When the Daddy is away the girls will play.........

Randy had his first day of school yesterday. I was very excited for him. I am so glad he is going back. I think this is going to help our family in the long run. So with that said and out of the way I want to tell you about our day.

I decided to just get out of the house. Earlier I bought a whole bunch of bubble wands and little bubble gadgets. I packed them up and put the girls in the car . We left. We went to Lincoln park the one with the big hill. We ran around blew bubbles. So much fun. Then we put all the stuff away and climbed the hill. We then rolled down as far as we could. We then went home and went around the block. Class ended early for Randy so he seen us and met us on the other side. The girls loved that.We went home and I started getting the girls ready for bed while Randy did his assignment. I gave them baths and gave them a snack. They were all ready for bed and I was exhausted. I fell asleep and Randy fought with Avanelle. She did not want to go to bed.

I really had fun alone with the girls. I am planning other things while he is at school. This Thursday I think we are going to get ice cream and get his birthday gift. Not sure what we are getting him. Maybe a new outfit or something. I cannot think of anything creative besides maybe making him a birthday dvd. Any ideas? I would love to hear them.

Here is my reasoning behind doing things while Randy is away. I want him to see that we miss him but we will be fine. I want him to take two classes next quarter but he is worried about not seeing the girls. I told him he will have a few weeks in between quarters. I guess I want him to know that it is possible. We will be fine and we will still have fun. I love getting some alone time with my girls. Both of them. I just hope Randy sees this and realizes that it is what is best for our family. I can't tell him what to do though. It is all up to him. I will support him no matter what he chooses to do next quarter. We are a team and that is what a team does.

Well I am off to exercise. Ava loves to do it with me. Makes it fun. I love watching her jog in place. She is so funny.


Pictures: One is of the girls blowing bubbles, the one of the two of them together is of them on the top of the hill,

Randy's first day of school and loosing the baby weight

Today is Randy's first day of school. I am so proud of him. I am looking forward to seeing him succeed. I know he can do it. I am such a dork I am going to take a picture of him like it is his first day of school. I know what a dork. I am just so excited for him.

On another note. I have been really trying to loose some weight. Never in my life have I weighed 180 pounds. Not even when I was pregnant. I am very unhappy about not being able to shed some pounds. I really need to get down to a healthy weight. The hard part is time and staying motivated. I guess I just need to keep picturing a healthy baby. I really need to do this for me and for the baby in nine months.( I am not pregnant, I am getting ready) I really need to. I need to walk or whatever I have to do to get down to a healthier weight. It is hard though. I have had two kids and my body loves to hold on to weight anymore. It does not help that I love to eat and cook. Randy does too. I wish we had time to exercise together. With him starting school and everything I do not think that is possible. I guess five pounds is better than nothing. I probably should be happy with that. It is a start.

That is the hard part about having babies., loosing the unwanted weight after wards. Breastfeeding helped keep it off but as soon as I stopped I gained like crazy. Here I am I went from being 160 to 180 in two years. I can deal with being 160 I know that I will never be as skinny as I was in high school and that is fine with me. I just want to loose this baby gut!

Well I am off to the store. I hope everyone has a great day. I will try not to worry to much about my weight. I am going to take it one day at a time. It's getting nicer so I should be more active. Wish me luck. I am sure I am going to need it.

Tentative plan

Randy and I have been talking, debating and planning. Ava is going to be three in nine months. I think it is time to think about another baby. So I talked my my mother in law and asked her opinion. We came to the conclusion that I need to start my pregnancy in the winter. So I think December is a good month to get pregnant. That will make our baby born in September. I am so excited. I have to keep in mind though that this is a tentative plan. Not written in stone. I have been thinking about having a baby for awhile. I really do not want my next baby 6 years older than Ava. Tina and Ava are far enough a part.

I also have to think about HG. Is nine months long enough to plan? I am not sure. I just know that I need to do this before Avanelle is too old. It is going to be tough and we will not be completely ready for anything but if we wait til we are completely ready then that might never happen. We will do fine. I know it.

Now I get to thinking what do I need to do to get ready? First I need to see the doctor and get a plan with him. Then I need to loose some weight. I need to make sure I take my vitamin every day and my temp. I know my cycle so well it might only take one time. I need to be ready I mean really ready. I need to be in good health and I need to make sure I am already on some type of anti nausea medication. I have done lots of research and HG is best treated when it is treated from the start. So hopefully I get all of that done before December.

It is going to be a long road but I know with the support of my family and friends I can get through anything. I am scared because I hate the feeling the first four months brings me. I am dizzy and always feeling like I could pass out. I get sick all day long to the point of dehydration. That is a really scary thing to go through. We really need all the support we can get. So please try to be there for us if you can. Randy probably needs the support more than I do. He gets so scared and he is not a person that talks about things easily. I worry so much about him. I remember last time worrying about him more than myself. So here we go. 9 months to get ready.

Pretending and what we are doing today

So the other day I caught my girls in the the playroom making up their own game with a set of number dominoes. They were playing a "Go Fish" like game.I found it hilarious. My girls can take the simplest thing and turn it into their own game.Ava knew most of her one digit numbers which is good. I am glad it was an educational game.

Just like on Wednesday they were playing "Alice in Wonderland" Tina and Ava were taking turns hopping through the house saying " I'm late, I'm late". They were using their daddy's watch to do it too.

When I was a kid my sister, brother and I used to play store. We took all the monopoly money and used it as the stores money. I had a hotel and my brother had the store. My little sister was our customer.It was so much fun.

Another game I used to play with my sister was "Little House on the Prairie" I loved those books growing up. We used to take down the curtains and make them into long dresses and pretend that we were Mary and Laura. I loved those times pretending as a kid.

I am so glad I spent all the money I did on all the pretend stuff.Christina and Ava love to play with dishes and puppet show stage. The dog loves it too. She gets into the buckets and chews on whatever she wants. So I guess it's a win win. Actually, the dog gets in trouble for chewing on toys and is redirected to a bone or her own chew toy. Believe me that does not stop her.

Today, I think we are going to stay inside. It snowed in March!!! It's Ohio though and to be expected. They say "If you do not like the weather in Ohio wait a minute and it will change" Hopefully I hate snow. Anyway, we are going to go to the mall to play and maybe to the store to pick up a few things. Milk and you know the perishables you always run out of before you get paid. So I am going to get that out of the way. No idea what is going on when Randy gets home. Hopefully something fun. Well I am off to fold some more laundry. It never ends!!

What I am doing Easter weekend.

So as most people know Randy and I are not Christians. We actually find the whole Easter thing funny. It is such a pagan holiday. Anyway. Friday is Randy's birthday. We are going to go ahead and celebrate both of our birthdays on the same day like always. I am going to make a cheese cake and we are going to have ice cream. Then we are going to color eggs and watch movies. Probably bunny movies.

Saturday we are going to spend the day outside playing. Maybe even take a hike at High banks. Might pack a lunch and spend the day there. Of course we have to go grocery shopping at some point. I am sure I will have a bit of it done on Friday so we should be good. Might have to head out to Save- Alot to finish. Might even swing by and see the bunny.

Sunday the day of all days. We are going to stay home this year. I have plans for an Easter Hunt for the girls, Easter art projects and a nice Easter dinner. No relatives this year. Way too much drama. Much more peaceful and fun to stay home. At dinner time we will take a family vote just like on Thanksgiving on what we want to do next year.

I am really excited I have never really been off on Easter so this will give me and my family some quality time. Especially since Randy is starting school the last week of March. So that is what I have planned for Easter. It is going to be a very fun time. The girls are very excited about the Easter Bunny coming this year.

What to put in baskets this year? I have been thinking and I think I should do mostly fun things for the girls to do other than candy. Every year it seems like I get more and more out of giving sweets. Of course there will be jelly beans and the chocolate Easter Bunny but that is about it. My girls do not eat that much candy.

I am really looking forward to next week. I just have to get this weekend over with. I have to work 12 hour shifts. Really sucks to be me.


I cannot wait for our family fun holiday.

Making our money stretch!

Randy and I are a hard working middle class couple. We both together probably make 46,000 a year. Well every time about this time of year we play catch up with our electric and gas. For some reason every year it is higher the month of February. I think it is because of it being so cold. This year was no exception. So here we are playing catch up. I refuse I mean I outright refuse to get on the budget or do any of those government programs. In the long run you pay more.So I made us a nice tight budget. We are going to pay both of them off in two payments. Last week was the first and next week will be the last and we will be all caught up.

We did a bunch of Save-Alot shopping and we watched every penny we spent. No extras. Just the food we need. Hopefully next month we can get Randy's motorcycle up and running so he can take that to work. Gas is about to go up. I mean high. So we are going to make an investment there. Plus I love riding on his motorcycle. So it's a win win.

Hopefully the child support thing gets straightened out. I have not got a payment since Feb. I have not been able to pay my car payment this month. I called Jeff and he is suppose to fix the problem. Hopefully that happens soon. I only owe 11 months on my car. It's going to be so nice to have that extra money to work on Randy's car getting paid off. He has 19 months.

Next year I hope to have enough money saved. Which so far it has been next to impossible to save. Especially with the whole child support thing messed up. Next month is the month. We are going to save. Save like crazy. We need to do some maintenance on our cars and fix a couple of things around here. I love owning my own house. I really do but the repairs can be costly but it is ours. Every month we are closer to making it ours permanently.

Well times are tough but I never let it get me down. Like Dawkins said "Nice guys finish first". We will finish it might be in about six years but we will be completely settled and financially secure. We will only ever live in three houses, the one we rented for six months, this one and our dream house. I am so glad my girls are stable. They have a place to call their own. I am very happy.

One thing I never really understood is why people fight over money. I mean you do what is best for your family then the rest is compromise. You come up with your plan together then you do it. I have never once even had an argument with Randy over money. There is no need to. We know what needs to be done. We know what we can do. We know what is within our reach and not.

Another thing I have never got and no offense to people that have this problem. I really truly do not understand why video games take over some men's brains? I mean why in the hell are they so important? My husband does not play nor does he have the time or desire to. My ex did all the time. I never understood why his video games came before our family. I had a friend in New York that had a husband that did nothing but play the video game from the moment he got home. Not to mention they did not have the money to blow on new games but her husband would do that anyway. They would then borrow money off me to pay their bills. How do people have time for it? Randy works full time, goes to school, helps takes care of the kids and cleans with me. We barely have time to watch a movie together. Anyway never did understand that.

Ok back to my blog. I always get off topic. So we are super tight this month. I have a feeling we are going to turn things around in the month of April and May. Excited to do that. Well I am off to be with my girls. We are going to sing " Rain Rain Go Away"!!

Team Channell

Wow I was just on cafemom reading about this women who had a husband that does nothing around the house. Then underneath her there were a bunch of women pissing and moaning about how their husbands do nothing!!! Not at my house!! We work together as a team. We are Team Channell.

So here is how things go in my house. I work second shift. Randy works first. We work together. I do all I can do during my time at home. Randy comes home and he does what I did not get done. Randy usually does the laundry because I cannot ever seen to get to it between the dog chewing up things and Ava dragging out every toy in the house. This week though I have done quiet a bit of laundry. I usually am the one who cleans the kitchen good. He normally cooks while I am at work and brings it to me. Yep I get a hot meal while I am at work. Very sweet of him. Today though I think I am going to make chicken and dumplings so I should be able to take my dinner to work.

In my opinion a man should do fifty percent of the house work. A man should clean up after himself. Randy has always helped me and has cleaned up after himself. My coworkers are always telling me that I have one of the best men they have ever seen. Sheila is always telling me to "hold on to that man, he is a good one" She says this in her Mississippi, African American accent. So cute!I agree and I appreciate everything he does. Like yesterday he changed my oil for me. He also does handy things around the house. Over the weekend he pained my oven hood to match my stove. He did a good job. I really like how it turned out. I am lucky. I am very lucky. I defiantly found a rare man. I do not know anyone that has a man that cleans, cooks, works, fixes things, and respects them. Hard to come by. I got very lucky.

So Randy if you are reading this, I love you. I appreciate everything you do for me and our girls. You are a very special one of a kind man. I am lucky to have you. Next week is your birthday I plan on showing you how much I appreciate you by making you a special surprise.

In the state of love and trust

So I was on cafemom yesterday and there was an interesting question on there. Well someone asked if you check your significant others email and if that is a breach of privacy and trust. For Randy and I it is not. We know all each others passwords. I get on his email and check it for bill information. I also get on his facebook and myspace to change his pictures once in a while. We find it no big deal. Plus we believe what Dr. Phil says people that have nothing to hide, hide nothing.

I trust Randy 110%. I mean I love him. We have an open book relationship though. We are mature enough to know that nobody can get in between us. There is no such thing as that when you are solid. Nobody can cause you relationship problems if you are solid. The only way a person that can come in between two people in a marriage is if someone in the marriage lets them. In my opinion the marriage needs some work at that point.

We are even able to talk about our exs to one another. It's no big deal. I mean they were a part of our lives. People think we are weird. No it's called maturity and respect. We have learned from those relationships so it only makes senses for us to talk about them. I love hearing about his first dates and his first experiences. It's nice we are able to talk about them. I do not get the least bit jealous. That was then and this is now. I might not be his first but I am his last and I am the one he has chosen for life. Nobody can touch that. Nobody.

Randy has all my passwords too. He knows about the the email I got from an old army friend of Jeff where he was hitting on me. He knows about all the times Jeff has texted me hitting on me. He knows about the guy that recently emailed me asking me if I need a new man lol. I told him I was happily married. My life is an open book to him. I share my life with him. So he knows everything and he is quite flattered that there are people that want his wife lol. I still have it!!!

Anyway we are on the same page. So I guess for us it's not even an issue or something we think about.

When I was married to Jeff. I could not trust him. Everything that he said was a lie. So you are damn right I had his shit. I know without trust there is no love. I get that now. I obviously understand that. So yeah I had to check up on him. Because I never knew if he was telling the truth. I recall a time at the end of our relationship where he suddenly wanted privacy. I told him fine well then I get privacy too. The funny thing is he was cheating and lying that is why he needed privacy. No idea why he just did not get a new email address. Dumb ass. Anyway, he would not let me change my passwords then he accused me of cheating lol. I never once cheated until he did. Yeah I am not going to let someone cheat on me and get away with it. So I had a fling. Jeff had lots of flings throughout our relationship. I know does not make it right. I get that. At the time I was mad as hell and was not thinking. So that is a great example of a relationship gone wrong by lack of trust. Never again for me. Jeff has an open relationship so they are allowed to cheat on each other lol. Good luck with that. Cheating is wrong and I was wrong. Jeff did it the whole time and never once felt a bit of guilt. Hell he has sex with my friend down the street from me. Sometimes while I was asleep upstairs in our apartment. We were not even married a year yet. He also had sex with the same chick in my car!! He told me he was doing laundry. Looking back no wonder the man liked doing laundry. Relationship gone wrong. Mistakes and things I cannot change but I learned from.

This above situation is what made me want to try again. I wanted to get it right. I wanted to change take my past and make my future bright. I achieved that. I have that with Randy. I still cannot believe it some days. I finally have everything I ever wanted in a relationship. I am happy.

So yes I do check Randy's email. It has nothing to do with not trusting him. It has nothing to do with checking up on him. It has everything to do with paying bills and having an open book relationship. That is what we have and for us it works. Not for everyone I know but for us it is what makes our relationship solid and strong.

I am very happy. Very! We have a relationship that alot of people are jealous of. I am very flattered by that. I hope it makes people want to work harder at theirs. I think we are a good example of a couple that is getting it right.

I cannot wait for Randy to get home. Yep I am still crushing on him after all these years.

Health Care Reform Now!!

So I went to the doctor yesterday, he prescribed me a pill to help with my severe acid reflex. Well Randy's insurance would not cover a penny of it. So I guess I will have to take over the counter medication. There is no way I am going to spend over 100 dollars a month on a medication and take away from my kids. No way! We pay over 310 dollars a month in insurance already there is no way I am going to pay more than that. That is what I have in my budget. I was pretty pissed. Our deductible is 4,000 dollars. We have to pay that out of pocket before the insurance will pay anything so that means we pay over 6,ooo a year just for medical coverage. That is crazy! So the sad thing is Randy and I will just have to go without our medication. Yeah that's right Randy has been going without his for over 4 years. We cannot afford 500 every three months. We do not have that type of money. Our kids comes first.


I think EVERYONE should be able to afford top notch health-care. I do not think a person should have to choose between putting food on the table or the medication they need. The prices of things are outrageous!! I mean 169.00 for 30 pills? That is flippin insane!! Something needs to be done. The prices need to be lowered. We are being eaten alive with greed and for what? So these big companies can become multi million dollar companies and the rest of us can suffer because we cannot even afford our medication? What happened to our pursuit of happiness? This country is forgetting that. Everyone is too wrapped up in making a buck off the common man that works his ass off to support his family. I am so sick of this. I am so sick of having to jump through hoops for the insurance company.

You know they told me that if I had a concern that I would have to have a follow up appointment because the insurance would deny the claim because it was just suppose to be a wellness appointment. Screw that I have been in Pain for a week and I am going to say what the hell I want to say at my doctors appointment. I would have to wait another week to ask the doctor something that he wanted to know. Am I suppose to lie when he asks me if I been having any problems? No wait doctor we have to have a follow up because medical mutual will not pay you for your time. Fuck that!!! So if I get a bill I am sending it to the insurance company. I got all the wellness exam part done I want credit for it. He happened to find my acid reflex problem during the exam. Oh wait he has to wait to find that. I should be able to go to the doctor when I want and have it paid for. I give them money to pay for it every month. I hardly ever go to the doctor I am in great health so there is no reason for me to have to pay a 4,000 deductible.


I mean I would understand if you are a person that chooses to smoke be over weight or just plain out does not care about being healthy. Hell yeah you people are why the insurance is so damn high. I think everyone should try to be as healthy as they can so the insurance does not have to pay for services. I understand that. My acid reflex is not my fault. My stomach makes too much acid. Not caused by anything that I did. Spicy foods does not cause acid reflex. I exercise, eat right and try my damn hardest to be as healthy as I can.

All I ask is the one time I actually have to go to the doctor that the visit is peaceful and not stressful. I only go once a year.

My kids are very healthy and I am not the crazy mother that goes for a runny nose lol. I only go when I know there is something wrong. The flu unless the child is dehydrated then I do not rush to er like a fool because I am educated enough to know that there is nothing they can do for it. It has to take it's course. I know that colds and flu there is no cure for it just something to treat the symptoms. I am certified in first aid so I know when a bone is broken or when my child will need stitches. So I am not costing my insurance that much. I also take advantage of over the counter medications when necessary. I know my basic rashes and I know when to go and when not to. I know ER is expensive and it is better to go to urgent care. So what the hell I am not costing these people hardly anything. Unless I am pregnant. Which it is medically impossible for me to be because you have to have unprotected sex for that. So what the hell???????

Well I am done for my rant for the day I am just so burned up by this. I cannot believe how stupid insurance has gotten. This new insurance is the worst I have ever seen.

Worried

So I got to thinking, I have been hard on my body. I am lucky I am just now having stomach problems. I had two babies before the age of 25. I had HG with both which caused me to throw up over 15 times a day at times.I have had more ivs then I can count. I can count two because I have scars on my arms. I have had acid reflex most of my life untreated.So hell yeah I am scared to death. I am scared that I am going to take money away from my kids. I am scared that I have something majorly wrong with me and I will not be able to take care of my kids. I am scared that because of all of this I will not be around to see my grand kids. I probably sound like a crazy women but I have real reason to be scared out of my flippin mind.

I have been experiencing burning and pain in my stomach for a week now. I am tired all the time. I cannot hardly eat anything. Only soft bland things or I get really bad pains in my stomach and I feel very nauseated. Something is wrong. I find that everyone I tell this to is acting like I am being dramatic. I would not do that. If I say I am in pain then I am in pain. I do not make up things to get attention. Maybe some people do but not me. I would do anything to be able to stay up and have enough energy to see my kids play outside. When I got home yesterday from the park I just crashed on the couch. That is not like me. I am a very energetic person.

So this is what I think is wrong with me. I either have an Ulcer or Gastritis. They both are treated the same and have alike symptoms. I just hope the doctor can figure it out so I can get back to my life. I cannot live like this. I am tired of Randy doing the housework. I am tired of him doing almost everything because I fall asleep before 8 pm. I am a women that likes to clean her house and be the mother and I am having a hard time doing that. I have read that both conditions can be treated and symptoms go away pretty much immediately after treatment. So in a way I hope it is one of them.

So well I guess I am going to lay on the couch since Randy is leaving for work and watch a movie or something. I am too worried to sleep but I am oh so tired.

Randy goes to college!!

So my life starts getting interesting. Randy is starting a class at MTC next week. He is going to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am so excited for him. I am so glad Whirlpool is paying for his education. I just wish he has time to take more classes then he is. But that is ok. In three years or less he will have his Assicates degree in Electrical Engineering. Then we hope for him to keep going back til he gets his bachelors. I thought he could even go online to finish it out.I cannot seem to find the whole degree online. You have to have an associates then finish online.

This is just the first step to our lives getting better.Hopefully in the next five years Randy will have a better job doing what he loves. Then I will go back to school and finish what I started. We really want to buy another house. This one is getting too small. It was a great start but we want our big house out in the country. So here we go getting ready to make our lives better. It is going to take some hard work but we can do it. Well I am off to take Tina to school. I am so tired I cannot wait til I see the doctor tomorrow.

Busy Week Ahead

So all last week I have weak and my stomach has been sore. I have barely been able to eat nor have I had an appetite.I still have to work though.I cannot take days off. Well I made a doctors appointment for Wednesday I hope they can help me. I think I may have an ulcer. My father has had them and I have acid reflex. Make sense. I hope I feel better soon. Randy has been just great about it. He has let me sleep when I need to sleep and has done most of the house work lately. Kind of makes me feel bad but I have to take care of me.

I have doctor appointments and so much to do this week. Ava has an appointment tomorrow, I do on Wednesday. I have to fast and have my blood work done and I have to take Kisten to school every day this week due to there being tests. So I am super busy. Plus I work Monday and Wednesday this week. Randy is working til 2;30 so I will get to see him before I go to work. I love when he is being the back up. So much to do. Well I am off to find the energy to clean and get things done. I am having pains again I am going to take some more antacids.

I am pretty sure I am done!!

Ava hates being wet I mean she screams bloody murder. I am using this to my advantage and it worked! All night she was dry and all day yesterday! So no more pull ups or diapers!! I am so excited! So here I am and it's 630 in the morning and she is going potty! I did it!! I am so proud of her. I am also sad but this is one of the times you have to let go and let her be independent. Letting go is hard but necessary.

Today I am going to work because I am no longer on the schedule for three hours on my off weekend. I am going to start going in to do 1-1 again. This means I take my client to do an activity. I have been brainstorming I have came up with going to petland and seeing a dog and maybe out to eat. So there goes my evening but I will be off all weekend so that time will be nice.