The Nelson Narrative

It may seem like I don't blog that often, but I actually blog a few times per week, I just never get around to finishing and publishing my posts.  I always have tons of drafts sitting around, most of which eventually get deleted.  Today I thought I would just combine a bunch of those into one post and call it good. On our upcoming anniversary On May 13th, 2006, Paul and I got married.  It was a Saturday (as most wedding days are).  And in the 11 years since, this will be the first time our anniversary will fall on a Saturday.  It has fallen on a Friday a few times but not Saturday until this year.  I've known pretty much the whole time that it wouldn't fall on a Saturday until this year and I have been wanting all this time to go away somewhere overnight for this anniversary.  But now Olivia has a dress rehearsal for her dance recital that day.  We could still go somewhere overnight, leaving right after the rehearsal and coming back Sunday evening, but it also happens

I'm late, but today I'm linking up with Shay and Erika for their Workin' it Wednesdays series (which, this time, was on Monday, hence my lateness).  It's a topic that I really struggle with and want to blog about, Work/Life Balance.  I can't wait to read what others have to say on the topic because I need all the help I can get! Work/life balance is something I’ve been actively seeking and striving for ever since I went back to work 3 years ago.  But sadly, I have only discovered that, at least for me, it simply does not exist.  Some simple math will prove it. My work week starts when I get up around 6:30 AM on Monday and ends on Fridays at 6:30 PM when I get home, give or take.   That is a total of 108 hours.  Of that 108, 60 are spent working, getting ready for work or commuting to and from work.  Another 28ish are spent sleeping.  That leaves 20 hours for “life”, and 14-16 of those are spent cooking, cleaning, chores, making lunches, helping with home

The girls' 9th birthday was Tuesday (February 28th) and we had their party last Saturday (February 25th) at an ice arena.  They skated for an hour and a half, and then we had a party room for an hour.  It was a fun party, not horribly expensive and not much work on our part. This was supposed to be them posing with their cake, but you can't even see the cake because it's so bright.  I'm pretty sure the flash wasn't on but my phone camera has a mind of it's own. Kayley in the middle Kayley being Kayley Sweet freinds Staying close to the rail! The whole gang When I ordered the cake, I asked for anything ice skating related.  A friend had recently had an ice skating party and had a cake from the same place with ice skates on it.  But when Paul went to pick it up, they said they didn't have ice skates and he ended up getting horses instead.  I thought they could just draw on some skates with icing or whatever but I guess n