2008 in Review

Got my braces off. . .
Removed the need for my glasses / contacts. . .
Bought a house with MBB. . .
Took ~48 hours to fly acrossed the pond for work. . .
Moved acrossed the river (jeg-lagged!) and created a new family unit. . .
Started a remodeling trend. . .
Stopped a remodeling trend. . .
Met with my doctor way more than I wanted. . .
Started remembering names of other parents who live in our county. . .
Got a few potential carpools lined up. . .
Hauled a ton of stuff to the hometown for Christmas and a ton and a half back. . .
Expanded our family by one. . .
Restarted the remodeling trend. . .

Namaste.

WOW

We are on a remodeling spree unlike any that I have ever been.

We bought all of the materials to finish almost all of our projects.

MaBell and I (with some help) painted a pretty large wall today - it's a light blue gray.
It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself!

I am planning on getting some more walls painted on Thursday and Friday.

We'll see how it goes!

Namaste.

Family Addition

Another reason that it took me awhile to post recently is this:
This is the newest addition to our family: YeagerBomb.

He was a bit freaked out by the size of our house and all of the creaks and moans at first.
He is now in our half bath (really full bath size) getting acclimated on a much smaller scale.
He is becoming a purr box!
By tomorrow night, we will be able to attempt the rest of the house again. :)

Namaste.

No More Mystery!

My apologies for being MIA for awhile.

With all of the Christmas travel. . .
MBBMommy being back in the hospital. . .
Our Water Heater deciding that it wanted nothing more to do with us. . .
Our Internet deciding that it was on vacation too. . .

Well, it's been a busy few days.

As far as the box mystery. . .
It is a mystery no more! :)

On Christmas morning, I opened this:
A scanner.
A big scanner.
A scanner big enough to scan my 12x12 scrapbook pages.

Yep, my honey heard me say that I wished I could scan my scrapbooks in case anything ever happened to them.
Now, I can.

Namaste.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!
Or Happy Holidays for those of you who honor other religions.


This card was CASED from JanTink. Click here to see her original masterpiece.

Namaste.

Hmmm. . .

MBB disappeared into the den about two hours ago.
I have strict instructions to "Stay Out".

I was going to paint some samples on the wall. . .But I can't find the primer.
I was going to play some of my CSI computer game. . .But I can't get it to load on this computer.

So, I am sitting here wondering what in the world he is doing.
Remember "the Box"?
Yep, it's in the den with him.

Namaste.

Sight Around Town. . .

I'd heard about them.
I'd even read Mike Brown's comment on them.

I finally saw one and had my camera handy.
Namaste.

Homemade Remedy

I won't name any names, but we have an issue with someone's stinky feet in the house.

We read about a homemade remedy of comet and since the bathtub must be cleaned on occasion, we decided to combine the two.

It seemed like tons of fun, so both MaBell and OB jumped on it and provided some evening entertainment.

NOTE: The homemade remedy did NOT work. We are still battling stinky feet.

Namaste.

Remodeling Success. . .

My Mary Kay corner has been not so pretty since we moved last March.

There was a hole in our den wall over the ceiling of the staircase going to the basement.
MBB enclosed the hole and built me a huge Lazy Suzy type thing that is perfect for my inventory.
I don't have everything loaded onto it yet, but you get the idea.
Eventually, we'll finish it off with trim and all of that good stuff.

Namaste.

Whew!

I had the last two days off to try to get the rest of the holiday prep done.
Then Mother Nature and the School System decided to have a say - the kids have also been home the last two days. Not such good news with MaBell's finals starting Friday and all of the study guides are still in the hands of the teachers.

I did get a bit of shopping done before my dentist appointment yesterday.
I also did a marathon baking session today - I'm pleased to share that all of that is done!

Here is just a small portion of what I baked. :)

Yep - I'm a little tired after being in the kitchen all day!
The kids enjoyed being my taste testers.
I'm seriously considering changing OB's nickname to Cookie Monster. :D

Namaste.

SWEET!

I watched her weekly. . .
I rooted for her, especially when she was the last black standing. . .
I cheered when she took the title. . .

Congratulations Michelle!
NOTE: I did not take the picture posted above. Click here for the rightful owner of it.

Namaste.

Made It!

The weight loss competition is over and I was over target!
1% over target to be exact! :)
I need to keep going a bit more, but at least I have some breathing room.

Guess what I had for breakfast this morning. . .
Remember that earlier post?

Namaste.

It's Almost Here!

Usually, I'm one of those saying:
"Where did the time go?"
"I can't believe it's almost here!"

Yes, those statements are always about Christmas.
The difference this year - it didn't sneak up on me.
I am aware every day how much I have to do and how little time I have to do it in.

The problem?
Each day, I am only finding about an hour (if that) to work on holiday prep.
It takes way more than that to get ready for Christmas in my house!

Good thing I have some vacation days scheduled to finish wrapping, baking and making.

Namaste.

Sneeze, Cough, Moan. . .

Yes, the icky bug has invaded.
Between 7pm and 9pm last night, I went from feeling fine to sneeze, cough, moan.

A certain medication allowed me to sleep last night, but I am back to sneeze, cough, moan this morning. I am on my way down to our pharmacy to see what can help me get through the day!

Wish me luck!

Namaste.

Negative is invading my Positive!

I typically do not watch the news - it's too depressing and negative!
I'll look at headlines on-line just to stay informed, but I don't want to submerse myself in it!

The few TV shows that I enjoy watching are upbeat and, in my opinion, have a positive spin to them.

My problem?
I love watching Biggest Loser - both the USA version and the Australian version.
I love watching people transform their lives.
I love being inspired to continue with my transformation.

Can someone get rid of the Negative THING that has invaded my show?
I really struggle watching week after week with her remaining!
Yes, I am talking about Vicky.
Yes, I know that some enjoy the entertainment value of her.
No, I don't.

Namaste.

Hmmmm?

Adding to my list of "Things That Make Me Go 'Hmmm?'":

How can a policy that is effective 1/1/09 be applicable for an event that occured in Dec 2008?
How can a company charge you a fee to stop doing business with them?

Namaste.

Story Time

There once was a man who was taking his little girl to catch the basketball bus.
Winter was arriving early, so they were having some "fun" on the drive.

On a particular not-so-winter-friendly, they had some of their "fun" and then drove safer because the road was getting windier and icier.

Karma is not always known to be nice and got revenge for the earlier "fun".
Luckily, the man's girlfriend has AAA.

Namaste.

Affirmations

I am a student of Unity.
When someone asked me what Unity is, I always fell back on the Five Basic Unity Principles. Recently, the Association of Unity Churches provided an Identity Statement, but I still like the simplicity of the Five Principles.

The one that I connect the most with is Principle #3: "Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind."
In other words:
When I think positive, I attract positive into my life.
When I think negative, I attract negative.
When I think I'm sick, I get sick.

One aspect of this principle is affirmations.
An affirmation is something that is true, but I may forgotten it for a moment.
Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, used an affirmation repeatedly throughout her life: "I am a child of God, and therefore I do not inherit sickness.”.

Here is my current affirmation:
"I am blessed with a strong, healthy body.
I am whole and well in mind, body and spirit."

Does anyone else have an affirmation currently?

Namaste.

Usually. . .

. . .I am full of the Christmas Spirit throughout the month of December.
The tree is up (if it is going up) the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Christmas Music fills the house daily.

This year?
Not so much.
I have gotten a large portion of the shopping done, but that is the extent of my Christmasing.
Perhaps, it is because the Christmas Cards aren't in the mail yet?
Maybe I need to get those done!

Namaste.

Wooo Hooo!

I made it through Thanksgiving without gaining any weight!

I was a little nervous this morning. The scale was not being kind to most of the weight loss members, but it seemed to be indifferent to me - no loss, no gain.

I can live with that!

Namaste.