One Year!

You guessed it...it's been a year since we moved into our new house! The holiday season is upon us once again! Can you believe it? It all seems completely surreal. This last year has been a complete whirlwind. We settled in...and here we are. NOW WHAT? :)

I will post more later on what we've been up to but I couldn't let this day go by without acknowleging our one year "anniversary" of sorts. It's a milestone! We love our home (most of the time). Yay to "Living the Dream"! :)

What are you guys up to? How are you preparing for Christmas? I've already recieved a box with gifts from my dad...and my mom said she's sending something already. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE and what did you do with my parents???? LOL!! To say they are "on the ball" is an understatement. It just goes to show how CRAZY this time of the year is and people are wanting to get things taken care of early so they aren't dealing with the madness that comes along with the season at the last minute. I should be one of THOSE people. I'm working on it. At least I've got some shopping done! It's a good headstart.

OK...it's late and I need to get to bed. Happy December everyone!! Hope you are all living YOUR dream wherever you are.

Nan XO

Oh Snap!

It has been exactly 4 months since I blogged! Wow! The time flies...what more can I say? So much has happened, I'm sure, but I'm not going to get into all that just yet. I'm exhausted after working on the house for 5 days straight. Tony and I decided to try and paint the house this summer and after much thought and consideration, realized we wouldn't be able to do the whole thing this year. We resigned ourselves to doing the worst two sides...the sides that get hammered by the weather and had the most damage. To make a long story short, much scraping, sanding, caulking, painting and cursing ensued. LOL! We are almost done with the two sides...we finished the hardest side yesterday. Needless to say we are EXHAUSTED! It started raining yesterday so we are getting a much needed reprieve.

On another note, football (pre-season) started tonight and our beloved Seahawks won against San Diego. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!!!!! :) Fall is right around the corner, y'all and we are STOKED that the NFL got their you-know-what together and there's going to BE a season!!

Jake starts junior high in 3 weeks. GULP! I can't even tell you the ANGST I am suffering over this. One minute I'm super excited for him...the next minute I feel like I'm throwing him to the wolves. Schoenbar doesn't have the *best* reputation. Sigh....can I throw up just a little bit?!?

We got a kitten back in May...much to my dismay she is driving us INSANE. She is 100% kitten and she's cute as heck. Her name is Tillamook, "Tilly" for *short*. The boys came up with that one....named after our favorite brand of ice-cream. :) She has been very entertaining and Jacob loves having a pet again. It's nice that he's old enough to clean out the cat box...that is a PLUS!! :)

OK...I'm going to cut this short for now. Time to get back to relaxing after a hard-working week. More to come in the very near future!! Hope y'all are having an amazing summer!!!

Hugs! Nan XO

To Blog...or Not to Blog

If you'd like me to continue blogging...please leave a comment below! Thanks!! Nanette XO

TGIF

Funny...TGIF doesn't really apply when you are on vacation. But it *is* Friday and my staycation is rapidly coming to an end. And anyone that REALLY knows me...knows I haven't even touched that pile of boxes downstairs. Yeah...the ones I took the picture of. Lame, I know. But you know what? I really don't give two hoots about it. I have worked upstairs on some boxes that needed my attention so the week hasn't been a complete loss. And like Tony said, everyone needs time off once in a while! So, that being said...I have been enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing!! The weather has been nice and we've been out and about a little bit...but there's been a whole lot of TV watching, internet browsing, and napping going on!! Happy Vacation to ME!! And, I *do* still have a few days left before going back to work so there's still hope I'll get to some of those boxes shortly. :)

Has anyone checked out the book contest I mentioned previously? Manic Mommy is up to 37 books so far!!!!! And there's still 6 days in the month left!! I am OBSESSED with winning all these books. LOL! I did end up going to the library the other day and getting one of the books b/c I was just so curious about the author and her reading style. I checked out "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin. I could NOT put the book down and read it in like 2 days. So, add THAT to my vacation list...I read a novel!! And I didn't PAY for it...even better!! Anywho...MM is talking about having two winners for the contest since there's so many books. The selfish part of me says "No way, Jose...I want them ALL!" But the practical side of me says "I could live with that...it doubles my chances of winning, right?" LOL...I really *do* like the idea of winning them all, tho. I am SO selfish, y'all. I don't wanna share! Waaaa!!

It's almost time for breakfast so I better run. Tony is making french toast and bacon. It smells SO GOOD in here this a.m. How lucky can a girl be?!? The kids are over the moon happy, too. They've been eating a lot of cold cereal this week. You didn't think I was going to cook every morning, did you? I've been doing a full-on dinner EVERY night. It's amazing what having an extra person in the house will do...motivate you to make sure there's food on the table every night. It's much easier to do the leftover thing when it's just the 3 of us. Three more nights and our guest is gone and life goes back to normal. :)

Hope you have a great Friday and an even better weekend! Hugs~ Nanette XO

Too Much Stuff

In case you haven't figured it out...this is the "abyss" that I have to work on this week. I tried going in there today and got so overwhelmed I decided I'd wait til Tony was home to cheer me on. I started working on some boxes that were upstairs. Getting into THIS MESS is going to be tough. I have too much stuff to say the least!! Anyway, as you can see...I wasn't kidding when I said I had a lot to do. So far, I'm getting very little done. It's so nice to just do NOTHING once in a while!!

Tony and I are both home starting tomorrow so I know I will make a huge dent in this before I have to go back to work. I need to get an early start and just jump in and DO IT. Feel free to come over and help if you are so inclined! And perhaps maybe someone should stop by at some point to make sure I'm not buried alive...like on that show "Hoarders". I'm just sayin.

Night!!!!! Nanette XOXO

Staycation

Mornin'! Today is Day 1 of "Staycation". I'm not counting the weekend b/c I got nothing done over the last two days. LOL! Today is probably going to be a bust, also, since I have a doctor's appointment today and so does Jake. By the time I go to mine, get home, and take Jake to his...the day will be lost. I *am* up early, tho, so maybe I'll get a few things done before I have to leave. At any rate, it is SO nice to be home and I'm trying not to think about what's going on at work. I am hoping this week is enough time to get thru all my stuff and get unpacked. I haven't even gone downstairs to look at the mound of boxes yet.

Anywho, we had a nice weekend and the weather was GORGEOUS! Spring is definitely here. We had lots of sunshine and almost 50 degree temps. There's still quite a nip in the air but the sun felt wonderful. We have a friend of Jake's staying with us so Saturday we did some running around and went to McDonald's for lunch. It was an all-around good and busy day. We managed to do some recycling and getting groceries for the week. We also went to the library and I actually checked out a book! I haven't done that in YEARS! I am tickled over how much money I am going to save myself by doing that more often! :)

Sunday was not quite as busy. I ended up going back to town for a few things and ended up with a whole nother cart of groceries...LOL. Apparently, I didn't get enough the day before! Funny how that can happen. Then I went over to see Julie...she'd had a birthday on Friday and I had a gift for her. So, back to the old neighborhood I went...I sure miss living down by the water!!! Anyway, after getting back from Julie's I took the boys up the hill from the house to get them outside and away from video games. I had never been up there but it was such a beautiful day that it was the perfect time to check it out. I knew there was an empty lot up there...sure enough there is!! Tony had said there was but I had never checked it out. So, Jake and Gabe kicked the soccer ball around and I visited with the neighbors for a bit...they were out working in their yard.

Speaking of my neighbors...have I ever mentioned that we have the NICEST neighbors in the world? OMGoodness!! They are awesome! Patty is going to help me with my yard this summer...she's going to show me what's what and what I need to keep pulled as far as weeds (cuz I have NO idea what I'm doing.) She also told me she'd help me plant some bulbs in the fall. I CAN'T WAIT!! I've never planted bulbs...I've never had my own yard for that matter and I am so excited to start working out there and enjoying the fruits of my labor. I'm so looking forward to everything blooming and coming alive again. I will be sure to take pics of everything and post them on here. :)

OK...I think I'll take advantage of being up early (Tony is getting ready for work which is why I'm up at all!) I'll check in with you all later....and post a pic of my mountain of boxes before I tackle them.

Happy Monday!!! Nanette XO

Here Ya Go

Here's the blog/website I told you about with the book giveaway. I am sharing it under one condition. In the event YOU win a book or two...or especially ALL the books at the end...you MUST share them with ME after you are done reading it/them. Deal? Thanks, Y'all. Love ya!!! Happy Reading!!!

www.manicmommy.blogspot.com