Today is the first day of the rest of my life

Whew, finals ended.

The house is decorated for Christmas and I have to get all my shopping done this week. Which won't take long because it only takes so long to spend the certain amount of money we have allotted for this yuletide season!

Three companies I interviewed with last week are supposed to make a decision this week. I'm on pins and needles. One would be almost exactly like the work I did before, so there is a comfort level there. One would be working with our downtown. That one could be super fun, plus I would feel much more involved with my city and events, etc. The other one is for a produce company in another city. Their office is dingy and it smells like onions.

Alas, none of them may choose me, which is fine. I'm still applying. Still looking, honing the interview skills. I won't panic for a few more weeks.

I also recommitted myself to a diet today. 1500-1700 calories per day. I'm done with the krispy kremes on the counter, the kids will have to finish those off. Also, I made coconut, pineapple, cream cheese balls just yesterday, but no more for me. I started a list last night of all the foods I will allow myself and another one of foods I won't allow myself. The second one is pretty short because I don't think it's a good idea to just deny yourself a bunch of stuff. If I said I'm never going to eat ________ again, it wouldn't be long before I just had big binge of that very item.

I hope you are all ready for the holidays in whatever way you celebrate. Take time to slow down and really enjoy something or someone you've put off for a while. You won't regret it.

Bullies

Aaron has been bullied by the same boy for , oh, I'd say a good two years now. This big bad bully has done everything from taking pencils away from Aaron to stealing books from him to punching him in the stomach for "bumping into" another student. Last year, in junior high, we talked with the principals and Mr. big bad bully was brought in for a conference. Aaron said things improved for a long time after that. But, now we are back to the same problems in high school with the same boy. Aaron tip toes around the school trying to avoid b.b.b. (bid bad bully), but there is no avoiding him on the bus ride home.

Yesterday, Aaron came home reporting that b.b.b. hit him in the back of the head over and over on the bus. This is where I recommend the entire world always assume you are being watched, because we are! In this case, I'm glad, because it was all caught on video tape and b.b.b is suspended. Frankly, I hope it puts a terrible hardship on his parents and he gets in big trouble...I mean learns how to treat people kindly.

I found a couple of websites that might be useful for other people in the same situation:

http://www.bullystoppers.com/

http://www.stopbullyingnow.com/

The final crunch

It is almost over! How long have I been saying that? Well, it's true. One more, single solitary class for the spring semester and I am done. Well, unless I decide to get my master's. But, done, really.

I'm officially looking for a job now. It is funny because I spent the last 8 months scared I would get a job. Now I'm terrified that I will NOT get one. Ugh. Life.

This is how Kiki and I finally compromised and shared the mouse tonight.

Just a blurry pic of Daniel and Lucas in their room playing. They play together really well. Daniel imitates EVERYTHING Lucas does. This is their "house", it is really supposed to be bunk beds with the bottom bunk being perpendicular to the top one. I think it is cooler this way. Lucas sleeps on top and Daniel still sleeps in his crib. He hasn't figured out how to climb out, yet. :-0

The very long weekend

This weekend started back on Thursday when we had our first snow, a doozy, which closed down my school, Aaron and Lucas' school, and Daniel's daycare. It felt more like the twilight zone, a terrible joke played on a frazzled mom and the punch line never came. Oh, not that bad, but I swear the dishes are alive and they secretly multiply behind my back so that I will never have a chance of getting them all clean.

Furthermore, I can't seem to ever have enough of the right kinds of foods on hand. Lucas, who used to eat pretty well rounded meals, now declares all but pasta and ice cream "YUCKY!" Daniel doesn't want to sit at the table anymore, opting instead to eat on the run, that being around the living room furniture.

But, alas, it is Sunday evening, I'm blogging instead of studying all is well.

Yesterday was Daddy's birthday. We ate at the Cheescake factory:

Then, we mosied around the mall while we waited for the movie. Here he is with his feet stuck in a foot/calf massager at Brookstone. It was squeezing his feet:

He was such a hoot hanging on for dear life while I pushed the buttons making it squeeze more and more. By the way, that thing is awesome. I used it, too, it vibrates and massages. Our feet felt completely revived after just a few minutes.

I entered this pic in an online baby photo contest at LandsEnd.com/baby.

Today...

~ I found out one of my professors is pregnant, this after my law professor died last weekend
~ My family did not see me all day long because I was at school
~ During the critique of my mock interview I found out I have a "soft" handshake
~ There was a police chase on my street. Apparently the suspects did not realize they turned onto a cul de sac...must move.
~ I baked two cakes for the school carnival tomorrow, after 11:30pm
~ I ate frosting out of the container

I went to the library to study today and recognized so many people. It makes me realize how long I've lived here and how rooted I am in this community.
-My neighbor across the street was there with her two kids. She didn't say hello, but her kids did. She is a little stand-offish. Don't know why, because anytime we have ever talked she was super nice.
-The doctor at an after hours clinic where I took Daniel just yesterday was there reading. Now, what a catch he must be. Nice, young doctor with nothing to do but sit in a library reading, seemingly for enjoyment. He wasn't hunched over his material like I was!!
-A girl that grew up across the street from my grandmother works at the check out counter and always says hi and asks how my mother is.
-A mother of three girls that go to the same school as Aaron and to whom I've been waving hello since 1998 was there.
-The Carls Jr manager that I go to for a jelly biscuit and a coke was there using the internet. Why can't he hook up with the book checker-outer that I know? Assuming, of course, that he is single.

The library is a very small one and they have recently intalled more internet-accessible computers for public use. That is great, people really use them a lot. The bad thing is the computers got put on some of the precious few tables and right among the other available tables where people like me are studying our hearts out. The internet users are often just surfing and wearing headphones listening to music. The music, even through the headphones, is just absolutely unbearable. The library powers-that-be really need to work out a better solution.

Meet Ace and Derrick. Ace is the sold white rat, fancy rat, that is. Aaron was given Ace by a friend. It took a lot of convincing for us to let him keep him. Then, I read that rats are much better off when they have a cage mate. So, I took Lucas to the pet store where he picked out Derrick. And, hey, I had nothing to do with picking the names.

I'm selling stuff on e-bay again. Just thought I would supplement the ole student loans with some cash.
Here is Daniel's PJs listed at $.99. Such a bargain!

I started this book yesterday and it is off to pretty good start. It's about a busy mom in England that also has a pretty demanding job. She is a hedge accountant, which means she manages risk associated with foreign currency investments. We just covered this topic in my advanced accounting class, so it will be interesting to see if I have any insight throughout the story.

Aaron's Smoking and my blog is messed up

After that last tacky post, I'm sure I had this coming. Aaron has been so curious about smoking lately. Everytime he gets mad at me, he spitefully retorts, "I'm gonna start smoking!" Oh yeah, he knows how to get to me! I came home yesterday to find him sitting pretty on the couch, all freshly showered, cologned, combed and calm. I asked him why he showered in the middle of the day...no reason, he says. But I knew. I knew in my gut he had been smoking. And he admitted it to me. This has to stop pronto. 3boyzdad and I have discussed what we should do, but we don't know. Do we make him smoke a pack, one after the other and hope it turns him off? I'm opting for showing immense disappointment in his choice.

My blog is going through puberty right now. That's why the side bar is messed up. I upgraded it to beta---whatever that means, and I deleted the annoying Hurricane Katrina ad at the top and ever since, the sidebar hasn't cooperated.

I'm about to be mean here.....

On the topic of school and the funny people you meet there, there is another person in a couple of my classes that is noteworthy. This is an older lady with a smoker's hack to beat all smoker's hacks.

I'm all for going back to school to better one's self, mind, job enrichment, etc. And all under the banner of you-are-never-too-old. It's true, you absolutely can't start to improve your mind or body too late. No matter what you choose to do, it will improve your overall life, I believe. So what makes this person any different? Well, my guess is she is too far gone, lung-wise, for much improving to be cost effective. And it's not like she 'used to' smoke. Oh no, she comes into class with a cloud of smoke enveloping her. Her poor voice sounds like it's been raked over bed of knives. 'Nuff said. And you know how we end a blog that rags on somebody? .....Bless her heart!

Happy Birthday Lucas!

6 Years Old!

This just happens to be his cake-tasting finger!!

Warning! Please read before considering having children!

Just beware. That's all I'm saying. It may not happen to you. I didn't think it would happen to me when I was young and naive, thinking I wanted lots of children to love all day.

Me, before children:




And after:


So sad!

This is a picnic....not a tea party!

http://danielmcvicar.blogspot.com

I just found this guy today. He is neat. Check him out!

My TO DO list:

1. Read more history
2. Get passports for the whole family
3. Learn how to vlog

Dreams

Lucas is scared of his dreams, all of a sudden. Sunday morning he came and got in bed with me, whimpering about a bad dream. I just snuggled him for a while. Later in the day, he brought it up several times. It must have been a pretty bad one, poor guy. So last night, he tried to stay awake so he wouldn't have any dreams. And for him, staying awake is not a problem. It was about midnight when he finally drifted off! Well, this morning he comes and gets in bed with me and says with his little lisp..."Mommy, my dream was disgusthting!" What a word! I didn't know he even knew it. Wonder what bedtime will be like tonight....

School

There are lots of characters at school that I think deserve some print time here. Students and instructors, alike. I don't buddy up with very many people at school. I guess I'm more of a loner, plus I'm much older than most of the day students.

We'll start with my commercial law class. The instructor, an absolute dinosour, is no joy to learn from. He walks in the room without ever addressing the class, turns and writes the days lesson on the chalk board, in cursive, in outline form. Mind you, we already have the text and an outline that he told us to purchase additionally. Once it took him 45 minutes of class time to do this.

In said law class, we have a student I'll call Mr. Suspicious. He always looks disbelievingly at Mr. Dinosour, as if the book can't be right. Mr. Suspicious asks questions like, "And how does that reconcile with what we just learned in the last chapter about bailments?" I just want to shake him and tell him he is probably not going to be the one guy that makes Mr. Dinosour and the rest of the legal field realize they've been operating under a misunderstanding of the universal commercial code. But, he'll just have to come to that realization himself one day.

Brand new habit

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I've been weaning Daniel off the bottle since he was just a little over 12 months. Now he is 17 1/2 months old. Why is it taking so long? Because 3boyzdad won't stop giving him a "tete" to go to sleep at night!! I tell him he's the one hooked on the bottle, not Daniel. Well, one night I substituted the pacifier, or "chupo" in español, and to my surprise, it is Daniel's new go-anywhere accessory!