RIP

My grandfather who I love dearly passed away yesterday, so I have been out of sorts. Thank you for your thoughts and condolences. More to come soon...

UPDATE: An online guestbook and obituary has been posted in my Grandpa's honor. Please take a look here if you have a moment.

Party Like It's 2-0-0-9!

Happy New Year! 2009 is upon us and THANK GOD 2008 is O-V-E-R. 2008 was a difficult year and I am so glad it is over so I can move forward. I wish everyone, health, wealth and prosperity in the new year! I have a few goals I am working on but I am going to try to focus on work/finance related ones here.

• I will write more...it is becoming profitable and I know if I push myself I really can make a decent living at it. Plus I enjoy it. It is an outlet for me.
  
• I am going to manage my time. I have a set schedule with my remote position, but the rest of my day is a chaotic mess. I am going to have a real schedule with goals and things I need to get done.
• I am going to organize my office. It is a disgusting mess. I hate it. Probably why I dont accomplish enough.
  
• Thanks @HollyRigsby for giving me the idea to wake up earlier each day! I am going to do it no matter how badly I want to sleep in. I know I will get more done. Stop by Holly's blog, she is awesome and extremely motivating!
  
• I am going to keep my house more organized and pick up more often. It isn't dirty, but there is just STUFF everywhere, all the time! I am going to stay on top of it.
  
• I am going to post more work at home job opportunities I come across!

Does anyone else have any suggestions? What are YOUR resolutions?

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah & Happy Holidays

What a BEAUTIFUL day! The sun is shining, fresh snow on the ground, and Guitar Hero playing in the background!

We got home around midnight last night...we drove about an hour SW out to the in-laws for Christmas Eve (who made a vegetarian entree, so I won't go off on a tangent, I promise) and the kids along with my husband and I were SPOILED! Money, gift cards, iPod docking stations, Nintendo DS games, portable CD players, Hannah Montana everything, Chicago Bears EVERYTHING (the dh and ds have whole new Bears wardrobes). The ds's family is amazing and have so made me a part of their family. I am honored to carry their last name. They truly are amazing.

I had most of the presents wrapped, but dh and I always save some. We have a ritual, every Christmas Eve we put the kids to bed and then we wrap the last of the presents while we watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and hang out. This is our 8th year together...(amazing because 18 doesnt seem like it was that long ago, lol). I think we got to sleep a little after 2 and 7 am came BRIGHT AND EARLY! The kids were in awe coming down the stairs. I loved watching their little faces light up (even though ds knows there is no santa, he didnt ruin it for his sisters). They went through all the presents except for a group that was separate marked "family." I took one of the presents aside and let ds and dd open it together, and seconds later, screaming ensued. They never expected that they would get a Wii so their shock made every bit of penny pinching worth it. I feel so blessed to be in a position where we can provide for the kids, give them presents like that, and that the dh and I are both working (espeically that I can work from home). I know that so many families have had a rough year and don't get me wrong, we had our setbacks as well, documented here, so I wish everyone a heartfelt HAPPY HOLIDAY to you and yours!!

They Grow So Fast!

I was reading a blog today about a mom who was going through old photos and how nostalgic it made her, so I couldn't help myself and did the same thing. This is a picture of Naya and I back in 2005 when she was the same age as...ELLA! Unbelievable if you ask me. I don't remember my little girl growing up this fast. I mean this is the same girl who was playing SingStar with me today and singing right along and dancing and beating MY score! She has her own thoughts, her own opinions, her own ideas. She can think independently and knows what she likes and makes it clear to anyone within ear shot what she doesn't like. (She is sure to give me a regular talk about why "Miley Cyrus" is better than "Hannah Montana"). It makes me think because soon Ella will be an independent thinker and like Lanaya won't "need" me anymore. Don't get me wrong, the thought of no longer changing diapers does not make me sad; however, the thought of my last little girl not being a baby anymore is more than I can bear. At the same time, I think of the day when I have all 3 kids in school full-time. I am fairly sure I will be throwing a huge par-tay!


*On a totally random note, why is it I always second guess myself when spelling the word "bear" other than when I am describing the animal, (a Grizzly Bear) or being naked (bare)?? Oh well, I suppose that is why I was poly sci major and not an English major.

We Put the FUN in Dysfunctional

SO this is an identical post from my other blog, but I didnt feel like retyping.

Finally home from our family Christmas. It pretty much went how I expected. Let's see, I was nagged within 2 mintues, criticized in 5 minutes, given a dirty look in 10 minutes, and was crying before the 1st hour was up and telling my husband we were leaving. Its not that my family is that malicious or evil or anything, (at least I like to think so) it is really that most of them are inconsiderate or insensitive or oblivious. I have 8 aunts and uncles and around 20 cousins or so (I think, I cant remember) and then I have my 3 kids. Now, not everyone goes to this family party, some people are out of state, some dont deal with the drama, and some fake illnesses and even death to get out of attending.

My biggest problem today, besides my mother, was the food. The way it works is each year 2 siblings plan/cater the event. Everyone in my family knows we are vegetarians and have been. It isnt a shock or surprise or anything. There are 5 of us and another cousin and her boyfriend are as well (but they never come, probably because of what happened today). There were about 25 or 30 people there I think which means about 20% of the party was vegetarian. Do you think there was anything that me or my children or husband could eat? 1 thing, some rice. Unless you count the bread for the roast beef sandwiches. Maybe I sound like a jerk or a whiny brat, BUT if you are going to host a party and invite people to come and 20% of them dont eat meat, why would not you not have one meatless entree OF 5 and maybe just maybe a fruit or veggie tray?? There was a Ham, a ton of Italian Beef, 3 pots of Ravs ALL in MEAT SAUCE (even though they were made by 3 different people) and sausage weiner things for the entrees. The sides were a ceaser salad and rice and cranberry sauce. While everyone else got to eat, my family could basically eat nothing. Why be so inconsiderate? If we didnt eat meat for religious reasons or allergies or something I bet there wouldnt be this bullshit! Luckily my dh thought ahead and figured people would be jerks so he packed peanut butter sandwiches and bananas. It was humiliating to bring a sack lunch to my family christmas.

Dont get me wrong, I dont expect anyone to jsut cater to me or not serve any meat at all or anything like that. All I am asking for is one thing my kids could eat, one thing. Could you do one set of ravs in marinara sauce instead of meat? Everyone likes that! I am not demanding everyone eat tofu...I really dont think it is such an outrageous request OR let me know ahead of time you have no intention of serving anything meatless and I can make something and bring it. Then, my own mother, asks my 5 year old daughter "Did you eat any of Grandma's ravs yet?" To which dd says no...my mom acts all insulted so I yell from my seat, "Uhhh, mom...you put meat in the ravs. Ummmm....we dont eat meat remember??" And my mom yells at me all indignant "SORRRRRYYYYYYYYY." And gives me a nasty look.

I wont even go into the drama with my sister. Thank god for my dearest cousin (dc), who is my best friend and surrogate sister. Without her I never would have gotten through the day. She dragged me outside and calmed me down like only she can and made it all better (like she always does).

And that, was my family Christmas. Not enough valium and vodka in the world to get through it!

Family Xmas

I am getting ready to go to the dreaded family xmas party...which is probably why I am blogging instead of getting dressed and the dh is rolling his eyes at me. Seriously, every year I hate going more and more. I know I shouldnt be putting my family on blast like this, but most of my aunts all gossip about each other and all of each others kids (my cousins), the cousins are always fighting with someone else, there is just always some sort of drama. The dh's family is so normal it's scary. They are all nice and loving and fun, none of the back biting like in my family. Seems like every year my huge Italian fam just gets worse and worse (with the exception of a few people I am close with). If you read My So-Called Blog you would already know how I got bitch slapped on Myspace by one of my cousins last week. So to try to ease the holiday trauma one of my BFs came over last night with a bottle of Raspberry Smirnoff and a Singstar game. If you dont know what Singstar is, you dont know what youre missing! It is a karoke game for PS2 and PS3 and you sing along with the song while the video is playing, it is seriously sick. So the BF and I are celebrating the beginning of winter break (she's a teacher...trust me, when you thought your 3rd teacher wasn't cool, she probably was). By midnight we're singing "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd at the top of our lungs and taking shots. I am still amazed we didn't wake anyone up. This continued til 430am when we finally lost our voices and passed out. Let me just say for as much fun as it was, I am paying for it today in the form of a killer headache that vicodin probably couldnt even alleviate. Merry Christmas!

Snow Day!

For the past 2 days we have been bombarded by the weatherman on the news that the "big one" was coming..."the first major snow storm of the season"..."a dangerous wintery mix"...and so on. Usually I don't listen simply because we have had a couple of light snowfalls already this month and each one was supposed to be "big." This storm actually sounded a big nasty because there was a lot more ice involved than snow, so even though last night I was dead tired and still fighting off a cold/throat thing I decided to venture out in to the urban jungle and do a Costco run...with all 3 kids. As soon as I pulled in the parking lot I thought to myself, what am I thinking? The place was PACKED, I mean, full parking lot, worse than a Saturday afternoon packed. Tre' was whining because we went straight there from soccer practice and he didnt get to go home, Naya was whining because she was hungry and there are never enough samples, and the baby was in pajamas and half asleep. So I figure I treat it like a mission--make a map in my mind of the store layout, where each product I needed was, and get in and get out. I told the kids before we even went in if anyone asked for anything Christmas was cenceled (I think they believed me b/c no one asked for anything). So of course everyone and their extended family is there and puttering around and looking at every stupid random thing in the store and walking slowly--I wanted to scream at every person who stopped in front of me "Dont you realize I only have a limited amount of time before someone has a meltdown?!?!?" I must have rolled my eyes and said oh my god under my breath about 100 times. Of course within minutes Tre and Naya and fighting and pushing each other through the aisles, in between muttering to myself about what I needed I threw in the standard, "leave your brother alone," "keep your hands to yourself" "stop speaking to your sister like that." I made it to the checkout line with a full cart and no full blown fight or meltdown and thought maybe I was in the clear--I wasn't. I knew baby was getting fussy towards the end, but I figured still had a few minutes to get out. As soon as we got in line, the tears started and of course even though I triumphantly thought I was in the shortest line, I picked the one where someone was arguing that the price of oranges was 9.79 NOT 9.99 (well I dont know if thats what the problem was, but I am willing to bet it was close to being that stupid). So we arent moving and baby just lets loose. Screaming, crying, flailing in the cart--the kind of screaming that is so high pitched you ear drums actually feel pierced and you look around to see if anything is breaking. I cant take her out of the cart because my house of bread I have surrounding her may fall AND I have to get everything on the belt and pay, so of course people are looking at me like I am beating her. Needless to say, it was a very long 8 minute wait for me and about 50 other people in line. At this point I was decided that if there was not a snow storm I was personally going downtown and standing outside the newsroom with a sign (Today show style) telling the weatherman exactly what I thought of him. Well I was woken up at 530 this morning with a recorded phone call from the school district stating school was closed, so winter break started a day earlier! The weatherman got lucky this time.