Zone Defense

A co-worker today told me, "God bless parents with three kids.  With three kids you are forced to play  zone defense.  With two it's easy, you play man to man".  Scott and I are definitely playing zone these days; Ivie is often left with a wide open shot.

Well...it's that time of the year:  Pee wee football is over.  Since July 30th, I have rushed from Akron to Kent four days a week for an hour and a half practice.  Soccer is over too.  That means that Saturdays are ours!  Maybe, just maybe we can tackle the enormous mess we call our home.

Jackson had a great season!  He ended up with four touchdowns and countless great tackles.  The improvement from last season was tremendous.  I'm so proud of him.  Not just because he is a great player but mostly because of the dedication and focus.  He is seven.  Seven-year-old little boys have the attention span, of well, seven-year-old little boys.  He learned the plays and ran the plays.  So proud.

And Aida Jane!  Talk about focus: Aida is my spacey child.  "Oooohhh, Mama a flower...Today at school, we...Um, one time I was walking down the street, and can I have a cookie?"  That's my Aida!  But she did great in soccer.  Aida is also a member of a family that loves sports, but doesn't necessarily love them herself.  She is more into dance and art, but she gave soccer a shot and did awesome!  She also ended up with some goals!

And then there is Ivie.  Ivie is giving Daddy W and Mama W a run for their money.  Hell, not even just Daddy and Mama, but Aida and Jackson too.  Ivie is bad.  There I said it.  Don't let those adorable curls, blue eyes and sweet laugh fool you.  Ivie is out there for Ivie.  She's not interested in potty training, sharing, or going to bed.  But none of us, Jackson and Aida included, could imagine our home without her. 

Jackson touchdown 

Jackson is number 24.  The videography is horrible (just a warning).  I'm actually surprised I taped the whole run.  Usually I get really excited and drop the camera.

Today Ivie decided to do some somersaults in the backyard.  Along her tumble, she collected five briers in her hair.  Yes.  Curly hair and briers...yikes!  I was ready to grab the scissors, but Scott was determined to save her hair and my tears.  After about an hour and a half, a bottle of conditioner, and what Ivie saw as a fun bubble bath, Daddy saved her hair!

From audits to fish nets

I'm Corporate and I'm Here to Help

In the past two weeks I have been in Virginia, North Carolina, Atlanta, and Las Vegas all courtesy of work.  We have manufacturing facilities in Virginia and North Carolina and our EHS Manager summoned me (well, ok, I voluntarily visited) to conduct a few environmental compliance audits.  Funny how the plant managers were not overjoyed to see me...hmmmm.  When I worked for the government we told companies, "We're the government and we're here to help."  Now that I'm on the other side, clearly that is bullshit.  I'm thankful for the EPA, Ohio EPA, NC DENR, and Virginia DEQ for their costly, I mean necessary, inconvenient, I mean easy to comply with laws.  Without all of them, and their convoluted, difficult but oh-so-necessary laws, I would not have a job traveling from site to site telling plant managers, "yes, we HAVE to do this." Seriously, I am only trying to help.

Fish Nets and Heels

"I bet people think I rented you for the evening."  ~ Scott W.

Yes... He said this.

When in Vegas, you should wear fish net stockings, with high heels and a short dress...right?  Well duh...of course!  I had an environmental training and the training company only offered the class in Scottsdale, AZ and Las Vegas, NV.  Luckily for me (and Scott) the flights were much cheaper to LV.  Just to be responsible I will say this:  The environmental training was extremely helpful, useful and I passed.   But really, I was in Las Vegas with my husband, for three days, without kids, are you really interested in my environmental training?  Right.

Well, Scott and I had a blast.  A freakin' blast.  I didn't really get the flashiness and gaudiness of Las Vegas, but anywhere that it is perfectly socially acceptable to walk around at 10 a.m. in a short dress, fish net stockings, with a drink, well, I could get used to that.  When we were married, Scott and I didn't have a honeymoon so this was our first vacation just the two of us.  I so enjoyed being with him, kidless, no responsibilities, in a warm city where anything goes.  THANK YOU MIMI and GRANDPA for watching the kids!!!!

I am more of a nature person and less of a people person  and several times I would stare off at the mountains and ask Scott if we could go.  He would promptly reply:  "People don't go to Las Vegas to look at the mountains."

Had. A. Blast. (and learned a lot.)

The New House

We are...finally...in our new house! There are boxes everywhere, but at least we're here!

The kids love their new rooms, which I think we will call the executive kid suite.  The three kids get the entire upstairs to themselves which is equipped with a Jack-and-Jill bathroom, princess room, and a blue and gray room with the best view of our fabulous backyard.  The majesties of the executive kid suite have requested that the Jack-and-Jill bathroom be painted Naple's Gold, Strawberry Splash, and Blueberry Buckle (bright yellow, brighter red, and extremely bright blue).

Aida is playing soccer and Jackson is playing football.  Aida is a little spacey out on the field and at about the 45-minute mark, her hair, the grass, the clouds, and her pink shin guards become more interesting then the game itself.  Jackson is excelling in football.  He has three touchdowns on the season and several tackles that have saved the other team from scoring.  Ivie is still in her terrible twos and challenges us daily.  Thank goodness she is cute.

Scott had a successful transfer from the Columbus region to the Akron/Canton region.  He doesn't have his own account yet, but I have a feeling it won't be long.  The company really likes him and apparently so does the regional manager... "See, I told you he was cute."

I continue to love my new job.  I better since I am reason for all this recent chaos.  But seriously, I love my new job.

Oh and I love our new house.  I can't take any pictures to show you the greatness of our new home, but I will as soon as I find the battery charger in the mound of boxes still left to unpack. 

The Hectic Life

Life is always crazy, chaotic and hectic, right? I mean with three kids how can life not be?  Add two cities, a two-hour drive, suitcases, boxes, a new job, new schools, football, various grandparents' houses plus six weeks of separation and - bam - you get pure craziness!

(A few pictures from our crazy, but fun summer: Scott and Jackson at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati; Aida swimming at G-dad's house; Scott and Jackson at the Cincinnati Reds' game; and Ivie "swimming" at Brady Lake on July 4th)

We bought a house in Akron and have a contract on our house in Columbus. I feel so lucky to have found a great house and to have buyers who think our house is great.  Love Construction has taken a mini-vacation; we will definitely be back in full swing once we move into our new house - lots of projects await Scott - I mean us.

The kids are finally all together after three weeks apart. I love that my kids are so close. They missed each other terribly. Scott is in Columbus by himself "packing", which translated in my mind means eating bad food, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and watching baseball.

The kids started school a week ago, which was rough for everyone. There were lots of tears and anxiety, but thank goodness each day is better and easier.
We get the keys to our new house a week from tomorrow and hand over our keys on Princess Street the following Friday!  Meanwhile the kids and I are bouncing around wreaking havoc on various grandparents while Scott "packs".

Where in the World are the Ws?

Next stop:  Akron, OH. 

Once again, the W's are on the move.  We're buying and selling homes, packing boxes, loading the car and heading farther north.  Scott once said Columbus was as far north as he ever wanted to move.  Scott also once said he didn't want to have children.  Funny little thing we call life.  Sometimes the wind blows and whatever direction it is heading, it can lead you in that very direction.

So why the hell are we moving to Akron, OH?  Especially since I've spent most of my life talking about how miserable and ugly it is?  Well...I was offered a pretty sweet job with a company in North Canton.  I am the Senior Environmental Engineer and I am responsible for compliance with ALL federal, state, and international environmental regulations at four domestic manufacturing sites and a handful of foreign manufacturing sites.  I started July 2 and so far, well, I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it.  Hopefully this will be the last move for a VERY VERY long time.

The kids have had to adjust to not spending their days with me.  It was a bit of shock for everyone, evidenced by all three of them crying when Scott dropped them off at summer camp.  They are getting better, but Ivie still isn't into the whole "daycare" thing. 

Jackson made the all-star baseball team and has spent the past two weekends playing tournament baseball games around central Ohio.  It is has been SO much fun to watch.  I have been impressed with the ability of these seven and eight year boys to make heads-up plays and big hits.  Jackson is learning SO much about baseball, but already has the quarterback position in his mind.  He will be playing football in Kent this fall (my Alma Mater!) and is ready for the challenge of earning the quarterback spot.

Overall, through the stress, the boxes, house contracts, unreachable realtors, and the tears of three very precious kids, we have managed to stay somewhat sane.  If we can get through this last move, I truly believe the W's will be on a very stable and joyous path for the next twenty years.  To our Columbus friends, we will miss you (we're only two hours north!) and to my old friends in northeast Ohio, I can't believe it, but I'm coming back home! I never thought I'd live in Akron, OH, but I guess there is a northerly wind gently blowing right towards the Rubber City.

Humility and Patience

hu·mil·i·ty

[hyoo-mil-i-tee or, often, yoo-] 

noun

the quality or condition of being humble;  modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc

pa·tience

 /ˈpeɪʃəns/ Show Spelled[pey-shuhns] 

noun

1.

the quality of being patient,  as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.

2. an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay:

I realized the other day after the eagerness of one of my followers (haha...yes, people really do read my blog) that it has been a couple of months since my last post.  Love Construction is still in business, although we have not started any new projects.  One reason that we have not tackled any new projects is because we have no idea where we will be in the next six months.  What? Where?  You're crazy!  You just built a house!  I know.  I know.  And yes, I KNOW!!!  Funny thing about life is that we all think we have it under control.  We think if we do x and y, we will get z.  We think if we make plans, write those plans out, discuss those plans with our spouse, then those plans will effortlessly work themselves into the future.  Well, here is a hint:  We don't have life under control.  Life has these twists and turns that catch us off guard no matter how prepared we think we are.  When I used to attend the Newman Center in Kent, the Father once said if you really want to make God laugh, tell God exactly when things were going to happen and how.  In other words, God has a plan for us; it is up to us to sit back and be PATIENT.

I think one of the reasons I've avoided the blog was because of the twists and turns my life has thrown at me.  I was embarrassed of my recent decision to leave law school.  I had my plan, wrote out my plan and discussed it with Scott.  But for me, it just didn't work out.  It was an extremely hard pill for me to swallow.  I've never quit anything before, especially school.  But there, I've admitted:  I am a law school quitter.  A law school drop out.  A law school failure.  As hard as those words burn my confidence, it is the truth.  But here is my disclaimer:  I didn't quit because it was too hard or because I failed out or because Scott resented me or because I wasn't able to balance my family and school.  Actually, I balanced my family and school quite well.  I wasn't the best student, but I managed to stay in the middle pack of my class.  Yeah, law school was hard, but it wasn't the massive reading assignments that finally made me turn my back on the J.D.; it was the insincerity of my desire for the degree.  I was doing it for the wrong reasons.  I wanted to make a lot of money; well here's some more news:  Young attorneys come out of school with nearly, if not more than 100K in debt, jobs - just like every industry - are hard to come by, and attorneys can spend the rest of their lives climbing out of their mountain of debt.  That isn't everyone's story, but there are enough young J.D.'s telling this story that it was enough to deter me, but after the fact.  Reason two:  I didn't want to be an attorney.  Even from the beginning I honestly thought that having a J.D. to add to my resume was going to magically help me woo the hearts of potential employers.  When in fact, it might have actually hurt me because it may have raised the red flag of "Can we afford her?".  I will admit that I made an impromptu, unresearched decision, but I will not admit that I couldn't do the program, because I could.

So fast forward four months and I'm STILL looking for a job.  I've sent out a hundred resumes, had thirty rejection emails/letters, ten phone interviews, five in-person interviews, two second interviews, one trip to Dallas, and zero offers.  (Insert blog title here <Humility and Patience>).  Instead, I am now working at the Gap, as a sales associate, to help make ends meet.  Last night I had my first shift at the register.  Fifteen minutes into my shift a guy I went to high school with walks in.  We chatted.  He's a doctor - in digestive medicine - getting ready to move to Chicago.  Oh, and he also managed to get a Master's degree somewhere between undergrad and med school.  I'm working at the Gap.  Completely, totally, nothing, wrong with working there (or in retail, restaurants, etc...)  This is a ME problem. I'm learning HUMILITY and need to get over my own manufactured issues.  I then got into my 1999 Avalon with 250,000 miles, but not before I struggled to open the door with the quarter of an inch of handle left on the driver's side door that is nearly impossible to grab.  The tank was on empty and I could smell the obnoxious scent of burning oil, so I stopped to get gas.  I popped both the trunk and the gas tank because in order to open the gas tank door you have to dig around in the trunk, find a little lever, and manually pop open the gas door.   After filling up the tank, I decided I wanted to get some fries.  As I pulled up to the drive-through, I unbuckled, unlocked the door, and opened the door to order my dollar fries.  I did the same to pay the cashier, all because the driver's side window does not go down.  This is all a true story.

So, I promise my next post will be about my wonderful kids and my pretty awesome husband, but I needed to get this off of my mind.  I'm still learning patience and humility each day.  It has been an extremely hard lesson to learn but I am thankful for the stronger and more compassionate person I will become once I get through my lesson.  Until then, let me know if you want something from the Gap, I get a kick-ass discount. 

Love Construction, Inc.

The floor is complete! Love Construction, Inc., also known as Scott and I, finished up this week. It only took us four weeks, ten trips to Lowes, at least five level four fights, and possibly one level five fight, but we're done. Despite the uneven floor, the differences in opinion, bowed walls, and one or two minor imperfections, it looks great!

If you need any minor projects completed in your house, just call Love Construction...It may take us a while, but we're entertaining!