Year in Review

Can't complain. This year has not been bad at all. I managed to stay out of the hospital another year. Yay for me. We were also spared the wrath of any hurricanes. We visited 3 places from my "Things to do before I die" list. California, New York & Niagara Falls. Loved them all and hope to return soon.

Kat received her Senior Class Ring and got accepted to FIU. She's had her Learner's Permit for almost a year, next step her License! EEK! She has her Bell's Palsy to deal with but is slowly getting better. Aside from that, we have all been very lucky in the health department this year.

Kari has been very busy with her FEA & FCCLA activities. Working hard to get those scholarships!

Danny has been working a 40 hour week at headquarters but is dying to get back on the field. It was a nice little break but enough already.

I turned 40. OMGee! Sounds soooo old! But hey, I still have 20/20 vision! Eye doctor told me so!

So aside from our insurance rates & electric bills sky rocketing, we really can't complain.

Looking forward to 2007. May it bring everyone health & happiness!

2007 Right Around The Corner!

I keep forgetting to update his thing I figured that I should do it before 2007. Nothing much going on around here. Christmas Eve & Christmas Day were both quiet & spent with family. I made a nice ham on Christmas day and everyone came over here. Danny & I don't really exchange gifts since according to him, everyday is Christmas for me. I graciously told him that he did not have to get me any gifts and just apply it to our Hawaii trip. I know, I know, I am a very considerate wife.

On Thursday, the girls and I spent a record 11 hours at the mall. They have gift cards and money burning a hole in their pockets. The mall wasn't as bad as I expected. Tons of sales! I should do my Christmas shopping after Christmas! We did take a 2 1/2 hour break and saw "In Pursuit of Happyness". Good movie. Very inspirational. A tad long though. Will Smith did a fantastic job on this film. We wanted to see Charlotte's Web but neither of us can sit in a movie theater full of kids anymore. Especially since one of us always gets a seat kicker behind us. I don't really blame the kids though, they don't know any better. My kids learned early on what I expected from them when we went anywhere, especially a place where other people have paid money to be able to enjoy themselves. So, we will watch Charlotte's Web when it comes out on DVD. Same goes for Night at the Museum.

We are going to a friend's house tomorrow for a quiet NYE. We might even make it till midnight.

I wish everyone a very Happy & Healthy New Year!

Allergies

I am only allergic to one thing , REALLY gets me! I went to drop off some baked goods at a friend's house & I forgot that she has CATS! Holy macaroni! Looks like I've gone a few rounds with Rocky Balboa!

The baked goods that I was delivering were part of the stuff that I spent the ENTIRE day yesterday baking! I decided to become a professional baker. I was up to my eyeballs in baked goods & I didn't have one bite

Well, the Benadryl is kicking in, I better get to bed. I'll have to post pics later, blogger is being a pain! I knew that I shouldn't have switched.


Nightie, Night!

Elfin Magic

This is hilarious!

Elfin Magic starring Danny. At least for me. I can be easily amused!

Grinchalicious!

I still have not shaken off this grinch mood that I am in this year. I usually am Mrs. Christmas from hell. Decorating, shopping, party planning baking and everything else that goes along with it was just a given. Gift giving this year is driving me nuts. My brothers kids are getting older and they are into more high tech stuff. Plus they have practically everything they want anyways. They don't need anything. My nieces are younger & are right at the age when Christmas is so magical. They live in AZ so I have taken to sending GC or cash since shipping has gotten so expensive. My sister's kids here in Miami need what money can't buy and unfortunately there is nothing I can do about that.

Last week, I packed up what I had purchased for the boys & took it to the Fire Dept. after their truck full of toys for cancer patients was ripped off. So now, I will probably just give them a gift card or cash so they don't see the green in me.

I will be baking, and I have to start on Tuesday. The thing with baking though, is that I have to try everything to make sure it's acceptable for gift giving. Jenny Craig here I come!

My donations are always a given. The grinch does not see his way into that. The one place that I ALWAYS give to is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I thank God every day for the health of my children and I need to give to help those that are not.

I also like Rosie's 4 All Kids Foundation. You can purchase items with all profits going to the foundation. Or make a $$ donation for 100% going directly to them. On Friday actually, Danny & I went on a one day cruise to benefit the foundation. We had a nice time & it was for a great cause. I support them for basically the same reason , my kids do not want for anything, although they think they do at times. They really don't. They are healthy, they have a home, they have both parents, they get their education etc. I still push for scholarships & grants though, because college costs are so prohibitive. But, they will go no matter what. Speaking of college, Kat just got accepted into FIU. We are very happy for her!!!! Yahooo!

If you will be making any charitable donations this year, please consider one or both if you don't have one that you prefer. There are many notable charities, but I am only able to help these 2 at this time. Maybe when I win the lotto???

Acupuncture?

We are considering acupuncture for Kat. It comes highly recommended by more than one person. She is the one that brought it up, so she is all for it. If it works, I may consider it for weight loss. I'll probably look like a human pin cushion if it's based n the amount of weight that I need to lose! I'm waiting for a call back from the doctor to find out what th cost will be.

I just got home from Target. I walk into Target and there are absolutely no shopping carts. Not a good sign! The store was packed! This was at 10AM! Holy Moly! I shall try to avoid the stores till January. Yeah Right!!!

Anyhoo, here is the pic of the back of our house which I said I would post.

Switched

I just switched to the Beta Blogger. I've been afraid to do it. Mainly because I was afraid to lose my stuff. But now it's done. I still have my stuff but I can't figure out what's new or different. Except that I have to sign in every single time! I switched because I was somewhat forced. I'm sure the blogger people do it on purpose. When the old blogger is ridiculously slow in loading and the link that reads "Switch Now" is staring you in the face, they know that you will be frustrated enough to click it!

My time is precious

I'm in a ranting mood. My Kat is still dealing with her facial paralysis. It breaks my heart to see her go through this. Her spirits are a bit up since the last time I wrote, which is a good thing. She had to go back to the neurologist yesterday. I took the 1st appointment of the day so that she could get back to school at a reasonable time. We got there at 8:30 after driving in rush hour traffic for a liitle over an hour. We signed in. Then waited, and wated & waited. At exactly 10:09 they call us in. They sit us in an exam room where we waited for another 15 minutes before the doctor came in. We finally left at 10:40!!! Why do they make appointments in the first place??? UGH! God forbid if we were 15 minutes late though. They would cancel the appointment out of "courtesy" to the other patients. It says so on a sin on their door!


Kat has an appointment for her MRI on Moday @ 7:00 AM. Prayers are reatly appreciated. She's my baby ya know.

Happy 40th Birthday Danny!!!!

He has caught up with me in age. But he will forever keep telling people that he married an older woman. He just does't mention that I am only a month and a half older!!!!

Today was a very hectic day. Started off with getting his birthday dinner ready, then I had to take Kat to the doctor @ 1:30. Made me remember why I HATE going there. First of all, parking is impossible. Then we actually waited for 2 1/2 hours! We didn't leave till a little past 4PM. Why do they make appointments???? But God help us if we are a tad bit late! My mom & dad came over for dinner & cake. They just left and I'm about to hit the hay! Good Night.

Another Bump in the Road

This morning Kat woke up complaining of a slight tingling on the left side of her face. When she went to brush her teeth and gargle, the water just dribbled out of her mouth. Right away I knew it was Bell's Palsy. It happened to me when I was 22. Went to her pediatrician who in turn sent me to th neurologist. He prescribed some meds then sent her for an MRI, then to an ENT & also to see her opthamologist.

This is something that supposedly is not very common. According to the doctor, it's like 1 in 5000 or 40,000 per year. So what are the chances of this happening to both of us????

It has gotten a bit worse since this morning. The left side of her face is void of any movement but thankfully it is not sagging. I hope we don't wake up to something worse in the morning. She is having a really hard time with this. I don't blame her and it hurts my heart to have her go through this. It's a combination of the discomfort, the physical part and the fact that she will be missing quite a bit of school for the next several days. This is her senior year, she can't really afford to miss.

So for the next few days, we will be sitting in doctor's offices, waiting with anxiety, hoping for good news. The tears have flown today for both of us. I hope tomorrow brings good things.

Well, at least the inside is done!

We finally finished decorating the inside of our house! Now Santa Claus can come!Since I'm feeling like such a Grinch this year, I'm not quite sure if we will do the outside or not. Here are a few pictures of what I did accomplish. I'm not a very good photographer, so it doesn't look quite right.

Monkey Business

Chimps! I love chimps! One of my favorite animals on my somewhat short list of favorite animals. It's Dolphins, Chimps, Pandas & Sea Otters in that order. These pictures were taken in 1988. The year we got married. Actually, this was part of our honeymoon. We were young & not very well off financially, so we stayed in Florida and went the theme park route. His name was Coco & he lived at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. The similarities between chimps & humans was proven on this day. Coco & his mate were playing around their enclosure, as seen in the picture it was a huge pit. Apparently, my sexy self caught his attention. Chimps are attracted to me, pretty sad huh? I started waving at him & calling out to him. I guess he took it as a sign of mutual interest and decided to go for it. He went and grabbed a stick to climb up to me. Mind you, all this was done in front of his girl chimp. She was not very happy about this at all. She came charging, grabbed the stick from under him which caused him to fall. He looked at her and probably saw the rage in her eyes and decided to RUN!!! She, in turn, chased him with the stick! It was the funniest thing ever! But the drama did not end there. After a few rounds around the pit, she got fed up and climbed a tree and sat there with her arms crossed and pouting. Coco paced around and eventually climbed up and sat next to her, put his arm around her and made kissy face!!! Now tell me, is that not like a typical man???? I wish we would have gotten it on video. Since we do not have it on tape, here is a funny chimp video for you.

It's beginning to look a tiny bit like Christmas

We still haven't finished putting up our decorations. At the rate we're going, this could possibly take us till Christmas! On Friday, we brought all the stuff down and planted it all in my living room. Saturday, I decorated the staircase. Sunday, we put up the tree.... only the tree. Today, we put up the lights on the tree. Maybe tomorrow I will actually finish decorating the tree. Then we will tackle the outside. That should take us another 3 days or more! Normal people finish in one day, we are not very normal!

Brilliant!

This man is a genius! He was on the Ellen Show today. He has been with his wife for 29 years. When asked what the secret to a succesful relationship is, he replied : " I do what she says" Exactly! Brilliant, simply brilliant!

I went to Target today, to sneak in some shopping before the rush. Got all the little kids out of the way. Now I just have to worry about my girls & a couple of other teenage kids. Then I will be done! Finito! Until that is, I remember someone that I "just have to get something for!"

Right now, I should be baking for tomorrow. But I am sitting here typing this and watching Cash Cab! The later I start, the fresher it will be tomorrow right????

So I looked old at 17!

My dear sweet daughter has just informed me that I looked old in my high school Senior pictures. I guess it's payback. I said the same exact thing to my mom when I was about the same age. Just a right of passage, I just warned her not to be surprised when her kids say the same thing to her. Although, I still say that the kids in class of 1964 did not look 17 or 18. Let me not get into the 1950's class. Now that I have offended people in 2 decades, I would like to know why every one was always looking away from the camera???? I don't know why I'm posting my picture since I hate it. But here it is for all to see. I don't know what that red lipstick was all about, but whatever. My lips looke huge (no botox)!

It is supposed to go down into the freaking 30's tonight! My body does not enjoy the cold. I am especially opposed to the cold since I do not have any winter clothes. For now, I guess I will be layering clothes. Hopefully, what they say is true, "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!"

Not much to say......

I haven't written anything in a while. Mainly because I have nohing to say. :) It's been a very slow week. Just paying bills and trying to get Danny to finish the stuff on the "Honey do" list. Looks like my house won't be ready before the holidays because of all the procrastination. But what can I do??
Property taxes are due in a few weeks. Conveniently, they love to suck our money away from us during the holidays. Maybe that is why I still have not gotten into the Christmas "spirit".

Tomorrow I have to go see my gyno. Another ultrasound & hope for good news. Recommendation has been surgery. I wonder if it will change???

Jail Time???

Am I going to need my "Get Out of Jail Free" card? For some reason Florida has a ton of dumb laws and I seem to be guilty of breaking a few. So for a person whos has never seen the inside of a police station much less a jail, it looks like I am quite the criminal. Another reason to move to Hawaii, they only have 2 of these laws.

You can check out your state at http://www.dumblaws.com

* It is illegal to sell your children.

* Women may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner.

* A special law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday or she shall risk arrest, fine, and/or jailing.

* If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.

* It is illegal to sing in a public place while attired in a swimsuit.

* Men may not be seen publicly in any kind of strapless gown.

* Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal.

* It is illegal to skateboard without a license.

* When having sex, only the missionary position is legal.

* You may not fart in a public place after 6 P.

* It is considered an offense to shower naked.

* You are not allowed to break more than three dishes per day, or chip the edges of more than four cups and/or saucers.

* Oral sex is illegal.

* You may not kiss your wife's breasts.

* Penalty for horse theft is death by hanging

Lost Opportunity

Spirit had another killer "Red Light Sale". I was soooo close to booking, it's not even funny. Danny stood there, cheering me on. Book it! Book it! I had to be the voice of reason though, because he sure was no help. There is no way we can leave for another week. The girls would kill us. It hurt to miss out on it though. Total cost for the 2 of us round trip: $69. OMG!!!! I console myself with the fact that I would have frozen my butt off and been totally miserable. That's my story & I'm sticking to it.

In other breakng news, yesterday, I went on my (almost) daily trek to Target. All Halloween stuff was 90%. Got a bunch of candy that we don't need plus a few other knick knacks. Everything rang up between .20 & .50 each. So, whether we need it or not, I bought it. The picture shows what about $7 of candy looks like. Don't worry, it's not all for me. Really. I only like Kit Kats, Twiz, & Take 5 so I am pretty safe. Some for Danny & the rest for all the upcoming parties. I'll be in charg of goody bags for sure!

Orange for Fall

First Class all the way!

No more Coach for me! From now on this will be my preferred method of airplane travel. Aside from the comfort level, look at all the gadgets that Danny can play with!

I swear, I was supposed to be born rich. You can place 3 similar items in front of me, and I will automatically lean towards the most expensive one!

Halloween was a total bust. Danny & I sat outside with our huge bowl of candy & hidden treats for the little ones. We must have gotten 5 groups of trick or treaters, a total of about 20 kids. Seven of which were cute little kiddies. The rest were teens without costume & facial hair! The little ones got Pez dispensers plus candy while the older ones got just candy. If they were polite, they would get more candy.

Today I need to get my rear in gear early. I have a bunch of errands to run. I also have to make a Target run & see what's on sale. I should start Xmas shopping, but I am not in the mood. We would love to just pack up & leave on a cruise or something this Xmas. I feel like a big Scrooge. I love decorating my house, having parties, being with friends & family. I also usually enjoy buying gifts but this year that gift giving feeling has not kicked in. My girls really don't need anything & my nephews have everything so what do I get??? I just really do not want to stress over it. I will probably do what I don't really like to do & hand out gift cards!

Bah Humbug!