Happy Birthday Stephanie

Today is my friend Steph's birthday! I swear she looks like she is in her mid twenties but she claims she is older. Laura and I are going in on a gift for her from each other. She will pick up the actual gift part and I will pick up the flower arrangement. We have been yapping all week about what to get her. I know she wont check my blog today because she has all sorts of birthday plans today so she will be too busy. Then Cory, me, Laura, John, Dane and Stephanie are all going out to dinner tonight to celebrate her birthday. Going to Angelo's in Erie. A really good steak place. Then after dinner we are going to the yacht club to hang out. Really excited about celebrating Stephanie's birthday with her. Thank you Stephanie for letting us be a part of your wonderful day!! We love you!!

Foy

I was invited to lunch a couple of weeks ago to see Foy. He used to work where I work. He sat right next to the door so as you came in he was the first person you saw. He always smiled and said hi to every single person that came in and would take time to talk with you anytime. There is no one that Foy doesn't like. I came in one day and I noticed he brought in a big bowl of peanut brittle his wife made for everyone at work. I mentioned that I loved the bowl and wondered if he knew where they got it from. Let me know his wife got it and he would ask her. Was excited and told him that it would be perfect for my cookie day that was coming up and I would like to go find one. Came in the next day to say his wife didn't remember where she got it but said to please borrow it for my cookie day. I was so touched. I did and it worked out beautifully. Brought it back and let him know that everyone at cookie day loved it and thank you! Unfortunately Foy has a brain tumor. He has been battling it for years and every time has beat it. He always has the best attitude and that is what I believe has made him victorious each time he has beat this. He has faith. So much faith that he will beat it and everything will be fine. Foy has always held a special place in my heart. I admire him. He is one of those people you see and say he is a good person inside and out. I was going through a really tough time at work with some employee issues and he was so nice to me. I never forgot that. Well... we all met at the Pizza Hut near work to have lunch and his wife and him showed up and they gave me the bowl I like and borrowed a year previously. I was touched yet again. It was one of the best gifts I ever received. I will treasure it always. Had such a fun time at lunch visiting with them. Its not hard to see that his wife and him are still so much in love. I cant wait till he comes back into town so I can visit with them again.

The picture is with all of us at Pizza Hut and Foy and his wife are in the center.

movie night

I didn't do much over the weekend. I had a lot of small stuff to pick up. I always wait till I am out of practically everything and then go pick it up. I needed makeup so bad so I went out in our snowstorm and went to three different places to get all the stuff I needed. I also stopped by the video store and picked up The Women and The Changeling as I knew later that night I was going over to Laura's house to watch a movie. Her husband was going out with the guys to play poker so it would be a perfect night to watch a movie together. We watched the Women. It was definitely a chick flick at its finest. I don't think there was one guy they showed in that whole movie. We both liked it. We only watched one movie as it was late and Laura had to get up early to go to work the next morning. I watched the Changeling the next night with Cory and it was really good. I just cant believe it was based on facts. I googled it right after it was over and read about it. Just terrible. Didn't do much else over the weekend except clean and do laundry and do our taxes and Kaitlin's taxes. I am glad I got that much accomplished at least.

Jake

I was exactly one year ago today that I put my dog Jake down. Jake was around 11-12 years old. He had a cancerous tumor and eventually had to be put down when he started to be in pain. I had Jake since he was a puppy. I fell in love with him from the first moment I saw him running over a hill coming towards me. I knew instantly he was the dog for me. I never knew a dog could give you such joy and unconditional love. He was my best friend and I miss him. Not one day goes bye that I don't think about him at least once a day. I have a million funny stories about him but as I sit here and type this I get choked up and start to cry. I know that it will get easier as time goes bye but as of right now.......... I still remember the day he died as if it was yesterday. It was one of the worst days of my life.

Goodbye Jake. I miss you.

Candy Hearts

I have a strange addiction to candy hearts. I look forward to Valentine's day every year only for the fact that candy hearts are going to be coming out soon. I patiently wait for them every year to start appearing on the shelves. Mind you I only get Brach's. I like the big conversation hearts but if they don't have any I get the small conversation hearts. I ate so many candy hearts 2 years ago that I got a bunch of canker sores in my mouth. I will usually go to Meijers after Valentines day and buy a huge bulk bag of them since they are being clearance'd out and put them in smaller bags and hide them around my house. That way I can enjoy them the rest of the year....but they never last that long. I have them gone in about a month then in April I am craving them so bad that I am on Brach's web site trying to buy a 5 pound box of them ! Luckily I have the sense not do order them.......or my husband told me he would kill me if I did. I have been eating bags of them again this year. I had a great idea to buy only a bag at a time so that way I can control how many I am eating. Well that did not turn out as well as I had hoped. I would just end up going to the store every day to buy another bag. I cant help it. I don't know what Brach's does to make them so good and highly addictive. Someone asked me what if Brach's stop's making them or goes out of business......... I did not like that question! I cant even listen to crazy talk like that. But thank you Brach's for making such a delicious candy heart! (please don't stop making them)

Julie and David's wedding

We ended up going to the reception only. Got there right when the bride and groom showed up. Julie looked Gorgeous! She was beaming head to toe. I have never seen her so happy. They both were meant to be. The food was good and the cake was beautiful. We stayed till late talking and dancing. The picture is David and Julie at the reception.

Happy Valentines Day

It was another Valentines day and I must say it was the first time I was actually surprised on it. I always make a big deal about Valentines day. Always make a point of reminding Cory about it and to see what he is going to do about getting me something for it. Usually I have to twist his arm a bit as he thinks it is a hallmark holiday. This year was different I never mentioned it at all. I don't know if it was because of I was really busy at work or being preoccupied with my dad or just having Julie's wedding on that day.....I just never brought it up. And trust me, you can ask my husband. I start yapping about Valentines day the second it turns Feb 1st. So I always know if Cory is sending me flowers as I have all ready talked to him about it and made sure he ordered them. Well I must say he surprised me this year. I walked into work yesterday a little early as I had stuff to do and the receptionist yelled out my name and handed them to me. She was on the phone so she could not say anything but she regularly catches me at the door to send something that came in the mail for me to bring down to the office to give to whoever it was meant for. I walked in office and Betty said hey you got flowers? I said no I don't know who the lucky lady was I just picked them up. So we started looking all over the box to see who they were for and they were for me. I was shocked! I never expected them. Especially since I wasn't over my husbands shoulder over seeing their purchase. It was so unexpected and I was touched that he got them for me. I immediately called him and thanked him. oh and I want to mention that there was a small box of Godiva chocolates in there too. I had a long day at work and stayed an hour over as I had stuff to do. I got home and my husband gave me a Kay Jewelers bag. I again was surprised. He had gotten me the Jane Seymour open heart necklace. It was so beautiful. I have to say I am so lucky to have such a nice, loving husband. I am very blessed.

The big day

Today is Julie's wedding. I am going to the mall this morning to buy a dress for it. I know...I know I am cutting it close but I have been so busy with work I have not had time. I also don't have any dresses that fit me now as I have lost around 30 pounds. So my husband and I are going to go find one for me. This could go either way for me. My husband know this but is still willing to go with me to help. Lets hope it goes well. We are going to the Toledo mall to JC Pennys first to their wide selection of dresses they have there. Hoping to find something quickly so we can come back here and I can leisurely get ready. Wedding is at 3 and reception is at 5. I am charging my camera battery as I blog so I can take lots of pictures. Will post one hopefully tomorrow.

Changes

I had a little laugh the other day that I thought I would share with everyone. As you get older your taste buds change. I remember being a kid and not liking any kind of food out of the ordinary. I always ate the same things. I always remember very vividly of a time that I was at my grandma Hermann's and it was breakfast time as my grandma, mom and aunts were all eating this weird toast that smelled. Grandma asked me if I wanted some and I scrunched up my face and said ewww no way. I asked what it was and was told it was Cinnamon raisin bread and it was very good. All the adults were enjoying it and I thought to myself that that sounded so gross and I would never eat that. I didn't think about that till some time ago when I was at a friends house and I smelled that same smell and saw she was make the same bread I smelled many years ago at my grandma's. She made some for me as she thought I was crazy never to have tried this wonderful creation of Cinnamon and raisins and bread. I tried and it loved it!! Loved it. I could not believe it. I felt cheating out of the many years that I went without it. I started thinking to my self that yes I still eat the same things but I have tried more things as I get older and find I like them. It is a whole new world out there with all this new food. I never liked soup until a few years ago and now I cant imagine life without it. I find it odd that your taste buds change the older you get but finding all sorts of stuff that I like now. I guess when you are young you are not as open to change. I also remember thinking that I would never die or get hurt I was indestructible. Now as I get older I do worry about everything...getting in an accident or getting really sick. I guess the older you get the wiser you get.

Sleep

Well for those of you who were wondering.... I have not embraced the whole menopause situation that I found myself in. I find it a hard pill to swallow. Now that I have been stricken with this horrific thing I have , I have been wondering if maybe my sleep has been affected by it too. I noticed a couple of months ago that I started to have insomnia. It would be hard to fall asleep sometimes or if I did right away I would be wake up around 4 or 5 in the morning and not be able to go back to bed. Or not be able to go to sleep at all. So as I was waking up this morning at 5 it hit me that this is all caused by this "menopause" situation. I will be asking my doctor about that as soon as I can. I do not like to take sleeping pills at all...either prescribed or over the counter. So I sit up.....blogging. I must admit that I am really starting to enjoy the early mornings. It is so peaceful and quiet. It has become one of my favorite times to be awake now. Its a whole different world at this time in the morning. I now sit wondering what else I will be going thru do to "menopause". I am not happy about this at all, but I am trying to accept it. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Work shower

Julie's wedding is tomorrow! We had a work shower for her and David last week. Shirley, Karla and I decorated the whole place the night before. We made a whole bunch of copies of a picture of the two of them and put them everywhere. We were laughing so hard. It was so cute when we were all done. They were so surprise when they came in the next day. The pictures are of them sitting in their decorated cubes. Tomorrow is the big day!!

Going home

Cory and I got up early yesterday morning and made the long journey to Chelsea to visit with my dad. He was very happy to have some company. He asked me a lot of questions about the iPhone again. I am very happy that he has it as it is preoccupying a lot of his time. We found out he gets to come home today. He was very excited. My mom goes to pick him up today at 4pm. He already has requested to stop at a fast food place for something to eat on the way home. They want him to have something called lifeline and he will have to have a in home therapist come to give him speech, physical and occupational therapy. He will do so much better being at home with his dogs and in his own bed. That is the best therapy I think. He was so excited about leaving that is all he talked about. If he had his way he would be in the parking lot waiting for my mom to pick him up.

My youth is gone!

I have been waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat for the last week. All throughout the day I would get hot and break out in a sweat and then it would go away. I went to the doctor on Tuesday so I can get some antibiotics to get over this cold thing I have. They did some blood tests (of course..they always want blood from me). That was that. I was on my merry way. I get a call the next morning only a hour after I get up and it was my doctors office. She tells me they got my blood test back and it shows I am in menopause......... I sat there listening and thought to myself "I think she called the wrong patient". I asked her to repeat herself. Unfortunately she said the same thing as the first time. I was shocked. She was babbling in the back round about coming in to pick up some medication to help with "hot flashes" yes.... they have a name for this too....hot flashes. My head was spinning. My youth was stolen and I am not getting it back. So I got up and drove over to the doctors office to see what all this medication was all about and I asked her how long is this going to last? A week? Two weeks? She said it could last up to 5 to 10 years. WHAT! I was mortified. I cant do that. I hate to sweat, much less doing it for 5 to 10. Sounds like a prison sentence doesn't it. I went to work all upset about this and decided I would tell Bonnie about this horrible thing that struck me. All she said was welcome to the club. Ugh. I don't want to be in this club. I feel like I don't know who I am any more. I am just the menopausal lady now. I feel like I have a sign on me..better yet a neon sign saying menopausal lady alert. This cant be good. What else is going to happen to me besides these horrible hot flashes? Is this it? Somehow I doubt it. I have to do some research on this medication she wants me to take. Its some mist that has estrogen in it. I would like to know what men have to go thru? Us women have to go thru so much and it looks like men have it easy. I'm just saying. See I am already sounding like a old bitter menopausal lady. I will have to have some time to wrap my head around this. Will revisit this topic at a later date.

Talking books

I have heard about these talking books but I thought it was only a myth a...no way could it be true. Well low and behold I was talking with Betty at work and I asked her what the cd was with a weird title on it. She told me it was a book she was listening to on the way to and from work. I was shocked. I was mesmerized as she was telling me how this worked. I walked away thinking I got to go and get one of these talking books. I love to read...I cant imagine someone telling me a story in the car. No more squinting my eyes to read and finally breaking down to find my reading glasses. So my goal is to get one of these talking books by next weekend. I will let you know how it goes. Has anyone listened to one of the "talking books"?

Dilemma

I wanted to relax so I grabbed my favorite down comforter off my bed and got a pop and some munchies and settled in my over sized lazy boy chair. Mind you I put my heated electric blanket on me then my comforter over that. Then put the foot rest up and leaned all the way back. Had my pop on the one side of me and my munchies on the other side of me. Settled in to watch my favorite shows. I was so comfortable! I was there for about an hour when something came on that I didn't care for and wanted to change it. Low and behold I found I didn't have the remote nor could I see it anywhere. I thought to my self.....oh no how am I going to change the channel without the remote?? I must have sat there for 15 mins wondering what was I going to do...... then it hit me....I could actually get up and turn it manually. WOW what a concept. Am I so dependent by my electronic devices that I cant figure out what to do without them? I remember when you had no remote and had to get up to turn the channel all the time. But here I am in a lazy boy thinking I will always have my tv on lifetime for the rest of my tv's life since I cant find the remote to it. I actually started to laugh. Remotes are supposed to be a convenience not a necessity!! So what did I do you ask??? I got up and looked for the remote until I found it and changed the channel!

8 things about me

Its just for fun

8 TV Shows I Watch:
1) The Closer
2) Desperate Housewives
3) The Office
4) CSI
5) Psych
6) House
7) Army Wives
8) My Boys
~~~
8 Favorite Restaurants:
1) Outback Steakhouse
2) Olive Garden
3) Smokey Bones
4) Fazoli's
5) Yen King
6) Spaghetti Warehouse
7) Lonestar Steakhouse
8) Finley's
~~~
8 Things that Happened to Me Today:
1) I went to Chelsea to visit my dad.
2) Talked to my brother
3) I spent quite awhile on the computer cleaning out files, documents, etc. and worked on catching up with my blog reading and writing.
4) Made dinner
5) Laundry
6) Cleaned the house
7) Cut Cory's hair
8) Played with Farley.
~~~
8 Things I Look Forward To:
1) Our cruise to Cozumel and Key West
2) Our trip to Las Vegas
3) Going to Florida to visit Kaitlin
4) Spring
5) Summer
6) Going to Julie and David's wedding this weekend
7) My birthday
8) My dad getting out of the hospital.
~~~
8 Things I Wish For:
1) good health for myself and my family
2) Farley to love me as much as he loves Cory.
3) I never had to work again.
4) My daughter to get a college education
5) Grand children
6) A new house
7) To have Jake back
8) Have a best friend to hang out with all the time.
~~~

Visiting Dad

Got up this morning and went to go visit my dad. Met my mom there and waited for him to get done with therapy. He looked good. Very bored being there he said. Of course he wants to come home. (who likes being in the hospital?). He was happy to get the iPhone. I gave him a rundown of how it works and then went on to setting up the itunes download to set his account up to download applications. It took forever to download it! They must have dial up there. But got him all set and he was excited about playing around with it. Soooo when I left him he was checking out the itunes and playing with the phone. I started worrying that he might have trouble answering the phone or making calls....but alas he called me as I was on the way home. Said Jason called him. So he knows how to answer it and call out....I feel better now. I am glad he liked it. My mom had a great idea having me get that phone. It was the first thing I had seen him excited about since being admitted to the hospital. It should keep him preoccupied for a little bit. Hopefully he will come home this Friday. (I have my fingers crossed)

Iphone for dad

Well we decided to get my dad a iPhone. He loved Kaitlin's when he played around with it at Christmas's time. Mom decided to get him one for his birthday and it made more sense to add another line to our plan. We've been so busy that we have not had time to go and actually pick it up. I got up this morning and looked outside and what do I see?? Hardly any snow and a lot of water. I poked my head out of the door and it felt so warm (compared to -14 this week) So I made the long journey (about 5 mins) to the mall. Well....so did everyone else. Everyone else must have poked there head out the door too. The mall was packed. Luckily the At&t store was empty. Purchased the phone and was making a bee line out of the mall and what do I see out of the corner of my eye......... A big sale at Elder Beerman. I looked at the door that would take me out of the madness then at the door of Elder Beerman and anyone that knows me knows the answer to that. When I got home I got the iPhone out and programmed some phone numbers that dad will need and will bring it up to him tomorrow. UPDATE: The doctor told my mom that he will need to stay in the rehabilitation center another week.

Update on my dad

On Monday they got him approved to go into rehab. Monday afternoon they transferred him to Chelsea Acute Rehabilitation Center. He is settled in there and we don't know how long he will have to stay there. Taking it one day at a time. They are very optimistic. Will keep you updated.

Superbowl

Had a great time at our Superbowl party. My husband and his brother are huge Steeler fans. So it was up and down for them throughout the night. They were very happy that they won. Then watched the office right after. The picture above is of the out fit my husband begged me to wear at the party. It's his shirt. And to top things off he wanted me to do the touchdown pose and take a picture of me doing it. He asked if I was going to put it on my blog a few times so I am thinking that he really wants me to post it. So there it is.

Bye the way...the popcorn popper was a huge hit!

Ikea idea

I saw this bookcase at Ikea and fell in love with it. It looks so nice and rich, but it only cost 79.99. So I got it. I needed something that went under the TV so you couldn't see the cords in the back. Mind you it didn't have a back on it when I got it, nor legs. So I bought it and stopped at Crafts 2000 and bought this black display board and cut it to cover the back of it. Then got 2 sided tape and put it on the back of it. Then I went to Lowe's and bought these round wood blocks and stained them to match the bookcase. There were only 7.oo a piece. They come with screws in it but I took them out. I have the bookcase just setting on them. I may want to use the bookcase some other way and I didn't want holes in it. So there it is. My idea. I was so please how it came out. I am not a crafty person by any means. I think the older I am getting the more my crafty gene is starting to work. So here is my finished project and I love it...except for the cubby hole my dog farley has designated for his toys.

Raggedy Ann

I found this Raggedy Ann last night for only 7.00 at TJMaxx. I couldn't resist her. I don't know why but I love Raggedy Ann or anything that looks like her. The little bear attached to her hand is detachable. I will be putting her in the guest room on one of the black shelves.

Good deal

I bought this long glass vase a long time ago on clearance at TJMaxx. I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. Went to TJMaxx last night and found these white/silver sticks for 2.00 and these small pine cones for .70 cents. I came home and made this. Still deciding if I should put more pine cones in it or leave it as is. But I must say it was a good deal and now I can use the vase.

Dad

We are waiting to find out if and when they will transfer my dad to another hospital for acute rehabilitation. We are hoping we will find out tomorrow. I feel so stressed but I know this has to be even worse for my dad. He doesn't want to be in there and I am sure he is upset as well. I cant help but think that me being stressed is nothing compared to what he is feeling.