Free Range Family

BIG things going on for me in 2015, big and exciting things! :D I had a wonderful weekend with some friends who were town, who are very well known choreographers in the dance world. And I had two super cool things happen to me at work as well. Yes! I am so happy and cannot wait for this year! After all the hard work and the rough year we had in 2013 and 2014, I know that wonderful things were bound to happen this year! I just hope that a new house for our family is ALSO in the cards this year. I will keep praying and keep spreading that good karma! So we will begin with the work news: I was offered to join the YMCA's annual campaign this year. Our annual campaign raises money to provide more memberships, scholarships and healthy lifestyle programs for our community. All of our annual campaign donations help with either our preschool or afterschool programs, our scholarships to families and senior members, our Livestrong program, our Get Started program, our aquatics...

We had a pretty uneventful first weekend of January. It was so cold and snowy out that we couldn't do hardly anything. With temperature below zero, there was no way I was going to take the kids outside to play, even though I really wanted to pull them around on the sled with their new snow pants. Instead, we went to the mall play area for some fun. We may start going there more often if the winter is a below zero one this year lol! The kids had fun and we met up with Grandma Melanie, Aunt April and Uncle Kalvin. We walked all over the mall with them while they spent their gift cards from Christmas. Saw Aunt Ariel and her friends, plus one of Alan's friends from school! Uncle Kalvin even bought the kids a stuffed animal from Build-A-Bear! He bought Alan an Angry Bird that yells when it hits something lol and bought Anna a Valentine's heart puppy. So sweet, thanks Uncle Kalvin! We spent some time with Lon too, watched Despicable Me 2 for the first time (just as cute as the fi...

I have had a busy weekend and an even busier week with birthday parties, family coming into town and a funeral. Before I begin this post, I think I am finally ready to share with you who in my family we lost this past week. It was one of my grandfathers. He had been fighting illness for years and years. He is no longer in pain or hurting anymore. For this I am very glad but as for the rest of us in the family, the "survivors"... Man, I give major kudos to anyone who has ever planned a funeral (or even helped plan one) for your deceased loved one. Its a lot of work, and still being raw with emotion from the passing, can be difficult at times. I have honestly been doing good. But I have my sad points, like when I had to tell my sisters or Alan. Or when I had to make a display with all of his pictures from my childhood. Or at the funeral when all the guests were giving my family their condolences. Thinking about him back then when we were young v.s. now, hurts me a lot still. N...

August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week. In honor of this week, I am going to post about my experiences this time around with breastfeeding. As you remember, I wrote about my many struggles with breastfeeding Alan. I had many issues with it and had to supplement Alan, in the end I decided to just pump and bottle feed my breast milk exclusively. This time around, I really wanted to just breast feed Anna. While pregnant with her, I remember that I was really nervous about having to supplement her still but after getting support from my La Leche Leauge, I felt alot better. Those first few days in the hospital were agonizing. Anna had low blood sugar and jaundice concerns, so I was deathly afraid that the nurses would try and supplement her like they did with Alan. Thankfully, she had no issues with latching on or with my colostrum coming in. Anna fed within her first hour of birth and every three hours after that. The nurses continued to check her blood levels but since they n...

Ahhh, its Friday the thirteenth! Billings has already had their share of bad luck today, around eleven this morning there was a mass power outage that covered most of the city (our house, my parent's house, and both of our works lost power), all due to a squirrel lol. Wow can you say bad luck???? :) I am still optimistic at the day lol. This afternoon, Alan and I took that half hour walk to my parent's house that I sooooooooo badly wanted to do yesterday, and we had a great time! Alan found a pretty flower (it was a dandelion lol) and spoke to almost every dog that barked at us as we passed. He thought they were talking to him, so he held a conversation with each of them lol. Pretty sure they were just barking at us because they wanted to be out walking like we were. :) Smelling his preeeety flower lol! Tomorrow night, Lon and I are going out on our date for our one year wedding anniversary. We are going to my cousins' roller derby for our date lol. Not your average d...

I am linking up with Jen and Motivational Mondays this week! I will be sharing another excert from the Dhammapadda titled Thousands. These mantras are aimed at making a distinction between quantity and quality in life. Enjoy! Thousands Better than a thousand sayings composed of meaningless statements is a single meaningful statement on hearing which one becomes calm. Better than a thousand verses composed of meaningless lines is a single line of verse on hearing which one becomes calm. Better than one who recites a hundred verses of meaningless lines is one verse on hearing which one becomes calm. Though one defeats a million men in battle, one who overcomes the self alone is in fact the highest victor. For one who is self-controlled and always disciplined in action, victory of someone like this cannot be made into defeat, even by a god, an angel, or a devil. Even if someone performs ritual sacrifices a thousand times every for a hundred years, if he honors a self-cultivated...

I will take another set of mantras from the Dhammapadda today. This is particularly one of my favorites, as it uses an elephant as a metaphor of the self. I hope you enjoy it! Happy Monday! The Elephant I will endure abusive words like the elephant in battle endures the arrow shot from the bow; for many people are ill-behaved. The lead a tamed elephant into battle, a king mounts a tamed elephant; the tamed one is the best of human beings, the one who endures abusive words. Excellent are mules that are tamed, horses of good breed, and the mighty bull elephant; even better is one whose self is tamed. For it is not by these vehicles that one may go to the place of inaccessibility, where the tamed one goes, with self mastery, by virtue of being tamed. The elephant called Guardian of Treasure is hard to control when in rut. It does not eat any food when bound; the elephant longs for the elephant grove. The foll who becomes a sluggard and a glutton, tossing and turning in sleep, lik...

I have gotten back my Dhammapadda back from my much deversing friend, so for this edition of Motivational Mondays I will use a mantra from my own copy! Yay, so excited lol! :) Enjoy everyone! Happy Monday! Peace and love to all! The Worthy For those who have completed their journey, left sorrow behind, are free in all circumstances, and liberated from all bondage, affliction does not exist. The thoughtful exert themselves; They do not relish attachment. Like swans leaving a lake, they abandon one attachment after another. Those who have no accumulation, who eat with perfect knowledge, whose sphere is emptiness, singlessness, and liberation, are hard to track, like birds in the sky. Those whose compulsions are gone, who are not attached to food, whose sphere is emptiness, singlessness, and liberation, are hard to track, like birds in the sky. Those whose senses are tranquil, like a horse well controlled by a charioteer, who are free from pride and have no compulsions, are the e...

I still have yet to find my Dhammapadda and my Tao Te Ching is away helping a dear friend in Laurel Montana, but thank goodness for the internet and Google! I found a wonderful mantra from another version of the Dhammapadda about happiness that I'd like to share with you. Hope you enjoy it, happy Monday! Peace! Happiness Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us! Let us live happily then, among men who hate us let us dwell free from hatred! Let us live happily then, free from ailments among the ailing! Let us live happily then, among men who are ailing let us dwell free from ailments! Let us live happily then, free from greed among the greedy! Let us live happily then, among men who are greedy let us dwell free from greed! Let us live happily then, though we call nothing our own! We shall be like the bright gods, feeding on happiness! Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy. He who has given up both victory and defeat, he, the contented, is happy. T...

Motivational Monday Blog Hop!! Happy Monday everyone! This is my first time doing this, so enjoy! :D "Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you're riding through the ruts, don't complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake up and live!" Bob Marley I really wanted to do a mantra from either the Dhammapadda or the Tao Te Ching, but I lent one of them to a good friend and have misplaced the other one, oddly enough. The next best thing I could think of was the always insightful Bob Marley. <3 This man is a genius in my eyes. He has pulled me out of some dark times in my life with his music and his everlasting love. <3 I will do a mantra next week though. I have the perfect one in mind! :D I hope everyone has a grand Monday! I can't wait to link up and read some new blogs! Peace!!

I am horribly stressed about finances right now. Amidst all this wedding planning and preparation, we find out that we make too much to receive food stamps anymore. Thus they have revoked what little a month they were giving us and now we are in the hole BIG TIME. Let me tell you, we do NOT make too much to NEED food stamps. Even though my husband and I have jobs and each work 35+ hours a week, we still struggle every single month to make enough to cover rent, utilities, my car payment, car insurance (which just went up HARDCORE), cell phone bills, Lon's dental bill, Lon's therapy bill, Lon's medication, my therapy bill that we are in debt for, my medication and to pay back Lon's parents (we set up loan agreement with them to avoid bank interest among other things). We have been on food stamps since Alan was born, and though we do not rely all of our grocery budget on food stamps, they have helped us out a lot. We are also on WIC, which is also beneficial. But now, only...

One year ago today, I was diagnosed with Postpartum Anxiety Disorder and mild Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It was my mother-in-law who was the one that convinced me to get help and better myself. I had never really dealt with a mental disorder before (except for mild Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from an abusive relationship in highschool) and thus was in the dark about seeking help. I was scared to tell my parents and my doctor, because of fear of the unknown. My family hasn't seen a lot of mental disorders in our life, so I didn't feel like they would know how to deal with it. I was having a hard time dealing with it myself. But there was no denying it. (For those of you that don't know) Postpartum Anxiety Disorder- A disorder characterized by constant, uncontrollable, moderate to severe anxiety and depression in a woman after she has given birth. Can happen soon after delivery or up to a year after. Similar to Postpartum Depression except that the woman experiences...