Happy New Year!!!!

Yes. I know today isn't January 1st but I've been a little busy. So, with that being said....

Happy New Year!!!

A new month, a new year and a whole new decade! Wow! I have so many plans and dreams for this year rolling around in my head. The problem is that I've been a too occupied to even write them down. As always, I seem to take on too much. I get all of these crazy ideas in my head and then I get overwhelmed! Yes. I am overwhelmed already in this new month, new year and new decade!

Not to worry though. I'll make it through. I always do. I just keep on keeping on!

I've been thinking a lot about my blog...or my neglecting it. It's not that I don't have things to say...because you all know I'm never short on words. It's just that I get a little busy and it's not on the top of my priority list. This blog has taken on a life of it's own and found some followers. I'm glad that I've touched some of you out there. It never was my intention but I am so glad I did. I've "met" some wonderful people through it.

I often wonder if I should change my blog. Should I focus on one subject...like crafting, cooking, decorating or whatever, like some other bloggers do and not so much on a little bit of this or a little bit of that. I wonder if I should try to be one of those bloggers that work towards having a ton of followers? Even though I've turned some down, I wonder if I should take on advertisers so I can make a little bit of money? I wonder if I should give the people what they want?

But then, I ask myself this one question..."Why do you blog?" I always go back to why I started blogging in the first place. I started this blog for me, my family and mostly Allison. I intended it to be a place for me to document our lives...a sort of journal with pictures. A place where I can just be myself with my thoughts, feelings and ideas. A place where long after I'm gone, Allison can look back and really know me, see how much I adored her and remember all the fun we had while she was growing up.

After answering this question, I find myself staying true to the title I picked for my blog those several years ago..."This is My Life." If you are a follower, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I get all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that you care about what I'm doing in My Life. If this is the first day you've stumbled upon my little blog out in blogland, Welcome. I hope you stay for a while because you'll see a little bit of this and a little bit of that because...This is my Life and I truly am a little bit of this and a little bit of that!

Oh! You all know that I like pictures with my blog entries so since this entry started off with welcoming in 2010, here is my pic. When I think about my plans, dreams and goals for 2010, I've decided that I want New Beginnings for this year! Yes! I'm starting fresh! Come join me!

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The Morning View from My Window!

Breathtaking!

I can't tell you how wonderful it was to wake up to see this out my front window!

I am a winter person and the snow is so beautiful and peaceful to me!

Thank you God for sending this girl into 2010 with such an amazing display of your handiwork. I've had some tough times this year but witnessing such a lovely snowfall this morning reminds me that you are greater than anything I encounter here on earth. I know you are here beside me and with you I can get through anything.

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Today I Need to...

1. Find a home for and put away the Christmas presents.

2. Take down the Christmas tree and decorations.

3. Do laundry.

4. Pay bills.

5. Bake Banana Bread.

6. Work on my list of goals for 2010.

7. Write a letter.

8. Plan this week's menu.

9. Send pics to get printed.

Hopefully if I get all of this done today, I'll have the rest of the week to play with Allison.

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Christmas 2009!

I'm just stopping by to post some of our Christmas pictures with our family and friends. I hope you enjoy them!

This picture says to me that she's growing up too fast! Please, how do we make time slow down???

Me and my baby girl!
We (the three of us) have our little family Christmas on Christmas Eve. We do too much traveling to both of our families on Christmas Day that we only have time for Santa's gifts on Christmas Day.

Our Princess kitty watching from back under the tree.
I love the expression on her face here. She really did not think she was getting the one thing that was on the top of her list.

Pure bliss!

Allison is a texture girl. She has slept with a velour baby doll since she was born. She can't sleep unless she's got the baby snuggled against her cheek. When she opened this fluffy fur-like sweater, she immediately rubbed it against her cheek.

And here comes Simba out from the back of the other side of the tree!

Woo Hoo! Santa has been here! Don't you just love the messy bed hair?

She definitely loves her books...even the World Atlas that Santa brought!

Santa did good!

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my family, friends and blog readers!

May you celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and enjoy every moment with those you love.

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A Last Minute Project!

I had planned on making these a couple months ago but never got around to it. I had some time yesterday so I went ahead and gave them a try. If you are reader of the decorating blogs around Blogworld, you've seen these fun silhouettes. Everyone has made them and they are one of the "in" things in the decorating world right now. Note: The silhouettes look blackish-gray in these pics but they are solid black in real life.

This one, of course, is my Allison. I'm giving this to my Mom but be sure I'm going to make myself one for my wall! Hmm, I have one of me that we did in 4th grade. I know it's in the basement in that back corner closet that no one ever dares to open. I'll have to be brave and pull it out to see if our profiles are close!

Since my sister doesn't have any kids and her dog is her buddy, I thought I would make one for her too of her Ginger. However...after I cut it out, it was boring. Ginger is an English Springer Spaniel. Her wavy fur on her ears is so pretty that I wanted to highlight it. So. I used an X-acto knife to cut thin wavy slivers out of the card stock to simulate her ear fur.

Now Allison wants ones of our cats. What did I start?!?

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On The Mend!

Hey Everyone!

I've had some inquiries about how I'm doing after that medical thing so I thought I would stop by and give a mini update.

I had my surgery on the 15th. It was going as the Dr. planned and then there was a...let's just say a speed bump in the final stretch. It wasn't one of those speed bumps that you slow down a little and glide over. No, of course not! Nothing ever goes easy or normal for me! It was one of those speed bumps that you think is a big one so you slow down cause you know you are going to hit it hard....but then when you actually reach the speed bump, it ends up being bigger than you thought. You know...one of those REALLY big ones that you hit REALLY hard and scrape bottom. Ya! One of those! Yup, we scraped bottom...well not literally but metaphorically. You get the picture, right?

Well. Thank goodness for narcotics. Wow. Did I just say that? Actually, I'm quite proud. I only took three. Two the first day and one the next morning...mostly so I didn't scare Allison by being in so much pain. Since then I have been managing my pain with good old ibuprofen. I have my good days and bad. I've been to the Dr.'s office 3 times since then and he says I'm recovering well. I see him one last time tomorrow morning before he's out until the new year. I'll have his beeper number but please pray I'm not going to need it!

Thanks for all of your prayers and concerns! My friends and blog readers are the best!

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Gotta LOVE a BFF & Her Hubby!

I'm going through something personal this month. It's a medical thing that I have to have done. It had to be delayed because I got sick the day before it was to happen. It's not life threatening but it just stinks. I'm really worked up about it. Externally, I've been putting on my usual smile in public. Internally and at home, I'm crumbling like a 2 month old baby who just had her pacifier taken from her. Please don't ask because I do not and will not share it here. I've only shared it with a few friends and some family. So, if you know me in person, please respect my privacy. It's nothing personal. It's just too emotionally painful for me. I know my blog is named "This is My Life" but I do not want to write about this part of my life here. I do not want to look back a year or so from now and relive this thing in detail via a blog entry. I try to focus on the positive here and I would rather not have the negatives of my life in black and white. Quite frankly, I'd like to deal with them, move on and then forget them. Enough said!

ANYWAY...with that being said...

Why do I gotta LOVE a BFF and her Hubby???? Well. Yesterday I was over at their house for our monthly Mom's Craft Night Out and when I went to leave she presented me with a Tupperware container. I immediately knew what was in there! LEMON WEDDING COOKIES! A whole batch of them! JUST. FOR. ME! I was so excited! They are my favorite Christmas cookie and Susan, my BFF, knows it! Her and her hubby, Brian, made me a whole batch to help me get through this ugly thing I have to go through. Now...THAT is just one of the reasons why she's my best friend!

Thank you so much Susan and Brian! I love you both so much!

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"Twisted Tune"

Yesterday they delayed school two hours because the wind chill was below zero and the wind was fierce in the morning.

Anyway. Curtis has this odd ability to change the words of a song to fit what's happening in our world. Well. This is what happened in our house yesterday.

Allison was in the living room reading. I went into the kitchen to clean up the breakfast dishes. I started to sing....

O, the weather outside is frightful...

and I'm at home with my baby...

She has a two hour delay...

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

and then in this little voice I heard...

"Let it close! Let it close! Let it close!"

I laughed out loud. I thought it was hysterical! She didn't miss a beat!

Oh no! Has Curtis's strange habits rubbed off on both of us???

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A Christmas Memory!

We, meaning Curtis, Allison and myself, celebrate our little family Christmas on Christmas Eve. We save Christmas Day for traveling to and visiting our families.

Allison was 5 months old for her first Christmas. We had decided that there wasn't going to be many presents for her. She was just too young to get the whole Christmas thing and we were still adjusting to the cost of a new baby.

She had a few small gifts from us that we opened on Christmas Eve and Santa delivered a few for Christmas morning. Santa was instructed not to go overboard but he was stressing that he needed to get her just one more that would really make her day...to make her first Christmas memorable. At five months old, this was a little difficult. What WOULD make her day? A teething ring? A rattle? Building blocks?

Hmm. He thought and thought and on Christmas Eve morning, he had an idea! Yes! Santa figured it out! He knew that Allison loved the cartoon, Rolie Polie Olie on Playhouse Disney. She always got so excited when her Mom put it on the television.

But this was Christmas Eve and his elves were packing up the sleigh. They didn't have time to go back into the workshop, make one last toy and get it on the sleigh before Santa had to leave to deliver all the toys for all the good boys and girls! What to do? What to do?

Well being Santa, he has all the answers. He put one of his elves on the phone and had her call all the Disney stores around Allison's home for a Rolie Polie Olie doll. She called every store from Youngstown, Ohio to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Yippee! After seven calls she found what was probably the last one in the Pittsburgh area. Now what? Santa had already left to deliver the toys and elves can't drive. How was he going to get it to Allison's house and under her tree by Christmas morning?

Again...Santa has all the answers. He called me and asked if I could make the 3 hour round trip to the Disney store on the other side of Pittsburgh. Of course I couldn't let Santa or Allison down! I bundled Allison up and put her in the car and went on my merry way! Thankfully I found a parking spot close to the mall entrance near the Disney store. I walked right in, told them what I was there for and they already had it in a bag ready for me. I was in and out of the mall in 5 minutes on Christmas Eve! Blessings!

The picture above is what Santa left for Allison that 1st Christmas morning. He didn't even bother to wrap Rolie Polie Olie. Santa knew what he was doing because she was so excited to see her friend under the tree! Unfortunately, the picture didn't turn out but I have that memory forever in my head!

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