My updates

I can't believe how fast time is going and how close the holidays are. So here's what's been going on in my world.

~We are waiting on the tropical storm to come on shore. I'm so thankful that it was down graded and hope it doesn't cause too much damage. They closed the schools today and tomorrow and my husband is off tomorrow. My office isn't closed, we are just waiting to see what happens. I'm hoping it's closed since rest of my family will be home.

~Halloween was very uneventful. We had a lot of trick or treaters, I love seeing the little ones, the cutest was a little boy dressed like Woody from Toy Story. Woody was one of Shane's favorite characters when he was little, I had to give him some extra candy. The next day when we were going to church I looked at the front of the house and realized someone had stolen my pumpkins. Who does that? I was so upset because they looked so cute on my little bench. I guess I got tricked!

~Work has been going alright, when my boss stresses me out I now tell me so he understands what he is doing. I feel better by being honest with him and not holding my anger and aggravation in. I did get some vacation - only a week but that's better than nothing. Next year it will increase to two weeks. I'm excited to be taking off between Christmas and New Years and actually getting paid for it.

~I'm still doing good on weight watchers, it's coming off slower this time but it's coming off, 10 pounds so far. It's nice for my fat clothes to be too big! I want to loose 10 more but have been stuck at the point for a few weeks. I know I probably just need to mix it up, I get so use to eating the same thing and knowing the points value that I'm too lazy to be more creative.

The winner is...

Pam thanks everyone for stopping by. I hope to be blogging on a more regular basis than what I've been for the past several months. Pam I've got your address and it should be in the mail tomorrow. This was fun and I hope to have more giveaways in the future.

Decoration and a giveaway!

The outside, the mums have done so well, I really wanted the deep orange/red ones but couldn't find them.

I have been wanting this little bench for months. Every time I go into Lowe's I look at them but think since summer is over they will put them on sale. They don't so today I finally got one before they were gone until next year. I bought the pumpkins from a local church that had a little pumpkin patch set up.

Close up of the mums.
Of course the Alabama one is mine and because I'm so nice I got my husband one too!
Not much on the inside, this is a candle holder I've had for about 10 years.
This didn't come out real clear, but it looks so cute in front of the fireplace.

One of these I won from Girlville and the other I bought from her. I had planned to put them outside in the mums but was afraid they would get messed up so I stuck them in the middle of the arrangement, I thought they looked cute here.

This was a sweet picture of Jazz not a decoration!

OK now for the giveaway, I've got these wonderful smelling candle tins (from Partylite of course). This is from the Well Being collection, which all about relaxing. All you have to do is leave a comment and you will entering into the drawing which will take place Tuesday morning around 7:00 am.

Happy Birthday!

Today Cole is celebrating his 23rd birthday. He was suppose to come to our house this year but his work plans but a damper on that. So we decided to meet half way for lunch today, we found a decent Mexican restaurant and spent a couple of hours together. We are going to my parents next weekend so we will all celebrate it together again.

Tomorrow I'll be posting some pics of what little bit of fall decorations I have and a giveaway so if anyone out there is still reading be sure to stop by.

Rembering...

Updates

I'm actually doing nothing! I'm so excited to be able to sit and not feel like I have something else to do. On to the updates. Shane got his driver's license last Friday - yikes! I still can't believe he has them. He started school Monday and is already at home sick today, poor guy is really feeling horrible. I had planned to go to my parents today and tomorrow my mom and I were driving over to Atlanta for the day. The reason, Trader Joe's! I'm dying for some of my favs from TJ and that's the closes one to me. I know it sounds crazy to drive so far (5 hrs) to a grocery store but I plan on getting plenty of stuff when we do go.

I debated on discussing this topic on my blog but decided to go ahead. I'm back on weight watchers. A little background, three and half years ago I joined and lost 25 lbs. and became a lifetime member. Since leaving Boston I've been putting it ALL back on. I've been so frustrated with myself for slipping back into my old ways of eating so I went back to WW almost two weeks ago and have been on track since. I want to feel better in my clothes and better about myself and the WW program helped my in the past and I'm hoping to have the same success the second time around. Now I know I will always have to pay attention to everything that goes in my mouth!

On my job front - my boss has given my a week's paid vacation (about time) and I'm still working on a raise. I've decided to not complain because what good does it do except waste negative energy and just hope we can work something out with a raise.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Hhhheeeeellllllloooooo

Is anybody out there? Wow where does time go, I really do miss blogging and keeping up with everyone but I don't seem to have the time or energy by the time I get home from work. Anyway I found time tonight. Not much has been going on around here. We took a mini vacation over the weekend down to Tampa to go to Busch Gardens and see a Tampa Rays game. We had a lot of fun and it was nice getting away somewhere different. Shane and I really had fun riding the roller coasters (husband is a chicken he doesn't ride rides), well he had a little more fun on some of them than I did. I really don't do loops very good and two of them were extremely loopy! I thought I was going to loose my lunch. This is a picture of my favorite, we rode it several times, it has one loop in it but the exciting part was the steep drop at the beginning.

I felt so sorry for this turtle, it was so dry and probably hot, he just didn't seem to have the energy to get out of the sun.
Shane really wanted to pet this tiger, it looks so peaceful.

The pictures from the game are on husbands camera so who knows when I get those on my computer!

While we were away Jazz stayed with Sandy, this is the first time I've left her with anyone but my parents (other than having to kennel her). It was so nice not to have to worry about her, thank you again Sandy.

Not the only one...

I don't seem to be the only one that hasn't blogged in a while I'm going to blame it on facebook. It really is easier to keep up with everyone on FB and I'm usually updating with my phone, blogging is not so easy mobile. Anyway not much has been going, no pictures to share. We do our normal week day things and go to the beach on the weekends, usually just on Saturday and hang out at home on Sunday's.

I've been searching for another job, I know in today's economy I'm lucky to have the one I have and I'm grateful but I'm just getting sick of it. I think the fact that he's always late and I'm always on time is just getting to me. (Sorry Sandy I know you heard all this on Friday.) OK I'm gonna whine . I hate not having regular hours, I can't leave until his last patient leaves if it's a female and for some reason we have all "regular" female patients in the 4:30 slot now. Which means I'll probably be working late f.o.r.e.v.e.r. the other night I didn't leave until 6:30 and I start at 8:00. Another thing is I don't get a real lunch break, now it's my choice to not take an hour, I just eat at my desk whenever I can. I really feel like I can't leave in the middle of the day. The real reason I want another job is I have no benefits, if I don't work I don't get paid which was fine when I started because it was part time. now it's turned into full time. Now you know why I'm looking. I'd love to work in a big company with tons of people to talk to and become friends with, I hate working in a small private office. OK I'm done and feel so much better to have shared that so everyone send me good vibes on a new job.

Being crafty

I actually have something to post about but don't seem to have the time, work is crazy busy (ha typed it before I realized what I'd said). Thanks to lots of coaching from Girlville I'm trying out painting. I have no artistic talent but thought what the heck how hard can it be, well I found out it's a lot harder than it looks. I had decided I would try something abstract thinking it would be easy to just throw some colors on the canvas and you have art. Apparently my personality is not abstract because it was way to hard, I think because I was trying to "stay in the lines" and you can't do that with abstract. So the first canvas ended up in the garbage. I went back to the store for another canvas and decided to try stenciling, they really didn't have what I thought I wanted but I got them anyway - beachy stuff which would go great in my room. After painting the canvas and stenciling it I was again disappointed. I kept this one but am too embarrassed to show it to all my crafty, talented friends. Girlville gave me some great advice on making my on patterns. I've got to make another trip to Michael's for more canvas and try to get better ideas on what I really want. I do like the painting part of it I just need to use my imagination more and ideas are welcome.

Lots of pictures

I had ordered two signs for Girlville and they came in last week, one she gave me for my birthday and I love them. They bring so much color to my room.

This is the other one. Thank you so much K!

This is our new sofa table and yes I know it's not behind the sofa. It looks so small in this picture but it's really a nice size and I love being able to display our family pictures, always makes it feeling homey.

And of new sofa and double (loveseat) chair whatever they call it now days. It is so comfy and soft.

The other day one of our neighbors was selling blueberries for their Church camp so I bought some, 3 pounds of them. I've never made homemade muffins so I gave it a try and they turned out really good, I'm going to make some more this afternoon.

This and that

I've been working some extra hours at work but that's all going to change this afternoon - boss is going on vacation until after the 4th! I'm so excited, I'll still go in to check the mail, messages, and make bank deposits but no patients to deal with and all my work is caught up. I think I'll do what I did last year and try to go through all his junk that he never throws away and straighten things out. I wish he was like me and actually threw things away!

We got some much needed rain yesterday afternoon, I don't think I've ever been so excited to see rain. I know I always talk about how I love the hot weather blah blah blah, well I'm here to say it's hot and I can't take it! There I said it. It was even too hot to go to the beach last weekend I'm so hoping the temps drop to the mid 90's!!!

I'm also excited about our new furniture purchase, we got a new sofa and one of those double chairs with ottoman I don't know what they're called, it's not a love seat but it's big enough for two people to sit in. We are putting our old sofa in the front room that currently has nothing in it and we are making it into a little sitting area.

Also I've started a new habit, I've been getting up every morning and walking around our neighborhood, I can't believe how much energy I have through the day. When we lived in Hawaii I walked in the mornings for years and just got out of the habit. I don't even dread getting up, husband runs every morning and when he comes in I wake up anyway. I guess I had more to say than I thought. Now that I'll have some time off I'll be able to catch up with everybody.

Nothing to blog about

Nothing's going on but hot, hot, hot weather. It's not so bad when your at the beach but going in and out of places you can really feel the heat. Thanks to facebook I was reconnected with a friend of mine who was down here for the weekend. We had such a good time at the beach on Friday, I miss having a girlfriend to go to the beach with (Sandy's doesn't like to go). On Saturday I met husband and Shane at the beach. They camped out at the beach Friday night, hey were both so tired by the time we got home Saturday afternoon - I not much of a camper, at least not one without a bed!

No excuse!

Once again it's been forever since I've blogged, one of the reasons is facebook and my phone. It's so easy to fb from my phone anytime and by the time I get home I don't want to get on the computer. Anyway my parents anniversary party was wonderful, I've got some pics to share but it will have to wait until tomorrow hopefully. We had a great turn out and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Not much has been going on, Shane got out of school the end of May and I'm picking up another day of work beginning next week. Now that's it's summer I wish I wouldn't have agreed to the extra day! Shane and I spent a few hours at the beach today and it was just beautiful. We also had a great beach weekend too. Here are a few pics of today. The water was so clear and calm.
I would love to stay in one of these houses all summer.

Another update

I went to see Sandy last night and she was doing pretty good, still in a lot of pain though and she said the meds weren't really helping. The nurses had gotten her up yesterday morning and she said it was very painful but unfortunately she was going to have to get up again last night and I'm sure multiple times today. The doctor said she would be in the hospital at least until Saturday and maybe Sunday. As much as anyone hates being in the hospital they will be able to control her pain level much better than when she goes home. I told her y'all ask about her and she appreciated that. Keep her in your prayers for a speedy recovery.

Not much else going on, my brother called the other day to ask why I didn't post the picture of me and he said he knew he would see that one of him on my blog.

I've found something else to become addicted to, facebook! I must be the last person to actually get an account. I can't believe all the people on there, it's like once you start looking for someone then look at their friends it never ends and you can spend days looking at it!

Sandy Update

Just letting everyone know Sandy's surgery went well yesterday. She is expected to be in the hospital for a little longer than planned, maybe 5 days. I'm going to see her tonight so will update when I know more.

Flashback to the 70's

Sorry Joel but I just had to. My dad or brother came across this pic over the weekend, we were at a friends house and think it was either 1978 or 1979, isn't my brother just the coolest? Check out his tan lines.

Some progress

My potted hydrangeas are doing pretty good, the two right by the walk way in the ground aren't doing so well. I think they must get too much sunlight. I can't believe how much these have grown in such a short time.

This one isn't doing as good, this one gets more light than the other one but at least it isn't dead - not yet anyway.

Nyla is finally back home with us, I thought this was a nice package.

Happy Birthday Sandy!

Happy Birthday Sandy, I hope you have a wonderday. Wish I could have a slice of this cake!

My new addiction!

My boys got me these beautiful roses for Mother's Day - such sweet boys.

Husband got me a new phone for Mother's Day, he has had his blackberry for several months and I've been debating getting one. I can't believe how addicted I've already become to it. It is amazing to be able to check my email, check out blogs, and the usual phone stuff no matter where I am or what I'm doing. I love it! Yes I still have the plastic on the screen.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day mom. I hope all the mom's whether it's for humans or the furry kind are having a wonderful day today. I am so blessed to be the mom to two wonderful young men and being able to spend some time with both today makes it even more special. Some things I've learned through my own mom and being a mom for 22 years.

• I will always love them more than any words can describe
• I will always worry about them no matter how old they get
• I will protect them even when they don't want to be protected
• I only want happiness and wonderful things for them
• I'm learning to let go of control which I never thought I'd be able to
• I always want to feed my boys - maybe this is my way of showing them how much I love them
• I tell them I love them EVERY day and they tell me the same
• I tell them I'm sorry when I screw up

Enjoy your day!

Beach

I never did get around to posting my beach picture from the other day. It was so windy that day and the water was so rough I only stayed about 1 1/2 hours. I think I was the only idiot on the beach!
Since I left the beach early I planted more flowers, this is from about two weeks ago so the flowers are a little fuller now. Since I got these on sale they need a little extra care but so far so good. The ones I planted in the ground are doing good too.

Thank you

Thank you all so much for the comments you left about Nyla. Things are starting to get back to normal, it's so hard to look out in the backyard and not see her. I think Jazz is really missing her, she just seems so sad and lonely without her. We should be getting her ashes next week, we haven't decided what we are going to do with them yet. Shane made up a shadow box of her personal things so he can see it everyday. Before we left the vet last week they made up clay paw prints for us, they were so kind to us and they made a donation in Nyla's name to the Humane Society. Maybe all the hospitals do that since this was our first experience I wasn't sure how things worked.

Now on to more happier things, my plants are doing pretty good. I don't really know anything about different plants so when I find something that's pretty I get it. My brother informed me I planted the hydrangeas way too close to each other. I didn't know they got so big, they seem to be doing good so I may be in trouble next year. I'll show you my progress tomorrow.

Goodbye Nyla

Nyla crossed over the rainbow bridge on Saturday morning. Early Friday evening Shane was outside in the backyard cleaning the grill. For some reason Nyla kept trying to go in the woods in our backyard - she never did this ever. Shane kept telling her to come back and even pulled her back out once. The next time Shane looked up he could see something in Nyla's mouth and a few minutes later she came quietly out of the woods and laid down in the yard. She had some blood on her mouth and I thought she must have finally gotten one of the squirrels she was always chasing. A while later her mouth started to swell we had no idea what she got a hold of or what got her. Husband and Shane took her to the ER where they assumed she must have gotten tangled up with a snake. They started her on fluids and medicine and admitted her. The doctor gave them hope as they were leaving Friday night. Saturday morning we called in to check on her and she had taken a turn for the worse over the night. Her whole head was twice the size as normal and since it was so swollen they could see all the bites, she was bitten about 9 times and was probably a baby because the marks were so small. Once we got to the hospital and talked again with the doctor we decided to let her go in peace. She was heavily sedated so she wasn't in any pain and we were able to sit with her and tell her how much we loved her and finally to say goodbye. She was such a good girl, never any trouble and she loved to curl up on the patio chairs - I really think she thought she was a small dog.

We love you pretty girl!

It's a start

I've still got a long way to go with the flower bed but at least I finally made a decision on something. I found these hydrangeas at lowes yesterday - on sale. I'm going to go back today and get more. Did I mention lowes is my new best friend, I visit him multiple times every day!
I'm going to try to find some other fillers and two pots for the front porch.

This is the game room - the end that is finished. Husband has started putting up some of his racing stuff up.

I'm off to the beach for a few hours then I'm doing more yard work. Hopefully by this evening I'll have lots more color in the yard.

2 times in one week

I can't believe I'm posting twice this week! We've had a gorgeous past few days and today I had planned on being out in the yard but when I went to the store to find something to plant I came home with nothing. I'm having the hardest time trying to decide what to do with my front porch and our flower bed. Right now we just have green plants, no color so of course I wanted flowers - how hard can it be? I just can't make up my mind, hopefully I can decide while it's still planting season.

Husband picked out two very nice ceiling fans for the Florida room and got those put up today. We had our pool table delivered this past week so the Florida room is turning into a game room. I'll take a picture once we have everything on the walls. I also need to learn to play pool so I can beat Shane. Husband is still debating the paint color for "his" room, I'll be so glad we he decides so we can get all his racing stuff out of boxes and on the walls.

I've been doing really good with my birthday present from my husband, a wii fit. I love this thing, does anyone else have one? I like using this better than a regular video or watching it on TV. I also can't believe how out of shape I am or how sore I was after the first day.

Hello Blog...

Again it's been so long since my last post. I've had a great past few days because it seems my birthday just keeps going. Saturday we had my parents and inlaws and SIL over for a cook out and really celebrated that day for my birthday. I really have missed being able to do normal things like this throughout all the years we've been gone. We had lots of good food and the cake was so pretty and so good.
Sunday on my actual birthday we painted the Florida room and laundry room. It's a really light color but it's better than the white that was on the walls. Eventually we will get around to painting the other rooms but it could take a while.

Today I met Sandy and Suzy for lunch - Sandy was treating me to lunch. If this looks familiar it's because it's the same place we went to last year I think for both of our birthdays. It was a beautiful day.

Sandy and Suzy.

Sandy ordered this sign for me from Girlville (thank you for a wonderful job Girlville). Sandy is always telling me to be creative in my new room. I hung it above the closet doors so when I'm at my desk I can see it. Thank you for a great afternoon.

We got this table and chairs a couple of weeks ago, we didn't have anything to go in the "eat in kitchen" portion of the kitchen. I really love it, we also changed the lighting above the table.

A lot but nothing!

I can't believe how bad I've been with posting. Since husband has been home we've been busy doing house stuff. It doesn't seem like we've really been doing anything but we have stayed busy. Monday we celebrated our 18th anniversary - sometimes it feels like yesterday. Husband sent me 18 roses, they are so pretty and still smell so good.

The other weekend we were in the backyard clearing out some of the brush and I happened to look up and saw this snake. I would have had a heart attack had the thing fell on me. Thank goodness is was harmless and small.

This is my view sitting on the back porch, it is so much nicer in the spring with all the leaves on the trees. We have neighbors behind us but we can't see them now.

On Monday I'm going for a nerve conduction test for my wrists, my husband has had the surgery twice and still has carpal tunnel. I'm not looking forward to the test but I'm ready to get the surgery so my wrists and hands stop hurting - wish me luck.

Happy Easter!

In bloom

The other day Shane and I stopped by Krispy Kreme for some of the best glazed donuts in the world. I think I could eat a dozen of them - I would be sick but I think it would be worth it!

Everything is in full bloom around here, I think I enjoy spring more than I thought.

The weekend

We've been so lucky to have great weather these past few weeks. I just love having the windows open and bringing that fresh smell inside. I don't have a window in my kitchen (it's in the center of the house) so when I'm cooking I can look out the window, this is the view. Don't look too close to the flower bed it needs more pine straw and cleaning out.
Friday Sandy came over for a visit, we both forgot to take pictures. We just sat around and went to a little vegetable stand up the road from my house. It was so nice to have her come see me. Last weekend when I went to see her she had made these pretty cards for me. Excellent packaging.
When I got home and opened up the box I realized she had made different designs. Thanks again.
Friday night I had my mom and brother and his family over for pizza. This was the first time brother's family have seen the house. It was so nice to have them over to our place, all these years it's always us at their house. The rest of the weekend was very relaxing. Two more days for husband to come home!

Our yard

I am really enjoying our new yard, love the patio and the girls are really loving their freedom. We don't have any patio furniture except for these chairs, I didn't take a picture of the deck which has our grill and fire pit on it. We will be rearranging when husband gets home - next week - for good! My MIL is getting new patio furniture so we are going to get her old stuff. I think I'm going to get some planters and put some colorful flowers in them, hopefully Nyla will leave them alone. It is so nice in the afternoons to sit outside and enjoy the wonderful weather.

This is the driveway extension which as you can see connects to the patio, husband was so proud of his idea and use of the yard.

The Swap Gift

I've been having computer issues this past week, I'm hoping everything is getting back to normal. Anyway on Tuesday I received my swap gift from Random, I'm hoping to have yours in the mail tomorrow. I couldn't believe all the wonderful things she sent and all things I love. I wasn't surprised to find the box she sent it in was a shoe box!
Such great packaging.
I love everything, tea, candles, cookbooks, note cards, bubble bath stuff, magnets, hanging sign which is now in my blue room, and sugar. I made some sugar cookies today so I could use the sugar. Thank you so much for all the stuff.