Lots of updates again!

First, my mom's tumors have shrunk by 50%. This is very good news! She is 2/3 of the way finished with chemo and we hope that the tumors will continue to shrink. Please keep her in your prayers as she goes through the next two months of chemo and nears the finish line!

I ended up not having to make it through my last day of work before vacation. Instead of going to work, I ended up staying in bed most of Thursday with a horrible migraine. I hadn't had one that bad in almost a year. Between mom's chemo, a stressful extended family situation, and the everyday stress that is my life, my body decided to revolt. It was not a fun day.

Thursday also happened to be our 9th anniversary. Needless to say, we did not celebrate that day. We'll be having a date night soon in honor of the occasion. It's very hard to believe that we've been married for nine years and together for twelve. We have seriously been through some very hard times together and made it through! I love you, Greggie!
On Friday, I let Carson decide how he would like to spend his day with me. He chose for us to go to garage sales in the morning. He hit the mother load of toys and now has a completely restocked play area downstairs for less than $20. He got a four story parking garage with elevator, a Rescue Heroes aircraft carrier and command center, and lots of Rescue Heroes figures to staff them both. He's been playing with them nonstop since we got home on Friday. He chose for us to have lunch at Target, which was an interesting, but very cheap, choice.

Yesterday we completely cleaned out our basement to get things together for a garage sale on Friday. I get so mad at myself when I see how much junk we accumulate in a year, but it feels so good to purge everything and start fresh. My scrapbook area looks great and makes me want to get all the other things on my vacation list finished so I can sit and scrap the rest of the week.

Today we went to church, then out to eat. When we got home Greg mowed while I tackled pricing all of the stuff in our storage shed for the garage sale. About halfway through, I remembered why I said I was never having another yard sale. I was hot and very tired of looking for more 50 cent price tags. Everything not sold on Friday is going to be donated!

Tomorrow I will be cleaning out our closets and finishing up the pricing. I cannot wait to be finished. Hopefully it won't take too long and I'll get to start scrapping!

Have a relaxed and enjoyable Memorial Day!

For One More Day

I have to make it through one more day until my 10 days of freedom! I am so excited to have 10 days with no real plan or commitment. I will be cleaning and organizing the house and getting ready for a garage sale, but I hope to get that done early in the week.

I spent yesterday in the office and it just about killed me not to be outside in the beautiful weather.

Today I worked in Perryville, then went to Sikeston to evaluate a child after work. It was a tough eval. I hate ending the day by having to break bad news to parents. It's by far the most difficult work I have to do.

Juli came over tonight and scrapbooked with me. She made a cute little chipboard album all by herself. I will soon have her completely crossed over into my crafting cult. :)

Greg is liking his new job so far. He's very sunburned and has been falling asleep on the couch by 9:30 due to all of the physical labor and sunshine he's getting. we may have to invest in some energy bars.

My mom will get the results of her CAT scan tomorrow. We are praying for good news that her tumor has shrunk. She is more than halfway through her treatments now. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Have a great Thursday! I'll be counting down the minutes until my vacation!!!

Shindigs, Showers, and Scrappers

Friday night was Crazy Croppers. We had a fantastic time, as always!

Saturday we went to my dad's company picnic. My dad is a carpenter at the same university where I work. My mom works there too. The picnic was held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church grounds near Apple Creek. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun. There was great food, fun games, and several of my friends were there. Hi Dana and Sherri! See the slide show for pictures of our fun day.

Today I helped give a bridal shower for my sister's friend, Marge. I was in charge of the chicken salad. (Thanks to my Utah friend, Shar, for the recipe! It has become a must-have at all of our wedding and baby showers!) Juli is going to be the Matron of Honor and I will be a server at the wedding on June 14th, a.k.a. Flag Day. Marge has a patriotic theme going on, which should be fun. There are pics from the shower in the slide show also.

Tomorrow Greg starts his new job. I am working in Marquand, MO at one of my favorite child care centers to visit. I'll be in the infant room, which has a tendency to bring on Baby Fever for me. Could be dangerous. I'm in Poplar Bluff on Tuesday and Perryville on Wednesday. Thursday is my office day, then starting Friday I am on vacation for 10 Days!!!! I cannot wait!! I plan to clean and organize the house and get ready for a garage sale. Hopefully, I'll get all of my cleaning and organizing done early in the week and have lots of time to scrapbook!!!

I have decided that since we won't be going on vacation this year, I am going to make a list of cheap places to visit close to home. If you know of anything, leave me a comment. I'll compile a master list and post it for everyone to get ideas.

Have a good week and enjoy the beautiful weather! It's going to start feeling like summer here in Missouri!

My Personality Profile

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have high extroversion. You are outgoing and engaging, with both strangers and friends. You truly enjoy being with people and bring energy into any situation. Enthusiastic and fun, you're the first to say "let's go!" Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Lots to share!

Hello Blog Readers! I have lots of updates to report.

Carson now has glasses. I'd show you a picture, but he's not home for me to take one right now. He looks very cute and he seems to have increased depth perception while wearing them. We went to see a new eye doctor in Springfield, MO who we are very impressed with. He prescribed the glasses and gave us a set of exercises to try for 6 months when we have our next appointment. We spent the weekend before the appointment in Springfield. We visited the Bass Pro Shop, The Discovery Center, Lambert's Cafe, and of course the only scrapbook store in town. There are a few pics of the trip in the slide show.

The following weekend I spent in Paducah, KY at Cropical Paradise with some of my best girls. We had lots of fun and got lots of pages done. During the weekend I made my first visit to the self-serve ice hut while not wearing any shoes, (thanks for the help Shelly!), a couple of beds got short sheeted, some sleep was lost and we had a blast. Pics are above.

Mother's Day was interesting. My baby nephew was supposed to be christened in church, but that didn't happen. Long story. If you see me, ask and I'll explain. My sister, Juli, and I were scheduled to sing a song after the ceremony, so we went ahead and sang it. Luckily, it worked for Mother's Day. We enjoyed a BBQ at Mom and Dad's house with lots of family. Carson got me the ipod docking station and speakers that I had been eyeing and made me a lovely noodle necklace. I'm wearing it with my dress suit in the picture above. :)

Now for the big news: Greg will be starting a new job on Monday. He will begin his plumbing apprenticeship at Dutch Enterprises bright and early Monday morning. He's excited to begin a job where he can work outside frequently and learn a new career. The bad news is that he won't get to take vacation until next May, so we will not be going to Disney World in December. I'm bummed, but I realize this is a much better opportunity than his last job. Looks like we'll be staying home for a year. Good thing we have lots of projects that need to be completed around the house. Maybe I'll get that scrapbook caught up! (yeah, right!)

We're all home tomorrow, then I have Crazy Croppers tomorrow night. Saturday I have to work at our Provider Appreciation Brunch, then we're going to my dad's big work picnic. On Sunday I'll be helping my sister with a bridal shower for her friend. Busy times, as always! Have a wonderful weekend!

Where have I been?

Sorry, dear blog readers. I have been very lax in my blog updates lately. I'll try harder to keep things a little more current. Here's the current state of things:

My house: A mess
The laundry: backed up, but not crazy out of control
My job: slowing down-1 week until reduced summer hours
My son: getting glasses, goofy as ever
My husband: still obsessed with the lawn, yet unaware of the state of the house
My mom: halfway finished with chemo

We took Carson to see a new eye doctor in Sprinfield, MO on Monday. We drove to Springfield on Saturday and visited the children's museum and the Bass Pro Shop on Sunday. We also at Lambert's, which is much smaller than the one near us.

The eye doctor spent two hours with Carson and gave us some great ideas to help him use his vision better and suggested that we put him in glasses. It was amazing to see the difference in his depth perception with the lenses in place. We'll be ordering his glasses on Monday.

I'm leaving for Cropical Paradise at 8:00 am. I am so excited!! I'm hoping to get our last vacation to Florida nearly finished. I'll try to check on in Monday. Have a great weekend!