Erica Rocks!

Stella's groomer took these pictures last summer while she was babysitting her. I just got them and am thrilled with them! She really captured my stellar girl!

Wild Weekend!!!

Friday started off with a bang when I picked Marilyn up from the train station at 9:30 in the morning. I got the pleasure of spending the rest of the morning with her at my house. I dropped her off at Jennifer's where we had a drink with Lane and then I came home to veg and get dolled up for the evening.

I met my fellow Homemakers at the Vegas for a nice dinner and a lot of laughs. There were 12 of us there with only Nancy missing.
After dinner it was drinks and dancing at the Landing. I understand a few of the girls continued at Ebeneezer's later. I was a good girl and was in bed by 11:00 :)

Saturday we met at Shirley's for a fabulous lunch celebrating Marilyn and my birthdays. This time it was all 13 of us which rarely happens. We had a special punch and drank and ate all afternoon. Yum, those girls can cook!! Both Marilyn and I were showered with fabulous gifts :) Later Marilyn, Shirley, Jen and I went to Jen's for a few drinks and played Catch Phrase. I think my stomach still hurts from laughing and I feel bad that the rest of the crew didn't get see Shirley's performance!

Yesterday Maria, Sylvia, Jen, Linda, Shirley, Deb, Marilyn and I met at the theater to see Black Swan and Patty and Cindy joined us afterwards for a late lunch, early dinner and margaritas at Mi Mexico. Marilyn, Shirley, Jen, Linda, Patty and I all came here for drinks afterwards and to spend the last few hours with Marilyn before she had to board the train back to Minneapolis. While they were here, they approved my wardrobe for Jamaica!! I'm leaving Wednesday!!!

Miss you already Mar, it's always so much fun when you're here!

I'm spending today recovering :)

Kid Magnet?

I met a five year old little girl last night. Within about 15 minutes, the kid was in my lap, complaining about a wedgie and telling me that when she gets a snot bubble in her nose, she has to pop it with her finger. She was pretty much in my lap whenever I was sitting down for the rest of the night.

Jim always said I was a kid magnet. I wonder why that is and why I don't have that same affect on men. Some things just make you go hmmmmm...

Thank you God!!!

My insurance company has always been a stickler for having pre-approval for my sleeping pills. I take 1-1/2 every night and they only approve 18 or some weird number a month. Every year, my doctor has to call the insurance company and get them to re-consider it and so far they always have.

I went to get new prescriptions for this year last week and the next day I got a phone call from my insurance company saying they had denied it. Damn, I called the doctor's office and told them it was denied but was told that they would look into it.

I got a call a few minutes ago from my doctor's office telling me that they had called the insurance company and that I had approval through 2021!! As long as my prescription stays at 1-1/2 tablets a night, they will cover it. They denied last week because they thought we were asking for a new prescription not just continuing the one I had. So now for the next 11 years, all I have to do is go to the doctor once a year and have her fax my prescription to the drug store without jumping through any more hoops!!!

Now if they would just start making a generic so it's more affordable, that would be nice. I pay almost $300 a month for it when I hit the coverage gap in July!

Let There Be Light!

I don't really care for the swagged look but had no choice unless I wanted to repair and repaint my ceiling. And I had no intentions of doing that.
I love what a change this chandelier has made in the looks of the whole great room. I'm thrilled to have it centered over my table finally. The fact that the old didn't bugged the Hell out of me.
I'm also loving my new shades. That top down, bottom up feature is totally worth it!

I am so lucky to have people in my life who are so willing to lend me a hand :)

My Brother ROCKS!!!

So, I decided to change the light fixtures in my house. Of course I have the problem of not being able to do these kinds of things. An electrician is waaaay expensive plus even if I wanted to pay one, there is too much work in this area for an electrician to bother with a "small" job like this. My brother Paul came up on three different afternoons and changed out all the light fixtures on my main floor except the kitchen one over the island!! Yesterday he hung the new dining room chandelier :)

And of course, once I decided to go with a different metal color, I realized the door knobs needed to be changed as well. When I got done switching the doorknobs out, the gold hinges jumped out at me so I had to get new hinges. I attempted to change them myself but had a lot of problems trying to hold the heavy door in place while trying to line up all three hinges at the same time and get a couple screws in. I gave up after two doors.

But Ellen came with Paul yesterday and while he was hanging the chandelier, she and I changed hinges on the rest of the inside doors! What a trooper! I'm sure glad they brought a power screwdriver and that Ellen loves power tools!

Now I'm looking at kitchen lights to replace the old, ugly fluorescent light I have above my island. What the Hell was I thinking when I chose that for my kitchen??

Yes, please!!

"Kathy, this is Maggie from International Travel. Your documents for Jamaica are in. Would you like me to mail them to you?"

Am I Vain?

I never thought I was but since I only need readers to read the fine print, I'm starting to wonder. I love readers and when I come across an unusually cute pair, I can't resist. I not only have a pair in every room in my house, in every jacket pocket and a cute handpainted turquoise and purple pair hanging from a matching necklace that I wear around the house, I now have two pair I carry in my purse! It's so nice not to spend $400-500 on a pair of glasses. At $30 or less, I can afford to have a lot of different looks.

In clothing I wear a lot of pink, red and orange but I also wear a lot of black, white and brown. I have a pair of Susan G. Komen For The Cure readers that are hot pink with crystals on them in my purse. Very flashy :) I also have a pair of leopard print, brown and black ones in there. They're bold but understated. When I'm out and about and need my readers I reach in my purse for the pair that matches my outfit.

Is that vain?

MHS Class of 1971

Jim took one of these girls to the Senior Prom and it wasn't me :)
And is it any wonder why I always feel like an AMAZON? Oh, how I wish I would've been born petite!
Gourmet lunch in Scottsdale and a bunch of friends. What more could a woman want?

Mama's Little Helper

Stella loves to root around in my suitcase when I'm unpacking. Once she finds out what's in there, she lays on top of everything. I don't know if she wants me to quit unpacking or is just trying to be a pain in the ass. Good thing she's cute!

Yuck!!

It was seventy degrees and the sun was shining when I left Scottsdale yesterday. When we got into town last night it was 7 degrees and dark. Of course I woke up this morning to snow. The paper says we've had 50.3 inches of snow this year so far and the snowy season is young!! I can't say leaving this beautiful house was easy.

Brrrrrrr!!

My car said it was 9 degrees outside when I drove home from Burlington at 11:00 this morning. And the wind is picking up. They're forecasting below temperatures for this coming week. Yuck! I'm already sick of winter!

But lucky me, I'm leaving for Scottsdale tomorrow!! I'm going to visit a friend for a few days. There will be three of us staying in a four bedroom house and they each have their own bathroom!! And if that wasn't enough, there's a heated pool and a hot tub!! Best of all, I'm going to spend some girl time with one of my bestest friends!!! Can't wait!!

Let It All Hang Out

Gage pesters Stella and she's very cautious when he's around. When he spends the night, she waits until he is sound asleep before she goes to bed. And then she makes sure to stay close to me and as far away from him as she can.

On the other hand, when Jameson spends the night, she goes to bed with him immediately and snuggles right up to him. He spent the weekend with us and I had to laugh when I went to bed and found them sleeping like this.

Ten Whole Days!!

Jameson answered my phone today when his Mom called. He then wanted to know why her call came up as ICE on my phone. I explained that in case of an emergency, someone would know to call his Mom. He kept asking why and I finally told him that if I died, they'd know to contact his Mom. His response? "I'd be crying my head off for ten days!" Yeah, makes you feel loved, right?? :)

Snuggling

Jameson & Stella