Craft Craze Day ~ September!

This time we did a ribbon wreath. Turned out really cute, but must say I will most likely only make and own ONE of these wreaths. Talk about a whippin'!!! There was a lot of prep work involved. Savita gave us all of our ribbon, I think close to 10 rolls and we had to cut them all into 4 1/2 inch strips and then glue the ends together. Thankfully at work on Sunday when Savita gave me my ribbon we were slow. We had a really good-calm afternoon. So my friend Deb helped me cut all of this ribbon into strips. (Our craft group was on Tuesday of this week.) Then Monday night my sweet sweet SWEET husband helped me glue all of the ribbon together. I swear I've never met another man as sweet as my husband. He'd do anything in the WORLD for me. I honestly, truthfully, do not deserve this man. But thank God he's mine!!! (okay, should have given a "Cheese Warning.") As we were gluing, he informed me that he must REALLY love me if he was helping me do this. He had the unfortunate task of folding over the ends and burning his fingertips off. I told him several times that he didn't have to help me, but he insisted saying, "Sweetie, you'll never get through tonight if I don't help you!!!" When we were done I texted my friend Lydia telling her that I never ever in a million years want to do a craft project that involved this much hot glue!!!! Not long after that my phone rang with her expressing the same thing. It was awful. I told her that this was definitely not a "couple's building" activity. While Morgan and I were doing all of the gluing, some curse words might have been involved as well as my man telling me several times to calm down because I was getting frustrated! :-/ But we did finish by 1030 that night, thank goodness.

The next morning was craft day. YAY!!! We met at 0930 because we knew we'd need a lot of time for this project. Nina had just returned from Italy and brought us all back one of these olive oil corks that you see above. Thought that was really sweet. We were all so excited to have something from Italy!!!

We had yummy food. In the bottom right you will see a delicious dip that involves pumpkin and graham crackers. Which reminds me, must get recipe from Stephanie!

After breakfast it was time for crafting and silliness. :-)

Some of Charlie's Angels joined our group that day for some crafting! ;)

Lots of ribbon. Lots and Lots and Lots of Ribbon. This solid black we used to wrap around our wreath first.

More colorful ribbon!

Lydia organizing all her ribbon into separate piles to make it easier to know how many you have of what ribbon. I, fortunately, had done this the night before when Morgan and I were gluing them together. I put them in sandwich bags as we went. The other girls did not. :(

This picture makes me laugh. Wine and a glue gun probably don't mix. Might have had a little less burned fingertips if we kept it sober. But then how fun would that be??? (Disclaimer: No people, we did not get drunk!!!!! We were all completely sober by the time we left at 3PM.)

Pretty picture of Savita!

I'm sure Nina was laughing at Lydia...see picture below!

Lydia burning her fingertips off!!!

Ummmm, yeah! No clue!

I would love to say this was our finished product, but no one was able to finish in 5 hours. It's very time consuming gluing all of those ribbons on the wreaths. But it is VERY cute once it's done!!!!

Our attempt at a group picture. Not sure how many we took to get this one picture of all of us. There was a really cute one, but unfortunately Nina was cut out of it. So this was the best!

When I got home that night I finished mine. YAY!!!

Back to School Party~Mommy Style!

A couple of craft groups ago, we decided to get together for the first day back to school. Three of the girls had kindergartners...all being their last to enter school. We met at Savita's at 0930 for breakfast, drinking, and swimming. I can't tell you how relaxing this was for all of us!!!!! I had to post two group pics to show all of us since our photographer, Kyle, had more important things to do-like starting Kindergarten. ;)

Our yummy food! These girls sure know how to cook!

Tea and Sangria!

Pina Coladas and Mojitos!

Ahhhh, don't our beverages just look soooooooooo delicious??? I think so!

Our variety of sunscreen...from 6-70! I won't say who's is who's!

And this is what we mostly did!!! Once again, so thankful for this fun group of girls and soooo thankful they included me, even though I am not yet a mommy!

Craft Craze Day!

I hate to be a bummer, but I worked yesterday, today, and tomorrow so this will be basically pictures! We made these cute little candy jars...I guess you call it a jar??? Anyway, I think it would be cute to paint one bright red or green and fill it with Skittles! I left mine pretty simple and versatile for many holidays/seasons since I was only going to make one. The other girls did more to theirs like adding Halloween ribbon and colored glitter on top which is really cute. Anyway, so here's our pics. Sorry I don't have many words to explain it all, but at least you get pics, right?? ;) Pictures done by Stephanie!

Moving to Texas!

(I received this in an email today, so true!!!)


Dear Diary,

Just moved to Texas ! Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. It is beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14th:

Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.

June 30th:

Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th:

The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least, it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th:

Fell asleep by the community pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 20th:

I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. The car now smells like Kibbles and Shits. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.



July 25th:

The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th:

Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can't even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here?

Aug. 4th:

Its 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.

Aug. 8th:

If another wiseass cracks, 'Hot enough for you today?' I'm going to strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

Aug. 9th:

Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I sat on the seats in the car, I thought my ass was on fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass . . .

Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.

Aug 10th:

The weather report might as well be a damn recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do shit for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can't live in this damn heat.


Aug. 14th:

Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cacti are dead. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car. The Installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? "Hot enough for you today?"

My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas . What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?? Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.

Nannie's 85!!!

If you are judging from the picture above and the picture below, you would think that either Nannie is an alcoholic, or it was my goal to get this lovely lady intoxicated yesterday. Well I'm here to tell you that neither is true. ;) Yesterday was Nannie's 85 Birthday...woohoo!!! Her daughter and daughter in law both decided to leave her for her Birthday (a little guilt trip thrown in there, hehe!) and so I got the privilege to take her out to lunch...and dinner. She wanted to go to the Olive Garden for lunch, a lady after my own heart. Morgan isn't the biggest fan of Italian food and I love Italian food so this tends to be a little problem in our household. Anyway, we split the Peach Bellini. I mean, it's lunch time. Who drinks at lunch time??? Oh wait, we do! And oh what a delicious drink that was. Perfect for this summertime heat of 113-I'm putting 113 because that's what my SUV said out here yesterday. I had so much fun with her. This lady is game for anything and has a heart of gold. I really gained a precious grandmother when I married Morgan!!! On the way home I asked her what she was doing that night and she said that her and Aunt Toots (that's her sister, but we all call her Aunt Toots) wanted Robert (my father in law) to take them out to dinner, but he was too busy. In his defense, they are. I hardly ever see my husband. They are so busy bailing hay for their cattle and those in other parts of Texas that have it worse off than we do (imagine that being possible) and are buying hay from us. Oh, and someone might have accidentally caused a massive fire out here last night, that I'm sure the story will be hilarious a few years from now, but not at the moment. No, wasn't Robert or Morgan, but someone close to us. Accidents happen, and then sometimes BIG-HUGE accidents happen. :-/ Okay, back on track now...I said I would love to take them out to dinner to celebrate Nannie's Birthday. So they took me up on it and Robert sent me away with money in hand to pay for dinner. Now that's my kind of dinner. :-) I really enjoyed escorting these lovely ladies around and spending the evening with them. Aunt Toots is almost like my own grandmother, too! Love her!! It felt like I was out to dinner with my two grandmothers. :)

Co-Workers

When I say this, I can say it with 100% assurance...I HAVE THE BEST CO-WORKERS EVER! Seriously, I do!!! I know I have bragged on here before about them, but it's true! I don't lie. It says a lot about a hospital when you have practically zero turn over on our unit. It's not only a great place to work, but a great place to deliver your baby...won't venture down that path today though. Such a FUN group of girls and everyone is always so supportive of everyone else. Great Team Work! If there's a death or someone is going through a hard time, everyone rallies around them. It really feels like a second family and oh how I feel so blessed to be part of this group of ladies!! Even when I have babies, I'm still going to work. (well, I'll be honest...for financial reasons), but I would never want to give up this support system and all of the good times that comes with it. Not that I'm choosing them over my children, but I honestly believe I need adult interaction a few times a week to keep me sane...nothing against stay at home moms. I think that's great too, just not for me.

Okay, enough gushing. Recently we changed our discharge process where we aren't doing everything on the DAY of discharge, therefor decreasing parents anxiety and the overwhelming feeling this can be going home...with a new baby...that you are now responsible for FOREVER. They can also just walk out on their own, not be escorted by us. WOW! Best change ever! Saves us time from having to wheel them down, plus the patients love it because when they are ready they can just go. They don't have to wait on us to wheel them down. More Freedom!! And trust me, they all want to go AT.THE.SAME.TIME. Plus, we are going to be having a discharge brunch for them to go to before they go home where they can meet other moms, know they aren't alone, have any last minute questions answered, etc. It's a great change.

Well yesterday they were making a video of our discharge process before and after this change. This is a picture of some of the nurses in the video...

like Christine said (she's the mom in the bed) she should be having a hysterectomy, not a baby. Then Jackie is on the couch being the baby daddy. Then there's gorgeous Savita as the post partum nurse. We laughed so much!!! So basically we are promoting older women to have babies, interracial marriages, and lesbian relationships. Honestly, I don't judge any of what I just said because we take care of all of that. To each their own. This picture just makes me laugh! Have a good day everyone!!!

Sunglasses...

I took this picture and sent it to my husband because I have an issue...my ears aren't set right! I put on my sunglasses and laughed because they are so crooked!! I have the HARDEST time finding sunglasses to fit me right!! It's annoying. I'll love a pair, but can't buy them because they are so crooked. I'll even adjust the nose pieces, etc. Nope, crooked! Does anyone else have this issue?? Oh, and hats...forget about them! My head is too big. People like to be kind and just say it's because I have a lot of hair, which I do, but I just physically have a big head, too! Oh how I would love to be the type of girl who could just throw on a hat and go. Nope, not happening here! :(

What??? What???

Something is wrong with the universe. Thanks to my sweet cousin Brooke, shown below with her adorable little Rhyder, who must have more patience than I could ever imagine...

This person-whom I never thought would land on Facebook- now has a Facebook account...

This would be my mother in law, Sandra. She cracks me up! I'm actually really excited for her! Now she will be more in the loop and can keep up with her niece and her children who live in Guatamala. I just love my MIL and wish everyone had a MIL like mine! Has always welcomed me with open arms from the first day I met her and is always the life of the party. A woman who can tell the BEST stories EVER!!! Watch out world, SANDRA has entered the Facebook world!!!!! :-) Let the Facebook party begin!

New Car...SUV!

Someone in this household might have gotten a new SUV recently. I won't say names, but it's a "she" and her initials are LPA. Okay, it's MEEEEE!!! I'm in LOOOVE! Didn't know that was possible with a car. I know, I hear all of you now. Laura, didn't you just get a new car recently? A Honda or something? Yes, I did. But within two years it already has 70,000 miles on it and plus the Airhart men in my life have never been that thrilled with me back in a car. When I test drove this SUV and stopped by the barn where my FIL was, he begged me to buy this and to get out of my Honda for safety reasons. They don't care that these SUVs drink gas and you can practically see the gas gauge moving down as you drive. They care about my safety! Then my aunt throws out, "It will hold twins great!" Anyway, I had a friend at work telling me how GMC was having great deals right now due to many people not being able to qualify for new vehicles and more people are buying used. So if you do manage to qualify for a new, you can get a great deal. Thankfully, I have amazing parents who instilled in me the importance of sustaining good credit that I qualified for 0% interest. Anyway, so this is my new ride...a GMC Yukon. They are basically like a Tahoe other than they cost a little more and are supposed to retain their resale value better. :) This car has all the bells and whistles I could ever want. It feels like a luxury vehicle to me. It has On Star and XM radio. The thing I love the most is that my iPhone is hooked up through the SUV so when anyone calls, the radio goes off and I hear a ringing sound with a little voice telling me I have an incoming call. I'm sure a lot of your vehicles do that, but this is the first for me. So cool!! I can even get a number for the actual vehicle if I were to ever be where my cell phone couldn't get reception, through On Star my vehicle phone still would receive reception. How cool is that? But no, I didn't pay the $4 extra a month for that because it's not realistic that I'll be in the mountains anytime soon. I had to shake hands with my husband and promise that I will actually pay off this vehicle. :-/ I promised him I would! There's no reason I would ever want to trade it in. It has absolutely everything I'd ever want or need.

Back Pain

Well it's official...my back is completely jacked up! I've always had chronic lower back pain, but after picking up Lillie several times on Wednesday I really aggravated it. I went to work on Thursday and dealt with the pain, but it was too much to repeat work again on Friday and so I didn't go. Saturday my back still hurt and was even worse. I was taking Anaprox and Tylenol around the clock and laid in bed all day. Morgan came home from work and we went to get something to eat and I could hardly sit up for a quick car ride without my back killing me. We came home and I just couldn't get comfortable. I then had to cough and that shot my pain up to a 20/10 pain scale! I decided that since I have already met my deductible this year, a trip to the ER might be in order. I first texted my friend who's an ER nurse to see if there was anything they could really do and made sure I wouldn't look like a drug seeker coming in for back pain. She assured me I wouldn't because those folks make an appearance every week. So off to ER we went. I couldn't even make it to my ER, so we went to the closest one and thankfully they weren't crowded. After a a shot of Dilaudid and Phenergan (Dilaudid is the strongest narcotic you can get for those of you who don't know) I was feeling a little better. My blood pressure and pulse were both really high which proved I wasn't making it up! They then did an x-ray and found that I have narrowing of L5-S1 and need an MRI and possibly surgery. The ER doctor reassured me that they now have less invasive techniques for back surgery so that made me feel a little better. The thought of anyone messing with my back terrifies me! Anyway, so that was my night last night. I don't wish this back pain on anyone! I'd rather have any other body part hurt-other than my head-than my back!

Craft Day~July

No, you're eye sight is not messed up. I really do look a hot damn mess in the above picture. I guess I had a momentary lapse in memory forgetting that there are always photo-ops at these little Craft Days of ours. Since I knew we were going to be swimming after crafting, I really didn't see the need to do my hair and make-up to just have it ruined shortly later. So I basically rolled out of bed and went to craft group. Big mistake! HUGE! Why? Because these lovely pics get posted onto Facebook for the world to see. UGHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Now to recover from the hot mess above, I will show you some beautiful friends of mine...

Moving on...we always start off our crafting with a nice little alcoholic beverage. That day it was...

Skinny Girl Margaritas. These are really good and not as high in calories as a regular margarita. Highly recommend them. Then we progress to...

FOOD! We always have delicious food. Those chocolate cookies you see have Rolos in the middle and are absolutely divine. I won't share with you how many I ate :-/ leaving no room for chips & queso and chicken enchiladas. This week we decorated tiles. Stone tiles and regular tiles. I loved this project! It's such a good gift idea and so easy to make. People can use these as coasters or decor. So first you pick your stones...

Then you pick your paper you want to use, grab some Mod Podge and your good to go...

You just cut your paper to fit how you would like, Mod Podge before then put your paper on. Then apply 4-5 coats. When you're done with the Mod Podge you spray them and you're done. So Easy!!

Birthday!

(My Aunt Becky, My Mother in Law, and My Mom)


Better late than never, right?? Okay, so I just have to say that having a July 4th Birthday is the absolute best!!! I get fireworks for my Birthday, everyone is already in a happy-celebrating mood, it falls in the summertime so I never had to go to school on my Birthday, every 6 months I get presents...although now that I am older I honestly don't care about that anymore and don't get me started about the ridiculousness Christmas gifts has become. Anyway, back to my birthday...I just LOVE being a little firecracker baby! :-)

This year, my parents came up again the day before my birthday and we celebrated with my in laws. It's really just a great reason for my parents to come up and get to see everyone and to enjoy some delicious cake. They all bring me gifts, even though I really wish they wouldn't. All of us getting together is enough for me! Although, yes, I do expect a gift from the hubs and this year he came through again for me...with assistance from Lydia, although it was completely all his idea. Good Job, Morgan!! Once again you confirm that you are the BEST husband! I was still tired from our travels back home from Destin and not getting home until 0230, but I was glad to see everyone and spend time with them.

The next day was my birthday and since my man HATES spending time in a dark movie theater during the day and protests because he believes that this time could be better spent doing other things-and yes he probably has a point-I made him go to the movies with me because it was MY birthday. :) We went and had lunch at Saltgrass and then went to see The Hangover. It was okay, not as good as the first in my opinion, although Morgan thought it was just as good. The night before we had bought fireworks. Living out here in the country we pass a couple fireworks stands to and from every where we go so it's nearly impossible to not stop and buy some. We invited Morgan's parents, Aunt, and Nannie to go with us to fire them off. We had fun! Next year I hope to celebrate my birthday with my parents ON.MY.ACTUAL.BIRTHDAY. and they can come up and participate in the fireworks with us and we will buy TONS more next year.

So anyway, you can see why being a firecracker baby is such a blessing! Couldn't imagine celebrating my birthday on any other day!!!

Destin, Florida 2011

This year for vacation we went with one of my best friend's and her group to Destin, Florida for a week. If you've never been, you need to go!! Gorgeous water and sand! On the way there it took us 12 hours to get there. We left at 1am and got there at 1pm. Now this is the way to do it. Why??? Because everyone sleeps for a big chunk of it, therefor not consuming liquid requiring frequent bathroom stops. On the way home we left at 1030am and did not get back to Rob & Lydia's house until 1:30am. That would be an additional 3 hours folks!!! I will say, it did not feel this long...either way. Car trips with friends is DEFINITELY the way to go! Time just went so much faster! When we got to Destin we immediately changed into our swimsuits and were in the ocean until the sun went down. The 5 following days were just the same!! How is possible for days to go SO FAST when on vacation, but be stuck at work for 12 hours and it just drags on and on and on... Anyway, if my math if correct, there were 11 adults and 6 kids in our group. One night we played charades. Man do I wish I had taken a picture because some people were hilarious. Also, why did I have to draw all of the hard ones to act out like "It's a Wonderful Life" while many others got Tiger, Elephant, throwing a ball, etc. It was ridiculous! Especially since I have zero acting ability! One night we took pictures out on the beach and then went to a place called Baytowne Wharf. If you ever go to Destin, this is a MUST! Neatest place! The best way to describe it is like stepping onto a movie set where there are many restaurants, ice cream parlors, an outdoor movie theater, zip lining, and tons of games for kids. It was SO fun!!! Didn't feel real. Anyway, sadly these were the only pictures taken of our trip...that night.

Morgan & I on the Beach!

Lydia & I on the Beach.

Lydia, Ethan, & Britni on the Beach. (Rob is missing.)

Us at Baytowne Wharf!

So pretty much our daily routine was to get up (around 1030 for Brit & myself :-/), eat breakfast, head down to the Beach for a couple hours, come back up for lunch, head back down for more Beach, and then hit the pool. Repeat the next 4 days. They brought "Washers" to play and some other rope game that was pretty fun! We also had the coolest thing on the Beach! Yes, I can say this because several people came up to us and told us this. It's called the "Caribbean Island." It's a big blue raft that holds approximately 10 people. We'd throw it out there in the ocean and then it would slowly push us all back to shore. I wouldn't be surprised if we all land on Funniest Home Videos one day. That thing was crazy dangerous up close to shore. The waves would get dangerous and slam us into the shore line, thus making us fly everywhere...including on each other and over each other! Lydia called it quits when her husband accidentally head butted her in the face. Yes, she has a bruise to prove it. It took me seeing Britni's boyfriend's mom, LaRae, go flying over my head after I had a good grip on her arm to make me end the fun! It was intense, but so much fun!!! I'm really surprised someone didn't walk away with a serious injury after all the bodies flying into each other. One night we all walked the beach together looking for Crabs. That was a lot of fun. We stumbled upon a Bar & Restaurant. Too bad there was also the most drunk man I have ever seen in my life there as well. He had to be in his late 50's jumping on the tables (yes, I am serious), trying to do flips with his friends, and then when our drinks were delivered to our table he came running across all the table tops like he was a monkey to see what we had. INSANE!!! Thankfully, we got our drinks and left. All the kids did really good with the crab hunting. One night Morgan and I went walking by ourselves and we saw the BIGGEST crab I have ever seen!!!!!! It was MASSIVE!!! Of course I didn't have my camera and we were to far from our condo to let Morgan take it back with us. It was a monster. On the way home we decided to stop in Louisiana for dinner. They all love crawfish, it's too hot for me, so Rob had seen online of a good place to eat. We couldn't find it. We stopped and asked a man at a gas station where it was and he told us, but he also suggested an even better place. So we went with his suggestion. We pulled up and it was very questionable if it was safe to stay. It was a semi outdoor restaurant...well, it was outdoors for the most part. It was kind of like a "hole in the wall" type of place, except there were no walls. The waitresses were smoking, sketchy people walking by. Anyway, we stayed and it turned out to be REALLY good! They also have live music which was nice, too! We would've stayed a lot longer if it wasn't so late already.

Britni with her little fellow before she ate him.

I don't know how they all eat these, but they do and they seem to enjoy them. Five adults ate 20 pounds of these guys!! Anyway, so that was our trip to Destin. I know I am leaving out so much fun stuff that happened, but my fingers are hurting. All I can say is that it is well worth the drive to Destin! Beats Texas Beaches hands down any day!!!!