You Are Clogs

You are a solid and down to earth person. You seek – and almost always achieve – a really sound balance in your life. You are stylish yet comfortable. Mellow but driven. Excited yet calm. You are the perfect mesh of contradictions. No matter what happens, you have the ability to stay well grounded in your life. People know that they can truly depend on you. You should live: In Europe You should work: At a company dedicated to helping the world

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Awww Come On....

So Sam has this funny little thing (not quite a tic but close) that he does right now. Every time I say no he can't do or have something, he says "awww, come oooon", which cracks me up so hard I eventually end up giving in. Not even too sure where he got it from, I am presuming school, as that is where we are picking up quite an interesting vocabulary these days.

The other day at the dinner table, Abby was struggling with her food (mainly because she had eaten 2 cookies waaay too close to dinnertime), so when I asked her to eat her mac and cheese (it was a healthier homemade mac, not the processed stuff which she would have gobbled up), she turned around and said "I don't like that" to which I replied "don't like is not in our vocabulary." "Why do we have to eat vocabulary mom" she said... we were all laughing so hard, we forgot all about her uneaten mac and cheese...

Car Flatulence...

Just a quick update on the car situation... I DID sell the Corolla, for the full price I was asking, to the same guy who promised he would come back on Saturday... the transaction couldn't have been any smoother and hopefully that great little car will serve him well, it did great for me...

Anyhow, someone has a very cute sense of humor as the new car we bought has some strange noises occurring when we turn the wheel more than 180 degrees! It sounds like a mix between a duck quacking and the sound of someone passing gas - so if you are ever in my car, please don't give me a strange look like it was me, now you all know... and Jarrett, if you have any crashomatic ideas as to what this could be, I sure would like to know...

Why don't these things ever show up when you are test driving a vehicle???

Inspirational People and Slurpees...

So I was dying of thirst yesterday and decided to venture into 7 eleven to try out the famous Slurpees that everyone has talked about - yes, it's sad, I have lived here 7 years and have not yet tried a Slurpee - anyway I am faced at the machine trying to decide which one to get (I almost called Erika but my cell phone was in the car) and eventually decide on the orange one. So I fill my cup and then realize that it seems to be going down rather rapidly like the fizz is disintegrating or something, so I keep filling. Then I have this brainwave to put the cone shaped lid on and keep filling the cup, just so I get a little more... all was going well and the Slurpee was delicious (I am officially a fan), and I am standing in line waiting to pay and the cashier is taking ages to serve people because she keeps answering the telephone which is ringing constantly, so the lady behind me and I start talking about the slow service and according to her it is always like that in this 7 eleven (the one on the corner of King/Ivy). Anyhow, by this time the Slurpee has decided that it can seep out the edges of the lid (as I had really overfilled it) and down onto my arm and hands. By this time the cashier is ready for my money and I am fumbling around in my wallet, my hands sticking to everything I touch including the $5 note I hand her, which was kinda embarrassing. So I walk out the store and hear my name being called and lo and behold its from a friend of mine, Michelle Annese, who has her own Karate school off of Ohio.

So we sit in her sweet Mercedes SUV, which makes my new Toyota Camry look cheap, and chat about life and such... Michelle is a really sweet person who, with her husband came to Waynesboro to open up a Karate school 8 years ago. They took some huge financial risks to make the school work and I am sure made a lot of errors along the way, not to mention raising 3 children around it all, so it has been a tough road, but their business is at a point where I would say they have the "financial freedom" we all long for. They have worked very hard to obtain this and obviously not without sacrifice, but they are their own bosses, running a very successful school, doing something they both love doing and have watched it grow from nothing. They have recently revamped the whole place too, and it looks fab.

Then there is my masseuse, Ann Coman, who also has built her massage business up from scratch and is also very successful, (she has built her business up in a small room in the Karate school) and has also came from nothing - literally - her and her husband had $100 in their pockets when they moved to Waynesboro, and things went horribly wrong for them both immediately after arriving (long story)... now, she is a flourishing masseuse, and sometimes my shrink!

All around me there are inspirational people, the Golds, striving hard to make their tax offices work while sacrificing all the time, the Lassens, about to finish their education to fulfill their own employment pursuits - and maybe kill a few more mice along the way! My neighbors, Jess and Sonya who have their own successful painting business, even though Jess does not enjoy job, Cindy and Bob Mutscheller who have their own window cleaning business, just to name a few.

Dave and I would love to have our own business and if the opportunity ever came our way, we would definitely try. Not sure if we are as brave as everyone mentioned above to live in debt doing it, which is probably why we don't MAKE the opportunity happen... but for now, it is just nice to sit back and admire others who put so much on the line everyday and sacrifice so much in order to make their dreams happen, you are all very awe inspiring people who I am blessed to know...

A Miserable Night...

So not to try to top Missy's blog about Apsen and the pencil sharpener, but last night after working out, I came home to find Dave holding an icepack on Abby's head and blood everywhere. It turns out she has been testing out her gymnastics out on the couch downstairs and her Star wars somersault did not quite go according to plan, leaving her cutting her eyebrow open on the coffee table and bruising her nose (she was lucky not to break it). So after careful consideration as to what to do, we opted to take her to the hospital to reduce the scarring seeing as the last time she cut her leg open and we took her to the doctors he said "a butterfly bandaid is fine because the wound is on her leg but if the wound was on her face she should be getting a stitch to reduce the scarring".

So off we go to the hospital. Now, Abby is fine in spirit and certainly not concussed but the blood is still seeping from her wound. After doing all the necessary paperwork/insurance discussion at the hospital whilst Abby is still dripping blood, we are doomed for a miserable 2 hour wait amongst children and adults alike throwing up, groaning and looking deathly pale around us. We got in a constant battle with our kids to stop licking the seats and putting their fingers in mouth!

We finally hear her name called and it is like we have just won the lottery, although we still know we are going to have to wait in the next room for a doctor. Admittedly, the doctor was very nice to Abby when he came in, but by this time his humor was lost on me as I just kept thinking "do you know how long we have had to wait" and "if I were getting paid as much as you were, I would be calling every little girl 'as cute as a button' and 'adorable' too. Only to find he glues her wound back together (and half the creases above her eye) with dermabond. Now I have liquid seal at home which would have done just a good a job, it might have stung a little when initially applied, but that sting is short lived in comparison to the sting of waiting 2 hours amongst some of the sickest people in Augusta County, high medical expenses, and a feeling of of being in an overpaid cattle market.

Needless to say when I asked the doctor if liquid seal would have done the job at home, his answer was "Hmmm, I don't know that product, it might have." Skechy answer to say the least... but it does him no good to promote over the counter medications, when we can pay $100 for his drug companies' Dermabond glue, does it?

Highs and Lows..

So we bought a new car on Wednesday, she is a beautiful Toyota Camry, and I am thrilled. I finally have the keyless entry I have always yearned for instead of having to physically LOCK all 4 doors each time we get in and out... but god is definitely playing a joke on us as now I have to OPEN all 4 doors for the kids to get in, as the doors on the new car are too heavy for the kids to open by themselves!!!!! Anyway, it drives like a dream and lo and behold patience IS a virtue as I have basically held out on my price for my old car (after being low balled by 2 people) and have hopefully got a buyer who is more than willing to pay the price I am asking.... he is due to come tomorrow to seal the deal - watch this space....

So by Thursday we have some bad news from Daves work and then Friday (today) I am helping a frantic neighbor whose dog (that they have had for 10 years) gets run down and I have to be the one to go and tell her and help her stretcher the dog to car so she can take it to the vets. Unfortunately for that little dog, her time was up and she is now resting peacefully with god...

This week has sure been a mix of highs and lows... I am just waiting for the next curveball to be thrown my way...

Sweet Surprises...

So we ate McDonalds tonight as we were all starving and running late and after dinner Sam asked for a go-gurt, his usual dessert. When he reached into the fridge, there was only one go-gurt and I knew there was only one ice-cream pushup in the freezer (their favorite that they are only allowed once or twice a week), so I threw a curveball at them saying "well you have to decide between you who has which", and thought I would just sit back and watch the fireworks fly in the fight for the push up, like my sister and I used to do when we were given such options. When I was a kid, I would have scratched my sisters eyes out to get the ice-cream over the go-gurt, but Sam put me in my place when he calmly said "you can have the push up Abby, I will take the go-gurt". Tears started welling up in my eyes. Sweet little moments of generosity like that from my kids are just so precious. I was a very proud mom tonight.