Mommy of the Year

I AM BACK!!!!! (AGAIN!)

2010-06-14T07:23:00.001-07:00

So I know I've been away from this forever now, I have been so busy for the past few months. A friend and I started our own business - Mia Sue Minerals - that "went live" on April 1. We offer bismuth-free mineral makeup, skincare, and bath and body products; and we could not be happier with our success so far! We were both reps for another mineral makeup company, but didn't like the way it was being run, so we decided to start Mia Sue. Check it out! I know you'll love what we have to offer!

I am still working outside the home part time, but working on making the transition to teleworking with that job. If I can just get my darn home office cleaned up and organized! Who wants to help??????

My daughter is in preschool full time now, and she loves it. She has made a lot of friends, and is changing so quickly, getting to be a big girl. We haven't succeeded at making her a big sister yet, but we're still trying. I am afraid I'm close to giving up, more on that later.....

So I'm off to check out blog backgrounds, catch up on some other blogs I like to follow, etc. More later!

Sunday Funday (from Mann Land 5)

2009-12-20T12:50:00.001-08:00

I stumbled across a blog today that I hadn't seen before, and there was a "Getting to know YOU" Blog Hop - fun! Here are my answers. Pop on over to Keely's blog to get in on the Hop!

1. Middle name? Before I got married, it was Suzanne. Now, it is my maiden name.

2. What do you think is your best asset (physical)? When I was in high school, apparently it was my legs, which is pretty good I guess since I'm barely 5'2" on a good day. When I am working out regularly, I'd say it is still my legs. Other than that, I don't know, maybe eyes?

3. If you could only eat one type of cuisine for a year, what would it be (Mexican, American,Chinese..etc.)? Mexican!!!

4. Walmart or Target? Target! I avoid Walmart like the plague.

5. Favorite State besides the one you live in? North Carolina. It's where I am from and would love to move back there some day.

6. What side of the bed do you sleep on, left or right? Right.

7. King or Queen size bed? Queen, but if we have more kids, we'll have to get a king.

8. Beer or wine? Depends on my mood or the occasion.

9. Water..ice-cold or room temp? I prefer ice cold, but can drink room temp.

10. Christmas..love it or hate it? Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Asthma Sucks! - The Contest

2009-12-16T09:37:00.001-08:00

I need your help!

Last year, I captained a team for the Asthma Walk in my city. It was my city's first annual walk for the American Lung Association, and I was so excited to find out about it shortly after Baby Girl's asthma diagnosis. I had a small team, but we did well with our fundraising efforts - I think we were something like 7th overall for fundraising. I was so excited when I got a call last month from the American Lung Association's Development Coordinator for our area asking me to be on this year's planning committee for the walk - renamed the Lung Walk this year to incorporate COPD and Lung Cancer (so it means that much more to me since my grandmother died from lung cancer) in addition to asthma. Last year, we had a pretty generic team name, but this year, I want something clever. This is where you all come in.

Name my team for the 2010 American Lung Association's Lung Walk!

There will actually be two prizes given away - one for a team name, one drawn completely at random for all entries.

For the random drawing, simply follow my blog with either option on the right (Google or Facebook), or follow me on Twitter. Post a comment to let me know that you are following. If you follow by all three, post a comment for each - that'll be three entries. If you already follow, great! - just leave me a comment here to let me know so I can enter you. If you tweet about the contest, leave me a comment with the tweet and that'll be another entry (you can do this one once each day for more entries). And if you suggest a team name, that's two entries into the random drawing for each suggestion. The random drawing winner will receive a Homemade Gourmet BLT Dip Mix.

For the team name contest, the person who suggests the name by comment to this post that I like the most will win. (You must be a follower of my blog to win.) This winner will receive Homemade Gourmet Taco Soup and Cheesecake Mixes.

Is this a futile attempt to get followers? Absolutely! But most of all, it's to help me come up with a great Lung Walk team name. I want to make this a great team for the 2010 walk!

The contest will run through December 31, I will notify winners within a week of the contest's end.

Thank you all in advance for your suggestions!

Asthma Sucks!

2009-12-15T05:23:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, Baby Girl has asthma. She stayed pretty sick her first two years of life - for the first year or so, docs kept telling me "kids get colds." But I knew there was something else going on, it just didn't seem right. I won't go into all the details here, now, but I will say that you should always trust your instincts as a parent. While I am not happy that my daughter has asthma, I am so glad I pushed docs and didn't listen when they told me "it's just a cold." If I hadn't pushed, I probably wouldn't have my daughter with me today.

So, Baby Girl is sick now, really sick. It's miserable, pitiful, awful. She's been coughing for a week and a half, nothing seemed to help. We went to see her allergist last Thursday, he put her on an oral steroid to knock out the cough and switched her from her nebulizer to inhalers - a switch I had been SO ready for, but Baby Girl, not so much. Her breathing had seemed okay, her ears were clear, and the orapred should have knocked out her cough in a couple days. Well, it didn't. Sunday night was awful, she coughed all night, couldn't get comfortable, cried. She still had no fever yesterday, so symptoms of anything other than a cough, but I took her to the doc first thing yesterday morning. She ended up throwing up mucous from coughing so hard while we were there, and turns out, she has a pretty severe double ear infection that apparently popped up out of nowhere. And thank goodness we caught it pretty early - all the other symptoms kicked in shortly after we got home from the doc - fever, goopy eyes, no appetite. No fun!!!!!

So, this post did not turn out the way I had hoped, I apologize that it is just me rambling and venting - I think I am just so tired that I really just can't think straight. I really just want to get the point across that you should always be persistent and follow your intuition, especially when it comes to your children. I know the docs are the ones with the expertise, but as parents, we know our children better than anyone.

Okay, I am done rambling. I think I have an idea for a giveaway now though, so stay tuned, I'll work it all out and try to post later today, maybe tomorrow.

Stupid Logic

2009-12-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

A lot of people don't understand why I stay pretty irritated with my husband most of the time. He is a wonderful man, funny, smart, nice looking, great dad, loves me, all that, but..... My mom finally got it after she spent several weeks in a row at our house after Baby Girl was born. It's just a lot of little things, and any one of them alone wouldn't really bother me much, but when you pile them all up together, well.... So, here's an example of some of his stupid logic that just really blows me away.

Hubby wanted Taco Bell for dinner last night, which was totally fine since I didn't feel like cooking. So I went to the grocery store to get some yummy prepared Chinese food for baby Girl and me, then swung by Taco Bell for Hubby. I went to bed early last night, shortly after putting Baby Girl to bed. So when I got up this morning, Taco Bell trash was piled up on the kitchen counter. I asked Hubby to throw it away. He said, "Yeah, I was going to go ahead and take it to the outside trash can, but it was so cold." I said, "Well, can't you put it in the trash can here in the kitchen?" He said, "Yeah, but I didn't want Taco Bell smell in here." Ummm, so you left it on the kitchen counter???? And this made total sense to him, to just leave it on the counter instead of putting it in the trash can so as not to stink up the kitchen trash. Lucky for him, I was in bed for a full ten hours last night, so I wasn't in a bad mood or anything, I just calmly turned around and left the kitchen.

Now, things like this are a daily occurrence in my house. Most of the time, I really try to laugh it off, it's not worth an argument. But it really drives me crazy!

Do you have examples of your significant other, ex, or anyone else's example of stupid logic? Please share! Maybe it'll make me feel better. :)

I'm Back!

2009-12-07T15:31:00.000-08:00

Whew! What a week! I had to be out of town for work last week, through Thursday, then had my mom and her boyfriend come into town on Friday to spend the night with Baby Girl so Hubby and I could go to his company Christmas party. It was great! It was at a nice hotel downtown, where we went ahead and spent the night. It was so nice to be out doing "grownup stuff" - can't remember the last time we were able to do anything like that. And we woke up Saturday morning to snow! Baby Girl was so excited! We took her to see Santa later in the morning, and to ride in a horse drawn carriage, all in the snow, it was just great! I needed a few days to recover from the past week, but think I am getting back on track now, so should be around more regularly. And I am trying to come up with some kind of giveaway or something within the next week, more info to follow.....

Usborne Holiday Open House

2009-11-29T06:49:00.000-08:00

My Usborne Holiday Open House is still open, due to Black Friday specials. Go to http://www.MyChildsLibrary.com, click on Holiday Open House under Active eShows, and shop away! This is a Mystery Hostess show as well. Be sure to check out the Black Friday specials (available until 1:00 pm eastern time Monday) and the awesome Internet Only Specials. Happy Shopping!

Glad to be Home

2009-11-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

I love my family, love going to visit them and getting away from home for a while, but I am always so glad to get back home, to get back into our family routine. I'm glad we came back on Saturday this time, so I have tomorrow to get the laundry done, clean up a little, and get ready for the week - a week I am NOT looking forward to. I have to be out of town for work Tuesday through Thursday, with company coming in on Friday. Anyway....

I hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving! Now it's really time to get ready for Christmas!!! Woo hoo!!!!!!!

I AM THANKFUL!

2009-11-26T04:12:00.000-08:00

Today, I am thankful for my wonderful, blessed life. I am thankful for the most excellent family and friends. Most of all, I am thankful for my beautiful, smart, sweet, Baby Girl, and my husband who loves me and believes in me, and doesn't give up on me when others would. I am thankful that we live in a time and place that we are free to celebrate. And I am thankful that I will be celebrating this day with family, enjoying their company, wonderful food, and just a plain ole good time.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

I Really Am Thankful

2009-11-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the day to think about and reflect upon all we are thankful for. So why am I in such a crappy mood today? I am having a terrible "woe is me" day, feeling sad and sorry for myself. And I really hate feeling this way. I really hope I snap out of it before we get to our first family meal tomorrow.

I had a miscarriage almost four months ago. When I first found out I was pregnant this past summer, I was so excited, thought immediately about how I'd have a big ole belly at Thanksgiving, and be so wonderfully uncomfortable at Christmas. The timing was almost the same as when I was pregnant with Baby Girl, so I knew how big, how uncomfortable, I'd be, and how great it would be to be at that point in my pregnancy during the holidays. So now here I am, the day before Thanksgiving, flat-bellied. (Well, okay, not exactly flat, yeah I could stand to lose a few, but you know what I mean.)

I also thought I had dealt with the miscarriage, thought I was emotionally okay. But realized today that I am not. I had hoped Hubby and I would be able to share good news with our families for the holiday, to tell them that we were pregnant again. But, well, according to that awful "-" sign on the HPT, we will not be sharing that news. I really thought we had nailed it this month. But, we didn't. And now I am feeling all the hurt, all the anger, frustration, that I thought I had gotten past, I am feeling it all again today.

But, tomorrow is another day. We will be around lots of family, eating lots of yummy food, and I will remember first and foremost that I truly am blessed with a wonderful life. I AM THANKFUL for Hubby, Baby Girl more than anything, and my wonderful family and friends. I hope I have good news to share with them very soon.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

What A Man!

2009-11-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

My husband, that is.

A few weeks ago, I was down in the basement doing my workout (I know, shocker, I was working out!), so Hubby was hanging with Baby Girl upstairs. I came up to find Hubby's toenails painted bright pink! He was trying to teach Baby Girl how to paint her nails, so he let her practice on him. It's moments like these that make me fall head over heels in love with him all over again! (And, he has let her paint his toenails several times since then.) So last weekend, we were going to have Christmas pictures made, and I told him to be sure and wear clean socks in case we got into pics without shoes on - his response: "But my toenails are still painted." :) How wrong is it that the wife is explaining to the husband that it's okay if his pedi isn't perfect, he can keep his socks on? :)

So last night, while I was "working" on the computer, Baby Girl comes in to ask if she can play with my makeup. (Now, since this is not a post venting about something Hubby has done to irritate me, I will not go into the fact that I have repeatedly asked him not to let her play with my makeup, we'll keep this post positive.) I walked back to my bathroom to apply a little makeup to Baby Girl's face. When she wasn't happy that it didn't take long enough, Hubby, knowing that I didn't want to cover Baby Girl's face with makeup, sat down in the bathroom floor to let her apply it to his face. Knees = jello!

I think it is just SO cute and sweet that my husband, this man who has always (wrongly, I think) prided himself on the fact that he shows no emotion (no hand holding in public, and rarely even in private), is so head over heels in love with a two-year-old girl that he will let her paint his toenails, put makeup on him, love on him endlessly. Of course he would go to the ends of the earth for his daughter - and for me, I know this - but to see him so, I don't know, sweet and gushy (is that a word?), I just wish he understood that those are the things that make me fall more in love with him every day.

Whew!

2009-11-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

I feel better knowing that everything from the old blog site is preserved here now! Because, well, it is some valuable information, we wouldn't want it to be lost!

Still a sad day here after losing our sweet dog Anni. My husband buried her tonight, I feel so bad for him. And I dread my daughter asking where she is - thank goodness she hasn't yet. How do you explain this to a two-year-old???

New Blog Site

2009-11-23T17:16:00.000-08:00

I am new to blogging, just really got into a week or so ago. But was using another site, and not sure I really like it, so decided to try this out instead. So bear with me, until I can get this one up and running and set up just the way I like it.

So, I guess the easiest way to do this is to copy and paste over all my previous posts from my old site - don't worry, there's not many. Then I'll make an announcement on the old site for any followers there to move over to here. If that's too boring for anyone, I'm sorry, just humor me please. So, here goes:

11/23/09: Today is a sad, sad day in my house. One of my dogs passed during the night. Anni was absolutely the sweetest dog you could ever imagine. She was a rescue that we adopted about four and half years ago. We had been researching Spinones, and a friend at the shelter called to let us know they had one,and that she was in bad shape. I was shocked, since there were so few breeders in the US. I couldn't bare to go see her, but my husband did, and came home practically in tears - he said she was in such bad shape, and she reminded him of his childhood dog. Anyway, the shelter called a couple days later to let us know that this dog had heartworm - we were newly married, had just bought a new (80-year-old) house, and just weren't up for the care that would be involved. A rescue group took her in, and treated her heartworm. I tracked her down, and long story short, we adopted her from that rescue group. She was so terrified when we got her home, she had to be walked by leash from room to room. When we took her for a walk outside, anytime a car drove by, she'd lay flat on the ground until it passed. Her teeth were all worn down - we were told that she must have chewed out of wherever she had been. And she wouldn't have anything to do with my husband, or any other man, for a while. But after our persistence and love, Anni became a really wonderful, sweet, funny, awesome dog. Less than a year after we adopted her though, she fell ill - our vet, after several visits, was stumped, and referred us to the university vet school. Anni went through so many tests, procedures, etc - she had liver failure, megasophogus, among many other ailments. But we persisted, and did whatever we needed to do to make her better. She slid downhill pretty drastically over the past couple of months, and terribly the past couple of days, and finally lost her battle during the wee hours of this morning. She will be sorely missed - our other dogs seem so depressed already. My poor, poor husband, I hate seeing him this upset. And my daughter, wow, how do you tell a two-year-old about this? I feel so weird being this torn up over a dog, but at thirty-five years old, I have never really been through the horrible loss of a pet, not like this. It really just plain sucks.

11/22/09: This is how I have felt most of the day. It started with my daughter getting into bed with hubby and me about 6:00 am - this usually does not make me happy, but this morning was different. She just went right back to sleep, no tossing and turning, no feet in my ribs. She slept until about 7:15, then laid and played with my hair gently for about 15 minutes - such a great way to wake up. Then after a super yummy breakfast (Cinnamon Sopapilla from Homemade Gourmet - yum!), a good friend came to pick me up, my favorite Starbucks drink in hand, and we went for a six-hour spa day - amazing facial, salt scrub body wrap in the Vibrosauna (kind of strange, kind of cool), lunch, pedicure, manicure, awesome massage, and makeup. Then, after I got home, hubby, baby girl, and I went to look at the new Crosstours, then out to dinner. Then home for a little snuggle time with baby girl before she went to bed. Does it get any better than that? Such a nice end to a truly craptastic week. Tomorrow, back to reality. But that's okay, today's escape was truly magnificent.

And, if you haven't had a facial before, like a really, really good one, call and make an appointment for one NOW!

11/19/09: My Homemade Gourmet starter kit came today, SO exciting! Anyone who follows this blog will learn that I am addicted to direct sales. :) Homemade Gourmet is my newest endeavor, and I couldn't be happier with it - my husband and daughter are pretty happy about it too! It's so nice to be able to work all day, run whatever errands need to be done after work, and still be able to come home and put an excellent dinner on the table before my family starves to death. And my first big order is due to arrive tomorrow, I am so excited to get everything!

You have to check this stuff out! See the links and button to the right - I am still just SO tickled with my button too (thank you again Shannon). ;) If you go to my HG site, be sure to check out the Key to the Kitchen link - over 1000 recipes to make with the mixes! And if you think you might be interested, keep an eye out for specials - I am planning to run a special next month for anyone who wants to sign up as an HG Preferred customer. :)

11/18/09: I am currently holding a Holiday Open House for Usborne Books and More. This show is being held as a Mystery Host(ess) show.

Simply go to www.MyChildsLibrary.com, click on Holiday Open House under Active eShows, and shop away! The show will be open through 11:55 pm eastern time on Sunday, November 22.

For every $10 retail spent, you will earn one entry. You will also earn one entry for each Christmas title purchased. Earn five entries for each friend you refer that makes a purchase (the referred friend will need to email me letting me know that you referred them).

One name will be drawn from all entries to receive standard Hostess benefits. Note that total show sales must exceed $85 for hostess benefits to be awarded. The winning host(ess) will be responsible for $5 direct ship fee if (s)he does not live in the Knoxville, TN area.

Usborne Books are "the books kids love to read," and they make wonderful gifts!

11/18/09: Thank you SO much to Shannon for making my Homemade Gourmet button! I love it! And Shannon, you rock!

Check her out at http://www.mom-host.com

11/17/09: I have been contacted by the American Lung Association about being on the organization committee for this year's Asthma Walk! Last year was the first annual walk in my city, and I was so excited to find out about and participate in it - it was shortly after my daughter was diagnosed, and I was feeling so helpless. So this just felt like a way to get involved and DO something. Anyway, I have to call them back, but was just too excited and wanted to share - you WILL be reading more about this opportunity! :)

11/17/09: Crazy couple of months - sick kid, roller coaster at work, blah blah blah. Work will still be an emotional roller coaster for at least a few more weeks - working almost full time hours, although keeping my part time status, but will probably be out of work in a few weeks. So we'll just see how that goes. But I REALLY want to keep up with my blog better, it is good therapy, and I am hoping to make some connections for when I am potentially out of work. So....

Please check out my About Me page on here, it lists the companies that I am a consultant for. I seem to have become addicted to direct sales! But I love love love the products I rep, and I really prefer to buy from other direct sales consultants, etsy, and the like. I'll commit some time to telling more about the companies in the coming days. And PLEASE let me know if you are in direct sales, or sell your own products online, I'd love to know more about you and your products!

09/25/09: So I am so angry at my daughter's doctor's office today! My daughter has asthma, she was always sick until shortly after she turned two and was finally diagnosed. So, she's supposed to be first in line to get in to see the doc, get flu shots, etc. I made an appt at one office for her flu shot, but was able to get her in faster at their other location - her appt was this coming Monday. They just called to tell me they ran out of flu shots, so had to cancel the appt. I am so frustrated, if she ends up getting sick before I can get her in to a doc to get a flu shot, oh, I don't even want to think about it! A bad cold = hospital stay. NO FUN!

Anyway.... I guess I just needed to vent about that. Which is probably mostly what this blog will be, me venting. I always feel better after I get things out, it helps me clear my head and make a decision about what to do.

Okay, I am off, we're headed out of town today and I need to finish packing. Fun fun!

09/24/09: So, I am completely new to blogging, which I am sure is totally obvious! I have thought about doing this for a while, and finally pulled the trigger today. I thought this might be therapeutic for me, like writing in a journal, without the hand cramps I get when I write a lot. So, for now, I guess this blog will just be about me, a 35-year-old part-time stay-at-home-mom with a two-year-old daughter. Our trials, tribulations, joys, achievements, and anything else I feel like boring the blogosphere with. Wow, sounds really boring! :)