Cartoon of the Day: Happy New Year

Wishing each and everyone of you a very happy, healthy 2010 filled will prosperity and love!

Hope you make it to midnight... I'm sure gonna try!

Until next time..... Lorie

Sesame Street - Celebrity Lullaby

I love Sesame Street and Elmo, that I had to share this with you, it made me laugh.

Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did...

Until next time..... Lorie

Christmas Morning with the Shewbridges

Here we are Christmas morning... First we have our tree with all the gifts underneath, and our Mickey Mouse card tree (if you look close, you can see the Mickey heads are what holds the card in place). In the center of my card tree is an adorable card from my bloggy friend Alexis from Running Away? I'll Help you Pack. She is one of the sweetest women I have ever met and has the cutest little boys, Cole and Caden. When you get a chance, head on over to Alexis' blog, she has so many great posts, you will be amazed at all she can accomplish during her day. She works at home, but still manages to take care of her adorable boys, and still, volunteer at their schools and at her church, plus help out in her community every chance she gets, all while having this beautiful smile on her precious face. She really is remarkable.

Anyway, back to Christmas.....

Here is Nano, all dressed up in his Christmas suit... he is such a good boy that he listens to me when I have him pose for pictures. I swear he understands me when I talk to him, and tell him to sit down, stand up, look at the camera.... I think I should sign him up to be a doggy model. :-)

Nano LOVES to "help" open the gifts... He just adores gift wrap... and he likes to sniff all the presents. I got the Diamond edition Scrabble game which I had really wanted so Bill and I can play together. It is portable, too, so we can take it to friends houses when we go visiting.

Bill also got me this gorgeous necklace that I had mentioned that I liked when I saw it on a commercial. It is from Kay Jewelers, and it is from the Jane Seymour Open Heart collection. It has special meaning to me because I love the sentiment behind it first of all, and it reminds me of a swan - a bird which I really love because of its grace and beauty, and because they mate for life. Something that Bill knows I treasure.

The funny teal thing in my hand is an wireless optical mouse that is Windows 7 compatible - WooHoo!! Do you know how difficult those are to find?? My new laptop has Windows 7 and he knew I'd been looking for one of those - it really is a cool looking one.

Bill likes to have an occasional cigar, so Nano and I got him this beautiful cherry wood humidor to store his cigars in - right now he has been keeping them in the freezer, so this will be much better for them. They will last longer and taste much better.

Nano also got several new shirts and sweatshirts because he outgrew the ones he got last Christmas... he is now just under 7 pounds (last Christmas he was just about 4 pounds). This is one of the new beach shirts he got... doesn't he look adorable???

Bill also got me a Kindle (Yippee!!) because he knows how much I love to read, but I sometimes have a hard time holding heavy books due to the nerve damage in my neck and the spinal stenosis and arthritis I have. I have already subscribed to Nanny Goats in Panties and bought three books. It is wonderful, just like Bill!!

After our exciting morning, I made Mickey Mouse waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, and we watched some Christmas movie on either Lifetime or Hallmark Network. Then we both took a nap.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and wish that the new year brings you joy, laughter, health and lots of love! Until next time..... Lorie

2010 Resolutions - This Time I Really Mean It

I am participating in Margaret from Nanny Goats in Panties: This Time I Really Mean It! campaign of 2010. It is a blogging event to list our resolutions for 2010, and this time to really try and achieve them!! Because as Margaret says: "What's the point of making resolutions if 95% of them are never kept?"

So, without further procrastination, here are my resolutions for 2010...

1. I am going to lose 2o pounds as soon as my spine heals from the fusion surgery and the doctor says I can start exercising again.

2. Bill and I will NOT be in the hospital for ALL of 2010 - we had enough of that in 2009, whew!

3. I will let go of the terrible things my mother and sisters have said to me and realize that I am the better person and they are the ones that are missing out on my life since they don't want to have anything to do with me. And along the same lines, I will forgive my father (RIP), for things he, my mother and I know. I'm gonna need serious help with this one!!

4. I will forgive the man who hurt me made me be in pain every day for the last eight years of my life and left me with scars that can and cannot be seen.... not sure if this can be done, I have been trying to do this one for the last 8 years now.

OK... that's it for me! If you want to participate, write up your post and link it over on Margaret's blog here and read some of the other participants post.

Wishing you all a new year with lots of love and laughter, health and happiness... and success in your endeavors to keep your resolutions!

Until next time..... Lorie

Good Will in a Box - at Crazy Adventures in Parenting

A wonderful blogger friend and awesome mother, Lisa, over at Crazy Adventures in Parenting has come up with a new idea to try and help those in the blogging community who are struggling financially. Lisa is a mother of six and an Army wife, so in my opinion, she is already doing an incredible amount, for her family and for our country. But, as she was preparing for Christmas, she realized that there were so many people that were struggling to pay their bills and the basics, and to even put food on their tables, so she wanted to do more. Please head on over to her site to read her words and find out exactly what she wants to do with a program entitled "Good Will in a Box" .

She is not asking for us to give tons, just a little. I think it is an amazing thing she is trying to accomplish, and I ask that if there is anything you can do to help her, please do so. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time, friendship, and love on behalf of all the blogging community. We all may not "know" each other in the "dictionary" sense of the word, but I feel we know each other in the "true" sense of the word, and when we need to, we can come together as a community and accomplish wondrous things.

Until next time..... Lorie

e.l.f. Cosmetics 83-Piece Essential Makeup Collection Giveaway!

My friend Jennifer over at Eighty MPH Mom has this fantastic giveaway featuring e.l.f. cosmetics. I really would love to win this collection, it contains so many beautiful colors of eye shadows, blushes, and lip colors, plus a wonderful collection of brushes. All in a great compact carrying case.

e.l.f. Cosmetics 83-Piece Essential Makeup Collection Giveaway!

Head on over to Jennifer's site to see how you could win, plus all the other wonderful things she blogs about, I know you will love her site {and her} as much as I do. Good luck.

Until next time..... Lorie

Question I Need Help Answering...

Can someone PLEASE tell me what the drug is that they put into Christmas cookies that makes it impossible for me to STOP eating them even when I know that I should stop and I really am full? If you know the answer, please post it, and a possible antidote.

Thank you my dear friends!

Until next time..... Lorie

Citrus Picking with Alexander

While Alexander and Rachel were here for a visit, they wanted to go citrus picking, something that we had never done. We have lived in Florida for five years, and never even considered it and had NO idea where to go. So, being the 21st century woman that Rachel is, she Googled it, and wouldn't you know, there is a grove 30 minutes from the house - one that Bill and I have passes at least 20 times in the last month as we have been house hunting. It is 5 minutes from the community that we have been considering building a new house in... DUH!!! When Rachel told me the name of it, Showcase of Citrus, I knew exactly what she was talking about and exactly where it was. So, after calling to make sure they were "Nano-friendly", we headed off...

When we first got there, we were given tastes of all the types of citrus available and told where to find each one and given bags with maps of the grove. T

here were chickens roaming free, which Nano had a blast chasing. It smelled heavenly there, the sun was shining bright, it was a bit cool, but a gorgeous day.

We picked white and ruby red grapefruit, oranges with yellow and blood red centers and these really cool pummelos {you can see those in the wagon - they are the ones NOT in the bags}. We were there for about 2 hours and had SO much fun.

Alex and Rachel took two bags to Connecticut for themselves and friends. We kept one for ourselves and have been eating them for breakfast every day. They are unbelievably delicious. It is definitely something Bill & I (and Nano) will be doing again some day soon.

Until next time..... Lorie

Outside Christmas Decorations

OK, as promised, I am sharing our decorations from the outside of our house that my loving husband worked so tirelessly on! He did most of these all by himself, I helped a little - not much though as I have spinal trouble: stenosis and arthritis. Even Nano got into the Christmas spirit and helped with the decorating.

If you'll notice, a lot of our decorations have a similar theme... Yeah, we LOVE Disney. The red lamp you see on the porch belonged to Bill's family since he was a little boy, so that is one that we will keep forever. Bill has repainted it a couple times and lovingly wrapped up the wire so as not to ruin it. It is really special to us.

Hope you all had a very happy Christmas and have a wonderful and healthy 2010!

Until next time..... Lorie

Cartoon of the Day: Smarter than Given Credit For

I think this is one of my all-time favorites... especially since I've been known to hide such things from my children....

I hope you all had a great Christmas... still have some chocolate left... and are looking forward to a wonderful new year.

Until next time..... Lorie

Cartoon of the Day: Christmas Morning

Boy do I remember mornings like this:

Merry Christmas..... Until next time..... Lorie

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

We wish you all a very merry Christmas with your loved ones and hope you all enjoy happiness, health and prosperity for the coming year. God bless you all!

Peace and love..... Lorie

Hubby's Birthday Present to Me... :-)

I had asked Santa to bring me a new DSLR for Christmas... however, The Most Wonderful Man in the World, whom I happen to be married to, decided that I shouldn't have to wait for Christmas. He thought I needed and deserved one for my birthday, so he surprised me with this GORGEOUS Nikon D90. I am so excited to have gotten it, and cannot wait to figure out how to use all the buttons on it... It comes with a 50LB instruction manual - I exaggerate only slightly.

Also, beginning in January, Beth at Manic Mother and Lolli at Better in Bulk are starting "Bloggography" - a series on their blogs to teach us newbies how to use our DSLRs!! I am SO excited for this to start. Here are Beth's words: "Beginning in January, Lolli and I will be writing digital photography tutorials. A tutorial will be posted with a photography assignment, the following week you can return and leave the link to the pictures you took! There will even be contests with prizes!" So if you are lucky enough to get a DSLR this year, make sure you check out their blogs.

So, I'd like to say thank you so much to my most adorable and loving husband. He is just the sweetest guy in the world. I LOVE my birthday present and will use it ALL the time. {This picture of him was taken on the first day I used my new camera.}

Until next time..... Lorie