Spring Cleaning

This week Brian decided we needed to do some major spring cleaning. His goal was to go through the whole house and get rid of 25% of everything we own. He is a happy minimalist and unfortunately, in this relationship, I am the pack rat. If you had asked me I would have denied that I keep unnecessary things, however, this week has revealed my true character! I keep STUFF! So, my husband has been unusually patient with me as I try to come to grips with getting rid of some STUFF. We are doing well so far but it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So, I am taking a break to tell you a week's worth of things I love about my husband. I will say that I have a journal where I write them down, day-by-day. I don't think I could sit on Friday's and just think up a week's worth of stuff but one thing a day is manageable.

Jan 16. He is aggressive and confrontational and comfortable being that way.
Jan 17. He is patient when he knows I am struggling.
Jan 18. He is focused and determined to finish a project he starts.
Jan 19. After several days of spring cleaning, without a word he did my chore and took the many bags of trash to the curb.
Jan 20. He has an intuition about things that I don't have.
Jan 21. He understands that Thursday night is for watching Grey's Anatomy.
Jan 22. In everything he does, he wants what's best for our kids.

Today's project is cleaning out our file cabinets... I am sure you can sense my EXCITEMENT!

Week 2

Week 2 of the New Year and we finally got to celebrate Christmas. We went away to the Great Wolf Lodge which was a great time and really eased the transition of Christmas. It was unlike any other Christmas we have had so broke the traditions a little which was nice. It still felt strange to be opening presents without Dad around saying "I picked that for you" even when we knew he didn't. The kids had a blast though!

Other than that not a whole lot is new so here we go with week 2 of my resolution...

Jan 9. He is supportive of the kids in whatever they do and cheers them on as their biggest fan.
Jan 10. He does stuff with us that he doesn't like to do and doesn't complain (like go to a waterpark when he doesn't swim)
Jan 11. He takes care of the kids so I can work and don't have to worry about them.
Jan 12. He does stuff for me that he knows I hate doing (peeling stickers).
Jan 13. He takes care of our finances so I don't have to.
Jan 14. He sings believing he has a good voice (which I love and makes me laugh out loud).
Jan 15. He has a passion for soccer that we share and a love for the kids on his team as if they were his own.

So far so good... this may be the longest I have ever kept up a resolution :)

New Year's Resolution

I hate New Year's Resolutions! It never seems to last more than a few weeks but in those few weeks it makes the gym very crowded! I rarely make them, however, this year I have decided to and to use this blog to hold me accountable to keeping it for the entire year!

One of the things I struggled the most with in losing my Dad was putting myself in the place of my Mom and losing the love of my life. That person that she said "I do" to almost 40 years ago. The person she vowed to be faithful to and care for in sickness and health. Not just the fact that she did have to care for him in sickness or the memories that she will forever cherish of their time when he was healthy. It was overcoming the extreme loss of the person she was to grow old with who was not even old yet. And as I cried for her I found it almost impossible to separate the feelings I would have if the roles were reversed and I had lost MY best friend, soulmate, lover, father of my children... husband.

So, this year my mission is to find something about this man that I chose that I love. It may seem like an easy task, and many days it will be, but the challenge of it all is to find something that I love even on the bad days. At the end of the year, I will have 365 reasons to remind me why he was the one I wanted to grow old with...

Jan 1. During the saddest time of my life, he held me.
Jan 2. He knows how to make me laugh.
Jan 3. He fosters a love of education in Little One that I couldn't and makes him want to be better.
Jan 4. He has worked hard to create a business that we are successful in while enabling us to be a family.
Jan 5. He encourages me to be successful with new ventures and shares in the successes as if he had the same passion I do.
Jan 6. He will watch a chick flick with me and make it to the end (unlike some of us).
Jan 7. He gave me one of the best gifts, 11 yrs ago today, in our oldest son.
Jan 8. He makes me feel loved.

Trying to Find Normal Again

I am trying to pick up and get going again and am having a tough time knowing where to start. My life feels a little like slow-mo right now. The bathroom is still a wreck. Some Christmas presents are still not wrapped (since we have not done Christmas with my family yet). My office looks like a hurricane hit it. And I just don't have any umph right now to get up and go.

However, there was a bright spot to my day. Just before Christmas I had a call from the editor of Advocate Magazine that she wanted to write an article about my purses. I said "SURE!" and sent her one so she could touch it and feel it and well, you know... love it! And she did! So I thought I would post her article here so I can brag a little, I mean, you can enjoy it too...

http://www.advocatemag.com/lake-highlands/blog/Last_minute_gift_old_magazines_lh.html

On Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 9:50 pm my father passed away. We had known for 2 years that the day was closer than we ever wanted it to be but when it came it was way too quick. His slow deterioration gave us every opportunity to say all the things we wanted to say and I can happily say I took advantage of that. There was nothing I feel like I didn't say and I don't have regrets. However, to say that I won't miss him terribly is impossible. I don't have the memories that my sister and brother have of him while we were little. The thing that rings in my ears from my childhood is... "I'm Very Disappointed In You!" (Not that I didn't give him many reasons or opportunities to use the phrase... ) The memories I have now are as an adult talking about business or football or watching him interact with my kids. To hear the memories they have of him melts my heart.

He was the best dad any girl could ever want and a day will not go by that I don't wish he was still here.

For anyone asking about his services, they are as follows:
VISITATION
Friday 1/1/10 5-8pm
Lucas Funeral Home
305 West 1st Street
Justin, TX 76247-9608

MEMORIAL SERVICE
Sat 1/2/10
Abundant Life Assembly of God
1520 West Wall Street
Grapevine, TX 76051

Look What They DiD!!!

So the other day Brian and I walked into the bathroom to find that the wall of the shower had started to collapse. So in the madness of the Christmas season we started to demo the bathroom. And as most people know, there is a small portion of me that has a little problem with germs, so you can laugh that I made the kids wear masks and gloves to their elbows but I can only imagine what kind of deadly germs live behind 25 year old walls...

They thought it was so fun and even helped me clean out phase one from the tub to begin ripping out the bench. Unfortunately under the tile that he is hitting above is, well, not much. So it appears it may add another step to figure out how to re-create the step or do away with it. They are excited to be destroying something and looking forward to picking out tile and rebuilding. I told them if we complete this successfully we may just start ripping up carpet too... I am sure Brian would be thrilled... And for anyone that knows him... yes, he was a nervous wreck that the kids were in there doing this and that we won't be able to fix it!! He did use this opportunity to pull entire sections of the walls down to show his children that he has some small part of him that is equivalent to, well, SUPERMAN! The look in their eyes as he is pulling off sections that are bigger than they are was priceless. They are convinced, beyond all doubt, that he is part SUPERHERO with super-human strength (and he loves every second of this fantasy for someday they will know the truth!)

My Birthday Month!!

I just wanted to remind everyone that my birthday month started yesterday! It is so much fun to celebrate all month long when it is the last day of the month. I want to wish my sister a Happy Birthday Month too. I guess I have always resorted to a whole month celebration because I have to share the month with her and Christmas and, well, New Years Eve! So begins the celebration.

I am working on getting my NEW tree up but can't seem to get everything else done and get motivated enough to do it. The projects in my mind seem to be outweighing the Christmas tree so today I am trying to FOCUS and get it done. I have a very long list of other things I feel like I need to do first so I am trying to cross those off. And in the midst of checking things off the list I missed the snow!! In between laundry, cleaning and working in the garage apparently it snowed.

I bought the kid's "big gift" the other day (iPod touches, THANK YOU WALMART!) and had them hidden in my shoes. I gave the kids a hint to try and find them... "When you find them you will KICK yourself." Well, they tore this place up looking for them. On Monday night, Brandon found them and I told them that if they would cheer for me to win Fantasy Football against their dad and I did they could have them. Well, I was down by 21 points and we both had QBs playing in the game on Monday night so I thought there was no way I could win... BUT I DID! So, true to my word, the kids are enjoying their Christmas gifts as we speak. Hopefully they won't be too disappointed when Christmas actually gets here and they already got it.