Mara Art: She's SOOOO Proud of Zach

One of Amara's (my 9 year old) loves is to make art.  Recently her 13 year old brother Zach asked a girl to be his girlfriend.  For some reason this made lil' sis so happy and excited for him that she just had to stop everything she was doing and draw him a picture.  

She proudly placed it in front of him, he ignored it and she didn't care because she was so thrilled for her big brother. 

First Day of School

Ack!  Where did my pictures go?  Working on this...

First day of the 2014-2015 school year was August 21, 2014.  I'm getting this done on the 27th...not too shabby!  I'm usually a few months behind.

Up first is 8th grader, Zach.  This is his last year of middle school.  I'm going to have a high school child soon, then he'll be driving, moving out, going to college and starting his own family and I'm just not ready!    

Too cool for photos.

 

4th grader, Amara is starting a new school due to a huge change in the district.  She's adjusting quite well and loves her teacher!  

My smiley, photogenic little girl.

Henry is missing all of his big siblings already.  Henry won't be starting school until next week.

1st grader Jonas was very excited about starting 1st grade.  We didn't have the best Kindergarten year but he was really looking forward to lunch and recess.  Lunch and recess at school can make a world of difference! 

This was how Jonas prepared the night before.

And here he is, showing how excited he is to be heading into the building.

Happy school year! 

Wordless Wednesday: Hey Mama, I'm a Space Man!

Wordless Wednesday: Kayaking

Wordless Wednesday: Tiny Dancer

Wordless Wednesday: Elmo in NYC

Wordless Wednesday: Caught! Superman Eats Ice Cream

Guess Who Lost a Tooth

Look ma, no eyes!  Why does this boy with the beautiful eyes have to squint when he smiles?

Yep, I know the world cares about my kid losing a tooth and that's why I'll tell you all about it.  Jonas is 6 and lost his first tooth on May 9th.  It had been wiggling for weeks and he wouldn't stop messing with it (though he wouldn't let me tie it to a door) and it finally fell out while he was doing nothing in particular.  
Then about 3 days later (yeah, I know- great mom, right?) he lost his second one.  Good thing we have a reasonable tooth fairy.  She left him a gold dollar for the first and a quarter for the second.  It took a few days to get to him because someone takes forever to go to sleep when he goes to bed and someone's mom was really tired. 

Someone got out of eating apples for a few weeks.   Yay, applesauce!

I'm pretty sure this whole post was just to show off my kid's gorgeous face.  Yeah, I know I'm a little biased. 

Wordless Wednesday: Lemur Photobomb

What Happens When a Mom Cleans Under Her Bed (After Months of Neglect)

 

This is not a small bin.

I am absolutely not the best housekeeper but I seriously skipped cleaning under the bed for the longest time.  I actually only did it because I can't find the dang tv remote and I really wanted to watch Heroes on Netflix.  

So, what does one find under the bed of a family with 4 kids who love to visit mom and dad in the middle of the night, hands stuffed full of the Lego toys that they need to have?  The bed that doubles as the home of mutant zombies or ninja warriors?  Well...I can tell you!  Lots of socks, enough toys to fill a large bin, enough dust (and trash??) to fill the vacuum.  Twice.  Enough books to entertain bored kids all year, enough Lego pieces to build an empire and the Fitbit I couldn't find for weeks.  I put that on stat, so that I could make myself feel better today about eating 3 donuts yesterday.  But seriously, it's like The 12 Days of Christmas in here.  Sort of.  

Well, hello tiger.  Long time, no see.

I'm nowhere near done cleaning out from under my bed.  Or the rest of my room.  Or the rest of my house

But I got it in my head that everyone would love to see what I found under my bed.  Because everyone loves being bumped up a notch on the good mommy or good housewife list.  You're welcome :) 

Throwback Thursday: My Blog's Myers-Briggs, 2009 and Now

I must be really bored, or I'm totally avoiding a dozen things I really need to do.  Because today I'm doing a throwback to my 2009 Myers-Briggs blog personality test.  

I am:

Back in April of 2009 I decided I needed to test my blog's personality.  I had to make sure my blog and I were on the same page.  So I visited Typealyzer  to check.  The Typealyzer determines your personality based on your blog writing. You type in your blog address and within a few seconds you get a result. Then it matches your blog to a personality type, based on the Myers-Briggs personality test.  Fun!

I like looking back on the past.  Plus, I have to make sure I don't repeat any bad history.  

So here's what my (old) blog personality was like:  
ESFP - The Performers was my 2009 blog.  When I take the actual  test I go back and forth between extroversion and introversion depending on my mood.  I typically end up with sensing over intuition but it changes sometimes.  I've never been anything but an FP- Feeling and perception, rather than thinking and judgement (TJ).    

My 2014 blog is also an ESFP. 

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.


__________________

Is that me?  Entertaining?  Maybe.  I see myself as boring.  Friendly?  Definitely!  I do see importance in my surrounding- I like to feel, smell and see nice things (who doesn't?).  As for living in the present moment and not planning ahead...well I plan all the time but tend to make impulsive decisions anyway.  I am constantly exhausting myself with my thoughts and plans for the future.  It's very overwhelming being me.  While I am impulsive, I have the most amazing self-control when it comes to shopping.  I can window shop like a pro. 


I do enjoy work where my effort shows, whether or not it is with people.  I always try to avoid conflicts and I will not initiate confrontation.  Ever.  So that is spot-on.  I never did have a problem working in management though.  

___________________


Also back in 2009, I took the regular test to compare.  The Myers-Briggs personality test agreed with the Typealyzer:

Your Type is
ESFP
My exact results:

Extraverted	Sensing	Feeling	Perceiving
Strength of the preferences %
11	12	62	22

Qualitative analysis of your type formula
You are:

• slightly expressed extravert
• slightly expressed sensing personality
• distinctively expressed feeling personality
• slightly expressed perceiving personality

After taking the test again (just to remind myself, this is March, 2014) my score is very similar:

ESFP

Extravert(44%)  Sensing(25%)  Feeling(88%)  Perceiving(67)%

• You have moderate preference of Extraversion over Introversion (44%)
• You have moderate preference of Sensing over Intuition (25%)
• You have strong preference of Feeling over Thinking (88%)
• You have distinctive preference of Perceiving over Judging (67%)

Artisan^TM Portrait of the Performer (ESFP) (More in-depth.)

Performers have the special ability, even among the Artisans, to delight those around them with their warmth, their good humor, and with their often extraordinary skills in music, comedy, and drama. Whether on the job, with friends, or with their families, Performers are exciting and full of fun, and their great social interest lies in stimulating those around them to take a break from work and worry, to lighten up and enjoy life.
Performers are plentiful, something over ten percent of the population, and this is fortunate, because they bring pleasure to so many of us. Performers are the people for whom it can truly be said "all the world's a stage." Born entertainers, they love the excitement of playing to an audience, and will quickly become the center of attention wherever they are. Performers aren't comfortable being alone, and seek the company of others whenever possible-which they usually find, for they make wonderful playmates. Performers are smooth, talkative, and witty; they always seem to know the latest jokes and stories, and are quick with wisecracks and wordplay-nothing is so serious or sacred that it can't be made fun of. Performers also like to live in the fast lane, and seem up on the latest fashions of dress, food, drink, and music. Lively and uninhibited, Performers are the life of the party, always trying to create in those around them a mood of eat, drink, and be merry.
The Performers' talent for enjoying life is healthy for the most part, though it also makes them more subject to temptations than the other types. Pleasure seems to be an end in itself for them, and variety is the spice of life. And so Performers are open to trying almost anything that promises them a good time, not always giving enough thought to the consequences.
Like the other Artisans, Performers are incurably optimistic - "Always look on the bright side," is their motto - and they will avoid worries and troubles by ignoring them as long as possible. They are also the most generous of all the types, and second only to the Composer Artisans [ISFPs] in kindness. Performers haven't a mean or stingy bone in their body-what's theirs is yours-and they seem to have little idea of saving or conserving. They give what they have to one and all without expectation of reward, just as they love freely, and without expecting anything in return. In so many ways, Performers view life as an eternal cornucopia from which flows an endless supply of pleasures.


Have you taken the Myers-Briggs or Typealyzer test for fun?  What were your results? 

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Because I'm already down.  I seriously feel like I can't win right now.  Apologies and a warning before I begin...this is going to be nothing but wallowing in self-pity.  I warned you. 

We are finally getting back on our feet after a lengthy period of unemployment.  Or we were starting to get back on our feet.  First it was our heater, which the installer forgot to register which almost made for a VERY costly repair.  Fortunately it was only $140 that we couldn't afford and not $500 that we couldn't afford.  My vacuum needs a new belt.  Again.  That one is not a big deal- just a few bucks.  It's just a pain because the belts are getting increasingly harder to find.  Next...my basement backs up.  It's bad.  Really bad.  This isn't the first time and I'm just so scared that the cost for this venture is going to be way beyond what we can handle.  But we don't have any other options.  Jason did try to fix it with the snake, and he had no luck whatsoever.  We can't live with it like this- it's not safe or sanitary or convenient.  Right before it happened I put all of our dirty laundry down there.  Crap.  Literally.  Our dishwasher has been broken for a few weeks.  I can't even begin to explain how much time I've spent doing dishes.  I want clean dishes but it's the kids' chore so I have them do the first round, then I rewash them once all the grime is off them in clean, soapy water.  It's probably doubling my water bill too.  I hate dishes.  I hate not having a dish washer.  I could easily do two loads of dishes every day (dishwasher loads, not sink loads).  Then my dog wants to make sure we don't forget that she can be trouble too, so she has been working hard to thoroughly saturate our carpet.  Should I just be glad it isn't the wood floors right now?  Or should I just hope (with all my being) that it isn't a UTI? 

That's just the big stuff.  Then there's the not being able to focus on anything ever which leads to nothing ever getting done, my desperate need for new contacts (I really love the headaches, glasses- really, but I'd like this relationship to be over), constantly picking up after my lazy family (getting them to help is like pulling teeth, and ensuring it happens takes 3 times longer than just doing it myself).  And I have so many errands to run.  Ugh.  

Okay, I'm done.  Thanks for listening.             

Rest in Peace, Dad

 

My dad, Ronald Klineyoung, passed away this week.  Long, written novels are out of the question so for now, I'll share his obituary.  I only knew my dad as a man with mental illness but he was a lot more and I'm sad that I never knew the person he was before schizophrenia took over his mind and body.  

When I visited him for the first time after his diagnosis the first thing he said was, "When are you getting married, Al?".  4 weeks and many wonderful friends and family later Jason and I finally tied the knot.  For many reasons- budget being one of them- we had held off on this seemingly unimportant event.  I always said I'd do it when the time was right, or when I had to.  That time had come.  

August 11, 2013

He was diagnosed in July and made it until December.  He was 59.  I'm handling it well.  I think being able to prepare helped me some.  I keep forgetting to do things like ordering the kids' Christmas presents, doing the dishes and decorating the tree but I'm sure that will get better.  I'm just sad for what he didn't have.  Anyway, here's the obituary.      
YORK- Ronald E. Klineyoung, 59, passed away peacefully Tuesday, December 17, 2013 at Manor Care South following a courageous battle with cancer.
A celebration of life tribute service will be held at 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 21, 2013 at Heffner Funeral Chapel and Crematory, Inc., 1551 Kenneth Rd., York with Pastor Richard B. Starr officiating. A visitation will be from 7-8 p.m. on Friday and 3-4 p.m. on Saturday, both at the funeral home.
He was born in York on March 28, 1954, the son of the late Earl L. and E. June. (Ball) Klineyoung.
Ron graduated in 1972 from William Penn Senior High School. During high school he participated in marching band, symphonic band and was Vice President of the Executive Cabinet of his class. He held various jobs over the years. His interest included writing and music. He enjoyed talking about politics, religion and his family, especially his daughter and grandchildren. Ron was a member of Oasis Club and NAMI. He was a good friend to many throughout his life.
Mr. Klineyoung is survived by his daughter, Alexandra Weaver and her husband, Jason of York; four grandchildren; and two sisters, Debra Klineyoung of Pittsburgh and Diane S. Markey and her husband, Bradley of York.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness), 140 Roosevelt Ave., Suite 200, York, PA 17404 or www.nami.org.
His family would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who have been involved in Ron’s care throughout the years.
Memorials:
NAMI, 140 Roosevelt Ave., Suite 200, York, PA 17404

Awkward

Always with the food on his face

My 3rd (out of 4) child, Jonas, can be a trouble maker.  He is also a comedian and pretty good at diffusing a tense situation. 
The other day I let him play on his big brother's desktop Minecraft account.  He apparently went to town, deleting or altering everything in every single world that Zach had created.  When Zachary got home he lost it.  He went completely berserk and all I could think was Geez, it's a flipping video game.  A hurricane didn't wipe out your REAL house and half of your family; a burglar didn't break into your REAL house and steal all of your REAL crap.  Just be grateful you have a stupid game to destroy your brain cells.  And you get to start from scratch!  What I said was, "Chill, dude."  
But even better than my relaxed response was Jonas walking out from behind my chair and saying, "Woah...things just got awkward in here."  Zachary didn't think it was funny when I laughed.  I thought it was hilarious.  I love hearing little kids saying big words.  
I guess he isn't so little anymore.  On December 9, Jonas became a humongous 6 year old.  He's grown like 4 inches in the last year.  Do boys always grow so fast?  I don't remember Zach hitting a major growth spurt until this year (at least 6 inches since Sept. 2012).  My daughter has only grown about 2 inches in the last 2 years.  Anyway, I already miss my little Jonas but I'm enjoying how well the new and improved Jonas is doing at school and how hard he works to be better every day.  He no longer wants to be a tree when he grows up, but he still wants to be able to make fire with his hands.  I'll enjoy his adorable young mind for as long as possible.                    

First Day of School Happened a While Ago

And finally I'm getting around to acknowledging that fact.  7th grade, 3rd grade, Kindergarten (sniff) and preschool (3 year old class).  

It took a lot of work to get Zach's face (and not his neck) to look at the camera.  He even sort of smiled.  Success!!  Amara rarely fails to strike the right pose so her picture was easy enough.  Jonas got to meet his principal and learned that he can choose whether the principal is his pal.  He and Amara also graced me with some goofy photos.  Always gotta have those.  Henry had his own poses in mind and I willingly went along with them when he willingly smiled.  

 

 

 

 

 Did anyone else take a million years to share their first day photos?  At least I got them posted in the right calendar year.

Alive

I am alive, I am well...at least healthy.  I just keep blogging in my head and then I forget to write it down.  That's what I get for thinking in the shower.  I'll be back eventually. 

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy birthday to me...happy birthday dear Alex...happy birthday to meeeee!  Okay, got that out of my system, for now.  My day was pretty borning but this evening my family took me out to one of my favorite restaurants, Fujihana, for dinner.  I love watching them cook and the food is fabulous.  I was super excited tonight because we got one of the guys that is entertaining as well.  I never get to go there because Jason doesn't like spending money on so little food.  Which is totally crazy because this has always been one of the places that I could take food home because I was too full to eat it all and I used to be able to eat a LOT.  
On the topic of eating a lot, I gained a lot of weight (about 15-20lbs) between July and November of 2012 and really wanted to lose it.  So I've been on an exercise/weight loss program since November 21, 2012.  That's almost 3 months...possibly the longest I've ever stuck with something that I had a choice in deciding whether to keep going on end it.  The good: I've worked out for 20-60 minutes 4-7 days/week since 11/21.  Usually 6 days and usually longer than 30 minutes.  My workouts vary- Hip Hop Abs, the elliptical machine, swimming, running the treadmill, walking, some Pinterest finds.  When the intensity is low I will do more than one activity, making sure to do something hard that day too.  
When I first started I quickly learned that I wouldn't lose any weight if I didn't start fixing my eating habits too.  So I stopped eating seconds and thirds at every meal, stopped eating crackers and soda and did some small alterations as well like only snacking on chips or cookies at parties.  I've significantly decreased my intake of pasta.  My meals are minimally processed.  I won't do low-fat foods or artifical sweeteners- bad stuff right there.  I'm eating well, working out...so I should be losing weight, right? 
I have been taking weekly pictures, weighing and measuring myself almost daily.  Without a doubt I'm gaining muscle.  But I'm still the same weight, haven't lost many inches and the worst part...I'm still in the exact same size clothing!  Ugh. 

The rest of my birthday celebration will be simlarly laid back and I plan (hope) to get my way for the rest of the weekend.
So today, to say, "screw you" to my sucky progress I skipped the workout AND had dessert.  And I can't win, because now I'd really like to exercise.  But I really want to go to bed also. 

Moody

I thought working out was supposed to help with depression, outlook, overall mood but that doesn't feel like the case for me.  I'm around 7 weeks into working out (the most workout I've ever done in my life) and I feel kind of miserable.  I do it almost every day now and feel pretty lousy when I miss a day.  My body itself is starting to feel good; my leg and butt muscles are in a constant state of burn, sort of like you feel after you've been working out for about 5 minutes.  It's actually a good feeling!  I'm not always as tired as I used to be.  I'm losing an inch here, gaining half an inch there...no weight loss but that stuff isn't really getting me down too much. 
But I never want to leave the house anymore.  I was happy to get out for Christmas, but otherwise I don't want to go anywhere or do anything.  It's all I can do to get a shower by 3pm every day.  When asked what I wanted to do for New Year's Eve I mumbled, "I don't know".  I like celebrating and getting out of the house!  So what's wrong with me? 
Lately I've been thinking about the fact that I'm almost 31 and I've never been further south than Florida, further north than New York, Further west than Illinois.  I want to go somewhere spectacular.  But I can hardly leave my house, so I don't know how that would work.  I'd probably talk myself out of it anyway.  I think about how I never got to finish college.  Not that I even know what I want to be when I grow up.  But that clock that stopped and told me to enjoy 30 (I was seriously super excited to turn 30) seems to be tick, tick, ticking away, faster than ever.  Not that I'm dreading 31, I guess I'm just more aware of aging?  I don't feel old, so that's not what's dragging me down. 

I just don't want to feel like this anymore.  Needed to vent.  Haven't talked about this to anyone so I had to get it out somewhere.  This seems as good a place as any. 
What do you do when you feel like crap and the things that should help aren't? 

Um...Why the Power Rangers?

I was browsing my blogger stats and was totally astounded to learn that the majority of traffic to my blog is because of the Power Rangers.  When I say the majority I mean like a huge number of visitors end on this one post.  Approximately half of all of my page views over the life of my blog were of my Power Ranger post but this month it was more like 90%. 
 
In 2011 I wrote about them one time.  It was some blog project.  I figured it was a good fit because I grew up loving them, the kids like them and I was all sorts of excited to find out that they were still around and still a show that could be a great influence on my growing children.  Sure, they are fighting imaginary monsters but they are super cool (yes they are!) and they teach great lessons to young kids.  

Anyway, according to my Blogger stats (which aren't the same as other stats, but they're reasonably close) in the last month Weavers Wobble was viewed almost 3600 times.  Normally I don't get nearly that many views in one month; my normal number of blog views per month is under 1000.  Over 3200 of the views were of my one Power Rangers post!     


But why is my Power Rangers post so popular, especially compared to everything else I write?  I know my writing is kind of boring and I'm not complaining, just really, really curious.  Does anyone have insight about this?

I'm Weird, Okay?

I hide my weirdness like some people hide the fact that they collect bugs.  But 30 changed my confidence.  I'm only going to hide my weirdness sometimes.  Like in public.  But I'll only sometimes care about what the internet world thinks of me.  By the time I'm a crazy, mean old 80-something I might be totally free of caring.  You'll see what my kids do. 

And it will be awesome (if you're me).