Its Tuesday!

Yes, it is Tuesday! I just can't get myself moving today for some reason. I have decided to play hooky from work today. I just needed some "me" time. So here are the things that I planned to do today:
1. Have a great cup of coffee!
2. Enjoy my breakfast for once.
3. Throw on a pair of baggy sweats and hit the tanning salon.
4. Get a manicure.
5. Do some scrapbooking (get my CJ album done and in the mail)
6. Mail out my CJ album when its done today.
7. Have lunch! (this will be something I hardly ever do)
8. Take a wonderfully relaxing (much needed) hot bath.
9. Just lay in bed and watch movies for the rest of the day!

I know that this sounds all wonderful. It is my plan to do each one. I will report back tomorrow and let you know what I actually accomplished. lol I'll be very happy if I get to 1/2 of them. Something always happens on "me" time days and I never get my "me" time. Oh well, thats life.

One to other stuff. My ds DJ wrestled the other day and did pretty well. He thinks he really could've done better (to be honest, I think so also). So here are a few photos of DJ in action. I can't wait to scrap his photos from this year. I've just been so busy I haven't been able to scrap anything lately.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

My Life

The 2 peas challenge for today: What would you like your life to be like in 10 years? Well, lets see... I know that my kids will be all grown up (hopefully) by then. So, I will probably be living alone, with one of them, or taking care of my parents since I would be the one with no children to take care of. Its really hard to say what my life would be like in 10 years. I wasn't supposed to live to be this age 14 years ago. Back then I swore that I wouldn't think about the future or what would be in the many years ahead of me because it would be to disappointing. How could I think about my life in the future when I was told that it would never happen? I decided along time ago to stop thinking about the past, and the future. I had to be there for my kids every single day that my eyes opened to the world. I had to live in the present, the now. I try not to postpone things because I'm not sure I will be here for it. I want to get things done when I think of them (usually). I try not to make plans too far in advance. I won't plan a trip for say more than a year ahead. I'm just happy that I was able to watch my kids grow up. My youngest was 1 when they told me that I was very ill. I couldn't even walk then!

So for me to think what would my life be like in 10 years from? I really couldn't answer that. I hope that I will be somewhat healthy, I hope that my kids will be happy, healthy, and rich in love. I hope that I will be a grandmother by then, but who knows. You really don't know what is in store for you in the future. You just hope for the best and LIVE!

Baby it cold outside!

Yes, winter has arrived in the Northeast! We still have not had any real snow (anything that has stuck), but boy it is freezing out there! Yesterday it barely hit 30 and well as the night fell it dipped down to the teens. It is 6:53am right now and it is only 1 degree with a windchill of -8. We sure are not use to this. Just 2 short weeks ago it was in the 60's! I hope we get a summer.

As you may have noticed I was missing in action for awhile. It is WRESTLING season! I just get so caught up in it that I have no time to get on here an report what is going on. I have a blog just for wrestling news that I started for the parents and wrestlers. I post tons of photos for them and they seem to love it. Well this past weekend was our schools Tournament. I am the organizer of this event for the last 7 years! I love it. At our tournament my son DJ ended up taking 2nd place. This was a difficult job since he was sick (we found out he had MONO) for over 3 weeks and had no practice during that time. This was the first time wrestling since he got sick. I think he did an awesome job. His last 3 opponents were tough and he did a great job.

Below are a few photos from Saturdays tournament. DJ is the one in green in this photo. He is getting ready to pin (win) the match.

The next photo is of his 2nd match. He wrestled so hard here. I'm so proud of him for getting back out there still not really feeling great and definately not having all his strength back yet.

He is working really hard to get back in shape. I don't like the fact that he keeps trying to get down to the 130 lb weight class, but I've learned not to argue with him any more about it. I seem to always lose.

Tonight we have a match at home and tomorrow the same. It is nice for a change not to have to travel over 35 miles to get to the other school. I will try to post some more photos of tonight and tomorrow over the weekend. I hope everyone has a terrific day!

Past,Present or Future

The 2 peas challenge today was: Do you live more in the past, present or future? For probably the last 16 years I've learned to live in the present. There is not much that I can do in the present that can change the past. 16 years ago when I got severly ill and no one knew what was wrong with me, I started to look at things differently. I had already had 2 heart attacks before the age of 30! My body was shutting down and still no one had an answer. I had 3 small children at the time and decided that it was time to live in the present and think about the future. And I've been doing that since. Its working and it did take them 2 years to figure out what was wrong with me. Now I live for each day. No looking back.

Something Loved

The 2 peas challenge for today : What object in your home that you posses, that you absolutely love? Blog about it.. about something you have that has special meaning to you. I know this may sound a little weird, but I have a rolling pin. Yes, you heard me right, I just love my rolling pin. This rolling pin was my great-grandmothers and was passed down to my grandmother and my mother. It has soooo many treasured memories for me. I remember when I was very young using this rolling pin with my grandmother to make fresh raviolli's, ribbons, and cookies, all sorts of stuff. I love using it. I'm very protective of it. It does not leave this house. One day my dd wanted to take it to her boyfriends so they could make cookies, I was like that rolling pin will not take one step out of this house. She was a little mad, but got over it. That is just one of the items that I absolutely love. The other is a little antique leather top table that is in my kitchen. I just love that table.

Let the Bodies hit the Floor

The 2 peas challenge for today: Challenge: What are you listening to lately? What are some of your fave songs/artists? What's on your playlist right now? Blog about your fave music.. right now. Well let me just say that I usually listen to mostly Oldies. I just love the sound and well I know pretty much all the words, lol. I don't think that I could even tell you a new song or a new artist. Some of the music today you can't even understand any of the words that are coming out of their mouths. It just sounds like a bunch of noise. I love the Beach Boys, The Beatles, Journey, Chicago, Earth, Wind and Fire, Pointer Sisters, Neil Diamond, Elton John, Elvis, The Eagles, Jay Black , Bruce, Eric Clapton and any one else that was well before the year 1990 I guess.

Now the other day my son DJ was on the computer trying to look for a song to coming running into the gym when we have meets against other teams. Being captain this is one of their jobs, to look for a good song or music to enter in to. So my oldest son (who lives in Las Vegas) tells him of this song titled "Let the Bodies hit the Floor". I was like ... hmmmm... sounds like it would be fitting. So we look for it and listen to it. And it is an awesome song to come running in to. I could not even tell you who sings this, and it is really more of like a hard/grunge rock I think, but I just can't get the sound out of my head. Don't ask me the words, I have no clue except the beginning which starts out as a whisper and gets louder "Let the bodies hit the floor" is repeated about 6 times then the music gets really loud.

So that is all there is on music for me!

Struggling thru the week

I just don't seem to get the time to get on here lately. And I've noticed that when I do... blogger takes the entire day to actually post what I entered in here. ugh!

Well some good/bad news. As I stated the other day, ds DJ has been pretty sick and finally the dr ordered blood work. Well, just as I thought, he had MONO all this time! Since December 20th this kid has been sick and they didn't want to do anything because they just thought it was a virus. Hello! Thank goodness I demanded meds last week. Very depressing. He is so upset with the whole thing. This is his senior year and his last time wrestle for the school. He is/was their top wrestler and who knows if he will be able to come back in full force before the seasons end. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and praying like crazy. I feel bad for him, he has just had the most horrible year. In March last year he ripped everything in his knee and the whole knee had to be reconstructed. He did intensive training and physical therapy just to get in great shape for this wrestling season and now this. Its just making him very depressed. I hate to see that. Please send prayers we could sure use them.

On another note... I still have all my Christmas decorations up! I just haven't had the energy to take them down. If I don't get to them sometime today.. they will still be up until Sunday. I know this is sad, but I just haven't had the time and with DJ sick and laying in the livingroom 24/7 I just couldn't get the stuff out of there. God forbid if I blocked the TV for just a few mins.

In scrapbooking news...... I really haven't been too productive. I've still been going to all the wrestling so there is little time and I have 2 tournaments to plan and prepare for. I did however get this done for a CJ album that I am in.
Sorry the photos are really bad. It was pretty difficult to take photos of this book due to the thickness of it and it wouldn't scan good either. Oh well. Life goes on. Well, I've got to get out of here for now. Hopefully this will post in a timely matter. Wishing everyone a Terrific Thursday!

Baby its cold outside!

Whewwww! Boy is it cold out there today. I know we have been spoiled here on Long Island this winter, but only 2 short days ago it was 71 degrees! Today it won't go over 43 they are saying. I do not like the cold! And forget it when you add the wind chill to the mix. I would rather just stay in and lay in my nice heated bed for the whole day.As some of you know, this is wrestling season in my household. Well, DJ (17) has now been sick for over 2 weeks! When I took him to the dr. the 1st week we tested for strep. Nothing! He said it was viral and had to run its course. Ok.. we waited. But after 8 more days of the same crappy feeling DH took him back to the dr and said could you run blood tests to see what is going on with this kid. He never gets sick. I wanted them to do another strep and mono test. The dr. said he was sure its not mono and didn't need to run another strep, but would go ahead and put him on antibotics and that should knock everything out of him. Even if he had strep it would work. Well after the 5 days of antibotics, he is still the same. I called back to the dr. and he then decided that he wants him to go for blood work, (hmmmm... I asked them to do that 5 days ago) and guess what???? he is testing for mono and epstein barr which are like the same thing. Now that test takes like 2-3 days to get the results. Maybe I should be a dr! So this poor kid has not wrestled for almost 2 weeks now... he is dying to get back on the mat and its his senior year and he was supposed to be #1 this year. I feel so bad for this kid. I just sit and cry.

ok.. enough of my blabbing.... Today, is pretty hectic. Ihave to get my behind in gear for work in a few mins. Lately, I just dread going in, but the show must go on!Hope eveyone has a wonderfully warm day. I wish I was, lol

The Flag was up

Yesterday was a very hectic and tiring day for me. We had my cousin's many services. 1st was held at the Fire House at 9am then from there he was taken to by Fire Truck to the church for the full church service. That started at 10:30 by the time everyone got into the church. We had such a heart warming show of Firemen and Firewomen that attended the services. I personally, never saw so man Firemen/women all together (except at the drills). Then we had the drive to cemetery. For such a short drive, it seemed to take forever. There were 3 Firetrucks, 3 limos and endless cars being escorted by motocycle police. Once at the cemetery, we had the trumpet going, then the decon had a small service there, in the beginning of his service he said something like "If Phil was here, he would tell me to move on" and just when he said the WINDs started to pick up and swirl around us. It really freaked me out and I just started to cry. It was Phil, and he was saying move along. It was a beautiful service and they also had the folding of the flag and presentation of the flag. Very touching. He was a wonderful man and has touched so many lives through his short years here. He will be remembered dearly.

I'm Back

It seems like I have not been on here forever! Things here have just been very hectic. I had surgery 10 days before Christmas, Wrestling is in full swing, and then we had the passing of a cousin on New Years Eve. We are just non-stop.

Christmas here was very pleasant. I really miss all the noise and craziness with my whole family, maybe next year we will be going to Las Vegas for Christmas. Keeping my fingers crossed. It was hard again to just web-cam with my oldest son (who lives in Las Vegas also). When I had even the smallest break in cooking or cleaning I was on this computer with someone from Las Vegas. I miss them so much. Here is a picture of our Christmas tree on Christmas morning.

This is a photo of my son and daughter opening up some gifts. Don't they looked thrilled.
This one is of Joseph... he is so nutty. He was pretty happy that he got the PS2 game he wanted Need for Speed Carbon. And here is my baby.. Lacey! She had a blast this year. She was attacking all her gifts and playing with all the paper and climbing into everyones boxes. Very cute.I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday. Now I have to get my behind moving here. Back to work and I have tons to do today. Hopefully I will get the time to get on here tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great day

Its Crunch Time

Here it is... Crunch Time. Yesterday, I went out to try to finish up with everything for dd. I did a pretty good job I have to say. When I got home, my ds DJ wanted to see what I got for her. So, I started to take everything out of the bag and show him. Everything was great! I get to the last item a very lovely blouse and of course just then noticed that one of the tie back strings was ripped off the blouse. I was so mad. I can't believe that I didn't notice it when I was in the store. I must've looked at that damn blouse and held it up to match colors with gauchos about 6 times. I'm so mad at myself. So guess where I will be going back to today! ugh Just when I thought I was done! You know they are not going to have another blouse in the same size so that means that I'm going to have to look all over this store again for something to match the gauchos that I got her. This is very frustrating.

As for other news going on here. DJ is sick as a dog! Which is not a good thing. He is still wrestling. I told him not to but what do I know, 17 year olds, they know everything. DH is PMSing! This is something that seems to happen every single holiday so everyone else ends up being miserable just like he is. OMG. I swear next year I'm getting away from them all and spending the holidays far away. Well at least DH. He has actually turned out to be a Grumpy Old Man. Just like his father. Didn't think it would happen to him , but it did. Oh well, I guess I just need to grin and bear it this year just like the past.

I'm not so sure what is going on for the rest of the weekend here. I know I've got to get my baking done. Which I really wanted to start yesterday, but never got around to it. I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday.

3 more days

Well, we have 3 more days for Christmas. I'm pretty much done, just need to get my dd's boyfriend something. Probably a gc to their fav. place Applebees. Everything is also wrapped and ready to go! yeah for me. This is a first. Normally I'm up till 4am Christmas Eve wrapping and getting everything under the tree.

Today I have some baking that needs to be done. And boy, does this house need a good cleaning. I'm not supposed to be doing anything still (post-surgery only a week ago), but I can tell you that no else in this house is going to do a damn thing but just sit back and watch it all grow around them. They are all lazy. I think next Christmas I will go to Las Vegas and actually enjoy myself. Peace and quite. As the kids get older, they don't want to be around you anymore. This never happened when I was growing up. My sisters, and brothers always looked forward to spending the holidays together. Not the kids today. They don't want to be anywhere near a parent, lol.

Last night was another night full of Wrestling. It was hard to sit in the gym for 5 hours again. We did it Wednesday night also. I hate when we have back to backs, but that is life. Here are 2 photos of my son wrestling last night. My digi, just doesn't get a really good clear photo sometimes. If they move just a little bit, its a blur. BTW he is the one in green. He won this match 6-1.
I'm not sure if I'm going to get a chance to get back on here before the Holidays. So I'm wishing everyone a very Happy, Healthy, and Safe Holiday.

Todays Thursday 13

Todays Thursday 13:

Things I would like to change

1. I would like to change where I live. ( I hate it here and can't wait to move to the warmer, less humid climate of Nevada)

2. I need to change my eating habits.

3. I would love to change my wardrobe. ( Nothing every fits me right)

4. I would like to be more organized.

5. I would also love to be more of a clean freak. (I'm one of those people that clean when it really needs cleaning)

6. I think I can fly off the handle sometimes so I need to change how I am able to cope with things.

7. I would love to go from my so-so Ford Explorer to a nice Nissan Murano.

8. I think after 15 long years as a red head, I might want to change to a brunette.

9. I would like to attend church more than I do.

10. I think that I can be a better person (that would be a big change)

11. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so bull headed. (I just don't give in)

12. Today I wish I could change my HUSBAND! (its his pms time, and it happens for every holiday, joy for me)

13. I wish I could change the weather (I hate the cold)

Todays Thursday 13

Todays Thursday 13:

Things I would like to change

1. I would like to change where I live. ( I hate it here and can't wait to move to the warmer, less humid climate of Nevada)

2. I need to change my eating habits.

3. I would love to change my wardrobe. ( Nothing every fits me right)

4. I would like to be more organized.

5. I would also love to be more of a clean freak. (I'm one of those people that clean when it really needs cleaning)

6. I think I can fly off the handle sometimes so I need to change how I am able to cope with things.

7. I would love to go from my so-so Ford Explorer to a nice Nissan Murano.

8. I think after 15 long years as a red head, I might want to change to a brunette.

9. I would like to attend church more than I do.

10. I think that I can be a better person (that would be a big change)

11. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so bull headed. (I just don't give in)

12. Today I wish I could change my HUSBAND! (its his pms time, and it happens for every holiday, joy for me)

13. I wish I could change the weather (I hate the cold)

Chocolate Chewies

2 peas challenge for today: Share your fave xmas cookie recipe. Well here is mine

Chocolate Chewies

3 cups Domino Confectioners Sugar

1/3 cup cocoa

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 egg whites

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. In mixing bowl, blend sugar, cocoa and flour. Beat in egg whites one at a time and then beat at high speed for 1 minute. Fold in pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each. Bake for 15 minutes, turning sheet halfway through baking time. Remove from oven and cool on paper. Place cookies on papper in freezer for 1 hour. Remove and peel off paper, then store in an airtight container. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

My kids just love these!

Tiring Weekend

Hi everyone! I've been missing again. I had a very hectic week and was not feeling well either. My cold (a head cold) started last Sunday. That was just the start of the week for me. This cold just lingered. I had to stay home most of the week and try to sweat this one out because I was having surgery on Friday. I was lucky and it was pretty much all gone by Friday morning. Surgery went on without a hitch. Of course most people would take it easy for a few days after surgery, but not me.... I had to be at a Wrestling Tournament all day on Saturday and was not going to miss it for anything. That was 13 hours in a gym! What was I thinking??? I sure made up for yesterday. I could barely move and slept until about 10am which I never do.

Wrestling was TERRIFIC! Our team did an outstanding job at this tournament. There were 8 school teams there (ours is the biggest with 70 boys) and a lot of matches going on. My son DJ took 2nd place at the 130 weight pound class. Here are some photos of him. The photo below he is the kid in the green uniform and you can see his face. I usually can't get a good photo because they are moving so fast that I end up with their rear ends in the camera.
The photo above he is pinning the kid he is going against. He won this match by getting that pin. It was a very long day that is for sure. Our team came home with a lot of trophies and that makes me happy. They really give it their all.

Well, I'm going to go for now. I need to get some rest. I really couldn't sleep that good last night. I also have a dr. appt this afternoon to check the stitches. I will hopefully be back later tonight or tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great day.

Favorite Christmas Song?

2 peas challenge for today: Your fave Christmas song? Which one is it? blog about it! Well, My favorite Christmas song is " I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" I have always loved this song. I'm not really sure why, but I think its just a very cute song. When I hear it I get warm all over.

Get to know me Christmas

Bonnie Rose had this posted on her blog today so I decided I could not sleep, why not do it. So here it is:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them of course!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? We have colored lights on our tree and everything outside

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you put your decorations up? It is never the same every year.Just whenever I have the time or my kids finally say " Our we ever going to put the tree up?" lol . This year my dd took control and got the tree up and we started decorating on Wednesday.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I really don't know if I have a Favorite dish, but I love lasangna

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: I always remember my grandmother coming to stay with us the day after Christmas and it was always something that I just loved. She would stay with us for 2 months. After a month my grandfather would come and stay for the other month with her. That was the only time each year we got to see them unless we drove to NY (we lived in FL) in the summer to visit.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? This is a little fuzzy,,, I think my I was about 9 and it was a year that my parents decided to get all 5 kids new bikes for Christmas. You should've seen my dad trying to get all these bikes together in the middle of the night. Very noisy.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We usually open one gift on Christmas Eve which is an old family tradition. I don't really know why we do, but we do.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? My tree is a mish mosh of everything. It does not have a theme. It is covered with everything that my kids made while in grade school for Christmas and ornaments that me and the kids would make while they were growing up.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Don't like snow... don't like winter, give the sunshine and the hot summer (no humidity, please!)

12. Can you ice skate? I could when I was younger. Now I would probably fall all over the ice.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I do! It was a beautiful blonde haired doll that spoke french. The dolls hair was pretty and you could make it long or short by pushing a button in her head. lol I don't remember what she was called, but she was my fav gift when I was younger.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? For me, its about giving. And it doesn't have to be a gift. I try to show my kids that you can give in many different ways. Donate your time. Help someone in need. The gift of giving.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?I want to say my favorite dessert is Bonnie Roses "Sex in a Pan" but I don't have a clue what it is. So I will have to go with my grandmothers ribbons. I don't know what they are really called, because my grandmother always called them ribbons and on her old receipe cards she even titled it Ribbons! When I make them next week I will post photos.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love just spending time with the family and friends.

17. What tops your tree? I have this beautiful angel all lit up on the top of my tree. She has been topping my tree for over 20 years now.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving, that's a no brainer.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause. I just love that song!

20. Candy Canes? I love them.. mostly cinnamon but I also love peppermint.

Hair Style??

2 peas challenge: Blog about your perfect hairstyle. Well, I have pretty curly hair and I just love it! I really don't like my hair straight at all. When I do get to have it done straight everyone comments on how different I look with it straight. If you ask me ... Straight hair is not me at all! I just love my curls and don't know what I would do with out them now that I have them. Here is a photo of my hair like I normally wear it now. It is very long for curly hair and longer than I've ever had. I'm really due for a major hair cut.

Here is a photo with it curly and shorter. This is the way I really love it. It is also a more copper red color.

And here it is straight. A big difference.

ugh... try not to look at the double chin! of course when it is straight the red hair really stands out strong! lol...

Memories

2 peas challenge: How do you keep your Christmas memories? In what kind of album? theme albums? mini albums? What do you do? Well, I take lots of photos and believe it or not I video tape everything on Christmas. I only started scrapbooking a little over a year ago, so all my photos are either in a reg. album or in a photo box and I have all my video tapes in a storage box also. I love looking back when the kids were little. So much fun.

Here is another layout I managed to finish up. I really like this one with my boys. I just love the black and white lately. My 2 sons out at Sore Thumb tubing! What fun. Isn't DJ funny? He is always doing some kind of macho pose lately.

Well, have to make this short and sweet again. One day this week I might be able to play catch up with everyone. Wishing everyone a Wonderful day!