Holy Hiatus

Hiatus:–noun, plural -tus·es, -tus.

1.	a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

I'm back from my unplanned hiatus. And with my being back, you can scroll down and see all of my postings from the weekend of April 12th to the present.

You can see where we've been, and what we've been doing. What I do NOT have posted is my lia sophia jewelry sales. I had an AWESOME month. And as requested by my friend Jaci, I will be posting a link to my lia sophia site on the right of this page. What started out as "Let's just see how these goes" has now turned in to an actual income for my household! I am providing again! Whoopee!

On another note...
my son decided that he didn't want to wait until July to start practicing his terrible 2's. Seriously. This week has consisted of about 42 temper tantrums, 14 time outs, 3 milk spills, and 2 slaps on mama's arm (that resulted in one of the 14 listed time outs). Wow. I don't know who this kid is, but he is NOT the child who has been staying here for the past 20 months or so. Tim and I have to regroup one of these nights and talk about how we are going to discipline on the same page, as I have a feeling Gage is getting away with things with one parent, that he is not getting away with the other one.

I have to say that it is cute at times, but it has seriously been testing my patience. But, I am proud to say that I feel that I've done a good job thus far. This parenting thing sure doesn't come with an instruction manual, however when you have good parents yourself, it's amazing what you teach and pass on to your own kids, just because "you know". Thanks to our moms and dads.

Rock Band ROCKS

Before the night got fuzzy on me...(I think I went to bed by 10, right ladies??) I took some pictures of our Guitar Hero/Rock Band party. Please visit Jaci and Marilyn's site for some better group pictures. I only took action shots all evening.

But man, this was ONE FUN NIGHT, and I cannot wait to do it again.

My Lil' Redneck (but oh, I love him so much!)

You know you should have stayed in bed when....

So I had a really bad day. A REALLY.BAD.DAY.

It's almost two weeks over now, so this will be short and sweet. I took photos when it was occurring because at first it was funny. Then, it wasn't funny and it was a pain in the butt. But all along I thought how fun it would be to post it and tell you all about it, not realizing what a flaming idiot it would make me look like. Ha.

So the long and short of it is:
I dropped Gage off at his one day of week of daycare to 1) complete a TON of work from 3 parties during the earlier part of the week, and 2) to clean my house as I had offered to host a mom's night out event at my place and the place was a mess. Keep in mind, Tim is gone this entire week for work so I'm not getting any extra help.

I come home from dropping off Gage and walk into this:

The picture doesn't quite do it justice.

A brand new large gallon container of detergent has fallen off the washer while in spin mode and exploded all over my floor. It has guzz-guzzled out until the container was empty. Lovely.
I have clean clothes draped on the counter on my right that needed to be ironed fully splattered with blue detergent. I have 3 piles of clothes on the floor that were soaked in the detergent as well that are now piled into the sink. There is a 2 foot space behind the washing machine that is covered with detergent, about 2 inches high (as the floor is slightly slanted to allow for a drain, and for messes such as these, I suppose) and I can tell my floor boards are have soaking up this detergent for awhile now. I attempt to wipe this up with a towel, and then I decide to throw the towel in the washer and put it on "rinse and drain", despite the caution from my mother, with whom I called to tell her about my ordeal.

Keep in mind I am laughing the whole time. I mean, it technically IS funny. And, what are you going to do?!

So yeah. Um, I left the room for a few minutes as my socks were covered in detergent and my knees were soaked. And I came back and discovered this:

Ha Ha Ha, Hoo-Hoo. Heeee......yep still laughing.

So I took a bucket and hand-scooped out about 4 full buckets' worth of suds, dumped them into the sink. Tried to rinse them all off. Gave up. Said screw it. Tried to pull the washing machine away from the wall, (yes, it was empty). I pulled. And grunted. And got up on the counter and tried to pull. And push. And, and, and....

Sat down and cried. No, I bawled. I literally broke down for about 20 minutes in a bawling, heaving pile of crap, yelling "Why, me?".

I called the neighbor, left a message for his assistance when he got home, changed my clothes, shut the door to the laundry room until he came over at 4pm. Once the machine was away from the wall, I was able to sop the mess up--this time with paper towels, and wash my floor appropriately.

Yep. That was my very bad day.

Outside Fun (after the storm)

After returning from Aaron and Gina's, we stopped in at my dad's house for a few hours. He wasn't home (and I actually forgot where he would have been), but Gage and I were staying in Neillsville for the first part of the week, as I had 2 more jewelry shows there. So Gage, Daddy, and I wanted to spend a little Sunday fun together before Daddy left to go home and then to California for the week (for work).

My dad boards two horses on his property, so Gage has been fascinated with them when we are home. Mommy is actually afraid of horses (not terrified, but they make me nervous. I'm always afraid they are either going to bite my fingers off --or my son's!--or charge me or kick me. What a dork, I know)

Someone is so proud that he is now drinking out of a "big" boy cup. He actually saw Laila and Jake both doing this and had to try himself. Other than when we are in the car, he hasn't really been using a sippy cup anymore. There have been a few spills, but he is doing remarkably well!

Weekend with Cousins

In early April, we went to visit Tim's cousin Aaron, his wife Gina, and their kids, Laila (4) and Jake (2.5). I had scheduled a jewelry show with one of Gina's friends, so we arranged for it to work on a weekend when we could spend time with them. We had planned to get there on Friday night, however a mid-Wisconsin spring snow storm prevented that from happening, and we weren't able to arrive until Saturday morning. The kids had SO MUCH fun. Laila and Jake are very sweet and polite children, and they have so many toys in their "romper room" basement, that Gage was in heaven all weekend. Gage slept amazingly well there, and us adults were able to get some beers down and play some games once the kids went to sleep. Aaron's brother Jackson and his fiance' Margo came for dinner and drinks as well. We heard some funny stories, as we always do with the guys get together, and I laughed harder that night than I had in a very long time. We will be planning a weekend with the Smith's again very soon--either at our house or theirs, but it will happen!

Here are the kids enjoying a "tea" party. I think Gage spilled the teapot (filled with water) only once. Thankfully, Gina is a mom like me--as long as they are having fun, we don't care what kind of mess we have to clean up later!

Laila is ALL girl. Princess, princess, princess. When Gage found some of her pretty princess shoes, he wanted to try them on and walk around in them as well. He did pretty good for being in his pajamas!

Brushing teeth can be really fun when you get to do it with friends!

Brian Michael Fox

Here is a photo of our new nephew, Brian Michael Fox. I've added their family website under "Sites I Visit" on the right hand side of my blog page.

Liar, liar. Pants on fire.

So I lied. No pictures.
Not today, not tomorrow, not Friday. But maybe Sunday?!

Tim is gone this week for work and I have two parties. One local and one out of town. It is now 8:51 pm, I have 1 of 3 loads of laundry to finish up tonight and I am getting my stuff together for tomorrow nights' party. Then I leave on Thursday through Saturday and hopefully I will be able to sit down and be on the computer on Sunday.

Crazy. Just plain crazy.

What can I say. The goals that I set for myself about 3 weeks ago just didn't happen to get met. I have not been able to sit down and upload new pictures, or tell you all about our not-so-exciting life in the past month!

I have every intention of sitting down at the computer tonight after Gage goes down to tell you all about the past 2 weeks. This includes pictures from our visit to Aaron and Gina's in Wausau (sorry, Missy. We were right there, I know, I know. But the weekend went so fast!) which we were only able to stay one night instead of two, due to an odd April snowstorm. Then, I will post pictures and tell you all about the horrible laundry detergent spill I experienced on my one daycare day last week...and I even have a picture to show how I tried to clean it up. That event alone resulted in a 20 minute bawling-fest where a neighbor would have thought I had just lost my best friend from the howls they must have heard coming from the windows. It was sad, all around.

Then onto this week, where I take my one daycare day per week to get as much done as I can, only to find that I am running around so wildly, that I seem to accomplish little to nothing.

In the highlights, I experienced my biggest lia sophia show in my own 6 month history this past week. I have 2 more shows to go this month and I'm nearly at my goal to reach the April incentive I am working so hard on achieving. I may even have an interested party coming on to work alongside me--my first recruit. So things are looking up.

Something weird--my diaphragm (and the one located in my CHEST CAVITY) has been spasming today. I think its the diaphragm. All day, right below my ribs on the left side, the muscle is just twitching and thumping...
very odd.

Any medical guru's out there that could give me some info on what it may be? It's really annoying, like when your eye twitches or something. Almost feels like a baby kicking.

HA HA.

That was a joke.

Still Here

I am still around, just not at home. We went to Wausau this past weekend to stay with Tim's cousin and wife Aaron and Gina and their two kids, Laila and Jake. The kids had a great time, and I have some fun pictures to share once we get home and I can get them uploaded.

I did a jewelry party on Saturday and have another one in my hometown tonight and another tomorrow night. I cannot believe how well this is going for me. I would never have thought that I was going to be doing direct home sales, AND enjoying it, AND doing well! I am very excited. I have 3 more parties after this week for the month of April and just scheduled my 4th party for May. I am already booking into June and July.

Today Gage and I went to my friend Lori's and Gage and Garrett played together all morning and had lunch together. Now, I am sitting here waiting for little man to fall asleep so I can jump in the shower and get ready for the day (yes, it's after noon) and then it's off to my dad's for the afternoon and evening hours. He is watching Gage while I do my show tonight.

For any high school pals that read my site: I went and saw the high school performance of "Hello, Dolly" yesterday with my mom. It struck me that although it felt like "just yesterday" when I had a chorus part in that musical, it was actually in 1993- FIFTEEN years ago. I thought that the boys in the play looked awfully young. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that many of them were still in diapers when I was accepting my high school diploma. Amazing how fast time flies. I still don't feel a day over 25 sometimes...
and I sure in the heck know that I don't act like it!

He's Here!

The newest addition to the extended Fox family arrived yesterday, April 6, 2008 around 3:30 pm. Tim's brother Mike and his wife Arianne welcomed baby boy Brian Michael Fox to the world! He came into this world ready to take us all on at 9 lb. 15 oz!!!

We are hoping to go and visit them by the end of this week, and I am so excited to hold a small baby again!

Congratulations to them both!!

BOOTS!

Auntie Katie gave Gage some cool new boots and a matching rain coat for Easter. He loves his boots. He always wants to put them on, whether we are going outdoors or not. So, Mama was shopping at Target yesterday and found none other than her very own boots! Pink plaid rubber boots, thank you very much.

And in order to properly break them in, Gage and I both put our new boots on and proudly danced to our favorite song EVER, the "The Hotdog Song" on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. (Please ignore my pj pants)

And this is our finale. We make a good team, my goofball son and I.

Basket and Egg search

I like this one, as it looks like he is pooing one out. What a terrible momma.

As most kids usually are, Gage was much more interested in eating the chocolate than finding more eggs.

The basket was actually found behind the curtain, and just moved to take better pictures. The Easter bunny made him look a LITTLE bit!

Playdoh, books, paints.....no fun. He just wanted the chocolates!

Easter Revisited

My little Easter man. I love love love the hat!

This is Gage's "cheese" face. Did I say that I LOVE the hat??"

Did I mention that Gage didn't??

Weighing on My Mind

Okay. So I have a few things that have been weighing on my mind lately, and I want to get them off my chest.

• I've been really bad at posting lately, especially pictures of Gage. Why? Because the few times a day I get on the computer I blog-surf and do so some of my work, and answer the whopping 2-3 emails I may get from friends or family throughout the day. It takes time to post pictures: At least 5 minutes to upload the photos, another few minutes to go through them and delete the bad ones and do any cropping. (I don't have photoshop so this isn't anything fancy, trust me). Then it takes another 10-15 minutes to post them on the blog. So, I just have to find 30 minutes of at least every-other day to do this. My goal: To post more often, and to include more pictures. Let's just say, 2 times per week to start.
  
• I am trying to teach myself how to meditate and teach myself how to clear my mind at any given moment and think of nothing but the moment. I am very high-strung lately, and feel like my mind races a million miles a minute on any average day. When I REALLY put all that I have to do into perspective, it's minimal: however I suffer from anxiety for a reason: I can't help it. My goal: To learn how to meditate and clear my mind at any given moment. Sigh.
  
• I am being particular about something. I want to find some used outdoor play equipment for Gage, particularly a slide and climbing mechanism and a playhouse. I have been searching Craigslist and scanning the local newspapers looking for used, but I am not having any luck. They are a hot commodity, those outdoor toys, and I'm one of a thousand people currently looking in my area, I'm sure. I know we will just end up going out and buying a new one anyway, as we always do when we don't have luck searching, but I feel guilty paying that much when I know there are ones to be given away for much, much less. My goal: Look for outdoor toys for 2 more weeks, then go and buy some.
  
• Although it's been a long while since I've stressed about my weight, I am really upset with my eating habits lately. Easter Sunday sent me over the edge with 3 desserts and more candy than I care to count and all my pants are tight and the muffin-top is turning into a bubbling volcano, and spilling over the sides. My goal: cut the sweets (only allowing one per week) and try to increase the veggies and fruits, just to get those pants a little more loose and the gushing lava back under control.
• I think that is it. I will try to get this list started today. My goal: start this list today.