On The Road To Achieving More!

So yesterday was a big day for me.  I ran my first half marathon...well actually I have run it on my own before but I actually competed yesterday.

Sorry about the picture quality... it was taken with my iPhone.

My Word Of The Year is Achieve, and one of the ways that I wanted to achieve more is by competing in a marathon.  Well I am not there yet but I am getting there and yesterday I proved it to myself. 

It was interesting.  It rained the whole time.  It was long...13.1 miles long.  It took me exactly 2:00:00.  Which was my goal.  Previously it took me 2:11:00.  So ultimately I was happy.  Today I can barely walk which makes me wonder how I am ever going to run twice as far.  But I guess that I will just have to figure that out. 

So what about you...have you reached any goals lately?  Do you have any goals that you are working towards?  I just love that feeling when you finally make it, don't  you?  Tell me all about it!!

Sunny

How Did I Get So Old

So my family was sitting down to dinner and the conversation got on the candy Skittles and my 8 year old asked if their were purple Skittles when we were kids. My husband and I laughed and said "of course". Quickly followed by " it has not been that long since we were kids".

My 8 year old then asked about iPads and I told him that there weren't iPads when he was born nor tablets or netbook computers.

Just then I hear my five year old say " yeah mom had to write in the dirt..... with a stick.


Sunny

This Is My Hustle

Every stay at home mom that I know (with the exception of only one) has a hustle.  I mean a way that she increases the income of her family.  It is often selling things like jewelry, Scentsy, embroidery, daycare, blog writing etc. 

Well I am no different.  This is my hustle.

 

I am a school bus driver.  Yes I drive a 40ft long, 78 passenger school bus.  I affectionately call it my big yellow mini van. :)  I drive about 70 elementary kids aged kindergarten to fifth grade.

I started driving a bus almost 6 years ago, shortly after my middle son was born.  I was 26 years old, and my husbands sole military income wasn't quite cutting it.  We could always pay the bills but there wasn't too much left over for extras, much less emergencies.

So I knew that I must do something to help.  I wanted a job that would give me flexibility, one that I could do with my kids (I knew that I couldn't leave them at daycare), and a job that I would enjoy.

I entertained lots of things like stuffing envelopes, working at night, cleaning etc, but most just seemed to interrupt my life too much. 

Then one day my sister (who is a bus driver/stay at home mom in a town not far from mine) suggested driving a bus.  At first I thought "No way, I can't drive that big ole thing".  But then I thought that if she could do it so could I.

So I took the test, trained with my school districts bus barn, took my driving test, got my license, and have been loving it ever since.

This job has been such a blessing.  It provides that much needed second income, great benefits (like membership the gym, discounts at local businesses etc.)I really feel like a contributing $ member of my household. My kids ride along so they have never been to daycare.  And now that two of my kids are in school, I drive for their elementary school so I can drop them off and pick them up from school everyday.

In addition my kids and I have gone on a zillion field trips to some really cool places.  And because drivers get in for free we have gotten to go to places that I could not have afforded otherwise.  We must go to the Zoo like 45 times a year, in fact I am going to the Zoo this week.  I always get the priority of taking my children's field trips when they go somewhere, super bonus I get to be with my kids like all the other moms and dad but I get paid by the hour to be there.  It is like I am practically stealing people!  And I can always turn field trips down if I have something else to do. 

Driving a bus rarely interferes with my home life.  In fact my husband usually forgets that I drive the bus. 

There are a few draw backs to my job.  The first is both a blessing and a drawback, I have summers off.  Yay!  That also means that I don't get a paycheck.  Boo!  But we always think ahead and put some $$$ back to help.  The mornings are early, I have to get my self and three kids out the door by 6:50.  Which is a feat every single day!!  Oh and it is very cold in the winter.

All in all I LOVE driving a bus and just couldn't imagine doing anything else while I still have kids at home.

So what about you, do you have a hustle?  Or are you one of the exceptional few that is a solely stay at home mom/wife?  Or do you have a full time job? I would love to hear what you do.

Sunny

Look What I Found This Morning.

This is what I found when I went outside this morning.

Which made me very happy for what I bought last week.

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It is the Columbia Whirlibird Parka.  It comes in many color options, but I got the black plaid. 

I have had the same Columbia coat for the last 11 years.  I bought it in college and have loved the way that it has performed.  But like most things I don't still like the same things that I liked 11 years ago.  So the past couple of years I have been wanting a new one, I knew that I wanted a dark color (my last one was sage green with light gray accents) I just couldn't find the perfect one.  Until this year I found the one shown above...it was the perfect one!!  I found it in the black Friday sale ads and I SOOOO wanted it.  The problem was that spending $200 on a coat just before Christmas didn't seem like the most responsible thing for me to do.  So I waited...I thought maybe Santa would bring it for me, but no.  Don't get me wrong I totally got spoiled, I got a new DSLR, table saw, and miter saw. 

So all through the month of January I lusted after the perfect coat, I wanted it so bad...but I didn't need it.  Then last week I was having an exceptionally bad day when I walked into a sporting goods store and there it was...my coat in my size....on SALE!!!  It was thirty percent off and it was the last one.  I quickly called the Hubs (knowing full well that I would be leaving the store with that coat) and of course he said yes!

It all seemed so perfect...like it had been a part of a divine plan, and that got me thinking.  There are a lot of times that I want something really bad for my home, and it used to feel so painful to have to wait to get it.  Sometimes I feel like I will never get all of the things that I want....but here it what I have realized.  I always get what I want, I just have to be patient.  My entire life I have always mystically been provided for.  It doesn't always come in the time that I think that it should, but I always get it.  The best part is that I usually get it at a bargain simply because I am willing to wait. 

So does that ever happen to you?  You find the exact thing that you have been wanting at the exact moment that you are able to obtain it?$$$  Have you been lusting after anything lately?  Or have you recently gotten something that you had to wait a little while for?

Have a great day...I think that I am going to not do house work and just take a nap with the little man on this snowy day.

Sunny

House Hunters

Ok... maybe it is just me but I kinda think that HGTV should change their name to House Hunters TV.  I feel like everytime I turn that channel on it is always House Hunters. 


Don't get me wrong I like that show, and in college I used to watch it a lot.  But there comes a point when it is a little much right?


I have been watching HGTV since I was like 17...which was only like last week.  Just kidding ;)  But it used to be that there was shows about gardening, and crafting, and decorating and I could watch for hours.  (By the way did I mention that I have been obsessed with all things home for ever?)  But now I would be totally set if I were say house hunting in Barcelona, or California.  I got a house I want to see new and cool things to do with it.


I wish that they would bring back some of the other things.  Like gardening would be good.  I totally need help with the gardening thing.  More Candice, Sarah, Genevieve...more delicious interiors.

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I am in no way saying that they should take it away I still enjoy a nice House Hunters too, I just want a little more of other things.

So what say you?  Do you think that the House Hunters has taken over, or do you think that it is just right?  Do you secretly pretend that you are Sarah Richardson?  No...thats just me?  OK.  Do you hate it when bloggers roll off on some strange tangent?

Have a great day!

Sunny

I Am A Nerd!!

So...I am kind of a big nerd.  I just accidentally subscribed to my own blog.  And now I can't figure out how to unsubscribe.  I thought that I was clicking to subscribe to a different blog...but nope it turns out that I was subscribing to myself. 

I told my husband what I did and he said with grin on his face "well...that is one way to get new followers".

So now the question to you is...do you know how to take myself off my follower list?  Or do I have to look like a nerd forever?

Anywho...I hope that you are all having a great day!  Have a little chuckle at my expense, I can take it! 

Sunny

Word of the Year

Layla wrote a post about her word of the year.  If you are unaware, the word of the year is a word that sums up your goals for the year.  It is fitting that you choose a word of the year at the beginning of the year versus in the middle or at the end, I think that it keeps you focused.  I guess that it is a lot like a resolution, but maybe more abstract and manageable.


I got to thinking about what I wanted my word of the year to be...I only had one that came to mind.  So here it is, are you ready?


Achieve.


I think that I always strive to achieve to be better, but this year that word has more meaning.  I want to achieve to be a better blogger, a better photographer, mother, I want to set goals and achieve them.  Isn't it a great word?


The last few years I have been busy being a mother.  The only thing that I was trying to achieve was to make it to the end of the day.  Not this year.  This is the year that I become more.  I really hope that you enjoy the ride, there is going a lot going on.


I have also made it a goal to run a marathon this year.  This is something that I really want to achieve.  I feel like the world is my oyster, I just need to dream it and then achieve it!

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Sunny
I linked up to:

I am completely at a loss

Before the Christmas season I was on fire with the crafty/decoraty(?)/spray painty inspiration.  Now I got nothin'.  I haven't done anything this week to blog about...mostly cause I got nothin'.  I have no projects in my head, and I haven't been to Michaels or Hobby Lobby in like almost two weeks.  This feels strange to not have a list as long as my arm of things that I just cannot wait to get started on.  Am I the only one?  Do you go through droughts?  Is this what writers go through, writers block?  Am I having crafters block?  Could I possibly have asked another question in that paragraph?  Apparently so. 

I have been surfing the Pinterest, and desperately looking through the Internets for an idea to get the new year started.  I am stumped.  Maybe I already used up all of my creative credits.  Gosh I hope not.

It seems like all of the ladies on the blogs that I read are busy making wonderful and I feel like some kind of slacker.  Here is to hoping that I figure something out soon...or else I have nothing else to do but...clean...YIKES.

Any advice, feel free to share.  Like I said...I got nothin'.

                                                                     Via Pinterest
Sunny

A Recommitment

I have not posted in a couple of weeks and I wanted to take a minute to explain why.  Well first of all it was the holiday season and I was the perverbial chicken with head issues.  But more than that I was anxious of my blog. 

It is no secret that though I have the best followers I do not have many, and one of my followers dropped me from her reader.  This really rattled my confidence.  I felt like I had no reason to continue with this blog "nobody likes me anyway" (insert whiny five year old voice)

I am not the kind of person that routinely puts herself out there for criticism, in fact I tend to avoid it at all cost.  So this blog is a big step for me. 

Now I know that it shouldn't matter what other people think (insert my mothers voice in my head), but for me it does.

After a few weeks of thinking I came to a few conclusions:
I let losing one follower distract me from that fact that I am blessed with other amazing women who do want to follow me.
I don't want to be the kind of person that lets a little bump in the road stop me in my tracks, I am stronger than that.
Maybe part of the purpose of this little blog is to help me learn to be more confident, and help me put my self out there more.
I have things to share with the world.

So in this new year I am recommitting myself to this blog, to exploring my creative, and to you.  Thank You for following me and hearing what I have to say!

Sunny