No Words....

Ok... um... wow. Just wow.

It started this morning when the family doctor called me and said that they missed something on the Xray, and they wanted me to come back in.

So now the doctor has me worried about a hairline fracture or something. The good news is that a Podiatrist's office was just a floor above the family Dr. office, and he wanted me to see him this morning.

I didn't just fracture my foot. I BROKE it. It went unseen by the Family Dr. because it was a clean break right next to a seam/ joint.

The Orthoepedic Dr. said that had I come in 3 weeks ago when it happened, he would have put screws and pins in my foot, and put me in a cast. BUT, because we are 3 weeks into the injury, he wants to try the boot first. He said that I am really lucky that the break stayed clean and aligned all this time, and that nothing shifted....

I have to wear the boot AND use crutches... through the beginning of January!!!!

In January I'll have a check up, and we'll see what happens from there. I do have a small lump on the side of my foot, and the doctor says that it might be permanent... :(

If you take a look down at your own right foot, on the outside edge, about halfway... that's what I broke. And in the Dr's terms... I "broke it good."

And may I remind you... I'm in a wedding next week! I don't think I'll be rehemming the dress, LOL! Let's hide this boot!

Raw....

So last night a new friend in our new church invited us out for Vietnamese food. Nate and I were game so we packed up the kids and headed out. We ended up realizing we were short on time, because of Youth Group last night, so we stopped into this little local Japanese restaurant.

Now, Nate and I really enjoy Japanese Steak Houses... you know the kind, the ones where they cook at the table in front of you. So we thought we were pretty knowledgeable about Japanese food. Boy were we wrong, LOL!

Our host ordered for us.... he ordered A Lot for us. I have never eaten so much raw food in my life, but I gave everything a try! I thought California Rolls were "real sushi" with raw fish inside. Nope. Cooked Crab. Sooo... Lenny ordered sushi with raw salmon on top of the sushi, and sushi with eel on the inside. He also ordered this semi- raw tuna dish and mostly-raw beef dish. They were flash seared on the stove, so the outside was miniscule-ly cooked, and the inside cold as could be. But we were game, we wanted to try it all!

I'll be honest.... my mouth hesitated with each first bite. That piece of raw salmon sushi was the hardest to first bite into, but I did! And I liked it! I don't know if I could eat a lot of it, but I'll eat it again. Lenny laughed and said that he was "training us for if we were ever stranded near water..." LOL! I liked the beef better than the tuna, and Nate vice versa. Seth would have nothing to do with any of it, so he stuck with the steamed rice.

***************

Brand new!! A fun hybrid!




It's a card... it's an ornament! This double duty surprise arrives folded like a card, but once assembled it transforms into a holiday photo ornament. Directions included! In PSD format.

Get It HERE!

And of course.... 20% OFF today! Enjoy! Below are close ups of the example....




Have a great Thursday!

Thanksgiving Recap....

Thanksgiving was a great time! How could it be otherwise? What's better than spending time with your loved ones and eating comfort food? And surprisingly, there was NO arguing this year, between all the generational siblings and between spouses ;) LOL!

One special thing Nate and I did... was go on a date. I had realized a couple weeks back that we had not been out together by ourselves... since our anniversary in May! I KNOW! Tell me about it!

So we went to one of our favorite little local restaurants, The Narrows. Its situated right on the narrow of the bay where Kent Island is bridged to the main land of Maryland, Grasonville. Mmmm! Nate had the blackened tuna with garlic mashed potatoes and fried green tomatoes. I had a bowl of their famous cream of crab soup, and for dinner, Cioppino, which is clams, mussels, fish, jumbo shrimp, and lobster tail. Its in a tomato based broth, served over pasta.

We finished the night with 2 cups of Starbucks coffee... decaf for me since I did eventually want to sleep that night.

My BIL is a paramedic, and he took a look at my foot for me. He was concerned and told me I needed an Xray, immediately. The discoloration was too bad for 2 weeks post accident. So he had me scared and nervous. He had me thinking that it was broken and that they would have to reset it, and I'd be in a boot. LOL!

We went to our new Family Dr yesterday so one of the MANY docs there could check out my foot. Stupid Mapquest led us in the wrong direction and we ended up at someones rather large house. Once we called the center, got the real directions, and got there we were 40 min. late, LOL!

The doc looked at my foot and said "I don't think its broken... well, maybe not... let's get those Xrays."

A 38 week pregnant Xray tech took the images, and once they were looked at by the Doc, I just laughed. Nothing is fractured or broken. In FACT, he doesn't think I even tore anything, b/c that would mean my foot would be too lax, rather than how tight it is.

His prescrip? Rest and Advil.

What I'VE been saying from the very beginning, ROFLOL!

He rolled me up in an Ace bandage and sent me on my way.

****************

Here are some pictures and a recipe!

A new family picture, in front of my parents home.

Love these!

Here is my dad (with my mom to the right, with Seth) holding Lucas during his Dedication service.

Here's Nunkie Butch helping Seth decorate the reindeer cookies.

Can you tell which cookie Seth did? ;)

Rudolph Sugar Cookies

1 pkg refrigerated sugar cookie dough
36 pretzel twists
36 semisweet chocolate mini morsels
18 red cinnamon candies

1. Freeze dough 10-15 min.

2. Roll dough to 1/4- inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut dough with a 3-inch round cutter and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Using thumb and forefinger, pinch opposite sides of each slice about 2/3rds of the way down to shape face.

3. Break curved sides away from the center of each pretzel twist to form antlers. Press bottom of one set of antlers on each side at top of each reindeer face.

4. Bake at 350* according to package directions or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; press in 2 morsels for eyes and 1 cinnamon candy for nose. Let coll 1 min on baking sheets, then cool 20 min on wire racks.

Happy Thanksging!

Not much is going on here... just trying to get ready to go away to my parents today, so its all laundry and cleaning. The past 2 days were a lot of running around, and I've been on my foot too much, and I'm paying for it. I need to take it easier. It is nice and green, and there is a lump where I tore the ligament. And is it weird that it hurts under the pad of my foot too? Its hard to sleep b/c of the throbbing, and it almost feels like my foot is folding in on itself. Time for more Tylenol!

I lost a $50 dollar bill the other day, and I was frantic to find it all day yesterday. I was sure that I dropped it in a store on one of my errands, or that Seth found it and put it somewhere VERY safe. I was lying in bed last night and I couldn't sleep, and then I thought... maybe I stuffed it in that sweatshirt I wore for about 2 minutes the other day.

So at 12:45 am, I got up and checked. Nope. Then I thought... well, I'm up, so let me check the pockets in my robe.

And there it was!

Yippee! LOL! I was so relieved. I hobbled into bed and immediately woke Nate up and whispered "I found it!"

***************

We leave this afternoon to go to my folks house for this whole weekend. My whole family will be there, parents, 2 sisters, brother-in-law, and my grandparents. Fun times.... no really, it will be nice, LOL!

My dad is also a pastor, and he will be Dedicating Lucas this Sunday. We believe that baptism is a personal choice that you make for yourself later down the road. This Dedication is a small ceremony... more of a "Charge" to the parents to raise our child in a Christian home.

This Thanksgiving I am so very Thankful for so many thing....

my family

my wonderful hubby

the monkey and the koala who call me mama

God's love, faithfulness, and His provision

our health

owning our first home

loving our new city

nap time (LOL!)

new friends, and old friends

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

A Hairy Issue....

Why am I never happy with my hair? With Seth's hair? Why do I explain exactly what I want to hairdressers and they just go all willy-nilly and do what they want instead? ARRG! I'm so frustrated!

I took Seth to a place in the mall specifically for children. I told the stylist that his hair just needed blending and a trim. I want to grow his hair out... I want to try the adorable longer look on Seth. Three months down the drain, b/c what does Seth have now? The equally cute preppy short cut..... It is fine, it is cute, BUT NOT what I asked for.

And me? Well, I wanted a trim. They didn't have anything open today or tomorrow. OK, I say, but I really need my bangs trimmed. The receptionist says that they can fit me in. I like my bangs longer, swept to the side. That is what I told the lady. What happens? I look like a school girl! My bangs are too short, and I feel stupid.

The kicker is, I did all of this because we have a family portrait scheduled for Sunday. Not to mention that I am Matron of Honor in a wedding in 2 weeks.

(sigh)

I'm about to sign myself up for beautician classes so I can just do all of this myself!!!

Lastly, I leave you with some great examples of my CT using Cozy in their layouts.

Cozy & Call To Act

Here is Cozy.... my first new item since the move and in over a month!

Get It Here

"Cozy" is just what I want to be when the leaves turn beautiful colors and the air is crisp. Cozy the kit is full of those warm autumn colors perfect for an autumn or back to school layout, or even Thanksgiving cards.

Included in Cozy are 8 artistic papers, 5 felty stitched leaves, 3 buttons, 3 tags, 2 frames, 2 ribbons, 2 flowers, 1 ribbon photo wrap, 1 swirl, and 1 string of beads. Enjoy!

** and as always! 20% Off today!

Here is a quick LO of the boys I did yesterday with Cozy~

And... wow... have you seen this yet? Call To Act at The Digi Chick.

Can you believe its free?

Call To Act is a kit created by your favorite designers from all over the community with a common desire to make a change. This kit is being given as a free gift to all scrapbookers that can show that they are taking action to help in their communities. This could be donating canned goods for needful families for Thanksgiving, clothes for those affected by the fires if you live in California, or volunteering your time at evacuation shelters, even being apart of a donation effort put together by your church or child's school for the holidays. Sometimes contributing monetarily isn’t always feasible. This kit is to encourage you to step up and step out into your community. As they say, give and you shall receive.


· Upload your receipt, or photo (blur out sensitive information of course) packing boxes, or participating in school donation events or such.


· Describe what you did to contribute in the credits area


· TDC Administrators will PM participants with a code to check out with the kit for free.


· Layouts must be uploaded to The Digichick gallery linked HERE to be eligible.

**************

I participated!

Here in Montgomery County there is a place called Stepping Stone Shelter for the homeless. They take up to 6 families for 3 months, and help teach work skills to the parents. They also try to help find work and suitable living places for them once their term is over.

I belong to a Mom's Group Bible Study at my church and very recently we donated items for their "Oct Wish List." Stuff like new socks, coffee, underwear.... stuff most of us take for granted even if we are tight for money.

We felt really convicted about the Holidays and wanted to contribute again, and they offered us the parents for Christmas. Everyone always wants to do the kids, so we felt great about pampering the parents a bit that day too.

My contribution was nail polish for the 6 mothers there. I wanted to give them something personal and JUST for them.... and a bit upscale too.

See the pic of nail polish HERE.

JC Penney Catalog 1977‏

**** I got this as an email from my sister, who had forwarded it from a friend. I *think* its an original email from the friend's relative..... but dang, I could be wrong, LOL! For all I know ya'll saw this 2 months ago.

Last weekend I put an exhaust fan in the ceiling for my wife's grandfather. While my wife's brother and I were fitting the fan in between the joists, we found something under the insulation. What we found was this:


A JC Penney catalog from 1977. It's not often blog fodder just falls in my lap, but this was two solid inches of it, right there for the taking. I thumbed through it quickly and found my next dining room set, which is apparently made by adding upholstery to old barrels:



Also, I am totally getting this for my bathroom:

There's plenty more home furnishings where those came from; however, I'm not going to bore you with that. Instead, I'm going to bore you with something else. The clothes.

The clothes are fantastic.

Here's how to get your butt kicked in elementary school:

Just look at that belt. It's like a boob-job for your pants. He probably needed help just to lift it into place. The belt loops have to be three inches long. And way to pull them up to your armpits, grandpa.

Here's how to get your butt kicked in high school:

This kid looks like he's pretending to be David Soul, who is pretending to be a cop, who is pretending to be a pimp that everyone knows is really an undercover cop. Who is pretending to be 15.

Here's how to get your butt kicked on the golf course:

This "all purpose jumpsuit" is, according to the description, equally appropriate for playing golf or simply relaxing around the house. Personally, I can't see wearing this unless you happen to be relaxing around your cell in D-block . Even then, the only reason you should put this thing on is because the warden made you, and as a one-piece, it's slightly more effective as a deterrent against...

Here's how to get your butt kicked pretty much anywhere:

Here's how to get your butt kicked at the beach:

He looks like he's reaching for a gun, but you know it's probably just a bottle of suntan lotion in a holster.

How to get your butt kicked in a meeting:

If you wear this suit and don't sell used cars for a living, I believe you can be fined and face serious repercussions, up to and including termination. Or imprisonment, in which case you'd be forced to wear that orange jumpsuit.

How to get your butt kicked on every day up to and including St. Patrick's Day:

I don't believe that color exists in nature. There is NO excuse for wearing either of these ensembles unless you're working as a body guard for the Lucky Charms leprechaun.

In this next one, Your Search For VALUE Ends at Penneys.

As does your search for chest hair.

And this -- Seriously. No words.

I'm guessing the snap front gives you quick access to the chest hair. The little tie must be the pull tab.

Also, judging by the sheer amount of matching his/hers outfits, I'm guessing that in 1977 it was considered pretty stylish for couples to dress alike. These couples look happy, don't they?

I am especially fond of this one, which I have entitled "Cowboy Chachi Loves You Best."

And nothing showcases your everlasting love more than the commitment of matching bathing suits.

Then, you can relax in your one-piece matching terry cloth jumpsuits:

I could go on, but I'm tired, and my eyes hurt from this trip back in time. I think it's the colors. That said, I will leave you with these tasteful little numbers:

Man, that's sexy.

Santa's Stocking Up....

Getting back on my feet by Monday was a very ambitious thought. And it didn't exactly happen that way. Its now Tuesday, and I am very still much in need of a crutch. However! This morning I am able to put a bit of pressure on my heel. Nate did leave for his conference yesterday, leaving me in panic mode, BUT it went better than I thought. A couple ladies from church called to ask if I needed anything, but Nate left me pretty stocked up. Bath & Bed time took f o r e v e r but at least both my children got clean, LOL!

Stairs a re a challenge, especially with Lucas. I have to hold him in my lap and come up and down on my bottom.

Santa is starting to stock up at our house.

Here's what we have so far....

For Seth:

Automoblox Minis

These cars are so cool.... they are kinda like blocks, where you can change out the fronts and ends and interchange, and I love that they are made out of durable wood.

My First Batmobile (Along with Batman & Superman figures)

Lift Off Rocket

Candy Land Castle Game

For Lucas:

Sing & Go Choo Choo

Grip & Grasp Stroller toy

Rumblin Truck

Our Big Toy we are (err.... Santa is) doing is putting together a Wooden Thomas Train Table for them. (I know that Lucas is still young for that, but dang! Its rather expensive, and if he's anything like his brother, I'm sure he'll love it within the year.) Seth already has a figure 8 set, so we are supplementing it with the Table, expansion pack, extra track, more train cars, covered bridge, train shed.... I can't wait to see his face!

I'm also planning on Ratatoullie DVD too. I know that Gramma is getting them a Wagon for Christmas.

I could use a couple more ideas... especially for Lucas. Its hard for him b/c he's at the age where he's more interested in household stuff than actual toys, and he has all of Seth's old baby toys... KWIM?

Off to work! That's right, you heard me! ;)

Call Me Gimpy.....

Did I have a day or what yesterday??? I was eating a Starburst and lost a filling. Then last night, I was running around with Seth and I fell. I heard a "POP" and knew it was bad. I ended up tearing some ligaments on the outside of my right foot, and am currently using a crutch to get around. Its all swollen/ bruising, and distorted.

This is a huge Deja Vu for me, because I fell in the yard when I was 7 mos. pregnant with Seth, and broke my ankle. The next day Nate had to leave for a conference, and I was stuck grocery shopping. Now imagine in your heads a hugely pregnant woman trying to navigate a grocery store on crutches. :c( Anyhoo~ Nate is leaving for a conference on Monday for a couple days. So I really need to be on my feet again by then. Thankfully its not as bad this time around as last.

Speaking of running.... I never got to share this.

I went to my college's Homecoming a few weekends back and ran in their Alumni 5K. I came in 2nd for women! And I was 7th or 8th overall! Sweet! Let me tell you though.... that was a challenge. It was still hot up here in MD (think 90 degrees) so I only packed shorts and a tee. Well, the race started at 8 am, and it was closer to 55 degrees and frosty! I also hadn't run consistently b/c of the move and such. My time was 26 min and 20 sec. I was a bit disappointed that I lost a minute over my 5K win a couple years before, but not shabby either. I got a nice ribbon, LOL!

And.... TOOT!

I have a LO featured nice and big on the Simply Stunning page in the new Dec/ Jan Digital Scrapbooking Magazine! Woot! Its of my lil' Lucas! Well... when he was nice and little, LOL!

I've started Christmas shopping for the boys, so be on the lookout for some of the list... coming soon! :c) Off to ice my foot and take some more Tylenol!

hee hee hee.....

HOT off the presses, LOL! I just got this from someone at church (I didn't get one of my own!)

Can you guess who we were???

Happy Belated Halloween!

From The Pirate and the Dragon..... (it sounds like a children's story doesn't it? Or at least a fable... LOL!)




And let me tell you..... I definitely have plans for a Scrap page featuring the out takes of the 2 kids together, LOL!

And since I didn't get a chance to share any beach pictures, I thought I would share this one. I adore this! My two kiddos and their lovely cousins under the pier.

****************

And a quick new delicious recipe. We had this last night!

Taco Soup

1 ½ lbs lean ground beef, browned and drained OR 2 C diced cooked chicken / ground turkey

1 16oz can black beans, undrained

1 16oz can pinto beans, undrained

2 14oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1 14oz can whole kernel corn, drained

1 package taco seasoning mix, dry

1 package ranch dip mix, dry

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and simmer on low for 6 hours OR heat thoroughly to blend flavors and simmer until serving. Place crumbled tortilla chips, bite size corn chips, or soft flour tortillas. In individual bowls. Cover w/ meat mixture.

Top w/ : sour cream, shredded cheese, sliced black olives, chopped green onions.

*** This is a thicker consistency. I did end up adding about a cup of water, and on the spur of the moment a couple dashes of hot sauce, a spoonful of jarred garlic, and some salt and ground pepper.

****************

Have a great November day!

Hallelujah!

We finally have internet at home!

I'll be back in action before you know it!!!

ROCK ON!

Get IT Now!

These are the absolute LAST days to get Fusion, the collab from Michelle Underwood and myself.

I WILL be retiring it permanently Sunday or Monday. As a retiring treat, it is 20% off until then. Use the coupon code burns-fusion20

Enjoy!