Personality Quiz

Take the animal personality quiz for yourself - post what you came up as. http://www.new-life.net/persnty1.htm

I am in OKC visiting Matt, Krista & other friends & family. I will posting a picture journal of the weekend when I return.

But for now I will tell you about my OCD object of the day. I got a new digital camera that I have been waiting for for weeks. I was so excited to get it, got it today, and could not WAIT to use it! So I get to OKC & am ready for action, when I realize that I left the battery for it at home :( I was so disturbed by this that I thought about it all during dinner & then I made Matt take me to Wal Mart to look for a battery, to no avail. So we are off to Best Buy in the AM. I'm still obsessing about it!

Super Woman

My mom… can you see the resemblance? Well including the appearance thing, my mom and I have little in common when it comes to outside interests. However, one of the main interests that we do have in common is our fetish for gadgets & most of the time the SAME EXACT gadget. Another thing that we do have in common is our personalities (a big one to have in common, I guess). It’s weird because to me the personalities would be less likely a candidate for similarities due to our lack of genetic connection. But I have come to realize that our personalities seem to be more similar than I ever thought.

So what’s that got to do with her being Super Woman, nothing – just ramblings about my mom & I. But what does make her Super Woman in my eyes is her extreme sense of loyalty, strength and frankness. She has been through a lot these past couple of months, mostly due to me & starting with me. Actually I guess if starting with me and because of me were the factors then she has been through a lot this past decade. But, back to the issue at hand, not only has she had to deal with me & my personal problems, but with health issues around my step dad, major health issues of my grandfather & supporting my grandmother through all of this & helping them with some life changes. Now, has she done all of this without falling apart a time or two? HEELLLLLOOOOO, could you? After all she is human, a woman and remember DRAMATIC?? But she has not given up & she has pulled her self together to keep pressing on to be there for those that need her. Like today, when she already has a full plate, but her daughter was falling apart & needed her to drop everything to come give me a hug & she did.

Obviously, the strength & comfort that she has been to me during my “issues” has affected me (and others that have witnessed it) in a way that I will never forget & hope that someday I could be ½ as supportive to my kids as she has been to me. Now, trust me she has called me out on issues & we definitely don’t always see things eye to eye. But she loves me like no one else in this world loves me. And she has proved it. She has listened to me gripe, whine, complain, rejoice, contemplate & ramble more than anyone else & trust me that takes a lot of time & effort because I can do those things to excess. She has supported me, uplifted me and grounded me during all of this & I LOVE HER for all of that and more. Words cannot express how appreciative that I am for all that she has done for me in the past couple of months.

MOM – YOU ROCK!

It's over!

This is the new Firefly phone. I got this for Cody for Christmas – kind of. It’s a pretty cool phone. I like because as the sales person informed me, it keeps ME in CONTROL. Not that I have control issues, but I must admit that I like control. ANYWAY, this phone only allows Cody to make and/or receive calls from numbers that I have programmed in. And I have only programmed in numbers that are Cingular numbers since I have free mobile to mobile on my plan so those are free calls for him/me.

Besides the boys getting TONS of stuff, we had really good Christmas times. We had lots of family here. We played games, I took the boys to see Chronicles of Narnia, I went and saw The Family Stone with the cousins, I ate WAY too much food & anyone there can attest to that, and we celebrated Grandpa’s 80th birthday the day after Christmas.

I’m ready for a couple of days “off” from the holidays before New Year’s. Was Santa good to you this year?

Merry Christmas!

This was a great christmas present. Grandpa FINALLY came home. We brought him home Saturday December 24. He will still need in home care, dialysis, in home therapy & lots of rest but we are just glad to have him home & he is happy to be home!

This picture was taken literally minutes after he came home.

$$$$$

“The LOVE of money is the root of all evil”. Boy isn’t that the truth. Have you ever messed with anyone and their money? I think a lot of people put more value on money than they want to admit. I would say that some people “love” money without consciously seeing it that way.

I have never been cussed out more in my life than when it comes to people and their money. Being the branch manager at a bank, I met all kinds of irrational people. If they believe that you have “messed with” their money or “ripped them off” they turn all kinds of ugly. Many times did I get cussed out & called the beloved “b” word. There is no reasoning or talking to people in that frame of mind. I would have to calmly tell them that I was going to hang up on them or ask them to leave before I called the police. That was at work, in my personal life when money becomes an issue for irrational thinking, I’m not as nice. Some people’s true colors emerge when money or lack of money becomes an issue. I have little tolerance for that behavior. Especially when they think it is everybody else’s problem that they don’t have any money and/or they want to take it out on everybody else. I just try not to put that much emphasis on money, you can lose it just as quickly as to found it.

I will admit that it is highly valued & needed, but is it really? Of course it is, we live in a money bartering system. I have definitely enjoyed many things that money has brought into my life, but I don’t get that attached to it & I realize that life goes on without it. But to what degree & importance should money play in our lives? Only the individual can look inward to see what roll they want money to play in their lives and or what sacrifices they are willing to make for the sake of money.

I know that this time of year, people look inward and try to reflect and be thankful for the blessings that they have. Many people are even more generous this time of year than any other time. They realize and DO something about the fact that others are less fortunate. But how much do we do? Our Sunday school class has adopted a family for Christmas. We were asked to donate. I did. I told myself that I was going to donate a good chunk & “sacrifice” for someone else. I was going to deny myself a pair of shoes. But within 2 weeks, I bought my shoes. So, was it really a sacrifice and what kind of sacrifice is denying myself yet ANOTHER pair of shoes? Could I have donated more? How much would I truly sacrifice for someone else? Or did God bless me with the shoe sale & extra money because I did make somewhat of a sacrifice?

One of those days

Have you ever had "one of those days"? One of those days when you just don't feel like yourself? I'm having one of those days today. I'm not always the most energetic person around, but I tend to have a bit of energy and I am usually very motivated to get things done. I'm also very anal about being prompt & organized. Well, not only am I not motivated to do anything today, I have no energy at all. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have not gotten hardly any sleep for the last 3 night. Who needs sleep anyway? Ummmmm, me. My parents used to say that I turned into a pumpkin at 8:00. That's not been the case lately.

Maybe this started yesterday morning. I woke up late (which happens only a couple of times a year, if that) - the boys weren't up yet either, so I let them sleep in & took Cody to school 30 minutes late. BAD mommy!

Then today both of the boys had Christmas parties. I managed to get Cody to school on time today & make it to my 8:30 apt on time. But I felt like I was running the whole time. Then I needed to be back at Cody's school at 11:30 for his party. I was late, then I was late taking Brayden to school. I hate being late.

Plus, I have thought about things today that I haven't thought about in a long time. Some good things, some bad. I'm just wondering where this is coming from & where my brain is today. Externally nothing bad has happened. But I keep expecting something bad to happen. That would be the topper to my day! I guess I would be less impacted by it today than any other day because I am expecting it...

S.O.S

Save Our Ship? Save Our Sanity? Probably, but no, Sleep Over & Shop. That’s what I did this weekend. Due to circumstances, my grandmother, my mom & I all found ourselves alone on Friday night. So we had a sleep over at grandma’s house. Then I decided to stay over on Saturday night, too. We kept each other company for another night.

I spent a majority of Friday, Saturday & Sunday shopping. Talk about marathon shopping. The sad part, I bought no Christmas presents until Sunday. I spent WAY TOO much money on myself this weekend. Then Sunday, I did 5 hours of fighting traffic & stressing out looking for the “perfect” gifts. Luckily, I already had most of my gifts already bought. I only needed to buy for a couple of people. Two of which were my boys. I had a hard time finding EXACTLY what I wanted for them. But I finally had success & got all of it done. What a sense of accomplishment for the weekend!

Are you ready for Christmas?

Stuff

This semester I took two classes for school. I took information systems & speech. What an easy load. It's like feast or famine. One semester I took Econ & Acct 2 in one semester. I thought I was going to gouge my eyes out that semester. But this semester was a super easy load for me. God must have known that there was going to be too much going on in my life for me to take a hard load. I was doing beautifully until all these hospital visits became necessary. I have yet to see how I faired in Information Systems, let's just say that it was a good thing that I had an A in there before this past month. I'm pretty certain that I will pass. But the GREAT news of the day was my grade for speech. I made an A. Now many of you probably aren't too surprised by that. I definitely don't fear speaking in front of people, but I didn't turn in 2 assignments. When I told my professor about the family health issues that had been going on & that is why I didn't turn in my assignments (I was just letting her know) she let me turn them in AFTER my final. Plus one of my speeches (the one that was worth more points) I researched & prepared for in 1 day. Not only did I make an A, but I had to give 2 speeches and I made a 98 & 96 respectively on them. I WAS SOOOOOOO HAPPY, I called my mom right away to tell her. She knew how much I was stressing about my grade. I was stressing a bit about my speech because I just felt so unprepared, but I hated the idea of not making an A in that class.

Grandpa is still in the hospital. They moved him back from Columbia on Monday. Now he is in rehab. Mom thinks that they are o/d - ing him. So she talked to the doctors today and told them to slow down on the pain killers. She also told them, that she would give them one week to work with him & then she was taking him home. You go mom. I know Grandma & Grandpa would both be happy to have him home. The doctors are also saying that he will probably be on dialysis indefinitely.

Tonight Cody had his Christmas band concert. He is in "preband". They make them take preband before they hand over real instruments to them. It was cute. Brayden enjoyed hearing the band just as much as Cody enjoyed being a part of it. We also ordered Cody's Trombone. He's super excited about. I hope he keeps it up. I'm all about having well rounded children. I wish I had stuck with an instrument. I never was in band, but I did take piano lessons for awhile. I wish I could have stayed with it. I would like to know now how. That's really the only instrument I was ever interested in. At the end of the concert the band directed said, "Have a Merry Christmas, I'm pretty confident that I can say that here." She got applause. You go band director!

Were you in band? Did you or do you play an instrument?

Did someone call a Taxi?

Yesterday I worked my half day and then took my Aunt Debby (Matt’s mom) to the airport in Kansas City. She flew in there last week to go see grandpa in Columbia. That is a 3 ½ hour drive from where I live. I was happy to make the trip with her. We had some good Aunt / Niece bonding time. It was a fresh set of ears for me to ramble endlessly about my life for 3 ½ hours. I did do A LOT of talking, but she held her own. She has just as much or more drama in her life as I do! Drama? She is an Isenberg/Winn. Matt & I haven’t quiet figured out which side it comes from.

Then for the 3 ½ hours home, I spend more than ½ of the time on the phone. Then I decided to stop talking for awhile, shocking I know!!!!! I did a lot of thinking, scary!!! I’ve had less to think about lately than in the past couple of months. So, it was a pretty peaceful ride home. I didn’t drive myself too crazy analyzing my life!

Year for reunions - part 2

My feeling is that before this is all said and done, that this will be a multiple part/multiple year posting. Yesterday, I posted what I feel was one of my more vulnerable posts. I actually shared some my feelings. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I'll go with good thing. It resulted in interest & results.

So, for those of you wondering who this person is, wonder no more. Here is a shout out to my friend BRANDT!!!

The contact was made, by me? NNNNNOOOOOOOO. I would have but he beat me to the punch. Who would have guessed that he would be reading my blog???? Not I. But he did & he emailed me. He wondered if I was writing about him & sure enough I was. So, he briefed me about his life & I responded with an update on my life. How excited I was to hear from him.

So excited that I decided I probably couldn't handle any more reunions for awhile. All this "catching up" with people is tiring. I told my mom that I have had enough for now, and I will put off contacting other past friends for a couple of months... so I say now.

I would have to say that was my warm fuzzy for the week, what has been your warm fuzzy this week?

My year for reunions

This year I have had more reunions than any other year. The main one being our family reunion that my cuz Matt & I planned & put on this past summer. But also for relationships, this year I have re-acquainted myself with my friend from high school Lindsay, my 2nd cousin Ted, my friend from Indiana Nicole (that was a brief interruption in contact) and I have the opportunity to do it again. I came across some information about a high school/college friend last week. If I want 2005 to be my “year for reunions” I’d better hurry, I have 3 weeks left. With this bit of information, I sought out more information & more information. I dug up enough information to possibly make a contact with this person. Now remember most of these people, including this person, I have not talked to or seen for over 8 years.

Side note – I would have to say I’m nothing if not persistent even tenacious. I described myself to someone once as being like a dog after a bone. Because I can also get a bit vicious and "focused" when I’m out to get what I want. But I am so working on that. I’m trying to give up that kind of self control in my life. UNTIL I figure out if what I’m going after is major “life changing” and/or “rash” and/or really God’s will for me.

So, back to the issue at hand – I have this information, I could contact this person. But what do I hope to accomplish? Maybe nothing but to touch base with this person & tell them that I have not forgotten about them & what a good friend that they were to me. Maybe it’s one of those closure issues. I never had a chance to say “good-bye” to this person & I have always regretted it. Plus, would this lead to more “reunions”? I had several close friends in high school. Friends that were there for me through a lot of drama in my life, Lindsay & this person being 2 of them. I had to break those ties due to someone else in my life. I have regretted losing those friends every since. Will I seek out those people too & make contact? You never know…

I know that I will make contact with this person, I’m just like that. I don’t like having regrets. Life is too short for that. It’s just working up enough nerve to call & what will I say?

Have you ever contacted someone after not seeing them or talking to them for years?

Crazy Woman

Last night I took the boys to Silver Dollar City (SDC). What was I thinking? I know what I was thinking, it's so nice out, I love to look at the lights, the boys will have such a good time. What I wasn't thinking is that it is Saturday night, it's so nice out, everyone will love to look at the lights, and everyone will have such a good time. I live here, I'm supposed to know better than to go to SDC on a Friday or Saturday. Well, I reminded myself last night why that is so. It was so crowded out there, I felt like cattle being herded in & herded out. Brayden asked me, "why is it so crowded today." I replied, "it usually is on Saturdays, that's why we never come." But never say never, but we endured and we had a good time. We stayed about 2 1/2 hours, which was plenty & we made it out of there with minor traffic delays. So, all in all it was a good time & I promised them another trip out there, BUT not during the weekend!

Let it SNOW!

Today we received our first snow of the season. Not very much, maybe 1/2 an inch, but enough to cancel schools. Just the threat of snow will cancel schools here. Too many hills for the buses to be safe. So, the boys were super excited about no school today! We are supposed to get more snow throughout the day. Hopefully we will get enough for the boys & I to make a snow man. That's what they really want.

We put up more Christmas decorations last night & we are going to get their ornaments today, so the snow really adds to the ambiance of the season!

Have you gotten snow where you live?

Christmas Survey

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider? BOTH

2. Turkey or Ham? BOTH, we usually eat ham though

3. Do you get a Fake or Real christmas tree? Real
4. Decorations on the outside of your house? Yeah!

5. Snowball fights or sledding? BOTH

6. Do you like hanging around the fireplace because it's warm? Yes & ooohhh so romantic

7. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping? Oh yeah

8. Favorite Christmas song? ALL

9. Do you believe in Santa? Yeah, he better bring me something really good this year

10. How do you feel about Christmas movies? I typically don't watch them

11. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music? Before Thanksgiving

12. Stockings before or after presents? After

13. Carolers, do you or do you not watch and listen to them? I do it & I support them, I wish more would come to see me, but I guess when I'm in the nursing home more will come

14. Go to someone elses house or they come to you? Go to someone elses

15. Do you read the Christmas Story? Not usually

16. What do you do after presents and dinner? Visit with family, play with new stuff & play games

17. What is your favorite holiday smell? The tree

18. Ice skating or walking around the mall? Both

19. Favorite Christmas memory? We get to open one gift on X Mas Eve. One year all of us were at Grandpa & Grandma's. Most of us cousins were there, we all opened the same gift which were sleeping bags. We had the huge slumber party that night in their den.

20. Favorite Part about winter? Snow days IN the house

For real??

The other day my grandfather told me that he heard of a guy that asked a girl, "hey do you work for UPS?" The lady was like no, why? He replied back, "because that's an awfully nice package that you have there."

She was not impressed. If I was that girl, I would not be either if I would have been her. However, I thought it was very funny. I've not every had anyone try one of those ridiculous pick up lines on me, thank goodness - I'd probably bust up in their face. But I did have a guy that gave me the head nod & wink at WAL MART the other day. Creepy!

What's the best pick up line you've heard or used?

My Weekend

Let's see, the weekend started with an exciting Friday evening at the gym. I sweated my way into the weekend. Then Saturday, I woke at 5 am to practice for my speech final & headed for Joplin (again). I spent most of the day in my speech class, listening to speeches & giving 2 speeches myself.

Side note - I was pretty nervous about giving my speeches because I had little time last week to prepare. Then I crammed for 1 day & the more times that I practiced, the more times it changed & the more confused I got myself. So I decided to just wing it & just ramble like I always do. Well once I got into class & heard the first 2 or 3 people, I realized that these people were a lot more nervous that I was. So, I felt a lot better. I went 3rd or 4th to give my speeches. I think I did pretty well.

Ok, so after my speeches, I headed to Springfield to meet Holly, Andrea, Rebecca, Nikki, Cally & Susan to shop until we dropped, which apparently would be 11 pm. I was pretty proud of myself, for 4 hours of shopping I spent less than $10 (not including food).

Then Sunday after church & lunch, Ashley, Rachel & I did more shopping. I had not had enough Saturday apparently. After all I still had money. Boy, was I glad we went Sunday. I had a very good shopping day, I finally bought a new wallet! I've been shopping for a new wallet for over 2 months (I'm not picky). Then we went to see Just Friends. That was a funny movie. I had to contain myself at parts from not laughing so profusely.

I ended my weekend with my ritual Desperate Housewives viewing.

How mature are we?

My Aunt & Uncle live in this community that is gated & has an actual person that sits at the guard gate to let you in. This summer I was driving in & out of the community a lot. I realized that probably ½ of the people that go in & out are only staying there for vacation, so how do these gatekeepers know who is staying there & if we are visiting who we say we are visiting. So, I explained my theory to Mr. T & we decided to test how well guarded the community really is. The next time I went there was with my cohort & I said that I was there to see Matt T. The friendly guard, said ok, smiled & let us in. Maybe that was just a fluke, let’s try it again. The next time I tried this out, I used the name Page Turner, and again the guard man smiled & let my family in. Now it’s time to step it up a notch. Mr. T & I tried one a little more risky. With Ted & Chris now apart of it, we attempted to enter with the name, Ben Dover. And in we entered to visit Ben. Now, picture us debating what name to use for our next entrance into the gated community. Would Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Mickey Mouse or Luke Skywalker be too obvious? Well we settled on Lang Le (my new Alias). I pulled up to the guard gate & said that I was there to see Lang Le. “The Langleys?” the guard keeper asked, with a suspicious look on his face. “No, LANG LE,” I clarified. “OH, LANG LE,” he responded & he proceeded to let us in without any problems! What a close call, thanks Mr. Guard! What name should I try next time?

Grandpa Update

Grandpa is still in the hospital in Columbia. He had another surgery on Tuesday. They found a tiny bit of dead tissue in his leg & they removed it. So they are leaving him open until Thursday. During the surgery today if all is fine (which they expect), then they will close him up. Then they will probably need to do skin graphs. He is still on dialysis. He will remain in Columbia for another week. That is the most recent story anyway.

Celeb Double Take

Ok, this site makes me laugh. You can go to this link www.myheritage.com , upload a head shot & it will show you which celebrity you most resemble. You can choose man or woman. Here is the female celeb that they chose for me.

She is Zhang Ziyi, a Korean model/actress (most fitting). I knew nothing about her so I googled her. She played in Rush Hour 2 & her most recent American film is Memoirs of a Geisha (no comment). The male choice for me was Daniel Radcliffe, Harry? The 2nd choice & Caucasian female choice was Faye Dunaway. GOOD STUFF HERE!

Cousin of the Year

And the Award goes to Matthew R.T. Matt wins the award for many reasons (lots of mushy reason) but the most recent acclamation would be for his bravery at the Lighthouse Career Academy. Not only did he endure going for a pedicure with me, he let me talk him into getting clear nail polish put on, having a GREEN smiley face painted on his big toe, allowing me to take pictures AND enduring the fact that all of this is getting recorded on my blog!!! Kudos to Matt! You can post your acceptance speech for all to read in the comments section!

Rent

I recently went to see the movie Rent with Mr. T (new alias). The Broadway play now on the big screen. I’ve never seen the play and did not even know much about the movie. The young artistic crowd that was in the theater made us feel a little out of place, but since when did that bother Mr. T & I? It took me a couple of days to digest the movie & decide what I thought about it. In general, I like it. I like that it was thought provoking for me & challenged me to actually think – or maybe Mr. T challenged me to think. Anyway, the movie made me feel uncomfortable. The life style in the movie is a life style that I am not familiar with; therefore, it took me out of my comfort zone. What I liked about the movie was seeing a life style that I am thankfully not a part of & the dynamics of the characters. It also showed that people with a “scandalous” life style still have their own set of values that they live by & I can appreciate that about people. The best part about seeing the movie was having Mr. T sing to me his thoughts about the movie. I thought I would never laugh so much again in my life, little did I know the straw story was going to happen Thanksgiving night...

Weekend

Let’s see, where do I begin? I will make this as concise as possible. But let’s start with the GREAT pictures. Ok, this is our road trip to Joplin to take our cousin Cody to his sister Megan. Do you think we were bored? Actually we weren’t. We had a good time on our 1 ½ ride. So what did I do the rest of the weekend, well here goes: I went to K Mart, picked up my kids, run an errands for my mom, got a pedicure, went to the hospital, worked, dropped off my kids, went to the hospital, I went to dinner with family, kidnapped my cousins to accompany me on my hour round trip errand for my mom, went to the hospital, went out with my cousins, took care of some business, visited more family, going to go to Columbia (4 hours away to see Grandpa), not going to Columbia, going to Columbia, packed for Columbia, went to Joplin, started driving to Columbia, OH – not going to Columbia – tuned around & went home! That was all Friday & Saturday – so Sunday, I slept in, went to the gym, cleaned the house, vegged, worked on my blog, went to church & went to watch Desperate Housewives with my mom, aunt & Matt! I’m thinking maybe next weekend, I could squeeze more stuff in. What do you think?

Black Friday

The big plan for my Black Friday was to wake up at 6:00 am, wake up Matt, head to K Mart, go work out & get my boys all by 8 AM. And what would we be heading to K Mart for? A DVD player and an exercise ball for us – not gifts! Well, after going to bed at 2 am, I woke up at 6, tried to wake up Matt to no avail. After the 2nd time of trying, all Matt could say is “get me an exercise ball”. So I went to K Mart by myself, picked up the exercise balls, DVD players, some pillows, and I managed to get one gift. Then I headed for the check out line. And being “Black Friday” K Mart had the foresight to not have enough employees on hand & they had only about ½ of their check out lines open. So, I stood in line for over 30 minutes, for my small purchase. Needless to say, I did not go to the gym, I just went home & went to bed! That was the end of my shopping for the day.

The 3 of us again after dinner, by the dessert tray & deer! - (Sorry Ted)

Our Generation

Matt, Kira, Ted & Kit - only ones in our generation in town for the holiday 

Family Friends

My little cousin informed me this weekend that "our family is our friends". What a true statement. This is a picture of my cousin Matt, my 2nd cousin Ted & myself. Matt is not only my cousin, but my best friend. We have been pretty close our whole lives. We both got reacquainted with Ted this past year. For me, it had been 12 years since I saw him. He is only a year younger than me (so is Matt), but even when we were kids I didn't really know him - he was too young for me to hang out with. Wow, what a surprise to see him all growd up. And we actually get along, not only do we get along but the three of us have quite a bit in common & it's been fun hanging out. Lovin' my family!

Thanksgiving in Arkansas?

So my step dad Marvin needed to have a "simple" outpatient gall bladder surgery yesterday. Well, to my surprise (not) I get a call from my mom saying that there were complications. They ruled out a heart attack, but maybe issues with his lung. And they are going to keep him in the hospital for maybe 3 days. THREE DAYS in the hospital, ok - did I mention that he goes to the VA hospital in Fayetteville, AR. So that means my mom, Marvin, Grandpa & Grandma are all going to be spending Thanksgiving in the hospital? Different hospitals to top it all off!

Well, I took off last night at 10 PM & headed for Arkansas. I could not let my mom & Marvin spend Turkey Day away from home, in the hospital & alone. So after an hour detour (and I think I have a good sense of direction, actually my sense told me I was going the wrong way, I just decided to ignore it) I arrived in Fayetteville at 1 AM this morning.

So, I'm thinking my first Thanksgiving without my boys is going to be spent in an AR hospital, YEAH!!! I really didn't mind though (again liking the drama). But thanks to answered prayers (I'm sure lots from Matt) Marvin was released today before noon & we are now home again, ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow at Grandma's house! But still , grandpa won't be there & neither will Cody nor Brayden :(

Change is good

Ok, so I am new to this whole blogging thing. I have be evaluating my blog & taking tips from other bloggers to update my blog and make it represent ME. So things might be changing pretty regularly. Besides change is good, right?

First things first, I tried, but I admit it, I failed. I could not keep this site the Drama free zone. Let's face it, my life is dramatic. If I'm going to talk about my life on this blog, there's going to be drama. Let's also face the fact that I like it that way! Besides, I come from a family of dramatic people & I love them dearly. My grandma, my mom, my Aunt Debby, my cousin Matt, myself & I'm even raising 2 dramatic boys.

So, on with the drama...

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day to all!

Does your family have traditions? My cousin Matt & I try to create traditions for our family for every holiday. So far this might be our 4th annual tell what we are thankful for before dinner. And could this be our 2nd annual sing God Bless America at the dinner table? Let's hope not.

I am going to list what I am thankful for, I may forget some of these tomorrow are the dinner table, but here goes: I am thankful for family, my job, my boys (they are family, but they get a special shout out), trials & challenges, grace, love, and much more but those are the big ones. What are you thankful for?

Oprah's Fav Things

On Oprah's show yesterday, she had her favorite things. Since this is her anniversary year, she had her all time favorite things. The list is below. I must admit that most of her things, I would like to be my favorite things, too!


Philip Stein Teslar Diamond Watch
Burberry Coat
Burberry Purse
UGG® Australia's Uptown Boot
Garrett Popcorn Shops' CaramelCrisp® and CheeseCorn™ Tin
The new Apple iPod
"The Oprah Sweater" by Ralph Lauren
Pure Color Cords
Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker
BlackBerry 7105T™ from T-Mobile
Brownies from Moveable Feast Geneva
Nike Free 5.0 iD®
Kashwére® Shawl Collar Robe
Croissants from Williams-Sonoma
Hope in a Jar from Philosophy
"Grace" Basket from Philosophy
Oatmeal Cookie Dough from Fox & Obel Market
The Oprah Winfrey Show 20th Anniversary Collection DVD
Sony VAIO® FJ Notebook

Some of my favorite things would be:
The elliptical machine
My laptop
XM radio
Lucky jeans
Digital cameras
Pampered chef - stones, can opener & chopper
My scrapbooks
HP Ipaq 2210/2215 PDA
PF Changs

What are some of your favorite things?

Joke

This joke may seem over you head, but it kept my mom & I laughing for minutes, at least.

Why is 6 afraid of 7?



Because 7 8 9!!

Jr Bobcats

Cody is on a traveling baseball team that is coached by players from the College of the Ozarks baseball team. Here is the web site that shows a picture of him, game dates & will give his stats in the future.

www.jrbobcats.com

Grandparent Update

This is a recent picture of my Grandpa & Grandma Isenberg. Grandpa is still in the hospital recovering from the complications he had after knee surgery. He's obviously weak because he let me take this picture without yelling, complaining or objecting. He is getting more blood today & they are still giving him dialysis. They don't know where the blood is going, but he is getting some relief thanks to the dialysis.

The boys & I spent the weekend with my Grandma. Grandpa needed some rest & so did Grandma, but it was hard for her to go home to an empty house. So, the boys & I had a slumber party at Grandma's house. We all had at least 2 good nights of sleep. AND we got to sleep in the big bed!

Santa's Here!

Brayden loves to act like Santa during his bubble baths. "HO, HO, HO, I'm Santa" he says!

I'm glad someone is getting use out of the bath tub. I take maybe 4 baths a years. My mom takes one EVERY night - a long bath. What about you, bath or shower?

Crash

I recently watched the movie Crash mainly due to the recommendation of Oprah. But also because Sandra Bullock & Ludacris (Chris Bridges) are in the movie. Sandra Bullock is one of my favorite actresses & I just wanted to see Ludacris in a movie. But basically it is a movie about racism. All kinds of racism and how it effects the way people think, act & live.

It was a very depressing movie. I understand that people are racist out there. Trust me, I understand. But a movie so full of racism was so sad. It was almost too much for me to handle. Not just the racism but all the other drama involved in the movie. Maybe I just have lived in a sheltered world to not think that so much racism could happen so many times and/or even in a connected way. But then again, it is a little Hollywood too, the movie is supposed to get our attention. Anyway, I thought it was a very good movie. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it. If you have seen it, what did you think of it?

Random Weekend Things

So, besides taking the boys to the movie, I also gave them both hair cuts. Yes, if you didn't know I do it myself. Thanks to Marvin who let me practice on him for many years, good thing he has good head of hair.

Anyway, you might also notice that Cody now has glasses. He got those in the middle of October. I was also in the 5th grade when I got glasses. His teacher tells me that more kids get glasses in the 5th grade than any other grade. Do you have glasses? If so, when did you get them?

The other thing that occupied our time this weekend was checking in on my almost 80-year-old Grandpa Isenberg. He had knee replacement surgery on Wednesday. They put him "under" and I guess that made some of his other body parts go to sleep & not wake up. So in the interest of not getting too personal about my grandfather, he was & is very uncomfortable. They have been trying for 3 days to make it better, but now that they know the problem they are going to treat it with medication. And on top of all that he is anemic, so they gave him 2 pints of blood one day, he had lost it all by the next day & they gave him more yesterday. Boy, he's a barrel of laughs. I can't wait until he's well enough to give those nurses a hard time.

Chicken Little

Saturday, I took the boys to see Chicken Little. Cody liked it as a 10-year-old and there were parts in it that were scary for Brayden a 5-year-old. According to some reviews there were parts that were intented for adults, but I must not be adult enough to get the jokes, because I didn't notice any. Or I just wasn't paying close enough attention. Anyway, all in all the politically correct family dynamics of a single dad raising his son (similar to Finding Nemo) was a good movie. A modern day Boy Who Called Wolf.

Speaking of modern day twists, during the previews (which were most exciting) I saw that there will be a new Curious George & The Shaggy Dog movie in Feb & March of 2006. Both will be movies we will be going to!

More friends. No co-workers. Krista, friend & Matt, cousin/friend. Love ya Matt! 

Another co-worker/friend from Chicago, Jeremy. 

My friend Holly went with me on my first trip to Chicago. These are my co-workers/friends Lynne & Christine. We had a girls night out at Navy Pier. We tood a cruise on Lake Michigan at night, it was cool! 

Work

Here is the latest about my current employment situation. I work for Downey Savings. I had been working out of the Schaumburg, IL (outside of Chicago) office. They had production & operations in that office. I am in operations. I am a mortgage underwriter, I work part-time from home. I do upfront underwrites, which means when a mortgage app comes in I either approve it, counter offer it or deny it. Anyway, my company has closed the operation department in Schaumburg. But never fear my friends & family. They kept me. I am low overhead. So now I report to Mission Viejo, CA. And it's business as usual for me, for now.

Family Part 2

I'm BACK!!

Ok, ok, someone (who shall remain nameless) mentioned to me that there was no mention of the other side of my family in my last post.

So, here is my shout out to the GOSS FAMILY!!! With whom I love just as much, are just as supportive & loving. And I hope that they are enjoying my blog too!

It was also mentioned that my immediate family (mom & brother) were not pictured in my picture of "family". So I will be working on that too! I have had many suggestions on my blog & I will be making updates, thanks for the input!

Family

I have come to realize lately the importance of family. If you are lucky enough to have a family that cares for you, count your blessings. Because in times of need they are the ones that you can sincerely count on. No matter if they agree with you or not. If you aren't lucky enough to be born into (or adopted into) a family like that, make your friends that family.

For those of you that are part of MY family (Winns) - I am compelled to lecture you. If you have time to read my blog, why aren't you checking out the family website? Our family (multiple members) put a lot of effort into that site. As the eldest active member of our generation, I should tell you to go to that site & participate. There ARE benefits of getting old, plus you guys know that I am a little bossy at times (HA). So check out & participate!

For those of you not in may family (Winn) then go to www.myfamily.com & you can start your own family website. It's a really great way for you to stay in touch, if you can get your family to participate.



P.S. I will be out of pocket until the middle of next week. This is my last post until then!

Joke

This is my current fav joke right now. It doesn't take much to impress me. No offense to the sender. Thanks Wayne Wheeler for sharing this with me.

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing.

He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watchingas the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

Vanity

For the past year, I've had this yucky feeling that I'm getting older. Yeah, yeah, I know we ALL are getting older. But this is the first time for ME, that I'm this age. I am now closer to 30 than to 20 :( So for the past year I've made changes, I gave up soda, I work out at the gym, I eat better, I drink my water, I cut my tanning time in 1/2 and I even started giving myself microderm abrassion treatments! So now, I am the same weight as when I was 15, I have prettier skin & I feel better. So, imagine my disgust when I looked in the mirror yesterday & discovered I have wrinkles under my eyes & crows feet!!! That's it, I'm giving up smiling too. WHATEVER, I will only go so far for this physical body! It's bound to happen, but won't go down without somewhat of a fight.

So, send me all your words of encouragement & your advice for getting older. The depressing thing about this is that most of the people reading my blog are younger than me!

Birthdays

Today I have another friend that is having a birthday. I LOVE birthdays. I think they are one of the most important days of the years. I guess if you were to psycho analyze me, it would have to stem from the fact that I was adopted & don't know the actual date of my own birth but now I have gone through the experience of giving birth to 2 awesome little boys. But, none-the-less ;) if it weren't for your BIRTHday, you wouldn't be here. That's why it is so special. So for those of you that are like, oh it's just another day. WHATEVER, it's your day & you should celebrate!! Especially with your MOTHER. I think birthdays especially are just a great time to tell that person that they are special & you are glad that they were born & are a part of your life!

(Krista, did that seem dramatic?)

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Look at that cute kid!! This is at my mom's this summer, that's what being a kid is all about. 

Blogging Success

Today I started my blog & I emailed it to some friends & to some strangers (don't ask) anyway, I have a friend from HIGH SCHOOL that I have not seen in almost 10 years (scary). I have just now started communication with her again & I sent her my blog address. She was so happy to hear from me & of all days on her 26th birthday. Now is that timing or is that timing!

Happy Birthday Lindsay!!

Clarification

There will no postings from me about my drama, but please share your drama!

Boys dressed up ready for treats! 

Halloween

The boys had a great time for Halloween. Brayden was Darth Vader & Cody was a ninja. We almost had a real Halloween nightmare. Cody was going to be a Storm Trooper, but he went to put on his costume & it was too small. So I was off to Springfield Sunday afternoon to find him a new costume.

Sat night, we had our 4 annual Haunted Hayride at my mom's. My brother & his friends did a great job as usual. Bigger & better this year. They added a walk through haunted part. I think it was everyone's favorite. No injuries this year.

Once I get this blog figured out, I will add pics of the boys dressed up!

What were you for Halloween?

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!! Matt & Krista stop laughing at the name of my blog!

For many months, I've wondered why would I be so vain to think that someone wants to read about my life on a regular basis. But I get a lot of emails from people that do. So now I will just post on my blog. And only those that want to read about me will. HOWEVER, as the name suggests, this is my "fun" site. I will not be posting any drama. So you will have to wait for those personal emails for that.