2 more days:)

Well whats 5 post in 1 day...
I just checked and ONLY 2 more days till Janet Evanovich's NEW BOOK is released. YES, I will be buying it that day and reading it that day ALSO!!!
WoooHooo.

Nicholas is back from SWIM camp..had a GREAT time and is back at 6 AM practices so I am UP and blogging.

Gas prices and my dad Update.

This is the Gas sign while we were going to see my dad* yesterday..
I know a lot of people are spending more but I HATE sticking $ in a gas tank..
I sooo want a car with better gas milage..we should have NEVER bought the Kia!
We put $75 in the Van yesterday and it filled it 3/4.

*My dad is on the rehab floor at the hospital. We FINALLY got to Cinti to see him yesterday and he is SO DEPRESSED. He does not talk he just sits there. His feet and legs look like tree trunks as he is so swollen. He so misses my mom and he is in a depression. As of now I will be surprised if will be leaving at home again..He is not aloud up unless a nurse helps him..he is not eating and he honestly has lost his will to live. My parents were married 56 years when my mom died and he misses her. I am praying physical theraphy will help him.

Lets add a little more excitement into the WEEK

Tyler went to a going away party for a boy from his class..basically was there for a few minutes and was RUNNING fell down there steps..well since we do not have a HOSPITAL as it is FLOODED they sent us to Prompt. Med. When I was there a friend got ahold of another friend who is a Dr. and she got us into the orthopetic Dr.
I would have bet money it was broke but they said just really jammed. We go back tomorrow for another xray. He has a nice rug burn on his face also.
These were taken the day he fell. They SWELLED even more and are all black and blue..even his palm is all bruise. Baseball was cancelled last week and I do not think he will be able to play this week as he still is not moving them much.

Shaggy

We "watched" a dog for a few days after we found him. A van came down the street behind us and flooded out. A man THREW 2 dogs out towards my kids and said SORRY and walked up the street..a man ask him what he was doing and he said " I have a daughter in a wheel chair and you do not care". When I walked over we found the one dog but not the other so we kept him..Tyler named him SHAGGY:) I ask him if it was a Boy or a Girl dog and he said (and I QUOTE) "I think it is a boy as he answers to HERE BOY more then HERE GIRL"!!! OK, Yes I LAUGHED..sooo I said Tyler look under the dog and see if it has a boy part or a girl part..he looked at me like I had 2 heads and then said I AM NOT LOOKING..my neighbor picked him up and said its a BOY;)
Tyler LOVED this dog and I have to say the dog loved him..he even jumped into the pool to get to Ty. (Yes, we ALL miss Shaggy).
My FIRST responce to "Shaggy" was they are not getting him back as why did he just not TRY to carry the dogs with him...then I thought about it and realized the man paniced and through the dogs for someone to watch...why he drove into the water I have NO idea as he went into the deepest part.
Well we did leave a note on the car and said we had 1 dog and where we lived and 2 days later when I was not home a lady came for Shaggy..I would have LOVED to know what happen and what Shaggys real name was but HE will always be Shaggy to us.

Pictures

End of our street.

5 houses down..water broke basement windows out and they got 6 plus feet in basement!

This is the Van that threw SHAGGY out..

Tyler floating.

In front of our house right after water came in..got much worse!

House behind us.

Basement collapsed..outside hot tub ended up in basement!

Lunch at 12 and dinner at 7 everyday:-)

Well, I have FINALLY uploaded my pictures onto my laptop. I honestly have not had time to do anything that did not involve a mop, shop vac or cooking this week.
This week is getting more back to "normal" for us BUT there are so many that will never have normal again. We drove through a area last night and I was sitting in the car crying and said I am just as sad today as I was a week ago. I am not sad for me..we are sooo DAMN lucky and I am can not complain. Others have everything they have worked for in their yards and NO FLOOD insurance as 95% of us do not live in a flood zone. It is heartbreaking. There was a arcticle in yesterdays paper and the one teacher from school who lost 2 floors of stuff, husband said "it is not the flat screen TV or the big recliner..it is my kids baptism gowns, baby books and pictures". He said the youngest keeps asking for his Woody (Toy St0ry). We have not pitched a THING that has made me sad..When the water came up the street we got all the pictures and albums upstairs. I even took Hanks moms Chinese paper cutting things off the wall as they have meaning..Nicholas got his Xbox and the computer from down there and we unplugged everything.

We are still doing food for our area:) We "tried" to quit lunches but the look on a few faces we have kept it up. We have said they are not as "dirty" as they use to be when they walked up the street but they are still TIRED. We do lunch at 12 AND dinner at 7 each day. The neighbor 2 doors down did not have a basement so we use her yard and garage and have around 10 coolers of soda, water and gatoraide set up. A table of snack ideas all day and tables and chairs for a break. My excessive shopping has come in REALLY HANDY as I never have 1 of something it is always 6 plus items so that is good. My diet is not doing real well as I am not use to homemade desserts in my face at every meal but today is a new day and I am back to tracking again.
I am doing a different post of Shaggy as I found a few pictures Tyler took of him. I will say I do kinda miss him:) I know Tyler does A LOT!!

Update

Well I got my internet back tonight. I honestly have not had much time to even think about it so it was OK. This has been the HARDEST week I have had since my mom found out she had cancer...My dad is in the hospital and I was on my way Saturday when I drove through water around 30 mins from here that I know I should have never driven through. I ended up turning around (yes, driving back through it) as I was afraid it would be even higher that night. This was by far the best decision I have made in a LONG time as we were home when the water came through out sundivision. I have NEVER seen anything like it was one minute it was down the street and the next it was past our house.We got around 6 inches or so of CLEAR water that came through the walls around 1130 at night. WE ARE SO LUCKY as we have neighbors and friends who ended up with 6/8 FEET of MUD water in their houses. It is the most depressing thing to drive past houses that you drive past ALL the time and see what they are going through. We can not complain about when we have as we are SO LUCKY. We have the carpet up and tomorrow is the drywall. We have pitched A LOT of stuff but we had to much STUFF in the first place. I got ALL my pictures and photo albums up the night so I lost NOTHING that can not be replaced!
My neighbor is WONDERFUL as Hank was in China and I had help till he got back. There are a few of us that are making sure others are eating and we do Lunch at 12 and Dinner at 7 each night. Last night I think we feed around 60 PLUS people. TOnight was not as many so we took food in our car and drove around and found people who had not eaten yet at 830/900 at night. I said our area looks like a war zone.
I would say 99% have no flood insurance as they like me do not live in a flood plain and it is not offered.
Please pray for Columbus..I am fine but I have friends who have lost everything.

local flooding.....

I am posting this for Diana as she does not have Internet access at the moment due to flooding in the area. The city was hit hard and there are areas that are completely ruined. Her basement suffered water damage but nothing that can't be repaired. She has spent the last few days helping those who are facing the reality of the destruction of a flood. She and her neighbors have rallied together to feed and help those who need it the most. Please keep all of these people in your thoughts and prayers that they may start to rebuild their lives in this difficult time.

This photo{from the local paper's website} is the neighborhood across the road from Diana.

Thanks Suz;-)

Well in one of my MANY trips to the pool today I stopped my Suzannes to put her trash out to the curb and check out the NEW KITCHEN. I LOVE it!! It even looks nicer then it does in the pictures but Tyler did ask me why you got a blue fridge (protective covering:)

Well Tyler being TYLER he opened the fridge and what was left..3 cans of slim fast cappuccino delight..I am not a coffee person and REALLY hate buying a pack of them if I do not like them so I looked around and no one was looking so one just HAPPEN to fall into my purse:) When I got home a Kohls ad with a 20% coupon was in there also since the one I got was only a 15% off. I can hardly wait till tomorrow when I put the can back to the house....HUMM maybe a bigger purse and a birdbath might "fall" in:)

BTW

I think I might actually like the flavor..just took a sip as I did not want to waste it:)
Mail on shelves in Familyroom (Kohls ad in my CAR)
I will replace it BEFORE you come back..just wanted to "fess" up incase a neighbor saw me leaving with a can in hand:)

Sunburn and Fever Blisters

Sunday Suzanne came over and we FLOATED. This was a 2 year in the works float as she has not "floated" with me before. I am a BIG time POOL NAPPER and there was a nice breeeze (OK..a little chilly) so neither of us used sunscreen as it was really not that sunny and I took a nice long nap. Well, can you say SUNBURN!! OMG, we both were RED and now I have a whole mouth of fever blisters which look GROSS. Even Hank, who is suppose to LIE and say "honey, it does not look that bad"... said how bad it looks WITH OUT ME ASKING HIS OPINION!!
Nicholas sproated a nice zit on the end of his nose this week and I told him we could be in a freak show together with his nose and my mouth. His is clearing up..mine has a long long way to go.
AND of course we have 2 graduation partys this weekend...Won't I look nice:(
Yesterday, I did lay out (napped) again and used my sunscreen and wore my visor. I usually am REALLY good about wearing it for this reason but it was not that sunny...
Anyone use anything other then Abreva on there fever blisters?

Our Pal Al

This picture says it ALL!!

Happy Memorial Day

Thank you to ALL who fought and are fighting for our Country.

Knoxville or Bust

Here is a Slide Show from our weekend in Tenn. We had a GREAT time and the kids did GREAT!!! I am still tired! Everyone loves Aunt "Rita" so I am sure she will be invited to other parties too (MargaRITA machine:)
The kids LOVED the pin trading and all were HAPPY with the pins they ended up with. Everyone we talked to say how big the pin trading was and they were NOT joking.
I am so proud of the kids..They ALL were so good the whole time we were gone. It was a FUN FUN FUN group of parents and a GREAT group of kids.
Kudos to the Griders for doing this with 4 adorable girls and pregnant with their 5th and never once complaining as we walked up and down hills for 2 days.

We are BACK!!

We got back last night..or I should say this morning around 3:15 from Knoxville. It was a GREAT weekend and I am TIRED!! I floated and took a nap in the pool all afternoon. Tyler's team came in 18th out of 90th which is GREAT!!! Here is a picture of I took from the DI site from the closing ceremony last night. I have a lot of pictures to upload and I will post more later.

And we are OFF

All, the FUNdraising is about over and we are OFF to Knoxville, Tenn. for the Destination Imagination Global Compatation..woohooo!!! The Kids are EXCITED and the parents are TIRED! We have "Rita" and her boyfriend Jose' packed for the parents:)
I charged my camera battery and will post Sunday night or Monday on how they did. They are expecting 22,000 kids so this is why "Rita" is coming along:-)

A question?

OK, I am talking to DENISE today about what she is making (cough cough) for her daughters graduation party..She ask if I will make brownies as I have the most wonderful SHEET CAKE PAN that makes a double batch. I said I already told you I would..so then we start talking about coleslaw and I said do you need me to make Coleslaw too..she says YES, but it if you tell me what to buy I will get it and then you can make it since I have never made Coleslaw (how can you be 40 and never make coleslaw I do not know:)..
Ok so this is the QUESTION of the day..how did we get from Coleslaw to Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters?

***answer

Ok..Denise said don't I need to buy a bottle of that Mandrellys and I said It is MARZETII and she said like Barbara Mandrell and then I said and the Mandrell sister ..remember that show and then DENISE said isn't she dead..LOL
I said NO, I don't think so..we then had a whole conversation on Barbara Mandrell and at then end of it I said how did we get to talking about her..sad thing is it took us a while to remember we were talking about coleslaw. I said I am blogging this and we laughed. AND no..we never got back on the coleslaw again.

A Year Ago Today

This was my mom in Florida in July, with her beer on the beach...

A year ago today everything changed. We were at Kings Island and did not stop at my parents as it was around 930 before we got out of the park and Tyler was DRENCHED from the one ride and my mom had not been feeling well. We were home maybe 1/2 hour at the most and my sister called and said they were calling 911 for my mom as she was very confused. We all decided to go and then my sister called back and said she fell in the bathroom. The story on that was she kept saying she had to "pee" and my dad said then go..she would just sit on the side of the bed confused (she was FINE before this). Well when the paramedics got there they said Go to the bathroom..she got up and went in her bathroom as 3 men stood there. My sister gets there and says where is she..they said in the bathroom and she said she is moaning..they open the door and she FALLS out and hits her head on the nightstand and cut her legs on the floor and door. She was A MESS!!! We at this point thought maybe she had a stroke.
At the hospital they thought she had some type of infection and starting treating her that way. Hank took my dad home during the night and my sister and I stayed. Around 4 they moved her to a room so I told my sister to go home and I would stay..the next morning when the new nurse came in I said I thought she looked BAD and she was breathing labored. She said I am glad you said this as what the night nurse has written up and what I am seeing is not the same...my moms DR. happen to be walking down the hall so he was in the room as soon as he was paged. He checked her and then told me we had to make a decision on life support as her organs were failing and he did not give her 24 hours but he thought it would be more like hours. (I will never forget this as long as I live). I just sat there in shock. I went in the other room to call my sister to get her and my dad up there..as soon as she answered I lost it..thank god the nurse was there as she took the phone from me. They came up and we had a meeting with another Dr and a nurse and this is when the Dr. said I can not say she was Cancer for sure but I am 99.9% sure she has pancreatic/liver cancer by the x-rays. My parents have always said they wanted a DNR so this is what was decided. They were surprised she made it through the day and as the day went on her blood pressure and heart rate came up. She was in ICU for almost 2 weeks and then in another room for around a week and when she came home Hospice was involved. She never walked with out a walker again and she started Chemo in June. We did get her to FL. in July (we all flew) and she came home and we found out she had blood clots in her legs and was in a hospital bed at home from then on. I am SO THANKFUL that we got her to FL as she loved the beach..not the water..just the beach. The Dr said with chemo she would guess 6 to 9 months and my mom said OH GOOD I will be here for Christmas..well the chemo was not working and she got worse and passed away in Sept. She made it 4 months to the DAY from when they gave her less then 24 hours.
Tyler said the other week that he thinks Grandma is in Vegas in Heaven playing the slots and winning and having a heck of a good time.. I choose to agree with him!

Desperate Housewives

Ok..YES, I know this is 5 post in a day..BUT.. what the HECK was the 5 years later at the end of Desperate Housewives. I did not like that at ALL....did anyone get it?

Someone..wish I knew WHO just left this comment and check this out. I HATE it even more now!!!

Jim and Sadie

Mary and Gordon....They were thinking of you:)

Cheese coneys are heaven on a plate!!

Sadie before a 4 way (chili, spaghetti, cheese and onions)!!

Sadie AFTER...lol

Hank, Sandy, Dad, Jim and Sadie..the kids were at another table.

My dad and Sadie!!

Jim, Nicholas, Tyler and Sadie.

My parents met Jim and Sadie in Florida YEARS ago and became friends with them. They live in Canada and are the NICEST 2 people you will ever meet! They came down for my parents 5oth anniversary as a SURPRISE and when we found out my mom had cancer they came to see her and also when my mom pasted away. They are part of our family and we love them!!! They were on there way back from FL and stopped yesterday so we went down. We had the nicest visit and went to SKYLINE for dinner. Skyline is a Cinti. thing and OMG it is GOOD!!! We also had Graeters ice cream for dessert so it was a Darn good day:)
Here are some pictures of Jim, Sadie and my dad. Gordon and Mary are another couple that my parents met in FL and they live in Scotland (HI). My parents really like them a lot and Sadie and my mom always had a "little" thing about who Gordon liked the most..(my mom:)

My Back Yard

The path....(Thanks soo much to Daniel for the slate)

Deck..opps took through the door..why I did not open it I have NO IDEA:(

Hank has been working on the path in the back and can I say I LOVE IT!!! Today he mulched and it just makes everything look nice!!! Here are a couple pictures of some of my flowers, path, new patio set and screened in porch (which I cleaned today:) I bought a new rug and the wrinkles need to come out of it!

Donner May Freeze Meet

Today was the FIRST meet of the season and it was OUTSIDE!! Yes, it was a little "chilly". Nicholas swam well for the first meet of the year. It was a SMALL meet as a lot do not sign up because of the weather and being outside. He swam 10 events and came in 1st 8 times and 2nd place 2 times.


Nicholas "WRAPPED" up.

Denise and Tracy..They timed NEXT to us and we had FUN:)
(I have NO idea what the kid behind Denise is doing either)

To Suzanne

Look how GREEN it is!!

This is the "brown" stuff I was talking about and look how pretty the flowers are:)

Can Andrew come out?

WoooHooo

Tropical Smoothi's Drive Thru is now OPEN!!!
It does not take much to make be really really HAPPY:-)

Tylers DI Fundraiser

Tylers Destination Imagination group from school is trying to raise $6000 for their TRIP next week to Knoxville TN for GLOBALS!!! There will be other teams from all over the country and world there . I read they are expecting over 22,000 people. (Yes, we are bringing margarita stuff as we will NEED IT). I had someone (Kathy) suggest I do this. They are a GREAT group of 7 4th graders who will be going with there families. The bad thing is they will be missing the last day of school. (when you are in 4th grade this is a BAD thing:)
So far THEY have sold popsicles are school on Th and Fridays, had a movie night at school, we are having a Chuck * Cheese night Monday, Sold flower certificates to a local nursery and had a few business donations.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to ALL of the MOMS and Wating MOMS. I so remember my FIRST mothers day. We lived in Phoenix and we got Nicholas in February and went to the Zoo with some other new moms that also had adopted from Korea:) All the moms got a Carnation and it was the BEST Flower I ever recieved!! Mothers Day was always the WORSE day for me while we were "trying" to have a baby. My heart goes out to ALL the moms to be that are waiting to become a mom either through Adoption or Childbirth. Your Mothers Day will come and you will remember your First Mothers Day ALWAYS!!!


Today is my first Mothers Day without my mom and I have to say when I woke up my mom was the first think I thought of. I know she is in a better place and she is not in pain BUT I so wish it was last year as she was not feeling well but we did not know she had cancer yet.
Happy Mothers Day Mom..we love and miss you so much!!

~UPDATE on my Garage Sale~
I sold $700 at my SALE..WOOHOO

Tips for the Ladies in the Year 2008

1. Aspire to be Barbie - the bitch has everything.
2. If the shoe fits - buy one in every colour.
3.. Take life with a pinch of salt... A wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila.
4. In need of a support group? - Cocktail hour with the girls!
5. Go on the 30 day diet. (I'm on it and so far I've lost 15 days).
6. When life gets you down - just put on your big girl panties and deal with it.
7. Let your greatest fear be that there is no PMS and this is just your personality.
8. I know I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here.
9. Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.
10. Don't get your knickers in a knot, it solves nothing; and makes you walk funny.
11. When life gives you lemons in 2008 - turn it into lemonade then mix it with vodka.
12. Remember every good looking; sweet, single male is someone else's ex-boyfriend!

*I got this today from someone and I love it:)
Have a GREAT weekend!!

Garage Sale

This week I have been getting ready for a GARAGE SALE! It is sad how much $tuff I buy and then $ell. The BIG QUESTION would be "WHY DID I BUY IT IN THE FIRST PLACE"????
There are a few of us on our street having one so hopefully it will be good. I will be HAPPY making $300 as I really do not have any WOW items. The only "big" item I really have is a patio set which really needs to find a new home. I bought it 2 years ago..did not LOVE it then, (this is where we insert the BIG QUESTION). Our ad says Saturday BUT the street you turn into our subdivision is having one today also soooo I am thinking of putting signs up and opening today also. I NEED/WANT to get rid of this $tuff as it is not doing me any good.
I still need to go through the storage room sides of the basement and I honestly do not have most items marked BUT I made a sign that says "if item is not marked just ask...how tacky is that...lol
Well, I am now waiting for the BANK to open so I can get some $. Can you tell I am sooo ready for this:)

Staff Appreciation Week PLUS more "stuff"

This week is Staff Appreciation week. I did Staff Appreciation a few years ago and then someone else did it this year and last year (crappy job) so another mom and myself decided to "help" her and kinda took it over as she was not doing ANYTHING. We are also heading it next year also.
Soooo this has been a BUSY week.
Monday-Ritter$ Free Frozen Custard Certificates
Tuesday-Taco Bar Lunch with Desserts
Wednesday-Kisses and Lifesavers in their mailboxes
Thursday-Breakfast
Friday-Desserts as the principal is doing a cookout for them

So this week I have made 4 cakes, a HUGE bean dip, and crock pot of scrambled eggs with peppers, onions, sausage and potatoes for breakfast burritos!
This is also the school I work out part time soooo I did get to enjoy it all also:)

We already have a list of ideas for next year..My favorite that we did a few years ago was TGIPD (Thank God Its Pie Day:) We had this on a day when their was after school staff meetings so they could get some "PIE" before they went into the meeting.

*On the FUNdraising note..YES we are still FUNdraising for Tyler's DI group. This week we worked Market Day for the profits and are doing a MOVIE NIGHT on Friday at school. The movie is FREE but you buy concessions. I am having a garage sale (which I am sooo not ready for) this Saturday so Tyler is going to sell POPSICLES and our ELSBURY certificates there. We have a Chuck E Chee$e night planned for a week from Monday and they sell Popsicles every Th. and Friday at school during recess. We are slowly making some money but still have a way to go. We actually talked to the Market Day rep. last night and said we would work the summer sales for the profit so we need to talk to PTO about it. It is hard to get volunteers for the summer so it might work out well:)
We actually leave 2 weeks from TODAY for the competition.
(Tammy if you read this THANK YOU..Tyler said who is this from and I said the lady who shoved you in the pool with your clothes on..He remembed:)

*Only MY son would get after school detention for TALKING in class (was moved to other side of room and still talked to kids on other side) and when I go pick him up the teacher comes out to tell me not to be so hard on him as he is such a good kid and he (the teacher) was having a "bad" day and that is why he gave him the detention. The teacher had told him the day after he gave it to him that he did not think he should have so when Nicholas showed up he ask him why he was there..he thought he "knew" not to come.

Picture

First of all..YES 3 post in 1 day..WOOHOO.
I have been REALLY busy and have not had time to post this week even though I felt I had blog worthy posting..lol

Nicholas did this picture for Art. He had to mix white and black paint and he did Micheal Phelps. I really need to have a pic of the picture he went off of. Micheal Phelps has a ring of grape vines or something like that on his head:)
The other pic is Nicholas on Sunday..YES, we had company:) He went paint balling on Saturday with around 16 boys from the swim team. They meet at 12 and I picked him up at 9:30. Thanks to Ben's parents for putting up with ALL these boys and FEEDING them!! From what I am hearing Bens dad had a lot of FUN also:)

New Patio Cushions

I have been looking for new patio cushions and found these online and think they will match THIS very nice:)
What can I say...it is ALL about accessorizing:)

Happy Birthday x 3!!!

(She will KILL me for saying this BUT...SINGLE, very nice and lives in Cinti area sooo if anyone knows anyone..(let me know:)
**I posted her email back to me as a anonymous comment:) She really should know better then to email me:-)

Kaitlin, My dad and Sandy

Sunday, we celebrated my neice Kaitlins 16th Birthday, my Sister's (Sandy) birthday and my Dads 86th Birthday!!! My sisters older daughter, Lindsey lives near Atlanta. We do miss her as she is always the life of a party:) They came here and we grilled metts and brauts and I made loaded potato salad, baked beans, fruit salad and corn on the cob (not bad for store bought). We also had a chocolate cake and a strawberry shortcake type of diet* cake. It was a nice day and we sat outside on the NEW patio furnature and had veggie pizza, shrimp, crab cakes and some pretzels and dip. We even got in the pool for a while and floated till the sun went behind a cloud and stayed:(
It was a VERY nice day and I love it when they come down!
*This is the recipe for the "diet" cake.
1 cake mix (I used yellow)
1 can diet soda (diet sprite)
3 egg whites or egg beaters or 2 eggs

mix this all together (I just use a fork) and pour into a pam sprayed 9x13 in pan.
Bake for 25 mins or till done.
On the one I made this week I poked holes in it and poured the sugar free Jello on it (box SF strawberry in 1 cup boiling water, mixed).
Cool

Top with FatFree Cool Whip and sliced Strawberrys!!
My kids LOVE the lemon version of this with just powdered sugar sprinkled on the top. They really do not icing (I love icing:).