The ENT Visit

I had my visit with the ENT (ear,nose,throat) doctor yesterday and have to say I was not to impressed! I drove all the was Minneapolis for this ENT doc, waited for him for about 15minutes all for him to tell me "You can either get your tonsils out or keep them in, here is a brochure and the number to call to schedule if you decide to get them out." THE END! I'm thinking "what...I just paid my co pay and took a trip to minnapolis for you to tell me that!!" I don't know about you, but sometimes these doctors baffle me at times. Why would'nt my first doctor tell me what he was going to say and skip right to part of you need to go get your tonsils out, schedule an appointment with them for this. So now I need to decide, to get them out or not too...that is the question:)

Boycott the Valentine's Day madness

I found this article online about boycotting the valentine's day madness today and found it to be logical and a bit amuzing and wanted to share it with all of my fellow blogger friends. I am totally with her about not being against the romance of it all for a day...but admist the economic crisis we are finding ourselves it is hard to understand why we all fall to the Hallmark spending spree for the day to tell the one you love "I Love You"....

Romance is to be savored, sure, but must we spend nearly $15 billion on candy, flowers and other frivolous gifts? There are better (and sexier) ways to show you care.....http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/LoveAndMoney/boycott-the-valentines-day-madness.aspx

Happy Valentines Day!!! I hope you enjoy the article:)

Tonsillitis & Laringitas

Yes I have managed to take on both of these to throat adventures over the last couple of days...not so fun:( I seem to get the tonsillitis thing more regulary ever since last year!! I would about every 3-4 months, and now I add to it Laringitas. After many strep tests, mono tests, cancer tests, iron tests, you name the test, I have been tested for it, and my doctor is finally sending me to a ENT (ear nose throat) doctor. I have never been to one so I am a little curious as to what will happen, because they are scheduled out until the middle of February. What if I don't have my symtoms then...oh well, this blog is just me whining, I know. Its just when your throat really really hurts, your boss is expecting you to be at work, and you would rather stay home, but you feel like a soar throat shouldn't stop you from doing anything, it is just no fun!! I will keep you posted to see what the ENT doctor says.

Air Popped PopCorn, Cup o HotChocolate and a slice of Carrot Cake!

what more could you ask for on a Sunday night:) We got this new popcorn maker for christmas and we love it. I forgot how good popcorn tasted by making it from the seeds and not the bag in the microwave. It was a fun night, we got in our Pajama's Rich made some hot chocolate with LOTS of marshmallows, I made the popcorn and we rocked out on the Guitar Hero. I am actually becoming very good at this game, maybe I should head up a secret Rock Band:) wanna join!! and for desert we had the HUGE piece of Carrot cake we got from the resturant the other night. You could feed at least 4 off of that slice. But it was good. I love those random Sunday nights:)

LAYOFFS

We here it all around us, Layoff, Layoff, more rounds of Layoffs. You really never think that it will ever happen to you. It is so easy to take for granted the things we do have and I have realized over the last couple weeks how this word has really hit home for me. I have had a close girlfriend of mine make it through 3 rounds of layoffs at her work and I just found out my dad was laid off just this last Friday:(
It truly has been a wake up call for me, I first of all can't imagine the stress and worry it brings on the family of wondering will I have a job tomorrow or how long till I find a new job in this economy. Secondly, I feel like I have been in a little bubble of "the recession thing isn't affecting me" , not worrying about my spending and basically taking for granted what God has blessed me with in my life. Taking for granted my own job, complaining about it and having a bad attitude towards it, I am trying to turn that attitude around but its not an easy thing to do. Going through the rounds of lay offs with my friend and seeing the stress it brings on you and seeing the effects a true lay off has on my own family has truly opened my eyes to what is going on in this world. My heart truly goes out to them and everyone who is going through a layoff. love ya all:)

Winter Fun

Emma and "her" uncle Richy


little Cole climbing all over Rich



Emma put us in Time Out chairs:)

here is the start of our snow man...


he is getting bigger...

ta da!!!

we had a little help getting him together:)

our gingerbread house we made from scratch

HolliDazzle Fun

time of your life girls

Happy New Year Friends

I know I know, I have been a slacker on my blogs...does it count that I think about blogging:):)

well, 2008 ended pretty good, we went home to MI for Christmas and did my family's Christmas the weekend before. My sister from NY was able to come home and hang out with us. MI was fun, the travel out there not so much. we left MOnday night to miss most of the storm that was heading our way and finished the drive on Tuesday. What a MESS!! I think we saw at least 20+ cars in ditch from Janesville, WI to the Illinois boarder (for those of you that don't know thats about a 45min drive) we did make it safely to MI around dinner time.

They had over 2ft of snow when we got there. We built a huge (over 6' tall) snowman the next day with our niece Emma and her parents. (I will post pictures of him when I remember to bring in the camera) well, 2 days later the snowman was gone:( they had a huge rain storm come through and melted all the snow away...crazy so needless to say we didn't get to play in the snow too much. I think the best part of it all was hanging out with little Emma, Cole and Asher:) they are getting to the age where they are playful and want to hang on to you every moment. Emma and I had pj parties at night, and she adored her uncle Rich, if he wasn't in sight she would go looking for him.

On the house front projects, we are kinda at a stand still till the summer, just working on piddly stuff inside the house. When summer comes along we are planning on putting in a sliding glass door and a new deck!! oh ya and we need to redo our driveway. Fun times ahead!!

well my friends, I will try to post pictures soon. take care for now:)

No Problem Mon!!

oh Jamaica....this is where my husband and I went on our honeymoon!! it was so awesome!! when we got there we realized they had upgraded us to the best room on the entire resort, it had our very own swim up pool outside of our patio deck, it was great. our butler had our chairs ready for us every morning under the palm trees and brought us our Jamaican Smiles (the best drink ever) and whatever else we needed while we basked in the sun, they were only a phone call away. I would have to say naps by the ocean was one of my favorite events:) we went and got certified to go diving down there, that was cool!! it was a little scary for me at first cause I couldn't get the whole breathing through your mouth thing down, but once under the water they said I was a pro! It is amazing down under the ocean with all of the ocean life around you. words can't even describe. the sunsets down there were amazing too, and believe it or not the weather was great the whole week.

I will post more pictures and stories later, but this will have to do for now.

Got Zuchinni!!

so I went out to my garden last night and this is what I found!!!




wholly zuchinni!!! I needed two hands just to pick the first one in the picture off the plant (notice the finger nail swipe) I don't know how they got this huge!! no steroids, miracle grow, just water!! I know one thing for sure you don't see this kind of stuff in the stores:):)

They are really good, we grilled a couple them on the grill the other night, oh so tasty!! So if you want any zuchinni, come on over and I'll hook ya up!!

Mister N Shorty

Here are a few of our Engagement Pictures!!
15 Days!!!

Say It's NOT True!!

I get a call from my mother-in-law to be the other day telling me she bought her dress and how excited she was for it. She started describing her dress to me and it sounded very familiar!! So I asked her where she bought it from...from Sears :0 then I asked her what designer it was from... Oh Boy!! all I could think is that is was the EXACT same dress that my mom had bought a few months back for the wedding!!! so I am having her send me a picture of it to verify...I don't get how it happens, two different states, bought at different times!! oh boy, lets hope that it isn't the same dress as my moms:)

It's All About the Limeade!!!

You would not believe what FINALLY arrived in Minnesota!! SONIC and their famous Cherry Limeades!!! and cheddar bites!! mmmmm I made a trip to them on Saturday. It was GREAT!!

if you haven't had SONIC before it is well worth your trip. They are only in St. Paul right now, but is coming soon to Savage:):)

After the Fact

I thought women only changed their minds at the last minute "after the fact" that something is already in progress. Not true...I have come to realize that my hubby to be likes to come up with "new" ideas of how something should be or go "AFTER" I have started or completed the process of something!!! Now, I know he means well, and is just sharing his ideas, but FOR THE LOVE!! Why not share your thoughts and ideas during the putting together process. (I know where is the story LD) We have been working on our programs for the wedding, and I have made proteges for him to see and get his imput, he tells me he likes it and if I like it I can do it. We go get all the paper for the one side of the program and I him the file of what will be printed one last time to make sure he likes it. He does, then I get an email a couple hours later from him suggesting we do the programs maybe this way... AFTER I sent the file to the print shop with all the paper and is now in production. meanwhile I am preparing my self for him to say he really wanted to do the programs this other way. Which would Xnay the whole thing that we had put together in the first place. BREATHE LaDonna, they are just programs....You gotta love him though, he did realize his new idea was a "little" last minute, but thought we would share it with me:)

58 Days

Yeah!! I will be a Ver Strate soon!! I kinda feel like I am on a roller coaster of feelings, I get excited, then a little nervous, some times I feel anxious and then excited all over again:) So many changes to come. This has been a good year of changes though, My girlfriend was married earlier this year, I have two friends who are new mommies, and I am about to be married in less than two months....woohoo!!

Clubhouse Chicken Squares

some of us girls got together over the weekend for scrapbooking!! I wouldn't say I got to much done, but I did have fun:) we were to bring a dish with and everytime I make this, it seems as everyone raves about and wants the "secret" recipe...well, here is LD's version of the ClubHouse Chicken Squares. Enjoy!!!

2 (8 oz.) tubes of refrigerator crescent rolls1

(8 oz.) package of cream cheese,

1 clove of garlic, pressed

1/2 cup of ranch dressing

1 teaspoon of italian seasoning

2cups of chopped chiken

1 cucumber chopped

1 chopped tomato,

1/2 cup shredded marble jack cheese

6 slices of bacon, crisply cooked & crumbled(the "real" bacon bits work just as well)

Preheat oven to 375. Unroll 1 package of crescent rolls across one end of cookie sheet (baking sheet). Repeat with remaining package of crescent rolls dough, covering the sheet. Roll or press dough to seal perforations. Press up sides to form crust. Bake 12 - 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Place cream cheese, ranch dressing, garlic, italian seasoning, in a batter bowl. Mix until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the cooled crust. Sprinkle chicken evenly over the filling. Place cucumber slices evenly on top. Sprinkle tomatoes, bacon, and cheese on top. Cut into squares (I use a pizza cutter).

50 MPH

Today is the first day in a long time I drove the actual speed limit on my way to work. I see this trooper from the corner of my eye waiting to turn onto the highway after I passed by... oooh boy!! I was only going "a few" miles over the speed limit, ok I admit my car is use to going 60 on this road and not 50. So we are cruisin' along then I see another 3 cop cars up the road(at this point I am thinking I am about to witness a C.O.P.S. show episode) well, no COPS show episode was about to happen, but it did get me to go the speed limit the entire stretch of 13. I have to say though, it is too easy to be cruizin along and not realizing how fast you are actually going...

Joy Riding

Yesterday Rich and I were off to meet little Martin (he is the newest addition to some good friends of ours) after work and lets just say, it was a trip:) I googled the address that was given to me and printed them off to get us to the hospital, well, lets just say the directions took us to a house that was being newly built. So unless the hospital downsized to a housing development...mmm I not to sure. Well to our knowledge the adventure had just begun:) we started driving around the city of St. Louis Park and later found ourselves on Excelsior(which the hospital is on) so we pulled into the hospital and walked into the building, got on the elevator thinking we were going to her floor and ended up on the Senoir Citizens Ward! I don't think they are having babies on that floor. So we go down a level, nope that was the family practice level and everyone had gone home for the day! So we found ourselves back at the parking ramp and realized this hospital had multiple buildings. We picked up the courtesy phone to talk to the operator to find out which building she was in. Her reply was "you are on the wrong campus of the hospital!" we needed to go back out to Excelsior and go down another 2 miles and she will be at the hospital there. oops! (At this point my lovely husband to be was not very happy with me, I deffinately need to get a map or a gps unit in my car) So we get back in the car and head down the road to see construction is in our way of getting to the hospital! Yipee(note the sarcasm) well after a little detour we made it to the hospital...we walk in and ask the desk guy how to get to her room. We go up to the 3rd floor looking for room 316(this is the room I thought she was in). There is no room 316!! There was 317, 318, 319 and so on...NO 316. We both laugh walk back down the hallway and the nurses could tell we were still lost:) To our knowledge she was in room 336! An hour later we found our friends and met little Martin (the adventure was deffinately worth it, he is so adorable:):)!! but to know we did a complete circle on our drive passing the same resturant we passed on our way to the first hospital site oh about 45 minutes earlier....I got in a little bit of trouble:)

Too Busy

I feel like I have kinda fallen a little with my "God Time" per say. My prayer life is pretty good, but when it comes to sitting down and reading my bible or reading a devotion, I struggle. I feel like I have gotten wrapped up in the cycle called "I am too busy and if I am not at the moment I will find something else to do to busy my time" I know, its horrible isn't it. Then I get a little frustrated cause in the back of my mind I know I should spend more quality time with God and because I don't I feel bad. I think about spending more time with Him... ALOT(does that count?) but I don't do anything about it...I know I could have the strength to over come this bondage I feel, but I just don't have the motivation to do it. Blogger friends, do you ever get in this cycle? How do you deal with it?

Harding vs. Kerrigan for '08

ok, I was watching my usual Good Morning America Segments this morning while getting ready for work and I just have to laugh at the media these days, (don't get me wrong I love GMA in the mornings) but to analyze the Democratic race with the Harding/Kerrigan incident...I am not to sure. Granted I would have to say this is probably the first time I have been following the democratic race closely(I like what Obama has to say and to see how Clinton handles her campaign) but for them to say Clinton needs to pull a Tanya Harding on Obama to get on the ballot is kinda sad! Granted it seems that is whats happening, but why can't they focus on the issues such as the recession we are sliding in, or the housing market, health insurance, our kids education and so on. I don't know for sure the Obama campaign hasn't gone on a rampage like I have seen/heard the Clinton campaign do with her opponent. But come on now, can't we all just get along! We have two grown adults who could potentially be our President and this is what we have to look foward too???

What a Punk!!

So I was driving around the Wal Mart parking lot today at lunch looking for a spot to park in and had seen this car off to the side who looked like they were just going to plow right into me so I quickly slammed on my brakes. This kid(he is probably in his teens) looked at me and waved me on, so I proceeded and then went down the next aisle and just happened to find a spot right behind his car. As I was getting out of my car he pokes his head out of the window and yelled "you gotta problem with me!" and then gave me that look like you wanna fight. So I just shrugged my shoulds at him and continued to lock my car, well as I was starting to walk towards the store he was getting out of his car yelling "hey, whats your deal" ignoring him I continued to walk shaking my head at him. He then honked his horn at me trying to get my attention even more and continued the yelling. What was this boy thinking!! that I was going to fight him for whatever I did to make him mad!! what an idiot! Every part of my red headedness wanted to go off on him, maybe punch him for being stupid, but I didn't, he wasn't worth my time or energy. I just don't get why teens act like they are all tough, then it makes me think, were we like that as a teenager??