My NEW YEAR'S REVOLUTION

Yes, you read that right! I SAID REVOLUTION, not resolution. You see, I have a wedding in 7 months and I need to lose around 30 lbs FAST. I guess I have until the end of this week to eat crap and then I'm going on the NEW YEAR'S revolution.

REVOLUTION: defined as: a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving.

I am going to have to get a drastic change in the way I think and behave to lose 30 lbs in 7 months. I know I can do it. Other people can do it...why not me?

Every year I tell myself this...every year I say I'm going to get organized and accomplish great things. And every year ends with the same resolutions. That's why this year I'm changing it up a bit. I realized I didn't need a resolution, I need a REVOLUTION. So let's see if I can change my way of thinking...drastically.

Hope everyone has a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.

Happy 2009!

Hopes and Dreams for the New Year

I just dropped Jennifer and Patrick off at the train station which left me alone with my thoughts for a good 45 minutes to an hour on the drive back home. As I looked at the two of them, both college graduates, newly engaged, about to hop on a train to Chicago (where Patrick lives and Jen just visits) I thought to myself, "Oh, to be young with so much of their lives yet to live." You can usually find Jennifer with a Bride's magazine under her arm these days... planning her wedding is her new obsession.

Jordanne just sent out her "Save the date" cards and made her upcoming wedding "official". She has most of her wedding plans finalized already and the time is fast approaching for the start of their married life. Maybe knowing the fact that it was going to be our last Christmas with unmarried kids made this Christmas more special or cherished or savored. I just know that it will be different next year because they will be starting their own traditions and probably won't be sleeping at our house on Christmas morning. Even though Jen and Ryan have their own place, they both came home for Christmas Eve and slept here to be a part of the Christmas morning excitement. Anyways...next year will be different and that's okay too.

While I drove across M13 alone with my thoughts, I felt optimistic for the upcoming year. A new year always gives me a feeling of hope and encouragement...there's so much promise of what lies ahead... kinda like the feeling you get at the start of a new school year, or cracking open a brand new book. It occurred to me that if I was so calm and serene this Christmas because I was more organized, then imagine how exciting planning two weddings can be. Instead of having a feeling of dread (mainly worrying about how we will afford these weddings) I am going to embrace these days and enjoy the excitement with my girls. I am really looking forward to planning bridal showers and watching it all unfold.

Joshua has an exciting year ahead for him too, because right now is when the college football recruiters are trying to get him to pay an official visit to their school. The offers are starting and he will have to make a big decision where he wants to go to college pretty soon. He will have to get registered with the NCAA clearinghouse and make this dream a reality. He has to decide which field of study he wants to pursue and consider his options. Right now, he is saying he wants to go into Occupational Therapy, and it looks like our local university is going to be his best option (academically and financially). This is fine by me. He still wants to hear what kind of offers the other schools want to make and weigh out his options.

Ryan is busy filling out applications to grad school and will be having to make some decisions with his life pretty soon too. He may decide to move to Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo and have a fresh start to his second phase of his education. Right now he has been interning at a children's therapy place where they work with special needs kids. It has been nice to see him find his niche in life and I enjoy hearing about his journey along the way. I think he will be well suited as an Occupational therapist...that is, if he can finally pass his Anatomy and physiology class. (*wink...just kiddin' Ry.)

I hate to say it but I'm still having a hard time realizing that Jacob is growing up too fast. He is this giant man-child at 16 and seems to be spending an awful lot of time on his phone either talking or texting with his friends and girlfriend. (a girl I still have not officially met.) Boys are all about making the girl comfortable in their own space first before they bring them home to their crazy house with all the people around. Besides that, it might mean that Jake would have to actually clean his room in case Mady walked past his messy room on the way to the bathroom.

Anyways...my hopes and dreams for 2009??? Health, happiness, and a joy filled new year. A year of positive changes and prosperity. A year for Pat to feel secure in his job in the auto industry and for me to learn how to accept the changes that lie ahead. For God to richly bless us with His peace and grace. A year to cherish our family and grow in our faith.

...and on that note, I say a great big AMEN to that.

The Merriest Christmas EVER

Sometimes you just have to stop and take it all in. Life, I mean. As fast as this year has flown...this Christmas season I was able to s.l.o.w. down my life enough to really enjoy the season...it was so incredibly stress-free. A FIRST for me. Oh, in the seven years since my heart attack (Dec. 13th 2001) I have greatly reduced my stress level over Christmas. I have also realized that I thoroughly enjoy the things I do to make Christmas special... I just learned how to do them stress-free.

For example: I just can't get away from making ornaments... I don't have to make them...I enjoy making them. This year, me and the girls spent a wonderful day making our traditional yearly ornaments. We played fun Christmas music and sat at the dining room table until midnight making little elves. Likewise, I enjoy the day my friend Diane and I spend together making over a hundred paper bag snowmen ornaments for her students. I also make gingerbread boy hockey ornaments every year for my son's hockey teams. These ones I make after Christmas and give them to the parents for the New Year. (I will post pictures as soon as I figure it out.) It's just a part of my Christmas tradition.

Oops...I forgot to mention that I got my new camera for Christmas this year. I still haven't figured out how to plug it into my computer to show pictures...but the minute Jordy is free, she will teach me. (Jen and Jordy are both working the night shift tonight on the Eve of the Victoria's Secret SEMI-Annual Sale...the store will be crazier than the day after Thanksgiving shopping or the day after Christmas returns, and they have to make sure everything is stocked up.)

I made super yummy pretzels this afternoon. Oh these aren't just any ordinary "dipped" pretzels. These pretzels are double dipped in homemade caramel, then dipped in dutch milk chocolate, drizzled with white milk chocolate and sprinkled with crushed pecans. I did take a picture of them and will post the photos that will make your mouth drool. I'm not gonna lie...I hit it out of the ball park with these. Chances are...they will already be gone by the time I post the picture. Ryan and Jacob especially loved them.

Well, guess I'll go back to crocheting another scarf and watching my new addiction: DEXTER. I don't know why...but it's like watching a train wreck. It's so incredibly warped and creepy...I watched all of season two and now I'm going back to watch season one. The music even stands the hair on my neck.

http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/home.do

The funniest thing happened to me in Gordon's

I was out running errands yesterday and stopped into Gordon's Food Service to pick up a large package of yeast to make my dinner rolls. It was crazy -busy in there and I was too impatient to walk up and down every aisle to find it, so I stopped a worker and asked him to point me in the direction. He got down off his ladder to personally walk me to the spot. As we were walking down the aisle, an elderly man with white hair and a white beard was approaching us and our eyes briefly met with a twinkling in our eyes. I nodded and smiled with that "knowing" look in my eyes. He knew what I was thinking and quite frankly, in an instant I was a child again. The worker pointed to the yeast and I said, "that was the REAL Santa!!!" This kid was probably in his mid twenties and he looked at me with a puzzled look on his face. "huh?", he said. I was like, "you mean to tell me you didn't see that man approaching us with the white hair and beard? He was the real Santa, I just know it!!!" He didn't even know what to say.

Uh...whatever. Kids these days just don't know how to have REAL Christmas spirit. I swear I was smiling the rest of the day. Just the look in "Santa's" eyes was priceless. For a split second, we both embraced the moment of our youthfulness and the magic of Christmas was alive in our hearts.*sigh.

I bet he gets a lump of coal in his stocking.

Getting my "Joy" on...

I realize it's been a week since I last posted. I've been busy getting my "joy" on. I've been spending time with my family and friends, walking, shopping, going out for coffee/margaritas or lunch/dinner, crafting, baking, etc. It's been the most peaceful, joyful Christmas seasons ever. Somehow I just realized that it's not supposed to be crazy/chaotic... it's about taking time for the simple things, giving of your time and of yourself. I made a lot of ornaments and gifts this year...not only because I'm frugal, because I enjoy thinking of others while I labor over their gift. I'd show pictures but then it wouldn't really be a surprise to those who read my blog...besides, I don't really have a good camera anyways. I've been hoping to get a new camera for Christmas but if money doesn't allow, I'll be fine with that too. It's not something I desperately need.

Pat's last day of work was Thursday and he's off now until January 5th. It was good to hear the auto industry "loan" was approved finally...which is good for Pat's job. Let's hope this economy takes an upturn. Buy AMERICAN CARS!!!! Our jobs depend on it!

We got hit with a heckuva snowstorm and have been buried in snow around here. I'm not gonna lie...it's kind of fun to be stuck inside for the weekend. I'm going to go crank on the tunes and start getting down to business. (wrapping, baking, cleaning, etc.)

I will not let anything/anyone drown out my Christmas JOY. Four more days until Christmas!!! Woo Hooo!

Engaged!

Tonight my dear sweet Jennifer got engaged to Patrick, her boyfriend of over six years. They were high school sweethearts. She is absolutely giddy. She's in Chicago until tomorrow night... but she was talking to Jordanne on her webcam and flashed us her rock. All 1.1 carats of it!!! It's huge and very beautiful. I can't wait to see it in person.

Now we will be planning two weddings. I sure hope we win the lottery pretty soon...in the meantime, I'm going to bed. It's been a l.o.n.g. week.

Festive Change

Yep, I went ahead and changed my blog to make it a bit more festive...only thing is -I messed it all up...I can't figure out how to add my sidebar blog links. I don't know why they didn't convert in the changeover, but that would be my kind of luck. So now I have to ask Jordy how I get them all back. I am, as you know, totally technologically challenged.


So I've been up since 5 am... I made Pat's lunch and he went off to hockey practice. In the meantime I saw that our school was cancelled because of the snow. It's really strange because it's the only school in our city/township that is cancelled. I guess they got a freebie. Neighboring towns have closed, but only the parochial schools in our town get the day off. Too funny.


My bronchitis seems to be getting a little better. At least I'm not feeling like I was run over and dragged by a bus anymore. Oh the wonders of antibiotics. It was definitely a long weekend. We had our first hockey games this weekend too. They lost the first one and won the second game. (which is good when you live with the coach.) Jacob did a great job as a sophomore defenseman. It's still so weird to watch the games without Joshua playing. I'm sure it's very difficult for him too.

My brain is on overload with all the talks of job layoffs in the auto industry. I just cannot imagine what we would do if Pat's job was eliminated. People just don't understand how important this bailout package is. As if the auto industry wasn't in enough financial trouble...then they throw in out of control gas prices and wonder why nobody is buying cars/trucks/SUV's. Like it or not...people liked their big SUV's. I know I did. (before I traded down to my Saturn Aura) And suddenly it wasn't "cool" to drive "gas guzzling SUV's". (despite the fact that some people have large families or live in a climate where 4 wheel drive is a necessity.) Suddenly we have to be "green" and drive itty bitty hybrid cars. Shame on American car dealers for not seeing it coming. While they were busy building big cars (because that is what most of us wanted before the gas prices went up...isn't that called supply and demand?) now suddenly they are miles behind in technology because they don't offer itty bitty hybrids. I'm all for saving the planet, don't get me wrong... but I can't help but wonder if some of this "go green" frenzy didn't spark a bit of this vicious cycle regarding the downward spiral of the auto industry. Just a thought. And almost ironic how suddenly the price of gas has dropped to under $1.50/gallon... after the economy took a dive. Hmmm... it all makes me scratch my head. All I can do is pray that God has all the bases covered...I know I can't wrap my mind around how to fix it.

So I'll just dig a little happy hole and stick my head into it...surrounding myself with happy thoughts of good tidings and Christmas cheer. We sure need a Savior. I wonder if that was the original plan? If times never got rough, some of us would never recognize the need for HIM?