Zumba

Last night I went to my trial Zumba class. It is a mixture of dance and hip hop and Latin music. The music is loud, the dancing is hot, the rhythm is rocking.

I have passed by this class several times at the YMCA in the past few weeks, and every time the booming music would catch my ear, the I would stop to watch the ladies in there dancing. They looked like they were having SO MUCH FUN. But then I would snap back into reality and chase after Summer or run to get Matthew to swim team on time.

I had a couple of things happen this year that shook me up pretty good. I got off my game. I lost some ground. I have pulled things back pretty well, but something I had lost was a passion. A personal passion. One just for me.

I haven't exercised or workout regularly {{unheard of}} since February. Mike and I agree that until Summer is in school, we really can't swing me going to college for photography. With 4 kids, and a husband with a very consuming job, a home to run, and all the laundry and scheduling that goes with it, it is easy to get lost in there, and to see that as you. You wake up every day, and God forbid if Jake doesn't make it to football, or Tatum's work outfit isn't clean, and not that that isn't important, but soon that becomes YOU, and comes before you, and is more important than you. (not really...but do you see what I am saying? or am I rambling?)

ANYWAYS.

I drug the best friend in the world with me, and although she wasn't as enthused as me, she did it.

It. felt. great.

I felt great.

I danced my arse off!

I sweated and tried to keep up, and at the moments when I actually was getting it, felt like Freaking Fergie:)

It was a wonderful release.

It felt like MY personal passion.

I can't wait to go back:) I'm signing up for all the classes next session, and planning my weekly schedule around it. Our family's schedule around Mom's thing.

(Linny~you in??)

Randomosity

Just a little bit of neither here nor there. I was cleaning out my computer some and came across this comic, and laughed that I had saved it. Poor poor Summer is all I'm going to say. She's going to have the biggest buck teeth one day!

I was on FB earlier and looking at my SIL's pictures. I find it so neat to look at someone else's perspective of the same people and same events. I had to steal about half of her pictures they were great! She really captured the essence of the person depicted...

My brother...

Matty....

My Mom and Jack...

My baby...

I will leave you with one last funny comic I found on that computer clean up!

Have a great day :)

Mommy To Be

This is my blog friend Julie! Her and her husband have just been approved for adoption and are trying to get the word out. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers and go give her a visit at her blog:)



Thanks so much!

Projects Beware~ I've lost count...

So I have been on this kick of clearing out, cleaning up, fixing all the things that are broke, repairing, and updating the things needed. One of the projects I took on was giving Tatum's room a more mature look. You saw where recently I fixed her broken ceiling fan ( and changed it from the ugly white to the matching cherry wood ) and I think that got the wheels turning in my head to do this.

We actually had just redone her room when she turned 13. But I guess I didn't realize how many fazes a girl goes through growing up. There is a stage there between kitty cat sheets and preteen to the now mature look. When we did this 3 years ago, I honestly thought it would last her, but now that I see the woman she is becoming, I understand it was still too little girl.
BEFORE~
Look at that still little bean!

AFTER~

Her walls were a soft blue and I painted them a cream that matched the border of her bedspread. We got the bedding and curtains from JCPennys.

Her trophey corner is still filled to the brim:)

A new mirror from Hobby Lobby...hung by daddy.

We are both thrilled with the results!

Pizza's Man Wife

This is my story of pizza.

Not many of you blogger friends know how intertwined my life is to pizza. Not only is it my reason for my husband and I meeting and marrying, it is the bread and butter of all we have and own. It is our house and our children's college. Our retirement someday..hopefully. It oddly enough is also a testimony to God's plan and the faith we need to hold and have in Him.

I probably need to back waay up here and start earlier for you to understand all I am rambling about, and if you have the time, it makes for a pretty good story. I for one never dreamed as a little girl with pizza pies in my eyes...but life is funny the way it twists and turns.

Back in 1991, Mike was a lost soul, with a capitol L. He had a failed marriage, a lost corporate position, and a bunch of demons chasing him. One day he packed up everything he owned in his car, and what he couldn't fit, he didn't take, and he moved to Key West. He was 27 years old and found a little place to rent and worked as delivery driver. He spent his days soaking up the sun, watching the locals, and playing guitar.

I was a lost teenager in a home full of sadness. My dad was fighting a terrible ogre of a disease and he was on the losing end. My mom was completely spent trying to take care of him. I was hanging with the wrong crowd and trying to find my Independence.

In 1992, Mike got a call from a friend of his asking him to move back to Ohio to come and open a new store for a pizza chain he had just bought in the small town of Milford. He could be the the manager and it would be and exciting prospect to build up this new pizza store. Again, Mike packed everything in his little Chevy Colt and moved here.

While trying to get ready for the Grand Opening, Mike was out throughout the town door hanging and ran into a woman in her yard. She expressed an interest in her teenage daughter needing a job (me), and Mike was trying to staff the store. So he gave her his number.

When I first met Mike...I won't say I knew, because thats Cliché, and bold, and for Pete's sake I was 17! But there was a major attraction there. I just wanted to be with him.

And I have ever since.

You know how it goes. We dated. We got married. We bought a trailer. Tatum was born. Mike worked 2nd shift and life was good. Through these years that store was a very very big success. The owner expanded and bought another store, and another store, and another store. But still Mike's store was the top and ran the best, and made the most money. Soon the man asked Mike to be his supervisor! We got a raise! A company car! Bought a house. Had another baby. Mike made more and more money, and started to build this man more and more stores. He made this man very successful.

The man now has 12 stores and a million dollar house.

After several years though, Mike wanted to not just be the worker, and to benefit from all the hard work. But to make money, you have to have money it seems. It was a gentleman's club, and hard to get into, and we couldn't seem to wedge our way into ownership.

So Mike came up with a plan. He convinced his boss to give his 5% "ownership" of the business. (It never was on paper), but with these bonus checks, we squirrelled them away to a savings account and never ever touched them. For several years we did this until we had enough to put a down payment down on the only store his boss was willing to sell him. (This is where Karma comes in and I love it!) It was a store that was further away from the others, and not profitable. The owner really was not wanting to keep it. It was more like a relief for him to get it off his hands. But he sure didn't sell it to us for cheap. That was okay. Mike rolled up his sleeves, and went out there and has turned that store into a profitable well running store. We made enough to completely pay it off in 2 years! His boss had sellers remorse once he saw it turn profitable. (Amazing what a little hard work can do!)

So we had our 1 little store. We were happy. We were not looking or asking for any more! This is where I think God had bigger plans than we had for ourselves! It had been just 3 months since we bought that store. It was 2005. Mike went to a meeting and a gentleman walked up to him and shook his hand and said "Congratulations on buying the W**** store, I own the L**** one. Let me know if you ever interested in buying it". When Mike came home and told me this, I said "NO WAY!" "We have no money...what are you thinking!!" But he convinced me to take a drive out just to see the town.

This was another case of a store being ran poorly. Ownership changing hands too often and not always being paid attention to. Our jaws dropped when we saw the town. Cornfield after cornfield of subdivision being built (a pizza stores dream!). Good schools, good population, cute antiquey town. Where do we sign? My mother's husband helped us out with the loan and we packed up our 3 kids by that time and moved! Again, what Mike touched turned to gold. His store is a well ran, profitable store. It is the reason, we paid off the 1st one so easily, and hopefully will have our 2nd paid off too. In 2oo8 he a won the National award for this pizza chains Franchisee of the year. He has been nominated again this year.

You would think everything is all tyed up neat and pretty right? Well no. Mike has worked alot of weeks 80 hours or more. He has missed alot of holidays and events, and now just when I think things are getting good.....oh I need to trust even more in the LORD!

A new opportunity!. Another store that all the big dogs have bypassed. It is losing money every week. The guy is selling it for a song! So cheap we have it in savings right now! But it means he would be gone. With a capital G..gone! Working an hour a way to getting it up and running again. I saw the town. It is perfectly doable. But it is so hard raising these 4 kids myself, and trying to handle everything.

This could mean 4 kids could go to college. This would mean my poor 45 year old husband could retire some day.

It also could means we could lose everything.

Just when you get too comfortable..jeez!

So, now I am out of the closet...I am a pizza man's wife! Say a little prayer for us if you can. I keep telling Mike, that God is the pilot and we are just the co-pilot anyways.. just along for the ride:)



*****Note....as you can see this was first written and briefly published in January. When I first put it up, my husband felt uncomfortable during the buying process for me to have it up.
So for an update, I will tell you in March the 3rd Store officially became ours. There have been some bumps and strains, but all and all it was a smart move I think. The store has turned around considerably and running so much better. Mike does work an awful lot (last night he missed Halloween:( ) But he trys really hard to do it with a smile on his face, and I know that he is doing it for us.

Happy Halloween!

Today was cool and autumn-y and perfect weather here in Ohio for Halloween. We had an afternoon neighborhood party to attend before trick or treating and the highlight of it was my friend Amy.
She and her husband had put together a "crystal ball" (can you tell they just got back from Disney:)
It was so cool! Our neighbor Sherri was dressed up like a witch, and would one by one bring the children in where they would get to ask the crystal ball a question.

Poor Amy, I think she was hot in there. I know Matthew said she grabbed his feet. It really was rather spooky. Even Summer was brave enough to go see:)

At the end she let each of the kids try it out:) Here is Matthew...

Poor Jake had a football game (they are to the playoffs now), and Mike had to work all day (BIG pizza day). Matthew totally ditched me for his friends and I so needed Tate to hand out candy....SO it was down to Sum and me...

My friend Malinda and I took her around.

After the first few houses she got the jist of it and was like...

THIS. ROCKS.

Candy in my bucket! Oh yay!

We pushed her between the houses in her little pink car and she did great!

Jake even made it home in time to throw on some roller blades and wrap himself in duct tape (I kid you not...he planned to be "duct tape boy") and get a killing in 30 minutes.

In was a fun night!

A Moment in My Time

As I sat on Summer's floor watching her not pee, as we attempted our nightly attempt of sitting on the potty, I thought of how often I sit here ritualistic as of lately. But what seems the norm now, in a week, in a month, in a year will blur into a new norm, and then that will seem as mundane and as often and boring as this moment.

Soon this time will all be over, as I well know. It is already gone the days Tatum was this size and age. With her chirpy little voice and cute antics that at the time seemed endless. And Jake. And Matthew.

I know I have mentioned how terrible of a memory I have, and how this blog is a stab a recording a piece of our history.

What more is important to history I feel, than the daily grind, and the mundane?

So here we are....

Matthew has been put to bed early and is crying. Lying is a hard lesson to learn and when it catches up with you, and people have learned not to believe you, it sucks.

Jake is laying sideways on the recliner watching George Lopez. His favorite. Gotta watch it every night!

Mike is still at work, driving hot boxes across town.

Tatum is home from working at the YMCA and in a hot tub soaking the day away.

I am sitting here intermittently yelling with Matthew and encouraging someone to pee on her potty. In a moment I will tiredly put yet another diaper on.

There is Skyline wrappers still on the table and the cats a meowing to be fed.

PJ's and Dexter with Mike to look forward too. Life is full, busy and sweet.

Even When I'm Lazy It Bites Me in The Butt...

This week...okay this month/year/period of my life has seemed especially busy lately, and sheepishly I admit I tried to take the easy way out.

Oh but don't worry. Karma came and taught me a lesson. The lesson?? That Becky DOESN'T get to take the easy way.

Summer's little Dance class had a Halloween party during their dance class last night. The sign up sheet appeared last week, and juice boxes were already taken. Bah! I do have to admit it was pitifully cute seeing Miss Kitty Cat and and over sized Clifford dog hop around doing tippy toes, and I do so love a party, just every day I run to keep up with these four kids and my oblig...I mean their obligations.

So as I stood there debating how horribly hard baking would be, I devised my evil plan.

Popcorn Balls.

I have like a million of them, and they taste brilliantly good. They come out seasonally from Walmart and the kids love them. At Easter when they were shaped like eggs I didn't buy near enough, and the kids were Jonesing for them till Halloween. So this year I bought a ton. How hard could it be to unwrap them, put them in a Halloween bowl, and decorate them somehow? Easy Peasy!

As I trolled the aisles of the stores of what to use to decorate, I had a loose ideas of a strip of Halloween ribbon tied around each ball. Since I can't make a bow worth a darn, then presented the problem of how to hold the fabric. Cupcake toppers! I bought the toothpick Halloween cupcake packs (I'll use the cupcake liners later) and was very happy with myself.

When Tatum came home I announced "We have a project!!"

"Oh no!'' She groaned.

She dutifully sat there with me as we unwrapped sticky balls. Then we realized that the toothpick broke going through the fabric. As I cut strips, she poke pre holes with a nail. Soon there were sticky wrappers, sticky hands, mismeasured ribbons, little snibbles of popcorn, broken toothpicks, and a 2 year old Kitty Cat running wild through it all.

It took us over and hour.

Long and short, I could of baked brownies a whole heck of alot easier.

Was it hard to do?? No
Economical?? NO
Time Consuming?? YES

It did look cute, but I was embarrassed to have to answer "NO" to the question of other parents of "Oh my goodness...how cute!!! Did you make the popcorn??"

Heck no, lady!!! I'm the one who tied the ribbon around it!!! Lol!

We're So Proud

No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This:)

This looks more horrible than it really was.

Actually it was horrible, but in a funny way. First thing...the belt is around the kitty's belly. Second, I SWEAR the cat seemed to like it. She just kindof hung out and went with it. At the end when I took the belt off she was purring, Lol. I think the wood floor helped:)

Summer was DELIGHTED that her Kitty was giving her undivided attention.

She was NOT happy when I put an end to it:)

See! Everyone came out just fine!