Here it Goes...My 100th Post

So here it is folks...my 100th post. I've read some other blogger's 100th posts for some inspiration. Here goes:

1. I was born Crystal Leigh Mathews
2. On April 22nd, 1980
3. In the city of Orange, CA at St. Josephs Hospital
4. My mom and dad were 19 and 20
5. Ultimately, I ended up being my mom's only child - my dad remarried and had another daughter, Annaka - I think she's 18 or 19 now
6. I have 4 daughters, with a 5th child on the way in February
7. My favorite color is blue, although I rarely wear anything blue
8. I have 2 inside cats, and 6 outside cats that I care for - yes, I am the "Cat Lady"
9. My mom was adopted, and just a few years ago found out her biological mom's middle name was Crystal
10. All my life I went without any Aunts, Uncles or Cousins until my mom found out she had 4 brothers
11. I met my best friend in the 4th grade, but we didn't become best friends until 6th grade
12. We were going to live together in New York, and she was going to act and I was going to sing - that didn't happen obviously
13. But, aforementioned best friend and I did perform in many community theater plays together as kids
14. I'm afraid of spiders
15. I bite my fingernails and crack my knuckles, and have since I was a kid
16. I have 4 tattoos - and plan to remove all but one of them.
17. My belly button was pierced - now there's just a hole
18. Speaking of belly buttons, my belly button looks like it is smirking at the bottom since I had my gall bladder removed earlier this year.
19. As soon as I paid off my very first car, I had to buy a new one because my family grew.
20. I got into my career field from a job I got through a temp agency when I was 17 and pregnant.
21. I was raised by my grandparents.
22. I grew up in a really sheltered town - when we moved to Vegas when I was 15 I was severely culture shocked
23. My first job was a busser at an Italian restaurant, at age 14, in the really sheltered town
24. I used to read books under my grandparents' dining room table
25. My toenails are rarely ever painted - gross I know
26. Most of my underwear are granny panties (TMI but whatever)
27. I love Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and Karamel Sutra ice cream
28. My favorite book is Anne of Green Gables
29. My favorite movie for the longest time was Steel Magnolias - I don't think I have one now.
30. But I do like pretty much every movie with Kate Hudson or Jennifer Lopez in it
31. I wish I was Faith Hill's friend
32. I hate going to crowded places with my children, it stresses me out.
33. Actually going anywhere with my children stresses me out, I'm trying to get over it
34. #32 & 33 are because of safety reasons, not due to their behavior in public. hehe
35. I wish I could live near my dad - I never have.
36. The ocean is my favorite place.
37. I'm addicted to doing everything on the internet - shopping, paying bills, reading news
38. I have a gym membership, and haven't gone in close to a year.
39. I still subconsciously choose Sprite as my soda of choice from having a Mormon upbringing
40. I can't stand horror movies, they give me the heebie jeebies
41. My favorite cookie is a soft sugar cookie
42. My favorite dessert is fried ice cream from Ajo Al's restaurant
43. I've been in a couple country-western bands and competed in the Colgate Country Showdown
44. My grandma built my foundation of faith, even though she doesn't think so
45. I wish my husband was more like my grandpa sometimes, but am glad he is who he is most of the time
46. I'm too independent for my own good occasionally
47. I started using some serious anti-aging skin care products this year
48. I wish I could get back into dancing somehow, but I can barely touch my toes now
49. My oldest being in middle school scares the poo out of me.
50. Everyone who makes me upset in traffic gets called a stupuh-dass
51. Child abuse really bothers me - I can hardly stand to read or hear about it on the news
52. I never went to college
53. I've only lived in 3 states - California, Arizona and Nevada and haven't visited many more than that.
54. Skiing freaks the be-jeesus out of me - my husband says I'm the only person he knows that can ski uphill
55. I also thought there was a right ski and a left ski when I couldn't get my boots to snap in
56. My husband is a patient man, hehe
57. I didn't really know much about keeping house until just a few years ago.
58. Now I'm somewhat of a freak about it
59. Recycling is about as 'green' as I get at this point in my life
60. I've entertained a gajillion business ideas since I was in my early 20's - but I've finally settled on one - more on that to come real soon.
61. I'm still waiting to be independently wealthy though.
62. I am very afraid of the day that one of my grandparents passes away - very afraid
63. Singing in the car is one of my favorite things to do
64. My creative side is being crushed by my analytical side - trying to find a balance
65. I've had two of my children with anesthesia and two without - this last baby will also be born without
66. I have a fairly high tolerance for pain
67. I learned how to ride a dirtbike on Valentine's Day this year
68. Two months later was my birthday, and my husband bought me brand new really cute riding gear - the next month, I found out I was pregnant - no more riding for me.
69. My grandma always made me take a bath using a washcloth - I never use one now.
70. I own a guitar, and don't know how to play it.
71. Joining the PTA takes courage - I did it for the first time last year
72. All of my girls have different personalities, I'm trying to find the pieces of me in each one of them
73. Naps are my favorite
74. I sneak sweet stuff when my husband isn't around
75. Since I moved out on my own, I've moved to a different house/city at least every 2 years - I've been in this house for 3 and I'm itching.
76. I have a magazine addiction - I'm in recovery and have cancelled many of my subscriptions because I had a stack going back to December last year that I hadn't read yet (but I just totally subscribed to 2 more magazines because that's the only thing they had on my daughter's fundraiser this year).
77. I hate fundraisers
78. Christmas has lost its magic for me, I'm hoping I can find it again
79. Our family tradition is to eat spaghetti on Christmas Eve
80. I have 5 books on top of my night stand and 3 more on the shelf underneath that I'm trying to read at the same time - I also have 2 more on my bookshelf in the other room that I'd like to re-read (maybe what I have is actually a reading addiction not limited to magazines)
81. I've had my hair long, short, dark, light, curly, straight - you name it, I've done it to my hair (except for a mohawk, or a beehive - OK, I guess there's still lots of stuff I haven't done to it yet)
82. For some reason, I desire change a lot - hence the moving, the changing of the hair, and the tattoos - psychoanalyze that one
83. I'm really glad I started blogging - writing is a really good outlet - and I've made some great bloggy friends :)
84. I listen to all types of music - the only genre I really stay away from is rap - I used to like some rap, but now it's just gone way overboard.
85. I wanted to be one of Janet Jackson's backup dancers when I was a teenager
86. I think it's dumb that they came out with another version of 90210 and Melrose Place - I mean seriously, are we out of ideas people?
87. Only 13 more, I think I can make it
88. OK, #87 was cheating - the last concert I went to was Weezer, and it was awesome
89. Or maybe it was Martina McBride, and she was awesome too
90. I would like to learn how to surf sometime in the next couple of years
91. I get majorly pissed off when I've spent hours cleaning the house, and someone makes a mess in an area I just cleaned
92. I'm making headway in my de-cluttering project
93. I discovered the best time to go to Ikea is on a weeknight, about 2 hours before they close
94. My black thumb is getting greener by the year - I've now kept a plant in my office alive since Janaury
95. People sometimes mistake my shyness for being conceited - I'm an outgoing introvert, if that's even possible
96. I try to see people I don't like through God's eyes, but it's really really hard, I tell ya.
97. My husband's boat freaks the crap out of me, and I scream at him when he goes too fast
98. I wish I could stay at home with baby #5
99. It makes me have a mini internal freakout at the thought of me having 5 kids
100. I pray I continue to learn and grow, and be even farther along in my journey when I get to my 200th post. :)

And there you have it folks.

Intimidated

OK - So today is my 99th post - so that means the next one I do will be my 100th (yes, I can do math, yay me!). And I have read lots of other blogs where people have done really cool things for their 100th blog post, like write 100 things about them, or, ummmm...uhhhh...actually mostly people write 100 things about them. :) I don't know if I could do that, I might get to 30 - I just honestly don't know if there are 100 little tidbits of info that the general public would like to know about me. So, as soon as I hit "Save" on this post - I'm going to be dreading my next one - maybe no one would have ever known it was my 100th post - but I would have known. Every time I go to my little dashboard, I would see that I was getting ready to create my 100th post - or if I decided to be dishonest and skip it, I would see that I was past 100 and would never get that one back. I mean, how cool is it to say, "This is my 113th post"? Definitely not as cool as 100th. OK - that was a lot of paragraph dedicated to something not quite so important. :)

Take a look at my little baby in a bubble in my left sidebar - isn't he or she getting so big!! After this week, I am officially at the half-way mark. Woo hoo! I'm feeling a lot more movement, it's pretty nifty. It's strong enough that my hubby can feel it now too. My little Baby Pants talks to the baby, even though I'm not sure she really understands what she's doing - she will point to her belly and say "Baby?" too - so I think she probably thinks everyone has a baby in their belly at this age. But she hugs my belly and kisses it and everything, and it's really freakin' cute. And she says "Hi Baby" in her cute little toddler voice. I totally need to videotape her singing her ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star because it's so darn sweet.

This week, me and Cita (7 yr old) and Monkey (4 yr old) came down with the sickies for 2 days. We stayed home and drank DanActiv Immunity booster, and ate chicken noodle soup and sprayed Lysol everywhere! And the little buggy only stuck around for 2 days - we have residual cough but it's at least tolerable. I hate being sick - and I especially hate being sick and pregnant. Not a fun combo.

But needless to say, I should be working and not blogging - so I better run. Hope everyone has a great day!

So Much To Blog...So Little Willpower

I am amazed at the swiftness with which time is passing me by...seriously, WTH? I blinked and it was September - not only September, but just one hour away from being September 10th!! That's like almost half-way through, people!! So, I hate to do it but....dun dun dunnnnn...BULLETS!!

• The ultrasound on 09/01/09 went well - I didn't cave and find out the sex, so as far as we know we're having a healthy baby something-or -other. :) My placenta is low (I know, TMI, right?) - for now it just means they have to watch it and make sure it moves up as the baby gets bigger, if not, it means a c-section for me, which I do not find awesome at all.
• My girls are in full swing of school, they've got the routine down, and it's pretty cool. (totally didn't mean to make that rhyme, it just happened that way, I swear)
• I've been having some really cool 'aha' moments with my relationship with God, and in turn my relationships with other people. The first one I'll mention was more about my personal relationship with God - I became awe-struck last week at the thought that God, the Creator of the Universe, truly desires a one-on-one relationship with EACH one of us, and He and only He is capable of having that. How many people do you know that can have one-on-one relationships with the population of the world? Yeah, none. AND - not only that, but His relationship with each of us is completely different than anyone elses - He know ME, and how I relate to things, and that's different than how you relate to things. This got WAY deeper, but if I keep going, this won't really classify as a bullet point and I still have one other one to talk about. The other was having God reveal marriage to me from a dude's point of view, except I actually understood it...probably because my husband drives the comparable concept home all the time - and that is Marriage is like a car - in order for it to keep running, it requires constant maintenance. If you don't take care of your marriage, thinking that it's running just fine, you are likely to end up with a huge mess on your hands in not too long of a while. So, just like you have to change the oil, rotate the tires, get your 30,000 mile service, and wash your car - you have to maintain your marriage as well - don't just assume things are going okay and then have your engine drop through the floor onto the freeway.
• I am starting a new business venture - yay! More on this to come - I know, I hate when other people do that to me, and now I'm one of "them". It will be running in conjunction with my full-time job, so I'm not quitting or anything. (just in case my bosses are reading - they're not though)
• We went camping as a family for the first time over Labor Day weekend (just one night) - we did it 'tentless' (which I will never do again) - and it involved critters (read: raccoons and skunks, oh my)
• I'm volunteering for the AWANA program at church - it's basically a fun Bible-verse memory program held at a local church - they work through books, recite verses, and get little prizes. My girls participated for the first time last year, they had a blast! I'll be working with 3rd through 6th grade girls - and strangely enough, none of my girls currently fall into that age group. My oldest moved up to the Middle School program this year (waaaah), and my younger 2 are in 2nd and Kindergarten - so my 7 yr old just missed having her mom as her teacher - phew that was a close one!
• I got my kids all signed up for extra-curricular activities - Cita is currently taking karate through a program they offer afterschool once a week. SAM is signed up for volleyball and Monkey is signed up for soccer - both of those sports are through the same recreational program, and they start up in October.
• I need a massage badly.
• I'm hungry (what's new?)
• My BFF in the whole wide world is moving back to AZ from Germany while her husband is deployed to Afghanistan for 6 months. You have no idea how EXCITED I am about this!

OK - end bullets. :) I feel somewhat better now that I've caught you up on most of my life - but I'm still extremely behind in reading your blogs...I'll catch up, maybe not on ALL of the posts I missed, but on the last few days at least...I promise!! :)

Good night!

So...ummmm....yeah

So, I posted last Monday thinking that I was going to be able to get back on track with my blogging frequency, but last week went by so fast, I'm still dizzy!

Basically I'm a Client Manager at work for one client, but since things have somewhat slowed down for them as far as projects are concerned, I've been pulled onto a couple projects for two of our other clients. One of the projects is extremely time intensive and I've been spending the majority of my time working on that. The work is heavily analytical, and it's making my brain hurt.

On another note, my girls are now in their 3rd week of school and are really enjoying it. I got to go to a curriculum night for my 7th grader, and her group of teachers seemed to thoroughly enjoy teaching - even their presentations for the parents were entertaining. So, I can only imagine if that is truly their teaching style, that the kids will definitely have some fun while learning at the same time this year. I still have to meet my 2nd grader's teacher, but Cita seems to like her. Cita always likes school though - I think it would take a really crappy teacher to turn her off from liking school. My little Monkey is in her private Kindergarten class at the preschool she attended last year - French class has started up again for her, so she's been counting in French at home. And saying "Le boo boo" a lot (which is really 'le bonbon' - French for 'candy').

Aaron and I put an offer in on a house around the corner from ours on Saturday. It's on a "short sale" property, so the process takes a bit longer than a regular sale. Also, we are in 'backup' position, meaning someone else beat us to the punch and got an offer in before us. Our realtor wasn't too stoked about putting this offer in because he thought it would pretty much be futile - but I asked him if it would do any harm, and he said no. So, he obliged us. :) In previous conversations with him, he had mentioned that in many cases the first person to put an offer in on a short sale eventually drops out, because they find something they like better that they can close on sooner. So, that's why I was thinking it would be a good idea for us to put in the backup offer. We're not really in any rush to close, so we have a bit of time to wait. It's a 4 bdrm with a large den - plenty big to accommodate our growing family. No pool - so that kinda sucks, but we can put one in at a later date. Until then, there's always slip n' slide and kiddie pools, and the good ol' fashioned water hose. :) I used to love running through sprinklers when I was a kid - who needs a stinkin' pool? hehe. And my faith really plays a big part in this process...because I feel like if this is the house for us, then things will just work out the way they need to - if not, something better will come along. So, I'm not really worried about it either way. :)

Hubby and I saw the movie "District 9" yesterday afternoon. Pretty interesting movie. I won't ruin it for anyone that hasn't seen it - but it does leave you wondering if there is going to be a sequel. Also, since we're talking about movies - I did see "The Time Traveler's Wife" a week or so ago. I read the book a little over 5 years ago, and then once I saw movie trailers for the movie, I read it again so I could refresh my memory. I think they did a pretty good job capturing the essence of the book - of course the book gives you a lot more detail, but I didn't walk away from the movie feeling frustrated that they didn't put in key parts, or that they added "fluff". If you get a chance, check it out, and then read the book and let me know what you think. And then finally, the countdown to "New Moon" is on...less than 3 months. Yes, I'm a Twilight Mom. Totally dumb...I know - but the books are actually really good. The first movie kinda sucked (no pun intended) in my opinion - but they have a new director or producer or something this time around, and had a bit longer filming time & budget, so the actors are saying really good things about this movie. So, my daughter and I will go to see it - probably not opening night, but maybe opening weekend some time. :)

OK - I think that's a good recap for the past couple of weeks. Oh yeah, and I have my ultrasound tomorrow! Usually this would spark the excitement of finding out the sex of the baby, but since we're not finding out, it's more of a confirmation of due date, and ensuring the baby's development is going as planned. My dad called me this weekend and said that my step-mom keeps bugging him to ask me what we're having because she wants to start shopping - and I said "Well...we're definitely having a baby....not a monkey, or a 3-toed sloth" (okay, I actually stopped at the word "baby" - I thought of the monkey and 3-toed sloth thing this morning - I'm not a very good 'on my feet' thinker, so the funny stuff always comes a day or two later).

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I'm Alive!

Oh my goodness - I can't believe it's been over a week since the last time I posted! Crazy! My kids started school, and work has gotten really busy as well - but I think I'm getting back into the routine now and my posting frequency will pick up. I'm actually starting a new thing tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that!

Sorry this post has to be short, but I have a meeting in 20 minutes - just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here and doing well. :) My tummy keeps growing, and I'm at the stage where I finally look pregnant - I think I felt some little flutters of movement this weekend as well! YAY!

Hope all of you are doing well! See you tomorrow!

It's Raining, It's Pouring (no it's not - but it did rain)

Yippee!!! It rained from about midnight to 6:30am at my house this morning. I love waking up and hearing rain, it makes me happy. Why couldn't today have been my daughter's "Walk Around" at her middle school? It was yesterday, and it was freakin' hotter than Hades - and the middle school campus is designed as such that all the classrooms face toward a courtyard and all the doors are outside. Gone are the days of the elementary school where all the classrooms are inside an air conditioned building. So, I sweat my bootie off yesterday walking with Sereana from classroom to classroom...and have I mentioned I'm pregnant, and I already don't like the heat - but being hot and pregnant is the pits. And I'm not even THAT pregnant yet, I'm barely into my 2nd trimester - but I like blaming my crankiness on that, I get more sympathy that way. hehe

Yeah - while most people's kids started school weeks ago, my kids are finally starting this Monday. I remember 3 weeks ago thinking to myself, "Wow, the kids start school in 3 short weeks!" - and let me tell you they have DRAGGED ON FOREVER AND EVER!! I'm like "Good Lord are these kids ever going to start school?" But of course I'll be taking that sentiment back in a couple weeks when I'm helping with gobs and gobs of homework, and going to school functions galore - then I'll be thinking "How much longer until summer?".

My baby, who is 18 months now, has obtained a nice milestone of being able to be put to sleep in her bed while she's still awake and she doesn't cry! She used to fall asleep while drinking her night-time bottle, but that stopped about a month or so ago and then she would think it was playtime again. So, I would turn off the light and lay with her until she fell asleep. But this whole process from bottle to actually sleeping would sometimes take over an hour - so I said "Oh no, this is not going to work. If she's not sleeping by 8:30, I'm putting her in her bed anyway." And so I started doing that, and for about 2 weeks, she would cry every time I laid her down. She would only cry for about 5 minutes, but I still somewhat felt bad. And I hope I'm not jinxing myself here by writing about it - but for the past few nights, I've been able to lay her down and she just rolls over and doesn't make a peep! YAY! We're probably going to start potty training soon too - it would be nice to have a potty trained toddler before the new baby arrives.

Anywho, that's about all I have time for today - have a great day everyone!

STUFF!!!

OK, at first this post was going to be about why I wait so long to do laundry and then have to go to the laundromat and wash 4 loads at once. So, I will talk about that briefly - Why do I wait so long to do laundry and then have to go the laundromat and wash 4 loads at once?? I'll tell you why - I hate laundry, that's why. I don't so much mind the washing it - it's the folding it and putting it away part that I don't care for. I need to hire a folder/putter-awayer. I would have my 11 yr old do it, and trust me, that is definitely going to be on her list of responsibilities for this year - but she helps me at the laundromat too, and I am constantly refolding her folds. I'm not the best folder on the planet, and I know I should probably let it go, but ugggh...I can't. Anywho - so there's a great feeling once you know ALL the laundry in the entire house, including towels, has been done. PHEW!! But then guess what happens when you get home and you have to put it all away???? (And now for the MAIN topic of this post...)

You realize you have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF!!! When every shred of laundry is done, you go to put it away, and you are literally cramming clothes into every nook and cranny of the drawer - holding the clothes down with one hand and sliding the drawer shut with the other hand and hoping that the drawer doesn't explode and shoot clothes all over the room. Goodness sake! So, then you start looking in the drawers, and realizing that neither you nor your children wear half of the crap that's in the drawers.

And guess what that realization makes you do? Yep - you start surveying the rest of your closet, and your room for that matter. And then you think about your junk drawer, and the stack of magazines on the counter. And all the birthday cards you're holding on to for "posterity" - the list goes on and on. And then just short of a major freakout - you decide - I am going to de-stuff my house. You realize the task is daunting, you promise yourself that you will do it in small chunks, no matter how badly you want to do it all in one day, and then...you go sit on the couch and wonder if your plans to de-stuff will ever come to fruition.

Oh yeah...I'm totally doin' it. Not saying it's going to be easy. But seriously people...we have WAY too much stuff. The problem is, I could probably make some money off of a lot of this 'stuff' by having a yard sale, but that would require way too much organization on my part and I'm not sure if I'm up for THAT task. So, needless to say, Good Will and Savers are probably going to be the ones making some dough off of my stuff.

My goal is to have my house de-stuffed before the baby comes - Feb 2010. I'm probably not going to start the de-stuffing until after the summer is over (oh yeah, by the way, I decided today that I don't want to live in Arizona anymore, it's too damn hot) - so September is probably when I'll start, and then just a couple months later is 'holiday season' and I know things get crazy then, but I think I can do it.

The crazy thing is - I don't really think it's me that buys all this stuff we don't need. I have loving parents, grandparents, in-laws and friends that love feeling like they are contributing to our family, and I love that they do that - but I honestly think that's where most of the stuff comes from. So - do I send them all a letter/email/phone call letting them know about my de-stuffing process and to please not bring us more stuff? Or would that be rude? I don't want to offend anyone, but at the same time, I'm afraid if I don't speak up, you're going to be reading this exact same blog entry in a year's time. Know what I mean? Help!,

Wow - I feel lighter already. Do you feel like you need to de-stuff? If so, what is your process going to be like. And if you've had a yard sale and want to give me some pointers on how not to be afraid of having one, please feel free to share. :)