Comfy

Here I am all comfy in bed. With a cocoon of blankets wrapped around me.

While up north, Ma was holding Ethan and covered one of his ears with his blanket. He went right to sleep. That got us to discussing how we all cover one ear with our blanket and we can't fall asleep unless it's covered, even if it's 100 degrees outside we have to have the sheet over our ear. I do this, Susan, and Julie do this. Ma does this. Lynette also does it. The next day at Lynette's shower, we asked Grandma and she did this too! She also mentioned that Great Grandma did it. It must be something that is passed down on our side of the family. Lynette said that she would start doing this to Ethan too. :)

Norwex!

I am so excited! My Norwex order arrived today! Yay!!!! :D Here is a picture of what I got. You will want to click on it, to make it bigger to see all the words.

Now here is what all I got!

• Dishwashing Liquid--It's phosphate free and biodegradable!
• Dish Cloth--This is mainly just netting (nylon) but it is great for removing flour dough from countertops! I have issues with that, so that is why I got it.
• Spirsisponge--This is a scrubber that is safe for use on Teflon and flat top stoves. I got 2 of these!
• Tea Towel Set- (1 Tea Towel and 1 Kitchen Cloth) This is made from antibac Microfiber. Since it is antibac and dries quickly you supposedly don't get that sour smell from dish cloths/towels. I can't wait to see if this is true. Even leaving a cloth out for a day it gets that icky smell and I HATE it.
• Kitchen Cloth Set--(Set of 3)-, Read above. :)
• Enviro Cloth--(1, 13"x13" cloth)--Once again this is made from antibacterial microfiber. It can be used on all washable surfaces and removes dust, dirt, and grease. This thing is AMAZING.
• Enviro Cloth Travel Pack-Set of 4, 6"x6" cloths. Read above, same thing, just smaller!
• Optic Cloth with Case--You can use this to clean eyeglasses, camera lenses, computer screens, cd's, etc. I needed a new cloth to clean my glasses and thought it was worth the try!
• Window Cloth--You can use this to clean or polish windows, mirrors, jewelry, etc. You ONLY use water with this. It's AMAZING. I was sold on this.
• Dusting Mitt--This is once again antibac microfiber, and you use it for dusting. Can't wait to try this out!
• Body Pack--(Set of 3 cloths)--These are once again antibac microfiber. These are made for removing make up, regular facial cleansing, exfoliating, or in the shower. This is one of the 2 things that I bought at Mama Jenny's Norwex Party. These are WORTH EVERY PENNY. You use these on your face with just water, NO CLEANSER. I have found that since using these my face breaks out MUCH LESS. It's AMAZING. Worth every penny! So happy that I have a 2nd set now!
• Dryer Balls--I've been wanting a set of these for a while now! I'm so excited to try these out! You put both of them in your dryer, and start the dryer. The dryer balls lifts and separates the laundry while softening fabric. It reduces drying time, static clean, and removes wrinkles naturally. NO NEED TO USE FABRIC SOFTENER! :D
• Bathroom Scrub Mitt--This has microfiber fabric on one side and a scrub mesh on the other. I can't wait to try this with the descaler that Jason bought!
• Magnet Ball---The Magnet ball prevents calcium molecules from building up in dishwashers and washing machines. I can't wait to try this out in my dish washer as I HATE all of that crap on glasses.
• Washing Bag--(Ok, it's really called a Washing Net, but whatever :P) It's a mesh bag, that has 2 layers of mesh, which allows the water to flow through the bag optimal cleaning. It's great for washing all your microfiber cloths or delicates.

I am so excited by all of this! I can't wait to see what products that I can get rid of. The more natural way of cleaning the better, in my opinion. :D

A Father's Love

First watch this video:



This song reminds me of dad. He's a mechanic. He helped me with my first car and worked on it and made sure that it was a good car for me. He has always done this for me with all my cars. I've called him from Rochester, knowing that he can't come down and help me, but some how he is able to diagnose the car over the phone if it's making an odd sound or something. Just knowing I have someone who I can call with car questions is a god send.

The Kia is getting older, and since it is, there are more repairs that are needed. When the car couldn't start in September, and the dealership tried to rip me off, Dad drove 2 1/2 hours down to fix my car.

I'm up north for Thanksgiving right now, and he wanted to take my car in to just look it over before winter came. Dad took it to the shop today and checked it over. He ended up replacing the thermostat. He won't take a dime for it. Not only that he filled up my gas tank and refused to take money for that.

It's just one of the ways that Dad shows me that he loves me. I think you can tell why this song makes me think of him.

Black Friday!

For the first time in as long as I can remember, I haven't gone shopping on Black Friday! Wow! I don't feel like I missed anything since I didn't even get the paper to look at the ads, lol. I kinda missed it, but enjoyed a day with the family. :)

Lynette and Ethan came over this evening! Of course I had to hold and love on Ethan. :) He is just such a cute little bundle of joy! I can't believe that he was 4 weeks early. He is just so perfect! Lynette and I scrapbooked 5 pages of Ethan and while we were doing that my sisters were taking pictures of Ethan. This picture below just makes me smile. :)

Thanksgiving

This year I am so thankful for my family, friends, and to have a job that I enjoy. I am beyond blessed. There is so much to be thankful for this year.

Today I did Thanksgiving with the Nelson crew! It was great seeing everyone, but also bittersweet. It just wasn't the same without Grandpa Nelson being there. It just seemed like a huge void. I miss him so much. I know I didn't see him often, but he meant so much to me. I honestly view him and Grandma as a second set of parents to me. As I write this, I am sitting in Grandpa's chair. No one ever sat in the chair except for him. I miss him so much.

Exhausted

For some reason I'm exhausted today. No idea why. I went to be around 11 and got up around 9. I slept ok. I didn't do hardly anything today. Mom took Susan and I to the casino and then came back and visited with Lynette. I made my coconut cake for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

I'm so thankful that I came up north last night. Today it's snowing and we were getting about an inch an hour. I'm so thankful to be with my family and all nice and cozy in the house.

Road Trip!

I headed up north tonight to spend Thanksgiving with my family! On the way up, I had a blast. I have forgotten how much I enjoy driving on the quiet roads. I'll admit I did speed a bit, shhhhhh. I cranked the radio and sang my heart out. It has been a long time since I've done that. I mean I'll crank the radio in town and sing, but not sing at the top of my lungs. It was a wonderful 2 1/2 hour drive up. Though my throat is a bit sore from all the singing! I'm looking forward to this vacation!!! :D

Oh and I managed to beat the icky weather! Even better!

My 3's

Since I've been getting inky tonight, I don't really want to think about what to blog about. I was tagged in this note on Facebook and thought that it would make a great blog entry!

Three Jobs I've had
1. Nursing Assistant
2. Administrative Assistant
3. Cashier at a Scrapbook Store


Three Places I've Lived
1. Kerrick, MN
2. Finlayson, MN
3. Rochester, MN

Three Favorite Drinks
1. Ice Tea
2. Coke from a can, in a glass glass, with 3 ice cubes
3. Ice cold water

Three TV Shows that I Watch
1. Glee
2. Hoarders
3. Chopped

Three Places I've Been
1. Rapid City, SD
2. Duluth, MN
3. Wyoming

Three of My Favorite Foods
1. Cheese
2. Sourdough Bread
3. Cookie Dough

Three Friends I think (hope) will respond
1. Linn
2. My Captivating Images
3. Susan


Three of my favorite colors
1. Pink (BRIGHT)
2. Black
3. Red

Three of my favorite types of candy
1. Mounds
2. 3 Musketeers
3. Dove Dark Chocolate

Three Things I'm Looking Forward to
1. Thanksgiving with my family.
2. Seeing Ethan (and family) again. Giving Lynette her gift!
3. Christmas. I just love the season.

Three Things that are ALWAYS by My side
1. Phone
2. Book
3. Notebook and pen.

Three Things in my car right now
1. Lots of reuseable bags

2. Scrapbook supplies

3. Dirt. (I REALLY need to clean my car, it's driving me NUTS.)

Three Things I did Today
1. Survived a slow day at work.
2. Got inky with my scrapbook supplies!
3. Talked to Ma on the phone.

Currently

Sitting: At the dining room table on my laptop, with bills and budget stuff, and lists spread around me.

Watching: The slight breeze blow the leaves outside.

Wearing: Super comfy knit pants and my Twilight t-shirt. Comfies are made for Sunday's.

Drinking: A can of Coke in my red polka dot glass, with 3 ice cubes. Love.

Scrapping: Linn's Scrapbooked Postcard. Gotta get that out soon! So sorry Linn that it's been so long!

Hoping: That the weather will be good for my trip up north for Thanksgiving.

Loving: The Apple Jack Scentsy type thing I have melting. My house smells like fall. The cool crisp air outside. Time with friends and family. Hugs. Bubble Baths. Headache Free days.

Listening to: A document of the Amish on National Geographic TV.

Note: I stole this from Lisa at The Moments in Between. If you get a chance, you should check out her blog. Full of inspiration and fun.

Reading Nook

The fabulous Linn recently sent me a scrapbooked postcard from Germany! I loved it and thought since I very rarely get fun mail, I thought I would keep it up. That same day I was organizing my reading nook and thought it would fit perfect on my little stand that is by my chair. Since Linn also loves to read, I thought it was perfect. Linn wanted to see it, so I snapped this quick picture. :)

Btw, the shall on the back of the chair was one that Mom gave me growing up. I don't remember if it was hers or one of the grandma's but I just love it. :)

Acupuncture

I'm fed up with my migraines and headaches. I just can't deal with them anymore. I am so over them. I feeling like I'm being pumped full of pills for no reason since they are not helping. I'll be honest, I'm ready to go off all my pills and just say fuck it and be done with doctors.

Last week while I was off work with migraines, I got to thinking that I should look into acupuncture as that has been known to help other people. I'm not afraid of needles, and it's not a pill. (I think Dr.'s prescribe pills way too easily now days, but that's just me.) And really, what do I have to lose by trying it?

Earlier this week, I went to lunch with one of my former co-workers, Debbie. During lunch I mentioned acupuncture to her and she said that Mayo offers acupuncture! I was SHOCKED! I kinda view acupuncture as a holistic medicine and didn't think that Mayo would support/provide that. Turns out they do! It's a very small area, and apparently you have to have a referral to go there, and my primary care doctor gave me one! I called earlier this week on it and have an appointment set up for December 8.

After I set up my appointment I got to thinking that perhaps my Mayo insurance would cover it....I wasn't hopeful, but was kinda hoping that they would cover 50% of it. I called MMSI (our insurance provider) and asked. It is covered 90% as long as it is for a medical reason and the doctor giving the acupuncture fills out a pre-determination form. I called and asked him to fill one out. Now to wait and hear back, but I am hopeful.

I am SHOCKED. 100% SHOCKED. I was bracing myself for the whole "no we do not cover that" line. I am very thankful for my insurance. VERY BLESSED.

Oh and I'll post an update after I have the acupuncture done!

Light Bulb Moment

Today I had a light bulb moment thanks to Noell Hyman from Paperclipping, which is a scrapbooking video podcast and live show. Today she posted an article on "How to be Organized with you have 29 Unfinished Projects."

That article is amazing. I mean I can organize and such, but who would have thought to organize your unfinished projects with all the materials needed to complete it?! Why didn't I think of that? DUH!

Next time I am at IKEA I am going to get some of the lovely 12x15 boxes, as Noell noted, they are amazing for storing 12x12 paper plus embellishments in! Once everything is contained in the box, you can simply grab it for a crop and go. WOW!

I am so inspired by this post! I can't wait to get all my unorganized, unfinished projects together!

Notes from picture: Taken last week while I was working on organizing my scrapbook room. Still lots to go, but some progress is being made! :D

List Love

I'm sure that I have titled many posts before "List Love" or something very similar. I just love lists. I know I get that from Ma and Grandma as they were always writing a list.

I remember one time Ma found one of Grandma's list. Grandpa read Grandma's lists, but didn't really help cross stuff off. Amongst all of the to-do's, Grandma was very busy, one item on her list was "fart." It makes me smile thinking about that. She had so much to get done that day, she didn't even have time to fart. :)

Today while going through my Google Reader, I noticed one of my favorite blogs had updates. Now this is a big thing, since they don't update all that often. The blog is called "To-Do List." On it there are pictures of peoples to do lists. I just love reading them. Maybe I have a bit of a voyeur in me.

For some reason today's post got me thinking about my lists. I write so many different lists, some electronically, some by hand. I'm wondering if I should randomly start saving them. I think that they capture part of my life. With my to do's and such. Would it be odd to save them? Or perhaps take a picture and save them? Maybe one day scrapbook them?

What are your thoughts on this?

Sleep

I need sleep tonight. Nothing has gone my way this evening. Ugh. Just a rough evening. Some nights I hate paying bills, lol.

But on the positive side of things, here is an inspiring quote that I found and love. :) It is so going to go in my book nook. :) I hope to post a real entry tomorrow. :)

"A home without books is a body without soul." ~Marcus Tullius Cicero

Decorating

Now that my apartment is all clean, I'm so excited to start decorating it! I'm going to go for a vintage inspired look.

Here are some things that I'm hoping to do, in list form, of course!

• I have a bunch of flour sack towels that Grandma embroidered. I'm planning to "frame" them in embroidery hoops, and hang them on the wall, pinning the backs so they are all in circle form. I'm debating about painting the wooden hoops, but I don't know for sure.
• I have an art print from a Twitter friend of a housewife, that I'm going to frame and hang in the dining room.
• I ordered a silk screened print of some beaters off of Etsy. That is going to be framed as well, and hang in the dining room. I want to paint that frame a turquoise/aqua color. My colors for the kitchen/dinging room/living room are going to be turquoise/aqua I think.
• One of my friends has a Cricut cartridge with a lot of vintage kitchen images. Since my cupboards are a cream color and are standard apartment issue, I'm going to cut some images out of vinyl and put on my cupboards to dress them up a bit. I think I even have all the vinyl I need!
• Dining room curtain needs to be made. I have the fabric for it! Red and white polka dots! Looks very vintage in my opinion! I'm kinda scared to make it though.
• The living room needs some "art" on the walls. I think I"m going to decorate some canvas. Either paint or use scrapbook paper in them. Best part, I already have the canvas and paint!
• I have my little reading nook almost all set up! All that it needs is a "curtain" to cover the door that leads into the water heater, etc. I already have this fabric, and I LOVE it!
• I want to get a print of books or something to hang behind my chair.
• Eventually I want to cover the chair that I have there. It's just an IKEA rocking chair, that is SO COMFY but I bought the cheapest cushion for it, and it's plain black. I need to find some fun fabric for it.
• In my hallway, I'm going to put the hope chest that Grandpa made me. I think above it I want to get an enlargement of a picture of Grandpa and I. I miss grandpa so much.
• I'm also tempted to do a "Photo Wall" on the wall that you can see directly from the living room.
• My bathroom is pretty much done, just want to get a couple things to put on the walls.
• My craftroom needs to be organized before I do anything. I have some pictures, knick knacks and such that I want to put up.
• My bedroom. I can't do much in there due to space. But I really want to get something on the wall above my head and the wall to the left of the bed. I don't know what though. My comforter is very pink and turquoise. I LOVE it. But I think when I finish my quilt that I've been working on for years, that will go on the bed. So I think I'm going to go a shabby/chic type thing. I don't know for sure though.

I have the decorating bug now. I've never really decorated before and I hope that I can pull stuff together like I imagine. I have a vision in my head that I want to get out. A little bit at a time. :)

Only 40 days!

Did you know that there are only 40 days until Christmas?! Can I freak out yet? Actually, I won't be, I hope. :)

This pay day I'm going to start Christmas shopping! I remember the days when I used to be done by October 1. It seems as I get older, the closer to Christmas I get. I'm going to start making my lists, and get a few things knocked off. I have a few ideas for the hard to get people on my list. :) It's not going to be a big, extravagant Christmas this year, but I'm fine with that. Low key is good. :)

But before Christmas is Thanksgiving. Since my workplace is closed on the day after Thanksgiving, I'm debating about heading up north on Wednesday after work and spending a long Thanksgiving weekend up there. It's so tempting. I may not be able to do shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, but the more I think about it, the more fine I am with that. With Grandpa passing this year, I feel the need to be by my family. I don't know if that is normal or odd.

What are your plans for the holidays? Have you started on Christmas shopping yet? What are some of your favorite, cheap/homemade gifts that you have either received or given?

Almost Forgot!

I almost forgot to blog today! Whoops!!

Today was spent sleeping in, then starting to clean a bit, then went to Haley and Cassidy's birthday party. (My nieces.) It was good to see Jason's family and the girls LOVED their presents. They both got books and Cassidy also got a bit of fabric since she has a sewing machine now. She really enjoyed it. Yay!

Despite taking my naproxen before the birthday party, I still got a headache. :( I came home and napped until almost 6 p.m. I couldn't believe I slept that long! Apparently I needed it. After my nap I ended up starting to organize and clean more for my Norwex party on Monday. I'm looking forward to it. :)

I made good progress in the kitchen, dining room, and living room. While cleaning I realized how much I like the shape of my apartment. I can start in one room and work my way to the back of the apartment. It works really well.

Now I'm off to head to bed and read for a bit and then get up tomorrow and finish. I was hoping to have my scrapbook room done and organized, but that won't happen. Oh well, it will get done, just not before Monday. :)

Hope everyone had a great Saturday! :)

A 4 letter word....

S-N-O-W

I'm so not ready for snow. Granted it is almost mid-November and we typically have had snow by now, but I'm still not ready for it. Today we had a lovely rain/snow mix. Thankfully the snow only stuck on the grass and I'm sure is gone by now. Why can't I live somewhere here it only snows a couple days before Christmas, stays through Christmas and then it goes away.

This is what it looked like around 5 p.m. by my apartment.

Controversial Post?

Warning: This may be a controversial post...but I need to get my feelings out about this. I have my flame proof suit zipped on as well, if you want to share your honest opinion on this post. I would love to know your opinion on it.

I stayed home sick with a migraine yesterday and today. Thankfully the migraine broke around noon today. I decided to take it easy the rest of the day, and turned the tv on for a bit of background noise. I found the shower I'm Pregnant And....(it's on TLC). I've watched it before and found it semi-interesting. Not interesting enough to tune in routinely, but if nothing else is on, I will watch it.

So today I watched one called "I'm Pregnant And...55 years old." When this couple was married (I believe 12 years ago) they froze some of Kathy's (the mom) embryos in hopes to be parents one day. Kathy is 55 and her husband is 64.

I have no problem with fertility treatments or people getting pregnant or adopting at an advanced age. If they have a plan. This couple has no family closer. The dad has a 35 year old daughter and 2 grandchildren, but she did not want to be a guardian. The baby has no guardian. Who would take care of this baby is something happened to them?

I also don't think that it is fair to the child to have parents at that age. I mean when the baby graduates at 18, the mom will be 73 and the dad will be 82. WOW! How is that fair to the child? The child who will be essentially still be a child himself may have to take care of his parents at that age. He may have to put his parents in a nursing home at that age? What about his life?

Maybe I'm just being bitter that I haven't been able to get pregnant. That very well could be. But I'm just concerned about the children of these parents. Is this fair to them? Am I out of line with my opinion? I'd honestly love to hear your thoughts.

Not today

No real blog post today. I'm feeling awful and stayed home from work due to a migraine. It's not going away either. :( It wavers a bit, and then it's back full force.

So today for my blog post, you get a picture. I took this before the time change, and it's my view at work in the morning. I love my desk.