Hi friends...

Rhonda, I am sorry that you've been struggling with the sadness associated with the impending arrival of a new baby. As joyful as the occasion can be, of course it bring with it the bitterness of what has been lost as well. I believe that is always the case and we have to find a way to accept and cope with those losses...however that is. Sometimes we continue on as a way of simply honoring our loved one; sometimes we do it because we merely HAVE to; and perhaps your task with this new baby will be to ensure he or she knows about the grandmother that she will not know firsthand.

Carrie, I did not read about whatever you told the rest of the group, but I am sorry for whatever happened. I know you have had your struggles (as many of us have as well) and I am sad they had to occur while you are working on recovering from your surgery and dealing with the holidays as well. You are an incredibly strong woman in many ways and while I don't want to trivialize anything, your strength will carry you through this, whatever the outcome will be.

Pat, I share your feelings of the days racing past. I had rather hoped to get more done after Christmas but all we have done is hang out. I've not even picked up the house from the holiday mess.

Nancy, I trust that Riley's not feeling well is pretrip jitters! Thank goodness your trip to the airport will only be 30 minutes!! You be sure and keep us posted while he's gone, too!!

Paula, I'm so sorry to hear about your dad. I hope he doesn't have more of those TIA's. I would be worried, too, with him living by himself. Our parents can be so stubborn, though, about doing what we want them to do! LOL How did the kids' spaghetti-making go?

Well, Kat and Terry are on their way home after her buying a new car. Her old one was literally falling apart and it scared me with her driving so much on the freeway. We offered to help her with the payments and/or insurance if needed to get her into something safer. She leaves tomorrow evening for the Connecticut to spend New Year's with her boyfriend. Then, perhaps I can tackle this house! LOL

Alrighty, friends, I am going to say goodbye for now and await their arrival home. Take care...I'll try to check in tomorrow...if not, for sure on Sunday!

Yesterday I didn't do a dang thing....sleep, wallow around in my pj's. I was feeling so blue about the kids leaving. Today is better. Kat got a new car and is very happy. We are happy because we unloaded her junker although she didn't get much on the trade-in as Terry put it, he was grateful he didn't have to pay anyone to take it off our hands. It was a good car and we got our money's worth out of it. I drove it, Kat drove it, she drove it to Yale and back, she drove it to Stanford, she drove it for 1.5 years to her job, it had over 100,000 miles, and honestly, it was falling apart. It needed everything. Thankfully, she now has a new car.

Today, we are going out for a walk, then to Target, and beyond that, I'm not sure. I hope to keep my energy up and then work on the house. I'm not sure where to start...but I'll figure all that out. Since I didn't do all that much Christmas decorating, it shouldn't be too hard to undecorate! I want to work on the bonus room and Terry said he could help me get stuff out of there. The biggest issue now is carrying stuff downstairs. I also need to unload the guest room where I've been stashing everything! LOL

I have one more week of vacation! I'd like to get my scrapping area redone quickly and have some time to scrap before I head back to work.

Speaking of work, I only have 6 more months of work. And, yes, I am counting. I don't know exactly when I will announce my retirement. I want my Principal to be able to manipulate the hiring for my position in her favor. If I do it really early, then anyone can take my job; whereas, if I do it later, she can hire who she wants for my job. I want her to work it in the school's best interest. We have two really fabulous teachers that I would like to see be able to stay at our school, so I will speak with her and see what she would like me to do. As I said, it makes no difference to me.

Paula, it's great the kids clean up the kitchen the way they do! That's fabulous. And, you...enjoy your weekend with nothing to do!!

Everyone have a great weekend. Enjoy your time off. How many of you are getting snow? It's overcast here and the thermometer shows it to be around 50* outside. Brrrrr!

good evening all.. well, we have had enough snow to enjoy, but not enough to make a mess. We got maybe an inch or so today, but by early afternoon, the roads were clear and it was partly sunny. Cold though, but we have jackets, hats, gloves. The storms coming from Carrie, have moved NE as they hit the mountains, so we only got the outer edges. Just enough.

Paula, I am glad your Dad is doing well. Hope he continues. I sorted through some of my holiday decorations when I was putting them out, but I have quite a few tubs I want and need to go through before putting them all the way. I saw LOTS I am going to be donating. I wished I could have gotten through them before the holidays, but it didn't happen.

Lizzy, 6 months will go really quickly and I hope you can figure out how to handle your resigning. I can see where you want to do what is best for the school. Meanwhile.. I would get what you can done at home before you return. I told Jim today, that I am anxious to get back to my purging and that I want to get what I can done before he goes back to work next Wed. I am going to have him bring all the tubs from the garage, so I can get through them by mid month when I have p/u scheduled.
Anyway.. hanging out with family was good, and I am thinking you also needed to take it easy after being sick. Take advantage of Terry's offer to help get stuff moved.

Tomorrow we are going to re-visit the furniture store and try to make a decision on the one dining set. They told us yesterday it could take anywhere from 2-8 weeks depending on if it is in stock. We aren't desperate, so this could work to our advantage.

Going to do a little searching for color scheme ideas on Pinterest and call it an early night.

Good morning ladies!

We have about an inch or two of snow.
Tay was out the door at 7 this morning.
Lizzy, he is taking the train to Chicago with friends for the day. They went to Michigan City to get on though, there are more time choices.

Pat, I hope your trip to the furniture store is successful. I stopped at one on the way home from my dad's. I am looking for something to sit next to the fireplace to hold our DVD players ect. It seems like they are all short and made for the TV to sit on. I want something taller. I saw a dining room outfit I really liked but I am not in the market for that. Plus it had cream colored fabric on the seats and back. (not somethng you could change out if needed)
There was a bedroom outfit on clearance that I liked but it was only queen.

I think we are going to trade bedroom furniture with DS (dressers and chests) I would like to do that this week...we will see. DH ended up working two or three of his vacation days last week so I think he will take a couple this week if it works.

Lizzy, when I was in M.O.P.S we spray painted puzzle pieces different colors and glued them around pic frames. They turned out cute.

Laurie, I hope you had a good day yesterday. What did you do in your craft room?

Rhonda, what a beautiful celebration for Amber's 16th birthday. I'm so happy that you got a chance go be there.

Good evening, friends!

Rhonda, what a special celebration for Amber's 16th birthday! And, I'm so glad the family included you - it certainly is indicative of how they feel about you and it is very different from her father's attitude. I hope you got lots of pictures for some nice layouts!

You are also going to be one very busy lady for the next several weeks keeping up with your new job and tying up everything for your old job! The extra $$ should come in handy, too.

How do you like your new Keurig? Did I mention that my little one promptly died right before Christmas? We were busy making coffee one morning and it just stopped working. We couldn't get it to heat water...I'm not sure what is wrong with it at all. We resorted to the Mr. Coffee and then for Christmas, Terry bought me a new one...a larger, more fancy Keurig model...this one has a reservoir for the water and you can tell it how large of a cup you want brewed. Otherwise, it's like the one I had! LOL

I worked today in the bonus room and got all of my books moved across the room to a new bookshelf. Ironically, I weeded out more books when I moved them! LOL My next move is to get all of the scrapbooks and books about scrapbooking moved. I am going to put all the boxes of pictures on the shelves, too, along with the storage boxes I've bought from CM to put pictures in (but haven't used). Then, I'll set about to move the bookshelves...but once again, I need Terry's help and he has not been terribly forthcoming with his help these past few days.

Pat, what style of dining room furniture did you purchase? What type of wood? What pieces? How exciting!

Paula, do you have access to an Ikea? They might have the piece of furniture you need for the DVD player, etc. Then again, many of their pieces are fairly modern and might not fit into your decor. You can look at their catalogue on-line which is nice if you cannot get to the store so at least you don't have to drive forever just to discover you don't like what you see.

Nancy, did Riley get off OK? How are you feeling about his departure? Did his stomach settle down? How often do you anticipate hearing from him?

Kat made it to NY just fine. I'm not sure how she got into the city to Grand Central Station, but then she took the train up to New Haven where Malcolm met her. Then, they drove up to his parent's home. She sent a picture of the house and all the snow...quite beautiful! (Regarding getting into the city, she had several options: a direct bus, the subway, or a cab...I just don't know which she finally decided to take. You can get really carsick from the bus and the cab...so the subway is a good bet, but it just takes longer.)

Alrighty, friends, I'm off to finish up some things here and then head to bed. Terry works tomorrow so I'm going to try and get up early to get some things done around here and begin to get myself back on some sort of "normal" schedule!

Good morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Lizzy I like that you can make a larger cup with your Keurig! I always have a coupe of BIG cups so that would be nice for me. I will probably never get one though since Rick brings a large coffee mug to work with him (he doesn't like their coffee) and I drink 2 large cups a day. Riley often drinks it too so have an old fashioned coffee pot is the best for us. One of my families got one and they love it. You say you get your coffee for it at Kohl's and Bed Bath and Beyond. How are the ones at Costco in comparison for price? I saw someone get them when I was in yesterday. My friend was wondering the best place to get them.

Pat how exciting to be getting new dining room furniture. I ditto Lizzy's questions. I am getting so close with my albums being caught up I would really like to crop too. I just have a busy few months ahead of me and it might be a while before I can go. Of course if I can use my time wisely I might be able to fit it in.

Rhonda Amber's celebration sounded wonderful. What a great way to let her know she has support. I am very glad you were invited in her mom's place. What a great memory to be a part of. How much more time will you put into your old job?

Laurie how are things with you?

Paula I am glad your dad is doing well. I can understand not liking him out of town like he is. Have you thought about putting your old ornaments into a tub for Tay to take when he gets his own place? We started doing that with our kitchen items. We would have normally donated them but now we are keeping them so the boys have some things to get them started when they move out. I don't blame you about not going out in the cold. It will be below zero wind chills here and will get to -10 overnight. I am glad I can stay in!!

Riley still had a funny stomach. He felt fine but when he would eat he just couldn't. He finally ate and drank the night before he left. He got off fine and he made a couple of updates on Facebook. I sent him with my ipod touch since they couldn't bring their phones so he was able to make the updates. He said it was a long day when he got to Korea and he still had a 5 hour flight ahead of him. He then said he finally made it to Cambodia at about 2 AM Cambodia time (1PM central time). Their flight got into Cambodia at 10:30 though. I imagine they were all beat. I hope he can continue to post on Facebook once in a while. My SIL is also Skyping with her family so my BIL will give me updates once in a while. Lizzy as far as I feel about his departure, I was fine, a little nervous having him so far away but my SIL is with him too so I feel OK about it. THis group has also gone for 8 years so they are familiar with everything.


I was lazy on Saturday and did nothing. That felt so good. IT had been so long that I could do that. Yesterday I went to my Weight Watchers meeting and I lost a little over 25 lbs and have met my goal!! I am so excited. Especially to have lost weight the week of Christmas!

Have a great day everyone!

Edited by user Monday, December 31, 2012 6:54:26 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Paula just wondering if you've talked to your dad. How is he doing? Do you know what kind of blood thinner he is on? Heparin, Coumadin, Plavix, etc? That is my biggest concern with him being alone and out in the boondocks. I hope everything is going fine. Take care.

I just got an update on Riley and the whole group (Facebook). They are celebrating the New Year right now (10:13 PM there). They are having a "nothing party" as the instructor put it. They are down by the river front playing games, talking, laughing! I am glad to hear they are having fun!

Hello ladies, I am stealing the computer from DS while he makes lemonade. I bought him a bunch of lemons today. After I bought 2 bags from Aldis I saw Meyer lemons at WM and got a bag of those.
Rhonda, we are staying home, our favorite thing to do. DS even stayed home tonight. We are just homebodies.

Happy New Year my Challenged Friends!! Here's to another year of crafting friendship!! =D

Edited by user Monday, December 31, 2012 9:51:15 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Happy New Year to all and to all a good night!

Love to you all! Happy 2013!

Good morning and Happy New Year to All!

It will be a quiet day here today. As it will be cold and white outside, I think it will be a good day to stay home.

Paula, glad you had a nice evening with family. How was the lemonade?

Pat, wtg on launching your new newsletter. I know it will really take off. Hope Jim had a good birthday, even though no extended family was there with him.

Lizzy, it is so great that you have such a great relationship with your DDs. Shows that how we are raised does not dictate how we turn out our how we raise our children. DH did not have a good childhood, but he learned to be a great parent. Enjoy the quiet house.

Carrie, Nancy, Laurie, hope all of you had a nice beginning to the new year.

Good morning! Happy New Year everyone!

I spent a good part of yesterday organizing in my kitchen. I threw away old plastic containers that weren't worth keeping. I am finally going to get rid of the dishes I got for our wedding. The plates are very big, thick and heavy. And it's palm trees...which I was really into 16 years ago. I have a better organization of my pots and pans. I also have a "dresser" sort of thing between my living room and kitchen (open floor plan). I have empties that and will put it in my scraproom. I will finally have a "stand up" area for scrapping and card making. It's empty and ready to move but I have to get the room a bit more to make space. I can't wait to get it in there!

Rhonda, how much snow are you supposed to get? We were supposed to get about an inch last night but I think it might have been too warm. It was coming down pretty hard for a while but nothing stuck...just became wet. Enjoy your quiet day today. I hope you do get to create a bit on this first day of 2013

Lizzy, it sounds like you had a nice quiet day yesterday and will again today. You may not have gotten everything complete with your purging/organizing but hey, are we ever done with that anyway? I've known you for a long time and you are a very caring and loving Mother. It proves that the circle can be broken.

Nancy, Riley is in for the adventure of a lifetime! I sure hope his stomach problems have subsided since arriving in Cambodia. And congrats on reaching your goal. That is awesome!

Paula, how was the lemonade, Hope you had a nice NYE last night.

Pat, congrats on the furniture and good luck with the newsletter. I will have to take a look at the furniture you got.

Carrie, sounds like we were doing the same thing I was yesterday. it feels good, doesn't it. Glad you were able to have some fun bowling last night. How much snow did you actually get. Are you considered in the snow belt? It always seems like what should fall down here goes north of here and hits your area. Aren't you all lucky LOL Better you than me

My next post is going to be an actual challenge. happy New Year!

Carrie, glad you were able to join in the bowling fun last night! WTG on getting the pantry purged. I know that feels awesome.

Laurie, I hope we can keep up with your challenge? Hope you get the new storage in your craft area. Glad you were finally able to let go of the old dishware. Sometimes things are just past their prime!

I have put away all the holiday items and gotten the house back in usual order. And I am on the last load of laundry.

Now I am heading to office to work on research or crafting. Will see what gets my attention first.

Dryer is calling so will check in later.

Happy 2013, my Challenged Friends!

Congratulations to Nancy for your weight loss...especially during the holidays! And, I know you will keep it off, too!

Last night was a quiet night for us...which is exactly what we like. We ended up watching some very old shows from TV: a series called something like White Collar. It was pretty good. We stayed up until around 1:30 and then I had trouble going to sleep. I don't think I went to sleep until 4:00 a.m., and then I slept pretty late. Go figure!

My crafty thing for today is that I purged, tidied up, and totally reorganized my jewelry-making materials. I added more beads to my collection, but in consolidating what I had and reorganizing it, I was able to move it all to a much smaller box, which I really like! I was also able to get rid of some of my materials that I know I will never use.

Tonight, Kelly and I are going to see Les Miserables. Her DH is studying for another of the CPA exams, so she is having to plan her going out around his studying schedule and the kids' sleeping schedules. We going somewhat late, but it's OK since my sleeping is way off from what it is normally! LOL

The discussion about couples communicating and style thereof, brings me to share some of my thoughts here. I don't necessarily expect answers, these are just things I think about. Many years ago, I was in love with a guy who, in my immaturity and insecurity, I thought did not return my love because of the way he communicated with me. I was verbal while he was an action person. He showed his love by doing things for me, rather than using his words. It was only long after we broke up that I finally figured out where I had misinterpreted the relationship.

Now, in my old age, I have realized that there are many, many different ways for individuals to show love and commitment. I don't fully understand the relationships between people, and especially men and women...the model of my parent's relationship was so dysfunctional I would only use it as a model of what to avoid absolutely!

At any rate, I still struggle with the concept of love...what it is, how it feels, what it means, how we show it, how we "should" feel, act, show it, share it, etc. There do seem to be some basic "do's and don't's" but beyond those, each person or each couple have to determine their own ground rules.

I know someone once told me that she wanted to kick my husband's tail because he wouldn't do something I wanted him to do here at home; but later, when her husband wouldn't help her do something, she understood my tolerance for mine. When do we tolerate, and when do we stop tolerating and put our proverbial foot down? I don't have those answers...we each have our own point in which we hit the wall. But then what? Is it worth going to the mat over a box of books you want carried downstairs TODAY when the help is not forthcoming but will be perhaps tomorrow or the next day?

Laurie, I would love to see pictures of your kitchen without the dresser piece of furniture (divider) as well as your craft room with it! You must have gotten it moved since you posted that page with your father and his wife on FB.

Well, friends...I am going to sign off and eat some lunch/dinner....then do some other things around here. Take care...I'm watching this ridiculous ad on TV showing how you can spray something on your vehicle and it will float like a boat! Yeah, right!!