Me. That is all.

Things I have learned in this first month of parenting a teenager:

I know.  Sexy right? This is how I look these days.

• It was a good thing I started with gray hair
• I love to torture teenage boys.  In good ways.  I assure you.
• Teenage boys stink.  Bad.
• I need ME time more than ever.
• I need to figure out more balance for me and Hubby compared to US time.
• Get it all in writing.  All of it.
• Teenage boys can go a whole day without eating due to stubbornness and not even die! Really! I am not even joking!
• I might have been in the middle of losing my mind before this all started but I am sure now.
• The support I thought we would have (friends and family) is not there.  The people that you least expected have shown up in major ways.  Most of them strangers.  Sad but true.
• Teenage boys become obsessive over silly things
• I am one of the most stubborn people I have ever met.
• I have cooked more meals in the last month than I have in the last 6 months.  Can't afford to eat out with a teenager in the house.
• The things you think are cool? Are not.  Unless you are Captain Awesome aka Husband.  Then you shit diamonds and wear capes.
• An iPad with games in the back seat is the sanity of life while driving in the car
• Boys stink.  Have I mentioned this?
• Just when you think you are having a good day? Jekyll and Hyde show up.
• Your walk in closet in your master bedroom (it has a window so is pretty) is a wonderful place to escape.  He doesn't look there and I can pretend to not hear him.
• He will always take Husbands side.  Keep your discussions about yourselves to yourselves.  I understand that it is not fair that I get the iPhone 5 at some point but Captain Awesome doesn't need it!!! And he is ok with me getting it first! And so you don't need to tell me 10 times a day that it is unfair that I get all the cool things and I am cheating him out of the things he wants.  He is a big boy! Really!
• No matter how many times you tell a boy that he stinks? He doesn't care.  For some reason? It is a good thing for them.  Something to be proud of!
• That there are good times mixed in with the bad and the horrible which make it all worth while.

Friday 5: Good and Bad

 Good

1. I went on a date with a friend and had Pinkberry.  I had the original with strawberries, kiwi, cap'n crunch cereal and almonds.  It was yummy.  And the date was a lovely breather too!

2.    I got to bring home my fun pottery! This was one of the things I made.  Was supposed to be a candle holder but seeing as I don't like to follow rules, I made it a queen bee in her hive with a man that she kidnapped and is holding ransom.  Hes.  His arm is nasty.  Yes he is crying out for help.  My instructor when she finished laughing congratulated me on my creativity.  And then asked how old I was :) It makes me happy.

3.     I got a quite a bit of work done.  Had two amazing meetings and a phone call that encouraged me and made me feel better about the business that I own.  I am now looking forward to the next 5 years!

My 82 year old grandma on her cell phone.  Can I just say how funny it looks to me? And no.  She doesn't dye her hair.

4.     I made salad for lunch and or dinner 3 days this week.  Amazing salad.  Load with goodies.  My favorite so far? Lettuce, chicken, corn, avocados, radishes, tomatoes, orange pepper, jack cheese, banana peppers, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  So yummy.

5.    That Husband is coming home today :)

Bad

1. Big Red had a horrible week.  Which meant I lost my temper a few times and felt overwhelmed a lot this week.
2. Husband was gone all week.
3. I had horrible sleeps and woke up each night  between 3 and 5 and couldn't fall back asleep for hours.
4. Due to #1 I missed out on a lot of business stuff that had to happen this week and now I have an insane week next week.
5. I felt sad a lot this week.

AMAZING

I LOST 4 LBS THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!

No more Mister Nice Guy

Remember that song?

My last button was pushed this morning.

And it was pushed hard.

I gave an inch? He took 14 miles.

No more.

Welcome to Mean Auntie

You are not here for fun and games anymore.  This will be the hardest year of your life.  Figure it out.  No more second chances.  No more fun and games.  None.  When I tell you that you have to be up for school and ready to start at 9am? You will be ready.  At 9:01 you will be getting a bucket of ice cold water thrown in your face.  Yes you will.  Can't keep your room clean? Funny thing.  I can clean it for you and you can pay me for every item that you want back.  This could get costly.  Don't want to do school work with me? Husband is more than willing to do it with you all weekend.  That means early mornings and long days of school work and no fun.  You want treats? Earn them.  You don't like that food? Starve.  Nice Auntie is not working and you have officially pushed her too far.  Things are about to change.

Harsh? Probably.

Necessary? Absolutely.

Pray for strength that I don't kill him this week.  Not joking.

Mini meltdown

This handsome man had a hard evening.

Husband is leaving tomorrow for 5 or 6 days.

We have been talking about it for over a week.

He realized it all of a sudden and had a melt down.

Poor kid.

So in love with him.

It is hard.

I want Husbands time right now due to the fact that I will miss him too.

But I have walked away.

Husband and Big Red are playing games together.

Alone.

Having fun.

Making sure that Big Red knows he is loved and cared for.

Having talks about behaviour for this week.

And I am alone.

Folding laundry and thinking this 10 months is going to be a lot of me giving.

My time.

My energy.

My Husband.

I will adjust.

I will be ok.

I have had him for 16 years already.

But I am jealous sometimes.

Of the attention he gets.

Big Red.  Not Husband.

Please pray for me as well as him this week.

We will both need it.

I win!!!!!

Today? has had its moments :) Big Red had a physical today which went really well.  The typical...lose weight, everything else is looking good and work on the bed wetting.  Really???? That is all you got? Working on it all.

For a treat for doing so well (these kinds of things make him a little twitchy) we went for lunch after.  So much laughter happened! It was amazing! I had him giggling so hard at one point he could barely breathe! I was trying to get a picture of him and this is what I got.  Isn't he handsome?

This is the best I got.

Can I just say the use of hair gel is making me smile? We have told him he can style it how he wants.  Too funny.  You should see the things he does!!!

So after lunch, I locked him out of the car and yelled DANCE out the window.  Does anyone get that?

The poor child.  This could be a long year for him!!!

The Orange Room and Waiscotting

Finally! Right?

Life around here these days is all about finding balance.  How to balance a child/teenager full of angst and needing more attention than you can possibly imagine.  How to balance my business during the day while trying to home school.  Trying to balance cooking/me time/tv/time with Husband on a daily basis without going crazy.  I have decided to keep the cleaner.  That is a saving grace right now.  I have also started the meal planning again and am taking it very seriously.  I have watched one hour of tv in the last week.  And have dates often during activities for the kid. (kid goes to boxing? We go grocery shopping and sneak kisses in the isles) Romantic? Not so much.  But needed none the less.

I have also had to put all house projects on hold right now while trying to find balance in all the other areas of life.  But? I did finish the paint at least in the orange room.  Husband and I were talking that maybe this weekend we will go around and do final touch ups on things so at least they are all done.

Here it is!!!!!

The color is Tandoori by Benjamin Moore.  These pictures do not do it justice.  I can't seem to get a good photo!

We have not decided what to do on the wall behind the couch for color as it is the wall that will connect to the main floor.  And no.  The lamp is not staying there or a lot of the other things.  Nothing has been set up yet in that way.  It is just kind of done right now.  Enough that we can use the room!

I love the texture of the wainscotting. I love the shadows! And yes.  I was watching old tv :)

A little closer to the true color!

We started with a template that we cut out of paper and a lot of sanded/cut/ measured  5/8th inch MDF

Here is our template.  As soon as one section (below) was done, all the big areas just continued.  I made the template to have all exact measurements (6 inches, 10 inches, etc) and all the middle pieces are 2 inches in width.  We used the template to fill the small walls.  We just moved the template over the wall until we found a section we liked! Then traced it and re cut the wood to fit.

This was a huge project but I am in love with the finished product.  This room was all this plain builders beige and with flat boring walls.  I am so in love! The paint is so warm and cozy.  Big Red even commented last night on how much he loves this room.  I can't wait to put up art and actually finish the room! And the coffee table? Martha Stewart from Canadian Tire.  The top is two pillows that you can take out and flip upside down to be a solid surface.  We usually have one side pillow and the other solid to hold remotes and a coffee cup or two.  There is also the storage beneath that we like.

So there.  It is finally done! Ask any questions you want.  And yes.  I would do this again in a heart beat! We actually have plans to do down the stairs with it as well.  Maybe in spring!

Work and life are making me crazy~

Life? Crazy.

Work? Crazy.

I went on a business trip to Vancouver last week which resulted in no posting! And maybe my life is imploding right now too.  Just sayin!

View from my hotel room in Richmond

Life is ok.  Big Red had a hard day today.  He started his home schooling and it is a huge adjustment that I am thinking is going to drive me crazy.  He is not so good at the reading instructions thing so I get asked questions every 45 seconds.  Screamed from the other room.  Lovely as it sounds.  I promise.  Just to go over there and point out what he needed to read! This will be a long year at this rate.  Oy.  He also started his counselling today.  He was terrified.  Went ok but he also lied about taking his medication in the afternoon which caused some issues that we did not realize until bed time.  Boxing? A gong show.  Misbehaved until the guy had to kick him out and make him sit out.  They are so supportive of him and want him there so bad and so they are working on it with us.  I could not ask for a better situation at all.  When we arrived to pick him up, he was sitting outside the gym talking with two older gentlemen that want to work with him next week.  God is seriously lining people up for this year to help him.

Tomorrow I am with my business advisor all day and so he is on his own.  We will see how that goes.  I am planning to work with him hands on all day Wednesday on his school work so that I can make sure he is going through everything that needs to be done and not just lying about it or fluffing through. Wish me luck! My dad and the step mom arrive Thursday evening.  I hope it goes ok.  I am feeling so mentally tired these days that I am afraid I have no filter at all! This could be interesting.

We also went to a wedding this last week.  Here are some photos from the last week of our lives!

So pretty

Where I spent every evening on my business trip!

Nephew made us muffins!

Hanging on the beach in Vancouver for a work meeting! I wish I could schedule those more often! And check out how long my hair is :)

The wedding.  With the most unhappy bride I have every seen!

Pretty centrepieces.  They had more jars with ritz crackers and carrots in them.

Where I found our dog this morning.  She waits for us to come home!

Overall? Life is pretty good.  I just need more sleep.

Speaking of.....

And I promise to clean my room long enough to photograph it soon!