Updates and Stuff

Goodness, where do I begin? It has been too long in between posts, do I still have followers out there?

Let me start by saying.......YAY to the good weather that has been upon us! I personally, am delighted! Whoot.......Whoot to Summer!

I don't really have a ton to update on, mostly just stuff. We have had some fun family gatherings for Easter, we spent Easter Sunday in Brookfield with Steve's family, we had Mallory and Derek, it was nice to spend the day with them. My family celebrates Greek Orthodox Easter, which fell on the Sunday after Easter this year. Greek Easter in our family is the holiday that I think we all look most forward too. The food is wonderful, and I think most everyone in the family has their "nitch", mine is my baklava. It is always a hit, which makes me happy, its a lot of work. We brought Mallory with us this year, and she had a great time playing with my cousins, my family really enjoys her and she enjoys coming as well! I guess if I look at the big picture, she is the closest thing to a Grandchild that I will be giving my Mom, so I am happy that Mal is so welcome to our events!

Some good news to report, after 6 months without a paycheck, and daily battles with Steve's former company, we have FINALLY received payment for the services that he provided, while "not" under contract. It is a refreshing feeling to be able to get back on our feet and catch up on some bills. So.........Cheers to that!!

Steve and I on a whim last week decided that it would be fun to go to a Red Sox game, naturally, right! Who wouldn't want to do that, so I took it upon myself and went onto eBay, I found great tickets for Sunday Nights game against the Yankees! We had such an awesome time! We spent the day at Fanueil Hall and had lunch, and headed to the game that night! So much fun! With all of the financial stress these days, we decided we needed to have a bit of fun!

Not much else to report, as I mentioned above, and I think you can all agree, we are ready for summer! Memorial Day isn't too far away, and we look forward to the kick of camp season!

Steve and I leave for Florida to visit with the Martin, and enjoy some alone time at the beach in Clearwater, the 7th. We will return the 15th! I will be sure to fill my blogging community in on our vacation happenings when we return!

Enjoy this weather!

Love to All!
Kris

A really cool Giveaway to benefit Little Kayleigh Freeman!

Good Morning Everyone! I wanted to share with you all this really cool thing that is happening over on Kayleigh Freemans website, another blogger has put together a fund raiser to help the Freeman's out. I have shared a little bit of their story with you, and as Kayleigh continues to make amazing strides, and gets closer to coming home, there are more things to think about. Her parents are struggling Real Estate agents, obviously with this economy, and the constant time spent with Kayleigh, they have hit rock bottom financially. A date has been set for foreclosure on their home, and they need help, Kayleigh needs a house to come home too when she is ready to leave the hospital.

For a little history, check out Kayleighs Blog by clicking on the "Pray for Kayleigh" button on the left of the screen.

Also, here is the link to my post regarding Kayleigh, "Kayleigh Ann Freeman"


I have made my donation, anything helps. At the very least, go check it out, there are some amazing giveaways. (A week in SC, that's pretty darn cool)

http://give4kayleigh.blogspot.com/

If you do decide to make a small donation, please be sure to put my name in the notes section, there is a special prize for the person with the most referrals too!

I have made a few small donations in the past, and they are the most appreciative family, I have always been thanked with a personal email from them, I think that is pretty impressive! It's a really "feel good" thing to do!



Thank You!
Love to All!
Kristine

Stuff

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a nice weekend! I guess I am just posting with your basic updates today. Since I started blogging because I thought it would be a good way to get things that are on my mind, out there, today I am going to vent and get somethings off my chest.

First and foremost, this week brings back some interesting emotions. It was a year ago today that Steve and the kids were packing up to head to the condo at Bretton Woods for the week. My Dad, Denise and Alex were in Florida, and I was preparing for a couple of days on my own, with plans to head to the condo on Wednesday that week. I had been suffering with some leg pain for a couple of months, but was under the impression that it was a pulled muscle and would get better. As the week progressed, the pain became increasingly worse, so I decided that I would go to the ER and get it taken care of before I head up North. Well, that's when my plans really took a turn. As it turned out, I had a significant Blood Clot (DVT) along with a Pulmonary Embolism (Clots in my Lungs). With everyone away, and dealing with this on my own, I was more than a little scared. My Mom is just about an hour away, and of course was there as soon as she could be. I was admitted, for the first time ever. As you know, everything turned out OK, but it left a mark that sometimes I am not sure that I will ever be able to erase. Since then, I have suffered from anxiety, but mostly anxiety about being alone. Steve travels quite a bit for his job, and I have managed to be OK with that, but for some reason, this vacation week has me pretty nervous. I will get through it, keep myself busy and try not to think about it. But it's hard to do that.

Anyway, on top of all that, my Washer AND Dryer busted yesterday! I swear, I can not even begin to imagine going to the laundromat, and seriously, buying a new Washer/Dryer, was not something I planned for! UGH!

When we got home yesterday, I was in the driveway, walking by my car and I could hear a "hissing" noise. And dontcha know it, I had a leak in my tire, once again..........something I didn't need or plan for.

Steve and I had a really nice weekend though, which I needed. Obviously, with the anticipation of this coming week, I needed a decent weekend! Mission accomplished!

I hate to use this blog as a way to complain, but today I had too!

Have a Good Week!
Kristine

Valentine's Day

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all are well, and had a nice Valentine's Day! A couple of weeks back, Steve and I were discussing Valentine's Day and what we wanted to do. We had Mallory for the weekend, so we decided to ask her what she wanted to do that was special, her answer was simple. Here is how the conversation went:

Me: Mal, you are with us for Valentine's Day this year, if you could pick something special to do, what would it be?

Mal: Ummmm........I know, how about we go Sledding!

Me: Umm......Ya......No, I was thinking something "Special"?

Mal: Oh...........How about we just have a bunch of people over?

Me: Now we're talking, that sounds great!


And that my friends is how it all began! Nobody likes to plan a party like I do! Now that I had something to plan, I was moving full steam ahead. I decided to have a Fondue Party, for kids and Adults. The adults would enjoy a Lobster Fondue, while the kids had the obvious.......Chocolate Fondue. We didn't just eat junk though, each kid received a Valentine Bag put together by yours truly. Each bag contained, A package of Construction Paper, Stickers, Crayons, Activity Sheets like Mazes and Word Searches, and some other fun trinkets. Now mind you, while I had their best interest at heart, I also had my own. I knew if I gave them enough to do and keep them busy, the Adults could enjoy Valentine's Day too. And we really did! Everything worked out perfectly, and I think a great time was had by all!!



Love to All!
Kris

PEACEFUL RETREAT!

We moved into our apartment at the beginning of December, when it came to decorating and furniture placement, I have been relatively happy with the way everything turned out, there are a few things here and there that I have wanted to change, but nothing major.



The one room I haven't been able to get a handle on was our bedroom, it never felt right to me, the color wasn't right, even though I had picked it out and had it painted before we moved in. It just felt so thrown together. I think of a bedroom as, your personal space, it is where I go for my quiet time, or where I like to read. I need a place for me to do these things, a room that I can walk into and love, and feel relaxed. I have never had a bedroom that I have felt that way about.


So I was on a mission, I began to think about what I wanted my bedroom to be, I looked through magazines, I looked at color swatches at the paint store, I thought about themes and what I really wanted to get out of decorating this room. All I knew was that I wanted a place for me, a place to relax and a place I could wind down in.



I decided on what I like to call, a "Peaceful Retreat". Our bedroom is small, with pitched ceilings, I needed to do something to make it feel a bit bigger. Some decisions had to be made, I sold my King Size Headboard and Foot board, and we went with just a King Size frame, no headboard, no foot board. This will give us an opportunity to move things around once in a while, we had absolutely no options before, and the bed was just too big for the room. I also knew that I needed to utilize my closet space a bit, and hide some of these larger pieces of furniture, like our bureaus, in doing that, it left absolutely no room for a TV in the room either, besides, do peaceful retreats have TVs anyway? No......at least that's what I told Steve, he was good with the change. Feng Sheu says, "the bedroom is meant for two things, and neither of them require a TV", I couldn't have said it any better.



Once the room was empty we could paint, I decided to go with a Dark Brown on the walls, a Benjamin Moore color called "Taupetone", the ceiling and the pitched walls are Linen White, along with the trim and all of the doors. The two tone gave the room and instantly larger feel. I must say that for two people that haven't done a ton of painting, we did AWESOME! We had no major mishaps or spills, all in all a very successful project.



After the paint, came the fun part, DECORATING! I had decided that I wanted to go with a Blue and Brown Duvet Set, I thought the lighter Blue with the Darker Brown would be a nice contrast. Now that I had the bedding, THANKS MOM, I could begin adding personal touches and shopping for the perfect items to compliment my room. On a budget of course, Steve, Mallory and I took a trip to Kohls. One stop shopping at its best, that's just my opinion, but I love their home section. I knew that I wanted some cream colored pillar candles, that was easy. I also knew I wanted some shelves, and I wanted them to be black. When I think of a peaceful retreat, I think of candles, and lots of them, I think of a small sitting area where I can read or just relax, without feeling like I am going to bed. I didn't want to over due it on the walls, so I bought some small wall sconces that hold 3 small tea light candles. One of my favorite things that I stumbled upon was a set of "stack able tables", basically it was two tables, one shorter than the other, meant to sit underneath the other when they weren't being used, perfect! I need a new night stand anyway, and I needed a table for my sitting area. As I browsed I also found a great, tall brown and tan ceramic floor vase. All of these items were the perfect finishing touches to my new room. Now all I had to do was put it together, that was the fun part!



After torturing Steve for the weekend between painting and shopping, I sent him off to play pool for a few hours, while I did some decorating. I wanted to surprise him, for him to see that all of his hard work over the weekend would really pay off, once he saw this room. Everything came together so perfectly, I never imagined that I would be as happy as I am with this room. All of the finishing touches were complete, all I was waiting for was for Steve to see this whole plan come to fruition. When he came home, I think he was truly shocked, he really did like it.




We have been in our room for a full week now, and every night before bed, I light every candle, and I read for a bit, and can honestly say, I haven't slept better in months. Not having a TV in our room makes a huge difference to me, it was such a distraction for me.

Now the moment you have all been waiting for, taaa daaa.............my new "Peaceful Retreat".................................

I hope you all love it as much as I do. I am not a person of clutter, open wall space, and lightly filled shelves make me happy. What makes me the happiest, and I feel a real sense of accomplishment, when I think about the price to make over this room.

Paint: $45.00
Wall Sconces, set of 2: $8.99
Set of 2 Tables: $35.99
Set of 3 Shelves: $35.99
New Bedding: $69.00
Candles: $8.00
Ceramic Vase: $11.99
Pussy Willows in Vase: $4.00
New Bed Frame: $60.00

Total: $278.96


Plus, I sold my bed for $175.00 on Craigslist, and put that toward the decorating.


So Total cost of Makeover $103.96

How's that for decorating on a budget! Not bad if I say so myself!!



Love to All!
Kris

9 Lives?? Try 8!!

It's Friday, February 6th, I am home with the worst flu, I have been battling it all week. I am in bed, I am "facebooking" naturally, Steve is doing some work in his office. Pretty quiet, both cats are on the bed. Steve has opened the top part of the window in his office, see picture below:

As you can see, there is no screen on the top part of this window, pretty much, nothing but nice cool air. Feels good to humans..........feels better to cats. My cats are indoor cats, if they have ever been out, it is because they have made a great escape at one point or another, but these excursions are never long ones, I notice they are gone pretty quickly. Anyway, it wasn't long before I realized that I was alone in my room, I no longer had the company of two cats, not uncommon, they probably went down for a nibble or something. I didn't think much of it. One thing I know about my cat, Phil, is that he LOVES fresh air, he will sit in any window that is available to him. Well today, he got a little more than he bargained for when he noticed the open window. There is no ledge for him to sit on, there is no screen for him to lean on, just air!

At one point, Steve goes to the window and looks out and sees a Black Cat walking in the road, he doesn't think much of it and heads down stairs, he looks out the window at the bottom of the stairs, and yells up to me "Have you seen Phil lately", I said "He was up here a little while ago, but he isn't now"...........Well, Phil was outside, once Steve was able to get him in, everything started to come together. Neither of us had been out of the house, the door had not been opened for him to sneak out of, it all became very clear....................Holy S#%&..............did he?? No way?? How else?? Seriously, no way!! As we approached the open window, and look directly below it, this is what we saw:

When we went outside to get a closer look, this is what we saw:



Phil must have tried to jump up onto the window, that had no ledge, no screen, nothing for him to rest himself on, he clearly over shot his landing, and found himself 3 stories lower in an instant. Thank God for deep snow, and that cats always land on their feet! Phil is a big cat, he weight approx. 18 lbs., I'm sure it wasn't a smooth landing, but it was a landing.

In the end, we are just glad he is OK.

Love to All,
Kris

25 Things About Me

Hi Everyone, I received an email from a Girlfriend the other day, it was a list called "25 Things About Me", you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you, it was all these fun little tid bits of information, and I thought it looked really fun, so I decided to try it. It took me a LONG time, but I finished, see "25 Things About Me" below:


1. I have a new found addiction to eBay......I can't stop! I buy everything, but get really good deals!

2. There was a time in my life where I actually believed that I would marry Dale Earnhardt Jr and become a NASCAR wife. I would say "If I could just have coffee with him once, and chat, he would really love me"

3. I really love tanning beds, and being tan, the risks don't really scare me all that much. Silly I know!

4. I have a house plant that I named and even say hello to when I walk by him, a couple of weeks ago, I left the window that he sits in front of open, and it killed him, I am heart broken, for real!

5. I have made a promise to myself that if I am ever single again, I would move from NH to somewhere warm and start a new "warmer" life.

6. I am still addicted to the old school 90210, I watch it everyday when I get home from work, and on weekends......I love Soapnet!

7. I make really impulsive decisions, and never think things through when I should. (Hence the eBay addiction)

8. I have know forever that I am an extremely selfish person when it comes to my time, and the things that I want, to the point that I have decided that I will probably never be a Mom. Big sacrafice, but I guess I would rather know now. I feel very lucky to have so many children in my life, thanks to all of my friends!

9. After years of commuting to work on highways, I now have a fear of driving long distances on the highway, especially by myself.

10. I LOVE Dollar stores, and yard sales! I guess I like to look at junk!

11. I secretly would love to relive high school, I loved it! But I would also get better grades and take it a bit more seriously.

12. I wanted to be a vet for the longest time, and regret not going to school after I graduated, not just to be a vet, but I wish I went to school for SOMETHING.

13. I have a weird leftover phobia, I very rarely eat leftovers, even just the next day! I think it is a spoiled food phobia, especially things with meat, I am afraid I will get sick.

14. I have a really sensitive sense of smell, I can smell anything, and I think everything smells, it drives Steve crazy, I am forever thinking the clothes that come out of the dryer are musty!

15. I hate it when peoples feet touch me, it makes me crazy to think that Steve's feet could touch me while I am sleeping. I don't want feet sweating on me....that goes for all feet!!

16. I have never been a bridesmaid in a wedding........I was a flower girls when I was 5, at this point, since all of my friends are married, I bet I will never be in a wedding.

17. Not long ago, I went through what I call a "salad dressing addiction", I would buy different types of salad dressing everywhere I went, we must have had 20 bottles of dressing in our cabinet at one point. I had this thing with specialty dressings, not grocery store dressing, but specialty store dressings. I still don't know what brought that on, I have kicked that habit though.

18. I LOVE taking baths, I wish I could take one everyday! No lie, if I had one of those big soak in bath tubs, I would take a bath EVERY NIGHT before bed!

19. I am a huge fan of One Tree Hill, I own every season, other than the current one on DVD. Not only do I have them on DVD, I also DVR them every weekday at 1 & 2:00, Saturdays at 8 & 9:00 am, and Sunday at 11 and 12:00. I never actually watch the episodes I DVR, but I still need to know that it is on there.

20. I am REALLY afraid of Bats, I had a bad experience with bats in my last apartment and the sight of one brings me close to tears.

21. I am also very afraid of BEES! I have been known to lock myself in a room until someone comes home to kill the bee that has taken over the rest of the house.

22. When I was in High School..........this is embarassing...........I actually thought that the kids from the Academy were bussed in.....................from China.

23. My Sister and I are 16 years apart! I remember when she was born, thinking, "Man, when I'm 32, she'll be 16, and she is probably going to ask me to buy her and her friends beer"............yup, that's happening THIS YEAR!! (But I think I am safe on the beer buying, she's a really good girl!) I love her alot!

24. I really love the beach, and would go everyday if I could, but..............I am afraid to swim in ocean water, I think there is something lurking, just waiting for the right beach goer to attack!

25. It took me 2 hours to complete this thing, interesting what you come up with when you really think about it! Looking forward to seeing everyone else try this!


Love to All,
Kristine