2 Years Later, She Blogs Again...

From 2012 to 2014... What a break from blogging that was!

 Social Media gets the best of us. Plus busy lives and mind numbing games like Candy Crush and Bubble Witch :)

It is time to get back to it. I want to leave behind my electronic diary for my kids to read one day.

What has happened in 2 years? I am STILL sober. There have been deaths, births, fights, make-ups, marriages, visitors, visits, vacations, laughter, tears, old school years, new school years, music, concerts, events, plays, beaches, playgrounds, weight loss, weight gain, aging, changes good and bad. new friends, old friends, new ride, Cub Scouts, volunteering, God moments, conversations, warm & fuzzies, new recipes, new shows, skating, skiing, bike riding, hiking, special moments worth blogging about.

 It's good to be back!

New School Year 2012

 I can not believe ALL 3 of my babies are in school now!! I was so worried about the twins' transition from being home all day to going to all day kindergarten, but they are doing great! They really like it. They are each in a different class but the classrooms are right next to eachother.

 

 

 For safety reasons, the school had all the kindergarteners where color coded shirts to match their classrooms for the first week of school. I loved this! Really put my nerves at ease.

 

Look at those happy faces!

 

 

 

Zach returned to school and is in the 8th grade this year. What a nice surprise it was to find our dear friend Ashtyn has moved to our neighborhood and is in one of Zach's classes. These kids grew up together!

 

 

 

 

Everything has fallen into place. I accepted a new job and started 2 weeks after the first day of school. So for 2 weeks I got to experience some alone time. I REALLY enjoyed it. Did a lot of shopping though. I had to be prepared for the new job of course! I am able to work 10 - 6. Not the greatest hours, but I wanted this shift so I can get the twins ready and off to the bus stop every morning. I can make it home close to 7 pm and cook dinner immediately. Today I had dinner cooking in the crock pot all day. I think I will do lots of crock pot meals!

 

It has been 5 months since I have blogged. A lot has happened, and I will try to cover most of the subjects little by little coming up.

 

Much love to all!

Catching Up...

 Time to play catch up. I need to blog more! I love blogging, and sharing is free therapy. I told one of my newest and dearest friends all about blogging so I need to represent :)

We have been pretty busy around here. We had a wonderful Easter. But around 2:30 Scott had to leave on a business trip. He has gone on a couple trips now to train the new people to do our jobs. Having my hubby leave on Easter was upsetting for me, and we really missed him while he was gone. My manager worked with me and let me alter my schedule so I was able to get some rest while alone with the kids, so that was nice.
Scott has to leave again next week. He will be gone for Zach's birthday and the twins' registration to kindergarten. We will make the best out of everything.

 Pictured above was a free soccer class at the nZone (where we attend church). They were having a health fair and had a lot of free demos. It was such a great day! Because of the health fair held on a Sunday afternoon, I talked Scott into attending church with us so we could just go to the health fair after and let the kids play soccer. Scott said he enjoyed the sermon! Zach had a great time at 94.7's booth hoola hooping and trying to win some prizes. Pictures are on their site located here.   I entered a lot of drawings and actually won something! I received a call later that my name was drawn. I won a bag full of Avon bath stuff, nail polish, a candle, decorative soaps and a gift card to Red Robin which I am using for Zach's birthday!

Speaking of gift cards, I still had a gift certificate to a nail salon from Scott for Christmas. It was meant for me for a pedicure and manicure - some alone time. I decided I would take Faith.

The chairs were a bit too big, but they added pillows and Faith still felt pampered. She was able to reach the water and they gave her a real pedicure just like me. She liked it, altho she did say it took a long time. Haha!

Funny thing - Scott tried to buy Faith some socks but he ended up buying MY size. I love my new "little girl" socks! I have owls, pandas, hearts, polka dots... LOL!

My parents are home from Texas. I haven't seen them yet but will see them real soon. I was talking with the kids about maybe camping in their yard in a couple of weeks.We shall see :)

Low Carb Pizza

Doesn't this look delish? I am doing the low Carb thing again. I was very successful years ago and since my eating became so out of control recently, I decided to make a change. This time, instead of just sticking with meat and veggies, I have been trying new things! Making up things on my own and trying new recipes. I must get trim for job hunting! I have lost 10 lbs since I started. Once I stop working 50-60 hrs a week like I have been, I will have time for a good exercise routine. Off to eat my breadless, sauceless pizza! Blog more soon.

Wordless Wednesday

Tackle it Tuesday

I did this tackle a week ago just in time for Spring. I promised Scott that since I love to light fires in the fireplace, I will clean it out every Spring. Each year it gets a little worse! This year, I had black in my fingernails for 3 days after. (I swear I washed and washed my hands)

AFTER

Still looks dirty, but at least you can see the lining of the bricks. And hey, it IS a fireplace after all!!!

Although we have promised not to spend any extra $$ due to our job situation, I did get Scott to agree to me buying candles for the fireplace candelabra. I buy them at the Dollar Tree and spend a whole $9 every two years. :-)

All good things must come to an end....

See that little thumb tack looking pin on top of my work badge? That is my 5 year pin I received for 5 years of service to the Red Cross. After 7 years, I received the news that the company is outsourcing many of their IT departments including mine. Sadly, this also includes the department my husband is in. Yes, we are both left to look for new employment at the same time. This happened before around 8 years ago. Back then the job market was a lot better and we didn't have Brandon and Faith. We do have our jobs until June so we have a little bit of time. I have a feeling time will fly by real fast. It always does! We have both started looking. We can't wait until the last minute. Scary thing is, altho we have started applying for jobs, we are not receiving a lot of calls. (like one call to every 12 jobs applied!) I am going to try not to let that freak me out.

 I have had some health issues and most likely need back surgery. Part of me thinks I should demand the surgery right away while I have insurance, but I am afraid to have surgery! So I am trying all the less invasive treatments such as cervical epidural injections. I have had 2 already, and the pain is not gone. But if I have surgery, I will use the week of pto i have and won't have that as cash when my end date comes. : /

We have all kinds of potential plans for the future. Before school care for Brandon and Faith. Selling our house, renting our house, renting an apartment, moving in with in-laws.... who knows!!
While going through this very stressful time, it seems that many other things will happen that just makes every day a bad day. The cable box broke, the kids moonbounce broke, many neighborhood kids continue to ask for snacks, drinks and invite themselves over for dinner when I am scared of how I am going to feed this family of 5. I am still staying sober and it is especially hard right now. I want to drink so very bad!!! Some days I am so depressed and I just KNOW that a few beers would cheer me up. But I also know the "cheer" would be temporary and a "few" beers would be 12. If I were drinking my husband and I would have terrible fights. It wouldn't be fair to him to have to deal with a drunk wife on top of worrying about how he is going to provide for his family!!
We do still fight though. With both of us losing our jobs, it is almost unavoidable. I don't want to fight. I am trying not to.

Now my husband is going away to help train the new company. Twice. On Easter even.
It is going to be so hard to take care of the kids, work at night and sleep.. when?? I don't know. I won't have anyone to relieve me to sleep. It will be hard.
And NOW is the time that our honor roll son is failing. What happened? I blame myself. I haven't been on him. Haven't been following up with his school work. He is grounded until Spring Break. So I will be able to count on him for help while hubby is away I guess :) I just made him complete a project that is super overdue. He might still get a 0, but I want his teacher to know we mean business and he WILL improve.

Times are a little rough right now, but God has a plan. I am so excited to see it! I am excited to meet my new co-workers. I am excited to go back to being a normal day shifter who sleeps in bed at night with my husband!I am excited for my husband and I to "miss" each other again. We have been working from home together the past 4 years. I am seriously looking forward to those welcome home kisses! Sometimes life has to be a little uncomfortable. But it always gets better! After all, we are to be "reasonably" happy in this life.

I Adore This Man

I have been having a bad couple of weeks. I have been meaning to blog about some things to share - and get them off of my chest. But honestly, I have been sitting at home wallowing in self pity. Last night, just prior to leaving for Celebrate Recovery, I receive a text message from one of my greatest friends, Sarah, and it is a picture of a stage with a glorious cross in the back ground. "Guess where I am?" Then I remembered - last night Kirk Cameron was in Roanoke, Va doing his 'Love Worth fighting For' marriage event and my friends Sarah and Steve were there. I absolutely LOVE Kirk Cameron. LOVE HIM!!!!! I wanted to go to this event so so bad. But my husband wouldn't go with me for numerous reasons. So what, I would have gone alone. But, it was so far away and I would have had to either stay in a hotel or drive home 4 hrs late at night. My friend Sarah's hubby bought them tickets to go as a Christmas present! She told me on New Years Eve. Boy oh boy was I jealous!! Then when I received that text I was a little jealous again. Then when she sent me this picture of Kirk - and how darn close she was to the stage, was I jealous?? No! Actually I was so excited she sent me this picture! A real live picture of the man I adore is now in my phone. She made me smile and all giddy with excitement. I was excited for my friends to be there. I thought about them all evening and wondered how much fun they were having!!! I sure wish I could have gone, but I am so glad I had a friend there to send me this snap shot and to tell me alllllll about it! (which she better do this weekend :))

Guess what I did this morning?

I am going to get rid of these extra lbs!
Working out with a friend totally rocks!

Trying to find verses that will be good for me to help take the focus off of food. This one tells me that I shouldn't be feeling hungry if my focus is on Jesus! That's not really the meaning, but for the purpose of my weight loss, it is today :)

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:35).

New Friendships ~ Bibly Study Group

I absolutely love my Bible study group!! I found them on Meetup.com. If you are in the area and are interested in joining, just look up Manassas Moms Bible Study and Fellowship Group.
I found them at the very start one year ago. I never really used meetup.com but was somehow on a mailing list and received an email from the leader stating she wanted to start this group. It sounded interesting and I had been looking for a group that I could bring my kids to. This was no accident. God brought us all together! The books and studies we have done have really spoke to me. I need this group in my life now while I am going through recovery. These ladies keep me grounded The kids all have a great time getting together to play! Many friendships have been made. We take turns hosting at our homes or we meet at public places. Last week we met at the park since it was so nice out. Can you believe these pictures are from a winter day in the state of Virginia??