Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year's Resolutions

Well, I think we try this every year, but how many of us actually stick to our New Year's resolutions! I do have a few that I would like to "try" in 2009.

My first resolution...well, actually this is Emily's resolution for the family...to eat healthier and exercise so we can all lose weight. I think it is a good idea. Well, except for Jared. I think he has -0% body fat, so I'm not too sure how much weight he can lose, but he sure can stand to eat a bit healthier.

My second resolution...to actually get all of my finished scrapbook pages into scrapbooks. Yes, I know that this has been my resolution for the last 3 years, but since I'm not working now, I think I might be able to accomplish this now.

My third resolution...this one was an inspiration from my friend NYAJ, is to organize all of my photos. I thought they were pretty organized, but I guess I was wrong. Thanks NYAJ...I owe you one.

I guess that is enough for now...how many resolutions can one make when we can't even stick to one!

We hope your New Year is a safe and happy one.

Until next year...

Saturday, December 27, 2008

A busy couple of days

OMG...we spend so much time getting ready for Christmas, then in a flash, it is all over.

Christmas eve was spent with friends, Lynn and Sherry. This year at their house. Lynn made a fabulous meal of chicken papakash, I'm sure I spelled that wrong, but it was so good. Gifts were exchanged and we had a really nice time with them. Afterwards, we went to Jared's "girlfriend's" house so he and Alyssa could exchange gifts. We finally got home around 11:30pm. Then it was time to play Santa.

Christmas day was also busy...we all opened gifts before going to Larry's sister, Marilyn's house, to have Christmas with his family and to have dinner. Larry got me an iPod touch, and a Nicholas Sparks book. Jared and Emily got me a mug with cocoa and the movie "Mama Mia". I love my new toys! The kids had a good Christmas this year, each of them getting their own Dell laptop computers...one of which I am typing on right now...thanks Jared.

Today was my family Christmas in Louisville with my cousins and some aunts and uncles. The gift exchange lasted about 2 hours this year. It was a lot of fun with a lot of "stealing" of gifts. Larry and I ended up with a $50. gift certificate to the Cleveland Cavaliers team shop. That will come in handy when we go to the Cavs game in March. Jared will surely benefit from that one. Emily went home with my cousin Emily to spend some time with her and her family. We will meet up with them tomorrow to pick her up.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more low key. We do plan on going to visit with my Aunt Diana to do Christmas with her, but only if she is up for company...my Uncle Tony is in the hospital and isn't doing well, so she may not be up for company. Please pray for him to be well.

We always look so forward to the holidays, then sometimes we can't wait for them to be over just so we can have a minute to ourselves. It is really nice to see family though and spend time with them. Looking forward to going to see my big brother, Raymond and his family, next week in Cincinnati.

Until next time...

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Friends and Scrapbooking

So, my friend AbsolutelyFelicious asked me and Notyouraveragejenn to go to Archiver's on Saturday to go scrapbooking. I thought it would be a great idea to get together since we don't get too see each other much anymore. I met NYAJ near my house so she wouldn't have to drive all the way and it would shorten her trip home as well. We stopped for Starbucks before we got on the highway for our 45 minute venture. The ride there was uneventful...but with nice conversation.

When we got to Archiver's, that's when it all began...right off the bat, we wanted to go to lunch. Felicious' friend, and now our friend too, Motheroftriplets, was there. Of course none of us wanted to pick where to eat, so MOT picked Olive Garden...YUM! I haven't been there in like forever, because Larry doesn't really like it there. We had a really nice server and NYAJ told him that I had too much Starbucks on the way down, that I was hyper. What did she mean? I am always that funny!! Anyways, he was good to us. He brought Felicious an entire cup of lemons for her water, lots of warm breadsticks and extra mints. But when I asked him for more mints, he flat out said "no". I didn't leave him the extra money I had promised him if he brought a lot of lemons...no extra mints, no extra tip!

After lunch we went back to scrapbook. I didn't get much done. I got Emily's 2007 Christmas dance recital album started and I almost finished this years halloween page for her. Speaking of halloween layouts...OMG...NYAJ was working on one for her son and she used the most horrible purple paper. They always want you to be honest, and when you tell them the truth, you get the look of death. Sorry, NYAJ, but it was ugly. They layout was really cute, just not the background paper. There were also a few other practical jokes played (on NYAJ), but she was a good sport.

Well, we had a really fun time together. We laughed more than we scrapped. Can't wait to do it again...hopefully next month.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Some updates...

Well, I thought maybe I should update my blog since I am always getting on notyouraveragejenn for not updating hers enough. What can I say, this has been a boring week for me.

Monday night was the annual Madrigal dinner @ Greenford Lutheran Church. I go every year with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law Marilyn, and this year we were joined my our new sister-in-law, Sandy. She married Larry's brother, David, this summer. It was nice to have her along. The food was really good this year. It's not always that good, sometimes not even edible, but this year it was good and edible. The meal is served by the men of the church, but not cooked by them!

Tuesday night was Emily's Christmas band concert. It was really nice. They did a really nice job.The weather outside was frightful, and it was really icy coming home, but we made it just fine. Jared's "girlfriend", Alyssa came with us too. She is so sweet. Her and Jared just laugh and smile the whole time they are together. Okay, I know he is only 12 1/2, but they are so cute.

Today is Thursday, and I don't have anything else to report. See, I told you my week was boring.

Saturday I am going scrapbooking with my friends, notyouraveragejenn and absolutelyfelicious at Archiver's in Fairlawn for the day. Looking forward to that. I know you are wondering how can I spend an entire day scrapbooking this close to Christmas, but I can honestly say that I am almost ready...I just have to finish wrapping. Things can be pretty relaxing when you don't have to work and you have all the time in the world to get things done.

Well, hopefully next time I post there will be something a bit more exciting going on.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Just do it

We had such a fun time at the Cleveland Cavaliers game Friday night. It all started like this...

Jared received a letter from school at the beginning of the year that he was invited to the Cavs game on Friday because he had raised so much money the previous school year for "Jump Rope for Heart" for the American Heart Association. (He jumped in honor of Grandma Angel and Papa.) He was going to be able to shoot on the "hardwood"...the same "hardwood" that his idol, LaBron James, plays on. They would also be announced as a group for raising the most money.

So, Larry and I ordered ourselves tickets to go with him, because I don't think my 12 year old could get there on his own!

So, we get there, Jared is put with his group and Larry and I go to the section we are aloud to watch him...8 rows off the "hardwood". About 40 minutes later, they announce the kids and here they came...all 250 of them! Yes, there were 250 children shooting hoops. They did have it well organized and the kids were in six lines around each of the hoop, with a total of 12 lines. Each child got to shoot and then go to the back of the line. They each got to shoot about 3 times. Jared of course was the first in his line, so he was one of the first to shoot. The &^%$* in front of me stood up right when Jared shot. No, I did not get that picture. But I did get the next one of him shooting. Him with 125 kids standing around him, but hey, I know it's him in that picture. (He's the one with the LeBron James shirt on about 3 feet in the air.)



He had a really fun time being down on the "hardwood".
Of course the game was alot of fun too, even though we had to move into section 227 (the really high section) to watch the game. We usually go to at least one Cavs game a year, so this part wasn't new for Jared. But we did get to see LeBron do his classic tradition that he does before each game. He does something with baby powder...throws it up in the air...not sure why, but Jared loves when he does this. They have even made a commercial of him doing it...I don't get it, but it is cool.

It was also Ben Wallace wig night, so as you went through the gate, you got your very own wig so you can look just like Ben. And yes, 90% of the viewers had it on...even Jared.

I want to thank my bestie notyouraveragejenn for letting me use her awesome camera to get such great pictures. I owe you one girl!
GO CAVS!!!

Monday, December 8, 2008

"Do you want the rest?"

Sunday afternoon my daughter, Emily, was eating a piece of delicious cherry pie. After a few minutes she said to me "do you want the rest?" I did not want it, but when I looked at her plate all she had on it was the end of the crust. She was dead serious when she asked me. What the heck was she thinking, why would I want just the crust of this delicious pie. So, Emily, if you really wanted to share your pie, you should have asked me when there was still some actual cherries left in it.

No, but thanks anyways.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Scream

Dinner was delicious as usual. Larry did a bang up job. notyouraveragejenn and absolutelyfelicious came last night for dinner and our annual Christmas cookie exchange, and we had a really nice time. Of course the cookies were to die for as well!

The weather outside was frightful...but the fire inside kept us warm and cozy. We watched two movies, The Gift...and if you have never seen it, be prepared to scream at least once. I didn't know when I started watching it that it was a scary movie...and if you ask "my friends", they will still tell you that it's not! Anyways, after dinner we watched Atonement...I really liked that movie, especially because I didn't scream during it!

All in all, the night was great. I had a really nice time with my besties. We don't get to see each other as often anymore since we all lost our jobs.

Post again soon!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Can't Wait

So tomorrow my friends, notyouraveragejenn and absolutelyfelicious are coming over for dinner and to have a Christmas cookie swap. Larry, my wonderful husband and great cook, is cooking us dinner, homemade cream chicken with mashed potatoes and biscuits...YUM! Then we are going to hang out and watch movies and sit by the fire.

The weather is supposed to be snowy, so the fire will help keep us warm since we haven't been turning our heat up too high this winter due to the higher natural gas prices. And the fact that I have recently lost my job and Larry is going to be laid off the entire month of January. We have just been wearing multiple layers to keep us cozy...and sleeping with lots of blankets at night, and sometimes during the day.

Well, I'm off to make my recipe card for my cookie swap, so I will post again soon.

Monday, December 1, 2008

I would rather stab my eye out with a fork

Yes, you read it right...I would rather stab my eye out with a fork than to pay my bills. I usually pay bills on Fridays, but with the holiday weekend, I just kept putting it off. So today I finally sat down to do it and realized why I hate doing it so much. It is so stressful trying to figure out which bills I should pay and which ones I should pay at a later date. Sometimes I just wish Larry would sit down and do it just once, then he can see why I get in such a bad mood on Fridays. Well, there is nothing I can do about it at this point, but just pray no one comes after us for any money. I can only pay what I have money for. At least we have food on the table and a roof over our heads and a dog to keep my feet warm!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Lots of Turkey

So, did everyone eat as much turkey today as I did? OMG, dinner was so flippin' good. I don't know if it's because I didn't have to spend the day preparing it or what, but it was GOOD. We went to Larry's sister Marilyn's house. (Thanks for the great dinner, Marilyn and Don.) It was a nice relaxing day. Jared played pool with Uncle Don and Grandpa, and Jared got (in his own words) "his butt beat". He had fun playing them though. Emily made a great apple pie to take over. She is a good cook for only being 13 years old. She is actually thinking of going to school for it. I'm sure she will change her mind about 100 times before she gets out of high school. I know I did when I was her age.

The rest of the weekend will be spent seeing family. Tomorrow we are off to see my Aunt Diana and Uncle Tony. He isn't doing well these days, so we want to spend a little time with him for the holiday. Saturday we are off to Louisville to see cousins in from Virginia and other family. Family is very important to us.

Well, I'm off to watch Grey's Anatomy for the next 2 hours...who doesn't like to watch McDreamy for that long!?
I will post again soon.

What's in a name?

So, it all began with wanting to write my own blog. All of my cool friends are doing it! Anyway, I could not come up with a name that I liked, so I called my friend, notyouraveragejenn, and asked her if she could help since she can sometimes be quite witty. She came up with...here it goes..."Chicken and Biscuits", "Lime Green and Navy", "Cheese and Rice"...what the heck? At first I thought about it, but then I came to my senses. I really wanted to use the word pajamas in my name since that seems to be my wardrobe most days since I lost my job 3 weeks ago. My 13 year old daughter and 12 year old son thought the name "Just another day in pajamas" as STUPID. So i settled on "life according to blee". Well, this blog is obviously about me and the things happening in my life, so it only made sense. Now you ask were I got "blee", well from one of my besties, absolutelyfelicious. It's actually the my first initial and middle name put together. Pretty creative, huh?

So, this is my first post...with many more to come. I just hope I can be as funny as my cool friends!