MY NEW TOY...

Well, it is that time again! YEP indeedy....Christmastime is here, well at least for me it is. I know, I know, I am a little early, but who cares! I love Christmas! I usually wait until after Thanksgiving to put up my tree, but this year Thanksgiving comes late in the month, cutting my weeks short and my weeks become very busy from here on out. Therefore, Tom and I put up the tree this past weekend. As for my new toy...well...I bought it on sale after Christmas last year. I couldn't wait to try it out this year! Tom, of course, thought it was a stupid idea, that I wasted money, it wouldn't work, etc. etc. etc., but when we hooked it up, turned it on...VIOLA! He LIKES it! I do too. Well, enough already I will tell you what it is. It is a rotating Christmas tree stand!!! Excited? I am! Plus, it works, Tom even likes it, Mom and Dad liked it and I LOVE IT! This way I get to see all of my ornaments, not just the ones on front! Plus, when Tom was putting on the lights, he just turned it on and the tree rotated itself making the light job a little easier. Yes, I know, you all think I'm nuts, but oh well, I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I took this video to show you all what I am talking about. I hope some of you like it too!


MERRRY CHRISTMAS...EARLY!

I'M BACK! FINALLY!

The new rug on top and below is the old one

These are both the old look

I Picked the 2 on the Right!

New look brown and old is blue

New look-brown & old was blue

I know, I know. I have been gone for awhile. I have a good reason, sort of. Part of the time, I was just busy doing other things (like hooking up the new turntable to the computer and downloading the first 14 of approximately a couple of hundred albums for our Ipods), downloading approx. 30 C/D's for a friend to download onto her new Ipod, just to tired, or the last 2 weeks...I have been messing with my stupid computer! It seems that everytime I go into one of my main programs, it is missing the exe. file, will not work, locks up, etc. etc. So I have had to trouble shoot my Kodak, Norton, ITunes and Excel programs, erase and download a couple of them again, and do fixes on the other 2. Not my idea of fun!!!! and it was of course, hours and hours and hours, well you get the picture!!!

Finally, last night I got my Kodak program to work again, therefore the last post about My MOM!!!!! WHOPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, I am back in the grove, hopefully. With Thanksgiving, then Christmas coming, things will still be hectic, but I am going to try to keep up with my blog again. That is if this thing called a computer cooperates!!!

Now for the answer to a question posed to me from my last blog...Yes, I picked out the shades for my bathroom lights! I did not happen to pick any of the shades that I had previously posted, because I found a new one at Home Depot that I liked. I took some before and after pics (which, as I said above, I was just now able to download as of yesterday), therefore I am posting the pics today. I still have a frame on each wall to fill with a pic of my own and I have a couple of ideas not yet completed, and I have already made some changes that are not reflected in these "old" pictures, but hopefully you will get an idea of what I have done so far. Let me know what you think.

Glad to be back! Hope you will continue to read. See you soon!

!!! SHE DID IT !!!

She's done! Mom has made it to the end of her year long journey! A year ago this December, mom went for her yearly checkup, was sent for a mammogram, a biopsy was performed, then a double mastectomy and 7 lympnodes removed, she had her port inserted, went through 6 chemotherapy treatments, and as of Friday, November 14, she finished 33 radiation treatments! The only things left to do now...go to the doctor December 12, start taking a pill once a day for the next 5 years, grow back her hair and know that she is a SURVIVOR, all the way!

I know she is very happy to be done with the long journey. We, her family, Dad, Tom, Me, Dave & Joi, have been with her all the way, tried to support her the best we could during all of the trials and have had to just stand by and watch helplessly as she went through this long journey. I can say, without a single doublt, that we are all extremely proud of this beautiful, wonderful, loving woman that we call, wife, mom and mawmaw. She has BEAT IT, SHE IS DONE and

SHE HAS KICKED CANCERS BUTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Therefore, CELBRATION! And that we did! All of us took Mom out Friday night to celebrate and took her to Cracker Barrel (her favorite restaurant) for dinner. Then Saturday, without her knowing what or where, Joi, Dad and I took Mom to a tea house called Jospehine's, went shopping and then took her to the Alton Belle (to do a little gamling!) for the day! We came back home and met up with Tom to eat dinner! Mom says that she had a great time and is starting to finally feel human!

As a reminder to all you women out there, please, please please, check yourselves monthly, get your yearly mammogram and IF you feel a lump, get it checked out IMMEDIATELY!

I have included a couple of pictures from this weekend to show you Mom's Celebration!

PICK A SHADE

A B

C D

E F

G H

J K

L M

N O

R S

Ok, here's the scoop...I am redoing the bathroom. Tom and I went shopping, found a rug we liked and decided to buy it. Of course, it did not match the rest of the bathroom, so...I just have to redecorate it now. I am getting there, but have a way to go. I took before pics this time (I know, I don't believe it either), and once I'm done, I will show before and after pics (I'm so glad I remembered to do this for once). But I have a dilemma, I am having trouble picking new glass shades for my light fixture. So here are just a few that I like (I deleted some of them), so what do you think? (I have posted a copy of the rug too...and an FYI, I went with the chocolate brown and teal colors in the rug). My fixtures are silver, my walls, floors, cabinet, tub, etc. are all white. Excited to see what you pick. Thanks for you help in advance.

WHAT A KLUTZ!

Yup...that's me! What was supposed to be a walk around the park with my daughter and us taking my 2 puppies, Koty and Gizmo, well......it turned into a "really graceful FALL! for me!" We actually walked about 1 block, turned a corner, got to an alley and whoops...down I went. There was an alley with the exit in concrete, rocks all over the concrete, my foot hit the rocks, they acted like marbles and you guessed it! Down I went. Nothing broken, but a goose egg on the arm, a rock & bruise in the left hand and down on my knee right on a rock! Graceful, yikes, NOT! Sore, and aching all day...yyyyyeeeeessss! siree! So gimpy for a couple of days, and I think I keep my walking, for now, at Club Fitness on the treadmill (no rocks!)

ACHY BREAKY HEART!!!!

Is he good lookin or what?!






Wow! Friday morning I was at work, received a phone call from Joi, and found out that Billy Ray Cyrus may be coming to Park Grill in Granite City within an hour. Me being at work...I was trying to find a way to get someone to go see him and take pics for me! Well low and behold, I was working the early shift for Chuck (he works this weekend) and he was home! I called, he went, he seen, he took pictures and brought them to me! He even shook Billy Ray's hand, then shook mine (you know, to transfer the goodie feel!). Oh well, I know not everyone likes Billy Ray, but I do! I have now tried to see him, up close and personal, 6 different times, like at Fan Fair, Duquoin Fair, etc. Next year, I am joining his fan club and each year after, until I get to Fan Fair, go to his personal party where he holds his meet and greets. I never have been signed up the years I go, or I am signed up too late to get tickets! NOT ANYMORE! He was here in GC and I missed him!!!! But... for those who like him like I do! Enjoy the pics, my great friend CHUCK, brought back to me!

!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOI !!!

THIS IS A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISH FOR MY WONDERFUL DAUGHTER! I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART AND HOPE YOU HAVE A FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE 26 YEARS OLD TODAY! "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE!" AND YOU ARE MY HEART. I LOVE YOU! LOVE MOM AND TOM