Random Thoughts

A picture.....

A blog with a picture. For some reason that feels right. I love getting a glimpse into other people's world through their blogs and pictures. So I share a bit of my world in picture and words too. This picture is of Shawn and our yearly Christmas tree (Ina). We went the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The day was beautiful, sunny, and warm. The hunt for the perfect tree was interesting. And we found this perfect, shaggy, fat tree. She looks beautiful all dolled up in our ornaments and lights.

Acknowledgement....

During most holidays we end up with oodles of extended family drama in one form or another. This year is no different. We have a double whammy this year because there is drama on both sides of our extended families. It seems the when you get to the bottom line, we live a different lifesyle than most of our family members. They feel insecure next to this lifestlye at times and then point the finger at everyone but themselves and their insecurities. Usually I am knowing and accept how my side of the family is and Shawn doesn't want to deal with that drama so he opts out. This year with the drama on his side of the family I am suposed to go into the lions cave and deal with it because 'it is Christmas". This year when I pointed out his double standard he acknowledged it...... wow. Sometimes the acknowledgment is all that is needed. It isn't about who is right and who is wrong. It isn't about changing things you cannot control. It is about acknowledging the person speaking to you without patronizing them.

Merry Christmas....

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope that people will be able to realize the spirit of Christmas is inside of them and that things will only be as good or as bad as they make them. I personally will be making mine a good one. We work too hard to have the holidays ruined by jealousy, insucurities, or .... drama.

Hug and happies.

m

Ahhhh..... finding beauty.

Isn't it really about just opening up your mind to find the beauty?

I've worked the past few days and am kind of tired.

Usually when I am tired, I am crabby, and when I am crabby it is oh-so easy to find the BLECK in life.

However, all a person needs to do is open up their mind to find the beauty.

Also having an incredible support system (my created family) helps.

In scrapbooking news....

Tim Holtz is releasing some new distress inks. Yummy!!

I am addicted to watching artsy how-to videos.

They cuddle my creative soul with happiness and inspires me to create.

I actually finished (might have said this earlier) a few pages that have been on my desk forever and started a few more.

I am finding i work best in the 'kitchen sink' style. And I am working on letting go of perfection because it just isn't going to happen the way I think it should and that is perfectly OK!

In my head.....

I was walking into work Saturday night and I saw the signs for the ER physicians had been changed to say ED Physicians... with a marker!! The R had been written over with a black marker to make a D. This made me think A.) tacky!! B.) how I am seeing a change in culture. Back in the day is was Emergency Room because it literally was one room. Now the name is evolving into Emergency Department because it has become a catch all in the medical world. No longer is an emergency room a one room place... it is a melding pot of every imaginable medical issue ever known to man (and then some). I think though that the ED-ER change will take a while. Who would seriously know I was going to work in the emergency room if I write "ED here I come" or "a night of work in the ED" - not counting the peeps who actually KNOW I work in the emergency room.

I really REALLY do not want to go to the dentist.

What I have been doing....

Reading Eat Pray Love and Harry Potter (book 1).

Made my first set of prayer beads.

Working in the ED (hehehehe).

Spending too much money for Christmas and trying really hard to find the meaning but failing miserably.

Now I am off to go do.

Hugs and happies.

m

Random List

1. A Moore jump photo. This is how we are most days... together, full of life, and happy. I am totally going to have to do a page with the jump photos through the years.
2. I am currently reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It is a book I have had for quite a while because I heard it was really good but never quite got around to reading it. I have been missing out! Also on my reading list is the Harry Potter series. Is that strange? I am reading them with Mason. That is my reasoning but I really just want to see what happens to Mr. Harry Potter.
3. Will be making THE dentist appointment tomorrow and already anxiety tightens my chest. I wonder why this happens? Why I wait so long, even when I know it isn't good?? Sigh.......
4. Work the weekend. Friday. Saturday. Sunday. Looking forward to the paycheck but not the time away from the family.
5.  Am so totally bummed that I will be missing the season finale of Survivior because I am covering someones shift for them. Dangit! Just hoping Russel gets the BIG BOOT!!!
6. My creative soul has been used again..... feels so good. When I finish this whole nursing thing I will totally be teaching artsy/scrapbooking stuff again. There is just something about art (in ANY form) that does a spirit good.

Speaking of creative spirit..... I am off to do something artsy!

Hugs and happies.

m

Why Worry?

By nature I am a worrier.
I wish I was a warrior.
Even when I try not to worry,
it is there.
Sometimes it is soothing.
Sometimes it steals my breath.
Sometimes the worry is there to remind me
to be cautious,
to appreciate that which is important.

As my journey gets chaotic I must make an effort to lessen the worry and to have faith.
Faith in that which I cannot control and faith in my loved ones who are always be my side...even when I don't see them.

So I am blogging my worries and then sending them into cyberspace.
Kind of like writing them on a piece of paper and ripping it up to let them go... but in a new age way.

1. Bai and the doctor's apt.
2. My mom and her broken leg.
3. My hubby and his unseeing family.
4. Time management.
5. Money.
6. Finding the right dentist.
7. Extended family drama.

Rip Rip.... RIP.
m

Been Thinking

I haven't been around in, oh.... over SIX MONTHS!
Well, I have been around but just not balancing life well.
Almost done with nursing school.
Needing to connect with people because I feel like I am missing.
Wondering if there is anyone out there feeling the same.
Thinking I must be the change I want to see.....
Hugs and Happies.
m

Holy Heck.....

It has been almost 2 months since my last blog.
Holy Heck!
I keep going back and forth about continuing my blog.
For now I am just going to leave it and see how things work out.
To catch up a bit, here is what has been and is going on in my little world.... in list form :O)

1. I finished my first year of nursing school. It really kicked my butt. Let me tell you nursing school around these parts are not for the weak!

2. Currently I am on a mini break until Monday when my 8 week summer class starts....uggghhh! I keep on pushing through. Two semesters after the summer and I will have my RN.... WHOOO HOOO!

3. Shawn is growing out his goatee again.... BLECK! I really don't like it on him at all but he insists. Sigh. It's a good thing I love this guy! 4. Baily is in her last week of being a freshman. Both her and Mason are totally ready for summer. Actually (with the exception of my 8 week class) we all are ready for the lazy days of summer. Yesterday we had a torrential down pour and Bai went out in the rain. You should have seen her dancing out there....She is such an amazing girl.

5. My intense little man...... Things keep changing for him, for us. He pulled through this school year but sometimes I just worry so much about him. He is such a sensitive guy and so intense. I will admit that alot of the time it is just exhausting! But he is my sunshine and totally is worth all the blood, sweat, and tears. He makes a good monkey face too, right?!

6. I am a week and one day into the new and improved me. This September I have my first dress fitting for a wedding I will be in and I have just reached a point where I am done being frumpy. I know, I've said it before and have tried to lose those pesky pounds before....heck I have lost and gained the same 5-8 pounds for almost 2 years now. But this time I am dropping the weight...not losing it (because I don't want to find it!) and I am doing what my body needs the most.....exercise! Yep, that is was makes me feel good and looks good.....too bad it is so much work, LOL!

Gotta go get Little Man.

Hugs and Happies!
m

It is what you say it is.

I'm with Leah...
Kind of in a funk lately.
Not really in a bad way.
More of a lazy, burnt up kind of funk.
I will be thankful when my nursing school days are behind me.

Some random.....
1. Missed blogging a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my lil' guy (although I did Facebook it). Mason turned 10 on March 22nd. TEN!!! My baby is in double digits...sigh. Haven't been taking too many pictures lately but when I am able to capture Mason on film...this is usually what he is doing. Moving. Laughing. Making a face.

Mason said the other day as he was looking into the mirror;
"MOM! Did you know I have freckles??!!" Pointing to his nose
Me "ummm, yeah. I love your freckles!"
Mason "well I don't! I just want to wash them off"
I found it funny that he is soo NOT vain he is just now realizing he has freckles on his nose. Love his freckled nose!
2. It snowed here the night before last. We woke up to 5 inches. Thankfully it is all pretty much gone but wowza....talk about throwing me out of whack! I am just about ready for spring to be here with my toe nails painted and new flip flops purchased.

3. Found these pictures of Bai and Shawn on my camera and was totally laughing. (I was helping with the carnival games prizes for the family fun night or I would have had a picture or two in here) What I think the funniest is how scary Shawn can look. He really is so laid back and non aggressive (most of the time) yet he can look so stinkin' tough. We are going to use that mean look for Bai's "boyfriends".

4. Nursing school is sucking the life out of me!

5. I have bills to pay, a sink full of dishes, laundry out the wazoo, a MOUND of unfinished projects with good intentions, and a list of homework to work on tonight but I don't care right now. Right now I am blogging, catching up, drinking coffee and happy that "Chuck" is on the boob tube tonight.

6. I need to take more time to be aware of all that I am blessed with.

Going to go dance like a maniac for the next 15 minutes then start working on my list. Seriously, try the dancing thing...just turn on a good song and rock out!

Hugs and happies.

m

Sneakin' A Blog

OK...not sure how these pictures ended up posting the way they are but here they are. All jammed together. Pictures of our mini trip to the zoo in FEBRUARY!! It was a glorious, beautiful day (a day that tricked us into thinking spring was on its way). Admission was free, we actually saw some animals, and did I mention it was a beautiful day?

SOME MICHELLE RANDOM....

1. Went to take a shower tonight and there are two bottles of shampoo in there both of them EMPTY!!! How hard is it to say "hey mom...I used the last of the shampoo this morning when I wash my hair with four gallons of it...." So what did I do...you might wonder? Well, I hollared (yeah, say it just like I typed it...I HOLLARED)for Bai and asked her if she knew where any shampoo might be hiding. She ended up finding a sample...but guess who only has a 'dime size drop' of shampoo left in the morning...hehehehehe.

2. I ended up sick most of my spring break with a head cold sinus stuff....BLECK!!!

3. Shawn will be going on third shift here in the next few weeks. Kind of icky...but at least he didn't get layed off. We are going to roll with it and hope and pray that I can make it through two more semesters of nursing school before anything happens to his job.

4. We have new neighbors. They seem very nice. Shawn and I said they seemed like a nice young couple and then I had myself a moment because when in the holy holy did I start calling people who BUY HOMES 'young couples'???? This implies I am old. I don't feel old, I don't act old, I may look old (note the last picture above...wrinkles around eyes- OLD but secretly I love the wrinkles...is that weird?), so why would I think our new neighbors are a 'nice young couple'?? hmmmmmm.

5. This week I wanted to create stuff but I kinda have lost some mojo. Part of my problem is that I have toooo much stuff. My studio is congested and overflowing with so much stuff it smothers me sometimes. I feel like I want to use all of the yummy stuff and then it goes straight to the overload.

6. I am sooo happy Donna is on Facebook. Love my little Leah and Donna on Facebook. It is so nice to keep up with lovies in my crazy busy life.

Alright folks...as always...there are a gazillion things I want to blog about but I really need to go. I am already sneaking downstairs to get this blog posted.

OH... and totally not proofing this blog so enjoy the typos :o)

Hugs and happies to YOU!

m

Miss Riley...we need a lunch date to set because I totally miss you out loud!

Beautiful Many....call me. I need to scoop with you. Love you lil' sis.

Brewing

Have a BIG blog of catch up brewing.
See you soon.
Hugs and loves.
m

Still....

Still here.
Still have the best of intentions.
Still lack with the follow through.
Still have 'happies' to finish and get out.
Still doing homework.
Still have a cluttered home.
Still longing for spring.
Still holding on to happy.
Hope you are too.
Loves and hugs.
m

Why?

No pictures.
Sorry ;O(
But I do have some questions...
like WHY does a dog have to sniff for the 'perfect' spot to poo??? I mean REALLY, it is below zero, just poo already!
and WHY is it easy for everyone in my family to just walk past the pile of laundry or dishes or dust bunnies and NOT do anything about them?
or WHY do we spend so much money on insurance for them to come up with ways to mess with you or some loop hole or 10?
even WHY does winter have to be soooo long? Aren't there enough people moving south this time of year to pull the earth more upright??
and lastly WHY is the sky blue?
hehehe

Life is moving along here.
It is supposed to warm up this weekend and I have a set goal to take pictures!!! (among other things)
Hope all is well with you.
Hugs and happies.
m

A Cup of Coffee and A Random List

1. I have no pictures to post. In fact I really have not taken any pictures. I think it is because of the winter. It seems I am just not a winter person. Don't like to go out in it, don't like to be cold, miss the colors of spring, summer, and fall....white...bleck! muddy white...bleck! grey...bleck! So no pictures with the blog today.

2. There are moments throughout the day when I am so disappointed in myself, as a person as a mom, as a wife. For example at night when I am in bed I think about exercise and how much weight I am putting on and how all I really need to do is manage what I eat and exercise. Why am I letting myself get this way? Or when I am getting all of us ready and out the door and off to school I notice Mason's chapped lips (again, he is such a lip-licker!) and wonder why I can catch that before we leave so that I can have him put on the chapstick he hates. Even just a certain moments when I look around the house and see how much has gone undone ... I am disappointed. For some reason I can never find the right balance. I find enough for happiness but there are just those moments throughout the day.....

3. I am loving Facebook! Leah was totally right. It has been a great way to connect and nice and easy. Donna I totally wish you would do Facebook......hint hint hint.

4. As of right now, I have bills to pay, a late birthday present to get in the mail, happies to send to some girlies, a scrapbook to finish, 2 scarves to finish, dishes, laundry, homework (the usual), and I don't want to do any of it! I would rather be here blogging about what I need to do than doing......but I know I NEED to do it so then I stress. Sigh...such a vicious circle I create. So guess what I will be doing when I am done? LOL!

5. Bailey texted me with "i got my permitttt :D". Please say a prayer for us.........

6. I am desperately jonesin' for a diet vanilla pepsi.

Gotta interrupt this blog...phone ringing off the hook and my time is up, have to go pick Mason up from school.
Later-taters.
Hugs and happies.
m

Green Splat

Hey ladies...and gentlemen that may read my blog.
A quick little post to say HEEEYYYY!
I am knee deep in cleaning and nursing textbooks (mixed with projects I have been working on).
So my goal today is to finish up the nasty cleaning ick and work on both finishing up projects (especially the one I told Leah about a month and a half ago!) and prepare for first test this week.
Pretty boring, right?
Hope all is well with you.
Hugs and happies.
m

Happiness

Happiness is laughter.
Happiness is a new darker hair color (shown in this blurry picture of yours truly).
Happiness is 3 snow days in a row.
Happiness is a hot cup of coffee on a freeze your butt of day.
Happiness is getting your homework done a week before it is due.
Happiness is a clean house.
Happiness is cuddling with Shawn.
Happiness is words that make you smile...
like the ones left on posts by super uber cool friends.
like the ones you see in quotes to inspire (such as the ones I found on Heidi Swapps blog)...

"Happiness itself is a kind of Gratitude." Joseph W. Krutch

and

"Thoughts are ENERGY and you can make your world or break your world by THINKING" -Susan L. Taylor

like the ones that capture memories and tell stories.

Happiness is Bailey reading ... because she soo doesn't read, and is finding a whole new world.

Happiness is connecting on the Internet.

Happiness is creating.

Happiness is Mason making me laugh and still wanting to cuddle with me.

Happiness is just being thankful.

Hugs and happines.

m

Right Now

Right now I haven't uploaded any new pictures so I borrowed an image from google.

Right now I am relaxed.

Right now we are on a snow day!!! Woohooo! Not only do the kiddos have a snow day but I do too, which totally rocks! Love a snow day. A day to stay inside and be lazy. Who doesn't enjoy one of those days?

Right now I am working on another knitting project. Last winter I taught myself how to knit and honestly it isn't the most enjoyable thing for me. I love the results but it takes me forever and it isn't very therapeutic. However, this winter I found the knitting loom. I think I read somewhere it was used in the 1700's. This week I have been knitting a scarf on the knitting loom and LOVE IT! Will have to bore you with some pictures soon. LOL!

Right now I am so thankful for our home. With the weather being so crazy cold I am truly blessed to have a nice warm home.

Right now I am loving today's daily teaching from "The Secret". It is talking about being in harmony and says "...It is the same feeling as when you float on water. If you are tense, or if you resist the water, you will sink. If you surrender to the water, the water will support you and you with float. That is the feeling, and that is how you harmonize yourself....." Pretty neat huh? I would love to have this kind of harmony.

Right now I am reading "A Theory of Relativity" and my nursing text books. Not at the same time but they are the books I am working on.

Right now I'm going to go enjoy my snow day.

Hugs and happies.

m

My First Random List of 2009

1.) I don't know what it was he unwrapped but this is my absolute favorite part of Christmas morning....seeing the excitement and feeling the happiness. 2.) Yesterday while working I was having a conversation with one of the doctors who told me he was 61 (and I about fell over!!). It reminded me of age...which reminded me of mine......I will be 35 flipping years old in April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How come I don't feel 35? Why does it shock me to think of myself at 35? Maybe because I am still a student in college and act like I am 15?

3.) Yes Bai and Shawn crack me up!!! They were playing for the camera...kind of. LOL! Shawn was annoying Bai and then they started posing. Goh...I love my little family of comedians.

4.) My very favoritest place to be in winter is curled up next to Shawn. I sigh at the thought of my ice cold hands next to his skin...usually on his back which totally makes him angry but I cannot help myself because it is my favoritest place to be.

5.) Our only tradition for the past 15 years at Christmas time has been Christmas Eve pj's. The one gift Bai and Mase get to open and even though they know what it is, they still get excited.

6.) Made it through first day of classes today. It is back to the old same old same old. Kind of icky but if you look on the positive side (which I totally TRY to do) I am a day closer to my goal. Two semesters, 15 weeks, and 3 days left ..... not that I am counting or anything :O)

7.) The only thing I love about winter are the big fat snow flakes and when the ice looks so stunning on the trees. This photo is a close up of a tree in our yard. Looks kind of cool. Wish there would have been some different lighting but by time there was I had forgotten to take the pictures.

8.) I have a really messy house right now that is niggling on my mind while I sit here and type. Guess what I get to do when I am done?

9.) These windmill thingies are sprouting up the next town over. I had heard they were putting them up but was shocked at how big they were until I drove by them. The picture doesn't quite give them justice at how incredibly HUGE they are...pretty impressive.

10.) Had a lunch with a old (not that we are old!!!!!!!!!!) class mate and it was soooo incredibly nice. I miss the connection of history with people. Ya know?

Alright...as always there is more random-ness, but I have to save it for another day because the dog needs to go out, dinner needs to get started, my phone is ringing, Mason wants on the computer, and did I mention my house is a mess?

Hugs and happies.

m

Book List (2008) Blog

As you may well know, I have trouble posting a blog without a picture.
So.....here is a picture.
Bailey pointed it out this morning on our way out the door to school. She said "look Mom it's a heart". We don't know how the impression was made but it looked like someone did it on purpose. Totally made us smile!

Now for the Book List of 2008.

Might bore some of you.

But I like to use my blog as a journal... so here goes:

1. The Memory Keeper's Daughter Kim Edwards

2. A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini

3. Wicked Gregory Maguire

4. Quickie James Patterson

5. Shadow Music Julie Garwood

6. The Almost Moon Alice Sebold

7. The 6th Hour James Patterson

8. The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett

9. Dogs of Babel Carolyn Parkhurst

10. World Without End Ken Follett

11. Journal Revolution Linda Woods and Karen Dinio

12. Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

13. Second Glance Jodi Picoult

14. How To Be Happy Dammit Karen Salmanson

15. The Mephisto Club Tess Gerristen

16. 7th Heaven James Patterson

17. The Final Warning James Patterson

18. Lost Souls Lisa Jackson

19. Heartstopper Joy Fielding

20. Plum Lucky Janet Evanovich

21. The Tenth Circle Jodi Picoult

22. The Host Stephanie Meyer

23. City of Bones Cassandra Clare

24. Change of Heart Jodi Picoult

25. City of Ashes Cassandra Clare

26. White Out Ken Follet

27. Sail James Patterson/Howard Roughan

28. Breaking Dawn Stephanie Meyer

29. Eleven on Top Janet Evanovich

30. Hunting Fear Kay Hooper

31. Lean Mean 13 Janet Evanovich

32. Daniel X James Patterson/Michael LEdwidge

33. The Keepsake Tess Gerristen

34. Fractured Karin Slaughter

35. Smoke Screen Sandra Brown

36. Change of Heart Jodi Picoult

37. The Lace Reader Brunonia Barry

I didn't list the billions of nursing books I read because...well that would be boring. LOL!

Here is what I have learned from these books to pass on to all of you readers out there.

Looking on this list I see things that stand out and books I cannot remember (which means they probably weren't uber good but OK):

***The Lace Reader was a shocking book that made me rethink all that I had read...wowza still thinking on that one.

***James Patterson books are really not that great any more. Not sure of if he is putting them out to fast or if it is the people he is writing with, but ehhhh.

***I will gobble up and read ANYTHING Stephanie Meyer, Karin Slaughter, Tess Gerristen, or Jodi Picoult puts out for us.

***Pillars of the Earth was worth reading all 700billion pages....REALLY liked that book!

***Didn't think I would like A Thousand Splendid Suns but read it anyway for a book club and it made me cry. A good book.

***Any time I want a good laugh and easy read I pick up a Janet Evanovich book. Anyone out there who doesn't have time and is stressed pick up her One for The Money. That series had me laughing out loud and I would read an excerpt to Shawn because he would want to know what I could possible be reading to make me laugh out loud.

ANYHOOO.... I am sure there is more but I really must go pick up Bai from the bus stop.

Hugs and happies to you.

See you soon (with some good pictures)

m