Happy New Year 2013!

I am so ready for 2013!  I am looking forward to a new and fresh start! 

Tomorrow is my 10th Wedding Anniversary!  I cannot believe we've made it this far!  We share the same values about life, love and marriage.  We just click. 

Kyle's birthday is on January 3rd.  He will be 7 years old.  He has learned so much over the past year.  He loves to imitate our gestures and words.  He also loves to watch Barney as well as many Disney movies.  He loves to dance and be silly, especially if we are the ones dancing and being silly along with him. 

New Year, New Start, New Beginning

Welcome 2012!  It's a New Year, which means a new start!  I like to look at the New Year as a new beginning.  Last week, I decided to re-start Turbo Fire.  Since it's been a few weeks, I realized that I am unable to just jump back into the regular workout schedule, so I am starting with the PREP schedule. 

I hope to work on myself as well this year.  In addition to parenting, I am making health, college, and my blogs a priority in  my life!

New Year's Eve

I can't believe today is the last day of 2011!  Although, that means tomorrow is my 9th Wedding Anniversary! 

I am looking forward to the New Year!  I just started a new project.  I am organizing virtual book tours for authors.  Since I love to read and review books, I decided to do this. 

I am still unsure if I should go back to college at this time.  I am loving what I am doing now with organizing book tours.  This allows me to be a stay at home mom and earn a little extra income. 

Happy New Year's

Tonight is the last day of 2009! I hope things turn around for us in the New Year! Shannon has been unemployed for 10 1/2 months of 2009. I went back to work in August of this year, which has helped us financially. I am already ready to be a stay at home mom again!

Shannon finally saw things my way and is now going to pursue state, city, and county jobs! For years, I have tried to convince/steer him towards applying for state, city, and county jobs. He never wanted to listen to me. One day, I was browsing through the state jobs and he asked me, "is that all of the open positions?" I told him, "yes, and there are much more to see!" Our goal for the new year is to search and apply for any and all state, city, and county jobs that we can! Just tonight, I found one that is open in our county with the Judicial system.

Tomorrow is our 7th Wedding Anniversary! We don't have any special plans. We have been sick for the last 2 weeks now.

Kyle's 4th birthday is this Sunday! We still can't believe he'll be 4 years old! Our little boy...

Kyle goes back to school on the Monday after his birthday! I think he misses school. He knows we're supposed to go somewhere, he just doesn't know he's on winter break! Shannon is also on winter break from college. He starts back the same day as Kyle.

The So-Called New Year's Resolutions

I've seen a lot of blog entries from other bloggers writing about New Year's Resolutions, so I thought I'd add my 5 cents worth!


I have never really been one to officially make New Year's Resolutions. Why set myself up to fail? I was looking through a Walmart ad yesterday and the entire ad featured exercise equipment, eating right, exercise videos, workout clothes, etc. I find it funny that stores completely take advantage of this time of year and play on everyone's resolutions (I don't mean this in a mean way), I just think it's strategic of them! Although, for those who already workout, exercise, eat right on a regular basis, this would be a good time to buy what you need on sale, right?

I don't like to see people fail at their resolutions, but why create such HIGH expectations for yourselves? Why not start small and then make goals as you go?

I think the BEST way to stick to your resolutions and promises to yourself is to make a small goal. Keep following through, and don't give up! Don't forget to reward yourself, because you deserve it!

Are you the type to make resolutions? Do you find yourself failing every year? Don't give up this year. Make a change for the better! If you want to achieve something, just go for it.

Happy 6th Anniversary!

Today is my 6th Wedding Anniversary!

I am so glad 2008 is over with. I really hope for a better 2009 for us! With new hotels opening up in a few months, there will be new jobs in our area. With new hotels, come new jobs, which means people will be looking! Either way, there will be lots of open positions and hopefully our city can prosper from the new hotels!

His work is still cutting down everyone’s hours. There are people in other departments working as little as one day a week!!!! Not only that, they said that November was their most profitable month EVER (and here they are laying people off)!!!

Kyle will be 3 years old in 2 days! He’s doing really well eating at the table (I am so proud!). He seems to prefer to eat with me and not by himself! He’s really cute getting his food on the spoon or fork and then using his other hand to either pick up the food or put the food on the spoon or fork, he loves eating with TWO hands! He’s learning how to feed himself and he seems to be a pro at it, minus the mess he leaves behind. LOL It is definitely less work for me, now that we have our dining table!!!! These days, he drinks nothing but water. Once in awhile, he’ll have apple juice but we have since stopped buying it. Sometimes he’ll drink chocolate soy milk, but still prefers water. We have him on a vitamin, which he loves taking. The vitamin looks and tastes just like a gummy bear! A lot of times, he’ll eat nothing but honey nut cheerios (we buy the malt-o-meal brand that come in the big bags), or he’s just really picky with the food that he eats.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Tomorrow is our 6th Wedding Anniversary!! Shannon has our anniversary off and the day after that off! He didn't plan it that way, nevertheless, it worked out pefectly this week.


On Monday, I sent an email to the Department of Social Services (DSS) for the state that we live in. I decided to email them because I had been trying for a week to reach someone, anyone to answer a question for me. I had left 4 messages, 3 of them with one person and still no response. I was going to out the person I left messages with but decided not to. I wonder if the people in our local office got in trouble? LOL I also decided to turn to emailing someone at the department because the website states to contact them if we have any questions, concerns, or comments.

Here is what I emailed to them:

To Whom it May Concern:

My name is Stephanie ---- and my husband, Shannon and I are trying to apply for food stamps. We received a letter stating we were not approved due to not providing proof of income, even though we included a letter from his Human Resources department stating his hours and rate of pay.

I have been trying to reach someone, ANYONE really...who will answer the phone in the Food Stamp office and nobody will return my call. I have been trying now for 7 days. I left a total of 4 messages, one on Monday & Tuesday of last week and twice today. I understand last week was Christmas but we are just trying to get some live help.

Thank you.
Stephanie ----
(my phone number here)

Well, my day just improved for the better! I just checked my email and received a response from the DSS and they said that our application was denied in error and that the proof was in the agency (I'm thinking it was misplaced). I KNEW I included our proof of income, but our case worker didn't believe me. HA!

We won't be getting as much as we had hoped, BUT it's better than no help at all.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Have a safe celebration tonight! Don't drink and drive!

Have a prosperous 2008!

Tomorrow is my 5th Wedding Anniversary! :) Then my son turns the BIG 2 on January 3rd!