January 30, 2006 - When it all began.

I'm not exactly sure of the date, when it began. But it must have been close to about 7 years ago....or maybe just a little more. Playing pool with a friend at a bar called Pink'Es in Las Vegas. I remember the night well, I just can't remember the date. We had been drinking and horsing around as we played pool. Then the next thing I remember, he began to sing to me and my heart melted. It wasn't the first time I had been serenaded in my life. The first was like a scene from Top Gun. A group of drunken Navy sailors my dad worked with at a Christmas party singing that infamous song, "You've lost that loving feeling" all because I wouldn't dance with someone. I had only been 17, and was quite embarrassed. But all of that is not important now.....this time was different. The man singing to me was supposed to be my friend, a best friend - one who knew all my deep dark secrets, and there he stood singing to me "Let's get it on" by Mavin Gaye.

You know how it goes...."We're all senistive people, so much to give. Understand me sugar, since we've got to be here, let's live. I love you. There's nothing wrong with me, loving you. Baby not at all. Giving yourself to me could never be wrong, if the love is true. Oh baby. Don't you know how sweet and wonderful life can be. I'm asking you baby, get it on with me."

Like I said, I may not remember the exact date, but I do remember some harmless kissing around the table, and later sitting in my truck, all hot and heavy till nearly 3 am on a work night. Shortly there after we began seriously dating. On our first date we had both been so nervous, we had our friends Lora and Karl escort us. I'll never forget that date....our first (real) date. 3 months later, I (accidentally) wound up pregnant. A little miracle child, that survived when 4 others didn't. I remember feeling the exact moment thinking, knowing that I was pregnant. He proposed the day I found out, although I put the ring on my finger before he even had the chance to get on one knee and ask. A meer 26 days after she was born, on a Sunday morning - what turned out to be a Suberbowl Sunday morning, we wed. That was 6 years ago today. A day he'll never forget because that was when the Rams WON the Superbowl, and the Rams had been one of his favorite teams, that is next to the Raiders of course. (Also a little trivia for ya, our daughter's birthday is the 4th of January, mine is the 26th, add those together and you get the 30th....as long as he knows 2 of the important dates, he'll never forget the 3rd.....I hope!) Anyway, we had tried to just go down to the court house and get it over with, but my mom wouldn't have that. She bought me a nice fancy dress, so we had to rent him a tux. luckily my friend Joanna who was my maid of honor already had a nice black and white gown, his friend Adrien only had to rent a tux. It wasn't your usually bridal gown, but then again, this was my second time around. Since I had this nice dress to wear, we knew the court house was out of the question. We drove up and down the strip for days looking for a "nice" Vegas chapel to wed in, as neither us, nor our families had the cash for a large wedding, and we didn't want to do a drive-thru ceremony or have it preformed by Elvis. We finally found a nice little place that resembled a real New England style Chapel, complete with stained glass windows, and a bell tower somewhere near Charleston and 4th I recall. A Special Memories Wedding Chapel. This place was very nice for a "Vegas" Chapel. Just wish I could find all the pix so you could see the beautiful outside tower and stained glass windows, Oh well maybe I'll find those ones later, for now I have these few for you to look at:













Happy 6th Baby, I love you!

January 26, 2006 - Happy Birthday to Me~!~

Well here it is, the BIG day. I'm 32 now and I feel EVERY single DAY of it! I'm not sure what is in store yet for the day - probably nothing or at least not much. I say that because I was given the OK from my hubby to buy whatever my little heart desired (since I wanted scrap stuff, he sent me out to get it myself, since he's scrap challenged.) Yet, I couldn't really find anything BIG that I wanted. Maybe I should have gotten some new lenses for my digital camera. I did buy some new dies, and ALL kinds of storage for the new scraproom he's going to build me when I get off my butt and carefully put all my paper elsewhere during the transition......and while I just spent a grand on a new washer and dryer, I am excited that I finally got them yesterday! YAY!
So what to do now for the big day? Can't relax as I have to take my daughter to school and have Valentine projects going on, as well as a new round album, and I finally got my QVC TSV in the mail yesterday. At this rate, I will never pack up my room for re-modeling! I guess the celebration will most likely wait till this weekend when we can also celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary too, as that is coming up on the 30th!

January 23, 2006 - What's with this funk?

I have been in this funk for quite some time now. I had seriously hoped for a new year with new beginnings. But here it is 3 days away from my birthday, and I'm still down right in a funky mood! Maybe it's the thought of turning 32, or maybe it's that a year ago on that day I found a lump in my breast and I'm scared of a repeat. I don't really know what my problem is. But my mood has turned somewhat nasty, and I blame no one but myself. For some reason unknown to me, I am not happy anymore and I don't get it because at one point I was a happy person - or at least I thought I somewhat was. Maybe it's because my washer crapped out on me, and it cost me over a grand to buy a new washer and dryer set! Or maybe it's just because I felt almost certain that this was going to be a better year for me and so far it has yet to be one. That alone is cerain. For reasons unknown t0 me, I feel more depressed than ever before. Hopefully it's just a reminder of years past. But yet the question remains, how do I get out of this funk At first, I thought a little retail therapy would do the trick, but it only cheered me up for the moment. Then I thought maybe I beeded a little color in my life, and added some funky burgandy to my hair, and while Ruben and I love the new look, it still didn't quite do the trick. I'm running out of ideas, and I have absolutely NO ONE here to talk to about any of this! My hubby thinks that it is some of the meds I am on, but I disagree and think that I am not on the right combo of meds. I am beginning to think maybe I'm somewhat bi-polar, although I can't seem to remember my last really good day - and to be honest, I think I have felt this way before most of the meds even started. So HOW (!) do I get out of this funk? I need help turning that frown up-side down!

A peek into my Scrap Room (soon to be before pix)

Ok, Cynthia - I have FINALLY met your challenge and not only have I taken pictures, & edited them - I even bought a pro account so I could put them on Flickr, as I had run out of room for this month on the FREE account.
So, now you can see how messy and UNORGANIZED it is - The only problem is that this stupid blog would not accept the tag on my post, and I am too new to this to figure out how to make it work! So if you would like to see my room, please follow the link that I have posted below! Hopefully, it works!

Also know this, as you look at these pix, know that my hubby just spent nearly $500 last night at Home Depot to re-do my room to be more user-friendly and organized like hers. Now I just need to buy all the Cropper Hopper paper containers, and a million shoe box size containers! Guess that's what I will be buying with my $300 of Birthday and Anniversary money this month! Either that or be broke and live off Ramen for a couple months!

Take a peek, I really hope you enjoy my haven! So far, a lot of work has went into this, and now we're getting ready to put in even more!!!!
All feedback would be greatly appreciated, as our resolution this year is to get more organized! The hubby also bought closet organizing stuff the day before last, so I get to spend the rest of the day folding and hanging clothes! Yay! NOT!

You can find all 99 pictures by following this link to Flickr.com and looking under the set titled My Scrap Room as of 1.14.06

January 14, 2006 - It's Over. Where to next?

Here it is, January 14th. Christmas is over, I don't even recall New Years, and both of Natalie's birthday parties are over. So what's next. I actually have a few weeks before the next big event - or events I should say. The 26th wil be my 32 birthday, yeah (NOT!). The 30th will be our official 6 year anniversary. No it's not a big number or anything, but still 6 years is a big deal. Somedays we both wonder how we ever made it this long, especially given all the hardships we've been dealt in the 7+ years we've been together! Then in Feburary we've got a couple birthdays, Valentine's, and then of course our other anniversary. That of our first date. This time of year is very busy for us. It's one thing after another all the way from Halloween till Ruben's birthday in July. So as I hardly have any time now to accomplish things, how will I manage in the upcoming weeks/months? I've been trying to edit Natlie's birthday pictures and those of my Scraproom to post for Cynthia, but I've been having problems with my laptop and have run out of space for this month on Flickr. So now what, do I buy a membership, or wait till next month to post the pictures? I've even contemplated posted the pictures on 2Peas of my Scraproom. I am in desperate need of feedback on it, as I would like to remodel it ASAP and I LOVE Cynthia's desgn and organization. It's funny I used to be so organized at work before, but now I cringe at the idea of filing things. Guess it's cause I did it for all those years. Aside from the pictures, I am also working on a round album, which I have most of the stuff cut and ready for it to be put together, just have lacked the time to do so.......and if all that weren't enough I bought all the supplies I needed to make Valentine's goodies for my daughter's class. Orginally I was going to use these adorable little Chinese boxes I found, but after I attempted to stamp on them I decided it was not going to work. The material was just too glossy. So I went and exchanged them for these brown craft paper bags with a peek-a-boo hole. I wanted these other little brown fold up boxes, but he didn't have enough in stock - but we agreed on the brown craft items instead of the white ones as we were afraid that I would encounter the same problem stamping on them. So let's see now. I have at least 3 projects that I am working on and no time to do them in. I have shopping to do for both myself and my husband. I am getting my own b-day present, most likely some more sizzlit alphabets, but who knows! There is so much that I want, but I need to pace myself. Oh, and let's not forget that we have yet to take down the Christmas tree or lights! Looks like that will be the first place to start. Wanna join me, it will be oh such great fun!

January 6, 2005 - Time for bed, yet so much to be done!

A few days ago on the 4th was my daughter's 6th birthday. We had a small little party here that consisted of her father and myself. She had a little round cake decorated with a tiara and septer, after all you know, SHE IS ROYALTY, lol. After the cake she opened a few presents, nothing too exciting, just some Xbox and Playstation games, lipglosses, and clothes.....oh joy!. Tomorrow at 3:30 is when the REAL party is. A bunch of hyped up kindergarteners hopped up on cake running around Mickey D's. Should be a whole lot of fun! And if that weren't enough, as soon as her party ends, we have another to attend! Ruben's annual Christmas party for work is Staurday at 5 at the Star, and just thinking about it is making my mouth water like you couldn't even imagine! Steak sounds so appetizing right about now! Mmmmmm. As it is so late here, and I have been sick with the flu or whatever, I haven't gotten to any of my posts lately. But I swear after tomorrow, I WILL post about the parties AND about our Resolutions we make to break this year. But I can say THIS MUCH.....one of mine was definately NOT to stay away from ice cream cause in the last 2 days I ate a whole gallon of Pistacho Almond all by myself .......mmmmmm. But hey I am still keeping my weight down, and haven't gained a pound so who really cares what I eat right? Certianly NOT me!
In the meantime I have posted LOTS of new pix to my Flicker account from Christmas and the 4th. Hope you enjoy them. Now off to bed and rest before I deal with lots of screaming kids tomorrow!

January 4, 2006 - My god how time flies so fast when you're a parent!

Today, just 6 years ago, at 3:02 pm, I gave birth to my little miracle. It's hard to beleive that as of today she is 6. No longer a toddler or a child, but a kid. A kid who grows smarter (in every way!), taller, and more into looking like a young lady. Now if I could only get her to act like one, we would be doing good. 6 years. I cannot beleive it. It makes me feel sooooooo old! Yet I'm both so happy AND so sad at the same time. Where has my little baby gone? Yet at the same time I am so happy she is a kindergartener and at least gets out of the house (and out of my hair!) for a few hours each day. It's just so hard for me to fathom the thought that she is almost a 1st grader and going to school full time! Oh what will I do then?
Party all day? LOL. NOT!

Well the New Year is upon us!

Here it is, all the Christmas hoopla is said and done with, and Christmas vacation is OVER. So today it's back to school already, and tomorrow, my one and only baby will be 6. No longer a baby, no longer a toddler, now just a child, next to be a teen and already fighting and arguing with her Mother. I can't beleive that she's almost a 1st grader. I feel so old, and speaking of old, not long from now I will soon be 32 and we will be celebrating our 6th year of marriage! ARGH!!!!! Where does time go? Her birthday party is set for Saturday and we have yet to get a single reply from her kindergarten class. Last year the dissapointments had come from most of our own family, which had been our fault. We celebrated her birthday the day fter Christmas because we were in Las Vegas and that's where all our friends and family where. But as it turned out, they all had made prior holiday plans, and now it once again looks like this year will be a let down as well. Why do I bother going out and spending almost $200 on invitations, wrapping paper, party supplies, goodie bags and the stuff to go in them? Being an only child means she has anything and everything her heart can desire because every year we over do it. We spent so much on her for Christmas we asked others to only give her money - which most didn't listen to. But those that did have now put her $150 dollars on her way to a savings account. Instead of spending all that money on birthday party crap I should have just given her the $200. This vacation has went faster than what it ever seems and Christmas for me was somewhat dissapointing - but on my own accord. I told my hubby not to buy me anything. We agreed to buy each other things for the house instead, we got our 5" down featherbed and our surround sound for our bedroom. Then he got his $450 RC car and I got my $700 digital camera.....then I also sweet talked him into 4 new alphas for my sizzlit machine and 10 new dies for my sizzix machine. He then went out on a limb to suprise me as always and bought me some perfume and stuff anyways, which I am grateful for. Every year he stashes cash and buys me surprises. I never can figure out how he does it! But nonetheless, I can always use new perfume, and that is what I said I wanted for Christmas. I am a perfume hog and wouldn't doubt if I smell like a french whore half the time. I love my Calvin Klein Eternity's and Obsession's, my Tresor and all my bath and body products. I'm one spoiled chickie. But I guess what hurts the most is that every year that we've been together I have always gotten jewelry for our anniversary, Mother's Day and for Christmas, and this year cancer came along and ruined it all. No nice big diamonds, no sparkly gold chains, no rings and matching bracelets, nothing to my hearts content! What I did get was a poor blood test from my oncologists office, and now I have to be re-tested monthly due to a low platelet count. I now have to watch for unusual bruising and excessive bleeding. Joy! Natalie had a wonderful Christmas and really cleaned up, but unfortunately I was too stressed to enjoy most of it. SO I figured for the rest of my school break I would take some me time. I stayed up till 3, slept till noon and scrapped some although I pretty much got nothing done. I have everything cut out, but nothing really put together yet. It's a book all about the things I love. Something to help cheer me up when I'm down, and my first attempt at a round album. I bought tons of new supplies while in Vegas that were dying to be used. Once I get back from taking Nat to school, I'm going to try to post our Christmas pix to Flicker, and also post my list of New Years Resolutions - which should be real easy, as it is much like last years - plus or minus a few tidbits. I hope everyone else had a way more enjoyable experience than I, and at least stayed up till midnight New Year's.......I was out like a light at 9pm!
Until next time, be good to one another!