Category Archives: Lifestyle

AAAAACK!

Good evening!

AAACK!! Only 15 minute until I have to get this post posted!!! EEK!! Remember, I am trying to post at least once EVERY day for at least one year, and I am almost just 3 months away from making that goal!! I DO NOT WANT TO START OVER AGAIN!!! 😉

Oh my gosh!!! Talk about cutting it close!! I have just gotten home from a GREAT day hanging out with friends!!

First thing this morning we headed over to my girlfriend Fahlene’s place, in Independence, and Jason helped her dad assemble some captains beds for Fahlene’s nephews! I helped Fahlene and her mom sort and fold a bunch of clothes for the boys too!

After leaving Fahlene’s place, and making arrangements for Fahlene to meet me tonight for Girl’s Night, Jason and I then went to Annette’s in West Salem to have lunch. We had never been there before and thought it might be fun to try something new, and MAN we were NOT disappointed!! The place reminded me of the diner in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe! They had great old time jazz playing, beautiful decor, delicious food, HUGE portions, and the people were SUPER friendly, and the prices were very reasonable!!! We will be back!!! We even bought our lunch for tomorrow from there, on the way out the door!! I can’t wait!!

Anyway, Jason and I then headed over to my girlfriend, Dawn’s place to help move a washer, dryer, and refrigerator because they were selling them to another friend. I caught Jason bringing the dryer up a flight of stairs by himself – no dolly!!! I worry about that man! He isn’t 21 anymore!!

After we were done there, Jason headed out with Errin to have some guy fun, playing video games, and Dawn, Sammy, and I headed out to go to my girlfriend, Rachel’s place, where we met up with Fahlene to have dinner and fun for our Girls’ Night! After dinner we had so much fun playing cards, laughing, and getting to know each other – SO MUCH FUN!!! 😉

What a great day!! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!!! WHEW JUST MADE IT!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Granny-Squarin’ Fool!

Good evening!

I almost forgot to blog tonight – EEK!! That would have messed up my goal of posting 365 days in a row. My sister, Alice, taught me how to crochet granny squares this past week, and I have been a granny-sqaurin’ fool ever since!! She also helped me fall in love with variegated yarn, which I have used a lot in the past, but only for crocheting scarves. So, I picked out some cute yarn, and I have been just crocheting away!!

I have been down and out the past two days, only venturing out today because of a dentist appointment I couldn’t afford to miss, but other than that, I have pretty much been stuck in bed or on the couch!! Long story, but crocheting my little granny squares seem to have helped me pass the time, and not move around too much.

I am thankful to report, that I should be back up and running/ or at least hobbling along as carefully as possible, tomorrow!! Which is great because I am THE WORST patient EVER, just ask my sweetie – God bless that man and all he has to put up with. I honestly don’t know how he manages to put up with all of my hub-bub!

Anyway, I will try and remember to take pictures of my squares, and blanket that I working and share them with you tomorrow!! 😉 In the meantime I am going to do just a little more crocheting before I have to go to bed for the night!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Chunky Dunkers!

Good evening!

Welcome back to the Chunky Dunker’s Club! We have been MIA for the past two weeks because of traveling, but I am happy to report that I am back!! Chunky Dunker’s is an online get-fit/healthy support group that meets every Wednesday around 7PM Pacific Standard Time. The purpose of this group is to support and cheer each other on as we work our way towards our get fit and healthy goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, run a mile, or to cut caffiene from our diets – whatever your health and fitness goals are for you – we are here to support you. Every week I post a little something to help motivate you, or cheer you on, and we all get together in the comments section to chat.

This is not a closed group, so if you would like to join us, please feel free to do so, the more the merrier.

Anyway, this week’s topic is: Knowing When to Stop Lying to Yourself

I have a very dear girlfriend who is a psych professor, and one of the things that she always says to me is that you always become what you need. So tonight’s topic is something that I need. I have been lying to myself thinking that I have been doing all of these healthy things, when in reality I have really been ignoring my health needs almost disgustingly. I haven’t exercised in weeks, I eat whatever I want whenever I want, and my sleeping habits have been really varied. All of this is leaving me fat,  feeling tired, achy, run down, and really not like myself at the moment.

So, now I have really got to stop lying to myself! I need to get my booty off of the couch and get out there and stop kidding myself. The choices I make today, are the results I am going to get tomorrow!!

I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said,

“If you don’t take the time to take care of your health now, you will have no choice but to take care of your sickness late.”

That is something I have been giving some serious thought to, so I am recommitting to doing little-by-little every day to get myself healthier!! I am worth it, my sweetie is worth it, and the rest of my family is worth it!

Here is to the future, AND TO THE HERE AND NOW!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

The Ya-Ya Sisterhood!

Good evening!

I just got up to my art studio, and turned on the tele for some background noise, and what did I happily see was playing? One of my favorite movies, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I just LOVE this movie, as well as this same story is my absolute FAVORITE book, which is saying a lot since I so have so many favorites.

I think my draw to this movie is that I have always dreamed of having a small intimate group of women who all share their lives with each other. A band of sisters who are there for each other through thick and thin! Now that I have re-read this sentence after writing this, I realize that I kind of do have this little sisterhood in my own life, we just live kind of far from each other! But, just knowing that I have got my own sisters out there, it makes me realize how much more special I think this movie is.

Besides the sisterhood itself, I think my favorite part of this movie is the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Ya-Ya Sisterhood ceremonies, with it’s candlelight and self-made crowns. I can just imagine the girls sitting in a circle, the air crackling with positive energy and hope, I can hear the giggling as Vivi tries to keep them all in character, in her dramatic way – of course I would be Vivi in this scene. But of course, DAHLING!! 😉

Anyway, I digress! 🙂 I wanted to tell you about my day today. I went to work, as usual, but then I had a doctors appointment this afternoon. I have a really hard time going to the doctors. I feel like I am just complaining when I go, because  I know there are people out there who have much larger problems then I do! I want to just skim over whatever is going on with myself, which usually means I don’t say what is the real reason I came into the office.

Does anyone else have this issue?

Is it just me??

And it isn’t my doctor – I LOVE my doctor!! She is one of those people who has the BEST kind of bedside manner, and she doesn’t mind explaining things over and over for you, or answering all of my questions. So what is the big deal?? I would love to hear your experiences with your physician!!

Anyway, I know this is kind of a jumpy posting tonight, but I am so tired! I feel like I am recouping from jet-lag from our vacation these past 2 weeks, so I will have to ask for your forgiveness!! I am going to go spend some more time cleaning up my art studio – slow and steady wins the race!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Getting Down & Dirty!

Good evening!

I am spending the evening in my art studio tonight. I would love to tell you that I am on a creativity roll and am creating like a fiend, but my confession is that I am actually still just cleaning up from our vacation! When we got home from our first half of our time off, I did the totally bad thing and just dumped everything off in this room and just closed the door!! I know, I am just so embarrased!! 😉

Oh, man!! When I see these pics – yes, this is my “Art studio”, I just get overwhelmed and am not sure where to start!

However, I am very determined to get it cleaned up so that I can get some really “arting” going on!! 😉

I am also wanting to get it cleaned up because, GULP, I am wanting to watch some tele tonight! I don’t know about any of you, but the tv show, Two and a Half Men, has been one of the only televisions shows that my hubby and I watch regularly, and we are kind of excited to see how the show will look and feel with Charlie Sheen out and Ashton Kutcher in. I know, it is not really deep, and not really terribly important, but there you go!

Before I leave this evening – to get productive, I just wanted to let you know that work was really cool today, and I was very glad to get back to it!! I didn’t realize I had really missed Chris and Julie!! AKA my peeps!!! 😉 Anyway, it was good to get back to work and to feel like a contributing member of a team again!! Not to say that I am not looking forward to my next vacation, whenever that is!!! I’m just sayin’!!! HAHAHA!!

Anyway, wish me luck!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

A Relaxing Saturday!

Good evening!

I am having a very relaxing Saturday at home with my sweetie! I wanted to share some more pics from my weekend with my sisters with you this evening!

I found these two FABULOUS vintage train cases, that looking at them now, I am sick to myself that I did not pick these up! I may just have to call my sissy, and ask her to pick them up for me!! HEE! HEE! 😉

There was also this little chi-chi red and white striped purse. Can you say A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E?????

I also love these little goblets. I am not sure if it is the cut of them, the fact that they are nice and heavy, or if  it is just the scrumptious blue!!! I LOVE these!!

These pictures were right up my alley!! Pic 1!

Pic 2!! 😉

This is my dream vanity!! I have always dreamed about having a sexy place to get all dressed up!! DREAMY! 😉

 

These boxes of music rolls were so interesting! At first glance it reminded me of Olivander’s shop in Harry Potter! 😉 But I just love decorating with these kind of historical trinkets that are just GREAT conversation starters!!

Alright, I am going to call it quits for this night and spend some more quiet time with my sweetie and the girls!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Sister-Time!

Good evening!

I got to spend the past few days with my sisters and I got to spend a little more time with my sister, Alice, than I normally do, which was a very nice change!  Alice is my third sister (3 of 5 sisters). She made us my favorite dinner at her place, pork chops with mashed potatoes and corn – just like mom used to make!! YUM!! 😉

The sisters, me (in red glasses), Jennifer (below me), Trina (to Jennifer’s right), and Alice (above Trina)!

We also all are big craft/art supply junkies, and not only did we go do some serious shopping at Michael’s Craft store, but we did it two days in a row!! WHOO! HOO!! 😉

Here is Alice with her hubby, Paul.

Alice also took some time out of one of the afternoons to show me how to crochet a granny square, again!! She made sure to point out that this was the third time that she has shown me!! Maybe this time it will stick!! 😉

My granny square, I love this variegated green!

We also spent a good portion of one of the mornings antique shopping, searching for hidden treasures! The place we ended up at was HUGE, and we had fun running around it trying to see who can find the BEST stuff!!

Side note: when us sisters are out with each other, we are big fans of Marco/Polo to locate each other!! One of us hollars “MARCO!”, and if the other sisters can here they hollar back “POLO!!”. LOL! (Ok, yes I realize that kind of makes us “holla-back girls”! Hee! Hee!) We use this marco/polo technique to find each other so much that we even have our young nephews playing along when they want to find one of their aunties!!! TOO CUTE! 😉

Here is Alice’s sons, Aaron and Gavin intently watching Bob the Builder!! They love to sing his theme song, and they just seem so enthralled with everything that they are learning!! That is where Aaron seems to come up with all of his interesting and strange facts – he is a little like the kid from Jerry McGuire! I just LOVE these little guys!! 😉

Here is Gavin, Auntie Jennifer, Uncle Jay-Jay, and Auntie Trina!

As exhausting as visiting all of the girls are – we run around almost non-stop and stay up til all hours of the evening, it is one of my FAVORITE things to do!! I had so much fun hanging out with my sisters the past few days, I was a little sad to go home today! But, I take heart knowing that I will see two of them in just a couple of weeks when we get together again to go up to Portland for Women of Faith!! WHOO! HOO!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Spending a Day with the Animals!

Good evening!

This evening I am going to share a bunch of pics of a super fun day we spent over at Wild Life Safari! It was quite a lovely day, and seeing that it was in the middle of the week, we pretty much had the run of the whole park!! 🙂

So without further ado, here you go!! 😉

Wild Life Safari is located in BEAUTIFUL Winston, Oregon.

Left to right: Austin, Jennifer, Gavin, Trina, and Jason, getting ready to go in.

We were very fascinated by the pink flamingos. It was my goal to get some of their interesting and unique feathers for collaging, which we did finally manage to do!! Whoo! Hoo!

We all had fun feeding the little goats. Gavin kept saying he was getting goat kisses whenever they licked his hand. LOL!! It helped that he kept refilling his hand with goat food! 😉

Jason had SO MUCH FUN with this little monkey. It was like they were long lost cousins.

It was so much fun to watch them mimic each other. This little monkey was so entranced by a weak light that Jason had in his pocket! 😉 But NOW, he wants a small monkey as a pet – I THINK I HAVE CREATED A MONSTER!!! 😉

Here is Gavin mimicking his Auntie Jennifer, she is just off camera!! 😉

We all took some time out to play on the children’s playground equipment. 😉

and after a few false starts, Gavin finally made it all the way to the top!! What a BIG boy!! 😉

Larger monkeys in another area of the park.

Koi the size of small sharks!! 😉

Then we took some time to feed some ducks, and geese.

Don’t they look like they are having fun?

I am not sure if this was a crocodile, or an alligator, but I would still hate to have found this guy on my street.

Here are the “boys” playing!

I really do love this man of mine.

Jason and our youngest sister, Trina! I LOVE this pic! 😉

And here is one of us near the end of our outing! Jennifer, Jason, Gavin, and Trina. We were all really tired, but really happy!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Dinner with Family!

Good evening!

I am having such a WONDERFUL time hanging out with my family down here in Roseburg, so much so that it makes long to have us all living in the same city!!!

As soon as Jason and I got into town we went and picked up my second to youngest sister, Jennifer, from work, and next our youngest sister, Trina. As soon as we had all gotten together and said our hellos, we met up with our dad, and his wife Trudi for dinner over at Red Robin! 😉

I have FINALLY gotten pictures of all of us, and I am very happy to be able to share these with you! 🙂

Here is myself and my dad! Do you know how hard it is to get a normal picture of my dad. He is ever the big kid who automatically plays whenever a camera is pointed at him – it really is just too funny!! 😉

Here are my troublemakers!! Trina, my youngest sister, Jennifer, my second youngest sister, and Jason my love and sweetie! 😉

See what I mean about my dad and a normal picture – I took 5 pictures of my dad, and his wife, Trudi, and this was the best one of them all!! I am glad that these two make each other so happy – that makes me really happy too! 😉

Ok, so back to my girls!! You see our mom died when I (being the oldest of 5 girls) was 24, and my youngest sister was only 8. Even before our mother passed away, I really did my best at mothering these two since we were 10 and 15 years apart. So, I have really grown to call these two “My Girls”! and since Jason and I do not have kids of our, it has kind of become true!!

I have always referred to Trina and Jennifer to my friends who do not know them by two labels. Trina is lovingly known as the “Know it all” – because she has always seemed to know weird facts about all sorts of EVERYTHING! 😉 and Jennifer has always been the “Comedian” because ever since I can remember she always has a quick retort to anything that is going on, and you are GUARANTEED to end your conversation with her in tears from laughing sooooo much!! 😉

I am just so glad that I was able to get these candid and very real pictures of how it is to be around these two! When these two were younger, they really NEVER got along!! Matter of fact they always claimed that they would NEVER love each other, NO MATTER WHAT!! I knew that would change as soon as the older of the two moved out of the house; and sure enough it did!Matter of fact, now, as adults, they live together now, with Jennifer’s husband, Austin, and they are closer than ever. Their joy with each other is infectious, and I just LOVE the energy that all of us have when we are together!!!

What a GREAT evening we had together!! I will make sure to share more pictures of some of our adventures tomorrow!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉