How Far Do We Have To Go Today? ( Susan Myers)

2-1-2014

Ahh...Susan. She is such a breath of fresh air. She is always smiling and positive and full of curiosity about things that are going on in my life. Even though we live polar opposite lifestyles ( shes single, career driven and lives alone and Im a married stay at home mom) we both have found such a great friendship among one another.  She always seems to have great advice to help me to look at situations differently and to cool my head so to speak. She has great problem solving skills when it comes to things that stress me out the most. She will usually ask me an open ended question and then I will talk for what seems like an hour and she will queue in occasionally with such great wisdom. Its almost as if she missed her calling to be the social worker and I am the one that should be the frazzled, confused stressed out client!  

 Even though I have not known Susan long we struck up a friendship and have spent a lot of time together these past few months. I first met Susan when she joined in on our life group at church last Fall. In December, Luke and I were looking into joining a gym and she had mentioned to me how much she liked LA Fitness. This is where we decided to join and Susan and I ended up starting to work out together. She learned about how I was going to start training for the mini marathon and she agreed to do some of the training with me on the treadmill. I learned very fast that treadmill time can be sooo boring!!! But doing it with Susan made the time go by so much faster. Have you ever tried doing 9, 10, 11 or 12 miles by yourself? Its absolutely mind numbing.

 During the past several months we've been able to learn about each other. I'm sorry to say she has probably learned more about the drama of marriage and children from me than she has cared to take in but she doesn't seem too scared since she still keeps coming back for more!!

The original day that I needed to blog happened back in February but we have spent several hours upon hours together since then because she has been by my side to push me through training for my first half marathon. Since Susan works in the fitness field and she has completed a full marathon herself she is full of advice on the subject. I know I would have completed the training by myself because I was very dedicated to a promise I made to myself but without Susan it wouldn't have been fun at all. She definitely made all the miles that I had to log more enjoyable and also held me accountable to show up! Susan I cant thank you enough for all the pushing that you did to get me across that finish line. Thanks for being a great friend. 

Baby Oliver! (Rachel Skirvin)

January 30, 2014

Aspen, Hazel and I took a field trip to the south side to go meet our newest cousin, Oliver. He is such a little sweetie:) 

Oliver is the first baby born to Luke's cousin, Rachel. Rachel and I became Facebook friends through Luke and I getting married but I really knew of her long before I ever knew Luke....

When I used to work as a case manager at The Villages. I grew very fond of Rachel's father, Skirv aka Richard Skirvin or Uncle Dick. Even though he wasnt my supervisor and didnt work on my floor he was a fellow social worker and he had a wealth of knowledge so I was always picking his brain. I remember one day he said why do you always come to me for answers and I replied with because you are old and you just know things. He got a great kick out of that. I can guarantee that you have never met anyone like him. He is just one of those people that will always make you laugh. Because he has no filter and he is straight forward with judging everyone!(and I am the same way maybe thats why we get along so well) I remember one time when I was probably in my third trimester with Aspen I walked in and he said well you are looking mighty fat today. And I said well at least Ill get skinny again, you wont ever get taller! (hes only about 5'4). He also has so many stories that will make you think REALLY, are you telling me the truth?  I know that Ive had a lot of weird and crazy things happen in my life but Skirv could seriously top every story I can tell. I definitely miss working with him. He would tell me stories about his crazy partying days but he would also tell me about his kids Rachel and Aaron. He would tell me about Rachel and her love for animals, horses in particular. She has a few that she keeps on his property and she also does horse riding lessons. He would tell me about how she went to school overseas for an equestrian degree and show me baby pictures of her.

After about 3 years of working with Skirv and hearing about his family he told me about his nephew Luke. He called him while I was in his office and we ended up exchanging phone numbers. I remember talking to Luke and telling my friend Sarah during a staff meeting. I think her direct comment was NO you can not marry Skirv's nephew HAHA. I wasnt really thinking I was going to marry a person I hadnt met yet but low and behold we met and the rest is history. 

Rachel Im sorry you are getting kind of a short stick of a blog post since my relationship with you more revolves around your dad but I do want to thank you for letting us visit! Congrats on the beautiful baby boy. Aspen was in love at first sight and is still talking about him. Welcome to Motherhood! Enjoy every minute of the sweet newborn stage.

Birthday Night (Shawn Matney, Terri Dowell, Laura Titara)

January 25th, 2014 

First, got to start off by saying that Shawn and I are together all the time and we talk mostly every day. She's the one of the only stay at home moms that I know and her daily phone conversations make me sane. She has two boys that are 4 and 1 so when we are together its nonstop excitement with 2 boys, 2 girls lots of fairy costumes and batman figurines. We both volunteer together frequently at a clothing pantry at a nearby church. We both also share a love of coupons, yard sales, cleaning, organizing and decorating. I'm currently working on introducing her to Harry Potter so that she can enjoy it and I don't have to be a nerd by myself. 

Currently, Shawn' s a busy lady. Shes running her household and taking care of two small boys while also pursuing her degree. She cleans houses and also volunteers at her church. It was a rarity that we got out together without children so that is why I chose this occasion as an event to blog about. :)

Four of us gals went out on a night on the town to celebrate my dear friend and BFF Shawn's 28th birthday! 

Shawn and myself

Terri (Shawn's Mom) and Laura (Shawn's other bff)

It was a fun night. We met at Terri's house and rode together to Mass Ave. I've never been there so I was all about trying something new. We had dinner at a pub called Ralston's. They had the coolest door. Ever since Ive seen it I keep seeing mosaic projects made from bottle caps. Im seriously inspired by this and want to create a masterpiece but Im still unsure what I would glue a bunch of caps to. I also think I need to start drinking some capped beverages in the meantime until I figure it out.

After dinner we went to see live theatre at a place called "Theatre on the Square". If you havent been there I strongly recommend it.

 http://tots.org/

The play that we saw was called "The Love List". It wasn't the greatest play but I loved the lay out of the place. It was vintagey and a tad bit creepy but definitely my style. Haha. The way that it is layed out you go in to watch the play but the seating makes it so that you are almost part of the actual stage. Definitely up close and personal with the actors/set. Since Im in love with live theatre i would go back given the chance.

I thought that we were going home after dinner and a "movie" because well Im a mom and old and thats usually where a night would end. Well no, I forgot how much of a go getter Terri is and Laura is right there with her. Shawn and I were in for a treat because our dinner and a movie turned into shots at a karokee bar.

I remember taking this picture but since I was in the backseat I have no idea where we were. I can tell you that we were the only ones there because it was the middle of a snowstorm! Ill spare everyone the video footage of Terri and I singing En Vogue's "Never Gonna Get It". Seriously, I honestly do sound much better in the shower. 

So fast forward and we finally leave the bar, its almost 2 am and I am telling these people that I need to get home. Id been up for what seemed like days and since it was 2 am it really was. So we get back to Terri's and Im brushing all the snow off my car and they start talking about going to Denny's. Umm...Im not about to miss out on Denny's! So ....

So we are all being loud and obnoxious and laughing hysterically because we ended up with the weirdest waitress because who else would work at Denny's at 3am? I dont even remember at this point what she was talking about because I was sleep deprived and had been drinking but  Laura and I go to the bathroom and see this guy.....

Just sleeping in the corner. We asked the waitress who then proceeds to tell us that its her boyfriend and he had came to pick her up but she picked up another shift so he fell asleep because he didnt want to go home to talk to her mom. It was the longest drawn out story but long story short Shawn got a free Grand Slam and ice cream! We took some other pics with the guy that were on Laura's phone and I think she got his phone number and texted them to him. This girl is a trip!

So that sums up the evening!

 Shawn thank you for being such a great friend for the past 9 years! 

We need to get out more! 

Disney on Ice! (Mary Lomax aka Mamaw)

On January 23rd, the kids and I went to see Disney on Ice: Princesses and Heroes with Mamaw.

Mary is my other Mom aka Mother in law aka Mamaw to my kiddos. She jumped on the chance to be able to take the day off from her work on the farm and to go to the ice show with me and the kids. I think I have seen this show almost every year since I was 16. Its always been at Conseco/Bankers Life Fieldhouse and its always been possible to park  in the parking garage attached to the fieldhouse. so why on the day that we had subzero temps and crazy wind did they decide to close the garage is beyond me. After about 30 minutes of searching and driving in circles downtown we found public parking at a reasonable rate only two blocks away. Two blocks doesn't sound like far at all until you have two children in a double stroller and no adequate winter wear! AHH. SO here I am running like crazy with just my thin fleece jacket, no hat, no scarf, no gloves, pushing my monstrosity of a stroller with my two kids covered by blankets. I just took off! Mamaw was somewhere behind me. HAHAHA. She was left in the dust with no idea as to where we were headed. Aspen was crying her face off because her hair clip had fallen out. Each time the wind would gust I was thrown sideways. It was seriously forceful!

Once we arrived and Aspen saw the princesses she was so excited about her "surprise". She was able to sit still through most of the show but started getting antsy after intermission.

 I remember first meeting Mary just two weeks after I met Luke. He took me out to his parents farm that they hadn't owned for very long. His dad was away on a trip and his mom, sister, sister in law and grandma had gone to get pedicures so it was just me, Luke and his brother in law. They were moving scrap wood to make a "mountain" for their goats to climb. Luke told me to stand by the fence and make sure none of the goats got out. Yeah, ok, I can do that no big deal. Well next thing I know there's a horse walking towards me, then trotting, then running. I started screaming and the horse ran down the street! I just know that horse could smell that I wasn't about to stop him from running past me! Im not a fan of horses! (Or most animals period.) so Luke was on a four wheeler chasing a horse down Carroll Road. And Im standing here thinking I thought I was just supposed to be watching goats no one ever said there were horses in the same pasture. So I had a small heart attack that day. And thankfully the car load of women that I had never met but was soon to be related to pulled up to the house after the horse was back in the pen and I could stand back and act like it never happened. :)


 It didn't take long after meeting his family for us to realize that we were going to marry each other. I think we were engaged two weeks after that and married one year after the day we met. Yeah things moved quickly and Im sure his parents were left in the dust just scratching their heads thinking what in the world are these two kids doing but all in all Id say things are working out really well. :)  

Pizza! (Megan Craig)

On January 22nd, I had Megan over for a fancy frozen pizza dinner meal.

Megan and I used to work together at Home Instead/Home Again Senior Care. I was hired on as a Client Care Coordinator there in December of 2011. The company started to grow quickly so she was also hired to job share with me in April of 2012. We were partners in crime. We worked so well together because she is such a great person. She's also a morning person, which worked so well in my favor because one of us needed to be working all the time from sun up to sun down.

Our job  consisted of taking phone inquiries and answering questions of potential clients. From that we would set up Care Consultations and meet with the potential client and their families. From that we would bring a caregiver to the home for an introduction and help them with any training they may need for the client. We would also do 90 day pop in Quality Assurance visits to make sure that the caregivers were doing their jobs correctly and also that the client was satisfied with their services. These were our main duties but as most jobs go we also had all the in between stuff that ultimately ended up being our responsibility.

It was fun being able to have her over for an evening and talk about all the new stuff that is going on in the office. It sounds like the business is prosperous and productive without me. Haha. I still cant believe that we are approaching the one year anniversary of me not working and being at home with the kids.

My hope is that even though Megan and I don't see each other every day any more that we can still stay in touch and hopefully get together again soon.