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 |

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 Connecting with In-Laws One of the strange spin off issues with divorce is not knowing how to connect with former in-laws. My parents pretty much severed their relationships with each other’s extended family members when they parted ways. That had more to do with my dad’s extreme bitterness. He didn’t want contact with my mom’s family and he needed to feel like his family had his back. The situation is quite different with our divorce. Neither of Steve nor I is bitter, which helps. Steve has called one of my brothers a few times. I think he feels more comfortable talking to my side because he knows that they already know what happened. As far as I can tell, he has been avoiding his family and friends. I read that men view divorce as a huge failure and are often terribly embarrassed about it. I believe that is the case with him. Last week, I got an e-mail from one of his cousins that I have never met in person. She wanted to know what is going on. Some of his family members read the kids’ blogs and wanted to know why we seemed to be living in California and he wasn’t. I know they deserve to know, but I hate to step on his toes. I decided to answer the e-mail s nicely as possible with minimal facts and basically left out any explanations. I know that part should come from him. I know I am rambling, but my main point is that divorce usually puts up a barrier and alienates a spouse from the former in-laws. Perhaps it is mainly in my imagination or not really knowing how to get a new phase of the relationship started. I would like to know how to overcome that without stepping on Steve’s toes. Part of me thinks that sounds selfish like I have a right to his family even though I filed for divorce. While I really liked the in-laws, I think this relationship will benefit the kids more than anyone. I just don’t know how to go about re-starting it. Suggestions? Labels: divorce, family Freckle Face Girl @ 2:39 AM |

Friday, October 09, 2009 Relatively Speaking In my last post, I said that I was quite happy. I guess I should explain. I didn’t really mean that everything was gloriously wonderful and that my life could in no way be better. Is that even possible under any circumstances? I just meant that I am not living in a pit of despair and actually feel at peace or quite happy most of the time. About eight years ago, I broke up with a guy I had been dating for 3 years. At the time, I was living in Miami and the few friends that I had were all married. I realized that the worst part of break-ups (for me) was the HUGE void that was left. I had lots of time on my hands and nobody to spend it with. I was lonely and bored. Getting divorced has been different. As soon as the divorce was finalized, I was on the road headed to California. My kids, family, work and numerous activities keep me too busy. There is no void. I am not lonely or bored and I actually have a LOT more help with the kids. Plus, the issues that I had been dealing with are not my problem any more. I don’t spend too much time worrying and/or being angry. That had made this life change a huge relief. Therefore, things are better. I am quite happy. Labels: divorce Freckle Face Girl @ 10:51 PM |