Monday, March 31, 2008

PRICELESS:

Bibs : $9.99

Infant Walker Toy : $69.95

Cost to raise a child born in 2008: $246,650.00

A baby's precious face: PRICELESS!



Picture of the Day:

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Hello from London

I heard from Marc today and he had a lot to say about London! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

Hi Jess,

I am staying in "central London" as they call it, city of Westminster.
A few random observations...

From what I see, London is not a city of skyscrapers.
Most building are in the 3 to 10 story range.
However, much of the architecture is classic and looks like it has been around for 100+ years.
The street intersections are not 90 degrees as a rule, they tend to wind and have smooth edges.
So, understanding directions is not always easy.

I would say, as a rule, the people are much thinner than in the U.S. (there are exceptions though).
Meals are not as large as we are used to, but there is enough.
They use ice very sparingly and, from what I've seen, don't use 'fountains' for sodas, like in the U.S.
Each serving comes from a can or bottle, so 'refills' are not free.
There are restaurants of every kind and they are everywhere.
Italian, French, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Indian food, classic 'English' pubs, pastry shops, sandwich shops, etc.
Upscale, casual, you name it, they've got it and usually very close-by.

People walk almost everywhere and rely on public transportation - buses and the subway ('tube' as they call it).
And when walking, the pace is very quick for most people, especially during the workday.
They city has a very 'alive' feel at all times.
I wouldn't say the people are particularly 'friendly', but neither are they 'unfriendly'.

At lunch, most places are carry-out ("take away" they call it).
I think this has as much to do with the premium on space as anything.
People will usually take their lunch back to work.

Pounds and pence, not dollars and cents.
One pound equals just over two dollars.
London is Extremely expensive, especially hotels, much more so than even food.
If Americans are on vacation over here, they better be prepared to spend a lot of money (in U.S. dollars).
The exchange rate is what gets you.

I use my regular U.S. issued MasterCard credit card and the conversion is made to dollars on my bill,
when I look at my account on the credit card website.
Same thing when you take money out of a local ATM, although I haven't seen the conversion rate on that yet.

The weather is often overcast and rainy, as you might expect.
Today, was sunny and warmer than most days recently.
A long sleeve shirt and moderate jacket was okay for today.

Last night, I walked to Picadilly Circus, which would be the equivalent of Times Square in NY.
I left around 2am and had spent about two hours walking around.
Everything was open and people were everywhere: clubs, restaurants, shows.
Shows (plays) are very common here.
At Covent Garden Square, near the hotel, there are a lot of street entertainers:
musicians, singers, dancers, and just ad-lib 'acts'.
This afternoon, I (along with two other guys) were randomly picked as "volunteers" out of the audience by a juggler during his act.
One of the guys was from London and the other from Israel.
He used us as props and had us try to imitate him when he would do certain ridiculous things - just for a laugh.
At the end, he stood on my shoulders and juggled knives.
He was only around 140 lbs so not too big a deal.

In general, the streets and city as a whole are kept very clean.
They have government workers in uniform who walk around with cleaning items and a large waste area on wheels.
So they try to keep things clean throughout the day.
Whether this is true for all of London, not sure.

In the restrooms, the stalls have walls that go from the very bottom to the very top, same for the doors.
So, there is extreme privacy when using the stalls. Never seen anything like that in the U.S.

Hope all is okay with you and your bunch.
An update on Gizmo and Jackie is appreciated.
They are missed.

Will write more later.

Marc

It was so good to hear from him. He either pops in at the house or calls just about everyday. So, he has been missed.

Mike and I went up to Ormond Beach today for a nice ride. He wanted to check out some new boat ramps and I needed some paper to match the buttons I had for my page a week layout(PAW). It was overcast when I took this picture so the colors did not come through as well as I had hoped. However, they are baby blue, chocolate browns and white. Buttons were from walmart...who knew???
I love this layout though! Michael took this picture with his palm pilot!

My sister's plane was delayed in Atlanta. They are out for dinner currently and won't be getting in until later...to late for baby. We will see them tomorrow.

******UPDATE!!!!! If you are on today, look at who's viewed my blog. You will see Marc popped in from London to check out his addition to my blog. That is just way neat!

Picture of the Day:
Prunes!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Fishing for Firsts!

The day started out slow. It was quiet with just Jayda, Jay and myself for the better part of today! We lounged in bed awhile watching tv while the baby took his morning nap. The baby is definitely not a morning person. He likes to sleep in!

Michael and Jacob were up at the crack of dawn and out the door to go and fish this morning! They were meeting Grandpa Jay at the boat ramp bright and early. It would be their FIRST time out together on the Ranger Bay. I can only imagine how exhausted he must be having had to drive all the way over there from Ocala before the sun was up!!

They obviously had a great day and caught several fish each. They returned them all back to fight the good fight another day. We are not big on harvesting the fish, but enjoy the sport of it. However, this big bad boy became dinner!

I must interrupt this little blurb to tell you that Michael's friend Billy caught the fish. Michael met up with them out on the water while they were fishing too! It just so happened that unfortunately, the fish swallowed the entire hook and lure, and would have died in a few days of starvation. Billy would not be able to eat it tonight, so he gave him to Mike so that it would not go to waste.


Notice the look on Jacob's face and how it changed. The first shows him smiling but oh so hating the slime running down his arms and dripping on his feet from the tail. The second photo shows him with a more genuine smile and a look of confidence! This is the FIRST time ever he has actually touched a fish! So I give him credit because there would have to be a large sum of money involved in order for me to touch it! I sure was encouraging him to grab that fish up out of the cooler because it's a guy thing to do and he needs to get a little tougher on the "gross" stuff!

Baby Jay needed to be exposed to his FIRST fish. He was more interested in playing with the newspaper though! Jayda took this picture!

The fish had to be cleaned and that's when Jacob and me exited!
Jayda watched the whole time and would come in and tell Jacob and I what was going on...
"Hey, Mom!"
"What, Jayda?"
"The organs are falling out of the fish!"
"Yuck, Jayda!"
"I just wanted you to know Mom!"
"OK"
{Out she goes again, returning a few minutes later.}
"Hey, Mom! The intestines just fell out, they're long!"
"That's really gross Jayda!"
{Jacob pipes up from other room.}
"See why I can't be out there Mom?!"
{Out she goes again, and back in again moments later.}
"Hey, Mom! The intestines have a blood vessel on them and you can see it!"
"Neat Jayda!"
{Out she goes again and doesn't come back for a bit.}
"Hey, Mom, here's the fish. Are you going to cook it now?"
"It will be for dinner Jayda."
"OK."
{Out she bounds again to hang out with Michael.}

The dinner was fabulous, everyone ate some fish...and actually liked it! jacob and Jayda's FIRST attempt to eat very fresh caught fish! Woohoo!!! They said it tastes like chicken! For those of you never having eaten hour old caught fish, it is the best tasting, not fishy smelling, almost has a sweet smell about it. Mmmm, love when fish comes home for dinner!

Onto other topics:
Jacob is definitely growing up! He made his FIRST money mowing the neighbors yard yesterday!
Here he is mowing our lawn today! Our backyard does not look so great. NOT because he can't cut it!!! It's just the lawn itself is not as healthy as it could be.

If you're wondering about the bulldog in the background, those are the back neighbor's dogs. They have an english bulldog and a boxer that looks almost identical to the bulldog in coloring. They harass you when you are mowing the lawn. But they are nice dogs.

Baby Jay and Mike spent some time together this evening as I was busy cleaning up my scrapping mess. I'll show you before and after pictures tomorrow, hopefully. haha

However, Michael kept interrupting and saying{which I was more than happy to go and see!}, "Come here, you have to see this..."
The baby was sticking out his tongue and Mike would make noises when he did it. So, the more noises he made, the more the baby did it. Then, because he was smiling while sticking his tongue out he was then biting down on his tongue. His tongue is this tiny little thing and so cute. They enjoyed each other. For the FIRST time in his 5 months of life, Michael was able put him to sleep in his crib with out me having to "pacify" him! Three cheers for me!!!! And five cheers for Michael in having given me the gift of some freedom! That was around 8:00pm and it is currently 10:56 pm!

Tomorrow my sister and Betsy come into town. I can't wait to see them. It will be the FIRST time they will have seen Baby Jay! I am looking forward to their visit.

Picture of the day:
The sure sign it's a red drum!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Holy Scrap!

I attended the scrapbook expo in Orlando today!
I had so much fun. I spent my money from my anniversary there!
I got a new tool called a Bind it All. It is used to make books and other interesting projects!

There was a show special on it! Couldn't resist!

I then had to sit in Orlando afternoon traffic for 1 hour and 45 minutes on the trip home! Ugh...it was about a 35-40 minute ride in. I met up with two friends there and we stayed longer than I had intended.

My mom kept Jacob and Jayda for me. Thanks MOM! I had a wonderful day and enjoyed it sooo much! Baby Jay went along and was a doll! He was a hit at the show...all the nana's and grandma's and ooma's and mommom's and nanny's loved seeing him there. They ooohed and awwed and said what pretty eyes he has... Etc on the sweet compliments of the baby!

He was tuckered out tonight. Had his bath, cereal and night cap before bed! Snoring as I speak...er... write!

Jacob mowed the lawn for the neighbors and made 20 bucks.

Marc called from London today and I missed his call! [{Who the heck is Marc, you may be wondering!} He is a neighbor and good friend. Kind of like a brother to me!] It never rang but went to voicemail. I am so intrigued by London and Marc acted like it was no big deal. You remember I took him to the airport on Saturday as he was going to London for business. I am taking care of his cats. I can say I have been there each day since Saturday and I have yet to see them. They are not real friendly. I wouldn't even know they were there were it not for the yucky litter box and food being gone! The are beautiful cats though, just not real friendly. I lovingly refer to them as "feral". But, they are not...just unique, like their owner! I will let you know when I catch word on what London is like!

Picture of the Day:
A mini book I made!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

32 years...

My mom and dad celebrated 32 years together today!

Did you know that vehicles are the gift of the 32nd anniversary? How did I know that? I asked Michael to look it up online. I wanted to get them a little something that was for their wedding year. Sorry, I wasn't buying them a car.

However, my dad was taking my mother to dinner and she was buying him a new car! Well, he actually picked it and they bought it together!
It is a red line black exterior and black leather interior saturn vue. Very cute and versatile, but ultimately very cool!

Imagine my parents amazement when I told them what I had learned. My mother didn't believe me! But I wasn't kidding. So she got a flamingo pink chair for her computer table from me and my dad got a package of pistachio's. I know I went all out!!! I am making dinner for them later this week. Also, I made them a "32 Reasons" mini book. It was 32 reasons why I love them going back as far as my childhood! Jacob and Jayda made them cards. They were so funny breaking into my stash to create things!

Well, if I wasn't sure their marriage was meant to be before, I am now. Their dinner bill came out to $32.23! Forward or backwards....it's meant to be!

This was another great day! The weather was absolutely phenomenal! It started this morning when I went out and got the paper. Sunny and perfect blue sky greeted me!

Baby Jay was his usual good self! I decided to do a photo shoot as tomorrow he will be 5 months!!! Wow time flies.
He wasn't real into it...everytme I propped him up he would tip himself over.





He wasn't as smiley and talkative during this photo shoot so I didn't get a lot of photos.
But a few I loved!




Picture of the day:
This is what greeted me when I went to get the paper. The morning moon.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Family day!

Wednesdays are the half day mark for the working force people. However, to me they have become holidays!
It just so works out this has become the day I am able to go and visit my inlaws. I look forward to it and I know baby Jay loves it too! All the attention, oogling, loving, silly talk, hugs and kisses make him very happy. Hmmm, wonder why he was kind of screaming today? haha He was tired and needed a pacifier. Oh well, it's a shame he wont take one. For me, it is a chance to reconnect with family, hear funny old stories and have a super lunch!
Aunt Jayne was there and she found a harmonica to play to baby Jay. It was fun watching him as he heard a harmonica for the first time!

We sat Jay in his high chair at Grammy and Grampy's house. It was brand spankin' new! Jay loooves a high chair....means food! He ate carrots today....and promptly vomitted them plus milk all over me several times. Glad I wore black!

Aunt Jayne had a chance to experience the carrot spit up first hand.
Everyone SHOULD have veggies everyday!!! hahahaha


My mom came with me and that made the ride go super fast! Uneventful other than the eagle in a tree, wait, no that was a plastic bag! On a cute note, we saw sandhill cranes with two young chicks. Super sweet! We stopped on the way home at Tuesday Morning and a bead shop. She got some beads at both places and I got a small mini album to make an album of our house remodeling.
We had a wonderful day all the way around!

Picture of the Day:

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

To ponder...

Who means the most to you?

How do you show them they are the most important to you?

Have you forgotten them in some way/take them for granted?

What could you do today that would make them feel like they were on top of the world?

Take a moment and think about these questions...could even be more than one person. Then make it a point to show the ones you love how much you care.

Life is good! Find the joy...and share it!

Picture of the Day:

Monday, March 24, 2008

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I am making personalized note cards for a friend of mine! It makes me happy to create things for others. Jacob and Jayda sat down next to me and wanted to make cards too. They are sending out letters to some special people...be watching your mailbox...it could be you! It will take some time though because they are having to do multiple steps and they are working very hard! I love to watch them be creative! They come up with some excellent ideas! It is 100% correct that children learn what they live. It just goes to show you how easy it is to make an impact on children. If this is the case, they learned to think of others and find ways to put smiles on their faces tonight!

The baby is addicted to blankies! No pacifier, no thumb, no fingers, just blankies! Any blankie will do! He cuddles in so close and holds them tight to his face! Then he goes off to dreamy land!

He ate so good today! He had cereal this morning and then squash for dinner! He loved sitting at the table with Jacob and Jayda while they ate too! He made raspberries while he ate and the children laughed! I said...don't encourage him! Of course, he was giggling away and encouraging them!

I ran into my friend Carmella that I taught with today. She had her litle girl in her arms whom is almost 8 months old. Jay Harvey is bigger than she is! He is just shy of his 5th month. Her baby's name is Hope. She was all smiles and so cute! They reached out and held each others hand! Is it wrong I got back in the car and washed his hand? hahaha Although, in my defense she had an awfully runny nose!

I won for PAW (page a week) again!!! I will receive a prize later this week! I posted this page, this week!



Picture of the Day: Only in Florida!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

It's magic, baby!

Happy Easter!
I do hope the bunny hopped through your house and left you lots of goodies!
I know he was here!

Michael always makes me laugh! We shared this bunny cookie with coffee this morning....then he decided to get creative. When I walked back into the kitchen I saw this, I laughed so hard and went and got the camera:


Wanna see baby Jay pull a bunny out of his hat? "ABRACADABRA!!!!"



If you look closely at each picture, you will see he did more than just pull out a bunny.
He never ceases to amaze me!

We had dinner at my parents house and things were very quiet here throughout the day.
It was sad not having the children here to spend the holiday with, but they'll be home tomorrow.

Speaking of home, I managed to get some of the house cleaned but still have a lot more to do. I am starting to gear up for "baby proofing" the house.

Hope your day was super duper awesome and you ate lots of sugary goodness!


Picture of the day:

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Raspberries!

Mike spent the morning out on the boat with his best friend and his two boys. Michael managed to make a wonderful day for the boys and Gary. They were so excited about their great catches! When we met up for dinner, they were stillllll talking about the fish they caught. It was at that moment I realized just how much fun Mike made for them. Memories they won't soon forget...nor will Mike!

The baby is getting such a personality and really beginning to communicate through noises, looks and actions. Today I had to take Marc to the airport. (He is leaving for three weeks to work in London, England!) Mike volunteered to keep the baby while I would be away for an hour and a half. Before I walked out the door, he was sitting in his high chair while Mike had lunch. He kept making these noises and looking at me as if begging, pick me up and hold me! It was just so darn cute and I hated to leave him. I am more attached to him than he is to me!

This afternoon while I was gone, the baby started making raspberries to his dad! I missed his first raspberries. It's this cute spitty kind of thing he does with his tongue and lips! I was sorry I missed it, but not too sorry because as I changed his last diaper of the day, he did it to me and spit in my face. Something delightful about baby spit in your face. Alot like puppy breath, only not as stinky!

Speaking of stinky...the baby is now eating his first foods. You know what I am going to say next so I will leave it all to your imagination!

I need a genie to come through my house and twinkle her nose, nod her head, and make all this clutter disappear! I feel like the baby stuff came into the house and talked to all the other stuff and they are literally all holding an uprising! In between the chaos, the stuff is reproducing and mutating all at the same time. It is time for me to go through, sell it away, give it away, haul it away.... whatever! HELP!!! Mike thinks we need to move to a bigger house. He doesn't understand if we don't get rid of it, it will follow us! Hmmm, perhaps tomorrow I will put on gloves, ear plugs and grab a bag or two and start stuffing it in there. The ear plugs are so that if I touch it and it starts screaming, "no not me...you need me...don't put me in that bag....stop....helllllppp," I won't hear it!
Tomorrow is a day of new beginnings. Perhaps, the perfect day to reflect and start anew....minus clutter!

Sleep tight and don't let the Easter Bunny bite!!!

Picture of the day:

I didn't take this...but I needed to stick a picture here.

Friday, March 21, 2008

who knew?

Well, as usual. I start out the day one way and end up a complete different way.
Our plans were quite simple.
Get up.
Do housework.
Get groceries.
Jacob had practice tonight.

Instead,
Get up.
Go to Michael's crafts to get photo storage boxes on super sale.
Call mom.
Go pick up mom.
Go shopping with mom.
Have lunch with mom.
Go back to mom's.
Leave and go get children hair cuts. (very cute styles!)
Get call from Michael.
Plan to be in Daytona Beach to have dinner with Gary, Jill and their 2 boys.

Baby was tired the whole way through dinner, and fussy!
Have to go and change him in the bathroom...ugh! An experience!
I scarf fod down fast and have to get up from the table.
Go back and visit at their condo awhile and the children played football on the beach. Feed baby Jay when he woke up from nap.
Get back in car to come home. Baby cries whole way home.

Get home, Jacob gets to feed him cereal and butternut squash for the first time. He liked it! I was feeding the baby and Jake was sitting behind me. I turned around and looked at Jacob and he was beaming from ear to ear. He of course immediately quit smiling when I looked cause he was wanting to be grumpy! He was tired too! I told him go wash your hands and you coan feed the baby! He said I dont know how. Let's learn I said! So he jumped right in. Found out quickly that feeding him is like playing a sport. He grabs for the spoon, lunges his head at the spoon, spits it out and so on. Jacob did great!

Gotta run, babies fussing.....again!!!???

I missed the picture of the day..it would have been a full moon on the ocean!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Happy Anniversary

to us! Michael and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary today!
I made him a scrapbook album of our life together. It turned out awesome. I will take and post pictures tomorrow. It has kept me so busy and I couldn't tell what it was that I was doing because he reads my blog everyday! He got me money, for "paper" the traditional first anniversary gift!! He knows I am going to use it for scrapbooking supplies....maybe! Or something fun for me!
PS: Michael LOVED the album. jacob and Jayda even wrote in it for him. Come back tomorrow or the next day and read it after I post it!

We ate the cake top from our wedding a year ago. It sat in the back of the freezer for a year! I took it out yesterday to thaw. It was surprisingly delish! Does this mean we are going to continue to have a wonderful marriage? Let me research why we eat old cake on our 1 year anniversary....be right back...
Ok here you go:
"Many couples make a tradition out of freezing their wedding cake for a year and eating it on their one-year anniversary. It is considered good luck and an omen for long life together to preserve the tope tier of your wedding cake to eat on your first anniversary."
If this is the case, we are going to be like married for a hundred years at least. It was in perfect condition, fresh as can be, and sooo yummy!

Consider yourself in the know!

Now, 5 things I learned about Mike this past year:

1. He hates Hillary Clinton.
2. He is a proud member of the preserving your boat from corrosion club. He owns every jar, spray, tub of the gunk and is NOT afraid to use it.
3. He hates pulling weeds.
4. He loves to sneak a dessert now and again, even though he acts like he doesn't like them.
5. He loves me and the children a lot!

Jayda had a soccer game this evening and they lost! She played excellent, as usual!
Afterwards we went to my mother's house for our Anniversary dinner! Spaghetti and meatballs! Yummers! Thanks Mom!!! Baby Jay had applesauce mixed with rice cereal. He was so funny while he was eating! He got silly and started oozing the food out and giggling! Had everyone laughing!

He hugged me! My baby hugged me today. Grabbed me around my neck and nuzzled in so tight! He was extra demanding of me today when I was working on Michael's gift. I picked him up and he held on tight. He is changing so much and so quickly!

Now, if you look just below the Picture of the day, you will see a place that says comments. Click on that and leave me some love. It is REALLY bad when your mother is the only one leaving messages! Don't get me wrong mom...I love the love! Help a girl out...hello...check one, two, check...tap tap tap...is this thing on????

I am exhausted and need to get some sleep!

Picture of the day:

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

It's in your eyes

Still busy as all get out planning a big surprise. Can't tell yet!

Tomorrow Uncle Gordy and Aunt Candy are heading back up north for the summer. They are slowly working into being snow birds down here! They bought an adorable house in my parent's community. They live a block from one another. Makes it nice for them. However, since they have been in town, we have played on the B team. They have been on the A team with my mom and dad. Now that they are gone, my mother is stuck with doing fun things just with me and mine!

Speaking of which it is almost the end of March and my mother and I haven't been out to lunch yet this month. We were going out about every week and we decided we need to quit doing that and agreed to one time a month. Hmm, now where to go. How about you all leave me a message down at the bottom of this post in the comment section, You can tell me where the two of us should go for lunch!

Pick up children from school, fast track diner, off to the ball field and then home again. Busy days come and go. My big accomplishment was two loads of laundry, dinner, and planning a big surprise! Fed baby Jay Beech Nut Carrots first food mixed with infant rice cereal. He gobbled it all up! He knows when I pull out the small persimmon fiesta bowl and spoon he's getting food! Today, as he sat in his chair and saw me coming towards him. He sat up straight and his eyes were wide wide wide open! And you've seen his eyes...you know what I mean!


Jacob won his baseball game. I believe they are 4 and 2 now. Jacob had a heck of a game! He started at third base and turned a double play...fielded a ball and threw to first, the first baseman threw the ball back and Jake tagged the runner out at third. It was so cool to watch!
His first at bat he took a ringer to the back. The kid was pitching fast and wild! Jake didn't even hesitate, he just started running for first base! I was so proud he didn't hit the ground crying like the other children do when they get hit! Woohoo! Once we got home and he undressed I asked to see the spot where he got hit. It was right on his scapula and you can see string marks! Way to go Jake!

Until then, enjoy the posts below.
Picture of the day:

Picture of the night:

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The grass is greener...

...at the soccer field! Unfortunately, it was a blustery evening and Jayda's game was a bust. Seems the other team was a no show.

I have been very busy today, unfortunately I can't say what it is I was doing because it is a secret! I will reveal soon enough!

Picture of the day:

Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day!






He finally got ahold of his toe, if only for a brief moment!
He is so sweet and rolly polly!



It has been a relaxing morning! I also made a card and wrapped a gift for my cousin who is expecting her first child, a little girl named Zoe, due this summer.



Picture of the day:

Saturday, March 15, 2008

One man's trash...

...is another man's treasure!

Who knew a garage sale could be so much fun? I mean, I left the house at 8 am to go and do the grocery shopping. How easily I am distracted. (Michael will attest to that statement.) Well, we passed this garage sale sign...like the hundred others. For whatever reason, I felt compelled to get to this one.

Boy, am I glad I did! As I drove up I could see children's toys, etc and thought I might find something there for baby Jay. The woman was putting things out and saying whatever you want, take it and give me what you feel is fair! Well, she had twin boys and two girls. The things were immaculate(I am leery of garage sale things.) and I was more than happy to pick up pj's, outfits, little baby shoes, socks, jackets, sweatsuits, board books for baby, a manipulative toy, a baby playyard, a train table and a train set. All for the low low price of $40.00!

Michael was not as thrilled as I was. He sees it as more "stuff" to take up more space. When he sees his little guy playing with his train table, he will be glad I got it! The trains may need to be checked on the recall list to make sure they are lead paint free...otherwise, in hindisght it would not have been such a good deal to acquire lead poisoning.

To see me going through the bags with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning...funny.

Speaking of Treasures, look at the gems Mike captured while playing outside:




But on a funnier note:
I am using Michael's hand-me-down laptop and it was on it's last legs when he gave it to me. This evening I sat down to write my blog and the darn computer overheated and shut itself down. I said, shoot! As I fiddled with it, I mentioned to Michael well I know what I want for our anniversary. To which he promptly replied, "Well the first anniversary is "paper". I was thinking of scrapbooking supplies!" I thought SCORE!!! I will take that! But I can't decide where I might want a gift card, he told me to whisper to him where I might want one. I thought the great store in Daytona called A Page in Time on Beach Street. He said, well maybe I will just give you money and not drive all the way over there to get the Gift Certificate. I thought to myself, hmmmm, that's still paper!
First of all, the man knew the first anniversary was paper. Secondly, he obviously took the time to find out. Then, he asked me where I would want my prize from. Lastly, he made me laugh when we had this little exchange.
When I ask him what he wants, he always says nothing. I don't need anything. Sometimes makes me feel bad, cause I "need" prizes!

Speaking of "prizes" here's one my mother had to have from the garage sale...of all places!
It is my picture of the day:

Friday, March 14, 2008

You've gotta ask yourself...

...do you feel lucky? Well, do ya???????

Today, I spent the majority of the morning getting Grandpa Red's birthday present together. He turns 94 on the 18th of March. 94!!! He is a bright and alert man who still has his wits about him. He can remember a story in complete detail from when he was 6...14...and yes, even when Peggy was 1 year old. I loved hearing his stories on our Wednesday visits and I learned so much from him! Everyone may think I took the baby to visit his great grandpa while he was staying here in Florida, but I went because I looked forward to talking with him. I feel so LUCKY to have had the chance to get to know him so well! I copied off every single page of my blog to date and put it together in a binder for him. He enjoyed reading about us all and I knew he would enjoy the chance to catch up since he has gone back up North for the summer.

This morning I had to go to Walgreens to get some pictures run off. I knew they had a great deal on refill ink cartridges. Take it in, they fill it while you wait. Well, for some reason, the lady told me there were "skips" in the practice print after they were filled. She filled it but said she couldn't charge me for it. Same thing happened to the color ink, the blue was skipping. But she returned them to me anyway. I thought...hmmm...I wonder if they just need to run a little bit. Sure enough, get home fire up the printer and presto. Like a dream, they worked! Well, the blue does skip a little and the black would do weird things about every 45th page but still...that was a 25 dollar savings! Well, this is fun, I thought. My day was made at 9 am! Did I ever feel LUCKY!

I work all afternoon until it is time to go and get the children. I had to hurry as I needed to get it out in the mail today. So, I manage to get on the highway and wouldn't you know it...traffic is crawling! Hmm, not to panic. I drive about 3 miles going about 25 MPH and soon enough I pass the accident and I am on my way again. No problem, and on time still. I sure felt LUCKY! That highway can be brutal with traffic.

On the way home I stop at Kinkos/Fedex. I need to send the package out. I am walking up to the counter when what to my wandering eyes should appear but jolly old scrapbooking supplies and 8 shelves my dear! Well, big whoopty doo. Well, it is a big whoopty do...everything was mega clearanced. 47 cents through $1.47. Mini books to fill for family. I stock up! That's great but no sooner did I check out and realize fedex would ship for 30.00. What??? No, thanks. LUCKily I bolted out the door for USPS. As today's luck would have it, there was no line!

However, my luck ran out after dinner. Baby Jay is cutting teeth!!! He was terribly cranky and silly! He cried most of the evening or squealed back and forth with his dad.


I must go now I am getting a migraine. Not LUCKY!

Picture of the day:

Scrapbooking 500 Pages in 2008