The Daily Grind

I used to drive nearly an hour to work every morning.

I woke up around 5:30 then got the kids up. I rushed to get them fed and dressed. Then tried to look presentable myself. Then bags, oh the bags! The diaper bag, three lunch bags, the pump, the purse. I do not miss dragging all that stuff around! Drove them off 45 minutes away and dropped them off at daycare or the babysitters (who both did a great job).

I was always late for work because I hated rushing the kids. It just didn't feel right. They didn't want to leave me and I didn't want to leave them.

 I felt ashamed that I couldn't make it to work on time. I was embarrassed of this fact everyday. I take my work seriously so it was a huge amount of stress for me not to be able to be the best. In my mind I should be the first to work and I used to be sometimes, before I had the babies.

I worked all day and missed my babies all day. I wondered what they were doing. I imagined the looks on their faces when I pulled them off my leg that morning and said "Mommy has to go to work.".

I was the annoying girl who talked about her kids nonstop.

I stay at home with my kids now.

It is the best worst paying job I will ever have.

I babysit and make a little money from that, not near what I was making.I enjoy it and I hope that I can be that person that makes a working parent have a better day at work knowing that I'm not just feeding their child. While they are here they are a part of this family!

I don't pay for gas now. I don't pay for daycare now. I don't pay for lunch now.

So really, in the end things come close to even.

I urge you, if you're on the fence about quitting your job, just do it. If you hate being home you can find another job. I doubt that you will hate it.

For the past couple of years I debated quitting my job. I even gave my boss notice and he increased my pay by 50% to get me to stay (what? I'm good.).

The increase was great for awhile but then we purchased more things and it really didn't make much of a difference.

There are times I miss work. I miss having a boss saying "You're doing a great job!".

But, sometimes like today when Aiden proclaimed to everyone in the room " THIS IS MY MOMMA! I LOVE HER!" Ill take that as my boss telling me I'm doing okay!

For me, life is too short. I want to be around my kids as much as possible. I know they're growing up. I know its for a very short time I will be blessed to serve them.

I have to remind myself of this gift from time to time. Say, after they threw all the crayons in the dog dish or their food all over the place. Staying at home has not made my life easier in the sense that I get to stay in my jammies all day if I choose, because I really don't have the time to get out of them some days!

Its a choice that I'm glad we made. I don't regret it.

Now to all you outstanding working parents who don't have the choice: I commend you!

 You are amazing people who provide for your family. I urge you to cut out anytime you can in that busy day to do NOTHING ~WITH~ your family. Nothing time can be the best time.

I know its hard. The hardest thing you do and if you don't know it, you're awesome. You're strong and dedicated and wonderful. If you're not being told that, there you have it. If you're not telling someone that, say your spouse or your friend tell them. Its not easy to do!

I am trying to change my life.

The world lies. It whispers to us everyday: THINGS, LOOKS,STATUS or better, it yells it at us all the time.

I'm sick of it.

I don't need to have a better house, a better car, a better wardrobe, prettier hair,the best phone. I don't need it.

You don't need it.

I think the sooner we all figure this out the sooner we will find a little bit of happiness.

Ive learned that less is more and I'm going to keep getting less!

Pictures are "my thing".

I am not a photographer.

I  would really like to be.

To say I take a lot of pictures is an understatement.

I love taking pictures of people.

Not just people I guess. Anything that's alive works.

People I love are my favorite.

Like this dude.

I take at least one picture a day, at the very least.

My android phone has the little photo application that I LOVE.

I have a lot of fun with it.

I actually purchased photo shop a couple of years ago and never could figure it out.

This is Hooch our Bull mastiff.

He is very photogenic.

I do it because I love it.

I an artsy fartsy at heart.

Shoulda coulda still could go to school for it but I just don't have the motivation for it.

Might quit loving it if it was work.

You have to be dead to make money at it anyway, ha ha.

These are our beta fish.

I recently moved them to old mason jars.

For some reason I hate the florescent colors of the wal-mart fish tanks. This better matches our decor.

I'm not big on self portraits.

Unless of course it involves one of these guys.

Ive learned most everybody loves doing something.


Pictures are one of my things, I have lots. I believe its a product of the ADD.

Whats "your thing"?

Happy Valentines Day!

A day for lovers! How wonderful!

Today I thought I would dedicate a post to the day of love.

I got to wondering how it all got started.

Hello Mr. Goat!

"To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage."

To read more about this ritual you can go here http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day

I like goats too much for this.

Wonder if it really works?

I know some ladies that are trying to have babies that may be down with the goat blood!

I think Ill take our new age exchange of sweets and love letters.

I do like this explanation:

"He was a Roman Priest at a time when there was an emperor called Claudias who persecuted the church at that particular time," Father O'Gara explains. " He also had an edict that prohibited the marriage of young people. This was based on the hypothesis that unmarried soldiers fought better than married soldiers because married soldiers might be afraid of what might happen to them or their wives or families if they died."
"I think we must bear in mind that it was a very permissive society in which Valentine lived," says Father O'Gara. "Polygamy would have been much more popular than just one woman and one man living together. And yet some of them seemed to be attracted to Christian faith. But obviously the church thought that marriage was very sacred between one man and one woman for their life and that it was to be encouraged. And so it immediately presented the problem to the Christian church of what to do about this."
"The idea of encouraging them to marry within the Christian church was what Valentine was about. And he secretly married them because of the edict."
Valentine was eventually caught, imprisoned and tortured for performing marriage ceremonies against command of Emperor Claudius the second. There are legends surrounding Valentine's actions while in prison.
"One of the men who was to judge him in line with the Roman law at the time was a man called Asterius, who's daughter was blind. He was supposed to have prayed with and healed the young girl with such astonishing effect that Asterius himself became Christian as a result."
In the year 269 AD, Valentine was sentenced to a three part execution of a beating, stoning, and finally decapitation all because of his stand for Christian marriage. The story goes that the last words he wrote were in a note to Asterius' daughter. He inspired today's romantic missives by signing it, "from your Valentine."

How romantic.

Romantic:  marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/romantic

Yesterday me and the kiddos began our celebration of love by making cards for daddy!

On the inside of the card I wrote out a few questions and then Aiden's response.

1. Who do you love?
- Daddy.

2. What is Valentines day?
- Apple

3. What would you like for Valentines day?
- Poopie (oh dear)

I was thrilled with the card and daddy was too!

Speaking of daddy he went over and above this special day by getting me new perfume  and this:

A new charm for my bracelet!

I have been trapped indoors with my boys and babysitting all week so I have not got my dear love anything yet!

I suppose I better get off this computer and get to it!

Nothing says loving like something in the oven!

Happy Valentines Day to you and yours!

I learned that love is something worth celebrating! I used to think Valentines day was a bit over the top. I have recently decided that I am okay with over the top!