Welcome to Claudia's World

Best laid plans...

2011-02-11T15:13:00.003-06:00

... of mice and men, gang aft agley....

Did pretty good for a few days with my blogging, but life gets in the way again! School started, so I'm deep into homework these days. Cub Scouts started back. We've gone the rounds with the flu - both the regular flu and the stomach flu. Our big news is that Logan is going to Canada with People to People International this summer. Two weeks on a whirlwind tour of Western Canada.

I've been personally working on my temper and trying to take on a more Zen attitude. It's difficult at times - especially with Duncan and the boys around! Not to mention my dad! My mom is like me - pretty easy going until pushed.

I've been trying to let go of anger and negative feelings. I've made up with a couple of people who I'd been on the outs with. We need peace in our lives not personal unrest. I'm going to make even more of an effort to blog. I need to write down funny things here and there or just random thoughts.

Okay two funny things for the day. Last night the twins ended up in my bed like they sometimes do when Duncan works. Malcolm kept up his little chatter for about an hour - sometimes I couldn't understand it at all, sometimes it was a little tune he was singing, but occasionally I understood what he was talking about. He turned to me, all snuggly and warm, and said, "Mama, what's in a pillow? Is it just feathers or something else?" I answered of course, but what an odd thing to think about at 2 a.m.!

Then Duncan came home from work in the morning and jokingly said, "Happy Sarah Palin's birthday!" Andrew immediately turned his butt toward Duncan and blew a raspberry/fake fart sound! We cracked up laughing! What timing!!

Sleep

2011-01-05T22:38:00.002-06:00

I never get enough sleep! I've gotten to where I can actually sleep with a lot of noise going on. Duncan can watch some zombie movie or play his video game and it doesn't bother me any more. But I still don't know why we all punish ourselves by deliberately doing things that keep us from getting more sleep! For example, Duncan knew he needed to take a nap before work, but he played his game and stayed on the internet. I know right now I should have been in bed an hour ago, but I'm still up - playing a video game and typing on my laptop. Andrew refused to go to sleep tonight for well over an hour past his bedtime. But who knows why?

I seriously think if everyone got enough sleep that half the world's problems would go away. And now since I've finished my level on Lego Star Wars, I'm going to get some sleep! (Especially since in 4 hours Duncan will be home!) Good night!

Making changes

2011-01-04T20:17:00.004-06:00

I spent several days during the holiday clearing surface clutter in our rooms. I did okay, but there's still room for improvement. The closets are full, I've got boxes to weed through and the dressers are packed. I'm donating the little boys old car seats and clothes to the day care. I hope to go through all that Friday.

I want to try to put organization into our lives. I need to simplify. We have too much crap hiding the things that are important. It will take time, but I will make every attempt to get it all done. I just wish I had the space that we really need to lay it all out at once like they do on those organizing shows.

But the hardest thing in our year of change is getting the boys to listen to me. Too many times they argue with me about even the littlest things. Like tonight - Andrew kept asking me to move his stuffed animals - here, there on the floor, at the foot of the bed, etc. I am starting to put my foot down on all this bossiness all the males in my family have imposed on me. I am not a slave, but sometimes feel like one. The limits need to be set more firmly in place and they all need to learn that they are not helpless!

I have to start gradually and am starting with the twins trying to make them listen and follow through. It's hard - they cry and scream. Andrew is still crying as I type this over those stuffed animals. It will be a slow process, but they need to learn to go to bed on time, get up and go to school without a fight or threats or spankings!

Change is good, right? It's a process and we'll get there eventually. I guess I better go calm my youngest down now....

Focus

2011-01-03T20:59:00.003-06:00

I don't really make resolutions aloud. I used to. But inevitably I would fail to keep it and someone would remind me that I made the resolution. They wouldn't really lord it over me that I failed, but it would bug me all the same. One thing I'm good at is procrastination. I always have the best intentions to get things done, but allow too many things to distract me. Sometimes, there are things I have to attend to - like hungry kids, or a husband needing a snuggle! The things that pull me away are wasting time type things such as playing a computer game or watching a show that I've seen before multiple times.

I need to learn to focus. Even when I was working, I would let things distract me. I loved fixing keywords and updating notes. I spent probably a little too much time doing those things. I'd end up working an extra hour to get my daily work done. I should have made note of those little fixes and then done them when I had plenty of time. I vowed not to do that on my next job.

This year I'm making resolutions that I'm not telling anyone about - well, except here on this blog. Those who are around me probably won't see them because I haven't advertised to everyone that I have a blog! So for better or worse, I'm going to learn to focus on getting things done that I have planned for the day. I want to focus on my health and eating habits. I want to focus on being a better wife and mother.

So my word for the year is focus. It will become my mantra - the first word I think of in the morning,throughout the day, and the last thing I think of before bed. Focus on what I need to accomplish each day and make sure I accomplish everything on my list.

Focus.

Top novels

2011-01-02T15:36:00.003-06:00

This is a LONG list! Like with my movie list - I took two top 100 lists and combined them, so there are 178 on here. Since the list of ones I've read is short, I put that list first. I'm going to attempt to read one a month from now on. It'll take me 14 years, but hey, no problem! I just read Rebecca and have Heart of Darkness ready to start this week. (Obviously these lists were created by someone who doesn't alphabetize titles properly - I'll resort those eventually!)

I've read these:

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Dune by Frank Herbert
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969), by John Fowles
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Stand by Stephen King

Books I still need to read:

1984 by George Orwell
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Dance to the Music of Time (1951), by Anthony Powell
A Death in the Family (1958), by James Agee
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
A Handful of Dust (1934), by Evelyn Waugh
A House for Mr. Biswas (1962), by V.S. Naipaul
A Passage to India (1924), by E.M. Forster
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
All the King's Men (1946), by Robert Penn Warren
American Pastoral (1997), by Philip Roth
An American Tragedy (1925), by Theodore Dreiser
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Appointment in Samarra (1934), by John O'Hara
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (1970), by Judy Blume
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
At Swim-Two-Birds (1938), by Flann O'Brien
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brideshead Revisited (1946), by Evelyn Waugh
Call It Sleep (1935), by Henry Roth
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), by Willa Cather
Deliverance (1970), by James Dickey
Dog Soldiers (1974), by Robert Stone
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Emma by Jane Austen
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Falconer (1977), by John Cheever
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), by James Baldwin
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Herzog (1964), by Saul Bellow
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
Housekeeping (1981), by Marilynne Robinson
I, Claudius (1934), by Robert Graves
Infinite Jest (1996), by David Foster Wallace
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Light in August (1932), by William Faulkner
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Loving (1945), by Henry Green
Lucky Jim (1954), by Kingsley Amis
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Midnight's Children (1981), by Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Money (1984), by Martin Amis
Mrs. Dalloway (1925), by Virginia Woolf
Naked Lunch (1959), by William Burroughs
Native Son (1940), by Richard Wright
Neuromancer (1984), by William Gibson
Never Let Me Go (2005), by Kazuo Ishiguro
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Pale Fire (1962), by Vladimir Nabokov
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Play It As It Lays (1970), by Joan Didion
Portnoy's Complaint (1969), by Philip Roth
Possession (1990), by A.S. Byatt
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Rabbit, Run (1960), by John Updike
Ragtime (1975), by E.L. Doctorow
Red Harvest (1929), by Dashiell Hammett
Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
Revolutionary Road (1961), by Richard Yates
Siddharta by Hermann Hesse
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash (1992), by Neal Stephenson
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Adventures of Augie March (1953), by Saul Bellow
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Assistant (1957), by Bernard Malamud
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Berlin Stories (1946), by Christopher Isherwood
The Big Sleep (1939), by Raymond Chandler
The Blind Assassin (2000), by Margaret Atwood
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927), by Thornton Wilder
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967), by William Styron
The Corrections (2001), by Jonathan Franzen
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), by Thomas Pynchon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Day of the Locust (1939), by Nathanael West
The Death of the Heart (1958), by Elizabeth Bowen
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Golden Notebook (1962), by Doris Lessing
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Heart is A Lonely Hunter (1940), by Carson McCullers
The Heart of the Matter (1948), by Graham Greene
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), by C.S. Lewis
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Man Who Loved Children (1940), by Christina Stead
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Moviegoer (1961), by Walker Percy
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Painted Bird (1965), by Jerzy Kosinski
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Power and the Glory (1939), by Graham Greene
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), by Muriel Spark
The Recognitions (1955), by William Gaddis
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Sheltering Sky (1949), by Paul Bowles
The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), by John Barth
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Sportswriter (1986), by Richard Ford
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1964), by John le Carre
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), by Zora Neale Hurston
Things Fall Apart (1959), by Chinua Achebe
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Tropic of Cancer (1934), by Henry Miller
Ubik (1969), by Philip K. Dick
Ulysses by James Joyce
Under the Net (1954), by Iris Murdoch
Under the Volcano (1947), by Malcolm Lowry
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Watchmen (1986), by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Watership Down by Richard Adams
White Noise (1985), by Don DeLillo
White Teeth (2000), by Zadie Smith
Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), by Jean Rhys
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Top movie list

2011-01-02T15:29:00.002-06:00

There are actually 153 movies on this list. I combined two top 100 movie lists. Of course, this list I'm nearly done with! The ones listed first are ones I haven't seen yet and the second part is the list of movies I've seen.

Movies I still need to see:

8 1/2
400 Blows, The
Amalie
American History X
Battle of Algiers, The
Beautiful Mind, A
Big Lebowski, The
Blazing Saddles
Blow Up
Blue Velvet
Breathless
Bridge on the River Kwai, The
Cool Hand Luke
Crash
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dark Knight, The
Departed, The
Duck Soup
Enter the Dragon
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Fight Club
Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, The
Grand Illusion
Green Mile, The
In the Mood for Love
Life is Beautiful
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Memento
Paths of Glory
Pianist, The
Princess Mononoke
Raging Bull
Raise the Red Lantern
Seven Samurai, The
Slumdog Millionaire
There Will Be Blood
Troy
Twilight
Wild Strawberries
World of Apu

Movies I've seen:

12 Angry Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
African Queen, The
Alien
All About Eve
Amadeus
American Beauty
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Avatar
Back to the Future
Ben Hur
Bicycle Thief, The
Blade Runner
Bonnie and Clyde
Braveheart
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Bringing Up Baby
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Casablanca
Castaway
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Clockwork Orange, A
Dances with Wolves
Die Hard
Do the Right Thing
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove
Empire Strikes Back, The
ET
Exorcist, The
Forrest Gump
French Connection, The
Gladiator
Godfather Part II, The
Godfather, The
Goldfinger
Gone with the Wind
Goodfellas
Graduate, The
Grease
Groundhog Day
Hard Day's Night, A
Heat
It Happened One Night
It's a Wonderful Life
Jaws
King Kong (1933)
Lady Eve, The
Lawrence of Arabia
M
Maltese Falcon
MASH
Matrix, The
Modern Times
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
My Fair Lady
National Lampoon's Animal House
Network
No Country for Old Men
Nosferatu
Notebook, The
On the Waterfront
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Platoon
Pride and Prejudice
Princess Bride, The
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rain Man
Rashomon
Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky
Roman Holiday
Saving Private Ryan
Scarface
Scent of a Woman
Schindler's List
Se7en
Searchers, The
Shawshank Redemption, The
Shining, The
Silence of the Lambs, The
Singin' in the Rain
Sixth Sense, The
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Some Like It Hot
Sound of Music, The
Star Wars
Sting, The
Sunset Blvd.
Taxi Driver
Ten Commandments, The
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Third Man, The
This is Spinal Tap
Titanic
To Kill a Mockingbird
Toy Story
Unforgiven
Usual Suspects, The
Vertigo
When Harry Met Sally
Wings of Desire
Wizard of Oz, The
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

My Bucket List

2011-01-02T15:00:00.004-06:00

I worked on a bucket list recently. This is what I came up with (will post the novels and movies list as separate posts). It's sorted alphabetcially with the ones I've done sorted at the top. My goal this year is to do at least 3 items.

Bucket List (done ones have an x by them)
1 x Be kissed by a celeb (Shatner kissed me!)
2 x Escape from Network television
3 x Follow a concert tour for a week (Monkees and Billy Joel)
4 x Get married
5 x Go on a spontaneous road trip (Monkees - twice)
6 x Go to Disney World
7 x Go to the Olympics (saw 2 baseball games)
8 x Go to the top of the Empire State Building
9 x Go to the World Series (several times with the Braves)
10 x Go whale watching and see a whale
11 x Have children
12 x Learn to play a musical instrument (piano, clarinet, sax)
13 x Meet all 4 Monkees
14 x Perform in a half time show on national tv
(Dolphins-Jets 1974)
15 x Ride in the London Underground
16 x See a Broadway play (too many to list)
17 x See a live tv show (Benson and Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson - Robert Kline was the guest)
18 x See a London play (Shadowlands with Nigel Hawthorne and
Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell with Tom Conti)
19 Be completely debt free
20 Be in a movie
21 Be in control of my finances
22 Become a Buddhist
23 Break 200 in a bowling game
24 Build a tree house
25 Celebrate my 25th anniversary
26 Declutter my life
27 Design my own house
28 Design my own personal logo/letterhead
29 Design my own web page
30 Drive across America coast to coast
31 Find out who killed JFK
32 Find the perfect hair cut (for me at least)
33 Get rid of my wattle (stretched out skin from
being pregnant - yuck)
34 Go to Niagra Falls
35 Go to the Pearl Harbor Memorial
36 Go to the top of the Statue of Liberty
37 Have a beautifully landscaped lawn
38 Have a great wardrobe where everything fits &
nothing just sits there unworn
39 Have a greenhouse with beautiful flowers
40 Have an awesome kitchen so I can cook anything
41 Have an ecofriendly car
42 Have an organized closet
43 Have my own vegetable garden
44 Keep a daily blog for one full year
45 Learn how to cook fried chicken
46 Learn how to grill the perfect steak
47 Learn how to make Crème Brulee
48 Learn Italian
49 Learn Sign Language
50 Learn Tai Chi
51 Learn to do a head stand
52 Learn to juggle
53 Learn to make egg rolls
54 Learn to make my own pizza
55 Learn to make salad dressings
56 Learn to meditate
57 Learn yoga
58 Live to be 100
59 Live without technology for one full month
(no computer, cellphone, tv)
60 Live without technology for one full week
(no computer, cellphone, tv)
61 Make a quilt
62 Make everything in my pastry class cook book
63 Make my own desk (I can't find one I like - I want
a kidney shaped one)
64 Plant a tree and watch it grow to it's full height
65 Reach and maintain my ideal weight
66 Read the best 100 novels of all time
67 Ride in a hot air balloon
68 Ride in the Chunnel
69 Run in a 10k race
70 Run in a 5k race
71 Run in the Komen Race for the Cure
72 Save a million dollars
73 See a moose in the wild
74 See a volcano
75 See my grandchildren
76 See my sons get married
77 See Stonehenge
78 See the Aurora Borealis
79 See the best 100 films of all time
80 See the Golden Gate Bridge
81 See the Mona Lisa
82 See the pyramids
83 See the redwood forest
84 See the Roman colosseum
85 Spend 48 hours completely alone (just to detox)
86 Swim with a dolphin
87 Tour Congress
88 Tour the White House
89 Use FlyLady to clean my house regularly
90 Visit 6 continents (don't want to go to Antarctica!)
91 Visit Alaska
92 Visit all 50 states (at 27 as of 11/2010)
93 Visit an observatory and see as many planets as I can
94 Visit Hawaii
95 Visit Key West
96 Visit the Grand Canyon
97 Walk on the Great Wall of China
98 Watch all the Hitchcock films in order
99 Witness a solar eclipse
100 Write a book

Happy 2011!

2011-01-01T15:46:00.002-06:00

"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!

jeez - I'm so behind!

2009-09-21T12:54:00.006-05:00

Okay - I kept saying I'm going to blog more, but didn't. LOTS of things have changed.

The move to Atlanta didn't happen. Lots of turmoil here - relationship-wise and work-wise. Luckily, things are working out relationship-wise - details of which will not be discussed here - but the work stuff is still in turmoil. We decided not to move to Atlanta - besides the fact we started to have "issues" and were unclear about our future, it just wasn't cost effective. $800 a month for day care here for twins verses $2200 int Atlanta with a waiting list of minimum of 6 months, and $600 a week for a nanny until we got into daycare - well, you do the math! So I took severance and took a few months to decide what to do. Plus since I had 48 weeks of severance and treatment for my Hepatitis C took 48 weeks, that seemed like the perfect time to take care of it. So now I'm Hep C free! Hooray! (I didn't have it very bad to begin with, just kept testing positive with low levels of the virus.)

So now I'm taking classes and trying to get into nursing school. I'm waiting for the yeah or nay vote from the school. If I get in, I'll start in January. If not, I'll get into medical billing and coding and the digitization of medical records. I'm taking Chemistry, Microbiology and Anatomy 2 right now. As it turns out, I'm kinda glad I don't work at CNN any more - having heard the changes they made in the department, I would NOT be happy there any more.

Duncan looked for work for ages and the only job he got offered was to be a night cab dispatcher in Atlanta 4 nights a week. So he commutes up there 4 days a week and is home 3 days a week. He likes the work, the pay sucks and he misses the boys terribly while he's gone. We keep hoping for something closer for him, but several things have prevented him from finding anything suitable here. In this economy, even though the expense of him being away from home and commuting that far eats up half his check, it's better to be able to say you have a job than don't have one.

Logan - my sweet beautiful Logan! What can I say! That boy has grown so fast. He's now as tall as my chin! He needed all new clothes for school this fall because he outgrew the ones from last year. He's now a Webelo Cub Scout and is a real go getter in scouting. He says he wants to go all the way and become an Eagle Scout. If he does, he would be the first boy in this pack to go all the way. It's relatively new pack, but the Cub Master and Assistant Cub Master were both Eagle Scouts and are terrific guys. I asked him what he would say if someone called him a nerd for being in scouts. He said, "So what? I'm a nerd. If L L Cool J can be a scout and be cool, why can't the rest of us? Indiana Jones, Mike Rowe, Bill Gates, and lots of presidents and astronauts are scouts too." Logan has gotten all As since kindy, too. If we can only tear him away from those darn video games, there's no telling what he'll do! He does say that he wants to be a builder when he grows up and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. His heroes are Martin Luther King Jr and Barack Obama. (Ah, I love that boy!)

Malcolm is a huge chatter - he loves to talk. He talks like a 4 year old to me. He's a good helper and likes to help me do laundry or help Boop (my mom) pull weeds. Andrew is a cutie, but sometimes a handful. He's A LOT like his daddy! Smart, but a little devil at times. He's not as talkative due to having so many ear infections as a baby, but he's very skillful with manipulating toys or figuring out how things work. He also is a tumble weed and can do a somersault with no hands. They're both very huggy little boys and they ADORE their big brother Logan and their Daddy.

With all the financial turmoil going on, we moved out of our house in Loxley and in with my parents who lived nearby. It's a little tense occasionally with so many people and different personalities, but in the long run it's going to be good for us all. With Duncan gone during the week, I need help with the boys while I go to school. And with me not working, we couldn't afford to live in our house any more. This was the only option we have for now. I'm guessing when I finish schooling and can get a job, then we'll move out on our own. Not exactly what I would have thought we would be doing at this stage in our lives, but we just have to motor on through the turmoil given the economy.

So that sort of catches me up todate. I need to upload some pictures and start posting more though! I hope I'll do better.

Prepping for a new adventure

2008-07-31T19:36:00.002-05:00

Well, my telecommuting days are coming to an end. Senior staff members are now going to be required to work in-house, which means we'll be moving back to Atlanta. I've loved my days on the Gulf and being close to my parents, brothers and their families, but I do understand the logic. It does make sense. The trick to this entire effort will be trying to sell our house here and then finding day care there. I will have to buy some new clothes - which I dread! I'm so used to being able to wear shorts and a t-shirt to work! Plus being warm and able to control the thermostat! Office buildings are way too cold for my tastes. And I need a hair cut. My hair is fine for a beach community, but kind of sloppy for big city office life!

Duncan will be able to go back to work at his former job in Atlanta. He needs to get a different car, but I know he can find some cheap knock around kind of car. I think he's very happy about the prospect of returning to Atlanta. He has been unhappy down here recently and unable to find something suitable for work. But I think he'll be very surprised to see how Atlanta has changed. Atlantic Station didn't even exist when we were there.

Logan is both sad and excited about the move. Sad that he won't be near Boop and Pop (my parents) or his cousins any more. And his friends, and the Cub Scout troop we're currently in. I really like the troop here. I hope we can find one just as good in the area we move into. He earned his Wolf Badge and 4 belt loops (archery, BB shooting, swimming and fishing) at a camp out this summer. Now my big boy is a Bear Cub! He's excited that he'll have lots of museums to go to and be able to hang out with his "Aunt Michelle" - my best friend. She loves that Mouse (her nickname for him since he was born).

The little guys are getting so big! They're 16 months old now. Andrew has 5 teeth and Malcolm is working on his 4th. He's having a really hard time of it, poor little guy! He had a crying fit tonight because he wanted to take his blankie in the bathtub with him and I wouldn't let him. They're very funny little guys. Malcolm says "e-o-e-o-e-o" all the time. He's the talker of the two. He will repeat some things we say to him particularly words that start with B (bowl, baba, baby, bankie, bow-bow). And he loves "Boos Coos". "Uh Oh" is frequently heard and lately Malcolm has started micromanaging Andrew. He throws a hand up to warn him and says "whoa!" any time Andrew starts to do something Malcolm doesn't think he should! Andrew doesn't talk as much, but he certainly understands everything you tell him. He still loves to hide under his blanket and pulls it off and says "dare-e-iv" (or in English - "there he is"). He just smiles and drools and laughs and laughs.

Anyway, I'm rambling and I have dishes to wash! We're trying to start weeding through junk in the house and prep it for sale. My parents have toiled out in the hot sun for a few days. I had planned on doing some of this stuff after the new year, but now the time line has sped up! I'm hoping to have a big yard sale after Labor Day. I hate that I'll have to move Logan part of the way into the new school year, but I'm sure he'll do fine. he's a smart kid! Now I wish I had been a better housekeeper all these years! Oh well!

*slight change

2008-07-31T19:23:00.002-05:00

Per new company directives, I've edited my blog somewhat. So if you've read some of my past posts there's been some content deleted. I've noted where I edited. Future posts will be totally limited to subjects non-political in nature!

Yeah! Ear tubes are in!

2008-06-12T13:01:00.005-05:00

After much dread for the procedure - it actually went quite well! I was worried how the little guys would do since they were in a huge growth spurt and Malcolm is a voracious eater in the mornings. I got them up around 11:30pm on Sunday and gave them a bottle. Andrew drank his right up and Malcolm drank half. They were a little confused as to why we were in the car at 5:45am. But they didnt' complain. They didn't even seem very upset that strangers wearing scrubs and masks were taking them away! Andrew was more upset when Malcolm was taken away than he was when someone got him.

Anyway, Andrew had a little infection in his left ear and has meds. Malcolm had none. Malcolm has slept great the past couple of nights. Andrew had a little trouble - but I guess I would too if I had stuff draining out of my ear! Last night was better. I'm really hoping this means they'll be sleeping all night soon.

I was really sad to hear about the tornado hitting the Boy Scout camp. I will review the safety rules with Logan when we go to our campout on the 21st. I'm sure we'll be safe, but going over the rules can't hurt. He's just SO close to getting that Wolf badge! I want to try to get it all done before August. He wants to work on some belt loops too - he picked Math and Fishing as his first two to work on. We'll do the BB Gun and Archery ones at the campout.

Logan is having a blast at his day camp. They swim twice a week, go to a movie one day and on a field trip on another day. Friday they have a picnic in the park and reading enrichment. He's just brown as he can be even though I load him up with sunscreen.

Here's hoping we have another good sleeping night tonight!

Things never slow down here

2008-05-22T14:52:00.010-05:00

Malcolm's been really clingy since he got sick with strep last week. But now we're all well - just finishing up meds. I took them to Target by myself this weekend and had a horrible time getting Malcolm to ride in the cart seat. He screamed unless it was moving. Andrew stood in the buggy and wouldn't sit down. Stroller is out of the question because there's no place to put the stuff. I usually either take my mom or Brooke, or just go to the store when they're in day care. I currently have to pull right up to the door at day care, set Andrew in the lobby and hope he doesn't run around while I'm getting Malcolm out of his car seat.

We tried setting up the baby pool in the back yard, but Andrew didn’t like it because the water was too cold for him and I think he was confused because he had on a swim diaper and a t-shirt. He’s used to sitting in a nice warm tub, naked. Of course, Malcolm has recently showed Andrew how to take his diaper off by himself, so I now have two naked babies to chase around the house and hope they don’t spray or poop on anything!

Malcolm and Andrew have developed a LOVE of going outside and walking around. So of course, what happens the very first time I try to take them outside by myself? While I was trying to get Andrew out the door and on the side walk, Malcolm decides to try to walk up the brick steps by himself. We have one little 3 inch step and 2 6 inch steps. He got up the 3 inch step and decided to turn around and go back down to the side walk. He lost his balance trying to step off and smash! Down he went and landed on his face. He had a huge knot on his left temple and scraped his face around his eye and down to his bloody nose.

I just felt horrible about it. I won't be doing that again for a while. He cried for about 20 minutes then slept for about 20 minutes. After that he seemed fine, just tired. He woke up this morning - still clingy, but in a good mood and didn't seem to mind the scrape. The knot on his head is only slightly swollen still. After that fall, and the fact that they try to eat rocks or grass all the time, I won't be taking them out alone again for a while.

Logan did something similar when he was 16 months old - jumped off my lap unexpectedly and whacked his head on a table. So I guess I'll be watching Andrew like a hawk to make sure he doesn't do that!

Logan got an all A honors at school on Monday. His lowest score on his report card was a 96 in history. He got the Governor’s award for physical fitness. He’s getting a new computer for his birthday which I've ordered and should be here next week. Duncan got him a Wii, which we can't figure out how to set up yet. If the weather is nice, we’ll go to Sam’s Surf City, which is the water park he likes, if not, we'll go to the movies. We’ll have our joint birthday meal Monday when we have everyone at my parent’s house for Memorial Day. He wants a giant cookie instead of cake, so we’ll do that.

Oh, and both babies are going to be getting tubes in their ears soon. These chronic ear infections have been a pain and I'm sure that's part of the reason they haven't been sleeping all night. I dread withholding food and fluids for them prior to the procedure! That to me will be the hardest part. How do you explain to a 14 month old that you can't have a drink of water or milk?

I think that’s it! We've had a very eventful week so far as you can see!

Winter scenes

2008-03-10T13:09:00.001-05:00

Life is way too busy

2008-03-10T10:08:00.003-05:00

I never seem to have time to do anything! Duncan is still looking for work. The only offer he's gotten was in Birmingham which is about 6 hours away. We're NOT moving up there. He wants to move to Pensacola or Atlanta. I told him, we definitely need to wait until the babies are 2 before we move. I get way too much help from my parents right now and they really enjoy being able to pop over and see them when they need a baby fix. Plus the real estate market being what it is, there's no way we'd be able to sell our house right now. It needs some fixing up first.

The first thing will be getting the yard fixed up. Pop has a friend who looked at the yard last week and said it was too messed up to fix. We need to completely resod - which is really exactly what I expected. The weeds have taken over. You can see exactly where the tree rubble from Ivan fell or sat waiting for FEMA to pick up the debris. So there goes the tax refund! But it will pay off in the long run.

The babies are two weeks away from their first birthday! I can't believe it! We're having their party next Sunday - a week early because their birthday is the Saturday of Easter weekend and several potential guests have Easter plans. Logan earns points for Cub Scouts by helping me plan and excute the party. He picked an Elmo theme since the babies love Elmo.

Both babies are sleeping longer - thank goodness! I might actually be able to start working out again soon. I'm only 3 pounds away from my pre-PG weight, but definitely not in shape. Now that it will be light longer and soon will be warmer, we should be able to get out and go for a walk in the evenings. Though I'm not sure about that - Andrew nearly fell asleep while he was eating dinner last night. It was adorable! He was stuffing food in his mouth and nodding off, then jerking himself back awake. Malcolm just shovels food in his mouth and eats more, but is thinner. Must be a higher metabolism!

Logan got his first badge at Cub Scouts a few weeks ago. He's so pround! So am I! He's really working hard to get the next badge. We're working it out so we can go on the Cub Scout campout. My parents, Brooke and Duncan will stay with the babies. And Logan and I will go - hopefully with Frank, Melissa and the girls - to the campout. It'll be my first night away from the little guys! I hope we can all 3 tolerate that!

Striving to share more in 2008!

2008-01-04T09:51:00.001-06:00

Logan, Andrew, Santa and Malcolm

I had the best intentions of sharing on a regular basis, but twins, a 7 yr old and work keep me busy! Not to mention the 41 yr old "child" I'm married to! So I'm going to attempt to do better at this.

Malcolm and Andrew are now 9 months old - two sweeter, cuter babies there never were! Malcolm is an expert crawler. Andrew is Commando Carl and pulls himself along with his arms right now. He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth before dropping to the ground again. He's taken a few "steps" on all fours, but resorts to his arms to get around. Both guys are trying to stand up constantly. I suspect they'll be walking before they get teeth. I check every day, but not a pearly white in sight. They both blab quite a bit and we can pick out words here and there. Malcolm has said "all gone" a few times and said "An-do" the other day. Andrew has said "ba-ba" a couple of times and both say Mama and Dada. Oh, and Malcolm is trying to say Logan when he says "dodan".

At 7 years old, Logan is now in Cub Scouts. He has completed his Bobcat badge requirements, so he should get that first badge soon. He likes to watch Mythbusters with us and of course, still loves Spongebob. His newest passion is his Nintendo DS. He's very good at video games, but doesn't spend hours and hours on them. He also likes board games and loves his Legos! He's a great helper with the babies and puts on a floor show for them during dinner occassionally. We read every night and have just started the first Harry Potter book. I haven't read them either, so this is just as much fun for me! He got the complete boxed set for Christmas.

Duncan has finished his last full time semester as a college student. He has a few math courses to take, but may or may not take them. Some people just aren't math people. He's great though at history and English! He had a blast being on the college bowl team this past two years and was the captain of the B team. They came in 3rd with the A team coming in first at state competition in December. He toyed with the idea of going another semester, but he really doesn't need anything other than math, so it would all be just extra curricular courses. So he's starting the hunt for employment. He will enjoy it much more now that he has a new car - a Mercedes Benz. I never can remember the model name.

I'm taking a week off next week. I've been covering for people and writing reviews most of the past 6 weeks. So after a few spotty days off for the holidays, I need a week to regroup my work thoughts and a week to clean house. We need to baby proof now that these guys are mobile. I'm setting myself a weight loss goal too. I restarted Nutrisystem on New Year's Day. I've had a few little cheats to ease myself out of the bad stuff. I got into a bad Krispy Kreme cheat this fall. Lack of sleep made me cheat on donuts and I definitely needed the caffeine of my diet cokes! So I'm cutting myself off the KKs, but keeping the DCs. I must say Nutrisystem works! I've been on it 4 days and have already lost 1.5 pounds! As I recall the first time I tried it, I lost 3 pounds the first week and averaged a pound a week after that. And I haven't even restarted exercising yet! I plan on doing that next week while I'm on vacation. Sad though that I have to take a vacation to clean my house! But I do plan on taking a fun trip to hang with my "sista", Melissa for a bit at the end of the week as my reward.

I'm still learning how to use my new digital SLR camera and my new HD camcorder. I'm thrilled that the camcorder is so light and fits in my pocket. It will make capturing video much easier to transfer it immediately to my computer.

Wow - I suck at blogging!

2007-07-05T14:54:00.002-05:00

I thought I could find time to at least blog once a week. But I started blogging while PG with twins and now have 3 1/2 month old baby boys. So time and energy were two things I was pretty short on for a while! But things are starting to settle down more. Malcolm and Andrew - my baby boys - are starting to sleep longer at night. As soon as they start sleeping 7-8 hours, I know I'll have time to be more organized and actually answer e-mail or read the magazines I had come in this past year that I didn't read. I did at least have the sense to cancel all my magazines! I KNOW I won't have time to read them from now on!

So updating - Duncan has one more full semester at college for his Criminal Justice degree. He's lucked out that he'll have classes only on Tuesdays and Thursdays this fall, but they'll be long days - especially Thursday when he has a night class. He joined College Bowl and they were kind enough to give him a scholarship because of that and his good grades. I'll be happy when he's finished and I can breathe a sigh of relief from being the only breadwinner for two years!

Logan finished up the First Grade with flying colors. He was on the all A honor roll the entire year. His lowest grade was a 98 on his report cards. He is reading very well now and reads to me sometimes. He's going to summer day camp right now. They go on field trips to museums, movies, the park, indoor amusement arcades, swim, etc. He comes home exhausted, but happy.

Malcolm and Andrew are growing like weeds! Andrew had an ear infection and they both had colds recently. When Andrew had a follow up appointment with the doc and weighed 14 pounds 4 ounces! I just can't believe that! Malcolm is probably a pound and a half behind him. Andrew was 5 pounds 15 ounces at birth and Malcolm was 5 pounds 5 oz - but Malcolm was born first. They both suffered from terrible colic during May. There was one week there where I got maybe 3 hours of sleep a night and my parents had to come over and help out several times at 2am. But they're happy guys these days. They wake up smiling and sucking on an invisible bottle if they're hungry. They've developed some patience in waiting on bottles. I'm looking forward to their four month appointment with the doc. I'm hopeful they'll be given the go ahead to eat rice cereal at that point! They started day care three weeks ago and doing great.

As for me, I'm trying to keep up with everything. Work, billpaying, housework, all those things that are necessary in life, but not quite as much fun as playing with my boys! I have been trying to find time to exercise again. I'll have to start back slow and build up again. I can probably start carving out about 20 minutes every morning to do it. And again, once those babies start sleeping longer, I'll have a little more time for it. I want to get back to doing my 60 minute Firm workouts! I felt so great last summer when I was doing that workout every day. I can't stand not being in shape! Not for vanity's sake - for energy's sake! I feel so much better and have so much more energy when I'm not overweight. And goodness knows, I'm going to need energy to keep up with these babies when they start moving around!

Oh, and we lost two of our furry babies since last fall. Shadow died last October after having a respiratory infection. He stopped eating and lost over half of his body weight. It screwed up his liver and he died when the vet was trying to put a feeding tube in him. Our Junior Miss had a kidney infection and passed away in January. She had Feline AIDS, so it was a wonder she lived as long as she did. When we first found her in 1997, they told us she wouldn't live more than two years and she made it to 2007! But they were years filled with love and good food for her. We still have our Radar Love though! She's very good with the babies and sleeps with me in the nursery every night. (I'm sleeping in there until I don't have to get up every single night two or three times!)

I think that catches me up to where we stand now. I want to try to at least post once a week from now on. I want to share kid stories and rants with everyone! It would be a great way for those I care about to be able to keep up with me and mine and keep up with issues that are important to me should they care to. And I hope my friends and family will share comments with me and maybe start a blog of their own - or even e-mail me occasionally! So TTFN!

Wow - it's been a month since I posted!

2006-10-06T12:52:00.001-05:00

Work got pretty hectic the week after I started my blog, then I caught a horrible cold. Of course, being PG, I can't take Nyquil like I normally do. So it took nearly 2 weeks to get rid of the cold. And being the last few weeks of my first trimester, I was SO incredibly sleepy. So I took lots of naps during September.

But now I'm back and ready to blog! I had a good OB appointment the other day and the babies are doing well. The ultrasound technician wrote "Hi Logan" on the picture she gave me. When Logan saw it, he said, "Mama! How did the babies know my name?!" He was just amazed! I love that boy so much! I go back to the OB on October 31st.

*Post edited per company policy*

I bit the bullet!

2006-09-08T19:54:00.001-05:00

Okay - everyone keeps talking about blogging. I've been toying with the idea for about a year now. So here I am giving it a go finally!

So who am I? Well, as the title says, I'm Claudia. I'm in my 40s, but I certainly don't feel like it. I still feel like I'm 28. I just hit that age and quit feeling older. Oh, I have days here and there where I feel it, but most of the time not. I'm aspiring to be like my grandmother who just turned 95. Keep active and interested and don't let age slow you down!

I live in South Alabama with my husband, Duncan, and my son, Logan. We moved down here from Atlanta 4 years ago so we could be closer to my parents and my two brothers and their families. Once Logan had been born, we knew we wanted to get out of the big city and be closer to family so he could grow up knowing his family rather than seeing them only a couple of times a year. We also have some fur-babies, Junior Miss (our grey and white feline AIDS cat), Shadow (fat, black and a big ol' chicken) and Radar Love (a pretty little grey bundle of love).

Duncan just turned 40 last month and is going to college full time to get a Criminal Justice AA degree and with a few extra hours added in, he can get a General Studies AA as well. He's doing great in school - mostly A's and a few B's. Logan is 6 and in first grade. He's making all A's so far. He's the love of our lives. Such a funny, sweet, loving, smart, beautiful boy! He's earning the nickname "Mr. Manners" because he always says all the polite things: excuse me, bless you, thank you, yes, ma'am, etc. And he corrects us if we don't say them and we should. He likes to give hugs for no reason, which we gladly accept!

What am I like? I love movies of all kinds - well, except the really gory ones. I keep Netflix busy and have been going through the old Universal horror movies from the 30s and 40s. I love baseball movies in particular. Atlanta Braves baseball and Auburn football are about the only actual sporting events I watch - though I like the Olympics when that comes around. I watch probably WAY too much TV - mostly channels like Discovery, A&E, TLC, news, and cartoons that Logan likes. I still love reruns of MASH, Friends or Roseanne.

I was going to culinary school part time for fun, but that's been put on hold for a while. I like to cook, but don't have much time to do it these days. I love to read - also something I don't have time much for. I'm a terrible housekeeper! I'd love to do better at that, but I'd rather spend my time with Logan, Duncan or famly. I'm totally unorganized as well. I used to be more organized - but that was when I was single! I like to do needle work too, but I haven't found the box that it's all in since we moved in 2002!

I telecommute full time for a company I've worked with for 21 years now and hope to never have to look for another job.*edited per company blogging policy* I love being able to work at home and not have to wear office clothes or sit in a freezing cold cubicle!

Of course, the big news in our lives is that we're expecting twins next year! We went the advanced fertility route and were just hoping for one, but got a bonus baby. We actually haven't spread the word yet. Technically, I'm waiting until October to tell my friends and more family. I'll be past the first trimester and feel safer about it. We lost our angel boy in 2003 to Trisomy 18. And dealing with telling people was not an experience I want to re-live. But since the odds of any of them just happening across this blog without me telling them about it are pretty low, I feel like I can go ahead and put it out there! They'll know soon enough and there's really not much to tell about it all right now. I don't feel sick (knock on wood) just sleepy. And since I lost 26 pounds since January, most people won't even notice that my baggy clothes are filling back in a little. And the fact that the majority of my friends live in other locations makes it easier to keep it a secret!

So that's it for my first entry. Stop back by again and listen to me ramble!