Welcome to my world...

Life is really cool these days. Very tiring, but very cool. My son is almost 5 years old...that is absolutely unbelievable. I have very closely watched him grow and change so much, but to his mommy it still seems like he could actually still be the tiny baby I used to get to spend all day watching and nurturing. And then I open my eyes...and before me is this huge boy! Time flies by way too fast for a mother's heart. (Hey, I like that, that's my new myspace tagline.)

So, last night Elijah was a Ninja for Halloween. We went to my grandmother's neighborhood and trick or treated there. It was a nice calm night. Elijah got enough of the trick or treating experience without too much candy. We had one more whole street to walk to get back to my grandmother's when Elijah said he was done trick or treating. He said he had enough candy and wanted to go back to Doey's (this is what he calls my grandmother). We passed probably 10 more houses with candy and at each one he didn't want to get down from his daddy's shoulders to go trick or treat, he said he was done and he meant it. My kid is the oddest kid I've ever met and I love that about him, he's seriously the coolest.

Elijah is doing really well in pre-k. We like all of his teachers and he plays well with the other kids. We stand at the end of the hall and watch him walk to class by himself, he won't let us walk him to class anymore. I want to cry every time it's my turn to drop him off. Independence is a hard thing for a mom to instill in her kids becuase it means you're suggesting they don't need mommy and that just hurts. But it's also so cool to watch your baby boy become a big kid.

Elijah is almost done with this soccer season. He loves it. It's really laid back and they're encouraged to have fun instead of score, we lucked out with a really cool coach that sticks to that. It's also a fun sport for parents, you spend most of the game laughing and cheering for your kids.

Juan has a new job prospect in the works. I'm a little stupid-stitious when it comes to things I really want/need to happen so I'm not going into detail. It's a very cool job opportunity that will serve to open more doors for him. I'm very excited for him.

So in keeping Elijah well prepared for school and soccer practices and games and Juan shooting football and hockey, which eats up our nights and weekends, and my new co-worker that is driving me up the wall...life these days is very tiring. But it's also very rewarding. I've got a wonderful husband, that is finally himself again. The coolest kid in the world calls me mommy. And I also have a pretty interesting job that I can appreciate, even in spite of my new co-worker, because I'll be leaving soon to go back to school. This will be the 3rd time I've tried to quit. Every time it falls through with my replacement and I get a raise to come back. Anyone, with an actual brain, need a secretarial soft of job?

What's really cool is that the holidays are upon us! I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. My sister and I are exactly the same in that respect. Spending time with family and decorating and cooking...it's awesome. I woke my husband up the other night to tell him that it had just hit me that we have a fireplace mantle to hang our stockings on now!! And of course a fireplace to light fires in and roast marshmallows and make the house all warm and toasty. A fire in the fireplace just smells like Christmas to me. And every year Christmas gets even cooler with a kid. Their personality changes so much in the span of a year that it's almost like they're seeing it again for the first time.

So yeah, our life is pretty awesome right now. I'm tired...but I'm loving it.

Exactly a week after my mother-in-law was killed in a car accident, my grandfather died. They both died on a Wednesday and we buried them both on a Friday. He basically died of old age, I'll not go into the details. He died in my father's arms. I wasn't as close to my grandfather as my 3 older siblings are so it's not as sad for me. I am, however, very sad for my dad. He looks so small and feeble and he just lost his daddy. And that's my daddy...when he hurts, I hurt. I just want to hug him all the time.

We got home from the my grandpa's funeral in Ohio late Saturday night. We had two days to pack up our place and move out. (We were supposed to have been out Saturday, but due to my grandfather's death they gave us until noon Monday.)

And now I'm back at work today.

We're doing ok. My husband has been amazing. It was his mom that died and then as soon as my grandfather died he was right there beside me and my family. Which included driving to Ohio and back (one time in the night) pretty much by himself; I drove a few hours each way. Then we packed the house Sunday, he had quite a bit done before and in between the deaths, and then he moved it all in one day with the help of two glorious friends that I'll love forever.

He's not really had a chance to grieve his mother properly with my grandfather dying and us having to move. So this weekend he's driving up to Pennsylvania to visit his sister. He's going by himself so he can just drive and think and jam to music and all of that jazz. I'm a little worried about him being by himself but he thinks it will do him good so I'm trying to be supportive.

Sunday as I was washing dishes so I could pack them I found myself hating the blue laws (no alcohol on Sundays) for the first time ever in the 20 something years I've lived in South Carolina. (Granted I've only been legally allowed to drink for a year and some months now.) Well just a few minutes after my tyrade on the blue laws at the sink my husband came in from loading the U-Haul to announce that we'll be getting shnockered next weekend (his PA trip is this weekend). Now, I don't usually condone a lot of heavy drinking, I don't think it solves a thing. But I would just really, really like to forget these past few weeks we've been having for just a little tiny while.

Really, we're hanging in there. We've not killed each other yet and it's really just one more thing (ok 12 more things) that will bring us closer together and make us stronger. I love my husband and am so proud of how he's taking all of this. We're not quite over the hump yet, we've got to get some things with his mother's property straight and get Elijah in school but I'm sure once we get things situated Juan will have the proper time to grieve and everything.

Ok...usually my blogs are neat and precise...but this one was all over the board...excuse my mess...I'm renovating. :) (Thank goodness I haven't lost the bit of sense of humor I do have.)

Ta-Ta folks. Just so you know...all thoughts and prayers have been appreciated...you have no idea how comforting it is to know that we have people.

I love all of you people.

My husband's mother died Wednesday morning.

We're not moving to Atlanta anymore.

That's the jist of our lives these days. Longer posts might come later.

So I have been sparked by michaelzmommy to post. It has been a reeeaaaally long time anyhow.

We are moving to Atlanta in two weeks. And we have no place to live...the apartment we had picked out turned us down. That's a long story for another day. So...we're going BACK to Atlanta this weekend to pick out yet another place.

There's good news in this though. We didn't find any other apartments we liked in that area, so we decided to go farther out where the rent is cheaper! (We had decided to stay that far into Atlanta so we could be close to Juan's school.) Though it turns out that all of the apartments out that way are scum, so we're looking at houses now...WITH YARDS! Which means we can have a DOG! I feel better about whatever we may find this weekend than I did about the first apartment.

So really it's sort of good news. However...since we found out Monday that we got turned down for the first apartment I've been researching new places and making appointments to see them, etc. AND next week is when I start training my replacement here at work so this week was my last week to tie up everything so I would have time to train her next week.

So I've had quite a hellacious week. But the nightmare will all be over soon. We'll get our housing nightmare settled and then it'll just be the packing part of my nightmare. Which, yes I know, I'm a dork, but I sort of enjoy that part. The organizing and the throwing away of things is something that makes me happy. Now if I can get my husband to organize and throw things away we would be just gravy!

Ok...I've gotta get to work now, today's my last day sitting at this desk without someone looking over my shoulder. Which is sad, I really love this job and my co-workers.

Anywho...tata!

OH! PS: You've gotta see 23 with Jim Carrey. It was actually really good. It wasn't a horror anything, it was a psychological thriller. And THOSE are my favorites.

It has been quite awhile since I've posted...I thought I should remedy that. Things are going fairly well this way. Not too much going on...life just kind of rolls along.

We have made a decision about Elijah's schooling for Atlanta. We're picking out a private school for him. The 10 that are on our list right now range in cost from like $6,500 to $14,000 per year. That is a lot of money, but it's really peace of mind we're buying. I don't want to have to wonder what kinds of things Elijah's going to have to deal with on a daily basis. We hope to make a trip to Atlanta to visit all of these schools so we can make a decision. We have one at the top of our list right now, it's only 10 minutes away from us, it's at the bottom of the price range, they have a challenging curriculum and it's a Christian school. Sometimes that last one can be a pro and sometimes that can be a con...so we'll have to see what it's like once we go check it out.

There is so much to get done for Atlanta. We need to get our apartment arrangements made, get Elijah in school and get it paid for and find both of us jobs. Although there is a lot to get done I just keep getting more and more excited about our move. We are going to be three of the millions of people that live in Atlanta. Sometimes it's scary and others it's just exhilarating.

I know most of my last posts have been all about Atlanta...but that's where my mind is lately. Lemme think...other news...other news...OH! I miss my gal pal from up the sidewalk. Kriiiiiiiiistiiiiiiiiiine!!!! (Think Steeeeeeellllllaaaaaaa from Rocky.) I miss my brother and sister in law. I didn't think I would miss them this much because I didn't see them much when they lived here but the option of seeing them if I wanted to is the difference. Quick trips across the bridge aren't possible anymore. The good news is I'll see them soon! Yay!

Anyway, we are leaving soon to head to the baseball stadium for a Blowfish game. An evening with my guys, yay! I shall see you all on another day.

We took Elijah to Chuck E. Cheese today. Juan's birthday is tomorrow and we're not actually going to be able to go out tomorrow night because he has a baseball game to shoot. So we sort of celebrated it today. We had a blast. All together we won 1224 tickets, which got Elijah quite a bit of loot. Yes, fun was had today.

My husband is going to be 29 tomorrow...hehe. He's old...

So yesterday I, for whatever reason, decided to go back through all of my posts and give them entry tags. I came to realize why they are such a good idea; especially after you've been using this for awhile. It's good to go back and re-read your thoughts and junk.

Anywho...said tags are the reason for this post. I noticed that I haven't posted anything worthwhile in some time and thought I should remedy that. This is what usually happens though, I would keep a written journal for awhile and then I would get tired of it and stop keeping it up. Well now that this journal is also a way to keep in touch with far away friends :( I can't exactly just stop using it...which includes writing in it. So, I'm forcing myself to write a meaningful post...it's about time.

The move to Atlanta is still laying heavily on my mind. I am still seriously excited for the change and the opportunities that will present themselves to Juan, photographically speaking. I am no longer worried about a job for me, I know what I'm qualified to do and I know I do it well. At the moment, our hands are tied as far as school for Elijah goes. We have to actually be living in Atlanta before we can get on a waiting list for the few Pre-K programs in that area. But we won't know which school zone we'll get to the top of the list in first so we can move there to get on the list. Oooh, that's a pretty circle. Unless something changes or we find out some new information we've pretty much decided to go ahead and move in to the apartments that are right behind Juan's school, the ones we checked out back in February.

So those are no longer my worries, the logistics of the move are pretty much figured out. What I am worried about right now is us being little tiny fishes in a humongous pond like Atlanta. Right now Juan is pretty well known from here to Aiken to Charleston as a damn good photographer. (That's half of the state of South Carolina and he doesn't even have a degree yet.) He's going to have to prove himself all over again. While being in a huge town with tons of other would-be photographers that are trying to do the same thing. USC's student newspaper, The Gamecock, has helped him meet a lot of these people by getting him press passes to sporting events and concerts. We don't know yet how he's going to get press passes in Atlanta to meet all of the important people there. And of course the pictures; he didn't just meet the important people here in Columbia, networking is important, but he wowed them with his amazing skill by showing them what he's taken. If he can't get into the events in Atlanta to take the pictures how is he going to wow the people there, that he has yet to meet? I guess he could always go and introduce himself, show them what he has done and ask if he could have the chance to do it there.

I am sure he is going to get the same reputation there as the one he has here, he is just that good. I am also sure, though, that it's going to take a little longer for him to develop that reputation than it took here. I just hope that it happens before he graduates from Portfolio Center two years from October.

Other than Atlanta being on my mind there's not much else up there. Life in general is going well. My wonderful kid just keeps on getting more wonderful. I thank God for him daily...and then immediately ask Him for more patience. :) Mine and my husband's relationship seems to grow stronger everyday. There is no doubt in my mind that hard times help to strengthen marriages. Keeping that thought on my mind makes it easier to enjoy the now and not just hope for the now to be over with and our life as we want it. My mother and I are constantly on the rocks...but that's a post in itself. I know that we're going to have duke it out very soon over some things before things get better. I would like for it to happen before we move to Atlanta though. Living this close and working for the same company is forcing our grievances with one another out into the open. I am sure that if we don't duke it out before we move we won't be as forced to hash it out and the crap between us could drag on for God knows how long. But like I said...that's a whole other post. I got all Bs this semester, I could have done better in 2 of them though, so I'm being a little hard on myself. I am quite glad that, as of now anyway, I'll be taking the next two years off from school. It is delaying the degree I've been working towards off and on for the last...oooooh....7 years? But I believe it's necessary. Work's fine, I am not looking forward to leaving this job, though. One, because I have it made here and, two, because there was a total catastrophe the last time I tried to train someone to do this job. I have a wonderfully understanding boss and quite a crew of characters for coworkers.

So...yeah...I do believe this post has been quite meaningful. I apologize for the length. I could go on...but I don't want to risk losing any readers... :)

I just saw on the news that someone I went to school with from third grade on, attempted to murder a neighbor. Not only was she trying to shoot at her, she brought tools to torture her in case she wasn't able to kill her right away. I didn't just go to school with her, I was actually friends with her for a couple of years. We had even slept over at each others' houses. I never thought I would see her on the news. I mean, yeah, she did live in the bad side of town but there are always people in the bad neighborhoods that you just know will rise above it all and make something of themselves...I always thought she was one of those people. I guess it really is the quiet ones you have to look out for...

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