My 2007 goals....

Let's see how I do with these this year...

1. Exercise at least 3 times a week.
2. Write at least 5 pages each week.
3. Cook more!!!!!!!
4. Scrap 100 pages and finish 2 albums.
5. Keep in better touch with my family & friends.

I hope you all have a fantastic new year!
Thank you so much for visiting my blog!

Some scrapping

Yes, I did some scrapping this weekend!






Thank you for looking!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's my Life....

Greetings! I hope this finds you mostly recovered from your holidays....

Our Christmas was very nice! We took the kids to Chi-town last weekend. We saw the Tut exhibit at the Field Museum, did some window shopping on Michigan Ave., and went to Winter Fest at Navy Pier.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. I want to sleep for about a week...

We are looking forward to a quiet New Year's Eve - YEA! The Bears play, so I'm sure that will be on.

I will try to share pictures this weekend.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

I will update more after the holidays, but I wanted to wish all my blogger friends - a VERY Merry Christmas! I hope you and yours have a joyful season.

HUGS~
Jen

Obsessed....

Yes, I think it is safe to say, my DH is OBSESSED with our trip to Hawaii. He still has 11 months until we leave and he is driving me crazy! Where should we stay? Should we island hop? If we do, where should we stay? What luau should we go to? AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so that being said....he booked us at the Embassy Suites in Waikiki for the duration of our trip (10 days). Then, he thought maybe if we stayed a few day on the North Shore that would be nice. I agreed. We found a nice resort up there with things to do and lots of quiet. Then, he decided he wanted to see volcanos - so that would mean going to the Big Island. We would go for a few days, HENCE giving up the quiet of the north resort. (SIGH...) I am to the point where I don't want to fight about it, I don't want to think about it, I don't care. I've told him a hundred times, do what you want and tell me where to be. I just want this trip planned so we can move on with our lives for a while.

THEN, (can you tell I'm not in a good mood today...) he springs "What would you think about going to New York for a long weekend?" Excuse me, what? Where the hell is this coming from? He found a deal on air... (I swear I am going to block all the travel sites on our computer.) He is driving me crazy and apparently thinks he will be winning the lottery some time in the near future....

Work....some of you know of the "issues" I have been having. The other lady who works in the office (I refer to her as "Queen Mum" - not to her face) is apparently, QUITE TERRITORIAL!!!!!!! Granted, she has been there for 9 years. I came in May. BUT, part of my frustration is my boss is not using me for the things he hired me for. So, when I do something I am supposed to be doing and she un-does it, it frustrates me - A LOT! Example, I spent the better part of my 6 months there, revamping their really non-existant filing system. I was out one day last week and she pretty much undid everything I had done. My boss still calls her for financial things and then she doesn't relay them on to me, and I have to figure out where money is "mysteriously" going to and coming from. I tell you...

Ok, sorry, hasn't been a banner last week. I swear I will try to cheer up and have some fun things to post about.

Have a great week! HUGS!

15 days 'til Christmas...

Definatly a snowman theme on the main floor...







I'll have to take pictues of our downstairs tree.

TAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was tagged by Holly's Scraps:
A - Available or single: neither, I'm married :D
B - Best Friend: My DH
C - Cake or Pie: neither - I like Cookies
D - Drink of choice: water
E - Essential Item you use everyday: toothpaste, deodorant, my van
F - Favorite color: Blue
G - Gummy Bears or worms: Bears - stale please
H - Hometown: somewhere in cornfields of Illinois
I - Indulgence: Starbucks
J - January or February: Do I have to pick one? I don't like either...
K - Kids & Names: Ryan & Sara
L - Life is Incomplete Without? love (I'm stealing Holly's answer)
M - Marriage Date: 11/15/97 (in a blizzard)
N - Number of Siblings: 3 younger brothers and a younger sister
O - Oranges or Apples: oranges
P - Phobias or Fears: SNAKES!!!!!!!!!
Q - Fave Quote: Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking. -Scarecrow, Wizard of Oz
R - Reason to Smile: My DH, kids, family and friends
S - Season: Fall
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Cheryl, Elizabeth and Penny
U - Unknown Fact about Me: I eat Cool Whip from the container
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: Beans!
W - Worst Habit: Picking at my fingernails
X - Xrays: I've had a few on my knees
Y - Your Fave Food: Italian food, Snickers bars and cookies
Z - Zodiac Sign: Aries

Ok, ladies I tagged - YOU'RE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know it's Monday when....

...DD is up at 4 a.m. after you stayed up late on Sunday night to watch a movie.
...DS asks if you remembered to get treats for his after school activity and you completely forgot (insert silent curse and slap in the forehead).
...you pick up DD from daycare and she's pale as a ghost and feverish then spend the rest of the evening trying to get her cooled down and to sleep for a while.

Oh, yes, it was a Monday yesterday! So, I am home with DD today, who is sleeping at the moment - whew! She seems to be better.

DH & I have decided not to go to Alaska. We decided we would rather sink that money into our Hawaii trip. So, next November, he & I will be renewing our vows there and having our "second honeymoon". We are looking into hotels and resorts - good grief! You would think an island wouldn't have that many in that small of an area.

We also decided to take the kids to Chicago the weekend before Christmas to see the lights and decorations. Apparently, no one else wants to be a tourist that weekend - we got a steal for a room.

They are taling about more snow coming in tonight - because apparently the almost 14" we got on Friday wasn't enough....ugh! Have I mentioned I hate winter?

Hope you are all having a good week!

Un-scrooged!

I am excited for Christmas! I really am! The house is decorated, I'm playing Christmas music, watching Christmas movies and am actually looking forward to a little shopping. Amazing what getting out of retail can do!

We all had a snow day on Friday. It was crazy! DH cleared the driveway at 3 p.m. then when the plows FINALLY came through - they snowed us in again - THANKS!!!!!!!!!! (insert eye roll here) So, yesterday morning, he was out there trying to get through the ice that USED to be snow. Love winter.... I did, however, make a great homemade chicken soup and bread for dinner. I got MOST of my Christmas cards ready to mail out. However, the mail hasn't been out in 2 days now...

I am hoping to get myself back on track with my work outs this week. Someone give me a kick in the pants - Thanksgiving has caught up with me!

I will add pictures of our decorations soon! Have a wonderful week!

Update

HOLA!!!!!!!!!
We survived Thanksgiving at our house. 31 of my family members (there are SEVERAL more who didn't make it) came on Saturday. There was TONS of food and great company!
Friday, we had Thanksgiving with my in-laws and they dropped a HUGE bomb! We knew they are planning an Alaskan cruise for FIL's retirement in '08 but they asked DS to join them on their driving portion to & from Vancouver and for DH & I and his brother & SIL to join them for the cruise. We were very surprised! DS is going for sure. We are still thinking about it. Now, before you all go getting crazy on me, here's the reasoning for thinking about it: We were planning on Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary next year but if we go to Alaska, Hawaii will not happen. So, DH is going with my MIL on Friday to talk with the travel agent.
We have our Christmas tree up & decorated. Ok, BOTH of the trees are up and decorated. We have most of our shopping done and wrapped. I have some sewing left to do and a couple of small gifts to buy.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

I've Been Tagged

6 weird things about me (from Shootin the Poop - link to the right)

1. I love to travel but hate to fly.
2. I like to eat Cool Whip out of the container.
3. I enjoy getting dressed up once in a while, even if it means wearing pantyhose.
4. I think I am a better on-line friend than an in real life friend, for whatever reason...
5. I enjoy working 2 jobs (most of the time) - I feel like I have too much free time if I'm not working.
6. I can't usually sit and watch TV or a movie for more than an hour.

Tag to: La, Aimee, Holly, Jane and Brianna

Vegas "album"

If you are interested, here's the link to our favorite Vegas photos:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/scrapperjen2003/album/576460762351818784

Images of Vegas

These are just a few of the pictures we took. I am working on getting them into an on-line album and will add a link when I do.

Hello!

Adventures in Las Vegas

Ok, sort of adventures....
I have a little time here at work this afternoon, so I'll see if I can recount our trip.

First, the weather was INCREDIBLE!!!!! 70s and sunny every day and the evenings were 50s and clear. I loved it - I really tried to put it in my suitcase and bring it home....oh well, maybe my wonderful friend Bri will mail me some! :D

We flew out on Friday night and got in late (10 p.m. Las Vegas) on a rough flight that felt like a 5 year old landed it - it was rough. We got our rental car (by the way, NOT a necessity if you are visiting!) and drove to the MGM. We got checked in and went to our room that we paid a small fortune for, opened the shades and, you guessed it - a wall! At that hour, we were too tired to care so we went downstairs to walk around for a while and went to bed about 1:30.

DH got up about 6 the next morning and showered. I had a headache so I decided to sleep for a little longer while he went down to the casino.

A sidenote....if you stay at the MGM and are into contemporary - stay in the West Wing. If you're not - get a standard room!

Ok, sorry, back to my recounting of the tale.... I got up a little after 7 and took a shower and felt better. I got dressed and went downstairs to see if I could find him - ah ha! At the video blackjack machine.... We went to McD's for breakfast and called home to see how the kids were. They were good, not that we expected any different - grandma was there! We went upstairs to get my purse and headed out. We walked down one side of Las Vegas Blvd. all the way to Treasure Island, stopping and at least putting a dollar in each of the casinos, checking out the shops, hotel lobbies, etc., and back to the MGM - so we were gone all day.

We got back and checked to see if our "new" room was ready - yes. So, we went up and packed up and moved up to the 14th floor - same type of room, but with a fabulous view of the Strip. We took a short nap and got ready to go out. We went to see Ka - if you have a chance to see this show - do, it is fantastic! We went to dinner at craftsteak in our hotel - very expensive but very good. We changed and went out for another walk. We walked to Paris and went up in the Eiffel Tower - what an amazing view! I think we finally crawled into bed about 2.

Sunday we got up and drove out to Hoover Dam. THAT is impressive! It is so amazing how big it is! We stopped at the Hard Rock Hotel, Circus Circus and Rio while we had the car out and had lunch at Sonic (a treat since we don't have one around here). We went back to MGM, put the car back, changed rooms again to a standard room and went to Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Hooters and Excalibur. Then, walked down to watch the fountains at Bellagio, and the pirates at Treasure Island. We started to walk back to our hotel but DH decided it was too early to go back. So, we got the bus to Fremont Street. We were pretty disappointed in that, so we weren't there long and headed back, got McDonald's to take to our room, watched Men In Black before we fell asleep.

Another sidenote....if you don't want mind chaos - Circus Circus is fine. I had just relaxed enough at that point with no kids with us that it undid that. Kids were EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! I was very ready to go back to the "grown up" world after about 15 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I love kids but when I hadn't had to worry about them for 36 hours, it was a huge shock!

We got up yesterday and ate doughnuts sitting on the back of the couch, looking out the window at the Strip. I started crying - I couldn't believe it was over and that we were coming home that night. I wanted to stay longer. I was relaxed, I wasn't worried about the kids and how they were doing, where they were, would they behave that day. It was just DH & I - it was SO nice! We've never had that! So, we packed, checked out, did some shopping and gambling. We got gas in the rental, had lunch at Jack in the Box and stopped to take pictures of the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. Then, onto the airport, and home.

We had a smooth flight back but a really rough landing. Then, we waited - I am not kidding - 45 minutes for our luggage. So, we finally rolled into bed at home just after 1 a.m.

Some of my "must dos" to anyone going - the Bellagio fountains, go up in the Eiffel Tower, the fountains at Ceasears Palace, outside New York, New York is a display of t-shirts of all the NY fire department units that they all signed - it is REALLY cool and caused a lump in my throat, the pirate show, Parasol Up, Parasol Down at Wynn, and the Bellagio Conservatory. I'm sure I could come up with a million more things and I KNOW there was lots we didn't see!

Just for reference - there is more to tell but some things just can't be described - they have to be seen to be believed! ; )

Back to reality.....I'll try to get pictures posted in the next couple of days.

HELLO!!!!!!

We're back! It is 9 a.m. - I am at work....

We got home about 1 a.m. so I'm pooped! I have some catch up to do at work and work tonight. I will post our adventures probably later tonight or tomorrow and pictures in a few days.

Bri - I waved! :D

I hope you all had a great weekend and just wanted to let you know we're back in Illinois....(sniff, sniff)

Ok, fellow bloggers....

I am signing off for the weekend.
I hope you all have wonderful weekends.

I will check in later next week.
Have a great weekend!

HUGS~

Tag - you're it!!!!!!

Let's see your answers to the following questions:
Have fun with these!


one. I am ____ CRAZY!
two. ____ knows me best MY HUSBAND
three. I feel ____ STRESSED
four. the most important thing in my life is _____ MY FAMILY
five. I always carry ____ MY CELL PHONE
six. I think ____ I AM READY FOR VACATION
seven. I’m at my happiest when ___ I'M HOME
eight. on a Monday morning, you can find me ___ HUNCHED OVER MY COMPUTER TRYING TO WAKE UP
nine. my favorite food ingredient is ___ SUGAR
ten. my eyes ___ ARE GREEN
eleven. my favorite material possession is ____ MY BOOKS
twelve. to relax, I like to ___ SCRAP OR READ
thirteen. the town I live in is ___ IN THE MIDDLE OF CORNFIELDS
fourteen. my worst habit is ___ PICKING MY FINGERNAILS
fifteen. my guilty pleasure is ___ STARBUCKS
sixteen. when I look at someone, the first thing I see is ___ THEIR FACE
seventeen. I think ___ A LOT OF THINGS....
eighteen. I can live without ___ LIVER AND ONIONS
nineteen. I wish I had ___ ENOUGH MONEY TO GET OUT OF DEBT
twenty. my life is ___ INTERESTING!

Tuesday Tidbits

Greetings! 3 more days until we leave....woo hoo!!!!!! Of course, do you think I'm packed....hahahahaha!!!!!! I work tonight, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Hmmm......I wonder when everything will get done.

So, I went to the resale shop last night and found a pair of jeans - that fit!!!!!!! I tried on almost 20 pairs before I found them. I walked back to the rack feeling pretty depressed and there they were, under the heavenly glow of light. I knew, just knew it. I tried them on and perfect. Now, shorts, no. Apparently, shorts makers feel that everyone is 16 and has stick legs. Excuse me, but if I wanted to wear shorts that short, I would just wear my underwear - thank you!!

I checked my order on line yesterday and they have cancelled it. Whatever! They have lost my business.

Tomorrow is our 9th anniversary. I finished DH's card last night - sssshhhhhh!!!! I can't believe it's been 9 years. I guess a blizzard brings as much good luck as rain. : )

Thank you to all who stop by here - I love seeing you! I'll try to blog one more time before we leave.

TTFN........