Just some sentences

I'm thinking of combining our adoption blog with this one.  I get torn on which blog I want to write on when I feel like blogging and then I just don't end up doing either.  So, I think I am going to print the posts that I have on that blog (for a keepsake) and I will continue any adoption posts right here!

Speaking of adoption, we are having our profile shown again!  I don't want to get my hopes up, so I won't.  Yea, right.  There's less risk (well, just risk of a different sort) involved with this one, so that's nice.

Bill and I went camping this weekend and I loved it!  We haven't been in a few years, I had forgotten how much fun it was!  It was a little cooler than I'd have really liked, BUT, it wasn't 90 degrees so I won't complain.  I got to read an entire book, had hot dogs for dinner AND breakfast, and enjoyed nature (while checking in on facebook every now and then!).  Can't wait to go back, but I think next time we are going to look into the cabins at the lake.  I'm getting too old for air mattresses!  :)

Grace will make her on-stage debut this weekend in her school play, Aladdin.  She will only be singing and dancing, but all the great actresses start somewhere don't they?!  I don't know if she's cut out for it though....she has cried on a few occasions because the "director" yelled at them or practice was too long and it was stressing her out.  Oy. 

I was drawn in watching "trash tv" last night....The Real Housewives of New Jersey aired on Bravo last night!  Who else was as excited as I was?!?!  Bill wasn't....he went to bed at 6pm last night. Not kidding!  Camping did him in, obviously.  Ok, back to RHoNJ.  What is up with Theresa?  She's let fame get to her head.  I'm sure it would be hard NOT to let it though, really.  My sister and I sit around and talk about them like we know them.  It's absurd.  But I still like it!  :)

To end this post, I'll leave you with a picture of the most beautiful 10 1/2 year old little girl I know!  Have a wonderful day!!

 

A tip that will forever change your life.

If you love to dunk your oreos, that is.  A big thank you goes out to my cousin Tiffani who gave me this awesome idea.  It's so great, I thought everyone would want to know! 

I also had to prove it to my sister that sometimes I actually do something with the random pictures that I take, as silly as they are.  Like a half eaten (not all by me!) bag of oreos, a half a gallon of milk, and a cookie with a toothpick sticking out of it.  As if I have nothing better to do.  :)

 

I'm taking Bill out to dinner tonight, just me and him.  I even made reservations....woah. You'd think that we would have all the time in the world to go out by ourselves, but it rarely happens....we're just not "go-out" people I guess. He is excited, I think. I won't tell him where we are going and it's driving him crazy. 
I spent the morning with Chace, Miles, and my sister, and later Shawn.  We went to a Dr. Seuss book reading at Target, shopped the good will, and had an awesome lunch, followed by catching up on Jersey Shore on her DVR.  Good times.

I have lots of "Ten for Today" posts running in my head, but no time to write them right now.  I'm seriously lacking in my at-least-one-blog-post-a-week new years bucket list goal

Winter Fun!

I receive Disney's Family Fun magazine, which I love.  It's very cheap and has tons of ideas and fun stuff to do.  I found this winter sun catcher craft last year and have been waiting to try it out.  Grace was out of school one day so we decided to make it.  Keep in mind that it's something that will not have instant satisfaction, given the amount of time needed for freezing.  (We are pretty impatient around here and didn't take that into account!).  But, when it was done, it was awesome!!! 
We used one ice cube tray and filled the cubes only half full.  Grace added 1-2 (and sometimes 3-4!) drops of food coloring to each cube.  These need to be frozen first.  We filled a round cake pan with water with a cup near the top for the hole.  I put some water in the cup to....keep it in place, I guess?  I think the directions said to freeze that for about 20 minutes...well we forgot and left it for about an hour.  It wasn't fully frozen yet, but I still had to break the top layer of ice to lay the cubes inside.  Grace shoved the cubes in the cake pan and we put it back in the freezer for a while. 

It popped right out of the cake pan and we tied some ribbon through to hang outside.  Make sure you have a ribbon or string strong enough to hold it....it would be a shame for all that unpatient freezing time to go to waste!!  Make sure you hang it somewhere that it won't matter for the food colored cubes to melt.  I'm not sure what it would do, but I don't want to be responsible for ruining your porch mat....or what have you.  BUT, it did nothing to our concrete font porch.  Aaaaanyway.

While it was hanging outside, we worked on some other crafts and Grace kept running to the front door to watch it melt and quench her thirst.  The funniest thing is that she talked about how good it was and that it tasted like kool-aid.  Ummm, it was only colored water.  Haha!  Kool-aid cubes may not be a bad idea though!  Since our temps here have been unseasonably warm, it didn't last for more than a couple of hours, but was fun while it lasted.  We will definitely be making one of these again...and hopefully it will last longer!  What kind of crafts have you been making lately?!  Check out these fun pics of our Winter Sun Catcher!

Ten for Tuesday!

1.  Soooo, the whole keeping up with my blog at least once a week?  Yeah.

2.  I've got a cold.  It really stinks.  I'm thinking it has something to do with this crazy warm weather we're having in January.  Where's the snow?!!?  I am thankful that it's just a small cold though.  Knock on wood.  Last year, while going through my IVF's, my immune system was pretty non existent and I was sick a lot.  A lot, a lot. 

3.  We're going to a murder mystery dinner this weekend.  It's something we've always wanted to do.  So when The Night's Shield children's shelter posted that they were having one for a fundraiser, we decided we had no better reason to go to one!  So, we will spend the evening with my brother, sister, and cousin (and their spouses).  Can't wait!

4.  Teen Mom again tonight!  I feel bad for the girl trying to get some child support.  Some guys think they don't need to pay it.  I know of so many women who don't get a dime they are ordered to pay.  It's sad. 

5.  I had to hem some jeans because they were too long.  I wish I could hem some jeans in the waist because they were too tight.  I can dream, right?

6.  Grace and I have skype on our laptops and we skyped from bedroom to bedroom.  Then we got the crazy idea to skype my sister....who lives a few blocks away!  Her, Shawn, and the boys were piled on the couch talking back and forth with us.  The funny thing is that they had just left our house an hour before!  Haha!

7.  We've been "window shopping" for me a new car.  The plan is to trade Bill's truck in, he'll drive my car as a work car, and buy him a cheap truck.  We'll see.  I've never really shopped for a car before, it's pretty exciting!  I liked a Honda CRV that I drove this weekend, though I'm not completely sold on them.  My boss (and friend!) Paulette posted this awesome Honda super bowl commercial!  Hoping that we'll got to browse a little this weekend!

8.  Yet another night that Bill lays in bed rattling the windows with his snoring.  It's making me insane!  I just tried to get him to roll over...and of course he gets mad being woke up from sleeping....but told me that "he knows that it's ten til and that's what the Lincoln was for".  Oooookay......

9.  I got my haircut from my cousin Heidi at Salon Bliss and it's awesome!  I love her....and not just because of the awesome haircut.  She's such a good person!

10.  Grace wanted me to put some pictures on her laptop tonight so I hooked up my external hard drive and she was browsing pictures.  We came across our family reunion vacation pictures from Las Vegas and Utah.  It seems like it was so long ago.  Vacation, how I miss you.  I'd go back to Vegas tomorrow if I could!  It was fun looking back at pics and remembering the fun things we did and times had.  No matter how much people make fun of me for always having my camera and taking so many pics, I am always thankful I do that because of times like this!!

Ten for Tuesday

1.  I think of all kinds of things I want to blog about, but when the time comes, I can't find the ideas.

2.  I'd love to write on our adoption blog, but I really don't know what to write about over there.  I'm really trying to not think about it,  so not sure what to say....other than I'm tired of waiting....surprise, surprise!

3.  What is it with this silly addiction I have to the most crazy reality shows.  I love me some Teen Mom, Jersey Shore, Ax Men, and Real Housewives of Anywhere.  They are such time wasters, but are my guilty pleasure!

4.  Grace is going to be in a play through her school in a couple months.  She'll only be singing, but she's very excited.  She's joining the chorus too, which is great, because she has a pretty good little voice!

5.  Bill is laying next to me snoring so badly.  I can't stand it.  He tells me if I'd just go to sleep it wouldn't bother me.  I can't help it that I stay up later...much like he can't help that he snores like crazy!  Gahhhhhhh.  I'm thinking it's not natural to want to punch your husband in the face while he's sleeping.  I'm so ashamed!  I reeeeeeally do love him!  No, really!!

6.  I've lost 8.5 pounds without a {whole} lot of effort.  I wish I could find the energy/motivation to exercise.  I did so well when I exercised before and I felt good!  It will come to me, I'm sure of it!  Just wish it would come sooner rather than later!

7.  I was cleaning out files from the last year and came across some invoices I had questioned from Washington University St Louis from the last IVF I did.  Since my insurance did not pay for IVF, we (my dad) had to pay for everything up front.  They also went ahead and billed my insurance for some stuff and my insurance paid it.  So, one of the fees has been paid twice.  WU says they accidentally billed the insurance and they would be giving them a refund.  Insurance says they should give me a refund.  This was from November 2010 and it's still not taken care of!  It's only a little over $500, but I don't think they should just be sitting on it.  I'd like to just forget about it and throw all the papers away, but I'm not happy with how they've handled the situation and refuse to give up.   I wonder how many times this happens that people don't catch it?!

8.  Getting my hair cut by my cousin Heidi this weekend.  The first time she cut it, she had just started cosmetology school.  It didn't turn out quite like I had hoped!  But, she has gotten pretty awesome and I can't wait to have her cut my hair again!  I'm ready to lose this long hair and go with something a little more fun!

9.  I hate when I am eating a 100 calorie pack of something or other and eat the.very.last.one. without even knowing it.  When I reach in the bag and it's empty I'm upset that I didn't take time to thouroughly enjoy the last one....anyone else get worked up over this??  I mean, you only have limited snacking with the small packs anyway....and if you don't get to savor that last bite??  Well, it's just....tragic.  Yes, I know there are far more important things to worry about.  Like Vinny leaving the Jersey Shore.  Ahem.

10.  Our winter has been insanely crazy!  We had a nearly 30 degree temperature drop today.  That's what the guy on tv said, anyway.  I've not actually took the time to check on the outside thermometer.  Isn't that what he's for?!  :)  It's been a very mild winter so far, which has been nice and given us some beautiful days, but I'm ready for some big snow!  

How 'bout you?!

Today...

...Grace's unsung hero video was posted on the news channel website.  She's going to be so excited when she watches the news tonight!  I cannot thank everyone enough for their donations to the kids at the shelter!
...I am watching my nephews Chace and Miles like I do every Friday - and I am thankful for these special days when it's just me and them. 
...Not so special was the blow out that Miles had in his diaper this morning while he was in his jump-a-roo. 
...It kind of reminded me of last Friday when Chace was standing at the toilet to pee and said, "Aunt Lisa, I think I pooped in your floor"  YOU WHAT?!  I turn the corner and sure enough a little turd is plopped in the floor right behind him.  He said he didn't know he had to poop also.  Hmm.
...sometimes you don't believe something but you just have to keep your mouth shut.  This is hard for me, but I do it!
...Grace has been doing great with her cell phone.  She has been very responsible with is so far and I am grateful.  Knock on wood.
...It's cold here.  There's a dusting of snow, but it isn't enough to make a snowball like Chace so desperately wants to do!
...Grace has a math test that Bill forgot to study with her on.  I'm sure she will do great anyway though.  She had all A's on her midterm that she got this week and has a 5.0 GPA!
...Miles has bronchitis and has to use a nebulizer....poor baby.
...Chace wants to spend the night tonight and go to the library.  This makes me happy!!  NO, we are not nerds!!  :)
...I spend a lot of time worrying about Bill traveling to and from work.  I have no idea why! 
...It's about time to get the seat to the jump-a-roo out of the dryer now that it's been washed and de-stinkified!
...I worry about Tommy girl because I think one of her tumors on her belly is slowly growing.  She never acts like she's bothered by anything though.  She's almost 13 and gets around like a puppy!  I don't even want to think about it.
...I am using Grace's laptop because mine is allll the way across the house.  Our house is not big. 
...I'm hoping to have a great weekend and hope you do too!!