The Simple Pleasures.....

What a beautiful night last night. Who would have thought that it would be in the 70's in March. The sprouts had gymnastics last night so they were unable to enjoy the evening that much, but they are on spring break this week. They have been playing outside all day. What a great time for this weather for them.

Since they are not in the same tumbling class, I dropped the oldest one off and the youngest and I went shopping for a bit. We decided to park the car at home after shopping and walk to the gymnastics center to pick up the other sprout. With water bottles in hand we were off.

It is really about three blocks in one direction and three blocks in another direction, not that far. Of course the youngest get just across the street from our house and announces that her feet hurt. I quickly get her going down a different path of thinking. We made it to the gymnastics center and had a few minutes wait. Which I was glad for. The sprout on the other hand was still wound up for some reason. We gathered our stuff and made the trek back home.

The sprouts and I have been walking together even when they were babies. I took them for walks almost every chance I got. I even took them to see their dad when he was at work. Not sure if he enjoyed that or not, but he always came out to see us.

Last night we were a block away from his work, and he was on duty last night. We did not stop by. The sprouts didn't even say anything about stopping either. I would have if they said anything, even though it was getting late. They did not have school in the morning so I would have been fine with it. I enjoyed just sitting at his work watching the traffic go by and the sprouts ran around asking their dad all kinds of questions, that they knew the answers to already because they had asked them before. They didn't care they just ran around with smiles on their faces. This summer they may want to stop and that will be fine. He will enjoy seeing them.

That was one of my simple pleasures, taking the sprouts to see their dad at work on a nice warm evening.

The Bowling Weekend......

This past weekend was the big state bowling tournament weekend for my team. This tournament started this weekend and ends in May sometime. In preparation for the big weekend, I went and bought a new bowling ball and had it drilled on Friday, so that I could take it to the tournament on Saturday. For most people that is a big NO NO, that is like buying a new stove the night before you are in a cooking contest. You have no idea if it burns hotter than the settings or not. Same with bowling, you have no idea how the ball is going to react or how to adjust. With the way my other 2 balls were working I did not care. It could not be any worse than what I have been bowling in league.

After about three hours at the bowling alley on Friday night and throwing the ball for awhile after it was all tweaked in to my liking. I headed for home. As I was getting things around for the weekend, I ripped the nail on my finger. Yes, it was on my bowling hand to top it off. Instead of clipping it off I just ripped it the rest of the way off, not thinking of course that might affect my bowling. Saturday arrived and I was up early, because the girls were being dropped off by their dad around 6:30am so he could go to work. We had breakfast, got their hair cut and off with grandma to swim lessons and on to her house for the day. I met my team and we headed to South Bend for the tournament. Upon arrival, the lanes were the older style wooden ones. This will be a challenge with a newer style ball, and six games to throw today. My finger did well, no problems at all. I did not get my average at all, but was happy with the new ball. I will admit I did throw an 85. THAT IS NOT A GOOD SCORE FOR ME. It was my fourth game and I just stopped concentrating. The team went out for dinner afterwards and I headed back to pick up the girls.

My finger started throbbing on the trip home, and I knew then that this was not good. I picked up the girls and headed to our house. Their dad picked them up at 7am on Sunday morning and I made my way back to South Bend for the team event. Saturday was the Double and Singles event. While trying to get ready in the morning my finger tip is about twice the size it should be and very sore, red and warm. All of which are not a good thing. I met my team and we headed to a different bowling alley for the team event. This alley has the newer style lanes, I am kind of excited. My hesitation in excitement had something to do with the fact that I had three bowling balls and not one of them could I get my finger in. All of which are drilled for a finger tip grip. Yes, I only use the tips of my two middle fingers and my thumb to hold the ball. This made for an interesting day.

During the 6 minute warm ups I threw as many warm up balls I could just to get use to the pain of my finger. Pushing the finger into the ball was not as bad as bending my hand down, full span to get my thumb in the hole, that smarted a bit. The first time I threw in warm up I literally dropped my ball in the gutter, and thought there is no way I can do this. But after a few more throws and being use to the pain I was able to throw the three games for the team event. I also had purchased a numbing spray and hand a glass of ice to soak my finger in between my turns that helped a lot as well.

Unfortunately I did not get a lot of strikes, which met throwing the ball more. I did get some decent scores, despite the "injury". One of the other girls on our team got a case of kidney stones on Thursday night, so she was bowling on Darvoset on Saturday. She was better on Sunday. No, I could not bowl on the pain meds. They make me sick to my stomach. Part of our team name is Warriors, we should have changed it to the Wounded for this weekend.

My finger is better today, as I think I got most of the pressure in it relieved last night. It is still sore, and hopefully will not be as painful tomorrow night for bowling.

The Great Communicator........

I am starting an interesting day today.....

The youngest gets her school shots today, of which she does not know yet. Then I have a meeting with my Ex later on this morning. That should make the day interesting enough. I emailed him last Monday and requested the meeting. I was even very nice about it. We really have not spoken for about a year, unless it was absolutely necessary. I finally, made the move to request that we talk about the kids. They have a lot going on in their lives and their heads.

On Wed. morning I get an instant message from his wife, wanted to know if I have a minute to talk. Of which I had just a very few minutes to talk, I had to go pick up from preschool shortly, which she should have known that. She said that my ex showed her the email that I sent him requesting the meeting (I knew he would do that). She just wanted to let me know that she was not going to be there. (I requested that she not be at the meeting as well in the email) She said that she has been encouraging my ex to communicate more with me (Of which I have noticed that at times) She also wanted to know if I knew when I wanted this meeting and where so that she could make sure he had that time available. (Nope, was still waiting to hear from him to see if he was going to attend or not).

That afternoon he called me to tell me he put some papers in the sprouts suitcase from the night before and that he would meet with me, but did not know when yet, he would have to look at a calendar first, and left it at that. (We had talked on the phone at least two times that morning because the school called me, and he said nothing then about the meeting) On Thursday, I email him with a day that will work well for me so that I will not be rushed to have to get back to my work. He works every third day, so I sent the email on his working day because that is the best chance I have of getting a response from him, even though he can check his email at home as well. On Friday I still have no response from him as to the time and place of the meeting. So I sent his wife an offline message to let her know that today would work out best for me. Finally, Sunday night I got an email from him that the day I picked would be fine, and he picked the time and place, I am sure she picked the place. But it is acceptable for me.

So, I have know idea how he is going to make any decisions without her there. She even told me that he says things to make people happy with him. He does not like to disappoint anyone. (I already knew that, lived with him for 13 years) Most of the stuff we will be discussing is about the girls in general. I think we are going to go over their summer schedule, which I am positive that will not get finalized today.

The Big Race.....

The sprouts had their annual pine wood car race Sunday afternoon at the church. This was for the kids church group they are in on Wednesday nights. My dad and I got the cars ready to go for them and they painted their car exactly like they wanted them to, and I put the finishing touches on them.

On the way to the race, we had the "Just having fun" speech AGAIN! That always ends with the oldest saying, but I want to win. They did have fun. The cars did not do as well as in past years. We have usually placed in the top three in past years, but everyone gets a participating trophy. My oldest won a bigger trophy for best design(most pennies in a penny vote). So that did not please the youngest, who brought home a bigger trophy than her sister last year. All in all they did have fun.

Barnyard LIVE!!

I experienced the live version of the movie Barnyard the other day. For those that have not seen the movie, it is about all the different farm animals and what they "really" do when then farmer is not around. In the movie the cows take a car and go "boy" tipping.

So, on my way home the other night on a well traveled country road. There was a car coming at me and I caught a quick glance of shadows going in front of the cars headlights. I start to slow down because the deer are pretty thick in that area anyways, and I cannot afford to hit one right now. The other car flashes it lights at me, and I flash mine back to acknowledge that I saw the shadows. I eventually come to a stop because I see more shadows in front of the other car. With about 20 yards between us I realize that the shadows are not deer. At this point, there is 2 draft horses, be boppin down the road at me in my lane, followed by two cows fighting for position in the ditch on my left and bringing up the rear is another horse. This is a small horse that pulls the amish buggies, and this one acted like the class clown of the group. Granted they probably were a bit frighten by the two cars. They just kept going on down the road, with out a care in the world to them.

That story ranks right up with me practically drag racing with 3 draft horses that came out of the field at a full gallup right next to me as I was doing about 55 down a different road. I managed to get my car stopped with out scaring them and before they ran into my path. I am sure hitting a deer would have been much better than hitting 3 draft horses.

Progress....

As I was trying to figure out why things were the way they were in my life a couple of years ago when I was just going through my divorce, it was hard for me to get stuff done. Laundry would be piled up either to be done, or to be folded. The mail would be piled up on the table with just the bills pulled out of it, I couldn't even take care of the junk mail at that time. I was also confused when my venting specialist would say that I was making progress when I only did one load of laundry and had not folded it yet. It would just be piled on my bed and I would just sleep on the couch. Then she would say again that I made progress when I only had folded a few of the clothes and put them away. Being an engineer, that little bit did not seem like progress to me. I am use to progress being the actual visualization of something moving forward. From raw material to an actual part was progress for me. Having a large pile of clothes to start with, and only just a little bit taken from it, was not progress. It was procrastination in my eyes.

I bring this up because I started facilitating a divorce support group last night. It is a video series. Having seen the videos before, it was not until watching them again last night that progress is a slow process, little steps at a time. Example if you are a marathon runner and have open heart surgery, you have to walk, then jog, then run a mile, then slowly work your way back up to the 26 miles. Yes, I think the engineer in me has gotten in the way at times. Now, I realize the difference there and look forward to this new journey of differentiating between engineer and non-engineer.

....98, 99, 100.....98, 99, 100.....

I am sure I am going to dream about number tonight. Since we got the weather that was forcasted for us, 9.5" of snow later, I knew some people would not show up for work today. Being the bored engineer that I am, I offered to work out on the plant floor today. It was either that or continue to do data entry and filing which I am trying to get caught up for about 2 yeas now. Coincidence that was about the time I filed for a divorce? So, I have been counting to 100 over and over today. And having been up since 3:30 am to get bundled up to clear out my driveway and sidewalks. I was never glad to see 5:00pm roll around. Would have been better if the ex would have brought the sprouts back into town, but I was to tired to argue with him, and when I picked them up I realized why he did not want to leave his house. He only had a path cleared out in his driveway and it was not for any of his vehicles. At least the roads were pretty decent. Well, I am off to prepare for my class tomorrow that I am leading, weather permitting of course. Hopefully I will be able to stay awake long enough as well. I hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day!

A Good Weekend....

Saturday went well. The sprouts and I started off with swim lessons and relaxing time for me in the therapy pool. Well, kind of relaxing, there usually ends up to be about 8 kids in there after there lessons are over with. Then it was off to the big city bowling tournament. This was the team event. As a team we covered the total number of pins we needed to possibly get in to placing for the event which is always a good thing. I personally threw my best score so far this year. I finally got my five hundred series at the tournament with games of 189, 153, 180. I was pretty happy with that.

My sisters birthday was yesterday, the sister I do not speak to that much. I am not sure I even wished her a happy birthday. Mom and dad took her out to dinner, and they asked the sprouts and I to go along so we did. My sister asked if she could ride with me, and I said sure. Guess that was her birthday present from me :) Dinner could have been better. The food was fine the service sucked though. It was just the waitress that we ended up having that sucked. The sprouts wanted them to sing to my sister and this waitress did nothing about it. The sprouts heard them sing to someone else and that really made them mad that they were not going to sing to our table. My sister really didn't mind it though.

Well, off to fight a headache and get the sprouts going this morning. I will also be holding my breath on an answer from the ex in regards to picking up a sprout on Wed. for me, that I asked him about last week. Wait, I will not be holding my breath. I will pass out if I did that. I already have a back up plan in place.

Communication issues.....

I am totally at a lost in reguards to communicating with my ex. If I am lucky he will answer any emails I send him with in a week of being sent. I try not to call him, unless it is a very time critical issue. He can never give me an answer right then, and if he does agree to something, he forgets about it when the actual time does come up. If I put something in the suitcase for him I tell him it is there before he even picks up the sprouts for that night from daycare. He will stick items in the suitcase for me, and I will never know they are there unless I go thru it. I came upon the new insurance card that way. I am not sure how long it had been in the suitcase. I have asked him to let me know when he does put stuff in the suitcase so I am aware of it.

I am at a point where I just rather not talk to him at all. Which is not good because of the sprouts. When he sends me emails I just read them and do not acknowledge that I got them anymore. Seems like lately he just sends me emails to let me know what I am not doing with the sprouts. This from a person that does not have much room to talk, but I do not fire back at him anymore. Waste of my time, and very pointless as well. Someday I may figure it all out. Until then I guess I will just have to take it one day at a time.

An Interesting Weekend Ahead.....

Last night I had another load of wood delivered to the house, since mother nature feels that it should still be cold for awhile and my supply was running very low. I did not have the sprouts last night, so I spent the first two hours after work stacking the wood up in my garage. Usually stacking wood is not an problem with me, except for now it is like a jig saw puzzle. Not only do I have to stack it, I have to stack it so that I can get in and out of my car as well when I am done. Not a very big garage, but big enough for what I need it for. Anyways, in the process of stacking the wood I tweaked the middle knuckle on my ring finger somehow. Normally this would not be a big deal except I am bowling in the city tournament tomorrow and yes it is my bowling hand. I do not think it is broke because it is not swollen or different colors, but it is very sore when I bend it. Typing on the computer is a problem at times. Luckily I only bowl with my finger tips and it is my middle knuckle that is sore. Nothing like a challenge to get an average that I have been failing to get the last few weeks during league play.

I have to swim with the sprouts first before bowling so I will be tired as well, or well relaxed because I will sit in it therapy pool for a bit before the sprouts are done with their swim lessons. After bowling it will be off shopping with my mom and the sprouts for a business type outfit, just to make thing interesting here at work. Then on to mom and dads for the evening. They have one of those message chairs, so a few rounds it that should put me out for the evening.

It has a crack....

I was headed to church with the sprouts Wednesday night and on our way the oldest says to me "Did you know that the Nobell has a crack in it?" Puzzled for a moment I said "The Liberty Bell has a crack in it." She said "but there is a Nobell" "Yes, but it is an award handed out to people."

Now, on to Thursday. I took the oldest to work with me because they had a delay in the start of the school, scheduled in for the teachers to do stuff. Since I have such a great standing at work lately, I did not care. At least I was at work in the morning and not two hours late. I ran downstairs at work to get some stuff and when I came back up the sprout asked "what does disqualify mean?" I explained that to her and she was good to go. She heard it on the radio when I went down stairs. Funny thing is the she heard the a person had "just qualified" to be in a contest that they are running right now. I got a kick out of it. There is never a dull moment with the two sprouts around and there minds going all the time.

Hey! Were are the sprouts?!!?

Last night I picked up the sprouts from daycare, as I normally do after work on my nights to have them, which is practically everynight. The ex had them on his normal week night, Tuesday night. We had made plans for pizza tonight. I ordered it on my way to daycare and we stopped and picked it up, before heading home. Apparently I got a call on my cell when I was in grabbing the pizzas. I didn't realize it right it away, I don't always check my phone right away when I decide not to take it with me at the time. After getting back in the car and on our way, the phone rings again and it is the ex. He is telling me to disregard the message he just left on my phone. He looked at the calendar wrong!?! I listened to the message which was about 25 minutes past the hour of picking up the sprouts from daycare. He wanted to know where they were because it was his night to have them. This explains why Wed. night the sprouts were questioning getting their hair cut on Thursday night because of their dad. I was confused by it because he had them Tues. night, and just left it be. He did show up at daycare, and she was surprised, that he did not call to let her know he was running late, she said he usually calls her for that, but was more surprised he was there.

I know what nights I have them. The calendar we use in an online calendar, and it highlights today for you so you know exactly what is going on today. I am always checking the calendar, because he has a habit of putting stuff in for the girls on my time and not telling me about it. I try my best to ask him first if something for the girls comes up on his time.

After he checked the calendar, he was ok with me having them for the night and we had a great time watching a movie and eating pizza, in front of the fire place keeping warm.

SNOW!!!!

Yeah!!! There is finally snow on the ground! I know a lot of you are not happy about that, but in my world the little things go along way.

My sister called me last week to see if the sprouts and I wanted to go up to her house because she had snow and the sprouts could go sledding together. So we made the arrangements. I picked up my mom, cannot go see the 5 month old without taking grandma along, and since my grandma was home alone, and doing nothing. We took her along as well. So my 5 mo old nephew got a lot of Grandma loving, but only on his time. He was in a mood of his own. Fortunately, he and his aunt got along just fine.

After the sledding and playing of I think every single toy in the house, we headed back home for the two hour drive, because it was beginning to snow. Anytime you take your mom somewhere and it begins to snow, life pretty much revolves around her getting home safely. At least in my world it does. So needless to say I got the three kids in the car, my niece went as well. My grandma and my mom loaded as well. We grabbed dinner for the kids mostly and we were off. The roads were a bit slick at times and visibility was hampered as well, but not were I could not see the car in front of me. I had to put up with "don't push them" and "I wish you would just slow down" for two hours. Mind you there were at least a car length or two between me and the car in front of me and the slow down came when I was doing maybe 25 in traffic that had slowed for a slide off anyways. Yes, I finally blew up at my navigator then (my mom).

We did make it home safely and I got everyone else delivered to their respective places as well for the evening. What little was left of the evening I could have use drinking to calm my nerves from dealing with my mom, but I didn't. My oldest sprout and I watched the food network and got educated on how they make pretzels and chips. I think she got more from the show than I did, of course it probably would have helped me a lot more if my eyes were open.

Sunday brought more snow and of course I was still a half hour yet from my house, so I was "encouraged" to leave soon. I got home in the afternoon and the sprouts and I had a good time outside together. They helped me clear off the sidewalks and they finally got to make snow angles. Snow was not that great to make angels yesterday.

Now a little vent on men in my world lately. For the record my world would be much better without men in my life, I think. The ex. made an attempt to let me know his summer plans for the sprouts by email. I was impressed that it was so early, usually I barely get a weeks notice let alone months. I did not respond back to him one way or the other on it. There is a new guy in my life, but I am not sure where he stands in the world with his life, so I just play that one a day at a time. With my busy schedule that works well for me right now. The men at work, well they haven't exactly made my Christmas list of people to shop for. I have rescheduled the race, so hopefully something new will come along.

I have not been all that excited about my dad lately. My mom wanted to get groceries on Sunday because it was snowing and for one the pop(soda) was getting low. Not good for that house hold. During the blizzard of '78 I remember my dad bringing home about 8 cases of pop and a loaf of bread. Anyways, mom wanted to go along and he said no he could get them. They are a car short due to a deer encounter, so all vehicles are my dads work trucks, only seats in the front of them. My mom got a phone call it was my sister (the one that I do not get along well with) she was asking questions about the list my mom sent with my dad. She was mad when she hung up, he can't take me, but he can take her along. I spouted back, "That is so he can buy her groceries as well." Now you know one of the reasons I do not speak to her that much, she lives off my parents in her own house. My parents do help me when I ask, but I do not ask for everything little thing from them.

Stainglass, Work, and The Ex.....

Stainglass.....

This was a last minute request from a lady at church. So naturally what is a night or two with no sleep...lol. The only request was for the rose to be yellow. I came up with the other colors, which was not easy for me. I am pretty particular about the way my pieces look and turn out. I truly liked the way this one turned out. Usually it makes a difference which side of the glass you use, but this piece turned out that both sides looked well together.

Another last minute piece was for my mom to give as a gift as well. Both the rose and cross were given at the same function at church. I have shown this pattern before I think. It is a beveled cross in the center with a clear glass that has a rainbow tint to it for the border. I designed the border for this piece.

This last piece is my favorite. I completely designed this piece as a surprise gift. The glass is 11" x 17". I was able to hold the background glass so that is looks like the letters are pasted on to it. Not an easy thing to accomplish, but something that I am pretty particular in doing. This turned out better than I thought it would when I started it. I thought the script lettering was not going to turn out as well as it did. I am really happy with it, and I think it was a hit as well. This piece took a lot of hours to make, which included a couple late nights (ok all nighters) and I even stayed home from work one day to work on it as well. That is before the other stuff happened at work. My dad made the frame for me. We put a crack in the glass when we were framing it. Well, my dad did it. He missed fired the first time and about stuck a small nail thru his thumb, then the second shot was not that much better, and it cracked the piece of wood we were putting on. Then he says "Did I just crack that?" With my teeth slightly grinding I said "Yes" but it did not look bad, and I doubt you will be able to see it. I did point it out when I delivered it. Anyways here it is...

Work....

Well, the race has been postponed. The owner also took issue with my boss and he took it personally, which he can afford to do more than the rest of us because the owner is his father-in-law. They exchanged a few emails. On Monday of this week, I got an apology from the owner via email, for the letter that he sent me last week. For that I have put off my search. My boss was here on Monday and more emails went back and forth and by the end of the day he has his mind made up that he was done here. He has not been in the rest of the week. They have kissed and made up I guess and my boss will be in on Monday. Never a dull moment around here.

The Ex....

The legal battle is finally over I believe for now. I have been trying since July to get medical expenses due me from him. He lawyered up after the judge served him papers at work, since he did not show up for the court date, because he did not pick up his certified mail. So, I had to get my lawyer involved. We all had a meet a greet in November and I finally signed the new agreement today. I have spent about five times the amount do me to get that money. He owed me alot more when I started the whole process and paid some of it along the way. So that is finally over. Hopefully!!! I just get the pleasure now of seeing him more often and at my house. Doubt that it will be a pleasure, especially since it will be around 7am everytime on the weekends.

The Race Is On.....

The race is on to see if I can find a new job quicker than I lose the one I have. I am intending on winning this race. Apparently the owner of this company has an issue with me of which he stated in a letter to me that contained mostly lies. I have talked to my boss who is the son-in-law to the owner and we went to college together, and I also have spoke to the vice-president as well. The VP will go to bat for me in a heart beat. You see I am the engineering department I have no one else working for me here. When I go on vacation ALL the work is still waiting for me when I get back, there is no back up for me. The VP even stated in our meeting that if something happened to me GOD forbid this company would be in a world of hurt. I agree with that. I have even set up my home computer to be able to work from home when the sprouts are sick and I have to be home with them. I have even work at home on some 50 prints over a weekend, so that they would be done on time to get a big account that we were bidding for. I take my job very seriously, and I also take my family very seriously as well. I always put in my 40 hours or more, and am still able to meet my sprouts needs and appointments as well. I loved it when we had a second shift working here, because I could come in at night a work for a bit as well. I usually did that once a week, but the work I could get done in a few hours was a lot. I was not interrupted by the other 5 plants wanting something, or customer service needing a print. I could just concentrate on the task at hand. No I did not have to do it, but I did because I wanted to. Most of that time I was designing a 3D catalog of the more than 400+ molds that we use on our parts for all the plants to have. Since we move molds around periodically, I thought the plants should know what the part is going to look like because they do not normally work with it. The catalog when complete is two 3" binders packed. Why did I do that? Because it needed to be done to help out our plants. We take pride in our quality here, and that was just another way to insure our quality. In the infamous letter he is reorganizing the quality department, and I am going to have to be training someone to do the prints that I do. Which is fine with me, I am not against the reorganization or the training. He has said that for about 2 years now. I am not holding my breath on the training. I do not care if I have another job and no one is trained for my job. When you state in a letter that I am unmotivated, and slow, and do not care, when you are never around or know exactly what I do do for your company. The gloves are off. You crossed a line that cannot be erased. My office is upstairs and he has set foot in my office maybe twice in a year, once a year to hand me somekind of christmas gift. He hardly ever comes upstairs to anyones office. I left once before for a year, and this company asked me if I would come back. I did and I got the terms that I wanted and they got the terms that they wanted, life was good. I have no problems leaving again. I just have a problem with busting my butt to get everything done in a day, and being treated badly at the same time. No one deserves that.

Identical Twins!

I am an identical twin. Mirror image twins as well. I am right handed and my twin is left handed. We both were glasses, because my right eye is slightly weaker than the left and her left is weaker than the right.

She lives two hours from me and we do talk daily, mostly through the computer. We have shown up at family gatherings wearing almost the same outfits. Neither of us knew what the other was wearing. This really annoys her more than me for some reason. If I knew what she was wearing anyways, I would probably wear the same thing just to annoy her, because I could. :) Depends on my mood. In high school, we both played basketball, and that was fun. One game the opposing teams coach called a time out on his home court, and walked to the middle of the floor and asked his team who had number 45, which was me, because I had just hit to jumpers with no one guarding me. Of course none of their players raised their hands. They did correct that situation. She has taken fouls for me during the game because the refs would look at the faces of the person that committed the foul (which usually was me) and then when they got to the scores table they would turn to get the number, but by then we would be standing side by side so they had to guess. Sometimes that came in handy. We always knew were each other was on the court, I could pass the ball off with out looking and knew she would be there to catch it. That was awesome.

Anyways, the reason for this post, I have often been asked, "Do you feel each others pain?" No, not really. We have gone through some of the same pains in life. But never have really felt each others pain. Yesterday and today, I have been fighting and headache/migraine. Ever since I have been on the high blood pressure meds, my migraines are very mild now. I am very glad for that now. I was taking about 4 excerine migraines at one time for them before. I know that is not good for you, but taking Vicodin is not a pleasant thing for me either, which I have had to do before as well. Anyways, I was chatting with my brother-in-law this morning online asking him if he needed a box of tissues, because he is an Ohio State fan. He said that my twin was home with a headache/migraine that was making her sick. I know how she feels, I have been there as well. Both of us having a headache on the same day, coincidence or not. That is as close as it gets for us having the same pain as the other.

A little tribute and a Big Thank You!

Today is my last meeting with my venting specialists. This person helped me immensely, in moving on after my divorce. Granted I was venting 9 months before I even filed for the divorce. I am sure she thought I was crazy not to file sooner, but that never came into play with her. She never suggested that once. She knew that was not an option for me at that time. Finally after asking all the right questions, and having seen all the signs that I need to see, I filed for the divorce. I remember the look on her face when I told her what I did. I don't think she ever expected me to do that, and that is OK. We worked out a lot of issues in the three years that I have had to vent. For that I am grateful and ready to move on now.

After doing some final cleaning out of things still left to go through from when I was married, I know it was not my fault and I did everything I possibly could. He actually left the marriage long before I knew there was a problem between us. But we just cannot know then what we know now. So we move on. My venting specialist is moving on as well. I have been fortunate enough to be able to go where she has moved to, but this time the distance is to great. I wish her all the best in her new pursuit of happiness. I think it is perfect timing for me right now. Things are going well for me, besides the legal issues I still have with the former spouse and hopefully those with come to a close by the end of the month for sure. I will be facilitating and divorce group at church starting this month or next for sure. I have more people in my life now, and that is not something that I cared about. I perfectly fine just being with the sprouts, but it is very nice to add more adults to my life. As much as I hate to have it all end, it is at a good time.

Thank you for all that you have done. I wish you all the best in your new adventures. I will always remember that "Yes, you are always right" no matter how annoying that was for me, it was the best for me.

THANKS!!!

'Tis the Season.....

First of all, I just want to say that this weather sucks. It is very hard for me to get into the Christmas Spirit when the temperature is in the 50's and it is pouring rain out.

Now where was I......

'Tis the season for giving. This week has been filled with long nights for me. I gave these pieces to the people at work. I also gave one to each of the sprouts teachers and the daycare provider and her sister who picks up my sprout from school everyday.

I made these 20 pieces last night. I made 4 of the same things on Wed. night. Both nights were all nighters for me. I even started this project on Tuesday night. I am glad I did get them done though. They turned out great. To give you an idea of the size of each of those, that bench is only 23 inches in depth and those fit nicely into a half fold greeting card envelope. Which is how I delivered them today with the card that I designed as well.

Everyone loved them. I even gave one to the two ladies that seem to think that they are my boss as well. They, however, will not get to see them until the first of the year because they are on vacation now. It is the thought that counts. An olive branch? I doubt it.

Speaking of the thought that counts. I dropped off the sprout at preschool on Wed. and they were going to have a little concert when we picked them up so the parents might want to come early to hear the 3-4 songs that they have been singing this month. Since the sprouts dad NEVER picks her up from school but was on duty right across the street that day, I decided to call him and let him know just in case he might be able to walk across. He was walking out as I was walking in, apparently he had to go because of his job. I tried.

The sprouts and I finished up some Christmas shopping this week and they got to pick out something for their dad as well. As much as I cannot stand him right now, it is still my job as their mom to make sure that they have a gift for their dad.

He sent me an email sometime Wed night and wanted to know if he could have the sprouts the next night for a birthday party that they were invited to. Mind you the party was for his wife's grandson, so I am pretty sure that this was not a last minute planned party because they had to travel 40 miles to get to the place for the party and the kids. After emailing and text messaging back and forth to get the details...when do you need them, when are they going to be home, etc. I finally decided to let them go. I did have plans but I put them off for a bit. The sprouts had a good time and we finished the stuff I had planned when they got back.

His wife sent me a message on the computer this morning thanking me for letting the sprouts go last night. I figured she was going to complain to me for not letting the sprouts spend the night with them. That is usually the way that conversation goes, but 'tis the season.

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas Holiday, and a Happy New Year!

The Christmas Program

The childrens Christmas program at our church was yesterday afternoon. The kids have been working on this program since before Thanksgiving. I had to ask the sprouts dad if they can be in the program because it was going to fall on his weekend. He did not have a problem with them being in the program. I had recently asked him if I could have them all day yesterday so that they could attend church in the morning which would be their final practice as well before the program in the afternoon, since they would not be able to attend the dress rehearsal the day before because he had things planned for the sprouts. He agreed to let me have them and I offered to trade a day with him as well for that time, and he took me up on that. This whole time I was assuming that he was not going to attend because he made no effort to take the sprouts to the program and he traded the day for me. He also had never attended a church program the sprouts have been in either. I did ask him in email to reconsider he attendance to the program this year. The oldest is excited about her part in the program as she had three speaking parts this year. I got no response and left it at that.

I picked up the sprouts from his house yesterday morning and he had no mention of showing up. The sprouts had their hair all done up and ready to go. I asked them if they knew if their dad was going to come to the program and they said that they wanted to but didn't think so because they thought I would get made at them coming to the program. I told the sprouts that I would not get mad, that I kind of have been trying to get them to come as well. The oldest wanted to call them to ask them to come. We tried three different phone numbers and left messages on all three numbers. He called me a short time later as we are getting ready to head to the church. He wanted to know what time it started, because he was at the church already. I was surprised at that, but glad he was there. I guess putting the time on the calendar that we use together for the sprouts events was worth putting it in a half hour early.

So, all went well. He even brought his parents to the program as well, which really surprised me. I could tell when the sprouts spotted their dad in the crowd because they got a big smile on their face, and even did the sneaky wave to him as well.

He and had chatted briefly and it was a pleasant conversation at that. There was a few awkward moments with his wife and I passing at times, but everything went well. I am just really glad that he decided to come to the program.

The busy season....

...well only if you procrastinate a bit. Once again I stayed up to complete a stainglass piece last night, because I have to deliver it tonight. I have known about this piece since about Spring time. Why rush into things. I did get it done, and even got a nap in as well. Here are some pictures of it. Yes, it is similar to one I have done before.

I took the sprouts to visit santa last weekend. The youngest wants talking furniture type stuff. Not sure where that is going to go. I asked why, they already have a kitchen to play with. The answer I got was "But, it does not talk to me" Great I talk to them and they do not it when I do talk to them.

A quick note on my legal issues with the ex. I finally received a copy of the proposal from him, and he has switched everything around for the visitation schedule, and has not addressed any of the issues I had, which are the reason for the legal battle in the first place. Him changing the visitation schedule is only done because I filed court papers on him. All I want is the money I suppose to have according to our divorce decree. My lawyer modified the proposal again for me, and I am in a holding pattern again. Been holding since July when I filed the papers. I am not in a hurry now to sign anything until the main issues are resolved.

Another busy weekend is ahead for me. I have about 5 more stainglass pieces to do, hopefully I can get some of them done this weekend. The tree still has not had a home found for it yet, so that is at the top of the list. Hopefully sleep is in there as well. The sprouts have their church Christmas program on Sunday. That should be interesting. The oldest has speaking parts, and during rehearsal said them as fast as she could and as quiet as she could as well. The youngest gets to sing three songs, of which will probably only do the motions to the songs and not sing along.