I am so in LOVE! (my silly, silly post)

Everyone knows that I LOVE football. I am a huge Steeler's fan but mostly I am madly in love with Ben Roethlisberger (heavy sigh)! I am one of those that gets sad when the Super Bowl is over because that means no more Sunday's at home explaining what is going on to E & N (they love the game too)! AND - I no longer get to see my man on TV.


Of course, I have never met him. I am a fan club member and I follow his rare posts on his site. I have listened to his interviews on ESPN and so on. Yesterday was an unexpected surprise. David Letterman re-aired his interview with Big Ben the night after winning the big game. Listening to him speak makes me love him all the more - not to mention getting to see him in a suit and tie. Don't get me wrong I am a big fan of that uniform.


I really loved him at first because he was HOT (and a good player of course!). Then I read an article he wrote with SI magazine about his college football coach who was battling cancer while he was recovering from his accident. He truly loved this man and continued to keep in touch with his wife after he past away. He also did a Make-A-Wish on ESPN - he made this kids day and really seemed to enjoy spending time with him. He takes responsibility for himself on and off the field and I would love to see more role models for kids hoping to play in the big league someday.


So thank you Dave for playing the interview again and thank you Big Ben for being you! :)

Friends

I have the best friends in the world! I got to see lots of them this weekend. We can have fun doing just about anything...usually just being silly. I spent most of my weekend with A, N, M and E. The kids got to run around and play with each other and we just sit around and be dorks. It's one of those times when you can say just about anything with out holding back or pretending to be something you are not. You can say the most personal things about your life and no one laughs at you or acts like you are crazy. How many people have one person in life they can do that with? I have so many - A, N, M, MK and D - not one of them ever seems to judge me. I so love them ALL! MK I will see on Friday and D I get to see all week since we work together (mostly we just work to keep each other sane all week. Just need to make it to Margarita Madness every other Friday night!) We also threw in a couple candle parties just for fun...so my house should smell pretty great in a couple of weeks.

Saturday night we had dinner at A & N's house and then ended up sitting around talking about nothing and next thing I knew it was after 11...we talked for over 3+ hours. The kids went home with A's mom for a sleepover - she took all four and today when I picked them up she fed me these FANTASTIC taco's...YUM! Today was off to M's house for a party and then she kept my baby monsters and I took her daughter H out shopping for prom dresses. I loved it! :)

Tomorrow begins another crazy week at work...UGH! NewCo comes in on Monday and spends most of the week explaining our new "vision"...I can hardly wait! FRIDAY won't come soon enough...by 8 AM I will be flying off to Vegas to have tons of fun with M for her birthday!

Can a book really change you?

I LOVE to read! :) Normally I just read for fun and I can devour a book in a couple of hours. I love cheesy romance novels and biographies of people I don't know. I read The Regan Diaries, The Hearst Family and several others. I was also obsessed with reading everything about 9/11 - I was even one of the 10 people that read the 9/11 Commission Report - I recommend 102 Minutes. Still....mostly just romance novels.

I recently bought a book called Why is God Laughing by Deepak Chopra. I have never read one of his books nor do I know much about him or his beliefs. It is only about 200 pages so I finished it quickly. I did not expect anything profound from this book but for some reason I can't stop thinking about the message. I wonder if it will change anything about my life? Basically the book explains what drives most of our issues in life - FEAR and EGO. I have never thought of myself as some one that is fearful or egotistical. I now realize that I was wrong...I am actually both of those things.

Fear is instilled in us from birth. Are you afraid to talk to someone you don't know? Afraid of a challenge or change? Rejection? I realized that some of these things do cause me fear - I do them in spite of it but it doesn't mean I didn't fear it.

Ego - do you care what other people think? Do you want others to like you? Think your smart or funny or nice? WHY? According to the book these things are Ego. I'd love to say that I don't care what people think of me. I find that it generally doesn't prevent me from doing something I want but I do still care. Even people I don't necessarily like...I still care what they think of me...WTF? Now I don't care enough to do anything about it or try to convince them of something/anything but I still would rather everyone "like" me.

So..if you quit being afraid of new experiences and stopped caring if people that don't care about you like you or not would your life be easier? I'm not sure. I am trying to think of certain situations in a different light going forward. It may not change a thing and in a week I might not even remember the book. I guess we will just have to see.

OH...and the book said God is laughing because he gets the joke.

Facebook!

I joined Facebook! I am not a fan of MySpace (personal reasons) but my friend MK asked me to join tonight so I did. I caved to peer pressure! :) I kinda feel like a dork/teenager/nerd for joining. I did find lots of people I knew...now lets see if they want to be my "on-line" buddies.

Valentine's Day!

OMG! What a great day! Not at all what I expected my first single V-Day to be like. I knew weeks ago that I was not the kind of girl to sit home and be sad so my friend D and I planned a girls day out...it was the best Valentine's Day I remember in a long time!

Not dwelling on the past but last year I bought that special someone tickets to a concert in SF that he really wanted to see and got us a hotel close to the venue....well, he ended up inviting others to go/stay with us so it certainly wasn't romantic and well..I HATED the music. It was terrible but he really liked it and seemed to have a great time so that was all I needed (man...I SUCK! What a sap!)

Since that was just last year this V-Day didn't have much to live up to but either way it would have ROCKED! First....I wanted to do everything we had planned...no compromise was needed. We started the day with a movie - Taken. One of the best movies I have seen! Then it was off to lunch and margarita's (actually we had started that part the night before!) and then we went to a new spa and had hour long pedicures. Nothing topped off the day like Cold Stone - dark chocolate ice cream. It was a blast - we laughed a lot and just enjoyed doing what we wanted...did I mention she even brought me a present - Necco Conversation Hearts to enjoy with the movie. I don't think I ever thought of Liam as a hot guy before but after that movie..heck ya! :) I'm pretty sure she had fun too..at least I hope she did.

AND...it sounds like our other friend L who we never see or talk to anymore got a romantic SF V-Day engagement! Good for her - I can't wait to see the ring. We better get invited to the wedding! :)

Countdown!

In exactly two weeks from now I will be on a plane to Las Vegas to celebrate my friend MK's birthday! We don't get to see each other very often so her birthday seemed like a perfect reason to fly her way. I can hardly wait! :)

Perfect?

Sometimes I forget how wonderful it can be to alone. I know..that just sounds NUTS! Tonight I picked my babies up and we spent our ride to the gym talking about what they did at school. N's teacher was out and E had GATE..overall they had a great day. I left them at the kid club to run around like crazy people and I tried to burn off my bat wings (no such luck but I will keep trying). After our gym adventure we went to Bel Air for Valentine cookies for class (bake? who has time for that!). N doesn't get to have sugar in his class so he picked out cookies for home...YUM! FROSTING. (And yet I wonder why I can't get rid of my bat wings?) :) We came home and had dinner and played a game E made at school. The boys watched a little TV and then it was off to bed. Not before getting lovies from mommy! I adore the fact that I get to kiss them and hug them each night before they go to bed...we NEVER miss saying "I love you!"

Mommy then got to take a nice hot bath with a yummy LUSH bath bomb, a nice piece of chocolate cheesecake (my treat from the store) and my new magazine. It was 45 minutes of bliss!

The boys had fallen a sleep and I remembered why I started blogging...remember to be grateful! So I thought I should write it all down before I forgot how good I felt in the moment.

I/we get to decide how to spend our time. No one gets to complain that I didn't get something done, or to stop playing games and cook a real dinner (The kids wanted pancakes). After the kids are happy I get me time! I could live in a hot steamy bath...especially with something to read!

I'm not saying that I hope to be alone forever but I am appreciating this time to be all about ME! and the boys. They get my undivided attention at night - which never seems like long enough since I work full time and we have so many other commitments. I am happy! Happy to be me, to be a mom and not to be spending my time or heart on the wrong person. Who better to spend it on then my babies! When they go with PT (part-time) Dad I get to spend time with my great friends - A, J, M, D!

Not to mention - the boys made me more Valentine cards today - I may not have a boyfriend but I have 5...count them 5 valentine's day cards! WOO HOO!

Life is Good!


That's how my day became ordinary and perfect all at the same time!

What a weekend! E & N got to have a sleepover at grandma and grandpa's house with their cousin Z. It was all very exciting. Mommy got to go wine tasting with her friend M..it was a Ladies Night Out at this little place in Land Park..very cute and tasty wine. I bought 2..YUM! Plus we had ice cream after - what goes better with wine than ice cream right? Plus I met a very nice new friend that curses almost as much as I do (not my best trait). Saturday was a bit of a blur..first off to the parents to pick up the rug rats and we all ended up staying to ride bikes and play with the neighbor kids. Around noon the boys and I were off to Sports Authority. E has played baseball for three years now but this was N's first year..t-ball..I can't wait! Well they needed it all..cleats, bats, bags, gloves, balls, pants..you name it we needed it - $307 worth of it! YIKES! Then off to Target, Bel-Air, hair cuts...at 8:00 we were finally done! :) Sunday was a slough day...we lounged all day, went to a candle party and then lounged some more - we need more days like that!

Monday was NUTS - lets just say that I whined a LOT! I will say that I owned it on Monday - even said it out loud in the middle of a meeting - Monday was one looonnnngggg meeting.

Today was field trip day! WOOHOO! I try and go on one per year with each kid. Today was E's turn - lots of fun. The bus driver was not so much fun...we got yelled at a lot! I wished I could spend all day with my kids but after one field trip I feel like I could sleep for a week! Maybe it was because I had 34 kids instead of just 2 - that mom with 14 kids it CRAZY! I do wish I could spend more time with my babies. I am so lucky to have them - they are adorable little monsters. It isn't even V-Day yet and already I have three cards from them (they are as bad as mommy at waiting).

Today N went on his first field trip without mom! You see E was always ready to go to school and it really didn't matter to him if I showed up or not. N is a little different...he would like me to be attached to him all day (he loves his mommy!). I know that he needs to go it alone and he would be fine on his trip but he gets so sad in the morning. Well he had a GREAT time!! He saw a play and got to eat lunch away from school. He said it was the best trip ever! E made a rain stick at school...he is very proud of it and so am I. He is a very artistic kid. We are having trouble with all the crafts they make at school. Everything should be saved and hung up around our less than large apartment.


My day was not nearly as exciting as the boys. Work, work and some more work and then off to the gym! I didn't do so good on my quest to stop whining today. Poor D had to listen to me complain several times today about a wide range of things (mostly unimportant). It didn't get much better until we added some chocolate pie to the mix and then I felt slightly better...until I had to burn it off at the gym. I promise tomorrow I will hop on the wagon again and try to be more appreciative. Something tells me that I started this little plan at a bad time?

Well...time to get everyone settled down. Maybe a bubble bath and some daydreaming about winning the lottery! Hmmm? Well maybe not the California State Lottery..seems we are having a little $$$ trouble in the golden state so they would probably keep my winnings until I am 85 or so.

Getting Started

I have become a stalker of random strangers. I find myself reading about the lives of people I will never meet. Sometimes my struggles in life seem to be more than I can handle and yet I read about people dealing with things I never could. I hope that writing this will help me be more grateful for all the blessings in my life. I have two perfectly healthy (not to mention crazy) sons. E is 7 and N is 5 and they are amazing. I also have these FANTASTIC friends that I get to spend time with. I have a job (when most don't) that allows me enough money to provide for the three of us. Occasionally when they go with their part-time parent (the nicest term) I get some free time to celebrate Margarita Madness with my friend D. :)

Last night my best friend watched the boys while I went to a preview of a really cute movie. AND...she let them spend the night so I got to sleep in this morning and only had to get one person ready for the day. I felt so spoiled...it was great! A is that friend that sees you through the really bad and really good times. I can't imagine what I would do without her. She has two cute girls A is 8 and H is 6...maybe they can grow up and marry my boys and then we can all grow old together.