Word of the Week

Busy. That is the best word to describe how our crazy life has been lately. In the last two weeks, we have:
1. Bought a new vehicle. My Nissan was making weird, expensive sounding noises and after driving several days in torrential rain and slip sliding all over the road I cornered Dan and told him we needed to decide something. We got a remarkable deal on our trade in and even though we upgraded to a Chevy Equinox, our payments didn't change. We LOVE it! There is so much room and it is a really smooth ride.

2. Lauri & Todd bought a new house. I made a sisterly offer to either help move or keep the kids the weekend they moved and they took me up on the latter. So Natty & Andy came to our house last weekend and stayed. It was horrible, yucky weather so we were all cooped up all weekend, but they had a blast.

3. Then came the snow and ice. I left L & T's on Monday morning to a large amount of sleet and snow flurries. Tuesday morning I left Mineola after checking the radar (clear) and by the time I got to Canton it was sleeting like crazy. Talk about the pucker factor...driving a brand new vehicle in Dallas in the ice and snow...I needed a drink!

So we are all headed to L & T's again this weekend to help them knock out some projects. Carpet cleaning, painting, handy man stuff, etc. I think we will have plenty to keep us busy. I am looking forward to having a holiday on Monday, a day off with the little man. Historically, January has always been kind of laid back, so I am hoping this is a fluke and I can start enjoying some down time ASAP!

Auto Woes

Any of you who truly know us and our situation will understand this post. The Nissan...it's a dyin'. While many people often remark how odd it is that I commute to my job, spending at least 3 hours a day in my car, many others know that I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my home, my hometown, and the peeps that are there. So instead we shop for a vehicle that is safe and fuel efficient. The Altima has fit the bill for the last 3 1/2 years, but honestly it is the most uncomfortable car I have ever owned. It has also started acting like a middle aged person, complete with limps and moans and groans. I will give it some credit though...it has 166,00+ miles on it. The weird thing is that it has never seemed completely "right". We have always had issues with the tires no matter how diligent and religious we are about rotating and balancing, buying high dollar and highway designed tires. Sometimes I just think that cars have flaws and they need a Car Whisperer to figure out what the heck the problem is.

So we are looking again. We did this several months back after a particularly long and uncomfortable road trip and were deterred by the fact that we were upside down on the car loan. Truth is...I guess we always will be at the rate I put miles on a car. At that time we test drove a bunch of crossover type SUVs. Knowing that we have a long-legged child who is doing nothing but growing, we realized that a sedan is not probably our best bet moving forward. But SUVs are not known for great fuel efficiency...until now. GMC and Chevy both offer vehicles that rival what I have been getting in the Nissan. So now we just have to pick one. And get it financed. And roll over the balance that I know they won't be able to meet on trade-in. Lovely!

Almost as lovely as this particular car episode from the summer of 2011!

Lucky 13

So here we are...2013. We missed the end of the world a couple of weeks ago and are marching on! Maybe I can do a better job of blogging in 2013. It has been a very interesting couple of months around here. Most of November was spent working hard and preparing to be gone from work. This is because I had scheduled major surgery for the week after Thanksgiving. So work was busy and I spent the few days after Thanksgiving doing my Christmas decorating since I knew I would be out of commission. Anyway, I had a complete hysterectomy on November 29th. A surgery that was expected to take 2 hours at the most ended up taking almost 6 hours. It really didn't matter much to me, but word has it that my hubby & mom were sweating it out in the waiting room. Dan was a trooper and spent the night in that horrible recliner at my bedside and when my doctor offered to let me go home the next afternoon I was all in! I must say though, if Dan had gifted me one of those handy dandy morphine pumps for Christmas I would LOVE him even more! I have had a great recovery and feel like a million bucks, considering how poorly I have felt over the last couple of years that may not seem like much, but I really do feel great. I received this beautiful flower arrangement from the folks at the school district.

So along the lines of spending crazy amounts of money on healthcare at the holidays, Bailey had surgery on December 21st. Poor guy had to have a hernia repaired and another little unmentionable procedure that causes him to blush a little. Anyway, his was a day surgery procedure and he did fine as well. He has had to take it a little easy over the holidays, but it hasn't sidelined him too much. Here is a picture of Mr. Nervous before his surgery.

Christmas was an interesting time this year. Because of the way it fell in the week, my family celebrated the weekend before. This is the first time any of us can remember doing this as we usually gather on Christmas afternoon. But it was very nice to get to spend some time with just me and my guys. We went to Christmas Eve services and Bailey offered to fill in as acolyte and serve communion when he found out they were shorthanded. As I sat watching him serve the Lord I had tears in my eyes, tears of pride. We went home and whipped up some cookies for Santa and stayed up late watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. A horrible thunderstorm came through on Christmas morning and woke him up at 5:15 and even though I begged him to sleep a little linger, he was ready to see what Santa had delivered. He must have been good, because he finally got a PS3 upgrade, a new bat for baseball, some headphones, and a couple of PS3 games. Once we got him hooked up, I went back to bed! It continued to rain most of the morning. We headed next door to the neighbors for lunch and while we were there it started snowing. Within an hour we had over an inch accumulation and before it stopped, we had gotten almost 6 inches. It was wonderful. Until the power went out. Luckily we had stockpiled a bunch of wood on the porch, so we cozied up in the living room and read, played solitaire, and watched a movie on the laptop. Power was restored about 3 1/2 hours later.

So I guess that brings us to New Year's. I was back at work for a couple of days last week and then Monday, and now it is officially 2013. Everyone has healed and we are back to the grindstone. I am hoping to make some changes for the good this year. I lost 10 pounds after my surgery and would like to keep up that trend. I would like to get my house in better order and my financial house in better order. We would love to sell the house this spring and move out of the city limits to a little piece of land and build. Who knows what the year holds in store. Praying for God's blessings though!

Bahahahaha! I am about as steady as a junior high love story! So...now it is 2012 and of course this is my first post. It is the first of May for cryin' out loud! Good grief. January - not much happening. Winter is boring to me, and this winter was really weird with some VERY mild weather for us Texans. Something on the horizon though, my long time boss has decided to move on back to real firefighting. I am very sad about this. I could never ask for a better boss and he will be missed tremendously! February - Dan had a birthday. That is just about it! Very busy at work making lots of preparations for a new boss. Lots of new contracts in the making. March - Had a wonderful scrapping retreat with many friends and family. Extended our stay by an extra day/night and it was great! Enjoyed a few days of Spring Break with the Boy Wonder, he even came to work with me for a day.

April - Celebrated 7 years of marriage with my one and only! We have spent the last 8 months doing a master bath remodel. So we spent part of this weekend laying floor tile and grouting. Slowly but surely we are getting done. Near the end of the month I celebrated my 41st birthday. We spent that weekend painting the bathroom and installing all the new towel bars, TP holder, etc. I told Dan it was the best gifts he could have ever given me...to be DONE with this project!!! I will have to post more pictures soon, but it is gorgeous!

Crock Pot Mania

The latest craze over the weekend was everyone "friending" the Crock Pot Girls on Facebook. So I guess you can label me a follower...I did it too. Browsed for a while and came up with 3 recipes I thought I would try and headed off to the grocery store. Saturday evening's meal was spot-on. French dip sandwiches...yummy! Roast, beef broth, beer, onion soup mix, some buns and mozzarella - easy and delicious. I skipped the crock on Sunday and opted for beef and chicken fajitas with margaritas...again...yummy! So. I chose the Garlic Lime Chicken to cook for Monday night. Had a friend who I had passed my recipes off to as I was leaving the store and she too was going to try the same thing. Then I got a phone call in the afternoon, "don't you think the sauce needs thickening?", she said. I was at work and long away from my crock-pot, so I was wondering what I might find when I got home. Dan worked late, so Bailey and I were the first victims. I made some brown rice and a salad and dished up some of the chicken. It was okay...nothing great, but we came up with several ideas of what could make it better, maybe some water chestnuts, broccoli, etc. Then when Dan finally got home, HE LOVED IT...how does that happen? So tonight will be leftover hodge podge and Wednesday is pizza night. Thursday I will give the crock another try with some more chicken. This time some sort of BBQ number!

Middle What?

So this is the first week of school and Bailey started Middle School, sixth grade to be specific. How is that possible? Wasn't he just starting playschool? He was extremely nervous leading up to the first day. A few weeks ago he had a total meltdown (complete with tears) and confessed he was afraid of how hard it would be and that he thought he might fail. Oh my...what a conversation for Mom! When I got him talked off that ledge and convinced that Mom & Dad are here in this world to prevent our children from failing, mainly because that looks SO bad on the parenting report card, he was good. So a week before the official "First Day", the school hosted a Fish Camp for sixth graders. This was a chance for them to find their locker, practice the OMG LOCKER COMBINATION, drop off supplies, and get their set of books. Holy cow...now I understand the stress of middle school...it's the locker combinations. Obviously our school owns the oldest and crappiest set of lockers known to man and they revolt against sixth graders. So that went well and we spent the next week memorizing his schedule and picking up supplies for his elective class ART! I talked him out of band. And I truly have no regrets over this. He is overwhelmed enough just by being in 6th grade. We are involved in no sport this season, no band practice every night, nothing...except now he thinks his weekends will be wide open for hunting...yep, you might be a redneck!
Fast forward to first day and the conversation at home goes like this:
Me: So Bay, you think I can skip going in to school with you right?
Bay: Sure, I don't need you to go in.
Me: (mental note to get completely dressed - deodorant, teeth brushed, etc.)
Later while pulling up to the school (and seeing multiple Mom's walking in)
Bay: So yeah, you can just come on in with me for a minute.
Me: (smiling)No problem!
The first day was a success and he loves it! His favorite classes (if you can decide that in 47 1/2 minutes) are Art and Science.
Note to Bay: I wish you the very best this year Buddy. Daddy & I are so proud of you, and we know you are going to ROCK Middle School!

Third Day (and belated Happy New Year)

So, I'm not very consistent to say the least. It is now March 1st and I am just now writing something for the (slightly not so much) New Year!

It is such a busy time of the year. Getting into full swing for our favorite sport BASEBALL!! If I could just get Bailey's head on straight about school I could relax about ball. He is so much a boy... He can come home from school and tell us 40 things he did at PE or on the playground, or after school with the *girls*. But his grades are pretty stinky and we can't get him to understand that you can't go to middle school on popularity alone.

On a slightly unrelated note I got to take him to a concert two weekends ago. we got 8th row Third Day tckets for free from a friend! SO at the very last minute we went to Longview and saw them...it was wonderful and he loved it! Such a great expereince for his first concert. And I was able to get some oictures from another person there, so now I can properly scrap the event ;-)



The first scrapping retreat of the year is coming up in three weeks and I am so ready for it! Can't wait to spend a weekend with my sister, mom, aunt, and many friends. Definitely one of the highlights of my year!

Kind of all over the page with this one, but enough for now. Good day!