as a family and I really wanted it to be fun for Ayden and he was so excited when we were done. He is all for going back to see another one. Did you know that Ice Age is coming out with a third movie next July? I had no idea, but we saw a poster for it. I told Ayden that it is going to be coming out in the summer and we could come see that one. We haven’t even seen the second movie yet, but I’m sure we will by that time.

I am going to see Twilight next Friday or Saturday at the theater! I am so excited because if you’ve read from the beginning of my blog… I am obsessed with those books. I would so read them again if I had the time. Maybe I will read them again over winter break, who knows? In any case, super excited to go see the movie! The midnight showing is already sold out, didn’t know you could get the tickets ahead of time though. Maybe I will have to wait until Sunday afternoon to go?! And the best part- they are already talking sequels!

Today was a little rough at school. I was so T...I...R...E...D!!! For some reason, I am very tired today! And I thought I slept pretty well last night too. Could have probably gotten more sleep, but even so, I didn't go to bed obscenely late. Maybe it is just the fact that I am pretty warm and comfy today and the classes that I have had were in pretty warm rooms today. My second class, my ComD class, was in a super warm room where I actually had to pull my sleeves up. Couple that in with the fact that class wasn't all that interesting today and you can feel the eyes start to droop. It would have been so nice to just put my head down and fall asleep for a little while, but instead I kept it up and paid attention during the whole class and took notes like a model student, lol! I need the notes to do good on the tests so yeah, kind of had to. Btw, we got a re-grades back on our test today. The teacher made some changes to her test after she graded it and most everyone got some points back. I went up to a 94 on the test which I am pretty happy with.

We also got an email from my diseases class professor today saying that she had our group papers graded and returned to our D2L drop box. Well, since I wasn't the group 'leader' I did not have to submit the paper and thus don't know if she commented on it or not. She also said that in her email a couple of the groups might want to reconsider redoing parts of their paper to get a better grade. I was kind of worried when I read that because I didn't think we were going to do all that well on this project because we were struggling with how we wanted to put the paper together and if we had the correct information and what nots. So anyways, I go to check out my grade and we got a 100% on the paper! I was super surprised and super happy to see that. Now we just need to get a 100% on our group presentation of our paper. That is only worth 10 points so it shouldn't be too bad.

So for the rest of the night I think we are going to relax and then go to bed. Oh man, I just realized that I am missing Ghost Whisperer for the third week in a row. That bites! Ayden took his first alone shower tonight (at least I think so)! He needed a bath and I said that he could have a bath or a quick wash off and he wanted a shower. I explained that I wouldn’t be taking a shower with him and he said that he still wanted to take one. He was such a big boy about it. Of course I was standing there watching him the whole time. Wait, as I type this I think that he has already taken one by himself because I remember writing that I had watched him the whole time once before. Oh heck, I don’t remember and am not going to read through all my old posts to try and figure it out. In any case, he was such a big boy about that too. Now he is watching the end of The Pacifier from last night. We didn’t get to finish it and instead of wanting to play with mommy, that was his choice. Oh well… and next it is off to bed.

Jay is gone… he was supposed to pick up JT and bring him and his computer over here to see if they could get it to work, but that was almost a half hour ago and JT is right down the road at Kelsey’s house. Hmmm… wonder what is going on…

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Three Assignments... done before 4pm!

Tonight was a pretty good night. I had three assignments to get done and managed to get all of them done before 4pm. Mostly because I had two of them half done the day before and because my therapy session was only 20 minutes today I didn't have a whole lot of data to interpret. It was a pretty good session as well.

We played some games of Uno Spin tonight as a family and Ayden played all by himself. He really didn't need any help from Jay or I either. And they say the game is for seven years or older. Sure... lol! It was fun though!

We had left overs for supper tonight and then just chilled. Ayden and Jay played with some of Jay's little tractors. It was cute to watch them play together! It should be a pretty chill weekend! Icky weather, but not a whole lot of homework to worry about. That way I can focus on my grad school stuff. Still keeping motivated about that. Actually, I could probably have a gotten a start on that tonight, but it's not the weekend yet.

I decided that we are going to take Ayden to his first movie tomorrow or Saturday. Madagascar 2 is in theaters and it looks pretty good. We haven't decided when we are going to go yet though. Saturday they have free swimming at the YMCA for families so we might go to that too, especially because Ayden is in love with swimming right now!

Grey's Anatomy and ER is on tonight! CIAO! LOVE ME!

Kindergarten or Grad School?!

From a little ponderer at a few days old (yes he was that little at one point in time, maybe not for very long, but yes that little, lol… took after his mommy and chunked up by a few months old!)…

To my little guy starting preschool at the beginning of September…

…and going to be starting kindergarten next fall!!!

Kindergarten and grad school... all at the same time! Personally, I think I’d take kindergarten over grad school, even if we don’t get nap time anymore. I cannot believe that the time has finally come that I need to start filling out grad school applications. It feels like I am applying to college all over again. Oh wait, I am! Only five years later! Hey, at least I got done with college. Okay, so not completely done yet, but I'm almost there. Pretty proud of my self to say the least. My goal for this weekend is totally to get rocking on that grad school app stuff. I figure if I can get it done this weekend, then the people who need to write my letters of recommendation will have about four or five weeks until it needs to be done two and a half months until it needs to be done. I would like them done before I leave for winter break though as we start classes again around Jan 22, and apps need to be submitted by February 1st! That is definitely too short of time!

Tonight has been okay. I did get some of my homework done that I needed to. We had a clinic meeting tonight that went fairly well also. Learned a lot about submitting my hours, but still pretty much confused. Definitely something that I will need to further talk to my supervisor about. Also had a meeting with her about filling out some billing paperwork for my client. That went well!

Jay and I talked more about possible schools for Ayden next year. We have it narrowed down to three. Now I really don’t know how this whole school this goes. There are eight (I think) elementary schools in Point, not counting the private ones, and I’m thinking that I get to chose which one I want Ayden to go to. But of course this might be wrong as well. In any case, we have our hopeful list and the first one on the list is really close to our school. We also found out that the Y offers before and after school care at all the elementary schools which will be perfect for us because we are not sure of our schedules for the fall and will probably need to utilize that at some point. The actual school day is 9:05am-3:35pm. Kind of weird, but oh well. In any case, we also found out that there is financial assistance available for this care from the Y. My friend recently got a job through the Y in Green Bay doing the after school care and she is going to answer a few of my questions that I have right now. Obviously I can call the one in Point as well. I was just relieved to be able to ‘figure’ some stuff out.

Tomorrow I have clinic, but it will be a shortened session. Hopefully it goes well! I had a dream last night that I had therapy, but I couldn’t find anything that I wanted to work with and my client was coming and we had nothing to do! That would totally have sucked, right?! I only have about four more sessions to worry about. Getting down to the thin of it! And that means getting post-baselining done and final therapy reports done. At least I don’t have to do two of them like my used to be partner. I feel kind of bad for her, but she seems to be making it through the semester good.

And just to end on a cute note, I had to add the following picture. We have an 8x10 hanging in our hallway here at home and yesterday as Jay came down the hallway from the bedroom he stopped by it and said that it was his all time favorite picture of him and Ayden. Awww, how cute of him to say! Especially because he doesn’t get all sentimental about things like that! It is pretty cute though… isn’t it?

CIAO! LOVE ME!!!

Pityriasis Rosea

So, I webmd'd Ayden's rash and found out what it was that the doctor said that he had. Saw the name and remembered! Yeah for me! So then I googled it and found out a little more and that being in warmer water (such as the Y's pool) can make the rash look worse/more prominent. That would explain why my little guy's legs look so much worse than they did yesterday. The info I found also reitterated that there really isn't anything that I can do, except for maybe use some anti-itch cream if it still itches. It also confirmed that I wasn't going crazy when I saw the start of the rash about a week and a half ago and then it got worse over the weekend. It said that it usually starts with one spot and then a week to two weeks later more start to appear. Okay, feel a little better now...

What do you say when you can’t say anything?

Argh Jack! I’m in a bit of a quandary right now. My best friend is having some boyfriend issues and after hearing about it for the past few days I have come to the conclusion that this boyfriend is pretty much being an ass. So my friend was starting to believe this and was wondering if the relationship was really worth it. Personally, I don’t think the guy is right for her. She deserves better, but after a phone call from that lovely boyfriend of hers (in which he really wasn’t any nicer and really ended up being more of a butt) I think she has decided to make this relationship try and work. Good or bad? I think probably bad, but will continue to only hope for the best for her. Who knows what will happen?

On a happier note, I think you could probably tell from my pictures and my Not Me’s that I had a pretty grand ole time at my cousin’s wedding on Saturday! The day went so fast, I’m sure faster for the bride and groom and it really seemed like they were having a grand ole time as well. The bride had this great I don’t care attitude for most of the day so that made things even better. Can’t control everything, need to let God take care of that and roll with the punches. From my perspective, everything seemed to go pretty good. Except, I totally missed out on all the fun of watching the lady bug. One of the groomsmen and even the bride had fun watching it, but I was oblivious to the fun, lol! I cannot wait to see the picture that the photographer took. I am sure they turned out great!

My week has been going pretty good too. Therapy on Monday was probably one of the best sessions that we’ve had thus far and I was so excited. I got a call from mom saying that they are coming to therapy on Thursday, but it will have to be a shortened session. I don’t know how short, but I’m assuming a half hour or a little less. That is okay. I was just happy that she called and let me know instead of not showing up or coming late. Super yeah!

I don’t have a lot of homework this week either. Just two assignments due on Friday, one of which I already have most of the way done. I plan on doing the other one tomorrow night. That one shouldn’t take all that long either which I am happy about. Also, next Thursday and Friday I will not be having my ComD class because of the ASHA conference. My teacher told us that she will be giving us our article to review and that is it. I am excited about that because next week I don’t have a lot of homework to do either. As well, Jay and Ayden will be out of town for opening deer hunting and I will be home alone.

I hope to get my grad school stuff started this weekend as I shouldn’t have any impending homework to worry about and we will be home for a change. Because of my current clinic schedule, I don’t have to worry about any of that over the weekend and I don’t have anything else due on Monday. I do have an online test tomorrow morning, but I am not worried about that because I got an A on the last one. What I am worried about is our in class final and whether or not we will be allowed to use our books or not. It would totally suck if we were not allowed to because everyone would probably fail. We teach the class with our presentations which means that practically no one pays attention. Or maybe it is just me, lol! I would totally skip more, but she takes attendance every day and we get points for it so I haven’t skipped yet. I just do other work while we have class. Naughty me, I k now, but we don’t learn anything in the presentations that I couldn’t read in the book. I would understand if it was extra info that wasn’t in the book, but that is not the case.

Ayden had swimming lessons today. Unfortunately because I had to meet with some classmates for a group project I could not take him. Jay and Ayden went by themselves and Ayden did super, according to Jay. At first Ayden wasn’t so excited that I wouldn’t be going along, but once he got to the pool, Jay said that he was all for the water.

When I took him to the doctor yesterday they pretty much told me that it was a viral rash and would go away in six to eight weeks. Yesterday the rash didn’t look so bad, but tonight when I was looking at it, it looked a little worse. I don’t know if the water at the pool irritated it or what. It doesn’t look like it spread any, just a little redder. They said that it wasn’t contagious and he probably won’t ever get it again. In any case, it kind of sucks. I feel bad for my little guy even though he says that it doesn’t bother him. I am going to keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse or what not. And if it doesn’t look any better in like two weeks I might take him back in. I mean six to eight weeks is a long time to go away, but I guess doctors know what they are talking about most of the time, right? I forget what they called it. There was a specific name that they used, but you know me, of course I didn’t write it down.

Okay, I’m going to chill for the rest of the night. I was up later than I wanted to be last night and didn’t get my relaxation time in. CIAO!

LOVE ME!

More Not Me's!!!!

I did not have a fabulous good time at my cousin's wedding this past weekend! Weddings are no fun and always super boring!

I did not get nervous walking down the aisle of the church as the wedding got started because this is my third bridesmaid duty and I am totally used to everyone staring at me and snapping picture after picture!

I did not enjoy sharing jokes with the other bridesmaids during the ceremony, namely Amanda, because that wouldn't be very nice. I totally paid attention to everything that was happening at every moment and performed to the upmost standards of a perfect bridesmaid!

And I totally did not watch a ladybug flying around during the ceremony! Seriously, not me!!! But a few others of the bridal party found it quite amusing, lol!

I did not get a little choked up as my cousin walked down the aisle with her dad because I don't cry at weddings. She really was a beautiful bride, but I never acknowledged that, nope never!

I did not freeze the whole time in church and get goose bumps because I never get cold and big buildings like that are always 74 degrees or higher! I then did not relish the second that we hopped into the limo and I could start feeling my fingers again!

Oh and before all this wedding stuff, I did not get my nails done by some pretty good looking guy at the hair/nail place! I didn't care if he was a guy doing my nails, he was good looking...

I did not cringe when we got to the reception and I walked in and saw my son crying. I also did not get a bit snippy with Jay when he told me Ayden was crabby... I certainly did not tell him to just take him by his parents house so we wouldn't have to deal with it!

Thankfully Ayden's mood got better, but I was not excited when he told me that he wanted to go by grandma's house pretty early in the night. I was not a little relieved to be able to have a good time without worrying about Ayden (even though we had tons of fun busting our moves together on the dance floor before he wanted to leave)!

I did not act like a total fool for much of the night. Being a bridesmaid equals all class and certainly that is how I acted... classy! Especially when I had the cowboy hat on and we did the grand march!

I did not think it is super sweet when my dad came up to my sister and I at the end of the night and wanted to take a picture with us because my dad really is all senitmental and lovey dovey like that!

Upon arriving home yesterday from a weekend away and giving Ayden a glass of CHOCOLATE milk, I did not burst out laughing when he split the WHOLE thing on our WHITE carpet! Busting out laughing is totally a normal reaction when something like that happens! It wasn't a time to get upset and I didn't... just went with the flow and we got it all cleaned up, and NO STAINS!

I did not get all excited at the end of my therapy session today because we had such a great session and my client showed great improvement! And I didn't get even more excited when my supervisor announced that us students can now do the short eval form because that will save me like a half hour or more of work tonight and Thursday night!

I did not have to take Ayden to the doctor this afternoon for a rash on his thighs and then get told it's probably something viral that will go away on it's own. At least we don't have to worry about any medicine or anything!

And I will not sit down tonight and take in an hour of Wentworth Miller during Prison Break! Yup, it is totally not that time of the week again!!!

That's what I definitely didn't do... what about you?

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Amy's Wedding!!!

More to come about the wedding, but I thought I would post links to some pictures!!! Please let me know if the links do not work! Also, stop by Amy's blog (agk11808.blospot.com) and congratulate the newlyeweds!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2101438&l=a32a5&id=185005991

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2101435&l=dc4eb&id=185005991

Enjoy!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Ready for the weekend!

It's looking like a great Thursday everyone! So a great Thursday will turn into a great Friday and a super Saturday for my cousin Amy's wedding (http://agk11808.blogspot.com)!!! Minus all of the rainy/snowy weather we are getting/supposed to get over the weekend. I will not let icky weather get in the way of my great mood right now. And why is there a reason for my great mood you might ask?! Well I will tell you!!!

I was to have therapy this morning at 8am, yeah, great mood means no therapy, right? Wrong, I had therapy, but today the client didn't show up until 8:15am which meant only a half hour and since we were having a parent conference today, it meant even less time for the actual therapy. I was pretty nervous about the parent conference though. Put me into those types of situations and I will get that way... just me... anyways, at the end of the session my supervisor thought that I did a good job. Also, the conference took up the entire half hour that we had for our session today which meant that I didn't have to do any actual therapy and that my lesson plan can carry over to Monday and I don't have to turn anything in before I leave tomorrow for clinic! I have a little something to do for my progress notes, but nothing that will take up a lot of time. Meaning, I have tonight pretty much free to do whatever I please!

Not completely though, as I am meeting with a group at 5pm to work on our diseases paper. They were supposed to meet on Tuesday when I had to take Ayden to swimming lessons, but unfortunately that meeting didn't pan out like planned. Kinda bummed about that because I thought I was going to get out of the actual writing of the paper part. However, only three of us can meet tonight and we are putting the paper together and then the other two will look it over before we submit it on Monday. I am kind of worried about this grade, but whatever though. I could probably get a C on the paper and still get an A in the class. And I am not really wanting to put the effort into it today either. Personally I don't think it is going to turn out all that well and really it is confusing as to even what she wants us to write about too!

I am done with class for the week! Super yeah to that, however I am a bit peeved at my ComD 407 professor. She is handing out an assignment in class tomorrow and I emailed her and asked her if she could email me the assignment early because I wasn't going to be there. She proceeds to tell me that the policy of the class is that if we are going to miss it is our responsibility to get handouts and notes from a classmate. Okay, yeah, I already knew that and that is okay, but we are talking about an assignment here. She told me that I need to have a classmate get it for me and put it in my student mailbox and I can then get it on Monday. How fair is that? I'm being punished (less time to work on the assignment) because I am going out of town for a wedding?! It wouldn't be so bad if we were just getting some extra handouts for our notes, but this is an actual assignment. I then get three less days to work on it! I'm sure it will be nothing super hard, but still. I don't think it is fair, but what can I do, eh? I don't want to challenge her and then get her irked at me for doing so. I guess I will just leave it be. My friend agreed to pick it up for me and put it in my mailbox. Guess I will have to get it done Monday night for class on Tuesday. Oh well... not going to let that ruin the rest of my day!

Grey's and ER are on tonight! But I might find a movie to watch instead. My sister gave me this cool website where you can watch movies for free. Some are not the best quality and what nots, but I watched The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 on it on Tuesday night and it was pretty good. Could have been a bit clearer, it was kind of pixelly at times, but overall the words matched up and I had really been wanting to see the movie. This way I got to see it in the comfort of my own home (bed actually) and didn't have to pay for it. But you have to have a faster internet connection for it to work half way decent.

Speaking of movies... TWILIGHT is coming out in TWO WEEKS!!! Two weeks tomorrow that is! I cannot wait to go see the movie, and in fact that just so happens to be the first weekend of deer hunting and Jay said that he was going to take Ayden home with him so that leaves me home alone with nothing to do except go to the movie theater and watch Twilight! Super exciting! Besides, I so know that Jay would not get into that movie so it's probably a good thing that he will not be coming with me!

Currently waiting for my group members to show up to work on our paper for my diseases class. Part of me hopes that they don’t show up so that I don’t have to worry about doing any work because then they would have to do the work over the weekend, but another part of me does so that I know that we will be getting something done and I won’t be freaking out about it all over the weekend. Great stuff, huh?! I’m hoping it doesn’t take too long. I only put enough money in the meter for an hour. I’m thinking it shouldn’t take more than an hour to get a few things put together into somewhat of a good format. But maybe I am wrong.

After we are done working on our paper, I am going to head to Walmart for the second night in a row. I need to get some super hold hairspray for my hair this weekend. The stuff that I have now is flexible hold and is good for volume, not holding curls in all day long. I cannot wait to get all dolled up for the wedding, so much fun! It seems like such a long time ago since I was able to get all dolled up for something, but it was only about two years ago that I stood up in my best friend’s wedding. And now she is getting divorced. Oh well, she needs to do what is going to be best for her and her son and if that is what it is, then be my guest. I don’t particularly like divorce (mostly because it seems so common these days) and that is one of the big reasons why I will not get married until I am 1,000,000% sure that I am marrying the right guy and that it will last forever. Now, just because I don’t really like it, doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in it.

Later tonight… my meeting with my group members went pretty good. We were done and out of there within a half hour. I think our paper might actually turn out pretty good. Like I said, I was pretty worried before we had our meeting. After that I ran to Kohls and Walmart for a few things. A few things that I definitely didn’t need from Kohls, but bought anyways because they were having a sale. I got a really neat bracelet to wear for the wedding. My silver one doesn’t really go with the dress and I need to wear something on my wrist or I will feel naked. Hate that feeling, lol! I was looking for some earrings as well, but really didn’t find anything that I liked. Then I went to Walmart to pick up a few things and headed back home.

Oh, btw, I found the perfect gift for my cousin’s wedding. Well perfect by my means, or well I should I say that I really like it because it’s super cool. I hope that the newlyweds will too! And because I know the bride to be (IN TWO DAYS!!!) reads this, no hints. I will post pictures after the wedding though for everyone to see. It’s actually part bought part made. And that is enough hints! I know you still love me Amy, lol!

Because I am not going to class or work tomorrow, I get to totally sleep in for about an extra hour. I am so stoked about that! It could be longer, but I need to pack everything as well and I want to make sure that I have everything so my packing will be very slow and methodical, versus just trying to throw everything together. I also need to pack for Ayden because we don’t want Jay forgetting anything, now do we?

My mind hasn’t been doing a lot of deep thinking lately. Really I’ve just been trying to make it through the week so I get everything I need to done before I take off for the weekend. And it looks like I have. I am actually looking forward to the drive in the morning. Looks like the rain will be holding off until the afternoon and I always enjoy a good drive by myself every now and then, especially because then I can put on my favorite music, turn it up super loud, and sing along with it and not have to worry about anyone listening, lol! Yes, I do crazy stuff like that when I am driving. And Hwy 10 is not heavily traveled which is how I love it!

Okay, I was totally going to watch a movie tonight, but the website is not loading the one that I want to watch so I guess it is Grey’s and ER after all, but that is okay. Off to enjoy them and election free commercials and then dream land!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Picture Post

Relaxing a bit tonight so I thought I would show you some pictures instead of a long boring post today… ENJOY!!!!

Ayden showing his good listening skills at swimming lessons last night, he was such a champ! I couldn’t believe how good he listened and how much he tried to do with his teacher! Here is Ayden floating on his back with his teacher! This is one of the things that he had the hardest time doing with me this past summer so it was so awesome to see him doing so well with his teacher! More good listening skills!!! He only has two other kids in his class so they get lots of one on one time with their teacher which is awesome and she is so great with little kids!!! Happy Halloween from Mr. Ayden Fireman!!! Look Ashley!!! I’m a butterfly!!!

Take a picture of me Mommy!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!!!

All over the place...

My Tuesday morning started off with a trip to the dentist... 7am, bright and early! And it only got better when they said my teeth looked great and I had no cavities. Of course I got the whole flossing thing is really good for your teeth, but seriously, I bed a majority of people don't even bother with that part. Can't really say, except that it's not at the top of my to do list every morning. I sleep as long as I can and get done what I need to as fast as I can. Adding flossing into the mix surely wouldn't throw a wrench into everything, but it would add a few extra minutes. Who knows, maybe I will give it a try. Lol!

The rest of my day has been going pretty good as well. Work has been kind of slow lately since we got all of the packets together for the ETP classes. Leaves me with a whole lot of nothing to do. Here and there my boss asks me to do things. I like it being more laid back than the last few weeks, but having a bunch of stuff to do is what kept the time moving while I was there. I've been finding little odds and ends to do as well to keep me more occupied. I could so totally have worked on some therapy stuff today had I not left my therapy binder at home this morning. I was not thinking and only grabbed what I thought I would need for today, which was one notebook and really that is all that I needed, but I wish I would have grabbed my therapy stuff as well so I could have made some better use of my time while at work.

Anywhoo, there isn't a lot that I need to change anyways so that is okay. Short time tonight and everything will be fine. I need to find some extra minutes to meet with my supervisor to work on some progress notes for my client. Finding extra time is the easiest thing in the world for me right about now. Also, normally I turn in my clinic work on Friday mornings for the following Monday, but I talked to my supervisor about this week because I will be gone Friday and she asked if I could possibly get my materials in later Thursday. Hmm... I told her that I could probably do that. With the way that things are going at work, I could probably get my self eval done while I am there and then it is just a matter of interpreting the data and getting another lesson plan written up. Well, I could write the lesson plan earlier and in fact I already have some ideas set up for that, so that will not be taking all that long. It looks to be a pretty easy week this week. YEAH!

I totally remember that we have swimming lessons tonight. I cannot forget for the second week in a row, especially since swimming lessons is only six weeks long. As it stands, I am paying about $10/session for the five remaining ones. Kind of a rip off if you ask me, but the Y's pool is super warm and I know that Ayden will enjoy it and that is all that matters to me. He slept until I left this morning which was a bummer because I didn't get to see him all that much, but I let him know that I would be picking him up from daycare and he was okay with that. Normally I drop him off on Tuesday mornings as well, but today because of my dentist appointment I couldn't.

So, I've been avoiding posting about some stuff that has been floating around in my head for the past couple of days now. It's thoughts that in any 'normal' journal I'd would pour out fully and completely because no one but me would see it... but because people I know read this blog, I fear that I shouldn't because I don't want them to think differently of me. However, I shouldn't be worried about people's perception of me, I should just be me and that's that. They can deal with it... But then again, it's maybe these people that I should be telling my story to and getting advice from. Can you tell I'm still avoiding the subject...

It has to do with my relationship with Jay. There, I said it... He'd probably freak if he knew I was writing this because he really doesn't it like it when I write about him to the whole world. I don't care... other people are willing to share about the ups and downs of their lives and really, I want to so whatever to him. Anyways, if you'd ask him, he would probably say that our relationship is perfect. Okay, not perfect, can anything ever be perfect (except our children!)? But that it was good. He wouldn't acknowledge the big elephant in the room that is keeping us from really committing to each other. But here's the thing, lately I've been thinking a lot about the future and how much I really want that final commitment. I find ups and downs to every angle I look at. I see it as a positive if Jay and I were to stay together because Ayden would definitely benefit from having his parents together. I grew up with my parents being divorced and even though they didn't fight and there was no huge custody battle, at some point it started to wear on me going back and forth every week. By the end of high school I was pretty much living out of a duffle bag because I would bring my favorite clothes back and forth with me. I don't know, unless you've lived it, you probably can't completely get it. So, on that aspect, Ayden growing up in one household would be better than in two. Also, I love Jay's family... both sides. I cannot fathom not being connected to them in some way. Five years is quite the time to build a bond. And on a humorous note, I could not imagine not getting Grandma Hoerth cake a few times a year (because there are so many Hoerth's, wedding are in abundance, lol). But on the other hand, I think... well Jay has been my only really serious boyfriend, what if there is someone better out there for me. Now, I'm not saying that Jay isn't good enough for me, but if you believe in soul mates, what if he's not exactly mine? I also feel that because we got pregnant so early in our relationship, it kind of 'forced' us to stay together. Now I'm not saying that we were literally forced to stay together, but we were so young and really new in our relationship that we just did stay together. Nothing was making us pull apart and really we wanted to be together. I feel that had we not had Ayden we would have went to different schools and in the end broken up. Here I wonder sometimes who else could be out there and all of the other what ifs and what nots. And not only does it worry me because I feel like I shouldn't be doing this, but I also feel guilty because I think Jay thinks we are fine.

Our big elephant has to do with a friend of mine that he ABSOLUTELY HATES, DISPISES, insert your own word of choice here, etc... I cannot remember how much of this I have talked about in the past and I am not going to go through my old posts to find out. So bear with me and/or stop reading if you would like... this friend of mine happens to be male and someone who I had a not so good history with, but over the course of the past few years and grown to become one of my dearest friends. Here's another dilemma... Jay's optimum choice would be that I never speak to my friend again, cut him out of my life completely. I semi understand his reasoning for this. My optimum choice would be for Jay to accept my friend and for everything to be kosher. I've discussed with Jay that I will not take our relationship to the next step (ie: getting married) until he can accept this friend as part of my life and not get upset about it. One of the main reasons Jay and I argue is about my friend. Jay comes back and says that if I wanted our relationship to work I would do what was best for it and get rid of my friend. In the middle of an argument a few weeks ago with Jay, I finally was so fed up with our arguing that I told him I would just stop talking to my friend for a while and see how things went. I told my friend I couldn't do this fighting anymore and was just so sick of it and needed to try and do what was best for my relationship. Because my friend is so understanding and great he told me that even though he didn't like my decision, he was supportive of it because he only wanted me to be happy. Okay, so Jay was happy, but I was upset. I tried to do what was best for my relationship, but I was losing one of my closest friends because of it. And then when I sit and think about it, I feel so selfish for even considering keeping my friend if getting rid of him would save my relationship, but I also feel so cheated because shouldn't I think about what I want as well. I hate the whole situation! I've even talked with my friend about how both of our lives would be easier if we just cut contact with each other, but that is easier said than done!

So here I sit... wondering what the future holds and if I am doing the right thing with anything. There are so many external variables that need to be considered and then there is this thing called my heart and what it is feeling, yet I have my brain yelling to do the logical thing.

Sorry if none of this makes sense... I just needed to get some stuff off my chest, it makes sense to me and it helped.

CIAO! LOVE ME!