LUCKY ME!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Top of the morning to ya!

My post today was inspired by a cute scrapbook page entitled "Lucky Me"

I thought I should share some of the things I love and feel lucky to have!

#1 Jason and the girls! Jason rocks! He is sweet, thoughtful, a handyman, the finder of lost things, and my best friend! He knows me better than I know myself. (how does he do that?)

The girls never cease to amaze me!

Sue is super motivated, and self sufficient. I don't know of any teens that are as responsible. She know what she wants to do with her life and how long it will take her to do it, and she is always making her way toward her goals! We just found out (and I do mean moments ago) that she is getting a promotion at work. She is going to be a Supervisor at Arctic Circle!!

Loo is the spiritual giant of our home. She is also the one who sets the mood among her sisters. If she decides that today she will be a peacemaker, then all will be great with all of the kids. If she decides to be feisty, then most of the time, the kids will bicker and fight. She is a big softy too! Especially when it comes to the pets. Loo is also very witty. On her report card, her teacher commented on her rye sense of humor.

Super is very independent and loves a good routine! She loves to help do things with her dad (especially home improvement projects) recently, she and Jason hung the banister for the stairs together. No one else was around, and Jason couldn't do it by himself, so he called on his personal assistant. She loves to lock herself in her room and play Barbies or with her cash register or school set. She doesn't like anyone to hear or see what she is doing.

As far as their relationships with each other, well they can be the best and the worst of both worlds. I guess you could say they are very passionate! Sue said something really funny the other day that pretty much sums up how my girls are to each other. She said "it's OK for me to make fun and be mean to my sisters, but if someone else tries to do it...watch out!" That pretty much sums them up!

#2 I'm lucky to have a great extended family as well. My mom and dad have taught me a lot. My in-laws are terrific and so supportive, and Jason's siblings and their spouses, and all of my nieces and nephews are great. Plus, I have the BEST grandparents hands-down who have been there for me from the time I was tiny until now, and they just keep going! I have great aunts and uncles and cousins too!

#3 I'm lucky for great friendships! I have awesome neighbors (Chris and Chrissie, you will always be our neighbors, even though you live 40 minutes away), and church friends, and school friends, and I have my sweet friend Alyssa!

#4 I am lucky to live in the U.S. (Do you ever stop and wonder what your life would be like if you were born somewhere else like Iraq or just about anywhere in Africa?)

#5 I am lucky to be alive in this day and age. I could not have made it without flushing toilets, lights that turn on at the flip of the switch, a furnace to keep warm, a stove and oven to cook with, the Internet, so I can blog, my mp3 player to keep me company on the playground, modern medicine.... I could go on all day!

#6 I'm lucky to have Coke. I know it sounds strange, but not a day goes by that I don't drink one. It is simply delicious!

#7 I am lucky for Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha who have kept me laughing until all hours of the night!

#8 I am lucky to have a nice home that Jason and I enjoy fixing up. Mostly he does the fixing up, but the ideas do come together, and I help where and when I can.

#9 I'm lucky to have a job I love doing! I just love my little preschool kids. They are so cute, they say the cutest things, and it's the only place I can be a HUGE DORK and no one will care!

I guess what it all boils down to, is that I am pretty dang lucky!

What to read next?

Ok, I am dying for another book to read! I just finished Pillars of the Earth, I have re-read the Twilight series, I need something new to read!! Any suggestions?

Here are the pics we bought for the family room

OK Chrissie, here are the new pictures we bought. We still need a couple more, but we thought these were a great find!

Poor Jason, I really feel bad for him. When we moved into our house, Jason had visions of a room that he could decorate any way he wanted. When we started finishing our basement, he had dreams of making an office with his Star Trek pictures and comic book pictures, only to be forced out by my and my scrapbooking first, then preschool. I feel like he needs a place where he can decorate as he chooses (within reason of course), so that is the reason for all the "Frank" stuff. Don't get me wrong, I like Frank too, but not as much as Jason does! Luckily for me, he also likes Audry Hepburn!

Out with the OLD...in with the NEW???

old living room.... Ahh! The moment of truth!

About little over a month ago, we decided we needed to buy new couches for our downstairs. We searched and searched and finally found something we could be happy with, but we had to special order it and it was going to take 6-8 weeks. (bummer) That's ok though, we thought. This way we will have time to re-paint and get our carpets cleaned before they come.

Meanwhile, we started trying to pick paint. The kids wanted green, Jason and I wanted blue, but we couldn't agree on a blue. Then, we decided we had better find a pillow we like or something first, then pick out our color. We found some great pillows that were lime green and yellow, and decided to go with green!

The first batch of green was fluorescent! It was highlighter marker green! It looked like something really important should be going on in our living room! I told Jason we should decorate with post-it notes and an "EASY" button from Staples!

The next day, we went back to Home Depot to try to get the paint color fixed! Fortunately, we came home with the perfect green, and it was exactly as I had imagined it!

We waited a couple of weeks, for the new couches to be well on their way, and then put we put our old couches up for sale on KSL. Within the first 5 minutes of putting them on, someone called to come and look at them. (yea!) My brother in law, Duane, came over and helped Jason move the couches out of the basement and into the garage so that we didn't have weird-os coming into our home when they came to see the couches. The love seat went out of the basement with no problem, but the couch, was a BEAST! We totally scratched and dented the walls trying to get it out! Then, after the old couches were gone, a SICK thought came to our minds Is the new one going to fit?

We made a trip to the furniture store to check the floor model and measure it. We bought a sectional and thought that both pieces were the same length, 80 inches. When we came home with that measurement, Jason thought there was no way that could be right, so the next day, he went back again. It turns out that one piece is 80 inches, the other is 93 inches!!!!!

Jason came home from work that night with some cardboard, so we could make a pretend couch and see if it would go down into the room, but we had trouble with the pretend one. The next day, Jason wanted to cancel our order, but the furniture place called the manufacturer and they told us that the couch was done and ready to ship! We were devastated. It was ours whether we had it in the basement or in the garage!!! We were sick! Because we special ordered it, there was no way to return it, plus we spent about $1500 more than we planned! We were SICK!!!

We decided that rather than trying to sell it and lose money, we would spend more money if we had to to get it into the room. We borrowed the Saws-All from Jason's dad, and were planned to cut a load bearing wall if it came down to it.

Well, this morning, the people came to deliver it. We were still on the edge of our seats! We took the smaller one down first because we knew that would fit without a problem, but the guys had trouble with that one. Jason and I looked at each other and said "we are going to have to cut out so much wall!" With a pencil in hand, we waited, Jason was upstairs watching, I was downstairs. They went down and backed into the bathroom, but couldn't make the turn, then went back up the stairs to try for the angle. And it fit!! By the skin of our teeth it fit! I was almost in tears!

The kids made fun of us because I was dancing around and Jason told the guys if he was gay, he would kiss them! We are dorks!

Now that this project is done (except for some cool movie posters we want to buy), we will sit and enjoy our new couch, and relish in the fact that we didn't have to cut down walls to get the stupid thing in!