Because I'm the mom.....

Have you ever stopped to really think about how blessed you are?  I mean really think about it!  Do you get it?  Do you really get it? In the United States pretty much all the population is blessed as compared to other parts of the work.  Most of the population has a house, and car, and food on the table.  Then on top of that most of us have cell phones, and computers, and we eat out and....and....and.....  Even with all that,  many of us feel like we aren't as well off as the guy next door.  However, can you see that we really are blessed? Me?  I'm so amazingly blessed.   I've lived a life that has had its ups and downs, but it's been a very good life.  I have experienced travel all over the world, and hope to do much more of that in the coming years.   I've had the most incredible children.  All so very different, but all have big hearts.  I've had the good fortune to have many many different types of work and a couple different careers. Looking back tho

Today my work family and I had the chance to do some team building fun.  I know that a lot of people cringe when they here "team building".  What does that even mean? We had one of our staff members who specializes in that come in and spend some time with us.  We did some fun activities where we did....gasp......ice breaker questions.  It was GREAT.  These weren't typical questions and even though most of us have been together for around a year or getting close to it, it gave some real insight into who each of us was. We did a rope activity and it caused us to all really stop and think outside the box.  And after some hints....I figured out how "escape" my partner.  :) One of the best team building activities was when we all took these picture postcards and we were supposed to pick one that "spoke" to us and then explain to the team why.  Some picked pictures because they thought they were "pretty" or reminded them of family or somethin

After such a down post yesterday I decided I really needed to lighten things up! So we are in the midst of planning our wedding.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I really want to have what I want, but I don't want to spend much to get it.  lol I've been calling hotels, conference centers, and other building spaces that might work for our big day!  It's exciting as we talk about what we want from that day.  I want to have the ceremony and reception in the same location.  I want it to be beautifully decorated.  I want it to be a lot of things, expensive not being one of them. Do you know that no matter what type of hall or building you look at, it's ALL costly.  And if you find one that isn't that expensive by the time you figure in your rentals and such it now is crazy!  lol But I refuse to stress about what I can't control.  No matter what we choose or where it is, it will be amazing because it's my wedding!  And I'm being given a second chanc

I was in college and on my way home to visit my family.  My car broke down on a mountain pass and the events that followed changed my life forever.  I won't go into any details, but at the age of 19 I was raped.  It has forever changed and scarred who I was as a person. My car was repaired the next day and I went back to my apartment and pretended it never happened.  I buried as deep as I could.  Pretending it never happened.  I was young and a fool and believed the threats that had been told to me. A few months later over Christmas break I had an accident and was able to quit college and move because of my injury.  I thought maybe a "fresh" start somewhere would "fix" me.  Bury it...... A year after my rape I finally found myself dealing with depression and unable to cope with the pressures of going back to school.  I finally broke down and told my mom.  My parents were devastated.  And now on top of my trauma I also had guilt (I placed on myself) for not

My wedding is coming up.  I have 10 months to prepare.  I've been losing weight since October so I'm not too worried about that aspect of preparing.  However, I'm not toned or in shape.  What's the big deal?  I have lots of time. Let me confess, I HATE cardio.  I mean I HATE it.  I would rather do just about anything other than cardio. I know the benefits.  No only is it good for the heart and other muscles, but it's GREAT for the mind!  I don't mind weights.  In fact, I actually enjoy them.  But I've lost motivation to get my butt dressed and to the gym.  I've had a membership to Planet Fitness for well over a year.  I faithfully used it for a whole 2 or 3 months last year and nothing since.  We even bought a cool online program that allows you to pull up both weight and cardio workouts.  I can't even use the excuse that I just don't know what to do. I'm just lazy.  Ugh.  I'm one of those that wants that magic pill.  Do nothing but h

Many of you know me.  Some think you know me.  And for others I'm a stranger.  So who is the lady behind the blog?  Let me give you some highlights of my life to help fill in some blanks. I grew up in a tiny little community in South Eastern Colorado.  Our whole county had around 1200 people when I was growing up.  I lived in a teeny tiny town.  Many would consider it more of a village than a town.  There only a handful of families that lived there.  It's mostly a farming area, although many people commute to nearby towns to work (unless they worked on a farm).  Our bus rides to school started in "town" and then went way out to the country and then to the next town were we had a couple stops and then another stretch to the school in the middle of no where.   Plainview is a K-12 school and my senior year of school there were 102 in the whole school.  Our class one of the largest with 8 people.  There were 26 in high school.  As you can see, with such low numbers it m

I'm coming up close to my 44th birthday.  It's sorta a crazy thought that I'm nearing my MID 40's.  I will say that I'm more alive and feel better than I did in the last half of my 20's and certainly my 30's.  Who knew?  Why do I say this?  Can it really be true that I feel better than 10 or even 20 years ago?  Don't get me wrong, there are days when my body aches or is sluggish and that is vastly different than a few years ago.  My brain isn't as sharp (I believe THAT is from the lack of oxygen the last time I went into anaphylactic shock.  I'll share that story next time) as it was.  I don't learn as quickly as I once did.  I certainly don't retain the information as I did earlier in life.  So what's so great?  With the information I have shared how can I say I feel better? 1. I'm more confident in myself. I have plenty of days when I question myself.  I still don't know what I want to BE when I grown up.  I worry about i

I'm engaged for the 2nd time in my life.  Never saw that coming.  HA  I will say that the 2nd time around is harder.  I think for the same reason the a relationship is more difficult so is an engagement and planning a wedding.  When you are young you don't know who you are or what you want.  Everything is a new adventure and you sorta grow into who you will be as an adult.  You're more flexible to change because you haven't lived long enough to really know firmly what type of person you will be.  Fast forward 22 years, and that can't be said for now.  I've lived a lot of life and while I am still changing and morphing into who I am right now, largely I'm set in ways.  Does anyone else relate?  In other words, I'm stubborn. The same can be said for what I want in a wedding.  I want everything I didn't have the first time.  However, this is on our dime and I don't want to spend the kind of money that my "dream wedding" requires.  You'