Who Moved My Cheese??

Hey Blog Fam!

Well I know you guys are probably wondering what is up with her title. Well the book Who Moved My Cheese is all about change and how well people handle change. My life has been changed upside down since my son arrived and I must say I like it. Prior to my son I was so career focused upwardly moving in my positions and salary. Now I am not that interested. It is great to have income coming into your home but to what do you have to sacrifice to earn that money?

Shortly after giving birth to my son I was laid off. Thanks for all the hard work on these projects Katrina but we don't have a job for you anymore. Wow!! I am talking about I came back June and they laid me off July 2nd with a 1 week notice. I received severance pay and shortly after that lay off I received another job offer. Everything in my sub-conscience, my spirit, and better judgment told me to pass on the offer but I accepted for the benefits and the income. Everything about the interview process was unorganized and just plain ole concerning. Let me just say that my first week I was like WTF!!! My boss kept asking me to...Please come back. In my mind I was like this is not good. Not to mention how rough it was on my son. The job was 27 miles away from my house but with the traffic it would take me 1 hour to 2 hours just to make it to work. My son was in daycare from 6:30 AM to 6:15 PM and it manifested in his spirit. He didn't want me to put him down when I got home. When I went from his sight he would scream. I kept on pushing on until just last week. I put up with a job that was unorganized, no support from management, no accountability, no documentation of anything, and all kind of other drama for about a month. They did me a favor and ended it with a termination because they said the client didn't like my style or technique. WOW! Never heard that one before, but hey I was two seconds from quitting. Thanks for the favor. I won't even include that mess of a job on my resume. Get this when I did a Google search on this company I found over 7 pages of complaints. This is a private company so I couldn't do much research prior to accepting this offer. Maybe I should have taken some more time. Yes! Unfortunately the recruiter and HR Manager were really pushing me to sign and accept the offer as quickly as possible. Now I know why!!

How is my baby doing? Well, I am doing my best to break him from this spoiled state that he is now in. He doesn't want me to put him down at all. He screamed for an hour today because I nor his father would pick him up from the swing. He wasn't wet, hungry, or sleepy. He just wanted us to hold him. I do understand how this happened with him being in daycare from 6:30 AM to 6:15 PM for a month. It was way too much for him. Since birth he has never been there that long before and some may say a child that young doesn't know the difference. I beg to differ!! You can see the children faces when a parent walks in the infant room. That hope it's my mommy or daddy look. My son's face would light up when he saw me now it is get over here now and get me. I really regret taking that job and I am paying for it now.

I never thought I would be here typing this or saying the words out loud. I always thought I would never be able to stay at home with my children. Now that he is here I think differently. No one can teach him better than I can. This change has been really good for my soul. I have this glow about me now. It is about something greater than just money and job status. I thank God that he has enabled my husband to have a job where he is taking care of us well. I continue to look for the right opportunity but it won't be a decision based solely on money. It is about a company that is empathetic to growing families and mothers who are working. The company must have a defined career path for me. I need a company that will appreciate what I have to bring to the table. I need a company that I can retire from. If you know of a company in my area that fits what I am talking about hit me up and let's network.

Just because my cheese changed from Swiss to Baby Swiss it is all good because I can roll with this change. Change is good!

All I want for Christmas and New Year's Commitments

So what did you get for Christmas you ask? Well Blog Fam...I really didn't ask for much this Christmas. As a matter of fact I didn't ask for anything but my child's health. God gave me the biggest blessing of my life in 2009 and that is my unborn son CJ. As you can see from my six month photo he is growing nicely. I couldn't be more focused and determined as I await his arrival. Furnishing his room, organizing his clothes, purchasing life insurance, researching, 529 plans, daycare research, hospital tours, etc There is so much to do and still in the midst of it all I still feel like I am dreaming this. I still can't believe that God has entrusted me with this life that grows inside of my womb. After many years of waiting only 2.5 months remain ahead of us. I can't wait to meet CJ.

While preparing for CJ, I realized that I sacrificed my fitness in order to bring CJ to this world. On hiatus are the 5 to 6 day a week gym visits and I sure do miss them. As a precaution my doctor advised me to put my gym visits on hold until after CJ arrives. I am glad I listened, because I have the following symptoms: shortness of breath, back pains, and edema (swollen hands, forearms, legs, feet, and other parts I wish to not name) which have plagued me for most of my pregnancy. So what happens when CJ gets here? I don't think my gym takes newborns so I am preparing my basement for my workouts. I registered for a jogging stroller for my neighborhood jogs. I also priced out a BOSU Balance Ball. If you don't know what this little wonder is you need to try it. I credit this ball with helping me to strengthen my core and literally shrinking my waist, thighs, and butt before I got pregnant. P90X is also in the plans with the purchase of a complete weight set. With my gym being about a good 20 to 30 minutes away I am not sure if that will be the best thing to do with CJ being so young. I love my gym and it stays open 24/7 so I may be able to fit it in on some days but for the most parts if I want to get a early morning workout in my best bet is to do it at home. I have worked out with 3 trainers and I formulated a program that works best for me and my body. Excessive cardio doesn't work for me at all. More weights and core training is what is going to take the weight off fast along with portion control. So ladies I will be back in to win in 2010 so look for me.

8 Years and Counting

Hey Blog Fam!

Today is the day before the day I walked down the aisle to meet my honeybunches to say our I Do vows and commit ourselves to each other and to God for the rest of our lives. August 11, 2001 is the day that my life changed as well as my last name. Marriage is hard work...Yes Indeed! I look at it like this....marriage is like a work of art. The harder you work at your work of art over the years it appreciates over the years like a Picaso.

Today my hubby surprised me with my gift early because he will be working on our actual anniversary. I tell you it is the 2nd best gift ever. I got the best gift last week. I cried! I am such a whimp. He never ceases to amaze me. I am a classic girl so I only wear several pieces of jewerly. I have two necklaces, two watches, my wedding rings, and a couple pairs of earrings. I can't get into the bangles, huge hoop earrings, etc. I just can't! He brings home a Tiffany bag and it is the most exquisite pair of diamond heart stud earrings ever. I love that man!

Happiness comes in the smallest packages

Hey Blog Fam!

I am so full right now! Full of what you ask? Full of happiness. It came in such a small package...the size of a pea to be exact but it brought such a flood of emotions for everyone that we have told. It has been exactly 8 years (August 11) since we started this journey together and now God has decided to expand our family. Today my doctor gave me my first view of our little sweet pea. I know it is still early 5 weeks and 3 days but I love him or her so much already. I will have another pic in 3 weeks. I feel pretty good no MS just little cravings like pickles and thangs but nothing major. I am eating pretty good too. I haven't had much energy to workout nor have I wanted to bounce too much due to my chest increasing by 1 cup size already. My doctor said he has a patient who went from a A cup to a D. WHOA!! Pray for us!

It's not about you

*BIG SIGH* Hey Blog Fam!

I am in a bit of a funk today.

How depressing it is to watch someone you love go through depression, especially when it is a 4 year old little boy. *sigh* My little nephew is suffering due to absentee father syndrome. He is also suffering from mommy said I can't see Daddy Syndrome. My poor baby nephew! Oh how I love him so and to hear that he is hurting kills me inside. To be caught in the middle of some drama between two adults and not have a voice to express how you are hurting is a terrible feeling. For me it is extremely difficult to listen to my sister and bridle my tongue in the matter, because I know she will pull that old, "You don't have any children so you don't know" card out of her pocket. My nephew is really acting out now because his older brother is in Akron visiting his Great Grandmother on his father's side and my little nephew is stuck at home with my sister or either my mother. He asks to call his father all the time to only get the answering machine or voicemail every single time. A couple of days ago he totally acted out of character. He pressed the speed dial buttons on the phone and when the person didn't answer he began a profanity tyrant that would make a sailor blush. He put the words together with such venom that it crushed my sister's heart just to listen to it when her friends called to replay the messages. What did my sister do? She immediately blamed his father for not being around, which is common. But what she didn't do was look in the mirror and ask herself what she is doing wrong. I can list some things that she is doing that is confusing the heck out of my nephews such as her dating habits and introducing men to their lives that have no sustainability. But how do you help a person to recognize that they play a vital part in the problem when they don't want to hear the truth? You have to wait patiently until they are ready to receive your message even if it is killing you.

Today my mom called me to tell me that she and her boyfriend reached out to my nephew's father because my nephew was balled up in the room crying his eyes out. They called him at work and with relief he came to pick my Peanut up right after he got off of work. I was so thankful because my nephew did a total change in attitude. He ran and jumped off of the steps into his father's arms. He was just too excited to spend time with his father. While the father was leaving my mother's house he told my mother that he realizes that he is partially to blame for the way my nephew is acting out and he has to get it together. I respect that! But what I don't respect is my sister's responses to the visitation. My mother called my sister to tell her that her child is with his father and my sister gets irate and says HE DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THIS!! and she hangs up. Oh WOW! She then calls my mother back and says I don't want him coming there to pick my son up ever again is that clear. WTH!! Is she serious! I couldn't believe it when my mother told me. Here is a classic example of not knowing the person you have a child with. I saw the signs in this man when my sister was dating him before she got pregnant 6 months later. I told my sister and got a response so disappointing that I totally left it alone. My sister on the other hand should have known that this man had tendencies such as this, but nope she didn't take the time. This baby mama and daddy stuff has to end. We in the black community spend more time picking out our cars we drive than the spouses we chose to have children with. We jump in head first like YIPPEEE! But when the bubble bursts we are left with drama like this where a innocent 4 year is being affected by selfishness. How dare my sister or my nephew's father be so selfish as to not put aside pettiness to create a schedule for visitation that is beneficial to my nephew. They both need to take the I out of the equation here because my nephew is clearly suffering.

Until they can get it together I am forced to be a helpless aunt watching my Peanut suffer. *sigh* I wanted to cry today but all I can do is pray that God watches over him and guide his steps before the streets get a hold of him.

My hubby the pack rat

The first step to curing your addition is to admit it. Today my hubby admitted that he was indeed a pack rat. Yes Blog Fam...my hubby hoards things from decades past in the back of our closets to never be seen again. As I am planning our closet organizing through California Closets I noticed some strange things in the back of our master closet. I looked back there and I picked up a wool Kwanzaa type vest. Oh my Jesus! Not just one but 3. One was a size 3 X... WTH!! My hubby has never been that size but back in the 90s he would wear his clothing so big that it would drive me bonkers. I went off!! DUDE...you need to clean out this junk immediately. Now my hubby not only has clothing in our master closet but he has two bedroom closets as well. I just have my clothes in the master closet. Do you know he went through those closets today and he unloaded two trash bags full of 90s gear. I couldn't believe it. Just to prove my point I took a picture of one of his treasured shirts. Notice the Red, the Black, and The green with the Key Sissies. Yall remember that from the X Clan days. Well this bad boy was hanging in the closet just a chilling. He did admit that he needs to do a better job of eliminating clutter. That's all I wanted to hear. Now if we can get him on a quarterly schedule like myself we will realize more space.

Hey Blog Fam!

Well, I am back from my dad’s wedding celebration. I had a good time seeing everyone after 10 months. My dad’s wedding was nice. There were some things that happened that I personally would not have tolerated but hey it wasn’t my wedding. My dad hasn’t been married in over 30 years so there was no way he wasn’t getting married in a church. His wife was married two times previously but it wasn’t in the church so this was her first wedding. There were a lot of things that she didn’t know and relied on her family for, but certain family members used that as their time to shine instead of saying hey I don’t know how to do this or researching how to do it. For example there were two coordinators. Yes 2!! Well actually 3 because the niece’s mother decided to join in. The reason for that is the niece is a Jehovah’s Witness and her religion prevented her from entering the sanctuary of other churches. So the seamstress/makeup artist/ cousin acted as the coordinator. Okay in my opinion if my religion prevented me from doing the entire job I am going to bow out completely and just help out where I can. I would just allow someone else to be the coordinator. Nope! That is not what happened. With two coordinators that lead to a lot of confusion which included no DJ because no one called to confirm with the DJ, a mad stampede to the buffet line, the wedding ceremony started 30 minutes late and the reception started over 1 hour late. This is a great example of too much of a good thing can be bad for you. So three wedding coordinators = less work accomplished.



I had an opportunity to spend time with my nephews. I love my nephews and my sister so much. I noticed some things while there that I understand are not my sister’s fault because here is only so much she can do as a single parent. That thing is my nephews are craving male attention. The children’s fathers are not present in their lives and it is such a shame. My youngest nephew Javon aka Peanut was all over my husband. “Uncle Charles” “Uncle Charles” was all that came out of his mouth. While Peanut loves Uncle Charles he has the utmost respect for him. If Peanut acted out all I had to say was “I am telling Uncle Charles!!” and he would cringe and say “NOOOOO!” Peanut requires a lot of attention so I can see how my little sister can spend so much time and sort of neglect Jalen. While I was there I tried to spend as much time with Jalen (the oldest nephew). Even if it was just a dance with just he and I during my father’s wedding that is what I did. When I lived in Detroit I would come and pick just Jalen up and take him to a basketball game to let him know that he was special too. He is missing his father as well! He is an Auntie baby though. He flocks to me and remembers everything we do together. I just don’t understand how a man can walk away from their children…their own flesh and blood and leave them wanting. Shame on them!


During the time home we ate so much great food I feel like blah. Plus I haven’t been in the gym in like 2 weeks. Bad Trina! I know!! I would say I gained like 2 pounds from my trip home. My dad’s friends all know how to cook and were throwing down whether it was on the grill, on the fryer, or just period in the kitchen. They made sure I ate too. Come on girl eat up!…You know you want some more! So you all know what that means. I am officially back on the Fat Smash and my workout plan. I want to begin using my home equipment more so I am going to make an effort to get up on the weekends to do my running and workouts. I lost 10 pounds on the Fat Smash diet last month and plus my monthly symptoms were non existence so if for nothing else but to alleviated cramps and bloating I am back on the wagon.