Close to the Finish!!!

For the past two weeks, for a couple of hours a day, I have been working hard on getting my old bedroom set finished before my in-laws come the beginning of June. All I have left to do is a 2nd coat on the headboard and doing the gold accents on the headboard, desk, and one more dresser. Hopefully by the end of next week the bedroom set will be done and ready to enjoy for those who visit. Here are some pics of the finished dresser and the finished foot board. For those of you who know what my furniture did look like, you will notice a HUGE difference. I know I did. Tressa wanted to be my model, as you can see she has had a busy day.

Here is the foot board to the bed.

The dresser, we still need to clean the rust off of the handles before putting them on.

What do you think of the refinishing (keeping in mind that this was my first time ever refinishing something)?

Vacation is Over!!

This past week, Ken had a week of vacation from the hospital. It was a much needed vacation; however, we did keep busy with house repairs, putting in our garden, landscaping and sanding and painting my bedroom furniture that I grew up with. Although, we may have put a lot of work into our week, we still managed to have some fun and relaxation.

We were going to go see Ken's family in Cincinnati, but with the gas prices here in Peoria at $3.95 we decided to have some fun at home. We would take Tressa to the park, take walks throughout the neighborhood, play MarioKart and other various activities. Last Friday, Ken and I actually got to have an official date. My friend offered to take Tressa for an afternoon. Ken took me to a nice steakhouse for lunch followed by a movie with snacks. It was fun to hang out with one another and to splurge on ourselves since we don't do it very often. I came to a conclusion that you can never go out on a date without talking about your children. Ken and I found ourselves talking about how Tressa is doing and how much fun she is. When we were walking around the mall, we saw a little play place, looked at each other and said Tressa would enjoy this. We walked into Barnes and Nobles the first section we looked at were children's books. It was hard to talk about something else we truly do love her and can't imagine our life without her. I know, I am a sap. On a good note, we did enjoy the time away.

Now that Ken's vacation is over, I have to get back to work doing my household duties, full of laundry, cleaning, mowing the lawn and painting my old furniture.

I hope that everyone had a great week.

Happy Mothers' Day!!!

I just wanted to take a minute to wish all the Mothers out there a Happy Mothers' Day!!!

I also wanted to wish my mother and best friend a wonderful Mother's Day. She truly has been my rock through my life.

She has been there for me during the sad times and happy times.

She is always there when I need to vent or just to talk.

She always has good advice for me.

Believe it or not I would love to be like her as a mom.

I love you, MOM.

Thank you for all that you do for me and my family.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

We celebrated Ken's birthday yesterday (May 10th). We had a fun day of playing MarioKart, working in our garden and shopping for groceries. We actually went out for dinner at Old Chicago Pizza for his birthday Friday night. However, it was cut short because Tressa had a blow out and was not feeling well. Ken really enjoyed his birthday and loved having the day off from work. He had fun hanging out with his girls (me and Tressa).

Happy Birthday, Ken!!!!

We love you!!!

Baby Update

Well as of tomorrow, I will be 19 weeks into my pregnancy. This morning I had my checkup. Everything looks good. The baby's heart rate was 154. I actually gained a couple of pounds, so I don't have to go on liquid supplements. Yeah!!

My next appointment is on June 5th. We find out at that checkup what we are going to have. Any guesses?

3 turned in to 2!!!

Well I am officially done serving on jury duty. Today I was selected as a juror in a felony case the charge was attempted burglary. It was an open and closed case. The defendant attempted to steal a bag of money from the back office by hitting the manager. He then tried to flee, however, the manager and another employee were able to tackle him and pin him down until the police were on the scene. There the defendant was arrested for the crime.

It opened with opening statements followed by the testimony of 2 witnesses. Both witnesses identified the attacker as the defendant sitting across from them. Following the testimonies, there was a 30 minute recess. The jury returned to the courtroom to hear closing statements and instructions from the judge on how to determine a verdict. When we as the jury enter the jury room to deliberate, we came to a decision with no argument within 2 minutes. After we came to a verdict, we presented the verdict to the judge and from there we were thanked for our service and released from jury duty for the remainder of the week. I guess once you have been through a trial during the week, you are no longer required to report to the jury assembly.

I found the whole experience to be educational and nothing like you see in Law & Order or any other Court TV show for that matter. I can now honestly say that I had my day in court.

Have any of you had any experience with jury duty in the past?

One down, Two to go!!!

That's right, today was my first day of jury duty. I was summoned to report at 1:00 this afternoon. For those of you who have not had the honors of serving your country in the court system, here is a rundown of what happens. First, you sit in an assembly room (which feels like sitting down near your gate terminal waiting for your flight) with bathrooms and a little kitchen for you to make your lunch. Second, they have you watch a little video about how important our roles are as a juror and what an honor it is to be a juror. They also gave us a little pamphlet to read on the process starting from when you enter the jury assembly to the jury selection and your role as a juror till the end of the trial. How exciting, I know.

Within an hour of being there, the jury manager read off a list of names for jury selection in a felony trial. Guess what, I was one of the lucky people. Seriously though, it felt like I was being sent to the principals office. Me and 30 to 35 other jurors followed the bailiff to the courtroom. We stood outside in the hall of the courtroom to wait for the judge. We waited 30 minutes in the hall only to have the bailiff come out telling us that the case was resolved and we were no longer needed. So we go back to our seats and wait for the next jury list. Luckily, I was not on the list and it happened to be the last trial of the day. So the ones sitting in the assembly room left at 3:00, while the others (bless their hearts) had to go in for jury selection.

Well, one day done and gone, now I just have two left. I have to be there tomorrow at 8:45 for another long day of waiting to be needed. There is going to be a civil trial, 2 traffic trials and a felony trial scheduled for tomorrow. I will keep you updated on my journey of serving my country through the great jury system. On a good note, I get paid $15 a day and ten cents a mile in my travels. Woo-Hoo!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Six years ago today Ken and I were married for time and all eternity. I thought since it is our anniversary, I would jot down reasons that I love my hubby.

He is:

- a great husband and tries to do everything to make me happy
- a great father to Tressa
- has a great sense of humor
- very knowledgeable and intelligent
- has a great smile
- beautiful brown eyes with those gorgeous long eyelashes that any girl would die for
- hardworking
- loves to travel and explore new sites around the country
- a handyman, tries to do everything himself before spending money on the big guns

I could go on and on. But I will save you guys time. I just wanted my hubby to know that I love him and he truly has taken me on some great adventures that I never thought would happen to me. He is my rock and keeps me sane.

Love you, Ken. HAPPY 6th ANNIVERSARY!!!!!