Lock Down

A year ago, we went into lock down for 2 weeks. The 2 weeks turned into a month and a month into six. A year later and we are still dealing with this virus. We have shut down schools, lost businesses and friends. 

As an adult, my brain can hardly process it all. I can't imagine what a child feels like. Actually, I can. I have talked a lot about everything with my kids. It's been a while since I have blogged on here and have no idea what names I even call them for the blog. But they are now 11 and 7 years old.

 My son wrote a journal at the end of last school year that had us all panicking. At no age should a child feel helpless and out of control enough to wish that they were no longer here. I didn't read the journal before he submitted it to his teacher. He had even promised her that she wouldn't share it. But promises are broken when a child (or anyone) talks about taking ones life. The pandemic isolated him from all he knew and all his feelings got the best of him. She notified me and she came over to talk to him. I called the doctor who referred us to a therapist who felt comfortable enough to do in person appointments. He was comfortable with her and was able to open up about his feelings. 

Our daughter, is doing great in second grade. She missed her friends and after what we went through with her brother decided that we were fine with them seeing and socializing. People are social and children need the support of their peers.

Their school district went to in person or optional online for student at the beginning. Grades 3rd and up wear masks and all staff. No visitors. For my children's mental health we put them in person and they are doing wonderful months later. The district is on top of cleaning and total transparency about how many cases and in which school the cases are. 

It's been a crazy 2 weeks that turned into a year.

wow!

It's been two years give or take a few months since the last blog post here. Two years...alot can happen. My husband lost his job spring 2016 and we were able to push through until he got a job that is stable and allows us our freedom. He's gone some but as always I'm here to hold down the fort. Fall 2016 I went back to work...part time and both kids went to school, my husband was only home 4 days a month. A year ago we had a bad ice storm that knocked out our power for a week. Trees were lost and it took months to clean up. March we were evacuated due to a wildfire that came within a block of the house before the winds changed. Husband got his now job in June and we worked all summer on the weekends mowing. It was hard. Was told our small town school was closing, luckily it didn't. I feel if we had better management maybe crap like that wouldn't happen...Husband had a blood clot in his leg in the fall, scary but he was able to thin it with doctors help and time. Our chicken coop and garage burned down in November and we lost all of our birds. I still blame myself for this. I have installed over a dozen smoke alarms in the house along with what we already had and still don't sleep at night. The smell of smoke put me in a panic and I have a hard time leaving the house.  I cut cut  my finger 2 weeks before Christmas, 11 stitches and a few hundred dollars in medical bills. I try to see 2017 as a good year. Because well it was, we are in a better spot now than we were a year ago..even two years ago. I feel as a mom I'm holding steady. Doll Baby has started dance and she LOVES it makes my dancer heart happy. Dino Boy at his young age has talked about the military and as proud as that would make me, I'm thankful he still has a good 10 years before deciding.

I started selling Younique and I am loving it! Want to order: youniqueproducts.com/glitterglamgloss08

I think I give more away for free than I actually sale but I really do enjoy the make-up.

So thats two years in a nut shell...until next time!

Welch’s® Refreshingly Simple™ Review

We had the honor of reviewing Welch's® Refreshingly Simple™ For BzzAgent this past month. I would love to say I was able to get pictures but between Dino Boy and Doll Baby it was all gone before I could grab my phone. As soon as I got the box open and they noticed it was juice, which is something we use as a treat, cups were out and juice was poured. I was able to grab a glass before it was all gone and it was refreshing. It wasn't overly sweet and was a little like flavored water. Dino Boy said it was the best he ever had. We tried the peach mango, which in my head I thought yuck but it was very good. And on top of that the ingredients are simple. Welch’s® Refreshingly Simple™ contains just a handful of honest ingredients and none of the stuff you don’t want. That means no artificial sweeteners, preservatives, artificial flavors or high fructose corn syrup—just simply wholesome deliciousness. And it was pretty much gone within a day. It was refreshingly simple and in the words of Doll Baby yummy! As stated above I received a bottle for an honest review. All statements are my own. 

Annie's Star Pasta & Chicken soup review

I received Annie's star pasta & chicken soup from Influenster for an honest review. https://mobile.twitter.com/RaychelFaulkner/status/652166855545647104/photos

The soup had plenty of broth to go with the pasta and chicken, I actually poured some of it off. The flavor was good and not salty. The chicken pieces were a good size, kind of wish there was more but there was enough. The pasta was nice and soft, it had a good flavor. Doll Baby loved the stars and ate all of them. We didn't have any cheddar bunnies but did enough them with some steamed carrots and saltine crackers. Overall, it was a good healthy soup, that my toddler loves! 

I'm sorry

I'm sorry is about all I can say to Dino Boy this past Friday. Daddy has been gone all that week and so I was flying solo, stressed from having to do everything (really even when he is here I still do EVERYTHING) so Friday when I picked him up at school we headed to the store and than Sonic for dinner. Dino Boy asked if we coukd go to the football game tonight, it's no big deal the field is 2 minutes from the house, I agreed and we moved on. Came home ate it's only about 4:30/5 so we had plenty of time to play, clean and completely forget about going to the game. At around 7:15 Doll Baby gets cranky and I put her to bed (not remembering the game that starts at 7:30). Dino Boy goes and gets the chicken eggs but he hears people and at the same time we both realize the game is starting. I keep saying "I'm sorry." And he gets wants us to go and I tell him I have no one to watch his sister who is sound asleep now. He screams the three words I thought would never and I mean NEVER would come out of my sweet little boys mouth "I hate you." I'm crushed and holding back tears and say "I'm sorry." He silently gets ready for bed and without even a hug goes to his room. I go in a couple of minutes later and tell him that no matter what I would always love him. He just turns away, my six year old is an old soul and when he hurts it hurts bad. I know that it's just a game but I let him down, I failed him that night because I let stress get to me. He has forgiven me and we made plans to go to the last two home football games. But still the pain that I hurt him enough for him to think he hates me is there.

Pencil Review

So we tried out these new BIC Xtra-FUN pencils and my kids love them! The colors are bright and what caught my kids attention first. Dino Boy loves to draw and write letters to all his friends and family with them. And Doll Baby likes to draw and bang really hard on the paper with them, lucky for her the lead is pretty dang strong and doesn't break. They have helped Dino Boy's hand writing because he practices so much with them. Down fall the eraser is only held on by plastic that the kids can pull out...so some of the pencils are missing the eraser...but hey got it for free from bzzagent.com!

Men...husbands..

I normally don't complain about my husband...but sometimes he just doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. I stay at home all day with Doll Baby who is two and before/after school with Dino Boy, of course I'm not going to look perfect...in fact most days I'm lucky I have deodorant on...right? I am always covered in whatever food Doll Baby has eaten...and my hair is pulled back with paint or whatever in it from the day. We stay busy and we have fun...please don't come in and ask if I'm sick or complain that I don't look like I did when we were dating ten years ago...sorry being married and birthing two kids ruined that...So last week I decided to take that time and fix myself for him before he got home...however those nights I was too tired to do anything with him...if you get my drift.

My kids suck their thumbs...it's a habit we are now trying to break Dino Boy if..it's a hard habit and dad took his iPad away for a week just to try to get him to stop...a week later and I've only caught him a handful of times...maybe it will work.

Me and Doll Baby had some fun selfie time last week. I'll have to add some later.