I Love This Man

You MUST watch this video.

Long Time, No See!

It's been some time since I've updated my blog--mostly because I didn't have anything particularly exciting to write about. I'm perfectly okay with life being mostly boring if it doesn't include any drama!

I have to admit, though, I'm SUPER excited. We are leaving for a week-long vacation to Florida on FRIDAY. I cannot believe that it is already here. We've been planning this vacation for over a year now. I've never flown or seen the ocean, but I'm going to take care of both of those things in one shot. I don't know that I'm nervous about flying--at least not about myself. I'm nervous about occupying a (nearly) 2-year old for 3 hours in a small space. We didn't buy her a ticket, so she'll be going back and forth between our laps, I'm sure. I'm fine with that, though. I just don't want her acting like a caged wild-thing and wanting to run up and down the isle or something. Aaah! We'll be packing plenty of goodies in our carry-on, for sure.

Tonight, I took Nora to the fire station to take her picture for the annual firefighter's kid's calendar. There was a downpour, so everyone else decided to stay home. Unfortunately, the other dates that were chosen for "photoshoots" won't work for us. I figured I'd try and get a few of Nora, anyway. Ha ha ha. What a joke. The child was in a horrid mood today for some reason. She kept telling us that it was raining. Yes, darling, it is. *sigh* I guess we'll try again when we get back from vacation.

Another random thought--I am attempting to make a digital scrapbook kit. I've gotten sooooo many free things that I thought I'd pay-it-forward. Here's a preview of what I've come up with so far. I think a couple of the "papers" need some more work, but I'm pretty pleased with the elements. While Nora was whining tonight, I took pictures of various things around the fire station. I extracted them from the photos and made them into embellishments. Anyway, here it is:

Thank you, Lowes!

Joe picked our new dryer up this morning on his way home from work. When he pulled in the driveway, I asked him why they'd bothered putting it back in a box. (It was part of clearance and was slightly dented, so it didn't have a box). He said he didn't know what the deal was. After we drug the old washer out and the new one in, he started cutting the box open. They gave us a brand-new, blemish free washer! I was perfectly pleased with the one we had picked out, but this was an added bonus. I'm so excited about my new washer that I'm posting its picture here!!

It's only money, a free stereo, and sleepless nights...

First of all, our washing machine died. (What else??) It was on its way out anyway, but it truly kicked the bucket a couple of nights ago. I wisely put a load in, knowing full-well that it might not turn out good. It would fill with water and agitate, but not spin the water out. Therefore, I was left with a washer full of water...and clothes. Luckily, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live right here in our town and they allowed me to drag my sopping wet clothes over to their house and use their washer. We went to town last night to look at washers and decided on one for $299 on clearance. It wasn't anything fancy, but it would do the job. We left, planning on purchasing it today. I'm sure everybody knows what happens when you don't buy something that you want right away--it's gone when you go back for it. As fate might have it, however, there was a washer out on clearance today (it wasn't there last night) that matches our dryer. It was more than the original one we had picked out, but I think it will be a nicer fit for us. We had the car today, so Joe will pick it up on his way home from work on Wednesday morning.

Also, we spent most of the day at the Philips Lighting Family Picnic. I was really impressed by it. I remember going to it as a kid and only feeling lukewarm about it. They hired some company to come in and entertain the masses. They had lots of free activities, games, food, etc. We sat and played BINGO for quite some time and it proved to be fruitful! I won (*gasp* I rarely win anything) a neat little stereo. I had to fight for it, though. Another lady got a BINGO at the same time, so they drew until one of us had the number on our card. The lady was NOT pleased. I can see why. The stereo is very nice and small--but has better sound than our bigger stereo.

As an update to Nora's sleeplessness, I think we've come over that hill. At least, we had until I jinxed us by typing that last sentence! It is now me that is suffering from insomnia, though. I've always had a heck of a time sleeping, but it seems especially bad right now. I even broke down and bought a sleep aid. I took one last night. I don't think it made me sleep more (I still woke up twice), but I felt a lot more rested in the morning. My shoulder is sore, though, so I think that I slept hard enough to not move for a long time in the night. I'll have to refrain from taking them when Joe is on duty, though. I don't want to not hear Nora in the night.

As a side note, I'm really proud of Joe! He started a very difficult workout and diet plan today. Nora and I watched him do part of the work out, and it is so, so grueling. The poor guy was dripping with sweat and could barely hold his arms up when he was finished--but I know that he'll be so pleased that he took this step! He's monitoring his food intake with an online diary and I think he'll do well. He already talked one guy at the fire station to do it with him, as well as another friend. I can't wait to see his results!!