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.