Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Murphy's Law

Ok, so this photo of the day is a doozie...with a funny story (well, I laugh now, but not so much a few hours ago!)

You know that you are bound to have days like this when you are married to someone with the last name "Murphy".  Murphy's Law seems to creep into my life way more than I would like!  I had one of those "days from you know where" and was looking forward to a night where I could have some fun with the kids, get everyone to bed early, and cash in early myself.  My hubby was not going to be home because he was going to the hockey game.  

Just as we were heading upstairs to bed, I hear a ruckus outside and begin to see a bunch of lights flashing. Sure enough, all of the noise and lights are coming from the parade of trucks pulling up in front of my house.  Yes, there was a pipe that burst in our front yard!  Long story short, it was pretty major and by the end of the whole situation, there were 5 trucks, a crane, a hole at least 8 feet deep and 8 feet wide, spotlights, no water to the entire street, and 2 kids who would not go to bed because of all of the chaos.  

Well, just when I finish texting my husband to please bring coffee for the poor guys working in the freezing cold, don't I start to hear this strange buzz of trucks pulling away.  Sure enough, faster than I could blink, they had filled the gigantic hole, packed their trucks and pulled away.  The funniest part....my husband did not get to experience any of the craziness!  He is actually going to think that I made the whole thing up!  Literally, the entire time he has been gone it has looked like a war zone in front of our house.  Our phone has been ringing off of the hook and neighbors have been stopping by all night wondering what is going on....and he missed it ALL!!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Mii - Wii!

As if it is not bad enough to step on the scale and see the real numbers, when I jump onto the Wii Fit (a lovely gift from my dear husband for Christmas) it blows me up like a balloon to rub in the fact that I have gained some weight.  Not a great way to boost the old self esteem, but I guess it is great motivation.  I mean if even the cartoon version of me is overweight, I guess I need to do something about it!

So, for gratitude.....today I am grateful for the fact that I got my butt out of bed a little early and stuck to my New Year's Resolution of getting back into shape.  I am even more thankful for the fact that I now have this great little video game to work out with instead of having to go out in the terrible cold every morning at 5am to go to the gym. 

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Well, today was a day to lay low and boy did I take advantage of it.  With six inches of snow falling over night and another 6 inches falling throughout the day, I too advantage of doing a whole lot of nothing!  It didn't help that I was in a bit of "depression" knowing that I have to go back to work tomorrow.  No one likes to see a great vacation come to an end, but I am having a particularly hard time with this one.  Knowing that another holiday season has come and gone has been hard because my kids are at such a great age.  They are 7 and 4 and LOVED every bit of Christmas this year.  They woke up at 3:15 on Christmas morning, we watched every possible Christmas movie every night leading up to Christmas, we drank more hot chocolate and ate more cookies than anyone could imagine, we wrote letters to Santa, visited Santa, and did all of those things that you dream of doing with your kids.  My biggest fear is that I will not have many more years of "believing" left.

So, today I did a lot of sitting back and relishing all of the great things.  I also did a lot of being lazy and watching some of my favorite movies.  To prove how lazy I really was, my picture of the day is actually taken from my bed out of my bedroom window.  I was snuggling with my daughter watching my favorite movie of all time, You've Got Mail, and decided to take a picture of the winter wonderland outside since I would much rather look at it from the warmth of my blankets than venture out into it (I am not much of a fan of the cold...go figure! I live in Buffalo!)  

Today, I am thankful for great times and great memories.  As hard as it is to say goodbye to the holidays, at least I can say that it was a GREAT time that I will cherish forever!!
:)Kelly
P.S.  For those of you who are interested in this idea of Project 365, here is a way to preserve all of your photos that you are taking over this year.  Here is a link to a book that I am creating! My Project 365 book.  To make your own, learn more at my website - www.WhyStoryBook.com

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Time and Garbage


Photo of the Day - My kids playing outside with their friends.  Yes, they were served hot chocolate outside!  It was 9 degrees here today!  Yikes!

Ok, so you are probably wondering what time and garbage have to do with one another.  These are the two things that I am most grateful for today!  Let me explain....

First, I am thankful for time because we had today and still have tomorrow left in our vacation.  As some of you know, I am a teacher and I relish the fact that I do get so much time off.  I love that I get to spend the time with my kids.  It was great to have today off because it gave me time to do the very necessary cleaning and organizing that needed to be done after the whirlwind of the holidays.  Just knowing that I had today to organize instead of having to race right back to work was a HUGE gift!  This is also where garbage comes into play.  

It is amazing to me how we work so hard to be able to afford "things".  We are always wanting new "things".  Yet, I can honestly tell you that getting rid of "things" makes me just as happy, if not more so, than getting things.  I was so happy to take two HUGE garbage bags full of clutter out to the garbage today.  Just seeing how neat and organized my bedroom and closet were made me happy.  I HATE clutter and wish that I would remember that every time I go to a store. Tomorrow I will be taking time to drop off some of my things to the Salvation Army.  That too makes me happy.  It makes me happy knowing that some of the great things that I have gotten to enjoy will bring someone else joy, at least until they are ready to get rid of it too!

The Gratitude Project - 2010


Happy New Year!  I cannot believe that we are upon 2010.  Sitting her on New Year's Eve, it hit me how much has happened in my life over the past 10 year.  10 years ago, I was celebrating my first New Year's Eve as a married woman.  Who knew that in the 10 years to follow I would buy a great first house, give birth to 2 great children, continue to work at the job that I had just started, travel to Europe, get involved in 3 different businesses, open my very own business, close my business, start another new business with a friend, survive 10 years of marriage, met new friends, said goodbye to some people who I thought were friends, adopted my first pet, lost my mind, celebrated some of the greatest times in my life, found myself, lost myself, gained more weight than I wanted, laughed a lot and cried a lot.  In the midst of it all, I learned a lot about me (some things that I like and some things that I do not like).  

They say that as you get older, time goes by much faster.  Well, it is true. The past 10 years have flown by faster than I could have ever imagined.  I realize now that it is so important to be present in your own life.  No matter how crazy things get, we only have so much time, so we need to laugh and enjoy it.  I can say that I have really become a worry wart and many times forget to stop and smell the roses.

So, this year, I am starting the year feeling a little bit wiser and ready to face this crazy world.  I realize that I am very blessed and very fortunate and need to take more time to appreciate that.

I am going to be participating in something called "Project 365".  I will be taking at least one photo each day of something that inspires me.  I have LOVED photography since I took my first photography class in high school.  It has been something that has been a major part of my life for a long time.  By doing this, I hope to be able to stop and appreciate things more as well as document the year with some really great photos.  Attached is the first photo of the new year.  It is of my Christmas tree.  I LOVE Christmas and totally enjoyed sitting on my couch watching a movie after everyone was asleep.  There is nothing better than the glow of Christmas lights!  I live for this time of year!

I also plan to change this blog of mine into a bit of a "gratitude" project.  I plan to look around a bit more and learn to pick at least one positive in each of my days.  Over the past years, I have found it very easy to wallow in the days of being a working mom, wife, and friend.  I many times have found it easier to be a "glass half empty" kind of person (as I have mentioned in some of my other blogs).  This year, I am going to try to change this!  

I don't know if anyone out there will ever read any of this, but I am inspired to keep writing and to write every day about the good things in life.  I hope to see a gradual change and improvement in myself over time.  Happy New Year and cheers to 2010!