Changing the blog page around

While peeking in on Katie Shannon's blog, I noticed she had the cutest template on her blog now. So I went to the site and picked one out for a change in the selection that is on here now. So check out www.thecutestblogontheblock.com for the neatest stuff to add to your blog. So I am going to redo my page since it was a Christmas theme and for a bit use this template. Keep checking in for updates.

Nearing the last of my Christmas celebrations!

Christmas is my most favorite time of year for some reason. Maybe it's the get togethers with friends and family I love to plan and cook for, this year I actually made some goodies but didn't get them entirely done. Today I am going to Mother Patty's house to celebrate Christmas with my adoptive family of just about 30 years. Then hopefully get with Lorry for my last Christmas date. I also love when it snows as it did only a bit on Christmas Eve. Which brings me to when I checked my niece's blog out, she is in Wisconsin and they had 15 inches of snow and still falling on Christmas. How I would have loved to been there on Christmas Eve and Christmas but now I am in envy of Jordan who has made it to Marco Island, Florida. It's in the upper 70's there and she will be there for around 5 days. Now how fun would it be sitting on the beach for New Year's Eve?! I am so glad that I am able to let Jordan have these experiences when she is young and with the help of my loving husband this is the second big trip we have sent her on. The first was the cruise in August 2005 and now. Since we both turn a somewhat important age in 2009, I think we may need a Christmas vacation of our own. That maybe the best time I will be able to afford it, first is Aimee's wedding in March and second is my birthday party that I guess I will be planning of course. I did use my Christmas money from my mother in law and ordered my dress for the wedding. Next weekend is the last of the feasting and the start of the fasting to look good in it. Speaking of feasting, I got to get ready for one so will possibly post some pictures of that since I totally didn't take any at Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads my blabber on here! I don't have any photos taken from either last night or this morning to post. We(Jordan and I) looked like crap this morning so opted out of picture taking. Last night Kailyn wasn't there so I didn't get any photos of the other's opening presents. Just wasn't into it I guess. I did surprise my most two hardest gift getters this morning. Jordan didn't know of some of her stocking things and I got her a couple of $5 movies, a Marilyn Monroe calendar and some other things. Steve knew I went to the Bud Store in Sedalia, but didn't know that I got him a hat and shirt from there also. It made me happy to watch them in excitement for once instead of opening the gifts and knowing what's in there boredom. I then baked a premade lasagna from WalMart(good but greasy) for Jordan, then fried bacon and eggs for Steve to eat on Christmas morning. How YUMMO does that sound?! I had planned a breakfast casserole but it got denied by Jordan. So now Steve and Jordan are watching their DVD's they got and I am dinging around on the computer. Noticed that alot of sales are going on tomorrow at various stores on a internet headline. Too bad Steve didn't win the powerball last night so I could take advantage of some of those. We are sending Jordan to Marco's Island, FL for the rest of her Christmas, added up the total of the money she got last night and what we put in. She should have enough to have a good time while gone and I am missing her terribly. I don't know how I am going to cope the first few weeks when she goes to college. Even though she is never at home now anymore, that absence is alot different than when she goes on trips. The last time she was gone almost this long was 3 years ago when she got to go on a cruise to Jamacia. That was worse since she didn't have cellphone service while on the cruise. It's presents like this that mean more than anything to give to her, these are ones that I never got the opportunity to do at her age. So I make sure whenever we can, she gets to go and experience something that I have yet to do. Hope everyone has a Magical Merry Christmas like I did today!

Christmas Eve

This is Jordan last night when we let her open the gift she didn't know she was getting. Since she is leaving Friday morning for Marcos Island, FL, the camera has to be charged ahead of time. Also she was driving me nuts with all the questions about what it was. I love to still be able to surprise her with gifts, I do miss Santa tonight though. That was always special to me when I was a kid and when she was younger. I usually make "Reindeer Food" for Christmas but it was left behind at the Sedalia WalMart and discovered missing after I got home. So this year my Santa kids didn't get it or did they miss it either. It's just birdseed and glitter. Jordan got it in preschool and ever since I have done it. Just another thing to do to make the magic of Santa even more fun for them. We went to my sister in law's, Gayle house for the Shannon Christmas. It's always the other time of the year they all get together, the other is Thanksgiving. I'm full as a tick so going to end this post because I want to get a Santa update on one of the weather casts on TV. Gary Lesak had the lamest report ever, showed Santa going around and under the St. Louis arch as if heading his way to Kansas City. Then he is at the Space Needle in Seattle, WA. Poor children watching that had to think, "What the hell? Santa totally just skipped the whole Midwest!". Well that's what I thought when I seen it. Merriest of Christmases to all.

Family Christmas and other things this week

Here I am with my favorite Christmas present, a fifth of Crown Royal, that way I don't have to get one for New Year's Eve. I am really getting bad at blogging. This past week was jammed packed of stuff and bad weather not helping out at all. Tuesday night was the Swift Carriers party at Greg's which means some kick ass appetizers and this year playing Rock Band. Which by the way I scored a 98 on Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive by SINGING it. Yea that ol'headbanging loving some Jon Bon Jovi came out on the second try. Then I fell hitting my knee and jarring everything else in my body so I was not feeling like anything Wednesday night when I got home. Steve left Thursday for the midget races at Kemper Arena and came back early Saturday morning. I attended the annual Heinzler Party which was alot of fun and alot of great food too. Then yesterday was getting ready for our family Christmas dinner at Aimee's. Greg offered to cook the meat this year as it was the same day as Deb's family gathering, so all I had was sides and chocolate pie to do. Patty makes my rolls that are to die for. Will have to have her show me how to do that someday. So the following pictures are from last night. We have done this for the past 2 years so that we can spend more time with the kids since schedules are a mess around Christmas. It works out way better than rushing off from the Shannon Christmas Eve at Gayle's back home to only spend a hour or so with everyone. This week is another jammed week so hopefully I will get a post in on Christmas Day. Jordan maybe leaving the day after Christmas on a trip with a friend and her family to Florida. All Jordan needs is eatting and whatever money to take so that's what I sent the word out to give her for Christmas. Below are of everyone opening a gift at Aimee's, Kailyn has strep throat so bless her heart, she really wasn't feeling good. Nana Penny has had that a million times and knows the pain of it, so I really feel for her especially at Christmas to get it. YUK!

Yikes I am slacking off on my blog!!

A picture to begin my post of a Thomas Kinkade picture, I absolutely love his scenes for Christmas...Yikes I have slacked off on my blogging this week, it's been a bit busy with Christmas concerts, going to the loser boat with Shirley, Sue, and Carolyn on Wednesday night. Friday night I went to Sedalia on a mission to get some shopping done. Mission semi-accomplished. Yesterday was another shopping at WalMart then I BAKED!! Yea I did some baking of those peanut butter kiss cookies, I thought came out hard. Jordan likes them that way. Made some puppy chow and cut up the magic cookie bars I had Christy make for me. I started some goodie bags but had inhaled half the brownie pan of them before they got cute. So Jordan and I are going to do some more baking this week on some other cookies and possibly a twisted puppy chow mix. Now I am listening to it sleet against the kitchen window and the pipe in the wash room. Next week is a busy one with the office party Tuesday night, Wednesday night is Jordan's Christmas concert at BMS, Steve leaves Thursday for races in KC and Jordan is helping Aimee, another party Friday night, then our family dinner on Saturday night....eeww just need a breathe to remember it all and make somekind of schedule. Then there will be a night with my grandmother over to eat pizza and maybe lasagna for Christmas dinner on the 22nd possibly, Christmas Eve at Gayle's for the Shannon's, and Patty's Christmas on Sunday the 28th. Then get ready for the New Year's Eve party at the Adcock's. Dang need another breathe and a personal secretary to help me remember all this. And of course some of the Thomas Kinkade pictures to end the blog this time.

Kailyn's Christmas Concert and some SNOW!!

Kailyn's 2nd Christmas concert was last night at St. Peter's where she is attending preschool. It brought back so many memories of when Jordan still had Christmas programs. Jordan still has concerts with the MHS singers but it's not like when she was younger. Jordan went to Noah's Ark and those were some of the cutest Christmas programs ever. When she was in 1st grade, she was in Linda Doolin's dance class and those girls got to perform a tap dance at the Christmas program. Seeing all the little kids last night really made me realize that Jordan is almost grown up and I miss my little girl more now than ever. Ok gotta stop that cause it's making me cry as I am typing this. Next Wednesday night is Jordan' s concert at BMS, there was a concert last year that she wouldn't tell me the songs they were singing. That is because I got a special surprise when I opened the program to see that she and the other singers was going to sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" from the Wizard of Oz. That happens to be one of my most favorite movies and it was also my favorite memory of all the concerts ever. Yea I teared up as I am again so let me get on to something else like the SNOW!! Yahoo we got some but not as much as I hoped for. I know everyone reading this is thinking she must have really fried her brain in the 80's for loving snow. Well I would rather be cold than sweaty hot any day. There is nothing more peaceful on earth than going out outside when it's snowing and everything is covered in a beautiful pure white blanket. I did see that next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is a possible ice storm a coming, that is what the weather on Fox 4 said tonight....yikes I don't like the ice at all, just beautiful snow. And of course, I love snowmen!!!! Tomorrow is the 14th anniversary of my Dad's wreck that took his life, it is also when Shirley takes us girls to the boat. So in some freaky way, I'm hoping for some good luck to make this day something else besides that. Going to get a powerball ticket to just for the hell of it. I'll post those dreams in a later blog.

How I spent this Saturday...

Just thought I would let everyone know that I finally used my final gift certificates at Bodyworks Day Spa in Sedalia today. I got a spa pedi and mani from my husband for my birthday(May 7th) and seemed like everytime I tried to get there, something came up and I had to cancel. Then I had mentioned to my girlfriend, Lorry, that I was going and she wanted to get some pampering done too. So today nothing was going to stop me from going and I wanted to head to JcPenney's for a bit of shopping which only produced 3 presents, 1 reject from Jordan, a new bra for me, and a pair of jeans. I haven't worn Levi's for awhile because honestly my fat ass couldn't fit into the cool looking ones. So I plucked a couple of pairs off the wall in a size 16Long and off to the dressing room praying that I could fit into at least one of the pairs after I have fought to keep the 30lbs off that I have lost in the last year. The first pair was a winner and I almost cried that I can wear these, then the second reminded me that not all jeans will I be able to get into. Now I must get ready for a Christmas party that we are attending at the skanky Living Room bar. Got to find something to wear with my new jeans!! This picture is what I think the ultimate Christmas party should be and that would be my awesome house that everyone would come to....

Christmas is coming!!

This is another of Thomas Kinkade pictures of Christmas, it's just a beautiful small town in the mountains of somewhere. I really don't have alot to post today. Did go to WalMart and got a couple of more Christmas presents boughten. I am proud of myself for actually getting some of it done early this year. Even my decorations are pretty much done around the house. Need to get my Santas done and the progress pictures posted someday. Still have my boys to get and some more for Jordan. Pictures are what most of my gift receivers are getting this year and I seen the best thing when doing the reprints. A 8x10 photo book where you can make collage pages with several pictures on a page...hoping this works for my mother in law's present this year. I am getting a bit sleepy so I am going to snuggle in for a hopefully good nights sleep. Also try to stay warm in the frosty winter air......ya I'm loving it!! Would rather be cold than sweating hot any day.

Catching my page up for EA

I was told that someone mentioned that I hadn't been keeping up to date on my blog. This would be my adopted sister Elizabeth Ann or EA is what I call her.I was amazed that I do have people reading this and yea I got a bit o lazy on this. So EA I am blogging tonight and plan on doing it more often so that I can put these Thomas Kinkade Winter/Christmas paintings on here. He is my favorite artist, especially at Christmas. So if you enjoy him too, www.thomaskinkade.com is where I browsed for this and future scenes to start a post with. I can so picture myself in each and everyone one of them. They represent what I think of what a perfect Christmas would be. Snow on the ground and the air is a bit chilly, the house is lit up with all the Christmas decorations I could ever get my hands on, and sharing the blessings of having good friends and our family. Then of course, me catching Steve under the mistletoe so I can aggraviate him into kissing me. So enjoy the future pictures and hope you get that feeling too when you look at one of them.

Shopping Saturday

Just a quick post before Jordan and I head off to Zona Rosa in North KC. It's supposed to snow tonight and I am sooo excited to see the first snow of the season....if folklore has it right, we will see either 29 or 30 snows this year! Yahoo, by now those of you are thinking that I am a complete crazy crack head for wishing this. I am still bummed about being sick Thanksgiving especially when I checked Katie's blog and seen she brought the shrimp and bacon appetizers. AND I have yet to see Wayne and Sherry's new homestead. Katie put some pictures on her page so I seen a bit of it. I was still funky yesterday, this New Year's Eve, I am going to say somekind of something so that in 2009 there is not a illness, ailment, or trip to the ER ONE!!! I have a wedding in March and of course, my 40th birthday. Both will require not only my presence but cash for them. Gotta go for now......wish us luck at shopping and I don't punch some rude person out today.

Terrible Thanksgiving

I hope who ever reads my page had a great Thanksgiving.....I got sick to my stomach after waking up but chalked that up to drinking a lil crown last night. Then I started fixing the stuff to take to Wayne and Sherry's when I was feeling worse. I had just about started to get dressed when I just couldn't get into going, all I wanted to do was lay down because the thought of eatting was making me very nausiated. So I called my sister in law, Sherry and told her I wasn't feeling too grand and wouldn't be making out there. Then I crawled into bed and stayed there just about all day until now. I missed the best cheese grits in the world today and probably the oyster dressing I love....damn of all days to get whatever it is!!! I also had my camera ready for pictures so I could post them on here and my facebook page. So Jordan tore into the California blend casserole I made along with a pasta salad that will go to work and the gooey butter cake I also made this morning. Steve worked til 12:15 and then took a nap for a bit then he went over to the McGuire's house for a visit. He brought me a plate back that has stayed in my belly so I did get to have turkey, oyster dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and macaroni with cheese thanks to them. Jordan and I are heading to Zona Rosa in North KC on Saturday to do some shopping since there are a couple of stores that has cheap clothes I can get her for Christmas. I work tomorrow so I won't get to mess with the crowds of mad shoppers out for those special bargains, I am thankful for that!! Also that I have a great husband and daughter who bless my life everyday.

Happy 17th Birthday Jordan!!

Today is Jordan's 17th Birthday.....I can't believe she is that old, every year at 5:25pm it seems that long ago I was hearing her cry after they took her out. Now I just hear her say how she doen't have time for me now. There's always something more important needing her attention these days. We took her out to Applebee's to eat lunch with her sister Aimee, niece Kailyn, and brother Aaron. He, by the way is growing a beard that really looks good on him as he is quite a handsome man. I don't think I brag on the stepson as I have the girls. I promised him that I wouldn't take pictures of him today and Steve wasn't into it either. I'm not due til Christmas when I may try again to get a couple of them in a photo. I also worked on my Santa's which are not turning out like I had invisioned them to be but they are still a work in progress and good weather. I may have to borrow a garage to get them finished in time. Kailyn came out and painted some of the bricks and things that turned out to be a spot on the porch and the grass. That spot will mean something someday even if we got in trouble for doing it. Have a Happy Monday and til my next post.....

How stupid I can be!!

I thought this would be a neat picture to put on here since it is fitting of the pre-Thanksgiving holiday. It looks so homey and like they are getting the house ready for Holiday visitors. That is what I should be doing myself instead of ding donging on the computer. Let me explain briefly why the title of todays post is that. Yesterday morning in my pj's and just woke up look, I left the house to get a diet pepsi because I am apparently addicted to that in the morning. Since it was around 15 degrees, there was frost on the windshield which I tried to get off with my windshield wipers and fluid. Needless to say that wasn't working worth a crap for me to see out of it. I headed toward the old IGA in hopes of just getting a can and be on my way. They moved those machines out I did see so then started to turn in the parking lot as I planned to just go back over to Northside and use the drive thru. For reasons I really can't explain still except to defrost the windshield, I turned into the deep ditch getting my car stuck. It cracked 3 places in my bumper because the bumper was cold because I didn't hit that hard. So then I learned through turning this in to my insurance, that if I had smacked a deer. Lots better deductable wise for my car insurance. That deductable is $100, the deductable for being a dumbass is $500 so there goes my birthday party money I was going to save from tax refund. Now it goes to paying back my loan shark after getting taxes back. I also thought for some other dumb reason that I needed to jump over the ditch to where Steve was by then to help get my car hooked up. In doing that Wonder Women feat, I twisted my bad cankle that was torn up when I was 16 doing about the same dumbass feat. So today I am hobbling around still pissed at myself for being so dumb.....but can laugh also because I know I looked like a crack whore going into Northside to use the phone to get Jordan up there to come get me. Yea flannel pj pants, mule nikes, shirt, and coat that was not one matching thing on. Then to top it off, bedhead and bad breathe. Cute I know.

Another new adventure

I joined Facebook today so that I can keep in touch with some old classmates and friends on there. It's different and Jordan thinks I am too old to be doing it. So any of you that reads this, go on there and add me as a "friend", I am under Penny Reith Shannon so that those who know me by both names will find me if they want to. Now I have two things to keep up to date on. I already have 2 friends that was added to there and have a few more that I am waiting to hear from. It's kinda neat to do since some of these are old classmates that I seen at our 20 year reunion last year and would love to keep in better touch with them instead of emailing. That I totally suck at but can do this blogging thing without even trying. So I hope they look at my profile and then check this thing out too. Lord knows I spill everything on here that is going on at the time I start typing. Got to end this one quickly because I am excited to see if anyone else has accepted my invite on Facebook. I can't believe how this month is flying by, I actually thought I had another week before Jordan's birthday today until I looked at the calendar and seen it's actually 4 days away.....then she is 17!! Yea that has flown too!!

Official end of volleyball

Tonight was the annual volleyball banquet that marks the end of the season. There is always a abundance of food that is really tasty and the awards given out to the players. Jordan played JV this year again because there was only 3 spots available for Varisty this year. If I was a good mother, I would have taken a ton of pictures of the games that she totally rocked in. Such as the one she scored 17 pts in a row and the Lady Owls ended up winning that game. I am very proud of her accomplishments in the sport I always wished I had gone out for. She got the awards for Hustle and Offensive player tonight. As for all her official stats, I have no idea, I just know that when I am at the games.....I am a very proud Owl Mom of my volleyball player.

The meaning of the 17th of November

This date is kinda special today because 17 years ago, Jordan was supposed to come into the world. It was my first due date but as it is known, she came by emergency c-section on the 23rd. Here's just a little bit more on this date. I have 2 very good friends(Laura and Christy) who also was pregnant during this time and this was both of their due dates also. Laura was 10 years ago and Christy was 4 years ago, well then it came and went, so the next due date was the 23rd for both. Jordan was really excited that she was going to get to share her birthday both times. Laura had Lauren on the 22nd and Christy had Haylee on the 21st. I think it's kinda neat that the 3 of us shared the same due dates and our daughters birthday's are all in a row. Tonight Jordan, Laura, Lauren, and I are going to China Inn for the girls birthdays. I really don't know why we haven't done this before, probably because some years they fall on Thanksgiving and just the scheduling of the parties hasn't let us do this. So hopefully it will now start somekind of tradition with us taking our birthday girls out, especially since I only have this one and next year left that Jordan is home to celebrate them with me. Before I get into some sappy blogging I better go and get ready for our dinner. I also started the painting of the Santa's yesterday and will post them later. The face turned out too pink but I am going to wing it and see if it turns out after I add the beards and fur on the hats. Hopefully that calms it down a bit, I thought the color was perfect when I mixed it but not after it dried. Happy Monday to all that reads this jibberish...

Spitting Snow Saturday part 2

I am going to start my blogs with pictures of vintage Christmas cards that I found online. I love how they look and was dissappointed when I couldn't get the huge book of them that my Uncle Bubba had before he passed. There was several of them in the book that he had that were absolutely beautiful. Steve went to Sedalia today to watch Nick Schaefer race at the fairgrounds in the Matheson building. I was supposed to go and get my spa manicure and pedicure done at Bodyworks but wasn't feeling up to it. This is probably a little TMI but since I am sharing everything on here, I feel the need to explain why I wasn't feeling well enough to go get pampered."Aunt Flo" came for her monthly visit and the first day or two are absolutely horrible. I have always had problems with bad cramps and was relieved by taking birth control. When I was 33, I had my tubal ligation done with my gallbladder surgery so no longer took birth control. I also have problems with cyst on my ovaries, which sent me to the emergency room in August. So as I have gotten older, they are getting worse with cramps that are from hell. Heating pads are not helpful as that seems to make the cramps worse so I asked my doctor for pain pills to help calm them down. Over the counter pain relievers don't really do the job if they are some strong ones. That is only helpful if I happen to start on a weekend where I can knock myself out. So to end this probably I am going to plan a hysterectomy next year after all the festivities are over. Those being Aimee's wedding and my 40th birthday so the medical bills won't interfere with the cost of those important events. Anyways, I decided to go out to Patty Hammer's house for a visit since Christy was already there and I didn't feel like doing any chores at the house. Patty is my adoptive mother because she has never hesitated to get into my ass when she thinks Christy or I have been messing up in life. She also will introduce me as her 3rd daughter since I have been around the family for just about 30 years. I can't explain the love I have for her because she has always accepted me for who I am, faults and all. Patty lives in the house she grew up in out by the Grand Pass wildlife area northeast of Malta Bend. She moved back there in the mid 80's after her father passed away. I have alot of memories of Christy and I staying out there when we were teenagers and also in recent years for the holidays which I am always included in. I got home around 4pm and have been alone in the house since. Should have started some chores then but got totally lazy and watched tv for awhile. Now I am blabbing on here for the second time today instead of doing those chores that can wait til tomorrow. Unless the weather turns out warmer so I can get some Santa's painted. I also need to go to my grandma's and see what decorations I have stored over there. I have alot of Christmas crap since it's my favorite holiday to decorate for, just ask Steve sometime and I am sure he will groan before he agrees that I probably have too many. Just wait til I have a much larger house that I can put a tree in every room and fill it with all my crap and then some!!! I already have planned a tree with all my Barbie ornaments on it. I call them my "girls"and yes I am still a Barbie freak after all these years when I should have grown up. NEVER when it comes to them, there is a world of Barbie ornaments that I want so thanks to ebay, I will have them someday. Good night for now and will blog more on here tomorrow if I don't get swamped with painting and decorating.

Spitting Snow Saturday

Steve came in and said it is spitting snow outside. I love it!!! Yes I love snow, cold, and winter as long as there isn't ice like we had a couple of years ago. I love to go outside when it's snowing, there isn't a more peaceful time than that. I love how the countryside looks with a fresh blanket of snow. I absolutely love when it snows on Christmas Eve and there is a white Christmas. It reminds me of when Jordan still believed and there was "sled tracks" on the roof one Christmas. It's so magical when children still believe in Santa, I had so much fun with it by having sleigh bell ringing outside her window to get her asleep so I could go set up her Santa stuff. I believed until I was in the 3rd grade and the mean teacher (Mrs.Sims) told me that there wasn't a Santa. I will never forget that because she made a spectal out of me and the kids in the class laughed. What a bitch...anyways this picture is what I call my dream Christmas home in the country. I can almost see me in there COOKING somekind of treats or dinner and Steve tending to the fires. Bundle up today if you go out and enjoy Sunday, the last forecast I seen was the temp to be in the 60's. Got to love the Missouri weather!! So I am going to get painting on my Santa's and yes Tina I will post my creations and thanks for readng my blabber~~

I am starting to slack off

I have been a slacker and not blogged on here for 4 days.....I have started to wonder if anyone really reads this crap I blab about so I have changed the settings so that anyone can comment. If you read this crazy crap, leave a comment so I know that I am entertaining some bored sole to death. We, as in Aimee and I, got our photo cd from Kathy so I am going to just put a couple or more maybe on here. Not only have I got my tree up but actually got a few presents bought before December 20th this year so I am kinda proud of that. Tuesday night, Steve and I went to tear down some old barn wood that my boss, Shirley, donated to my crafting for Christmas. I am going to attempt to paint Santa's on them, for those of you that don't know, yes I am artsy fartsy when I want to be. If you go out to the Habilitation Center to view their Christmas crap, there are a few characters that I painted about 12 years ago when they started the big hoopla there. The Charlie Brown Christmas was my favorite to do, I am proud of Peppermint Patty, Lucy and Sally so that is a hint to pay attention to those. Also check out the 12 days of Christmas, I am responsible for Days 1, 6, and 8. The first is supposed to be David Partridge in a pear tree but looks more like Michael Jackson back in the Jackson 5 days. I still go out every year after my departure from there and admire my work. I will have to take pictures this year and of course put them on the blog......so for now Happy TGIF everyone.

It's beginning to look like Christmas

I think this is the earliest that I have put up my tree since I was pregnant with Jordan 17 years ago. I nabbed a Christmas tree from Katie when they were moving that fits in the dinkus dump living room. Steve went and got it out of the storage shed so I could see if it did fit in the spot. Then checked to see if it lit up and after that it only made sence to me to start decorating it. Yea Steve was thrilled!! So then I got out some of the other decorations too and once I started, I couldn't stop. Sadly though, Aimee beat me to it. When it comes to Christmas, we are very alike about getting the tree up early, giving presents before Christmas morning, and really get excited about Christmas in general. So I must get back to the decorating and there will be future blogs with pictures of my Christmas madness of decorations. I almost could out do Mrs. Scott by the Eastwood Casey's. If you don't know who I am talking about, you need to go by and then you will understand what an addiction to Christmas decor can do to someone.....if you ask Steve, he will agree that I do have too much "Christmas Crap" and gets all giddy each year when I do have to sacrifice something due to damage in the off season. So buckle up cause it's going to be one ride to remember this year kids. Yea that sounded gay so I need to get off now.

Happy Saturday

This morning I used one of my gift certificates I got from Jordan for Mother's Day. It was a 1hr full body massage (heaven) then a 1 hr facial. I have had massages there before but never a facial. The chic said I have good skin for rarely taking care of it when I was younger. My face does feel different so I may have to invest in those regularly. Then I went to JCPenney's wanting to do some Christmas shopping and couldn't get into it. The 1 thing I found to get Jordan was missing the hoodie and the associates had no idea if they had anymore around and pretty much blew me off. Bitches!! So when I go to Columbia, I'll check that JCPenney's for the same thing. Hopefully they will have it. Jordan is a Mizzou fan and has been for awhile. I am hoping for her to go there just so she isn't that far from home.....besides we have a couple of Mizzou alum in the family. We also got our new galleries up again this time with a total of 63 photos with some new ones added that I am very happy was able to put on the new discs. She is a great person to have put up with all my crap over the order the past week. Bless her heart for being so patient with me and all the indecision involved.
I am now in the process of Christmas gift buying and proud that I have a few already bought. Now I am in the Jordan birthday mode of trying to figure out what to do for it. Since she reads this even if she thinks it's gay, she does know that we will take a trip to Zona Rosa the Saturday after Thanksgiving so what birthday money she gets can be spent on whatever she wants. Then it's back to Christmas gifts for the kids, Kailyn, and my most difficult person to get for, Steve.
So hope ya'all stayed warm this blustery Saturday and have a good weekend. Hope we can get to the country so I can get my donated barn wood so I can start some of my artsy fartsy presents this year!!

Still adding to the page

I have been playing around on the page again and found some cute stuff...can you tell my favorite holiday is approaching!!!

It's the middle of the week

Wednesdays are so boring....two days since the weekend and two days before the weekend. Last night I took my best friend that I have pretty much since the 4th grade out for her 40th birthday. Christy isn't the big celebrating birthday type so it was just me and her for dinner at Hustler's. After work I ran to vote because I am too lazy to get up early and go do it then. It's kinda weird that yesterday was a historic election and I can say someday that I was part of it by voting. I don't vote on the regular basis, just every 4 years since I registered when I was 18. So anyways it doesn't matter who won now just that people got out and voted yesterday. It is a historic election that will be a huge part of history.
Today is my Grandma Joy's 90th birthday so we are taking her out to eat at Applebee's and Jordan made her a cake. She told Jordan that she hadn't ever got a birthday cake made for her, so we will give it to her after dinner. Well I am blogging at work and lunch hour is over so back to the trucking business.

Family Pictures

Our gallery is up on www.kathymccloy.com now and most of you have our password to view it. The pictures turned out great but since we had so many taken, we have asked for 2 discs now and probably a new gallery to view. I asked Kathy to separate the family and Jordan from Aimee's engagment and Kailyn's 5th birthday. When she gets back from Califonia the first of this week, there will be a check of what photos are left behind to be sure that we can separate them. Sounds like some dramatic crap on tv and now you are waiting during commercial.
Kailyn had her last soccer game today and got elbowed right in the eye so she had to sit out for a bit while MiMi put ice on it. As you can see, I have changed the blog colors to more of a Christmas theme and added a countdown. Yes I do get excited about this holiday and this year we will be finding room in the dinkus living room for my tree. Aimee was here earlier and said that Kailyn wants the Christmas tree up this week, my answer was to start getting my snowmen out and yea I may get my tree up this week and slowly get it decorated. I love love love Christmas and hope we have a white one this year, it makes it all more magical, as does having a granddaughter that still believes. More on my Christmas traditions in later posts.

Oh me oh my

The past few days have went in a whirlwind.....Wednesday night was Jordan's first MHS singers concert at BMS, those usually start late 7-7:30. Then off to get a costume from Ashley's house for my coworker Sue to wear on Friday after the concert plus carve pumpkins since I had put that off. Thursday night, I got my hair trimmed up and was waxed too then Steve and I went to Bogey's for the $1.25 or $1.50 taco night. Of course Friday was Halloween and I stayed dressed up as the witch but this time I wore my taller boots to work and to hand out candy. I managed to scare only 1 kid but we didn't have alot of kids in this neighborhood. I have what I call my "Special Kids" bags to make each year and most of them came by. We had one last stragler around 9pm and I dumped the "other" candy in their bags. "Other" means that it is the kinda cheaper stuff that we give the kids we don't know and the "Special" is of course for my special ones.
Yesterday started off with taking Grandma to the beauty shop then to get her some ribs, go get 2 Wedding cards for the Kolkmeyer reception at 1pm and the Crew's/Thornton wedding at 5:30. Steve didn't get off work until 3pm and went straight for the couch to take a nap, Jordan was already taking a nap then. so I went in and was intending to lay around for 30 mins and watch tv. Then silently try to get ready for the wedding since Jordan was going with me to that and Steve would be ready for the reception after. That 30 minutes lasted until 10 minutes to 5pm by Jordan coming in and asking if we was still going. I dozed back off after a negative to that question until almost 6 pm. I have no idea what made me so tired unless it was the Halloween Spirits I drank while handing out candy, the intense pain my body was in after wearing those boots way too long, or that I'm just a freakn train wreck of ailments anymore.........
So after that we decided to go to Hustler's since I was wanting somekind of food besides the bowling alley. Then we met Aimee and Joe for supper and some pool shooting. Laura, Johnny, Gala, Glen, McKathy and Mike showed up and we sat there for awhile having a good time. Laura and I was the sober ones for the first time at a bar. Suprisingly I can fun around some drunks while staying sober now, either it's my age or the medication working out for me! haha
I will have to pass the apologies out to the Kolkmeyer's and the Thornton's for missing their special events when I give them their cards that, when I got them, we was intending on showing. This seems like the longest Sunday morning with the time change.....I love the winter but hate it getting dark so soon after work now.

Til Tuesday

Yes, I am gay that way in the fact that I still love to listen to the 80's music. I do also like some newer stuff but every morning I put in the same CD I made with alot of the old stuff but at the end is my 3 Doors Down collection. The days of having bangs to the heavens and the sides going coast to coast are over along with the fashion trends that we really thought was neat. It really seems as if that decade wasn't that long ago sometimes and I am already looking at turning 40. And then it seems like 17 years ago was just yesterday when I was getting ready to bring Jordan into the world. Damn time flies so make the most of it while you can.....there are days that I wish that I could go back knowing what I know now. When Jordan was just a baby, I used to sit and wonder what she would look like when she got older and if I would raise a good daughter. Well, those days have come and I think she is the best accomplishment I have ever done or will do in my life. She is still the little big brown eyed girl that I am beyond proud of the young woman she has become and actually bawling while I am typing this because my time with her at home is going way too fast now. So with that being said , I am going to end this and go bug her in her room just to her say how gay I am.

Just another Manic Monday

Yea I bet you sang that when you read the title, if not try it what the heck....I kinda hate Monday's cause I would rather have one more day to sleep late or I can't seem to get it in gear to get to work 5 minutes early instead of right at 8 am. Last night my father in law, Bob, fell out at the Golden Oaks where he lives now. He was brought in to Fitzgibbon where they ran some tests to find out that he has puemonia in one of his lungs. Even though his short term memory is pretty much gone, he can remember anything from the past. One of those memories is when I was with Steve the first time and Aimee was 6 to 7 years old. We both had long hair and I was the master of french braiding. When I did mine, Aimee usually had hers done too. Bob seems to like this memory of then and mentions it alot when I am around. At that time, Aimee was kinda like a mini me. We even had matching swimsuits!! I will probably drag out the photo of me holding her when she was 6 and also the one a couple of years ago we did of me holding her. That one is hilarious and put them on here soon. We are still awaiting our gallery from Kathy McCloy, mine is in the editing status so that means any moment I will receive a email and get the password to share. She is a amazing photographer that is gaining popularity in town. If you haven't checked her page out, do so....especially when I give out my password!
Til Tuesday.....can you tell I am definitely a 80's girl!

Boock's Annual Halloween party

Morgan, Steve, Jordan, and Aubrie











Last night we attended the 3rd annual Boock
Halloween party. To the right, is Ashley the Halloween Hostess and I,the BW. Here are some of the costumes that I got pictures of, there were alot of funny ones there and some pretty creative ideas too. Steve ended up going as a Mizzou fan since they were beating Colorado when we left a 1 1/2 hours late for the party. I, of course was a Bitchy Witch. There also was some pretty dang good viddles out there too.I already can't wait for next years party and will not be late the next time.....I already have the next costume ready just hoping I can get Steve into being a scarecrow?

Mizzou fan and his Bitchy Witch

Mom and Jordan aka Bitchy witch and cave girl



Rosie aka Mimi from Drew Carey





Prom Queen Rhonda

Morgan, Prom King Bob, and Jordan Jordan, the Skipper Ernie, and Morgan

Brrr it's getting cold!!

I love the fall and winter seasons but this year it seems to have gotten cold early. But then we had the mildest summer I can remember for years. At work we tried the persimmon cutting to see what shape was inside. Shirley's persimmons didn't tell us squat unless hers was a knife shape and Carolyn's granddaughter's class had spoon shapes. So if it is right about how you can tell what kind of winter it will be from them, either bitter cold or lots of snow. I love snow at Christmas and maybe a few flakes on Thanksgiving but after that I am done with it. Last night we went to Johnny Adcock's 50th birthday party for a few hours. There was pictures taken so I will have Laura email me some to put on here so I can show the few social events we have going on the next two weekends. Next Saturday is Ronald and Cindy K's reception and Tiffany Crew's wedding. Again I will post a few pictures of those events, so those of ya'all that check this out can get a kick out of them. Tonight we are supposed to attend Ashley & Kevin Boock's halloween party. I have a witch costume going on and Steve can go as the professor from Gilligan's Island. This witch is going to WalMart for some long johns to wear under my dress since it's going to be a good chilly night for a halloween party. I also got to save my plants and get the others put up for the winter tomorrow since the first freeze will be either Sunday or Monday night. I am headed off to take my Grandma Joy out for a bit and get ready for the party. By the way, my grandma turns 90 on November 5th. She still is very independent and can take care of herself at her own home. She decided almost a year ago that she didn't want to drive anymore and gave Jordan her car so that she can take her places when Jordan can. Then I fill in when Jordan is working or doing volleyball like today. This is the last of the volleyball season and of course this year I took only the first game and my batteries were running out. Never remembered after that to get a camera there. She is very good and next year I will be sure to get the schedule out.

Just some random thoughts

I usually don't do regular breast exams on myself like I have been told to do and know that since I am getting older, that it is a needed thing. I just figure that during my last yearly physical in January, that if he felt something, it would have been addressed with all the other freakin' ailments I had going on at the time. Here's just a short list of crap: chest pains due to anxiety and stress, kidney stones, painful as hell periodicals, bronchitis not once or twice but three times this year and then to top it off, a cyst on my right ovary bust sending me to the emergency room AGAIN! So anyways, I did a self breast exam about 3 weeks ago and found a suspecious bump. Long story short, my doctor is out of town til the 1st of November, Dr. Smith booked til this week so I got into Deanna Donnell. She felt another lump and scheduled a mammogram for today. There was a moment that I was scared shitless because the tech lady came in and said that I have a dense area in my right breast. Then had to do another scan thing on it at another view. Then I sat while they viewed my scans and awaiting to go do a ultrasound. I texted my stepdaughter, Aimee that I was going to have to do another procedure because I thought of her mother who is now beginning a battle with breast cancer. Janice was diagnosed a couple of months ago with stage two and has to under go chemotherapy and radiation treatments to hopefully get rid of this awful disease. I had alot of thoughts running through my head and was getting myself prepared for the worse. I guess I am lucky today because in the end, I have fibrocystic "boobs" that I will have to monitor more closely and get yearly mammograms from here on out. So I am giving a huge shout out to Janice, I think Kailyn's MiMi is my hero too! I know she is a very strong person that will conquer this. Now any of you gals that read my blabber, do your monthly boob exam and get mammograms done, even if you are not 40 it is now recommended to get a baseline done at 35.

Taste of Sedalia

Tonight, Lorry and I went to the annual Taste of Sedalia. Usually this has been a fun and pretty tasty event in the past. Since we decided to go at the last minute, we paid $12 at the door. This is a pretty reasonable price to try all you want from various Sedalia restaraunts. Also includes booze in the price of admission. In the previous years there was wine, not this year, only beer so since I am a hard liquour drinker, I found no thrill in that. I looked forward all afternoon to this and planned my areas which I was going to hit first and which freebie booths to get the most from. I am totally disappointed that first, Russell Stover wasn't there with their carmel apples, second the Ivory Grille had only potato pancakes with crappy applesauce to go on top, they have way more to sample than a simple potato pancake( stuffed pepper soup or even their salads would have been better)....third the Pepsi booth didn't have the special cans of Mt. Dew to give out as they have in the past. I will say the Patricia's booth had the best viddles with a variety of delicious seven layer dip, potato soup and steak samples that rocked. The best was the chocolate chimichanga......yea it was way good. Ivory Grille had the signature cheesecake with chocolate notes on top that is good. The Calagario's(sp?) pizza place was there, I found out about this place almost a year ago when going through Cole Camp after my office family went to a driver's funeral. This pizza is the bomb, I have never tasted such a great pizza in my life, so needless to say I visited that booth twice. Even though I am very dissappointed in the event, I did leave feeling like a bloated toad and it only cost $12 to eat as much as you can before they start packing up. Which some booths run out before the end at 8pm, but many towards the end will give you a little extra to try to get rid of their stuff. Next year I will find out before which places are planning on being there and then decide if we are going to make the trip.

Future soccer star

Here is our future soccer star!!

This is getting easier to do, Yahoo!

I think I am finally getting the hang of adding stuff to our page. Aimee will keep me in current pictures of Kailyn and since I got a new camera for myself for my birthday, there will be no excuse for not adding photos. I am excited that this is something I have learned to do and hope everyone enjoys reading my blabber. I thought this picture was precious of Kailyn after working hard on her pumpkin at Grammy Robin's house.

Some random photos

Grandma Shannon and Kailyn
Aimee posing for Kailyn

Grandpa Shannon and Kailyn at Dairy Queen

Joe Klinge(Aimee's fiance)

Grandma Shannon, Aimee and Kailyn at Dairy Queen

Jordan and one of her best friends Aubrie
Just playing around with some photos that were taken this summer and at a football game. I think I am gradually getting the hang of some of this posting photos and such. Now I am trying to get other gadgets on my page such as a Christmas countdown, Jordan's birthday countdown, and other holiday countdowns. Also some other fun gadgets, so if you can give me any tips, they are much appreciated. We had our family pictures done 2 weeks ago by Kathy McCloy. She did Aimee's this past Spring and I absolutely fell in love with her style of photography. So I booked an October date back in April with her and it was fun doing the shoot. Please check out her site at www.kathymccloy.com and soon she will have our gallery up for viewing. As soon as I get my password, I will email it around for everyone to see them. I am exicted to see them myself. We have not had professional photos done since Steve and I got married 8+years ago. I also had Kaytee in them and she did so good with all the excitement around her. I was proud of my entire beautiful family that day and this is my early Christmas present. I know it will be the best one I could have ever asked for. So for now, enjoy the photos and hope everyone had a good weekend.

Yahoo I think I am learning!

I wanted to share the backdrop we used for our family pictures two weeks ago. Hopefully my gallery will be done soon and will be able to share my password so you all can see the pictures and pick out which ones you would like to have. Happy Fall Y'All!

Happy Saturday!

Hello again! I am still learning how to do build our page and hopefully will get the hang of this soon!!! So please keep checking in as I get the page going. Hope you have a great Saturday.

My adventure in blogging starts now

Hello everyone,
I am now starting a new adventure in blogging. I have visited my niece's spot several times and a few others and thought this would be fun to do. So I hope you enjoy my posts and other stuff as I learn how to do this.
Penny