Our passports have arrived !

Without any problems at all thirteen days after the kids and I applied for our passports, they arrived Friday. Then today only eleven days after applying and being told that it might be delayed since he didn't show his SS card when applying, Mike's also arrived. This is a major load off of my mind as they are necessary for the already booked cruise this summer.
Last year I heard horror stories from a couple at church who were to get married and go on an out of the US honeymoon. This sweet young couple had applied for their passports seven months early and were sure that they would be OK. Even immigration guaranteed that they would have them in plenty of time. Well the Bride's came a week before the wedding but the grooms did not accompany it. The couple waited and waited but the day before the wedding he was still passport less. Would they miss their extravagant honeymoon ? Well, no after lots of prayer and tears, the passport was in the Grooms mailbox only an hour before the wedding. He was already at the church when someone still at the house called to let him know. I guess that his Bride was notified when he whispered it to her once she reached the alter. She was overjoyed, I hear.
Anyway, even though I was told that it was only taking about four weeks, I was still nervous as we only applied six months in advance. However, all my worry was unwarranted because they are all here. We still have not received Mike's birth certificate back, but even if we don't eighteen dollars and a half an hour trip will replace it so I am not worried. As for now, we are thinking that maybe an Easter break trip to Canada might be in order. Why not ?

Not quite that old yet !

This morning I was flipping through a clothing catalogue as the boys got ready for school. As I looked , I dog eared a couple pages . One with cotton shorts that reminded me of shorts that I had and loved twenty some years ago, when I was a teenager. Oh I have to have these I thought, equating them with my youth.
Too bad that the next dog eared page was a pair of capri pants that on first sight looked like they would be comfortable and stylish with a Cris cross cut out design at the bottom of the leg.There were even cute floral embroidered tank tops to match. Too bad that these were pull on polyester pants like My Grandmothers used to wear when I was a young child. Oh thank Goodness that I read the small print, ( even without having bifocals, ya know) I'm not that old yet !

It's Ash Wendsday

Have you made it to mass and received your ashes ?
The kids and I went at 7:00 this morning. It has become a tradition for us to go before school. Though Robby's school starts so late that we still made it home in time for him to catch his bus, Michael got to be dropped off at his school on our way home and missed some of his first period class. Cindy is still on break for another week so she had plenty of time to even go back to bed for an bit before she had to go to work. Not only do the kids like being excused to go to school late for this Religious holiday but they find it interesting how many, even other Catholic's , tell them that they have dirt on their heads. Yes, it is truly a chance to explain the significance of Ash Wednesday in the Catholic church.
May God bless you all on this Holy Ash Wednesday , throughout the Lenten season, and always !

I guess that nobody was buying.......

A couple weeks back I wrote a post about how Cirque Du Soleil was coming to my area and how I would love to go but how the tickets were $90 each and how I just couldn't justify that much money for a couple hours out with the family. Well, I guess that most people felt as I did because when today's Travel zoo ( bargain price travel deals) arrived in my E mailbox today, Amazingly there was a deal on Cirque Du Soleil tickets for this particular venue. The new price was little more than a movie with a coke and popcorn would cost , so guess what ???? I booked !!!!!! Now we don't have front row seats nor are we going on Friday or Saturday nights ( Cindy wouldn't be able to go on either of those nights anyway because she works) but Cirque Du Soleil is Cirque Du Soleil and the Wednesday and Thursday night shows as well as the weekend matinee shows are the same as the weekend shows anyway. And since I booked a school night show, there should be less screamy whiny kids at this one. I am so excited. I remember hearing of a Cirque Du Soleil type show ( don't remember if it was the real thing or not) in Orlando when Mike and I were on our honeymoon, almost twenty years ago. The show was being advertised at the hotel that we were staying at. I remember thinking how neat it sounded back then but even though the price was not much more than I just booked for and obviously we didn't have any children yet so we only needed two tickets, we just couldn't justify the extra cost ( did I ever mention how poor we were back then ? I'll have to do that some day)Anyway, I know it's silly but I feel like a child whose Mommy and Daddy just surprised with circus tickets. By the way, yes I did go to the circus twice as a child. Once in second grade where the room parent left me in the restroom while everyone else went to the snack bar and once with my family under a big tent in the mall parking lot. Neither can compare to my expectations of Cirque Du Soleil !

Ok now I understand

An anonymous male teenager.... Please get me up 1/2 an hour early

An anonymous Mom....... What ????? You hate to get up ! Why ???

male teenager............I want to get a second shower before school... ______
( an anonymous teenage girl) has asked me to meet her to talk in the the cafeteria before class.

My growth I pod style

Quite a while back I was introduced to the Apple I pod when a friend of Mike's gave him an old stick style shuffle which had been dropped on the road and ran over by a truck or two. The man decided that it was probably no longer any good and since Mike is the king of fixing anything electronic gave it to him. Well much to this man's disbelief, Mike bent the USB connector back into shape and it worked.It still had a bad case of road rash and a no longer functional cap but it worked.I purchases a silicone cover at Big lots and had my first I pod. Without a cap, though I had to hold it on my hand or let it hang from my head phones, which was quite inconvenient. I considered buying a new cap but it was too expensive for this sad looking i pod. As always Mike seen the need and suggested a new style shuffle which clips on to your clothing or whatever. Sounded great so I got one. I used it when i worked out at the gym and for a little while when we flew to LA, in the summer when I mowed grass, and other occasions. I liked it and it served every purpose that I had. Yep I was happy. Then last New Years eve, the family decided not to go out but to stay home and use the saved money to buy some luxury family things. Among them was a new TV. Well the TV didn't fit our entertainment center so we had to replace an entertainment center. And the new center did not accommodate our outdated stereo, which ended up being prized by a challenged boy that was working at Good Will when I was donating it. This left me music less well until we decided to get a cheap surround sound set up. This set up had a built in radio and an I pod dock. Too bad the shuffle was not compatible, I needed a Nano. Oh well I thought I will just get a twenty dollar CD Boom box , case solved ! Well sort of. see Mike didn't know what to get me for my Birthday nor Valentines day. the Nano would make a wonderful combined gift, he told me. Well, I was not convinced.... Why spend the money ? We don't need..and so on and so forth. Well then Mike said, you pick your gift. Well I really didn't need or want much and the I Pod
Nano could be used for the family. So why not. Well we found a deal with a ton of extras like a wireless thingy that will let me listen to it through my car speakers , and stuff so we ordered it. It came Wednesday and we charged it but it was defective so Mike is exchanging it at the store through which we ordered it tonight. Yep I have grown in the I pod era. Though the kids want to replace their generic MP3 players with Nanos ( do I hear Santa Clause listening ) this will probably be my final I pod upgrade. However, didn't I say years ago that I would never have a use for an I pod as my portable CD player worked just fine ? Yep I think I did !

The folder is found !

After days of desperately searching for the folder that I realized was lost since my Birthday, praise God , it is found ! Evidently Cindy, whom I handed the folder to after taking out the needed documents last Saturday, brought the folder home and laid it on the table on her way to get ready to go shopping. Honestly I should have taken the time to put it away but I figured that it would be OK on the table until I got home. Unfortunately,in an effort to help, the kids moved it to a down stairs computer desk when they cleared and set the table. Then of course I didn't think about it until Tuesday when Mike applied for his passport ( after a trip to vital statistics in the next county produced a copy of his birth certificate)and the man at the Post office asked to see it .( even though three days before another employee told us that we didn't need them ) As before stated, the application was accepted with the provision that it may be sent back for Social security verification and if so we will simply have to show the card at the Post office, which is no big deal since it is now found. Thank you Mike for finding it for me. I would have had it sooner if I had only given you more free time to go to the desk and work on the computers. Next time I will remember this. Thank you Sweetie,I Love you !

Cleansed or simply wasted money ?

Well it has been two weeks since I started my cleansing with kinoki pads. True to the package my foot pads came off 90% nasty looking the first couple nights and last night they were only half. Am I convinced ? Sorry to say but no. I feel no different nor notice any more energy. the only thing that I did notice was that on the nights that I was wearing them ( I did every other night both feet) I had horrendous leg and ankle muscle cramps. Could this be related ? I am not sure as I had on occasion had these before but I don't remember them being this consistent or every other night before. Either way, my advise would be to save your money and pass on these miracle holistic treatments. It was mentioned to me that since I have ended with still 50% "toxins" being pulled out, that i may need another box. I guess that this is possible but I think I'm going to pass.

Downs and ups

Against my own wishes I did not hibernate through my 40th Birthday yesterday. Mike took the day off work and we did get his passport applied for,even though the rules changed from what the person who took mine and the kids three days before told us to what the man who did Mike's said. Due to this minor glitch, Mike's may get sent back but if it does we will deal with that then. As for now,there are other things to worry about. I have misplaced some important papers that I have looked everywhere for but they seem nowhere to be found.This along with other irritating things were just not good on a milestone birthday that I hated to see come anyway. Oh well I guess that that which didn't kill me only made me stronger. Too bad it didn't help the memory get stronger so that I could locate the lost. Oh well ,in ten years I will look back on this day and laugh. No wait..... OK yes I will laugh then cry because if forty was this painful,I don't think that I can survive fifty........ OK neurotic I may be becoming..... Please pray that I locate the papers and well perhaps a prayer for my ability to find my brain too... God Bless you all !

How's your Hot Chocolate ? Thanks Mike

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at
a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.
During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a
large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups — porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking,
some expensive, some exquisite. He then told them all to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they each had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:

"Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.
While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress."

"The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate.
In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink."

"What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup
...... but you consciously went for the BEST cups."
"And then you began eyeing each other's cups."

"Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups.
They are just tools to hold and contain life."

"The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate."

The happiest people don't need the best of everything.
They just make the best of everything that they have.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
And enjoy your hot chocolate!!

A wonderful Valentines day

A DQ cake that we all had a piece of for desert along with My rose and carnation bouquet




My rose and carnation bouquet and the two Precious Moments figurines that Mike got me






My Valentine and me before leaving for our Prime Rib & Crab leg Valentine's day buffet that Mike made reservations for

Passports almost done , Fashion Bug sale, & Happy Valentine's Day !

Well as planned we headed out for passports. Mike worked until three this morning on our pictures so that they were regulation with the eyes so far from the bottom of the 2x2 picture after taking special care to ensure that all of our heads were perfectly straight and so on and so forth. After all of his meticulous work we all piled into the car. As we drove I looked through the folder that houses our birth certificates. ss cards, the kids shot records, and other important stuff. To my surprise Mike's birth certificate ( which I went with him to get a couple years ago ) was gone. We went back home to look in a couple other places but it was nowhere to be found. Finally, rather than miss our appointment, we went and got mine and the kids applied for. Mike is taking Tuesday off for my birthday so we will go to vital statistics then and get another copy of his and then we have an appointment to go back and get his application submitted . The lady told us that it is only taking four weeks to process and send them out so we should have plenty of time. All in all it went pretty easily today, and for that I am grateful.
After applying for passports, the boys had karate so Mike took them while Cindy and I went to Fashion Bug where they had all of their clearance merchandise on sale for $5.98. Cindy and I went to two different stores where we found a lot of things including dresses for the cruise, Praise God. Cindy did have a couple prom and Homecoming dresses that she could have worn but I had none. I rarely wear dresses, especially dressy dresses so I needed a couple and since I will probably wear them for dinner on the cruise and then donate them to Good Will after, I really didn't want to spend a lot. Six dollars was just what I was looking for ! As for now I must go Mike has made dinner reservations for a local Valentine's Buffet dinner and the kids Pizzas have just arrived. Happy Valentines Day all !

Passports

Before booking our cruise vacation,I read somewhere that after June the US passport law changes and we will all need passports to board our cruise. No problem I thought. I am probably the only Ohioan who has never been to Niagara falls, so what the hay we all get passports for the cruise then we have them for ten years ( five for the kids) so we are ready for a trip to Canada at whim. Yes even though it will add a substantial cost to this vacation, it will be worth it.
Too bad that I didn't realize the headache that would accompany the need for passports. Of course it will be hectic to get the whole family and drive to the immigration office, probably wait in line for an hour or two, finally get done , and go home and wait while praying that every one's will arrive on time, but that isn't the headache part. My head is already pounding and we haven't even loaded the car. My problem is that nobody seems to know the new law. The travel agency lady who I talked to to book told me that we only needed a drivers licence / state id and birth certificates. Well that is for everyone but me . She told me I would need a copy of my marriage certificate( which I haven't seen since we moved to this house over five years ago )because my birth certificate wouldn't match my drivers licence. Go figure,I bet that never happens to anyone but me ! Anyway I asked about the new law and was told that she never heard of a new law and that I must have been improperly informed. OK :-)
Next I called immigration and found that the agent in fact was wrong and I would have been denied boarding ( without refund) without the proper documents IE passports.
Next step was looking for a passport place that could process us without the boys taking off school and Mike taking off work. ( most have M-F 8AM to 3PM hours) As luck would have it there is a Post office fifteen minutes from the house( the one two minutes from us doesn't do passports) that would accommodate us on Saturday. I called to make the appointment and see what I needed. The man whom I talked to agreed that we needed passports but started talking about books and cards and whether I wanted one or both. Hmmm I didn't know. I asked which was necessary for a cruise, he told me both.
Looking at the Government site, he was proved wrong. we needed one or the other not both. We could get away with cards, ( like a licence ) which were cheaper, but could not fly out of the country with these. Even if one of us were to be dying on the ship with just a card we could not be life lighted back to the US. Ummmm I think we will get the books.
Now that that is all straightened out, and the appointment is made for Saturday, we now have to take passport photos as the USPS will charge an additional $15 per person . $75 total,to take them for us. Ummmm I think we can take our own, thank you. This shouldn't be a problem and may even get done tonight.
Then we are just left with everyone crawling into the car, going to the Post office, probably waiting in line to be told to wait in another line to turn in the applications ( which I have already downloaded , filled out, and printed) write a check and go home where I pray that they all come in time, while I wait. Yep no problem at all !

Take the bad and get the good

In a week, if I don't figure out how to stop it, I will become middle aged. Though this is something that I am desperately dreading,I am not dreading the fact that July holds my twentieth wedding Anniversary. Yes I know old is old but somehow it is different. Since last year Mike has been trying to soften my inevitable 40th birthday. We even looked at going on a cruise for the occasion. Unfortunately, the kids have school and since it is so close to Valentine's day and a four day school weekend, prices of the cruise were over double what I knew I could get at another time not to mention that the flights to the port ( Did anyone know that Carnival, Disney, and other major cruise lines don't even have a port in Ohio ? How discriminatory !) are twice the price of the cruise that week. Anyway, this was vetoed as paying thousands of dollars for a few days even if I was hiding from Father Time is just not justifiable to our lower middle class family.
The next idea was to take a local trip to the woods and rent a cabin for the long weekend where we could have family time which is almost nonexistent with two teenagers( one who works full time while attending nursing school) and a preteen. Unfortunately this with it's $100 per night price tag ( plus doggy boarding)was vetoed when Cindy's job really didn't want her to take off four days in a row added to the fact that spending almost a thousand on a weekend again is not really in budget just to hide out. So the trip option was out. I guess that I will just have to sleep through the day , after all, it doesn't count if I don't experience it, right ?
A week ago though Mike and I started discussing this years vacation plans. He told me that since we are reaching two major milestones this year that we should celebrate with a vacation . Where did I want to go he asked ? Well..... I have never been outside the US and a cruise has always been my fantasy vacation...... We first discussed whether the kids were old enough to make this a childless vacation or not. Yes they are old enough but wouldn't it be fun to take the whole family ? Well as God would allow, Cindy has a break in nursing school in August just before the boys go back to school in September and there was one wonderful deal for a four day Bahama's cruise right in the middle of all of this, so......... Mike and I booked it ! We still have to get a flight to and from but the cruise is booked. I am amazed, it is a dream come true ! I remember when we were planning our wedding twenty years ago. I had a coworker also planning her wedding who was telling me how her family was giving her and her fiance a cruise for their wedding gift. Wow, I imagined... I will probably never be able to afford a cruise.So Anyway maybe turning 40 isn't so bad and being married twenty years has brought me three wonderful ( in training )children, and what the heck.... yes there is bad in life and yes Mike and I( and our children) have had and continue to have our share. But this proves that there is good too.And to give up the good to get rid of the bad really isn't an option for us .

Detoxing

I'm sure that everyone out there has heard of the recently popular concept of detoxifying your body by wearing weird little pads on your feet every other night while you sleep. Actually the plan is one pad every night alternating feet, but you know the plan
Now to be honest, I have never had much faith in this sort of thing, but at only ten dollars for the two week kinoki program,and given the fact that I am just starting to recover from a nasty staph infection and experiencing the horrific side effects of massive doses of the strongest antibiotics known to man, I figured that if ever detoxification was in order for me it is now. Besides , foot pads I can do. Fasting and drinking gallons of aloe vera "juice" or worse yet vinegar,I can not.
This being said , as I walked past a kinoki display in a local discount store the other day I paused. After a minute or two the two week program found it's way into my cart and home. Last night I went for broke and started the program. Mike applied the pads to my feet just like the directions stated before bed. Unfortunately these pads are in fact Chinese made which was soon evident by the fact that the sticky part of the pad would not adhere to my feet. I considered using duct tape to remedy the situation but Mike suggested socks, which were probably a better option. For the first time in many years I slept with socks. This morning I did in fact have quite a bit of discoloration of the pads, though I pretty much feel like usual.Of course it is only night one so we will see. I am not holding my breath but you just never know !

Honestly, who pays for these things ?

This morning as I cooked Mike's breakfast I had the local news on the TV when a advertisement for an upcoming Cirque Du Soleil show came on. I understand that this show is to take place at a venue about ten minutes from my home, which got me thinking that i have always thought that going to one of these shows would be neat. I decided to get more information. After all tickets just might make a good Valentines day or Birthday gift for me if I leave Mike the hint :-) However, upon looking at prices I was faced with decent seats costing ninety dollars a person, yes I said ninety, as in with tax and fees over one hundred dollars per person. Wow for the family it would be over five hundred dollars and that doesn't even include popcorn ! This has me wondering, in today's economy where the unemployment rate is through the roof and people can barely pay their mortgage, who can afford this ? Gee for my family of five it would cost a little over five hundred dollars for a couple hour show. What else could I do with five hundred dollars? How about buy a side of beef(200-225 lbs of meat) for the freezer,which would cover the family's meat for months. I just don't understand. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with taking a vacation when you can and splurging from time to time, when your able but six shows expected to sell out in an area where unemployment is epidemic, just doesn't make sense to me. As for me, unless I win some tickets I will not be seeing Cirque Du Soleil anytime soon. Instead I think I will save a bit more and try to grab a deal on a three day cruise to the Bahamas. After all if I'm going to splurge I want to do it a little further than ten minutes from home !

Way to go Steelers,Way to go !

I fell a little behind yesterday with some last minute shopping and a few non Super bowl related errands, so I arrived home only about an hour and a half before the start of the game. Thanks to the meds that I am still on for my staph infection, and the benedryl that I have to take with them to stop my immune system from going into hyper drive and blistering my skin, I was dragging. I promised everyone that if I had just an hour nap I would get up and prepare the super bowl foods. They agreed readily as I had brought them taco bell to hold them over. As instructed, Michael woke me a half an hour before kickoff and I started wings,teeny BBQ sausages, and other snacks. I did have to chop the cheese and summer sausage chunks on a TV tray in front of the TV as not to miss the beginning of the game. All in all though, everything was ready and on the table five minutes into the first quarter.
Though I was tired through the whole game, I was so glad that I seen it. Wow what a game ! I even got a little nervous when Arizona took the lead but it was all under control. In the end I was so pumped that I couldn't go back to bed for awhile afterwards.Of course I did want to watch the post game in hopes of seeing a better shot of Troy Polamalu's baby son, which didn't happen. They did show him with baby in arms but never showed a close up or babies face ( unless I missed it) Oh well it goes that way sometimes. Anyway I am feeling the effects of only a few hours sleep last night added to the fatigue of the meds so I think I will try to fit in a nap .

Really though, shouldn't the day after a Steeler super bowl win be a national holiday ? Maybe I should write my congressman ! After my nap that is !

The stranger

The following was sent to me from a Dear friend, and awesome motivational speaker,Laryn Weaver ,(http://www.gracehopefaith.com/)I understand that this is not actually by Laryn but very closely mirrors one speech that she gives. Laryn speaks all over at many events. If you ever get a chance to attend one, you wouldn't regret it !

Thanks Laryn !




Many of you have heard some of my speaking topics ....this seems to fit right in! I hope you appreciate the message!

Laryn



The stranger


A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home.. Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked… And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name???


We just call him 'TV.'