A day to be thankful

what a beautiful day

Oh my, it is so beautiful outside in South Bend, Indiana today! The temperature is in the mid 40s, but the sun is shining so bright, all the snow has melted, the green (yes, still green) grass is shimmering in the sun and the fall leaves are clinging to the trees with all their might. AHHHH... drink it in. :)

I even opened up the screen door for a little while to let some of that crisp air into the stuffy apartment. So much to be thankful for! :)

I got a late start today. Not that I really had much to do, haha, but I have been kinda sick this week and I can't quite get over it. Monday I went home from work feeling very nauseous and lightheaded. Since then I have been sleeping, ALOT, still feeling a little nauseous occasionally, and having some other, not so pleasant, bowl issues. YUCK. So, this morning, I got up at about 10, made some blueberry muffins, watched some of the parade and started to feel yucky. So, I went back to bed and didn't get up until 2:30! I am so pathetic!

I am sure I need to get my workouts going again, which could be part of the sleepiness issue, but I have got to get over this sickness. Driving me crazy!

Anyway, I digress......

So where was I? Ah yes... Thanksgiving!

To fit in with all my bloggie friends, here is my list of things I am thankful for on this great day!

My wonderful parents
My funny and beautiful sister
My handsome, understanding and loving husband
My fabulous friends who have been there for me through thick and thin
My job, which I dislike most of the time, but I am thankful that I at least HAVE a job
Premier Designs Jewelry and what it has brought into my life
My funny and laid back roomie Hicks
My amazingly crazy kitty cat Jada
Our lovely apartment in South Bend (and our house in Kansas :( )
A loving and forgiving God
Democracy and freedom
Being healthy and happy
Music :)
Blogging
Ability to see, think, hear, taste and feel with everything in my soul
To love so much....

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Gobble, Gobble, Gobble :)

Thanksgiving Dinner for Uno!

Well kids, many have asked me what my plans are for Thanksgiving Day. This is what I foresee in my future folks.

10 a.m. - Roll out of bed, scratch myself and head to the bathroon. Turn on the TV to catch the end of the parade.

12 p.m. - Frozen pizza in the oven

1 p.m. - Play with Jada a little

2 p.m. - Lifetime TV and football marathon/play a game on my computer/internet shopping/neglecting to clean the house

4 p.m. - Take a shower? Maybe.... I may decide to turn on iTunes and have my own dance party in the living room. Ya never know!

6 p.m. - Healthy Choice Turkey Dinner nuking in the microwave

Nice huh? Actually, I plan to clean the house, make myself a nice dinner (no turkey though... too much to do for one person), work on Premier stuff, and of course watch OU football and drink beer in the evening!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Christmas with the Krafts!

well, one Kraft and one McClelland... but it won't be long until it is The Krafts!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that I just booked my flight for South Carolina to go spend Christmas with my hubby and our best pals Marla and Jeremy!

I am really excited and felt very blessed when Marla called yesterday and said she had found a flight from Indianapolis to Charleston for under $200 and that she would be willing to pick me up in Charleston so I can spend the holidays with Jared and them. Thanks Marla!!!!

The flight times are a little wacky, but I mean I AM flying on Christmas Eve Day, so it is to be expected. I don't care as long as I get to leave snowy Indiana for a few days and be with my hubby and my friends in the much warmer state of South Carolina! :)

To top it all off, Jared called and got me a carport at the apartment! So, no more scraping and shoveling snow off the car! YES!!!! I am always running late for work anyway, so when there is snow and ice on the car, you can imagine what time I ended up strolling in. :)

Just so you know....

THIS is what I saw out the patio door before I left for work....

and it is STILL snowing!






And I still haven't bought any snow boots.

So, as you can see... I was REAL happy this morning








All you people in the sun and warmth today can kiss this girl's northern Indiana tushy. :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Ok... I was kidding... STOP THE LAKE EFFECT SNOW MADNESS!!!!!

Here's the dish....
1. 2-4 inches of lake effect snow this afternoon
2. 2-4 more inches of lake effect snow tonight
3. and 2-4 more inches tomorrow
4. I am sick... stupid sinuses
5. I am sitting at my dreadful job
6. and Jared is leaving on Tuesday

UUUGGHHH... can I just go back to bed and not deal with all this today? Geez....

Ok... that was my 2 minutes of complaining. I am, hopefully, done for the day :)

I'm so lonesome I could cry

Christmas may be a very lonesome time for this girl.

We found out today that Jared is headed to South Carolina to help Jeremy and Josh with their warehouse during the winter busy season.

It is kind of a double-edged sword. He will be able to pick up at least 50 hours a week, which is some much needed extra money, but at the same time I will be by myself for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. :( I am supporting him and I know this is what he needs to do for us right now, but it still doesn't change that I will be all alone during the wonderful holiday season. In years' past when he was away for the holidays, I was only about 2 hours from family, so I was never by myself.

He is set to leave next Tuesday and I am sad. I am not sure what I will do. We really can't afford for me to fly everywhere (it would kind of defeat the purpose of him going down there to make more money). I found a relatively cheap flight from Indianapolis to Tulsa, so maybe I will go stay with my parents over Christmas. Oh what to do, what to do. Any advice anyone?

I guess I need to start booking more jewelry shows to cover my expenses! Anyone wanna host a Premier Designs Jewelry Show? :)

Step by Step

ooohhhh baby... gonna get to you girl

Oh my bloggie friends, I am back! I have missed you all and it took me a good hour to catch up on everyone's blogs.

I have so much to say about my trip I don't even know where to begin! Here goes....

The Road Trip: About 90 miles into the trip we take a wrong turn in Chicago and get into an argument. Conversation doesn't fully continue until we get to Bloomington, IL and even then tempers are high. :) A great start to our trip.

Tulsa: We arrive in Tulsa Saturday evening at about 7:30 p.m. We had a wonderful time visiting my parents and my sister who came down for the weekend.

Girard/Pittsburg: Oh, our poor little house still has that lonely for sale sign in front. :( It was in pretty good shape... a few house crickets inside, but other than that no sign if mice or other rodents intruding on our precious home. We turned the heat on to 50 degrees, put our vent covers on the outside of the house and made sure everything was in good shape. We then went over to Pittsburg to eat at Chatters with all our friends. So glad we got to hang with all of you!NKOTB Concert: This is the BEST part!!!! Misty and I headed to the Sprint Center in KC for the concert of the year... yes, that's right the New Kids on the Block! It was such a great concert. At one point, when Joey was singing Please Don't Go Girl and he got down on his knees like he did on the Pay-per-View special in the late 80s, I seriously thought I might faint. :) I had to ask Misty to make sure my knees didn't buckle and to catch me if I fell. :) Ah, I love them! Their dance moves were just as great as they always were, their voices were on pitch and wonderful the entire night and they made every girl in their late 20s and early 30s feel like they were teenagers again. It was a great night! AND... they played more music from their new CD and I am totally digging their new songs. I will have to go get that CD soon.
Wichita: Wednesday we headed to Wichita to see all our friends that have relocated there over the years. Everyone met us at On The Border for dinner and I couldn't have been happier. I got to see all my girls.... Shawna (who graciously let us crash at her house), Holly, Melanie, Amber, Jessica, and my sister Alicia. My cheeks and stomach hurt the next day from smiling and laughing so much. Thanks for a great time gals!!!! The Road Trip Home: It was long and we were tired. Enough said. :)

Thanks for showing us a great time everyone! We appreciate and love all of you and we can't wait until next time we see you!

Your love is like bad medicine

Bad medicine is what I need

Whoa, oh, oh

Shake it up just like bad medicine

There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease

My kitty Jada is sick. The vet said she has a bacteria infection in her colon and her teeth and gums are infected and need a good cleaning. I feel like the worst cat momma ever for not realizing her teeth were so bad.

Anyway, I have to give her pills and it is not pleasant. I have a very lovable and sweet kitty, but she is also very sneaky and evasive at times. Many lessons have already been learned in this "Operation Pill Drop" process.

Lesson 1: Trying to hide the pill in soft food does not work. Jada licks around the pill and then looks up at me like "what?" All I can do is laugh because she is so matter of fact about it; like she knows she just tricked me.

Lesson 2: It is impossible to just hold her and try to open her mouth and place the pill on the back of her throat. She wiggles around like a freakin' worm and her head twists all around like something on the Exorcist.

Lesson 3: Be prepared for some dirty cat looks and a ton of fur flying around if you get some of the pill on her tongue and she gets a taste of the nasty pill. I was cleaning up slobber all over the place this morning from that experience and the looks she was giving me.... wwhhheeww... she was not happy with me at all. If only I could explain to her that if I put it on the back on her throat she swallow and she doesn't even have to taste it.

Lesson 4: Trying to hide the food in a Pill Pocket (a treat the vet gave me with a special spot inside for the pill) does not work either. She eats the treat and spits out the pill and looks up with me with the same look from lesson 1.

Lesson 5: The handy-dandy pill gun they gave me works pretty well if you have 20 minutes of time to actually get her to sit still for at least 5 seconds and then get her mouth open and shoot the pill inside before she bites you. I wasn't even that good at it because this is when the slobber came about because she tasted it. I have discovered that it would be easier if Jared helped me hold her head but he was sleeping and I didn't wanna wake the beast. :)

So, needless to say, my child is not only a pain in the neck, but also quite expensive. The things I do for this little ball of fur that I love. :) Oh, I can't wait to have children... at least I am getting good practice.

Thriller....

Thriller nights

And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike

You know its Thriller, Thriller nights

You're fighting for you life inside a killer

Thriller Tonight

We attended our Halloween Bash yesterday and it was a fabulous time. The food was great, the drinks were even better and the dancing, well it was pretty awesome! But, I'll let the pictures tell the story.

The Gypsy, the Paperboy (from the Nintendo game) and the Stepford Wife. Otherwise known as Stacy, Hicks and Julie. Jared was a party pooper and didn't go :(

This gypsy knows how to bust a move :)

Takin' a break from all the dancing.

Jessica, Sandy, Me and Julie