Hit the mall!

Today after work, I hit the mall close to my work. I went there to purchase a surprise...shhh I can't tell yet...
Anyway I decided since I was already there, to check out some clothes for my sons. I figured they would probably have shorts on clearance since they are starting to advertise the back to school sales. Sure enough JC Penny had a great clearance sale going on. I purchased 2 pairs of name brand jean shorts, 2 real cool mens t-shrits and a pair of sunglasses for myself; all for just over $50.00!!! I figured they could wear these probably for the 1st month back to school and then get warmer clothes later for the fall/winter.
As much as I HATE to shop, I found some good deals.

Root Canal, ouch!

I few weeks ago I went to our dentist because a filling fell out awhile back, I decided to go have the filling replaced. I found out that when the filling feel out the tooth chipped and I was told I need a root canal and cap. Today the root canal started. The tooth is the last one on the top left side of my mouth. OMG what pain!
I couldn't keep my mouth open wide enough, the dentist had a hard time reaching the tooth because of that. I literally had my mouth open for an hour. The dentist said I would be in pain for a few days, wonderful. Only good thing so far is that the root canal portion is done and my next visit will be molding the cap, less painful I am sure.

Sorrow

Tonight our family will be attending the wake of our neighbor and friend John "Denny" Hanula. Words can not express what he has done for our family; especially my 2 boys. He always had such patience for my boys and was a mentor to them. He will be missed.

It's time

This was posted today and it's kind of funny because this weekend I surrendered and purchased some reading glasses. Click on the comic to enlarge and read.

Card 33 of 52 for 2009

This is one of the cards that we made at the July Stamp Camp

Priscillastyles

I am posting this to try and win a blog candy contest for SU merchandise.
The contest is that I have to leave a link to the contest on my blog so here it is:
The website is for priscillastyles website.

Please feel free to visit her website and post this on your blog too, if you want a chance to win.

Zucchini Pancakes

Tonight for dinner we are having Zucchini Pancakes.
Grandpa Marvin makes these and they are so good he shared the recipe.
This was a family job, Todd shredded the zucchini thank goodness for food processors I mixed all the ingredients and Jordan fried them up. (Ethan was at work while we made them)

Dinner is almost served. We also put a dab of sour cream on them too. YUMMY!

To the Farmers Market We Go

We are about to leave to go to the Farmers Market.
Jordan suggested Grandpa's zucchini pancakes for dinner one night. Holy Crap I forgot about those things. So we are going to the Farmers Market mainly for zucchini; but I am also planning on getting tomatoes, cukes and anything else that looks good.
If anyone is interested I will post the zucchini recipe in another blog.

Card 32 of 52 for 2009

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this card, but once it all came together. I really like it. I got the idea from a card sketch challenge. If I have enough strips of pattern paper we will be making the card at camp in August.

So here is the surprise I got in the mail.

A while back on Facebook, I became a "fan" of Vincent Irizarry he plays David on All My Children. You can become a "fan" of basically anyone or anything on Facebook. A few weeks ago, I want to say maybe 6 to 9 weeks ago Vincent Irizarry or someone who posts for him posted on their Facebook fan page that if you send a LSAE with $1.00 worth of stamps on it Vincent will send you a signed autographed picture.
I thought why not give it a try, so I sent a small note saying something like, "I am not sure if this is real or not but I am requesting a picture of Vincent Iziarry. If this is true please tell Vincent that I am glad he is back on All My Children". Or something like that.
Yesterday I actually thought about this and figured that the picture wasn't going to arrive.
Today in the mail, look what I got:

The top one says: Dear Mary, Greetings to you from "Pine Valley"! Thank you for your support...God Bless.
The back of the picture has this below:
P.S. See you on FB aka Facebook

Pretty neat huh? The character of David is one of my favorites, you just love to hate him. And plus he's easy on the eyes. Thanks Vincent for the picture!

So Surprised

I received something in the mail today and I was Sooooo surprised I actually received this item.
I will scan and post what I received in the mail later tonight. (I have to leave in a few minutes or I would do it now)
Small hint: if you are an All My Children fan you will recongnize what it is...
Check back later.

Nothing Going On

Nothing really going on this week.
1st real full week back to work since the 3rd of July. Vacation seemed so long ago but yet July is more than 1/2 over. And the weather has been wonderful, not loving HOT weather, this summer has been perfect. I wish the temperature could stay like this year round.
Todd wrenched his back really bad. Not really sure how it happened. Not wanting another back surgery, on Friday he decided to try a chiropractor for the 1st time in his life. According to the chiropractor his back is in bad shape. He needs to be seen 2 days a week for 12 weeks, then once a week for 2 years to help straighten out his spine and align his hip. He ended up working from home on Monday because he needed assistance getting out of bed and didn't think he could take the train ride to work. He did make an appointment with our physician for that evening and was told once a bad back always a bad back. They put him on a muscle relaxer, pain relievers and an anti inflammatory. So maybe between the drugs and the realignment, he will start to feel better.
That is really about all that's going on right now. I will post more if anything exciting happens here.

Card 31 of 52 for 2009

This is one of the card that the stampers made last night at stamp camp.

"And that's the way it is"

July 17, 2009.

Walter Cronkite Passed today at the age of 92.
An anchorman who truly respected the stories that he reported.

New Doors

Here are before and after pictures of the old and new doors that Todd, Marvin, Ethan and Jordan installed last week. These doors came with the house and are about 45 years old. It was time to upgrade. Yesterday Todd with Ethan and Jordan's help installed the trim. Now all be have to do is repaint the wall going up to the 2nd floor and around the doors. I don't thinks this will happen until either this fall or next spring.
Todd and Mary's old doors splintered and scratched:

Ethan and Jordan's old doors scratch and dinged up:

Bathroom door and Todd & Mary's door:

Jordan and Ethan's doors:

So pretty!

EGD findings

They did my EGD today (see post below for more information) and after the procedure the doctor came in and explained what was found. Even though I was fully awake, I don't remember the doctor even being in the recovery room. Todd was there to take notes. Anyway, I have inflammation of the esophagus, inflammation of the upper stomach region and a possible infection. The infection doesn't look like anything serious and will be treatable. Before the procedure the doctor said he would do some biopsies not sure if he did or not and I will have to go see him in 2 weeks. I will be on prilosec to help bring down the inflamation and the pressure in my chest I am not allowed to go to work tomorrow because I am currently on a heavy narcotic and until that wears off I can't drive until it is out of my system.
(I literally had to read this 5 time before I post it and I still am not sure if it makes sense.) LOL

Card 30 of 52 for 2009

This is one of the projects that we will be making at stamp camp saturday.
It's not really a card but it is a stamped project.
It is an add-in holder for water bottles
I got the idea from Angie Kennedy.

Esophagogastroduodenoscopy

Well later this afternnoon I am going in for my Esophagogastroduodenoscopy or upper endoscopy for short or EGD for something even shorter.
I am scared yes, because 1-I have to go under for the procedure and 2-my phobia is suffercation so having a tube shoved down my esophagus is something I am not looking forward to.
Can't eat or drink anything until later today and who knows if I will want to later because from what I understand I will have a sore throat.

Here's hoping I will be posting either later today or tomorrow with results. LOL

3rd times a charm...we hope

Today Todd purchased and brought home a new/used car for Ethan.
This will be the 3rd car that we have purchased for him and the last one that we will buy for him. We are hoping that this car will last at least 2 to 3 years and hold up better then the other 2 that he has had.
It's a Ford no surprise there Escort. I owned an Escort wagon once and it was one of the most durable cars I have ever owned. So here's keeping our fingers crossed.

Card 29 of 52 for 2009

These are 2 3x3 cards that we will be making at my July Stamp Camp this month.
Thanks Dawn Griffith for the great idea.

Breakfast in Kenosha

We took the guys to Franks Diner in Kenosha WI for breakfast this morning. 74.2 miles from our home but worth it.

Franks is an old train car that was turned into a diner.
Todd and I have been to Franks once before and liked it so much we wanted to take the guys. Franks Diner has been featured on the Food Networks show Diner, Drive-ins and Dives.
Todd, Jordan, and I each ordered the 1/2 garbage with one meat; Ethan ordered the 3 stack chocolate chip pancakes. Our waiter bet Ethan a dollar that he couldn't finish the 3stack. Sure enough the waiter was correct; Ethan did eat a little over 1/2 of it though. Now he has leftovers for breakfast tomorrow. He is holding his leftover in picture below.

After we were done at Franks we drove the 1/2 mile to Lake Michigan.


Kind of a foggy day today.

Card 28 of 52 for 2009

Here is one of the cards we will be making at July's Stamp Camp.
This month's stamp camp is a quick card camp with one non-card item. The cards this month are very simple to make.
I got this idea from Keri (sorry Keri I don't know your last name to post it)

Six Flags Picture Request

Here is a photo of Raelynn getting soaked by Todd while she and Nikolas were on the Buccaneer Battle. Notice her face is turned away, Todd drenched her with water so much that she had to go purchase a new shirt. Kind of glad I didn't ride this due to being too cold or else I would have been real soaked also.

Pictures from Six Flags yesterday

We had a pretty good time yesterday at Six Flags. Weather was really nice until about 3:00pm then we had an overcast of cloads that made it rather chilly. 5 of us went on the Ragging Rapid and got soaked, after that I was too cold to ride anymore rides which ended up being a bummer because I wanted to ride the Buccaneer Battle one more time before we left.

Jordan with Daffy Duck

Jordan with Foghorn Leghorn and Speedy Gonzales

The 3 older boys

Off to Six Flags Great America

We are off to Six Flags Great America today.
We have 2 cars worth of people going, so it should be a good time.
I will post pictures either later today or tomorrow of our fun time.
Off to take some motion sickness pills.

Con artist/Scam

About 2 weeks ago we received a coupon that was in the blue envelope that shows up in you mail. It was for having the air ducts in your home cleaned out. The coupon said Whole House Air Duct cleaning package unlimited vents, one return, one main duct. So I called and made an appointment I specifically asked if when they show up to clean the air ducts if this is what we will be charged. The person on the phone said, just give them the coupon and the money and that is it.
Heres the part that they get you on; must houses have more then one main duct, ours for instance has 3 and we have 3 returns. Ok you can say DAH here if you want; don't I know how many main ducts you have? No I don't, I figured 1 from the furnace to the rest of the house. I did know we had 3 returns so we were going to tell them just do one return and not the others.
Just beware if you choose to have your air vents cleaned out and have one of these coupons, be prepared to pay more then the coupon price.
Oh and by the way we kicked the guy out of our home without having the work done.
Here is the name of the company to avoid: Clean Air Duct Cleaning llc their number is 1-800-954-2702

Card 27 of 52 for 2009

It's been a little while that I posted a card, kind of been busy.
I got the idea for this card from Alison Manning. This is one of the cards we will be making at my July Quick Card Camp.

What to do on a rainy 4th

Since the weather isn't all that great on this holiday, we decided to go see the matinee version of Disney's UP in 3D
Plot discription courtesy of IMDB:
By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

The movie is a funny heartfelt adventure worth seeing.

Happy Independence Day

Hoping everyone has a safe and fun Independence Day!

Due to schedules, we celebrated with company yesterday. We grilled a turkey and played some bags. Today it will be mostly relaxing, me working on some cards that I need to get done by stamp camp in a few weeks, going to see the 3D version of UP and maybe walking about a mile to see the fireworks.

Vacation

Yeeehah! As of 11:30am today, I am on vacation until July 13th.

Happy Birthday Gary!

Hope you have a great birthday!