My journey begins...

You're probably wondering what "journey" I am taking, well it's really not that big of a deal, however, in the end it will show me if I have the will to stop something I enjoy for my faith.
Being a Christian, Catholic to be exact, today starts the Season of Lent. Each year I choose to "give up" something for my faith and each year I fail. This year is going to prove quite challenging, as I have chosen to give up FACEBOOK!!! It has only been a few weeks since I joined facebook, however, I have become very addicted. I spend most, if not all, of my free time on this sight. I love talking with old friends and acquaintances, as well as family. I have realized this is becoming a problem, as the girls continue to say "Mommy, please stop looking at facebook". With Lenten Season approaching I toyed with the idea of giving facebook up, however, wasn't sure I was ready to take on such a challenge. Yesterday ,out of nowhere, a friend posted she was going to "give up" facebook for Lent and I felt inspired, so I decided I would try too.
I was very surprised at the support I received, as well as the lack of support. I had many people wish me luck, as if I was going to climb Mt. Everest. I wondered if in fact this challenge would prove much the same as climbing the world largest mountain. So many people claimed they couldn't do it, as they were addicted as well. A good friend even took a bet of $50 that I would fail miserably. I do feel as if I have a lot of support this Lenten Season on proving I can in fact "give up" something I enjoy so much for my faith. My sister in law has also decided she will try to "give up" facebook, however, Erin wasn't quite ready.
When April 12th arrives I hope in fact I can say I succeeded, but, fear I won't. Addiction is hard to overcome, even with faith being the motivation. Today hasn't been bad, as I have been busy, I fear when a slow day approaches I may give in to temptation. God give me strength!!!!

Their big day!

Well, not "THE BIG DAY" , but, a pretty big first in my opinion. The girls went to their first dance last night, their Daddy/Daughter Dance. They were beyond thrilled and so was Pete. They danced, played with friends and even did crafts...that I didn't get , but, oh well!

They both wanted "fancy & fluffy" hair, so they both looked liked the stepped out of the 80's. Never the less, they both looked very cute and Pete looked quite dapper...as he always does!

I remember being in High School and enjoying these dances with my Dad, it brings back a lot of great memories. It has been well over 20 years since my last dance with Dad, but, the memory is still fresh in my mind. I hope the girls will remember this for many years to come. I know we'll never forget the date, as it was my older sisters 40th b-day! A fun day of memories.

Are we really watching our money?

You can't turn on the TV without hearing about the economy and job losses, however, are the American people really cutting back due to these economic times?

Luckily, I only know of 2 people who have lost their jobs in my circle of friends, however, at my job I have come across quite a few. What has surprised me about most of these people is the things they cannot part with...cell phone, Internet, cable or entertainment. Don't get me wrong, I am not judging, I am no different. I have had several conversations with my Mother on cutting monthly expenses and I had a "good" excuse as to why I couldn't live without these things. My vice is the Internet and TV, I could NOT live without these things....or can I?

Sometimes I feel we have all gotten ourselves into this mess because we show no restraint to the things we want...not need. My husband and I are no different and almost never deny ourselves of anything, especially when it comes to the girls. I fear my kids will grow up thinking they can have anything they want, just because they ask. When I tell them things like "we didn't budget for that", they says "just charge it." They are 4!! Yes, I understand this is our fault, but, the mind set with everyone is "just charge it". Maybe I am wrong, maybe Pete and I are careless about our money, however, why are the charge card companies sending us cards with limits that exceed what I paid for my house. When someone continues to tell you that you "can" afford something...ie charge card companies...they you feel like you can. You tend not to watch your money, because, you feel like if someone is willing to trust you with a limit over $200k, you feel like you can spend like that...does that make sense?

I'm not blaming creditors, it is our responsibility to manage our own money. If Pete and I used every card send to us and maxed all to the limits, we would be close to owing $700-750k...that is a lot of money! Creditors should take some responsibility fir their actions, credit limits like this are uncalled for. Thankfully, Pete and I know credit cards are our downfall and never accept these cards. We have one card that we use and that is basically for gas and Pete's travel, however, if he lost his job today we would in fact use all of these cards. Our cash on hand would go all to our mortgage...why because I can charge EVERYTHING ELSE!

I guess the point to this post is basically to see what others think. Are you good with money? Do you get credit cards in the mail everyday? Do you have more credit, than tangible items that can be sold to pay off debt? We keep asking for help, but, I don't think a chunk of money is going to solve all the problems. Education, restraint and loosing that opinion that we are always entitled to everything we want must change. What do you think?

I know we should be much better with our money and we are trying. We have cut expenses a lot, but, we have a long way to go. We still eat out a lot, don't budget for food and spend money on pointless things for the girls. Are we the perfect example of the American Population or the exception to the rule?

I can't believe they are starting Kindergarten...

Today is sort of a bitter sweet day for me, I am registering the girls in Kindergarten. Don't get me wrong, I think they are both ready and very excited for the new adventures they face, however, I am a little sad that my "babies" are going to be in school everyday.

"When" they start school has always been a very fine line, as their b-day is very close to most school cutoffs. I have the luxury of starting them or holding them back. Pete and I have always felt very strongly about not holding them back, however, have received a lot of negative remarks in regards to this. We get a lot of parents saying we are going to scar them for lives and they won't keep up with the others. Maybe I live in some delusional world, however, I don't feel a child who turns 4 or 5 in the beginning of August will be acclimated to school better than my girls, who's b-day is in the beginning of Sept. They are both in a very advanced preschool class and keep up better than most, in fact they seem to be more advanced than some of the Kindergarten kids from other schools.

We do send them to Catholic School, which was more willing to accept them over the public school. Our local district school wouldn't even consider letting them start this past fall and our "choice" school felt the same way. Now the "choice" school did say they would test the girls early for Kindergarten,however, not for pre-school. That didn't seem to make any sense, therefore that option was off the table. We are both happy with the school and feel God sent us and the girls on this path for a reason, however, it is financial struggle at times. By the time our local district school would accept our girls, they would be starting 1st grade and by then, why would we change schools? I think sometimes schools have these rules in place more to manage population and over crowding, rather than the best interest for the child. The fact that the principle wouldn't even meet my children, turned me off. Yet I have a friend who is the Principle of one of the top Elementary Schools in the country who wrote a recommendation for my girls to start school this past fall. He said if we lived in his district, he wouldn't have thought twice about accepting the girls early. Makes no sense!

I have never doubted our decision or felt we have made a horrible choice for our kids, however, only the future will tell. My feeling have always been, I can hold them back if they are not ready, but, cannot move them up if they are! Does that make sense?

What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think it should be parents choice as to when they start their children? Earlier or later? Should each person be tested no matter what their b-day is?

It's official...I'm boring!

We are driving to school one day last week and we were talking about a little girl in their class who wore a very "fun" dress to class...OK a Mickey Mouse costume...something I would never in a million years let the girls wear. So I said to them "blanks Mom must be so fun & relaxed if she lets blank wear her Mickey costume to school". The girls both agreed and I admit too, blanks Mom is very fun, in fact most every other Mom I meet is more fun than me. Of course this led to the questions "am I fun"? Emily, never sparing any one's feelings, said "no", "you are NOT fun". "You make us wear itchy clothes to school, we can never get messy and you never play with us." I was certainly taken aback by this discovery, however, she was not wrong. I run their little lives as if we were the First Family and had to always been seen in a certain way. Erin can attest to this, as I freak out when the girls get messy, I just cannot let myself go and be "fun".

Gabriella on the other hand looks at me so different and really tried to spare my feelings. She said "Mommy, you are too busy to be fun, because, you are so busy taking care of us. You drive us everywhere, make us pancakes, gives us baths and make sure we are safe. If you were fun, you couldn't be those things either". I was touched my her caring nature, however, taken aback by her insight...she is only 4! She ended her touching speech with "Mommy, I love you just the way you are, even if you are not fun!"

I suppose there are worse things in life then not being "fun", however, I do wish Iwould relax and try to be more fun.

Maybe today I will let them go out in their costumes, I mean what is the worse thing that could happen...they have fun?

So she cheats a little...is that so bad?

YES!!!

OK...probably not, but, cheating at games drives me nuts! Now that the girls are getting a little older, we play games more often and I am learning that Emily not only cheats, but, is a very sore loser.

Last night we played Monopoly Town and my sweet little Emily continued to cheat over and over. I kept trying to explain to her that I won't play games with them if they cheat, because, we have to learn how to do things the right way. Don't get me wrong, I know kids cheat at games because they enjoy the feeling as if they won, however, I strongly feel it is my job to teach them how to play games the correct way. Pete on the other hand, well let's just say he helped her take a few extra dollars from the "bank".

I'm sure in the long run cheating at games will not make her a hardened criminal, however, I do think she will never learn the value of winning something on her own. I also feel we play games for a reason...playing games. I hate seeing the girls make everything a competition to see who is going to be "better" at something. I'm not sure if all kids are so competitive or my girls because they are twins. It drives me crazy! I'm one of those people who always loses and I am OK with that, because, I usually have a good time. By no means does this mean that I don't like to win, but, I don't have to win to have fun. I'm trying to pass this message on to my girls and it seems to be falling on deaf ears with Emily.

Maybe if she didn't get so angry when she lost, maybe she wouldn't want to cheat so much. Does it ever set in? Will this be her nature? Will she be competitive her entire life? I hope not!

Have I ruined my kids?

Ever since the girls have been born Pete and I have been germ freaks. I'm not sure if it was because they were premature, I was sick or it was just our nature, but, we are obsessed with protecting them from germs.

We are crazy when it comes to public places and sanitize like crazy. We are obsessed with having them wash their hands and bring small cans of Lysol every where we go. At any given time you can find 3 cans of Lysol in my purse, as well as plenty of hand sanitizer. We won't allow them to go places that we know people have been sick or allow people to come to our home either. Sometimes I feel I have offended people because of this, however, for the first 3 1/2 years of their lives they were never sick.

This is where I came to the Have I ruined my kids question. This cold & flu season has been much different. I can't remember the last week that I didn't have one of the two coughing or sneezing. It is driving me nuts! I don't give them anything for their colds, as their pediatrician does not recommend it. The humidifier runs like crazy and pump them full of liquids. My girls eat extremely healthy and we keep a normally extremely clean home. I just don't get it! My only assumption is the lack of germs they have been exposed to have made their immune system so low.

This drives me crazy because Pete and I have tried so hard to keep them healthy and now I feel like we have done them no good. It kills both of us to hear the girls up all night coughing, knowing that we did this to them.

I fear once they start school full time that it will get worse and wonder if their is anything I can do to prevent this. I don't want to expose them to sick people, however, I don't want them always sick...does that make sense.

I am frustrated...any suggestions?

I'M ADDICTED TO DR. PEPPER

I LOVE my husband, but, hate when he goes shopping. He always buys soda and now I can't stop drinking it. I can go for months without buying soda, he goes once and it's like a soda store in my garage. Everything you can imagine.

I can restrain myself from Pepsi or Coke, but, throw Dr. Pepper in the mix and it's all over. I have had a soda every day for lunch since Saturday and I can't stop.

I feel my teeth rotting, my stomach getting bloated and energy level peeking!

I know it's bad, I just cannot stop!

Our first week with Felix

Well, it's been a full week with Felix and it has been so much fun. I didn't realize having a kitten would cheer us all up and make us laugh so much.

The first day the girls couldn't get enough and well that hasn't changed much. Emily cannot keep her hands off him and she has war wounds to show. Her face is covered in scratch marks from him. Not so much because he is scratching in anger, but, the poor thing is usually holding on for dear life. He has taken a liking to Emily and tends to go to her over Gabriella. Something Emily really needs, as she often feels like second fiddle to Gabriella. Emily is gentle and kind with him and sees him like her "little brother". It's quite sweet and warming to see.

Gabriella...well shall we say little monster? She's not mean to the kitten, just rough. She doesn't realize how tiny he is and how strong she is, it makes for a bad situation. Felix will come to her now and then when Emily, Pete or myself isn't around, but, not often. She still acts very silly with him and plays with him as if he was another child. She play hide n seek, "it" and freeze dance. It's hilarious to watch her play with him.

Pete is NOT an animal person, especially cats. We do have Gus, but, he came with me as part of the package. I will say, he does like Felix. I think most of what he does is an act, but, deep down he loves him. Felix does run to Pete for cover whenever he feels scared or threatened, usually when Gabriella is chasing him around the house.

Me, I LOVE HIM!!! I didn't realize how much I would enjoy having him. I have had a smile on my face all week and people actually have noticed. I guess I must have been a crabby B%^ch for sometime now. I think park of me treats him as the baby boy I have wanted and can't have, so I guess Felix fills that void.

It's been a good week and I think Felix is adjusting very well. He has fallen twice from the upper landing, so we are going to have to block that off in some way. The first time Pete caught him, but, the second he was just too fast. Thankfully, he was fine, but, it scared all of us. Gus is adjusting well and actually starting to play with Felix a little. I think they will be best buds in no time.

So, Thank You Theresa for Felix...he was thing we needed to lift our spirits.

(You'll have to excuse the girls, as they just woke up and look like a crazy mess)

INTRODUCING...

FELIX "SPARKLE"
1 LB 1 OUNCE
6 WEEKS

We finally picked up the kitten today and words cannot express how excited the girls are right now. Emily is like a little Mother Hen and Gabriella is so silly with him. They were a little disappointed to find out Sparkle was a boy, but, that only lasted a moment. We did convince them to change the kittens name to Felix, so from now on his middle name will be Sparkle. I must say, he is sooo cute! Gus on the other hand has hissed twice at the poor little thing. Hopefully, in time they will become best buddies. We set up the spare bathroom for the kitten, so he will be nice and safe at night & when we leave.

Girl Scout Cookies

It's that time of year again. Girl Scout Cookies! My daughter is selling this year and I am the "Cookie Coach" for the troop. It has been an experience. There is much to know about selling cookies!

My personal favorite cookie is the Carmel Delites. I don't normally like cocunut, but, man, I love these cookies.

I came across a site that had recipes for Girl Scout Cookies...here is just a sample of one:

Fudgy Peanut Butter Balls
Ingredients:
1 1/2 boxes (24 cookies) Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

2/3 cup salted peanuts, finely chopped

Instructions:
Place cookies in food processor or blender; process until fine crumbs. Combine crumbs and butter; mix until well blended. Roll mixture into 1-inch balls. Place peanuts in small narrow bowl. Roll each ball in peanuts, gently pressing peanuts into balls. Store in covered container in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Makes:28

This would ONLY happen to me!

We all have had those days were someone beeps and it just sets off our anger and I am no different.

Thursday while driving home from school I saw a young man stopped on the side of the road, so I pulled over to attempt to ask him if he needed help. Just as I started to roll down the window, some crazy guys beeps and throws up his arm as if he was saying "move over you dizzy lady". I pulled over and as he passed I kindly showed him how my horn worked and how pretty my nail polish was on my middle finger. WELL.... he did not like that! As we both pulled away, forgetting the stranded driver, he stops his car and starts walking up to my car yelling at me. I really wasn't paying much attn. , as I was quite scared with the girls in the car. However, this did not stop me from telling him I WAS A GOOD PERSON and he was a big ass for passing a stranded driver. He got back in his car and I then took a picture of licence plate.

When I got home I called a friend who suggested I call the police. I took her advice and called our local department. The officer who answered was very nice he asked for my name, address, phone number, asked if I worked in the area. I told him "yes" and mentioned I had a picture of the car, but, I didn't want the person to get in trouble. The officer took a very long pause and said "Well Kathleen..... THAT WAS ME!!!!!" WTF!!!! The police officer that I was talking too, was no other than mister jack ass from earlier. He proceeded to not only lecture me about beeping and flipping people off, but, then told me I was wrong for stopping to ask someone if they needed help.

First of all, I had never felt like such an idiot in my life and second this guy really scared me. Why did he ask all of my information before he told me he was the driver. I of course convinced myself that he was going to come over and do something horrible. I started to cry and told him he should be ashamed of his behavior and all he had to say was "I'm sorry you had to learn such a hard lesson!". Nice, really nice! After a very awkward conversation and him asking if I wanted to come in to the station to talk, we both apologized for our poor behavior and hung up.

I was shaken my the event for the remainder of the day and of course Pete was not going to be home that night and we had gymnastics, so I had to come home alone with the girls into a dark house. All was fine and I'm sure he feels like an ass as much as me, but, boy do I feel stupid.

I guess the moral of the story is don't EVER stop to help anyone, no matter what!!! You may end up pissing off some cop at the local police department.

5 things I let my kids do...that I shouldn't!

Not all of us can be perfect parents, most of us fall into the mediocre at best category. Needless to say I do have 5 things that I allow my children to do, even know they probably shouldn't.

1. Listen to certain songs. ie... Single Lady, Shake It, Womanizer and Sexy Back. All clean versions, yet no more appropriate. You can find my children at gymnastics or catholic school school singing "All the Single Ladies, put on ring on it..." I crack up, however, other parents look at me like I am having them read from the book of Satan.

2. Eat junk food as a meal and don't make them eat veggies. Ok...what parent doesn't give in when their child isn't eating a meal? So they refuse to eat dinner and you give them Lifesavers instead, they'll make up their nutrition in the morning. If not then, I'm sure they'll give them something healthy in school.

3. Bribe them with material items in order to get them to do things. This has really bit of us in the ass, as they always say "what are you going to buy us if we do it?" Or "let's just go buy it". When they started school I had to bribe them with "treats" when I picked them up. Needless to say every time they get in the car they ask " what did you buy us". When I don't, which isn't often, we stop at the bakery for cookies.

4. Let them wear pull-ups if they don't feel like going potty before bed. Ok this doesn't really hurt them, however, teaches them laziness. Ok, teaches them that Pete and I can be lazy. Who wants to get up and change the sheets at 2am? Not me! They sleep together so when you get one up to change, the other wakes up and they NEVER fall back asleep.

5. Let one of the two have a bottle whenever she wants...yes, she is 4! This one is actually funny, because, she knows she shouldn't be drinking from a bottle. I even caught her lying to friends at school about drinking a bottle. I guess Pete and I shouldn't give in, but, she is stubborn as hell and it's not like we are putting Vodka in the bottle.

6. Turn the TV on before bed in lieu of reading books. I loath reading and Pete tells a story like a ... I don't know a bad story teller. Don't get me wrong, the girls love books and love when they are read too, but, I just cannot stand reading to them. I always say "tomorrow I'll read 2 books, just watch Arthur". Thank God for DVR!!!

OK, so I have more than 5, probably a lot more than 6 too, but, of course all my parenting traits aren't so bad. I do have a couple of things that I think aren't too bad.

1. They drink TONS of water.

From what I hear, allot of people can't get their kids to drink any water.

2. They eat tons of fruit. Fruits good, who doesn't like fruit!

3. They have GREAT manners and are very polite. Always "yes, please" or "excuse me"...very polite!!

4. Very kind and loving. They never want to see anyone with hurt feelings or sad. Anytime they see me cry, they always comfort me and bring a tissue. They just have the sweetest little hearts.

5. They are excellent at washing their hands and understanding germs. Germs Bad...clean good!!!

6. Hmmmm... have I only done 5 things right in the past 4 years?

The point is as parents we are always too hard on ourselves. Yes, I know my kids should eat more veggies, but, in time. They are healthy and eat a very well balanced diet otherwise. Sometimes other parents are the first to judge you. We all have our good points as parents and we all at sometime think we are failing miserably. My theory is if you love your child(ren) and everything you do for that child is out of love, than you can't possibly be doing anything wrong!

Do you ever feel as if you are having a "bad parent" moment...or life? Is your best friend the "perfect" Mom or Dad? Or worst of all...do you judge other parents????????

Tick, tick, tick...

Just 2 more hours and the girls head back to school after a very LONG week of snow days and sick days.

Don't get me wrong, I love being with my girls, however, when they are bored all hell breaks out. We have had broken dishes, paint messes, doing things they would never do and staying up way too late. As much as I dread when they start going everyday in the Fall, it's what they need. What we all need.

I never thought I was a routing type of person, but, I guess I am.

So the clock is ticking down and we are all a little excited about getting out of the house. I'm sure by tomorrow our "busy day", we'll be wanting to hang out at home in our PJ's and watch TV.

You can never win !

(ps...our paint mess wasn't as bad, but, it wasn't pretty!)

Vacation Ideas

HELP! We are trying to plan a family vacation with my husbands family in July, however, it is proving challenging.

We would like it to be 5 hours or less, via car, from Chicago, kid friendly, pet friendly, active adult friendly and preferably on the nicer end.

We thought we found the perfect place in Mackinaw Island, MI, however, after much review the resort we choose that will suit our needs does not have air conditioning. With two seniors and me with my heart, air conditioning is a must. Unfortunately, the resort we choose is the only pet friendly location, so now Mackinaw Island is out of the question.

Any suggestions? I have looked at several options in Michigan, however, it's hard to make a choice when you've never been.

Thanks!

Where's the cake pan?

I'm not sure why I was looking for my spring form pan, I don't bake and have no idea what it does, but, needless to say I spent hours looking for it yesterday. I knew I had one, my Mother gave me one when I got married, perhaps she had longed to come to my house for a spring form cake...I don't know. She bought me a ton of baking sheets, cake pans, etc... yet this darn pan was no where to be found. I looked everywhere...OK under the cabinets... but it had vanished. The more I thought about it, I couldn't find the bread pan she bought me either, it was so strange. After hours of searching I gave up, I figured it got lost in the move or I re-gifted it to some other poor soul with the desire to bake.
I went about the rest of the day cleaning, as I do on Tuesday and actually made chocolate chip cookies later in the day. After dinner I allowed the girls to have a couple of cookies while they stayed up and watched a new Dora movie. We have these special dessert plates we use and they are on a high shelf in the cabinet. Pete usually gets these, but, with him out of town I had to get them myself. Rather than taking the 2 seconds to pull over a chair, I hoped on the counter and grabbed the plates. I noticed my fake plant on top of the cabinets were a little dusty, so I stood up to get a better look and SURPRISE... my cake pans. I was using them to give a little height to the plants so you could see the over the crown molding of my cabinets. I started to laugh and checked out the rest of the things I used to prop up my ever so important brick-a- brack and low and behold.... the kids baby books!!! OK, for that I get a bad Mommy, but, at least they are safe and I won't forget were they are. Well, I guess I will forget because a couple of years ago a friend asked to see the ultrasound pictures from the girls and when she came over, she nearly died when I hoped on the counter top and pulled their books down. It was actually pretty funny and she said "only you Kat".
Unfortunately, many things in my life are this un-organized and only my close friends really know this. It's known in my circle of friends that I don't take pictures and if I do, don't count on ever seeing them. I am trying to be better with the girls and their keepsakes, but, failing miserably at that too. I have saved all of their school projects, but, I'm sure that won't last past this year.
I guess one of my resolutions should have been to become more organized or maybe keep a big list of where I put things. I guess I'll never forget were my pan is now.
What about you? Organized or pan on shelf person?

Heading Back...

School is back. Holidays are over. Back to the old grind. I have enjoyed these past 2 weeks. It was very casual and relaxing at times. Other times...wild and nuts and everybody with cabin fever. I am glad to have some peace and quiet here during the day again. Just me and my little one. He needs the break too!

The Obama girls are starting today too. A new school, new friends, a new life. I wish them luck. No matter who it is, a new school is tough on a kid.

There was a "Sparkle" in their eyes...

Well, Pete broke down and is going to let the girls get a kitten. I have mixed feelings on this, as I LOVE my cat Gus and I'm worried he may feel a little sad with a baby in the house.

The girls got to pick their new "baby" yesterday and boy was it hard. Each was cuter then the next. When my sister brought out the last of the 6 we all knew immediately that was going to be "Sparkle the cat"...the girls picked the name. ( I opted for Butch and Pete wanted Poker.) Anyway, he/she is a the runt of little and looks more like a mouse than cat, but, oh my is she cute. Grey and White and just the sweetest little face. I'm excited now, so I can only imagine how excited the girls are now.

The picture isn't the best, as my sister seems to always have "trouble" with her camera's. We get to bring he/she home in few weeks, so I will post a better picture then.

2008...are you glad it is over?

The past few weeks, months I have been thinking a lot of how much my life has changed in 2008. I can't decide if these changes have been for the good or bad.

Many months ago I found myself in a situation with a person who emotionally was taking advantage of me. She always seemed to manipulate situations to make herself look good and me look like the bad guy. Unfortunately, this person was my sister in law, so I had to figure out a way to work this out and build a strong relationship with her. We sat down for hours talking about why we both felt the way we did and why our relationship always seemed to go sour. I am happy to say we resolved our issues and were both very honest about how we felt and why we felt the way we did. We both decided from that point on we would no longer let the other rule over our emotions.

I was always very hesitant to approach her, she intimidated me and I always felt she was superior to me in so many different ways. Like being a Mom, a wife, a daughter in law, a sister...everything! When we sat down, I really learned she wasn't any different from me except for the fact that she didn't let others bully her around. She didn't take crap from people, nor did she allow people who didn't respect her to be in her life. Now, I have always respected her and it made sense...don't let people take advantage of you! I could do that, I could stand up for myself and speak my mind. From that moment on, I decided I would NOT allow people to push me around any longer. If they didn't respect and love me for who I am...then I don't need them in my life!


Of course in the months since this encounter I have lost a babysitter, pissed off my mother in law and saw the true side to a close friend. On the other hand I learned that people I have only known for a few years can be true friends, family will ALWAYS love you and someone I thought I lost, had been there the whole time.

I find my circle of friends much smaller, however, I am much happier. My husband keeps telling me I am "pissing everyone off" and " I will have no friends by the end of the year". I find it funny that the man I love is more concerned about the quantity of people in my life, rather than the quality.

I guess I am glad the year is coming to an end, however, I do not regret the path I have chosen. I look forward to the new year and the many new adventures I may have.



Have a safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

One of those mornings!

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Between a sick husband (always fun), crabby kids, my car not starting and being swamped at work with all sorts of crazy issues....it's just a stinker of a day!

It could be worse, the weather could suck too!

Calgon take me away!!!!

I know the picture is a "little" crude...but it's one of those days!