{my scrapbook pages and stuff}

2010-11-14T08:52:00.001-05:00

Time for my favorite Sunday morning activity in my quiet house - blog hopping with a cup of coffee!

2010-09-19T07:30:00.002-05:00

Yummy fruit soaking in vodka - the beginning of a big batch of sangria!

2010-04-20T12:23:00.001-05:00

New obsession: taking awesome pics of my kid. Not to pat my own back or anything, but c'mon...this is beautiful! And it's not even the best one from that day :)

2010-03-01T18:29:00.003-05:00

Okay, I don't feel so stupid for not knowing that there is an Archivers blog cuz I just saw that it's new :) Check it out if you haven't already!

In other news, I'm feeling the urge to scrap again. Fingers crossed that it doesn't go away...

What I've been up to...

2010-01-23T14:51:00.005-05:00

I'm feeling more creative these days, having fun new toys like my Slice helps :) But also we're getting into putting some work into the house. Rearranging furniture, painting, decorating. So fun! This is what we just finished, it's my absolute favorite place in the house now:

Up close:

I wish I could remember where I found the inspiration for this little corner so I could give some credit but I can't unfortunately. We love how it turned out, love it!

2010-01-09T21:08:00.003-05:00

Christmas was surprisingly awesome, all of our Christmases were this year. It was hard without Brian's dad but everyone managed to enjoy the celebrations in spite of being sad. New Years Eve was a blast! I don't know why but we ended up staying up until after 3:00 am, partying at home with some of our best friends. So far, 2010 has been pretty incredible. I hope it stays this way!!!

2009-12-08T07:20:00.000-05:00

Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas - love it! Wish I had the talent and supplies to create some of those.

2009-11-07T10:27:00.001-05:00

So, even though Halloween is over, I think I'm gonna keep this layout for a while :)

2009-09-04T08:00:00.001-05:00

These days, I feel like I don't have anything to say but I'm keeping this blog for now just in case :) Plus I don't want to lose all of my awesome, inspiring links!

Today is my anniversary - five years, baby!!!

2009-07-16T08:14:00.002-05:00

Again, I haven't updated in forever. Big surprise. I'm thinking of deleting this blog actually. We'll see...

News: back in February, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer. He had a tumor in his throat that prevented him from swallowing and dropped to about 95 pounds. He received chemo and radiation treatments but the cancer kept spreading. Two weeks ago, his doctor said that there was nothing else that they could do and gave him six months to live. On Tuesday, July 7th, he passed away. I know it's supposed to be a relief when someone so sick dies, but he was one of my favorite people in the whole world and I miss him. You know that person who loves you and supports you and always sees the good in you no matter what? He was mine.

Other news: my parents have moved back home to Colorado. I flew out with them on Saturday, 4 days too late to get to see my uncle. My mother's dementia is getting very, very bad and my stepfather was given 12 months to live by his doctor. So they wanted to get home while they could and will be staying with one of my aunts as long as she can handle caring for them. It's sad but I'm happy for them that they get to be home where they want.

Good news: my sister is doing so much better! I wouldn't say that she has fully recovered, but I know that she is really trying to stay sober and be strong. I'm really proud of her and hope she can keep it up.

Other good news: my son got his GED and his drivers license this month!!! I am really excited about this, he is finally moving forward with his life instead of just doing the same old thing as he always did. Super, super proud of him :)

No scrapping for me lately. I did make an album for my sister and her husband for their 20th anniversary but with everything that has been going on lately, I can't seem to get anything done. I want to...just can't seem to put any effort into it. Oh well, I know that happens sometimes. What can you do?

2009-05-09T07:33:00.002-05:00

I don't mean to ignore this thing, but sometimes life is so crazy I can't find the time to post. Plus not that many people read this...probably because I don't update! Anyway, my uncle is doing okay. Chemo and radiation treatments are ongoing, and he is gaining some weight, although not much. So yay.

The problem now is my youngest sister, who is currently in rehab. Again. She's been doing drugs, including heroin from what we have been told. She's been arrested for shoplifting, for drug money, and spent 10 days in jail earlier this year. Got out of jail and ended up in the hospital about 3 days later after OD'ing. She totalled her car a couple of weeks ago and one of her passengers was pretty seriously injured. She doesn't speak to us much anymore. We still get to see the boys a lot, so at least there's that.

What else? My stepdad isn't speaking to me at the moment. He's angry with me because he doesn't think I come over to visit enough. He doesn't want to hear about how busy I am at work and how I don't get home until after 6:00 most days. He doesn't know about my shitty childhood and probably wouldn't care if he did know. It's fine though, I don't need the stress he adds to my life right now anyway. I won't miss calls from him as soon as I get home asking for milkshakes from Wendy's. Whatever.

Good stuff: we're hanging out at my sister's house tonight. Her birthday was Thursday and even though she and I split a 12-pack of beer that night, we're having a few more tonight. And a cookout, so yum! Tomorrow we're going to see the new Star Trek movie, I seriously can't wait!!! I am a huge Star Trek fan and the new movie looks amazing.

I owe someone a PIF RAK. I'll post about that later this weekend, I promise, Christi!!!

two months

2009-01-28T21:30:00.003-05:00

More than two months actually - it's been forever since I've updated this thing! That's crazy. This second job is taking all my free time, the time I used to spend doing creative things like scrapping or taking pics or writing. I don't know...I feel like I don't do anything but work and rest and work some more. I spend time with Brian and the kid and my sister but I don't have much time for me these days.

Brian's hours got cut back at work, he's only getting 24 hours per week, which is terrible. We're still getting by, but things are getting tough and we're going to have to start cutting back soon. I hate that. Hate watching every penny we spend, because we work hard and should be able to enjoy ourselves when we want to. Crap, I don't know...I'm tired.

best.wife.ever!

2008-11-21T21:07:00.002-05:00

That's right, I'm the best! Gave hubby a sexy little surprise on the couch - his favorite kind of surprise ;) Then, made him a sugar-free cake with chocolate icing. I rock!

Working on x-mas presents these days. I hope they turn out cute. Right now I'm making banners out of the snowflake acrylic albums I bought for super cheap from Christine. So far, I like them, although I only started on one and it's nowhere near finished, d'oh! But I like where it's going, so that's cool

Phew - all blogs updated on the same night. That is an accomplishment!

LOVE IT!!!

2008-11-10T19:39:00.002-05:00

I love it, I mean seriously love it, when Brian plays guitar. It's so frickin' sexy! I can't wait until the guys get some gigs - yummy.

2008-11-09T16:20:00.002-05:00

I like that whole "blogging without obligations" theory, it seems to fit here. Haven't bothered to put up one of their buttons, but just know that I'm down. It's been almost a month since I posted to this blog, it's kinda hard to get back to scrapping after our lives were turned upside down in September. I don't know why that is. I'm not taking many pics, but I have so many old ones that I could use so that's not really an excuse. My desk is a mess right now, I'm so going to go organize after I'm done posting here so I can't use that excuse any more either. Maybe that will help me get motivated, maybe not.

I'm starting on x-mas presents, making glass tile necklaces for a few people. Casey and I made two earlier this week, she stole one and Hannah stole the other. So I guess they're pretty cool :) I bought enough supplies to make 10, I think we're going to have to get more stuff soon. I know Casey wants to make some for her friends too so hopefully we can find stuff locally. Ordering from Etsy is cool, but I hate to pay for shipping if I don't have to. We'll see...

What else is new? Our computer is being a jerk, makes it hard to update this thing. It's getting cold out, today I saw some snow! The holidays are coming, which is always fun. And I think I'm going to get a part-time weekend job to help us out money-wise. I hope I can handle that, working 7 days a week for a few months. I'm not sure how it will go, I imagine it will be tiring but hopefully not too bad. I really want to do this.

I guess that's all we have going on at the moment, we're usually pretty boring :)

2008-10-10T18:20:00.003-05:00

I feel like I need to post again, to say that we're slowly moving on. And we are, things feel normal most of the time again. Updates bullet-style:

Brian is out with work peeps tonight - which is cool. One of his friends is in a band and they are opening up for the Misf!ts and he is going to see them. Casey and I might go get ice cream from Coldstone Creamery, if the other car will start for me (it doesn't like me anymore).
Tomorrow we're going to a party deal with my work peeps. It's an annual event, lots of fun, good food and free beer. Rock! We always have a good time, and it's fun to meet everyone's families and hang out with their kids. After that, I'm hoping to go out with my sister and her husband for drinks - it's Brian's birthday on Monday!!!
Sunday, my sisters and I are doing the Walk Now for Autism thing in Columbus, should be fun too. I'm looking forward to it and I raised a good amount of money so I'm kinda' proud of that :)
Monday, like I mentioned, is Brian's birthday - yay! We're planning to go to Mitchell's Steakhouse for dinner, we're both looking forward to that. We hear really good things about it. Yum!

No more blogging, off to scrap!

2008-09-21T15:56:00.002-05:00

Things are getting better, slowly, for all of us. It still feels wrong to go back to our ordinary lives, even though that's exactly what we need to do. I feel guilty, like it means that I'm forgetting, like I'm tryting to act like nothing tragic happened. It's not true, of course, but I can't help the way I feel.

We went out for a few drinks with my brother last night. Meagan joined us because she didn't want to be home alone. I don't blame her a bit. We actually had a really nice time and I think it helped her to talk about Jordan, and laugh and live. She stayed the night on our couch and I made us all a big breakfast this morning. I feel so helpless watching her grieve, I wish I knew what to do or say. Either she thinks I'm doing and saying the right things already, or she just appreciates that I'm trying. Whichever one it is, I'm glad that we can be here for her, even if we don't know what we're doing.

2008-09-14T12:20:00.003-05:00

Nothing seems important right now, whatever needs to be done doesn't seem worth the effort. I have zero energy and zero desire to do anything about it. I'm still just so damn tired...

There are no words

2008-09-12T17:24:00.002-05:00

Our family has been touched by tragedy, and right now, it doesn't feel like things will ever be normal again. Rest well, Jordan, you have no idea how much we all miss you. Bill, I didn't know you that well, but I do know that your family loves you and they are glad that you are finally at peace.

Best Saturday ever!

2008-08-17T18:55:00.002-05:00

Went to a huge rummage sale with my sister and got some awesome stuff - including a pair of pants that are two sizes smaller than the ones I've been wearing! So exciting, for real!!!
Walked around downtown with Brian and then had an incredible dinner at Mad Mex. Such great food, and a fun restaurant. Yummy margaritas and amazing guacamole and the most awesome date to share it with :)
Came home for drinks in the backyard at our new table, listening to music from Brian's iPod. We slow danced to "I can't help falling in love with you" by Elvis Presley between the torches.
Finished off the night with some seriously hot $ex, the kind that leaves you shaky and dehydrated and wanting more. Sorry if that's TMI, but that is what made it so perfect :)

Things to work on

2008-08-01T21:42:00.004-05:00

Sometimes I'm too judgemental, I hate that. And I am too dismissive about other people's feelings. I am selfish but at the same time I take care of everyone else before I take care of me (wtf! how is that even possible? ). I avoid things that make me cranky, even things I need to take care of. I suck at saving money. I don't pay attention when people are talking, my mind kind of wanders and I just stop listening.

In other news, I'm hungry.

Yay!!!

2008-07-30T20:44:00.003-05:00

Hannah is home for two weeks. I missed her so fucking much!!! All we've done since she got back is laugh, I love it :)

PS - I had too much beer tonight and have a nice buzz going right now. Think I can trick that husband of mine into going to bed early? *wink*

Great day!

2008-07-26T21:33:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow is going to be great, Casey and I are playing tennis, I'm so excited!!! She is trying to join the tennis team at school and has been practicing like crazy. She needs to work on her serve and her volleying so we're going to do that for a while. I haven't played tennis in forever, so I think it's going to be so much fun!

We saw a matinee of the Dark Knight earlier, so fucking amazing!!! Oh my gosh, Harvey Dent was scary and Heath Ledger was as incredible as everyone has been saying. I agree with Casey that Iron Man is still my favorite move from this year, but this one is probably a very close second. After that, we took Casey shopping for shoes for tennis and had a little dinner at Cosi. Good stuff!

Tonight we watched "License to Wed" with John Krasinski - yum! I have a bit of a thing for Jim Halpert, he's the wallpaper on my laptop. Brian was teasing me about him being on the television and on the screen of my laptop at the same time and asked me if I wanted to print out some pictures of him to put around the room. Ha! Cute movie, of course, and I had fun watching it with my sweet husband.

Stating the obvious

2008-07-20T10:45:00.004-05:00

Things change when people get married and move in together. Some changes are amazing: getting to wake up with him every morning, falling asleep beside him every night, talking about our days after work, knowing that you're going to do these things together for the rest of your lives. What I hate is that you start to take each other for granted. All the nice little things you did when you were dating just sort of stop over time. Like getting a card for no reason, or a mix CDs of my favorite music, eating dinner by candlelight, dancing to slow songs in the kitchen. I miss them, and I'm just as guilty for not doing them.

I was thinking earlier today that no one in the whole world loves her husband as much as I love mine. It's time for me to start acting like it again. Brian better watch out!!!

Yay for me!

2008-07-11T19:30:00.004-05:00

Today was kick-ass!!! I got a raise, a promotion (sort of) and a ton of compliments for wearing a dress that I have had forever. Enjoyed hearing my boss say, "I don't know what I would do without you. Please don't ever leave." Enjoyed some flirting on the phone and via email. Enjoyed some other stuff that I can't/won't write about ;) Dinner was great, Brian made yummy mojitos and it's Friday. Does it get any better than that? I don't think so.

Oh yeah, and Brian's daddy came home from the hospital today!!!

Sunday = New postscret day!

2008-07-06T11:07:00.003-05:00

I love the postsecret website. New secrets are one of my favorite things about Sunday. Maybe I'll send one of mine in sometime, I wonder if it would get published.

Brian's dad is doing a lot better. The doctors finally figured out a good combination of medications to get rid of the fluids he was retaining. So yay, that is a big relief.

Posting from the ER

2008-07-03T17:13:00.002-05:00

We're at the hospital with Brian's dad again, more congestive heart failure :( He's looking pretty rough, and he's pretty grumpy (don't blame him there). So we're hanging out here today, big fun.

Positive thoughts appreciated!

So cool!

2008-06-16T20:10:00.003-05:00

Some of my tally buddies have started a new challenge blog. Check it out:

I seriously think this is an awesome idea, I can't wait to start playing dirty ;)

Question:

2008-06-13T20:42:00.002-05:00

Is there anything hotter than a man in the kitchen making chocolate chip cookies?

Answer: no.

Fun!!!

2008-06-07T23:59:00.002-05:00

My crop at Archiver's was so much fun! I had a blast with my friends, enjoyed relieving some stress and came home to a very tipsy husband who was all over me! Since we have no kids at home right now, we enjoyed as much of the house as we possibly could before he passed out! Well, it was fun while it lasted :)

Stress!!!!!!!!

2008-06-05T21:18:00.002-05:00

Work is going absolutely crazy right now! I'm working a ton of hours and things are just so chaotic, it's really stressing me out.

On top of that, yesterday my mom disappeared from their house while my stepdad was at a doctor's appointment. Since she has Alzheimer's, this was pretty fucking scary to say the least. All of us "kids" went out looking for her and it turns out that she went to the neighbor's and asked for a ride to town. I guess she thought she left a note, and then according to their neighbor, she didn't know where she wanted to go so they just drove around for a few minutes and ended up coming home. WTF?!

And today, Brian's sister had an accident while riding her motorcycle. Flipped over the front of the bike and landed on her head. I guess she broke 2 vertebrae, some ribs and has a small hole in her lung. I have no idea what any of that means, the doctor hasn't said whether or not she needs surgery yet. Brian and his stepmom are still at the hospital.

Shiiiiiiiiit! I need some major stress-relief right now. And I know just where to get it.

Saturday is the day I am going to Archiver's with two friends from work for a 12-hour crop, can't wait! For now though, I'm going to bed.

Grrr...

2008-05-30T16:01:00.002-05:00

My youngest sister is moving this weekend, I've known about that for weeks. But why did I just find out that Brian is helping her move? Hello, I might have made other plans for us! No one even mentioned it to me, I just overheard them talking about it today, wtf?!

Not that I care, more scrapping time for me. But I'm annoyed that no one said anything about it before now. Seriously, what if it was inconvenient? I should have known that she wasn't going to be able to get this done without help from us, but for some dumb reason, I wasn't thinking.

OH WELL!!!

self-portrait

2008-05-16T18:52:00.001-05:00

I like how this one turned out, for a change.

2008-05-16T17:39:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling very stressed this week. Between being sick over the weekend, having a little drama at home on Monday and work kicking my ass, I've been very scattered and crazy lately. It's nice to slow down, take a break and have some laughs once in a while. I should do that more often.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T18:28:00.003-05:00

It's been a great day, except that I've been sick the whole time! I was sick last night too, I'm blaming it on food poisoning but Brian thinks I have some sort of bug. Either way it sucks :(

But I don't care, because it's Mother's Day and I was super spoiled today. I got some flowers from Brian (love getting flowers!) and he made me blueberry waffles for breakfast - yum! I got this from my kids:

How awesome are they? I guess they've been planning it since Christmas, the little sneaks! I really do have some great kids, I'm so lucky. I can't wait to feel better now so I can go take a million pictures!!!

2008-04-27T17:41:00.003-05:00

So the other day, I casually mentioned to Brian that I thought his band should play the acoustic version of Everlong by the Foo Fighters because I just love that song. Guess what he's learning to play right now...he's amazing.

Fave line: Breathe out, so I can breathe you in. *sigh*

Leave me alone!

2008-04-22T17:48:00.002-05:00

I hate my cell phone...seriously. I've been home for about 20 minutes, after working a long nine-hour day. I'm trying to relax for a few, before I have to put in at least another hour of work. And so far, my cell phone has gone off twice!!!!!!!!! I feel like I never get one minute of peace without someone needing something, at work and at home. When is it my time to have some time to myself? Never, that's when.

This kid

2008-04-15T05:31:00.003-05:00

This kid is 15 today!!! She's so amazing and such a great kid and we love her very much!

Yes, she really does *heart* being awesome :)

Last weekend...

2008-04-13T19:26:00.003-05:00

was such a blast! Brian got four tickets to the Cincinnati Reds game last Sunday and we went with my sister and brother-in-law. We drove up Saturday afternoon and stayed the night at a hotel. Had a great dinner at LaRosa's and played cards and drank beers and listened to music and had a great time.

The game was a lot of fun too! The Reds won 8-2, I think. And we got to see Mr. Redlegs:

We had awesomely close seats. We were this close to third base (that's Ken Griffey, Jr leading off):

Cincinnati is so cool! Brian lived there for like, 10 years. It's where he went to college and he just loves it so much. We went downtown before the game and walked along some river:

The park there is amazing, and the weather was beautiful. He loved showing us around and reminiscing about the days when he lived there. We're going to try to go back next month. My brother-in-law's band is doing some interview thing and maybe a show there so we're going to go too and hang out and see more sights.

The only bad part of the weekend was that I got a sunburn - ouch! And we spent a little too much money, but it was totally worth it. And we made up for it by doing absolutely nothing this weekend :) I did some scrapping, which was lots of fun. You can check out my layouts at tallyscrapper.com if you want. That place rocks!

Feeling better-ish.

2008-03-27T13:18:00.002-05:00

I do feel much better today. Well enough for a shower, which felt amazing, and maybe even well enough to do my hair. Won't Brian be impressed :) Speaking of Brian, what an amazing husband I have. He made me homemade chicken soup Tuesday night to make me feel better and he bought me some orange juice and tissues with lotion and Vicks. Those tissues are amazing, I love Vicks! I need to mail some out to Hannah sometime, she loves Vicks too. Last night he bought me some cold medicine and he made me take it. I feel tons better and can't wait to get out of the house, even if it's only to go to work. I do miss my work friends, haven't seen them in more than a week. It will be nice to get back.

Tomorrow night we are going to a show. Brian is singing with the band, which will kick ass. I don't care how bad I feel, I'm not missing it!

home sweet home

2008-03-25T16:29:00.002-05:00

Boston was great, my family is great, meeting and hanging out with Tami and Chris was just so much fun! It's funny...meeting people that you already know for the first time. I just feel like we were already friends and when Tami's husband answered the phone, I felt like I already knew him too :) We went to the Paper Source in Cambridge, great store!

I thought I was getting over this stupid cold/flu thing but it's back and I feel just horrible. It's been three weeks and I'm ready to be better already, dammit!!! Brian is at the store right now, buying me orange juice and tissues with lotion. I wish I knew what medicine to take, but nothing is helping. This sucks.

Not again!

2008-03-09T13:56:00.002-05:00

So today, Hannah called us to tell us that she needed to be taken to the ER because she cut her finger at work. Gah!!! I guess she did it when she was cleaning the meat slicer. We're lucky that she didn't pass out this time because she was the only one there at the time and the doors were locked because they weren't open yet. It's pretty scary to think of what might have happened if she had passed out but luckily everything turned out fine.

{Click here to see it}

She didn't get stitches because there wasn't anything there to stitch so she'll probably have a scar and an indent. Casey's finger cut is also going to leave a scar. The two of them were just joking that they would never be hand models now - silly girls :)

Crazy weather this week!

2008-03-08T14:39:00.011-05:00

So Monday, it felt like spring here, we all wore our light jackets or no jackets at all. People went out for lunch and didn't want to come back in because it was so amazing outside. Tuesday night, we had a really bad ice storm. Casey took these pics on Wednesday:

Yesterday morning, it started snowing. It's 2:45 on Saturday and it's still snowing. We have at least a foot of snow and it's still coming down! Crazy, I swear. Yesterday after work, I convinced the girls to go outside and play in it so I could take some pictures and after about 15 minutes of begging, they agreed:

We stayed in all night and ended up playing board games with the girls until almost midnight. It was so much fun and one of the things I'm really going to miss when Hannah is gone. Today, we woke up to more snow, a Level 3 Snow Emergency and some super funky snow drifts on our roof:

We're stuck inside again today, maybe we'll watch some movies and have some popcorn (not Brian) and just hang out. Maybe we'll all do our own separate thing like we are now. Who knows. I do with Stephen was here, then the weekend would be perfect. But he has his own things to do and we don't see him that much anymore. That's what happens, that's what is supposed to happen when they grow up. I just wish it didn't happen so fast...

2008-03-02T18:48:00.001-05:00

Oh my gosh, I am hung over!!! We partied way too hard last night with my sisters and their boys and slept way too little. So tired...I've been ready for bed all day :(

Good day/bad day

2008-02-15T22:33:00.003-05:00

I actually had a good day at work for a change. It was still insanely busy but we all kinda' decided to goof off a little bit too :) We had a yummy potluck, which helps make the day better. After work kinda sucked though.

I was supposed to have a conference call at 6 but IT was having server issues and couldn't get our system to work. So instead of having an hour meeting, I was on stand-by until about 9:00. Then, Casey cut her finger on a broken glass while doing dishes and I had to rush her to the ER. Three black stitches and a trip to Starbucks later, and we're back home. Way too much drama and trauma for me.

She's fine, of course. She was a trooper, didn't cry or flinch even though her finger hurt a lot. I'm so proud of her and glad that she's okay.

If you want to see the cut, click here or here. They're pretty graphic though, so beware!

2008-02-13T19:29:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling very thankful for small things right now. Thankful that I'm happy and that I have a job that pays pretty well that I don't hate. Thankful for my amazing kids and my wonderful husband. Thankful that they are all doing so well right now.

Casey is babysitting again, for a family with three small boys who adore her. She broke her phone a couple of weeks ago and just got a new one tonight thanks to my brother. It's an enV and she is in heaven!

Hannah is doing well, she is out with friends right now which really makes me happy. She's been packing up her stuff and getting ready to move to Boston next month, which makes me very sad but very proud. I'm really going to miss her but I am hopeful that she will have a great time.

Stephen is working, which rocks, and likes his job. He is writing music and yesterday he kissed a girl, which made his day. I'm incredibly glad that he is doing well, nothing makes me happier.

Brian is painting, seriously! He's painting as I type this. I can't even describe how I feel right now. I've known him for six years and he's never painted once that whole time. He was a pretty big deal as an artist in school and he just stopped a while back. I'm thrilled that he's painting, and he's painting something for me!!!

Could this day get any better? Maybe if I get some later ;)

CHA

2008-02-12T09:31:00.000-05:00

I really, really, really hope I get to go this year. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that it happens this time, I was so bummed not to be able to go last year. I just love seeing all the posts with new products, can't get enought of the sneak peeks. The Fiskateers blog has some great updates with a bunch of giveaways so if you're a member, go enter! Right now!!!

2008-02-04T17:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, how 'bout those Giants? That game was insane, even Casey was into it! We loved it, I can't believe how great it was, can't believe that they pulled it off. Of course, Brian loved watching Brady take all those hits, I still don't know why he hates him so much. Oh well...I guess it's just one of those things.

I had a great time over at Tallyscrapper's cyber crop. I even got some layouts done this time! I won some cool stamps that I have wanted forever, some thickers and 25% off my next order, which will come in handy when the new kit arrives in the store. Can't wait to get it, it's so incredible!

Off to check out blogs and then scrap! There are still some challenges up that I want to try.

2008-01-27T20:11:00.001-05:00

It's Sunday already...man, I hate that the weekend goes so quickly. We had a good one though. We went to Old Navy Friday night with Casey and got a bunch of great deals. Good shopping!Had dinner with my sister and her husband last night, and a couple of drinks at home afterwards. Brian and I had the house to ourselves, wink wink! That always makes the weekend great :) I did some scrapping today, did a really cute layout of my great nephew's birthday party. He's so darn adorable.

Not much else is new, I guess it's been a boring week. Oh well, next week should be better. I'd probably post more than once a week if I actually have something to post about. Then again, I might now.

Awesome weekend!

2008-01-20T19:36:00.000-05:00

This has been a great weekend. Brian's band had a gig last night, their CD release party. We had so much fun at the show, the opening bands were hilarious, there were bellydancers and the guys actually made enough money to pay for their CDs, which was so cool! Check out how hot the bellydancers were:

Those are some sexy abs, right? Today we went to visit Brian's brother and his family for lunch. Yummy soup, salad and sandwiches and some football. We always have a good time there, and today was no exception. I've pretty much done nothing all weekend and the best part is, I have tomorrow off!!! Can't wait to have a nice quiet morning at home while the girls sleep in. Brian has to work so I will have the house to myself, so nice...

I heart quizzes

2008-01-19T18:47:00.001-05:00

You Are Barney

You could have been an intellectual leader...

Instead, your whole life is an homage to beer

You will be remembered for: your beautiful singing voice and your burps

Your life philosophy: "There's nothing like beer to give you that inflated sense of self-esteem."

The Simpsons Personality Test

You Are From Mercury

You are talkative, clever, and knowledgeable - and it shows.
You probably never leave home without your cell phone!
You're witty, expressive, and aware of everything going on around you.
You love learning, playing, and taking in all of what life has to offer.
Be careful not to talk your friends' ears off, and temper your need to know everything.

What Planet Are You From?

You Are 50% Normal

While some of your behavior is quite normal...
Other things you do are downright strange
You've got a little of your freak going on
But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Party!

2008-01-16T06:43:00.000-05:00

So we had an impromptu party Saturday night with Brian's friends from work. It was a lot of fun! A chair got broken, the chip table got knocked over, the dog swallowed a chicken bone and Stephen got sick...sounds like a great party :) I didn't take a lot of pictures, since most of the people there were strangers to me but the ones I took were pretty funny. I'll try to upload some tonight.

This weekend, Brian's band is having their CD release party. So cool, I'm really excited for the guys. They worked hard on their CD and it sounds freakin' awesome!

Random: here is the picture that Brian took of me for Tami's Love your Body challenge. It's not as daring as most of the other pictures but I loooooove how it turned out:

2008-01-07T20:46:00.001-05:00

My flickr account, in case you want to check out any of my pictures. I love flickr!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T13:03:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a safe and happy NYE this year. Ours was great! My sister and her husband came over for cards, drinks, snacks and laughs and we had so much fun. The girls were both home and we played games until about 1:30 am. It was great to celebrate the new year with them!

Two resolutions for me so far:

1. Take more pictures. I'm trying to get back into using Flickr and taking at least one picture every day. It should be fun.

2. Start walking with Brian. We both need to do this, esp. me.

Anyway, 2008 is kicking ass so far! I'm sure it's going to be a great year.

scraplifting is hard!

2007-12-30T21:16:00.000-05:00

Especially when you're trying to lift the amazingly talented Celine Navarro! Here is the layout I lifted and here is my interpretation:

Sigh...she's incredible.

2007-12-25T12:08:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!!! I hope all one of my blog readers has a wonderful day today! Ours has been great, I got some awesome presents so far: 20 Questions (the Harry Potter version that is shaped like a snitch), a gorillapod (which I wanted last year), the Simpsons movie on DVD, a cropadile and some other random things. The rest of the family got some good stuff too.

We had a great big breakfast: sausage and cheese quiche, spinach and cheese quiche, bacon and sourdough toast. Yum! Dinner will be turkey, stuffing, fresh green beans and mashed potatoes. Brian's brother and his mom and maybe my brother will be coming over to eat with us. Can't wait!

I found this little thing on Rachel's blog. Not sure how I got this answer:

Too funny :)

2008

2007-12-23T13:32:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy making this calendar for my parents for Christmas. I love how it turned out. It was kind of a pain making sure that a picture of everyone was in their birthday month, but it was worth it. And it's reusable, either as a calendar for 2009 or as just a scrapbook once 2008 is over.

No x-mas cards :(

2007-12-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

So I didn't get to make any Christmas cards this year and instead of mailing out store bought ones, I decided to send out New Years cards. I'm not sure how they will turn out, but if I owe you a card, expect it after the first!

It's almost here!

2007-12-22T21:25:00.000-05:00

Christmas, of course. I can't wait! We're celebrating with my family Monday night at my brother's house and then we're spending the whole day at home on Tuesday. So excited for that, it never happens. Brian's mommy will be over for dinner, other than that, it should be a quiet evening.

We wrapped presents last night, just Brian and me. It was so fun, just like everything we do together. After that, we sat on the couch drinking rum and cokes, listening to music and watching the tree. Awesome. I love Christmas.

I'm taking it back

2007-12-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

My scrapbooking, I mean. I'm scrapping just for me and maybe posting some layouts here, maybe not. I feel like lately I've been scrapping for other people, instead of for myself and my family, and I don't like that. So now, it's about me and my memories. Hopefully I'll be able to take a break from being active on all the online sites, get back to what is important and come back good as new. Plus we're going to be busy until after the holidays so I might not even be doing much. If you don't see me around, it will hopefully be for one of these reasons and not scrappers block.

See you soon!

Love it

2007-12-09T12:16:00.000-05:00

I just love this lace cardstock from KI Memories. And I love this picture of Brian, so hot! And I love putting flowers on my manly layouts :)

Dinner

2007-12-06T17:49:00.000-05:00

Brian and I are going here for dinner tonight. Great food and great company...can't wait!!!

Ray

2007-11-27T21:42:00.001-05:00

Brian's dad is in the hospital again. He was having some pretty bad chest pains and couldn't breathe. It turns out he had some blockage and got a new stint. When that didn't really help with the pains, some more tests were run and we found out that he has pneumonia too. He's been there since Sunday night, we're hoping he gets out tomorrow. Good thoughts welcome here...

Wow, I haven't updated in forever!

2007-11-18T12:43:00.000-05:00

Not much going on, I guess. We did celebrate Hannah's birthday on the 14th, that was fun. She picked the Olive Garden for her dinner, Brian's mommy went with us, and Stephen was home that day so he went too. It was so good and we had a nice time. We bought her one of those digital photo frames. She never prints her digital pictures and this way, when she moves we can send her pictures. Stephen also bought her a dozen roses, which was really sweet.

In other news, I'm sick. I've been feeling crappy since Thursday, bleh. Last night was the worst, I hope, so I'm thinking that maybe it's all uphill from there and I should be better by tomorrow.

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving already! How crazy is that? It seems way too early this year. Oh well, what can you do? We're going to Brian's brother's house, that should be fun. I like his family, they are all really cool. I have Friday off too, so excited about that, four day weekend, baby!

That picture...

2007-11-05T19:33:00.000-05:00

of me in my prom dress.

Check out those glasses, and the fingerless gloves...nice! And I swear, my "date" isn't 13, he's at least 16 in this picture because I know he drove us.

Even funnier than my Jessica McClintock dress and 80s look is the cover of the folder that the picture came in:

So funny!!!

Apothescary Swap

2007-11-04T20:01:00.000-05:00

My buddy Rachel hosted a swap on her blog last month and by the time I thought of something to make, it was too late to sign up :( Anyway, she offered to have a mini-swap with me, her and one other person so I made these masks:

I really like how they turned out. I'm mailing them out on Monday. I hope everyone else likes them too!

Happy Halloween!!!

2007-10-31T18:45:00.000-05:00

It's been a great one so far. We dressed up as a rock band at work:

Super fun!!! And Casey dressed up like she was going to a masquerade ball:

She's wearing my old prom dress, which cracks me up. It made Brian sad though, because in a year or two, she'll be going to her own prom :( She went trick or treating with a friend so we stayed home to pass out candy:

Good day, hope yours was fun too!

Good weekend

2007-10-28T16:14:00.000-05:00

It's been a pretty good weekend. We are having gorgeous weather, finally time to break out the sweaters! I always forget how much I love my sweaters until I get them out. Yesterday we went to dinner and a movie with my sister and bro-in-law and about nine kids. My sister and Brian and all the kids saw Saw IV, my brother-in-law and I saw We Own the Night. It was pretty good, definitely not my first choice in movies but it was the only thing playing at about the same time as Saw IV. I liked it though, we had fun.

After the movie, we watched the Buckeyes win another game. Still undefeated, baby!!! This has been a great season for them, and it's been a lot of fun to watch the games. Today we're just hanging around the house, eating some of the pumpkin cookies Brian made on Friday. I did a little bit of scrapping and a little bit of cleaning and a lot of snuggling with Brian. Still a little shaken up about Staci...so shocking.

I can't even imagine...

2007-10-27T16:12:00.000-05:00

someone at Tallyscrapper lost her husband unexpectedly this weekend. And recently someone I know at work lost her husband unexpectedly too. Trust me when I say that if that ever happens to me, I won't survive it. Staci is in my thoughts this weekend, I wish there was something I could do for her.

New and improved

2007-10-10T20:02:00.000-05:00

Casey's new and improved haircut:

Yes, she has bangs now. Aren't they cute? And she made me spend an hour curling her hair tonight. Totally worth it, she loves how it turned out :) I traded her hair styling assistance for picture taking, I can't wait to scrap these.

Brian's birthday is on Saturday! I wish you all lived closer so you could come hang out with us and drink some beers to my wonderful husband.

I can't do it

2007-10-07T10:23:00.001-05:00

I just can't scrap this photo. It's too perfect, Casey looking all cute and bubbly with her new haircut, Hannah in her "Be nice to me" shirt with that big smile, Stephen looking at the camera for a change with that guitar slung across his back. I worry that I won't do the photo justice, I can't find the right paper. It's been on the table for days and I can't do it. SO frustrating...

Still lucky!

2007-10-01T19:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't make the DT at Tallyscrapper but I sure had fun with the challenge! I didn't win any of the giveaways on the Rusty Pickle blog but I have enjoyed the posts this week and will definitely be back for more. I did win the most adorable Halloween card on Melissa's blog and can't wait to see it in person!!! All things considered, September was a pretty good month and I'm really looking forward to October.

In other news...

2007-09-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

The dog is sick tonight. Probably because she ate a hamburger, two big pieces of pork tenderloin, some baked beans and a bacon wrap off the table while we were out picking up the girls from a school event. Yeah, I was going to eat some of that!

We heart Jake

2007-09-07T20:28:00.000-05:00

My brother has a beagle too. A sweet little boy named Jake. He's a skittish one, we think he was probably abused before he ended up at the pound where my brother found him. But he's getting better. They got him a little white puffball of a dog named Palmer, who pretty much worships Jake.

They're so cute together. When my brother and his wife go out of town, we dog-sit for them. Jake is way too nervous for a kennel, he probably wouldn't even come to our house to stay. So we just go over a few times a day to let him out and feed him. Sometimes we stay for a while and watch some tv and play with the dog, he's so sweet and cute, we just can't resist him. I realized this past weekend that we don't have any pictures of Jake, this is what I got when I tried to rectify that:

Yes, his eyes are closed and his tongue is out. This picture cracks me up every time I see it! He's as bad as one of the kids :)

For Lance's blog

2007-09-06T08:31:00.000-05:00

I haven't been lucky enough to take a class with Lance from Rusty Pickle or any classes really, but if I did, I might take a picture that looks like this:

I do have legs in real life :)

Great weekend so far!

2007-09-01T14:53:00.000-05:00

We just got back from watching the Buckeyes kick Youngstown State's ass 38-6 and saw that Michigan lost to Appalachian State. Great Saturday so far :) Last night was lovely. Casey had a babysitting job so Brian and I had a romantic candlelit dinner, just the two of us, a yummy dinner and some wine. It was so peaceful and so nice. I really enjoyed it. Completely spur of the moment and wonderful and relaxing. We'll have the house to ourselves tonight too. Maybe there will be more romance in the air...

Update!

2007-08-29T19:53:00.000-05:00

Not much going on here, work is kicking my ass but that seems like old news. Brian has been working overtime lately, which is awesome for our bills but not so awesome for family time. Casey started school last week and seems to be loving it. Hannah is in Boston right now, visiting my aunt and uncle. She gets home next week, we really miss her!

Casey is a vegetarian again these days. She was a vegetarian for quite a while when she was small, like 3 or 4. For some reason, she just started freaking out about meat at a restaurant and was calling the waiters and cooks killers...you had to be there to see how hilarious it was. That lasted for at least six months and she was so into it I used to have to send her to another part of the grocery store so I could pick out meat for the rest of the family :)

Anyway, she's not as fanatical about it now, thankfully! She doesn't get mad when we eat meat but she's been a vegetarian for almost a month now. At least she's eating well, lots of fruit vegetables and peanut butter and tofu and stuff. We had stir-fry for dinner, with lots of yummy tofu, and chicken on the side cooked in a different pan. Silly kid. She made us some really yummy smoothies too. GOod dinner!

What else? I'm having a hard time scrapping lately. Must be the work-stress zapping my mojo. Or it's PMS, I can't decide. Either way, I have some awesome new stuff, lots of pictures and no desire to use them. Oh well, it will come back soon, I'm sure. Until then, I'm just trying to relax. Not sure if it's working.

Can't wait for the long weekend!!!

Just a little rant

2007-08-17T16:38:00.000-05:00

So I had the afternoon off today, pretty excited about that! After a quick trip to Hobby Lobby for some Love, Elsie stuff, I decided to run some errands in town, pay some bills, etc. I took Casey to lunch, which was nice and then drove Hannah to work. On the way back home, I noticed that the low fuel light was on. So I stopped at the gas station to fill up because I knew Brian would need gas to drive to practice tonight. I pumped my gas and went inside to pay and for a diet soda.

The person in front of me pre-paid for $5.00 in gas and the girl at the register rang it up wrong. She tried and tried and tried to fix it while I stood there waiting patiently. Then I guess she gave up and just started ringing up my stuff and tried to charge me for that $5.00 in gas! Like I wouldn't notice or something? I don't know...anyway, she had to call someone from the back to fix it. The cashier was going on and on about what happened and then went to another register to ring out the people behind me. Um, why didn't she take care of me first? I was just trying to pay and go home.

But it wasn't a big deal, I wasn't in a hurry or anything. The lady from the back rang up my soda and thought that I was the person who had pumped $5.00 in gas. When I told her that my total was quite a bit higher than that, she got all cranky about it because she had to cancel out another order and charge me correctly. WTF?!?!?!? I was just trying to be honest and got treated rudely as a thank you. So annoying!

2007-08-10T18:04:00.000-05:00

Brian had a gig on Tuesday. The bar was a big crap hole but the band was awesome :) My sister and her husband were there, and we had such a great time. I took a couple of pictures. I can't get enough of these pictures of him onstage...yum!

So yeah, they were a two-piece band that night. Guitar, bass and a drum machine. It was very cool. And funny that they were surrounded by a ton of equipment, including a timpani! There was a last minute order change so they just kinda' crowded themselves onto the stage to go on first. I loved it. Such a great show!!!

Homesick

2007-08-05T17:13:00.001-05:00

I got a CD of some photos from home this week from one of my many cousins. Here are some of my faves:

I might have to print some of these out for a layout. They're gorgeous. I'm super homesick now!

Great day!!!

2007-07-29T18:18:00.000-05:00

Casey is home!!!

We missed her so much and I feel like I can breathe again now that she is back. We just got home from the airport and dinner with my parents. Today is also my mommy's birthday. We got her some new clothes and a funny card that plays "Superfreak" by Rick James. She laughed every time she opened it. If there's one good thing about her memory loss, it's that things that amuse her once will amse her over and over again.

Strange

2007-07-28T10:18:00.000-05:00

I felt strangely happy about being able to pay the bills today. I used to hate it so much but it's so much better than not being able to pay the bills.

Funny quiz I found on Rachel's blog

2007-07-28T10:11:00.001-05:00

It does seem like it's true though. I love the part about smoked meat and spicy foods :)

You Are Sauvignon Blanc

Engaging and energetic, you have a lot to offer the world - most of it they've never seen anywhere else!
You are the type of person who carves your own path in life... and you invite everyone else to come along.
The only thing predictable about you is that you could have anything up your sleeve.
You're all about sampling all of life's experiences. Both the savory and unsavory ones.

Deep down you are: Laid back and young at heart

Your partying style: Anything goes... seriously!

Your company is enjoyed best with: Smoked meats or spicy food

What Kind of Wine Are You?

Things are looking up this week...

2007-07-27T17:53:00.000-05:00

which is awesome! I feel so much better, but I still get upset when I talk about what happened, so I try not to. Basically though, $2,000+ was stolen from us two weeks ago. That was our rent money, our car payment and money for bills. I was able to borrow half of it from family so we're not out in the street, and Brian had to sell his guitar but it really sucked. Like I said though, things are getting better and we're feeling better and I'm glad that the worst of it is over.

We got new phones on Monday. My work has a kick-ass discount plan with Verizon so we got super cool phones for free or cheap. I got this one:

It's totally cute and I love it. We also got free texting so I've been texting Brian any chance I get :) What else...oh, Brian won free tickets to see Interpol! We went to the show on Wednesday night and he put his name in for a drawing for more free tickets and we won tickets to see Modest Mouse. Woo hoo! That show is in about two weeks, can't wait!

And the best news of all, Casey comes home on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have missed her so much and can't wait to see her. We got her a new bed while she was gone and she got a phone just like mine, only silver. Two more days and she'll be back. I always say I'm not going to let her leave again, but of course, I would never do that.

I posted some new layouts to Tallyscrapper. Feeling creative again is a good sign for me and the challenges going on this weekend are really making me want to scrap some more. Since I have the house to myself tonight, I'm checking out blogs and then scrapping some more! Thanks, everyone, for the encouragement. I really needed it.

Stuff

2007-07-17T17:52:00.000-05:00

Remember when this blog was all about scrapbooking and layouts and good stuff? Yeah, I liked those days. At least things are looking up, or they're back to where they were a month or so ago. Way better than Saturday anyway, which is huge. More money problems, as usual. I feel like this year has been nothing but money and health problems, at least healthwise things are improving! I'm very grateful for that. And things could be a lot worse. Man, I say that a lot...

2007-07-06T18:48:00.001-05:00

Things have calmed down a little. My stepdad is doing much better now, he's out of the hospital and now he's actually making an effort to eat right and take care of himself, which is a big relief.

The boy, well, the boy is still job-hunting. And hopefully staying out of trouble. Casey is still in Utah, until the 29th. We all really miss her and can't wait until she gets back.

We had a great time on the 4th. Went to my sister's house for a cookout and then watched the fireworks. I took some great photos, I'm picking them up in about ten minutes and then I'm scrapping like crazy! Brian is at band practice so I have the house to myself right now. I've done one layout already and can't wait to work on some more.

Off to check out Britt's blog. Thanks so much for the comments, guys! You're the best ;)

From bad to worse

2007-06-26T17:56:00.001-05:00

My stepdad is in the hospital. I'm waiting for Brian to get home and then we're heading over there. Well, as soon as Brian eats because he has to have meals on schedule for his diabetes and I have enough going on right now without having him get sick.

Anyway, my stepdad is diabetic too. And he is terrible at taking care of it. The other day he stopped by here because he wasn't feeling weel and his blood sugar was at 30. When I asked him what he had eaten that day, he said that he hadn't eaten anything at all. And my mother is in no condition mentally to take care of either of them. I don't know what we're going to do with them, seriously.

I guess he was being incoherent and was confused, he didn't recognize my mother. Apparently there is fluid in his chest and he's having trouble breathing. His blood sugar...26.

Did I mention that my son got picked up for having a pot-smoking pipe on him over the weekend? Yeah, we didn't know that until our landlord came over and said that the neighbor told him that she saw it in the paper. I'm telling you...it gets better and better every day.

More news

2007-06-15T15:56:00.000-05:00

Casey's hamster died, either earlier today or yesterday. When I went in to give him more water, I couldn't find him in his cage. Hannah looked around more than I did and found him in his little tube, just lying there. It's so sad and I'm really upset. She's in Utah with her dad until the end of July and I don't know what to tell her. She's going to be devastated, I wish this wouldn't have happened to her. Poor little thing, I feel so bad.

Don't read this, it's a downer

2007-06-11T11:48:00.000-05:00

I'm really trying my hardest to stay positive through all the hard times we're going through but today, I just feel completely defeated. I can't kick all the bad feelings and disappointment for some reason. I guess it's because I can't talk to the person I share everything with, since he is part of the problem. He did find a job, started last week, and it seems to be going well. This week he was going to work some overtime, and I was really happy about having a little extra money to start getting caught up on things. But today, he's home sick. And he doesn't get sick time yet. So not only do we lose the overtime, but he's not getting paid for today at all. He really is sick, but I just wish...I don't know what I wish. I worry about money constantly these days, and have every day since before Christmas when he quit his job. I'm so frickin' stressed out right now, I don't think I can handle any more bad news.

Casey left for Utah yesterday to visit her dad and she'll be gone for seven weeks. I always fall apart when she leaves and this time it's even worse with everything else that's going on. And on top of all of that, I have my period this week and cramps are kicking my ass.

I hate this, hate having to count every single penny I spend. And I feel so guilty if I splurge even a little on myself. I'm just tired, tired of being the one who has to take care of everyone else all the time and tired of being the one who has to find a way to pay the bills no matter how much money we don't have. It's so exhausting, I really need a break from everything but I can't even afford to put gas in the car to take a drive. Next week should be better, as long as Brian keeps working everything will be fine. But in the meantime, I'm falling apart.

Great weekend!

2007-05-29T18:52:00.000-05:00

We were soooo busy this weekend but it was a blast! Saturday afternoon, my sister came over for a couple of hours with the babies. We sat outside and watched them play for forever, it was so much fun! Earlier that night we went to visit the boy and then we spent a quiet evening at home.

Sunday, we saw Pirates 3 with the kids!!! I thought it was awesome, even though part of it was really sad :( We didn't stay through the credits and I heard that there was a super good ending that made me happier so if you haven't seen it yet...don't leave until after the credits. I'm disappointed that we missed the very end but that's okay. Sunday night, Brian had a gig at this bar called Andyman's Treehouse. Super cool bar, really unique, the room where they played is built around a tree! There are seats around the trunk and lights all around it. Here's a blurry picture of it:

You get the idea. The other bands were good and we had a lot of fun hanging out with the rest of the band and the wives. We ended up getting home at 2:30, which sucked because we had to get up at 8:00 Monday morning to take Casey to the middle school. The middle school band was playing a small concert at the Memorial Day ceremony in town, so we went for the concert and stayed for the rest of the ceremony. It was interesting, and moving and very nice. One of the soldiers there had just come back from Iraq and the crowd gave him a huge round of applause, well-deserved.

After the ceremony, we visited with friends who just had a baby boy, Deegan. He was so precious and tiny and sweet and it was nice to visit with his parents. I didn't take any pictures because I wanted to enjoy visiting and meeting the new little guy.

Monday night we had my sister, her husband, my other sister and the babies over for a cookout. Brian made yummy grilled chicken and Casey and I made potato salad. It was a lot of fun, even though it started raining right when the kids got there. Luckily it didn't rain long, and the boys had a blast playing in the puddles in our driveway afterwards:

The sun came out later and they went back to the swingset:

while the adults sat in the backyard, talking and drinking some beers. Good times with some of our favorite people. The perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

2007-05-24T20:08:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to post about the bad stuff that's going on right now, because I'm already sick of thinking about it. Instead, I'm going to focus on the good:

Hannah only has two days of high school left!!! I'm so proud of her, she is really on the right track schoolwise and workwise and just lifewise. She's figuring it out, this being an adult thing. I love her so much.

Casey is growing up a lot too. She turned 14 last month and is becoming very civic-minded these days. She volunteered to raise money for Relay for Life last weekend, face painting and selling glow-sticks at the track and even got a friend of hers to help. That same day she volunteered to wait tables at the alumni banquet to raise money for her class and then she went back to the track for another three hours. Such a good girl, I'm proud of her too!

Brian is still the best husband in the whole world. He's struggling right now but he still makes time to take care of me and show me how much he loves me. I'm always proud of him, no matter what. I hope I tell him that enough.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that someone at work yesterday asked me if I had lost any weight. Made my day, even though I have no idea if I have or not. We've all changed our diets because of Brian's diabetes so I guess it's possible :)

Uncle Neil

2007-05-16T19:16:00.000-05:00

Brian's Uncle Neil passed away yesterday. I don't know how old he was but I do know that he has been in poor health for quite a while. The funeral is Friday. I wish I had gotten to know him better, he was a very sweet man.

The Office

2007-05-11T05:30:00.000-05:00

I am so into the whole Jim and Pam thing, I dreamed about it all night last night. I'm lame.

news

2007-05-07T19:38:00.000-05:00

Brian got a new job, he starts next Monday. Big relief...and this is something he can do for a while, hopefully, no slow season layoffs or anything like that. Casey had a band concert tonight, that was a lot of fun! She's not taking band next year though, which makes me kinda' sad. I had so much fun in high school band, but she's not really into it anymore. She's also not taking choir, she's taking art and a journalism class instead. Can't complain about that! It's funny to me how she's already thinking about college and planning her classes to prepare for that. She doesn't seem old enough yet. But I'm proud of her for thinking ahead, we just need to talk her out of going to college out West. I don't think I could handle that!

Wheeeee!

2007-04-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

A little bit of good luck came our way on Friday. I won tickets from our local alternative radio station to the My Chemical Romance show on Tuesday!!! We really wanted to see them but didn't have the money for tickets, even though they were pretty cheap compared to most concerts. Anyway, I was caller 10 and won two tickets! We're also in a drawing for an autographed guitar and a chance to meet the band. It's going to be fun, I can't wait 'til Tuesday :)

This is pretty cool

2007-04-25T09:58:00.000-05:00

You all should check it out.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

sigh...

2007-04-22T09:48:00.000-05:00

The good news just keeps coming. As of the 27th, Brian will be out of a job. He found out on Friday. It's always something, isn't it? But it could be a lot worse, so I'm trying not to freak out. I know he'll find another job, hopefully one that he really loves but with only a week to look, it seems unlikely.

In actual good news, we went to lunch yesterday with the kids and our parents to celebrate Casey's 14th birthday. We had a great time. I took this picture of the kids:

Today we're going to Easton, which is kind of an outdoor mall, so Casey can do some birthday shopping. The weather today is amazing, it's been a beautiful weekend. I'm trying to stay positive and focus on the good stuff. It's going to be a great day!

More pictures of my favorite rockstar

2007-04-16T20:30:00.000-05:00

My brother-in-law's band had a gig in town Saturday night and Brian played some songs with them. This is my favorite picture from the show:

Yum! He's so amazing, I can't believe how talented he is :) We were also celebrating my brother-in-law's 40th birthday so everybody had a really good time and I think we were all pretty hung over on Sunday. Totally worth it, I had a blast!!!

One more shot:

Yay!!!

2007-04-10T11:44:00.000-05:00

Brian's car is finally fixed, such good news! And it only cost about $200 to fix it, which is way better than the $400 it cost to fix mine earlier this month. I try not to complain about things like this, well...not too much anyway. We're lucky to have two cars, and lucky to be able to scrape up an extra $200 when we need it. I haven't always been so fortunate and I try to remember that whenever something like this happens. We have a great house, and great kids, and a great marriage and a family that helps and supports each other so there's really nothing to complain about. A lot of people are a lot worse off than we are.

Anyway, I'm thankful for the life I have, even when it isn't always perfect :)

2007-04-04T20:01:00.000-05:00

So, did I mention that Brian's car is in the shop now? Great news. And the a/c is not working in my car. Luckily, it's really cold in Ohio this week so I don't have to worry about that right now. I think I'm the only person in the whole state who is grateful for the cold weather. It actually snowed here today!

{my scrapbook pages and stuff}

What I've been up to...

two months

best.wife.ever!

LOVE IT!!!

There are no words

Best Saturday ever!

Things to work on

Yay!!!

Great day!

Stating the obvious

Yay for me!

Sunday = New postscret day!

Posting from the ER

So cool!

Question:

Fun!!!

Stress!!!!!!!!

Grrr...

self-portrait

Happy Mother's Day!

Leave me alone!

This kid

Last weekend...

Feeling better-ish.

home sweet home

Not again!

Crazy weather this week!

Good day/bad day

CHA

Awesome weekend!

I heart quizzes

Party!

Happy New Year!

scraplifting is hard!

2008

No x-mas cards :(

It's almost here!

I'm taking it back

Love it

Dinner

Ray

Wow, I haven't updated in forever!

That picture...

Apothescary Swap

Happy Halloween!!!

Good weekend

I can't even imagine...

New and improved

I can't do it

Still lucky!

In other news...

We *heart* Jake

For Lance's blog

Great weekend so far!

Update!

Just a little rant

Homesick

Great day!!!

Strange

Funny quiz I found on Rachel's blog

Things are looking up this week...

Stuff

From bad to worse

More news

Don't read this, it's a downer

Great weekend!

Uncle Neil

The Office

news

Wheeeee!

This is pretty cool

sigh...

More pictures of my favorite rockstar

Yay!!!

We heart Jake