by Sarah | Apr 3, 2012 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Molly, All of Us, Crap, Random, WTF?
[flickr id=”6179693357″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”] *This morning I met with some wonderful ladies for a mini-conference w/ a talk given by the ever-internet-savvy Heather. It was a good time, I learned a lot, and it woke up something that I’d been thinking about for over a year now. I have two blogs – and for a scatterbrain like myself it wasn’t working. I feel pressured to come up with twice the posts and then I don’t post at all. So I’ve made the decision to somehow combine my writing blog (Sadie’s Storylines) into this one. It’s not a clean mesh by any means – which is what has kept me from doing it for so long – but it’s a necessary one. After all, my photography is here – why can’t my writing?
*I have been super-stressed in recent weeks. Many crazy things have happened health-wise and personal-wise that I’ve been feeling awful overwhelmed. Worst part is a current health-crisis with the hubby (although he’ll not be thrilled that I call it a ‘crisis’). It’s serious and scary and worst part is we still don’t know what’s going on. He’s having a procedure in a couple of days and we’re hoping that brings us answers and resolution in the coming months.
*In the next couple of days we’ll be a house full of eye-correction. There will be a forthcoming blog post w/ the cuteness of my girls in their new glasses.
*The teen has been on the roller coaster ride of teen hormones and girls. This is also inspiring another blog post to be forthcoming.
*Expect some dust as I attend to the first item mentioned on this list – combining my blog. This will require some redesign and some conflicting posts. i’ve already transferred over all of my posts from the writing blog – now I just need to organize and clean this place up a bit (this will likely involve a new look of sorts – but nothing drastically different as i just ordered business cards)
*Just 2.5 weeks until I go to Bloggy Boot Camp. Checking 2 things off my 45X45 (Blog conference & vacay w/ the hubby) in one fell swoop. After failing to get excited about it in the recent chaos, I’m starting to get giggly and eager.
*While there i’m totally going to have a nerd-gasm and go to the Star Trek Exhibit w/ my hubs (thanks Groupon for alerting me to its presence in St. Louis). It’s geek-heaven.
*Gorgeous weather is leading toward lots of line-drying of clothes. Oh how I love this time of year 🙂
*I recently totally reorganized the hubbies DVD’s. Picture proof coming soon – HUGE and refreshing change.
*I got a new (to us) car. I have to say that despite its age – it is hands down the nicest car we have ever owned (and we have owned a LOT of cars in our 10 year marriage). It makes me very happy. More on that coming soon too 🙂
That’s it for now. Just got the call from Wal-Mart – glasses have come in!
by Sarah | Jan 2, 2012 | All About Erik, All About Family, All About Marriage, All About Me
[flickr id=”5255380571″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]The New Years superstition says that whatever you do on the first day of the year you do all year.
For the first day of my year I was on a (no cost) date with my husband. We used an old Eversave purchase to go to the movies and a gift card to go to my husband’s favorite restaurant (Outback). We did lay down some cash for a tip, but after smuggling in snacks & water for the movie our day was pretty cheap.
If that’s how I’m going to spend my year I say…Bring It 2012!!!
*~*~*
We saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It was pretty good. Not so sure it was as good as the first but it’s been a long time since I saw the first one. There were several open ends leaving room for another movie and unanswered questions. For a more in depth review it would be better to ask Archie for a full review…he does a pretty mean movie review when you ask him too.
*~*~*
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season filled with joy and family! Here’s to a great, prosperous and happy New Year!!
by Sarah | Nov 24, 2011 | All About Family, All of Us, Holidays
[flickr id=”6293299563″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]For relative good health in the house.
For kids that are happy.
For a husband that loves and supports me.
For laughter.
For creativity.
For friends.
For a belly so full I couldn’t eat another bite.
Happy holidays to you and yours.
by Sarah | Nov 12, 2011 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Random
Since I failed to take out my camera this week, I won’t be doing a Weekly Winners or Scavenger Hunt Sunday post this week. Instead I went into the October Prompts from the NaBloPoMo site to find a prompt to inspire me today. I found this one:
If your life flashed before your eyes, what are 5 moments you know would be included?
My immediate response was the births of my three kids and my wedding, taking me up to four moments in the matter of a heartbeat. What else would there be? What one moment stuck out to me in the realm of the birth of my children and the marriage to my wonderhubs?
Would it be the last dance I shared with my Grampa? The one at my brother’s wedding? Would it be the last heart to heart talk I had with my grandma on her front porch the year before she passed away? What about our family trips to Disney World? Our weekends at the campground? The summer that it rained every day the entire summer? Of course I could remember the days spent at the hunting lodge with my dad, uncle and cousins.
Or would it be a place that we all gathered? Where so many of my family could be found?
A 4th of July celebration at our cottage in Ontario. Where all of the family (both sides) had gathered to join the bonfire. Watch the fireworks.
I think that is the last memory that would flash for me.
Every one of the moments would be deep, profound and special. Surrounded by family. Love. Excitement and wonder.
by Sarah | Oct 5, 2011 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Home, All About Kennedy, All About Marriage, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Crap
[flickr id=”5293689107″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]Cross Country season is drawing to a close. The final (County-wide) meet is in less than a week. Coming up there is nothing but PTO meetings, Parent/Teacher Conferences and life in general.
This also means that the teen will be home before 4PM every day.
I always thought once the girls were both in school I’d go back to work. Nothing so dramatic as full-time day jobs (and definitely NOT banking again ~gag~). I figured I would return to waitressing. With the teen old enough to babysit in short spurts, I’d be able to get a job at a real restaurant with real tips since I could now actually get into work before 6PM. Maybe we could get a (slightly) steadier increased income. Maybe we could leave SSI and its unreliable, and ever decreasing, amounts behind. Become self-sufficient again. Maybe even one day live the dream of giving up Child Support (or actually putting that in savings).
Now that day is here.
Yet we hesitate.
Last year Angel ended up in the hospital for the first time ever. It was five days where our only focus was her and making sure we saw the other two kids. Last year she wasn’t even in school. Only exposed to those hundred of viruses on the periphery.
It could happen again at any time.
We are six weeks into the school year and Angel has already missed five days due to illness. That’s one week out of six. Most of them in the past three weeks.
So now we toss up in the air whether I would even be able to maintain a job or if I’d constantly have to take off for illness or hospital stays or whatever.
I know, we can’t live life hanging by that ‘what if she gets sick’ thread…but it is a fact and a factor in everything. Having to weigh the consequences of not just being away from home several evenings a week – versus the likelihood that I will have to call in at least a couple of times, maybe more.
The thought of working again only scares me peripherally. I actually like the thought of having adult interaction, even if it is only as server to customer. I worked in banking for about eight years. It sort of ripped out my soul and stomped on it and I never wanted to work again after it. But I did, and I found a job at Bob Evans (the only place that would hire me w/ the hours I could work). The tips weren’t horrendous, but they weren’t top of the line. BUT. But…I loved my job. Even when I didn’ t like my new manager, and the employee turnover brought in some people that weren’t my favorites…I loved what I did. It was fun. It was interactive. It made me happy.
There are positives, many of them, to me going back to work…
But there are so many balls up in the air I’m afraid tossing in one more would be too much. Plus, I’d really hate to get a job I love, maybe even start earning enough to lose SSI…only to lose that job because of things well beyond my control.
We can’t live in the what-if’s…
But we can’t ignore them either.
by Sarah | Sep 10, 2011 | All About Family
I posted this last year and the year before at this time. I’m re-posting it. I will always repost it every year at this time…
I know what tomorrow is. I know what it means to our country. I remember every detail of 2001 in vivid detail…but since before 2001, this date has been difficult for me, for my family…in 1996 my family’s core was lost, the heart of us…my grandfather…so my post on 9/11 is for him. Oh, and at surface glance I hate this picture of me, but then I see the pure joy on my face dancing with my grandfather and aesthetics be damned, it’s my favorite picture.
It was his birthday. I was young and such a very short kid…and he was TALL. I remember watching him put our coats in the closet and staring up, up, up at him and asking, “How tall are you?” With his sparkling eyes and laugh he informed me that he was over 6′. My eyes grew wide, and all I could say was, “But you’re so close to the ceiling! If you have ANY more birthdays you’ll go right through!”
His chair sat by the front door and the minute he sat the race was on – who would get the privilege of sitting on his lap, carrying on as deep a conversation as a child was capable of. Who would get to play with his round pot belly, and listen to his laughter.
He worked for GM and he was proud of it, and so were we.
When I close my eyes I can still smell his pipe and see the pipe carousel on his dresser. I can smell the cigarettes that he and grandma smoked.
I remember that after he retired he would watch soap operas during lunch.
And I remember the weddings – when my cousin and I would trade off and share him for the dance. “Grampa” by the Judds.
I remember his smile.
I remember his belly.
I remember the strength that he always carried in his soul and body.
I remember the pain that shot through my heart at the word…”cancer”. Once it was uttered it was less than a year. 10 months.
I remember the first time I saw him in the hospital-and how I had to run from the room because it made me physically ill to see my big strong grandfather lying in a bed weak and hooked up to tubes.
I remember his fight.
I remember when it was acknowledged in our hearts that the time to fight was over.
I remember how he held on – hours past when we thought we would lose him – because he would not let go until he’d gotten to hear the good-bye of all of his grandchildren, and my brother had been in surgery for his shattered wrist. Half an hour after the final phone call, he was gone.
I remember the sound of the tennis balls scattering across the hallway when my professor’s assistant walked up asking if she knew where I was…and all I could do was run to my car to get home as soon as I could.
From there it’s a blur…a long car ride from NC to NY. The arrangements. The funeral home. The droves of people I didn’t know, but who all knew him, overflowing the room.
The pain has lessened, resorted to a memory. For the most part I remember the love, the good things, the joy. But on this day every year the pain comes back to the forefront.
This year the pain seems so much stronger – now that Grandma has gone to join him. Refreshed and renewed. Now they are together forever, but they will always be here in our hearts.
We love you still, and will always love you, Grampa.
