Happy Birthday Hubby!

I wanted to dedicate a post to Jeffery on his birthday! :)

Happy Birthday! You are a wonderful husband!

Some facts about Jeffery:
-his favorite food is ice cream
-his favorite drink, much to my chagrin, is iced tea
-He works for an ice cream and iced tea factory in the lab testing their products to make sure they are safe. He gets to taste test also!!!
-his favorite movie is Transformers, Toy Story, and Lion King (he will be a good daddy one day)
-his favorite game is Halo 3
-he loves his doggies
-he likes to put together puzzles
-he used to play soccer
-he has red hair (and i LOVE it!)
-his favorite time of the day is puppy cuddle time. It is usually around 8pm and that is when both dogs lay on top of him for at least an hour and he loves it.
-He loves the New England Patriots and puts up with my obsession with them!
-He is the shy, quiet type around people he doesn't know, but is very talkative around me and others that he does know well!

This is a picture of Jeffery during puppy cuddle time

He is the best husband in the world and I hope he has a wonderful birthday! :) I love you hubby!

DUH

http://www.wgal.com/education/18794748/detail.html

Um... DUH! In my opinion NO standardized test truly measures skills. Ugh.

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

1. It was not me who already has her tax refund half spent BEFORE it comes!
2. It was definitely not me who did not so great on her midterms. not at all. :-I
3. It was not me who made cinnamon rolls for lunch the other day because the cabinets were so empty they were echoing. Nope! I always have time to go to the grocery store and keep my cabinets stocked!
4. It was not me who was in line at the grocery store and forgot that I didn't put my impulse buy into the cart (we allow ourselves one impulse buy per trip) and therefore grabbed a candybar as my impulse buy. I stay away from that stuff and always eat as healthy as possible. :P
5. BUT it WAS me who went to the gym FIVE TIMES last week! My goal was four and I decided the fifth day to go.

That is all I have today folks.

Wahoo!

I was given a blogger award from the wonderful Melissa at simple, positive, happy. How sweet of her! Honestly, when I set out blogging I did so because I loved reading other blogs and getting an insight into the lives of others. I loved meeting new people and feeling connected with them. I felt that each one of them has touched my life in some way. I hoped that if through my experiences I could touch the life of one person, then I would have done what I set out to do when I started blogging. I also did it so that my family and friends from all over the state and country could keep up with my life. I love writing and blogging. I'm not the best writer or most interesting person. I have 3 followers. That's it. But I'm not out to be the best writer, or the most interesting person. I am out to be me and to write about my life or interesting things I come across. I write to put my opinion into words. I love to write. I hope that I can put more devotion into my blog and hopefully make someone else smile. That being said, here is my award! :)


And here are the rules of the award: “These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Here are the bloggers I am tagging. Please check out the blogs of these wonderful ladies!:
1. Erin at Champagne Tastes Better
2. Marialena at Just an Old Fashioned Gal!
3. Abby at Life with B & A
4. Jennifer at This Girl Loves Pink
5. Kari at Better Together
6. Kathleen at My Two Red Shoes
7. Mana at The Many Adventures of Mana
8. Katie at The Poop Scoop

Husband survey

I saw this on another blog and thought it looked fun! Here is a bunch of info about my hubby! :) His birthday is coming up so why not dedicate a post to him? (I'll do a better dedication ON his birthday but this seemed fun!).

Husband Survey

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? evening TV usually... he leaves for work too early to watch anything he really likes, but he like Heroes, LOST, and Friday Night Lights

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Italian or none... ew!

3. What's one food he doesn't like? seafood

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? iced tea or coke

5. Where did he go to high school? at a high school near me (sorry folks! I don't want to post it on here! too personal)

6. What size shoe does he wear? 11

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? video games... but he used to collect baseball cards

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? turkey

9. What would he eat every day if he could? ice cream... and he does! That is his job actually!

10. What is his favorite cereal? Apple Jacks, Life, and peanutbutter cocoa puffs

11. What would he never wear? pink, speedo

12. What is his favorite sports team? New England Patriots!

13. Who did he vote for? he doesn't feel like his vote actually counts so he doesn't vote

14. Who is his best friend? Me, of course!

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? work nights... but it is a great job and good money so I'm not going to complain

16. What is his heritage? Irish, with maybe a little German

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Pound cake... or I'd buy him an ice cream cake

18. Did he play sports in high school? soccer

19. What could he spend hours doing? playing video games

20. What is one unique talent he has? for some reason dogs are always his best friend in the whole world... he just has that personality

Vot for Kota!!!

I entered Kota in a pet photo contest! VOTE FOR HER! :) You can vote once a day for the next week. Just click on the picture below:

Vote for Kota!

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Here we go again! I don't know if I can come up with a lot, but I will try.

1. It is not me who still has laundry sitting in baskets in her room waiting to be put away. Nope! I wouldn't dig through it to get clean clothes out for the entire week instead of spending 15 minutes to put them away and then easily get them out of the closet.

2. It is not me who also still has the vacuum cleaner box sitting in the living room waiting to be taken to the basement. I keep my house neat and tidy at all times.

3. It is not me who has been slacking on my blog updating. :(

4. It was not me who got horribly carsick on our 5 hour round trip yesterday, requiring the windows to be open or the AC to be on so that I didn't throw up all over the place.

5. It definitely WAS me who bought my husband an awesome Valentine's Day present! But it WASN'T me who forgot to give him his card until today!! OOPS!

6. It definitely WAS me who received AWESOME tulips from my husband for Valentine's day and then a present as well! Whoa! How lucky am I!?!

OK... that is what I could come up with for this week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to my blog friends!

Take some time to cuddle close to the one you love!

This has been a great day so far! Actually, yesterday Jeffery had flowers delivered to me! Here they are:And today we went out for breakfast and exchanged gifts (I got him a leather Patriots wallet, and he gave me LOST season 4!). We are also going to go to The Melting Pot for dinner tonight with my parents!!! I can't wait! :) We usually don't go all out for Valentine's Day but for some reason this year we are. I am so into it! I get that it is a Hallmark holiday, and that you should tell your spouse (or that special someone) that you love them every day and pay attention to them, but this is a day to really focus in on that love. It is just a nice day to recognize the love that everyone has.

So take time today and tell that special person in your life (your spouse, your partner, your boyfriend, girlfriend, and your kids and pets too!) that you really do care for and appreciate them!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Not Me Monday!

Ah! I almost missed it! I knew I was forgetting something! Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Ok, here goes:

1. It was not me who slept in until 10:00am on Friday and Saturday!!! Yikes! I would never sleep that late!

2. It was not me who didn't work on a project for class, which was due today, until last night at 7:00pm. Nope! I never procrastinate! I make sure I do all of my work with plenty of time to spare!

3. It certainly wasn't me who let the dogs roll around in the mud two days after they had a bath because it was such a nice day out and they really needed to burn energy. I would have taken them to a nice, non-muddy area for them to run around. Sheesh. Who would let them roll in the mud?!

4. It is not me who still has the vacuum cleaner box in the living room behind the loveseat TWO WEEKS after buying the vacuum cleaner. Geez! That is just unsightly and lazy!

5. It was not me who was yelling at the octuplet mother on the TV this morning during her interview with Ann on the Today Show. Of course I know that she can't hear me through the TV! I would never do something like that!

6. And it is not me who will probably get up after writing this post and get a snack, probably goldfish or pretzels.

7. BUT it is me who joined a gym and will start working out tomorrow!!! Wahoo! Wish me luck!

Ok that is it for this week!

I'm sure everyone has talked about it

But it is now my turn. I'm talking about the mom who gave birth to the octuplets.

It angers me to no end that a doctor would allow a mother (a SINGLE mother!) who already has SIX CHILDREN to take infertility treatments to try to have one more. This is exactly why insurances won't cover infertility treatments! They don't want to take on risks like this. And now this woman is receiving book and TV deals???

That is how I feel. Take it or leave it but it just really frustrates me.

Not Me Monday returns!!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I haven't done this in a while. It is nice to return to it!

1. It was not me who ate half a bag of peanutbutter m&m's today while I was getting ready for my SB party! And it certainly wasn't me who bought said m&m's!

2. It was not me who forgot to bring the cocktail weenies to Saturday's party.

3. It is not me who STILL hasn't posted responses to a math assignment that needs to be posted.

4. It WAS me who cleaned up everything from our Superbowl party!

5. It WAS me who made the most awesome chili and trifle for the Superbowl party!!!

6. It WAS me who got to cuddle with my 3 month old niece for a while during the Superbowl party!!!

7. And it isn't me who is STILL awake instead of sleeping because I need to get up early in the morning for a LOOONGGG day of classes.

True Joy and True Sorrow

Sometimes I wonder why we get to know and love someone when we know eventually they will no longer be around.

This past August we celebrated my grandparents' 50th anniversary by throwing them a surprise weekend at the camp where they met. Among the guests, many of whom were a surprise, was my mom's cousin (my grandparents' nephew), Bobby, and his two teenage children. I had only met Bobby once before at my great-grandmother's funeral. During that time I got to know and love Bobby and his children. They were so fun to hang around, so full of energy. Bobby had the most gentle spirit in the world. He was so nice and so sweet. I was so thankful he came, as was the rest of my family, so we could reconnect with him and get to know him and his children. It was only just before this family get together that we found out Bobby had cancer and he only had a small time left.

Saturday Bobby suffered a stroke and was put into a medically induced coma. On the way to a family party for my dad's side my grandfather called my mom and told her Bobby only had a short time left and they were driving down to see him.

At 1:00am Bobby passed away. He went home.

I am so thankful for that time in August to get to know this wonderful man and my heart aches for his children who no longer have a father to teach them how to drive, to celebrate more birthdays with, to go to graduations, to walk her down the aisle and stand beside him when he gets married.

Why do we get to know someone when they will only ever be taken from us ultimately? We get to know them for all the happy times in between. To know what true joy is, and to know how to appreciate true joy so that it will carry us through in times of sorrow. That sorrow allows us to appreciate true joy.

May angels lead you in, Bobby.