Much Appreciation

Good Morning People,

I want to thank you for your encouraging posts yesterday. Both make very good points. My mother use to say, when you feel bad, get a good, good cry, then take a deep breath. Then put a cold towel on your face and keep moving. Crying can be a very good thing.

Awh, yes! The car has been an extremely exhausting task. Mechanics are constantly trying to rip people off, especially women. When I was married, we went through the whole rip off process with a transmission. It was replaced but fell apart again. When we went back to the same mechanic, he had closed up his shop and disappeared...that was after he had given us the run around & all kinds of excuses. Turns out, when we took him to court, there was a long, long line of people after him. We won by default, but we were told, more than likely, we'd never see our money. That was back in 1995. Apparently, he would close one shop and open another under a different name and had been doing it for many years. Definitely a good point about being exhausted from getting the car repaired.

The Past Few Days

The past few days have been quite emotional for myself. Feeling a bit heavy, a tad sad. Not sure why. All is going so very well in my life lately. Everything that I have been waiting for has finally began to show some progress, nice steady progress. Yesterday, and a little today, I was rather irritable and sensitive. Even little things made me want to cry...little silly things. I don't like pity parties and I felt like a whimp, like a huge baby. Most of the time I succeeded in concealing myself expression, other times, I ran to the bathroom to wheep a bit and exhale.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Good, Good News!

I finally got the tags for the car! :0 whaaaooooo! :) :) This car has been down since August of 2007, for those of you who are unfamiliar with my situation. I have been very blessed to recover from a long time of hardship during that phase of my life.

As you recall, I refused to give up and refused to be ripped off by theiving mechanics. This mechanic is such a sweetheart! When every other mechanic was telling me it was the "compression"...which they could not explain how it works or what causes it to break down, and that I needed a new engine, this mechanic took one exploration throughout the engine and was discusted with the lies that had been told to me.

I am fully up and running. My son, 3rd child, has his appointment to get his license this month. His being able to drive will help the household soooo much! He is really a good boy too! I totally trust him.

Excited Mom

It is monday and it feels like it. I do have a major treat this week and that is my oldest boy is home for Spring Break. I love it when I have all four of my children together. It is so nice to see them as young adults and really handling life pretty well.

When my oldest boy graduated from high school, he tried moving out "his" way a couple of ways. His dad and I discussed that he can explore and experiment a little before we decided to make some choices for him. Then it would be time for him to live with dad and develop his "manhood". Well, that plan happened rather quickly, about a year after graduation.

Since he has been living iwth thier dad, all has been going very well. He is a tall, good looking, smart young man. This is the first time I've been separated from him for a long period of time. As we mothers do, we are concerned and worried that they are ok until we see them again. I will have him for the whole week and I can finally exhale for a little while.

I always dread when it is time for him to go back to dad's. I always miss him so much and it just feels like he will be gone for so very long. It is a tough job for mom to let go and let her little children become young adults. Their dad reassures me frequently that he is doing well and tha the is keeping an eye on him.

A Better Baby's Bottom

Hooray!

The cloth diapers are making a difference already! His diaper rash is starting to clear up just that quick. He is not as fussy either :). Nana is so much happier for her grand baby. As I mentioned before, all four of my kids wore cloth diapers. Yes, it is a lot of work, but you do what's best for the baby, right? :). Personally, I think the cloth ones are much more comfortable for the baby.

We will probably use the disposable diapers at night and when we go out, just for convenience. Of course, if he still develops a rash, then that won't work either.

Maintaining the Flow

Good morning people. Yesterday went very, very well. Wednesdays are my first really busy day of the week. I have a school age boy that comes in from half day at school. He is usually quite restless. There is not much for him to do because the little ones are in the middle of napping.

Well, I found a puzzle that was perfect for him. It kept his attention the whole time. I plan to go to a thrift store and pick up some more puzzles. He really seemed to enjoy them. I try to keep the older kids away from video games. I know the games are quite popular for this generation. I have no problem with the games in moderation like on a friday evening.

After the littles ones got up from their nap, I took everyone outside in the backyard. The weather was perfect, sunshine with barely a breeze. Not too warm, not too cool. They played really hard. Just before coming back into the house in prep for snack (and dinner for the 3 that stayed til 10:30pm), I had them do relays! It was soooo cute!

When they came back into the house, of course, they washed up for eating. Afterwards, they barely even played. They were well behaved and fairly quiet! I have used this strategy over the years. It is obviously very effective....Lol!

When they finally settled in for the evening, they watched movies ever so quietly. Just wonderful!

Edumacation

I think I hurt my 17 year old son's feelings the other day. Often, when I pick up my boys from school, my 17 year old will excitely share his progress in his weights class...yes, lifting weights. Well, of course, I enjoy encouraging him and being happy for his progress. However, if he would put forth the same, or close to the same, effort with his academic courses, could he make a little better progress in those areas?

Ok, ok...I'm being mom. Kids have to learn that life itself is not going to be easy. In fact, it gets harder and harder with each passing generation. School is an excellent place to learn to push oneself and to develop coping strategies that can be carried throughout their lives.

As my mom and grandma mema would tell us, "You may not understand what I'm telling now, but you will understand when you get older." How many times have I recalled those words of my elders since I've been grown and raising my own children.

Of my four children, those words have returned to me via my two oldest ones, my daughter age 21 and my oldest son age 19. I must admit, it is a relief to hear it! Means they were actually listening all those years of repeating myself over and over again! I love it.....Must be doing something right :).

Thanks Mama and Mema <3