Fabulous Weekend Ahead!

I love long weekends. I have hopes to get some projects around the house done and do a bunch of family outings. Today we are heading to the McWane Center with my parents coming along. I really want them to see how much the boys enjoy it there. Mom and Dad gave us a year membership and it has been awesome. My parents live in the same town just down the road a bit. We still don't see them all that often. My parents are people with serious schedules. Mom is a teacher and has a million commitments and Daddy is a preacher with a church to tend to and he is also very involved in a children outreach program here in Alabaster. Needless to say they don't just pop in from time to time. At times it can hurt my feelings when I compare it to the way Matt's parents are always wanting to see the boys and keep them. Then I have to remember that my parents are very independent people and really just unique. They are also more on the side on introverted than extroverted so I don't get daily/weekly/monthly calls from them checking in with me. If I want to talk with them I have to call them. This is just who they are but at times in my life it has hurt my feelings. Not much you can do about it though. I have chosen to live close to them for this reason and I take my family to Daddy's church as well so that the boys are able to spend time regularly with them.

Monday I am having some friends over for a cookout and am really thrilled about it. Time to get as much hanging out with the gals and their guys before many  of them move off to various places, mostly in Texas. What I have learned from them is that friends are important and you need to put yourself out there to make friendships even if you feel insecure. You know you need to push yourself sometimes in order to get what you want in life. These gals are beautiful smart women with such drive! I am so proud to call them friends and now that many are moving off I am just going to have to open up an account to put money in for the Bookies Adventures.

Sigh. It is storming outside and after two cups of coffee I am feeling the urge to curl up in bed once more. Bennett is on the couch watching Dinosaur Train while Cullen and Matt are still sleeping. Well after a morning at the McWane Center and then lunch I am sure the boys will be ready for a good nap and maybe I will be able to indulge in one with them. They have started a Sunday School class at Shiloh for the children and Matt and I are going to try to teach it I think.We have our two sons in it and it will help us become involved more. I want us to linked in and belong. I think we will go ahead and join the church sometime soon. I wonder what will happen once Daddy really does retire but I don't know when that will happen and if we find that once he leaves the church has lost its appeal well we will start looking elsewhere. For now it is a great church for us to go to where we feel welcome and not judged. That is important to me as we struggle these days to find our footing.

I am so lucky in so many areas. I have two beautiful boys who are smart and fun and just as sweet as can be. I have a husband that I have been with for 10 years now. I have a home that is really growing on me and it fits our family's needs perfectly. We found a church family to belong to and Cullen has settled in to his school, Bright Horizons. I have great friends and a good family. My job is fairly secure for now and the only thing I expect to happen is for me to start moving upward within the company. I am smart and hard working and that counts for something where I work. I have my 2 cute shih tzus and will probably allow them to start breeding this next year as well. If we make a profit off the sell of their puppies we will go ahead and buy another one. Just a small time breeding thing that maybe if Matt cannot find a job he can manage this and that can supplement our income with some other odds and ins. My hope is Matt goes back to school and finds something he is good at and gets a degree in and can enjoy working for the rest of his working years. If I had the time or money I would go back to school and get my law degree. I always wanted it but wanted a family first. Well now I have the family and all I want is to be able to support them without worry. I think I might study up on the LSAT and just take it and then just apply to Cumberland and see what happens. The worst case scenario is that I am not accepted and if that happens well I can finally scratch that off my daydream list.

Biggest daydream currently you might ask... To find a check for a million dollars in my mailbox from some sympathetic relative who is loaded (I don't have this relative but in a daydream does it really matter?) Do you know what I would do? I would simply pay off all our debt including our home. Make all necessary repairs to our home and cars and then put the remaining balance in an annuity. I would continue working and simply enjoy life within our means and never know debt again. That is my dream and even without a benevolent benefactor I am going to work hard to where that is the life I have. Tawanda.