Good Morning.....two more days of work!  Then I am off.   I am hoping to put in maybe 20 hours next week from home, but otherwise just be home with the kids.  We will see how much work I get done in the next two days. 

I never realized how much my boys really do notice how other kids act.  I guess I didn't realize they looked at them and knew it was wrong.   Josh was telling me yesterday all about what was wrong with today's youth.  LOL!!   He said they have no respect or fear for their parents or the police.   I asked him why he thought that was....he said he thought parents don't care or pay enough attention to what their children do.   He said he cared what I thought of what he did and he didn't want me upset or disappointed.   It was interesting to hear it from his point of view.   At least he didn't say I was too strick.  I do make sure I always know where my kids are and what they are doing.  At least I try to and I ask them all the time.   I have no problem calling their cell phones and checking in on them.

Erik too is starting to realize things.  He is seeing that Josh gets more freedom due to his good behavior.  Have your parents trust and get more freedom.  He still compares himself to others alot.  Like he said "at least I don't flip off my parents or swear" like so and so.  Well so and so isn't my child and that is never ever acceptable behavior!  Period!   I can not imagine ever having my child flip me off or swear at me.   In 18 years that has never happened with Josh nor has Erik ever done anything like that.  As mother that would break my heart to have my child ever treat me that disrespectful.   Of course my children have gotten mad at me, but I can't imagine they would ever act in that manner.   They have just not been raised like that.  

I must say in the last few weeks I have seen a change in Erik.  He is doing very well and his attitude is changing.  Some of it I think it just everyone adjusting to the expectations in our home.   The poor grades are still there and I don't anticipate much change there.   That will always be a struggle.  This is where hubby and I differ.   What I want most for Erik is for him to be a kind hearted person, hard worker, truthful, think of others and care about others feelings.   I really see moral issues as a bit more important in the long run.   As an adult his boss at work might say, Erik might take a bit to figure this out, but he is a good worker and a good person.  That is my hope.  My hope for my sons is that they will be described at "good guys".   I already know I have succeeded in that with Josh.   He is a good kid and Erik is starting to realize things too as he tells me more and more things.   I am starting to see the shift in his thinking...

Today I am very grateful for my 3 sons and the opportunity to watch them to learn about life and become men I am proud of.    We need more "good guys" in the world.  Luckily for me, my hubby is a very good example for them. 

No classes at church tonight so it is a quiet evening at home for us.   Hubby is taking out the trash.  Erik is reading his book.  Tommy is working on writing sheets.   I am going to put away some laundry, load up a new computer game for Tommy and read my book for the evening.   Most evenings we try to have at least an hour of no TV or anything and work on quiet activities.  

Josh, Tommy and I went to the dentist this afternoon.   The boys had great check ups.  Neither one of them have ever had a cavity.  It is amazing considering Josh is nearly 18 and has never had a cavity.  I wish I could say the same for Erik.   Poor kid, I remember when I first met him he was getting his first cavity filled and he was only 3 or 4.  YIKES.....has had many more filled since then.  Not sure if it is brushing or genetics or what.    But luckily Tommy and Josh have never had to deal with that.   Tommy does have one extra baby tooth that will need to be removed around the time he is 6 years old.  Hopefully it will not be a traumatic experience for him.  I have two small cavities in between my very back teeth that need to be filled....DRATS!

Not much else going on in my exciting day.....have a great evening!  Chat at you tomorrow!

Another book finished in 2005:

Confessions of Max Tivoli - Andrew Sean Greer - 4/5

Just checking in......How is everyone's day going??  I have gotten all my morning tasks done and have a few hours to veg before needing to take the kids to the dentist.   I am blogging a bit and watching "Judging Amy".   Love that show....a social worker with spunk...gotta love that.   She says and does things I wish I could..........

I even got a couple of things done that I was procrastinating about.  I renewed my driver's license.  The line at city hall was very short today.  YEAH!!  I also finally changed my name on my Sam's club card.  Yep...after being married for 5 years I finally change my name on it!  LOL!!  The line was short there today too....

The nicest part about our community is I bump into people I know from school or church in the stores and chat with them.  I saw my friend Brenda at Sam's Club and got to catch up with her a bit.   I see her most Sundays at churches too.  We are really blessed with the sense of community and friendship we have in our town. 

I am off to neb, set up my meds and read for a bit.   Have a great day!! 

"Make Time for What Matters................."

Good Morning.....I took today off.   I have a few things to get done around the house and Josh, Tommy and I have dentist appointments today.   I have our appointments all at once since it is so much easier to remember.   I have the rest of the day free, well sort of.   I do have errands to run.   Tommy is going to daycare today since they are having their Christmas party.   Luckily this morning I was checking my bins of gifts downstairs and I had one left!  So we wrapped that up for the party.   Then come January and all the toys at Target are 75% off I wil stock up again for the upcoming year of birthdays and things.   I usually pick up about 1/2 of the Christmas gifts in January as well.  

THIS MORNING.....

• Stop at Festival for Snack for Daycare - DONE
  
• Tommy to Daycare  - DONE
  
• DMV - renew driver's lic  - DONE
  
• CVS - pick up meds  - DONE
  
• Library - Pick up books - (doesn't open until 1:00)
  
• Sam's - appetizers for Christmas Eve -DONE
  
• Buffalo Wild Wings - buy sauce - DONE

AFTERNOON

• Laundry
  
• Read
  
• Enter Recipes on Website
  
• Kids to Dentist
  

Heard back about Josh's car yesterday.  He did indeed break the brake line.  It will be a little over 200.00 to fix.  OUCH...but not as bad as I thought.   They are giving us an estimate on reattaching the bumper too.   We will see how much that is.    I couldn't believe it, but the plumber that came on Monday ended up costing us just under 600.00 to do the work!!  YIKES!!!!   It is to be expected that things will start needing to be replaced in our home.  It is over 40 years old and everything is original, including the windows.   Slowly, but surely these things will need tobe replaced.   We are hoping to update the electrical next.  We had saved up to do that, but now that money is going to fix Josh's car so it depends on how much that is.   So we are on hold with that project for a little bit. 

Time to hit the shower and get our day going.  Have a great one!!

Taking a little break to have some supper and than I will work a few more hours before heading home.   Tomorrow I am off and hope to do a whole lot of nothing tomorrow! 

I have been driving alot lately and almost finished with another book on tape.   I am listening to the Confessions of Max Trivoli: A novel by Andrew Greer.   I think I found this book from mscaffieneaddict, I can't remember.  It took a bit to get into, but is interesting.  It is about a man who ages backwards.  

I am also reading Tran-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian.  Another different sort of book.  I picked it up on clearance at half price books.   It is about a college prof who believes he is a man trapped in a woman's body.  He starts dating a female student and they ahve a romance.   But he is scheduled to have a sex change operation.  It is interesting......

I was just looking at my list of books read in 2005 and I can't believe that by the end of the month I will have read 48 books this year.   WOW!!  Almost one a week......that is amazing to me.   I listen to a lot of them on tape while I drive for work.  It is a great stress release to me...............gotta love a good book! 

I have to thank my mother for instilling in me the love of reading and learning.   I hope I can install the same in my children.  It is a wonderful gift. 

"Those who don't read have no advantage over those who can't" - Mark Twain

YESTERDAY

My second Dr's appointment went ok.  I saw a pulmonologist.   She was very nice and seemed knowledgable.  She said there is no reason I should still be on prednisone and will try and get me off.  It will be a process though.  Of course she thinks there is some other under lying reason for my problems with this chronic cough, which all Drs has said is asthma.   She isn't 100% sure.  So I have to have some gastro testing done.  I will have a scope put down my esophogus so they can look at it.  I am so not thrilled about that!   But I guess you do what you have to.......I see her again in a month after I have had this test done and should be down to 20mg of prednisone a day by then it all goes well.   So she really didn't have any answers, just a willingness to investigate it all.  

I went back to work after my Dr appointment.   I went to a Christmas Party the children at a medically fragile home were having.   I was one of the social workers to start up this home to get these children out of the hospital to improve their quality of life and have them return to school and their community.   We have round the clock nursing for each child in the home.  It is a great program and the kids are doing great.  The program is in it's third year.    It was fun!  They all had fun having everyone come to their home.   Being there made me think more about the program I will be working on setting up this year and realize it will be a great thing, just a lot of work. 

TODAY

Well things aren't going as planned today either.  Erik is better and back to school, but now my SIL, our daycare provider, called last night and is very sick.  So no daycare today.  I have to go to work since I am the coverage worker for the week.  Hubby is having to take part of today off again.  He isn't used to ever having to do this as I usually take care of it.  Oh well.....

I might end up working late tonight to get caught up on things.  I am doing the last of my school observations today and will need to do paperwork tonight.   Next week I plan on working from home most of the week.   Erik doesn't have school.

TOMORROW

I actually have the day off.  Tommy, Josh and I all have dentist appointments.   So I plan on sleeping in for the morning and relaxing.    After school we all get to go to the dentist.  YEAH....

Well I saw the ophthalmologist and wasn't the best appointment ever.    I left sort of upset.   I have steroid induced glaucoma and lens changes consistent with beginning cataracts.   All side effects of being on steroids to control my asthma, not much I can do with it since right now the side effect of not taking steroids could be death.  Hmm....  I go back in 1 to 2 months to have more extensive testing done on my eyes so they can monitor the progression.    According to the Dr, if I stay on the steroids for my asthma, I will need to have cataract surgery within 3 years.   I believe he said it was a lens replacement surgery.   He assured me both the glaucoma and cataracts are treatable and I will not loss my vision.   I was still pretty upset by this news.....

Almost time to leave for my next Dr appointment.  I am getting a second opinion from a pulmonoligst about how to get me off the predisone.   I hope she has better news for me! 

TODAY

Time to call it a night and get things ready for the upcoming week.   Hubby and I ran to Target and bought a couple of DVD cases to put our movies and educational games in.  That way we can get rid of all the cases and have more room.    So those are all organized.  

Hubby and Josh work on trying to fix the kitchen sink.  No such luck, we now have a leak in addition to a broken faucet so the plumber will be coming tomorrow.  ARGH...just one more thing I guess. 

I set up homework for Tommy for the week.  We are going to work with him 3 days a week.  We are working on the Letter H since that is the letter of the week at school.   Our class on Wednesday night has ended  and there isn't anything else starting for us.   So we will go to church as a family and eat, than hubby, Tommy and I will return home and we will have time to work on some educational games and things with Tommy while the other two are at confirmation.   He needs a little one on one time as well.    Things are going very well around our house.   We are finding what works, and what doesn't and getting some great routines in place that are working out better.  

I am off to do my bedtime routine and go to bed and read.   Have a great night!

TOMORROW

I have two doctors appointments on Monday.   I am going to the Ophthalmologist in the morning and the new pulmonoligist on Monday afternoon.   Hopefully everything will go easily and they will have good news for me. 

I need to work late so hubby has the children for the evening.   I need to have things set up for him, but he does pretty good at it. 

I am off to neb and get ready for bed.  Good Night!

Today will be a relaxing day at home for us.  The kids are playing with their new toys from last night.   Erik and Tommy both received alot of nice things from their aunt and uncles and cousins.    We all had a wonderful time together.   We played Mad Libs and Shout about Movies until about 1:00am.   It was a long day but alot of fun!    We are blessed with a wonderful family.   My children are blessed with wonderful memories with their family. 

Hubby and I received alot of very nice gift certs and will be going out on a few dates.  We don't often do that.   Of course we received a cert for Half Price Books to share...hmmm....share...I am not sure about that!  

I am not sure if Erik is just tired since he is growing so or if he is coming down with a cold.  He has been tired and sleeping in pretty late this weekend.   He doesn't seem ill at all.    We are just letting him get caught up on his sleep for the upcoming week.    

I still have a lot of cleaning to do.  I have a ton dishes and stuff to wash up and put away.  The rest of the month will be pretty quiet.   Last night was the last of our big parties for the holiday season.   We usually go to the neighbors for New Years.  Erik is so excited he will finally be here for that party.   He has had to missed out on all the fun alot of years in a row, which he has been unhappy about. 

Christmas eve is our family time.  We exchange gifts, have appetizers and watch a Christmas movie.   We are probably going to go to Christmas morning service.   Christmas day we watch movies, play games and just spend family time together.  Erik will be at his Mom's for Christmas Day.  We felt he should be there too as we try to be very fair.  Treat others how you wish they would treat you.  

I do plan on running to Target today, but otherwise I am going to clean, read and hopefully add some recipes to my website.   I do need to set up Tommy's homework for the month.   He is doing so well and has mastered so many skills.   I plan each skill to take a month or so and he masters them within a week or so.   He is able to now write his last name, which I planned on working for the month of December.  He has mastered it already.   He loves to learn!    Luckily I picked up some things at Lakeshore Learning for him.   His counting has increased greatly sine he has been counting the Advent book each night to see when Santa comes.   I am forever grateful for this new tradition from Heartwomb.  

Later!  Have a joyous day................................