Friday, October 31, 2008

Trick or Treat!!!

Happy Halloween!!! I LOVE this day---it's so much fun for me to get dressed up in costume and hand out candy to all the kids. Of course, around here the kids trick or treat the night before due to the Halloween Parade the town has on Halloween night.

So yesterday, we closed the office at 4:30. I rushed in the door anxious to get ready since trick or treat hours are from 5 to 9. I had no preset costume as money was tight this year. So I went down to my box of costumes from years past and dug out my witch outfit. This is a long black velvet dress with bell sleeves and a hood--very Goth looking. Needless to say it's been a few years since I last wore it so I had to really suck in for it to fit (if you know what I mean). I put on a long dark purple wig and put the hood up--I couldn't find my witch hat. I added some white makeup around my eyes to give them a deep set look and I was ready. Jeff moved the truck out of the driveway so the kids would have a clear path to the door. We put out the jack-o-latern and I settled in on the front porch.

Usually I make individual treat bags for the kids but I did not have any bags this year so I just went with the traditional bowl of candy. I also had a basket of Teddy Grahams for the bitties that usually come by as well (you know, little bitty kids). So I sat on the porch from 5PM to 6PM reading a magazine and no kids. Not one! I felt like a kid on Christmas waiting for Santa---where were they????

Jeff went up to Hardee's to grab some dinner for us and I went in the house. At 6:30, my first little guy showed up. He was a pirate and he said "Trick or Treat Smell My Feet Give Me Something Good to Eat". So cute!! Yeah, the kids were out. But no, there was no else out walking around. Jeff came back with dinner and we sat down to eat. He said that he had seen several groups of kids walking around the neighborhood and was suprized that we had only had the one brave soul. I was so depressed---I have good candy and I'm dressed up!!! Come to my house!!!

Since we are at the back of the cul-de-sac and were the only ones in the cul-de-sac with our porch light on, Jeff had the idea that maybe we should sit out in our driveway so people could see us. So at 7PM, we moved our chairs off the porch and into the driveway. It worked!!! The kids came and oh, they were cute!!! I ended up with about 50 kids last night plus one dog.

I had Tinker Bell, a mummy, a football player, a cowboy and policeman (they were SO cute), two bitties dressed as owls (they were in their stoller), a magician, a clown, a vampire, a Power Ranger, a Jedi Knight, and several that I wasn't sure but they were still cute. They were all SO polite and within the hour it was all done. The neighborhood once again became quite, the porch lights went out and we went back inside.

Today, I am wearing a black shirt that reads "Happy Halloween" across the front in orange and white letters. Yes I am like the little old ladies that wear something for every holdiay but I DO NOT have a Christmas sweater :>) Halloween is so much fun to me because it's full of magic and make believe---which without our imaginations what fun would life be????

I hope you have as wonderful a day as I am having!!!!
Happy Halloween!!!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Momma Update

Just a quick update on Momma.

She had her platlet transfusion yesterday. I don't know what her numbers were because they didn't give them to Christie and I haven't heard from the doctor. Christie took Momma back to her house when her transfusion was done and I picked her up from there. Christie had made dinner (thank you :>)), so I ate while Momma napped and then we headed home about 7:30 last night. Momma was very tired and weak so she went right to bed. She was still asleep when I left this morning.

The weather here today is overcast and cool. Ali had an appointment at the groomers which Jeff was going to handle. Loretta has a second interview with Eli-Lily today, so please pray that God's will be done.

I will update day two of our Flagstaff trip soon.

Jess

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Flagstaff, AZ Part One

My niece, Krystal, is a sophomore at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. This past weekend was parent’s weekend and my sister-in-law invited me to go along with her on the trip. Having never been to Arizona, in the need of a mental break from life in general and always up for an adventure I said yes.


I have not had the opportunity to really get to know my niece or my sister-in-law for that matter because up until this past May they have lived in West Virginia, Utah and Arizona. My sister-in-law Loretta is Jeff’s brother’s wife. The few times I had met her prior to their moving to St. Louis, I felt that we could be close friends. Since moving to St. Louis, my feelings were justified. She and I have so many things in common (other than that our husbands are brothers)---we both love to cook/bake, we love the simple things in life and we can both appreciate the beauty found in nature. We both like organization and finding a good bargain.

Krystal is her niece that they adopted when Krystal was eleven, I believe. This weekend was the first opportunity that I really got a chance to spend time with her. She is a great girl with a fun personality, hardworking, very caring/kind and someone who anyone would be lucky to have as a friend. She has these beautiful eyes that are like blue pools, thick straight brown hair with blonde highlights and confidence not regularly found in today’s young adults.


Our flight left St. Louis at 6:15AM Saturday morning. Loretta picked me up at 10PM on Friday night, we met Jeff at their loft so I could see him before we left, I helped Loretta pack, and we crashed around midnight. 4AM came very quickly Saturday morning but Loretta and I were up and on our way to the airport by 4:30AM. We parked the car, caught the shuttle, printed out our boarding passes and made the decision to carry on our luggage after finding out that Northwest charged $15 a bag to check it. At security, we hastily repacked our toiletries into clear plastic bags and crossed our fingers that we wouldn’t have to surrender anything. I had to give up my hairspray, but oh well.

Airport security rules no longer allow outside food or drink past the security checkpoint. So once we made it through, we grabbed some breakfast and drinks. We flew from St. Louis to St. Paul, MN and then from St. Paul to Phoenix. Arizona is two hours behind us so we landed in Phoenix around 10:30AM (12:30 our time). Krystal met us and our adventure began.

Loretta and I were starving!!!! It was lunch time for us, so we stopped at Pepe’s Taco’s outside of Phoenix for lunch. I was introduced to Cheese Crisp which I absolutely adored---it’s a tortilla that has been fried and then smothered in cheese and baked. After lunch, it was back in the car and on the road to Flagstaff which is about a two hour driver from Phoenix.

Phoenix is very open, very flat, very brown and very bright. Along the drive we passed cactus, cactus and more cactus and in the background these gorgeous cliffs, peaks and rock formations in variations of red and browns. Loretta explained to me that the Saguaro cactus is a protected plant because it takes so long for them to grown and that if someone is found with one in their truck for example, they receive huge fines. The urban sprawl that we drove through outside of Phoenix was built around these cacti because of this reason. Krystal explained that we would reach a point where there would be a distinct change in the landscape from the flat openness to a hillier, woodsy area on our drive. I didn’t see this change though because I fell asleep---which if you know me is no big surprise.


Flagstaff sits at an elevation of 7000 feet so this was a new experience for me and my lungs but they responded very well :>)


The weather in Flagstaff was rainy and the temperature was brisk (in the 40’s or 50's if I had to guess). Loretta was looking for a down coat and Crocs without holes, I was comfortable in my long sleeve thermal shirt but would have been happy for a pair of gloves. We drove to the NAU campus and Krystal’s dorm first. The campus is so beautiful, very peaceful and calm. It feels and looks like the buildings magically appeared among the trees and you feel as if you are out in the middle of the forest at times. There are hiking trails through campus and the walk is quite often up and down hill.



We met Krystal’s roommate, Kristin, and her suite-mates Rachel and Ellen. The suites are two dorm rooms connected by a bathroom in the middle. Each room has two twin beds, two desks, two closets, two dressers, a book case and a small refrigerator. The bathroom consists of a counter with a double sink, a walk-in shower and a stall for the toilet. Loretta and I were staying in Krystal’s room so we dropped off our luggage and took off on a walking tour of the south campus.

Krystal took us to the DuBois Center or the “Dub” as the students call it. This building is sort of like their student union—it houses their cafeteria, an Einstein Brother’s Bagel restaurant, a small market type store, and a lounge. We took in the cafeteria (yes we were still hungry) where Loretta tried out the biscuits/gravy and some peas. I headed to the ice cream machine and grabbed a twist cone. From there we walked over to the Sky Dome to take in a Lumberjack (school mascot) football game.


I had never been to a college game and both Loretta and Krystal said that this was not a typical game. However, we did have a good time. There was not much fan excitement but we did come back with a great memory---whenever the Lumberjacks score a first down the announcer says in a very monotone voice “Move those chains…….that’s a LUMBER (slight emphasis on this)Jack…..and the crowd replies “first down”. One would think there would be some excitement in the announcers’ voice but there wasn’t.


We left at half-time because we were all three so tired we could barely sit up. We went back to the dorm and crashed HARD. We had talked about going to Sedona for dinner, then we talked about going into downtown Flagstaff for dinner, and once we hit the beds in the dorm we decided that pizza delivered was the best option. Krystal ordered the pizza, fixed Loretta and I a plate when it arrived and cleaned up afterwards which was great since neither Loretta or I had enough energy to move out of bed. To be honest I barely remember eating, that’s how tired I was.

That was day one. I will post day two for you tomorrow.
Momma goes in for her platlet transfusion tomorrow. She is VERY tired today and has the usual nose bleed. I made a German Apple Cake last night which turned out VERY yummy. We had that for breakfast this morning, Momma went back to bed, Jeff went to work and I watched football. I cannot believe that the Rams actually won a game!!!! My beloved Bucs pulled it off again this weekend---GO TAMPA BAY!.
I hope you have had a blessed day as well.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Family Visit

Last Tuesday, Peggy, Jaime and Jackson came for a vist. Peggy had to deliver one of the puppies to it's new owner who lives on base at Scott, so our house was an easy meeting place.
This is Annie--the puppy that was being delivered. Isn't she sweet?




She was so good while she was at our house. Ali and Indy weren't too thrilled to have another animal invade their territory but we humans didn't mind a bit. If you love Annie as much as we do, Peggy has one male puppy left from the litter. You can go to http://seraphimkennels.com/ for more information. The puppies are pure bred Hungarian Wire-Haired Vizslas and make great hunting dogs if you are into the sort of thing.

Tuesday night was spent at my house just hanging out. Jaime had ordered pizza, the White Sox were still playing ball at that point and we spent the time catching up. Jackson is absolutely adorable---look at this face and tell me that you just can't help but smile....




Jaime is such a good mom--she loves him but doesn't coddle him. He's just a good baby (even though Jaime says he doesn't sleep through the night). We didn't really hear him cry once the whole time they were here.

Wednesday, Annie's new owner's picked her up and then everyone went over to Randy and Loretta's to meet Sofie's bus. They hung out with Sofie for the afternoon until Randy, Loretta and I got off work and joined them. Once again we had pizza, watched the Cubs this time and chatted. Poor Loretta was having computer problems at work and didn't get home until 8:30 or so. Even then she was still stuck trying to get her laptop to work which she later found out wouldn't have happened no matter what they tried. It was a bad computer and had to be replaced. I took Momma home around 9:30 and everyone else stayed at the loft until around midnight.

It was such a great visit and we can't wait to see them again.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Happy Wednesday

Good morning!!! I have a quick break here at work so I thought I would say hello.
Momma had her weekly blood draw this past Monday and the doctor called with her numbers yesterday. Her platlets are at 31,000, her white blood count is 19.9 and her hemoglobin at 11. So we are good for a couple more days--we have no nose bleeds right now which is a good thing.

Yesterday was a LONG day for me. Loretta and I did not get back from Arizona until 11:30PM Monday night and by the time I made it home and bed it was 1AM. I worked from 8AM to 6PM, had a hair appointment at 6PM, picked up dinner at Quizno's, ran into Walgreens for some gauze and then home. Momma was so hungry by the time I finally got there--but she was a real trooper about waiting.

Jeff had his biopsy yesterday so he was on the couch asleep(thus the need to pick up gauze at Walgreens)when I got home. I took his sandwich and a soda down to him so he didn't have to move too much. Momma and I ate while watching the newest episode of NCIS. After dinner, I did two loads of laundry, prepared my coupons for the week (love the grocery game website!!) and watched some of the Presidential debate.

At around 10:30PM, Jeff said that he would kill for a big soda and I was thirsty as well. So we took Ali and went up to Quick Trip. We grabbed sodas for all of us along with donuts for Jeff and Momma and a honeybun for me. We pigged out and then I got ready for bed.

I started reading "Eat, Pray, Love" last night. My sister-in-law gave me this book at Christmas along with a wonderful handwritten note. I only read the first three chapters last night but I really enjoyed what I read.

So today I was on Ali Edwards blog ,http://aliedwards.typepad.com/, and she is offering a set of stamps. To win you have to leave a comment telling her something good about today. Here was my comment:
Reasons that today is a good day:
The sun is shining but it's a cool brisk day
I have great hair today (happy hair as I call it)
My MIL told me that I looked really nice when I left for work
I was able to get the kitchen picked up before I left this morning
I made plans for lunch on Friday with a friend

What is good today for you? Leave me a comment and let me know.