Busy Busy Busy

I can't believe how fast this week has flown. It's been wonderful having so much time to myself knowing that it will be hard to come by starting next week.

I was able to paint our bathroom. I love it! I painted it a medium cream color that matches our striped mats perfectly. I also found a few art pieces at Gordman's that add that perfect touch of color too. It's amazing what a coat of paint and $40 in art can do to change an entire space.

I was also able to get the unfinished side of the basement cleaned out (mostly). I'm amazed at how many toys I was able to clean out of the kids' closets but now I have no idea what to do with them. I'd like to sell them but listing them on Craigslist takes so much time. I think I'll be having a rummage sale this summer for sure!

Dishes have been done on time, meals have been homecooked, and I've even gotten to take a few baths this week. It's been amazing! I'm thankful for this week off!

One week to go...

I had the luxury of keeping the kids in daycare for a few days after my last day of work to get some things done around the house.

That didn't go as planned.

The first day off, I spent most of the day at plasma (going back to donating so I can make up a little $$) then had to volunteer at Olivia's school.

Thursday night was just awful as Owen didn't sleep hardly at all so Friday, I slept until almost noon. Got to the grocery store and that was about it.

I have 5 days left this week alone to get a huge list of things done. Here's hoping my motivation stays high and I can check almost everything off my list!

Ear plugs are kinda gross

I love my husband.


I would do almost anything for him.


I will not, however, touch his earplugs.


He keeps them on his nightstand. When I go to dust , I dust right around them. They are brownish and sticky and gross.


For Christmas one year, I bought him a huge box of earplugs thinking he would throw them away when they got gross. Um...no. He still hasn't opened the box yet. Secretly, I throw them away when he's not looking so he's forced to get new ones.


Hehehehe.....

Blognonymous-My Life as a Host Mom

"I am participating in The Daily Dribbles and Domestically Challenged Blognonymous Blog Hop. The post below is not my own post. I'm hosting a post for someone else, and in turn, someone else is also hosting a post of mine, all anonymously. Click through the links below to view all the bloggers and posts in Blognonymous."

*I'd like to apologize to this blogger since I posted mine up later than what was expected.*

<center><a href="http://thedailydribbles.com" mce_href="http://thedailydribbles.com" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="The Daily Dribbles" src=" http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/kdawley/BlognonymousButton.jpg " mce_src=" http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/kdawley/BlognonymousButton.jpg "/></a></center>

My Life as a Host Mom

Has anybody out there ever hosted a foreign exchange student (FES)? When I was in 6th grade, my family hosted a FES from Scandinavia for a year, and that same year my sister was a FES to Europe. So, when we got an e-mail about a FES from my son's high school needing to change homes, we talked about it and decided to do it. My parents didn't seem to have any trouble out of their FES, so it couldn't be that bad, right? One difference between their FES and ours is the age: their FES was 18; ours is 16. Another difference is where they're from. Scandinavia is very different, culture-wise, from the Middle East. So, yeah, we're having some issues.

Our FES doesn't seem to understand the concept of going to sleep at a reasonable hour. Last weekend I thought we had established that bedtime on weekends is 12:00, but last Friday night he woke me up at 2:00 using the bathroom and brushing his teeth. Hubby can't understand why doors opening/closing and toilet flushing (the bathroom backs up to our bathroom) wakes me up. Ever hear of "mommy radar"? Yep, that's the same radar that wakes mamas up when the babies are crying while the hubby snores on. When I called FES on it, he said, "12:00 on weekends?" Uh, yeah. That's what the written house guidelines specify. Look. It. Up.
I guess I should mention that FES is on probation. He screws up again, and he's on a plane back to the Middle East. We're having a "Battle of wills" in the house. He will not win. Not by a long shot. Saturday morning I was just about to tell him that he was walking on thin ice, and that I was going to give him a month to see if he could learn to live by the rules. If not, "see ya later". But I didn't. I have a feeling that talk will be happening pretty soon.

Saturday afternoon, one of my sons was looking through his stuff to decide what he is taking back to school. He gave FES a pocket knife, which I'm pretty sure he's not suppose to have. I told my son that FES couldn't have it, and FES told me that he didn't want it, but then followed it up with, "I'm not 9 years old." Ignore or address? PMS and not enough sleep...guess what I did. I asked him who he was talking to, and then told him that I hoped it wasn't me because that was very disrespectful and would not be tolerated. Do you have any idea how being a bitch doesn't have the same effect if you have to explain what "tolerated" means? I changed it to "I'm not going to put up with it". He said he was confused (but, was he really, or was he playing dumb?). I looked at my son and told him to help me, to which he replied, "She's not having any of it." I finally said, "If you do it again, you're going to be in big trouble. I will not be disrespected like that." I think he got the message: he apologized a little later. One of my sons or even my hubby must've told him to apologize.

It took me about a week to realize that I needed to take one of his phones at night so he wouldn't spend half the night texting his little girlfriend from home who is a student in another state, with a different organization. I take it up when I go to bed, and he gets it the next day. I haven't let him take it to school since he was busted by the organization's area rep for being on facebook during school hours.

I can't, for the life of me, understand why someone approved this kid to leave his parents (who didn't want him to come) for a year. I mean, if the parents didn't want him to leave, shouldn't that have disqualified him? 16 is awfully young for a kid to leave his home country and go live with somebody else in a completely different culture. When you're 16, you think you know it all, and your parents are stupid. Add to that immaturity, and that spells disaster. I think he had visions of the USA being like tv, and he gets placed in a very small town with not a whole lot to do.
I really don't want this kid to be sent packing. Our job is to treat him as one of our own, which hubby is having a hard time doing. He's still in the "let's be nice to the visitor" stage. I got over that on day 2. He told me I need to "ease up" on him; I tell him he needs to "tighten up". During the school week, he is to be in his room at 10:00, getting ready for lights out at 11:00. The other night, it was 10:15. I looked at hubby and told him the time. He got up, went into the kitchen, and I heard him talking to FES for a while. When hubby came back into the living room, I reminded him that FES was suppose to be in his room at 10:00. He said, "Well, he was getting a drink of water." My response: "He's like a little kid...he's stalling."

Yes...I'm sure FES feels like he's landed in hell. Hopefully he'll get past this stage of thinking he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants, and will settle in and have a good rest of the year. Until then, welcome to hell!

Winding down and Getting Prepared

My time here at work is winding down. I'm trying my best to get things nicely wrapped up for the handover next Tuesday. Hopefully, it isn't causing too much of a burden to my team members. My pride won't let me just slap something over on their desk and take off. I take a lot of pride in my work so I'm working, working, working up until the very end.

A good friend of mine gave me an AMAZING book. It's called "The Stay-At-Home Survival Guide" by Melissa Stanton. First of all, it's hilarious. I feel like she's talking directly to me (or I could have written the book myself). FINALLY a book that describes my perception of what "real" life is like for a stay-at-home mom......not all rainbows, horses and lollipops. It touches on the not so great side of staying home too---being bored, being tired, having kids with you 24/7, lack of sick/vacation days etc. The book doesn't degrade staying at home, just gives moms a better idea of the challenges (and lots of benefits) in a very real way. I've read 50 pages in the first two sittings (great during my pumping time!) and just love it. I would absolutely recommend this book to any mama....even if you don't stay at home.

I can't believe I'm not more prepared for this transition. My OCD personality would typically lead me to Barnes and Noble 2 seconds after I gave my notice to do as much research on staying home and child rearing as I could possibly handle. I would have spreadsheet after spreadsheet and planner after planner filled with all my good intended tasks and plans for each day.

But these are kids, Sarah! NOT PROJECTS!

I have to get my brain to find a nice balance between managing the household like a project at work but remind myself I'm dealing with children, not fellow Business Analysts and IT people. That is going to be a challenge.

I am excited to have about 1 1/2 weeks to myself before the kids are home full time. I plan to get the carpets cleaned (I know...that's probably kinda stupid), paint the bathrooms, get the toys and clothes cleaned out and get the unfinished side of the basement organized again after the crazy Christmas we had.

I also plan to get to the YMCA at least 3 times a week initially so I can start exercising and still give the kids some socialization time. I'm going back to plasma to make up some of the my lost income which also has a child care area for socializing. The afternoons will be busy with taking Olivia to school, naptime and then picking her up so those planned themselves.

I hope you are as excited as I am about this journey. I'm sure there will be lots of fun memories created and lots of rantings on here too.

Get buckled up. It's gonna be a bumpy ride!

The Reaction

I've received a lot of different types of reactions after giving my 2 week notice at work last week. I thought it would be fun to share some of the reactions I've received from various people:

"Wow! Congrats. That's awesome."

"You're doing WHAT? Are you crazy? You can barely stand them during the weekend."

"You are very lucky. You'll never be able to get these days back when they are little."

"Congratulations. I know it must have been a hard choice to give up your career."

"I never had kids so I wouldn't have to make that kind of decision."

"You should probably find something to do on the side to keep your sanity."

"Do you really want to color and watch cartoons all day? That would drive me insane!"

"I never would have pegged you as the stay at home mom type. You're too talented and smart."

"I'm totally envious. I missed out on a lot when my kids were little. You will love it."

"I am so excited I get to see you more often now!"

"I've been thinking about doing the same thing but know it's just not for me."

"Congratulations. Was your husband okay with your decision?"

Looks like you can't win either way. I'm either crazy, courageous or stupid, apparently.

Overall, it's been a good reaction. Most men could care less, most women with children are excited for me. I'm amazed at how many moms have offered me resources on activities to keep the kids busy--especially the free ones! Only 6 more days (well, 5 1/2 since it's already 2:00 here) until the journey begins.

I just changed my life

Everyone dies. I think everyone dies wishing they had done something different in their life. Whether it be telling their family they loved them more, hadn't broken off a friendship or just lost more weight, we all have regrets.

Fear holds us back. Fear keeps us from taking a plunge. Will it work out? Will I regret this later? Will this be the best decision for my family? Will I survive?

Fear has kept me from skydiving. Fear has kept me from telling my mother how much it hurts my feelings when she makes negative comments about my weight. Fear keeps me from telling my husband that I just *might* want another baby someday. Fear kept me from leaving an unhealthy relationship in high school. Fear keeps me from telling my Grandma that her shopping addiction is forcing my Grandpa to keep working at 76 years old. Fear of failure has kept me from actually trying to lose weight.

Fear can be good. Fear is the body's cue that something is wrong. The fight or flight response associated with fear has kept the human race at the top of the food chain. Fear is good....sometimes.

When fear keeps you from doing something that your core- your heart, mind and soul- tells you is right, it can be paralyzing.

Today, I kicked fear's ass.

Today, I changed my life.

Today, I gave my two weeks notice.

January 19th..... I will be a stay at home mom.

Screw you, Fear..... I'm just a little bit terrified.