Bitter or Better?

Where has the week gone? It has gotten away from me evidently with my lack of posting! In my pastor's sermon last week, he spoke quite a bit about choices and one of his catch phrases that stuck with me was the phrase bitter or better...especially when I look at some of my previous jobs. There was my job at the phone company where I was micromanaged to the very second and even though the pay was terrific, the stress of the job wasn't worth it to me. I started college at that point.

Then came a point in my life when I had a 1 year old, a 2 year old and was pregnant. It was at this point that school had to take the back burner for me. For 10 years as a matter of fact. Then in my last job...I felt myself becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the demands of the work, the hours away from my family, and the general low pay of the industry. I was motivated once again...to get back to school... to follow my passion and suck it up for a bit to accomplish what I needed to accomplish. There are times when the bitter thoughts creep in, and for that I am grateful for Sunday's Sermon...bitter or better...it's your choice...I could have stayed where I was and became a bitter, negative, and hateful person....or I could have sought something better...which is what I did. For me, better definitely outweighs bitter...What can you do to become a better person today? Take the leap....go for it...you won't regret it.

The weekend pictoral review

Friday night was date night of course...I was so pleased to see one of Steph's friends out on the floor dancing her heart out; The same friend that was fighting for her life against lupus just a few short years ago....She's a miracle...

Saturday morning I was up early to meet Ang for breakfast...after breakfast I brought my little friends Jason and Zoe home to play for a while...

Zoe dazzled me with her new found ability to blow a bubble....

While Jason dazzled me with his most soulful face...

We left our house and headed off to McDonald's to grab some lunch...
After we drove through...we ate at the icehouse...

where we met up with my friend Anne and her two little ones...Ethan and Emma. Finally, lunch was done and the little one's were off and running!
Efan Laaaambert (as Jason calls him) and Jason are two peas in a pod...this indoor playground is a place where they can be all boy...and just run their hearts out for two hours, only taking an occasional break for a drink of water and to catch their breath! Big kids can play too, so my precious one and Zoe had a great time...
Although we have been here quite a few times before, Emma was never really quite big enough to come along...until today... She was a little bit slow to warm up at first, but once she figured out all the ins and outs...she became an old pro quickly. They have a special section for children under 4...and that was much more her speed! It was such a super fun day. I love all those kids as my own (as I've shared here a million times) -- so it was a special treat for me.
and I think for them too :)

Saturday night, the honey and I had another date night...dinner and a speaker meeting. You see, this is the problem with my weekends off...when I really should be taking care of things around the house...I must prioritize and spend every possible minute with my friends and family...have I mentioned I cannot wait for school to be over? Ok, I digress...Sunday morning...I was off to church for an amazing sermon which I will share for you in another post...cuz it really was fabulous...then I got gas, put oil in the car, picked up my Sunday reading...
and was off to a scrapbook class at Sarah's where I made this terrific book...
What, you think the cover's cute? Check out the inside! I also picked up two of her prepackaged kits...
SERIOUSLY!! If you have not checked out her Cherry on Top website, ordered her kits, or taken her classes, you must! I pink puffy heart scrapbooking, but I just haven't had the time to be creative...so I let Sarah do it for me. She is a published scrapbooker and also my friend (lucky me) -- but even if you live...say in France... (ahem Catherine :) and you're a scrapbooker, you can buy her kits, pay through paypal, and get lots of terrific stuff at a great price!

Ok, so while I was in class the precious one called to see if I could take her to the mall *sigh...the sigh part it that yes I took her to the mall and yes she proceeded to lose her brand new phone she got for her birthday :( I had it turned off...so hopefully someone will turn it in. Otherwise...you need your lawn mowed? Your children babysat? She's looking for some work!

As we were leaving the mall to go to Grandma's to see my great nephews and niece (yes they're living there again...) guess who we ran into? Grandma! and my great nephews...and great niece! Pardon the scratches on her face...her older brother is just a bit aggressive :(

Whew! What a weekend it was...I still have homework to do, prep for work tomorrow, laundry (of course) and my Sunday reading...plus I haven't watched my TV shows for two weeks, so there's about 18 hours of TIVO waiting for me! Looks like I'll have to get up early again this week to catch up :) OH well...all in a day's work... Hope you had a wonderful weekend! I sure did.

Scoooooooooore! Not...

1 second left....1 second...Harlem was winning and Hononegah shot a 3 pointer to tie it up. We proceeded to loose in overtime...:( Hononegah is now in first...Harlem 2nd. Bum.mer.

But wait...it was about the most awesome game of all time. The house was packed and it was standing room only. Both sides were a bit obnoxious, but it was a good game. Sad to say, Harlem beat itself. We missed passes like four times in a row resulting in loss of possession. If Harlem had it's game on.... it would have been a slam dunk (pardon the pun) and we'd have walked away with a win.

The hubby and I had a date night...no kids (except for the hundreds at the game that weren't ours!) and we had a great dinner before hand. Tomorrow I'm meeting my bff Jill for breakfast...can't wait to catch up!

Go Huskies!!

I heart any food that doesn't come from a bag...

"Man mom, I can smell that cooking outside" (the big girl) as she walked into the house.

"That smells deeeelicious!" (the precious one)

"Hey guys! It's true you can't have food with too many meatballs!" (Sonshine)

Yes it's true, we treasure home cooked food and we sure don't get enough of it at the Ruchus house. The only night I'm home before 7 is Thursday...so I always make it a point to make homemade dinner. Tonight...Mostaciolli with meatballs, garlic bread, and corn. Yum.my.

I believe I will succunb to washing a load of laundry and then...head off to bed. On the upward swing, but still fighting this cold...and it makes me tired. Tomorrow, the Hononegah vs. Harlem game for 1st place....can't wait to see you there!

My pet peeve

What is my pet peeve you ask? Waiting anxiously for a post when there is none. It is virtually unheard of for me to go 3 days without posting...yet here it is. I've been really good at working on my project 365, but no so good at keeping up the ole blog. My apologies.

Here's the thing...My new job is fabulous, but taxing...I am learning so much (as I've said before) and for all you that know me, I must take a picture of my desk because you wouldn't believe how organized I am (no really, I'm not joking) In fact, one of the girls today asked if I would help her organize her desk!!! (My Mom is stunned with disbelief right now!)

So perhaps that's why I'm behind on the blog...too busy organizing. Yes, I believe that's it. Too busy organizing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Are you ready for some football?!?

I'm too excited to be going to our friends Ray & Kris's house for the big game today. I'm also excited that the Cardinals are playing. My Mom's hubby is a huge Cardinal fan and a season ticket holder. Here's hoping for him that they win. Besides...I've never been a Steelers fan.

Here's the weekly recap....just a few things missed along the way...

My super terrific, scoring extra brownie points husband, sent me these on my first day at work... Awwww, how sweet is that. They are still quite beautiful today. He used a different florist than the one he usually uses and these roses were amazing. They were pink, not peach as is the tradition, but they were and still are very lovely.

I had my first Thursday in about a month that I didn't have to work late, and so I got to go with the kids to their music lessons... I sat in on my Sonshine's guitar lesson, the precious one's piano lesson, and the big girl's voice lesson...of course as she sang I cried. *sigh Oh, how I love those kids! They take at Forest City Music Studio, and if you are in the market, check them out. I was super pleased.

Friday and Saturday I had school, and now I'm on break for a week :) -- 9 weekends to go until graduation. Yippeee!

Last night I went to scrap night...and I didn't scrap. I brought all kinds of stuff with me to do,but just wasn't feelin it. Instead, we all talked about our 365 projects and about how much the crazy kits are selling for on ebay, and then we checked out Sarah's project 365 from last year...Very cool. On the way to scrap night I stopped at Michaels and picked up the new people mag so I could check out the article on Matt, Liz, and Madeleine...one of my favorite blogs. It was very well done. There are many people on this Earth that my heart aches for....but this family is surely at the top of my list. I read some of Sarah's terrific books while I was there, and kept in contact with my kiddos who were texting me non stop. It was a great and much needed night! This Wed is my last night teaching at the Y and then I'm off for 5 weeks. The time will be replaced however with more time spent at the clinic, so there's not a net game in time, but some new scenery to enjoy.

Over the past week, I have reactivated my facebook account so I can keep up with my friends at Circles...so if you're on facebook...check me out there.

Today, I'm spending the morning with my precious baby girl... Can you believe how big she is? Oh, and if I haven't mentioned it before...she is going to be a big sister this summer. Her mama and daddy made the announcement at Christmas time (errr rather Aubrey's shirt made the announcement) and we couldn't be more thrilled...I have determined we probably need to stop calling her baby girl though ;) I just can't wait for warm weather and time off work to spend with my favorite munchkins....Zoe, Jason, Joey, Ethan, Emma and Aubrey...I think I need to get me a 15 passenger van so we can all run all over town together and do fun things! OK, maybe not...but I truly cannot wait to be back outside playing in the sunshine.

I have several drafts in my mind that I'd like to bring to fruition here eventually, but you know...time, time, time, but this one just can't wait...

The other day Kevin was expressing his desire for clean socks, and so I told him I could take a moment to introduce him to this large white box in the basement called a washer and he could have all the clean socks a guy could hope for...to which he honestly replied...White? Are you sure? I thought we bought the burgundy one. *sigh REALLY?!? Is there hope for this guy? I'm not so sure...I better be off to wash some socks! Have a great Sunday.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...report cards came out yesterday....the hubby got a bit verclempt with the pride he felt over the kids' grades...

the big girl brought home...

Honors accel. Geometry B, Spanish 2 A, Treble Choir A, PE A, Honors accel. English 10 B

the precious one brought home...

Science A, Pre Algebra A, Social Studies A, Language Arts A, PE A, Band B Choir A

and the Sonshine brought home...

Math A, Reading C, Social Studies A, Science A, English B, Pe A, Resource B

Very cool...the big girl's class rank is 56 out of 694, so she's well into the top 10% of her class :)

When we exclaimed our pleasure in the Sonshines grades, he responded by saying that he's 'practicing' getting good grades so he can have a good student discount when he starts driving. Gotta love it, just keep on 'practicing' son and all will be well!

I'm off to get some laundry in and to update my project 365. Check it out when you have am minute.

Why am I still awake?

I can't tell you the last time I was up at 1AM...odd...my new work schedule and the amazing extra 5 hours of sleep a week seems to be working out well for me...but here's the thing: my baby girl is coming over tomorrow and I haven't seen her in forever...so, as much as I have a million things to say here...it will have to wait until tomorrow. Sad but true.

I did go to scrap night tonight and didn't make one thing. I just had such a good time chatting with everyone, looking at books, eating and relaxing. So nice. Tomorrow we're going to friend's house for the game. I gotta be up early to get laundry done and catch up on my TIVO before church. So...talk later.