One week to go!

I am really looking forward to my trip home to visit my family. Here is a picture of my Mom, Dad, and brother Petie. Mom and Dad are wonderful people... they have always been there for me and I love them so much! You already met Petie last post... he is adoreable!

My husband, TD, started this thing called Family Saturday last year when we lived closer to my family. (sigh)... It takes place every second Saturday of the month and usually my dear sister-in-law Jenna comes up with a theme...

I actually suggested this next Family Saturday's theme as: YOUR SIGNATURE DISH...

I thought of it as TD and I watched The Next Food Network Star on FoodTV channel... one of my favorite channels and shows! Everytime we have Family Saturday we make food that goes along with the theme... I guess this theme is all about the food! I will be sure to post everyone's great dishes! I already know that Boo Boo and Mandy will make their famous bananas foster and my Dad will make his famous cheese and onion pizza! Who knows what Mom will make, as all of her dishes are signature dishes! Also, I am sure that Jenna will make something delish! Petie will be making his soon-to-be-famous spinach and strawberry salad! What will I be making? Well, it is still a surprise!

Do you have a signature dish?

Happy Birthday, Boo Boo!

Today is my brother Patrick's birthday. He is a wonderful person, and I wish him the most beautiful day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here he is ( on the right) on his wedding day, 9/19/07, when he married my sweet sister-in-law, Mandy.

Patrick is a great person! He has a good sense of humor and is generous. When he was small, one of his favorite things was going to Mass. He was so cute when he held his hands in prayer during Mass because he looked so serious even at the young age of six! He also has to be the youngest person in history to attend a pro soccer game. He went to a Tampa Bay Rowdies game with the entire family when he was only 7 days old! Good times!

And Mandy...

She was quite the beautiful bride!

I am lucky to have her as a sister. We are now coworkers and fellow CVSers and talk to each other almost every day! Together, Boo Boo and Mandy are a mean and lean CVS machine! Their stockpile is one to be admired! I cannot wait to visit to see all the cool stuff they have told me about. I will have to post a picture for us to drool over!

Shown in the middle is my baby brother, Peter, or Petie Sweetie as I call him. He is also a fantastic person! He is a hard working college student and also works as a bartender. He has got to be the most popular person I know!

Love you, Boo Boo!

Make sure you have fun on your special day!

I Love Freebies!

Who doesn't love to get something for free? It feels like Christmas when I go to the mailbox now and I cannot believe that there was this entire world of free stuff out there that I could get just by doing a little research. I am very grateful to the gracious people that share on their blogs about freebies. Here is what I received recently:

Country Home Magazine

TV Guide

Metropolitan Home

Kraft Food & Family ( with a coupon for free salad dressing!)

Quaker Simple Harvest

Nature's Bounty vitamins

tea sample from Republic of Tea

Kotex samples

Digestive Advantage Gas defense formula

Huggies pull ups

A bunch of coupons for Alaway... I wrote a letter to Bausch and Lomb thanking them for the awesome sample they sent. In reply, they sent me a gracious letter and additional coupons! What a great company.

***********Earlier today I was thinking of things that steal away my time.

I have a habit of wanting to write everything down. I mean everything.

Name the type of journal and I have got it!

I have a prayer journal, daily journal, work journal, food journal, spending journal, etc.

whew!

So... in an effort to simplify my life, I have decided to try to limit my writing. Only one journal for thoughts, etc. No more writing down everything I spend or eat. It is complicating my life.

Do any of you have the urge to write down so much of what is going on in your life?

Finally Organized!

I have not posted in forever because (1) I needed to get organized and (2) I needed to really ponder which direction I wanted to take with my blog.

Two weeks ago I actually went to a Blogging class taught by an experienced blogger. It was interesting, but I think that I need a lot more technical help. The class was really just about coming up with a blog idea rather than the "how" of everyday blogging. Oh, well, I think that I will just play it by ear and learn by doing!

The good thing is that I now know what my blog will be. Really, it is going to be a compilation of everything. My thoughts, ideas, helpful things I have read, heard or learned, stuff about my wonderful family, frugal stuff, gardening stuff, cooking stuff, homemaking stuff, etc.

A bit of an eclectic mix, I would say.

So... at first I was thinking that it was all about everyone in the universe visiting my blog!

But now, upon great reflection, I have decided that this blog is going to be written for whomever wants to read it, whether it be me or a gazillion people. I just want to express myself.

I would like for my family to be able to visit to see what is going on since we do not live in the same state right now.

If anyone else is reading, you can probably tell that I am not technologically advanced. Thus the absence of the cutsie things that appear on other sites. I do want to learn how to do all that and I will as I go along. I am just thrilled to be able to add a picture to my post!!!!!

Okay, here is what has been happening... Birthdays Galore!

1. Tiff ( our beautiful daughter ) had her 24th birthday in June. We were sorry to not be with her to celebrate.

2. Matthieu (our handsome grandson) turned 1 year old in June, as well. His Mommy says he is growing like a weed! Good thing, as he is going to have to protect his little sister after she is born. I am sure he will be a great big brother!

3. Bita, our sweet baby Rottie, turned 5 on the fourth of July! She loved her homemade cake!

Other news of note... I finally started selling on eBay! Yippee! I did not realize how much fun it would be. Thanks alot to my husband, TD, and my brother Ricky for all their advice.

My brother Ricky is a Power Seller, so he knows his stuff. I have a lot to learn.

More than anything, I want to be a good seller and receive good feedback.

Now that I have made my plan to post daily or at least every other day, I am happy.

I also feel liberated that I have decided to be sort of free-flowing on this blog.

Thanks for reading. Please say hello. I would love to hear from you. Have you been trying to do something new? Take care!