It's Thanksgiving time!

The holiday seasons are upon us! I am thankful for the time off that provides me an opportunity to spend time with friends and family. However, the time off also makes me think. Why do you think it takes a holiday to make us realize what we should be grateful for everyday? Why does it take Thanksgiving for us to thank and spend quality time with our families, friends, spouses, significant others etc? Why can't we slow down and smell the roses everyday? Why does it take Christmas to bring everyone together to realize the love that Jesus had for us when he died on the cross? Why does it take New Years to make resolutions, become healthy, or make a change that would be beneficial for you or those in your life? I am guilty of not devoting all of myself to the people I should on a daily basis. I just wish it didn't take holidays to make me realize it!

Relay for Life Fundraiser!

Come support Team Fight Club's fundraiser, a come and go event, THIS Saturday from 10a.m-2p.m.
Where: Kelham Baptist Church
3400 N Meridian
When: Saturday, November 7th 10a.m-2p.m.
Get your Holiday Shopping done in ONE stop! An array of home based businesses are working together to offer you a wide selection of products to purchase in support of Team Fight Club's Relay For Life of OKC 2010 fundraising goal!
Come and enjoy:
Mary Kay Cosmetics
Bees Knees (children's clothing)
Jewelry
Scentsy
Creative Memories
Homemade Gourmet
Kaleigh's Creations (unique baby gifts for your new arrival and mom to be!)

Walking in memory of my best friend Lindsey, who lost her battle with cancer last summer.

Relay for Life

I joined my best friends Relay for Life team today! I have mixed feelings about it. Not about joining the team, just about the circumstances on why I am involved. I have been involved with Relay for Life since 99 ish. Every year I was always walking for the survivor not walking for the in memory of. Now that, that has changed and I am walking for in memory of I don;t know how I am going to handle it. Some of you know that Lindsey, another one of my best friends, passed away from cancer last summer and I still have my ups and downs with her passing. This year I wasn't at the point where I could participate. It was all I could do to hold it together for the 10 minutes I was there dropping off a birthday cake we got for Linda, so I am sure I would have been a site to see if I had stayed. I know its for a good cause and most of our friend group will be involved so it should be a great time! Wish me luck.

I don't get it

I don't get it. I don't understand how some people always make a mountain out of a mole hill. What kind of life is that? Why always play the what if game in life? Why not just let things happen and worry about things when they become an issue? This is more of a passive aggressive rant than anything. I read a blog that kind of set me off and I don't know why it gets to me. Well, I take that back I do know why it gets to me. I'm not the type of person who stretches the truth or makes something out of nothing so it's really hard for me to understand when people do that. That has to be a miserable life. I feel sorry for people like that. I think they will always be unhappy and probably make the people around them miserable but that's their choice. I just wish they would stop dragging us through the mud to make their unhappiness and untruths easier for them to swallow.

New school year equals fun new students

I started school this week and even though it was only Thursday and Friday (a very short week) I think it's going to be a good year. Of course they are chatty! I have yet to have a group that didn't want to chit chat instead of learn. I can't believe September is almost here. I will have a busy 6 months until March but I'm ready to dive into everything that encompasses the National Board process and I think the kiddos wont know what hit them!

Grandparents

I can't sleep. I think it's because I finally realized that my grandma is mentally gone. She doesn't know who I anymore. I have been putting off going to see her since May because of it and I feel really guilty about it. May was her 86th birthday and we had a family dinner for her. We were sitting around talking and she was looking at one of the picture albums from the wedding and she turned to me and said, "how come I wasn't invited?" I was speechless. "What? Grandma that's you in that picture and that's you being walked down the aisle by Jeremy." She shook her head and said, "nope that's not me. That's someone that looks like me." She didn't remember any of it. I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to go cry. Honestly not because I was sad she didn't remember the wedding but because she had no clue that I was her granddaughter. Like I would really leave my own grandmother out of one of the most important days of my life! My grandparents were always a big part of my life. When I was in kindergarten I lost my maternal grandfather to a heart attack. My paternal grandparents lived in Bethany all my life and my maternal grandma lived in Oklahoma City so they were always around. I saw my maternal grandma every weekend. After my other grandpa passed away I always thought my grandmas should move in together so they could be like the Golden Girls! When I lost my paternal grandma I knew I needed to spend more time with my last grandparent. I would go over and we would talk about school. Occasionally, she would ask me the same questions she had previously asked in another conversation but I gave her the benefit of the doubt because the woman was in her 80's! She would accidentally call me by my mothers name, again fine because we do look alike but she would always correct herself. Then I started noticing some other Dementia related signs and it got to be too hard for me to go see her. It's a no win situation. I want to go and spend time with her. But the her I want to spend time with wont be there. It will be someone who doesn't know me. I will choke back tears the whole time and stay for a measly 15 minutes and then sit and cry in the car for 30 minutes. 5 minutes after I leave she won't remember that she even had a visitor. If you can't tell I'm having a pity party for myself! I'm going to need to get over it because I'm being selfish. So...I'm putting on the big girl panties but stuffing them full of tissues and going to make myself stay for longer than 15 minutes and have a nice conversation with my grandma. Whether or not she knows who I am is beside the point. She deserves this because she's always been there for me no matter my condition so I'm going to return the favor! Eeek...pray for me.

I think I missed my calling

I finally finished organizing my closet. I'm down to 50+ pairs of shoes and the clothing I am getting rid of is being donated to my old team teachers' friend who lost everything in a fire. Ever since I was little I always organized my friends stuff/rooms. I would organize our freezer, refrigerator, drawers etc at home and did the same thing for other people when they asked. And sometimes when they didn't lol! I also love love love to bake and cook. I like to experiment, which I blame on my dad, with food and cooking without recipes. When DH and I were registering for our showers I registered for a Stainless Steel KitchenAid Commercial Stand Mixer. He about had a heart attack when he saw the $550 price tag and swore up and down I would never use it. Thankfully one of my besties, Linda convinced him and others that I needed it and got a bunch of people to go in together and "we" got it at one of our showers! I proved him wrong because I use it all the time! I should be on the T.V. show Ace of Cakes because I have so much fun and am pretty good at it, not to toot my own horn. So why am I talking about organizing and cooking you wonder? Because I think I missed my calling! I think if education gets to be too much I will have 3 new titles. I am going to be party planner extraordinaire/pastry chef/professional organizer. I see a new business adventure lol!

Closet disaster

Wow! I was watching "what not to wear" last night and I started thinking about my closet and what a disaster it is. I hog the entire master closet and am running out of room. Seriously our closet is huge and it's all mine! All the shelves, drawers and rods have clothes on them. I think its time to purge some items and donate them. If you don't hear from me by tonight send out the search party. I'll be the girl yelling, "help" from underneath the piles of clothes. Pray for me lol.

Let's talk about pregnancy

Today has been a strange day. A circle of life day. My bestie lost another family member. Her husband and her just buried his mother in March and now they lost his mother's husband. It's sad but its better. Then my friend Jenn, I will refer to her as bad ass lol had a beautiful baby girl. She had her without any interventions. No epidural, no drugs, nothing! I know that is what she really wanted so I am happy for her. Which brings me to our topic of choice. Pregnancy. Why is it when someone discloses they are pregnant do some people feel the need to rain on their parade with negativity? I guess this can be the case for anything not just pregnancy but it really bothers me. Instead of saying, congrats that's great. Some people automatically go to well what are you going to do with this? Or do you really think you can do that? Instead of putting negative thoughts into peoples heads support them. It will be a whole heck of lot easier to meet set goals if there is support! Moms have a hard enough time with other judgmental competitive moms why can't we all just support each other? Who cares if someone wants to try and have a baby without interventions. Who cares if a mom wants to breast feed her kid until they are 3. Who cares...just be supportive.

The age of technology

With Myspace, Twitter, Facebook we constantly receive updates from our friends lives. Recently one of my friends had a battle with another friend over Facebook and the friendship ended. It got me thinking. In this age of technology is it easier or harder for us to communicate? I am on the fence about it. In some aspects technology makes it easier to communicate. People who I wouldn't regularly have contact with I can write a short wall post or send a tweet too. It makes it easier to sugar coat things when there is a pressing issue but is that a good thing? Is it good that instead of turning to the person whom you have the issues with a discussing it face to face we blog about it or email them? I usually don't have a problem voicing my opinions. People usually know where I stand on things and I am pretty much an open book so it's hard for me to grasp that some people can only communicate through technology. I think that's sad.

Going strong!

Still lol. DH has really turned over a new leaf. He has stayed motivated, which in turn keeps me motivated. I definitely agree that exercise is much easier with an accountability partner. We finally started P90x and so far so good. It's challenging and hard and I hate it! I want to punch the guy right in the throat but I know in the end is just what I needed. We have also changed our eating habits. There is no junk food in the house. I am only having a problem with chocolate cravings but got some good fixes from some friends. I have been craving really cold apples and beef jerky. Weird. I start school soon so hopefully my energy level will continue to rise and I can fit everything in! I really have a great schedule mapped out, hopefully I will be able to implement it.

The battle continues

Let's talk about weight gain! I want to lose 30 pounds. Which on the scale of things isn't that much but when you are 4'10" it isn't good! I didn't put 30 pounds on overnight but I am impatient and want it off overnight! I have been begging DH to do P90x with me but he was hesitant. He wasn't for sure if we could do it. A couple of our friends are doing it and I think that helped change his mind! Tonight we did the fitness test and tomorrow we will start. It's good to have an accountability partner. If all goes as planned we will finish more toned than when we started around Halloween. I think this is an attainable goal. Maybe this year I will be able to wear a cute little Halloween outfit. Last year I had a cute one and DH went to zip me up and the zipper came with it lol! Shows how cheap it was but I was still disappointed. The year before that we went as bride and groom because we were getting married and I remember how proud of myself I was for staying motivated with diet and exercise. Then marriage came! It's been good to me but I can't help think in a way this isn't fair to DH. Not that he married me for my haute body lol (insert vomit here) but I should still have the same motivation. It shouldn't end just because I walked down the aisle. I want to do better for myself inside and out so the battle doesn't get out of control! I don't want to give up because the battle is too much. I will control the battle, the battle will not control me.

Parenting 101

Tonight I had a great dinner with 14 lovely ladies and one cutie pie little guy. When we get together we always have lots of fun and interesting conversations. One story peaked my interest and helped form tonight's topic. One of the ladies was talking about a crazy dysfunctional parent who probably had no business having children. It got me thinking about parenting styles. Unfortunately, babies don't come with a how to manual. In turn toddlers, tweens and teenagers don't have one either! To me (says the woman with no children) Parenting 101 should be common sense. It seems like lately common sense has been thrown out and convenience has replaced it. It should be common sense that discipline is the parents responsibility. Not someone else's. For example, you better sit down or the waiter is going to get you. Hmm, why not just please sit down? Or you better stop. Aunt Allison will spank you if you don't. Why make the party not involved the bad guy? Isn't it the parents job to take the child and discipline them? Why fear your child? Aren't you the parent, not the friend? Don't your children need a parent and not someone who is going to pawn their disciplinarian role onto someone else so they can be the "cool' parent? Am I way off base in thinking this? Thoughts and comments are welcome.

Let the journey begin

Well I am finished with wedding season, which means now its time to buckle down and get all of this National Board stuff organized. I haven't even looked at it since I got home from the Durant Conference! So bad! My aunt donated a ton of binders to me and with the massive amount of papers that go along with this portfolio I am sure those binders will never make it to my classroom. I am starting to feel overwhelmed. Not because I think I can't do it, I'm just afraid. Mostly afraid of the unknown. Probably. I haven't quite figured out the source of my anxiety but I am sure I will. I am really trying to reorganize my classroom and get everything in order so that when August comes I can jump in head first and not get swallowed. I have read so many stories of people who have completed this process that sometimes neglect their family or other duties and that's not fair. My family and friends don't deserve to be neglected because I have issues with time management. I don't exactly want to be a divorcee' because of it either lol! I'm pretty sure if I neglected DH, he would kick me to the curb, so I want to avoid that at all costs! I think I am going to set a schedule and work on it an hour a night and every Saturday. I know things change and things come up but for now that's a schedule I think I can keep without neglecting my family, friends and kiddos in my classroom. My portfolio is due at the end of March. I find out in November if I passed. If I don't pass, and by the way for most people it's a 3 year process, I redo the sections I didn't do well on and submit it again in March and find out in November. I am so glad I got the scholarship. I don't think I would have ever managed to know what the heck all of this stuff is, without the classes. I may ask some of you to read for me, but I will pay you in food and cookies! I may ask some of you to keep me accountable too. Make sure I am holding to not neglecting the important people in my life. So, I guess my purpose for writing this is to say thanks for the support and let the journey begin!

This blog will be dedicated to a little of everything. From my adventures in becoming a domestic goddess to my adventures achieving National Board status; To battling the bulge and becoming the best wife possible. For those of you reading this that don't know much about me I finally married the love of my life. We have our struggles but what power couple doesn't? We work at having a God centered relationship. You can check out our beautiful wedding pictures and read all about the perils that surrounded our perfectly imperfect day by clicking on our web page link under the view my complete profile tab. We love to travel to exotic places and one day will hopefully start a family. For now, when we get the itch we can borrow the most adorable nephew in the world and then return him when the itch becomes too much.
I am a school teacher striving to be the best teacher possible to my students who have a home life some of us couldn't imagine. I teach 3rd grade in a rougher than normal school. I wouldn't have it any other way though! They need me to be their security, parent, and problem solver consistently for 8 hours a day. I am overly organized. I love to cook and bake. I love to decorate and party plan.
My husband who I lovingly will refer to as h (for husband, original huh?) or DH (for darling husband) works with his best friend in insurance. I can't wait for the day when we reap the benefits. I couldn't be more proud of him though. He is a very hard worker and goes above and beyond to provide for us. He does little things everyday that make me fall more in love with him. The "us" I referred to would be DH, myself and our vivacious puppy dog named Tigger. He is a Yorkie. A handful but very sweet and cuddly.
We have a spectacular group of quality friends. We are sometimes like 80 year olds lol. We play dominoes and board games instead of going to the bars and staying out "late!"
So that's me and my life in a nutshell. Check back frequently for updates on The Real Housewife of OKC!
Oh and in true fashion I had tech help! Thank you Tavia for helping me.