Wahoo!

Baseball is back! :D

The Cubs had their first spring training game yesterday and beat the Giants, 12 - 6. YES!!!!!

After the sad ending to last year, I have been waiting all winter for baseball to start, so I am SUPER excited! We are going to a few regular season games this year.

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend!!!!

GO CUBBIES!!!!!!

Maybe a giggle?

I've always liked Fox Trot, but I could see my DD being like Paige in this one, someday!

F-U-N!!!

Something I forget to do a lot! I need to have more FUN in my life! I spend a lot of hours a week working and am tired all the time. I just need to remember to laugh more.

I've been trying to do this more the past month and I do feel better, in general. Just a laugh, at something silly, something out of the ordinary. It's amazing what even a little giggle can do! :D

I've been trying to spend a little more time doing the fun things that I like - scrapbooking, reading, chatting with friends. I have been trying to go out to lunch once a month, to catch up with my hubby or a friend.

So, what do YOU do for fun? :) We all need a little in our lives...



By the way....the Cubs 1st spring training game is tomorrow!!!!!

My sister's wedding

We had a fantastic time! Very neat place!

Congrats to you guys!

Happy Sunday!

Yes, another week is gone... this was was a blur!

My sister got married on Friday. It was wonderful! (I'll have pictures in a day or 2)

Today is DD's "big" b-day party - lord help me! The preschoolers invade this afternoon.

We are heading to the memorial service at NIU tonight so I'm sure I'll be more than ready to crash by bedtime tonight.

Have a great day!

Just a quick one...

She turned the big 4 yesterday! She was so excited when she got up yesterday and that she got to take treats to daycare!

Hawaii, November 2007

I decided after my "downer" post yesterday that I needed a little "pick me up" so I make a slide show of some of my favorite pictures from our trip to Hawaii.

WHY?

NIU officials have confirmed the names of the following students killed in the shooting:
Daniel Parmenter, age 20, last of Westchester, Ill.
Catalina Garcia, age 20, last of Cicero, Ill.
Ryanne Mace, age 19, last of Carpentersville, Ill.
Julianna Gehant (pronounced Ghee-hant), age 32, last of Mendota, Ill.
Gayle Dubowski, age 20, last of Carol Stream, Ill.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!!

Our "sleepy" college town has had our world turned upside down this week. The biggest question for everyone - WHY???

Why did this happen?

Why did innocents have to die?

Why a senseless act of violence?

The tears (mine) have finally come....I finally saw video this morning of the EMTS wheeling the students out on stretchers and it became very real to me. Still pictures have been scary enough but to see it happen was just...

It has been a very surreal couple of days for most of us who live here/go to school here. My heart breaks for the students who were eye witnesses to this horrific act. My heart breaks for the students who were lost and their families and friends. My heart breaks for the shooter's family. I pray for their strength and hope they know they will always be members of our community.

It still seems like a dream to me. I want to wake up and realize it was, but sadly, that will never happen. Sadly, there is much attention on our community for something that is so tragic that I truly can not put into words the pain that is felt here.

This has also been a very difficult time to be a parent. As with any disaster, it is difficult to try to explain these things to our children. It is difficult to struggle to answer "Why?" when we do not know or understand ourselves. It is difficult to send them to school, to let them out of your sight, for fear of the unknown. It is difficult to push your fear aside so that they will not see it in your eyes when you tell them they can not be afraid to go out in the world and carry on with their day.

I commend the emergency personnel from ours and every neighboring community. Their response and help was amazing! Many of them were volunteer firefighters/EMTs from other communities. Thank you! Thank you all!

Our community has come together and banded together to support each other, NIU, the students and their families. There is red and black everywhere you look - flags, ribbons, balloons, signs of support and love. We dropped our DS off at school yesterday - though he was jittery about going - assured him he needed to go on with his day and talk to whomever he needed to and gave him an extra hug. As he got out of the van, I looked out at the kids who were getting off the buses and walking across the parking lot and the sea of red NIU shirts that I saw just overwhelmed me! Those kids stood together as a community to show their support and it touched me deeply.

So, I give you this reminder (as we have been reminded here this week), live each day to the fullest, don't let an opportunity to tell your loved ones that you love them, and give an extra hug -just because.

Thank you all for the prayers and good thoughts.

Give them some love!

Please pray for the families of and the victims of yesterday's shooting at NIU! It is such a tragedy!

My wish

May you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! I hope you feel the love from friends, family and other loved ones, today and everyday!!!!

HUGS!

My Hubby is the BEST!!!!

We were in the middle of it snowing like crazy last night (we got another 2") and I was on my way to work when I noticed my windshield wiper looked funny. Yep! TORN! DAMN!!! So I called him and bless his heart, he went out in the snow and got a new set AND put them on out in the snow.

Not much else is new - it was a Monday yesterday. I have this evening off - YEA!!! I am hoping to finish the layout that's on my scrap table, unfinished. And get on the treadmill again. Oh, and American Idol is on tonight - it's Hollywood week. I finally watched Survivor from last Thursday - this season should be interesting! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO glad that Jonny Fairplay is gone - I couldn't watch him!

Have a great Tuesday!!!!!

Monday blah, blah, blah

Grammy Night, last night. I don't get much out of the actual show. I usually just watch to see who's wearing what and who's with who.

I LOVED Fergie's dress when she performed, very classy! These two (Tim & Faith) looked great, as usual...

Alecia Keys - I LOVED the green! The design was very nice too.

Taylor Swift - loved lovely! Very appropriate for an 18 year old.

And Tina! WOW!!!! If I could have her energy at her age - whew! And yes, I know there is plastic surgery involved, but if I could look 1/2 as good as her, I'd be thrilled!

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A quick digital layout I did yesterday....

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I worked out yesterday! A miracle! I got on the treadmill for 1/2 hour and ran about 1/2 mile. Believe me, that is a miracle!

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And yes, spring training opens on Wednesday!

Have a good Monday!

Sunday stuff

Happy Sunday! I hope your weekend is going well. So far (other than the extreme cold today) - it's been a good one here.

Spring training opens in 3 days for pitchers & catchers - not that I'm counting or anything... :o) I love this time of year, there are baseball movies on galore! Last night I watched Bull Durham and this morning A League of Their Own was on. Fabulous! It's just getting me more in the mood. Oh, and individaul game tickets go on sale next week.

I got pretty scrappy this weekend. I had a crop on Friday night and got tons done. Here are a few of the pages I completed.

I hope the rest of your weekend is good. Thanks for stopping by!

My Celebrity Look Alikes

I know this made the rounds a while ago but I never did it. So here's what I got.

Here's the second photo I used:

Thank you!

Thank you for your good thoughts! My grandpa is doing much better - not quite as bad as originally thought. He should be home tomorrow.



The good thoughts and hugs are greatly appreciated!

TGIF!

Not sure how today will go!

We got some bad family news last night but I don't have many details yet...

I'm cropping tonight, so hopefully sometime this weekend, I'll get some layouts posted.

Happy Friday!

#250

Yes - that's right, this is post #250! :) YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know some of you have been stopping by for a while now (& I hope you keep stopping by) and that some of you are newer to my blog (& I hope you keep stopping by). So, I thought I would do "little facts" about me that you may or may not know.

* I am one of five children. I'm the oldest - that's right the "good one".
* I was on the pom pom/dance team in high school. Once upon a time, I used to be able to kick over my head. Let me tell you, those days are LONG gone!!!!
* My graduating class was 22. I went to high school with a total enrollment of about 130 - we all knew everyone.
* I was a "band geek". I played the clarinet from 5th grade thru my senior year. I also played piano.
* I HATE snakes! The thought of them gives me the heeby jeebies! {full body shiver}
* My first concert was New Kids on the Block. At 15 years old - they were the COOLEST!!!
* I was a single mom. For the first 4 years of DS's life. I NEVER could have done it without my parents!
* I dream of being a writer. I have a book started and someday I hope it will be finished (first of all) and published.
* My favorite colors are royal blue and pink.
* I LOVE baseball! I bleed the Cubbie blue but I truly enjoy the game! By the way, spring training opens in 7 DAYS!!!!!!
* I have 1 year of college credits. All gen eds (someday I will go back) - I had intended to get into broadcasting (hoping for sports casting)
* My favorite candy bar is Snickers. MMMMM!!!!!!!!!
* I grew up on a farm. I can tell you stories... I don't think the "country girl" will ever be out of me!
* I am obessesed with purses! I have many (I don't want to incriminate myself by saying EXACTLY how many) in my closet.
* I can admit I'm a dork!
* I love being a tourist. I used to be shy about taking pictures - not anymore!
* I "heart" Kevin Costner. 1990s Kevin Costner, not present day Kevin Costner. Think Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves....
* I cry at movies. Can't help it...

Now you know a little more about me.
I hope to see lots of visitors here.
Thanks for stopping!

What the...?????!!!!!

So as I'm surfing around the web today - Y! comes up with prom dresses as a big search for today. My curiousity (and my love of things fancy and shiny) got the best of me. I was SHOCKED! These are HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS you are peddling these....

yes, THESE! dresses to. As a mother of a high school aged boy, this concerns me - GREATLY!!!!!!!!!!!! What the hell is going on? Am I old and prudish? No one dressed like this at our prom (yes, I know it was MANY years ago, but...).

I am just, just, shocked, I guess! What happened to the pretty, covering a lot of you but still elegant dresses?????

Oh my god - I AM old!

Sunday!

Because I'm tired of the cold - I am posting a couple of pictures from our Hawaii trip last fall - I can ALMOST feel the tropical breeze....

Not much going on this weekend - everybody's working at our house (except DD). She's hanging out with grandma...lucky girl!

Super Bowl tonight - I just watch for the commercials. BBQ is in the crockpot to go with the chips and dips and brownies for dessert tonight.

YEA! I got my playlist to work! I was worried about my not so saavy computer skills, but it's working.... (Andie - your song made it.)

Not much scrapping done but I have been reading! Thank you to those who made reading suggestions.

January Books

I read 7 books in January and listened to 2 - I have never read that much in a month before - I'm really excited!


Here are some of my favorites from the month:



CHERISH - a scrapbookers dream! I loved this (I'm still looking at it). The layout maps and ideas are phenominal.









HAMMERHEAD RANCH MOTEL by Tim Dorsey - If you like Carl Hiaasen - you have to pick this up. It is GREAT! A humorous look at the Florida "underground world" of crime. It's a quick read too.











AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS by Gennifer Cholderko - I read this for the young adult book club at our library. (Guess who leads that group?) It was a nice story about a boy and his family who move to Alcatrez so his father can work there.


DON'T BET AGAINST ME by Deanna Favre - This woman amazes me! She is incredibly strong and has been through so much in her life. I really admire her and her strength.

What are you reading? I'm always looking for suggestions.

Thanks for stopping by!

HUGS!

February 1

Happy February! I'm not sure how January blew right by me but here we are and this month promises to fly by too....

Well, as of 5:30 this morning - we had 7.2" of snow and it's still coming down. DS has snow day, I'm thinking I might have one too. (Stay tuned!) I hope my friend, Susanne, is happy. :)

If I may brag about my DS for a moment - ok, maybe not BRAG but he made my ego a little bigger - he is teamed with a special ed student in gym for the unit they're working on and he said yesterday that the other "team" was taunting this kid and getting him all worked up so they could win. (Freshmen boys!) So he finally told them that they better knock it off and that his teammate was just as capable of winning as they were. I was VERY proud of him for standing up for this other boy. However, I wish he had something to the gym teacher - not that it probably would have done any good....

I am still looking for music suggestions - any thoughts? What are you listening to?
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Update at 9:10 a.m.: I am home for now. I will probably go to work around lunchtime, since there is a loan closing this afternoon. Everything is ready except the checks. The plows just came through now so I would like to give them a little more time to clean up a little more. The snow is starting to blow around now, though... Such is winter!

Happy Friday all and I hope you have a good weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!