Thankful Thursday - Grilled Cheese & Twilight

Yesterday I was feeling way under the weather. I went home from work early due to some barfing and such. As soon as I got home from work I hugged the porcelain god and was feeling pretty ok. I went to lay on the couch and watched Matilda! I haven't seen that movie in years. 

Ian and Mackenna got home a couple of hours later. Mackenna and I snuggled on the couch for a bit, while daddy started a fire, ran to the store for 7up for me, and cooked grilled cheese and tomato soup. I ate the tomato soup and grilled cheese because I was so hungry. 

I'm so thankful Ian made dinner last night and even let me watch twilight, even though he cannot stand any of that crap and thinks it's lame. 

I'm also thankful he made dinner even though I barfed it up not long after. I felt so crappy not long after that I went to take a hot shower and then passed out in bed. 

Also, Mackenna played in her room quietly and in the living room. She must of known her mama wasn't feeling well, because I got cuddles and a happy nice girl last night. 

Thankful Thursday - Relatives meet USA

My Aunt Dayna and Uncle Jeremy

This christmas is going to be the best one yet of my existence. Ok, as far as I can remember them back. My Aunt (dayna) and Uncle (Jeremy) and Cousin (Jade) are coming to the United States for the first time ever from New Zealand. 

This is me in New Zealand 2005 in Queenstown. Price William was
there at the same time as me. 

Lil Background or reference my previous post Parents from Different Countries. Anyway for the purposes of this post I will tell you all again. My dad is American and My Mom is Kiwi (from New Zealand). So, I have family on each half of the world basically. 

Anyway, my mom's sister, my aunt. (are you confused yet... sorry!) They are coming to America for the first time ever this Christmas. Plus, they get to come to the most beautiful part of this country in my opinion Lake Tahoe, California and see snow in masses of amounts for the first time.

Scratching your head... Yes, New Zealand has snow in the South Island. I have snowboarded at every single of their 3 resorts. : ) However, this might sound silly, but it is more costly to fly to the South Island then to fly to Australia, which is like 4.5 hours away. Weird huh! Plus I'm sure you have all seen snow in the movies Lord Of The Rings... Ahh ha! I got the image in your head now. The entire movies were filmed in New Zealand and majority of it in the South Island. 

Sorry I went off on a tangent for a moment. My Aunt and Uncle live in the North Island on North Shore. 40 Minutes from Auckland, New Zealand. They have a lovely home right next to the beach in a highly nice area... (bitches!) Sorry. 

This is me and my mom is New Zealand, where my great grandma lived and
I visited as a little girl. (Please excuse the pajama pants, yes they have sheep on them.)

They will be coming to visit December for around 2 weeks, a week with us and a week in So Cal. You know the DisneyLand thing. My cousin Jadey will love it. This is so funny to me, but I will make fun of them just a little bit. They wanted to rent a car and drive the California coast. First of all, ya its a nice drive and its pretty but HELLO they live in New Zealand, where the entire country is boarded by Ocean. Why in the Hell would they want to drive the coast of California, go see something you haven't seen, because they have seen oceanthere entire life. (sorry aunty and uncle I'm just sayin).

I'm beyond excited to get on the piss (get drunk) on rum and egg nog with the family and watch my aunty get on a snowmobile for the first time and scream her head off. (It will be fun aunty don't be a baby.)

I am way more than Thankful that they are coming to visit my neck the world. I will post photos of their visit in December sometime. :)

Thankful Thursday - I clean too much

A while back I proposed an hour a day cleaning schedule for myself. Well I've failed miserably. It always turned into more than an hour, no matter what. Maybe because I'm compulsive cleaning disorder would come out and I wouldn't stop myself, is the real reason. I've been finding that I clean as soon as I get home, I mean literally as soon as I get home from work. I would go, go, go and squeeze dinner in, or make the hubs do it. I would clean like mad until I realized that it was time for Mack's bedtime.

I missed out an entire evening with her. Granted I get to spend the whole morning with her now, but this is just not going to work for me. 

Here is my idea. 

1. Pick one Major Cleaning item a night... (laundry, bathroom, living room, marital room, Mack's room, guest room/office) and stick with just one item. 

2. Clean kitchen and do dished every night after dinner. 

3. Vacuum 1 room a night. 

4. Do 1 load of laundry a night and fold it after Mack goes to bed while watching the usual TV shows and hubs and I watch after Mack goes to bed. 

5. 1 sweep of the living room before bed of items that are out of place. 

Then in between I might have more time with the hubs and Mack. So, where does the Thankful part tie into all of this. I guess I'm just thankful that I know when enough is enough and I need to make a change that will help me more available to my family. Whether it's work, me cleaning too much.. etc. These are the years of our children's lives where we don't want to miss out for any reason, and I'm not going to let my compulsive cleaning take time away from Mack. 

78. My first Red Cup of the 2010 Holiday Season

79. Egg Nog

80. Mack's face with our first snow

81. Snow 

82. My Family

83. Still Cruising the gym

84. Yoga classes

85. Cold Nights (19 degrees) I like to wear fuzzy socks


365 Days in Pictures

Thankful Thursday - I'm a working Mom

Any of you mom's that work full time might feel the same guilt I carry. When I had my daughter Mackenna 2 years ago, I knew that I was just not going to be able to be a stay at home mom. I had to work. I work on average 50 hours a week and sometimes more depending on the overtime needs at my job, which is a lot. I can get some fatty checks, but sometimes those weeks I see little of Mack. There are time, when I get home and she is already in bed and I hadn't seen her all day. I would love to be a stay at home mom and I'm so jealous of my friends and other bloggers for that matter that are stay at home mom's. But, then again I think that we either stay at home or work for a reason, and my reason is to be the working mom. Life can be very busy at times, to where I want to scream. I have little time after work to get the millions of things that I want to get done. It's gotten better because I calendar out a cleaning schedule, meal planning and laundry. So, then I don't feel like I have to do everything every night. 

The above has changed a little. I was working 6-3pm for the last 4 years at my current job. When Mack was ready for preschool and due to me and the hubs schedules at work I had to change my shift to 8-5. I know, welcome to the real world of 8-5er's. I now get to see Mack every morning. I'm the one that gets to wake her up and see her smiley face first each day. I get to pick her clothes out for the day. (I usually only got to do this on the weekends), but now I get to do it everyday. What Mom wouldn't want to pick out her little girls outfit everyday... duh! We get to rock out in the car together on the way to school every morning. Mack loves to sing and dance in the back of the car and look just as stupid as me. 

This is how my day goes...

5:45-6amish - I wake up and get straight into the shower. If Mack is awake we lay in my bed for 10 minutes and watch cartoons. 

6:20ish - I'm out of the shower. I get dressed while Mack is still in my bed watching cartoons. 

6:30ish - We move to the living room and I make her a little something to eat. (They eat breakfast at preschool too).

* While she is eating I make her lunch and mine. 

6:45ish - Time to clean her face, brush hair, teeth, and wrestle her on the floor to get dressed. She continues to watch her cartoon, while I get the rest of my stuff together. Feed the cat, feed Mack's gold fish, get gym bad together. 

7:00ish - I got start my car and warm it up. 

* Then I go back inside make my toast and superfood shake. 

7:15 - Mack likes to grab her own lunch box and I grab her things that are needed at preschool that day and we load up into the car. 

7:30ish -7:35ish - I drop her off at school. I help her put her lunch away in the cubby and take her coat off and make sure that I sign her in. 

7:40ish - I'm off to work. I usually drive to work in silence, or I will jam to the same song Mack and I were listening to earlier.

7:45 - I'm at work, ya I'm only 5 minutes from her preschool. 

That is how my morning goes. Before I worked 8-5 I was leaving the house at 5:30am before anyone in my house was awake. I didn't really see Ian or Mack. Now, I get to see both of them everyday and have the morning with Mackenna. I still get bummed that I can't be home with her everyday, but I'm thankful that with my new schedule at work, her starting preschool, that I get to be with her every morning no matter what. 

What are you thankful for this week? 

Note: Check out my first 365 days in pictures. 

78. Seeing Mack's Face every morning

79. New Cast Iron kettle for Fireplace

80. My Droid X 

81. Mack's hugs and kisses

82. Evening's laying on the floor by the fire, watching a movie with the family

83. Making it 8 days at the gym thus far

84. Yoga classes

85. My Job

Link Up

Thankful Thursday - My Dad

My dad was as strict as they come when I was growing up. He was a hard ass and he knew it. Although, he was a tough dad I still didn't go without, I was taken care of, and because him I am who I am today. 

A little background on my dad...

My dad was born in raised in Kent, Washington. His dad (my grandpa) was the hardest hard ass as they can possibly come. My grandpa is old school. Although, my grandpa was very financially stable, you wouldn't know it by the car my dad drove and the hideous rugby shorts and striped shirts he wore. My dad's first car was a nova with a chain that was attached to the hood. (Kinda like tommy boy, after they destroyed the car). Although, my grandpa was a tough parent and a pain in the ass to my dad I'm sure at the time.. my dad wouldn't be who he is today if it weren't for his dad.

Of course we parents always take a piece of our parent's traits and practice them on our own kids. 

Even though we swore we would never do those things that our parents did to us to our kids, we do and shake our heads after we realized what we just did and say. .... " I sound like my dad..." 

My dad was always there for me. He was a neat freak. I mean a NEAT FREAK. If there was a piece of paper on the floor of our rooms, there would be hell to pay. I mean my dad told me that the dishwasher was for sterilizing only, and that the dishes had to be cleaner going in then they would coming out. That meant not a piece of food on the plate before it went into the dishwasher. 

I remember when I would get upset and would be yelling or raising my voice to get my point across, my dad wouldn't speak to me until I could talk like an adult. Sometimes, I could just rip his head off, but eventually I would calm down. 

I have so much to thank my dad for. We went on vacations to Mexico, Alaska, camping and soccer tournaments together. My dad was the number one dad and soccer fan. Yes my dad was my soccer fan. Every says soccer mom, so for Christmas one year, I got a license mat made that said #1 Fan Soccer Dad. He even went to my first gynecologist appointment, how many dad's would do that. 

As much as I couldn't stand my dad's rules, and his OCD on cleaning, and his silly sayings that use to drive me nuts. I can respect them now as an adult, because I find myself trailing in my dad's footsteps. 

For Example: As a kid I wasn't allowed to have sugar soda, or it just wasn't in the house. So, If I wanted a soda I had to drink my dad's diet coke or diet pepsi. I blame my serious addiction to diet coke on my dad, and I can't really stand the taste of sugar soda's.. thanks dad. Our Halloween candy lasted an entire year or more in the freezer. We were allowed to a piece once in awhile. 

Now I can't do the dishes without the dishes being completely clean before I put them in the dishwasher. I mean come on now... I used to hate that as a kid, but I just can't seem to help myself. 

My dad was a hard ass, he called me McFly, he was a pretty cool dad when my friends were over (sometimes embarrassing). Parents can be embarrassing, I feel like its their job. Even though my dad wore the same black sweater from my grandpa's gold mine, that had hole's in it might I add, and dropped us off to school, my dad was still a great dad. 

He loved me no matter what. He was my biggest fan on and off the field. He treated me like an adult if I acted liked one. He gave me the best childhood a kid could ask for. Even though, I made my dad a grandpa younger than he probably wanted, he still was there for me. 

I'm thankful for a great dad. 

Love,

McFly

What are you Thankful for this week?

70. My Dad

71. My Friends

72. Pumpkins

73. Rain and Wind

74. Snow

75. Firewood 

76. San Francisco Giants in World Series

77. Coffee & of course Diet Coke

Thankful Thursday - My Cousin an Addiction Survivor

My cousin is 3 1/2 years older than me. His name is Michael James Ruth. He was like my big brother growing up. He used to make me do the craziest things that would make my mother freak out. For insistence, my cousin thought it would be a brilliant idea to take my training wheels off at the age of two and push me down the street and let go. My mom would freak, and little mikey would say, "It's ok aunty Teri, Kristina can do it watch." I would go for awhile and then crash. 

When we got older he moved away to oak harbor in puget sound of Washington. I didn't see his as much, but when I did see him it was so fun. We would wrestle to the point where I might of been crying and yelling uncle. Besides that we had a lot of fun together. 

When they moved to Washington to California, I begged and pleaded my dad if I could go and visit. They were living in Incline Village at the time in Lake Tahoe. When I first came to Tahoe I fell in love. I knew that I wanted to move here. From there on out, I came for several years leading to the ending of my senior year. I decided then that I would be moving to Lake Tahoe, California and go to college there. My Aunt Dee and Uncle Bruce and cousin Mike came up for my high school graduation and my cousin Mike and I would be making the drive down with my car full to California. This was in 2005.

A year or so later, my cousin Mike had a back injury at work. He went to the doctor as any of us would and he was prescribed oxy cotton and other severe pain meds. I think the other one was methadone. (ya the drug they wean you off heroin with.) Mike took those for a year or so and it turned to something even harder, cocaine and eventually the death drug I call it, heroin. 

It was scrarey to see my cousin all dopped up on heroin, because you knew he was gone for awhile and it was heroin, so to speak, that was talking to you. It wasn't my cousin Mike. My cousin lied, stole, and hurt his family over the drug heroin. However, there was still some of him there left. Even if he was doped up and I needed help, he would be there if I called. He would pull me out of the snow or if I needed anything. Moving a couple of boxes.

Mike was eventually entered and exited rehab several times in the last couple of years due to his addiction. One of the times he came out clean and then he doped himself up so much that he overdosed and was brought back to life by CPR. By this point it was clear that none of us could watch him, my aunt and uncle's marriage would be shattered, he just needed help that none of us could give him. 

He then was packed up and shipped off to this rehab in Honduras. HONDURAS! Ya kinda of out there. However, I know my cousin says it's not the best place, and it sucked. I believe this place really did change him and make him better. I know it was a shady place, and it wasn't ideal, but when he came back he was clean, healthy looking, and starting to look like Mike again.

My cousin was never encouraged as much as he should have been. He was always told he was a fuck up and that he would never amount to anything. He proved everyone wrong, when he came back rehab. He took him awhile to figure out what he really wanted to do. He decided that he wanted to go to culinary school, (my cuz is the best damn cook), and pursue a career in the kitchen and be a chief one day.  He studied hard, despite what every thought if he could do it or not, and in October 2009 he graduated culinary school and was so close to being a valedictorian of his class. He still graduated with his class with honors and attendance awards.

Me and the cousin after graduation ceremony

All in all, my cousin is doing great. It's been 2 years since he has came back from rehab in Honduras, and he is still clean. 

Cousin receiving his diploma from culinary school

My cousin is an addiction survivor and I'm proud of him.

I have my cousin back.  

62.. My cousin's addiction survival 

63. My cousin's presence back in my life

64. Sobriety 

65. Family Bonds

66. Diet coke

67. Fall leaves 

68. Pumpkin pie

69. Glass of Red Wine

Thankful on a Thursday - Mack goes to Preschool

I've been really lucky to have my Mom, Sister-In-Law and my friend Kieara watch Mackenna the first two years of her life. However, my daughter is ready for new challenges and she will be starting her very first day at pre-school next week. I'm so excited for her, because she is going to have so much fun with other kids and playing all day.

Side note: I'm a little freaked out, but it will all work out.

There is also another big change for me. I will be saying good bye to my 6-3pm shift at work that I've been working for the last 4 years. I will be changing to a more realistic shift for Mackenna my daughter of 8-5pm and will be getting her ready in the morning and getting her to and from school. I'm used to leaving the house so early that A. it's still dark outside and B. everyone is still sleeping. So I'm excited to be to get her ready in the morning and head to school and work. Working 8-5 will be weird at first I'm sure, but its for the best for Mackenna right now.


What are you Thankful for this week....

54. Mackenna going to preschool

55. cool and crisp late afternoon walks with hubbs and Mack. 

56. Pumpkin pie

57. A great support system, social, family and friends

58. My friend Amber moving back to CA from WA state. 

59. Diet coke

60. Happy Birthday to "FarFar" (my grandpa) He turned 27 this year. ;)

61. Getting back in touch with the lord.

Link up with me...

Thankful Thursday - I'm not Perfect

I'm not perfect the more I age and get on with my life I realize this standard of being perfect I hold myself too is an unobtainable goal. It's something that I will never reach... perfection!
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I remember way back, when I was a little shit girl I used to tell myself and my dad that I would be perfect. My life would be perfect because I would be running the show. I will do what I want my house will look the way I want and my room will have dirty clothes on the floor.

Any of you have memories like that as a child?


I'm pretty sure I reminded my dad everyday that I would be better then him because I wouldn't have as many strict rules as he would and my kids would love me more for it. Something to that effect.


I think it is hard for us to realize that we aren't something we thought we should be.
* I'm not perfect mom
* I'm not a perfect person
* I'm not a perfect wife
* I'm not a perfect cook

Anyway, let me just say, "I'm not Perfect!"

There are some days where I come home from work and I don't do anything. I mean no cleaning, no cooking, nothing. I feel ok with it, but sometimes the hubs isn't ok with it. My daughter wants to play with me so bad that she will get on the couch and jump on me. I then get mad and tell her that she can't jump on people and put her on time out. I guess that isn't really fair, because I shouldn't even let my daughter get to the point to where she has to jump on me and hit my face to get me to play with her.

Someday's I just want to be able to lay on the couch and watch a stupid show by myself for a few minutes. Or just want to crawl in bed and go to sleep because of the day I had that day I want to just forget it. Please know that this isn't an everyday occurrence just for the record.

I love my daughter and she is growing up so fast and I want to be the perfect person, mother and wife, but sometimes being perfect just isn't something that is a reachable goal and I should live my life the best I can possible.

Even if.... I'm not perfect!
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What are you thankful for this week?

54. Realizing I'm not perfect, and I'm ok with it.

55. Fall Weather

56. Pumpkin spice latte's reappearance at Starbucks

57. My Daughter's smile

58. Scrap booking classes

59. Diet coke

60. The weekends with my family

61. Sunshine 

62. My perfect life the way it is