Monday again

Well, other than a mild sunburn on my FACE that makes me look like I have some contagious rash or that I got punched in the face, by the SUN, I have no complaints about this past weekend :)

Friday night, we started with practice with the Awesome Golden Dragons. The kids were excited (even though it was 50 degrees. The sun was shining at least) I had to leave practice early and drive an hour to my cousin's house to help her with her first candle party. Except that, her kit didn't come in time, so I ended up doing the party :) It wasn't a very big party and, it will probably just qualify as a party dollar amount wise, but it was still a success :) I only worry that Khoa won't have enough sales volume to earn her kit free :/

I took C with me on Friday night, and just like all of Bee's kids, the second we got into the car she started talking. She didn't quit until we had arrived at my cousin's house which is an hour away. She talked about her mom, how she is mad at her, how she cries a lot, how she spends a lot of time at school in the counciler's office talking about her mom. It was a lot to take in, but I felt so...honored? that she could share with me. I told Bee later that night what we talked about. I think we are going to get her into a therapist. I had asked her if she would want one and she said yes. So...I'd really like to get both C and lil man into some therapy. They are going to need it :(

Saturday morning we got up early, and headed out the door into the cold cold dreary weather for some Awesome Dragon Soccer. We came prepared to play (and freeze) our butts off. Once again, we were defeated :( Oh well, we did however greatly improve our game. I am at least happy with that! Maybe by next week... :)

Then, it was off for some big boy football. We scrimmaged the North Coast Vikings. We held our own and did quite well! There was no score because it's a scrimmage, but I would say, had it been a game, we would have won. :) We finally came home and began to unthaw. :) We ate our late dinner and relaxed before going to bed. :)

We were up early again on Sunday because we surprised the kids and hit up the Maple Fest! The Maple Fest is a yearly festival to celebrate Maple Syrup and other Maple products which was the sole trade in Chardon for many years :) (Chardon is where Bee spent the majority of his youth). I also tried my very first maple stir (which I am now totally bummed I did not photograph!) Basically, they pour this maplely syrupy substance into a bowl and give you a Popsicle stick. I thought that this point you just eat it (I tried and burnt the hell out of my tongue) but oh no! You stir  it. (Hence, the name maple stir) So, you stir it continuously for about 10-15 minutes and it become thick and light brown and starts to get more solid. It become a maple sugar type substance. It's candy! It was fun (if not a little work intensive for some maple sugar but alas, it's fun)


Then, it was time for the bathtub races!

Bee and J watching the races

Then, it was off to the Lumberjack competition!!! (Of course, we had to stop for steak on a stick for J, and HUGE cups of greasy, salty, french fries for the rest of us). We stopped on the way to the competition stage and let the kiddos play the balloon race game!

You can't really see little man behind J, but he is there. He also kicked his sister's butts! His reward? A little stuffed dog he named "Snickers". The game guy felt bad for the girls and gave them each a prize. Key Chain for C and a beaded necklace for J :)

Then the lumberjacks!

Little man and Snickers watching the ax throwing

As we knew we would, we ran into the grandparents of the year. Bee gave a courtesy waive as the wee ones ran down to say hello. I refused to acknowledge them. It may be childish, yes. But the difference is, I won't punish the kids. I still sent Little man's soccer schedule. If they contact me about seeing the kids, Bee and I will allow it. Anything they send to the kids will make it into their hands etc, etc,. I just won't acknowledge until Grandma S apologizes to J for her unbecoming and un-adult like behavior. 

We watched the competition for 3 hours (that's when the sun punched me in my face), and then started to head out. Not before stopping and talking to our friends we ran into, getting funnel cakes, Fried Cheese on a stick, and a bag of kettle corn (the kettle corn was for me) oh, and J had to see the ducks :)

Afterwards, we came home. The kids and I headed off to my open house candle party for the new summer catalog while Bee went to see his friend Dan. I did very well! I sold $350 worth of new product! Woo hoo! 

Can't wait until tomorrow when I can enter it all in ;) I like watching my numbers appear and see what my newest goal is. The kids had fun with me. I fed them panera (we had the party there), the girls asked if they could wander around Dicks, Khols, and target and I obliged, so they had fun with sister time. Little Man hung out with me and the ladies ;) He was the center of all their attention. He also got to chill with grandma bee while she was there. It was a great afternoon! It feels awesome to do something you enjoy and succeed at it. I spend a lot of time watching and cheering Bee and the kids on while they do what they are good at and enjoy. I don't mind any of that. In fact, I have fun! However, it feels awesome in a totally different way to do something *I* enjoy and have them cheer me on :)

Be came home around 10pm and we just spent the last hour of our evening just hanging out. Then it was cuddle and bed time.

All in all, I could repeat this weekend forever and still enjoy it just as much :)

  

Well Hello, Weekend

I think I ran into a real life hooker this morning coming into my office building. Which is weird, because I don't work in a hookery part of town. It was quite a site for a Friday morning. :) All I can say is, if she wasn't a hooker, she really needs to learn how to dress appropriately. Like, maybe by wearing some clothes and not dental floss. When it's 39 degrees out.

So, there's that.

Tonight the Awesome Golden Dragons have our second soccer practice. Once again, tonight it's going to be sunny (although, in the 50's) and tomorrow is rain, rain, rain and low 40's. Ugh. Oh well, guess I gotta suck it up and put on the big girl pants :) Hopefully, we can get a win tomorrow! Ooo! And a win for Bee's team too! Then, maybe it will stop raining long enough to go to the Maple Fest! We shall see.

This weekend I am having my big summer product launch. I teamed up with my friend T and I hope it's a huge success! I know I have 10-12 people coming. I hope T rustles up a good number too, because this potentially could be awesome for our businesses. I need $590 in sales to hit my next goal and earn cool stuff. Anything over that, and it goes to the following goal. I'm in a pretty good position to meet my goals I think :) Speaking of goals..the numbers came out and I ranked in the top 10 (I was 8th) in sales in my REGION! My region is like 10 states! That's thousands of consultants....I am very proud of me. I went from thinking no one would buy anything I would have to sell, to cracking the top ten.

*does a little whoop whoop dance*

Please pray for me. I think we are going to attempt Prom shopping this weekend. Or at least, prom dress shopping. Good thing J is laid back. I think I could go out and buy any dress and give it to her and she would be over the moon.

Anyway.

That's what I got.

Early morning trains

Three Years

3 Years. 

I can't even imagine my life without you anymore. You bring the sunshine. You make things brighter. Colors more vibrant. You pick me up when I fall. you hug me when I need it. You tell me to suck it up when I need that too. the sound of your voice makes me smile and feel insanely safe at the same time. Your arms around me and the steadiness of your breathing make me feel at peace.

"I love you more today that yesterday. But not as much as tomorrow"

"So we'll live out in our old van, somewhere on the sand, just me and you."  

I love you Bee.

Happy 3 year anniversary.

A few things...

• The sunset was awesome last night! 

• I so badly want these barn stars from the new summer 2012 catalog! I would pu them on my living room wall between mine and Bee's chairs

• I've let little man control the remote two nights in a row. We've watched Disney's channel. It's been the same two shows...in the same order. Lil Man laughs in the same parts...and asks me if I "heard what he said"

• My Gold canyon business is going awesome! You should check out my website! www.mygc.com/JoyBauer 

• Tomorrow is 3 years for me and my lovey!!

A title...I should have one

Friday was a day of consumption. I was consumed by the issues with the ex, and the fact that we woke up AGAIN, to no hot water. I ended up taking half day at work so I could meet the plumber and deal with the 800 phone calls with the lawyer (I am not really going to talk about what was said because sometimes I get the feeling that the ex's mother might read this here blog because she is a nosey Nelly and has nothing better to do than insert herself into other people's lives) but I will just say that I hung up on the last call of the day feeling good. Friday evening we had our first soccer practice! Bee and I are coaching Little Man's team this year. Woot Woot! We have a great group of kids and parents! I can't wait for the season! Friday ended on a good note because my summer catalogs and sampler set came in the UPS!! I never thought I would be this excited for anything, yet I am giddy over this. Hey, I have two more potential consultants wanting to sign up. If two out of my three each sign someone up, I become a team leader. This means my behind is going to be sitting poolside, in a deck chair, basking in the sunshine, on a CRUISE SHIP in the tropics, come January 2013...all at NO COST to me. If I become team leader and my team does a substantial book of business, My Bee and I could be sitting pool side in AUSTRALIA for a week at NO COST to us.  Yeah, I am peeing with glee! :)

That's my boy! On the left in the blue and yellow shorts!

Friday night, it was 72 degrees during practice. Saturday morning, it was 39 degrees. And raining. Awesome.

It was cold, and I got the "bad parent of the day" award, for not really paying attention to what my kid walked out of the house in because I was too busy looking for my hat, gloves, hoodie, and winter attire. Yeah, he was dressed almost identical to the picture above. Only, it was 39 and raining....not 72 and sunny. Poor little guy F-R-O-Z-E his arse off. Lesson learned.

Your Awesome Golden Dragons (Friday, the kids picked Golden Dragons to be our team name. Until Saturday morning when we realized the 6-7 year old Gold team picked that name. So, they thought long and hard and came up with "AWESOME Golden Dragons)  lost 4-0 to the TANstorm.  (though, it's YMCA soccer. No one keeps track. I mean, EVERYONE does...just not officially. There is no ranking. No play offs. No overall champion). I have never been more thankful for the ending of a sporting event. It was COLD. We ran home for a bit, and then it was time for C and Bee to leave for his scrimmage. I love my man, and I LOVE going and cheering him on, but I was grateful that he told me to stay home and take little man to his overnight birthday party he wanted to go to. So, we hung out at the house and tried to warm up before heading over to his friend K's house for his birthday/end of basketball season party! I stayed for about 2 hours (families were encouraged to stay until after dinner..then the boys were spending the night) and then went home. Bee brought home a pizza and we ate and by 9:30 were tired as dogs and went to bed. We were supposed to be parting on a limo bus with his friends, but we backed out because we weren't feeling it. Yeah, and our mostly kid free night, we were in bed by 9:30. We are Awesome. And Old. :)

Sunday we relaxed, and then had to deal with the plumbers again because there was NO HOT WATER AGAIN! Ugh...supposedly it's fixed. We shall see. Anywho. I FINALLY got a shower around 3pm on Sunday. 1st in *3* days. It felt GREAT! Ha! Then our friends Doug and Gina stopped over. We visited, and us girls sat and talked candles while the boys watched boyTV. We had wings for dinner and enjoyed time with our friends. It was a nice way to end the weekend. Then we all went sleepy in our snugly beds ;)

Playing with Instagram

I have been out of my mind lately with other things. Haven't had much time behind my camera in awhile...

In the meantime, I did download instagram on my phone and have been playing with it :)

I've done had it...

I want to stay light.

I don't want this to be a giant blog of bitch...

But I'm so angry, I am actually seething.

I was raised in a Christian household. We might not have gone to church every Sunday, but we believed in God and did our best to live our life for him and in honor of him. I was lucky because my parents loved the CRAP out of each other. They also got along really well 99.9% of the time. In my 31 years, I can honestly remember them fighting 2 times. Even then, it was over really, before it started.

Anyway, in my house or rather, in my LIFE, how I grew up (my parents, my friends, my friend's parents, my aunts, uncles, cousins, teachers, etc) one thing was certain. Adults were adults. Children were children. You treated adults with respect, and they tried their hardest to protect the children. Keep them innocent. If you and your spouse hated each other or even were fighting, you did it behind the closed door. You spoke in hushed tones as to not clue your kids in as to what was going on. Sure, the kids probably knew, but you at least tried with ever fiber in your being to hide it. Protect them. Children were innocents. You treated them as such. It wasn't until I was in my twenties and out on my own that I saw my situation, my lifestyle, and that of those around me, were in the minority. Big time.

Now, I find myself in a situation. A situation that makes my blood boil in quite literally seconds. In fact, sitting here typing this and thinking about how I am going to word it, makes me so angry I could spit nails. I have three children. Three. No, they were not born of my womb. Yet, they have been dumped at my feet in need of a mother. I say dumped not to imply their father doesn't care or that he isn't as much in this situation as me, I say that because he is busy being their father. They all have mothers, but the ones they have are utterly useless.

Useless. It makes me sad to see what these precious ones have been dealt in the mothering department. I think of my mom. She is sooooo NOT perfect in about a million ways. She even irritates me so bad sometimes. However, in the mothering department? She's pretty much aces. In my sister's case, maybe a little too aces, but whatever. I only hope that I can be even 1/4 as good as her.

I am getting off track.

Anyway, useless. J's mom is out in left field. She's lazy. She is not stable, at all. Both mentally and financially. She is the type that would "borrow" or "take" from her own child. She wants J to hurry up and move out after she graduates this June so that she can get a job and an apartment (I suppose she can do college too, if she must) so that her and J's younger sister can move.in.with.her. Why? Because they don't have their own place. They haven't in the last 4 years. They go from house to house every few months staying with fellow Jehovah witnesses...J spends so much time listening to and worrying about her mother's woes that she doesn't have time, or rather doesn't feet like she should burden her mother with anything like asking for affection, motherly advice, or guidance.

Then there's the wee one's mother. The one sitting in prison. The one who is currently the focus of my ire. Here is a woman who is smart. On that whole IQ are-you-a-genius test (the real one...not the Internet kill-some-time ones) she scored 179. 159 is "Genius". This is also why she is crazy. They say the more of an actual genius you are, the closer you are to madness...our brains aren't meant to function at such a high level.

Off track again.

Anyway, she is smart. And Manipulative. Control freak. It bothers her to no end she doesn't have control over Bee and the kids anymore. We try to be nice (for the kids...certainly not for her) and give her a proverbial inch, and she takes 4 miles. She acts very entitled for someone who is locked up. She also keeps involving her boyfriend. Who is ALSO locked up (we found out it's for DRUGS). And as awful as she is. As bad as she behaves, and as much as we want to shelter the kids and not allow any contact, we also understand that no matter what, that is their mother. They love her and will always love her. If we keep her from them, it only makes them hate us. It only makes HER look more right and us more wrong. But then again, who cares what they *think*, as long as they are safe? And we go round and round...

About 2 months ago we filed a police report against her for harassment. Calling and screaming at J. Calling her mean nasty names that were so full of venom and hate, I almost thought we were speaking to the devil himself. This woman tortured and abused J for 7 years of her young life. I'll at least give her credit, she didn't take it sitting down. She gave it right back. Things calmed down a bit, she didn't really mention it too much to the kids, but she still takes every opportunity she can to degrade and dispute us at every turn. In fact, most of her letters are worked in a way so that everything she discusses, she can throw a jab at Bee or I. She is even turning them against Bee's mom. In fact, Lil Man tried hiding on the Saturday before Easter when Grandma Bee came to pick them up from Grandparents of the year. Then, when he got to our house on Sunday, he went right to his room. Not wanting to come out and spend Easter with "this" side of the family.

Last night she called while we were out, but J was home. She told her the kids were not at home and NOT to call during the week and that she knows her phone time is Sunday. Their mom went ape and the devil came back out. She tore J a new one up and down and back and forth. Then told her to tell Bee she was filing papers (for what, I'm not completely sure. It's not like the kids can go live with her in prison). Then, she called her mom and cried the blues. Her mom then called the HOUSE (which is the thing that REALLY chaps my hide because she knows WE don't answer that phone. WE have cell phones and she knows our numbers full well but she didn't really want to talk to US, or else she would have called US) J answered and then Grandma of the year, who is 64 years old, proceeded to the the devil come out of HER at J. Cussed her out, told her SHE Was the reason Bee and her daughter were divorced, and went on insulting and cussing her out.

Tell me, when is ok to speak to anyone, let alone a child like that? How are Bee and I supposed to trust you and allow you OR your daughter around the littles when you treat their sister like that? How is that right? How is that CHRISTIAN. What would the LORD think? You both seem to be such a holier than thou expert on the LORD...tell me, would HE think this is ok? I doubt it. If J's mom, or J's mom's family, or ANYONE really, spoke to C or little man and said even the PG rated things these 3 people have said to J (or me) they would shit the bed that Bee or I would allow this and have lawyers so far up our asses. Nor would Bee or I stand for that to begin with, so why is ok for J to hear it? Have it launched at her? To be the victim once again to the "S" family abuse? She had to be the whipping boy at the hands of their daughter for far to long. *I* won't allow it anymore. She is safe with us. Free. She will not be forced to take it any longer.

I have a connect friend in high places, who knows very important people. He gave me a number of a shark of a lawyer. She smells even the hint of blood in the water and she goes for the juggler. She specializes in custody and family law. Bingo. I have a phone call scheduled with her later today.

I'm done with this shit.  

Feeel the Chrome!

I am back!

I just got a new computer at work and they installed Google Chrome!!

This means I can update from work again! Oh happy day! I know I could always email updates, but I couldn't update with pictures and yadda yadda yadda, and I found myself just not wanting to deal with the stress of it. But fret no more!

Nothing new in our household, really. The Ex, or as I am starting to call her "Gold Dust Woman" (because I <3 Stevie Nicks, and she wrote that song about herself when she was was all high, balls out, on heroin. It's about being a lying, cheating, stealing, vile, selfish, greedy human being, and not really caring) is writing to the kids/calling them speaking ill of their father and I. So, you know, the usual. :) Soccer is going to start this week! Bee and I are coaching! woot! Football is starting up too. Twice a week practices, and scrimmages/pre-season games every weekend. And so it begins.

I've also started selling Gold Canyon Candles! I am rockin my new business! My goal was $700 in my first 30 days to get my kit free and $125 worth of free product. Well, I kicked that goal in it's goal-ey FACE! I did $1069.00 in my first 29 days AND I have sponsored one new consultant! Anything over $700 goes towards my $1000 goal for my 31-60 day goal, so I am $369 in already! Woot woot! If I keep this up, I could potentially be in AUSTRALIA for a FREE all expenses paid vacation for me and my Lovey in 2013!!! I am loving it! :)

Well, that's really it for now. Happy Thursday and I have missed you all :)