Category Archives: Family

Happy Friday!!!

Yeah! I am sooooo thankful that Friday has finally arrived!! YEAH!!! Anyone else needing this Friday as much as I do??? Not only that, but my boss gave me the thumbs up to leave 2-1/2 hours early!!! OH HAPPY DAY!!! 😉

Does anyone have any great plans for this weekend?? I don’t have anything too terribly exciting planned, but we do have a couple of fun things going on. Date night tonight, a game of frisbee golf in the park tomorrow, and who knows…

Sorry, my post tonight was interrupted by a call from my sis-in-law! You see my sweetie has size 17/18 feet, and to find him shoes is quite an undertaking. So, everyone in the family knows that when they find shoes that size, especially if they are on sale they are to either pick them up, or call us and we will go check them out. So, out the door we flew, to the other side of town, and unfortunately, the shoes that were found were too narrow! DARN!!!

Anyway, since we were on that side of town, and it is our date night, so we decided to do a little book shopping after a dinner out. NOW YOU KNOW I WILL NEVER TURN DOWN AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOP FOR BOOKS!!!

The books that I picked up are:

Before You Put That On

Well, I am going to go watch a movie with my sweetie, and start this WEEKEND!!! YEAH!!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Hey Little Me!!

I just needed a touch of something girly!!! 😉

I just got off the phone with my daddy!! Yes, every time I talk to him, I feel like he melts me back into a little girl again!!! I love that Daddy-o of mine!!!

So, I watched Oprah off my DVR today, as soon as I got home from work, it helped me take the focus off the fact that I was going through my bills. Anyway, today’s show was a discussion about beauty and getting older. The guests were Actress and model Cybill Shepherd, Dynasty‘s Linda Evans and Desperate Housewives‘ Teri Hatcher. They shared their beauty and aging confessions. It was pretty eye-opening. One question that Oprah asked to all of her guests was what advice would you give your 14 year old self if you could? What would your answer be? I would have to actually stop and think about this long and hard!! I am curious though, feel free to answer in the comment section!!

Until tomorrow,

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Wednesday Hump Day!!

Ok, not that kind of hump day…hmmm…at least not YET anyway!!! LOL!!

I have had a pretty good day today! I just got home from work and finished some house chores. My sweetie is grilling some chicken out back and I have got the veggies all ready to go! YUM! We have some peppy music playing, and every once in a while, Jason will stop wherever I am at, and spin me around so we can start dancing! God, I love that man!!! 😉

Anyway, I will put my feet back on the ground – at lease momentarily!!!  I have been doing some more research on Diane von Furstenburg, and I ran across some of her really AWESOME quotes, and I can see why I just LOVE her soooo much!!!

“Attitude is everything.”

“I design for the woman who loves being a woman.”

“I travel light. I think the most important thing is to be in a good mood and enjoy life, wherever you are.”

“You’re always with yourself so you might as well enjoy the company.”

“Now is the time to become a myth.”

and my favorite that I ran across today:

“Absence is to love what wind is to fire. When it’s a small fire the wind kills it, but when it’s a real fire, wind intensifies it!”

As I sit here listening to “I Don’t Care Who Knows” by Catherine Russell, I realize that life is really GOOD!!! I am so blessed in my life!!!

This is isn’t the best video of this song, and I know the lyrics are really hard to understand, but it is basically saying that “I don’t care who knows, I love my man!!!” 😉 Every time this song comes on, I just can’t help but dance around!!

As for dinner, I am cooking some onions tonight to go with dinner, and I LOVE them!!! They are my favorite vegetable right now!! now I must admit I don’t make them the most healthily, but they are sooooo freaking’ good! !!

Dice one over sized sweet Walla Walla onion, in thin slices. Add butter to pan, about 1 tbsp per 1/2 an onion – depending on size (I add one extra tbsp for good measure)! Cook on med-high until translucent, then turn heat down to low, and make sure the onions are evenly distributed in the pan. Next, this is key – DON’T TOUCH UNTIL BROWNED!!! then flip and do this again, until all slices are gorgeously brown – I do this about 4 – 5 times!!! and I am telling you, the onion is sooooo perfectly carmelized! The onion will have reduced by more than 1/2, so 1/2 an onion is perfect for one person (I can eat a whole carmelized onion as a meal all by itself!!!)

I received a book in the mail today, it is called “Junk Chic”. and so far, I am loving it! I also love that the book cost me less than $5, including shipping and handling! I have two more on their way now, they are both books by or about Diane von Furstenburg – SHOCKED??? No, probably not!! HAHAHA! 😉

I am also going through a bunch of new pictures from our camping trip with my sis-in-law and her family! Some of these are really GREAT!!! I will make it a point to post some of these for you tomorrow!!

Ok, so I realize that my thoughts are just wandering all over the place, but I think I am going to take this new found energy and go for a walk!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Weekend Update!

OK, so where do I begin!???

Well, wait – before I start, I wanted to say thank you to my two youngest sisters, Jennifer & Trina!!  I had to call them super late on Friday night to get some help getting un-lost – I KNOW SHOCKING RIGHT??? Ok, so everyone who knows me, know that is NOT shocking, but thankfully I wasn’t driving that night!!! Thank you, girls!!! You are still my saving graces! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!!!! 😉

After a whole day of driving, Jason, Fahline, and I FINALLY got home close to 2 am this morning!!! Fahline crashed on the couch and I literally don’t remember my head hitting the pillow last night!!! Last night, when we stopped for dinner, I noticed that I was experiencing some adema in my feet and ankles, which I had never experienced before but I knew what it was immediately because Jason has been having trouble with adema for about the past year. When I awoke this morning, not only was I exhausted, but my feet were sooooo swollen that it hurt to even move my toes!! OUCH!! So, apparently, I need to avoid salt for the next few days, and drink a ton of water, until my feet and ankles return back to normal!!

It was agreed that all three of us had a FANTASTIC time in California this weekend, much better than any of us could have imagined!! The resort that we stayed at, which I had mentioned previously, was just sooooo peaceful, and it was extremely easy to rest there – thank goodness!! and I had SUCH A GREAT time getting to better know Fahlene!! We have SOOOO MUCH IN COMMON, that I am STILL asking, HOW COME WE HAVE NEVER HUNG OUT MORE BEFORE???? I am going to most definitely make sure that we correct that!!!! I LOVE YOU, FAHLENE, YOU CRAZY, ZANY (& BRAVE) GIRL!!!! 😉

I do want to tell you about one person that I met. He was THE MOST AMAZING MAN!!! 😉 We hit it off almost immediately, and over classic movies of all things!!! Robert, aka Bob, is an older gentleman, and I found out later that he is and has been my adopted grandfather, Willy’s, financial advisor!! I had such a fun time getting to know him on that Saturday night, that on the next day when Adelle was trying to find a seat for him during the wedding reception dinner, I was more than happy to have him sit next to me!! by then end of the evening, it was like we had known each other my whole life!! At the end of the evening, after dinner, dancing, and have a  GREAT time!!! Bob came up to me, grabbed me by both of my shoulders, kissed me on one cheek, and then on my other cheek, and told me that I he was my new grandfather, and that he hoped I was ok with that, which you know!! I was TOTALLY EXCITED about!!! He then turned to Jason, who is almost 6′ 8″ by the way, and told him,

“You have a GREAT wife over there, if you hurt her in any way,  I will personally come to Salem and beat the sh*t out of you!!!”

I was sooooo shocked, and everyone who was standing around just paused for a moment, checked out the height difference between Jason and Bob, not to mention age difference, and we all just started laughing!!! I was COMPLETELY SMITTEN!!! and Jason reassured Bob that he was going to take FABULOUS care of me!!!

Bob is saucy, outpsoken, blunt, funny, charming, and a dear, dear man!!! Just to have met him made spending another weekend away from home was sooooo worth it!!! 😉

Jason had a tooth pulled today, and unfortunately they ended up having to remove some bone with it, so he is in A LOT of pain, and has been pretty medicated ALL DAY!!! So I really need to get going to go take care of him!!! which means I am not going to post any pics tonight, but I am hoping that I will have a whole slew of them to post tomorrow!!!

Anyway, have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Just Checking In!!!

I know that I should be posting SOMETHING!!! I could always tell you about what a great time we had camping this last weekend; you know, all about our canoe outing where we literally dumped into the water in our street clothes within 30 seconds, or the dune buggy/bus tour that we took that was supposed to be nice and peaceful but ended up making me want to pee myself, while I was screaming like a little girl calling for her mommy because I was sure that we were all going to die! Or maybe you would like to hear about my escapade hiking up and down on this monster trail that I was sure was going to cause my death, and someone would have to send several big men to come pick my fat, dead, ass up, and drag my back to my campsite!!! LOL!!! 😉 But I am tired, and today is an anniversary of something sad that happened in my family’s life 11 years ago, so I am going to keep that short.

However, we really did have a lot of fun camping, and I can’t wait to do it again next year, but next time with 2 campsites – we all were a little too on top of each other all weekend!!!

Anyway, here is my thought for the day:

The kind of image that you have of yourself will limit what you are able to do. When you don’t glorify , or revel in who you are, you are denying a part of yourself. I have been denying my whole adventurous spirit because I don’t have the right weight, I don’t have the right look, I can’t do something because what will people think? You know what? SCREW THAT!!!! I can do ANYTHING I WANT!!!! I don’t want to wait for anybody anymore! I am not waiting to become what I want to be! I am not waiting do anything anymore! Hell, if I want to do something, it is time for me to step up and do it; nobody is going to do it for me and once I decide that something is right for me, that these are the things that I want to do then I will also enable the people around me to do the same thing, which is what I am here for after all!!!

I don’t want to be ordinary any more. I want to be extraordinary. I want to have a fabulous life where everything I believe I should have, I can have. I am fearless, you know absolutely fearless, what can stop that? (I am hoping that if I keep saying it then it will just HAVE to become the TRUTH!!!)

Well it is late, and my husband and I are heading out tomorrow on a road trip down to Monteray, California, which should be a lot of fun!! I am telling you right now, that this is 3 weeks in a row away from home!! Next weekend, I am turning off my phone and squirreling away all weekend!! Reading, walks in the park, swimming, dinners with my sweetie!! I am a homebody that seems to never be home!!! 😉

I will try and blog some times this weekend, and keep you posted of our adventure!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

P.S. I will always love and miss you, Momma!!! 😉

Getting Ready for the Weekend!!

YEAH!!! I am heading out for a four day weekend!!! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!!

This work week has been a short week, thank goodness!!!! and even though the past few weeks have been very stressful, I think that it might be getting a little easier! I feel like I am having to be brave and just stand up for what I believe in and that is that. I can’t make everyone happy, but that is not what they pay me for. They pay me to get my job done as quickly, efficiently, and correctly as humanly possible, and I am working my buns off to do just that!!

Talking about working my buns off, I am ready for a loooong weekend, which is a great segue to my next paragraph – and I know that my sweetie and I went camping next week, but we have been presented with the opportunity to do it again this weekend and honey, you have to know that we just JUMPED ON IT!!! We are going with my sis-in-law, and future brother-in-law, 3 nephews, my niece, and I can’t forget my two little puppies!!! 😉 I just know we are going to have so much fun, and I am very excited about all of the pics that I just know I will have when I get back!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS Memorial Day weekend! and to all the GREAT men and women who have served this TERRIFIC country, and fought for all of our freedom, including my own. I solute you!

Have a FABULOUS weekend! 😉

Daily Post!

I know that it is only Tuesday, but I am soooo looking forward to this weekend. I know that I just got back from camping, but my sweetie and I are going with my sis, Nette, Michael and all of their kiddos. I think we are going to Florence, but I have to call tonight and find out where for sure!! I am excited! If we have as much fun as we had this last weekend, then it will be a great time!!

Ok, so a little more about this last weekend. Jason and I really had a lot of fun. Jason was totally in his element, running from campsite, to campsite, helping anyone who asked – that is what he lives for, he is my happy-helper man!! I had the most fun getting to know more of my family members, and playing with my nephews. Aaron and Gavin were in our campsite, and I just had SOOOO MUCH FUN playing mom! Ok, well honestly I was totally part-time mom because I didn’t feed them or sleep with them, ok – so I guess that is called being AUNTIE!! YEAH!!!

You can probably can tell, I am soooo distracted tonight – I am watching On the Road with Austin & Santino. I am trying really hard to get through my DVR before we leave town again! and I just LOVE this show! They are soooo sweet, some of their designs are a little ‘different’,  but they are ingenious that they are able to make the dresses that that they are able to with a limited amount of resources and a limited amount of time!!! I would LOVE to let them make something GORGEOUS for me!!! Today they are making a wedding dress. Ok, so CONFESSION TIME!! I am soooo damn hormonal!!! They just showed the bride her dress for the first time, and I actually just starting tearing up!!! Ok, I am pulling it together!!! 😉 This dress is pretty, and frilly, and girly, and just beautiful! Austin and Santino just come across as so sincere, and they really treat their client du jour as the most important woman, and she really gets their absolute best. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!

Alright, so I am going to go spend some time with my sweetie before bed!

Thought of the Day:

“People love to tell you that you can’t do it, if you have a feeling inside that you really want to do something, you just go do it, you just do it, that is all there is to it!” ~ Danny Devito

I am still struggling to figure out what I am supposed to be when I grow up, but I am just looking for the signs! Opportunities for growth, improvement, and all around happiness, and fitting with my natural talents and personalities!!! In the mean time I am just going to live, live, live, and make as many memories as possibles on the way!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

I’m Back!!

Short version: Our family campout was a success!

Long version: Our family campout was a success, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with my peeps!!

I took a lot of pics, and I think that I will share some of those with you now:

Here is the family who were there this weekend. From left to right, back row: Me, Jason, Michael, Lynette, Ryan, Flo. Left to right, middle row: Murphy (the little white hairy one), Aunt Alice, Katrina, Gavin, David, David (yes, there are two of them), Colby. Left to right front row: Paul, Charlie (another hairy family member), Alice, Aaron, Austen, and Shasta (another 4 legged member of our family!

This is my nephew, Gavin, hanging out in his “Flobbit Tree”.

This is my nephew Aaron! I just love this little smile!!

This is one of my sisters, Alice. She is the momma to both Aaron & Gavin.

My sis-in-law, Lynette, and her cutie fiance, and our future brother-in-law Michael!

The Intimidators!! David, John, Austin, Christopher, and Colby.

NAW!!! Here there are in their natural state!!

This may be the only picture I have of Aunt Alice – how the heck does she do that??? She is just sooooo stealthy!!!

Hee! Hee! Hee! Someone is getting his hienie pinched! John and Lynette!! 🙂

Myself, my youngest sister, Trina, and my sweetie, Jason!

Everybody LIFT!!! Michael, Lynette, David, Christopher, David, and Jason is the one that is horizontal

This is THE BEST picture of Jason and Christopher!! Christopher looks soooo handsome!!! 😉

David, Jason, and John! What a handsome bunch of men!! 😉

Gavin posing for pictures!

Jason was Mr. Helper to everyone there, and I caught him sitting there staring off into space, doesn’t this face looked sooooo tired!?!?!?!?

My girl, Auntie Flo!!! She is such a hoot!!! 😉

The Family again looking as prim and proper as can be expected!!

There, that’s more like it!!

The End! at least until tomorrow!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Day of Ups and Emergencies!

WHEW!!! Out of two weeks of absolute craziness, today was a day that I could FINALLY breathe!! HAAAAAAA! I am sure you felt that from where you are sitting!! I am sorry if I just blew your papers off of your desk!!! 😉

OMG, I am watching America’s Got Talent off of my DVR, and there is this little girl, who is only 10 years old, she literally made me stop in my tracks right now!! She sings opera and the voice that comes out of her little body is just AMAZING!! She must have the voice of an angel out on loan, because really WHAT A GIFT!!! She has literally stop me, and my writing of my day, in my tracks!!! Well, honey! you get my vote!!! 😉

Oh, btw, her name is Jackie Evancho.

Well, after a day like today, and an entertaining performance like that, I should just get into my pjs and go to bed now, because it can’t get any better than that!!!

Ok, not really! I have had a really good day, I had a mini crisis this morning at work, but my co-worker was there to give me a hand, thanks T!! Then I was able to just plug away with one task at a time, and before I knew it I was crossing things off of my to-do list again!! When I left work I hit the car wash, which always makes me feel SUPER pampered!!! Came home a cooked a healthy dinner, and spent some time hanging out with my girls, and I plan on going upstairs, getting ready for bed…

OMG! I just a medical emergency at my house!! Thank God my sister-in-law is a PA, because her and her boyfriend (God bless them) rushed over from dropping her kids off 20 miles away – I wonder how fast she was driving on that freeway to get here!!! I am not going to go into details about what exactly happened, that will remain private, but long story short my husband will be alright IF I can just get him to stay in bed! We will see!!! I may have to work remote tomorrow, to make sure he is in bed, with his medications, and not moving AT ALL!!!

Anyway, I am heading off to bed now!! but before I go, I want to leave you with a yummy treat that you can make and enjoy!

Treat du jour:

Graham Cracker “Ice Cream” Sandwiches

Take 2 low-fat Cinnamon graham crackers, and about a fourth of a cup of Cool Whip Lite, and sandwich the cool whip evenly between both graham crackers, and place in the freezer, until frozen. Take it out and enjoy!! I love this treat, it is smooth, and creamy and it such a YUMMY replacement for my ice cream fix!! And it has soooo many less calories than my favorite premium ice cream!! YUM! I hope you give it a try!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

The Kiddos in My Life!

One of the things that I live for every week is swimming with my family! Every week I tell myself that I need to get out my camera and take new pictures of those kiddos, and every week, we spend so much time having fun that I forget to actually do it!! They are growing soooo much this Summer. I am just AMAZED at how much they grow from week to week! I must be getting older because I catch myself looking at them and realizing that it is going to be like a blink of my eye and before I know it they will be all grown up! I hope they know how much I love them!! My plan is to live it up with them for as long as I can!!! Good night my little sweet babboos!!! 😉 Your Auntie Chrissy loves you more that you will EVER know!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉