Life is going good!

Hello to all my gather friends!~  I know I haven't been on here much and keeping up with everyone's stuff like I was. I tried to catch up some today and yesterday! I do miss our gather chats! I just thought I would let everyone know how everything is going!

My house is doing awesome. My kids and I planted some flowers and made a whole little flower bed. We planted the plants in the ground that came from the seed's we had started before. One of my neighbors generously offered some flowers and plants from his yard. So we went down and got some of those. They are the type that multiply and come back every year and provide a beautiful ground cover. I thought it was very very sweet of him to offer us such a wonderful gift! We dug some up together at his house and my kids and I planted them at mine. They are growing beautifully. We still have some final touches that need to be done at the house... nothing major. Habitat is still going to come and move the shed .. mine and my neighbors. Then they have to do a final grade and we will plant some grass after that. Also were waiting for some front steps. Nothing major though!

My job ... well my job is going so well!!!  My boss gave me a raise. Nothing huge but anything is better then nothing! I was so pleased. Then he left for his son's wedding over sea's so I have been running the place for 3 weeks now. I am so proud of myself. I have 95 % of the storage units full! Only 14% of the customers are behind in rent. Our equipment rental I am currently rating #3 in the scale they use for U-Haul. When you figure a #1 is perfect i would have to consider myself to be doing pretty well! I even got an award last week. Looking at all the paperwork and customer feedback it looks like I will be getting another award next month too! So I am doing GREAT at work. My boss will be coming back this week and he's already told me were going to talk about another raise! So cross your fingers and say a little prayer for me!

My kids are doing fantastic! My fourteen year old daughter, Aundreana has started her new college prep/scholarship program. She was so nerous and thrilled at the same time! If she does well over the summer she will get accepted into the program. Once accepted in the program she will go thru it all during highschool. She will have to keep her grades up and her attendance. If she does then at the time of her graduation from high school she will recieve a FOUR year COMPLETELY paid for scholarship to the University Of Michigan!!!!  Wooowhoo!!! I am going to do all I can to keep her on track and in the program. She is thrilled and she is really wanting this so lets hope all goes as planned! I have to drive her everyday and pick her up. So I made arrangements with some other ladies who have daughters in the program for us to car pool. Turns out we all live only a few blocks from one another! Amen ...

My 11 year old son, Travis is doing great. Not a whole lot of new stuff going on with him. My 9 year old Daughter, Alexis has been giving me a hard time lately. Not sure what to do about her. She has been getting way to much stuff out in her room then not wanting to pick it up. I tried taking more stuff out of the room so she would have less clutter but somehow she still manages to do it. Then comes my youngest Jamell. He is going to be 5 on the 28th of this month. He is doing great. He's going through a little bit of a temper tantrum stage but otherwise he is doing good. He's been having some short visits with his father. Like I said short visits. He doesn't really know his dad but I have been letting him go see him for short visits. He's met his dad's mother (his grandma) and some of his cousins and Aunts on these visits. He seems to enjoy getting to know them.

My little brother ... who's actually bigger then me but younger... so he will always be MY little brother. LOL  He is doing good. I think his self esteem is getting better. He is learning new healthy habits at my house. I have been teaching him how to cook new things, clean properly, and just new habits all together. He has been making new friends, doing more physical activity and learning to help out more around the house. I think he was in somewhat of a rut before he came to live with me. He mostly wanted to sleep and eat. Now he is doing so much more and actually laughing and smiling more!

My car died last week. I think it died for good. the mechanics who looked at it told me its going to cost me more to fix it then to get a different car. So after struggling to find rides to work for several days I decided I had no choice. I had to do something. I live no where close to my job .. and none of my friends or their cars were reliable enough to get me to work on time! So I applied for loans and looked for cars. I could not get a traditional car loan for a car from a 'person' but I could get one from a dealership. However, I can't afford a car payment.... and insurance. I would rather get a less expensive car where it would be smaller payments and for a shorter time. So I turned down the dealership loan and looked for other avenues to get the money. I ended Up finding a really nice car for a well below value price. So I applied for some payday advances from some cash advance places. They were going to direct deposit the money into my account for me but it was friday .. and the girl with the car had other buyers looking at it too but she wanted the car to go to me. So I ended up borrowing the money from a family member (thanks a million!!!) so I could buy the car before the weekend and have a way to work. So now I have a nice .. reliable car to get back and forth to work, drive my daughters car pool, and run our errands and what not. I should (hopefully) get my stimulas check before the cash advance payments become due!

I have an awesome boyfriend too. He is almost 10 years older then me. He is a great man. I great friend. He is a great father. I have met his family and friends. I will be meeting his kids soon. He just has such a wondeful heart and really truly loves me. I feel truly blessed that he and I have met. He is so much like me and wants the same things out of life. I feel good about he and I.

Almost forgot .. my older half sister found me online the other day. She and I have been spending some time together and getting to know each other again. I had not seen her for almost 3 years. Now I am spending time with her and her side of the family and meeting my neice and nephews again .. one neice even has a baby! They are all so grown .. its amazing. I am so glad she found me so we can all get to know each other again and our familes can be closer.

So now that your all filled in on me .. how have you been?