ks692's Xanga

My once a year blog.

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 06:46:36 GMT

Hello everyone, if there is an everyone anymore. I haven't blogged in quite a while as you can tell and life has changed quite a bit. I am back at school working on a degree in Art and Art Education. I am really enjoying my classes. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time, but was too scared to go for it. If I would have gotten my degree when I was younger, I would not have gotten a degree in art. I would have done what my parents thought was a more practical degree, so it's worked out for the best and actually my parents are really happy that I'm doing what I want to do.

My son is in the first grade, so I go to school while he's at school. It's working out pretty well. I am enjoying my classes, but miss the free time I had last year. When my son was in Kindergarten I volunteered in his classroom constantly and was PTO vice President. I definately don't have that kind of time these days, but I still work in his classroom once a week and get called to help out the PTO.

This winter my husband organized a trip to London and Paris for students. He's a college professor. My son and I went too. We had a great time. I had never been to London or Paris, so it was a great experience. We spent five days in London and five days in Paris. We were in Paris on New Years Eve!!

Well that's all for now

Hope everyone is well

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Sat, 06 Nov 2004 20:25:57 GMT

It has been almost 2 years since I have written! It is so nice to see that my blog ring is still going strong with new Stay at home moms joining all the time. Jackson is almost 6 and is in kindergarten now. It has been strange without him here with me during the day. It has been hard to send him out into the world. He absolutely loves it. It wears him out, but he loves it.

We spent 5 months in Madrid, Spain and returned in July of this it. year. We loved it. We were in Madrid when the trains were bombed, but even that didn't change the way we felt about Madrid. My husband recieved a fulbright award to teach at the Universidad de Complutense in Madrid. We lived in a completely Spanish neighborhood a block away from the bullring. It was a life-changing experience and it has been really difficult to adjust to life at home, especially after the election.

We were able to see the United States as it appears to others outside of the United States and the opinion is really not that good. I'm not sure how many Americans worry about stuff like that, but I do. The people we met in Spain however, loved Americans, just not the American Government or it's policies.

Before we left Spain we took a Spanish cruise on the Mediterrean. We visited Tunisia (which was not a place I wanted to stand out in), Florence, Pompeii, Florence, Naples and Rome in Italy, then finally Monaco MonteCarlo and a small coastal village in France. It was quite an experience. We were surrounded by Spanish people and learned more Spanish during that 10 days than I had in 4 months I had been in Madrid.

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Wed, 11 Dec 2002 10:31:13 GMT

Well it has really been forever since I have written anything. We are all moved in and are enjoying the new house. It is amazing how easy it is to get used to a new place. We lived in our other house for 8 years and I really don't miss it at all. I thought I would, but I don't.
   We have been decorating and shopping for Christmas. Steve attempted Christmas lights outside, but got pissed because only half of them worked. (he found this out after getting them up) Don't ask me why he didn't check before. He does have a PHD you know...hee hee.
    Jackson has been a bit of a pain. We took him to see Treasure planet last night. He was so good during the whole movie. Then when we got ready to leave he decided he wanted to play tug-of-war with his shirt. We were trying to leave so we could go out for dinner. He wouldn't give us the shirt, he wouldn't put his coat on. Threw a great big fit and when we decided we weren't going to go to the restaurant he screamed the whole way home "I want chinese food". After we got home he calmed down. Then I told him it was time to get ready for bed. He always makes bedtime a little difficult. He tries to drag it out as long as he can. I told him if he did this, he was not getting a bed time story. Well guess what, he didn't get a bed time story and he cried in bed for at least 30 minutes for a story. Anyway by the end of the night Steve and I were both at the end of our ropes. Jackson is really a very good kid and I think that is what makes his occasional fits so hard to take. He is stubborn, just like me and Steve.
   Boy parenting is hard. Does anyone ever know what they are doing? I mean it seems like the plans Steve and I had about how we were going to be as parents and what we wanted to teach Jackson have really fallen away. I feel like Jackson pretty much runs the show and I am a little tired of it. I don't want him to turn out to be a spoiled brat.
   I also removed the presents from the Christmas tree that I had put out for him. I told him that he was going to have to earn them back. Do you think that he is too young for this? He will be 4 at the end of January.

Well I hope that everyone is having a good holiday season so far.
Take Care

Thursday, October 03, 2002

Thu, 03 Oct 2002 06:39:16 GMT

Well it has been forever since I have posted anything. Life has been a little busy and I always find it hard to get to the computer during the summer. Well now it's fall, although by the weather we are having you would never know it.

Jackson is in preschool two days a week and I am loving the little bit of free time I have. He absolutely loves it. It's only for 2 1/2 hours 2 days a week and I think he would just as soon stay there all day.

We have been trying to sell our house and we are closing on a new one today. We are really excited. It's a new house just outside of town and it's in a neighborhood of 1 acre lots. The house is bank owned because the builder/developer filed bankruptcy so we got an awesome deal on it. One we just couldn't pass up. I think we probably will rent out our current house and try again to sell it next spring.

I think that is all that is happening in my life right now. I hope that everyone is doing well. I have been reading just not writing.

Friday, June 28, 2002

Fri, 28 Jun 2002 22:00:11 GMT

Hello there, did you forget me? I can't believe I haven't written since May 8th. Well we just got back this week from vacation in Cape Cod. We were gone almost 4 weeks. We stayed in the most adorable cottage just a few steps from the beach. The weather was good for the most part. We had a few chilly/ wet days but got to spend almost every day at the beach. We took a ferry to Nantucket and spent the day going to shops, restaurants and beaches. The temperature stayed around 75 degrees so we were in shock when we got home to 90 degree weather. Well I hope that everyone is having a great summer and I'll try to write a little more often.

Wednesday, May 08, 2002

Wed, 08 May 2002 08:31:57 GMT

It's Spring!!!

I love the spring. I love the flowers and the return of leaves on the trees. Every winter I am ready to move, I'm sick to death of this town and everyone in it. Then Spring comes and I look out at our backyard with it's huge Maple and Pine trees the flowering apple and crabapple trees and think, it's not so bad here, maybe we'll stay.
We had an unreal amount of rain Monday night. We live in the city and last summer we had our sewer line replaced from our house to the street. We have a basement/garage and it was flooding about once or twice a year. We thought that the problem was that our sewer line was clogged and deteriorating, which it was, but evidently that wasn't the real problem at all. Tuesday morning when my husband went downstairs to iron his shir, water started coming up the two drains in our basement. We don't have a sump-pump installed but we have one that he placed on top of the drains and started it. The sump pump couldn't keep up with the amount of water coming in our basement so we ended up with about 8 inches of water. All the time the basement was flooding the sump-pump was pumping water out and my husband was calling the city. Evidently the whole city was pretty much flooded. Three building at the college where my husband teaches flooded and when the city workers came to our house in the afternoon they had a whole pad of paper filled up with people's names and addresses they had been to because of flooding. We have determined that the water that comes in is from the city pipes. It's water that is running off the streets and who knows what else. It is coming in our house from the street pipes when the city pipes can't handle all the water. This just doesn't seem right. We have complained but I doubt that the city will do anything about it. I do know that there were many people yesterday with the same problem, so maybe enough will complain that something will be done(probably not). We have thought off and on about finishing our basement, but we are pretty sure that will never happen. I think that we are going to try installing a sump-pump in the basement and maybe if it is installed below the basement level it will stop our flooding.
Our backyard also got flooded pretty bad, we had a beautiful pond for a while. Before we moved here the residents paid to have a pipe put through the yards to drain them. It stopped raining early Wednesday and most of the water was still there when I went to bed last night. Our neighbors yards were worse. The water is pretty much gone this morning, but the basement smells so musty and the house is starting to smell. I'm going to have to probably hose out the basement and mop it with bleach or something. I am worried because we are supposed to have rain most of this week and Tomorrow we are supposed to have heavy rains.

It's raining again.

Here's something funny. The other day Jackson trying to get Daddy's attention, hit Daddy with one of his hot wheel cars while Daddy was trying to take a nap. I asked Jackson if he had told Daddy that he was sorry and he said "I tried but Daddy was talking too fast."... ha ha.

Monday, April 15, 2002

Mon, 15 Apr 2002 19:16:16 GMT

We had the best weekend!! We went to a friend's wedding about an hour away from home with both of my sisters and their husbands. No kids!!! It was the first time in a couple of years that all of us have been out together. We stayed in a really nice hotel and the wedding was I think the best I had ever been to. The theme was Hollywood and the Oscar's. It was black tie optional, so we all bought really fancy outfits and we felt like we were going to a Hollywood party. When we got to the reception it felt like we had stepped into one of the Oscar parties. They had hired a Marilyn Monroe and a Sammy Davis Jr. Impersonator which added quite a bit and when the wedding party arrived the DJ introduced them just like they do when the big stars arrive. The reception hall was decorated beautifully. The chairs were draped in red satin. There were tall silver centerpieces filled withred roses and each place setting had a chocolate oscar figurine wrapped in plastic with gold stars and ribbons. The tables each had a name of a movie on it, (ours was Grease)and place cards that said " And the oscar goes to....your name. We all had the best time. Danced like crazy and felt like an adults. We met some really nice people there. Steve and I didn't get to sit with my sisters but I'm actually kind of glad. We got to talk to some really nice people. It was just so good to be with other adults.

Monday, April 08, 2002

Mon, 08 Apr 2002 11:01:45 GMT

Well last week was a pretty bad week. For one thing I have been sick for over two weeks. I think I have had the same cold twice. I watched my neice for a couple days last week, which was fun, but tiring. She just turned 2. We had a good time, but I can see how hard having two little ones would be. It was exhausting, keeping them entertained and keeping them from hurting each other. They both had colds and I think that is where I got cold #2. I know most  people have more than one child, but I am more and more sure each day that I don't want any more children, one is fine by me.
   Jackson has been being pretty difficult for a few weeks now. He just will not listen to me and I'm sure that it is my fault. I need to be more consistent with him and make sure that I let him know that no means no. No negotiations. I know that part of it is that he doesn't feel well and I have been grumpy and sick, but it feels like all I have been doing is yelling at him. I don't like to do that, but sometimes that is all he will listen to. He will ask the same question over and over again, even after I have said no.  I have a time-out chair which until recently worked pretty well, but the other day he refused to stay in the chair. By this time I was totally frusterated and marched him up to his room, he was throwing a huge fit and wouldn't let me shut the door. Finally I picked him up, put him on his bed and rushed to shut the door. He carried on for quite a while and I thought to myself, is this what I have to look forward to, 15 or so more years of this? I mean forget the terrible two's, I think that 3 is worse. I'm probably PMS'ing. I should go back and read my blogs and find all of the ones where I'm frusterated, I have this suspicion that I wrote them about a week before that time of the month.
Whenever I read about vame's wife I see alot of myself in her. I am not quite as outspoken as she is, but I bet there are a lot of us out there who totally lose it one week of the month. I think it is really difficult for men to understand what we go through. I think that men have been taught all of their lives to control themselves and not show too much emotion and so when their wives or girlfriends lose it emotionally they have no idea how to deal with it, (when we know that there really isn't a way to deal with it, there is nothing that can be said or done really to make it better, except maybe a prescription and a week at a spa ).
   I was also kind of aggrivated at Steve. On Monday we got a package in the mail from EF, which is an educational tour company that Steve has been involved with for several years. We went to Spain with students the year before Jackson was born and since Jackson has been born Steve has been to Greece and Italy without me. Each time I have been less than pleased about being left at home and each time Steve says he won't do it again. Now it's not that I don't want him to go, it's just that I don't want him to go without me, is that being selfish. Jackson has to be 6 years old before we can take him with us. We had sort of talked about him going again and I said I wasn't thrilled about him going but I didn't want to stand in his way. The trips are free to him, he get's paid and gets points toward free trips. We are just a few points away from 2 free tickets to Europe. We hadn't talked about it in a while and then the package comes, which basically means he has decided to go. I'm depressed. I can't help but be upset that he wants to go without me. I wish he would just decide on his own that he would wait until Jackson was old enough for us all to go instead of making it my fault if he doesn't go. And I would rather be the one mad than have him mad at me because he feels I won't let him go. He says he is going to send me somewhere(hopefully not the looney bin...hee hee). I told him I want a spa vacation, so maybe I will get to go to a spa after all.

Monday, April 08, 2002

Mon, 08 Apr 2002 09:48:35 GMT

I'm so glad it matched my website colors...hee hee, just kidding. Honestly I don't think I would pick this color. I am generally a black shoe person.

I'm the pink Doc Marten...
I'm sassy and always in touch
with my feminine side

Which Doc Marten are you?
(by *coffeebean*)

Thanks Cup O'Java for the link

Thursday, March 21, 2002

Thu, 21 Mar 2002 15:24:24 GMT

Hi everyone, I'm back! Did you miss me? We got back Sunday from our trip and I have had trouble finding time to get back online. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented on my last blog. The encouragement means a lot. It's nice to know that there are others out there feeling the same way. It doesn't make us bad parents if we don't always enjoy it. But I definately do enjoy it for the most part. There are just those occasional days when I would rather be somewhere other than here.
Well anyway, the trip was great, much better than I thought it would . I didn't really know what to expect and I was worried that there wouldn't be much for us to do with Jackson. I was wrong. The weather in New Orleans was beautiful. We stayed in the french quarter and walked everywhere. We didn't get in our car for 4 days. We took Jackson to Jackson Square, we drank coffee and ate beignets at Cafe Du'Monde. Jackson loved the street performers which were everywhere. I thought my little part of the world was dull before I went to New Orleans and now I know it is definately dull....sigh... maybe one day.
On sunday night not long after we got home, Jackson decided to jump over Steve's legs in the living room. He had his pacifier in his mouth and tripped and fell right on his face. Blood everywhere. The first thing I thought was "not the tongue again". It wasn't it was his lip and boy did it swell. The good thing about this little incident is that he has stopped using his pacifier!!!! He is afraid it will hurt his lip if he sucks on it. I keep telling him it might, so maybe this is the end of that thing. He hasn't had it at all since Sunday night and it is now Thursday. He has fallen asleep without it everynight and even in the car. I know now that it's possible for him to sleep without it, so I am definately not going to cave in and give it back to him.