Grammie and a new baby.

This week has been a little stressful. Actually, more than stressful! Happy news! Michael's sister is expecting! Due May 20th! Down fall, she is on bed rest. She has a pretty sizable blood clot. She can't do much of anything. She gets extremely tired very quickly and can't pick anything up more than 10lbs. Of course, this is driving her nuts. She had her annual fall production that she is the boss of and she couldn't even go to the performances! Just crazy. They think she will be on bed rest till the end. That is about....20 more weeks! Wow, she is going to go crazy! We hope everything goes smoothly and that we will have a healthy sister and a healthy new nephew or niece!

Another. My Grandma. Turns out she went to the doctor and her lymph nodes were enlarged. They ran tests and on Friday we got out answers. She has stage 3 lymphoma. I believe it's taken over from her torso down. If she doesn't do anything, they don't think she would make it by Christmas. Not having it! She starts chemo on Tuesday (Nov 10th). They are every 21 days and very aggressive. All we can do is pray for strength for her. They already know they are going to be extremely hard on her. She can't be around anyone who could possibly be caring an illness. I just hope everyone can stay well enough to get together for Christmas! We just have to take it one day at a time.

I may have won the battle, but I might not win the war.

Earlier this week Jos's hubby accused me of taking his money! I justify this by saying "I am just introducing her to new things." I may fall upon information such as George Strait coming to town and I lovingly pass along. I know her love affair with that man. He said that whenever he sees my name, it's cost him money! What?! I don't think so! We then started to mess with the man a little. I started thinking of ways to really cost him some Mr Franklin s. I first sent an idea that Josie could stay in Texas a few more days and fly home. That would only cost about $420. Not that bad. Then I followed up with an email saying that she needed another dog. I chose a Mastiff because they are big and it would protect her since Derek is leaving. Well, then today happened. As a normal Thursday ritual, we were getting ready to head out to lunch. We got out of the elevator, looked at one another and decided to go to Target instead of the restaurant. This is never a good idea. We all piled into the Durango and Derrick started up the beast. First off, you have to be frackin Conan the Barbarian to get those seats down. Sorry, but I did not grow up on the wheel of death or whatever that thing is called. I believe all 5 of us tried. We all failed. I offered to jump over and slide into the back. Five jumps later, I think I got about 2 bruises, a sprained shoulder, and a puffy toe! All in good fun! It entertained the rest of the car load. When we returned from work, I once again, emailed Mark! This is the email I sent to him:

1) I am filing a claim after sitting in your 3rd row seating. There needs to be a disclaimer.
2) Jos needs a new car due to this vehicle is a monster and she made Derrick drive
3) I would like to see you climb over the 2nd row seating to the back 5 times and not have an injury somewhere. The seats would not fold down.
4) Another passenger was injured on the running boards. She too will be filing a claim.
5) The tailgate about knocked Derrick out, that is a hazard.
6) You need to make a sign warning people about motion sickness
7) Per above, you need to provide Dramamine or barf bags in your glove box
8) There is not enough cargo room for everything we buy
9) Once again, I cost you money! SORRY! =)

All in good fun! Until, I heard the horror stories of Marks revenge...now the waiting begins. I relate this to a Chuck Norris joke.

"Chuck Norris doesn't sleep, he waits." aka I am screwed.

Back to our Target trip, between 5 of us, I think we spent about $250!! That is one expensive lunch! And Mike didn't even come! I did manage to get some Christmas gifts and a few things I really didn't need! I do think this might become a common adventure during the holiday season! Again, sorry Mark!

Now off to watch GI Joe, with my GI Joe...wow, that was bad.

Congratulations...

you finally broke me.

51 days and counting, time to break out the music!

We are 51 days till Christmas! I will admit that I have brought out the Christmas music at work and just burned 2 more CD's full of holiday cheer. It always puts me in a wonderful mood. I wish the season could last longer!! It will always be my favorite time of year!

Ahh Novemer....it has it's perks!

First off, I love November. It means 2 things.
1) Halloween is over
2) Thanksgiving/Christmas is right around the corner!

I will have state for the record that Christmas is my all time favorite season! I am sure I will have a blog just about that later on!

Now that it's November, a countdown is almost coming to an end. Derrick and I have been counting down the days till New Moon since the end of May. It seems like only yesterday we were at 189 days. Now, we are down to 17! I think I could squeal like a 10 year old. This is one of the few girly things about me. Although it is very embarrassing, I still don't care. I read the books and then found out they were starting movies! How can I resist? I will say, I did take the "Harry Potter" challenge. I did successfully complete it. They were very good, especially 6 and 7. But I will always be an Edward Girl!

I have few friends and co-workers that can testify that I'm quite in love with the whole thing. To them, I apologize! I am sorry you have to put up with me! In about a year and half, when this is all over, I promise, I will calm down. I usually have a different picture somehow Twilight Saga related on my desktop! Everytime the New Moon trailer comes on, I shush everyone and make them watch it! I also enjoy looking at all the little things you can buy. Sad, I know. But this is me! Luckily for all of you, the next movie comes out in May. Once again, another countdown will begin and more drooling will start! =)

Another little countdown! 9 days till RENT!!!!!!!!

Hey, I did find a somewhat goodlooking picture or Robert Pattinson, non Edward:

Now, I think I am going to turn in! A lovely lunch at Rolling Wok is starting to catch up with me and my pillow is yelling my name! Sad, it's only 8:45. Oh well!

Matthew 6:34 says...

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own."

This verse has seem to fit the past few weeks or months I should say. It seems like everyone is going through trials and tribulations recently. It is so hard to see your friends and family suffer. Of course, being a woman, if you cry, I tend to cry also. People have lost loved ones, family members being sick, just sadness, it already seems like the holiday blues are hitting everyone also. There are times I just want to wave a magic wand and make everything disappear.

For me, I think the realization of the holidays coming up without a few important people being present is hitting me. For the first time in 5 years, for me anyways, Michael's Grandpa won't be there for Thanksgiving. Every year we go down to Arkansas for 4 days. It will just be a completely different atmosphere. Having someone that you are so use to be around, not be there. He was always so much fun when we watched football, worked on the yard or even when we all were playing with the kids. Not having him at the head of the table will just not be right. I couldn't even imagine having someone else sit there. Plus seeing how heartbroken Gigi is. Somedays, I feel like she is just lost. It's the worst feeling seeing it. I can't even imagine my life without Michael. I don't want to think of that day.

Then on the other end, my Grandma. I still get emotional about that one. There have been days where I just cry thinking she is not here. Again, happening now. Ugh. What is wrong with me? I think too maybe, it's because she was the last Grandparent on my Dad's side. Not having that, I can't even explain it. Just the feeling of having your Grandparents around. There is a different emotion you have and a different bond you share with them. It's on a different level. Not having that, it's heart wrenching. I am still working through it. I didn't think it would change me this much. I still have no idea how I might react on Christmas. I know she is in a much better place and so is Grandpa Jim but, I just wish they could come down and visit!

Plus, we have something else that started today. I am not quite sure where it's going and it's even scarier to me then what I have gone through in the past few months. All I can do is pray for strength for not just myself, but my family.

My heart goes out to everyone that is going through something right now. And believe me, that is quite a few of the people I love. But, God doesn't give us more then we can handle. I always have to remember, that even if I am just at the bottom of the barrel, there is someone that probably has it worst. I just need to remember that when I have something minor come up. It's not quite as bad as it could be. As for the hard stuff, well, faith and family (including friends) are probably the best medicine.

This is now on our fridge to remind us everyday where we can go if we think we have had enough.

"Come to me, all you are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Eventful weekend and then some...

Well another weekend has come and gone. Can you believe it's November? This year has been moving so quickly, I wish time would just slow down! But it's coming up on my favorite season: CHRISTMAS!!!! =) Before we start on that, how about a recap of this past "holiday."

I am not a big Halloween person. I think I stopped dressing up when I was about 8. I enjoyed giving candy out more than dressing up. Just not my thing. Friday we spent our evening with good friends, good food and without the babe. My parents offered to take Jake. I was a little hesitant because I knew I would miss him. And I did. Although, it was nice having a break and not having to leave so early due to our tired child! We enjoyed good conversations, amazing treats, and a hilarious version of Twilight. I still feel bad, but Michael wanted to watch it. Weird I know! It was very comical though. We sort of poked fun of everything. The bad acting, the sighs that happened about every 45 seconds, and the vegetarianism of the vampires. All in good fun. I am still a Twilight girl forever! It's my one girly thing! Haha.

Saturday we got to sleep in till about 7:30! We went to breakfast alone and then headed over to see our munchkin! He was so excited to see us! I love that little man! He told us about his trick or treating experience and showed us all his candy. He loves Nana and Papa! I think this is the first time he ever spent a night away....wow, so crazy! We stopped to get our grocery shopping on before heading home to watch the game. The game...very frustrating. Then we hit half time and Jake hit his head! The kid is just crazy at times and he finally connected with the toy chest! He had a pretty good gash above his eyebrow. It kept bleeding so we headed to the ER. We went to the new Methodist West. Can we say AMAZING?! There was no one there which was nice. Everything is so clean and new and the staff was awesome! We were out of there in a half hour or less. They ended up using the glue to keep it shut! It's still a bit puffy and purple but he is okay! We got home just in time to hear the announcers talk about how much we sucked the 3rd quarter. In my frustration, I started yelling at the TV. A downfall of mine during football season! The yelling must have been heard because we had an amazing 4th quarter and pulled out a win! Gotta love them Hawkeyes!! Saturday evening some friends came over and we watched a "scary" movie. Now I might not mention the movie because it is still in theaters. A friend of ours got a copy of it. Lol. I had heard some people that were horrified by it and some that weren't. Let me tell you something...I screamed. Twice. I'm interested in finding out the ending that was in theaters. Our DVD had 3. The one that went with the movie, scared me so bad. I screamed and jumped. It was just nuts! We then had to watch a happy movie so we popped in "Elf!" I love that movie =)

Today we thought we woke up late! We didn't. We forgot to turn our clocks back. We didn't go to church because we thought we were late. It took us about 2 hours to figure out why everything was messed up! Mind you, we were reminding people all day Friday and Saturday to turn their clocks back. Then we forget! Go figure! Well it's about 1 and we are going to head up to visit my Grandparents in Story City!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Halloween!!