the unperfected perfectionist

I can't believe that the very last "Thankful Thursday" is upon us!   A few short months ago, when I picked up my entire life and moved to a new state to turn a new leaf in my life...time seemed to move so incredibly slow as I was counting down the days before my next trip back "home".  Now that I am feeling more comfortable with my surroundings and have fallen into a routine here at my new "home", time seems to pass too quickly once again.  Today, on this last "Thankful Thursday" of 2010...I am thankful that I made it through the year.  2010 cast numerous changes and challenges onto myself and my family.  It seemed to be one of those years in which with each passing tribulation, another soon followed.  I now look back and realize everything that I encountered through the year made me stronger in some shape or form.  The first concern that came like a slap across the face was the announcement from my husband's employer that they could...

Hello again!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  I had a fabulous, busy and fun filled Christmas back home with my family.  Before we headed back to Michigan, I had myself all worked up and overwhelmed that everything would not go as I had it planned in my mind.  I was worried about how Christmas morning would unfold being away from my own home and our normal routine in the past years.  This year, brought upon us an entirely new experience.  I was not quite sure what to expect. I was excited, anxious, and everything in between!  I am such a routine being that something like this is huge for me!  I, of course, wanted Christmas morning to be perfect for Emma and I was determined to pull it off.  It all started with figuring out how to sneak the few things that I bought prior to heading north, into the car without her seeing them. I had some things shipped and some shopping to do when we got back home.  Keep in m...

Good Saturday afternoon to you!  It is now just one short week before Christmas! I finally got some Christmas shopping done this week but, I know already that the next seven days will be very busy and filled with baking, cleaning, last minute errands, laundry, packing, family, friends, laughter and the list goes on.  Through all of the busyness of the holiday season, I know how easy it is to get so caught up in the packed schedule and the spectrum of emotions that come along with being so busy and the demands that I place upon myself this time of year especially.  Last night, as I sat down for a moment to check my email, I opened one sent from my dad that gave me another one of those "put things into perspective" moments.  It is funny how these happen to land in my inbox at the absolute perfect times. (Thanks so much, Dad!  I love you so much!) I liked it so much that I thought I would pass it along to all of y...

Snowfall has such a quiet, serene, peacefulness to it as it falls gently blanketing the Earth.  Today, as we traveled through the wind, snow and ice for over 6 hours, I was feeling a bit tense and could not wait to arrive at my final destination...home.  Once I was home safely, and stepped out of the car to take in the peacefulness, my tension seemed to fade away.  I have just a few photos of our journey through the storm to share with you... So happy to arrive at my final destination safe and sound... I hope that you, too, were able to enjoy a wonderful weekend and maybe you were even lucky enough to experience the peacefulness of the snowfall. 

Here it is Thankful Thursday once again.  I can't believe how quickly December seems to be passing by.  I don't know about any of you but, I am not even close to being ready for Christmas yet!  I have not even started shopping yet!  I love this time of year and everything that comes along with it.  I will save that for another post.  I must stay focused... It seems so totally corny but, this week, I am so incredibly thankful for my fireplace of all things!  The weather has been very chilly here in the "deep" Ohio south.  I swear my blood has thinned since I moved here!  I am used to very cold winters but, I do not, whatsoever, like to be cold.  I am one of those people that are cold much of the time.  Cold hands and feet seem to be the norm for me until April rolls around. My mom tells me, "Cold hands, warm heart."  Of course, I try my best to fulfill this standard!  Our previous home didn't have a fireplace and I al...

This morning, I woke up to find the beautiful snow softly falling down and blanketing the outdoors. I had been wanting to check out the creek that lies behind our house and capture some photos of the beauty it holds.  Well, today, I lucked out and my husband ventured out to take the photos for me!  I never knew that just past the backyard held such breathtaking nature.  I have been able to hear the creek rushing after recent rainfall and now, I have the pictures to unite it and complete the vision of this magnificence that is in my own backyard.  Beauty is something that we do not always need to search for...it often is lying right before us.  We just do not always take the time to notice. 

Oh my goodness...I did it again...very sorry for the lapse in posts!  Today, I am writing about something that I had hoped to post much sooner but, time slipped away from me again. Please forgive me!  There was a holiday and a trip back to Michigan in there too!  I believe that buys me at least a few days, right? I am so incredibly thankful for a tradition that I share with all of the girls in my family each year on the day before Thanksgiving. When I refer to "girls", I really mean all of the females in the family....this includes my mom, sister, sister-in-law, my daughter and my nieces.  Actually, there was one cute little boy who joined in the traditon this year too...my nephew, Jimmy. When you are two years old, it is still okay to hang with the girls for this festivity.  This special tradition is what we refer to as "Pie Day".  As Thanksgiving draws nearer each year, we begin to look forward to spending this day tog...

Happy Thankful Thursday!  Today, I am thankful for my gym membership.  I absolutely love having the gym as part of my daily routine.  Well, almost daily...I haven't gone yet today.  It is so nice to walk in and the staff always greets me by name which is fabulous when you live somewhere that hardly anyone knows you from the guy next door.  I am thankful that they seem to go out of their way to make me feel welcome.  I have not come across a staff member, as of yet, that didn't go over the top to introduce themselves and offer their help in any way I needed.  I must say that in today's society, people just aren't like that anymore.  How often can you really go out and about town and come across people that go out of their way to be friendly and helpful?  In my experience, not too often at all.  My primary reason to join the gym was obvious...to keep myself in shape.  I wanted to make a visit to the gym a priority in my daily...

Today was one of those cold, gray and rainy fall days in which I am not such a fan.  I went about my day just like usual...had my coffee, went to Target to pick up a few things, went to the gym...the rain just kept continuing to fall.  As the afternoon passed by, it was almost time for Emma to come home.  This is what reminded me that just for today, I was okay with the rain pouring down outside.  Why?  It is perhaps somewhat selfish on my part but, I knew that she would be in the house spending time with me, rather than outside with her friends.  I know, you all must think that I am absolutely crazy for even thinking this way.  Well, as I have mentioned before, I simply just miss my time with my girlie.  We really enjoyed our time cozy in our home with the fire crackling and just being together.  After we ate dinner, she had a bit of homework to complete and then she made a homework packet for me to complete that was due by the end of to...

Happy Monday to you!  I hope you were able to have a wonderful weekend relaxing, or perhaps being productive.  I tend to be one of those that lean toward the productive side.  Anyone who knows me, even just a little bit, knows that I have a bit of a hard time with the whole "relaxing" thing.  I often wish it were easier for me.  So, now that you know that, I thought I would share some other random facts about myself.  I had intended to post "20 random & quirky facts" about myself as my 20th post, but as you can see, it did not quite unfold the way I had planned.  Now, on with the new plan.... I will share 21 random, quirky and most likely useless facts about myself, on a Monday, in hopes to give you at least a little chuckle to begin your week.  Here it goes... 1.  I cannot go to bed at night if there are any dishes in the sink or the kitchen is in any    disarray. 2.  When I had my append...

This morning, I was going about my usual routine and was reading through my emails. Most of them, I was just glancing at and hitting delete. I clicked one open from my dad and this is what I found... Life is Hot Chocolate View more presentations from syana . What a great way to start my morning!  A little bit of inspiration is always good. After viewing this, I realized that it is absolutely true. It gave me one of those "put things in perspective" moments.  A wonderful thought to ponder as you begin your weekend. Thanks, dad for sharing. :)  I hope you all enjoy your weekend and remember...life is like hot chocolate.

Here we are on "Thankful Thursday" once again.  This morning the UPS man left this at my door.... Who doesn't get excited when a package shows up on the doorstep?  This morning, I actually knew exactly what I would find inside the box.   It was this... My Omnipods.  My lifesaver.  I stuck the very last one, in my possession, onto my arm this morning.  Yes, it will take me through the next 72 hours, usually without any issues or errors that would cause me to need to change it sooner.  The planner in me, was experiencing a wee bit of anxiety when I was left with no extras to back me up. Of course, if it weren't for other variables, such as health insurance (yes,I have it and am thankful for this too) and the lack of infinite amounts of money in my bank account, I would have had a closet full supply already on hand.  Well, this time, it was cut a little close for comfort for this OCD planner. The point I am tr...

So, were you wondering if I disappeared from the blogging world abruptly last week?  I was feeling awful with each passing day that I did not have a post.  The week kind of slipped away from me and I headed home to Michigan for a visit over the weekend.  I have no excuses, just caught up in the craziness of my life.  I am back and will try not to disappear like that again...at least without some sort of warning. Today, I am dedicating my post to my incredible mom.  It is my mom's 70th birthday today!  I cannot believe my mom could possibly be 70 years old! I know that she has a hard time believing it herself. Time passes too quickly.  I wanted to write this post to share with you what a wonderful mom that I have been blessed with.  My mom and I have been through more things than I could even begin to share with you.  My mom has always been there for me regardless what the situation.  She has always encouraged...

What can I say?  I could not vote today so, I elected to bake....again. These are one of my favorites and they are always so pretty coming out of the oven.  These cookies happen to be one of those seasonal types for me.  I tend only to bake them in the fall and winter.  Something about ginger and cinnamon that make you want to bake these and curl up by the fireplace.  Likely, after indulging on these, head directly to the gym.  Another reason why it is always a good idea to bake and either give them away or put them out of arms reach.  :) Enjoy your evening my friends.  

Good Tuesday Morning!  I hope that everyone who is able, goes out to vote today.  Unfortunately, I fall under that, "unable" to vote category this year.  I am not registered to vote here in Ohio and I really don't know enough about any of the candidates or much of anything that will be on the ballot.  Perhaps it is not such a bad thing that I am not voting.  I would have felt horrible to vote for the wrong person because I didn't know enough about them.  Another honest fact I will share...I am really not into politics.  It seems to get so dirty and rude.  If only they could sell themselves without completely trashing the opponent.  That is all I have to say. My main purpose of my post today was to share with you a few pictures from our Halloween.  Emma had lots of fun and scored enough candy to make dentures a possibility in the near future if she didn't brush those pearly whites.  Yeah, I think we will opt for the teeth brushing....

As I stepped out of the shower this morning, I was surprised to find this waiting beside the sink... I couldn't think of a much better way to start my morning.  Emma always seems to sneak little things into my life when I need them most.  I am so incredibly grateful for the relationship that continues to blossom between us each and every day. The note that she left was written in a journal that we share together.  I gave her this unique journal last spring.   It is a journal between the two of us that we take turns writing back and forth to each other.  Most of the pages have ideas to journal about in order to learn more about each other and perhaps gain more insight about things that may not otherwise be learned or talked about.  It is always fun to find it waiting to be read and to write back.  Since we have moved, it had been tucked in a box waiting to be found.  Emma was so very excited to once again find this special journal we sh...

I can't believe it happened to me again!  More brown bananas!  I certainly hope this is NOT a sign of things in my life turning bad and rotting.  The funny this is, I do not even eat bananas or things made with bananas very often because they are too sugary.  Yes, they taste good and I enjoy them, they just don't work out with my body being a Type 1. So, today, I decided to bake some banana crumb muffins with my lovely bananas.  As I was making my muffins and brainstorming for this post, I thought I would toss out a "Funny Fact" about me.  Are you ready for this one?  I am sure by now, you have picked up on the fact that I absolutely love baking and it brings me such happiness.  Yes, I know, I am a total cheese ball!  Well, the "Funny Fact" that I am revealing about myself is that I have this pipe dream to one day own my own bakery.  I worked in a bakery for almost two years and loved it!  The drawback was total lack of sleep...

Good evening!  I am here to post my apple creation for you as promised. I decided to make my Grandma's apple crisp recipe. My Grandma was an incredible cook and baker.  I will share more with you  later about this wonderful woman whom I feel so lucky to have loved, laughed with and I could go on and on but, that is for another post.  I told myself to stay focused as I wrote this evening for I am so very tired and would love to go to sleep but, I made a promise to whomever may be reading this and I plan to keep that promise.  :)  Back to the apple crisp... It went something like this... I even decided to share Grandma's recipe with you that I tweaked ever so slightly.    Emma couldn't stop saying how yummy it was.  I hope you enjoy! Goodnight.