gratitude

today, i feel grateful for:

• awesome family & friends
• google chrome and the easy way to type in words in the address bar for simple google searches
• a quiet morning to try to catch up on work at starbucks
• cooler summer weather
• ellie's expanding vocabulary and her ability to express her picky preferences for her daily outfits
• remembering to bring in a sweater/jacket to every coffee shop i work in to avoid freezing my limbs off when their ac is on high
• my parents who are always willing to provide free childcare
• seeing old friends come by to pick up their transcripts at the school i work. always fun to catch up, if only briefly
• the internet
• beginning to get motivated to work out again (maybe)
  

tgiaf!

thank goodness it's almost friday! boy, what a week it has been. it feels like yesterday was only monday and yet here it is thursday. i'm excited for another weekend after a very busy week. work has been consistently HECTIC! and i sense that this will only continue or maybe even increase with the new few weeks ahead of us. our department is getting ready to try out some brand new things and also tighten up past practices, which of course, equates to more work. i'm grateful to have a job in these trying times yet i also wonder the stability of this job, as we continue to hear from the "upper echelon" about the reality of future cuts... it's scary but i try to focus on the present and recognize the importance of my job in guiding and counseling youth. the career is definitely trying at times but oh so rewarding...

i found out that the source of el's itchy soles of her feet are probably due to athlete's foot. it's no wonder when she always wants to walk around barefoot, which she had been doing often at her grandparents' house. fortunately, once i got her her own pairs of flip flops and she received the cutest croc-type skechers, she has been wearing her shoes more often. dr. yee recommends at least 4 weeks of some otc medication to cure it. guess i'm in charge of night treatments and hubby is in charge of the mornings.

i just went to visit our old home this afternoon. how odd this house looks like now devoid of almost all objects. there are a few items still around, mostly in the garage. it just looks so "quiet," if that makes sense. there are little indications of our presence there and a stranger could probably guess that a child or pet lived at our house what with the safety gate at the top of the stairs. indentations from our furniture still mark the carpet. it's a bit sad... i love our new home yet this will always be our first home with so many other firsts: our first pet together, first baby, the first location of our business... lots of memories in this home. i'm hoping for one just more photo of the three of us and with our wiener dog who lives with my parents now in our old house as a way to "close the chapter" on this home...

gratitude

today, i feel grateful for:

• awesome family & friends
  
• sleeping in (kinda)
• waterfalls, both natural and manmade
• free wifi
• remembering to bring a jacket with me to cold coffee shops, even in the summer
• jack in the box's mini funnel cake
• streaming old episodes of fave shows online
• flip flops
• productivity
• gorgeous weather
  

first days of school

i went back to work on the second and although it has been crazy, it hasn't been as frantic as it has been since wednesday, the first day of school. i've been loading up on caffeine which, along with my fantastic co-workers, one of whom just returned back to work with us (YIPPEEEE!), have been the saving grace and grounding force that have prevented mental institutionalization. i love my job but there are days when i might beg to differ. there are time constraints, disparity in job description and role responsibilities, and political forces up the wazoo but overall, i really truly enjoy my chosen career field.

we're still in the midst of our big move and i can't fathom when and how we'll unpack the boxes of stuff that more than likely half will need to be donated. we haven't yet moved our washer and dryer so the hamper has been even more full than usual. i'm just glad to finally be living in our new home and am thrilled to do so! a friend of ours described poignantly in a housewarming greeting card why i'm so happy to be living in "amcan." she wrote something to the effect of "welcome to vjo 2.0! amcan is like rancho when we were growing up with lots of kids playing outside and riding bikes..." jaz, you're so right! long are the days when kids roam the streets of rancho 'til dusk, without a care in the world. i have that sense when i'm in our neighborhood.

with the big move(out) almost complete, el's 2nd bday/housewarming party past, and first day of school done, i think my body had lost all of it's adrenaline and protective immunity that comes along with high levels of stress. i've heard that you're more likely to fall ill "after" a stressful period of time and not during. hubby and el had been coughing a few weeks ago and i wasn't that surprised to have not caught their illness since i have pretty good immunity. when my nose started dripping and my sinuses plugged up, i thought it was due to allergies. i blamed my cough on the fumes from the roofing going on at work, wafting into our building. and when i began to fell achy on thursday, i realized i had finally been bit by whatever bug was lingering. i was smart enough by friday to load up on zicam, my favorite homeopathic remedy which is scientifically proven, and anecdotally by me, to shorten and decrease cold symptoms. by friday night, i was well enough to take a trip down to walmart at midnight, probably helped by the 3 hour nap i took after work. today, i feel much better! =)

now to catch up on "business work..."

Gratitude

Today, I feel grateful for:

• awesome family & friends
• a new office and new home
• el's fun-filled 2nd bday party at children's wonderland and our housewarming
• witnessing the "birth" of the next generation with so many young ones amongst our group of family and friends
• party leftovers and sharing them
  
• being oh so close to being moved out from the old home
• large spacious vehicles for transporting boxes and furniture
• starbucks runs and lunch with fabulous coworkers
• hubby's time and effort in packing, moving, unpacking, delegating, fixing, etc. and all with (little to) no nagging this past month!
• el's pre-ballet/tap class... what a hoot to watch 2-3 year olds (try to or in el's case, lay across the floor instead of) perform dances =)
  

kids say the darndest things...

i knew that when el became verbal, we'd crack up at the things she would say and do. here are the recent things she's been saying:

• "i see a boob" (while grabbing my chest) and "i see a butt-butt" (as i change her diaper/undies)
• "eddie!" (after i call hubby's attention; she tries to say my name but can't pronounce it very while; she used to call uncle by his first name, too.)
• "happy birthday, mommy!" (she's been saying this ever since my birthday and every time she sees a birthday cake/candles, even on her own recent birthday)
• "i (like to) eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.." (she loves to sing this song as it's one of the kids' faves on a kids tunes cd while we drive)
• "whoa, i fall down!" (said while pretending to fall off of furniture or off me)
• "look mommy, i'm a princess!" (she calls any skirt/dress "princess")
• "ha-la, HA-LA!" (translates to "hula, hula" as she tries to twirl her hips)
• "it's/that's MINE!" (boy has she gotten possessive!)
• "i poot-poot!" (translates to "i farted!")
• "say WHAAAAAAAAT???" (another line from the kids CD)

gratitude

today, i feel grateful for:

• awesome family & friends
• the wonderful department of lovely ladies i work with, who are willing to put in the extra mile and make working long hours as enjoyable as possible
  
• a full 8 hours of sleep last night, after having interrupted 4-5 hour "naps" at night
• friends with pickup trucks, willing to help move furniture
• the 25 moving boxes and packing paper i bought from craigslist for $20, locally
• our new home slowly coming together...
• nieces, nephews, and younger cousins who are eager to help out in anyway they can
• lola, our wiener dog, and how she always hops in our car for joyrides
  
• available beds at both moms' places
  
• ellie's milestone of turning two years old