Category Archives: It’s All About Me

A Better Me in 2012

This year I have been trying to become a better me. Yes, it has been hard but I am slowly learning to deal with the changes and make sure that I am taking better care of myself.

So far in 2012, our family has given up fast food and we are still going strong. We have steered clear of those dangerous drive-thrus since 2011 and have no desire to return to them….EVER!

Another change I have made is to find a little more me time. Although it is not much and it doesn’t really happen until after all of the kids are asleep, I have started reading again every free chance I have.

I have also managed to cross a few other things of the list as well for not just me but the entire family. Last year, we enrolled in a new dental plan through Alex’s employer. The new plan offered us better dental insurance for just a little bit more money. Unfortunately right after we made the move and the plan became active all but one of the providers located near us dropped from the plan and the only provider that we could see was only at our local office 2 days a week with very short hours. Needless to say, we missed out on going to the dentist all of 2011 but we have all been taken care of so far this year!

Next on my to do list is to get into the eye doctor for a checkup and get some new glasses since I have been wearing the same pair for the last 2 years and desperately need a new pair.

After that I am going to work harder to keep losing weight and exercise more and continue to clean up my diet…..right now I have some bad addictions that I really need to kick to the curb.

What are you do to better yourself in 2012?

It's All About Me

Crashed

Anne Younger Leave a comment

This week has not been a good one.
I’m pretty sure when 2012 comes to a close it will definitely be a contender for one of the worst weeks of the year.
Tuesday afternoon, Zack called from school because his hip was really hurting him and he wanted to come home and take some pain killers. He doesn’t take them at school because they have a tendency to knock him out cold.
Since Ellie was sleeping and Alexander was in the middle of eating his lunch, I woke up the Alex and asked if he could run and fetch the boy.

(**Now, a lot of people (points big fat finger and judgmental in-laws) think that it was wrong for me to wake up Alex to go get Zack and asked why I didn’t just take the little kids and go get him. Picking up Zack would have meant I had to wake up Ellie from a MUCH NEEDED nap and load her into her car seat. Get Alexander out of his costume, interrupt his lunch, get him dressed and load him into his car seat. Load both littles into the car and head up to the school. Unload the littles and lug them into school to sign Zack out and assist him with the zero free hands I have and get him and his wheel chair out to the van, get the littles back into the van and then help Zack into the van and load up his wheelchair and return to the house. Unload both the littles and help Zack into the house. Blah. blah. blah. So yeah. Easier to wake up Alex and ask him to go.**)

Alex went to get the boy from school.
15 minutes after he left I got a call from Zack.
They had been in an accident when they were leaving the school.

Thankfully no one was hurt.

Alex hit another van and was cited for inattentive driving.

This is the damage to the van he hit.

All he did to the other van (a 1994 Plymouth Voyager on its last legs according to the owner) was pop the tire and put a huge dent in the rim.

This is my van.

Our van has almost $4000 of damage and is in the shop getting fixed and is expected to be done by the 22nd.
Right now, our family of 6 is using a 2012 Ford Focus. So yeah, we can’t all go somewhere at once. It sucks.
It.Really.Sucks.

We are hoping they can upgrade us to something a little bigger tomorrow but it will just be a full size sedan instead of a compact.

It is the 22nd yet???
I never thought I would miss my minivan so much!!

It's All About Me

Back to School

Anne Younger Leave a comment

Back in the beginning of April, I returned to school to pursue my BS in Communications with a concentration in Sales & Marketing.

This week, I am working hard on my final week of my first course, Intro to Communications.

This time around, my classes are only 5 weeks long, whereas during my AA program they were 9. Also, for my BS program we work on learning teams so it has made the workload lighter and the class has flown by.

I am looking forward to this first class coming to a close and enjoying the week long break I will be giving myself in between all of my classes this time around. After 2 years with very little for breaks between classes for my AA, I learned my lesson and will be taking the breaks to make sure I am getting my much needed family time as well.

So, wish me luck on this new journey and keep your fingers crossed that this crazy finals week that I am currently going through goes off without a hitch!

Thanks!

It's All About Me

Ten Minutes.

Anne Younger Leave a comment

On Tuesday evening, at seven p.m., in a moment of complete frustration and exhaustion

I walked into my bedroom, shut the door behind me, laid down on my bed and curled up with my Nook to read.

The purpose?

To take ten minutes to myself because I deserved ten minutes of solitude to do whatever I wanted.

At 7:03pm, Zack came in to ask me where to put away a pillow.

I started my 10 minutes over.

At 7:05pm Zack came in to put something else in my room.

At 7:09pm Alexander came barreling in asking me why I was in bed and if I needed a ‘nuggle’. He then proceeded to jump on the bed, play with stuff on my dresser and then exited the room at 7:14pm.

At 7:19pm Alexander returned to tell me he loved me, and then he left.

He returned again at 7:25, 7:33, and at 7:39pm.

He finally left my room at 7:40pm.

I went back to reading my book.

I glanced at the clock and could not believe my eyes, here it was 7:49pm.

I was finally one minute away from actually having spent 10 minutes in solitude.

And then.

Alex walked in the bedroom with the baby and Alexander was right behind him.

I explained to him what I was doing in our room and why I had not come back out.

All I wanted was 10 uninterrupted minutes to myself.

After explaining this to him, he scooped up Ellie and escorted Alexander out the door, barked a few things at the older kids and then…

I spent the next 26 minutes alone.

Reading and then daydreaming.

It was the BEST 26 minutes I have had in a very, very, VERY long time.

10 minutes of solitude shouldn’t be so hard to find!

It's All About Me

Pass the Xanax please!

Anne Younger Leave a comment

Since the arrival of Ellie last month, for some strange reason I have been on edge.
Things have become so bad that I am having a hard time sleeping.
If it wasn’t for things like my DVR, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter I would probably lose my mind.
Even on the night when I do make it into the bedroom and lay down to go to sleep I find myself constantly checking on Ellie.
Every little noise she makes while I am sleeping wakes me up.
Every time she spits up in her sleep, I am right at her side.
Every time she is quiet for an extended period of time, there I am making sure she is still breathing.
And….it’s not just Ellie that is doing this to me.
When I hear strange noises in the house I freak out.
I can’t have any blinds open after the Alex goes to work because I constantly feel like someone is watching me.
I have to check multiple times before I go to bed that all the doors and windows in the house are locked.

See….I am losing my shit.

Oh and when I do finally manage to gather my shit long enough to catch a few zzz’s I wake up over and over and over again either because I hear something or because I have some crazy, screwed up dream that jolts me awake.

Again, I admit it….I am losing my shit.

Over the last few days, things have become worse.
Friends of ours lost their daughter just shy of 37 weeks gestation.
Ellie was born just shy of 37 weeks gestation.
Their daughter didn’t make it, but ours did.
Of course, my heart is aching for them.
I have cried multiple times for them.
I have held Ellie closer, tighter and have had moments where I am afraid to put her down.
It has become so bad that I rarely allow Ellie to leave my sight.

I am at the point where I am so exhausted I don’t know what to do because no matter how hard I try I just can’t get a decent night’s sleep.

I guess it is time to see the doctor…..

Pass the Xanax please.