Finally, Some Answers!

So, we still don't know all about Smokey, Jacob or the four toed statue but last night we did get some exciting information! Here it is in list form because that's just how I roll.

• We knew Charles Widmore was on the Island before BUT now we know he was an original/Other!!! I had always assumed he was with Dharma, I guess he didn't seem so Otherish to me. In Season 4 he told Benry "You took the Island from me" {paraphrased} so...was Widmore in line to be the next leader or thought that he should be? How did Widmore get off of the Island, did he turn the FDW too? I wonder why he's had so much trouble finding the Island.
  

• In the repeat of epi's 5.1 & 5.2 they had some notes at the bottom of the screen, one note stated that Mrs. Hawking's first name is Eloise = Faraday's test rat's name, coincidence? I don't think so! After Widmore told Desmond that Faraday's mom was in LA I'm convinced that Mrs. Hawking {Elouise} is Faraday's mom. ALSO - Ellie is the name of the girl {who had an almost bun in her hair} with the gun pointed at Faraday most of the show & he said that she looked familiar. SO Eloise=Mrs. Hawking=name of the test rat=girl with gun on island=Faraday's mom!! I'd like to think that him naming the rat after his mom was an endearing tribute but he could have mommy issues - not an uncommon theme on this show {Kate, Claire}

• I think it would be interesting if Widmore ended up being Faraday's dad though I have nothing to support this. But there is a connection with Faraday & Widmore that we didn't know about before. Widmore funded Faraday's time travel research for 10 years and has been taking care of the girl who was a test subject - and possibly Faraday's girlfriend or sister??? Now, I'm wondering what Widmore's intentions were with that. Does he want to go back in time and take his place as leader of the Others? Has he been trying to stop whatever "God help us all" moment that Benry & his off island crew are trying to stop???

• Things aren't looking good for Charlotte & I'm glad Faraday finally told her his feelings for her, because we've all known they had a thing for each other for quite some time now. I still want to know her back story, was she on the Island before & why did she leave?

• Jughead - The HBomb. Was this burried in the hatch that Desmond lived in & have something to do with the number pushing or was this in the Dharma station that Faraday & Charlotte had to disarm??? I may have to watch that episode again because I'm a little confused on this one. When the fail safe key was turned and the sky turned purple there was an implosion but I would think an HBomb would have done more damage to our Losties, Desmond & everyone else on the Island. It being in the other station {can't remember the name} and getting disarmed makes more sense to me. :shrug: Is the radiation from this bomb behind the problem of carrying a baby to full term and/or the Island's healing properties?

That's all I can think of at the moment but I may come back to add more later.

Cinderella Went to the Ball

On a normal day I wear jeans & a top to clean, do errands & cook. On Tuesday nights I put on a dress or skirt for my Mary Kay meetings. And on completely lazy days I lounge in my pj's & robe if it's cold. Friday I got to dress up - head to toe! This was the first Military Ball we have attended and it was SO much fun. Some people were complaining that they were starting late but I was dressed up with a drink in hand so no complaints from me!

Staying in procrastinator tradition I shopped for a dress the day before with a friend that was visiting to go to the ball with her fiance. We both got lucky & found a dress at the first shop we went to, I got a little "shiny" happy & bought shoes and earrings as well. On my way home I realized that I had two pair of earrings that would have went just fine but they were on sale & shiny so really I had no choice.

As a true procrastinator I didn't get in the shower & start getting ready until a little after 3:00...we wanted to leave by 5:00. I know 2 hours seems like a lot of time to get ready but my hair had to dry before I curled it and my hair doesn't always get along with curls. Plus my hormones went on attack & I had a HUGE mountain of a zit {could have been a mole if it were brown} to cover; luckily I have fantabulous Mary Kay products {concealer, foundation, mineral powder} that made it just about disappear! Next time I'll ask the sitter to come early & keep the kids distracted while we finish things up and I'll have her take some photos before the wind gets to my hair and we've had a drink or few.

I've heard that some balls aren't much fun & wives aren't always excited to go. O_O What?!? Not excited to dress up & get out of the house with your husband? When we were there I was glad that we had a seat far back from the stage. We clapped & stood when others did without having to hear the whole boring speech {just glad the FRG didn't get up & start talking) and we didn't have to fake a smile for the mediocre comedian. I'm sure he tried but most weren't very impressed. We were a little further than the dance floor then I liked but I still managed to drag the hubs out for a few songs. They played "Hold Me" which is 'our song' - not the song we danced to at our wedding {not sure why at this moment} but it has significance for us & if you google "Hold Me" and some strange song comes up, I may not have the song title correct - that's just what I call it. Or that is our song & we may be weird. ;)

After dinner & dancing and laughing with friends we headed to a little Irish Pub that was packed full of people - some from the ball, some not - and laughed more with friends. I even managed to get him on the dance floor again! We'd talked about getting out once a month or more for a date night since we have a sitter that we can trust & the kids like, but we haven't done that with everything else going on. I think we'll start soon.

Here are some pictures from the night. It was dark in the room so they all didn't turn out great but it works. OH & I was "posing" for pictures all night because I didn't think they had a professional photographer, found out they did just before we left! =] See what others are talking about today by clicking the button above.

PS. Michael told me that we could go to the ball ONLY if he & Lydia could go when they were bigger and Daddy & I stayed home with the babysitter...if only I grew younger as he grows older!

Scrap a Card

Yay! I've got scrap! I'm writing this post up Saturday night in hopes that I'll be too busy being productive tomorrow that I won't have time on the computer but to click post & do the linky. ;) So if I get more done I'll update you.

I've been wanting to make a card for my grandmother's upcoming birthday - she's not on her computer much so it's safe. If by my luck you're looking at this grandma - Surprise! hehe So tonight I browsed this fun & resourceful site to find inspiration, no something to copy and in about 10 minutes I had a card. :D I know a lot of scrappers {namely SS scrappers} that love to make cards and make them often. I on the other hand struggle with it...a lot, and I don't know why. Something just doesn't 'click' in the creative part of my brain so I don't make them often & when I do I scraplift someone else's design so my head doesn't hurt and I spend 10ish minutes making one.

Last week's challenge was to use blue & without realizing it at the time, I did just that! Yay, I think this is one of the few challenges I've met. This coming week I have 5 Mary Kay appointments, will be receiving an order {labeling/inventory/order deliveries/etc} and the usual housework so we'll see how scrappy I get. I'm hoping at the very least I can finally sort through Lydia's completed pages {make a note of ones that still need journaling} and compile a to do list to finish her first year album...before she turns 3. It would be WONDERFUL if I also went through my photo jail on the computer and put together a print order so I can one day check scrapped pages off of said list. It will be a MIRACLE if I get around to organizing my scrappy stuff so I can better see just what I have and use it rather than being tempted to buy more - I have a guilt knot in my stomach when I buy more than adhesive and solid bazil/cardstock.

Thanks for visiting! Have a scrap happy week! :D

**Upadated** I pulled out all of my completed pages, took notes & sorted! I had A LOT more of her album finished than I remembered! And I must admit I teared up a little looking at photos of her so tiny, when Michael first met her and with my mom. Many emotions mixed in so I cried, then I stopped and kept taking notes. 12 of my completed pages need journaling - crossing my fingers I remember stuff or wrote it down somewhere! The best news is I only have 11 topics to scrap, most of these will be in one or two page layouts but I may have some 4 pagers in there. Now to bail my photos out of computer jail & get that order put in!

• 3 month photos (only professional ones taken TO DATE)
• 6 month photos
• 9 month photos (LOVED the ones I took but they've been in computer jail)
• 12 month photos (camera was on the FRITZ and I never scheduled that appt. - here's hoping!)
• 1st birthday{s}, I had a little celebration at home then a party at my dad's house
• first baby food/real food (I may not do both)
• baths in the sink (I have some that I just LOVE so I must - she was a sink baby for a LONG time)
  
• first Christmas (I have one Christmas event scrapped but nothing else)
• summer time/outdoor pics (I *think* I have pictures jailed up that I really liked)
• pictures with Shawn in Class A's
• d-day pictures (she was 11 months when he deployed and I think we're in the Army for the long haul so it will hold some significance for her later)
  

o_o

**SEASON 5 PREMIER SPOILER ALERT**

I finished watching the season 5 premier of LOST and my mind is still twisted, hurting in a way that only LOST can hurt it. And boy does it hurt so good. I'll have to watch BOTH episodes again because it was overload tonight. Some of my favorite highlights:

• Sayid's death by dishwasher attack - he kicks butt!
• Hurley's use of a hot pocket/burrito as a weapon aimed at Ben!
• "Libby says hi" - :tear:!!!
• "It points North" - thanks for that captain obvious now can you share something of IMPORTANCE with the class??
• "When am I?" - only on LOST
• "He's dead isn't he?", "I'll see you in 6 hours" - WHA????
• "You have 70 hours....or God help us all" - !!!!!
  

This and more than I can remember is why I'm o_O and a little 'alkfjdaklsfjdl' tonight. Now to finish up the hubs shirt before Class A inspections tomorrow. He's away working staff duty, 9am-9am shift, so I'll be watching the episodes again with him because I'm SURE I missed some things.

Adjusting

Shawn's been home for a little over two months and it's been a roller coaster. First there was the extreme high of excitement and anticipation finally coming to head. I'd look at him across the table or room and be in complete awe that he was so close. Then I was in a spiraling whirlwind over block leave with traveling to visit family & friends, celebrating holidays and just enjoying vacation. Now it feels like I am on that fast track down back to reality.

Am I thrilled that he's home? Of course! Would I be even more thrilled if his clothes made it into the hamper in the laundry room rather than their own pile in the bedroom...? I'll let you guess. It's weird that for 14 months I did it all on my own - or made sure that it got done and it didn't really bother me. So why is it that my 'housewifely duties' are getting on my nerves? Maybe it's because I feel more like a personal maid at times. I really don't mind doing the brunt of the housework but is it really too much to ask for him to put his own laundry in the hamper, or keep track of his 23948985 pieces of Army gear?

Then feelings of guilt creep in as I think that he could be leaving for the next deployment in 10-13 months. It's not something that I focus on but it's hard not to think about, especially when time is just flying by. Time didn't move so quickly while he was gone, why does it have to now? I don't want to waste time arguing about laundry piles, or anything really.The laundry isn't a big problem, just an annoyance that I wanted to get off of my chest. I started writing this post a few days ago and he saw the first draft talking about the laundry. The next morning I woke up to a clean kitchen, children dressed & fed and their rooms clean. It was a nice surprise. But...the dirty clothes were still in a pile on our bedroom floor, along with a pile of clean clothes he hasn't put away since pulling them all out looking for something. I had to laugh.

If you're married what's that one thing that your husband does that just hits a nerve with you?

OH & I forgot! We took Lydia's crib down last weekend, so now she's in the toddler bed. I have some spray paint for it and bought her new sheets - her other was stained. We still need to get her decor on the walls and I still have to organize scrappy stuff so not much from this list was completed but it's progress, I'm hoping to finish her room today. I'm off to start laundry and clean this house up, funny how quickly it gets messy. If you're here from Sunday Scrappin' I didn't get to any crafts this week but I'm sure I'll take a peek at your work. Thanks for visiting & have a great week!

Working on Projects

Today's Sunday Scrappin' post isn't so much scrappy but it is crafty & I did use scrapbook paper. :D

I've been trying to finish up some projects around the house and it seems the more I get done the more I add to my list. One thing tends to lead to another when I start organizing or decorating. A while back I started working on Lydia's room with refinishing her dresser and today I finally did the shadow boxes.

Tada:

This is the before picture, I purchased 3 of these from a local online yard sale site and loved that they were unfinished so I could make them look how I wanted.

And this is after. I used the same paint that we did on her dresser - a creamy yellow, lined the backing with scrapbook paper and adhered these decorative wood pieces that I picked up for under 60 cents each at my local Wal-Mart. I purchased a dragonfly to go with the flower & butterfly but it was too large. I also had 4 animals for the second shadow box but 3 of those were too large. Note to self, measure before purchasing. I'm sure I'll find a use for the left over decorative pieces. When I go out I'm going to keep my eye open for something to put in the other box. I have a picture in my mind of vintage looking miniature dolls...but we'll see what I can find in reality. ;) I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out though I would prefer them being completely done. I haven't done any scrapping lately but hope to soon!

Todo's:

• Take down Lydia's crib & put up the toddler bed
• Hang up shelves & shadow boxes
• Find something to put in second shadow box
• Organize scrapbook pages & make list for finishing Lydia's first year album
• Order photos to finish Lydia's album

There's PLENTY more I could put on this list but it's a long shot that I'll finish all of these things this week so I won't overdo it.

Have a great week!

Summing up 2008 part 2

Yesterday I cleaned house & started organizing projects. This morning I woke up too early thanks to my oh so lovely children. :-/ So it's 7:35 and I'm still waking up. I've done my usual morning stuff - myspace, e-mail & checked a forum I'm on and browsed the net for random things - this morning a dress for the ball. More on that in another post I'm sure. So what's left to do but post? After all, I'm still waking up & only starting my second cup of coffee so I can't do anything that's actually productive, may as well do something that's virtually productive!

In my last post I finished up with Christmas Eve so I'll start with Christmas morning! By the way, just writing & going through photos of all the happenings over this holiday season makes me so glad that it's done with.

We started out the morning with the kids opening stockings, Shawn also opened his. I was taking pictures & got in 'trouble' for not telling my husband that he needed to get something for my stocking. Not that I thought he needed to or I had to remind him but he felt bad for forgetting. Then we had cinnamon rolls before the kids opened the rest of their gifts. I picked up some dress up items from the dollar store down the street, Shawn picked out a model airplane for Michael & a gift for Lydia. I paying such close attention to age recommendations on toys bought Ker-Plunk for my kids, Lydia looks as confused as I did when they tried playing it. Then it was on to the big gifts. Shawn wanted to get them Jeeps, put them together & was this close to telling the kids they were from Santa. Christmas Eve in the middle of him putting them together I said "really? some guy in a red suit is going to take credit for this?", he was glad he took credit that morning. The kids LOVED them! Lydia hopped right in hers while Michael took the bow off of his and they both went riding. I took way too many photos, daddy got his "thank yous" and we were content watching our kids play, amazed at how quickly they've grown and exchanged thoughts on whether we should have more kids. That night the kids & Shawn baked cookies and a Michelin Man chocolate chip cookie too!

The next day I took Christmas down, cleaned house & packed for our road trip. We drove to my dad's house in New Mexico, about a 20 hour drive over two days but once we got to my dad's house it was worth the drive. My brother in law hadn't left for his flight yet so we were able to get an {almost} complete family photo. My dad, stepmom, siblings, kids & niece - all but my oldest younger brother were there. That night we had our gift exchange, with so many people it took quite a while but was fun. I got more green & orange goodies for the kitchen, the kids got more toys & Shawn got a special painting from my stepmom {more on that in another post}. We spent time with some wild animals one day and the zoo had some wild creatures of their own. ;) We stopped to see the lion who started roaring loudly around feeding time. As his roar got louder the kids freaked out & I couldn't help but laugh and take a photo, consoling them afterwards. I fixed up Lydia's hair one day in a style I saw posted on Lazy's blog sometime back and took more pictures. While at my dad's we played Risk, a few times & Shawn and I each won once. We rang in the new year with fireworks & sparklers before the kids' bedtime, after most kids were in bed the Bunco party started. Shawn won for most Buncos and I was a close second for one of the prizes. We ended up staying an extra day longer than planned then made the long drive back home. Since being home we've been settling back into routine. Michael was back in school on the 5th, Shawn starts work tomorrow and I've been doing housework and setting up Mary Kay appointments. Vacation is nice but getting back to life is good too. Thanks for visiting! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Summing up 2008 part 1

We had a very busy end of the year. It was fun but I'm glad to be done with the holidays and making a new groove for 2009. I'm going to do a short n sweet summary of 2008, mostly in pictures because well it could be the end of 2009 before I finished it all if I didn't do it this way. ;)

Two weeks before Christmas we flew to California, first visiting Shawn's parents. There we saw his brother & his kids, his grandpa, two aunts & one uncle. The kids had so much fun playing together! The girls mostly playing with make up and dolls while the boys played with army guys. We spent half of our trip at my in laws and had a good visit. It had been about 16 months since she saw Shawn, longer for her step dad & we hadn't seen our niece & nephew in at least a year. Shawn put together a shadow box with a couple of photos from Iraq, small medals that he's earned, the rank promotions he got during his deployment and a couple of patches that he wore while deployed - she loved it. Later that night I gave her the paperbag album I made - she cried, I think I won. ;)

Then we headed up to my sister's house and crammed a lot into 3 days! Our first night in my best friend, her husband and one of her daughters joined mine & my sister's family for dinner and then we exchanged our gifts. The next day the four of us headed out to my grandparents house where my sister & her family joined us later. The kids had gifts to open and I handed out the family photo & homemade ornament. The two nights at my sister's house Shawn & I stayed at a hotel while my sister kept the kids at their house. They offered to pay for one night but agreed to keep the kids a second night for us. I think she had pity on me after finding out that I was puking & running to the toilet the first night. It was SO nice to be completely alone and not have any little people climbing into our bed at night or yelling for food in the morning. The day before heading back home we visited with two of Shawn's uncles & an aunt before heading out to meet my best friend & her family {minus one} at the Bass Pro Shop closest to them. I saw the pictures on her blog but WOW, that place was huge. And I must say for being full of hunting, fishing & other outdoorsy stuff it was enjoyable & even fun to be at! After hanging out with the kids in Santa's workshop we headed out & went to dinner to celebrate her birthday. =] It was a good visit.

And then we came home! We had 4 days before Christmas and still had each other's gifts to buy. We kept things pretty simple {as our budget usually requires we do} but got a little more for the kids and each other than most years. I helped the kids make a gingerbread house and they ate all of the candy off of it - not the house though it was "yuck" to them. Christmas Eve we had my grandmother's English muffin pizzas {later I found out that I didn't make them exactly like she does but they were still yummy!}, ham and most of the fixings. The kids roughhoused with daddy and before going to bed they each opened one gift - coordinating pj's & a robe. This is a tradition I picked up from my mom; each year she got my sister & I pajamas, robe, slippers - something that we would wear Christmas morning. This year I got their pj's from the bass pro shop. Hers are striped & the robe is pink but says "Fishing Princess" on the back, his have a camping theme with a compass on the back of the robe. They are super cute & I got them at a great deal! Of course I took about 20 pictures of them in their robes =] but I'm sparing you & only putting up one. Once they were sleeping Shawn put together their Jeeps while I stuffed stockings. We opened one gift to each other which led to a few more, leaving a couple for the next day. This is a fun thing that I think we'll do each year. Less mess in the morning & the kids didn't have to wait for us to open our gifts before playing with their toys.

Well, I was going to sum up all of the rest of 2008 in one post but wow, you'd be looking at this all day. I'll continue the rest - Christmas Day photos & the trip to New Mexico in the next few days. Then it's all about 2009! Thanks for visiting!