Slight case of the Mondays

Today was Busy Busy Busy BUSY at work. Lots of prollys to take care of however I got my mom signed up for the Gym today so she can start going with us in the mornings. It is proven that daily exercise can help slow the dementia process... so YAY BIG STRIDES in the war against Alzheimer's today. We are going to start picking her up at 6 am to go with us.

So back to the photo challenge....

Day 8: Your Sky

One of the best things about living in West Texas is the vastness of the wide open sky. Driving back from Christmas with Drew's dad we got to see the most unbelievable sunset with an array of colors.

The fading of yellows to pinks to blue, white and gray was breathtaking. I couldn't help but think that Grandy and my Dad were watching over us giving us a beautiful view as we drove back to Amarillo.

And just for fun a photo that I snapped of train coming toward us. I love watching the trains on the open plains out here... such a Texas image to me.

Day 9: Daily routine

So my new daily routine as of the past 6 days is working out in the mornings. I cannot describe the difference it makes in me daily, from energy to self esteem to positive outlook it is totally worth waking up super duper earlier for.

Here is my cool awesome Air Max sneaker on the treadmill this morning.... gotta keep the motivation alive!

 

I also snapped my other new daily routine... I got a Keurig for Christmas and let me just say my life is changed forever! I hated making coffee before this. It took so long to do, so many silly steps but with this it is so amazingly simple and I am forever in love. I am also double sure to get my coffee in the morning since it too is proven to help offset the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. Thank you SANTA!!

 

It might be in my bathroom right now because our kitchen is overpopulated with gadgets already and I spend most of my time in the bathroom in the morning, so it works out great! 

Millie

This was a very sad weekend for us... we had to have Millie, our fox terrier mix of 17 years put to sleep. She has been a faithful and loving dog to our family through many many changes. I would look at Millie sometimes in the midst of complete chaos and thing that atleast she is a solid reminder of what used to be and what our family is about.

She had lived a very long life and in the past couple of years age has gotten to her but she was a fighter! Even after the loss of an eye and near complete deafness she was a sweet companion for my mom. She loved to get treats from Nana, the night before she was whining for more popcorn out of Nana's hands.

She will truly be missed, I guess life does keep moving and changing. After all the death I have experienced you would think it would get easier but with each loss it hits harder and harder.

We will miss you sweet Millie!

Friday Funday

So today was Crazy busy day at work. We were a man down and everyone wanted to bother me with insurance question. Nevertheless... I made it through to
What was supposed to be a nice, slow- paced, relaxing weekend but I'm afraid it will be filled with drama.

Moving on I realized I was 3 days behind in my photo- challenge so I am catching up...

4. letterbox

This is a mailbox my mom had in her house in Abilene that I Always Always loved and ended up inheriting it when she moved. It holds all my cards at work. Notice my SAWEET faux aquarium Aunt Charlotte and Doss gave m for Christmas. The fish actually swim around! The itty bitty globe is a pencil sharpener and it along with the lead elephant beside it belonged to my Great Grandmother.

5. Something I wore

I am a HUGE fan of Gold for those of you who don't know. I have had this gold watch for a couple of years now and for Christmas Drew gave me this Beautiful sparkly gold chain bracelet. He did such a good job! I also saw this tutorial on a blog of how to make these hex link bracelets and gave it a shot. Mine is tied on so I wear it every day, I also made some for my close girlfriends here.

6. Something that makes me smile

I have a potentially HUGE change in the works that would be the most unbelievable blessing in my life. I got this fortune in a fortune cookie yesterday and it makes me smile. It says" Star light Star Bright Your wish will come true tonight." It didn't come true that night but maybe a near future night it will. I couldn't get my phone to get a clear picture, sorry it completely out of focus.


Hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend!

Never Forget!

Christmas Part 1

Today's photo challenge is to post "Something I love"... SO I am going to post pictures of Christmas because I LOVED this Christmas.

With the extra special extra hard work of a very special elf, we had a Traditional Christmas.

The past years Christmas has not been what it used to be. Honestly that was one of the first signs to me I knew something was wrong with my Mom but then add overbearing step-dad into the mix and his children and you get a Christmas that was not like what we had growing up. I had come to accept the fact that we are all grown-ups now and Christmas just would be this way until we started families of our own. Think Again!
Last year was extremely hard having been 14 days after Grandy's death. This year it came 25 days after my Dad's death and I did not have big hopes for it.

However this Christmas surpassed my expectations. We had family time, mom had all of her children here at one time. We had our Christmas traditions back. We had a Christmas day meal. We were abundantly blessed.

This is Mom, Patrick and I in our Christmas PJ's and below is us with Nana and our amazing elf Aunt Tammy.

Aunt Tammy sent Patrick and I to "our side" of the house at ohh about 9:30. Drew was there with me since we had just come back from visiting his family in Pampa so Patrick, Drew and I were holed up in a room playing Mario Kart and Wheel of Fortune on the Wii.

For the first Christmas in years Patrick and I awoke before 9 am. My phone went off at 6:15is with a Merry Christmas message from Christie who was celebrating with her family in Virginia. It was a sweet reminder of love and my dad. Patrick came in and woke me up at 7 (yes I absolutely fell back asleep after reading her text.) Part of me felt this is WAY to early to get up but the excited litle girl part who couldn't wait to see what Santa had left won over. We turned on lights in Mom and Nana's formal living room, started coffee and began yelling for them to wake up, for us to actually get to their room we would have had to go through the living room where Santa left us presents and that is a huge No No! After a few minutes of yelling Nana's snow village lit up and I told Patrick "we got her." Nana was awake. We waitied on Charlotte and Doss to come over and scurried into the living room like a bunch of elementary school kids.

The presents weren't what was important... we were taken grip with the magic of Christmas, the magic of Jesus' birth and the love of family.

Mom snuggled up in her chair watching Patrick and I go through our stockings.

Patrick in his new Cowboy's beanie showing off his new boot tray (he thought it was a serving tray.)

Aunt Charlotte and Doss came over to spend Christmas morning with us. They were bundled on the couch with Nana and the dogs of course.  It was so much fun to have them there for the second year in a row, I believe we have a new tradition!

 

Nana got a very special present from Aunt Paula, she collected some of Grandy's old shirts and made them into a  quilt. It was a very awesome and emotional present to open. She also made aprons for the sisters out of his shirts, so awesome!

 

Drew, Patrick and Mom waiting for dinner on Christmas day-night. We had a great brisket prepared by Nana complete with Monterrey rice.

The twins were in town to have Christmas with their family, it was so nice to be able to have a BIG family meal on Christmas. I cannot remember the last time that we were all together on Christmas, such a great time!!

 

One of the most special parts of Christmas was that it snowed ALL day long and into the next day. It was so beautiful and such blessing to have a White Christmas.

Christmas day made me so grateful for the family I have in my life and the abundant love. I found myself thinking about my Dad constantly how much I wanted to call him to wish him a Merry Christmas, I would text his phone in the moments of sadness trying to feel a connection but I knew he was celebrating the birth of our lord and savior in the presence of him alongside my Grandy and that made me smile.

I will have more from Christmas coming soon!

Breakfast & Cinnamon Nuts

Day 2 of Photo Challenge, a photo of Breakfast. I forgot to take a photo of my hard boiled eggs (and boy wouldn't that be fun to see) but here is a photo of my coffee.

Over Christmas I was stumbling around on Pinterest and found this easy peasy recipe for Cinnamon Toasted Nuts. You know the ones that smell AMAZING and taste even better! I decided to try out a little batch for Kelsey, she LOVES them, for her birthday. They were a hit (not so much with her cause she is a health nut) SO I decided to package up a few and sell them. I sold every bag I made and then decided to take some over to Drew's familys houses as favors. Rhonda LOVED them so I made her a cool jar of them for Christmas.

Anyway the recipe is so easy and takes about 5 minutes for 3 cups of nuts.

They have been such a fun little treat to make this Holiday Season! Happy Wednesday to all!!

Posting More... Photo Challenge

First day back at work in 2012 and boy has it staretd with a bang. I am so happy to report that one day into the new year (okay technically two but I am under the impression that on Holiday's some resolutions dont count, such as working out.) I kept my promise to myself (and Drew) and went and worked out this morning, then spent quiet time in a devotional with God. It has defnintely led me through the day already with a new outlook and more positive attitude.

In another effort to not be so lazy I have wanted to up my blog posting. It was every day for a while and has now slowly got less and less... I mean I  haven't even posted about Christmas yet! And I have a TON of photos waiting to be shared. Anyway I saw this photo challenge on Pintrest and decided it would be a great way to reintroduce myself to documenting everyday life to blog about. Hope you Enjoy!



So for Day One: a Photo of You (no not YOU, Me!)

Here is a photo of me and my sweet niece Peyton from last weekend when she was visiting.

 

See you tomorrow :)

Resolutions

I realize I haven't posted yet about Chrisymas... And it was a great Christmas with posts and pictures to come but I wanted to go ahead and post my New Years Resolutions for 2012.

2011 was a hard year. Lots of changes, lots of sadness but offered blessings as well. I am very much looking forward to the blessings that lie ahead in 2012.

I have NEVER been a fan of New Years Resolutions. I never really wanted to set the expectation of goals for myself not wanting to fail and be a disappointment... but THIS year will be different, THIS year I am setting Resolutions in all areas of my life.

1. Get Fit and Healthy. I have battled weight all my life, I AM DONE! I will start January 2nd (Gotta start on a Monday) excercising every morning before work.

2. Spend more time developing my relationship with God. After my morning workouts and with a cup of coffee in hand I want read and pray everymonrning to start my day right.

3. Count my blessings more and complain less. It is extremely easy for me to get caught up in the hard times of life, I feel like they are constantly circling me but I want to be more aware of the blessings I have.

4. Have more fun! I have gotten very caught up in work, taking care of things and not enjoying life so much. I want  to spend more time playing and not so much time stressing.

5. Find something that engages my passion!

6. Get involved in Church. This is something I have wanted Drew and I to do together but life has been crazy. No more excuses we are getting involved!

7. Love a little more. Love on my Family, Love on Drew, Love on others more and not myself so much