ok so here is my super quick 3 things for the past few days
1) my little niece Tessa is doing soooo much better! she's still in NICU but should be off O2 all together tomorrow and she will soon be able to take a bottle. her sisters got to meet her today (briefly) which was pretty much against hospital policy, but since my brother works in the same hospital, they made an exception ... which ... rocks :)
2) one more day of work and then 3 day weekend!! and i'm heading to the NYC for the whole weekend ... can.not.wait ... so.much.to.see.and.no ... NYC get ready!!
3) i'm thinking i might like to try my hand at photography ... now that i have a little extra spending $$ each paycheck ... anyone have any camera suggestions???
happy (almost) friday everyone!!
look forward to some NYC adventure stories next week :)
r
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
happy girl
tonight, i am a very happy girl. today might have been the first day in almost a month where i was genuinely and totally excited almost to the point of dancing around my living room
here's my very happy girl 3 things for today
1) today i had a random day off. originally i took the day off the spend with my friend M in NYC. however, my trip got postponed so i was left with a day off with nothing to do. this is NOT a bad thing! after working both days this weekend i was happy to have a day of 'nothingness'. i did 2 loads of laundry, caught up on some tv watching, paid some bills (more on that later) and did a little shopping.
2) my good deals of the day: i found a pair of pants on sale for $3.50!! you read that right! since when can you buy pants for $3.50??? they cost more than that when you buy them used at Salvation Army!!! Anyhoo, i got a new outfit for $19 and found a new comforter set for 1/2 off as well! treated myself to a fro-yo lunch and thoroughly enjoyed my day :)
3) for the past 4 years, i have been enrolled with a credit card consolidation company since september of 2008. every month for the past 4 years i have paid a hefty monthly payment towards paying down the balance of 5 credit cards. i have been scrimping and making due for the past 4 years. i have downsized and sold things and even moved in with my parents last september. i was due to finish paying it all off in April of 2013. but, thanks to picking up extra shifts at my 2nd job, and putting almost all my paychecks to extra monthly payments, today, i made my last payment EVER!!! my debt has been paid, my days of being chained to interest and monthly payments and financial instability are over. when i made that payment, i had this huge smile on my face and may or may not have danced around the living room by myself!!!
so that's me ... the happy girl on the couch tonight ... :)
here's my very happy girl 3 things for today
1) today i had a random day off. originally i took the day off the spend with my friend M in NYC. however, my trip got postponed so i was left with a day off with nothing to do. this is NOT a bad thing! after working both days this weekend i was happy to have a day of 'nothingness'. i did 2 loads of laundry, caught up on some tv watching, paid some bills (more on that later) and did a little shopping.
2) my good deals of the day: i found a pair of pants on sale for $3.50!! you read that right! since when can you buy pants for $3.50??? they cost more than that when you buy them used at Salvation Army!!! Anyhoo, i got a new outfit for $19 and found a new comforter set for 1/2 off as well! treated myself to a fro-yo lunch and thoroughly enjoyed my day :)
3) for the past 4 years, i have been enrolled with a credit card consolidation company since september of 2008. every month for the past 4 years i have paid a hefty monthly payment towards paying down the balance of 5 credit cards. i have been scrimping and making due for the past 4 years. i have downsized and sold things and even moved in with my parents last september. i was due to finish paying it all off in April of 2013. but, thanks to picking up extra shifts at my 2nd job, and putting almost all my paychecks to extra monthly payments, today, i made my last payment EVER!!! my debt has been paid, my days of being chained to interest and monthly payments and financial instability are over. when i made that payment, i had this huge smile on my face and may or may not have danced around the living room by myself!!!
so that's me ... the happy girl on the couch tonight ... :)
Monday, August 27, 2012
just 3 things...about my dad
just a few things about my dad that you might not have known ... these are all things about my dad that made him unique, things that make me smile as i remember them ...
1) he was a PhD. He worked at this for most of my life; he received his masters and then his doctorate from seminary. His topic for his dissertation was way deeper than anything i could have written. i don't even know the entire name or even the whole subject matter. it was something along the lines of ethics and religion in the civil war and the decisions that were made. i'll have to find this out for sure because i think at some point i'd like to read the entire dissertation. he was a voracious reader. he loved to read historical biographies and just about all non-fiction historical books. he read the local newspaper and one of the NYC papers every single day. he enjoyed being informed and educated on all of our country's events.
2) he loved Mariano Rivera. he grew up in alabama and was therefore a braves fan until the late 90's when my brothers and i started REALLY following baseball and i began my eating, sleeping, breathing yankees baseball phase. he was thrilled that his kids were getting into baseball and although he wasn't happy it was an american league team, we quickly "converted" him to a yankees fan. he was always happy when he was talking to me about the most recent game. he loved nothing more than listening the ball game on the radio, no matter where he was. he even had an app on his iPhone so he could listen to just about every game. Mo was his favorite player. he always said that the year that Rivera was inducted into the baseball hall of fame, he would be there. i'm thinking i will have to be there that year instead of him.
3) he shot a teenage boy one time ... yep you read that right ... with a real pistol and everything ... when i was in college, one christmas vacation, we had almost 20 kids come stay with us for 10 days. we had kids sleeping on every available floor space. i still don't know how my mom managed to feed us all ... but she someone did. anyways, one of the last nights they were all there, my dad loaded up his black powder pistol with everything except for the bullet. he walked into my brother's room and told one of the boys in there that he had had just about enough of his talking ... he told him if he said 'one more word' he would shoot him ... of course, the boy called my dad's bluff and said something like "now, Mr Lynn" and ... yep, my dad shot him ... the boy fell over the other side of the bed, fully thinking he had actually been shot with a bullet. those of us not in the room, all came running into the bedroom because everyone heard the "shot". by that point, my dad was keeled over laughing hysterically and the rest of us were joining in the laughter. (PS this boy had grown up to be a stand up comedian - and i'd love to know if this story is part of his "routine") i'm pretty sure my first reaction was to be embarrassed, because seriously, none of my friends dads would 'shoot' anyone in their home ... is it any wonder that i didn't have a bunch of fellas trying to date me back then????
there you have it ... just a few things about my dad :)
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
it's been 18 days since my dad died
it has been 18 days since my dad died of a no warning signs, no recovering from, no question about it heart attack. i was away for the weekend with a good friend, a weekend that was supposed to be about reconnecting with one of my oldest and dearest friends "C". we left on thursday the 2nd, had a fun night of dinner and movies, a few drinks, lots of laughs and tons of conversation. it was probably close to 1:00 am before we fell asleep. then, i got a call from my mom at 3:22 AM telling me that my dad had woken up with chest pain, took some medicine and 15 minutes later, stopped breathing. she called me after 911 arrived but he was already gone
i literally sat in the bathroom of the hotel room for almost an hour ... not able to think clearly, not able to make a decision about if i should drive home right away, wait until morning, not able to decide if i should make any phone calls, nothing. i wasn't crying, just numb. i know 2 of my brothers called, i remember walking outside the room to talk to 1 of them, but i can't really remember what we talked about. i tried to lay back down, but my mind was racing, and yet i still couldn't decide what i was supposed to do. i couldn't figure out what my family needed me to do.... nothing
at 4:45 am i woke up C, told her we needed to go home and the reason why.
we were 4 1/2 hours away from home and that drive home might of been the longest of my life. my friend C was great. she was exactly what i needed. she let me drive until we got to roads that were familiar to her, she did not try to talk to me, i remember we talked a little, but i don't know what it was about. i just know i didn't even know what to say or what to talk about or how i should be acting or anything. i just needed that silence. she was truly a "friend of Job" during those hours.
i don't want to write down all of the details of the rest of that day and these next couple days. frankly i don't really remember all of them. i do know that it didn't seem real, i heard what everyone was saying, i heard my brother talk to funeral directors and call friends and co-workers of my dad, i helped write his obituary, pick out his suit for the funeral, talk with the pastor about the funeral service, but i just couldn't imagine that it was real. that my life had changed in such a drastic, unchanging way
there are a few things that i have come to realize through all this and i want to share them with you
1) that saying "you find out who your friends are" has never been more clear to me than it is now. my whole family has had such an overwhelming outpouring of love and support from our friends.
2) today is the first day since everything happened that we didn't receive a card or letter in the mail from someone. and that's ok, i'm not complaining, i'm just making the point that 16 days after the fact, we were still receiving cards and letters. i've learned that the cards and letters that mean the most are the ones that mention a story, a memory, a lesson learned, a personal tidbit, something that lets you know just how loved, or special, or remembered your loved one actually was. these are the ones we have cherished and read over and over again. all of the cards have been wonderful, to know people are thinking about you and praying for you, those are nice. but the ones with the other part, those are treasures and i will remember that for the rest of my life. i vow to return this sentiment from this point on
3) i have always known that prayer works, i've always known how comforting and reassuring prayer can be. but i have not always known how the prayers of others can keep you going, can keep you sane and able to function. i didn't even know that these prayers were having this affect on me. i knew hundreds were praying, from cards, texts, facebook, etc. but i didn't take the time to really reflect on that. it honestly did not hit me until the sunday i went back to church, a week after the funeral. and one of the first songs we sang was "your grace is enough". that phrase was enough to make me weep with gratitude and understanding. maybe for the first time, to really understand what that meant to me personally. it was then i realized how much all of your prayers were working. it's hard to put this exactly into words but i'm hoping i'm conveying just how much i appreciate and fully understand the power of your prayers. God has been 'enough' for me, His faithfulness has kept me going, His comforting arms around me are the reason i can get out of bed, can go to work, can remember good memories and not dwell on the sad ones.
ok so those are my 3 things
things i have needed to say outloud, to write down, to get out of my head. i've been procrastinating, it's hard to do, it's hard to bring some of it back to the front of my mind. it's very easy to find myself distracted by the routine of my life so that i don't dwell on all these sad thoughts
i know in my heart that for my dad the words "no more sorrow, no more pain" are so true. he lived with many sorrows and was in pain every day of his life, he had back and foot pain almost constantly. i know he is much happier now. that guilt is gone, that pain is gone, he is free.
but that does not completely take my pain away, that does not ease my missing him, does not take away my regrets of not telling my dad just how much i loved him. it was easier to "bust" on him for his "old man" tendencies, to roll my eyes when i had to show him how to watch a tv show that was on DVR or change a setting on his iPhone, to outwardly sigh when he asked me what other TV / movies a certain actor or actress had been on, to fuss at him for giving my dog ice cream and too much table food.
i do regret not having more heart-to-heart conversations with him, to pick his brain more about passages of scripture, to let him know that he had not failed me, that i was still his 'little girl' and still so proud of him and all he had accomplished in his life
so please don't stop praying for me. being alone is when i struggle the most, driving in the car, in bed at night before i fall asleep, etc
i love you all so much and will be forever grateful for your love and friendship, especially these past few weeks
i literally sat in the bathroom of the hotel room for almost an hour ... not able to think clearly, not able to make a decision about if i should drive home right away, wait until morning, not able to decide if i should make any phone calls, nothing. i wasn't crying, just numb. i know 2 of my brothers called, i remember walking outside the room to talk to 1 of them, but i can't really remember what we talked about. i tried to lay back down, but my mind was racing, and yet i still couldn't decide what i was supposed to do. i couldn't figure out what my family needed me to do.... nothing
at 4:45 am i woke up C, told her we needed to go home and the reason why.
we were 4 1/2 hours away from home and that drive home might of been the longest of my life. my friend C was great. she was exactly what i needed. she let me drive until we got to roads that were familiar to her, she did not try to talk to me, i remember we talked a little, but i don't know what it was about. i just know i didn't even know what to say or what to talk about or how i should be acting or anything. i just needed that silence. she was truly a "friend of Job" during those hours.
i don't want to write down all of the details of the rest of that day and these next couple days. frankly i don't really remember all of them. i do know that it didn't seem real, i heard what everyone was saying, i heard my brother talk to funeral directors and call friends and co-workers of my dad, i helped write his obituary, pick out his suit for the funeral, talk with the pastor about the funeral service, but i just couldn't imagine that it was real. that my life had changed in such a drastic, unchanging way
there are a few things that i have come to realize through all this and i want to share them with you
1) that saying "you find out who your friends are" has never been more clear to me than it is now. my whole family has had such an overwhelming outpouring of love and support from our friends.
- friends who came and sat with us, didn't say much, just sat with us.
- friends who brought us food and drinks,
- friends who brought us paper products so we wouldn't have to wash dishes,
- friends who cleaned our bathrooms the day of the funeral,
- friends who drove 2+ hours to be at the wake / funeral,
- friends who cried with us and sometimes for us,
- friends who brought strong drinks and drank with us,
- friends who found ways to make us laugh and relive some old memories,
- friends who didn't say "if you need anything, let me know" but just did things for us
- friends who prayed, sent text messages, facebook messages, cards, letters, flowers and gift baskets.
- friends who took over when the funeral was over, made plates of food for the family,
- friends who cleaned up the kitchen, who took out the garbage, who did things without ever needing to be asked.
2) today is the first day since everything happened that we didn't receive a card or letter in the mail from someone. and that's ok, i'm not complaining, i'm just making the point that 16 days after the fact, we were still receiving cards and letters. i've learned that the cards and letters that mean the most are the ones that mention a story, a memory, a lesson learned, a personal tidbit, something that lets you know just how loved, or special, or remembered your loved one actually was. these are the ones we have cherished and read over and over again. all of the cards have been wonderful, to know people are thinking about you and praying for you, those are nice. but the ones with the other part, those are treasures and i will remember that for the rest of my life. i vow to return this sentiment from this point on
3) i have always known that prayer works, i've always known how comforting and reassuring prayer can be. but i have not always known how the prayers of others can keep you going, can keep you sane and able to function. i didn't even know that these prayers were having this affect on me. i knew hundreds were praying, from cards, texts, facebook, etc. but i didn't take the time to really reflect on that. it honestly did not hit me until the sunday i went back to church, a week after the funeral. and one of the first songs we sang was "your grace is enough". that phrase was enough to make me weep with gratitude and understanding. maybe for the first time, to really understand what that meant to me personally. it was then i realized how much all of your prayers were working. it's hard to put this exactly into words but i'm hoping i'm conveying just how much i appreciate and fully understand the power of your prayers. God has been 'enough' for me, His faithfulness has kept me going, His comforting arms around me are the reason i can get out of bed, can go to work, can remember good memories and not dwell on the sad ones.
ok so those are my 3 things
things i have needed to say outloud, to write down, to get out of my head. i've been procrastinating, it's hard to do, it's hard to bring some of it back to the front of my mind. it's very easy to find myself distracted by the routine of my life so that i don't dwell on all these sad thoughts
i know in my heart that for my dad the words "no more sorrow, no more pain" are so true. he lived with many sorrows and was in pain every day of his life, he had back and foot pain almost constantly. i know he is much happier now. that guilt is gone, that pain is gone, he is free.
but that does not completely take my pain away, that does not ease my missing him, does not take away my regrets of not telling my dad just how much i loved him. it was easier to "bust" on him for his "old man" tendencies, to roll my eyes when i had to show him how to watch a tv show that was on DVR or change a setting on his iPhone, to outwardly sigh when he asked me what other TV / movies a certain actor or actress had been on, to fuss at him for giving my dog ice cream and too much table food.
i do regret not having more heart-to-heart conversations with him, to pick his brain more about passages of scripture, to let him know that he had not failed me, that i was still his 'little girl' and still so proud of him and all he had accomplished in his life
so please don't stop praying for me. being alone is when i struggle the most, driving in the car, in bed at night before i fall asleep, etc
i love you all so much and will be forever grateful for your love and friendship, especially these past few weeks
Friday, July 20, 2012
i survived the week (barely)
so my 3 things tonight might not be all that cheerful & optimistic but after this week, it's the best i've got
1) i survived my 1st week of couch to 5k. i walked/jogged/died 3 times this week. the worst was today for some reason. my legs hurt so bad when i was done, i could barely walk down the stairs to get in my car to drive to work ... thankfully the Advil kicked in fairly quickly but it was pretty miserable way to start the day. i am definitely repeating week 1 next week ... i am in no way ready to move on to increasing my running time just yet. i need to be able to jog the 8 minutes i'm supposed to without dying on the side of the road. i am however proud of myself for finishing week 1 ... and i am very grateful for the support on facebook and my partner in crime - Christine - who has agreed to do this whole thing with me ... i would not have gotten my butt out of bed today if i didn't know i had to 'report' to Christine on how i had done!! so thank you for that!!
2) my oldest niece, my shorty, left today. she was here for 7 days and is now off having an adventure in NC with her father, step-mother and step-brother. it takes her 3-4 days normally to relax and adjust to our routines and rules and then she becomes a real sweetie pie ... so that means we had 3 great days and she's off again. it will probably be thanksgiving again before i see her which is sad, but i'm happy to have had the time with her
3) honestly i'm rejoicing i get to have my life and routine back. don't get me wrong - i have loved having my family and especially my nieces around these past 3 weeks but i really do need my routine back! my weight watchers has backslid and my beauty rest has been pretty non-existent since the end of june .... so here is hoping i can sleep in tomorrow and get back into my low-key, almost boring routine that i so desperately enjoy!!
hope you all have had a better week than i!!!
r
1) i survived my 1st week of couch to 5k. i walked/jogged/died 3 times this week. the worst was today for some reason. my legs hurt so bad when i was done, i could barely walk down the stairs to get in my car to drive to work ... thankfully the Advil kicked in fairly quickly but it was pretty miserable way to start the day. i am definitely repeating week 1 next week ... i am in no way ready to move on to increasing my running time just yet. i need to be able to jog the 8 minutes i'm supposed to without dying on the side of the road. i am however proud of myself for finishing week 1 ... and i am very grateful for the support on facebook and my partner in crime - Christine - who has agreed to do this whole thing with me ... i would not have gotten my butt out of bed today if i didn't know i had to 'report' to Christine on how i had done!! so thank you for that!!
2) my oldest niece, my shorty, left today. she was here for 7 days and is now off having an adventure in NC with her father, step-mother and step-brother. it takes her 3-4 days normally to relax and adjust to our routines and rules and then she becomes a real sweetie pie ... so that means we had 3 great days and she's off again. it will probably be thanksgiving again before i see her which is sad, but i'm happy to have had the time with her
3) honestly i'm rejoicing i get to have my life and routine back. don't get me wrong - i have loved having my family and especially my nieces around these past 3 weeks but i really do need my routine back! my weight watchers has backslid and my beauty rest has been pretty non-existent since the end of june .... so here is hoping i can sleep in tomorrow and get back into my low-key, almost boring routine that i so desperately enjoy!!
hope you all have had a better week than i!!!
r
Sunday, July 15, 2012
sun night musings
what a whirlwind weekend!! went out Fri night with the BFF for dinner and FroYo (news flash for those of you in the 518 ... there is this new FroYo place on Wolf Rd in the Panera Plaza called Lemondrops. it's is sooooo good - with 10 different flavors of frozen yogurt and about 20+ toppings for you to add to it. the place is adorable, decorated in bright yellow & green - go check it out! you won't be disappointed) ...
where was i? oh yeah, my weekend. so fri night was fun ... sat work was INSANE ... actually BEYOND insane!! we were 3 people short and had about 500 more calls that normal to answer. it was the craziest shift i've ever worked, even worse than new years eve and st patrick's day!!! sat night my oldest niece from TN arrived. i call her Shorty :) she's 10 1/2 and lives with her mom and step-dad. she spends 2 weeks with us each summer. currently, she has purple hair .... um, yeah ... today was great, we did church, lunch, fro yo, grocery shopping and then big family pizza & wing dinner w/ games afterward. then we made lemon cake-mix cookies that we'll decorate tomorrow.
my three things
1) i loved having my niece in church with me today! she used to come to church with us every weekend from birth until 5 1/2 when she moved to TN. it does sadden me to think that if she had been with us all this time, she would know the words to the songs, know kids her own age at church, probably know the pastor and pay attention during the messages. but i am trying to focus on the positive and her being at church today with me and my mom was a very positive thing :)
2) cake mix cookies might be one of my new favorite things ... a cake mix, 2 eggs and 1 stick of melted butter ... that's it ... we made lemon ones tonight and rolled them in a little flour - used a flower shaped cookie cutter and there you have it ... (our theme for dinner tomorrow night in sunflowers - and it wasn't even MY idea - although those of you who know me, know i was definitely on board) ... only nieces / granddaughters get to pick themes for dinner i'm thinking :) we are going to decorate the cookies tomorrow with yellow frosting and mini choc chips and make our own sunflower cookies. i'll post pics if they turn out cute :)
3) tomorrow, i'm going to start the couch to 5K program. i'm putting it on here, so that those of you who read it, can be my witnesses. feel free to ask me about it this week so i can tell you how it's going. knowing you will be asking, will be really good incentive for me!!!
hope you all have a great week! i have high expectations for a great week!!
-r
where was i? oh yeah, my weekend. so fri night was fun ... sat work was INSANE ... actually BEYOND insane!! we were 3 people short and had about 500 more calls that normal to answer. it was the craziest shift i've ever worked, even worse than new years eve and st patrick's day!!! sat night my oldest niece from TN arrived. i call her Shorty :) she's 10 1/2 and lives with her mom and step-dad. she spends 2 weeks with us each summer. currently, she has purple hair .... um, yeah ... today was great, we did church, lunch, fro yo, grocery shopping and then big family pizza & wing dinner w/ games afterward. then we made lemon cake-mix cookies that we'll decorate tomorrow.
here she is with her bed bug Riley
my three things
1) i loved having my niece in church with me today! she used to come to church with us every weekend from birth until 5 1/2 when she moved to TN. it does sadden me to think that if she had been with us all this time, she would know the words to the songs, know kids her own age at church, probably know the pastor and pay attention during the messages. but i am trying to focus on the positive and her being at church today with me and my mom was a very positive thing :)
2) cake mix cookies might be one of my new favorite things ... a cake mix, 2 eggs and 1 stick of melted butter ... that's it ... we made lemon ones tonight and rolled them in a little flour - used a flower shaped cookie cutter and there you have it ... (our theme for dinner tomorrow night in sunflowers - and it wasn't even MY idea - although those of you who know me, know i was definitely on board) ... only nieces / granddaughters get to pick themes for dinner i'm thinking :) we are going to decorate the cookies tomorrow with yellow frosting and mini choc chips and make our own sunflower cookies. i'll post pics if they turn out cute :)
3) tomorrow, i'm going to start the couch to 5K program. i'm putting it on here, so that those of you who read it, can be my witnesses. feel free to ask me about it this week so i can tell you how it's going. knowing you will be asking, will be really good incentive for me!!!
hope you all have a great week! i have high expectations for a great week!!
-r
Friday, July 13, 2012
vacation wrap up - i LOVED it
i feel like such a slacker! vacation was over on sunday night and yet i still have not blogged. honestly, it has taken me almost all week to recover and catch up on sleep. i'm just doing my laundry tonight!! it really was a very relaxing vacation ... but somehow i was still exhausted. i wanted to recap on all the things i was hoping for before i went on vacation
so here was my list that i posted 2 weeks ago:
1) spending time with my nieces - this was awesome! i really loved spending time with each of them!! the bear, bug and i went to the nail spa when they first go here which was oh so much fun. while we were at the lake, we spent lots of time decorating cupcakes, cuddling and tickling, swimming (they swam, i waded in up to my waist lol), coloring, playing with play dough etc. The bug was even able to go to work with me a few hours on monday morning! it was great. the youngest, the bird, was pretty attached to me, which i wasn't expecting, but certainly did not complain. we had lots of snuggle time in the mornings and she would come running to me with arms raised up quite a bit. we had this fun game where i would sing "la la lu lu" and she would repeat it ... and then i would say "la la rae rae" and 'la la riley' and everything i sang she would repeat. i LOVED it :)
2) hanging out with my brother ... this was great too ... now we didn't get that much one on one time, but that is to be expected ... with the whole fam together. we did have quite the experience at the drive-in theater last friday night, more specifically walking home in the pitch black with our chairs strapped to our backs, both in desperate need of the bathroom, hilarity ensued, trust me on this one :)
3) seeing Riley swim in the lake ... he did it! he swam in the lake, albeit reluctantly. if i took him out, he would swim ... right back to shore. the best part about a riley who swam every day, was that he was a very tired, very submissive riley. to the point that he was even able to be off his leash most days because he was too tired to wander off ... and the few times he did wander off, when we called him, he came right back ... which is awesome, because as you know from previous blogs, he's not exactly the most obedient dog. funny story ... the 2nd night we were there, we were all sitting on the beach with a bonfire around twilight. a mama duck and her baby came swimming by. and guess who decided it was a nice night for a swim? yep, my hunter of a dog. he did not get that close to the mama duck before he decided he was ready to swim back to shore .. but it was hilarious to see him take off into the lake after them ...
4) the peace and quiet ... there was cell service, but it was ok. i left my phone inside a lot of the time, unless i was taking pictures. the setting was incredibly beautiful! the lake was perfect, blue and clear. and the mountains on all sides were breathtaking. it was serene and you just were able to sit outside and take a breath ... or 3 ... i loved it. i would definitely go back there. and would even consider owning property somewhere like it. you just almost have no choice but to relax. you are 15-30 minutes away from just about "everything" so you are at the lake, to be at the lake .... and it's a nice thing to have that choice of 'what are we doing to do today' be taken away from you ... there isn't anything to "do" ... only to "be" and "enjoy" ... it's almost surreal
5) celebrating the 4th of July in the village of Schroon Lake ... ok so this did happen ... and it did have it's moments of fun. but the parade was really long and we all got tired and cranky. plus we were NOT able to see the fireworks from our beach and that was very disappointing. but it wasn't worth REALLY complaining about, because really, fireworks are fireworks no matter where you are ... pretty much ...
6) not working ... this was WONDERFUL. no need to elaborate
7) having loud, crazy, chaotic family dinners ... yup, these happened too ... :)
overall it was a great vacation and i was not ready to come home when we did ... everyone else got a little bored (even the nieces) and so after 5 days, the rest of the family voted to load up and come home on day 6 ... instead of day 8 ... but being outvoted, i survived. it was nice to come home and have a couple days to unpack and get re-acclimated before having to go back to work
lots of funny things happened, things that will be talked about when we all get together years from now ... the sleeping arrangements were comical at times ... sometimes we ran out of blankets and pillows but instead of it being a disaster, it was just ... FUNNY
there were some cranky kid times and most everyone came home with scrapes or bruises from just being outdoors, climbing on rocks and sand ... but overall, it was GREAT ... and i would definitely do it again!!!
so here was my list that i posted 2 weeks ago:
1) spending time with my nieces - this was awesome! i really loved spending time with each of them!! the bear, bug and i went to the nail spa when they first go here which was oh so much fun. while we were at the lake, we spent lots of time decorating cupcakes, cuddling and tickling, swimming (they swam, i waded in up to my waist lol), coloring, playing with play dough etc. The bug was even able to go to work with me a few hours on monday morning! it was great. the youngest, the bird, was pretty attached to me, which i wasn't expecting, but certainly did not complain. we had lots of snuggle time in the mornings and she would come running to me with arms raised up quite a bit. we had this fun game where i would sing "la la lu lu" and she would repeat it ... and then i would say "la la rae rae" and 'la la riley' and everything i sang she would repeat. i LOVED it :)
2) hanging out with my brother ... this was great too ... now we didn't get that much one on one time, but that is to be expected ... with the whole fam together. we did have quite the experience at the drive-in theater last friday night, more specifically walking home in the pitch black with our chairs strapped to our backs, both in desperate need of the bathroom, hilarity ensued, trust me on this one :)
3) seeing Riley swim in the lake ... he did it! he swam in the lake, albeit reluctantly. if i took him out, he would swim ... right back to shore. the best part about a riley who swam every day, was that he was a very tired, very submissive riley. to the point that he was even able to be off his leash most days because he was too tired to wander off ... and the few times he did wander off, when we called him, he came right back ... which is awesome, because as you know from previous blogs, he's not exactly the most obedient dog. funny story ... the 2nd night we were there, we were all sitting on the beach with a bonfire around twilight. a mama duck and her baby came swimming by. and guess who decided it was a nice night for a swim? yep, my hunter of a dog. he did not get that close to the mama duck before he decided he was ready to swim back to shore .. but it was hilarious to see him take off into the lake after them ...
4) the peace and quiet ... there was cell service, but it was ok. i left my phone inside a lot of the time, unless i was taking pictures. the setting was incredibly beautiful! the lake was perfect, blue and clear. and the mountains on all sides were breathtaking. it was serene and you just were able to sit outside and take a breath ... or 3 ... i loved it. i would definitely go back there. and would even consider owning property somewhere like it. you just almost have no choice but to relax. you are 15-30 minutes away from just about "everything" so you are at the lake, to be at the lake .... and it's a nice thing to have that choice of 'what are we doing to do today' be taken away from you ... there isn't anything to "do" ... only to "be" and "enjoy" ... it's almost surreal
5) celebrating the 4th of July in the village of Schroon Lake ... ok so this did happen ... and it did have it's moments of fun. but the parade was really long and we all got tired and cranky. plus we were NOT able to see the fireworks from our beach and that was very disappointing. but it wasn't worth REALLY complaining about, because really, fireworks are fireworks no matter where you are ... pretty much ...
6) not working ... this was WONDERFUL. no need to elaborate
7) having loud, crazy, chaotic family dinners ... yup, these happened too ... :)
overall it was a great vacation and i was not ready to come home when we did ... everyone else got a little bored (even the nieces) and so after 5 days, the rest of the family voted to load up and come home on day 6 ... instead of day 8 ... but being outvoted, i survived. it was nice to come home and have a couple days to unpack and get re-acclimated before having to go back to work
lots of funny things happened, things that will be talked about when we all get together years from now ... the sleeping arrangements were comical at times ... sometimes we ran out of blankets and pillows but instead of it being a disaster, it was just ... FUNNY
there were some cranky kid times and most everyone came home with scrapes or bruises from just being outdoors, climbing on rocks and sand ... but overall, it was GREAT ... and i would definitely do it again!!!
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