Thankfulness

All month long, you've endured reading my blog each day to find out all the things I am thankful for. By now you've probably said at least once to yourself, "Boy she is sure materialistic". I, like most other people do love my "stuff" but don't let this blog be your only judgement on my character. The things that I am truly thankful for are not "things" at all. They are the people and experiences in my life. There are far too many people to name individually but I will name a few.

First, I want to thank my Parents. Although they are no longer on this earth, I feel their presence every day. They taught me right from wrong, good from bad and wisdom to know the differences. They taught me integrity and honorability. They taught me how to love unconditionally.

Next: I want to thank the love of my life, Brent. Thanks honey for sharing your life with me. For standing by me through thick and thin, better and worse. For loving me even when I have a hard time loving myself. For giving me three of the most wonderful children a mother could want.

My Children: I want to thank each of my children for being who you are. For standing up for what you believe in. For making me proud to call you my children. For giving me the most beautiful grandchildren on this earth (hurry up Jeff) and for choosing me as your mom.

The rest of my family: I wish I could express how much love I have for each of you. My brothers, sisters, neices, nephews, cousins etc. Each one of you holds a special place in my heart... "My cup runneth over".

And last but certainly not least: My Heavenly Father for which none of the above would be possible without Him.

Weekly Bowling Scores 11/29/08

I think we're just getting old. My ankle, Brent's knee. There is no consistancy to our scores. I wish we could see an improvement after nearly a year of bowling every week.

Brent 130 / 135 / 155 / 156 Not too bad on his last two games
Terrie 111 / 111 / 113 / 133 At least I broke a hundred!

Friday

It's only Sunday and as I am trying to catch up on my blog posts, I can't even remember two days ago. What did I do on Friday? I've been sitting here for 5 minutes now and cannot think of one thing I did.

Ah Ha! I went in to ask Brent what we did and though he could not remember, it came to me as I saw the new table we bought at Ikea to go under the new 52" TV we bought from QVC a couple weeks ago. After Brent put that together, he hung the TV. It took him the rest of the day (yes, I know he's slow)while I worked on doll clothes.

The first and last Thanksgivings

Our First Thanksgiving - 1977: This was just a couple weeks after Brent and I were married. We lived in my parent's basement. Brent cooked the turkey, my dad carved it, I made pumpkin pie and the rest of the trimmings. Althought I don't remember exactly what the entire menu consisted of, I am sure the dinner was all delicious. We Shared it with my parents. I attempted to make divinity but the motor in my brand new mixer burned up before the divinity set up but we ate it anyway.
Our last Thanksgiving - 2008: What I mean by "our last" is simply the "most recent". Although it's sad because we can never seem to get the whole family together in one year (Jeff in California and Jenny visiting in Idaho)we still had a wonderful time. Dinner was delicious yet quiet with just the 7 of us. Then we watched a couple of Christmas movies and had pumpkin pie. I couldn't ask for more (except to be all together)

Preparing for the Feast

It's barely 8 am. I was awake at 4:15 (I always wake up at this time but usually stay in bed for a while). I got out of bed at 4:50. Showered, dressed, did hair and makeup (always do, every day!), had breakfast and was out the door to the grocery store by 6 am. After the shopping, I even cut up the bread so it can have more time to dry out for the stuffing. My motive of getting up so early? To beat the crowd of course. Last night as I was getting ready to fix dinner, I realized that we were out of spaghetti noodles. You can't have spaghatti without the noodles so Brent ran to the store for me. He mentioned how busy the store was and he was going to take off work early so he could go to the store to shop for our Thanksgiving dinner before it got too busy. When I woke up this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, I decided it would be better to go early. Even though I made a list, I still forgot to buy olives (yuk), cranberry sauce and eggs so Brent will still get to go to the store after work, after all.

We're going to be a small gathering this year. Just me and Brent, Kim, Shawn and the kids. Brent invited his friend from work since he is usually alone. I always tend to make too much but hopefully, everyone will be hungry.

The menu:
Crackers and cheese ball
Veggie tray
Turkey (of course)
Stuffing (homemade, not a box)
Corn, Green beans and brussel sprouts (Brussel sprouts are a tradition started by my mother and Thanksgiving dinner is not Thanksgiving dinner without them)
Cooked Apples (not my mother's recipe because she never wrote that down but mine taste almost as good)
Rolls (sorry, don't home make these because that's just too much work!)
Jello Salad ( Kim is going to attempt to make the orange jello my mom used to make)
Pumpkin Pie (no, Kim is bringing the pie and she doesn't bake anything herself. I told her to have Shawn bake the pumpkin dessert he made once before, hopefully she will).

That's it. That's enough I think.

On a totally different note:
I have the silliest kitty. He fits nicely into this little bed but when he stretches, he ends up in the funniest positions. This time, he stretched out his front paws and his body and layed his head down on the cold counter. I couldn't resist taking these pictures.

Hurt Feelings

Sometimes people say or do things that hurt other people's feelings. Like talking down to them or treating them as if they were a child or as if they have never experienced certain things and how dare you give advice when you don't know anything?

My feelings were hurt today over something so stupid and silly. This is an ongoing thing I have with this individual and although this person most likely isn't aware, I want to apologize to anyone that I may have been rude to, said something unintentionally that hurt your feelings or for appearing to be stuck up or snobbish. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt someone's feelings so I am making an effort from this day on to be more kind and thoughtful and think before I speak.

New shoes

All summer long, I wore my slip on Keds or for a dressier look, ballerina flats. Now that it's getting colder and I need socks to keep my feet warm, the backless keds and flats are no longer appropriate. Also, I've had a problem with my ankle lately. I don't know if it is arthritis or what but my ankle hurts so much, it's getting harder and harder to walk. Time for a new pair if shoes. Payless has had such ugly shoes lately and I can't remember the last time I found a pair there that I actually liked so off to DSW for me. This is where I bought my Keds. Prior to that I bought a pair of Skechers which I absolutely hated. They were pretty cute but the most uncomfortable shoes I've ever owned. Valerie mentioned on her blog once that she has wanted to check out DSW for quite some time and finally did but the shoes there are kind of pricey. I have to agree with her there. Because the shoes are name brand, you pay a lot more for them than if you were to go to Payless and it's not always true that the more you spend, the more support and comfort you get. I am however, hoping that the shoes I bought there yesterday will live up to the price I paid. They were $60. Nothing special but they are what I was looking for. (Remember, I have to wear socks and these cover my feet enough so I can wear them). The last time I spent this much (actually, more like $98) on a pair of shoes, I bought them at Nordstrom. They were a pair of shoe boots, looked like cowboy boots with real pointy toes. I love them and they are by far, the most comfortable shoes I've had in a long time. Let's see if $60 will work as well as $98.

Sundays

I love Sundays! My usual routine is to get up around 7 (because 7 is sleeping in for me), shower, dress, do hair and make-up then start a load of laundry. Then I head out to do some shopping. I'd like to say that it is usually grocery shopping that I do but lately, I haven't been cooking so I don't need to buy groceries. If I don't head to Walmart first, around 9 am to pick up things like toilet paper and toothpaste, I will wait until 10 am to head down to Costco to try to beat the rush. I make weekly trips to Costco just to buy milk. I am a milk drinker and the only places I will drink milk from is Winder Dairy or Costco. Grocery store milk has a nasty taste to me and I heard once that it is because it is exposed to light. No one else seems to notice this but me. Anyway, once I am done with Costco and I don't have other things I need such as a new pair of shoes from DSW, it's back home to do more laundry, clean house, and work on any projects I have started. Sometimes, Jenny will ask me to come help her with something or go to Ikea with her. I love this too because I love spending time with my girls. Ahhhh, I feel so productive on Sundays.

Weekly Bowling Scores 11/22/08

Brent did much better for his first three games but blew it on his fourth; too tired, I guess.

Brent 140 / 142 / 150 / 109
Terrie 117 / 118 / 112 / 120
Jenny --- / 129 / 120 / 108

Progress

Well, here it is. We have a new floor in BOTH bathrooms. My wonderful brother in law (Thanks Bob!) came and put the tile down yesterday and Brent grouted it today. He still has to put the sealer on it but I couldn't wait to post. I still don't have a toilet in either of these bathrooms yet but hopefully they will be in tonight. It's real hard getting up in the middle of the night (twice in my case) and having to go downstairs to use the potty. I am laying bets though as to how long it will take to get the baseboards put back on. The hall bath shouldn't be bad but Brent broke the ones in the master bath so we'll need to put all new on there.
From 1985 through 2007



Finally, brought up almost to 2008. Unfortunately, to be real current, we would have put travertine or slate down and re-done the bath and shower but that just isn't in the budget anytime soon. Next up? New granite countertops!

I can't figure it out

I cannot figure this out. Taz (maniac) NEVER lets anyone hold him, let along like this. Aubrey is the only one that can get away with it. The minute she picks him up, he falls asleep on her shoulder. Either that, or he's too scared to move and closes his eyes in fear! Either way, it's so cute.

My Family

My brother Glen got married last Friday. It was a wonderful ceremony and the dinner was delicious. Here are a couple of photos from the wedding. For some strange reason, there is an odd reflection in these photos. Since there is nothing shiny around, no water or anything to reflect, I like to think this anomaly is the spirit of our parents. Glen and his wonderful wife, Diana.

Back row: Ed, Ron and Hans. Front row: Linda, Glen and me.We're missing Rick. He lives in Colorado and couldn't make it. The photo of our spouses didn't turn out at all.


Back row: Logan (Deb's Husband)Valerie, her little boy Jack, Scott, Tyler, Nick (Diana's son) Front row: Deborah, Diana (holding Ella), Glen (holding Gabby), Sheena (holding Kate)The three adorable little girls belong to Glen's son Tyler. Welcome to the family Diana and Nick. We love you!

By the way, Valerie's husband Scott is an awsome pianist. I didn't know he played but he sure plays well.
Thanks Glen for allowing us to share this very special event with you. I just love spending time with my family.

About nothing

My mind is blank today and I don't know what to post about but since I committed to posting everyday this month, I will post about nothing, nothing meaningful that is.

My boss recently asked us to submit a "Favorite Things" or "Wish List". She said it can be anything; personal or work related. I am not sure what she plans on doing with this list but I am sure that nothing will come of it. Here is what I sent:

My favorite things:
My Silhouette digital craft cutter
Pretty scrapbook paper and embelishments
Bare Essentuals
My family (immediate and extended) because I have the best one on
earth.
My wish list:
That each facilitator can view ONLY their jobs
An email system that actualy works and isn't super slow

As you can see, my wish list is only work related because I am already so blessed in my personal life. Aside from wanting new carpet and paint throughout my house and new furniture, a kitchen remodel and a new vehicle, I have everything I need.

Happy Birthday Zachary

Friday Nov 14th was Zach's 6th birthday. I can't believe he's already 6. Happy Birthday Zach.
Here's a short clip of his party. We had Jase with us so I thought I would include a few cute pics of him too.

The proof is in the Picture

Saturday morning I woke up to this. Shreds of paper towels on my bed.

So I followed the trail. Or should I say the leader?



What? You still don't believe HE did it?


The proof is in the picture! And that's just one of the reasons I call him Taz Maniac. Luke is not getting blamed for this one!

Weekly Bowling Scores 11/15/08

Brent 113 / 119 / 134
Terrie 140 / 137 / 128
Just a few months ago,I never thought I would even come close to winning Brent. His scores seem to get lower and mine are getting better. My excuse for him is his arthritis in his knee and for some reason, he's not throwing the ball as smoothly as he used to. One of these days, I will take video. Yay for me that I have been slowly approaching his old average. Boo hoo for him that his average is slipping.

Sewing Machines

I am thankful for my sewing machine and serger and my ability know how to use them. My dad bought me my first sewing machine for me when I was 16. It's an awsome sewing machine and real heavy duty but I bought a new one about 8 years ago because I wanted more functions. Then I bought my serger. Although I rarely make clothes for myself anymore like I did in high school, I do love having my machines for other projects. Like the Annie Dress I made for Aubrey, the blessing gown I made for Mollie, the bedspread I made for myself and now for the doll clothes I am making for Aubrey's Christmas present. I got her a doll from Costco that looks like the "American Girl" dolls. I went online to buy some clothes for her and all those outfits are over $25 for one outfit. Even the off brand doll clothes are in excess of $12 per outfit. I bought a pattern and some fabric and so far have about 8 outfits and a matching nightgown for Aubrey (of which she picked out the fabric for) for less than $40 and that includes the patterns for both Aubrey and the doll. I've already made two dresses and two pair of leggings for the doll. That took me less than 2 hours to do. I did buy some shoes and a pair of stockings online because every party dress needs a pair of black mary janes.

Swings and things

I am thankful for baby swings. Without this swing, Mollie would probably cry all day. Everytime I hold her, she screams. She refuses to take a bottle and so she starves while Kim goes to work. Most of the time, Kim works 4 hrs, 4 days a week but with the kids being off track, she has decided to work 2 eight hour days. Poor little Millie Mac only has her fingers to console her and luckily, this swing.


I am also thankful for Papa's that are willing to take two of the kids out to play. I thought it would be great fun for him to take them to Bounce U. Unfortunately, they only operate at certain hours. I didn't know this when I sent them out the door. When they arrived there, Zach and Aubrey told Brent he could take them to Chuck E Cheese instead. Brent called me and said, "What do I do?". I told him to just take them to McDonalds and get them lunch and let them play there. Well, nearly three hours later, I knew it wasn't McDonalds!. Looks like they had a blast at Chuck E Cheese!

Furry little creatures

I am thankful for furry little creatures; in particular, CATS and DOGS.

Paisley Jo Daisy has been with me for 7 years now. She's a pretty little calico, ver mild tempered and rather petite compared to most other adult cats.

Taz Maniac (aka Dusty) has only been with me for a couple of months. He is a very handsome siamese and extremely high spirited.

IS IT LOVE OR HATE? You dedide...

Silhouette

I am thankful for my Silhouette. I am talking about my digital craft cutter. I absolutely love this little machine. It's hooked up to my computer and I can cut any font I have on my computer to use in my scrapbook or cut vinyl lettering and shapes to put on my walls, the hottest craze nowadays. I no longer have to search for the right style of font of stickers, only to find that I don't have all the letters needed. Now, I just cut any style I want and whatever letters I need for whatever my project calls for. I can even cut swirlies and flowers if I want.

Photo printers, Scanners and Digital Cameras

I am thankful for my photo printer. I know, it sounds stupid but I love my photo printer. I can print a picture anytime I want without having to go to the store to do it.

I am thankful for my scanner. I can scan in an old picture and crop it and then print just the subject to put in my scrapbook without having cut up an original that I no longer have a negative for. (I was way too organized at one time and decided I didn't need any negatives of my children growing up).

I am thankful for my digital camera. Aren't dital camera's the best? Now, I no longer have to figure out how to store all those negatives that you can't really tell what or who they are anyway. Simply insert the carmera card right into my computer, save them to my file, delete the blurry ones and even print the ones I want to scrapbook in a matter of minutes. It's sad though that my camera is a 6.0 megapixel camera and I paid about $450 for it about 3 years ago. Now, you can buy a namebrand 14 megapixel camera for $150. Oh well. That's how it goes.

Weekends and Schedule Changes

I am thankful for weekends.
Many of you may think that working from home is a piece of cake but it's actually no different from going to an office to work (with the exception of the commute and I don't have to wear a bra to work; however, I still shower and do my hair and makeup EVERYDAY). So, why am I thankful for weekends? The same reason anyone else that works full time outside the home is. After working all day long, I am too tired to do anything else like clean my house, do crafts, laundry, shopping or anything that requires me to get off my butt. I have so much energy on the weekends that as of right now, I have finished about half of my Christmas shopping. And NO, this year, no one is getting anything from QVC, my favorite place to shop!
I am thankful for Schedule Changes
After 4 years of working the graveyard shift, Saturday night through Tuesday night (4-ten hr shifts), Brent has gone back to day shift. I am so relieved. He's been with this company for 21 years now and the graveyard shift was his choice to take. One of the men that had it, passed away (on the job) from a heart attack and Brent wanted to get away from the politics on the day shift. They call if "Graveyard" for more than one reason. On his days off, he would have a difficult time switching his body to be awake in the day and sleep at night, yet while on work nights, had difficulty sleeping during the day. Saturday's were the only time we had together and even then, we'd only have the morning until around 2 in the afternoon because he would have to get some sleep before going to work that night. I would have to vacuum either early in the morning before he got home from work or just before I went to bed at night so I wouldn't wake him. Now I think we are back to normal. He will still be working his 4-ten hr shifts, Sunday through Wednesday and have Thu, Fri and Saturday off. Now I can hang out with him all day on Saturday and still do my house work and errands on Sunday. I hope this change will also help to make him feel a little better now too.

Sparkley Balls

I am thankful for pretty, sparkley bowling balls and having MY OWN shoes (The accents on them are purple too). I can't even imagine wearing rented shoes anymore. Last year for Christmas, I bought myself a pretty purple sparkle ball. It weighed 12.3 lbs. After about 5-6 months of using it once a week and my hand still hurting and my score never improving, I decided it was really too heavy for me. I bought a new purple, swirley, sparkley ball. It weighs 11 lbs and it really has made a difference. My hand doesn't hurt anymore and I think my scores are actually improving. I love my new bowling ball.

Weekly Scores:
Brent 127 / 119 / 141 / 158
Terrie 136 / 86 / 128 / 151

PS on RLS

My RLS started about 10-12 years ago. Even sitting and watching TV, my legs would become so restless that any type of stimulation like walking, running around or stretching didn't help. I went to several different doctors and even a neurologist. One doctor told me it was just shin splints. One doctor told me it was in my head. A couple others even told me that if I would lose weight, it would go away. (That's when I went on Phen Fen and lost 45 lbs and NO, it didn't go away.) Finally, after a year of watching the commercials about "creepy crawlies" in the legs, I asked Brent's doctor about it. Without hesitation, he gave me some samples of Requip. To my amazement, it really worked... for about 4 years at the maximum dose. So, about a year ago I switched to Mirapex at double the maximum dose. And, for now, it's under control. By the way, did you know that Requip is what they give to patients with Parkinson's Disease?

Pills

Today I am thankful for sleeping pills. I know, it sounds real stupid to be thankful for sleeping pills but since I couldn't sleep last night, I would be thankful for them, for allowing me to fall asleep when I have those nights once in a while where I just can't seem to get to the sleepy point...had Costco not been out of them. I am also thankful for the pills I take for my restless legs. Bedtime was horrible for several years before they finally realized that RLS is real and people really do suffer from it.

Four Seasons

Today, I am thankful for the four seasons. No, not Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons, though I like them too but the WEATHER.

Spring: Because it reminds me of "new life". The tulips and corcus popping up out of the snow, the blossoms on the trees and the beginning of warm weather.

Summer: Because I love the warm weather.

Fall: Because I love the colors of fall and that the days are mostly somewhat warm for about a month anyway.(there is snow on the ground as I type this)
This is Battle Road in Massachusettes. I took this picture exactly 7 years ago when Brent and I were there for our anniversary.

Winter: The ONLY thing I like about winter is snow for Christmas. I've never lived in a climate where there isn't snow for Christmas and I cannot imagine Christmas without it. If I had a fireplace, I think I might like curling up next to it in the winter though.

OK, so this was a dumb post but just because I agreed to post daily this month, doesn't mean they will all be great posts!

31 years ago today

31 years ago today, I married the love of my life. You may remember my earlier posts about how we met, etc. If not, check back to the beginning of my blog.

About this time on a rainy Saturday morning (my mom always said that rain on a wedding day is a sign of good luck), my cousin Inge was decorating my wedding cake at my house. It was the first cake she'd ever decorated before. She wasn't sure how to make the frosting smoothe on the cake so I helped her with a few tricks I had learned. We ended up going to the store about 3 times to get more powdered sugar to make more frosting. The batch didn't make much and it was hard to judge with the size of the cake. Her son had made the roses. I think the cake turned out beautifully.

Brent called me a couple of times to check in on me. He wanted to know if I was nervous. I wasn't, not in the least bit. I can't remember now if he told me he was nervous or not. He can't remember either. I tend to think he was a little because he did call me more than once to make sure I was OK. The time I got a little nervous was as I was walking down the hall on my dad's arm. People were talking and I was afraid they would not be quiet and I wouldn't be able to hear the Bishop. They did quiet down and the ceremony went very well except when it came to the part where I put Brent's ring on his finger. I couldn't get it over his knuckle so he had to help.

Our wedding was planned and carried off within two weeks. The only mess up was the paper on the invitations. I even made my own dress (and yes, I still have the pattern); nothing fancy as you can see but I loved it.

Wow, 31 years of marriage, three terriffic kids and 4 adorable grandkids. It sounds like a long time when you say it but it seems like it was only yesterday when it all came to be. I love you Brent! You are the love of my life, my heart, my soul and my world.

Count your Blessings

Since it is Thanksgiving this month and I have committed to post everyday, I will post about the things that I am thankful for. Obviously, they are going to be in random order since my brain doesn't work any other way.

I am thankful for FREEDOM.
Today is the day we are priveledged enough to have the right to vote. I am thankful for this right and to the many men and women who have served this Country over the years to allow me that right. Some may think their vote doesn't count. I am not one of those. I am going to vote. It scares me to think what the outcome might be but I have to cast my vote so that I can say I did my part, no matter the outcome. I refuse to allow those that have served this Country to have done so in vain.

More decorating

I had Brent go through my boxes of decorations in the garage to look for one specific item. A metal pumpkin. I was going to put this on my kitchen table. He found the box that had the "fall foliage" in it that decorated this metal pumpkin but the pumpkin was no where to be found. So, I went to Tai Pan Trading in search of another one. No luck with the same one but I did have success in finding other and similar "stuff". Here is just some of the stuff I found at Tai Pan. The more I walked around, the more I just couldn't do without. This place is dangerous.

Holiday Decorating

I read on my neice's blog that November is National Blogger's month and that anyone who has a blog should post daily. This would be quite a challenge for me since I typically only post once a week but I am up to the challenge. Since I didn't post yesterday, I am a day behind so I will post twice today. My bowling scores for yesterday and today I will post about holiday decorating.

When I was much younger and my kids were at home, I used to decorate for all the holidays. I painted ceramics for every holiday. Halloween and Christmas were always the biggest of course. I was taking a craft class with Jenny earlier this week and she mentioned to her friend how excited she was for Nov 1st so she could decorate for Thanksgiving. Truthfully, up until recently, there haven't been very many cute decorations for Thanksgiving. I think that is one of the reasons I haven't decorated much this time of year.

Here is the outcome of the craft class Jenny and I took. It says: "Thankful"

Weekly Bowling Scores 11/1/08

Brent 109 / 132 / 168 / 178 I think he got tired of me beating him.
Terrie 112 / 135 / 114 / 139 At least I broke 100 on each of my games.