Review

So I guess you noticed that alittle more painting was happening at my house. Yes that would be the orange hallway... it has a great funky name but in reality its orange... and I am totally lovin the green in the living/dining room... still more painting left to do in the living room... but hopefully it will be done this week. The colors totally make me happy happy happy. One day-- probably not in this house I will be able to have matching accessories, lamps, pictures etc. but for now I keep myself smiling with paint!

The last few days have been filled with family and food.. I did take pictures at thanksgiving.. not sure if they get posted or not... we had a great time at my sister in laws.. its always fun when we are all together.-- We managed to get two turkeys cooked on Friday, so the kids could take home leftovers. Needless to say they raided the kitchen on their way out the door (man can't live on turkey alone) Mikes parents showed up early on Saturday to help him paint.... I'm not allowed to put paint on the walls.... we giggled our way through china cabinets and nail pops-- although he wasn't much better about letting them play in the paint. And true to form I stayed in Jammies the entire weekend.

And the biggest news... my washer is finally fixed. yes finally---

Orange 

Green! 

Yea I ran to the grocery store during lunch... a madhouse but manageable.... overheard a lady telling her husband to "just calm down".... made me laugh....

Christopher is on his way home... upset that our washer isn't washing at the moment.... HA hes upset... I'm the one who paid $1800 for the dang thing.

Got a new recipe for Fruit salad...Autumn fruit Salad... with cranberrys apples and cherries.... sounds interesting.... and yes the family will be guinea pigs... what better time to try out a new recipe.

Making a voodoo doll tonight for Amanda to celebrate male stupidity....

Trying to figure how to decorate around Orange walls..... hmmm I am thinking BROWN -- but that seems so cosmopolitan... hehehe and that is not me... nope.. not at all

shopping

Well the girls blew in just like the winter winds!! brrr can you say cold??? Manda and Madison... Madison and Manda... its good --really good....

Did some power shopping today... got to the mall for the first time since LAST DECEMBER!! We went in search of "the little black dress" and maybe some christmas shopping.... HA! no xmas shopping... but boy did we have fun in JC Penney!!-- nothing like saving 50% ... yup 50%..... We each got treats and now it will be much easier when we do actually shop for others!!

Came home to Mike putting up some molding... we bought more paint last night... a sage green and PUMPKIN... not totally sure whats going where... (no decorator skills here) but I love the two colors and feel my life needs a shot of color.... there is a downside to totally new bold colors... nothing I own matches pumpkin.... (amanda would say that this just gives me permission to shop!) Not real sure how to handle that... I really don't like buying just to have... I like having things around me that speak to me... that mean something to me.... ahhh thats probably why I live in this eclectic chaos... I guess we will deal with that after the paint is on the wall.... (go ahead and say it... I should have a master plan.... nope)

Three more days til Chris comes home... and did I mention my BRAND NEW WASHER is broken... gotta love MAYTAG.... more on this later... I'm sure

The countdown begins!

With thanksgiving just a week away-- yum yum-- the countdown begins til the kids are home again.... I got a jump on filling the pantry that they will raid on their way back to school... Yes I was the crazy lady who bought 10 yes 10 boxes of hamburger helper at the store today.... and 2 bags of cheese doodles and 2 boxes of crackers, 3 jars of salad dressing..... next week I'll be back to get food for Thanksgiving!!!

I washed the sheets, vacuumed bedrooms, and put new toilet paper in the bathroom... we blew leaves so madison could find the yard, Cleaned off the desk , put soda in the frig.... we are ready!! now we just have to wait...

enough said!!

Gas-- $1.98

Need I say more!! :)

Car dating

So I get a phone call from Kim asking me about the rules for car-dating... haha just say no seemed like the easy answer... Kim's been a friend since before Amanda was born... and for so many years I used her as a sounding board for all those tough parenting issues... and now that its my turn to pay her back I wonder if I am giving her the same logical advice she gave me??? Funny it wasn't that long ago really --but now it seems like a lifetime ago that we had to think about that... we got off easy with amanda... she had her brother to drive her and then Corey came into her life... We both agreed in the end that since Jessica didn't have a big brother that she could only hope to get lucky enough to find her daughter a Corey....

Brian Jackie and Mathew 

Strength in numbers

My sister in law must be the strongest woman alive... tonight we had a family dinner as Brian is being deployed to Guantanmo Bay in the next few days... And as we sat there catching up on the latest news I couldn't help but think that I wouldn't have the strength to let go-- I admire him for his sense of duty and can't thank him and the countless other boys enough who are willing to leave home to serve our country-- I can't even begin to imagine how she held a smile on her face. A better woman than I.

Sometimes its ok to be sad

I miss my manda today
I miss my critterfer today
I miss my madison today
I miss knowing that everything was gonna be ok

Sometimes its ok to
just
be
sad....

'nuff said.

Just say no to beige

Weekends just about over... did a quick run down to the lake.. Mike had to pick up his boat from the shop and then winterize the jetski and my boat... but who would have thought that it would be 80 degrees and sunny in November? Really we couldn't have planned it better! Got to spend time with Toni which always brings a smile to my face. I miss her living down the street-- and totally don't get how life gets away from us-- we did take a look at another lot this weekend... maybe being neighbors is in the cards again...
Finally got the bedroom painted-- ok listen to this ... its beige.... do I look beige to you??? don't even ask... but trust me it won't happen again... next color going on the walls will be a COLOR-- orange, green, gold.... color I need lots of color.... beige is just soo beige!! But somehow I know it makes Mike happy.... He doesn't seem to understand color--

yup thats right their mine!!

I thought I would share this layout... ladies he is single... employed and he promises me that in 40 days he will be a college graduate!!! oh yea I am pimping my son out!! but the dog stays with me!!

I've been tagged

Thanks Melissa for tagging me... I owe you one!! hehehe

This is the what the tag is for:the Blog Archives and Hidden Meanings meme. The criteria:Delve into your blog archive.Find your 23rd post (or closest to).Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions. Ponder it for meaning, subtext or hidden agendas.Tag five people to do the same.

From July 13-- Bits and Peices
I need to go back to using my "to-do" lists.... I have so much that needs to be done each day that I am slipping farther and farther behind.


How totally funny..... some 4 months later and this still stands true.... I am behind and everyday I slip farther behind... Where o where is my to do list??? note to self... find to do list... write to do list... read to do list.... DO SOMETHING!

TAGGING CONTINUES--- Heidi, Leah, LIZ!! (yes you have to update your blog) ok so I don't know anyone else with a blog... sad very sad....

Dark-- sometimes its just not a nice place to be

Ok I had to drive home from work in the DARK.... somehow that doesn't seem right... can't we adjust our work schedules when we turn back the clocks.... I suppose I have about 2 months of this til the sun catches up with me again....

speaking of dark... this morning when it was still dark I got one of "those" phone calls... the kind from your child where you just want to hug them and make their life all better... only you can't because they are all grown up and in the real world a hug and a kiss won't make roommate problems or bad test scores or broken hearts go away. I swore to myself awhile ago that I was releasing all the pain... that I was not going to take it all in and let it tear me up... that part of life is learning to deal with the bad stuff... Its soo easy to say.. and I know its whats best for them and for me... I have to move on and they have deal with the hardships of life.... Somehow that is soo against the grain of being a parent. My job description for so long... to serve and protect... and now what is it?

an extra hour.... goodness

Totally loving the extra hour today... we woke up pretty early for a sunday-- 8:30 which in fact was 7:30-- Mike headed out for alittle side work and I took apart our bedroom... no painting but I am ready whenever he is... the dust balls were incredible under the furniture!!

Its only 4:30 and I am still on "summer" time-- so my tummy is screaming 5:30... but I love that I still have hours to play....

I spent the afternoon spray painting some frames white because I thought the pictures would look better in my scraproom unified in crisp white frames.... ok the frames look fine... but I think I should have gone black.... I painted the scrap room a really dark Mauve and have crisp white trim and white curtains and I love the combo.... So the frames being white should have worked right??? oh well... we will see what happens from here.

Friday

AHHH finally Friday-- tomorrows sleepin day.... my favorite day of the week!!! got such a big list of wanna do's this weekend that I know I will only be disappointed come Monday because there is no way I am going to get bulbs planted, rhyzomes dug up, a bedroom painted and wallpaper removed from the hallway.... but a girl can dream huh?

Its definately hot tub weather... gotta make time for that too!

Lifes ups and downs

Just trying to go with the flow.... took off work alittle early today to refinance my house... something I really didn't want to do, but with 2 kids in college and grand plans for the future we thought we could save alittle more... but do you think they had the right numbers when we hit the table??? noooo so away we went with nothing accomplished...

The up side of the day??? I saw gas for $2.29! never thought that would make me happy!

Sending big hugs out to Mary who just emailed me that she is still waiting on a scrapbook kit that I recommended to her---so much for personal recommendations... and to make it worse- This has got to be the worst month I have ever seen....They should be ashamed of sending it out!
And more hugs to Christopher who is struggling with some class called strategic management-- doesn't that sound like something they would come up with in a board room for managers to hide raises from employees??? Exactly who uses strategic management? and what kind of good can come of it for us poor shelps??? oh well... it will all be A-OK I just know it...

I was hoping to share some pictures of lil madison tonight... I heard she went trick or treating at the sorority last night... but alais nothing from her mom in my email....

This will make 100

Yup- This will make my 100th post to this blog... seems like bells and whistles should go off because I was sure when I started it that it would be just a passing phase...

Well-- alot of happenings since my last post... The two people who I adore more than anything in the world were home this weekend. Yes, both of my wonderful kids were home for the weekend... Chris had fall break and Amanda was home for a wedding.. they both have their own agendas when they come home and those agendas rarely include me but its nice to hear their voices rattle through the house and have the excitement that they bring.
Madison was also here... I am sure I will be posting some pictures soon of her latest visit!

On to other things... after much debate Heidi, Leah and I are signed up for a local crop in Feb--Ali Edwards was what pushed us over the edge... We all admire her work and are excited to take a class from her too!
Speaking of scrapping I got an email about a new Stacy Julian book thats coming out... I guess I have known for awhile that she had written one but until I saw the ad I didn't realize that I really think I need it... so much for sticking to a tighter book budget... I had to have all the Donna Downey books-- The Heidi Swapp book... and now another one.... UGHHHHHHH-- I sure get sucked in easily!

Just a quote

Just because someone doesn't love you the way that you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you the best way they know how.


Its a quote that sits at the bottom on Leah's emails... I see it every time she sends off a note... and it always makes me smile... and Think....
Not sure why today I felt the need to write it out... but I did... its strong and provoking... because we all have people in our lives that we wish could do something alittle differently-- people we deem would be perfect if only they....

I beleive truely believe that most days we all are doing the best we can just to get through the day--we're trying--- and while it may not be enough for everyone we come in contact with --we are getting through life the best way we know how... Knowing this begs the question are we giving the people in our lives the benefit of the doubt... are we giving them a fair chance?

Just because someone doesn't love you the way that you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you the best way they know how.....

Thanks Leah....