Joys In My Life

The boys portraits at preschool came out really good!  I didn't think they could get Liam to smile as big as they did!  He rarely smiles and "no" is his favorite word. Hope everyone had a very Happy Christmas and is having a great time getting ready for New Year.

Family 1.  Schedule 3 date nights with DH - already got 12/7, 12/8 and 12/15 scheduled. 2.  Help boys get through sleeping through night without pull ups.  Still working with Liam on going #2 in the potty. 3.  Scheduled time to go to Longwood Gardens to see holiday show with the family. 4.  Schedule time to go see Santa and have pictures taken. 5.  Attend Phoebe's school choir and orchestra concerts. Holiday 1.  Finish holiday shopping for kids and extended family. 2.  Decorate inside and outside house for Christmas (Tom does outside with Phoebe, so that's really their goal, LOL) Work 1.  Finish writing year-end reviews for three directs. 2.  Finish writing my own year-end summary. 3.  Assist as I can with the work to bring the UDBAs into Risk Execution. 4.  Plan Controls implementation for Risk UDBAs for next year - put together deck to describe. 5.  Clean out SEAL of new and retiring UDBAs. 6. ...

I've been very busy with starting school and my new job at work all happening at the same time. I will try not to be a stranger. In the meantime, enjoy a pic of cuteness from Halloween this year.

I have a saying lately that goes along with "When it rains it pours."  The new saying is "When the blessings come in they come in by the bucketload."  One of my recent blessings is meeting Marcia .  I've been so excited for this meet up, as we seem to be alike in so many ways online it's scary.  We both love to make lists.  We both love things to be organized and chaos drives us crazy.  We are both very into enforcing manners with our children. I will say our meet up did not disappoint me.  Marcia is a beautiful person inside and out.  I loved listening to her talk and especially watch her talking with her hands - so happy to have a picture of that!  We got lots of good pictures, but of course there is never enough.  We had a lovely dinner with our husbands that evening and probably kept them out later than they should be, as they had early morning flights to catch back to Johannesburg.  Marcia and D - It was so nice meeting y...

I want to make sure I start August fresh with new goals.  I took August's goals and built on it from there.  Some of the items that didn't go so well (cardio/exercise!), I have on the list again and I will work on a better go of it this month.  This is really helping keep me focused and I really think it does pay off.  July was a very big month for me!  Not only did I get to meet Marcia, which was such a surreal experience, and work on getting prepared to go back to school while juggling work and family, but I also got requested to post for a job that is a promotion for me. I posted, interviewed and got the job all in the last week of July!!!  I can't believe all these good things are happening for me at once!!!    Family Date nights with DH - working on plans for the weekend of 8/10, but not sure what we'll have time for after that.  Finish filling out the paperwork for the boys to start preschool starting the 9/5. Potty...

Things have been totally crazy!!!  I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to put up blog posts about all the amazing stuff going on.  I still have to post about the great meetup with Marcia and her husband in NYC.  We had such a fabulous time and she truly is a beautiful and amazing person!  This will all come soon.  I even have pictures of the fun we had! Family Date nights with DH 4 times (currently scheduled on 7/6, 7/14 and 7/28) Ensure the boys are scheduled for preschool starting the Tuesday after Labor Day (BTW, this is September 5) Potty training both boys - now we just need to get them moved over to using the real potty.  They've been using potty chairs, so we can see what they are going.  They are currently only wearing pull-ups at bedtime and naptime is in underwear!  Liam still doesn't seem to make it to the potty to poo, though.  He really wants to.  Make sure Phoebe is doing her summer reading an...

Holy cow!  I don't think I could be any more blissfully happy than I currently am.  Makes me think all our hard work (DH and I) is finally paying off.  As you saw in my goals update post, we've paid off our credit cards, which is amazing.  We were looking at our finances last night and just so happy to be where we are right now.  We're trying to figure out what our next financial goals will be. Potty training is also going very very well.  I don't want to jinx it, but they just seem so much more ready.  Liam can be stubborn sometimes, but if I remind them that they can go back to playing when they are done and show them how happy it makes me and how proud I am of them, they seem to be very much on board with the whole thing.  Which was also great yesterday visiting the preschool they will be in full time starting the first week of September.  It hit me yesterday that in two years they will be in Kindergarten!  I mean when is this all h...

Some things are going well toward progressing on my July goals, others I need to work on.  But I'm very very pleased. Crossed off items are done! Family Date nights with DH 4 times (currently scheduled on 7/6, 7/14 and 7/28) Ensure the boys are scheduled for preschool starting the Tuesday after Labor Day (BTW, this is September 5) Potty training both boys - going very well.  Tommy had a dry pull up this morning and went first thing this morning and kept his underwear dry all morning until I put a pull up on him for nap time.  Liam still needs encouragement, but when he has a success, he's so proud of himself and we show him how proud we are of him. Make sure Phoebe is doing her summer reading and practicing math skills - Yup.  She's moving forward.  Work Write and deliver mid-year reviews - still need to work on. Hire two new developers (we got the requisitions approved and posted on Friday last week!)  - still working on.  No internal po...

I'll be updating my July goals later today.  Things are progressing very well.  Part of my goals is to get back to menu planning.  It will help prepare me for the fall when we'll be in school, the boys will be in preschool and I'm starting school again in August.  Plus menu planning saves us money!!!  And keeps me more stress free!  Anyway, we've already eaten through Sunday and Monday.  Was very yummy! Sunday Turkey burger sliders (setup in freezer already) Asian cole slaw (DH makes this and I need to get the recipe from him!  I'm addicted!) Grilled zucchini (from garden) with garlic and onions Monday Personal pizzas (I will admit I had the Boboli brand mini pizza crusts) Salad - I actually had salad on my pizza.  I put an arugula salad on top of my pizza after I cooked it. Tuesday - after orthodontist appt (we'll be home by 5PM) Rotini pasta with pesto (made from the garden's basil), mozzarella cheese cubes and halved cherry to...

It's the beginning of July and the garden is doing amazing.  Ignore the paint bucket in the picture, this is how I transport all my garden tools down to the garden. Do you remember the fig tree we planted this year?  My has it grown!!! How about my tiny little strawberry plants?  They are doing amazing!!!  They really love being in the garden.  So do Japanese beetles which took some chomps out of the leaves, but no harm done. We've picked several zucchini and yellow squash already.  I'm getting all excited for the tomatoes that will be coming soon, as well as the cucumbers.  Look at all the flowers on my cucumber plants!!! I think next year I'm going to convince DH to let me make this my herb garden and build us an even bigger garden for our veggies.  I could really have some fun then!

I'm going to try to post my monthly goals here, especially since I need to ensure I'm staying on track and organized as I start the MBA program the first week of August.  Here we are for July!!! Family Date nights with DH 4 times (currently scheduled on 7/6, 7/14 and 7/28) Ensure the boys are scheduled for preschool starting the Tuesday after Labor Day Potty training both boys Make sure Phoebe is doing her summer reading and practicing math skills Work Write and deliver mid-year reviews Hire two new developers (we got the requisitions approved and posted on Friday last week!) Document new development guidelines School Ensure finances are in order to pay for school in August 2012 Finish pre-work from email Finishing reading the book Strengths Finder 2.0 Complete the Personal Biography and email to coordinator Health and Fitness Get cardio every day Eat very healthy Drink 3-20oz bottles of water per day Try 4 new healthy recipes Menu plan for week Ma...

Today is the day we found out the fate of DH's employment status as the sale of the old company he worked for happened on Saturday.  Good news is he is in the bucket of being offered a permanent position.  His title is staying the same of a Director, so they are not trying to offer him a lower position than he used to have, so it seems.  The salary is with a 19% pay cut, but we have checked the budget numbers and we can handle that.  However, he can't say a lot of his employees and co-workers had similiar good fates today.  As my old mentor used to tell me, "Good people do get laid off." Other than that, I've been working hard at my office.  I heard a rumor that there may be a reorganization that affects me and give me a new manager.  I have heard who the new manager would be and I think I'm OK with it.  I'm sure there are more details, but I don't know when they will be making these changes and I have to stay completely mum as I was told in con...

This salad is a modified version of what is in one of my favorite cookbooks - "Clean Start" .  They lightly cook some of these veggies in the salad and serve it warm, but I really liked it like this raw and I had daikon radishes available and not regular radishes. Dressing 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar 2 Tablespoons orange juice 1 Tablespoon lime juice 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped dill 1/16 teaspoon Xanthan gum Salad 2 cups pea shoots - chop in a few big pieces to make it easier to eat 1/2 red onion, diced 1/2 cup diced daikon radish 1 carrot, diced 1/2 cup sliced snow peas 2 avocados, diced 1 cup cooked chick peas Mix the dressing first and let it sit while you assemble the rest of the salad.  Mix all the salad ingredients together and put in large salad bowls to serve.  I put the dressing on the salad in the serving bowls and any leftover salad can be stored in the fridge with the dressing on the side. For non-vegetaria...

I'm getting very excited about going back to school.  I'm working on all my pre-work activities:  financial aid forms, reading assignments and I have to write a personal biography with a picture.  I'm working hard to try to get more organized with my time and my priorities in order to prepare me for the increased pressure on my time between work, home and school.  Marcia's Time Mgmt Purpose Pack is really helping me and I might try to take one of her courses in the next month to ensure I know what I need to be doing. It also looks like DH may be keeping his job at the new company that is acquiring the one he currently works for.  The sale goes through on June 30 (this week!) and they will have an announcement on who is staying, what their new roles and responsibilites are, which ones are being let go and which ones will have temporary assignments at the new company.  He had a phone call on Thursday with someone at the new company, who led him t...

I'm going to do today's update based on the pictures I downloaded from my camera, so this will be very random. DH is an amazing cook.  I have no idea how he comes up with it.  Here's our dinner pics from last Thursday night. And here's how he put it all together on a salad.  The chicken is here somewhere.  And yes that is grilled pineapple, and a mix of grilled chick peas, onions, garlic and red peppers. Our daughter loves to take pictures and she took some around the house the other day and I thought they were really good.  Here are a few of them.  This one is in our sun room. So is this.  This is on the bookshelf in the sun room.  The middle jade piece Tom brought back from his trip to China a few years ago with the same EMBA program I'm about to do.  The others we bought in the States. This is in our hallway downstairs As we all know, naps with the boys has become hard to get to happen, so sometimes they just f...

This week was Phoebe's first week off school for the summer.  Hopefully this week won't be an omen of what's to come for the rest of summer vacation.  It was a very interesting and eventful week: The boys had their first dentist visit.  Phoebe and I had our regular cleanings that day too.  The boys did well and I think they are on their way to understanding we go to the dentist every 6 months and it's easy and fun. Tommy broke a window in the living room the one evening.  He through a sippy cup at the window and broke the first pane of a double-paned window.  We have it taped up until I can find out the best solution to get it fixed.  My neighbor across the street had one of her boys break a window a few months ago.  I'm going to ask her who she had fix it, but she's out of town for a few days. Phoebe fractured her baby toe on her right foot that same evening.  She fell when she was playing.  She had X-rays that confirmed a fracture...

I got a great picture of the boys Friday morning before we went to the pediatrician for their 3 year checkup.  I will admit to bribing them with M&Ms to get a good photo.  Who would have thought that day they drove me insane with how crazy they were because of lack of sleep!  They have been going to bed early now.  They used to go to bed at 7PM.  Now they are ready for bed by 5:30 - 6PM.  It's crazy, but the past two nights, they have fallen asleep right away, thanks to the blackout curtains we bought at Walmart.  They might not be napping; however, bedtime is happening and they are getting back to being pleasant again during the day. Update from the appointment is that Tommy is 3' 2 1/2" and almost 35 lbs.  Liam is 3' 1/2" and almost 28 lbs.  All is healthy and their development is on target.  Now as long as they keep sleeping, they will continue to be happy too.

Something I've been struggling with since the boys were born is whether or not I should go back to work.  After Phoebe was born, I didn't wrestle with that decision.  It was pretty much assumed I'd go back to work and I did with no questions in my head.  Having the boys and now that Phoebe is older and seems to need me more to talk about tween issues, I've questioned if I should stop working to be more available for the kids. Recently, I've come to terms with being back at work, and I'm glad to know that I am working for right now.  I still have the struggle of the balance of work vs. family life, but some things have happened recently that have made me OK with it.  My DH might not have a job sometime after June 30th.  The company he works for is being sold on this day.  Our health benefits are all currently with his job and it's nice to know that I could call up my HR department at a moment's notice and sign up for health benefits at my work.  ...

So the boys have been out of cribs and the sleeping is not going so well.  Naps are pretty much non-existent and they fall asleep pretty late, although they do stay in their room, just playing until they drop.  When one of them wakes up in the morning, they wake up the other one whether they were ready or not. This would never happen in crib days, as they couldn't poke each other, just yell at each other which would take awhile before the one asleep would notice.  It was time though.  They are three years old already and Tom's one sister needed one of the cribs as she's due any day now.  Here they are falling asleep at night finally. And a rare day that they napped in the afternoon I am working on picking out a bunk bed set that comes apart to make two twin beds, but now this is good, as you can see Liam can't even stay in a bed.  I frequently find him on the floor.  The beds I'm looking at also have bed rails built in.  I also want to g...

My mother's necklace we ordered for my Mother's Day present came in this past week.  It was from Posh Mommy .  Their birthdays are on the back.  I love the script font used and everything.  I've always wanted something like this, so I'm very happy and will wear it with pride!!!

I've fallen in love with the show "The Big Bang Theory".  Amy's character and relationship with Sheldon is one of the reasons why.  It may seem hard to believe, but my mother can attest, growing up, I was Amy's character.  Socially inept, very bright and bad taste in clothes, LOL.  I wasn't in neuroscience, but I was in electrical engineering, so what's the difference?  I do love Star Trek too, which is more Sheldon-like.  I find a lot of nostalgia for my youth in watching this show, but the other characters are still a lot like the statisticians I work with every day.  We're all pretty geeky around here.  I got the boys and Phoebe to watch Star Trek the Next Generation the other day with me.  I was trying to get them to say Jean-Luc Picard.  Didn't happen, but they liked the show.  There is hope for them yet.  The boys did see a small red planet in a book the other day and said, "That's Mars!"  Oh yes, my lit...

The garden is looking fantastic!!!  I can't wait to start getting some of the fruits of our labor.  But for now it looks beautiful. Some of the veggies we're looking forward to - zucchini and yellow squash: Tomatoes Radishes (these should be ready soon) Strawberries And a fig tree in the corner We also have some cucumbers and beans.  The flowers and other plants in the front yard are doing very well too!  The deer usually eat my day lilies, so since we've moved into the house, I've never had a decent crop of flowers.  This time, I sprayed them with deer off stuff at just the right time and it seems to be working. Here's the flowering bushes in our front beds And we planted topiaries in the planters by the front door this spring Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer!

Happy birthday, Tommy & Liam!!!  May your days be filled with sunshine, laughter and ice cream!  I can't believe you are three years old today.... For those keeping track, Tommy is on the left and Liam is on the right.  They are usually found that way in pictures.  They seem to do it on purpose. 

Here's the latest goings on in our house and the things to come.  Lots of moving and shaking happening: 1.  Yesterday I cleaned out all of Phoebe's clothes.  She had lots of clothes that did not fit her anymore in her closet and drawers.  Now that they are all gone, we can see properly what she needs for the summer.  Not that I want to spend much on clothes for her this summer.  I'm sure they won't fit her very long.  She's already 5'4" and getting taller all the time.  I think by the end of this year, she will be taller than me.  2.  I also cleaned the carpets in her room and the upstairs hallway last night with my carpet steamer/cleaner.  It's a Bissell and I love it!  3.  I started cleaning off my desk at home this morning while I was getting ready for work.  That desk can get messy and then I clean it and then it gets messy again.  I think I need to stick to keeping it clean.  I alwa...

I read the most amazing blog post today (thank you, Marcia ) and it really resounded with me.  You must go read this post from Tara Whitney .  What really stayed with me is the concept of nurturing yourself vs. pampering yourself.  I've been slowly creeping into the nurturing of myself.  DH and I started working out first thing in the morning.  We started last week and it's continued into this week.  We each have been spending 50 minutes on the elliptical every day, which my lower back is starting to thank me for.  However, I want more in this work and life balance than just that.  I want to spend more time in the garden.  I want to spend more time in the kitchen making meals instead of ordering take out.  I want to work on more healthy meals.  I know we're healthy now, but I want to have the time to tweak it a bit.  And I want time to declutter some things and not have some things be so messy.  I'd like to be ...

Thank you for all your kind comments on my self portraits.  I will admit I've always been more about skin care than wearing lots of makeup. My skin care has evolved over the years.  When I was a teenager, I used Ivory soap to wash my face and Bonne Bell toner my mom advised me to use (Thanks, Mom!).  When I was in college, I started using Clinique soap, toner and moisturizer.  This was the first time I ever used moisturizer.  When I was in my 30s, I started using Mary Kay skincare.  I still use their day solution that has sunscreen in it and Phoebe uses their Velocity line of skincare, which is for younger girls.  Today, I'm in my 40s and I've noticed my skin has gotten noticably drier.  It's awful.  So I've switched up the skin care again and I've been going to Sephora .  I found the Kate Sommerville products and I love them.  Here are my current favorites: I start with the Quench Hydrating Face Serum Then I use the De...

Marcia from 123 Blog challenged us to post Self Portraits.  I'm not a big fan of pictures of myself, and I felt quite narcisstic taking these pictures and trying to make them look good.  But I rose to the challenge, so here are my self-portraits!!! These are taken with my Sony Cybershot in the ladies room at work, LOL!

I need to get better than a once a month update on my blog.  We'll see about that as things continue to get more crazy!  I got the call today that I was accepted to the Villanova Executive MBA program.  It's hitting me now with how scary that is.  I will be busier than ever.  Other things are going really great!  DH and I have worked out first thing in the morning on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Would have done so this morning, except I couldn't wake up early this morning as DH and I had a date night last night.  It was a Tuscan wine dinner at a local restaurant.  Five courses and five wines.  Whew!  That was a lot of wine to put in my head.  I was so tired and happy when we got home last night.  I've been busy with other "Action" things of my theme for the year.  I'm getting my varicose veins fixed in mid-June!  Keeping up with work stuff, got my vegetable and herb garden planted this year already, cleani...

Great day all around today.  Knocked a presentation out of the park to my boss and his boss with my entire team present.  Very very good.  Then I ran off to a doctor's appointment with a specialist about my varicose veins.  We have a follow up appointment scheduled to do a procedure with injections that she says will fix it all up.  Unfortunately, insurance won't cover it, but it's not as expensive as I thought it would be.  So June 13th I hope to see the last of the nasty veins on the back of my right leg.  The end of itching in the middle of the night. On the flip side, Tommy is getting over from poison ivy or some other kind of contact rash.  It showed up on Wednesday afternoon, but we think he was in contact on Easter Sunday during the Easter Egg Hunt at my sister-in-law's.  I don't blame them though.  Tommy is the only kid that kept walking through the few areas of brush in their backyard.  Every other kid avoided it, but Tom...

Our Easter Bunny pic came out good this year.  I think it had something to do with the boys knowing the Easter Bunny brings chocolate.  Liam especially was quite happy.  They both had fun Easter Sunday eating through quite a bit of their candy.  We then hid the baskets on Monday.

It's really been pouring here.  We're just now trying to find out what it's all going to mean to us.  First, DH found out the company he works for is going to be sold.  This was on March 19th.  That same day, he found out that his boss had a heart attack and was in the hospital.  A week later his family decided to turn off life support as he had two more heart attacks at the hospital over the week and had no signs of brain activity.  He was only 58 years old and had already battled colon cancer with chemo two years before.  It was his son's wedding we went to in Maine back in January.  DH and I went up to Lake Placid, NY for the viewing and funeral March 29 - 31. The following Monday, they officially gave DH his boss's old job.  It's sad, but true, about "who has to die around here to get a promotion".  DH has really mixed feelings about the promotion, but with the sale of the company, it will give him more protection with a better sev...

Wow!  It's been a long time since I last posted!  It needs to not be so long between posts.  But work and home have been crazy but good.  We're getting lots of stuff done in both places.  Of course, it's not as much as I'd like it to be.  I work very hard at trying to stay organized using Marcia's organization forms, but I need to commit to having time to finish getting all my thoughts in one place.  Maybe I'll do that today (I wrote this earlier today, and it didn't happen.  I'll work on that tomorrow). Right now, I'm organizing photos that are on two different laptops.  First I took everything I backed up from the older laptop and putting it on the newer laptop.  When I backup pictures it's on a 1 TB network drive we have, which is so nice to know we have to make sure we have extra copies of all our pictures and important electronic documents.  Then I'm copying all the other pictures on the newer laptop to the network backup dri...

I've been Meme tagged by Cat  and I'm going to try to get this one done real quick, so I don't feel that I forget to do it.  I'm usually notoriously bad at getting back to these. The 11 questions I want answered: Name the one product in your kitchen you can not function without.  Olive oil if we are talking food product.  My Kitchen Aid mixer if we are talking about a prep product. If you can change your career decision, what would you like to be (disregard training, money etc-  this is a dream job).  This is easy, but I pick two. A high-school math teacher and a yoga teacher. What is your favorite toy (as in gadget, craft item, etc).  My daugher's iPad.  It's even better than my iPhone. What is your favorite book of all times? (or just choose one for now)  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  If you could give your 16 year old self one bit of advice only, what would it be?  - It will all be OK. Chocolate or vanilla cake?...