success

today was deck's first meeting with santa and it went really well - i timed it so he was well fed and when we got to the mall, there was no line! hard to believe, but i was really glad (i can't imagine how crazy weekends are)... the gentleman playing santa was super nice, quite authentic, and handled deck very carefully so you could tell he had years of experience... deck's eyes were closed for most of the time, but he managed to open them so we could get a good shot - that's my boy... i've already scanned and ordered prints for our xmas cards so i consider today a success... :)

eric got home this morning around 4am - his flights were delayed from both florida and then atlanta because of the weather... poor guy... he's sleeping in the recliner right now and i hate to wake him but probably should so he can go to bed...

tomorrow i'm doing some shopping w/mom, can't wait... :)

happy monday!

maybe i'll call-in sick

ugh, i have to go back to work tomorrow and i'm not looking forward to it... wish i had taken this week off as well, but since my boss is out and other coworkers - there wasn't much choice... let's just hope it's quiet and not too busy... at least it won't be a long day - i have a foot doctor appt. in the morning so i'll be going in late... yay! :-)

we had a nice, quiet christmas here at home - unfortunately, both of my big presents are still "in-route" so i only had a few things to open... one of which was this redskins ski-cap (too bad they lost horrendously last night to the cowboys)... i also got a book and some chocolate, no complaints! on saturday, we had 11 family members here for dinner - it was crowded but food and drink were flowing and everyone had a good time... the fridge is FULL of leftovers so we'll be eating well for days! just wish there wasn't so many sweets still around - i seem to go to those first! :-(

i had my endocrinologist appt. today - he did a quick exam and then decided to do a full blood workup so he can see exactly what type of blood-clotting dissorder i have (there are many strains, including a few new ones)... i go back in two weeks and he'll go through everything in detail... my ob/gyn recommended i go see this doctor since there could be many health risks once i become pregnant... i will have to give myself daily shots of a "thinner" so clots don't form and the embryo stays attached to the uterus - scary stuff...

speaking of scary - the nurse made me step on the scale and it was a number i haven't seen in years! seriously! this "who cares" attitude has to stop so i'll be back at the gym tomorrow and restarting WW once i get reorganized and resettled after the holidays...

hope you all had a wonderful holiday! :)

happy monday....

T'was the night before Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone... :-)

Eric and I will be heading out to church with mom later this evening, and then we'll be home all day tomorrow with the kitties... We are hosting dinner on Saturday and I have much to do (though we are getting help from honeybaked ham and turkey)... Presents are wrapped but there's cookies to bake and cleaning to do - maybe I'll start on those tomorrow...

I've had a few good days off, though the news from my sonogram was not good... The tumor has come back in my right foot, but times two - so it's back to the foot doctor on Tuesday to see what the next step will be... The radiologist said one of the "spots" could be a mass of scar tissue so we'll see what happens...

As for eating and exercise, both have been crap and I can really feel it... I know that one of my presents from Eric is a Ninendo Wii, so I'm really looking forward to using it... For those that have one - what games/activities do you like?

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, be safe, and remember to be thankful... I know I am! :)

TGIF

i'm SO glad it's friday... besides being my first week back, this cold is taking F O R E V E R to go away and it's not made me a happy camper... hopefully by the time monday rolls around though, i'll be feeling more like myself so i'm going to try and be optimistic... :)

speaking of optimistic - i REALLY wish my right foot would stop hurting! the cortisone shot that i got right before the wedding didn't help, so i've made another appt. and will ask to have an MRI so we can figure out what's wrong... it's been very painful and the shoes that used to be okay to wear, aren't so much these days and that's not good... hard to believe that it's been almost 10 years since i've had a normal, pain-free foot... :(

i am determined to start decorating for christmas this weekend - eric isn't so into the whole thing and could care less about getting a tree... last night he said, "don't you have a skinny, fake one we can use?" and i replied, "yea, but i want a real one, don't you?" his family, from what i've seen, isn't very big on holidays or decorating, but my mom was and still is... i just think it's nice to make the house look pretty and smell good too, plus - it's only for a month so why not?! so, either tomorrow or sunday i'll be dragging him out of the house so we can buy a tree... just not sure where it's going to go just yet... ;)

i started to do some shopping online, but for the life of me - can't figure out what i want this year... i told eric that i already got what i wanted this year (a ring AND a wedding) so i'm not sure what to ask for... for those of you that have been dating a while and/or are married - any suggestions? i have an ipod and an iphone... hmm...

well, that's all i have for today... hope everyone has a great weekend - stay warm! might snow here tomorrow... :(

happy friday...

facelift

thought it was time to make this blog a bit more festive... not like i don't have better things to do, but hey - it's that time of year! yee haa! i'm SO excited to have an actual house to decorate this year (instead of my old apartment), so the possibilities are endless! i wanted to get a tree this past weekend, but since i was sick and we had other things going on - looks like it will be this weekend instead... of course i have no idea where we're going to put it, but don't worry - i can find a place for anything... :)

i went to the gym today - first time in like 2 weeks! crazy! since i can't breathe that well, i was still able to get 40 minutes-in on the treadmill (incline) and then did some sit-ups... eric keeps talking about joining the gym so once he's back on his feet (i gave him the cold that i'm still trying to get over), we'll go and see how it works... i haven't stepped on the scale in over a month so who knows what i'm going to see... :(

while on 'vacation', i took the time to upgrade my iphone and get some new apps... i can see how people spend hours and hours (and money) on apps because they are endless! i've only bought one so far (scrabble) and seem to have good luck with the free ones... these are some of the new ones i downloaded, but feel free to suggest ones that you might have too... :)

• doodle buddy -> can draw and add frames around pictures
  
• ps mobile -> similiar to photoshop with different filters and color options
• scramble -> a word game (like boggle)
  
• short covers -> book program (free and purchased)
  
• crop for free -> allows you to crop images on your phone
  
• ringtones lite -> lots of free ones and easy to download

well, i need to run and pick-up some nyquil on the way home... yea, yea - i'm such the good wife... ;)

happy tuesday...

make it stop

ugh, having all this food around is killing me... one positive thing has been i made a huge batch of turkey stock this afternoon so that will come in handy when i want to make soup... but then there's all the bad stuff too - good thing it's only once a year, right? i'm SO ready to get back in the weightloss game but feel it would be best to hunker-down after this week... yes, why not start tomorrow but i have mon/tues off, then it's back to work, new year's, and then eric's family christmas in pittsburgh next weekend... having all that behind me will be much better for me physically and mentally, so that's my plan for now and i'm sticking to it... :o)

my mom, sister, nieces, and i went major thrift store shopping yesterday - we had a lot of fun and i picked up a few sweaters, a pair of JJill jeans, and some corduroys (size 12! bah!)... then we had lunch a baja fresh with eric, then stopped by his place so they could meet norman and tyler, then did more shopping til around 8:30... i had made chili in the crock-pot and was thankful to not have to worry about making dinner when we got home... the girls loved staying at my place too (because i have cable and internet) and enjoyed spoiling max which is always a good thing... they left this morning and i came over to eric's where we've watched some football and ran to target to score some storage containers for the back of his truck... it's been in the high 60s today and doesn't feel like december at all - at least it's not snowing... :)

my plans for tomorrow: go the gym, finish my shopping, maybe have lunch w/a girlfriend, and then head home to do laundry and clean... as for tuesday - i have no plans besides going to the chiro so i may hang out w/mom and do something - we'll see... hope you guys are having a great weekend and i'll catch-up with you soon...

here's a shot of our family from friday night's dinner at my brother's... :)

today is pointless

besides the fact that my company is lame and will not close over the holidays (we're open when the stock market is open), i am here with nothing to do... even if i HAD work to do - i doubt i would do it anyway because it's the day after xmas and it's friday - puhlease! i took my time getting to work this morning, after my chiro appt, bought myself a bagel and coffee at au bon pain (the only place open it seems), and will soon plan out my day... which really means, figure out what i'll be watching online (www.fancast.com)... i did bring my workout clothes and in hopes that the gym is open, i plan on having a good workout esp. since they closed early on xmas eve and i did nothing but eat yesterday... :)

christmas was great - eric bought me a new camera and i can't get over at how much smaller and lighter it is compared to my old one... i will miss my flip-screen but having one that is twice as large and having a camera with twice as many mega pixels will make up the difference... he said that i have more presents coming next weekend, when we celebrate w/his family in pittsburgh, but it's always an issue since i feel xmas here should be ours and where we open all the gifts... he seems to think we should open some there too - maybe someday we'll come to a compromise... :)

my mom came down around 3:00 and stayed til almost 9:00 - dinner came out well though i have a ton of leftovers in my fridge right now... she got me a bunch of little things and a steamer which is awesome - i've been wanting one for a while so now i can iron stuff w/out using an iron... we also made a huge batch of caramel corn last night - my mom is the type that has to do the same thing each holiday... make a ton of cookies, hard candy, fudge, peanut brittle, caramel corn - regardless if people say they don't need it, she makes it anyway because that's just what you do... :)

tonight, my brother is having the whole family over for dinner and that's where we'll exchange more presents (and eat more food and sweets - ugh!)... then my sister and nieces are coming home with me and staying the weekend - we have a busy day planned tomorrow with thrift store shopping, lunch w/eric, and more shopping... i'm not complaining by any means, mind you, when we're all together - we can be quite the bargain shoppers... :)

thought i'd post some pics from yesterday...

santa was good to eric this year and got him a new motorcycle jacket...


finally a blanket we can both fit under (which i made, thank you very much!)...


tyler wasn't very thrilled to wear this (plus it was too small!)...


pardon the hair but look at my new camera!


greek walnut pie for dessert - yum-o!


"i really hate it when she makes me model..."


where is everyone (a view of the metro this morning)...


i hope you all had a wonderful christmas and enjoy your weekend... :)

happy birthday, jesus!

good news and bad news

the good news --> eric and i put up christmas lights...


the bad news --> norman used my face as a scratching post friday night (don't worry, it looks worse than it really was)...


GO REDSKINS! :)