Bucket List Item #115 - Donate to Locks of Love

 I am NOT a long hair type of girl. I never have been. Most of the time when my hair gets really really long like this its because I'm too poor to afford to get the cut and color that it really needs. This past time I decided it was time to doing something for someone else no matter how much it drove me nuts. So I grew it out for Locks of Love.

 I did this to honor my mom because my mom had breast cancer. I originally thought that Locks of Love did wigs for everyone with cancer but I found out it was just for children. It didn't matter, cancer sucks not matter what age.

The last time I had a hair cut was February 2013 so my hair was really long. Again, hated my hair that long, it just looks ratty and I was ready to cut it.

 Since moving to Oklahoma I have never found a hair dresser that I like and I think that was because I was going off of recommendations. I decided to find my own and I'm really glad that I did. Caron did a great job. I was literally on the border on how long my hair was but at this point I figured something has got to be better than nothing.

Caron sectioned my hair off into 3 sections and a cutting she went. I already felt lighter by have that cut off, it was awesome.

 Here is the picture after it was colored and cut. Loved the color and the cut. I'm very much a shoulder length kind of person. It's still long enough for a pony tail but not to long that I won't wear it down.

 I took these pictures at home and the reason for the squinty eyes is because the sun was in front of me making it hard for me to see anything.

I mailed my hair a few weeks later to Locks of Love. It was pretty easy. Pretty much put it all in a ziplock bag with the information sheet and mail. About a month or so later I got a certificate of appreciation from Locks of Love for my hair donation. 

Number #115 on the Bucket List - Donate of Locks of Love - CHECK!!!

Nephew Grant's Quilt

 My nephew will be arriving here shortly and my sister's baby shower is on Saturday so you know I had to make a quilt for him. I really made him 2 but this one's my favorite. I had another pattern picked out but when I went to look for fabric I couldn't find what I wanted.

 It came together pretty easy, the binding gave me issues, its only my 2nd quilt machine binding it, the corners were the hardest. I need to practice more, I'm sure I'll get better with time.

I backed the quilt with Irish clovers. My sister said that she is going to play the lotto the day he is born because he has everything one in a million so I figured I would send him (and her) a little more luck in their life. I hope that she enjoys it. I'm putting a delay on this post so she can be surprised by the quilt when she gets it.

Hoping for a Little Light

Today is a big day for Mom. Recently we found out that she has breast cancer. I huge shock to us all! We all thought that she was moving on to the next chapter but God decided that to insert this one chapter unexpectedly. As a family we are all dealing with it in our own ways. I am here in Oklahoma checking my phone for updated text via Manny, Mom's boyfriend, watching my FB to see if people have posted on her wall that I have forgotten to update on what was going on (sorry Shelly and Drew), and checking my email to see if anyone has written.

Today is Mom's surgery to remove the lump she found a few months back. We know nothing. Not the stage, not if it has spread, not how long she is going to have to do radiation & chemo. Not anything. I think it is just very frustrating. I'm a concrete person. I like to know the facts. For example, child labor will suck, being a parent is hard, marriage is work. I hate hearing, your mom is going to be okay. She will pull through. Everything is going to be fine. Does anyone really know the answers to these questions...no, not yet. Do I hope my mom will be okay, of course I do. Do I think she is going to pull through, absolutely. Is everything going to be fine...Define what "fine" really is to a person.

I'm not a glass half empty kind of person but I am a the glass is half full but it isn't all the way full, it could fall over and be almost empty but still have a little bit of milk left in it. So here I sit, waiting for the glass to fall over but also knowing that it might be just fine and someone is going to come around and fill it up. Hoping all is alright with my mother and that everything is fine and we can all move on to what is next for all of us.

**Edited**Mom is doing well. Surgery went okay, they took out the lump and it was a little bigger than expected and some of the surrounding lymph nodes. The lump as about the size of a baseball. We still won't really know anything until they do the biopsy on the lump and those results won't be for another week or so. She should go home sometime this evening. My father and Manny are both with her. I have spoken to them both. Hoping, wishing, praying for a speedy recovery for my Mom. Love you Mom!!

A Tribute to my Mom

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I'm writing this as a tribute to my Mom just for being a great Mom. I'm going apologize to her now just because I know that she isn't going to like all the pictures I put up here but these were all I could find without having to scan more and we all know I'm lazy so here they are.

 

My Mom is a great lady. She works hard and puts up with way more than I ever would, but in all honesty, what woman doesn't. She has been working for as long as I can remember as an RN (Registered Nurse) and loves her job, but she also loves being a Mom. In junior high, high school, and college I was always playing something, soccer, softball, volleyball, and travel soccer. In all the years that I played, my Mom was there. She would sit in the rain, snow, heat, and cold usually in her scrubs on because she just came from work to watch me play. She would turn my dirty nasty sweaty socks inside out and hang them on a make shift clothesline in the van that she drove me many many weekends to soccer games all over the state. Then there were to countless times she would wash my clothes, have dinner ready for me when I wasn't home and gave me money even though I had a job. In college she hooked up my room with EVERYTHING!! I had curtains, a computer, an iron with mini ironing board, matching everything, and I was the only one on the hall with a vacuum cleaner (I became popular quickly because of it). Before my wedding she saved the day with the invitations and gave me an awesome shower with all the stuff that I didn't know I needed until I got it (a plunger for example).  

 Mom taught me how to cook...well when I was interested and now a days she is calling me for recipes. She took me shopping for clothes and put up with a lot of "I don't like that" and "I'm not wearing that." I know that I wasn't the easiest person to shop with or for, I'm still that way.

 My Mom was always the person that came prepared for everything. There was always something that we might need in her large bag/suitcase that she called a purse, in the end we usually we would need that one odd thing. I think that is where I get my gut in stint from. I can hear her say, "See I had a feeling that we would need ___."

Mom was the one that taught me not to judge people, well most people, and to do my best to get along with everyone. "Be nice," she would say, "Not everyone thinks the way that you do."

She taught me how to be a good wife to make sure that I knew there were things that I am suppose to take care of as a wife. "You both have your roles." she says. She told me how to get stains out of stuff that I thought was totally ruined and how to be handy around the house with nothing more than a small tool set and some random screws. She said to me that things take time to change and that I have to be patient.

 Mom has also helped me to become a good mom. I was scared and worried about all that I would have to do but she said that I was going to be great, and that I was very patient so being a mom would come very natural to me. She was right. It's not easy but I enjoy it. I'm glad that I'm able to stay home with Max and watch him grow and learn. It is my favorite part. Mom was right, it all did come natural.

Mom has taught me more than she will ever know. I could write a book about it all but at some point I have to end this. I found this poem that I thought would be fitting for all you(r) moms out there. It reminded me of my Mom.

My Mother

A pillar of strength, the pure meaning of Love

A Divine gift from our Lord up above

As gentle as rain on the petals of a rose

She'll kiss away fears and hug away woes

A doctor when tending a cold or scrap

A chef when making cookies or frosting a cake

A tailor, a chauffeur, a fairy god mother at times

But never to busy for a child's nursery rhymes

A source of wisdom that comes from inside

A manager, a bookkeeper and a private tour guide

The one that knows just what to say

When a child is having a difficult day

The maker of dreams and the setter of goals

As a pile of laundry she sits and folds

When strange noises go bump in the night

It's her loving hand that turns on the light

All things to family she feels she must be

Although her family may not see

In our Lord's kingdom the one that will fare

Is the one we call Mother. No others compare!

-Barbara K. Cox

So Mom, thanks for all that you do. Thanks for always being there for whatever I needed and whenever. I couldn't have asked for a greater mom than you. Never forget how great you are and don't let anyone else tell you any different. Happy Mother's Day Mom!

St. Patrick's Day 2011

I am part Irish and growing up we always took part in St. Patrick's Day. Mostly we we would just wear green and made sure that we ate New England Broiled Dinner (a.k.a. corn beef and cabbage with boiled carrots and potatoes). I'm trying very hard to take family pictures on special days like these. I bought matching St. Paddy's Day shirts for Tim and I (couldn't find one for Max) and I dressed Max in a solid green shirt. He isn't wearing it here because he threw up all over it after breakfast. This shirt he decided to spill pink lemonade on the white stripes but I didn't care he was taking a picture in this shirt. 

Max in his green and white St. Patrick's Day shirt playing with a dog toy.



The family photo. I think I'm squinting alot but this was the only one that both dogs were pretty much looking so we are going with it.

Max and Tim playing on the rings on the swing set in our back yard.

I love the open mouth smile. Love that kid!

It is Mustache March so Tim is growing one. Here it is in the beginning stages.

I've been a bad blogger...sorry

Once again I have been a bad blogger, going another 2 months (almost) before I posted a real post. I mean I wanted to but just never got around to it. I have busy doing many things which of course I'm behind on those too. I'm currently trying to catch up on all that stuff, mainly my Project Life from last year and getting this year's started. But before we get there, a few pic and an update.

Below is a pic of what Tim did to Max one night after he was pretty much done eating. See the things that happen when I'm not around, I love it! It makes for such great stories later. Which is my word this year, Story. I'm all about trying to tell our stories and the ones that have been placed on the back burner. I know these are not easy tasks but I feel that I need to tell them so that I can remember and so that Max can read about them later on.

My best friend Lisa got married in New Hampshire on January 16th, 2011. I was the maid of honor and this was only the 2nd time that three of us (me, Lisa, and Cheryl = my old roommate/best friend from college) have gotten together since my wedding. It was a great day and damn cold with lots of snow. Tim kept saying who comes to New Hampshire in January without ski equipment (*smile*). We all had a good time and agreed that we need together once a year for a long weekend to catch up. This will probably be easier now that we are home in the states.

Pic from the rehearsal dinner. I had to bust out the Chowan sweatshirt. It didn't say Chowan College but it will work. Tim got this for me as Christmas present along with a Chowan University onsie for Max. We match, I know it's gay but again, I love it!

Max got to see his first snow fall in NH as well. My mom's bf, Manny, bought him this awesome snowsuit equipped with booties and mittens (not the idiot kind that are attached to a string *smile*). We would stand him up in the snow and he would just fall to all fours. It was funny. He kept waving his hand back and forth. I really wanted to make a snowman but every where we went (NH, NY, RI) the snow was just powder. Of course the day we come back to OK my Mamma calls me and says the snow is perfect now for making a snowman. Go figure. Next time I suppose.

After the wedding we went to see Tim's family in Albany, NY. Outside of Tim's parents no one had met Max before this picture was taken. A "open house" was held so we didn't have to drive to see everyone. This is most of the family. We are still missing a few people here and there but all in all a picture to document that everyone was here had to be taken. It actually came out pretty well, I think. We got most of the kids to look at the camera at the same time. I think the blinking light on the camera helped.

Max also had his first birthday on January 1st. We made him an Elmo cake. We didn't do a party or anything as we only moved here about 6 months ago and don't have very many friends, that and it is New Year's Day. So we stayed home and just a quiet little thing just the 3 of us. My Mom (Nana to Max) gave him a bunch of clothes and more toys so we didn't feel that he needed any more so we didn't get him anything. He also got money from distant relative and friends. Thanks to all for the gifts. I think I remembered thank you cards. I'll feel really bad if I didn't. *blush*

Sorry this is going in no particular order, the pictures were being a pain so this is how they came up and I'm going with it. Also while on our trip to Lisa wedding NH, then after our visit to Tim's parents in NY, we headed to Rhode Island to see the rest of my family, those that were there anyways. We stayed the weekend, my father flew up to see the 3 of us. We went duck bowling. Basically you are bowling with smaller sized balls, like cannon balls. Mamma always seems to win when we play. Tim tries to hook it like a big ball and it doesn't work well. I think he was last in both games that we played. Here is the group picture of those that came to dinner the day before we left. It was nice to see everyone but is was also nice to be going home too. I missed my bed, my house, my dogs and my routine. But if you never leave your house you'll never know what you really love about it.

Other updates is that my sister has now set a date for her wedding. She had to wait until Josh, her fiance, got into his new unit to see if he was even going to be around for it. They are getting married on June 18th, 2011 in Fayetteville, NC. They are still deciding if they are going to do a church wedding or just get married where the reception is going to take place. Bri has already told me that they are not doing a Catholic mass, so if they do do a church wedding it will be the 20-30 minute deal. She is doing red and white for her colors. She already has her dress and I just ordered her Save the Date cards which I will be addressing and mailing out for her. Bri isn't much into planning her wedding. It stresses her out so she is letting everyone else, for the most part, plan/be involved in doing the wedding.

I know there are other things but well I will be here all day writing if I tell you everything. I'm going to go and try to finish Project Life 2010 and catch up on Project life 2011. I have decided to do this years by week. Let's see how this turns out. Will post pictures when I get farther along and will take pictures of last years so you can see the finished version. Until then...

A little bit of everything

I'm back again trying to figure out what I'm going to write on here, there are a few things that come to mind but not sure I'm ready to share with everyone yet. Nothing bad but just not in the mood to spill my guts I guess. Let's start with the easy stuff...life.

Max is getting big, he is weighing in at 16 lbs. 4 oz. as of the 7 September. The doctors are happy that he gained so much weight considering last time he only gained 3 oz. in 2 months. He is eating some "people" food, mostly cut up chicken and crackers. He is kinda off his Cherrio kick for some reason. Now when you put them on his tray he takes his hand and wipes them all off. That kid! Max loves yogurt, can pretty much eat a whole thing all by himself, no joke. His stomach seems to do okay with all of this so I keep feeding it to him. He is also a big fan of deli meat. Eat that at most meals, I'm trying to introduce a few other foods to him but he loves his deli meat. He is also starting to pull himself up to his knees. Last night we had to drop the crib level down for the first time. I was slightly saddened by this. It shows that he is growing so fast. Where has the time gone? I miss the little little boy. I'm trying to savor every moment that I have with him and not take one minute of the day for granite because before you know it, he will be big and doing his own thing. But for now, he is still my little boy and I'm going to enjoy it.

My mom came to visit about 2 weeks ago for the long Labor Day weekend. It was a little akwards at first but I made my peace with her. For those that don't know my parents are getting a divorce after 30+ years, and while it isn't a messy divorce (just really confusing due to lack of communication sometimes) it had/has its issues with me. I'm not going to air my parents' business on here but like I said, I have made my peace with all that has happened. I'm tired of being mad and/or angry all the time about it. It is time to move foward. All in all her visit was a good one. She got see Max and take care of him which I know she really enjoyed. We had new or first family pictures done with her and our family that came out really nice. Max is into Elmo so she went out and bought him the Tickle Me Elmo and this other one called Shake Elmo or something. He loves them both. She also got him Rex from Toy Story which he also gets a big kick out of. It was nice to see her and sad to see her go. I wish we were closer sometimes, it would make seeing everyone a little simpler. We are still a plane ride away from everyone. A cheaper plane ride but a plane ride none the less.

Tim is getting knee surgery a week from today. He has been having knee problems for months now and finally they told him that he as a menicus (I hope I spelled that right, it would be a bit embarrassing considering I use to do sports medicine :-0) tear. The whole surgery takes about 45 minutes. He is looking forward to it so that he can start running and getting back into shape. He will be home for a couple of weeks so I'll let you know how that goes.

Still no job, I don't really want to work unless I can do it from home. I like staying home with Max, I can't see taking him to someone else to raise. And yes I know that people do it everyday and that their kids are fine but I really don't want to do it. I want to stay home at least a couple of years with him and the next one, whenever we have him/her.

That's about all. I need to go and check on my pictures from snapfish. I'm working on my book for Max, Project Life. It is bascially a picture a day for a year. It is a pretty awesome project and have been doing it since his birthday. I'm pretty proud that I have kept up with it. I plan on doing it for the next kid too. From their birth to their first birthday. I'll take some pictures and post what mine looks like. I have seen so many different versions and different stuff that people have put in theirs and I think mine is pretty cool, like I said, I'm very proud.

So that is about all, gotta run and get some housework done while Max is sleeping. Check back for pictures.

Hello.....anyone still out there??

Okay so I had a month or more of house guests and other social obligations and as you can see my blog was the one that took the brunt of the neglect, my email has as well. So what's been going on. I'll try to recap...

On being pregnant.....I hate it! I'm only 4 1/2 months and I think I look like I'm about 8 months pregnant. I'm sure not everyone feels that way but that is the way I feel. Nothing fits, again, I'm hot all the time, and I currently have a cold that I can't just seem to kick the cough part, which is the worst part. I miss my drugs. My face continues to break out as do other parts of my body (sorry for the TMI) and recently Tim has told me that I have started to snore....BADLY! He said that I'm snoring so bad that I have to go and get the breath right strips so that it would reduce it. He also said that when he rolled me over that the snoring got worse. Also my boobs have gotten bigger, which if you have big boobs to begin with this is already a bad thing. So now they are pulling on my neck. I get lots of pain right between my shoulder blades. So I can only sit and/or stand for so long before my shoulders and my feet start to hurt. What is even sadder is that I'm only 4 1/2 months pregnant. I'm just barely half way there. This sucks....bring on Christmas.

On my many house guests.....We had friends that came down from Lakenheath for the 4th of July weekend. It was really nice to have them here, they will be moving here later this week....I'm so excited for that I can't wait. I'm hoping that they like the house that is just in the next village, only 5 minutes drive from here. Very exciting as well. My parents were here for about 2 weeks as well. Mom, Dad, and I went to Ireland for a few days, it was really nice. We went to Galway on the west cost of Ireland. It was really relaxing kind of break. We mostly shopped and walked along the beach. The weather was good as well. We came home and that then we had RIAT or Royal International Air Tattoo. It is the largest military air show in the world held at our tiny little base. Tim took lots of pictures and the weather even held out for us. My father cooked for everyone so the burgers weren't over done and the chicken wasn't under done. It was fun. Mom and I went out and did some baby shopping. Mostly got clothes for me because I don't have anything. The clothes are nice, to me most of them look like tents on me but again, I'm not liking being pregnant so whatever at this point. At least now I have different options to wear besides Tim's old black t-shirts. We more or less hung out the rest of the time they were here. Dad left earlier than Mom so it was sad to see him go. While Mom relaxing she registered me for baby stuff online. I'm registered at Babies-R-Us. I don't think I'm going to have a baby shower at least not one in person. No one is here for me. I don't have many friends here and the friends that I do have already have stuff picked out for me. I'll probably do a virtual shower or something. I'm not going to open much of anything once I get it anyways as we don't think we are going to be here for very much longer and if we are we won't be here long after the baby is born. Timing is everything isn't it and well ours isn't great. But I'm not upset anymore, just a little stressed, the unknown always does that to me. Back to my house guests. Mom left on Saturday, it was nice to have her here. I didn't have to do anything. If I wanted it she made it for me. All my laundry is washed and folded, now I just need to put it all away (still working on that Mom, haha). That's about it for that.

On reading....I finished the whole Twilight Saga and I totally loved it!! I'm not as excited for the movie(s) but we'll have to see. I have the first one and I was waiting until I finished all the books before I watched it. It is a blue-ray and well currently my PS3 is on it's way back from being fixed so when it gets here I'll finally watch it along with several others that we borrowed from someone that Tim works with. Not sure what I'm going to read next. I mean I read all 4 books in about 3 weeks. I'm sure I'll find something in my collection to pick up.

On all things crafty.....I have been seriously slacking in all things creative. I have been either to tired or to busy. Yesterday I finally sat down and did some stuff. I would like to have all of my unfinished project finished by the end of August and if you know me that's a pretty tall order. But I think I can do it if I just do a little at a time. I mean it isn't like there is anything on TV these days. Sometimes I wonder why we even have cable.

Well that is all for now. I'll update again here shortly with pictures from my parents' visit and air show pictures, etc. My next doctor's appointment is on 15 August and that is when we find out what we're having so I'll be sure to let you all know in a very timely manner. Until then....

London Trip (pic heavy)

These aren't in exact order and I'm to lazy to try and put them in order so I'm just going to post them. These are the pictures we took when we went to London last Friday.

Bri, Dad, and I on the London Eye
Bri, me, and Tim on the London Eye
Street entertainers. They were outside the London Eye and they are Bri's favorite. You drop money in their bucket and they start doing their thing, what ever it happens to be.

On the bridge
Bri's pic of tulips in one of the gardens
Bri on the Tube (a.k.a. subway)

Bri taking pictures on the London Eye
I think this one got taken on accident???
Tim taking a picture of Dad and Bri and Dad taking a picture of Tim taking a picture. Did you get all of that?? Confused me too.
My picture of the tulips.

Bristol Rugby and 5K Easter Fun Run (pic heavy)

Sunday we went to our first professional rugby game in Bristol. They were playing the Worester Warriors. You couldn't have asked for better weather, maybe the seats though. We were in row M. I thought, "that's good, right in the middle." Row M was the last row up in the covered seats. It was still good though, I figured we would sit in covered seats because the weather is so unpredictable here. Didn't want to get rained on.

Here is a picture of Dad eating his cheese and onion pastry. It is kinda smart of the stadium. This was the only food that they served. Everything else was beer, soda, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. The person sitting next to him is Bri, she was a bit cold if the hat, gloves, and heavy jacket weren't the give away. It was a bit breezy up that high though.

Sabrina still a bit cold, but look you can see the sun.

Us outside the stadium
***************************************
5K Easter Fun Run

Sabrina didn't really want to run but Dad talked her into it. He said that he would be cheering her on at the finish line. Dad didn't run.

Bri not wanting her picture takenMe and Bri.
Tim, me, and Bri. The before race pic
The starting line
More people showed up at the last minute
Sabrina after the race.
Tim ran with me, I'm slow. Bri came back to run the rest of the race with us.
Getting ready to cross the finish line.

I was 4th in my age group (there were only 4 in my age group for girls). ;-)

After the race, Tim and I.

After the race pic

Bri got third in my age group too and got a T-shirt as her prize.

Tomorrow we got horse back riding, Bri and I do. On Friday we are going to London to ride the London Eye (the big Ferris wheel) and probably going to watch the play Stomp. Should be fun...looking forward to it.