Just to help Christy out....



Which OS are You?

I just wanted to prove to everyone that my blog IS still functional and I really haven't forgotten about it! It's just with 27 kindergarteners, my 2 daughters, my husband, and other responsibilities that I have recently taken on at work and at church, I've been a little busy! Things have to be REALLY good to be blog worthy anymore. (Not to mention I actually have to have the time to sit at the computer and type!)
Anyway, Freddy, the girls, and I went to my cousin's wedding last weekend. I know what you are thinking, "Ok, Jules, what is so blog worthy about that?!" Well, if you are married and have been to a wedding other than your own, after your own, you know what I mean. All the emotions of our wedding came crashing back on me and I was reminded why I love him so much! Even though we were late and only caught the last 10 minutes of the wedding I was balling like a baby! At one point I caught Freddy's eye and mouthed, "I love you!"
Sometimes I just need a kick in the butt and someone to say, "Hey, woman! Don't take your hubby for granted! You love him, remember?! Now, make sure he knows it!!!!"
So, Barry, I love you! I love you more today than yesterday and the day we were married. I love you for everything you have given and done for me in the last five years. I love you for the 2 most beautiful girls on the planet. I love you for the years that are to come. I love you for just being you!
If you are married tell your husband or wife that you love him/her and then tell him/her WHY you love him/her!

Now back to your regularly scheduled work day........

Well, yesterday was a little strange. It started out like every other Sunday morning does around here and then we had a request from a friend, Amy, to help with a school project. Amy is a sophomore at SMS and really needed our help to get a project done. So, being the generous friends that we are, we agreed not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Well, it turned out that Freddy and I were the leading roles in a modern day Othello. Amy had to take a Shakespearian play and turn it into a modern day movie. Needless to say I think it turned out to be a comedy!!!! Freddy got to drown me and then drown himself. I think he enjoyed that a little too much!

We also went to the movies and saw Bruce Almighty. It was much better than I thought it would be. I laughed so hard at one scene that my stomach hurt!

The director from the center in Clayton, Lucy, called me a couple hours after I got off the phone with Dana. She wants to interview me Monday morning at 9:00am. I explained to her the time constraints that I am under and she said she wants to move pretty fast. She will have to move really fast if she wants me. Teachers have to report August 12 at Richwoods. I don't want to get too excited. We'll see.

The girls spent the night in Cuba with my mom and dad last night, so we drove down today to get them. While we were there I got my hair cut and colored. That made me feel much better! There is nothing that can make me feel better than splurging on making myself feel pretty. Hopefully I can fix it like she did!

Well, I just got off the phone with the director at Bright Horizons, Dana. She said they decided to hire a co-director and went with another person. But, Dana said that if they had decided to hire an assistant director, then I would have been the one. Well, that doesn't help me now, does it?! They passed my name to another of their centers in Clayton because they are also looking to hire a new assistant director. My problem with this is that I have this contract thing....well, you already know about that, so I won't go into it again. Oh well...

Let me preface this by saying, we were planning on getting the girls' pictures taken today since we still haven't gotten Shaeleigh's 1yr old pictures made (as of yesterday she is 14 months old!)

We are trying to break Jaedyn of coming and getting in our bed in the middle of the night. We put a baby gate up in the doorway of her room. That used to keep her in her room, but now she climbs over it. So, we went and bought a taller gate. Well, she climbed over it too. So, I had the bright idea to put the shorter gate on top of the taller gate to make a really tall gate. We did that and it really backfired on us! At 2:00am this morning, we heard Jaedyn wake up and start crying to get out of her room. Then there was a crash and her screaming. We both ran in there to her and she had tried to climb both of the gates, they gave way, and she was on the floor with the gate on top of her. She busted both of her lips and has a carpet burn on her chin. I wiped up the blood, cuddled her, and told her over and over that I was really sorry that she got hurt. Sometimes I just feel like a failure as a mother.
Now, we have to see how bad it looks today and decide if we are going to go on a get the pictures made....

Date:	2003-07-18 23:39
Subject:	The interview is over.
Security:	Public
Mood:	determined

Ok, I had the interview with Tonya, the regional supervisor. To make a long story short, she basically told me that I am what they are looking for and that there are 2 positions available in the STL area that might be a good fit. So, now she is going to go and talk to the other 2 people that I have interviewed with (I feel like I know these people personally at this point) and figure out where I would most benefit their company. It is nice to be appreciated and wanted!! :)
Having said that, there is still the issue of my teaching contract that just seems to be hanging over my head. Will the school district let me out of my contract when school is starting a month from today?! I don't know and I'm afraid Lil' Mrs. Jules may just get her panties in a wad if she is offered this new position and the school holds her back! AGH! I hate not knowing! I'm sooooo impatient! I want to be in control. Oh well, I will just have to sit back and wait and try to enjoy the ride no matter where the destination is.

Date:	2003-07-17 23:30
Subject:	Business is booming
Security:	Public
Mood:	accomplished

Tomorrow is another(and hopefully the last) interview for the assistant director position. I came away from the last interview not knowing how hopeful I should be. The recruiter called back today to set up tomorrow's phone interview and said that the director (the person that I interviewed with last) is a huge "Julie Cheerleader!" That made me feel really good! Of course, I think everyone should be a huge "Julie Cheerleader!" ha! ha! The recruiter said that the second interviews will wrap up tomorrow, so they should know something at the begining of next week. Hopefully they will offer me the position and then Richwoods will let me resign from my teaching contract for next year. If not, then there must be a reason for me to stay in Richwoods.
Our skin care business is really taking off and I am so excited! In fact, I just got finished analyzing Freddy. Yeah, guys, that is right. You need skin care too. Actually, you need it more than we women do because we have make-up to cover our imperfections!

Date:	2003-07-15 17:32
Subject:	There is change in the air.....well, maybe
Security:	Public
Mood:	anxious

Today I went on an interview for a position that, to me, sounds perfect. It is for assistant director of the Bright Horizons Child Care Center affiliated with Forest Park Hospital. I am really excited with the opportunity. It pays a little more than what I am making teaching and has MUCH better benefits. I should find out if I make it to the next round of interviews Thursday.
The problem, you ask? Thursday is the day that the school board where I taught last year meets for the last time before school starts. I would like to tell them before that meeting that I would like to resign from my contract since it is getting close to school starting again. I'm not sure that will happen. Well, I guess it could. They could call from Bright Horizons Thursday and ask me to come in that day for a second interview and then just offer me the position. If that happened I would have enough time to call the school and then fax a letter of resignation before the board meets. That sounds a little far-fetched to me. I guess I will just have to wait and see, something that I don't do very well! AGH!

Date:	2003-06-24 08:32
Subject:	It's been a while!
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful

Wow, it HAS been a while! I really haven't been online much since school got out for the summer. It just seems like there is always something else that I need or want to do. Sorry that I have been neglecting everyone's blog. If you have IMed me and I didn't answer that means that I was here and then left and just forgot to log off. :)
We have been taking the girls somewhere at least once a week. That trip is usually to Grant's Farm because Jaedyn likes to "ride the choo-choo tain and see the aminals." Today we are going to venture out to a water park with them. Jaedyn loved that water last year and she is excited to go today! I think Shaeleigh will like it too. She isn't scared of anything. We dug out their swimming suits last night and tried them on. When Jaedyn had hers on she said, "Daddy, I'm ready to go to the beach!" Now, THAT'S my daughter! We have been telling her we are going to the beach for vacation and she hasn't forgotten! I have to say, though, I am just as excited ash she is when it comes to the beach!

Date:	2003-06-03 16:33
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	accomplished

Can you believe it?! Shaeleigh is a year old! She has had a tough year, but she got through it with flying colors. She actually turned a year old May 20, but our computer has been sick, so I couldn't post. We had her birthday party at a park complete with hamburgers and hotdogs. She enjoyed the cake most of all! Icing EVERYWHERE!!!! Jaedyn wouldn't touch her cake, but that was not the case with Shaeleigh! We have pictures that I'll have to post soon!
Shaeleigh also had her 12 month checkup with her pediatrician. The nurse that weighed her is my favorite and remembers us from all the problems Shaeleigh had. She told Shaeleigh that the scale used to be her enemy, but now she is growing and gaining weight like she is supposed to. She weighs 20 pounds even and is 29 1/2 inches long. She is in the 30% for weight and 75% for height. She and her sister are going to be tall like their daddy!
I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers over the past year. I am soooooo relieved that we got her to her first birthday. For some reason I just kept telling Barry that after we get her to her first birthday she would be fine and she seems very healthy now! She just can't have dairy products and is still trying to perfect her crawling. I think she is just going to get up and walk and forget the crawling!!!

We have just 3 weeks of school left! 15 school days!! Woo hoo! I am soooo ready for summer break. This summer I am doing something different. I am now a certified skin analysis consultant. That means I have, and am trained to use, a skin analyzer machine. It really is the coolest thing! You sit in the machine and it shows you what is going on 2 layers deep in your skin. You know, all that nasty stuff like sun damage, fine lines, clogged pores, dehydration, etc. All the stuff that will come out to the top layer of skin later and make you look like old if it isn't taken care of now! I am so ready to get this rolling!

I am also looking for a teaching job closer to home for next year. If hear of anything, please let me know!

Carpal tunnel REALLY sucks! I have had it since college. I haven't had any bad problems with it since then until last night. I didn't do anything that I don't normally do, but it kept me up all night. Any one else out there dealing with this? This brace makes it really hard to type!

Date:	2003-05-01 13:23
Subject:	Enough is enough!
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

It's funny that Freddy and I and some friends just had a conversation last night about how when people post things we shouldn't let it bother us especially when they are strangers. Today someone posted something on the Stlbloggers site that upset me.

It wasn't the comment so much that upset me. It is the fact that some people have been talking about our situation (mine and Freddy's) behind our back for some time now. Do you really think it wouldn't get back to us?! Come on! If you have a problem with the fact that Freddy is currently a stay-at-home dad and is looking for a job, FUCK OFF! We are currently very happy! I have a career that is very rewarding and I enjoy and our girls have their Daddy with them all the time, which they LOVE! We don't have to worry about what happens behind closed doors at a daycare center.

I understand that Freddy often states his opinion on things. If you don't like it, don't read it! He is very protective of those he cares about and he isn't scared to show that! If you have a problem with him it is probably because he said something to you because he felt that you were trying to hurt someone he cares about. Now, that to me is a very honorable trait!

Ooooh! Look! I'm updating my blog!

Last night we went to Leesa and Chris's house and picked up our new-to-us washer and dryer!! Thank you sooooooooo much! And, I got to see the new guest room first hand. The pictures just do NOT do it justice! It is beautiful!

While we were there, I told Leesa that I didn't think Shaeleigh was feeling well. Shaeleigh was being her normal cheery self and charming both Leesa and Chris, so I thought she wasn't too bad. Then we got home and I got the thermometer out. Her temp was 104.8!!! AGH! I felt like a horrible mother! I got her into a luke-warm bath and got it down to 103.6, gave her motrin and tylenol and put her to bed. She got up this morning and it was 102.3. That poor baby is sick more than she is well!

Tonight I get to work on a wedding gift for Chris and Leesa. I can't go into any more details than that for obvious reasons! I will tell you all about it later and maybe even post a picture.

This weekend is packed FULL of things to do and places to go! Tomorrow night is a wedding shower. Saturday morning I have to go to SEMO and take the Praxis II again so I will be dually certified (elem ed. and early childhood ed.), then we have a church planning meeting (our church is starting a new church), and then Freddy tells me something about people coming to our place! ha! (That is TOTALLY his department! I don't do well at planning things like that!) Somewhere in the middle of that we have to get the girls down to my parent's house and hope that Shaeleigh miraculously gets better! (She won't be around this weekend, so no one will be exposed!) Hopefully we can get our washer and dryer hooked up on or before Sunday. I'm sure everyone would appreciate us wearing clean clothes! ha!

Well, I need to round up my 22 kindergarteners and take them to lunch. That is a major undertaking!

Date:	2003-04-10 07:53
Subject:	A long post...a little graphic.
Security:	Public
Mood:	infuriated

Something has been festering inside me for a few days and I guess I just need to get it out. There is this insane teacher where I teach. I have written about her before. She is the one that likes to critique my room and has a doll that she treats like her child. She is a VERY strange creature, so I should have just let her most recent comment go in one ear and out the other, but if you know me then you know I have trouble doing that. Anyway, her comment...She and my mentor teacher were talking about a student that was in 8th grade last year and is now going to one of the high schools in the area. Apparently this girl said she was raped and is now pregnant. This insane teacher's comment was, "Well, she should definitely have an abortion because that isn't a real baby anyway. That thing was just bread from evil!"

For those of you who don't know, I was raped when I was 14. It was by someone who claimed to care for me. My next period was late, there were a lot of clots, and I now know that the horrible cramps I had felt like early contractions. I hadn't told anyone what had happened at that time so I didn't tell anyone that my period wasn't normal. I had a suspicion that I was pregnant, but didn't know how to handle it. Some would say that God took care of me. Others would say that child would have been pure evil. All I knew was that I was hurting and felt like I had no one to turn to. It was 2 years before I couldn't hold it in anymore and finally told a close friend what had happened to me. That friend made me go and tell my parents, which I thank her for now.
I had one, maybe two, miscarriages after that. The first one was not confirmed by my doctor because I really didn't want to know. The second one was confirmed. I now have 2 beautiful daughters that I thank God for daily. Some people will read this and think, "Now, see! Everything turned out for the best." Want to know what I say to that? FUCK OFF!

Now, this teacher that made the remark about the former student is insane, but still her comment cut right through me.

Well, we FINALLY signed the papers on the duplex yesterday. Our new landlords are, um well, are a few fries short of a Happy Meal. They are nice enough people, but they sure are spacey! We are moving in this Saturday. Freddy and his dad moved the new bed and the new furniture yesterday. After Saturday we will finally be out! It is very long overdue!

We should be bringing home our bug this week too! Yay! I can't wait to drive it. Freddy has already driven it and he is STILL in the dog house for that one!

As far as Atkins goes, Freddy is very quickly melting away! I, on the other hand, am losing but not nearly as fast and drastically as he is. I can sure tell a difference when I look in the mirror, though! That sure makes me smile! We should have taken before and after pictures. Oh well, I just don't want to look like a beached whale when I take the girls swimming this summer and I'm well on my way!

Date:	2003-04-01 10:55
Subject:	Atkins update!
Security:	Public
Mood:	accomplished

I finally got to weigh myself last night! Now, who in their right minds would get excited about getting to weigh themselves?! Well, I did! I was excited because it told me I have lost 5 pounds! Woo Hoo! We have been doing Atkins for 9 days (today is day 10.) We have both noticed big differences already! Yay!

Date:	2003-03-31 07:49
Subject:	Our weekend...
Security:	Public
Mood:	accomplished

Wow! What a weekend! It went by sooooooooo fast! Friday night my parents took us out to eat to celebrate that we have a place to live!! They had watched the girls so Barry could go have lunch with Leesa and get fitted for his tux and then they took us out to dinner. I have the best parents!

Saturday was spent looking for a new bed, a new car (well, new to us,) and stuff to outfit our infant nursery at church. Just give me any excuse to go shopping for baby stuff and I am on a mission (especially when it isn't with my money!) Saturday night finished up my training, and started Barry's, to be a certified skin analyzer! More on that to come later.

Sunday was normal as far as going to church. After church we went to pick up the king size bed we bought Saturday and then met Leesa and Melfie for dinner at S&P! YUMMY! We had a wonderful dinner and a wonderful time getting to know them a little better! We now know where the name Melf comes from. They got to meet the girls who were both in rare form! They seemed to be amazed at the reflexes that Freddy and I have acquired since becoming parents! ha!

Shaeleigh decided that we hadn't had enough excitement for the weekend and decided to throw up all over the back seat of our car on the way home. AGH! We got her, the carseat, and the car cleaned up just in time for her to do it all over again all over me! Yuck! This is starting to get weird because exactly 2 weeks ago she did the same thing and 2 weeks before that. Hmmm, is there a pattern here? If she does this in 2 weeks again, I am going to call her doctor. Maybe it's just a coincidence. Maybe I'm just a paranoid Mommy. Or, maybe she has an alien implant that acts up every 2 weeks. Who knows....

Date:	2003-03-28 08:18
Subject:	It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...
Security:	Public
Mood:	bouncy

I got home last night at 8:30pm because I had to stay at school for the spring concert. When I got home, Freddy said he had 2 things to tell me. The first is that we are getting a buttload of money back from our income taxes! WOO HOO!

The second thing is what excited me the most! We have a place to live!!!!!! Now, it isn't quite as far north as we wanted, but we don't have to sign a lease either. So, when we find something that we really like further north, we can do that. I am just soooooooooooooooooooooo excited that we found something! We will be living in Imperial, which is about 10 minutes south of So. County, in a 2 bedroom duplex. The landlords go to church with us and live on the same street.

Now, we have to get a second vehicle and get a new bed. We have to get a new bed because we currently have a waterbed and they won't allow that. So, boo hoo, I have to go shopping!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood......