Hello.

Today is techincally my work-week hump day. I couldn't be more excited!

Happy hump day peeps!

Nice. Real Nice.

Why do I EVER open my mouth? Lady Luck, Fate, The "man" upstairs...whatever you want to call "it" never fails to slap me upside the head whenever I come close to gloating about little man's health.

Weekend Re-cap? SURE!

We (little man and I) found ourselves at an open house/housewarming party on Saturday evening. There were tons of kids, bouncing in an indoor bounce house...pretty much every childs wet dream.

There were tons of people. Everywhere.

The food was DELISH, a spread of homemade Chipotle style chicken, rice, beans and all of the fun fixins.

After supervising little man for a couple of hours, we were on our way home. We snuggled in on the couch, and watched a movie. Little man was in bed shortly before 9 (late, but don't judge, it was a SATURDAY after all).

Since I didn't feel like being productive, I managed to veg-out on the couch, catching some SNL, and falling asleep in the process.

Around midnight, little man came BOLTING out of his room, crying hysterically. I darted awake (still on the couch of course) and picked him up to try and decipher what was wrong...and then....I smelled it.

The poor little man had gotten sick all over his bed, floor and some various toys and books that he HAS to have next to his bed when he goes to sleep at night, including his Goodnight Moon book, and his Toy Story Woody doll.

My heart sank. Although my little man is growing up, when things like this happen I'm reminded at how little he actually is.

All was well as of Sunday morning. We were both very tired from the night, but we both survived (losing Goodnight Moon, and one stuffed animal in the process).

Remind me to NEVER EVER mention how happy I am that we're both healthy. Seriously.

It's that time of year...

KDWB Christmas Wish Season!!!

If you don't remember what happened last year, you can catch up here.

Since I'm fairly certain the link won't be clicked, here's what happened (in a nutshell).

KDWB, a local pop radio station, grants people going through tough times a Christmas wish. I took a chance, and submitted a friend of mine to have a KDWB Christmas Wish granted. She was a teacher at a local school, and had mentioned how the kids in her classroom came from tough homes, some without socks or beds to sleep in. I filled out the KDWB form and was extremely surprised when their office contacted me to say my friend's Christmas wish was going to be granted. Many many MANY tears were shed. It was a truly awesome experience, and I am so thankful my friend brought the needs of her school kids to my attention, and that my wish submission was chosen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

After hearing all of the hub-bub about the Christmas wish I had granted for my friend, a person came up to me and said "I thought about submitting a Christmas wish for you and little man...I just didn't know how you'd think about it, so I didn't."

I was completely shocked.

I will be the first person to tell you that children are EX-PEN-SIVE. I know I've had moments of (what felt like) extreme struggle. Yes, my lights have been turned off (and were turned back on a day later). Yes, there was one Christmas that a last minute gift card from an uncle (which I should've saved for myself) allowed me to buy Christmas gifts for my niece and son. Sure, there have been times where I was uneasy about my rent check going through, or if I could afford to pay for little man's daycare.

With all of the struggles that I've been through, I've survived. I feel like I've come out of my struggles as "on-top of things" as I possibly could have. Never, while going through my struggles to survive as a single parent, did I think I'd be qualified to receive a Christmas wish. As grateful and honored as I am that the thought crossed someones mind, I'm also grateful for those with deeper struggles than my own who were afforded a Christmas "miracle."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

How do the holidays look for me this year?

Not good, but not bad.

With having to take little man to the ER, missing seven days of work in three weeks due to little man's illness (and catching the crud myself), AND having to foot a hefty dental bill within a couple of weeks before Christmas...Sure, things could be better....

But people, they are nowhere NEAR bad.

I'm healthy.
Little man is healthy.
We've got a warm place to sleep (and the lights are ON).
We've got food in our cupboards.
We've got each other.
We've got friends.
We've got family.
We've got a Christmas tree that WILL go up (the day after thanksgiving).

Is there really much more I need this holiday season?

I don't think so.

Happy holidays everyone.

I See The Light

Just over two years ago, I started at my present company. At the time, I found out the health insurance of my current company was DIFFERENT than what I was previously accustomed to. At that very moment, my heart shattered into a million pieces.

See, I had been taking little man to the same clinic that I had gone to since I was a baby. I was familiar with their policies and procedures. The clinic felt like an extended family.

I was under the impression my favorite clinic ONLY accepted my former health insurance. Boohoo, litereally.

I have gone for two years (+) taking little man to various Minute-Clinic's for an ear infection or other miscellaneous illnesses. I broke down last winter, and tried out a pediatric office that was in-network....and wasn't impressed. It felt like a pediatric patient-factory. In and out, without much attention to personal details, not to mention, it was a HIKE to get to.

Recently, I discovered a small clinic close to my home. Little man wasn't due for a physical, so I hadn't fully assessed if they would be a fit for my #1 three year old (as well as his overprotective, semi-hypochondriac of a mother...me). It wasn't until he spiked a high fever last week that I took little man to this clinic. Let me tell you, it was a HORRIBLE experience (one which I'll share another time).

I was once told that you can (and should) only try and manage one change at a time. So, my blogging friends, today was the day I decided to call my insurance to get to the bottom of my issue: Could I take little man to his old clinic...or not?

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I should've made this call TWO YEARS AGO....but I was handling so much and blah blah blah, whatevs. The point is, I called today...spoke to a lovely lady named Brooke.

I CAN TAKE HIM BACK TO OUR OLD CLINIC.

I literally teared up on the phone. I consider this my first holidy miracle of 2009.

Karaoke S.O.S.

The beer is flowing.
The lighting is dim.
The music is blaring....

Karaoke style.

I always find myself paging through the song selections for what feels like HOURS...only to settle on songs I've sang a dozen times(+). My fail safes that aren't necessarily crowd pleasers (either because I suck at singing, because they're usually country tunes, or both of the previous...I digress). Ya know, Gretchen Wilson's Red Neck Woman and The Dixie Chicks's Some Days You Gotta Dance (honestly people...those are usually the ONLY TWO SONGS I WILL SING ATTEMPT TO SING).

On my way home a song comes on my radio and a lightbulb goes off in my head "THAT'S THE SONG I SHOULD'VE ATTEMPTED!!!!!! RAR!!!!!!!!!!!"

So, I ask you this...What are some classic, crowd pleasing karaoke tunes...and does such a thing actually exist? Give me some ideas peeps....puh-LEASE!

Dear Friday,

You only come around once a week, and I'm not sure if I'm alright with that. Most times, you seem to sneak up on me...and I'll tell you one thing for certain, I'm ALWAYS glad when you're here. Why can't you come around more often? Would that be too much to ask?
Most of the time you think you're high and mighty...which, I don't blame you for. I mean, your competition is pretty weak. If my competition was Tuesday I'd feel high and mighty too...because we both know Tuesday's are usually rotten.
Is there something I can do to make you come around more? I'll be good, I swear! I hope you take my request into serious consideration.
Looking forward to seeing you in seven more days...

Sincerely,
Stacy

Clean Sweep.

I'm not afraid to admit that I loathe cleaning. It's a task I find extremely mundane, and boring...and I always have better things to do than to sit at home and clean, which is why my home is usually is shambles.
For the past month, I've been particularly HORRIBLE at doing simple chores like picking up the house, laundry, doing the dishes, etc. I felt justified since every weekend for the past month I have dealt with a sickness of my own, or a sick little man.
For as much as I HATE cleaning, I approached this weekend with a spark of cleaning motivation. I had made a list that is LITERALLY two pages long, and was determined to cross two things off of the list (note: each "thing" is a sub-list of about ten things).
I started with my kitchen, rationalizing that it's the first room you see when you enter my place. One by one, I emptied each and every cupboard, scrubbing the bottom surfaces, decided what I wanted to toss and what I wanted to keep. Since my kitchen is relatively small, I only had to go through four cupboards. Once finished with mission cupboard clean/organize, I moved onto the dreaded ABOVE the cupboards (note: my kitchen cabinets sit a foot below my ceiling, making them the perfect spot to collect random odd things...and copious amounts of gunk).
My kitchen now sits clean, decluttered, de-gunked, and smelling fresh. I love it. I still feel very overwhelmed with the tasks that are remaining on my list...but at least I've started.

Are you a cleaner? Do you loathe cleaning as much as I do?

Motivation

Laughter
Love
Accomplishment
Self Worth
Little Man
Camaraderie
Respect
Dignity

These are the things that motivate me.

What motivates you?

NaBloPoMo

I missed the mark on this one for the THIRD TIME! Argh.

The first year I was blogging, I was mystified by the fact that people participated in a "contest" and posted interesting stuff DAILY for the ENTIRE month of November. The second time I missed signing up by sheer happenstance...and this time? Well, this time I had been sick the entire last week of October, and don't have the internet at home....so yeah, another year without trying NaBloPoMo out.

I'm not SUPER bummed about missing out on this years festivities...I mean, I can hardly find the time to gather up my thoughts and opinions on life these days, let alone come up with THIRTY daily posts...Yeah...maybe next year!

Are you participating? What do you think of the NaBloPoMo concept?

Happy Hump Day, world of bloggers and readers!!

Back.

So, the past week and a half have been a whirlwind of one sickness after another....I took little man to the ER just over a week ago (he was diagnosed with pneumonia, my guess as a result of the dreaded H1N1). Then, I proceeded to get sick the day that little man could return to daycare...I went to work, only to be scoffed at for coming into the office sick, and sent home shortly after. I was in bed the rest of the week...
When I'm at home, I'm without internet access (BOO!!), hence, no posts or updates in a while.
But, like I've already mentioned once....I'm BACK!
I'll try and think of something thought provoking to share....tomorrow.

Toodles!