Funny Girl

Maddie calls me up at 8am this morning and said "Gommy, can I tell you something" and I say "sure Maddie you can tell me anything"(we do this routine many, many times...LOL....and I hope she always feels like she can tell me anything).  So than she tells me that a big ice storm is heading our way. OH NO....NOT AN ICE STORM!!!!......... I looked it up and it looks like it might hit Cincy on Tuesday night. I'm hoping they are wrong and it'll be too warm(hey I can hope, right??).  Here's a few pics of Maddie being silly and filling up my bird house to put back outside. She took this job very seriously and is very concern for the birds being out in the snow with no food.  Hope you all are having a great weekend. I went out to eat at one of my favorite places last night and I'm also going to the Cincinnati Art Museum this weekend to see the two centuries of wedding gowns exhibit.  How did I grow up in this wonderful city and have not taken advantage of our great art museum before?  And I noticed the Brenda Photo Challenge is up today so go here to see who's showing some great photos on their blog today!! Maybe one of these days I'll get my act together and show my photos again!! Happy Saturday!! I'm off to church tonight with my silly Maddie girl....hahaha...

Single Digit Days........

It's cold here in Cincy these days and you all know it wouldn't be Winter around here if I didn't do some weather whining............LOL I'm not a big fan of frigid cold weather or ice and snow on the roads. A few weeks I drove home from work in black ice and I had to pry my fingers from the steering wheel when I finally pulled into the garage after an hour and a half commute that usually only takes less than thirty minutes.

But in between all the snow and ice we took the grand kids to the Mall to run off some energy. Ha! I love these pictures from the food court, it looks like they are holding some big important business meeting. These three make me smile....so we ate at the food court and had some of those big giant pretzels they have there and everyone went home with alot of sugar in their bodies! Ha!

Anyway, I just wanted to show you what my backyard looked like last night while the snow was coming down and what it looks like today as the Sun comes out. The Sun is bright and shining but we are in the deep freeze. The tree has been up since early December and it is still in great shape. You can't really see it in these pics but it is now a Valentine Day's tree. I have heart ornaments on it and heart lights too. I wonder if it'll last to make it a St. Patrick's Day tree?? LOL I don't think it'll last till Easter. Stay warm and safe!!

If we could just ask our Magic 8 Balls....

A few weeks ago my kids and grandkids went to our favorite local pizza place to meet my Dad for dinner. At this restaurant they are smart enough to supply the kiddies with all kinds of fun items to keep them busy while they are waiting for their food and if you have ever been out with a couple of 2 year olds and a 4 year old, you know how important it is to keep them occupied while waiting for the food. :-) Well, this place has a supply of Magic 8 balls for the kids to play with and of course Gommy(me) had to play with them too. And as I was playing I was thinking "wouldn't it be nice, if we could just ask the Magic 8 ball about our future?" Questions like "Hey Magic 8 ball, will this be a good year for me?" The Magic 8 Ball has 20 different answers it could give you:

As I see it, yes

● It is certain

● It is decidedly so

● Most likely

● Outlook good

● Signs point to yes

● Without a doubt

● Yes

● Yes – definitely

● You may rely on it

● Reply hazy, try again

● Ask again later

● Better not tell you now

● Cannot predict now

● Concentrate and ask again

● Don't count on it

● My reply is no

● My sources say no

● Outlook not so good

● Very doubtful

I looked up the Magic 8 Ball on Wikipedia and it says 10 of the answers are affirmative, 5 are negative and 5 are non committal...so I'm guessing you have a better chance of getting an affirmative answer. But I know life doesn't come with a Magic 8 Ball to tell us what's going to happen in this New Year and you guys have been around my blog long enough to know what I believe and WHO I believe is in charge of my life. So do I know what this year will hold for me, my Magic 8 Ball answer would be "very doubtful" but if I ask " do I believe HE has it all under control for me?", my Magic 8 Ball answer says "Without a Doubt"...............

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Are you all ready for 2011? 2010 was a mix bag for me in terms of ups and downs. My Dad getting sick and spending three weeks in the hospital and we weren't sure if he was going to make it a few times was certainly one of the downs. And the on going process of the fall out from my marriage falling apart was another down. But I've never been one to look at my glass as half empty so my up's have been there too. Sometimes I think in the process of some big hits in your life comes the potential for big growth and I have seen that in so many areas in my life(and I thank God for them). I am much more independent than I have ever been in my life(yea, I still have some tweaking to do in that area) but before I would have felt so insecure going to functions by myself(especially when everyone came with a spouse) but I have no problem doing that anymore and I went back to work out of the house, which has been such a blessing. Hey, I even went out and bought my first TV on my own without anyone's help and I think I did a pretty good job in picking it out!! Ha! Might not be a big accomplishment for some but I walked out of that store feeling pretty good.........I was able to do some traveling and remembered just how much I loved that part of my life!! So yes, 2010 was full of ups and downs and I'm sure that'll be true of 2011 too but I'm also sure in the mix of it all will be that potential for mega growth!

Happy New Year friends!! When I count my blessings for the year, you guys are always part of it!

Christmas ~~ 2010

I've spent the past few days taking down all the Christmas decorations but am just getting to posting about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I usually take everything down right after the holiday but I have loved my outdoor tree so much and it's still in great shape(it's been frozen) that I thought I would decorate it with hearts and red for Valentine's Day! Haha....I thought the grands would get a kick out of it. I don't think it'll last for St.Patricks Day or Easter.....ha! Though that would be fun to have a tree for every holiday...maybe I'll plant a little pine out back for the kids to decorate......
Here's a few pics from my holiday! The girls made a Happy Birthday Jesus cake and decorated it. They said Jesus really likes sprinkles so they put alot(the whole bottle) on the cake. :-)
This photo is funny because they got so many toys but the game they wanted to play the most with everyone was restaurant. What's restaurant? Well, the girls ask you what you want to eat and than they pretend to write down your order and throw you pretend food. Yep, they throw it to you....Ha! And I always catch it and say it's wonderful.......

The last few are of Christmas Eve at my sister's house. Maddie and I were having fun and Maddie and Sydney were waiting for Great Grandpa(my Dad) to give out presents! I had a nice Christmas and still have one to celebrate with Cameron this weekend!! I hope everyone had a great one and I'll try to make it back before the new year but if I don't- Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!! This is just part of my family after the Christmas program at our church. My son and grandson couldn't make it so they're not in the picture. :-( I need to work on getting a photo of all of us but it's hard to get everyone together at the same time! I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas week. Mine has been busy and full, dinners, cooking, wrapping presents etc...... I was off work all week, so that was nice. All the presents are wrapped, most of the food is ready( I'm trying to make it as easy as possible) and I guess I'm about as ready as I can be.

Another Christmas, another year....wow......where did it go? I feel better than I did last Christmas and emotionally I'm in a better place.........but sometimes if I'm real honest and don't just want to put on a brave face....I get sad for Christmas past...but in the end it's all about that little baby that was born in a stable. Have a wonderful and safe Christmas bloggy friends!! Thank you for your gift of being my friend!

Baby, It's cold outside!!

Busy, busy weekend and my car never left my garage till this morning.....LOL My sweet grands all came over this weekend to hang out with me. I LOVE having them but they were with me because my daughter Melissa(Maddie and Sydney's mom) was recovering from what the doctors are calling a missed miscarriage. We are all so sad that we will not be welcoming a new sweet baby into the family next summer. We were all so excited when we found out they were going to have another baby and it's just sad............
So we played in the snow........made hot chocolate and popcorn and I really did try to get them to eat some healthy food but I didn't have much luck!
Sassy(Sydney) was coming at me with her snowball. LOL I have about a half dozen snowballs in my freezer right now. They wanted to save them.....
Here's my outside tree I was telling you about. I really love it out there and will try to take a good picture of it at night to show you. It sits right outside my patio doors so I can sit at my kitchen table and watch the twinkling lights at night. Last night I sat there with a cup of hot chocolate and a chocolate biscotti. I was in chocolate heaven.....
And Aunt "Tess" came over to play with the girls on Saturday night and we took some more photos. I love these photos!! Look at Maddie's face in the one above, she's just so happy!! The girls did not want to come in from the snow, no matter how I tried to reason (bribe) them. LOL
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great week!!!