Update on the Leaves

I have been doing quite a lot to keep my resolutions on track. The item I am most proud of is I have been sticking to my exercise program. I have done 3 days on, 3 days off for 8 days now. The only thing I'm worried about is when I go to Vegas on Friday, unless there are DVD players in the hotel, I'm going to be going 7 days without exercising. On Resolution #2 I cleaned and organized the linen closet yesterday. The towels and bed linens all have homes again! Resolution #3 had proven to be a little bit tougher. Mainly because I have NOTHING in the way of summer business clothes to wear to Vegas. I have been to JC Penny, Cato, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, and even NY and Co. I can't find anything I like. And I was just informed I have to have a swimming suit also. This is my WORST nightmare! I'm going to go nuts trying to find one!
I guess 2 out of 3 is doing pretty good.....

New Leaf.. or Leaves....

Most people make New Years Resolutions. I make New Summer Resolutions. My reasoning behind this is that January to April is the busiest time of the year for me, working 70 hours a week, I'm lucky I have time to swipe the dust cloth over the TV! Then, it takes me about 2 months to get the energy back after April 15th to want to do anything. I know.. sounds really bad, but when you do as much work in 3 months as the average person does all year, it takes quite a toll on you!
So.. Now it's time for me to think about my resolutions:
Resolution 1:
The biggest one is I need to loose this baby weight. Raistlin is a totally breastfed baby, so I have to watch the food thing very closely. So, it's all up to that bad word, exercise. Last night I'd finally had it, and broke out the fitness video I bought in April when I was eating fast food everyday and just generally felt blah. I do have to say, it was the best workout I've had in a long time! It's called The Firm. They take things in small segments, and change it up after about 6 reps. It was a challenge though. Both Aryanna and Julian decided that they had to do it too. That was fine, except Julian decided his exercising when he got bored was to hang onto my legs when I was doing lunges, or climbing onto my back during push ups. I guess this means I do Baby and Me exercising class now :) My resolution is to keep this up and form a nice routine where I exercise 4 to 5 days a week.
Resolution 2: Organization
My house is cluttered to the rafters! About a week ago I got sick of looking at the spice cabinet, and spent about an hour cleaning it out. So far this has stuck, so now I'm thinking I need to do this with more than that one cabinet. that brings me to resolution #2, spending a hour on a day off cleaning something. Anything! I figure if I take it one piece at a time, it won't be so overwhelming to me. I do have to get this done before the end of next month, however, because Mom just might be visiting us.
Resolution 3: Spending more time in, less out
Let's face it. The world SUCKS right now. Everything is going sky high in prices. We usually spend one day out of our weekends doing something away from home. Everywhere we go takes anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to get there. I'm thinking these will be cut down to once a month. I'm also combining trips to the grocery store with coming home from work.
That's it for my resolutions now. I only do 3 at a time, so I don't feel too overwhelmed with them, and these are doosies!

Playing with pictures

I have recently taken my wonderful camera out of it's comfy bag to start playing and finding out the wonders a $700 camera can do. First off,I have 3 pictures of Raistlin I would like my family members to choose from for their "baby pic" of him. These are rough photos that I have yet to edit to remove the little bits of arms you can see, but I think they are really good. You can let me know in the comments which one you want, and I'll get it printed up in the size you want.




The next few are some pictures from our trip to Disney over spring break in March.



As you can tell, I like this new program I found!!!
There will be more pictures to come, as Aryanna dances for Relay For Life tonight. I'm becoming one of those shutterbug Mom's I hated when I was a kid!!

Tax season: In review

I have to say that this season has been more interesting than most. It started with Raistlin and 30 hours of labor, and ended in a drunken stupor at Stephaine's Mississippi Queen's new house. And we haven't even hit Vegas yet! In between we had constant drama between Trae and Erin that ultimately got him fired, saw a marriage rebuilt, learned Cindy is a key kleptomaniac, went on strike from doing laundry at home, made new friends (hiya Kelly!), and did a few tax returns.
We had our share of irate clients because the government "kept" their refunds, and of course it was ALL our faults. That government hasn't made our jobs any easier this year either with this rebate thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm very great full for it, but the number of phone calls about it is nearing the 500 mark!
Now it's time to get the house back in order, finish those craft projects that are just calling out to me, and of course, reconnect with my children.

The rush is on!!!

I know it has been a while since I've posted. And I do have a post to go up about a trip we took over spring break, but the pictures are still in the camera. My main reason for not posting is that this is my VERY busy time of the late season. From today on I will be working in what I have dubbed the House of Horrors until the end of season. I don't mind it every once in a while, but I like my corner of the world. I know where everything is, and life is good. I go there, and nothing is where it belongs. The place is just chaos! Oh well, at least there's more than a wall to talk to there...

I thought I moved OUT of Tornado Alley

Last night we had an ENORMOUS storm roll through here. It lasted almost 4 hours from the start of the "breaking news" interruption to the end of the severe weather. This storm spawned 8 tornadoes in the state. We had 2 right near us. The news station gave us enough warning that we had time to eat dinner (corned beef.. YUM!!) and get all the kiddos rounded up and go to my office. Now, I live in one of those wonderful "manufactured homes" that tornadoes love to pick up and flip over, hence the reason to go down town to my totally brick office. About 15 minutes after we got there, the tornado warning was issued for us. Now, my office does have a basement, but it is filled 6 inches deep with standing water. It also has a vault. Yes, a bank vault. A long time ago this building housed the First National Bank of Manning. So into the vault we went. The kids thought it was so cool to be in a bank vault, all except Julian, who was scared. It only took a bag of chocolate teddy grahams to quell the fear. So, for the next hour we sat in a bank vault while the storm went over and spawned the tornado about 1 mile from us. Amazingly, we never lost power. About 8 oclock the last of the storm went over us, and we went back home to get everyone ready for bed.
Now, one of the reasons I moved here was to get away from tornadoes. They used to only spawn during the occasional hurricane, but now it seems that from January to April we have to deal with the threat of them. THEN we also get hurricane season from July to November. Thank goodness the beautiful scenery makes up for all the bad weather, oh, and that no snow thing helps too.

Just for you, Mom!

I was talking to my Mom today. She had read my blog this morning. The only thing she had to say about it was, "Where's the rest of the baby? I want to see more than just feet!"
So.. Just for you, Mommy-

(I had to ask nicely for the smile)

And this ham couldn't stay away from the camera. Notice the pb&j hair, and the sweater he just HAD to wear in the 80 degree weather today....


My other 2 children were respectively busy at the time these photos were taken. Aryanna was naked, as she was getting ready for dance class, and Sedric was stuffing his face with dinner. One picture would be illegal, and the other just too scary.....

I did get home at a decent time today, as there weren't any accidents or trains to slow me down. As I pulled into the drive, I saw my oldest 2 children trying to best each other with lightsabers. This isn't anything new, but upon closer examination, I noticed Ary had a babydoll in a pack at her side. The doll was getting vaporized a lot. I fear for my future grandchildren......

I guess that's about it for today, it's been really boring, and I'm coming down with something, so the topics just aren't coming to me today... but, I do want to answer my little sis... YES, socks are what you have to look forward to in motherhood. That, and asking your once in a blue moon adult visitor if they want some milk and cookies, along with their need to use the potty.....

Socks

Why do socks NEVER stay on a baby's feet? I have lost more socks in department stores, grocery stores, and restaurants than I care to count, not to mention that after the baby grows out of that size, I find them popping up in the couch, under the counters, and in the van for months and even years afterwards. I curbed the sock problem with Julian when I found Old Navy. Their socks not only stayed on his feet, they have the rubber thingies on the bottoms so he wouldn't slide allover when he started walking. He now will not take his socks off at all. He will however, take your socks off your feet and turn them into "sock monsters" that munch on your shoulders and hair. The fuzzy slipper socks are the best for this. Because of this, I have 1 matching pair of slippers out of the 8 I was given for Christmas.

My oldest, Sedric, on the other hand is a sock hoarder. He has socks so full of holes they are just ribbing around his ankles. Aryanna just never puts them into the laundry. I swear I've seen them form a line and jump on into the hamper on their own.

When I got pregnant with Raistlin, I thought, "Great! I have the sock problem conquered! No more lost socks!!!"
BOY WAS I WRONG!!!
Yes, I still use Old Navy socks, as I still had all the socks from the 10 pack I had bought for Julian. The first pair I slipped onto those little toes were back off within an hour. Now, maybe the elastic was a little loose in them, as Julian wore that size for almost a year. I bought 4 new pairs at Old Navy during a sale (.84 a pair). Those he had off within 10 minutes. I spent my day yesterday putting his socks back on every 5 minutes! This child has made it his mission right now to make sure his toes are exposed to the air. Thank goodness for Carolina weather! I'm giving up on the socks, and buying a pair of sandals for him the first chance I get.

Why blog?

People who read this will be wondering a few things...

1. Why are you blogging?
2. When do you find time with all those kids?

My answer to one is because I want to. I have been thinking for a while about creating a blog for Da Mooks (for those of you who do not know who the Da Mooks are, stay tuned!), but I really am a novice when it comes to blogs, and Da Mooks deserve the best. So, I decided to use my own life as a starter blog. I also have been feeling cut off from my family, so this is easier than picking up the phone a dozen and a half times to let them know what is going on in our lives (cheaper too!).

As for number 2, who sleeps anymore! Seriously though, time is a precious commodity in my house. I will try to be faithful and update at least once a week, but barring that, at least once every 6 months. With 4 kids ranging from 10 to 2 months, there is a lot of laundry, cooking, cleaning, and plain old chores to do. The computer time gets pushed to between midnight and 12:05 AM. Where at 12:05 AM, Raistlin decides it's time for a snack! This time crunch has taught me to type fast, but not always accurate. I also am really bad at grammar, so don't be commenting on my grammar!

I hope to use this blog not only to update everyone on how my family is doing, but to show off some thing I have learned over my 29 (almost 30 GULP!!) years. I have learned so much from the Internet from how to be frugal with my money to how break into a car using a tennis ball (Thanks you tube!!!!). I have decided that my own personal wisdom needs to be imparted also to the unsuspecting eyes in cyberland.

Please check back frequently, as I am an avid photographer, with my unwilling children as the most popular subjects.