Back To Reality

Now that the holidays have come to an end and the kids are back in school, it's time to get back into the swing of things. While I enjoy spending time with my extended family during Christmas, there is something to be said for getting back into a routine.

It turns out I'm thankful for the order of everyday life.





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Busy, Busy, Busy

I know it sounds like a cop-out to blame not posting on being busy, but I really have been.  I realize everyone is busy these days, but I just haven't felt like getting online and posting anything when I've had a moment to myself.  

As school started back up this year, I ended up with all 3 of my kids playing football.  There was a lot of shuttling to and from practices and going to games.  It made for a very active couple of months.  To add to the insanity, I had 3 trips to go on for work that each kept me away for a few days at a time.  Everything went well while I was away and my husband kept the house from falling down around us. 

I hadn't thought much about my blog, but now as we are approaching Thanksgiving, I realize I have gotten lazy when it comes to posting about how grateful I am for all of the wonderful people and things in my life. 

While we've been so busy, I have tried to find time to thank my husband who is always there to help keep me sane.  He somehow always manages to keep cool under pressure when I feel like I'm spinning out of control.  Thank God for bringing Aaron to my life to give me balance.

Operation Make Mommy Happy

Okay, so I had a bit of a meltdown Tuesday evening. It was a meltdown I'm sure many mothers before me have had. It included statements/questions such as: "No one around here listens to me," "Why can't you put trash in the trash can," "Do I really have to remind you every day to put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher," and a few others. I ended up in tears. I was feeling overwhelmed with things to do at work and at home and I hit a breaking point.

Fast forward to getting home from work yesterday evening, and I walk in to a nearly spotlessly clean house courtesy of the kids in what Aidan coined "Operation Make Mommy Happy."  Apparently, after I had retreated to bed the night before, my husband had gathered the kids together and had a talk with them about me being stressed and them taking responsibility for their chores without being told repeatedly to do them.


God bless my husband and kids for putting up with me when I get crazy like that.  They are so great for doing what they did and I made sure they know that they always make me happy.

Doubly Blessed

I find myself getting sentimental when I start thinking about my babies turning 13 five days from now.  I can't believe it's true!  As a young, unmarried woman, I obviously wasn't initially thrilled at the idea of being pregnant, and when I found out I was having twins it was more than a little shocking.  But once they were born it didn't take me long to realize that I had been doubly blessed.  They have grown to be smart, funny, thoughtful young men who have given me many happy memories and will undoubtedly supply many more in the coming years.  Happy Birthday (a little early) Brady & Bryant!!!

Mmmm Mango-Rita

Today I am thankful for happy hour with the girls and that tomorrow is Friday.

If You Can't Stand the Heat, Don't Come to My House

I don't want to be a whiner, but it is REALLY hot outside.  Why today--the hottest day of the summer so far--did my air conditioner have to break?  Is it some cruel cosmic joke?  Of course, I understand there are many, many worse things going on in the world and I am infinitely blessed, but I just hate being hot.  I don't know that I could have survived before air conditioning came along.  I probably would have been one of those women who always got the vapors and needed my fainting couch.

I digress.  I write this post to vent my frustration with companies who choose to be so greedy at the time people are in worst need of their services and to say that I'm thankful that in this instance I wasn't at their mercy. We happen to have a family connection who will be doing the work for us, but he couldn't get to us until tonight. To find out what was wrong and get the parts, we put in a service call with a national chain.  Said chain quoted $1000.  We thanked them kindly for their diagnosis and sent them on their way.  

The parts necessary to complete the repair as they quoted (I won't get into the fact that we probably don't even need everything they quoted) cost a total of $220. Our family connection has told us these types of repairs take 2 hours or less.  Assuming the national chain can get the parts at a similar price, that leaves roughly $800 for the 2 hours of labor--$400/hour!?!  Even if you calculate in the technician's wages (he probably only gets $15/hour), benefits, workers compensation, liability insurance, etc., I can't imagine it would be anywhere close to $400/hour.  Ridiculous!

I feel better to have vented, and I will close by saying that I am SO grateful we weren't at the mercy of this company.  Thank you Josh!

TGIF

This is my first post testing out my new blog app to see how I like it. So far so good. I'm ready for the weekend. I must say the summer always makes me wonder why I didn't become a teacher or choose some other school related career. I sometimes daydream about sleeping in and having the time off with my kids. Then, of course, I snap back into reality and acknowledge that I'm not all that fond of many other people's children, nor am I patient, so everyone is probably better off that I took a different path.

For those of you who are educators, administrators, or counselors, thank you for all you do. I hope you enjoy the summer with your family.