Where Have I Been????

I have no excuses.... well, actually I have quite a few. Kids are out of school, for starters, which demands like 100% of my attention. Then, two weeks ago my husband had an emergency Appendectomy and went back to work (finally) this Monday. It really threw us for a loop. On Tues. the 10th the kids and I meet him at Taco Bueno for lunch and that night he had a stomach ache. No big thing really. He took some Tums. Didn't work. Then some Alkaselzer, that too did not work. So, he had the stomach pain with no other stomach ailments, if you get my meaning. Then that night he woke up around 2 am really in pain, but it was not excruciating. He got up the next morning, got ready for work, then decided that he just could not work and called the Dr. The earliest he could get in was at 1:45pm [at which time the kids and I went to my grandparents for lunch & swim - it was Wed.] and around 2:15 he called and said they were going to be doing some testing and if i could come up to the Dr. office. So, I dropped off the boys with a friend and met him up there close to 3pm. Two hours of tests later and we were on the way to the hospital (it was right across the street) for surgery. And by 7:30 pm he was in recovery.... Crazy! (Gotta Run!)

(Central Park in March... It is not as beautiful as it would be in the spring but picturesque none the less.)

A.J. went to the Dr. yesterday b/c his knee has been hurting him since the 19th when he and Z.M. collided on the trampoline and injured him. We kinda blew it off as no big deal -- boys will be boys -- and we did ice and Motrin, but he would not stay off of it. And on Friday he insisted on participating in a PE class assignment and i think he re-injured it. So, after a week we finally decided to take him to the Dr. and they took X-rays (which came back negative - thank goodness) b/c they considered that he might have fractured his growth plate near his knee where he was most sensitive. Now they think it is just a severe sprain. He has to have crutches and totally stay off of it for a week so it can heal. He says it feels better than it did over the weekend but he's gonna do it anyway.

(This is AJ's school pic this year - 3rd Gr.)

Thought of the day:

"Oh sure, I've got lots of fears. My job is to conquer my fears." - Madonna

(Glamour Mag. 5-08) I thought this very inspirational b/c it is one thing to have fears and let them control you but quite another if you make a point to conquer those fears so they become less significant.

Have a blessed day.

I am so tired. I was up last night with my hubby who was having some issues and kept me awake till midnight or so. I also spent an hour or so coming up with a new book idea - a contemporary novel set in Dallas and NYC (since i just went there i thought i could use my first hand experience). I told my hubby all about it and he just smiled and said "sounds good". Now, i will have to write it...after i finish my other one, the historical. I have re-read it and edited it about as much as i could--now i have to actually finish it. It is actually a daunting task to try and wrap up something that sounds good in your head but questionable on how to make it work on paper. So, until i get the courage to complete it it will sit in "my documents" just waiting.

Here is the inspiriation of my new Hero in my novel i was brainstorming last night:

And of course, HE is Carter Oosterhouse from HGTV. I could just look at him all day. MMmmm. (he is good looking and knows it)

I have also been having fun with my iPod that i finally got on Sat. Since then i have been figuring out iTunes and then loaded about 56 songs. My hubby already has an iPod but i had to figure out how to keep his playlists off my iPod. I think i was successful.

Thought of the day:
"Things are only impossible until they're not. "
--Jean-Luc Picard, 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'

(i don't know if i have used this one yet, but i like it)

Where has the time gone?

Oh My Goodness! It is already the 16th of April. I totally forgot about my own blog- figuring no body read it anyway. But for the sake of posterity, i decided to blog today anyway.

Nothing really exciting has happened since January. Other than some mundane stuff like a window leak, kids loosing more teeth, repainting the garage trim (finally), baseball season starting and taxes nothing seems all that interesting - that is why i have not blogged. WHAT? Of course something cool happened! What was i thinking? My hubby and I went to NYC for our 10th anniv. We had a super good time. We stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria and stayed for about 5 days. We saw everything we could see in that amount of time.

The only bum part of our trip was that we got stuck in LaGuardia airport for 26 hours because of a cancelled flight. UGH! But we made it home none the less.

I still am reading a lot - which is my favorite "alone" pastime. I do enjoy my family and singing with my choir, but lo, i am not alone in those endeavors. I am currently reading Julia Quinn's many many books--in order too. I like to read in order since it makes more understandable, usually.

Well, I will try to post more often, for anyone who reads it.

Thought of the day:
"One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years”
Thomas Wolfe quotes (American short story writer and novelist, 1900-1938)

Grandma is turning 87!

Today is my grandma's 87th birthday! Wow. To make it to 87 is amazing, and she is still kicking. Her lady friends are taking her to lunch, so we won't be doing our usual Wednesday lunch. Happy Birthday Grandma.

We are also having a Super Bowl party on Sunday even though the Cowboys are not playing. We got ourselves a new TV and entertainment center for Christmas and am ready to watch football in HD. I have only had one family RSVP for our get-together, but it should be fun.

We are on a countdown to NYC - 45 days. I am still sooooooo excited. But in the meantime, I am still working on my novel. I have not finished it but have been doing reviewing and editing over the last several days. So far I have 228 pages in Word and will probably end up with 300-315. Once I get that done, I will work on queries and print and bind them for several family members I trust to read it and give me their opinions. I also have an idea for my second and third follow-up novels from characters in my first. I want to correspond all my novels but not in a direct linear way. Lo, I have to get thru my first before I can begin my second, right?

Thought of the day: "Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." ~William Wordsworth

Wow! I I am glad life is back to normal!

I fell as if finally after a month or more that life is now regaining some semblance. Hubby is back to work, kids are back to school, schedules are now back to normal. Ever since the Christmas holiday, with the kids out of school and hubby on vacation, we all got off schedule.
Christmas was fun, I guess as much fun as it could be when we had to spend a week in Tulsa with the in-laws. We left on the Sat. before C-mas and it was 56* and sunny, 5 hours later, once we made it to Tulsa, it was 31* and sleeting. Crazy. It snowed a bit twice when we were there also, but not enough to play in. We came home right before New Year's Eve and celebrated with Ryan Secrist in NYC and counted down the days till school started again. And since then, AJ had a science project due and ZM made "Citizen of the Month" at school. Yea. AJ also lost his first top tooth! (he is 9 now!!!!) I was almost worried he would never loose one. We had his party last Sat. and did bowling, laser tag and arcades. My Grandma's 87th bday is next week too.
I will chat again soon, probably tomorrow. CAIO!

Thanksgiving turned out Great!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. My Dad came in town from Louisiana on Tuesday evening and stayed till Saturday. My Grandpa, Johnny Blaze, came over to "help" get all my food pre-prepared for baking on Thanksgiving. It turned out that he did most of it (with glee too) while I watched and hung out with my fam. My Dad's brother, M.B. came in town from South Bend and along with my Dad's sister, M.S. came over on Friday to see each other. It has been about 6 years since all 3 of my Grandparents kids were together. And at my house! We all took a picture together too.

We put up our Christmas Tree and decorations on Friday and Saturday. Over the weekend we had some rainy and cold weekend. So therefore, my Hubby decided to put out the outdoor lights - it was 38* and raining. Of course, he could not do it himself either. I still am not finished with putting up the finishing touches.

My younger brother's birthday is on Friday - he will be 26! I am about 6 1/2 years older than him and I was married with 2 kids at 26. He is currently working on his Masters in Psych. and will be done at the end of the summer semester.

The picture is of my brother. He decided to shave his head and emailed me a pic of himself. He actually looks good with no head hair. It suits his personality too. My brother loves George Carlin so...

Thought of the day: "Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"- George Carlin