am i the only one who's happy it's over??

the holidays, that is.

for some reason, i breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday...took down the tree and started putting the house back together. now i have the itch to start a few projects around the house...and that never leads to a good thing, lol. wish me luck as Mike & i will attempt not to kill each other during said projects, as it is nearly impossible not to argue during said ventures.

on to other stuff...

my Grandma is HOME. she was discharged at about 4pm on Christmas day, so a bit of 'normalcy' has been restored for she & Grandpa. we went to visit that evening and she was kind of back to her old self...griping about the price of coffee, telling Grandpa he needs a haircut, trying to tidy up the havoc that had been wreaked whilst she was tucked away in the hospital...you know, all small stuff, but i do have to say that it is good to see her home. she will be following up with lots of appointments, etc. with her primary care doctor to make sure everything stays in order. again, i can't thank everyone enough for their well wishes and caring words...it really did help me when i was feeling down. i took some time while she was away to scan some old pics of her...which was a hoot, lol. that one below is of she & i...don't be too harsh about the hair/clothes/paneling...it was 1973 and they swear everyone looked like that, lol.

so...Christmas Eve.

after Dad passed away, we decided to do things a bit differently...switch some 'traditions' up. it was really difficult for my Mom to let go of a few things she was used to doing...but after we convinced her that it was ok to start NEW traditions, she now enjoys herself even more than before. so one of those new traditions is going to Brett & Deb's house for Christmas Eve...we always have a blast and this was they can visit her family on Christmas Day without running around like crazy people. . it's actually SO NICE to just be able to chill at home all day on Christmas without having to try and visit everyone...until we head out after dinner for our 'traditional' (new) trip to the movies. we usually see a Christmas-y flick, but seeing as '4 Christmases' didn't seem appropriate for Allie, we let her choose and 'Bedtime Stories' won out. (now, i am not a big Adam Sandler fan, but this is a great movie to go see for a chuckle) we started this tradition the year 'Elf' came out (can you believe that was 2004?!) and now look forward to it.

so...Allie's big gift this year was Guitar Hero World Tour (you know, with the drum set, guitar and microphone??). and we are having a BLAST with it...just check out my brother's action on the guitar here (work it out, Brett lol)... and Miss Thang belting out a tune she hasn't even heard before, lol. she knows quite a few of them, due to Mike being a hair band junkie from way back, but even if she doesn't she just pretends she does and has a blast...which is the point, isn't it?!

me?? i rock the drums.

for REAL.

but i will have to have one of them take a pic of me as i have none right now, lol.

just trust me...you should fear my mad drumming skills.

and my favorite gift every year is Allie's Santa Shop gift from school...it's always too dang cute to see what she decides is the perfect gift for each of us. that would be an OSU helmet for Mike's desk, a penguin for my Mom (because she and Allie love to watch 'Happy Feet') and an angel with an amethyst bottom for moi (because that's my birthstone). i feel sorry for the poor gals who volunteer to work at these gift shops, because they have no idea what they're getting into when my girl walks through the door...i'll bet it took her the entire 45 minutes they were alotted to choose these 3 things, lol.

just a quick pic of her with her 2 books she asked for...'On Tour with the Jonas Brothers' and the '2009 Guiness Book of World Records'. i flipped through that JoBros book, and honestly...how many pics od those 3 yahoos does one need, lol?! (i actually asked her that very question and her reply was 'Mom...you can never have too many...see how they look different in each picture??')

her favorite thing though has been the gift cards she received...she got quite a few to Target, 1 to Claire's, 1 for ITunes...again, it's torture for us to wander around the store with her as she tries to decide which things to get with them, but it's also cool to see her thinking twice before plopping down her card for something she won't be interested in 2 weeks from now. good to see her thinking about choices. the last time she had a gift card to Target, we walked up and down EVERY aisle...including the cleaning supplies...so she could fully get a grasp on what her options were as far as value for her money. it took 1 hour, people...and then i'd had it, told her she had 5 minutes to decide and she ended up taking home the first 2 things she had put in the cart in the first place.

*sigh*

what can you do, lol??

quick reminder that tonight is Reveal Night over at Studio Calico, so if you have your eye on the new kit with the 3 exclusive Studio Calico papers this would be your chance!! (they will be available both in the Main Kit and the More Patterned Paper add-on) our guest designer for this month is Maggie Holmes...and honestly, i have more pages ripped out of magazines with her work on them than i care to admit, lol...so i can't wait to see what she came up with. we'll be chatting away in the Live Chat room, so please come on in and say hi!!

until then...arrivaderci!!

:)

putting it in perspective.

points that have been reaffirmed in the last 7 days:

family is more important that anything.
you need to make every second count.
friends lift you up and never let you fall back down.

i honestly can't even begin to think of a proper way to express how grateful i am to have friends like mine. what started out as a way of getting some tough feelings out of my heart and head quickly became an outpouring of concern and caring...and for those of you reading this, i can't thank you enough. your support is keeping me going despite this awful scratchy throat & cough, visiting Grandma every chance i get at the hospital and exhaustion from working past 10 pm most nights lately.

so here we sit, coughing our brains out and trying to maintain. Allie is coughing an awful lot like me, and she is just pathetic. i'd give anything to take it away and make her feel better...why is that not an option for mamas? she only has 2 more days until Christmas break, so hopefully she'll be ok. poor Mike is left taking care of both of us...i swear that man is a saint.

managed to get a few Studio Calico peeks done...here are a few snippets of what awaits you in January's kit...

only working Monday and Friday this week...so if i just get through tomorrow, i should be ok.

thanks friends...

for always making me smile.

heartache.

life gets crazy sometimes.

like you think everything is ok crazy...but then you're thrown a curve.

so that pic up there is of my Grandma and Grandpa (or GMa and Gpa, lol)...my mama's parents. they've been married for 61 years. this pic is from 1985. neither of them look quite this healthy anymore.

Gpa had a heart attack back in 2003 that led to a 4-vessel cardiac bypass...oh, and while they were there they threw in a new mitral valve, lol. Gma was a wreck, but between all of us we got her (& him) through it with relatively no trouble.

so last Saturday, Gma was having some pain under her right breast that prompted a trip to the ER.

she has a pulmonary embolus. (BIG clot in her lung)

so she's admitted to the ICU and they do a complete work-up to see what they're dealing with.

she had significant EKG changes and her cardiac enzymes were out of whack.

turns out she had a heart attack as well.

oh...and as of yesterday, pneumonia.

to be blunt, she's a medical wreck.

so she's still in the hospital, and getting great care, but it's been quite a scare for us.

and to my Gpa, it's been absolutely terrifying.

and for us to see him like that has been nothing short of devastating.

you see, he's always been the brave, stoic one...the rock, if you will. the one who we said would be ok on his own if something happened to Gma.

yeah.
clearly we were way wrong.

and the look of terror on her own face leaves us all praying for the best.

my family has a lot of heartache at this time of year...next week, we're coming up on 14 years since we lost my Dad. and while time marches on, and there are times that we speak of him and laugh, there are still times that we fall apart.

right now is one of those times.

and i think that is on everyone's minds as we deal with Gma. i know my Gpa has mentioned it, and i can see it on my mom's face.

so we're holding our own right now.
putting one foot in front of the other.
holding each other up.

it's what our family does when heartache shows up.
it's just what you do.
whew.

we can do this.

december daily...in progress.

so i have been enjoying the whole December Daily thing...here's what i have thus far, in no particular order because Blogger is making me crazy with the pic uploads, and i can't seem to figure out how the hell to get it straight, lol.

not sure if you can tell, but Day 5 is on one of those Heidi Swapp 5x5 acrylic frames...just a few scenes of decorations around the house... it isn't necessarily exciting to see pics of where i work, but it is what it is.

Days 2 & 3...i have resisted drinking coffee thus far, but have now succombed. and despite no more Santa at our house, girlfriend still believes in the Tooth Fairy...go figure. (2 in one day!!)

Day 1...don't laugh. i work in the Operating Room, remember?! this is me...

story about finding our tree on the 7th...

the tree we would have taken home if Allie had her way, lol.

backside of Day 6, with pics of Allie & Grandma's annual trip to the St. Peter's Craft Show.

pic from behind of Allie & Grandma...i love that they still hold hands wherever they go.

made a pocket to keep all of our receipts for gifts this season...

*sigh*...Day 8. come home to a package from Studio Calico...all is well.

an envelope to hold her Christmas List for this year...

Day 10...having fun in the snow.

today...a photo of our Christmas Countdown calendar that we made last year.

now...please excuse me, but i have to go play with the January kit from SC.

}:)

the countdown begins...19 days to go.

so if you didn't know, Pink Paislee is hosting a '12 Days of Christmas' celebration on their blog...each of the design team members made an ornament that was donated for a charity acution, and we're posting 1 a day for the first 12 days of the month. i channeled my mama, and made a paper version of the yo-yo tree ornaments she used to make...but instead of fabric, i made mine with paper from the Tinsel Town line. head on over to the Paislee blog for instructions..i promise it isn't hard!!

and also, my offerings with the Studio Calico December kit...which i ended up loving, lol.

we all swapped a photo this month...how awesome is this photo of Kirsty and her sweet daughter?! had fun with that one!!

(had to make one about our recent Santa revelation...)

(was she really this little once??)

topping our tree last year...

making Grandma's infamous crispy cut-out cookies...where you get colored sugars ALL OVER the kitchen floor, lol.

heading out tomorrow to find a tree...isn't it amazing how the weekends fill up so quickly during December?!

stay warm wherever you are!!

:)

guesting at TDX and my december.

so Emily and the gang over at the Design Experiment challenge blog were kind enough to ask me to guest ove rthere this week...they supply a journaling prompt and away you go! they really are a great team of talented ladies over there...make sure to play along for a chance to win an awesome prize pack!!

here's my take on this week's prompt... and is there anyone who isn't having fun with Ali E.'s 'December Daily' project?? totally enjoying using up pieces from my stash and playing around with this...here are a few peeks...

also hoping that this will encourage me to take more pics this month, other than the holiday ones. as the weather gets colder here in Ohio, i find myself taking my camera out less and less...so this should help.

starting to get out my Christmas decorations, hoping to go pick out a tree this Saturday...i just love this time of year.