I love freecycle. We had a storm door my dad gave me that did not work because it swung open from the right instead of the left side. So I asked my dad, hey dad - you want it back? He said no. So I freecycled it today. I got this really nice thank you from the person who picked it up. I love to know that people can use the stuff we give them!!!

Not only does it fit our door but you probably wont believe this but there is a piece on the bottom of doors and our has been missing since we moved in last December. Well...My girlfriend came over and low and behold a chipmunk came in thru that crack ran between her leggs and around the kitchen table and right thru her leggs again and out the door...from then on...we have used the front door...now we have 2 working doors thanks to you. We are greatful.

Good for her! Now she has a great storm door. I'm happy because it's not in my yard anymore. I just love freecycle!

Oh and the woman we gave the washing machine to was thankful as well. My brother had an extra electric dryer he couldn't use because he is using a gas dryer. So I called her and asked her if she wanted it. She said yes, so she's going back out to my parents house tomorrow or Monday to pick it up. I love helping people out. Makes you feel good. Also when I pick up stuff from people in the area, I feel like I have given to the community so it's ok if I receive sometimes too.

Find your local freecycle at www.freecycle.org. It's wonderful. Someone posts an item as an offer and you email them saying you want it. If you are the chosen person (usually it's first come first serve) then you will arrange a pickup. If the item is no longer available, the person is supposed to post a pending email. Then when the person picks it up, the person posts a Taken email saying it's no longer available. A lot of times the items aren't there anymore, but if it is, you scored something! I only pick up stuff I need. Last week I got a clothes drying rack. I've gotten a jogging stroller, toddler bed, little tyke slide set, and more! I've give up stuff like the washing machine, storm doors, and even misc stuff like light fixtures. It's great to get rid of clutter and get stuff you need!

Ok friends, I expect to see these on your blog too! They are misnumbered because I took the stupid ones out.

1. What is your dream occupation? Full-time mom and/or nurse
2. What color is your underwear? Right now? Pink!
3. What are you listening to right now? Joe and my dad watching a movie
4. What was the last thing you ate? My mom made Lasagna, I made a salad, and garlic bread
5. Do you wish on stars? sometimes
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? blue
7. How is the weather right now? It's night time out but was sunny and cool today
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Carolyn - a freecycler
10. How old are you today? 27
11. Favorite drink? water
12. Favorite sport to watch? who cares
13. Have you ever dyed your hair? No
14. Do you wear contacts or glasses? both
15. Pets? 4 cats, Alex, Sasha, TyTy and Kali
16. Favorite month? um, don't have one
17. Favorite food? I guess I don't really have one!
18. What was the last movie you watched? I can't remember!!
19. Favorite day of the year? Christmas
20. What do you do to vent anger? clean or cry
21. What was your favorite toy as a child? My stuffed animals or barbies
22. Fall or Spring? Spring
23. Hugs or kisses? Hugs
24. Cherry or Blueberry? Blueberry
28. Living arrangements ? Home with dh and cats and Joey
29. When was the last time you cried? Um, not sure??
30. What is on the floor of your closet? Nothing
31. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Jenny Rhodes since 6th grade
32. What did you do last night? Drove home from work, waited for Joe to get home and went to bed
33. Favorite smell? My venezia perfume. It's discontinued! :( I actually paid $80 for a bottle on ebay! You can't buy it anymore!
34. What inspires you? Successful people who take risks
35. What are you afraid of? dying
36. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese
37. Favorite car? Any Honda
38. Favorite type of dog? None
39. Number of keys on your key ring? 8?
40. How many years at your current job? 5
41. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
42. How many states have you lived in? Just Michigan
43. How many cities have you lived in? All in Michigan - Garden City, Howell, Midland, Royal Oak and Milford

Put it this way, I've been burning the candle at both ends and it ended up with me going to bed at 8:30 on Friday. NOT normal for me at all.

Just seems like there is a lot to do lately. Thursday I weighed in at WW and gained 3 lbs. I felt awful about it and am still sad about it. Yet, am I eating better - no. What the hell is wrong with me? I need to go buy better foods to keep in this house.

Today is Saturday. We got up and went to the Chiropractor and post office this morning. Then we came home and I became cleanzilla and was going nuts cleaning. The house was a mess from this week. I was so tired I couldn't even clean.

I can tell you why I was tired. Tuesday night - our favorite show Nip/Tuck on FX started back up. It went from 10:00 - 11:30. SO I went to bed late then. Keep in mind I normally get up at 5:15.

Wednesday was an easy day at work. We had a team outing at a park. I took 130 photos for our work bulletin board, and I also played baseball catch with the boys. They were very impressed a girl had that good aim and could throw that hard. People kept asking if I played for a team. I told them, yes, I played when I was 6 in tee ball. No really, I never did. They didn't believe me. Really, I could throw straight when I met Joe. He taught me all I knew. SO I felt good about that. I got a great workout and was sore for two days after.

On Wednesday night I got sucked into another show - Next top model. Ok, did I need to watch it? No...but I did. And I don't watch tv. Well at least I got stuff done during commericals. Augh! Then after that I had to download the photos from that day's team picnic at work so I could print them out for the bulletin board the next day. I was up until 11:30 again.

Thursday rolls around. I get up in the morning and notice that the lights above my sink don't work. That pissed me off something awful. I LOVE those lights. They light up the space above my sink which is normally dark - and NOW THEY DON'T WORK!!! SOOOO I've begged my brother, when he gets a moment, to please please please come fix them. I will pay him what he wants, I just want work lights again!


Thursday night I go to WW. Dropped Joey off at my mom's house and went to WW. Gained 3 lbs. Boy - I was bummed. I drove home in a monsoon, well not quite but it rained so hard I couldn't see in front of me, then got to my parent's house and they were out of power for a little while. Dad finished the cat tree for my cats (see the cool cat tree above and the photo of Alex in it take in natural lighting) and had to load that into my car. The cats love their new cat tree! ER was on from 10 - 11 so another late night.

SO finally Friday rolls around. I come home after work and Joe is out with work - they also had a team outing this week - to go golfing. SO he calls at 6 saying he's going out to dinner. I'm here seriously almost falling asleep. I told him I was so tired I'm going to bed when he gets home. So anyway I took these photos of Joey on Friday. There was one of him on the couch that I loved. He sits there now to watch tv. There is another two of him playing with his toys and cars with a cool ramp. The others are from when we went outside. The pictures on him on the porch are beautiful because the lighting from late day was great. One he is looking up at the sky, the other he is saying bye-bye to someone, probably a car going down the street.

Joe got home, we fed Joey, and then I went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 7:30 the next morning. It was great. Today was a cool day for Joey though - he went to go outside and needed help down the step and said 'help' and put out his hand. That's new for him. Usually he just puts out his hand. Then he saw a bulldozer and said bulldozer :)

Earlier this week I posted our old working washing machine on freecycle and someone came and picked it up today. Today I posted a storm door and someone came to get that too. I love freecycle!

We went over to my brother's new house today. It's very nice. It's in the country and I'm so jealous! Made Joe and I realize we really want to live in the country for our next house. Afterwards we had dinner at my mother's house.

So right now Joe's watching a movie with my dad and I'm blogging. I don't like movies too much. I'd rather play on the internet :)

Well Joe had to meet with the CFO on Monday and it was ok. Just a meeting. I got some photos of him in his new suit. He looked quite good!! Forgive the crappy photos. It was dusk out and I had to use flash.

Lucky you! I almost forgot to update my blog on the way home on Sunday so I’m sure this one will be short. I only have another 10 minute ride home.

Today was a nice day. I slept in until 10am. Grandma and Grandpa watched Joey once he got up at 7.

After I got up Joey and I played a bit. Joe and Joey played a bit. We ate. Grandma made some sweet potatoes today and some spicy chicken wings for Joe.

I scrapbooked today – I’m sure you aren’t surprised. I had two more pages to do for ScrapJazz before I left for Mexico. One was with the spotlight. It was a military themed stickers so I pulled out an old Scrapaddict kit I had and knew I already had a military photo of Grandpa printed for it.

I asked Grandpa to come to the table to provide me with journaling for the photo. He got really really choked up. I know part of it is because it’s amazing how much you change. He’s 80 now and the photo was taken 60 years ago! Your body changes so much and I know that he was thinking about that. He was such a handsome guy in the photo I have. I told Grandpa she married one heck of a good looking guy! The other thing I know that bothered him was the images and thoughts of the war flooding back. I have never met a man that had fought in the war and had wanted to tell about the tales of what happened. Grandpa served in WWII. He was a paratrooper. I was very proud of grandpa. It was sooo difficult to give me the journaling for my page, and to remember these details of the war, but I think that part of him wanted to provide that detail. He wanted it to be saved and preserved for Joey to read when he gets older and to provide to his children. It’s such an honor for me to be able to scrapbook these stories and have people open up and tell me these stories, that perhaps have never been told to anyone else. I don’t only feel like an artist, but of a story teller as well. What an awesome honor!!

The other thing I wanted to say is it’s so much fun to scrapbook at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Every time I am done with a page I run to show them and they ohhh and ahhhh over it. I don’t get that response from anyone else like I do them. Grandpa always brags me up. He’s such a sweetie.

Oh the other end of the spectrum is my mother. She has told me that she doesn’t understand or care for scrapbooking as a hobby. She thinks it’s a waste of time. I on the other hand love her knitting and receiving stuff she knit (like socks) but I’m not about to take up knitting at all - I think it’s boring! So I guess it’s each to their own! It would explain why she hates her photo taken and why I hardly have any photos of me growing up!

Tonight before we left Joey and Grandma were having a pillow fight. Joey loves to rough-house. The harder the better. I swear, this kid will get on your back and jump off. He loves to wrestle, jump off the couch, the harder the better!! So here are some photos of Grandma and Joey.