Happy 2011!

"Common sense shows that human life is short-lived and that it is best to make of our brief sojourn on this Eaerth something that is useful to oneself and others." Dalai Lama

Starting fresh with blogging! I didn't do very well to start with, but I'm turning over a new leaf and starting on a journey of self discovery! I pulled out my Simple Abundance book my dear friend Mary gave me so many years ago and have vowed that I'm going to follow it daily for the next year. It's has an essay a day designed to help you improve your spiritual well being and sense of self. It's not geared toward a specific religion - which greatly appeals to me since I'm interested in studying Buddhism.

First, I'll play a bit of catch up from my last blog effort - over a year ago! I went to nursing school for one semester. I did okay - As and Bs, but they decided to move the classes to Mobile which would have been an hour drive to and from classes, plus having to be at the hospital for clinicals at 6am, then stay up late to write papers. I would never have seen the boys or Duncan with that schedule. So I decided to go back to my original choice of medical office administration. I have one more semester to go taking two internet courses, Publisher and PowerPoint, and two classes, Medical Office Admin and Health Information Management. So I'm only in class Tuesday and Thursday mornings. That means I'll have plenty of time with Duncan when he's home and time to spend with Logan when he's home from school, plus planning for Cub Scouts - I'm still a Webelos den mother.

Duncan no longer works at the cab company in Atlanta - thank goodness! He worked temporarily with a flower nursery as a seasonal worker. The money during spring was great, but his hours were horrible. Sometimes he'd only be home 6 hours between shifts! Now he's working as a valet/bellman at a fancy hotel near here. It's an overnight shift like the cab company shift, but he's home instead of 300 miles away, and it's weekends. So we've been having date day one day a week going to movies or lunch or just hanging out.

Logan is in 5th grade now. Still all As and in the gifted program. He and his friend Billy will complete all 20 Webelos badges before they move up to Boy Scouts. He's living large with every single video game console he can own. Duncan used tip money to move heaven and earth to get them for him. He's nearly as tall as me and great company to be around. Someone at his school nominated him for a People to People ambassador to Canada in the summer of 2011. We're hoping we can manage it somehow. It would be an awesome experience for him.

Malcolm and Andrew are growing and growing! They'll be 4 soon. Malcolm is still quite the chatterbox and does not know the meaning of the words "use your inside voice". He has no mute button! Andrew is all about cars. He rides his Tonka or his Big Wheel everywhere instead of walking. Both are very stubborn, opinionated little men who are completely relentless when it comes to what they want. I hate to have to break them, but it's time to make them mind.

We've been living with my folks for over a year now. Sometimes it's stressful or confusing. Our plans don't always mesh - especially when my dad is on a cleaning spree and it's date day for Duncan and me! I figure we'll be here at least another two years. I'm hoping to be employed before Fall 2011 and I'm hoping the twins get into Pre-K then as well. That way we can save up for a down payment on a house or a piece of property.

That's caught us up I think! I plan on creating my own webpage this year and moving my blog posts over to it. I need to be more creative and post separately from Facebook. Too many people on my FB account get their feathers ruffled when I express an opinion that is contrary to what they believe. Here I can say what I want to and if people don't want to hear it, they don't have to be here!