Another year older

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We sure have been busy here this year. I haven't had much time to blog about it all. Sorry.

Well today is my birthday!! I just got home from work and the hubs was going to take me out to dinner and celebrate but unfortunately I have not been feeling well today so I told him I will have to take a rain check on the dinner. All I want to do is lay down and rest tonight. For about a week I have been feeling better but I woke up today and so far I have gotten sick 7 times already. Just what I wanted for my birthday but what can ya do. I think the baby got used to momma sleeping in for several days he just didn't like me getting up early this morning that is for sure. On Saturday the round ligament pains started. Have any of you had this? Well Saturday and Sunday they were pretty severe but luckily today they were a bit better. Still very sore though. The baby is getting bigger and is needing more room (ha-ha).

Have a great week!

Linda

Merry Christmas

I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Linda

It's a Boy!!

Exciting news. We went yesterday afternoon for our 20 week ultrasound (finally) and found out first of all that the baby appears healthy head to toe and that we are expecting a little boy!! So baby K's due date as of now is still April 27th. We are super excited and the family is too. I have to share with you something that my husbands grandma said when we told her. Of course she was crying and very excited but first to let you know my husbands cousin is having a baby girl this week and I don't know if you all remember my previous posts this summer but my husband lost both his mother and his uncle. His grandmother lost both of children her son and her daughter 4 days apart in June. Well last night she said "God works in amazing ways, he took my son and daughter away but is giving me a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter to replace them." Could you just cry. Oh we were all crying hard after this last night. She is right God is amazing. The news of these 2 great-grand babies has really helped my husbands 90 year old grandmother get through this most difficult year and for that I am so thankful.

Hope you all are having a great week. Now I am off soon to tell everyone at work who have been dying to know if it is a boy or girl.

Linda

Christmas Shows

I have to admit I am a Christmas show freak. I LOVE this time of the year because the Hallmark channel starts playing all their Christmas specials. I am burning up the Tivo over here. I have seen many of them multiple times but I still love them. My 3 favorites are The Christmas Card, A boyfriend for Christmas and A Christmas Carol (with George C. Scott). Have any of you seen them? My husband says I have watched all of them at least 12 times. He isn't exaggerating. I have come across a few new ones though this year. My husband always puts them to DVD for me and I have a nice collection of Christmas shows that I can pull out each year just in case they don't show up on TV. What are your favorite Christmas shows?

Oh by the way the hubs and I just got done watching Angels and Demons tonight. The hubs was needing a break from all the Christmas shows I have been watching :-) He rented it yesterday but I fell asleep so we finished it tonight. We both thought is was very good. We have been to Rome so it was fun to watch because many of the places in the movie we have actually been to including down in the tomb of St. Peter. It was fun to reminisce.

Hope you are all having a great week.

Linda

Happy Thanksgiving

I would like to wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are off to Michigan for the weekend. Will check in with you all when we return.

Linda

The cat is out of the bag now

Happy Tuesday all. Well I finally told my boss the news today. Only 2 of my co-workers knew the news this whole time. So now the rest of the staff knows. It was so funny today because I hardly got any work done because there was a continuous stream of people coming to my office to congratulate me once the news kept on spreading. Everyone was so sweet. I appreciate it so much. Then at 3:30 today I got a call from my doctors nurse that FINALLY the H1N1 shots came in. My doctor has been waiting for them forever. He said last week he was starting to get mad. With pregnant women being on the top of the list along with children I've been a bit worried especially since I work in health care myself and am surrounded by germs. So I hurried right over after work and got my before they run out.

Still been sick and had a really bad weekend but today I was feeling much better. Sorry I have been MIA but I haven't had anything to blog about lately. I did run in to Target last night and of course had to swing by all the Christmas stuff. Very cute!! I love this time of year. I got the Christmas list from my nieces and nephews so I got those done. I wanted to beat the crowds and avoid the germs and it was perfect last night hardly anyone their. Have any of you heard of Zhu Zhu pets. Well one of my nieces wants the hamster one. They are sold out EVERYWHERE!! They are saying no one realized how popular they would be. I couldn't even find them online so I had to go with her other choices. I am not up on all these toys but I guess I will soon be finding out about all these things :-)



Linda

First I wanted to thank you all so much for your kind words. We are super excited and can't hardly wait to find out what we are having. The doctor says not until week 20 and today I am only at 16 weeks. The waiting is killing me. Sorry I haven't been blogging much. Still sick and haven't had any thing to blog about lately. I am feeling a bit better than the 1st 3 months but still throwing up. It is crazy. I thought by now this would be getting better. Since I haven't gotten out much except to go to and from work I ordered something on line. Check out this cute little snowman lamp.

It just arrived yesterday and I love it!! I thought it would be cute under the cabinets in the kitchen as a little night light. It only holds a 25 w bulb so not much light. I just love it though. To me it just looked like one of those things that kids would say someday "mom don't forget to put out the snowman lamp" I know kinda funny but I think about things like that. That is something I would have said to my mom about this cute thing.

Hope you are all having a great week.

Linda

Happy Halloween and a little surprise.......

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Halloween. I also want to share some news with you. Drum roll please.......... I am pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 14 weeks and so far everything is looking good. I can't even begin to tell you all what my husband and I have been through in the last 5 years trying to get pregnant. 4 years of every fertility treatment known to man multiple times seriously including our last resort which was a donor egg and through all of that not even one positive pregnancy test. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with either one of us but just said we were in that 20% of unexplained infertility. So after we had tried everything and there was nothing else to try we continued to try on our own. Last year we got pregnant for the first time on our own and couldn't believe how excited we were until my 12 week appointment when the doctor said there was no heartbeat. I think you could imagine the devastation we felt. Well we didn't give up and we got pregnant again and things this time are looking really good. These last 3 months I have been so sick I can't believe it. It got so bad the doctor had to give me some medication. But if we get our baby in the end all that sickness is well worth it. This week I have started to feel better. So now that the cat is out of the bag this is why I haven't been blogging very much. I didn't feel like doing much that is for sure. I hope to blog more now that slowly but surely I am feeling better. Please keep us in your prayers. I don't think I will relax until I am holding our baby in our arms.

Happy Halloween :-)

Linda

Home again

Hi all,

We are back. Hope you all haven't forgotten about me. We did have lots to do around the house this trip but we did manage to have some fun and headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for a few days. Here is the view from our room as we walked in. We were on the 10th floor it was heaven.


The view from the balcony.

Just 2 of the many pools the hotel has.

O.K. this hotel was for you Nautical by Nature. Look at the carpet in the hallways. My husband was wondering why I was taking pictures of the carpet and I told him I have to show Nautical by Nature (tee-hee).

Oh and you would love the lobby and all the anchor furniture.

Don't ya just love that anchor fabric. I so wanted to take it all home with me.

A morning sunrise that we caught.

A picture of the hotel from the beach.

We also stopped and had lunch at Margaritaville!! This is at an outdoor shopping area called Broadway at the Beach. It was super yummy.

While I was hitting a few shops at Barefoot Landing (another shopping area) this is what hubs found. It is huge. We couldn't believe it.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I have more news to tell you but I will save it for my next post. I hope you all are enjoying October. Sorry I have been MIA. I really hope to be better going forward.

Linda

Off for a little R & R

Hi all,

Thank heavens I thought today would never get here. We are off for a little vacation and are leaving today. The hubs and I have been so busy with work we both need a little break away. Off to check on the house in NC and hopefully can squeeze in a little beach trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. Have a great weekend all. I hope to be a better blogger when I return.

Linda

Off to Michigan

We are off to Michigan tomorrow to celebrate my parents 60th wedding anniversary!! Yes 60th. I am so proud of them. I am the youngest of 5 and my parents were in their 40's by the time my sister and I came along. Kinda crazy back then but pretty common today. My sister and I are always telling them having us last 2 kids so late is what has kept them so young :-) Funny but they actually agree with us. My parents are the two best parents anyone could ever ask for. They have always been such great roll models my whole life and such wonderful roll models on how a marriage should work. Happy 60th Mom & Dad we love you both so much!!

Have a great weekend all :-)

Linda

Game Day Recipe

Spicy Bean Salsa (A.K.A Cowboy Caviar)


1 (15 ounce) can Black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can Black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 cup Chopped onion

1/2 cup Chopped green bell pepper

1 (4 ounce) can Diced jalapeno peppers (I don't add this)

1 (14.5 ounce) can Diced tomatoes, drained (I use one can of Ro-tel with green chilies)

1 cup Italian style salad dressing (I use zesty Italian dressing)

1/2 teaspoon Garlic salt

I also add some chopped fresh cilantro and the juice of one lime. It just adds a great fresh taste.

In a medium bowl, combine black-eyed peas,black beans, corn, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. Season with Italian dressing and garlic salt, mix well. Cover and refrigerate overnight to blend flavors.

I like to serve this with Tostitos Scoop chips. They are perfect. This recipe sounded so like something I would not like. I mean corn and beans it wasn't for me until a co-worker brought this to work a few years ago. Oh my gosh it is so good. When I make this I am not kidding when I say people just hover around the bowl. I usually have to make a double batch. Oh and my vegetarian friends and family go nuts for this. I can't even tell you how many copies of this recipe I have shared. And the men we serve it to just love it too that is why it is a good snack on game day. Hope you like it. Have a great weekend.

Linda

Sorry for my lack of posts

For over a week now all I have wanted to do when I get home from work is lay down and take a nap. I know work has been busy but jeez. Even my husband is like what is up with you. Well I got my blood work back yesterday and my thyroid is low again. I have had hypothyroidism for years now and have been on my medication that keeps the thyroid in check and sure enough it is out of whack again. The doctor is doing a major increase on my medication and I just took my new dose today so hopefully I will be back to my old self again soon. It is so crazy how tired you get when your thyroid is low. I have so many of your blogs to catch up on and I really want to get my fall decorations up. I have spotted a few of you who have already started and I can't wait to start myself. Have a great weekend all.

Linda

The hubs is coming home!

The hubs and Sammy dog will be home from NC in a few hours. It will be so nice to see them and to finally get some sleep. I don't know what it is but when my husband is gone I can hardly sleep. I fall asleep and wake up like 5 times a night. He's been gone a little over a week now and I so need some sleep. I will probably sleep like a rock once he gets here. Hubs has said the Sammy dog hasn't been doing well. He is 12 years old and has cushings disease. He has been doing pretty good but hubs said he just wasn't himself down in NC. He usually loves it in NC but maybe he just wants to get home too. We will have to see if he perks up once home. Do any of you have difficulty sleeping when your husbands are gone?

Linda

Oprah closed down the Mag Mile

Part of the Magnificent Mile was closed down for today's taping of her new season which will air on Thursday. All the news station were showing it. Can't wait to see the whole program in a couple of days. There were so many people there.

Hope you all had wonderful Labor Day weekend. The hubs was still gone so it was kinda quiet here but I majorly went through my closet and it felt great. I now have to bag up all that stuff for donation. I am so ready for fall now. I can't wait to wear all my sweaters and turtle necks again. I have to say I couldn't part with even one of my sweaters. I love them all too much. My craft partner/co-worker called me today to see if I had seen the new card class schedule at Archive's, oh there are some cute ones coming up that we are going to take including a cute Halloween class. Can't wait. Have a great week all.

Linda

New finds for the kiddos

Have any of you heard of LTD Commodities http://www.ltdcommodities.com/? You can order from their website or request a catalog. This is a company right here in Illinois. I personally like looking through the catalog. They have very inexpensive things. It can kind of be a hit or miss but here are a few things I ordered recently. They are perfect to make with the kids or in my case my niece and nephew. LTD has cute little things for stocking stuffers or for small teacher gifts. I have only ordered things periodically but have never had any trouble with anything I have gotten. The bouquet books were $5.95 each. There are some really cute ideas in those. The holiday treat books were $5.95 for the set of 3. They would be a cute little gift to give someone who has children or grandchildren.




Here are a couple things I also bought for the NC house. Too cheap to pass up. This cute set of three canvas photo prints were only $10.95. Total bargain and I love anything that reminds me of the beach. And the flameless candle set was only $9.95. Oh I have spent well over the $9.95 for one flameless candle and with this you get all 3 candles, the wood tray and the rocks. I will just have to find a place for them when I go to NC next month.

The husband is in NC now. I might have given him a small honey do list. Hopefully he will get a few painting projects done. We will be heading back in October so I am planning on getting some more things done when I go back. I have to say not a bad deal, the hubs does the painting and I come in and do the accessorizing. This I think can work (ha-ha). Sorry honey if you are reading this :-) Thanks for all you hard work!

Linda

Mouse in the house

Or shall I say mice. First we have never had a mouse in the house the whole time we have lived here. To begin the story we have a shelf in our basement that we store extra grocery items that we might have bought multiples of. Well over the weekend my husband noticed a small hole in a bag of rice. We didn't think too much of it because we might have torn a hole when we bought it or taking it downstairs. So on Monday I received a call from my husband while I was at work asking me if I had opened the big bar of white baking chocolate. I said no I haven't used the chocolate. He said he found the package open and over half the chocolate is gone. Then I hear the words "honey I think we might have a mouse". At this point I could care less about the food I am worried if they have torn up anything I have stored down there. So when I got home we went to the store for some tubs to put some of the food in and to get a Harahart trap. My husband doesn't want to kill any animal and said any mouse smart enough to eat chocolate deserves to live. He thought it was hilarious. I wasn't laughing too much. So that night my husband set the trap 2 different times and we caught not one but 2 mice. People 2!! He took them a few blocks away and released them. The next night he set it again and happened to be up late and checked it at 1 am and sure enough there was another mouse. So he took care of that and re-set the trap before he came to bed. When we got up Wednesday morning yes there was a 4th mouse!! I am just having a fit thinking we have a whole family down there. So he set it again last night and thank heavens no more mice. He'll do it again tonight and I am hoping nothing will be in that cage because tomorrow morning the hubs is leaving for NC and if he thinks I am catching any mice while he is gone he is crazy. I probably won't be going downstairs at all while he is gone and any mice can wait til he gets back. People 4 mice. I have to say it has been a crazy week here in the girl with the curlz household. Hope you all have had a better one.

Linda

I was Tagged

I was tagged by the lovely Nautical by Nature to do this summer favorites tag. Here we go:


1. Favorite summer movie: I am a chick flick girl for sure. I especially LOVE anything with Matthew McConaughey in it.


2. Favorite summer cocktail: Alcoholic would be a watermelon margarita, my non-alcoholic drink pick would be cherry limeade.



3. Favorite summer song: I am loving anything by Daughtry this summer.



4. Favorite summer meal: Anything on the grill and a fresh salad.



5. Favorite summer outfit: Probably a pair of capris, a crisp white t-shirt and my Douglas Paquette flip flops.



6. Summer reading: I am always on the go during the summer so I am usually reading magazines. My favorites are All You, Cape Cod, Coastal Living and Southern Living.



7. Favorite Summer moment: This summer was our trip to Mackinac Island, MI. We had the best time and couldn't have asked for better weather.





Here are the rules:


Copy the Quiz


Tag Ten People



1. Preppy Sue


2. Seersucker Scrapper


3. Just a Beach Kat


4. Summer Wind


5. Mandi Shandi's


6. Our Creative Life


7. Susie from Bienvenue


8. Gifting Gumshoe


9. Brunch at Saks


10. A Nantucket State of Mind


Have Fun!!

Linda

Lilly Giveaway!

The very creative Seersucker Scrapper http://seersuckerscrapper.blogspot.com/ has a cute giveaway going on. She made these adorable little Lilly push pins. Make sure to sign up by Aug 30th for your chance to win. These would be so perfect on my bulletin board :-)

Go through stuff Saturday

Happy Saturday!!

I am glad the week is over. Work was so crazy this week. Thursday evening our neighbor had a neighborhood party. If was a lot of fun. Of course I was racing home from work, trying to get a passing dish together to take and out the door we went and totally forgot the camera. Sorry no pictures. I did meet 3 neighbors I hadn't met before that are all into scrapbooking so we all decided we were going to schedule another night to get together. That should be fun. I need some motivation to scrapbook some of all these pictures I take. Work gets so busy I never have time.

Hey have any of you tried these car air fresheners. I just got these at Walmart. I have been using the cucumber melon and I love it. They were only like $3. They hook right on your air vents. Sorry the picture is turned I couldn't get it turned upright but you can get the idea.

O.K. my mission today is to hopefully go through some stuff in this house. I don't know how it all accumulates so fast. We will see how much I can get done. I will be behind a bit because we just received a call that one of my husbands cousins is in town from California so we are all meeting for lunch. This is a cousin I have never met yet so this should be fun.

Have a great weekend.

Linda

A Birthday and some pink and green

I hope you all had a great weekend. We went to Michigan on Thursday after work. My mom's birthday was Saturday. It was so fun to have Friday off. My mom and I got to go shopping just the two of us. We left the men at home. I miss my family so much. I told my husband to just leave me in Michigan but he didn't like that idea (ha-ha). Chicago is a great town but after living in Illinois for over 9 years now I have to say the traffic is driving me crazy. Seriously CRAZY!! Driving in this mess everyday for work I have to say I HATE it. I am so over the big city thing. I am ready for a quieter, less traffic town. Any who on to more fun stuff. I have to show you what came on Wednesday before we left.



It's a Lands End beach blanket. It is pretty good size at 55" x 55". On sale girls only $12. I had to have it!! Pink and Green need I say more. The picture on their website was some little girls using starfish to play tic tac toe. Pink and green and shells no deciding needed. That was an automatic purchase. It would be cute to use if we have kids in the future or just for us. Sorry though I just checked their website again today they are all sold out. They only have the boy shark ones. At only $12 I can see why these cute things sold out.

Linda

Feeling better and a TJ Maxx find

I want to thank you all for your comments. I am finally feeling better from the vertigo. Boy do I hate that. Luckily I usually only get those episodes 2-3 times a year. Well on to a new purchase I got before the vertigo hit. I found this adorable little thermos at TJ Maxx. It was only $7.99 and it looks like Burberry. Sorry the plaid kinda got washed out by my flash. I am still learning how to use this new camera. The plaid is super cute in person though.




Have a great Wednesday!!

Linda

Home sick today

Well I am home sick today with vertigo. Do any of you have this? I have had it for years but only have a big episode 1-2 times a year. Can I tell you I HATE it. I do have medication from the doctor which helps some but mainly just makes you sleepy. I just slept 5 hours straight. I can't believe that. I never do that during the day. Well I am laying down in bed using the laptop. I just wanted to catch up with you all but I think I will go back to resting.



Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.



Linda

Beach Chairs

When we went home to see my family a while back my brother and sister in law had these and we loved them so much we decided to order them (Brylane Home).

Pretty cheap $40 and I got a $10 off coupon from my sister in law. My husband and I both like to be outside but we are not much for sitting in the direct sun. I tend to burn even with SPF 50 on. There is even a little cooler in between the 2 seats and the umbrella comes out if you don't want to use it. And the best part the whole thing folds up in this little bag. It is perfect to just keep in the car for when we might need it.

Hope you all had a great weekend :-)

Linda

Cheap Beach Towels

Hi all,
I forgot to show you these. I bought them a little while back from Walmart. Only $5 each. Pretty cheap I have to say for cute lobster towels.

Yeah!! Tomorrow is Friday. Get together with co-workers after work. Should be fun.

Linda

Please say a prayer

Today when I went to work my co-worker begins to tell me about her daughter. She is 27 soon to be 28 and is in heart failure. It is the craziest thing. She says to me "Linda my daughter is going to die" Oh girls we were both crying. I have worked with my co-worker for 7 years now and my heart just breaks for her. She has 4 children and this is her oldest. Her daughter a while back started working for a cardiologist and the doctor likes to put his staff through some of the same tests the patients have to go through so they understand how the patient feels. Well in doing this they discovered some problems and over the last several months have been running tests, trying new medications etc. But the tests this week just showed things getting worse. I guess the news now is that she has an ejection fraction of less than 40% and her heart rate at rest is 160!!. The doctor told her she could have a heart attack at any time. Can you believe this she is 28. Of course she is hysterical and can't believe this is happening to her. They are saying they could do a valve replacement on the one side of the heart but it is the other side that they say is basically dying and there is no way to do surgery there. They have even talked about a heart transplant. This poor girl. She is very pretty & fun loving. Her mom is always telling us about all the boyfriends her daughter is dating and how they can't keep track. We have laughed at so many funny stories and now she is going through this. Please say a prayer for her and her family they really need the prayers right now. Her name is Lori.


Thanks,

Linda

We are back with lots of blueberries

On Saturday we headed to Michigan to get some blueberries. We came back with 20lbs! We ate a bunch, the hubs made a blueberry pie that was delicious and then we froze the rest. Freezing them on cookie sheets so that the blueberries freeze individually works really well if you have never tried it. Here are some shots with the new camera. It worked pretty well and has great zoom. Loads better than my other camera anyways.

On the drive back to Chicago we also stopped for lunch in St. Joseph, MI

On the right in the picture picture below they are building an outdoor carousel.

And last but not least here is our Sammy dog smiling for the camera.

Hope you all are having a great week.

Linda