Cache is WALKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

It's been awhile hasn't it? I haven't been as good about keeping my journal current since I stopped blogging so I thought I'd drop by for a minute.

M has started preschool and totally loves it. Everything is "Ms. Konni this, Ms. Konni that" or even "teacher" when I say I'm sick of hearing about it. Okay, I don't quite say that but I am a little sick of it and wondering how I can get through an entire year of it. However I'm totally THRILLED that she is so happy and so far I've been enjoying the few hours apart.

M and I both got a pair of roller blades recently. I hate to admit that she is already a better skater than me. Problem is I'm so heavy that my legs get weak really fast so I don't dare to do any of the cool tricks I know. I'm hoping that skating and walking her to and from preschool each day, combined with the exercise I already do will make a difference. I've also started my "eat to live" diet again. I feel like I can't do that forever (it's an all vegetarian diet) but I'm taking it one day at a time and that's a little easier.

Cat has also started school. It's hard not to see him very often, especially since he already was gone a lot with work but it's good for him to get this last year in and hopefully this will be the end of it. He isn't very excited about being back in school but at the same time he knows it's necessary. I think if we both had a better attitude about it, things would be easier.

And sweet Cache finally has started taking some steps. He seems to prefer "walking" to crawling but mostly he walks along the walls and the furniture. He refuses to take more than 5 steps before he sits down. He can do it, but he doesn't seem to WANT to do it so he isn't really walking yet. At least it's progress though and that thrills us to no end.

And finally we're studying like mad for Cat's citizenship test the end of September. We've done flash cards so often that I feel like I have no problem answering the questions 100% correctly but it's Cat that needs to learn it, not me. Plus I have the advantage of always having the answers in front of me ;).

I miss being online but it's getting easier than it was to be away from the cyber world.

I'm going to try to write every now and then when I can get some computer time.

As for us, right now life is really crazy for so many reasons. The biggest one is that M is such a handful. She is one of those people who just doesn't need sleep!! We try to go to bed around 8:30 and she never falls asleep before about 11. Now that she has taken to sneaking out of her room and even out of the house (it's happened at least 3 times in the past few weeks) we finally had to buy a chain lock for her room to keep her in. And then she managed to get out AGAIN by taking her mattress off her bed and stacking her toy boxes on top until she could reach the chain. She's really smart at figuring that kind of thing out but it's totally scary too. Now we're looking for some kind of an alarm so that if she opens her door, the alarm will go off and let us know. I love her dearly but I'm sort of at my wit's end about how to keep her safe - she just doesn't get it about it not being safe to be wandering around the house or outside when we're trying to sleep - if it wasn't for the papers we wouldn't go to bed so early but I *have* to get some sort of sleep. She doesn't take naps during the day and she gets up as early as 6:30 some mornings so I think her body just doesn't need sleep like I do.

Cache is so darling. Next week he'll be 15 months old and still not a tooth in sight. Once again I have this little prick of fear telling me maybe he doesn't even HAVE teeth but I'm sure they'll show up one day. Anyway he has found a really great way to gum anything he wants to eat and he's even begun eating some meat and such. He really enjoys food. He's still tiny though - not even 19 pounds yet and short as can be too. I wonder if he'll ever hit some growth spurt or if he's just destined to be little. He also doesn't seem interested in walking. He walks around furniture and three times he's stood alone for about 8 seconds each time but that's as far as we've come. Someday he'll figure it out. It's amazing to me how much troubles he can get into (pulling videos off the shelf, throwing toys around, banging cupboards, etc.) without being able to walk. He can crawl up the stairs and now has figured out how to climb onto the couches and chairs but still can't get back down from anything. He's still very much a mama/dadda boy because he freaks out when anyone else tries to touch him. I would very much like him to get over this stranger fear but so far no progress.

Daddy has a new calling to work in the nursery and I'm looking forward to that because I think it'll make it so wonderful when Cache goes to nursery in just a couple more months.

Daddy is still working lots of hours at work but not as many as this time last summer so while we haven't been able to pay off as much debt as we'd hoped, at least it's wonderful to have him home in the hot evenings. We sure are grateful for our swamp cooler!

As for me, I keep busy with my efforts to have the house clean every day, stay on top of laundry, scrapbook, cross stitch and read. Each tuesday I've been taking M on a special date to the movies - just the two of us. Cache hates it that I leave him but it's good for us to have some girl time.

We're also working on trying to get our year's supply of food. Our house and garage just seem to get more and more crowded no matter how much I try to get rid of stuff. Sometimes I wish we'd be forced to move just so we could throw out a ton of junk.

I feel healthier as I try to eat really well and exercise every day but nothing ever seems to reflect itself in weight change. I'm starting to feel quite baby hungry - probably because Cache isn't much of a baby anymore - he's a toddler in every way except the toddling and so I'd really like to start trying for another. However I want to be healthy and here for my family so I know that can't be a reality until I find some way to lose weight. We could never afford it but I've even allowed surgery to cross my mind a few times as this journey sometimes seems so long and fruitless.

It'll work itself out - everything always does. I'm grateful for the life I've got and the love of this sweet family.

We've made the decision to boot the internet. The tv too (except I know we'll still watch some dvds).

So even though I'll still go to the library to check email or pay online bills, I guess this is goodbye. I don't know for how long.

Just thought I'd let my "readers" know - even if there is only one of you. Me.

I'm feeling down the past few days. I'm totally discouraged because I hate the company we have for phone and internet and I really want to quit but doesn't seem like there is anything else available in this area. It's really lousy.

We're supposed to have this cool new fiber optic network and it's available all over the city EXCEPT for where I live. The condos I can see from my windows have it. All the people on my paper route have it. My old job which is only a few blocks away has it.

For more than 7 months now they keep saying the whole city will get it, but I guess that means everyone BUT us.

I just can't afford more than $100 a month anymore for internet and telephone. I feel like getting rid of both. I HAVE to get rid of at least one if I'm going to keep making our bill payments.

And that's just one of a dozen tiny little things going wrong these days. It'll look up, things will cheer up for now, I just wish I could climb back under the covers and go to sleep.

I was dumb enough to think we were making progress.

I’ve been tagged by Adria for this meme, which originated at Christy’s Coffee Break.
When did you start blogging?
I think I started about two years ago but only got more regular about it within the last year or so. I started out with this blog but now I've got 4 of them. This is the one I write on most often.
What is your best quality?
I'm loyal. I will do almost anything for the people I love, even at great cost to myself or my sanity.
What is your worst quality?
I can't say no. Even when I really need to, I just can't say no to people I care about. And sometimes both myself and my marriage suffer because of it.
What makes your blog unique?
It probably isn't all that unique. I'm total honest in it though so what you see is what you get. I'd bet that's true of many people though.