Love it or hate it?

Okay - calling all my girls!!!! I went to the COACH outlet yesterday, and bought myself a purse with matching wallet, and make-up bag for a SMOKIN' DEAL. This morning I'm wondering if it's as cute as I thought it was yesterday. What do you think? Please tell me if you love it, or hate it. 

I have a brown purse, and a black purse, so I was thinking a wanted something little different. Cast your vote. To keep, or not to keep? . . . . . . that is the question.

Ireland Calling

Yesterday, I received a very special phone call - ALL THE WAY FROM IRELAND!! My dear sweet Eefie called to check in on me! What a fabulous surprise!! She has the most wonderfully amazing accent. I just loved talking to her. What a firecracker! I feel so lucky to have made such a special friend. Oh facebook, how you have changed my life for the better!!! Thank you so much for the phone call dear friend! It made my day! You're the best!

What a Holly-day!

My beloved wifey Holly took me out for a late birthday celebration on Saturday. What fun we had! When she picked me up, there was an ENORMOUS bag of treats sitting on the passenger seat for me! Feast your eyes:

Oh how she spoiled me!! We got a little bite to eat, then shopped a bit at Kohls before getting our toes done!

After that we went to lunch at Joey's (YUM!) and shopped at South Center. It was a really fun day, and just what the doctor ordered after a not so great week. Everyone kept asking us if we were sisters.

Here we are as Holly dropped me off a Jackson's soccer game. Thank you Thank you sweet sweet girl! You are the best and I just love you, and I don't know what I'd do without you sister-friend!

Love is in the air

Valentines day was just last week, and my wonderful husband was very sweet to me. First, I was surprised by these beautiful roses:

Then when he came home, he handed me a little bag with a very nice gift inside . . . . HOW NICE!

 The cutes thing I saw on Valentines day was something I pulled out of Carter's backpack. Just look:

Awwww. Could you just die??? My heart!!!! I just love my family. Happy Valentines day to ALL of my boys!! I love you Chris Welch. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Thank you for all my little Valentines - the boys included!! I don't know what I'd do without you!

36? When did this happen?

This year I turned 36. THIRTY SIX! Where has the time gone? Sheesh. Anyway, the beginning of the day wasn't very fun. Chris and I spent 4 hours at Harbor View preparing for my now postponed back surgery.  Just look at this CT:

HOW GROSS! My back is whack!!! See how the last two vertebrae are totally off kilter? Eeewww. Well, that's what I need to get fixed  . . . . later . . . .  at least my stomach looks nice and flat here ;-)

So, anyway - the rest of the day went well. When I got home there were some surprises! Grammy left me a cake and some flowers, Holly left me some goodies, and I received flowers form my beloved friend Aoife all the way from IRELAND!

We went out to dinner, then came  back home to have some cake and open my gifties! Just look at all those treats from all of my wonderful peeps! How exciting!! I hope my wish comes true!!!

Chris and the boys came out with a surprise when I was all done opening my stuff. It was a new net-book!

Thank you boys - and everyone who spoiled me on my birthday! I truly appreciate it! I guess 36 isn't SO bad!

Keepin' it real

I haven't blogged for a while. I just haven't really been in the blogging mood. I'd like for my blog to be a place of joy and wonderment, sunshine and rainbows. Perfect and happy all the time, but that's not real life. In the spirit of keeping it real, and blogging about my life, I need to share what's going on in my life. All of it. The reality . . . .  and right now my reality is that I have cancer. That's not  anything anyone ever wants to say, or write, or think about themselves, but for now - it's my reality. We've been told that it's been caught early, and very treatable - so that's my joy. Thank God. The wonderment is how in the world this happened to me? The sunshine is the outpouring of support, love and friendship that I have been given from all of my friends and family. The rainbow? At the end of all of this, I will have the pot of gold that is my life, and THAT makes me perfectly happy. Since finding this out, Chris and I have had many conversations about PERSPECTIVE. I'm the worry wart, and he's the rational one. Again, thank God.  He gives me perspective. My back surgery will have to wait, and that's OKAY. We have been given very optimistic information for treatment, and recovery. This is good.  One of my nurses told me, "THIS IS JUST A BUMP IN THE ROAD". We can deal with that. It's going to be okay. My friend Linda gave me some flowers with an attached note: TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN AND THE SHADOWS FALL BEHIND YOU. I love it. Not only is it a very wonderful thought, but it's a Maori Proverb! The Maori people are indigenous  to  New Zealand! My beloved Jemaine (a New Zealand native) AND my favorite member of Flight of the Conchords is Maori! This proverb was meant for me! I'm not going to dwell on this. I've got more important things to do. So, keep your eye out for my "typical" posts. I've got  a lot to catch up on. This is just going to be a bump in the road of my life, and I'm going to keep that sun shining on my face while I drive right on through this - to whatever lies ahead. It's all good.

Artsie Fartsie

Last week I went in and did the art docent lesson for Jackson's 5th grade class. Our featured artist was French Impressionist, Camille Pissarro. The title of the print: Le Bassin Deuquesne - whatever that means.

 

Here is a photo of the painting that was to be our inspiration.

I chose to do a tear art project, being that our past lessons included supplies like water colors, oil and charcoal pastels. I wanted to mix things up a bit. We used tiny bits of torn paper to replicate the chunky brush-stroke style of Impressionist paintings. This is the example that I made to bring in and show the class.

Here is the complete finished work from the class. It was a fun, messy and time consuming project. We used the full hour. Jackson's is the first one in the second row from the top on the far left. I really like how they all look so different.  I'd like to give a shout out to Holly for giving me the idea to post this. I never would have thought about it, but seeing her post of the art docent project she did for Cole's' class made me think - I had to do it too!