BUNCO

Dear Friends,

I know I said I was taking a break until next Friday; however, I did the most fun thing ever last night. My friend Tara invited me to play Bunco with the ladies. For those of you who do not know, Bunco is a game you need 12 people to play. You throw 3 dice in hopes of getting 3 of a kind starting at 1 and making it to 6 (therefore, there are 6 rounds). If you get 3 of a kind in the round it takes place, you get a BUNCO and yell it super loud! Anywho, you gather points and the winners keep moving up and the losers stay at the end table. I was sadly the 2^nd place loser last night, but that doesn’t matter.

So, Tara picked me up and we went to a ladies home where she had all kinds of deliciousness set out. She had buffalo chicken wing dip, a feta cheese and red pepper and artichoke dip, a pizza dip, veggies, cookies, a delicious torte with peanut butter and nuts and caramal and apples on it and a pumpkin cake type thing, chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels and I can not even remember everything!

We ate snacks, played a fun and easy game and finally had a chance to win some money. It lasted a little longer than I would have liked (until 10:30 pm) but it was the first night and we had to learn. I hope I can go next month. SO FUN!!!

My husband finds it all very funny. He asked me if it was actually an old lady game because it seems like it. I told him no way and I am going to start my own Bunco Club someday! Yay!

In other news, I am still super busy at work and I need to spend all my computer time doing work, so I am still on my break… Unless I have to talk about something again!

w00t! there it is!

Break

Hey Dudes…

If you have not already noticed, I am super busy and I need to take a small blogging break. It will run until probably February 12. I need to catch up on some life and work stuff.

If something tickels my fancy and I MUST write about it, I definitely will… So all is not lost. I just need to get some other stuff done.

The reason I chose Feb 12 is…. drum roll please…. the OLYMPICS!!! I can not, NOT talk about it and so I will be back soon.

w00t! there it is!

The Lovely Bones

Yesterday I finally got to go to Greensburg with my friend Stacey to see the Lovely Bones. I was so excited because the book was soo good. It was definitely a hard book to start but if you could finish it, it was a great story. It just showed how the girl watched her family from “the in between” and how her death affected them.

Well, the movie sucked. It really really did. The entire time I kept looking to see what time it was and how much longer I had to sit there. The movie mostly concentrated on how Suzie was not in heaven yet and she needed to step over the boundary and go in. It showed her like in a “lost” state and the book, her “in between was really nice and there were people there and she understood what was happening. In the movie, it was more like she was scared and kept dying and weird. They didn’t really show the relationship deteriorating in her family and it made it seem like the neighbor wanted to kill her sister… It was very vague.

If I had not read the book, I would not have known what was going on in the movie, but I may have liked it better.

The movie was sort of emotional for me though. It showed Suzie dying and stuff and it made me think about when Kendall died. It showed Suzie wondering around. Running and stuff. Well then I got to thinking. I am confident in my mind that my Great Grandmother Ruffner was standing waiting for Kendalls spirit to leave her body. Then Grandma took her to heaven and has been taking care of Kendrizzle ever since. I know that is what happened, but I just got upset during the movie. If I had not associated Kendall passing away with the movie, I would not have shed a tear. It was a strange movie.

If you want my advice, read the book and skip the movie. Save your $5.50 and your 3 hours.

The next movie from a book I think I will be seeing is Precious. I read Push a little bit ago and if you recall I thought it was horrific. The movie comes to DVD on March 9. I may or may not read Dear John. It looks good and I think I will borrow the book from Stacey. We will see, my to read list is dwindling, so I am ready to add to it, I guess.

If you didn’t already know, the little boy I spoke about on Friday passed away over the weekend. Please keep the family in your prayers as they are going to be going through a very hard time.

Michael Calvin

I have not had a lot to talk about lately, but this story just tugged at my heart last night. I was perusing my facebook page and one of my friends had a status that was actually from someone else. That other person is actually a girl who went to high school with me and she graduated between Traci and I. I am not sure I ever really talked to her a lot, but I did know her. Anywho, it said that her little boy (2 ½ years old) had brain cancer and it did not look good for him. I am gathering that they have exhausted all avenues of care and are just spending time with little Michael and keeping him comfortable.

I immediately friended Stephanie last night on facebook and wrote her a message on her wall. I know what it is like to watch your child die and be helpless in it. I know what it feels like when all you want to do is have your child back and that is not possible. I know what it is like for people to ask you how your child is and you have to say “Kendall passed away”. I don’t mind talking about it (obviously) but usually the person who asks becomes uncomfortable. I know what is like to look at other peoples children who should be your childs age and feel sad.

I really have thought about this and I want to help other people who are going through a rough time. I know I am not an expert on ANYTHING, but I really do think I got through the past 2 years of my life really well. I hope I never have to talk to Stephanie and her son recovers, but I also feel compelled to help her if she needs it.

Anywho, here is the story of Michael Calvin. He is the cutest little boy with blonde hairs! Pray for him and his family to have strength and to make the right decisions. When Kendall was alive people would say “I’ll pray for her to get better” and actually that is not what I wanted. I know miracles happen and God does amazing things, but for us, I knew Kendall was not going to get a brain. That just does not happen. Instead I wanted people to pray she passed peacefully. I did not want her to suffer anymore and it was very hard to watch her shrink.

So, visit her page, write her a little note and say a prayer.

Nice Weekend

What a weekend. We figured out our TV woes, I decided I am NOT running in the Groundhog Jog (the final 2 miles are all straight up hill), got relaxed, cleaned and rearranged and caught up with friends. It was a good weekend.

Friday night we went to Kevins parents house and when it was time for us to go home, I asked Kevin to take me up to Gobblers Knob. We drove the last 2 miles of the Groundhog Jog path and I decided I can not even walk up that hill, let alone run in possible cold weather. I really wanted to do it, but that uphill would be a killer and I don’t run enough on hills like that. Maybe next year I will be able to do it. I will practice once or twice on that hill.

We looked at the TVs and decided on what we were going to get. Then Saturday, we went for massages! I bought them last year for Christmas and we never used them. Finally we had time to do it on Saturday. They were GREAT!

Sunday, we rearranged our house and moved stuff all over the place. Our living room looks so big now!

Monday we did not have work thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. and so I took the opportunity to catch up with some old friends. We went to my favorite Eat N Park for lunch and it was a fun time. Monday evening flew and it is now another work week, albeit short.

Monday morning I woke up and did something I never do. I exercised in the morning. I did a quick mile on the treader and then got ready for my day. I then went to the mall and bought some fabulous shoes and then met my friends. Monday afternoon was so beautiful and warm (40 degrees and sun is warm?) I decided to run around the neighborhood. I did 2 miles just as Kevin was getting home from the driving range and we did another mile walk around the neighborhood. It was so nice to get out and exercise in the fresh air! Hopefully I can do that again this week.

w00t! there it is!