Monday

Well today my Grandma had her surgery bright and early. Everything went ok. They bypassed the cancer which is good news, but weren't able to do anything about the tumor. The doctor said again, "this is just to make her comfortable in the meantime." The ovarian cancer is super aggressive and trying to just take over. She is to start chemo again when she gets out in about a week. It was really hard to see her yesterday. She was hooked up to so many machines. But her spirit was up as much as she could be. I really don't know how much time she has....the doctor said it could be anywhere from 6 months to a year, so I don't know if she should try to go to NY? We're just all waiting and it will seriously be a very last minute decision. I just want to say "thank you" to all that have either called or emailed, listened or just posted. It means a lot. I am close to her, its like she's more than just my grandma. Any ways.....if I seem scatter brained just understand my mind is totally else where. Thank you!

So on to some other things......did you know the library is closed of Fridays??? Oh Zach was mad. So off to Borders we went and bought some Little Critter books.

The Tour de Crop was SO MUCH FUN! I'll post pics later. I bought some cool stuff for my new scraproom....which I'll share more on that later!

Gotta run...time for homework.

Update

Well, it's not good. My Grandma has a blockage in her colon and it's the ovarian cancer. She has to have surgery on Monday to have it removed and while their doing that, they are going to try and remove the tumor that is pushing on her kidney. I feel so bad for her. I just wonder how much more can she endure? They don't really know what her recovery will be like until they are done. It could be as serious as her having a colostomy bag for a few weeks. Which if that happens she can't go to NY. And already she's saying she isn't going to go, which I totally understand. On Sunday I'm going to go visit her in the hospital.

So with all that........NY is possibly going to be cancelled. I think we should still go, I know my grandma will say that, but my mom & aunt are on the fence. If we cancel we'll be out so much money. I don't know what will happen with the flights. My grandma used all her miles to pay for 6 airline tickets. Would they let her get all the miles back? Or am I committed to an airline ticket that will need to be used in the future? And then all the show tickets. We have 21 tickets! How would we sell those??? So needless to say I'm on pins and needles. I want to go, but I understand the anxiety.

Then this morning I read this

That's a little unnerving considering we bank with them. Is anybody else a little freaked out with what's going on in the economy?

So with all my stuff going on, my friend called me late yesterday and said, "Hey wanna catch movie?" Yeah! That's just what I needed to get my mind off of everything. We saw this

Such a chick flick....and really good. Then I think we just talked for about 2 hours after.....thank you, I need it. See you Saturday ;)

Speaking of Saturday, I'm hosting the Tour de Crop at my work and I'm really looking forward to it. Come if you can!

Today I'm not doing a whole heck of a lot. I asked Zachary if he wanted to do like 3 different things and he said no to all of them and said he just wants to go to the library. Love that he loves books so much. Maybe I can sneak a pedicure and manicure in there somehow. Have a great weekend!

My Grandma

I haven't said much about her here lately, but I'm starting to get really worried about her health. I hadn't called her in about 2 weeks (I was in AZ and then got sick) and needed to, so I did this morning. She sounded terrible. Like death was knocking on her door. About a month ago I mentioned that her tumor had grown and was pushing on her kidney. She had the surgery the day I left for CE and I spoke with my mom and she was doing fine, but what they had discovered was really bad. The cancer has spread to her lungs and to her spleen. I called her the next day to see how she was doing and she seemed really upbeat and positive. At this time she had 6 weeks before our trip and was going to go through some intense chemotherapy. I got home and then got sick and just let too much time pass before I called. So today when I called, she could barely talk. Said she's been throwing up for the last 3 days and can't keep water down. Her friend Alice was there trying to help.....but she's just as old as my Grandma. She mentioned she wanted to go to the hospital because she is in so much pain. Soon as I got off the phone I called my mom. Great...she's at a conference. So I try her cell....voicemail. I'm thinking I need to get out there. One 80 year old lady can't take care of another! My mom calls me back and says, "I have bad news...." Oh jeeze.....I gulp....."Grandma is in the hospital and their doing tests, I'm on my way out there now." I'm waiting for her to call to tell me what's going on. We also talked about NY. It doesn't look like she'll be going. I'm really trying to keep a positive outlook on this. Maybe she just happened to catch the flu? Because what she is describing is how I was sick with the flu. I so hope it's nothing serious, but I am really worried. Please keep my Grandma in your thoughts, she needs all the prayers she can get.

New York

I leave in 3 weeks! It seems as though it came super fast! Can't wait.....just wanted to share!

Monday

Just wanted to say HELLO~trying to get my home back in order. I worked ALL weekend. The anniversary was a great time. I taught all day. I love teaching scrapbooking stuff. I have the Tour de Crop this weekend so I have little things I need to get ready for for that. Can't wait!

Austin's football team is undefeated! I'm going to miss Saturday's game :( Austin is also becoming more conscious of fashion and has decided "skinny jeans" are what he wants. Do you know how hard it is to find slim skinny jeans? My son is SO skinny that the slims are too big and I told him he has to wear a belt.

So I know I talked about the City program in my last post and about moving & money, but how strange is it that we found the perfect place to move to in the mean time? We weren't really even looking. Just figure we'd stay put until we hear from the city. Anyway, we really want this house (to rent) but not sure if it's in the cards for us financially. We've been fortunate enough that since we got on a budget two years ago that we don't ever fight about money. It's all there in black & white....either you have it or you don't. So I'm wondering if we take this plunge will it stress us out too much? In my head I can visually see us there, but in my heart I just worry. How do you know when you should just take a chance?

We got a letter!

It's from the city Economic Development Dept. Something we've been waiting patiently for. Like 16 1/2 months waiting for. So Ryan tears into it. It's not exactly what we thought, but here's the jist of it. The Redevelopment Agency is remodeling a 22unit townhome community. It will have 2 and 3 bedroom homes that range from 1200 to 1500 sq ft and will be sold at the moderate income pricing, ranging from $300K to $333K. Construction starts in 2009 and will be done in 2010. We were "chosen" to be considered and need to submit paperwork. So it's good.....but such a long wait. As most of my friends know we have been on this "list" with the city hoping to get first time buyer assistance. I had a friend do it and it was very successful, but just takes a long time to be called. I have mixed feelings about this. As much as we want to say YES! we really don't want to live in a townhouse. And it's a tri-level one at that. I'm not ungrateful, but worried if we pass it up, will we be bumped again? Such a dilemma. Ryan is going to call the city on Monday. Hopefully they can answer some questions we have.

Today I took Zachary to California Adventures. First off....it was hot! Soon as we got in we rushed right over to the new ride, Toy Story Mania. After about 20 minutes in line it breaks down. So we wait, and we wait, and we wait some more. Finally we get out of line and do other things to kill time....because we really just wanted to go on that. He didn't understand and it kind of started the melt down. "I want to go home, I want to ride Toy Story, I want to go to Build-a-Bear." Ugh.....please stop whining. So we find a happy medium, Camp Grizzly or at least I think that's what it's called. He whined a little and then started getting into it and then an allergy attack. Zachary has really bad allergies. His eyes are red and watering, he starts scratching his head, sneezing and then hives start to break out in the creases of his arms. So now I have to convince him I have to go to the bathroom to get him away from whatever is making him break out and wash him off. Once we leave and get to the bathroom and rinse off....all the signs start to disappear. That's when I suggest Build-a-Bear. This was his treat for working on his chart for the last 3 weeks. Zachary had regressed about a month ago and stopped pooping. Most everyone knows that he did this from the time he was 4 months old until about 9 or 10 months ago and then one day he figured it all out. No more medicine, no more charts and then last month he just stopped. So the chart came back and he's back on track.....This was his first trip to Build a Bear. He only got clothes. He got to pick one outfit, and he picked Daddy's favorite football team the 49er's. It's so stink'in cute! He now wants a Build-a-Bear birthday party. I think that would be fitting for a 5 year old who loves stuffed animals. Well now I'm rambling and I'm being called to help..... I'll be working a lot this weekend, it's the Bee's Anniversary sale and there are some great things going on! Have a great weekend!

Catching Up

Well it has been one heck of a week with being sick! Today is the first day I feel 100%. Whatever this strain of flu I had was bad. I managed to go to Oak Glen, but I probably should have stayed home. I really pushed myself. I'm adding a slide of the pics I took, thought that was more fun to look at! In the last two weeks both my boys have started school and I'm loving the routine of "normal." Though I hate that Ryan is gone all night on Tuesdays. "It's temporary" I keep telling myself. With the way the economy has taken a down turn, it's SO important that he's getting his MBA. My uncle has now been out of work for 6 months. They are super stressed out. He doesn't have a college degree and though he has a ton of experience, companies have their pick of the litter. Why hire a 50 yr old man that makes 4x's what a 30 yr old will do for less? What a total drag. Tonight is Back to School night at Austin's school. I'm looking forward to it, but it stinks cuz it's a Tuesday. Gotta do everything solo. Well, I'm going to watch my tivo'd Oprah and work on my unfinished projects from Creative Escapes. I'll share them when I'm all done.

The flu has made it's first apperance

On me! I have been SO SICK! It started Wednesday night with chills, then by morning I had a fever and terrible stomach cramps and was super nauseous. It followed up by lingering on Friday, and last show of a fever was about 7pm and still the stomach cramps all through the night. Today I feel better, but the stomach cramping is just miserable. I hope it's gone by tomorrow morning, we have plans to go to Oak Glen. I'd hate to cancel.

Speaking of canceling.....I'm missing our Back to Crop today. I love hosting the events, but I knew I was just in no shape to do so. Hope our croppers enjoy the day!

Creative Escape

What an amazing event! The classes, the people, the food, the feeling......just left me completely inspired and not so overwhelmed any more. If you ever get the chance, GO! It's worth every penny. Karen & I are already planning on going next year. We had the most amazing time. Here are some pictures that I took;

We made lots of new friends and networked with ALL the teachers. We have some great things in the works for January when CHA is here **wink, wink**

On our way home we stopped here

They were actually closed and had a class going on. I called and said, "please could we visit!" So Diane said to come on down and we were so glad we did, because we ran into Debbie Schuh that taught at our store and the owner from Paper Tales. How cool is that? What a beeauuutiful store!

I got home late last night and today I'm trying to recover my home......3 boys minus 1 mom for 5 days = a BIG MESS! Gotta run and get Zachary and then Austin, hope you enjoy the pictures!

Labor Day Weekend

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I know I sure did. We were busy, busy. I took the kids to Buccaneer Bay on Friday and followed that up with scrapping at the Bee with Candice & Cheri later that night. Saturday brought us our first official football game and Austin's team won! Yeah Bengals! I have never seen Austin so passionate about anything. He wants to be early to practice and the games.....he tries to get dressed about 2 hours before, but I do make him wait so he doesn't sit around and sweat. After the game, a quick pizza party and then I met back up with Candice & Cheri to scrap some MORE! I didn't get much done, but they are a lot of fun to be around and so inspirational. I worked Sunday and started getting my projects pulled together for our Back-to Scrap Crop. Zachary hung out with Grandma, Ryan studied and Austin played with friends. Today we SHOPPED all day with my mom. Ryan played golf with my dad ;) The boys scored some good deals on school clothes and backpacks and mommy got some new blingy sandals for $8! I took my mom to Chick-fil-a for lunch, she's never had it before! Today they were giving away a free 3 piece strips to everyone! So I got 4 and that's what we had for dinner!

After we left Kohl's we headed to Tilly's and Nordstrom Rack, where I found shoes for NY. This is huge. You have to have comfortable shoes or your feet will hurt. Last time I didn't bring the best selection of shoes.....especially for night time. I thought a pair of black boots would look cute. Yeah it did, but boy did my feet ache. So here's what I found; the one on the left is by Cole Haan and have the Nike air cushion in them. The have a little bit of patent leather around the top and then the side has more. These are my "night time shoes." The shoes on the right are by Skechers and are my day time shoes. They both are soooo comfortable. I also picked up this bag a couple weeks ago to take with me. It will hold everything! We leave in 44 days! I can't believe how quickly it is approaching.

I leave in a just a little over 24hrs for Creative Escapes with Karen and cannot wait!!! I'm starting to get really excited. I don't even have half of my homework done or my supplies packed, but I'll be tackling that tonight and all day tomorrow! Speaking of tomorrow.....it's Austin's first day of school. Yeah! Zach starts next week. I'm sure I won't have time to blog until I get back, so have a great week!

Oh....layouts as promised. I need to figure out how to do a flickr account so I can update more often.

Really?

The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I was so lucky to catch an episode of this late last night. (was up working on a project for work) It more or less just flaunts the fact that they are filthy rich wasting money on frivolous things. I couldn't hardly believe it. I thought the OC Housewives were bad and the NY ones worse.....but this ones takes the cake! Shame on you Bravo for getting sucked in a third time!

Dinosaurs & a tag

Here are some pictures from the show "Walking with the Dinosaurs." It was really hard to get shots with out using a flash. The show was really good, but I felt at the end it was over priced. It started late, took a 25 minute break and we were out of there by 6:45 when it was to start at 5pm. Oh well....live and learn as I say!

Ok so Michelle tagged me. I know, I've done these 7 random things about me before, but I think I might have some new ones!

1. My birthday is on 12/12, I had a best friend when I was in Jr. High that had a birthday also on 12/12, my ex's bday was on 7/7 and I once dated a guy with a birthday on 11/11. Weird.

2. I have to eat chocolate at least once a day.

3. My feet used to be a size 5 1/2 until I had 2 kids and now they are a 7!

4. When I was 14 my best friend (14 also) lived across town. During the summer when everyone was at work she would drive and come pick me up to come over to her house! Her parents had this old 70's van they used to tow their boat and that's what she would drive!

5. I never ditched HS until April of my Senior year.

6. My hands are the same size as Austin's....he's 10.

7.Sorry....I can't think of a 7th thing!

Now I'd love to see some new blog posts for these ladies!

Stephanie-where you been girl?

Jenn

Erika

Debby

Becky

Laura

Christy

I bought this book last night

I'm hoping that it will help me with understanding my camera more. The pamphlet they included with the camera doesn't really explain too much. Ryan had to order his text books, so I thought I might as well add this on.

We have football in an hour....so I gotta run!

Time for a change

I changed my blog colors as you can see. Figure since summer is coming to an end I would soften the look a bit. You have to check out that link for some great backgrounds that are free. They have some super cute fall ones. Thanks again Michelle for sharing that link ;)
I work today for a few hours and then off to see Walking with the Dinosaurs. I sure do hope my kids don't get scared, well mostly Zachary. I scrapped with my friend Cheri last night and managed to finish 5 layouts. I'm surprised because there was a lot of talking going on! But I did notice I flubbed one of my titles...."Crates" when it should say, "Crafts!" I was showing Ryan them and he said, "what are crates?" It's a great feeling to get my scrapbooking groove back. I think it was kind of lost for awhile. Well, I'm off to get ready, tomorrow I will share some pics!

It's been awhile

Since my last post. I don't know why blogger is always the first thing to get put to the wayside when life gets crazy. We've had lots of football practice, a funeral, a final soccer game, out of town guests, a carnival to go to, and a trip to Palm Desert. Zach & I spent 4 days at my Grandmas this week. I needed that break from all the hustling around. Though I was very stressed leaving because a lot is coming up in the next two weeks. So anyways.....back to my Grandma. I swear not within the first few hours we were there that she got some disturbing news. "Hi, I'm a letter from the County of Riverside telling you that one of the healthcare facilities you recently visited had a patient that has tuberculosis and you've possibly been exposed. Here's an 800 # to call to schedule a test." Aaaaaccccck! Guess what kept her very upset for the next 20hrs? Yes only 20 because then she had a PETscan (checks her organs and tumors) and they tell her that her tumor is pressing up against her kidney and could make it die. Therefore she needs a stint to block the tumor. She'll be having that procedure in about a week. My poor grandma has endured so much. I tried to keep positive for her, though inside I'm asking "how much more can she take?"

Oh to a happier moment....Ryan's work had their company picnic last Saturday. It was a carnival and my boys had the best time. Austin was on the bumper cars for 2 1/2 hrs straight. He was in heaven. Zach went up and down this slide for about an hour. We just found a spot to sit and enjoy all the food.

Austin has a scrimmage tomorrow morning. Hope he does well. I think he's excited because he's a little wild tonight. After I'm scrapping with friends the rest of the day. Looking so forward to some me time. Sunday we are going to the show, Walking with the Dinosaurs. I can't wait. I'm on countdown to Creative Escape...12days, 1 hour, 48 minutes. And my trip to NYC is in 53 days. I only know the breakdown to CE because it's on their website. :)

Litter Bug!

This morning I'm driving down Imperial Hwy to meet up with my MOMS club at the park and the car in front of me( he passenger) starts throwing trash out the window! Not a little bit....a lot! First comes some kind of wrapper, then a Capri Sun, then a plastic straw cover, then the inside plastic tray from a lunchables and THEN the BOX from the lunchables!!! I'm on the phone with my dad and I'm getting MAD......really MAD. Who does this? I know I'm not the best at being green, but jeeze louise, at least I recycle and don't throw my trash out on the highway! So my dad tells me to write their licence plate number down and report them.....well why do that when they have their window open? So I speed up, pull up next to them and proceed to yell at the lady throwing the trash. (who happens to have a handful in her hand just as I pull up.) "STOP THROWING TRASH OUT THE WINDOW!!!! IT'S AGAINST THE LAW!!! THERE ARE TRASH CANS ALL OVER THE PLACE, GO FIND ONE!!!!" Yes, this is what I yelled. And while I was yelling I proceeded to scare my kids into crying fits and had them saying for me to stop. I then had to pull over to explain why mommy was so mad and that what the lady did was wrong and against the law! Hopefully this lady will never do it again.

A best friend, Bucaneer Bay and my great aunt

We got to hang out with our friends from preschool Monday....Ruben, or as Zach says, "Ruven." Those two boys just love each other so much.

Football also started Monday night for Austin. 2.5hrs, 4 nights a week! That poor boy is beat at the end of the night.

We joined some friends at Bucaneer Bay on Thursday. This place is a lot of fun! Great for little ones. I had such a good time that I'm looking forward to going back soon.

Well yet again, blogger is being a pill and I can't upload any more photos! But the link has amazing pictures.

On Thursday night my great aunt passed away. She was 91. I saw her often, in fact just 2 weeks ago. That's when this pic was taken. She's my Grandmother's sister. It's really sad, because we feel as though her doctors and medical care wasn't as good as it could have been. Services will be next week.

I have a baby shower in the morning. Why I'm still up is beyond me? I went scrapbooking with a friend of mine tonight and I have that wide awake buzz! I'm also shopping for more dresses. I have this "thing" with summer dresses this year. I love this one and this one. Also, check out this blog, Funky Child. That's Zach's teacher. She is so artistic and just an amazing person. Plus the photos are amazing! Good Night!

I'm feeling very Carrie...

Carrie Bradshaw that is. I've always loved how she writes a question for her column on her laptop and then the episode helps her work through whatever struggle she is having. If life only really worked that way. On my drive home from work tonight I was thinking about the last few days and how it seems as though a series of events could all be linked, but how? Then today I received this fortune, " You are wise to keep your eyes wide open at all times." Hmmm. What does it mean? I know that these fortunes are just for fun, but it really struck me as interesting and I kept it. And then something else happened this evening.....and I'm thinking these things must be linked, but what is trying to be said? Am I supposed to reach out? Am I getting a message soon? I tend to be very optimistic, so I will have to wait and see.

(By the way Michelle.....I clicked on the link for the free background...so cute!)

Pictures

I added some pics~enjoy!

Busy, busy

I've been so busy since getting back from Maui that I haven't really had time to blog. I've just shared photos and I hope you enjoyed them! So life has gone right back to normal. My first week back I was working on my work's Luau crop. It was so much fun! I was beat the next two days. My Aunt Laura was in town for about a week and half from Seattle because my cousin Liz is playing in basketball tournaments. Liz is really good. Like so good she's being scouted for college and she hasn't even started her Sophomore year in HS yet. We had a baby shower on Sunday for my cousin, then went out to dinner to celebrate my dad and aunt's birthdays. Tuesday we hung out at the pool all day with a neighbor and her two friends and come to find out, the friends actually have kids that go to school with Austin! The kids played all day and didn't want to go in, but I think 4 hrs in the pool was long enough. Wednesday I went to the first SoCal Vendor Fair. That was a lot of fun. Candice & I got to order some great new things for the store. She has a really good eye for combining product and has such a great vintage flair to her style. I can't wait for the new stuff to arrive. Thursday we spent the day at the OC Fair. It was me, my boys, my mom & brother and his girlfriend Evan. I got to really play with my camera a lot. I think I took some good photos, and then some not so great ones. I have to remember to change the settings! We had such a great time in the County Building with all these cutouts. We laughed our butts off. On Friday Austin had his physical for football and then we visited the new Target. Oooooh.......it was so beautiful. A fresh new Target with the shelves lined and stocked full of goodies and new fancy carts, I felt like this was Target heaven. My friends always show me these great finds from the dollar spot or from the scrapbooking dept. I'm bewildered because my old funky Target was just so sad with nothing. Well, not any more! I spent waaaaaay too much and I'll leave it at that. ;) After Target we headed to my mom's to swim. Yesterday we all cleaned house and headed to Zachary's soccer game. My poor baby runs his little heart out, but it is hard for him to keep up with this one player that is super aggressive on our team that always has the ball. Then it was time to play goalie. Well, he took it upon himself to let out these loud yelling growls to scare the other team. All the parents in the stands were laughing, because it was cute, not so scary. Later I stopped by here and chatted with Michelle. I picked up this, SEE-EZ which I've been wanting since I saw it at CHA-W. After all my running around we took Zachary to my mother-in-laws to spend the night and then the 3 of us went to dinner at the Elephant Bar. The food there is pretty good. I haven't been in about 4 years. After that we finally went to Circuit City and bought a new printer, the Canon PixmaMP610. Ryan is going to hook it up today while I'm at work, I can't wait to try it out. It got really great reviews. Not to mention, if you visit the newly remolded Circuit City in Brea this weekend, you get 10% off your purchase. Not bad.
Well, my pictures aren't loading......I'll try later. Lately blogger has been slow to upload. I have to get ready for work now so I'll try tonight. Have a great Sunday!