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.