Life is Good

* I’m still following the Couch to 5K program. Today, I finished Week 2. Steve went with me and we ran along the canal. He got ahead of me, but I expected that. I did it dammit. I’m doing it. I normally don’t finish things I start, so we’ll see how it goes.

* I still don’t have confirmation that my SIL is actually running these days, so for now, I must continue my quest to outrun, outwit, and outlast her. As long as she outweighs me, the universe will continue to function normally.

* I DO, however, had hideous pain in my knees today (and yesterday) though. I’ve had issues with my knees and ankles since I was a little kid, so it doesn’t surprise me. But tonight, cutting off my legs from my knees down to get rid of the incessant aching is something I considered.

* Hannah’s daisies are growing quite well in the little cartons on our windowsill. We all water them and we check daily to see how many new ones have poked through the dirt. There’s something magical about spring and the growth it brings.

* I painted two walls in our middle room today on a whim. I didn’t want to spend money to paint a shitty room with pieced together paneling, so I used the “leftovers” from the greenish color we originally painted our kitchen (and then painted over). The room was just WAY too dark and depressing in it’s dark burgundy color, and I felt the need to change it.

* But I’m sick of painting now and asked Steve if he minded 2 light green walls and 2 dark red ones. He said no, so we’ll see if I finish. LOL!

* Oh. And I ran out of paint, so I hope WalMart can match it with a different paint brand or we really WILL have 2 green walls and 2 red walls.

* I have every intention of bribing Grace tomorrow with a Webkinz or something in order to avoid a bowling party she was invited to. I spent 2 hours in a bowling alley last weekend with Hannah and 20 other 4 and 5-year-olds, and I just think asking me to do that 2 weeks in a row is just wrong. Especially when I have two walls to paint. So I fully intend to use gifts to make her not force me to go. (Don’t you roll your eyes at me. The rest of you with kids want to do the same thing… you just don’t have the balls to actually DO it. I’m an innovator.)

* Of course, Steve won’t be here all weekend for the most part, which means I’m on full-time kid duty. Yeah. Painting those other two walls ought to be a real fucking blast. Sigh.

* I was questioned face-to-face by a person whom I didn’t add as a friend on Facebook. Do people really do that? Confront someone who has rejected/ignored you? Wow. I mumbled some bullshit about not being on Facebook much, but I don’t think she was buying it. Tough shit. I can’t talk shit about her anymore in my status updates if I add her, and, well, what fun would that be?

* I inadvertently became one of the coaches of both Hannah’s t-ball team and Grace’s coach pitch team this spring. I honestly don’t know how it happened, but I’m now committed and I’m not sure if I’m excited about it or if I should start contemplating now how to kill myself with the least mess.

* Steve was also signed up (unbeknownst to him) as an assistant coach for both teams. This means the L-------‘s are going to rule the little league. Watch out, you little shits on other teams, because we’re kicking ass and taking names. When they name the field after us, I’ll let you all know….

I’m going to now finish my beer, hobble upstairs on my bad knees (if I can make it) and crash. Because I’m tired and have painting and shopping and Girl Scout cookie sales, and bribery to deal with tomorrow. That’s enough to exhaust anyone…

Who are you and what did you do with Allison?

So. I’ve been pondering how to blog about this without feeling like I’ve betrayed myself and the people that know me well. We all know how I feel about exercise. I hate it. I know it’s good for you and all that shit, but I never understood (still don’t) why people willingly make themselves breathe heavy and exert themselves. So it is with deep regret to inform you all that I’ve started doing just that. [hanging head in shame]

It’s something I had been thinking about a lot lately. Not because I wanted to lose weight or be buff or any of those other usual reasons. It was because I was sick and tired of always feeling tired and panicking daily that I was going to perish rather young and leave my 2 gorgeous daughters with a father who, although he tries desperately, just can’t make their hair presentable for school every day.

I gave myself the usual excuses… I’ll start in spring when the weather is nicer… I’ll do it after I quit smoking… I’ll just park in the last spot in WalMart, farthest from the store and walk a bit… etc.

But then, well, that ONE motivator in my life occurred over the weekend. Steve was talking to his brother on the phone. When they hung up, Steve laughed and said mentioned that his brother said he had to hang up because the kids were wild and “Jen is out for her run so I have to reign them in.” Jen? Running? On a regular basis? Son of a bitch! We ALL know how I feel about my SIL. Although there are no obvious issues between us anymore, I know that secretly, we’re still fiercely competitive. There is no way in HELL I’ll EVER let her be in better shape than me (which isn’t saying much) or thinner than me (something that has never occurred since I’ve met Steve). I mean, can any of us forget when I was told she joined a gym, prompting me to do so? And then, when months later, found out she never joined a gym? ARG! But I have to admit that the last time I saw her (a few weeks ago), she DID look thinner, so I truly believe she’s started running/walking. Dammit to hell.

Anyway, that was enough motivation to convince me to do what I’d be contemplating for the past few weeks. Quite a few of my friends have started the Couch to 5K program, and have had decent success, so I had been thinking about looking into it myself. Once I heard the evil, comma-eyebrow-painting SIL was running, I felt I had no choice. Sigh.

So on Monday, I did it. I followed the Week 1 “rules” and did what I was supposed to. I didn’t cheat. I didn’t walk when I was supposed to be running. And I DID it, dammit! I was so proud of myself! I smoke about 1/2 pack a day and drink WAY more than any person should, and yet, I completed Day 1. I hate to admit it, but towards the end of it, I was ready to pack it in, but found that if I just chanted, “Jen. Jen. Jen…” every time my foot hit the ground, I could muster through it.

So today was my second day (you do it every other day), and it was a bit easier. My legs were much more forgiving, but it was colder, so breathing was a bit harder. But I DID IT! I didn’t cheat at all and I did what I was supposed to do. Steve’s proud. My mom was asking me about it. And my Facebook friends have been nothing but encouraging. But most importantly, I’M proud of myself. Exercise and I are not friends, so the fact that I’m pushing myself does give me a bit of pride.

And I won’t lie…. come this summer, when the family’s all at my FIL’s house to swim in his pool and I can rock my bathing suit better than my SIL, I’ll smile to myself and inwardly thank her for being a bitch, which is what motivated me to do what I needed to do anyway. Ahhh… life is good….

I’ve decided that tomorrow, I’m going to take a “Before” photo of myself and post it so I can show the “After” as I go along on the program. It’s NOT something I really wanted to do, but at the same time, I like to take comfort in the fact that I’m extremely comfortable with who I am now. I really am! It’s me. Take me or leave me. If you don’t like it, don’t look. And I think it will be fun (and motivational) for me to post a photo at the end of each week or two and see what I look like at the end of the 9 weeks.

Again, I’m not doing it to lose weight. I’m more than happy with the number that shows up when I step on a scale. But the distribution of that weight (HELLO butt, stomach and thighs) could probably use a little work, so we’ll see how that changes as I continue the program.

So sit back and enjoy the ride. I figure that even if you have no interest in the exercise portion of it, at least I can keep you entertained with half naked photos of myself and updates on the comparisons between myself and my SIL. Because I KNOW you all have that ONE family member that you feel the need to better than. Don’t lie. You do. You just don’t want to admit it…

Could it be?

Could it be that spring is finally here? Yesterday was GORGEOUS! We spent the entire day outside. Now I’m not so naive as to think we won’t have any more cold weather (it’s supposed to go back down to 40 later this week). But yesterday was awesome and a little teaser for what’s coming (hopefully) soon.

So we donned short-sleeve shirts and we ran:

And we fed the birds:

And we explored:

    And we sat:

And we had a few meltdowns:

And we got wet and muddy feet:

And we drove the lawnmower:

And we played ball:

And it was a fantastic day. :)

Hey gang.

Sorry I haven’t been around. I swear, I feel like we’re all on full speed ahead here with no time to rest. Unfortunately, I don’t see a break anytime soon, so we’re just plugging along. Just lots of work stuff, extracurricular stuff for the girls, birthday parties, etc. and we’re all moving from morning ‘til night. I’m anxiously awaiting a day where we have NOTHING to do, but looking at our calendar, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day! We don’t really celebrate V-Day, so we didn’t do anything exciting, but it turned out to be a big day for both L------- girls anyway.

So last week, Grace failed her eye exam at school. I had her eyes checked just a few months ago, and that eye doctor swore her vision was fine, so I was a little surprised when she brought the paper home from school. So I decided to take her somewhere else this time, and scheduled an appointment for yesterday at the Lenscrafter in the mall.

So we get to Grace's eye appointment, the doctor uses his fancy machines to check her out and tells me she's 20/30 in her right eye, and practically legally blind in her left eye! WTF!?!? My heart dropped, and I tried to remain calm so as not to freak Grace out. I told him I had JUST had her to the eye doctor in October and that guy had said she was 20/20 and 20/30! He said it's possible she got bad that fast (growth spurt, etc.), but you could tell he was pretty sure the first eye doctor had fucked up. WTH?

So he says he wants to put drops in her eyes which will fully dilate her pupils for 24-48 hours, making bright light really uncomfortable for her and basically meaning she'll have blurry vision for at least a day, if not two, but allowing him to get her EXACT prescription for the glasses she definitely needed. The poor kid. She didn't care that she needed glasses, but once she started having the blurry vision, I could tell she was REALLY upset and freaked out. She remained calm on the outside, but was absolutely overwhelmed. She was also upset because I told her there was no way she could go to her playdate when we got home if she couldn't see. I think that’s why she was so upset to be honest with you.

So before her vision went completely blurry, we quick picked out an adorable pair of purple-ish/burgandy frames that look FANTASTIC on her. And I mean REALLY cute. Once her pupils were dilated, he rechecked her and it turns out her right eye is 20/30, and her left eye is freakin' 20/100. Sigh. She was pretty freaked out for the hour we waited while they made her glasses (since she still couldn't see right), but once we all ate lunch, watched Hannah get her ears pierced (more on that in a minute), and walked around the mall for a bit, she could start seeing a little better and cheered up. We went back to pick up her glasses and she was really excited to get them and get her cute little pink case that has handles like a little purse. :)

By the time we were coming home, I decided she was seeing well enough again to go to her playdate after all, so I dropped her off as soon as we got home.

So she'll need her glasses for distance (chalkboard, whiteboard, watching TV and movies, etc.), but not for close up reading, etc. She's actually excited about them now, which is great.

It was just an emotionally draining day for us. It KILLED me to see her so freaked out, depressed, etc. for that hour or two, knowing I couldn't really fix it. But all is well now, and she's got her glasses and is good to go. But when a mother hears the words “legally blind” it kind of freaks you out, ya know?

She’s doing well with them. She’s had a slight headache here and there since getting them (which is normal), and she’s sore behind her ears a bit, but all in all, they haven’t given her any problems.

So here she is, looking fantastically cute in her new glasses. :)

Like I mentioned, Hannah also decided to get her ears pierced. She looks SO cute and didn't even flinch! :) I’m actually surprised it took her this long to get them pierced. I’ve been asking her for a year or so if she wanted them done, and she said no. But yesterday, apparently, she decided it was time. So she picked some pretty blue earrings, sat down, and got it done. LOL!

So that was our Valentine’s Day. I hope yours were all a bit more romantic. LOL!

For My Dear, Sweet Tink :)

I had to crop it oddly to post it here because she wrote  “The [our last name]s” at the bottom and I didn’t want to post it here. But you get the idea. :)

Project 365 Layouts – Weeks 3, 4, and 5

Ugh. I suck at blogging lately. But we have been SO busy. Between snow days, me commuting to the office again, a bunch of illnesses right after the other, and normal everyday stuff, my head is swimming. LOL! For a summary of the past few weeks, read the layouts below. (LOL!)

I’ll be back with a REAL post soon! I swear!

Week 2 Layouts for Project 365

Here’s one of my layouts for week 2.

I really like the way week 1 and week 2 look next to each other (which is how they’ll be in the photo book I plan on printing at the end of the challenge).

I also decided to use the free downloads from Becky Higgins to make layouts each week that allow me to make the photos a bit bigger and journal a bit more. Here are my first two weeks:

Quick update post…

Hey gang. Sorry I haven’t been around. So much has been going on lately and it’s been hard to get here to blog. Sigh. We’re going to do one of my infamous bulleted lists now, because it’s just easier for me…

* Good ol’ Jen Wilson, (of Jen Wilson Designs), whose Creative Team I’m on, has refound her mojo, and is cranking out new products like it’s her job. Oh, wait. It IS her job. LOL! We have chats in the site’s chat room every Monday and Wednesday night now. I LOVE the chats, but it’s just one more thing that keeps from blogging here. (Which is totally cool with me… just trying to explain my absence….)

* I’m still going strong with Project 365 and have finished week 1 and 2’s layout. I’ll post those later.

* This past Sunday was HUGE in that “our team”, the Steelers won the game and made it to the Superbowl. We are SOOO effing excited it’s not even funny!! Is it February 1st yet? Black and gold, baby! Black and gold!

* Steve and I have been rocking it in terms of married life. (Don’t be gross… that’s NOT what I meant.) What I meant is that we just rule in terms of a couple and although most winters when he’s around so much, I get annoyed, THIS year, we’re like pigs in shit. I seriously don’t know what I’d do without the guy, and I only hope my kids grow up to be as happily married as we are. :)

* I’ve made some very general resolutions for this year. Nothing crazy like quitting one of my many addictions. But I kind of “lost” the old me for a few years there. I’m normally a total spaz, laughing at everything, happy as hell, etc. I’m not saying I wasn’t happy before, but I had been letting the stress of everyday life get in the way of just enjoying everyday life. So I’ve been spending more time with the kids (and less time on the computer while they’re awake), laughing more, being more laid back, yelling WAY less at the kids, and rediscovering the gift of patience that seemed to disappear a few years ago. I must say, so far I’m kicking major ass and taking names. And it feels GOOD, dammit. :)

* I’ve been attempting (in spurts) to get this house under control in terms of the clutter. Last weekend’s project was the basement playroom and I kicked some major ass. I’m so sick and tired of random crap in the house, and slowly but surely, I’m enjoying the purging.

Other than that, everything’s been pretty much the same. LOL! I’ll drop in as much as I can, but with all of the changes in our normal daily schedule, that’s proven to be a bit more difficult lately. But we’ll all soon fall into the new routine, and life will balance out a bit more. :)

Days 3, 4, and 5

I’ll be back later with a real post, but I wanted to get my Project 365 photos on here for days 3, 4, and 5. Lots to talk about later!

Random Thoughts

Tonight’s post is going to be another ramble. And let’s face it, we all love bulleted lists. Oh wait… maybe that’s just me…

* I loved that the Eagles won today. Although I’m a converted Steelers fan (thanks Steve!), I’ll always have a place in my heart for the Eagles. I still remember my Ron Jawarski jersey from childhood.

* I hope the Superbowl ends up a Steelers vs. Eagles game. Not for any reason other than that it would be cool to have two PA teams in it, the rivalry among friends and family would be priceless, and I’m curious to see which way my loyalty would sway. (I’m all about testing my inner self.)

* My kids’ sleep schedules are all SORTS of screwed up after the holiday break. I’m dreading this next week as I try to get them back on track.

* It was awesome last night to have various friends and their kids stop by to visit. We had six kids here that were ages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 and consisted of 2 girls (ours) and 4 boys (other people’s). Hey, we like excuses to drink, and if that wasn’t a reason to, nothing is.

* It did make me reflect on how it is that EVERYONE we know has sons. Every single one of ‘em. Our poor girls. Not that they seem to mind, but a little girl wandering in here for a play date now and then would be nice.

* I spent HOURS yesterday undecorating and dissecting our Christmas tree for removal from our home. Steve wasn’t here and I couldn’t drag it out by myself, so I used a hand saw to cut it apart branch by branch and throw it outside. The pictures are priceless and I’m still smelling pine every time I breathe in. I’ll post the pictures tomorrow sometime.

* I think our friends Matt & Joy could possibly have the cutest and most well-behaved boys I’ve ever seen in my life. I’d totally adopt both of them tomorrow and think nothing of it. It gave me hope that all boys don’t act like my nephews. (And we should ALL be thankful for that.)

* I’m sad though that Matt & Joy currently live in Texas and we can’t hang out more often. WHY do all of the people I like the most live so far away? Is God punishing me? Do people purposely move away from me? Are we only likeable from afar? LOL! It’s anybody’s guess, but it really sucks sometimes.

* I’m looking forward to next Sunday when the Steelers play the Chargers. Our friend Jim (a Chargers fan) and his wife and kids are coming over, and Steve and I are already plotting to decorate the entire home in Steelers paraphernalia to annoy him, right down to putting a Steelers hat on the bear in our living room. Because we’re sweet like that. I’d rather bleed black and gold than powder blue and yellow. ;)

* I also hope that Jim’s wife, Kelly, realizes that when it comes to football, I may as well be a guy and that she’s totally in charge of watching the four kids while they’re here. Dude, I do NOT miss a single play of a Steelers game. Our girls know that when a Steelers game is on, they’re on their own for a few hours, so as far as I’m concerned, her boys are too unless Kelly decides to pay attention to them. If she chooses not to accept that challenge, then all injuries/issues/etc. are on her conscience. She’s been warned. (And for the record, they invited themselves here. We have no problem with that and enjoy when they come to visit… but if she thinks for one second that her and I are going to play with the kids while the guys watch the game, she’s sadly mistaken and is in for a rude awakening. LOL!)

* I’m in serious need of a haircut and color, but have no clue when I’ll find the time to get in for an appointment.

* I used an Amazon gift card for Xmas to buy a remote control for my camera. This means many more self-portraits and ridiculously dorky photos. Aren’t you excited? YAY!

And with that, I’m off to bed. I’m exhausted after our whirlwind week and really need to get some sleep. I don’t WANT to go to bed yet, but if I don’t, you’ll all be submitted to more of these rambling, exhausted posts from me and I don’t want to continue punishing you all like that. ;)

G’night!

Day 2/365

Trying Again…

Well, I’ve decided to set myself up for failure yet again and attempt Project 365. I SO admire those of you that started it in 2008 and actually finished it. I could post all sorts of excuses as to why I stopped doing it 90 days or so into it, but the bottom line is that I didn’t finish it. So I’m determined to actually make it through all of 2009. I may fail again, but at least no one can say I didn’t try, right? LOL!

So here it is. My first photo for Project 365 – 2009. It’s Grace playing our Hannah Montana game for the first time on the Wii. I hate to admit it, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun and all of us love it. (Well, except maybe Steve. He didn’t see us playing it. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I came downstairs in the middle of the night one night and caught him busting a move.)

I’ll probably post most of my photos here on this blog as I go, but I also started another blog dedicated only to the Project 365, where I have no intentions of posting anything other than the photo every day. You’re all more than welcome to add that blog to your blog readers, check it out here and there, etc. You can find that here. I’ll make a fancy blog header and all that later, but for now, I just wanted to get things rolling. :)

 

And so begins…

…a new year.  My New Year’s Eve was rather uneventful actually. We had at least 3 or 4 invitations for parties, but we decided to just stay in (mostly due to the fact that we were exhausted from some Texas friends that came to visit last night and all of us (including the kids) were up past midnight). Steve went hunting today, the kids are sleeping at my mom’s for the night, and Steve & I just decided to lay low.

I spent a few hours editing my Christmas pictures, Steve & I watched some random movies on TV, we quick flipped over to see the ball drop at midnight, and then Steve meandered up to bed and I decided to quick blog before I followed him.

I don’t have too many complaints about 2008. Some here and there, but nothing we didn’t manage to trudge through. We had some scary moments, some heart-wrenching moments, some stressful moments, and some downright depressing moments. But we also had plenty of happy, fun, moving, delightful, and downright ecstatic moments, so I can’t complain. (Well, I could, but what good would it do me, really? LOL!)

I don’t make resolutions because I think they’re just things that people make as a way of trying to convince themselves to make changes that they really should have done regardless of the date or year (and because I never keep them). BUT, I have committed myself (once again) to Project 365, where I’ll take a photo a day for the next year. I was going strong until about March of 2008, and I still blame that on me getting a full-time job again. Pathetic excuse, I know. But I really want to give it another whirl. So we’ll see how it goes.

And there are a few things I’d like to see happen in the next year for us that I won’t go into right now (because I’m tired, I’ve talked about it before, and I’m still not sure what will eventually happen), so we’ll see if all those wishes/desires come true.

And with that, I wish everyone a wonderful, happy, sex-filled 2009. Here are some more photos from our Christmas. Happy New Year everyone! :)

And another Christmas has come and gone…

So it’s hard to believe it’s all over, isn’t it? How is it that we take months (or weeks… OK, days in my case) to prepare for Christmas every year, and then in the blink of an eye, it’s all over? HOURS spent wrapping presents, only to be torn open within seconds. I often wonder why we all put ourselves through it. LOL!

But the bottom line is that this was possibly my favorite Christmas so far. At least since meeting Steve and having kids anyway. The girls were on their best behavior on both Christmas Eve at my FIL’s house and on Christmas Day here and then at my MIL’s house. After the “Great Thanksgiving Incident”, I think they were afraid for their lives (thanks to Daddy) if they misbehaved, so for once, even though our one nephew ran around like a little tornado and acted like the biggest ungrateful brat in the world, OUR kids remained calm and thankful for all they were given. Ahhh….

Everyone seemed to be in a good mood this year, which as we all know, when lots of family members are all getting together, is no small feat. I got such nice stuff. Steve bought me some really nice clothing, cool gloves (both “regular” gloves and snow gloves… because apparently, my excuse of not being able to come out with them sledding because I didn’t have snow gloves was getting old), and a cool stovetop popcorn maker for the family (since we don’t use a microwave).

My mom had already paid for my new photo printer, but also gave me lots of nice little stuff like candles, body sprays, lotions, soaps, (apparently my house and my body need help in terms of scent? LOL!), and THREE magazine subscriptions. WOOHOO!

My brother and SIL also gave us really nice stuff, like winter & Christmas shaped pasta, Bath & Body Works hand soap, and a gift card for each of us (I got Barnes and Noble and Steve got Cabela’s).

My FIL came through again and gave us all a nice present or two along with $100 in cold, hard cash. God, I love that guy. LOL!

Steve’s brother and my evil SIL also did pretty well by giving us each a gift card – mine being for my hairdresser. I’m thrilled since I’m in desperate need of a haircut, but given my past with my SIL, there’s that little part of me that wonders if she was trying to tell me my hair looks like shit. LOL! And I’m still a little confused as to why Steve’s gift card was for Eddie Bauer. A store he’s never shopped at in his life, and the place we often make fun of them for shopping at (0ut loud) since good old Eddie’s pretty plain, average clothing can be bought for half the cost at almost any other store in the world. Perhaps they’re tired of Steve and I dressing like teenagers who live at Aeropostale? LOL! It’s anybody’s guess, but it’s all good. I’m sure he’ll find something there he likes. :)

My MIL actually did REALLY well choosing gifts this year for us, and Steve and I both got really nice clothing, some other stuff, and the softest blanket I’ve ever felt in my life.

The kids, as usual, made out like bandits. They got everything from a Wii (from us), a guitar (from my brother), Wii games (from my sister), new American Girl dolls with accessories (from my parents), and lots of cool craft stuff (from my MIL). Now keep in mind that those were all of the “big” gifts from all of us. That’s not including the other bazillion gifts everyone felt the need to buy them. Sigh.

I still have no CLUE where I’m going to put all of this new stuff. And I’m dreading the after Christmas chores of undecorating the tree and house, taking all of the lights down, etc. But I can’t even complain, because it was such a wonderful holiday this year, that I suppose it’s all worth it.

The Wii is AWESOME! My arm is sore from bowling and playing tennis, and I don’t even complain when Grace asks me to play some games with her. SOOOO much fun and probably one of the best gifts we could have bought them. I see years of use in our future (which is totally unlike most of the gifts they get). Good stuff.

My favorite part of the holidays is always the visitors though. I love that we seem to have totally random people floating into our house in the evenings just to drink a bit and hang out. Steve’s mom and her husband and his aunt and uncle stopped by the other night… we’ve had a few friends drift in… and tomorrow, Steve’s friends since childhood are coming to visit with their two boys. They moved to Texas a few years ago, haven’t been home in years, and we’ve never seen each other’s kids. I talked to the wife tonight and we’re all really excited to get together! :)

Anyway, I hope ALL of you had a wonderful holiday! I’ve barely had time to look at my photos I’ve taken, let alone fix ‘em up to post here. But I’ll try to do that in the next day or two. I do have one or two I can post, but they’re aren’t even remotely exciting. LOL! And, as usual, I’m not in a single photo taken. But I suppose that’s the price you pay when you’re the only one who knows how to work the camera. LOL!

Steve on Christmas Eve at his Dad’s House

Grace on Christmas Eve at my FIL’s House

The Girls Playing the Wii Before My Family Arrived on Christmas Morning

Grace Watching My Brother Playing the Guitar He Gave Her for Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Hey gang! I’m pretty sure I won’t have a chance to pop in here tomorrow or Thursday, so I wanted to make sure to wish all of you a Happy Holidays! It’s been crazy around here with last minute things. SOOOO much to do and so little time to do it. We host Christmas for my family (around 15 people) here at the house, so on top of the usual Christmas stress of buying and wrapping gifts, I’ve also had to try to fit in cleaning, grocery shopping, and cooking. Not going so well, my friends. LOL!

But we’ll manage. Tomorrow night, we’ll head to Steve’s dad’s house for food, presents, and total chaos with the “spirited” nephews. Then Christmas morning, within 2 or 3 hours of waking up, my family will start to pile into the house with WAY more presents than any child needs. Then it will be a day of eating, drinking, and playing the new Wii that the girls will find under the tree.

Around 3:30 or 4:00, we’ll head to Steve’s mom’s house for more food, gifts, and total chaos with the damn nephews. But we’ll get through it. LOL!

Today was the girls’ last day of school for 15 days (god help me… LOL!), so the teachers’ gifts went with them to school today. I made them each handmade, blank, all occasion cards with envelopes, CD calendars, a Dates to Remember notebook type thing, and a custom box to store everything in. I hope they liked it! The girls said they did, so that’s all I can ask, I suppose. LOL! Here’s what they looked like….

The “Dates to Remember” books:

The CD calendars:

The handmade cards:

Everything tied together to put in the boxes:

And the boxes themselves. The “C” and “K” are their first initials. :)

And with that, I’m outta here. I’ll be back after the holidays with lots of photos, I’m sure, and hopefully, a more “normal” schedule that actually allows me time to post here. Have a great Christmas everyone! :)

Total Drive-By (Again)

Because it’s 2 AM, and although I’m not even remotely tired, I know I need to go to bed if I have any hope of waking up before 9 AM tomorrow (which is way too late). But this is a good thing. Because it means bullets and we ALL love bullets, right? :)

And we’re off…

* I’ve been so busy, my head is spinning. Work, Christmas stuff, the girls’ extracurricular stuff, school stuff, making gifts, etc. Can someone stop the world please? Because I’d like to get off, if even for just a day.

* My printer took a shit on me 3 weeks ago. It suddenly wouldn’t feed any paper other than normal copy paper. This probably wouldn’t be a problem for most people. But because I print out a lot of photos, scrapbook pages, special papers for hybrid projects, etc., it basically meant my printer was useless to me. So in swoops my mom and buys me the Epson Artisan 700 photo printer as my Christmas gift. Happy, happy sigh. Mom rules!

* However, after printing a bit tonight, using the same double-sided, PrintWorks matte photo paper as a few weeks ago, the new one wouldn’t feed it through anymore either. Uh, I’m thinking it’s the paper, not the printers. So that old printer currently sitting on my living room floor isn’t broken after all? Um. Oops.

* I’m currently a little obsessed with David Cook. Don’t worry. I’m sure it will pass. But for now, I’m a self-proclaimed dork. It’s all good.

* Grace is now officially a Brownie Girl Scout after her investiture ceremony last week. She’s so proud! :)

* Grace is getting a guitar for Christmas from my brother. I think that’s fucking awesome.

* I currently have a total of 3 gifts bought for my children for Christmas, and one of those is a joint gift. (Joint as in for both of them. Not a big bong.) Now granted, the big gift is a Wii. But still. Do you think I could possibly get off my ass and BUY them something? Sigh. My problem is that every other damn family member has already bought them everything they could possibly want or need, so there’s nothing left for me. Dammit. This happens EVERY year.

* I also haven’t bought anything for about 80 other people I need to buy for. I guarantee you I’ll be out shopping on Christmas Eve. I really should have a penis.

* Today ended the 2008 buck hunting season in PA, and I’m sorry to report that my dear husband didn’t shoot one. This is devastating on many levels, and I’m SURE I’ll hear about it for the next year. So if you keep me in your thoughts and prayers, it would be greatly appreciated.

* I’m lip-synching like a rock star right now, thinking I’m all sorts of cool and shit. Yeah Allison… drink another one. [rolls eyes]

* I made some big decisions the past few weeks and I think I finally decided it’s time to move on and forge ahead.

* Hannah continues to crack me up daily. The wit and sarcasm and attitude that comes spewing from that 5-year-old’s lips makes my head spin around (while secretly beaming with pride). She really IS a mini-me, isn’t she? ;)

* Both girls are kicking some serious kung-fu ass in both behavior and grades in school. That’s my girls!

* Grace is student of the month for her class for December. :)

* This Friday, I’m helping out at the school for half the day for some sort of celebration or something (the details are sketchy). The woman who called said it’s “Pajama Day” for the kids and that I, too, am more than welcome to wear my PJs to the school. I have to admit, there’s a very large tiny part of me that wants to walk in wearing something from Frederick’s of Hollywood, like a thong with garters and a bustier. But I suppose that wouldn’t be appropriate, would it? (I’d also have to go BUY garters and bustier, and since I can’t even seem to buy my own damn kids a few Christmas gifts, I’m thinking the chances of me going out and purchasing these items are pretty much slim to none.)

* I know there are about 8 billion other things I wanted to update y’all about, but I’m totally blanking right now. Why is this not surprising?

* Steve’s 34th birthday is on Wednesday and I bought him a kick ass salad shooter. Sounds stupid, I know. But I can assure you he will LOVE it. I don’t think he even knows that such a tool exists. But I will no longer have to listen to his incessant bitching every night when it takes him 45 minutes to make a salad due to the slicing of a billion vegetables (because I’m all about giving people gifts that also benefit me somehow.)

* For Christmas, I got him the mother of all topographical GPS’s. He’s wanted one for quite awhile now for when he goes wandering around the woods. I’m not sure why he thinks he needs one since he knows those woods and mountains better than he knows the home we’ve lived in for almost 10 years, but whatever.

* I never told you guys about “The Great Thanksgiving Incident” involving my kids and our spawn of the devil dear, sweet nephews. I’m not getting into it right now either, because it’s almost 3 AM, but let’s just say that I’m seriously dreading Christmas. I’m thinking of just fleeing the state that week and going down to visit Tink and Hoop. Hell, it’s not like my kids are getting any gifts anyway since I’m suck a slacker. So what’s the difference, right?

And with that, I really need to go to bed now. I need to be up in 4 or 5 hours to shower and pick the girls up at my parents’ house to take them to Sunday School. Later gang. :)

I’ll leave you with a lovely photo of the family when we went to cut down our Christmas tree. :)

(Oh, and while we’re here… isn’t that coat thing Steve is wearing the UGLIEST damn thing you’ve ever seen? I hate it. I tell him it looks like a Bill Cosby sweater. No one else seems to agree with me when asked, but I’m holding my ground on this one. His dickhead friend Grace’s godfather gave it to him because he didn’t want it anymore, so I’m not sure if I hate it because it really is ugly or because it came from Joey, who I have some serious issues with. But either way, I’d like it burned. In fact, I think that’s my New Year’s resolution this year. Burn Steve’s fugly coat thingy. It may be the first resolution I actually keep…)

Tink’s Christmas Meme

Hey gang! I’m alive! Just extremely busy! Christmas things for the kids for their school and various extra-curricular activities, decorating the homestead, and making lots of Christmas gifts for people. I’ll stop back later with a post of pictures and updates. But Tink made up a Christmas Meme, so I thought I’d at least post that for now.

1. What was the best present you've ever received? *** Probably my engagement ring from Steve. He gave it to me a week early on his birthday (the 17th), but I count it as a Christmas gift. It was awesome.

2. What was the worst? *** Probably the plastic microwave egg cooker from my FIL. You know… as seen on TV. We never even took it out of the box.

3. What is something you really want this year for yourself? ***I got it already, courtesy of my mom. She bought me the Epson Artisan 700 photo printer. Happy sigh.

4. What is something you really want this year for someone else? ***Just for the kids to have a great Christmas. They always do, but I always officially hope for it anyway. :)

5. What's your favorite Christmas memory? ***The candlelight singing of Silent Night every Christmas Eve in church. I have a lot of funny memories of Christmas growing up. But the Silent Night one was one that I knew would happen every year, and it always REALLY put me in the Christmas spirit.

Where I’ve Been.

Sorry gang. I’m sure you’ve all been checking here to see if I’ve updated lately, right? Uh huh. That’s what I thought. Well, I’ve been busy. And, as per usual, not busy with the things I should be doing, but instead the things I want to be doing.

I signed up for a free online class that Jessica Sprague is offering. The class is called “Stories in Hand”. It started yesterday and registration for it was closed last night. But those of us that did sign up are having a blast! No one was even really sure what the class was about. Jessica simply said she was going to teach us the system she developed for telling her stories, organizing her thoughts, etc. It sounded intriguing and it was free, so I figured what the hell.

I’m SO glad I signed up! It’s fantastic! We had been given a list of a few supplies before the class started, so I had picked those up last week. Yesterday, for the first day, we were given files to print out for the cover and the tabbed pages for the binders we had bought. Here’s the cover:

And here are the tabbed pages we printed out and put into the binder. There’s one for “Roots”, one for “Self” and one for “Family”.

This is what they look like:

Within the Family tab, she told us to create sub-tabs for each member of our family. So I have one for Steve and one for each girl:

So that was it for day 1 of the class. Today, I got very excited when I saw what the next part was. We were given more files to print out for in the binder. And on these files are hundreds and hundreds of questions to ask yourself and then write/scrap/video/etc. about. Whatever way we decide to document it is up to us. The class is more about teaching us how to keep track of what we want to document, prompts for possible things that will be forgotten if someone doesn’t write them down, etc.

These are the contents and questions we were given for each of the tabbed sections:

There are at least 20 pages of those questions for EACH tab. My god, I’ll be writing and scrapbooking forever. LOL! I’m sooo excited though! I really DO think it’s important to document the things in your life. The things that will be long forgotten after your gone unless someone takes the time to record it forever. Think of how cool it will be for my kids to have the stories behind these types of questions. I wish I had one of these from my mom!

Jessica also gave us these pages to print out for the binder:

We were told to put at least one of those in each tabbed and sub-tabbed section, to write down the stories you want to eventually document. So cool!

I’m not sure what we’re doing tomorrow, but I believe Jessica mentioned making a small notebook or something. After that, we’re going to begin actually using the system, doing exercises, etc. I’m pretty pumped! I wish I would’ve posted about the class here before registration was over so some more of you could have signed up. It’s NOT for scrapbookers. There’s certainly a lot of us there, but many haven’t scrapped a day in their lives. The pages and files are as easy as clicking Print, cutting them down, and punching holes in them. So no comments here about me being creative. This is ALL Jessica this time. LOL!

If she ever offers this class again in the future, I’ll make sure to post about it here and I URGE all of you to sign up for it. Even if you don’t want to actually scrap/write/etc., it’s cool just having the hundreds of questions at your fingertips. I can see it being fun for your kids to pick one of the questions and let you tell them the story. Just awesome stuff.

Anyway, that’s where I’ve been the past few days. Printing, cutting, and punching holes. I’ll be back later though. I NEED to post the photos of my evil sister-in-law and my mother-in-law sliding down the ginormous slide at Bounce U over the weekend. Their facial expressions are simply priceless. LOL!

Later gang! :)

Year at a Glance Album

As mentioned yesterday, my custom deck of cards from Artscow arrived last week. There’s an option to turn off the numbers from printing on the cards. Since there are 52 cards in a deck, I thought it would be fun to upload a picture from each week for the past year and have them put on the cards. Then I had Steve drill a hole through the whole deck and I held them together with a standard office binder ring. (Note: I’ll be buying a smaller ring. This was just the only size I had in my stash right now. I’ll also tie some ribbons and stuff on the ring to “pretty it up”.

I had uploaded a design to put on the backs of all of the cards, so I just took a Sharpie marker and wrote a little bit about each photo on the back of them.

In Photoshop, I put a little “strip” on each photo and typed “Week of _______”.

 It’s been fun so far. Just looking at it this week, we discovered that during this week last year, there was some snow on the ground. Far cry from the almost 70-degree day we’re experiencing today. LOL! The girls get a kick out of it and we end up talking about the picture and some stories from whatever event the picture is from. Good stuff. :)