for V-Day

As V-Day approaches and I look to live up to the name of my blog, here's another love post/challenge. I have been following this challenge since it started this year.

Now, lest you wonder if I have trouble loving Josh don't think that for one minute. In fact, that's no trouble at all. We have a wonderful relationship. I think he's the hottest thing since a 120 degree summer day!! On a side note, I must add that last year there was a divorce published in several local newspapers with both of our names and our city. The 2 differences were that Josh's middle initial was different and most importantly, it wasn't us. There were however co-workers, former co-workers, family members, and other people that thought it was us--sadly.

Anyway, no one is perfect and there's always room for improvement. Better yet, what could be better for your family or your relationship than paying more attention to the love of your life??? My goal has always been to do everything I can to make my sweetie and my family happy.

See the I Cor 7:5 button on my sidebar. There is something new for each week. Good luck with the challenge!

Wonderfully Busy

In January, when it's freezing cold and life's a bore what do you do??? You take a trip, watch a movie, do some shopping, paint your kitchen, do the laundry, clean your house, eat yummy food! In a nutshell, that was our weekend.

Josh & I headed out as soon as work was done on Friday to our little weekend getaway. We realized that we haven't had a little trip like this in quite a long time--by ourselves. It's surely been a couple of years. We didn't get into much rush hour traffic at all and made it in decent timing. I told Josh on the way into the hotel that it reminded me of basketball/cheerleading season when I used to coach. We used to travel all over the state and then if we had a tournament, we would be spending the night. This was typically in January & February so the cold weather and the hotel all seemed like that time. Funny enough, we walked into the hotel which was Double Tree by Hilton and the large lobby area was FILLED with teenagers. It REALLY felt like basketball season then! We dropped off our stuff and headed out to dinner at none other than PF CHANGS! After waiting about an hour, we got to eat. DELICIOUS! We went to the mall that was right by our hotel and did a teeny bit of shopping--mostly at the Coach store. I was able to get Josh's V-Day gift there. He loves it (yes he got it early). He laughed at the fact that he now has a Coach item. It is a card case (think thin wallet). The funny thing is that after we have purchased this, my co-worker tells me that the normal wallet days are over for guys and the type of wallet Josh got is THE thing. YAY!

The mall closed at 9--way too early if you ask me. We headed to Super Target and did a little shopping. Upon arriving at our hotel, the lobby still smelled like Cold Stone birthday cake ice cream --no idea why, but the teens had moved to a different portion of the hotel. There was dance music playing and the lights were dimmed. As tempting as it was to join them, we headed up to our room. We watched a PPV or a Movie on Demand. Since we missed seeing Fireproof, we got to see it this weekend--it was great.

We got up and went to THE McDonalds. I call it that because it is right across the street from McD's world HQ. I told Josh that this one surely has it all together and that this must be PERFECT McD. It did not disappoint. It had more televisions than many sports bars and barely resembled McD except for the counter where you order. They do have the food right and better tasting than ours. We realized that we have been to 1. the world's biggest McD's 2. the vintage/rock 'n roll McD 3. the HQ McD We aren't like McD people but it just so happens that it is based here in IL.

Shopping was great--although SUPER cold. This is an outdoor type mall. I was glad the girls were not with us b/c they would have been frozen. While there were many choices for lunch like Cheesecake Factory, Maggiano's, Wildfire Grill, etc...we opted to go to PF Changs again!!! I was glad we did. Josh had to get his fix. He tried the Dali Chicken. It was chicken stir fry with Yukon gold potatoes, in a Chili sauce. This meant that it had little chili peppers and it was quite spicy!! He topped that off with a Strawberry Cheesecake mini dessert. It was good--I sampled it. I had honey crispy chicken with white rice and a S'mores mini dessert.

Since we always have an interesting portion of any trip, here it is...
Following dinner we went to this shopping center. We hadn't ever been to any of these stores so names meant nothing. One store we chose to visit was called "Sweet & Sassy". It looked like a children's boutique on the outside. Inside was full of giggles, smells of nail polish, fake hair, make-up, and facial masks. This was one of those stores for little girls on up to tweens to have a spa-day. There were b-day parties going on and just little ones getting the royal treatment I guess. When I say little ones, this starts at age 2 or 3 I guess and goes up to 12-13. Don't get me wrong, I know little girls love this type of stuff, and it's fun to do--but this place was OVER the TOP. It was kind of scary-pageant-ish. There were children with face masks on getting there toes soaked while others were getting manicures. Beyond that, they put on hair extensions or fake hair and whatever else. Josh informed me that it was $70 for your little princess to get the treatment. Honestly, I wish I had time to get a treatment like this--especially a pedicure. For us, we'll just give the girls their pedicures and buy them hairbows =).

We painted the kitchen yesterday and it turned out very nice. This is in preparation for our cabinets. It's all about getting the yucky projects done in the winter!

Well, this has been way LONG enough. Tonight is the Bachelor and True Beauty. I also need to get going on my Christmas Shutterfly book!

Love

It was the summer of 1995. I began working what would be my summer job for the next 9 summers. The summer job that finished out high school, college, and even between the 2 years of teaching. Our local park is very large. It isn't an amusement park, but it has a water park, lagoon with paddleboats, softball diamonds, soccer, ice rink, golf courses, playgrounds, etc...I worked in the concession stand. Exciting as it was to wear hats all of the time since I worked with food, there were plenty of guys to be seen. Several of them worked on the maintenance crew and would prep the ball diamonds for games each day. Yes, it was summer and they often did this shirtless. Of course, they would come over and get a drink afterwards.

I worked with several people--all new to me of course. It was fun to dip ice cream cones (even though the ice cream would be more like an ice block at times), make sno-cones, and just be in the atmosphere of a park. There were days when it was a drudgery such as the 4th of July when it was HOT and long lines ALL DAY. Alas, those were the carefree days of youth. Afterward, someone might come over and we would hang out after work. It may be a girl friend or a guy friend or somebody that wanted to be more than a friend. Although I worked in concessions, we had several different concession stands throughout the park. I worked at the biggest one and that was pretty much every day. It became my home in the sense of work. By the 5th summer, I had worked with some of the same people that whole time. Our boss put certain ones of us together a lot. I worked with 2 people quite a bit. Brian worked in concessions with me all of the time and Josh worked a the batting cages.

By this time, we were all friends or at least work buddies. I continued to have interest in so many different guys. Between the summers, I would go back to Florida for school. Guys at school, guys at home. One day I remember hanging out with a friend from school that actually worked with me at the park at the time. He informed me that Josh liked me. Okay was my reply and how would you know that??? He said he just knew.

You see, Josh worked with me pretty much every single day. He was pretty quiet so we never talked aside from necessary talking for the first 4 years. By the fifth year, I guess he figured I was okay to talk to since we were by ourselves all day most days. His twin brother also worked with me, btw. Eventually, I would work with each of his siblings at the park. Time progressed and he would start walking with me after work. I would often take walks there. At this point in time, Josh wasn't on the radar. Over the five years, I had seen a black, blond, pink, and back to black hair change. The lengths changed as well. One year (I kid you not) he resembled Satan (not that I've seen Satan). He had scary long black hair, a goatee, black rimmed glasses, a pink chain, and a mouth that would embarass many. Yeah (I mean NO) that wasn't my umm ideal guy really. I was into the clean cut, prep look. Nevertheless, we were friends and we did hang out.

Over that 5th year, Josh began doing different things on his own. He decided that since he planned to enter the business world, the look he had and the vocabulary probably wouldn't be overly professional. One day after work, he came back to show us all that he had gotten a haircut. He also decided that he would self-clean the vocabulary. At this point, I was not dating anyone exclusively. Since we went to school in two different places he in IL and myself in FL, he began writing me every now and then. He also would call on Saturdays. This was just before cell phones & emails were as common as school supplies.

Josh graduated from college and started the 6th summer at the park. I came back to the park and still had another year left of college. Things had changed somewhat, but I wasn't ready for a relationship yet. It was on one of those dreaded 4th of July work days that Josh asked me to be his girlfriend and I left him hanging. I didn't know if I wanted to give up the single life of dating whomever. I was having fun with my girl friends and just wasn't sure. Actually, a lot had changed and I found myself realizing that I was really truly in love. You see, my apprehension stemmed from a previous relationship with a guy named "W". He was a jerk and I was determined NEVER to have my heart broken like that again. However, Josh was definitely different than "W". He was the exact opposite-- a thoughtful romantic through and through. I told him 3 days later "YES". It took him a bit to figure out since that was the only random word I said. I also told him I loved him that day. He was shocked. He had told me months before that he loved me and I lectured him over it since I wasn't going to be burned again. This time, I knew it was for real.

That was July of '99. Three months later I came home from school for a weekend visit. We were engaged that weekend. We got married in June of 2000. In honor of Valentine's Day, that's our story in a nutshell. He is my soulmate and I'm glad he was persistent when I put up the walls!! I love you baby!

Good Work!

Yay for Aliyah! We are so proud of you!!

In Aliyah's SS class, they have a Well-Versed Kid program. Basically what it involves is memorizing 20 verses PLUS Psalm 23, The Lord's Prayer, John 14:1-6, and Luke 2:1-7. Once that is completed, they recite the 20 verses which are several different ones all at the same time. Today, she finished the Well-Versed Kid program! This is her final ribbon. She is the first one to complete it out of the 40 or so kids in her class and from what I understand the first girl to complete it at all. Next week they will be giving her a gift card. I know firsthand how hard she worked as I worked with her on memorizing them. Her teachers were very excited as well. WAY TO GO!!

Zero

What makes a ZERO degree day bearable?? (that means I think we've reached zero, although I'm not sure)
--sunshine for sure
--heat
--visions of sugar white beaches instead of snow
Believe me, I'm not ready to move to Alaska or any further North for that matter.

Frozen

If it wasn't frozen before, it certainly is now! The temp this morning was -17!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a dentist appointment and it had risen to a balmy -9 by the time we left. I think it may have reached 0 for the high!

Two positive things to running errands in the extreme cold...there are plenty of close parking spaces AND there were some SUPER deals today! The grocery store that we go to is right across the street from the dentist's office. We found some great bargains there =). We picked up breakfast to avoid getting out of the car to go inside. The girls both decided that they wanted to visit grandma which was fine with her. Josh and I decided to go to Target, Gymboree, Bergners, Sears, & a children's boutique. We found good deals everywhere! I spent some Christmas $$ and bought an IPod shuffle in pink =). It was on sale + there was this coupon on the batteries we were buying to save $5. off anything in electronics. The only issue I have with IPods is that the earbuds absolutely will not stay or fit in my ears. I asked Josh if I was doing something wrong as this has always been the case and he said no--I need to buy smaller ones. I'm excited because this will give me some music to go upstairs and dance to so I can get some exercise (much needed this winter). Target also had Tide Total Care detergent for $6.84 plus a small bottle of Downy with it. I had coupons for $1. off! The cashiers were marvelling at the deal as were we.
At the children's store, they had a sale on several things as well as a coupon they emailed to me. We found a pair of Pedipeds for Aliyah and a pair of L'Amour boots for Keirah. The shoes are absolutely adorable and comfy and the girls LOVE them.
Gymboree had Gymbucks time so we bought some new undies for Kiki, socks, a swimsuit for Aliyah, and a shirt for Kiki.
Josh suggested eating at Buffalo Wild Wings and it was a SUPER choice. The food was delish!!
We went to pick up the girls, but they were both asleep. We had enough time to sync my new shuffle. Now, I just need to go get some ear pieces that will fit.
This is a fun way to spend a freezing cold day!! Yes, we were bundled up!!

Freezing!

If you know anything about me at all, you know that I am not a fan of cold weather. Today the temp is like 7 degrees! Tomorrow and Thurs. are supposed to be even colder--shiver!
This morning when I got up and started getting ready, I looked at my hair and remembered that I had wanted to get it cut this past weekend. Well, that didn't happen since we painted and did other things. I decided I didn't want to wait any longer and asked Josh if he would cut it. He asked me if I meant right then?? I said that I did and he thought it would take forever. He got the scissors and I took them and cut off a chunk on the side to which he gasped. I pretty much cut it all with the exception of a few spots I couldn't see in the back. Yes, there was lots of hair in the garbage can. I think I cut off 3 or more inches--I don't know.

There are several things to do inside on this freezing night and I was reading a couple of blogs that I check in on pretty often. I don't have this one linked on my sidebar, but I have been reading regularly for almost two months now. It is about Magdalena. She is a Trisomy 18 baby. I have a friend who was my college roomie that had a Trisomy baby who only lived 11 days. They don't live very long usually so Magdalena had survived many odds. I was sad today to read that she passed away =(. What a cute little girl and a blessing she was. Say a prayer for her parents as this is something no mommy or daddy should have to endure! Hug your children and thank God for each and every moment with them--good and bad!

Show

It was fun watching the show come together last night. We thought they did a very nice job putting it all together. I had seen pictures of some of the rooms before they were all done, and they definitely looked better finished.
We were glad to finally see and figure out for sure the Ying/Yang chairs. They brought those to the house at two separate times right before the family came home. They must have been very heavy because it took several men to life them off the truck. Everyone was wondering what in the world they were and what function they would serve.
Other observations...Ty doesn't come off quite as high-strung in person as he does on the show. What's interesting is that on the show it appears he is yelling and everyone can hear him when in actuality, I barely ever heard him. Even when he comes running out of the house...they told us not to cheer and we didn't really hear him talking. Of this crew, we saw the most of Michael followed by Rib. The only time I saw Ed was at the reveal and even then he kind of hung back.
Yes, we did find ourselves on the episode--only because we knew exactly where to look. We were in the section behind the family at the reveal and we were behind this lady in a mint green jacket standing on a chair holding a sign. Apparently, she forgot she wasn't the only one who wanted to see--lol!

Our weekend was nice. We saw "Bride Wars" and thought it was a fun & cute movie. We painted the girls' bedroom. It looks very nice and they are excited. The color is called "Rainforest"-- appropriate for Aliyah! We also re-hung/rearranged pictures in their room. It's much better to paint when it's boring outside than when it is summer and you would rather be outside doing something else!

Josh continued his winter baking err whatever with peanut brittle or lotsa peanuts with some brittle--lol. He makes great peanut brittle--when he doesn't mis-calculate and put in LOADS of peanuts. We had a good laugh about that one. It tastes good, it's just VERY PEANUT-Y. To give you an idea...he used 2 cans of peanuts!!

Well, that pretty much wraps up the weekend. Tonight is school with Aliyah and a few TV shows. What else can you do on a wintry January evening?

EHM Reminder

It's finally time for the show to air...Sunday, January 11 on ABC at 7 pm CST. This is the Extreme Home Makeover that was completed just 3 blocks from our home. I am interested to see how the show comes together after seeing them film a good portion of it. I think it will be fun to see the little things they film around town. Don't forget to watch!

Other than that, it's January and it seems Aliyah is experiencing the winter blues. Fortunately the sun was shining today, just not WARM!

We enjoyed a scrumptious comfort-food dinner at Cracker Barrel this evening. MMMM--delicious. Everyone was full and the food was great. That place is so warm and cozy in the winter and the food warms you as well =).

Have a nice weekend!

Routine

With all of our decorations put away including the outside ones, I must say it is bleak looking. January gray doesn't really brighten anything. The decorations all got put away before the "cut-off" of being tacky which is January 6th (today). The last time we really turned them on was New Year's Day.
All of that means the holidays are over and things are a bit more slow-paced and more normal in the way of that routine schedule.

Aliyah is back to doing her work and we are pressing on to our finish date in the first week of March. So far, we are right on track =). We do this so that we can fully enjoy the days when it starts to get warm. We go on walks, the girls play outside, and we do projects outside like getting the yard ready for spring/summer. There's always plenty to do that's for sure.

I've started a couple of new things to motivate Aliyah in school. If she does a good job and doesn't complain about work, she gets to play Beanie Babies online--she really loves playing. Another thing that we are working on is the bedtime routine. The girls like to look at books after going to bed. I don't mind that, however when it turns into getting toys out and into the bed and making a mess while failing to go to sleep--that doesn't fly! Since Aliyah wasn't going to sleep as she was supposed to, we made her get up and complete a couple of pages in her schoolwork. This was to remind her that she goes to bed when we tell her on our terms and not on her own. It worked...we didn't hear a peep out of either child all night. The same will happen tonight. Keirah gets a swat or something else since she's younger.
Things feel decently organized since I made that a project over the extra days off.

The next thing we are looking forward to is getting the additional cabinets in our kitchen. We will be ordering them in a little less than two weeks. My kitchen doesn't have much space for anything really. It works because I don't have a lot of extra stuff--I keep things cleaned out. Adding cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling plus some trim and wood valances across the windows will be great. We get a new countertop as well since we are adding a small cabinet on the other side of the stove. Josh has become "project man". He is the one coming up with projects to do--get that! He has several he wants to tackle. It feels so nice to not have any portions of the house undergoing a project at the moment, I just may want to keep it that way a bit longer. I thoroughly enjoy that new bathroom, that's for sure!

Well, other than to say that normal routine is back and that's perfectly peachy for me...some new shows have started up. I watched one called "True Beauty" last night and thought it was quite funny.

Observations

A note from PJ day yesterday...I finished off my list (with the exception of windows). It's a little senseless to wash them when it is rainy/cold outside. I did wash the inside windows that needed it though.
Today has been relaxing and nice. A few observations from our afternoon...
*I don't know if the economy has driven places out of business so much as has poor management & poor hiring practices.
*Krispy Kreme closed down in our area and from everything I've heard the management and workers weren't anything to write home about...
*A visit to Wendy's today at Aliyah's lunch request reminded me of how popular a place can be, however made me question how long it would remain popular with days like today. The line was extremely long as only one employee worked the counter. They had no drinks...(WHAT))))...fries were like styrofoam or something, no BBQ sauce etc... If I had known that upon entering the line, I wouldn't have stayed in it. Something tells me that hiring some competent workers (since so many need jobs), and planning for busy weekends or general planning would make this place thrive and people would keep on coming back. That will be my last visit for awhile.
*While in Target, I noticed the new Always Infinity product. I wasn't stopping to look, but I couldn't help bu notice the price in big Target red letters as we wheeled the cart down the aisle. $10.00! This was not the giant economy-sized package, so I'm unsure as to the relevance to paying $10 for a package of these??? Then again, with a name like Infinity...that means like forever???
*There are some odd folks out there--like today this person in Wendy's who came in and asked the person in front of her to "hold her place" in line. She proceeded to do a multitude of things...go to the restroom, talk about her child named Solomon (no kidding), read the newspaper, and who knows what else. As they went to the restroom, they left the child's toys sitting on random tables. When she returned to stand in line for 5 seconds, the child wandered around Wendy's dining area and do whatever he pleased while mom talked about him and blah, blah, blah... Hopefully, Solomon gains some of the wisdom that THE Solomon is known for, because he certainly wouldn't get it from mom!
On that note, I will finish...tonight is TACO NIGHT---MMM!
Tomorrow=back to normal schedules & reality.

PJ's

January=blah & boring thus today has been a pajama day. I don't do well with pajama days because I don't feel motivated to do much of anything. The gray sky doesn't help much either.

A few things have gotten accomplished like some laundry, dusting, window washing, and organizing. I really want to kick it into high gear tonight so I get my list all finished.

Next week is back to the normal schedule of work, Aliyah's schooling and all of that good stuff. Maybe it will keep me busy enough to forget about January and move on into the happy months of the year where it is warm and bright!!!! Can you believe that on a pj day, I haven't even turned on the tv?

NYE & NYD

A few things I am enjoying right now...sunshine in January (we don't see that often in Jan), a few extra days off, Keirah playing with her Bitty Twins kitchen, Aliyah looking at books, health, and a chance to catch up!

We spent New Year's Eve having family time. We went to our favorite pizza place...we have officially become regulars. We got a free pizza and drinks so for 9 people, it was a whopping $28.00 to eat!! Can't beat that--right? The rest of the family went off to do their own stuff, and we went to Walgreens to rent a movie from Redbox.

Josh made Chex party mix--a family favorite--and I salivated the whole time since it smelled so great! Pretty soon, we got a call that grandma & grandpa's power was out--that's a bummer...and so we told my family and them to come on over. Everyone ate some snacks and then we started playing this new Monopoly World game (the banking system is electronic). It was really fun and took a few hours. Even better, I won! Five minutes before ringing in 2009, Josh ran and got everyone something to drink and then we counted down---Happy 2009!

We stayed up late because I wanted to watch the movie we rented--which was funny. It was a 2:30 bedtime =).

The shut-eye was short as we got up at 6:30 to get ready to leave. We went up by Chicago again to do some shopping and a little eating at none other than PF Changs.

The trip was nice--there were virtually no cars on the road. The mall was pretty empty as well (such a stark contrast to the last time)! The sales were AWESOME!!! We got several things at Banana Republic, a few items at Pottery Barn, some cute things at Hanna Andersson, and a coat for Josh for $32.! Lunch was fantastic and we ordered some to take home--as usual. The drive home was as quiet as the drive up--traffic-wise. The girls slept the whole time.

We washed the car to get the salt off from our snowstorms, and then did some house-straightening. It was a fun day!!

The girls have now come out in their new tulle skirts from Hanna. Aliyah calls it her dance outfit. Keirah has it on over her new pj's. Hanna pj's were only $15!!!! The skirts were only $12!

Our Christmas tree & decs are already down as of 12-30--the earliest ever for us. It helped that the top half of lights on the tree decided to quit working. Those lights don't really last anymore. The max is probably 1 or 2 seasons. That's ok--I'm thinking that will save us some $$ on the energy bill =).

Josh has to work this weekend so it will be us girls chillin, cleanin, playin, havin fun! Happy Friday & weekend--enjoy it!