Timeline Tidbits (to help you with the quiz!)

Late 80's - Early 90's - I was in love with this band. Obviously, you say? (FYI --- answer to a "trick" question)




Early 90's - I bought my first pair of boxers from a certain favorite catalog which for umpteen years has been my favorite place to shop. (Hint: see the Sassy magazine post.)





August 1996 - Even though Neil was one year behind me in high school (yes, we were high school sweethearts), he went to SIU before me. He went straight there in 1995 and I finished up my 2 years at community college. It was in 1996 that I packed up my Ford Escort and drove it 3-1/2 hours to school with Neil. I actually liked my Escort. It was small like a VW Cabrio so I pretended that it was a VW I was driving and not the Ford.



October-ish 1996 - Two of my best friends, Kalina and Natalie, came down to visit me at school quite often. One thing we did a few times was go out to Giant City National Forest and go through "Fast Man's Squeeze". Southern Illinois is very hilly. It's so different from the rest of Illinois where it's completely flat. Down in Southern Illinois there are lots of glacial rock formations, geologic faulting and erosion. It's an amazing thing to see which is why just about every weekend Neil, myself and friends journeyed out there to explore.

"Fat Man's Squeeze" is a small opening in between two sandstone walls that create the feel of soaring city streets fit for a giant. The actual area that you "squeeze" into is about 10 or 12 inches wide. You have to crawl up and through a tiny cave-like area between the soaring rocks which leads to the tiny infamous space called "Fat Man's Sqeeze".

Meanie I was, I always told my friends that they had to go through it and every time I laughed my behind off while TAKING PICTURES of them doing it. I am so so bad. Natalie told me that she was going to get me to go through it one day. (Yeah, right, you'd have to put a gun to my head!) Here are Nat and Kalina "squeezing" through the "Fat Man" opening to squeeze out. Natalie got out just fine but Kalina's breast-area got a little stuck. She had a panic attack and went the other way. You can see the panic on her face!





1997 - I move into a house with these 2 guys, seen here with Frankie, the doggie Neil and I still have.
Rusty and Dan are their names. I don't quite know how in the world I lived with these insanely crazy guys, but I managed to . . . somehow. (Just kidding, guys, I love you!) I went to grade school and high school with these boys. They were two of my dearest friends, and to this day I would never leave them out of any part of my life, and the same goes for them with me, I think!

But look what I dealt with! :c) (And look at that couch!!!!)


I hope they don't use it against me that I'm posting these pictures, but what great memories. I had the absolute best time living with them. Neil was over a lot and the 4 of us hung out together. We (they) cooked a lot of meals together, too. It's a blurry picture, but this is what I saw a lot. 3 guys in the kitchen?! Hard to believe, eh?! I was soooo lucky; a girl doesn't live see it often!:)





September 1998 - One Saturday Neil took me back out to Giant City at the exact area that we had these pictures taken a year earlier. It was our favorite spot. (And yes, that's Frankie, who today is 11!)



We had a picnic and in the bottom of the food was a container with our dessert (Farley snacks - what a dessert, eh?!) and in the bottom of that container was a ring box. It was a great day :) 9 months later we were married. A picture from the day he proposed taken by a tree :c)







Summer of 1999 - My grandma Libby was one of my best friends. She was my inspiration and role model. During this summer we had a surprise anniversary party for her and my grandpa. It was a great time. The parrty happened after her chemotherapy and radiation treatments for breast cancer. She still didn't have a whole lot of energy but was gaining a lot of it back. I hadn't seen her smile so big and so much in a loooong time. Her hair was still coming back in and she looked so beautiful without hardly any hair. She was proud to be a woman and to be a survivor. I was so very proud of her, too. So was mom. Grandma got to see me married and then in February of 2000 she was admitted to ICU for leukemia (and then pneumonia) that she developed which mom and I think was caused by her chemo treatments. That chemotherapy kills cells and so of course it has to have an impact on healthy ones. The chemo did extend her life, but the last month of her life was an intense battle. She died the day after my birthday, on March 17, 2000. She was taken off life support on my birthday. I prayed to God that she wouldn't die on my birthday. He allowed her to live till the morning of the 17th. I miss her greatly. This picture was taken at her anniversary party just months before she left us.

Pleasant discoveries

We are still unpacking. We still have dozens among dozens of boxes in the garage. We just got our storage cleaned out right before the weekend. It frustrates me because all I want is more time so I can finish unpacking and do my best to organize.

If I concentrated solely on unpacking all these weeks, I would have been done way before now, I can guarantee it. But with my job, it's been impossible. When Maia takes naps, I've been working. Most days when Noah is at school, if I'm not running errands, I am working. I am thankful Maia is good at keeping herself busy during that time. She sees it as a couple super fun hours that she can play with all the toys Noah won't let her play with when he's around! :c)

Anyway, we still have tons and tons and tons to do. Like, it's not even funny. At first I was taking it all with stride, and now I'm just beyond stressed out about it. I'm stressed, Neil is stressed and I think our stress is impacting the kids. How could it not, ya know? Anyway, I know we'll deal. This is more of a vent outlet for me right now than anything.

And what I'm really trying to get at is, I found some really cool things when unpacking a tub last night!

I thought this tub only contained pieces of an unfinished afghan that my grandma had began making before I was born. We found it when going through her things when she passed away (after her long fight with breast cancer -- oh I miss her still) in 2000, so mom gave it to me. I packed it away, but not too far away, thinking I would eventually find someone to finish it for me. No one seemed to want to help me. You know, we're all so busy these days, so I understood.

When I opened it and took out the afghan pieces last night, I also found another afghan (well, pieces) she had started on, and then I also found other crafty things started but never finished. It was like finding a pot of gold for me because I love hand made things and I love vintage things, but even more, it was something I found of my grandmothers that she had her hands on - a lot.

Take a look:
In the bottom of the tub, were probably 10 or 12 unfinished pieces of embroidery or cross-stitch (I think they're called??). This one was a "Merry Christmas" piece. According to the sticker, "A Keepsake". (Makes me giggle.) And to hold the yarn is a butterfly, seen here, made of plastic? (Crafty friends, do you know what I'm describing?)
How to draw trees. Anyone want to know how to draw trees? I can teach you literally by the book now!
Then I found these. Knitting needles? And lots of them.
And then more knitting needles. I guess I should learn how to knit, eh?
And then some handy how-to guides. Now I have no excuse but to re-teach myself! Anyone want to join me?
And then I found this beautiful piece of embroidery. If I were to only finish one thing, I think this is what I would finish. I don't think I could do as good of a job as she did, though.
And then a baby book! I guess I could make something now for my new niece or nephew, which by the way, we find out tomorrow what the sex is!!!
And then another unfinished piece. Those of who who know me well now know where I get this annoying habit of starting things but never finishing them (with good intentions to, though, of course!).
And then one of the afghans. So pretty! I guess she thought I was going to be a boy?
Look, the needle is still in it and everything.
And then the pretty orange one. I would love having this one done also. It's in thin rectangular pieces. I guess this is how you put an afghan together?? There are quite a few pieces. I really don't think there's much more to do than just knitting all of the big pieces together. Here's a piece. Hard to tell, but it's long, as are all of them.
Can you believe how there was so much unfinished? And I seriously had no idea she was so crafty! I never saw her do anything artsy ever. She was a grade school teacher, so I knew there was some creativeness in her, but not like this! It's so special to me finding out new things about her even after she's been gone 7 years.

And then, drumroll . . . I found in a different box some nostalgic things of mine. My "My Little Ponies"! (I gave them to Maia and she's now been carrying them around all day today. They even took a bath with her last night.)
And then I found piles upon piles of letters. I love to write letters, and I always have. It began with my pen pals when I was 8. My friend, Amberley, was one of my pen pals. But she wasn't just a "pen pal" but was like a sister to me. We met when we were infants (we were born on the same day . . .our moms were best friends), she move to Northern Illinois, but we stayed friends forever. This is one of probably the 500 letters I have from her . . . these back in 1989. How fun!!! (Cute Amberley, eh?!) I can't believe were have been friends since birth, and now here we are, 31 years later, the closest we've ever been, with 6 kids among us of our own. (Happy sigh . . . )

Weekend Comings

Come visit me as I start uploading some pics over at Visions from Sea Island! There's some neat-o ones! I just did a few. More to come this weekend I hope.

This morning mom and I did Race for the Cure in lieu of Grandma Libby. We had a great time and I'll post a couple pics later. (We love you, grandma!)

I'm off in a bit to see Jenny-Jen and I absolutely cannot wait! It's been almost a year . . . wow. We're going to shop shop shop without kids kids kids! Barnes & Noble, World Market, Macy's here we come! (Yay!)

Tonight I meet up with two friends, Heather and Mandy. Mandy is visiting from Cincinati. We are looking forward to chips, 'ritas and catching up. We all need the 'ritas pretty darn badly. It'll be so fun!

Tomorrow we get to get into our new house to see it empty and figure out how much paint we'll need when we start buying paint for it this week. I love painting! I cannot wait to start. Oh, and the offer to come help me is still up. I swear you won't regret it. I always offer coffee, treats and wine! :c)

Tomorrow night I decided to go ahead and start packing up my office. The work I still have to do I can do with most everything packed up. I might as well put a dent in it. It's going to be a lot of work!

Neil is spending the day with the kids. Actually, I think a nap for all is in the very near hours. Both kids were up at 5 this morning. No idea why?! So, he's hoping to take a nap when they do. I hope he can, too, because he didn't get to have a Father's Day like I had wanted him to (we were flying 2 hours and driving in a car for 5 hours). I think just a nap would make him quite happy!

Going to paint my nails, put on makeup and then head out the door. I'm not thinking about my computer at all today. Nope I'm not (except for now, ha!). I'm bound and determined to make this a stress free, wonderfully fantastic day. Hoping it is for you, too!

Oh! And I guess I'm Rockin?! Jen from New Zealand nominated me for another award. You guys are all way too sweet and rewarding to me. Thank you, Jen. Thank you everyone for loving my blogs . . . and me!

Toodles!