WOW! 2016 was the last time I added anything on here! So much has changed!!! Jackie has graduated, Ben is an 11th grader…the world is upside down with the Covid-19 Pandemic. 2020 was a crazy year! I have been furloughed and now on FMLA because of the pandemic and I ended the year with a medical emergency that has changed my life as I knew it!

A few years ago, I was at my doctors office for what was supposed to be my yearly visit but I I had a pretty horrible case of pneumonia. My doctor told me he wanted me to go on a low carb diet since m cholesterol was slightly elevated. My blood pressure was elevated but once I was done with the medicines and felt better it had gone down, so they did not put me on blood pressure meds. I was bad and didn’t go back for follow up visits which fast forward to the end of December 2020…it was around 1:30am, Ken had a work emergency and had to go to his office (which is now here at home because of the pandemic), it was snowing, the kids went outside and saw that a tree was down so the 3 of us went out back to look at it. It was actually uprooted and leaning on the neighbors fence. I napped some photos to send to Ken since he couldn’t come look at it. The kids had already started back to the house so I started to run to “beat” them back. I now remember that I stopped for a second because I felt light-headed. What I don’t remember is collapsing and going unconscious…I woke up to Ken above me (now knowing he was doing compressions on me). I started screaming at the top of my lungs. I kept trying to get up but he kept holding me down. Finally I stood with his help. Ben had gotten the neighbor (who was an ex-paramedic) and called 911. The last thing that I wanted to do was go to the hospital when Covid is still spreading like wildfire. But Ken & the kids forced me to. while I was there, I had all sorts of blood work, x-rays, heart ultrasound, leg ultrasound, EKG, hooked up to a heart monitor, etc. Come to find out – my blood pressure was out of control, they couldn’t get the Diastolic number below 100! I just wanted out of there. I hated sharing a room with a complete stranger – especially a BATHROOM!!! It was a crazy week in the cardiac unit that week. I now find myself on blood pressure meds, a low carb diet and trying to get into a good exercise routine to drop weight. I have had two doctor appointments and have a few more tests and then follow-up appointments. Fun times!

Which brings me to posting on here again! I have been having a wonderful time finding new low carb recipes. Trying out different exercise videos and even started reading a book that I bought years ago called “The Happiness Project”. I am going for a whole new me!!!! Inside and out! And 2021 will be my year! So why not document it – share stuff that I am doing, recipes that I am finding and maybe some words of wisdom. 🙂 I will be working on updating the links that I have on here too. Honestly, I am going to have to click on each one that I have on here to see if any of them are still relevant to my life.

So check back too see what’s going on in my life! I guess I should have started with a disclaimer that this post would be a long one!!!

Have a fabulous day!

~Shannon

Friday….

Not much to report for Friday. I woke up with a terrible sinus migraine and then had to close at work.

I did enjoy some couch time watching Bones (almost done with season 8) and buying some books on Kindle.

Jackie is still sick. Definitely think it is the flu…thank goodness we still have meds from when we had it a few months ago. Hoping she is better soon because her crabbiness is driving me crazy!

Ohhh another highlight for the day….I tried rhe Double, double Fudge frap from Starbucks today (they were out of the cold brew that I love). It was pretty decent…VERY sweet. Should have gotten the smallest size!!!

It is my weekend off from work. Not entirely sure what my plans are but I will no doubt be reading some of my newly purchased Kindle books and probably buying some more)!!!

Thursday…

Second opening for the week and day 4 of 5….the kids wanted to do something fun when I got home from work. I suggested going to the movies. I really wanted to see Finding Dory…Jackie wanted it just to be the two of us but Ben wanted to go too. The difficult part was making the final decision on what movie….verdict? We didn’t go to the movies at all!

We ended up going to eat at Ram’s Horn and then we went to Dairy Queen. It was nice spending quality time with the kiddos!!! And even for a small period of time, they didn’t argue!!!!

When we got home, Ben pulled out the slip n slide I bought earlier this week. We had fun hanging outside for awhile and I took some super fun pictures!!!!

(Will add pictures later)

I did get to spend some time to myself buying some new books on my Kindle…I received a credit for almost 40 bucks from Amazon from some lawsuit!!!! How awesome is that?

Wednesday…

have you ever had a puppy that had mange? Donovan is the first puppy that I have ever had that has had it. A few weeks ago the poop pup started losing hair, itched like mad and his skin was irritated. I ended up taking him into the vet after researching online and I knew it was one of 2 things…1. manage or 2. Something called multiple drug resistance gene.

It ended up being #1. And because he is an Australian Shepherd, it has been a little more of a difficult process to treat. He cannot have certain drugs (one being Heart guard-heart worm medicine) and another is the mange medicine. They contain the same chemical. So the pup had to be on antibiotics for 2 weeks (ending this weekend) and every 2 weeks for 6 weeks, he needs to get this special dip. It was coming up on dip #2, soI decided to do it slightly early…his skin was looking a little irritated. It went surprisingly well! He is looking so much better and his hair is growing back!!!!

So after a long day at work, giving the pup a bath & his treatment and a little housework, I passed out on the couch while watching Bones on Netflix (I am in season 8 right now).

Hot weather complaints & a movie night…

I know it is summertime and all but I hate when it gets into the 90s!!!! Everyone is crabby, tired and just not fun to be around! I have worked midshift at work the past few days which doesn’t make things any better!

Jackie has a summer cold going on right now. So it is causing a dramatic, complaining atmosphere in the house. Thankfully though she has pretty much locked herself in her room. I do feel bad a for her though…what a rotten way to start summer vacation.

Yesterday Ben went to the beach with the Musson’s.  He had a blast and came home slightly sunburned…the kid seriously needs to learn to use sunblock!  It is decided that we definitely need to purchase a park pass for our family this summer.

Benny and I had a movie night last night… We didn’t agree on a movie at first but he won with his selection of The Nutty Professor.  By the end of the movie, Ben was wiped out from all the fun in the sun so I continued my marathon of Bones on Netflix. Tonight I am back to watching Bones while snuggling with the puppy.

Off to bed…had an exhausting day and I have to be up early for an opening shift!!!

— Shannon

Dusting away the cobwebs….

Well, it has been almost 3 years since I have used this blog and boy have things changed! I now have a sophomore in high school (who is loving band —marching band & Symphony band. She plays oboe and is just starting mellophone) and a 7th grader (who is very into his Xbox and is planning on joining the football team in the fall)! Friday was the last day of school for the kiddos and I am looking forward to an amazing summer with them!

My plans are to document our everyday happenings, show off all of our creations/projects, talk about new recipes we are trying, talk about books we are reading, share cute pictures of our animals (we sadly have lost our Akita and Baxter since I last used this blog)…we now have Cooley (an adorable Beagle/basset hound) and our newest member of the family is an cute Australian Shepherd puppy named Donovan…plus a whole lot more!!!!

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Today is Father’s Day!!!! Happy Father’s Day to the most amazing Dad out there, my love Ken!!!! We spent most of the day with the in-laws. Even though it was incredibly hot, it was a nice day!  Lots of good food and chatting! I hope all the Father’s out there had a fabulous day!

Afterwards, Jackie and I went to Barnes and Noble (one of our favorite places). We each got a coffee/tea and shared a chocolate mousse. We both found some good books — she got a book for her AP history class. Can you believe she has homework this summer? And I got a bunch of used books at awesome prices!!! Can’t wait to get reading!!! 

Since I am back in business with this blog, I am going to share some pictures of what’s going on with us….

The one and only cutie pie Aussie pup named Donovan. He is about 5 1/2 months old and is a handful for sure! It has been 17 years since we had a puppy. It is like having a baby in the house!

My little man, not so little anymore!!!!  12 1/2 years old and heading into 7th grade in the fall.

Our “bagel” (Beagle/basset hound) , Cooley. We rescued him a few years ago. He is a sweet dog, so good with the puppy!  He loves to sleep…especially on Mom’s crochet projects!

I really don’t have time to keep up with a traditional garden anymore. I actually haven’t done a garden in a few years.  I happened to go to a garage sale this weekend and found. Ton of pots and garden type stuff so after our traditional last day of school lunch with the kiddos, Ben & I worked on this! I think it turned out nicely and I can’t wait to eat the yummy veggies!

This is one of my current crochet projects…I want to make a Harry Potter afghan for Jackie that was done using the Corner to Corner stitch so I taught myself the stitch. But before I start that project, I figured it would be better to perfect it while making myself another afghan!

This year the kids picked Big Boy for their last day of school lunch. Jackie asked to bring her best friend Alyssa, who had never been there. We had a nice time…joking around and enjoying each other. I am really glad that Jackie  and Alyssa have become so close. They are two peas in a pod and I really like that Alyssa is not afraid to be herself around us (like so many of Jackie’s other friends).

I suppose that is  enough to share for today. I look forward to documenting our lives again.  I have been looking all the old posts and pictures on here and can’t believe how fast time has flown and all that has changed!
— Shannon

Where did the week go?

Wow!  Can’t  believe how fast this week went.  Lots going on  from being crazy busy at work,  chopping my hair off (pictures to come),  stocking up on Project Life goodies,  dinners with the neighbors.  I have started a journal to write down  what’s been going on in our life.  It’s a lot of work but definitely worth it.  I am just hoping to find time to scrap soon.  Hopefully tomorrow after work and the car show my husband is participating in.  🙂

Here are a few more pictures from this week…

My goofy child...our picnic Thursday

Super fun day….

Wednesday nights are my overnights at work so I generally sleep in pretty late  since I don’t really get to nap.  I was really hoping to do some scrappy stuff but it didn’t happen.  I did buy some cool new products that we got in recently at work.  Yay!  Hoping to play with them tomorrow. 

Today Ben and I went on a walk.  Took some super cute pictures too.  My city has a community garden for the people who live in apartments and don’t have a yard to grow a garden.  I drive by it all the time but haven’t gotten a good look until today.  Wow!  Some of their crops are doing better than my own garden.  Totally jealous!!!! While I was drooling,  Ben was playing at the park.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this afternoon.

Love them!!!!

When Ken got home from work he finished some tables that he was working on to go next to my swing… Totally cute!!!!

Once the second one is dry it will go on the other side of my swing…. My little paradise…

OK break time is over… Stocking jewelry and scrapbook stuff tonight.

Out with the old, in with the new…

WOW! Over two years since I last blogged and it comes with a blur of great memories. Lots of changes, wouldn’t know where to even start to list them all so I am just going to start fresh from today on.  I even switched the theme of this lovely little blog and some other things here and there. I need to go through all my links and see if they are still good. Baby steps…that’s how I am going to take this new blogging/scrapbooking adventure.

I have really been itching to get back into scrapbooking. Took too much time off from the hobby that I love the most…lots of those memories just waiting to get onto paper. I finally get to use all of the awesome scrappy supplies that I have been hoarding. 🙂

Today I picked up some Project Life things from Michael’s (shhh, don’t tell I was shopping at the competitor). LOL! I am trying to decide how I want to start, if I just want the family album to be using Project Life and keep going the way I have been with the kids albums. Or do both with the kids albums…so much to decide.

Some of my scrappy goals/projects:

• * Today I signed up for 30 Days of Lists – Can’t wait to start that!!! First time doing this workshop!!! * Earlier this summer I signed up for the Find Your Voice Workshop at RUKristen Papercrafts that I really want to go back and finish what I started with that. * I am looking forward to participating in Ali Edward’s A Week in the Life  project next month.
  * Sort through all of the photos I uploaded the past few days and get some printed. I have tons of older pics but I am itching to work on some new stuff too. 🙂

Hopefully I can get some new layouts done too. YAY! I am super excited! I just need to take it slow and one day at a time so I miss 2 more years of non-blogging/scrapping.

 

Summer Vacation!!!

Today was the last day of school for the kiddos! It is a love/hate situation for me…I love not having to be up early when I don’t work in the morning or after working an overnight BUT I am not looking forward to the kids fighting. They had a half day today and we went out bowling after but after that the arguing started already! YUCK! I seriously need to come up with some good punishments this summer! LOL!

We have lots planned- mostly little things around our area but we are excited. My Girl Scouts are planning on going through the summer.They want to do a book club which I think is cool. It will be a fun filled summer for sure! 🙂

Jackie and I made up a reading log today for the books that we are reading this summer. We are participating in several summer reading challenges. Borders and B&N both have a program for kids where they get a free book after reading so many. She is definitely excited about that…Ben not so much.

Speaking of reading…I have been reading as usual! Finished The Professor by Charlotte Bronte. Good book, seemed to take me forever to get through.

I purchased a 4 book set off Amazon called The Tea Series by Sheila Horgan. I have read the first two Hot Tea and Sweet Tea. I really like these ones. I just started the third book Iced Tea. Good books, funny but the main character sometimes rambles on a little too much. But even so I am still really  enjoying them!

Amazon has been having a ton of new books on the freebie list! Been picking those up. I definitely have tons to read this summer!!!

Off to read a bit before I head to bed. 🙂

~Shannon