Do you believe in destiny?

Steve Jobs

1955-2011

Apple

1976-∞

Do you guys believe in destiny? 


Because, I know this probably sounds cheesy, but I feel like Apple has been my destiny. The company was started in 1976 (the year I was born). I've always collected apples (not just a teacher thing) and I grew up on Macintosh apples, which most people just think is weird because they are so sweet and desserty. Think different campaign, the people who have given their art their name their genius to Apple, I just feel like...how does a girl who says I'm going to be a lawyer at Northwestern University end up in Cupertino designing instruction to be used ALL OVER THE WORLD!??!? 

I lost a lot of myself with my failed marriage, foreclosure and bankruptcy. But Apple, and the people I work with at Apple, have helped me find myself all over again. And HE made that possible. In 1976. The year I was born. The year I was born Steve Jobs started saving me from myself. Seriously. 

I have totally found my path. 

Please, rest in peace, Mr. Jobs, for I live in peace because of you.

Relocation: Fresh & Easy is both FRESH and EASY!

I've moved.

More than 1,800 miles across this great country.

Crossed a lot of states. And while crossing in and out of those states, passed up a lot of grocery stores.

I moved myself right out of Jewel and Dominick's country. Right out of Aldi and Ultra territory. Right out of Meijer-land.

And into...options I have never seen before.

Is Safeway really safe? Will I truly be lucky to shop at Lucky?

Or will I be a Fresh & Easy girl?

Discovering the answer began from the moment I pulled into the lot. As I drove up to my first Fresh & Easy, the one located at Saratoga and Payne in San Jose, I encountered a god send....

SPOTS RESERVED FOR ADULTS WITH CHILDREN!

In one aisle, the first two spots! And since I was there with my twin 3 year old boys, I needed this relief. As a single mom of four boys, just getting into and out of a car is a production.

And then I shopped. I was happy. Moving here I was warned... "You're moving here from Chicago? Beware the prices! You'll never be able to afford living in California!"

I was warned that living here could be twice the cost of living in the midwest.

If I stick with Fresh & Easy (and a wisely planned budget) I know I will be okay. $.99 for a six oranges  and $1.49 for the tastiest Freeze Pops EVER (seriously... Piña Colada, Green Apple and Mango are some of the flavors that I enjoy and even deter MY picky boys away from the standard "red," "blue" and "purple" flavors).

 I bought two bags! 

I'm eating one as I type out this post!

And there was a good selection of Fresh & Easy Brand foods.

Good prices and nice employees, too! As I pulled up to a conveyor belt to ring myself up, I figured I would be on my own. This is how they keep down costs, right? NO WAY.

An employee came to my aide, bagging as I rang up my products.

As I ventured out, I knew I would return.

And I did, just a short week later. This time, I went to the Fresh & Easy on Bird and Minnesota in East San Jose.

As I walked to the door, I was given this....

MORE SAVINGS!!!

And the woman who handed me the coupon was super friendly. She commented on my car and we chatted as I walked into the store.  And once again, someone ran up to my aid to help bag as I scanned my items at the conveyor belt.

Looks like, despite moving, I've found my grocery shopping home at Fresh & Easy!

In Sunny California...

This midwest girl has gone and upped herself for a MAJOR relocation.

Can you say CALIFORNIA???

Yes, that's true. The Mommy Tsunami actually lives someplace that a tsunami might be possible. Well, maybe not. But at least a really big ocean wave is possible.

I. live. in. California.

How is this possible, you ask?  Has it really been that long, dear tsunami, you surmise?

I looked back to the date of my last post. July 6.

Yes. July 6. And about a week after that, my boss presented this amazing job opening to me and said, "Go for it. This job was written for you. And you'll move to California. But you only have two hours to decide."

Two hours to decide whether or not I should change my job, my life, UPROOT my life, my children?

Well, the answer had to be yes, right? Because here I am, in sunny California.

It is sunny 300 days of the year in the city I live in.


I live in the Bay Area.


I love where I live now.

I interviewed and was offered the job all within a two week span. That includes TWO phone interviews, one in person interview/"performance" and the final offer.

They wanted me to sign on for my job in three weeks. So. Two weeks of interviewing, three weeks of planning and here I am. 5 short weeks later.

In sunny California.

It's not been easy. I will be posting over the next week about my move, my trials and tribulations. My successes and rejoices (I live near my Cali friends who are many of my besties! Hi, bffs!)

But for today, let me say that I am a woman who just moved her entire family to California, four YOUNGISH boys and me, on a cross-country trek from Chicago to the Bay Area, to pursue the job of my dreams.

Yes, this Bay Area has itself quite a promoter in me.

And it doesn't hurt that in just a few weeks I'll be at the Bay Area Council's Women and the Economy Conference...

Oh yeah...in sunny California...

xoxox

What happened at the end of May

I have only recently found the ability to talk about this publicly.  Sure, there are some people that know this information already. And of course, I have the option to keep it private always. But someone helped me through this and if it wasn't for the fact that she shared her experience with me, I'd still be drowning in sadness. Alone.

I found out I was pregnant during the month of May. No, it wasn't planned.  But no matter the plan, life is what happens while we are making other arrangements.

I started to bleed. A lot. Spotting. Maybe Aunt Flo? Cramping. Must be Aunt Flo. Then it went away.

Then it came back.

For the better part of a month (read: almost every day) I had spotting. And I grew tired of it (read: concerned).

And so, I drove myself to Urgent Care after work where I explained my concerns, peed in a cup and heard those words.

"You're pregnant."

Um. Huh?

Not that I couldn't have been. It's just...huh?

After four kids...all boys...I hadn't planned.

But it would be nice...

And I started to hope.

And name.

And dream.

And my hcg quants went down. And I had pains on one side. And it didn't. look. good.

And I spent the weekend of Memorial Day in the hospital losing my baby to an ectopic pregnancy.

There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about the month of January 2012 and how full my body should look by then.

I am 100% positive that that baby was my daughter.

I am fairly certain that I will not be pregnant ever again. That doctors will ask how many pregnancies and how many children and I will always have to explain that no, although the math sounds right, no, in fact I lost a pregnancy.

I am different now. The experience was painful. I spent the final excruciating night in pain in the ER and was ignored by Nurse TooBusy and Doctor TooLittleTooLate. I cried to them as I begged them to give me something for the pain, I had been sitting in my room alone for two hours and no one had checked on me and I was in pain and I was losing my baby and please, wasn't there something they could do to speed things up or move things along.

My favorite was Orderly Hottie McFunnyJokes. He was almost as good as the intravenously injected pain prescription...

But, as Pearl Jam sings, "Whoah, IIIIIIIIII, whoah, I'm still alive."

And I am. And I have lived to blog the story. And I do it in case you need someone to talk you through your painful experience. Because that final night, a woman who will remain anonymous because I don't feel it my right to share her story here if others don't already know it...she stayed on the phone with me until the ER got me admitted to my room at 6 am. She didn't leave me. She didn't leave my side.

And now she has someone that would do the same, fly across the country, drive if I had to dammit, for HER.

And that's what happened at the end of May. And what has happened emotionally a little bit less everyday since then.

The Year of the Awesome Birthday Parties

I am a horrible mom in the area of the birthday party.  They require... (ick) PLANNING.

I am not a planner. Not by nature.  Planning for me requires iPhones, apps and an amazing amount of desire to be better. Of course, at work, I am PAID to be better. Better at planning and organization and all that.

But here at home? No pay. I mean, there's love and all.  But no MONEY pay (the kind of incentive required by me to be PLANNING better).  So, I reiterate... (ick) PLANNING.

But it has been several (and by several I mean like six or seven) years since my boys have had a real, honest-to-goodness planned out birthday party.

So, along with the decorated christmas tree I promised to have (and successfully delivered!) this year, I am promising amazing PLANNED birthday parties.

Joey's party is planned.

Joey is turning the big 1-0 this year.  YUP!  My baby is going to be 10.  So, my plan is a White Sox baseball game for him and two of his friends.  Crazy enough, it ended up being on Kid's Day at the Park and that is also Southpaw's birthday party day (the mascot).  Also, I HAVE GOTTEN A MESSAGE TO HIM UP ON THE JUMBOTRON!  The message, "Happy 10th Birthday, Joey" will be on the screen for him!!!!

Eddie's party is in July. I thought a Pirates of the Caribbean party would be cool and I was going to get him swords and pirates' hats and all that jazz.  He liked it soooo much. Until his friend told him he does not like that movie. So, Eddie thinks he just wants a costume party. I don't know. We will see.  But whatever it will be will be AMAZING!!!

Any recommendations? What have been your amazing planned birthday party parties?

Wordless Wednesday: Each of my four boys

Mom, surrounded by her men

 Mom and her first born: he taught me how to love

 Mom and her second born: he taught me how to laugh

 Mom and her third born: he taught me how to fight the good fight

Mom and her fourth born: he taught me how to imagine

I miss blogging...

As a teacher (which I was in my former life), I always felt that other teachers were doing children a disservice when "lightening" the load. What I mean by this is...if a child is bad at spelling,  many teachers believe that they should give that children 10 words to focus on instead of the classroom's 20.

I learned in some.random.don't remember exactly class during my time in undergrad that when it comes to brains, if you ask for less, you will get less.  Which means...

...ask for more and get more.

For the child in the classroom, that means instead of 20 words, give them 25.  maybe they always get half.  13 is 3 more than 10 to have memorized!  Yay, student!!!

For me, that means I am blogging in many different places.

Hopefully, I am now an official member of a blog that has a domain, 7 other kick ass women members and some really amazing enthusiasm.humor.smartassedness available to it.

I have this little corner of the world, too.

themommytsunami identity is one that has breathed life into who I am, how I see myself (slightly more confidently) and has assisted me through my life experiences over the last two to three years.

I won't let it go. It brought me to blogher at home 09, blogher 10 in NYC and some of my besties (here's winking at you tom.the.girl).

And so, here goes me...breathing life in a blog forgotten...a code blue was called, but the doctor.is.in.

-themommytsunami