Jacobs' Debriefing

I feel like all we ever do is run anymore. Life with 3 kids, trying to expand my business base, Matt's work and other obligations just have us busy –– all the time. Most nights we do not eat until after 8 pm. I feel like there is never a moment to just sit and relax. Time to sit and reload. When I do find myself sitting, I tend to be thinking about what I should or could be doing instead of just sitting there. So I thought I would give an update since I have been blog MIA lately.

The kids are doing well. As of midterms Emily is pulling straight A's for her first quarter of middle school, and she is busy with gymnastics and other "preteen activities". Chris is busy playing football. I am amazed at how well he is doing and how much he loves it. He can't do or go anywhere without telling "Down, set hike hike!" This morning we had our parent teacher conference and we are extremely proud at where Chris is academically. And Sam... well she is Sam. She is loving preschool and has adjusted well to being away from mom 3 mornings a week. And I think somewhere she has been taking acting classes because her drama-queen status has greatly increased lately.

I am keeping my fingers crossed, but so far some awesome things are happening work wise for me. I am still busy doing work for Caterpillar back in Illinois, and have been asked to come up the first week of December for training. I sent my new client estimates on Monday and they have accepted them. (I was holding my breath for that one.) Now the big client needs to sign off on them. Hopefully we will have approval by Monday or Tuesday next week. Once that happens I will will be busy writing lots of press kit materials, articles and helping plan a press conference for January (I even get to go to Atlanta!). And finally the person I met with on Monday I **think** hired me. The guy was a bit scatterbrained and told me that he needed to gather me a contact list and background information and then I am to send him quotes and get started. This project would be awesome because it is definitely a different market and also because it is a monthly project, so I will have a set amount of money coming in each month.

Matt is swamped at work. And that is saying it lightly. He will be traveling to France in November and then starting in January he will be in Arizona for possibly 4 weeks, Las Vegas for 10 days, Japan and possibly France again. Now you see why we chose to go to Thailand for our anniversary? We have lots of free air miles. Not much budgeting and planning there.

We have gotten the living room, kitchen, hallway and upstairs hallway painted. Matt has closed off the opening between my office and the living room and he is going to paint it sometime this weekend. We are also hoping to get Sam and Chris's room painted in the next week. Then we will start on a big project –– a screened in porch. I cannot wait to be able to take a drink and a book and just sit out there and relax. Well at least try. We are hoping to have that done by Thanksgiving. I am really loving my house. It is amazing what some paint and rearranging can do.

Thursday's Thoughts

Sometimes it is just easier to put everything in bullets.

• I have my first meeting today with the job I got last week. After today I should have a better handle on what the project entails and how much work will be involved.
  
• I have placed my Pottery Barn desk on hold. If my meeting gets out by a certain time today, then it is a sign to get it. If not, then I will wait. (Yes, I am still justifying the silly desk)
• We reorganized my office last night and now I wonder why we didn't do it sooner.
  
• I really, really, really need to finish 4 of my CAT projects. I means real-ly.
  
• Some jerk parked out by me in tim-buk-tu at Wally World and dinged the door on my 3 month old van. I hope it won't cost too much to pull it out.
  
• We painted the walls up the stairs and in the upstairs hallway. We dislike it. No, honestly we hate it. Matt decided to go some crazy shade that looks horrible with the carpet and seems like a cross between a purple and a gray. It looks hideous. In the process of painting for 8 hours, Matt managed to spill paint on the carpet, then accidentally bleached those spots. I told him that I would call a carpet dying company to fix them. But no that would be too simple. Instead he decided to "fix" them himself. Now it looks like my dog took a huge poop on the floor and we didn't clean it. So until Matt calls the carpet company to have that section replaced a sign that says "My dog didn't do this, my husband did" will be placed above the section. So now we are in the process of repainting the hallway –– again.
  
• I may have some exciting news soon. Stay tuned! (have to leave you hanging to keep reading my blog)

What a week

Shew... finally the week is over. Our gym hosted the first competitive meet of the season yesterday and as the Booster Club president I was in charge of half of the meet. So my past few days consisted of shopping, making phone calls, scheduling workers, setting up, tearing down, cooking and lots of other stuff in between. And in the middle of that we had football and gymnastics practices, Emily's first school dance, I managed to break my cell phone, school, homework, my work and a trip to the park.

But here are a few pictures and updates from the past few days.

Here is Emily before the dance. She had to get ready at the gym as she was having her final practice before her Saturday meet.
Another picture of my gorgeous girl. I think I needed a portable oxygen concentrator to revive Matt when he saw how gorgous his daughter looked.
My insomniac son helped me cook 10 pounds of penne pasta for the meet at 11 pm. What a guy!
Here is Emily and the other level 6 girls after the competition. Cool glasses, huh? Can you guess the meet theme?
Emily without the goofy glasses.
Emily got a 9.05 on the balance beam. She was .05 shy of getting first place. She had an awesome first meet, placing 4th in the all-around.
Sami decided that she couldn't go to bed without doing "homework". She feel asleep instead.
We took the boat out today for some R&R. As you can see the small amount of rain we had a few weeks ago did nothing. The water level is usually up to the big trees. Some of the towns get their water from this lake. The lake is only half boatable as it is now... a few more weeks and it will be unusable and the latest calculations gives Raleigh water until mid-December. However I am NOT praying for rain after my last little experience.

And He's Off Again...

After flight delays and Matt forgetting to have booked both a rental car and hotel he is off for the next 2 weeks to Illinois then Japan. I am sure the next two weeks will fly by with the start of school, practices, meetings and a bunch of things on my to-do list.

So what is all on my agenda over the next two weeks?

• Finish buying the kids school supplies and last few items needed for school
• Open houses at both Em and Chris's school
• Help host teacher's supper at Chris's school on Thursday
• Gymnastics and football practices
  
• Prepare for Gymnastics Booster Club board and general membership meetings. (I may have forgotten to mention that I have been elected president- gulp)
• Organize pancake breakfast fundraiser
• Organize all photos on computer and online
• Clean and organize office & receipts
  
• Work on three large projects for work
• Thoroughly clean house top to bottom
  
• Organize master bathroom cupboards
• Go through Sam's clothes and pull out outgrown clothing
• Organize music on ipod
• Pick out paint colors for house
• Help neighbor pick out new kitchen sinks
• Finish books for reading challenge
  

That should keep me busy... ya think?