Ups & Downs

It's been a while since I've posted regularly. As you all know, life has it's ups and downs and that is certainly no exception on this side of the planet. I'm trying to get back in the groove of things over here. There have been a few things that have gone on that have prevented me from wanting to blog lately. Some sad, some stressful and some just due to indecisiveness and poor time management.

My best friend's Dad passed away in August. This man was one of the great ones. A good husband, a good Dad, a good friend...and he died...suddenly... leaving my poor friend devastated. My heart breaks for her every day. I can't even imagine how much she is hurting. I was unable to attend the funeral because it was 800 miles away. I called and texted and listened as much as I could to try to help my friend through this awful time and felt completely helpless. Her Dad’s name was George, my Dad’s name is George. We each come from a family of four (three girls and one boy), we’ve been friends since the second grade. I’ve known her family since I was 7. And now he was gone. Just the finality and emptiness of it all really struck a chord with me. We almost lost my Dad four years ago to a heart attack, that is the same way my friend’s father died. We were the lucky ones. She only has a picture to remember him by. I’ve been driving my Dad crazy, checking on him regularly, making sure he’s walking each day and eating healthy.

I finally got to hug my friend at the end of October at the memorial service for her Dad. It was such a sad day, seeing her with her husband and children. Her children that had lost a wonderful grandfather, their Poppy. Seeing her Mom for the first time in a long time, knowing that she had lost a man that she had loved and lived with happily for 51 years.

Somehow each day they all need to get up, start their days and live without him. I just can’t imagine how that feels. I’m thankful for each day I get to spend with my own Dad and I’ll admit I get a little panicked wondering how long I’ll be lucky enough to have him say “don’t worry Stace, I’m still here.”

Christmas magic is still alive

This may very well be the last year that the 'magic' of Santa is in our house for Christmas. In order to keep it going just a little longer, this awesome little snippet was received just a few days ago. Click here to view Santa's video for Summer

Life in the blogosphere

Why is it that I know what this woman’s children eat for breakfast, what kind of pajamas they wear on Christmas and where she goes on vacation but I’ve never actually met her? The simple answer is: I read her blog. I didn’t realize until this morning how much I rely on the normalcy of other peoples’ lives through their blogs as part of my own daily life. Each day, rather than reading the newspaper, I check on two of my favorite scrapbooking gals’ blogs. Miss Cathy Z is always good for a good laugh and some awesomely clean and simple designs. I thoroughly enjoyed her class, Me: The Abridged Version, you can see here the fun I had with that. Ali never ceases to amaze me in keeping up with her Project Life on a timely basis as well as several other major projects throughout the year, such as December Daily and Week in the Life. I love how they are both so open and honest about the everyday things in their life. You can see my Project Life, December Daily and Week in the Life projects here (I actually have a full week documented on the Week in the Life project that I just realized I never posted, I’ll get to that soon).

I was surprised at my reaction this morning when I read Ali’s post that she and her husband are divorcing. Again, I’ve never met her in person, but she has inspired me to do so many things with my scrapbooks that I feel connected to her in some strange way. It makes me sad for her kids that their lives’ are going to be changed in so many ways and it makes me feel just a little bit luckier today that all is good on my side of the world.

2011-12-07

Click here to view these pictures larger

Back to jingling

After pulling a muscle in my back earlier this week I was finally able to go back to the gym to Zumba today, or as my daughter calls it jingly butt Wednesday. After not going for over a week I feel lethargic and tired all the time. Can't wait for those endorphins to start pumping again so I can feel like the new me felt two weeks ago. No wonder I just used to sit around and be tired all the time, this is no fun. I always used to dread exercising and now I look forward to it. Plus, the people at the gym are so much fun and I've made some really good friends there.

Not too exciting today, but I'm trying to get back in the habit of posting more regularly so please pardon the mundane rambling :-)

Happy December, I'm still here

It's been a while... things have been a little crazy around here. I'll post more details as things settle down but here's a list of why I haven't been here:

#1. My best friend's father died and it's really just been hard.
#2. My son had a skateboarding accident and sustained a head injury - he's on the mend now, but it was scary for a bit
#3. Another friend's father died and my heart is breaking for my two friends (and feeling selfish each time I hug my own Dad)
#4. My sister's 33 year old brother in law died unexpectedly the week before Thanksgiving.
#5. I've driven 2200 miles up and down I-95 in the past 6 weeks mostly for funerals

Trying to come out of my funk and stop crying at the drop of a hat. Wishing there was something I could do to make my friends and family feel better about their recent losses but knowing nothing I can say will take away the pain.

I just felt like I had to acknowledge my absence and get a few of these things written out to help myself move forward too.