July 31 (PAD) - And their off!

My guys headed out this afternoon for their backpacking trip in NC. They were both pretty excited about it...I am a little nervous about it! LOL! But then I just wouldn't be me if I wasn't! I miss them already! I could not get the time off work since they kind of planned this last minute so we are going to attempt a family trip sometime in the fall -- should be interesting! LOL!

Alyson and I are going to have some girl time this weekend, do a little scrapbooking, hang out at the mall with Aunt Rachelle, watch girlie movies...I think we will have a good time too!

When I look at this picture too I am struck by how grown up Stevie is looking! WOW! And I just love his crazy, curly blonde hair! I am so lucky to have these two handsome guys in my life!

July 30 (PAD) - Dinner with the girls

Tonight I had dinner with my 3 neighbors across the street. We walked around the mall for a bit and then had a really nice dinner at PF Changs...their lettuce wraps make my mouth water every time I think of them! LOL! SOOOOO good! We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get out with just the girls.

July 29th (PAD) - Little Miss Wicked!

This is my new favorite shirt! My brother took this picture of me at work today...obviously acting like a dork! LOL! I saw this shirt on Sunday when we were at The Magic Kingdom and I HAD to have it...I mean, it had my name on it! ;) How could I NOT?!

Back when Alyson was about 3 years old, she was Snow White for Halloween. I found an Evil Queen costume to go with. Shortly after, every time they would see the Evil Queen they would both say "Look Mommy, it's you!" I can only imagine what all the people around us at the Disney Princess on Ice show that year must have been thinking when they heard THAT?!?! LOL!

You know, she even graces my steering wheel these days too...although whenever school is session and Steve is driving the carpool, she tends to disappear! Can't imagine why?! LOL!

So now my secret is out! You all know my alter ego. APPLE anyone? ;)

July 28th (PAD) - Tiger Lily

This is our oldest cat...Tiger Lily -- or just Lily, for short. She turned 2 years old on June 16th. I have a soft spot for calicos and I just love her little pink nose too. Almost every night as soon as Steve and I crawl into bed she hops in too! We like to read most nights before turning out the light and Lily likes getting in the way and trying to snatch my bookmark! Or she will "attack" anything that moves under the comforter. I think she sleeps all day and then she is ready to play at night right when we are all ready to go to sleep! We adopted Tiger Lily when she was about 9 months old or so and she is such a sweet and lovable thing and possibly the quietest cat I have ever met! In all the time she has been with us, I think we have heard her 'meow' *maybe* 3 times! She reminds Steve and I a lot of Lenox...I think he would have liked having her as a little sister ;)

July 27th (PAD) - Got to meet up with a friend!

I got to meet an online friend today. She is the Landlord over at one of my favorite online hangouts - The House of Paper. I have been lucky enough to meet Chiara in person once before back in April 2005. This time though I actually got to meet her newest addition to the family (you can tell he was thrilled here, right?) I was talking to Steve about it and I figure I have known her for about 5 years or so now - we initially "met" on a Yahoo Group called Rakaroos before The House of Paper was "built"...how cool is that?! I had a lot of fun talking with her little girl who happens to be about the same age as Alyson. It was nice to have my family with me as well and Steve could get to meet her and her family too...he hears me talk about all my "House Girls" all the time! (see honey - they really DO exist!) We hung out for a bit and rode a few rides together and then we let them get back to their vacation. I am just thrilled that we got to "crash" for a little bit! And that is just another reason why I love Disney so much...what a great way to see some of our out of state friends and family!

July 26th - Meet Captain Fear!

We spent the morning at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex and watched some the Buccaneers Training Camp - so very cool! We are most definitely ready for some football to start in our house! The Bucs' mascot, Captain Fear was there and so we were able to get a couple of pics with him...he even attempted to use his sword to give Stevie a haircut! LOL! Alyson was excited to meet a few of the cheerleaders (and so was Daddy! - just insert a picture of me rolling my eyes here! LOL!). They were all very nice. I had a lot of fun snapping pics of all the players. ;)

July 25 (PAD) - A nice surprise!

Steve surprised me and booked us

a room for the weekend in Orlando. I got home from work, was told to pack and then we headed out. The kids love it when we stay at hotels because that is the only time they are allowed to jump on the bed! That is usually the first thing they do when we get in the room. This is mostly a rule that Steve came up with...I still have my doubts about whether or not it is really a good idea -- but I am pretty sure I would be outnumbered any way! LOL!

PAD - July 24th

Not much to look at, uh? I'll bet you are wondering why on earth I would take a picture of this house. On my lunch hour today I had to drive to sign some paperwork at my lawyer's office and so I decided to take a drive past here.

Can you believe I used to live in this house...back when I was about Alyson's age, my mom and I lived in this house. It certainly didn't look like this though! It didn't even have a cement driveway then, actually no driveway at all. And it was all open space around the house and no fence in the back. There was no front porch either. It was a bit more cute back then! My mom and I have always referred to this house as "The Crayola Box House" because she had pained each room a different color. My room was a sunny yellow color while my mother's room was lavendar. The little bathroom was green, the kitchen was blue and the living room was cantelope! LOL! She even painted a desk to match the living room! I wish I could remember how long we lived in that house. I used to love the tangerine tree in the back. I will have to see if I can find any pictures of what it looked like back then!

PAD - July 23rd

I snapped a picture of my little brainiac tonight while he was reading. Stevie has been reading since he was about 2 years old and loves it. Even when he was little he preferred the bookstore over the toy store. You know, when we took him to Disneyland in CA he was about 14 months old...and out of all the things he saw all he wanted was a book.

Steve and I are so happy that he has kept that love of reading. He is so smart and he learns so much when he is reading. It is not uncommon to see him with a book of some sort in his hand on a daily basis. Last summer he read 50 books in order to earn a Nintendo Wii...and his sister did her part too by reading 30 books. He was reading a Star Wars book on this occasion but his favorite books to read our the non-fiction books.

July 22 (PAD) - Somewhere over the rainbow

We had a pretty hefty thunderstorm come through early this evening but then after it passed it left behind this beautiful sight! I stepped out my front door to snap this picture. I wanted to snap a few pictures of my son who was outside with me but unfortunately, as I was snapping this picture my son and I spotted the neighbor's pit bull across the street...it seems we all spotted each other at the same time and then the dog headed full speed at us. Needless to say, my little guy was more than a little scared to have this animal running full force after him. I was screaming at the top of my lungs for Steve who was in the house. Stevie took off around the back of our house and I stepped in the path of this dog to keep him away from Stevie. At the last second he turned away from me and then Steve finally came outside. Poor Stevie ran all the way around our house - he was terrified! I got him ushered inside the house and then we called animal control...a lot of good that did us.

This is not the first time our neighbor's dog has gotten out and chased after kids in the neighborhood but apparently this guy doesn't care enough to do anything about it. I am not sure what but we definitely need to do something...waiting until the dog actually gets to a child is waiting too long. He came back through our yard a few more times tonight. I do not ever wish to see this dog coming after my child or any other child again. The look of pure terror on my son's face is forever imprinted in my mind. That poor guy has been sticking pretty close to my and his daddy's side ever since.

July 21 - No surgery required!

I had my dr's appt today to see about the future of my wrist...and while I am still going to have pain - especially when it is cold or rains, I DON'T HAVE TO HAVE ANOTHER SURGERY! I could have hugged him I was so happy! He said that it would not really help me as far as my pain goes or my mobility. I am supposed to keep working on my mobility and keep taking the Relafen. He says he can tell a difference in the inflammation since my initial visit with him so the medication is obviously doing it's job. In about 2 weeks I am supposed to cut back to one pill a day rather than 2 to see if that will still work...not supposed to take any other inflammatories though. I go back again in 6 weeks. I just can't even tell you how happy I am not to be looking at another surgery. He said unless I am having major problems down the road or my pins start popping out, I will be fine without it...and he says that is pretty rare.

I asked the dr if I could take a picture of my x-rays since my kids have never seen the metal plate and 5 pins - I think Stevie will especially think it is cool. I have 3 pins across the top of the plate and then 2 at the bottom...you can even see my heart bracelet I was wearing today - it was a Valentine's Day gift from Steve and the kids a couple of years ago.

July 20 - Summer Fun

We put our big slide up in the front yard today while we did some weeding (okay, so Steve did most of the weeding...but I did help!) and we had some of the kids' friends over who live across the street, as well as one of Alyson's friends from school. Steve ordered pizza and blew up some beach balls and they were good to go! Nothing beats the heat like playing in the water. Once it was time for the kids to get off the slide, Steve and I took a few minutes to enjoy the water ourselves!

July 19 - Photo A Day

We had a pretty nice day just hanging around the house, doing the weekly laundry and cleaning, taking care of a few things in the yard...all that good stuff. After lunch, Steve's mom and our 2 neices came over for a bit and stayed for dinner. The kids had a good time playing both inside and out and we even had a few of the neighbors hanging outside with us for a bit too. It was nice to just BE at home.

PAD July 18th - Ketchup Karma

I went to my new favorite place for lunch today...EVOS. I just love it! It is healthy food, fast. I don't feel bad after eating it and it definitely makes for a more enjoyable rest of the day. I think my favorite part though is the "Ketchup Karma" - 4 different kinds of ketchup! I mean seriously, who knew?! It always make me think of my sister, Rachelle - I swear that girl puts ketchup on everything! LOL! (you know I love you, girl!)

July 17 (PAD) - Just another day at the office

Today it is a picture of me at work. I am the Operations Assistant/Office Manager for a company called Subsurface Evaluations. We do geologic and geophysical consulting. I don't really have a traditional sort of desk...more like a slab of granite countertop. LOL! I could have had my own office but I opted to take the "slab" out front. I prefer being able to look outside as opposed to being closed up in a small office. I like being able to see whenever anyone comes in, not to be mention it is the best place for socializing and keeping up with any and all office drama! ;)

July 16 - Photo for the Day

Steve refers to this as my corner. I prefer to avoid it and tend to hold my breath whenever I have to drive around it.

This was the scene of my terrible accident last September 23rd. I was actually coming in the opposite direction and after the kid hit us we ended up in between those 2 short white posts you see.

We went out to dinner tonight and so we had to drive through this corner...twice. When we were on the way home I was telling Steve that I had not gotten my photo for the day and so he told me to grab my camera. Reluctantly, I did.

I can still remember every single moment of that accident. Thankfully you can not really see the skid marks on the road anymore and someone finally picked up the leftover debri from the cars. This coming September 23, my brother, sister and I, along with her finace are planning to have dinner together to celebrate still being here. I am extremely grateful for that and I thank God every day. I also give a lot of credit to the car I was driving and so I have to say thank you Toyota - I am a customer for life.

July 15 (PAD) Bring my kiddos to work day.

Alyson has been begging me for weeks to come to work with me again and so her and Stevie came with me for today. They hung out at my desk for a couple of hours playing their DS's, coloring and a few times we watched a little You Tube. Yes, that is my desk and if you look carefully in the background you can see that I was checking in with my girls at The House of Paper too! ;)

July 14 - Photo A Day

Today's photo I snapped on my way home from work. It was my brother's first day of work in my office. He will be working with Subsurface Evaluations part-time (at least for now) Mondays - Wednesdays. So to make it easier on him he is staying with us during those days until he finds a place in town rather than having to drive the hour back up north to our parents' house. My mother does not like to watch my brother on his motorcycle..and today I realized it bothers me quite a bit as well. He really does look super cool though and despite the heat he always wears his safety gear, which makes me very proud and eazes my fears a little bit. As I was driving home today after work I could see him in my rear view mirror since he was right behind me. I snapped this pic in my driver's side mirror while we were stopped at a light. I am not a fantabulous photographer but I still thought it was kind of cool! ;)

July 13 (PAD) - Little Sleeping Beauty

Our very own Sleeping Beauty. Alyson and I fell asleep shortly after watching The Game Plan last night and rather than taking her to her room Steve just let her sleep. She looked like a little angel sleeping so soundly...how could I not take a picture?

July 12th - PAD

Stevie went to spend the day and night with a friend and so it was just Alyson home with daddy and I today. We spent a lazy day cuddled up watching a few movies of her choosing, took her out to get a new bigger and better bike AND I got her some scrapbooking goodies that are just for her. So after dinner I helped her scrap her first page in her new album...she did a page about Lenox, our cat of 13 years who passed away last March. He is still very much missed in our house.

July 11 (PAD) Fun with the FlaminGals

My picture for today is me with my fellow FlaminGals. We got together with out new mascot - Plastico Flamingo for a little food, fun and scrapping! Although I am pretty sure we had more food and fun than scrapping -- but that is just fine with me! It was so nice to get together with them and gab and laugh...oh and drink.

Amanda was our bartendar and brought us some happy drinks -- or "Flamingo Juice" as my kids decided to call it since it was pink...and in the flamingo wine glasses I found for us..

We had fun hanging with Plastico Flamingo too...

July 10 (PAD) - Just another reason to love The House of Paper

I had my photo for the day all set to upload but then I came home to a wonderful little surprise. Tawnya, a fellow scrapbooker and friend from The House of Paper sent me these adorable flower sugar cookies! I confess I ate 2 before I took the picture - just couldn't help myself! OMG - they are absolutely divine and just melt in your mouth. I have decided not to share! ;) Such a sweet and simple gesture that just means so much. And what's even better is I actually got to meet her in person just a couple of weeks ago and can I just tell you, she is as sweet and adorable as these cookies!

I love being a part of the online community at The House of Paper and this is just another reason why. The friendship and support there is overwhelming at times. I love these girls! Thank you Chiara for making it all possible. I have been so blessed by The House and all the roomies there.

And for my sister who was probably expecting to see a little something different here...just wait...the month ain't over! ;)

July 9th - PAD

July 9th is not really one of my favorite days. It is the anniversary of my uncle's death - my mom's oldest brother. I was just a kid when he passed away - maybe around Stevie's age - but I remember it well because it was the first time I saw my mother cry. Thankfully though, much to my surprise, today actually turned out to be a rather nice day. I had to meet with my lawyer today and so I took a picture of his office building. I wasn't really looking forward to it but I knew we had to talk about getting ready for our settlement talk later in the month with the other insurance company regarding the accident from September. Turns out we won the full amount allowed before I even set foot in his office. That was a welcome relief and I actually cried from feeling so overwhelmed...we are almost done. That was the first part of my lawsuit. Now Dan and I are moving on to the second part which may not go quite as easily but at least we are almost ready to get this all behind us. My sister and my brother are ready to "get off the merry go round" now though - as our lawyer put it. And speaking of Dan and the accident, he finally go clearance to go back to work since his back surgery - finally! And even more good news...my dad got a job! He lost his job a couple of months ago and so things have been tough but today...it felt like all of our planets were in alignment! LOL! Maybe my uncle was up there pulling some strings for us?! (So if you are listening Uncle George, if you could pull a few more strings to help prevent me from having another surgery on my wrist that would be SO great! xoxoxo) ;)

July 8th (PAD) - Childhood memories

Not really the prettiest thing to look at is it? I recently changed the way I drive to work in the morning and so now I drive past this old drive-thru beverage store everyday. It is obviously closed these days, but when I was a kid my mom and I would drive in at least once a week. She almost always got the same things too...a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, and a pack of Virgina Slims. (Thankfully she quit smoking some 25+ years ago). I can remember this place like it was yesterday...I thought it was the coolest thing and it was nice that we didn't have to get out of the car - even in the rain. A drive-thru convenience store - brilliant! I can't imagine why it is no longer in business -- seems pretty ingenious to me. And how great would that be when Steve wants me to pick up something on my way home from work?!

July 7th - PAD

The guys in my office like to keep things freezing and so I had to step outside a few times today in order to warm up...this was the view I had from the front door just before it was time to head home. Not the greatest fun to drive in...but at least my truck is getting a bath! ;) I really wasn't thrilled about having to be back at work today plus things have not been as enjoyable around the office with all the "drama" that has ensued over the last few weeks -- this picture kind of reflects how I was feeling all day...just BLAH! Oh well, tomorrow is a new day!

July 6th - Photo A Day

This was the view from our front door for most of Sunday...eventually the rains did come but not before Steve and Alyson got to play out on the lake again with one of the neighbors and the jet ski again! I spent most of the day doing laundry and taking care of things around the house. Steve added some shelves to my closet in the bedroom so I reorganized that too...slowly but surely we will get this house in tip top shape!

July 5th - PAD

What a great day we had today! We started out with a nice bike ride - although I think my patience got more of a workout than my body with Alyson along but it was quality family time -- I think! ;) Later we had fun with some of our favorite neighbors playing in the pool and on the jet ski. All the kids were really loving it when they hooked the tube up to the back of the jet ski. We had perfect weather and a really great time!

July 4th (PAD) - Happy Birthday America!

It's the 4th of July and so our country's birthday! Happy 4th of July America!

Here we are getting ready for the 4th of July parade in Temple Terrace. This is the second year that we have participated in this parade. The first Liberty Tax store we opened was in Temple Terrace so how could we NOT be a part of the parade...especially with a name like Liberty?! The event is nothing fancy really...we were in our neighbors borrowed pick up truck all decked out in red, white and blue throwing candy from the back while Uncle Sam and a couple of Lady Liberty passed out some of those totally rocking red crowns you see and stickers...the kids absolutely love it - ours and the kids watching! We also had a white convertible in our little caravan as well. We gave out 2000 crowns, 6 big bags of candy and who knows how many sheets of stickers!! I think we made it maybe 3/4 of the way through before running out...guess we will have to stock up even more next year! I hate getting up early and it gets so incredibly hot while we are out there but it always ends up being a good time.

July 3rd - PAD

Okay, so I am totally loving my picture for today! LOL! That wacky guy is my little brother, Christopher. He came into my office today -- actually he had an interview. When he walked through the door I was so excited to see that he had cut his hair! He had been growing it out for awhile, for fun and curiosity I think. (actually if you scroll down to the slide show from Alyson's dance recital you can see his longer hair). I just think he looks so much nicer with it short and was just so thrilled to see it that I let out a big "woot" and jumped around my desk to hug him! LOL! Hopefully I didn't embarrass him too much! He got the job and so I snapped this pic just before he was heading out. I am so happy for him -- he is starting out part time and so he will keep his other job as well, for now...but I think his potential for becoming full time is pretty good! And yep, my little bro is that funny and wacky most of the time! ;)

July 2nd - Photo A Day

Today I got to have lunch with my favorite people! Steve and the kids met up with me at Chipotle Mexican Grill....MMMMMMMM -- yummy steak burrito! (totally blew my calorie in take for the day though.) I really miss being at home with them and so I love it when I can see them even if it is just for lunch during the day. I sure do love these two...and their daddy too who was nice enough to take the picture for me -- and didn't even roll his eyes! LOL!

July 1st - Photo A Day (PAD) Challenge starts TODAY!

I had so much fun last February doing the Photo A Day and then turning them all into a mini album that I decided I wanted to do it again and so some of the girls and I from The House of Paper decided July was a good month! And so today is the 1st and the challenge begins.

I can't start my day without my coffee...and yes, I am that much of a Starbucks snob that I even brew it at home! And I have some of my collection of Starbucks mugs nearby too. I took this picture shortly after I got up this morning...just before I started my morning brew! ;)