Random post...

Okay, so I haven't put the pictures on here, like I said. Hopefully, I'll get to that tomorrow. Anyway, I'm just sitting here thinking about how funny Haleigh is and decided that I really need to keep record of her little tidbits. Here's one example: Recently, I walk into her room to find her night stand by the door, with her rocking chair in front of it and a pad of paper with a pencil. As I proceed to look around the room, I found a "kitty condo", some cat toys and a blanket strewn about here and there. I asked her what she was doing and her response was, "I'm evaluating the cats. This is where I observe them." What 7 year old knows and understands what "evaluating" is? She was so serious too! Cracked me up! Anyway, I just thought that I'd share that little bit. I will try to post more random posts, about what goes on in the Stiner household. Maybe a few pics too.

Hope you all have an excellent Tuesday!

Christmas is almost here...

and man, have we been busy!!! It seems that Dakota left for DC in October and we just haven't stopped going since!!! He did get back, safe and sound, with 500 pictures in tow. He passed and now has 55 high school credit hours. I couldn't be more proud!!! Halloween followed quickly after (I'll post those pics later). Then, out of town I went to scrapbook with some people from work for a whole weekend. We get back to work and all hell broke loose. Our systems were down, basically all week. We had to go back and re-enter about 2 weeks worth of data. It was AWFUL!!! But, I'm thankful for my job! Thanksgiving weekend was long and wonderful but, was over much too fast (I'll post some pictures of that too)!

Now, it's that time of year. The time where your house is glowing with sparkly decorations and twinkling lights. I love this time of year! We've got a good jump on shopping and I have some crafts that I'm trying to finish up. This weekend, we're going to finish with the decorating and head to a tree farm in the middle of nowhere to cut down our tree. It's supposed to be cold, with snow but, I'm sure that we'll have fun!!!

I'll post some recent pics later tonight (or this weekend)!

And he's outta here!!!

Dakota's flight has left Indianapolis, as of 2:50 PM today. He landed at the Washington airport at about 4:15. I did just fine, I was just a bit nervous. Haleigh, on the other hand, bawled. It really was sad but, she's all good now!

He says that so far, he's bored but, that's because they have only dealt with luggage and getting on the bus that takes them to their hotel. He's supposed to call us again tonight before bed. I already miss him.

Monday

I'm back from our fantastic retreat in Michigan, with all of the coolest chicks in the scrappin' world! It was a great time, once again! I'm still a bit tired, mostly from the drive home but, I took the day off today to veg out. I also was able to go visit my kids at school, which I really wish that I could do more often. Another reminder of how much I miss being a stay at home Mom! Tomorrow, it's back to the grind. Ugh.

Beautiful Nala

It's been a while since I've blogged. I wanted to share a picture of my kitty but, had a hard time even looking at these, until now. This is one of the last photos taken of her. Brian took these before he took her to the Humane Shelter to have her put down. Even on her last day, she was still beautiful. Looking at this picture though, I can see it in her eyes that she really was done with fighting. I'm glad that we chose to do what we did. I miss her a whole lot but, I know that she's happy and healthy where ever she is at now.

Rest in peace, Nala
1995 - September 16, 2008

Football, scrappin' & sky concert fun

So far, it's been a busy but fun weekend! And, a super HOT one at that! Dakota's team won their game, 14 - 0. I've never seen the kid so excited about a sport!!! This is his first year playing and I think that he's done a great job, even though most of the kids have played for more than a year. Last night, we headed downtown for "Sky Concert", which is always fun! Funnel cakes, friends and fireworks. You just can't beat it!




And, today, I've been scrappin'! I still have lots of mojo so, hopefully after my Dad leaves, I'll be back to creatin'! Here are the 2 layouts that I finished today.

I'm a total slacker...

It's been 2 months since I've posted anything!!! Crap! Well, since my last post, let me list all of the happenings around the Stiner household:

1. Haleigh's 7th b-day
2. My sister's b-day
3. CHA Chicago baby!
4. My 32nd b-day
5. We've rescued a dog, only to have to take her to Animal Control
6. Dakota started football
7. School started and I now have a kid in the 5th grade and one in the 2nd grade
8. We've found out that our cat, Nala, has tumors throughout her body.
9. I've just celebrated my 1 year anniversary of working at Standard Locknut.
10. I lost my scrappin' mojo for over a month but, it made it's appearance over the weekend (thank you Carla)!

So, life's been a little crazy. I feel a bit overwhelmed at times with all that goes on but, I guess that it really isn't that bad. I do need to take more time to post on this dang thing! My next post will hopefully have some pictures of recent happenings!

Until next time...

11 years...

...and still very happy! Yesterday, June 21, was our 11 year anniversary! And we are just as happy as can be! Eleven years, and this is what we have: 2 kids, 1 house, 2 cats, 1 dog, and a mini-van (and someday, maybe more! ;) ) We are definitely living a good life!!!

Karen (my Mother-in-Law) kept the kids for the night and we went out to eat at a place down the road called "Rick's Cafe Boatyard". It's this fantastic restaurant with a huge deck overlooking the docks at Eagle Creek Reservoir. And, the view was beautiful! Our waitress was ever so kind to take a picture of us! Afterwards, we enjoyed some time at Kohl's, WITHOUT kids! It really was a great evening!

I'm in!!!

Holy crap! I submitted one of my layouts to Simple Scrapbooks and they chose it for the November/December issue!!!!!! I am still in shock. I seriously thought that it would never happen, thus the reason for me to rarely submit. I'll still only submit here and there, in hopes that maybe I'll get into another magazine at some point of time. It's definitely still not my number one priority when it comes to scrappin'!

Old favorites...

The blog challenge this week, posted by Carla at SAL, was to talk about an old favorite piece of clothing, one that you just can't part with.

I really don't have anything that I can't part with now. I used to have lots of t-shirts, mostly Grateful Dead and a few other concert tees. I would hold onto these t-shirts, until they were no longer wearable. Usually the t-shirt had some kind of memory attached to them but, they were usually super comfortable too! After I got married, and had my first child, I finally let them go. I really wish I would've kept some of them, just for memory's sake!

Now, I just have a couple of sweatshirts that I love. I keep them purely because they are comfy.

Tulips and stuff

My favorite flowers have now bloomed and it's finally Spring! I love these tulips. They completely remind me of my childhood. My Grandma had red ones in front of the front porch. I planted these a couple of years ago in my flowerbed, in memory of her. They've come back, once again, as beautiful as ever!

Now for the stuff part! I took this picture of Haleigh yesterday as we were getting ready to leave for a couple of hours. It's so "her"! She had to have her hair "just so", a glitter butterfly tattoo put on her arm and her mp3 player w/ headphones in her ears. She sang her songs the entire time we were on the road. She can be so cute!

He's 10...

It's official! My little boy is in the double digits! I still can't believe it! Yes, it's been over a week but, I'm still in disbelief. That's all I have to say.

I've been tagged...

by Carla! I'm supposed to name 7 weird/unusual facts about me...

Here it goes:

1. I hate to drink soda out of a plastic bottle! It's so gross! It must be fountain or out of a can!

2. I can't stand watermelon. Actually, I don't like any kind of melon! Nobody understands this. Not even myself. I've only known one other person that feels the same way about it!

3. I love fishing! But, I refuse to touch the fish/worm/minnow, or anything slimy and gross!

4. I have Sir-Mix-A-Lot's "I like big butts" on my ipod and I actually listen to it! Loudly while singing all the words!

5. My husband and I share a matching scar on the side of our wrists that we got when we were kids. We also both have an uncle that is a year younger than us. And, while he lived in Cape Coral, FL (he was originally from Indiana), so did my cousins (that were also originally from Indiana). They all moved back to Indiana close to the same time. We were meant to be!

6. I can't watch scary movies. They make me sick.

7. I sing the most random songs throughout the day. Especially at work. It's pretty much my goal to get at least one other person singing whatever it is that I'm singing (oh, and my voice really sucks).

It looks like pretty much everybody has been tagged. If you haven't or, you've forgotten to do this, TAG!!!

Okay, so I totally suck when it comes to my blog!!! I've been told to update it so, I will be...this weekend...promise. I need to make it a point to try to post AT LEAST once a month!!!

So, be looking for updated posts...soon! Maybe I'll even take on some of the blog challenges on Scrap-A-Latte!!!