Your Fired! TUESDAY

For the last 2 years, I have had a part time job with a local newspaper. The job came about by accident and it ended up being one of the greatest jobs ever. At times, it was difficult to juggle with doing real estate full time and popping out a baby each passing year, but one that I really loved. On behalf of the paper, I traveled to close to 100 different schools each year around town and did a 1 hour writing activity with the students from grades k -12. Each week from my home office, I took the material that the students worked on and formatted it on the computer, scan in the art work and emailed it to our office. Every Thursday, one page of the weekly paper published the work of the students that I had visited. It was an awesome program that the teachers and students loved and I loved being able to meet so many students around the valley and reading what they had to say.

The only time I had to go into our main office was to pick up papers to take out to the students when I did the workshop, so I should have been concerned when I received an email saying that there was a mandatory meeting on Tuesday. I was really more annoyed than anything, because that meant that I would have to get up super early, iron my fancy work shirt and ugly maternity dress, fight with my panty hose (dress code requirement) and drive in rush hour traffic to get to this mandatory meeting. Imagine how shocked I was to sit all cute with 16 of my co workers, only to find out that I got all dressed up to get laid off along with everyone else in the room. They did not just lay us all off, but they closed down the entire paper all together. I have never been laid off before, and once I realized it was not a joke, my body went numb. I sat there and looked around the table as silent tears feel down the faces of several of the employees. No one had a clue about it. When I first took the job, it was extra income, but as real estate slowed down last year, it became necessary income and I started to panic. Mr. B's over time had been recently been cut and baby number4 was on the way.

I spent the day in a fog but little did I know that the bad news had only just begun.....It is true when they say bad things happen in 3's.

My baby turns 1! SUNDAY

Not sure when to celebrate my Leap Year baby's birthday and seeking a few peoples thoughts about it, I decided to celebrate Ms. O's birthday on March 1st and not February 28th. The consensus was that since her birth fell on February 29th the 28th would be a day early. In my attempt to keep things as simple as possible, we ordered pizza and Mr. B made the cupcakes. Unfortunately, Miss O had a horrible double ear infection and really could have cared less about any of it. She got to wear the same I'M 1 hat that my other girls wore for their 1st birthdays. I wonder if I could get away with using it for our baby boy's 1st birthday. I'd hate to have to buy a new hat, just because he is a boy. Boys can wear pink, right?

Lowrider

This morning Mr. B got a wild hair and decided that today was the day to start his fruit business. So off we went to Home Depot for a variety of fruit trees. He has sweet memories of climbing mango trees as a child in the Dominican Republic and stuffing himself silly with juicy mangos, so his first pick were mango trees. Tangerine, lemon, plum and nectarines will go nicely with the apple, apricot and peach that we planted last season. It came time to fill the holes and where was Mr. B? At a work meeting of course, so off I go to Home Depot with my loyal helper Senor M (Mr. B's brother). 6 bags of super heavy mulch is what we needed. Senor M loaded 4 of them in the trunk of the car and put 2 in the back seat. As I pulled out onto the road I heard this horrible sound of something dragging and grinding. It did not take long to realize the weight of the stinky mulch was weighing down the back of the car. I had to think fast as cars were all around. I was worried that sparks were shooting out the back of the car, so I told Senor M to lean forward hoping that it would shift just enough weight forward...that did not work. Not wanting to start the car on fire, I pulled over and asked Senor M to pull one bag out of the trunk and put it on the hood. He refused, stating something about that being illegal and unsafe. Something about it will block my view....Not sure what to do and unable to lift it myself I started screaming that we have no other option (I am gonna pull a hormonal pregnancy card on this situation) And like any smart man who has a screaming pregnant woman yelling at them in the middle of a busy road, he complied. All I could do was pray that I did not get pulled over for the stupid idea that I had. Well, I am happy to say that not only did we not get pulled over, but it was just enough weight difference to stop the dragging sound. I am so smart. Now, lets hope the crazy combination of trees that we planted grow so that he can sell them on the corner in 5 years.

MY BACON

I am not one of those crazy pregnant ladies that makes my husband go to the store at 1 in the morning for pickles, but I do often find that I have a strong urge for certain types of foods. As long as I satisfy them within 24 hours I am okay. This pregnancy has created a deep and unconditional love for bacon. In an effort to not have to wait 24 hours to satisfy my urge, I drove out to the Pork Shop in Queen Creek and bought 5 pounds of bacon. When I came home, I arranged it in 2 strip portions so that when the craving came about, all I had to do was pull out a portion from the freezer, put in the micro for 2 1/2 minutes and as quick as the craving came, it was satisfied. Since Mr. B is not a pork fan, I had all 5 pounds to myself. The girls like bacon, so I have become a closet bacon-eater just so that I can savor each piece all by myself. Well I ran out of bacon this week and on a recent trip to the store with Mr. B, began loading up the cart with bacon. When we got home I noticed that there was no bacon. Mr. B informed me that he did not like that I was eating so much bacon, and that it was not good for his growing son and that he took it out of the cart. WHAT!!! He must want to die. Anyhow, he is sleeping now and I am getting ready to go out and buy my bacon, separate it and hide it in the freezer. I don't know where he gets off thinking he can tell a pregnant woman she can't have her bacon.

It's a .....

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My enemy!

Yesterday started off wonderful. A light rain was not enough to stop our Sunday plans. Mr. B had Army Drill so it was just me and the girls. Miss M, Miss P and I went to church, after church we went to our favorite menudo joint Los Picos. Miss M can tear up a bowl of menudo and loves it piled high with cilantro, onions, cabbage and lime. She is the only 4 year old that I have ever seen eat it like that. Anyhow, the girls displayed their best manners at the restaurant. Since their behavior was going so well, I thought I would try and stop a few more places with them. (I normally have a 2 stop rule when I am by myself with the girls....I will only attempt 2 places before behavior has a melt down so I quit trying to do so much) So off to Target and Costco we went, both without incident. Once we got home we were all excited to start our Valentine's project when the behavior started....not from my children, but from our toilet. One of the little girls had to take a very big poop after that big breakfast....you know where this is going, right....well within minutes of being home water, toilet paper and yep, turds were floating down my hall way and making their way into the bedrooms. WHY do these things happen when Mr. B is far, far away? I bring him up, because the day before I noticed the toilet acting funny and I asked him to fix it. Apparently, just looking at it was his definition of fixing it, so when the next person went to flush....poop boats went down the hallway. I went from peaceful and happy to raging with a mouth full of profanity screaming at Mr. B on the phone as the water continued to rise. I realized that I could scream at him all day, but then the whole house was gonna be under water so I had to get it together, even if just for a moment. The turn off at the back of the toilet was so hard to turn off. My little girls were looking at me wondering if I had turned into a monster as I screamed at them to go get towels. My shoes were wet, my socks were wet, the bottom of my pants were wet, and my shirt that was dangling in the toilet was wet...I was a mess. Once I got the water off and every single towel in the house down and took the girls next door,I came home and did what only I would do...took a nap. Yep, I left it there for Mr. I fixed it to deal with. Our Valentine's project was never started, and I spent the evening apologizing to the girls for my behavior and thanking them for all of their help with the towels. I feel a little guilty for letting my rage come out in front of them, but I will blame it on my crazy pregnant hormones. Mr. B mentioned that he will be buying a new toilet. Thank goodness!

Superwoman has left the building!

It is so exciting to think that we get a new year every year! Like the last 5 years of my life, 2008 continued to spin me around like a crazy lady. I finally have reached a point where I desperately need to come up for air. Year after year, I have continued to load up my plate with work, kids, family, social events and pretty much anything else that was out there. I think I have finally reached my breaking point...not that I am gonna go crazy or need to be commited, or feel like I am gonna jump off a bridge kind of breaking point, but more of a physical exhaustion kind of breaking point. Now don't get me wrong, as stressful and busy as the last 5 years have been I have enjoyed just about every single second of it. It has been filled with babies, hard work, new houses, family and friends and lots of love. The problem that I have realized is that when you load your plate too full, other parts of life take a back seat and 2009 is the time to make some adjustments. With the passing of my dear grandma this year, it is a reminder of how precious life is.

With that being said, I look forward to staying home more, preparing for our 4th and final addition in June, nursing baby 4 through age 5, having conversations with Mr. B and reprogramming my mind to slow down. This Superwoman is hanging up her cape in 2009.

So here is to 2009. May we all get back to the basics of family and friends.