whoops!

Been awhile-huh? lol...
I have been pretty busy, and i am having a computer issue. Spent Memorial Day weekend in Flagstaff at my parents cabin- awesome awesome awesome. I promise to show some pictures when I get this machine running properly...

Joel finished his soph year at ASU- still doing well, of course still proud as heck w/ him. He is going to stay in the city this summer.

Josh is doing well too- lots of different irons in the fire... will have to update

Im doing pretty good... have an apt w/ a specialist at the university medical center- just to make sure we are doing all we can for me health-wise.

Anywhoo- gotta run will update more later...

Peace,
Lisa

Happy Mother's Day

Today was an awesome day! Both my sons remembered to say "Happy Mother's Day" to me this morning. I spent the morning in bed, dozing on and off and watching Lifetime Movie Network. Now I am at work, helping other people. Awesome, I tell you, just awesome!

Counting down 11 more sleeps until I go up north to my parents' cabin for 5 glorious days!

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers out there!

Lisa

Papa, Shawnie, Joel and Josh

I have always loved this photo. Its from 1993- a lifetime ago it seems. My father in law, "Papa" as you have heard me refer to him- wanted to take Joel and Josh to the airport to watch the airplanes. During our school break, we went and had a super day, as you can tell by these smiling faces. This was a very happy memory for me.

Papa talked about it for years to come as well. My sons have long since forgotten this day- I think its about time I take out this photo!

The weather in AZ is getting hotter. Josh is enjoying his new church. I have been out on a few dates w/ what just might be a nice guy,lol.

I had my eval at work- I guess they are going to keep me around for another year.

My ankle is mostly better, still kinda funky looking.

Today I did a lot of scrapbooking, and tonight I am going out for karaoke- great day!

work...

Two days before this picture was taken ( at our work apprecation party) I was walking into my job. I walked right past 3 people, said hi, and not even one of them stopped what they were doing to look up and reply. These are people I have worked w/ for 2 years. We depend on eachother.

So I started thinking back to a conversation I had had w/ another friend from work, about that same topic. Feeling invisible. Would anyone even notice if I wasn't there. I don't think I am irreplaceable- but I am unique, different, no one is exactly like me blah blah blah. Would anyone care at all if I was no longer employed there. I vowed that day, to do a better job of letting the people who mean something to me, know it.

And then, here we are at our work appreciation day. Our supervisors care if we show up ( lol). This happens to be a week dedicated to recognizing 911 dispatchers... so several people from our police fire and ems departments took time to acknowledge the work we do. Some even stopped to talk to me specifically about things I have done for them, or that they have noticed/felt during the past year.

So, I guess feeling sorry for myself was as silly as it felt,lol. I need to remember that every other Friday I am thanked for my work, and that I need to do my part in recognizing others and making sure they know that I care about them.

Lisa

Dude

This is my son Joel's dog, who we got after I ran his other dog, Buddy over in my Suburban.

We got him right after Dude,Where's My Car was released. Dude was Joels favorite word... it began every sentence. He even called me Dude.... occasionally it was "Dude,Mom" but usually just Dude. ( that was if he wasn't calling me coach... but thats another blog entry altogether.)

He loves this dog... and now that he is at ASU Josh has kinda had to let him start sleeping w/ him and all of that.

One interesting thing about this dog is he never wants to lay his face on the same level as his body... as evidenced in this typical photo of him.

We love you... Dude.

my middle name is not Grace

Before you say... I so did not need to see that... I assure you that is not the worst picture.

I was walking down my steps to go to work, and cut my ankle on a piece of pottery. It was/is pretty painful... even for a tough chick like me,lol.

Our ER wasn't that busy... so I was in/out in under 90 mins... w/ 6 stitches. When leaving they advised me to keep it put up and stay off of it. My darling son starts getting annoyed w/ me, because my plans are to head to work after dropping him back off at home ( and changing shoes,lol). He says "Mom... if you were my kid... you would not be going to work" I am still laughing over that one.

For the record... I did go to work after, its not like I have to run around at my job or anything.

It is feeling better today so far... and the "wound care specialist" says it is looking good.

Tip of the day... watch where you are going!

going in......

I took 3 days off work, well... 2 were my weekend,lol i just added a day. But the plan is to clean/organize the closet and paperwork... finish my taxes... hopefully i come out of the closet ok,lol...

Then, I am bracing myself for some crazy times at work for the next 2 weeks. I just keep reminding myself that it is only for two weeks,lol.

Anway- i love other peoples before and after pictures but I am way too embarrassed to post my before pix. So, I will post my after pics.

Ok... going in.

Josh's 18th Birthday

Here we are.... Josh is now 18. All my kids are adults... at least legally,lol.

We went again, for Native New Yorker hot wings,lol- love those wings! Dina, Max, my parents and Joel and I were there to help him celebrate.

18 things I love about Josh-

He is kind.

He is thoughtful.

He is truly good to others, especially people who have challenges in their life.

He is good to animals.

He can get along w/ almost anyone- all different types of people.

He reminds me that not everything is serious.

He knows how to have fun.

He does what he thinks is right w/o regard for others' opinions of him/it.

He has overcome some personal challenges and is doing just great!

He has an amazing relationship w/ his brother. So close and so good.

He always says "I love you, Mom" when hanging up w/ me or leaving the house.

He can always find "what stinks" in the house w/ his supersonic nose.

He doesn't judge others.

He is an awesome cook.

He is honest w/ himself, about himself.

Even at 18, he still discovers new things as if he were a small child, with wonder and excitement.

He is always trying to learn new things.

He is so dang smart- and doesn't realize it yet.

soooo freaking frustrated!

the title really does say it all...

Yep...i know things will get better.... I know it does no flippin good to try to worry about things that are not in your control... and I know I need to count my blessings ( of which I really do have many)...

Just right now, at this moment... i am frustrated about a whole bunch of stuff that isn't in my control, and I suppose in the grande scheme of life and death really don't even matter.

Why... oh why... can't everyone just agree w/ me and do what I think is the right thing to do,lol.....

Carry on....

just to clarify things....

Feb 1 is not the #1 day,lol..... Superbowl Sunday is the #1 day for DV in this country, followed by Christmas at a close second.

saturday

I spent the day at my parents, who were watching this adorable creature... my nephew.My mom does my hair color every month... so today while it was doing its thing... i took a few pictures of my nephew, with his most favorite person in the world.

Work is a little stressful right now, my supervisor and I were at odds... i think that has worked itself out for the most part. There will be changes happening... and ya'll know how much I like change...

Tomorrow will be a fun day... more baseball for joel and then working on the #1 day for domestic violence in this country,lol.

With that said... be kind to everyone!

Lisa

Friends.....

These 3 boys have been friends for around 6 years... now they are roomates. The end two are in school still... the middle guy just graduated and bought a house. I love to watch them interact w/ eachother. They joke,banter... and truly have eachothers backs.They play sports together... relax together... shop together and are learning about life together. They all have different strengths... its awesome. They would never admit it... but I think they love eachother... they are kinda like a family.

This has made me take a look at my friendships and get to work on building some like these guys have.

Friday fill ins... on Friday even,lol.

1. The world is __ours... lets be good to it__.

2. ___"Craptacular"__ was the last thing I said.

3. I wonder _what I will be doing next year at this time____.

4. ___Peace is __ at the end of all things.

5. There's something to be said for __honesty... just do it___.

6. ____Taking a nap on the couch_ is where I want to be.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to ___karaoke__, tomorrow my plans include ____being lazy_ and Sunday, I want to ___have lunch w/ my sons and head to work__!

I know its Sunday... but here are my Friday fill ins...

Friday Fill in... day late... dollar short,lol.


1. I must __find love___ before I die.

2. You can't stop __time___.

3. I wish I never had to buy __tires___ again.

4. _franklin covey____ has helped me change my life.

5. I know the song __what the world needs now___ by heart.

6. If I weren't so afraid, I would _trust more easily____.

a peek into our christmas

This is my jokester josh... My camera was on some freaky setting while opening presents... so when I asked him to recreate the scene... well.. this is what I got.

We had a wonderful time w/ family... as always.

Hope everyone else had a wonderful time too.

Peace

ho ho ho

Merry Christmas!

Just a quickie

Just some journaling prompts from another site...


1.My stomach is crampy.
2. Broccoli cheese casserole is what I ate the most of on Thursday.
3. The yard is ok, just ok.
4. My scraproom is where I'd rather be at any given time.
5. The smell of apples reminds me of when i was teaching.
6. Peace is what I need right now!

Happy Thanksgiving

As in recent years' past... the boys and I headed to my Mom's for Thankgsgiving.Again, as usual... I took the rolls and the pies... if I do say so myself, I make the best rolls and the best pies on the planet.

My dad had a football game to go to, and my sister and her husband had a basketball game to go to, so after dinner when everyone cleared out, my mom colored my hair. All of a sudden Joel remarks "hey... its quiet in here... oh yeah... Grandpa left" LOL... which lead to a huge discussion about how grandpa is,lol.He is the nicest man ever... but is always talking!!!

Max was so excited to have everyone around that he didn't eat much... but he was a pretty loud guy too. He is starting to learn people's names, and he could say Josh's name, so he just kept saying it over and over and over. Too cute!!!

I am more thankful for today however... stay home w/ a new magazine on a cloudy arizona day... very cool indeed.

ouch

Well... you know how we celebrate our children's milestones? I am not celebrating,lol. It's Joel's first accident. Ugh....

What I am celebrating is the way he handled/is handling himself. Being a 911 dispatcher I often hear about people leaving the scene, or starting fights, or behaving badly in light of a stressful situaton.

What Joel did was call his brother first...(and while I am a little annoyed at that... he was on the way to pick him up) stayed there, checked on the people in the other car, was respectful to everyone there and handled himself in a generally grown up fashion. Of course I was at work. Since I have been working there I had always wondered how I would handle things if one of my kiddos had an emergency while I was there. More on that tomorrow... its a "deep thought" thing,lol.

Not sure what we are going to do w/ this car exactly- it all depends. For now, he is skateboarding everywhere he needs to go, which is pretty convinient for him at school.

Drive safely everyone! ( and no he wasn't texting at the time of the accident,lol.)

updates and a new photo

The date was fine. He is nice, he has a lot of the same family values as I do. That's the good part... He seems to have a facinaton w/ dragons... I am not sure what is up w/ that yet... I may go out w/ him again...

I did go to the zoo on Saturday as well... and I always take pics like I have never been there before,lol. But who could resist this sweet face?? Our zoo is working on a new exibit for these guys... a multi million dollar project... It is in process now... anxious to see what happens.

I had a pretty busy weekend... didn't really relax much... now I am going into my work week a lil tired. I guess I am not as young as I used to be,lol...


Short post... that's all for now! Peace!