Yay! Spring!!

It's a beautiful Spring day here! I am looking at 70 degree temps, sunny with an occasional breeze. Soccer boy has finished about half of his school work, and then he's on his own with some studying games while I make lunch. After lunch, we are going outside!!! I bought a hand tiller, and then it rained for a week! I can finally use it! I have some roots to plant, and a bed to dig up. Strawberries to move, and some TREES to plant! Yep, Trees!!! I also bought 2 Japanese dwarf maple trees. Both to go out front, to add some color and to hold some dirt.

We are going to be doing a lot of planting this year, we have some erosion control to deal with...and we're about to lose a tree, or more. But I haven't had any luck finding a decent local tree service. I'll need to walk down the street and find out who some neighbors recently used to bring down two large, dead pines.



My tulips are all in and they're so gorgeous!

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The pink one is light pink and white, and the yellow has brilliant orange inside

I just love the purple!

some lighter pink, and the beginnings of yellow tulips among the purple

purple tulips and the last of the crocus

my favorite picture

I don't think I posted once in March, despite having things to post about!!

As usual, when things get busy, many things get put on back burners and completely forgotten about. Recently I volunteered to help transcribe for an upcoming documentary about women. It's probably the first documentary I've ever waited for with growing anticipation. You can see and read more about the film here at Red Tent Movie: Things We Don't Talk About.


What I am trying to do, in my 'spare time' is to transcribe sections of audio. So far I have found that it is more difficult that I had originally thought it would be, but it's not impossible, and once I get on a roll I can work pretty swiftly. But, I also always get an interruption as soon as I get on a roll.  Let me set the scene.....empty sink, dishwasher running...rinse cycle spinning on the washing machine, and the dryer is tumbling. The children, if the weather is nice, are outside playing, and the blinds are all open letting sunlight stream in and illuminate my living and working space.

If the weather is poor, they might be indulging in a cartoon movie. No matter what they are doing, as soon as I get into a rhythm of listening, pausing and typing, they always find that moment to come ask me a random question, or start bickering. So, I feel lucky when I can get 3-5 minutes of transcribing finished in 20 or 30 minutes. And since I've never done this before, I feel like 'hey, that's pretty decent!'


Currently my son is throwing a tantrum much like I would expect from a two year old. You might remember that we are currently homeschooling, because the school he attended was unwilling to work with a gifted and very distracted child. We have since had confirmation that he has ADHD, but have decided to leave him "not medicated" at this time. It's Friday, and he's just done with school work for this week, and apparently he's "done" with treating me with any kind of respect. Currently he is under threat of not being able to play in his soccer game tonight, which has just made him even more angry. I am trying to stay very calm, and very clear about what I expect. I expect him to do his job, which is to learn, while I do my job. My job is to parent him. As his parent, I feel that it is important that I not only be treated respectfully, but that I see to it that he is getting an education.


Much of this year has been a struggle, perhaps it's been a power struggle? Whatever it has been, I can no longer continue it. So I sat down a few weeks ago and did a little research. I found a school that is in this county, and it seems to be our best bet for next year. I will know in May if they had the room for my kids. I sincerely hope they do, as homeschooling, at least, with this particular program (K-12 Public School...GCA) is no longer the right fit for our family. No matter what happens next year we will not be participating in GCA. Should the elementary school not have room for my children, we will do something much different at home. I really hope this school works out. I will miss them during the day though.



In other news, I have been busying playing Virtual Doula...it's one of my favorite roles.:D

Delima

I think part of the reason I don't write a whole lot is because I don't really KNOW my audience! I am a childbirth professional so a lot of what I sit down and start writing has a lot to do with childbirth. Usually I'll want to talk about something I have read, or a conversation I have had. But I worry, and I don't really know why, that I'll run off the few followers I had.

I think most of my followers are from when I was doing the "blog hopping" stuff and trying to attract readers. Which, seemed to also keep me from writing anything I wanted to write about.

So, I guess, my apologies to those of you who aren't birth junkies or who think that natural and normal birth are "for crazy people" and they would "never want to suffer through childbirth", but chances are you're bound to be offended or bored by some of my upcoming writings.

I have one final essay to write and turn in for my childbirth education certification....and then I need to teach a series and critique myself. That should be interesting. But before that, I'm hoping to sit in on another series that my friend teaches.I think I"m hoping to feel more confident after watching a pro do it ;)

So, if anyone has a specific childbirth question fire away, if I cant' answer it, I'll get the answers for you!

I.Love.My.Hair

I do! I love it! I have been wanting to dye it a "funky" color for months, years even!!  I finally bleached it and colored it and it.is.awesome!!!!

So excited!

I finally (ok, so it's not like it took me that long, but I felt like it did) finished my childbirth educator exam, I still have a little bit of work left to finish before I can submit it all. But I'm super excited to start teaching. I currently have one client and I am very excited to be getting back into the birth world. She's due soon, but I'm hoping she holds out a bit longer, so we have time to finish working on her birth education and her birth plan!!

I am also excited that so many of my old friends are getting pregnant, again, or trying to get pregnant. And I love that they feel like they can come to me when they have questions about pregnancy, and birth. I really love that I can give them good information, and help them make the choices they feel are appropriate for them.


AND! I colored my hair. I bleached some small sections, and now they're turquoise!! I am in love with it! I am planning to do another round of the coloring next week, I would like it to be more bold, but want to give my hair a chance to recover from the shock of the bleaching. I had to do it twice!! When I'm finished with the 2nd round of color I'll try to get some good pictures.

Forgive me

I am attempting to write a quick post before I cut my kids off from their Wii time. They're behind me playing Lego Indiana Jones for the last, almost 2 hours! Sheesh!! But they're working together, so I'm trying to see it as 'team building exercises'

I have gotten quite a bit done today, or at least it looks that way ;)


My kitchen is clean, not just clean looking but clean. All of the laundry is done, and piled on the sofa waiting to be folded (which of course means I've been washing and drying all week but not folding ;) )The floor has been swept, and since I just mopped the other day, I'm not mopping again! The dishwasher is as loaded as it can be right now, so it's waiting to be run until after dinner.

I'm about to go clean the kids bathroom which because of a recent deep clean in there won't take long. But the mirror and their counter, good grief! How do they get it SO MESSY. What do they do when they're washing their hands? Do I even want to know? There is a mysterious white film on the mirror. There is bright blue tooth paste in the grout between the tiles. I hate my bathroom counter tops.

I'm ordering pizza tonight, it's day four of being "home bound" . I have heard the roads right near me might be passable, but honestly I don't want to take my kids out and risk their lives. I trust my driving skills, but not anyone else on the road. It's just not worth it to me to take them out. And I can't go out myself, because my husband is iced in an hour away. Oops. Also I have a giant slab of ice/snow on my windshield right front and center of my view. I might see if it will come clear now that it's been in the sun a while.

Well, after all my chores are done and dinner ordered, I'll be hopefully sitting down to work on my CBE exam. I'm almost to the half way point. I was doing great, getting a lot done but then every time I sat down the kids come in the room and distract me. So, wish me luck, and if you think about it, light a candle that I have the brain power, and concentration to get more of it finished! I'm ready to be done, and to work on collecting all my class materials and tools, and to start teaching!!

AND here is a picture I took this morning out of my kitchen window.

What do you get when you predict enough snow and ice to close the roads?

Did I mention I live in the South?

NO? Oh, well, then I can sum it up in one word. Insanity!!

Grocery store shelves are bare, the streets are full of the remnants of snow and ice....you know, slush.
Nothing is open. Not the grocery store, not the gas stations. A 15 minute drive might take an hour if you are going slowly enough that you're not spinning.

I foolishly had not been checking the weather while slowly going stir crazy over the last few weeks, and I don't turn on the afternoon or evening news because I don't want the kids having to hear about all the people being shot, or drugs or whatever other nasty things the world holds for them as they grow up. Perhaps it's too much of a shelter, but they're only young once, and it's not like I'll never watch the news again, it's just....not a priority. AND since soccer season ended I don't pay attention to any of the weather aps on my phone or have it installed on Firefox (yet). I had been looking at the weather twice a day while we had practice and soccer to attend, and once I even managed to see the bad storm coming before the people at the field even had time to look at it! (which makes me consider being a volunteer soccer mom for next years team and being the leader of the phone tree for weather cancellations...because NO ONE knew that a "tornado spawning storm" was headed right for the fields.


So, anyway, all week as my level of 'stir crazy' increased, I proposed a "Mom's Night Out" (MNO, or GNO for Girls Night Out) for Saturday or Sunday night, no one wanted to go out Sunday, so I said "Ok, how about Saturday!". I added MNO to my list of "things to do" on Saturday. First thing in morning I started making up my grocery list and menu, and planned on doing some pretty light grocery shopping for the week after Soccer Boy's final evaluation. Then my mom called, she was on her way to Ace Hardware, wanted to know if I wanted two sleds. Uh, well, yeah, but why now? Oh, it's going to snow, lots of snow! Then I looked at facebook. Omg. One friend, local, says 8-10 inches for us. Mom said 5-7 for them. Oh lordy.

So, the boy and I head out for the appointment, only upon arrival I do not have my debit card. Or any other way to pay for groceries. Great, I have to go home. Finish the eval, and by the time we get home it has been decided that the Hubby will be taking both kids to the store, and I'm going to stay home alone. Well, alright!! After they were finally ready to go, and gone, with my entire list, and only a small number of things highlighted, I started up the dishes, the laundry, and tidied up all over the place while waiting on their return. It was slammed. The bread was nearly gone. My husband, bought 4 loaves. lol But he also bought 2 doz eggs, 2 gallons of milk, the all important coffee creamer and a few more things that we needed in order to make some decent meals while we were stuck at home.

After he got home, I finished getting ready and then headed out to run an errand, then I went to the mall for a while, and then I finally got to go enjoy dinner with a friend, and one of her friends :) It was nice, and we are penciled in to do it again next month ;) Joan is one of the few mommy friends I've had since I was pregnant with my first, and we NEVER see each other enough. I'm looking forward to next month! I came home after dinner and waited for the snow to start. I'd been waiting actually, ready to head home the moment it began.

I awoke Sunday morning to everything looking just as cold, and just as Earth-toned as when I went to bed. We waited, and waited and waited, not going anywhere for fear of the people that didn't go out on Friday evening, or Saturday for food and supplies. Though I considered heading out for kitty litter (for the driveway) and potatoes and other things for fixing a big pot of soup. But I stopped there.

Finally after tucking the children into bed, I peeked out and it was snowing. Finally. In 10 minutes there was an obvious layer, you couldn't deny that it was snowing. In 30 minutes, it already looked like an inch...by midnight 2 inches, maybe 3. And then we went to bed.

My husband took pictures with his phone....I can't find my camera (or my camera cord, so it wouldn't matter anyway) Hopefully I will have some pictures to share later after he sends them my way :)

We made great use of the sleds from Gamma, we spent 2 hours yesterday sledding down the driveway! 

And now, we can no longer continue to put off our schooling for the day, plus make up work. It's going to be a struggle, and I'm so not looking forward to it, but it must be done! We have lots to catch up on, and only until late May to finish it all!!

Prep for Imbolc

Yeah, yeah, I know it's only January 7th. But perhaps I'll manage to make that turkey dinner or something similar for Imbolc? Why not? February is still cold...and it would be nice to have a big family meal....with just my little family. We've never done it before.

The kids and I can prepare by cleaning and crafting, we can do a tiny "kid friendly" type ritual, and I can do one on my own. It's just a thought!! I have been printing off Imbolc stuff *all morning* and have more to look up this evening.

Along with Imbolc, I am also starting to plan my next steps toward Dental Health. *sigh*...I need to call the insurance company to talk about our family benefits and everything. I would like to discuss possibily using benefits from other family members at the end of the year. So I can go through a procedure or two *or three if I'm 'lucky'* and then when my daughter (who has perfect teeth even with out a cleaning last year!!) has finished up with her 2nd cleaning I can use the remainder of her benefits in like Nov/Dec of 2011...before they renew for Jan 2012. It too is just a thought!! But I hope I can work it.

Not much going on right now other than some "planning". I'm very good at planning....it's the follow through that gets me.

I seem to have done about all I can in the living room and kitchen as far as decluttering and reorganizing. I need my man home so he can go through HIS things in the living spaces. The kids rooms were recently done, but definitely need touch ups. (And with the use of a new printer, I will be taking pictures upon room completion and helping the children create "MY ROOM" poster board to go on the back of their doors so they can see what a clean room looks like!)
I am about 1/3 of the way complete with my Childbirth Educator exam...I hope after the boy and I finish schooling today I can get a little more work done..but I also have to hit up the grocery store at some point today. Along with dishes, putting away copious amounts of laundry, tidying up the little messes that have been made and I will likely sweep and mop the floor. The floor always has to be at least swept.

I have hardwood floors. Which...I have a love-hate relationship with. They're beautiful! I adore how they look in the fall and spring when I have all the blinds pulled up and the sunshine pouring in the windows. Until the kids go outside and manage to track in a layer of dust thick enough to dull the brightest of beautiful flooring. Yep, only takes one day. When my daughter was newly mobile (so 6ish months old) I would sweep AND mop my floors DAILY. It was exhausting but rewarding in that I could loose sight of my baby for a few seconds and not worry about the dust bunny she was about to have for a snack. But I also hate how "careful" we have to be not to nick and scratch them! It means no dog, and moving furniture is not something I can do on my own just because I finally figured out how I want everything. Nope, I need someone there to pick up the otherside of the heavy thing so I don't mess up the floor. And if you spill, you better clean it up right away, or risk making a spot. But I guess the same can be said for carpet (or other flooring, depending on the liquid.)

That was quite the tangent, and now I've forgotten where I was going with all this. Oh, right....the floor was one of the reasons I likely wouldn't manage to get to my CBE Exam today. Among other things. (and the children have descended upon me...)

So, um, where was I? I swear, I feel like the Absent Minded Professor!!

Oh well, I guess that will be my cue to go collect our school books and get started. Thank Goddess it's Friday! I am hoping for a "girls night out" tomorrow night after I go do some shopping. 

6 years since it was Positive

Today, provided I'm reading the calendar correctly is the 6th anniversary of my last positive pregnancy test :) Well, ok, not the last, I peed on the other 5 or 6 that I bought because 'omg no way, really?' She was finally coming, 4 cycles after a miscarriage I was 'finally' pregnant again!

Now, she's 5..and she's playing her "Tinkerbelle" Leapster 2 game, and tomorrow she goes back to ballet classes.

This is one of those "significant anniversary years" ... you know the big ones...Yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary of moving in with my fiance....today, as I said above...in a few days I will have been married for 10 years! That also means my son will turn 10. *gulp* Back to the wedding anniversary.
 
Back then we had said we were going to have a big 10 year "party" of sorts. We were going all out, I wanted a dress, and I wanted the kids to stand up with us, a the whole 9 yards....well, it's not happening this year. It's just not really something we *can* do...not that we don't want to do it anymore. The good news is, I'll only be 38 when we celebrate 20 years...


The last few days have been a positive flurry of memories from that "magic" number of 10 years ago. The last time I was in school....how long I've been someone's wife....when I became a mother....


and I think it will be another 10 years before I finish a blog post ;)  I have several drafts sitting, waiting to be discarded or finished. But every time I sit down to them....just like every time I try to sit down and work on my CBE exam....the kid come in with their distractions..I try not to get to frustrated, before long it will be the reverse, every time the think they've gotten away from me for a minute I'll call, text or knock on their door. *sigh* they grow up too fast.


Lesse, a quick little personal update:

I have started using supplements to treat PMDD almost 2 weeks ago. I am hoping the improvements are obvious, and I will continue on. I have started working out again, and trying *very* hard to eat better. I hope that also helps improve my moods....and of course my body ;)

I am almost half way through my Childbirth Educator Exam...and only about 3 weeks behind when I wanted to be finished with it all so I could start teaching soon. I am also lacking a teaching location, since I have been severely
 lacking in any "alone" time for marketing. Somethings I hope are also nearing a time of improvement...

I bought a new book yesterday, practically jumped off the shelf at me. It's a "practical magic" book, and so far (all 5 paragraphs I've read) seem right up my alley....hopefully I'll manage to make it through this book soon :) I am longing for that spiritual connection.

Happy New Year!! Welcome 2011!

Wow, 1-1-11....though I'm looking forward to wishing my cousin a Happy Birthday on 1-11-11...and maybe we'll have a "number party" on 11-11-11 lol


(Every time I have sat down to blog in the last week, my kids have come in the room and basically demanded my attention...so I'm going to go ahead and apologize for any bits that don't exactly flow, or make any sense, ok? Cool.)



It's a little after 11 am, and I am enjoying the sounds of a Winter Thunderstorm...New Year's noise makers, my daughter's sing-song voice and my son working on building a 'tent' using his loftbed and all the blankets he can drag in there.

Scratch that, now my son is sitting in the middle of his floor full pout because I wouldn't let them drag the tent building in here. Sorry kid, I'm working on Christmas Clean Up...there's no room at the Inn!

I'll blog later I guess, so that I can stop being the cause of the Moodies. After all if I'm just sitting here blogging, there is no reason he shouldn't be able to cram his tent in here wherever he can! And if I'm up cleaning, there really is no room!!


I hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year's Eve, and a relaxing day today!