for ben...

i love you~you know who you are

I got this email from my mom and thought it was a good thing to put 'out there'.

One day a woman's husband died, and on that clear, cold morning, in the warmth of their bedroom, the wife was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't "anymore".
No more hugs,
no more special moments to celebrate together,
no more phone calls just to chat,
no more "just one minute."

Sometimes, what we care about the most gets all used up and goes away, never to return before we can say good-bye, to say"I love you."

So while we have it, it's best we love it, care for it, fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. This is true for marriage.....And old cars... And children with bad report cards, and dogs with bad hips, and aging parents and grandparents.

We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep -- like a best friend who moved away or a sister-in-law after divorce. There are just some things that make us happy, no matter what.

Life is important, like people we know who are special; and so, we keep them close!

Suppose one morning you never wake up, do your loved ones know you love them?

I was thinking...I could die today, tomorrow or next week, and I wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that needed rekindling or three words needing to be said.

Let every one you love know it, even if you think they don't love you back. I think we’d be amazed at what three little words and a smile can do.

So to my family and special friends....just in case I'm gone tomorrow, know:

I Love You!!!

I just found this quote...it amazes me how people can write things like this without even knowing me... ;)

IF WE WERE MEANT TO POP OUT OF BED, WE'D ALL SLEEP IN TOASTERS!

bahahahaha

Mady & I...what a team!

livie: aaaggghhh! don't post that! that was NOT after you told us to clean our room-it was before that and it really was clean then.

oh, what a day'll do!

does anyone know of anywhere i can go to learn to make my blog page more of what i want it...giving me more control over the layout, etc?

doors in europe

(aka: my fascination with architecture photography)

a matter of opinion:

girls~did you clean your room?
yep
do i need to go up and check it?
sure
well, i'm not doing it now but if i go in there and it's not, your mother is not going to be a happy camper!
seriously, it's good


ummm...alrighty then!!!

in their defense, their closet looks great!! ;)

nothing stops this girl!

~sorry for the blurry pictures of mady ;(

it's raining, it's pouring, and mady's still scoring...(actually, she didn't score today, but it rhymed)

she's a go-getter, as you can tell from some of these pictures. it was raining and everyone was slipping on the field but she didn't care. my favorite thing is when she sticks out her tongue when she's setting up to kick. they won-here's hoping for another undefeated season!!

HELP!

ooohhh nnnooo!!! somehow i deleted all my favorite blogs from a-m. does anyone know who to get them back? i can't find them...i'm practically in tears!!

beach in normandy...

frying vs. saute'ing (see~i can't even spell it)

After coming home from a very busy day at the office, wouldn’t it have been nice for ed’s bride of 21 years to have a hot dinner on the table for him? Yes, you say, that would be wonderful. It would, really, but Thursday nights daddy works late so at our house it’s pancakes, cereal or, in this instance, mac & cheese (which, according to Kraft, is a perfectly sufficient food for an entire meal…who am I to question?!!). I knew he’d like something hot so I was going to put the extra flank steak on the grill from the previous night (that he had very lightly grilled so jake could take it to school and still have it edible). He usually calls before he leaves work so I can at least have something for him or call something in for him to pick up on his way home, but when he walked in the door and said, ‘sorry I didn’t call…is there anything to eat?’, I knew this wouldn’t be his dream dinner. I asked him if he wanted me to start the grill or fry the steak for him.
Ed: no, you can just saute’ it
Me: huh?
Ed: just put it in a pan with a little butter
Me: ah, fry it
Ed: no!
I was on the phone w/traci at the time and she cracked up.
Traci: put him on
Traci: Ok mister, what’s the difference?
Ed: big difference!
Traci: What do you do to an egg?
Ed: fry it
Traci: why not saute’ it?
Ed: the difference is the consistency of what you’re cooking.
Hysterical laughing…
Traci: tell him to stop being such a snob and eat his fried steak!

He ate it…on white bread (gasp!) I guess when you mix a midwestern country girl and a proper jersey guy both parties have a lot of learning to do ;)

Ps-I microwaved his corn on the cob…this leads me to a whole other cooking conversation, which I’ll save for another time.

just some random europe pics

i knew it was coming...

i know they want to go back to see all their friends...

i know they need to go back...

i know we'd hurt each other if i home-schooled...

but i wouldn't mind if summer was just a little longer...

i'll miss them calling me on my cell from upstairs when they didn't know i was home...

i'll miss making them lunch every day (oops, i'm mixing up dreams and reality~sorry)

i'll miss the little trips to town or shopping for all the things they 'need'...

the library's going to call and wonder where we are...

the neighbors are checking out their window because nobody's screaming in the pool...

the kitchen counter will actually stay clean all day...

i miss them already!

in france...

Girls are skinny-I think I only saw 2 fat people

I didn’t see near as many young people with cell phones

The subways (metros) are definitely NOT stroller friendly!!

Where do you go to get a regular cup of coffee?

...and where do you go to get a diet coke from a fountain WITH ICE?

People drive crazy

The countryside is GORGEOUS!!!

Guys wear speedos on the beach-eek

The American cemetery is very, very impressive

Things are very expensive

The milk tastes like cream

People carry around bagettes and just gnaw on the whole loaf

I had goat cheese every day!

Portions are small (no wonder everyone’s skinny!)

The Eiffel tower is tan

they speak french ;)

Normandy has so much history-it’s very surreal

You have to pay to use the ‘toilet’ (that word just sounds gross to me)-sometimes up to 1 euro!!! But hey, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!

They don’t use washcloths-at least there’s no chance that you use the one on your face that’s supposed to be for your pits!

The fashion is AMAZING (what doesn’t look great on a skinny minny?!)

Cars are very small

They have GAP

There’s no Ann Taylor…I lived

If you don’t drink cappuccino you could die of thirst

They are generally not very friendly to Americans-go figure

Ed would make a killing…most people wear very flat shoes…ouch

The buildings are very old, amazing architecture-a photographers dream

The house we stayed in was occupied by the germans during wwII

You only get 2 ketchup per burger, none for fries. well, you CAN get more if you want...for a price

We made memories we’ll never forget!!!

oops...missed some of mady's pics....