Cox & Kin

many of us think that handwashing our clothes went out of style way back in the 50's when the first ringer washers came into  the picture, but I have to say that for my family, we were forced back into this when we moved the last time, and it is quite fun!  i just did 2 loads in my bath tub for the family.  we have been doing this for about a month now and it's refreshing to know that my hard work is paying off for my family to have clean clothes and not have the dirty ones stinking up our rooms because we don't have a washer and can't afford to go to the laundry mat.  At almost $4 a load at our local laundry mat, it's just not possible.  While we do have to hang them out to dry, that's ok.  we are using solar power to dry our clothes, we are on a well, so we are only using minimal energy to have the hot water with our whites.  it's a great feeling to know that i don't have to use all those machines, but i do miss washing my comfortors in the washer....

So, as many in my family can tell you, I've always said I wanted to go back to college, but never ACTED on it.  Well, I am here to say, I AM DOING THIS!  What proof do you have?  Well, none, but the government does!  I just finished my fafsa application and it's looking GOOD!  I can't wait.  So here's how it works: Apply for Aide-- this takes longer, so if you want to go back to school, do yourself a favor and apply for aide before you apply for your college! Order transcripts-- they will be ordered tomorrow come what may!  The copy is only $10, so that won't be a biggie.  They should be to me within 10 days, so I can run those in to the school.  Apply for college-- I'll need to pay a $25 application fee, but for me, it's worth it.  This will also be happening tomorrow!  WooHoo!  Things are getting done.  According to Pasco-Hernando Community College, I should be able to have it all done and start my classes come J...

The things my kiddies say CRACK ME UP!!!  I am sure all mom's say this, but today, I busted out laughing when Maddie came in the livingroom... Here's the story: I had a friend who was supposed to be stopping by, so since we haven't seen her for a while, I got Maddie into a really cute little outfit.  Something special so she could see her "aunt".  Well, she's sick and didn't get to come, but right after I got her ready, down to hair and all, I'm sweeping the living room and she comes in and declares, with hand on the hip and the whole bit, "I HAVE A HOTT DATE TONIGHT!"  LOL  Where she hears these things I have no clue!  She warms my heart when she does things like that.  Now I have the two of them over in the living room teaching each other how to play the Soprano Recorder, also known as the flute.  Mackenzie got it last year because she had to have one for music class.  I bought the book too so they could learn a little of how to read mu...

My girls are go getters!  Every year at least 1 time, they are named student of the month!  To celebrate, I decided to let Mackenzie help make dinner.  She LOVES cooking!  So I picked something she's been asking me to make and let her make it!  Super easy and FUN! Meatball Subs: Ingredients: 1 Jar Pasta Sauce Meatballs Hoagie rolls (they need to be connected on one side but open on the other side) Aluminum Foil Mozzerella Cheese Process: Put Meatballs in large pot.  Turn on to Medium heat.  Cover in pasta sauce and gently stir around.  When they are heated through, Place them in the rolls.  4 meatballs per sandwich.  Then COVER in Mozzerella Cheese!  Bake at 400 on a cookie sheet until cheese is melted, golden and bubbly!  We are gonna really LOVE these in a few minutes :)

Many of you know, that I don't really do anything for myself, and over the years I have battled with going back to school or not.  Well in the last year, I have really been feeling the pull to do it.  After much consideration, I am going to go back!  This summer I'll have to get my pre req's done.  After that it's the RN program for me!  WooHoo!!!  You might be wondering what has sparked this right?  Well, I have a passion for helping others.  I have experience as a Certified Nursing Assistant.  And it offers a great advancement opportunity!  Basically, my background is medical so why change that right?  The girls are getting old enough that I can enroll them in PLACE in order for me to do this. And I have the support of my husband.  So I really feel like this is the time!  I think that over the last 3 years, God  has been preparing me for this.  Again you may be asking how I know this, well try applying fo...

After the parent teacher conference today, I have a much better understanding of this whole PMP thing with Madison.  Here's more on it.... and more on why I now know more about it... Rewind to when Kenzie was 4.... We were in Indiana and the school system there did a wonderful job of getting the evaluation done before kindergarten, so I didn't have to understand all of the way this would work... When we got to Florida when she started kindergarten, we already had an IEP in place.  So we only had minor changes to that... Fast Forward to Present... Madison is in 1st grade and has to go through some testing that they do with all 1st graders (Kindergarten too)... It's called FAIR. This is in order to help with her reading and math.  So, here's what the results are: As it stands now, Madison is predicted (by FAIR) to have a moderate probability of scoring at or above grade level on the end of year comp task. She is below grade level in Reading Comprehension, however,...

Many times, we forget that love is kind.  We take for granted the way that we come across to our spouses.  For yesterday's dare, I was to do something unexpected for my spouse.  While this journey will be hard because sometimes he's out of town, I am doing everything I can to followthrough with this dare.  I wasn't able to do this for him yesterday, so I did combine it with today's dare.  How did I do this?  Well, not only did I do whatever he wanted to do today, but I didn't say anything negative to him while doing it.  Again, I stress, It's hard with him out of town, since he's home today, we had a morning of going where he wanted to and doing things he wanted to do.  He was shocked that I was willing to do all of this.  More on this tomorrow.  Yesterday's verse:  Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.  Ephesians 4:32

I have been busy at work today working on getting a few things set up.  Here's what I have learned so far: Madison has a Progress Monitoring Plan in Reading, Writing, and Math to help monitor her so that should the teacher think she needs more help in one area or another, they can easily address that!  Woo Hoo!  Love that her teacher is proactive like that!  She is getting Speech Therapy 2 times a week with Mrs. Mix.  I just got off of the phone with her and she has told me that she definately sees the improvements with her speech!  We are working with /sh/ and /ch/ now.  So, starting next week, we will have speech homework to do in addition to our spelling and math that we already have.  I have a conference with her homeroom teacher tomorrow.  We are going to be going over this PMP as well as any questions that might arise while we are there.  I'll be bringing a few things to her attention and then going from there.  So, th...

So, I wanna share my thoughts on a subject that is thrown out there all the time.  JUDGEMENT. From a worldy standpoint, we are all judged on a daily basis wether we know it or not.  People judge people anymore without even thinking.  She looks fat in that shirt, yep that's a judgement.  He's not parenting like I would.  That one too is a judgement.  We do it without realizing it most of the time anymore, but I want to challenge all of us. For One day, pass NO judgement.  Why?  well because I am tired of those who I thought were close to me judging me because of many reasons.  I may not have as much money as they do. I may not have all the material posessions that they have.  I may not have the newer vehicles that they have.  I may not do things they way they would do them.  I may have beliefs that they don't have.  This doesn't mean that anyone should judge me.  Here's a passage from the BIBLE to shed some lig...

So, I'm doing this dare.  I decided to do it just to see if I could get through it.  While it's been a trying year with Ryan being gone so much, I decided I would do the 40 day love dare.  This is an activity that will strengthen all marriages, so I wanted to do this for a while now.  I finally got around to starting it.  So with that said, every day there's a bible verse that goes with the dare.  Yesterday was the first day and here's the verse for it: Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Epehesians 4:2 And the dare for the day was to say nothing negative to my spouse for the day.  Then I had a list of 3 things to do and they were to pray for my spouse and myself, perform the dare, and write my thoughts or feelings, so I decided that I would do some blog entries as a journal to keep my thoughts on.  It is my hope that through my journey it will inspire someone else to also take this journey ...

My Thirty-One Journey as and Independent Consultant has been an amazing one!  And the journey is continuing!  It's going to be a great month!  Not only have we launched the fall catalog, but we have the best sale this month!  Who doesn't love a MAKE YOUR OWN sale!!!! So, how does it work?  Well it's quite simple, when you spend $31 this month, you get to choose ANY item from our catalog for 31% off!  And that's not any item of equal or lesser value like most stores do!  You could choose the most expensive item in the catalog and still get that 31% off! Here's an example: I purchase an Organizing Utility Tote in Black Parisian Pop and Personalize it with my Initials in style 30 with Hot Pink thread, I have spent $37 therefore qualifying me for the special, I then decide to buy my mom the 5th Avenue bag for a gift.  Normally this bag would cost me $125 (at full price), but I only have to pay $86.25 for that bag!  Wow!  That's a savin...

many of us many times in our lives start the journey of getting into shape.  most of us fall off of that wagon after just a few short weeks.  i have done that myself, but in january, i made it a goal to start loosing weight.  see, where we go wrong is that we set huge goals that we can't meet.  i set a small goal of loosing just 15 pounds this year.  I did that by the end of May, actually, I had lost 25 pounds.  But then I reverted back to old eating habits and put 10 of it back on.  I am back in the game and have lost 2 pounds again... I will not go back to the old eating habits and will increase exercise and this will be a lifelong journey for me.  I will be fit and that's that.  I may not loose 100 pounds in 7 months like they do on the biggest looser, but I will loos it and keep it off!  I have placed a ticker at the top of my page so that you can see my progress as I go through this journey.  I have started weighing in on Monda...

So, we had an impromptu date night on friday night.  And, let me tell you, this will be happening again!  We went on down to Sunset at Pier 60!  It was so much fun!  Dinner at Frenchy's South Beach and that was amazing!  I've never had Buffalo Grouper, and while it was quite the messy thing, it was so very yummy!  As the sun set we had our dinner out on the patio there.  Then walked back down to the pier, to see what vendors were there.  They had some great ideas for gifts.  We were able to see a houdini act, break dancers, acrobatic act, as well as a bucket drummer.  We saw some really pretty dolphin statues around the lawn where they were showing Dolphin Tale on the big screen!   You know, for 9 and a half years now, my kids have been in my every thought.  Making sure they are taken care of etc.  But for one evening knowing they were with their Yaya and being taken care of, we were able to have adult time and not feel...

so, you prolly know we are getting a pretty nasty storm named isaac here in florida today and the weather will be pretty bad through most of the week probably... so we decided since the girls can't go outside to play today, we would make dessert together... somethign we have started doing once a week. this week, we wanted ice cream cake, so i found a recipe on kraftfoods and it's really yummy! http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/oreo-ice-cream-sandwich-133036.aspx# this think is really rich, so small servings will be plenty!  it's a great alternative for those who don't care for regular cake and not near as expensive as buying an icecream cake from dairy queen or baskin robbins.  not to mention the fun we had making it!  Mackenzie (9) helped me while Madison (6) played computer.  the hardest part was unwrapping the ice cream sandwiches! it was a very yummy dessert after our homemade chinese pork and veggie stir fry!  i love cooking for my family, and here...

this week has been crazy.... and mommies think the crazyness ends when they go back to school!  ha!  i've had a crazy bus time thing going on... here's just a glimpse into our week: daily, get up and get kids showered 7 am.  have them ready to walk out the door by 830.  kenzie's bus is SUPPOSED to come at 848, i say supposed because, that's not the case.  Madison's is SUPPOSED to be here at 908.  Again, not the case.  So, for the most part, we are good up until bus time.  we walk kenzie almost 1/4 mile down the road for her stop, then while waiting with mackenzie, the little girl next door gets on her bus, so we have to leave kenzie at her stop and take maddie to hers because it's normally within minutes of alexa getting on the bus that maddie gets on... (this was one morning so far, but still, it's stress on the mommma) then my day goes like this:  work, e mails, chores.  and at 4pm, I head out to the bus stop. here's what that on...

as you are aware, my kids started back to school today.  it's one of them days.  it's always hard because the first day of school, so many emotions are going strong... there's the emotions of the kids and then there's the emotions of the mommy's.  today i'm sad.  why sad?  i have all this time to myself, which in motherhood is not normal any mom can tell you that.  but with all of this time, comes time to reflect on the fact that my babies aren't babies anymore.  madison is in 1st grade!  it's the big girl grades for her now... and mackenzie is in 3rd grade.  it's really hard to accept for me because i know that soon i will have high schoolers!  when maddie's a freshman, kenzie will be a senior, and well, let's not go there just yet. so what's my plan for the day, well i want to do a hi five for my business, then i'll attack some of the housework.  laundry.  the spare room.  kenzie's room.  the spare bathroom, our r...

our last weekend before school starts was a crazy one: friday:  a day to help my in laws pack up their house.  they are headed to north carolina for a year and then they will be back!  so we are helping as much as we can. saturday:  i had my c and c meeting with Thirty-One, and I can't go into details about that til after the rest of my team has their meeting.  Once that happens, i'll post all about it.  so excited!  then more packing.  we did get a lot accomplished this weekend! sunday:  church.  we had a great message via Pastor Strayer.  He just knows how to bring it in a way that touches my heart!  i also have some more news that i'll share once it's all finalized, but it has to do with church missions, and my business... and now we are current... the girls are heading to bed soon, and i am gonna have my team call in about 1 hour and 20 minutes... and i am excited to see what EOJ has for us tonight... more updates...

Because I have two children in Elementary School, I thought I would be a doll and share our math secret, but before I do, let me give you a little insight as to how we found this site and why we love it.  Last summer, my nieces were over from Orlando and got on the computer to do their "math" for the day.  When they showed me, I spoke to my sister in law about it.  It's a great site that really helps kids remember their basic facts.  So, I signed up for just Mackenzie.  She was going into 3rd grade, and wasn't great at math, so anything that would help is what I was going for.  So she did it off and on last year.  This summer, we didn't really do it.  I actually had forgotten about it, but since school is starting again, I thought why not.  So, here's the jest of it.   Go to Xtra Math  and you will need to create an account.  You will select the grade your child is in or is going into.  I didn't do it for Madison during ...

You Are "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother" You may or may not have the most honorable parents, but you try to respect and honor them whenever possible. In general, you think that people should focus on their families more. Charity begins at home. You also believe that younger generations should do a better job taking care of their elders. It saddens you to see how older people are treated in most cultures. You think it's truly a disgrace. Which of the Ten Commandments Are You? Blogthings: A Fine Line Between Insight and Stupidity This one was a little fun thing for today.  There's not much going on, so I thought I would post a blogthing. It was cute and fun.  The girls are chilling today and wishing the weekend would go faster, and school would start.  Do you seriously know of kids who wish there wasn't a summer break?  That's my kids for ya!!!  Well, hope to have something more interesting for you tomorrow :)

So, here's how the morning went: Madison's school:  was a bit of chaos.  Nothing was organzied for getting the busses, or any other information.  They didn't even have a nutrition area set up.  It was utter chaos.  I've never seen a school set up that way.  Perhaps I can talk with the administration to help come up with a better solution for next year.  Her teacher however is AMAZING!  She's cute, fashionable, knowledgable, and we love her!  Mrs. Lopez is going to be fun to work with this year!  And, she loves Thirty-One!!!  Her favorite color is PURPLE, and we have tons of purple coming out in September!!!  Madison loves her class and can't wait for school to start! Mackenzie's school was a bit better organized, I just wish there would have been a sign to tell parents where to go.  Once we found out where they were all set up and made it through the maze to it, it was set up, signs on tables, and very nicely run. ...