New Years Resolutions

I like making New Years Resolutions. Last year, I decided just to make a goal to survive the year because I knew that the divorce needed to happen. Guess what - I made it through! Yeah amazing. :) This year, I'll go back to the traditional resolutions. Here they are:

1. Eat Healthier: less sugar, white flour, and sodas
2. Tone Up: my mom got us a membership to the YMCA. I can drop the kids off in the daycare & work out.
3. Try Online Dating: I have been thinking that it would be nice to go on a date or two, but I really don't go anywhere to meet guys. I am going to try some of the free online sites and see what happens.

If anyone has advice, especially about the third one, please share. I don't know very much about it.

Merry Christmas!

We are really enjoying the holidays with my family. There are nine kids in our house with the oldest being 9. My brothers and thier families are here so it is hectic and fun. Both of my brothers with kids have one Lexi's age and one Jordan's age. As you can guess, the kids are soaking it up. Anyway, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

The Cove in La Jolla

I snapped a few pictures yesterday when we were at the Cove.

Still Waiting...

I decided to do a little update. My files are still locked on the hard drive. Fun, right? My office didn't have any luck with it, so they decided to send it out to a company that specializes in this kind of thing.

http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com

Unfortunately, it is going to cost about $1000 and take a week, assuming that anything can be done. Please for your own sake, back-up your file.

Other than that, I am just enjoying the holidays. My brothers are already showing up. One came a few days ago and another one last night. The third one is coming this afternoon. Our house will be FULL of kids and activities. That will keep my mind off the stress.

Nearly Nervous Breakdown Time

This has been an awful work week, one truly for the books. It all started on Monday, when I realized that my hard drive was inaccessible. I tried to use it on different computers hoping that it was some kind of sick fluke. Finally, I realized that I had to call my boss. It was last afternoon and he told me to send it to him ASAP through Fedex. I had to wake Jordan up from his nap and drag my kids out in the pouring cold rain. I made it to Fedex moments before the cut-off.

All of my work for the last 18 months is on that hard drive. Yes, I knew ALL along that I should do back-ups. Unfortunately, I failed to make it a priority and therefore I never got around to it. It is now the end of the week of me being nervous and so far my office has had no luck recovering the files. Yesterday, they gave it our IT consultant.

I am praying for a Christmas miracle because I really don’t want to deal with the MONTHS of long hours for make-up work this will cause. For now, I can gladly report that the extra nervousness has helped me lose 5 lbs.

Lasting Love

For a while, I have been thinking that long lasting love is so wonderful. Isn't the idea of sharing your life with someone amazing? What could be better than growing old with someone and knowing most of the people in each other's lives and all of their stories? Believe me, I am all about adventure and crazy shenanigans in life. However, when it comes to romance and love nothing could be better than stability. Perhaps, that ultimate dream kept my marriage together for longer than it should have been. This week, we finally watched “Up.” What a cute story and it just happens to go along with this theme.

Anyway, when I saw this article: How to Make Romance Last, I had to laugh and do a quick post.

I am already in my upper 30s, so spending most of my life with someone isn't possible. I guess I can still dream of meeting a great guy someday and spending half of my life with him.

Baby Boy Turns Two

I can't believe that Jordan is two today. He is turning into a little boy and leaving his baby years behind, which makes me so sad. He has also just entered into the terrible twos and has begun demanding to "do mysef." Like most little boys, he loves balls. I gave him a set of nerf balls on Sunday and he has slept with one of them every night since. He also carries one around where ever we go. One of the best things about him is that he is generally a happy little prankster and pulls sly pranks on all of us. Almost everything makes him laugh, even getting punished. What a joy these two years have been!

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!

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.

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