to host The Scrapping Garden Blog  I hope some of you will pop over there and say hi...   Hubby had to go in to work for a few hours this morning.  Then he said he is coming home and get the remainder of the mudding and sanding done on our living room/diningroom.  Hopefully we can get it all done soon.  

We went to Menards last night to pick up a new water line that goes from the sink to our icemaker.  A MOUSE had chewed thru our other one and water was spraying everywhere!    I hate mice, and I really hate when they cost me money     We have had poison out since it started getting colder, but now hubby is talking about getting a mousing cat.   Now just HOW do you know if a cat will be a mouser or not?   Our luck will be to get a cat that turns out to be destructive and has no inclination towards catching mice of any kind...   Sometimes it feels like there is no winning....       Back to Menards though....    We got our water line, picked up a new furnace filter...   ($30 for that filter  )    and then went over to find a texturizer sprayer for our walls.   We found it and right there was the display of all the Christmas lights and trees...   I should have ran in the other direction...   but I didnt...   I looked up and saw a beautiful white tree with blue LED lights on it.   I have never been one to like white xmas trees, but this one really was beautiful..  I showed hubby who promptly pointed out one of those white tress already decorated sitting in a display on the floor.  it was absolutely breathtaking...   I imagine I really dont need to go on do I??   I am sure you have figured out by now that we spent over $500 buying a white Xmas tree and a whole new set of beautiful blue ornaments and lights to put on it!   I cant believe we did that...  Talk about impulse spending!   We got home, baby took one look at all the xmas decorations and now all she wants to do is decorate....   Forget Thanksgiving, she wants CHRISTMAS!!     So now I need to make her up a calendar that shows her when Thanksgiving is, then our little trip to see Grandma, and then when it will be Christmas time.  There is nothing more determined than baby when she sets her mind on something   

I have seen houses already with their Christmas lights up and burning.   We will wait til after Thanksgiving when hopefully the living room/dining room will be finished...  So what about you?   Are you ready to start decorating and getting into the Christmas spirit???

Have a wonderful Sunday

today.  So I cancelled my Physical Therapy appt for this morning.  I have 3 more of them set up for next week.  I might get a couple appts in during Thanksgiving week, but hubby and I are taking the girls and going to Ohio to visit hubby's mom.  We'll be gone a few days and get back home Sunday night.  Well, that's it for now...  I am off to relax awhile....

out the door for the first of my 2 appts. today...    I'll check back later when I finally get to kick back    have a wonderful day everyone

physical, and the Marines lost no time in swearing him in.  Its all official now.  Once he graduates he becomes the property of the US Government, (actually according to his recruiter he already is).  I have to admit that a small part of me was hoping that for some reason he would fail the physical and they wouldnt take him.  I know, I am a selfish, scared to death something will happen to him, mama.  So now he needs to finish his senior year of High School and work on his physical conditioning so he will be ready for the 12 weeks of boot camp he will need to go thru.  He already has a military ID thru my hubby but I guess he will be getting his own.  Then he will be expected to go to the gym at the arsenal and work on the exercise machines etc.  His recruiter will walk him thru every step. Ok,  enough of Alex...

Baby is much better...  I thought the "terrible two's" were bad...   Now we have hit the "fantabulously fiesty fours!"   I cant believe how much trouble she has gotten into since she bounced back from being sick!   in just the last few days she has emptied her toys all over the floor, pulled the cargo net down from the wall that holds all her stuffed animals, wrote on the flat screened monitor that she just got passed down to her from daddy with fingernail polish    I am sure there is more it just isnt all coming to mind right now.  She has been going non stop the last few days...   I just want to put her out of MY misery!      I am hoping she clams (that too! )  CALMS back down real soon   Sara is home sick from school today.  She got up this morning with a headache, upset tummy and sore throat.  She seems to be doing much better now.  At least she felt well enough to cook some chicken nuggets for lunch,  and now she is sitting on the couch folding clothes and watching a movie on tv.  We dont have school tomorrow or Friday since it is parent/teacher conferences so we will be getting a 4 day weekend.  I am definitely looking forward to it.

Well,  my ankle is finally doing better.  It is still swollen, but at least my foot doesnt look like a balloon anymore.  My ankle does hurt though, I dont know if it is the metal plate in it or the bones, but I have figured out that the cold really bothers it.  I have managed to hurt my knee on the other leg now. I know..  I am falling apart     Actually I think all the stress I put on it while I was only able to use that one leg and crutches was just too much for it.  It has been bothering me since about the end of August.  I went in and saw my family physician who told me there was nothing she could do for me since I am already taking anti inflamatories for the Rheumatoid.  So she sent me to an Orthopedic Dr and I saw him last Thursday.  My knee has been so bad I havent been able to walk without a lot of hobbling and going up and down steps was almost impossible.   He took some xrays and did an exam, said my knee was doing alot of grinding as the joint moves.  I ended up getting a cortisone shot in my knee joint and he wants me to go BACK to the physical terrorists as my friend Shirlann would say... I have the appointments all set up although I am not crazy about going back, so tomorrow morning (on my day off) I will be at the therapists office at 7:45am.  Then I need to get my yearly schoolbus physical done and out of the way. Maybe then I can relax, at least until Friday morning when I have to go back to therapy.  If the therapy doesnt help out with the pain and discomfort the Dr mentioned surgery.  So it's a wait and see thing.  The cortisone shot has already helped with some of the pain, but I also know that cortisone tends to "mask" the symptoms while the damage continues on...  Like I said,,,  it's a wait and see thing.

Ohhhh  I almost forgot.  Last night my daughter Sara had a show choir performance.  I wish I could have recorded the song she sang.  She sounded so wonderful, and that is not just me saying that as a proud mother.  She sang "Colors of the Wind" from the Pocahontas movie.  When she finished singing the entire auditorium was quiet and then everyone broke out in wild applause!  It was great!  I just wish I could have recorded it....  She has always loved singing.  As a little girl she would sing all the time and even made up and wrote her own songs.  She still does that.  I am seeing a musical career in her future.

I got a phone call yesterday from a sweet friend of mine.  He checks in every so often.  He was calling to check on me and my family and he mentioned he was recovering from major surgery.  He had one of his hips replaced and is finally able to get up a little bit and move around.  He doesnt have a Xanga acct but I wanted to send him all my best wishes and love and ask all of you to keep him in your thoughts for a speedy recovery  We love you Bryan

Alright,  I have 1 hour before I have to go drive the bus.  That gives me enough time to get a load of clothes folded and put away and get a few other things done.  It's Wednesday!     Happy Humpday! 

  An extra hour of sleep for me this morning    I kept thinking this day was never gonna come.  It helps me tremendously now that we get sunshine a little earlier in the morning.  Driving the schoolbus in the mornings the last few weeks has been hard cuz it is so dark when I begin my route that it is hard to see the kids standing at the ends of their driveways.  Now It will be daylight when I am leaving and the only complaint I will have is the sun is shining directly in my eyes and I cant see!  LOL  Sometimes you just cant win!

Little Miss Miranda or "baby" as we still call her has been so sick the last few days       Running a fever, and then she started throwing up.  All she would do is lay on the couch or lay tucked into momma and daddy's bed all day and night.  She is finally better today and asked for some breakfast    The poor little thing, I hate it when she is sick, but boy! it sure is quiet around here when she is!

My youngest son, Alex, turned 18 on friday.  I find myself wishing I had my little boy back.  He was such a sweetheart, (not that he isnt now, just a different kind of sweetheart)  I think I just miss my baby boy...

In a few hours he is driving to the Armed Forces Recruiting Office.  Then he will be taking a 3 hour trip to DesMoines, Iowa for the big military physical.  If he passes all that my little boy will be enlisting in the Marines...   I am proud but yet scared to death.  Sobbing is what I feel like doing about now.  I am happy that he is growing up and doing what he wants to do, but scared to death that something will happen to him.  Like millions of mothers all over the world I try not to think of what I would do if I didnt have my son....     He is still in his Senior year of High School.  He graduates next June.  So I have from now til then to enjoy him still being here.  After that it is anyone's guess as to where he will be.  Of course he has to complete 12 weeks of boot camp.  Then he will go in for his training, what he wants to be is a diesel mechanic.  So he will be doing some kind of mechanicing.  Could be anything from aviation to big tanks and Humvees.  He is pretty excited.   Now if I could just get as excited....

The remodeling is progressing.  We have moved our remodeling back into the house.  We still have a big section of our privacy fence to get up, but at least the entire back fence of our house is up...   That was quite a job.  Alex and my son in law, Ben, got all the individual boards screwed up.  We just need to finishe the sides and front now.

So we are back inside the house.  The living room needs another coat of mud on the seams, then we will be ready to prime and  get the texturing sprayed on and then we will be ready to paint!  The dining room and living room are one big area so we will be doing the entire thing at once.  We also bought some beautiful oak laminate flooring that we will be putting down on the floors in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and down the hallway.  I cant wait til everything is finished

Well,  it is time to get some other things done so I will check back in later    Have a great Sunday everyone

over a month since I last blogged!?!?   MAN!  Time sure flies. I still have a touch of the sinus crud, but am much better.  I have been keeping up with my friend's blogs, (I am thankful for subscriptions)    I just have been too swamped with driving extra schoolbus trips and then when I am not doing that I am out on The Scrapping Garden monitoring the forum and running the store.  That is a full time job all by itself.  I do enjoy it though. 

This past week has been our big Falloween event.  We have lots of games, chat/crops, and lots of freebies and special gifts.  Tonight we have 2 crops..   The Board Book crop is at 8pm Eastern and the Software Tips & Tricks crop is at 10pm Eastern

Ok     I am back...   Hubby got home from work and we made a semi fast run to the store...  

Now, back to the Falloween Event at The Scrapping Garden....   Tomorrow there are 2 crops.  The first one is the ACDSee Photo Editor and Photo Manager crop at 8pm Eastern and then the grand finale...  The Fall-O-Ween Costume Party at 10pm Eastern, there will be lots of prizes...   An mp3 player, digital kits, board books...   So come on out and join us for a really good time.  You need to come a little early and register in our forum, it's very easy and I guarantee you will have a good time   I sure hope to see you

Another thing I want to mention is The Scrapping Garden Blog,  every week a different Designer, Creative team member or Administrative team member is in charge.  We get to learn more about them, their families and what they do at TSG..  My week is 12/16- 12/22,  I hope you will pop in from time to time.  You never know when you will find a freebie out there too

So any of you interested in Digital Scrapbooking should stop by.  It is a very friendly place with lots of helpful advice and just plain fun!  We love making new friends too...

This is something I have been working on for one of our chats this past week.  It is a BragBook (a 4x6 album) made using the Autumn Bursts kit by Lynn Reloza.  Everyone who participates in this challenge to make a bragbook page will receive every bragbook page made for free.  You cant beat free

This is a preview of the kit I used..   Autumn Bursts by Lynn Reloza

On a family note...   Little Miss Miranda turned 4 years old yesterday...   We took her and invited all the kids and grandkids for a pizza party complete with ice cream sundaes for the birthday people.  We have 6 birthdays in October and the first week of November so we celebrated all of them at one time.  It was fun..  They played games, ate pizza, drank pop and then had birthday ice creams complete with candles.  And this year no one caught their pigtails on fire!  Last year my oldest granddaughter Dominique got her pigtail in the candle and caught it on fire.  We put the fire out immediately and she was fine.  I dont think she even knew what had happened

Tomorrow my sister is hosting a halloween party out at her house. It will be a chili and hot dog supper with lots of candly for the kids.  I dont think I will make it since hubby has to work and I have an eye Dr appt anyway.  but the kids will go out with their brothers and sister so they wont miss it.

Since I feel like I have written a book I am going to head out for now.  I am hoping to make the rounds of all my xanga friends real soon    have a great night everyone

My ears hurt, my throat is scratchy and hurts, my head hurts, my sinuses hurt, even my eyes hurt and I am sneezing and coughing          I havent felt like this since last February....    I went thru 3 courses of antibiotics and prescribed decongestants to get rid of it last time...   I am hoping it is "just a cold"  but I dont think so.  It wouldnt be so bad except I am supposed to drive an extra sports trip this coming friday.  Another football game,  and hubby and baby are supposed to ride with me.  I guess I will have to see how I am feeling in a few days...

School was only a half day today so my afternoon route is done.  I am thinking I am going to go laydown for awhile and maybe watch a little tv and rest.  I am sure there is a movie baby wants to lay with me and watch.

Enjoy your tuesday...  the weekend is only 3 days away

experiencing very slow internet???  For the last few days the pages have been just barely crawling.  We have satelite and I know sometimes they have issues, but I havent heard anything lately...  We left Hughes(DirecWay)  about 4 months ago due to their rotten customer service and the fact that no matter what, we were constantly exceeding our bandwidth limit,  and this was with a professional business acct that we were paying $90 a month for.  We went to Wild Blue and have been very happy so far.  We actually pay less money a month and have been getting much better service and faster bandwidth.  Until the last few days.  The owner of the scrapbooking site that I work for says her internet has been slow lately too.  So I have just been wondering if it is slow for everyone or just a select few?

I drove my bus route this morning and then when I was done I had to take the bus up to the bus barn and get one of the big amber lights in the back replaced. The bulb burned out as I was driving my route this morning.  While I was up there I got them to replace my windshield wipers and wash off my bus too.  I have a rear seal leak but they said they would get that fixed the next time the oil is changed on my bus...   So I fueled up and baby and I headed home.

Miranda is watching cartoons and waiting for her cheesy garlic bread to get done in the toaster oven and I am trying to do alittle surfing...  

I lucked out and yesterday turned out to be a very quiet day...  I was even able to catch a 30 wink nap while baby layed on the bed with me and watched her "Labrynth" movie...  

Uhohhh  I hear the toaster oven dinging...  I am off to get baby's garlic bread out for her...  Have a great Monday

Today is going to be spent doing as little as possible....   Maybe I can get a couple of Scrapbooking Layouts done...   Baby is watching a cartoon, Sara is cleaning the bathroom and Alex spent the night at his friend's house, he should be getting home soon. 

I made a batch of crockpot chili the other night...  It simmered in the crockpot about 8 hours, I added beef stew meat and hamburger this time along with tomatoes, spices and some kidney beans.  It came out tasting very good.  Maybe we will have hamburgers out on the grill today and finish up the leftover chili.   Hubby had to work so if he is lucky he will get to take his hour off for lunch but then he has to go back and close the store tonight.  He doesnt get a day off til next Thursday.  Of course now that I am back to driving the school bus his days off never coincide with my days off...   No lounging in the early mornings for us...  One or the other of us always has to get up and get to work.

I drove the extra school trip yesterday morning.  I took the Show Choir and Jazz band to a liitle town not too far from here for a performance in the bandshell in the park.  It was sponsored by one of the small country banks and they even provided a sack lunch free to anyone who came to the park.  So for lunch I had my choice of a brat or a hotdog, chips, a cookie and either iced tea or lemonade.  It was really nice.  I sat on a park bench, ate my lunch and watched my daughter perform with the show choir.  They all did an outstanding job singing pieces from Beauty and the Beast.  Since it is a show choir there was also some dancing and acting as well.  The Jazz band was very good too.  So I spent an enjoyable hour in the park having lunch and listening to the performance and got paid for the entire 3 hours I was away for the trip.  After our kids performed we left to get them back to the school so I didnt see the other school perform but I am sure they were just as good.  It was a very nice way to spend a cool fall morning...  (no pictures though    I forgot my camera)  I know....   bad me

After we got back home it was off to town to get some groceries and Alex needed some new jeans and baby needed some new pants.  She actually needed some long sleeved shirts too, but I didnt see any of them out yet.  I picked up the Labyrinth movie with David Bowie.  Baby likes watching movies like that and remember how much I liked it when I was younger...   A little dark maybe, but I am sure she will enjoy the Jim Henderson puppets in it.    We managed to just beat hubby home from work...   He came home, changed his clothes and came into the computer room with his shoes...  He looked at me and said "I am gonna go run the streets awhile,  wanna come?"   Now how could I turn that invitation down?       I got my sandals on, ran the comb thru my hair and we left...   We didnt take the bike since I thought it was pretty cool and I knew it would be cold once the sun set...  (I was right)  We decided to stop for dinner....  Bad idea on a Saturday night around 6:30pm...   Every place we stopped was packed...   We also found out two of the places we always enjoyed going had closed their doors!   One was a steak place and the other a humburger joint.  No explanation on the hamburger joints doors other than an "I am sorry, we are closed, permanently"   Talk about a surprise!    We finally stopped at a place called ThunderBay Grill..   We had to wait about 30 minutes to be seated.  The ambience was nice, dimmed lights and a small light on our table...   We had an appetizer of tangled onions, (little skimpy onion rings) but they came out in a huge skillet.  No way we could eat them all so a bunch of them came home with us.  A couple of good Ribeye steaks, baked potatoes and salad and we were stuffed...   We rolled out to the car and drove home     A quick shower and jammies and we were down for the night     Maybe not everyones idea of "running the streets"  but it worked for us    We hadnt had a night out alone in quite awhile so it was real nice...

So that brings us back to today....  My daughter that was married in August left early this morning for her honeymoon in Jamaica...  That had been postponed due to the nasty storm that went thru in late August...  I hope she takes lots of pics and has a wonderful time 

I am going to head out, but before I do here is a picture of my baby wearing her new princess jammies....   

 She loves the little green and pink crowns all over the capri jammy bottoms....   Enjoy your Sunday everyone

There hasn't been much new happening in the last week.  I did forget to mention that my daughter in laws' mother passed away last thursday.  It was quite unexpected.  Her mother  suffered from asthma that she had been on medication for. She also ended up with a case of pneumonia which put her into intensive care in the big hospital in Iowa City.  This has happened a few times in the past so no one was overly surprised or worried about it this time.  She seemed to be getting better and my son told me on Labor day that she was being moved out of the IC unit.  My son called me a 3 days later to tell me she had unexpectedly passed away.  She needed emergency surgery to get a blood clot that was in her leg removed and also she was found blue in her room.  Shortly after that she died.   The visitation was Sunday night and the funeral was Monday morning.  She left behind my daughter in law, her husband, her son, who is a Senior in High School this yr,  and a 10 yr old daughter...   This poor woman was a year younger than I am...  Things like that really make me stop and think how lucky I am to be in semi good health and to be able to enjoy my husband and children and my grandchildren too.  Things can happen so unexpectedly...   My daughter in law seemed pretty together at the visitation, but I know from experience that the worst of it isn't the visitation, or the funeral.  The worst is every day after when you want to call your mom and tell her something and you cant.  And now she has to worry about her younger brother and her little sister too.  I have no idea what will end up happening, maybe you could say a little prayer for all of them.

On a less solemn note....  TGIF!!!    I have to drive my afternoon route and then it is weekend time   I do have an extra trip I told them I would drive tomorrow which should last about 4 hours.  I am driving the Show Choir, (which my dd is a part of) to one of the neighboring towns for an outdoor performance in the park.  The jazz band is also going so it should be a nice performance.  I will take baby with, so she and I can watch the performance and I can get paid for it    That's the nice thing about driving extra trips...   A lot of times I also get to enjoy the trip and not just drive.

The other bus driver is still arriving just barely late every day.  She is still trying to make her point.  The point is her route is too long and she wants some of those kids put back on to my route.  The DOT hasn't come down to ride with her yet so everything is still in limbo.  A few of the other drivers are getting a little tired of the late driver too and have complained.  One of them is even keeping track of her time in getting to the school.  We are hoping they will change the bus line up around and put the perpetually late driver in the back...    I'll let you know how it all turns out.

The weather has definitely cooled off.  We went from having the AC on to firing up the furnace for a few minutes early this morning.  The weatherman is talking about chances of frost overnight when the temps dip down into the 30's.  That may make tomorrows' Show Choir performance a little chilly..   I love fall but am not ready for any real cold days yet...   I am still hoping hubby and I can take our all day motorcycle ride up north to look at all the leaves changing colors...   I don't mind wearing a sweatshirt to ride, but I don't want to have to wear a coat and gloves   That's about it for news...  I am going to leave you with a couple LO's I was able to do this past week....

 My handsome son, Alex, as a young child, and as the Best man at his sisters' wedding a month ago...   He is a senior in high school this year...

Pretty little Miranda, AKA baby    snoozing in our bed early one morning...

Me    taken when I was about 3 yrs old...   I love that happy smile

Here's hoping each one of you have a happy, smiley Friday