Stickers

Do you remember when you were 6 years old and your world revolved around stickers??


I do, we lived in Ocean City, NJ and my sister and I would troll the seaside tourist stores on the boardwalk looking for our next great find. We each had a sticker album filled with treasures. Things like a fuzzy monkey sticker that started to run out of fuzz in the middle from being loved so much, or a rainbow-colored gel-filled heart that your best friend gave you.

A lot of our stickers came from rolls and had a lot to do with Hello Kitty. We were a little girly. :)

Being all about tradition and nostalgia, Auntie Beanie pulled out all the stops this year for Ali's birthday by sending her some very cool stickers.





Beside these, there was an envelope full of our good friend Hello Kitty. :)

Now up until now Alison has stuck her stickers in several places. Stickers for being good at dance class get stuck on that day on the calendar. A sticker will occasionally show up on the wall of Emily's crib and when asked, Alison will report that Emily was a good sister that day. She also has a mirror in her room that has a pretty considerable sticker "border".

I want to get her a genuine sticker album/book, but I'm not having a lot of luck finding one. Any ideas??

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I do still knit. The problem is, I don't knit much and when I do, it's fortune cookies. Sorry. I will say this though, this morning there was a slightly (and I use the term loosely) cooler (another loose term) breeze which made me long to finish my Wicked. Hmm . . .

If I Were in the Market . . .

. . . for a new automobile, you better believe I would go to the Nissan dealership first.

Why?

Because they brought me the season premiere of Heroes with Limited Commercial Interruption.

"But don't you watch everything after recording it on your DVR??"

O yes, I do. And Heroes begins at our house at 9:15PM, however we've noticed a bit of a trend lately toward more commercial breaks per show. And with reality TV, there are times that you'll only get 4 minutes of show between commercial breaks toward the end of the show. Even if you're fast forwarding through them, they're a pain in the ass.

I would pledge to buy a Nissan in the next year if they would supply me with a full season of Heroes (and let's throw in LOST too) with Limited Commercial Interruption. It's like a hug from Nissan, just for me (or everyone in America watching the show).

:)

Not a Bed Wetter

Last night, somewhere around 4:30am I was pleasantly dreaming. I was roused from my slumber with thoughts of really needing to pee, but I was also very sleepy so I decided that maybe shifting my position would relieve the pressure on my bladder.

But when I moved my foot, it encountered wetness. Cold wetness. This was alarming, but not horribly so since I was still mostly asleep. I started thinking - Did I already pee?? Did I pee the bed!!?? If I did, it had to have been hours ago 'cause this is cold and wet!!

Then several things started to occur to me, 1 - I still really needed to pee and I figured I couldn't have already peed in my sleep 'cause the need was too great; 2 - It was raining; 3 - What was I going to tell Wayne.

Thought numero uno prevailed though so I sat up to go use the restroom and *plop* a drop of water hit me in the head. The stupid roof was leaking!

I yelled at Wayne to get up the roof was leaking and ran into the bathroom. It took Wayne a little bit to realize what was going on, but then he lept into action. First he found a bucket and put it under the drips.

I walked right past him, got a blanket from the linen closet and went to lay down on the couch. That didn't last long 'cause he hunted me down and said he could really use some help. He didn't use the nicest tone of voice and I'm pretty sure my reply was not very polite, but basically stated my desire to go back to sleep.

He stomped back to our bedroom and after a lot of crashing noises, I followed him to find that he'd pushed our entire king size bed 4 feet closer to the wall and out of the way of the leak. Then he took apart the culprit ceiling fan. I sat on the floor and tried to fall back to sleep. He tried to make suggestions about putting towels over the wet spot on the mattress and getting new blankets, but I just crashed on the couch.

This morning when I went to grab my glasses from beside the bed they looked a little off, I tried to bend them gently in the opposite direction. Snap! The broke in half at the bridge.

Wayne glued them back together for me. He's also going to patch the roof and repair the drywall when it stops raining. I don't know where I'd be without him.

Ali-son-pa-looza!!!

Today Alison is 5 years old!!

I can remember holding her for the first time and waiting patiently to hear her say Mama . . . Now she never stops talking (and has an imaginary friend who is nothing short of great listener) and I try to avoid picking her up and summoning the wrath of sciatica.

It's been a big year of learning new things and enriching our lives in inumerable ways.

*Learned to tap dance and be "Truly Scrumpcious"
*Learned how to play soccer and be part of team
*Became an awesome big sister and a great helper to your Mommy
*Discovered how annoying it is to grow out bangs and rock some gorgeous
*Realized that trying new foods won't kill you
*Learned how to do a cartwheel (with a little help)
*Slept in a hotel for the first time
*Discovered you get car sick

And lots of other things, but now it's time to go make some cupcakes . . .

Love you Ali!! Happy 5th Birthday!!

You say you want a revolution . . .

http://mygooddeed.org/

Challenge yourself to turn tragedy into success. :)

Looking up

Things are starting to get back to normal here. The services over the weekend were absolutely lovely and provided some closure and encouragement. We were blown away by the number of people who had been touched by Bob and came out to celebrate him. Wayne spoke at both the funeral and the memorial service and he was strong and eloquent.

Alison did very well at the funeral, it was open casket and she didn't go any closer than she was comfortable with, but loved visiting with people and talking about Papa. Wayne sat up front with his Mom, but Ali and I sat in the back row and each time they played one of Bob's favorite songs, she'd get up and dance around and talk about how much she likes that song.

Bob belonged to a Harley owner's group and they came to the funeral and led the procession to the cemetery. They were loud, but easy to follow. And the VFW that Bob belonged to is dedicating their new motorcycle parking area to him with a plaque and ceremony.

When I dropped Ali off at school this morning there was a card in her folder from her class. It was your standard sympathy/we're praying for you card, but it had been signed by her teachers and all of her classmates - like they were little office workers. I thought it was adorable.

I need to get a move on those fortune cookies, and hopefully I'll be home more this week to do so . . .

Plans . . .

Plans have been arranged, insurance is being processed, Florida Highway Patrol is wrapping up their investigation (it was an accident, a horrible accident).

I feel so much and don't know what to do, so I keep busying myself with tasks. Wayne's been staying at his Mom's, but hopefully he'll be home this weekend - I miss the comfort of having him here.

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers. In the midst of everything, we feel very loved.

My heart hurts

On Saturday morning Wayne's dad was killed in a motorcycle accident. We're grieving and any and all prayers are greatly appreciated.