Tuesday

I got this idea from my friend who is a fellow blogger. The idea is to post a current picture and then 15 facts about yourself. So, since it's Tuesday, I thought I'd play along. :)




1. I've known the man since we were in preschool.

2. I am the middle child in my family. I have the best brother and sister in the world.

3. Being a mother defines me and completes me.

4. My mom is my hero.

5. I grew up with my extended family all living nearby, so we made wonderful memories together.

6. My dad died when I was 27 and totally rocked my world.

7. I'm blessed to have my mother-in-law in my life.

8. After working with a variety of kids during my adult life, I've gained a new appreciation for my parents and for how they raised me and the sacrifices they made.

9. I'm fortunate to have my wonderful friends.

10. I'm a Christian.

11. I like to read. The book that I'm currently reading is The Last Child by John Hart.

12. I discovered that the Kindle now has word games on it. That could be a problem for me. ;)

13. I love my Dutchie. He's my heart.

14. Fall is a gorgeous time of year. I love the crispness in the air and the beautiful colors it brings.

15. I truly believe that I am the person I am today because of every single thing that has happened to me along the journey of life.

Monday

I have a few errands to run this morning, then I'm going to spend some time in the kitchen. On today's menu is homemade spaghetti sauce with meatballs. I'm thinking that cookies would taste good today too. :) Pretty soon, the house will be filled with some yummy smells!

What's going on in your kitchen today?

Have a great Monday, everyone!

I'm Not a Fan of Spiders!

The sun was shining for awhile this morning, so I took advantage of the cooler temps and the glorious sunshine and did some much needed yard work. As I was pulling weeds in my 'flower' beds (I didn't plant any flowers this year, but the weeds still grew), I saw a couple nasty looking spiders. I did my best to not disturb the hideous creatures. They were HUGE!

Here is a picture of the spider. Anyone know what kind it is or if it would bite? I could just picture it attacking me and planting a huge bite on my body. I'm a drama queen, I'll admit it. Got a problem with that? ;)

It's the Weekend!

I've been slacking with my blogging once again. But now, it's the weekend and I have some free time to devote to updating.

The Man is working tomorrow, so I'm planning on doing some things around the house to whip it into shape. I need to declutter, pull the weeds so that we don't look like the Munsters of our neighborhood anymore (you're welcome, neighbors!), color my hair to cover up these gray roots, possibly pluck my eyebrows (if I get brave...I don't like inflicting pain upon myself.) I'm sure I'll find plenty to do.

I need to make myself a list so that I can cross things off as they get done. It's more fun that way, right? ;)

No News is Good News, but SOME News is Nice.

When The Boy goes away to school, we can go a week or so without hearing a word from him. My philosophy has become 'no news is good news.' I've had to adopt that philosophy after nagging him to please call once a week. I get that he's busy, but I'd like to hear his voice every once in awhile, you know?

He texts his dad with the occasional "I miss you" or "I love you" or "I'm glad you're my dad." No texts to me, though. However, I usually get the phone calls on my cell, like I got today after work. Woot! He was filling me in on every thing that has been going on so far and he sounds great. It feels good to know that he's doing so well.

It's hard to believe sometimes that he's a sophomore in college and will be 20! in two short months. I'm so proud of him and happy that he's happy and doing so well.

xoxo

Remembering...

As a former Navy wife, I have always been a huge supporter of our troops. I want to take this time to thank all of the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our country.

End of Summer Trip

At the end of August, I found myself at my happy place (no, not Disney World) once again. There is nothing like the smells and sounds of the ocean. When we drive onto Chincoteague Island across the causeway that takes us over the salt marsh, I love to roll down the windows and take in the smells. I anticipate being able to kick off my flip flops (yes, Sam...I still wear them daily in the summer when I'm not barefoot) and walk across the sand toward the ocean's edge. I can almost hear the waves crashing and the smell of the ocean. Nothing cleanses my soul like the ocean (well, Disney is a close second!)

This trip was very laid back. My mother-in-law (other mother) and I spent some quality girlie time hanging out, reading books, and picnicking on the beach. The guys spent their time golfing and fishing, and we weren't 'allowed' to go. That was fine with us! ;)


My lovely other mother and me at the beach...after a coupla cosmos. ;)

The Man is an early riser, so he spent his early mornings taking Molly in the car to McDonald's for coffee (him) and for a sausage biscuit (her.) Then, they would hit the nature trail for their daily walk. He found that they would have to go before the sun rose because Molly, being a miniature Schnauzer and thinking she was a pit bull, liked to antagonize every. single. dog that she saw. The other dogs laughed at her, I'm sure. Or, they wanted to be like her since clearly she IS a princess. ;)


The Man and Molly...she thinks he's HER man, but she's delusional!

I did manage to talk The Boy into coming to the beach with us for an afternoon. He played volleyball with a group of young people and then chilled with us. It's nice to have mom-son-grammy time every once in awhile. ;)


The Boy at the beach...sorry his underwear is hanging out. I guess that's cool or something...or maybe he just needed to pull up his shorts?

Relaxing at the beach....PRICELESS.

Concert pictures!

I finally have a few minutes to sit down and post some pictures from the Aerosmith concert. Sit back and enjoy! :)

No, I haven't fallen off of the face of this earth!

The latter part of August turned out to be super busy for us. It's either feast or famine around here when it comes to being busy. We don't enjoy being on the run all of the time or always feeling like we have no down time. However, the past couple of weeks have been a bit crazy...for us.

The Man and The Boy planned a trip to Chincoteague so that they could have some 'guy time' together. The trip was planned and paid for way back at the beginning of the summer. Then, at the beginning of August, we found out that I did not get called back to my school district. The Man commented that if he had known that, he would have tried to get me a ticket to go with them. Out of the blue, a friend of ours called and said he had a voucher from Southwest that needed to be used and could we use it? The only thing is, Southwest flies out of Midway and the guys were flying out of O'Hare. No biggie on the way there since I was going on a different day, but on the way home, it turned out to be a pain for all of us, but hey, a free ticket is a free ticket and we weren't complaining!

So, we booked my trip on a Sunday and I would leave the following Monday since I was going to the Aerosmith concert on Sunday the 22nd. The guys were going to fly out on Friday the 20th. The day after we booked my flight, a school district called and offered me a half time job starting that week. I told him about my trip and he told me that they'd work around it since they called at the last minute. So, I worked 3 days that week and on that Friday, drove home, picked up that guys and drove them to O'Hare. I had the weekend to myself, so I did what I usually do when that happens, I grab a good book and I enjoy not cooking. :)

On Sunday, I picked up my sister in law and we headed north and had dinner at a local pizza place in Tinley Park. Delicious! We had such a great visit and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. Then, we were off to the concert!!! We got there and Lori told me that she wanted to pay for VIP parking, so we drove until we found it and got a space 3 rows from the amphitheater. Buck Cherry was just finishing their set when we got to our seats....section 101 row Y. People...that is 25 rows away from my pretend boyfriend! They let Lori take in her video camera and her regular camera. I wish I would have known that because I would have taken in my camera! I took some shots with the camera and she took some videos. It was a fabulous concert!

I got home at 1:30am and had to leave for the airport at 4:45. I fell into bed and 4:00 came way too soon. I got ready, threw my suitcase into the car and drove up to Midway Park, Ride, and Fly. I parked the car, got into their van and away we went to the airport. My flight was smooth and I admit I was a bit nervous considering I hadn't flown in 19 years (the last time I flew, The Boy was in my lap.)

Got to Norfolk and the Man and the Boy were waiting for me....and off we went to Chincoteague.

Oh, and while we were away...I got another call from another district and it's a better deal and it's local (yay! I was on the road for an hour a day for 3.5 hours of work), so I accepted the new deal!

More later!