My Favorite Hobbies

They say that one of the signs of depression is loosing interest in the things you once loved to do. Two of my favorite hobbies are photography and scrapbooking . I realized that I really hadn't taken any photos this year and hadn't done much scrapbooking at all. Within the last couple of weeks I made time to do both. I guess that is a sign that I am feeling better.


I like my hobbies because they make me feel creative. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I create something that I can enjoy and that I can proudly share with others. I think it is good for my self esteem (something which always needs improvement).

Getting excited about the move!

We should be finding out very soon when we will close on our new home. I am getting excited, even though I HATE moving. It will be great to have all the extra room and storage space. The house is currently vacant so we will be able to move right in. We went shopping for new furniture. We picked out some new living room furniture, a sofa, loveseat, chair and ottoman - Here is a photo that is very similar to what we picked out.

Here are the tables we picked out. We will be getting a coffee table, two end tables and a sofa table:

We also are buying 2 twin captains beds with bookcase headboards for Hope and Emily.

I really wish we could get a new dining room table and chairs too, but I am not sure we should finance that much. If we could afford it, here is the set I would LOVE to have:

Oh well, maybe someday. I am happy with what we will be getting. I just can't wait to be in the new house with everything unpacked and organized.

Always a Bride, Never a Bridesmaid.......

Funny, that old saying "Always a bridesmaid never a bride" has been the opposite for me. I have been a bride 3 times, but never have been a bridesmaid. That is about to change. I have been asked by my new friend Kim to be her matron of honor. Kim is marrying Chuck, the owner of the scuba shop here in town and one of Bill's good friends. Before asking me to be in the wedding, Kim's bridesmaids consisted of her three daughters and Chucks three daughters. The oldest is 19 and the youngest is 13. She jokingly had said, "If I have a bachelorette party, I'll have to have it at Chuck E Cheese!". Bill had already been asked to be a groomsman. We had gone out with Chuck and Kim a few times and gone over to their house for parties, etc. Kim and I have several things in common and I guess she decided she wanted to have someone over 21 in her wedding party. We went to pick out my dress on Saturday. Getting measured was NOT fun. I need to loose weight. I have never been this heavy before ever!!! She let each of us girls pick out whatever dress we wanted as long as it was from the same company and in her color - cobalt blue. We are wearing strappy silver shoes. The photo below shows the style I picked out. It is the one on the right, only my top will be white instead of green and will have cobalt blue trim where in the photo it is pink. The skirt will be cobalt blue. The shoes are even similar, only mine will be silver.

I'm excited! It will be a fun wedding. Emily and Hope are going to be the flower girls, and Chuck's son Eric, who is 9 will be the ring bearer. They are getting married at the huge chapel at Valparaiso University.

Check out my Slide Show!

Finally in the mood to write again....
I know, I know, it's been over a month since I have added a post. So much has been going on since Christmas. First, I found out I was pregnant, we decided to buy a larger house, we found a larger house and put an offer on it, then I lost the baby and had to have a D&C. We decided we will still get the larger house - we need it.

Losing the baby was very difficult. When I first found out I was pregnant (not planned by the way) I was not too happy about it. I am going to turn 40 this year and Amanda will be starting college in the fall. After a while though I got used to the idea and even started to get excited about it. I was starting to shop for maternity clothes and look at baby furniture on line and we had a room picked out in the new house that would be the nursery. So when we went for my ultrasound, which was being done to help determine the exact due date, we were shocked and upset to find out that the baby did not have a heartbeat. I was very depressed that whole weekend.

I am feeling better now, both physically and mentally. I have decided NOT to try again. I feel like I am getting too old and we already have 4 daughter's between us. Of course I was really hoping for that boy that I always wanted, we even had a boys name already picked out.

Bill had to leave this week to go to Florida to work on insurance claims for the tornado damage. He called last night and said he had closed 4 claims in one afternoon and would get to come home sooner than expected - like this weekend! That was great news!!! We have so much to do around the house still to get it ready to sell. We also have to finalize getting all the paperwork in for our new mortgage loan and I really need him here right now.

I'll try harder to keep up with this blog from now on. I do enjoy keeping it.