Just Say Julie

What’s something about you today that would totally shock 10 year old you? Why the change?      At career day in 5th grade, ten year old me dressed up in a hot pink unitard and stated that I wanted to be a dance teacher and open my own dance studio. Ten year old me would be shocked that I don't dance anymore.  Mom put me in dance at age 5 because I need an activity to get my energy out. For the next 12 years, Gale's Studio of Dance was my second home. I would do dance camp in the summers. I would do my homework in the dressing room between classes. It was my life until high school. In high school, I started to branch out and get involved in school activities.  I was in band, a cheerleader, on dance team, and in clubs.  I also started to realize that I wasn't as good of a dancer as others around me and the idea of making dance my life wasn't realistic.  I quit dance half way through my junior year in high school. I was recovering from the chicke...

So I'm late to the game but I think 2014 is a year that definitely needed to be reviewed. So much happened, both good and bad, that I want to remember it. Plus I wasn't very good at documenting the events of the year. 1. What did you do in 2014 that you'd never done before? Rode in an ambulance and a police car. Had an organ removed. 2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't really do resolutions but I did do much better on my to do list than I thought I did. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? I don't think so but I don't really remember. 4. Did anyone close to you die? Both Chris's grandmother and uncle passed away within less than a month of each other. Then Chris's shift mate died in the line of duty when her patrol car was swept away in flood waters. 5. What countries did you visit? None and this answer probably won't change anytime soon. 6. What woul...

You would think it would be easy to come up with things you want to accomplish during a year but I'm struggling this year.  My focus is on buying a house and moving right now so everything else seems secondary and feels like it will change as soon as that happens. But after reading through a few other 2015 to do lists, I have finally come up with a decent list for myself for this year.   1. Buy a house. 2. Finish my JLA Provisional year in May. 3. Start my community placement in the fall. 4. Get Jackson involved in some sort of activity. 5. Get the boys back into swim lessons.  6. Take a vacation.  7. Celebrate our 5th anniversary in June.  8. Welcome my newest nephew in April. 9. See Alabama play in the Cowboys Classic in September.  10. Work on a Budget and stick to it. 11. Do something about my weight. 12. Celebrate Jackson's 4th birthday in July. 13. Volunteer at VBS. 14. Make time to read. 15. Buy a new bed for Jackson to replace the toddler bed. 16. S...

Since downloading the Time Hop app a few months ago, I have enjoyed the reminders of my past life. Pictures of a chubby cheeked Jackson. Tweets from my single days. Flashbacks to being pregnant. Lots of fun memories are stored in the various forms of social media I play around with. But today I got a reminder of one of the best moments in my life. Two years ago today, we found out my mom was cancer free. Six months of chemo were done and she was OK. The sense of relief I felt in that moment wa overwhelming. The past two years haven't been easy. Mom still struggles with weakness and endurance. She misses the independence she had before getting to sick. But she is still here and Jackson still has his Gran and we are all so grateful for that. She has a PET scan scheduled next month. If that one comes back clear, her changes of the cancer coming back decrease greatly. But for now, I am proud to know that my mom is a survivor and pray that we have many more years with her here.  ...

2. Take Jackson to his first football game. Done - One of the local colleges started a football team for the first time in 68 years.  We decided to go support the Southwestern Pirates and, in turn, took Jackson to his first game.  He wasn't ready for it and we left at halftime but I'm glad we can say we did it. 4. Read  The Great Gatsby  before seeing the movie. Nope - I tried, I really did.  I got several chapters in but the language and the writing is strange to me and I can't follow it.  I still haven't seen the movie though so I added it back to my list and I am going to try again this year. 5. Get another tattoo as a tribute to Jackson. Nope - I can't figure out what I want or where I want it. Nor can I decide if I want to go through the pain again. 6. Take a trip that doesn't include visiting my parents. Done - Although this wasn't the way I expected to accomplish this.  I went to a training course in DC with my boss for a week in June. ...

     Thanks to Ginger 's Bring Back the Words linkups, I have been blogging a lot more recently. However, I haven't really talked much about what has been going on with us, just responding to her prompts.  As you all know, we sold our house and moved in May.  School ended and our summer began.  I'd like to say I'm one of those moms who plans all these fun activities for my family to do during the summer.  Truth is our schedule doesn't change much just because it is summer.  Sean went to camp at his school and Jackson attended the summer session at his daycare.  My office implemented summer hours which meant I worked 10 hour days 4 days a week with Fridays off (normally we do 4 9's and half day Fridays).  The only major change this year was having Sean here rather than heading to his mom's for the summer.  So I thought I'd do a quick recap of our summer now that it is coming to an end. June: I spent a week in DC with my boss at...

     I finished reading John Green's Looking for Alaska last week. As with many of the books I have read recently, I didn't really know much about the book before I read it.  I had just heard some recommendations for John Green's work and I decided to check it out.  I was pretty excited when I read the synopsis that the book took place at a boarding school in Alabama.  I just knew this book was going to remind me of my time in Marion and I was right.        You see, I went to college at a Southern Baptist women's college that was three blocks away from a military boarding school in small town Alabama.  MMI, the military school, was a high school and junior college.  While I was there, they added 8th grade to the school.  Most of the younger students were locals who opted to attend the school over the local public school so they could receive a better education. However, there were several students at the school who wer...

One of the things we have been excited about in our new neighborhood is the number of kids Sean's age on our street.  We live on a cul de sac and there is a playground at the entrance so there are kids out playing all the time.  This is something we didn't see much of in our old neighborhood.  There were kids but they weren't out as much.  So it has been nice having others around for Sean to spend time with until Friday.  There is one little boy who lives across the street and he has just rubbed me the wrong way from day one.  If we tell him Sean can't come out because it's dinner time or too late then he starts questioning us.  He basically has no respect for our rules (I know...he's only 8 but still) and we know he has rules at home because we've met his parents and heard some of the things he gets in trouble for.  However, things reached a breaking point on Friday.  Eric was at our house and left only to be sent back a few mi...

So today is my birthday. Yay!  I'm at the point in life where birthdays aren't really a big deal anymore so it is nice when you end up with little surprises like this: One of my coworkers had decorated my desk before I got to work this morning.  Plus there was also a fun card and a box of donuts waiting for me.  Then they took me out to lunch and we shared a cake at the office afterwards.  The morning had started off pretty rough with Jackson being crabby (which is why he wore his crabby but cute shirt to school) and Chris taking something I said the wrong way.  So I needed a little pick me up and I got just that when I arrive to see my coworker's handy work.  It was a nice day and the great start to a long weekend. I really wasn't expecting much out of today and my mood the last week or so has been evident of that.  Pretty much since my mid 20s my birthdays have been a bit of a let down.  My ex was never big on birthdays and, even though I w...

Now that we are half way through 2013, I thought it would be a good time to review the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year.  Things have changed a lot around here since I set these goal in January so a lot of them don't apply anymore. Actually attend The Blathering this year. I am sad to say that this isn't going to happen. When the attendance cap was reduced, we had just moved and we just didn't have the money for it at the time.  I am still chatting with my Blathering buddies on twitter so I am sure I will make it back one year. Take Jackson to his first football game. This has happened yet since football season hasn't started but I found out my hometown college will be playing here this fall so that might be a great game to take him to. Buy a new rug for the living room. Bought it. Loved it. It's in my garage right now because the new house has carpet and we don't need rugs like we did over the hardwood in the old house. Read  The Grea...

We have been in the new house almost a month now and we are still getting used to it. Almost all the boxes are unpacked but we still need to hang pictures and bring some stuff over from storage to really make it feel like home. I am ready to be settled but very disheartened at the thought that it will likely be time to move again before we are really settled into this house. I like the new house alright.  It has a very drawbacks that I don't love but can live with.  I have to tell myself a lot, "This is a rental. You won't live here forever."  Mostly when I am doing the dishes, this comes up.  I hate the sink.  It is so shallow.  When I try to rinse dishes, I end up covered in water because it sprays everywhere.  And the dishwasher is tiny.  I am not sure how that is possible since it is the same size on the outside but the inside definitely has less room.  I honestly think we could do 2 loads of dishes a day and still have an overflow. ...

Two weeks ago, we loaded up a U haul with the help of a moving crew and moved our stuff 1.6 miles to our new "home."  I say "home" because a rental doesn't feel as much like a home to me.  Not that the new place doesn't have some great qualities.  It just all feels so temporary since we only plan to be here for a year while we look for our next place to live.  We haven't figured out exactly what we want to do next.  If we want to build or if we want to buy an existing house.  Where we want that to be.  Do we look closer to my office or try to plan around the school we would like the boys to go to?  There are just so many factors to consider.  I'm afraid I'm still so stressed out from the move that I can't seem to narrow my thoughts down to one thing.  Of course Chris would like to stay close to where we currently are since this is where he grew up but I would really like to live in Austin proper. We also closed on the old hou...

Editor's Note: So I am not doing so well with the goal of writing once a week this year.  Sorry!  I'm afraid life is just getting in the way too much right now which is frustrating since I have plenty to say just no time to say it.  Busy doesn't even describe what we have been recently but more on that to come. We decided about 2 months ago to put our house on the market and see if we had any luck selling it so we could upgrade to a larger house.  We debated trying to sell when I found out I was pregnant but held off because the market wasn't very good at the time.  Two years later, the market is much better and we were very pleased with what we heard from our realtor.  After a month of working to get the house ready to list, we finally got it listed on the 3rd.  We have had nearly 20 showings (including 3 since our offer went through) on our house in 2 weeks with the first one coming mere hours after the house went on the market.  I'd say there ...

Last week was a crazy week for us.  Chris had signed up for a training course out of town so I spent the week alone with the boys shuttling everyone back and forth and trying to keep my sanity while maintaining the house and getting everyone fed.  It was a long week and I was happy when Friday evening rolled around and Chris arrived home.  I really don't think I could handle a husband who travels all the time for work.  One week was enough for me so I don't envy those who frequently have to deal with the absence of a second set of hands at home.  I told Chris when he got home that he had missed a lot during the week because Little Man was suddenly talking more and more of a daredevil than before he left.  Also, we had another big change happen last week. Wednesday morning I walked into daycare and Jackson's teacher told me the director was wanting to meet with about moving Jackson up.  I was a little surprised by this because I had already received a...

I had an epiphany last week while talking to Chris about all of the upcoming events for our various family members. Sean had his first tae kwon do belt testing on Saturday. Chris tests for his black belt this weekend. Jackson and I are at Little Gym every weekend while Chris and Sean are at tae kwon do three times a week. It was during this conversation that I realized there was nothing I do just for me. I don't have an activity and that bothers me. I danced a lot growing up. I was in youth choir and band. But now I don't have time. Not for me. I have time to make sure the kids get where they need to go but not to set aside for myself. I realize that is part of being a mother. It is their turn now. I had my chance to be active and involved. But it makes me sad. I miss dancing. I miss having something I do that gives me an outlet away from work. I need that but I really have no idea how to make it work in our already crazy schedule. Maybe one day that will change but for now all...

Instead of resolutions this year, I decided to make a list of things I would like to accomplish this year.  I figure this is a more tangible way to be able to see how well I've done this year. Actually attend The Blathering this year. Take Jackson to his first football game Buy a new rug for the living room. Read The Great Gatsby before seeing the movie. Get another tattoo as a tribute to Jackson. Take a trip that doesn't include visiting my parents. Pay off another credit card. (Maybe even two!) Go on at least 1 date a month with Chris. Spend more time outdoors with the boys. Make more time for myself. Replace the fence. Repair the driveway. Get the exterior of the house painted. Increase our charitable giving. Read 24 books. Blog at least once a week. Spend an entire weekend kid free. See Alabama play in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Run a 5k. Visit Chris's Grandmother. Visit my brother's family in Houston. Setup Savings Accounts for the boys. Keep mo...

Back in January I created a list of goals for the year. I kind of forgot about them till all the "it's the end of the year" posts started showing up in my Google reader.  So I decided January 1st was a great time to take a look back and see where I stand on the goals I set for myself at the beginning of last year. Money:  It took the better portion of the year but I think I finally have a handle on our money situation that doesn't leave me sweating bullets between paychecks.  This was hard and took a major commitment on our part and some drastic measures.  We are loosely following the Dave Ramsey plan .  I don't agree with all of Dave's suggestions but he has some good ideas and I am making them work for us.  The best thing we have done is switch to using cash instead of our debit cards for daily purchases outside of our recurring bills.  This has really changed how we view our money because we can see where it is going and how much we have left....

Christmas is just over a week away but you wouldn't know it by looking at my house.  The Christmas spirit is definitely lacking here which makes me sad.  There is always a delay on putting up the Christmas tree here because of it's location in the house but this year the toddler in the house has stopped me from putting up any decorations at all.  You see, the only location in my house that is (sort of) available for the Christmas tree is in front of the picture window in my kitchen that faces the street.  There is no other spot that doesn't contain furniture that can't easily be moved and stored in place of the tree for a couple of weeks.  Instead, I have to move the dog's bowls and mat from it's normal spot in front of the window to another less convenient location on the other side of the kitchen.  Plus the tree blocks access to the pantry which makes life all kinds of difficult. Throw the toddler into the mix and it's just a recipe for disast...

For the last couple of years, there has been a trend on Facebook to post 30 days of thankfulness. I am not one to jump on bandwagons so I normally don't get into this trend.  However, it does make you stop an think a bit about what you would be thankful for if you were to list it out.  So here is my attempt at giving thanks on this Thanksgiving. Modern Medicine: This was a rough year for my family watching my Mom go through her bout of lymphoma.  Fortunately, we received the news in mid-August that the chemo had worked and Mom's PET scan was clear.  She still isn't up to her fighting weight so to speak but she is recovering and for that I am very thankful. Modern Technology: I hate living so far away from my family but technology helps cut that distance down.  Facetime allows me to call  my folks so they can watch Jackson grow and YouTube allows me to post videos so they can see all the fun things he does. My Job: Work often frustrates me and aggrevia...

I don't travel a lot.  That is something that I dislike about my life.  I really want to have the money and time to travel more but that's not going to happen any time soon.  Most of the traveling I do is to go home for one reason or another (holidays, birthdays, etc...)  I see my friends taking trips all the time and really wonder how they do it but then they don't have to work around crazy work schedules like we do.  Chris and I have a list of places we would like to go and trips we would like to take but those are just daydreaming for us right now. However, it seems like I have been traveling a lot (well at least for me) recently.  My mom got me a ticket to join my brother at the House that Jerry built in Dallas to watch Alabama and Michigan battle it out in the season opener Cowboys Classic.  So I loaded up Jackson and headed North with Clay, Jenny, and Blake to see the game.  Jenny stayed at the hotel with the boys while we headed to the st...