Reflecting on 2008

The year is coming to an end and now is the time to look back at the good and bad of the last year before starting anew in 2009. I cannot say that 2008 was the greatest year, but there were some good parts too…..

2008 started off with me having to find a job because the job that I had worked at for the past 5 years was given to a family member. («<Enough about that, I still get angry when I think about it.) Luckily, I was able to find a job and start in the end of January. However, to get to work I would need to drive, I never wanted a driver’s license and was terrified of driving (watch out world - Teenie is on the road!). Getting my license was a BIG hurdle that I had to cross, and I did it!

Another big moment was sending Amber to daycare for the first time. With my last job I was able to work from home so this was a new to all of us. Amber had always been at home with me, and it was hard leaving her behind. Luckily, Amber jumped right into the swing of things (as did Mommy & Daddy) and loved going to “school”!

I was at my new job for about 2 weeks when I pulled up to the house and there was a man in the driveway. He was there to inform us that the house we were living in was going into foreclosure and that we had 2 weeks to get out. Now, we were supposed to be buying this house after our year lease was up. We had been paying an extra $300 a month towards a down payment. With 2 weeks to find a place, and no money for a down payment, things were not looking good. We managed to find a mobile home on 1 1/4 acres that was in the same school district.

We had a huge Memorial Day party at our house because our friend Corey was coming from out of town. Alcohol & dirtbikes don’t mix. Keith wrecked our son’s dirtbike and almost killed himself. Literally. He spent 3 days in the hospital with internal injuries. Luck was on his side and he has since recovered.

Andrew did very well in school this year, making the honor roll in every quarter. Then he got caught skipping school….. What else is there to say about that?

We got a puppy - Jake(Catahoula bulldog/Boxer mix). Someone stole him. :(
We got a new puppy - Sasha. (Black Lab/Pitbull mix). She is sweet.

The best part of the year was in November when Keith and I bought our house. We have been trying to buy a house for 4 years, and it finally happened. Whoo-hoo. Go us!

On to next year…….

Oh Yeah, Jenny is a dork.

Pinging Monkey's

OK I wasn’t sure if this would work or not, but it looks like it did!

I have just found a neat little website called Ping.fm and I am playing with it to see what the features are and if this is something that I want to use. What is Ping.fm you ask? According to Wikepedia, Ping.fm is a free social networking and micro-blogging web service that enables users to post to multiple social networks simultaneously.

Making an update on Ping.fm pushes the update to a number of different social websites at once. This allows individuals using multiple social networks to update their status only once, without having to update it in all their social mediums individually. Ping.fm groups services into three categories – status updates, blogs, and micro-blogs – and updates can be sent to each group separately.

BTW - that is a picture of me in my monkey pj’s that my Sissy bought me for Christmas. Isn’t it adorable?

Me - Right now!

Gemmerzz tagged me for this fun meme

Here are the rules:
1. Take a picture of yourself.. riiiiiight.. NOW!
2. DO NOT change your clothes. DO NOT fix your hair.. Just take a picture.
3. Post that picture with NO editing.
4. Post these instructions with your picture.
5. Tag 10 people to do this and leave their pics as a comment (or email me or post on your own blog)!

Yup that’s me, right now. Tired, supposed to be working, but playing instead.

Now, I am not sure that I have 10 followers, but I will see what I can do. The people that I am going to tag for this meme are:

1. Janana Bee


2. Cold Spaghetti


3. Silje


4. Lisa Paul


5. Sara


6. Janiece


7. Amanda


8. Rachael


9. Cecilia


10. Michelle A

The topic for this weeks SPT is Peace. The first thing that came to my mind was camping. Well, we haven’t gone camping in a really long time, so I had to use an old picture. But here it is - I am definitely peacful when I am camping! Can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can be at Peace again! Click HERE to see the other SPT’s

The topic for this weeks SPT is Peace. The first thing that came to my mind was camping. Well, we haven’t gone camping in a really long time, so I had to use an old picture. But here it is - I am definitely peacful when I am camping! Can’t wait for the weather to warm up so I can be at Peace again!

Click HERE to see the other SPT’s

Dated & Drunk

So, last night I was at my in-laws house talking to my father-in-law & brother-in-law. We were discussing the new Batman movie and then this:

FIL - What about the Green Hornet?

BIL - The only Green Hornet that I know of is from Spiderman

Me - Yeah that’s the only one I have heard of too.

FIL - No this guy wasn’t on Spiderman, he was a Detective on a TV show

BIL - (Looks at me) Well Dad, that must be before we were born, we grew up in the 1980’s

FIL - Well this was the 1960’s. Don’t you remember him?

BIL - No Dad, that was before my time (Laughs)

FIL -  You’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’

I was lost but now I'm found......

We had our Christmas party at work last Friday, and I had a great time! We had a gift exchange and our limit was $3. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent gift for $3? Needless to say, I think we all may have went a little over our budget, but it was well worth it!

Marie is really into frogs….I hunted on a great auction site and managed to get her a frog magnet & also a decoration for her tree.

Chris likes Alfred Hitchcock and I found these really cool address labels that I also got on the auction site listed above.

Now, the best gift that I bought was for Rachel who is a HUGE Snoopy fan. (Thank you auction Gods for allowing me to get this for so cheap!)

My favorite present that I received is this awesome gift from Marie:

She even kept the price tag on it so that we could see she spent under $3 (she got it for .99 - can you believe that?)

See the monkey stocking above Chris’ head? He sewed that on there for me because they were unable to find a monkey stocking. Isn’t that sweet!

If you want to see the rest of our party pictures you can check them out here!

Redneck Christmas Tree

I received this awesome Christmas Tree made out of Mountain Dew cans in my email, and wanted to share the photos with you. I think it came out absolutely stunning! What do you think?

Go  to their website to see more pics! http://mdewtree.com/

Thanks David, for allowing me to post these on my blog!

Bricks & Gravy?

Saturday night, our niece and nephew slept over. We decided to make biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I made the gravy while Chelsea was making the biscuits. The first batch (made from scratch) didn’t rise and came out hard as bricks, so I got out the biscuit mix and Chelsea tried again. Unfortunately, the second batch came out the same way. So, instead of eating them, we made Christmas decorations with them.

Comfort is being with my man....

See the other SPT’s HERE

Getting to know ME @ Christmastime

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here’s what you’re supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy this entire entry and paste into a new blog post on your site. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then tag 3 of your blogging friends so that you can learn a little about them.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper - Even though I absolutely HATE wrapping presents, I will not allow myself to take the easy way out when it comes to Christmas presents.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. I love the smell of real ones, but cannot stand the needles that get stuck in the carpet and tracked all over the house.
3. When do you put up the tree? Normally it is up the day after Thanksgiving. With us buying the new house this year,  the tree didn’t get put up until last week.
5. Do you like eggnog? Love it! Don’t forget a dash of ground nutmeg on top!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Jelly Shoes - I wanted them so badly and was ecstatic when Santa brought them to me.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My Mother-in-law. What do you buy a woman who has everything she wants?
8. Easiest person to buy for? Amber - Buying for a 3 year old princess is simple!
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes!
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both. I mail cards to my close friends and family. Then I email everyone on my contact list.
11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Underwear with the days of the week on them - When I was a  teenager
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Black Friday
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, I have regifted some clothing that didn’t fit me.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pumpkin Pie
16. Lights on the tree? I like white lights, but the kids talked me into colored ones this year.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? We “travel” for Christmas every year. Not far, but  3 houses in 2 days (not counting ours) is a little much.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, Cupid, Rudolph - Nope I sure can’t
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both - Since we have so many places to go, we usually end up opening gifts on Christmas eve & Christmas day
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Not being  able to “run” into the store for one item - You get stuck in line forever
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I have all of the ornaments from when I was a kid. I love pulling them out every year
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I am not a ham or turkey person. I would much rather have an Italian dinner (Lots of Pasta!)
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? To spend a wonderful day with my family

I am tagging the following people:

• Lelly


• Katie


• Frankie & Bella

I failed (Holidailies & NaBloPoMo)...

….but I am gonna keep on keepin’ on!

My Sister-in-law & I took the kids to the Brooksville Christmas parade on Saturday and we met up with some girlfriends there. All of us together ended up being quite a nice size group. We had 4 Moms, 4 teenagers, 3 elementary school boys, & 2 toddlers.

The parade was nice. Not what I am used to (The New Port Richey Parade), but nice for a small town. Had I grown up here in Brooksville, I am sure I would have known half the people in the parade. There were some “visitors” to the parade that I was not expecting to see (See Pics)

Yes, Even the king was there! Amber, of course was extremely excited to see Dora!

After the parade, Michelle & I took the kids to the Golden Corral for lunch. By that time we were pooped and headed home.

Dagnabit - I was getting ready to start adding the pics and I see that my Fotki failed me. 23 of 104 photos uploaded. Grrr - Well, I will add the pics when they are done uploading.

Now Chris will have to make fresh quacamole twice a week!

Avocados have more protein than any other fruit.

Miracles do happen........

My father is 54 years old and married a Filipino woman 20 something years younger than him. Together, they had my sister Katelyn who is 5 years old. My father has been out of work for about a year now with back problems, and has been worried about how that will affect Katelyn’s Christmas this year.

Last year, my father purchased a Christmas tree for $30, so he put aside $30 this year to get the tree. However, after going to multiple stores and tree stands, he was unable to find a tree cheaper than $40. He decided to make one last stop at the local Home Depot before heading home. Again, the cheapest tree that he could find was $40 and they only had 3 trees left. He hunted down a Home Depot employee and asked if they were going to be getting any more trees, and the employee told him to come in first thing the next day. Upon my Dad’s arrival, he found that they had indeed recieved more trees, but they were only the $40 + ones. He found the Home Depot employee again and asked if he could please save the cuttings for him and that he would come and pick them up later that night. (Don’t ask…..My Dad has some cockamamy idea that he was going to build his own tree with the cuttings).

Dad went back to Home Depot that night and found the employee to see if he had saved the cuttings. He had saved them, and then stated that he still didn’t understand why my father wanted them. My dad explained that he was unable to afford a tree this year and had promised never to have an artificial tree in his house, so he was going to make one. The employee looked at my dad and handed him a $50 bill and said that he was going to buy the tree this year. (He even let Katelyn pick it out) After my dad purchased the tree, he went to give the guy back the change and he would not accept it.

That night, they were baking Christmas cookies, and Dad decided that he wanted to bring some to the Home Depot guy as a thank you. He went in on two different nights, but the guy was not working. So, dad decided to talk to his manager about the wonderful gift that he had provided and to drop off the cookies.

About half an hour ago, dad received a phone call from the home depot guy. After the manager heard my dad’s story and how the employee purchased the Christmas tree for Katelyn, he decided to start a collection for Katelyn’s Christmas presents.

It is so wonderful to see strangers helping strangers, ecspecially at this time when the economy is not looking all that great. People like Paul, his manager, and the Home Depot team know what the true meaning of Christmas is and shared that with my family.

OK I Lied....

I am going to post something today.

The number one song on the day that I was born was:
“It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” by Billy Joel

Do you  know the #1 song the day you were born? Go to http://www.joshhosler.biz/ and look up the number one song for your birthdate.

Nothing Yesterday & Nothing Today

I feel like I was hit by a bus and I can’t think of anything more to say.

Holiday

I was born in Connecticut, but my mother moved me to Holiday, Florida when I was still a baby. I lived in Holiday most of my life, with a few moves out of town as a teenager (Yes, I was one of THOSE kids). To be honest, I never really had any plans on leaving Holiday. All of my friends are there, as well as my immediate family (except my Sissy). Even after I got together with my husband, there was no thought of leaving. We lived in 3 different houses within 5 blocks of the house that I grew up in because not only did I not want to leave Holiday, but I didn’t want to leave my “neighborhood”. I felt safe in Holiday. My parent’s never locked the house up when I was a kid, because you didn’t have to. Most of the people in our neighborhood were senior citizens. As I grew up, the seniors died off and a new crowd of people moved into MY neighborhood. These people, stopped taking care of the homes and the neighborhood slowly started to go downhill. We had an oppurtunity to move about an hour north for my Husband’s work, and I was really scared of leaving everything behind that I knew, but with the neighborhood declining, we decided to go ahead and move north. Now, it has been 2 years since we left Holiday. I still go back to visit my parent’s and friends, but other than them I can’t say that I miss that place at all. Well, except for this beach.

SPT - Joy

Since buying our new house, I have a different route home from work that takes me along some nice country roads in Brooksville. Fort Dade Ave (see pic above) brings joy to me every day. It doesn’t matter how bad of a day I have had, as soon as I turn onto this road, I am calm. I am happy. I am joyful.

More SPT’s HERE

A note to me......at 14

Dear Tina,

I just wanted to let you know that you are a wonderful person and that one day you will actually believe that. The boy that broke your heart wasn’t the one for you. You WILL meet your knight in shining armor and he will sweep you off your feet. Don’t start smoking. Just don’t do it. You will regret this choice. You will be a mother next year which is a very scary thought. Just know that your Mother will be there to support you no matter what. She is not your enemy, but probably your best friend. Don’t be scared to join driver’s ed. One day, you will HAVE to get your drivers license and it’s actually quite fun to drive. Don’t quit school either, this is another one of those things that you will eventually have to finish anyway. Stay in contact with your girlfriends no matter what, you will need these people in your life. Don’t be too self concious about your body, your boobs will grow. Don’t build a wall that keeps people out, or if you do, at least leave the window open.

From,

Tina

Not changing a thing!

If you could change, undo or modify one decision in your past, which would it be and why?

There is honestly nothing in my life that I would go back and change if I was given the opportunity. I feel like every choice that I have made, whether good or bad, has led me to this point in my life. The point where I can say that I am truly happy. I have 2 beautiful children, an amazing stepson, and the greatest husband in the world. If I went back and changed things, I would be missing the most important parts of my life.

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations. - Anais Nin

Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven

Who would have thought that this boy

and this girl

would meet at this gas station

Go to this beach

with each of their boys.

Get Married

AND, make such a beautiful little girl?

So much in my life has changed since meeting Keith. I am more adventurous, independent, responsible, mature, etc. The list goes on and on. In the last 6 years we have set goals and acheived many of them. If it weren’t for Keith’s positive outlook on life, I honestly don’t know where I would be. He has given me the drive to be a better person, and because of him, I can say that I am a better person. Thank you Keith, for being my best friend, my confidant, my rock. Thank you.