Yahoo 360 entries 3

I feel lucky!

A friend of ours has a 10 year old daughter that she adopted from Kazakstan (sp?). Her daughter has had some mental health issues that has required her to be medicated. I have seen the little girl plenty of times and you really would never know anything is unusual about her. However, due to either stress or something that the therapists have not been able to pinpoint, in the last week she has shaved off her eyebrows, plucked out all of her eyelashes, and has shaved off all of the hair below her hips.

I see all the distress that this latest event has caused my friend and my heart and prayers go out to her. I am just not sure how she does it. I have so much respect for parents that have children with mental or physical disabilities. I know with your child you have no choice but to do absolutely everything you can for your child and you deal with every barrier that gets thrown at you. I will say that seeing how great these parents are does make me feel very fortunate to know such great people and I feel lucky that with any issues my son has had in his 10 year life they are not to the extent of some of these other kids.
Thursday February 8, 2007 - 09:29pm (EST)
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Sometimes it's fun....

being the Mom or psuedo Stepmom.

My son, argumentative as they come (must get that from his Dad) tells me that he has a bug bite and needs alcohol on it. Now, if I would have told him that he actually needed peroxide I would received the infamous "but, Grandma uses alcohol." So, to avoid the argument and teach him a lesson I gave him exactly what he asked for, while saying, "I would normally use perioxide, but here you go." Needless to say if he was allowed to swear he would have, you could tell he sure wanted to. He didn't remember alcohol hurting that bad before, maybe it was peroxide that Grandma uses. Somehow, I don't think he will be making that same mistake in the near future
:-)

As far as Ira's 6 year old son goes, he decided that this weekend it was a problem for him to sleep in the same bed and in the same room he has slept in every other weekend for a year and a half. After he was up twice to get Ira, I volunteered to deal with him from there on out. Now, anybody who knows me knows I have no sympathy for the kid and don't really cared if he is scared, hurt, etc. Bad, I know, but reality. So, therefore, dealing with me is a little different than dealing with his Dad, plus I am pretty sure he is scared of me. He was up again at 11:50, after 12, and again at 2. After threatening to close his bedroom door after the 12:00 knock on our bedroom door I really didn't think I would hear from him again (I am pretty sure Ira didn't hear anything). But no, at 2:00 he knocked on the door again and this time when his Dad was still not coming to the door, it was followed by, "never mind." Okay, so I got little sleep last night since all of those times he knocked on the door I was in dreamland and then the cat decided she wanted in the room at 4:30 and needed to wake me up for that. But, hopefully it was worth it and we won't have to go through another ordeal like we had a toddler in the house. The "never mind" still brings a little smile to my face, it was like him admitting defeat.

Sometimes, it just plain good and fun being the Mom.
Monday January 15, 2007 - 03:53pm (EST)
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A new year!

Boy, am I glad I am through with yesterday!!! Better day, looking forward to 2007, I think it is going to be a great year.

A lot of exciting things to look forward to and many changes ahead.
Friday January 12, 2007 - 10:41am (EST)
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Here's to...a complainer

I do like to think that I am not a "complainer". I prefer to be solution-oriented and find the bright side. But, today I am tired and woke up depressed, so I am going to just get everything out of my system.

Here's to... sore feet, heavy eyes, heavy heart, poor motivation, and lack of energy.
Here's to... broken friendships, broken relationships, never ending disappointment, and going downhill.
Here's to fear, sorrow, fear again, pity, and the desire to want everything perfect.
Here's to disappointment, lies, and scars that will never heal.
Here's to admitting to yourself that things will never be perfect and figuring out how long to deal with those that continue to hurt you in one way or another.
Cheers to the complainer who will work past it, move on, and keep striving for the solution and silver lining.
Thursday January 11, 2007 - 11:31am (EST)
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Friends and Family

I have another friend (you will find that my friends are what get me thinking the most) who will probably never be more than a waitress and housekeeper. God knows we need them in life too, I accept it and I love her for it. The fact of the matter is she just doesn't have the confidence and determination to do anything bigger in life. I am not saying that to be mean, it really is just the way she is.

Anyway, she and her son (10 years old) went with us to Church last weekend and to a house party afterwards. Now, the friends of ours that were having the house party are about as stable as a family as you can get. Two of the brothers own various physical rehab clinics across the state, so you have successful and down to earth in one nice package. Well, by the end of the evening, my waitress friend was feeling a little sorry for herself after hanging out with us at this party - wishing she had a family that close, more success, etc.

So, it got me to thinking. I think we surround ourselves with three types of friends... the friends that remind us where we've been, where we are, and where we would like to be. The family at the house party are definitely where I would like to be, my waitress friend is where I've been, and I am her friend of where she would like to be. Every friend is either on an equal level with your present, someone to use as an inspiration, or someone that you inspire.

Each one has an equal role and you don't love any of them any less or any more because of it. Because, frankly, all of us are at various roles with our own blood families and I know that I spend more time with my friends than I do with my family. You create yourself another non-blood family of people you enjoy being around. Even more so when your family is nuts, which let's face it, there are many times I am pretty sure I am adopted.

You can usually relate to your friends in one way or another in ways that you may not be able to relate to your family. Just because you are born into a family doesn't make you like the rest of them, but you can find people all over the world that are more similar to you, what you think, and what you believe.

Friends who are on the same playing field, friends that you inspire for bigger and better things, and friends that inspire you to be the best that you can be.
Friday December 29, 2006 - 10:55am (EST)
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Age difference

I know I have not been finding the time to devote to blogging like I should be. So, I will try to come up with 2 or 3 topics a week to discuss and give my righteous opinion on. All while not trying to give the world my daily activites .

Last night Ira and I went out with a group of people that he went to high school with. Most of which I have either met before or hang out with regularly. One of Ira's best friends and a close friend to me as well has been in an on again, off again relationship with the same girl (trust me this term fits) for approximately 6 years. When they first started dating, she was 18 and he was 30.

Now, at 24 and 36, you never are quite sure from day to day on whether they are a couple or broken up. The main problem, he wants to commit and at 24 she doesn't know what the hell she wants. I don't think they have actually lived together, but the have been together, been engaged, and been broken up more times than I can fathom. I should note that I don't tend to have a problem with age differences in relationships, I have seen many work out. In fact, my Dad and Stepmom are 13 years apart and ironically that makes her 13 years older than me (I know - weird!). They will be married for 20 years next Summer. Okay, that sets the scene...
Now, from a psychological standpoint here is something to ponder.... as we get older we tend to change our opinions, become more open-minded on some issues and more close-minded on others. As a teenager, in your 20's, and for some people even longer, if your spouse, boy/girl friend, significant other gives their attention to someone else you feel resentment and get mad. At 33 years old and in the same relationship for almost 7 years, I am sooo passed this. When Ira and I go out we tend to flirt with other people, get involved in various conversations with other people, and may hardly say a word to each other all night. We like to mingle, and frankly, the flirting is harmless fun, and we both know that we are going home with each other at the end of the night. For those who comment regularly, how much time did Ira and I spend together at Robin's party? We know where each other is at, what each other is up to, etc.

So, back to last night... Our friend above was flirting with me, I was flirting back, Ira was sitting across the table, out of 9 people 8 people could have cared less. Who cared - the 24 year old girlfriend. I had commented to Ira last night about how we become more open-minded as we get older and then found out this morning that there was an argument last night (after they went back to his place - see, they went home together, happens everytime) about him flirting with me and complimenting me. What she didn't hear was myself and another female friend grilling him as to why he was back with the youngun again (they were broke up two weeks ago). He responsed that he really does love her, clarified that he is in love with her. She also didn't hear our response that is he wanted to be with her that he needs to get het to commit and quit all the BS.

So, here is my tip - if you are going to be 24 hanging out with 30 somethings then you better grow up pretty damn quick or you are going to be mad alot!

Don't get me wrong, I like the girldfriend, but gain some self-security, stop feeling threatened, and know at the end of the night he is going to go home with you.
Saturday December 23, 2006 - 12:11pm (EST)
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Thanksgiving 2006

2 days to Thanksgiving and 11 mouths to feed. I took the week off just to get shopping and cleaning done. I rented a couple of movies since I figured I would have time to watch them - 2 days and still haven't watched either one of them yet, but I will find time.
I am just happy not to be working every night, that is relaxing to me :-)
Tuesday November 21, 2006 - 10:52pm (EST)
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Fall craziness!!

Around Labor Day I had invited my step-brother, his wife and their two kids out to our house. They couldn't make it, but he had commented that now that Summer was ending that things would be less crazy. Less crazy in the Fall?!? Summer IS my non-crazy time. His kids are young, he just has not idea yet.

School starts, soccer is in full swing, and I fall into the Fall Push (echo, echo, echo). Travel and more travel, phone calls and more phone calls, all trying to close every dollar you can by the end of December. You flow through the whole year with trying to close sales every month, but the last 4 months is what it comes down to. You then know exactly every dollar you need to make your year-end goal annnnd you are running out of time. So, everything is surrounded around work, travel, and closing sales.

Oh yeah, and don't forget to throw in soccer, kids extra-curricular activities, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, shopping for all of the above. Plus my own social life.
I can't wait until Summer :-)
Saturday October 21, 2006 - 11:12am (EDT)
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Page Views

I wish 360 had a guest book. If there is one, can someone please tell me how to activate it? I have had over 1,000 page views to my 360 page (25 in the past week) and I know it cannot be all the people on my friends list checking out my page that many times - I just don't update it enough to warrant that. So, if you are not on my list of friends and you are reading this (which makes you at least a friend of friend of friend) please send me message or comment to this blog with who you are, who's friend you are, and what drew you to look at my page.
THANKS!!!!
Saturday September 16, 2006 - 11:19am (EDT)
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School is in session

All the kids are back to school. It has been a bit of an adjustment with Jason's new schedule - he is at school over an hour earlier than he used to be - which means I have to get up to an alarm while it is still dark outside - ugh!

It also means that the colleges are back in session and I am back on the road. Which I am actually happy about. I know it sounds absurd, but I was actually going a little stir crazy sitting in my office during the Summer. And, it also means business was slow then too. But, hopefully things will start rolling now - travel and commission wise.

We have one more weekend of relaxation before soccer season starts. The season actually started this weekend, but I didn't schedule any games due to kids being absent. Which means we now have 5 weeks of Saturday and Sunday games - busy, busy.

This weekend also marks the start of our bowling league and fantasy football. I love Summer for the relaxation, but I love Fall for some of the craziness. Relaxation is great and highly preferred, but sometimes crazy is a lot more fun!
Saturday September 9, 2006 - 03:28pm (EDT)