Day One or Eleven

So I am in the middle of a new challenge - the 30 day challenge that is going to help me get to my goals. And what are my goals - or what is the BIG GOAL. While I would love to say - be a stay at home mom - I think that there are several pluses for me being at work. Obviously, the money. But I also think that there is a lot that Madison gets out of being at school. I would love for her to be back in her old school though..... hmmmmm topic for another day. So back to my goal - to have a wonderful 40 hour/week job with the flexibility to work from home. Does that mean in my current job? Does it mean a new job???

Well I don't know. What I do know is that I love the people I work with - and that is such a big part of a job. While I am not sure I will ever LOVE what I do - I do think it is ok sometimes. So how do I make it better. How do I get out of the stress of this job and make it more manageable. That is what I am working through.

I think I could do some things to help. I am going to try to do some research into excel tools that might be able to help. Iam going to not let the girl who helps me - keep messing up my work and hold her accountable for her actions. I need to get her tasks and then make sure she follows through. I need to be more productive during my day and get all of tasks done during that time so I don't need to work at home. And then after I accomplish all this - try to get permission to work at home and get a rate increase..... can I do it - HELL YES!!!

Postive Attitude

So I am taking a break - from stress and negative thoughts. Yes I know holidays bring stress but.......I just need to let it go and realize I don't control it all and I make people around me crazy when I try. Things are not perfect and ususally it is better that way.

So I am going for fun this year. I am going for memories - and not the ones I force into existence but the ones that come naturally! So I have started listening to Christmas music - yes it is before Thanksgiving but I swear it relaxes me and puts a smile on my face. :D

So let the wonderful holiday season begin. I can not wait to enjoy it with everyone!!!

Ending on a High Note

So this weekend was not all it was planned to be....catching up on lots of sleep, little stress, holiday decorating.....woohoo!
Unfortunately, Chris has his headaches again and it kills me because there is nothing we can do for him. Saturday was a really bad day with 2 rounds (one at night and one ALL day on Saturday) so he feels like it was a wasted day. I am not sure if Madison was upset about him not being around but she was off all day long too. Crying at soccer is not a usual thing for her. She is also fighting something too.
Sunday was better - no day headaches for Chris and we all seemed in pretty good moods. Not a ton was accomplished but Chris had a great surprise for us - firepit in the driveway with smores!!! Great end to the weekend!!! Riley even joined in the fun!

Baby Mahoney ETA......next 36 hours

So it is finally time....Baby Mahoney will be joining us very soon! And we can not wait. I really think that Ms. M will continue to call him Baby Mahoney for a long time since we have talked about him so much. I am heading to South Carolina this evening for the early trip to the hospital tomorrow. I am so excited!!! Will keep you posted.

Soccer

So today was Ms. M's first day at soccer. Now we can not actually call it soccer practice as it was all 3 years olds running around with balls. We will call it a lesson. She will get to go for 5 weeks and if she likes it, we can do it again in the Spring. After she turns 4 - she can actually play on a team. We started off in a room - lots of 3 years old, siblings and parents - it was chaos. But then the coach talked - Scottish accent - loved it!!! He was amazing and has the patience of a saint. The kids loved it. There were several activities for them to do. First they ran after tiger tails - or more accurately, parents that had a jersey out of the back of their pants. Then there was learning ball control - dribbling and stopping the ball with their feet, then their hands, nose and ears - to which there was much laughter! Water break and then dribbling to cones and kicking the ball to knock the cone over. Madison liked to pick up the ball, place it next to a cone and then kick. Guess we will have to work on the "no hands'' rule. :) Finally they got to kick the ball in the goal. Very fun 45 minutes! And she is already asking when she can go back! And the whole time I was trying not to be that parent that yelled encouragement to their child........somewhat succeeded :)

September again....

I love this time of year. We just did our annual trek to Nagshead for our week at the beach. And the sun gods were with us (finally) and we had an amazing trip - great family/friends, great weather, great sandcastles and wild horses. I will do a whole post on the vacation with pictures.
Fall also brings FOOTBALL (although the first two weeks of Hokie football did not go as well as we had hoped), apple picking, changing leaves, cooler weather (soon we hope), Halloween, Thanksgiving and this year - a NEW BABY MAHONEY!! We are waiting for the little guy to come some time in October. I can't wait to do all these fun things with my family. :)

Always something

Isn't it amazing when it rains - it pours.....I am going to vent over very minor insignificant items going on knowing full well how blessed I am that these are the only things I am venting over at this time and nothing that honestly is that big of a deal. So with that.... a lady at Madison's daycare tagged the end of my car - she says she thinks it can buff out - seriously - ummmm no (thankfully it was not worse and we were not in it), then someone has the nerve to drive through our flowerbeds at the end of our driveway and run completley over a bush - which may or may not make it....it doesn't look good - half of it is GONE! My drycleaning got lost too - thankfully they have found it and now I need to walk completely across Lowe's campus to get it - but I will have my favorite black pants back FINALLY. Ok so not really a big deal. Coffee helped and going to get a good lunch will to.....again I know all petty things and I am blessed this is the extent of my complaints.

Hope everyone has a blessed day!!! Smile is starting to come back across my face.