End of an Era

Today is a day of mourning.
Today Oprah announces the end of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Next season, 2010-2011, will be Season 25 and her last season on network TV.
The talk show began in 1986.  (I was a Senior in high school!)
She has been faithfully there for me for the past 24 years.
Say what you want about Oprah, but she is  "my guuurrrrl".
I have always loved and admired Oprah, and I will miss her.

However....do not dispair yet, oh legions of oprah fans...she won't be gone for good.
The new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is set to debut in 2011.  It is being formed in conjunction with Discovery Channel and will take the place of Discovery Health in millions of homes across the U.S.
Maybe she'll just move the talk show over to OWN?
A girl can only hope.
*sigh*

And now for something a bit more cheery....

Lizzie and I made a trip to Old Navy yesterday.

We were in search of boots.

We hit the motherload.

We are completely loving all of the new cardigan boots,

slippers, and socks that are everywhere.

The best variety and display were clearly at Old Navy.

I got the bright yellow slippers in the photo above.

I am saving them for next weekend's cheer competition.

Because, yes, the rumors are true.

Hello, my name is Stephanie, and I am a Crazy Cheer Mom.

I am ecstatic that I am not the only Ohioan that wears flip-flops in the winter,

as evidenced by the Ho-Ho-Ho footwear above.

Scarves, glorious scarves.

I love color.

It makes me happy in this gray landscape of winter November.

I am totally loving....

This.....

parents.com

and this....

country living

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Road Trip!

I'm hitting the open roads of Ohio this Friday. My bestie Denise & I are road trippin to the 127 Corridor. U.S. Rte. 127 is host to the World's Longest Yard Sale!

4 days long.

Over 600 miles.

Across 4 states.

Endless miles of yard sales & fun!

We are just doing this on Friday, so we won't even make it out of Ohio, but the sale does cut through Kentucky, Tennessee, & into Alabama. How fun is that?
I'm really looking forward to some "girl time" with Denise and riding the country roads of Ohio. I love to see all of the quaint little farm towns & the beautiful Ohio scenery. Not to mention that I am a Yard Sale fanatic!!

Wish us luck & hopefully we won't get too tempted to stop at a country inn and continue on down 127 on Saturday as well.

You've been replaced.

1 year, 9 months, and 15 days. That's how long it's been since my sanity packed its bags for the final time and actually left for good, slamming the door on the way out, and has not been seen since.

That is when I lost my one true friend I had that was able to calm me & keep me from coming unhinged. The one friend that was able to successfully lull me into feeling a bit more sane than I really am. This friend never judged me, never let me down, was always there for me. I miss my old friend.

My friend did come with some faults though. This friend was expensive to have around. Eating up my cash on a daily basis, slowly filling me with poison, and my friend really smelled bad and kept others away from me. Did I care? Hell no! God, I miss my friend.

Most days I do not think about this friend any longer. Once in awhile I have a day like today, and I wish this friend was still in my life. Where are you? Dont' you know I need you to calm me down & make me feel better? Damn me for kicking you out of my life!! What was I thinking?

However much i miss you, I really don't have the time or desire to have you back again. I have too much going on to depend on you. I am enjoying the challenge of being able to make it on my own.

Therefore here I sit. 1 year, 9 months, and 15 days since I kicked you to the curb.

I am surviving. I am hanging on. I don't need you anymore. You have been replaced with an even better friend. A more comforting friend. A friend that is actually good for me. Goodbye Marlboro Man. Hello bubble bath. We had a wonderful visit this afternoon after work, just me & my bubble bath.

You've been replaced.

I will never regret the decision to quit smoking once and for all. My meltdown this afternoon, followed by crying myself to sleep in my bubble bath was very good for me. Writing this post has been very good for me.

It just reinforces what I already know - that I have a beautiful life. I chose life when I quit smoking all those many months ago. When I do have to retreat to my tub for a good soak, I am choosing to reenergize myself. I am choosing to take care of myself. To retreat, regroup, and clear my head. When the fog clears and the tears dry up, I can see clearly that I have a beautiful life.


Today I am joining Melissa at The Inspired Room in recognizing the moments that make our life beautiful.

It is a sign.

Today I went on a little field trip of sorts. I set out for the day with my parents and their neighbor Karen. Our first stop was a fabric store. This place was packed to the gills with 2 floors and many rooms full of all the fabric & trim your little heart could desire. Except for my little heart apparently, because I came away empty handed. Whatever. I am destined to live in a curtainless house.






So as I am browsing through the fabric I turn around and the saleslady was standing there with a big ole' grin on her face holding THIS in my face.

What?? Am I destined to be tortured by this? I wanted him so badly. He was all cute and tiny, and mewing, and blue eyes and obviously completely irresistible. Ugh! And there were 3 other ones too. Double ugh! Every time I turned around there she was with another kitten in my face. Really? Really? Does she even know how bad I want one? So. Not. Fair.

Let me back up a day by saying that I had a dream last night that I was pregnant with another daughter, which is eerily similar to the last time I was yearning for another girl and the other kittens appeared in my life.

Is it a sign? Or just a coincidence? I prefer to think of it as a sign that it's time to bring one of these cuties home with me. At least that's what I will tell hubby. IT IS A SIGN!!

7 Quick Takes Friday - vol.4

~ 1 ~

A few days ago I won concert tickets on the radio to Def Leppard/Poison concert. I haven't done that in years! I was just driving home and listening to the radio and she said call now to win 2 tickets, so I called, and I won. The concert is next week already and hubby is going with me. Last time I saw either band I was 18 years old and yound and carefree. My guess is that most of the crowd will be 30-somethings like us, just takin a trip down memory lane to those crazy 80's. Can't wait!

2~

I got my nails and toes painted today - Cha Ching Cherry! Love it! It's a great summer color.

~ 3 ~

I am going to a jewelry party tonight with my mom. What makes this kinda special is that it is at the home of my son's girlfriend. She lives with her parents and this is the first time I will be meeting them. The 2 of them have been dating for about 8 months so I guess it's about time I meet them. She is a total sweetheart, so I imagine her mom will be too. I am really looking forward to it (and buying some jewelry).

~ 4 ~

Blast from the past. I got a text message today from an old friend that I haven't talked to in forever. The friendship didn't end so well and we haven't really spoken since. She hurt me and a lot of others, but I hear she has her life on track now, so what to do? what to do? Still thinkin about that one.

~ 5 ~

My brother and I had a conversation yesterday and we have remarkably both been thinking the same thing - it is time for family Sunday dinners. It doesn't have to be Sundays, but that would probably work for most. We would each take one Sunday a month, and whoever is available that Sunday always knows where to find everyone else. With life being so hectic, and no one getting any younger, I think it would be amazing to do that. Family is most important after all, and what a great way for all of us to keep in tune with each other.

~ 6 ~

I've been really thinking of starting my own business. I have a few ideas kicking around, but the only thing missing is confidence to do it. It's definitely something that would be really super small scale at first, but in these economic times it would be something that really didn't take much of an investment at first and I could build it as I go. Hmmm.....great adventure or failed endeavor?

~ 7 ~

Rain, Rain, Go away, come again another day.........gotta run and get ready for the jewelry party.

Hop on over to Convesion Diary to read other's Quick Takes on their lives.

opposites attract

One of my favorite things in life is the outdoors. A sunny day, a warm day, being surrounded by trees & flowers, birds chirping, green grass, a soft breeze, little wispy clouds dotting the bright blue sky - these are a few of my favorite things.

I was raised to be in the outdoors. We were not an adventurous family in that we weren't snowskiing or bungi jumping, but we did spend a lot of time in nature. Whether it was hiking, walking, bike riding, or camping, we all learned to be in tune with nature and enjoy the outdoors.

My husband? Not so much.

Hubby is a city boy, born and raised. He's all about the indoors, which I guess you learn to be, growing up within the city limits of a major, metropolitan city. His idea of outdoors was taking out the trash, riding to the baseball diamond, or cutting the lawn. I have tried over the years to introduce him to the outdoors. He has endured several family camping trips, but I use the word "endured" very lightly. "Suffered through" is more like it. "You want me to sleep outdoors? In a tent? You want me to go to the bathroom where? You expect me to eat food off of what?" I think he almost passed out the first time he saw us using a real stick to roast our marshmallows. A real stick. From. A. Tree. Oh, and you can't forget his obvious glee when a camp worker had to come and shoot a skunk near our tent. In broad daylight. With a shotgun. 30 feet from our campsite. Highlight of his camping trip that year!

To Hubby, being out in nature ranks right up there with posing for a picture:

So my love of the outdoors and his not love of the outdoors brings us to where we were this past Sunday afternoon. Me reading a book on a blanket in the backyard, and hubby in front of the television. It was a gorgeous day. The sky was blue, the sun was beating down hot, and the breeze was cool enough to keep you comfortable. This is when I decided that the current state of our Sunday afternoon was NOT OK. So I marched right in and said to hubby "Hubby, get your shoes, we are going down into the Park. It is way too nice of a day to be a-wasting!"

Because he loves me and always wants me to be happy and because he's the best guy EVER, we headed off to the Metroparks. Of course as luck would have it, we no sooner left our street than the skies clouded over and the nice, cool breeze was not so nice anymore. This did not deter me, I was a woman on a mission. We will be outdoors and we will walk in the park dammit! We decided to hit the trails behind our local Nature Center.

This is the inviting path that greeted us at the park. How could anyone resist this?

We passed a pond/wetland and saw tiny baby ducks and heard bullfrogs croaking. It was so peaceful.

Forget-Me-Nots: my favorite flower from my childhood home.

We spotted a young buck in amongst the trees. He had the cutest fuzzy antlers growing up out of his head. I hid behind a tree and snuck up on him.

This is the beautiful path we followed as we looped around and headed back out of the park.

As we left the park we passed this stone:

How true this is! Even though we don't share the same love of the outdoors, we do share a greater love: the love for each other. He endures my outdoor "adventures" for that very reason. Because he loves me. And the end result of the afternoon was we were able to spend time together, alone, amidst the beauty and wonder of nature. So peaceful, so right. I truly did receive far more than I sought when I dragged my man to the park that afternoon.

Happiness Is.....

....flowers I picked from my yard - some wild, some planted. Love it !!

my little girl

Today is June 3rd and it is cloudy and a Wednesday, which means that I have to work both jobs today and won't come in the door until 10:00 tonight. But what makes everything OK is that today is my little girl's birthday. She is my youngest, my baby, my little "pinkie", and today she is 15. Wow! Such a young woman she is becoming. She seems to have all of the great qualities that I never possessed as a teenager. She is beautiful, outgoing, a social butterfly, goal-oriented (meaning she's thinking about college), and confident.

She is the light of my life. Yes we have our mother/daughter moments, but she really is a joy to have around. If the occasional argument and sassy mouth is the worst that I have to deal with, then I am pretty lucky. Yesterday her and her bestfriend (who is also turning 15 today!) informed me that an acquaintance of theirs that is in their grade and the same age ---Is. Pregnant. Uggghhh!!! Is it that time already? Time to worry about boys, and sex, and babies, and boys, and growing up too fast, and boys! And my oh my, how she likes the boys. Yikes! Hubby is freakin out. She is such a daddy's girl. They have this special bond. She truly does have him wrapped around her finger, yet she doesn't dare upset him. Not because he is too stern, but because she just doesn't want disappoint him. Like that's possible!!

Thus far she has earned our trust and hasn't gotten into any trouble and is an absolute joy of a daughter. She is funny and sarcastic and cracks us up. She loves shoes & clothes & shopping. Actually she's obsessed with those things. She loves to do her hair and get her toes done, and shop for clothes, and text like mad on the lastest and greatest cell phone (which is on her birthday list) and hang with her friends and listen to music. She is an amazing athlete, cheerleader, and dancer. She astounds us with her tumbling abilities and somehow, with no dance training, has become a beautiful dancer over these last 2 years. She is quick-witted and keeps me on my toes. She knows when enough is enough, and regularly lectures her girlfriends when they talk back to their parents. I am so proud of the young woman she has become and so very excited with anticipation over what is to come. I know these high school years will go by so quickly. We will try to slow down, take a breath, and enjoy every moment. And take loads of pictures!

Elizabeth Marie, you are a joy, and you are sunshine in my day.

We love you so much pinkie.

Momma

my magnificent monday - week 3

My Monday was Magnificent because:

1) I had 2 visits from family today.
2) My wonderful hubby bought me a treadmill this past weekend (no more excuses).
3) Tonight I had my last "junk food" meal before tomorrow, the first day of workouts on the treadmills.
4) I ♥ Chipotle (see #3)

decorating my nest

When we lived in our previous home I was all about the decorating. The house was a 1920's Craftsman Bungalow, and the wood floors and architectural features really inspired me. We lived in the home for 9 years and I finally had it completely decorated exactly how I loved it, just in time to sell it in 2008. I miss this house so much. I loved it because it was old and cozy and had a good soul.

Our beautiful new home is just that: a new home. We are the first owners, so what it lacks in character & charm, it makes up for in space, location, and is a blank canvas ooozing in decorating possibilities. The only problem is that I am having a difficult time finding design inspiration, until I found the Nester that is. The Nester has a blog, Nesting Place, that encourages women like me to decorate fearlessly. Her motto is "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful". I have spent numerous days lurking in the home design blogs of these talented, inspiring ladies and have decided to tackle a few design dilemnas.

Design Dilemna #1

My old (as in bought it in my early 20's), dorm room style, little entertainment center in my Living Room. At this time a fabulous Wall Unit & Flatscreen TV are not in the budget. Therefore what to do with the one I have? I was inspired by Nancy @ Live, Love, Laugh to go ahead and spray paint this unit black. It will go great with my decor and wall color and if I leave off the outdated glass door it should look awesome. I will keep you posted. Once done it would look great adorned with a whimsical Quote Jar being given away over at The Lettered Cottage.

Design Dilemna # 2

Curtains for my living room. I have the wood slat blinds which I love, but I am so afraid to invest money in curtains. Should I go with valances, draperies, tie-backs? I really have no clue. I think what I need to do is follow the advice of The Nester and carry my swatches & paint chips with me and just find either a ready-made curtain or fabric that I love, and just play with it. If I keep an eye on my budget I can't go wrong. I know fabric will bring such life to these sterile rooms. I just need to take the leap.

Design Dilemna # 3

My backyard is awesome and big. The only problem is that our home was built just a year ago and this subdivision was built on farm land, therefore NO trees! Which is driving me insane. First order of business this summer is to plant some fast growing trees (is there such a thing?). I was inspired by a video by Kara @ Made 2 Create. She is just jumping in with the landscaping and going for it. Again, with no fear. Here is my big, blank canvas of a backyard.

So now I just need to take the cue from all of these creative ladies and get going with my projects. Hopefully I can add to my decor with some of the great giveaways over at The 3rd Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway. Check it out, you could win some great items too!

The lights are on, but no one is home.

Across the street from our subdivision lies this old house. My daughter and I are obsessed with this house. It is old, dirty, run down, and very creepy (click photo for larger image). It reminds us of a haunted house or one of those houses from a horror movie. You know the one that is the only one for miles around when the car breaks down. You are forced to seek shelter there and then begin seeing things, and feeling things, and then everything begins to go very, very wrong.

That's the kind of house we imagine this to be. It is so cool. If you could see up close you would notice the half-hanging curtains, the ripped window shades, the driveway overgrown with grass, and the rusted mailbox with no house number. In fact there is no house number anywhere to be found. The old cars sit next to the house. They are always in the same spot, they never move. Also, we have never seen a person there in 15 months. Imagine our delight as we were driving down the road one night and spotted lights on in the house. It is the one and only time we have ever seen lights on. We freaked out. "OMG, LIGHTS!", we both shouted as I hit the breaks in the middle of the road. There we sat in the road staring at our creepy house. There were lights on and silhouted in the old bay window was a large Christmas tree. The tree was not illuminated and it was nowhere near the month of December. Creepy! Even though the home was lit up and the outline of the objects in the house were visible through the sheer curtains, not a soul was in there. No movement, no people, just that creepy Christmas tree.

Is it most likely just another old, abandoned house? Probably. But we love to imagine so much more about "our" creepy house. If any one needs a house for a horror movie let them know we have just the one, down at the end of Nobottom Road.

Nature's Wonders

Last weekend's roadtrip to Cincinnati was nothing short of a catastrophe. However one good thing came of it: our visit to the Newport Aquarium in Newport, KY (which, let's face it, is really just Cincinnati over the bridge spanning the Ohio River). It's been years since I've been to an aquarium and it didn't disappoint. The fish and sea life were so beautiful. This Sea Anemone (I assume that's what it is, I wasn't taking notes) just took my breath away. How does a living thing growing at the bottom of the ocean look so incredibly beautiful?

If only I had as much luck growing my hackin' tulips. I love spring flowers because they signal an end to all things abysmal, dark, gloomy, depressing, and sad - otherwise known as an Ohio winter. Last fall my daughter, parents, and I planted tulip bulbs in my front garden. All winter I knew spring would be here when my red tulips bloomed for the first time (red being my absolute favorite color). Well the tulips have taken their time and finally just this week have started to grow tall. With the cloudy skies we've had for days they are taking too long to change color if you ask me. They just sit there looking all......green. Hurry up already!

We finally an afternoon of brief sun and they turned color - TO PINK!!! What? I did not plant pink bulbs, I most definitely planted RED bulbs. Months and months of longing for red flowers to adorn the front of my gloomy beige house, and I get light pink flowers. Yuck! I have a mind to cut them down, take them back to my local home improvement store, and demand my money back! "Listen lady, I don't care if I bought them last year, or if I planted them and they grew. The package said red and I want red"!

I quit! I swear I quit and give up, and it will never be warm, sunny, or summertime ever, ever, again! Arggghhhhhhhh!!!!

Update: Since last lamenting the pigment of my tulips, I have to say that the pink is very pretty. The tulips have come up strong and tall and a beautiful shade of pink. It's not red, but it will do. Here is a pic of what I get to look at out my office window all day long:

The Day After.....

My daughter is a dancer, my daughter is a cheerleader. She puts in 16 hours per week at the practice gym. Not to mention all of the competition weekends, travel, uniforms, etc. I think you get the not-so-pretty picture, it's basically sucking up the money that would like to become our "life savings". Hence the part-time job 2 nights a week at the "gym". The only way to let my daughter be the dancer/cheerleader/athlete that she yearns to be.

One of the evenings I work at the gym is Wednesday, otherwise known as LOSTday. This is so not cool. I do all I can to get out of there on time and rush home to my waiting husband who is kind enough to keep his weary head from hitting the pillow just so we can get LOST together. This can be added to my list of favorite things: sittin' with my hubby on the couch getting lost in LOST.

Which leads me to last night's episode: A HACKIN' RECAP EPISODE !! Ugh! One of my guilty pleasures stripped from me. I rushed through the door, got situated on the couch with hubby, activated the DVR (otherwise known as the best invention thus far in the 21st century), only to find out that we have to endure another Recap. episode. "Noooooooooooo!". Needless to say hubby lasted 10 minutes, then left for bed, and I was left to doze off on my own, listening to a narrator tell me stuff I am already quite well aware of, thank you very much.

So in the absence of new LOST tidbits to share with you, I will instead share with you another one of my guilty pleasures, gazing at Sawyer from LOST.
Enjoy.

Say Hello to my little Peep.

So, I am trying to be good about what I eat, cuz let's face it, I got a little extra sumthin', sumthin' goin on. Yet, here I sit on Holy Thursday stuffing my mouth with pink peeps. Of course I bought them for the baskets, but just knowing they are up in that closet, I have no control. I can hear them peeping at me from down here in my office, and I must answer their call.

Of course it has been a year since I had them last, so I don't even have the patience to eat them properly. And everyone knows that the proper way to eat a peep is to open the package, let it sit for a few hours, and eat them when they get a little "stale" goin on. You know, they get a little hard around the outside? Yea, you are cravin the peep now aren't ya?? It's OK to admit it - it's 4 days before Easter. We have a free pass for the peeps. At least that's what I tell myself.