Because Just Saying "You're a Bad Mom" Would Be Too Easy

So I call my mother, all excited because I thought of a cool gift for the kids for Christmas... Giga Pets! Or well, more like a generic brand that I found on Amazon.com for $1 each.. Anyway, I'm telling her about it, and yeah, she got them the exact same thing... oh well, they'll get two.

Then we are talking about school, and Picasso and Princess are running around being loud... not being bad, just loud, so I ask them to go upstairs to play so I can talk on the phone. They don't listen (because seriously, what kid does, right?) so I get a little louder and TELL them to go upstairs.

My mother gets all huffy and snaps at me "You know, I'm just gonna get those kids something for Christmas that they can ONLY use in their rooms, since that's where they spend 90% of their time ANYWAY!" and proceeds to tell me that basically all I do is yell at the kids and never spend time with them.

Umm, EXCUSE ME? I have been working my ASS off, TRYING to get life to be a little less chaotic so that I CAN spend time with them! I FINALLY got my school stuff organized so that I can stay ahead of assignments instead of struggling and stressing to get things done last minute, so that I am ABLE to spend a little time with my husband and kids.

I KNOW that I've neglected spending as much time with them lately as I should, but seriously, my kids do NOT spend 90% of their time in their rooms, even though I wish they would spend a little MORE time there. We spent a ton of time and money fixing those rooms up for them so they would ENJOY them and have a space of their own and WANT to be in them... but the only time they go in there is to sleep. I think I was completely justified in asking them to go play upstairs while I was on the phone because they were being loud.

What are your thoughts? Am I a horrible neglectful mother who should be shot?

Why Do I Do This To Myself?

So a couple months ago I let #1 & #2 sign up for Soccer, it was a good experience and really helped out with #1's self esteem issues, which helped his anxiety and depression, not so much with the possible ADHD, but hey, I'll take what I can get. Soccer got over and life went back to normal... kinda. Except a week or so later, I started college, and EVERYONE in the house got sick, the last month has been SO crazy around here!

Last night we had parent teacher conferences... they went well over all, so that was good, minor issues, but each teacher came prepared with a plan for tackling or at least learning to cope with each one (Tourette's Tics especially!), which was nice. I like having other people suggest things instead of telling me "We have this, this and this problem with your kid, and we need you to do something about it."... nope, I like hearing "... but, I came up with a plan today and I'm going to try it out and I'll let you know how it goes!" - LOVE a good proactive teacher! Of course, she was #1's teacher last year so I think she was prepared with how to deal with us, hehe.

After conferences we walked around the school and checked out the Literacy fair they had going on, it was really cool to see some of the information about reading that they had available, and made me want to encourage the kids to read every night even more than I already did.

In the Gym they had Basketball sign-ups. #1 really wanted to do it, and it's free, so why not, right? RIGHT?!?!

Except I've already got a lot on my plate...
For example:

1. I work full time, and I work for myself, so I can't just take time off (See This Post For More On That)
2. I'm a full time college student. Yes, it's online college, but still, You have NO idea the workload associated with that unless you've done it, and let's just say thank GOD I have an understanding hubby!
3. I have 4 kids... two of which have strict sleep schedules and we get to live through HELL when those schedules are disrupted.
4. My husband doesn't drive... Long story behind that, but he doesn't. So I am the taxi driver of the family, which means from 4:30-5:30 Monday - Thursday, I'm occupied, no rescheduling of that.
5. I have special needs children that see multiple specialists of different types... that takes up a LOT of time!
6. As good as my husband is about helping around the house with cooking and cleaning... HE needs help with it all sometimes, so me being this busy is NOT good for his sanity!
7. #1 did sign up for Basketball... *Sigh*

Looking back over this list, it's easy to see why I have no sex life as of late!

Surprise, Surprise!

I did something this week that I never imagined I would EVER do. Something I always told myself and everyone else, that I had no intention of EVER doing. Well surprise to us all! I'm going back to school.

I enrolled in a two year program to get an Associates in Foundations of Business, with the possibility of a Bachelors in the future.

I qualified for a good amount of grants and will be using student loans to cover the rest.

So lets see, from high school drop out and teenage mom to Soccer mom of 4 working on a degree in less than 10 years. Essentially, from failure to success...

I'm nervous, more about the financial side of things than anything else, but I'm gonna try not to let it get to me, I mean my first year is COVERED with the grant and student loans, it's the second year I'll have to worry about, but I've got a year to get that figured out.

I start in 2 weeks officially but have 3 workshops to complete next week, and my enrollment counselor gave me an overview of what my first assignment will be for my first 2 classes (taking them 2 at a time), so I can get started on that instead of waiting until the last minute.

My mom is all excited, my father hasn't said much, my kids said they don't WANT me to go back to school, and my husband just doesn't want me to take on more than I can handle.

Me... I am taking this opportunity to prove a LOT of people wrong. All of those people who pegged me a failure as soon as that EPT showed a + sign when I was only 17 years old. Everyone who insisted I'd never make anything out of my life. Just going back and finishing High School 7 years after dropping out wasn't enough, a College Degree will prove them ALL wrong... and it won't hurt MY situation at all. If anything, it will help my business! :)

Blog Makeover

So Ive been playing around with the layout, look, etc of my blog for DAYS and DAYS and DAYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.... still have some more tweaking to do until I'm completely happy... but it is what it is, what do you think?

Swagbucks Just Provided Us With FREE Birthday Presents!

I have been using this awesome search engine called Swagbucks for a few months now.... Before summer started I was able to use some of the Amazon.com gift cards I had gotten by redeeming the Swagbucks I earned to buy the kids these things called Bakugans. Something along the lines of Yu-Gi-Oh, or Pokemon, a trading card game with a cartoon and toys, etc. I never really did get the whole gist of it, but the kids really got into the whole thing... for about a week.

I am still randomly stepping on those damn Bakugan balls in the middle of the night!

BUT, back to the whole point of my story, this Site is AWESOME. I have set them as the default search engine in my browser, and also as my homepage, so when I want to visit a new site, I just type the name of the site into the search bar and go. Find the site in the search results and occasionally get myself some swag bucks in the process. After you have earned enough Swagbucks you can go to the Swag Store and redeem them for all kinds of cool things like gift cards or even actual items from all kinds of different categories. It's great stuff!

I usually redeem my swagbucks for Amazon.com gift cards and then use them to buy things we need or just plain want, that aren't in the regular household budget. We haven't needed anything lately so my gift cards have just been stacking up waiting to be used.

Things are tight lately and we have birthdays coming up over the next few months, as well as Christmas, so I just thought "Hey, why not use my Gift Cards and Swagbucks to get some gifts!" I was able to fill in the gaps to cover all the birthdays we have coming up that we hadn't purchased for yet, and at the rate things are going, I should be able to cover a good number of Christmas gifts using my Swagbucks and gift cards as well!

About The Author

I figured since I have been blogging for awhile, you might want to know a little more about me since I haven't really said too much... So let's proceed to the 4 letter words!

Love: I have a wonderful husband who is supportive in everything that I do, in all the years we have been together, we have never once had a fight, he is the picture of a perfect husband and father. He works 40 hours a week outside of the home, comes home in the evening, helps with dinner and housework, spends time with me and plays with the kids, and never makes me feel less than worthy even when I'm having a hard time keeping up, he just takes up the slack and helps me get back to normal.

Kids: I have Four, two daughters and two sons, the perfect balance that I always dreamed of. They are all spaced 2-3 years apart, so you can imagine the extreme variety in what we are dealing with! From Diapers to the Tooth Fairy, Coloring Books to Homework.

Diet: I have struggled with depression and anxiety for most of my life, the result of which is a bit of a weight problem associated with eating for comfort, as well as only eating convenience foods. Since my husband and I have been together he has introduced me to a much healthier diet, that almost completely eliminates High Fructose Corn Syrup (because lets face it, that stuff just ain't good for ya!) and lots of other nasty stuff. All of our meat is purchased at a local grocery where the owner is very careful about not selling meat that has been injected with dyes, saline solutions, or raised on artificial growth hormones. We eat many more vegetables than I ever had growing up and even grow our own when possible. As for convenience foods, you really won't find any in our house, almost everything we eat is home made, we even bake our own breads whenever possible!

Work: Ahh, yes, we knew this was coming, because really, you'll be hard pressed to find a blog out there on the world wide web that doesn't mention some money making scheme, LOL! Ok, seriously, I really do work. I am self employed, I run a store that is located right next to my house, I literally walk about 10 steps to work every day! I won't say what I sell because that's a whole other blog, and it IS out there, if you can find it LOL! There are SOME things I do online to make money as well, such as Yuwie, Clixsense and Swagbucks. I will post more about those later, but I will give you a brief bit now... between the three of them I have made well over $150 and yes, I have been paid... Yuwie pays via Paypal or Check, Clixsense pays via check and Swagbucks you redeem for Gift Cards (I always get Amazon.com cards)

13 Things That Have Pissed Me Off Today:

1. It's Hot
2. It's Muggy
3. The kids wont listen
4. The phone wont stop ringing
5. My bank account is overdrawn
6. One of my customers can't pay for her order
7. There's practically no food in the house
8. It's raining
9. My shop is a disaster
10. Kids wont stay out of stuff
11. Kids wont get along
12. No matter how much I clean, my house is a mess
13. I know when my husband gets home from work, he's gonna be in a pissy mood too.
    

Tweet, Tweet, TWEET!

So I've been hearing about Twitter and Tweeting and all of that good stuff for awhile now, and finally decided to check it out... You can see my tweets Here

11 Hours Of Home Improvements

Yesterday was a VERY busy day in our household, Sunday's are my ONE day off from my job, I know, my boss is such a bitch making me work 6 whole days a week, for 6, sometimes more hours a day - What a Slave Driver!

Instead of taking the "day off" like you would expect, my husband and I decided that we needed to put forth some brute force to clean and de-clutter our house. #1 is currently away from home, #'s 2&3 were able to help some, and well #4 was nice enough to not scream and want to eat all day, so between nursings I was able to help hubby clean.

Things we managed to do:

• Dishes
• 4 or 5 Loads of Laundry
• Cleaned #2's Bedroom (Complete with sorting his clothes, refolding and organizing his dresser and weeding out clothes that no longer fit - note to self, he needs more pants, hes down to 2 pairs)
• Cleaned #1's Bedroom completely out, so that we could cover the walls and floor with white primer (to prepare for actual painting, and finally completing the project started nearly a year ago of building him his own room)
• Cleaned the room shared by #'s 3&4 - Washing bedding, washing down #3's mattress (shes potty training), sorting clothes, and organizing dressers, weeding out clothes that no longer fit (#3's hand me downs were put into a tote for #4 to grow into and #3's hand me downs were put into a bag to give to my cousin as I absolutely need NO girls clothes for store inventory at this point in time!)
• 2 Trips to the transfer station (Recycling center/Dump) With about 4 more bags prepared for a trip next weekend plus whatever we will come up with through-out the week
• Cleaned OUR room & our TINY little closet that seems to wind up storing EVERYTHING except our clothing (Trying to figure that one out still!)
• Cleaned the Hallway (that had been storing bags and boxes up the Wah-Zoo of who knows what for months

After sorting through all of these places and things and going to the transfer station we managed to organize things somewhat. Got some of the Christmas & Halloween decorations that had been in storage totes in the hall way up into the closet on the 3rd floor that HAD been housing some of the husband's tools for work. We went through all the blankets in the Mini Closet the two of us are expected to share, got some ready for Freecycle (Note To Self: Post those on Freecycle after posting blog), weeded those down to one spare blanket for each bed in the house with an extra blanket and pillow for company, plus special blankets like the ones my mother made and the Quilt my Great-Grandmother made for me, put those all into a large tote in the third floor closet with the Holiday decorations. I finally went through my Trunk and 3 boxes of BOOKS, I even found some I HAVEN'T READ YET (Hallelujah, there are BOOKS to be read!) I loaded up the trunk with books to put in the store (things I've already read and have no desire to save or things I have no desire to read) and saved out one large overflowing box full of books that I must NEVER part with (Ahhh, Love me some Stephen King, James Patterson and V.C. Andrews!), after I read those unread ones that caught my eye I will decide if they are to become Inventory or Collection.

2 Bags included in our trip to the Transfer Station were FULL of clothes from the donation I received to the store last week... I love free stuff, especially when I can make money off it, but there were about 4 boxes of clothes, that all smell musty and old... A few very old dresses, like from the 60's and 70's maybe that I will be donating to the local theater for costumes, but 90% of the clothes that came in are so old and outdated that I doubt I'd ever be able to sell them, and these people probably knew that which is why they were planning to just take them to Goodwill and happened to think of my store first, which is great, but seriously, now I get stuck with the job of disposing of their trash LOL! At least I got some cool knick-nacks and stuff that I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sell at some point, and some nice stuff I'm keeping for the family as well!

Now, off to make phone calls to doctors to schedule checkups.

Are All Work At Home Mom's Lazy?

Now seriously, please, answer me this. There are certain people I have the misfortune of associating myself with that seem to believe that because my work and home share a driveway that I must be able to "just take a day off" and go do whatever, whenever I (or should I say THEY) deem it necessary.

Yes, I work from the same property my residence is at, which TECHNICALLY makes me a work at home mom. My work is TECHNICALLY outside of the house though, as this was once a garage, so I guess all of our Technicalities are slightly off-kilter and we should probably try to synchronize them.

Let me start the process by explaining to you that I AM A WORK AT HOME MOM, THEREFORE I WORK!!! Emphasis on that nasty 4 letter word right there, but yes, I DO work!

I am available to kiss booboo's, change diapers, make lunch, put toddlers down kicking and screaming for their naps, cuddling babies, playing legos and all the other good stuff that requires doing during the day like laundry and other household necessities, BUT that does NOT mean I am available to get in the car at any hour during the day to drive to the park or the playground or hell, an HOUR away to visit you, my NON-working STAY AT HOME mother of THREE who lives with her brother and spends her days on the computer playing the applications on Myspace, who could just as easily, if not EASIER, pack up her kids and drive to MY house.

I WORK. Plain and simple. The location where this work takes place is completely irrelevant because the fact that Monday through Saturday from 10am to 4:30pm I AM WORKING, so stop asking me to "just take a day off" and go do this or that with you unless YOU want to fork over the money needed to finish paying bills and buying clothes and all that extra stuff, after my husbands weekly paycheck is drained on groceries and OTHER bills.

Thank you for understanding!