Relaxing and giving myself a break, and yet I'm still super busy

I've been giving myself permission to read books again. I've missed taking a little time out to relax and read a book. It really does recharge me. I'm spending less time on Facebook and more time on the house and still having time to read. Facebook really sucks away my time.

As for our doggie, Sandy, she was very ill last week. It seems she'd gotten roundworms while living in her prior home. She's feeling much better now. She still doesn't like dog food or dog treats though. We have a list on our fridge of what human foods she can have and she gets so excited when she gets a bit of flour tortilla or cheese or bread. I gave her a bit of Jon's sandwich ham but it's salty so I have to limit it. She LOVED that.

One of my biggest struggles right now is my five year old. He continues to fight me on the potty training. He just won't do #2 in the toilet. His pediatrician calls it potty training resistance, but not one of the tips on the paper he gave me have helped. We've tried rewards and he decides the rewards aren't worth it, and going the opposite was not working at all either, as he'd take the punishment and go right back to it. My mother in law has tried twice to sit with him in the bathroom with him on the toilet, for an hour! He got off the toilet and then went in his pants not long after. He's supposed to start Kindergarten in the Fall, I really hope we can get this resolved before then.

I also checked our credit report and scores, which are both improving. That's nice to see but it looks like I'll need to pay off some student loans in order to get my debt ratio where we want it.

Oops, just remembered that I am supposed to take something to Cyndi's school. I'd better get to it.

I'm still here

We added a doggie to our family last week. She's a rescue, five years old and a sweet little chihuahua. She's not fixed, and is in heat right now. I feel so bad for her, she has no appetite and she just wants to lay around. We named her Sandy...like the doggie in the movie "Annie". Ethan thinks her name is Cutie and refuses to call her Sandy. She was only 3.9 pounds when we got her, she's gained half a pound so far in the week and a half we have had her.

We drove from Long Beach, CA to Tuscon, AZ and back in one day. One very long day full of many, many, many stops. All in all it was a good trip.

We are making progress on getting the house more organized. I wish I was naturally a clean freak but that's like wishing I was thin...it'll never happen if I don't put the work in to make it happen, so I'm working on it. I do see a lot of improvement, especially if I look back to the years where I would never let someone in my house. Now we can have people over and it takes maybe half an hour to get it all pretty...less if everyone helps.

Financially, we still have a lot of debt but we do have a bit of a savings safety net and I paid Jon's union dues and our car insurance through June. It feels good to be making progress.

I'm trying to keep a more positive outlook on life. Things are good, and it's not fair to anyone if I'm moody all the time.

Cyndi is doing Scuba, I'm so excited for her. What an adventure! She had a friend over for a movie after school today, I hope that happens more often.

Jacob is doing better in school. He has reached a reading level equal to his grade level. He ran into friends at Knott's last weekend and we let him go off with them for an hour and a half. He did really well, except for helping the girl he likes buy a gift for a boy she likes at school...but we won't mention that to daddy. ;)

Ethan is so funny and he gets my sense of humor...but I'd love it if he'd stop picking on his siblings...his OLDER siblings, who he makes cry.

The company Jon works for went under so he's working for a new company, but still doing the same job, another company just took over the crews and job. He's getting less hours but at least he's still working full time.

Well...that's about it. I'll try to write more often.