It’s trying to shine March 28, 2008

We have been having absolutely koo koo weather here.  It has intermittently been very warm and sunshiney and then snowing.  Craziness I tell ya!  So Jalin is feeling better today.  So very glad for that.  Yesterday the boys and I went to Wal-Mart  (Love that store, could spend hours and hours in it) and we got ingredients to make lemon cupcakes today.  I saw the recipe in the new Kraft magazine yesterday and I’m gung-ho to try it.  See, this is how I look at it, if you want to eat kinda bad-for-you stuff, do it, just in moderation.  And remember to exercise your butt off!  Those would be my key points if I had a tell-all diet page. 

So back to food, which I loooove.  I’m trying to decide what to make for supper.  I pulled some ground beef from the freezer and I think I will try to create something around that.  Hey, did you know that you can go to Kraft.com and enter in some keywords like :  potatoes, chicken, and greenbeans and it will come up with recipes for you?  It’s bloody fantastic.  I can never get enough of recipe sites cuz I like taking their recipes and then tweaking them to match exactly what I want.  For instance, I love dousing recipes with garlic and onions so pretty much everything gets a ton of those added!  And why the heck not?  Their healthy and fantabulous!

I’ll let you know how that all went.

On to wedding stuff!  Oh My God!  So tomorrow Adam and I are going to go get passport photo’s done (both our passports somehow got lost and we haven’t needed to renew them til now).  We are also getting all, or at least most, of the adresses for the invites, working on our home business (ok that’s not wedding), putting my lovely black Jetta up for sale (ok that’s not wedding either) and doing pretty much a gazillion things.  Weekend?  What Weekend?  Oh and then on Sunday we have engagements photo’s and family photo’s down on the beach and we are meeting with the Officiant. 

This Merry-Go-Round ride is making me sick!  Let me OFF!

No, actually, it’s all good stuff and I have wonderful, supportive Adam to help me through it all.  Man do I love him.  He’s pretty much the best thing in the whole entire world….well, along with the boys.  It’s a really good thing that he was a single dad for a while cuz now it means that he happily helps out around the house and realizes, at least to some degree, the amount of stuff that has to be done.  OK, wait, maybe he doesn’t actually realize that all but he is very willing to help and does that part regularly.  I really don’t think guys have a clue how much there is to do day to day.  It’s not just copious amounts of housework.  It’s about a million other little and big things too.  Oh well, if their supportive and loving then that’s what matters

So now that I have rambled the time away, I gotta go exercise.  Whenever I don’t feel like exercising or if the time on the elliptical seems to be going on and on I just repeat my mantra over and over: ”I’m a Damn-sexy-bitch”.  This pretty much gets me through the laziness and fatigue and on to the finish line.  You should try it

My Lil’ Angels March 26, 2008

(Carter’s in Red, Ethan’s in the middle and Jalin (sicky) is in green.)

Well, this week is Laurie’s week with the boys and it’s also Spring Break.  The boys (Carter and Ethan) are here during the day and gone at night because I watch the boys on Laurie’s weeks while she is at work.  I love this arrangement and I think the boys definitely benefit from the stability of it.  I can’t imagine how hard it would be for Laurie to deal with me having more time with the boys than with her.  Difficult.

So the boys showed up all excited and jumping all over the place again this morning.  Ethan is thoroughly enjoying having his big brothers home from school and they are lovin’ it too.  Until yesterday.  Jalin got the stomach flu and has been feeling very yucky.  We have definitely had our fair share of runs to the bathroom in the past couple days.  Poor little guy.  And then this morning we had some projectile from the couch…all over the couch and carpet.  Wish I could make him magically better.  It’s very hard as a parent to watch your child endure pain or sickness and not be able to help them.

So now, of course, I have extra bedding and clothing to wash and stains to get out of the carpet and couch. This happened yesterday too.  And I have to tell you about this amazing stuff I found that has completely removed these very dyed stains from the rug.  OK, just a second, I forgot the name of it.  Let me go get the bottle.  OK, it’s called Spitfire.  I have never used anything like this in my life.  I can’t believe how well it works!  And now I sound like I’m doing an Ad.   I actually don’t know where you can buy it cuz we got it through Adam’s work. 

So now I got your hopes all up on this and I don’t even know how to share the goodness with you.  Sorry   Next time I recommend something to you I’ll try to at least tell you where you can get it.

So now the boys are all cuddled up on the couch, Ethan next to Jalin as usual, and playing Big Brain Academy on the Wii.  Happy as clams.  I think I will finally check my facebook account and get some more house-cleaning done.  The weird thing is I actually like cleaning my house!  Yes, you heard me right, I get immense satisfaction out of organizing and making the house shine.  Crazy?  Definitely, but it makes me smile.  Ooo, and maybe I’ll even have a chance to try out a new recipe today.  It’s shaping up to be a great day already!  And I even exercised this morning….Yay me

Want to Scream March 20, 2008

I seriously just want to sit here and have a good cry today.  I’m trying to do so much at once and it is so not working for me.  On top of that Adam and I have been fighting for two days because we are both under extreme stress.  I’m trying to get a home-based business off the ground, I’m trying to be a great mom, I’m trying to help Adam with his work, I’m trying to plan our wedding, I’m trying to keep the house running and I just feel like I’m going to pop!  On top of it all my mom is here right now and we are working on wedding stuff and as wonderful as she is and as much as she is helping me out with the flower stuff for the wedding it’s just more on my plate right now.  The funny thing is I don’t want to get away from it I just want to.figure it all out and get everything working properly.  I don’t even want to write anything more right now because I sound like a depressing sob story and that is not me.  Talk to you in a few hours when I figure it all out. 

The Day the Parents Come March 18, 2008

So tonight my mom and dad are coming.  I love them, I really do and I’m very greatful that my mom is coming to help with some wedding stuff.  They have been the most amazing parents I could ever hope for and I’m so lucky to have them.  It’s just that they are very conservatively religious and I feel like we have to go through this whole huge process in order to prepare for their stay.  Not that we’re crazy witchcraft practicing party-animals or anything but hey, Ad does enjoy his beer and I do enjoy my wine….in moderation…most of the time   But it’s soooo much more than just that.  We can’t listen to any music other than Classical because they think it’s wrong.  We can’t watch most TV shows because they think it’s wrong.  We can’t take advantage of when the boys are in bed and bring out our potty-mouths.  We can’t let the boys watch certain shows or play certain games on the Wii.   Ok wait, most shows and most games are taboo. 

And ok, I must say that my parents are very loving and very accepting and know that we are very different than anyone else they associate with, even my sisters, but they still would be horrified if they knew the whole truth.  We still go to PUBS?!!!! What?!!!  Oh yes, our lives are filled with horrendous things such as junk food, too many treats around the house, Linkin Park and Michael Buble and too much TV…and beverages.  Oh the horror!  So many times I have longed for my family to just be normal.  I don’t want a different family, I just want to be able to relate to them. 

So Adam cleared all of the empty’s out of the deck cupboard, I’m lamenting throwing out the remainder of my wine in the fridge (do I just guzzle it in the middle of the day? )  Next I will do a thorough comb through of the house.  Do the usual making sure that nothing offensive is in sight and prominently set out all gifts from parents.  You know how it goes.  I’ve debated even toning down my deep red nail polish on my fingers to a pretty pale pastel, but no.  I will not go that far.  And yes, I will still be wearing my rather large signature earrings.  I’m neither a doormat nor a rebel.  I am simply trying to keep the peace while holding onto some shred of my identity.

Jalin and I before Adam and boys’ March 16, 2008

Jalin and I before Adam and the boys came along.  He doesn’t actually look like that.  He’s making a funny face for the camera   Seriously.

Adam and boys’ before Jalin and I March 16, 2008

Adam and the boys before Jalin and I came along.  Look at Ethan’s adorable dimples!

Hello world! March 16, 2008

Well, I’m sitting here drinking my morning coffee, the boys have rumbly tummy’s and my fiance (Adam) and I are making a yummy breakfast of hashbrowns, fruit and eggs (except Carter doesn’t like eggs so he always has toast or a bagel with jam).  The sun is shining in the office window and the boys are happily playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

We are a combined family and this weekend and ensuing week we have the boys.  YAY!!  I really do mean that.  Jalin get’s so lonely without them and the house just doesn’t feel right.  Adam has two boys, Ethan and Carter, 4 and 6 respectively.  I have one boy, Jalin, who is also 6 (one month apart from Carter)  We’ve been very lucky in the fact that the boys love being with each other and consider each other brothers.  Despite that and our willingness to talk through everything, there still are challenges, but they’re worth it.  

These next two weeks prove to be fun for all.  It’s Spring Break and we have the boys cousin for a few days so they are super excited about that.  Easter with extended family and all the scheduling chaos with them and with the boys mom.  She really was very flexible this time which helped immensely.  The boys go back with her on Easter Sunday so at least we have them for the beginning of the weekend.  That means we get them for 9 days this time.  It’s always nice when that works out.  Even when it’s her weeks though they still come here every day while she as at work.  We definately felt that it was best for them to have that kind of stability and luckily she felt it was a positive thing as well.  She and I have been through our rough patches but we have made it through and definately work at being friends and being a team.  I just try to put myself in her shoes and think about how I would feel if my son was spending much more time with his stepmom then with me.  It would definately be a challenge.  The good thing is that she doesn’t want to be home with the boys’.  What I mean is that she isn’t forced to work, she wants to work. 

I’m babbling on and on here and now breakfast is done!  Thanx Ad.  He’s so wonderful!