Spring & Stuff

...has sprung and brought us snow! Even though I'm not a lover of snow or winter, I must say it was gorgeous this morning as it was all over the trees and everywhere. We went into church, and when we came out it was bright and sunny--almost a summer-looking sky and the snow was already in fast melt. As I type, it has almost melted away to reveal that green grass underneath.

What else...we have been enjoying the first steps of getting the garden/landscape ready to plant in a few weeks. New urns & a fountain have been purchased. We have moved a bridal wreath bush and some sedum to different spots. We have plans to move some more items as well as line our pathway with brick edgers. In garden news....Aliyah is happy to have some of her seedlings sprouting! We have about 1/3 of the cups that have sprouted. We'll see how many more grow. In the meantime, we have purchased some Marigold seeds as well as wave petunias to plant in the next few days. If I am correct, Marigolds & Petunias sprout and grow much quicker than impatients.

This has been an interesting year in the way of people visiting the area. We've had a sitting President (Bush--twice & Obama--once) visit, Extreme Home Makeover, Michael Jordan, and most recently Mikhail Gorbachev. He was in Peoria on Friday to speak at the Reagan dinner. Interesting, he is one of the first world leaders that I remember learning about (aside from Reagan) as I was in 5th grade or so learning about the Cold War and Communism.

My parents went to a garage sale yesterday and found the girls some American Girl items. They found a Bitty Baby crib for $5 and a BB changing table for $3. This is great because Aliyah had a crib, but not Keirah. When we were going to buy it for Keirah for Christmas, it was sold out. The changing table has been a huge hit with them also especially since Keirah is such a little mommy. She loves to pretend to change the diapers. The prices couldn't be beat that's for sure!! They also found them some Gymboree clothes (mostly for Keirah). I'm not one who likes going to garage sales very much, but I love it when you can find good stuff like they found yesterday!

Yesterday, I went to a thing called the Home Life Cafe'. It was about life in the home and discipline. Anyway, the girls were so excited because they had to take sack lunches with them. They haven't ever had to do this b/c Aliyah doesn't go to traditional school --she is homeschooled, and obviously Keirah is only 2. Aliyah told us what she wanted in her lunch. We went to pick them up and Aliyah still had a lot of hers left (probably b/c she eats like a small mouse). As I went to pick up Keirah, they informed me that she ate ALL of her lunch--I had to laugh. I'm sure she did! They are so different. Keirah can tell me a good portion of the names of kids in her class (that's probably like me). Aliyah can tell you the names of a couple (that's like Josh). Kiki tells me details like what color carpet square she sat on, that Rachel was crying, they watched Veggie Tales, what they had for snack, that they turned out the lights during the movie, that she played with Play-Doh, puzzles, etc... Aliyah knows details, but only shares them as she sees necessary. Every now and then she talks about it a whole bunch. My parents/grandparents knew she could read because they see her pore over books for hours and get corrected if they mis-read a word, but hadn't heard her read to them until recently. Josh tells me this is how he was as a child. She is all about asking questions like...how do they get the movie on the DVD, what's a laser do, how does the weatherman know it's going to snow etc...Josh gives her scientific answers which she loves.

Well, my little household chores are calling me--LOUDER & LOUDER! Time to get them done!

Full Week

With work and meetings at church it has been quite a full week. A sampling of today...get up, go to work, Josh took my car to the dealership to get tires and an oil change after he got off work, I got off work, we picked up the car, came home, made tacos for dinner, freshened up a bit, rushed out the door to Target to pick up diapers and such, made a return to Gymboree, went to meetings at church (left early b/c of Josh's work meeting), came home, Josh off to his meeting, tidy up the kitchen after dinner, throw in a load of laundry, help the girls straighten their room, pay bills, and check blogs (where I am now again).

I am constantly thinking about Stellan. If you haven't you can read his story at www.mycharmingkids.net. It's quite a story and miracle. Please pray for him. He and his family need our prayers so much!! What an awesome thing that people from all over the world literally are praying for this little baby and as the Bible says "where two or three (or hundreds of thousands) are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them".

My beloved awesome husband surprised me and cleaned the house this afternoon. What a treat. It has been straightened each day, but vacuuming and dusting--not this week--until today. We were gone on the weekend, so that took away some cleaning time. No sweat, the cleaning is always there when you get back--lol!

These meetings have been awesome and definitely something I need. I know the girls and Josh have been enjoying them also. Aliyah's age group's focus is on obedience. You can't ever learn to much about obedience. They learned the definition--doing exactly what your told to do, when you're told to do it, with the right heart attitude. Their stories go along with it of course. It's been awesome to have immediate & cheerful obedience from her. The adults get a few topics each night, uplifting & awesome music, and lots of prayer. It's cool because it is emphasized over and over that we aren't looking at how my friend, relative, neighbor needs this, but how "I" need it.

We have several more things on our list for tomorrow to add to our full schedule week: haircut for me (can't wait), a trip to Lowe's for some stuff we need outside, lunch at Chili's, a trip to W for some special bricks, the grocery store, work outside in the afternoon, and off to meeting tomorrow night. I'm hoping to cross several things off that list!!

Squeezed

We are having a series of meetings at our church called "the Summit". It goes from 3/23-4/05 with a few days off in between on Fridays/Saturdays. Anyway, one thing I wanted to remember and keep in mind from tonight was ....when I get "squeezed", what comes out? Obviously, when you squeeze an orange, juice would come out because that's what is inside. When we are "squeezed", what is truly inside comes out. Is it anger, impatience, unkindness, bitterness, my rights, pride, unhappiness??? Or is it patience, understanding, sacrifice, rejoicing, happiness, humility, peace??

Circumstances don't make you what you are, they reveal what you are.

I want the latter to be what comes out when I am squeezed. Of course, we are all a work in progress and I'm no different. Another thought I had on this same line--not mentioned was --if something is rotten on the inside--nothing but rotten and stench could come out. I want to be like the fresh orange when squeezed and have the good, fresh desirable things come out.

Weekend

We had a very nice weekend up in the burbs. The hotel was awesome--the room was a king suite and had french doors to the other room. We loved it. The girls enjoyed swimming in the pool.

Since we got home and it was still light out, we took the opportunity to move a few plants to an area that we are working on landscaping. After that we came inside to do the weekend recovery clean-up--lol! The girls went to bed and Josh and I watched the State basketball championship game. Oh yes, did I mention that Michael Jordan (THE MICHAEL JORDAN) was in town??? Yes, he was and so was his ex-wife. This area hosts the high school basketball tournaments for the state championships. Being as he is MJ, he has a couple of sons that are basketball players. Imagine that?? The best bb player of all time has sons who play--lol! Well, his younger son plays for the school that was in the championship game. They won, BTW. Awesome team for high schoolers--they really look like college players. Then again, several of them are already Division I recruits. It brought back a lot of the memories of the Chicago Bulls glory days for us.

You know, we always happen to see strange things or what-not going on. This morning on our way to church, we had driven about 1.5 miles from our house when we saw a lot of lights and didn't really know what was going on. We drove past and couldn't figure out what in the world it was all for on a Sunday morning. There were police, fireman, and most interesting of all...a US Homeland Security vehicle that was about the size of a motor home. Well, who knew they had US Homeland Security vehicles?? We didn't! We figured out why this afternoon. It turns out that a suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist from 9/11 is now in the local prison awaiting his trial to begin in this area. Is that crazy or what?? I hope it's well secured that's for sure. Yep, it's Al-Marri and he's here. I hope he's gone soon! Come on, we live in a city (a smaller city), but now there's a 9/11 terrorist living among us--AAGGHH!

Well, I will leave you with my terrorist story. Interesting ins't it???????? Moral is...if you see a US Dept. of Homeland Security motor home or bus or whatever it is, you know what's coming!

Off...

...for a weekend trip after work tomorrow. This has become quite typical for us in the last several months. Now it is becoming more frequent, but hey it's fun! The girls are excited because there is quite a nice looking pool at our hotel as well as the Rainforest Cafe to eat at nearby. Time to break in those new swimsuits that we bought for them. Once the weather gets warmer, we will start going to downtown Chicago again more regularly. That means visits to Lake Michigan, trolley rides, and all of those fun things that you can do in Chicago.

We worked our tails off this week. There have been plenty of things to be done at home both outside and inside. Work for both of us has been getting busier and that is a definite positive. It makes the days go by in a flash that's for sure. I can't wait to cross off the stuff on the to-do list that's on my counter!! Hopefully, we will be able to squeeze some of that in this weekend as well--am I dreamin?
I'm off to switch out the laundry. Have a nice weekend!!!!!

Silence

It is quiet here. Actually ever since we got home it has been pretty quiet. I told Keirah to go lay down and she did and fell asleep a few minutes later. Aliyah has been in a book reading/game playing mode--by herself and is quiet. She has become fascinated with board games at my mom's house. She likes Monopoly--A LOT and today she brought home Jenga. If no one is playing, she comes up with her own things to do. Monopoly is especially great because she counts the money which of course comes in varying denominations--which keeps that brain working even though we are finished with school.
Have I mentioned that the timing of finishing school has been WONDERFUL! We finished just in time for it to get nice outside and for daylight savings to begin. Everyone in our house is thoroughly enjoying it.

Aliyah joined me for about 5 minutes outside, but determined that the ever so slight sprinkle of rain would drench her. Nevermind the fact that I had been out there for about 30 minutes prior to and 45 minutes after and am not even damp. It was hard work out there, but quiet and enjoyable. I was enjoying the simple fact that I wasn't inside the house bored to death and cold. We cut a large amount of limbs/branches out of 2 of our trees back in Feb. The yard waste collection did not begin for us until today. We had 4 cans of branches already so I had to finish off the pile. I had to cut and "stuff" them into the cans. Yes, I fit them ALL in those cans. I raked some more junk out of our back line and then proceeded to dig up a rose bush and put out some pots. Along with that, I stood back and surveyed the garden to see what I want to change and tweek for this year.

Yesterday was the MOST gorgeous day in March that I can remember since living in Florida. It was like 78 degreese. Hello--that is just peachy!! We got up early and ate breakfast with friends and our house. Following that, we went to Lowe's to pick up a few things. We spent the rest of the daylight time outside working and enjoying sunshine.
Josh took down shutters, I painted, and he put them back up. I think I did 16 yesterday!! My trigger fingers are sure feeling it from all of the spraying. They were actually turning into a hot pink or magenta color from the fading. Sorry, not for my house. Now, they are "red wine" in color and we love them. The top floor shutters will be done--when we get the chance next.
Everyone got a chance to jump on the trampoline yesterday as well.

We did another finishing touch in the kitchen. Yesterday, we found a pendant light to hang over the sink. It looks awesome and we love it.
Oh yes, not to be left out, the girls picked out watering cans at Lowe's. One is Sponge Bob and the other is Dora. They spent a lot of time yesterday watering various things--even though we don't really have anything in need of it--lol!

Breakfast

Tomorrow morning, my childhood friend/college roommate and her husband are coming over for breakfast. On the menu: breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls or coffee cake, fruit, and juice. Hungry anyone?? They live in Florida and are here to visit her family until Friday.

I am beside myself with excitement--the weather has turned GORGEOUS!!!!!! We have been able to begin working on the landscaping and prep for flowers. It is therapeutic. More importantly, the girls have been able to play and jump and swing. I even woke up over an hour early today. I would attribute that to the nice weather.

Don't laugh, but once again, we have a weekend trip planned. My brother has an event in Schaumburg with school. While we won't make it to any of that, we are going to meet up with my family to shop and have dinner plus spend the night. We got a great deal on the room with Hotwire--$39 at Sheraton suites. Unbeatable if you ask me! This one is a family pleaser because it has PF Changs at the mall as well as Rainforest Cafe'. Our girls LOVE RC. Josh and I love PF Changs. Oh yes, and many of our FAVE stores as well. Okay, DWTS is on and I wanna watch!

Confessions

...of a Shopaholic was so cute!! I loved it and I'm buying it when it comes out on DVD. As quickly as it came out, it's already about finished playing. There was only 1 showing out of the 3 places I checked. Great fun to watch with my neighbor as we munched on Jr. Mints and a Slush.

The day...is beautifully SUNNY!!!!! Weather that is like this invigorates me into Superwoman or something. If I was tired before...no longer. I have the gardening ITCH in a major way. Since it is nice and there isn't any planting to be done and I can't really rake (since yard waste pick up doesn't occur for several weeks), I fixed all of my solar lights and items that have fallen down and become messed up as the ground has been frozen/thawed/frozen--you get the picture. Just doing those little things makes me feel better about it all!

Now, if I could get the tiny little section of my trim completed on my cabinets today--that would be awesome. He's supposed to be back today to get it done--I'm hoping. If not, oh well.

I hope that spring makes you happy like it does me!! Happy Saturday & weekend.

Fun Stories

I don't remember why, but last night Josh and I were talking about these stories. Most of them happened during my college years and all of them are true.

*Story 1--on a flight back to college several WWF people were on the flight. Actually they were sitting right by me in the airport--I believe in Atlanta. I think they sat in the waiting area by me b/c they figured I would have no clue. I had a suspicion, but didn't know exactly who until they announced it on the plane--the large men kind of gave it away. Come to think of it, we were all together for awhile in Atlanta during a layover.

Story 2--Chris Sligh (top ten finisher from American Idol)--went to college with me, in fact same class.

Story 3--the guy that sat right next to me in my freshman college math course won $1 million dollars because he got the gray M&M from the package. He bought the pack of M&M's on campus and then was mysteriously missing for a little over a week. He was gone because he went on the Rosie O'Donnell show as well as Letterman and maybe others.

Story 4--My great friend from college and roommate met and hung out with Shaq for several hours while she was modeling in NY one summer. It was at the Waldorf Astoria. Yes, she has pictures of it.

Story 5--While at a Chicago Cubs game, Ryne Sandberg came and was standing next to us before the game and this lady got his autograph and started crying--literally. I'm pretty sure I was laughing.

Story 6--In Chicago this summer, we saw Chris Rock & his wife up very close, Oprah, and many Olympians. Yes, this was the day my camera was dead from all of the pictures we had taken earlier in the week. It's ok, we don't like go crazy when we see people, but it is cool to see people that you have only always seen on TV or in movies. Honestly, they look exactly the same as they do on tv.

Story 7--when I was a senior in HS, one of our teachers heard that the Governor was going to be coming in to the local airport. It was Governor Edgar, NOT any of our several infamous BAD Illinois Governors. Anyway, as it turned out he did a press conference and our class got to meet him along with several other of the people that held office at the time including the lady that ran against Blago unsuccessfully in 2006.

I could tell you that Josh was nudging/hitting me in the back a couple of years ago because now Congressman Schock was at an event we went to and he was making sure I saw him--umm yes thanks, Josh I did see him. A few weeks later, he was eating at Chili's with his then-girlfriend. I guess she is no longer b/c when the Today show interviewed him a few weeks ago he said he was single. He's Congress hottest freshman you know--not that there's any competition since he's the only 20 something in Congress--lol!

Anyway, there's a little stroll down memory lane for fun. If only I had purchased more M&M's that year in college....

Pictures

My pictures from the last 3 years are in the process of being transferred to a "jump drive". It has the capacity to store like 3200 photos. This will do it for sure on what I have on here plus more. I am not going to have a panic like before if my computer goes down. Lesson learned.

I just finished mixing up a breakfast casserole and putting it into the oven. The variation on this one as opposed to last week's casserole is the hashbrowns in this one. Dinner for tomorrow night is enchiladas. This will be the first time for me to make enchiladas. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

My crown moulding and valances are complete with a minor section of moulding that needs to be finished near the end. It will be done on Sat. YAY!

Tonight, we went to Bergner's. It's like a Parisians, Younkers, Elder Beerman, Carson Pirie Scott etc... They are all the same just in different sections of the country. Anyways, they have their Goodwill sale going on. If you donate an article of clothing, you get a coupon for 20% off almost anything. This includes Coach =), cosmetics, and other items that rarely if ever go on sale. You also know that coupons do not normally apply on items like those. They send out some 25% coupons ahead of time to people and we got 4. Well, you know what I was looking for--a Coach purse. Yes, I know Coach sent me a 25% off coupon, but I didn't find any purses their that just did it for me. I have mentioned before that they are scrimping in various areas on many handbags and that to get one of what I would consider "quality", you have to spend quite a bit. They have basically made all of the straps very skinny (to save on leather), made the fabric of vinyl or pleather, or jacquard. The leather that once graced the bottom at least all the way or on the corners is pretty much gone etc..
Well, I knew Bergners previously had one that I liked--a.k.a it met the quality standards of me--lol. They had it and better yet it was already 25% off AND I got to use my extra 25% off. Thus, a $400 purse for like half price. I LOVE it. It is a Zoe and has browns, tans, and golds. It even has a thicker strap than the ones they are making , leather on top, leather on bottom and leather on much of the patchwork. YAY, now I have my big Coach purse for the year or how ever long. I bring them out and re-use them in various seasons. I had been using my red Dooney and a small wristlet Coach for the past several months.

Time for Bob Harper's Weight Loss Yoga DVD. We are loving it--truly we are.

Dolls

As it rains outside, I am blogging and the girls are in the corner of the LR next to me playing with their American Girl dolls. Between the two of them they have several to play with. I hear that they are having dinner soon. I'm wondering what is on the menu =). I already ate my dinner of wonderfully delicious leftover PF Changs Crisy Honey Chicken.

Last night, contrary to my post about maybe doing nothing, I did do some things.

Aliyah just announced that Keirah went potty in her seat. The cool thing is that Keirah announced that she had to go and ran into the bathroom!!! YAYAYAYAY!! I'm off to get a treat. It turns out that she went "ock". Of course "little DIVA" is all into wearing panties and has favorites. myohmy what will we do when she gets older?

Back to my list of things...the girls assisted in cleaning up various items that were missing from their correct place in our house. I organized Aliyah's dresser drawers, folded and hung up a load of clothes, organized the toy room closet and shelves, and started straightening up the hall closet. In the meantime, I have uncovered more items for the garage sale we will have in the next month or so.

Get this...Josh called me today and asked if I knew how much the house was that just went up for sale on our street. I told him I didn't know--thinking he was simply curious. He said that he had thoughts of fixing it up and selling it to which I replied "WHAT"?? Granted, we've talked about doing this many years ago and have always been fascinated by houses and such, but now he's telling me he wants to do this?? I guess we'll add that one to the comment the other day that he made about one day building a house. Don't worry, we have enough going on without having another house to fix up. I want some time where we aren't working on projects or thinking about the next one.

This week's new meals I think will be enchiladas and then hashbrown breakfast casserole. We also now have butter so we can try out our new panini press.

Tonight looks to be RAIN, RAIN, RAIN (that's ok b/c it's making the yard turn green & I would much rather be having rain than snow) as well as Biggest Loser and more things to get done on my list!!! Have a happy Tuesday night!

Lagging

The spring ahead with the clocks is making me feel like I'm lagging today. I know, only an hour lost, but combine that with a late night on Thursday & Friday and a busy weekend = tired Monday. There are several things on my to-do list for this evening, but who knows. I may just enjoy the new season of DWTS and "forget" the list for today. It will still be there tomorrow.
I'm excited to see how Shawn Johnson & Melissa (former Bachelor "winner"/dumpee) do on the show.
Last night during Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice, I cleaned out/rearranged 3 totes. I took out stuff for our annual garage sale and put away clothes of Keirah & Aliyah. It felt nice to get that done, but it left me feeling like I didn't accomplish much since there was still so much left to do around the house.
I'm in spring cleaning mode I guess. Now that I'm back I've gotta be careful not to spend too much time on the computer since there's things to be done. I think I'm caught up on reading blogs =). It's a nice "chill" for me.
It's either off to work on the list or do nothing. We'll see!

March

When March officially arrives on the calendar, I feel hopeful again that warm weather will return for awhile. I also get the ITCH to get out in the yard and plant my flowers and landscape. Well, the flower planting obviously can't happen for a few weeks outside, but we have started in our house.

Back in the fall, I mentioned that I was collecting seeds from my flowers for Aliyah's science project that we would do this spring. We pulled those seeds out the other day and laid out towels to fill up little cups with dirt. I think there are 30 something cups. She was happy to do this. We have them all sitting in a south-facing window so they get sun when it appears. If they do well, Aliyah will be thrilled and momma will be too! I will be thrilled because that will eliminate some flowers that I have to purchase. This is my first time trying to grow a geranium from seed, we'll see how it goes. If it works, then next year I will do many more.

Since it was a rainy day yesterday, we enjoyed it out shopping. We found some SUPER deals at one of our favorite dept. stores. I found it amusing that I saw my OB/Gyn shopping there--well not that she was shopping there, but that she was shopping the 85% off clearance rack =). I guess everyone loves good deals right?

Tonight is Celebrity Apprentice and Amazing Race and cleaning our house. As the March winds blow like a lion outside...

HELLO Again!!

I'm BAAAAACCCCCKKKK!! It's been two weeks, but it seems longer. I really missed blogging and blog world. WOW--we've been busy. Where do I start?

Maybe I will start from today and move backwards--haha. As of today, Aliyah will complete 1st grade. Just in time for the great weather that has come our way--FINALLY! We do her school year like this for several reasons: it's much easier to stay motivated in winter when not much else is going on outside, the busy season at work picks up about now and there's times when I don't want to delve into schoolwork when I get off, the kids need spring to run off all that built up energy--man they have plenty of it.
The girls went outside a couple of times on Thursday and jumped on the trampoline, climbed trees, etc... Aliyah had terrible "growing pains" in her legs that night. She hasn't had those since she was like 4. They are the kind where she wakes up just screaming because they hurt so bad. My mom told me that I used to have them when I was little just like that.
Oh yes, new developments in our home improvement projects!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The new cabinets and counterop are in and WONDERFUL!! It's amazing what a difference this makes in the kitchen. We call it our re-remodel. In 2005, we got new cabinets and a countertop to replace the horrendous ones that were there when we moved here. When we did it, we did exactly what we already had--no additional. Does that make sense??? Our kitchen is probably the smallest room in the house aside from the bath--what do I mean probably--IT IS! I could only have the bare minimum of stuff it seemed because there was so little space countertop-wise and cabinet wise. We added cabinets all along the very top of the existing ones, added wood valances across the window spaces, and have crown moulding. I have 9 new cabinets. Granted, many of them are tiny cabinets that go above cabinets, but they still hold stuff =).

This new kitchen change has given me an urge to make things I've never made. It has been so fun. Since Josh works a combo of 1st and second shift, there are many evenings where he isn't home. I don't see much of a need to cook a whole dinner for just myself and my two little bird eaters. He works evenings like 4 nights a week. This leaves 3 nights where we are home together. We obviously like to go out to eat, but that gets old really quickly especially when you get tired of the choices. We aren't exotic eaters by any means--kind of picky actually.
So, this week my two new dishes that I hadn't made before that we love to eat were lasagna and breakfast casserole! They were awesome--I was told by all of the family members eating =). The cool thing was, we had leftovers that the girls and I could eat when Josh was at work. There's more new things to come this week in the kitchen for us! The cool part about this re-remodel is that the tax refund paid for a big chunk of it--YAY!

Yesterday after work we left and went up to the burbs of Chicago. Yes, we've made it there at least once a month since August. This was our quickest trip by far. It reminded me of the days where I was coaching cheerleading and we had a Friday night game a few hours away. We had time to go to the stores we wanted to, eat at Changs, and be home before midnight. Man, we saw a TON of red/blue lights both ways. They were out on radar like crazy yesterday! We also saw tons of cars pulled along the side of the road with flat tires. I'm not sure why, but maybe there's just lots of junk on the road after a long winter--or maybe those horrendous GAPING potholes that are everywhere!!! We had fun that's for sure. Josh drove it on less than four hours of sleep and after his work for the day. Don't worry, I didn't twist his arm to go, I even told him that we didn't have to go, but he insisted. He stopped at Wendy's and got himself a GINORMOUS drink and everything was fine.

Speaking of GINORMOUS drinks, I have given up one of my little "addictions". It's called Dr. Pepper. I still love it, but it's not good for me. It's been almost two weeks now--YAY! We also purchased the Biggest Loser's "Weigh Loss Yoga". Yep, it's a tail-kicker, but we love it! I have no idea why Josh wants to do this, but he wants his arms and stuff to be stronger and more toned. That means, he will have a perfect body and I will move closer to normal I guess--haha. The coolest thing is that you could be shaking and your arms/legs cooking and you aren't sore after you do the workout. We also have a huge boost in energy. There's a 50 minute total workout, but we are at 25 still as we are working up to the 50.

Enough for now, this is really long. Off for a fun Saturday with Josh and the girls!!!