RESULT NIGHT

At our house, we're American Idol freaks. We've been watching since Season 2. From January to May, we're glued to the television on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Until they get to the top 10, we'll actually be glued on Thursday nights too for the results. Wow, that's a lot of American Idol.

The auditions have been over for awhile and those that survived advanced to Hollywood week. That, too has ended and the actual singing competition started this week. The top 12 girls sang on Tuesday and the top 12 guys sang on Wednesday. Tonight were the results with 2 girls and 2 guys getting voted off. Did your favorite advance? Mine did! Next week might be another story. You just never know with America voting. Quite honestly, I think America got it wrong for 3 out of 4 this week. Here are the 4 that got voted off this week.

Janelle Wheeler

Ashley Rodriquez

Tyler Grady

Joe Munoz

LOOKING BACK IN TIME AS I PLAN FOR THE NEAR FUTURE

I'm thinking ahead. I have a deadline. I'm getting off track.

These things are running through my mind as I start to work on my niece's graduation gift. I know, it's not until June, but there is a lot of organizing to be done between now and then. My niece is a a softball player and has been playing since she was 5 years old. As much as I would like to "go down memory lane" for the past 13 years for her, I think I would go insane trying to. I've decided for her graduation gift, I'm going to put together a scrapbook of her high school years playing softball. I have a really cool scrapbook and tons of supplies to get started. I'm really excited to get this project going.

I've taken a ton of pictures over the years and gathering them is going to be the most time consuming. That's why I'm starting now. All the pictures are on CD's - HOWEVER - going through the multiple CD's I have over the past 3 years to find what I need is a lot of work. I'll do it; I just need to stick with it.

That's where I come to the "getting off track" statement. Looking through older pictures has been quite entertaining. I seem to be taking more time than I probably should to reminisce about the pictures I'm finding. Oh, it's so much fun though!

Well, anyway, I've gotten started and for that I'm thankful. I guess a little time spent on the project here and there will all make it worth while in the end. I'll try to remember to post pictures along the way.

I can visualize the finished project and smile at what I see.

FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND

It's Friday and it's the beginning of the weekend. I LOVE Friday's.

Tonight my daughter, Olivia, is having her friend Gabby over for a sleep over. The girls are SUPER excited. Actually, so am I. I love it when she spends quality time with friends away from school. I think it's healthy. .

I'm having breakfast and some shopping time with my good friend, Sue tomorrow. She and I grew up across the street from each other and have remained friends all these years later. After my outing with her, I think I'll just "chill" around the house.

Sunday doesn't have anything planned as of yet. My husband's band has a gig on Saturday night so he'll sleep a good portion of the day. It might be the perfect time to get out to see a movie with Olivia. Or, maybe I'll continue to "chill" around the house.

Regardless of what is planned or not planned, I treasure my weekends. Enjoy yours!

THE QUEEN OF CLEARANCE

I thought about naming my blog 'THE QUEEN OF CLEARANCE' but then decided against it. After doing a little shopping today, I might have to reconsider that.


Ok, so here's the deal (literally).....

I stopped in at Kohl's but didn't buy a single thing. Quite honestly, I didn't find any really good deals. I never buy anything full price, so I was only looking at the clearance racks. After Kohl's I went to The Christmas Tree Shop. It's new to our area and I absolutely LOVE it. Their Valentine's stuff was 50% off so I was sure to pick up a few decorations for next year. Oh yeah, and I couldn't pass on a bag of DOVE chocolates for only $1.50!! Then, I saw it! A rack of Christmas stuff clearanced out for, get this, only 8 cents EACH. That's right...you heard me, 8 cents for each Christmas item left over. I know this picture isn't the best, but you can see I got 3 metal signs, a wooden decoration and an ornament all for only 40 cents TOTAL. Can you say, ROCK ON? I know, you're jealous.



Well, my luck wasn't over. I headed to the mall. Quite precisely, J.C. Penney. I had received a $10.00 coupon if I spend $10.00. Yep, basically I could get $10.00 worth of merchandise for FREE. As I browsed, I selfishly looked in only my sections of the store. Once again I was lured to the different clearance racks spread throughout the store. I found two long sleeve t-shirts (one of them with a cute Christmas saying) and a cable knit turtleneck sweater that I really liked. I even tried them on just to make sure they would fit. After being 3 for 3 in the dressing room, I did the math and realized I was going to be getting one heck of a good deal AGAIN. The sales clerk rang up my purchases and told me (after deducting my coupon) that I owed her a whopping 79 cents. Yep, you heard me right again. All 3 items cost me under $1.00. Here's a picture of my 3 new items.

Am I THE QUEEN OF CLEARANCE or what?

MY WEEK

Boy am I glad I didn't commit to blogging every day or even every other day. This week has simply gotten away from me. I feel like I have so much on my mind that I want to blog about, I'm just going to put it all together and let you decide what you want to read and what you don't.

MONDAY

The day was simple. Nothing out of the ordinary

TUESDAY

During lunch at work, I got a phone call from my dad. I always get a little nervous when he calls, just because I think something is wrong. Well, in this case my instinct was right. He had a stress test done because of his heart last Friday. It came back abnormal and his doctor wanted to see him. The appt was scheduled for Tuesday morning and right from the office they took him across the street to the hospital for a heart catheterization to be done. The doctor was concerned that there could be more blockage and would maybe need to insert some additional stints (he already has 5). GOOD NEWS...everything went well and looked fine. At this point, they are not sure what caused the test to come back abnormal, but they do know it has NOTHING to do with his heart. My dad was released from the hospital that same night.

You see, in December 2008, my dad had this same procedure done. That time, he wasn't so lucky. They had to call a CODE BLUE to his room through the entire loud speaker system of the hospital. We knew what room he was in but hadn't been there yet to see him and I went into total panic mode when I heard the announcement. So, you can see why I was a little nervous knowing he was having this same procedure done again.

Later Tuesday evening when I was back home with Tom and Olivia, I mentioned to Olivia that I wanted to trim up her hair. It had gotten out of shape and needed some attention. In conversing with her, she decided she wanted her hair cut a little above her shoulders. WOW. I was not prepared for that. As I trimmed and trimmed, I got her convinced to stay a little below her shoulders. I think it turned out real cute and she loves it.

BEFORE

AFTER

WEDNESDAY

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Most of the kids in our area got a snow day on Wednesday. Quite honestly, I don't think it was necessary, but who am I? Shouldn't a snow day be fun? Well, for my poor Olivia it wasn't. She was sick in bed all day. It was just a 24 hour something, but she didn't get to enjoy her day off like some of her classmates did. I am thankful; however, that she didn't miss any additional school work. Trying to play catch up is never fun. We had to deal with that back in October when Olivia missed school due to strep throat.

THURSDAY

The weather cooperated and school was back in session. Olivia was feeling better and didn't need to stay home from school. Thank goodness.

I felt rushed at work because I needed to leave the office at 11:20 for a monthly meeting about 30 minutes away. Since I don't work in the office on Friday's (unless it's month end) I wanted to make sure I got everything done that needed to be. As I was driving (and almost to the meeting place), it dawned on me that I might be a little early. Yep, I was. The meeting didn't start until 1:00. I thought it started at noon. Oh well, I found something to fill in the gap but couldn't believe I stressed myself out earlier in the morning for no reason. I think I'll remember in March!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! In honor of her birthday, we went out for dinner to Old Country Buffet. I do like their food, but feel they are overpriced. I don't ever feel like I get my monies worth at a buffet. I simply don't eat that much. Oh well, it was time spent with family so it didn't matter that I can't make my house payment because we went out to eat (ha ha).

FRIDAY

It's Friday, finally! I love Friday's. Not only do I not work on Friday's, it is either my "do a lot day" or "do nothing day". Today I'm doing a lot of nothing. I got to help at the Valentine's Party at Olivia's school today. I just love being able to help and spend time in the classroom. They're only young once.

Well, that about sums up my week so far.

Enjoy your weekend.

Beautiful Jewelry

Though I've only been blogging for only a few days, I've come to LOVE the give-a-ways that are being offered. How great are they???

Today I came across a give-a-way at http://www.tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com that looks amazing. Who doesn't love a beautiful piece of jewelry? It is from Melissa at Madison Reese Design. I've entered to win and sure hope I do.

Helping Haiti

Please pray for my cousin, Jeff. He will be heading to Petionville, Haiti (above picture) to help with the devastation. This is an out-of-pocket expense for him so I commend him for what he's about to do. He leaves on Sunday, February 7th and will return on the 14th.

THANK YOU SUSAN

Gosh, what have I gotten myself into? I'm officially a blogger now. I want to send out a special THANK YOU to my good friend, Susan for helping me get set up in the blogging world. This picture is us at the American Idol concert last September.

I'm thinking that most blogs will come pretty naturally but also know there will be times when it feels like I don't have a thought in mind. I'm looking forward to having you peak into my world to see what's happening.

Susan's Give-A-Way

I am going to win this fabulous give-a-way from my friend, Susan's blog site! Check out her blog (but I'm going to win!)

Testing Out Blogging

Bear with me while I learn how to blog! Check back soon for a real post!