Fairytales and Margaritas

While the cat's away the mice will play!

So, Robert's on a business trip for four days.  It doesn't happen often, but occassionally he travels for work.  While I miss him dearly and sometimes want to throw myself off a bridge while dealing with all the kids myself, sometimes it's kindof nice.

When Daddy's gone we eat crap for dinner.  Like frozen pizza, hot dogs, cereal.  Now don't get me wrong, we eat this crap while he's here too.  But, I don't feel guilty when he's not here.  I try to make semi-decent meals when he's home.  Don't want him wasting away without his meat and potatoes.

And the kids go to bed early, and usually in my bed.  It's just easier.  It's easier to pile them in my bed around 7:00 with the TV on and let them drift off to sleep.  And to stay there.  Better than me having to get up in the middle of the night because fire ants are crawling on them (Xander's new thing) or just because (Jocelyn's thing since she was born).  And we turn in earlier bc I'm dead tired.  And I need them to stay still and quiet and the TV is wonderful for this.

And we get to watch our stuff.  Not hockey or shows about planets.  I like a bit of this stuff, but it's nice to be in charge of the remote, too.

And we don't do our chores until the day he comes home.  Why bother?  He's actually more lenient on the house being kept clean than I am.  But, I have these weird expectations of myself when he's here.  I think that he expects me to keep the house clean (even though he doesn't).  But, when he's not here I get rid of that guilt too.  (Geez, I'm noticing that I put a lot of expectations on myself that he doesn't!)

I guess I'm just more lenient in general when he's not here.  Part of it is a coping mechanism.  I know I can't get everything done by myself.  And it's kindof nice to not worry about someone else sometimes. 

So, don't stop by our house until Friday, cause it'll be a mess.  Don't call after 7:00 bc we're already in bed watching Survivor.  And don't ask my kids what they had for dinner bc you're likely to want to report me to CPS!

He's fine!

Thanks for all the well wishes and concern.  I still have no idea what it was.  Around the time we were getting ready to go to the hospital he started taking a few steps.  Half an hour later he was going up and down the hall and by the end of the day he was completely fine.  I'm not sure if it was a pinched nerve or growing pains, but he's fine now.

Phantom Leg Pain

Poor Xander.  This morning he woke up crying that he couldn't walk.  I thought it was because he was still sleepy (he only slept til 6:30).  But, then I saw him trying to walk.  His right leg just buckles every time he tries to stand up.  Poor thing.  It's got him really freaked out. 

I've tried playing around with it.  He can straighten it (although he says it hurts to do it) and he can move it all around.  He can even push on my hand when he's laying down.  But, he can't put any weight on it. 

He tries, but just falls down.  It's been 3 1/2 hours now and it's still giving him trouble.  I was going to take him to Urgent Care, but they're not open today.  I guess we're going to go to the children's ER in an hour or so, when Daddy gets home. 

I really don't think it's anything major.  Probably some kindof pinched nerve or something, but I want to have it checked out.  He's just so miserable. 

It's times like these that I hate being a parent.  When I can't make it better.  When I don't have all the answers.  When I know something is wrong, but can't fix it.  I'm supposed to be the superhero that knows everything and that can fix it all.  It sucks when they realize that that's not always the case.

So, we'll probably be sitting in the ER for most of the day.  Luckily, one of the local hospitals has a children's ER. At least that makes it a bit more manageable.

In other news, the test was hard!  They give you a paragraph and then ask what you can or cannot validly conclude from the information.  They try to trick you up by using a lot of double negatives and words like all, never and sometimes.  I know I did ok on the grammar part, but that part I had a bit of trouble with.  There were four answers that I re-read and changed my answers.  They say you shouldn't second guess yourself, but I just wasn't sure.  But, even if I missed 6-7 of those questions I still passed.  And there were 19 people testing.  I'm sure they didn't all pass.  And there are four openings.  So, I should hear in 2-4 weeks if I passed and then I send my resume and wait to hear again.  This whole process is stressful.  I haven't applied for a job in over four years and that one was internal.  And I've never had to test for a job and then wait and then send a resume and wait, etc.  It sucks.  I'm someone who likes to know instantly or at least within a week.  This whole process could last months!

My first new post!

So, I'm all settled in.  Thanks for the feedback.  Still working on a banner and getting the photo albums filled.  Fixing up my blogroll, etc.  But, I'm liking it here. 

We've been pretty busy.  We had SNOW on Friday.  Can you believe it?  It was quite a bit too.  I was watching a friends kids and they were so excited (we're at a higher elevation, so we get snow about once a year and they don't usually get it).  The little girl told me her wish came true because it was snowing!  I bundled them all up (her 5 and 2 year olds and my 3 and 1 year olds) and we played outside for a bit.

Saturday we picked up Girl Scout cookies.  Now we have to deliver them all.  Ugh.  I understand why they sell them and it's great to make money for the troop, but it's so much work.  And Carissa only sold 150 boxes.  I can't imagine the ones that sell 500!

My poor husband is sick.  He thought it was strep, but the doctor said it was viral.  He's miserable and today's his birthday.  I'm hoping he feels a little better tonight. 

My kids are off of school on Thursday and Friday.  It's Rodeo Days here in Tucson.  Yippee!  It's so strange that they get the days off of school.  We've never even gone to the rodeo!  But, it's a tradition for them to get off of school.  I think we might hit our measly children's museum one of the days.

The big news is that my test for the new job is tomorrow.  I'm very nervous.  I've never had to test for a job before.  Kind of scary.  I printed the guide and took the practice tests (scored 100 on both).  I'm really hoping that I get it.  We've been talking about what we'd have to change with me going back to work full time.  But, how nice it would be to have the extra money.  And the benefits are really good too.  And the promotion potential.  Conceivably, I could be making $80,000 in about 5 years!  That'd be great.  And Xander is definitely ready for preschool.  He needs the structure.  He gets bored being home with me.  And his little mind is a sponge lately.  I'd feel a little guilty about putting Jocelyn somewhere full time, but she's had almost 2 years of me staying home.  That's a good start.  I didn't stay home at all with the older two, so the younger ones have been spoiled.

So, wish me luck tomorrow.  I'm hoping we get the results quickly and that things move along.  I'll let you know!

Don't worry

For awhile my blog may look weird. I'm actually moving to Typepad, so this blog may look weird for a bit. I'll give you a new link as soon as I'm done!

A Day at the Park

Notice her super cool shoes? I love this picture. I was underneath the plaything and that's Xander.

BTW, Corey, see how I'm following your tips?

It my FAULT! Part 1

No, I'm not taking the blame for anything. I would NEVER do that (ask my husband).

I'm talking about one of my faults. And there are plenty, maybe I'll post a series of blog posts on them.

The one I'm talking about today is my need for change and constant action. I cannot sit still. Not in an ADHD way, just in a life way. I can't "settle down". Is it the Gemini in me?

I am constantly wanting to go on vacation. And not just a want, like, "oh, that would be nice". More like a yearning, a calling to get in the car and GO. And it won't be surpressed. The longer I go without "getting out of town" the more depressed I get.

And I'm constantly signing up for new things. Whether it be classes or magazine or committments. I'm always wanting to learn more, do more.

And I'm always trying new things. I love trying new gadgets, new foods, new crafts, etc. I actually get mad at my husband when he orders a burger AGAIN at a restaurant. I'm always trying to get him to try something new. I get tons of cookbooks and cooking magazines and am constantly making new things. I love to try new things.

Doesn't sound too bad, right?

Except that I get overwhelmed sometimes. In the quest to try new things I usually try TOO MANY new things. And then I don't know how to back out.

And my NEED to travel can become costly! Luckily, we live somewhere that we can drive to Vegas, drive to San Diego, drive to LA, drive to Mexico (although I don't suggest it) or even drive to another city 2 hours away.

And sometimes, MAJOR life decisions are hard for me. This is my current problem. I have to admit, I've never had the same job for more than 3 years. Until my current job. I never even worked for the same company for that long. But, I'm going on 8 years with my current company and 4 years in my current job. And I'm starting to feel the need for change. Which, wouldn't be bad since my boss is retiring in two years and I'll have to find something anyway.

Except, I feel like I need to change NOW. I am starting to get that depressed feeling I get when I'm stagnant. And I don't like it. I wish I could just tell myself to ride out the next two years. I've got a sweet thing going. I only work two days one week, three days the next. In my mind I know it would be best to keep this up for at least another year and a half until Jocelyn could start preschool. But, my mind doesn't always listen. Something tells me I need to move now. Is it intuition? I don't know.

So, I started looking at jobs. I found one that I know I would LOVE (for however long). I will apply for it. The worst that can happen is that I don't get it, at least I don't have to find another job right now. But, if I did get it, I would have to go to a SIX WEEK TRAINING! Would I survive, probably. Would it be hard as hell? Yes! But, at least I'll apply and then wait and see.

In the meantime, I've got a few more months until we go camping again. Maybe I should try knitting or something in the meantime!

This is what's keeping me busy

This is my front entry wall. I've been framing all sorts of pictures to make a gallery wall. I still need to fill in the blank spaces, but got the majority of it done. It was a lot of work going through all my old pictures then cropping them to the right size, printing them and framing them. But, I'm really happy with it. This is my favorite picture from the photographer. It's a 16X20. It's so perfect because we're all conforming to the composition of the picture, except Xander. And that's how it is in life in general! Here are a few more of the family shots. I know it's hard to see. The one on top is a picture of mine and Robert's legs and the kids sitting next to us. Then there's a family one in the grass. On the bottom it's all of us sitting on a bench looking at the ducks. Here's Xander's collage. Robert and Carissa already had there's done awhile ago. And here's Jocelyn's.

And when I'm not framing pictures, I'm tattooing my son!