Ch, ch, ch changes.....

I have done it now. I am trying new things and in the process have managed to wipe out the bloggy goodness from my blog.

What you are seeing is the result of my failed attempt to get a custom background.

I am going to keep trying. Check back later for progress. (I hope.)

Wednesday Night

Well, I made it more than half way through the FULL week of work.
Don't get me wrong. I am not complaining that I have to work. I am very blessed to have a job that I love. Heck, to have a job at all. I am just amazed that I have not fallen out due to the strain of having to work for 5 whole days in a row. I am just not used to this.
I am holding up quite well.

So, you can all relax a bit.


Just stand by.

In case.


Cuz you never know.


There are two days left.

Megan !!!!

I love my daughter. She is a beautiful young woman. She is a teenager. We are going to have disagreements. She is going to test her boundaries. I am going to pull my hair out.

She has taken me on a roller coaster ride this month.

Last week DH and I found out that she lied to us about turning in an application for a couple of the High School Academies. She was interested in the Performing Arts Academy and I was interested in her attending the Math and Science Academy. The applications were due on February 2nd. She had been acting as though she had turned in the form and had no clue as to why she hadn't been given a audition date or a test date. DH took the lead and called the school to find out this information and was told there was NO application for Megan.

I am disappointed that she lied to us. Turns out she was insecure, as teenagers are prone to be.

But, if she had only talked to us about this....

Anyway, she has been grounded. The lying has got to stop. She will have no fun for the next two weeks. She can't even hang out in her room. She is being forced to spend ALL of her time with us in the family room. As for the poor academic choice: Her cell phone taken away. Her iPod gone. Same with the rest of her luxuries. After all, as her parent it is our responsibility to prepare her for life. And if these are the choices she is going to make, it falls on her father's and my shoulders to make sure she is ready to live in the style in which she can afford. If she isn't willing to work a bit harder to ensure a higher paying job, well I wouldn't want to have her jolted into a reality in which she can't afford the same luxuries..... Sounds mean. I know. BUT, if she thinks she can get these things back, she will play the "NICE KID" until she does, and then it will be back to the same old crap.

On a nicer note, she HAS been more pleasant to the family.

And can now use chopsticks pretty well.

Make-up Day from Blizzard 2009

I am laughing my butt off this morning. Earlier this year the schools were closed as Blizzard 2009 was approaching. Inaugural Day 2009 would be a Snow Day for the kids in our school district. As you know, that snow storm was a bit of a disappointment. Not a snowflake fell out of the bright, blue sky that day.

Today was a scheduled Holiday for our school system. The school board decided to use this as a make-up day for the Snow Day we had earlier this year. Well, we woke up to this:




Not enough to stop school. Not enough to do anything really.
Except make me laugh.

Happy Late Valentines Day - Let's go with Valentines Week

I was a bit pre-occupied last week with Melissa. Her sudden illness and high fever had me ever so worried. Valentines Day was not something I really thought about. Luckily I had already gotten the materials needed for Danny and the girls' Valentines. Danny got a box of chocolates, the girls got these little mailboxes full of goodies from Target. Missing from the loot picture is a pair of socks. Green with one eye-ball. Think Monster Inc. Mike Waszowski. The girls really liked them and wore them yesterday, so I opted to not include them in this mornings pic. I had planned on decorating a bit more, but given the circumstance, I think I did pretty well.

The girls didn't complain. So I think they must be A-OKAY.

Here's what Danny got for me. Along with a very personal sentimental card. Ahhhh. I didn't realize until I saw the picture that the hearts on the wall go perfectly with the Valentine's Day theme.

Morgan's boyfriend walked over a mile and a half to deliver candy, a little stuffed bear and a flower to her. I can't imagine what people were thinking when they saw him walking. Talk about sweeeeeet. He is SO head over heels for her. I love him just for that. Plus it doesn't hurt that he gets good grades and doesn't get into trouble.

Melissa made this card for Danny. It is a picture of his motorcycle and his eyeball helmet. Too cute.

Friday was Melissa's last day home sick. She wasn't really that bad, but I wanted to ensure that she was healthy before sending her to torture the teacher. So we dropped her sisters off at school and headed to Krispy Kreme for some donuts. Somehow, a few evaporated on the way home. I can't believe it happened. But when we got home this is what we found:

We went ahead and had a donut anyway.

What else were we to do??? Do you think we should let Krispy Kreme know how volatile their donuts are? Oh, and just brush the sprinkles onto the floor next time you get into my car.

BPS Scrapping in Season Class Layout

I am finally getting my creative juju back. Here is a layout I have had in the back of my mind for a bit. May Flaum is a great instructor with TONS of inspiration.

In real life the layout is squared off. I don't know why my camera took it to look like the page is warped. Couldn't possibly be the operator. Could it!??!?!?!?!

Milagro Heart

I finally did one. I made this Milagro Heart for the Big Art Adventure Challenge.

I am so happy with myself. I love all the challenges there and always have good intentions, but...

I just can't keep secrets. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone

Rosemary and I are working on a joint project. I am excited about it. I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you that it will be very cool. Stayed tuned for updates...

Sick Day

My poor Melissa is sick. She has a UTI and a fever of 103.5 before ibuprofen and 101.3 after ibuprofen. She was complaining that it hurt when she went to the bathroom the week I was gone. I found this out yesterday when Danny called me after he had taken her to the doctors for the pain in her side. I knew about the pain in her side because I was home on Sunday when it started. I really feel bad for this little girl. I think she is going for an illness a month in 2009. Remember she had boil butt in January. Well she didn't get chocolate prescribed with her medicine this time. Maybe March will be a well month.

Danny took off with her yesterday, but today is my day. She woke up with a 103.6 fever and barfing. So I am doing laundry. You all know I don't do laundry. Danny does. But this couldn't wait. Plus he made dinner yesterday. And it was really tasty. He made Tequilla Lime Steaks, oven baked potatoes and fresh steamed green beans. I am having leftover steak and green beans on a salad for lunch today.

I am SO grateful that my boss is as understanding as he is. I just was out of the office for a week and now I am out in the middle of the week. He has 3 boys around the same ages as my girls. So he knows how these things happens.

Cruise Pictures

You have been so patient reading my posts. Here is a little reward.

Looking aft. (That' toward the back of the ship)

That glass enclosed space is the Crown Viking Lounge. Great views.

These are the elevators in the center of the ship. I think they are really neat.

And a bit scary to ride in.

Sculpture in the "lobby" area. They call the Centrium.

You can see the elevators in the background.

Pictures that include Stephanie and myself will be forthcoming.

Cruise 2009 - The Real Story - Day 3

I may have mislead you with the title of these posts. By day 3 you would tend to think that it was the 3rd day of the cruise. It was really the 3rd day of my vacation and only the 2nd day of the cruise. Okay, enough of that.

We were scheduled to stop at Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean's island, for a leisurely day on the beach. The weather was not so cooperative and the seas were too rough for the small boats to take us ashore. So we were "stuck" on the ship. I wasn't too dissapointed. I really don't like myself in a bathing suit these past few years. But now we were on the ship. It was way too windy to walk around the decks. Too early to really drink. So Steph and I went exploring on the insides of the ship. We were just wandering when we stumbled upon the SPA. Can't you hear the music! It was heaven. We each got facials and massages. How decadent is that?!

I managed to make it to my stateroom afterwards. And proceeded to hold my bunk down. I mean we were at sea and you never know when a rough wave will come along and toss your pillows about the stateroom. I was having none of that. Plus there was a TV in the room. AND I had the remote. Steph was off somewhere. At that point I really didn't care. I HAD THE REMOTE. I watched some chick movie. Don't know the name. It had Meg Ryan, the lady from Will and Grace, Bette Midler, Cloris Leachman and lots of other folks whose names I have no clue. Oh yeah, and Eva Mendez. She has one hot bod. Then Mama Mia came on and I started watching that too. I know you are thinking "You were on a cruise and you watched TV". BUT I HAD THE REMOTE. I had to take advantage of the REMOTE. I never get the REMOTE at home. Plus it was my vacation and my plan from the get-go was to relax and do what I wanted when I wanted to do IT. Whatever IT happened to be at the moment. And then IT was TV. Now back to the story. Steph came back to the room and questioned me. Much like you just did.

We ended up watching the movie and then it was dinner time. Sit down dinner time. The dinner where we were waited upon. No, no wine. Yes, a sourdough roll and some of those yummy little sundried tomato and poppyseed bites. I'll have the shrimp cocktail and cesaer salad to start. Oh, the beef medallions with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus spears sound good too. And to end it all was the most amazing dessert Banana Nut Crunch. It was some sort of fluffy banana pudding with little chuncks of banana and macadamia nuts in a flakey graham crust. HEAVEN. I am not such a big dessert person but this one was eaten entirely. Not a crumb left on my plate.

After dinner we went to the nightly show. WOW. There was dancing and singing. It was really nice. Then some shopping. I ordered bracelets for my girls from the chain-by-the-inch place.
Then we went up to the CROWN VIKING LOUNGE for a night cap. A 360 degree lounge. We had pulled into Nassau early to try to accomodate for missing out on Coco Cay. Steph and I agreed to stay on the ship that night and go into town the next day. We had a wonderful view of Nassau from the lounge. We talked with another couple. It was very relaxing. It was an early night. We wanted to be ready for what ever the next day would hold for us.

Optimistically Pessimistic

I have ALWAYS considered myself an optimist. The glass is half full. The rain brings flowers and rainbows. Only recently, today, am I questioning myself.

Anyone who knows me is scratching their heads and saying, at least in their heads, HUH????

Here's what I am talking about. I recently, Friday, had a "tiff" with DH. He hurt my feelings, as sometimes happens in ANY relationship. I automatically had us in divorce court fighting over the silverware and the pillows. I was preparing for the worse. I wasn't mad at him. Just hurt. Imagine if I had been mad... Yikes. Shutter, shutter.

We have since worked it out. We always have. And always will. But for those few hours I was gloom and doom. Why is that?

Cruise 2009 - The Real Story - Day 2

Early wake up. 7-ish. Shower, breakfast and head to Cape Canaveral.

We dropped the car off and were driven to the ship. We checked in and found our way onboard.

WOW. I was most certainly a first time cruiser by the expression on my face. I didn't know what to expect. I WAS very happy to accept a drink about 20 feet onto the ship. Then I promptly signed up for the soft drink package. We headed to our stateroom. Which was about as low and aft as you could get on the ship and NOT be part of the crew. It wasn't large. But it was big enough. We dropped off our carry on's and headed out to explore. We found the shops and the buffet. Then we found the sit down dining room. Ours was the early seating. Which turns out to be the most popular seating. It was lunch time so we ate. The food was good and plentyful. The bread was really good. Small sourdough rolls. A pat of butter and..... have you got a light.

We attended a shopping seminar. Steph is a big shopper. She loves a good deal. So I tagged along. Then we had the mandatory boat drill. Turns out that it was raining out side. The staff on our boat happened to be the shopping lady and a lady from the shows. One of the singers. Turned out to be the best singer on the ship. WOW what a voice. She was marvelous.

We met our table mates at 6pm. A couple from San Antonio, TX (Sally and Jules) and a couple from Hungary (Christina and Zortan) who happened to be living in Ireland. Both couples were in their early 50's. I thought that was kind of odd. Considering the average age of the folks it onboard. We found out that we could order from a pretty large selection. There were chicken, pork, beef and vegetarian dishes. The appetizers were amazing. As were the desserts. AND WE COULD ORDER AS MANY AS WE WANTED. All included in the cost of the cruise. Talk about spoiled. All we had to do was show up and sit down. AHHHHHH.

After dinner we went to one of the lounges. Ended up talking to a couple on their 20th cruise. They were so cute. The lady reminded me of my darling middle child. Or rather I could picture my middle child looking like this lady when she gets older. We chatted with them for a bit and then hit the sack. The beds were quite comfy and the covers were heavy but not too hot. Perfect.

Cruise 2009 - The Real Story - Day 1

It didn't happen like I anticipated. Things rarely go as planned. And this Cruise was no exception. I was actually dropped off at the airport by my husband. He hasn't dropped me off at the airport for a trip in years. Many, many years. I was very surprised and very pleased.

The flight was not packed and I was able to sit about 5 rows back in an aisle seat. I sat next to a very nice recently widowed man who was rooting for the other team. No, not THAT team. I mean the Superbowl. He is a Cardinals fan. But I talked to him anyway. We had a very pleasant conversation, which made the flight fly by. Hardy-har-har.

I called Stephanie when we landed. She was staying at her son, Marc's, house. She got there in about 15 minutes with Suzanne, Marc's wife. She is a doll. I love her accent. She is from Ireland and it is mesmerizing just listening to her speak. I could have all day too. But, Steph and I HAD to go to WalMart to pick up a few forgotten items. Then we headed off to Downtown Disney. We would have gone to one of the parks had Suzanne felt better. But she was under the weather, so we left her home to rest and headed out for a Mickey Ice Cream Bar and a sample chocolate from Ghiradelli. YUM. I bought a grab bag from the 10 Dollar Store. I love those little surprise bags. There is usually $20 worth of things for $7. What a deal.

We got back to Marc's in time for the superbowl. It was heaven. The men did ALL the cooking and cleaning. They would come into the living room to make sure we had enough to drink. And to announce new appetizers. Chips and salsa, marinated shrimp. Then we were served dinner. Grilled of course. Chicken, steak, lamb chops and hot dogs. There were two types of potato salad and fresh fruit. We all ate. Licked out fingers and then the men cleaned up. I had a wonderful time. It was a great game too. I am SO VERY HAPPY that the STEELERS won. My dear hubby is a HUGH STEELER fan.

I slept very well. They have one of the most comfortable couches.....

Winter Cruise 2009 - Confession

Okay. I haven't been posting. I set them up before I left.
(Did I do okay for you Rosemary?)
I would have made them longer, but I am on my daughters laptop and I don't like her keyboard and it doesn't like me. So it is taking me a LONGGGGG time to get these small posts out.

I can't wait for MY new laptop. Stay tuned thisweekend for a REAL Cruise Bulletin.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Winter Cruise 2009 - Day 6

6am is NO time to pull into port. Talk to you after coffee. Grrrr.

Winter Cruise 2009 - Day 5

Can't talk today. I'm late for my massage.

Hold up Sven. I'll be right there.

Winter Cruise 2009 - Day 4

We get to go ashore today. Beaches. Tours. Drinks. Food. Gotta go, the launch is here.

Winter Cruise 2009 - Day 3

Shhh. Not so loud. Got any asprin? I need to recover in time for shuffle board on the Lido Deck.

Winter Cruise 2009 - Day 2

We are on the ship today. Can't talk too much. Have to find all the pools and bars. WooHoo. No driving home tonight.

Winter Cruise 2009 - Day 1

Here I am in Florida. We are probably at Disney. Riding. Eating. Laughing. Riding.
Don't be too jealous. My feet probably hurt. ;-P