A to Z Challenge- Letter "A"

I am ABSOLUTELY crazy for signing up for this challenge again but I couldn’t NOT try.  Last year was my first time to do it and I surprised myself that I blogged every day and didn’t miss one. I made some AMAZING new blogger friends that I ADORE from last year’s challenge.  I have A lot going on right now for the month of APRIL.  For one, a week from today I have movers scheduled to move into our new house  that we bought. So I’m super crazy busy packing while also working full time corporate job.  At the end of the month I am also a vendor again at a Junk show ( ANTIQUES)that I’ve got to get ready for too. 

  I have no theme.  I didn’t have time to think about one and quite honestly I did Ok last year never having a theme.  I will most likely blog about my chaotic life, there will be music involved, other ANTICS and most likely plenty of pictures of my dogs and other various things I find AMUSING.  So lets all AGREE that I can ACCOMPLISH this challenge and ACCEPT my “ I survived the 2016 A to Z challenge” button that I can post on my sidebar.   I APPRECIATE all the encouragement that comes my way!!!

A pic of my ANGELS: Lila is my girl, Jax is my boy and Todd is my husband.

I was nominated for Music & Words award

I was nominated last week for the Music & Words award from my dear sweet blogger friend at Shady Dell Music & Memories. I am just now getting around to doing my post so here it is.  If you want to play along just do these 5 steps:

1.) Link back to the person who nominated you.
2.) Answer the questions with words AND music.
3.) Pass the award on to 5 bloggers who inspire
     you with their posts about music. Be sure to
     notify them about the award.
4.) Tag your post with #MWA for Music & Words
     Award so we can all find you down the line.
5.) Quote these 5 steps and display the award icon
     in your post and also on your sidebar if you wish

 

THE Q & A:

Q1: What does music mean to you?

Everything. I seriously would go 100% absolutely crazy without music. In fact, if there are days that I didn’t hear much music at all, I have to put my earbuds in and listen to a few songs before I go to bed.  Todd and I played the Newlywed game at a church event and we won because one of the questions was what would be the one thing Holli (me) couldn’t live without and Todd said my ipod/ipad anything with music. I had same answer and that was our winning question.  Music connects me to so much. I listen to the lyrics and I feel them.   A song transports me to every memory good or bad.  I have some friendships based off our love of music.  Music fills up empty spaces I’m missing in my heart.  Sometimes I just have to be myself and listen to music to regroup my thoughts.

 I had posted a few months ago on what my "power" song is and its No more No less by MercyMe. 

Here's the song:

Q2: What is your first music-related memory?

Its hard to pin this one down.  My dad was in a band so I remember being very very young and he and his buddies sitting around playing their guitars.  Mom also played her music loud in the car and around the house. I can remember sitting on the floor next to the record player and listening to songs for hours. I don’t remember which one was first.  A funny story though, I picked up songs quick as a child. I always sang along even if I didn’t know all the words and when I did.  My grandma Nanny worked in a very upscale high end rich rich neighborhood Safeway ( think Rodeo Dr in Beverly Hills only in Dallas its our Highland Park).  Mom and I went to pick her up one evening from work and I was maybe 3 or 4 yrs old, singing  QUITE LOUDLY  a song from Steppenwolf called The Pusher.  If you’re not familiar with lyrics – the chorus is GOD damn, The Pusher.  Nanny was horrified of course because these rich woman were gasping and shaking their heads. HAHAHA! I do remember getting a spanking and now thinking back that pisses me off . LOL.  My stepdad Don also was very very musical. He didnt play an instrument but he actually sent a recording to Nashville of a song he did.  He had more albums than anyone i knew. We loved listening to songs as a family and we would push the furniture back and dance the Texas 2step and even Cotton eyed Joe.  

 Pardon the language but here is the Pusher

Q3: What was the first album you purchased yourself?

Hmmm, again my life is been filled with one music memory after another.  My mom was 17 years old when I was born ( I was born in 68).  I grew up with 45’s and they were all rock n roll or country songs and I had my childrens record player in my room.  I never owned any childrens records.  It was pretty funny when the neighbors kids wanted to come over and play records and all I had was “real” songs.  They had childrens books that had records attached  to back of the books. Do you remember those? Anyways, my friends got to listen to funny songs like Spiders and Snakes (Jim Stafford) and You’re so Vain (Carly Simon) while I listened to their Jungle Book and Alphabet songs.  Once I was older ( 8yrs) I started getting allowance.  I saved and saved and one night my mom took me to Peaches record store. They were open all night and I bought 3 albums: KISS double platinum, a BeeGees album and Kenny Rogers album.    I grew up equally country along with rock between my parents and grandparents.

What was the latest music you purchased?

(No online streaming or free downloads,

I’m talking about cash here!)

I just bought 6 songs off Itunes last week. I bought all of them one after another at same time.  I bought a song off the TV show The Voice. It’s a cover of Explosions sung by Emily and Jonathan.  I bought 3 songs from Christian band Needtobreathe, and 2 songs by Rob Thomas  ( Hold on Forever and Pieces). Songs are 1.29 off iTunes.

Q5: Which song did you listen to last?

(No cheating, come out with the dirty pleasures!)

The last song I just listened to was Sounds of Silence by Disturbed. I posted the video a few weeks ago here and man I just cant get enough of it. They were on Conan this week and I missed the song so I found it on Youtube this morning before work and its amazing. They have an orchestra on stage with them and its so dang cool.

nominations

Since I’m a little late on this award, most all of my music bloggers have already been nominated and posted on this. I will nominate a few though because they’ve posted songs a few times on their blogs.

I nominate my friend Laura who is over at We Really Got This,   sweet friend Robin at Your Daily Dose, and Marci at Stone Cottage Adventures.   No pressure ladies- take your time , I certainly did.  LOL.

I really love this Music award blog hop,fest,post.  Anytime we can share our music memories I’m all over it.  I love reading your posts on these questions too. #mwa

Have a great day y’all!!!

MY Easter weekend.

Yesterday was a good day.  My stepmom Deb and I joined my aunt Brenda at her Catholic Church for Easter service.  I missed my home church but I saw a few of my church friends/ members the night before and told them I wouldn't be there. I do enjoy attending Catholic masses during the holidays. I miss all the traditions that my church doesn't do.

Afterwards , my cousin Dusty hosted the family lunch.  There were tons of people and kids and it's so fun to watch the kiddos on the Easter egg hunt.  As always, there was so much food and it was all delicious. We all brought a side dish / dessert and I took a fiesta ranch corn dip with chips.  

My grandma Mimi was there and we had a nice visit. We both cried together of course thinking about Daddy. This was our first Easter without him and we got through.  Friday had been a hard day. Just randomly , I burst into tears and sobbed my eyes out.  Then I was OK again. 

We could buy Easter lilies and dedicate to someone we've lost so I bought one for daddy. Wendy took pic for me and brought it home for me to get later. 

Todd has been sick and he missed Easter completely. He didn't feel like going to church and he didn't go to his parents house for family lunch.  I felt bad that he was home alone but he napped a lot which was good.  He has zero energy and he was taking a ZPac for a week but he's not sure it helped anything.  We have SO much to do before we move and he needs to feel better.  He even missed the surprise birthday party we had the night before that was for dear friend.  My allergies are killing me and I'm hoping I can keep them under control before they turn into full blown cold. I hate the Spring!! Pollen is everywhere and my truck is coated in green. 

Saturday night was the party and it was my dear friend Wendy's big Five O.  She's hard to surprise but we were able to pull it off which was great.  Her daughter J planned the party and picked the weekend.  Our friend Mindy and I did the rest. Haha.  Isn't that how it always ends up? We decorated it really cute though and didn't do any of the Over the Hill cheesy stuff.  We had lots of fun helium balloons in red, white and black.  I decorated the tables with white butcher paper and then had a strip of red and white chevron crepe paper down the length center. I decorated mason jars with ribbon and burlap and cut up fresh red roses and white carnations.  I even brought a porch screen to hang a shimmery background for a photo booth. We had some cute props for the booth.  The party was a bar and grill and we reserved the upstairs part.  It was pretty crazy because of March madness basketball.  Add Easter to the mix and many of the invitees couldn't make it but we had around 20 people.  Wendy's birthday is actually next week but she's going to be out of town. 

Busy busy weekend but it was spent with family and friends so nothing better than that. Oh and I got a haircut on Saturday morning and it's shorter than I've had in a loong time.  It's still long but not past my waist long. It's just barely at my bra strap long.  The shorter I go, the curlier it gets and man is it crazy curly now!
I love this song so much and posted it a few years ago but it never gets old around Easter.
My Redeemer lives :

Hope all of you had a blessed Easter!! 

Gotta go back to work now...... 

Inching along

Wow- I totally didn’t expect to be gone for so long.  Mom left to go back home to Montana this past Saturday.  I really enjoyed having her for the last few weeks.  Her chronic illness Lupus really determines our days. There would be 2 or 3 days in a row each week where her biggest accomplishment would be getting out of bed and maybe dressed.  We had so many things we wanted to do but never did get to them.   I am so grateful for my job and my bosses who allowed me to work from home to keep her company and not be alone.  One week I had classes every day and I went into the office the first part of day but then would come home during lunch hour for rest of the day.  I am so blessed!  Just having Mom in the room or the next room when I was in office was comforting.   My baby brother Jeremy, my SIL Sarah and my nieces Maci and Brynna came down one weekend to spent time with Mom and the following weekend that came again minus Sarah. It was so awesome having my family all together. My grandmother Nanny also came to stay 4 nights with us so she could continue her visit with Mom and to see rest of the family. My cousin Jadona came over one night when everyone was there and we had a nice big family dinner. Mom did get to eat out at a few of her favorite spots before she left so all is good there too.  My heart was full and happy that weekend for sure. 

My last post I mentioned walking away from a house that we had contract on. The inspection showed too many big things that would be very costly and it didn’t work out.  Fast forward a few days later from losing that house, and Todd found a house he loved.  With the market as crazy as it is- we literally put contract on the house sight unseen from me.  Todd tried to facetime me but the screens kept switching sideways to upways (?) and I had to hang up. I told him it was like watching Blair Witch project and I was getting dizzy).  I got to see the house the day we had that house inspected and it’s a GO.  There are a few things on our priority list to be fixed but its basically move in ready and we are closing in just a few weeks.  Mom was with me when we got to see the house for the first time and I ‘m so happy she got to see it. Now she can visualize what I’m talking about when we’re in the house. Oh and we have a pool!! Yippee!!

Now it goes without saying that my stress level is off the charts right now! Todd is traveling every week now and has been gone for 3 nights almost every week.  We don’t have a single box packed. I did bring home some boxes though last night so that makes me happy.  Baby steps and deep breaths.  I have soooo much stuff to move that its overwhelming.  I tossed it back and forth on whether I should have a garage sale or not.  Trouble is closing is in a few weeks but we have Easter this weekend so I don’t see much packing being done.  I’d rather take time to pack and be ready then to use 2 days for a garage sale. I can always have a sale at new house.  I have donated tons of stuff on a weekly basis too so that helps.   But, if I had a garage sale that would be less to move and the money could go towards the boxes and moving company.  Ugh- so undecided!

So that’s what I’ve been up to.  Its very stressful to get all the upteen million documents to the mortgage company, prep for moving, include family visits in there, all while working full time job.  Going crazy for sure. I have had a few days of depression but I’m sure it was stemmed from the stress too. 

Have a wonderful Easter this weekend everyone.  Todd and I are dividing and conquering this holiday. He’s going to our church and then to his parents house where my inlaws and brother n law and sis nlaw will be. I am going to church at my aunts with my grandma Mimi and stepmom Deb, then having lunch at my cousins house.  Its important to spend time with my stepmom right now.  I haven’t seen her much this last month and this is a first of many holidays without Daddy.  Oh and did any of yall catch last Sunday’s TV special  The Passion that was written by Tyler Perry and in New Orleans?  Holy Cow was that so cool!! They basically told the story while using current rock and country songs.  Amazing!!

Miss yall and I promise I’ll be back one day and my hope once moved to go back to old self who blogged weekly.  

Knowing when to walk away

Happy Friday y'all!!!  I cant even tell you how happy I am for this week to be over.  It  has been a very stressful week for myself and Todd.  I don't think I mentioned that we have been actively looking to buy a home these last few months.  You guys, Dallas made the national news a month ago about the real estate boom for sellers.  Several large corporations are moving their headquarters to DFW area and have already started buying up homes. Toyota from California, Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Pizza Hut are the ones I can think of right now that have moved to Texas. 
Homes are selling within hours.  Hours- folks!!  When we go see a house with our realtor, there are at least 4 to5 other realtors with their folks so you have close to 20 people looking at same house at same time.  We called one house to make appt and they said we were welcome to come see it but there was already 21 contracts turned in.  Its been very deflating.  We had contract on a house I loved 2 weeks ago but our contract wasn't accepted. Then we saw a house last Friday ( a week ago today) and fell in love. It was extra special because my Mom was with us and got to see the house too. We had contract to them that evening and our contract was accepted the following day. Earnest money was paid and the option fee paid to have the week for inspector.  Our inspection was scheduled for Tuesday and we met the inspector when he was done at the house. Long story short, it failed miserably. Way too many serious things that needed repaired and very costly.  My friend said it best when she said the seller put lipstick on a pig.  It had so many beautiful updates and renovations and to the first glimpse it looked great. Truth was he didn't do any of it right or up to code. There was structural damage, large plumbing problem, and electrical box was shot.  That was just to name a few but was the most costly.  Our inspector was amazing! So thorough and detailed and I am very appreciative of that.
Todd and I had a powwow and decided to go with our gut feeling and we walked away. I signed the contract last night stating that we our not buying the house.  I become very private when large things like buying a house are happening.  Todd was very excited and told his family and some friends. I then caught on to the excitement and told my family and friends.  I was so embarrassed to announce last night to everyone - Oops, spoke to soon and its not happening.  Lesson learned that we are not to say ONE SINGLE WORD until contract is signed and keys are in hand.
My stress level has been through the roof. I've had a migraine since Monday and my face is breaking out like a teenager.  I am not cut out for this.  Maybe its just too soon to be doing something so big while i'm on verge of literally having nervous breakdown.  Not to mention how much money we're out for inspection and the option fee that we don't get back.  I am relieved that we didn't get ourselves into a house that is a Money Pit though.

On the good news, I am working half day today and driving to East Texas to pick up both my grandma Nanny and Mom. They both will stay all week with us next week. My brother Jeremy and his wife and my nieces are driving in tonight from Oklahoma to stay the weekend and visit . I am excited to have a full house of family.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Reasons to celebrate!

Hey everyone, how's everyone doing?  I am doing OK.  I can go 2 days in a row now without crying but I still cry on the other days.  I'm super busy at work and that has helped a lot! I like staying busy and occupying my time with distractions.
Last week, we celebrated my grandmother Mimi's 88th birthday. We had a nice little party at a restaurant that was centrally located between all of us.  We had a big long table in the back room and really had a nice evening.  Everyone was there and my stepmom Deb came too. I was so glad she came.  She also surprised along with Mimi,  my 2 aunts Brenda and Tammy and myself with a wonderful gift for us.  She had got a thumb print taken from  Dad before they took him away for cremation. There is a place that makes jewelry with the thumb print and on the other side a picture . I love it so much .  We all cried of course when we opened it.  I've worn it every day. 

I forgot if I mentioned to you also the place we were told about that makes jewelry from flowers? At Daddy's memorial, a cousin told us of this place that you send them a box of flowers used from the funeral, memorial, birthday's , etc.  They can make rosaries, earrings, belt buckles, a list of stuff.  I sent them a box a few weeks ago and it takes about 6 weeks for everything to be ready. My aunt, Mimi and Deb all wanted a rosary. I am getting a necklace and bracelet. I cant wait to show yall when I receive them.  If anyone is interested, leave me a comment and I can tell you the website.  Its a gal that does it out of Illinois.

Did I tell you that I bought a ticket for my mom to come visit from Montana last month? Well that time finally arrived and she got here this past Saturday.  Its sooo good to have her here.  Sometimes you just need your Mom and I don't want to even think about her leaving soon. I did book her ticket though to stay a month. Its been since my wedding that she's been here in Texas so she has family to visit.  The week after next I will have both my grandma Nanny and Mom here and that will be awesome too! My friend Kimi came by on Sunday to visit Mom and tonight my cousin Jadona and friend Di are coming over to visit. Mom makes an amazing spaghetti so dinner tonight is going to be yummy! Lots of visitors here and there but also she's had time for lots of rest.  Remember she has chronic Lupus and not in best health either. 

I am working from home this week so I can be with Mom and I am so very grateful to be able to do that. Its been raining and storming the last few days so good lazy days around the house.
I ran out of the sessions that was given to me from EAP for my counseling.  I then called our insurance through Todd's job and I got 3 more free sessions.  I need to book those soon.  I really do enjoy the counseling and not ready to be done just yet. I will admit that they haven't called me ( the counseling office) and were supposed to check through my insurance and call me back and never did.  I think I fell through the cracks but I wont blow them off just yet.

So that's it for now. I know my blogging has been sporadic. I want to get back in the groove. I will.  Don't give up on me. 

January can suck it! Its good to be back (kinda) .....

So today is February 12th and Daddy passed on January 12th. Its been a month but it feels as if it was only an hour ago. Still very raw and hard and impossible to swallow.  I am going through the motions of getting up, getting dressed , going to work, feeding the dogs, etc but i feel like i'm in a fog.  I can just tell you that February couldn't get here quick enough.  For some of you that have been around my blog longer than a year , yall know that my stepdad Don passed away last year on January 4.  Now i have my lost both my dad's in January. How crazy is that?!!  I mentioned in my last post that i also was diagnosed with pneumonia.  I think its gone but honestly i haven't been back to the Dr to check.  A week after Dad's funeral, on a Friday,Todd started complaining of some pain in his stomach area. That next Sunday morning he woke me up groaning and moaning loudly in bed. I shot out of bed and i took him to emergency room. He had a blocked gallbladder. Fast forward to the next Friday , he had surgery to remove the gallbladder.  So i was at a hospital pretty much the month of January it felt to me. 
The first week of February, i had to fly into Ohio to work the week at one of our centers there to do some training.  That week was kinda hard being alone every night in the hotel. I cried every night and couldn't stop thinking about Daddy. The weather was weird that week in Loveland. We had snow flurries for a whole day but none of it stuck. I was so happy to see my first snow of the year since Texas didn't get any.
Lots of changes at work and i didn't feel any stress with the merger happening until lately.  I cant really talk about it now but i hate to worry about work and that adds more stress.
Daddy was a musician and he played everything from rock to country.  Surprisingly , many songs on the radio right now trigger a memory and i have to change the station.  What I've been listening to lately is Christian music. I know that Dad didn't listen to those channels.  There a few songs that i have to skip through like I can Only Imagine by MercyMe. Oh no way will i listen to that right now!
I came across a band that i had never heard before by the name of Needtobreathe.  One day i used Shazam on a song and it was Brother. The next week i Shazamed another song and it was the same band but different song Multiplied.  Then i fell in love with song Something Beautiful. So i am really excited that i found this band and there are so many great songs by them.  Their sound reminds me of a rock band Kings of Leon.  What do you think?
So i wanted to share these with you. 

I have missed my blogging friends and i have missed blogging.  Ironically , almost 5 years ago i created this blog when Daddy first got sick with his lung disease. I did it as an outlet. I'm glad i did because your sweet comments and support have meant the world to me.  I am going to try to get back into regular routing again.  Much love and have a great weekend y'all!!