Mosh posh of stuff

Yall!!! I really did not mean to let so much time go by after my last post.   The A to Z challenge though did kick my butt and I moved the second week of the challenge. I am STILL unpacking but I have most done. I think I’m finally heading downhill with some progress.  Todd had the idea of hosting a small Memorial party at our house and so that has me motivated every night.   

One of my best friends (Kimi) is married to a construction contractor (Craig) and 2 weeks ago, they came over and he built me a kitchen bench with storage. It was a huge game changer for me because I desperately needed the storage space. Our house is so much smaller and we lost tons of cabinet space and storage .  Todd painted it last weekend and I have a friend sewing a bench cushion for us. I will just use throw pillows for the back.  I knew I wanted one when i saw that our dining area had the space for it.  We paid for all the materials and he built it for free as a house warming gift.  So awesome!!

This is the unpainted version. It's now white to match the walls. 

My birthday was Tuesday of this week and so I’ve had some dinner plans after work and didn’t feel like blogging once I got home.  I’ve been having a terrible terrible time with allergies this year and they got the best of me yesterday.  I think I  have a full on cold again which is just great!!! I feel like Poo again and my nose is raw from blowing and rubbing all day long.

So do you guys use Facebook? I will admit that I’m a huge social media fan of Facebook, Instragram and Pinterest. I use Twitter too but mostly in spurts.   Anyway, I love it when its my birthday on Facebook!! I had over 200 friends post Happy Birthday to my page.  It absolutely made my day and reminded me of how lucky I am to have good friends and family.   One of my favorite gifts I received was from my Sisternlaw Paula. She is so talented and is a high school art teacher.  Paula painted portraits of Jax and Lila in costumes.  They are so dang awesome!! I cant wait to hang them on the wall soon.  Whats funny, is that I held the painting of Lila close to the ground to show her and she came right to it like almost in a little jump.  Todd and I both laughed because she recognized something. 

A friend made this meme and posted to my page on my birthday. Jax and Lila in our chair. Lol

May is Lupus Awareness month and I know if you ARE friends with me on FB you’ve seen that I’ve had my profile, cover and posts about Lupus. Well tomorrow is May 20^th and is Put on Purple Day. Purple is the chosen color for Lupus and its just a way to have people ask questions and be more aware.  I actually work from home tomorrow but I will still have my purple on and would love it if you wanted to join in. 

There is not a cure for Lupus yet. It only gets worse. My mom has Lupus and its changed her life dramatically.  Its all she can do to just get out of bed and move to the living room chair.  Taking a shower is an accomplishment some days.  I do this for her and for my sweet friend Marla who is much younger than me and has Lupus. She’s an amazing young woman with quite a story!!
If you want, you can tag me on FB, IG, or send me email of you wearing purple......

Have a great weekend!

Paradise

I'm currently in unpacking Hell! My home gives me great anxiety and I hate staring at boxes . We can only do a little bit at a time and I'm clearly running out of a patience.   It's sad when going to work everyday actually gives me peace of mind.  I imagine myself away from all the moving and unpacking and I'm on a far away beach resort that resembles Paradise.  Laying by the ocean, listening to waves crash into the shore, a fruity drink with an umbrella in it and not a worry in the world except wondering what amazing seafood dish will be for dinner. Will it be lobster , shrimp or crab legs?  Heck, it's paradise so I am skinny and I can have the pleasure of it all!!

What about you? Where is your paradise? Do you have an active imagination like i do? Haha! 

Have a great day y'all!! 

New York

Last year a few weeks after my stepdad passed in January ( yep he passed last January and Daddy passed this January),  I had to travel to New Jersey for business trip.  I flew into the Newark airport.  It was  a quick trip but I made sure we went into NYC for 2 nights to have dinner.  I just really love New York! I love the energy, the vibe, the history , the smells. 

If I ever win the lottery, I would be a loft in Manhattan facing Central Park.  

So, I feel a wee little bit better today about the the house. We unpacked like crazy and got a lot done.  The best news is that we got cable and internet today!!! We switched to time Warner cable and they sent someone today. Yippee!  We still don't have one completed room so we have to come home from church tomorrow and keep the momentum. We are completely out of the old house as of today. We picked up my trailer and turns in the keys.   

We had dinner with some friends from church last night and had a great evening. We had to call it short though because Todd's back was hurting him .  My knee is black and blue and my wrist has given out twice. So many aches and pains! Boo. 

Tonight we had a fun evening at a close local bar with our friends Mark and Debbie and it was a good night. We had some laughs and drinks and just got home when I realized - oh dear i have to blog !!! LOL! Again like last Saturday , sliding in at 10 pm with 2 hrs to spare. 

Hope you're having a great weekend so far.   Talk to y'all Monday! 

Hodgepodging it today

1. Since you weren't Hodgepodging last Wednesday, how did you pass the time? I still actually posted. I made it a goal to post more than once and I ended up posting 3 times last week. 

 2. What's the first word that comes to mind when I say marriage? Yes, one word. Forever

 3. Summer officially arrives in the Northern hemishpere later this week. Does it feel like summer where you live? Describe your idea of the perfect summer day. It started feeling like summer back in the spring. Dallas, Tx is always sweltering hot! My perfect summer day would be near a beach with a light breeze blowing and a frozen drink in my hand, on lawn chair reading a book. 

 4. "Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."(Sam Keen) Is laziness ever respectable? Do you have a lazy summer planned, or something semi-ambitious? Being lazy is not a good quality unless its planned. There is nothing wrong with decompressing and relaxing on a planned vacation day or even a quiet Sunday after church at home spending time with the husband. I am so crazy busy at work that I need to plan a lazy summer for sure. Instead, we are going to try to make it to Montana in September to see my mom. 

 5. Past or present, who's your favorite television dad? Why is he a favorite? Is he anything like your own dad? Herman Munster. He always had best intentions for his family but he was also goofy and had fun sense of humor. That is definitely like my dad!! Daddy is a prankster and always playing jokes. At the end of the day though he is a great Dad and will be there for you in a heartbeat! 

 6. June 18th is International Picnic Day...share a favorite picnic memory. Well, its been a very long time since I have been on a picnic. I even have the cutest picnic basket I need to use. I went on a few picnic dates long long time ago and they were actually pretty fun. My favorite is when we packed a basket with grapes, cheese, crackers and some salami and climbed on the top of an old train car looking over downtown Dallas.

 7. The travel site Trip Advisor lists the top five islands in the world for 2014 as- Ambergris Caye in Belize Cayes, Providenciales in Turks and Caicos, Bora Bora in French Polynesia, Marco Island Florida, and Lewis and Harris in The Outer Hebrides (Scotland). Have you been to any of these? Of those listed (and if price were not a factor) which would you most like to book for a holiday? I have been to Marco Island in Florida and its is beautiful! If money was no object, I would love to go to Bora Bora. I’ve always wanted to see those crystal blue waters and stay in a hut that is above the water. We’ve all seen those pictures that are used for computer backgrounds. lol

 8. Insert your own random thought here. I have so much randomness going on in my head right now , its hard to pinpoint one. The house is starting to come together. I bought a mattress off Craigslist last week for the guest room. I need to tackle that room this week and then I will feel pretty much complete in the home. This week at work is kind of the calm before the storm. I have to train 457 customer service reps next week who is with the other company that we are merging with. Did I mention to yall that we are literally merging with our greatest NEMESIS!!! For all 19 years I’ve been with the company, they have been our neck to neck competitor. Its hard to wrap my head around merging with the enemy. LOL!! Oh well, the plus side is that we had several people go work for them when they left us so I will see them again. I guess I had something to say after all on my random thought. Haha!

Have a great day today would you please! 

My wine lounge so far

Hey there! I'm starting to feel good about the house being put together finally.  We have a living room and we also have a den/ formal room at front of house. We are going to use it as our library - wine lounge.  Here's what I've done so far on one wall:

Once I have it more put together , I'll show y'all more pictures.  

I'm joining a girlfriend in Ft. Worth on Saturday to crash her garage sale.  I have  so many boxes to take over there that I hope it all fits in my truck. 

With whatever money I make, I'm putting it towards an outdoor shed that we like at Home Depot.  If I can get that soon, we can clean out the garage and then maybe actually park in it. What? Crazy I know! 

So that's the exciting plan I have for my weekend. What fun thing do you have going on?