Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin and Romeo

Sigh.....sorry folks, it's been a couple of days I know since you heard from me. I think I must be catching what the bear has or some energy sucking germ, because I have been absolutely EXHAUSTED the past couple of days...today as well actually. Without further ado, let me catch you up on the latest.

Wednesday I worked the early shift which is always a blessing since it means I get out of work at 2:15. Still a full days work, but doesn't feel like it. So after work I went to visit Rachel, aka Rapunzel for the next few weeks. She and Allan have become so close to us that they have also been relegated to that status of family. Only a few more weeks till their little sprout is welcomed into the world and I can't wait. Their close proximity to us will enable me to lavish on the little one all the extra hugs and kisses I have stored up for Beth and Sean's new little sprout since they are so far away, can't let them got to waist. LOL  I am absolutely ecstatic about being asked to be in charge of her baby shower too so Wednesday was our first planning session. We got a lot accomplished, I was concerned she would feel like we hadn't done enough, but to my surprise she said it was more than she had expected, so that was good.  Afterwards I was so tired when I got home that writing a blog entry that night was simply out of the question.

So Thursday was a nice quiet day for the most part. Ben stayed home sick that day, which for him, means he's REALLY sick, which he was, he has been fighting it all week actually. Poor thing was just feeling horrible, to the point that I considered staying home to take care of him, but opted to go in and just let him sleep all day. It was Devon's last day at work. She is going to pursue college and eventually wants to go into a career with helping children. I think she'll be perfect for it. I was able to get out of work a little early and as I drove home I was suddenly overcome with exhaustion, so I had the plan to get home, check on Ben then lay down for a nap till it was time to make dinner. Well, those plans got altered a bit because after I got home I needed to go pick up a prescription for the bear and get a new humidifier since our old one decided to finally give up the ghost. I'll be honest, I was exhausted...I really didn't want to go back out. I quickly reminded myself though of how much Ben does for me when I'm sick and never complains. Well, I ran those errands and grabbed a Chinese soup for myself then came home. After I knew Ben had everything he needed to rest comfortably and the fuzzboy was fed and watered, I ate my soup started to write my blog entry for the night. I still felt a little tired though and it was still early, only 7 or so, so I decided to lay down for a little while and take a quick cat nap. Well, when I was finally woken up from my nap, it was over 4 hours later...it was after 11! I couldn't believe I had slept that long...and I couldn't believe Ben hadn't woken me up. He said he knew I was tired though and needed it so he let me sleep. I considered sitting up and writing my blog entry then, but I was still feeling pretty zonked, so I decided to just go to bed for the night. Sorry all you daily readers.....sleep trumped typing.

Which brings us to Friday, not just any Friday mind you, no I'm happily bringing back MHR Fridays!
(for those of you still unfamiliar with the MHR circle of bloggers please click the title of today's blog entry to be taken to Katy Lin's blog explaining it and feel free to join in the fun.) So this morning Ben woke me up with a kiss on the cheek and whispered in my ear that he had breakfast ready for me. My first response was, "Why are you up? Why aren't you in bed?" Apparently that one prescription and the humidifier were what he needed to get him back on his feet. Thank you God!! I was very thankful to hear that because honestly I worry about him when he's sick. Anyway, a little while later when I finally emerged from the bedroom to come into the kitchen where I heard him rattling around he proudly walked over to me and hugged me. "Look, I made you breakfast! I wanted to take care of you since you took care of me so much this week." (Insert warm fuzzy encrusted AWWWWWWW here) Suddenly I flashed back to yesterday when I was internally grumping about having to go back out because I was so tired and thinking how glad I was that I had kept my mouth shut. He does so much for me all the time in big and small ways, from the basics of working hard to make sure we always have a roof over our heads and food on our table, to doing things like making me a thank you breakfast, it's really a small thing to be able to give back to him when he needs it. So my husband rocks because he never fails to make me feel cherished.
I love you bear, XOXOXOXO
Night all,

Happy New Year 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

2010

I had honestly planned on staying home tonight even though our church was having a coffee house. Not that I didn't want to go, I did, but honestly....it's a half hour drive, in the snow and I just wanted to stay home and chill. HOWEVER, Ben was all excited to go and made a big batch of his famous salsa and I don't ever want to be responsible for stealing a moment of joy from him, so we went. Now I'm glad that we did. It was a lot of fun and it's always nice to hang out with our extended family. Lots of good food, good music, good friends and good fun.

Here are a few pics from the night. I didn't get to take as many as I had planned, but that's ok.

The first one is Jess, she'll kill me if she sees the pic, but she doesn't read this blog so I'm safe...LOL. She was surprised by some of the girls on the worship team to do a karioke of the Grease song, Beauty School Drop Out. LOL......the girls put silver Christmas trees on their heads to re-create the scene from the movie. Oy-vey too much craziness for a non-alchoholic party.

Then after the ball dropped in Times Square there was an impromptu kick line to Auld Lang Syne.

Normally we stay and help clean up after this kind of thing, but honestly, neither of us felt like it tonight and there were enough people helping, so we made a run for it.

Anyway, it's super late, I'm tired, the bear is already sleeping and so is the boy...so it's short and sweet tonight.

May all of you have a year filled with blessings, joy overflowing and more peace, health and happiness than your lives can contain in 2010. May abundance cross your doorstep everyday and may hope fill every place in your heart that used to be filled with despair. Moreover, may the love and mercy of God flood over you and yours from the tops of your heads to the soles of your feet.

Good night all, and God bless!

A Crazy Bride to Be and MHR Friday

(If you aren't yet familiar with the MHR Fridays group of bloggers please click the title of this blog entry to be taken to Katy Lin's main MHR Friday page and feel free to join in!)
So today Rachel, Celeste and I went shopping for Rachel and Allan's wedding next April. The biggest thing we purchased of course was her gown. OH MY GOSH, can you say PRINCESS BRIDE??? The dress is absolutely FABULOUS!!!! She looks like she stepped off the page of a fairytale bedtime story. So after we left David's Bridal we went to grab some lunch. We expected of course a relaxed and enjoyable lunch among friends......instead what Celeste and I endured was a miriad of squeaks, squeals, bouncing up and down and being bopped on the head and banged into by bride to be Rachel who was FARRRRRRR too wired from the excitement of just purchasing her dress. LOL Several times we assured our waitress that she was in fact completely sober and not in any way legally medicated or illegally high.......I'm not sure she believed us though. LOL
Anyway, so after we left the restaurant we decided to do some shopping since we were at the mall anyway. Imagine three of us crammed into a handicap sized dressing room critiquing all of the sweaters wacko Rachel was trying on. LOL....seriously, how hard is it to take off a sweater??? Who knew that undressing for her would be like trying to get a finger out of a Chinese finger puzzle!!! ROFL
NEXT...we went to another store and Rachel found the earrings to wear with her wedding dress and a few other things. Then we ran to The Christmas Tree Shop (if you are lucky enough to have one of these near you, OHHHHH what a glorious store!!!) where we were VERY blessed b/c somebody had accidentally placed a ton of white candles in with the Christmas clearance items and the manager decided to honor the 50% off price. So we got all the candles we needed WOO-HOO!!
Our next pit stop was A.C.Moore......ohhhhhhhhhhh the mother-load of what we needed. Her colors are ivory, blue and silver....and guess what? We found exactly what we needed in those exact colors in the Christmas clearance section and they aren't even remotely Christmas looking. So the centerpieces and the table decor for the reception are basically done...only a couple other items needed to complete the look of the room. Plus we decided what to do for favors and the cost? $11.00 !!! Yep, that's right.....that's all it will cost to make the favors!! So when we went to the front to pay for all the things we got (which was a LOT), it came to just over $60.00...and the amount we saved? A WHOPPING $126.00 !!!! Yep, you read that right, we SAVED that much money!!! It was AWESOME!!!
So for an 8 hour day, I think we did pretty darn well. The only bad thing was that poor Celeste had to head back to her home in Brooklyn, NY on the late train. So as I write this she probably still has just about a half hour to twenty minutes left of travel time. It was fun though, what a great day and a PRODUCTIVE day too!!!
Soooooooooooooooo after all of that, where on earth is the MHR Friday?
Well, as I was reminded of how Rachel and Allan blend so well together and how involved and attentive he is to not only her, but to this whole process.....I couldn't help but think of my own knight in shining armor. When Ben and I got married 7+ years ago he was also totally involved. He wasn't one of these grooms that just showed up, he was involved in every detail and it was truly OUR wedding...not just my wedding. He has remained like that for all these years too. He is always attentive and involved and still treats me like a queen. Something that I never dreamed possible.
A few weeks ago I was running low on panty liners and even though I knew I needed them I hadn't gotten a chance to go get more. I didn't think to mention to Ben that I needed to go to the store...things were just too hectic and I knew I still had a few days worth left. So that Monday I planned to pick them up on my way home. Well, completely unbeknown to me he had noticed I was running low. I guess the box lid was slightly open or something and he saw them. Well he took it upon himself to go into the bathroom with a sheet of paper and a pen and wrote down the exact brand, style, size and quantity that I prefer. Then after he dropped me off at Sprout Central and before he had to be to work he stopped at the store and bought them for me and only told me about it that evening when he picked me up from work.
Now you MUST understand something about me, I am REALLY funny about honoring a man's masculinity so along with promising him I would never make him sleep in a frilly foo-foo girly bedroom, I also promised him I would NEVER ask him to pick up any feminine hygiene products for me...and in10 years of being together I have faithfully kept that promise. So the fact that he did this for me, without my asking or even mentioning it was HUGE...not just because it was thoughtful, but because of the statement it made to me of how much he cares. So why does my husband rock??? Because of all the little thoughtful things he does for me.....he is my knight in shining armor...and always will be....and the good news??? Rachel and I are not the only ones to find one, there are lots of them out there...just waiting for the woman who will love and appreciate them for who they are!

Your Guide to Who's Who In My Life

Well.....since this blog will be about family, friends and my life in general, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce the regulars you will be hearing about most often.

Ben ~ My sweet husband (a.k.a. The Bear, My Sweet Marine, Benny Bear, My Knight in Shining Armor, Studley Do-Right or any variation of the five)
Sarge ~ Our dog (a.k.a. Sargie, The Boy, Mini Marine, The Fluff, Fuzzbuster, Shortie, and The Poof, Fuzztoes or any variation of the eight)
The Deathstar ~ The company my husband and I work for. I have no intention of making this blog a rant of any kind so my referances to this will be limited.
Beth ~ My best friend and soul sister for 22 years. (a.k.a. Sis, Betharooni)
The A-Team ~ Beth's family that can be read about by following the link "Alcablog" in my section titled, "The Nouns" (a.k.a. Sean, J, and Rowdy)
Lori ~ My second best friend for over 10 years (a.k.a. Loolabell)
David ~ My younger brother (a.k.a. Rog)
Mom ~ My mother
Momchu ~ My mother in law (a.k.a. World's best MIL, world's best shortbread cookie maker)
Tatu ~ My Father in law
Mike ~ My brother in law
NL ~ Our Church
Isaiah ~ The ministry we work with to feed the homeless and low income (a.k.a. Isaiah 58 Outreach)
The Cottage ~ Our home

Well, these are the main players in my life on a daily basis, all others will be introduced as they are mentioned.