Happy 57th Birthday, Dad!

It's my dad's special day today! A young 57 years and still looking good! :) Can't wait to get to see him and the rest of the family . . . just a couple more weeks now!!

Happy, happy birthday, Dad!!

Love you lots! xo xo xo xo

New Kix

I Like:

Mexico 66™by Onitsuka Tiger by Asics

Today I received from Zappos.com what I hope to be the most comfy sneakers I've ever slipped my feet in, as these are officially my "New York" kix. Not a sneaker-wearer, I've been diligently shopping and researching for the perfect footwear for all the walking I'll be doing during my 3 days in the Big Apple. And I'm hoping I'll get some more use out of these Onitsuka Tigers. I also appreciate their retro-ness. The first athletic shoes with famed signature 'tiger stripes' debuted in 1966 and were worn by athletes competing in the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games. Just think that's kinda' neat. So I'll be testing them out over the next few weeks and hoping they do the trick, just like in 1968.

Vacation Attire - Sneak Peak!

Charity's special dress I had made for our Disney vacation next month (just a few weeks now) came last week. It looks soooooo cute! I love it! Another great eBaY find! The seamstress that made it felt so bad it took longer than normal, I guess. Time flies for me. Her daughter had a seizure and went into a coma for 3 days. I can't imagine. From what she emailed me, she out of the hospital, but how scary. If you read this, please say a prayer for Luddie's 10 year-old daughter.

Aaaa-chooooooo!

Charity and I are both suffering with allergies this week, so it was no wonder we were racing to see who could squeeze the most naps in today. Ahhhh . . . . got to love Saturdays! I think she said she took 6, but it was more like 3: sleeping in, one this afternoon and then she even fell asleep in the car when we were out running errands. Yes, and she's not even medicated. These crazy things wipe you out!! I've been in bed almost every night before 9pm, so not like me. I'm hoping this week we'll have a turnaround and maybe the forecasted rain will help.

In the meantime, I think we both could use one of these:

It is Friday, isn't it?

It's a strange week when Friday turns out worst than your Monday. Monday was normal, good actually. Today, not so much. Tried to go to work, only for my car to die at stoplight about 10 minutes from our house. Thought it would be as easy as taking Gramma's car to work and having a friend pick up Charity from school, but Gramma would be needing her car for her Chemo appointment today. Had no luck getting in touch with my staffing agency or my employer, so I knew they were wondering were I was. Eventually got it all worked out and I was only about 45 minutes late. And all was fine, Gramma brought me in and headed off for her day and Dave would come and get me.

Frazzled and distressed about my broken car, my co-worked tried to relieve me worries, "Aren't you glad this isn't Monday?"

Wow! Yep, a Monday with all the excitement I had this morning would have been way too much for me! :) She really helped me see the positive side of things.

And it wasn't all bad. Dave did get our car to the garage to get fixed (it made it all the way there) and then he and Charity came and picked me up in our spiffy red, rental car. Too tired to go home and cook, we decided this was a perfect night for dinner out. So the three of us enjoyed a yummy, Asian meal on the patio at Pei Wei. And though the morning left much to be desired, I couldn't have asked for a nicer evening!

Blackberry 4 Me!

Yay! So happy about my new phone!!! I love my hubby for "approving" this purchase. I think this one device is going to make my life a whole lot easier, I hope!! As we were walking out of the Verizon store, Dave thought he should mention I'm now famous because I have a Blackberry like O'bama. :P Oh dear, he cracks me up!! Just trying to make me happy about my new toy. He got a new cool phone, the Motorola Krave, well he hasn't got it yet. But it's on it's way.

Someone else is happy about their "new" phone too! :P

It's Out!!

Look's like the Tooth Fairy will be visiting tonight!!

Memory Monday

Monday's are never the highlight of my week, but this one might be different.

A friend of my birth mom *who found me on Facebook ~ that's why I love it!!* sent me a whole bunch of pictures and some other memorabilia she had pertaining to my mother. It was so nicely put together with notes explaining everything. And though it generated some sad memories, I couldn't help but be happy that she had done all this for me. How kind! I will definitely treasure the gift. How blessed my mom must have been to have such a great friend, and I as well, that the same friend would "find" me after all these years.

Thank you, Laurie, for taking the time to do something so special and meaningful for me. I truly appreciate it and though it's been years since we last met, I'm happy to call you my friend, too!

Dollywood

We headed out bright and early this morning for Pigeon Forge, TN . . . well maybe not so bright. But it was early . . . 4:30am early! But Dave planned this quick weekend trip away for just tonight so we wanted to make the most of our first visit to East Tennessee. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day. The weather was so cooperative! However, there was some crazy car show happening there that made traffic a little ridiculous. Took us about 45 minutes from O'Charley's, were we ate dinner, to our hotel and should have taken 4! But besides that nonsense, it was really a nice getaway.

Here's our day at Dollywood.

Charity, at our first snack stop about 6:30 am, and she's happy! :)

First "ride" . . . well, the first one I photographed!

On the elephant that goes up and down . . . and way too jerky I might add! Almost lost my breakfast with Charity controlling that thing!!

Doing the "lemon" twist!

This one makes Daddy lose his breakfast!

Getting hot . . . slushies time!

Checking out the ducks.

Big veggies!

The family with the big veggies . . . see Dave with the potato? Oh wait, he got cut off! The sun was so bright and it was hard to see what the camera was getting. Oh well! Thanks for trying, Gramma! :)

The carousel.

Pure glee!

Charity and Gramma (we're so glad Gramma came along to enjoy the fun day with us!)

Look out below!

This time, a sucker break!

We did some crazy wet ride! We were all soaked and a little chilly. Luckily it didn't take long to dry off.

. . . still completely soaked!

Or was it the $0.25 shower that drenched us?

There was even a playground! Luckily we didn't find it until the end of the day. Charity was pretty tired, so it wasn't too hard to get her away from it.

They are having a "Festival of Nations" theme. We caught a couple of interesting shows. One in particular I thought interesting, the Lithuanians. Happens to be were my maternal grandmother originated from. Dave says I get my "elfin" (pointy ears) from this culture? Maybe?

Guess she likes butterflies?!

Ouch! Who pinged my ear?!?

Stop bugging people Daddy!! :P

Just 8 Hours

Wow! It's amazing what you can accomplish when you work an 8 hour day. I did for the first time in over 3 weeks today! I think the overtime has finally come to an end. And though the extra money is good, I'm ready for a break.

3 loads of laundry put away, the rest of the week's outfit ironed for Charity and I, lunch packed, and even . . . updated my stale blog!!! Yay! Can't wait to see what I accomplish by the end of the week with my new "short" shifts!! Tomorrow's day begins at 9:30am, so with the late start there's even more time for tasks, including bringing Charity to school. I miss this. :)

So it's off to bed to see how much I can knock off the to-do list tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Katie!!

April is our family's birthday month. So today's: my little 24 year-old sister's. Hope you have a extra special day with your two men, fellow April baby.

Charity and Aunt Katie with a lobster, of course, taken back home in Maine (May 2008).

Love you lots! Happy, happy birthday,Katie!

XO XO XO XO

Happy Easter!

Snapshots from our day:

Thank you, Lord, for dying that we may have life and raising that day to be our Savior eternally.
Hope your all had a special and blessed Easter!!