the aftermath...

of...

can you guess?

The first day of school.

The took what they needed and left the rest to, well...stay on the floor. At least I know where I can quickly grab a pen, or pencil.

when left is right

we are home...I want to say 'finally' but the weekend was a whirlwind of driving and stopping and continuous family and visiting.

We left Friday night to drive to Indiana ~~ we stopped halfway and spent the night...it was great.

We left late after our 'free' breakfast to attend a wedding ~~ I saw my Dad in a suit for the first time...ever?

We left Iowa and arrived in Indiana in time to make the reception that I did NOT want to attend ~~ it was TOO fun, and I'm so glad I went.

We left the reception after it was over and went to a casino ~~ left $300 AHEAD.

We left Indiana the next day later than we planned ~~ enjoyed a delicious birthday meal for my hubby with my parents.

We left in time to run into some pretty nasty, stormy weather ~~ pulled to the side of the road and watched an amazing lightning show.

We left the side of the road to keep driving to meet my in-laws for dinner ~~ and left the restaurant with some of their home grown fresh produce, 7 pairs of jeans, a b-day cake, zucchini bread, rolls and frozen meat.

How can all of these 'lefts' be 'right?' I'm not sure, but they were.

waking up HAPPY!

so for those of your who don't know, i've recently accepted a position that cater's to me perfectly. I'm the new catering event manager for a locally owned and operated restaurant that is absolutely thriving. This opportunity was presented to me shortly after I expressed interest in a management position as a closing supervisor in this bbq restaurant where I was a server. To make a long story short, it helped immensely with the drastic pay cut we were facing, as my husband had just lost his job (you know, the one that relocated us to Nebraska). This week MJ has started working again, it's not a career position, it just helps make ends meet. OMG rambling....again.

SOOOO I've had to get up around 6:15 am. This is the first time since losing my babies that I've held a position which required me to be up/awake/alert by 8am. I love staying up, sleeping in...and well, I really haven't HAD to have a 'real' job...but I'm 'feeling' this is truly a blessing in disguise. Well, because in the real world, half the day is over before I would get up and get going.

My alarm goes off, I sleep with my crackberry either IN my bed or on the nightstand....I find the noise that is telling me to get my ass out of bed, and hit snooze, it's ok...i have time. I snuggle in and dream again...until my good friend, aka 'crackberry' says, LORI GET UP...but I smile softly to myself and hit snooze AGAIN...and doze off. Finally my real-back-up alarm goes off, and I know it's time to slide out of bed....but it's ok. I feel great. I'm not trying to think of how NOT to get up and go to work. I feel 'happy'.

I could dwell on 'how' I could possibly feel happy, but I don't....I just accept this feeling, and hope it finds me every single morning from now until forever.

the best intentions :)

I get home, i'm tired. He get's home, he's tired. He's home first today, so he runs to the store to grab a quick and easy dinner, and he's home again, more tired...BUT he loads dishwasher, wipes down the counters, and tosses dinner in the oven. My work cell phone chimes, (that thing is never tired), I answer...now realizing my next morning just got earlier, and that makes me even more tired. Ten tiring minutes zip by, and he is making faces as he takes dinner out of the oven....his tired hands chipping away some mildly burnt crust. The third item from the stove is being pulled, I hear a loud expletive and my tired eyes notice the oven is set at 450 degrees.



yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

i fall....a lot

i've always been this way, if there's something to trip on, i find it. It's nothing out of the ordinary for me to skid on my knees on carpet, tile or just to amp it up a bit....concrete. I've always wondered how little kids can be soooo brave when they skid their little knees on the sidewalks, or miss a concrete step, and they just brush themselves off an go about their merry way. Well, now I know how they do it. It doesn't hurt...at first. At first it's no big deal, heck....I felt like the bionic woman when i dove to the patio after missing the last step on my deck. I got up and surveyed the skin that used to be on my palms and knees which was now crinkled up on the hot concrete. Looking around i knew someone HAD to see my semi-olympic feat, and sure enough, he (my hubby, MJ) was sitting in the yard, savoring the moment. I can say 'savor' because i was so brave and unhurt and heck, i even blamed the dog that was an easy 10 feet away. Because I always fall, he's used to seeing it, and also used to assessing the damage....which, i completely reassured him, even though i needed a skin graft, i was just fine.

Well 6am is a tad early for me to be awake on a Sunday morning, but something wasn't right, something HURT, i felt patches of hell-fire on the front on my knees....little did i know FULL BLOWN damage would be the first thing i felt in the morning. Who doesn't love waking up to throbbing knees that kinda, sorta, in a really gross way 'stick' to the sheets. I somehow got of bed and could only walk on my tip-toes to keep from bending my knees, all the while wincing and looking for a wheelchair which we don't have, tucked in a corner waiting to save me. No wheelchair, just some neosporin with pain relief, and ya know what? I debated to myself what REAL pain relief would be, like crushing and directly applying vicodin to my knees, or pouring pepto bismal on them, maybe just planting 30 ibuprofens in a smiley face fashion on my gooey circles. I am happy to report, after 45 min of feeling like i had poured boiling gasoline on my knees, i felt like a new person. (that pain relief is total garbo, well...at first).

I realized also this phrase "the bigger you are, the harder you fall" and then i really understood the dangers of deck stairs after consuming 3 glasses of wine.

I am soooo breaking up with wine, well...after this glass.

what can i say...i love my junkdrawers

I've always been under the impression that having a collect-all junk drawer was...well, normal? You know, where you stick the things that you either don't have time to put where it goes, or just flat out doesn't have a designated home. So, it's normal to have a junk drawer, but what about junk drawers, yes...plural.

Doesn't everyone have a drawer like this? You know, a golf ball, tape measure, electric tape? I can 'almost' say this is my hardware drawer but I see a tire gauge and spare keys....and I'm no hardware expert, but I don't think golf balls are used to fix anything.

And the beauty of this drawer is....there's another one right next to it. What's better than one junk drawer? TWO! and they are side by side.

I think I may need professional help.