I’m the Birthday Girl!

Woot Woot! It’s the last day of February (woah!) and if you’ve been around here long you know what that means! If you have no idea, you can click

2010- My 25th Birthday was awesome, even though Miss Sharon embarrassed me with a hippy chick pic.  At some point that weekend Hope and I went out for dinner. My parents and youngest sister also met me halfway and we went bowling and to Cracker Barrel. Good times, not to mention a fabulous girls’ weekend with Sharon. I’d love to have her come again this year, but she’s just a *little* busy with my birthday buddy Cillian. It’s okay, Sharon. I forgive you, but only because he’s cute. Truthfully though, we had SO much fun. She even got to meet my grunting roommate at the time (no joke!)

2009- My crazy roommate was in the process of moving out and I had some friends over for cake & Wii bowling…

2008- I think this is the year we went bowling and to Max & Erma’s. Good gosh there is a lot of bowling involved for my birthdays!

2007- I was moving again in a few days, this time back to the big OH. I went out to dinner with my friend Jenn, my mom, two youngest sisters and my Grandma. I think we went to a steakhouse and there were definitely Peeps involved.

2006- I turned the big 21! I did have a huge birthday party but it was bittersweet because I was making a huge (14ish hour) move the next day to become a live in nanny in Massachusetts. However, I did celebrate with lots of friends at Bahama Breeze and will cherish the memories from that night forever.

2005- I had returned from Austria and was living on campus but judging from old photos I found, I brought some friends to my parents’ house for a birthday party

When I turned 14/15/16 (????) I had a smiley face sleepover. Uh, yea. I was not known as a cool kid by any means.

 

and because it’s cute (or not because I have HUGE glasses!) but it was probably one of the last birthdays Stevie and I got to celebrate the correct way (aka TOGETHER!). So old!!

And going back even further, circa. 1995. I got a 3rd sister for my 10th birthday. Don’t I look SOOOO thrilled? And yet somehow I still love this picture. Shows my young spunk!!

So, this year. I’m turning 26, and what am I doing to have fun? Well, nothing. I’ll visit my family next weekend…I’ll be working all day on my birthday but on the plus side I do have pottery class!

8 Days Old

My friend Sharon (and her husband!) welcomed a cute, tiny, adorable little guy into their family on February 18th. While I suggested to him that he wait and share my birthday, to his parents’ relief he did not.

Anyway, I got to meet Cillian yesterday- I love spending time with the B’s! Their new addition is just perfect and such a good baby!

I have to say, there’s nothing quite like cuddling with a brand new baby to brighten a weekend!!  
(Thanks for letting me visit, Sharon & Peanut Butter!)

February 24

For some odd reason, this day has always had a special place in my heart. I’m not sure if it’s because my birthday is coming up in a few days. Perhaps it reminds me of grade school and old friends- today is the birthday of one of my old friends.

Last week I went on a super-organizing binge. Once I was (mostly, since how can you ever really be completely DONE organizing) finished, I allowed myself to enjoy a container of old letters and pictures sent to me by family, close friends, old coworkers, former students, etc. I have a ton more at my parents’ house so the ones I have here are mostly just from the last year or so.

I soon came across a card that was written four years ago today. It’s a birthday card for me, dated February 24th, and it’s from my now-deceased grandpa. I think it’s the last card or letter I received from him while he was still semi-lucid, before the Alzheimer’s really took hold.

It’s a goofy card with a moving cat smiling…not the type he’d choose on his own. I think by the time he sent it I was almost moving back to Ohio and stopped in to say hello very quickly a week or so after I got the card. I just love the happy memories seeing his handwriting brings back.

~

A Walk With Bug

With the imminent arrival of Bug’s baby sister, I’m treasuring the time I have with just him. Not that I won’t adore baby Renee as well, but it will surely be different.

Yesterday I had the chance to pick Bug up from school. It was sunny and 60* so we took a quick walk. Bug rode in his plastic car for a while and then decided to walk.

He quietly reached up and took my hand.

Later when I put him to bed, he gave me a hug & kiss before I even had to ask and proclaimed, “I looooove you, Bettany”

Oh, does he know how to melt my heart.

Thursday Ten Quotes

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I normally don’t post memes on my main blog, but on my meme blog…but I’m making an exception for this one because it’s quotes and who doesn’t like quotes?!

My ten favorite quotes, in no particular order:
(and yes, some of these are a little silly)

1) Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it -- Maya Angelou

2)

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3) Does Panera Bread have a liquor license? – My Grandma

4) I want to go to there- Tina Fey on 30 Rock

5) From back in my MA nannying days- Z-boy was about 4 years old, a precious little boy with Down Syndrome
Me: Z-boy, how are you feeling?
Z-boy: Good
Me: Really? You feel good? Because in your school notebook it says you are tired and sad...
Z-boy: Thank you for asking, Beth. I’m good. Thank you.
(I think this one is precious to me just because I remember this conversation)

6) Please turn your cell phones off before Mass. The only call accepted here is a call from God and He said He would not call during Mass


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7) If we're always looking in the rear view mirror it's hard to keep our eyes on the road ahead- Author Unknown

8) In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back- Charles Schulz

9) Challenges make life interesting, however, overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Mark Twain

10) The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot- Michael Altshuler

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What are some of your favorite quotes?

Never Too Young

I am firm believer that children need to clean up their own toy/crayon/whatever messes.

On Friday, I arrived at work to find that overnight little Tobin, just 9 months old, had taken all of his family’s DVDs off the bookshelf and strewn them all over the floor. So guess what?

I sat down with him on my lap, just for the heck of it, and directed him in cleaning them up.

Surprisingly, he actually did pretty well!!!

Hey, it’s never too early for them to start learning

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I forget where I came across this website or who directed me to it, but it’s a quick & fun thing to do. Your parents say you weren’t named after anyone or anything. You can’t find your name on pens/key chains or other souveniry things.

Enter “Where The Streets Have Your Name”

Just enter your name and click on “Map It”

Viola!

As it turns out, there are places/roads/schools named after me all over the place!

- There are two within maybe 10/20 minutes of my house. There’s something fun about seeing your name on a sign, so as stupid as it is I might go check them out  
- a Bethany in Israel, a Bethany Street in Belfast, Ireland (why did I not know about this when I went there!), two in Alaska, one in Puerto Rico…anyway, it’s cool! Go check it out

The Pots: Session I

I finished my first session (class? series?) of pottery on Monday. I felt kind of strange taking my camera out and snapping a few photos, but 1) I wanted to have the pictures to look back on 2) my aunt had asked to see pictures of what I was making and 3) well, I wanted to show you all, of course!

I made four pieces. All of them were crafted on the wheel, which I loooove. I truly have no desire to handcraft anything, which is probably a bad thing. Sure, the wheel is challenging, but it’s somehow strangely calming to be crafting anything clay in a huge, quiet warehouse. There are about 10 people in my class and some of them started just last week, others have been doing it for five years!

Some of my creations are….well, lopsided. Oh, well. I still haven’t made a mug or a vase, for some reason it seems like bowls are what my hands prefer to make. I’m excited to see what the next session holds. The gloppy paint you see on two of the bowls is some kind of “exploding” paint so I think it will be fun to see how they turn out! The two bigger bowls are still not painted…any suggestions

What do you think? Have you ever taken an art class?

Yippy Yi Yay!

So…if you look over on the right there, do you see anything different? Something exciting??

YES.

The ONLY debt I have left to pay off is my school debt!

I put a bunch of babysitting money in my savings as I received it. I added my bonus from work in December, and feel like I have enough of a buffer- basically my emergency fund which, if I need it to later in the year, can hopefully help to buy, or buy completely, a “new to me” car. I didn’t feel safe paying off the family debt in full before, knowing that there was NO extra money in there in case something was to happen.

I’m still working on building up the savings. I took care of two extra kiddos today (er, yesterday) and their mom insisted on paying me. I have close to $100 in babysitting cash that will go into savings on Thursday, as well as $84 of change that I finally rolled up. I decided that for now, I’m not going to go anywhere for President’s Day. I was going to try and find a cheap flight to reward myself for paying off the debt- uh, that’s what Dave Ramsey says to do, right??… but then I decided that I might go somewhere in March when my nanny fam goes to Arizona instead, and there’s no way I can do both. Plus, I want to do another pottery session so that instead will be my “congratulations-to-me” gift in addition to my birthday present. Haha.

Anyway, I’m proud of myself. I’m making strides. Slowly, but it’s happening.

Numberoos

A by-the-numbers weekend (and Monday)

14: number of hours I spent in the car

3: the hour (in the early, early morning) we stayed up til on both nights

Not enough: sleep we got

5 weeks: how old baby May was when I met her Saturday

Priceless: spending a quickly planned weekend with my bestest and her family, aka my 2nd fam :)

...

5: number of children I am in charge of today

5,4,3,2,0: ages of said children

1: number of children asleep right now

1: tantrum from 3 year old so far bechase he didn't want to share

1: child who told me "I don't like you" bechase I was asking him a question and he was trying to poop in his pull up

1: child who drew me a picture less than 5 minutes after she walked in this morning

0: pages I'm betting I'll get to read today during "naptime"

Happy Monday!

Coming Up…

I haven't been around much...you know how busy my first part of the week is!

Anyway, coming tomorrow, or maybe Friday, depending on timing...a big announcement (positive) about all those dollar signs on the right side of the page.

Also, does anyone have any ideas of places to go for President’s Day weekend? My roommate and I are SO sick of the cold/ice! The problem is we’re just not close at alllll to the ocean or any warmth down south…

Ice Day

Ironically, it turned out that when the last post was scheduled and did post, we were in the midst of a wonderful ice storm. I slept horribly Monday night and was up for the day by 4:30 am. Two+ hours later, I called my boss and told her I wasn’t going to make it to work, at least not soon. Everything was a sheet of ice and accidents were everywhere.

Around 3 pm, with a break in the storm, I headed towards work. It took double the time it usually does, and even the highway was not very safe. I was only on it for about 6 miles and saw as many accidents. One idiot came flying through the traffic at 60 mph at a point when the rest of us were going 20. He then began swerving and slammed into the center wall. It’s hard to feel any sympathy for idiots like that.

Anyway, I stayed overnight at work Tuesday and Wednesday the kids and I stayed safe and warm, thankful to have electricity when so many people in our area don’t!

I took a few pictures, but it was after the ice, more ice, then rain…so (sadly?) the cool large icicles were already gone.

-- Laney painted my nails (thankfully just clear with purple hearts) and a very girly bandaid…lol

-- Icy branches

 

-- Colorful but playdoh-you-can-eat cookies

 

-- Money sorting for the kids to use on their vacation next month

How’s your icy week going?