Real Estate!

I've not told a lot of people that I am working on getting my license to sell Real Estate with Jonathan. I've mostly been scared that I wouldn't pass the test. In the past I haven't done very well when I have to focus on "school" and work at the same time. I finished my required 60 hour test May 13th and the first available time I could take my state/national exam was June 11th so I was also scared that I wouldn't retain the information!

Saturday morning I took the test and there are 2 portions to the test…the state portion is 45 questions and the national portion is 90 questions. I got through both sections in about an hour and a half (did I mention the room had NO AIR CONDITIONING) and I finished the last question, it said you are done, if you would like to review your questions you may do so or if you are done, please press “END”. I hit end. It asked me “are you sure? If so, Please type “YES” in the field below and press enter”. I did that and my computer died. I went to the proctor administrating the exam and told him what happened. He looked confident that he could retrieve my results but tried a few things and couldn’t get it to work. He called tech support and I heard him say “oh she’s not going to like that.” I started to cry. He said I would have to complete the entire test again. My results had been lost when the computer died. the test administrator said he was very sorry and if I wanted to take it on another day I could but I would have to pay for the test again…I said no, I would take it again I just needed a moment to compose myself. I took the whole thing again in less than 30 min’s because it was all the same questions in the same order and everything. The computer told me that I passed and I went to the room where the test proctor was and he said he was so glad I passed because if he had to go home and tell his wife that he made a pregnant woman cry that he would have to sleep on the couch for a few weeks. I told him I’m just going to tell people I’m so great that I passed the test in less than 30 Min's!

I just have one more class to take and then I can apply for my license!  I'm really excited because passing this test was the biggest hurdle for me.  I hope I'm able to help Jonathan grow his business!

Stuff

lots of stuff on my mind today. Jonas has been having behavior issues this week. Serious behavior issues. He's been hitting, kicking, pinching, scratching etc and just plain being mean. This is not normal behavior for him at all. It's normal for him to pout, be defiant, argue, sulk...for the most part simple defiance is our biggest issue with him. (where we tell him to do something and he just says "no". The Babysitter, Jonathan and me have all been trying to think of ANYTHING we can that might be causing this behavior. Maybe it's VBS...he's been staying out later than normal, not getting enough sleep. Maybe it's because he saw the Ultrasound of the baby last Thursday. Maybe seeing the ultrasound made it click for him that he's not the center of the universe anymore. We tried spanking, reasoning, taking him out of VBS for 2 days, removal of other privileges, more spanking, more reasoning...couldn't figure it out. Then the Babysitter said "you know, I remember you saying that Jonas recently started taking Singulair. i think i remember hearing that a side-effect of that drug can be behavior issues. It might be something to look into. I thought, sure, I'll look into it...I'm sure that's not it though because he took it all last summer (we quit taking it in November because when we moved i lost the box of his medicine and just never started taking it again). I consulted Dr. Google and Dr. Google said the following:



The following adverse reactions have been identified during post-approval use of Singulair. ...Psychiatric disorders: agitation including aggressive behavior or hostility, anxoiousness, depresion, disorientation, dream abnormalities, hallucinations, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, somnambulism, suicidal thinking and behavior (including suicide), Tremor.

MY JAW HIT THE FLOOR PEOPLE!
Needless to say we are not taking the Singulair anymore and i will be calling the pediatritian today!

Also on the Drug front in our lives, i realized yesterday that the Pre-Natal Vitamins i've been taking have ZERO Iron in them. I thought Iron was one of those things that Dr's always say "Just go get any over the counter pre-natal vitamin as long as it's got Iron in it it's fine." I asked the Pharmacist and he said i could just take the Slow Release Iron 45 mg. i checked other over the counter pre-natal vitamins and they all seemed to have about 28mg of iron and i asked the pharmacist about it and she said that when you're pregnant you can't really over-do the iron. She said that the slow release would make it not upset my tummy as much as most prenatal vitamins. a little frustrating that i've gone 20 weeks taking pre-natal vitamins thinking i was doing good but oh well. got it fixed now. no problem!

I'm going to end this post with a funny!
Last night Jonas was looking at some pictures and asked "was that before i was born?" i said "Yes. That was before God sent you to us" He asked "Mommy, Was i born at the YMCA or at the hospital?" Jonathan laughed. Jonas shot Jonathan a look that said "why was that funny?" I looked at Jonas and said "Honey, you were born at the hospital, I'm not sure why daddy is laughing" Jonas looked at Jonathan still kind of puzzled like Jonathan had lost his mind. we read a book, said our prayers and tucked him in. Jonathan and i went to our room and we both just laughed...I Love our Son!

Vacation!

Friday the 20th. I left work at 3. Jonathan, Jonas and I met at Jeremy and Amy’s house with Tom and Susan. We told Jonas we were going to Disney world and he totally did not believe us. He just laughed and said we were just joking. We tried to convince him we were telling the truth, but he did not believe us! It was really funny! So we packed in the cars and started our drive. Friday we spent the night in Tifton, GA


Saturday the 21st. we got up and I still am not sure Jonas believed we were going to Disney world but he was going along with it anyway. We got to the Sign over the road that says “WALT DISNEY WORLD” and he about jumped out of his skin! It was so funny! He started bouncing up and down in his car seat and it was just too funny! We got our stuff unpacked and decided to catch a bus to a park but couldn’t decide which park to do. So we just hopped on the first bus that came by and that was Epcot. We saw the Ball and Jonas thought it was amazing. He was a little scared of it though and said he absolutely did not want to do the ride that was in there (spaceship earth). So we went on to see what was around. We saw some cool topiaries that looked like tow-mater and Lightning McQueen. We rode in Clam-mobiles for the Nemo ride and Jonas really liked that. We went to the German Restaurant in Epcot for dinner and it was SO GOOD! (I really thought about stealing the glasses from here, they looked really cool) I found the recipe for the amazing tomato salad there. I am determined to make it at some point this summer even though it makes 24 pounds! Hope you’re hungry!
Tomato Salad
25 pound Tomatoes (plum)
4 pounds Onions (red, julienne)
4 ounces Basil (fresh, julienne)
4 ounces Garlic (minced)
16 ounces olive oil
32 ounces white vinegar
8 ounces balsamic vinegar
4 ounces salt
1 ounce cracked black pepper
Method of Preparation:
Core the tomatoes. Run the tomatoes through the tomato slicer. Then mix all of the ingredients together.


Sunday the 22nd. We started out at the Hollywood studios where we all did the Great movie ride and then Jonathan and Amy went off to do the Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith Ride while the rest of us got pictures and autographs from such amazing celebrities as Annie and Leo (from the little Einsteins), Handy Manny, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy. We had lunch at Pizza Planet and then saw the Muppet 3-D show. And did the Midway Mania toy Story Ride (that was Awesome) It was nap time for me and so we went back to the resort and I took a nap and Jonathan and Jonas went to the pool for a swim. I was woke up by a banging on my room door and I heard Jonas crying on the other side. I asked what’s wrong and Jonathan comes in the room carrying Jonas and said he fell in the pool. This took longer than it should have for me to process. Basically Jonathan was in the pool and Jonas wanted to get out. So Jonas got out and walked on the side and slipped and fell but was too far away for Jonathan to get to him quick enough. Jonathan said he was under water for about 30seconds before a man who was closer could get him up and out of the water. Jonas did not require CPR. He threw up and immediately started crying after they got him out of the water. Now, I have to stop here and say that Jonas will take your emotions on a situation and multiply them for himself. So if I show fear or worry for something, then Jonas will take that fear and be 10 times more scared. So I was processing this information all while trying not to show how FREAKED OUT I was. I really don’t remember much after that except that we went to EPCOT for dinner and Jonas slept through it and was just not himself. We got kind of worried and took him to the First aid station at Epcot and told them all that had happened. They said he was probably just dehydrated and to make sure he was drinking lots of water and rest. We went back to the resort for rest and Jonas felt feverish and was getting a rash on his body so we thought it might be moving into moderate/severe dehydration instead of just mild so we called the Disney Paramedics and they came to the room and checked him out and said all of his vital signs were good and he was probably just dehydrated and to make sure he was drinking lots of water.


Monday the 23rd . in the morning Jonas was burning up and was just really not in a great mood. so we decided to go to the urgent care and they said he had a fever of 100 and had a pretty strong case of strep throat. That explains the fever and the mood, and the fever explains the rash. Got an antibiotic and was sent back to the resort for a day out of the sun and lots of rest. We were glad it wasn’t anything related to the near drowning and was easily fixed. We spent the day in our hotel room. We did make it out to the Arcade at the resort and hung out at downtown Disney a little but mostly sleeping and watching TV in the room. We did make it to the pool that night when the sun went down (not the HORRIBLE DANGEROUS POOL, a different one) I was pretty proud of Jonas for getting back in the pool after he was so scared that afternoon!


Tuesday the 24th. This was our last day in the parks so we had to make the most of it. Jonas was feeling better we were rested and hydrated! There was no question which park to go to. We got up bright and early to make it to the Magic Kingdom before they opened to see the “Good-Morning-Opening-the-park” show. As soon as they opened, we ran to dumbo and rode it Jonas wanted to ride by himself but they said he was too small. So he let me ride with him. he loved it! we saw Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, rode the carousel, rode Peter Pan, rode It’s a Small World, rode the Teacups, rode The Buzz Lightyear ride and Met Buzz Lightyear (That was totally AWESOME) Rode the Carousel of Progress (It’s a Great big beautiful tomorrow), Jonas rode Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain and he was GIDDY with excitement for both of them! We saw Woody and Jesse and got their pictures autographs. We rode the Pirates of the Caribbean and Jonas decided he was done. He was tired and wanted to go to the pool before it was time to go to bed. So we went back to the resort and took a nap. We got dressed for the pool and Jonas saw the playground and wanted to play for a while before we swam. He got on the swings and said it was “just like flying only without pixie dust” I seriously love that kid! we went swimming and it was the perfect ending to the day!

9th Anniversary

Most people know that the 50th wedding anniversary is the Gold Anniversary. the 25th is the Silver Anniversary...April 7th was our 9th Anniversary. Did you know that the 9th Wedding anniversary is the Willow/pottery Anniversary? Every year has a gift to go with it. For most years, there is a "contemporary" gift and a "traditional" gift. The first year is Paper, the second year is Cotton etc.

Each year Jonathan and I have tried to get each other gifts that correspond to that year's contemporary or traditional gift. we don't have to spend a lot of money but it's fun to try and be creative.

Some of my favorite years include the following: 5th anniversary is Wood/Silverware. Jonathan made a shadow box with pictures of us and attached silverware he had acquired at an antique store. the 7th year is Copper/Wool. Jonathan had a bouquet of flowers sent to my office with 7 pennies in the bottom of the vase and a wool scarf. It's really fun to try to be creative (he's usually WAY better at it than I am!)

This year I don't know why I assumed this, but I didn't think we were getting each other anything because we are planning a big vacation. but sure enough, bright and early on the morning of April 7th 2011 Jonathan surprised me with a most excellent "willow" gift. He got me Willow Tree figurines to represent our growing family. Being the emotionally-unstable person that I have been here lately, I cried...several times. it was so thoughtful and so great and I had NOTHING for him. he assured me that it was okay and he didn't need/want anything but I still felt bad and would not feel better till I had something suitable for him.

So I thought about it for a few hours and I had an epiphany! One of our favorite online videos to watch online when we need a laugh is THIS ONE. It’s Jimmy Fallon doing an impersonation of Neil Young singing Willow Smith’s song “Whip my hair” the video for which can be seen here. We love the Jimmy Fallon version. Jonathan always says how great the Neil Young impersonation is!

So for Jonathan’s Anniversary gift, he got a tribute to Willow Smith! I gave him the MP3 Version of her song (not the Jimmy Fallon Version) and I also got a Blu Ray of I Am Legend. (yeah, she’s in that movie, big surprise, she play’s Will Smith’s Daughter!) It wasn’t as sentimental as the gift Jonathan got me, but hey, I thought it was a Brilliant use of the traditional “Willow” gift!

Lesson's learned

So we had a break down last night…
Jonas’ “rubberband” boots (rain boots) had a hole in them because he walks on them funny and basically they had gotten a crack all the way down the back of the boots. When we got home from church Jonathan had a discussion with him about taking care of his things and that when we don’t take care of them, things can get broken, and now the boots are broken and they will need to be thrown away…well you would have thought the child was just told he would never get to see his family again. He was devastated that he was going to have to throw away these boots!
Jonathan and I have been giving him a commission for the last month or so. He makes .25 for making his bed .25 for picking up his toys before he goes to bed…etc each week when he gets paid he puts some in his pocket to take to church and the rest goes in his piggy bank.
Well this kid has got some serious cash now and we thought this was a good learning opportunity to spend his money. So Jonathan took Jonas to Target today to pick out new rain boots.
Here is the fruit of their labor today!


Jonas even had enough money left over to get himself a new toy!

Good times in Suburbia

I had an epic grocery shopping experience last night! (how many people on the planet can ever say that?)

First I had a TON of coupons to use and I was excited about some of the deals I had seen online. So I left Jonathan and Jonas to make dinner (which was fantastic bacon wrapped chicken with Omni hut Teriyaki sauce) and headed off to Publix.

When I go grocery shopping I Love to listen to Michael Buble et al. on my headphones. It’s just fun to be-bop through the grocery store to something other than their musak

I found everything on my list and was nervous because I wasn’t sure if I was under my $60 budget. I went up to the checkout lanes and saw 2 lanes open and they were both express lanes. I was definitely not going to be “express”. It was while I was trying to decide which lane to go to when a helpful Publix assistant store manager named David stopped me and said “is there something I can help you with?” I said well, the only 2 lanes open are express and I definitely have more than 10 items. he said “well that’s not good, Let me take care of you here on this lane.” (I was thinking you’ll regret doing this yourself and not finding another associate to do it!) so I start putting my groceries up on the counter and he’s scanning and a bag boy helps put the remainder of my groceries up on the counter. That’s when I pull out the coupons. He starts scanning them. He had to enter a few of them manually because they were store coupons without barcodes and some were competitor coupons. Halfway through he looked at me and said “is there anything you bought that you didn’t have a coupon for?“ I said “frozen Broccoli, but it was the publix brand.” He laughed and said “I was joking. I bet you even know how much it was don’t you?” I said “$1.57” he laughed and said “I was kidding” and still scanning my coupons, he now had a line and called a cashier to come take his place for when he finished my transaction. He told me my total and I could have fallen over! $59.96. $0.04 under budget!!!! So I handed him my cash and he saw the smile on my face, I said I’m 4 cents under budget! He just laughed. When cashiers hand you your receipt they always tell you how much you’ve saved. He had to do a double take. He said You’ve saved $91. I always love having the bag person carry my groceries out. It’s my time to calculate how much I’ve saved. 60%!!! (Total Saved divided by what the total would have been.)

the very best part is when i get home and Jonathan is amused and tells me how proud of me he is!

The Curious Harmons

Jonathan and Jonas are in a play that opens tonight. Jonathan plays Titus Savage who I will describe from a Wikipedia Quote "Listed by Western Union as a "tangible asset," Titus is the least popular senator in congress. He is sober, humorless, and direct" HA! Basically, he thinks his recently widowed step-mother is insane and has her comitted. Jonas is the imaginary son of Florence. Florence is one of the other "insane" people in the institution.

I am so proud of my Jonathan and my Jonas. This is the acting debut for both of them! You should come out and see them. The play runs tomorrow and Saturday evening as well as Next Thursday - Saturday.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I have the house to myself tonight. I couldn't attend the play tonight because I have to be at work tomorrow morning and they will be out late. I have done my nails, 2 loads of laundry, AND I got to watch CSI Las Vegas which is one of my all time favorite shows!

Barbed wire in Motion

okay so the title, is a jab at my mom. love her, but there used to be a song "Barbed Wire and Roses" and when it came on the radio, she would always sing "barbed wire in motion" and it cracked me up.

Jonas stayed with mom Saturday night because Jonathan and I were working a wedding with Aunt Jo and knew we would be out late. So I went to pick up Jonas Sunday afternoon from Mom's house. My mom lives out in the Kountry. and yes, that is Kountry with a K!! She lives across the street from the Nudist colony for crying out loud! (google Rock Haven in M'boro, TN I promise it's there) anyway, she has a wooden fence around her house because some of her neighbors have or have had cows. and the fence has a barbed wire on the backside of it (not on her side). Well, with some recent storms and wind and bad weather in general, some of the fence has been blown down. so there is just a thin barbed wire that you can't see very well connecting the remaining fence . We were all outside and looking around for a garden hose sprayer that Jonas lost and we didn't want mom to run over it with the lawn mower. Mom and I both noticed Jonas was laying on the ground near the fence. He wasn't crying, he wasn't upset, he wasn't doing anything just looking at us. I asked him what he was doing. He said nothing. I asked if he was okay. He said "Yes, I just hurt my hand" (I'm thinking if all you hurt is your hand, why are you on the ground?) when I went over to him I saw the barbed wire and started to put things together.

He had walked into the fence but it was low enough that it just got him on his blue jeans and didn't cut him, just stopped him. and when he reached down to see what had stopped him, he cut his hands. When i looked at his hands, that's when he started crying. I told him he was okay and asked if a Popsicle would make it feel better (figured holding something cold couldn't hurt) and he immediately quit crying and said yes, that would help. Oh, I love my 3 year old!

I made a few calls to find out if he would need a tetanus shot because it did break the skin and bleed a little. and my fabulous friends told me that there is a tetanus booster in his well baby shots and he should be good till he's 5 (called the pediatrician on Monday to confirm).


So Jonas is Great, his hands have already healed, We all know where the Barbed Wire fences are, and popsicles still cure EVERYTHING!!!

Zing Zang Zoom

So Last weekend i won 4 tickets to the circus on the radio. I thought if Jonas is scared, no biggie, we'll leave and won't be out any money except gas and parking. So Jonathan, Jonas, Mom and I went to the circus last night. Now, i haven't been to a circus in YEARS! I mean, i know I've been, I've seen pictures of myself at the circus, but i don't really remember it. I'm here to tell you, THE CIRCUS IS COOL!

They had a preshow "Clown College" for kids to go out on the floor and meet the clowns and try on the funny clothes and see some stuff up close, of course, Jonathan's favorite was the Motorcycle made by Orange County Choppers

Jonas didn't really like being that close, so we went back to our seats for the rest of the preshow which included watching elephants paint.

We had a hot dog, a pretzel, a slice of pizza, a funnel cake and 2 drinks between the 4 of us so basically we spent about $300 on food! okay maybe it wasn't that much, but we certainly didn't buy any souvenirs or we would have had to take out a second mortgage!

The Circus started and Jonas was in AWE! he was jumping up and down and dancing the whole time, and when he was still, it was with mouth wide open in amazement. As we were leaving though was my favorite part. People were in the parking lot selling stuff just like they were inside, "Hats, get your hats"..."Glow sticks, get your glow sticks"..."I hate Lane Kiffen t-shirts"...I CRACKED up laughing, i was almost crying i was laughing so hard! the T-shirt had a picture of Lane Kiffen in Orange and White that said TRAITOR over it, and under the picture it said "I hate Lane Kiffen" Brilliant!

So we were walking to the car and I asked Jonas what was his favorite part of the Circus and he said "The tiger peed on the floor mommy!"

I love my son!

Always Missing Her

My Granny, Margret Duggin, died in April of 2005. This is 18 months before Jonas was born. Tuesday night Jonas and i were watching the News (yeah, my son likes to watch the news, wierd i know) and he looks at me and says, "Mommy, Why can't i see Granny?" I said "honey, because she's in Heaven with God. Honey do you know who Granny is?" he said, "Yes, She is Nana's Mommy, but i want to talk to her, can we call her?" I said "no, we can't call her but how do you talk to God?" he said "Pray" i said "okay, why don't you pray to God about Granny, and then maybe she will hear you?" he thought about that for a min and said "okay" he was quiet for a little while and then wanted to ask me more questions about Granny.
This is a moment i hope i remember for ever! I was so sad during my pregnancy knowing that my son would never meet Granny, but now i know it doesn't matter. because I knew her.

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service

Jonathan was working for Aunt Jo on Sunday so it was just me and Jonas getting ready for church. i thought we were doing REALLY well. we were actually seated before Travis started singing! However, when i was getting Jonas out of his car seat it was raining and i put him on the ground to walk in, and he said "Mommy, my feet are getting wet", i turned and said "honey, why are you feet.....oh dear" i had forgotten to put shoes on the child! i am so proud of myself for going on into church. several months ago , i probably would have just turned around and gone home

New Year

Yeah, I'm going to skip the part where i berate myself for not blogging more and go right to HAPPY NEW YEAR! In the past, I really wanted New Year's Eve to be "our" holiay for me and Jonathan. This idea was flawed. First of all, I do not like staying up late, second of all, I don't like staying up late...enough said!
Jonathan spent New Years eve away from me to ring in 2006 and nothing disasterous happened that year. This year, Jonathan helped his aunt Jo with a catering job. She had a wedding reception to cater on New Years Eve and needed about 30 helpers! it was a big job, but she pulled it off in amazing fashion! hopefully she will have pictures up on her site soon! I can't wait to see!
Jonas and I went to some friends houses and crashed early. It was awesome!

Jonas is learning to play computer games. Santa brought him a "firetruck game" for christmas. it's made by tonka and is just generally fun for him.

we've been letting him get on pbskids.org and we have discovered Jonas has a pretty good knack for matching/memory games!

a new thanksgiving tradition

I don't know which is funnier to watch, Jonathan Wright, or Jonas.

Have you ever been this tired?

This is a Video i took of Jonas yesterday. He was feeling sick but hadn't eaten all day so we gave him some plain noodles and he wanted to eat them but he was so tired. I know the video is sideways but it'll straighten up halfway through.

When you put your mind to it

I started my college career at MTSU in the Fall of 1999. I didn't really want to be there, i was paying my own way, working, dating, etc...being a typical 19 year old. i knew what i wanted to be when i grew up. I wanted to be a Pharmacist, get married, have kids, then be a stay at home mom, maybe working part time in a pharmacy somewhere when my kids went to school, But mostly i wanted to be a stay at home mom. I took Chemestry and Biology my first semester and made an F in Chemestry and a D in Biology. only my first semester in College and i started out with a 1.53 GPA! not a great start. but i thought okay, I'm in college now, i just need to study more than i did when i was in High School. so the next semester i took a few easier classes, started dating the LOVE of my life, the man i knew i was going to marry (Jonathan). but i dropped one class so i was only officially part time, i managed to get an A, a B and only one F! so i've brought my GPA up to a 1.895. That's a little better, but nothing to brag about. by the Fall of 2000, Jonathan and i are madly in love, want to get married and i'm thinking, okay it's not going to work out for me to be a pharmacist, I'll just be a stay at home mom. However, Granny is pestering me to make sure i get a degree, so i'll just get something to make her happy. i manage to get through that semester with 2 C's 1 B and 1 A (the A was in Speech, thank you 4-H!) for those keeping track my GPA has creeped up to a 2.226, doing better, but still not getting any scholarships with that! Slowly slowly slowly took a few classes here and there, still didn't really care because i knew i was going to be a stay at home mom forever, and i was only getting this degree for Granny anyway so what difference did it make how well i did. Fast forward to Fall 2001 i manage to have a 2.312 Still no scholarships knocking down my door and i just want to get married and begin my happily ever after story. Jonathan and i got married, I dropped out so Jonathan could finish (we couldn't afford for both of us to go and at least he wanted to do something with his degree) Jonathan got his undergrad and his masters, and gets a great teaching job. I got Pregnant and poof, no more reason for me to ever go back to school. woah but wait. now i'm home with this baby all the time. This baby is really needy, I don't know what to do with this baby all the time. what happens when i get needy? is there anyone to care for me? yeah, Jonathan's here for me. well, yeah he's here, but he has to work, one of us has to make money right? so what do i do when i just need someone to talk to and Jonathan's working? to make a long story short, i talk to myself and go crazy! yeah, i had post-partum Depression. All my life all i ever wanted was to be a stay at home mom. and now it wasn't working out like it does on TV. Why can't i be Uncle Jesse, Aunt Becky, Uncle Joey and Danny Tanner all rolled into one super mom!? Why didn't i love this? did it mean i didn't love my child? What was wrong with me? well...it took me a while to figure this out, but God told me that he didn't make everyone to be a stay at home mom. God said that he made some people to be stay at home dad's, he made some people to be babysitters, he made somepeople to work and run daycares, and he made some people to have regular jobs. they are still good people, they are still good parents. they are no better or worse than the people that stay home with thier kids all day, they're just not made to stay home. So God said he did not make me to stay at home and he reminded me that Granny said it was really important for me to finish college. so i thought, wow, Granny was a pretty smart woman. maybe i outta try this college thing again. So i go back to MTSU, talk to a career counselor, figure out what i really WANT to do, something that will make me happy, and pay me for it. and i start it up again, this time, i WANT to be there, This time i NEED to be there, i care what the teachers are saying, i Have the 2 Loves of my life encouraging me every day. and now i'm proud to say i'm a Junior at MTSU with a 2.75 GPA. I'm so excited, i'm actually even thinking about Graduate school! (have to have a 3.0 for that) and i qualify for some scholarships too! (havent' gotten any yet, but at least i can at least apply for them now!) I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who supports me through my last few semesters of school and to those who want to go back to school "GO FOR IT!" and for those who have not yet started, please pay attention, please don't waste your time and money!

a wonderful blog on how it feels to be a mommy. Deborah said it's like she crawled into my head and can say exactly how i feel!

PEACE!
Cindy

A Weighty Issue

I've been trying to loose weight for approximately 21 months now. (yeah, Jonas is 21 months old) before he was born i had gotten up to 193 pounds. (I'm only 5 feet tall!) yeah, i was a fatty Mc Fat FAT!! Since march of this year though i'm just fed up with my weight though. so i've REALLY been watching my portions and trying to exercise whenever possible. Last year in june i weighed 161. in March i weighed 153. so i had lost 8 pounds in 9 months! that's pretty pathetic when you think about it! so like i said, i got fed up in March and now i'm down to 139! I'm 19 pounds from my goal!! I'm so excited! this has been a long road for me and i know there's still plenty of road in front of me but the sizes that i've gone down recently are very inspiring to me! Please pray for me and encourage me for the rest of my weight loss journey!

I want a job

according to MY plan, i was going to graduate in August of next year (2009). That plan required me to take 4 classes this summer, 5 in the fall, 5 in the spring, and 4 next summer. if i drop even one class, it will push graduation back to December of 2009. Tomorrow, begins a summer session where i am scheduled to take 2 classes at once. one is an online class and one is a "go to class" class. I've been praying for a while that God will help me do this. Taking more than about 3 summer classes is sort of an ordeal because summer classes are very fast paced and you have to attend them practically every day of the week. well, i got an answer from God this weekend about my classes. God wants me to take it easy and not worry about graduating so soon. I will be dropping the "Go to class" class and keeping the online class. I was originally very upset about not graduating next summer because it means more money for school, more money for daycare and just less time till i am earning money. However, I know this is God's will and not mine and I'm learning to be okay with that. I'm not normally a "go-with-the-flow" kind of person. I'm very much a planner, a list maker, a structured person. i get tense when i don't know exactly what we'll be doing and when. i think God is trying to loosen me up to let me know he makes the plans, not me.

viscous dogs?

okay, i was traumatized, i should not be criticized for poor spelling in times of great stress!!! Jonathan pointed out that a Viscous dog really should be nothing to be scared of because it would be all gooey and fluid. However, a Vicious dog might be frightening!

Okay, calm down...
Tonight i went outside with Jonas to turn on the sprinkler to water my flowers in the front yard since it hasn't rained in a few days. Jonas LOVES the sprinkler so i let him play for a little bit. not too much though because it was really close to his bed time. we went inside, i put him to bed and a little while later i went back outside to turn off the sprinkler. i got around the sprinkler and about halfway to the faucet to turn off the water when i hear a dog...a dog that sounds VERY close to me. (remember it's dark outside now) i turn and i see probably 2-3 feet from me a Dog, an angry dog, a snarling, bearing his teeth at me and barking dog...now, many may not know this about me, but i am TERRIFIED OF DOGS. a million thoughts went through my head at this moment. I'm about to die, this dog is going to eat me, then go inside and eat Jonas, i wonder if i can even scream, wait, don't let the dog know you're afraid, that's right, be brave, show no fear, dogs can smell fear, I was a stinking pot of fear let me tell you. i managed to squeek out "get out of here" and i waved my flimsy shaking arm to motion the dog out of my yard, all at the same time i'm trying to run backwards because lord knows i don't want to turn my back on this dog because then he WILL CERTAINLY eat me. After i yelled "get out of here", i saw the people 2 houses down from me coming out of their door and looking in my direction. They yelled to the dog "get over here, come on" and they whistled. the dog i guess went toward them because i'm a little fuzzy after that from all the tears rushing down my "oh so brave-show no fear" face. I made it safe back inside and i have never shaken and cried so hard in my life. I started to think of what could have been. What if Jonas had been in between that dog and me. Would i have walked toward the object of my greatest fear to save my son? would i have just frozen in fear? If i had shown that much fear in front of Jonas, would he be terrified of Dogs the rest of his life like me? (Jonas is Pretty good around dogs. he will hold his hand out to most dogs so he can pet them even if they are strange dogs, we're careful to not let him get to close to strange dogs though) I called Jonathan (He had not gotten home yet), and told him what happened. He told me i had to call the police and tell them. He said there is a leash law. I wasn't sure, and since the people had seen me, they knew what house i lived at, would they try to "get back at me" if they got in trouble? Jonathan convinced me to call the police. so i called police dispatch. i told the dispatcher what happened. He sounded confused as to why i was crying and breathing irregularly. he said "did the dog bite you?" i said "no, the dog hadn't touched me, i'm just REALLY afraid of dogs!" he said that's fine, there is a leash law and i can send an officer over there if you want. i said that would be great. so...a lady officer comes over and i tell her what happens. she said, yes, there is a leash law in Rutherford county and in Smyrna, so it's sort of a Double Leash law. and she said if the dog bared his teeth at me, that made it a "viscous" dog. and made it a more serious offence. I told her i didn't want anything to happen to that dog. i told her i was afraid the people would know who called the police and be mad at me for getting them in trouble. she said nothing would happen to them tonight, that they would get a warning to keep their dog on a leash and if it ever happened again that anyone called on their dog then they would get a ticket with a fine. So that made me feel a little better. I feel ashamed because i'm afraid of dogs sometimes. I love Bird's dog Magnum. I've gotten to know him, and i know what to expect from Magnum. I Know for a fact Magnum isn't going to bite me as long as i don't try to take anything from his mouth. I'll even play fetch with him as long as he drops the stick or ball on the ground in front of me so i don't have to take it from him. I'm generally okay with Uncle Randy and Aunt Ellen's dogs. They are pretty big German Shepards, but they barely even bark and they know not to jump up on people. They just smell me when i come in, and they leave me alone. My mind is just stuck on what would i have done if Jonas were out there with me when that dog came up...I have to get over this fear

I heard Dave Ramsey the other day on the radio and he asked the Question, "Who do you work for?" he was alluding to the fact that most people work for Ford Motor Credit, or Visa, or Mastercard, or for their bank to pay the mortgage etc. I was thinking, that we aren't in any debt besides our house and even that payment isn't that bad because we've been very blessed. so i thought since I don't have a job. Who Does Jonathan work for? Then i realized, Jonathan works for me and Jonas. He wakes up, goes to school, and teaches willing and unwilling learners (mostly unwilling this time of year) for me. he wouldn't have to work so hard if i had a job now. I could get a job now, but more than anything right now, i want a degree so i can get my dream job. Jonathan has talked about wanting to go to get his doctorate. He's talked about going to get more certifications...we can't afford that right now because I'm going to school. So i decided, Jonathan works for me. Jonathan likes what he does, but almost no one loves going to work every day. but still Jonathan does. Thank you Jonathan for working for Jonas and me. I love you so much.