Life, Love, and everything else!

Hi there

2012-01-17T11:24:00.003-05:00

Haven't been blogging since September? Cheese and rice. I can't believe I've been out of the loop that long, but I have been keeping up with my blog READING. Everyone else is doing a great job keeping up with their posts, unlike me. I wish I could say I've been extremely busy but I can't really account for anything crazy. I've been working and we've been doing things around the house. We're almost finished the basement, which is now a family room. We've got the bar all finished, bought a new TV, took the recliner down there and now are contemplating carpeting it. We really need a sofa or a futon down there so hopefully we come across something that someone's getting rid of. Our next door neighbor is moving in with her long time companion and just put her house up for sale. I wonder if it'd be too bold if I asked her to let us know if she wants to get rid of any furniture. I can't imagine that she wants to take her sofa, chairs et.. since she's moving to a furnished home. Guess it couldn't hurt to ask. But I won't.
In other news, Christmas came and went quickly. It was a great holiday season, we spent it with family and friends and I'm so grateful for all of that time together. I don't care about gifts or material things; my number one GIFT was all of the family getting together and making new memories. Both sets of parents haven't been in the best of health lately so it was a true blessing that we were afforded another year with everyone. I have some other things I want to "talk" about but I shall wait until I feel comfortable doing so. Never know who's "watching".. and I don't want to set off any alarms.

So much

2011-09-11T21:06:00.003-04:00

* I turned on Eat, Pray, Love so that I could watch a movie since my shows aren't on tonight. Maybe it's in observance of 9/11? Whatever the case, it's very hard to blog and watch TV. I can't focus on the TV whilst I'm unloading all the thoughts in this head of mine. So much has happened and I've done so much since I last blogged. Nothing major so don't get crazy excited; I'm so not that interesting.

Somethings I've done recently:

Started couponing like crazy. In fact, I'm highly obsessed, I think. I sit down each weekend with the circulars and my coupons and clip like it's my job! It's so awesome though. I went to CVS last week & spent $6 and change on a handful of stuff that originally rung up at $13 and change. What a bargain! Also, if you don't know, you can scan your CVS card each week for a free item. Usually I get pantyliners or something silly but this Sunday, I got a box of Nabisco Crackerfuls! That was a nice treat. I haven't tried them but hey, I will now. So today, I "bought" a Febreze Set n Refresh air freshener and a bottle of Dawn dish soap with the Olay moisturizer in it, throw in my FREE crackers and with my soap coupon and Febreze coupon, my total came to $2.79 ~ I was so pleased. My husband laughs at me but he just doesn't get it like we women do. ; )

I read the Jaycee Dugard book in about 2 days. I expected it to be very good and it was. I found myself crying at some parts and at the end, I had a good bawl. What a life that poor girl/woman endured. I only pray that she has gained strength from it and the rest of her life will be all she has ever wanted. If you haven't read it and plan to, definitely grab it. I checked it out of my local library.. in fact I was on a waiting list for it. It was one of those books that you "can't put down". While I was at the library, I also bought a book for a quarter off one of their MANY shelves. Which book? Pride & Prejudice. Yes! I have never read it and I really want to. I'll start it in a day or two - I have 2 books already going so it's hard to keep up with the stories.

We recently found out from our corporate office that our company - EVERY EMPLOYEE - is receiving a wage decrease. Wage decrease sounds less painful than PAY CUT. A ten percent pay cut - OUCH! So I've been dealing with that a little and wondering how much it will affect my finances. I'm losing about $3,000 per year I think. I know I can really tighten up and hope that things work out that way. I'm already pretty frugal but I'm pretty sure there is always room for improvement. It was a blow to everyone; no one knew it was coming. They're also talking about some structural changes that will be implemented by the end of the month. That's scary because I assume that means that people will have to be let go. Very sad but if the revenue is not there, what can they do? I'm trying to stay positive and trust that God has a plan. He always does.

I had a yard sale yesterday and made ZILCH - Ok I'm lying.. I made just under $10 and my mother in law made over a hundred. Boo! I was happy for her ~ She had a lot of nice things and I know she's glad that she doesn't have to lug it all back in the house now. Whatever was left went to Good Will.

I did my annual summer stunt and cut my hair off. Well I went to have it cut; I went really short and then regretted it. It grows back so I don't fret about it much. I just couldn't stand the hair on my neck in the hot weather and it sticking to me and then I got sick of pony tails! I got into the mood that I was too old for pony tails anymore. Are we ever? Silly theory, I know.

My niece/god daughter started kindergarten last week and that was a great day. A little emotional naturally but I didn't cry! She loves school and was so afraid that we'd missed the bus. When my sister said she'd drive her to school, my niece was beside herself. She loves taking the school bus. I never rode the school bus. We lived across the street from our elementary school, so we never needed to be bussed. She was thrilled with kindergarten and is elated that they have gym class!

I went and saw the movie, The Help. Oh my goodness was it ever a great movie!?
I wanted to read the book first but ended up at the theatre before the libary for once.. It was fantastic and it made me cry SEVERAL times and I recommend it to anyone. It better get some awards because it totally deserves them. I should see some best actress/best supporting actress/best picture etc..

We had our last BBQ of the summer on Labor Day weekend and even though it was last minute, it turned out wonderfully! We didn't invite everyone we knew but had our parents over and my sister/niece... It was small but we all had a great time, talking, eating and sitting by the fire later on.

I bought a starter cross stitch kit and I just can not get the hang of it. So I opted to try my hand at latch hook. I haven't done one in MANY MANY years but I got the hang of it again and I'm really moving along with it! It keeps my occupied sometimes and is a great stress reliever. I remember years ago I did a latch hook that was a bubble gum machine. Loved it. Now I'm going to scour the internet to find a picture of it. There has to be one.

I know I'm forgetting a ton of things but I will just come back and add it/them.
I believe it just started thundering so I better get to shuttin' all the windows!
It was so nice to have the house open today and the breeze coming through.

Friday = Love

2011-08-19T15:33:00.002-04:00

Even though my weekend usually starts on Thursdays, it actually started on Wednesday this week. I decided to take a vacation day, totally spontaneous, and spend the day with my sister and niece. Our power went out in the early morning Wednesday so I ended up having to sit home and wait for the power company to come and restore it. When they got here, they concluded that the transformer was hit by lightning, so they temporarily were running our power off of another one and then 2 other guys came to replace the bad one. It was a while before all was well. I couldn't leave the house so my sister brought over some yummy lunch and once the power was back on, around 1 o'clock, we went bowling. My niece loves bowling! It's so cute to watch her - and she has her own bowling bag & ball that I picked up at a yard sale. It was perfect for her - a cute Tweety Bird bag with a 6 lb ball. She really likes it. One day I'll get her her very own but for now this one works. My sister and I didn't bowl; we'd rather watch and cheer her on. Now that school's getting ready to go back in, I'll have to arrange a sleepover with my niece for our last hoorah of the summer. I used to dread the back to school days. I always knew when Labor Day started to creep up, that we were getting close to having to go back. Summer was always too short, even when I was a young child. Nothing has changed; the summer flew by again this year. I wish I could say there was a time when I looked forward to going back to school but I honestly can't. Now, when I went to college, I loved it. Totally different world. I always looked forward to that. I was up early again today, got out to pay on our furniture bill, went to the library to borrow a book (the 17 Day Diet)... we'll see how that goes, and I even made it to the store to get laundry detergent, did one load of laundry and cleaned and dusted the house. Pretty productive day! Since yesterday was almost a bust.. but turned out great.

Summer's been busy

2011-07-29T07:26:00.003-04:00

When was the last time I blogged? A month ago? How boring am I? I love checking in on what everyone's been up to and I get bummed out when someone hasn't updated in a while, so I don't know why I've been away for so long. Life's been busy with work and enjoying the summer, I guess. Although I haven't been to the beach/boardwalk, or really anywhere else yet & it's almost August! We had our annual 4th of July BBQ and that was a blast - I love entertaining and hosting parties.

Let's see.... Oh and I did get a new car, so that was fun. : ) I really needed a new vehicle because mine was not the safest, best running one around. I was going to need tires and struts and my seat belt was broken.. by the time I forked over all the money for the repairs, it just made more sense to get a new car. Luckily, somehow, my payments only went up about $20.. definitely not something I expected.

I can't believe it's almost August already. The summers sure do fly by, don't they?
We're definitely planning to get down to the shore one of these weekends and now that I have a reliable car, we're even more anxious to go. My husband has a Titan, and that guzzles a lot of gas, so we don't take that on long hauls if we can help it. Now I have the gas friendly, family car. I love it.

I'm still trying to figure out why I've been up since 6 a.m. on my day off - especially since I don't really sleep at night - I never get a full night's sleep and yet this morning I was up at 6 and never went back to sleep. That only means that I'l be ready for bed around 10 tonight.

My mom and I went to bingo last night - We've been trying to go every other week. It can get kind of boring after a while but she really enjoys it, so I don't mind.
We have a lot of laughs, so that makes it worth it,

Have lots I want to blog about but I'll do it later so I'm not doubling up on posts.

Summer time is here!

2011-06-11T13:38:00.002-04:00

Holy hot! Has it been a scorcher here, lately. BUT, I would take the heat over that awful "white stuff" any day. I don't like winter at all, so I'm not complaining about the heat; trust me. We've stayed busy doing our summer projects around the house, readying our yard for the 4th of July and such. Last year, we had a pretty big BBQ and invited way too many people. It was a lot of work and a lot of money, so we opted to just invite family this year. Of course, my husband MAY have invited 2 friends and their families as well. Does that not put us right back at square one? : ) It's ok though. At least this year, I took off on that Sunday before the actual holiday. Last year, I worked that day AND came home to cook all the food on the grill. Most of our guests were here already.. so it made for a pretty stressful day for me and I hardly got to socialize with anyone. How bad is that for a hostess? At least, with already having off from work, I will have the whole day to do things and get ready. I love entertaining but I try to do it as stress free as possible.. and I know that's not always possible. My husband's been working really hard taking care of our yard and all of the outside projects, at the same that he's been going to his parents' new home and doing projects there. Today he's working on their kitchen floor. They're pulling up the 3 sub floors along with the putrid tile and then they will tile it with the vinyl tiles like we did to our bathroom. When they moved in, the kitchen floor was quite an eye sore but I know it'll look great when it's all finished. It's so nice to see a finished project when you've started on one, it's just the watching and waiting and hard work until you get to actually see it and appreciate it.

I've been having a real problem with patience lately - which is pretty unusual for me. I think it's just because I don't speak my mind and it's coming to a head. I realize at times, we need to just bite our tongues and let it go but in the cases that I've been getting stepped on, I definitely should have been speaking up. Like today, when I went to the deli to get some cold cuts and not ONE but TWO people totally cut in front of me in line. The woman behind the counter asked who was next and this man said he was - knowing damn right well, that he wasn't... He and this other woman walked in about 5 mins after I did. I only know that because when the front door opened, I looked down the aisle and saw them coming in. I thought for sure, that she was definitely not going to cut seeing that he already did and lo and behold, when the woman asked again who was next, the ignorant lady stepped right up and started rattling off her order. Seriously???!!! I'm more pissed at myself that I didn't say - AFTER the first ignoramous - "Excuse me - I'm definitely next. I was here before you came in". But no, I get all pissed off, let my nerves get all twisted and just stand there giving dirty looks. Then I go outside and someone, who obviously didn't want to have to park in the parking lot, decided to park so close that they boxed me in, clearly not having enough room to park, because their tail end of their big ass Cadillac was hanging half out on to the main road. Well, I couldn't even maneuver my car out of the spot, but I did my best and ooops! I bumped his front bumper. As soon as my car bounced off of it, I was stammered, "Shit!" but I checked it out and there was no damage, so I drove off, continuing my rant about stupid, IGNORANT people. Really - I would never be so rude to anyone. Boy, did my poor husband get an earful when he called a few minutes after my experience! But now I'm cooled down, and waiting for my sister to get her so we can take a trip to Babies R Us. Can't wait to see my niece! I miss her and haven't seen her in a couple of months - Niece #2 that is. Niece #1 was here last night and we had a sleep over, watched Twilight- Eclipse, made some artsy stuff with the painting "game" she brought over, went to a carnival (that was insanely over priced - $5 and $10 for the games).. It was a great night though. I love having her here - she's so good and when she gets up in the morning, she makes her bed! What a hoot. I never made my bed at 5 years old. Heck, my mom will tell you I never made my bed at 15. haha Really.

I got some grocery shopping done and rented The Dilemma for tonight - Hopefully it's funny. Kevin James is always a laugh so I have high expectations. We'll see.
Hope you're all staying cool and enjoying the summer so far. Don't forget your sunscreen! I just stocked up. Walgreens had a buy one -get one sale and I had a coupon too, so I got two big sized bottles of for $9. Awesome.

Wednesday Things..

2011-05-25T21:40:00.003-04:00

He sins who despises the hungry; but happy is he who is kind to the poor.

Ironically, I read that proverb tonight. I say ironically because tonight I was driving home from work and there was a young man standing at the traffic light holding a sign that read: Traveling, broke & hungry. Anything helps. God Bless.

Of course, there were a dozen cars who stopped at the light, had a quick glance and kept on their ways. Finally, one car, just as the light was turning, held out some money and handed it to him. It looked like a couple of 20's but could've been more. The thing that really sucks is that we don't know if this guy is truly down on his luck and/or homeless. I've seen him there before.. in fact this was the 2nd day that I did see him there. I mentioned to my husband on Saturday, that the young guy was clean shaven and didn't appear to be homeless. But how do we know? We can't just assume that he's a fraud and refuse to help him, can we? I'd rather give him the money in good faith, only to find out he was a fraud, than to not help him at all and find out he really is in need. I didn't give him any money but if I'd had the cash on me, I would've. I have done it before.. and never thought about it twice. Tonight reminded me of another bible passage that I love. In fact, it was the one I chose as part of one of the readings in our wedding ceremony.

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. I'm always ready to help those in need and have done so, several times in the past. It may not always be a situation where the people truly are in need, but it's not for me to decide. They, if they are fooling others, will have to live with that. When I was collecting donations and distributing food baskets a few years ago to needy families, I can honestly tell you that, at least 3/4 of the recipients, were NOT in need. I was really disappointed and felt cheated by these people.. but again, they'll live with that, not me. I did my best to help them out and that's all I can do. I hope that some of you would do the same thing to help someone less fortunate, some day.

Pics as promised - My niece Chloe

2011-05-23T09:20:00.002-04:00

Hangin' Around

2011-05-23T07:35:00.002-04:00

I'm still in the blogosphere - But I've been doing a lot more reading than posting. Not that I haven't had anything to share. Heaven knows, that I always have something to say. Just ask my coworkers. : ) I'm glad that May 21st has come and gone... that crazy guy had me a little on the edge of my seat. I'm glad that some INTELLIGENT people were able to soothe my mind. Thanks Michelle. I can't say I believed it entirely - and when we went to church, our priest made fun of it - so I knew that I shouldn't believe it one bit. But this guy was somewhat convincing. I'm embarrassed to even say it. Nothing crazy has been going on in my life but hey there's always something to share.

- My sister went to Mexico for a wedding a couple of weekends ago. She loved it and sent me some pictures. Ugh! They were so inviting - I want to go where the water looks like that. Beautiful. She had a great time, but missed my niece a lot.

- She missed the awards event where she would have been presented her nursing award but I guess she couldn't help that it fell on the same day as the wedding. She was given a surprise party at work and they gave her the award there, along with a monetary award. She bought herself an iPhone. : ) She was going to save the money but I told her to just throw caution to the wind and buy herself something she really wanted. She totally deserved it - She worked hard for it. I'm very proud of her for receiving that prestigious award.

- We're still doing things at home - Working on projects and such. We want to tackle the basement next and get some sheet rock put up so we can build walls down there. It's almost finished as it is but the carpeting was pulled up before we bought the house because it took on water. Yuck. They never finished closing up the laundry room etc.. so it's all just open right now. My husband loves that he has a work shop though.. that's nearly closed off - it has a door etc. As with all home improvements, you do them as you get the moolah.

- I often think about adding another dog to the mix here because I feel like our doggie is lonely sometimes .. but with that comes more responsibility - More vet costs, meds, and since I just started paying back a student loan, I should just focus on that. They get ugly with that stuff.

- We went to a graduation party this past Saturday and it was a really nice time. I didn't know ANYONE (except our friends that invited us). These two really sweet women invited me over to sit with them because I was sitting alone. I was fine by myself but they insisted that I sit with them, saying they knew what it was like to not know anyone. They were so nice.. we had some really good conversation. The party was out in the "country" sort of. I'm not used to the quiet and the distance between houses, and no civilization for miles! Stores, etc.. : ) I'm a city girl. I need noise and traffic and stores on every corner.

- I've been steady looking for another job and haven't had any luck so far. I did get a call about one position but it was a per diem position. It was more of a vacation coverage deal. I have a full time job so I can't take something like that and lose hours as well as my medical benefits. I've always wanted to be in the medical field, in a clerical position, but it just hasn't happened yet. I don't HATE my current job... I just have a different career goal for myself. Even with the schooling I've recently completed to help me get into the field, I still haven't hit anything. I guess if it's meant to happen, it will. I know my resumé could use some polishing. I haven't told anyone at work that I'm planning to leave. I feel kind of bad about that but I know when it comes down to it, every one's just worried about Number 1. Who will have to do my work??

- Our friends just bought a travel trailer and I'm in love! They paid just about what we would for a used car and it's beautiful! Brand new and so nice inside. Made me think about getting one day, some day in the future. They have 3 children so they really like the idea of just packing up and heading out for a nice weekend of camping with the family. They even said they're going to venture to Disney this summer. Evidently, there's a Walmart close by and they let you set up camp in their parking lot, if you have a camper? How cool is that.. Free lodging! I've never been a camping fan - especially NOT in a tent but I could easily adapt to the trailer. Something we might consider in time. Or it could be one of those things, where it's a short lived fascination.

- My niece who was born in November is growing so quickly! I love her to pieces and wish I made more of an effort to visit. She is such a happy little girl - My sister and her husband have been blessed beyond words. I'll post a few pictures. Too cute not to share!

- At the graduation party, I got the old "So, Dawn, when are you having kids?"..
I wish people wouldn't ask that. I've never asked anyone but maybe it's because of the position I've ALWAYS been in. I just wish that people would realize it's a touchy subject and not broach it.

- I fret I may never get out bed today because I just turned on LMN and now I could be wrapped up in movies ALL DAY. No way, I have to clean the house. Open the windows, turn on some music and get this place in shape.

- I called in sick today - I've been having such issues with my stomach lately. I went to the doctor some time ago and had mentioned that I had a lot of reflux. Now it seems to be getting worse and really affecting me lately. I guess I have to go back and let her prescribe me something for it. I really don't like to take meds if I don't have to but it could lead to damage in my esophagus or something so I shouldn't take a chance. It's been wreaking havoc. Not fun.

I guess I should get started on housework -- I can't dilly dally all day. Or can I?
I've gotta catch up on my blog reading too. I like to stay on top of what everyone's doing. Hope everyone has a great week! The weather's going to be nice.

Good Friday - Deep Thoughts

2011-04-22T20:02:00.003-04:00

Why is Good Friday referred to as “good”? What the Jewish authorities and Romans did to Jesus was definitely not good (see Matthew chapters 26-27). However, the results of Christ’s death are very good! Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” First Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

Lent is almost over and I'm a bit disappointed in myself. While, I abstained from eating meat on Fridays, like we're taught.. I didn't give up ANYTHING for Lent. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us and I couldn't pick one thing that I could sacrifice? I think there were MANY things I could have abstained from, but I was weak and chose not to even try. Wow. Pretty sad.

My husband and I were talking the other day about death and the fear everyone has of the world ending. I can tell you that one day, the thought of either just scared the crap out of me. Now that I've delved much deeper into my religion and have really come full circle with my Faith, I'm almost convinced that this life is just the "before". I guess this is what we refer to when we say that we've accepted Christ as our Savior. I trust Him with all of my decisions, I trust Him to guide me and lead me in this life. I'm content that He has a plan - whether something has turned out the way I wanted it to or has gone the total opposite direction.

I have a lot of contentment in my days because I start them with prayer and I conclude my days with prayer. It gives me peace. There was a time when I questioned "it all". I felt that there was no way that a God existed, because of things that were happening in my life and others' lives. At some point, I finally " got a clue" and realized that I left God - He never left me.
And so I did a complete 360. Started going back to church and confession and made my Confirmation. I felt that it gave me a much closer relationship with God. I'm not perfect by any means, and I'm a sinner. I'll NEVER claim not to be. As long as I'm on this Earth, I'll be a slave to sin. But I ask for forgiveness and all I can do is try better EVERY waking day to be a better Christian. I don't preach to people but I wanted to share my thoughts today. Thanks for "listening".

Hope you all have a Blessed Easter! (And the Easter Bunny brings you lots of yummy treats).

Today's post brought to you by the number 35!

2011-04-19T08:05:00.002-04:00

Yikes! Can I really be 35? My goodness, I don't think it's possible. I was just graduating high school. No? : ) Well, I don't feel a day over 25. I wasn't going to, but I decided to take a personal day today and just relax. I have a few errands to run but mostly I'm just going to enjoy the day. My inlaws' gave me a really nice card and a gift card to Barnes & Noble, so I'm probably going to swing by there. I love Barnes & Noble! I also saw that The King's Speech came out on RedBox today, so I'm definitely going to rent it because I've wanted to see it. I heard it received great reviews and a couple of awards. Dinner's up in the air, not sure what I want to do about that yet. Stinks that every one's working, I can't go to lunch with anyone. That's ok, I'll have a great day. I hope the weather's nice today.

I was thinking yesterday of how happy I am in my life and the only thing that I would change is my career. I was doing some deep thinking on the way to work. And then, one of those mini tour buses pulled out of a parking lot and it had the word Aries in big black letters on the side of it. I thought that was crazy since I was thinking I wanted to make a change in my life and thinking about turning 35 etc.. and here's a bus with my Zodiac sign on it, right in front of me. Weird!
Well, guess I'm off to get my day started. I was up nice and early at 7 a.m. Wowsers! Not like me on my day off but I think I got enough sleep.

birthdays, holidays, LAZY days

2011-04-15T17:19:00.002-04:00

Well, first of all, I tried to upload some of my wedding video and it was a huge FAIL on my part. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I can't save it and/or just pull certain chapters out. So, it'll have to wait for another day. Maybe.

Today was a rather chilly day here but I still opened the windows while I cleaned the house and it felt good to have a breeze coming in like that. Airing the house out is so necessary! Actually, Dr. Oz said that somewhere. Love Dr. Oz - he's awesome. So I cleaned my tail off today - swiffered under the bed and the furniture and did all the hardwood floors. Lots of work but worth it when you see a nice clean house. I am always shocked at how much dog hair you can accumulate. Under the bed? Oh my word! It's like another animal living under there. I'm glad that Spring has come to visit - I hope it's not temporary. I actually put sunscreen on today, just to go pick up my mom at work. I just felt like the sun was pretty strong and sometimes when I get home, after driving a while, I have already gotten some sun. That's a big no no. For me, at least. I don't like to resemble Snow White, which I often do, but I am way afraid of skin cancer. I'm guessing pizza is on the menu tonight since we're still in Lent .. we can't eat meat. Easy for me, because that means I don't have to cook. I may try to bake a little later though. My mom got me some Tastefully Simple bread mixes - I have actually tasted the Beer Bread and it's so good! I can't wait to have some - I just have to find something to dip it in. Maybe I'll make some Pizza Dip to go with it. I'm glad you don't really have to use beer for it; the box says soda or carbonated juice works. Good, cause I don't have any beer hanging around. : ) I was actually able to catch a couple of good movies on LMN today - I rarely get a chance to actually sit down and watch TV - I choose to read or do something on the computer. But now and again, LMN gets me all caught up and I sit there like a couch potato, taking in all the drama that LMN is. My birthday is next Tuesday - Can anyone guess how old I'll be? I don't dread birthdays like most people do. I should've taken a vacation day and just spent the day doing nothing but I'll be at work instead. BLEH. Since it's during the week, we'll probably have some birthday cake with my family but nothing fancy. We always do cake. No matter who's birthday it is. This month is really moving along, I can't believe it. Easter is around the corner and I'm bummed about that as usual. I have to work. I really think Easter should be a holiday at work but they don't observe it as one so I get stuck working. When there were 2 of us in the office on Sundays, we would alternate the holidays and I actually made it to dinner a few Easters, but now that I have been by myself the past few years, I don't get to have dinner with the family. Shoot, last year, my husband didn't even bring me a plate! How dare he? Kidding. So I may ask if I can leave a couple hours early this year - I can't see that it'd be a problem because we have a fully staffed customer service department in our corporate office. They can take the phones etc for a couple hours, right? I'm a little nervous to ask but I guess I have nothing to lose. We'll see what I decide. Not sure what's on our agenda for the weekend - Last weekend we were so busy. We painted at the inlaws' new home, and we mulched and planted our front garden. It would great if we could just relax and do nothing, but we'll see what comes our way. Well, off to order some pizza and let the dogger out for some well deserved fresh air. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

One Year

2011-04-11T20:32:00.006-04:00

(It was April 10th, but I've been a busy little bee)

I can't believe we already hit our ONE YEAR Anniversary! The time really does fly after you get married and we've had a wonderful first year continuing to build on our relationship, taking on new home improvement projects, learning the ins and outs of marriage... etc To celebrate US, we went to play mini golf and went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.. We had a lot of fun and dinner was delicious!

When we first got married, I really did feel like something in our relationshp changed. I've felt so much closer to my husband (even after being together almost 10 years), I feel like we confide in each other more and we're learning to be ONE. We still have our independence but are more ONE than we are TWO. I was watching our wedding video of the ceremony and our pastor said that our relationship is no longer 50/50.... it should be 100/100. Meaning we both give as much of ourselves as the other does and we never give less than 100%. I feel like sometimes I can do better with that, and sometimes I feel that we BOTH can do better than we are. Further confirming that marriage will always take work and we'll have to make the effort to keep it strong and ALIVE. I think our Faith really helps with our relationship too - maybe more than anything else we can share. We both have strong convictions in our religion and much of them are the same. It really helps us to build on the lessons we take away from it. We try to live by the ideals that we've learned.

Our Wedding Day:

I can honestly say that our wedding day went off without a hitch. I wasn't nervous at all - up to the point we arrived at the church. Of course, I swore off the tears and did well until the doors opened and I started walking down the aisle. We got up early in the morning ( the girls and I) and we headed to our hair/makeup appointments. Arrived at home in time to get the flowers delivered and checked out, we finally got me in my gown and the girls in theirs. The photographer arrived, we did all of our shots at the house and headed to the church when the limo arrived. The stretch, Hummer limo! That was a total surprise- When it came down the street, I thought it was someone else's... It never hit me until he pulled in front of my house. Evidently, it was my sister's surprise gift to Jeff and me. I loved it! I had mentioned that it would be awesome to have for our wedding but knew it was way out of my budget, and I was fine with that. But wow - it was really NICE. Awesome sister, I have. When we arrived at the church, time really started to pass. We were a little out of sorts while there. I really didn't stay out of plain view like most brides do.. so I was seen by a few guests coming in the front door, but that was ok. I couldn't hide forever! : ) Our wedding party was super small; 2 girls, 2 guys and a flower girl, so that meant we would whip through the processional. And we did! We did a full mass with our ceremony so I know everyone was probably cringing, thinking it would take forever but it didn't. We got through it all in about 45 minutes and were off to the photos at our reception site. We had a cocktail hour so that guests could have some appetizers & beverages while we did our photos on the grounds. Lucky for us, it was all right there at the reception site, so we were spared the task of driving to another place for photos and missing out on any of the reception.

Reception:

We were able to save time by the photos being taken at the reception so the wedding party, Jeff and I all spent some time relaxing and taking the edge off in our bridal suite downstairs... It was so nicely arranged and chock full of yummy fruits, cheeses, beverages, etc. We then were called upstairs for the grand entrance as husband and wife. It was so much fun! We all waited in the hallway to be announced. My niece was so cute!! My sister and I often told her that we all had to dance our way into the ballroom when it came time to be announced and she really did boogie down when she was announced - It was priceless. I don't have video of that part but I sure wish I did.

We had our wedding party, including parents, walk out to Get the Party Started by Pink, and Jeff and I walked out to Down with the Sickness by Disturbed. (that may shock some of you who don't know me, but we HAD to have it). It was more the beat than anything and we knew a long time ago, that would be our entrance song. Kind of funny when you think that our actual wedding song we danced to was "My Baby You" by Marc Anthony. It was either that or a song by The Stylistics but we settled on our original song that was "ours". The rest of the reception was so wonderful. Lots of dancing, mingling, laughing. The food was excellent as was the cake that we waited months for! : ) Just like I remembered it at our tasting. By the end of the night I had such a bad headache and my legs were near falling off.. I guess I was tired but also hadn't really eaten anything except for dinner and sure could've used some coffee at some point. It was a wonderful day though - it went so quickly but I remember it so vividly. It does go so fast, as every new bride claims. I wouldn't change a thing about it. Ok, maybe I would realize that my gown still had straight pins in the bottom BEFORE the ceremony. Yes, they weren't realized until we were getting our photos at the reception. How funny! Oooops. No wonder my gown seemed to be a little "short". HA! I feel like I remember practically all of our wedding day but there are parts that I don't recall. I often worry that I didn't get to spend equal time with all our guests, but we tried. We kept our guest list to just under 80 people - so it was fairly small but perfect.
Our life together has just begun; it feels like each day is a new beginning. I love our life. It's not always sunshine and lollipops but we move forward. Marriage is a big deal and it's not about a beautiful gown, a big reception, or one day to shine. A lot of young girls are so engrossed in that lately and it's sad because it should be so much more than a material thing. It's a committment. A promise. A journey. I'm really enjoying it with my soul mate.

Recap #1

2011-04-08T08:31:00.003-04:00

Hard to believe that just about this time last year, I was geting ready for our rehearsal dinner. The girls and I were headed to our mani/pedi appointments and getting the last minute beauty touches all done. We had 2 days before the BIG DAY.

Steppin' it up

2011-04-05T20:40:00.002-04:00

Life has been so busy here lately. Lots of house projects and running our tails off to and from Home Depot and Lowe's. Whew. We finished the bathroom finally ( as you saw) and last weekend we finished putting up our privacy fence. We already had it around the perimeter of the yard but we finished the gate and the other side of our house as well. It looks way different but I'll get used to it. It really gives us our privacy now. Not that we'd run around the yard naked or anything but our neighbors are used to being chummy and sharing yards etc. (with our home's previous owners) and we're not unfriendly BUT we don't get into that kind of neighborly socializing either. The little boy next door used to poke sticks through the fence at our dog and more recently we caught him in our driveway, creeping up on her through the gate and tantalizing her. So, in a way, the privacy fence has put a stop to the nonsense. You can't pick your neighbors, I guess. But we're civil.

Last Thursday, I got out with a girlfriend for some much needed "girl" time! We went and had some yummy food at a favorite pizza place of mine and we chatted for what seemed like FOREVER. We probably could have talked all night if we'd had the chance. But we didn't. ** sigh **
After we ate (way too much) we stopped in at Walmart to get some things. And we both forgot milk. How funny! So that was our long awaited Girls Night Out..... We put Girls Gone Wild to shame!

The weather has been screwy lately - We get a really nice day and then we get a really crappy day. I heard that this weekend may be really nice. In the 70's maybe? I can't wait to get the mulch all laid out and our flowers all planted.. I guess we don't really need to plant much but at least hope that what we planted last year, holds up again this year. I'm not looking forward to bees and wasps of course but I've been trying really hard to overcome my fear of both. It's hard but I'm making an effort. Not easy when we already have a couple of "mud" spots on our window on the front porch. We have a captain's window there and for some reason, that is where the bees/wasps set up camp each year. My dear husband usually gets to it early - He knows how crazy I am with it.

In other news, my inlaws bought a house and they go to settlement on Friday - Everyone's excited for them having a home of their own, again, after all these years. It just makes more sense to them considering what they've been paying in rent each month. They could be paying a mortgage and not have all the restrictions of the apartment complex. They can't barbeque or plant a garden; all things they really enjoy. So it'll be nice to have a place to really call and treat as their very own. Luckily they hired movers, so we really only have to help with painting etc. It should be fun.

My week is moving along quite nicely and I'm so looking forward to having another Sunday off. AWESOME.

Nice and refreshed

2011-03-25T09:22:00.003-04:00

We made our trip to Weber's last night with a quick stop at Walmart on the way home, so I could get some cleaning supplies. It was a fun trip as always, even if we were the only other car there. I guess I didn't realize it was going to be so cold last night! It was yummy and I enjoyed the outing with my niece, my sister and my madré. When I came home, I made my mom's favorite Marshmallow fluff cake (pics below) and cleaned the bathroom. I was so tired by 9:30, that I turned in for the night and couldn't believe I woke up at 4 a.m.! Yes, and I was wide awake.. so I can only assume that my body had enough rest. Needless to say, I didn't get up, I forced myself back to sleep until just about 9 am. What would I have done at 4 am? So, we're off to the doctor at noon for my mom and I'm hoping for nothing serious. She looks really bad; when I saw her last night, she is so thin and hardly ate her sandwich. : ( I'm sure we'll spend some time together after the appt and will probably grab dinner somewhere in that time before she has to head to work. Hope you all have a great weekend! Fingers crossed for WARM weather. I couldn't find a picture....
Here's the recipe:

You need:
1 box of Devil's Food Cake (bake according to instructions, for a layer cake)
2 small jars of Fluff
1 bag of shredded coconut

Let the cake cool and ice it just as you would a layer cake; covering the center with the Fluff AND the coconut.
Ice the rest of the cake and cover with remaining coconut.

I really slathered on the flakes but held it over the sink and brushed off a lot of the excess.

Dreams

2011-03-24T07:58:00.004-04:00

Do you ever have a dream and when you wake up, you realize how bizarre it was? I think that's the deal EVERY morning for me. Sometimes they're just plain crazy but yet it seemed to make sense while I was dreaming. Weird.

Anyhoo, I'm home today - Hoping to get into the doctor. My mom has been really sick and I'm worried about her. She's so stubborn and will never go to a doctor but I guess she's concerned now, because she finally made an appointment and is supposed to go tomorrow. I'm hoping they can get her in today but we'll see what they say. She's had fevers the past few days and that's what worries me most... but I'm hoping it's just a cold or bronchitis. Something MINOR. I'm not going to get too wordy on this subject - Please just say a prayer or two for her.

We'll see how the day plays out; we're supposed to have our official first outing of the season to Weber's Drive In. Just the girls! I'll update later with a more interesting post.

Before AND After of the bathroom remodel

2011-03-23T18:23:00.002-04:00

Yes, you will agree that it was a major transformation! Whoa.

Lock Down

2011-03-22T19:03:00.002-04:00

I unblocked my blog finally. I won't get into the details; it's kind of silly.
But I'm back and I'm PUBLIC. : ) So many things to catch up on. I could probably post about 3 new entries today but I'll run down the list of "new" with me.

- We finally finished the bathroom remodel and I love it! It could possibly be my favorite room in the house now. I will post the AFTER pictures very soon. Promise.

- My husband is one hard working man. Truly. He really gives 110% when he does something and I'm very grateful for his wisdom, strength and determinaton.

- I'm super thrilled that Spring has sprung but I'm not feeling the wearin' of the flip flops yet. I miss my flip flops. The higher, the better! I love the platformy type. Can I say "platformy"?

- My next project in the house is the kitchen. It's not nearly as scary as the bathroom was -- it just needs a little updating, circa 2009.

- I'm so DAMN proud of my sister who is an excellent pediatric nurse... So much so that she was nominated for AND selected for the Excellence in Nursing Award! So proud of her! I knew she was deserving of it - She was up against so many other hard working, excellent nurses and by way of recommendations from her colleagues: doctors, manangers and co-workers alike, she was selected as the recipient! What a nice accomplishment. She has definitely found her niche in life. I might go on and on here so I'll stop now. This is supposed to be a snippet!

- I have been on an emotional roller coaster lately - Lots of tears and 47 other emotions, but lucky for me, I'm a pro at hiding it from others. It's kind of a talent. I cry a lot in private so it's not like I'm holding it in. It's not that I cant't talk to my friends/family/husband but I've always been the one who struggles privately. A preference, I guess.

- I have a lot on my mind. Some of which I want to "talk" about. I may just do that, VERY soon.

- I'm mad that I forgot to stop at CVS on my way home for my RX and now I have to go back out. Ok, that is a silly thing to be annoyed about.. I know it could be worse. : )

- I just finished reading Water for Elephants. It was an excellent book and I'm anxious to see the movie now. And the upside? Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. Bound to be a great flick.

- I'm excited that the drive in is open for the season! My niece is so precious.. She knows that I love going so she won't go with just my sister. She said they have to wait for me. How cute. So we've planned an outing for this Thursday. Oh, and I don't mean a movie DRIVE IN... it's the root beer kind.

-I'm signing off now and headed back out to CVS. Hope you all have had some exciting, love filled days.

Temporary Fix

2011-03-11T09:04:00.003-05:00

Well, first of all, I have to say that this Tsunami in China has got my stomach in knots. I fell asleep with the news on this morning and dreamt it happened to us. I managed to somehow stay safe and ended up pulling my sister and my niece out of a wave. Just thinking about it has me so scared. I woke up praying for all of those affected - I hope that the nightmare is over soon. How devastating.

On another note, I'm trying to make my blog private and I'm not sure how to do it!
Well, I can do it but then my followers can't see it! Ugh. What happened? Well, my dear friend shared a link to another gal's blog and I happened to be a follower on that blog. She posted the link on Facebook, of all places, and that means that EVERYONE who sees it can click on it and it could, if they click my photo, lead to MY blog. Yes, I realize it's the world wide web and people have had access to it a million times over. But I'm just not keen on the idea of half the people I went to high school with, reading my blog. Weird? Maybe. Sorry to sound like a wacko.

Rain Rain Go Away!

2011-03-10T20:55:00.002-05:00

I don't like you, Rain. You are unwelcome here. Please leave. I heard that tomorrow is going to be close to 6o, so I hope the weather channel is accurate. I'm heading out with my mom tomorrow for lunch and then some odds and ends that I need to pick up. Jeff and I are headed to a St. Patty's social on Saturday and I never bought an Irish shirt! I kept putting it off and now I'm pretty sure there will be NONE left. So close to St. Patrick's Day? Chances are slim. We went to this same event last year and had a great time, dancing and mingling. They even had a chinese auction, which I love. I'm really looking forward to going. I even took the day off Sunday, so I don't have to make it an early night on Saturday. Ahh, a 3 day weekend! Nice. We haven't started the work on the bathroom yet; Jeff is home next week so he's all set to get down to business. We still have to get all of the stuff for it. We need flooring, a vanity, a toilet and of a mirror. We want to stick with a medicine cabinet though, because we do like keeping things in there. I'm fine with a medicine cabinet or just a nice mirror. So many options we have; hard to make a decision. When it comes to money, it's not hard to make a decision. I like to stick with a budget. We're thinking we may go with the ensemble below. Still on the fence, because the reviews weren't that great. Something about the color being off. Hmmm.. Guess we just really have to go to the store and look at things.
I can't believe that I'm ready for bed right now - Maybe it's the rain or the fact that I know I have an early day tomorrow. We were supposed to get our pooch to the vet for her yearly shots but the weather was so miserable, I rescheduled for Saturday. I don't like to rush around in the rain. People drive like idiots in the rain. Some do, at least. Last night we went to church since it was Ash Wednesday and it was a pretty long service beccause of the people who show up ONCE a year. It was standing room only, at one point. That's crazy.
Well, I'll head to bed soon - Here's the photos of what the bathroom MIGHT look like soon.

whining down

2011-02-26T22:11:00.002-05:00

I'm such a slacker; I've been off of work for the past 4 days and I'm really bitching that I have to go to work tomorrow?! I had off Wednesday and Thursday because my sinuses were just RELENTLESS and have been wreaking havoc on my head. I wanted to stay in bed all day but I knew I'd be so unproductive so I forced myself up and made myself useful. It wasn't easy. I'm not sure what I got done in those 4days but Friday and today were productive days, I guess. We were up early today and headed to breakfast before lots of trips to Home Depot and Lowe's... to price vertical blinds and get all of our ideas down on paper for the bathroom remodeling. And can I say that the people at BOTH home improvement stores were LESS than useful? I couldn't believe how rude they were! We're first time home owners so give us a break, people. A little help or friendly "knowledge" would have been nice. We asked this one guy about installing a new toilet and he looked at us like we had 3 heads. SO condescending when he spoke. I was pretty annoyed. But we carried on and still were able to get some ideas on what vanities and mirrors that we might want. We took a trip to Bed Bath Beyond as well and were able to buy a new shower head - Jeff has wanted the dual kind for a while now so we were able to find a pretty nice one and I had a 20% coupon so that made our purchase even more fun! I think having a dual shower head is quite odd so far...Water coming from all directions - but I'll get used to it. I also finished my online course tonight - I took the final and my score was a 97% out of 100. I was a little disappointed that I got one wrong.. But that's just silly. I hope I can get to bed soon..I always seem to end up in bed LATE when I have to work the next day and yet will turn in at 9 when I'm off the next day. Weird.

Friday and it's raining? Really?

2011-02-25T10:09:00.006-05:00

Well I'm still glad it's Friday because my weekend is officially here but I'm not glad that it's so gloomy out right now. I got up way later than I usually do on Friday and haven't started any of my cleaning. I always have it done by this time. Jeez, I need a big hot cup of motivation right now. Although, I did make a pot of coffee and accidentally made it way too strong, so a few more gulps of that should get me moving. Always does! Kind of looking forward to today even if it's miserable out; the husband is taking a half day at work so we can pick up his truck. Apparently, there were 3 recalls to his Titan, so we took it into the shop for a checkup. So, on the agenda is picking up the truck and running some errands together. We really want to take a trip to Blinds to Go so we can get prices on a vertical blind for our living room window.. we have a nice bow window and we've covered it since we moved in with these huge drapes I bought at Bed, Bath Beyond. It really takes away from it. So I'm kind of anxious to change it up. It's time to make it actually look like a bow window. Other than that, we're taking a trip to Home Depot so we can get some things for our bathroom. I think, this weekend, we're finally going to start on it! It really needs an overhaul. Did I tell you that it's yellow? Well, the paint and trim is hunter green, but the tub and toilet and vanity are yellow! We've lived with it thus far but had plans all along to re-do it .. so hopefully the project begins soon. I should post a picture of it. ok, I will. I just sat down before I posted, and paid bills. ** GASP ** Being a grown up sucks sometimes. : ) Where does it all go? Hope you are having a great Friday and have an even better weekend!

Here are the photos ( I usually have a matching hand towel - YIKES!)
See how old and country lookin' it is? Gahhh!! ( at least now I have some BEFORE shots)

I do love the skylight though..

Miracles?

2011-02-24T11:25:00.010-05:00

** First, you have to push PLAY **

Miracle...

celine dion miracle songs | music videos | lyrics

On November 8, 2010, a true miracle came into this world. My sister gave birth to a beautiful, healthy, baby girl she named Chloe. She and her huband were so overjoyed by the birth of their baby girl; I don't think anything could ever come close to comparing with it. We say that Chloe is a miracle baby because, in all honesty, my sister "shouldn't" have been physically able to conceive in the first place. My sister has struggled with Crohn's disease for some years now; I can't count on one hand, the amount of drugs she has to take on a daily basis to keep it under control. It's pretty serious. She had emergency surgery some years back and the doctor told her then that she was lucky she'd come when she did because he wasn't sure she'd have "made" it much longer without that surgery. That was a scary time in her life .. as you can imagine. They basically told her that her insides were all "out of sorts" and her intestines were in bad shape. In layman's terms, I can only tell you that it was much like what happened to Marley in the movie Marley & Me. So they went in an fixed it the best they could. Having a child or conceiving was most likely not an option.. Coming off of the medicine would be too risky and her physical ability to get pregnant seemed unlikely as well. Then, in 2010, a miracle happened! My sister not only concieved, but carried to full term, a beautiful baby girl! Here's where I explain the rest of the miracle... When my sister went into labor, the baby was slow in coming. The doctors decided that she was going to be born via C-section because she was in some distress and it would be better for mom and baby. When they went in to perform the Cesarean, they accidentally cut my sister's bladder. I know that sounds like crazy malpractice stuff but they told my sister that her bladder was actually "not where it was supposed to be" .. They said that most of her organs were "misplaced" in some strange way.. I can only assume this was all a result of the Crohn's complications and the shape her intestines etc were in when they did that first surgery. In fact, the doctors agreed that there was humanly no way possible way for my sister to have gotten pregnant based on the "location" of her organs etc... They were so mystified as to how she was able to concieve based on what they'd seen. I mean, they never expected her bladder to be where it was, which is how they unintentionally ended up puncturing/cutting it. My sister said that the doctors even called her a "miracle". I don't know how much my sister prays or if she does but I would be willing to bet my next paycheck that God had a hand in this. Sometimes he sees fit for these things to happen and I guess it was time. He knows when a heart needs healing or when your life is ready to accomodate new beginnings or endings. I can't explain it any other way. I mean, if your body is not "equipped" to concieve and it does, how else would YOU explain it? Luck? I guess we all have our own theories but as long as I live, I'll consider my niece Chloe a miracle and I know my sister will too. I look at her pictures and I think of how blessed my sister and her husband are with a true gift from God. I find myself just thinking to myself still in disbelief sometimes - I'm not questioning it - I'm so very grateful -I just never expected it. I know that there are so many different "types" of love but the love that you have for a child must be SO different, when you hold her on your chest for the first time, you must wonder how you ever lived without her. It's the kind of love where you just know that you'd lay your life on the line for her and that you always want to protect her. I can only pray that one day I can feel that. To say that I'm happy for my sister is an understatement; I can't explain the depth of the joy in my heart. She is a mother now - I couldn't have wanted this more for her.

Lessons in Marriage

2011-02-22T21:09:00.007-05:00

Hard to believe that I'm almost married for a whole year already! Not really until April but I've been thinking alot about it lately. Unfortunately, the reason I've been contemplating so much is because I have a few friends whose marriages are in discord right now. These are people who've been together for years and all of a sudden, something has changed and they're finding themselves on the verge of divorce. It scares the heck out of me that it could happen to me one day. I find myself going through crazy spurts of analyzing things in my own relationship. I've also realized that I haven't really been the best wife I could be, thus far. Sure, I'm "new at this" but I've been able to use some of the insight I've gained and 'change' some things about myself and my role as a wife. Part of my 'adjustment' was the big step I took this past weekend. I saw a little ditty on the news a couple weeks ago about Financial Infidelity and Jeff jokingly said that I was guilty of it. In reality, he was right though. We've been together for almost 10 years but only married just about 1 year and I've always kept my financial standings etc.. to myself. I've never really opened it up to him and it wasn't because I was hiding anything bad, but I just felt like it was MY personal information and not really something I wanted to share. One day, he expressed his feelings about it and said that he felt I 'hide' my finances from him. Like, what I owe in bills and how much I have in the bank. Honestly? He's right. I did do that and I realized that we're married now and we need to share these things with each other. Now, keep in mind that the "things" I've hidden from him are just my credit cards, and my student loan stuff... I told him a while back how much my salary is at work & even that was a big step for me. So I was at work last Sunday and was thinking about it LONG and HARD and I realized that I do in fact want to share these things with him. So I typed it all up on a sheet of paper and gave it to him when I came home. I can honestly say that I think it really turned our relationship in a good direction - he seemed so pleased that I was finally opening up to him about my financial health. I know it might seem silly but it meant a lot to him and I feel so much better about it now. I showed him that I have 3 credit cards, (which I don't use - I used them to biuld my credit)... and I gave him the total owed.. then I told him how much my student loan is for and I also made sure I told him that I'm behind on it because I am past due about $500 which I know is a big deal because they sent me a letter saying they can garnish your wages, take your tax refund etc.. So I called right away and arranged to make a payment very soon! As in this week. So yes, this was all a BIG step for me in the right direction and I feel so much better about it now. He wants me to think about a joint bank account eventually and I said that I'd consider it but first I want to get my student loan situated so they don't try to get me through my bank account. That would really suck and I'd feel really bad. I know I have married "blogger" friends.. (Amy, I almost called you one day for some wisdom) -- So, married friends, please let me know how you "make it all work".. because I'm quite clueless and a little nervous. I have so many questions.. Like how do I buy him a gift and not feel like I'm using HIS money, or how do I take money for shopping or something and not feel awkward? I feel like I'm losing some of my independence on one hand and on the other I feel like I'm supposed to be doing this. It was a hard pill for me to swallow when we went and filed our taxes JOINTLY..It wasn't the sharing part it was just the idea that it's JUST ME anymore. but, again, I realize that I'm not a single woman anymore.. I'm in a marriage, a union.. we're in this TOGETHER. See? I'm starting to catch on! ; )

Spring Preview!

2011-02-18T08:55:00.002-05:00

I am thrilled that it's going to be in the high 60's today! I can't wait to open up the house and air it out - I love having a breeze running through while I clean. And clean is what I really need to do. I dust and clean every Friday (and more as needed) but I haven't really been around the house with the Swiffer lately. We have all hard wood floors in the house, so that means we have dog hair out the wazoo. I'm not kidding; I looked under the bed yesterday and thought we had another dog! So, I'll be swifferin' all over the house today and then shining up the wood floors. I can't wait to take in the beautiful weather. And my hubby texted me that he's taking a half day so that he can enjoy the sun too, that means I had better get a move on with my cleaning so I can free up the rest of the day to spend with him. It's going to be awesome! Hope you're all having nice weather no matter where you are - Hoping that the "S" word is a thing of the past! : )

Sunday blues

2011-02-12T20:30:00.003-05:00

I don't know where the time goes. It seems I just get excited about my weekend being here and getting started and before I know it, it's just about over. I whine every Saturday night because I don't look forward to working on Sunday. It sucks. Everyone I know is hanging out on a Sunday and enjoying what's left of the weekend and I'm stuck in the office, by myself. I really don't think I'd mind so much if I had some company. I listen to music etc.. to keep myself occupied, or I should say, to liven the place up. I have a routine with the music too; Monday through Thursday I listen to whatever I have in my Media Player library (which ranges from country to freestyle to pop)... BUT on Sundays? Strictly, Classical. I don't know why other than the fact that I find it soothing. I have it set to my stations in the car too - it's my "de-stressing" music. If that's a word. : ) I can't complain entirely though - I had a really good weekend. I spent all of Friday afternoon with my two sisters and my 2 nieces - having some lunch (another story) and good laughs! Then my day continued on with my sister and I shopping a bit and stopping for some dinner at Red Lobster (2nd meal horror story of the day). I had such a great time with my sisters. We don't spend nearly enough time together. Today I picked up my mom from work (Saturday routine) and we had a quick breakfast, drove to the flea market, which ended up being CLOSED and then we ran some errands together and called it a day. So I guess I've been pretty busy this weekend and can't complain too much. I thought about taking this coming Thursday off, because the weather's supposed to be SO nice. Hmmmm......

Friday Fun

2011-02-11T11:25:00.002-05:00

I was up early, made it to the store to get food for my dogger, stopped at McD's for a coffee (which turned out to be a cup of MILK).. Bleh... TOO MUCH CREAMER. Then came home, dusted and cleaned a little. Now I'm waiting to head out to my sister's to visit for a while. It's going to be so awesome. All 3 sisters and both of my nieces! Take a look at the little bundle I'll be holding half the afternoon.

Hot Diggity Thursday!

2011-02-10T22:53:00.003-05:00

I got a chance to see my mom, my niece & my sister all at once tonight. What a nice treat! I even got to tuck in my niece at bedtime and spend some time chatting and laying in her bed. Her new BIG GIRL bed, I should add! When my sister first bought my niece's crib, she bought the kind that converts into 3 types. It went from crib to daybed and finally, to a full size bed, this week. I actually cried when I saw it all set up and decorated with all of her girly black and pink bedding (ala Justin Bieber). She's growing up so fast. It's a good idea to get that type of crib/bed, I guess, because it really lasts a long time & through many transitions. Although, she did have to buy a full mattress for it. Not so bad considering how much use she's been able to get out of it so far. I headed home fairly early because I was so tired! It's tough getting up early on Thursday morning and then trying to stay up late since I'm off on Fridays. Never quite works out that way for me. I'd rather get up early on Friday anyway so I can get my day and errands started. I'm going to my oldest sister's house for lunch so I'm thrilled about that. I get to spend some time with my other niece. She's getting so big and so darn cute! She's 3 months already! Wowsers! I'll have to post some pictures; I'm definitely taking my camera with me. My sister goes back to work next Monday so it'll be tough for her to leave her little angel. Poor girl. I wish I'd really been able to get over and visit the two of them more often while she was home on maternity leave, but I could only ever get there on a Friday really and always seemed to be doing something. I kind of regret it now. Well, I'm off to dreamland and looking forward to a great weekend! Hope you are too.

Lazy Bones

2011-02-09T21:53:00.002-05:00

I'm just not finding the motivation to get a good blog post in tonight so here is what I'm thinking:

- O.M.G.. The Justin B movie comes out Friday; I'm hoping I can take my niece. It will probably be torture for ME but she's worth it.

- My new favorite juice is Juicy Juice Punch. I used to drink it all the time when I was a nanny and now I'm stuck on it again. It's one of the better juices out there. I have to get away from so much soda and iced tea.

- I am so glad tomorrow's Thursday and my weekend will start at 5 sharp! I have had a nutsy week and just want to relax and sleep in. I almost called out several times this week.

- I feel like crap and am not sure if my throat scratchiness is from my reflux or my cold. (did I spell that word right? Is scratchiness a word?"

- I never take anything medicinal -- But I bought some children's allergy and cold.

- My dog is asleep next to me on my husband's pillow. Seems like a fair trade; she doesn't snore NEARLY as loud as he does.

- I have lots of things I want to "talk" about but have refrained thus far. One day I will get my thoughts together and let it all out. Be prepared.

- I often get the urge to blog from work but I hold back because I'm afraid that my employer will see it. But honestly, I have never said anything derogatory about my employer so what am I worried about?

- I have been such a slacker with my online course that I'm taking. I've gotten behind in the lessons but have to make an effort to catch up tomorrow night.

- I downloaded OpenOffice on my laptop tonight - I hope it works. I really need a word application on my computer.

- I'm turning in for the night... Promise to post much better tomorrow.

30DS

2011-02-04T20:23:00.003-05:00

I finally decided to check it out last week. The 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels. I kept seeing it when I went into the fitness programs on Comcast and I heard such good things about the results! So, last week, I finally turned it on and man, did I get a workout? I could hardly move the next day. I mean, I haven't used some of these muscles in Lord knows how long so it really was an eye opener to just how out of shape I am. The worst part for me was sitting down. I had to just "plop" down because my legs were not dealing well with the bending process. But even after the burn that I was feeling (which is a good sign that you're doing it right), I came home the second night and went right back to get started on Day 2. And it wasn't there!! It was GONE from Comcast! I was so pissed that I called Comcast and the lady told me that it had been deleted because of some expansion they were doing. Well that means nothing to me, I was not understanding it. It was supposed to be available until February 21st. Dude!! So anyway, I didn't let it stop me! I ran my sore butt to Wal*Mart and bought it for 9 bucks! What a deal! So I'm getting back to it this week and I hope I can stick it out for the full 30 days. It's tough but I'm really looking forward to the results.

Busy Bee

2011-02-04T10:37:00.002-05:00

That's me in a nutshell for today. I have so much to do and I've not found the ooomph to do it yet. I was wide awake at 7 a.m. since I went to bed so early but I refused to get up simply because it was my day off. So I woke up - AGAIN - at 10 and now I feel like I slept too long. Don't you just hate it when that happens. There is such a thing as too much sleep, I guess. I definitely have to clean the house today & get to the post office. My sister is going to let me know if she wants to do lunch; she's been dealing with a nasty cold and hasn't been able to taste anything. Whenever I get like that, I don't want to eat. What's the sense? I always recommend hot and sour soup to anyone who has a cold like that. I'm telling you, it really clears you out. We had a full house last night! My sister came over so I could print up a resumé for her, so we had dinner and visited a bit and then shortly after she left, my brother came over with his girlfriend to have their taxes done. I've been doing them for a few years now. If they only knew how easy Turbotax is to use! It basically walks you through it. I'm a little nervous this time though. His girlfriend's refund jumped like $1200 when I entered her 1098-T form. (She's a full time college student) Does anyone have any experience with this? If you do, please advise. I went over it like 3 more times and it seemed ok so I pray that it is. I don't want her getting audited or owing money. It just seemed so drastic. Good for her if it's right though. This was the first year I didn't do my own taxes - I actually filed with my husband. That was a change for me - I wasn't used to doing that. Wow. Sucks that we got less as a couple than I usually did single. I think it may have had something to do with his unemployment from last year. But it's just as well.. your tax refunds are always something to look forward to. We had big plans for ours to re-do our bathroom but we'll just do it bit by bit. No rush, really. Guess I better get off the computer and start on my housework so I can shower and be ready JUST IN CASE my sister decides she wants to go to lunch. I can't go looking like this... Trust me. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Slacker

2011-02-02T20:30:00.002-05:00

What I should be doing:
Working on my Wednesday Lesson of my online course that I'm taking.
Folding the laundry that I'll no doubt tumble at least 2 more times.
Putting my clothes away that I did manage to fold.
Going over my bills for the month and entering them in my "to pay" calendar.
But, I'm here visiting instead. Catching up on all your blogs and trying to come up with something post-worthy. Sorry if any of you were on the receiving end of, yet again, MORE snow. My corporate office is in Chicago, so almost everyone was working from home today because their total accumulation was in the 30's. As in inches! I may be a little off but they were anticipating that much so they planned ahead and they set up 'shop' from home. I wouldn't have minded doing that - Sitting at home in my flannel pj's and my slippers? Oh, how I wish Spring would just come knock on my door and tell me it's finally here! I stole a couple hours away last night and went to dinner and a movie with my movie buddy. We saw The Rite w/Anthony Hopkins. It was a great movie; he's such a wonderful actor. I'd have to say this was one of his best roles yet; I sure hope he gets an award. I know the concept is a little controversial to some, but it really was a great story. And last but not least, I totally feel like I'm getting sick! I never (knock on wood) get sick. I am obsessed with washing my hands constantly, using my hand sanitizer like it's my job and just keeping my environment - GERM FREE. So now, I'm so annoyed that I may be coming down with something. I get this weird scratchy feeling in my throat - I know it all too well. YUCK. Someone at work was just out for a couple of days with Bronchitis.. But I thought Bronchitis wasn't contagious? So now, I wonder what it really was. I can't stand it when someone coughs or sneezes right out into the air that we all share/breathe. Grown people who don't cover their mouths? So, I hope I'm not posting in a day or two how I feel like crap. :(

February already?

2011-01-31T20:41:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it's February already but I'm so happy because I love HEARTS! Anything cutesy and heartsy and Valentine's day related! The husband isn't into the girlie Valentine's décor so I haven't gotten too carried away with it. I love using our front window (bow windows display things so well) to put decorations in, so I just put two hanging hearts in it and the candles light it up nicely. I will add some more things to the house, when he's not looking. haha In other news, things have been status quo here. Not much new and exciting to report. I'm still cursing this nasty WHITE stuff that we have on our lawn and all over the streets & now I hear that we may be getting MORE? I hope not. YUCK. We did an overnight in A.C. for my sister's birthday and that was a great time. We had a light dinner with lots of laughs, some entertainment at the karaoke bar and finished up early with some dancing. It was a nice time away with just the girls. Then I had a great time last week with my niece. She slept over because my sister had to work overnight and I loved having her here. I always do! We watched some iCarly, played some educational games on PBSkids(dotcom) and then I tucked her in and read her Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty. She loves the story of Rapunzel so she was thrilled that it was in the story book. She's already asked me to read it to her again when she comes over. My sister bought me the Grimm's Fairytales book about 7 years ago. She inscribed the inside cover and wrote that I could read it to her future nieces or nephews... Ironically, I'm reading it to my niece. I wouldn't have it any other way. Being an aunt is so rewarding and makes my heart so happy and very full. We had a great time together and I got her off to school in the morning. I would've preferred to spend the whole day with her but I wouldn't have been a very good aunt if we played hooky and I'd kept her home. She loves school too much anyway. I'm looking forward to the weekend and spending some time with friends that I haven't seen in a while. Game night always rocks & then Sunday we're off to a Super Bowl party. While I'm not a football fan, I still like to socialize and enjoy yummy snacks! Tomorrow night I've got plans for a dinner/movie date with my good friend Stephanie.. Not sure what we're seeing but I'm leaning towards Black Swan. I hope she concurs.

Karma

2011-01-22T12:42:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry. I know there are mixed opinions on this one but give me a break. It's funny.. and truth is no one knew WHO it was until she made a stink about it. Today, reading about her shady past, I feel like karma just paid her a little visit. I'm glad she didn't get injured in any way.. To Laugh or not to laugh?

Down the tube

2011-01-21T14:37:00.004-05:00

My day, thus far, has been anything but productive. NY & Co was a big fail. What happened to their clothes? Not to mention that they're not that cute anymore, but I looked at a top that caught my eye & it was $43. I'm a frugal shopper so that might be too pricey for me to begin with, but WOW. So I took the outfit back and was issued a store credit. Maybe I'll shop online with it; they're bound to have some cute accessories (although then I have to pay shipping). Whatever. So I did meet my sister at the mall and we had lunch and chatted about everything under the sun. We usually do! Guess that was the highlight of my day. I need to get my hair/bangs cut BADLY and I wanted to pick up some new makeup, but I came right home after I left the mall. I honestly feel like laying down and taking a nap. I guess I'm just in a funk now. My mom is really sick and won't go to the doctor - she's very stubborn. I have a lot of things going through my mind about it. She always seems to be sick (as in achy body, etc) and it scares the hell out of me that it's so frequent. Today I had a lot of guilt that I haven't pressed her to go to the doctor but I can't physically MAKE her. She'd be all over me if I thought I had something wrong and she would go to the doctor's WITH me but I think she's just afraid of what she might hear. I don't know what's wrong with her; I'm not a doctor. I just have some crazy notions in my head - and I want her to get checked out. She hasn't been to a doctor in years - maybe a wellness check is all she needs. Some vitamins? I know she's had high blood pressure in the past so that's a concern. My mom is literally about 5'2" and weighs probably just over 100 lbs. She is all bones and the smoking doesn't help. She could live on cigarettes and Pepsi. In fact, I feel like sometimes she does. I called the doctor today to see if I can get her in there on Monday but the answering service said their phones are forwarded for the day. Great. I could make her an appt with my own doctor but I know they're tough when it's a new patient. Sometimes they're accepting new ones and sometimes they want you to jump through hoops. She has to go no matter what. I just have to convince her somehow and I won't take no for an answer. Wish me luck.

On the agenda

2011-01-21T10:13:00.003-05:00

It must be Friday because I'm still running around the house in my pajamas and making a mental list of what I need to do today. As always, my Friday ritual definitely has cleaning on the list! I also need to get out and return an outfit that was a gift from Christmas. My sister bought me a cute outfit from New York & Co but they always run big there. The top is one size too big and of course, when I went there last, they didn't have the size I needed so now I'll either have to find another or just get store credit. No problem. I love going to the mall by myself; you have no one trailing behind you or pulling you in another direction. So nice that I can get right in and right out. Tomorrow the girls are headed to Atlantic City for my sister's birthday. We go every year (that's what she likes to do). We usually have a light dinner and some drinks at The Irish Pub and then just head out for dancing later.. and of course, we have to stop at the karaoke bar. That's always a blast! I've got to be honest though, every year, I'm so excited to go and can't wait .. but this year, I don't really feel like I want to go. Maybe since I'm married, I just want to stay at home. It just feels weird. I wouldn't have minded if we stayed local and just went out dancing etc. But I'm just going to suck it up and go. I know I'll have a good time. I also just started my online course this past Wednesday and it wasn't really what I thought it would be. I guess I thought that it was going to be somewhat interactive but it's not. I basically just log in to the "classroom" and read. There are quizzes, a discussion area and will ultimately be a final exam so it's not all that lame. : ) just looking forward to adding some education/skills to my résumé. I really want to get into the medical field in an administrative position. *Fingers crossed* Well, I'm off to get my Friday started & get all my errands done. Hopefully. Have a Great Weekend!

no words ...

2011-01-20T20:09:00.003-05:00

I lied - I do have words for this one but none that I could repeat and even sound remotely like a "lady". Before anyone reading this, thinks it's about the "A" word; it's not (strictly) about that. Everyone has their opinions on THAT but the plain and simple fact here is that this "doctor" murdered babies. Real, LIVE, babies.
He is insane -- An example of the evil that lurks among us in this world-

Tuesday Blues

2011-01-18T11:09:00.005-05:00

I felt so awful when I woke up this morning & I waited it out for a bit before calling off for the day. I don't like doing that and leaving my work for someone else to do but I guess we all pick up the slack for each other. I decided to lie down for a while (actually watched two really good movies) and now I'm feeling a bit better. I called my mom & asked her to go to lunch; so spur of the moment but I know she's up for it. I just hope that the roads aren't crazy. I heard there's tons of ice on the roads and that makes for a very treacherous drive. My awesome husband was up earlier than usual, shoveling and de-icing both of our cars. He's such a good man. I figured I'd utilize my time home today & make a really nice dinner for all of his hard work he does around here. I'm still thinking about what to make, and I'm scouring the net for ideas. I want something yummy but it has to be EASY and have FEW ingredients. I know, that sounds so boring but you'd be surprised how many great meals you can make in less than an hour and with only a few ingredients. Ok, maybe not a FEW, but at least under 10. I'm off to shower & get ready to head out. Hope you're all having a great week so far.

Another productive Friday!

2011-01-14T21:46:00.002-05:00

I actually went to bed fairly early last night, even considering that I didn't have to work today. I was able to get up early enough to meet my sister for breakfast, at our favorite spot for the BEST deal on breakfast. Seriously, the diner that we go to has a GREAT breakfast deal, Monday through Friday. You have to get there before 10, so we're always rushing out the door, and just making it there! It was so funny, the first time we went, I thought our waitress gave us the wrong check. No lie - our check today: 2 coffee, 2 small OJ, 1 eggs/bacon/toast/homefries, 1 eggs/scrapple/toast/homefries for a grand total of - $8.51 I kid you not. Is that not a great deal for breakfast? I don't think I could go anywhere else and get that deal for even ONE person. So then after a quick breakfast, I made my run to the store for cleaning stuff, came home and cleaned, threw in a load of laundry and headed back out to register for an online course I'm taking through our community college. I can't wait! It's a non credit course, so that stinks but at least it's something I can add to my resumé - since it's an admin medical course.
Then my sister invited me to my niece's Family Involvement Day - so that was a nice treat! My niece had no idea I was coming so she was pretty surprised when I walked in! The theme was Winnie The Pooh - apparently it's his birthday so they had all these Pooh-themed activities. It was really cute. The kids were so happy that their moms and dads came. I always get so upset when I see a child who didn't have anyone show. My niece took my hand and led me around the room showing me her cubby and some of her works of art. She was very proud. : ) Finally, my sis and I ended up back at my house, ordered take out and relaxed a bit. Now I'm so tired and can't wait to just fall into my comfy bed and stay under the covers until my big blue eyes open tomorrow. But that really doesn't work because my husband's idea of sleeping in is until about 7 and I feel like a bum if I stay in bed.

Old school

2011-01-13T20:05:00.002-05:00

I went back to an "old" Blogger template for now. At least until I'm able to sit down and edit a little more. Everyone has such cute blog backgrounds etc, I just haven't had the "ooomph" to sit and fiddle with all of the possibilities. I've been updating almost regularly though; that's a big step for me! I've been trying to catch up on my reading so I've not been spending as much time in front of the computer lately. So not like me. :) I guess the reading kind of tires me out which is good because I'd really LOVE to have one night of really GREAT sleep. For some reason, my sleep is always broken up. I have not slept through the night in ages. U-G-H. Not fun. But yay for Thursday!! My weekend has begun.

All discombobulated

2011-01-12T20:15:00.002-05:00

* I took a stab at spelling that so I'm sure it's not quite right *

As you can clearly see, I've been trying to tweek my blog a bit. I needed a change; something new and jazzy. BUT evidently I need to "tweek my tweeking" because I done messed it all up. I just realized I am missing a whole handful of "stuff" on my blog. My archive links are all gone, my profile info and picture have disappeared.. etc. Dang it! I promise I'll get to fixing it TOMORROW. It's diffcult, being on the lap top, to get into all of the editing. Hope you're all having a fantastic week - Snow days all over!

My niece Chloe

2011-01-06T13:18:00.003-05:00

My oldest sister, whom we all were sure wouldn't have children (due to her struggle w/Crohn's and some other past issues).. gave birth to a beautiful baby girl this past November! We're all so thrilled with her arrival and look forward to watching her grow and learn, but most of all, look forward to all of the happy memories.
Here are a few pictures - I've been greedy and haven't shared. I posted one of my beautiful sis too - in all her pregnant-glowing-glory. *in the last photo, Chloe looks as if she's "getting rid of something" but I think she was just leaning forward*

Early Weekend

2011-01-06T10:32:00.004-05:00

Well I called in sick today - I have a sucky sinus headache and I really just wanted to lay in bed all the live long day. I finally roused around 9:30 or so and decided I should be doing something productive at home since I wasn't doing any such thing at work today. So I threw the bedding in the washer and I cleaned the kitchen a bit. Heavens to Betsy, my kitchen floor is linoleum and it's driving me crazy to see how it just doesn't come as clean as I'd like- so I decided today that I really need to scrub it on my hands and knees. Who does that anymore? Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works wonders on that kind of stuff so I guess I'll be off to the store and hopefully getting that floor all spic-n-span before the weekend's over. Other than that, my weekend plans include maybe having a sleepover with my niece & having my cousin and her husband over for dinner on Saturday. That should be nice. I love to entertain - so I hope they don't cancel. I was planning to go all out and make a nice big dinner but we have church at 4 so I may opt for pizza instead. Kind of cheap of me but it's much easier to visit and socialize when I'm not prepping and then cleaning up a messy kitchen. Right? Right. Guess I better get my butt off this computer chair and start tidying up the rest of the house now. Happy Thursday; it's almost Friday.

Blog Challenger - Post #7 - How you came across Blogger...

2011-01-06T10:21:00.003-05:00

and how it changed your life.

Hmmm.. I'm wondering if it has really changed my life in any way. I guess in a way, it has. Blogger is the best thing since sliced bread. How cliché of me? Since I started blogging, 5 years ago, (holy cow!), Blogger has been a way of me journaling the good, the bad, and the ugly of my life. And sometimes other peoples'. Oops.
But, all joking aside, Blogger is just an awesome way to make friends (even virtually), and to keep friends etc up to date on what's happening in my life, what's bothering me, what's making me happy or sad. I love reading everyone's posts/stories and seeing pictures that you all share. It's like I have all these friends that only exist in the blogosphere but I love it! Sometimes, my friends aren't always there to lend an ear and as long as I have my blog, I always have someoene who cares about what I have to say. We often share the same trials and tribulations and it's so awesome being able to relate to someone on so many levels.
My husband does not "get" the blogging thing AT ALL. He thinks I log on and just start telling everyone about my life etc... complete strangers. *GASP* Strangers??? Bite your tongue. These are my friends! ** corny clip art below **

Year in review

2010-12-31T22:54:00.002-05:00

What a year it has been! Hard to believe we're saying goodbye to 2010 already and will bring in 2011 in just about an hour. So many wonderful things have happened this year!

* Jeff and I got married (after 9ish years together)
* We celebrated our first year in our first home
* My oldest sister, truly by a miracle, delivered a beautiful baby girl!
* My father-in-law beat prostate cancer. (thank the Lord for the early detection)

There are so many other things that I could list but those are the ones that stuck out right now. I'm praying for a fantastic new year in 2011. I'm trying not to make any resolutions because I don't want to let myself (or anyone else) down. My biggest resolution (if I was making one).. as always, is to get healthy & lose some weight. But we'll see how that goes. I hope that 2011 is the start of a great new year full of wonderful new memories!

My latest read

2010-12-28T20:48:00.004-05:00

Have you read this Beth Moore book yet? I saw a short review on it some time ago and immediately decided that it was something I wanted to read. I decided to put it on my Christmas list and Santa Hubby brought it! I can't wait to start reading it. If you've already read it, be sure to let me know what you thought of it.

Christmas has come and gone so fast!

2010-12-28T20:27:00.002-05:00

All the planning & crazy shopping for weeks - even months - and it's all over that quickly? Wow. Christmas was a wonderful day as always for me. It's never about the gifts for me; it's always about the time we get to spend with family. It's what I really treasure the most about it. On Christmas morning, my sisters and I usually go to my dad's (with our spouses/significant others) and we exchange gifts with my dad and stepmom and then enjoy a nice home cooked breakfast. Then Jeff and I go to his parent's home for a late lunch/early dinner and spend time with his family there. Finally, Jeff and I come back home and spend the rest of the night with my mom and usually my brother when we exchange gifts and have some light fare. My sisters will usually stop by before calling it a night too. It's always a busy day full of great times spent with family. I had to work the day after Christmas this year, which I haven't done in a long time. It really sucked to have to get up early in the morning and trudge to work. I should've planned my vacation time better and I could've saved a day or two to use this month. But oh well.
One of my favorite parts of Christmas day is when we go to church. I always like going to church but on Christmas, it just seems so different. It's a feeling that I can't quite explain. My only gripe is all the people who don't step foot near the church all year and then decide to make their once-a-year visit on Christmas. It's always been something that annoyed me. I couldn't believe how many people were there! The church was filled to capacity, so much so that people had to start lining the walls and standing. Craziness. But I guess I can't fault them entirely, at least they went, right? Ok, rant over. Sorry. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday with your families, whether it was Christmas or Hannukah, Kwanzaa.

TGIF - Amen!

2010-12-10T10:34:00.002-05:00

Lots of errands to run today. Ok, not lots but enough. First I have to pay the sewer bill that I seemed to have forgotten about & then I'm off to Wegman's to drop off a picture for my niece's birthday cake. Guess what it's a picture of? Justin "Beaver". That's what she calls him; so funny. Yes, that's what kind of cake she wanted. My sister, I think, is worried that she's all into a boy but I think it's totally harmless. She's almost 5 - it's cute. So her party is at the skating rink tomorrow and initially I wanted to partake and skate but now I'm rethinking it. I haven't skated in years so I should just watch and help chaperone, right? :) It should be a lot of fun. It was planned at the same place last year but then we got all that awful "S" word and the rink closed. My sister never had a chance to reschedule either. That stinks. I'll post some pictures from the party.. hopefully none will be off me on my butt!

Post #6 - Blog Challenge - YOUR FAVORITE SEASON

2010-12-08T20:13:00.002-05:00

My favorite season, hands down, is SPRING! I love it because it's not cold and not too hot - it's the in between. Summer can get too hot and winter, well, you know I hate the cold and the "S" word. Spring is beautiful - I can't get enough of beautiful blooming flowers!

I said Hey, What's going on!

2010-12-05T18:50:00.004-05:00

I really want to sit here and blog until my fingers ache because I have so many things to say but seems I forgot one minor thing when I was at the store just now. Uh -- dog food. Seems it's quite vital to a certain furry-someone's continued thriving so I must take off my comfy slippers and stretchy pants and head back out in that crippling cold BUT not before I at least leave you with a quick update - of sorts. Here are some things off the top of my head:

♥ I found the Beth Moore book "So long Insecurity" at Walmart for a great price but didn't buy it for myself because I was sort of Christmas shopping. I may get it for Christmas though. It's on my list. (I don't really have a list)

♥ I have tickets to this Friday's taping of the Dr. Oz show - I was stoked when I finally got through on the phone a month or two ago and COULD NOT wait to go! But now, I don't think I will be going. For starters, I couldn't find anyone to go with me and I don't think I really have the extra duckets for the bus up there. I'm a little disappointed. I love the Dr. Oz show.. I think he's pretty awesome. If you click on the Pay*Pal link on the sidebar, please feel free to donate to Dawn's Dr. Oz Show Bus Fund".

♥ Someone posted the following on her Facebook status this week: "I realy need a job. Does anyone know of any place that's highering" Oh. My. Word.

♥ My niece made a placemat in pre-school for Thanksgiving and on it there were leaves to write names in. Names of those whom you're thankful for - and yes, I made the cut! I was so touched. My sister sent me a picture of it. She even wrote my name herself. Well, she doesn't call me by my real name.. which is even cuter.

♥ My niece also just was awarded Student of the Month. My sister had a serious case of Proud Mama! And I, of course, was one PROUD aunt.

♥ We have all our lights and tree finally up BUT my OCD is coming out and I'm having a hard time dealing with the rearrangement of the living room and how certain pieces of furniture are where they just don't belong or LOOK like they belong.

♥ I had my heart set on a job that I was pretty hopeful for..But I called 4 days after I applied and they'd already filled the position. Not nice. I prayed on it so I know that I didn't get it because it just wasn't right.

♥ I finally got out with a great friend of mine last week - It was so nice to sit and talk and catch up. We don't get to do it too often but it's awesome when we do. We always laugh and have great conversation. We went to Moe's SouthWest Grill & it wasn't too bad.

♥ I played a prank on above mentioned friend today. She had left a private message for me on Facebook about how she was sorry they couldn't make game night but it turns out she's started a new medicine and it has her constipated pretty badly. So I called her today and told her that she didn't send me a private message, that she in fact, posted that on my WALL for everyone to see. Well, after she gasped louder than I've ever heard and said "OH NO!" I just busted out laughing. Is it bad that I waited all day to call her and do that? She knows me though, so she wasn't upset.. she thought it was funny in fact. I should have at least let her run to the computer! haha

-- Ok, I've written too long and I don't want to get up early to make eggs and bacon for my pooch, so I'll conclude here and head back out to the store. Bleh!

Post #5 - Blog Challenge

2010-12-05T18:47:00.002-05:00

Tell us your 3 favorite colors: Hmmm, I had to think about that one. Although I'm pretty consistent with my favs. They are: (insert drumroll here)... Black, Brown, Burgundy. Yep that's it. At least currently. Boring, right?

30 day challenge - Post#4 - My closest friends

2010-11-27T14:03:00.003-05:00

This is an awesome topic to write about. When it comes to friends, I'm all about QUALITY and not so much QUANTITY. I don't have a ton of friends and most of the ones I do have, are mutual friends or just acquaintances but my CLOSEST friends are truly who I treasure the most. My closest friends are the ones that I trust with my secrets, my fears, my doubts, etc. My closest friends are the ones who have been there through it all and we can always count on each other. I let them "in" and I'm not afraid to. They're awesome and I'm so thankful for having them in my life. I regret to say that along the way, I've lost some of my closest friends but I guess if we were truly meant to be, we would have been. I'm lucky that I'm able to say one of my closest friends is my sister. She's probably the ONE person that I trust with EVERYTHING. She's definitely my BEST friend.

Thanks

2010-11-27T10:49:00.003-05:00

Well I did end up getting behind, even after I promised myself that I would stay on top of blogging. I even was convinced that the 30 Day challenge would be the motivation but alas, life has been busy and I've been a slacker. Sorry folks. I will definitely catch up on the challenge and get back on track. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. Ours was pretty nice. We had a scrumptious dinner with my in laws and even played a few rounds of Catch Phrase. Boy, are my in laws (including my dear husband) COMPETITIVE. Woo, it gets ugly! But it's all in good fun and I had a really nice time. We all prayed as a family & also noted that my father in law just finished his last treatment. He had 39 consecutive rounds of radiation for prostate cancer and just finished his last one, before Thanksgiving... so that was something to really be Thankful for. We can only pray that when he goes back to the doctor, his scans come out clear. I'm Thankful for a lot of things this year. Good friends, good health, family, church, my new niece Chloe who arrived this month, my job (even though I'm not always a fan of it).. my home, my family, my husband, and just LIFE itself. I could list a million things I'm Thankful for but that's just the tip of it. I'm even Thankful for my blogger friends and the happiness they've all been blessed with.

In other news, we actually put all of our Christmas lights up last night. Yep, we did! And we even did the rest of the house - inside. I have all my Christmas/holiday things out already and I love it. We're in the spirit already and it feels so good! I can't wait to see everyone on Christmas Day when we get together. I love seeing my family altogether at one time. It's so rare but so precious.

30 day challenge - Post #3 - Fav TV show

2010-11-15T21:36:00.002-05:00

I'm not much of a TV gal, at all. In fact, I can hardly tell you what's on TV these days. BUT I do have 2 favorites that I try to never miss. I love DROP DEAD DIVA on Lifetime, which airs in the summer months. It's quite a cute show & it's one of, if not the only show that I'm actually committed to. Other than that, lately, my fav show is The Big C, which airs on Showtime. It's a drama & comedy, (dramedy?) and it sort of makes you want to LIVE LIFE.. and not be afraid to do things you've never done etc.. Other than those two shows - I much prefer a good book to the 'tube' anyday.

30 Day Challenge - Post #2 - Tattoos/Piercings

2010-11-14T10:17:00.006-05:00

This is the entry where most of you, if not all of you, *gasp* in shock! Ha! Maybe not..

Let's see, I have a tattoo on my right leg that I absolutely LOATHE. It's actually a cover-up. Yes. When I was 19, and madly ~~stupid~~ in love, I actually had a name tattooed on me. How freakin' stupid, right??! I know. Trust me, I do. No one was going to talk me out of it. I was going to marry this guy, have his children, live happily ever after. (no idea where he is today or what he's been doing with his life).. But, yes, I did it and then I regretted it. I had the name 'Joe' put on my right lower leg and it was really small. Just the name & it finished with a little red heart. Then years later, as time went on, I regretted it and my mom offered to pay for a cover-up. Well, I was suckered into a much larger tattoo, to properly 'COVER' it. Sure. I wish I'd just kept it as it was. After all they say that tattoos are memories of times/events in your life, right? In MOST cases, maybe. That name was so small and I didn't mind it as much as I mind the one I have now. I hate it. If I had the money, I would get it lasered off. I don't wear shorts much in the summer and when I wear dresses or skirts, I try to get them long enough to cover it. I'll post a picture.. it's ugly. And it hurt like hell!
As for piercings, all I have is my ears pierced. Twice in both. BUT, In the summer of '98 I was feeling a bit daring and I had my lower lip pierced. I originally went to get one of those small little balls put in.. it was simple. But the shop was all out of those, and I was really anxious to get it done, so I settled for a small hoop. Most people are shocked to find out that I had my lip pierced. I actually kind of liked it at the time. But it didn't last long; I took a job for the summer in Wildwood and I was waitressing, so they had me get it removed for the job or I had the option to wear a band-aid. Ewww. Would you rather have your meal served by a girl with a lip piercing or wearing a big band aid on her face? So, that's the story of my tattoos/piercings.

** my leg looks really fat & proportioned oddly - it was my pant leg doing that, I swear.

Thirty Day Challenge - # 1 - My middle name

2010-11-13T19:53:00.002-05:00

Hmmm, my middle name. Well, many people who know me, think that my middle name is Marie. But it actually isn't. My full first name is Dawn Marie. My middle name is Dorothy... which also "doubles" as my baptismal name WHICH also is my Godmother's first name. I think a lot of people are surprised to hear that my first name is Dawn Marie. But I just don't go by that name; I've always only been called Dawn. which is fine with me. And so, that's the story of my middle name.

#1 is done! On to #2 tomorrow.

30 day challenge?

2010-11-12T12:13:00.002-05:00

Well, I sort of 'stole' this from my adorable, newest, follower, Mere.. It's called the 30 day challenge & apparently several bloggers are posting this as a way to break the ice or even just to motivate them to have a post, every day for the next 30 days. I sometimes need that extra push. I have writer's block a lot. I never have talker's block though. Ask my co-workers! haha So anyway, I decided I'd join in and try this blog challenge.. Not only will it give me a topic to write about each day but it'll also give you a little insight.

I need a swift kick

2010-11-12T12:00:00.002-05:00

I really want to write a new entry but I'm just not in the right mind today. I know sometimes, my bloggy friends do a bullet post to catch up on things, so I've opted to do that! I promise I'll be a little more interesting next time. I'm just trying to do some laundry and clean house today.

So -- what's been going on in my world:

- My oldest sister, who is 36, just had her first child. AFTER not thinking that she would ever have children. She had a beautiful, healthy baby girl on Monday night! She was born @ 8 lbs - 8 oz on the 8th! Pretty neat, eh? She was born at 7:45 so she just missed 8:00 which could have been really cool! I love her already & can't wait to see her again!

- I applied for, interviewed today, and was offered a part time job. It's for evenings, a few hours, for a cleaning company. They mostly clean offices, etc.. so I'll be on my own, after hours, and pretty much can choose my schedule. I almost didn't go to the interview today but I really would like to have some extra money for Christmas and such.

- I'm still looking for another FULL time job. Yes, to replace my current one. My drive to work is just too much anymore & I haven't had a raise in 2 years. Granted, I know other people have had wage freezes too and I understand that but I don't make nearly enough money.

- We sort of rescued a Basset Hound & fell in love with her.. but when we really sat down and thought about it, it wasn't fair to her for us to keep her. If we did, it would have been selfish on our part. We were not home enough for her - with the needs that she had. We rehomed her to some mutual friends we know and she is doing beyond WELL! They love her and are so grateful to us for allowing them to bring her into their family. NO SHELTER!

- I really got away from going to church for a while.. and last weekend I made the effort to go back. I went to confession first and then we went to Mass. I love going to church - It's always so refreshing and I always feel so calm afterwards. It helps me to focus on things in life. It brings alot of things into perspective. I pray A LOT .. even when I'm playing hooky from church. It gets me throug a lot.

FALLing in love

2010-10-30T09:19:00.003-04:00

Ahh, it's a Saturday in October (nearly November) and it's a brisk but sunny morning.
I think our yard definitely needs a rake taken through it. Oh my; it's so laden with pine needes from the tree right now. And they're all dead so they're all like a yellow color. I don't remember seeing these last year. I just love the colors of Fall. So pretty. Not sure what's on our agenda today but breakfast is definitely on the list. I have a 20% coupon for Denny's so I think we'll go there. I need some coffee; I know that! Maybe we'll hit a couple yard sales too. We love yard sales. Last weekend we went to a community one at my in laws' apartment community and it was great. I bought some nice Halloween decorations for the lawn and we actually found a treadmill for sale. I hesitated asking for the price but the woman had been telling people to "make an offer" so we asked and she said $10. I thought I misheard her! Needless to say, we checked it and it worked perfectly. I was so psyched. It was electric too.. and was a good brand. For so little money! We finally have the first piece to our gym that we're hoping to build in the basement. I used it for the first time the other night and worked up a real sweat! Wow. I haven't used a treadmill in a long time. I'm really looking forward to making it a regular thing to get on there and get my excercise in. Hope you're all planning to have a great Saturday. Tomorrow's Halloween! Lots of places are still doing pumpkin picking and hayrides. I really want an apple cider donut right now.

Bullying

2010-10-24T16:07:00.003-04:00

I know you're probably sick of hearing about it.. in the news, on TV, in print. I don't know how you could be but I realize it's really being put out there lately. Unfortunately, it's actually conjured up some old memories of my own in regards to the issue. I was talking to my husband about it the other day and said that I "think" I was bullied in high school. I say "think" because I don't know if it would be classified as bullying or just some jerk picking on me. Either way, I have only one memory of going through this. Or I should say only ONE person, but many memories. And would you believe that the culprit was a boy? I was in 7th grade & this 'kid' just picked on me EVERY day in English class. It was crazy. I was very quiet back then and pretty much just minded my own business. But every day in English this kid would call me names, kick my chair, throw stuff at me. And I hate to say that even after all these years, I've never forgotten. When I say he called me names, I mean he called me NASTY names.. Besides F'in Scumbag, dirtbag and whore, he also called me the "C" word. Yes, really. When I sat back and thought about it this weekend, it made me wonder how the hell a 7th grader even KNEW that word. It's so disgusting. I started to day dream and imagine sitting with his mother over a cup of tea and telling her all about the hell her son put me through and I imagine she'd be pretty appalled at the things he'd said to a young girl. From what I knew about him, his family was pretty well rounded. Just your regular modern family. Fairly well to do; his dad was either a police chief or well on his way to it at the time. I imagine his mother was a nice lady who made sure that dinner was on the table every day and kept a nice house.. always there for her kids. I guess it wasn't until I was older that I thought about those things. You often figure that someone must have a pretty shitty life to treat others that way.. but I really don't think he did. And trust me, this goes beyond the idea of "if a boy teases you, he LIKES you". Sooo not the case. This is the same 'kid' who, under his senior year profile, wrote... PET PEEVE: Fat Chicks. How nice. So now, fast forward, here we are all these years later ( 20 or 21) & I've seen his profile on Facebook via some other classmates' pages. Evidently, life has been pretty good to him. He's now a married man with children AND he's a police officer. Ha, a man of the law.. SERVING and PROTECTING. How ironic. I pray his child/children NEVER have to endure what I did that whole year. I often contemplate sending him a message and just getting it off my chest. If I saw him at a class reunion, I don't know how I'd feel. I really wish I could tell him how he'd made me feel and how MEAN he was to me at such a young, impressionable age. But would he care? Probably not. I don't think he's changed at all. But that's just my thoughts. I can't help but think he's the same prick today that he was back then.

Just say no to winter

2010-10-08T09:44:00.003-04:00

I really hope that Fall sticks around for a while. I love the leaves and the crisp air. I loathe winter and snow. I can't believe I even just said the S word. Yikes! Decorating for Fall is my favorite, I think. Even next to Christmas. That's just weird. haha
I'm so glad I went to bed early last night. At first I couldn't believe I was turning in at 10 o'clock on my "Friday".. but I was tired and knew I had a busy day. Luckily, with going to bed that early, I woke up at 8, all refreshed and ready to go! I cleaned the house, polished and got a load in the washer. It's so nice to see it's only 9:30 and my household tasks are done! I have to go pick up our wedding photos today. They are finally finished! Our package came with an 11x14 and two 8x10's so all I have to do is get frames. Silly me thought that when it said they came "mounted", it meant "framed". Not so! I guess I'll take a trip to Michael's and see what they have. I'd like to get a nice vintage frame for our big picture. It'll probably go in our formal living room above the TV or the sofa. Not sure yet. We've got a wedding to attend tomorrow so I'm really looking forward to that. I love weddings! I haven't been to one since my own! heehee I had a crazy dream the other night about our wedding too. I'm pretty sure it's normal to have wedding nightmares BEFORE you get married. But AFTER? I'm thinking no. Not much else has been going on here - just working etc. I finally had a coffee date with one of my best girlfriends last night.. We actually ended up at Saladworks instead of getting coffee but it never matters where we go. We always have so much catching up to do and we could talk for hours! I appreciate her friendship so much. It's so wonderful to have friends that you can really sit with and just gab for hours about life and whatnot. I mean honest to goodness TRUE friends. I hope you all are blessed with friendships like. I may not have MANY but the ones that I do have are genuine and I cherish them.

Apple a day and such

2010-09-18T10:27:00.004-04:00

It's only 10:30 on Saturday and I feel like I've gotten alot done already. Laundry, cleaned a little more today and straightened the basement, yet again. I got up at 7 to pick up my mom from work and we stopped for breakfast. I'm not a fan of them usually but the one buffet on the way home has breakfast for $4.99 per person. You truly can't beat that, even at a diner. We get there just as it opens, which is good because I am really turned off by some of the characters I see at those places. Getting there when it opens means that we're 2 of the first people in there. I have seen some nasty antics when I've been there. Totally skeeved!

In other news, I went for my well check up last week and had some blood work done. It came back that my cholesterol was in good order, my sugar was good and my thyroid was fine. (Why she checked my thyroid, I don't know). But my triglycerides were elevated. Damn carbs. I'm a pasta and bread girl. And although I've traded my white pastas and white breads for whole wheat or whole grain, I've not done that well, obviously. So the doctor recommended LOTS of exercise,weight loss, cutting out the saturated fats and carbohydrates, increasing my fiber and taking fish oil tablets. There's a lot you can do to bring down high tryglycerides. The fish oil tablets, I'm still a little leary on but I guess I should try. I really need to lose weight still and I think that will help a bunch. I just ordered the South Beach diet book on Amazon so hopefully I can get alot of insight from that and really get those refined sugars and carbs off of my daily menu. I'm going to start jogging again.. I love walking and jogging and before I moved in with my husband, I was going alot with my sister and did take off some pounds but then I got lazy and stopped. So I'm making it a goal to get my butt back out there and get this weight off. I have weights that I use in the house, but they're mostly building my upper body. The walking and jogging really do it for me. So once I incorporate the 'better eating' with the activity I should be well on my way to a healthy me. I've always said that I'm worried about heart disease since my dad has it and it runs in the family, so I guess I need to make it a point to fight it NOW.

I don't know what else is on the agenda for today. We had yet another potential buyer ask about the bar items we're selling and we got as far as this one atually wanting to come see them. So hopefully she calls me and it actually works out. That would be great! Just don't waste my time saying you're coming. This woman wants to come check them out - If she decides she doesn't want them when she sees them, that'll be kind of awkward. I love Craig*slist but it always makes me nervous how people actually come to your home. I guess it's no different than a yard sale but with that, you're OUTSIDE. In this case, people come to our home and go into our basement.. which means, granted, they don't see our whole house and what we have, but it's just a little scary. So, I'm off to do some more laundry and maybe take a nap. I'm so tired after getting up so early ~ I went to bed LATE.

Getting ready for Fall

2010-09-17T13:17:00.003-04:00

I finally was able to open all the windows get a nice breeze blowing in. We have french doors leading out to the deck and I love being able to open those and the door up front in the living room! It creates this great breeze that runs right through the house. I was also able to pull out all the Fall stuff and start getting the house ready for my favorite time of year! My day ended up a little screwy; plans were messed up etc.. but I made the most of it. Picked up lunch and came home to enjoy the quiet before I have to pick up my niece. So excited about that too. I was supposed to have plans with my Mom and she was going to look at a car. Well, I never saw her message last night that she wasn't feeling well and just needed some rest. So I drove over there and accidentally woke her up - Needless to say we didn't have plans after all. This, after I canceled an interview I had with Macy's. I applied for part time seasonal help and I had an interview today. Now that I canceled, the next one I can actually make is NEXT Friday. Dang it! Wish I'd kept it. Wish I'd seen that message from my Mom last night. But what can you do? Just make the most of it. Lots of cleaning I can do and moving things around. We've been trying to sell some things on Craig*slist and that's worked out for the most part. But man, are there a lot of SPAMmers in this world!!?? And people who show a real interest in an item but then just totally fall off the radar. What's the deal there? We got rid of some stuff last weekend. Bar items mostly. We were going to build a nice bar down in the basement (his idea mostly).. but we decided the space would be better utilized if we were to build a home gym. At this point in our lives, we should be worried about our health & fitness and keeping in shape. Not sitting around entertaining friends and getting our drink on. haha! That was a corny statement.. but you know where I'm coming from. In other news, I've been trying like a FIEND to get a new job. I lost count of how many positions I have applied for. I've been trying so hard to get a position in a doctor's office or hospital. I don't have the experience in either but I went to school for some various courses and nothing has developed yet! I think my resumé could use some tweeking, I know it's a little shabby. I'm just not satisfied in my career right now and quite honestly, it's not a career for me. It's a 30 minute drive every day and as you can imagine, I burn alot of gas in a week.. if I was making more money AND actually enjoyed what I did, it might not be half bad. I just feel that I'm in a place in my life now where I need to get motivated and really find my place in the Career world. I've always wanted to be in the medical field.. just not so much the 'hands on". Nursing school would be stupendous BUT funding it isn't easy. I'll figure it all out I guess. Life otherwise, is pretty good.

See you in September

2010-09-06T16:35:00.003-04:00

Ugh, I never liked that song as a kid. And now it's stuck in my head. What a dope!

It's hard to believe that summer has come to a close. The kids are all getting ready to go back to school. Running around getting all those school supplies etc. I always dreaded the first day of school. I can still remember a certain smell in the air and the infamous "night before". We'd always walk up to our neighborhood deli and get cold cuts for our lunches. We almost always packed our lunches. And then we'd debate for hours, over which outfit would be the "first day of school" outfit. When I was growing up I had 2 sisters so that meant that my parents had to buy school clothes for all 3 of us. That was pretty costly. We usually didn't go to the big department stores; my parents always knew of the discount places. Most times we were on a one parent income which was my dad's. So usually when we went out for school clothes, we each were able to pick at least 2 or 3 outfits to "start us off". It wasn't many compared to what most kids our ages were allowed. I remember seeing all the fancy outfits and brand spanking new sneakers. We rarely, if EVER, purchased brand name sneakers. We would go to Kmart or Fayva. And all this was fine with me.. It helped mold me into the frugal adult I am today, I think. We were appreciative of what we DID have and didn't really dwell on what we DIDN'T. I know if I had a school age child right now, I'd be one stressed out mom. I get anxious when I have to go to the store by myself and try to get some shopping done so I can't even imagine braving the malls, department stores at Back To School time. Yikes! But I hope all my friends are having a good time at least getting back in the school mode again this September. I have some friends whose children are starting Pre-K (like my niece!), some friends whose children are starting high school and even Kindergarten! I know it's an emotional time even though I'm not a mom. I'm an aunt who loves my niece like my own and I cried when she started PreSchool last year. I was a mess.. and even though I've already done the "first day" once already, I'm going to be a mess again. My sister and I usually make sure we have our sunglasses on so it's not as obvious! haha But isn't it a right of passage? To be blubbering mess? I think it is. To my awesome blogger mommies: Good Luck this year! To Hannah, Aiden and Amelie! Big, Big Days for the girls. It's a milestone! And I know there will be pictures!

Birthdays, families etc..

2010-08-20T11:21:00.005-04:00

Yes, I sometimes am at a loss for words when it comes to a blog title. Sorry. Anyhoo.. it's Friday so that means I must be off of work! Yippee! I've been pretty productive too. I've already got my second load of laundry in the dryer. The first is dried, folded and PUT AWAY. Which is, in itself, a miracle. I never put laundry away as soon as it's finished. A bad habit of mine that I'm working on. I just started today. HA!! So I've got the laundry all set, cleaned the house, except for running the vacuum and I'm about to shower and run errands. I think we're doing a game night with friends tonight so that's something to look forward to.

And then tomorrow I'm having a little birthday celebration for my mom. Can you believe that she's going to be 58 (don't tell her I said that!) and she has NEVER had a birthday party? Growing up she had a pretty awful childhood... her parents were never around much. Her dad was an alcoholic and her mom was schizophrenic and was in and out of mental institutions. (I'm not kidding and I have no idea why I divulged that much information)..
She said it was mostly just her and her dad at home and when her birthday rolled around he would give her a few dollars and tell her to go down to the bakery and buy herself a birthday cake. It seems like it would've been acceptable but looking back it is in fact, pretty darn sad. Who wants to celebrate alone?
....but back to the subject at hand. I'm getting some good eats and I'm making a birthday cake and having a few close friends over. It'll be small but it'll be special. She'll be thrilled. I have to get some cute decorations etc from the dollar store. It'll all come together nicely. I can't wait. She really deserves a day to just celebrate her. She has been there for me in so many ways through out my life, I can't even count on all my fingers and toes. We're very close and always have been. She is very difficult at times but through the years I learned the tricks of the trade and how to deal with her in different situations.. and it works now. Sometimes she just needs a little kick in the butt. : -) Kidding.. But really, I am so looking forward to tomorrow. (her real birthday is next week; we're going to bingo and then to have some dinner).

over the hump

2010-08-17T22:45:00.002-04:00

Yep, today is my hump day. Thank the Lord. I have so much to blog about and I haven't the time I wish I did to really get caught up. I have been so out of character lately; I hardly know myself. Not sure what the deal is.. but I've been using the old hormone excuse. In my case, it truly is though. Everyone seems to annoy me anymore. Well not just anyone.. mostly people who were ALWAYS annoying but I have started to let it get to me. So unlike me.. and I'm not liking it. I'm trying to figure it all out though. It's the stupidest things sometimes that really send me. Take for example, tonight's catching up session with all the blogs I read. I almost felt compelled to comment on someone's blog and tell her to shut the hell up. Ha! I read several different blogs, most of which I actually "follow".. but occassionally I click on a few that I often read but am not actually "following". So I read the one blog, of a gal who is one of the best moms I 'know'. And by 'know', I just mean that I have read her blog long enough to be able to come to that conclusion. Love reading her blog.. it's always filled with witty posts and chock full of stories she shares about her children. She adores them to pieces. Then I find myself landing on another gal's blog and am always irritated to no end that all she does is BITCH. I mean, really. Complains about everything. It seems, (totally my opinion) that nothing is ever good enough. And people in general appear to just annoy the hell out of her. I know some people are just made a certain way and it may just be her personality but I wonder if she realizes it? You often don't see any comments after her 'rant' fests because I can only assume no one really has anything to say to it. She doesn't strike me as someone who appreciates the effort her spouse puts out to provide her with a comfortable life. Very ungrateful is how she actually comes across. It's kind of sad actually. Everyone wants to be happy. So, that was my rant. Sorry. I shall find the old me in the next few days and get back to my regularly scheduled blogging. Hope you're having a super summer ~ it's almost over. Wahhhh!!

Pics

2010-07-24T14:37:00.002-04:00

Me with my dad & me with the gals! The photos are a little grainy - they were taken with my elderly aunt's disposable camera but turned out pretty good for the most part.

Marital Bliss

2010-07-24T14:06:00.005-04:00

After you get married, everyone starts to ask "how's married life?" when they see you.. And I can tell you, for me, it hasn't changed life much. Jeff and I were together just shy of 9 years before we got married so all that's changed is we live together in our own home now and I have a new last name. Otherwise, not much has changed. I guess in a way, you feel a different kind of bond. And we do feel that closeness. Of course, when friends ask you "how's married life?", you just say "It's cool"... They don't REALLY want to hear all the mushy stuff and how you've really started to become ONE together, even though they did ASK. :) Then, after you've been through that round of questions, you start to get the "When are you having kids? ARE you having kids?" ... and that is the question I don't really ever know how to answer. (whole other post). But married life has been great. We're 3 months in already... So hard to believe it's been 3 months since that beautiful day. So many people think that after a certain amount of time, things change.. or as some put it, "The honeymoon's over".. but for Jeff and me, that hasn't happened. And I hope it doesn't. We've been together almost 10 years and we still act as if it's brand new. He still holds doors for me, speaks highly of me to friends and family, we tell each other EVERY day "I love you", kiss goodbye and goodnight.. Like two newly "in love" people would. Jeff's old fashioned in a lot of ways and gets much of that from his father, which I really appreciate about him. Sometimes, out of nowhere, he'll just look at me and say "Do you know you're beautiful?" It's like he's looking at me for the first time & I love that. Some of our friends say it's "disgusting". Don't hate! HAHAHA

I've got so many pictures to develop still and so many albums to fill. Hell, we haven't even picked up our professional photos yet. We'll get there but we just haven't had the extra $500 laying around. haha Probably in the next month or two, we'll get them. Can't wait to see them. But I have so many photos from everyone else for now, I'm happy with those. At least for the albums we have at home to fill. We didn't do a big honeymoon because we wanted to do some things around the house, so we took some day trips to Lancaster, PA and Smithville, NJ. It was a nice time just shopping and sight seeing and not worrying about anything. Even if just for a little while. It was awesome.. I'll get some pics up soon. Not sure if anyone would want to sit and watch it, but maybe I'll post my wedding video and definitely some more pictures.

Found! Me!

2010-07-24T13:58:00.003-04:00

Sorry I've been missing for so long from Blog Land but, even with as much as I've had to say, it's hard for me to find the motivation to sit down and post entries. Now I may just be sitting here all day! Yikes. I've enjoyed catching up on everyone's updates. You're all so GOOD with keeping current on your blogs. I've been taking the easy road & just posting on Twitter and/or Facebook. Twitter's so cool, isn't it? I think I've gotten really bad with it. I have it on my BlackBerry which means it's at my disposal WAY TOO easily. At work, at home.. In restaurants, out shopping! You name it. I did get away from posting EVERY waking minute on my Facebook status. It was getting crazy. I know I'm not the only one. Some people post the MOST RIDICULOUS shit on their status. I want to tell them to shut up sometimes. I know, that's mean, but I'm sure you've got one or two (or four) people like that on your friends list who do that. I think my biggest complaint is when they post WAY personal information or when they start drama. It's like high school sometimes. They start posting shit on there about other people and complaining.. I've seen arguments ensue. So silly. But anyhoo, this was just my "I'm back" post so I'll save my breath for the next couple of posts. Hope you're all well and enjoying the summer so far! From the looks of your blogs, you are! Love seeing all the pictures of summers at the beach and all the kids' pics.

Hello!

2010-06-30T07:34:00.001-04:00

I've been out of the loop for so long now.. I have no idea where to start. So much to update you on. I'm actually even not able to give a good effort and post a new entry now either. I'm just waiting for the Stapl.es near my house to open so I can get fax toner for the office. Evidently, no one told me we were low and when I placed the last order, we were next to out of it. So, now, it's a last minute emergency. I wish they opened at 7 so I could be on time. I had so much to do this morning before work. Anyhoo, I will post a new entry on Thursday. Promise! Well, that's if I don't go to see the new Twili.ght Eclipse movie! Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer so far! I can't wait to get to the shore and walk the boards. I can already smell the pizza and salt water taffy!

A couple more pics

2010-05-14T12:49:00.003-04:00

life in pictures.. for now

2010-04-14T20:09:00.003-04:00

Keeping up

2010-03-11T22:24:00.002-05:00

I really want to stay up tonight and get some things done but I'm so tired, I don't know if I can hang. I love being off on Fridays but when Thursday night rolls around, I have such big plans for it that never seem to happen. Gahh! I feel so old, going to bed early. But now that I'm done whining. I went and saw Shutter Island last night with my friend from work. It was a pretty good movie. I was debating for a while last night, what my final review was, but I did really like it. It was one of those crazy movies that sort of has a twist. But it doesn't matter with me, because I always figure movies out and this one was no exception. Nonetheless, it was a night girls' night out, complete with dinner at Olive Garden. My favorite place. Ok, maybe just ONE of my favorite places. So tomorrow, I'm hoping to get my ass out of bed earlier than usual and go get an oil change. That's the first thing on my list. My reminder light is coming on so now I know that I'm overdue for service. I'm heading to the post office to mail my thank you cards from the shower and then running some other errands. Going to be a busy gal.. but Fridays are always my "run" days. Tonight my sister and mom visited with my niece. It's always nice when they come over, even though my dog goes berzerk. She loves company and sure has a way of showing it! Gawd! She's crazy. Hope you've all got some great weekend plans in order - I'm sure you're loving this new found Spring-y weather we're having! Makes me think of flowers and gardens and cookouts! Enjoy!

Holy Hiatus Batman!

2010-03-08T20:42:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I haven't posted since January. Really? Slacker! Well, I've got so much to update you on.. so I'm going to just do it in bullet-style, which isn't one of my favorite ways to post but it's going to be much easier for me.. Just this once, I promise. I've just been so busy with life, work and wedding plans that I haven't made a good effort to get on and post anything. I wish I could update my blog EVERY day. It would be so much easier. I'm going to be kinda silly with this, but these are the things I would have blogged about INDIVIDUALLY if I hadn't been a slacker.

* Our washing machine broke.. I think it's something simple but we're just using the laundromat for now. I don't miss the laundromat and I'd have been fine if I never stepped foot in one again. BUT it's working for now. We're planning on getting a new washer/dryer after the wedding. It's just not an expense we planned for right now.

* Our house is close to being exactly as we wanted it. We've painted and moved some things around. Bought new furniture for the living room and moved the old furniture to the room off the deck, and turned it into a family room (of sorts).

* We have a huge pine tree that we can't wait to cut down in our backyard. It's obnoxious.. Truly. The neighbor evidently hates it too; the limbs that used to hang over into her yard have all been cut.

* Our neighbors behind us have a paint gun and decided to hit ours and the house next to us over the weekend. Nice bright green paint all over our deck. Assholes.

* I had my Bridal Shower 2 weeks ago - It was fantastic! I received so many great gifts and am so grateful. I loved cleaning out the kitchen and putting all the new stuff away. We love the Keurig coffee machine! It's the best. I love all my gifts though. We're so appreciative of all the things we got. My family and friends were way too good to me. I have so many kitchen items that I really needed. Gifts aside, I was so happy that my friends (old and new) were able to make it). It was a special day.

* Evidently, it was try #3 on the Bridal Shower. The first place my sister booked, ended up losing their lease and never told her. She got her deposit back and then booked it somewhere else. So a second set of invites went out. The new date ended up falling on the weekend we had the snowstorm from hell and the shower was postponed yet again. So finally on take #3, it all came together and was a success.

* My older sister, who is 35, just announced that she is pregnant. I'm ecstatic! I was sure, as were the rest of us, that she couldn't have children and here she is all ready to be a mommy! So thrilled for her. She remarried in June of '09 and she's very happy. I can't wait to start planning a baby shower! So much fun.

* Our wedding plans are coming together.. We've got 33 days left. I'm nervous as hell. Not going to lie! Not about getting married but about that big entrance I have to make in front of all those people. Serious case of nerves, people.

* I diagnosed (sorta) and fixed (sorta) my car. It was having issues with not starting in the morning. The mechanic said it was the starter. I wasn't so sure. Paid for it, brought it home. Same thing the next morning. Did some research and was convinced, (thanks to the internet) that it was my ignition switch that was bad. Dropped my car off again, gave the mechanic the printouts that I found online in regards to the Saturn Ion and the bad ignition switches. He questioned me, I said "Yes, please do it".. He replaced the ingition switch... and Voila!! It works! No more dead car in the morning.

* I've become highly addicted to tweeting. I actually annoy myself sometimes. I constantly have my Blackberry in my hand.

* My friend (since Kindergarten) is coming in from Portland for my wedding.. I haven't seen her in way too freakin' long. I miss her and can't wait to see her. Only 33 days to go! We have so much lost time to make up for.

*I've got to get a move on and do something with our spare bedroom. I hate that we made it the "crap" room, for all of the things we were trying to find a place for. I may actually tackle it when I'm off on Friday.

* I had really good intentions to lose weight for the wedding and I totally didn't. A few pounds here and there but no serious progress.

* I've been stressing about things ALOT lately.. I was never like that but now all of a sudden, I break out in welts and itch like crazy.

* We're thinking about adding another canine-kid to our home but so far it doesn't seem to be 'meant'. We'll see what happens.

I think that's it for now.. I know I'm forgetting something but for now, this will do. I'm going to update on my wedding blog too as soon as I get a chance.. I'll post a pic or two from the shower.

Snow = A Snow Day

2010-01-31T07:27:00.002-05:00

I'm a sissy. I admit it. When it comes to snow! I hate the stuff. Walking in it, standing in it, and of all things: driving in it. The roads around my neighborhood suck & I'm not chancing it to get out of town and drive 35-40 minutes to work & then home again. I probably shouldn't have called out but everyone at work pretty much knows I just don't drive in it. The roads may be fine once I get going but as far as I can see, they're covered here by me. I called my boss & left a message since he didn't answer & I'll also follow up with my co-worker who's in the office right now. Hope I don't get in trouble - then again I don't know why I would. So I may just stay in my PJ's all day today. What else is there to do? I had a busy weekend that started with taking my mom out dress shopping for the wedding - AGAIN. But she found a great dress, much better than the first & she seems to have decided this one is the ONE. I sure hope so. We did a game night last night with our friends ... we played Catch Phrase again. I love that game. If you haven't heard of it or played it - You MUST! It's great! I could probably play all night if I could. We had such a great time... no alcohol or anything. Just a nice night with friends, having a great time & lots of laughs. I hated to have to call it quits but it was getting late & I'm always the party pooper who has to work on Sundays. Well, not today. Bleh! I'll take some photos of our yard and maybe a quick video of my dogger. She loves the snow! Crazy Canine!

Hurtin' Pup

2010-01-23T13:47:00.002-05:00

Well not yet but I might be later on. We took advantage of the semi nice weather today and went for a bike ride. Whew! It was definitely an adrenaline rush but my body wasn't ready for the length of ride that we did. We should have started out way smaller than what we did. But I'm glad I finally got to go and try it out. I think Jeff tried to kill me! ♥ I hope my butt isn't hurting later on, it sure was during the ride. We went uphill and down hill and we even went through the woods, so that was tough with two bridges to cross. Small little wooden ones that I was sure I was going to end up going right through! I have to get used to the bike riding but I can't wait to make it a regular routine when the weather's nicer. Jeff says we can't her our doggie one of those little attachements for my bike so she can ride with us. He's no fun. I guess I'm off to shower and dress so I can take my mom out for the afternoon.. We're dress shopping. Oh boy!

Friday, is that you?

2010-01-22T10:02:00.003-05:00

I've yet again become a slacker with posting, even after I vowed to be better about staying current with it. It sucks that I can post from work anymore, because that's when I'm most able to get my thoughts together. By the time I sit down at the computer at night, I'm beat and I can't think straight. Not nearly enough to be able to get a blog post out. Wahhhh! I know, I'm complaining. Anyhoo. Last weekend was my sister's 30th birthday and 4 of us went to Atlantic City for the night to celebrate. No gambling. We usually don't. But we did go to the Irish Pub for some good eats and then off to the clubs for some dancing. We ended up at Mur.Mur and Jason Derulo made an appearance... and sang about 4 or 5 songs. Pretty good actually. I didn't actually get to see it because my cousin and I stayed outside while my sister and another friend went back in to say goodbye to her cousin (who had actually got us in without paying the cover or waiting in the long ass line). I learned, that night, that I'm so not into this whole clubbing/dancing thing anymore. I was miserable and just wanted to be somewhere else. With the same company of course. It wasn't the company at all, it was just the teeny boppers all over the place and the pushing and shoving and obnoxious people. Boy, do I sound like an old bitty or what? But all in all, it was a good time & I know my sister had a great time, so that's what matters. Now this weekend is going to be a busy one. Today I am taking my bridesmaid to try on her dress that finally came in and then on Saturday we have an appointment for our cake tasting and I have to also take my mom out looking for dresses. She hasn't found one yet & it's getting close. So my Saturday is going to be really busy and then I'm back to work on Sunday. Boo hoo. Maybe Saturday will creep by. I think I'm actually giving myself anxiety thinking about all that has to be done. Yikes! I'm also going to try and get to Ross maybe, and get some new tops and some jeans. My cousin was going through a rough time a couple months ago and I ended up giving her some tops of mine, even my long sleeved ones, so now I'm down to only a couple myself.. and it's been pretty damn cold lately. I didn't mind though, she needed some help and I tried to do what I could. It's hard to see people you love going through a rough time, and feeling helpless. Guess I'm going to jump in the shower and get ready to head out.. I need to run to the post office as well. Have a great weekend!

More snow?

2010-01-08T09:51:00.002-05:00

Yep, it looks like we got some more of the aweful white stuff but luckily it's not too much. Looks like it just laid a little bit, but shouldn't affect driving etc. Thank goodness! I wanted to sleep in a little longer today but my ever loving phone has been going off since around 8. People emailing and calling.. what the hell? I guess I needed to get my butt up anyway, I have plans for lunch around 11 so I need to get showered and out the door soon. Love my Fridays but I like to get the most out of them. My fiancée is texting me from work that he is in the mood for a steak.. so I hope that means we're maybe going out to dinner. Probably just means he would like for me to go buy one and cook it. Ha! My week at work wasn't so bad this week, it was rather short actually. I worked on Sunday and was feeling under the weather so I took off Monday and Tuesday. By the time I got back to work, it was Wednesday and I had only Wednesday and Thursday left! It was kind of nice. Not nice using 2 sick days and missing work but it was a nice break. Everyone seems to have some sort of cold going on. Coughing, sore throats, stuffy heads. I said I got sick from the hospital. Oh yes! My good friend, had her baby on New Year's Eve! She was a little early since she was due in January, (the 2nd week I think) but both mom and baby are healthy and doing great. Baby Melissa was 6 lbs and 11 oz so she wasn't a bad size.. nice and healthy and cute as a button. We made it up to see on New Year's Eve before we headed out to celebrate w/friends. I held her the entire time we were there, she was so tiny and she slept the whole time. No fussing or anything. I'm so bummed that I haven't been over there to see her since she got home but I came down with this cold right afterwards, so I haven't been deemed "germ free" yet. At least I haven't decided that I am and I don't want to just pop in on them and impose when I could be passing around a nasty cold. I guess I'm off to shower and get dressed... I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll post later.

Happy 2010

2010-01-05T07:28:00.002-05:00

Well, the New Year is here and we brought it in with just a few friends.. some good food, Pictionary and Catch Phrase. It was a low key New Year's Eve and I'm glad it was spent with some good friends. I can remember years' past when I was young and New Year's Eve parties were off the hook. Now we're all growed up and we have more sophisticated gatherings.
I suddenly realized the other day that I can get to Blogger from work anymore. I stopped posting on my own blog a while ago (from work) but I still read all my favorites every day. So Sunday I had read them all and then went back to refresh a short time later & it was being blocked! So now I guess I have to wait until I get home to catch up and post. I wasn't posting for a while at work because I know that our history is monitored, for the most part, and it was like leaving my diary out on my desk for everyone to read. I guess if they wanted to, they could still see my history on there and read my blog... which is really ok because I don't say anything detrimental to my job or anything bad about my company. Just a privacy issue with me I guess. You always want to have that mystery to yourself. Anyhoo, I'm home today and I was yesterday as well. I came down with something and I feel really crappy. Someone at work was getting sick last week and I guess she got it good because she is out until Thursday. I'm just stuffy with a headache and my body is a little achy. I can say that it doesn't feel real flu-like but who knows at this point. I am just praying that it passes quickly and I can get back to work. Yuck! I don't like being home by myself with idle time. I could be at work, being productive. So much going on. I need to keep busy. We've got 3 months until the wedding and it seems like it's crunch time now. I'm fretting every little thing. I'll have to post on the wedding blog a little later. For now, I'm gonna go curl up on the couch and rest.

2009-12-30T21:50:00.004-05:00

Ha! Ok, I haven't been gone THAT long. But yes, I've been a slacker & by golly, I'm making a New Year's resolution to start blogging regularly. Well, and to never say "by golly" again. Hmmm.. where to start, bloggy friends of mine? So much has happened in the past few weeks. That's all it's been right? I can't get back to my last post without coming out of the composing screen, so I'm taking a wild guess. Anyhoo.. Christmas has come and gone and it was splendid. <-- another word for the "never to say again" list. It was exciting on so many levels.. but first and foremost was the fact that it was our very first Christmas in our very first home. We went all out decorating of course, not too crazy, (like the woman next door who has EVERY freakin' blow up decoration you can think of).. but we did a nice job. Lights, blow molds,(see previous post for the story on those).. we have our Mr and Mrs Claus in the bow window with candles and our tree, of course, is up and is just beautiful. And yes, we will not take it down until January 6th. Jeff says it's coming down sooner but we'll see. I'm pretty traditional. (Except when it comes to weddings, evidently). On Christmas of course, we headed to my (future) in laws' for our customary get together with them, but first we had breakfast at my dad and stepmom's. After we were done running for the day, we headed back home to host our own little get together with my family since my sister worked til 7:30. We had some light fare here and opened gifts with my brother and sister and of course, my niece! I will upload pics if I ever get around to it. Gift wise, we did pretty well. "Santa" left me a WII Fit plus & a new mountain bike! S-weet! It's really nice and I can't wait for the warm weather so I can ride it. I'm gonna get in shape, I tell ya. Between the WII Fit and the bike, I may be getting a new wedding gown! Is that good or bad? Considering it's a few months away! Yikes! Ok, no wedding talk on this blog. The new year is almost upon us and I'm so excited to have a fresh new start of a year that promises to be filled with lots of happiness, new memories and love. We're going to spend some time at a friend's house tonight and I plan to come home before the clock strikes midnight so that we can be here in our home..(well, that, and I secretly want to ring in the new year with our doggie). My sister and I have spent all but maybe 2 New Year's Eves together in almost 10 years so it's a little tough there too, knowing that we both are going to be in totally different places, but we always call each other so it won't be that hard.
I'll catch up and post a better, longer entry tomorrow.. I've got to go get ready. I'm making a stop at the hospital to see my friend who just had her bouncing baby girl this morning!! And then we're off to celebrate with friends. Have a safe & Happy New Year's Eve ... look around you tonight and see all of your blessings in front of you. Thank God for them and remember to hold them near.

The find

2009-12-14T15:28:00.004-05:00

So last Friday my sister & I went on quite-the-adventure. We ventured to a little town just outside Ocean City, NJ to pick up the pictured items! Funny story, funny story. HaHa
On our travels in the past few weeks (or more), Jeff’s expressed an interest in these vintage Christmas decorations. He really wanted one and just didn’t know where to find them.
Everywhere we went, we’d see a house that had one or two or many on their lawn or around their home. We knew that they were SUPER old and thus, hard to find. The stores no longer sell them, that I know of.. so it was off to Craigslist I went. I checked for a few days and actually was able to find various ones on there. Turns out they’re called Blow Molds. Glad I can actually call them something besides “those old plastic Christmas decorations”. {I’m impressed that April knew what they were.. being so young and all. HAHA} Even though I have no idea what a pizookie is still.. But… back to the subject at hand…
Many people on Craigslist that were selling these things, wanted a MINT! I guess since they’re considered vintage at this point, they knew they could get good money for them, but I wasn’t prepared to pay a lot of money for any of them. Most of the sellers who had them at a reasonable price had already sold them by the time I’d seen the ad and inquired about them. But then on Thursday, there was a woman who was selling them at $7 each or all 5 for $25! I was sure they’d been sold for a couple of reasons… 1.) they were SO CHEAP and 2.) the ad was already about 3 or 4 days old. But I reluctantly emailed the seller and said “Please tell me you still have these available”…. Well, she did and I was stoked!! So when Friday came, my sister and I set out to go pick up my awesome find! It was a road trip and a half! Of course, it wouldn’t be a “road trip with Dawn” unless we got lost a few times. We didn’t really get lost, per sé, but there was a couple times that we started to take a wrong road and quickly recovered. But, alas, we found the house & the blow molds & it was so worth it. It was a surprise – Jeff had no idea where I went or what I was getting. We came home & scattered them on the lawn while he was in the bedroom getting changed… and then I brought him outside & let him see them. He was really surprised and excited. He immediately started testing them and configuring where he’d put them all. Turns out that there were 3 Santas but they were all a little different so it was ok. There was also a toy soldier and a snowman.. my favorite! I have to take some more pictures of them all set up, but for now this will have to do.

More ramblings and not too long after the previous!

2009-11-21T10:38:00.002-05:00

I'm starting to be able to keep up with my blogging lately and I'm impressing myself. Today is so beautiful outside I just want to sit in the back yard and enjoy it! I'm doing some laundry and cleaning up a little bit. I did clean the other night but you know there's always something. We were supposed to have a birthday dinner on the agenda for this afternoon but now Jeff's mom is sick (?) and I don't think we're going. It was originally just the two of us and then I invited his parents.. so if she can't go, I don't see why we're not going anyway. BUT then he went to the dentist this morning and got some work done and doesn't think he "should be eating steak". Ugh! Whatever. So now I don't know what I want to do. Or I should say, what he wants to do. I don't like my plans being screwed up; if she's sick, that's fine but I'd still like for the two of us to go out. His birthday is on Monday and we're not big fans of going out to dinner on the week days. Other than that, I have about 4 bags/boxes, that I brought over from my old place, that I could be going through. I already checked through some of the crap and I could definitely have a yard sale or something. Maybe even post on Craigslist. I guess I'll jump in the shower and head around the corner to Michael's to get some fabric that Jeff needs for something he made at work & I'll see if they have any good sales on Christmas decor. I can't wait to decorate! I never had a home before that I could go all out on.. so this will be an awesome first Christmas in our first home. Very exciting. Have a great Saturday.

Lookout Weekend

2009-11-20T08:04:00.004-05:00

Yeah, that's it.. I'll start titling my posts with song titles! Like the one below. Well actually that was a group but I'm sure there is a song with that title. If I can do it without dating myself, I'll tell you that "lookout weekend" is actually an old Debbie Deb song. Geez, I can see myself now - at the roller rink flying around in the floor and jamming. Well, enough of that reminiscing; it makes me feel old. It's Friday again and I've got a busy day lined up for myself. I'm supposed to have lunch with my 'aunt'.. I call her that but she's not. I've just known her since I was a wee little girl. She's almost 80 now, so she's more like a grandmother I suppose but just as well. So we're supposed to do lunch and some light shopping & I also want to pick up a couple things while I'm out for Jeff's birthday which is Monday. Old geezer's going to be 41! Just kidding. Good thing he doesn't read my blog, or does he?? I don't know what to get him... but then again I do & just am too cheap to get half of the things I know he'd like. Sure wish I'd won the lottery last Friday. Ya know, when I FORGOT to play a number that I had???! Oh, I was pissed about that. The weather seems nice right now, and I'm thinking I probably shouldn't have the back door open right now, but the air feels great.. (even though the heater is kicking on every few minutes). I just paid my bills online; I feel like I missed something & I guess I'll figure out what it was when I least expect it. Damn. I guess I'm off to get a shower and get headed out soon. I cleaned the house last night (the Thursday ritual).. so all I need to do this weekend is run the swiffer throughout the house and do some laundry. Love having hardwood floors because I don't have to run the vacuum on carpets but sometimes I don't know if it really is the better of the two. And talk about dog hair! Heavens! By the time I'm done cleaning the floors, it looks like a gremlin has attached itself to the bottom of the swiffer! And I want another dog? I think I should invest the money in getting my head checked. Happy Friday - Have a great weekend! I'm off to peruse the website for the Black Friday ads.. The one I go on, you can even create a shopping list and then print the sucker out at 3 a.m next Friday while haphazardly grabbing a cup of coffee and draggin' ass out to the car.

Tuesday's Gone

2009-11-17T22:29:00.003-05:00

Is that a song, or a group? Maybe neither? Well, in any case, Tuesday is ALMOST gone and that means I'm getting closer to being off on Friday. Thsi week has seemed to go by quickly; maybe because I've been so busy at work. What a great feeling. Unfortunately, my work load has increased a bit due to another employee being let go. That never does work out in everyone's favor, I suppose. I think I may have a busy Friday this week. Plans are all tentative right now but I'm working on getting them confirmed. I know I should take some time this weekend and get some gifts for Christmas out of the way. Saturday, however, we're going to dinner with Jeff's parents since his birthday is on Monday. I'm super tired and would love to leave a long post tonight, but I just haven't got the energy. I did so much tonight. I made dinner, cleaned the kitchen AND made tomorrow's dinner! I tried my hand at homemade baked mac and cheese. It turned out pretty good from what I 'sampled'. It just wasn't something I could prepare tomorrow.. it would have taken way too long. So that's at least out of the way and all we have to do now is heat it up. We were thinking of going to the local animal shelter after dinner tomorrow to maybe look at some dogs, but I don't know if I really want another one. I think our fur baby we have already is enough. I like spoiling her & don't know how she'd take to another doggie in our home & our hearts. Here's a couple pics of her as a puppy the first day we brought her home & one of her now...She needs a haircut, as you can see.

Weekend's over

2009-11-14T23:47:00.003-05:00

for me at least. I work Sunday thru Thursday, if ya haven't already figured that out. All the fun posts I do on Fridays. So the pig roast was different. Seeing the pig was a bit odd. Everyone was telling me to go "Check it out". So, I reluctantly walked up to the smoker (or whatever it's called) & I peeked at the pig. It was pretty strange. Nasty. Then I hurried back to my place on the back steps, far away from it. I told Jeff I felt like I was at a viewing and I'd just done my thing at the casket. Eww! It was that weird, yes. Needless to say, I didn't eat any of the 'pork'.. but it did smell delicious. It was just something about seeing it that made me never want to eat pork again. Hot dogs, bologna.. bleh! But aside from my swine aversion, I enjoyed seeing Katie & Dan and the added bonus to my day was that I got to hold, not one, but TWO babies! They were precious! Boy & a girl. Not the same family of course, and the funny thing was, the infant boy I held was someone's whom I'd never met before today! That was pretty crazy but he was a sweet lil thing. I have such motherly instinct, I really do. But, my having children, is another post all it's own. Hell, it's probably another BLOG all it's own. So we came home, cooked up a Target pizza we got for $2.66 and I watched the movie Taking Chance. It was ok.. I did get teary eyed on some parts.. and it seemed like it was a short movie. I would recommend it, I suppose. Evidently it was a true story, and I didn't know that before I watched it. I'm hoping to get out and see the new movie Precious soon. That'll be a ladies night at the movies. Well, I'm off to bed. Sunday @ 8 am comes early & I have to stop and get gas first, so my big blue eyes need to open way sooner than usual.

Saturday .. in the park

2009-11-14T13:37:00.002-05:00

Not really, but sometimes I'm no so creative with titles for my posts. It's actually not a good day for the park; it's damp and chilly here. I think the rain has let up, even if it was just some drizzles. Today, we're having Jeff's brother come to look at our fireplace. We tried to fire it up the other day and had no luck. It's a gas fireplace so it's not actually burning wood. It's actually in the basement which was just about finished when the previous owners had a minor flood down there that obliterated the carpeting. Their sump pump wasn't working and since they'd never tested it, they had no idea. Pooey! So anyhoo, we're trying to get it up and running. Hopefully they can. And hopefully SOON. We're supposed to go to a pig roast today and I don't want to miss it because I've RSVP'd to two events with these particular friends and this will make number 2 that I haven't been to when I said I was coming. I don't like to do that because you know, after a while, people just stop inviting you to things. AND no, I am not eating the pig. With all this swine flu shit going around, I'm not taking any chances. My friends say that's not the case but please, it came from a pig to begin with, yes? I don't think I could consciously eat it anyway, even if it weren't a concern. I've never been to a pig roast so I just can't imagine pulling the pork off of that poor thing. Well, now I've got to go calm the dog down, because our "fireplace" friends have arrived and she's going nuts! Happy Saturday... Piggy updates later.

Welcome FRIDAY

2009-11-13T12:08:00.003-05:00

I thought today was going to be my "do nothing and stay in my PJ's day" but I can't ever sit still. So now I'm thinking about all of the things I could be doing and none of it involves being cooped up in the house. Darn! I was actually throwing around the idea of maybe going and finishing up my registry at the one place I started online already. I figure I could do it by myself and get it done once and for all. Heck I'm getting married in a little over 4 months from now so I have to get registered right? Who knows when the shower might be. So I may go do that and I also have some letters to mail. I also wanted to get to the store and get some new tops. I have so few long sleeve tops/blouses.. so I may take a trip to my favorite place to shop: *Ross. If you're wondering why I've been adding strange characters after words, it's because I'm trying to eliminate spammers etc from arriving at my blog. I realized, through others' blogs, that when someone goooogles a word, or store or whatever it is I may be referring to, it links to any sites that have the word in it. So if someone were looking for the site to the store mentioned above, they could end up here. Not that it matters much because my blog is public but you just never know, I guess. Well, I'm off to shower and see what exactly I'll do with my day. Maybe stay in and clean & straighten out (make some sense of) the spare bedroom or high tail it out of here and over to the shopping center. I'm lucky that I live in a very busy shopping area. Restaurants, nightclubs, shopping mall and shopping centers all within 5 mins from my home... BUT I know when the real Christmas rush hits it will be chaos! Happy Friday! Enjopy your weekend!

Busy Life

2009-11-08T22:00:00.003-05:00

Trying to get a post in before bed tonight. What a busy weekend. I had a 6 day work week but I'm so not complaining. I get overtime out of the deal. Nice! I had a girls get together Friday night; you know those romance parties that they do? Well, I'd had one before from another company and it was great.. but this last one? Sucked big time! The woman who ran it was just strange in every sense of the word. BUT in all, it was awesome hanging out with some great friends and having many laughs and good wine. Three of us ended up going out afterwards for a bite to eat and never ate. We, instead, ended up at this hole-in-the-wall place that they call a bar and it was horrible! I hate the place. When I was 21, it was tolerable and you drank enough to be able to do that! ;) But in the end, I guess it was ok. I came home, went to bed and felt like absolute shit the next day. Not sure why, still. I drank a half glass of Pinot Noir and then a 1/4 of a beer later on. Not enough close to enough to make me have the hangover(ish) feeling that I had the next day. Let's see, what else? My girlfriend's baby shower was a couple weekends ago and I'm so thrilled that she made out wonderfully! She got so many nice things and I think she's all set for baby girl when she comes! They've already got the baby room set up, it's all pink. Way cute. She's also my bridesmaid in our wedding, so she'll be having the baby in January, only a few months shy of the wedding. Makes for an interesting time when we order the dresses. Yikes! LOL But I'm thrilled for her and her husband.. they do have other children. And luckily, we live only a few blocks from each other now, so I can walk over and see the baby any time! Well, maybe I will call first. Maybe. So that's that as far as catching up. I think.
Oh and I'm working on some things that pertain to my future as well. No, I'm not talking "babies", even though that would be STUPENDOUS! Nah, it's career oriented. Sorry folks. In other news, I'm still debating what to do about Thanksgiving. I'm thinking it would be GREAT to have our first Thanksgiving in our new/first home... but I'm a big fan of going to the inlaws' to have dinner too. The idea of cleaning up that mess and basting a turkey all day is nauseating. And besides, I did it last year, so maybe I'll take a break this year? We'll see what I decide. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

A quick one - more later

2009-10-29T06:44:00.002-04:00

I decided I only have a few minutes before I need to leave the house this morning so I figured I'd do the quick survey that Dani posted and tagged me in. So here it goes..

The rules:
1. Answer with 5 answers.
2. Tag 5 friends.

1). What were you doing 10 years ago?

- I was 23 and loving being on my own - partying way too much probably
- was in a shitty relationship
- was living with my sister and having fun
- was waitressing
- was going to college

2). What 5 things are on your to-do list for today:

-work
-drop off Halloween costume for my niece
- go hang out with the girls to watch the game
- laundry
-my Thursday night ritual of cleaning the house to free up my Friday

3). Snacks you enjoy:
-salsa/chips/sour cream
-cracker barrell cheese
-honey cheese curls
-pepperoni
-hot fries

4). Places You've Lived:

-westville, nj
-Berlin, NJ
-Gloucester, NJ
-Runnemede, NJ
-wildwood, nj (summer)

5). What are 5 Things you would do if you were a billionaire?

-whole new wardrobe
-do lots of great things to our new home
-Pay off all our bills, all my families bills (I copied Dani, but it's great)
-adopt a child and a couple dogs
-donate to a lot of different charities

Busy is good - sometimes

2009-10-26T23:03:00.002-04:00

I've got such a busy week & I'm kind of liking that. Today was a pretty easy day. I made a potluck dinner; basically a little of everything. And my brother came over for a little while. I had to run though because I needed this hair cut, it was driving me nuts. Of course I made a trip to Walmart at the same time and got some not so needed things. Well, maybe they were in fact needed. Tomorrow we have our tasting at our reception venue and then on Wednesday I have a movie/dinner night with my friend from work. I know, I know.. you shouldn't mix your work with your personal life but she's good people; trust me. We're supposed to go to see Paranormal Activity but I hear it sucks. I guess I won't mind so much since we have gift cards we're using. I won't feel as bad about the movie being a sleeper if I'm not paying for it out of my pocket. My friend Steph and I are horror movie buffs. We were either going to see Saw 6 or Paranormal Activity .. and somehow Paranormal won. Then Thursday I'm off to get some furniture moved for my mom and Friday I'm hoping to make a trip down to my friend's house and visit for a while. Her husband fell ill a couple of weeks ago and it's been a trying time for them. More about that in a later post.

Trying to stay awake

2009-10-22T22:34:00.002-04:00

I'm really trying to stay up late tonight.. since my work week's over but Thursdays are always so hard for me. I was up in the wee hours this morning and now it's catching up with me. Oy, my poor body. I should probably try to get to bed at a decent hour anyway so that I can start my day earlier tomorrow. I do like sleeping in on my days off but I don't like sleeping in too late because then I feel as if half my day is already gone when I do get up. Tomorrow I'm picking up my mom and my niece and hanging out for a while. I think my niece has a soccer game tomorrow night too so we'll just hang until we have to go to her game; my sister's working til 8 p.m. I want to try and get home in the mid afternoon so my niece can nap before her game. I always feel like she's so tired by the time her game starts. They're so little to begin with.. but it sure is precious seeing a bunch of toddlers racing around on the soccer field. And she is a star! It's hard to believe how well she plays... but she's always loved the soccer ball. I guess she's a natural. Hopefully the rain holds up because I don't like lugging through the rain when I'm trying to get things done on my days off. I think I might try to go bowling.. my niece LOVES bowling... so that's an idea, in case I can't think of anything.

The wind down

2009-10-10T19:30:00.002-04:00

Well, I finally got all of my fall decorating done. I'm sure I'll come across something in the coming weeks that I just have to add but for now, I'm pretty darn content and impressed with my creative side that suddenly appeared. Is this what happens when you buy a home? All of a sudden this domestic diva comes out of nowhere? Domestic Diva?!! What a crock. I said that to Jeff last night when he came home from work; he was thoroughly impressed with what I'd done out front. AND I'm proud to say that I actually was able to get those damn cornstalks in my car.. which by the way is just a Saturn ION. Yes, it was interesting when I got up nice and early yesterday morning, went to the produce outlet and saw the cornstalks there in the garden center. Literally towering OVER ME. I said to myself, "And how in the hell am I going to get THOSE big ass cornstalks in my car?". So I left, with some indian corn and pretty new mums and figured I'd wait til Jeff got home with his Titan. BUT, if you know me, I don't like to wait and I wanted to do it myself. So I went to yet another garden center and looked at the stalks, MUCH the same in size as those earlier and was not leaving without them. I went to the counter to pay for them and the nice young man actually went out to get them for me. I said to him, money in mid-pass, that I wasn't sure they'd even fit in my car. He said, "I'll get 'em in".. and did he ever? With a little pushing and maybe a bit of squishing and an open back window, he managed to get them in my car and lucky for me the excess that was hanging out my window was minimal. I was glad I was only around the corner from my house, in any case, but I got those cornstalks! So now, we're all fall decorated. This morning we got up early, went to breakfast and made it to the fall festival one town over, before the rain really hit. Lucky for all of the vendors, it lasted only a little while. They had lots of nice things for sale and it was a nice walk for us. Now I'm home unwinding and waiting on takeout to get here. Is that order-in as opposed to take-out? Anyhoo - I'm getting my jammies and slippers on and relaxing for the rest of the night. I need to just sit and vegetate for a while. Too much running today. We decided to take my mom to Ikea to look at some things for her new place.. (actually just a bedroom at my sister's place) and she went hay wire like I did the first time. Ikea rocks though! I love it there.. and I was able to control myself this time. Then we were off to church, Target, Walmart and now we're home. Can you see why I'm exhausted!!?

Turning in for the night

2009-10-08T23:47:00.002-04:00

I hope. Thursdays are my "fridays". So naturally on Thursday evenings I take it to the limit with staying up late and enjoying my "weekend". But I always get to the point where I can't hang any longer and I have to call it a night. Tonight I've been on Ebay looking up God knows what for the wedding. This, that and the other thing. Cake toppers, favor seals, jewelry. You name it! I was even putting in things that were turning up "no results". Come on, seriously? EVERYTHING is on Ebay. I don't believe it. Well I must call it a night anyway, because I've got big plans to get up early and run to the produce outlet and grab some corn stalks and mums to put outside. Yeah, I learned that mums have to be watered? Hey, I'm new at this owning a home thing and I do not have a green thumb by any stretch of the imagination so I'm learning here. The last two mums I bought turned into a nice dried floral arrangement. Yeah, that's it! I was going for that look. Ahem. Anyway, I'm meeting up with two former co-workers tomorrow and I'm super excited. We'll have lunch around the corner from my house and then they want to head back here for the grand tour. It's nothing special, probably, but it's ours and we love it. So I guess that's all that matters. I guess I kind of want to get the last of the fall decorations up BEFORE I bring them back here for the tour. I'm just teetering on Fall or Halloween?... more of one? or a nice mix of both? I really wanted to get those tombstones that they sell at Michael's and put them in the big flower bed that we have outside but I think we're still in our "probationary period" with the neighbors! haha I don't want to have them eyeballing us anymore than they already do. I think they were all a little curious when I hung the "Welcome to the Nut House" flag out. It was too funny not to get it, sorry. We had one when we were kids when it was OH SO APPROPRIATE for our household. So, I'm going to make that effort to wake before 9 tomorrow and get my butt out for the last of the goodies to make this place look festive for Fall.

Falling into place

2009-10-07T20:47:00.002-04:00

It's apparent that Fall is here and I could not be happier about it. I wish that Fall were the only season we had. Maybe a bit warmer, but not much. I don't like chilly mornings when I have to get a shower or climb out from under the warm, cushy blankets. But yes, I'm really digging this weather and this time of year. I love the homes decorated with all of the Fall themes and the hay bales and scarecrows! I need to go get two more from Michael's because it's come to my attention that our front yard is pretty darn big and the scarecrows I did put out just don't look right. There's so much empty space and then these small scarecrows at opposite ends of the barren flower garden out front. I really need to jazz up the house way more than this. It drives me batty every time I pull up in front. Before I know it, Halloween will be here and I love that holiday! Always have and not sure why. This year my sister works on Halloween and so does my niece's dad so I'm taking her out to trick-or-treat with my friend and her son. Well, he's 13 so we're pretty sure that he's past the age of walking the neighborhood with mom and trick or treating! One can hope though. I'm going to get dressed up too but I'm not sure what I'll be yet. Probably just get some ears and the neck tie like I did last year. I was a devil I think. It was silly but it was easy. I better get out and find something though because those shelve empty out pretty quick when it starts to get REALLY close. I better head on over to the wedding blog and update there.. I can't believe we are 6 months away from the big day. It seems so far and other times it seems so close. I have some things to get done that I have to stop procrastinating on.

Fridays are my favorite

2009-10-02T10:56:00.002-04:00

Well, maybe they are sometimes, but not always. I'm usually running around like a nut getting things done. I'm off Fridays but Jeff is not so that sorta stinks because that means that we only really have ONE full day together ever.. That would be Saturday. Today I'm off to the bank to change my address and then to Michael's hopefully to get some fall decorations. I love Fall! And now we have our new home to jazz up, so that's going to be a lot of fun. Haven't really decided what to do so far but we have a great front porch that I know will set the scene for a nice Fall theme. Can't wait. Probably do lunch with a friend and then take her wherever she needs to go. The weather is great today, I just turned the heat off and opened up a little bit. It's breezy out and I love that! You can open all the windows and get the fresh air in. Ahhh. Well, I'm off and promise to post later.
Hope you have a great Friday!

The Shack & reflections

2009-10-01T22:36:00.002-04:00

I've been reading The Shack for what seems like months on end. Actually, it has been that long. At first I was reading it and it was very strange to me but then I decided to just perservere and get through it. Well, now I'm at the point that I can't put it down. You know how that goes. I would assume that every one who reads this book will come away with all of their own findings, opinions etc. I find myself doing just that. It's been for me, almost like a "Bible for Dummies" sort of read. It's brought different things to light for me. Some things inside of me. I know that the book is pretty much all fictional but I believe in some parts that it couldn't be closer to the truth than if it really and truly WERE. I think the most recent passage I read in the book that really stopped me and led me to reflect was the line where God was speaking of the great tragedy that had happened to Mack. (the man the story is based on) ... God goes on to say "Just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it…” This brings to mind how quickly, when something goes awry, we're so quick to blame God or assume that it's a test by God. When I read that line in the book, it made so much sense to me. I can't even count on two hands, how many times I've said it in the past. "Why, God?" ... or "Why am I being punished like this?" I think I've got a whole new take on that now. That's why, unlike so many other people, I don't always believe in "things happen for a reason". It disgusts me how, when a child is killed or murdered or raped, someone always says how it was bound to happen. It happened just as it was supposed to and there was a plan that God had. That's just stupid. God did not intend for all of this violence in the world and all of the hate and prejudice. All He did was gave us FREE WILL... and this is what mankind has done with it. Abused it. I'm not so quick to point a finger at God anymore; throwing my hands up in times of trouble and asking "WHY?".

TGIF

2009-09-25T08:52:00.003-04:00

I'm so not a fan of getting up early on my days off but today I have so much to do, I wish I'd gotten up even earlier. I have so much to do but it involves me being out of the house, so now I have to run around and get my house chores done. I'm so anal about doing my cleaning on Fridays so it's done for the weekend. I actually started it last night and all I have left is some dusting, running the sweeper and the bedroom. I'm meeting a friend/former coworker for lunch today at the Olive Garden. Yum! I asked if we go around 11:30; I figured by the time we get settled ande get our food, it'd be around noon so that will have me on schedule, I hope, to get to our appointment by 1:30 for the bridal shop. I'm going to be running like a nut in the house until then because I don't like leaving things undone or not getting through my whole cleaning routine. Man, I need some valium, right? I think we'll have a busy weekend here. I had made tentative plans with another friend to get a quick dinner and catch up, after yet another year has gone by, but now I may put that on hold, because Jeff says the weather is going to be nice Saturday and he really wants to get the exterior painting done on the house. That should be fun. I'm thinking I probably will hate scraping paint. Or however it is exactly that you get paint off. Stripping paint? I don't know what it's called .. but I do know it's termed "stripping" wallpaper and that's what I'll also be doing in the weeks to come. The wallpaper in our bedroom is lovely. Not. So we're going to remove it and paint. I was all ready to just get a dark enough paint to go right over it but everyone is telling me no. I'll post some before and after photos when I get a chance. For now, I'll post a before and after of the living room, if I can get them on here. Hope everyone has a nice weekend. I'm heading to the dollar store later and maybe AC Moore or Michael's for some new fall decorations. I need to get to Michael's anyway for more magnets for my Save the Dates.

Back from hiatus

2009-09-21T20:40:00.003-04:00

If that's what ya wanna call it. Maybe it was really a case of lazy-ass-itis. Yeah, I'm going to stick with that. Really it was a combination of laziness, writer's block and just plain being BUSY. I'm not even sure what my last post was about.. Well actually yes I think it was about my dear friend who is expecting. But I mean before that one, where I was trying to catch you up on the goings on in my life. I guess I'll come up with all the details at some point but I'll save it for a later post.. at least that way I know I have to come back soon and blog again. Sort of a guarantee. So let's see... we moved out of the dreaded "rental" we were in. You know, the one we almost bought and spent the next 30 years in. Miserable. We moved onto much greener pastures and bought a home, in the same town, but I picked this one. HA! Nah, we both did ultimately, but I just thought this home was darling and I really had a feeling of serenity when we first saw it. I had a feeling. So we prayed (not that we would "get this house") but we prayed that however God worked things out, we were willing to go with it and just let things be as He willed. I didn't stress about where we going to live, I didn't have a lot of anxiety about it, I just truly gave it to God and knew that it was all going to come together. You might think that's pretty stupid, not knowing what the hell you're going to do if things don't work out the way you've hoped. But I'm so glad to say that things did work out as we would have liked and here we are. Making our home in this cute little place we call our HOME now. I love it. Of course, there are things that need tweeking etc.. to make it according to our tastes/styles but ultimately, it's just as we would want to have it. We're mostly doing small things like paint and such but I feel so at home here and I'm so at peace with that. I can see us in this house for years to come and I hope that we have a lot of happy years in it. I'm really hoping to get back to all of my blogging on a regular basis because I really do miss it. I always said it keeps me sane being able to sit down at the end of the day, or maybe at the beginning, and sharing things, venting things, voicing things. I'm always staying on top of keeping up with the blogs that I follow.. even when I'm not posting. I think I have a slight addiction to the Blog World in general. hee hee .. Imagine that.

Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice!

2009-08-27T21:08:00.002-04:00

Yes!! I was right all along. My besty Carol is having a girl! I'd been telling her since she got pregnant that she was having a girl. Plus, I had a dream about it and told her so. She totally puts stock in my dreams (especially since I play #'s I dream of, and they sometimes come out!).. lol But anyhoo, I'm super excited for her. Well, and for her husband too! LOL Even though he was adamant that it was a boy. They'll both love this baby no matter what sex "she" is. I'm very excited for them and their journey to parenthood... yet again. They've got 3 children between them already so this little bundle will make 4 and has 3 other siblings to be spoiled by. Baby Girl is due in January and everyone's just so happy and anxious to meet her! I wonder if they've thought about names yet?

Mom's Bday

2009-08-27T06:51:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was my mom's birthday so my sister and I (and my niece) took her out to dinner. My mom has always loved Tomato Pie and when we moved into our current neighborhood I saw a place called Alfred's Tomato Pie. So, when it came time to pick a place for dinner, it only seemed appropriate that we go there. And we did. It was pretty good.. not quite what I had fully anticipated but it was delicious and it was cozy. It was a BYO establishment, so my sister and I had wine and mom had good old Rolling Rock. That's her drink of choice, and hey, if that's what she wanted to bring in, brown bag and all, then so be it. Anyhoo, the Tomato Pie was great, nice and garlic-y and we had a great time laughing together and talking. My gift to my mom was practical. I got her new sneakers. I know it sounds odd but she really needed them and I wanted to get a 'gift" that she'd use. I also put a little box of Whitman's chocolates in the bag because she loves her Whitman's and I get her a box for almost EVERY occassion. I also gave her scratch off tickets ...... that had already been scratched off. Huh???? Well, here's the story on that. Have you ever given someone a few scratch off tickets tucked in a birthday card? I have. So you open the card and scratch off the lotto tickets only to find that they're losers. Well, that's kind of a rip off right? So, when I was going to get my mom some birthday themed rub offs, I realized I had two winners sitting in my car that I hadn't redeemed yet. So, I gave her them instead! When we sat down last night and she looked at them, she was laughing so hard at first but totally clueless as to why I gave her "used" tickets. Then I explained it. She thought that was even funnier, yet clever. So there, now she has $15 in winnings from her birthday scratch offs. Not bad. And while we're on the subject... I played my dream # for two days straight, knowing I'd play for one more day... (if you dream of a #, you're supposed to play it for 3 days). Old wives tale. Anyhoo, my dream # came out yesterday, box, BUT it came out in the mid day drawing. I never play the mid-day drawing. If I dream of a #, I play it in the evening drawing. So I don't know how much it would have paid, but oh well. Phooey!