WPS!

  Wooooooooo Pig Sooie! If you are an Arkansas Razorback football fan you know what I am talking about. We shut Ole Miss out on Saturday. 30-0, baby!!!! The Saturday before we shut out LSU. Two SEC teams in a row! It is so nice to get two big wins in what has been a struggling season the last few years. So this Arkansas girl is excited! And to top it off, my nephew, who is in the Razorback band, made a tv appearance right before the commercial break. Woot!!!! Best part of the game. Hopefully we can keep the streak going and beat Missouri and then on to a bowl game! Hopefully a close one so we can go.  Thankfully hubby got our rabbit ears working so we were able to watch the game at home. Our niece, Z, came by and watched the game with us. I love that she is driving now so she can come visit us more often.  She brought us a dog(yes, another one) that she found wandering in the middle of a busy road. She coaxed him into her car, fed him a McDonald's cheeseburger and then brought him over. We put a leash on him and tried to get him into the backyard, but he was bucking too much and got loose. We saw him wandering around the neighborhood today, but he wanted nothing to do with us. Hopefully he will let someone take care of him. He was a cute thing. Medium size, black and white, but obviously was not a fan of the leash.
  I am very thankful this week is a short work week. We are off 5 days in a row!!! I can hardly wait. Princess is off all week and the boys have to go Monday and Tuesday. I am taking Princess black Friday shopping. We will not be going on Thanksgiving day this year, because there is not anything we are needing this year. So we are going to sleep in and then hit the stores on Friday. JC Penney's has some awesome boots for $19.99 so that is definitely on our radar. Beyond that, I am not sure. As far as my viewpoint on shopping on Thanksgiving, who cares? You know if you work retail, you work the holidays. You know if you work in a hospital you work holidays. We have had many a Thanksgiving lunch at St Vincent while growing up when my mom was scheduled to work in the lab. It was yummy and we had a great time. It was part of our lives. So, if you feel the need to shop on Thanksgiving, go ahead! Have fun. I have had some of my best shopping experiences on Black Friday and Thanksgiving, right G???? And no, I did not take that guy out with my flat screen! :)
  Have a happy Monday tomorrow! Make it fabulous!

Hugs!!!

Self Doubt

  Self doubt. Where does it come from? Why is one person so confident and another person so full of shame? Is it the words we hear? Did something happen to us in our younger years to make us doubt ourselves? Me, I am a pretty confident person. I have always believed in the concept that "God did not make junk". We are all here for a reason. We were planned. We are created in His image. Even if you are not a believer, the fact that the sperm that was the one who made it, that helped create you should be enough. Words most assuredly hurt, but why even listen to them. Now, I am not saying that the hurtful words do not bother me from time to time. I have been told, or rather written about in the past, that I am a "fat shamer"(this one boggles my mind, I would not shame anyone), a husband stealer(this one cracks me up, because seriously, how do you steal someone, and I would not do that anyway), a skinny bitch(sure, I am skinny, but a bitch? hmmmmm, maybe on occasion, but hey, we all have a little bitch in us), a virtual stalker(really? how do you virtually stalk someone?), and one of my favorites, a hypocrite. Sigh. At the end of the day, that is really just that person's perspective of me and what can I do about it. Not everyone is going to love you. And I do not think it is a jealousy thing, I just think that person really does not like you. There are a handful of people that I just really do not care for. And you know what, that is okay. Really. It is. Stop taking to heart what others say about you. And on the flip side, be careful with your words. Even if you delete a mean post or comment, you still put it out there. Stop. Please.
 You are important. Please remember that. Love yourself. You have one life to live, live it out loud and happy!

Hugs!!!

Illness

  Hate when the kids are sick. Oldest son has pharyngitis. Running a fever, cough, congestion, all that fun stuff. So, a steroid shot, antibiotics and cough syrup codeine and we are raring to go. Not quite, but hopefully within 24 hours. He woke up with a 103 fever! Yikes. His room was like a sauna. I forget about that. I closed his vent, got a cold wash cloth, fed him some Tylenol, and moved him out to the living room where it was much cooler. Within 30 minutes he was down to 100, but I knew it needed medical intervention. All I can say is thank you for insurance. It is still expensive though. $150 for a copay, we went to the after hours clinic and then $20 for medicine. Sigh. Our health care is crap in the US. Give me socialized medicine any day. When I lived in England it was fantastic. Not that it did not have his downsides, but hey, when you got sick you could go to the doctor and not pay an arm and a leg. And half your paycheck did not go to pay for health insurance. Anyway, enough about that topic. I could go on for days about it and I work in the industry so I actually would know what I was talking about unlike some of the other yahoos out there.
  Okay, enough of the negative. This is not what we are here for. Although that felt really good to get off my chest.  How is your life? Mine is busy. It is our busiest time at the office. It is health benefit enrollment season. Have decided on your health care? Your FSA? Your HSA? What are you contributing? Are you picking a PPO or a HDHP? Welcome to my world. Hey, it's a job, I get out of my cube farm every once in awhile and I get to meet some awesome people. I am downtown tomorrow. Should be fun. Family, besides the illness, is doing well. School is going well, football season is over, so princess is now cheering for basketball. Love that it is inside. I do not do cold weather. Youngest stepson is trying out for soccer at Catholic, good luck RP!!! Oldest son is getting ready to take his last ACT, thank goodness, and then it's time to decide where to go to school. He has been accepted at all the schools he has applied for, except we are waiting to hear from Baylor. I still cannot believe I will be sending a child off to college. Sigh. Sad and proud mom here. The dynamics in the house will be so different. Another change. Good thing I am adaptable.
 I am looking into joining a gym. I am taking tours to see which one suits my needs. I liked the Jim Dailey Fitness Center, but it is too pricey for me. I am a member of the UALR fitness center through the alumni association , but there is not a close parking spot and I do not believe it is safe on campus after hours, so that is out. I am going to check out 10 Fitness this week. I wanted something close, so that may work. I am a gym rat. I love going to work out. It does eat up my time though. I go in and next thing I know two hours have passed, oops! I just get in the zone on the stair climber and lose track of time. Crazy, right? Some good music and my favorite machine gets me going every time.
 Stay well this season. Get plenty of Vitamin C and rest and for goodness sake, when you get sick, go to the doctor! Keep your cooties out of school and the office. TYVM!

Hugs!

Transitions

 Transitions. Some I like, some I fight like a momma bear protecting her cub. I have two transitions I am going through right now. One, is the summer to fall transition. Hate! Hate! Hate! I love summer. It is my season. We get along. We love each other. We have a long term commitment we both enjoy.
I am made for summer. I am a skinny minnie and that layer of fat I am missing does not do well by me in the winter months. I will spend the next several months in hibernation. Luckily, Arkansas does have some warm days sprinkled in during October, November and December, but come January I am hidden until at least April.
 My second transition is my son turns 18 today. He is my oldest, but still my baby. I have mixed feelings about this one. I am proud of the man he is becoming, but sad that I am losing my baby. I still think of him as the little boy in the red footie pajamas helping me make cookies. I am trying, little by little to let him go, because he will graduate in May and in August, I will be sending him off to college. He is an amazing kid. He is always making me and others around him laugh. He is a fantastic older brother, smart, driven and all around amazing. I am not biased at all, of course. Just ask those who are around him. They will back me up.  So, Happy Birthday, Jake! I love with you with all my heart and I am very proud of you.

 My little helper

 Present Day...always making me laugh

 First day of Freshman year

Hugs!

Hubby's surprise

  Every once in awhile I make a plan and it actually goes as planned. This time, I had a plan and I hit it out of the ballpark. Hubby's bday is December 16. He is kinda hard to shop for because he does not ask for anything. I usually try and listen to things throughout the year that he is interested in and then usually get it for him.  This year was a no brainer.  Tickets to Slip Knot and Korn. Hubby, big time metal fan, me, I am okay about it. Hubby's sons? Big time metal fans. I decided to surprise hubby with not only tickets to the concert, but to attend with his boys. It was not actually that difficult. Texted youngest stepson and he was on board, got off work and was ready. The oldest stepson, I was a bit nervous to ask. You see, he does not hang out at our house, ever. I think he has been here less than 4 times this year. I still have not figured out why, but it is definitely not through lack of trying. We just bide our time and hope that he will figure out that we, especially his dad, are worth coming to see. Hubby (and I ) love and miss oldest stepson greatly. So, I swallowed my insecurity and sent the text. He was on board straight away! He just needed to ask off. Now, I was beyond thrilled. I was going to give my hubby something even better than a metal show. A night out with his sons! I could hardly wait til tonight to see his reaction. I asked oldest stepson to be here when we got off work. Sure enough his truck was outside our house waiting when we got home. Hubby could not get out of the car fast enough. He rushed in and hugged that boy for at least 2 minutes. Yes, I wiped a tear from my eye. Hubby really misses his oldest son. And honestly, I loved having both boys home at the same time. It has been way too long.  I then ran downstairs and grabbed the tickets, but honestly, at this point it was just icing on the cake. He was completely surprised and overjoyed. It could not have gone better. So thank you my awesome stepsons for making your dad's night. You have put a smile on his face that will last a long time. Love you Francis boys!