Words to live by

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes seekout the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. Never throw out anyone. Remember if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have tow hand; one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.

These beautiful words were written by Audrey Hepburn. I read this passage whenever I'm feeling down.

....and the adventure continues

So the last couple of months have brought forth their share of problems and adjustments have been made but, I must tell you, my life is going great. Since I went from stay-at-home mom to single mom, faster than you can explain divorce to a five year old, the water has been anything but calm. Do not feel sorry for me though. Life is good. I got a wonderful job and have really challenged myself. I know that life as a single mom is a struggle but my life is so great right now and it can only get better. Although the holidays have been interesting to say the least, I think I can make it. My five year old has been improving as well. At first he had a hard time adjusting to our new living situation but, now I think he's enjoying it. I also think seeing mommy happy makes all the difference as well. Single mommyhood is not what I ever saw in my future but, because it has become my future I think I will embrace it. What's that all about?? Who knows, but you gotta roll with the punches and being unhappy and not treated right is not my idea of a healthy relationship. So love the one your with and if that one happens to be a five year old monster beast child, love 'em up!

Happy holidays!

I'm back!

Wow, I've been away for way too long! My life has been flipped upside down. Corey (the Ex) and I have decided that a divorce is in order. It has been so stressful, the thought of my marriage failing is just heartbreaking to me. I'm sure its hard for him as well but, I know good things will come from this. Tomorrow is Halloween and it'll be the first one that I spend without him. Ok, enough 'Debbie Downer' and no more pity parties!
Anyways Roman, our monster of a son, is turning 5 on Tuesday! I can not believe it. He has made me so proud. I'm planning a robot themed party for him with pictures to come, of course. It feels like just yesterday when he was smiling up at me with those big chubby cheeks and his silly toothless grin. Man, that's one boy who has got me wrapped around his finger! He wants a skateboard more than anything for his birthday and he's so lucky, he gets two! One from Corey and one from me. I'm sure he'll like mine much much more,(no competition, lol) a girl can dream right?! I cant believe how many of our friends that are going to come to the party, he's one lucky little robot loving skateboarding kid!
Until next time, live life!

A great man once said.......

"Around here however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things, because we're curious... And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." Walt Disney

Recently my son and I watched Disney's 'Meet the Robinson's' and its his new favorite movie. Its such a sweet movie with a wonderful message, keep moving forward. At the end the above quote appears and I just fell in love with it. I have been trying for a while to live in the moment. Happy Monday everyone!

Seattle bound

Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Seattle, Wa. I'm excited to meet some cool people and to see my father in law. Roman loves the airport and planes so it'll be really easy for him. Today we are getting ready to say goodbye to sunny Huntington Beach, Ca by visiting our beautiful beach. Its not yet beach weather but, I'll take the beach any day. I love the beach, everything about it just makes me so happy. The weather in Seattle is not idea right now and it will probably drizzle everyday while we are there. Not too excited about that but, we'll make the most out of it.

Allegra.

Good times!

I just got back from a good friends' bridal shower. It was a 'Mad Hatter Tea Party' theme. We all wore hats, some crazy and ridiculous and some not. I won for cutest hat. I wore a bonnet I purchased at the Civil War reenactment but, they seem pretty easy to make. My friend got so many wonderful presents but the best one was a Dyson Ball Vacuum. She received it from her future Mother-In-Law, so sweet right?! I thought so. She's getting married at the end of next month and I am so excited to see her in her gown. I've seen pictures but there's nothing like seeing it in real life. Anyways the tea party was so beautiful, all the flowers and gorgeous teacups, and the company was amazing! There were such wonderful people there. Some of them I had already knew since I'd grown up with the future bride but some I was just meeting for the first time. Well now its time for me to hang out with my groom and ring barer!

See ya soon!

Long time....

I haven't written in such a long time! I've been writing more in my journal than here. We've been so busy around here. Ro and I are part of a home school co-op group and its been a huge blessing. I love all the different ages and genders that we get to hang out with. So many different cultures, races and personalities! We still haven't watched T.V. although we do still rent DVD's. Ro is really into anime movies like his new favorite 'Ponyo', he love that little fish so much! Its really cute when he sings the theme song and acts out parts of the movie with his cars (even though the film has nothing to do with cars what-so-ever). I've been reading a lot lately and crafting more. Currently I'm reading, 'Postcards from a Dead Girl' by Kirk Farber. Its a really easy and entertaining read. On the crafting side, last week I made some finger puppets.to put inside the eggs for the home school co-op's first annual Easter egg hunt that took place last week. A lot of the home school moms don't like feeding their kids globs of candy so we put trinkets and treasures inside the eggs this year. Some of the moms got really creative and crocheted eggs but most of us recycled plastic eggs from the years past. The finger puppets I made were from Kata Golda's book,'Hand Stitched Felt'. And they were a huge hit. So far everything is working out really nicely around here. We are heading to Seattle next week to visit my father-in-law and see the sites, I must say I'm pretty excited! Have a good week!

See ya soon!

I'm officially a dropout!

So my son and I have officially dropped out of preschool and I've never felt better about the decision we have made! My husband and I decided a while ago that it would be best if we home schooled our son, so it struck me as odd that we were sending him to preschool. Roman (our son) was attending a very cool parent participation nursery school too but, he really didn't like it. So we decided to pull him out of the preschool. Its been about a month now and he's doing very well and because we don't watch TV its actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. But if you ask him where he goes to school he will tell you, home depot. And he does since we often get supplies there for different projects and what not.

No more boob tube

Recently my husband and I decided that our TV was distracting ourselves from each other and it was not okay for our son to watch. Our son is now 4. We started to notice that when he'd watch TV he'd act out more and constantly talk very loud, he wouldn't listen to the rules of the house or eat. It was getting really bad and my husband and I started to lose our patience with him. So this year we've decided that the boob tube must go, or at least the cable. Our son, Roman, still watches DVDs and sometimes he plays X BOX but usually he gets bored with it after 15 minutes.
So far no TV has been really hard but, I'm noticing that there's less yelling, we are helping each other out more and sometimes when I can not sleep at 2am its easier to read a book instead of turn on the TV.
Happy New year!

When you thought I wasn't looking

When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you hang up my first painting on the refrigerator,
and I wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat,
and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I saw you make a cake for me,
and I knew the little things are special things.
When you thought I wasn't looking,
I heard you say a prayer, and I believed there is a God I could always talk to.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I felt you kiss me goodnight, and I felt loved.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you cared,
and wanted to be everything that I could be.
When you thought I wasn't looking, I LOOKED....
and wanted to say thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.

Connie Back

My sister and I saw this on a window of a store called, Peek...aren't you curious?, while we were holiday shopping for our boys last week. When we went into the shop we couldn't stop smiling. It was a really cute store and it appealed to both of us. My sister and I are both very different, so for us to find a children's store that both of us like is a huge deal. Hopefully there is a store near you so can check it out and see for yourselves!

http://peekarentyoucurious.com

Move! Why?

About every two months my husband and I have a very intense conversation about moving to Seattle. I love to enjoy the outdoors and just be outside doing nothing while in good company. I adore Southern California and love where I live. I think its perfect for an indecisive person of my nature. I will never be able to choose between surfing at the beach and snow boarding in the mountains, so its a good thing that I'm only 2 minutes away from the beach and 2 hours from the mountains. My wonderful husband is from Seattle, WA and would like to move back up there. His father lives there so it could be good for our son. And because our son is not really attached to anything here, it could work. This brings me to my next question: Why are we as women so attached to things like this, where we live? Is it because this is what we know and what we are accustomed to? Or maybe it is because moving is such hard work, especially if you have children. Or maybe its just fear that holds us back. But I will tell you something, if your marriage or relationship isn't strong the move will test it. Moving is such a hard thing, but trusting your patner isn't hard. Trust yourself, your children and your partner, always. I think that is why I don't want to leave Southern CA because my marriage isn't strong enough yet.

If you've got it, don't flaunt it!

So recently the motto, 'If you've got it, flaunt it', has really been tugging on my heart. This really began in September when I cut all my hairs off. Now please understand that I am young african american women living in a very white community. Once I cut my hairs I began to see the light, sort of. I noticed how much I was spending on my hairs both time and money, and I couldn't believe it!! People started noticing me more too amd since they had nothing else to look at besides my actual face, I couldn't blame them. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is be humble, embrace change and be slow to judge and quick to smile. And lastly if you've got please be humble about it. Just because I am not dressed head to toe in brand name everything doesn't mean I'm any less of a person. I think Dr. Seuss said it best, 'A person's a person, no matter how small.'

Nameste,

Allegra

Marriage

So recently my 4 year old son has become completely obsessed with marriage. I love it because he says things like, "Mama why did you marriaged my dad??" Or my personal favorite, " When I'm big I want to get married into you Mama." But this morning he said to me,"Mama why didn't you marriaged into yoga, you really love yoga. I know this because you read about and you always do it and you're a really good Mama when you do it." And I replied,"Honey, we can't get married to an action, like yoga because yoga is something I do to relax, so I can't marry it. You marry someone you really love a whole bunch." So he replied," So I can marry into Coraline?" I then said,"maybe if you find someone who looks like Coraline and you really LOVE her then you can marry her.". I think he liked this answer because afterwards he kept pointing out girls who looked similar to Coraline.

All vaginas are not created equal!

So I often undress and dress in front of my 4 year old son with the hopes that he will see me do this so one day he won't be overly grossed out. Anyways my son recently was at school and a girl wanted to change into her bathing suit but, she needed help doing so my son went over to help her but she did not need his help so she asked a teacher instead. So my son then followed her but, stood back to watch her undress. As soon as her bathing suit was on my son came over and whispered in my ear, "Mama, her vagina looks much much different than yours". I could not hold in my laughter but I did try so hard! I had to then let my son know that every vagina is different just like ever person is different. What a funny conversation to have with a four year old!

Really!! Are you kidding me honey?

Today my wonderful husband has a Mixed Martial Arts competition and that will occupy his evening. So it's just me and a few friends and Roman, my monster of a child, and of course my toilet overflows!!!! Really, are you kidding me??! So what am I to do? I shoved everyone out the door and tried to clean it up myself but, honestly I'd rather go to the bathroom outside all night than deal with an overflowing toilet. So for the first time ever I call the maitence man. AND HE REALLY CAME!!!!! He even unflooded the bathroom and cleaned up after himself. Then I woke up and really unflooded my toilet by myself. The End!