I'm Crazy about....

My husband!

He's such an amazing man. I first met him when I was 17 (and a half!)...I had just graduated high school and he was/is a good buddy of my cousin. They had just graduated college. He was 23!

He's in front on the left in the jeans carrying the bag. He had that All-American Tom Cruise (back when Tom was really cool...pre-TomKat and sofa jumping!) look about him and he has an awesome smile!

Off to college I went and my cousin went off to law school. Four years later we both graduated again....another party...another chance meeting. I was then 21 and he was 26.

Seven months later, my cousin's apartment has a fire. Tragic, but no one was hurt...and it was the "spark" we, hub and I, needed! There was a pity party and Hub and I finally got to talk and get to know each other.

That next week we have our first "date". We continue to date...we break-up because Hub never wanted to get married...we get back together because Hub realizes I'm pretty terrific! We finally get engaged in July 1996 and married October 1997!

We had our beautiful and amazing daughter, Bug, in April 2001.

Fast forward to September 2006...Hub is laid off for the third time in five years. He hates the business he is in and we hate living with him as miserable as he is. He travels to Fairfax, VA for a vacation with a great buddy (not my cousin, but another buddy from their college group) and to take the police exam. He returns to us excited! Hub is not one who gets excited so it's awesome to see him energized about something.

The problem...the job is seven states and 450 miles away from where we own a house and have all of our extended family and many very good friends.

Hub continues the "hiring process" by returning to Virginia in November and December. He is disqualified in January for medical reasons then after sending records, he is re-qualified in March. In April a background investigator comes to MA to interview folks, including me and we realize that a big move is in our future. In Late May, Hub is officially offered the job and he was EXCITED! He started in June and began the six-month police academy in September 2007 almost a year after losing his last job!

The move to VA was very tough on me personally, our marriage, our little family and our extended families. I am not gonna lie, we fought hard and nasty at times and I threatened to leave and he told me to leave...we hung in there....

Hub graduated first in his academy class and I knew we had made the right choice. I was so proud of him!

Fast forward another couple of years...we've moved again. We've pretty much ruined ourselves financially. We've been married almost 13 years and I can honestly say I love my life! I love Hub with all my being. He is an amazing man full of integrity and honor. He makes me a better person. He brings a calmness to my life and is my shelter in the storm of life. Sometimes things are really hard, but at the end of the day I am so grateful that our paths crossed and re-crossed and then re-crossed again.

Hub is not comfortable with attention or the spotlight. He was kinda embarrassed about graduating first. He likes to go with the flow and hang in the middle of the pack. He doesn't like me to brag about him, but he deserves it! He was over 40 with a wife and young daughter and he did a major career change and our family is better for it!

I love you Hub! Thanks for your patience with me and for hanging in there with us!

"Almost" Wordless Wednesday...Enjoy!

Giveaway!

This is cool...folks do giveaways on their blog...I'm gonna have to give this a try. Friend of a friend of a friend's blog is giving away a subscription to Food and Wine magazine for a year! COOL!! Click here to check it out!

Good Luck!!

Randomness about me...

Hair Color: brown

Eye color: green

Profession: I'm a master level social worker, licensed in MA and VA currently my job title is Clinical Director. I am also a wife and mom.

Relationship status: Happily Married


My Favorites:
Favorite color: Green

Favorite movie: Sixteen Candles

Favorite animal: Dog

Favorite store: Wegman's

Favorite childhood memory: pool parties with my extended family

Favorite hobby: Reading and scrapbooking

Favorite song/singer: Phil Vassar

Favorite book/author: don't have one...Jodi Picoult, Harlan Cobin, Emily Griffins, Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, James Patterson, I could keep going! I LOVE to read!

Favorite school subject: social studies

Favorite vacation destination: Bow Lake, NH

Favoritefood: Chocolate and pizza

Favorite restaurant: Pomodoro's Pizza


This or That
Coke or pepsi : Coke (diet please!)

Beer or wine: Wine

Coffee or tea: Neither

Apple Juice or O.J.: OJ

Summer or Winter: umm, either in moderation!

Cats or dogs: DOGS!!

Salty or sweet: Sweet

Plane or boat: No preference...love both!

Morning or night: I am more of a night person myself. Mornings and I don't get along very well.

Money or love: Love... no question about it.

Breakfast or dinner: Dinner. Again, breakfast goes along with mornings... no thanks!

Forgiveness or revenge: Forgiveness

House or apartment: House

Like to cook: not really, I love to bake!

Have You Ever:
Got a speeding ticket: hmmm, yes...though not recently! :)

Wished you were someone else: yes, though thankfully not recently!

Cried during a movie: Yup!

Describe yourself in one word: Energentic

Biggest fear: dying by suffocation/drowning (lack of air)

Biggest mistake: Not sure...and every mistake led to who I am...so I accept them.

Your proudest accomplishment: Bug

Dream job: Dog trainer

Special talents: Making anything chocolate disappear... And in record time!

Where would you rather be at the moment: in bed...snuggled up to Hub.

Famous person you want to meet: Mother Teresa

Song to be played at your funeral: All I Ask Of You

Welcome to Moe's!

Bug and I have a favorite spot that we usually visit at least weekly...it's Moe's!

We were first introduced to Moe's last fall when a good friend had a Spirit Night for her Elementary school. In all honesty, I wasn't psyched to go. See, I am not very adventerous with food....I know SHOCKING to those who know me! So, the thought of going somewhere new for a meal was well, scary...but the company was awesome and a night I don't have to come up with what to serve for dinner is always welcome...so it was Moe's.

Bug got a taco that first night and I tried the Joey...and we were both in love! Since then, Bug has transitioned to a burito, actually a "Moo Mr. Cow" with the same "innards" as the taco, but now rolled into a buritto!

Moe's has kids eat free Tuesday nights and Sat/Sun 11am to 4pm...so it actually is a cost saving meal, as I only pay for mine! Plus the free chips and the queso that comes with "Make it a meal" is YUMMY! Bug and I share my queso and we leave FULL!

"Loveys"

Last night I was thinking about objects children attach with. I was thinking about how as a young child I became attached to stuffed animals.

My first "lovey" was a teddy bear that is in baby pictures of me. He was well loved for my first few years. His eyes fell out and his "fur" was loved off. Here is "Teddy" now.
I remember how proud I was in Middle School when I learned to sew buttons and I gave Teddy new "eyes".

When I was two, my mother won "Snoopy" at a fair or carnival. Snoopy went everywhere with me for a couple of years and was also well loved as you can see.

Pruff was given to me one Christmas when I was 7 yo. My Aunt Marcia gave her to me and she was well loved for many years. She really appealed to me because I have always been into eyes, and especially eyelashes! Even as a young child "people" that I drew always had eyelashes!

Betty and Bernie Bear were next...in middle school. My friend, G, gave them to me for birthdays and they went everywhere through high school. I had three surgeries on my knees when I was 13-14 and Betty and Bernie Bear accompanied me to the hospital and are STILL wearing the hospital ID bracelets.

Feelix was a Christmas gift given by my first real boyfriend, D in 1989. Feelix is well loved even to this day, not because of who gave him, but because Feelix talks! Really, he talks. Bug has now taken him over and it's fun to have him join us on every trip again.

Here's Bug with Feelix last weekend and pretty much how she has him EVERY night! So cute!





Bug had two teddy bears she got attached to when she was about a year old and they were companions for a couple of years. They are Honey Teddy and Daddy Teddy. I am not quite sure how they got these names...Honey is honey colored...but who knows how a toddler mind thinks!

I still love the ribbons on top of blankets and will rub them when falling asleep especially if I am overly stressed (And honestly, when am I not?)...but I don't NEED them to fall asleep. It has been hard to find these blankets and I have "stolen" several from my parent's home to have a stash...I even made one!

My sister planned her son's loveys. She picked a lamb/blanket she got as a shower gift and bought a few extras and rotates them so she always has clean ones. Pretty ingenious! (and his loveys have the ribbon along the edge so I LOVE them too!)

What about you? Your kids? Do you still have the treaured item like I do? How do I get rid of these precious links to my past?

learning to ride a bike

Abby has had a bike since she was about 4 years old. It's a cute princess bike that came with training wheels. She did great with the training wheels and when she was 5, I removed the training wheels so she could learn to ride a two-wheeler.

We toted that bike back and forth to vacations at the family lake house in NH and tried to help her learn on the gentle sloped yard. As soon as she would have an almost fall (we usually caught her) she was DONE! This pic is from Fourth of July weekend last year (2009). Her cousin Tyler patiently tried to teach her...without success!

Fast forward to now...Abby is 9 years old this month...we live in a townhouse community with four other kids her age all of whom can ride bikes. Abs comes running into the house last week all excited to get me to come see her...low and behold she is riding the Princess bike down the gentle slope of our parking lot. She can't pedal the bike because now it is incredibly small for her!
I don't want to squash her optimism or her excitement so off to Walmart we go to buy a bigger bike! Thankfully she still had a Walmart gift card left over from her birthday two days before. Now it's hard to imagine that she ever struggled to learn to ride a bike. It's exciting to have her achieve this milestone! Well done Abs...you learned in your own time!