Trying To Get On Track...

2011 was supposed to be a year of change.  I did not make any “resolutions” but I did have a few things in mind I wanted to accomplish.  

I wanted to get in shape.

I wanted to start working on my project to do list. 

I wanted to practice photography. 

I wanted to become a more active blogger. 

The year started out pretty good.  I started to get healthy and was on track to accomplish my goals. 

Then life decided to throw a curve ball. 

Last month my father in law suddenly got sick.  A doctor told him he had contracted Hepatitis A and would feel better in 2-3 weeks.  On February 3, 2011 he had to go to the ER because the pain was so intense.  That night we learned he did not have Hepatitis A, he had something much worse......PANCREATIC CANCER.  The ER doctor told us it was bad, gave him 3 months to live.  Unfortunately he only lived 17 more days.  He died Sunday, February 20, 2011. 

 

My husband was very close to his father.  He was a huge part of our lives and we are pretty lost without him.  Now that he has passed, we are caring for his 17 year old daughter.  Adjusting to another person in the house hasn’t been too bad especially since she loves to clean! 

Now that things are getting back to normal I plan to pick up where I left off and I look forward to sharing all the nitty gritty details with you all!

P.S.  We love you Val, you will be truly missed!

Penny Pitcher Draft Beer Has Been Good To Me

5 years ago today, I met Alex; the greatest man in the world!  I am so thankful and blessed to have met him.

If you are looking to hear about how we met in school or at work and fell in love, you will have to look elsewhere.  Our story is a little less sophisticated, but none the less it is our love story and I look forward to one day telling my grandchildren how their “Gramps” {hehe} and I met. 

We are some classy people because on December 23, 2005 we met at a bar on penny pitcher night. 

We hit it off somewhat, which I am sure many thanks are in order to the penny pitchers of draft beer we consumed. 

 

{Yes this is the actual pitcher from the night we met}

After some time Alex drank too much and before I knew it he was singing Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers In The Night” to me. 

He started to get on my nerves.  I bolted when he tried to land a big slobbery kiss on me.

Apparently we exchanged numbers because in his drunken state he tried to call a few times that night, I ignored his calls. 

For some reason I felt bad for him the next day, so I called to check on him.  We hit it off again, this time without being inebriated. 

We saw each other every day and 3 weeks after meeting we moved in together.

  I know....I know.....I KNOW how CRAZY that sounds, especially with all the psychos in our world, but believe me I knew this was the real deal.  Even weirder was the fact that my strict mother {whom he met 5 days after we met} did not fuss or lecture me one bit, it was like she also knew he was the one and she was totally okay with us moving in together {so weird}.

As they say, the rest is history.

Never in a million years, while he was serenading me that fateful night we met, did I think that same song would be the song Alex and I danced to for our first dance as husband and wife.  Seriously, I’ve always thought Frank Sinatra was cool, but I had no idea his music was that powerful :~)

Alex, I love you and am so thankful our lives crossed paths 5 years ago.  I can’t imagine life without you and the boys!

What’s On Michelle’s Phone Tuesday

If you want to join this week’s party be sure to visit Jessica here and join the link up, while you are there grab her snazzy button.

I hate I missed late week’s awesome party, you can check out the awesomeness from last week here. 

Time to play catch up!

We’ve been doing a lot of wrapping around our house. Last year my husband wrapped EVERYTHING, but I decided to join in on the fun this year. Wow nice and blurry. 

We have lived in our house for 3 years and this was the first time we have ever used our fireplace.

A customer bought our rims right off our truck, so we had to get some new 26’s to properly represent the wheel shop.

I stripperfied my nails to be festive and match an outfit to attend a Dirty Santa Party.

I bought a new cute sparkly clutch for the same Dirty Santa Party.

We received our annual shipment of baked goodies from my mother in law, all the way in New York.  Her cookies are amazing, even after shipping they are still just as fresh as the day she makes them. 

I dropped my girls off at the mall for an hour and let them carry my phone so I could call them {since I am a mean mommy that thinks 6th graders don’t need their own; been there, tried that, won’t try it again for a while} and they apparently had fun playing dress up in Claire’s.

Since the kids are out of school we have been crafting.

And lastly, it seems like all I do is clean....this is our new puppy hiding from the vacuum. 

Now it’s your turn.  So run and get your phones so you can link up!

What Is On Michelle’s Phone Tuesday

I have been MIA the last 2 or 3 weeks of this awesome link party thrown by Jessica over at The Lowe Family News and I am mad, very mad at myself. 

To make up for lost time I will unload it all on you guys today and I promise to narrow it down to the bestest of the best! 

I missed the 2nd week of this party because I was still recovering from a trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama with my friend Brenda.  We went to watch Alabama football!!  We had a great time, our boys won the game and we had an even better time afterwards partying it up like we were college students! 

Many thanks to my great husband for staying with the kiddos while I played. 

 

I’ve been busy with the kids.  I got to enjoy Thanksgiving lunch with Dominick at school and went on a field trip with Marissa and Bailey.

Alex brought a bouquet of flowers home for no reason at all....I love him!

Getting four kids dressed and ready {by myself} to see Santa ended up being a major ordeal.  After loading everyone in the truck and locking the house, I realized my keys were sitting on my kitchen table. 

Luckily a window was unlocked so I had to tear up a window screen {which due to it's great quality took me 15 minutes to tear the screen so I could rip it out of the window} in order to get in my house and get my keys. 

Lastly, we had a weak moment and bought a new puppy!  We have one wiener dog and thought it would be a great idea to get another {what were we thinking?}.  She is so cute and yummy!

  If you want to join in on this fun party click here NOW!

What Is On Michelle’s Phone Tuesday

I’m a genius...ok not really but this hot mamma Jessica is a genius! 

Recently she started posting blogs to chronicle her phone picture taking addiction.  This is right up my alley since I usually have my phone camera, my regular digital camera, my DSLR and my Flip video camera within a fingers distance away at all times. 

I told her I wanted to copy her posts but I did not like to be a copy cat so I suggested she have a link party to celebrate her brilliant idea and low and behold she having a link party so we can all share our life events via our phone pictures!  Be sure to join the party here, you are guaranteed to meet some great people. 

Let’s get on with the brilliance:

I am beginning to understand why my children hate taking pictures with me.  While traveling to a haunted train/house I tried to take a picture of me and some of the kids.  After 4 attempts of me trying to not look like I have a double chin I finally gave up and realized my arm was not long enough to get all of us in the picture without me looking like a goon. 

In the fall/winter I usually darken my hair.  Please focus on my hair and how my eyes pop instead of me not having any makeup on....thanks. 

My suburban is even more fabulous with the addition of sun visors that aren’t really sun visors but 10” TV screens.

We threw our annual Halloween party and had a bonfire which could have burned down our garage and an oak tree...luckily no such things happened and we had a great evening.

Two days ago I celebrated my 1st wedding anniversary and we pulled the cake top out of the freezer.  It was actually still very moist and tasty. 

Christmas is nearing and the kids are starting to get in the spirit.  I am starting to see lists like this laying all around my house.  My favorite is #5 (“suitable” lip-gloss  - since we don’t allow our girls to wear makeup) and #8 (the “can’t be boring” part). 

That’s all for now, well there is a lot more, but this is a good summary.  I will be on the prowl looking for pictures for next week’s party!