vacation hopes

ahhh vacation ... the word just gets me all tingly inside ... 


i've been counting down the hours since last week for when my vacation would start.  9 days of no work and spending time with my family and my nieces ... 


my bags are packed, my kindle has 4 new books from the library installed on it and is currently charging, my brother & sister-in-law are in route as we speak (praying that the 3 girlies sleep through the night), and my dad even found out he will have be able to join our little party for 4 days (he was scheduled to work)


we are schroon lake bound ... i have not been there since i was a little girl, and i remember virtually nothing about it ... 


i was contemplating bringing the laptop with me and doing some blogging while i was there, but alas, there will be no wi-fi where we are staying ... so maybe i will do some journaling instead ... 


here are the things i am most looking forward to:


1) spending time with my nieces - the bear is 6, the bug is 4 and the bean is 1 1/2 ... they are the cutest kids on the planet and they make me smile ... ALL the time :)  i'm looking forward to decorating cupcakes, having water gun fights, swimming in the lake, playing old maid and go fish, putting puzzles together, reading books, snuggles at bed time and seeing things through their eyes


2) hanging out with my brother ... he is one of my best friends and i don't see him that often ... when we get together, the sarcasm flows and witty repartee abounds


3) seeing Riley swim in the lake ... he's only been swimming one other time and that was for about 15 seconds one day when i let him take a quick dip in a pool to cool off ... his beautiful white coat may be stained tan after swimming in the lake, but i'll allow it if its something he enjoys


4) the peace and quiet ... i'm honestly hoping that there is not great cell service .... not that my phone rings very often ... but the idea of not being able to check facebook, twitter and instagram is actually appealing ... i'm on my phone almost all day long and think it might be nice to have less "screen" time


5) celebrating the 4th of July in the village of Schroon Lake ... they have a festival during the day with live music and activities for the kids ... a parade in the evening and fireworks (which we are supposed to be able to see from our yard) at night


6) not working ... need i say more???  not having to run 15-20 reports a day, not having to answer telephone calls, not having to deal with drama and unhappiness, not having to sit in a 6 hr meeting, etc etc etc


7) having loud, crazy, chaotic family dinners ... 


i am desperately overdue for some down time and i'm very optimistic that i'm about to get 7 days of it!!


hope you all have a great week and i'll catch up with you all hopefully next saturday night


r

sooooo close ...

i can't believe it's been over a week since i last posted.  i really did think i was going to be more consistent with this.  i can tell you that even without the blog, i have been trying really hard to stay focused on the positive and ignore the negative.  some days are better than others.  last week had a few dicey moments but thankfully they didn't last long


i think another reason i might have been delayed in posting is that i really don't have all that much to report right now


here is what i do know


1) weight watchers is going well! i've lost 16 lbs in 3 weeks and it has not been as hard as i thought it was going to be ... i'm a little worried about next week, being on vacation, and having lots of free time ... but i'm going to do my best!


2) my vacation is soooo close i can almost taste it!!  3 more shifts at hospice and 1 more shift at the answering service and then it's over a week off!! from both jobs!! from commuting!!  from drama queens!!  from unhappy co-workers!! from cranky doctors not calling me back so i can deliver a message to them!!  and it's over a week to spend with my brother, sister-in-law and darling nieces!!  my favorite job in the world is being an auntie and that's what i get to spend my vaca doing!!


3) my debt is sooooo very close to being paid off ... i mean ... soooo very close.  when i look at where i started in sept of 2008 and where i am now, less than 4 years later ... it's amazing!  it's been a tough, lean 4 years with not a lot of extras at all but i am so thrilled to have this huge burden about to be loosened and gone forever!!


now i must sign off, because i have to start making my lists for vacation ... tomorrow night is my shopping night and i need to be prepared!!


should i blog while on vacation????? something i'm pondering ... 


night night all


r

girl shopping urban legends revealed

happy sunday night!  tomorrow looms another week and i know most everyone dreads mondays ... but i have to say ... each monday that passes really does bring us all one step closer to the next chapter in our lives ... i'm certainly feeling that way ... while i'm not wishing my days away, i am happy to see the weeks pass as the future seems like a friend i'm very much looking forward to hanging out with


1) here is my very girlie story of the week .... today my mom and i did a little church, lunch, shopping day ... and i was really only looking for 2 things, shoes to wear in the lake when we are on vacation (because yes, i'm pretty sure that rachael lynn will be swimming in a lake ... ) (for those of you who know me well, you know that this is a milestone, because i don't think i've stepped foot in any water that i couldn't see the bottom of (pool or ocean) in a very very very long time ) ... anyhoo ... back to the shoes ... so i find the shoes i need, but while i'm in there trying them on, i find several other very cute, very comfortable, very affordable shoes in my size ... none of these things happen that often ... so of course, i had to buy 2 pairs (plus the water shoes) ... one happened to be a very cute pair of sandals that i really liked, even though i honestly didn't have a thought in my mind of what i would wear them with but i bought them anyways.  then later on in the day, we were in kohl's and i happened to see a shirt that matched those shoes pretty perfectly.  said shirt was in my size and on sale ... so of course i put it in my basket ... then as we happened to wander by the jewelry section, did i or did i not find a necklace in the exact same shade as the shirt and the shoes ... also on sale.  so of course i have all 3 items in my possession now :) did i NEED any of them? nope.  but i'm telling you, this is like a girls urban legend ... it NEVER happens and today it was my day apparently :)


2) just 2 more weeks of work and then it's VACATION time!!!  need i elaborate???  it's much needed and even if it rains the whole time and the cabin smells like mold, i will not care.  i will not be working, i will not be commuting, i will not be staring at a computer for 8+ hours a day ... i will however, be spending much needed time with some of my very favorite people in the ENTIRE world and it's all going to be good :)\


3) here's my shopping tip of the week ... bath & body works is having their semi-annual sale and all of their bath gel is on sale for $4.... many of their 'retired fragrances' are back and on sale for $3 and there are many other things in the store for 50-75% off ... GO.STOCK.UP.


i hope you all are as excited and happy as i am for this upcoming week!!!


r

where has this week gone?

this week feels like it's flying by. i can't believe my last post was 4 nights ago!  crazy town


here are my 3 things for tonight ... in no real order


1) my brothers and i went in on a pretty cool gift for our dad for Father's Day.  and because he will be out of town on Sunday i gave him the present last night .. we all went in to buy 2 tickets for he and my mom to spend a day in Groton, CT deep sea fishing :) i found this bus tour that will taken them to Groton, about 4 hrs away, then they'll spend 6 1/2 hours on this very large boat, fishing, enjoying the water, eating / drinking at a little grill inside the boat and then come home.  all gear is included and any fish they catch will be cleaned for them so they can bring home.  it seems like a pretty sweet trip and we picked a date in august so both of them would have time to get off work ... dad was definitely surprised last night ... normally we all buy him amazon gift cards because he never goes anywhere without his kindle but i thought this would be a nice change of pace for him ... 


2) i'm getting excited for our yearly family vacation!  it's the week of july 4th.  last year, the ENTIRE fam (16 of us) went to Orlando for the week and of course spent most of our time in Walt Disney World ... this year ... we are going to rent a place on Schroon Lake here in the Adirondack mountains.  the house is a converted boat house and is probably a wee bit small for the 3/4 of our fam that will be together ... there's no a/c, prob not great cell phone reception and not all that much to do.  but surprisingly i'm very excited for the family time, the peace and quiet this place will bring, the chance to RELAX and not focus on work or bills or my life ... 


3) i will find out for sure tomorrow, but i'm pretty sure i'm picking up an additional part time job in july.  it's with my full time company just working for a different department.  i can work from home in the evenings and the concentration of the work is only from the 10th to 20th of each month.  while i don't really relish the idea of giving up the few free evenings i do have, how can i turn down overtime pay?? so if you think you haven't seen / heard much from me lately, it might get even worse for a little while  ...


my goal is in sight ... this extra income will solidify my ability to have everything paid off by the end of august!


alright, that's all from my part of the world ... what is exciting where you are??


r

a few sun night ramblings

a lot has happened since i last wrote but i am sitting here staring at the screen not exactly what to type


i can say nothing all that exciting has happened but it has been a very busy few days.  worked both jobs thursday, worked friday during the day and then went to a jewelry party my sister-in-law was hosting, went to my full time job saturday morning to help with our annual yard sale / bake sale, then went to work at the answering service, church this morning and then back to the answering service for another 6 hours, then late dinner and movie with my mom brings me to here


i'm exhausted just typing all that out ...


here are my 3 things for tonight


1) we sang this song today in church "Jesus You Are Worthy" by Brenton Brown and the lyrics that stuck out to me were the ones at the end "justice and mercy meet at on the cross".  that thought has stuck with me throughout today. God's justice that I deserve was sentenced not to me, but to Jesus instead.  And that Jesus death on the cross was enough to pay the price for my guilt, that God accepts that as payment, therefore i receive God's mercy in accepting that Jesus' punishment covered my sins.  i know it's something i've heard and come to believe for entire life but to just think about the the simple truth about justice and mercy coming together in that one moment ... it makes me speechless ... and truly grateful
listen to the lyrics of this song 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCAJYLV4LWc


2) mom and i watched the movie Courageous tonight.  of course, i cried my eyes out ... i'm a sucker for movies like that ... where an adult puts forth a serious effort to reach a teenager ... the one scene that made me cry in the previews before i ever saw the movie was where the dad in an effort to spend time with his son, decided to start running with him ... 
i have to say that this movie was made by the same people that made Fireproof and they used a lot of the same locations and i even think houses ... so that was a little distracting  ... and it ran a little long ... but the story was very inspiring and i think any father who watches it would be stirred up to become a better father and man.  he has this speech at the end that was pretty great and he has several statements like this were he says "i don't have to ask  who will teach my son to follow Christ, because I will" 
after all my years in youth ministry, trying to help kids who's parents were happy to let their youth leaders be the ones to instill good characters in them and try to reach them, to teach them to follow Christ, i fully believe more proclamations like this are needed, where parents realize the responsibility that is theirs, embrace it and strive to never give up in their endeavors


 3) week 1 of weight watchers has been completed ... i weigh in tomorrow and we'll see how it's working ... 


night night all,
r

who wants to buy a house in VA beach with me??

hello hello everyone
hope it's been a good day for you
first off, just want to say Happy 30th birthday to my baby bro Jonathan. now that he is 30, i feel like it's official, my brothers and myself, we are all grown ups now ... i know technically we were all "adults" when we hit 18 or 21 or even 25 (car insurance discounts and all that) but there's something about 30 that says ... yep, i'm an actual grown up now


jon and i talked a few times when we were younger about the 4 of us all buying property on some water somewhere so we could all have a designated vacation spot, family gatherings etc


just for kicks, i looked tonight at some houses for sale on the ocean in VA beach ... 


and i quickly closed the website ... 


$3,500,000 to $4,000,000 for a 5 bedroom house on the ocean ... might be slightly out of our price range ...



(it's awfully purty)


but i do really like the idea of the 4 of us trying to find some place ... of course nothing will be central to all of us as long as Sam decides to reside in Egypt ... (oh it's only california - but it might as well be egypt because it's very far away)


ok so here are my 3 things for tonight


1) i made 48 cupcakes tonight for a work bake sale this weekend ... it was nice to have something to do, to keep my hands busy so i wasn't thinking about eating all night ... and surprisingly making the cupcakes didn't tempt me to eat them ... :) i would have been a goner for sure if it was cookies i was making so i'm glad i picked cupcakes instead


2) my Yankees are tied for 1st place tonight!!  since May 21st they have gone 9-3 and have moved into 1st place ... great performances from the pitchers and the hitters seem to be waking up and the home runs are increasing ... it's a fun time of year that's for sure!!


3) 4 weeks from today is July 4th!  it's always a fun holiday and i'm doubly excited because that's my vacation week this year ... 3/4 of the family will be together for the week and hi-jinks are sure to ensue


that's it for me tonight -hope you are having a good day/night where you are ... 

my 11 lbs Kujo

morning all ... changing it up on ya and writing in the AM instead of the PM ... this may make me late for work but i thought a little change was in order.  life has not been all that exciting lately and by the time night comes around i haven't been feeling that inspired


this morning while walking Riley he was on a mission ... i was not privy to what that mission was ... but it involved pulling on the leash and being as far from me as possible .... (annoying and not his normal to be so pushy on our walks).  anyways, the man was walking towards us and not on "his side" of the road so we were going to pretty much walk into him ... well all of a sudden Riley decided to start barking his head off at this poor man ... and if you haven't heard his bark before, for a 11 lb fluff ball, he can resemble Kujo... now, all riley wanted was for this guy to reach down and pet him and say hello to him.  but because he ignored him, he got all "riled" up and felt the need to bark and snarl ... thus causing the man to definitely NOT want to reach down and pet Riley ... 


i guess another reason i won't be a good dog trainer...


just thought i'd share


hope you all have a great Tuesday!


r