Deck the Halls

I finally got around to taking pictures of the tree and greenery in the family room and kitchen. Now you can see just how high up I was.......from yesterday's picture posted! And OH BABY IS IT COLD OUTSIDE! We are in the midst of freezing rain and drizzle with the temp down to 23 degrees! AND they have already cancelled school tomorrow with the forcast of 6- 12 inches of snow!! Tomorrow should be a fun one!!

Time to Decorate!

It was 70 degrees today and I had to put out the outside greenery or not do it again this year. Then I realized our ONE tree had finally dumped all it's leaves.....so, Joe raked up the leaves and I cut back a couple of bushes and put up the greenery and bows. I think it looks pretty good. So, then it was time to finish up the greenery inside. Turns out that 3 of the 4 didn't work! Off to Target I went. Sweaty from working in the yard but determined to finish the decorating! I found what I was looking for and bought a different one for the mantle. ....those pictures will be on tomorrow's post. The picture is actually of me on top of the refrigerator. It might make more sense later but it is really high! My hands and feet get sweaty everytime I climb up there. It looks so cool at night. The boys put up the tree on Sunday and I put 3 little ones in the master bedroom. As you can imagine, now Matthew wants one with lights on it in his room. I gave him one without lights and let him decorate it with little felt ornaments. He actually did a really good job. So far he hasn't messed with the big tree. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that issue!

More Pictures

Happy Thanksgiving

So I decided since it was going to be almost 70 today that we should give the turkey a pardon and grill out. If I do say so myself, the steak was AWESOME! I also made hamburgers, mashed potatoes, and garlic green beans. My mom brought rolls and a salad. For dessert we had birthday cake. Matthew just didn't understand why neither me or my mom had had a birthday cake. So, I thought today was going to be the perfect day. And yes, it was buttercream icing. We have so much to be thankful for this year and I'm so thankful for all of my friends and family too.

No, Matthew wasn't mega sick. I don't know what was wrong exactly. He had the fever Friday and then Joe and Matthew stayed home on Saturday and then back to the usual routine on Sunday. Guess it was just a quick little virus. Work was super busy and rather chaotic this weekend and I'm looking forward to a relaxing rest of the week. It is supposed to be almost 70 for Thanksgiving so I've decided to nix a traditional turkey and grill out. Yes, my mom thinks I'm crazy but I'm just not into doing a turkey. Then comes one of my favorite shopping days of the year. Yes, it's almost Black Friday. I have gone to a few stores to sort of do some pre-shopping and I'm looking forward to at least finding one awesome bargain.

SICK?

I think Matthew has "something". He came home from school and said his head and brain hurt but the next thing I knew, Joe and Matthew were outside playing soccer. I went to the store and when I called saying I was on my way home.......Matthew was asleep on the couch. When I got home I decided that he had a fever and gave him some Tylenol. (I'm always the nurse!) He then ate some toast with jelly and went off to bed. So far we haven't heard a peep out of him. Not sure what he has but for him to take a nap and go to bed at 7...it's something for sure. So, he doesn't exactly look like this picture today but I liked it and had to post it! Yes, you can still drive a truck through his mouth. I don't think those teeth are ever going to make it in!!

Liberty Girls Night Out

Yes, tonight I went to Liberty for their first Girls Night Out. Many of the stores on the square participated and offered a 10% discount. We ate a a good Italian place and it was so fun to catch on everyone's life and share fond memories of college. I find it amazing to think I've known these women for 17 years!! After dinner we did go hit a few of the shops. Some are really quaint but my favorite was the flower shop......they had cookies and hot apple cider too. Thanks girls for such a wonderful night out! Pictured Left to right: Stacy, Gena, Julie and Jennifer

Today was Matthew's IEP and I was a smidge nervous. I never know what they are going to say!! Well, it was wasted energy to be worried......he is doing very well. He is staying on task, his handwritting is much improved, he gets along well with his teachers and classmates and is on target accademically. They will work on tying his shoes in OT and something else but I doubt that will continue for more than this school year. They are working on the letter "L" in speech and I'm hoping his front teeth come in soon to help with all speech issues. There are things we will work on at home ....such as flash cards with recognition words he may miss on his weekly test or addition and subtraction. I will be looking for those at Target and/or make our own. We are also working on the issue of "cheating". I guess yesterday he looked at another kids paper during some math work. Uh OH. I think he went to another room to finish that test. His teacher doesn't think he will do that again. Well, just the other night while playing a game of Candyland with me....I got a phone call. I turned my back for a couple of minutes and when I returned, I got a less than pleasing card and Matthew amazingly had gotten the card that he had been talking about needing. Hmmmmm. I asked him if he had changed the cards while I was on the phone and he adamantly denied it. I said we don't cheat and if he had.....I doubted he would be able to sleep. Well, two cards were played and he burst into tears. He was caught :-) I desperately tried not to laugh and told him I was proud of him for telling me the truth and we started the game over. I don't think he will do that again!! Hopefully it is a double lesson learned.

The BIG Day!

Okay. I'm officially......gulp....36 today. I actually did much better this year than last and yes, I know....only 4 until 40!! So thank you to all my friends who called, emailed me and sent cards. I love to get cards....e-cards or snail mail cards...and have fond memories of Stacy and I in college going Bettie's Hallmark and we would littlerally spend an hour just reading the cards and laughing outloud. It was such a stress releiver. Today I got a HYSTERICAL card:

"So anyway, I'm standing in line to buy you a freakin' birthday card, and the line is like seventeen billion people long 'cause the only thing the dumb teenage boy at the register is thinking about is the dumb teenage girl at the other register, and some lady is turning her purse inside out to come up with 'exact change', like she's gonna win some kind of 'exact change trophy' or something and some idiot starts up with his 'this item was marked with the sale price' crap and I just really hope you like this card.......(open the card)........'cause I stole it!!"

I almost fell out of the chair laughing so hard. Thank you Kelly for the laugh...I can actually hear her saying it!!

Matthew sang happy birthday at least a dozen times today and told me he really liked my hair. Not sure where he got that but I was having a pretty good hair day :-) Well, the birthday girl is off to take a bubble bath. Thanks again for all the well wishes today! Tonight we had to watch Dances with the Stars and play yet another game of Candyland too! It's the little things that make me happy.

I had such a nice day today. After getting Matthew off to school I was going to do some laundry and realized I was out of Tide. So, I was going to have to go to Target....oh darn. I was on my way out the door when I saw someone on the front porch and heard a noise in the screen door. Well, it was my college friend, Jennifer. She actually works down the street at MDOT. She was dropping off a birthday card for me but had to leave to head home and pick up her son for a doctors appt. While I was catching her up on Joe's job hunt/situation, her husband called and said he would take their son. Yeah. Jennifer was free!! So, what did we do?? Go to lunch of course!!! It was such a nice surprise and yes, I've been celebrating my birthday all weekend too. Saturday at work they brought in Mexican food and the most wonderful ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. I had never had one before and it was delicious. The weekend flew by and it was so nice the be so welcomed at my "new" job.

Yesterday I had lunch with a coworker and went to an italian place called Zio's. It is similar to The Olive Garden but the salad isn't as good. Then we went to Costco. I decided I had to get a membership. They have a money back guarentee so I'll see if I like it. I'm certainly not going to Sams....don't get me started on the Wal-Mart thing again. Today I went out to lunch with a former Baptist coworker, Heidi. It's always fun to catch up ....good food and good conversation. While I was gone, Joe was cleaning the kitchen. He mopped all the hardwood floors and bathrooms and got the dust off both ceiling fans in the kitchen and family room. I took a picture just for proof! Tonight we went to Applebees. It's my mom's birthday and my mom was busy with her square dancing group so we went without her. Matthew had his heart set on going out for dinner so.....we went. Matthew was actually pretty good and it was busy and rather loud for a while.
Well, off to get ready for my weekend of work. We had some snow flakes tonight but nothing to exciting. Hope you all have a great weekend!

First, a special thanks to my friend Renee for teaching me how to add music to my blog. If you don't like it, just mute your sound or turn off your speakers :-) Seriously, who doesn't love Rascal Flatts....the group I've got playing today at least. It's the day after the elections and wow are we still in shock. I can complain since I did vote. I can not complain about how Joey just got voted off Dances with the Stars....since I forgot to vote this time. I'm so BUMMED. He was totally my favorite. Now I'm rooting for Mario. We are sooooo addicted to this show. I can't wait for Sara Evans to return and sing on the finale.

Yesterday the movie CARS was available for sale..and of course we bought it. I had planned on saving it for Matthew for Christmas but Joe was too excited. I think it's been played at least 3 times already. I'm pretty sure Matthew's birthday party theme in January will be CARS. I've already staked out the cake section at Target and they have table decorations as well. I also hit Target for Keith Urban's new CD. I haven't had a chance to listen all the way through yet but I did get it on my ipod.

I've got lunch and dinner plans tomorrow and then lunch on Friday. I say it's never too early to start birthday celebrations. Friday is my mom's birthday and I hope she will want to do dinner. It's always a fun time of year with my mom's birthday on the 10th and mine on the 14th. It seems like just yesterday I turned 35.......with 36 less than a week away....I'm starting to feel a bit nervous as 40 will be here before I know it. However, I still get patients that think I'm at least 29. Gotta love that!!!!!

Okay....So, I've heard its been a long while since I've blogged. What have we been up to?? Well, I've been doing some window shopping! I went to the grand opening of our new Crate & Barrel. Oh it was beyond crowded. You would have thought they were giving their stuff away. It was like an after Christmas sale. If I had found something I couldn't live without I would have been in line for an hour or so. I decided I'll go back later. That night while I was out, Matthew got sick and threw up for Joe. Yes, he normally throws up for Joe......he puked on the toliet, floor and on my white, dry clean only shower curtain. I SWEAR when I bought it, I had no clue it was dry clean only! So, Joe washed it, got the red fruit punch stain out of it and it SHRUNK big time. It barely cleared the bath tub it was that short!!! So, I have bought another one at Target and it is totally machine washable and looks awesome. After he puked, he felt much better and we did send him to school on Friday. Heck, we can't mess up another year of perfect attendence!!!!

Friday we went to Joe's sisters for dinner. Joe and Steve went to a movie and Matthew had a blast playing with his cousin, Andrea.

Today was a day of catching up with the check book and bills. Always my favorite! Tomorrow don't forget to get out and VOTE!!!!! Keith Urban's new CD comes out tomorrow so you all know I will be going to Target for that. Off to watch the CMA's. I'm so excited to see Rascal Flatts perform......and Kenny Chesney and I saw Amy Grant is supposed to be on too. I'm so taping this too!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

For the second year in a row I took Matthew to church for their Fall Party....aka...Halloween. When we arrived there was a fire truck and ambulance with their lights on. It was there last year so I didn't think much of it. Then when we met up with my college friend, Julie,her husband Joe and two boys Andrew and Aaron......Julie mentioned they took someone in the ambulance. Guess by arriving early, we missed some kind of excitement! They had several tables set up throughout the church and had carnival type games for the kids to play. Matthew had a lot of fun but he was rather torn....he really wanted to stay home and help Joe hand out candy. So, since he won't be able to trick or treat for that many more years, I decided we should go to the church party. Matthew went as Manny the Handyman....some new show on Nick Jr I believe. Basically, it is the same outfit he has worn for the last 3 years, as Bob the Builder, but it is so easy and cute! He also got his face painted with a green frog. It was sad when we had to wash it off tonight but he has such sensative skin I didn't want it to stay on all night. Hope you had a fun and safe Halloween too!

World Series Champs

I just couldn't let another day go by and not acknowlege my favorite baseball team. YEAH St. Louis Cardinals. So, I did borrow a picture from my friend Renee's blog of her family all decked out in their game attire!

Today I went to Liberty to see a college friend, Gena who had a baby a month ago. I brought a cute little dress, lasagne, salad, bread and cookies. It was a quick visit and her baby, Madisyn is precious. I think the picture is cute with her looking up at me. Yes, my hair is a mess.....but it was raining this morning!

I did have to laugh this morning....I was about to jump in the shower when Matthew came to get me. He said mom......that thing over there said my name. He was pointing to the answering machine. So, sure enough, the message light was blinking and it was the neighbor. She had used Matthew's name a couple of times in the message! How funny is that. Maybe it didn't take much to make me laugh at 7:30 this morning. Or I'm just really tired. I've helped a friend move and clean the new house this week and I'm tuckered out.

The house is finally warm again. The furnace stopped working a couple of days ago and it is finally fixed. The starter went out and the repair man just left. AHHH.....heat! At least it hasn't been too cold at night. On another high note, Joe has 2 more interviews coming up. YEAH. For those I haven't had a chance to tell the saga to....Joe lost his job completely out of the blue a month ago and the last 2 weeks have gotten kinda busy with phone interviews, stuff to fill out via emails and then finally some face to face interviews. He had one yesterday, one today and then one on Monday for sure. Please keep him in your prayers. I think he is getting stressed out!

GUM

So, yesterday and today are early release days from school so we can have our parent-teacher conferences. I went yesterday while Joe was at a job interview. I always enjoy these but think they are way too short...plus I was late. Anyway Matthew seems to be doing well in school and that is always a relief to hear. She did take the time to share a funny story. I guess yesterday Matthew's bus was the last to arrive and so Maggie (a classmate and fellow bus rider) and Matthew where helping the teacher and she had given them each a piece of gum. They made the annoucement that their bus was here and the teacher escorted them to the front door.......even though Matthew had INSISTED they could do it themselves. So, she sees them get on the bus, heads back to finish up in the classroom when who should appear......MATTHEW!! How can this be? She just put him ON the bus. He had come back to spit out his gum. So, in his efforts to follow the rules.....spit it out before getting on the bus and no gum on the bus....he almost MISSED the bus coming home. I find the whole story endearing.......as I have never even given him gum!! Matthew totally loves school and I'm just thrilled as I did too at his age.

Take me out to the ball game!

First............I am so excited about the Cardinals going to the World Series!! YEAH. I must say, when it was the 9th inning, bases loaded and Carlos Beltron wasup to bat.....I was a little worried.

Today I spent the day at a Diabetic/Cardiology Seminar. I would say most of it was both over my head and not applicable for the nursing setting I work in. The food wasn't too bad and I came home with a ton of pens, paper, mugs and reading material Matthew was completely thrilled with the pens and paper!! It just doesn't take much to excite us. I also ran into an old friend, Lisa, from Baptist. We became instant friends when I first started working there. She is an awesome nurse and really helped me in my "younger" days.

I am completely exhausted from this weeks activity and now my weekend of work begins. Hope you all have a fantastic one!

Out for Lunch

Today has been non stop since I rolled out of bed. I checked blood pressures at the health fair at Matthew's school from 9-11:30. Then I went to Chili's for lunch with some very special nurses I used to work with. One was Henri who was my first nurse manager. She is one of those people that we all compare any past, present and future bosses too....and of course NO ONE can compare. I also ate with Marilyn and Janey.....both who helped mold me into the nurse I am today. I always laugh when I think of Janey who thought I was so quiet and shy when I first started. Oh I am so out of my shell now!!! So, that is what the picture is.....I know it isn't very good but I had to document!! Then it was off to get my hair cut and highlights. It was a long day!! Tomorrow is the diabetic/cardiology seminar. I swear I never have this much going on!!!

My Bargain!!

Wow have I been busy!! First.......I haven't had a migraine in almost 2 weeks and I'm so thrilled! I have had two doctors appointments this week and found a mega bargain at Dillards. I found a denim Nautica twin comforter (reversable) with matching sham for $32.50. It had been $130!! AND a suede tan bedskirt for $10.....had been $40. I know......how cool is that? It really looks sharp in Matthew's room and is what I've been looking for for months!! Tomorrow I'm doing blood pressures at the health fair at school, then lunch with some nurses I used to work with.....THEN a much needed hair cut. It's really the little things that make me happy. Friday I'm going to a Diabetic seminar......education hours, hopefully good food and heck, I might even learn something new! Well, thanks for letting me share my bargains with you tonight. I promise to post some new pictures soon!