Oh Happy Day

I woke up this morning with a killer headache, stuff nose and lack of energy. UGH!!! I had some really big plans for the day. Get all the groceries for Christmas Eve dinner (which I am hosting for Scott's side of the family) , pick up and organize the house (the real cleaning is going to be done tomorrow), and the laundry oh and pay the bills. Needless to say, I did go to the store and got the groceries and I did the bills. That is it, I have been a bum ever since. I then thought why not get the whole family involved since they are the ones that will benefit from all of this. So Scott is doing the laundry, Maggi is putting bows on the presents, Hayley is cleaning her room and then will clean the bathroom (well that is when she gets home from shopping with friends). I told them if they didn't pitch in and help then I will hold back all the presents until it is done.

I am a happy camper, while doing the bills I was able to payoff all of the credit cards, and Scotts truck. We paid off the house in June. It is such a wonderful feeling. I know it won't last long because we are looking at new cars already. Mine is 8 years old, I still like it and is very reliable but we need something that is such a tank and gas hog. But actually when we started looking we found out that my Expedition is better on gas than some of the newer smaller cars. Oh well I already have my heart set on a new one. What kind I am not sure yet but I am leaning heavy on the Honda CRV's. After Christmas we will get to work and hopefully be driving a new car or truck or suv or crossover.

I hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I bet you thought I drop off the planet

Nope just been busy busy busy. I should be in a routine by now since school started in Sept. but for the life of me I just can't do it. Now that the Christmas is so near I am crazy busy trying to buy present, get the house ready, along with the every day chores that I just never seem to catch up with. Today was shopping for Xmas and groceries and then it was home to do the laundry. Yesterday was cleaning and getting ready for 22 teenages that were coming over for dinner. No I didn't have to cook because it was a progressive dinner, some of the kids made the dinner and I must add it was FABULOUS. We just had to give them a place to eat. It was a fun time.

Here is the photo that I finally decided on for our Christmas cards. Not my fav but it was the only one that both girls were looking at me and that Hayley approved of. Ugh. For some reason I had a hard time getting them together to even try to take a picture. What the heck, last year they were begging me to get the camera out.



I hope everyone is enjoying this time of year and not getting too stressed. I do get alittle stressed but I try to tell myself that it will all get done and what doesn't is not a big deal. We have a few parties coming up and the girls are getting excited (OK so am I}. I am hosting my dh family Xmas eve and I love doing it. It is very relaxed and I love watching the kids open there presents. It is a magical time. Let the counting begin - 16 days. HAHA.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

THE MOM SONG

I ran across this on another site and just had to share it here. I laughed my butt off because it is so true. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Photo Shoot Cont.

My sister called the other day to ask if I could come over with my camera to take FUN photos of her step kids. The only pictures that they have of the girls were JC Penney type which does not show the girls personalities. So off I went with camera in hand thinking to myself, what the heck am I doing? I am still trying to learn my camera and I am going to take photos of cute little girls to hang on their living room walls. UGH!!! Then I thought, this is my sister not like it was a complete stranger and I am not chargering her so if they turn out like crap, not a big deal.

Actually I was very pleased with alot of them. I know I need more help but heck I am just a beginner and I am proud of some of the photos. Well when you have 2 little girls that love to ham it up in front of the lens, how could I not get at least one good. Here are just a few that I took with a couple of my girls because they seem to want to get in the pictures. Thanks for looking and any advise will be helpful.

Photo Shoot

Happy Labor Day

And let me say that I really didn't do much today. You know with it being Labor Day and all. I woke up this morning and wanted to get alot done but after being up and drinking a pot of coffee I had changed my mind. It is a womans right to change her mind right? So we did a little last minute school shopping and I did finish the laundry. I still need to put that away but it might just wait until tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow it is our first day of school. Part of me is looking forward to it and the other part is dreading it. The first week I come home totally drained. Physically and mentally. Phew!!! Just thinking about it poops me out. It is time to get back into a routine if you can call our life routine. We have had a awesome summer and it is going to be hard to get up in the morning. But it has to be done and give me a week and everything will be fine.

Here are some pics of my girls that I took a couple of weeks ago when I went out to our local Nature Center with my SIL Kay and friend Alison. I can't wait to do it again.

One of the worst days of my life

I had to take our little kitty Lucy (well she was about 5 years old) to be put to sleep today. I didn't think it would affect me as much as it is. A friend of ours found her in a drainage ditch when she was about 6 weeks old so we took her in. She never really got very big, she was a petite little thing. But anyways she has also had a mental problem lets say. She was not a social cat and we only saw her occasionally. She camped out under my bed most of the time. We still loved her. The last year she has taken it upon herself to use anything in the house to use as her litter box. We have taken her to the vet to make sure that she didn't have a medical problem and she didn't. So we put up with it long enough. Something had to be done. I just need to vent and thought this would be the best place. My girls are not taking it any better than I am. I told my dh that the next time a pet needs to be put to sleep he is taking it. It just hurt so much.

ROCK ON!!!!

Well I have gone to a few concerts in the last couple of days. And I am going to another next week. WOW I feel like a party animal LOL. It all started when my SIL called and had extra tickets to Sugarland. I listen to their music but never thought about going to see them until she called. It was a awesome concert and would see them again. Here is the only photo that is half way decent (not good but you can see Jennifer Nettles, where all my others are blurry) I need to learn how to use my camera or at least remember to put it on auto.



Here is a photo of the warm up band Emerson Drive.



Yesterday I took Maggi to the Corbin Bleu/Drake Bell concert and we rocked out. It was her first concert and she was so cute. I think she sang to all of the songs and had a great time. So did I, LOL. Corbin put on a awesome show. He is a fantastic dancer.

Another Big Sunflower

I forgot to post one of my favorites. Check out the bee, he had a million friends with him. LOL!

BIG YELLOW FLOWERS

I am part of a photography group that want to learn how to use their cameras. So we get together when we can and decided to take a field trip. We got in the car and a little over a hours drive we got to our destination. A field of sunflowers!!! These are a few pictures that I took. We stayed over a hour until the sun started to set and we lost light. It was a beautiful night (other than the bees and bugs) and hitting a deer on the trip home. Poor Alison, I feel bad because now she has to deal with getting her car fixed. Now I can't wait until our next field trip and I am hopeing that some day all I will understand how to take awesome photos.

***Happy 10th Birthday Maggi"

We had a very busy weekend all due to the birthday celebrations.

Saturday we celebrated with a family party. Burgers (because that is what she choose for dinner)and family. What a awesome way to spend your day. We had to do a pinata (we thought it was a donkey when we bought it only to find out the tag said it was a horse, well let me say it was a very scary looking horse)which she broke open on the very first hit. Oh well they loved picking up the goodies.

Then Sunday (her actual birthday) we took her to a baseball game. For months now she told us that all she wanted to do was go to a game. So we picked up her friend and off we went and had a great time. She was so surprized when all of a sudden she her heard name called over the PA system to wish her a "Happy Birthday" and then her name was up on the big sign. It was priceless. Off to finish picking up and get ready for my week. Back to reality.

Just call me airhead

I forgot all about the trip to the zoo last week until I read my SIL's blog. Duh!!!
I thought it would be fun to spend the day at the zoo before picking up Hayley from the airport after her big trip to France.

It was a wonderful day. The girls loved seeing all the animals and the best part of the day were feeding the giraffe and watching the cutest polor bear swim above us as we watched from a glass tube under the water. It was amazing. I can't wait to go again.

WERE BACK!!!!

From a long due vacation. Hayley was in France for 10 days and that was kind of stressful for me with her being so very far away. But she is home now with lots of pictures (see previous post for a few photos) and stories to tell. She had a AWESOME time. Then we wisked her off to the beach for 4 days to recover from jet lag and family bonding time. The weather was beautiful and we had a very relaxing time playing on the beach. Now it is back to reality with tons of laundry (there is sand and bonfire smell in everything) and cleaning the house. I can't wait until we go again. I didn't want to come home, I could get use to flying kites on the beach and lounging in a beach chair with a good book all summer long. Better get my butt moving or I won't get a thing done. TaTa.

Paris with bffl

These are just a few pictures of Hayley's trip to France. Enjoy and I hope tomorrow I will have more of her trip and then our family trip to the lake.

"SWEET 16"

Yeap, Hayley turns "16" today. So if you are driving any where near here, watch out.

I almost forgot it is also Friday the 13th. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY

We just paid off our house today. It is such a great feeling.

Just sharing a photo from the 4th

I just wanted to share a picture of Maggi that I took on the 4th. I love that I was able to capture the circle of sparks from her sparler. I wish that she was more in focus. Well, that will give me something to work on. HAHA.

Oh and I almost forgot. Hayley's passport finally arrived. I am so relieved to have it in my hot little hands.

Happy Anniversary to ME!!!

Today is my or I should say our "21st" Anniversay. And I am such a dork that I forgot all about it until about noon today. Well I figure that after this many years I am forgiven. He only remembers about once every 5 years so we are even. HAHA. This is a photo that I took of him yesterday at the fireworks. It
Here are 2 photos of the 424 that I took of the fire works last night. They are not my best but I was too lazy to go thru all of them to post. So maybe more will show up in a different post. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th.

Just a LITTLE stress

This week has been one mess after another. Well I shouldn't say mess, I have hit one brick wall after another. I have been fighting with the Dept. of State for almost 2 weeks. One the phone for at least a hour almost everyday trying to figure out when Hayleys passport is. I can not seem to get a solid answer on what stage of the process that it is in, where it is at, when it will be completed and sent. She leaves in 2 weeks and it is still not here yet. I finally called our Congressman on Monday and I hope they can figure it out. It better get here soon, because if Hayley misses her trip of a life time someone is going to pay and it is not going to be me. (See there is a little stress, because I am normally not that kind of person).

I have been working on our vacation also. It has been kind of hard to find a date that we can all make it because the girls have so much going on this summer and Scott is really busy at work. I thought we finally found 2 different weeks that we could do it, I found a house to rent (we stayed there a couple of years ago, and LOVED it). I was going to call yesterday afternoon to finalize it when my dh called. He has been thinking and with the him having so much going on at work he doesn't feel that he should take the time off. UGH!!! I was almost in tear, I need a vacation and was really looking forward to it. I still might take the girls, got to think on that.

The other thing is, is we had our yard landscaped the end of May. I absolutely love what they did. Will post pictures one of these days. The thing is is we paid alot, I mean alot of money to have them do everything. Brick porch, brick sidewalk, new driveway, bushes, trees, flowers, etc. And new grass, that is the problem. All that is growing is WEEDS. I mean prickly weeds, water grasses, ground covers. I am upset because I was expecting grass. So we have been talking and had the grass guy from the landscrape company come over. He was not a happy camper, because he has been trying to get the company to get different mixture of grass but they are trying to save money so they go with this crap. So the next day we get a call that the owner what to come over to get the rest of the money. What the heck, don't they send out bills or whatever. I said fine come on over. He came over I handed him the check, he looked at it and said that that is not what we owe. Correct, and you will not get the remainder until we get grass, not weeds. He was pissed but heck so am I. I have been taking pictures of the yard almost everyday. The neighbors can't believe it either.

OK I am done venting, I guess sometimes you just have say what is on your mind and go on. So now that I have unloaded, I need to go pack, I am going scrapping tonight. YAHOO!!!

Have a AWESOME weekend!!!

I've been tagged - Dang now what do I do?

I guess the only thing I can do is - go with it. HAHA!!! Here goes.

My roommate and I once: I never had a room mate so I can not answer that one. Whew!

Never in my life: I am going to have to come back to this one, I just can't think of anything.

High School: was a trip.

When I'm nervous: I clean, that is why my house is dirty. Looks like I will have to get nervous (or mad).

My hair: is very very short. I have not used a blow dryer or brush on it in years.

When I was 5: I learned how to ride a bike and rode a horse in the rocky mountains.

When I turn my head left: I see my dining room table that has my dd painting stuff all over it.

I should be: cleaning out my closest that I said I was going to do when school was out. I think I might wait until Sept. just before school starts.

By this time next year: I might have my closet cleaned out.

My favorite aunt: is my Aunt Marge, she is just one cool lady that is a retired school libraian and travels the world with her husband and they have a gorgeous house on Lake Michigan.

I have a hard time understanding: My camera and how to take awesome photos.

You know I like you if: if I laugh. I love to laugh.

My ideal breakfast is: COFFEE and cheerios or toast. If I go out to eat then it would be french toast.

If you visit my home town: you would ask why did we move back. Well it has to do with our families are both her and it is a awesome family town with wonderful schools.

If you spent the night at my house: you probable wouldn't do it again. Just kidding, we don't have doors on the bedrooms upstairs so you don't have much privicy.

My favorite blond(s): My DD's

My favorite brunette: My niece Emily

The animal that I would like to see flying with birds: Hmmmm maybe donkeys

I shouldn't have been: fallen last fall, my hip still hurts at times.

Last night: I started a new book by Janet Evanovich and read to late.

A better name for me would be: James, that is what alot of people call me anyways.

I have been told that I look like: a midget (I know that is not the term these days, I just can't think of it right now), I am only 5'2".

If I could have any car, it would be: Free, I hate car payment. And I would love a convertible if anyone wants to give me a car.

OK I guess it is my turn to tag some others.

Vicki C.
Lana
Rebekah

Have fun Girls!!

Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual (Live)

Tom Jones - She's a Lady

My kind of Music

Do you like my photo?

I took this photo the other day at our local gardens. I wish it was my garden but that would mean that I would have to have a flower garden and that would mean more work. So we just enjoy Dow Gardens and pretend it is my yard. LOL. Well anyways I took this picture and just love it (can you tell because I also used it for my header). I think I am going to have it enlarged and use it in my house. Thanks to [url=www.vickichrisman.blogspot.com]Vicki C.[url] and her idea of using pant hangers to hang photos or LO's. I LOVE that idea. So I am going to have to go shopping for cute pant hangers. Thank you Vicki, I love ya.

WOW another post!!!

Well it offically SUMMER. Thank goodness. My girls are already bored. Can you believe it?

The photos above were taken at our local Center for the Arts yesterday. They are a group from Australia that are perched on long flexible poles that sway. They kind of dance to music. It is very cool.

I have been trying to get the house in order which I don't think will ever be there. It

is 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. Oh well, I least I am trying.

The landscaping is done and I LOVE it, absolutely love it. I am going to have to look up some before pictures and take some after and post. The only bad thing is, is that when they reseeded the yard they used crappy and I mean crappy seed. We have more weeds than grass, so everyday for hours I am out in the yard pulling gigantic weeds. We have been talking to the landscapers and they can not see what we are talking about. So at least I took before pics of the weeds. I am ready to fight. And if you are wondering why I am pulling them. I just want a pretty green lawn and it looked so awful compared to the rest of the stuff that they did I had too. At least for my own sake. Enough of that.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer.

Summer is Finally here!!!

Yeap, I can finally take a break. School was out last Wednesday but Hayley had her "Sweet 16" party on Friday. Now that it is all over I can finally think about summer.

I was worried about her party because the day before the party I found out that over 200 teenagers had been invited. Hayley told me that she invited about 30 kids but her friend (who she was having a combined party with) invited over 170 people. The hall only held about 150. Ugh!!! But after it was done and over and a GREAT success only about 100 showed up.

Yesterday I did alot of resting and today I have been out edging and weeding. I am going to go back out and cut down and little pine tree. I also set up the pool, it feels like a ice cube right now but give it a day or two (or eight) and it will warm right up.

The pictures above are of the party. Sorry they are not greatest pics, I was having a hard time with the lighting. Some day I will learn how to use my camera.