8 Weeks!

Okay, I've been REALLY bad. I haven't posted, I know this. I promised to post and didn't anyway, I'm sorry. I never caught up at work -- in fact I'm further behind because I was out sick on Friday. There has been SO much going on here, that I'm only going to give brief synopsis of each topic.

8 Weeks! Two whole months! Time flies! I think I've even gone a couple days in a row without thinking about cigarettes at all. I feel great.

Personal Issue: I do not want to talk about it now. In a few months I might come back here and talk about it, but not at the moment. It's sad in some ways but not in others, and I'm coping fine, but still a little bit dissappointed.

Amber: A few days after that post, her school counciler requested a meeting with herself, Amber's teacher and a social worker. It was the same-old: they ask a million questions about "Have you tried this?" and each one being a "Yes." We didn't really come up with any solution. We decided to wait on counciling for now, and we're going to try some social groups instead, like brownies or dance classes, etc. We should be hearing back about that soon.

Buying a House: We found the house we're buying & we close on it on March 14th! So quickly, I can't believe it! It's a fixer upper -- needs new flooring throughout the house, all walls painted, many new faucets, some walls knocked down, and many miscellaneous things. So that's the bad news. But the good news is we have an $8,000 cash budget, and with Alex doing all the repairs (because he's handy like that) we have budgeted VERY carefully, and we will be able to have the house in very nice shape before we move in (end of May). And it's very cheap -- $35,000 cheaper than any house around it, yet the house is structurely sound. Because of this, we should be able to gain really quick equity on it by doing those repairs. Our estimates is that the $8,000 worth of materials will bring us roughly $20,000 in added value. So, we're really psyched about it. Plus, I get to remodel an entire house! Awesome!

Pictures: I keep promising myself that I will post pictures on here. I promise to do that soon. Pictures of the kids, of me, of the house... coming soon.

I will try try try to post again within a day or two. I will try my best. Don't give up on me!

Kirkwood Shooting

If you've read the news, you probably heard about that City Hall shooting where 5 people were killed, and more wait in critical condition.

That happened less than a mile from my house. Helicopters ran all night -- I finally fell asleep past midnight, but they were still going.

Although I didn't know any of the victims, I went to bed feeling horrible for our community. It really affected me to know so many people had such horrific grief in their hearts as I laid there, trying to sleep through the sound of helicopters.

Everyone reads/sees these news clips, and maybe they think to themselves how horrible it is, but until there's flashing lights in your windows and helicopters overhead, you probably don't truely FEEL for the victims. I'm not talking about the big items -- Oklahoma City, September 11th, school shootings, etc. It just seems that when a headline announces fewer than, say, 20 people dead, people don't pay much attention to it anymore.

What are your thoughts on this?

Quick Update

Thanks to everyone for their supportive comments in my last post. I am doing okay, I've just been very very very busy. I've been working at work, then turning around and trying to catch up by working from home. So, the only time I've been on the computer is to work.

Give me a day or two (maybe three) and I'll leave a lengthy post and catch up on everyone else's posts.

6 weeks 1 day not smoking!