A Strange Comparison? Perhaps.

I may get stoned for making this odd comparison, but have you ever noticed that you can almost always find a way to make your daily horoscope applicable to your life? No matter what the horoscope says, somehow it was "meant" for your eyes to read that day, right? For example, here's my horoscope today: You hit the nail right on the head, and impress all the right people. Your energy just can't be denied today, so make sure that you're out in public and getting every bit of the attention you deserve. This makes sense to me and what I have brewing in my mind today. Does it make sense to anyone else, seeing my world from the outside? Probably not! And if I try to explain the similarities in my "real" world and my "cosmic" world, would it appear as obvious to anyone else as it does to me? Again, probably not.

I compare this to the message at church every Sunday. Do you ever feel like your pastor is talking directly to you? I do...every weekend! Ha! I suppose that's a good thing, huh? This weekend the message was about how we were all "dealt" a certain "hand" in life. One day, He will come back and say "what did you DO with the hand I dealt you?" It's not about how much money we have or what we drive or where we live. It's what we did with what we had. It's doing SOMETHING with what we were given. For the longest time I have just sat on what I had. I have remained idle in life. Sure, I've made changes in my life and taken chances, but for the most part I've played it safe, doing what I know, what is familiar. But I think I'm finally ready to DO more. Although I may fall on my face or I may get rejected, at least I'm TRYING.

TGIF

This was one exhausting week! After having an amazing weekend with the boyfriend, it was extremely hard to get back into the swing of things at work. I'm already looking forward to next week when JM will be back in town for a few days!

Road trippin' together!

So I briefly mentioned yesterday about our trip to Cleveland last weekend! We had such a good time that I felt like it deserved it's own post! I've only spent a couple hours in the car with JM at a time, so this big trip was sure to be quite the adventure. We left my house, behind schedule, around 10 o'clock Saturday morning. The trip was supposed to take around four hours, but about an hour into the trip we decided to ditch the directions, and just wing it the rest of the way. JM pretty much knew what roads would lead us to our destination, but we still kinda took whatever route our little hearts desired. We went through quaint towns with small street festivals, college towns painted orange and brown ("We're falcon awesome!"), and even drove past (and turned back around to see) an alpaca farm! We stopped a couple hours into the trip for snacks. This is why JM is the BEST road trip partner EVER...he comes out with a bag full of goodies! Anything you could possibly want on a road trip, we had it! We got close to our destination, only to pull off for a little impromptu shopping trip.

JM brought a tie, but we wanted to try to be "that couple" for the wedding-- the ridiculously disgusting couple who matches their outfits to each other. Puke, right? Four stores and almost an hour later, we stopped into Kohls. We dug through the ties for awhile, when I suddenly found THE perfect tie to match my dress! Although the tie was slightly putrid, it matched. JM said if the tie was less than $8 he'd buy it, but otherwise he wasn't going to waste money on something he'd never wear again. As JM prayed under his breath for the tie to be at least $9, I pulled the tag around and BAM...$3!!!!!!!!! Defeated (yet secretly delighted at the perfect match), JM bought the tie! We got a TON of compliments on our matching colors at the wedding! And the tie was a success, to say the least!


The trip home Sunday morning was equally as entertaining, even though we stuck to the main roads so we could make it home quicker. JM tuned in to a polka station a couple hours into the trip...ummmm yeah. Interesting. (I knew that JM was loyal to his Polish heritage, but I had NO idea the extent to his love of polka music. Wow!)

Overall, I have ZERO complaints about our trip! It was so much fun spending time with him, one-on-one. I was so relaxed and carefree during the entire trip (something I never would have done in the past!)! It was nice to just sit back and let JM take control and lead us on this little adventure! It was fun to flip through the radio stations and belt out silly songs together!

I said this to be cheesy to JM on the trip, but I truly mean it...I'd go anywhere with him!

Another great weekend!

It's been a few days since I've posted anything, so I'll do a quick update!

Thursday I left straight from work to head to Lansing for our annual in-service for work. It's a great time for our work family to join together, chit-chat over good food and wine, and just let loose before the in-service meetings the following day. We went to PF Changs for dinner, followed by a couple cocktails at a local college dive bar. It was a great time and it's nice having JM with me at these things now!

Friday morning we got up early for the in-service! It was a great day and proved to be very informative! After the meetings, JM and I headed back to Fort Wayne to meet up with my brothers, my kiddies, and mom. It was the first time my brothers would be meeting JM! We all had such a great time and I think JM really enjoyed his time with my brothers! This is huge for me, as my family is such a MAJOR part of my life! It was nice to see that they all loved him as much as I do!

Saturday morning, JM and I had to leave early to go to Cleveland for a wedding. It would be our first road trip together! We had a BLAST taking little back roads, driving through small towns, and just laughing and talking for almost five hours! He's a perfect road trip partner!! (Of course!) This was the first time I met his high school and college friends, and I have to admit I had been a little nervous about it. But of course, they were all amazing and it was an INCREDIBLE night!

Sunday morning we hit the road early to get back to the babies! Although it had been a GREAT weekend with just JM, I was ready to get back to the kids and to finally be HOME. While I unpacked from the weekend and started laundry, JM cuddled up with the kids on the couch. I think they secretly missed us as much as we missed them!!

It was a PERFECT weekend, and I am so grateful for an amazing family and boyfriend!

A House for Four?

I bought my house just over a year ago. Although I went through quite the struggle to finally close on my house, I wouldn't trade it for the world and I still really love my house. I love the neighborhood, I love our neighbors, and I love the location outside of the city limits. Overall, I'd say that I am very lucky to have been able to buy in the area that I did. And for the kids and I, the house is fairly roomy. Their bedrooms are a bit on the small side, and we don't have a second living area, as I had originally hoped for in a home, but the 1600-ish square feet is sufficient for two toddlers and me.

With JM traveling so much for work, he is oftentimes able to stay with us during the week. Of course I love having him there, but it makes me realize that my house wouldn't provide enough space for a family of four! (And that's not a dig at JM's giant physique or abnormally long, dangling arms!) It's just that sometimes it would be nice to have that "retreat" away from the chaos that comes with a full house.

I have to stay in my house for at least five years because of the type of loan that I took for my house. And of course I WANT to stay in my house that long, especially since we're less than three miles from the elementary school and junior high where the kids will attend. But eventually, I want to be able to send JM to the basement to watch all the Tigers games his little heart desires. And I want to be able to send the kids to their rooms to work on their homework. And I want to be able to run away to the four-season room with my bottle glass of wine in the evenings, without anyone distracting me!

Again, I know I'm lucky to have my house! I DO love my house and I'm proud of myself for taking the plunge into home-ownership. But a girl can dream, right?!

I just don't understand!

I've never been married so it's hard for me to completely understand some of the "issues" that those close to me are going though in their relationship. However, I have been in a very long relationship, which included two kids, a cat (for a brief time), and many difficult situations. As we all know, that ended all too late. I should have done it months, if not years before I finally did it, but...lesson learned. And I think that's my point-- lesson LEARNED. I have married friends who constantly complain about their spouse. Most of the time it's just the normal wifely banter-- about her husband not cleaning up after himself or about her husband saying something moronic. BUT sometimes, my friends have a legitimate reason to gripe...and even question her desire (or lack thereof) to be married. Scenario 1: Wife is complaining about how she has to constantly do everything for her husband. I know there's a degree to relationships where we should WANT to do things for our partner, but there's also a point where we're almost enabling our partner to be an idiot. I mean, you're calling the doctor for your husband because he "doesn't know how" to do it? Seriously? You're running to the grocery store at 10pm because he "doesn't know" what groceries your family needs for the week? What happened to a grocery LIST for Pete's sake!? Really?! At this point, I just stopped feeling sorry for you and started being jealous of your husband! Please come shop for me and make my appointments for me! Please!? Scenario 2: Wife is always stuck at home. I remember what it was like to be a stay-at-home-mom. It was hard. Sure there were perks to being home all day in comfy clothes and such, but looking back, the majority of my memories during those three years as a SAHM include miserably waiting on Aaron to get home from work (or where ever), so I could have a freaking minute to myself! There came a point where I KNEW Aaron wasn't going to hurry home because he knew everything was taken care of. The kids were fed, the house was clean(ish), and things were as they should be. My heart aches for my friend going through this right now. It's unfair for her husband to expect her to stay home and tend to EVERYTHING, while he's ignoring her calls for help (literally, sometimes). Everyone needs a break. At what point does the wife take that final step to being completely single? I mean, her life with her kids will essentially go unchanged-- she already does everything for them. I, in no way, am suggesting that my married friends should throw in the towel. I know that relationships take work. A LOT OF WORK. And I am totally on board for that, trust me. But, at what point do we stop living miserably and start living the life that we WANT for yourself and for our children? People change. Even though we might not be the one changing, we can't stop our partner from changing. He might decide that the life he promised us wasn't exactly what HE envisioned for himself.

Kindergarten overload.

I'm exhausted FOR Lilly! I knew that starting school would be a big change for all of us, mostly Lilly of course, but I had no idea how much it would impact me! It seems like we are constantly running here or there, doing this or that, and writing, cutting, pasting, or reading SOMETHING. Although we've always been a "bedtime story" kinda family, finding the time to dedicate twenty solid mintues of uninterrupted reading everyday, has proved to be challenging. The past two days we have had so much going on right after school that by the time we get home, make dinner, and finish eating, it's almost time for bath, books, and bed. I see my kids for about 2 hours in the evenings (on a good night), and for about an hour in the morning. I miss the little boogers! Lilly also just started ballet and tap yesterday. After a forty-five minute class, right after school, she looked EXHAUSTED! My poor baby!! And to think...this is only KINDERGARTEN! Ugh!