Oh joy, the holidays

Ah! It's that time of the year again. As much as I would love to say the holidays are my favorite time of the year (and in some ways it can be) lets be honest, the holidays bring on a whole new level of stress that we get to avoid the rest of the year. I really need to break down the positives and negatives.

Let's get the bad out of the way first. My biggest complaint is the financial strain the holidays bring. Halloween costumes, pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, Christmas related events. All these are added expenses that just don't exist the other 9 months of the year. I grew up with a single dad and 2 brothers and 2 sisters so needless to say, we didn't have a lot of money. We were what you would call POOR. Being poor growing up my dad taught me the difference between a want and a need. It's hard for me to spend a ton of money on things I don't really need, but on the other hand I want my boys to experience things I never got to, which brings me to the next bad point about the holidays; stress. The stress of cooking large meals and playing hostess (something I've never mastered) brings on a whole other batch of problems that I also don't have to deal with the rest of the year. One day when I'm a millionaire (come on lotto!) I'm going to hire planners to take care of all the stressful planning, maids to do the stressful cooking and personal shoppers to spend the money for me. Yup, when I'm a millionaire.....

So now that I'm done being Debbie Downer, I have a ton to look forward to this year. Last year since it was our first year in TX, we spent the holidays alone. My husbands mom was with us for x-mas, but she comes with her own slew of stresses that I just don't have time to get into. This year my sister and my brother are local so we'll be doing all the events with them, and my BB (bottom b****, more on that term later) will be here with her family for Thanksgiving (I need a solo blog post just to express my excitement about this!) and my dad will be flying from CA for Christmas. This move was really tough for me, so knowing that family is coming and going to be around thrills me to no end. It's very important to me that my boys keep familiar with family and feel the love on such important events.

So with Halloween approaching, this holiday season is about to get started and I'm actually kinda looking forward to all the stresses and financial woes its going to bring!! Well kinda......

Why can't my husband age already?

I know I can not be the only wife out there who married a freak of a man who never ages. Today is his 33rd birthday and in my eyes he still looks like the 21 year old man I met all those years ago. Sure a grey hair will appear if he lets his hair grow out, but he keeps it so short and trim, those suckers are no where to be seen. Now here I am at 27 and I feel like I'm 50. I have to dye my hair on regular basis (cause let's face it, keeping my hair as short as his isn't an option) to keep my grey at bay, and my energy level at the end of the day is nothing compared to his. It seems this is an unfair advantage he holds over me.

So on this day of his birth, I will toss my pangs of jealousy aside, give him another awesome gift and let him know how happy we are celebrating this day together. I'll harass him about not aging another day. 

And it begins...

So when Mike and I had kids we always knew we wanted boys. This shocks most people because they have this notion that most moms want pink, princesses, and little ribbons and bows. Not me. I wanted boys. I wanted rough, tough, sports loving, little boys. That being said, I thought I had a few years before my boys started noticing girls. I mean, my oldest is only 7 and the youngest is 4. WAY too young for girls to even be on the radar. Nope. I was wrong. 

About 2 weeks ago my brother was kind enough to pick Mikey (the oldest) up from YMCA for me. He brought him home then informed me that Mikey told him that he has a little girl friend at school. After some detective works, I was able to discover that this wasn't a "girlfriend" but a little girl who liked to chase him around the school yard. His dad had a nice chat with him that night about whats appropriate and whats not and then we went along our merry way.

Fast forward to this morning and I'm taking him to school and we pull into the drop off zone and notice that the local high school football players are out there directing traffic and opening doors for the parents. Out of nowhere I hear Mikey whisper "ohhhh cheerleaders!" and low and behold, the cheerleaders emerged from the building. I can't believe it. 7 years old and the cheerleaders/girls have caught his attention. Damn it. I'm not ready for any type of contact with the opposite sex. I know I have a few years until dating comes into play, but this is a sure sign that my little man is getting older. Didn't even see it coming. At least I still have the 4 year old. 

Thanks for breaking on a Saturday car!

My car has failed me today. I normally love my car. She (yes she's a female) transports me from point A to point B flawlessly and we always have a good time getting here. This morning was a special Saturday morning. I had to work, Mike had to go pick up the kids from their sleepover but you know what happens? Car doesn't want to start. Thankfully my brother was just wrapping up an overnight shift and was able to come in and take me to work and lend Mike his car while he naps it out, but it was still an incredibly stressful morning. All I could think about at work was "how much is this going to cost? Will this repair be covered under warranty? Please Please let it be something stupid like the battery". Needless to say it was long work day. Of course this my normal grocery shopping day, so as always, this happened at the worst possible time. I don't think there is ever a "good" time for the car to take a break, but it sure didn't have to be on a day when I have tons to do. 

Any way, after a full day of worry I get both the good and bad news. Bad news is, my fuel pump is no more. Repair costs are in the $700-$800 range. Crap. Good news! It's under warranty!! Yay! I just cashed in some major karma points! So instead of hitting up the Chili Cookoff, or the Fall Festival at Cedar Park YMCA, we'll be home. While the kids may complain about the lack of activites this weekend, I'm going to be thrilled to sit at home and catch up on TV till the car is ready for action again. I'll make it up to the kids next weekend with a trip to the pumpkin patch. All will be forgiven then and I'll be the "best mommy ever!"   

 

Every story starts somewhere....

I'm not sure why now I've chosen this time in my life to start blogging. I don't know if it's because of all the changes that have happened this past year, the fact that I'm getting older, or because I always have a million different things going on in my head at once that I need a way to get them all out. What ever the reason is, blogging seems to be a good solution.Before I start rambling on about my every day, in the off chance someone who doesn't know me personally comes across this they should have a little back story so they are somewhat up to speed....

I was born and raised in sunny Southern California. I was lucky enough to call California home for the first 26 years of my life. I met Mike when I was 16 and we've been together ever since, did the marriage and kids thing and we were living in CA up until last year. We just knew CA wasn't going to bring us everything in this life that we wanted, so in June 2011 we packed up, jumped in a u-haul (think Beverly hillbilly's) and set up shop in Round Rock, TX. Just a couple months ago I was able to convince my older sister and youngest brother that CA wasn't going to fulfill their hopes and dreams either and they packed up hillbilly style and joined my clan here in TX. 

So as of today I've been in TX for over a year and I'm still adjusting. I have some goals in mind that I want to achieve by the 2 year mark like get out of our freaking apartment and give my 2 boys some running room before our downstairs neighbors freak out. My husband wants into a better career as do I. All this will come in time as long as we keep putting in the hard work. 

So there is the back story. It hasn't always been easy and there have been many times I've wanted to throw in the towel, but I wasn't raised to be a quitter, so I just keep trucking along. Wish there was someone out there who could of warned me that being an adult was completely over-rated......