All is well

. . . ah, thank goodness . . . no accidents in the bedroom where my pooch was hangin' out. I totally forgot to let him out this morning! I swear I just get worse with age . . . and kids. :)

So, I love my job and I'm grateful for my job, which is a stay-at-home mom. But sometimes I'm home too much. This past week has been one of those weeks. Monday and Tuesday started out as wind-down days from the busy busy weekend and then Wednesday we got sick and I just keep getting sicker, which sucks, but the boys seem to be about the same. How can you tell? I don't know, no grouchier than they were Wednesday, I suppose. :) But anyhoo, now we're on Friday and I haven't gone anywhere, besides the grocery store . . . which doesn't count because it's a chore, kids don't like, I don't like it . . . except to put food in my pantry. So my sister asked me to go to Woodburn (popular outlet mall) today, she asked me yesterday and yesterday I was sick but I didn't feel quite this sick, so I agree to go. Yeah, I had to bail on her this morning, now I have a fever and I'm achy and my nose won't stop running and my throat hurts. I liked to call in sick when I had out-of-the-house job but I can't really "call in sick" to my current job. Cuz I would be calling myself and asking myself to fill in for me. Doesn't really work if anyone was wandering. I just keep getting a busy signal. If the stars align and the chitlins are asleep at the same time I might pass out for an hour . . . but that is unusual. 17 months apart and they aren't on the same schedule . . . bummer.

So I take my dog out, I have to stand there in the cold rain while he does his business (one major reason I miss my house) and my next door neighbor decides he needs to get the low-down on the breed and announces that he wants one . . . even after I candidly explained how hyper-active and needy they were. We live in apartments. Though, Byron, my Jack Russell, is better than most. He is very well house trained and is completely tolerant of the tykes (unusual for Jacks) and he loves attention and adores Justin (though Justin ignores him most of the time) and absolutely loves to play and play and play and play . . . pretty much as long as you want to stand there and throw things, he'll go get it for ya and then tug-a-war until you want to choke him with it. In fact if you even make quick movements around him, he automatically assumes you're going to play with him because, Lord knows, us humans don't make quick movements unless we are going to rough house with the dog. Also, another thing I've noticed about my super-pooch is everything, absolutely everything that goes on in the house pertains to him, he is the reason. For example, Toby is into something he's not suppose to be and I've told him to get out of it for the millionth time (like my potted plants) and so I resort to yelling . . . though I clearly say "Toby, get out of it!" Byron, who's laying peacefully (ideally) on his bed assumes that I mean he's not suppose to be there, though he's been there for more than an hour with me walking around him and petting his head . . now suddenly he's getting into trouble for being there. He scampers off with his tail down and lays down on the carpet with a guilty look . . . though he's got to be thoroughly confused . . . until I totally reassure him and physically put him back on his bed. Meanwhile Tobias has unloaded a pound of dirt out of my favorite tree onto my cream colored carpet and is proceeding to eat the fertilizer pellets that I've put in there. Ack!!! Sorry . . . coming out of my flash-back. Started to get a cold-sweat with that one! What I left out is Sam was in the backroom screaming because he had shut the bedroom door and couldn't open it . . . :) Did I say I love my job? I do! :) Never a dull moment around here.

Lovin' it

Hey people's, another day in the life of the Tucker residence. Justin is faithfully at his 24 hour shift at the firehouse. Samuel is down for the first nap of the day. Tobias has Shark Tales on the tv . . . obnoxious movie by the way. And I've finished my morning stuff and I'm downing some more coffee and checking the emails . . . and apparently blogging.

I am sick as a dog today, fever and all, so that's my excuse for being on the puter at 11am, by myself . . . does that make me a puter-a-holic? Alone and using excessively in the morning hours?

Oh crap . . . I forgot about the dog . . . I'll write later . . .

A Rich Life!

cold weather

It's cold outside. It's cold outside because, mainly, it's the end of November . . . almost December. I love being outdoors. But I hate the cold. And cold is anything below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. I was doing so good, walking, jogging and getting the kids out to play for a chunk of time. Now we are indoors, most days . . . in the store, in the mall, in the church, in the house, in my friend's and fam's houses . . . in . . . indoors. It's wearing on me I think . . . and on top of that, I think I've a gained a couple of pounds. Don't get me wrong . . . I'm fightin' it for all it's worth . . . with my stash of workout dvd's but I think I'm loosing the battle of the bulge. Or just not loosing the current bulge . . . whatever. I honestly would love a long day hike . . . with the sun and the birds and the earthy fragrance of the woods and trees . . . wild Irises, those are so pretty to see scattered throughout a woodland trail! Poison Oak, not so much. And I've had my boughts with Poison Oak . . . believe me, you! On my face and in my eyes . . . my brother called me a fat Chinese guy . . . yeah, we're not really known for our tact in our family. My face was swollen, eyes swelled shut even. That happened twice . . . don't tell anybody. So to conclude one of the most boring blogs you'll ever read . . . I want to be outside . . . but not cold.

Thankful!

I wanted to just drop a short blog . . . hee hee, short . . . uh, anyway just to say how thankful I am.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I thought, since I'm not with my extended family this year and we aren't verbally stating, around the table, what we're thankful for . . . I would share here.

First off . . . I have 2 of the most beautiful boys in the world . . . that might be slightly biased . . . I'm thankful to God that they are healthy and happy youngsters that seem well rounded (I am their mother . . . give it some time).

Another huge one is Justin, of course . . . if you weren't aware . . . I am madly in love with the man I share my life with. Annoying, huh? Don't get me wrong, we have our differences, but God is soooo good to us in our relationship. We just keep getting stronger . . . 6 years in March, still adolescents in the marriage department. But thankful I am!!!

Also, I am thankful for a strong and supportive . . . not to mention hilarious extended fam! My sistas are my best friends and my parents are just solid for me and my family! Bailed us more than once, eh? . . . not literally bailed us out of jail or anything . . . just have been a huge help. My bros are a crack-up . . . though I don't see them as often as I would like. But love, I do all of them! And would do just about anything for them . . .

I'm thankful for my few and far-between friends that have been deposited in my life. God knows. And, in the past few years, have realized how hard it is to have great friends. Why didn't this seem hard back in the days of my teen years and early twenties . . . more time on my hands . . . I don't know. Or maybe what I perceived as a great friendship was just a convenient relationship, we're both here, might as well hang-out. So I cherish, to my core, the friends that just care for me . . .

The next two are kind of weird. I'm going to say, I'm thankful for the favor God's given Justin in the fire dept and in school. He's excelling and I know it's by God's grace . . . and J's willingness. I'm super duper proud . . . you don't even know. He's so doing so well!!!!

Also, there is no regular income . . . so I'm thankful, beyond words, for God's provision in all of this!! Things just keep getting paid and we have been provided for . . . all is His!! We have not lacked, down to the smallest items. Thank you, God!!!!

Of course there's a billion tiny but significant things I'm thankful for . . . my family's health, my apt, my cars (bothing running great), my curtains and bedding (my fantastic mother-in-law made them for me. BEAUtiful!), all the material stuff that doesn't last anyway but I'm enjoying it for now, food on the table (more than enough . . . maybe I should go excersize), my dog (he's crazy and he's a bonafide 'grace grower'), running toilets . . . yeah, me likey that! I spent 4 months in Kenya, East Africa, and experienced no plumbing! It's been like 7 yrs since I've been there! Holy monkey! But it's vivid, believe me you. Disposable diapers, thankful for those and the fact I'm able to buy them! Ah, while we're on the subject, toilet paper is good too. Ok, that's getting goofy nutballs . . . so I'm going now.

That is my official 'Thanksgiving, around the table, thankfulness of the year speach'. I hope you enjoyed and think hard about what you're thankful for . . . it sure puts things into perspective sometimes.