Brothers and Sisters

A new show on ABC, Brothers and Sisters, is on right after Desperate Housewives. The show depicts a large family and all the drama that goes along with being a large family. It makes me want to have more children. That and both the kids keep asking for a baby in the house. It is starting to get to the point where the boy and the girl will be too far apart in age, so I know that we need to act soon if we are going to have more children. They are both relatively self-sufficient- can dress themselves, brush their teeth, no more diapers- so it is hard to imagine starting all over again. My sister-in-law just had her third kid and holding the baby brought back all of those memories. I guess it is time to get serious about getting into fighting shape and going through it all over again.

Control

I am finally starting to take back control of my life. I do have a lot to undo however. The months of stress and catering and fancy restaurants and no exercise has taken a huge toll on my body. I am easing back into my exercise routine and making attempts at improving my diet.

I have been spending much more quality time with the family and taking care of forgotten tasks at home. I spent this past weekend on catching up on accounting for our businesses and filing and organizing the house. We met with the architect Friday afternoon and we are finally pleased with the layout. Now we are getting down to the nitty gritty details of the plans. He can't start on them until early December, which means we will have the final plans around Christmas time. Then comes the arduous task of getting bids from builders, figuring out the financing, and getting the necessary approvals from the city.

We have made some head way in getting our house prepared for sale. It is terrible timing to put on the market and I have no idea where we will live while we are building, but we are proceeding ahead. My new goal of being in the new house by this Christmas has changed to start construction by the end of January.

And just to prove that I am getting my life back under control, I started Christmas shopping yesterday.

Trusting your gut

When I decided it was time to move on from my employer, the only employer I had known my professional career of 10+ years, I told myself I would just have to make the decision based on gut instinct. As you can tell from my past posts, it has been well, trying at my new place of employment. I am starting to doubt my 'gut instinct'.

This is the week

That I have been dreading. We are presenting our detailed drawings to the client and reviewing them. And day 1 went amazingly well. The client is typically argumentative and mildly combative. And they were neither. Actually, they were almost completely silent. Which sets us all a little uneasy. Did we do our jobs? Did the long hours pay off? Or, is the storm brewing behind the scenes....

On the other hand- I have kids! And a life! I took my off Friday off and hubby and I actually had a day to spend together. Lately we've completely traded shifts. He'll get home after I'm asleep and I will leave before he wakes up. He did have to go to work Saturday morning and was gone the rest of the weekend, but I'll take one day. It was wonderful having three days off of work and it was just what I needed. Even better than that is an extended family trip to Leakey coming up this weekend.

Maybe I should go with the obvious untruth

Work has been all consuming for my little team the past few months. We've worked 10+ hours straight for the past 9 days and we are all getting a little loopy. So we decided to cut out early today and we hit the bar for a couple of hours this afternoon. I had to leave to pick up the kids and take the girl to swimming lessons. Sitting at the swim school, conversing with the parents of a little boy in her class, I realized I smelled like smoke, major smoke. My first instinct was to say, I don't smoke, I just smell like it because.... oh wait a minute, let's just say I smoke.

Am I dreaming?

I am here at work on a Saturday morning. I did the reasonable thing and stopped and picked up kolaches for the team on the way in. Couple hours later, the boss shows up with a huge cooler and a skillet. He cooked up eggs, sausage, and pancakes in our conference room. I wonder how long the smell will linger......

Office politics

I was so naive. I thought my previous company had issues with political currents and behind the scenes doings. I had no idea just how bad it could get. I love the work I am doing, I love the people I am working with, and I love working for an owner versus a contractor for hire. But the level of politics are something I have never seen before and actually prevent us from doing our jobs. Not just preventing us from doing our work effectively, but preventing us from doing our jobs completely.

Unbelievable!

Finally

The boy has had two loose teeth for what seems like months. He has been asking everyone to pull the loosest out for him- me, his dad, baseball coach, teachers. I didn't think I'd be so wigged out about a tooth dangling and the thought of pulling, but I am. It finally fell out this morning after just hanging for two days.



He's also been asking about the tooth fairy. I kept putting off the question because he always asked if there was a tooth fairy while his sister was around. I asked him last night if he really wanted to know the answer and he responded that he wanted the truth. So I told him the truth. I wonder how long before he connects the tooth fairy with Santa and the Easter bunny......

The dog's fairly smart

The last few times we have taken the dog with us somewhere, we have let her ride in the front between us. We both were amazed how she would lean into us when a turn was coming- before we even started into it. Turning right? She'd lean heavily into the passenger side and then lean the opposite way when a left hand turn was coming. I was impressed.

More pics

Of the cabin and the process of building it here....

New place for R&R

My father has spent every free moment the last eight months building a "country cabin". I put that in quotes because I'm not sure a country cabin has wood floors and stainless steel appliances. We spent part of last weekend testing it out for the first time. He has a little more work to do and then he's putting it on the market as he plans to do this during retirement.

He is not convinced it will sell and the rest of us are not convinced we'll be able to use it for more than a few months.


Kitchen, bedroom and full bath, screened in porch, living room and a separate bunk house with another half bath. Not exactly roughing it....

School homework

I am really confused. The boy's been in first grade since August 21st and the only homework sent home is for the parents. He had weekly homework assignments that consisted of 7 or 8 pages in kindergarten.

But that's not the point of this post. The latest assignment was to describe to your child how they got their name. I am afraid this will be TMI for the teacher and the boy. Let's just say, his name happens to coincide with the location in where he was conceived. I spent two days pondering on how to skirt the issue. Oy.

Stuck in the nomex

After waiting a full 8 weeks to receive my beautiful new nomex jumpsuit, I could not wait to try it on! I take my shoes off and step in. Legs fit great, so I put my arms in and pull it on. Perfect! Enough room to fit over my clothes, and not too much room that makes it awkward to move around. I unzip and try to take it off, only I can't get my shoulders out of it. Nomex, if you have never had the opportunity to wear, does not give. It also is an amazing material that breathes in the winter, but does not breathe at all in the summer. So, here I am in my office, shoeless and struggling to get out of this horrid blue jumpsuit. My boss walks by so I plead- please help me get out of this! He looks up and down the hall, making sure no one can see, and helps me.

Stress, relaxation and illness

Last week was another monster week, albeit short. Two very long days to be exact. Monday was a holiday and then it was vacation time Thursday- our annual family retreat to New Braunfels and it came none too soon. Thursday morning we took the sketches to one of the builders we are considering and he helped immensely with the plans. Thursday afternoon we met with the attorney and finally have notarized wills and living wills. After school let out, we picked up the boy and headed out of town for much needed R&R.

When I picked the girl up from school Wednesday afternoon, they told me she was sick. No fever, but late in the afternoon started complaining and not acting well. We went ahead to baseball practice, but then had to leave early because she was getting worse. By the time we got home, her fever was 102. It peaked at 103.5 that night. She complained that her stomach hurt. By the time we left Thursday afternoon, she was feeling much better and didn't have a fever.

Well, wouldn't ya know, Saturday evening I suddenly felt ill and was getting chills. I laid in bed Saturday night and did what I had to Sunday to pack up and come home. Took my temperature Sunday evening and it was 101.5, only it took my 3 days to get over.

It did rain on us Saturday and was a little cool, so most of us did not get in the normally frigid river or pool (with the water pumped in from the river). The kids swam for bits and got out with chattering teeth and purple lips. All of that considered, the trip was great and the kids LOVE being all around the family.

Sick as dogs

What a waste of a long weekend!! Thursday night, we went over to my technical manager's house with some of my coworkers and our spouses. Hubby got paybacks for the years of parties I attended where the only topic of discussion was flying. We spent the evening drinking, eating, and talking about people, career opportunities, and travel.

Friday morning, I woke up sick, sick, sick. Could not keep anything down all day, not even tiny sips of water. At first I thought it was the 4 glasses of wine, but then hubby got equally sick Saturday morning. I haven't spoke to anyone from Thursday night, but we're convinced it was food poisoning from the food we ordered. I slept almost all day Friday and part of Saturday, and hubby spent Saturday and Sunday in bed. Luckily, the family has been entertaining the kids. My folks had the kids Thursday night and almost all day Saturday. The boy went to church again with my grandparents and he is really enjoying it. I keep getting back reports of how well behaved he is- complete opposite of the reports from school. I asked why and he answered that they let him run around in Sunday school. Active little boys who love to talk and move around just don't fit into the mold for school.

Hopefully we'll be able to manage something fun on this long holiday weekend.

Big truck

What an interesting weekend! I ate lunch Friday with several former coworkers. I don't miss the work or the company, but I really miss the people. Friday afternoon, hubby took the kids to swimming and I worked late trying to catch up on the same deliverables I've been referring to for weeks.

Early Saturday morning, hubby left for work. I picked up one of Andy's best friends to play substitute hubby at the fantasy football draft at Star Pizza. The kids were fairly well behaved with each of them bursting into tears only once (maybe twice) for various reasons. We were able to relax at home for about 45 minutes and then off to our next adventure. We met up with friends who are in town at her parent's house. And waited for the 32 foot long Hummer to take us to Wings N More as a birthday present for the husband. We all had a blast and the girl wants to take the "big truck" every time we go out to eat now.

Sunday was not so much fun. I met up with coworkers to try to knock out some work as our latest deadline to miss is today. And the connection to our software was down. After wasting 3 hours trying to get it to work, call someone to make it work, and finally giving up, we spent another 4 hours discussing what needed to happen today and formulating the plan.

The boy went to church with my grandparents (his first time!) and the girl spent the day with my in-laws. At least they enjoyed their day!

So, here I am at 6:15 Monday morning, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep and not wake up until Tuesday.

www

Another incredible week. Not in a good way however. Everything blew up at work, not just not meeting client expectations and the client running it all the way up to the top in our organization, but also major blowups within our own group. It's been ugly, to say the least. I know it will all work out and things will improve, but even if they don't, hey, I have plenty of other options. I am just happy the controversy does not really involve me.

In other words, the honeymoon is over! Don't get me wrong, I still love my job, but let's just say I can definitely pick out all the faults now. I did eat lunch with former coworkers today and it sounds like they are not having anymore fun than myself.

In other news, when I got home this evening, all was quiet. Hubby has the kids at swimming lessons and they are not due home for a half hour, so I poured a glass of wine and jumped on the computer. Why, I don't know since I spend all day on the computer at work, but I guess it is just a habit. Checked email. Oh, fantasy football draft tomorrow. Insert groan here. I hate football. Nothing else too exciting. Hopped over to the internet and not feeling creative, check the drop down list for ideas to surf.

And there I find www frootloops com. No periods, just spaces. I will have to assume the boy's been on the computer.

Songs

The boy heard a song on the radio that he really liked, so hubby promised to download it for him. Off he went searching for "Missing You Boy". I came into the office halfway into the process at the same time hubby realized the lyrics were actually "Promiscuous Boy". Nice. Real nice.

Playing house

I just watched my daughter play house with a stuffed pig, a giant stuffed Winnie the Pooh, and a Dora the Explorer. She put the babies in her car and drove the kids to school. She dropped them off at school and then went on to work. Of course she put on her lipstick and took her purse before leaving.

Catching up

After being out of town the previous two weekends and working like a dog last week, I was more than happy to have a three day weekend at home. The boy and I spent some quality time together Friday, his last day of summer. We spent a good portion of Saturday with my parents and then the kids and I went to a party Saturday evening. They have a son the boy's age and a girl the daughter's age so it was a fun time for all. They happen to live two blocks from our house, in the adjoining neighborhood but since we live in a snooty gated neighborhood, we had to hop a fence to walk over.

Sunday, hubby arrived home from a red eye flight at the same time we all climbed out of bed, so I rounded up the kids and headed back to my folks so he could sleep for a few hours. We had friends over Sunday afternoon and spent time at the pool and catching up.

This morning, we walked the boy to his first day of first grade. My, it is going by so fast.