Life

I had every intention of blogging more when I last posted. Then life got the better of me. I took a LOA at work for a week to deal with some stuff and then I feel like day after day stuff just keeps hitting me. If you follow me or anyone else for that matter on Instagram you have heard of the loss of super sweet 3.5 year old Ryan. 

It was a tragic accident and I pray for the family. I've cried for a family I don't even know the last few days and I've cried for myself because of everything we are dealing with. It's just been a rough few weeks. 

Tonight was the kids school performance which I will blog about later on. Just wanted to stop in and say I'm alive. Im also throwing a selfie in cause I did my makeup for the show tonight and was feeling pretty good. 

Flat tire and a storm (at the same time)

Last Friday I took Makayla to cheer practice and dropped her off. They were having a 2 hour practice instead of a 1 hour like usual. I left the boy and Macie at home with hubs. I didn't get 5 minutes down the road from practice when I realized I had a completely flat tire. Great.

So I called hubs and told him what happened. And then I waited. And waited. He went to the wrong place! He drove to the complete opposite side of town because he didn't realize what parking lot I was talking about. To make matters worse a huge storm was blowing in and Makayla had to be picked up still. He hurries to me and takes the tire off and we make it to the tire place as they are closing. We had to throw them an extra $10 as a tip and when we made it back to the van it was starting to rain. So there hubs was in the rain fixing my tire. He was NOT happy. Moods and attitudes were flying from everyone. But we got the van fixed in time to get Makayla.

 I took a few pics of the kids in dads backseat and a few of the storm.

Unbelievably sick

For spring break my bestfriend asked me if she could take the kids for a couple of days... Um... YEA. I dropped them off Sunday night and picked them back up Wednesday  evening. They had a blast and all that but when I got there Makayla wasn't feeling well. She was feeling very nauseous. I stayed a couple of hours to have dinner and hang out and by the time we left Makayla was vomiting. We had a LONG drive home so my bestie packed us some bags just in case she needed them. 

It's about an hour drive and most of it is through the dark country roads. Less than halfway through the trip Macie joins her sister with the vomiting. Seriously? So then I had 2 puking kids at 11:00 while I'm trying to focus on the road. 

We somehow by the grace of God made it home safely. I set up little blankets on the floor for the girls so they wouldn't run the risk of ruining their beds. They couldn't keep anything down. We were all up the entire night. It was awful. About 12 hrs later they were over it. My friend also got sick along with her kids.

Now fast forward to Saturday night. I worked all day and made it home a little before 11:00pm. I had felt weird all day but more like an anxious feeling so I figured it was just stress and nerves. I ate something for a quick dinner and around 11:15 I started vomiting. And DID NOT STOP. By 9:00 the next morning I had thrown up over 30 times and was so dehydrated I could barely walk. Obviously I had to call into work and hubs took me to the ER. 

I was there over 7 hours with IV fluids, nausea meds and pain relievers being forced into me. I was sooo sick. My heart rate was off because I was so dehydrated they said. I was in so much pain they gave me a shot of morphine to help. After that they released me and I started the slooooow recovery at home. This is day 3 of me calling in and I am better. Just not anywhere near 100%. I have no idea why everyone else was over it in 12 hours and mine lingered on and on. The only time I can remember being this sick was when I was pregnant with Makayla and got food poisoning. 

I'm praying this is behind us now and it doesn't reappear. 

Thunder and a new tablet

I'm trying to get better at posting again. The other night we had a storm come through unexpectedly and the thunder literally shook the house and the beds. The kids were terrified and I must admit I ran to the door to make sure there wasn't a tornado. I've never experienced anything like that before. All was well thankfully but the kids were so scared. The girls ended up on the floor in our bedroom and the boy in bed with me. Hubs and the dog on the couch. We all slept pretty good all cozied up for the night. 

I came home on Sunday night to the surprise of hubs giving me a new tablet. He got a great deal when he upgraded his phone and got it for me. I haven't had time to really play with it yet but I can't wait. 

I'm going to try to update every few days instead of every few months like I have been. Life just kinda got too busy to really blog but its important to me to document our lives so I'm slowly making my way back. 

Life and stuff

The kids are out of school for 9 days. I work 8 of them and have 46.5 hours for the week. I won't see them. Not even on Thanksgiving because I work retail. The boy quit karate now too. I just wasn't getting my money's worth so until they hire a sensai who should be there we are out. Cheer is still going strong though. Competition coming up the middle of December. 

Yesterday Macie had her first show choir performance at a church. They were sooo cute. I took her and then rushed home and got the kids sent off with my aunt and then went to work until 11:00 pm. 

I've started putting out our Christmas decorations. So very excited even though I am working ridiculous hours right now for the holidays. I've gotta tell you that holiday customers are NOT festive and nice. I bite my tongue pretty much every 5 minutes at work. I do enjoy that thing called a paycheck though. 

There's not really anything major to report right now. Just struggling to squeeze enough hours out of each day. 

I took a bunch of pics of Macies performance yesterday however I won't post other people's kids without permission. I did take a couple totally unimportant ones while waiting for the show to start. The church had pretty stained glass. 

Small catch up

Here's some quick random things that have been going on around here. 

* hubs got me completely obsessed with watching The Walking Dead on Netflix. I went through all 3 seasons on there in about a week. I stayed up until 2 am almost every night to finish. I don't like zombie movies. At all. This series is amazing even if you don't like zombies. Seriously. I am obsessed.

* Macie quit karate. I can't really blame her. They got a new sensai this term and well.... No one is really happy. He's nice but doesn't hold the kids attention and there is a serious lack of discipline during class. That doesn't fly when you are trying to teach self defense. The boy is still in it but doesn't love it like last semester. During the spring Macie might start again if a new sensai is brought in. 

* I'm working hard. I actually have today off so I'm using it to catch up on housework. 

* I am obsessed with my Keurig. I don't know how people lived before this invention. Best thing EVER for a working mom who has NO time in the mornings for anything. (Another HUGE thanks to my fam who gave it to me.) 

* I had dinner with the kids school nurse who I volunteered with so much last year. She is at a new school this year but it was sooooo much fun to catch up with her. 

I don't have anything terribly exciting to post about. I have halloween pics I need to get up soon. Life is so busy. I don't have any words for it. 

This and that

Yesterday karate started back up again. The kids were so happy until we got there and discovered they have a new sensai. They almost quit but I told them that we just have to get to know the new one and it would be ok. It was stressful. 

On top of that I worked 24 hours Friday-Sunday and now I am scheduled for 6 out of 7 days and 35 hours this week. I am part time. When my manager asked if I wanted extra shifts I said yes. The computer screen told her that it was illegal to schedule me so much if she didn't have my permission. I gave it to her. I am exhausted. My aunt picked the kids up Friday and then I got them Sunday night after I got off. We got home a little after 9:00. 

I never knew the meaning off exhausted until now. Hubs came home with a trampoline for the kids last night! His friends didn't want it anymore so we got it. We are going to break the pool down since it was done anyway and put the trampoline back there. It even has the safety netting. Score! 

So that's my little mini update. I have a few pics I'll come back and post but for now I figured this quote would pretty much sum it all up. 

Sunday of FREE (plus some other steals)

I don't really blog much about saving money anymore but I thought I would share today's scores with you guys. Just to let y'all know that there are always ways to find a great deal and even tons of freebies. 

So I have a Bath and Body Works obsession. Yea it's bad. I'm obsessed. But I always use coupons and wait for sales. This weekend they posted a Facebook coupon for a free travel size of their new scents. The coupon had a universal code on it. So you could use it at multiple stores without a problem. I scored 2 free 3 oz. bottles with no questions asked and no purchase necessary. Although I did buy some pocketbac hand sanitizers because the kids and I use those like crazy. 

I also stopped by Old Navy when waiting for B&BW to open. I found this gorgeous and super soft sweater shirt for $1.47!!! And it was tax free weekend. So it was literally under $1.50. It was labeled maternity but it has nothing maternity about it. I'm gonna cut off the tag and no one will ever know. I tried it on and it looked like just a woman's sweater. 

I scored a redbox movie for free for the kids because they always text and email hubs and I codes. We had 2 codes so if we want another movie later I can go back. 

And last but not least. I went to the grocery store and got 3 Herbal Essences shampoos for $3.34 after coupons. I had a coupon for $5 off 3 Clairol items. The coupon had hair color pictured but if you read it closely it didn't state it had to be hair color. Read your coupons closely.

I was just too excited about these deals. To sum up I came home with: 2 B&BW travel size lotions, a fall sweater, 3 Herbal Essences shampoos and a Redbox movie for under $5!!!! I'd say that was a serious victory. 

(On a side note I just realized I grabbed the conditioner in the totally twisted for Macie. I wanted the shampoo. I'll just go exchange it next time I go back to that store.)

Late night party

It's 1:32 a.m and we are all wide awake. Yes that includes the children. We decided to be very laid back about summer bedtime. Well 1:30-2:00 has become the kids new bedtime with hubs and I staying up till 3:00 most nights. (Or is it mornings?) Everyone wakes up around 10:00-11:00am. 

I can't say I really mind though. I am very much a night owl and I've always wished we could be on a nocturnal schedule. I guess now we are. 

It's weird that this works so well for us. But it does. Now getting them back to a school routine in a few months is going to be a nightmare. But for now.... It's all good. We have been sick this past week so I haven't taken many pics. Here's some random summer ones. 

Lego SCORE!

It's no secret that the boy is beyond obsessed with Legos. He pretty much eats, sleeps and breathes them. 

Yesterday evening my bestie called and told me I HAD to go to Target. Her kids feel the same about Legos (they actually got us hooked) and she had scored the best deal EVER. Toys R Us put one of their $69.99 Lego sets on markdown for $19.99!! They were completely sold out online and in stores BUT Target was price matching. 

She text me the link and I rushed to good old Target and grabbed the very LAST one off the shelf. I then went to customer service where a manager did a price override. SCORE!! A $70 Lego set for $20?? Um YES PLEASE!! I'm going to save it for his birthday in September. I felt like I had robbed my favorite store. Only the manager had approved it. Haha

Summer starters

I put together a little basket of fun summer things for the kids to do when summer boredom sets in. I plan to let them pick something whenever we need a fun pick me up.

The glow sticks are for a night swim for the bottom of the pool. I've been working on getting it ready and I'm hoping I'll be done by this afternoon with the vacuuming and shocking. Summer here we come! 

Last day

Today was my last day volunteering in the school clinic. I'm not gonna lie... It was emotionally rough knowing it was the last time I'd ever be in that clinic with this nurse. She's going to be at a different school next year so we will have a brand new nurse again next year.

We got a ton of stuff accomplished today and it was a good day. It's just hard because this year has really been a turning point with the school. I've put a ton of hours into helping the clinic and I'm going to miss it. A lot. 

The kids have their class ice cream parties tomorrow and they really can't wait. One more day. I'm excited about summer but at the same time I'm panicking. 3 months of the kids at home. Eekkk. Praying for strength to get through these summer months with grace. 

This morning as I was leaving I snapped a quick photo of the cupcakes I had to bring to the school for the boys party tomorrow. I have 7 hours to myself tomorrow. I am going to do nothing. I am going to completely veg out and enjoy my last hours of freedom until late August. 

A not so mini update

Yes I am alive. It's been a little while hasn't it? Here's a little update about the happenings around here...

* I'm in the process of starting up my own personal medical claims and billing business. It's intense. But I'm making huge progress and within a month should be up and running. I ordered business cards and return address labels today. It's getting real!! Eekkkk!!

* I've taken on a little mini babysitting gig. Well I guess it isn't mini because after school for an hour and a half there are SIX.... Count em...1...2...3..4...5...6 kids to keep up with. 

* There is less than a month before school is out for summer.

* I've gotten back on track with my calorie counting and exercise. I didn't have time to work out earlier today so I had to get it in after the kids were home. I almost kicked two of my children in the face during said workout but thankfully I have good control and stopped short.

* I upgraded my iPhone from a 3 to a 4 which means my camera is soooo much better. 

* I've become ridiculously obsessed with Instagram. Like need a 12 step program obsessed. 

* We've made a few summer plans including camping for a weekend with one of my besties and her awesome kids. It will be the kids and MY first time camping ever. Little nervous about it. 

*  I had a conference with the boys teacher yesterday. As I was leaving she made my whole week. She said " You're so awesome. I never worry about Mason because you are so hands on with your kids." I almost cried. Seriously. 

* Makayla has cheer competition in less than 2 weeks. She has worked sooo hard to be ready. 

* My kids have learned so much at Sunday school lately. Sometimes they walk around quoting scripture. It's awesome. 

* Macie got glasses. We are still improving her lazy eye but her other eye became a little near sided. She just HAD to have the Hello Kitty glasses that were the most expensive. Thanks kid. I tried to steer her cheaper but well... I caved. 

I'm sure there is more to say but my brain is fried tonight. Actually it's fried almost every night lately. This parenting and career thing is not for the weak. I'll close with a random pic.

 I'm so happy to have a flash on my phone camera now because I can take sleeping pics of my kids again. 

We made a tent

This tent provided hours of entertainment for the kids today. I also got very good at pretending to be a bear roaming the camp. I went from cooking to making growling bear sounds every few minutes.

Good times around here I tell you. We know how to spend a spring break that's for sure.

Best laid plans

We had everything packed up and ready to go. Sleeping bags were rolled up and clothes/lunches/snacks were packed. This morning we should have been heading out to my best friends house in the country.

But around midnight last night I got a text saying that a horrible stomach virus had infiltrated their home. We had to cancel our plans.

We are all so bummed out. Our only spring break plans fell through. I'm hoping to do at least a little something in the next few days. Until then we are just relaxing at home. The boy is performing surgery on his build a bear right now. Apparently he has a heart condition. My kids crack me up.

Decluttering: mind, spirit and home

Good morning readers. I know I've been slacking on my posts but I happen to have a good reason. I've really gone back and forth over how to word all of my feelings lately. I'm realizing that there isn't really a perfect way so I'm just going to ramble a bit.

One of the reasons I haven't been posting much is that I haven't been getting comments lately. I feel like I'm talking to myself even when I know you guys are out there reading. I see you in my stats. I love all you lurkers out there but I like interaction also. This isn't the biggest reason I've been quite though and fear not because if you have been a lurker for years please know that I'm not quitting my blog. Just a little FYI before I continue. :-)

I basically had several life altering lessons hit me. Things I couldn't see before are now crystal clear. I have found my faith in God again with the help of some wonderful friends and an amazing pastor who makes getting to know God fun. I find that I'm getting through my days so much easier now with prayer from the moment my eyes open each morning to the moment I close them each night.

My thoughts are clearer and my mind is happier. Participating in 40 bags in 40 days has been beyond liberating. I took my first load to Goodwill yesterday. My house is transforming into a truly beautiful place. The kids are doing better with certain things as well.

So I've just been laying low. Trying to limit the time I spend online and focus on doing what I need to around our home. It's all good stuff. It's just kept me a little quieter around here.

And on a side note I LOVE Instagram. Here's a shot of my kitchen yesterday. Decluttering feels AMAZING!!

This and that

*This has been an interesting day. While weed eating the front yard today I found a baby copperhead snake. He got away before I could chop him up. Now I'm all nervous just walking to my car.

*Macie is sick. She hasn't felt well for days but hasn't had any fever. The school nurse (who I am very close with since I volunteer in the clinic every week) has called me every day to let me know how Macie was feeling during school. Once she got home she went right to sleep and spiked a 101.1 temp. So tomorrow we are off to the doc.

* I've made a lot of headway with my 40 bags lately. I also have pics to show of the new living room and bed but I just haven't felt like putting it up lately. I'm sure I will soon.

*Tink (our chinchilla) got sick this week and scared us bad. We googled what to do and I am happy to report she is doing almost 100% better! Vet bills for chins can get to be very expensive so it's a good thing the home treatment is working. We are ridiculously attached to her so we would have had to eat an exotic vet bill. Just to think about that makes me shutter.

This post was really just a few sporadic thoughts in my head. I haven't really felt like putting together a planned out post lately. My brain is occupied with lots of other swirling thoughts. Here's a photo from this weekend. While we were at Walmart with our friends we saw these gorgeous fish. The photo doesn't show just how pastel they really were. So pretty.

This busy busy life

I feel so overwhelmed right now. It's not any particular thing it's just all of the recent happenings wearing me thin. You wouldn't think that extra curricular classes twice a week would be that big of a deal but oh my gosh I feel like they have pushed me over the edge. The kids love them and we are going to stick with them for a very long time but wow we just don't seem to slow down for a second.

When the kids were toddlers I was always reading blogs that talked about how busy they were and I remember thinking... Really? How can you be that busy? I'm not busy and I have 3 kids under 4. Now I get it. I thought it would get easier when they were older but I feel strained way more now than when I had 3 kids in diapers.

Every single day leaves me crawling into
bed and crashing. I always say my prayers in bed each night and the last few nights I have actually fallen asleep in the middle of saying them. That's so not good.

I keep thinking things will mellow out a bit but the truth is that they are about to get even crazier. I'm going to be working soon and time will really be short. I could use some 36 hour days.

Today I was at hubs job waiting for him to take lunch and I laid my seat back to rest while I waited. It started pouring down rain and it felt so peaceful and relaxed. For a few minutes I almost forgot I had to run an errand quickly with hubs during his lunch break, zoom home to pick up the kids on time, zoom back home, make dinner, give baths and get 2 out of 3 children to karate on time.

Maybe when they go to college life will slow down a bit.

A ??? For you and 40 bags in 40 days

Ok... My blog issue is not resolving itself. Google has been no help at all. So I'm left with several options. And I'm asking you my blog readers what you would prefer. Don't be shy and comment. I know you guys are out there. I check my stats often so let me know which of these options you would prefer.

Option A: I can wait it out. Keep posting without photos and pray it eventually works again.

Option B: start a new blog which would be a lot of work.

Option C: my old blog (Crazy Life of Mine) is still allowing me to post photos. I could move back there but I haven't used it in over 2 years.

I would just use my laptop(the problem is only on the app) but I have no spyware yet and my last laptop met a horrible death of 39 viruses last time. So I'm not risking it.
Opinions? Preferences? Ideas?

Ok moving right along....

40 bags in 40 days! This year I am joining the challenge at The Larson Lingo. Clear out your home in 40 days and find at least 40 bags of stuff to donate or throw out. I am so excited about doing this. I've already started in the bathroom cabinets and have 3 bags of stuff I have thrown out. I found a bottle of Clinique clarifying toner that I purchased on a trip with my yearbook staff during my JUNIOR year of high school. That's right! I held on to that bottle for 12 years! Wow. It felt so good to purge all the old products.

I can't wait to start to really make progress.

Randomness on Tuesday

I decided to do a random post today despite not being able to upload any photos. So here are some completely random tidbits about various things on my mind.

* The living room redo is completely done with the exception of something to hang on the wall behind the tv. I have a few ideas but haven't bought anything yet. There is a new sofa, loveseat, tv stand, bookshelf and 8X11 Persian rug along with a few new accessories. Pics of course to come later IF I ever get this blog issue fixed. Google is not on my good list right now.

* I finished my course with a final exam
Grade of 92!! Which means I officially have a certificate degree in medical claims and billing!

* Hotel Transylvania is hands down the best kids movie we have seen in a LONG time! Highly recommend it.

* Kids are loving karate and cheer classes. Makayla works on her splits daily and the boy and Macie have learned so much. Macie showed me one of her moves last night and it actually hurt me. I was quite impressed I must say. Apparently I'm spending my money wisely on karate lessons.

* Our new bed is heavenly. That would be completely awesome if it didn't make waking up in the mornings so much harder for me. Gotta work on that still.

* Just an FYI... If you download the free Redbox app to your phone they send you free codes. You can also send them your email when you rent movies and they email them to you as well. Hubs and I both signed up and so when they send out a free code we both get it. They always send $.50 off codes and then twice a month or so free ones. It's pretty awesome. Especially for us because we are at a kiosk pretty much daily.

*Makayla got in the car from school yesterday and had a sad look on her face. She said "Mommy, I have some sad news." I instantly knew what she was going to say and sure enough I was right. The class guinea pig (Cubby) died. Sixty 4th graders were heartbroken yesterday. She asked me to print out a photo from when Cubby stayed the weekend with us. I need to do that this week for her. :-(

* I cut my hair. Drastically. I had enough to donate to locks of love which is super awesome. The lady cut it 4 inches shorter than I said to. I wasn't happy. I came home and cried. I love it now though. :-) I of course would post pics if my blogger app hadn't gone rogue.

* I need to be doing dishes rather than blogging.

So on that note I'm signing off this post. I miss posting photos. I think I might have to resort to calling a customer service line. Ugh. Anyways... Hope everyone is having a good week.