Conquering Quickbooks...

So on Rick's urging, I contacted the accountant so that they could come and set our office up with Quickbooks. Now I guess he doesn't remember when I asked him to do this at the beginning of my career here at our little office. So now I am stuck with inputting information from the beginning of the year. I guess that he wasn't smart enough to do this in January, so now I am stuck putting information in from January 1. Yep, that's right all of our invoices, all of our checks that we wrote, all our deposits, and payroll. I could just kill him right now. Now this is on top of everything else that I have to do, billings, etc. I nearly cried yesterday when he asked me to look for something and I couldn't find it quick enough. I am thinking about not answering the phone today...just to get more of this crap done. But only two more day's until vacation, so that is the good thing that I can look forward to.

~M

And It's Only The Beginning...

So now it is summer break for the kids. I love them and all, but I don't think that being around them 24 hours a day is good for anyone. They get on eachothers nerves at times and mine as well. They have been coming to work with me for this past week and I have had about my fill of all day and all night with Miss O and Mr. A. Sometimes I am under the impression that they do things on purpose to get under my skin, but it's probably just me.

I don't like when they go out of town for a week at a time, but then again when they are normally here I have about 7 hours without them because they are in school. I think they need a little space as well as me. I always think about how nice it was going to be for them to be out of school because then I don't have to rush back and forth from work to school or the house to make sure they are alright, but now...

I don't want to leave them at the house alone because I don't trust them. They make huge messes and think that it is alright to eat a whole bag of Pringles and Twizzlers for lunch, and then when I come home and get on their case they look confused. I don't know if the look of confusion is from needing to hit the bathroom from all of the sugar or that they genuinely don't think they did anything wrong.

I know for sure that little walks to 7-11 or around the corner are in the near future at lunch breaks though, just to get out of the house. Everyone should know by now that I dislike the heat so much that I curse it, but I think that I will have to endure some of it just to keep my sanity.

Just feelin' a little frustrated right now and felt the need to share...:)

~M

I Think I May Be Dying...

That's it...I quit. No more Kickboxing classes on Monday's. I usually go on Thursday's, which is good I am now used to the tempo and know what this guy that is the teacher is going to do. The woman that taught this class yesterday is just pure evil. My knees hurt so bad from this little session yesterday. :( But it's all good. I can now fit into my clothes and them be a little big on me. I actually did two classes yesterday. I did the kickboxing and then Zumba ( I think that is how it is spelled ), I had so much fun doing this class. It's like a whole bunch of dancing set to some really awesome music. I will definately be doing that again. So far since I last weighed myself at the beginning of the week I have lost 6 pounds. I had stopped working out for a while so I gained the 5 pounds that I had lost right back on, but I have lost it and I think at the end of the week I will weigh myself again at the gym. I don't trust the scale at home. I think it lies and tries to make me feel bad. :)

~M

Happiness Is...

A bubble bath with candles and champagne...

Perhaps a warm "gun" ( for all those Beatle fans out there )...

Being loved by my kids...

Being loved by my man...

Having a job...

Feeling good about myself physically for the first time in a long time...

Knowing it's the season for vacations...

Lulu and Kipper...

My gym membership, lol...

Flowers...

The Sun...

The Moon...

Thunderstorms on a summer afternoon...

Naps on Sunday...

Disneyland :)...

Cisco...

Olivia...

Anthony...

I don't always wake up in the morning and think about the sweet fuzzy things that accompany our lives day to day let alone think much about them at all in the length of the day. But for some strange reason I woke up in a particularly good mood this morning, which is highly unusual. I'm usually all business and dread going to work. But on this particular morning I noticed something in the mirror as I was staring at myself...I'm losing weight. I could finally tell and was so excited. I have been working very hard the past week or so to lose 10 pounds, it's a little bet / deal that Cisco and I have going, before we go on vacation in a week. I've been running at least a mile and a half 4 to 5 days a week at the gym and have gone to a couple of Kickboxing classes. So I've been noticing changes, but it didn't really hit me hard until this morning. I mean I actually considered wearing a tank top and jeans with nothing over the tank top, but then thought better of it...not ready for that yet, confidence wise at least. So it's just a good day all around. It will be even better as soon as I eat something, cause I am starving, but otherwise I thought I would share in my happiness.

~M

A Cake and An Animal Orgy...

So it was Olivia's 10th birthday this past Sunday and it was nice and low key. Olivia and her little friend went to see Indiana Jones and then we all went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Later we came back to the house to have the cake that I made with some Ice Cream. Overall I was quite happy with how the cake turned out. Instead of the strawberry filling I put buttercream and coconut. It was good. This cake took me 3 hours to decorate, from start to finish. I applied some pink pearl dust to the pink accents and I think that I pulled it off pretty good. I just dabbed it on where I wrote happy birthday because I didn't want to smear the writing that I had previously done. I was pretty tired after the whole cake thing. I didn't think that I would want to try some but I did and as always, found places for improvement. Everyone else thought the cake was flawless and tasted great, and I did too, but as usual the person making it always finds the little things that could be better and I guess that is always a good thing.

In about a week or so when the kids are on vacation I will do another cake but not using fondant, only buttercream so that I can try some piping techniques. It will be quiet so I will be able to do it without interruption.

Later on that night when Cisco and I went upstairs after getting the girls settled we found my babies doing the unimaginable. I have a firm belief that animals come to life when everyone else is asleep or away (like in Toy Story), so I think that these nasty little things got caught in mid Orgy. And I thought things were pretty normal around our house. I hope this is only with my babies and no one else's. :)

~M

Cake Walk...

So it is that time of year again, Olivia's birthday. This year I am happy to inform you that I am actually involved. I guess it's good news. I wish I had the easy part that her aunts have, shopping for the stuff and doing the running around. But, last year Olivia had asked me to make her cake so that is my sole responsibility. After several run throughs and several ideas that just didn't pan out. I have come up with this little creation...which was thankfully approved by her majesty, you should note that there are 10 little hearts at the top which I am planning on putting the candles in, I was quite worried. I think I spent a whole at least 2 whole days worth of time on this cake and the conception...EVERYTHING!!! It has been quite an experience I must say that though.

Usually Olivia plans her big day with her aunts, everything from the theme to the party favors and the cake. They get the cake and do everything and then Cisco and I just show up. But this year Olivia wanted a sleep over with her girlfriends at the house and for me to do the cake. I was quite excited that I was going to be involved. Olivia asked if I would make little cakes for her class and without thinking about all the man hours that I would have to spend on them I said yes. So two days ago I started making the cakes and last night I began decorating them so that we could take them to school today. I think I spent 7 hours doing them last night, just to decorate them. I nearly dropped some of them, but I saved them. I swear if I would have dropped them I would have needed therapy.So by the time I finished I piped O's on the top for "Olivia" and some dots and applied the fondant. I was quite proud of this little feat. Now I only have to do the cake for Sunday and I am finished. I can say that without a shadow of a doubt that if I see any sugary dessert any time soon I will turn and toss my cookies. I have two days to rest from the kitchen which is nice, in that time I can clean the house and prepare it for an invasion of girls.

~M

Would You Rather...

As I was driving to work this morning and listening to the radio I heard a conversation about 5 things to do on a first date (for ladies). As I was listening to this I was remembering what it was like to go on first dates, when I did go on first dates...which seems like forever ago.

I remember how excited I would get when I would give my phone number out or he would get mine, all the anticipation of wondering if he would call and when. Back in the days when cell phones weren't as affordable as they are now, I would forward my calls to make sure I wouldn't miss his. There were the usual first date jitters as well as the awkward silences and the inevitable good night kiss or hug, depending on how good the date went and if you thought there might be a second.

As is the rituals of courting you try to keep on your best behavior and you dress to the nines, shave everyday because you never know, and try to be yourself (at least to a point).

As time goes by and you decide that you will stick this one through and see how far it goes you let little things slip as you begin to know each other better and become more comfortable around each other. You love that person for themselves and not all the other crap that you were so worried about in the beginning.

So what would you rather have, years of happiness with that one person or giving it all up just to have those first couple weeks of excitement. I know there are people out there that would pick the last one.

I know that I will never really have that same feeling as I did on my first date with Cisco, but the anticipation for something more is always there. A note on the vanity mirror in the morning, flowers brought to me in bed, rare occasions when we are able to go out without the kids (including trips), and just being able to talk for hours without interruption if we chose to. I think that I miss that feeling of courting a little bit sometimes, just the excitement from anticipation and the butterflies that follow, but when I think about what I have now it's so much better. I get to come home to two kids who love me unconditionally, shaved legs or not, a man that knows my flaws as well as his own and loves me regardless.

I'm just so happy for taking that first step with our little first date, I didn't think he would call the number on the paper, but I'm glad you did baby.

I love you guys more than life itself.

~M

Hot Babies and Baseball...

So as all of you know yesterday was Mothers Day! So happy Mommies day to all of you out there. I was greeted in bed that morning to Anthony snuggling me and then about 1/2 an hour later to Olivia and Cisco coming in with breakfast on a tray and flowers and cards. I can definately say that I was feeling the love.

On Friday I got tickets for Anthony, Olivia and I to go to the 51's baseball game. I thought that it would be a fun little outing. A great surprise was that Cisco was able to get the night off early and come and join us around the bottom of the 3rd.





It was a really fun game, what was nice was that the team won and we got to watch some fireworks at the end of the game. It was a lot of fun. The weather was great also, a little breezy, and not too hot...not yet anyway.

On Mother's Day I wanted to to the the outlet shops at State line. There were quite a few things that I saw that I wanted at Sur La Table and thought that they just might have the same items at the Williams Sonoma outlet. Well, they had some of the things but not many, so that led us to driving back into town and going to the shops at Planet Hollywood, back to the Sur La Table store. We had gone to this store a week before so that I could let Cisco in on the things that I wanted, just in case he felt the desire to go there and surprise me with them on the morning of Mother's Day. That wasn't the case, but he did take me there. Well on the way there we were waiting at a red light, (on Tropicana and LV Blvd.) and if you live or have lived in this town for even a month or a couple of days you will know that there are driving billboards all over the streets as well as stationary ones letting people in on having escorts come to your hotel room. Well I try not to say anything about these things to the kids and sometimes they see them and say ewww and then other times they laugh at eachother about the girl with her butt cheeks showing. Well yesterday there was a driving billboard waiting for a light and Anthony saw it. I saw it right away and was hoping that no one under the age of 18 saw it either, but Anthony and Olivia both did.

Well Anthony started reading it, and said..."Hot Babies direct to you, what are hot babies? Are they on fire?" And of course Cisco and I started laughing pretty hard. We both wondered if him not reading wonderfully was a good thing at that point or not. I mean it didn't really get into details like I feared because we were all laughing so hard about him saying babies instead of the babes. It was hillarious. I made sure to take a picture so that it could be referenced in this little post, but I thought it was one of the funniest things, besides Olivia asking who wanted to go to the Adult Superstore a few months ago. It's things like this that seem to put the cherry on a mom's day.

~M

Ode To An Oven...

Oh bearer of heavenly goodness...I am so happy that you are just now returning to my life. I am so happy that you have come to bring joy into our home once again. So many times I have heard the cries of the children yearning for the yummy baked goodness of treats or bubbly dinners fresh out of your womb, and now that dream has come true.....I FINALLY GOT MY FREAKIN' OVEN!

I am so excited! It arrived on Monday and I christened it with Lasagna and made a Pecan Pie. Last night I decided to polish up my cake baking skills and lets just say they were a little rusty. Just a little bit mind you. For those of you that did not know of my oven sadness, I have been without one for nearly two years. I was always using the damn thing. I have never really known an oven to go out before. I mean my mom's is older than ours was and it still worked, but low and behold my bad fortune to have a finicky one in my presence. Oh well though it's over and I am back to using it all the time. I have to pick up many supplies to fill up the pantry so that I may resume my cake and treat baking skills. They have been put a damper on since I didn't have an oven to use. When I was hard up during the holiday's I would use my mom's. However, if you have never had to truck all of your materials as well as the finished project 15 minutes away then you will not be able to appreciate my aggravation over the whole ordeal. Not to mention trying to work in someone else's kitchen. They don't have the same things you do, so you are not used to their hand held mixer as opposed to your standing mixer. Or the fact that you don't know where every little thing is so that it is only a mere whistle away.

So yay! Heaven has returned to my little Kitchen!

~M

And So It's Time To Start Over...Again...

And so it begins...I have registered for the fall. I didn't go at all last year, just because I think I needed a break as well as there was so much going on with the kids. But now that I am the first one to sign up for anything I will make sure to let the rest of the clan know, so that our children are not haphazardly thrown into activities without wondering where they should go after...I think this includes me as well.

I am excited about going back, I think because I missed two semesters. I will be taking my last Management class, Intermediate Algebra, Philosophy and Accounting. I am halfway done with school at CSN and I figured last night that if I go for this Semester, Spring and next fall then I will be done and I will be able to graduate in the Spring of 2010. I guess that is a good round number to end things on. Then it will be time to transfer to UNLV to finish out the next "two" years. When I was looking at my credits that I have earned yesterday it didn't feel like I had gone as far as I have. I think it is because when I take classes I load up, so that I can get it done. I haven't done too shabby yet, but I think this semester I will definitely need to see a tutor to help with the accounting and math aspect of this whole thing.

The only classes that I have left really are math classes, which sucks because I'm not all that great at math and it takes so much for me to finally grasp an idea that is trying to be taught. I miss taking the usual writing classes, I think it is because I am good at them. I think after I post this I will go onto UNLV's site and see what classes I will need to finish out the second part of this little degree that I'm trying for.

~M

Bring On The Cuteness...

I didn't really have much to blog about, but wanted to put something up so I thought that I would post some cute pictures of my Lulu and the kids...:)




















And by the command of Lulu...it's time for a nappy poo...:)



~M

It Was So Funny...

that I nearly cried! I think these are hillarious...

Bla Bla Bla...

I guess you could say that it is the same old thing. Boring, boring, boring. Well at least to me it is. This repetition is killing me...dinner, clean, laundry, bitch at the kids, dinner, activities, laundry...you get the gist of what I am getting at. I guess I just need to do something fun. Like join a pottery class, getting some friends might lift my spirits. One of them is married and lives on the other side of town, so we don't get together as often as we would like. And the other one is in a semi-new relationship and has recently decided that hanging out with friends is not a priority at this time. I think over time she will grow bored with him and then beg to go out with a friend every once and a while.

I guess it reminds me of when I got out of high school, granted I had Anthony not too long after that, but I wanted to call my girlfriends and have a sleep over or something fun that we used to do like that. I LOVED having sleep overs. But of course, I knew if I called these girls and inquired of the chances of a sleep over happening they would have laughed and hung up the phone on me. Even now...I would love to have one. But not with little kids, with my friends. I think that it would be so much fun. But no one has the time for that stuff. In my very small circle of friends I am currently the only one with kids, so I don't know why someone's schedule would conflict, but I know that everyone would be busy or something to that affect. I guess it just sucks to know that I don't have any friends, I have tried to make friends with some of the kids' friends parents, but that is hard too. I just don't feel like we are on the same level. I am a bit more carefree and fun, some of them seem so uptight and have so much drama going on in their lives, which is good fun when listening to it over coffee, but when it is my turn to share what the hell would I say to them?

It's rough that is for sure.

Anthony and Olivia made a tent in the living room the other night to sleep in, and when they first made it all they did was line up chairs in a circle and put pillows around it. I looked at them with great concern, HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW TO MAKE A TENT AND YOU ARE 9??? This baffled me only because at their age I was a pro at making those things. So, I pushed up my sleeves and showed them how it was to be done. It was great to hear their joy at the construction of this project and the out come. Cisco was also impressed and suggested that we leave it up so that the next night we could sleep in it. I thought that was funny, all I could think of was, "there is no way I can sleep on the floor in that thing, my back will be killing me the next day!". What the hell happened to me, when did I become so concerned about sleeping on the floor and what it would do to my body the next day. Scary people, very scary.

I hope that when I write next time there is more interesting things going on but until then.

~M

To Be Or Not To Be...

A bit vegetarian. So my darling son decided a few months ago that it was mean to eat Piggies. So I stopped fixing bacon, pork chops, pork loin, sausage, etc. And only cooked Chicken, Fish, lots of Turkey and occasionally Beef. There were several choices when cooking dinner so I didn't mind the slight change in menu. Then a couple of weeks after that Anthony was talking to his grandpa and eating a hamburger and his grandpa decided to ask him, "so you don't eat piggies because they are cute? Well don't you know where hamburgers come from, you eat cows and chickens and turkeys too you know...do you think that they are cute?" Anthony stopped eating and said that he would not be eating chicken, pork, turkey or beef. So it has been nothing short of a challenge to think of what to make for dinners.

To keep it short...I gave up. I found this fake soy or tofu chicken and make it for Anthony in conjunction with what we are eating for dinner. He didn't like the tofu concoction that I made one night and neither did I. It was pretty gross. I do have to think of better ways to include protein and soy into his diet without it tasting horrible.

He has not really come to the realization that becoming a true vegatarian would include not eating eggs, cheese, fish or drinking dairy products. I think that it is good that he does want to do something good for himself and his fellow furry friends, but he is a bit young and still growing to cut out those things and I can't cook him fish every night. So I have to come up with some recipes and ideas for food that don't include the meats that he refuses to eat. I put chicken on his tostada one night when we had them and he scraped off the chicken and just ate the beans and veggies. That was the last time that I tried to talk him into eating the things that he refuses, because it won't do any good.

So if anyone has any recipes or can give me some pointers PLEASE let me know. I would even be willing to leave my e-mail address so that you can send them. I am desprate. I don't know what to do, my tofu recepies suck! LOL...:)

~M

Nothing Much...Just Chillin'

Cisco and I went to Sedona for our yearly Valentines getaway. I know that I am about a month behind when writing about it, but if you click his link then you will read all about it, so I guess there is really no need for me to do so, with the exception of me having a great time and wishing that we could do it again very soon. While we were there though Cisco let me adopt a baby...and her name is Amber. She is so soft! But I thought that it would be a great idea that while on our way home I put her up on the ledge that over looks the Hoover Dam while the sun was down. The wind blew her down and nearly tipped her over the edge. After saving her life I had Cisco hold her for this picture. It was a very unsettling feeling...lol. The kids had their Valentines dinner at school and it was the usual scream fest. All the boys chased eachother around and all the girls huddled in the bathroom or corners to talk about the boys that they liked. And there were only girls dancing, typical. But it was fun. I also got to see who it is that Olivia is madly in love with this month, well I guess it's been going on for a while, but I'm just hoping that it's not going to spell out trouble in the very near future.Other than that I guess that is the news of the month. Nothing new and exciting, exept for the inevitable garage sale since the weather is warming up around here. It will be nice to start working on things in the house with the windows open, as well as in the garage, God knows that it needs to be done and soon. So until next time...

~M

Who Wants To Go To The Adult Superstore...

I called dibs on this little bit of amusing humor from Cisco.

Sunday's are our family days together...Cisco, Olivia, Anthony and I. Cisco and I decided to do a little window shopping and walking around this past Sunday. We went to Town Square, which I went to a couple of weeks ago with my mom, and we walked around. It's really neat, just like stepping into California. Well it was a little cold to be walking around outside, so we decided to go to the Venetian. There is a new shopping area connected to the Grand Canal Shops. While driving on the freeway to get there Cisco took the wrong exit...which led us going West on Spring Mountain instead of East, so while talking and driving and getting ready to make a U turn to get back on the right track, we hear Olivia spurt out..."Anyone want to go to the Adult Superstore?" Cisco and I looked at eachother and started laughing a bit...and looked over and saw that sure enough there is one right in front of us. While saying no and trying to change the subject without trying to laugh my ass off, I was wondering how long it would be until the question of what was in there or what that place was would take place. I mean it's Las Vegas and there is one of those places everywhere on that side of town. I guess I'm just happy that she said it with us in the car and not her Grammy.

~M

A Little Pick Me Up...

I found this very amusing, it definately brought a smile to my face...enjoy.

~M

Keep On Smilin'...

Well atleast I am trying to. I have been sick for about 1 week, it sure does just seem like a cold, but it won't go away! It's killing me that I can't do anything. I am trying to do some laundry because we have officially run out of clothes. I kinda made dinner today, I didn't go to work today, but I have to try to go tomorrow. This sucks, but when I feel better I will write some more.

~M

To The First Day...

So today was the First official day of going to The gym and it was a horrible experience, I never want to do that again...lol. It's amazing that only now I really am realizing how out of shape I am. My muscles that I worked today are in a serious amount of pain but I guess that is to be expected. Over all I think I did pretty good today and dispite all of my body and mind nitrate wanting to go back tomorrow I know that I will.
M

Time To Get Out of Denial...

Well I guess I have never really been in denial about my weight, but more like trying to be blind about it. I am the last person in the world that will tell you, "I'm not fat, I'm big boned" Well I do actually have a larger body frame, thanks to my grandma...but that doesn't excuse my weight right now. It started because of steroids that were being injected every three months, which made the ball roll down hill from there. Being in a relationship that makes me completely happy, and having a boyfriend tell me that he loves me and hugs me to prove it, probably didn't help either. So, I have decided that it is time to quit being a lazy biotch and get my ass on the move. I was watching The Biggest Loser this past fall and I'm watching it again, and I look at some of these women on there, and they are the same weight as me! I thought that was just gross. I mean I personally don't think that I look that big, but then someone takes a picture of me, or I get a sideways glance at myself in the mirror or in a window, and I just want to break down.

I just don't think mentally I can handle it any longer. I think one of my favorite places to go shopping is on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, but for the times that I have been going there, I have NEVER been able to shop in ANY of the clothing stores, there. Which makes me even more depressed now that I am remembering that. I have kept setting goals for myself, only to not follow through with them because of laziness (that's all I can really come up with). I mean working out at home is hard, there is no motivation, there is no kick ass equipment, huge t.v.'s or other people trying to achieve the same goals. So tomorrow after work I am going to 24 Hour Fitness and getting my membership. I am determined not to let anything stand in my way of this.

Now that my finances are being dealt with and I have finally grown up in that aspect I can afford it, along with paying the other bills at the end of the month. That is a great feeling, by the way. I don't think that my goals at this point are too extreme. I do want to stop shopping at the "fat girl" stores and start shopping at other places. I think my goal for right now is to get into a size 14, I am in a 18 right now, so there is some work to do but with some determination and some help from home I think I can do it. I also think that posting this for the world to see as well as my online buddies might keep me in check, I almost posted a picture, but didn't think that was going to help my self esteem get any higher so I decided against it. I will however take some at home and keep them there.

I am determined to make this a lifestyle change and not just a "I'm on a diet for now" change. Heart attacks run in my family as does Diabetes. I definately want to live a long time and without problems, so this is a good thing...for me and my kids.

Wish me luck...much love.

~M