Patience is a fine virtue to have

And I wish I had some!

I'm trying something new out, so please bare with me.  I'm moving my blogs over to here.  

Thank you for your continued support.

What a day for thinking.

I've been in thought today.
It's not good.

Tomorrow my second son turns 13.  Yes, that means I'll have 2 teenagers in the house.  Yuck.
Today I signed my daughter up for preschool.  Yikes!  I know it doesn't start until October, but still!
I also signed up my oldest son up for college stuff.  Not actual college, mind you, but stuff to help him get ready. Cuz he leaves for college in 4 years and they must get ready as soon as possible, and obviously I need lots of notice for this kind of stuff.
My third born has been doing middle school forecasting this past two weeks.  OMG.  TWO kids in middle school at the same time?  What was I thinking?  Middle school is difficult enough for just one!

I don't think I'm old enough for all this.  Seriously?  Oh!  And my birthday is Friday.  So if I didn't already feel old, I have a day coming very soon that will remind me.  Lovely.

Oh geez, I just realized... My daughter will graduate high school in the year 2025.  Think how old I will be then!

So lets recap:  Matthew graduates in 2013, JoNathan in 2015, Caden in 2016.  Jaidelyn will graduate when I'm a wrinkled old lady.  Awesome.

I'm done thinking for the day.

My daughter...

Could she possibly be any cuter?  I doubt it!
So I have a stupid music obsession.  (OMG I can't believe I'm going to indulge this, please don't make fun of me!) It's Miley Cyrus.  She's catchy.  What?  


So anyway, we (Jaizy and I) were watching the video for "Party In The USA" and Jaizy is dancing, and I'm encouraging her, cuz, ya know, I pay for dance classes and all, and it comes to the part where it says "And a Jay-Z song was on..." And Jaidelyn got so excited!  She's screaming "It's my song, It's my song!"

And so we're cool like that.  I name my daughter after R&B singers and we listen to teeny boppers music.

Finally!

Freakin' finally!  I've dropped below my weight from December!
I gained 4 pounds over the holidays and kinda slacked off, not caring about taking it back off and keep going with the weight loss momentum.  Totally not going to meet my goal of 25 pounds before March 15th, but I'm going to lose as much as I can.  
I'm officially the lowest I've been in 2.5 years and I'm excited about it!  My plan of action:  Get on the elliptical every morning that I don't work.  And go for a walk in the afternoon.  I have my own little personal cheerleader, Jaidelyn!  She gets all excited when she sees me on the machine, it's so cute! She's all: Mommy, Yay!  You're awesome!  I love you!
hee hee...

Kosher's new home.

Yes, Kosher was supposed to be an indoor pig. But get this. Pigs eat stuff! And he doesn't care if it's not edible! So... Instead of getting upset with Jaizy for leaving toys on the floor, because honestly, the poor girl doesn't have a room of her own to keep her toys in, we gave the pig his own "room" outside. He has a great shed for lounging in and his own fenced in (read: poop and root) area. He loves it. Kinda. He's a little confused that he is fenced in, BUT he was crashing in the shed, wrapped up in a tarp no less, before he was penned in, so he'll get used to it!

Here are some pictures of the boys making his pen. A big special thanks to my friend Heather for all the fencing materials!

Domestica!

If you'd like, check out my other blog: Denakisland Domestica, Not Quite A Domestic Diva!

I put my weekly menu and recipes up. Also pictures of cooking and some yummy extras!

Ahhh.... life.

So, see, it hasn't been 7 months! But I'm not too sure what to post. ummmm....

Kosher (our pig!) is being pretty naughty! So he gets to spend lots of time outside and he doesn't

mind so much (considering he's a pig) and our garden gets nice and roto'd while he's out there.

Pigs like to root around, and we may not actually have to rototill the garden when it comes time to plant again. Quite a bonus! See the picture of our tilled garden? This is where the pumpkins go!

Here is a picture of the naughty pig, dirty nose and all!

I have not been being very disciplined in my life lately. I've hardly dedicated any time to ChaCha in the last 3 weeks and I've only booked a few parties. I need to set up a schedule to work all my jobs and stick to it. Yes I played hooky today too, but not really, so don't give me any flack about it!

Kids are doing well! Matthew has been able to turn around his grades from last year. He's gone from almost failing all of his classes to 4 A's, 1 B and 1C (in Spanish.) He's still terrible at homework so he does really well when he can get stuff done at school, but it's such an improvement I can't really complain too much.

JoNathan got a couple of awards last week at school. One for having 4.0 GPA the first trimester and the other was a character award "Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Responsible." He was nominated for that one from all his teachers, so it's quite an accomplishment. He is so good at coming right home and sitting down with his homework. He really strives to be the best.

Caden loves being back at Sojourner. He truly missed not being there, as any teacher at his other school will tell you. He's doing well and seems to be on track to start middle school next year.

Jaidelyn wants to go to school! (She also wants a visit from the tooth fairy, although I can't figure out why!) She can't wait to be old enough. I think she thought she would get to start when she was 3. So I enrolled her in a dance class. She has attended one and LOVED it! It was so cute how she was watching and following along! It definitely helps her feel like a "big kid!"

Here she is jumping over a "puddle!"

She's so proud of her new dancing shoes!

Here is Jetto. We usually just call him Jett. He loves Jaidelyn like every dog should love a little girl. It's Jason he's not so fond of! But they are coming around and to terms with each other, slowly and surely. It probably doesn't help that Jett thinks he should stand on the table.

Long Time, No See!

Ok, so I'm busy, sue me! (Please don't, I don't have any money!)
What's been up? Let's see...
Summer was fun.
Got a pet pig.
Enrolled a kid in each high school, middle school and got a kid back at Sojourner!
Lost my full time income.
Started selling Scentsy, in addition to kicking up my Brown Bag Party business.
Got my pig neutered. Yup, sure did!
Discovered the Farm Stand a block from my house and am going to miss it when it closes for the season.
Got an actual paying outside-of-the-house job. It's very, very part-time with very, very part-time pay.
Almost had a car die on me, but we were able to perform CPR and get it all fixed! (CPR stands for Car Parts & Repair in this case, gotta love my husband!)
Joined Weight Watchers and lost 14 pounds. Quit Weight Watchers and lost another 6. I'll keep at that, but I miss Weight Watchers!
Waited and waited and waited for New Moon, and was not disappointed!
That's pretty much it.
I bet you're wondering about that pig, right?
I'll fill you in later, and NO it won't be in 7 months!

Convention

I'm leaving for the Brown Bag Party convention in 2 days. I'm amazingly nervous. Not to go to convention, I'm totally excited about that! But to get there I'm taking a plane. I hate planes. Edit: I hate it when planes don't do what they are supposed to: Take off and land safely.
I know that the chances of me not getting there or back is surprisingly low, and I'm sure I'm not doing myself and favors by dwelling on it. But I can't help it. I don't like to fly and I have no one to come with me and hold my hand. That sucks! If just one other person from the area had been willing to go we could have driven which would have made me so much happier.
(I swear, I must be living under a flight path right now and the planes seem SO LOUD! - I think they're taunting me)
So... anyway, I get on a plant at 11 something on Wednesday and get back around 2:30 on Sunday. The days in between are going to be so awesome, I know, but the getting there and getting back are going to be Hell.

My girls night out experience

This even happened a while ago (has it been 2 months already?) and I think I may have just recovered.
A little background: I am a homebody. I'm practically a shut it when it comes to having fun. I do not go out and dance, I don't spend much time with girlfriends, and I NEVER go to clubs!

I went to a friend's house with the intentions that we were going to be playing games, a little snacking, and a lot of bullshitting. So after not very long of being there everyone decides that we should go to the local watering hole and dance.
Oh fun.
So I have the biggest car able to transport everyone there (minivan mom!) and back and I'm not a drinker so it should be fun! Who else is going to sit and watch the purses? ME!
So this place is kind of a joke, in my opinion! Loud (of course), Hoochie Mamas to the brink of madness, and these guys with the crazy gleam of prowlness (is that a word?) in their eyes. So after a while there all that gals are begging me to go downtown with them. I'm suspecting it's because I'm 1) sober and 2) a good purse watcher. So I call the hubby at the time that I said I'd be home and see if he minds that I stay out later.
Side note: Jason does not tell me what to do or how to do it, this is just a common courtesy that we have in our wonderful marriage.
My stipulation to all of this is we HAVE to stop somewhere so I can get a better shirt to wear, make-up and maybe a piece of flair because I was not in shape to go anywhere besides hainging out with friends in a private residence! I'd already embarrassed myself going to the one bar looking like a 32 year old haggard housewife who never leaves her house. Oh yeah, that's exactly what I am! lol
So we stop by Walmart. Yay Walmart! Open 24 hours a day! For Schlups like me! I find a half way decent shirt that I would have never bought under any other circumstance. I really needed another bra to go with this shirt, but there was no way I was dealing with that at 12:30am. Then off to the makeup section to grab some essential: conceiler, eyeliner and mascara. On my way back there was some cute jewelry so I grabbed a few pieces of that as well. (Flair!) Pay (Why was the line wait so rediculous at 12:30am?) and into the bathroom for a quick turnaround! Ok, ALMOST halfway decent and I'm off to find my gal group. They were eating! Smart gals!
SO off to Embers we go! WOOHOO!
Ok... um... did you know that this was a gay club? I did know this however I didn't think too much of it.
Wow. We walked in and there was fantastic music. Lots of dancing. Lots of "making out" on the dance floor. I put that in quotes because I think it was just on the edge of actually having sex. Decent drinks. I had one, I can't even remember what it was, but thanks Chrissy for the drink!
I'm standing on the edge of the dance floor watching drinks. (Everyone was very smart and left purses and what not in the car, so I was watching drinks! Of course this was a self appointed job.) And let me tell you what I saw:
This wonderful little man who was dancing up a storm! I don't know that he would actually qualify as a "little person" but he was pretty close. He was so exuberant! Dancing like crazy with anyone who would get close, I mean dance with him. He was so dang cute! I could imitate the way he danced, but I'll save myself the shame, thank you. He even would come up to the group I was with and dance, cute!
Then they played Madonna and of course I got out there and shook my thang. Mind you, not the same kind of "thang" that a lot of the people there were shaking, but you get the picture.
Back to the edge of the floor and onto my observation. (I'm shaking it up a bit the more time goes on. A little side to side, a step here or there.)
Then I saw these guys. They were "Night At The Roxbury-ish" kind of guys. They were going after one of the gals in my group trying to convince her who was "less gay" I mean, less gay? Is there really such a thing? I mean, either you're gay or your not. Right? Maybe I'm a little unPC about that, but really, is it worth a girl, Guys to disregard your sexual preference? Probably not. NOT that I'm implying the gal we were with wouldn't have been worth it, she was a great, fun person! But... these guys seem to be the type who were swarming in on anyone who would pay attention. Ok, before I go any further I have to express that I'm not a bigot, I understand and appreciate that people can choose any sexual orientation and they even have the right to be bisexual and go back and forth as they see fit. I am just telling it like I saw it. I was under the impression those guys were there to pick up on ANYONE who would go home with them, maybe even together (again, no judging!) and that is what I find interesting. Sad, but interesting.
So, we stayed until last call and then we got the hell out of there!
It was fun. Would I do it again? Yes, with better planning though.
I've decided I HATE Walmart in the middle of the night!
And I will always go to game night in makeup.

Mother Nature is on my sh*t list!

Yeah, had to cancel my daughter's 2nd birthday party, school has been out all week (that puts 9 kids in my house!)- probably the rest of it too and my son has a cast on his arm.

Mother Nature is on my "naughty" list this year!

Happy Birthday to my Baby, uh... I mean Toddler!

Oh my gosh, I can't believe 2 years have gone by. I can't believe she isn't technically a "baby" anymore. Can I at least still get away with calling her the baby for 8 more years or so?

This are the things I've learned over the last 2 years:

• I STILL hate the terrible 2's... even after 8 and a half years.
• Little feet are so fun to play with in the wee hours of the morning.
• I enjoying doing little girl hair! Who would have known?
• Shoes are a wonderful thing. Collect as many as you can.
• Same goes for hair pretties.
• And baby dolls.
• I must be a good mommy because When Jaizy plays with her baby dolls she is the bestest baby-doll mommy ever. Monkey see, monkey do, right?
• I can still read "How Do Dinosaurs Say Good-night" by memory.
• Same with "I Love Your Forever"
• And "Where The Wild Things Are"
• And "Quick As A Cricket"
• And "Oh The Places You'll Go"
  
• All in my teacher-mommy-desiree way of reading books.
• Chocolate Milk is a requirement for good behavior.
• Mommy and Daddy's beds must be far more comfortable than big girl beds.
• A smile is a good way to get out of trouble. (Man! She learned this one YOUNG!)
• Little girls + pencils = very artistically decorated dining table chairs.
• Big brothers all have their special place in little sister's hearts. They all have a certain purpose. Matthew is for entertainment. JoNathan is for playing with. Caden is for cuddling with. (see pictures below)
• All Daddys should have a little girl if they want one. (See pictures below)
• That Mommys should too, even if they didn't know they wanted one.

12.16.08 25 hours old.

7.3.07 Mom can't make me laugh! But Bubba Can!

9-15-07

12-15-07

5-9-08

12-14-08

9-17-08

4.27.08

6.27.08

9.25.08 Yes Jason is IN the Rose Petal Cottage with Jaizy

12.15.08

12.15.08

Bleh...

I woke up this morning not feeling very good. Bleh.
I asked Jason to take the kids to school and he wouldn't. Bleh.
I have a doctors appointment to have a nerve conduction test done on my leg at 10:40 this morning. Bleh.
I won boobie prize at bunco last night (that's LAST PLACE! lol) Bleh.
I want to eat, but I don't want to throw up. Bleh.
Oh yeah... I really wish I could have some coffee... maybe later?

Failure

I've enrolled my son in a brick and mortar school today.
What? you may ask is a brick and mortar school? Well, I was not happy with the neighborhood school after we moved to the OC. I pulled them out of their great charter school for convenience purposes and I was not happy. When I called them at the end of the school year last year there would be room for Nathan to come back but not Caden. Poo. Really. Well at the risk of enrolling him into a different school just to have him switch to Sojo if there was room the following year I decided to just home teach him. But with help, so we looked into various virtual academies. Found the one we decided on and enrollment was fairly painless and away we went.
Well, it was frustrating to say the least. They based Caden's placements on pre-tests. Well, he doesn't read at level, so they placed ALL his core classes besides math at below grade level, so a lot of it is repeat, including math since he was in a charter school, he really is ahead in that subject. I could totally understand having literature arts at below grade level, but why science, history, social studies and etc? Why? So now he feels like a failure because he is literally repeating everything he's already learned. I've brought this up several times to different people at the VA. Their answer? Well, he can pretest and skip it if he passes. um... how is that going to help him learn things AT grade level?
So... we initially set a date (last Wednesday) to evaluate the VA (virtual academy) subject and he could decide to go to a local public (ai: brick and mortar) school or keep going at the VA. He chose back to school.
So I went and enrolled him at the same school my child care kids go to, so at least he'll know kids there and a bonus? It'll help with transportation purposes!
He's very excited to go. He came home and grabbed his backpack and then started playing the computer that will be leaving us soon. (it belongs to the VA).
Wow... I'll get my work space back... that's a good thing!
Plus maybe I'll get some other things done during the day besides schooling. That'll be nice.

To all the cars I've loved before...

ok, so I was thinking about this the other day and thought to myself "I need to make up a list of all the cars we've owned... oh my goodness, there are so many!"

So here goes!
Year acquired year, make and model year de-quired!

1. 1993 1981 Chevy Chevette Baby! 1994 (My first car)
   
2. 1994 1984.5 Nissan 200 SX 1995 (Jason's first car)
3. 1994 1984 Ford Mustang 1994 I was gonna buy this but I wrecked it instead
   
4. 1994 1978 Toyota Celica 1995 I really loved this car
5. 1995 1992 Ford Tempo 1996 I really hated this car
6. 1996 1973 VW Bus 1996 I really like this car
7. 1996 1986 Nissan Stanza 1996 (ugh)
8. 1996 1972 GM Suburban 1996 we owned this for 3 days, it blew up
9. 1996 1982 Suburu ?GL? 1997 we had this for about a month
10. 1997 1991 Nissan Sentra 1998 Liked this one!
11. 1997 1988 Hyundai Excel 1999 what a trooper!
12. 1998 1993 Chevy Astro van 1999 eh...
13. 1999 70 Chevelle Malibu 1999 moved and had to sell :(
14. 1999 90 Isuzu Trooper 2000 4 months owned, 4 times in the shop!
15. 2000 1986 Mazda 626 2002 great car!
16. 2000 1992 Plymouth Gr.Voyager 2004 built in car seats Yipee!
17. 2002 1994 Dodge Intrepid 2003 I wrecked this... bummer
18. 2005 1992 Dodge Spirit 2005 Someone gave it to us, and we gave it away
19. 2004 1994 Dodge Gr. Caravan 2006 love this van...
    
20. 2005 2003 Kia Rio Still have!
21. 2006 1998 Dodge Gr. Caravan Still have! Told you I loved this van lol!
22. 2008 1989 Ford Bronco Still have!

So... how rediculous is this list!

this, that or maybe the other?

ok, so I'm decisive. Go figure, I'm a girl! It's not sexist, I truly believe that girls, ladies, women (whatever!) have more that they deal with so sometimes they (we) make the wrong decision first but quickly realize (or not so quickly) that we have to go another direction.
For example:
About a month and a half ago I decided that we were going to move Jaizy out of her room permanently (she didn't sleep in there anyway!) and put her bed in our room. All of her toys are in the living room, so that wasn't an issue. We moved the computers into her room along with the weight machine.
Well.... I HATED the computers in there! It was too difficult to homeschool Caden (he needs a lot of my attention) and keep an eye on the little girls, one of whom is pottytraining. I can NOT be in two different rooms at the same time, no matter how much I try.
SO today the computers went back into the dining/family room. Problem solved, right? Jaizy's room is now storage/exercise and "business center" ie: photocopy machine, storage cabinet, homeschooling books and supplies, j's armoire... lots of different "stuff". Is that so bad?

So I feel like I made a wrong decision when it really just wasn't a "right" decision, right?

I'm mean

yes, I am. I sent my 8th grader to school today when he thought he was taking the day off. He had plenty of opportunity to get his missing (and current!) assignments turned in and he is missing a few, resulting in a poor grade. So I didn't let him take it off, even though Dad has vacation and was thinking of taking his boys hiking or something.
So... I'm mean today and he is sooooo pissed off at me!
Oh well... I guess that means I'm doing something right.

Google Calendar

ok, so if you didn't know I love cozi.com... until recently.
Yesterday, yes yesterd, I discovered google calendar. It is everything cozi isn't and better yet, it's very compatible with my blackberry. Oh, it gets better every time I mess with it!

I can color code by person, I can only look at one "topic" and I was able to add different calendars, such as US holidays and lunar cycle on it. It even has a daily forecast.
It emails or texts reminders to me as I request and I can send reminders or invites to others by email.

I am going to delete my cozi account. I haven't been using it as much. Since I got my blackberry I have been doing my shopping lists, menus, calendar, really everything on it. I was only frustrated with the inability to sync the calendar on my handheld with my cozi calendar. Well, problem solved.

Thank you phone tech wizard who has made my life so much easier... if I wasn't already married with such a busy life, I would be hunting you down.

I highly suggest you check it out. Yes, you do have to have a google account, but if you don't already have one, you really do need to get one anyway. Picasa is wonderful and now google calendar. Now all I need is someone to cook, clean, chaufer, and shop for me and I'd be eternally happy.

This is a new experience

Here goes...
I don't want to be left in the dust and be the only one not "blogging".
However I have nothing to say at the moment, so stay tuned...