I killed myself today! I finished all of my Christmas shopping for all but one child--and he's pretty easy. But when I got home from shopping, it was time to shovel the walks. OH MY ACHING BACK! I definitely want a Snow Blower for Christmas now...this was MURDER! The bottom of the driveway is total ice, and I will have to go tomorrow to purchase the ice melter before I actually head out to take a hack at it! As for now, I'm heading up to bed with my hot water bottle!
I have to pick Daniel up. I just got a call from the school that he is not feeling well. Poor thing! Out of all of my kids, he handles being sick--the WORST! I'm glad it's this week though, instead of next week. It's bad enough Rob has to drive the two oldest boys to school a half hour away everyday and then pick them up after school. But to have to stick a daytime trip in when one isn't feeling well is just asking too much!
Apparently he has a fever and is complaining of a sore throat--so I believe we will be at the doctors office later making sure it isn't Strep Throat--with three kids to keep healthy, strep would be bad right about now!
I'm taking the kids in later this week to have their Christmas portraits done. This is always an exasperating time because there are four of them. It's never easy to get four kids (including a 2 year old) to look good at the same time. Rob is pretty smart. She just takes individual pictures of her kids and then puts them together in a grid for her card. Every child looks amazing, and the sitting isn't nearly as exhausting.
However, I love the look of a family portrait-or at least a portrait of all four faces in one. So I brave the Kiddie Kandids year after year, hoping for the best! I'll let you know what we come up with!
We spent the afternoon and early evening doing the yard work. Whipped it in to shape, so to speak! We have 6 yard bags full of leaves--and that is more than I've ever had. When I was a kid we lived in a house with so much scrub oak. Every fall we would have to load the leaves into bags and take them down to the bottom of the yard and dump them out. My dad would then go through with his tiller and mulch them all. After many years of this we got smart. We got bed sheets for a king size bed--and we would rake all of the leaves onto the bed sheet and pull it down the path to the bottom of the yard. It saved HOURS of work! Oh how I missed the bed sheets yesterday!
Wow---the night before Thanksgiving--and we are getting SNOW! How fun is that! If it wasn't so dark, and so cold, I would send the kids out to frolic in their first snow fall of the season!
Hopefully it will still be on the ground when they wake up in the morning. The first snow is such a treat!! I can't wait to get out there and enjoy it with them!
We purchased this movie when it came out--and I have yet to watch it. My kids and my husband watched it last night--and they all thought it was a wonderful movie. One of the best animated ones yet. My sister's family loved it as well-possibly because her husband is a Chef-so this is right up his alley!
I guess it is up to me to join the fun, and watch it this weekend!
You never know how much you love a Page Rank, until it's taken away! Mind you...I've never had much to brag about--but it was something! Now apparently, links and traffic mean nothing--as I have a ZERO page rank!
It bothers me only in the sense that PR was something that I would always try to reach for--I started out with a one, then a two and I finally got a three. That was exciting! It was like setting and reaching unseen milestones. No one but me knew they were there.
Now that PR seems to be gone--I still get to work and strive--but that immediate (ok, every 90 days or so) gratification is gone-and I'm going to have to find something else to strive for!
Bummer!
This is the view from the deck at the Venetian. Isn't it amazing! I sat and looked at this all night long. I didn't feel well, and the noise and lack of light inside the night club only worked to exacerbate the problem--so I clung to the exterior portion of the club. Honestly, as cool as the club is on the inside--the patio is just as awesome! A view of the strip as well as the gondola ride below. That is one thing I didn't get to do that I wanted to---but when you are sick to your stomach--a ride on a boat--isn't a wise move!
I can't wait to go back when I'm feeling better!
I made it all the way to Vegas--but then I was knocked out! I was supposed to sleep for a little while
and then head over to the convention center just a little late. I didn't make it before lunch! Too bad!
My sister and aunt did come pick me up and we made it back to the convention just a little late after lunch. I'm really glad I made it for the last portion of the day. I got to hear the advertisers as well as some of the shining stars in the blog world.
I didn't feel great--but I managed to make it to the big party at Tao that evening--and here is a photo of our Fearless Leader--Ted. This was the first chance I'd had to meet him, and he was very nice--just what Rob had always said. That made the evening--and even the hellish day, all worth it!
I think all of this "World Travel" has left my body drained! We all got sick after the last trip--then last weekend in Vegas, I was bamboozled!! Flat in bed--so sick to my stomach, I was dying!! I missed most of the convention, stuck my head in for the last couple of classes, and of course the Argus Roll Out--boy was that sweet! I made it to the Tao after party--which was amazing and so nice to have little appetizers. That way I could add one to my tummy, see how it handled it, and then add another one! It was not the first time I was happy that I don't drink however! I'm afraid that would have been the last straw and poor Tao would have had a big mess on their pretty red carpet!!
There is one thing to be said about spending your days in bed. You get to catch up on ALL of the good, the bad and the ugly on TV. Have you heard of this horrible new kids show called Yo Gabba Gabba? It's HORRID! My two little ones hung out on my bed with me because I couldn't chase them around the house and we watched this:
I'm sorry, but this is just terrible! People mocked Barney and the Teletubbies--I know, I was one of them. But this one takes the cake. I can't imagine anyone acting in this, making it or paying for it to be on the air. It's just unfathomnable!
Why is it when you spend a couple of weeks away from your kids--and then you come back and you catch everything going around the elementary school? We got home last week from our trip and everything seemed fine--until Monday! I have been so sick since then, I'm honestly wondering if there is an internal organ that still desires to be a part of my body! I have thrown up, coughed up everything I've tried to eat since then. I missed Trunk R Treat, I missed Halloween parties at school, and I missed Halloween.
I know to most people that isn't a big deal, but to me--it's my favorite time of the year. I thought I would just push and get there--but there was just no way possible. If I was upright I was sweating and faint and vomiting. If I was sitting up, I was sweating and faint and coughing--either way--they wouldn't have let me anywhere near the school!
Maybe next year!
I know most people don't have Halloween until Wednesday, but our church has a yearly Trunk R Treat. That is tomorrow night, from 7 until 8 at the church. The kids go into the gym at church for crafts and games--and then outside to "trick r treat" around to the trunks of each car. It's also nice because it isn't just candy on top of candy on top of candy! There are the toothbrushes, and pencils, personalized pens and novelty teeth. Although my kids favorite is really easy...they love the stickers!
So here we are, one day away from our first Halloween event--and my youngest doesn't even have a costume! Can you guess what we will be doing this afternoon and evening??
There is a Super Big convention coming up in Las Vegas in early November. It's the Blog World convention and I can't wait! I'm heading out with my husband, my sister and her husband and meeting our Aunt there. We have rooms at Paris Las Vegas, and I can't wait to get there. Seeing how it was just last week we really were in Paris--it will be fun to "see the sites" all over again! I am getting really tired of the whole airplane thing--but hey--to finally get to meet friends that I've chatted with for a year--it will be worth every minute!
I was just over at a new website I found. It's www.StoresOnlineSite.com, and it's really amazing! It is a site building website with not only a ton of valuable information, but the ability to get you a website that is easy to manage and accessible anywhere in the world. First up--they help you create an eye pleasing website. They can work with you on your company logo--help you find banners and professional looking photography for your site. Once your site is up and running, you have the tools you need to not only run your online business, but everything you need to make it a success! You do have to put some work in too! What is that old saying, "Nothing worth having is Free"--OK, it's something like that, but you get the picture! Stores Online can get you a great website--but you still have to bring the product--with both in place--you'll do just fine!
I have to apologize! My digital camera doesn't connect to the laptop I have, so for all of the following pictures-- until we get home, I have to use pictures from the internet! I'm hoping once we are home I can swap out my pictures for the 'borrowed' ones!
Our hotel is right on Trafalgar Square. A block from Charing Cross station, and pretty much the same from Piccadilly Circus. We were up early--and then again late--jet lag--staying up all night--we finally had lunch in the hotel restaurant and headed out on foot.
Oh my heavens, the atmosphere is electric! I thought strolling down Michigan Avenue in Chicago was electric, but I was so wrong! We did a little shopping--and will do a little more! I do want a Harrod's handbag. Extravagant yes, but oh so wanted!!
We saw most of the city by night last night, and that was amazing! But today we did see Big Ben and Parliament--what a huge and amazing building that is!! I just wish we had more than just three days here! We are in now for a little nap before supper. We are hitting a local Pub--I'm so excited!! Life among the natives!
There are some amazing areas in the lobby and in our room to sit. Just comfy, sit back and relax recliners that make you melt right into them. They seem a lot like the chairs that our neighbors have in their basement. So comfy when you sit to watch a movie. I've never really looked at home theater seating, but I'm thinking it may just be something to save up for when we get home. The basement is finished, we just have to figure out what we want to put down there. There is a side room that is seeming like it will be just perfect for a home theater.
This home theater furniture is from Boston Table, and when I get home, they will be the first stop I make! Doesn't it just look like you can become one with the chair? Our TV would be a bit farther from the chairs than in this picture--but all in all the same concept!
That last flight was a bit choppy--and the fact that you are over the ocean hold no comfort at all! I kept asking my husband to remind me why we were doing this. I did get to sleep most of the way--but it was a lot shorter flight than my brain thought it would be. Just a little more than the flight we took to Cancun from Salt Lake when I was younger.
We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel so that I could check in and get things settled while he ran and "collected our rental" as the front desk person called it. Very cool! The hotel seems to be really nice--mind you I've seen the lobby, the elevators and our room. Mind you there is WiFi throughout--so I'm sittin' pretty!
This is our hotel, it's The Grand at Trafalgar Square--and I have to tell you--it's like two blocks from Charing Cross station. Yes, I'm a Harry Potter fan--it makes traveling a little more fun! Anyway--I'm going to be on a few more minutes until the car is back--and then we are going to dinner and off to see the city at night! Pictures to come!!
I have Christmas Dinner at my house this year. We switch every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and this year it's mine. I'm realizing that I'm tremendously unprepared this year because when we redid the house last spring, I got rid of all of my old fashioned china that I chose when we got married. Word to the wise--chose something classic--after 10 years of marriage, you are going to want it!
Something like this is what I'm leaning toward. It's elegant, but so perfect with whatever color scheme you choose for your table. Whether it's fall colors for Thanksgiving or the Green, Red and Gold for Christmas. You never have to change your beautiful china. This pattern is Villeroy & Boch's Cellini pattern, and like I said--I'm dreaming of it!
My old pattern was very colorful with greens and peach--colors I never use anywhere, anytime. So I sold it--and have been holding off purchasing a new set until I found one that I love. And this is it. Plus, it comes with everything you need for your holiday meals, there is even a soup tureen and a darling gravy boat. There is even a matching Tea Service, which even though I don't drink tea, I love the look of a Tea Service!
Right now through October 31st, you can purchase any serveware with a discount of 20%. Since these pieces can get pricey, this is a wonderful, unexpected bonus!
I just called home to get an update on the kids. It's never easy feeling like you can leave your child overnight with someone. I never want to be an imposition--but I have FOUR kids!! And the thought of leaving all four with someone is a scary thought. Especially when you consider I'm leaving them with my sister who has 4 kids of her own. The next 10 days-she has 8 kids! That is just craziness!
I will be making it up to her in the future, I hope. She and her husband don't travel too much, although they are going to Vegas in a couple of weeks. Sadly--I'm going with them, so I can't return the favor then.
The kids are all doing well, and getting along pretty good. Mind you-it's still the honeymoon stage. I'm expecting major trouble in 4 or 5 days!
