Week 2 Over and Done!

Published January 24, 2014 by Angela

When I go to college, I tend to live my life in 6-week increments; 6 weeks is how long I have to complete each class. I have to say the best feeling is the last assignment turned in for a class; knowing you can do absolutely nothing else!

This journey has showed me that I need to keep my focus. My focus on my girls, the homeschooling schedule, the church schedule, and squeeze in some me-time 🙂

I love my lists!

I love my lists!

With a week to go, I am feeling comfortable that I can do this, and get my MBA. I can teach Erin her homeschooling, and support my other 3 girls in everything they have going on. I can get to church every Sunday morning (I have made it every weekend this year! Do you remember my to-do list for 2014?) And I can work long hours and still get up and cook dinner and eat with my girls, play Mario on the Wii, and watch mindless TV (Sleepy Hollow anyone? anyone?)

It is a snow day, again… Such is life in Michigan. I get to work again this weekend, and am looking forward to some sound sleep, getting up and having dinner with my girls, and relaxing before work. Oh, and homework. I have to get some posts in or my grade will go down.

So here’s to wishing you a Happy, warm weekend, and may you get to do the things you want to do!

 

Well That Wasn’t So Bad!

Published January 15, 2014 by Angela

I have officially made it through my first week of college for my MBA. I have to be honest and say this is only a 3 week course, to go over the school policies and requirements for writing essays, with about 6 assignments due a week, and 2 quizzes. Then I have a short break before the real fun begins; Research and Statistics. Yep. That type of class. The last one made me cry on a daily basis, nearly have a nervous break-down, and almost give up on getting my BBA.

I’ve gotten over that though. I didn’t give up. I didn’t have a nervous break-down (I am honestly not exaggerating here, it WAS that bad for me). I am going into this next class with a positive, can-do attitude, and know if I keep the right attitude, the class will fly by.

That about sums it up!

That about sums it up!


 

One thing I have noticed in 7 days, is I have no time to blog. Keeping my two blogs is my evening (morning for most of you) relaxation and unwind time. It’s what I do when I get home from work and get the kiddo’s up and off to school. I dig into my bowl of chocolate candy sitting right next to my laptop (like that’s going to help me sleep!) Then it’s a movie in the DVD player, ear plugs in, eye mask on, and hopefully some sound sleep before the kids start coming home.

My nightly snack (not all at once!)

My nightly snack (not all at once!)

So until I figure out how to add college back into my schedule and not give up the things I enjoy, my postings may be few-and-far-between.

Here’s to higher education, and the things I willingly put myself through.

Snow Day #2!

Published January 7, 2014 by Angela

Yesterday my girls let me sleep, didn’t destroy the house, and Erin actually did some of her homework she was behind on. Here’s hoping for the same mad-luck today, and that it wasn’t just the Tylenol PM working heavy-duty and they really did get along without fighting and yelling at each other. Car thermostat on the way to work last night? -2 degrees. Windchill? -20+ degrees. And still getting colder.

Oddly enough, I am hoping they don’t have school tomorrow either, because I have a very busy day with limited sleep and not having to get kids up for school would be a huge help!

Are you snowed in as well, or are you warm and balmy somewhere that the sun is shining?

Snow Day? No Way!

Published January 6, 2014 by Angela

Snow Day
I guess I should feel a little bit guilty that I have assignments set for my 12 year old homeschooler to complete; while her two sisters have a snow day today, and more than likely tomorrow. Their school closed early last night (Okay, all schools in West Michigan closed basically by 7pm last night). She has gotten a bit off-task, and my intention was to get her caught up and on-task while I was off for Christmas break. She ended up going to her Fathers for 10 days and although she did some work, she did not complete near the amount I had hoped she would.

I asked her 15 year old sister to please help her with her math, and she has a lot of Ancient History work to get done before she goes to that class on Friday. I will have to keep my fingers crossed that she actually does what I need her to do, and leaves the puzzle sitting on the kitchen table alone. She is the only person I know who may very well like to do puzzles even more than me.

So the game plan is I am going to get safely home from work, take 2 Tylenol PM, put in my earplugs, put on my eye mask, turn on The Hobbit in my DVD player and turn my television up to 50, and hopefully I can get a good day’s sleep and be ready to dig into some Algebra with Erin after dinner. I just hope their game plan is to not argue, fight, or try to go outside with -35 degree wind chills. I got a feeling this is going to be a long, cold, tiresome week. And how is your Monday?

Did I Almost Let Cinderella Get Away With This?

Published January 3, 2014 by Angela

As I am reading, and reviewing a book for my blog http://booksandopinions.com, I am seeing how the information I am putting out there is really suited in many ways for this blog as well. So I am going to switch it up a bit, but here is the gist of it.

I am reading Cinderella Ate My Daughter, by Peggy Orenstein. It was a Christmas present from my 21 year old daughter. The premise of it is basically how companies continue to market to girls at younger and younger ages, creating the word  ‘tweens as a demographic group that did not even exist two decades ago. As a mother of 4 daughters, I can see snippets of myself all over this book.

I recently just finished reading a section that went into great detail the author’s experience at child beauty pageants. I do not watch Toddlers and Tiaras or any other reality shows about children’s beauty pageants, but I have the general idea of what is going on there. All the Mom’s insist that their daughters want to do these pageants. As soon as they want to quit we are done. This is good for them. etc, etc.

 

Now I am not bashing these beauty pageants or the parents who encourage their daughters to participate. It strictly brought to mind the 9 months my youngest daughter spent doing Irish Dancing. Keep in mind that no matter how big the award you win for Irish Dancing is, there is never (NEVER) any money prizes involved. You get trophys, medals, and ribbons. No cold-hard-cash to help offset the cost of the dresses, shoes, wigs, hotel rooms, price of gas travelling, etc. I have to say I was keeping track of what kind of money I was investing, but I don’t have it handy right now and I never added it up. But here’s the scenario:

My Girl all decked out!

My Girl all decked out!

I asked my 12 and 9 year old if they want to do Irish Dancing. 12 year old, maybe, 9 year old, definitely. The 9 year old gets registered ($55.00) and cost of class is $75.00 a month (for 1 hour every Monday). Soft shoes needed; new $55.00+, used, I got a pair for $15.00. School dress is needed $; said school dress needs to go to person to embroider school pattern on dress $, socks are needed, $10.00 a pair. We need to travel 3 ½ hours away for a fundraiser $$$ gas, Hotel, food, etc. Now she needs hard shoes; $115.00+ new, I get a used pair for a steal at $85.00. We need to drive 3 hours away for a practice session for 1 hour. Oh, wait. We are going to do the summer classes at our studio 45 minutes away from you; I pay someone gas money weekly to transport child. August comes, child has worn hard shoes 3 times, and decides she is done.

 

Was I mad? not at all. Upset? Nope. Disappointed? A little. I had to make it clear to her that at her age, this was not something she could quit for a year and then get back into; she would be farther behind than she would like, and competing against kids much younger than her.

 

She never looked back, and neither have I. But I am still the proud keeper of a school dress, soft shoes, hard shoes, socks, and a wig that I need to take 10 minutes to put on Ebay and sell.

 

The whole experience was definitely a learning one for both (all) of us. I know if I hadn’t asked, she never would have approached me and said “Mom, I want to do Irish Dancing”. I am not 100% sure she even knew what it was before she started. So as I read through what appears to me to be horror stories of kids and pageants, I realize I was likely at the beginning of mine, but luckily my little girl threw the brakes and we got off that ride. It takes a special kind of family life and commitment to have a child enrolled in something like pageants, sports, music, or dancing. As a single full-time-working Mom, I think the more experienced she became, the thinner I would be getting stretched.

My 2014 To-Do List!

Published January 2, 2014 by Angela

I am not one to do resolutions, only for the fact that it seems to be much more pressure to accomplish something than you would normally feel if, say, you decided to go on a diet starting the 3rd Wednesday of February. And I also figure I gave up more than enough things in 2013, and I lost about 30 lbs (not entirely intentional) so I am going to share my To-Do List. I am an avid list maker; I have them in my desk at work, in my purse, in my car, on my dresser, on my bookshelf, stuffed inside books I was reading at the time, I think you get my point. With that being said, it is my intention that this To-Do list is one I will actually follow, and work towards.

 

1)      Go to church a LOT more than I did this past year (This tends to be difficult on Sunday mornings because a. I work 3rd shift, it’s a whole sleep/awake thing we aren’t going to get into here, and b. my 12 year old needs to go to confirmation classes from 9:30-10:30am, and trying to get her to church by 8:15 am for the actual service is next to impossible impossible.

2)      Tithe a LOT more at church than I did this past year. Granted, attending more should lead to tithing more, but I truly want to get it to the level it needs to be at. Give until it hurts, right?

3)      Stop swearing. Yes, I swear. A lot. Not as much as I used to, but enough that I cannot justify my faith and attendance at church while continuing to cuss like a sailor in my home.

4)      Stop yelling. Ugghh; this is a big one for me. I have gotten much better, but my 2 youngest tend to communicate by yelling (yes, they learned it from me) so I tend to continue to communicate in that manner with them. Meaning, if they are yelling and screaming at each other, I yell “Knock it off!” So not necessary.

5)      Make and take some “me” time. I do not get time away from my girls, pretty much ever. I also have college classes beginning in 7 days for my Master’s Degree (which could really hinder any chance of free-time what-so-ever!). So I think this year it is going to be more important than ever that I make sure I have time to myself to recoup, and relax, and keep my sanity right where I need it; with me.

6)      Patience. I just gotta get some. This in turn will likely help tremendously with #’s 3 & 4.

7)      Exercise. Exercise. I do NOT like to exercise. Never have, likely never will. My intention is to actually begin running as soon as the temperature gets above 10 degrees in Michigan.

8)      Read the Bible. The WHOLE Bible. Even the hard parts that I never understand and skip over. I have started a reading program with the YouVersion Bible App. I should complete this task in 6 months.

9)      Improve my photography skills. I have an amazing camera system and lenses, but never seem to take the time to experiment with it. I spent 4 years in high school taking photos for our yearbooks so I am familiar with the technical speak of photographers, I just need to test the limits of my camera.

10)    Allow myself to be happy! I have felt incredible for the last 5 months, and I just really need to enjoy and bask in that.

What are your big goals?

Back To Reality – Well, By About 50% So Far!

Published January 2, 2014 by Angela

Image

What a wonderful, relaxing Christmas break I have had. Normally I do not look forward to time off from work (it does nothing more than mess with my sleep schedule and turn me into “not-so-nice-Mommy-anymore!”)

And being the 1st of January, and technically the 2nd for me being a shift worker, I get to go back to work tonight. I am feeling pretty good about this, and not dreading it like most people do.

 

Why is this only back to reality by 50%? Because I am still 2 children short until this upcoming weekend, and it has been like this since the day after Christmas. I have to be completely honest here, my 2 children that are with their father are the same 2 children who have been fighting with each other, and everyone else, non-stop for the past month. My 15 year old didn’t want to go, so while she has been home and not hanging out with her friends, we have had some bonding time, and complete peace and quiet in our house.

Don’t get me wrong, I do miss my girls. But I am liking the peace and quiet right now more than I am missing them. Yes, I know that makes me a bad Mom and I should be crying over the fact that my girls have been gone for a week now. What you need to understand to put this in perspective, or at least in my point of view, is that I never have peace and quiet here. My children never leave to go with their Dad. The last time before now that he has seen them? April. Spring break when I physically dropped them off and picked them back up. Or he wouldn’t have seen them at that time either.

No, I’m not bashing my ex. It is what it is and honestly, I am glad that I do not have to communicate with him on a regular basis, it makes life a lot easier for me and my girls (they agree on this point, hence, one of them not even wanting to go).

So I think I have 3 or 4 more days of this quiet, argument-free environment before they come back home. And I will hug them, and kiss them, and tell them how much I love them and missed them (Yes, I really do miss them!). And then I am going to try to put into place something; anything that will help everyone get along better without the bickering over completely mute issues.

I am looking forward to making this 2014 year a wonderful one for me and my family, even without resolutions being made.

Have you made any resolutions?

Christmas Is Over…..Now What?

Published December 29, 2013 by Angela

After a huge build-up to Christmas, and having a most wonderful Christmas, I would normally be feeling: “Now what do I do?”

I still have a couple days off from work, I am down to one child until after the first of the year, and I am running out of puzzles to assemble.

It is still Advent for those of us who Celebrate the Christmas season. Normally I go from Christmas straight to Easter, not stopping to focus on the very real season of Advent. From my Advent Devotionals booklet, today is the fifth day of Christmas. The fifth of 12 days of Christmas, although these 12 days are a bit different than the song 🙂

“Christmas is indeed a huge deal in our country. But is our world really that much different than the first century? How often is Jesus’ birth overshadowed by Christmas specials about St. Nick, snowmen, or grinches? Can we see the torch-lit manger beyond the bright, holiday lights, the high-gloss advertisements, the preoccupying parties? How often do our own Christmas planning and preparations push Him off to the side?” (The World Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us, 2013, Lutheran Hour Ministries, pg. 23)

I know I tried to Keep Jesus at the forefront of my Christmas celebrations, and I think I did a good job, but of course could have done better. So I will focus on Advent, as we move into the Easter season, and keep putting the important things 1st.

Do you have a special tradition you do at Christmas to honor our Lord?

Praticing Patience

Published December 27, 2013 by Angela

I think UPS has just given up 😦 The 3-day delivery on my Nook HD+ will be here in 7 days. Not angry, UPS and FedEx employees have jobs I would not ever want to do. Very sorry they are taking so much heat; I have to think that all of the customers out there being nasty have never made a mistake in their lives, EVER.
Personally, my girls could have used some time on Christmas morning with gifts missing from under the tree to focus on the real reason for the season; A gift that could never be wrapped!

With 2 of my girls gone for the next several days, and they also happen to be my two fighters 🙂 I literally feel lost as to what to do with myself. I am not used to this much quiet, so my own home is feeling quite alien to me. I am also still off work for several days yet, so this is my time to get things caught up so I can start 2014 on the right foot. And I am super-excited for what this coming year will have in store for me and mine 🙂

Do you have resolutions in mind that you are going to put in place?