Just Simply Holly

I know that compared to my hubby, I have no right to complain right now! That poor guy didn’t get home from work until nearly midnight last night and was back on his way up to the plant by 5:45 this morning. But I had a horrible night last night! I’ve had some major leg spasms going on that wake me up in the night the last few nights. While I’ve had them before, it’s been during times that I’ve been very inactive, and this week, that’s far from what I’ve been!

On top of that, I woke up this morning in the midst of a REALLY bad hot flash! Can you say GROSS!!! And now that I’m awake enough for my eyes to focus, I have an ungodly headache! Fortunately I don’t have much to do today, just a couple of loads of laundry and the dishes I used to make hubby some dinner last night after he got home. Yes, I left them in the sink, I was too darned tired to deal with washing them that late! But for right now, I’m just kicking back with my coffee, messing around online! What are you up to today?

I’m getting ready to head back up to my sisters house for day 2 of our garage sale. Yesterday was pretty successful, which was nice! Hubby now has gas money for work this week My sister did better than I did though, which kind of amazes me because, in my opinion, her stuff is a bit over priced.

I’m hoping and praying I can get rid of the old computer towers and monitor today because I REALLY don’t want to have to drag them back home! We did sell the drum set and 2 guitars we were trying to sell yesterday, and at a pretty decent price too! It was cool though, the guy that bought them was going to give them to his 14 year old son in the hopes that the two of them could start a band together. Stuff like that makes me feel good, a father that is doing something to try and have a better relationship with his son is a very good thing!

Hopefully we’re not up there all day again today, it just makes for a very long day and besides that, I have a TON of stuff to get done around here since we’ll be heading out to pick the kids up at the end of the week. I’m actually getting kind of excited about getting them back home, but I’m also a bit worried too! It’s been a fairly stress free 4 weeks and I honestly don’t want to go back to “life as we knew it” when they get back home! This house needs some harmony for a change, there was just way too much arguing going on! Heck, even the dogs are way more relaxed these days…LOL! Anyway, gotta run, we’re supposed to be out of here in 7 minutes and I’m still in my pj’s…LOL

I’m “up and at’em” already this morning, although not as early as I should have been…LOL! I’ve got a busy day ahead of me today spending time and doing things to help my sister in law. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a few things settled and taken care of that have been up in the air for almost a couple of weeks now.

She called last night with some neat news! They came in yesterday and approved her for an in home health care aide, which we had not doubt they’d do because she had one where she moved from. Anyway, the good news is that it’s ran differently down here than it was where she was before and she can now actually choose who she wants for an aide and wanted to know if I’d be interested in the “job”. I put the word job in quotes because it would in no way be a job for me, I’d be spending time with someone I care about and helping them out.

Anyway, I’ll be gone until sometime this afternoon, I’m hoping not too late in the day though because they kids will be home alone and we’ve got storms coming in and I know them well enough to know that they’ll be freaking out if it’s anything more than a minor storm! See ya this afternoon!

After having a sleepless night Saturday night, I kind of caught up on my sleep yesterday and last night. I really hate it when I have nights like Saturday night. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, one of those nights that no matter what you do, you simply can’t shut your brain down enough to completely fall asleep.

I tried everything I could think of, even took a sleep aid, but nothing worked and I ended up being awake most of the night. I snuck in a 2 hour nap yesterday morning, then last night, around 5, I decided to take another nap and didn’t wake up until a little after 9. I got up, helped my hubby wrap things up for the night, and went back to bed, sleeping through until 4 this morning. I still feel out of it, but not as bad as I did yesterday.

I’m thinking I should take advantage of the fact that the kids sleep in late and go take another nap this morning. But I have so many things I really want to get done today. I have a couple of phone calls to make, I need to run to the pharmacy and get a couple of prescriptions filled and since our car insurance policy is up for renewal, my husband wants me to check around and do some car insurance comparisons to see if I can’t find some better rates and save some money. I also have a couple of loads of laundry left over to do and have some paperwork for our health insurance that I need to get turned in today. OK, maybe taking a nap this morning isn’t a very good option…LOL

Before I start “talking” I want to share a photo that I just managed to take that shows the beauty that I am surrounded with on a daily basis.

I think the way the sun is shining through from the side of the house into the woods is just beautiful!

I’m sorry that I haven’t been around the past few days, last week ended on a sort of “rough” note, and the weekend was extremely busy! My sister in law moved back to the area from Northern Michigan this weekend and finally removed herself from a very unsafe and volatile situation, so the weekend was spent helping her get moved in and unpacked. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was apprehensive about her moving back to the area, but it wasn’t until seeing her face to face that I fully realized the toll that the past 4 years have taken on her, both physically and mentally. I am truly thankful to have her back in the area and will do everything within my power to make sure she stays safe!

I hope that any of my readers that are dads had a wonderful Fathers Day yesterday. My husband and I don’t really celebrate Fathers or Mothers Day, about the only thing that we do is let the kids get us cards, and we also get a card for my Mother. But both of my husbands parents have passed away and I lost my own father almost 30 years ago, so both holidays are somewhat bittersweet for us.

This week is looking to be a very busy week! I’ll be heading out this morning in just a couple of hours to help my sister in law get things settled down here. She needs to open a bank account as well as get utilities connected and pick up a few things from the store. With the near loss of one hand from a gun accident a few years ago, getting around in her regular wheel chair is nearly impossible. So my daughter and I are going along to help her with her chair and keep her company.

Before I wrap this up I want to share another picture with you all in hopes that you can help me figure out what something is. I’m not a fan of bugs, but I do realize that since we live in the woods, amongst nature, bugs and other critters are simply a part of life. That being said, there was a very interesting looking bug on the inside of the screen of the sliding glass door this morning.

Does anyone have ANY idea what the heck this is? At first I thought it was a spider, but I’m not so sure now after I’ve looked at it a little better. The legs seem a bit “thick” for a spider and I’ve never seen a spider that has antennae either…LOL.

Good morning! It’s a grey and humid Tuesday morning here in NW Ohio, but it’s nice to be home. That’s not saying that I didn’t have a good time on my trip, but I had the time of my life! It’s just nice to be back home in my own surroundings again.

I have quite a bit of stuff that I need to get done today, but I’m hoping to start working with all the pictures that I have and make a few slide shows or videos with them. It would be nice just to make one, but considering that I alone took over 1,000 pictures, well, it’ll be easier if I do a different slide show or video for each leg of the trip…LOL!

So stay tuned, because I have some TOTALLY amazing pictures!!!

WOW, it’s Thursday! Where in the world did this week go?? Do you realize I am just 4 days away from my trip? Actually the question should be, do I realize that? LOL

Although I’m doing pretty good at getting the things accomplished that I wanted to get done before I leave for my trip, I’m not quite on track with where I wanted to be, and with just a few days left, I need to get moving!

The house is actually looking pretty good, I’m just 2 loads of laundry away from being caught up, one of which is whites that I can’t do because I’m out of bleach and because it’s too small to be ran. I need to make sure I have all the important papers that my husband is going to need while I’m gone, as well as the kids’ insurance cards, that I carry with me. Thankfully there are no doctors appointments while I’m gone for him to worry about and our daughter is out of school as of tomorrow, so he won’t have to worry about getting her back and forth from the school bus.

I do need to call my cell phone company and double check to see that I’m going to have service for the trip that isn’t always roaming. We have our cell phones through our phone company, which is not a “well known” carrier, but 99% of my service is provided by Verizon towers, so I “should” be OK. They do have a coverage area map on their website, but it’s probably one of the worst I’ve seen as far as being clear as to where you do and don’t have coverage.

It’s just so hard to believe how close it all is! It’s hard to believe that in a week I’ll be almost 2,000 miles away from home, and away from my husband and children! It’s strange to think of spending a week plus without waking up to my husband making me a cup of coffee or the kids arguing with me that they don’t want to get up, or the puppy leaving a puddle on the floor…LOL! It’s even stranger to think of life without blogging every day!

But I know this trip is what I need! I know that I’ve needed a break from my every day life for a VERY long time! And I’m excited to know that I’m going on this amazing trip with two VERY special ladies, one of which is about to embark on a whole new life!

Good morning, I hope you slept well! It was a bit of a rough night for me, but I’m awake for the most part…LOL! I have to say that after watching the last few episodes online, I TOTALLY tuned into last night’s season finale of Desperate Housewives. Can you say OMG?!?! WOW!! I had been a huge fan of the show the first few years, but then it went and got all “strange” on me and I just didn’t care for the direction it was taking! But this season was been AMAZING, even with the break because of the writers strike! And last nights season finale kept me awake and kept my heart pounding out of my chest!

So because of watching that I was up til 11, and by the time it was over I had somewhat caught my “2nd wind”, so I ended up doing some channel flipping for a little while until I was finally tired enough to fall asleep..LOL!

The worst part of the night was the fact that the puppy had BAD gas! I grew up on a farm and we had livestock, both cattle and hogs, and her gas was a blatant reminder of cleaning the barns…LOL! Even putting some Vicks Vapo Rub under my nose wouldn’t completely take away the smell, it was THAT bad!

Today is going to be spent getting my lists ready for what I have to take on my trip, finishing up laundry and at some point I have to scrub the kitchen floor. Fortunately it’s going to be nice today, so that will let me open the windows and turn the fans on to help dry the floor quicker. The dogs don’t like being blocked out from the back part of the house at all…LOL! I also have to run into town at some point

So with just a handful of days left before I leave for my big trip, this week is going to be VERY busy! I have some shopping to to, well, not some, actually quite a bit! My selection of clothes is rather sad, consisting mostly of T-shirts and sweat pants, so I’m going to have to by some new clothes, I also have to find/but myself a pair of sandals as well as a carry on suit case that is within the size range that is allowed for a carry on.

YIKES! I’d better stop typing and get busy…LOL!

Good morning and TGIF! I for one am very happy today is Friday, it’s been another long week and I’m ready for it to be OVER!

My hubby and I had a nice anniversary yesterday! We went to go out to dinner last night and both of us realized that we really weren’t that hungry so we decided that we were going to go out for pie and coffee instead and found the BEST pie place in town, a little place called Schmuckers! OMG, their pie is to die for! My hubby ended up not being able to make up his mind because they had so many different pie choices so he got a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie as well as a piece of dutch apple. For me, it was not as difficult of a choice, I ended up getting coconut cream and it was the absolute BEST coconut cream pie I’ve ever had in my life! We also ended up splitting an order of onion rings…LOL! I had no clue that onion rings and pie could be so romantic

I wanted to share a picture with you that I was able to take yesterday. As you know we are dog owners times 4 with the latest addition coming to our home about 2 months ago. Two of the older dogs have really warmed up to the puppy very well, so much so that I caught them doing this yesterday:

What you really need to know about the recliner that the 3 of them are in is the fact that it is not a normal sized recliner, it’s actually a very small one that I received from my mother and she got them from her mother. They are more suited for an older child or a petite adult, my hubby can’t even sit in them comfortably! In the picture are Willow (the black dog), Riley (the white dog) and Sage (the puppy). Willow and Riley are the largest of our dogs, so it was just very funny for me to see the three of them all piled into that chair like they were! Especially when a fully sized couch is just a few inches away from that chair…LOL! But it was just so cute and I was tickled that I was able to get a picture of it before they all decided to get up!

Not sure what all is going on today. I’m hoping to get in a nap at some point, I woke up at 4:00 AM this morning in the midst of a fairly major asthma attack. It was bad enough that it woke the hubby up and scared him. So I’m pretty tired right now, to say the least! The temps today are supposed to be wonderful, we could possibly hit 80 degrees, but we also run the chance of severe storms this afternoon. Ah, the joys of spring…LOL!

Not only is it Friday, it’s also going to be 80 degrees here in NW Ohio! How cool is THAT?

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on today, I have to run into town here in about an hour and take my son somewhere. While he’s doing what he has to do, I’m thinking about driving around to see if there are any good garage sales going on, I haven’t been garage saling in a VERY long time! The only bad thing about doing that is that there will be four dogs left home for a couple of hours, so it may not be the best choice, but I”m trying to save gas after paying nearly $70 to fill my van last night, which just about made me choke! Fortunately I don’t do much driving, so that tank of gas will last me about 10 days!

Other than that, I just want to be able to enjoy opening the windows and smelling the fresh air, which is one of my favorite spring things to do! I also have a good amount of things that I need to get taken care of here in the house, including some laundry that has piled up over the past couple of days, but nothing major. And I’m still needing to make that batch of chocolate chip cookies, but just haven’t had the time to get that done, so hopefully today!

Have a great Friday peoples!