If asked to describe myself in one word, I'd give the same response my two sisters did: No.Way.

There's no one word right enough, big enough, specific enough, accurate enough to be "the one," the "one" that supercedes all the others.

I got an email from an acquaitance that read: "Describe ME in one word... just one single word. Send it to me and to me only. Then send this message to all your friends and see how many strange and interesting things they say about you. This is really fun. Here's how to play - 1. Hit the reply key and send me my word. 2. Then return to the message and forward it to your friends (including me) and see what people say about you when limited to one word!!!"

So I did it. I sent it. I sent it to my sisters, to my cousin, to my nieces and nephew, to the parents of my best friend, to two of my best friends, to my neighbor, and to several other dear and close friends.

Here's what I got back so far (and I've only heard from 5 people):

• 2 non-responses from my sisters: they argue they can't choose just one word!
• friend
• exuberant
• compassionate

It's amazing what people think of me. What the first word is that they'd use to describe me. I will not comment on each and every one, but I'm flattered and amazed already, and I've only read three words!!!

This is most definitely a scrapbook page in the making: the words and the people that make me me.

I can't wait!!!

Paris...

Las Vegas!

We stayed at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. I'm still a fan of LV, even though I won (and then lost!) $500! Jack? Not so much!

He was one cranky hubby - he's not a gambler, he's not a people watcher, and he was B-O-R-E-D out of his mind when he wasn't in his meetings. While I was complaining to his sister, she pointed out that had the weather been warm enough for sunbathing, we could have spent the bulk of the days tanning, then minimal hours in the casinos. That would have been much more palatable for him. And she was right. He could have handled that.

AND the cost of eating out in LV really stressed him out! Me? I was okay with spending more than we usually would on meals - a night out for us is Burger King for $1.00 Whoppers or Costco or Sam's Club for pizza and a hot dog! - 'cause it was vacation. Jack was shocked by the cost of things, though. For example, one bagel and 2 small bitter coffees cost $8.08 in LV, 2 bagels and 2 delicious coffees with free refills cost $4.26 when we went to breakfast this past weekend, here in NJ. And all the stuff we wanted to do had admission fees: $15.00 a head to see Siegfried and Roy's Secret Gardens in the Mirage (he wasn't happy about it but we went), $9.00 each to visit the top of the Eiffel Tower (although we got a hotel guest special: 2 for 1!), $140.00 each to see Love (the Beatles' Cirque d' Soleil show at the Mirage - needless to say we see this show!), $45.00 for dinner (a hamburger, fries and an unsweetened iced tea for me, 6 buffalo wings and a Coke for him, plus tip - and he didn't even eat them all - he wasn't hungry!). It got to the point where I told him I'd try not to eat for the rest of the trip. Then he was upset that I was upset... That shook him out of it!

Some of you may have seen some of these pictures already, but here you go...

Dawn at http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/ suggested we answer these 60 questions when we had nothing else to say. Now that's never really been a problem for me, but I'll give the 60 questions a shot.

[For a great blog, visit Dawn - she's laugh-out-loud-funny![

60 Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Me

1. What is in the back seat of your car right now?
I just had my car in for service so it's all cleaned up right now, except for the empty New York and Co. bag on the floor of the back seat, the iris umbrella, Jack's work gloves (oh, wait, he took them out yesterday!), an old issue of Star magazine, two book galleys my sister got me, a red rag I'm supposed to use to clean the inside of my windows but which is too dirty to use 'cause it's been on the floor of my car for two years, my Weight Watchers basic starter kit ('cause it's so useful in the backseat of my car!)

2.When was the last time you threw up?
I really don't remember, but just a month ago I was so sick I had the dry heaves. Do they count?

3. What's your favorite curse word?
Mother-trucker, do I have to choose??!!

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today?
It's only 7:52am and I've only seen my husband so far. Oh, and my ex-boss and I did smile at him while I was talking with him.

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
8:00am this morning hasn't arrived yet, but I will have been doing this questionnaire...

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
I was sitting in the car, commuting to work

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now?
Working - my computer was down all day yesterday so after I blog this morning, I have to really buckle down and do some work

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Nope

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
"Yea, thanks!"

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
Not a huge ice cream fan (get up off the floor!) but I'd have to choose cookies and cream, I think

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Water to take 2 Advils; last night I had some new Chocolate Cherry Diet Dr. Pepper - mmm, good!

12. What are you wearing right now?
jeans, boots, a black sweater with a gold tank underneath - it's raining cats and dogs outside so I didn't dress up for work today

13. What was the last thing you ate?
A slice of pepperoni pizza from Sam's Club

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
Yes, two bathing suits (one has to get returned), three blouses and a pair of shoes

15. When was the last time you ran?
I couldn't even possibly tell you - jogging isn't even an option as far as I'm concerned!

16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
Super Bowl XLII - Go, Giants!!!

18. Who is the last person you emailed?
Work-related? A customer. Personal? My sister-in-law.

19. Ever go camping?
Does staying in a hotel that didn't supply a blow dryer count?

20. Do you have a tan?
I have a dream of a tan, and the potential for a tan (I have some tanning sessions left over but no time to actually use them) so the actual tan that I get each summer will arrive in around, oh, May, when we start hanging out on our dock on the weekends.

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
Usually.

25. What did your last IM say?
I don't IM.

26. Are you someone's best friend?
I hope so (this is Dawn's answer and I'm cheerfully borrowing it!)

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
Working, then picking up Mom and going to the nail salon. Great Valentine's Day, right?!? We went to Valentine's dinner on Sunday so we didn't have to face the crowds. Will eat at home post-salon!

28. Where is your mom right now?
At her house, probably having her morning coffee.

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
The wall of my work cubby, and a pile'o'work waiting to be done.

30. What color is your watch?
I have a silver one and a silver and gold one and a pewter one, but I don't wear a watch.

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ?
Ayre's Rock

32. Would you consider plastic surgery?
For cosmetic reasons, no, but if medically necessary, sure.

33. What is your birthstone?
Blue topaz (December)

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit thedrive thru?
Yes.

35.How many kids do you want?
I used to tell my best friend I wanted 10. Coming from a family of 3 I always thought that I wanted a larger family. Then as the years passed, 10 turned into 8 turned into 5 turned into 3 turned into whatever God gives me. I have two step-children (well, 1-and-a-half, one's not talking to us for reasons known only to him since he's not talking to us!).

36. Do you have a dog?
In my dreams we have a dog, in our future we will have a dog. For now we have Marley, the neighborhood dog!

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
Maria, my darling stepdaughter

38. Have you met anyone famous?
Yes: John Edward (the psychic), Nancy Reagan, Ann Margret, Sarah Duchess of York, Richard Simmons, Vanna White, Danielle Steel, Donald Trump, Stephen King, Arthur Frommer, and others I can't remember (I used to have a pretty cool publishing job!).

39. Any plans today?
Work. Then the eye doctor.

40. How many states have you lived in?
Two. I was born and raised and still live in NJ, but I lived in DE for four years, attending college.

41. Ever go to college?
See #40!

42. Where are you right now?
At my desk, at work, in Hoboken, NJ

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
Spam email

44. Last song listened to?
I can't remember

46. Are you allergic to anything?
I have hay fever which seems to be getting less severe as I get older, and I can't take 500mg doses of erithromycin

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
None - shoes are not a favorite anything of mine!

48. Are you jealous of anyone?
No.

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
Who wouldn't be?! (ROTFLOL!)

51. What time is it?
8:16am

52. Do any of your friends have children?
All of them

53. Do you eat healthy?
Well, I eat a LOT healthier than I used to, but admittedly sometimes junk food is just calling my name!

54. What do you usually do during the day?
Work

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
There are three people in the world right now who I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY dislike a LOT: my ex-brother-in-law, my stepson, and - okay, TWO people: even though I'm really ticked at my nephew, I can't say I dislike or hate him...

56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
Yes.

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
39 - for the 10th time!

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
Nope

60. How did you get one of your scars?
Punching my hand through a window at my cousin who was on the other side making faces at me (stop laughing! I was 8 or so!)

Readers, I SO hope you're not sick!

Just spent a couple of (work) hours catching up on my blog reading (sorry, employer!).
1 out of every 3 bloggers is sick, down with some version of the flu/virus cr*p I suffered from three weeks ago (I sure hope you didn't catch it from me!). It seems if it's not the writers, it's their spouses and/or children, and there's an underlying fear that their immune systems will soon be going on vacation and they'll be the next to catch whatever it is that's visiting their loved ones!

I used to say the crazy weather was an indication that the end of the world was coming.

I now think I'm wrong. Now I'm just convinced the Black Plague will return in the guise of all these illnesses...

Art.

There's a website out there where you can keep an ongoing "Life List." Where you can record what you want to do during your life, and cross 'em off when you do them. (There are a LOT of uncrossed-off items on my list - I'm not the most accomplished person, you see...)

One of my items is to try to be more artistic. To maybe take a digital photography course when I retire (or have more time), to paint a little (or try to), to maybe write... I took a baby step when I started a mini-canvas that was supposed to be a Xmas piece, but it turned out to be, well, how 'bout I show you tomorrow? I'll go home and try to either scan it (with the scanner that I can't work for some reason) or I'll take a picture of it and download it tomorrow...

Anyway, check this out at Donna Downey's website: http://donnadowney.typepad.com/
I think I can do this. I have a pencil. I have watercolor paper and watercolor pencils. I have salt. I have paintbrushes. I have all this stuff in preparation for trying to be artistic. Now I just have to try. And I will. And I'll try to show you when I do. If I'm not ashamed.

Moving on...

Today is Super Tuesday. This is not a political blog. I'm one of those people who is, by strict definition, probably a Reagan conservative. I'm registered as a Republican, but in my heart I know that I would vote for the candidate I really believe in.

I don't know who I'm going to vote for tonight. Jack and I passed on dinner out with his daughter and her boyfriend so that we wouldn't miss voting, and so that my mom wouldn't miss voting, and so that I could take her to Shop Rite for food.

Do I believe my vote makes a difference? Yes, I do. At the very least, if my candidate, whoever he/she may be, doesn't win, the numbers will reflect how the public feels. For instance, Clinton was leading head and shoulders above of Obama for a while. Now? Not so much. It's close. McCain is way out in front of Romney, the next one behind him. Several Republican and Democratic candidates have withdrawn or are so far behind that they don't stand a chance. And I know all about the popular vote vs. the electoral vote. But a few of the candidates, there's no way they can pull it off.

Bottom line. I have 10-1/2 hours to do some more digging online to see how "my" candidates stand on issues that are important to me: immigration, the war, terrorism, military/defense spending, to name a few.

Wanna hear something that even I admit sounds very trivial? I cannot vote for Clinton. I would be so embarrassed to have someone who's so shrill and comes across as such a shrew representing me out in the world. I have a vision of her screaming across a summit table with that nasal voice... (shudder)

Sorry if I put any of you off, but as I always say, we don't have to agree, but we do have to respect each other's opinion!

17-14

In honor of the Giants, who BEAT THE PATRIOTS IN SUPERBOWL XLII 17-14, I'm typing today's blog entry in blue. I went to my closet this morning to pick out something in Giants blue, only to find out I own nothing in Giants blue. So I'm wearing blue jeans and a turquoise sweater in honor of the NJ Giants! (I refuse to call them the NY Giants - they play in NJ, I paid for their stadium, I'm paying for their new stadium - NY can claim them when they pay for them!)

It was an exciting game! I was SO excited when we scored first, when we had possession for most of the 1st quarter, then I started to not be so excited when New England scored. But the 2nd half? Well worth the price of admission! Oh, wait, I didn't pay to watch the game. How's this instead? Well worth my time watching a football game! (I'm not a huge sports fan to begin with, but I must admit I feel all tingly when the local guys do well!)

Jack and I stayed home. Instead of a sit down dinner (when was the last time I cooked one of those?!?!), I made a bunch of appetizers: extra spicy Jamaican jerk beef patties, potato puffs, buffalo chicken wraps, spicy beef turnovers, and pigs in a blanket. Mmm, good!

Today I'm back to WW with a vengeance. I lost 4 pounds in 2 weeks, and Jack has been telling me how noticeable it is, so when I went on Saturday, the week before my "friend" (hi, Mom!) arrives, I'm back up 1.2 pounds! Yuk!

So, with 2 weeks to go before our Vegas trip, I'm going to try to stick to it really closely, eat well, drink my water, pay attention to the 8 healthy guidelines, and do my darndest to lose some weight. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Sick. Better.

I choose better.

I have 8 sick days at my job. I just used some of them. And please note that I usually only use them when I'm not sick. Who wants to waste perfectly good sick days home sick?

Let me catch you up... Two weekends ago I spent 2 days on the sofa. A bit of a cough, but not really sick.

Until I woke up on Monday, 01/14.

I did not go to work. I was sick. Sick beyond belief sick. I had what I thought was a low grade fever (those of you who know me know that when I have a low grade fever, the skin on my shoulders feels all sensitive and tingly. It wasn't, but I was hot, so "low grade fever" was my self-diagnosis.). I had a cough. I had hot eyes (another fever symptom). I had chapped lips. I slept during daylight hours. (Yet another symptom that I was really sick, and not just pulling the world's leg! I NEVER sleep during the day UNLESS I'm sick. REALLY sick.)

Dr. C. couldn't see me 'til 6:45pm. For the first time ever, they called me into the examination room before I could finish my HIPPA update. No 45-minute wait in the waiting room. Then I sat in the examination room for a 1/2 hour. Well, actually I laid on the exam table for 20 minutes and actually sat on the table for 10. Then the doctor came in and I had (drumroll, please!) a temperature of 101.4. Degrees. Fahrenheit. That's NOT low grade, my internet friends!

I was prescribed some of my lovely cough medicine with a decongestant. And Dr. C. thought I needed a 5-day Levpak. Antibiotics. When I tell you that one pill made me feel better, I'm NOT joking. Them pills are terrific! Even if I didn't have great insurance, I would have paid good dollars for them!

I spent three days in bed, in my pjs.

The best part of the three sick days (if there is such a thing!) is that I only took 2 of them off my available 8 at work. I spent four hours each day on the telephone, listening in on our sales meetings. I felt SOOO bad being home so sick that I couldn't attend. They'd been on the schedule for six months. So I called in, listened, coughed (I put the telephone under the sheets and the three blankets, under my a$$, whenever I had a coughing spell!), and tried to participate as best I could. So I only put 2 sick days on my timesheet.

Finally I was better. I still have a residual cough; Dr. C. warned me I would. But at least I didn't have the tummy upset and the over-dehydration that some poor souls had along with the cold and flu. (See http://www.dooce.com/ - poor Heather!!!)

In three weeks DH and I are celebrating my recovery by going to Las Vegas! Actually, I will be celebrating feeling human again; he'll be attending some credit union seminars. We're staying in the Paris hotel, quite possibly the closest I'll get to the real thing, since DH doesn't want to visit France... I can't wait! I have to read nothing between now and then, to save up some books to read when I'm not losing my panties in the casino!

I'm also going to San Diego at the end of March. On business but visiting someon I know, too. She's going to join me in SD, then we'll drive back to her house so I can play with her fluffy puppies for a few days. Then I'll leave for home from that state.

I'll be taking an overnight (or two) to Chicago in June, also on business.

Would love to travel somewhere interesting on business over the summer when DH can go with me and we can extend the stay for a long weekend away since that will be our only "vacation" 'til we save some money up again, to replace what we're spending on the house...

Later this week I'll have pictures of the new bathroom vanity I picked out, although the pictures don't have the drawers in...

I'll be back...

It's been a while, yes, but here are a few gems...

This little princess Jasmine is Jack's cousin's daughter Kitty. Kitty joined our family a couple of years ago. We fell in love with a beautiful little girl who was so quiet and introverted, then our family turned her into, well, a princess!!!













These are my boys! My neighbor just had her 5th. For a short while we thought Gedalia would be a girl. S was carrying so much smaller than her other 4 boys. But no, another handsome boy!










Although this young man, Coby, holding his brother, he has my heart, and always will. He's the one I held as a baby. He's the one who couldn't pronounce my name, Krys, and called me "Bix." He's the one I had to rush to the hospital when he couldn't breathe (he's okay, thank goodness!). He's my guy!














And here's his new baby brother, Gedalia. You can call him Gedalia. You can call him Gadi. You can call him Mo. (Don't ask.) Isn't he a cutie?!?

Please watch this, and thank them all.

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

IT'S ANOTHER BOY!!!

My neighbor Sue just gave birth to her 5th son!!! Yes, 5 sons. This one, born Saturday morning, at 3:30am, was 8 pounds, 3 ounces. He was so small, compared to his brothers, that we were all thinking this one might be a girl... Nope, another boy! Yay for Sue and her family!

Jack and I were packing to go to the lake when A came over and said, "Mom needs you." I grabbed my jacket and went next door. She didn't know if she was in labor yet. Her water hadn't broken, but she was feeling mild contractions, between 5 and 20 minutes apart. I started to laugh, and am still laughing - she had 4 boys before that and she didn't know if she was in labor?!?! Ultimately she decided to go to the hospital, and six hours and a little bit later, Baby Boy #5 was born!

They're Orthodox so the baby won't be named 'til next week. Will update you with names and baby pictures later...

Happy January 3rd!!!

It's been a while, hasn't it!?! I was on vacation from December 21st through January 1st, returning to work and to my computer yesterday. Today's the very first minute I had to blog mywishes for a happy, happy new year to you all!

Santa was good to me, and he's not even done yet! I got some real nice pajamas, some scrapping stuff, a cell phone case, a hand-knitted head-warmer thingee, a new cell phone, a charm bracelet from Tiffany's, lots of gift cards for scrapping things and dinners out, and Jack is taking me shopping for a new winter coat whenever we get around to it. (Which means I'll probably look for one this weekend, buy it, and have him reimburse me - he's SOOO busy tiling our new bathroom...)

We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's, Christmas afternoon at my sister-in-law's, Christmas evening at our house with Mom and DSD, the rest of the week at the lake house, New Year's Eve at my sister-in-law's, and New Year's Day shopping.

And now we're back at work. I'm trying to be more organized, at work and at home. We'll see how successful I am...

My niece and nephew are in Florida to see their grandfather. In itself, this is a great thing. I think they all need some time away from their mom; hopefully when they return, all three will realize how lucky they are to have each other. I just have a real problem with them traveling while school is in session, especially since they just spent almost two weeks home annoying the living be-jesus out of each other! But none of them seem to mind the kids missing school. We're lucky they're so bright, although recently J seems to not be using his God-given brains all that much...

I've started to pack up my scrapping stuff to relocate it to the lake. I think the best way to do it will be to leave the paper home, but the "stuff" can be boxed up in Rubbermaid bins and stored in the walk-in, until the floors are installed in the spare room. Once they're in, I can buy that IKEA unit I want, along with the baskets that fit in it (hopefully) and begin sorting my stuff by color. After a lot of thinking, I think I fall into the category of visual scrapper. I decide which photo(s) I will be scrapping, then I look for matching or contrasting paper and embellishments, and I'm off! With the exception of Christmas and themes like "love" and "home," all three of which I have beaucoup amounts of stuff for, color should be the sorting factor.

I know I've promised some pictures for the longest time, but now my camera has died. I have to work on it, save the pictures to a CD, and then I'll download a few here. I just have no time... Soon, I promise!

Found this quote on a blog I read... thought it appropriate...

“It is often said that something may survive of a person after his death if that person was an artist and put a little of himself into his work. It is perhaps in the same way that a sort of cutting taken from one person and grafted onto the heart of another continues to carry on its existence even when the person from whom it had been detached has perished.” -Marcel Proust

Sing with the angels, Dan.

I know I've been incommunicado for a while, it's just that time of year when there are not enough days in the week, hours in the day, or minutes in the hour, but I had to take some time for this.

On Sunday we lost Dan Fogelberg. He was a poet who set his words to music. He's been a part of my life since 1978, when a friend from college introduced me to his music. He's comforted me, excited me, showed me love and strength and pain and loss. His music has been the backdrop to my life since first I heard him sing.

I've gone to concerts, joined fan clubs, written notes of support when he announced he was suffering from prostate cancer, and this morning, I had to write a note of condolence to his family. I know it was the right thing to do. I know, having lost many special people in my life, that knowing how others loved him will help his wife. But that note of condolence? It helped me, too.

I cried yesterday. I cried for him. For his wife. For his family. And I cried for me. I cried because there will never be a minute I can hope and pray he will recover. There will never be another concert, or another new CD. As selfish as that sounds, he has brought me such joy through his words and his music that I am diminished with his passing. I have lost something and someone so special, so much a part of me.

When I hear Leader of the Band, I think of my dad. When I hear A Love Like This, I think of my husband (this was our wedding song). When I hear Auld Lang Syne, I think of all those many people who used to be a part of my life, who are gone, in any definition of the word.

When I listen to his music, I think that he wrote for an orchestra, but he played it on a guitar. His acoustical tour was incredible. To see him sitting on the stage with a guitar, just a guitar, to hear that music, and that voice. Incredible.

I have a funny feeling that every CD I listen to for the foreseeable future will be his. And I have a funny feeling that I will love every note and every word even more.

Okay, I owe you.

"What do I owe you?" you might ask.

I owe you some blogging and some photos. What with Turkey Day and working my a$$ off at the lake on weekends, I've fallen horribly behind on keeping up with the bloggers, so here's a brief update, with lots more stories to come...

I did pretty darn well over Thanksgiving. In fact, when I went to Weight Watchers on the Saturday after the holiday, I was down 1.6 pounds! I said, "down," not "up." Yay, me!

Although I didn't spend the holiday with my mom (she went to my sister's boyfriend's house this year), she was home, which means a lot to me. My poor mom has to alternate holidays between the East Coast and Arizona, where my sister lives. Since Mom doesn't fly, she alternates the holiday season every other year... DH and I weren't invited to Tim's house. After dinner Mom and I talked. She seems to think it wasn't a deliberate slap, that because of the limited size of his apartment, C didn't invite us (all two of us!). Apparently the kids and the grandmas sat and ate, and when one (anyone) left the table, then either C or T sat down and ate. Now, I own more than one card table, and we have snack tables she could have borrowed. There's always a way to make room for family, IMHO. I guess I'm just different from her...

Jack and I went to his sister's house. We walked in to his niece on the phone with her aunt (on her dad's side) telling her it was okay to come but that she couldn't kiss anyone or touch anyone or touch the kittens... It turns out she had shingles! And at the end of the night, when she was leaving, who do you think she came up to from behind and hugged goodbye?!? That's right: yours truly!!! (Thank goodness I've had chicken pox before, and thank goodness our skin didn't touch, or I'd probably stress myself into a great case of them!)

There were 17 of us at dinner. We had turkey with most of the trimmings: my delicious salad, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows, stuffing, turkey, meatballs, manicotti, cranberry sauce, rolls, and all the desserts known to man - pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, coconut cream pie, cannolis, chocolate cake, brownies, blueberry pie, rice pudding with whipped cream, cream puffs, pumpkin cheesecake, Italian pastries - need I say more? A feast fit for a king! (But there was no green stuff or mashed potatoes or cole slaw so it most definitely wasn't our family Thanksgiving!)

We spent the rest of the weekend at the lake. Everything is painted. The heat works on both floors. The house is totally hooked up for propane (we're just waiting on the gas fireplace to get wired up and fired up - current due date: December 28th). The attic stairs are in.

California Closets came on this past Saturday. $2358, less 10% if we sign before 12/21, no tax (it's a capital improvement to the home), materials AND installation. Were it up to me, I'd sign on the dotted line, but Jack and I will be jerry-rigging it with Home Depot and/or Lowes product in a similar fashion. 'Cause we like to do it cheaper. Sorry: 'cause we can save bucketloads of $$$ doing it ourselves!

This past Sunday was the 48th Annual Nigro Christmas Party. We had SOOO much fun! Pictures to come! The kiddies are growing up so fast that they're unrecognizable from last Christmas! There are new babies galore, with more on the way! Just LOVE these family get togethers...

More later this week...

Better late than never... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I have quite a bit to be thankful for this year: my husband and children, my mom and sisters, the rest of my extended family, a good job, two beautiful homes, and most of all, my faith. My faith has gotten me through a lot these past 46 years.

I find I am praying to God more regularly. I pray for my stepchildren, my husband, my mom and my sisters, my nephew and my niece, my cousin and his family, and my in-laws. I find myself asking for help and guidance.

I'm not a bad person. But I want to be a better person. I will be praying for God's help and I hope you will keep me in your prayers as well. I want to be a better daughter, a better wife, a better mother, a better sister, a better aunt, a better employee.

[Later this week I'll post some updated lake photos. We have painted walls downstairs, and heat, and floors in our new closets, a closet organizer in the guest room closet, an appointment with California Closets this Saturday for my walk-in, and window trim upstairs. I have to pick out tile for the bathroom and hardwood floors for the rest of the addition. I'm going to do this in between cleaning my house, decorating my house and Christmas shopping. I'm going to be praying for a "time-turner" so I can be in two places at once!]

Believe it or not, I'm not dead. My typing/blogging hands were not amputated. I haven't relocated to a part of the world that is computer-less. My computer hasn't even imploded.

I've been busy.

Busy traveling.

Yuk.

Here you go...

Monday, Nov. 5 - Wednesday, Nov. 7 - Hubby and I went to Atlantic City for "Strategic Planning Sessions." These sessions were supposed to keep him busy for part of the three days so that I could lose the $83.60 I'd saved to lose at the casino. The trip was sponsored (paid for) by the credit union; he's a director on the Board. Well, I did lose the $83.60. I won $100 while I was playing with the $83.60, then I put the $100 back in, and for good measure, I lost another $40, just to be sure I was on a real losing streak, not just fooled into thinking I was losing 'cause I was out the $83.60 and the $100... How's this for bending the truth a bit??? I'm only down $40. Here's how I figured this out: The $83.60 was change in a coffe cup that I'd been saving specifically to lose in A.C., so it wasn't taken out of my children's mouths, or from the rent money, so I don't count that as a loss, even though I didn't come home with it. And the $100 I won with that $83.60? It wasn't mine to begin with; it was the casino's money and if I chose to throw that back into the slot machine, well, it wasn't mine anyway! Now, the $40? I took that out of my wallet, so that's really money that was earmarked for lunch or shoes or the electric bill, so that's the amount I'm really down.

Can you spell J-U-S-T-I-F-I-C-A-T-I-O-N??? (Needless to say, it's a good thing I don't go to a casino very often - although I don't play the slots to win big. I just truly enjoy them for some unknown, unexplainable reason. If they had machines I could play with tokens, I'd be just as happy!!!)

Thursday, Nov. 8 - Friday, Nov. 9 - I worked. I had 100+ emails at work and 100+ emails on my personal account. That's too many darn emails! I deleted jokes, ads and stuff that didn't look all that important, so if you're waiting for a response and it doesn't come, you might want to send that email along again...

Saturday, Nov. 10 - Sunday, Nov. 11 - We painted. We painted the whole first floor of the lake house Cottage White, except for the dining room which we painted Melted Butter. I originally wanted Spiced Pumpkin for the dining room, but the nice man at the Home Depot told me that other customers who had used that color likened it to living inside or next to a school bus! He recommended Melted Butter, and we're very happy with the way it turned out! (Pictures next week, since I didn't bring my cable to download them today!) I also put up some lace curtains in the dining room; don't really like seeing the curtain rod when they're open so I'll be buying some floral garlands to loop along the rod.

Monday, Nov. 12 - Wednesday, Nov. 14 - I was traveling in Alexandria, VA, and Arlington, VA, with my boss, on business. We had 5 meetings over three days, not too much, probably not really enough, but I had reserved some time for another account I'd hoped to meet with and they bailed at the last minute. And another one had to cancel a dinner meeting...

Here's a great one... One of our editors was supposed to meet us at a meeting on Monday afternoon. He never showed up. After the meeting, I called his home office (in Alexandria!) and left a message saying we'd missed him, that I hoped he hadn't confused the Monday meeting with the Tuesday dinner (with the same account). On Tuesday, we had a morning meeting in Arlington, and an afternoon one in the same city. I was able to move the afternoon one up so that we didn't have to hang around town for 4 hours (thanks, Julie!). We went back to the hotel. My boss said he was going to check phone messages, then go to Starbucks to use the wireless internet and return some emails. I went to the hotel gym. (Get up off the floor - I really did!) While I was walking and sweating on the treadmill, my cell phone rang and I answered it. It was X, the editor, apologizing for missing the meeting. "We've had 14 years together, and they were great years," I heard. "She had seizures yesterday and I had to take her to the hospital, " I heard. "She's at a meeting now and we have an appointment with an oncologist at 4pm today; I don't think I'll be able to make dinner."

Of course I responded appropriately: "Don't even think of dinner. Just stay home, do what you have to do. You don't need to come out to some boring business dinner..." At dinner that night, they asked about X and I told them what had happened.

When I got back to the office on Thursday of last week, I dropped X and email, asking how the oncologist's meeting went. Here's his response: "Hi Krys, well, she's riddled with cancer and there's not much we can do about it. She had surgery to remove some tumors last year about this time and a few sessions of chemo, but she won't be able to handle that again. We'll have her for a little longer, trying to make her comfortable, making sure she's not in pain (tough to do with cats). Thanks so much for asking and again I'm really sorry to flake on the SHRM meetings this year. How'd it go anyway? Warm regards...mcds"

Stop laughing at me.

Mea culpa, mea culpa!

It's been a while, I know.

BUT, I have lots to share!!

WE HAVE WALLS! The Sheetrockers came and put up a ceiling on the first floor (BONUS: the ceiling is about 3" higher than the previous one!) and walls in the staircase and on the entire 2nd floor! Only a couple of tweaks: we have to finish the wall under the new fireplace 'cause the installers need access when they hook us up to check for gas leaks (ok, I can understand that) and we have to adjust the guides on one of the pocket doors (it's tight with walls up and the door doesn't glide as easily as it did).

I was afraid the rooms would seem much smaller with walls, but not really. A bit, but not horribly so. Of course, when furniture gets placed the rooms will shrink around me but I'm going to try my darndest to keep a lot of clutter out of the new space...

Looking from the kitchen, down the hall to the new staircase (1st floor bathroom on your left).









From the base of the stairs, looking upstairs. I'm trying to find a nice chandelier to hang just low enough so you can see it from the outside...







At the top of the stairs is our sitting room. We will install floor to ceiling bookshelves on either side of the fireplace. The fireplace is 2-sided so we can see it from our bedroom on the other side of that wall... Jack's standing in our mini-hallway. If he turns 90 degrees to his left, our bedroom door will be on his left, the bathroom door on his right, and the spare room door directly in front of him.

This is one side of our new bathroom, with tub and big shower! I have to find a vanity and some tile in the next week or two... I'm stressed!






I'm on vacation next week for 3 days, in Atlantic City, then traveling 3 days the following week to Alexandria, VA - SWAMPED with work prepping for the trip... so if I'm missing a week or so in my blog, I promise to return, post trips, pre-holiday...

We're so sore.

Our backs hurt, his legs hurt, my blister hurts (a new one, on my hand), and we're darn tired.

This weekend we moved everything that we have on the first floor of the lake house into the basement. The Sheetrocker told DH that he wanted to start this week, rather than the week of Nov. 5, which is what we had planned.

And instead of saying, "No, sorry, we won't be ready for you this soon. How about maybe next week?", DH said, "Ok, we'll get the house ready this weekend." Keep in mind that this means two less weekends than we thought we had to do this, PLUS we had rewiring to do on several fixtures, phone lines to run, some framing to fix...

For the record, don't try this. Ever.

We moved (until we stopped counting!) two dressers (10 drawers total, filled), two bookshelves (12 shelves total, filled, which had to be unshelved and reshelved), two sofas, one bed, one quilt rack, one table, six chairs, two lamps, the entire contents of four open kitchen shelves, the microwave, the coffee pot, the paper towel holder, the box of miscellaneous stuff that accumulates on your counter when you don't have a junk drawer, two glass containers filled with dog biscuits for the dog we don't own (but we have a neighborhood dog that visits us!), the dish drainer, the cutting board, nine framed pictures, two handmade wreaths, a computer table, a computer monitor, two speakers, two CPUs, a coffee table, plus all the assorted crap we've managed to either accumulate over the past six years or relocate from our primary residence to the lake house 'cause there was room there, room to fill...

Remember. It all has to get moved back.

That sound you hear? That's me, crying. That other sound? My bones, creaking.

We've both decided "WE ARE NOT MOVING ALL THIS STUFF BACK UPSTAIRS." We've decided we will take this opportunity to sort through the junk before we move it back upstairs. We will either "keep it," trash it" or "donate it."

I want the clean look. I want a house that can receive visitors without being cleaned first. A house that doesn't need all the crap on the dining room table shoved into a closet or a drawer while we run to answer the doorbell. A house that I could take a picture of and not be embarrassed by if I chose to post it on a blog.

Here's an example of what I mean:

When we decided to get married, I spoke with our photographer and told her that I wasn't interested in all the cliche photos of the bride posing in front of a mirror, looking off into the distance, contemplating the massive life change she's about to experience... The photographer agreed.

When the day arrived, and the photographer did, too, she suggested she just take a few of those shots. That didn't mean I'd have to pay for them to be printed, blown up, included in our album, but I'd have the proofs. After all, what if one of them turned out to be my favorite picture of myself? (First of all, there are very few photos of myself that I actually like...)

I got carried away in the moment. I let her take the darn pictures.

The one I didn't want? The one of me looking into the mirror at my coiffed head, complete with veil? In the background, on the dresser, my husband-to-be's nose spray.

Obviously we never put anything away...

Creative.

Not a word generally associated with me.

Not by me, anyway.

Lately, though, I've been feeling the urge to create. To try something artistic. Believe it or not, to paint.

I bought 2 packages of mini-canvases at AC Moore the other day: 3 of them are about 4"x8" and 3 of them are maybe 8"x10" (?). I have some acrylic paints and bought a few disposable foam brushes. I need to just get some regular brushes, look up what I need to know about medium, etc., that will help it all remain on the canvas, and soon I'll be able to start.

I read a blog by Donna Downey regularly (http://donnadowney.typepad.com/). Today she loaded it chock full of product info. I'll read it, absorb it, and get what I have to get. I was going to bring the stuff to the crop tomorrow, but I think I'll put together what I need and do it at the lake next week. That way I can dedicate my time to this new pursuit, instead of trying to squeeze it in with some scrapbooking and even more socializing.

Maybe there's an artist inside, after all...

I guess minor injuries are going to be a part of my immediate future...

This weekend I hit my thumb with a hammer. Darn, it hurt! That's what I get for actually helping, rather than supervising... Thankfully it's just a bit stiff and a bit bruised, no broken bones or blood blisters or anything like that...

We put in the pocket doors, the french closet doors, the bathroom door (which still needs to be shimmed), and bought the basement door (which will hopefully be installed this weekend).

We passed our insulation inspection so we can call the Sheetrockers. We have no more inspections until the final. The fireplace is in. The propane tanks are in; we passed the air pressure check. I just have to arrange to have them filled.

No time to explain a lot now, but here are some pictures: