Simple Sunday 03.22.09

I'm late posting this but the fact that I'm posting more than once every three months is an improvement so I'm not going to beat myself up over it.

It was rough week and I honestly can't come up with small things that struck me as wonderful this week. I do have something though. Yesterday we celebrated two of my favorite people turning 13. My son Dylan and his cousin K were born 10 days apart and have celebrated every one of their 13 birthdays together. I love just watching them together because their is none of that boy/girl weirdness with them. They are just best buddies and I believe they always will be.





Happy 13th Birthay to two terrific kids.

It's all in the eye of the beholder

In a 13 year old boy's eye, this is a clean room.


In his mother's eye, THIS is a clean room.



He isn't going to be too happy when he comes home. He doesn't want me messing with his stuff. I don't want the house condemned. I pay the bills, I win.

A day late but heavy on the teenage sarcasm

I saw this on Mer and the Carpool Queen's blogs yesterday and finally got my son to answer the questions. Please keep in mind he is officially a teenager now.


1. What is something your mom always says to you?
Did you get your homework done?

2. What makes your mom happy?
When I don’t get a terrible grade.

3. What makes your mom sad?
When I skip my homework.(Can you tell yet that we are having homework/grade issues?)

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
By doing something stupid. (Gee...thanks)

5. What was your mom like as a child?
I don’t know.

6. How old is your mom?
41

7. How tall is your mom?
5’5 ½” (He missed it by an inch. I'm actually 5'4 1/2"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
I don’t know.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Sit on the recliner, watch tv and eat. (Sadly, he isn't too far off)

10.If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
You look like someone that would be in a Swiffer commercial. (???)

11. What is your mom really good at?
I don’t know (Obviously haven't been impressing him much)

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Singing (Ha! This is no secret!)

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Accountant…bookkeeper is the official title.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Italian (Actually, my fave would be Mexican but I do like Italian.)

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about all of this. (Again with the not impressing him.)

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Daisy Duck (Huh?)

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Scouts, Homework, Monopoly, I don’t know… (How about practically everything?)


18. How are you and your mom the same?
We’re pretty much the same in every way, that’s why we’re always fighting right? (Sad but true)

19. How are you and your mom different?
Different hair color and you’re old. (Over 24 hours in labor & a c-sec for this?!?)

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
You say it every day. (And I always will)

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
I don’t know. What DO you like about dad? (Hmmm...maybe need to work on that Proverbs 31 thing a bit more.)

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Nashville (Not a bad choice.)

Fear of change

9:30 am ~ Thank you so much for your kind comments and your prayers! Salary and benefit cuts are in my future, but God is good and I still have a job as does everyone else. Everyone from the CEO on down will be taking a pay cut and we will try to do this by cutting out any expense that we can. Their goal is to not cut any additional staff though so that when the economy turns around, we will all still be in place to move forward. I honestly expected to find that we were going to be losing more people and I could do cartwheels right now because I'm so happy that this family gets to stay together. Thank you God for employers that truly do care about the welfare of their employees.



6:30 am ~ I am not a person that likes change. I rarely change my hair. I carry the same handbag until it falls apart. My furniture hasn't been rearranged in over ten years. I have no desire to find a new house and move. I like to know what's going to happen each day, each week, each month. The fact that my husband's work schedule changes each week makes me crazy. I am comforted by routine.

Armed with that information about me, you can only imagine what the current state of events in nation's economy are doing to me. Everything seems to be up in the air and nothing is certain. Kevin has already been through a series of jobs in the last 12 months due to the economy. Until yesterday, I had felt very secure in my job. On March 27th I will celebrate my 20th anniversary with the company. Yesterday though, I learned that we will be having a company wide conference call today. Actually, in about 2 hours I will be listening to our CEO discuss plans for our company's future. I have no idea what he plans to say. Keep in mind, our offices share a wall so it isn't like he is someone I never see or talk to. To put it mildly, I'm terrified. I know that we will have to find ways to spend less. I'm pretty certain that wages will be frozen. Maybe some benefits will be cut. Those are all things I can deal with. What I can't handle is people losing their jobs. There are people there that have seen me through getting engaged and married. They watched my tummy grow with a child inside and rejoiced when my son was born. They came to the funeral home when I lost my grandmothers and saw me through some very dark days with my husband's illness.

I realize that if someone I care about leaves the company it doesn't mean they have to leave my life. We can still see each other or talk on the phone. I just don't want them to go. None of us are wealthy and several are single women living on one income. Losing a job could mean losing a home. We all actually care about the company that we work for (family owned) and losing employees will be much like losing family members.

Then there is the fear of myself being someone that is part of the staff reduction. That thought had me sobbing in a bathroom stall yesterday. I think of the hardship it would cause because I'm the one that carries all of our insurance. I'm the main breadwinner at this time. I also think about the 'family' I could lose. I've been with many of them longer than Kevin and I have been together and I'm not ready to say goodbye.

If you should read this before 8:30am central, please say a quick prayer for the gang at SCCC. I think we could all use it.

Memory Monday 03.16.09

I'm finally joining in on Memory Monday!

The first thing I want to memorize is Proverbs 31:10-31. Obviously I can't do it all at once so I'm starting with verses 10 -12. I'm not good at memorization so I'm going to take this in small pieces.

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10-12

Simple Sunday 03.15.09

In keeping with the title of this blog, I want to take time out each week to remember the simple things that happen in daily life that make me happy. Those are the things that really matter. Sometimes they occur in mere seconds and are gone all too quickly. I want to be able to come back and read through them and remember. When life is making me crazy, I want to be able to remember.

Simple Sunday

Dylan shared the big recliner with me yesterday while watching a movie. That has been our snuggle spot since he came home from the hospital but for the last year or so he's been telling me we don't fit and he wouldn't sit with me. But yesterday, for 2 glorious hours my boy sat in our chair with me and let me snuggle.

On Friday night I finally went and got my Sam's card. I was added to the company account this year but hadn't made it out there yet. So, I got the card and Kevin went with me. We walked through the store chatting and buying way too much. Including a 5 lb bag of peanuts in the shell. We never grocery shop together and it was fun to spend the time together.

Last Saturday night we went shopping at the mall for Dylan's birthday presents. We had Chik-Fil-A and spent time in the cafe court reminiscing about our growing boy.

That's it. That's all I have for this week. I'm sure there were other moments that passed too quickly and were forgotten. I'll have to try to make notes this week. I don't want to forget the simple things that make me smile.

Dear 2009 - The apology

Dear 2009,

I sincerely apologize for for my oh so sassy post on New Year's Day. I really had no idea you would take it so personally. Did you really need to retaliate to the extent that you did? I know I was a little sassy, but I didn't even use curse words!

Anyhoo, I'm sorry for disrespecting you the way that I did and I'm hoping that you will accept my apology and allow me to have a halfway decent 9 1/2 months. Pretty please???

Thanks,
m


Yeah, I was sassy and I've paid for it. The last two months have been exhausting.

• I have worked more hours than ever before. About 15 hours of overtime each week which includes every Saturday. The time leading up to our annual audit is always crazy, but this was ridiculous. Then the auditors were on site for 3 weeks. I cringe just thinking about it.
• I turned 41. 'Nuff said.
• Kevin lost his job. It was retail sales and their business bottomed out after Christmas. Last one hired, first one fired.
• My dad ended up in the hospital for 24 hours with a very nasty flu bug.
• We had a massive ice storm. We never lost electricity but we did lose cable, phone and internet. We can't complain about that though since the neighbors across the street didn't have electricity for a week!
• My dad turned 80. We had a huge party and it all turned out perfectly. This was one of the few bright spots this winter.
• I had to get bifocal contact lenses. I'm officially old.
• Kevin's substitute teacher license came through (finally) and he subbed 4 days in Feb. Then.....
• Kevin started a new job. It's a temp to hire thing and we're still in the temp part. I hope it works out.
• I missed too many Boy Scout meetings and I'm way behind in my secretarial duties.
• I missed 2 PTA meetings, the Valentine Dance and Barbeque Bingo. I'm way behind on my treasurer duties.
• Our roof was finally replaced from damage from Hurrican Ike in September. Yeah, I said hurricane and I live in Indiana. Bizarre.
• My boy turned 13. I thought that since I had a boy, I wouldn't have to deal with the whole hormone thing like I would if I'd had a girl. Was I ever kidding myself!

2009 has really been kicking my tail, but now that I'm back to a 40 hour workweek I'm hoping I can get back on track. If the weather could warm up, I'd be in great shape! I'm much more productive around the house when I'm not bundled up in a blanket. Really, I am.

10 on the 10th

Today is my son's 13th birthday so I'm going to post 10 things I love about this boy.

1. I love that when he was little he said "kank koo" for thank you.




2. I love that he still had to be tucked in every night until he was at least 12.




3. I love that he isn't embarassed to go skateboarding with his dad.




4. I love that he can now set up his own tent and cook his own meal over a fire that he started.




5. I love that when he was little he would tell people he had a brother and that brother's name was Grandpa.




6. I love that he will still play Monopoly with me even though he now considers me an inferior opponent.




7. I love that his best friends are his cousins. Cousins are very important when you are an only child.




8. I love that in staring contests I can always make him laugh first.




9. I love that he went to his first real concert (John Mellencamp) with his old mom and dad.




10. I love that he plays the drums and guitar....just like his daddy.

Happy Birthday beautiful boy. I love you.