cough~cough~cough

I am sick and it hurts to breathe, I cannot talk and this cough is ridiculous. Yep. I am sick and in pain and really not looking forward to doing anything but sleeping. Since that is not an option I am here at work were we will be having our Cookie exchange and Secret Santa swap.

I stayed up late last night making peanut butter cookies. They are yummy. I feel kind of bummed that a lot of people just bought cake or cookies. How do you exchange cake? I guess B just does not have to know about the cake. ;-)

Being a Secret Santa freaks me out. I stress WAY too much on whether the person will like the gift or not. Of course I did not get anything from the girl’s list so if she does not like it I guess it is my fault. Even though there is a limit to the amount to spend I always feel guilty if I don’t spend more. This time though since funds are tight, I only spent the required amount.

Well I only have 15 minutes until wrap-off so I better get some work done. In the meantime here is a funny for all of you. Enjoy.

Snazzy!

It is all the rage!

People are oh so jealous! What is the new fad you ask? Well let me tell you. It is the latest in office supply hair products. Yes! For only a few cents (or free if they are supplied at your work place) you too can have the latest fashion trend. It is OFFICE COUTURE (but for your hair).

Who knew that paper clips could make such snazzy hair clips? I was always told that if someone teases you that they are jealous of you. So by all the jabs I have received on my choice of hair accessory, I must be the most envied girl in the world! Whoo hoo! I am finally popular!


Ps ~ pictures from the holiday party coming soon.

My feet are tired

Whew! I cannot believe I actually have a moment to write something. It seems even when I am not at work I am busy. Since we are not allowed overtime at the moment at work I got to go home early on Friday. I could not believe the traffic at 2pm on a Friday. I was able to pick up my funky new glasses last night which was a great timesaver for me. Last night I also got together with a couple of wonderful friends to scrap the night away. Well they scrapped a bit more than I did (which is the norm) but I did manage to get ONE page finished. Of course it took me 5 hours and cost me about $8.00! LOL!

This morning around 11:00 my mom called to tell me to meet her at Macy's as they had a wonderful sale with extra discounts that ended at 1pm. Of course that was the time B decided to jump in the shower so I did not get to the mall until noon and then I had to find a place to park. After finding a spot in the back 40 (it was easier to just park far away than to wait for a spot), my mom took me to the department where she saw stuff she thought I would like. She told me that she had to go but that she would leave me her Macy's credit card and that all the ladies there knew. She gave me $100.00 to spend for my Christmas present. I did not find any pants but I did find some really nice tops (one I will wear to the Christmas party tonight) and I found a JACKET!!! I now have a jacket! Let me tell you this is a big deal! I don't have any jackets. When we went on our cruise to Alaska I had to buy a fleece jacket to wear. Now I have a nice denim form fitting jacket that only cost $30.00 down from $69.00. That is the fastest shopping (with trying on clothes) that I have ever done, since I had to check out before 1pm. I made it too as I checked out and my mom called right at 1pm to check up on me. I am very happy with my Christmas present from my parents. Whoo hoo! Clothes are always nice.

After the hour rush to try on clothes I then went to find some nice dressy black shoes. I have no nice heels and I found a couple of different pairs. One is dressy and the other is more for slacks. Being me, I bought both. Then it was off to the lingerie department for a black bra ( I am floored to have found one that fits) and some stockings (I have not worn those in a long time). Since I get to dress up tonight I really needed them although I think I may have an old pair in my drawer. New is always better right?

Now if I thought the traffic at the mall was back at noon you should have seen what it was like when I left around 3pm. All the back spots that were empty when I got there were full. People even parked on the dirt embankment around the mall. It took quite a bit of time to get out of the mall and then I had a few extra errands to run. I finally got home around 4pm and finally ate something.

Now, I am taking a breather while waiting for my laundry to dry. What I thought would be a nice leisurely day off sure turned out to be a busy one but I was nice too. I think I will go and take a couple of aspirin and relax a bit before the rush to get ready to party.

Tomorrow I will start to worry about not having started my Christmas shopping and that I need to send out Christmas cards.

Cookie Cookie Cookie

For the first time I have been invited to participate in a Christmas Cookie Exchange. Being one that does not really eat cookies and have only baked the basics (oatmeal, sugar and chocolate chip) I have no idea what to make. I need to make a couple dozen and I want to make some that are really yummy. So......I need your help. Cause you know I want to have the best cookies there! There is nothing wrong with that is there?

• Does anyone have any idea of what I should make?
• What is your favorite Christmas cookie?
• Do you have a favorite recipe? Can you share it with me?

Thanks in advance everyone!

I can see clearly now

This past week has been hard for me. I was super tired and even stayed home sick on Thursday so that is the explanation for my lack of content. That said....I have been keeping a secret from you. Well it is not a 'real' secret in the fact that it is not something juicy and exciting but it is exciting to me.

Last Saturday, I finally got off of my rear and went in for contacts. It has been years since I have worn them (maybe 4 or 5 years). I have the most awesome vision plan at work. I have worked there 6 years and have never used it. Well I finally did. I got contacts and glasses BOTH! (funky glasses too!) So this past week was my re-introduction into the contact lens wearing world. The funny is that I ended up going to the first eye doctor I ever had when I was 12. He must have been really young then because he sure does not look like he has aged much.

For my first week, I did pretty good except I could not see very well out of my left eye. When I first went in for my exam I tried a stronger prescription but the doctor put a lower rx in that did not mess with my perception as much and sent me home. Well come to find out the person that handed me the contacts gave me my left one inside out (I did not think I would need to double check) so I wore it that way pretty much the entire week. Well until last night that is. It worked much better once in was in my eye the correct way but the rx was still off. What is weird it that my eye did not even feel like the contact was in wrong. I thought of the idea to check it on Thursday only after the contact on my right eye DISAPPEARED into my eye! Can you say OUCH!?! It hurts just as much as I remembered. After having my co-worker make sure it was no where on my clothing I proceeded to the restroom where I fiddled with my eye until I found that darn contact! I cleaned it off and put it back in and boy did it STING! Well I had put it in my eye inside out and that is what prompted me to check my left contact. So today I went in for my first checkup and to pick up my extra contacts and my funky glasses. After waiting for ONE hour, I saw a different doctor and told her about the rx and she put in the original rx. Let me tell you. IT. IS. GOOD. TO. SEE. IN. FOCUS. (that and wearing cool sunglasses again) I will no longer be the weirdo chick closing first one eye and then the other to compare the focus of each eye. Sadly, my glasses were not ready and now I have to wait for my contacts to be re-ordered. Hopefully sometime this week they will both be in and I will be able to show off my new look with my funky glasses.

Static aka My hair has a life of it's own

I have issues with static. Usually my issues revolve around me shocking someone or myself by touching. I am constantly shocking myself each time I go to open the car door. And these small jolts of electricity are not without some pain. Sometimes I have hurt others and even myself with the charge.

But I have never had a problem with static and my hair, until recently that is. I know that I have always wanted more body in my hair but this is ridiculous! hair has so much static it is unreal. My hair is long and very fine/thin. When I try to brush it – I end up having a halo of hair. I hair spray it to death, I have conditioned it, I use shampoo and conditioner for dry hair. But none of these things help. I am not used to this.

Can anyone help me? Does anyone know how to get rid of static?

LO: Dad

Here is my layout for the day.

Very simple layout without much embellishment but it sure took me a long time to complete. I never realized how tiring scrapbooking can be but boy it sure it fun! I guess I am just not used to scrapping every day. I am sure I will get used to it though.

Thanks for looking.

Supplies:

• Patterned paper, Words & Ribbon - Wild Asparagus
• Cardstock - Bazzill
• Computer font - "Georgia"
• Title 'Dad' is exacto'd out of cardstock - font is 2 Peas "High Tide"
• Eyelets
• Chalk

LO: 'Twas the night before

Here is my Layout of the Day for Sunday.

Challenge was to follow the sketch found here, hopefully I did it justice. It is kind of hard when the paper size is different. I like how this layout turned out though. I think this is actually one of my favorites.

Thanks for looking.

Supplies:

• Patterned Paper - Provo Craft (Big Slab)
• Cardstock - Bazzill
• Making Memories rub-ons
• Chalk
• Ribbon - SEI
• Fiber
• Computer font 2Peas "Angelic"

LO: Our Baby Sister

I have been challenged to scrap a layout a day. I think having a goal will be good for me to get my butt in gear and start scrapping away!

This is my layout from Saturday. It is my first time using ink on a page. It took forever to stick down the Making Memories ribbon as no adhesive I owned would work.

I am so happy to be able to scrap a 'girl' page. :-)

This layout is 8.5x11 ~ 2 pages stitched together

Supplies:

• Patterned Paper - Chatterbox "Parlor"
• Cardstock - Bazzill (Marigold Trio)
• Tags - Chatterbox "Parlor"
• Trim - Making Memories
• Lilac Paint - Making Memories
• "Misunderstood" foam stamps - Making Memories
• Flower brads - Making Memories
• Smoke Blue Ink
• Computer font - 2 Peas Beef Broccoli
• Heidi font rub-ons - Making Memories

Short & Sweet

Just a quick and short post for tonight. Well I say that now but I always end up jabbering.

Today we took photos to send to our Tier 1 agents. It was supposed to be a group photo but we could not get everyone together and one girl had to go and we could not find a good place to take a photo. So.....each person got their own photo taken and we will Photoshop them into 'something'. So far all the photos are great and one of the guys had the funniest photo I have ever seen. I will ask him if I can share it tomorrow. But for now......here's my picture. I am actually surprised that it turned out okay and on the first try too. Oh yeah.... I better not let dh see this photo or else he will ask me what that dork from MCR is doing on my screen. LOL!

I think I know why I am so exhausted. When I clocked out at work today I already was at 79.75 hours for the week and I still have one more day left to work tomorrow. I don't see Friday as being a short day either as for some reason my work has been piling up. I do have an inkling though as to why some of it is piling up. You see I work via email and the work I do comes from our customers that fill out an online form. Usually these customers are not calling for support but wanting online assistance. I have been having a few requests lately where the customer has called in and was told by the agent to fill out the online form for help. Am I bothered by this? Heck ya! These requests are for simple passwords and the phone rep can do this while on the call with the customer. For them to send them to me is a definite punt! Then in my other queues I have reps entering in bogus requests. I get those from time to time but usually they have the name of 'test' or something really obvious. Not lately. The bogus requests that are coming in have real names and I cannot tell them apart from the real requests. And I wonder why I ended up working 91 requests when I normally average 30 a day and when I left I still had 16 sitting there. Then in another queue I started with 123, completed 87 and when I left today there were more requests than when I started this morning. No wonder I am so exhausted!

So on that note.....good night!

Nighty Night

Whew! For the last couple of days...well since my last post on Sunday, I even forgot I had a blog. Work has been THAT busy!!! I work all day without taking a lunch and then come home late. Last night I got home and did some laundry (even put it away - Whoo hoo go ME!) and ran the dishwasher and had hoped to have some 'me' time but once I sat down to scrapbook I only managed to mat a couple of pictures and cut them out.

Today was another busy day although I did manage to take about an hour away from my desk but not to relax but to run to our main building for a meeting and a few minutes with my sister (who now works for my company - yeah)! I still managed to work .5 to 1 hour overtime today.

Since we were out of TP and that is an important item in this household, I stopped by The Red Circle Boutique (aka Target) on the way home. Instead of running in and buying the 3 items on my list that I needed, I made a detour through the dangerous sections (aka as clothes and shoes). I have a couple of pairs of shoes that are the wrong size and I had forgot to bring them with me to return. As I looked at the shoes I saw they had the pairs I wanted but only one pair in my size so of course I had to pick them up tonight. I just hope they take back the shoes I want to return as I took the tags off of them but never wore them. And since I bought shoes, I also bought socks. It has been forever since I bought socks and tonight I bought purty socks so I will be sylin'. Oh and the socks are so soft.....So over $100.00 later I drove home.

Once home since it was already past 8 o'clock, I warmed up some soup and watched a bit of T.V. I got online to update my blog template to make it a bit more seasony (is that a word?) and what should have only taken a few minutes ended up taking forever as I ended up with circles in front of all my links and I could not find what I had left open in my code. Well I can tell ya.....all my suffering? All because of a stupid missing semi-colon!!! ARGH! Man! Now I am EXHAUSTED!

I am going to bed. Good night!

Brrrrrr.....

Toady it is FREEZING!!! The wind is blowing and it is 50 degrees!! It is officially winter in my book. I actually got to wear a sweater today ~ a thick one! That is a big thing for me. I LOVE my sweaters.

I have lots to do today and as usual I have left them all to the last minute. I did manage to get out for a bit and wandered over to the scrapbook store where I got to use my coupon (buy $50 and get $15 off ~ Yeah like that was hard). The scrapbook store near me is running a special every week so I hope I don't go too crazy on the spending (Yeah considering I am the tightwad with money that will not be happening). After leaving the scrapping store I stopped by the grocery store for quarters. Good thing I remembered to pick some up as that is the whole reason I left the house today.

So now it is time for some laundry, some kitchen cleaning and making of some yummy potato cheese soup. Yep! It is officially winter in my book! Hmmm I wonder if it is time to change the ole blog template to my winter one.

Thanksgiving should be a soap opera

…but only when it is spent at my in-laws.

It is hard to believe another Thanksgiving has come and gone. It is not one that I would like to remember and I really missed not being with my family. I don't think my mother-in-law said more than two words to me on Thursday but of course, I was kind of hiding so she would not lash out at me. I have not grown up in a family where drama was the main course for a holiday and I can tell ya I do NOT like it!

We arrived at my in-laws and were greeted at the door by my father-in-law and one of my nieces. One could not know that soon the smiles would not be there (although all of us kind of expected something to happen). Now my in-laws have only been in this particular house for a couple of years. Before that, they lived in a much smaller place. The new house has a large kitchen that my MIL bragged about since they bought the house. Well the bragging has stopped. The complaints about the kitchen being too small started as soon as we got to the house.

It was nice to see my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and all of the girls. I finally got to meet my youngest niece (19 months after she was born) and can I tell ya…..she is cuter than I expected.

All in all, there were 10 of us for dinner and so the table was set outside where the weather was FANTASTIC! The actual meal was good and seemed to go quickly but it was nice to sit and chat for a bit. I also had a blast taking photos of the girls as they just love posing for photos.

Then dinner was over and the drama started. The rule in my mother-in-law's house is that nothing and I mean nothing can be done after dinner until ALL dishes are cleaned and put away. That means if you want to watch a movie, you can't. If you want dessert, you can't.

Since my MIL is the one that cooks the cleaning is my FIL's job. Since this newer house has a dishwasher you would think it would be easier for cleanup. Sadly, it is not. My FIL put in the first load and was going to wash the rest of the dishes (with my SIL's help) but my MIL would not have it. She kept saying at first that she needed to put the food away, complaining all the while that she would have to dirty utensils to do so and then complaining about not having enough room in the fridge for the left-overs (yeah I will talk about those later). My FIL and B actually LEFT to take the leftovers back to our place. The drive is about an hour round trip. While they were gone, my SIL again offered to do the dishes, which my MIL refused stating that there were no clean towels (don't know why as there was a closet full of them).

The older girls wanted dessert and the younger girls were hungry again about this time. It was about 2.5 hours after we had eaten. My SIL told the younger girls that they could have some yogurt outside. So the girls put on their shoes and go to the fridge to get the yogurt. My MIL tells N (the 3-year old) "NO yogurt. You cannot eat yet! You have to wait until later for dessert!" This then made the 3 year-old cry as it should. Then my MIL has the gall to say to my SIL "Well if you insist you can give them pie and ice cream" Which is not what they wanted. So my BIL goes to get the yogurt and my MIL stews and starts complaining that she has to do it all and no one helps her clean and at that time B comes back and I just give him the look and tell him "she's losing it."

So finally, HOURS after dinner, dessert was eaten and a movie watched. B and I then headed home where I was in the mood to make myself a nice turkey sandwich. But did I get to make a nice leftover turkey sandwich? NOPE. As you see…..although my MIL gave us leftovers such as a container of gravy, she gave us no TURKEY! B said he told her not to as we have a frozen one in the freezer but as I told him, how will I make a sandwich with a frozen turkey? And why the heck do we need leftover gravy if we have nothing to put it on????

Happy Thanksgiving

For those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. For those of you that don't I wish you a happy Thursday!

Thanksgiving this year will be spent at my in-laws. I am missing my family already and the small gathering of 20-25 people that my mom says will be there (all family too!!!!). B's side of the family is quite small for my tastes. Just his parents, his brother and his brothers family. So we are looking at 10 people (four of which are children). I am excited and thankful that I will get to see my sister-in-law who I love dearly and my 4 nieces (one of which is over one year and I have not met yet). So I am prepared to take tons of girl pictures! I am just debating on if I want to just take my digital which has the smallest memory card EVER or just take my trusty film camera with all the film I still have. My SLR (film) camera takes the best pictures as I am still trying to figure out how to make my little digital take pictures that I like. I sure do miss my depth of field. For those of you that know that term.....I used that ALOT! Well I did anyways in my photography portfolio. Why? Cause I love it! I keep trying to take pictures using all the tricks I know but they just don't turn out the same with this digital so I am left with just snapshots. Don't get me wrong, snapshots are not bad but I really miss taking a photo that when I look at it I go 'WOW'!

Well this Thanksgiving post has really gone off on a tangent. Back to the subject of Thanksgiving.

Everyday I try to think of the things I am thankful for. They usually rush quickly thru my mind and I never actually thought of writing them down. Writing them down makes them permanent and quite personal.

I am thankful...

...for my family and that they are all still here with us
...for the friends that I have. (Most of them may be new but I already hold them dear to my heart)
...for my health
...for my job and the roof over my head
...for my life (for I never thought I would live past 16, 18 or even to my 30's)


Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Don't forget to wear comfy pants!

I see bling!

On Monday I got a surprise in my mailbox. I kind of expected the surprise to happen on Saturday but Monday made up for it. What was my surprise you ask? Well in my tiny mail box was a key. Whenever there is a key you just know there is something good. I took the key and opened the huge mail box reserved for packages. Inside was a huge envelope and 10 tiny envelopes. The huge envelope I was surprised to find contained a free skein of yarn that I kind of forgot I had sent away for. In the 10 tiny envelopes? My jewlery orders of course! I had already received one item a couple of days before and knew that the others should be arriving soon. I cannot believe all the jewlery I have been buying. I really love the rings I ordered but with me losing weight I am sad that I will not get to wear them for long. I also showed them to B who was actually very surprised at how nice the pieces were. So....so far he has no complaints with what I have purchased. If only he knew the dollar amount but hey I am not going to be the one to tell him. Sadly, last night there were no small brown envelopes in my tiny mail box. But today is one more mail day before the holiday so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I am so happy that after today I will have a long 4-day weekend! Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed that today will not be so busy. I just want a nice relaxing day at work where I can order some more bling (2 so far today) and spend time at the Kindred Creations site (LOL!). If you scrapbook you may want to head over to that site. They have a wonderful layout gallery, the most friendly message board and lots of contest and challenges that I hope will kick my butt into gear and get me to get caught up on all these pages I need to complete.

I need a title, Darn it!

Each day at work I feel more like a grown up. Maybe because I am no longer at the bottom of the totem pole taking calls. I have moved into my new ‘office’ (cube) and I love it!!! I still have pretty much everything in boxes but I know I will eventually have everything unpacked. I find it hard as I have so much more room but I also have so much crap and I don’t know where to put everything. It is hard having lots of choices! Now that I actually have real desk space I can go and buy neat-o office thingies. I even have room for pictures! Yet another picture of me taken at the END of the day. This picture only shows very little of my new space. As soon as I unpack I will show it off.

It is now winter. Winter means nice clothes. Why? Well because all my winter clothes are nice clothes so I HAVE to dress up for work. It was also time to update the old hair color. Heck I was bored and needed something to do. I decided to go dark. As you can see it is also quite red (in certain light). I like it. I have not had my hair this color for awhile. And I like it even more now that I washed it again and my scalp is now the normal white and not red like in this picture. B was worried about it being so dark and not red (he likes the lighter red) but he did notice the red last night so I think all is good. Actually it is more of a burgandy/plum purple but hey guys don't really know colors. One of these days he will realize I dye my hair the colors that I like not what he likes. :-)

Okay here is my gripe for the day. I love my co-workers in my new group/department but there is one woman that just ticks me off. I don’t think I have written about my new group before as I wanted to get to know them first before passing any judgments. Well not anymore. This woman is a witch no matter how many chances I give her.

So let’s start at the beginning. When I first moved into my new group we were in a smaller room full of cubes. There were other departments in there and the majority of the people working in there were temps. This woman (at the time) was a temp. On the morning after my move someone sent an anonymous email to our group. Here is the email that was sent:

It has been requested to remind everyone to have consideration of others working in our small area:
Loud conversation whether it is with other team mates or even on the phone can be disruptive.
Using speaker phones to check audix or make calls can be distractive as well.
Laughter, however, enjoyable to hear, can break concentration and work flow.
Please assure you are being considerate to your neighbors.
Thanks

What the F!?!?!?! Laughter is not allowed? This email ticked off a lot of people as no one 'requested' any of this. I was ticked because….the day before it was sent I did some laughing. I like to laugh. Since when is laughing not allowed in the workplace? Well the woman did not admit to sending it but the managers all think she did. The managers were livid over this email.

So fast forward to just a few days later. I am sitting at my desk when a co-worker walks in for the day. We say hello and so did the other 2 co-workers next to him. He has not even clocked in for the day and was off the clock when this woman comes over and tells us all to get to work. EXCUSE ME??? I have worked for this company for 6 years and my own manager has never had to tell me to ‘get to work’ and now this TEMP has the nerve to do so? Well I spoke to someone about it and the other co-workers had also complained so this woman was taken in to speak to her manager. It appears that this woman would keep track of what everyone else was doing. If you got up from your desk she would write down the time and then time you when you were away. It did not matter if you were in a meeting or on lunch. She kept track of everyone’s time. This was not her job. She was a TEMP! She was told she ticked off a full-timer (ME) and to stop. She did not bother me again. The classic moment came when this particular manager came into the room and complained loudly that it was too quiet and proceeded to make A LOT of noise! Lots of laughing was done that afternoon.

Now fast forward to today. We are having a potluck in our group. (MAN! This group is always having potlucks). Well there were only two of us here this morning so I cleaned out an empty cube and placed the food in it. This was the only empty cube without computer equipment and I wiped down the tabletop. Well everyone was putting their food in this particular cube. Until this woman just had to have her own way and did not think it was good enough and cleaned out the cube next to hers and moved all the food into it. I don’t care about that but the comment she threw my way of ‘that cube you picked is not clean enough and does not have enough room’ is what threw me into a tizzy. What? There are only 8 of us and not everyone brought food. Argh! I guess I need to learn how to work with women. But man! There is only so much a person can take. Well that person being me and since I take everything so personally anyways, I can only take very little. :-)

I am so happy this week is a short week but I have so much to do before I can take time off for the holiday. Why is it when there is tons of work to do, I don’t feel like working at all? Maybe this headache I have may have something to do with it? Or maybe the idea of a 4-day weekend? Anyone in the same boat?

So sparkly I will be!

I think I have a problem. Do you notice that this picture has changed since the last time I posted it? Yeah.....definitely a problem. Why is it a problem? Because so far all of these items are just for me. I have not yet purchased any for Christmas presents like I want to. At least I will look darn purty with all my new jewelry. All of the items I have ordered (except for the one today) have shipped. I think I may need to beat B to the mailbox over the next few days. So in order to not be the only one with this problem, I will share the link to this new addiction with all of you. Just click the pretty banner below.

Disclaimer: I am NOT responsible for any new addictions you may encounter!!

LO: Oh Baby!

Well here it is! The first layout of the twins! I am so happy to have finally finished one (especially now that they are 17 months). These are the photos of their first day. Of course I did not use all the baby stuff that I had planned too and I have tons left over. I guess I will be doing tons of baby layouts soon to use up my stash. I really wish I could make these baby layouts as awesome as Happay Mommay's baby layouts of E. Stop by her blog and check them out and you will see what I mean.

Layout is 2 8.5 x 11 pages stitched together

Supplies used:

Yellow and green cardstock - Bazill
"Oh Baby" stickers - Pebbles "Snip-its"
Making Memories Rub-ons

Thanks for looking.

5 days later

Thanks to a great friend of mine, B and I were given passes to see the sneak preview of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. (Of course I feel she is a great friend even if she did not give us the passes). It was a 10am show and we got there about an hour before. Even though the line was long there were some empty seats in the theatre (up front). B and I lucked out as I was asking a poor young girl how many seats she was saving (I don’t agree with saving a whole row or a ton of seats for someone who does not get there on time) and the woman in the next row asked me how many seats I needed. She moved down one so B and I could sit together and up in the risers and not in the front of the theatre. All the best seats (2 rows in the middle) were saved for the reviewing press which only about 5 showed up! There were quite a few people there without passes that bullied their way in as well.

As for the show….it was okay. B is not a big Harry Potter fan but managed to stay awake during this one (it took him 3 tries to see the first one). This one was very dark and I would think scary for the younger kids in the audience. Lots of scary images and even death. That Harry Potter sure is growing up!

I have found a new addiction and I find it really weird as I am so stingy when it comes to buying jewelry and have spent hours or even days thinking about an item before making the purchase. On the site that is causing this addiction, I only have 15 minutes (sometimes less) to make a decision. All items are free and I only pay $5.99 for shipping. I have to be careful about the earrings as I do have an allergy to nickel but that has not stopped me from ordering a few pendants. In fact I decided today that I think I know what I will be buying my family (at least the females) for Christmas. So if you read this blog and you know you will be getting a gift from me – please forget what I wrote above!!! So far, I have only purchased a couple of pendants – but right now I just bought this ring!!! I don’t even know what size ring I wear but I bought this one anyways. I don’t know why I bought a ring. I sure do hope it fits~!!!!! I am thinking I can wear it on my middle finger as that is my fattest one. LOL! There is a pair of earrings that I really want to purchase but according to the schedule, they will not be available for sale until 17 hours from now. I guess I need to get up early tomorrow. My only fear is finding something as a gift but really liking it for myself.

bleh...

I have been miserable lately. There is something going around this office that is making it so hard to concentrate. It is a sinus thing and all I know is that I get to work and my eyes start watering – Non stop, especially my right eye (to heck with eye makeup!). I had planned to stay home today but B ticked me off so off to work I went (how dare I get sick on his day off). Then B did not put gas in the devil car, so I had to have him drive with me to work this morning. It is a long story but the short version is that he REALLY ticked me off today!! Coming into work is the only thing that kept me in a reasonably good mood today. So do I get an 'A' for effort today?

So since I have been pretty out of it all day, I decided today was a Mission U.K. sort of day. See even my post is all drivel today. Kind of boring but hey at least it is a post.

Oops! I have just realized that I really need to get cracking on some of these requests (only 1 hour to go - well less now that I got this posted) so the time has come to play my “I NEED TO WAKEUP” iTunes play list! HEY! Now don’t laugh at my selections. They work for me and that is all that matters. Now of course I do end up being a source of entertainment to my co-workers as sometimes I really get grooving!

Do you Myspace?

Do I need to?

Upside down

When I used to sit out on the main floor I was usually was the one to instigate a few pranks. Big pranks. The kind of pranks where people stop, stare and take photos. It really helped that I sat next to a couple of guys that would brainstorm prank ideas with me and then do them. Of course they usually bore the brunt of those pranks. I was not the only one to play pranks on co-workers but I started getting blamed for all pranks no matter how big or small or whoever did it them.

Now I am in an office that has its own prankster. He is not into the big pranks but the little pranks (can you tell I like to say pranks?). The ones you really don’t notice until after you have been looking at it for awhile. I came into work yesterday to find that my cube had been turned upside down (well what he could get to). I did notice that the paper with my name was upside down (see pic over there to the right) but he has done that before (I caught him doing that and filling my office with post-its) so I thought nothing of it. In fact I thought maybe I had not fixed it from before. It was not until I sat here a bit (well someone pointed it out to me actually – yes I am that dense I guess – LOL!) that all my photos, frames, water bottle, soda cans, wet ones, white boards etc were upside down. I think I will keep it this way as I am sure it will bug him and I will come in one day and find everything right side up. But rest assured, my mind is already thinking of payback!

Please forgive me for my not so glamorous photo. It was taken at the end of a very long day.

VTO (voluntary time off) ~ it is a state of mind that I don’t plan to move out of anytime soon.

*** Oh and on a side note. And this is directed to those of you that I will be cropping with this weekend and you know who you are. Please be aware that pictures will be taken. Oh yes there will be pictures! You have been warned! ***

The eyes have it

I have always thought my best feature were my eyes. Anyone that has complimented me has always complimented me on my eyes. A person's eyes are the first thing I notice. As for men, it is first the eyes that attract me. I am partial to green, hazel and the icy-est of blue but for some reason I have always dated and then married those with just plain brown.

You could really learn a lot about someone just by looking at his or her eyes. I remember my first photography teacher telling me to always focus on a person's eyes. I find that I still do that to this day and not just when taking a picture either.

My eyes are mostly blue and yet at times they are green. They seem to be green whenever I am at my happiest or I like to tell people 'my eyes are green because I am in love'. All my favorite photos of myself are when my eyes are green (well except for a few b&w's). They change dependant on my mood and sometimes what I wear.

As I have posted before I was the only person in my family (until last year) with eyes that were not brown. A lot of attention has always been made about the color of my eyes. I guess that is what makes me feel pretty special about mine and yet I hide them behind my glasses.

All is well. For now anyways.

I am a happy knitter again.

Although I can still see where I messed up, I don’t think anyone else can. Last night I laid my project down and dh could not tell where I messed up. So that makes me really happy. Here is an updated picture. I am a few rows into my second skein. I would love to give more photo updates but since it is just a boring rectangle of stockinette I will save you the pain and only show you updates after massive progress has been made. Of course I say that now but I will probably change my mind tomorrow.

So combine the fact that I was able to save myself from starting my project over and the fact that this should be my last week giving my neighbor a ride to work, I am surprised I have not exploded in my joy. No more having to put up with someone pulling my iPod adapter out of the socket because he does not want to listen to my music. No more listening to him state that my music is violent and angry - please tell me how The Killers are violent and angry? I admit to playing MCR A-LOT and LOUD but hey! It makes me happy. Yesterday I had to drive the devil car and the FM transmitter was full of static but did that stop me from playing my music? Heck no!!! I am looking forward to not having him change every conversation into politics or religion. Everything is related to politics and religion in his mind. I don’t even talk politics with my own husband! Asking a simple question on how he liked a movie or show and he will not tell you what he thought of it but how it relates to politics and religion.

Okay….this is turning into a rant. But trust me, the average person can only take a small dose of this guy and I think I have had my fill.

Okay. So now what?

So here is where I am with my project. This first photo is what I ended up with when by a freak of nature 4 stitches fell off the needle at the beginning of a new row. I tried to fix them and got this. You can see the individual stitches but what the heck is that long piece there all by itself?

So I followed some advice from the knitty board (thank you ladies) and watched a video on how to put the stitches back on my needle. Easy enough but I still had that weird long piece of yarn. So I got my crochet hook and acted like it was a rung from a dropped stitch. So far so good and I decided to start my new row. But if you look closely this is what I have now. The distance between the stitches on this row compared to all my previous rows is WAY off. Do you think it will tighten up as I work it? Am I being anal to be worried about this little 'wonk' in my fabric? This part that I am knitting is the sleeve so it is something that I will see but not too much as I do have to stitch this area together. So from what you can tell in these pics....am I good to go? Do I try and start the row over or just continue on?

Knitting Sucks!!!

So how is that for a title?

I have been in lala knitting land and my goal was to post with my wonderful progress and have everyone “ohh” and “aww” but that will NOT be happening!!!! I am so upset that knitting may be put on the backburner for now. I was doing so well and then I dropped a few stitches. Dropped stitches no problem you say? Well I dropped 4 and they are not in the middle of my work but the first 4 stitches in a new row. Poor B just watched me calmly (weird for me I know) put my work back in the bag and just sit and pout. I guess I shocked him that I did not throw a fit. I just told him I was not good enough to fix what I did and I guess it does make me feel good that – that made him a bit sad. I thought I caught them so I tried to fix them last night and now it is even worse. I am not good enough yet to fix them myself and I am so sad that I have to start this ENTIRE project over. I cannot even figure out how to just go back a few rows (which I have done before) as my stitches are stockinette and I can’t figure it out! The stitches I dropped were garter. Is it possible to fix the first stitches of a new row? If so how? Please help.

On a good note…..my carpooler will soon be history!!!! Yay! More of that to come later. I promise.

Houston, We have cast off!!!

Well more like cast ON but you know what I mean. I was very excited to find out my gauge was spot on so I started my new project today. It is the rectangle shrug from Family Circle Easy Knitting Winter 2004/2005 issue. Instead of using the worsted weight alpaca that the pattern asks for, I am using Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky in Spice. I really like this yarn. It is very soft and I don't think I will have problems with it being too itchy. It definately does not fit on the straight needles though. I need to move it over to some circulars but since I needed to gauge it first I did not want to buy the wrong size and not get to use them (well on this project anyways). Now that I finally got this project started (after 3 starts - I did not leave enough of a tail for my cast on) This is one project that I know will be perfect for mindless knitting while watching television. The entire pattern is just garter stitch and stockinette. I don't have to count rows at all and it is all by measurement. I am already enjoying this project. Now if I can just figure out which is the right side on my garter stitch and I will be all set to start that stockinette! If I did a long tail cast on which would be the right side of my garter? Would the tail be on the left (cast on row is right side) or on the right (first knit row is right side)? Please help...

Oh and here is some cuteness. Those eyes just get me everytime! Here is a secret about me. I always fall for the eyes first and I have always liked a guy in makeup. :-) Well that is two secrets actually.

My mom just used to tell me that I could hang out with them (the guys) all I wanted but I was just not allowed to kiss them. LOL! Talk about strict. She was no fun. Good thing my dad was the one that would go out and buy me my converse and other cool stuff after she would say no. Of course he was the one that totally freaked when I really chopped all my hair off in high school. Funny thing about that hair cut. I thought I was cool but when I started my first day back, I found that I had the same haircut as many of the boys. LOL! Man! I need to go and find those pics.

Here is my swatch (no not the watch)…

…isn’t she purty? Okay. I think I have dated myself with that title. LOL! Instead of finishing any of the million projects I have taking up space in my place, I started a new one. Go me! Well I did not really start one but I did start my first swatch. I have finally decided to make one of the first patterns that I fell in love with and got me wanting to know how to knit. I finally went out and bought the yarn. The color is a bit more rust than orange but you get the idea. I know that stockinette stitch is not that exciting but it is MY first stockinette stitch so I am thrilled that is looks so good (and is so fast and easy). I just have to find out if my gauge is right (keep your fingers crossed). More details later when I actually start it - that is if I ever do actually start it.

Would you like some typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery with that?

On Saturday, I got my butt out of bed to make it to the bank before they closed. On the way home I decided to stop by McDonald’s for one of their Crispy Chicken Caesar salads. I had purchased one before and thought it was very good. Once at home I was already to eat my lunch when I noticed that this salad looked a little bit different than the one I had before. My first salad had nice small tomatoes and fresh lettuce. Before I even took off the cover I could see that this salad had NO tomatoes (not that I eat them anyways) and was just wimpy lettuce with a sliver of a carrot. I took off the lid and nearly lost it when climbing around the wimpy lettuce was a FLY!!!! Yep! A FLY!!! In my salad!!!! I WILL NEVER EAT AT MCDONALD’S AGAIN!!!!! I put that lid right back on that trapped fly (it looked to be on its last legs) and took that salad back! I got lots of funny looks and whispers from the people that work there but I did get my money back. I was not in the mood to eat but I was hungry so I stopped by Arby’s and bought one of their Martha Vineyard Salads. Let me tell you!!!! This salad was wonderful!!!! It was HUGE!!! Arby’s now has all of my loyalty for fast food salads.

I am proud to say I got some knitting done last week. Now it was only two rows on my shawl but it was something. I was afraid I had forgotten how to knit since I have not picked up any projects in months but it came right back to me. Of course DH had to complain that I was not working on UFO #1. I really need to work on that too. I really have to work on some more wearables as my new office is freezing. Update (with photos) hopefully to come soon!

So basically that has been all that I have been up to. I did NOTHING this weekend. No knitting. No scrapping. No reading email. I basically managed to veg out and listen to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance (one of my favorite albums). Yet another album that makes me feel old (I really need to stop feeling old). I think this one is a cutie and he is 28 so that is older than the other cuties that are out there. :-) I used to always go for guys like this so I am pretty surprised at ending up with dh.

You know (you probably didn’t but anyways) they were in concert the week of my vacation and I really wanted to go but changed my mind at the last minute. I have not been to a punked out concert in years. I wonder how I would do? I already know that with me being short, I do not go anywhere near the front. That will never change. LOL!

What font are you?

Well I am happy. This is actually one of my favorite fonts too!!!

Lucida Calligraphy - You tend towards the arts.
You tend to stand out in a crowd and have your
own style. Be careful not to be too aloof,
however.

What Font Are You? (Standard Fonts)
brought to you by Quizilla

LO: Grow

Supplies used:

Patterned Paper - Flavia
Eyelets - set via the Silent Setter
Letter stickers
Cactus - c/o my Mom's house

Big Gripe!

Okay. My husband is driving me crazy. He has ticked me off all day today. It is just the little things but they are really getting to me. Like why does every other word have to be F***??? I am so tired of that! We went grocery shopping tonight and he is just griping about everything but then turns it around and makes it sound like I am doing the griping. For instance, I am checking out a label. He complains that I am taking too much time. So I put the item back and he complains that I did. I told him if I cannot check the label, I am not going to buy it. Then as I am walking down the aisle, I come across an empty cart. I go to move it out of the way as it is in front of what I want to look at. He then pulls our cart further down and comments that I don't have to have the cart next to me all the time. What the heck does that mean? I am the one pushing the darn thing. Does he expect me to just leave it there? And why is it he cannot just buy 'regular' food for 'regular' meals? Why does he have to make the gourmet crap all the time? I mean, I loaded our cart with tons of stuff that can be eaten for all meals but he only had his mind on making peach French toast and he put tons of stuff in the cart ONLY for that one meal. And get this.....he did not even find the bread he needs. I hope he realizes he will be the only one eating this meal. He gets mad that I don't cook but when I do cook, he complains that meals are not fancy. Ok. I take that back. It is not complaining about the food not being fancy. It is his comments on how I could have made it more 'his' way. Argh!!! He will not even let me plan a menu because that means he will not get to cook. Oh and planning a few days a week for him to cook never work either as he is never in the mood. He would not even let me put his frozen pizza in the oven tonight because he wanted to make all the pieces 'perfect'!

Okay. I am sure you are tired of reading this and I don't want to think of more things that upset me right now as I think I am making it worse. I think my gripe has gone on long enough. Thanks for reading. Now back to all the pretty stuff that belongs on my blog.

LO: Love & Laughter

Here is another recent layout. Very simple and only uses 4 items. The cardstock is all the same color but it scanned dark as it is kind of bulky because of the brads.

Thanks for looking.


Two page layout stitched together - 8.5 x 11

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Bazzill (of course)
Stickers
Rub-ons - Making Memories ( I am NOT addicted!!!!)
Brads - Bazzill

LO: Cool in the Pool

Supplies used:

Cardstock - Bazill
Bo-Bunny cardstock stickers
Letter stickers
Fiber

LO: Kitties 2004

Supplies used:

Pattern paper (it is actually green) - Provo Craft "Big Slab IV"
Cardstock - Bazzil
Kitty stickers - Cloud 9 designs - Woodstone collection
Star eyelet
Tag template - ScrapPagerz
Rub-ons - Ki Memories (first time using them on the actual photo - I think I am hooked!)

Thanks for looking.

Blogger will not let me post

I am here. I have been trying to post but Blogger will not let me. All I get is a box that allows me to type plain text. All my HTML formatting options are gone so I am sorry to say that I cannot post my recent layouts as I planned to do today. So....that being said....I am off to scrap.

LO: My mom, my mentor

I always buy Chatterbox paper but I never can figure out how to use it on a page. I have attempted once before and it turned out okay but I also purchased the matching tags.

I was excited that I purchased this paper and actually used it in the same week. Know that I know the Secret of the Chatterbox. Each sheet has its own color code on the side. So I used those colors on this page (doh!).

These pictures are from 2003 and I have been trying to find the right colors in order to scrap them.

Thanks for looking.


Layout is 8.5 x 11

Supplies used:

Chatterbox patterned paper
Cardstock – Bazzill
Paper flowers – Making Memories
Buttons – SEI
Letter stickers
Rub-ons – Making Memories
Ribbon
Tag template from ScrapPagerz

Time passes so quickly

Beware of Evil Ducky! He will get you!

Don’t be fooled by his quiet and gentle sister either. She has a brain working behind that Anna-lisa smile and one of these day she will let loose! Being the only girl in a family of 4 boys means she has everyone twisted around her little finger. Boy she has it made. Well until she wants to date that is. My brother is just now sharing her with others. I tease him that he needs to put her down sometime!

What a difference one year makes. They sure do grow fast. Now if I can only get caught up and scrap some cute twin layouts. I have yet to scrap any pages with these two. I am such a bad Auntie.

PRESS IS HERE!!

TONIGHT!!!!

DON'T MISS IT!!!!

CD Release Show for Press - The Fine Art of a White Label @ Apple Store, 679 North Michigan Ave (Chicago) at 7 PM. Press will be performing live and featured on iTunes for the event.

***Songs available to download NOW***

Just login to iTunes and search for 'The Fine Art of a White Label' or Press.

For more info please visit:

http://www.thefineartofawhitelabel.com/

LO: Brothers

This layout was the start of my blue/brown phase. I am warning you all now. You may be sick of blue/brown in the up coming weeks and months.

Thanks for looking.


Layout is 2 pages (stitched together) - 8.5 x 11

Supplies used:

Patterned paper – Provo Craft Big Stack #3 (cannot remember the real name)
Brown /Blue cardstock - Bazzill
Eyelets (got to use my new Silent Setter – yay!)
Ribbon
Leather frame – Making Memories
Brown Rub-on letters – K.I Memories

LO: Curious Rascal

Very very simple layout. I feel that my layouts are pretty ‘square’. But I do like how this one came out. The colors are more vibrant in 'real life'.

Thanks for looking.


Layout is 8.5 x 11

Supplies used:

Cardstock – Bazzill
Eyelets
Twill ribbon
Lettering Template – ScrapPagerz ‘Fortune Teller’
Sticker Letters - Colorbok

Press is coming!

9/20/05 - CD Release Show for Press - The Fine Art of a White Label @ Apple Store, 679 North Michigan Ave at 7 PM. Press will be performing live and featured on iTunes for the event.

If you are in Chicago, please stop in to listen. If you are not in Chicago, check him out on iTunes. Get your iPods ready folks!


For more info please visit:

http://www.thefineartofawhitelabel.com/

a post...

Things have been pretty quiet around the ole blog lately. Sorry about that.

Last Friday, I met some friends to scrap. I again amazed myself with completing 2 whole pages! I think it has to do with the company I keep. A and R you are both a great inspiration to me. I really do need to scan them and share. Soon, very soon.

Work has been busy and I am in the mood not to be here. Maybe because today I feel a sore throat coming on. I don’t want to be sick and I don’t like that fact that I may be getting sick. I think I know who to blame that on. Thanks a lot Happay Mommay!! (although Crazy Mama may have had something to do with it too).

Now I need to go and take a yarn test so that the Happay Mommay won’t yell at me. LOL! Be back soon with the results.

Songs

I have decided it is about time to start using my Ipod shuffle. I still have not taken it out of the box as I don’t have Windows XP at home and will have to do it at work. I have come across a few songs lately that I think I will have to add. One is “Tired of Being Sorry” by Ringside. I love this song and can listen to it all day. I went to their website and was surprised to find this song started playing right away (the entire song too – not the chopped versions they seem to play on the local radio stations). I even downloaded the mp3. There is also another song that plays on their website “Strangerman” that it also good. I think I may be buying the entire album very soon. I wonder how much I can play the songs from their website before it drives my co-workers crazy.

Another song that I have heard recently that I like is “Dirty Little Secret” by All-American Rejects. Can someone say “gorgeous blue eyes”? I have rarely seen that shade of blue on a man before (and I go ga-ga every time I do). I came across the end of the video the other night and in front of DH said “he (the lead singer) sure does have the most gorgeous blue eyes” Oops. DH had no comment. LOL! It is good looking guys like this that make me feel old!

Go Me!

I am happy to say that I got some scrapping done this weekend!!!! Whoo hoo!!! For the first time ever I finished a layout COMPLETELY while at a crop. I usually will work on a page and then have to finish it up with something at home. I am such a slow scrapper. I sure wish I could scrap more than one page a night. I will post my recent layouts soon.

Well I need to leave for the in-laws in 15 minutes and I am NOT dressed. I guess I better get my butt in gear!

Did I mention my work day is almost over?

Today is going by way too slowly. I have felt this way all week and it is only Wednesday.

I just found out my order from Adagio Teas was delivered this morning. Now I have to wait ALL day before I get to enjoy it.

You know I realized that my Blog Anniversary has passed without any celebration. It is hard to believe that I have been posting for more than a year. My blog sure has changed since that first post.

Work is actually looking up. I got some news yesterday that I am hoping will really be great. I don’t want to jinx anything until I know for sure.

So in order to make myself feel better here are the 10 things that make me happy today (in no particular order):

1. My work day is almost over
2. Disco (LOL!)
3. My work day is almost over
4. Tons of co-workers stopping by to say hello (I am popular today *Ü*)
5. My work day is almost over
6. Weight Watcher Chocolate snack cakes (1 point BABY!)
7. My work day is almost over
8. My blog
9. My work day is almost over
10. Realizing that I get a 3 day weekend! Whoo hoo!

Sad day

A friend died last night.

Motorcyclist dies on South Side

DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen

A Tucson motorcylist was killed Wednesday on the Southwest Side
when a car turned left in front of him.

Investigators have not
determined whether the two vehicles collided or whether Mark Mitchell, 39, laid
his motorcyle down to avoid a collision, Tucson police Sgt. Kerry Fuller said.

Mitchell was driving north on South 12th Avenue near West Nebraska
Street about 4:40 p.m. when the driver of a southbound brown subcompact car
turned left to go east on Nebraska, she said.

The car driver left
the scene, but may not know what happened, Fuller said, adding the motorist may
not face criminal charges in the death.

Fuller asked anyone
knowing anything about the fatality call the county attorney's anonymous tipster
program at 88-CRIME or 911.

Work has been hard today. Mark was someone I worked with for many years and is one of the few people that I have socialized with outside of work (lunches, BBQ's). I remember him being all dressed up for an interview yesterday. Sadly I did not talk to him yesterday.

More news has surfaced that says that this accident is no longer looking like a hit-n-run. One thing I find strange about this new news report is that it states he was not wearing a helmet. I find that strange because he was wearing one when I saw him the other morning and every other time I have seen him ride.

Fatal accident likely not hit-and-run

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A fatal motorcycle accident Wednesday afternoon likely was not a
hit-and-run crash, police said Thursday morning.

There is no
evidence that a brown car seen driving away from the accident crashed into the
motorcycle, or that the driver ever even saw the motorcyclist, said Officer Lisa
Peasley, a Tucson Police Department spokeswoman.

Mark Kevin
Mitchell, 39, was riding his motorcycle north on South 12th Avenue near West
Nebraska Street when a brown car heading south turned left in front of him.
Mitchell may have panicked and laid down the bike, Peasley said. Someone flagged
down an officer around 4:40 p.m. Wednesday.

Mitchell, who was not
wearing a helmet, died at a hospital. Police have not yet found the driver of
the brown car.

The accident still is under investigation. Anyone
with information may call 911 or 88-CRIME, the anonymous tip line of the Pima
County Attorney's Office.

Family

Family means a lot to me. It always has. Family always comes first and there is nothing I won’t do when it comes to my family. I am not talking of just immediate family but my ENTIRE family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, I cling to them all. My favorite thing to do is get together with them. I don’t know if this is normal for people to feel this way about their families or because of how they came to be my family.

I was adopted as a baby. My entire life (until the birth of my brother’s latest baby at age 34 - she is the one over there on the right in the yellow dress) I was the only blonde blue-eyed person in my family. Growing up I did not fit in with the rest of my family – in the looks department anyways. My family is Mexican and I was raised that way.

My brother was also adopted but he being Mexican, his looks fit right in. (that is him over there on the left) Because of our different looks I once was threatened in high school by some girls while eating lunch with my brother. The look on their faces when my brother told them I was his sister was priceless!

My parents always told me and my brother that we were adopted. I have even met my birth family but that is another story for another time. I joke all the time to my mom that there was no way that they could not have kept my adoption a secret as I don’t match anyone else in the family. We always get a chuckle when I am introduced to new people and they say they can see the family resemblance. I wonder just what they are looking at when they say that. (That is her in the picture below with her brothers and sisters wearing the black top).

I remember how close my extended family was growing up. My house was the house where all holidays were celebrated (still is). We had the largest house and the only pool. Every weekend all my cousins (both sides) would come to swim. Whenever we get together it is not just one side of the family but both sides. It makes for a very large group. The lowest number we have had over at one time was about 20 people. The last time we were all together was for my Grandmother’s (dad’s mom) funeral this past April. When my Grandmother died she had 4 kids living (one deceased), 18 grandkids living (one deceased), 21+ great-grandkids (there are 4 cousins in TX that I don’t really know so there may be more), and 3 great-great grandkids (and this is just on my Dad’s side of the family).

As the years pass and we get older everything changes (as it should). We don’t gather as much and since we have grown so much we have split into groups. Some of my Aunts/Uncles have their own holiday celebrations with their own kids and grandkids as their families have grown so much.

I have always dreamed of living in different areas but because of all my family living here – I will never move. I don’t like change. We have been so lucky to have some-what healthy lives. That is why finding out that one uncle has liver cancer and needs a transplant and that one aunt has colon cancer and does not seem to be doing well is very hard for me. I cannot picture my life without them in it.

I feel sorry for DH as he only had his mom, step-dad and brother growing up. He is still not comfortable in large family groups. Many times I have found myself going to get-togethers without him. That way I can stay as long as I like. That is just the way I like it. :-)