I am a happy person.  I like who I am (for the most part) and think people appreciate that.  I am not, however, particularly confident. My sister has always had a confidence that I didn't.  She has the ability to put herself out there and show no doubt.  I, on the other hand, am always filled with doubt.  I never assume to know anything more than anyone else on any subject other than what pertains to my specific life.  I don't believe I have any particular talent...

A family at our school has just experienced any parent's worst nightmare.  Their fourth grade son lost his battle with cancer.  Two years ago they discovered a tumor in his brain.  He spent those two years in treatment after treatment.  The cancer spread into his spine and he passed away last night just before midnight. I am part of our schools fan out system.  I am in charge of calling a list of families when something big happens at school.  I got the call at 7...

Aside from wearing something green, I really don't do much on St. Pat's day.  The only times we have ever "celebrated" it was when friends would have a party.  I never even tried green beer! It seems our kids' school makes a bit of a deal out of it.  They have green snacks and have been talking about leprechauns and shamrocks.  My kindergartner even had to build a leprechaun trap. So, do you celebrate?  If so, how?

The never ending things in my life: Domestic- Laundry dishes what's for dinner? bills stacks of paperwork dusting cleaning in general Family- Love for Worry about proud of thankful for Looking forward to the future Remembering the past (just a bit of stream of consciousness writing)

I am having friends over tomorrow to scrapbook and hang out.  My house is, well, let's say less than presentable at the moment.  And what am I doing about it?  I'm sitting here blogging! I know I need to clean toilets, dust, vac, etc. but I just don't feel motivated.  I am such a procrastinator!  I let so much pile up that it feels overwhelming and I don't know where to start...so I don't. Anyone else suffer this affliction?  How do you cope?  I suppose I...

My 9yr old, Alex, got his hair cut today.  When he was finished the receptionist at the Salon asked him in a babyish way "Would you like a treat?"  He replied, "What to you take me for, a dog?  First you groom me, then you ask me if I want a 'treat'. (said with a grin in a stand-up comedian delivery)."  Luckily everyone in the salon burst out laughing and thought he was hilarious and clever. The lady who did his hair, the owner of the salon, said she can't get over how gro...

After reading a lot of the responses to the recent activity her on JU I felt compelled to defend a few things about the site.  First of all, I am sick to death of people claiming there should be some fear about what you write about in your blogs.  If you really believe that, you haven't been paying attention. Sure, you can't Title your blog 'So-n-So on JU is a @#$%'.  You can't make your article about what an asshole some blogger, admin or Brad is.  You can however make co...

What a nice way to end the day.  A cup of wonderful tea delivered to me a while back from a friend in the UK (who better to get tea from?), a valentine cookie made for me by my mom, and a bit of blogging on JU.  And it is almost that magical time of evening I call "bedtime for the boys". I can breathe a sigh of relief once the boys are nestled safely in bed.  One more day I kept them alive   After all, that is the main job for mothers of boys, isn't it? Monday was kind...

I am sitting here literally waiting for water to boil.  It is 7PM and I am about to boil some green beans and am waiting for my chicken to get done roasting.  It smells sooo good! Brad is home (that's a first for a long time) and is on the couch working from his laptop.  Alex and Ryan are playing on the computer.  They must be really distracted because I haven't heard a single "Mommy!  I'm starving!" yet. I have to make a cake for my mom and wrap her birthday prese...

When I got home from picking up kids from school today I noticed a new message on the machine.  It was the art class mom and all she said is she would like me to give her a call.  I immediately thought "uh oh.  What did he do?"  I think most moms of boys can relate to that mindset. Similar to other jobs, in motherhood you hardly ever get a call that is positive feedback.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised.  She just wanted to let me know that Alex is an exceptiona...

I often hear people say "man, that was a wasted day".  I have felt that on occasion.  To me, a day is wasted if you have spent it doing nothing that you enjoy.  If you didn't get to enjoy the company of firends and loved ones and had to spend that time doing tedious, pointless stuff (like standing in line at the DMV) it is a wasted day.  If you spend the day sick as a dog, wishing you would fall asleep and not wake up, it is a wasted day. Any day that you got the chance to...

I was glad to see snow when I woke up this morning.  I knew snow was in the forcast but it has been so warm I didn't think any would stick.  It had been so gloomy over the last couple of weeks that the snow is nice to see again. Here in the Detroit area, the weather has been highly unusual.  Temps in the 40s and 50s in January!  Bare trees and green grass along with rain made it feel more like Spring but without the flowers and birds.  It wasn't a good thing other tha...

Lately I have had a lot of difficulty getting in touch with the part of my brain that holds my vocabulary.  It is making me very frustrated!  I am able to form thoughts in my head but am having difficulty communicating them. I remember having this problem with my other pregnancies and referred to it as "placenta brain".  I think all my blood is going to the baby and my brain is suffering.  I have heard it is pretty normal and I know it gets worse after the baby comes. ...

I recently surprised a few JUers with revealing my true identity.  I will probably surprise even more with this news, Brad and I are expecting a baby this Summer.  We are excited, and scared, but mostly excited. I am just in the beginning of my 3rd month so I am in what most deem the "Too soon to tell people" part of pregnancy.  I have decided that is not a system that works for me.  I had two miscarriages between our two boys.  The first one everyone knew about and i...

The time has come where I feel the need to be totally open about who I really am.  It has never really been a true secret but I never used real names before and was cautious about what I blogged about. The reason I started blogging with an assumed name is because I wanted to see how I did on my own merits.  I didn't want any unearned fans or enemies due to who I am associated with.  Also, it has been kind of fun being Jill. Most of you here have seen pictures of me and my fa...