I've changed blog addresses...please find us here:
www.thewarriorcrew.blogspot.com
Hope to see you there!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
So...I meant to send my Xmas cards...I REALLY did!!! Just didn't happen...along with the million other things that didn't happen. So I am just going to post the letter...already threw away the cards. They were even addressed already! Sigh...
Early 2010
Dear Friends and Family,
I like to say that if it wasn’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done at all. Clearly I have gone WAY past the last minute, so I am going to pretend that this is merely an exercise in me executing a New Year’s resolution of no longer being late all the time and consider myself merely very early for the next Christmas season.
I would also like to express appreciation for those that acknowledged my lack of Christmas letter last year. I received many phone calls and emails regarding such…it’s nice to be missed! I highly doubt at this point in time that this letter will do justice to my stellar letter-writing reputation, but I’m bound and determined to give it a whirl!
So much to say about the last year or so, but I will start with a brief update of the kids. Garrett is 13 and I have to say that he is just wonderful. He has his teenage moments, but is incredibly helpful and funny and understanding and bright. He is doing well in school and is anxiously awaiting high school next year. He actually has taken on a lot of responsibility around the house this last year and it is so appreciated yet unfortunately often goes unacknowledged in the chaos. I so appreciate his helping around the house, helping with his brothers, and just generally being a good, responsible kid.
Cole is 12 and is doing well as well. He has taken a grave interest in his darn Nintendo DSI and in often found absorbed in such. He is such a tender-hearted boy and so full of compassion. He was able to be a TA at school this year and chose the on-campus child care they have available for the teachers. He adores young kids and is so good with them. Young children are drawn to Cole and he flourishes with the responsibility of caring for them. He loves to build things and figure out how things work…just wish I was more mechanically inclined to help with that. He’s doing well in school and is generally just a mellow, happy kid.
Blake just turned 10 in January and is a real character. He is witty and sarcastic…I have NO idea where he got that from! He does well in school and is involved in many activities. He currently has an amazing desire to learn to play the piano and is starting his eagerly anticipated lessons next week. He picks it up quickly and very much wants to be good at that. He is rarely at home, but rather around the neighborhood with other kids or they are all at our house. The front door is constantly revolving! All in all, he is a charismatic and fun kid that is often making me laugh…when he’s not driving me crazy of course!
Ethan is 7 and is still as little as ever. He proudly boasts his 41 pounds and has been surpassed in weight and height by his younger brother. Fortunately, he embraces his size and often uses it to his advantage, whether it be crawling through dog doors to open a locked house for a friend or successfully hiding in a cabinet in which no one else would possibly fit. He has a passion for Bakugan and I have those ridiculously expensive colored balls all over the house! He still has wonderful red/auburn hair and the cutest smile, especially with the two front teeth missing. He’s also doing well in school and is a very sweet little boy.
And then there is Wade. Sigh…what to say about Wade? Wade is energetic and boisterous and bright and LOUD and quick and often obnoxious. And yet none of that matters when he crawls on my lap and tells me I’m beautiful and he loves me and wraps his arms around me while he kisses me on the cheek. He started kindergarten this year even though his birthday was after the cut-off and seems to be doing well and is succeeding. He likes being at the same school as his brothers (and yes…all 5 are at the SAME school. I keep telling them I deserve some type of award or something.) and has made a lot of new friends. He and Ethan are both currently in basketball and he enjoys being able to now participate in group sports like he’s watched his brothers do his whole life.
And now for me. I have had so many prayers, phone calls, emails, and kind words this last year and am so grateful for everyone that has been here for me. For those of you that don’t know, although I can hardly imagine who that could possibly be considering I have prided myself in finally being very vocal about what my life has entailed the past 15 years or so, Jesse and I divorced. It hasn’t been pretty and most likely won’t be for a while. The divorce was finally final the middle of December although we separated December of 2008. If you are interested in details, I will most likely begin being a little more open on my blog (assuming I actually post ) www.theabernathyclan.blogspot.com, or you can always wait for the book I will inevitably write.
Meanwhile, the kids and I have moved into a house back in town in Surprise, closer to their school and friends. We are adjusting fairly well and seem to slowly but surely be figuring out how we are to do this new thing we’ve been thrust into. I started nursing school in October and I’m loving every minute of it. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship that pays my tuition and books and guarantees me a 3 year position at a Banner hospital in the valley at graduation. It is an accelerated RN program and I am in class many hours a week, but will graduate March 2011. I also coached diving this past fall after a few years off and enjoyed it so much! It was good for me to get a little break, wait for the kids to be a little older, and then be able to be back on deck. I’ve also reconnected with quite a few friends I haven’t seen in a while and done things I have rarely been able to do. I went to Seattle this past year (and got my first tattoo!), I went to LA and to Vegas…the kids and I went to my parents second house in New Mexico for the first time and we went to play in the snow…TWICE! We had a great, stress-free Christmas and enjoyed our time off at break going to the zoo, sleeping in, and playing rousing episodes of Rockband. I often say…we are truly “ROCKSTARS”…and we are rocking our world.
That is the sum-up…short and sweet. Hope to hear from those of you I haven’t lately and hear more from those of you I have reconnected with. Thank you all for your support and love. Hope 2010 is kind to you!
Love,
Melynda, Garrett, Cole, Blake, Ethan and Wade
Warriorcrew6@gmail.com
www.theabernathyclan.blogspot.com
Please email if you want our new address :-)
Early 2010
Dear Friends and Family,
I like to say that if it wasn’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done at all. Clearly I have gone WAY past the last minute, so I am going to pretend that this is merely an exercise in me executing a New Year’s resolution of no longer being late all the time and consider myself merely very early for the next Christmas season.
I would also like to express appreciation for those that acknowledged my lack of Christmas letter last year. I received many phone calls and emails regarding such…it’s nice to be missed! I highly doubt at this point in time that this letter will do justice to my stellar letter-writing reputation, but I’m bound and determined to give it a whirl!
So much to say about the last year or so, but I will start with a brief update of the kids. Garrett is 13 and I have to say that he is just wonderful. He has his teenage moments, but is incredibly helpful and funny and understanding and bright. He is doing well in school and is anxiously awaiting high school next year. He actually has taken on a lot of responsibility around the house this last year and it is so appreciated yet unfortunately often goes unacknowledged in the chaos. I so appreciate his helping around the house, helping with his brothers, and just generally being a good, responsible kid.
Cole is 12 and is doing well as well. He has taken a grave interest in his darn Nintendo DSI and in often found absorbed in such. He is such a tender-hearted boy and so full of compassion. He was able to be a TA at school this year and chose the on-campus child care they have available for the teachers. He adores young kids and is so good with them. Young children are drawn to Cole and he flourishes with the responsibility of caring for them. He loves to build things and figure out how things work…just wish I was more mechanically inclined to help with that. He’s doing well in school and is generally just a mellow, happy kid.
Blake just turned 10 in January and is a real character. He is witty and sarcastic…I have NO idea where he got that from! He does well in school and is involved in many activities. He currently has an amazing desire to learn to play the piano and is starting his eagerly anticipated lessons next week. He picks it up quickly and very much wants to be good at that. He is rarely at home, but rather around the neighborhood with other kids or they are all at our house. The front door is constantly revolving! All in all, he is a charismatic and fun kid that is often making me laugh…when he’s not driving me crazy of course!
Ethan is 7 and is still as little as ever. He proudly boasts his 41 pounds and has been surpassed in weight and height by his younger brother. Fortunately, he embraces his size and often uses it to his advantage, whether it be crawling through dog doors to open a locked house for a friend or successfully hiding in a cabinet in which no one else would possibly fit. He has a passion for Bakugan and I have those ridiculously expensive colored balls all over the house! He still has wonderful red/auburn hair and the cutest smile, especially with the two front teeth missing. He’s also doing well in school and is a very sweet little boy.
And then there is Wade. Sigh…what to say about Wade? Wade is energetic and boisterous and bright and LOUD and quick and often obnoxious. And yet none of that matters when he crawls on my lap and tells me I’m beautiful and he loves me and wraps his arms around me while he kisses me on the cheek. He started kindergarten this year even though his birthday was after the cut-off and seems to be doing well and is succeeding. He likes being at the same school as his brothers (and yes…all 5 are at the SAME school. I keep telling them I deserve some type of award or something.) and has made a lot of new friends. He and Ethan are both currently in basketball and he enjoys being able to now participate in group sports like he’s watched his brothers do his whole life.
And now for me. I have had so many prayers, phone calls, emails, and kind words this last year and am so grateful for everyone that has been here for me. For those of you that don’t know, although I can hardly imagine who that could possibly be considering I have prided myself in finally being very vocal about what my life has entailed the past 15 years or so, Jesse and I divorced. It hasn’t been pretty and most likely won’t be for a while. The divorce was finally final the middle of December although we separated December of 2008. If you are interested in details, I will most likely begin being a little more open on my blog (assuming I actually post ) www.theabernathyclan.blogspot.com, or you can always wait for the book I will inevitably write.
Meanwhile, the kids and I have moved into a house back in town in Surprise, closer to their school and friends. We are adjusting fairly well and seem to slowly but surely be figuring out how we are to do this new thing we’ve been thrust into. I started nursing school in October and I’m loving every minute of it. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship that pays my tuition and books and guarantees me a 3 year position at a Banner hospital in the valley at graduation. It is an accelerated RN program and I am in class many hours a week, but will graduate March 2011. I also coached diving this past fall after a few years off and enjoyed it so much! It was good for me to get a little break, wait for the kids to be a little older, and then be able to be back on deck. I’ve also reconnected with quite a few friends I haven’t seen in a while and done things I have rarely been able to do. I went to Seattle this past year (and got my first tattoo!), I went to LA and to Vegas…the kids and I went to my parents second house in New Mexico for the first time and we went to play in the snow…TWICE! We had a great, stress-free Christmas and enjoyed our time off at break going to the zoo, sleeping in, and playing rousing episodes of Rockband. I often say…we are truly “ROCKSTARS”…and we are rocking our world.
That is the sum-up…short and sweet. Hope to hear from those of you I haven’t lately and hear more from those of you I have reconnected with. Thank you all for your support and love. Hope 2010 is kind to you!
Love,
Melynda, Garrett, Cole, Blake, Ethan and Wade
Warriorcrew6@gmail.com
www.theabernathyclan.blogspot.com
Please email if you want our new address :-)
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Top 10 List...
Is was negative...OF COURSE!!! So, in light the tragic waste of money that was spent on such a ridiculous claim and silliness, I have decided to post a list of the top 10 things that $65 (or the full $130) could have been better spent on.
10. Cell phone bill
9. Half of an electric bill at my new house
8. A pair of fabulous MEK jeans from the Buckle
7. A week's worth of groceries
6. Two tanks of gas in the Excursion
5. New tattoo
4. Matching underwear and bras from Victoria's Secret
3. Six pedicures (including tips)
2. ANYTHING for the children!!!!
And the number one thing that $130 could have been better spent on especially if someone was desperate to do something to my hair...
A cut and color which I actually really need :-)
Good times!
10. Cell phone bill
9. Half of an electric bill at my new house
8. A pair of fabulous MEK jeans from the Buckle
7. A week's worth of groceries
6. Two tanks of gas in the Excursion
5. New tattoo
4. Matching underwear and bras from Victoria's Secret
3. Six pedicures (including tips)
2. ANYTHING for the children!!!!
And the number one thing that $130 could have been better spent on especially if someone was desperate to do something to my hair...
A cut and color which I actually really need :-)
Good times!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
If ya wanna keep reading it, ya gotta let me know!
Time to REALLY block out trolls :-) How hilarious that that is an issue! So, here's the thing, if you would like to maintain access to my blog for the future yet infrequent posting as to the craziness and ridiculousness of my life, please send me an email with your email so I can invite you or post it in a comment on this. Would love to have MOST of you keep reading :-)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Trimming trees, making beds, and splinters
I would like to think everyone has been wondering and wondering where an entry from me has been, and yet I am well aware that all of YOU are well aware that I am notoriously a horribly flakey blogger and a long lag time between posts from me is not only not surprising, but expected. What can I say? No real excuses, but really the best excuses ever. Whatever. It is what it is, right?
So...I would like to post a picture...or pictures...and I definitely want to change my main picture although I don't want to change it at all. Aside from that indecision, the decision is made for me, or really by me, because I haven't taken a single picture since November 28, 2008. Not one. At all. Of anything. And I would think most of you would wonder about that, because I take pictures...lots of them! Now, don't get me wrong, none of them are really any good in a professional sense, and yet I took them, lots of them, because I always wanted to capture the moments...remember little insignificant moments in time...immortalize daily uselessness and frivolity. And now I don't. And I want to...desperately...and I can't. How do I capture this? How is any of this remotely insignificant? And although extremely useless, not in any way frivolous...and I can't capture it.
So...I have replaced old guilt and regrets with ones of having no pictures for 6 months. Six months that won't be immortalized...and I think it's ok. Because I trimmed a tree yesterday. I sported my bikini top and some board shorts, got out some hedge trimmers, ran an extension cord, and trimmed the hell out of a tree. And I think I did ok...I mean it DOES still look like a tree so I'm considering that a successful outcome :-) And the branches that were low were easy, but I was a rockstar with that trimmer over my head, extension cord dangling by my side, as I jumped (yes, jumped!) with those electric trimmers over my head to get the higher branches. But I did it...by myself...and I'm a rockstar!
Then I even cleaned the trimmings. I hoe-ed all the weeds, I raked the leaves and debris, I gathered the branches cut from the tree that shadows us as we come home. And I got the most horrible splinter. And if I could find where I put anything yet, or where the remaining random items that are still packed were actually packed, I could get it out. And at the same time, I like that it's a reminder...a reminder of what I've done, what I've accomplished, and what I can be...because we all know the splinter WILL come out...and my finger will be as good as new.
So, we've moved. The boys and I. Into a fabulous little house closer to town and closer to stores and closer to school and the boys have tons of friends nearby and they ride their bikes regardless of the ridiculously hot May we are having and they go to Sonic to get themselves a $1 slush and they love it...and I love it. And we made beds. I put the beds together, one by one, screw by screw, and they are together. And we made our beds...and we are sleeping in them and we are doing it day by day as a team and together and making "this" as fabulous as we can...and honestly, it may be drastically different, but it IS fabulous! And I've made my bed. Literally and figuratively. Now, I didn't choose for the bed to necessarily get messed up the way it did...I didn't personally rip the sheets violently from the mattress...but I did leave it unmade for a while. But now I made it...and I'm sleeping in it...and it has fabulous flowers all over it! And it is amazingly wonderful how I can go from a desert of weeds to a bed of flowers in a day. Truly symbolic.
So I'm aspiring to take a picture. It will be hard. I'm sure I will cry with the first click of the shutter. I have no idea what it will be of...and yet it probably really doesn't matter. I will capture anything...and it will mean something...because it will be the first.
I have so much to say and can't really say any of it. I haven't said anything for years, but my voice is becoming more clear. And I've made a list of those who have heard it...and I will keep it forever...because it matters that I talked and I was heard. In the end, it will matter that I said it all. And I truly have so many friends...and people that have cared and do care for me. It is so poignant to realize that my friends are really more family to me that those who truly were my family. I always said that I would've rather been "like family" in that circle because it certainly meant more than the actual family. I guess I get that now...and I'm good...cuz I'm a rockstar...and I've got my rock moves! It has been interesting to see those whom have run away...and those whom have run to me. My parents and my sister have been incredible...and it all goes back to the roots. Same as the weeds and flowers and trees. It seems that sometimes the weeds grow so thick and strong...and some of them are actually pretty and have colorful flowers...and they begin to surround you until you realized they are overtaking your garden. So, you can get rid of the weeds...and you can pull them from the ground...and some are harder than others...and you may stickers in your hands from them and you may get splinters from the rake while ridding the yard of them. And then you can plant beautiful flowers...and they may be small...needing to be nurtured...but your nurturing brings forth something beautiful. And in the midst of the disappearing weeds and blossoming flowers, stands the tree. It's always been there...it can weather the storms...it shades you from the burning sun. Although the leaves may fall off in the winter, it's ok...because shade isn't needed in the winter...and the weather here has been great in the winters...but in the spring it grows full and beautiful again. And I guess I'm saying...I'm grateful for ridding my life of weeds, I'm loving watching the budding flowers, and I am eternally grateful for my tree.
I'm off to try to get out this darn splinter :-)
So...I would like to post a picture...or pictures...and I definitely want to change my main picture although I don't want to change it at all. Aside from that indecision, the decision is made for me, or really by me, because I haven't taken a single picture since November 28, 2008. Not one. At all. Of anything. And I would think most of you would wonder about that, because I take pictures...lots of them! Now, don't get me wrong, none of them are really any good in a professional sense, and yet I took them, lots of them, because I always wanted to capture the moments...remember little insignificant moments in time...immortalize daily uselessness and frivolity. And now I don't. And I want to...desperately...and I can't. How do I capture this? How is any of this remotely insignificant? And although extremely useless, not in any way frivolous...and I can't capture it.
So...I have replaced old guilt and regrets with ones of having no pictures for 6 months. Six months that won't be immortalized...and I think it's ok. Because I trimmed a tree yesterday. I sported my bikini top and some board shorts, got out some hedge trimmers, ran an extension cord, and trimmed the hell out of a tree. And I think I did ok...I mean it DOES still look like a tree so I'm considering that a successful outcome :-) And the branches that were low were easy, but I was a rockstar with that trimmer over my head, extension cord dangling by my side, as I jumped (yes, jumped!) with those electric trimmers over my head to get the higher branches. But I did it...by myself...and I'm a rockstar!
Then I even cleaned the trimmings. I hoe-ed all the weeds, I raked the leaves and debris, I gathered the branches cut from the tree that shadows us as we come home. And I got the most horrible splinter. And if I could find where I put anything yet, or where the remaining random items that are still packed were actually packed, I could get it out. And at the same time, I like that it's a reminder...a reminder of what I've done, what I've accomplished, and what I can be...because we all know the splinter WILL come out...and my finger will be as good as new.
So, we've moved. The boys and I. Into a fabulous little house closer to town and closer to stores and closer to school and the boys have tons of friends nearby and they ride their bikes regardless of the ridiculously hot May we are having and they go to Sonic to get themselves a $1 slush and they love it...and I love it. And we made beds. I put the beds together, one by one, screw by screw, and they are together. And we made our beds...and we are sleeping in them and we are doing it day by day as a team and together and making "this" as fabulous as we can...and honestly, it may be drastically different, but it IS fabulous! And I've made my bed. Literally and figuratively. Now, I didn't choose for the bed to necessarily get messed up the way it did...I didn't personally rip the sheets violently from the mattress...but I did leave it unmade for a while. But now I made it...and I'm sleeping in it...and it has fabulous flowers all over it! And it is amazingly wonderful how I can go from a desert of weeds to a bed of flowers in a day. Truly symbolic.
So I'm aspiring to take a picture. It will be hard. I'm sure I will cry with the first click of the shutter. I have no idea what it will be of...and yet it probably really doesn't matter. I will capture anything...and it will mean something...because it will be the first.
I have so much to say and can't really say any of it. I haven't said anything for years, but my voice is becoming more clear. And I've made a list of those who have heard it...and I will keep it forever...because it matters that I talked and I was heard. In the end, it will matter that I said it all. And I truly have so many friends...and people that have cared and do care for me. It is so poignant to realize that my friends are really more family to me that those who truly were my family. I always said that I would've rather been "like family" in that circle because it certainly meant more than the actual family. I guess I get that now...and I'm good...cuz I'm a rockstar...and I've got my rock moves! It has been interesting to see those whom have run away...and those whom have run to me. My parents and my sister have been incredible...and it all goes back to the roots. Same as the weeds and flowers and trees. It seems that sometimes the weeds grow so thick and strong...and some of them are actually pretty and have colorful flowers...and they begin to surround you until you realized they are overtaking your garden. So, you can get rid of the weeds...and you can pull them from the ground...and some are harder than others...and you may stickers in your hands from them and you may get splinters from the rake while ridding the yard of them. And then you can plant beautiful flowers...and they may be small...needing to be nurtured...but your nurturing brings forth something beautiful. And in the midst of the disappearing weeds and blossoming flowers, stands the tree. It's always been there...it can weather the storms...it shades you from the burning sun. Although the leaves may fall off in the winter, it's ok...because shade isn't needed in the winter...and the weather here has been great in the winters...but in the spring it grows full and beautiful again. And I guess I'm saying...I'm grateful for ridding my life of weeds, I'm loving watching the budding flowers, and I am eternally grateful for my tree.
I'm off to try to get out this darn splinter :-)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
If ya wanna read it, read it!
So, life...is NOT a bowl of cherries! Just in case you were interested. I have unblocked by blog simply because I am too lazy at this point to find, enter, and co-ordinate the email addresses of people I know to allow you guys to read my infrequent, yet wildly entertaining blog. I blocked it to keep a few OUT, and decided it wasn't worth my trouble :-) So much harder here than on Facebook, right? Anyway, if ya wanna read it...read it! If I were you, I definitely would :-)
In light of life, hope everyone is having a fabulous 2009! It has started rocky here which may be good...no where to go but up, right! All about positive thinking...LOL! If that were only true!
To those of you who have been around, thanks! I love you guys :-)
In light of life, hope everyone is having a fabulous 2009! It has started rocky here which may be good...no where to go but up, right! All about positive thinking...LOL! If that were only true!
To those of you who have been around, thanks! I love you guys :-)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Ode to a boob job...
So, how does this book apply to title and picture below? Bear with me...I will get you there! So here's the deal...for those of you who don't know, I had my boobs "enhanced". For those of you who do know, just a reminder to get you where I'm going with this. And to those of you who have issues with it, get over it :-) They are sooo just part of the journey!Over a year ago, I opted to have a little "repair"...boobs and tummy. I have to say, it was quite a difficult decision for many reasons. The primary reason was that I was honestly concerned with what that choice would say about me and where my priorities are and that it would label me as excessively vain. I was worried about what people would think and that, somehow, that decision of MINE would bother or be disagreeable to my friends and/or acquaintances. It turns out, I had a myriad of responses! I will say, the majority of women that I know either already had made the leap themselves or are hoping to one day and were merely curious about recovery, size, etc. Then there were the few that had issues...that thought/think I was being vain and the ONLY reason anyone would ever choose to make this decision would be to flaunt them at the gym in a tank top! The truth of the matter is, they aren't really about that, but yet they were the beginning of me finding me again...about me finding myself in the midst of a crazy life.
So, I'm a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, a clothes-washer, floor-mopper, food-maker, kitchen-cleaner, toilet-scrubber, carpool-driver, furniture-duster, discipline-giver, etc. I have so many things and actions that seem to define my life, but I discovered that none of them define ME...they define what I do for everyone else. Now, not to knock any of my life! I love my life! I chose it and I wouldn't choose to change it and I am fully aware that the above titles come with this territory! The difference is, I knew that I was losing ME in the middle of it all and I, honestly, hadn't realized it before now. So I got the surgery...and I tried to hide it...and I tried to justify it...and I was embarrassed by it for a while. But here's the thing, by my choosing to do that for ME, I made a huge step towards finding ME! I learned that what everyone else thinks doesn't matter. And I learned that repairing what carrying, birthing, nursing, and tending to 5 children did to my body was not vain, but essentially therapeutic! There is something to be said about lying down and not having your stomach lying next to you! I felt great and slowly gained confidence in myself that I think sometimes fades when spending so much time tending to daily life.
Jump ahead a bit...I decided to go back to school. Hence the book picture! I have been accepted into nursing school and am on the waiting list to begin. In the meantime, I am taking Microbiology to apply for a nursing scholarship in December. WOW! This class has been sooooo good for me! Using my mind and gaining knowledge and being with people with similar interests and goals and people who can carry on an adult conversation has been awesome! I cannot even begin to explain how much I have enjoyed this class! I had forgotten how much I enjoy learning and it is so different now compared to when I was 18 in that this is solely MY choice! I am finding ME! I am doing something for ME! And you know what? My family has had to sacrifice to make this possible and I love everyone of them for that. It has definitely been an adjustment, but in the long run it benefits every member of my family.
So, that's the leap. I got boobs and now I am learning and am finding things that are for ME and good for ME. I am strong and able...I am productive and smart...I am still a good mom and wife...and it's okay if they have to dig underwear for themselves out of the pile on the dryer--at least they are clean! And, despite it all, it IS fantastic to wear a tank top at the gym!
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