A Day In My Life

Something you might hardly ever see

Is Lauren or I shoveling...but we decided that while Bonnie was out we would go get her walkways shoveled...Itook pictures ONLY for PROOF that Lauren and I really did shovel...and we worked as hard as the boys!  I think we all actually had fun...a couple of snow fights ensued...

 

 

 

So I got some not so good news today...I had my cholesterol checked on Monday and they sent the results today.  I knew there was a problem when I read "please call to make an appointment as soon as possible".  According to what I have read my cholesterol is high enough to use medicines...but still borderline enough that diet changes might work...but we shall see what the Dr. says.  My mom's cholesterol is almost the same as mine and after trying to fix it with diet changes (she isn't overweight) thy have put her on a medication.  I chose to have it tested due to my brother's recent stroke...so I am also choosing to take it seriously...

To answer several peoples inquiries...the way I made that giant cupcake is with THIS cake pan, made by WILTON:

The pan was slightly pricey at almost 30.00 at  AC Moore, but when I got it I had a 50% off coupon so I got it.  It is really adorable.  I have also seen it at JoAnn Fabrics, Walmart and Target.

We chose to stay home today other than shoveling at Bobo's.  We were going to the movies tonight, but we are really trying to be careful of spending due to Scott's work changes (still working, but no overtime).  Lauren and I rented and watched this today:

Good movie...SAD..she had to watch it for her English class and liked it so we watched it today.  Now Scott, Nate and I are watching this:

I had forgotten how much I like Indiana Jones...

Have a good evening!

Denise

Happy Birthday...

 

TO:

 

KAREN!!!

Really her birthday is Monday...but we celebrate when we can:)

The cake was delicious...but as you can see, got rather messy.  The frosting was butter, confect. sugar,cherries and cherry juice...and it got a little MELTY...but I think it was Yummy.  The cake was delicious...it had sour cream in it, and almost tasted like fudge.  I added cherries and cherry juice to the cake also...so i sort of made up my own recipe.

Okay, so two post in one day...

I forgot to tell you that Wednesday night my children wore their pajama pants wrong side out...as that is luck for a snow day.  They were disappointed when they woke up and discovered it didn't work.

I worked on a project tonight at our scrapbooking time...and I think I am gonna love it.  I will try to show you some pictures of it this weekend as I work on it.  Plus if Judy let's me I want to share some pictures of her version on here...and Maybe Connie too? 

I am beat...mice tap dancing in the wall by my head last night kept me awake until 2:30am.  Scott can't understand why it bothers me since they can't get me...grrrrrrrrrrr.

Goodnight all...

Denise

The UGLY side of Winter:

 Picture taken... January 28, 2009

“Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.” ~ Walt Disney

So, have you missed me?  My computer seems to be having some sluggish issues...sort of like me:)  I ahve tried to write two nights in a row and have lost the post and couldn't add my pictures.  So here I am Friday morning...10:20am...writing to you from COLD, Snow covered Maine:)

Just a recap...

Wednesday I ahd a beautiful day.  Bonnie and I went for a ride (I'll tell you more about that later), had an early lunch together...and then made it home just in time for the snow to start.  The picture above is of my travel home from lunch that day.  You know...Bonnie let's me chat and chat and chat, and never says I am being TOO Chatty...thanks BOBO.  We both acknowledged that Tuesday had been three months since Dad had died.  Sometimes it seems like it just happened and sometimes it seems forever ago.  I had his winter boots on yesterday and found myself getting mad at him...if he was still here I wouldn't be wearing his winter boots...and that would be fine with me.  I don't stay mad at him for long...mostly I just wish he were here.

Wednesday night found me sitting and knitting and finishing the purse I was working on...this is it before I felted it:

 

It is felted now and drying and I gotta tell you it is BEAUTIFUL!  Very summery colored...or fall I guess.  I will take a picture of it once I get the handles on it.

Know, while I was knitting this purse I found that the yarn I had had to be rolled into balls...or it was a tangled mess.

 

And yes...that is Guapito under the chair waiting to pounce on the yarn.  But, as I have been rolling this into balls...since Monday...I have had this great memory.  My MIMI (dad's mom) alway had a project going...and she liked to knit.  When we were kids, it seemed like most yarn had to be wound into balls.  Mimi used to have us sit with our arms up like a robot...she would put the yarn around our arms like I have it around the chair...and we would hold them like that while she would the yarn into a ball.  Funny the things you forget...

Now, yesterday, I felt a CAKE coming on.  Well, actually we are celebarting Karen's birthday tonight at scrapbooking and I said I would make a cake.  So, I can not show you the finished project yet...but here is the cake:

 

And, what I will tell you is my darn...NEW...hand mixer BROKE!  That's right folks...it doesn't work...sigh.  So I went and bought a CHEAP one at Rite Aid, we shall see how that one holds up to my cake making.  Ofcourse, when I was checking out the new one this morning...I turned it towards me to look at it...accidently pressed the button and it blended my sweater up into it.  Hmmmmmmmmmm...maybe I am watching too much TOOL TIME...with Tim (Home Improvement)...LOVE that show.

So, I am off to help Karen fix Connie's computer...bwahahahaha...I will just do the heavy looking on...oh by the way...walked into the Yarn shop in Belfast last night to get a BUTTON...and came out with four more skeins of yarn...UGH...it is a sickness:)

Denise

 

Winter is Beautiful...

 

 

 

 

But I still don't LIKE it!

Clearing my mind...

"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit, either. " ~Elizabeth Zimmerman

 

Being in the funk that I was in this weekend I just couldn't seem to get out of my own way.  Now I would have considered CREATING with all my art/scrap stuff...but I just couldn't pull myself together enough to finish up the organizing of my room.  My feeling was if I couldn't get the work down then I shouldn't be able to PLAY.  So instead i did NOTHING (oh the occasional laundry, etc).

Last night I decided to pull my knitting out...I haven't worked on it since the pink and brown purse.  Within an hour my head was starting to clear and the FOG was moving out!  I have been knitting off and on all day today too (helped Lisa at Silkweeds earlier)...and though I still feel slightly out of balance...I feel BETTER!  Go figure...I am NOT even a knitter!  Just goes to show me that when all else fails CREATE!

Thank you knitting...and I am gonna go do some more of it right now.

Oh by the way, did I tell you that I lost a .4 lb this past week?  I might have forgotten to tell you...so that brings me to 3.0 lbs.

Gonna go knit!

(here is a picture that Nate took...he flashed about 30 pictures all at once and had me laughing)

Knittingly,

Denise (7:19pm -7 degrees, high 11, low -17)                          

 

Look Who's here!

 

That's right our buddy David!  He and Joe rocked out with Guitar hero World Tour...

 

They all had a sleepover in the living room last night...and I woke up to the little guy saying "Morning Aunt Dee Dee:)"

Okay...so we TRIED the frozen bubble thing today, but it didn't work.  It just wasn't quite cold enough...can you imagine??  Cuz I think it is FREEZING!

 

 

 

Oh well, it was still fun!

I haven't done much to speak of this weekend.  Still feeling FUNKY...but better than I was I think.  I guess I just have to walk my way through it till I get tired of feeling this way.

Denise (12 degrees feels like -1.  High 17, Low -4)

Funky...

"When youre weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
Im on your side. when times get rough
And friends just cant be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down."  Simon and Garfunkel

 

Do you ever just have one of THOSE days?  You feel like you're in a "funk"...the weight of the world is on your shoulders...you're out of sorts.  BUT here's the problem... You can't pinpoint WHY!  I mean there are many times I feel this way and I definetly know why...and there are times that I am not sure, but once I think about it, it makes sense.  But I hate it when I feel this way and I just can't figure out why...why...why????

I was fine today as long as I was busy...or with my pals scrapbooking...but get alone with myself and UGH!  Now, I will admit I am worried about finances and I haven't "worried" about them like this for awhile.  But that didn't seem to be coming up for me.

Hmmmmmmmmmm...it is a mystery!

Hey, but there is nothing like some knew art supplies to cheer a person up...and although they are not NEW...they are NEW to ME!  Karen brought boxes of stuff tonight for us to go through and what fun I had.  I will upload a picture tomorrow, but being in this funk...I don't feel like it tonight:)

What I do want to say is THANK YOU to all of you who have been sharing your dreams and goals with me...and your thoughts about them.  It has been so much fun to read...and to mull over!

Okay...this out of sorts chick is gonna go relax and "mull" things over!

Denise (9:59pm 14 degrees feels like 4.  High 22, Low 13)

Do you have DREAMS?

"the heart of us stays the same. You are still Connie, the nurse, mom, friend and all that other stuff, but if we didn't evolve, if we don't leave ourselves open for chances and what we might become-minus the heart stuff-what the hell would be the point of life?"  Excerpt from SUNDAY LIST OF DREAMS by Kris Radish

This is what I am reading right now.  Do I like it?  Would I suggest it to others?

I am just not sure.  It has taken me a long time to read it...and some of it is just sort of hokey...but the message in it?  The need for female friendships...friendships of all sorts and ages...I so agree with that message.  And as I have said so many times before...I am blessed with a wide "assortment" of friends:)

The other message?  Having DREAMS but not letting them stop you from actually living your life...yeah I like that too.  I was talking to a very wise woman the other day and told her that this book has made me think about the fact that I don't seem to have any dreams.  She talked about me being smaller in size, or being organized and decluttered...and weren't those dreams?  But you see I see them as GOALS...and maybe they are one and the same?

I just don't seem to have any huge longterm dreams...UNTIL I start digging.  Like I don't want to travel to far off lands...I don't want to go back to school...I don't want to start a new career or business...so what is left?

I had dreams...I wanted to be a dancer (done that...still am), I wanted to be a dance teacher (been there, still doing it:), I wanted to get married (yup), have my own house (well us and the bank), I wanted babies (yup and they have turned into teenagers).  Don't get me wrong, I have had other dreams that just have not come to pass...and I don't dream of them anymore.  Like when I was in Jr High I wanted to be a singer or a poet...hmmmmmmmm.

So, what are my dreams?

I'm still not sure...but let's see, a few are:

I would love to live in a house by the ocean, where i can see the ocean and smell the ocean.  The nice thing is, is that Scott has always wanted this too:)

I would love to go see the ROCKETTES.

I would love to go to Disney every year:)

I THINK I would like to own some type of business again...but one without the overhead of a store, etc.

I have dreams of Grandkids...in the waaaaaaaaaaaaay off future.

I would love to TAKE a dance class again.

I have always thought I might write a book?

Most importantly I want to live a healthy, peaceful, simple life.

But, you see I am still stuck between what is a GOAL and what is a DREAM?

Webster's Dictionary says of DREAMS:

a strongly desired goal or purpose - a dream of becoming president b. b something that fully satisfies a wish : ideal - a meal that was a gourmet's dream

And what Webster's says about GOALS

something that one hopes or intends to accomplish <graduating from high school with honors is one of my main goals>

Synonyms: aim, ambition, aspiration, design, dream, end, intent, intention, mark, meaning, object, objective, plan, pretension, purpose, target, thing
Related Words: plot, project, scheme; desire, hope, wish; destination, terminus
Near Antonyms: means, method, way

  And my wise friend Nancy, had also said aren't they one and the same.  I guess I DO have a list of dreams:)  Now, let me sit with this for awhile and I will  try to share more of them with you.  WHAT are YOUR Dreams/Goals?

For now, I am beat, no nap for me today so hopefully I will sleep better tonight.

Sleepily, Denise (8:26pm 17 degrees, feels like 5.  High 26, Low 2)  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hard Working...

"It’s amazing how high men can climb in the mountains they love."

 

 

While I took a nap and whined about my dentist experience this morning...I had to have two fillings fixed at 7:50 this morning and they STILL hurt!  (I am such a scaredy cat when it comes to the dentist.)  Anyway...while I was whining, my husband was up on the roof making sure the snow didn't end up in our house!  And out in the yard plowing all that snow!  AND he even stopped long enough to POSE for this picture (he didn't want to hear any whining:)

Me?  I haven't barely done enough to earn my keep today...but ,like Bobo, I went to several Inaugural Balls last night...in my jammies ofcourse.  I fell asleep after the 5th one and when I woke up they were all over and everyone had gone home...according to CNN.

By the way, I got on my treadmill yesterday and walked 1.5 miles.  It took me half an hour...kind of slow, but that's okay.  I am going to do it again tonight as soon as I get off here.

AND...here is the table that is in my scrapbook room...I found it!  The organizing is going well:

 

I really want a different work table, but I won't be getting one for awhile...so welcome back table!  Last night I went through all my ink pads, and I had alot...many of them were used when I had the store.  I through ones away that were no good, and organized the rest and then I wanted to stamp!

Did you watch the Biggest Loser last night?  What the heck?  That one chick is CRAZY!

Gonna go take care of the supper dishes...I did make a good meal of Chicken, Stuffing, Potato,corn...and ofcourse Bocca Chicken Nuggets and meatless stuffing for the Vegetarians in the house!

Goodnight!

Denise (6:16pm 4 degrees feels like 4... high 18, low 8) 

 

History being made...

"America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations" 

Barack Obama 1/20/2008 Sworn in as 44 President of the USA

 

Patriotically...

Denise (7:11pm 17 degrees feels like 10 degrees.  High 21, Low 3)