Family

My Trip to CO, and other stuff

Jackie Tilton — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:02:53 GMT

I decided last week. . well..almost two weeks ago now...What day was that...lets see. . the seventh, to drive back to CO on a whim with my inlaws. They are/were moving to Virginia and I making a pit stop in CO and I was DYING to get back there, so I jokingly said on the fourth "hey it'd be good to go out with you"...I didn't think much of it because I wasn't really willing to make the drive back by myself. But then the next morning (the fifth) I figured it out, I could drive out, Willie could fly out during the week sometime, and help me drive back. . so off we went to travelocity of some other travel site and booked his ticket. I drove out Sunday and got there on Monday. Sunday was hell BTW. I woke up at 5 a.m. for no particular reason (was supposed to sleep until 6:15 a.m.), and we didn't arrive to our "obligated" destination (as fil called it), until 2:30 in the morning (3:30 Albuquerque time) and didn't get to bed until 4 a.m.! FIL 's trailer that he was pulling had a blown out tire and he didn't get in until 5 a.m. so I guess he had it more rough, but I had the two kiddos....so i win :)

We showed up on Monday and I got to surprise my Best Friend Lissa. Who I had talked too frequently throughout the drive and she never figured it out so that was fun. I was able to squeeze everyone in on my list by the end of the week except for a few personal close friends, but...I tried my hardest you can't argue that. The kids had a blast getting to re-meet everyone. We moved to CA at such a young age for them that they don't remember a lot of people seeing as they only get to visit them once a year.

It was hard being away from Willie. Not Guatemala hard, but hard. I think he had the harder time this time though. In Guatemala he was really busy and while he had time to think of it, not much before he was wisked off to a match,. . this time he had to sit at home, while not only I was gone, but so were the kids.

I discovered how much of a sucker I am for good ol' Beautiful Colorado scenery. On my drive out I was driving over Raton pass, and as I reached the top, the top of the twin peak mountains became visable and were covered in snow, and . . okay, I already admitted I'm a sucker, but I'll add that I'm a sap. I started balling. I truly miss Colorado. I saw so many deer along the highway, and it was just absolutely beautiful driving from the end of that pass on. I'll admit I'm an even bigger sap and its the same beautiful scenery on the way out (this time through the opposite end - Denver) that had me crying again.

I also realized that if I had been a little wiser to how little time I was going to be there, I probably would have had Willie come out during the next week or something to allow me time to fit everyone in. . oh well. . lesson learned.

The kids as usual were their fantastic traveling selves. I can't even remember how many trips they've been on, but its over twenty for each of them when you combine car and air travel. They are troopers. You should see Willie and I at the airport lol. We've actually gotten compliments..of course its from the people who got "stuck" behind us cause the people who were originally behind us thought "I'm outta this line these people will take forever", and go to another line, and we cruise right on through, while their still standing there. . haha

I got some of the cutest pictures of the kids. I'll share them once Willie reinstales windows live writer...I still hate vista. That hasn't changed lol

Lets see. . what else. I always sit and think to myself, or while doing something I'll say "I need to blog this" then I get here, and its gone. It's of course usually about how fantastic the kids are. . man they are great. . OH THATS WHAT IT WAS

When Willie got out to CO he informed me that he thought it was time for the kids to move into their own bedroom. I agreed. We moved into our 3 bedroom place and the third room has been nothing but an under-utilized toy room. Fine and all, but I'm missing out on my new double sinked bathroom because in the morning we can't use it because we'll wake up the kids..so when we got back from CO, we put the kids in their own room. They did great, I on the other hand did not lol.

After putting them down for nite-nite time, hanging out with Willie a bit, then going to bed myself, I realized they were no longer there, and started balling. "How can I hear them if they start coughing/What if they get sick" and of course nothing happened. However the next night we were awaken suddenly at 3:00 a.m. when Ian was out in the living room crying "momma where are you", he had an attack of the number 2's in the middle of the night and always needs help with his bum wipping...so I (being the overly sad momma that I am that I wont be able to hear them and help them) called to Willie "Go get Ian" lol. So much for my worries lol

I am aware that I can go get a baby monitor and ease my fear of hearing them, but the fear is going away. I am actually really starting to LOVE not having them in my room. I can put them to bed, and go to bed at the same time now! (before they would probably start crawling into bed with me (they were in seperate beds from us) and bugging me), OR like tonight, I can keep doing the laundry after nite nite time because they wont be there to interfere with the putting away of the clothes that belong in the nice sized walk in closet that is in the bathroom with the great double sinks :). It's all coming together and I'm getting used to it!

Today I even got BOTH OF THEM to lay in their beds for nap time at 3:00 p.m. in their room, so that meant that I could clean the kitchen and other things instead of having to be quite cause Ian was asleep on the couch and Lexi was asleep in our room. . its working out well.

That's about it. I'm sure I'll remember later what that third thing was but for now. my wrist hurts and they'll (Willie and kids) will be home from racquetball soon and Mommies alone time will soon be over. Better get the kitchen cleaned :)

My new Valentine Wish List (approve our real estate offer)

Jackie Tilton — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:09:05 GMT

So, it appears I am completely un-aware of the hosue buying process, and more importantly the forclosure process here in CA. We put in our bid of 305,000. We were told that the BANK had 7-14 days to approve our offer. I am now informed that "we're pretty sure the bank saw our offer", because they counter offered that they wouldn't pay closing costs, and counter offered with that clause in their counter offer, which we accepted, YET, we now have to compete with other offers that are coming in.

So, "the bank" wont cover closing costs. Their is an offer that we are competing with that is well above what our offer is, but since its an FHA loan (i.e. it includes closing costs) it will probably be dismissed???, and the other offer, is slightly higher than ours (enough so that our real estate agent asked "is 310 wasting our time" other agent said "no").

So, we're going to counter offer our counter offer of our counter offer...........this is confusing eh?? for 310K Gesh.

To make matters worse, we thought we were done. they had 7-14 business days to accept or decline our offer, we had no idea that they could continue to accept/consider new offers, so we have all our eggs stuck in one basket. I'm really beginning to mis-trust the listing agent who is representing the property. She is also saying things like "I will submit all offers by friday". Well why wasnt our offer submitted? And things like" the appraiser didn't get their until today and the bank guy leaves tomorrow on vacation.."

I'm beginning to wonder, was our offer even submitted at all? I just have no clue on this type of process. Anyone with knowledge on foreclosure property willing to help explain this??

**Edit**

I also discovered today that the box "we are accepting counter offers" was not checked. So legally can she accept these others offers and present them to the bank? Our Realtor is trying to tell us its an honest mistake and theirs nothing we can do, all offers have to be presented to the bank. I'm thinking BS.

I hate being sick

Jackie Tilton — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 14:45:03 GMT

Sure enough, I tried not to catch it. Lexi has had the sniffles and crud for a day or so now, and I tried tried tried to not hug and kiss her as much...but she's just too irresistable. Love this little cute fat cheeks, and belly rolls, and now, my head feels like it wants to explode, my eyes can't stay open, and I dont want any of them touching me . lol. Perhaps its payback "mommy I didn't feel good and you kept bugging me" so now they'll bug me.

no fun.

Jackie

Just Really Tired...

Jackie Tilton — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:49:12 GMT

We had a racquetball tournament this weekend. It was a really great tournament. The OC Stop even though it was a Pro Stop, was probably the best I have ever been too. They did a fantastic job keeping the Amateurs on time, and had an excellent spread of hospitality. Awesome all round.

I made it to the finals in both my events. Unfortunately in my singles it was played at 8:00 a.m. I had slept really crappy the night before, as we got home at midnight. I ate a bannnana and laid out my head bands to dry as there was no time to wash, and drank some water before bed. Finally laid down at around 1 a.m., however I was at that point where I was so tired I couldn't fall asleep. So I fell asleep probably around 1:30-1:45. Ian came over and woke me up at 5 a.m. to get into bed, then I of course had to use the restroom, so that woke me up a bit. Woke up at seven and could hardly move. I didn't have time to eat breakfast, and couldn't take medicine for the soreness on an empty tummy. That was a HUGE mistake. I lost pretty easily, 0, and 5. I actually apologized for not showing up in a better state, and said it was a pretty lously finals match. She was pretty understanding. We've played each other before, and its always been close so she knew I wasn't my normal self, and said "I kept wondering when you were going to wake up" . . . great...

I went home and ate, and toke some Bayer back and body pain relief medicine. OMG WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE. Every thing was fine after that. I went back to play my Mixed A/B Doubles finals match, and we won in the tie breaker! It was a lot of fun.

In other news, I made my first weight goal mark. I'm at 210. I hate posting that, but...it'll get better. It's only taken me three weeks to lose 10 pounds, not sure if thats good or not lol. I think the mark is 2 pounds per week is what you aim at, so I'm a little ahead if thats the case.

I have started a technique Brenda K used and thats not eating after 6:30. This is a hell of a lot harder than it sounds. I get the munchies. I like snacks. But I have been trying to not eat, but instead drink plenty of liquids.

I'm definately stiff and sore today. I was thinking of going to the gym, but god, I think I'll just walk it off around the house and tidy up because the babysitters this weekend definately let it get trashed lol. So I'll get my exercise in that way, and perhaps a mid afternoon trip to the park. Of course it is a bit chili out so we'll see on that. The kids are miserable ...okay I'm miserable too if it gets too cold.

But it was a fun weekend. It was nice of Willie brother to come down and watch the kids...I had a lot of fun.

hmmmm

Jackie Tilton — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:15:33 GMT

I think I jumped the gun on my mood the other day. I have yet to hit "the pit". Today has been a busy busy day of cleaning the house. . It's almost like nesting. . wierd.

I sold my other TMX Elmo. I wanted 55 for it but got 40. I guess I paid for shipping lol. It was wierd because it was for a little girl named Jackie. So that was nice.

Willie and I stayed up too late last night watching "The Office". I love that show. We stayed up until like 1. It's funny because I'm always the one that wants to watch show after show after show, and of the same exact show. Willie is never in that mood lol. So it was wierd last night when thats all he wanted to watch. I wonder if he's burnt out a little on Battle Star Galactica. I think I fell asleep during the last one we watched, maybe he's waiting for me to catch up. Anyhoo...

Is it possible to drink too much water that you get headaches?? I've been drinking 2 pitchers a day of water (120 oz rougly probably a little less though cause I dont have the patience to wait for them to fill but close to that). I've been getting wierd headaches though which is wierd, cause normally my trigger for headaches is dehydration/fatigue/hunger/over perfumed women/men. lol

Okay I'm not on any particular path. This is seriously how I think lol

Jackie

I found an Aunt Lynn....

Jackie Tilton — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:28:05 GMT

So I am always so envious of the Carons because they have an Aunt Lynn. She's like a Nanny for them. She's wonderful, and I love them to deat, but I'm jealos :) lol

So this weekend is the tournament, and it finally hits me...I have an Uncle Timmy!! So I call up to Santa Maria and ask Ian and lexi's Uncle Tim if he can come down and watch the kids for us while we are at the tournament. He says YES. yeah...

Jackie

I wish they'd stay out of my bed....

Jackie Tilton — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:39:56 GMT

I know I've mentioned before that for various reasons Ian and Lexi sleep in our room. It's getting a little annoying though as of lately, because they keep climbing up into our bed. Ian has gotten so good at it I dont even know he's there until my arm is asleep from his big ol' head lying on it.

Lexi still has to ask for help up,. . with her I should escort her back to her bed, but I cave cause I see those big little eyes of hers just wanting to cuddle and I cave lol. But then it gets irritating. Willie is a total bed hog, and he *thinks* hes on his side, but he's borderline his side/middle of the bed. I need to get a picture so you can see just how little space I have when the two kiddos join us.

And then inevediably (trying to use a word I can't spell), they wake up at like 7:00 a.m. just because they are tired of getting the bruises they are getting from kicking eachother.....sigh

Willie of course is always the one who gets to sleep in. I think I can count on three fingers since my birthday (which I still got up with them lol) how many times I've gotten to stay in bed. It's also cause he tends to let them make such a fuss that when he gets up I'm wide awake laying there thinking. . whats the point.

So. Willie has his pro qualifier tonight against John Ellis. I'm excited to see this matchup. Should be a good match..if Willie shows up. I dont play until Friday. I hate it when they combine divisions I'd much rather them just let us do round robin with our respective entrants. Combining c/d doesn't make much sense...

I played in my League on Tuesday. First time since before Christmas. I felt like a fish out of water. My court senses were totally off. Played like crap. Wasn't one of those "great racquetball" nights I've been bragging about thats for sure. I tried to keep myself on court five out of everyones view lol.

My shots werent that bad but its like I had forgotten how the ball bounces. I can only imagine how awful it will be at Los Cab when I'm on cement walls which is something I'm just not used to. The ball IMO seems ot be a little slower on those kind of courts so hopefully that'll help lol

Jackie

Musings....

Jackie Tilton — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:03:16 GMT

I seem to go through various *spurts*. Whether they be energy, desire, diligence in getting things done. These spurts can last anywhere from morning then die out in afternoon time, or sometimes as long as a week or two. But they always die down. I always find myself lacking in the drive to get the house cleaned after weeks of having it spottless. Maybe its the realization that I spend a lot of time cleaning. Sometimes the kitchen gets cleaned 3+ times a day during these spurts, sometimes 2-3 loads of laundry a day during the spurts. The bathrooms are spotless, everythings clean and tidy. I enjoy that, but eventually its like...gesh, can I have a break?

I do the same with our Business. I'll be churning through things left and right. Got those invoices out? Check. Got that new hosting account/domain name registered etc? Check. Everything done? Check. Then, I'll lull again. Usually when I'm getting things done with the Business the previous example of the house cleaning goes down the drain, and instead of 2-3 loads of laundry every day, its 5+ loads on the weekends, and 1 huge kitchen clean a day.

It stems to my parenting. I know I am a kick ass mom. I take my kids to the park every day. Given there are days we dont make it. I dont think that we will today, because I have lots of errands I have discovered I need to take care of (such as invoices etc) that I've been pushing off, and now have a pile of stuff to do, so well skip it. But we went Yesterday, and I do this for at least 1.5 hours a day. I like to get them out of the house, running around, breathing Californias version of fresh air. But sometimes...its a drudging chore for me to do this. I simply DONT WANT TOO. I dont want to do anything with them. Nothing.

It comes and goes in spurts. However, I'm starting to notice that when the spurts die down, so does my attitude/mood. I feel depressed. I feel...burnt out. Ian better not even look at me funny because I'll more than likely throw him in time out. I just...feel like I'm losing it. I have no idea why my spurts die so hard. Its really quite frustrating. I am a firm believer in Mind over Matter. My swim coaches ultimatum of "just do it" ringing through my ears, I drudge through it. I crash even harder then.

I think its time I look at this in a different light. Perhaps its as simple as changing the routine. I am an excellent morning person for getting things done. However when I wake up the kids wake up and blow the hold idea of getting stuff done in the morning. Perhaps an earlier bedtime, and an earlier wake up time is in order. I could get the things I need to get done out of the way first thing in the morning. The kids would wake up, we'd have our breakfast, get ready and go to the park. Well I know for a fact I get burnt out on the park because of how often we go, and for how long. So perhaps instead of 1.5 -2 hours, we could do 30-45 minutes, and then later in the after noon supplement with a walk around the complex just to change things up. Go exploring. That would work...

I also dont like excuses. My swim coaches other saying was "excuses are like armpits, we all have them and they all stink."...I've had to work really hard to let that one go. Mostly because sometimes, we have excuses....

I dont know, I dont really know where I'm going with this blog. I think I feel the beginning onset of the "down"time, and I really have been good about getting everything done lately I dont want to colapse back into the pit. I can acknowledge that I have a problem with this...I just dont even know where to begin looking for the answer...

On the plus side...quite literally sadly enough lol, I'm down 7 lbs. I think my success with that right now and feeling this come on is depressing too. I'll stop going to the gym, I'll stop caring, eat what I want and whatever...sigh...well. The kids are sleeping. I'm tired from keeping them out of my bed all night, I might lay down with them....I'll shelfe...god my spellings horrible. . these thoughts for later :)

Jackie

Like Momma Like Baby

Jackie Tilton — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:19:19 GMT

Well, Lexi is so starting to show so many of the same characteristics as me. For instance, she loves black olives. We ordered Pizza on Friday and thats all she wanted, was Olives. She also sleeps like me. She loves to have a "leg pillow" where she can throw her leg over it when she sleeps on her side. I use Willie, and if she's close enough to a person when she's sleeping she'll use them as well. She's so freakin cute!

We got some cute Video of her last night dancing in the living room. I didn't realize that our version of Groove Armada's Shaking your Ass wasn't the radio version, and there it is "I see you baby...shaking that ass" and I'm like...um. But there she was, shaking her baby butt :)

The kids have had the crud all last week. Really put a damper on me getting to the gym to work out. Not much of an excuse considering that when Willie gets home I could walk across the street and use the apartments gym. Of course a few of the days last week, I had something wierd too.

The black olives thing is really interesting to me. My mom (so I'm told) LOVES olives too. And I have been told a story about how she would just open a can of Olives and eat them....I have a little more restraint lol, but not much. If I'm cooking with them, or if i'm at a party and they're on the try, I eat so many of them lol. So here we have my mom loving olives, I love olives, and now Lexi loves them...well..I love lexi :)

Qjakal, I replied to your Christmas post about ...abodoeabdada :)

Jackie

I HATE sick kids....

Jackie Tilton — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:42:16 GMT

As you read in Willies post, Ian and Lexi now have some sort of stomach crud. Ian threw up about 12:00 last night, then again at 12:30. Sent Willie out and picked up some pedi tylenol because I just happened to be out, no more incidents. Then this afternoon, I have an interview with a representative from the University of Phoenix (thinking of finishing my degree there), the kids are HORRIBLE. So awfuly behaved...it was embarassing. I even asked if I could just reschedule becuase they were both being uncharacteristically (sp??) horrible. Well the lady convinces me we can handle it and in we go to the little room where the horrible behavior is magnified becuase we are in such a small room and ours ears hurt when they scream....

So after that horrible experience I call Willie and complain he asks me to join him for lunch. no problem. We go to our weekly favorite Fresca's and sure enough, We sit down at the table, Ian pukes....it must be a restauraunt thing. He is fine now. Though I think he threw up once we got home, and is in denial. The kid is so damn stubborn he wont tell me he has to or did or what....

*sigh*....and on top of that all, my tummy is now queasy. I'm exhausted from the horrible sleep and worry lol. I hate seeing them sick. Nothing worse than a 3 year old dry heaving. . poor fella....and all he wants to do is go to the park :(

Jackie