Confessions.....

Okay so the first reason I have been missing lately is, like everyone else, sickness! Oh the amount of tissues and whining that have been around here is pitiful. Okay, that was probably mostly totally me. But still. The kids had it, but I think I have had it the longest. So there is excuse one.

Now the other part is a confession. *sigh* I realize that I am 38 years old. But, well, I had a problem. An addiction if you will. And like most addictions, I was "turned on" to it by a friend. Who shall remain nameless (ahem AMY). She introduced me to the Twilight series.




Yes, I KNOW this is a teenage romance novel. I KNOW it's about vampires and all that good non-Christian stuff. But I got sucked in *sigh* Are you all embarrassed to know me? Hee hee. I can't help it. Also I apparently am not alone in my middle-aged love for a fictional teen vampire boy. I missed the boat when the movie was out as I had no interest at the time, but Amy and I are planning a screening party the night that it comes out. Well us and her teenaged daughter and her teenage friends. My husband and sons are so proud let me tell you. On that note, I will leave you with a picture of the oh-so-dreamy Edward Cullen....





Oh yea, PS, I did finish all the books, so I have rejoined the living and have cleaned my house, went through closets, got rid of clothes and toys and even listed somethings on Etsy and Ebay! Woo hoo!

My Dining Room...

I thought I would share some quick pictures of my dining room today to give you a little peek into my world. Actually it's a very little peek because my world is much messier and chaotic, but this is a slightly "read" up version!

A shelf someone gave my mom that I redid. It was shiny green oak. More old country than prim!



My hutch, it used to be white, but I recently redid all my furniture in there to black because I got a new black table and chairs and just could not find non-modern black furniture anywhere, well not in my price range anyway! So I took it all out in my townhouse sized yard and spray painted it all because it's not real wood so it can't be sanded!



The top of my hutch. The tin breadboxes were my grandparents. I think they are just the cutest things!




My dad's old cowboys. They are really heavy I'm guessing they are a cast iron? I'm sure painted with some nice lead based paint too! They are on my hutch beside the mustard box.




Most of the items on this shelf belonged to my grandparents. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the picture in the middle. I scanned it and use it as my banner for my blog and my Etsy shop.


Close up.


Close up of the frames corner.








Command centeral! There's a little table and chairs underneath that Asa loves to sit and draw at.


Close up. This pretty much sums up my life! :) But I wouldn't have it any other way!

I have to start by saying WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!! What a game that was! I was sure sure sure that it was over and we wouldn't come back. My husband kept texting me saying, "No this is Steeler football, this is how Big Ben works". Well guess what, HE WAS RIGHT! (Jeff are you happy, save this post for the future, you may never hear those words from me again lol) He works for a radio station and was stuck high atop "magic mountain" running the board to broadcast the game.

Either way, it had me and Chase on the edge of our seats! It was bittersweet in that I wish my dad was here to see it. He would have been THRILLED! 3 years ago when they won my brother immediately hopped on the bus from NY after the game and came home. My dad, brother and the big boys all went downtown to the parade. I'm so thankful that I let them miss school to go. Little did we know that my dad would be gone a year later.

In other news, it's snowing. Again. I'm trying to make Spring and Easter ornies. It's hard to get motivated when all you see is snow!







These are pictures from last week when we had the white-out I just never got around to posting them. And yes, I know, this is Western Pennyslvania. But hey, what's a blog for if you can't complain every now and then! :)

I did manage to get a few things listed on Ebay, if you get a chance stop by and take a peek...


Hope yinz guys have a great day n'at. If yer in da area stop dahntahn n see da parade, the Stillers are back in da Burgh!

My Life...

I have been slightly missing in action lately and even posted about it, but thought that I needed to rewrite what I wrote so I deleted it. In doing that I lost your comments, but I appreciate all your prayers!

The reason I was asking for prayers was for my marriage. I have been seperated from my husband Jeff for sometime, but we have been together for 11 years. He is the father to my 2 youngest boys and been a huge part in my older 2 boys' life also. We haven't had it easy over these last years, but we are making a commitment to reconcile and I am asking for prayer for both of us and for our marriage. I know that only God could have changed his heart in the way that it has changed and I know He can help us through the rest if we let Him.



In other news, it's a very white snowy Friday before Super Bowl. lol The energy around town is just electric. You can see evidence all around why they say that Pittsburgh has the best (craziest???) fans. My brother is totally gone. I mean you can't even have much of a conversation without him relating it to the Steelers (or Lost lol) It's freezing and snowy. We actually had some pretty big white-outs today. I didn't even know we were getting snow. See, it's not just my blog, I've been clueless about life lately! But don't tell anyone. I'm trying not to let the kids know they really ARE smarter than me :)

Here We Go Steelers!!!!

Now admittedly I am not a big fan of football. Don't get me wrong, I want the Steelers to do well and like finding out that the score and all that, but I don't actually sit and watch a game until we get to the playoffs.



My father on the other hand, truly did bleed Black and Gold. I think he questioned my DNA many a times due to the fact that we differed a bit in this area (thank goodness Lost came along for bonding!) and after he passed away I swore I would watch them faithfully!



Luckily my brother is just as pyschotic about our Stillers to carry on the Smith football traditions (yes I was a Smith before!) and live and die by the Steelers.


My dad and the Westinghouse crew back in the 70s. He's the clean shaven one on the bottom row on last one on the left.



So this post is in honor of the AFC Championship and the fact that we are gonna kick some butt, this is Steelers weather that we are having after all!

Junie B., Lost and Freezer Bags...

These are a few of my faaaavorite thiiiiings......

I have a lovely voice I know :) So somehow my non-enjoying-reading 2 older boys skipped past the Junie B. Jones phase when they were little, but Gage and I have discovered her and her books and let me tell you we are HOOKED! This is seriously some of the funniest, have-to-laugh-out-loud while you are reading kids books! If you haven't discovered her I give this serious a 2 thumbs up!

The first books in the series cover life in Kindergarten and then she moves up to First grade, so if you have kiddos in this age group, let me know what you think!

Then my heart is beating a little bit faster lately knowing that LOST is coming back on next week! Wooooo hoooo!


Any Losties out there in the blogging world? What also makes me enjoy the show even more is that my father got me started on it. It was something that we had in common and use to recap and analyze every week. Remember I am not a total football nut like my dad and brother, so we needed this! lol Then my brother got hooked, then Chase and it was something that we could all share. So everytime the season starts and ends I got a little sad missing him.

Then there is my unnatural obsession with Freezer Bags. Please tell me I am not the only one?! I keep everything in them! Well, not food so much, but everything else! Puzzles with broken boxes, Star Wars figures, anything with small parts that just get lost through out the toy box, reciepts, everything! I even have moved on to those giant Ziplock bags they sell. I make a huge batch of my little pillows at one time then I can just take it out when I'm ready to paint! Which sadly hasn't been recently, but that's another post. I'm working on it honest!









Hope you all are having a blessed day! :)

I May Wring His Neck...

This is so NOT what I was planning on blogging about to start off the new week. I will make it brief, as frankly, there is not much to say, but AUSTIN LOST HIS SKATES AGAIN!!!!!

The sad thing is he is a mature and responsible kid for the most part. I mean he really really is. He isn't perfect, but this just stuns me. He went ice skating Saturday night with friends. He stayed over Jake's house, when I picked him up for practice on Sunday his skates weren't with him. He thinks he brought them to Jake's, but they aren't there. No one turned them in at skating. Surprise surprise. If they were left there, someone took them and I didn't mark them so there would be no way of finding them.

At first I was going to have him just be done with hockey and suffer the consequences, but I really really think that he needs this and it's good for him. In general as well as since he just lost his dad a few months ago. Soooo, I'm back to figuring it out. I guess I will probably just get him a cheap used pair from Play It Again Sports and have him just deal with skating on not so great skates.

Please, feel free to jump and offer advice, I'm at a loss as to what to do with this! So those of you that have survived the teenage years, by all means, HELP! :)