She Lives!

Hey Y’all!  Yup, I am here and alive and kicking.  Summer session kicked my bootie, that’s true, but I lived to tell 😉

Lessons Learned:

• Do not take more than 1 summer class (16 weeks of work in 8 weeks is no joke, y’all).
• You’ve waited this long to finish, no need to crazy rush through it all!

Actually didn’t take any classes this Fall semester because it is busy season at work.  I need my sanity.  Even MY Momma told me not to.   😉

Quick Recap of what’s been going on, BULLET style:

• pDaddy is still working out of state, but I was able to visit him for a weekend while Mama and Papa stayed to watch the girls.  That long weekend was something we absolutely needed – even if we missed the girls terribly!
• Girls and I have all had our birthdays, so I now have a 10 year old, 8 year old and 5 year old.  All of whom ask me for a baby brother almost every single day.
• I have really gotten into the IG community for planners.  I love that I have like minded people who share the same love (insanity) I have for all things stationery, pens, paper, stamps, crafts, etc.  I’m @bzm0mma2 @sdee30 on there for bullet journal / planner / pen / fountain pen / ink related pics 🙂  That’s all I’ve really been posting lately.  My poor personal IG. @bzm0mma,  has been so neglected.
• My stamp collection has increased tremendously, though I haven’t used them much lately.  I think I’m more of a stamper-stamper-card maker-scrapbook-stamper, rather than a planner stamper, per se.  I mean, I like using the icons, but not really the words.  I like to practice writing so stamping words defeats that purpose.
• I have started to collect brush pens, fountain pens, nibs, etc. and am loving teaching myself modern / faux calligraphy and brush lettering.  I love it so much, that laundry piled up out of nowhere.  OOPS!  As long as everyone has clean undies, #amIright?
• I have started reading Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover”.  Wow.  I need to put my big girl pants on and get moving.  I would love to have NO debt, including the house!
• I have also started reading Marie Kondo’s “the life-changing magic of tidying up”.  I haven’t finished reading it because I am afraid…so very afraid.  I think I need to tackle that AFTER the holidays.  Isn’t it crazy that I think I can tackle debt and finances more than getting rid of stuff?  I know I will feel better though and with thoughts of moving to a different state (JUST THOUGHTS) which means totally downsizing our house, I need to get on this…sooner rather than later.

Lesson Learned:

I miss blogging…stay tuned for musings and ramblings…of life happening 🙂

Back to School – Summer Style

I finally took a leap and went back to school this summer.  I only have an Associates degree and never finished getting my Bachelors.  I’ve had my professional position and career for almost 16 years so obviously, my employer(s) didn’t / don’t mind.  It is more for self satisfaction.  I can’t get over the fact that I don’t have this one piece of paper that says I have a Bachelors in blah-blah-blah.  Instead, I am going to stress myself out and possibly put myself in debt for said piece of paper.  This isn’t my first attempt…I attempted to go back to school in 2012, but the whole moving process derailed me and then bam!  Time flew on by and here I am, 3 years later, finally here and doing it.

I was overly ambitious at first, taking 3 classes in the summer.  Summer sessions are only 8 weeks in duration so it’s much double time.  I decided to drop one before the deadline because I realized I wouldn’t be able to spend quality time with my girls while they were off if I kept on with the 3 classes.  Just in the 2nd week now and I’m thinking maybe I should have dropped 2 and just stuck to 1!  It’s pretty intense, y’all.  Why?

I (am):

A) OLD.

B) haven’t been to school since 2004.

C) now have 3 kids all home for the summer.

D) “single-momming” it for the most part since pDaddy took a job out of state.

E)  still working full time from home.

F) OLD (did I say that already? I’m going senile too, I guess).

G) going back to point “D”.  “single-momming” it is no joke.  I don’t know how you real single moms/miiitary wives handle it…Hubby came home for a weekend after a month and I was overcome with joy and chores for him to do!  ahahahah  Seriously though, I had to add some of his chores (mowing the lawn, etc.) to my already long list PLUS school.   I think I’m a glutton for punishment.

WHY else would I be getting all anxious and stressed?

I am OVERLY analytical by nature.  I mean, it is my profession as well (systems analyst), but throwing multiple choice questions at me has me in an anxiety ridden state.  I end up finding the “correct” answer in at least 2 of the options because I could argue both (or more) sides of said options.  I have been in a position to “think outside of the box” – to find a way to go around the problem/solution.  I have been used to questioning requirements and see if I can find loop holes and faults.  i know how to find a way to “break” something when I have to dual role as a systems analyst and tester.

pDaddy and my parents always said I should have been a lawyer, but as I’m studying Business “Legalese” this semester where in the first 3 chapters, we study different kinds of laws and courts of law, etc…I don’t know.  Even when there is a final answer, I don’t find it finite.  It’s not like Math – where 1+1 = 2 (let’s not start on Common Core now).  I mean really, I like things cut and dry.  Multiple Choice answers make me stressed out and anxious.  At least give me an “if – then” statement or condition or have a viable way to argue my answer choice instead of giving me a red X when I choose the “wrong” one.  UGH. Where’s my wine!?!?!

ANYWHHHAAAYYY…let me get off my school soapbox for a minute and just do some catching up…

I’m debating on whether or not to fully resurrect this blog or create just a whole new one entirely.  I can’t even think of a new site name or new “moniker” so I guess I’m answering my own question and sticking to this for now.

Brief run down on me…

In the past year or so, I’ve:

• taken a liking to Zumba so I’m also trying to keep that on the schedule whilst adjusting to not having pDaddy working from home.  This means that I can’t get my Zumba on if I am inundated with work-work and/ school-work nor can I go if any of the girls are sick b/c I can’t just leave them with pDaddy anymore.  I feel my inner diva comes out when in Zumba.
• run the best race I have in a LONG time – injury free too!  Still over 2 minutes slower than my best, but I will take slow over injury! This was also over a month ago 😦  Best race in 2 years and I haven’t really run since.  pDaddy took his out of state job shortly (monday after my saturday race) after that.  I should just run in the gym on a treadmill, but that goes in line w/girls not being sick and poor Shrimpie was sick w/a fever for a full week and then almost 2 weeks after that on and off.
• come into my own in my Bullet Journal.  It’s not the original way, but it works for me and is pretty here and there 😉
• spent WAY too much on craft / art / stationery supplies.  I don’t even want to calculate.  Nope, not going to happen.
• slowly been getting into “plannering” and all the inks and planner stamps that come with it.
• not spent much in the realm of make-up/beauty products *ANGELS sing*…not that I’ve saved tho 😦 That spending got diverted to craft stuff mentioned above.
• seen one of the most beautiful places in the world – El Nido, Palawan Philippines when we went to the Philippines back in February for pDaddy’s cousin’s wedding and grandma’s 90th birthday celebration/reunion. Got to also swim with sea turtles which was also pretty amazing!
• discovered new music.  LOVE “Hot Sardines“.  No shame in my game admitting that I discovered them through the Starbucks app.  Glad the world is finally catching up to “PMJ” and I also love “Us the Duo“.  What an amazingly, talented couple AND she’s Filipina to boot 😉  Holler (wait, do all the cool kids still say that?  totally aged myself again, me thinks).
• made new friends.
• gained weight, lost weight, gained weight, lost weight, lather, rinse, repeat.
• started to get comfortable in my own skin even with the weight fluctuation.  I mean, I wish I still looked like I did back in the early 2000s, but hey, I can sit here and argue, I had 3 kids since then, etc…Fact of the matter is, yes, I do have 3 kids and the last one made my stomach a luxury townhouse  building, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

A whole slew of other things have been going on as well, but let’s stop there for now.

Play-Noh

Sofia the First and my Shrimpie

I have a love/hate relationship with Play-Doh or any kind of clay for that matter (it’s a close second to glitter).  I know it helps our children build their imaginations and creativity and I get all that.  I loved Gumby and Pokey and had fun with Play-Doh back in my day.  I just HATE the mess of it all now.

My 4 year old is obsessed with Play-Doh right now and it’s partially our fault for showing her some You Tube video with all different Play-Doh type sets and activities, etc.  You see that face over there?  She LOVES her Play-Doh.  She has a few TRU gift cards and she chose this Sofia one and the other is the Frozen set.

Maybe it’s because of all these sets now – that can make anything from flowers to ice cream to even a dental impression- all those molds pop out extra tid-bits of clay goodness everywhere whereas back in my day…Back in MY day, we just rolled them and shaped them with our hands and cut them with plastic knives and used other things for molds, etc., but nothing too intricate to leave small pieces everywhere.  I remember I didn’t even want to mix colors together because they would get all smooshed together, but these days, they encourage that – make a burger with lettuce, tomatoes, etc!  make an ice cream sundae with extra toppings!  make a cupcake with frosting and sprinkles! make pretty flowers of all different colors!

I have to say though,when she gets going, she is so focused and it gives me joy watching her so excited and even interactive – like she’s story telling.  It doesn’t, however, make me happy to see my already cramped craft table (and surrounding chairs and floor area) looking like this…Me thinks we need to get another kiddie table up in here, up in here.

Take the good with the bad, I guess 🙂  Could be worse, I know.

FOCUS

My mind is anywhere and everywhere lately, it seems.  Being a WAHM juggling school activities, schedule, work (!!!!), mommy duties, wifey duties, house to-do’s and responsibilities does that to a person.  Though I’ve adopted the Bullet Journal way of organizing my life, I still find it hard to find time to blog.  I realized that it’s because, maybe, I never put that as an action item in my Bullet Journal.  So alas, I put it on there!

So, here I am, again…attempting to blog.  I wanted to actually get into it again with joining NaBloPoMo, but, I was sick the first weekend of November and that was that.  It’s pretty difficult to blog when all your body wants to do is get sucked in by the couch and it’s not even the most comfortable of couches.

But, I am here now and that’s all that matters.

I’m not sure where I want this blog to go anymore.  It started as an online journal type of thing documenting my girls’ lives, then went into some working out and healthy eating entries (both of which are seriously lacking in my life as of late) and even tidbits of fashion and beauty.  Like I said, my mind is everywhere.  I may keep it that way and just write whatever’s in my fancy for the day.  Do I really want to keep focus on just one topic on my blog?  Hmmm…not at the moment, but yet, I’m not sure where to go.  It’s hard to pick up where you left off when the last post was from months ago.

I stopped posting not because I didn’t want to, but more because I fell behind and the longer I fell behind, the harder it was for me to figure out where to pick up from.  So today?  I’m going to start with FOCUS (4 paragraphs later).  I really need to do that in order to get better at everything I need to do.

The way I’ve been trying to get my FOCUS On is by using the Bullet Journal and believe me, it has helped me and then some.  I always have had a planner and multiple calendars (still have a few dry erase ones for the family to see easily), but I found myself with multiple planners and post-it notes everywhere.  The Bullet Journal has changed my life and I’ve even convinced my mom and sister to get in on the action.

Besides the Bullet Journal, I’ve caught myself doodling like back in all my school days (elementary, high school and college – actually even work).  I’ve always felt like it was therapeutic and if not for MissZoot, I never would have known that there’s actually another term for it besides doodling…Apparently, it’s all the rage these days (maybe?  maybe not? 😉 ).  The term is “zentangle” or “zendoodle” or what-have-you.  I like “zendoodle“.  It does get me into a zen state and to me, it’s still doodling.  I don’t know if there’s a definitive definition for either, but…Anyway, there are Pinterest boards galore and books and classes you can take.  I ran into this lady’s page via Pinterest and think it’s pretty darn awesome that she’s made some downloadble prints of patterns you can use in these doodles (thank Ms. Emily!).

Ahhh…Bullet Journal-ing and ZenDoodling – feeding my addiction to office supplies: pens, notebooks, papers, pretty colors of all of the above and washi tape too (that’s another one that i didn’t know had a name…I always saw it as “paper tape” or “tape ruban” or something).  And on that note, I need to shift my focus to clearing and organizing my craft area that houses all of these said supplies.

What do you do to keep your FOCUS in you line of sight?

Softball Season

Wow, softball season is amongst us and I haven’t posted since even before basketball season. Maybe I will do catchup posts at a later point in time? Hmmm…

Anywho, sitting here, at the softball field, I’m reminded that I love the beauty of spring, but detest allergies. Between the kids fun run at the track last night and now sitting here for a softball game, I’m already exhausted from sneezing and blowing my nose. My girls are lucky I love them. Hehe

The big 2 play for the same softball team this year and I love watching how they look out for each other – especially Beans. During practice, when they have to run laps, she runs alongside Razz (even though she runs faster) to make sure her asthmatic sister will be ok.

Shrimp loves to sleep in so she is home still sleeping and that is fine by me. Trying to keep her occupied during a game involves me running around after her to stop her from going to the playground. That little one man, she is something else! She’s lucky I love her too. Hehehe