Calm after "chaos"

  Tonight was the first sense of calm we've had in a while in our house.  My husband and I are both settled now in our new jobs (I love my job, my husband hates his job).  While we have settled into our jobs, chaos has been going on around us.  Our work lives have been the "eye" in the "tornado" that is home ownership.  Last december, our shower in our upstairs bathroom (the only full bathroom inthe house) decided to leak through our kitchen ceiling and into the kitchen light fixtures, which could have been a recipe for diseaster, but thankfully wasn't.  The bathroom had to be completely gutted out and totally rebuilt.  After one month of having a bathroom with no shower, no walls, no floor, heat, many checks written to the contractor, and last but not least more than a few arguements with our insurance company (who refused to cover the repairs!).  We now have an awesome new bathroom!  2 weeks of calm then set in and then,  just when life was getting back to normal, water started streaming into our bedroom right through one of our window panes!  Right through the middle of it, and down onto our bedroom carpet. Agh!
  Our bedroom window started another storm of chaos, we had to move into our much smaller guest room with a much smaller bed.  This second wave of chaos included another round of dealing with insurance (which thankfully covered repairs this time), contractors, and living in a "construction zone" for another month and a half.  I mean, half of the wall with the leaking window had to be demolished, repaired/rebuilt, repainted, recarpeted.  After 2 months of living in our guest room, tonight is the first night back in our "new" bedroom.  As I breathe in the new carpet, new paint smell, I finally feel a sense of calm coming over our house again, like the house is breathing a sigh of relief.  Hopefully our house doesn't throw any more surprises our way for a while and a sense of order can start to take place.  A sense of calm.

Hello Again

  Hello again blogosphere!  I'm sorry I've been away for a while, but as you know, life has a way of getting in the way sometimes.    We have been going through some changes here.  My husband started his new job a week ago, so far he likes it.  The only downsides of his new job are that the pay is much less than what he made at his previous job and he has a lot longer commute now.  But the big upside is that the company cares  more about their employees than his previous employer. 
  Not to be outdone, I also got a new job! I will start my new position in little over a week, and I can't wait!  I also will have a much longer commute than before. but I will be paid more than I was before! 
  Other than our new jobs, we finally started the major repair on our bathroom, so for the past week we've contractors going in and out of our house throughout the day every day.  Our bathroom had to be completely gutted out, so we get to start from scratch with it which is kind of exciting!
  During this time we also discovered that spending 24 hrs a day 7 days a week together is not easy, especially when you have no income, and are both having difficulty finding jobs (thankfully that is over!)
  We butted heads at times but we made it!  We have jobs, we have each other, and in a couple of weeks we'll have a new bathroom to enjoy!

Away From Reality

  Even though things have been rough for us lately, and at times my husband and I have wanted to "strangle each other", my husband gave me the best surprise ever!
  He surprised me with a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas, plus 3 nights at a fancy hotel in Miami FL, which added up to a wonderful  one week vacation/ one week away from reality!
  We boarded our two dogs and flew down to Florida and started the most memorable trip ever!  It was just what we needed.   The two of us experiencing the beautiful Bahamas together, eating breakfast together out on the deck of a beautiful ship sailing in the Carribean sea, before we ventured off the ship each day.  Ending each day with a candlit dinner under a starry night sky.
Here are some pics from our "magical" week!  Enjoy!

 

Forging Ahead

  The past 2 weeks have been absolutely crazy around here, and a big cause of the craziness has been my husband.  He's been unemployed for all of 2 weeks, and he is still bouncing off the walls.  The pur guy just cannot make up his mind what he wants to do next.  One minute he's looking on the computer looking for work, and the next he's on his phone talking to friends about buying into a franchise pizza place, or he's telling me that he wants to just pack everything up in the car and just leave and start all over again.  His mind is all over the place sometimes. 
  I have decided to be the "calm in the storm", I have been the voice of reason in the house and have been calmly forging ahead trying to find my own new career path.  Yes I will still continue to work for my brother, but business is down right now, so I'm looking for some supplemental income in the mean time (preferrably outside the home so I can get away from the craziness).  There are some things (well not many actually) about working in the corporate world I miss, and the biggest thing is the commeraderie I've had with co-workers, having lunches out etc...Hopefully I can be the bread winner for a little while till my husband figures out what he wants to do.
  I told my husband that anything he decides to do I am 100%  behind him and that I love him.  I really hope he finds his niche in world!  I love him so much!

Crazy Days, New Horizons

  I know I've been gone for awhile, but I'm back.  The past 2 weeks have just been plain "nuts" around here!
Our wedding anniversary was on Aug 18th (9 years!), my husband had to work that day, which is no big deal.  The "big deal" came at about 5 min before he was scheduled to leave work.  Five muntes before my husband was scheduled to leave work, he was asked to see his supervisor who then told him he was "terminated"!  He was totally blindsided!  He had been with this company for 10 1/2 years without any problems, and was a "top performer" consistantly every month (and was recognized within the company every month and was in the top 8% of the company's achievers nationally).  Everyone thinks it's because the company is "cost cutting" by terminating employees with tenure.  Basically  "IT STINKS!" and on our anniversary!!  Needless to say, we didn't feel like celebrating!
  On the same day, a friend of ours was chopping wood and ended up chopping half of his index finger off! OUCH!!  My husband now refers to him as "Mr. 9 and 1/2" luckily he has a sense of humor about it!
  One of the things that we've had to adjust to is that we are having to spend a lot more time together at home (which at times is driving me crazy!).  I've been helping my husband with posting his resume, filing for unemployment, looking for work etc... 
  Another thing is that my husband has had ADD his whole life, so if he isn't busy, it's like he's "bouncing off the walls".  He'll literally walk around the house saying "I gotta get out, there has to be something for me to do, I gotta do something" over and over, major cabin fever. 
  We'll get through it.  I know he'll land on his feet, he's got a lot going for him.

Almost Done!

   I've been off my blog for a few days to work on a project in my basement (or the "dungeon" as we call it).  My husband has been spending a lot of time working on his half of the basement, he calls it his "man cave".  Hanging up his sports memorabilia, moving his pinball machine, exercise bike, and trying to figure out if we can fit a couch (we are getting a fairly new couch from a friend of ours, to put in our family room)in his "man cave", along with a top of the line treadmill that's been sitting in our garage for more than 2 months!  Trust me, I would rather his sports memorabilia be all displayed in the basement, instead of all through the house like it is now!  I can't wait until he's all done.  He can host his poker nights down there as well!
  My half of the basement is partially taken up by the furnace unit, water heater, and washer & dryer.  I am fixing up a big corner of my half and turning it into a little "cozy corner", where I can have peace and quiet to read, relax, do crafts etc...  I am almost done, just have to finish painting and figuring out where to put things etc...

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

One place where my husband and I vastly differ is food. I will try a much larger variety of food than he will. My husband is the pickiest, most unadventuress eater I have ever known. With a few exceptions, I will try anything once!
If we ever travel to a foreign country we might here a citizen of that country say to us "If you feel hunger, try lizard feet" or "frog legs", alligator (although I did try alligator once, and it did as they say "taste like chicken"), I've even heard of people eating snake! I don't know if I could stomach the thought of eating snake, but I would probably try it if no one told me what it was and I couldn't tell what it was.
I am willing to try a lot of different foods, but I would draw the line at some point I know. I don't know how people like Anthony Bourdain, or the guy on "Man vs. Food" do it! I think they will eat anything!

Surprise Visitor

Usually the only occupants of our house during the day consist of me and our two dogs. Well today was different.
This morning was like any other morning in our house, my husband getting ready for work, me taking care of the dogs etc... The usual routine. Well, my morning changed from "usual routine" to "chaos" in a blink of an eye!
The second my husband stepped foot out the door, an unknown dog swiftly ran in! The dog not only ran into our house, he instantly ran down into our basement (the basement stairs are right next to our side door)! I took off down the basement stairs yelling "here doggie, here doggie". the dog ran through the door and down the stairs so fast that I didn't even get a good glimpse of him. All I knew was that the dog was dark colored and was definitely bigger than our two dogs put together!
The second I got into our basement, the dog ran past me and ran up the stairs and started barking at our two dogs who were going crazy and barking back. At least the sight of our dogs stopped our "surprise visitor" so I could get a hold of him and try to get some of kind of control of the situation.
I quickly trapped our "guest" in my kitchen and trapped our dogs in another room, at least until I could get a good look at this dog and get an idea of his demeanor. He had a collar on but no tag, and looked well taken care of, and when I approached he quickly layed on the floor and rolled onto his back for a tummy rub. After a few calming tummy strokes I left him in my kitchen with some kibble and went outside to see if anyone was looking for a dog. No one was.
One by one I introduced the dog to our dogs and after a few sniffs of each others "you know whats", all three started playing with each other, under my supervision of course.
Our newspaper had no posting for a lost dog that matched this dog's description. I called our neighborhood vet and let them know I found this dog and gave them his description , and also called our police dept and let them know the same.
Since the dog was obviously someone's pet and had a great demeanor about him, we decided we were going to keep him until we found his owner, and if we couldn't find his owner after a period of time, he would be a welcomed "new addition" to our family!

Our "surprise visitor, Bowzer"!

Around 4:30 p.m. I got a call from our police dept. The officer on the phone said a woman called in frantic about her missing dog who matched the description of dog I was watching sleep on my family room floor. He is a 11 month old black lab and hound mix, and his name is "Bowzer". Turns out "Bowzer" had gotten out through the back door of his house because it was not closed all the way when his owner left for work this morning. The officer gave me the woman's phone number so I could tell her where to pick him up.
I called Bowzer's owner right away, and I could tell by her voice that she'd been crying (I felt so sorry for her). She described Bowzer to me down to the color of his collar. I assured her he was okay, and gave her my address (turns out she lives a few blocks away). Within minutes of hanging up the phone a black SUV pulled into our driveway. A young woman came to our door, I greeted her, then quickly brought Bowzer to her. The second she saw Bowzer, she hugged him, and without saying anything to me she quickly put Bowzer in her car and drove off.
Now, Bowzer is a very sweet, lovable dog and I didn't mind taking care of him for a day (or much longer if needed). Also, thank God Bowzer got himself somewhere where he was safe and he didn't get hurt or worse when he was running around the streets here. I really didn't mind having him here, I was happy to help him!
What I'm a little upset about in this situation is that the woman that owns Bowzer didn't even say "thank you". She didn't say "thank you" over the phone and didn't say it when she picked him up! If that happened to me, I would be extremely grateful and appreciative!

Inner Circle

It's been almost a year since my mother inlaw passed away, and she still has the ability to bring people together. My mother inlaw was the "glue" that kept everybody connected in my husband's family. Beyond family, she was also the "glue" that kept her inner circle of friends together, she was always planning "dinner nights", "sisterhood nights" or "movie nights" with her friends (sometimes these included their husbands, and sometimes not). She was never too busy to keep in touch.

We spent this past weekend in my husband's hometown with his family and my mother inlaw's closest friends (her inner circle). Last Saturday night all of us went out to dinner to her favorite Italian restaurant. Sunday morning we met everyone at the cemetery. We all gathered around my mother inlaw's gravesite and we each took turns sharing some memories of her. Once again my mother inlaw was the "glue", she was bringing us all together.

While listening to the many memories that were being shared, and seeing tears being wiped (and shedding a few of my own tears), I took in the moment. My mother inlaw was surrounded by the people that meant the most to her in her life, her "inner circle". She would've been so happy to see everyone together! I could just imagine her looking down with a big smile on her face, and laughing, crying along with us. R.I.P Cheryl we miss you!

Big, But Not So Surprising News

The "big" day for us was yesterday. No, we didn't renew wedding vows or have a child. Nothing like that, but life altering just the same. As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband has been feeling sick the past four days. We could not see his doctor until yesterday. My husband has a fear of doctors and a morbid fear of needles (it's even stated in his medical records!).

Husband and our pug Lilly resting at home!

So, getting him to the doctor is no small feat! It took a lot of convincing and calming just to get him in the door! After speaking with the doctor about his symptoms the past week, the doctor then told us he was about 100% sure my husband has Diabetes. But, to confirm the Diabetes diagnosis, he of course had to draw blood which of involves needles! It was at this point my husband started sweating and declared loaudly "no way", "can't do it!" We both tried to calm him down, when that didn't work, a nurse was brought in to also try to calm his fears. After only a few minutes of this, my husband was already breathing too fast and sweating buckets!

It took all three of us about 20 minutes and tears streaming down my face
to convince him to do it! It wasn't even going to be drawing blood, all they needed to do was "prick" his finger. Just a "prick" was enough to set off his fear!

The nurse went ahead and got the test kit, and started rubbing his hand, while I held his other hand and was talking to him. My husband even grabbed my hand and put it in his mouth so he could bite down when he got stuck, I couldn't believe it!

In a second it was over. I thought the worst was over, but I was wrong. All of a sudden I saw my husband's face go completely white, his lips turned a purple-ish color, his eyes rolled back into his head, and I had to literally lean over him to catch him from falling off the examination bed!

After everything was over, he passed out while laying there. The nurse was in the hall right outside the door, so I yelled "we've got problems!" She came right back in with the doctor, my husband regained conscienceness, and was given cold compresses.

After another 1 1/2 hours of "recovery", we were given the diagnosis of "type 2 Diabetes".

There is no history of Diabetes in my family, so I've never had to deal with it. It will be a challenge for both us, but we will prevail!

Crazy Days

Ever have those days when you want to pull your hair out? Well, that describes the past few days in our house!

The heat and humidity outside earlier this week was just "unbearable" and of course that's when our central air conditioning unit decided to die on us! The only room that was cool in our house was the family room (it has it's own wall unit air conditioner. Our family room thankfully has 2 couches in it, so neither of us had to sleep on the floor. I had my couch and my husband had his (oh and we each had a pug too!). We slept on those couches for no less than 5 nights straight! Our makeshift bedroom was quite a site, but it was cool enough and I didn't have to venture downstairs to take a dog or two out, so there were some positives!

Our close friends/next door neighbors were also packing up and moving. So, combined with the heat and humidity, I was also going back and forth between houses helping them out with anything they needed such as taking their kids somewhere, loaning them our carpet cleaner, helping them put unwanted items in our now full garage to sell at our neighborhood yard sale etc...

Just when I thought things were returning to "normal", Thursday rolled around. Thursday started out like any other morning. I got up took care of our dogs, helped my husband get ready for work etc... Well, about 1/2 hour after my husband got to work, he called me and said he needed me to pick him up from work right away! I asked him why, and he said "because I don't feel good and I'm messing up!" Now, my husband works at a computer and on the phone all day for a world wide corporation, so I couldn't figure out what he meant exactly. I told him to "sit tight" and I'd be there ASAP (takes about 15 min to get there from our house). I pulled up to the front door of his building. About a minute later, my husband was being assisted to the car by his manager, my husband couldn't walk straight on his own and looked very weak. His manager helped him into the car and then told me I should take him to the doctor (easier said then done since my husband has a fear of doctors!)

Aparently, my husband was on the phone working on an account and his speech was very slurred. A coworker happened to over hear my husband and was so concerned that she had his manager listen in on his phone. At that point they noticed he was slurring his words. The manager requested he come into his office. When my husband got up to see his manager, they noticed he also could hardly walk and had to be assisted, and that's when they called me to pick him up (they of course wouldn't let him drive).
I drove him home, called his doctor. His doctor could not fit him in for an appointment but did speak to him on the phone. His doctor put him on a very strict diet of no carbs, no sugar, can only drink water and made an appointment for this coming Monday where they will do blood work.
My husband's doctor thinks there's a very good chance that my husband has Diabetes! Ever since Thursday, my husband has been feeling very weak, excessively thirsty, and very tired.

He has been following the strict diet exactly as told, and I've been taking good care of him. Tonight I told my husband that "I've been helping our friends, taking care of him and the dogs. I'm taking care of everybody. But, who's goona take care of me?"
My husband said "I love you, and I'm going to fight whatever I've got. I will be here for you, to put my arms around you. I'll take care of you".

Summertime In My Mind

  I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th!  My husband and I did the "total summertime in America thing" on the 4th.  We spent all afternoon at a major league baseball game (where one of the ballplayers from my favorite team, the A's, tossed a ball to me after the game!  I was sooo excited!)  We came home changed clothes (anything red, white and blue).  We took a long walk to our nearest ice cream place (we each got a double scoop ice cream in a cup).  We continued our walk to the Jr. high school where we sat on the football field with several other people for about 1 1/2 hrs waiting our city's fireworks show to begin!
  Along the way to the fireworks show, my husband started singing "In The Summertime" and I could not get it out of my head after that!  So here it is!  Enjoy!

Lazy day

  Ok my "Chocolate Chip Mania" of the past two days is OVER!  Today is just a lazy day to relax (with a little cleaning).  The only frustrating thing happening today is that my husband cannot decide if we are going to a major league baseball game tonight or not!  One minute we are going, the next minute we're not!  We are both big baseball fans and it's been almost 2 weeks since we've been to a game (which to us seems like forever!)  I love to go tonight, because we finally have weather that's cool enough to sit out in without roasting or sweating to death!
  Actually, there might be an advantage to his undecidedness!  I could probably use it to get out of cooking dinner tonight!  I'll tell him he couldn't decide what we were doing so I didn't have enough time to plan a dinner for tonight!  Sounds good to me!

Martha Stewart watch out!

  Yes, I said it, "Martha Stewart watch out!"  I was quite the "domestic" type today, and that's probably why I'm yawning as I type this!
  I started the day making homemade pancakes for breakfast (they were awesome!)  Followed by reorganizing my kitchen cabinets and cleaning the refrigerator.  I then caught up on all the clothes and dog toys that needed mending.  Mid morning was spent helping our good friends (they are moving far away from us in two days (we are so upset!)) sort through their things they want me to sell for them at our neighborhood yard sale.  I had a important date with my mop around noon, and for now have kitchen floors without paw prints on them, and a shiny hardwood floor throughout the rest of the house!
  For lunch, I threw together a spinach salad with strawberries, grilled chicken and slivered almonds that I love, and it was perfect for the hot, humid weather we had today.  After lunch, I made homemade chocolate chip cookies and brought them over to our busy moving friends so they could have something to snack on while packing boxes etc...Seeing the smiles on their faces was all the thanks I needed.
  I got home and vacuumed our basement floor (half of it is carpeted) and swept the other half.  I finally finished, neatly folded, and put away all our laundry, swept our driveway. 
  Next item was cooking dinner , which was easy (I prepared everything the night before).  I definitely earned my "Martha Stewart-ness" today! 
 

"Grandma-isms"

  It seems like ever since my grandma passed away last January, I find myself repeating some things she used to say to my brother and I when we were little. 
  When I cook and it seems like it takes "forever" for a pot of water to boil I find myself saying "a watched pot never boils", my grandma bestowed this wise observation on me when I was just learning to cook.  For the most part it definitely feels true.
  Our 2 pugs are "our children".  Our youngest pug Lilly (she's 3 years old), besided she wanted to play instead of go to bed at around 11pm last night.  My husband had to work this morning so he went ahead and went to bed.  With my husband and other pug in bed, that left me with Lilly.  Lilly decided to run circles around the first floor of our house while i chased her in hopes of tiring her out.  Yeah right!  Lilly then raced into the kitchen and quickly started to kick her bowl into the oven, making a loud "BANG" sound , meaning she had worked up an appetite now!  I gave her just a few kibble to satisfy her (this usually works, then she goes to sleep).  Well my plan didn't work this time.  It was now just after 12 a.m. and she was demanding to go outside, we don't have a fenced in yard, so this means of course that I have to walk her outside.   Lilly does her "business", I bring her in.  I picked her up and sat her on my lap for a little bit (which usually calms her down), no luck.  She jumped off my lap and started yet another race around the house complaete with and occasional toy tossing.  Now, we were looking at 2 a.m and thats when my grandma's wisdom again came into mind.  I looked into Lilly's face and told her "I love you, but I don't love your ways".
   "I love you but I don't love your ways" was always used by my grandma when my brother or I (usually my brother) got into some kind of mischief.
  It amazes me how much impact just one person can have on your life and how things can get repeated through the generatiions.

P.S  Lilly did finally calm down just after 2 a.m.

Conveniences

  The husband and I just returned from a nice long vacation in Texas.  I know, Texas of all places?  Well we always like to pick places we've never been before for vacation.  We've been to Texas before but not to the Houston area.  We stayed about 45 minutes outside of Houston.  We had a condo on the shore of Lake Conroe.  The lake was beautiful, and we had an awesome swimming pool right off the lake (each night we watched boats sail by while relaing in the pool under the bright stars in the Texas sky)!  It was very relaxing and the perfect opportunity for us to reconnect with each other.
  The condo we stayed in was big but did not have any up to date conveniences.  I mean no DVD player, only basic cable (very basic, only got local programming which was fine to me), no stereo, no internet, which meant my husband lugged a laptop around two airports for nothing ( no internet didn't bother me either), no microwave (I only use ours for heating up water for tea anyway, so no big deal).  One inconvenience I could have definitely done without the first day was the "griping husband".  My husband just didn't know what he was going to do with being able to watch a DVD at night or watching ESPN, or without access to the internet so he could check on his fantasy baseball team!  He sounded like the world was conimg to an end!!  I kept telling him that "people lived for 100's of years without those things and survived just fine, so stop complaining!"  The only conveniences I cared about we had, and those were air conditioning and a washer and dryer in the condo, that's all I needed!  We had a 2 bedroom 2 1/2 bath air conditioned condo to ourselves for a little over a week!  Can't complain!
  Hearing my husband caomplain, got me thinking.  I asked myself who would survive better without modern conveniences?  Me or him?  I definitely believe it would be me, after all my husband called me when I was in California visiting my dying grandmother because he didn't know how to make instant oatmeal for himself, or work the stove.  Ya, I think I would win!

On the mend

  After my "bug" a week ago or more, I am feeling 100%!  Yeah!  A 100% better but also 100 % overwhelmed!  We have spent the last week in my husband's hometown of Columbus off and on.  We are now home to stay for a while thank God.
  My husband and his brother sold their deceased mother's condo whih is both good and bad.  Good because we no longer have to make the monthly condo fee payments on it, but bad because it is a chapter of our lives that is officially closing!  Which is very tough.
  My brother inlaw and his wife (which I will affectionately call "The Witch" more on that some other time) were going the last bits and pieces of my mother inlaw's belongings.
  My mother inlaw was a "pack rat" never threw anything away.  I was very, very close to her and felt bad about throwing anything away (because I now if she kept it, it must of meant something to her) even if it was some napkin from somewhere she had been.
  But, I'm still glad I was there to be the voice of reason at times.  "The Witch" (my sister inlaw) was not close to my mother inlaw, and I think she was jealous of the relationship I had with her (though she will never say it, and I think that's just one of the "issues" she has with me and my husband).  Her idea for everything was to just donate things or throw them away.  She was just going to throw away the locks of hair from my husband's first haircut that were carefully place in a sealed envelope and labeled by his mother, so I took them.
  My husband and his brother opened a box and found folded up linens inside and were going to donate them. I looked at them and realized they looked just like the linens that their Great Grandmother had hand stitched in the early 1900's that were given to me by their aunt.  Their aunt didn't want anyone else to have them, so she gave them to me.  I told them not to donate them, and told them what they were (they didn't know any better).  "The Witch" tells them to not listen to me and just "get rid of them".  I said "there's no way in the world that I'm going to let a family heirloom just go to some stranger who doesn't know a thing about the family, and wouldn't appreciate what they are" so I took them, and heard "Witch" say "okay...stupid to keep them if you're just going to keep them in box and not use them!"  I said "their Great Grandmother hand stitched these, I'm holding on to them because I appreciate it!"  My brother inlaw doesn't put his foot down and speak his opinion to his wife (which irritates me to no end!)  If my husband or I have an opinion about anything, good or bad, we tell each other.
  Anyway, we ended up coming home with 2 car fulls of items we didn't want to be discarded, and I'm now dealing with the overwhelming task of fnding places for all this stuff!
  Does anyone know a way to preserve old letters?  let me know.

Taking It Easy

  I hardly ever get sick, but for the past week I've had a bug that I just couldn't shake.  So annoying!  Today I'm still not 100%  (more like 60%), but at least I have more energy today.  I have had some positives during my "down time" so it's not all bad.  I had time to read (which I seem to never have time for), organize photos into albums, catch up on some movies I've never seen such as "White Oleander", "The blind side", "Julia & Julia" just to name a few. 
  During the days I've had our 2 pugs Lacy & Lilly constantly at my side.  At night, I've had my husband/nurse taking care of me.  I slept through dinner one night (wasn't hungry anyway!), and when i woke up, my husband/nurse led me down the hall to a candle lit bathroom with soft classical music playing and a hot bubble bath waiting for me!  I was also given the best back massage while soaking in the tub!  So soothing!  I could have stayed in that moment forever.  The moment will be in my mind and heart forever though.
  In the next day or two, I'm hoping for more positives and less feeling "yucky".  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Busy Days!

  I've been so busy the past few days that I didn't have a second to be here.  Now I'm very happy to have a second!  Sunday of course was Mother's day, which was a very difficult day for my husband and I.
  My husband lost his mother last August, I was very close to her also (she always told me I was the daughter she never had!).  His first Mother's day that he wasn't able to talk to his mother or give her a gift was extremely tough on him!
  I lost my grandmother, who I was extremely close to 3 1/2 months ago, I always sent her something on Mother's day, and it was difficult not being able to talk to her also.  I am always grateful to have both my parents, but on Sunday I was especially grateful to have my mother to talk to.  As  I told my husband on Sunday "we've got to remember to be grateful for the people we still have around us and not dwell on the people we've lost".  Easier said than done, I know but I did get the response of "you're right " out of him!
My husband then took me out to a fancy italian restaurant (white tablecloths etc.... the whole shabang!) for my Mother's day gift.  So all in all, Mother's day was a tough but good day!
  Monday was spent reorganizing my entire kitchen!  I had received some of my mother inlaw's small appliances, her full set of wine glasses and glass dessert bowls, some of her silverware, cutting boards, tupperware etc..  So naturally I had to find space for everything!  OMG!  I really didn't realize just how much stuff I had stuffed in my cabinets!  I swear it multiplied!  Anyway, now my cabinets look much better.
  Today was a vey stormy day, and our power was off and on all day, very frustrating when your trying to vacuum, and also having to reset clocks each time!  AGH!  Well, I'll see what Wednesday brings!

Derby Party

  As I mentioned in my last post, we were spending most of our day at our friends' house for their Kentucky Derby party/bbq.  

  Well, the weather was questionable but we had a blast!  Every woman and  each little girl made and wore their own "Derby Hat".  Basically we went to a store and bought plain straw hats and decorated them with big silk flowers!  They turned out wonderfully! I took a picture of my friend's daughter Kate wearing her creation!!  So cute!  Each of us picked a horse and bet a $1.00 (my horse didn't win, figures!), two people won!  Also when we arrived there was a table just filled with "traditional  Kentucky Derby food" right down to the Mint Juleps.

  The big adventure for everyone was trying the "Mint Juleps" no one had ever had one!  Boy were they strong ( I can see why they're a once a year thing)!  One sip and "Woo Hoo!!!

  Also, watching my husband play Wiffle Ball with the kids in the backyard after he had drank one of those super strong Mint Juleps was quite hilarious!  He wasn't drunk, but even with a little buzz he was something to see trying to run the bases or tag a running child! lol!