Confirmation

Have you ever wondered about a situation that occured in your life, but as you piece together information, there are still pieces missing?  Have you ever gotten those pieces? I have been wondering about something for EIGHT years. Something that has to do with a friend who is no longer a friend. I have my whole puzzle and a variety of people with matching stories, which tells me that I do have the complete puzzle.

So – when you get your confirmation – what do you do with it? It has made me angry, resentful and hurt over the whole thing as I continued to be friends with her for seven years afterward. It just kills me to finally have the pieces and to now be angry all over again. I haven’t spoken to her in close to about a year and a half now – and I was truly at peace. So now why, am I angry when I get the confirmation on what I already knew all along?

Ugh! Sometimes I think “friends” are more hassle than they are worth. My advice? Select your friends VERY carefully and don’t allow anyone toxic into your life.

Halloween 2008

We had a great time last night trick or treating. It was kind of bittersweet for us, since our two oldest (both 14) don’t think they will probably dress up next year. I think we might actually miss it a little, but they say they are okay. It’s their choice. We saw some MUCH older kids out last night that didn’t compare in age to our two oldest.

I at least have a few years left with the other three.

Here they are in all their costume glory:

Jess is an asian princess, Brie is a southern belle, Ryan is a gladiator, Melissa is a nerd and Vanessa is a Japanese geisha girl. They loved the costumes they picked and they all played the part going from door to door completely in character. So funny.

Wanna Be Scared?

Have you heard of Hotel 626? I hadn’t either until about a week ago. And it’s only open from 6pm to 6am so you only have a certain window of opportunity to take advantage of it. You can leave your email address though and they will email you to remind you that your “reservation is ready”, which just means you get to sign on and start playing.
It is a game that has been created by Goodby and B-Reel for Doritos in conjunction with their release of the Taco and 4 Cheese flavored Doritos release. Well, that and I’m pretty sure because of Halloween.

The game is not exactly easy and takes some thinking time to get through it. It is also recommended that you have a web cam as one “level” requires the use of it, and a microphone is another thing that is helpful (but if your webcam has a microphone you’re fine) because another “level” requires you to utilize it. I believe the game works without one, but you would need to skip those levels. (oh and you can get a pretty cheap webcam for about $20 at Target – or simply borrow one).

If you decide to check into Hotel 626, come back and tell me about it. We did it twice last night and tonight and my kids were all into it. Oh, and don’t freak out about leaving your phone number for them – they do call you and to my knowledge is the only way to get through that level.

Happy 75th Birthday Ed!

It was actually yesterday, but we went to his 75th surprise party last night at a wonderful restaurant. In fact, as a writer, the restaurant was inspirational for me. I got some ideas just walking around – it’s so old and fits into the mold of the story I plan to write next month for National Novel Writing Month.

Unfortunately a lot of the night was outside on the patio so pictures really did not turn out heavenly. However, I got these three pretty decent shots of everyone.

My Five Babies!

Just Us Girls!

Just look at him! He’s taller than me and only 14!

Did You Know?

I am writing at another site a bit more actively than this one?

Visit me on the other site.

ALSO, if you are really bored, you might like to check out some recipes at The Daily Dish or get more organized at Clutter Control and Organizing Solutions.

Have any other great sites for me to check out? Simply leave me a comment and I’ll be happy to check them out!

Serious Cell Phone Issues

I am so freakin’ irritated with T-Mobile right now. First of all, I don’t have T-Mobile. I have NEVER had T-Mobile service. EVER! Yet about a week ago, I sign onto my bank account and see a whopping $447.31 charge on my statement. What?

So after multiple calls to the bank, and several calls to various customer service (ha!) reps from T-Mobile, I am thinking I have everything under control and my $447.31 charge will be reversed.

However, in the meantime, I am looking at cell phone companies. I am wanting to get a new service plan, and I wasn’t sure who I was going to go with. I want the best value for my money, I don’t text a lot, but having some free a month would be nice – and really I want unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes. So, that leaves me with AT&T and Verizon. The majority of my friends have AT&T, and just about everything else in my life is AT&T (DSL, DVR, Landline) so I’m thinking I will use one of these great AT&T coupons to get my new cell phone. What wireless company do you use?

Meeting Joanna Campbell Slan

So, if you’ve followed my blog or blogs for any length of time at all, you might know that I am totally obsessed with Joanna Campbell Slan. She is the author of 10 non-fiction books and a new mystery series featuring a scrapbooker – Kiki Lowenstein. I have basically followed Joanna for many years and read everything that I could get my hands on. Isn’t she simply adorable?

So a couple of months ago, I apparently “talked” (okay so I simply sent her an invitation LOL) Joanna into joining Facebook. Score one for me (makes it easier to follow what she’s up to!)

So this is the message I get yesterday:

Joanna wrote on your Wall:

“Nicole–Are you going to make it to any of my book signings? I hope to meet you in person. You can see where I’ll be by going to www.booktour.com”

There is absolutely not way I am missing her at her upcoming book signings. Thankfully, other than the few she is doing outside of the St. Louis area, I know where every single one of those places is. Now, I am sure if I showed up at all of them, she will think I am seriously a stalker. LOL I’m really not. I just admire her so much. She’s living the life I hope to achieve at some point.

Anyway, I plan to stalk go see her at one possibly two of the book signings she is doing.

Oh, and if you haven’t read anything by her – check out her amazon stuff.

The View This Morning…

I don’t think I have mentioned yet that while we seem to have a plethora of aquariums lately (aquatic turtle, bearded dragon) we now have a third one set up that is designed for something a bit more common, yet not typical for an aquarium.
We have a caterpillar home for about seven different types of caterpillars.

It has actually been quite cool because the kids got to learn about each individual type, what they generally eat (and then find it) and basically care for them as if regular pets. A little over a week ago, we had one of our beautiful Monarch caterpillars go into her Chrysalis. If you have never seen a Monarch Chrysalis up close you have no idea what you are missing. It looks like it could be a piece of jewelry. It is simply beautiful.

When we got up this morning, I could tell today was the day. The cocoon was so black, which actually meant it was clear and we were seeing her fully inside the cocoon. I pointed it out to my daughter and less than 20 minutes later we were looking at a beautiful Monarch. She is doing well and will be released this afternoon after she has had time to dry and the kids are home from school. We still have another cocoon there ready to go, and two more Monarch caterpillars still crawling around in there. (not to mention at least a dozen other varieties – two that hibernate all Winter – won’t that be fun!) LOL

If you want to see what we saw this morning, watch this video. It’s pretty cool!

Aren’t They Cute?

This is my baby brother and his fiance. They are getting married in two months, and I am so excited about it. Seems like only yesterday we were meeting for the first time. This is the picture that is on their “save the date” cards, and it might just be only one of about two or three that I have of them together. We will definitely need to change that. I am really excited about becoming a sister-in-law. J is a total sweetheart and really seems to love and care about my brother. I’m so happy for them.

November 29th is the big day, and Brielle gets to be the flower girl. She’s pretty excited since she knows it isn’t too often that a 10 year old gets asked.

Entrecard

I joined entrecard on two of my other blogging sites. So far it seems to be working well, and I’m happy with the traffic increase it has brought.

I haven’t yet installed it on this one as of today, but I am seriously thinking about it. I have found some cool blogs from entrecard, as I’m dropping each day and hope that eventually I’ll have it here too.

If you’re using entrecard, how is it working out for you?