No wonder people don't know what healthy is

I just went and ate with my son with his school lunch. The lunch menu choices seemed innocent enough, if you can figure out the healthiest to eat. My choice? Fruit plate and cheese stick. Never mind the fruit looked like it'd been sitting around for days, and the cheese stick? Ummm, NOT real - it was that American processed cheese I don't buy for the house and don't have them order when we go out. The way I eat is by looking at the ingredients, not the nutrition label. Real food = nutrition. Processed food = nutrition that had to be added if you're lucky and perhaps a nutrition not designed in a way for your body to naturally absorb. If I don't recognize the majority of ingredients I put it in the processed food category. I know some of the unrecognizable ingredients actually mean vitamin c or some other harmless item but the majority don't. When I asked nutrition services for an ingredient list for the school menu they acted surprised and had no clue where to find that information, referring me to my schools local cafeteria manager when the school opened.

This is one of the nicest schools in the district, in a more costly neighborhood but the menu is the same for all the schools in the district. Even though it is one of the best districts in the state, they are still demonstrating that food that's been so processed with so much added to it that it's practically fake can stand in for real food.

Well, I have Justinbustin eating meals there because he begged to and it's a whole hell of a lot easier for me. After today, I'm not so sure!! I'm sure I'll still have him eat there, I'm just going to try a whole heck of a lot harder to track down that ingredient list and see if any of it is actually real food!

Weekend of Compliments

I absolutely LOVE my job. I see different people every day, I get to talk to people from all walks of life, my co-workers love me, and every manager I work for pleads for me to work for them. Temping instead of doing something permanent allows me to meet so many different people, view and get to know so many different communities, and meet so many new friends I would've never met at a permanent job working at one community. Many, if not all, of the communities I work for request me back if I'm available, and if I am I sometimes get to work for one community four to five weeks in a row. I love that, but even more I love discovering a new property or going back to a property I haven't been to in awhile, either because I've requested a weekend off (something else I can't do with a permanent position) or because I've been at another property.

One fun example of what I love about my job is a few weekends ago I got invited to a party on Sixth Street coming up in September with Br*d W*mack, the last B*chelor. I totally want to go, but am intending to invite another girl who works for the company that invited me so I don't have to go it alone. I wouldn't be alone any way, but I'm not going to hang on the shirt tails of the guy manager who invited me (who, by the way, reminded me that my options are open, not that I would want to since I'm married, but it's good to know if I wasn't!!). I definitely need a girlfriend with me!

Another one is people telling me what a great leasing agent I make, and pleading with me to work with them. I hate having to say no, I like to keep my weekends flexible if I havet o and in leasing that is usually not an option when you're permanent. I've gotten four job offers in the last three months, two of them for a brand new property which is usually something one has to work a long time for. That's a good feeling!

Another not so fun, but still an interesting example that reminds me of why I love my job, is four out of the five people I showed an apartment yesterday had just bought a house within the last three years and were in the middle of a divorce. While it was sad and heartbreaking to talk to each of these people - one with two kids, one with a fifteen month old, and one with no kids - it reminded me how grateful I am that we didn't buy that house last year. I can't imagine the stress of wanting/needing to sell your house and not being able to!! No wonder these marriages are failing. What a huge amount of pressure!

The energy I get when I come home is AMAZING. Yes, kids grow up way too fast, but they deserve the energy we as adults get from other people. They don't deserve my empty, drained personality that results from being home way too long with no adult interaction. To be an adult, I actually have to interact with them, even as an adult myself. And I'm loving it! With nannying the baby girl during the week I feel even more productive earning more income, but I am absolutely happy to keep my weekend job to keep up the flow of adult interaction. I'm such a people person that I get so much energy from each interaction and come home fired up and ready to go! I love it!

So Tired

It's been a crazy last few weeks and it will only continue to be the next few. Shawners starts school tomorrow, I'm so apprehensive about the wonderful but very strict teacher he has, but as my counselor advised am only looking at the data which is Shawners had a very wonderful first night open house for an hour and a half, even going so far as to say it was the best night ever and she's a nice teacher. Yes, I realize that was a huge run-on sentence but I'm too tired to care.

Justinbustin starts Monday. In between all that we had open house for Shawners last night and we have open house for Justinbustin tomorrow night. I work tomorrow while Shawners is in school, then I work all weekend.

On the bright side of crazy, I went to Laguna Beach/Costa Mesa this weekend to visit my cousin and had a glorious three days of sunshine, sand between my toes, warm (compared to Santa Cruz) ocean water, tons of shopping, and crazy, silly fun with my cuz. I also got a new job nannying a little girl for one of the teachers at Shawner's school, which is awesome and going to bring in substantially more than what I bring in on the weekends now as a leasing agent. In order to get my weekends back I may not end up working so many weekends, or maybe just not on Sundays so we have at least one day off together.

That's it for now. I need a nap.

Regular Get-Togethers

There's a few friends and I who have made a point to get together on the same day at the same time every week. Having those regular get-togethers is SO satisfying to my social life, and every bone in my body feels content. There's M and Li where we watch the Hills on Monday nights. During the summer it was the Bachelorette, and these last few weeks it's been a movie with constant girl chatter over it so we haven't heard a word. Then there's Kristn and her baby boy who comes over Tuesday afternoons to swim at the pool where we alternate weeks for snacks and drinks. Now there's a Mom from Justinbustin's and Shawner's school, who I really enjoy, and her son, where we've gotten together the last two weeks on Monday afternoon to swim at the pool and drink wine, once at her place, and once at mine, and are considering keeping it going through the school year. At least until the weather cools. Another friend, Jen, and I don't always get together on the same day but manage to get together every week any way by working around each other's schedules.

Knowing I'll see the same faces I love to chat with and spend time with every week somehow makes my weeks easier and gives me something to smile about each day, especially the days we get together!

At the Fountains

At the Palmer Event center fountain park:

Growing up around me

Sometimes I wonder what I am doing here. Sometimes I feel like I am living life day by day, trying to survive. We're doing the right thing with finances, but sometimes I wonder why we didn't buy that house down south. I've always lived on the edge - of everything. Now it feels like we're starting to get a handle on things. We're going to counseling, we've paid down a large amount of debt, we're moving into a place where we'll actually have a decent rent to income ratio, Justinbustin is going to a FREE school, Shawners is going into first grade, and I feel almost uncomfortable, like putting on a dress I could never afford to buy. It fits me, it looks great, but I sure as heck won't be walking out the door with it. In a sense not buying the house down south last year has me feeling like I'll never walk out the door with that dress. It feels like the families we know are growing up around us - getting to know their neighborhood around them, taking summer vacations, on the boat, to another state, even just to the beach - and here we are. Home. Struggling to even keep a roof over our heads and food on our plates. 

Busy World

Little update on life:

Boys are all set for school. I've been praying for them every night that they will have a teacher who loves God and is able to teach them to the best of their capabilities. Also, that they will have friends who love God and support them, especially one in particular, and ones they can support. I've set a schedule that includes having a breakfast date with Justinbustin every morning and one with Shawners on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I'll also have extra time with Shawners on those days for a date later in the day if we want!

Finances are shite. I sometimes get the feeling they always will be. We are doing okay in that we aren't adding more to our debt, and sometimes even paying more of it off (we're down to one credit card, but with still a large amount on it), but with all the inflation and gas prices lately we run out of money two days after pay day!! Today I had to take money out of our emergency fund in order to fill up my car and buy groceries for our Mother Hubbard cupboards.

Summer luvin' is good. We have spent a lo-hot (aka Dr. Cox style because I am currently obsessed with Scrubs) of time at the pool. The last week has been busy with robotics camp for the boys so yesterday and today we were back in, even amidst the tropical depression coming through our area. Yeah. The friend of mine that was here, her little one, the boys and I were in the pool while it was pouring (no thunder or lightning or we would've hightailed it out of there). Our hair was soaked, not from the pool, but from the rain. Awesome.

Brando and I are currently seeing a counselor every other week. Tomorrow is our second time. So far so good. We've set a few ground rules - no talking about what we talk about in counseling afterwards unless it's with the counselor the next time, not waste our time fighting in front of the counselor (yeah, we do that). I also mentioned to the counselor that we need a specific goal to work on when we leave - something constructive that gives us a common goal to work towards and not storming out of there angry with what was uncovered.

And just because...

Apparently I look like a ballerina when I frisbee golf

A more normal frisbee golf pose while playing with friends.
It was our first time and a blast, despite the melting hot heat!

Fireworks over downtown on the fourth of July

Blowing out birthday candles on my cupcake cake

My beautiful cupcakes my boys and Brando made me and
the real daisy cake his Mom sent me in the background.

My birthday cupcake cake

Just because it's adorable.
Justinbustin gazing out from the pedestrian bridge over Town Lake when my parents were here.