Tornados

This was the view from WCR2 as I was leaving my house.

This was a funnel cloud that was calming down by the time I got out with the camera.

Here are two more funnel cloud just on the other side of the highway.

Kindergarten Graduation

Kindergarten graduation was last week.  It was great!  They sang a few songs and all said what they wanted to be when they grew up.  My sweet little boy said he wants to be a knight because he wants to help the whole world. 

One Thing I Can Count On...Change

Upon arriving at work last night, I was told to go into a team meeting by someone I don't even know.  Then my coach yelled out that the team needed to finish up whatever call they were on and go into the meeting.  When we were all gathered into the middle of our pod (a grouping of cubicles), we were told that the graveyard shift was ending and we were to put in our shift bids.  We were then given a piece of paper with a list of shifts on it and were to put the shifts in order of our own personal preference.  The papers are due back today when we get to work.  For me, this was not a decision to take lightly.  The time that I work affects the whole family.  I brought the paper home and had John help me prioritize.  I am so glad that he just sat with me and helped me make my choices by using, of all things, logic.  Who would have thought to do that?

So now I will be losing my 1.00 per hour differential and I will have to find and pay for daycare.  Hopefully, I will be able to find someone who can work with us for the summer.  Hopefully, I will get my first or second choice so that I won't have to be away from my kids at horrible times of day.  Hopefully, my body can get used to sleeping at night and not in the morning so I can work said shifts.

Meet Bob and Hob

100 Push UP Challenge

I have decided to join the 100 Push Up challenge.  I found out about it on Fat Secret (a web site I have been going to to track my weight loss goals).  I am excited to do it!  I have been having a hard time making it to gym lately because of not having a car of my own that works.  John has no opposition to me stopping off at the gym on  the way home from work, but when I am driving his car, I feel like I am taking advantage of that.  I am determined to do this challenge though.  I will let you know how it goes.

I Lost My Daughter

I lost my sweet Noel today.  It was the scariest ten or fifteen minutes of my life!

Today was stake conference which means (now that I am the only parent going to church and it was how I grew up) FREE SUNDAY (no church).  I ordered a pay per view for the kids to watch and got comfy on the couch so that I could get a much needed nap.  Just before I fell asleep Noel asked if she could play outside.  I told her to stay in our yard and dozed off.  About ten minutes later John came home.  I told him Noel was playing in the front yard.  He told me that he didn't see her out there at all.  That was a bit scary, but I figured if I went outside and called for her she would come running and tell me how much fun she was having with one of the kids on the street.  No such luck.  I went inside, grabbed my jacket and some shoes, and started my real search.  There were some ladies down the street talking.  I figured that if she had wondered somewhere she would have had to have past them. They hadn't seen her, but said that they often see her at the house across the street from them.  I was starting to get more worried now.  John was in his car searching the neighborhood.  I went to that house and they hadn't seen her.  Finally, she came out of the house next door and acted like nothing was wrong.  She was just playing with her friend after all. 

I talked to her about letting us know where she is before she goes there.  I let her know that she scared me.  I am now considering setting the alarm when I am asleep so that she has to stay in.  I feel like the worst mom in the world because I don't even know what Noel is doing most of the time.

When it Rains, it Poors

That not only summerizes the weather for the last few day, it summerizes the last few weeks in my life.  I was given the exciting news that I earned a 15% bonus for both of my checks this month!  I made plans to get the pets to the vet and pay down some medical bills.  I, also, started listening to Dave Ramsey in the last month and got really excited about getting moving on his plan.  We had money still in the bank from out tax return to get some things fixed on John's car.  That is when it all started.  We end up having to come up with the money to completely pay off the car instead (long story, don't want to get into it).  Luckily he came up with a solution to take care of that by borrowing from someone else.  Since we don't like owing people money, we decided to double the payment we were paying for the car to the person we borrowed the money.  Not a bad soultion if we have to go that route.  Then, last Wednesday, my car broke down...again.  I have had the engine replace twice in that car in the last year.  It is very frustrating!  I have had to get rides from a co-worker all week because of hang up #3.  My schedule was changed for the week for a training class meaning I had to be there by 3pm on the same days that I usually work.  I had to miss Noel's talk on Sunday and cried all the way home from church after dropping the kids off with a friend (one of the best friends ever that I wouldn't be able to make this week work at all without). I have been late twice because of the reliablity of the only person I knew going to this class.  I realized Monday or Tuesday morning that our heater is not working properly.  I wasn't a huge deal until yesterday morning when the house was cold for not just me.  I got the space heater out of my bathroom and put it in the living room so that the kids could be warm.  Today, I got a call from my ride (on the last day of this class) saying that he was in detox and wouldn't be aloud to get out until sometime this evening.  Great!  Luckily there was a solution to this one.  John will come home from work early so that I can take his car (the way that I would get there had my schedule not changed anyway).  Another good thing is that the rain is calming down a bit for now.  I am hoping it will stay calmed so that I can walk Sean to school and get home fairly dry.

No Chocolate is Hard

My main reason for having a goal of not eating chocolate is because I seem to be alergic to it lately.  Let's just say I have beening having problems for at least the last few month and it is just getting worse.  The thing is that even though I know this and I am grown up enough to dicipline myself when it comes to what I eat, it is still TORTURE that just about every candy has chocolate including the candy the family got from the Easter Bunny for Easter.  No matter where I go (home, work, store, etc.)  chocolate is there.  I love chocolate.  One of my favorite foods is chocolate chip cookies or even chocolate chips alone.  How could this have happen to me?  I am still in hopes that if I go without it for a while, I will be able to eat my beloved chocolate again.  It worked with milk when I was a teenager and a smaller kid.  Why not now with something that I like even more?

Goals for April

Do you remember last year when I was accually accomplishing my goals and felt on top of the world?  I am trying that again.  I am really just working on weightloss because that is what is on my mind the most.  I have 3 goals for his month.  The first one is to go the month without chocolate.  This shouldn't be too hard since I seem to be alergic to it lately in any form but instant breakfast shakes.  I think I will allow myself one of those per week so that I don't feel too deprived.  The second goal is to drink no caffinated soda for the month.  I seem to do pretty good at this as long as I remember to bring Gatorade to work along with my caffine pills (I am happy to say I am down to only 1 a shift).  The third goal that I have for myself is to make it to the gym at least 3 times a week.  I made this goal at the beginning of March then lost my card.  I now have my card and have vowed to keep it in my wallet where is is, hopefully, safe.  I measured myself yesterday and plan to do so again at the beginning of next month.  I don't think I would feel very successful if I did it more often than that.

My big goal is to fit back into my swimsuit.  Not the ugly blue one that I got when I was pregnant with Eric and just at the stage where I wouldn't fit into my regular stuff.  I mean the one I got a few years ago when John and I went to Water World. (I dont' think there was a specific occation.  Probably just a chance to get away from the kids.)  If I can do so, and look good, I will take a picture of myself and post it on my blog (I am going to have to look really good).

Finished At Last

I started making this for my nephew, Tommy, in November.  When it wasn't done by his birthday, I lost my motivation until some ladies at work heard me talk about the aligator scarf and wanted to see it.  While it sat in my bag, I was motivated to work on it during downtime at work.  Now, here it is about a month after putting it in my work bag...finished!

Eric and Sean Go To The Dentist

Eric and Sean went to the denist for the first time yesterday (we just recenty got dental insurance).  They were both nervous and excited about going.  I am happy to report that Eric has no cavities and there is nothing to worry about with his teeth right now.  Sean is a different story.  We knew before going that there was a possibility that he would have to have his front two bottom teeth pulled because the adult teeth have already come in behind them and they just got loose (another thing that got them to the dentist in the first place).  Unfortunately, he also has 2 "good sized" cavities that they are worried will ruin his adult molars if they aren't taked care of.  I kind of go a feeling this was going to be the case with him when Eric came out from getting his teeth cleaned and told us that it kind of tickled when they were doing his back teeth.  Sean just looked at him and said, "Why would they clean your back teeth?"  When I told John about this he nicely explained to Sean that brushing teeth is for them to be clean not just so they look good.  Sean seemed to be surprised by that concept. Noel and I will go next week because they will only take two members from a family per day.

A Letter From Sean

In Sean's class, they have a family journal where they write a letter to a member of the family on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Then, that family member is to write a letter back in response.  All of the letters are kept in a notebook so that at the end of the year there is a collection of these letters to keep.  Sean has been begging for a puppy in his letters for a while now.  Yesterday's was a bit different.
"Dear Mom,
I'm vvvvery ixiedid for the dentist.  But I like puppy's beder.
Love,
Sean"

Christams is Finally Over

I don't know if it has been laziness or just lack of motivation, but we finally took the Christmas stuff down.  I know it is March 13, and that means that it is almost 3 months after Chirstmas.  Thats's ok.  Maybe we just really like Christmas.

Happy 57th!

If my mom were still with us, she would be 57 today! (I can't believe I almost forgot!)

Eric's Walk Home

When I was getting ready to get Sean and Noel lunch, Eric walked through the door with a proud grin on his face, lunch bag in hand.  "You forgot to pack my lunch," he informed me. (I don't usually make his luch because I am sleeping.  I barely wake up for family prayer before John and Eric leave in the morning.)  I smiled at him and ask him if he was feeling well, if he school had tried to call me, and if they knew he had left.  He was feeling just fine (perhaps more than fine since he was so proud of himself for pulling off his escape).  The school had not called and did not even know he was gone.  I let him know he was going back when I took Sean to school and called to let the school know where he was (they didn't realize he was missing yet).  When I took him back to school, Eric broke down into tears.  "I don't want to have to go to school after I escape," he sobbed.  I really wanted to just pick him up in my arms and tell him that he could stay home and nap with me and Noel, but I knew that would just make him want to do it again.  It broke my heart to leave my little boy crying in the office while the pincipal tried to talk to him and get him back to class. 

When I picked up the boys from school, Eric's teacher appologized and explained what had happened.  It seems Eric got into the luch room, looked in his lunch bag, and realized there was nothing in there.  A bit surprised and upset, he asked the lunch teacher if he could go back to the class to look in backpack to see if the food had fallen out.  Upon realizing there was nothing there he decided to go to his main source of food, home.  He put on his coat and walked the few blocks home with his proof that there was no lunch.  His teacher had dropped off the class and gone into the teachers' lounge to eat her own lunch, so she had no idea what was going on.  The lunch room teacher didn't even realize he hadn't come back. 

Eric has now been told by his teacher and me that it wasn't safe for him to do that (of course it didn't sink in when I told him).  Hopefully, he will not do that again.  Hopefully, his lunch will be made in the morning or he will accept the alternative of the school's food after today.  Thankfully he got here safely and was able to get a lunch.

Some Courtesy Please

I seem to arive at church late most weeks.  Today I was actually there in time to have heard the callings and releases.  That is if there wasn't a group of people from the other ward (which gets out about a half hour before ours starts) sitting in the foyer talking and laughing loudly.  I would have gone in to the chappel, but on the way I realizes the boys had not actually washed their faces after lunch so I had to wait for them to come out of the bathroom.  This group was not only loud while I was trying to hear who the new Primary President was, but also during the sacrament hymn and the first sacrament prayer.  It was only after I was trying to hush and calm down my, now out of the bathroom, boys that they even realized that I may be trying to participate in my own church services the best I could that they quieted down.  I get that their bishop's office if right off the foyer.  I realized after someone came out of said office that at least one family was waiting for them.  I think it would have only been polite, however, if they had be a bit quieter so that I could get the most out of my experience there as I could.  I would also like to add that it was mostly the adult making so much noise, and my kids would have been in a lot of trouble if they had been so loud inside any building, especially the church.  HELLO!  You are all not only in the same room, but sitting together.  There is no need to be THAT loud!

Quitting Soda

When going through my diet changes since I started working, it became obvious that my main problem is the amount of soda I drink at work.  At first it was just to stay awake, but now it is more out of habit.  My doctor suggested that may be the main change that I need to make.  I agreed that was probably a good idea.  Yesterday, I drank the last Pespsi in the house.  That means that today is my first soda free day.  We'll see how it goes.  I do have "Stay Awake" pills in my work backback if I find myself getting tired at work.  Hopefully the call volume, Gatorade, and water keep me going while at work.  Who knows, maybe I will wind down after work a bit better if I can stay away from the soda and caffine pills.

Eric's Scout Cake

All I did was write the words on it.  Apparently frosting is just not easy to write with.  It used to day Bear on one side and Wolf on the other.

Knitting

I do still knit, just not as often as I used to.  I have been trying to make an aligator scarf for my nephew, Tommy, since November.  It was supposed to be done for his birthday (November 22, just like Noel), but it didn't get done in time.  I, then, promised that it would be done by Christmas, but I didn't really work on it.  Now, here it is the last week in February and it is not even half way done.  I really need to set aside a time to do this.  I have other things that I want to make, including stuff for myself.  I am so busy between work, housework, schoolwork, kids, and hubby that I don't know when I will have the time to work on it, but I will have to figure it out.  Maybe I can actually sit and relax sometime...

Clean Rooms

Anyone who has been to my house knows that my kids are slobs and don't keep their rooms clean.  Yes, I know if they had better parents, maybe this wouldn't be so.  Last week I went into the boys' room with them and sat on their floor to "motivate" them to clean (meaning I picked stuff up and they took them out of my hand before said stuff was thrown away).  This week was Noel's turn, or at least her room's turn.  Since the boys were caught jumping around on her furnature they got the oppurtunity to help.  Now both rooms are clean.  If fact they were both vacuumed!

(Just ignore the aweful colors of the rooms.)

(Of course Noel was already getting stuff out before I could get any pictures.)