Day 31 - Why I blog

I started not that long ago because I needed "something".  I haven't been in the best of spirits for a few months and needed something other than childcare and house cleaning to occupy my time and my mind.  I can only bake so many cakes and I'm running out of room for pans.  I gave up the hobby I used to look forward to a few months before L was born.  It was starting to wear on me anyway, as I hadn't been enjoying the teams I was playing for, I didn't really feel like going back.

I have some other projects I'd really like to work on, but lack suitable space to really leave things set up to be able to work on them when I have a few minutes.  This led me to thinking about the attic and all of the stuff that lives in it.  If I clean it up, we can finish it.  Then I can have a space.  My own space to work on my projects.  A space where I can leave said projects out and not have to worry about toddler or pets getting into things, eating things or knocking them out of place.

I thought maybe if I chronicled the project it would help keep me on task.  I do have lots of unfinished projects and we don't exactly have the best track record for finishing them.  It has helped with that project some, but it has also been a distraction.  After all, it's a cool evening and instead of working up there, I'm in the basement writing this post with a Subaru follow up hot on it's heels.

I attempted blogging once before and it didn't really work out.  This time seems to be going better.  I have actually kept up with this challenge and am a little sad to see it end.  I will have to find another to distract me.

Oh well.  I'll get to the attic eventually.

Day 30 - My makeup bag

My first thought was "What makeup bag?".  I tend not to wear any makeup.  Not saying that I don't need it, I just don't tend to wear it.  The last brand I was wearing was  Bare Minerals and I did like it.  I just tend to not have a lot of time in the morning to put it on.  Also,  I've never been good with eye makeup.  I look silly when it's applied.  I also tend to touch my eyes a lot and let's just say that eye makeup and contacts don't mix well.  At least not for me.

Day 29 - Where I've traveled

I really haven't traveled much, though I'd like to.  Even though I live less than a day's drive from a border, I've never left the country.  Of course now I'd need a passport to do so, I really should get on that.  Especially since one of our vacation options is about an hour from the border.  We'll see what we decide.  Enough rambling.

As a child we visited Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York City, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.  As an adult I've gone to Connecticut, Rhode Island, Upstate New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and most recently South Carolina and Michigan.  Not sure South Carolina and Michigan really count as I was there for work, but we did go to SC 4 times and drove around a lot.  I'm not counting Georgia at all since I really just drove through it twice to get to SC.  Once at night in the snow(yes, snow in Georgia, we thought we left it up here, but it tagged along) and once during the day, but we were really just getting to/from the airport.

Our upcoming vacation will either be in Vermont or a combo of New Hampshire and Cape Cod.

Day 28 - What I'm looking forward to

We're taking a vacation in August and actually going somewhere!  We haven't decided where yet.  I don't remember the last time we went somewhere, so I'm really excited.

I'm working on becoming a certified Business Analyst.  There's a lot of paperwork.  The largest part being documenting how many hours I've spent completing certain tasks over the last four years.  It's been time consuming and tedious, but I hope the outcome will lead to good things (like a new job)!

Day 27 - Favorite Recipe

One of our household favorites is baked French Toast.  It takes some night before prep, but it's really good!  L loves blueberries but C doesn't, so we usually only add those on half.

Day 26 - An old photo of you

I started scanning in old photos last year, but of course didn't finish.  I don't think I even made it through a whole album.  So my choices were limited without a whole lot of set up.  Let's face it, at 7am on a Saturday, I don't have that kind of ambition.  What's funny is that I've totally seen L make this face.

Day 25 - Your 5 favorite blogs

So hard to choose just 5....

1.  Confessions of a Semi-Domesticated Mama
2.  Heir to Blair
3.  Hollow Tree Ventures
4.  Let me start by saying
5.  Tip Junkie

Day 24 - Favorite Childhood book

I'd have to say that this was my favorite book as a kid.  I still have my copy.  Complete with the puppy chewed corner!


http://www.amazon.com/Surprise-Party-Step-Into-Reading-Step-3/dp/0394895967/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1337819402&sr=8-31

Day 23 - Your dream job

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  I used to really love my job.  It was work I enjoyed and felt invested in, with people and projects that I cared about.  It was busy.  Crazy busy.  But I loved it.  About six months ago, my work universe came crashing down.  I was re-orged.  I should be happy I have a job, but really I just feel lost.

I've stated before that I'd like to work with animals.  It's actually something I've wanted to do since I was about 6.  Unfortunately, that wouldn't allow us to continue our current lifestyle.  So if money was no object, that is what I would do.  Realistically, I'm still trying to figure that out.

Day 22 - Best thing to happen this year

This is a tough one, because we haven't had a great year so far.  I think I'd have to say starting some new hobbies, that can be done at home.  Before L, I played pool once a week.  I had done this for almost 10 years.  Now that he's a little older and on a good schedule, I still haven't wanted to go back to it, but have needed "something" to look forward to, keep me busy and occupy my mind.  So I'm blogging, making cakes, cleaning up the attic and finding little projects online.

Day 20 - A difficult time in your life

One of the most difficult times in my life was when my MIL had a major stroke.  She lived alone, two hours and two states away from us.  On a snowy Friday in February 2008, J received a call from the building manager where his mother lived.  The manager told him that his mother had been taken to the hospital and they didn't know what was wrong.  A resident of the building had noticed that her door was propped open.  Something she did frequently, but it had been propped for too long so they called the manager.  They found her on the floor unable to talk and called for an ambulance.

J called me at work from his work.  He was upset, but couldn't leave because his boss already had.  We decided that we would drive down after work to see his mom.  It was long drive in heavy snow, with the cell phone ringing often from family members trying to get updates.  When we finally arrived and saw his mom, we found out how bad things really were.  She was unable to talk or use her right side, but she was otherwise ok.  They were treating her to prevent further strokes.

J spent the following week with his mother and for the next month we traveled every weekend.  There were appointments and care to arrange.  When it became apparent that she wouldn't be able to go home, we had to make plans to clean out her apartment.

J felt as though he had lost his mom even though she was still "here" and it tore him apart.  It took six months before I was able to convince him to get help.

It's been over four years now and it's still rough sometimes.  But she's still with us and has a grandson that makes her smile.

Day 19 - What do you collect

I guess you could say I collect shaped cake pans.  I started experimenting with them last year for L's first birthday.  He had a Cookie Monster party and since it was his first birthday we had a large Cookie Monster cake

and a smaller Cookie Monster smash cake.

I also have a guitar, Big Bird, Cars race car, dump truck, monkey, and backyard bugs.  I've  used all the pans at least once with the exception of Big Bird.  Big Bird and the small Cookie Monster use half a cake mix each, which makes them a little more difficult to coordinate.

Day 18 - Meaning of your blog name

I grew up in what some would consider a cluttered environment.  My mother and her mother, both have/had habits of keeping things.  I remember going to my grandmother's house when I was little.  There was a table in her living room that was always covered in paper, mostly mail if I remember correctly.  The upstairs of her house contained the childhood belongings of her four children, which made going to her house to play lots of fun.

My mother has similar paper issues.  Before she moved a few years ago, if you opened the compartments above her desk there was an avalanche of paper.  She also had most of the toys, clothes and school papers projects that my sister and I had left there.  An accumulation of over 30 years and two children's worth of stuff.

My father's stuff had been removed from the house many years prior when they divorced.  He was a garbage man prior to retirement.  You know all that stuff that people leave out that just needs a "tweak" to start working again?  Yeah, he brought that stuff home.  He'd either keep it for when he needed it, fix it and use it or take it apart for the spare parts.

Growing up like this, you can understand why I tend to not throw things away.  My paper problem isn't as bad as my mother's but I tend to hold on to things that I don't need anymore.

In 2005 we moved into our current home.  That is a story I will get to some day, but in short our move in date kept changing.  We had been paying to have the bulk of our stuff stored while the house was being built.  We knew the day was close and the end of the month was near, so instead of paying for another month we moved all the stuff from storage into our attic so it would be out of the way.  It's been almost 7 years and some of those boxes haven't moved.  In 2008 my mother in law had a massive stroke and moved into a nursing home.  We had to quickly empty her apartment.  The contents of which ended up in our attic.  A year later my mother put her house on the market, adding even more stuff to the attic.  Basically, it looked like this before I started working on it again...

So here we are in 2012, with an attic bursting at the seams and a need for additional living space.  So I am attempting to redefine the clutter in my attic and in my brain to make that happen.  Hopefully before we've been here 10 years!  We have made some progress, but there's still so much to do.

Unfortunately, I'm easily distracted....

Day 17 - Proudest Moment

I've had a few.  Having the boys, watching the teenager graduate from high school last year, and graduating from college while working and being a single mom.  I thought I had a picture of that moment, but can't seem to find it.  Maybe some other time.

Day 16 - Bucket List

I don't really have a bucket list.  Things have been so hectic the last few years, I just really haven't thought about it.  I would like to take some trips, see the country and the rest of the world.  We recently bought a timeshare, so hopefully we'll be able to take some trips.  I really need to work on booking one though!

Pet Introductions - Ashe

So one of the 31 Day Blog Challenge posts I've been participating in made me think I should introduce the fur balls.  Day 14 was what would you do if you won the lottery.  After all of the typical payoff debt and take a trip stuff, I added that I would like to rescue animals.  Which I feel like I've already started doing because we have four animals and only once did we say "We should get a pet!".  The rest just showed up.

In July of 2002 close friends of ours decided they were going to pack up and move to California.  So other friends of ours decided to throw them a going away party/BBQ.  Aside from losing our friends to the other coast, we were also losing our fur fixes, as at the time, we were petless and they had two cats.  So shortly after we arrive, I get pulled into the house and told "you have to see this".  "This" was two of the tiniest, furriest grey kittens I had ever seen.  Adorable.  After some snuggles, I took one of them outside for J and C to see.  We were all in love.  And then we got the story.  The hostess of the party had been driving on a busy street and had seen something small in the middle of the road.  She stopped to check it out, and found it was kitten.  This was the kitten we ended  up bringing home.  She looked around too see if she could find the mother, and found another kitten on the side of the road.  After not being able to find the mother or anyone who claimed them, she brought them home.  Both kittens found forever homes that day.  After short deliberation, the kitten was named Ashe.  I wanted to call him Neil after a David Sedaris story, but was out voted.

After a trip to the vet, it was determined that our kitten was only 7 weeks old. It's been almost 10 years, but we're still happy with our kitten.  Though he has many names at this point, all of which reflect his size over the years and his behaviors.  Those names are Baby(because he was so tiny), Goober(because he does silly things), Bulimia boy(because he eats too fast and throws up) and chubby(because even with his eating habits he still managed to get to 15 pounds).

Then....

Now... 

Day 15 - Timeline of your day

I'm realizing there's a lot of "ish" in my day.

5:30ish - Get up, turn on coffee, feed & water animals
If L is awake, get him up and feed him and take turns with J for quiet coffee time.
If L isn't awake, we both get quiet coffee time.
6 - Get L up if he isn't already.  Feed and dress him while J gets ready.
7ish - J and L leave.  I get ready for work.
7:30ish - Leave for work.
8ish - Arrive at work.
8:15 - Get annoyed with loud talkers, put on headphones.
9 - Daily project call.
11:30/12ish - Leave for lunch
12:30/1ish - Return from lunch, continue working, usually with headphones on.  Depending on the day, there are more calls/meetings.
5 - Run for the car like I'm being chased.
5:01 - Peel out of parking lot (ok, not really)
5:30 - Pick up L, chat about his day while he repeats "Ready go?"
6ish - Get home (yes, we tend to talk that long.  Daycare is half a mile away.)
Have L help feed the dog, refresh water.
Feed L.
6:30ish - Eat leftovers or cook.  If cooking, mix with playtime.
7ish - Eat, then bathtime.
7:30ish - Brush teeth and stories
8ish - L is in bed.  Time to relax, clean up dinner, watch tv, prep coffee.
10ish - Go to bed so we can repeat again the next day.

31 Day Blog Challenge #14

Who hasn't dreamed of winning the lottery?  I know I have and I know just what I'd do....

1. Quit job.
2. Hire employees for husband's business.
3. Payoff house.
4. Buy new cars.
5. Hire someone to do all of the things we want done to the house.
6.  Take everyone on a trip while the house was being worked on.
7. Set aside money for the boys.
8.  Help out family and friends where needed.

Once the dust settled (quite literally as it pertains to the house), I would start rescuing and fostering animals.  Because well, I just can't sit still for very long.

31 Day Blog Challenge Day 13

What is your earliest memory?

Breaking my leg when I was 4.  I was riding in circles on my bike in the neighbor's paved driveway with some other kids, when I fell over.  One of the other kids ran to get my mom and my sister when I wouldn't stop crying.  The clearest part of this memory was dropping my sister off at my grandmother's house so my mom could take me to the doctor's.  My grandmother's road was dirt and very bumpy.  Every bump on that road was excruciating.  Of course once we saw the doctor, he sent us to the hospital where my leg was set in a cast for 6 weeks.

31 Day Blog Challenge Day 12

What's in your fridge?

So my first thought was 'Which one?'  because we have two.  We have the typical one in our kitchen and a second older one in the basement for more bulk storage.  This is what I get for shopping at a warehouse store. So fridge #1....

This one has pretty standard stuff.  Milk, eggs, creamer, leftovers from last night's dinner, condiments, etc.

The downstairs fridge is a bit of a different story.  That middle shelf is almost all L's yogurt, with a box of hot dogs and some butter mixed in.  The bottom shelf is water bottles and cans of Diet Coke.  The light distorts it some, but that's a cake on the top shelf.  We're going to a Graduation/Anniversary party later.  Our friends are throwing their daughter a grad party and she is throwing them a (surprise) anniversary party at the same time.  So she came over last night and we  she spent 6 1/2 hours making and decorating this cake.

She did a really great job and I think her parents will love it!