#thedertings

Yesterday was the 5 year anniversary of this little, derting blog! 5 years ago when I started this journey....I was very sad and uncertain of what the future would hold and this became a way for me to release emotions and now reflect on the things that have changed over the last 5 years!!  This became my outlet after we, the 3 dertings, experienced a miscarriage. We knew we wanted to space our kids out.....for several reasons, 1 in daycare at a time, 1 car at a time, 1 college at a time, and my little brother, Wesley and I are about 5 years apart....and he loves me lots....so we decided thats what we wanted for our kids as well! We were very excited that things were working out just like we had planned.....I was due in April, right near spring break, which meant I could take a long summer.....BUT those plans all changed on 9/29 in 2010.....we were really unsure that we would even try again....why chance it again.....maybe there was a reason for this sad situation...... So t...

I somewhat feel like I have forgotten how to "blog"....ideas run through my head, but nothing comes together like it used to when I started this adventure FIVE years ago....how crazy is it that it has been that long.......my motivation for this blog was because in September of 2010 we had a miscarriage and this was my voice to my feelings and emotions through that time.....and look where we are today.....my Britan Rae turned 4 years old just the other day!! However, I still feel like there are things I want to say....I just can't compose them the right way. I am not sure if it is because I am out of the habit or is there just no meaning to all the thoughts floating in my head.....every couple of months I get this feeling, like I NEED to blog about something and it weighs on me till I do it (goes on my endless to-do list).....I have had this feeling for about a week and I just haven't been able to put my finger on what I am suppose to be blogging about.... Take a l...

Happy Friday!!! I don't have much time today, but I wanted to post about this touchy subject because for The Derting's the stress of the dumb end of year testing has now diminished...and before we drift back to normal.....I wanted to share..... This has been a crazy, stressful week for many of us parents out there not to mention how our kids feel.....(an EOG is an end of grade test for 3rd-8th grades, an EOC is an end of course test for 9th-12th and now the good ol' state has added NC Finals for many courses 6th-12th)......all it truly means is STRESS, STRESS, STRESS.............. I know first hand from the teacher perspective how important "the test" is.....it says how "good" or "bad" you are as a teacher, your students scores measure the performance how good you have been teaching all year, right???....BUT this week I got the parent perspective as well.....Wednesday was the 1st day Bryson took his 1st ever EOG in Reading.....needless to ...

FINALLY, I feel like I have what I need to share this post....it has been brewing in my head for months, but every time I tried to put it into words, they wouldn't come out... So often we find ourselves trying to "keep up with the __________" (others)...you fill in the blank....and often times if we feel like we don't have what someone else has we aren't good enough, or doing enough, or worthy enough.....and then that lust for whatever reason turns into resentment.....and over time that resentment turns into bitterness! **the definition of resentment is: feeling of bitterness!! I have been wanting to write about how there are things others have that I want....but for whatever reason its not meant to be or meant for me to have because if we all have it all then this world wouldn't be unique....I am talking small stuff to big stuff...maybe a cute necklace to the pool I dream about in the backyard...I have wants and they are often things that others have....B...

I have had 2 blog topics in my head for weeks.....there's just not been time to sit and get it out, so I think it's only fitting that I start with this topic.... Are you running crazy? Is the to-do list, endless? Is there something new and different to do each day, which makes no day the same? Yep.....that's us! Spring has sprung and with that brings outside activities, soccer, more daylight which = more work somehow for me, the thought that summer break is near, but yet still so far and to even think about summer means a million and one things need to be accomplished before my mind can fully go into summer mode..... I am sure I am preaching to the choir when I say.....we have at least one birthday party every weekend for 6 weeks and counting.....soccer games.....Easter activities.....spring cleaning....work....daily life....the list goes on and on...... BUT.....I read another blog a couple of weeks ago and the message stuck with me....sadly, each day the me...

Wellllllllll.....it has been 3 years today, since the Derting's began the debt free journey... Many of you read my story of my secret life with credit cards a couple of years ago and the ridiculous amount of debt I was carrying in my expensive Coach bag....somewhere like $33,000++!!! 3 years ago my husband forced us to make a change once he realized how awful my secret was....and we still live by the rules he set that day.... We are on a budget: monthly, weekly, daily.....every penny we earn, work for, find, etc has a place to go and it is NOT on credit cards..... {Disclaimer: we do have a credit card that we use for our purchases and bills to earn Disney points (this earned us $300 to spend while at Disney) HOWEVER this card is paid OFF every other day if not daily, it never has a revolving balance, so yes, we have a credit card, that has a $0 balance!} On this day our life CHANGED...no going out to eat whe...

First, it has been way too long since I posted a blog.....I almost feel like I have forgotten how to write, so we will see how this goes... I want to write about my new life that includes running.....I have tinkered with running for about 6 years now, but it has not been pretty, the most I have ever run until the last 6 months was 3 miles and those 3 miles were slow, awful, painful, annoying, etc.....It takes all I have to run...... When I started this journey it was to prove to myself that I could run 3 miles.....I accomplished that and had settled for that saying I would "never" run more than that, I am not a runner, I do it for the runners high I feel when I cross the finish line, but I truly never worked very hard at it.....35 mins was acceptable just to say I had run a 5k......BUT.......that is slowly, slowly, slowly changing..... When I decided I was going to raise the bar and do 13.1 I had to find strength I didn't know I had, time that I didn't know ex...