10.31.2008

Birthday Sprinkles

I am DONE with my Christmas shopping. Yes, you are right! I am completely done, wrapped and all. We had some tax refund money that came in from last year. We were late. We are always late, that's the kind of people we are. LOL
So, I went to just a few stores after making careful lists. Came home and within 2 days it was all wrapped, put in black garbage bags and hidden in the closet. It's so nice to know it's done and now I can just enjoy all the fun traditions with the kids.
Right now they are all out at the church enjoying the trunk or treat carnival. I stayed home because I can not afford to get sick right now. Instead I am making a rainbow cake for Mahala's birthday party tomorrow. YEAH!!! She is turning nine, time goes by too fast. Her actual birthday isn't until next week, but this was a weekend that everyone could get together.
So tomorrow we will have our usual Saturday morning breakfast and then I'll give her one gift. I bought her a pair of black boots with fur lining. She is going to Flip, because she has really been wanting a pair. Don't you just LOVE when you can get your child exactly what they want. I told hubby that this year, since money is so tight I would rather get them one or two things that they want instead of a bunch of cheap, little stuff that they never even asked for. So, we did and I know they will appreciate what they are getting.
On her real birthday I am going to fill her room with balloons in the middle of the night and on them I am going to right I love yous and positive things about her. I bought the helium tank at Sam's last week. I can't wait to see her face. Each year I try to do something special like that. Then I will make her her usual mickey mouse pancakes and open presents. That night we will go out for dinner and have cake when we come home. It will be exciting to see her sweet face.
So, there you go folks. Enjoy your Halloween night! Manic Mom needs to go check this cake and sprinkle my Magic on it!

10.25.2008

Golden Gate Bridge

Well, our weekend started early this week. Hubby finished a project at work early so they gave him Friday and Monday off. Yipeeee! So, what to do when you have nooooooooooooo money but crave some get the hell out of dodge time. Well, back in March we had a home school field trip and after we paid for admissions the lady said if you spend $20 more you can get a membership for a year. Normally I say no thank you. But, I asked what having a membership would get me. She went over all the goodies and then showed me this heck of a long list of museums and science centers that were included. SOLD!!! We love this kind of stuff. And I recognized a ton of the places.
Well all year we haven't used it once, partly because of the coffee house drama and the other part was all of our camping trips. So, now was the time. So we woke up early Friday morning, AKA 9:30 am. LOL, we watched movies late the night before.
And headed to San Fran!! We took the kids to the golden gate bridge and the park. We had lunch, that I brought from home. Then spent the afternoon at the Exploratorium for FREE! Got to LOVE that!!! Then we spent the early evening at the pier and then had dinner. Now I didn't pack dinner, but I did bring snacks and drinks. So the whole day, including gas cost us under $100. We were thrilled, the kids needed to be kids and Thanh needed to enjoy a day of no stress. We were going to go to the CA Science center, but they closed early. We plan to go back in a few weeks and use our pass once again. We had a fab day. Check out those memberships people. Sometimes they really can save you, we saved over $70 at the Exploratorium. Today we are going to clean house and work on School work that we didn't finish in the car yesterday.

10.20.2008

Lupus sucks once again

Howdyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!
Today has been interesting. I woke up to a cold house and dogie pooooooooo everywhere. Yipee, right? I had a Dr. appointment at 9:30. I was running late as usual. So I grabbed Skylar out of the bed(couch) so I could drive in the car pool lane. Yes, I did do that. And you would to if you were going to have to sit in traffic and be late to my Rhummy's appointment. She is like GODZILLA, I swear she enjoys it when your in pain. LOL
I am now home, wondering what I am going to do now that I have received not so good news from the Rhummy. I do have fluid in my lungs and she says that the Lupus devil has now invaded my heart. Well, of course it has! I am so at a point right now that life couldn't get too much worse. I have my family, right? Nobody can take that away. Right now I am contemplating going to the ER or waiting to see my primary. How it was explained to me by my Rhummy and her side kick Rhummy was that it's like I'm having a non-terminal heart attack with every heart beat. That sounds fun. Kids, don't try this at home. The rest was like BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Yes, it almost sounded like that to me. I will keep posting as I learn more info.
It's funny how no matter how you feel mentally or what your plans for the day are, your body has it's own agenda. It does what it wants to. You can only do what you can do, to be as healthy and positive as possible. I have a week full of things to do and if my body says nope, your in the bed this week. Well, then there you go. It used to bother me when my Mom was sick. Because I thought she had a choice. Like maybe she was making excuses because she didn't want to go here or there. She didn't want to play a game with me or watch me ride my bike. And then when she died I wondered why she didn't take better care of herself. Why didn't she try harder, why didn't she love me more. These are the questions of an 11 year old girl. Now as a Mom I understand the struggle. I understand the fight inside that my Mom must have felt everyday, every time she had to tell me no. I have to tell my kids no several times a day. Most nights I can't tuck them in, they tuck Mom in. It's embarrassing, my Mom must have felt that embarrassment too.
She died so young and I know she fought a hard battle. I pray that God numbered my days high, so I can see not only my kids grow but my grand kids too. People often ask me how I get through all the pain of having Lupus. I do live with pain daily, not a day has gone by since March of 2004 that has not been filled with pain. Pain reminds me that I'm alive, I have another day with my family. And that I am thankful for.

10.16.2008

Little Coffee House of Horrrrrrers!

I have totally been wrapped up in my life these past few days. I wish that I could tell you I'm nursing a sunburn from sitting on the beach for a week. But, noooooooooo that would be a lie. And I my friend do not tell lies. I speak of truth....HA HA.
So what do you want to hear about first? There is sooooo much to tell. Most important is that we are going to lose our house! I know, I know, to most people that would be hard to swallow. But, I have been through so much in my life that this is like putting on another hat. The "oh, I better make a plan and get all my blocks in one sock" hat. Yeah you know which one I'm talking about, we all have one. And that is what I am doing right now, getting my ducks in a row.
I can't remember if I ever told the story of our financial night mare or not. If I have scroll down, I would hate to bore you again.
Thanh and I used to talk about having a small coffee or tea house. A friend had told me about her sister selling her coffee house. How neat I thought- HA!
A few days later I went to a local coffee house. For some crazy, mutated, unexplained reason I asked if they were family owned. I told them I was interested in opening up a place of my own one day. The employee said that the owner was her father and that they were thinking of selling. RUUUUUN, I SHOULD HAVE RAN LIKE THE WIND!!!
I met with the owner and he laid it on pretty thick. He told us that he had a leg injury that was causing him to think about selling. He said business was great, but he couldn't keep up anymore with his growing responsibilities at church and his injury.
Long story short we bought with cash a business that was supposed to be bringing home around $1,800 a day. Instead we went into MAJOR debt with a coffee house that brought in around $700 a day. We had to take loan after loan out to cover the bills.  We had to walk away from it all because the money is gone. No more people, not a card left to charge. It's been a few months since we've closed the coffee house doors. And now we are going to lose our home. I'm ok with it now, because there are no more tears left to shed. It can only get better from here. Right?????
The old owner never put us on the lease. He lied in so many ways. All the money we gave him to swap names on the lease and deposits was all pocketed. Most of the appliances did not work properly, espresso machines included. There were bills left for goods that needed to be paid or we wouldn't have product to sell. I mean it was a mess!!!!