Christmas shopping in a flash & stressed!

This is Christmas Day, in our home captured by my Airman Princess! All of us find this to be our favorite of all the ones taken over this holiday. Can you see why?
There was 15 of us! Everybody had presents from each other and the memory of being together was priceless. I myself will treasure this one as one of my all time favorite Christmas'.


Most everybody knows I went back to nursing, right? Well...we had all forgotten that I never do a job less than 150%, so that meant going in early, staying on late and before I knew it, Christmas Eve evening was here and I had ZERO shopping done! Can you imagine my panic? I had several good ideas, but I hadn't managed to actually drive and purchase them.


Chelsea text'd me Friday to surprise me she was on her way...time to worry about her. It was our Christmas surprise for everybody, but, she wasn't suppose to head to WV until Saturday....keeping it quiet while I worried was hard. The weather was less than favorable the entire trip. Snow, ice and lots of holiday travelers had put her hours behind. She was insistent she was going to drive the whole way and I begged her after dark to stop. One hour after sending out an unspoken prayer request, she actually called asking me to find her a hotel. Praise God...she was gonna be safe til morning and I could sleep and that would give me more shopping time.


Rissa & her family was scheduled to be here Saturday...old man weather was messing with their route as well. Driving the turnpike in unfavorable conditions, made me cringe and worry even more. I was more than relieved when she text'd me Saturday morning to say they were gonna wait til Sunday.


That meant I HAD TO SHOP! It was our Trenton weekend, so I left the boys to their own devices and hit the crowds. I managed to get it all done in a lifetime record two days. The boys got in one in 2 hours...hmmm, am I jealous, yes. That would be in a flash!

Once upon a time, it's where you can find this nurse.

Officially, it's my last Sunday night as an unemployed nurse....what to do? Ummmm, dark hot chocolate & Once upon a Time! My favorite show EVER!!




If you haven't watched it and you are a female, well your missing it! In a nutshell it is all our childhood favorite fairy tales with a twist and modernized. You see, Malicifent, Snow White's stepmother cast the ultimate spell on all of fairy tale land and most of the enchanted forest, catapulting all the inhabitants to modern day in mundane rolls. Granny owns the diner, Rumplestilskin owns the pawn, antique shop, and Snow herself is the elementary school teacher.


I have watched it since the beginning...rooting on Emma, Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter muddle her way through, not accepting that she is who she is, and that she herself holds the key to reversing the spell and sending all of Storybrooke back to Fairy Tale land and the Enchanted Forest. I have sang its praises to everybody, and finally last week, Chelsea got hooked! David even knows the characters and the story lines. The fun part of watching is piecing together how each character is connected and when a new one appears, trying to figure out what character it is.


So, my Dark Hot Chocolate is cooling, Emma is resting and we've got a date with ABC. Goodnight, as soon as this is over I have got to get some sleep for my first day! It should be fun!

Music feeds the soul!

So last night I got to do something really cool! Both my kids spent their time in red polo's and I'm pretty sure there is a plaid skirt and 2 ties somewhere in a box to prove it. When I got to the Clay Center, I was excited and a little sad. Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday the biggest worry we had was if WE would get to rehearsal 30 mins early. Tonight, I was early, but, there was no Chelsea or Alex lagging behind me.


Tonight was my first coverage of The Appalachian Children's Chorus! Here's the deal...I get to snap random shots of them, they get to keep them and hopefully, I get some exposure out of it. Not a bad trade off when you think about it. The mom in me caught the shots of the little things we remember, the photographer in me caught the necessary shots. Take a look:
The all familiar Red Polo.




The joy of being there.




All the ducks in a row.






From behind.







The waiting.






Glittery shoes.






The hall..






The whole group.






Just a little giggle.






Up the downstairs.






Middle aisle.







Some holiday cheer.



It was a great evening. I watched, listened and reminisced. Funny, there still is a teensy little long haired blonde, a busy toe head boy, and mischievous young preteen with a big smile, an even bigger voice, dark long hair and bangs. The same kind of children in different little packages, but still the same. I'm glad this is something that doesn't change and continues for generations! Kudos' to Selina Midkiff and her beloved Appalachian Children's Chorus, because the music I heard tonight, fed my soul!

Martha would have a coronary!

I admit it, I adore Martha Stewart! She simply knows how to do EVERYTHING, and makes it look so easy. So tonight, I am ashamed. She not only would be highly disappointed that I didn't take notes or DVR her multiple show examples of how to "Properly Fold your Linens", but I am sure if she showed up at my door right this minute, demanding to see my linen closet, I would be dialing 911 in 1 second flat!


Most of today I was racking my brain trying to come up with today's blog and this evening, while I wrestled our sheets the light bulb went off. I remember her instructions....once when she was reminding and demonstrating for us with an example, I even grabbed a fitted sheet and followed along. My fitted sheet never looked so good!

Tonight.....not so much :(




Crinkled, uneven, and sloppy! That would be what I ended up with. Actually, after I wrestled the sheets for 10 minutes, this was the best I had, and if I wrestled anymore I would be shoving them in the trash & heading out to Marshall's to buy brand new sheets tomorrow.


Sadly, I completely suck at all linen folding! Here is what Martha would have seen if she showed up....




Embarrassing, but true! I guarantee that if you randomly drop by and ask to see if I have mastered linen folding and demand to see my work, it's still gonna look like this. They ARE all clean and smell lovely, I just can't fold them correctly! Truthfully, I guess the only thing I have in common with Dear Old Martha is our genetic Scandinavian Pulla Braid handles...a.k.a love handles. They live under my shirts...even at my skinniest, they were there. Smaller, but there. That would explain the MOM jeans!

Surprise! I'm putting the nursing cap back on!

Just last week I had this thought, "I need to call Anna Boone, we need to do lunch & catch up." I had that thought several times. There was some reason she was stuck in my head. Little did I know why.


Sunday evening my phone rang, and low & behold, it was Anna Boone! Normal catch up chit chat ensued and after we did a brief rundown, she asked me if I had thought about going back to work? Ummm....we have had several discussions about it, but neither David nor I had any set plans. "Why?" I asked.


Seems the office she's working in just had an opening....one that involves my own corner of the world, a phone extension, NO telephone triage, and the normal private office hours 9-5:30 Monday through Friday. NO weekends or holidays, and its a whopping eight minute drive from our house. It sounded lovely. She gave me the contact person and I told her I would talk to David.


It seemed to both of us, our questions and/or reservations about me finding a job were taken care of. This excellent opportunity dropped out of the sky and landed in my lap. God had answered our question. It was not our place to question why or how this opportunity came about. It was worth investigating. I mean how much gas could an 8 minute commute use? And forget about traffic and road rage,no I64! I updated my résumé and dropped it off the very next morning. Two hours later they were calling me to set up an interview.


So this afternoon I dressed up, put on my smile and walked into that office with a positive attitude and the thought that this was a gift so I needed to be honest and truthful....I really took the time off because I had been stressed, I needed the break and hadn't been looking for a job, but I felt that all the pieces fell into place for a reason. After lots of questions and discussing the job and my skills and strengths, she offered me the job, on the spot. I have never experienced that. We didn't set a start date, we decided I would talk to David. David & I agree I need a few days to get myself on a work/sleep schedule. Admittedly, I am a night owl, remember? So, my bedtime is usually somewhere between midnight and 1:30am. Looks like I start Monday! So tonight operation get to bed early begins!


I'm excited! Using my nursing skills, trading my yoga pants for scrub pants, and actually putting makeup on everyday. And...I have a reason to know what day it is, I'll get to look forward to TGIF again, and I will have real conversations with people, not just Emma. Speaking of Emma....she isn't going to like this too much. At least in the beginning. She has gotten spoiled. Sleeping in with Mom everyday, snuggling on my lap when is cold outside, and no kennel unless I have errands. I spent quite a bit of time trying to explain the whole Momma's got a job thing to her. I told her that meant more toys, and sweaters...she didn't want to hear it! Poor pitiful thing! All day kennel sounds like a horrible idea to her? See!




Eventually, she wouldn't even look at me.




And then she started to pout!




She will live, I know she's just a dog. I'm excited anyway you slice it....we will just have to change her schedule and mine as well! I plan on still doing the Bevarazzi Photography thing on the side. Most of that work is evenings and weekends. So I should be fine. I enjoy it way too much to give it up!


Congratulate me, I'm headed back to work at Dunbar Medical's Teays Valley office...whoooo hoooo!!!

Busy, busy, busy?

Admission-I'm not! Seriously, we had Trenton for the weekend, well we picked him up saturday morning from another set of grandparents, then he was back to mom & dad today. So, we basically had him Saturday.
What did we do? The "Boys" played ps3! At ages 4 & 5, boys have the burning desire to win and be the best, and in this case, beat the game. There were moments of that, while our little man was mastering hand eye coordination and bilateral use of his hands, followed by (and yes, I'm giggling!) long pauses where he simply froze. Let me explain. They were playing Toy Story 3, David was Woody, Trenton was Buzz. During the game you have missions to complete. Several times they both cheered as they completed one, not knowing what they actually did. But when it became overwhelming, Trenton would place Buzz in some crazy place, like up on a rooftop and then he would sit there for 15-20 minutes just watching David playing Woody and attempting to complete another mission.




They played that game for hours. So, I guess they were busy completing missions!




Later, I did manage to get Trenton & Emma spruced up for some Christmas Photo's. Here are my favs!!!

Black Friday....our way!

It is Black Friday! Ummm...I really don't care much for it. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE a good deal, but staying up all night, fighting the crowds to save a few pennies just isn't my style. Dory did ask me at 10:35pm if I wanted to join her on her trip to Wally World and the mall...I saw all the fb posts and pics of the madness. There was no way i was gonna be a part of it. She told me today she was out til 5am-whew, I'm glad I didn't tag along. I will admit, I scanned all the sales ads in the paper. The only real deal I found was on some FIESTAWARE flatwear, normally $25/set on sale for $6.97. Thanks to Dory, I jumped online and snagged us 4 sets and got free shipping! That is the extent of my Black Friday finds. (And yes, I will wrap it and tag it from Emma!)

What we did do today was warm up all the leftovers, picked up Trenton and Alex came back to retrieve his laundry, watch the Mountaineers finally win after four losses in their Big 12 premiere season and warm himself a plate of the leftovers, and just hang out with his nephew!








Notice they are playing video games? Yeah, he was teaching him how to use the controller and the Cars 2 game which was a little hard. After lots of giggles and humph's...Trenton was hooked and didnt want to quit when Alex left, so David got involved and they played some Wall-e, it was more fun for Trenton.








One of the other highlights of our day was Trenton getting to eat his thanksgiving cookie that his beloved Aunt Dee bought him...




Notice the black icing lips...that's from sucking on it to be able to eat it! After i had to be a meany and make him turn it off, we snuggled into bed with a new book!




The Story of Santa Claus. We managed to get through 21pages before he was sound asleep! It really is good, he was just whipped! Tomorrow were gonna play some more ps3, and Trenton promised to let me use him as a model in the Christmas Session set up. Here's just a few highlights of our decorations.
























Happy Black Friday, hope yours was as fun and relaxing!

Family...there is nothing better!

As promised, here is how our day went:
I got the bird in on time, and not at some ungodly early hour. Everybody got here and it wasn't 2...more like 2:30. We all sat at the table and I looked around the table and here are my thoughts.
How blessed are we! This past year brought us lots of changes. We moved back to WV, closer to those we love. We are an important part of each of the lives seated at our table. There just aren't words to explain how grateful I truly am.
Christina and her family are thriving and growing, the changes in them show more every time they are here. I am proud of what Christina and Trevor have accomplished. The road they initial chose was not so easy and it was dark, but they are emerging into the light and making smarter decisions and rebuilding the trust of all that love them. Time heals all wounds and given enough time we will all forget how hard the past few years were. Their Trenton is so big and smart and getting smarter everyday. He is kind and gentle and has such a sweet little soul and the addition of our little Princess Haleigh has been such a blessing to all of us. She has no idea how much she is the glue that holds us all together, she has saved us all. God has answered prayers and brought us to a place we thought we would never see this time last year. Prayers do work...you just have to the faith that he will get you through it.
Dory, JD, Drew & Bailey, I missed them more than I could have ever imagined. My heart almost skips a beat every time they walk through our door. Drew is doing so well at WVU and has become quite the fine young man and I cannot express how much I truly love having my sister nearby. Hearing Bailey call for Aunt Bevy makes me all giggly inside...she is truly my Ginger Princess.
David...strong and kind. Maybe some of that is what I see in Trenton. His quiet strength and giving heart make me proud to be his wife. What we have been through in the last 18 years could fill volumes. Blended families are not easy and without him none of this would be possible. When the kids were little we thought it was difficult, little did we know that was the easy part. Grown children still need us, and there is no way we could have survived the past few years without each other. He is my rock, my rational side, and the nice one in this family. It is true...you guys ALL know it!!
David blessed the food and then we passed the plates, like an old fashioned thanksgiving and filled up on too much food and laughed and I believe we ALL enjoyed it. We are family...and there is nothing better!
On a side note, Alex showed up after work, ate and just hung out. He has grown a lot this past year...and I don't mean physically, there is a grown man emerging and I can see it in his eyes. This time last year..I was worried, now, he is different. He is not perfect, no one is, but he has learned from his mistakes and has taken the blows that come from bad choices. That's all behind him, now I need to find him a girl! Someday it would be nice to have a little Al or Alice running around. We don't have to rush it, I just want to see him happy.
Chelsea worked on the base in SD, as of this hour, I haven't heard her voice yet, but, I know I will when she gets time. This time last year she was in Afghanistan. I am grateful that God brought her home safe and sound. She has had her changes since she's returned...she gave us a granddog, Jax. Hopefully, we can get her stationed back on the east coast?! Fingers crossed and prayers sent up!!
We talked to Rissa in Pennsylvania.....they were all well and enjoying the holiday with Walts family. Dad called!!! He is REALLY coming home for Christmas!! That was the best news all day! They were missed, but we will make up for it at Christmas!
My camera never left its bag :( I was too busy enjoying all our family. But, I managed to snag one of the stuffed fridge and are family favorite and poor Emma...turkey'd and guested out!












Dory just texted me she wants to head out.....to Wally World & the mall? NOW....I'm thinking I'm just gonna join Emma. I've seen your pictures of the Black Friday madness....NO THANK YOU!

Thanksgiving Eve....

It is Thanksgiving Eve and the house is cleaned! Laundry's put away! Emma's been bathed! And pre-thanksgiving meal prep is just about done!




While David is tucked away & Emma is snuggled on my lap, I thought I'd take a few minutes to blog.
Holidays are joyful...right?! We all have our joyful moments. But, then we have those moments when we ask ourselves why we do this, and in the end it's the memories we cherish most of all. Joyful..maybe not so much, but always memorable.
What are you holiday memories made of? In the quiet of the eve I can remember tons of them. I remember thanksgivings at MOMMAW Bennett's. Tons of good food, and her FIESTAWARE! But then it was always what we ate off of. I remember Larissa getting too close to her beloved cranberry sauce bubbling on the stove. I remember football blaring in the living room and Poppaw rooting on his preferred team. I also remember this is when Mommaw's famous hard rock candy was first available for tasting!
I am reminded how much Mom tried to make the holidays special. When she cooked, I helped. I also seem to recall her always getting up at some god forsaken early hour of the morning to put the turkey in the oven. Was it really some god forsaken early hour or have I always been the late riser and it just seemed that way? I remember when she did cook all the Grandparents came to our house-SCORE, getting all their attention in one swift swoop! I can still smell those birds roasting as we snuggled down to watch every moment of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. I remember the year our pipes froze and we had to cook it and pack it all up to go eat at Grandma Opal's restaurant, Schrader's on five corners to eat it. Imagine trying to cook an entire thanksgiving dinner with no water...it was interesting!
The funniest year was when Poppaw Bailey, the big hunter, killed and brought us a wild turkey. My mom tried really hard to make herself cook it. She pulled it out of the bag and the fear on her face was priceless. I'm not sure if a wild turkey taste any different, because 11 months later, she pulled poor wild Tom from the freezer and sent him off in a glad trash bag. Thank god we lived a block away from west side Krogers!
This year since we are back in West Virginia, I get to cook for everybody. Well...Dory's family, Christina's family and Alex. Chelsea will be working on the base in South Dakota and Larissa's family did their pilgrimage to Pennsylvania, and they will be missed. We all will remember Thanksgivings of our childhood. The pumpkin pies WITH COOL WHIP, dinner on FIESTAWARE (which you get here now!) canned jellied cranberry sauce, and lots of loud voices, giggles and memories. Our Thanksgiving at the Milam's will be nice..Bailey & Trenton will play, David will have football blaring for JD, Trevor and Alex, when he gets here after work and Dory & Christina will help me get the turkey dinner on the table.
The little ones should be pleased. We have Brave to watch, and I have decked the halls for Christmas Photos! I know it's early...but, people want to get Christmas Card pictures early to mail the out, so it had to be done!




I wonder what our memories of this year will consist of? Check in tomorrow and find out! Till then Happy Thanksgiving, I am Thankful and Grateful for all my friends and family as well as everyone who reads this!

So it begins....and Dorothy is here to help me!

The Santa Collection is escaping their boxes, the garland and lights are swinging and the TV is blaring "The Wizard of Oz"! It just doesn't get any better than this! Early you say? Nope! I've got Christmas Sessions to get done and the garage just isn't going to cut it. Soo, I devised a plan to cover up the TV on the mantle, see?




David saw my vision. We even ventured out to Home Depot to buy supplies and then we both got overwhelmed and walked out empty handed. 24 hours later, we still were mulling over how to fix it. It had to be simple, lightweight and not cheesy looking. What did we do?
We spent the majority of the day playing Tetris with the GYNORMOUS sectional that I just had to have! Why are they not more flexible? Why must they go one way or separate? After many failed attempts, we settled on eliminating the chaise piece and moved the TV completely off the mantle and onto a TV stand. This is what the mantle looks like for now....I'm thinking the Santa's out number the angels and manger items and we all know that fish tank is going to have to GO!




PLUS, my mantle screen is Santa's and they are clashing with the theme....betcha tomorrow I swap it all out...manger and angels in the foyer and Santa's on the mantle. Check back tomorrow! Because tonight I'm beat and enjoying Dorothy, Elphaba and Glinda......There is NOTHING better!