Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is having a safe & Happy New Year! :)

May you accomplish all the goals you have set for the new year and find much happiness in all that you do!

I am ushering in 2009 with a glass of wine and a little tv entertainment! haha Mom and I had dinner in Greensburg at El Reparo tonight and now we're resting at home. Who needs excitement on a night like this?!? haha ;)

Holiday Haze

Why is it that we eat so much for the holidays? Ugh! I believe I am still in a "holiday food haze" as mom went all out this year on food...and with Jenna home, there is never a lack of homemade chex mix and other goodies! She likes to bake so we always tend to have something around.

We had a pretty low-key Christmas this year! I was somewhat disappointed by the fact that we didn't have any snow for the big day, but I watched White Christmas as a supplement! haha

Our Christmas started on Sunday, Dec. 21st...mom, Jenna, and I (along with the Brancamp family) hosted the Wagner Christmas. It's our annual family "reunion" of sorts and always a good time. My great-aunts are some of the BEST cooks EVER!! There is never a lack of food! ha Nessa & Jared (our cousins who are a sis/bro that live together...ha) kept us entertained with stories and I think we did our fair share of entertaining as well! :p After we got the church hall cleaned up, Jenna and I headed to Sara & Andy's for the Menchhofer Christmas. We arrived as everyone was finishing dinner, so we made it in time for the presents! The ever adorable Ethan was our present-passer-outer...haha...a job he seems to enjoy each year! There were plenty of goodies to be passed out, but the smash hits were our (Jenna, Zach & me) gifts to the entire family. At Thanksgiving (by nothing short of a miracle!), our ENTIRE family managed to get together for family photographs. The Menchhofer family hadn't ever done this in my lifetime!?! We took those pictures and created a 2009 wall calendar with everyone's birthdays/anniversaries. It looks really good! Then Zach put all the pictures that Jenna and Eric took onto CDs so they could get prints made if they wanted. The grand finale was definitely Gran's gift...we had the picture of our entire family (Gran + her 3 boys + families) blown up and matted/framed. She LOVED it! We knew she was excited about it, but that night after gifts were out and about...she told me she didn't know who's idea it was (it was mine originally), but she was so glad that we had done it! :D :D JOB WELL DONE!! (she is THE hardest person to buy for!)



Christmas Day was spent at home with mom and Jen. We ate lots, watched tv, played Wii, and even fit in a few naps! ha Toby enjoyed his first Christmas with us (his 2nd Christmas overall)! I could barely get his treats out of his stocking before he was on the run with them! :)



The rest of the holiday week was spent hanging out here at home. Zach came over a few nights and we played Wii/hung out for several hours each time. It was so nice getting to see everyone, even if only for a few hours here and there!!

I hope everyone had a safe and blessed holiday! It's almost time for New Year's...I can't believe 2008 is on the way out the door! This year flew by! My computer is full of memories in picture format of this past year and I hope everyone else can say the same...

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoys a safe and happy holiday season! :) It has been icy and rainy here in southeastern IN...after a few falls on the ice yesterday, we're all safe and sound!

Room Re-do

Pictures...ENJOY! *Note: There was still stuff not put away in the pictures, but Jenna came home and we had to finish Christmas gifts for tonight's Menchhofer Family Xmas and Jenna had mountains of laundry to do (per usual). In the final pics, you'll see Jenna playing my Wii while Toby slept on the couch! haha He loves to be near his Aunt Ninny when she's home! :)

Internet Explorer has SECURITY Issues

Okay...I am not too techno-savvy, although I know more than most...so to spare myself trying to explain it all, I'm just going to copy and paste from a friend's blog. Please take this seriously. I LOVE Internet Explorer 7 (IE), but earlier this year my mom had her debit card info hacked and it took quite a while to get it all straightened out with the bank, so please be careful about what personal info (including passwords) you are typing into IE while they do not have the proper security measures in place! Who creates a new program without making it safe for us novices to use?!? On a side note, I have recently switched over to FireFox and I really do like it! It took me a few hours to get the hang of it, but after installing a few add-ons, it is just as easy to navigate as IE...plus, now I feel like I am protecting myself with a secure network (at least more secure than it was!).

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Here is a story from cnn.com from yesterday:

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200812161042DOWJONESDJONLINE000471_FORTUNE5.htm

It is MUCH safer to use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer due to these and many other security issues. I just don't want anyone having important passwords stolen.

Please switch if you can. It is fairly easy to install and you can still keep Internet Explorer on your machine, just try to avoid using it. When you install Firefox, you will have the option of porting over all your bookmarks from Internet Explorer. Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions. (this is super easy to do, it prompts you through it all!)

Here is the link to download Firefox:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Almost finished!!

I just got an email that my curtains are in...so on Jenna's way home today, she is going to stop and pick them up for me! :) Woohoo! That means that tonight after dinner we should be able to get the new curtains up and finish hanging pictures!!! Which also means...I need to get my butt in gear today and go print a few pictures that I am wanting to swap in frames.

So for those of you who have been patiently awaiting the reveal (aka Rajean) - you won't have to wait too much longer! Hopefully later tonight I will be able to post pics of the completed project!!

Slow Progress is Better Than None at All

Well, as the title says...still working on my room! :p Things were moving quite quickly at the beginning, but now that my room is livable again - things have halted considerably! No wonder they say if you move into a house before it's done it'll take you at least 10 years to finish it!?! haha I am happy to report that things are looking good...I'm quite pleased with it and I can't wait to get my curtains next week so it will officially be finished! Today my new roman shade came in for the door that goes to the driveway, mom helped me hang several more pictures on the wall, and I even managed to get the shelves painted and back in place. :) I am LOVING my new 32" LCD tv! (xmas present from mom)

Last few things to do:
-finish hanging pictures
-print pics to change out some of the frames
-carry last few things upstairs to storage room
-sweep floor for the millionth time :p
-find a sofa table (with unusual dimensions - probably gonna have to build it)

I should be able to take the final pictures and post 'em by Christmas Eve!

Work in Progress

Wow! Today has been an exhausting day!! :p

I started my day at 6:45 am...we finished moving furniture, took down curtains and I got to work!! Not only did I work in my room from 7am-2pm, but also had to get cleaned up and go to Indy with mom for a short visit with Jenna. Crazy day!?!

Today's accomplishments:
-take down curtains
-move entertainment center into middle of the room
-paint walls
-pull off painter's tape
-paint trim
-put curtains back up until new ones come in

I also managed to sweep a small section of the floor and move 2 big pieces of furniture back against the wall. I also swept another portion of the room so mom could shampoo the carpet with her wet vac. There were a few stains we wanted to get up and it did a pretty good job! Overall, I'm pleased with how it looks...just gotta wait for it to dry!

Tomorrow's to-do list:
-dust & clean furniture
-sweep floors
-move more furniture back in place
-clean window panes
-move curtain brackets on 2 single windows
-wash & dry bedding
-test phone jack for cable hookup

I took some pictures today, but I'm gonna wait to post it all when the room is completely finished! :)

Gonna sit here and watch tv with mom for a little bit before going back to my room and crawling over a bunch of stuff to get into bed! haha

Night!

Too Much HGTV

Since I haven't been working, I have been spending my days at home playing with Toby and traveling to visit Jenna and Zach here and there....on my days home, I have come to love HGTV!! I am actually addicted to a few of the shows - Designed to Sell, Deserving Design, Rate My Space, & Colorsplash. haha


So what does someone who watches too much HGTV do?? Well...redo a room of course! :p It looks as though I'm staying stationed in Osgood for awhile longer. After 100's of resumes being sent out, I'm no closer to a full-time job today than I was 2 months ago. It is extremely frustrating!?! I think the worst thing to be told is that you are over-qualified for a job! How does one become overqualified? If you are willing to do a job and you meet the requirements...shouldn't that be a GOOD thing?? ugh! So, I continue to job hunt...not really wanting to return to 70 hour work weeks at the golf course in 2009, but knowing that I have that to fall back on should I not be able to find other work by then. Anyway...back to the point of this story! haha :) Seeing as how I'm staying put, I decided that I needed a room makeover. My bedroom/office/living room (yes, its all one room here at mom's) is slightly cramped! Have you have ever tried to fit an apartment worth of belongings from 2 years living on your own into one space? Well, I am doing it...and it's not easy! ha As I type this almost all of my belongings are squished together in the center of my bedroom, including ME! :p


Today's list of accomplishments:
-moved furniture to center of room
-took all pictures and shelves off walls
-took apart old desk (that was falling apart) and put it in the dumpster! :)
-got rid of the old cables for our past-cable hookups
-washed the walls
-spackled nail holes and a few other repairs (water used to leak into my room, but now we have a new roof! woohoo!)
-sanded the spackled areas
-wiped down the walls AGAIN
-taped off the trim (still have 2 windows to do tomorrow, they are behind the last items to be moved!)
-washed my light coverings and replaced lightbulbs


Tomorrow's to-do list:
-take down curtains
-move entertainment center into middle of the room
-paint walls
-paint trim
-sweep floor


I'm praying that it only takes one coat of paint on the walls! My arms already hurt...so do my knees from crawling around the room taping off trim! :p We're going to shampoo my carpet as well, so ideally that will happen throughout the day on Tuesday as I'm going to have to move furniture, clean a section, move furniture, clean a section, etc...haha The goal is to start placing furniture where it belongs on Wednesday! :) My new curtains won't be at the store until next Monday, but at I can handle my tacky floral curtains for another week...maybe!?! ha I have a new desk to put together (with mom's help I'm sure) and of course, all of my photos will have to be repositioned since furniture is getting changed around. I'll keep everyone posted! I forgot to take a "before" picture...I have some on my desktop (which is currently dismantled and sitting on the kitchen table!). :p


Here are a few pics...that is not my current bed in the picture, these are from before I moved back home last November, but its essentially the same setup!! ha

Happy 1st Birthday Toby!

"Happy Birthday Toby!"

Today is my lil pup-pup's 1st birthday! He shares his birthday with many people, the most important one being his cousin Zach! :) We celebrated by giving him a bath so he was fresh & clean for his big day! Then we tried a photo shoot, of which you see the end result! haha He will get a piece of apple at lunch time (instead of cake) when mamaw comes home...he LOVES apples!

Hope everyone has a great day! I have lots to update...when I get the motivation to do so! ha

"ruff, ruff, ruff" - Have a great weekend everyone! :p