Tuesday, November 24, 2009 Thankful For It has been one crazy year for me and for lots of my friends and extended family. As you know, my year has basically revolved around divorce. I have also been feeling sad for others who are close to me (friends & family) that are dealing with so much more than I had to. On the bright side, I have received news that quite a few people I know are pregnant. Overall, it has been a year for the books. There are MANY things to be Thankful for though including my top six list for 2009: 1. My wonderful kids who are healthy 2. Friends and family that have gone above and beyond to be supportive 3. That the second half of the year has been MUCH better than the first half 4. That money is tight, but we are getting by on my part time job and child support 5. That my brothers and their families are all coming for two weeks at Christmas 6. That Steve and I don't hate each other I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Labels: divorce, thanksgiving Freckle Face Girl @ 5:37 PM |

Monday, November 16, 2009 One Minute Please Shortly after moving here, a neighbor lady started telling me about a wonderful parenting book that she was reading. I listened with interest especially since big changes in kids' lives bring about crazy behaviors. However, I had to smile thinking about taking advice from a SAHM mom that has 3 full time maids and 2 nannies all in an effort to take care of a household that has three kids. About 2 weeks later (while she was off vacationing with her husband, kids and entourage), I got a copy of the book in the mail from her. I smiled at how thoughtful she was. Anyway, the book is called "The One Minute Mother" and it is by Spencer Johnson, M.D. While I am thrilled with some of the results, I don't recommend you go out and buy a copy. There are only 3 simple points that the entire book is written around. 1. One Minute Goals (use 1 sheet of paper to write down goals that you set with your child - must only take 1 minute to read) 2. One Minute Praisings (Praise good behavior, clearly identify what they did right and how it made you feel, hug or touch the child, and tell them you love them) 3. One Minute Reprimands (Reprimand poor behavior, tell the child exactly what they did wrong, pause to let it sink in, remind them that they are better than that and that they are good kids, hug them and remind them that you love them, and drop it) The book is full of examples and such to convince people that it works. I think 2 and 3 are pretty much common sense, although in the craziness of life they may not happen as often as they should. At least for me because my two little ones are doing things all day everyday that should be addressed. The one thing that I hadn't tried before was number 1. Once a week I started sitting down with Lexi and coming up with a one page list of goals for her, Jordan and me. I use a big marker and draw a picture next to each goal so she can "read" them. She participates in creating the list. Here are some examples: Lexi's Goals 1. Put my crayons away everyday 2. Don't block my brother (not letting him pass through doorways) 3. Listen to my mom 4. Hug and kiss my mom more (her idea) Mom's Goals: 1. Exercise at the beach 4 times this week 2. Complete.... (something from my to do list) 3. Hug and kiss Lexi and Jordan more (her idea) When we are done, we tape the lists in the kids’ bedroom. Every night Lexi reads hers as part of our bedtime ritual. We have been able to stamp out quite a few behaviors that time-outs were doing NOTHING for. The best part is that when she is doing something she isn't supposed to that is on the list I only have to remind her ONE time!!! I HATE being a broken record. The past few days things have been getting out of hand with the kids pestering each other. It was especially annoying this morning, during our walk on the beach. I suddenly remembered that we hadn't made a list in a few weeks. We sat down this afternoon and so far we are right back on track. Labels: kids, parenting Freckle Face Girl @ 6:48 PM |

Saturday, November 07, 2009 New Blog: The Design Buzz My cousin, Kim, has started a new blog devoted to vintage items and her own designs. She also has an Etsy shop. Check it out: The Design Buzz Labels: bloggers, family, shopping Freckle Face Girl @ 8:45 AM |

Friday, November 06, 2009 Current State of Mind With all stages in life, people are immediately interested in the next step. When you start dating, they want to know if you are going to get married. When you get married, they want to know when you are going to have a baby. When you have a baby, they want to know if you are going to have another one. The same is true with divorce. It is about finding love again. I have heard from several people that I will quickly find a new guy. I don’t believe it of course. It is completely crazy thinking. First, I was 30 when I got married. That means that obviously I am not the kind of person that marries the first guy I date. Secondly, my kids are my life. I rarely go anywhere without them and we are usually in kid friendly places. How do you meet someone in those settings? Third, it takes time to get over a failed marriage. I think divorce not only sours a person’s view of marriage, but rocks their self esteem in regards to meeting people of the opposite sex and dating. A lot has changed about me since I was single - mainly that I have two adorable kids that I devote my life to. I also don’t have the body that I used to. Should I even mention that I have moved in with family, have only been working part time so I don’t have to put the kids in daycare yet, and have NO idea what I even want for the future? What kind of guy would be interested? - Probably not one that I would be interested in. Basically, dating is not a priority for me or much of a consideration. I am just taking life as it comes. I am focusing on keeping up with my insane workload, taking care of my kids, and waiting as patiently as possible for some of these hardships to pass or ease up. Hopefully, soon I will be ready to take better care of myself and get interested in things that I usually care about. It is just a matter of time and a little more happiness. Labels: dating, divorce Freckle Face Girl @ 2:15 AM |

Friday, October 30, 2009 Our Peter Pan Costumes I just love themed costumes. I knew my mom had a great Captain Hook costume so I talked everyone into doing Peter Pan this year. It was an easy sell even for my mom who made costumes for Lexi and me. It was all planned. My mom was Captain Hook. Lexi was Tinkerbell. Jordan was the croc (I got his costume off of ebay). Paige would be Peter Pan. My step-father was going to be Smee. As for me, the clear choice was Wendy. We tought we were going to get to wear them a lot. We were lucky enough to be invited to a block party last weekend, have a church party this week, a little party at my mom's work today, and then Halloween. Nothing ever works perfectly. My step-father had a gig on Saturday, so he missed the block party. He is out of town this week for work. My mom suddenly got sick on Wednesday and is still down with some kind of flu (not H1N1). Paige and I took the kids to the church party. Paige has party plans for the real Halloween. I will probably be taking the kids trick-or-treating myself and might not dress up. (Maybe the fake eyelashes though- I love those things). Here are our costumes: The Croc & Tinkerbell Tinkerbell Cast of Peter Pan The Croc & Wendy Tink & Wendy Tink (Lexi) & Peter (my sister) Captain Hook (aka my mom) Tinkerbell with Face Paint For next year, I have been talking about Alice in Wonderland. Yesterday, I found out that Disney has a new one coming out: Alice in Wonderland Official Trailer Labels: Halloween Freckle Face Girl @ 10:10 AM |

Thursday, October 29, 2009 Remembering the Blogging Days As a result of the graphics disappearing, I designated a little time to figuring out where I could host new ones. I found something that was OK. This whole experience reminded me of the old blog days back when I used to change the design to be festive every month. Was that a pain or what? I guess it was also back when I updated regularly and kept up with other blogs. In a way, I miss it. I am not sure I can fit it into my life right now, but maybe I'll try a little harder to be a real blogger. Labels: blogging Freckle Face Girl @ 5:47 PM |

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Disappearing Graphics As you’ve probably noticed, my graphics have disappeared. I used to use Geocities to upload the pictures for the blog design. I found out a few weeks ago that Yahoo was going to close it. I could have started researching other options then, but I didn’t. Does anyone have suggestions? Perhaps there is even a way to upload them to blogger directly. I haven’t tried that. Labels: blogging Freckle Face Girl @ 3:35 PM |