Another Year Older...and Hopefully Wiser Too

Wednesday the 22nd was my 29th birthday. So, why am I blogging about it now, you ask? Because I've been up to my eyeballs in work, I respond.

It's finally here, the last year of my 20's. On the day that I turned 20, I couldn't wait to be 30 and now it's only 1 year away. I was so excited to no longer be a "teen mom", and all of the women I worked with were in their late 20's/early 30's and seemed to have their lives all together. They were married, with or without kids, buying and renovating houses, taking their vacation time and actually going somewhere, leading meetings with confidence and ease and calling customer service to get their problems resolved and doing so with a firm voice. I was not married, with 1 little girl who was 3 years old at the time, living in a 2 bedroom condo that I bought (so, yay, I at least bought something)..and I think I had bought my car by then too (a 1999 Mitsubishi eclipse). My vacation time was usually spent taking my daughter to the doctor because she got pink eye; strep throat; ear infection; illness-that-made-me-miss-work-itis. I felt like I had no self-confidence at my job because everyone was older and wiser than I was. And if I got screwed over by a company, you can bet I wasn't calling customer service with my firm voice.

As of my 29th birthday, I now have 4 children...and my darling little girl (SAM) who was only 3 years old 9 short years ago, will be 12 in October! Cita is 7, Monkey is 4.5 and Baby Pants is 14 months. I've been married, divorced, and married again. I have paid off one vehicle, which just a few short months later I had to turn around and trade in for a larger one because we added Baby Pants to the family (this just goes to show the validity of always factoring in a car payment in your budget). I have spent the last 10 years developing my relationship with God...I first started back on that path right around 19 years old. Choosing that path has been the best decision of my life to date. I've been to school at ITT Tech, and quit when I realized that software programming was not my cup of tea. I've lived in 3 different states...Arizona, Nevada, California and back to Arizona. I've had my heart broken a handful of times, and have probably broken some hearts myself. I've begun the struggle with my weight and crows feet and GASP! gray hairs. I've started removing my tattoos after I realized that as much as I wanted to be a tattoo person at one point in my life, I'm really just not. I have no problems leading meetings and calling customer service now. My husband and I are in "house buying" mode, but just need to find the right place. I learned how to ride a dirtbike this year. I have really come to appreciate all the family and friends that I have in my life, and think I am a darn good friend, daughter, granddaughter and wife. I found out I had 4 uncles after my mom got her adoption records released several years ago, my biological grandmother's middle name was Crystal, which no one knew when I was born and named Crystal. I know what I like and what I don't like, and I won't let anyone make me feel bad for what I like or don't like. I've outgrown my "gangsta rap" and "techno" phases, and have discovered 70's classic rock. I've had my gall bladder removed. My kids still think I'm pretty, and I think they are the world.

I asked my grandpa on the day before my 29th birthday what he was doing when he was 29. When my grandpa was 29, the year was 1961 and they were living in San Diego, CA. He was working for a company called General Dynamics and my grandma was working at a trucking company. They had moved to California just a couple years before from Wichita, KS because the company my grandpa worked for had been bought out by another company and he no longer had a job. When they first got there, they rented an apartment just 75 yards from the ocean for $70 a month. Yes, seventy, I didn't leave out a zero. They didn't have jobs, and didn't have much money in their pockets. My grandma had been walking on the beach and praying about what they were going to do, and when she got back to the apartment, there was $40 laying right by the front door...over half of a month's rent. They rented an apartment after that where the landlady wanted the blinds in the apartment to be at a certain level at all times, or she would have a hissy fit. They left that apartment...and rented an apartment that was infested with cockroaches. They left that apartment when my grandma decided that she wanted to buy a house. The guy they purchased the house from was in the real estate business, and my grandma talked him into letting her have the house with no money down, and he would carry the mortgage (which was $21,000). Their payments were $150 a month. My grandma has moxie, I tell ya. I don't know who else could talk someone into letting them have their house while they carried the loan with nothing down. My grandparents were making about $78 a week, each. 1961 is also the year that my grandparents adopted my mom. They had started an adoption process with another woman who changed her mind at the last minute, and someone that my grandma worked with told her about my mom's biological mother, Pearl. They didn't use an adoption agency, they just contacted Pearl directly, paid for all of her medical expenses and showed up at the hospital on August 8th, 1961 to bring her home. My mom had a spinal issue...I want to say it was spina bifida, but I can't be sure...she had to have surgery within a few months of her birth and still has the thick scar on her back. But, because of my grandparents, she can walk today. Their lives at 29 seem much more interesting than mine...it just made me wonder in 50 years from now if I will have any grandchildren that will be turning 29. My oldest daughter could wait until she was 32 to have her first child, and that child would be turning 29 when I'm 79 (which is almost how old my grandpa is).

Time sure flies doesn't it?

Better Than Good

Today I'm just posting a list that I found on the Zig Ziglar website I believe...it's called "Better Than Good". It's been awhile since I've reviewed these, and thought maybe one or more of these statements might help somebody out today. :)

1. I am doing better than good because I clearly understand that failure is an event, not a person; that yesterday ended last night, and today is my brand new day.

2. I am doing better than good because I have made friends with my past, am focused on the present, and optimistic about my future.

3. I am doing better than good because I know that success (a win) doesn't make me, and failure (a loss) doesn't break me.

4. I am doing better than good because I am filled with faith, hope and love; and live without anger, greed, guilt, envy or thoughts of revenge.

5. I am doing better than good because I am mature enough to delay gratification and shift my focus from my rights to my responsibilities.

6. I am doing better than good because I know that failure to stand for what is morally right is the prelude to being a victim of what is criminally wrong.

7. I am doing better than good because I am secure in who and Whose I am, so I am at peace with God and in fellowship with man.

8. I am doing better than good because I have made friends of my adversaries, and have gained the love and respect of those who know me best.

9. I am doing better than good because I understand that others can give me pleasure, but genuine happiness comes when I do things for others.

10. I am doing better than good because I am pleasant to the grouch, courteous to the rude, and generous to the needy.

11. I am doing better than good because I love the unlovable, give hope to the hopeless, friendship to the friendless, and encouragement to the discouraged.

12. I am doing better than good because I can look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion, and up with gratitude.

13. I am doing better than good because I know that "he who would be the greatest among you must become the servant of all".

14. I am doing better than good because I recognize, confess, develop and use my God-given physical, mental and spiritual abilities to the glory of God and for the benefit of mankind.

15. I am doing better than good because my faith assures me that when I stand in front of the Creator of the universe He will say to me, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

My Kitties, The Wind, and the Cranberries

My post today is a hodge podge.

I uploaded all the pictures from my iPhone and found some cute pictures of my kitties...so I decided to post them here.

This is Shadow (aka Pepper - my husband renamed my cats when we met)



This is Nala (aka Whiskers) - she was my first kitty, and she was born on my 21st bday. I'm going to be 29 this month...so she's going to be 8! :)




This is Bob...we usually call her Bobber though. She is our stray alley kitty that we sort of adopted last year when she showed up on our back porch looking for food. We let her in the house now...but she still plays outside most of the day.



Now to the "wind" portion of this post...it's extremely windy outside today and here is a picture from the window in my office. The wind is blowing all of the trees, and making little waves on the lake.


And the only reason I threw in the "Cranberries" was because one of their songs was just on the radio in our office. The song was "Linger", and during my junior high / high school years, The Cranberries were really popular. I remember going into my room, closing the door, putting on a Cranberries CD and just listening to the powerful voice of Dolores O'Riordan. I need to do that more with my kids...we sort of do it on the weekends during cleaning time on Saturdays, but we should incorporate music more into our everyday lives. We listen a bit in the car during all the morning drop-offs, and during the afternoon pick-ups...but it would be fun to turn on some music after dinner and dance, or chill out, or do whatever, you know?

Bronchitis or some crap

So...I had been sick since a couple Tuesday's ago, way back in March (okay it was the 31st but it was still March dammit). The worst days were Tuesday through Friday, because not only was I sick...but two of my kids were sick too. By that Saturday we were feeling well enough to get out and about a little bit...but we all still had a nagging cough. The girls proceeded to get better and better...but I was still barking like a dog every time I coughed. I finally decided to take all 3 of us to the doctor this past Saturday...it was me, Cita and Monkey. Monkey and Cita's issue both stemmed from allergies. Cita was fine, he said just to keep giving her the children's Zyrtec. Monkey was mostly fine, but one of her ears was looking irritated, so he gave her some Amoxicillin. Then we got to me, and my left lung "didn't sound good", so I got a breathing treatment in the office, sent home with an inhaler and prescriptions for another inhaler if I needed it, some antiobiotics, and some of that cough medicine with codeine in it. I only filled the antiobitic prescriptions for both Monkey and I. I don't need to be on anything with codeine in it...I'm loopy enough thank you very much. hehe

I have now coughed so hard that I lost 2 pounds and am getting a six pack (haha...I wish)...but I seriously did blow a blood vessel in my forehead, it's bulging out and it's gross.

The girls are doing okay though, which is good...and my oldest and my youngest got to skip it entirely. But my husband got nabbed this past Thursday, and was dealing with it through the weekend. Poor guy.

I also got the house inspected for mold last week because it seems as though someone in our household has been sick since December...and that just blows. So, I wondered if it had anything to do with mold because the house we're renting is old, and potentially moldy. And yep, we do have mold...and we have nasty, filthy air ducts. That means we're constantly breathing in nasty stuff, and our poor little immune systems are constantly in "fight" mode...which may be why we have been getting sick so often. Anywho...since we're renting, it is technically the landlord's responsibility to clean the mold and the air ducts. But I just got the quotes today and it's going to be like $3000 for everything...and I think the landlord is going to laugh in our faces. But, really, now that he'll be aware that he has mold, he will have to fix it before he rents to anyone else, or tries to sell the place. I'm actually just looking to get out of the lease altogether because we really are in need of a bigger place now that our family has grown. So we'll see what happens, I'll keep you posted.

14 Months Old Today!

So, my little baby pants is 14 months old today! Awww...my wittle gull is gwowing up. (no, not an actual gull - but that was my baby voice spelling of 'girl')

She has I think about 8 teeth now...can't wait for those molars to come in. NOT! But actually her teething process hasn't been that bad (thank you Lord).

The biggest thing that has happened in the past couple of months is that we have been teaching her sign language, and she is using it! It's really awesome to watch. Back when she was about 8 months, I found a video of a baby signing on YouTube, and I thought it was an awesome concept to teach a hearing child sign language so that they can communicate with you much earlier than they could speak. So, I learned a couple of signs from the video and started doing them at the dinner table for about a month straight...and nothing. We did the signs for "More" and "All Done". She didn't seem interested, she didn't sign back. Then, at about 12 months...we were eating dinner and I asked her if she wanted more, but I did not do the sign because honestly I was at the giving up point. But then Baby Pants did the sign for "More"!!! I was SO EXCITED! (in all caps!!) So, then I ordered a pack of Signing Time DVDs, Flashcards, Books and CDs to teach her more signs, and she totally loves it! The DVD is her favorite thing, and she made up her own sign for when she wants to watch it...she just starts waving her hands in the air and singing (she thinks she's singing the theme song...it's hilarious).

So far her vocabulary includes:

-Eat
-More
-All Done
-Bath
-Cat
-Dog
-Bird
-Fish
-Milk
-Dad
-Mom
-Diaper Change
-Ball
-Car
-Airplane

And I think that's it...now mind you some of these are "near" signs...which means a sign that's close to the real one, but you can tell what they mean. For example, the sign for "Dad" is taking your hand, extending all your fingers (like you are showing the number 'Five'), and touching your thumb to your forehead a couple times. Baby Pant's version is to just take her index finger and point to her head.

Anyway..I am totally thrilled by this development. Baby Pants is the first one of my children that I have signed with, and I think it's totally cool because she can "tell" me what she wants before she has developed the verbal skills to speak the word. We of course still say all of the words along with the sign so as not to delay her speech development, but all I can say is that it's totally cool.

Anywho...didn't mean to turn that into a baby signing advocacy email...this was about my baby turning 14 months...but like I said, this has been the biggest milestone for the last month. :)

PROMPTuesday #50 - A Life in Six Words

OK, so my PROMPTuesday is actually a Late Wednesday...but whatever...I'm sick dammit..and I had to work until 1:00am this morning to prep for a conference call. (Done whining now).

Okay, the topic is:

Can you describe your life in six words?

Why yes...yes I can...and they are

"Always looking for a happy medium."