The thorn in my side

In December I became very sick just days before my husband was scheduled to have reconstructive knee surgery. I knew I had to get better because the surgery would leave him bed ridden for the next month. I went to the Dr and was told I had 'pharyngitis'. It was a nasty, viscous virus. So as much as I hate to take prescription medicine I took it reluctantly and within 24 hours felt like a new person which was just in the nick of time since the next day was the surgery and I'd have a toddler and a husband to wait on hand and foot and a house to take care of. I had to be on my best game. About 3 weeks later I started to feel a little dizzy...I brushed it off for a few weeks...then it started to get much worse...then my chest started to hurt a little, AND THEN I was having an odd pain in my head. I kept telling my mom and my husband about these things- they kept saying I was fine. Every day I got a little more dizzy, my chest hurt a little more and then finally the pressure/pain in my head became really intense. 'I really think something is wrong with me' so that night I went to the Dr after work. They took x rays and ran tests to determine that I had 2 problems BOTH a result from the pharyngitis I had had in December. First of all I had a lot of fluid in my ears causing the pressure and the dizziness. Also, I had costochondritis which means that the cartilage between my ribs was inflamed. The Dr prescribed steroids 4x/day for 12 days....I was NOT happy about this and very apprehensive to take prednisone for so long but the pain in my chest was becoming unbearable. Ok, so fine I took the steroids, I hated them and enjoyed a huge sigh of relief when my course was complete.

Well....the first day off them I had a raging migraine, I wasn't really surprised....then it lingered for 2 days, again not really surprised since prednisone is such a strong drug and I had expected not to feel totally normal afterwards... but then, 3 days...4 days...5 days...ok something is wrong, who has a headache for 5 straight days? I called the Dr office, a nurse got on the phone and said to me "you need to come in, I've looked at your chart and it says that if you are experiencing a headache you need to be re evaluated". Over a year ago I actually had to have an MRI to check on my headaches so this made me a little nervous. I rushed over right to the urgent care after work. The Dr wasn't too worried about the headache and like myself assumed it was probably just related to being off the steroid. And explained that steroids decrease inflamation, a migraine is your blood vessels swelling up so I felt fine for the 12 days on the steroid but removing them caused the blood vessels to swell back up. Ok....fine. He said it'll go away and gave me a shot of Torredall to help with pain. I have been treated a few times for migraines now and normally they go away within 30 minutes when I'm given the 'good stuff' but not this time....the headache continued.

Well...6 days...7 days....8 days.....9 days...10 days...I cannot live like this. I went back to the Dr. and for 2 hours we discussed all sorts of possibilities causing the headaches and possible 'natural' ways to work to break it and find relief. Before I left there was one more thing I wanted to ask him.... "I've been working everyday for the past 10 days and normally I just work a little on the weekends....AND I've been having some major...MAJOR problems with a co-worker...I know stress can cause a headache but do you think it's possible it could cause a 10 day long headache?" Without hesitation he quickly replied "Absolutely. Especially with you since you are so prone to migraines and headaches, stress is a trigger and combined with the steroid that could easily be the cause." I told him I was done with this unusual schedule on Sunday, he confidently said that he thought I would start to feel better on Monday. And I cannot believe it.....but I did. That was over a week ago and I basically feel normal again. I just hope it lasts! Any chance I can send this person my bills for sending me to the urgent care twice in one week?

I got a yob!

"An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from man’s entire existence.” –Honore de Balzac 

 There's a business near my home that I recently picked up an application from, then I thew it in a drawer and didn't touch it for a month. Thursday I went to Craigslist for the first time ever and I saw that this same business was looking to hire a new specialist. They called me the next day and I had my interview on Saturday.

I was hired on the spot! The only problem is that they want me to work A LOT, and hours that do not work for me as being a stay at home mom is obviously my top priority- so I can actually only work on Saturday
 ( which was mostly what I was looking for anyhow) and she'll be home safe with her daddy which is perfect-I don't have to worry about her, and the two of them can have some daddy/daughter time.

Great hours, great pay, great position, great business, unbelievably good location and the owners seem wonderful...I just hope I live up to their expectations! I would really like to hold onto this long term.

The reason I decided to seek employment was twofold. As I've mentioned before we have a trip to Disney planned this year...and I also decided that this is the year that we WILL pay off ALL our debts. To do both of these things without extra income would not be feasible. So with this job, the 3 weddings I booked for the summer, and a new idea that I'm really excited about-there should be no problem getting out of debt and rewarding ourselves with a deluxe vacation to a top resort! (prepaid in full OF COURSE!)                                                  

WHERE TO BEGIN!!!??

 Since returning home from our trip to Philadelphia my life has been a whirlwind of fun, exciting, new ventures! Each of the following deserves its own post and I will get there along with many pictures to follow but this week IS TOTALLY INSANE FOR ME so I'm just going to provide a quick synopsis of my big changes! I'm super busy but it's with all my favorite things so none of it actually feels like 'work'! I am loving my place in life!

MY NEW BUSINESS- So this is one of the main reasons I am so busy this week, I have that wedding that I am doing the flowers for tomorrow 9.21.12. I am very excited, a little nervous but I cannot wait to share the pictures with you. There were a few moments where I was feeling overwhelmed- because it's ALL ON ME! But my husband is going to help me set up so that makes me feel much more calm about everything because that's a big help.

MY NEW JOB- Not only is this a life list item but the way it came about was also one of my dreams come true! So I am officially a French Translator...I guess I already was just not in practice- as I actually am a Certified French Translator, I just have never done it professionally. More on that later, translating legal jargon is labor intensive and I am working on a big project right now!

PHILADELPHIA- It's funny that just 2 weeks ago I was writing about my trip to Philadelphia and I said several times that I didn't think I'd ever have the opportunity again to visit Valley Forge or Sesame Street and as much as I wanted to see the Liberty Bell I thought it would be quite a while...well as it turns out I am returning in a few weeks! Which I am crazy excited about, my daughter LOVED that Sesame Place so much she watches the videos we took from the parade and looks at the pictures every day, she is going to be so thrilled to go again, and it will be during their Halloween Spooktacular so it will be a different experience. When my husband said he had to go back I said- we're coming with you! We're staying in the same hotel and I know those ladies who fell in love with my little one are just going to fall apart when she comes flying into the breakfast nook with her arms up in the air yelling "HOLA!" I thought some of them were going to cry when we left, they enjoyed her so dearly!

MY DAUGHTER'S 2ND BIRTHDAY- I'm an over the top person and such my daughter is going to an incredible over the top Sesame Street themed birthday party so I've been very busy planning, organizing, preparing and figuring out how to pay for it all! Of course I will post lots of pictures from this year and from her party last year.

REDOING THE BATHROOM- We are redoing one of our bathrooms-ironically it was the only room in the house I initially thought needed the least amount of work. I guess it still is and that's why we started with it as there are no MAJOR changes to make. There's a TON more to do, we've already done most of the big things like paint, put in a new toilette and vanity. It's kind of moving slowly at the moment, there are just too many other things to pay for right now.

BEING A HOMEOWNER- There is so much to share on this subject but to sum it up right now, I had a very difficult time adjusting to this house for LOTS of reason but now 3 months later I am finally feeling settled in, like this is my home. I look at my house and smile now-in June I would look at my house and cry. Initially I had some very serious discussions with my husband about selling this house but now I feel very happy here and I think we will live in this house a VERY long time...if not forever.

TRIP TO DISNEY- I mentioned a bit ago that we were going to take a grand vacation to Disney in February 2014, I like to plan ahead and start saving so when I called Disney to make the arrangements they said they could only book the packages 8 months in advance so I said 'ok then we're going in 8 months!' It's not going to be the double vacation with the cruise but I am going to pack as many awesome things into this trip as possible so I've been spending loads of time doing research on the area. If you have any advice on 'must dos' in the Orlando area I'm all (Mickey Mouse) ears!

HULA CLASS- I will pick up the DVD from our Hula recital in a few weeks, I am excited to share the pics, video and experience with you. Today was the last day to sign up for the next Hula class that begins in October and I missed it but I'm going to try to schmooze her into letting us enroll late.

BRACES- I have only had the braces for 2 months now and I am so amazed with the results- the bottom is almost totally straight and the top is making quick progress, they don't really bug me any more sometimes I even forget-which I cannot believe-they were appallingly hard to get used to in the beginning and I don't feel so self conscience any longer either.

WEIGHT- It's been a while since I've weighed in but my most recent weight was 163!!!! Which is 98 pounds lost in nearly 2 years!!!! The day I gave birth I weighed 261...

MY BOOK- No news yet from the literary agent, they said it would be a while, it's been 5 months which doesn't really faze me, it took them 5 months just to get back to me the first time, so maybe after things settle down birthday I will contact them to see if they're read my proposal yet.

VOLUNTEERING- Back in February I enrolled in a program to mentor female inmates. I went through the whole process of a background check and everything but every time I thought about going, which would be a long day-close to 8 hours-(there's a lot of security you have to go through once you get to the prison and then to get out, and it's a long drive from my house)-I thought 'why should I leave my family to go visit someone I've never even met' I know that sound a little selfish but right now in this stage of my life it really isn't a good fit for me. I hate leaving my daughter and I do it as little as  possible and usually only for short periods of time. The old me would roll my eyes at someone saying they don't want to spend a few hours away from their kids but as pessimistic as it sounds, you really never know how much time you have and I just feel like my time is best spent with my baby. I know the day will come where she doesn't want to hang out with mommy anymore so I take advantage of my time with her now. I have something else in mind- I won't mention it until I actually follow through though!

Tomorrow's a big day-I'm delivering my flowers and (as usual) praying that nothing catastrophic happens to them tonight! I'm sure I'll be up a zillion times to check on them in the middle of the night if I can even sleep at all...the Bridesmaids bouquets are actually sleeping the bedroom tonight (totally necrotic). Cross your fingers for me that all goes well!  

In the works...

Well I haven't had hardly a second to write lately because there are SO MANY things I am working on right now, I have certainly bit off more than I can chew but I am trying to balance it all and the key to that is being organized which I certainly am!

What have I been up to?

-MOST IMPORTANT UPDATE- MY DAUGHTER STARTED SAYING "I LOVE YOU" !!! it is the greatest thing that has ever happened in my life!

- GET BRACES- I'm getting my braces on Thursday...I'm so nervous,I haven't really even told anyone in my family partially because about every hour I think about cancelling the appointment, also I wanted this to just be my decision along with the support from my husband....you know how family can be with their 'opinions'.

- HULA CLASSES- Well as you know we (me and my daughter) completed the 9 week course and danced on stage in a recital. I desperately wanted to immediately continue with the classes but with the recent move and all the recent issues with the house we just have not had the time so we'll have to wait for the next class to begin in September.

- MAKE MY HOUSE MY SANCTUARY- We bought a house in the beginning of June. It's been a very difficult start and I am disappointed that I have not yet been able to just enjoy the house. We have been working diligently on the issues and I think we have solved them but it's been holding us back from taking the time, money and effort to do all the fun stuff towards making this house our sanctuary.

- FLAMENCO- I've been so busy with the move I haven't had a flamenco lesson BUT (my ultimate goal is to perform with my step dad's flamenco group) and he called me this week to tell me that one of the dancers will be leaving the group temporarily beginning in January so they would need more dancers and they would like me to begin going to practice regularly so I can be ready to start doing shows with them in 8 months!!!

- MY BOOK- I'm still waiting to hear something from the literary agent who requested my book proposal, I suspect it will be months before I hear anything it took 5 months just for her to read my letter!

- MY OWN BUSINESS- I have now had 2 consultations with Brides and 'officially' booked one wedding for this September! I'm so excited to do these flowers. It is a lot of work, I literally have nothing so it's going to be a bit of work to gather everything I need and get organized for this wedding but after this one it will be easier to go from there. I love the 2 brides I'm working with which makes it VERY enjoyable! I just need to order some business cards!

-WEIGHT- I can't wait to post WEIGH IN WEDNESDAYS this week, I am feeling great, my clothes are getting bigger, I'm starting to look at pictures of myself and go 'oh my gosh is that me??!!' I have lost now 91 pounds.

- LEARN PORTUGUESE- Well, I had not intended to learn Portuguese, in fact years ago I had specifically decided Portuguese would not be on my list of languages- there are several I have ruled out. I learned a little years ago and I decided it wasn't for me. However, a week before we moved I met this family at our apartment complex who had just that day moved here from Brazil. There is the mom, dad and 2 kids. When I first met them they hardly spoke a word of English but we connected and our kids fell in love with each other so over the past 6 weeks I have been spending a considerable amount of time with them. It's fun to learn so much about their country we pull up google translate and images and that's how we have a conversation but it is forcing me to learn Portuguese and it's taking up quite a bit of time so I think I'm just going to go with it! I can't decide if it's easy to learn or difficult to learn because it seems to be a mixture of Spanish, German and French.

-VACATION- I am dying to take a trip, I have to go to the airport frequently to pick up and drop off my husband and I feel like those airplanes are taunting me I am just itching to go somewhere so I posted in my last blog that we are planning a very big i.e. long, expensive and PACKED with life list items to Disney World paired with a cruise to the Bahamas!

I'm trying to catch up with everyone's blogs and I'm enjoying reading about all the fun everyone is having and all the great adventures being had! I always feel so proud of all my fellow life listers for squeezing the most out of our lives!!!

stressful times calls for life list items

In the past two years I have been hammered with extreme heartache, beginning with the loss of someone incredibly dear to me that flipped my life upside down, an unsuccessful, disappointing and expensive stint in graduate school, and several of my closest relationships were ripped apart. Luckily I have a beautiful, smart, healthy daughter which will forever make every challenge seem but a small puddle to jump over. But whenever I feel blue I always turn to my life list and the issue at the moment is that I am having a very difficult time adjusting to our new house. There are many things I love about it but unfortunately in the past month that we've lived here every day there seems to be a worse issue than there was the day before. I keep telling myself that in a year from now all of these problems will be long behind us and then we can focus on making some renovations and doing the things that we WANT to do to the house and less of things that we HAVE to do to the house.

My advise to anyone who is having a hard time with anything in life whether big or small-do or buy something you've always wanted. Of course it won't make your problem go away but it might help you find a smile though it be temporary and aid in changing your perspective. I think that's the key to any issues-your perspective.

Currently I am emotionally exhausted, stressed and drained so I convinced my husband to start planning a BIG trip- it won't be for another year and a half but it's exciting to start planning and saving. I am not a frugal traveler so I need to start saving now. It works out well because our daughter is too little right now for a big trip and also the trip will also be a celebratory vaca right after I get my braces off and *hopefully* and finally reach my life goal weight.

Where are we going? It will be a 15 day trip to Disney World Orlando paired with a cruise to the Bahamas. I will be able to complete 20 life list items, give my daughter the trip every 3 year old could only dream of and my husband will be able to have some experiences he's always wanted to try also.

20 LIFE LIST ITEMS DECEMBER 2013


1. go on a cruise
2. stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge
3. see Cirque Du Soleil
4. take my daughter to Disney World
5. indoor skydive
6. swim with manatees
7. hold an alligator
8. pick oranges
9. go on an airboat tour
10. go to SeaWorld
11. visit a butterfly farm
12. eat alligator
13. swim with dolphins
14. swim with sting rays
15. swim with sea lions
16. para sail
17. have a penguin encounter
18. eat at Cinderellas Castle
19. take a sea plane tour
20. go fishing

*some of these I have done before but I was so young I don't really remember and don't have pictures, they are things I not only want to 're' experience but things I want to share with my daughter as well.

*there are two other things I'm looking into but are very expensive so I'm not sure if they will fit into this trip.

So this gives me something to look forward to, be excited about and every time things get rough I will stop and think about the luxury vacation on the horizon!! And for the time being I got a kitten to cheer me up and I was feeling like my daughter needed a companion, I'm sure she gets bored with mommy and her same old antics. On July 3rd, I asked my husband if we could get another kitty, he reluctantly said yes so I prayed for one that night...the next morning when we walked up to the parade the first thing I saw was a box of free kittens. I think that was God saying "ok, this is something easy I can give you right now".

Big, big life changes

"Gotta keep busy or the voices or the voices start telling me to do wild things"

I'm still alive!!! I haven't had a moment to catch my breath in the past month or two- there have been some SIGNIFICANT changes in my life, some mind blowing, some overwhelming, some disheartening- and what better way to share some of them with you than with a list! One thing is for sure- my life has changed...actually I feel like I've lived an entire lifetime in the past 8 months so many thing have happened. Here are some of changes in just the past few weeks....

1. One reason I didn't have the time to write was that Joel was in Missouri for a month and it is exhausting being the only parent- at the end of the day I had enough energy to pick up and zone out for a few mins and then it was off to bed- I notice when I am the only one here I sleep A LOT more than I usually do.

2. We bought a house!!! We found this house in January and we just found out just about 2 weeks ago that our offer was approved-It's been INCREDIBLY stressful!!! The house is great, it doesn't need hardly anything but I am very particular and want to do a million things to it. But the best thing about this house is where it is...I have always dreamed of buying a house in this town and now I have one-right in the downtown area-it's perfect!! We've already closed and are mostly moved in. I have a lot to say about the subject and think it deserves it's own post-

3.The day before our offer was approved I received the most exciting email imaginable. I know I've mentioned that I had a book idea and was in the process of taking the necessary steps to land a literary agent, and just a few weeks ago a lit agent asked me for my book proposal! All I will say is that it is a travel book, I'm not telling anyone what it is about because it hasn't been done before. It doesn't necessarily mean anything will come of it, but it gives me a little hope that it's a good idea and it was just an amazing feeling. So...

4. I had to finish my book proposal and send it in. It was a ton of work and I spent a long time working on it and I am pleased and proud to say that I have not only completed it but it has officially been submitted.

5. I mentioned that my daughter and I began a Polynesian Dance class which we've been attending once a week for the past 2 months AND we are performing in a recital June 9th!!!!! What do I get myself into?!

6. We are in the process of packing and moving which is labor intensive and if you have a toddler it is a living nightmare. I feel like it's turning me into a crazy person.

7. I've mentioned that I had some problems with my family, well some relationships have gotten better and some have become much much worse. It has been so hard on me. I just want to lay my head down at night and not have these negative issues with the people I love the most weighing on my mind that make me sad.

8. But even more good news....I'm starting my own business, I have wanted to for a long time now, and I guess I don't really know why I had not. Yet I have received the kick in the pants that I needed. This is only thanks to my life changing friend Toni who ardently recommended my 'talents' to a friend of hers who is getting married in September and I am doing the flowers. Floral designing is something that I had fallen into years ago by dumb luck but I LOVE it, I have the greatest time, it's fun, and creative and there is no better work environment than one surround by flowers. I'm really excited. I'm going to start slow, I have so much going on right now which is fine. I have had some beautiful work experiences as a floral designer and the reward is tremendously fulfilling to make such beautiful things for peoples most special days.

9. I almost forgot- I am so so so excited about this....finally after 15 years of VERY serious consideration....I am finally going to fix my grossly disfigured teeth!! I hate them. This is something that bothers me every day, every time I look at a picture of myself, and makes me so unhappy with myself. I have seen several dentists about this since I was a teen but have always been too concerned with either the cost, discomfort or the idea of being an adult with braces- but every year that goes by I wish I would have done it because it would be over already! 5 years ago I met with an orthodontist and have made and canceled close to 20 appointments but now I finally feel ready. Totally ready to just do it, get it over with and be comfortable with myself. I ought to have them on by the middle of July....if all goes well :)

10. I've come up with the best idea!!!! Maybe I'll save something for later....

This year thus far has been such a rough road but I feel... well, this is how I really feel- like a mountain lion shredded my knitted sweater vest and the tears are delicately and swiftly being sown back together turning it into a silk Versace blouse.

I'm just gonna live life this week

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." 

I have accomplished so much this month! And this week should be good too, I plan on updating the aesthetics of my blog, I'm working on a translation (French to English), I want to finish a book I'm reading, I have my orientation to mentor kids which I am very nervous about, I've been working on my castanettes each day (although I never get better) I've been walking every day, A LOT ( today I walked 8 miles!) And I was going to go to a pow wow but it's much farther  away than I thought so I haven't yet decided if I'm going to be able to or not-way too far to take the little one and I don't think I want to leave her for that long. I also plan on having several more arguments with my 'relatives'.... thank God I don't have a full time job, I just wouldn't have the time to squeeze in all these altercations! I also have a few 'business' matters that I HAVE  to attend to-can't all be fun! Tomorrow I am excited to see a friend I haven't seen in over 2 years! To a productive week!

March

   3 LIFE LIST items this week!!!! I am so excited to share my stories with you!!! However other than these accomplished goals I am not going to be writing very much this month. Yesterday I began walking 5 miles/day which takes up a big chunk of time and I am currently have met my max with stress! Never in my life have I  been so stressed out and had so many 'less than desirable' situations going on at once and I just need the extra time to get my affairs in order.

 So I have 3 experiences already this month to share with you and of course I will have St Patrick's Day posts and I am going to wait until I hit another weight milestone to post about that (crossing my fingers by next week!)
Have a terrific weekend! I'm spending 7 hours tomorrow taking a CPR class!

LIFE LIST ITEM NEXT WEEK!

I have made a decision- I'm going to have my hair dyed red, like Isla Fisher!!!!! I'm very nervous, I hope I don't chicken out, I've always had long blonde hair and the craziest things I've done to it are have it layered and highlighted-my stylist Gina (who has been doing my hair for the last 10 years is going to have a heart attack). This is a very big move for me.

FIX IT FRIDAYS: BLOG

 As I have said -this is a journey and many of these items cannot simply be crossed off in one afternoon. LIST LIST ITEM WRITE A BLOG is something that I hope to do for a long time and I don't think I can cross it off until I make it perfectly presentable. My friend, the same one who suggested I write the blog, also suggested I get myself a "blogging for dummies" book. This was the silliest thing I had heard yet, a book about blogging ???? At that time, just a few months ago, I had no idea what a big thing blogging was, and what it could become. There are many many books about blogging. Lesson learned: whatever it is that your interested just type it into Amazon and I am certain you will find a book written about it. This has lead me to other amazing books I could have never dreamed actually existed. So my goal is to fix/change at least one thing/week. It's not alot but 52 things/year is better than ZERO things/year. If there is something you want to do and don't think you have the time or keep putting it off, just start small with once/week, or even once/month, it is enough to get you going and even though it may be at a snails pace it will make you feel accomplished.

NEW SCHEDULE: THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY

That’s Not For Me Thursdays- There are many things out there that I personally have no interest in doing but I think would be great ideas for others. So this is just for fun and to maybe inspire some new ideas for your life lists.

Fix it Fridays- There are many LIFE LIST items that involve a lot of work, so I will dedicate Fridays to those items beginning with this blog itself. I have a overabundant amount of things to fix, change and add.

Surprise Saturdays- I have already completed nearly 150 items on my LIFE LIST and I will share with you my story and I will include everything from how I got the idea to how much it cost and what I would do differently. 

NEW SCHEDULE: WEIGH IN WEDNESDAYS

Weigh in Wednesdays- Like money, I cannot look at my LIFE LIST item REACH MY LIFE GOAL WEIGHT and cross it off in one day, I am not a genie. So reaching my life goal weight is also a journey that I am currently working on and doing a good job at it if I must say so myself. I will share with you how much I’ve lost, how I lost it and I how I plan to lose the rest. I will also be telling you……how much I weigh   AAAHHHHHH!!!! That’s why I am calling it Weigh in Wednesdays, I will reveal my weight loss each week. I think it will really encourage me to be diligent with my diet and exercise as this is highly embarrassing to share this information with my friends, family, my husbands friends and family-ugh!   

NEW SCHEDULE: TRAVEL TIPS TUESDAYS

Travel Tips Tuesdays- If you have even glanced at my LIFE LIST for even one second you will notice a common theme-I love to travel like a crackhead loves chemical dependencies! Traveling is my drug, I am addicted to it, I am obsessed with it and I’m always trying to scrounge up money for more trips. It is a true passion of mine and my interest that I devote the most time to. For the last ten years I have spent extensive amounts of time doing travel research, just for myself, it’s my hobby to plan trips that I hope to one day take. I have close to five hundred travel books, magazines and brochures. I probably should one day open up a travel agency but I really have just done all this research for myself with no intention of sharing it with the world. But since you all are nice enough to read this blog of mine I will share my notes with you. I will post a location and what I think are the best and most essential components of traveling to that location. I include hotels, restaurants, activities….everything with the goal being to make the most out of visiting that location and not have to spend money to revisit because you missed things. I am not saying that you shouldn’t visit the same place twice, I am saying the world is amazing, there are thousands of places to see and we only given a short amount of time to take advantage of. 

NEW SCHEDULE:MONEY MONDAYS

Money Mondays- Nearly everything in my Life List revolves around money in one way or another, so I will discuss how I am working on accomplishing these items. It is a journey, much to my chagrin I cannot look at my list and say ‘ok I’m going to raise my FICO score today to 800’ I wish I could but that’s not how it works and I thought it would be silly to spend the next year or two working on certain items and not be writing about them. I hope you will follow me on my financial journey, I can teach you things- I am open to any advice anyone has to offer, the best way to learn is from each other, we just need to communicate- and THAT’S FREE!  If you struggle with financial issues, or want to buy a home, or wish you had more money to travel or keep putting of setting up your savings account-I think this will be a great resource for you, luckily for you I have dealt with just about every cash problem out there and I have been working hard to turn it around and fix all the problems and become someone a lender is dying to give money to, I want to be able to afford all the things I want in life, I want to give my children everything in the world and I want to be secure in my old age. I think these are things that everyone has on their life lists, and if not, then they probably should be. 

The End of THE ULTIMATE LIFE LIST

I missed a few days, my 11 month old daughter was super ill-she is back to her normal self and now we can return to our normal lives. Here are the final two sections of my list, I will post the entire list all at one also so it can be seen in its full grandeur that it deserves.

UPDATES: APRIL

APRIL UPDATES

BLOG- I should say it’s going pretty well, I’d like to have more than 13 followers myself included- but I’m having fun, hopefully making you smile and more importantly writing these stories for my children to one day read. A friend of mine came over last weekend and taught me a few things-how to add links and pictures. I was informed that are books on the subject-I had no idea what a big movement blogging has become-after all spell check still underlines it red! It is kind of hard to find the time, I write when my daughter sleeps – while trying to tackle a million other things. If only I had someone to clean my house, run my errands, premake the coffee and sit on hold for me until the inconveniencer gets back on the line. Currently my husband mans this position, which is unfair because he does work two jobs in order to afford the luxury of me being a stay at home mommy. O to have a butler, that would be my biggest splurge item if I were rich…

WALK 5 MILES-O YEAH RIGHT! It was going so well, but then it snowed on the 17^th of April, we had wind advisories, it rained for 5 days straight, tornado watches, and thunderstorms, so I’m just going to start all over, I am aiming for the first of May. It’s not like it was for nothing, I feel like my clothes are getting looser and my shoulders don’t look like a linebackers any longer.

DONATE BREAST MILK-  I called yesterday and got the ball rolling! It began with a short phone interview and moving forward there is paperwork I have to fill out, I have to have blood work done and my Dr. and Z’s Dr. have to approve it. I am so happy to begin doing this, the milk goes to babies who are born as early as 23 weeks, and it also goes to cancer patients. Breast milk is AMAZING! It is the best thing for any baby other than love. This is a non profit organization, they pay for all the blood work and they will be sending me cooler, storage containers and labels-it will come in with pre paid postage and all I will have to do is drop it off at a UPS drop box. I was wrong about the amount, the minimum is 200 ounces, not 100 ounces-we’ll see how long this takes me, milk can only be stored for 3 months but the need is so urgent they ask that you send what you can right away and they will resend the cooler. Ladies PLEASE just take a look at the website. http://www.hmbana.org/.

CHURCH-I began last week for our Easter service and it was wonderful! We attend the greatest church, it’s not anything you would ever expect church to be like. There’s a café and you can bring your coffee into the auditorium, everyone wears jeans and the music is that of professionals-literally several of the musicians are actually from the Freecreditreport.com commercials. It’s comical, it’s touching it is a church for everyone, except the elderly, I don’t think they would really get it-it is anything but traditional.

 Along with my husband and daughter came my mom and a friend of mine but ten minutes into the service I could tell my baby getting sleepy and it’s so loud but fortunately they have a room designated solely for nursing mothers. There are big soft comfy sofa chairs, low lighting and a tv so you don’t miss the service.  My little girl fell asleep in my lap and it was so relaxing and sweet so we stayed in there until the service was over. It could not have been nicer. I did feel bad for daddy though, he could have come back there and knocked on the door and we could have sat in the room designated for families with small children that is a big room filled with couches and Tvs. They do have a very nice daycare facility that is actually separated into different age groups but I am not willing to leave my baby with anyone yet.

 I am so happy to be going back, I feel like it gives me clarity and guidance and reminds me to try to do the best that I can, it gives me advice on being a good spouse and parent. I would love for anyone who’s interested to join us for a service sometime, Kensington does have several locations nationwide, click here for the website.