Where Was MY Kid?

Today was bring your child to work day. I didn't know until I got to work though. Our company didn't send out an email about it so I guess that was their way of not encouraging us bringing in all our bebe's kids. When we realized a couple of my co-workers went and got their kids. They stayed for probably two hours. It was fun for them. They mainly drew on the white board and papers that one little girl brought in. Two of them even drew some pictures for me (and others, but most importantly me). One little girl drew a picture of me and Sidney. Her brother drew a picture of 'my' house. That reminded me of something not-so-nice that I did a while back...

I couldn't have been more than five or six years old on this particular occasion when my mom took me to work with her. She was a secretary for a provincial government in Canada. She had her own desk as did most others, but there also a few high-walled cubes. After she took me around to some of her co-wokers she put me in a cube near her and let me be for a while. Me, being the genius that I am thought it would be fun if I wrote 'anonymous' notes to her co-workers. Like, who wouldn't recognize the writing of a six year old. Anwho. I wrote four notes. Two contained compliments. The other two did not. Before my mother got me for lunch I went around and put the notes on the appropriate desks. One compliment was for my mother and the other for one of her friends. The other two notes were meant for two co-workers who I did not find particularly attractive. Well, you know what happened, don't you? Take a wild guess. If you said the notes got mixed up, you are correct and you win a blender! Needless to say, my mother wasn't happy and neither was her friend. On a good note, the other two ladies loved me and thought I was the sweetest.

What a bad kid I was!

An Effort

Yes, in an effort to post, I'm typing furiously til my husband is ready for bed. Ok, so I'm not typing so furiously, but I'm trying. I don't have much to talk about tonight. Eh, that's probably not true. I'm sure I could find a thousand topics. My problem is, and has always been, choosing one thing. Back in high school, during lunch, purfiktgurl and I would sometimes visit the local corner store looking for a chocolate fix. (For those of you who read purfiktgurl, you'll realize her addiction for chocolate has just always been.) Anyway, every time, without fail, I would stand in front of the candy counter trying to decide what to buy. She would have already paid for her stuff and I would still be standing there, our lunchtime quickly ticking away. At the last minute I would grab something, (pay for it, of course) and run out. What was my point again? Oh yeah, I've never been the decisive type. I've always either made a last minute spontaneous decision or I relied on my tried and true friends. Thankfully I've also never been a crowd follower or eager for popularity.

Times have changed and I've matured (hopefully). Now I have no choice but to think ahead (at least for my son's sake) and make informed, logical decisions. Guess that makes me an adult now??

NOW I know what happened!!

I had my husband take the seduction test and he's "The Natural." So, that's how I ended up married with three kids!!

K's Seduction Style: The Natural

He doesn't really try to seduce people... it just seems to happen. Fun loving and free spirited, he brings out the inner child in people. He is spontaneous, sincere, and unpretentious - a hard combo to find! People drop their guard around him, and find themselves falling fast.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

Me Having To Drive

Mom In The Car

My Sister Tonya (the one on the right) and Her Best Friend, Chanel

Apparently...

Your Seduction Style: The Charmer

You're a master at intimate conversation and verbal enticement. You seduce with words, by getting people to open up to you. By establishing this deep connection quickly, people feel under your power. And then you've got them exactly where you want them!

Note: How could that be? Maybe I answered the questions incorrectly??

What Is Your Seduction Style?

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You all know I'm out here in the middle of Nowhereville, GA. It's been a long day. We left at 7:30 AM, got in by 3 pm and, yes, I'm still up. I can't wait to crawl into my bed - at my own house tomorrow night. I spoke to Sidney. I miss the little bugger.

We must have seen five houses, and three of them twice. My mother did sign a contract for one. We'll see if it gets accepted. The house is really cute - three bedroom, two bathroom in a nice neighborhood. Makes me want to move even more!

I'm jackin' devast's Unrelated thought for the day: It's cool being 30-almost-31 and having a young buck, 20-something year old, hit on you.

This Weekend

So, I'm going to Albany, GA with my mother this weekend. Apparently, she looking into buying a place up there. Why Albany, GA, the middle of nowhere, you ask? Because that's where my sister is going to school. Hopefully she'll be graduating this December. But, in the meantime, if my mom gets a place, then my sister and her roommate can move in and pay rent there instead. What does that mean for me? It means I'll be up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning. It means I'll be on the road for seven hours. It means I'll be sleeping alone Sunday night. What else? Oh yeah, it means I'll be back on the road Monday morning. And to make matters worse, my mother also wants me to help her DRIVE to Canada NEXT WEEK! If we weren't so busy at work I wouldn't have much to think about. But, man, I have stuff to do and we're already behind. I don't know. I don't need the guilt trip either for not going. Can you tell I'm cranky today?

Moving

A good friend of mine has been talking about leaving S. FL. He's thinking about Orlando or Jacksonville. The cost of living is too high down here. Imagine, if I sell my house I wouldn't be able to buy another - property taxes would kill us for one thing. Since he said it I've been thinking about it too. I know we're not going anywhere. I can't ask my husband to move four hours away from his daughter. She's only 10 and she really needs him.

It's not like Orlando is unfamiliar. We go there at least once a year and we know a lot of people up there (plus, I would anticipate making many more *wink*). I don't know *sigh*.

K got some kind of flat tire this evening on his way to pick up Sid. I almost got one too. The tread peeled off of the inside of one of my tires so I heard a flapping all the way home. Needless to say, I turned on my emergency flashing lights and set the cruise control to 30 mph.

Not much else going on worthy of blogging. Well, that's not entirely true. Maybe I should say not much else going on that's appropriate for blogging. Not to worry, I'm not implying family problems.

Tiff gave me some really good ideas for promoting my new business venture. I haven't had the time to re-read her suggestions but I will. The Body Shop At Home is very particular about how consultants market themselves.

Work is going. Not hectic in the same sense as Jinny's, but they're still managing to keep me busy. (Remember to breathe, Jinny, and take relax (and blog *smile*) when you get home.)

Congratulations to Don's daughter on getting her first college acceptance letter!

Can't think of anything else right now. I have to work on this DVD creation thing we're working on for our church.

Later.

It Went

Well, it came, we did, and it went. That's pretty much the whole thing in a nutshell. K agreed to bbq and I got potato salad, macaroni salad, juice, soda. I set out my demo kit on the dining room table, sort of how it looked in "The Setup" picture. Out of about 25 invitees and maybe 14 replies, I expected 11 to show up, but 8 did. It was ok. We soaked our feet and my girlfriend helped to remind of things to do. She was the only one who ended up buying stuff. My mother is supposed to have her Girls' Nite Out soon. That was the real purpose: to get my girlfriends to have pampering parties at their houses. Anyway, we talked and ate and tried stuff. Wasn't as whiz-bang as I hoped. I'll have to try again... *sigh*

I know you're all wishing the best for me. Thanks.

Some Other Shoes

Me after today's event.

The Crew: Sidney, Liam, Najah.

The setup

Tonight's the Night!

Well, with all the words of encouragement, how can it not go well? I've put a twist on the whole thing - it's now a barbecue business launch. K agreed to work his magic on the grill. There will be at least 12 adults and 8 kids, not including me, K, Jr & Sid. Plus, others said they would try to stop by at different times. (Tiff, I'm calling my mom right now to get her to bring her camera.)

Purfiktgurl hit another interesting topic: if your significant other cheated on you at some point in your relationship, would you want to know?

My first answer: I DON'T WANT TO KNOW.
My second answer: I WANT TO KNOW.

I know you're all confused by now, but let me explain.

I don't want to know if:
* there are no after-effects, i.e. no pregnancy, no disease, no fatal attraction

I do want to know if:
* there are after-effects AND / OR
* my knowing will help you stop yourself from doing it again

Don't tell my husband this. I don't want him to think I'm giving him a license to act free.

The reality is, none of us are perfect. And in the end, it'll all be between the person and God. "Vengence is mine, sayeth the Lord." Whatever happens to me in this life, I'll get over it. I know, easier said than done. I'm not trivializing the hurt feelings I would have. We are ALL going to make mistakes and do things that hurt the people we love. We shouldn't, but we do. And the people we love will hurt us too - sometimes unintentionally, sometimes intentionally. Now, even saying that, I am NOT saying we should act like we're going to make mistakes and not strive to do our best in all things. Always aim for perfection in honesty, integrity, faithfulness, etc. "Aim for the stars, you might hit the moon."

Confusing enough for you?

I'm Here, I'm Here

I'll admit, I've been quiet for a while but you all are never far from my thoughts. (Well, never say never, but you know what I mean.)

For those of you who missed it, Sid can spell!

My official business launch is being planned for this Sunday afternoon. As usual, being the procrastinator that I am, I only really started inviting people this morning. Maybe it's my fear of failure, because if it doesn't work out then I'll have an excuse to fall back on. Maybe it's my fear of success, because if it goes well then I'll *have* to do the next step which is have GNOs. And what if those go well also? Then I'll really be in a bind cause I'll be *forced* to do more GNOs. And heaven forbid someone wants to sign-up to be a consultant. Then I'll have to be responsible *gasp*.

I appreciate the luv from all of you who commented on my other post. I had never even told anyone about it before, except a few people who directly interacted with me.

(Btw, the tickle test is free and they give you your results right away. What they do charge you for is an "in-depth analysis.")

Tickle My I.Q.

When I logged in to Tickle I found that I had already taken the I.Q. test back in 2003. My score was something like 127. I retook the test anyway and this time scored a 135 - Insightful Linguist. What on earth?! Me? I guess I have actually derived some benefit from all the reading I've done.

Update: Super I.Q. Score = 131 (Creative Theorist)

The Story Behind The Gym

When I close my eyes I can see the emergency room from the vantage point of my seat against the wall. It should have been a normal Friday night at home but I was there in the wee hours of the morning. I tried to sleep on my husband's lap but it wasn't comfortable. Interesting characters were coming into the ER keeping my attention. In particular, the woman who could barely move because of her dislocated shoulder courtesy of her boyfriend. I realized my situation wasn't half as bad as others. But I was still in bad shape and slowly getting worse as I waited and waited for them to call me in. The nurse told me that if I really began to feel lightheaded I should have the receptionist call her. So I waited a couple more hours. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore. I could hardly stand or think. I just wanted to be resting, lying down in a bed, being taken care of. I spoke to the receptionist. As I sat at the front desk, bent over the counter, I didn't see the nurse come up behind me with a wheelchair. But I was grateful. She found me a bed in room with two others, separated by hanging curtains. I was in a corner spot. I spent a while waiting in there while K waited outside. A nurse came and gave me some clothes to change in to plus I had to use the bathroom. I made it there, but I didn't make it back. I didn't have the energy. I just crouched outside the bathroom waiting to get the attention of another nurse, any nurse. One saw me and helped me back to my bed. While laying there I could hear the agony that others were going through and I prayed for them. Again I thanked God that my ordeal was not worse. The doctor came and checked me and cleaned me out a bit. No D&C looked necessary but I had to have an ultrasound to make sure. I was then taken to another room. A small room only large enough to hold one bed. There they filled me with saline and checked me more thoroughly. K was eventually let in to see me, after having waited so many long hours not knowing what was going on with me. He was worried and tired and hungry. I was too. They made me stay in that room for quite a bit longer. I was hooked up to machines. They were monitoring especially my blood pressure. I had lost a lot. Various staff came in and checked on me during the morning. I cried. Cause I knew it was my fault. The nurse saw me and told me it wasn't. That these things happen. That it wouldn't affect my body once it got over the shock. But I still knew it was me. I still know it was me. I went to the gym that week. I thought it was all good. I figured it would help me with my period I just knew was coming. I spent most of Valentine's Day in the hospital. It was a Sabbath day that should have been spent with my church family and watching my husband sing on the choir; a day I should have been able to go out with my husband; a day that led to a week of not being able to be intimate. It was a long day. I blocked it out mostly. I think about it every now and then. A lost life. My lost child. And it could have been prevented. I know. It could have been. It's been over a year since I've been to the gym, afraid of causing it again. I brought workout clothes with me today with the intention of starting back today. (I was actually going to start yesterday, but I forgot to bring my clothes.) My stomach was tight as I wrote this. I thought I might cry again. But I didn't. At least, not on the outside.

I'm So Excited

I think I'm really going to like this TBSAH (The Body Shop At Home) business. A girlfriend of mine came over yesterday evening to help me "unwrap" my "presents." Of course, Sidney was all up in the mix! "Lotion!" "Lotion!" "Brush!" Yeah, it was cute.

Anyway, I have lotions, and sprays, and foot care things, and face stuff, and ..., everything smells SO good! And there's so much to read so I can be well-informed about the product uses and ingredients. And marketing too. I have to learn how to market myself.

You know you can order through me and help a sister out, right? :)

Relaxed

FINALLY. I few moments to myself. Well, almost. Sid is in his crib but he's far from sleeping.

I know I said that I haven't been to the gym in over a year. And some of you (TcoughIFcoughFAahemNY, not to mention any names) are under the wrong impression that I don't realy need to frequent such establishment. That couldn't be further from the truth, of course. I have issues with my body like most women, of course. After bearing one child, I have a belly, but I can't blame that on the kid. After Sid was born I had flabby skin but other than that, my belly sucked right back in. NOW I have fat. And people have noticed. My PASTOR even made a couple of comments. Granted, I needed to gain some weight and fill out. I'm not complaining about my size. What I'm really trying to say in all this rambling is that I have no muscle tone. Zero. Zilch. Nada. My husband just laughs when I try to show him my biceps. I'm just a shadow of my former self.

K and I used to go to the gym regularly - before the kid. We wanted to win the Body For Life Fitness Challenge. We took pictures. We got out body fat measured. I had a little workout book to keep track of my progress. Yes, it was all going well. Then we went to Europe (I went for my job but the trip coincided with our anniversary so we took advantage of it). When we got back in July we found out that I was a couple months pregnant. That meant I had to ease up on my workout at the gym. But I still tried to stay in shape. I improved my diet and walked often. I even went for a walk during what I later found out were my contractions. I think that contributed to my relatively easy labor (more detailed info here).

I want to get back into the groove but I can't seem to figure out how. There's a gym at my job. That should be perfect. But it's not. I don't get in early enough. And in the evenings I always have to rush out. K signed up with a gym down the street, but I don't see why I should have to pay when I can go for free. My dream is to move to a really big house and put my own gym in it. Elliptic machine, free weights, tread mill. At least!

* I forgot to mention, I always (subconsciously) walk around with my belly sucked in. That makes the flab less obvious. And can I remind everyone just how much I LOVE MY NEW SHOES!!

There's another story I have that I know I will tell eventually. Not yet. I've been composing my thoughts on this one for a very long time. Not sure how to tell it though.

Some Blog Shouts

Thanks:
For all the well-wishes.
For the compliments on the outfit and the kid.
My french braids did indeed result in my "braid-out." Thanks for noticing, Tiffany. Oh, I'm trying for another kid. My husband doesn't want to help me with this endeavor, but he doesn't have much choice. :)

Congrats to Jinny on landing that job!!

I am SO glad to see that Lawda has untightened her jaws .

I think purfiktgurl needs some encouragement. Purfiktgurl!! Where are you??

*****************************************

I haven't been to the gym in over a year.

Ordination

Yesterday is behind me (us) now. It was a nice day. A long day. K was ordained as a Deacon and I got to wear my NEW outfit (see previous post).

The first time I saw K at church I thought, "He's kinda cute." He went and sat a couple of rows ahead of me and as he passed our eyes locked and it was like I was in a trance, seeing nothing but him, hearing nothing but the birds chirping as he moved in slow motion, jacket flowing behind him. Well, not quite. He actually didn't notice me at all. That's when I thought, "Ehh, he wouldn't be interested in me anyway." (How's that for self-confidence?) It wasn't til a few years later, after seeing him around church very infrequently, that he approached me with the line, "What kind of mileage do you get in your car?" That threw me cause then I wasn't sure if it really was a line or if he just liked my BMW. Turns out he liked me. *Yay*

Here we are, almost four years later, with the sweetest little by-product of our union, and we're still happy, looking forward to many, many more years together.

I wish everyone could have what I have (or better).

Me and My NEW White Suit

Me & My Deacon Husband

My NEW White Shoes!

French Braids and Other Things

It's been about two years since i've donned this hairstyle. Today I have four french braids. It didn't take as long as I thought to do it (I did it myself) but I felt somewhat out my element, like I was doing it wrong. It turned out alright, I suppose. See now, if I had a digital camera I would take a picture and upload it for ya.

I spoke to K about trying the consulting thing. Just as I would expect his initial reaction was to look at me like I had a tree growing from my neck. I think I did convince him that I could do it so he told me to go ahead and give it a try. Sooo, I signed up this evening!

I got some white shoes to go with my white suit. I wish you could see it. The only problem is (was) that it has (had) a few makeup marks on it, like foundation, or powder. Well, I bought it anyway hoping to find that same suit at another store and exchange it. That didn't happen. Last night we drove from Broward to Palm Beach to Miami and back to Broward again (about 100 miles worth of driving). No luck. This morning I called in late to work and we headed back down to Miami. Still no luck. I did ask some salesladies for advice on getting out the stains myself (I know, I should have asked you all first before wasting my time and gas). One lady said to use face soap and a blow dryer. Another said hairspray. The last one said non-chlorine bleach and some ice wrapped in a rag. The third one turned out to be a charm! I'm quite pleased. I'm reclining here now soaking my feet and waiting to wash this mask off my face. Then I can grab some pizza from the kitchen and hop into bed. I am SO ready for bed.