Kindle Fire

I got one for Christmas!! I love it! I read my first book on it. Water for Elephants. Great book! Easy read. But still a time sucker. I have NOT read a book since I graduated College. Kid you not! I vowed when I walked away from there that I was done reading anything. I held true to my word for nearly 18 years. Wow! If only I was that stubborn about losing weight! LOL bwahaha

So what was your favorite gift this year? Share with me! Or share with me some other MUST READS! I may just want to read another!

Good Bye 2011

Wow...this was a strange year. Good in many ways but just as equally rotten in others. I am not sure I can comment on the bad parts as we all know where it will head. (the loss of my Brother) So I've taken a few moments today to come up with my top 20 lists for 2012. They are goals and/or bucket list items. There is no real order to them except for the first one. That one is most important to me. The rest just need to happen! So here we go, I'm going to share them with you. This may make me more accountable?
1. Start Weight Watchers back up
2. Exercise in some fashion-daily
3. drink LESS Diet Coke. I refuse to give it up but I will try to do less.
4. Buy new scrub jackets for work. I can swim in the ones I own.
5. Find black boots. (this needs to happen soon or I'll just skip it)
6. Re-do our TV/Computer Room in ORANGE!
7. Pay down my Kohl's bill
8. Say NO more often to things I really don't want to do
9. Go to North Carolina (visit family there)
10. See my Sister more often.
11. Go to Mackinaw Island with the family
12. Meet up with Shelley Moore & other old Scrapbook buddies.
13. take more "everyday" pics of my life
14. de-clutter my house. get rid of things that I do not need.
15. take clothes to re-sale shop
16. work on boys elementary school books. (organize, scan, and create)
17. save $10/week for a nice 25th anniversary trip (7 years away)
18. paint foyer
19. Make Shell Mackay have to come see me....see #1!
20. Blog More. Facebook less.

WISH ME LUCK! They may not seem like big tasks but they are important to me. If I complete half this list by the end the year, I'll be very happy! Some can not be crossed off because it's an ongoing goal. But it I start it, it counts, right?! LOL

Summer, where'd you go?

Wow, Summer was a whirlwind. It was HOT! It was fun, but way too fast! I love autumn but for some reason, I am not looking forward to like I usually do. Something has changed. Not sure what it is but I am just not feeling like I did towards fall. Is that I know the cold and sickies will follow? I had a rough winter last year. Being without power for 3.5 days in sub-zero weather did something to me. Left a scar, a long, deep scar. A very ugly scar. I'm so sick of rain. I just want to be able to enjoy my Son's football games without it pouring and freezing. Everytime we have a game, it rains. And gee...calling for rain tomorrow too. Grrr...

I've got a lot on my plate still. I'm learing to say no to things but when I do, I say yes to one more thing because I know I have said NO! Must stop with the yes'. I wean myself off one project only to pick up a new one. But I'm mixing it up so that has to count for something.

I'm ready to go a full house PURGE. I feel like my interests have changed and things that I used to like are not what I like now. Color, decor, stuff. I have a lot of Stuff. Too much. It needs to go.

So many thoughts running around in my head and I'm not sure I wanna talk about them. Seems like when I do something comes along and changes it. So if I keep to myself, maybe things won't change. I think I am jinx'd. Just as soon as I say something the total opposite usually happens and I don't get what I want or thought I wanted. Everything happens for a reason and I firmly believe it but why can't things just go MY WAY once?!

whine whine whine whine whine....be thankful I don't post here more often!

College

Fast forward 6 years....I've just lived what I will go through again with my own child. I moved an adoptive son of mine into his dorm room yesterday. Wow...emotional. (I've become attached to local student here over the past year and helped him and my cousin move into their dorm room.) So even though he has only been a part of my life for about a year, it was hard to drop him off knowing he was on his own of sorts. He's used to it, I'm sure, but I am not. I can't imagine what it must be like for REAL parents. I had to fight back tears as I walked to the car and I'm doing the same thing now. He's such a great kid and I just wish him nothing but success. He's going into Nursing! The medical field will be getting a real winner someday! I honestly don't know if there are enough words to describe how proud I am of him. So this pic will have to speak my words for me!

Wedding today

My Sister In Law is getting married today! Here are my boys (note: they each picked out their own outfit. It wasn't planned that they would have the same shirt.)

It's been sunny and beautiful all day and now as we enter the last hour before it starts, its all cloudy and has started to sprinkle. Figures. Outdoor wedding and outdoor event following. UGH....No rain ALL SUMMER LONG until NOW. Such is life...our life anyways.

Rumors, Inc.

We did it! My InLaws have opened the doors to their dream. They bought a 137 year old brick building in our town and turned it into a family Sit-down restaurant. The building was purchased in Oct. 2010. It was full of stuff as it was used as a storage facility for another local business owner. So the official ground breaking didn't happen until March 2011. And we offically had our first paying customers on Saturday, July 16, 2011. It was a gorgeous sunny day with lots of baseball games happening in town so there were lots of people about. We just opened without any warning to the public and the house was filled to capacity (seats 70 plus 24ish seats outside) by dinner time!! Word of mouth in this town is amazing...hence the name RUMORS!! wink wink!

I've got a few pics to share of the progress. I'll add them as I can.

Morgan and Aron

Click here to view this photo book larger

May 5th

It's been a month since my last post. Wow. Still no final word on my brother. They said up to 6 weeks so they must be going to honor that.
I've been beyond busy with Graduation Projects. I am doing projects for the local kids who I photographed. They are looking amazing. I'll share them as they get passed out to the owners. I don't want to spoil the surprise. Not that any of them would be reading my blog, but better safe than sorry.
I can't believe we only have three more weeks left of school. WOW. This year FLEW. We are done May 27. I have a Bridal Shower this Saturday, Sunday is Mother's Day. The following weekend is the last Middle School Dance of the year, and I think we might be moving into our new office at work! FINALLY! Then the next weekend is Will's class sleepover at his teachers house. And the weekend I should have been going to California. BUT, times being what they are, I just couldn't swing it. Which is a lucky blessing so I don't miss the Classroom Sleep Over. The families Restaurant is coming along nicely. I've been helping out when I can. It's fun. But A LOT of hard work at the same time. And ironically enough, I think it bring us all closer together. Didn't think we could be any closer but it seems like it.
Just wish my own family was closer to me. But life is not always what you want and just have to deal with it. Josh's family does a wonderful job filling in the void. Very Lucky!
And it just hit me the other day, I will have a TEENAGER in SEPTEMBER?! WHAT??? HOW? That's just not right.
Well, I guess this is enough to bore you all for a few minutes. See ya next month!?

Lost my Brother

My brother has passed away unexpectly. We are waiting for autopsy results. Visitation is Friday from 1-3pm at Eagles funeral home. This is my favorite picture of us. The only sibling that is missing from this picture is our Sister Brooke. This was taken in July at my Sister's wedding. Chris is the one directly above me. I love this picture because we are truly being US. Each of us in this picture are doing exactly what I would expect them to be doing. We are a very tight knit group of siblings. I am so proud of close we are. Most people don't have a clue that we are not all TRUE siblings. Some of us are half, some are step, some are whole. But we don't really care about those TITLES. To us....we are SIBLINGS! To us...we are FAMILY! RIP Chris. You will be missed and there will always be a void in my heart from your death. 33 years is not long enough to have walked on this earth. Please take care of us while you learn the ropes in heaven. Watch over us and keep us safe. We promise to never forget you. We promise to stay true to the 149 Crew! I LOVE YOU CHRIS! I will miss you more than you will ever know.

Ice Ice Baby

Well we just suffered through one of the worst ice storms that I can remember in Michigan. We were without power from Sunday night to Wednesday night. HORRIBLE, Horrible, horrible. I hope I never have to go through that again. My boss let us borrow his generator on Monday night. It got down to 48 inside before we got it up and running. Power came back at 6:36pm on Wednesday night. Ahhh...I took some pics. It was truly beautiful to see but man, I don't ever wanna see it again. They are calling for a snow storm to hit us tonight which could drop 4-8" on us. Wow, really? I love snow but I'm so over this winter stuff now. We had nearly 60 degree weather last weekend and now I'm itching to see springtime. Here's a few pics:Looking out my front door.Looking down the street.Thick thick thickSpring...where are you???

Project 52 is a dud

I suck...nuff said.