Well I tried to go to get some sleep but unfortunately sleep just isn’t cooperating with me these days. You’d honestly think that after staring up at the ceiling, which I can’t actually see because it’s so dark in my bedroom, I’d eventually find myself in la la land. I think it’s mostly stress that’s doing this to me. I’m constantly worrying about all kinds of things, especially when I have a sick relative back home. That along with just not feeling good in general must be working a number on me. I was just really hoping that it would’ve caught up with me by now. I thought for sure, by now, it would have.

I think I’ll give it another go shortly. Jo passed out on the couch, where he’s slept a lot lately because of the severe heartburn he’s been having. Well, that and because of the snoring thing. I hate that he’s so stuffy at night and he knows that I can’t help that I nudge him when he gets really loud. I miss having him in bed though. I can’t wait for him to get over this stuffiness.

I think I’ll go ahead and try this sleep thing again though. I’m going to work on a few things tomorrow, so I want to get some rest. Going through all of my handbags is going to be quite the task!

Have you seen the Martha Stewart flowers and plants at 1800flowers.com? I’m such a fan of Martha Stewart. I love her show and really enjoy her collection of home decor, so I’m not surprised that I would wind up liking these new products. They’re perfect for all kinds of occasions: anniversary, birthday, new baby, I’m sorry and so many more.

I was just browsing through the “Just Because” section and found several that I would just like to have for my home. For example: Lotus Pod bouquet because I love those vibrant greens, and the White Freesia bouquet and Petite Garden bouquet because they’re soft and romantic - very shabby chic. They would look lovely on an end table, night stand or even as a center piece for a dining room table.

I’ll have to keep this in mind for Mother’s Day. After all, it’s not very far away and my mother loves her flowers. My mother would really love the Vibrant Ranunculus bouquet. She has this wild love for anything bold in color. This particular bouquet is right up her alley, she would love those bright shades of pink and orange.

Whether you’re looking for a bouquet or house plant to spruce up a special space in your home, or you’re looking for a little something to send to a loved one to let them know you care - the Marth Stewart collection at 1800flowers.com has something for everyone, for every occasion and then some. The next time you need to buy a bouquet, I’m sure you’ll find it there.

This was a paid review.

A few days ago I found out that my cousin Cody was very sick. My sister phoned me yesterday and said he’s doing much better. He’s been breathing on his own and was alert enough to tell the family he didn’t want to watch “golf” when asked. He loves golf, and actually played it in high school. Anyway, he’s doing better so thank you for all of the kind comments in the entry about him! I was so relieved to hear he’d gotten better, especially considering how bad he was just a couple of days ago. I mean, a 25% chance is so.. that’s just not good, you know?

I wasn’t feel so good myself earlier today. My back has been bothering me again and I think I’m coming down with a cold. My throat is feels a bit raw and scratchy. I went ahead and started taking something for it though, so hopefully whatever it is will be gone soon. It wasn’t such a bad day though. I decided to make a big pot of cheesy potato soup. Soup always makes me feel better when I’m under the weather. I know some of you have requested the recipe, so I’m going to get it posted on my cooking/recipe blog tomorrow.

I think I’m going to hit the sack soon though. I’m surprised I’ve stayed up this long. I didn’t get much sleep, again, the last two nights. Maybe I’ll get the chance to get caught up over the weekend - I hope.

Why are there never any pens when I’m actually in need of one? Any other time there’s an abundance of them. It’s only when I need one that I can’t find one. Like when someone phones and needs to leave a message because the person they need to speak to is out of the house. That always seems to happen. There have actually been a couple of occasions where I couldn’t find a pen and was unable to take the message. Thankfully there’s caller ID here, so they were able to figure out who phoned.

And speaking of pens; I must have an addiction to logo pens or something. I can never walk away from a business, like for instance a bank, without swiping one of their pens. Most of the time I don’t even realize that I’ve taken it until I’ve long been gone from the place. I figured at that point I might as well keep it! I think it all started when I worked for the hospital in my home town. We always had those “prescription” pens. Those always seem to be the best ones too.

As I’m sure you could imagine, I’m absolutely restless. Not only from the frustration I’ve had over the last couple of days (that’s nothing compared to the latter) but also because of the current condition of Cody. I just can’t stop thinking about the poor guy and hoping more than anything that he pulls through this. It’s so frustrating being so far away. Feeling helpless is such an understatement, you know? Thinking about it isn’t going to make it go away though and it certainly isn’t going to help either - not with me or the situation itself. I should probably just try to go back to sleep. I’m sure I’ll eventually doze off and since no one should have to be up early (sister in law is away for the night.. well, morning now), I shouldn’t have to worry about anyone waking me up too early.

My mom is going to call me later tonight, to update me on Cody. Well, if anything changes. I’m not sure if she’s going to call if his condition doesn’t change. Worry, worry, worry.

I’ve been having trouble getting to sleep tonight. I just keep thinking about Cody (cousin) being in the ICU, fighting for his life. At times I feel sick in the pit of my stomach. Since I can’t seem to shake the thoughts in my head - all the what ifs - I figured I’d try to do something productive.

Jo’s asleep right now, but in the morning I’m going to talk to him about having some flowers sent to Cody. We can’t be there with Cody and the rest of my family right now, but we wanted to make sure they all know he’s in our thoughts and prayers. Flowers may not seem like much in this situation but I think it’s the perfect thing for someone who’s sick, in the hospital or any variety of other occasions. Flowers have always represented “life” to me, so I think we’ll work on this first thing in the morning.

I wasn’t sure where I’d begin my search until I ventured over to E-florist, Inc, an online florist. My search has actually come to an end. There’s such a huge selection of flowers and other gifts for really affordable prices, that I won’t need to look anywhere else. There are times that I get frustrated shopping online because the store’s websites aren’t setup to be “user friendly” - if you will. They either have a website that uses far too many large images that it takes a good while to load or searching for specific things is difficult because of the way the site is designed (not enough options). E-florist, Inc is totally opposite of all of that. For me, I usually shop by price because regardless of how much money I have in my account, I’m always on a budget. E-florist, Inc made this easy with the “Shop by price” in the left sidebar. For those of you who aren’t on a budget and just want to browse, you may choose to “Shop by occasion” or “Shop by product.” You can even search the site by entering keywords into the search box. Either way you can easily browse through flowers, or even gift baskets for all sorts of things like; a new baby, birthday, anniversary, just because, sympathy or like me - “get well” type of things. Once you’re finished browsing, you can select “Cart contents” from the top tool tab to view the items you’ve added to your cart and get your total before checking out.

Whatever the occasion, E-florist, Inc is there and can offer same day delivery. To learn more, visit their online florist shop.

Me, I’m going to go finish browsing for a little something for my cousin Cody.

My mom phoned me tonight, with some very upsetting news. My cousin Cody is in the Neurological ICU with bacterial meningitis. They’ve only given him a 25% chance of surviving it. I feel so numb right now. He joined the Marines not long ago and was at Parris Island when he took sick. I am hoping and praying he’s strong enough to make it. He’s a strong young man and they say he’s definitely fighting it. They currently have him in a drug induced coma because of the respirator and the fact he’s been panicking, making attempts to pull the respirator out (succeeded once).

If you pray or anything of the sort.. keep Cody in them.

sigh.

I haven’t gotten much sleep the last couple of nights. The night before last it was because I knew I had to be up early. I guess the constantly thinking “OK, I have to be up in X amount of hours in order to be ready to go on time” caused the problem. I’m not sure what really caused me to wake up so often last night though. I fell asleep on the couch watching “That 70’s Show” around 2am. Jo woke me up about an hour after that and made me go get into bed. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow, I think, because I really don’t even remember closing my eyes. I would think this would surely mean a good night’s sleep, but nope. I woke up after about an hour in the bed, then about another hour after that. I also woke up when my sister in law was getting read to leave for school, but I think that’s because I had to use the bathroom (had to go right then, eh). I feel so, blah. I hate not getting enough sleep or just “good” sleep in general. It tends to spoil the rest of the day. Naps are out of the question most days too. I’ve been noticing it a lot lately, that when I do take a nap I wake up feeling even worse - either due to a headache or just being sleepier.

I also wish I had better window coverings in our bedroom. Sometimes the sun shines to bright in there, it’s impossible to sleep past dawn. Maybe some roller shades could do the trick?

Is time for Macro Monday. It was a difficult shot, but only because I was trying to keep myself from scarfing down my subject (one of the pudding filled cupcakes I made the other day). Ha, ha.

If you feel like joining us, check out the information page by clicking the button below. Let’s see those macros!

Usually when I stay up to watch a Flames game I end up disappointed. My husband says I must be a bad omen for them or something because many times when I watch the game, they lose. This was actually the case last week. It was the last Calgary home game of the regular season and they wound up losing. I guess in the end it didn’t matter that much because they did clinch a spot in the playoffs, which is ultimately what I (and the team and other fans) wanted.

The game tonight wasn’t a must win, as I mentioned in my previous post but the idea of ending the regular season with a game was nice. They wound up winning 7-1 over the Canucks. That isn’t the best part about the night though - Jarome Iginla (captain) got his 50th goal of the season.

One thing I miss about Calgary is this time of year. The patriotism was incredible. You can’t ignore all of the “Flaming C’s” everywhere you go. I swore before we left Calgary we’d see a game at the dome. That never happened.. but I guess I can always do that in the future. We still know people there, including some of Jo’s relatives and his good friends from high school, Brian and Buck.

I will be so bummed if they don’t air the playoff games here. It was frustrating enough that I only got to see a couple of games each month. Not getting to see their chance at the Stanley Cup would suck. Ha, ha.

I’m happy they won tonight though. I’m glad I didn’t spoil it by watching it.

I think I’ll call it a night now!

Wow, we actually had a really beautiful day. It was finally warm enough to be outdoors without a coat on. According to the forecast, it looks like it’ll be like this for the next few days. I hope the temperatures just keep getting warmer. I’m so anxious to get on the road back to Georgia! I know I’ll hate the heat once I get this, especially this Summer, but I’ll take it over all of this snow (literally feet of it still) any day. And this warm weather has already gotten me to daydreaming about all things Summer. Skip Spring, I’m ready to for the beach and going for a swim at my Aunt’s pool. Speaking of which, she’s having some work done to it next week. Mostly cleaning and relining, I think. She’s been talking about redoing her deck too but I’m not sure if she’ll actually go through with it before the Summer or not. I think some fiberglass columns would look nice, but then again it might look a little too fancy for her house - not that it’s not a nice house or anything.

Oops, I didn’t realize the Flames game was back on. It’s 3-1 Calgary (playing Canucks). The Flames have already clinched a spot in the playoffs, so the game isn’t a must win but I still hope they win. It’s been a pretty good game so far. So back to the game I go!

I can’t even begin to tell you how annoyed I am with this whole story. What is the big deal? What is so super amazing about this? Oh, a “man” is pregnant? No, this man was born a woman. This man has female reproductive organs. If this were a case of a biological male being pregnant, then I would see the big deal about it. That, however, isn’t the case. Sure it might seem strange to anyone that doesn’t realize he was previously a she. I don’t know, I keep hearing people talking about it (online and off line) and it’s sort of annoying. I guess I’m just one of those people who isn’t looking at it like some miracle, like a “man” is really giving birth. I mean, I completely understand that this person feels like a man and lives their life as a man but at the same time - female parts, you know?

I think it’s great that “he” could be the surrogate. I believe I read that his wife was unable to have children? I just don’t understand why it’s such big news (which I’ve already explained my reasoning for). Maybe I’m just a minority here though.

What are your thoughts? I’m just curious I guess. Do you think this is the miracle the media is making it out to be? Children are miracles yes, but I mean the fact that this person was able to conceive and will be giving birth.

I created a few more banners and would appreciate any votes given. Below you’ll find smaller versions of my banners, and under those will be the links to the voting page.

Vote for this banner

Vote for this banner

Vote for this banner

Vote for this banner

Vote for this banner

If you have a banner of your own that’s been submitted, let me know. I would be happy to return the favor.

Other than that, though it’s becoming normal, I am so stressed here. I don’t feel like going into details but if you’ve been keeping up with my blog for a bit, you should know what’s stressing me. I hate feeling like I’m walking on egg shells and that’s exactly what it’s like around here. I don’t know how my mother in law has managed doing it for so long, I know she must be absolutely exhausted from it all. I can tell you one thing, there are definitely things about this place that I won’t miss when I’m gone.

In other news; my youngest sister, Nikki, was the only person to get me with that whole April Fool’s thing. Other people tried and failed, she, however, succeeded by telling me her husband was going in for back surgery (I absolutely hate such serious joking though). He actually has been having back trouble, which is the only reason why I fell for it. Trent thought it was funny that his “mommy” got me and felt the need to tell me when I spoke to him last night. He also told me that Rachel Ray was his girlfriend - LOL.

That’s all for now. I’m going to go spend some time with the hubby before American Idol. I so want David Cook or Michael Johns to win and hope Kristy Lee Cook will be going home. She did much better last night but I still think she’s not nearly as good as the other contestants (especially David C. and Michael Johns).

After waking up about two hours earlier than I normally do, I’m so sleepy and think I could easily drift off to sleep the second my head hits my pillow. I think I’ll call it an early night, which is something I’ve been doing the last few nights - oddly enough. After a hot shower, I’m definitely going to do just that.

I’ve spent most of my day working on banners for a contest, which I’m sure most of you already know about at this point. While I do really enjoy creating, crafting and designing - lately it’s been so constant because of the weather. I’m so ready for the weather to get warm and stay warm. Being stuck indoors so much is enough to drive anyone mad. If we keep it up, we’ll all have to start buying plus size clothing soon, if we don’t get out and do some exercising, which is hard to do when it’s so cramped inside and too cold to be outside. I think we could all use some of that, so I hope that the warm temperatures of Spring are on the way.

With that said, I’m going to call it a night.

At last, at last! I have finally finished my first 3 column Wordpress theme. It features an illustration created by me, which was inspired by a previous illustration which is featured in one of my available banners. This theme is definitely feminine and is great for Spring. It’s customizable though, so if girly isn’t your thing, or you don’t like the colors - feel free to change the colors and images to something that better suits your taste. I have included a profile image, which you can easily paste your own photo into.

You should also know that this theme has valid XHTML and CSS, and it’s widget ready. I hope you enjoy it to bits! You can download it here, screenshot below.