New Year's Eve

Wow, the last day of the year! I think I read somewhere that it is bad luck to go into the new year with dirty laundry and clothes that need to be ironed.....well, I've never gone into the new year with no laundry and no ironing and I have to say.....each year has been a blessing and special so with that said....I'm not going to be doing laundry or ironing today! Just. is. not. going. to. happen.

Did the walking at the Mall this morning. Not quite as many people walking this morning. I have to say....those old guys are devoted to their walking and I think they are getting better! I promise to post pictures soon. Yesterday there were eleven of them walking together as soon as the doors opened. It is like a marathon.....everyone wants to lead!!! Mom, Dad and I fight our way through them and finally overtake them but the more they have been walking....the more of a challenge it is getting to be! I absolutely refuse to let a 90 year old man PASS me walking! haha
After our walk, Dad took us to Susan's for breakfast. YUMMY! Had a grilled bagel and side order of bacon that Mom and I split. We also share with Dad. Mom had on her little yellow jacket that matches her walking pants...well, her pants aren't yellow but have yellow trim. Dad told her that she looked like a little finch bird! Wasn't that romantic!?

Okay....I have to tell you what my mother did....she is ALWAYS doing something but back to my story. For Christmas.....we gave them one of these:

And you put it in front of your car like this:

This is the one that we bought for Little Buddy. It has worked great and he loves it and we are all happy because the garage door has not come down on his car. Dad thought it was cool and so we bought one for them. Well, Dad told me that Mom ran over HER stop sign! Was easing up to it and when you tap it...it lights up and you STOP....well, she didn't stop and ran right over that sign! Dad put it back together and it still works but it isn't working like it should for Mom apparently! I wish I had a picture of it laying on the garage floor in pieces! BUT....I don't!

Bud is having his eyes checked this morning. He has been having trouble reading and thinks the world is conspiring against him by printing things much smaller than they have before. I don't know how he will react when the eye doctor tells him that he is just getting old and he needs special glasses and contacts now!

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! Hope 2010 brings good health, lots of wealth and much laughter to everyone!

xoxo,

GiGi

Nasty day in Northwest Arkansas

Had a really nice Christmas with the family......first Christmas without Sonny Bono though so that was sad. We did celebrate with him and Mrs. Sonny earlier so it wasn't totally bad. Just don't need to make a habit of it! We also had a white Christmas so that was pretty awesome! We always open our gifts on Christmas Eve and have ornament exchange and lots of appetizers that we snack on throughout the evening. This year was no exception. Rhyno and his fiance spent the night because the roads were getting dangerous and we didn't want them out on them. Mom and Dad left before the roads got bad and they only had to venture 2 miles so it wasn't too dangerous for them....just basically drive through our neighborhood....on a side road a little bit and another road and then their subdivision! We had bacon and eggs for breakfast and then Mom and Dad came back over and we had grilled steaks and oven potatoes and green beans for supper. Not our traditional Christmas meal but was easier and actually kinda liked it for a change. On Saturday my aunt came down from Branson and that was lots of fun. She brought so many goodies! We will be eating on those till next year probably! We played Apples to Apples with Little Buddy and Mom won so she was pretty obnoxious the whole time! The gamblers ran over to the casino to make their donations to keep the casino in business! We then met them at US Pizza and had yummy pizza and beer! We all got up early and went to 9 o'clock Mass. Then my aunt treated us all to breakfast at Susan's and that was really good. Then....sadly, she headed back home. Here are some pictures of our Christmas:

Dad sporting his favorite team shirt!


Mom looks scared of her gift...do we give her scary stuff?!

Bud working it for the camera!

Rhyno 'stylin'!!!!


Fiance + cold meds = this cute face!

Little Buddy being 'little buddy'!

And that is how we spent our Christmas...sorry that I didn't have more pictures. Just too busy passing out gifts, eating snacks and stuff!

Happy Holidays,

GiGi

Wonderful weekend

We went to Little Rock to have an early Christmas with Sonny Bono and Mrs. Sonny Bono. Mrs. Sonny Bono could in all probability have Chloe Ann any day now so they won't be traveling up to see us for Christmas. We exchanged our gifts with them and my brother and sister-in-love met us at Sonny's house. I haven't seen my brother in probably 2 years or maybe more. We had the best visit with them. Mrs. Sonny's dad and step-mom came up from Texarkana and we all went to US Pizza for lunch. It was very good and we enjoyed visiting with everyone. Mrs. Sonny and her parents spent the rest of the day shopping and we just hung out at the house and visited with Sonny and my brother and sister-in-love. We went to Cheer's for dinner and had a really good meal......so yummy. We were all pretty tired so my parents, Bud and I headed back to our hotel probably about 7 or so. We had a glass of wine and then went to sleep. Sonny and Mrs. Sonny gave Bud and I each the cutest frames for grandma and grandpa.....cannot wait to have our pictures taken with Chloe and put them in our new frames! Got up kinda early and Sonny joined us at Waffle House for breakfast. Then we headed home....had a lot to do when I got home. Bud's Christmas party was today so had to finish the party trays. I had chocolate chip cookies, these craisin/almond bark candies, chocolate covered peanuts and fixed cake balls and brownies when we got back into town. We also had 35 bottles of champagne to wrap and tie ribbons on gifts for Bud to take to work. AND we had a neighborhood Christmas party across the street at 4 p.m.!!!!! We met a couple of neighbors that I have only waved to so it was good to actually meet them. Have spent today catching up on cleaning! My house looks like a hurricane blew through since yesterday was so busy and I was just dropping things here and there!!!! I feel like I am back in control somewhat!!!! Walked at the Mall this morning with Mom and Dad and then Dad treated us to McDonald's. From there I ran to BedBath&Beyond for a gift and Walmart for groceries and another gift. Got home and dragged some plants out of the garage so that they could enjoy some of this warm sunshine that we were blessed with today! They were smiling for sure! Bud is picking me up in a minute and we are going out with a couple of guys that he works with. The one is in town so Bud thought it would be nice to take him out to dinner since he is away from his family tonight.



Here is a picture of my party trays that I sent with Bud this morning. I felt sorry for Bud because he had 3 cases of champagne and 1 huge box with the party trays to carry to his SUV this morning and then had to haul everything into the office.


I'm glad that is done now and I can focus on getting my house clean, laundry done, menus planned and groceries bought...gifts wrapped and all of the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the holidays. I'm loving it though!!!!!

Merry Christmas!
GiGi

One tired puppy!

Whew! I am closing the kitchen for the night! I. am. done. I walked with Mom and Dad this morning. We stopped and picked up donuts before walking and then came back here to have donuts and coffee after our walk. Then I had to return some movies to Blockbuster, run to Walmart for some things, stopped at Dime's Meat Market for a couple of packages of stew meat and realized that I didn't have beef broth so stopped at Neighborhood Market and then.......came home. I got my stew in the crock pot and started baking. I made the candy with the craisins and white almond bark and they really look pretty. I tasted a little drop of it and it tasted pretty good. Will have to make some for the family next week. Then I made a double batch of chocolate covered peanuts. After that I baked a batch of oatmeal cookies to take to Sonny Bono's tomorrow. Will throw in some chocolate chip cookies as well. I made another batch of chocolate chip cookies so think I am done with the cookies for the dessert trays for Monday. I'm thinking I will fix those cake balls, rice krispie treats and brownies and then be done! Bud brought home 3 cases of champagne so will have to bag and tie those up Sunday sometime. Mom, Dad and Rhino joined us for supper tonight --- just finished washing up supper and baking dishes and have a load of laundry going. Have one more load to wash before calling it a night.

Received some exciting news this afternoon! Chloe Ann is growing like a weed! She already weighs 7.9 lbs. and isn't due till January 29th so she is going to be a big healthy baby girl! They did say that she could make her appearance in 2 to 4 weeks so that is pretty darn exciting! Guess I need to get my Gigi bag packed!!!! So exciting!!!!!

Well, I think I will crawl to the couch and rest this weary body till the clothes are ready for the dryer.

Have a great night!
Gigi

Not enough hours in a day!

So many things are screaming for my attention these days! The laundry, the ironing, the dust bunnies are even feeling neglected! When I was sick for 2 weeks, in addition to regular things piling up....I got behind on my Christmas decorating, baking, addressing cards.....I did get finished with my Christmas letters and got them mailed with my cards this afternoon. One thing done, a million more to do! I usually have things under better control but this year...not so much! I need to get some of my baking done tonight. Am doing little cookie/candy trays for Bud's Christmas party Monday. Also have 3 cases of champagne bottles to bag and decorate before Monday also. Wonder if I can put these dust bunnies to work for me?! We are celebrating Christmas with Sonny Bono and Mrs. Sonny Bono this weekend and we have a wine/cookie neighborhood get-together on Sunday afternoon. I am really looking forward to seeing the Bonos again....it has been a long time!!!!! And am also looking forward to the neighborhood get-together....we don't know very many of our neighbors so will be nice to meet some that we don't know. Maureen and her husband are hosting the party with cookies and wine.....that will be fun. Was thinking I could do some baking after the party but depends on how much wine I have! haha Hey, Christmas is all about spending time with family and friends so I will just do what I can and just not worry about the rest! It will all fall into place. Bud says if I didn't walk every morning with my parents and then go to breakfast with them...I would have more hours in my day. Yeah, he is really right BUT I really enjoy that time with Mom and Dad and wouldn't trade the time we spend together for anything. The laundry and dust bunnies will always be there and even when you get it all under control....they are baaack but life is precious and you are only promised today. I am so happy to have them living close by now and I want to spend time with them when I can.....that is something that I will NEVER regret. I have family that are spending their first Christmas without a loved one and I can only imagine how hard this is. I wish that there were words that I could say to give them comfort but I know that words are not enough. I can only hold them in my thoughts and prayers and pray that God will give their hearts the comfort that only He can do.

We are counting down the days now till Chloe Ann's birth! I have the jeep's oil changed and tires rotated so I will be ready to hit the road the minute those contractions start! I have been thinking about how much fun next year's holidays will be with a little one to share with. There is nothing quite like experiencing things through the eyes of a child....it makes it all new and exciting again.

Here is a picture of our front door this year. I didn't do anything different this year. Except maybe pray that the lights would work!

Well, my cookies and candy aren't fixing themselves! I am having trouble keeping Little Buddy and Bud out of the cookies that I've already baked though! So...off I go.....to clean up my kitchen while I do a little baking and throw in some laundry while I'm at it.

Merry Christmas!

GiGi

Long time....no blog.....

So many exciting things have been going on.....the most important and most exciting thing is that Sonny Bono and Mrs. Sonny Bono are having a girl! Miss Chloe Ann Madison will be here the last of January! I am so excited! I will FINALLY be able to buy all of the little girly things that I've wanted to buy forEVER! Here are a couple of pictures of our little sweetheart:


Have you ever seen such sweet little feet?! I love the little feet pictures.....her daddy had the biggest feet when he was born! The nurses commented on how big his feet and hands were! I didn't think that they were THAT big but he does wear like a size 13 shoe so maybe they are bigger than I thought!

Am trying to get my Fall decorations out. Need to make myself climb into the attic and haul the couple of boxes down that I need. I just know if I get up there....I will get sidetracked and will end up spending more time up there than I need to.

We did the Bikes, Blues and Barbecue last weekend. The weather could not have been better. We ended up riding Friday evening after Bud got home from work. He bought me a helmet so we were ready to ride. Rhino and Mrs. Rhino rode with us on their bike. It was really a lot of fun being a part of all of that. The helmet was a little bit of an issue for me though. It just seemed to be so heavy. Every time that Bud would shift gears...my head would jerk forward and I would in turn hit his helmet and his head would jerk. We both had major headaches by the time we returned home Friday night! We roared into US Pizza where the parking lot was packed with nothing but bikes and bikers. We were soooo darn cool (or so we thought)! We parked right up front like we owned the place. Considering how often we go there and the waiters and waitresses all know us by name........! Anyway, I gracefully dismounted. Do you dismount a bike? Bud was standing there trying to turn off his lights or turn signal and the only thing he was accompishing was beeping his horn and have you ever noticed that motorcycle horns sound so girly?! We had the attention of all of the REAL bikers by this time that were standing around.....NOT a good thing. While Bud was working on the horn/lights.....Rhino jumped off of his bike and somehow got his foot hooked into my helmet. He is hopping around and jumping all over the parking lot trying to NOT knock over his bike which would probably knock over all of the bikes in the parking lot if the domino theory was in play! We managed to wipe off our pride and went inside of US Pizza. We ordered a round of beer and waited till the bikers were out of the parking lot so we could mount up and head back to the house! We are going to have to really practice on being bikers.....we were so NOT cool! BUT it was fun and next year.....we will be the coolest for sure! ; )

I have been taking Miss Allie for a walk in our neighborhood this week. She seems to really like it and her vet says that she needs to lose 4 to 5 lbs. which would be like 40 to 50 lbs. in human pounds! Note to self: Make sure that she poops BEFORE we leave because bagging her poop isn't really that much fun! And the fact that she pooped in the beginning of our walk and I had to carry around her bag of poop......not so much fun! I am giving her the day off today and she is snoring on the couch. I think she is thinking if she sleeps and is good, I won't be dragging her for her walk. But I still may.....the day is still early.

Laundry is calling me......

Gigi

Labor Day weekend....yeah, I'm laboring!

Friday I made a couple of runs to Hobby Lobby. I love that store! I haven't been in quite a while so I really enjoyed myself. I went once by myself and once with Mimi. I bought some new Fall garland for my front door wreath and some Fall ribbon. Am going to TRY to redo the wreath this weekend. They had picture frames 50% off so bought three of those....one for the collage print that I had made for Sonny Bono and Mrs. Sonny Bono, one for an animal print that I've had for a million years that needed a frame and one for a snapshot of Little Buddy and Sonny Bono on the beach. Picked up a couple of little Fall things for Bud's secret pal. Am thinking I am liking them a lot so maybe I can be his secret pal and will get his other secret pal something else! Little Buddy is always asking "What's for supper?" so I picked up a little wooden sign that says: Dinner Choices (1) Take It or (2) Leave It! I showed it to him and he wasn't as impressed as I had thought he would be! When Mimi and I went out shopping, she also picked up some garland, ribbon, scarecrow to update her wreath and some frames. We checked out Dillard's for some Fall fragrance diffuser and reeds. Then went into Artsy Craftsy and they had a good sale going on. Found a 'pig chef' with little chalkboard that I have always loved! It was 50% off so it had to come home with me. I know that the pig's sign will be saying all kinds of things.....probably everything except for the dinner menu! It seems like everytime I go into the kitchen....his sign is saying something else! Rhino and Ms. Rhino came by and borrowed my jeep for the weekend. They headed down to Little Rock for the Razorback Game! We are keeping Olive so Allie will get her exercise this weekend! Olive still has a lot of puppy in her!

Little Buddy had a job interview at Pontiac Coffee House at 7 p.m. He was gone a long time. He came home and said that he thought that the interview went really well. About 15 minutes after he got home, they called to tell him that he got the job and started the next day! He was so excited! We were excited for him and very proud of him. He told the owners that he really appreciated them hiring him and it meant so much to him that they did hire him.

Saturday morning Bud, Little Buddy and I met Mimi and Poppy at Susan's for breakfast. Good as always. Then Bud, Little Buddy and I ran over to Target and Oops. Didn't find anything at Oops....that seems to be a hit and miss store and I missed this time. ; ) Little Buddy had to be at work at 4 p.m. and it was after 11 p.m. when he got home. He said there was a band there and it was a popular band so they had about 200 people there. He said that he was supposed to get off at 8 but they told him that he could stay if he wanted since they were so busy so he stayed. He was pretty tired when he got home.

I've been doing some heavy cleaning this weekend. Seems like I've been just hit and missing with it since we returned from vacation and it was time for some heavy cleaning. Have been cleaning ceiling fans, light bulbs, baseboards, blinds, etc. Trying to get as much done before the cardinal game comes on this afternoon. Actually it is almost time for it to start so I had better end this and root for my team! It was an awesome game last night. It was tied up and Albert came in to pinch hit the 10th inning and won it with a homerun! Doesn't get much better than that!

Sonny Bono and Mrs. Sonny Bono are in Texarkana this weekend at Mrs. Sonny Bono's dad and step-mom's home. I think that they were having a wedding reception for them......don't really know if it was Saturday or today but I'm sure that they had a lot of fun and good food. Will be anxious to talk to them and hear all about it!

xo,
Gigi

Still a mystery..........

The mystery continues! What we DO know: the heartbeat was 144 beats per minute today and the due date is January 29, 2010! What we do NOT know: will we be calling the baby Chase Alexander or Chloe Ann Madison! When you hear that little heartbeat.....there just aren't words to describe the feelings! Those are just some of the moments in a parent's life that you never ever forget!

My family has mixed feelings on my having a public blog.....so I have promised to protect their identities and spare them humiliation! Let me clarify that my youngest son and middle son are the ones who have expressed their feelings most openly! So.....from this moment on the names of my three sons are Sonny Bono (the oldest), Rhino (the middle) and Little Buddy (the youngest). Those are the knicknames that their dad called them when they were little so we will use those for this blog. ; ) I will have to see what names Sonny Bono's wife and Rhino's fiance want to be called....will get back to you on that later! And as far as my husband and his identity....what knicknames do I have for him? That depends! Let's see......he recently grew an awesome beard, he is really into his motorcycle right now, and he loves to play his guitar when he has time which isn't very often. I know.....let's call him Bud! ; ) He will like that!

We are having Fall like temperatures this week and it is so awesome! I'm not really ready to say goodbye to Summer and definitely not ready to say hello to Winter but Fall has its good points.....the cool crisp mornings, leaves on the trees turning colors, mums, the excitement of Razorback games and the excitement that goes along with living in Razorback country! When there is a game in town......everyone wears the razorback red and cars are decked out in razorback flags, razorback magnets......so much fun! There is so much energy in the air and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! My mom and dad recently moved up here and I'm hoping that they get into it all and love it as much as we do!

I need to be heading outside to mow and work in the front yard. The Cardinals played this afternoon so instead of mowing, I was watching my favorite team. I was hoping that they would win this afternoon but it wasn't in the cards.....no pun intended! Matt Holliday did get a homerun this afternoon and I really thought we might be able to win it.

So....off I go to mow!

xo,

Gigi

In the beginning.......

I wanted to start a blog about some pretty exciting things that are happening in my life right now. I am FINALLY going to become a 'grandma'! I know a lot of women who are already in that very special club and I've been very envious of that special bond that is just between a grandparent and a grandchild. I've witnessed it in my own children and their relationships with their 'mimi' and 'poppy'. I wanted that special relationship with my OWN grandchild!!!! And now......my prayers have been answered! This very special person will be making her (yes, I am saying HER) grand entrance the end of January. I....cannot.....wait! I've seen her ultrasound picture and she is beautiful! When I think about her and how she is my son's child......my FIRST born's FIRST born......it is all so overwhelming! To see that first ultrasound and to immediately feel so much love in your heart for that tiny little being. I have so many things that I want to share with her......but mostly my heart. And maybe someday she will find this blog and know how much she IS loved and WAS loved even before she WAS.

xo,
Gigi