Hot Air Balloons make me smile

I live in an area that is known for Hot Air Balloons. Basically whenever it is nice out (april - Oct) people will take the Balloons up. They even have an entire fair devoted to the balloons.

The balloons only go up at sun-up and sun-down....I don't know why, but that is how it is.

So, going home from work the past few weeks, this is all that I see. And not just one. I am talking about maybe a dozen in the sky.

It makes me smile each and every time. I am new to the area; but I do not think that I will ever get used to this. I will probably always smile when I see the balloons in the air.

Breast Cancer Quilt

I woman I "know" was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer - she is young; maybe around my age. She is part of an online community that I belong to. I just can't believe it.

A bunch of the women on the board thought it would be a cool idea to collect pieces of fabric and make a quilt out of all of the pieces. Someone thought of me. I love doing quilts and was honored that someone thought of me to make the final product.

So, there will be a post and everyone who wants to contribute will send me a 1/4 yard of fabric; I will then use all of the pieces to make a quilt for this woman along with a matching one for her very young daughter.

Makes me think how lucky I am. My prayers go out to this woman, and her family. Please pray for StaceyLoren.

Paint = Prozac

I am really bad about updating this blog. My last entry was a week ago.

Anyway, we are in the middle (OK a standstill) at re-doing our house. The upstairs bathroom (the only one in the house right now) will be the last room that is done. This will be done after all the work on the first floor is done.

Well, this bathroom is the ugliest bathroom ever. The tiles are pink plastic, yes plastic and the floor is very stained and no amount of scrubbing gets it clean. The bathroom is also only 4 1/2 feet wide so it is VERY narrow.

But, we decided to spruce it up a bit. We are going to paint the pink plastic tiles white and the top part a dark beige; we are also going to put cheap stick-on tiles on the floor. Basically just make it look clean. It is all temporary so we are not looking to spead a lot of $$.

So far, we primed the bottom half and painted the top. Boy, what a difference already. We are going to paint the bottom half a pure white along with the crown molding. The top has one coat of paint, not sure if it will get a second. We also have not done the floor yet - we are waiting until all the painting is done and then we will do the floor.

Here are some Before and After Picture - please note that the after pictures were taken at night and I can't figure out how to change the settings on my camera.

Does Parallel Parking define who I am??

I remember when I just got my driver's license it was snowing really hard and I wanted to go to the mall (using my own personal car). Well, my dad basically told me that I could not go unless I was able to parallel park perfectly 25 times. Um, jerk!!

That said, I have gotten better over the years. And now I have to do it basically every day in front of my house. I have a really small car so sometimes I can squeeze right in. But, the reality is that I "Fail" most times.

On your road test, you fail the test if you hit the curb while parallel parking. I never really understood how one mistake could make you fail the entire test. Especially since it is not the norm for most people to have to parallel park every day. Is is a skill that you need at some point in your life, sure. But, you don't see me failing in life for making one small mistake...right?

Could you image if you life was considered a failure if say, you forgot a birthday, or made a typo, or couldn't figure out calculus.

Give me a break. My life is not a failure, even though I can not parallel park.

I AM going to Win - I HAVE to

OK, I mentioned before that I am trying to win a contest that would give us $100,000 for house repairs. Well, in addition to entering online, you can also enter as many times as you want by mail. Each entry has to be it it's own envelope and MUST be hand-written.

Well, I enter myself and my husband every day and I just spent the last hour writing out mail-in papers. The contest is a random drawing, so the more times I enter, the more chances I have.

I will probably only do about 100 to mail in, stamps are so expensive. But, I figured that I spend about $40 each time I go to Walmart so that is about my limit.

I HAVE to win this. Frank keeps putting off getting a Home Equity Loan or a Re-finance. Now he tells me that we should wait until Feb to do this because at that time we will have more money to pay back the loan (Colin's braces will be paid off, the Lease will be turned in, the cruise will be paid for)

I really thought that by Dec '07 our house would be almost done. That was giving it 19 months to do the work. It looks like we just started!!!!!! It makes me so upset. I am starting to hate the house.

You can look HERE for pictures of the work that we have already done. It is not much, but it is something. Make sure you scroll all the way down to see all the albums.

When (that's right, not if) we win, we can do all the work and then some "extras"

If relaxing = Pregnant

If relaxing = pregnant then I should be pregnant with about 6 babies now.

This whole summer was just about chilling out. We are on a IF break until Nov. So, we did not think about anything. Did not care about timing, did not chart, no bloodwork, nothing.

Also, we have been really lucky that my parents have a shore house. We have been there 2 times already (going again this weekend - yeah); plus so much more. Here are just some of our "relaxing" this summer

• Going to the shore 3 times
• Sleeping until 9 am on the weekends (most weekends)
• multiple BBQs
• a movie a week - our local place has mid week specials
• Planning a fall girls only cruise
• Company picnics
• 2 local plays
• general kicking back

I really wish that was the answer. Relax and you will get pregnant.