Blue

This is going to be short because my eyes are closing as I type this.  I think it's pretty sad that I already have the Sunday night blues and it's still Saturday.  It's such a sad vicious cycle.  You work all week holding out for Friday afternoon and before I can even unwind it's time to go back.  I need to figure something out in life and fast because I'm starting to get depressed and I don't like how this is making me feel.

A Little Change

I realized I hadn't done anything to my blog layout in a seriously long time.  I went with the fall theme...what do you think?  I figure since it's my favorite time of year, it's fitting.  Anyway, hope you like the new background.

It's That Time Of Year!

Tourist season is over and now the locals come out to play.  Obviously, if it weren't for the tourism, this area would be nothing but I have to say come September, we are ready to have out town back.  One thing about this time of year is all of the festivals.  There is something to do almost every weekend here through autumn.

Today was Sail Fest in Island Heights.  The last time we went I was about 34 weeks pregnant with Big Boy.   As much as we wanted to go the past few years it was just too overwhelming for me.  BB is finally getting to the age where he loves hanging out with Mommy and Daddy!  He was so stoked to be at Sail Fest today.  Of course we were running in to people we knew all day and they all just melted over him.  He also thinks it's cool to eat all the fun festival food!  One nice surprise was we saw his favorite teacher Ms. P!  She is such a wonderful woman and BB just adores her.  Ever notice how shy kids get when they see a teacher outside of school?  I honestly believe BB thinks his teachers live there.  Anyway, Sail Fest was a great time and even though the sailboat races were cancelled due to lack of wind (ironic) it was a blast and we are already looking forward to next year!

Tomorrow is the Seafood Festival in the Heights, I could have sworn it was next week but...I wrong.  BB is going to love it.!  We are meeting some friends and their kids who are BB's age and I'm sure we'll all walk up to the boardwalk afterward.  There is so much yummy food to try.  Blackened scallops, crab cakes, fried oreos, you name it and they'll have it.  The vendors are fantastic too.  Today at Sail Fest I scored three hand knitted skull caps for $6 TOTAL!  I can't wait to see what vendors will be at this Festival.  I love this time of year!  Also, it's Mardi Gras and Clown Fest here so the boardwalk will be so much fun!  BB was punished from the boardwalk most of the summer for having a horrendous meltdown up there back in early June.  He has only been back up once so far this summer since the meltdown fiasco and he was on his best behavior.  I think it finally sunk in his public tantrums will not be tolerated anymore.  Next weekend is the Point Pleasant Seafood Fest.  It's pretty much the same as Seaside but the food is so good you just can't resist going back.

Next comes pumpkin and apple picking weekends.  We go to the same place every year and always have the best time.  BB loves to run through the corn maze and of course my favorite part is buying all different kinds of pie.  I just love this time of year.  There is nothing better than throwing on a pair of jeans and a sweater and spending the day outside.   Tomorrow is another busy day and I'm falling asleep on my laptop.  Night.

The Smooth Transition

I am very happy to report Big Boy has fell right back in to the swing of things!  Yesterday when we arrived at school he was a little shy but as soon as he saw his favorite teacher, he went right up to her and gave her a huge hug!  His daily progress report  was rather amusing too.  His main teacher wrote he was nothing but smiles all day and kept calling everyone "honey."  I had to laugh at that one.  What can I say, I call him "honey" all the time so I knew it was just a matter of time before he picked up on it.

Back to school morning #2 did not go as smoothly as I had anticipated.  I think BB woke up the wrong side of my bed (notice I did not say his bed).  He was really pushing my buttons this morning and when it came time to get dressed, he decided it would be funny to throw himself on the floor and demand to wear his pj's to school.  Well, I went to pick him up and he lurched his body back smashing his head right on the bridge of my nose.  OH.MY.DEAR.LORD.  I can't even put into words how much pain I was in.  Of course to make matters worse since we were already running late, my nose exploded and there was blood everywhere.  I had just finished getting dressed for work so now, here it was about twenty minutes before we had to leave, BB was still in his pj's and I had to change my clothes and clean up what looked like a crime scene.  As an extra treat, I had a lovely throbbing pain directly inbetween my eyes for the rest of the day.  Super.

For some strange reason I started to feel really bad for him because he kept bringing it up all night.  He would point at my nose and say "Mommy has a boo boo on her nose.  No mommy don't cry."  He even told me he was sorry for hurting my nose and then told me he loved me.  Obviously, that made it all better.  I'm really hoping this morning was a fluke and we can get out of the house in one piece tomorrow because I don't think I can handle another morning like today.  Other than that, all is well and BB is right back on track for another great year!

Back to School for Big Boy!

It's that time again and BB is all set to head back to school tomorrow!  I can't believe how fast the summer has gone.  His clothes are all layed out and his lunch is packed.  I've labeled his lunch box and backpack, now the only thing that can go wrong is if BB decides to have a meltdown when I drop him off in the morning.  So far he seems really excited.  He will be returning to his "regular" classroom with his teachers from last year (thank goodness) and we are going back to our old routine of me driving him in.  The school bus was too overwhelming in the morning and this way allows us a few extra minutes of "what if " time.  Lord knows we can always use a few extra minutes when it comes to getting out of the house in the morning.

So wish us luck and let's all hope Big Boy has a smooth transition and falls nicely back in to the swing of things.  Personally, I'm ready to get back to the school year routine.  BB does best on a schedule and his days are extremely regimented this way.  I still can't get over he is already starting his second year in this program.  I swear it seems like only last week we were still trying to get him enrolled.   Time really does slip away...

BEST.BLOG.EVER

Unless you have ever worked in customer service, you may not find this blog nearly as funny as I do.  It's called "The Customer Is Not Always Right."   Sadly, people really are this dumb.  I can't tell you how many idiotic questions I'm asked each day.  Of course being in the field I'm in, my favorite is "What would happen if I took this entire bottle?"  Do you know how badly I want to tell the next person who asks me, " I don't know.  Why don't you try it, I hear rainbows and puppies will shoot out your ass."  Instead I have to reply with "Um, You'll die."  Yeah, people really are this dense.  I don't know how most people make it out their front door.

Either way, if you work in any type of customer service....this is your kind of blog.  

Enjoy!

Going Once....

Wow.  Can I say my child has just about pushed me over the edge today.  I don't know what went wrong.  We all woke up in great moods, went out and bought new car seats and then BAM!...all hell broke loose.  I really can't figure it out.  Big Boy had one of his worst meltdowns in a long time.  The only thing I was thankful for (in my own selfish way) was Hubby was a witness to the fiasco.  

After we left TRU, we ventured over to Target because I needed to pick up a few last minute things for BB since he goes back to school on Tuesday.  I should have known it was going downhill when he threw a fit over his new carseat.  He wanted his old one and since that was out of the question a pissing contest ensued.  As soon as we got into Target his brain went into overdrive and that was it.  Normally, I would have been able to bring him out of it but I think having Hubby with us threw a wrench in the situation.  I could see Hubby starting to lose it and compound that by BB flipping out and I had one big old soup sandwich of a family on my hands.

After I put my basket down (luckily I only had two or three things in it) getting BB out of the store became a contact sport and Hubby was on the losing end.  I truly felt sorry for him.  He hasn't really experienced one of BB's public meltdowns and I could tell he was heartbroken.  I was finally able to bring BB out of it just before we got home but even afterwards, all he wanted to do was push buttons.

Bedtime has once again become a battle of will.  BB was doing so great  and now he is back to fighting it tooth and nail.  I have to say, my spirit is broken.  I know he doesn't mean it and he is long over due for one of these episodes (luckily, they don't last too long) but they still hurt.  Poor hubby had so many fun things planned today as a surprise and nixed them all.  I can't blame him but I guess part of me is glad he saw it first hand.  BB had such a great day on the beach yesterday and was so well behaved that today was such a shock to us.

Anyway, school starts up again Tuesday and we are all praying once BB gets back in the swing of things with his regular school year teachers, we'll see a change in his behavior.  I feel terrible for venting like this but it jut feels good to get some of this stress off of my chest once in awhile.  **Sigh**

Farewell...

As much as it broke my heart to do it, I had to delete my secondary blog. I have been having such a difficult time keeping up with this one, I just didn't think it would be fair to Big Boy. I really enjoyed writing about his adventures but I don't see any reason why I can't go back to incorporating them into the Beach Life. I haven't been able to update his blog since the beginning of July and it bugs the heck out of me knowing it's floating around in cyberspace and looks abandoned. I think it's for the best and I didn't want to throw up a post for the sake of just "getting something written."

Just wanted to let anyone who has been following my other blog know!

Call Me Radio Shack

I've pretty much told this story to anyone who would listen but since this is my blog, I'll be telling it again. About two years ago we bought a new laptop that I just love. Unfortunately about six months after I bought it, Big Boy thought it would be a great idea to pop about twenty of the keys off. I decided the best way to handle the situation would be to lay a black cloth over the keys, plug in a keyboard and never think about it again...

I don't know why I let it go as long as I have but I've finally gotten around to having it fixed. I checked online to be sure I can get a replacement keyboard and luckily I found one right away. Not knowing much about this kind of thing, I was a little worried about how readily available a replacement keyboard would be and discovered it's a piece of cake to get one so I called a computer place my parents use and asked them what is would cost to take care of the laptop fiasco. They told me it would be about $45 for the keyboard and another $30-35 to remove the old one and install the new one. Interesting. Needless to say I was a little put off and I went online and ordered the keyboard myself and paid a total of $20.25 including shipping. I ordered on Sunday night and it was in my mailbox today. I mulled over taking it over to the computer shop just for the installation but decided to check out a site I found the other day on how to do it yourself. I figured since the computer shop couldn't guarantee they wouldn't damage the motherboard, what the hell did I have to lose? In all fairness though, the computer shop is really good. I know my parents have been using the same shop for years so I don't want to take anything away from it.

After a few minutes of going back and forth over what to do, I just went for it and after about fifteen minutes and a few choice words, my laptop is as beautiful as the day it was taken out of the box. I still can't believe it and I'm totally patting myself on the back for this one. What's really cool is I did a factory restore last week so it's like having a brand new computer! This is a really great site if you ever need to perform surgery on your laptop. Heck, he saved me over fifty bucks so he's my hero of the day!

I Didn't Think I Had It In Me

I did it.....I QUIT SMOKING! I never thought I would be able to do it but I honestly feel I can call myself a non-smoker now! I've been smoking for nearly 18 years. Yeah, you read that right, 18 years. Sometimes it would be very light like maybe five or six cigarettes all day and other times I could smoke up to a pack. There was always a direct level of correlation depending on what was going on in my life.

In my late teens and twenties I never wanted to quit because I was going out all the time and partying with my friends and everyone knows that if you smoke, a beer and a cigarette go hand in hand. I was constantly telling myself I was going to quit and that I could do it but I could never even make it two days. How pathetic is that. I could not go two days without a cigarette. Hell. three hours in and I was already a mess. I laugh at the way I used to justify smoking too. Obviously, I never smoked in my car or house or near my son but still.....gross.

After having Big Boy like the idiot that I am, I started smoking again. Why you ask? Because I'm an idiot. About a year after having him I asked my OBGYN if he could right me an RX to help me quit so he wrote me Chantix. I did my research and it seemed many people were having positive results. Unfortunately, even though it was working it was also giving me migraines. So, I quickly threw in the towel and lit up. For the last two years I have made every excuse in the book why I could wait a little longer until thankfully, the Hubby sat me down and really talked some sense in to me. Aside from that, my mom is having problems due to smoking and everything just clicked and I realized I have been slowly committing suicide for nearly twenty years and it is extremely selfish of me to do this to everyone.

About eight weeks ago, I decided enough was enough and it was time. I was smart enough to concede that I needed help and I knew I couldn't do it alone. I broke down and bought the Nicoderm CQ patches. After reading the box I was all kinds of pissed that it was a ten week process but reluctantly slapped on a patch and went for it. Here I am nearly eight weeks later and today I bought the final box of the Nicoderm program and I nearly cried when I realized I did it. I made it through the toughest part and even though I still have two weeks left I am confident enough to call myself a non-smoker!!! It was hard, there is no denying that but once I learned how to change my schedule up and keep myself busy, each day literally became easier and easier.

So there you have it! I have saved an insane amount of money and probably added at least ten years to my like. I feel like a million bucks, my skin looks better and it's so nice not stinking like a filthy ash tray. I've even gotten to the point where the smell of it makes me sick to my stomach. So to anyone who thinks they can't quit smoking...if I can do it ANYONE CAN DO IT!!!!!

All Good Things Must Come To An End

This is a shameless vent but it really has me down. My pool temperature has dropped nearly fifteen degrees in four days. Do you have any idea how bad this is for me? I don't think you do. Friday afternoon it was a toasty 85 degrees. Perfect in my opinion. Now...struggling to stay above 68-70 degrees.

Yeah, I know I'm being petty and selfish but I'm just not ready to throw in the towel. Big Boy loves the pool so much and to be honest, it really wears him out (which is good for me). Since he has never been the best sleeper, the pool really helps everyone get a good nights rest. Obviously, if this is my biggest complaint of the day, I should thank heavens for all that I have but for some reason I'm thrown off by the summer ending this year. Usually, I've got my fall clothes out and itching to break out the uggs but I feel like summer just started, at least weather wise. Maybe it's because this was the summer that "never was." It rained most of May and June. July and August were nice but I don't think the temps ever broke one hundred which is odd and there weren't any significant heat waves. Very strange.

Give me a few days. By this time next week I'll be jumping out of my skin thinking about the pumpkin patch and apple picking. I guess I'm bummed because I just love swimming with BB and watching how great he is doing and I know he isn't going to understand why we have to close it. I won't leave it open for longer than a week or two once the temp goes below seventy, just isn't worth it. Such is life.

This is my useless ramble for the day. Thanks for listening.