Friday, October 31, 2008

A few prayers please

If you have a few minutes to spare, please pray for my aunt, who just had knee surgery, for a swift and as pain free as possible recovery.

Also... I could use some prayers. In 10th grade I had knee surgery for a few things that I tore. Well, yesterday I did something to that same knee and it is pretty painful. I am going to try to get in to see a doctor on Monday to find out what is going on. I really don't want to have ANOTHER surgery.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Not Me Monday

Well... I was too late to sign up on the site this week, but I am still going to do it this week. We'll consider it practice. ;)

I did not stay in pjs until after 1:00pm today.

I did not sit around all day basically doing nothing, even though I have plenty I could be doing.

I did not make brownies just so I could eat some of the batter, but play it off that I was really making them for Jeff.

I did not get lost on the way to my aunt's house TWICE because I can't follow the directions that I've written down.

I did not eat an ice cream cone that I didn't need, especially with 38 degree whether outside.

I did not not ignore an errand that I needed to run, passing it off saying I could always do it Wednesday.

I did not watch a mindless TV show tonight just because it makes me feel amazing about my life.

Ok... that was my first installment, but it was a practice. Next week, if I remember, I'll do another installment and this time make it official.

Gaurdian Angels

I have this picture I took while kayaking. It is actually in my blog banner, but I'll post it here too. I'm pretty skeptical about ghosts and stuff, but I took this while kayaking one day and it kinda creeps me out, but not really. I think of it as my guardian angel and in a way of my great grandmother who died when I was 17. I put a box around it and the arrows are pointing to the hair, the nose, and the chin. You can see the whole profile view of the face... forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, neck, hair. Here is the picture... can you see her? (If you want to see a bigger version of it, just click on it).

When I turned 16, my mom gave me a clip for in my car that says "Never fly faster than your guardian angel can fly". Well... after this picture I've decided to also come up with one for kayaking... "Never paddle faster than your guardian angel can swim".
Boy is life busy! I like it busy, and I like it slow. Last week was just insane. Every day was something new.

I subbed for the first day last Monday for a 3rd grade class. They were a very active class. They weren't the greatest behaviorwise, but the teacher warned me of that. I was pretty proud of how well I handled the day. It went SO FAST! I subbed on Friday also, this time for a 1st grade class. They were a great class. I can see myself teaching both grades. They were both very different, but there were aspects I liked about both.

I already blogged about my niece being born on Tuesday... here is a new picture of her:
Tuesday and Thursday I also had classes, and Wednesday I spent at the hospital visiting the baby and then reading to the kindergarten class I read to for my service learning project at school.

This weekend I had a baby day. :) I went out to eat with my mom and some good friends of our family and then went to visit Jaycie at home. Then on the way home I stopped by to see a friend of mine who had a baby a month ago... the only boy to be born recently. I didn't get a picture of him. :( But then Jeff and I went to visit a friend of ours that he grew up with that had a baby 3 weeks ago. She was precious. Here is a picture of Jeff holding her:
It just melts my heart seeing him holding a baby! :)

The puppies are definitely giving us a run for our money! This is the "surprise" I woke up to on Monday:


Yup... That WAS their dog bed. Jeff and my dad kept telling me we should put the dog bed in the cage so that they have something nice to lay on and so that they aren't cold at night. Well I did and THAT is what I woke up to. Jeff got to clean it up, haha.

Nothing else is really going on right now. School is very stressful for me and I am ready for November to be over so that I can just relax and not have to worry about school for a little while.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I'M AN AUNT!!!

My brother's girlfriend had their baby! She was born this morning at 6:00am on the nose. She is 6lbs 7oz, 19.5 inches long. Her name is Jaycie Lynn.

Yesterday they had a dr's appt to discuss induction, since she was due last Wednesday. They set up an induction appointment for Thursday at 4:00. Well, when she left the dr's office she started to feel contractions. She was 1.5 cm dialated at the appointment, but you can be dialated for a long time, and even have contractions for a while. Well, this was real. Chris got home from running an errand to her in tears. They went to the hospital and she was admitted at 3 cm dialated and 90% effaced. They called me down because they wanted me in the room. I came wearing my Patriot's jersey, ready to catch if I had to! Well, she wasn't progressing too much but was in pain so she asked for an epidural. They kicked me out of the room while they were giving it to her so I went and sat in the waiting room for an hour. Well, I left to go get Chris some hot chocolate at Turkey Hill and he called and said she was going to take a nap and he was probably going to too. So I decided to instead go home and sleep, seeing that I had been up since 5am and subbed for a difficult class that day. I was exhuasted. At 1:00, just after I fell asleep, Chris called to say they broke her water but that they weren't expecting her to deliver until somewhere between 8am and noon. I told Chris to call me when she was 8cm dialated. At 5:55am my phone rang and all I hear was "Its happening." I guess that means what I think it meant! We didn't think I would make it in time... and sure enough, 5 minutes later I get a phone call: "It happened". HAHA! Apparently they woke her up at 5:30am to check her and the baby's head was there ready to come out! 3 pushes and she was out!

Anyway... here's what you've been waiting for... the pictures!


(She looks like she is praying in the above picture).



Proud Mommy and Daddy!
Your's Truly! The proud Aunt Abbie! (Not a very good picture of me, but a good one of the baby!)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Dear Dogs and Cats

PET RULES

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - snout height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,
The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate of food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years --canine or feline attendance is not mandatory.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets

1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less
2. Don't ask for money all the time
3 Are easier to train
4. Usually come when called
5. Never drive your car
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don't smoke or drink
8. Don't worry about having to buy the latest fashions
9. Don't wear your clothes
10. Don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and
11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

Ahhh Sunday

It is Sunday morning, well sort of. We are 6 minutes away from it being noon and I have a feeling by the time I post this blog it will be after noon. I am still sitting here in my comfy PJs with no desire to go change. Jeff's brother is coming by in a little to watch football so I am going to need to go change before he gets here. I am looking forward to a day of watching football and eating wings.

Nothing new is really happening. I got my first sub job for next Monday for a 3rd grade class. I am nervous because it is like starting a new job every time you sub and I hate that feeling. But I am also looking forward to it.

Since we moved there are things that I can not find ANYWHERE and one of those things is our cake cutting set from our wedding. I remember moving it. I remember it being here and showing it to someone after we moved the china in (we moved the china and dinnerware in during the week before we moved into the house so that it didn't break). I do not remember seeing it since and it is driving me absolutely nuts. I really want to display it in our curio cabinet. I hate not knowing where anything is! I am so glad that we are pretty much all settled otherwise.

I am watching Bridezillas right now and I have no idea how these girls can treat the people who are in their life and love them like they are treating them! It definitely goes to show that some people really take others for granted. I would never talk the way some of these girls talk to their fiances, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, extended family. It is just awful. I really appreciate my family.

OK... I'm going to go put off getting dressed some more, haha. And I was right... it is now 12:11pm. :)

Oh and GO PATRIOTS!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Surprise!

Jeff came to bed this morning and he told me he had a surprise for me. What the surprise REALLY was was that he had vacuumed the carpet and swept and mopped the wood floors! BUT this is what the puppies SURPRISED me with this morning:

Yes, that would be newspaper in and surrounding their crate. SOMEHOW they reached their noses through the crate to the newspaper piled on the bench next to them and pulled it through and had a field day! I left it there for Jeffery to see because this picture does not do what I saw justice. I really wish I would have taken the picture with the puppies IN the crate because they just made it all the more funnier.

Here is a picture of the "soccer ball" and "football" aka the soccer squish and football squish that we bought them, which they ruined in a matter of 15 minutes per ball. We thought the football would last a little longer, but no.
Needless to say, life is NEVER dull at our house! But here is an adorable picture of the puppies sleeping on the couch with Jeff (or in one of the puppies cases, ON Jeff!):

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Prayers

I've been following a blog of a girl who posts on The Nest. She found out around 12 weeks into her pregnancy that there was little chance her son would make it after birth. She gave birth via c section today and her beautiful son was with her and her husband for 16 minutes before he went Home to be with God. Please pray for her and her husband for peace in this difficult time.

I've also been following another blog by a girl named Katie. Tomorrow she is scheduled to have a kidney transplant. Please pray for her and her sister, who will be donating a kidney to her. Katie lost her son a few months ago and after she lost him she found out it was due to a kidney disease and had to be on dialysis from then on. Please pray her body doesn't reject the kidney and that she and her sister have quick and painless healing!

Living for today

I read a blog today about living for today and it really hit home. I feel like I'm always living for later, for tomorrow, for the weekend, for next week, for next month, or next year. For the next big moment. But I need to realize that I need to live for right now. I need to live for today. I need to enjoy every moment I have, whether I am doing something eventful or taking out the trash. I don't want to look back when I am 50 and say "wait, where did my life go? When did all of this happen?". So now I resolve to live for every minute.

I've kind of been down lately and need to pick myself back up. We are needing to put something on hold for a few months and so it's really had me down. It is pretty difficult to deal with, especially after hoping for an entire year and then having to now wait after that year expired and nothing happened. I don't want to get too into it, but I could use some thoughts to help my mood and my attitude as others achieve what I am longing for and right now can't have.

I am really loving fall. I love the cool weather. I really love wearing jeans and sweaters. I am LOVING watching football. I am having fun walking the dogs with Jeffery every day. And the leaves are just beautiful!

Ok... I am off to read and then bed. Its nice to snuggle up under the covers and have my nose cold but my body warm. A friend of mine told me to update more so I will try to post more often now that I know someone reads my blog! Haha!

Monday, October 6, 2008

LAST DAY!

Today is the LAST DAY to register to vote in PA, and many places across the country.

This has to be the best ad convincing people to vote that I've seen in a while.


http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=0vtHwWReGU0

Today is the last day to register in PA. If you're not registered please consider it.
You can get all the info at

http://www. votespa. com/RegistertoVote/HowtoRegister/tabid/214/language/en-US/Default. aspx

If you care about your life, your kids, your family, your friends, your money and everything VOTE, but if you don't care then don't vote. But then you also have no right complaining.