rantings from a crazy woman....

Just one day

2011-06-09T21:42:00.004-04:00

Today, my girls & I went to Sandy Hill Cove beach with one of my BFF's, Viv. It was a perfect day to go. The temps were suppose to reach the 90's and most schools aren't out for the summer, so I wasn't expecting the beach to be packed. We packed a lunch, packed up the girls and off we went. It is about an hour drive from my house to South County, which is the southern part of RI. When we got there it was still a bit overcast. But we set up our blanket, umbrella & let the girls start playing. They started out building a sand castle. Auntie Viv as my girls call her, is quite good at building these. She knows that the sand has to be the right consistency of wet sand to stick together. After building our sand castle we went in the FREEZING water for a little while and then sat down to eat our lunch. After lunch, Rachel wanted to go back in the water, while Emily wanted to continue to work on the sand castle. Going in the water & jumping over the waves won out over the sand castle. We then talked the girls into walking down the beach to collect shells to decorate their castle with. It was during this time that this post was inspired. I'm not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way I lost what was important. I LOVE THE WATER; I grew up on a lake & before that by the ocean. I don't remember much about the ocean other than we used to go crabbing. It was so absolutely beautiful today. I loved watching the innocence of my six year olds playing in the sand, jumping over waves and walking down the beach looking for shells and rocks. When we first went in the water if any splashed on their faces they would make pseudo spitting noises and say, "Blek, pthuhy." It was kind of comical. At one point when we were walking down the beach, Rachel found a shell covered in sand, but as she ran into the water to rinse it off she tripped and fell, getting her face wet, bringing about the obligatory, "Blek, pthuhy." She lost her shell & I think some of her pride. We found a lot of clams, several scallops and many of my favorites. I don't know their name and couldn't even find a picture of them. All I know is I've always called them 'banana boats.'
It truly was a beautiful day. It brought me back to the fact that although being at the ocean is sticky and sandy, I really love it. And most of all I loved watching the innocence of my children. Unfortunately, I didn't take a camera today to capture any of what I saw, so I can only rely on my memory. Words can't begin to describe the thoughts that were going through my head. Everything from, I miss my mom, to "Footprints in the Sand," to the innocence of children, my children, to the joy of spending time with one of my BFF's, who loves my girls like they are her own flesh and blood, and many others. I forgot to mention how we started out the day. The girls were asking me what kind of animals live in the ocean. I think they were afraid of something nibbling on their toes. I didn't have the heart to tell them about jelly fish. But I told them crabs and whales live in the ocean. Then we talked about who made the earth (God), who made the animals (God), who made Adam & Eve (God), and that God put Adam & Eve in charge of all the animals. Thank you God for your beautiful creation.

Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Anniversary

2010-02-14T00:00:00.005-05:00

Today is my 6th wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe it has been 6 years already. Most days it seems like just yesterday. A lot has happened in 6 years. We birthed twin daughters, my mom passed away, my husband lost his job, my 25 year old nephew passed away, and many other things in between, but these are just some of the major high lights. They aren't all negative, I've also had a new nephew & niece as well as a great nephew born. The things that have happened have made our relationship stronger.

"Made your relationship stronger?" you might ask. Yes. Has it always been easy? NOPE! But it has been worth it.

We met when we worked together at a big box store and he was my boss. There was always a chemistry there, but I was seeing someone else that I was engaged to at the time (thankfully that relationship ended before the marriage). Bill and I went our separate ways; he left the company, but our soon to be sister-in-law still worked there, so I was able to keep tabs on him. Two years later he asked me out to brunch, on Valentine's Day. I must have scared him off, because it took him several more months before we got back in touch with each other. That was in 2003, and by September 2003, I felt pretty confident this was the man God had chosen for me and we became engaged. We got married on Valentine's day, 2004.

The other day I went down to babysit for some friends of mine and the song Pina Colada/Escape by Rupert Holmes came on the radio on the way to their house. I grew up on this song, but this time, it made me think about my relationship. I think there are points in our lives where we all get a little bored. I mean let's face it, if every day is the same old mundane thing, chances are pretty good we would get bored. We've only been together 6 years, but some of my friends who've been together close to 20 years tell me variety is truly the spice of life. This song said something to me; is my marriage so boring that my spouse has even thought about stepping out on me? (just for the record, I don't think he has ) More importantly, what am I doing to keep up the spice in my marriage so this never happens? How well do I really know my spouse and his likes and dislikes?

So my love, I'm looking forward to growing old with you, learning more about your likes and dislikes and keeping things spicy.

Love, George

The vote heard around the world

2010-01-19T23:35:00.004-05:00

An open letter to the new Senator of Massachusetts, Scott Brown

Dear Senator Brown,

You made history today. The Democrats can't take that from you. You campaigned well; honestly and avoiding negative campaign ads. You are the people's person. If I lived in MA, I would have voted for you. From what I saw and heard, you are the type who is really sincere, not afraid to roll up your sleeves, dig right in and get a little dirty. I know there were some die hard Democrats in MA who voted for you, not necessarily because they believe in you, but because they wanted to send Washington D.C. a message; maybe more specifically our President, Barack Obama. Listening to your victory speech, I hope you keep your word. You said it wasn't the Republican's seat or the Democrat's seat, but the people's seat. In one of the bluest states in this country, for one of the seats that was held for the longest time, the people of MA spoke their voices today and they elected you. Apparently Barney Frank said this was a "popularity contest." Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I think your opponent made several major gaffes, one of which was not being able to spell the state she was running in.
I could wax philosophical or political all day, but I won't.
I'll simply say congratulations on your victory, and on a race well run. I will be praying that you continue to run that race well.

Sincerely, -Gail P.

A timeless classic for the Christmas season

2009-12-14T23:02:00.009-05:00

The movie "Mary Poppins" was on ABC family channel tonight. My husband knows this is one of my all time favorite movies, so he told me the time and channel before it started. I got busy playing on the computer and doing laundry and forgot all about it until about the last 5 minutes of the movie. So I turned on the last 5 minutes.

I think this movie is such a timeless classic because of the message it portrays. Not of a nanny who whips two bratty children into shape, but that the presence of an earthly father figure is important to the family dynamic. God designed the family unit to be just that a unit~ a mother, a father and the children. I understand that things happen in life to rip that unit apart, but just watch the end of the movie. The family is going to the park together to fly a kite. And the dad gets it! He realizes that it is important to the children to spend time being with them. Not to take them to the park so they can do it on their own, but to be an active participant involved in their lives. And Mary Poppins and her umbrella (the talking parrot head) even have that conversation. The bird says something about the children going off with their father and not saying goodbye and Mary says, "Just as it should be."

Can I just tell you how blessed my girls and I are that we have an active, participating daddy in our lives? He is so good with our girls. He'll take them to the library to pick out books and videos. Then come home and read to them or sit down and snuggle as they watch a video they brought home. He'll take them to the park or start a tickle fest with them. Sometimes all he has to do is be his usual goofball self and they'll just crack up at him. And I don't know about you, but there is nothing that puts a smile in my heart more than listening to a child's sincere, belly busting laugh, the kind that come up all the way from the toes.

So, it is the Christmas season. We celebrate Jesus Christ coming to earth to be fully man, yet fully God. What an awesome gift God gave us in his only son Jesus Christ. I bet Joseph had moments like those above in teaching Jesus how to be a carpenter. What an awesome gift God gave me when he blessed me with the perfect husband for me and 2 beautiful daughters for my husband and I to parent. He chose us to be their parents. May you see the wonders and gifts all around you this Christmas season.

been a long time

2009-09-11T22:08:00.004-04:00

Don't know if there's any one who even still looks at this, but....I'll give it a shot.
Yes, it's been a long time since I've been here. Life has been crazy~ I'm sure you can't even begin to relate(watch out for dripping sarcasm). Yes, life is crazy for all of us, some of us just manage it better than others.
So for those of you who prayed for my nephew, Adam, he passed away just over a month ago. In fact, a month ago today we were at his calling hours(wake, for some of you). It just seems so surreal.

So, I started cleaning at my church this week. This is not a volunteer position, rather a paid position. This is the first job I've had since I became pregnant with my girls. Well, I babysit for my landlord at least 1 day a week, and have been doing that since my girls were about a year. But to me that doesn't really count.
So 3 people on staff at my church said to me, "I started out cleaning, here." In my mind, I'm saying, "GRRREEEAAATTT!!!!! God, what are you trying to tell me??? That I'm going to be on staff here in the near future???" I certainly don't feel that calling, although God did call me out of a massage therapy career to go to Bible college. Hmmmmmmmmmmm

Change is definitely in the air in my life. And while I don't feel like it is to be on staff at my church other than the cleaning person, I do feel like God is calling me to a new level. He's been trying to deal with me in regards to my marriage~ on many different fronts. (Honey, if you're reading this don't worry, it's all good!) And about my personal life, how I am eating, spending my time, etc.
Some scriptures he's been giving me: Matt. 6:21 ~For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And today he gave me Col. 3:23-24 ~Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

My Pastor came & talked to me today while I was working. He just wanted to welcome me and in not so many words re-iterate what the Lord had already been telling me in Col. 3:23-24. It was nice to hear the encouragement and reinforcement.

God is soooo good. Hope you are having a blessed life. (btw~ that doesn't mean it will be trouble free.) I am praying for you.

Oh, yeah & just so you didn't think I forgot; it is amazing to me that it has been 8 years since 9-11. I was getting ready for work when all the commotion started, yep, life can definitely be surreal at times.

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY and another pet peeve, and some shout outs

2009-04-12T13:51:00.006-04:00

Hi There! Bet you've been wondering where I've been. No? Well, that's okay. I'm going to tell you anyway. I have been sucked into the proverbial waste of time called Facebook. One of my other bloggy friends called Facebook the lazy person's blog. And to some degree that is true. It is a bit of an easier way to keep up with people other than reading a bunch of blogs. I don't like that I have allowed myself to be sucked into spending sooo much time on Facebook; yet on the other hand, I have connected with people from grade school, high school and beyond. To me, that is awesome. People I haven't seen or heard from in over (gasp)25 years! (where has the time gone? didn't I just graduate from high school only a few years ago???)

So today is Easter! HAPPY EASTER! HE HAS RISEN INDEED!!! Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins & saving my life.

Are you curious what another of my pet peeves is? No? Guess what, I'm going to tell you anyway. Why? Because it is my blog & I can write about what I want.

Like I said a paragraph above the previous one, today is Easter. This is 1 of 2 important "holidays" or holy days in Christianity (the other being Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.) Why? Because Jesus Christ died on the cross for ALL of our sins & then rose again 3 days later. There is not a gosh darned thing any one of us can do to earn, work or otherwise cajole our way into heaven. You either believe it or you don't. If you don't, you may want to ask yourself what would happen to you if you keeled over & died while reading this post. Where would you go?

This brings me back to my pet peeve. People will say to me, "Oh, so you are religious?" RELIGION & RELIGIOUS, YES, THAT IS MY PET PEEVE! NO PEOPLE, I AM NOT ANY MORE RELIGIOUS THAN YOU ARE.

While some "denominations" have "religious" services, Christianity is about a relationship. A relationship with Jesus Christ. Do I do religious things? Absolutely! And I bet you do too! Do you brush your teeth regularly (on a schedule)? Then you do that religiously. Take a shower, go to the bathroom, or eat a meal at a specific time of day? You do those things religiously. I could go on & on, but I'm sure you get my drift. A relationship with Jesus Christ; what does that mean? It means that you believe he was man and God; was born of a virgin; crucified on a cross, died & rose again 3 days later & now resides in heaven at the right hand of God, the Father. Now you may be saying, okay, I've never seen him, how do I know he exists? Have you ever seen the wind? You've felt the wind, you've seen the wind move the trees, but have you ever seen the wind itself? So how do you know the wind exists? For me, I just know! But if you doubt- ask Him. He'll show you. You may be asking how do I have a relationship with Him? How do you have a relationship with your friends? You have to talk to them right? So talk to Jesus. Ask Him to come live in your heart. He will do it. He did it for me, & he did it for the thief on the cross next to him so many years ago. And He has done it for many other people. Does that mean I don't sin any more? HECK NO! I sin daily, but He will forgive all of our sins. This might seem all too simple for you, I promise you it really is that simple.

Okay, I think I'm done ranting about my pet peeves. Now for some shout outs!
Well, since it has been almost 3 months since I last posted, there have been A LOT OF BIRTHDAYS! A couple of the ones more dearer to my heart- my nephew, Adam- turned a quarter of a century, my nephew, Dylan turned 8, my baby girls turned 4!!! And there are many others, who I hopefully wished happy birthday to on their special day. Also my niece, Lyla, made her way into the world and a special friend, Andrew James, made his way into the world- I got to witness this one! Oh how beautiful it was. To read more about,click here .

I guess that about wraps this up tonight. I hope you had a joyous day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I don't purport to have any of the answers, but hey maybe we can figure out this thing called "life" together. God Bless.

Things going on

2009-01-17T09:00:00.013-05:00

You may have noticed I added a new blog to my list of "blogs that inspire me." I've been reading this blog for quite awhile actually & should have added it a long time ago. Forgive me for not doing so, but I am now going to encourage you to go check out Joe Sangl. My girlfriend nick-named him "Dave Ramsey lite." Either way, whether you read Joe or you need a lot more detail & need to read Dave Ramsey - go do it. This stuff works- well, it works if you are at your "I have had enough" point.
Let me just tell you it has all been God, but my husband has been unemployed (and is still) since the end of June, and we have managed to drop debt even during this very difficult time.

On another note, another blog I read that is usually very comical is Because I Said So; she has 6 children, 3 of each. She has a review blog & well, a lot of people read her. She's kind of like the next "Erma Bombeck." She posted a few weeks ago about a giveaway on another blog, so I hopped on over to check it out. And guess what happened?! I WON! I WON!! I WON!!! (Great,~ now I have another blog to add to my list of blogs I read. Just kidding, Rick!)I won a doodle drawing from Rick over at Organized Doodles. He posted rules as to what we could pick for a doodle so I picked this one titled: Holy Ghost Riders ~Doesn't it look great!~

I have to explain, my husband & I both ride motorcycles; a passion I got my husband into. In fact I created a monster, but it is a good one. We are also Christians, meaning we believe in & do our best to follow Jesus Christ & his Word. So I thought that while ALL Rick's drawings were great, Holy Ghost Riders was the most apropos for me. The original post has this scripture -Matthew 3:11. Unfortunately he left it off the doodle he sent me, but that's okay. Thanks Rick! I absolutely love the doodle & when the finances return I plan on getting more.

Busy week and a half

2008-12-29T21:54:00.005-05:00

I've been wanting to post this since last week, but I wasn't going to do so, until I could get my husband to dump the pictures from his camera onto the computer. Finally after much ~~nagging~~ asking nicely, he got it done today! YAY! I guess I could learn how to do it myself, but that would be too easy. So without further ado, here's what's been going on in our busy lives. The Friday before Christmas we finally got our first 'real' snow of the season. It snowed into Sunday, with a bit of a reprieve here & there. Alas, Friday & Saturday it was a powdery fine snow, not good at all for making snowmen, but the girls learned how to make snow angels. By Sunday afternoon, it started turning to rain; good enough for packing & making a snowman. WOOHOO! Well, Saturday, late in the afternoon as it was turning dark we let the girls go out and play in it. This picture is my 2 girls and the landlord's daughter who's a few months younger than mine.
L-R Emily, Rachel, Maddie

And unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the snowman, but he was about 6' tall. As he started to melt on Tuesday, my husband said he must be an Obama supporter. I asked why, and I shouldn't have. He said, "Because he's leaning left." I married this comedian.

Tuesday morning came and we loaded up the van and headed up to Lunenburg, MA to visit my cousin, Chriztine and my aunt Nita, who had just flown in from Ohio. Boy what a trip that woman had. Here she is 82 years young, they cancel her flight Sunday, due to weather. Monday, they let her sit in the Cleveland airport for 4 hours(she's from Columbus), try to reroute her to Boston(she was suppose to fly into Manchester, NH)and then lose her luggage. It showed up Wednesday morning at 1:30. UGH!
We were going up to bake Christmas cookies, visit, (I hadn't seen my aunt since my mom passed away almost 2 years ago) do a little sledding since they had almost 2 feet of snow there and go eat some lobsta'. Here are some pictures from the day at Chriztine's.
these are the sugar cookies, the girls & I decorated.
this is my Rudolph
this is Emmy's gingerbread woman she decorated, she was a bit heavy handed with the colored sugar.
L-R my Aunt Nita, me, my cousin Chriztine
this is me as I just crashed into Rae, at the bottom of the picture you can see Em's bum

Christmas morning came, we read the girls the story of Jesus' birth and then tore into the presents. At this particular time in life, my girls are into Cars & princesses. In case you couldn't tell from the pictures. Emmy all excited that Santa brought her Mater socks.
the girls in their new princess robes & lightning "the queen" slippers (this what they say instead of McQueen)
After all of the excitement of opening presents, the girls & I said a fond farewell to their Elmo slippers that were getting too small & had holes in the bottoms.

Emmy's in red & Rae's in black, yes, Em can be my clown at times, but they both have their moments.

I hope you and your family had a very MERRY CHRISTmas.

Wisdom

2008-12-18T15:32:00.002-05:00

I think I've made this confession before, I am addicted to blog reading. Some of the blogs I read are my friends & it allows me to catch up on the comical things going on in their lives. Most of them are other Christians, who many times have great words of wisdom to share. I really enjoy reading Perry Noble's blog, as he usually has great things to say. As do Lots of Scotts & Bring the Rain. But today Perry linked to another post, the title is a bit shocking, but the post itself speaks great truth to those of us that are Christians. It definitely made me say OUCH! So without further ado, hop on over & read this.

Things my momma taught me(a little tribute)

2008-12-16T22:22:00.004-05:00

I know, I know, don't faint that I'm doing 2 posts in one day. Actually wanted to do this one last year, but just wasn't in the place to do it. And I didn't really ever call her momma, it was always Mom, Mommy, or as I got older & if I was annoyed with her it was Mother(spoken with an attitude & heaviness on the ther). But my girls call me momma, so thus the title.

Probably first & foremost, my mom pounded into my head & heart that "God always provides." Seeing as how we are still among the unemployed, this is truly a good thing to know & have heart knowledge of, not just head knowledge. She taught me the principles of giving (and receiving, but I'm not always a gracious receiver). She taught me honesty and integrity. She taught me that if I'm going to do things to do my very best, do it right the first time & you won't have to do it over again. And she taught me that can't never did anything. Huh? you may be saying. If you say you can't do something you are right- you can't & you will never do anything in life if you continue to say "I can't do____."
She told me that wait broke the wagon down & makes it too hard to carry. No that isn't a typo- she wasn't talking about weight, but when I was little & would say "wait, mommy, wait!"
As a teenager & young adult in my early 20's, my mom and I had open and honest conversations about sex. My mom knew I tried many things(sex, drugs & rock n' roll) after the fact and she didn't necessarily condone them, but she loved me none the less.
She almost always let me sit in her lap; even well into my 20's. I remember I had gotten one of the Beatrix Potter books at the gas station & I sat in her lap & she read it to me. She was the coolest mom. I remember when I turned 21 & she took me out for my 1st "official" drink. But she didn't want me to drink & drive & so when I went out for my 25th b-day & was too drunk to drive, she came & picked me up.

We didn't always have the best relationship. I remember shortly after my folks got divorced and I must not have been too happy with the rules at our house. I wrote her a letter telling her I wanted a divorce too. She kept that letter in her wallet, I think until the day she died. I remember when I realized that going to church wasn't just something we did on Sundays, but it was about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; I said some not very nice things about my parents and how they had raised me in "religion" and not taught me anything. I later realized that what they did teach me gave me the foundation I have today. I remember her not being very happy with me when I told her I wanted to be baptized again, because it was a choice my parents had made for me. It wasn't a very good conversation & shortly after that conversation she thought I had joined a cult. Thankfully, she realized that I hadn't joined a cult & we repaired our relationship.

I hope I can be as good a mom to my girls, as my mother was for me. Miss you lots, Lucy!

Birthday shout outs, and other miscellaneous rants

2008-12-16T21:47:00.004-05:00

I have a WHOLE LOT of birthday shout outs that I'm combining into 1 post, so here goes. Today is/was(which is proper-since she is deceased?)my mom's b-day. She always told me she shared her birthday with Beethoven & Bach, but in researching it, I didn't find Bach; & that the Boston tea party happened on her birthday too.(wow, that seems like a nice run-on sentence.) I was always a bit envious, because the only somewhat famous person/object who shares my b-day is Bugs bunny. Well, today is also my good friend Dawn's son's b-day. So Happy b-day W-bear. To see a picture of the over the top cake she did for his b-day go here.
In other b-day shout outs, my sis-in-law, Jess, turned 30 yesterday. Yep, I posted her age, 'cuz she's just a young whipper snapper. :) Some dear friends of mine, Tim & Melissia(who also happened to whine about turning 30), their b-days are the 21st & 10th respectively. Also, my BFF Renae's daughter, Jill's b-day is the 9th. My step-mom's b-day is the 19th. And I certainly can not forget the Christmas brigade of b-day's either. My cousin, Amy's is the 24th, my good friend Hollie's is the 25th, & my big brother, Mikey's is the 26th. It is kind of cool that my cousin & brother are exactly 2 days apart and their 1st born children are about 1 week apart. There are other b-days, but some of these people I haven't talked to in awhile, so I won't bore you with listing them.

Missing my mom. Emotionally, I'm okay, most days. But I miss just being able to pick up the phone & ~~whining about~~ telling her how the girls are doing; what funny things they have said or done lately. I miss the fact that my girls won't really remember "Mimi Lucy." Lucy was my nickname for my mom & the girls call my mom & my mom-in-law "Mimi;" they couldn't really say Grammy, so it turned into Mimi. They know that Mimi Lucy is with Jesus in heaven.

I know I was going to post about some other stuff, thus the title for this post, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. I hate when I lose my mind. So, I guess good night for now.

'Tis the season

2008-12-13T22:50:00.002-05:00

My husband & I usher at Providence Performing Arts Center(PPAC). We have been doing this for 3 years now. It is good, because we get to see shows for free & on occasion have a night out on the town together, all for very little cost. (gas money if we have to pick up my mother-in-law, who doesn't drive) This weekend is the "annual" Nutcracker ballet. I had to work tonight & I passed out programs. The area of the theater we work in changes for each show if you want it to. I like working on the door, because you get to see everyone come in & their outfits; from blue jeans with holes in them & ratty, untied tennis shoes to very fancy outfits. Tonight an adorable almost 4 year old came through my door and I gave her a program, not because she can or can not read, but because maybe someday she'll want to put it in her scrapbook. Her name was Ella & she ever so politely said thank you with no prompting from mom or dad when I handed her the program. (I found out her name after the fact, as they left early.) But it just amazes me some of the outfits I see coming in there. Fussy's fight the frump would have a field day! fussypants.typepad.com
Sorry I didn't feel like doing the whole little link thing.
Time for bed.

Cute things your children say

2008-12-06T20:31:00.002-05:00

Wednesday my girlfriend Dawn agreed to watch my girls, so Bill & I could go Christmas shopping. We stayed out way later than I planned, but part of that is we got such a late start on our day. Went to leave and couldn't locate the gift cards we had been given for Christmas shopping. They weren't lost, only temporarily misplaced; in fact they were right where I always put gift cards we have. Then when we finally got everyone in the van, it wouldn't start. Ended up having to jump it and got the battery replaced the next day. So, I had originally told Dawn we'd be there about 10:30 but it was closer to 11 by the time we made it.
I tell her to give the girls quiet time on the couch, if they fall asleep great, if not that's okay. Well, Rachel still getting over her laryngitis falls asleep for about 1/2 hour until she slumps over and Emily starts yelling at her to get out of her space. Great! Now Rachel is awake. Again, not the end of the world, but the nap would have been good for her.
So we're driving home after picking up the girls and I ask Emily about above story. She says she didn't wake her sister up, Rachel says she did and the did not, did too's start! I quickly stop this and say it isn't a big deal, but from the back seat I hear Rachel say, "But, God knows." It was kind of said under her breathe, but loud enough that I could hear it. OH MY GOODNESS! It was all I could do to not bust out laughing.

busy weekend

2008-12-02T21:29:00.006-05:00

Well, our thanksgiving weekend was busy. Thursday we went to our friends, the Kerr's, for Thanksgiving. Her brother & his family were in town, as well as her folks. Ken(her brother)made some absolutely lovely shrimp on the barbie, as an appetizer. Dawn always tells me the secret to moist poultry is brining your chicken or turkey. She is soooo right. The entire meal was delightful and afterward we played a little Mexican train dominoes.

Friday, I was hoping to accomplish various things around the apartment, but instead ended up helping hubby & the girls put up our Christmas tree. We do every other year here at home, so last year we were away. It was a bit bittersweet to be decorating our tree & combining a lot of the ornaments we had with ones my mother used to use/I grew up with. I did get a few things done other than that & in the afternoon, Daddy made snowmen ornaments with the girls. I was impressed to say the least.

Saturday dawned, and Daddy had mentioned going to La Salette to see all the pretty lights. We called our friends, the Kerr's to see if maybe they wanted to meet up and go with us. It was a done deal. Afterward we went back to their house for dessert and hot chocolate and I was hoping a game of Norwegian dice(some may know it as Farkle). No such luck on the dice.

Sunday was church obviously. My mother-in-law needed a ride to the bank and we all came home after that and took nice long naps. I should have known something was up with Rachel at that point, when she took an almost 3 hour nap and went to bed without a fuss when we got home from having dinner at my mother-in-law's.

Monday came and Rae was not 100%; I could tell(as us moms always can). She had 2 episodes Monday night of a croupy sounding cough within a couple hour time span. The second one scared me a bit, but thankfully we avoided the ER and she went to the doctor's this am. She has laryngitis, but the doctor said at their age, when the vocal cords get inflamed, it can make it difficult for them to breathe. She had a one dose shot of steroids and other than not wanting to go to bed tonight is doing much better.

I hope the busyness of this past weekend is no indication of what the month of December is going to be like.

Counting our blessings/ What an awesome God I serve

2008-11-24T13:29:00.006-05:00

Phillipians 4:19 NIV And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:25-26 NIV 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

With this being Thanksgiving week & in light of what happened to us yesterday at church, I just wanted to share a few things.

My husband left retail in 2006 after many years in it. We toyed with the idea of keeping it part time. "Just in case." Just in case, you may ask? Just in case what? Just in case the job he took didn't work out, or our finances became too tight, or fill in the blank with your just in case scenario. Well, we felt God leading us NOT to keep the retail job part time, so we didn't. Fast forward 9 months. My husband calls me on a Friday afternoon, while the girls and & I are in NY helping clean up my mother's estate, with the news that he just lost his job. God provided for us by giving us distributions from my mother's estate, along with unemployment. In the fall he got a photography job, but the conditions were not as good as they seemed. Now we are at the beginning of 2008. He got a temporary job at Staples corporate, well that ended the end of June, and we have since been unemployed.

Now here is the good news of how awesome God is. ALL of our bills are current. That is not saying our financial situation is not tight! It is beyond tight & I feel like I am constantly trying to juggle our money around to pay bills. We have NOT used any credit cards since Bill lost his job in June. And God has been blessing us in other ways that may seem small, but are really huge.
A friend blessed us with much needed groceries- I'm not talking just dry goods, I'm talking meats-chicken, pork, hamburger, fresh fruits and veggies, etc. We received money in the mail, as well as a grocery store gift card, 2 separate occasions. And Sunday at church we received more cash along with 2 gift cards- 1 to Walmart & 1 to Toys'r'us. The cash was absolutely huge as I was wondering how we were going to come up with our rent money. This just took a huge chunk out of it.
And we also had a 2 week period the end of September of NO unemployment or other funds coming in. A big thank you to God's servants who listen to him & are obedient.
GOD IS TRULY AWESOME & FAITHFUL!!!!

Mind boggling things I saw today

2008-11-20T23:09:00.004-05:00

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon for a checkup. As I was driving to it, I saw several things that boggled my mind. If any of you reading in bloggy land have ANY insight to the following things, please do share.
Bumper sticker on a car. First of all let me just say I like to read bumper stickers; yes, I can read them and still pay attention to the road. This bumper sticker was a fish- like the Christian fish; but it wasn't the Christian fish. And it wasn't the darwin fish either. Inside it had the word WITCH, on it's head it had the little pointy witch hat & underneath the fish was a broom. I had to call several people to see if they had any inkling, the best I got was from Supra at our church. She told me it must be a fishwich & that maybe the person put it on their car for the halibut!
Okay, you know you cracked a smile at the halibut part. But I am honestly not kidding about this bumper sticker. One of the nurses at my dr's office is into wiccan, but it was very busy in there today & she wasn't my nurse so I couldn't even ask her. I do pray for her though.

As I was getting off my exit there is a bicycle store right next to my exit. On the outside of their building they had a sign that said: "electric bicycles." HUH??? Wouldn't that be a moped? or a scooter? Wouldn't electric defeat the whole purpose of pedaling/exercise???

I come up to a major intersection. On my left is a 24 hour Walgreen's, across the street on the other left corner is a 24 hour CVS, across the street from CVS on the right corner is a Rite-Aid, and on my right is Dunkin' Donuts. Three MAJOR drugstores & 2 of them are open 24/7. Am I the only one this strikes as odd? Are there so many people in this neighborhood who get sick that they need 3 drugstores on opposite corners from each other??? WOW!!!!

In other news today, for my few faithful readers, who have been praying for my nephew, please continue to pray for him and his mom, my sis-in-law. Adam ended up in the hospital with a blockage in his bowel. They say there is no evidence of cancer stuff, so don't know what is causing the blockage. Also due to all the other stuff going on with him, they can not use all of the traditional methods to clear out the blockage, so if they can't get it cleared he will have to have yet another surgery! Obviously my sil is stressing about all of this & I can't say as I blame her, but she fell Monday night and cracked 3 ribs so she isn't doing to great herself. Please pray for both things to be resolved quickly.

Well, it is late & I must be off to bed. Hope y'all have a good evening.

Good news, bad news

2008-11-18T00:06:00.008-05:00

So, thinking just maybe Rae, doesn't really have an ear ? infection, but it's just a little clogged; we administer said anti-inflammatory, the girls play a little play doh & then she lays on daddy with the heating pad. All per the on-call triage nurse. (okay, not the play doh part) Sunday dawns and we decide not to say anything about above incident, figuring, if she really is in pain, she'll say something. Not a peep out of her.
However, today we are sitting at the table at lunch & notice Emily's ear inside, but not down in the canal, is bright red. I need to back track a bit here. A week or so ago, she had scratched her ear so hard she made it bleed. We started monitoring it & putting a bit of neosporin in it to keep it soft & help it heal. Great, all gone! But she keeps asking for the medicine in her ear. Even last night(Sun.); so Bill puts a dab of my face moisturizer on it and to sleep she goes. I call the nurse to get her opinion, as I'm not one of these people who likes to bring their child(ren) in for every little sniffle and sneeze. And as I've posted before, we are a relatively healthy family, in terms of illnesses. Lo and behold, they see her this afternoon. At some point, either from when she scratched it or before that, Emily got an infection in there. So she is now on topical & oral antibiotics.

On a different front; some of my "doing life together" ladies & I got together for an afternoon out. Trader Joe's just opened here in RI, so we decided to go check it out, do lunch, and a few other stores, after church yesterday. We had a lovely time, thanks to all the hubbies for watching the children while we did this. But the best part was reading about what Bo Hunkmeister did. I'm only mildly envious, because my first b-day we were together, my husband put 37 helium balloons in my apartment with 3x5 index cards attached with 37 reasons/things he loves about me. (I happened to be out of town for said b-day & came home to this.)

GO BO! Hold that bar up high for the rest of the men!

A trip to mecca aka IKEA

2008-11-15T23:16:00.005-05:00

So, a little while back (the exact time frame escapes me)my good friend, Maria sent me a link to enter a contest through IKEA. I'm all for entering contests if I'm not going to get more junk snail mail or spam e-mail. So I enter said contest & get a notification back that I won one of their instant $20.00 gift cards. Give them all my info & a few days later, in the snail mail WA LA(is this how you really spell that? Noah Webster must be turning over in his grave!), said gift card arrives. It has been hanging around for a while now as ~~mecca~~ IKEA is about a 45 minute drive heading towards Boston, from where we live. Now, not being a "true" New Englander, this doesn't really bother me. But especially with gas prices as they were(we are down close to $2.00, here), this is not a trip you make any old time or every day. So I say to the hubby after his bible study this morning; "Honey, do you feel like going to IKEA today?" His response? "Why absolutely, oh beautiful love of my life!" Okay, so he wasn't really that sickeningly sweet. But he did agree to load the girls up & head out with us. He had never been to ~~mecca~~ IKEA.
We get there, walk around for a while, then went & had an early dinner. As we sit down, Rachel says, "my ear hurts." Bill asks her if she wants him to pray for the pain & she in her pitiful voice says, "uh, huh." As Bill walks around the table to pray for Rae, we hear Emily say, "In Jesus' name, AMEN!" and then promptly inform Daddy that she just prayed for Rach. (as she has recently taken to calling her.) So she feels no one else needs to pray for her. Then, on the way home I called the peds office to see what I should do, as my girls don't generally get sick. Give her some ibuprofen & a heating pad when we get home & call them in the am to bring her in. Emily, again informs us that she/we already prayed for Rachel & she doesn't need any medicine, but "mommy, can I have some too?" So we tried to explain that we can all pray for Rachel's ear pain & that sometimes God wants us to use medicine to help us get better. We will have to see how she is when she gets up, in the am. I'm just praying it isn't an ear infection or strep.

Oh yeah, as we are pulling out of the parking lot, I could sense he wasn't impressed with ~~wasting his afternoon~~ his visit to IKEA. So in my ever observant & un-filtered way of saying things, I ~~stupidly~~ ask him what he thought. He says, "It reminds me of a high-end Job Lots." (I think he might have meant bldg. 19, but I could be wrong)

In the meantime my friend, Dawn, aka "the domestic goddess" & martha stewart, jr. calls me, ME!!! to ask me a recipe question. Okay, so it was on a recipe that I had given her, but still. I'll have to get it back from her to post on recipeasy. I got it from the owner of my local meat market, but since my family wasn't crazy about it, I just gave her the entire recipe.

btw- thanks Maria, for hooking me up with the IKEA give away!

Life & my nephew Adam

2008-11-10T23:22:00.003-05:00

So, I've had several posts rattling around in my brain. (my husband would tell you, that's probably all that's rattling around in there.) But, at this point in the game, I'm like, aaahhh, too late to post them now- irrelevant. I just saw a recipe on a blog that I read that looks really yummy. I might have to try it. (I'd steal it & post it on recipeasy, but it's on Emily's sister's, Holly, blog.) Wanted to post on the election, but seems irrelevant at this point. Did get an interesting e-mail from a friend about 77 days of praying for the president. Check it out here if you want: www.presidentialprayerteam.org. I'd do the little linky thing, but I am NOT technically savvy. You show me what to do I can do it. Try to figure it out on my own, not so much.
Wanted to post about halloween, but again, seems irrelevant at this point.
Guess I should give my dad a belated b-day shout out. His b-day was Saturday the 8th. In typical Gail fashion, I bought his b-day card on October 21st,(this year); but when I went to mail it I couldn't find it, so it didn't get mailed until the 6th when my darling husband found it for me.

I do want to say THANK YOU to ALL the veterans out there who served our country. Whether you pushed paper across a desk, or fought on the front lines, it is all still important. And my family & I thank you, because we appreciate our freedoms. May God bless America, & may that be a phrase that NEVER dies in this country. Too many lives have been lost in order that we might be able to say that.

I'm really slacking in this department. My nephew, Adam, had a PET scan last Tu. & then met with his oncologist on Fri, 11/7. According to the doctor, at this point he is considered in remission!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN YOU SAY YAHHOOOOO!!!!! The PET scan came back with no signs of cancer & his tumor markers are normal. He still has to finish out his chemo, of which he has 2 more rounds. He should be done mid-January. 4 weeks after that they'll do another PET scan to make sure still no signs of cancer & then 4 weeks after that, if all is going well, they'll reverse his iliostomy & repair the hernia he got.
What is almost as awesome as that, is we as a family have been praying for him when we put the girls to bed. Well, Wed. nights is our bible study nite & my awesome girlfriend, Viv, comes over to ~~spoil~~ babysit the girls for us. When we came home, she asked me about Adam & said that Emily said we didn't have to pray for him any more, 'cuz he was all better. I didn't get the above report about remission until Friday. Odd?? or God! I personally like to think God.
So a huge thank you to those of you in bloggy land who have been praying for Adam. Please continue to pray for the rest of his treatments & anything else the Lord may lay on your heart.
Well, I think that is about all for tonight. It is late & I must go to bed.
Have a blessed rest of the week.
-Gail

recipeasy

2008-10-30T17:01:00.003-04:00

So, Karen, who fixed my blog so lovely, also belongs to another blog, called recipeasy.
Well, the ladies over at recipeasy just let me join their ranks. There are some really yummy recipes on there. Just a couple I've tried and people have raved about is "gooey butter cake" and the no bake cookies. I just added my first post, so hop on over & check it out. You just might find something yummy for dinner(or another meal).
Here's the link: recipeasy.blogspot.com
Hope you enjoy.
-Gail

A HUGE THANK YOU!!!!!!

2008-10-26T23:49:00.003-04:00

Like the new blog look??? Wish I could take credit for it, but alas, I truly am not that talented!!!! If I did this on my own, well, it still wouldn't be done. So this is a huge THANK YOU to my bloggy friend, Karen over at snakes-snails-puppydogtails.blogspot.com. I provided the pics and she put it all together for me. Maybe someday I'll be blessed to meet this lovely lady in person. But for now, I am glad to call her a bloggy friend! You should check out her other blog too- recipeasy.blogspot.com. I've gotten several YUMMY recipes off this site!

Karen, thank you again. May you be richly blessed for sharing your talents.

Fall, pumpkins & growing children

2008-10-26T22:07:00.004-04:00

Our junior high youth group was suppose to go to a corn maze yesterday evening, but a storm came in; wind & rain. So word of mouth told me it got canceled. Well, yesterday morning it was still nice. Some friends of ours were on their way to above said corn maze, last weekend I believe, when they came across a different farm that had a lot of free stuff, geared towards all ages. With no direction or clue of where we were going, my husband, the girls and I set out to find this place. The only thing we knew was what city it was in. Now I realize being the smallest state in the union you'd think we'd be able to find this place, but no such luck. So we took back roads home and came across my favorite pick your own fruit farm. We decided to stop and get some pumpkins and see if they were still picking apples. To our pleasant surprise, the pumpkins were out in the field so we took a little walk and found two little pumpkins and one larger one that we could carve.
These are my 2 little beauties with their little pumpkins. Rachel is in the pink and Emily is in the blue.

They were also still picking apples, so we picked about a dozen or so. They were very yummy! We let the girls color the two little ones and help carve the big one. Then Dad decided to let them roast the pumpkin seeds. Pictures of the finished product will have to come later.
Hope you are having a great Fall.

Some more birthday shout outs

2008-10-22T23:24:00.004-04:00

Well, I actually wanted to post on October 13th, & give a shout out to a dear friend of mine (and former roommate), Sharon. It was her birthday, that day & I am blessed to be able to call her a friend. Also my nephew, Jaden turned 4 last week on the 16th.
Hope you had great birthdays, Sharon & Jaden.
A wonderful bloggy friend is helping me(okay, she's really doing ALL the work!)to update my blog, so look for a face lift coming soon.

I love to read blogs and spend time on the computer, but some how I need to find a balance to doing that and the rest of my life.

God has been showing me lately, just how forgiving and loving He is; and how incredibly blessed I am. Thank you, Jesus for dying for me.

shout outs & dining out

2008-10-11T09:27:00.002-04:00

I'd like to give a shout out to a couple of bloggy friends I have who encourage, inspire and pray for me. Thanks Karen & Peggy for sharing your lives through blogs; thus helping to inspire me to be a better wife and mom, but also letting me know that I'm not alone in some of these "battles." Thanks for your prayers and kind encouragement when you haven't heard from me in "forever." It's nice to have blog friends like that.

Dining out:

Last summer when my husband was unemployed he started to do some secret or mystery shops to at least bring in a couple of dollars to the house. This year I decided to get in on the action. Some of these shops are at eating facilities; whether fast food or fine dining. Let me just tell you. I just did one for a fine dining establishment & OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! First of all they allow you $60.00 just for lunch, to give you an idea how expensive this place is. But the food was out of this world. We ordered an appetizer of calamari, our own separate & different entrees and dessert, which was coconut creme pie. From the first bite of calamari, to the last bite of pie, all of this food literally melted in my mouth. If this is what the food tastes like in heaven I can't wait!!!!!

Another year older & other stuff

2008-07-31T21:12:00.009-04:00

okay, Okay, OKAY!!!!! A faithful few have been saying oh for about 3 months now, that I haven't posted in a while & when am I going to do so? (see, if you look at the date I wanted to post the video closer to my b-day, but just never got around to blogging. The husband started it for me, so I could have the video.)

Well, to be quite honest a lot of things have been going on. As I'm sure any mother can tell you or agree with me, life has just been busy; and I've been "trying" to spend less time on the computer. (My husband will totally disagree with the last part of the previous sentence.)

My birthday is the end of July & my husband put together this lovely video for me. So I thought I'd share it with y'all. It's a little long, almost 10 minutes. I think for my 2nd mother's day my husband put the video together and I've been asking him to put it on my side of the computer. So he redid it this year, added pix & some new songs. The first song really gets me. Talks about changing the world, one little heartbeat at a time. Thanks honey!

Let me see, quick recap of our summer. The husband has been out of work since the end of June & diligently looking for a job; unfortunately not finding anything. God, however, is still God & has totally been meeting our needs. Thank you Jesus!

Fourth of July (& Columbus day) fireworks are literally in our back yard. So we decided to try to let the girls stay up this year. Unfortunately it was a bit loud for them. This is one of my favorite photos my husband took this year.

I went to the Women of Faith conference, up in Boston, on my birthday weekend. That was a blast.

August was an incredibly busy month. We had a wedding to go to in NH the first weekend in August. Then the girls and I took the train down to Dover, DE to visit my best girlfriend, Renae & her husband, Dan. We were there for about a week & a half. During that time my husband & his best friend took a weekend motorcycle trip up to NH & the Kangamangas highway. (Which is why I got to go to Delaware!) We came home from that, were home for about 2 weeks and went off to western NY to my nephew's wedding. The wedding was lovely and it was great to see some family I hadn't seen in a while.

For those who have been praying for my nephew, Adam he's doing okay. He's finished his first round of chemo & now has a blood clot in his lungs. Fortunately they caught it quickly and are treating it. Our prayer is that he would be completely healed, and be a testimony to our Lord Jesus Christ.

The girls are a lot of fun. Outside of the temper tantrums & attitudes I absolutely love this age. The other day Rae hit Em. Bill told her that wasn't nice & asked her why she did it. Her response was "Emily was antagonizing me." It absolutely amazes me the things they come out with. I will joke with my husband & various friends and tell them they're slacking or call them a "slacker." We were eating breakfast a week or so ago & Emily out of the blue says, "Daddy, you're a slacker!" Funny how it doesn't seem so bad when I say it, but to hear it out of my 3 year old's mouth, uummmmm, it sounds like a cuss word! We also have Yogi Berra living at our house. The girls will frequently say things like: "If I like it, I like it." (pointing their little fingers in earnest) Okay, Yogi! :) Or another one of my favorites; there is a show on Disney channel in the morning called "Handy Manny." If you haven't seen it it's sort of a cross between Bob the builder & Dora. My girls can say both words, but when they put it together, it comes out, "Handy Bambi." Or think- they can say "thank you," but when they say think it comes out "sink." Children -go figure!

Well, that is about all I can think of right now. So yes, I'm still here, & haven't given up on the blog. Thanks for still checking in.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

2008-06-15T20:52:00.002-04:00

Happy Father's day to my wonderful husband & all of the fathers, step-fathers & other substitute fathers out there. My husband had a wonderful day/weekend I do believe. Yesterday they had the "Gearfest" at our church. This is the 2nd annual event, where dads, kids & anyone can come in, touch, climb on, in, push buttons, sirens, whatever there is to do on "big rigs." Basically boys toys. Anything you could imagine, from police cars, to fire trucks, to back hoes, motorcycles, etc. was there. Today he rode the motorcycle to church, then went for a nice long ride with a couple of his male friends. Came home & caught the tail end of our friend's b-day party. They had a bounce house, so he played in there with the girls. We had more than enough food at the party, so I ordered him Chinese. Now he's relaxing on the couch. Honey, I hope your father's day was as wonderful as my mother's day!

**Update on my nephew-
My s-i-l & he are going to Pittsburgh, PA tomorrow for a consultation on Tu. am. Then on Fri. the 20th he gets his port put in.

Happy birthday to my brother-in-law, Brian, tomorrow, June 16th.

Busy week coming up.

Going to go relax with the husband now, even though the house looks like a tornado went through it. :)
God Bless, -Gail

Update on my nephew, Adam

2008-06-07T23:45:00.004-04:00

To any of you in blogland who've been praying for my nephew, thanks & keep praying.
Here is the update from his oncology appt. from 6/6. His cancer is a stage 4 & very aggressive. He has some spots in his abdominal wall. Rochester is an excellent hospital, but they treat every other kind of cancer except his. The oncology dr. wants to send him to Pittsburgh, PA which has the closest & best hospital to treat the type of cancer he has. Rochester needs to call Pittsburgh & see if they'll take him. If they do he will go down & have more abdominal surgery to remove any more cancer they see. Then they will insert a catheter into his abdomen to administer some very high doses of chemo. After that he can go home to NY, where he'll receive more chemo through a port -46 hours on & then a week off, repeated for a while(don't know time frame). The dr. said this cancer doesn't respond to radiation so he won't be getting any of that. They are looking about 8 mo. to a year for treatment.

Please pray for strength & peace for my brother & his family. Pray the drs. in PA decide to treat him. (not sure what the criteria would or wouldn't be)Pray that he is able to deal/cope with the chemo.

Initially, he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. My husband & I did not have a peace about this. I felt that it was cancer, but I am not a dr. I also felt he would survive all of this.

*On another note, please also pray for my 2nd cousin, Todd who has been battling lymphoma for a couple of years now. Things are not looking good for him. He is in his early 40's & has 3 children under the age of 10. His parents buried his sister a couple of years ago. She died of M.S. This family could really use your prayers.

Thanks.
-Gail

Also happy 61st anniversary to my Aunt & Uncle, Nita & Kenn Foltz. Yep, you read that right. 61 years!

My friend, Steve UPDATED

2008-06-02T21:28:00.005-04:00

So, I posted late Saturday night & included some belated b-day shout outs. Get to church Sunday am & realize I forgot a good friend of mine, Steve. So happy belated b-day Steve, on the 27th of May. I like to give Steve a hard time as our b-days are exactly 2 months apart. This makes him older than me! :) But to his credit; we were talking last week about our age, we are in the 40's now; he was saying how he is in the best shape he has EVER been in. I was lamenting the fact I'm in the WORST shape I've ever been in.
See, for the last several years Steve, his wife & older children have been taking kick boxing/krav maga. Well, this coming Saturday, Steve is taking his last test for his black belt. Apparently it is broken up into 3 parts, he has already passed the 1st two parts, so this is it. DO OR DIE! He has been working very hard at his training & getting his time down that it takes him to run a mile. My understanding is this last part is about endurance & memory; they have to execute a bunch of different moves, in a particular order, cleanly.
So, Steve, as they tell Adam Sandler in the movie "Waterboy"...YOU CAN DO IT WATAHBOY!!!! I'll be praying for you & I know you have studied to show yourself approved.
btw- any of you out there in blogland who might be reading this, I know Steve would appreciate your prayers as well.
-Gail

UPDATE** I got a praise report today that Steve passed his 3rd & final test & is officially a black belt! CONGRATULATIONS, STEVE! I knew you could do it.
For all you who prayed, thanks!

random rants & ramblings

2008-05-31T22:01:00.006-04:00

Well, after not blogging for a couple of weeks I'm getting flak from my DH. So this is long overdue, will probably be WAAAYYY too long & rambling. I finally got him to help me fix some things on the blog. The picture in the top is from Sept. '06 when the family & my mom went to Cooperstown. It was part of the hubby's b-day present so we tried to let him do whatever he wanted while my mom & I kept the girls entertained. (they were only about 18 mo. at that point.) Hubby & I haven't changed, just the girls & you can see other pix of them on my blog(keep reading) or over at the hubby's photography blog- raephoto.blogspot.com.

Belated birthday shout-outs- my dear friend Dawn@ the-domestic-goddess.blogspot.com. Holy week ended as they pulled out of the driveway on her special day to head to OK. via RV. (she calls it holy week, as it starts w/mother's day & ends w/her b-day. No irreverence intended towards Our Lord Jesus Christ.)
And my wonderful nephew, Ryan's b-day was 2 days ago on the 29th.

Update on my other nephew, Adam, (sorry this didn't come sooner)his surgery went okay, not as good as they hoped. They removed a baseball sized tumor, about 14" of his colon & a little bit of his bladder where the tumor had perforated the colon & adhered to the bladder. His recovery seems to be going as well as can be expected. I guess he gets tired pretty easily right now, partially due to the surgery & I think a lot due to the fact of all the blood he lost before his surgery.(he was pretty anemic) My s-i-l & he flew home this am from AK to western NY, where he has an appt. w/the oncologist in Rochester on 6/6. Not 100% definite yet whether he'll be medically discharged from the military or what is going on on that front. Thank you to those who have been praying for him. His heart's desire is to remain in the military, preferably working on airplanes. Please pray he is able to continue to do this. Please pray for my s-i-l's sanity as she was an empty nester for a VERY short time. She now has 3 adult children, 6 cats & 1 dog(still a puppy)living with her & she does in-home daycare with her sister.

HAPPY BELATED MEMORIAL DAY to all who serve or have served this great nation. My family & I greatly appreciate the freedoms that we have every day. Also to their families for the sacrifices they have had to make.

Red Sox- yes, I realize it is still early in the season, but the Sox are in the lead!!!! Manny hit homerun #500 tonight!!! We could've been at that game! Ah, well, another time & another place.(isn't there a song about that?) GO SOX!

exercising & the children- last weekend & this weekend we took the girls for a bicycle ride. We have a cart that attaches to the bike, so last weekend we took the girls for a ride. We rode about 4 miles, give or take a bit. Today it was supposed to have a chance of showers this afternoon, so after the hubby let me sleep in this am(he usually isn't home in the am so I don't get to do this)& a late breakfast of french toast he said "let's load up the bikes & go for a ride before the rain gets here." (the rain didn't come, at all, okay 1 tiny sprinkle) Today we rode about 6+ miles. I pulled the girls for about 1/3-1/2 of the trip.(I say about 1/2, the DH says about 1/3.) So on the return trip back to the van, DH has the girls behind him & they are talking about mixing, mixing, mixing a mess & as I come along side I see Em twirling her arms(like the wheels on the bus motion). They seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. We were all beat when we got home & took lovely naps!
(insert pic here of cherubs w/helmets on in bike cart- oh wait, we didn't take that picture. I wanted to, though. It was just too late when I remembered.)
So instead of above mentioned picture here is one of their 3 yr. pix.

Well, that is about all I have to say, except, I am thoroughly enjoying this age minus the temper tantrums & getting into things they shouldn't be.

comedy of horrors

2008-05-12T14:25:00.002-04:00

So, yesterday was awesome. Except, we went out to dinner & since I handle all the finances, I usually pay when we go out to restaurants. Last night I didn't, I let the husband pay. So what? You say, well, because of that I didn't get my purse off the back of the chair & walked out without it. I did NOT even realize this until I got up this am. Looked around the house, in the van & realized where it was. Surprisingly I did not go into panic mode. No big deal you say, call the restaurant & go get it. Right. Except on Mondays, I have 2 additional children for a total of 4 children all 3 or under. Oh, & might I add, when I contacted the restaurant, they are closed on Mon. & the owner/manager is only there for about 1 -1 1/2 hrs. to order food? So I need to go upstairs to get 1 car seat & open the garage to get the other car seat. As we are coming back down stairs Emily slips & takes a tumble down the stairs. You know how you lay sideways on a hill & roll down it? She looked kind of like that. I think it scared me more than her, but I called the ped, just in case. They said to keep an eye on her & watch for any unusual behaviors, vomiting, etc. So I get everyone loaded up, & off we go; I get my purse, check to make sure all contents are there, which they are, & off we go again. Only this time putting girls in the van, some one started playing with buttons. I throw my keys on the front seat & next thing I know I hear ALL the doors locking. GREAT, because now all the girls are strapped in & I'm on the outside & none of them can reach the lock on the door. Ok, most of the girls, Rachel was about half way buckled in. So again keeping my calm I get Rachel to squirm out of her seat & unlock the door. THANK GOODNESS! Who knows how long I'd have been sitting there if I hadn't got her to do that. We finally made it home without any further mishaps. WHEW!

-Gail

HAPPY MOM'S DAY!

2008-05-11T23:27:00.002-04:00

To all you Mom's out there who happen to read this: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I never knew how wonderful & hard motherhood could be. I am so blessed to be the mom to 2 of the most beautiful girls around. (No, not your's, although I'm sure your's are as beautiful as mine.) I remember after I gave birth, in the delivery room, nursing my girls, then when they transfered me to my room, my husband wanted me to hold them. I WAS DONE! I had carried these 2 beauties for the past 9 months, just gone through about 17 hours of labor after having 2 sleepless nights. I wanted no part of them. I remember he said, "Don't you want to hold one of them?" I honestly said, "nope, I just held them for the last 9 months honey, it's okay, you can hold them for awhile." Let me just tell you, he suckered me into holding one after that comment. There have been times in the 1st year that I often felt almost an indifference in being a mom, but now I can honestly say, I CAN NOT IMAGINE MY LIFE WITH OUT THESE TWO WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL LITTLE GIRLS!!!!! (insert adorable picture here, that I can't find on computer.) :)
Almost everyday these days I see more & more of their beauty & wonderment at being 3 years old in this world. Tonight after taking my m-i-l out to dinner with some of the other family, I heard my girls singing "the itsy, bitsy spider". This was how it went: the itsy, bitsy spider, spout, rain WASHED spider out, sun dried up, itsy, bitsy spider. Start over. But, what really gets me- is when they sing along with the worship songs or even at church, they may not know the words, but will hum along with us. Yep, gets me every time.
They loved on me today, A LOT! But when they wanted to hang all over dad, I didn't mind. He kept apologizing, but it really was okay!
I absolutely had THE MOST WONDERFUL mother's day. I pretty much got to do whatever I wanted. We went to my favorite park, Colt State Park. This park sits right on the ocean & has the most beautiful "orchard" of lilacs & wisteria. We had a picnic lunch & hung out & played today.
Thanks honey for helping me to have an absolutely wonderful mother's day, allowing me to be your wife & the mother to your two beautiful baby girls.
My prayer is that my children will grow up to be Godly children. (see link on the side- praying for my children)

blessings & a prayer request

2008-05-06T23:32:00.006-04:00

My daughters are three now. WOW!!!! I'm not sure where the last 3 years went, but they went somewhere! The first couple of years were a blur. Now I'm starting to enjoy them. Have the temper tantrums started? OH YEAH!!!! They actually started a few months ago, but seem to have been getting worse of late.(is that redundant?)
I have to back up. I'm an addict, a blog addict that is. I may have previously mentioned this in another post.(I'm too lazy to go back & look) I read many blogs, most of them other Christians, but not all of them. There is one where a mom lost her 4 year old son to cancer this past January. There are a couple of people who are dealing with cancer now or have an infant they were told to abort, because he wouldn't live more than a couple of hours(btw, he's 2 mo. old now) or an infant who died just hours after being born. MOST of the blogs I read though are for fun, make me laugh & uplift me. But let me tell you what I've learned. That somewhere in this crazy place we call the world, blog-o-land, some one may be having a worse day(week, month, year, life) than me; but they are still muddling through. Through whatever their trials & tribulations may be they are still praising Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the risen one. They know that he is their rock & their strength; doesn't make the particular situation any easier, just able to bear it all up.
So let me get back to my title: blessings! I have come to realize that when my daughters aren't throwing their tantrums they are an absolute wonderful blessing. (The picture btw is their 2 1/2 yr pic/Christmas pic. I'm not especially computer savvy, so while their 3 yr pic is somewhere on the computer I couldn't find it. I will either edit this post & change the pic or you can pop over to the hubby's blog to see my darlings. Okay, I tried adding his link, but with no luck so I'll just type out the address: lifeofpictures.blogspot.com) I love hearing them talk, either to me or to each other or their friends.(or even their baby dolls or stuffed animals) One of my BFF's who'll remain nameless has told me she loves to smell her children after they come in from outside on a spring day. I love to smell my children just about any time. One of my favorite times to do this is when I wake them up in the middle of the night to go potty. They are (marginally)still small enough that I pick them up out of bed & carry them into the bathroom, then carry them back to bed. I kiss on them, tell them how beautiful they are, how much I love them & sniff the heck out of them. Some days I could just eat them alive. (good thing I'm not a cannibal) :)
So all of this brings me to the second part of my title: a prayer request.
My nephew, AJ, is 24, serving our country in the military, would like to make a lifelong career out of it, but was just diagnosed with colon cancer. This comes on the tail of the 1st anniversary of my mother's death. Right now the docs have told him the prognosis is good, but it will be a long road ahead of him.
I'm not one to post prayer requests on here at least until now; but while I haven't always been the best aunt in the world I love my nephew. Above is a pic of AJ holding his nephew(my great nephew). This is from 2005, but it is the most recent pic I have of him. I guess my prayer request is for peace for the family & proper treatment/diagnosis of his illness. Thanks!

Lord, whatever things this life may bring my way, help me to count it all joy. Help me to remember you know the beginning from the end & you knew ALL of my circumstances before they came to pass. May I be able to be like Job who said, "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth." Job 19:25 and my paraphrase of Job 1:21 "yet will I praise him."

Hope you have a blessed rest of the week. -Gail

blogging & music

2008-04-11T00:14:00.003-04:00

I enjoy blogging, but am not a good writer. I don't feel that I'm witty & humorous like some of the blogs I read, and my use of the written English language is okay at best. I hated writing papers in college & it was somewhat of my demise. I'm also not very computer literate. If you show me how to do things I can usually master it, but there are many things I'd like to do with my blog, that I just don't know how to do. (Thanks to Karen of snakes, snails & puppy dog tails for showing/telling me how to go about adding a blog roll. Which someday will be much longer, but it is time consuming to add.) So I guess I said the above to say if I was better I'd blog more.
So Karen had in her music likes "Go fish," since I don't listen to mainstream music any more I didn't really know who/what they were. Well, let me just tell you who they are. They are a group of guys who cater to children AND adults with their music. It is rawking music geared to toddlers on up, but has disclaimers on the cd "great music for Kids that won't drive parents BONKERS!" They aren't kidding. This is Christian music; talking about all of the books of the bible, the ten commandments & their version of Jesus loves me is great! Apparently they were featured on Focus on the Family. I look forward to catching a lot more of these guys.
Today was absolutely beautiful here- thank you Jesus! I took the girls outside to play & run around. We had a good time. Have you ever listened to a three year olds' vocabulary? THEY CRACK ME UP!!! One of them said something to the other about "Actually we have to do this or that..." REALLY? Oh my goodness. I think it is because they are repeating their mother! One of them told my husband the other day, "Just a minute, I'm in the process of doing something." I say this to them all the time when they want me to drop whatever project I happen to be in the middle of so I can wait on them. Or they expect me to be their personal slave; get this, get that. So I'll ask them, "What, are your legs/arms broken?" My oldest has taken to fussing at me when I don't get whatever for her & telling me, "Yes you do, because my legs are broken." It is really hard not to laugh in her face.
I had some other things I wanted to say, but due to the hour I think they've ran out of my mind.

pet peeves

2008-04-07T23:46:00.003-04:00

So I've posted about one of my pet peeves in the past being people who come to the end of an off ramp(or on ramp for that matter)& STOP when there isn't even a yield sign. So last Tuesday I'm on my way to my girlfriend's house for our weekly playgroup & I come to a particular off ramp where the traffic has its own lane. THERE IS NO REASON TO STOP!!!!! Lo' & behold what do you think happened to me? Yep, you guessed it, the car in front of me stopped. So I honked my horn, not in a rude way let me lay on it, but a beep, beep, beepity-beep-beep. I got the 1 finger salute, so I just smiled & waved back. As he proceeds to drive away & I go around him it was this old man & he did it again! If I wasn't in such a hurry to get to my friend's house that morning, I was very tempted to follow him into the mall. I would've asked him if that was all the command he had of the English language. Probably was a good thing I was in a hurry.
Gotta love it!

IKEA & girlfriends

2008-04-07T23:25:00.003-04:00

So Saturday the 5th, 3 of my girlfriends & I trekked about 45 minutes to our "local" IKEA; while the dads stayed home with all of the children.(except 1 that is still nursing) We stopped in next door at Costco to visit our friend Michelle who was suppose to accompany us, but ended up covering for a co-worker. It was good to see her & at least say hi.
For those of you reading who may not know what IKEA is I'll try to explain as best I can. It is a HUGE store where you could basically decorate/design & furnish your entire house. It got its start in Europe somewhere- I want to say Sweden, because they also have a small cafe that serves a lot of Swedish products? Not 100% sure on that info, so if you really want to know- go google it. :) If you've ever watched any Veggie tale videos I can only relate it to the Madame Blueberry one & "stuff mart".
We all had a good time doing what we women love to do (shop, talk & eat in case you didn't know). Any way IKEA's prices are pretty reasonable & the stuff is pretty decent quality.
One of the things I bought I will have to return at some point. We don't have anywhere to hang coats in our apartment; so we have to rely on over-the-door hooks, which is what is in the girls' bedroom for coats & sweaters. I'm a bit tired of the girls coming in & dropping their coats wherever they want or just throwing it in the glider rocker for mom to hang up later. So I found this cool strap that fits over the top & bottom of the door. It has 5 hooks on it & some of them would have been low enough for the girls to hang coats on. Great I'm thinking to myself- this will be perfect! NOT!!!! Get it home, open it up to hang it & find that it fits very THIN doors like maybe 1/2" thick. Now really how many people do you know who have 1/2" thick doors in their house??? ARGGGHHH. Or I can look at the good side of it- I now have a reason to go back sooner than later.
Happy Monday- hope y'all have a good week!

The worst year of my life

2008-04-03T23:08:00.004-04:00

This is a picture of my mom & my oldest daughter Rachel exactly a week before she passed away. This woman doesn't even look sick does she???? My mom fought a brave fight against her illness. I truly am glad she isn't suffering any more. Today has been surreal? -not sure that is the word I'm looking for, but for the moment it works. I haven't been overly weepy missing her today. Tried to keep myself busy so I didn't have time to really think about it. But this morning I was definitely thinking about it. Recounting in my mind exactly what was going on that day a year ago. My sister-in-law called me about 4 am that day. They had re-admitted my mom to the hospital on Monday. When I talked to my s-i-l on that Monday I asked her if she thought I needed to come back up. She said no, we'll call you if/when that happens.
My husband & I got up & threw stuff in the van & were on the road by 5 am. Now, I need to tell you how my husband drives- like a grandpa! If you get him talking in a conversation he'll slow down to about 60 on the freeway. So to my amazement & admiration he was doing 80-90 on the freeway that morning in hopes we could make the 6 hour drive to the hospital before my mom actually passed away. In fact it was totally the Lord that we didn't get pulled over on the Mass Pike. We were in the high speed lane, he was doing about 85. All of the sudden a car comes up behind us & flashes their high beams at us to move over & get out of the way. He pulls over as soon as he can & much to our surprise a state highway patrol vehicle speeds by us.
I got to talk to my mom on the phone during the trip & tell her I loved her; that I didn't want her to suffer any more & we were on our way, but if she couldn't hang on until we got there it would be okay & I understood. We were about an hour/ hour & 1/2 tops away from the hospital when my brother called me & told me she was gone. They said they'd wait for us at the hospital so I could see her one last time. When I walked in that hospital room, she looked so peaceful. And the most important part was she was no longer in pain.
After we took care of all the stuff at the hospital we went & ate lunch at a Wendy's, then my husband & I went & picked up the girls' 2 year old pictures that my mom & I had just had taken a week & a half ago at JCPenney's.
It is still hard to believe she's gone. She was the one person that I could call at 10 or 11 at night & talk to & she never cared.
My mom was a truly amazing woman. Very strong & independent, a survivor. She taught me so many things, I don't think I could even begin to list them all here. Don't get me wrong we had our ups & downs. Not too long after my parents got divorced, we must've gotten into a knock down drag out fight; because I wrote her a letter telling her I wanted a divorce from her too! She kept that letter for years in her wallet.
I happened to be living at home for my 25th birthday. She told me not to drink & drive & that no matter what time it was or where I was to call her & she'd come get me. She did! The next day my brother & sis-in-law & my 2 young nephews came into town to visit. I was sooo hung over, but we all went & picked up my car & went to COSI in Columbus.(COSI stands for center of science & industry)
She was one of those mean moms- always needing to know where I was, when I'd be home, who was going to be there for chaperones, who was going to be at the event, etc.
She instilled values & morals in me. She (& my father) gave me my foundation for my faith. But even that wasn't always an easy walk. When I got saved I wanted to get re-baptized. She would have liked to have a cow, thought I was in a cult, didn't understand why I needed to do that as I had been baptized when I was a baby. Then when I moved to RI to go to bible college & I totally knew it was the Lord, she was furious at me that I gave up my massage therapy career that I'd just spent the last few years building up.
She tried to teach me how to sew. But that was something I have NEVER had a desire to learn. Okay, maybe minutely, but that has just been recently. She was an awesome cook & an even better baker; but knew others were also as good if not better than her. I never liked her meatloaf, but I do like my aunt's.
I could talk to her about anything- yep, sex included. She didn't always approve of my lifestyle(then again I'm not too proud of parts of my past)but I knew I always had her support.
She was a proud woman, but not too proud to accept help. The things that woman taught me! I knew I'd miss her when she was gone, but I didn't think I would miss her this much.
If I could be half the mother to my girls that she was to me, I'll be doing okay.
Mom, I miss you. Can't wait to see you someday.

random thoughts

2008-03-31T00:07:00.003-04:00

One year ago this past Saturday, March 29th, was the last time I saw my mom alive. My sis-in-law keeps telling me to stop dwelling in the past. I try not to, but I really miss talking to my mom. I miss asking her questions about the girls, like did I do this or that, or telling her what they are up to these days. My girls turned 3 this past Wednesday, on my 3rd b-day we were camping in Tenn. & my mom ended up in the hospital having gall bladder surgery. Can I just tell you, that when we were cleaning out her house, she still had her gall stones saved in a jar!?!
I use to(still do?)talk in my sleep, my daughters have started this, I'm not exactly sure how to deal with this, as I keep wondering if something is wrong with them; especially since they've been sick of late & are still a bit under the weather. Speaking of sick: the girls had their 3 year check ups on Friday. They were both running temps of 101 at that time. The good news? The dr. said it was just viral, they had to ride it out, give them ibuprofen for the fever. She doesn't have to live with them being fussy, whiny & clingy. As far as the check up went, they are doing well. Weight wise they are in the 75th percentile & height wise there is 1/2 inch separating them which puts them in the 45th & 25th percentile respectively. I absolutely love my pediatrician. She is a mom of triplets, so she understands the multiple thing & she is incredibly attentive when you are there, addressing all of your concerns/questions.
So a little over a week ago on my bff Renae's b-day, the 1st day of spring arrived. And while the sun seems to be shining a bit more these days, I know it is here because my friends' crocus' are blooming! :) And I've been seeing a lot more motorcycles out on the road. In fact the hubs is very anxious to get our bike back on the road. If anyone out there in blogger land is feeling incredibly generous & wants to donate an additional motorcycle to our cause, please feel free to leave a comment w/contact info. I don't enjoy riding by myself, but with only 1 bike that is all we can do for now. And I don't have any female friends to go riding with. Oh yeah, & the other reason I know spring is here? Baseball, pre-season has started. Yes, folks it is Red Sox time again. Sing it with me: "Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd....." The husband actually taught the girls how to sing that song. It is too stinking cute to watch. Maybe I'll get a video of it & figure out how to post it.(don't hold your breath.)
I know I had other things I wanted to write about, but my mind is falling asleep.
G'night.

Birthday shout outs, happy labor day

2008-03-27T20:58:00.004-04:00

So I'm a bit behind pretty much all the way around. So let me just start with the birthday shout outs. March 15th, our nephew Dylan turned 7; March 18th, my BFF's son(that I use to babysit)turned 31(WOW!); & March 20th, my BFF, Renae turned 29 again. We have been friends for over 20 years & besides Jesus, NO ONE knows more about me than her. Yep, not even the hubby, since we've only been together for 5 years. But yesterday was the best birthday of the month! My baby girls :( turned 3. The sad face is because they are just growing up way too fast. Rachel will tell you she turned 4 & Emily will tell you 3. Of course Rae counts 1,2,3,4,6,7... so to her maybe 4 is logical. It is amazing to me that 3 years ago they were less than 24 hours old. I love to watch how their little minds process things; one of the most obvious is their concept(or lack thereof)of time. Everything happened last night or is happening "after naps." But they certainly don't miss a trick.
Last week the stomach bug went through the entire house. The girls seemed better for the weekend, but starting yesterday afternoon Rae started running a low-grade temp. No symptoms, just the temp. & being clingy/whiny. Today Em sounded croupy & also had a low grade temp. Fortunately they have their 3 year check-up tomorrow.
Speaking of the weekend, we had the girls party at the children's museum here in Providence. Thank goodness for my BFFS' Renae, Dawn & Marsha(also my s-i-l). Dawn & I made the cake/cupcakes. Renae & Marsha did the veggies & fruit for the party. Look for a picture of Elmo soon. Renae & Marsha & their husbands drove 6 hours a piece to come to the girls b-day party. Can I tell you what that means to me???
I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends & family.
So I took the girls to JCP to have pix taken yesterday- they did an awesome job(of course so did the photographer.) Look for those pix after the 9th of April.
If anyone who reads this has figured out a way to make your children stop growing, please feel free to share it with me.
Oh, in case you were wondering about the happy labor day (you were probably thinking that holiday is in Sept. so why is she posting on it now? weren't you?)Well, if you've ever had children you've been in labor, thus HAPPY labor day!(it is a happy occasion.)
Have a good evening & God Bless.

rants - some things are just not right!

2008-03-19T21:26:00.002-04:00

So, I was out shopping tonite with my mommy's helper, Hannah. This young lady is almost 9 years old & my daughters absolutely adore her. We were looking at sunglasses for my girls' birthday. We walked through the Easter candy aisle & I saw something that just wasn't right. SUGAR FREE PEEPS! Yep, you read that right. SUGAR FREE! The things are pure sugar, how could they even taste good & be sugar free? Peeps are one of my absolute favorite treats. In fact, I love chocolate as much as the next female, along with caramel; so I was disappointed when I read on the web tonight that Cadbury's caramel eggs are the absolute worst, but peeps were one of the better things to eat. I think the best Easter candy to eat was jelly beans. I know weight watchers allows like 35 jelly belly jelly beans & it is only 1 point(I think, I know it is 3 or less.) I personally like peep bunnies the best. I need to dissect them when you eat them. So I eat the ears first, then the head, then the body. How do you like to eat your peeps?

LOOONNNNGGG week continues; but I'm back from the dead

2008-03-18T15:03:00.003-04:00

So, my long week continued. I thought Emily was doing better on Sat. she ate a little bit, played a little bit & felt cool to the touch. Alas, it wasn't quite over. Went to church Sunday am, put the girls in nursery, the lady who was in there said to me, "Is she not feeling well? She isn't her usual chipper self & just wants me to hold her." Now if you know my daughter there are few people she wants to hold her. So, since we were in the baby nursery we took her in with us. (we only had 2 18mo. olds) Again she played a little bit, but didn't want to be far from mom & dad. Go home, try to rest, they were having none of it. So we needed to go to the mall to get a b-day present for my nephew. In the middle of the store she lets loose all over dad. Great! I wasn't so embarrassed for us, but more sympathetic for the other shoppers.
Monday morning dawns bright & early, get up to take care of a few things for the hubby to go to work. And about an hour later I'm stricken with the dreaded stomach bug. I never realized how difficult it is to parent when all you want to do is lay on the couch & sleep(& lick your wounds). Dad's job right now doesn't afford him the luxury of coming home to help out & to top it off he had a meeting at church last night. Thank goodness for wonderful friends & neighbors- Jen made us dinner last night.
Today I'm back from the dead, a bit worn out, but 100 times better than yesterday.
Praise God.
-Gail

LOOONNNNGGG week

2008-03-14T21:40:00.002-04:00

Here it is Friday evening. What a long week. Why has it been such a long week you ask? Well, Mondays I babysit for a friend. She has a 2 1/2 year old & a 5 month old. So it is essentially like I have triplets & a new born. We made it through Monday relatively unscathed. Tuesday morning dawns bright & early at 5 am with my oldest daughter puking her guts out. This goes on all day. While I love my husband & he is an awesome daddy sometimes he can be a bit over protective about his daughters' health. (I don't really fault him for this, I just try to humor him.)I know it is just a stomach bug, but he wants me to call the pediatrician. So I do. They tell me the vomiting has been lasting about 12 hours & the other end, well, a couple of days or so. She still has the lower end.
Last night at 11:30pm the 2nd daughter starts with the vomiting. Needless to say I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. Oh & she wants me to do everything she saw me doing with her sister in the last few days. So immediately after emptying her entire stomach contents she wants juice(actually as she is still vomiting she's asking for juice). How do I explain to an almost 3 year old that it will immediately come back up & she has to wait a little while. Not only that, but can I just tell you how much Veggie Tales & various other children's television I've watched this week.??? While I believe we should all have a daily dose of vegetables(aka veggie tales)I'm a bit vegetabled out.
Here's to a healthier weekend & a much healthier next week.
God Bless, -Gail

still blogging????

2008-02-13T08:22:00.002-05:00

Well, here it is a month & a half into the new year already. ??? (how did that happen?) For those out here who read my blog, so sorry for leaving you hanging on the Dec. 16th post. That was my mom's birthday & I had wanted to do a tribute post to her. However, the holidays were a tough time for me, as far as being depressed & missing her. I just couldn't get there. The actual holiday wasn't as bad as I thought it would be & now that we are passed that, my depression has been better.

So as far as interesting things to post on? Well, nothing more than the usual stuff in the life of a mom with 2 almost 3 year olds. Rachel has been completely out of diapers since Christmas; including at night also. Yay! Emily isn't quite there yet. She still gets a diaper at nighttime. I've never had a case of diapers last me this long!

God is amazing as always. If you are a parent I'm sure you've had him teach you a lesson or 2 through your child(ren). I think my most popular one is about listening/whining. When I talk to my children about this, he frequently has a way of reminding me how he tries to talk to me, or how I whine about many things. UGH!
Thanks, God!

So I've been hanging out at a new website/blog called Marriage hacks. They have a button to link to it, but I don't know how to attach any of that kind of stuff. (this is also why I have no blog roll.)

Hope you have a blessed day!
-Gail

blogging

2007-11-28T21:55:00.000-05:00

When I started blogging, I wanted to try to blog at least once a week. And for a few weeks, I think I managed this. Well, here is my(long winded) excuse as to why I haven't been blogging more lately. The husband has been hogging the computer; with the holidays upon us, I've found myself even more depressed & missing my mom; and I haven't really had a whole lot to blog about.

Thanksgiving was good. My BFF, Renae & her hubby, Dan came up for the long weekend. This was awesome as I don't get to see her as often as I'd like(every day!)& kept me busy. She loves to spoil my girls & had a wonderful time doing it. (yes, I can speak for her in this particular instance.) We didn't take enough (any?) pics while she was here.

Stay tuned for a special blog post on Dec. 16th.

Hope all is well in your world & the busyness of the Christmas season is not bogging you down.
God Bless. -Gail

Veteran's Day

2007-11-11T22:05:00.000-05:00

I could have gone back & added this as a p.s. to my last post, but I'm glad I didn't. This is truly worthy of it's very own post. Today is Veteran's day. 11/11. I'm sure there is some significance as to why this day was picked, I unfortunately do not know it.(and am too lazy at 10 at night to go research it & find out.) I only learned in the last 10 years that Veteran's day is always 11/11.

To all the vets every where & those on active duty now; my thanks goes out to you.
Thank you for working a job that for most is a voluntary position(except when drafted or reactivated)-for putting your life in harm's way & for fighting for my freedom. I appreciate ALL of the freedoms I have in this country as an American & yes, I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN.

I had someone tell me today that he was in during peace time & "only for 4 years". SO WHAT!? You still volunteered to do it. You just got lucky that there was no call for war when you were in. It does not in any way diminish the job that you had to do for "4 years".

Do I always agree with the way this country is run? No, but that is why I have the freedom to vote; to express my views on how I'd like to see this country run. If I don't vote then I have no right to complain about what goes on in this country. Do the 3 previous sentences mean I don't like President Bush? Absolutely not! God's word calls us to pray for those in authority; to respect that authority. Please don't try to read between the lines of this paragraph. Just keep reading.

If you see a veteran today or for that matter ANY day; thank him or her for your freedom. Because without them, you just might not have had all the things you enjoy today.

God, please keep all of our military personnel safe. Be with their families & help them to stay strong. Protect their minds from the horrible things they may see or experience. Help each one to come back to their family safely & help the family to remain intact. I ask this in your son, Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

getting older

2007-11-11T21:30:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a little while since I posted. Life has been a bit crazy & I've been in a bit of a funk & not feeling much like posting. So I need to back track a little bit YEAH RED SOX!!!!! Nothing like sweeping the world series!

My husband & I usher at the Providence Performing Arts Center. It is a great way to see shows for free, Broadway & others. November 1st I had to work a show that was called Aussie Pink Floyd. They are a tribute band to Pink Floyd. Pretty good I might add, if you didn't know it wasn't Floyd & you didn't see them, only heard them you might think it was the real thing. Now let me say, I've never owned a Floyd album, but I have seen them in concert back in the late 80's. Excellent concert, I was completely sober.
Today I worked the Guy & Ralna show. Who are Guy & Ralna you may ask?? They sang on the Lawrence Welk show back in the late 60's & into the 70's. I remember on Sunday nights we'd get ready for bed, watch L. Welk & then Disney. Now I don't remember Guy & Ralna on the L. Welk show, but I remember watching the show. It wasn't my favorite show, but I certainly didn't hate it. (I've always liked music.)
So this afternoon working this show I realized I'm truly beginning to show my age. I enjoyed this show much more than the Pink Floyd tribute a week & a half ago.
Oh, there are other signs like my metabolism QUIT! somewhere around age 30. I couldn't even begin to tell you how old I was when I found my first gray hair.(yes it was that long ago!)In fact I have more gray hair than my mother had at 73. But this one just smacked me in the face.
Well, I guess we are all getting older every minute of every day, but I think today was one of those AHA moments.
God Bless.

the children & the Red Sox

2007-10-24T23:09:00.001-04:00

Well, as I type this post it is a little after 11pm here in New England. Tonight is the 1st night of the world series & we are halfway through the 6th inning. The Sox are winning by a commanding lead of 13-1. Please note several things here. I did not say they have this game in the bag & have won, because any one who is a New England sports fan knows that the game is NEVER over until it's over. Unfortunately I've seen bigger leads blown. Let me also note that while IMOPO I believe that the Sox DO have this game in the bag; I do not want to gloat & say yeah! Sox are on their way to winning the world series. Again, I've seen N.E. teams doing really well & then it seems they relax their game face, let their defense down & next thing you know forget it they're going home without the trophy!
SO I WILL JUST SAY LET'S GO RED SOX!

The 2 topics are not related tonight. Emily has been sick as I posted the other day. Let me just tell you it was a very sleepless night last night. Tonight it seems her fever broke & hopefully she's turned the corner & will be getting better quickly! However, I don't know if she had a nightmare or what tonite, but it took me a few minutes to get her calmed down. Then Rachel woke up & now they're both laying on the couch with daddy. (NOT SLEEPING I might add!) Ahhh, comes the chore of trying to get them back into their beds. Wish me luck!

children & life lessons

2007-10-23T13:45:00.001-04:00

So my little ones are feeling a bit under the weather today. Hoarse voice, croupy cough, low grade fever, etc. Mom's not feeling great either, but completely different symptoms. But it is amazing how amid the confusion & sickness, God can teach you a life lesson. My oldest daughter (by 2 minutes)is fussing & whining at me all morning. If she wants something it's ah,ah,ah,uh,uh,uuuuhhhhh. I do not tolerate whining well. So I'm trying to get her to tell me what she wants or what is wrong. All I get is more whining & fussing. I'm like Lord, please just give me the strength, help me figure out what she wants. God just tells me(not audibly- just one of those thoughts that pop in your head,)this is how you talk to me sometimes. You should be able to articulate what you want to me, yet all you do is fuss & whine at me. If you just tell me what you want, what the issue is, I can help you out. Gee thanks, God.
I don't know why my 2 year old throws temper tantrums- I NEVER DO!
Any one want to buy some swamp land in Florida?

Have a blessed day!

happy anniversary shout outs

2007-10-20T19:33:00.000-04:00

So today's post is dedicated to couples celebrating years of wedded bliss! As my husband & I are quickly approaching 4 years(Feb.) We have several friends who are celebrating today. So Happy 17 years to our friends Steve & Maria I., may you have at least that many more.
And to Mike & Jen L., Happy 6 years. May you have many more years. And may both couples continue to keep Christ at the center of your relationships.

Today our church did an outreach project at a therapeutic riding stable. I had to stay home with the little ones so I didn't get to see all they did, but I guess they accomplished quite a bit. This is a stable that helps children overcome some part of their handicap by building relationships with the horses.(At least that's my understanding.)

God Bless.

how cute are children?!

2007-10-18T22:08:00.000-04:00

So my girls love to sing & dance. I've been singing Jesus Loves Me to them since they were in-utero. So that is definitely one of their favorite songs; in fact we have a children's cd in the van that they ask me to play Jesus loves me. Another of their favorites is Twinklestar, for those of us not versed in two year old language that would be twinkle, twinkle little star. Daddy has taught them to sing "Take me out to the ball game" - now that is cute when they sing it! 1,2,3 strikes your out! Just visualize little fingers trying to do 1,2,3. And certainly not last or least is Happy birthday.

We eat honey boats at our house. You might eat them at yours too. This is what us adults would call "honey bunches of oats". I love my children, especially when they're sleeping. :) No, I love my children all the time, but sometimes they just really try my patience.

I hope you have a blessed day.

Red Sox - do they really stink???

2007-10-14T19:19:00.000-04:00

I just need to vent here. My hubby is much more a Sox fan than he is a football fan. For this I'm eternally grateful. I am not a football widow or for that matter any kind of sports widow unless the Red Sox make it into the playoffs.

So last night was game #2 of the American League Championship series. Cleveland Indians vs Boston Red Sox. Indians draw first blood. This is okay because in game #1 they did as well & Sox ended up winning 10-3. The Sox do okay, get a few hits, get on top. Indians answer with a few of their own. So just over halfway through the game it is 6-5 Sox. Indians come back, score 1 more run & the game stays tied 6-6 going into the 9th inning. And the 10th inning, and the 11th inning. Then the Sox bring in one of their newer acquisitions to pitch, Eric Gagne. At this point it is 1 in the morning. Yes you read that right 1 am. And we are still watching baseball!!! (I think we must be "loco en cabeza. [for those of you who've never taken Spanish that is crazy in the head.]) We have to get up for church in 5-6 hours!!!! Well, at this point my husband says the Sox just lost(by putting Gagne in)I'm going to bed. YEP! He was right. Final score in case you don't watch sports & didn't catch it in the news(yeah, that would be those of you who could really care less about this post!)Indians 13- Sox 6.

I probably wouldn't have been so upset about the lack of sleep & staying up to watch the game if they'd at least won.
Sometimes the Red Sox really stink! (I don't have a poor sportsmanship attitude at ALL!)

COME ON RED SOX LET'S GO ALL THE WAY!

p.s. The boys(cowboys that is) lost to New England. I am not having a good weekend here. NO, I am NOT a bandwagon fan when it comes to the boys. I've been a fan since the '80's- in fact I went to the Bengals-'Boys game in Cincinnati where Cincy was in their prime. Bengals beat them something like 50-3 I don't remember the exact score, just the fact that the 'Boys got their butt beat & it was ugly & it was freezing cold that night!

Birthday shout outs & Red Sox

2007-10-13T20:25:00.000-04:00

So today is a good friend's birthday. Sharon is from Oct to July older than me. We met when we worked together in Cincy. I thought she was pretty, but snobby* I'm being nice here I really thought she was a b---h! We ended up living together & becoming awesome friends. She's helped me through some difficult periods in my life & I think vice versa. We have often been envious of each other's lives. She was married & having children I wanted that. She envied the fact that I was single & able to pick up, move 12 hours away from all family I knew & go to Bible school & follow God's will for my life. Just goes to show you that what you think the other person has isn't always the best for your life. See commandment #10 Thou shalt not covet.....anything that is thy neighbor's. That would be Ex. 20:17.
Another thing about Sharon, her b-day is on the 13th. I've always liked the 13th & am not a superstitious person. This means that every 7 years she gets to have her b-day on Friday the 13th!
So Happy Birthday Sharon! Hope it was a great one! Hugs to you, girl.

Also another birthday shout out is our nephew Jaden- he's going to be 3 on Tu. the 16th. He's from Oct. to Mar. older than my girls, so it is nice that my girls have a cousin close to them in age. (I never did.) Can we please make these little people stop growing?!

Congrats to our friends Mike & Jen on the birth of their new daughter, Kendal Marie. She was born on Wed. the 10th after only 4 hours of labor. That is just not right, Jen! All of us mommy's who've had long labors are really envious. She is beautiful.
Makes me want to have another one.(at least for a few minutes- then I usually ask myself do I really want those sleepless nights back?)

So tonight is game 2 of the American League Championship series. The question on all Sox fans minds is have the Sox truly broken the "curse" & can they win another world series? I think they're on their way, but I've seen N.E. teams blow too many leads, or pull it out at the last minute. So as a Sox fan I always say it's never over till the fat lady sings. Stephen King said it well last night when the score was about 10 -3 in the 7th inning. The reporter asked him if he thought the Sox would win. He said "I've seen them blow other leads, so...."

We here just have 1 thing to say- GO RED SOX!!!!

false alarms, pregnancies & wonderful husbands

2007-10-08T21:59:00.000-04:00

So, my friend, neighbor & landlord(all the same person, in case you couldn't tell!) is 9 months pregnant with baby #2. Her actual due date was Oct. 4th. Alas that day has come & gone & there is no baby as yet. Now most women would not be happy about being late, but would probably not stress about it. And just to clarify she isn't stressing about it either, however she is sooo done being pregnant. Not only that, she's a hairdresser & has exactly 8 weeks maternity leave. Her last day at work was 10/2 & she has to be back to work 12/3 & she's already booked solid that week (& probably most of the month of Dec.). Her 1st child was about 2 weeks late, so let's do the math- she only had about 6 weeks at home with a new born. As any mom can tell you, especially those who go back to work it isn't a fun thing to do. Not that you don't like your job, but you have this amazing, new wonderful little miracle in your life & now you have to entrust him to someone other than his own parents - even if it's family! So the long & short of it is she'd really like this baby to get here! To the point she decided to try castor oil. She said it was not all the horror stories you've heard & it did give her some contractions. Well, about 1:15am she calls me & says can you come sleep upstairs? The contractions are about 4 min. apart & after calling my dr. he said come in. Imagine every one's disappointment when she calls me a little after 3:30am & says they sent me home I'm only 3 cm dilated. :( So needless to say I got very little sleep last night.
Which is where the wonderful husband comes in. He didn't go to work today due to the holiday, & the rain(sprinkles) we had. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about this especially after today! About 11am he tells me go lay down & take a nap. Gee twist my arm honey! I don't think I could hit the bed fast enough. He shut the bedroom door, took the phones away from me & said don't worry I'll entertain the girls. I got up almost 2 hrs. later feeling much more refreshed & almost my normal self. This is what I woke up to. He loaded, ran & unloaded the dishwasher. The girls were very quiet the 2 hours I was in the bedroom. Let me just paint that picture for you- we have a small 2 bedroom 5 rooms total apartment. They were sitting at the table eating mac & cheese w/hot dogs for lunch. Can you say WOW! Thanks honey- you made my day.

Now for the pregnancy part. People, people, people DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT ask a 9 month, late, pregnant person "So how you doing?" This is just asking to get slapped. Okay, maybe that's a little strong, but let's just think about this. How the heck do you think she's doing???? Do you expect her to say "Great, I'm gonna go run a marathon tomorrow, since the baby isn't here yet!"??? I just know that when I was in those shoes I was ready to start cussing like a sailor.
Well, on those rants, I need to get to bed & catch up on the sleep I lost yesterday.

I just have one more thing to say before I close- Go Indians, beat the yucky Yankees!

Red Sox

2007-10-07T23:28:00.001-04:00

The Red Sox swept the Angels. My husband is happy, mostly. The Indians almost swept the Yankees, but alas there is at least 1 more game. We will see what happens. Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll be able to sing "Nah, Nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, goodbye" to A-Rod, Jeter & the rest of the Yankees. And then we'll be playing the Indians.
My brother grew up in OH, but now lives in NY close to Buffalo. (Do you see where I'm going with this one?) So he is a Bills fan, but as far as baseball is still an Indians fan. My nephew, his son, is a Sox fan so when that game happens there will definitely be a little family sports tension going on.

I just have one thing to say. GO RED SOX!

mom

2007-10-03T22:16:00.000-04:00

It is 6 months ago today, that my hero & one of my best friends passed away. -my mom
It has been a long six months as far as missing her; yet it seems like it was just yesterday. This is the best & most recent photo I could find of my mom with my girls. L-R Rachel, mom, Emily
This was at Thanksgiving last year. She was actually feeling pretty good at this time & we took a walk up to her mailbox to get her mail.
I still find it hard to believe she's gone. And knowing that she's in a better place with our Lord Jesus Christ, that her body has been restored & she's not suffering, not being poked & prodded day in & day out; makes it marginally better. But it doesn't take away the pain of missing her. She fought a brave fight against her illness, myelodysplastic syndromes. And if you didn't know her you wouldn't have even thought she was sick. To learn more about this terminal illness go to www.mds-foundation.org.
It is amazing looking back, the things I have learned from my mom. Look for these in a later post, probably mid-December if/when I do a birthday tribute to her.
For now, I'll just sign off- I miss you, mom.

Red Sox, my husband & 2 year olds growing up

2007-09-29T20:07:00.000-04:00

So, I started this post yesterday & must've hit the back button, 'cuz I lost EVERYTHING! At that point I was just too tired to try to put it all back together again so I went to bed. (Good thing the king's men weren't too tired or humpty dumpty would've never made it!)

Last nite the hubby showed me how to add pix to my blog- look out!
So this is him & me after the Red Sox win against the A's Wednesday nite.
This was my first ever Red Sox game, at the legendary Fenway park. While I enjoyed myself, I did tell the hubby that we could've just as easily watched this game in the air conditioned comfort of our very own living room for a lot less money!(and sweat) Wednesday was a beautiful day, but it was a bit of the new england humid. I did learn something at the game though. The cardboard drink trays make excellent fans to fan yourself with. It didn't help that our seats were directly behind home plate underneath the overhang. What I'm trying to say is we had excellent seats, but air does not circulate under the overhang! This was a belated Father's day present for the hubby- he enjoyed it & I guess that's all that matters! (He hadn't been to a sox game since before we got married, so like 4 years or so.)

Wednesday was a bit crazy though, I got the call early in the am saying that I had tix available to me. Well the girls were officially 2 & 1/2 on Wed. & I had scheduled their Christmas pix for that morning. Can I just tell you how stinking cute & good they were for the pix?! Oh my goodness, I could've spent a small fortune on the pix. So by the time we got home, fed them lunch & packed everything up it was time to get on the road to head to the game- it was a 5pm game. Well, as we dropped the girls off at our friend's house I clocked the hubby in the head w/the hatch to the van. Obviously not on purpose. Thankfully he has a hard head so you can't even tell I hit him.

The girls are getting so big & grown up it just kills me. I told Emily to stop growing the other day- in typical 2 year old fashion she said "Okay, momma." She has no clue! I feel somewhat sorry for this child as she is such a mini me. It took her over 1/2 hour to eat 1/4 of a hamburger the other day + I had to bribe/threaten her with ice cream.
Aahhh, the joys of parent hood.

My Darling Husband & crappy starting days

2007-09-20T15:19:00.000-04:00

So let's start with the crappy starting days. Literally. My daughters are potty trained during the day- well at least the pee part. They get diapers at naps & bedtime. Apparently they've figured out how to hold their poop until that time. Now if you've known me since my girls were born I am glad they are pooping on a daily basis. Both of my daughters have had constipation issues, pretty much since they were born. Well, now it seems we've gone to the other extreme. Not only are they pooping pretty much on a daily basis, they are blowing out their diapers. This is not fun for various reasons: a)it stinks! b)depending on the extent of the blowout I am now changing their sheets at least once a day c)also along with the sheets is of course either the outfit or pajamas. There was one day I had to change Emily's sheets twice. I've always been a huggies girl since they were first born(yes, I've tried just about every other brand out there), but thought maybe they were getting too big for the huggies so let's try pampers. No better. Well, maybe a tiny bit, but I think it is because the amount of poop has changed, not because I changed the diaper brand.
I am at a loss as to what to do. I must say I did feel a tiny bit better when I called my friend Dawn & we commiserated together. Her 16 mo. old son pooped on the floor, trampled it into the carpet, then onto the vacuum cleaner(he climbed on it) & in between the ridges of the accordion hose. By the time she managed to get a hold of him & put him in the bathtub with his 8 yr. old sister, well he pooped in the tub too. She got out faster than you could shake a stick at it & then he apparently trampled all of this into small bits while waiting for the tub to drain. Oh my! I guess I'll change poopy sheets any day of the week than have to clean up that mess. (Sorry, Dawn.)
The 8 year old sister- this child is the greatest! Not perfect, but a good kid! She is my mother's helper. My daughters worship her. I can use her name as bribery.(guess that isn't necessarily a good thing is it?)
My darling husband. God has been teaching me a lot of things about him- all good, mind you. Like yesterday, I was running wicked late trying to get dinner done. He wanted to ride the motorcycle over to his mom's to let the dog out. But after I asked him (hopefully)very nicely to please take the girls with him, he graciously gave up his ride, loaded the girls into the van & went to his mom's. (I made it up to him later!) There have been a couple blow out days where we've just had to stick the girls in the tub & wash them off that way. One day as I was doing that he changed the crib sheets for me. I didn't even have to ask him to, he just did it. This afternoon, he came home & offered to make dinner. Nothing spectacular, but let me see, he's going to the store to pick up any missing ingredients & then cook dinner. I don't care if I like it or not, I'll manage to choke it down if that's the case.
I'm learning that even though he doesn't do things exactly the way I do them, it's okay as long as it gets done. This is very hard for me to do as I can be very anal retentive about these types of things.
I'm realizing what a wonderful treasure God has given me in this man. Do we see eye to eye on everything? Heck no!!! But God has been teaching me a lot & I've realized that some of the times I thought the husband was wrong, I was the one that was wrong/acting like an __________(fill in the blank).
Thanks honey for loving me in spite of my faults & for forgiving me for acting like an _____.

Two two year olds and other random rantings

2007-09-06T12:53:00.000-04:00

Two year olds. We've all been one once in our lifetime. I have identical twin girls, who for the most part are pretty well behaved children. But some days they just work my last nerve. I think it is in direct proportion to how much sleep or lack thereof that I got the previous night. Combined with the fact that they are simply 2 year olds. They are definitely into the independent stage. I do, I do, I do. I help??
They think they can appropriately dress themselves. Although with a little guidance they don't do bad. Usually if I tell them they have the shoe on the wrong foot they understand they need to switch it. They love to help mommy cook & clean up. Most days I have the patience for it, but every once in awhile I just want to get it done! Their latest thing is wiping the table with a sponge, or trying to sweep up a mess on the floor. Then they have to touch & get into everything they aren't suppose to, like the liquid soap in the bathroom. My husband doesn't understand why I put it on top of the vanity, up by the lights. Little hands can't reach it up there; then I don't have to worry about them slathering & spilling it everywhere.

Motorcycles. I love motorcycles. I've been riding since I was about 15 years old. So in 2001 I got my motorcycle license. But I didn't have a motorcycle until the fall of 2002 when my mother so kindly gave me her 400. I rode it that fall & the next spring until the registration expired in April '03, by then my now husband & I were spending time together so I didn't do anything about getting it registered. Fast forward since we've been married I've been after the husband to get his license & he said he wanted to. Even went so far as to ask me to sign him up for the safety course. We talked about it, but never got around to it; well finally this summer he did it & he is loving it! I am so happy. Now we just need to find another bike so we can go riding together.

Dinner tonite. We had steak, baked potato & corn. We really enjoyed it, but if my husband liked vegetables he'd be a vegetarian. Instead I call him a pastatarian. The man would eat pasta 7 days a week if I let him. I personally got burned out on pasta when I went to Bible college.

Please pray for the country of Haiti. Our church is in the process of helping them bring the Willow Creek(Bill Hybels)leadership summit to that country. It is a time for great change in this country & God has really been moving. If you want to see more of what I'm talking about check out the church's web site @ communitycovenant.org, go to Sunday messages, scroll down to the end & you'll find a link to the beginnings of what we are trying to help accomplish in this impoverished nation.

Well enough rambling & ranting- I should go to bed so I get plenty of sleep for my yahoos. :)

A Birthday Tribute & other rantings

2007-09-03T13:57:00.000-04:00

Today is my husband's birthday! He is 4 years younger than me, but a lot of people think he's older than me just because of his appearance. This is really irrelevant, because he acts like a kid- in a good way & I love him just the way he is! So Happy Birthday to my husband & may you have many, many more wonderful years & may they be filled with joy & happiness. May you also have a wonderful day today. :)
This has been a bit of a tough year for both of us. My mom passed away the beginning of April & then he lost his job the end of April. We've had a lot of adjustments to make, but the amazing part of it all is that God has been incredibly faithful. (Well, it isn't really so amazing, more just awesome.)
God has been teaching me what a wonderful gift I have in my husband, even though he doesn't always do things the way I would or do. So I guess I could say God has been teaching me alot of things also; like how to be a little bit less anal.
I've noticed that about myself lately- the older I get the more anal I get about things. Now, I am clearly not a germ-o-phobe, but there are certain times I really just don't want my children to get dirty; for no other reason than I just don't feel like dealing with that particular type of dirt. i.e. SAND!
Well enough ranting for now. Happy Birthday, my love!

Blog addictions & other stuff

2007-08-31T21:12:00.000-04:00

Well, a friend of mine recently posted she thinks she's a book-a-holic. I think I'm a blog-o-holic. I love to read other people's blogs. I can spend hours doing it. (and forsake the rest of my household) I don't think this is necessarily a good thing & must learn how to control it & not let it consume my life.
In fact I can think of a lot better things to be addicted to; the 1st one being Jesus Christ.
Speaking of this, I just started reading a book that looks to be promising. In fact I found it by reading another blog. Hmmm. Well, the book is titled "Jim & Casper go to church" & was written by Jim Henderson & Matt Casper. One a professing Christian, the other a professing atheist.
However, in being a blog-o-holic, I've found a group of people from S.C. who all know each other & are all Christians. They have some pretty interesting things to say. Especially this one. perrynoble.com -he is a pastor & in reading his blog, I haven't found anything I disagree with as yet. He has some pretty good & right on stuff to say. You should check him out.
I also found a blog that had me about wetting myself. She is a mom to 6 children & quite an interesting writer. Her blog is mom2my6pack.blogspot.com
My husband has turned me into a Red Sox fan. Although having previously lived in Cincinnati I was also a Reds fan. He gets aggravated with me when I slip & accidentally call the Red Sox, the Reds. I'm close, I don't understand why he gets his undies in such a bunch about this??? I would never confuse the Patriots with say the Dallas Cowboys. Or for that matter any other team.(in case you couldn't tell I'm a Cowboys fan.)
Well, enough ramblings for now, I need to go clean up the house & get to bed.

Thankful

2007-08-21T23:18:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been 3 1/2 years of marriage, along with a set of twins. Can I just tell you how thankful I am to my Lord Jesus Christ? He is wonderfully awesome! He gave me this man to be my husband and we have been learning to dance the marriage/family dance. We are still learning all the steps, but of late it has been good. All I can say is thank you God, for being an awesome God & working in both of our lives.
Both of us came from broken families. We both brought our share of baggage into the marriage(of course, who doesn't?), and we are still dealing with that.
But he has been wonderful as of late. In the past we have had our moments. Tonite after dinner he cleaned up the kitchen & loaded the dishwasher for me as I got the girls ready for bed. I didn't realize quite how much he'd done until we came home from our bible study group. Which btw has been good too. We are currently doing the Truth project from Focus on the Family. One of the things the video talked about tonite was submission. God the Son, a.k.a Jesus Christ, submitted to God the Father. So why does society make marriage/submission seem like such a dirty & bad word? i.e. wives submit to your husbands.
So on the way home I asked one of those tough questions that you don't always want to hear the answer to, but sometimes you just need to find out. It was good, he sees improvement in our relationship as well. And no it wasn't on submission.
Thank you, Bill for being an awesome father to our girls & being willing to work on you & us & our relationship.
Thank you Lord for giving me Bill, & two beautiful daughters. Help me to always treasure each one of them for the unique, individual, beautiful creations you made them to be.

Pet peeve #2

2007-08-06T17:00:00.000-04:00

JAY WALKING. Yes, this is a pet peeve of mine, however it needs elaboration. Let me just start out saying that I have jaywalked in my life time, & yes, I'm sure I'll do it again. I think it is a respect issue. It really irritates me when people, especially teenagers think they can walk directly in front of traffic. Now I'm not just talking about there's a cross walk & you step out into it. Then you have every right to cross the street & I'd better be stopping for you. I'm talking about my light is green & I'm moving & you decide to cross the street the way the red light is going. I think this is absolutely rude & have already told my 2 year olds that if I ever catch them doing that they'll be in trouble.
For anyone who's ever been to NYC you've probably learned that jaywalking is quite acceptable. Again, I do agree when done properly. Don't just saunter across the street & certainly don't do it if you don't have enough time to cross before the vehicle coming down the road is on top of you.
Here in RI I've seen people who have a green light STOP to let some one cross against the flow of traffic. Why??? Last time I checked the traffic laws if I have a green light it is my turn to go & you need to wait for your green light!
When I stated that I thought it was a respect issue, I believe it is people who don't have any respect for others around them. The world is all about them.
Okay enough venting for now.

By the way did you know 2 year olds can have the best time just running back & forth, giggling? They never cease to amaze me!

Duly chastised & other things

2007-08-05T21:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I wasn't really "chastised" only reminded that it had been several weeks since I posted anything new. Yes, I've been slacking. I started a post a couple weeks ago, tried to save it as a draft & lost it. So I will now try to recap what I wrote & add more. Needless to say this may be a lengthy post/ramble.

July 14th. Here in RI we have a thing in downtown Providence called "waterfire." What this is are pods in the water & volunteers go along load them up with wood & then go back & light them on fire. All the while there is music playing in the background. This apparently started in 1994, but I don't think it gained popularity until probably 2000. Well, having been in RI for 11 years now, I had never seen it, nor had my husband who is a RI native. So we decided to check it out(obviously on 7/14). Loaded up the bicycles & downtown Providence we went. The bikes were a mistake & we got there a little later than we had planned on. It was definitely interesting, but I don't think it is all the hype they have made it out to be. Would I do it again? Yeah, probably on foot. But it isn't like it is going to become a regular outing with us.

The girls have been doing pretty well with the potty & have even started pooping in it. We did have a week or so where it seemed we were in a bit of rebellion, though. We had more accidents than mommy liked & this is when one can truly appreciate hardwood & linoleum floors.

There is a "house contest" going on in RI. For a mere $100.00, 100 word essay & several other "guidelines," you have the chance to win a 4 bed, 1 bath house. Having thrown away $100.00 probably many times over; my husband & I decided to enter. So hopefully, if it is God's will, we will be the proud new owners of a home by the end of the month! My prayer is that God would put exactly the family that needs to be in this home, in it.

The weekend of the 27th of July was a busy weekend for me! Being the birthday & all, as my good friend Dawn (a.k.a. Martha, jr. or Raven)often reminds me it was holy week. Even today, I'm still celebrating!
I went to the Women of Faith conference in Boston on Fri & Sat. & I laughed & I cried. It was a great time. Then Sunday afternoon after church a few of the ladies got together & went up to the Charles river in Boston & went for a "moonlit" canoe ride. Yes, the 29th was a full moon, however due to cloud cover we didn't get to see it until our drive home. We still had a blast though! Thanks Joyce, Jojo & Chris!
Still celebrating in grand fashion the husband has been absolutely awesome this past week! He & the girls got me a spa package for my b-day, so I went & pampered myself on Tue.
Let me just pause here a minute & ask all the parents a question. Do you ever have those days when your children are just being children but they are totally working your last nerve??? Well, Fri. was one of those days for me! The dh came home from helping at sports camp at church, we put the girls down for a nap & I went to pick blueberries in about a bazillion degrees - BY MYSELF! Just me, God & the bushes! It was actually enjoyable & amazing how quickly I was able to pick a good amount!
Then on Sat. some ladies & I went to super suppers, came home, the dh went out, came home, we ate dinner & I went & played cards with some ladies from church. But it's better than that- when I came home from super suppers, dh had fed the girls lunch, ran the dishwasher, emptied it, reloaded the remaining dishes that didn't fit the 1st load, washed the ones that don't fit at all & well, lets just say my kitchen looked pretty nice.

I think I need to go pamper the dh now so will close this post. I will try to be more diligent in posting. Thanks Sandy for the encouragement! :)

Friday the 13th

2007-07-13T21:19:00.001-04:00

Well, here it is Friday the 13th. Although many people are superstitious about today, it is actually one of my favorite days. I'm envious of my friends whose birthdays are on the 13th because that means they get to have a Friday the 13th b-day. And no I don't like Friday the 13th movies. In fact if you know me you know that I thought the movie "Sixth Sense" was too scary.

So I was looking & noticed that it has been a week since I blogged, so I thought I'd start with the really fun things the family has been doing this week.
I just started meeting with some friends of mine on Tuesday mornings for a Bible study. They've been meeting for probably close to a year now, so you say why did you just join them? I'll tell you. We are doing an awesome read for anyone who has children; "To Train Up a Child" by Michael & Debi Pearl. It is a bit ouchy, because it is very biblically based. So as you're reading the book & they suggest you should discipline your child this way or that way it is sometimes a bit hard to swallow. Actually the whole premise of the book is in the title. Training your children as opposed to disciplining them.
Thursday we went with our friend Viv to a house on Wallum lake, had some wonderful Christian fellowship & played in the water. The girls absolutely love being in the water. And mom felt like a horrible mom as I forgot to put sunscreen on their faces so they had pink cheeks & noses.
Today, Dad & I packed up the girls, our bicycles & a picnic lunch & went to the East Bay bike path. We had a wonderful time, went to Haines Park for our lunch & then back to the carousel. We rode the carousel a couple of times & then went down the street for some ice cream. Between yesterday & today I've never seen two little girls sooo tired.

Tomorrow promises to be just as exciting. Grammy promised the girls that when mom said they were potty trained we'd all go shopping for new outfits from head to toe. So it has been 5 weeks & we have only had a handful of accidents. All in all they're doing quite well.

Well, enough rambling for now.

the continued saga of potty training......

2007-07-06T15:25:00.000-04:00

Let me back up a bit before we get to the potty training part of this post. As many of my friends know somewhere about a year our girls decided to start undressing themselves at bedtime. After a few minor accidents of naked babies & wet cribs & then talking to other moms; we quickly remedied this situation by safety pinning their pajamas. It even got to the point where they thought the pin was part of the outfit. If we didn't put it on, they'd quickly remind us by saying, "pin, pin, PIN, PIN." (crescendo here)- & unfortunately our daughters have their mother's high pitched voice. (Now I know why my grandfather used to turn his hearing aid off/down all the time when I was around.)
So, fast forward to the potty training, our girls have been able to undress themselves for awhile now. This is a good thing when getting them ready for bed or to potty train. Not a good thing if your child is prone to taking clothes off in the middle of anywhere! Fortunately, so far our girls are "relatively" modest.
We are now in week 4 of training & we've only had 1 accident in the last 2 weeks. To me that is pretty good, especially since I'm training 2 of them. But they do still wear diapers for naps & bedtime.
The last 2 days 1 of the girls has pooped in her diaper & then promptly pulled it off & made a mess in her crib. Fortunately she doesn't seem to be artistic & is not smearing it everywhere. However, it is frustrating as I still have to change the sheets & clean her up. I usually find out about this mess as the other one starts screaming something about a mess or poop! Thank goodness they are still young enough to bag each other!
Ahhh, the joys of potty training & parenting.

pet peeves & toilet training two 2 year olds

2007-06-29T22:20:00.000-04:00

Let me first start this post by saying that the two topics are not related! In any way shape or form.
I have several pet peeves of which I'll go into more later, but one that seems to be happening to me quite frequently of late is highway on ramps. Let me explain, I completely understand the difference between yield & stop. And I do understand that if you have a yield that it means you must allow oncoming traffic to go ahead of you.
Well, here in N.E. there are many on ramps that DO NOT have a yield at the end of them. Now I realize that drivers ed. class was many, many years ago, but if my memory serves me correctly on ramps are to be used to accelerate & blend in with traffic. So having said this here is the pet peeve. For the love of all that is good PLEASE people, if you are on an on ramp that merges into traffic DO NOT STOP!!!! Keep driving & merge. Thank you. (I feel better already!)

So on to toilet training of 2 year olds. I love my daughters dearly, but it seems since we've been potty training that the bathroom has become a place to play. We've now been at this 3 weeks & they are doing awesome. Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law, Marsha, for helping me get started & figure out what I'm doing. But back to the potty training. I don't even have to ask them if they have to go potty anymore(well, I still do, just not every half hour). I don't think we've had an accident all week.(watch now we'll digress) They use the big potty, but since there are 2 of them I still have the baby potty in there as well. If any of you've ever been around twins, you know it is monkey see, monkey do. So most times they'll use the big potty consecutively & once in awhile they'll use the little potty. My oldest daughter has decided that she needs to use the step stool to get on to the baby potty. Yes, you read that right, so then she sits there with her feet propped up. It's pretty comical really. She's also taken to pulling off anything below the waist, which means we have to re-dress her. Not too bad, because she tries to do it herself, but the underwear usually doesn't end up the way it is suppose to; which can't be comfortable. So playing in the bathroom: they've figured out how to turn the light switch on & off, so we go potty to play with the lights; we like to wash our hands, okay, not a bad thing, but again we go potty to wash our hands. If they get on a roll(not the tp roll, either)it can take me almost a half hour to get them out of the bathroom. I repeat myself constantly...don't touch that, are you done? go potty, wipe, let your sister go.
So, if you've potty trained at all, I know you feel my pain- now just double it!
But wait it gets better, my daughters like to watch their daddy go to the bathroom. First of all this is a bit disconcerting to him to have two toddlers stand there watching him urinate. Well, the other day my youngest daughter decided she wanted to go potty like daddy. So she pulls her underwear down, sits on the potty for about 2 seconds, stands up on the step stool & turns around & faces the toilet. She then proceeds to grab herself as if she has the proper equipment to urinate like her father. After chuckling about it I had to explain to her that daddy stands, they sit! Ah, the joys of parenthood, wouldn't trade it for the world.

possible upcoming posts

2007-06-29T11:32:00.000-04:00

So I let a lot of my friends know that I started a blog. I even solicited for ideas for my blog. So one of my friends writes back -the S-- word & chocolate & how it can be so good for you, yet so fattening. I need to think about these topics a bit more & see if I can't come up w/an appropriate post or 2.
One that I thought about doing is pet peeves of mine. We will see.

this thing called blogging? and welcome to my blog

2007-06-28T20:08:00.000-04:00

Well, after not really being able to take time to sit down & figure this thing out until now; here is my next post. I have friends who are incredible at blogging. (at writing in general) I have some blogs that I've added to my own personal favorites that I really enjoy reading. Some of these people post every few days, some every few weeks & others well, it seems to be every few months. I'm not making any promises here, but I will say that I'll try to be consistent in posting.

To all my friends, I'd like to say welcome to my blog. I hope it will be as entertaining as some of the others I've read.
So having said that here is my 2nd post.

first blog

2007-06-21T13:35:00.001-04:00

Well, here is my first official post. I don't claim to have good English; in fact I hate to write papers. But I love reading good blogs, so figured I'd try my hand at it.