Becoming a Stay at Home Mom?

Well, thanks for your good thoughts...Henry was offered one of the jobs (not the one with the house...still waiting to hear from them) and accepted it on Friday morning. Which is a good thing, because after my shift on Friday I was fired. Yeah, shit. Technically my position was eliminated due to downsizing. I received word and I wasn't alone. They also fired: a social worker, 6 other nurses, a dietician, EVERY unit secretary, an admissions coordinator, 3 physical therapists, 3 occupational therapists, a bunch of CNA's, EVERY respiratory therapist. The list goes on, but I can't remember everyone right now. I was upset for about an hour and then it hit me. I have been at my wits end with this job for years now. The company has been in so much hot water with the state that it is unbelievable. I have typed my resignation up and printed it out more times than I can count. SOOOOO....this is probably a good thing. Right? Now, I can take my time and find the job that is *meant* for me. I will be able to stay home for the rest of the summer with Matthew. Henry will start his new job on Tuesday and we won't have to worry about having his mom watch Matthew. I just need to keep looking at the positives in the situation. I wasn't happy at this job.....Henry just got a new job, so financially we will be ok for a while....nurses are desperately needed, so finding a job won't be too hard....I get to spend time with Matthew before kindergarten starts in a month....I'll have free time to scrap book. Henry has been the stay at home dad since Matthew was born. Now, it is finally my turn to stay home with Matthew. Sigh....everything happens for a reason.

Sunday Six~~Hot Hot Hot

Brought to us every week by the queen of questions, Kelly, she's quizzing our children about the heat. I don't know about you, but I've had enough heat now. Fall can enter the picture anytime. And we haven't even had it that bad, compared to those poor chica's in Texas and such places! So, Matthew answered today's questions a little grudgingly....he had spent the entire day in his room because he wouldn't pick up the thousands and thousands of legoes and play mobile guys he dumped out. How did he finally get "released from prison" you may ask? I told him if he cleaned his room, he would get to answer his Sunday Six questions! That boy LOVES him some Sunday Six! So, here are his answers...Nothing fabulous this week, but at 5 1/2 he can't be a comedian every week.

1. What is hot weather?
~~It means that it is hot outside and the sun is burning me up-is that correct Mom?

2. Do you think it has been too hot?
~~No, sometimes, yeah, maybe (so decisive isn't he!)

3. Why do you think the weather is so hot?
~~Because I think sometimes it's hot when it's summer

4. What do you do to cool down in hot weather?
~~Ummm, well you're supposed to go in the shade, that's how you cool down, by a tree.

5. Which is better-hot weather or cold weather.
~~Sometimes it's cold in winter and hot in summer. Right?
Me: Yes, but which is better, hot or cold?
~~sometimes hot is good, sometimes cold is good, sometimes both.
(Umm...studying to be a politician maybe?)

6. What does it mean to be in a heat wave?
~~It means that you're hot in the beach

So, there you have it. Let me know if you played, and Kelly too. I will check out your kiddos answers cuz I love all the little ones answers (so creative they are!)

Prayers and Good Thoughts

Henry had his two interviews today. The first one, which was the third for the same company, went well. The corporate lady was a little odd....when speaking about benefits Henry told her he wouldn't need them because I carry benefits for the family. She tried to make a joke (I guess) and said, well at least until she leaves you. Huh? Very odd sense of humor.

The second interview was for the company that we are hoping and praying he is offered a job with. It is a 400 apartment/townhome complex. He would be one of four maintenance guys, and it seems to be a good company. The best thing about this job is this: We would have a HOUSE to live in instead of an apartment. At SIGNIFICANTLY reduced rent. It has 3 bedrooms, an acre of land for Matthew to play, and sounds perfect. So, if you believe in the power of prayer, we could use some good strong prayers. They hope to make their decision by the end of the week. Crossing my fingers....and toes....and legs....and eyes. Hey, you gotta grab luck where ever you can get it, right?

Matthew's behavior continues to be bad, but we are dealing with it. I finally gave in and cleaned his room on Saturday, but made a huge change. Won't pick up his toys? Won't take care of his things? Then he has NO access to them. I put child locks on EVERYTHING! He can't get to any of his toys, art projects, nothing. Once he learns to take care of and appreciate his things, then maybe we can ease up. For now, he is allowed to choose one item (today he chose Matchbox cars) to play with. No more letting him pick 20 different items and destroying his room. So far, so good. Baby steps it seems are the order of the day.

Thank you all for your prayers and good luck thoughts! I'll let you know as soon as we hear anything!

Sunday Six-It's a Zoo in here!

It is once again time for Sunday Six, brought to us by the zoo keeper Kelly. Questions are answered by my little animal, Matthew, age 5 yrs 6 months. Let me know if you played...and of course Kelly too.

1. Have you ever been to the zoo?
~~No (None here in godforsaken CT)

2. What kind of animals live at the zoo?
~~Some different ones, if there are two animals the same
its a pair of goons. (What?)

3. Can you feed the animals at the zoo?
~~Not really

4. What is your favorite animal at the zoo?
~~Like, its a thing with a long neck-a giraffe. And an elephant
and a lion and a tiger baby.

5. What does a zoo keeper do?
~~He protects the animals, the whole zoo and behaves
very kindly to the animals. (Ahhh....)

6. What happens at the zoo at night when the sun goes down?
~~I don't know, can you tell me?

So, there you have it. Not bad for a poor child who hasn't even been to the zoo. Hopefully we can make it to the Bronx zoo this summer...closest one!

Good Luck

Well, this is the best symbol for good luck I could find in a hurry. I just wanted to put it out there to all of you, to please if you can, think good thoughts for my hubby. He has a 3rd job interview with a good company (2 apartment complexes) to do maintenance. He has interviewed with both complexes, and Monday is finally corporates turn. As some of you know, he is superintendent of the apartments we live in, which is FABULOUS, we live for free, but he doesn't get paid and it is only part time. This has allowed Matthew to remain home with hubby, and we have never needed daycare. With Matthew starting kindergarten in the fall Henry is more than ready to hunt for a full-time job! He will continue his job here at Tiffany House, as well as a new endeavor. On Monday he also has a first interview with another family-owned complex in Vernon. This is also a great prospect as it has potential for a live in position. So if he gets it and loves it, there is the possibility of moving to a smaller, more rural town. We live in a snooty, uptight city now and would love the prospect of a more "country" feeling town. Although, where we live now has the BEST school district in the state, so that would be a hard choice. Henry's mom currently lives only 2 miles away, and it might be good to live in Vernon which is a good 15 miles away....I could use a little distance! So, goodluck hubby, I love you and know you will do great. And thank all of you for good wishes! Now, off to set up appetizers as we have friends coming over for an evening of cards. Pray Matthew behaves well....hmmmphh.

Child for Sale...Cheap

I am at my wits end. Matthew has become insanely destructive in the last 2 days. Breaking toys, tearing apart notepads, drawing on his bed with markers, throwing food on the floor. Tonight we found one of the angels I inherited from my Grandmother torn apart in his bed. Why does he do this? I have given up on conventional methods such as time outs...he sits there and then goes right back to his devilish ways. I tried our states Grow with me program and their idea of help was to refer me to kindermusic and library programs. This doesn't help with his issues. I am beginning to wonder if he has ADHD. Tomorrow we will start calling a list of child psychologists we were given. I have had it, I am ready to walk away right now. I love him, but good God is he trying my last nerve.

Life Experiences

Life Experiences Meme
Bold the ones you've done..
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea-storm during our honeymoon
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables-does my parents garden as a child count
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne.
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb-Toniann's for 4H as kids
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (A few hours. Never an entire day.)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving (God, no! Afraid of heights.)
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love (THAN! It's "THAN", you idiot who wrote this, not "THEN". Sheesh.)
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow-that's what I get for dating a guy in HS who's parents own a dairy farm!
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party-I think this was routine in my sorority!
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents-no thank God!
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking (Only ALL. THE. TIME. I love to sing. :-) )
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived.
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback-vietnam patient
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced-tongue for a short time
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild-miss you Uncle Irvin!
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours-rung in the new mellinium with the worst worst worst flu ever!
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach (Nope. Only squashed them.)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes -Miss you Grandma Dorothy!
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey-Thanks Mrs. Boelling!
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read (Way more than one!)
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunionshigh school was high school...has nothing to do with real life, still in contact with the ones that matter!
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language-major trick in nursing!
139. Been elected to public office (if senior class historian counts!)
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream-nursing!
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care-if a patient I cared for greatly counts, than too many times!
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life

Not such a bad list, all in all. Any questions?

The beach baby!

Absolutely love this view!

Toys, toys, toys

Sandcastle time?

Hmmm...should I go in?

Foggy day, but still beautiful!

This is where we married!

Ahhh....relaxing

Chilling

Still not going to go in....brrrr

*sigh* I miss it already!

On Wednesday, we headed to Rhode Island for the day. Henry helped a friend work on his car that had died at the beach house, so Matthew and I tagged along to hang out on the beach. We had a couple of hours before the fog turned in to rain....I could hang out there for the rest of my life! It is so relaxing, beautiful, calm...I could go on and on! This is also the spot where we got married, so it has lots of memories. It looks like we will be heading back again next week, as friends car is till giving him a hard time, and hubby is handy like that!

Sunday Six~Summer and Food!

Brought to us by Kelly who has summer food on her mind, answered by Matthew (age 5 years 6 months) who has been a little devil for the last week. Let me know (and Kelly) if you played....we would love to check out your darlin's answers! Posting on Saturday evening, gotta work Sunday...damn nursing and every other weekend crap!

1. What kinds of food do you like to eat in summer?
~~Like some, uh, I like Lightning McQueen he's my favorite race car driver, and I like vegetables, and lemon-it's yellow you know!

2. What is your favorite summer dessert?
~~Like, uh, lemon

3. What is your favorite summer fruit?
~~Like my favorite fruit is like um watermelon.

4. Do you eat more or less in the summer?
~~Less in the summer

5. What is the best food to take on vacation in summer?
~~Like some lemons, watermelon, blueberries, strawberries

6. What is yummy?
~~It means yummy in my tummy!

Lake Hayward

Murphy pushing Matthew around the water

Testing the water...little timid

ZZZZZ....worn out on the way home!

Wading in...not to sure about this!

Now he's getting the hang of it!

All ready to hit the water

The relaxing view

So, we spent all day Sunday at Lake Hayward hanging out with friends for a birthday party. Matthew was a little nervous to be around the water....city boy. Once he got used to it, he couldn't be stopped. He even had us swim with him out to the dock so he could jump off with Murphy. For not knowing how to swim, he did great. Definately time to get him enrolled in swimming lessons!

Sunday Six~~What's in a Name?

Happy Sunday! Welcome to Kelly's brainchild, Sunday Six! This week Kelly is all inquisitive about names, names, names. So, Matthew was quite talkative for this week, once again. Let us know (and Kelly) if you played...would love to check out your answers!

1. Why do people have names?
~~Because they need to have a name in the hospital because
they have human babies in their stomachs. Is this the Hurricane
Katrina one-the very hard one? (WTF?)

2. Can boy names and girl names be the same?
~~Nope, they're different.
(Interesting considering my name is Jamie which
is male and female!)

3. Who named you?
~~Uhhhhh, you did, you named me Matthew Jared S_____.
It's M-A-T-T-H-E-W (In case I forgot or something??)

4. What is your best friends name?
~~Sam

5. Do you like your name?
~~Yeah, a lot. Oh and by the way I better tell you something
that's very expensive, a toy, a batman game that's for V-Smile,
that's very expensive. (Smoking crack my boy is)

6. If you could have a different name, what would it be?
~~Ummm, I like Matthew. (Me: But if you had to pick another
name what would it be?) Ummmm...Let me think, ummm,
hmmmmm, I like Sam.

~~~

So, we took Matthew to the movie theatre Friday night for the first time. He is such an active boy that he doesn't sit still long enough to watch a movie, but we thought maybe he was old enough to deal with it now. We, of course, saw Cars. Which he loved, loved, loved. He wanted to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I wasn't to keen on this, as we've never seen the first one and don't know if it would be appropriate to his age. So, we rented it (the first one) tonight and will watch it soon.

Tomorrow we head to Lake Hayward for a friend's father's birthday. Lot's of swimming, sun, food and friends. Should be a good time as it looks like the rain will pass before dawn (if it holds true, it will be the first weekend in over a month that it didn't rain during the day!). Matthew packed up his beach equipment and is raring to go. So much so that I couldn't get the little bugger to sleep until after 11 pm. Hopefully he will sleep in, as we don't leave for the lake until 11am.

I got loads of scrap pages done this evening...Don't worry I won't post them as I am sure my few readers are sick of seeing them already! Have a great Sunday!

Fireworks Baby!

We piled into the truck and headed to the 12th Annual Great Boom last night and had a great time. The first pic I thought was pretty cool and Matthew was loving the glow sticks/necklaces/bracelets! The others didn't turn out the greatest, but we had a good time and that was the important thing. I hope everyone had a good holiday!

Happy Fourth of July AND Sunday Six!

OK, this weeks Sunday Six is a little late...but the lovely Kelly gave us until Wednesday to play so I don't feel too badly. This week is very appropriately all about the wonderfully patriotic Fourth of July. Matthew (5 yrs 5 months) was kind enough to answer, and was a little toooooo talkative today, so bear with the essay type answers!

1. How do we celebrate the Fourth of July?

~~You just do what you do on the Fourth of July. Mom

do you think this is the hard one? Do you?

(he's convinced there is at least ONE hard question

each week!)

2. What do you eat on the Fourth of July?

Food and Kinda Stuff, Just regular stuff, you know

like you always do, that kinda stuff.

3. What do you think of fireworks?

I think of fireworks making me more light so I can

see in the dark, and I sit in the back of Dad's truck and

stay up late. I like the blue, red, yellow, green and purple.

That's the five colors I like...only.

4. How does a firework work?

By making people turn them on, they

just come from a shooting star.

5. What does it mean to be an American?

Means you have to be an American-you just

do what you're supposed to do-like, uh, is that the hard?

6. How old is the United States of America?

Like fifty thousand ten thousand.

So, there you have it. The patriotic holiday broken down by Matthew. I hope everyone has a safe holiday and I'll be happy when the fireworks are gone. Like it is fun being awakened at midnight to what you just know in your tired sleepy brain is someone shooting at your windows with an oozie. I love feeling my heart jump out of my chest....and so easy to fall back to sleep after that too. I'm just sayin'.