January is going out with a blast!!

I can't believe it but monday is already the 1st of February!! I honestly don't know where the time goes but as one of my favorite songs goes..."Life goes on as it never ends...." and so another month draws to a close.

I managed to complete a few scrapbook layouts last weekend and I was pretty proud of myself...it really had been too long since I had done anything! I am looking forward to a weekend crop next weekend but I will not be staying overnight since it is close to home for me so I plan to return to my bed at night to rest and get a fresh shower before returning in the morning.


As I sit here at my laptop and write I hear the wind howling like crazy outside my window and I know there is a horrible cold front blowing through here and I am not looking forward to putting my almost 50 year old body out in that frigid weather in the morning. Having said that I know that I am so very blessed that my home is safe and that I am warm when I put my head on my pillow each night while so many suffer in the cold when the weather is like this. I hope that this artic blast doesn't last too long.

Tomorrow begins the weekend and I am excited that Jim and I will be going out to dinner with 2 of my friends from work and their husbands, a real 'couples' date night!! I hope it will be the beginning of something that we try to do every so often.

Scrappin' Saturday

The message board that I am on is holding an online crop today so I decided it has been way too long since I have been creative and I'm trying to get some layouts done!

First one of the day!

Home with Alex today

After a fun filled long weekend with Nancy, Paul and baby Cole I am home today because Alex started getting sick last night at about 10pm. I hope he feels better soon and I sure hope I don't get this nasty virus since I spent so much time with him in the past couple of days especially on the bus ride home we were sitting close to each other and he was leaning on me to rest for a while.



I guess I should use this unexpected day off in a productive way but what to do? Decisions, decisions....I'm sure that Alex will keep me busy, though. He is asking for ginger ale so I need to get out to the store.

Sunday with Cole

Alex and I had a great day with Cole today. He didn't sleep well at all last night because he was stuffed up and I heard him wake up several times during the night so I was worried that he would be fussy today but he was his usual sweet and happy boy.


Alex did a little bit of school work and then spent some time on his laptop playing Leggos. Nancy and Paul went to a fishing expo this afternoon and then came home to change and went out to Paul's holiday dinner. I got to feed Cole his lunch and dinner today and 3 bottles...yippeeee!!!


Tomorrow morning Alex and I are heading home on the bus and hopefully we will have a good travel day and not much traffic heading into the city.

A day in my life....

...I love doing these random scrapbook pages where I chronicle a day in my life to remember for the future so this will be one of them....

Saturday January 16th, 2010

8:30am

I rolled out of bed and put on the coffee pot while I let both dogs out and then came back up to wake Alex to get in the shower and start getting ready for our trip to visit Nancy, Paul and Cole this weekend. My coffee is good and warm and feels nice.


10:30am

I stopped in at the library to pick up a couple of movies to watch on the bus ride, Alex asked me this morning if we had Iron Man on the shelf because he wanted to watch it and as luck would have it we actually had a copy on the shelf, amazing! A quick stop at the ATM because I realized I only had $2 in my wallet (hahaha, I don't usually carry too much cash with me) and back home I went to load up the car and get going.

11:40am

We are on the train, Jim dropped us off at 11:30 and Alex chose 2 donuts from the Dunkin Donuts at the train station and I was proud of myself for passing up....but I might weaken when I pass by Krispy Kreme in Penn Station if they have my favorite maple frosted ones.



Alex and I had lunch in Penn Station once we arrived at 1:00pm...and yes, I am proud to say that I did not cave into the sweet delicious maple donuts...I just kept on walking.




2:00pm

We got some salads to take on the bus with us and walked upstairs to get in line and we were the 5th in line so when our bus arrived we pretty much had our choice of seats and I wanted to stay on the lower level of the double decker bus since we could sit where we had a table between us which would come in handy with our laptops and our salads.

Alex wasn't too happy because he wanted to sit up top but I promised him that I would let him choose our seats on monday when we head home.

Once we were on our way the bus driver put in a movie and I was pleasantly surprised because this was my 3rd trip on Megabus and we didn't ever get a movie before so this was a bonus! We saw the movie "Up!" and it was really cute and then just as soon as that movie ended the drive popped in "The Spiderwick Chronicles" which was another good movie that we had never seen so it made the trip go by really quickly to watch 2 movies along the way.

6:45pm

The bus pulled into the parking lot in DC ahead of schedule and Alex and I made our way to the spot where Paul picked us up and we went back to their house to get to see Cole for about 1/2 an hour before he had to go to bed but I know that tomorrow we will get to spend more time with him so I am looking forward to that.


10:00pm

Not much else going on...the typical lounging...Alex and Uncle Paul.....goodnight!

Monday begins another week!

I had a good weekend and somehow managed to endure the bone chilling cold that we have been blasted with here in the Northeast part of the country where I live. Brrrr!! I do not like cold, I really laugh about it at times when you think about the fact that I'm a born Canadian! In my defense I have been living in New York for almost 40 years now. Having said that, I am glad that spring is less than 9 weeks away!!

With the older boys pretty much settling into their own apartments we are doing some reorganization and I have decided that I have been cramped in this small room long enough and will reclaim the larger bedroom for my scrap space so stay tuned for some pictures when that project is all said and done. We have split up Alex into 2 rooms and this makes for a much less crowded bedroom with only his bed, dresser and nighstand with TV on it. Pookie has to always park herself on the bed after I made it, I think she misses Alex once he has left for school in the morning and she smells his scent on the bed. The other room we are calling his 'media room' where he has his desk with computer and his XBox360 hooked up to the big TV that Nancy and Paul gave us when we visited them for Christmas, they hadn't used it for 2 years and Alex was happy to take it off their hands as long as we were able to make it fit in the car and take it home. Will post photos of Alex's rooms when everything is completed.




I went into the city to meet up with Sandi for our monthly get together yesterday and riding the train for 90 minutes gives me a lot of time alone where I can just think and relax, I listen to music and enjoy the solitude. It is in these times that I think about mom a lot and I can't believe that it has been almost 8 months since she left this earth but I am still grateful for every moment we had with her up until the end. I truly hope that in 3 weeks when I begin my bereavement group I will get a lot out of it and start coming to terms with my loss because there are many days that I don't feel I have fully accepted it.


As I look to the week ahead I am free as a bird every night this week and only working 15 hours so that should give me some much needed time to plan out my scrapbooking room and get the house cleaned up a bit. Have a good week and check back next week because Alex and I are going to visit baby Cole for the Martin Luther King weekend so there will be new pictures to share, I'm sure!!

Finishing out the week

So here is it friday night and tomorrow will mark just 10 weeks until spring...10 weeks...I can do this....that goes by in a heartbeat!! In the blink of an eye you turn around and 2 months have passed, if you're not careful. I like to keep busy so that truly does make time fly and I wouldn't have it any other way, I need to have my plate full at all times and I think that makes for a very good and fullfilling life.

What do you do in the winter time when there really isn't much going on? I try to take classes at the library where I work and of course there is always scrapbooking and reading a good book with a blanket on my lap. :) Last night I went to a "Winter Wonderland" cake decorating class and I really had a nice time and enjoyed bringing home the finished product that didn't last too long once it was in the front door.



Tonight was my friend Laurie's monthly open house for her Close To My Heart business and we made a great layout titled, "Blizzard Conditions" and I have pictures to add to it and will post a photo of the layout soon.

Reflections

I was thinking about the fact that so many changes are taking place and will take place in the future and I wish that mom was still around to see a lot of what is happening with us.

First of all Jesse got engaged and I couldn't be happier, I am finally going to have a daughter after all these years!! I gave Jesse one of mom's diamonds and we took it to the local jeweler and had it set into a beautiful ring for Nicole and I think the sentimental value is something that you can't put a price on. Needless to say she was very touched and she loves her ring...and that makes me happy.

I know that grandma would have given Jesse her blessing to use one of her diamonds to propose to his girl. :-) I guess I raised a hopeless romantic because this is how he proposed to Nicole. Of course, she said yes.



Yesterday Robert moved into his own apartment after being home for a year and out of the military. I am happy for him to be moving into the next step in his life and I hope that everything works out for him and his girlfriend who is moving in with him.

Jesse and Nicole will be moving into my next door neighbor's basement apartment next week so they will be our neighbors, how sweet is that? I'm looking forward to having Nicole come to the library for some fun cooking classes and other stuff with me. :)

I have my next 3 trips to visit Cole all reserved and planned out and Alex will be joining me for all of those, he didn't much like it when I left him home the last time I went before Christmas. I'm glad that I have my netbook that Jim got me for Christmas to use when I travel on the bus so that will keep me busy and pass the time when I am not in the mood to read.

It's hard to believe that it is 2010 and that this coming year I will be turning 50 years old but time just flies by and if you're not careful (as my brother Robert's girlfriend likes to tell me) your shadow will catch up with you. Having said that I hope to read many books, enjoy a lot of music and get lots of scrapbooking done this year.

A new year....

....and I was fast asleep when the clock struck 12:00 midnight!! I wanted to stay awake but it just wasn't happening, oh well. Woke up on New Year's Eve to more snow and I wasn't able to go to the cemetery to visit my dad's grave which now makes it the 3rd year in a row, I believe, that we had snow that kept me from going to pay my respects....you think someone is trying to tell me something? Hmmm, strange.


Hard to believe that it's been 24 years since my dad went to heaven but the years just keep on going and life just keeps on rolling and the older I get the faster it goes.

More snow on the agenda for today, it seems to be a trend the past week or so...waking up to a white blanket on the ground outside our window. I don't mind it so much but honestly now that the holidays are behind us I am looking forward to just feeling the warmth of springtime once again but I guess I'll have to wait on that a bit.

Jazz in December

This is becoming a tradition for me, going to the Blue Note Jazz Club in the Village with my friend, Paula, to see our favorite trumpet player and awesome jazz musician, Chris Botti. The Blue Note is a really small jazz club and you sit at tables and enjoy dinner and drinks while you see a show so it is a very intimate setting and we just love going there and can't wait to do it again next year. This year we were early so we were among the first few to be let in the door and we got to be seated right in front of the stage which was kind of cool! In the one picture you can see my head in the lower left corner.

I enjoyed a glass of red wine and a chicken sandwich with manchego cheese (yummy!!) and all the while thinking that I need to get back on track with my eating habits but that I would do that after the new year, hahaha!! Considering the fact that I was all the way downtown in Manhattan and got home by about midnight was pretty awesome, the show ended at 9:30 and Paula and I were on the 10:15 train home! I had a blast!

Christmas

We spent Christmas in Virginia this year and a good time was had by all, especially Cole. :) We got to eat great food, spend time together and make some memories that will last a very long time. There were empty chairs and special people that were missed at our table this year but we made the best of it and spent time together as a family.

Having a baby in our lives has made it that much more special and I am grateful that God has graced us with this blessing.



I am also grateful for my sister and I know that all of the time we spent taking care of our mom during the last 15 months of her life has brought us closer together. I am especially blessed that Alex has a special relationship with his Aunt Nancy at this time in his life as he nears his teen years.



While I do have my older sons and love them dearly I am happy and thrilled that we have our young son to bless us and make us a family even as the older ones are leaving the nest and starting their own lives.



We make our new memories but we also keep to the traditions that started many years ago and always knowing that those that have moved into the next life are there waiting for us to join them someday. Alex reads "A Visit from St. Nicholas" to all of us under the Christmas tree, I think Mr. Cole truly enjoyed it.