Where We're At

Nothing too fascinating going on over here lately, I'm sorry! Ken's been busy working, I'm not, and the boys have been fairly mellow lately. I have managed to set a new personal record, though, THREE WEEKS people! (See tracker if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

That means we've saved over $180 so far, $180 which should be sitting in a clear jar for me to gawk at whenever I feel like it. Sadly Ken took it to mean he had an extra $180 to blow this month. On what? Not too sure, you may have to ask him. I would complain, but the money will appear (magically, if need be,) just in time for two little trips (Texas and Alaska,) I hope to take over the summer. Which reminds me, anybody want to watch the boys for me?

Today I took the boys to a Mad Science workshop at the library. Mad Science is a company that teaches kids science in a fun, hands-on manner. The boys seemed pretty excited about it and I got them settled in the classroom and went to an adjacent area to read a book. Well... we all know how Corey takes things way too literally, right? Let's just say it got really ugly when the mad scientist introduced himself and told the kids that they were going to get to handle ACIDS and bases to test for pH. Guess who didn't get to read her book? Hmm, that was fun.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, I decided that we needed to do a family activity since Daddy's pretty much a stranger to the boys lately. I brainstormed for an idea that wasn't too pricey, (you know why,) and it occurred to me that we had a ton of Chuck-E-Cheese tokens courtesy of Santa, we could take a free trip there! On a Saturday night! Well that sure beats, oh... I dunno, getting my head stuck underneath the wheels of a forklift, so why not?

Chuck-E-Cheese wasn't too bad, considering. Corey only got separated from me once, and we only had to wait about 20 minutes to turn in our tickets for a slip of paper and then another 15 minutes to turn our slips of paper into tacky little toys that would end up in a garbage can by Monday. Whew, fun!

Let's see... I finally decided to get a subscription to the local paper again; no, not for the deep, informative articles (it wishes) it provides, but for the job search (and also to line the guinea pig cages with.) The job search has pretty much been a dead end, as far as walking by places and seeing if they're hiring or browsing the internet goes. My only decent job offer in this area came from a job I'd located in the Gazette, so for $11 bucks a month I thought I'd go for it. I got my first issue and all I could say after scouring it was thank goodness we have guinea pigs. There were a whopping ten jobs listed in the entire paper, ten! And not one of them fit any of our silly requirements, either. So that's where the whole job thingy is at.

Hmm, what else? Crazy beautician #83 decided to leave the chemicals in my hair a little too long and I'm a blond again. Ken loves it, Corey asked a lot of questions. My talented stylist also worked around the pesky scar in my eyebrow by simply removing most of my eyebrow, so there's that, too.

Shannon has discovered beat-boxing and LOVES it; I should have known how talented he was when he couldn't whistle through his lips so he taught himself to make the noise with his vocal chords. Now he searches youtube for the all the latest and greatest beat-boxing ideas.

Oh, yeah, one of Corey's former teachers is now giving piano lessons! (At $15 a half-hour, boo!) I'm very excited and we may just go for it if I ever manage to find work.

And Riley. Well, he's learned the art of talking back, but 99% of the time he keeps it in check. Tonight he got caught so bedtime was way early, which explains why I had time to sit and write this post. Which I am now done with as well. I'm going to go try and read that book that I wasn't able to get to earlier...

Save the Date

Here it is, what you've all been waiting for! Shannon's First Communion date is set. Mark your calenders for Sunday, April 25. There will be a special 2:00 Mass at St. Ann's with a reception following. If you want to come visit from out of town, this is a great time to do it, even if you're not Catholic.

Shannon has to make it through his First Reconciliation (confession,) before he gets to do his First Communion and he is very very very worried about it - apparently this is a very daunting task for an alpha male. I recall being overly concerned about saying the Act of Contrition correctly, but he doesn't even have to have that memorized! I say he's getting off easy.

What's Up

Hello! I haven't posted in a while, but most of you are aware that I have been spending the last 9 (almost ten!) days forgetting to take my Chantix, grabbing invisible packs of smokes that don't exist, and opening up the door to the garage without realizing it. If you didn't know this, well it's because I didn't really tell anybody when my starting date was because I didn't want to disappoint anybody. (Or myself.)

I am shocked that I have made it this far, I have only completely quit once in the last twenty-one years (!) and that was for three weeks. Every day was impossible and it didn't take much to jump back in at the time. This time I am so much more mellow. Sure I get a little cranky, but as Ken says, it's nothing compared to how I act during my typical hormone induced mood swings.

Honestly, I find that if I can just yell at somebody three times a day I am able to handle the withdrawl quite well. Luckily, I have a husband and three boys who easily give me cause to do just that. If they're not around, there are always idiots on Facebook for me to yell at, even if it means just spitting at the computer screen. Oh yeah, and politicians on TV, too. Okay, once I think I even yelled at a guinea pig, the point is I haven't dreamed of buying a pack of smokes!

Speaking of dreams, Chantix (further referred to as my miracle drug,) has some rather interesting side effects. Luckily I have not become suicidal, depressed or diabetic, although apparently these things can happen - please call my husband or doctor right away if my blood sugar skyrockets and I lock myself in a closet for longer than one hour. (Less than one hour would be normal.) The one side effect I have experienced, particularly in the first week of taking my miracle drug, is having vivid, crazy dreams. I wish I could explain them all to you but that would take forever and be a bit awkward or embarrassing. Let's just say that I don't need to buy any extra movie channels from the cable company, I pretty much work my through every genre on a nightly basis as I sleep.

Anyhow, I will hopefully be posting more now that I'm developing new non-smoking routines. They're not too different from typical Colleen behavior, I still stay up half the night and nap a good portion of the day. I still get on the internet, although I have quite a bit less interest in it for some reason. I still maintain the house, keeping it semi-clean and usable. I still... well that's about all I do in a regular day. 8o)

What is new with my routine is that I find myself cooking or baking on a daily basis. (The food is still inedible, but wow, it appears more than once a week!) Who knew that if you didn't have to pop into the garage every five minutes, you can bring food to a boil without it boiling over? You can actually hear the timer go off when you stay in the kitchen - amazing! And would you believe that your hands don't dry out to the point of bleeding because you're constantly washing your hands between smoking and dicing and chopping!

The downside to all of this time in the kitchen? Unfortunately I can now TASTE the food that I make. (There has to be a fix for that.) Maybe this is why my appetite is no more than it was before and I'm not gorging on everything in sight. Another perk? Since my mouth isn't so dry, I now drink 3 to 4 Cokes a day as opposed to my usual 8 - 10. Bonus!

Anyhow, I'm kinda proud of myself but leery about it too. I know I'm a gloomy Gus, but I'm hoping to stay positive with this. It helps that the kids are thrilled for me, (although Shannon said he LIKED the smell of smoke on me - reason #1 to quit,) and hopefully the boys are young enough that they will not be able to remember their mommy as a smoker by the time they're teenagers! It's the least I can do for them considering how this habit has affected our family.

Okay, I'm not going to dwell on this any more, there's nothing worse than an ex-smoker, (I use that phrase loosely,) who harps on things all the time. However, if you have anything positive to say during the next month or two, feel free. If you have anything negative to say about it, don't bother with the comment section, call me - I'm probably due for a good yelling session!

Things That Made Me Giggle Lately

Well it's been a long Christmas break and school is about to start up again. Here's what has entertained me the last few days:


Watching Corey bury his dad in pillows while dad snores away.


Listening to Max and Cheepers make music (and Corey screaming that it's HIS keyboard and get those things off of it!)


Okay... this is one of those trick candy containers. You think it's bubble gum but when you open it, this pops out.


And finally, watching the boys' mad Photoshop skills progress.