5 Question Friday!!

Ok we have so much going on this weekend that I seriously think I might need to invest in a caffine drip..do they make those?!!  They totally should!! For real!!

I am glad that Friday is here finally and that the weekend is upon us but with everything going on it is going to be busy, hectic, crazy, fun, exciting, tiring, more fun and oh did I say crazy?!!!  DD2 has a book character parade today and so I will be going up to her school to help her get all dressed up as Angelina ballerina..pics to follow of course!!  Then once school is out for DD2 we will rush to the Pavilion to start setting up for the event we have going on tomorrow. Once we are all done with that then we will be rushing home to meet some dear friends and let the kiddos carve their pumpkins..woohooo!!  One of my favorite parts of Halloween!! I will be making caramel apples, some baked goods and cutting up celery..ohh so much fun for me!!

Then we wake up bright an early Saturday morning..when I say bright what I really mean is way before the sun comes up so crazy early really.  We are heading out to finish setting up the event, get the grills going and everything organized. The event goes until 2pm and then it is clean up time and rush back home to get the girls into their costumes and get our table set up outside. I am totally going overboard this year...just because I want to leave me alone...I am putting lights on a table to hand out candy and hot cocoa. It's pretty cold here and so I thought it might be nice for the kids as well as the adults. We will see how it all turns out..cross your fingers for me that we get a lot of traffic and don't end up with a ton of hot cocoa and candy left over!!
Once we have retired for the night then we will get up Sunday and go to breakfast and do some light housework and then we are headed to the theater to see Titanic.  Yes I said Titanic...are you jealous!! I am so excited and only hoping that DD2 is old enough now to enjoy it and sit quiet for the entire time..again crossing of fingers much appreciated!
Once that's all done then we are dinner, bath and bed and back to another week...OMG I am going to be exhausted by Monday!!!  Wish me luck!! :)

1. If you could be a fly on any wall, which would you choose?

Right now my answer has to be that I would be a fly on the wall at my mom's house. Although we talk pretty much every week I still wonder what really goes on there.

2. Do you budget your Christmas shopping or just get it done without budgeting?

Every year I save my receipts from everything I buy and then in February I start putting aside whatever amount each month to add up to what I spent the year before. It has worked out so great for us that I don't know that I will ever stop doing it!

3. What is the craziest fad diet you have ever done?

Ok so don't get all OMG on me but I once had a friend tell me that she went from fat to skinny and wow did she get skinny by taking laxatives. Now although everything in me said that was crazy, stupid and so bad for you yes, yes I tried it for half a day!  I thought I was going to die seriously and I never ever did that again! I never look at a toilet quiet the same either..trust me if it sounds crazy it probably is!!

4. Is there a TV show that you have seen every episode/season of?

Ummm I have to list them all?!!  Ok so I am a little behind on some shows since being overseas everything is pretty screwed up season wise and a lot of my favorite series we don't even get.....rude I say!!

Friends, Sienfeld, Beverly Hills 90210(the old one), Ghost Whisperer, Medium, and I could go on and on but I won't don't worry!!

5. What one song always pulls at your heart?

I think I have probably said this a ton of times before but seriously I ADORE Josh Groban and all his music. My absolute favorite song though and the one that makes me laugh, cry and want to listen to it again over and over is "February Song". You have to listen to it if you haven't already! Get the kleenex out and maybe a few pics of friends who have moved away or whom you have moved away from...get ready to let it all out!!!  sighhhhhh It makes me smile just thinking of the song!!

Ok so click that button up there and go get you some q and a on!!!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone and I can't wait to let you all know how our weekend went along with tons of pics!!!

Bloggers and giveaways...

There are so many fabulous bloggers out there and I just can't tell you how much I adore them all!  Whether  I just enjoy hearing of their daily lives, checking out their recipes or getting real life advice they are all just simply adorable I tell ya!!

One blogger I recently discovered has this fabulous giveaway going on and although I would of course love to keep it a secret so I have a better chance to win I feel the need to share it with you for a few reasons.
The first reason being that I think everyone should follow this  fabulous lady. She truly is just adorable and her story is so uplifting it makes me smile every time I read her blog.
The second reason being that her giveaway is GORGEOUS!!!!!  I am totally buying one if I don't win it of course. :)

So please go check out HH and all her fabulousness along with get in on the giveaway!

I am off to go shopping downtown today!! Have a fabulous day everyone and I will see you all later!!

Kids today...

Well this morning I went up the elementary school to volunteer at DD2's class. They were having a Fall craft day and it just amazes me at all the fantastic things that kids do today. I have to admit I always get nervous when it comes to actually being in a room with more then 5 little kids at a time. It is a nerve racking for me. Needless to say it was fun to a point and then I dealt with some kids that really just shook me up.

For the most part it was so humbling to hear a majority of the kids having fun with everything and wanting to know if they could make extra crafts for their brother, sister, or mom or dad to take home. I just had to smile and say "of course you can!" Then you always have those kids who will try to take advantage or else just plain not listen to you and those are the ones that blow my  mind. To have a child say to you "I don't have to listen to you" or "I am not talking to you..duh"  Are you serious?!!  When exactly did it become ok to let your kids act like that?!  I can tell you in my house if you get sassy you will deal with the consequences of your actions and that is THAT!  I pray every day that what I have taught my girls will last them a life time and that not only will they listen to me when I tell them how to act or what to say but that they will also share that with their peers and be proud of it.
Not that I am trying to pat myself on the back but I truly take pride when I hear people say nice things about my girls. How they act or their manners they use is a reflection on me and how well I have managed to raise them up to this point. I swell with pride every time someone says to me "your kids are so well behaved" or "I love being around your kids because they are so good and it rubs off on my kids to be like that"!  Who wouldn't love to hear that?!!

I am definitely not one of those mothers who watches my kids act up and just ignores it or says "kids will be kids" because simply to me that is a line of boohockey!!  If you seriously think that it is ok to allow your child to be disrespectful towards anyone especially an adult then you have more serious issues then you even probably know you do.  It is not hard to teach good family values to your kids and now a days it seems to be harder and harder to come across. 

Yes I know I am ranting on and on and for those of you reading this with kids my only hope is that you stop and think about how your kids act and how you would expect them to act when they are not around you. If you have done your job as a parent then you will not hesitate even once and will probably agree with everything I have just said. If you, however, are one of those moms who thinks it is ok to let your kid act up or be disrespectful because they are "just being kids" then do us all a favor and WAKE THE HECK UP!!

If you do not get control of your kids now then the chances of you getting control of them when they are independent teenagers is going to be a whole other story.  I really do hope that anyone dealing with an unruly or disrespectful child will someday find whatever it is they need to find to help them and their child before it is too late. No one wants to think bad of their child but some parents truly do need a reality check when it comes to their little ones!

Post it note Tuesday!

Catching up with photos, happenings and a feature presentation!!

Ok ok so I once again have to say so sorry for being gone from blogging for such a long time!  Apparently my life has decided that it really needs to be busier these days...who comes up with all this stuff right?!!  Anywho so I had promised you some pics of a few things I had picked up at the Holiday Bazaar that was held a few weeks ago right here in Heidelberg. I did get a lot of wine(for saving of course) and a few other things that I just had to have. I wasn't able to spend too much time at the bazaar, atleast not as much as I had wanted to, because Mr. M was working it and we all know how much kids love to shop with mom right....NOT!!!!  So only a few things were had and don't worry there is another bazaar coming up in Ktown and I WILL be there ready and able to shop some more.  Here are a few things I just had to have though..the first pic is of a Hazelnut liquor that would be just fabulous in coffee!! I loved it because the bottle is shaped like a violin..did you know that I used to play the violin?!! I actually would love to pick one up and see how much I remember or don't...probably more don't then remember in my case. :)

This was a wine that has cinnamon in it and it's Deeeeeeeelicious! I also loved the bottle because it is advent. You see you drink only down to the next day every day for advent...seriously how cool is that?!!

Do you see the numbers for advent?!!  Heck yeah it is going to be a great December!!

This is portugese pottery and I just fell in love with the design. It is a wine bottle holder with coaster. Are you sensing a theme about all my purchases? lol

This little square Italian pottery bowl literally spoke to me and I HAD to have it!!  You see it absolutely reminded me of our trip to Tuscany and the beautiful little cottage with all the green around it. Gorgeous!!

Ok so not only did I need another spoon rest but this one matched the bowl and I loved it!  Cute eh?!

Yes I bought a few cases bottles of wine at the bazaar. The prices were a slight bit inflated but really after paying gas to go and find my favorite wines like I have been it was actually cheaper.  I am fully stocked for the next year hopfully!




Along with the things I bought I also won a few raffles. This is one thing that I really liked at the bazaar but not enough to buy it and then I won it..how fabulous is that?!!

This is actually a ceramic model of the Heidelberg bridge. Isn't it gorgeous?!!  Ignore the crazy looking gnome in the background..I guess I will explain him later.

The back side of the bridge..again gorgeous right?!!
It was really nice to win such a great raffle prize that will always remind me of our times here in Heidelberg and the fabulous bazaars that were put on each year.





Now part of the reason I was gone for so long was that Mr. M was having PRK surgery. He made it through just fine and other then some annoying side effects he is doing just fine now. Hopefully the side effects and blurry vision will end soon and he will be back to normal self. Until then I am actually enjoying having him around the house more..Yay for me!!

In addition to all that has gone on in my life my blogging life although it has been a little absent lately and not as consistent as I would like it to be has been great too!  I love to hear from others and really enjoy reading blogs daily. I will get back into that more and I do hope that you all will continue to follow me and all the craziness that is my life. I found a site recently and was very impressed with all the bloggers that were on it. I had spent some time looking around and found a few incredible bloggers right here in Europe with me..I love when that happens..for real!!!!

As a result I am not featured on the site with a lot of other super fabulous overseas bloggers!! Please go and check out the site and see some of these grand people for yourselves as well.








Ok so that is all I have for you today and keep coming back just because you know you love to see what craziness I have going on here!!

Ciao for now!

Out of town..or my mind....

I just wanted to stop by and let everyone know I am taking a short break from blogging. We are out of town for medical reasons and once we get back there will be some down time. I will be back to blogging as soon as I can. Try not to miss me too much..yeah yeah I know it is impossible because I am so lovable but try your hardest!!

Ciao for now!!

Sometimes we need a reminder of just what is really important in our lives..

Ok so I know I don't usually blog on the weekends..yupp I am a week day blogger and have far too fabulous a life to blog on the weekends..baahaahaaa!! Yeah right!!  Seriously though whenever I get a chance to spend time with my family I take full advantage with no distractions. Maybe it is due to the fact that through out my married life Mr. M has left us for long periods of time or maybe it is the fact of just being so absent in our families lives due to never living close enough to them to be any real part of anything going on with them. We have been through many hard times in our marriage and have made it through without so much as a dent. Honestly I think the hard times is what makes us stronger as unit. If we can make it through everything we have so far I think we will be just fine when anything hard comes up.

Ok ok I know you are thinking..oh great not another sentimental blah blah blog but there is a point to this. You see last week was a really hard week for me and my family. October 12th was the one year anniversary of my little brother's death and to say it was hard would not even begin to state it correctly. It was so hard for me that I could not even call my mom to see how she was doing until the next day. I knew she would be crying and I knew I would cry too and I really just wanted to make it through the day with out crying. Yeah it didn't work but nice try right?!  So I am telling you all of this for one reason and that is..
I received an email today and it made me laugh, cry and seriously reconsider some of the pettiness that has bugged me over the past year and decided to truly take the high road from now on and not only tell everyone how I feel but to never ever let anyone go a day without either hearing how fabulous I think they are or by my showing them with a small act of kindness. I really want to share this email with you and I truly do hope that each and every one of you will not only take it to heart but will also know that each and every word in this email I truly mean for all of you, your families and anyone close to you!
I would like to dedicate this blog to my dear sweet brother whom I will always love and miss terribly. Phil I love you and I hope you are at peace and know how much you are loved and missed!

One day a woman's husband died, and on that clear, cold morning, in the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't "anymore". No more hugs, no more special moments to celebrate together, no more phone calls just to chat, no more "just one minute." Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away, never to return before we can say good-bye, say"I love you."

So while we have it, it's best we love it, care for it, fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. This is true for marriage.....And old cars... And children with bad report cards, and dogs with bad hips, and aging parents and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep -- like a best friend who moved away or a sister-in-law after divorce. There are just some things that make us happy, no matter what.

Life is important, like people we know who are special.. And so, we keep them close!

I received this from someone who thought I was a 'keeper'! Then I sent it to the people I think of in the same way... Now it's your turn to send this to all those people who are "keepers" in your life, including the person who sent it, if you feel that way. Suppose one morning you never wake up, do all your friends know you love them?

I was thinking...I could die today, tomorrow or next week, and I wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that needed rekindling or three words needing to be said.

Let every one of your friends know you love them. Even if you think they don't love you back, you would be amazed at what those three little words and a smile can do. And just in case I'm gone tomorrow.

I LOVE YA, A Ton!!!