A Year of Gratitude #98

A Year of Gratitude #98: Face Time

Today was a GREAT day!! I was able to sleep in until 10:00!!! After I was up and had breakfast, I headed out to get my nails done. It had been three weeks since I had them filled. I didn't go last Saturday because I was so sick.

After my nail appointment, I stopped at Michael's on my way home and picked up some pom-poms, pony beads, pipe cleaners, and a couple things for Gus's Easter Basket. I then stopped at Jimmy Johns for some lunch for me and Steve.

We had lunch while watching Punked from this week and South Park (holy smokes was it funny). Gus napped for about three hours today and while he was napping, I was able to Face Time with Dave and the kids. We chatted for about 40 minutes or so and it was good to see him. As soon as I hung up with him, my mom called and we Face Timed for about thirty minutes.

It was so great to talk to them all and reconnect. I'm feeling a bit home-sick and cannot wait to head north in a month.

I'm super excited for Dave and Heather and the kids to come next weekend. They'll be here Sunday and then staying with us for two days and I cannot wait! They haven't seen Gus since he was two months old!! It'll be fun to catch up with them and for Gus to play with his cousins... I am so excited!!

I'm thankful for technology and that I was able to see my brother, niece and nephews, and my mom today and I didn't have to leave the room to do it.  :-)

A Day of Gratitude #97

 

A Year of Gratitude #97: Dave is Okay

I'm not going to go into any details on this, as my brother deserves his privacy... but I am extremely grateful today that he is okay. My mom called me while I was driving home from our Easter Egg Hunt with some important news about my brother.

I'm grateful and thankful that he's okay and that he's being taken care of. Thank you God!!

A Year of Gratitude #96

 

A Year of Gratitude #96: NEW HAIR!!!

 

Before

 

After

I went today and got my hair cut for the first time in over a year. I can't even remember the last time I had it cut... it was so very long ago. To say that my hair was in DESPERATE need of a trim and some TLC is an understatement.

Steve got me the name and card for a stylist at the barber shop that he goes to. I decided to call today and see about getting in this afternoon for a cut. Steve was able to come home early today, so I could go and leave Gus here. 

When I called the barber shop, I learned that the girl that he had been told to have me call, doesn't work on Thursdays or Sundays. I decided to look on Yelp and see what was close.

Taylor Brooks Salon is just down the street from us, and had been recommended to me from Leslie in MOMS Club. She said they do awesome work and she's been going there for a while. I decided to call and see about an appointment for today.

Thankfully, I was able to get an appointment for 2:30 today with Mary. Steve got home and I took some "before" pictures. I had just put Gus down for a nap, so I felt good about leaving.

When I arrived at the salon, I was given a tour and was treated so nicely. They have a Four Square check in for new clients, and I automatically saved 10% off my total just for checking in!  :-)

When I told Mary that I wanted to chop off all my hair, she cringed and suggested that I not cut off too much, and just get it looking healthy. She said for my face, I'd look better with longer hair (which I already knew) and she said she could remove all the dry/damaged hair, touch it up and give me some texture and depth, and it'd look great... and I wouldn't have to chop it all off.

I was in one of those, "I don't give a crap" moods... and I'm glad she was so good about it. I'd be having regrets come tomorrow had I chopped it all off. Thankfully, it's still long enough to be pulled back, but it looks healthier and feels so much better.

I'm thankful that I found a great salon, and thankful that Steve came home early so I could go and get my haircut. It was much needed and so appreciated.

A Year of Gratitude #95

 

A Year of Gratitude #95: Feeling Better

It's been exactly a week since I started to feel awful, and I am happy to say that I am finally feeling better! I still have a cough, but it's not as frequent, and not as scary sounding.

Today was a bit stressful for me. Our cleaning crew couldn't come at 8:30 this morning, so instead, they came at 10:30. This set the whole day off for me. I HAD to go grocery shopping today and with Gus napping at 2:00 it leaves very little time for plans to go wrong.

The cleaners didn't leave until 12:30 and I wasn't able to get to Wal-Mart until almost 1:00. We got there and Gus was STARVING. I hate the Wal-Mart here... I can't ever find anything and I end up running back and forth all over the stupid store trying to find things that I forgot, or thought they were one place and they were in another.

Not the best use of the precious hour that I had. I ended up grabbing Gus a Lunchable and he and I shared it while I shopped. He also ate an ENTIRE bag of yogurt melts... talk about a hungry child!! I DID bring him his snack cup with Cheese Its, but they were consumed before we even get inside the store.  We also share his water (I twisted the top off the sippy and drank some of his water).

Anyway-- I frantically got through Wal-Mart, but it was 2:30 and Gus was exhausted and still needed to get home, unpack the car, and get him prepped for his nap. He went down around 3:00.

Thankfully, he slept until a little after 5:00... (which wasn't enough sleep for him, but I'm thankful that he didn't sleep the afternoon away and screw up his bedtime schedule).

The remainder of the afternoon was good and Gus went to bed at his usual time, and was rubbing his eyes and was actually sleepy. All good signs. I'm hoping he sleeps well tonight and doesn't wake until 8:00 tomorrow morning!!

A Year of Gratitude #94

 

A Year of Gratitude #94: Good Friends

 

At Chestatee Wildlife Preserve with my MOMS Club

This morning Gus and I headed to Publix to meet Kathryn and Aubree so we could carpool together to Chestatee Wildlife Preserve. We met Cheryl and we were off to the preserve. It took us close to an hour to get there, and the drive was beautiful-- we went into the Northern Georgia mountains... so very pretty.

We had such a GREAT turnout at this event today! There were seven moms and seventeen kids!! Gus had a great time seeing the different animals, and then he had a blast playing on their little playground before lunch.

 

The Zedonk (Zebra and Donkey mixed)

 

 

Gus laughing at the LOUD birds

 

Gus got on the big-kid swing all by himself today!

 

Taken seconds before Gus fell and hit his head

We had lunch and then took a group shot, and then we were ready to leave. Gus and Aubree were over by the logs and Gus decided to climb them and then he lost his balance. He fell and hit his head pretty hard. It scared me... but he was okay. I didn't let him fall asleep, and I kept an eye on him.

Since it was only noon, we decided to drive an additional 20 miles and go see the Babyland General Hospital. I had never heard of this place until Leslie (in MOMS Club) told me about it for a group outing. It's where Cabbage Patch Kids are created and you can tour the hospital and even adopt CPKs!

We had a great time!!! I (obviously) was more excited than Gus, but he had fun too and he got to pick out a baby to adopt. When I was growing up, I wanted a CPK but they were too expensive. My grandma ended up getting us (me and Scott) dolls that were made at a craft fair. They LOOKED like the real ones, but weren't. I remember being so upset that there was no signature on my baby's butt...  :-(

Gus found a few different dolls that he liked, but we finally decided on a bald baby boy with blue eyes. We named him Frankie Steve. I thought about naming his baby Gus... but then thought it'd be weird for Gus to have a Gus, so instead he now has Frankie. His first real doll.  :-)

Here are some pictures that I took and that Kathryn took of Babyland General Hospital:

 

The view as you drive up

 

:-)

  

At the door!

 

  

We witnessed a live birth while we were there (LOL) SERIOUSLY

 

Aubree and the dolls

 

A tree of dolls

 

Babies in the cabbage patch!

 

Gus had a hard time trying to decide which one he wanted...

 

 

Then he wanted this one!

 

He took his baby to the salon and did his hair...

 

 

Carted him in the stroller...

 

And then picked a new baby... this one had brown eyes...

 

  

Aubree and her new baby

 

An original worth $15,000 today! CRAZY!!

 

Cabbage growing outside!

  

 

The mountains were GORGEOUS!!

We had a great day and arrived home at 3:00. Gus refused to nap, but it was an easy bedtime tonight!!

I'm so thankful for the great day we had and for great friends!

A Year of Gratitude #93

A Year of Gratitude #93: My Netbook

My dad gives me a hard time about asking for a new computer... but if he spent a week with me, he'd see the extreme frustration that my stupid POS desktop causes me.

My desktop has died yet again. I don't know if it can be saved this time. I was working on it last night, and it suddenly froze and then when I restarted, I got the blue screen of death. It said that I was missing critical parts or something to the effect. Like last week when my iTunes was missing critical parts and no long could be installed... now my system has picked another thing to shut down.

I tried using it this morning before heading to Kathryn's to plan our MOMS Club activities for May and it wasn't loading. When I got home and put Gus down for a nap at 2:00, it was back to working.

So I started moving things from my D Drive that I didn't want to lose, and copied them to the NAS. I got quite a bit copied and then it froze again and the screen went black. It's back to dead right now. Grrrrrrr

The plus side of all of this... yesterday when Steve and I were in the basement going through more boxes and organizing the storage space, we found a box that had my laptop and the charger for it, and the charger for my netbook!! HUZZAH!!!

So I am thankful to have my netbook found... (it was a gift from my dad) and to have the ability to check the internet, blog, and email from a computer and not all from my iPhone.

I just pray that there's a cure for my POS desktop. I can't do much without it and it's not something that Steve can get to until this weekend.

A Year of Gratitude #92

A Year of Gratitude #92: Phone Calls

I'm thankful that my dad reads my blog. He read that I was sick, and was worried, so he called to see how I was feeling. As he said it, he wouldn't have known I was sick had I not blogged about it. It's not like I'd give him a call just to tell him that I'm sick. So he wanted to see how I was doing. We talked for about 45 minutes and it was great.

Then later in the afternoon, my mom called me and she and I talked for about an hour. I'm thankful to have a phone and to be able to connect with my family while we're far away. We were able to talk about the birthday party in May with Gus's cousin Charlie.

I'm so thankful to have my parents in my life, and to receive phone calls from them both.