So cold

It's 74 degrees outside and inside, I feel like it's closer to being in the 40's or 50's.  Brrr!  My husband on the other hand, has been roasting.  He wants the windows open and the fans blowing.  If it's really hot, he wants the AC turned on, which I can't blame him.  But I'm shivering!  With this pregnancy, I've had the hardest time acclimating to the temperature, inside or outside.  My husband tells me to put more clothes on and I tell him to take more off.  He didn't appreciate my attempt at humor lol.  He's been really good actually, we're both trying to accommodate each other, it's just hard.  The kids for the most part seem to be more on the chilly side, like me.  When they stay busy and active, they warm up but that would go for anyone. If I could, I would do more, but not where I'm so sick.  Maybe tomorrow will be a good day?

Tight, but not bad

The downside to this pregnancy, I've been sicker than I've ever been with any of my pregnancies.  The upside, work has been really slow so I've been able to stay home and rest.  And by slow, I mean super slow.  Instead of working 15-20 hours or more a week, I'm down to 0-3 hours a week.  This week I don't work at all.  Yesterday, I had a really bad day, the worst thus far of my pregnancy and I was so glad I was home and my husband could help me.  Today has been a little better and we've been cleaning and organizing one of the bedrooms.  It's nice to be home with the kids and my husband but the tiny paycheck isn't good.  We have a little in savings that is helping and hopefully my job picks up again or my husband can find something.  Even though things are tight, we've never had to worry about going bankrupt on anything.  I know a lot of people do and some have had to look up texas bankruptcy law, but we have been blessed to not have to get into that.  Still, hopefully soon something works out for us so things aren't so tight!

Children dynamics

One of my kids has a friend over to play with and it's pretty cute watching and listening to them play together.  Their little voices are so cute already and then when they change their voice to talk like an animal or a baby, it's even cuter.  At one point they were watching a movie because it was naptime and they both were excited to watch the movie.  But after about 20 mins, the friend decided the movie was boring and didn't like it.  To which my child, who was shocked, said "but you haven't even watched the whole thing!" LOL  The friend went and played with toys and soon my child followed.  Now they're playing together again and having a good time.  It's cute to see how your child and someone else's react to different things and different situations. All part of learning, adjusting, and growing up. :)

Called around

I started playing the clarinet in middle school.  Loved it.  There was one boy in my class who was awesome and had private lessons and at the time, I wished I did too.  But that was too expensive and I was glad I could be a part of the band at all.  I've always felt music is a really good thing for any child to lean and recently we put our own kids in lessons.  They started playing the violin and are doing really well.  I had a realization that the violin and the clarinet both play piano notes.  Then I thought how fun would it be if we could play something together?  So I brought out my clarinet and played some songs with them.  It was fun except that my clarinet sounded really flat. That's not something I can fix so I called around to see what it would cost to get it looked at.  We have a number of places in town that I believed could do the job.  Most places do a ton of other instruments and sell things I've never even heard of.  Maybe one of them had native instruments maschine groove production studio, I don't know.  But I was glad they could help me with my clarinet, I just have to have the money to take it in.  Hopefully it's not too bad, I really want to get back into playing it.

I need a second vacation

I've never had that feeling of needing a second vacation right after your first vacation.  That was until today.  We just got home from a three day family reunion that my husband was in charge of.  It was fun, crazy, and busy but worth it.  Today though, I am really feeling the effects of getting off our routine and off our bedtime schedules.  For anyone who says regular bedtime routines aren't needed, they need to come to my house and see how we all are since being off our bedtime routine.  Seriously, both the kids and us stayed up until 10-11pm and one night even until midnight.  Then having to get up before 8am really sucked.  The drive home was horrible with the baby who had also stayed up really late and got up early.  We're all irritable and cranky today.  The baby took two good naps which helped her and the kids went to bed close to their normal bedtime.  I got in a nap but I still feel like crap and I know my husband is still really tired too.  So yes, this time I really feel like we need a vacation from our vacation.  Today and tomorrow should do the trick of getting us back on schedule.  Hopefully because the kids start school soon and an early bedtime is HUGE for them while they are in school.

I don't agree

I saw a post on Facebook about a cover for Time magazine that said something to the effect of having it all meant not having children.  At first I thought I read it wrong but nope.  Then I thought what do they possibly mean by "having it all?"  Does that mean you have the big house, the fancy car, the perfect job, you can afford to do any hobby you want, and you can vacation where ever and whenever you want?  If that's the case let me point out a few things.  We don't have a big house, heck, we don't even have a house.  We live in an apartment but it's perfect for us right now.  We don't have a fancy car but we have two really good cars and they are paid for.  I have a great job and it's in the field I want and I love what I do.  We do a little with hobbies and we have kids in music/swim lessons.  You can always find great deals with both of those which helps save you money.  For instance, did you know you can get a great banjo for sale at musicians friend?  Hobbies don't have to cost an arm and a leg.  Plus, as far as vacations go, true, we can't vacation whenever we want, we have to save up for it but we still go every year somewhere.  There are so many AWESOME places near us that I don't feel bad about not being able to visit Europe right now or go to Hawaii.  A vacation is a vacation no matter where you go and vacationing with kids is so much more fun too than just going as a couple.  Seeing life through a child's eyes is priceless.  Everything in life is more fun and exciting to experience when you have kids.  I really do have it all because of my kids.  I'm so blessed. :D

All the things I love

My last post was about my husband not being able to find a job and this post is about the job I have.  Thankfully we have an income while he is looking.  Things would be so rough if we didn't!  Anyway, I love my job and all that I am learning.  I learn something new almost every day.  My patients are all so different and with that comes different techniques when I talk to them and different techniques when it comes to their exercising and getting better.  Sometimes that's quite a challenge, trying to figure out the right approach.  Other days I nail it and I feel pretty awesome. :) 

I realized this week I still haven't learned to do a home evaluation. We have a checklist to use but I've never had to go do one.  From what I hear, two of the biggest obstacles in a person's home are their stairs and rugs.  Rugs are scary to navigate when you're weak and can't clear your toes.  Sure fire way to have a bad fall.  Stairs are big too because if you're weak, a lot of people can't go up or down and for some that means not going to parts of their home.  Some people put in a stair chair lift which is very helpful when there's no chance you'll ever get to walk again.  For my patients who can, we work on strengthening their arms and legs so they can negotiate their stairs without worrying about falling.  I love that my job helps make people's lives a little better.  That's the reason I do what I do and I will continue to love it as long as I do it.

Where are you???

Can someone please tell me what job is out there for my husband?  Seriously, I am tired of looking and not finding anything.  Let me rephrase that.  I'm tired of the looking, applying, and nothing.  Not a single interview which means not one single job offer.  Seriously, this is going to do me in.  Every time I do a search for jobs I try to be excited hoping I'll find the "one" and then there's nothing.  NOTHING.  So we expanded our horizons and looked for jobs that aren't specific to his degree but come close and then nothing.  Now, we're looking for really broad jobs and still NOTHING.  Argh! Where is it?  Why did he go to school if he wasn't going to find a job?  We could have save thousands of dollars and stuck to retail.  It's not right.  Somebody somewhere has to see his potential.  They just have to!  Or we both might go crazy.

Too funny

My kids have been into telling jokes lately and they're pretty funny.  The jokes are near as funny as listening to my kids try and tell the joke.  I remember for the longest time they would try and tell knock knock jokes but the joke wouldn't make sense. I would listen and smile and they tried to tell different ones and laugh at themselves thinking they were so funny.  They are getting better and the jokes are almost as funny as they are, it's so cute.  I went looking for hunting/fishing jokes just last night to tell a friend.  Wow there are a ton of jokes online!  There were a ton of lawyer jokes which didn't surprise me.  I imagine even a corporate lawyer raleigh nc has heard enough jokes in their lifetime.  As long as the joke is clean and funny, I'm all ears.  Laughing truly is the best medicine!

On the go

I like to run.  Ok, I like to jog.  On a steep hill, I'm practically walking with a bounce.  But hey, I do it and I enjoy it.  Most of the time. ;)  About five years ago I ran pretty consistently and since then I've run off and on at my own leisure.  Now, I'm back to running more consistently.  At least 3 days a week and up to five days if I can squeeze it in.  One 5k down and a couple of 10k's to go and if everything goes as planned, a half marathon before the year is out.  Pretty stoked!  I'm finding myself getting into a pattern with my running.  Certain clothes, certain music, positive attitude, pepper spray.  Yep, pepper spray is pretty important.  I just have a normal one but I think a pepper spray keychain would be kind of cool.  I've encountered one dog while running but thankfully the owners were out with it otherwise I'm pretty sure I would have had to spray him because he was not happy to see me.  Other than that it's been uneventful.  Running with friends is huge and running during the day too.  Great way to exercise!

Soooo tired

About a month ago, I helped my boss paint a room at our job.  It was not a small feat and the day before we were to begin, everyone was on board.  The day came and only my boss and I showed up to help along with a student of ours that didn't even need to be there.  Granted, two of our coworkers helped to tape off things but the painting was left to us.  That night we stayed about nine hours and left at 3am.  The next day we stayed 12.5 hours and left at 4:30am.  The following day we went in for a couple of more hours.  Yeah, took us 24+ hours to get it done, mainly just the two of us.  It was a bit of a nightmare but we got through it and the room looks great and I love to walk in and see it.  The huge downside to that, other than not having help and staying up really really late, is that it affected my baby.  She was just starting to sleep well and since then, she hasn't at all. Here I am a month later, and this week was particularly bad, and I still feel completely sleep deprived.  There's something to be said about having kids when you're young.  There's no way I would survive this if I was older.  I hope it doesn't take too much longer to get her back to sleeping well.  I may be young but it's wearing on me. :P

Need some extra motivation

I haven't felt very motivated lately.  It's not that I'm sitting around being lazy day in and day out.  No, I'm still incredibly busy and have things that need to be done on a daily basis.  It's just I haven't had the motivation to do a lot of it.  Does that make sense?  I do them, but I'm not overly excited or passionate about doing them.  That probably explains it better.  I don't know what my deal is, a bit of a slump I guess.  I wonder if it's my job?  The environment I work in, sometimes has really negative patients.  The ones that zap all the positive out of you.  Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time being excited about things?  I'm trying not to bring work home with me.  Sometimes I feel like talking about a rough day helps but I think forgetting about it all together lately, has helped more.  I've also been trying to incorporate some "me time" into the day to help me get back on track.  I got some new books for Mother's Day that I've been enjoying and of course I run to help with stress. Both have been beneficial. Oh, and more sleep has helped too.  I've also noticed that having my days planned out instead of just "winging it" helps keep me more upbeat because I know what needs to be done and I'm ready for it.  These little changes have helped and I'm noticing my slump go away. 

Going really well

Guess what?  I'm training for a 10k.  I haven't run this much, well, ever.  In the past I have trained for a 5k and was running 3 days a week but I haven't run much the past 2 years.  Now, I'm running 4 days a week and about 12 miles each week.  It feels really good to be so active and I've noticed some changes.  I've lost about an inch all around and I've dropped down two pant sizes.  I can't remember the last time I wore this size, it's been maybe 5 years?  Anyway, it feels really good and I know it will only get better.  This week our long run will be 4 miles and next week 5 miles.  So excited!  Today we decided to do a little cross training and run up and down stairs.  Holy cow that was tough.  You'd think running three miles nonstop would make it easier but it was really tough.  We did it though and then later we ran 3 miles.  And we didn't die. :)  I think cross training is good so I need to keep doing other things.  I've been thinking about doing yoga so maybe a cheap yoga mat is in the near future.  I have the Insanity dvd's I might start up again too.  More weight is going to fall off as I keep this up and keep up with eating healthier!  Pretty exciting!!

New glasses

I admit, when we need new sunglasses, which is often, we buy cheap from the store.  Maybe that's why we go through them so quickly, they're too cheap?  But you get what you can afford right?  So one of my pairs got really scratched, not sure how but they did.  So I found a cute pair that was cheap and bought them.  I brought them home and cleaned the lens and then found 2 tiny scratches.  I should return them but they were the only ones I liked so I'm going to keep them.  Yeah, I know that may sound strange but they are so cute!  Maybe I should look into getting some better sunglasses like maybe a pair of Ray Bans.  Are there ones you would recommend? 

Seriously?

Thursday, I went into work for a work lunch get together.  I walked in the door and saw all of our gym equipment in the halls and in other rooms.  I was definitely surprised.  I found my boss and asked what was going on and she said our floor was getting waxed.  Ok.  So we had our lunch and afterwards, I was talking to my boss and getting ready to leave and then a thought came to me.  For the last year, I have heard from a lot of people at my workplace that our gym needed to be painted.  At one time we even had approval to do it but no did anything about it.  So I thought why not paint it now?  Everything is out of the way and if we got everyone to help, it wouldn't take long.  So my boss went to her boss and he said sure.  We then went and picked out wall colors and got that approved.  We asked all of our coworkers if they could help and everyone said yes.  Friday rolled around and it was time to start.  3 people showed up.  Me, my boss, and a student who didn't even have to be there.  The student stayed with us for four hours and my boss and I kept at it for another 4.5 hours.  Saturday we went back and painted for 12 hours.  Just the three of us again.  Sunday we spent a few more hours.  Total: 25.5 hours of us painting.  Ridiculous!  There were other people who could have helped but chose not too.  It would have gone so much quicker if everyone had helped.  I am so tired and sore I could cry.  But our gym looks fantastic and it feels good that I could be a part of it.  So that's a plus!  It's been a crazy 3 day though!

Technology age

I remember playing the game Oregon Trail in elementary school.  It was my favorite game and every time we had a chance to go to the computer lab and play, that's what I picked.  At that time it was a rare chance to get on the computers which made it very exciting when we did.  But now, there's a computer everywhere you go.  There are computers in people's pockets in the form of a cell phone.  Who knew we'd get to this point?  With so much technology, it's hard to keep up with it all.  I came across web to print solutions at eoncode.com and I had no idea what it was.  I'm sure it's very useful and people use it, but I wasn't even sure what it was.  That's not the only thing, there's a bunch of things I don't know about when it comes to technology.  Thankfully my husband knows quite a bit so between the two of us, we don't do too bad.  We even play Oregon Trail once in awhile. :)

So many places to see

One thing we're going to do different this summer is that we want to go on a lot of family hikes.  There are SO many great places to hike around where we live.  Not to mention hiking is great exercise for the family and it's a lot of fun.  We've only gone on three hikes so far but they were a blast and the kids loved them.  Sometimes we invite friends to go with us and that's been neat too.  Being married to a geologist definitely has its perks when we go hiking.  He can tell us about the rocks and the land and knows why things are they way they are.  Geologists get to see so many different places and they learn some really neat things about our planet.  It's pretty cool listening to my husband talk about things.  He really puts things you don't think about into perspective and in a way that makes you excited to learn about it.  Sure there are a lot of things he hasn't learned.  For instance, I don't think he knows a lot about krugerrand but he could tell you a few places where you might find specks of gold.  He pretty amazing.  Our family is very blessed to have him!

Getting easier

I've been running more and more and it's been great.  I've never been a fast runner, my runs are more like an easy jog which is fun enough for me.  I've found a new running buddy and she's fantastic to go out running with.  Actually, we may have another girl that wants to run with us.  She did once already and wants to going again so that will be fun.  We've worked up to running 3 miles and up to 12 miles a week and I've set up schedules to work us up to being able to run a 10k and a half marathon without stopping.  Pretty darn stoked about that!  Running has really improved my health.  I've had more energy and I'm slimming down faster this way than with any other form of exercise I've done.  It feels really good to be putting my health first.  I cannot wait until my next run day and knowing I can run for a long time without stopping.  Feels pretty darn fantastic!

Little motivation

I haven't had much motivation to blog recently.  I have been busy with a few projects and my family which means my blogs have been on the back burner.  I'm not apologizing for not blogging, I like where my priorities are.  My kids are growing so fast and I enjoy spending as much time with them as I can.  My work schedule has picked up and I'm running more to improve my health.  So with it all, I am pretty busy.  Some days I feel like I accomplish a lot and other days, not much at all.  But overall, if there's any time left in my day, I will read a good book and go to bed a little early rather than spend a few minutes blogging.  It's been a nice reprieve, not feeling like I have to be glued to my computer.  I feel like I'm actually home-home rather than being at home but in the cyber world.  And I like that. :)

Tools

My husband likes to buy tools.  Granted he doesn't do it often because we don't have a lot of money to buy them but it's fun to see how excited he gets when he does.  Me on the other hand, I think there are plenty of practical tools, tools you need on hand at all times, and then tools that are fun to use for projects.  I couldn't tell you the names of half of my husband's tools but I know the important ones.  Flathead screwdriver, Phillips screwdriver, hammer, nail, mallet, drill. Ok, so maybe that's it lol.  If he asked me to get him a cap screw I would be very confused.  A what??  Yeah, he would start chuckling.  Hey, he knows all about that stuff so I don't feel like I need to know it all too.  Makes sense right? ;)

New car, or two

Job hunting has turned into one of my least favorite activities.  My husband is going on ten months of trying to find a job and still no luck.  Not even a single interview.  It's a frustrating process.  He's decided he will keep applying for jobs but will also apply for graduate school.  We can't search for a job for years so it's the only thing to do right now.  Luckily we haven't passed the graduate school deadlines so he's trying to cram in all the paperwork and get it done in time.  I still hope he finds a job but at least we have a back up plan.  Schooling isn't the worse thing to happen.  It will be good for my husband and it's something he's wanted, to go to graduate school.  It would mean me working a little longer and probably pushing off buying a house a little longer.  But, I've decided those things are ok.  We can still be happy with what we do have.  I am learning to be content with where we are now.  We are pretty blessed and we have a great family.  That alone is pretty darn amazing. :)

Trying to do better

Ever just want to make things better?  I do, especially with my job right now.  I don't like how things are going and the negativity I hear and see.  Drama and I aren't friends.  So what have I done?  Nothing.  I keep thinking things will get better, something will change.  People say they want things to be better but nothing is changing.  Nothing.  So me sitting and doing nothing isn't helping.  So here I am, wanting to do something.  So, I spoke with my boss about some ideas I had and she said "we could try them" but she really didn't think they would work.  She wants to fire people.  I think that isn't the answer.  I think we can help our current employees become better.  Better employees mean a better business and a better reputation of our company in the committee.  Getting some print catalogs about how well our employees work together makes a huge impact.  I know company's type that up but how often is it actually true?  I just want to help.  Maybe I'm in over my head.  Maybe nothing will change.  But no one else is trying, so we wouldn't be any worse off right?  Worth a try...

Rollercoaster weather

I haven't blogged in over a month but with good reason.  We have been busier than usual and we've been sick.  One person gets sick, we all get sick. Which means we're sick for weeks. :P  Now, my husband is sick again.  Gah!  This year has been the worst!  I really do think its because it's been so cold.  It goes from the 30's down to 0 then up again then down below zero. The fluctuating is keeping people indoors more and therefore everyone is getting really sick.  I hate being sick.  I don't mind the cold but the length of the cold weather is starting to wear on me.  I should look into kneipp products and some home remedies to ward this stuff off, whatever it is. I hope when the weather does clear up it sticks a little while.  The back and forth takes it toll, you can't even adjust. :P

I have had it

I wanted to sleep in this morning but things had to be done so I did them.  I wanted to take a bath later this afternoon but ended up holding a sick child.  I took an accidental nap in the late afternoon and by my husband's recollection, I snored pretty loud.  Not surprising, I am almost totally exhausted.  The nap was nice except I woke up with my head in a fog and a head ache coming on.  I really could use a long shoulder massage to loosen things up.  Due to the nap, I didn't get to the store to look for an outfit for this weekend.  I have a song I'm performing with friends and I don't have an outfit.  I was supposed to get some papers over to a friend too, and I didn't get that done either.  I was going to work on my performance too and make cookies today.  Didn't get to either of those.  My husband and I had plans to go out for dinner, even had a sitter lined up but had to cancel because we needed to take our child to the dr.  I tried to get some things done on my computer earlier so I could have some time to take that bath I've wanted all day long but we're trying to get the baby used to sleeping in her crib at night.  I spent over an hour trying to get her to go down, no such luck.  My husband and I got into an argument, which was my fault, so now I'm even more crabby because I came across badly and didn't mean to.  We resolved things and right now I'm totally ready to go to bed but I still have a handful of things to do.  This week has been super crazy and completely depressing. Some weeks aren't very fun.  Happy birthday to me.

So done

Today, the rest of our Christmas decorations came down.  I am so grateful to have that all done!  My husband did the majority of it which was really nice.  I helped put away the tree decorations and take off lights but that was about it, he did the rest.  Minus the lights on the house, everything is down, finally.  See, we ended up pulling out all the decorations before Thanksgiving, which we've never done before.  So it's felt like everything had been up f.o.r.e.v.e.r.  I was beyond ready to take things down but we haven't really had the time.  Hopefully soon we'll be able to take down our lights outside too.  I would hate to have something happen to them.  We don't have brown christmas lights but the multicolored LED lights.  My husband works so hard to make our home light up so pretty and he excels at it every year.  I worry when he's on the roof but love when he finishes!  I love Christmastime but I'm ready to move on from it.