Well, I did it!
I finally found a craft that I enjoy--and I started my own Etsy Shop!
Please check it out and tell everyone you know! Christmas is just around the corner you know...!
www.erinvt.etsy.com
Sorry for not posting in about 7 months! A lot has been going on...and I just haven't wanted to share it with the world! All in time, I guess...
Hope you all like my shop!
erin
WOW, has it really been almost a month since I've posted on here!?
Not much new has happened in our world. We're both busy working and trying to spend some time relaxing! We have a vacation planned in July with our friends Jess and Andrew and their son Logan so we are really looking forward to that! We're going to Old Orchard Beach in Maine for a week and we'll be camping in a 5th wheel camper with 2 slide outs. The campground is withing walking distance of the beach so it really can't get any better.
We are currently in the process of refinancing and it's looking like we'll be saving about $275 a month after all is said and done! That will be nice. Everything has gone smoothly so far (knock on wood) and we hope to close by May 1st.
I surprised myself and actually made an edible dessert the other day. Desserts are usually a disaster when made by me...so to actually make one that looked and tasted good (and that people actually LIKED) is a big achievement for me! It doesn't really have a name, but it's an angel food trifle with strawberries, kiwi, pineapple and banana with a sour cream/whipped cream/pudding mix.
I guess that's about it for now. We have easter tonight with my family (fondue!) and then tomorrow afternoon with Casey's family. Busy weekend, and then it's Monday all over again. Why can't work days go by this fast??
Last week I took a trip to Washington DC for work. I was in Virginia monday night and half of Tuesday, and in DC for the second half of Tuesday and all day Wednesday. I headed back home on Thursday morning.
I had never been to DC before. I had driven through before on my way to Florida (on a greyhound bus) but had never actually "been" there.
I can't even begin to say how much I loved that city. Most of our time was packed with meetings, but we did have Tuesday afternoon to get around and sightsee. We actually took an open top bus tour that brought us to Georgetown, Arlington, and all around the city.
I came to the conclusion that I could never live there (I'm a country girl!)--but it's a place I absolutely want to go again! It only took a couple days to turn it into my new favorite city! I would love to go for along weekend and devote entire days to exploring the monuments, museums, and hidden restaurants within the city. There is something to do everywhere! I'd love to actually walk through the Arlington Cemetery, and walk into the Lincoln Memorial and see the reflecting pool at the National Mall. I can't wait to go back!
I did take some pictures during our bus tour--but most of them are from a distance. We didn't get off at any of the stops because we would have had to wait a half hour for the next bus to come through, and the tour was already over 2 hours even without stopping! Next time I go back, I am going to see EVERYTHING!!!
Me in the mirror at the hotel
Our hotel--the Renaissance Mayflower
Up on top of the tour bus
Some pretty buildings
Statue
The Cemetery in Arlington. This picture does not do it justice. I will be going back someday to spend hours in there!
A beautiful cathedral in Georgetown
Marilyn
Lion Statue
Lincoln Memorial
Statue outside of a museum!
Washington Monument
Capitol Building
Birds in front of Union Station
Me in front of the Washington Monument
The White House!
Me--looking terrible and cold--in front of the White House!
That was just a few hours of my trip to DC and like I said before, I am dying to go back. I could spend days exploring that city!
My grandfather died 8 years ago today. I wanted to share with you an essay I wrote for my composition class shortly after he died. It’s one of the most personal things I’ve ever written, and I go back and read it every day on the anniversary of his death.
Here is the story of the worst day of my life.
____________________________________________________________________________________
My grandfather was pronounced dead on February 20th at 8:35 AM. It was supposed to be my vacation. I was there when it happened, and the experience has haunted me ever since.
I awoke blurry eyed that morning to the sound of my mother’s voice. I tried to go back to sleep but heard her saying to someone over the phone, “we have a man in his early seventies who isn’t breathing.” I sat up in bed and my heart began to race. “Is this a dream?” I thought to myself, “it has to be, this is not happening.” I repeated that over and over as I got out of bed with weak legs, my hands shaking from fear. It was my vacation, my parents and I went to Florida to visit my grandparents while they were at their winter house. I opened the bedroom door and slowly walked into the kitchen.
My grandmother was standing with her back to me. I could see her hands up to her face looking into her bedroom. I didn’t even look in the other room, I went behind her and put my hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly and before I could say a word, she collapsed into my arms like a child. Sobbing and shaking, she managed to say “don’t let him die.” At that point, I knew it was for real. I wasn’t dreaming; my grandfather was really dying.
I let go of my grandmother and turned to look in the bedroom. My mother was on the phone with 911, my dad was standing next to the bed, and my grandfather was lying on it. My mom said “we need to get him on a hard surface to do CPR.” She and my dad lifted him off the bed and put him on the floor. When his body moved, it was so lifeless. I didn’t cry.
My mind wandered back to the previous day. I spent the whole day with him. He had told me how much fun we were going to have and how we were going to go to the beach the next day. However, toward dinner time—I got sick. My parents and grandparents went out to dinner and I ended up sleeping in the car. Waves of nausea swept through my body as I slept, curled up in the back seat. I remember on the ride home from the restaurant, I was so cold. My grandfather always liked to be warm. He would have the heater on even in the summer—much to the dismay of everyone who entered his house. He turned to me in the car and said “are you cold, sweetie?” When I nodded my head, he reached for the heat dial and said “it’s OK, grandpa doesn’t like to be cold either.” When we got home from the restaurant, I went straight to bed without saying goodnight to anyone. I just wanted to sleep.
My mind snapped back to what was going on in front of me. “I never said goodnight to him” I said to myself as I looked into the bedroom. My father was kneeling over my grandfather, giving him CPR. That was the hardest thing in the world to watch. My own father was trying to save his father. As I took a step closer, I felt my body go numb. I was in shock. My father blew into his mouth and my grandfathers eyes flew open. My heart jumped and my mom yelled into the phone, “his eyes opened!” But he wasn’t alive…it was just the pressure that was being put on his body that caused that to happen. For a slight second I thought he was back in my life. But he wasn’t. I still didn’t cry.
I was convinced that he was just sleeping. As I knelt down beside him, I touched his leg and said “Grandpa, wake up.” He was so cold, his skin was like ice. I gasped and pulled my hand back as the words echoed in my head “it’s ok, Grandpa doesn’t like to be cold either.” My mom hung up the phone with 911 and said the ambulance would be there soon. My dad desperately kept trying to save his father.
I heard the sirens. I stood up like a zombie and walked out the door into the driveway. As the sirens got louder, my mind began to race. I was shaking and rocking back and forth. The ambulance came into sight and I waved them over. The paramedics ran by me and into the house. While I was outside, my mother had called my Uncle Kelley. He was about 10 minutes away. It was his vacation too.
I walked back to the house and past the bedroom. People were huddled around my grandfather with their medical bags. My grandmother was sitting in her rocking chair with my parents by her side. I stood and stared straight ahead. My mother came and hugged me but I stayed stiff. “How are you?” she asked. I shook my head and raised my shoulders. I sat in my grandfathers’ recliner. Touching the padded arms of the chair and rocking back and forth, I kept staring ahead. I still didn’t cry.
I heard the front door fly open and my Uncle Kelley ran inside. It was just like in a movie. He kicked off his shoes and ran past me to the bedroom. He cried “Oh my God!” as he collapsed into the doorframe and began sobbing. I had never seen him cry before. He walked past everyone onto the porch and leaned with his head against the wall. Everyone was crying but me. I was still in shock.
Next to me, my dad had his arm around my grandmother and she was rocking back and forth crying, “don’t pronounce him dead, please, don’t pronounce him dead.” No more than a minute later, a paramedic walked out of the bedroom and said “I’m sorry ma’am…” and with that, my grandmother broke down and cried hysterically. My parents were crying and my uncle was crying, and I stayed in my grandfathers’ recliner—staring at the floor. I still didn’t cry.
As the emergency team walked by us to get the stretcher, I turned and looked into the bedroom. They hadn’t closed the door. My grandfather was lying on the floor with a plastic sheet covering him. I wished I hadn’t turned around.
The paramedics came back in with the stretcher and put my grandfather on it. They wheeled him into the living room and he looked so peaceful. My parents and uncle kissed him one last time, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I hate myself every day for not giving him one last goodbye. My grandmother stood up and walked over to him. She leaned down, held his hand, kissed him one last time, and said “you were the best husband and father in the world, we all love you.” She then fell into my father’s arms, crying.
As they wheeled him onto the side porch and outside, I went into my parents room and opened the blinds just as they were wheeling him by. At that moment, it all hit me. I fell to the floor, crying hysterically. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t do anything but shake and sob and lay on the floor. I stayed there until my dad came in and picked me up off the floor and hugged me. “I never said goodnight to him,” I cried to my father, “I never said goodnight.”
___________________________________________________________________________________
I was only 16 years old. No one close to me had ever died before—and there I was, a child, watching my own grandfather die. Today, 8 years later at age 24—I can still remember that day like it was yesterday. They say time heals all wounds but I think this may be an exception. I wouldn’t wish that situation on my worst enemy. After 8 years, I still cry when I think about that morning. I regret going to bed that night without saying goodnight, and I regret not giving him one final kiss and hug. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that my grandmother told me I was the last thing he was thinking about before he fell asleep that night. He said to her, “my poor sweetie, she doesn’t feel good.” That helps ease my pain a little bit—but it certainly doesn’t make it go away.
I will never forget my grandfather—and to this day, I can still close my eyes and picture his face and hear his voice.
I hope I never lose that memory.
I've realized recently that my memories are slowly fading away. It's weird...I can remember certain things from my childhood very clearly, but I can't remember things that happened a few years ago. Has this happened to anyone else?
I remember the day that my dad brought my brother and me to the bank to set up a bank account. I had my social security number written on one of those little yellow post-it notes--and I was so excited to recite it to the teller at the bank. I remember trying to impress my brother and his friend by riding my bike down the hill near our house...then hitting a rock and flipping over the handlebars. I was left with a bloody nose and a bruised ego. I remember the day we got Willie, my first dog. I was only about 5. I remember the little blue metal purse I brought with me on my first trip to Florida. I remember ripping my shorts in 3rd grade on the playground and having my grandmother bring me a new pair in the classroom. I remember winning a spelling bee in 5th grade. I remember driving home from Maine with my family and stopping at a store and wanting a stuffed animal bear so badly that I threw a fit and cried and cried...I ended up getting the bear, but I think it sat in my closet until I sold it at a yard sale years later. I remember a lot of very random things up until the time I graduated high school.
Since mid-high school...it seems like I hardly remember anything. I couldn't tell you what classes I took my freshman year of college...much less the names of my teachers. When friends reminisce about certain things that happened in high school, I rack my brain trying to remember--but rarely do. I don't remember a lot of my trip to Africa when I was 15...and that makes me sad. I remember bits and pieces, but certain parts are just blank.
Maybe I had so many memories as a child that my brain just got full and couldn't hold any more. Certain smells bring back memories...but they are always memories of when I was a kid. Maybe it's because when you're a kid, you don't have a care in the world...you focus on that day and that day only. But when you get older, life goes fast and gets away from you. You are constantly thinking of the future, and your problems, and what you need to get done. Maybe the memories never stuck in my head because I was always thinking of something else.
Anyway...the mind works in very strange ways. I wish I remembered the little details of every memory I've ever had. I hate when people say "remember when....." and I really don't remember. Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me?
I know, I know...I am terrible at keeping this thing updated lately...
I don't have much to report, except for a new love. I have developed a newfound love of cooking--mainly grilling. This love seemed to appear soon after we got our new grill for Christmas from my parents. I find myself searching for new recipes every single day, and I'd say we cook on the grill an average of 4 nights a week. We've made honey mustard chicken, beef and veggie kabobs, pork roast, ranch burgers, lemon chicken, rosemary ranch chicken, teriyaki pork chops, veggies in tinfoil packets, etc..! It's almost turned into a sick obsession. I thought the feeling would wear off once the grill wasn't so "new" anymore...but that certainly hasn't happened yet! Did you know there are some DESSERTS you can make on the grill!? Yeah, I didn't either!
So anyway....I love my grill. (Thanks Mom & Dad...by far the best gift!!)
Other than that, nothing worth reporting has really happened. Casey loves his new job and actually had a 3 month review and got a raise!! I am very happy for him. We both have jobs we love and we both come home happy every day. Mostly every day.... :)
OH! I bought myself a new winter jacket yesterday. Some of you may be thinking "what!? She actually bought herself something!?" but there is a catch! I wasn't going to...they were all too expensive--even when they were on sale. I'm sorry but my conscience will not let me spend $130 on a winter jacket. I know I need one, but I am not spending that much. Sooooo....somehow I managed to be over in the kids section and saw a jacket I really liked. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try on a girls XL. Lo and behold...it fit! Perfectly! So I am now the proud new owner of a $69 dollar North Face winter jacket! Too bad I can't fit into other kids clothes...I'd save myself a lot of money!
HA!
Well, off to check on dinner....which is cooking on the GRILL!!!
Since I haven't posted in a while and something really irritating just happened, I decided to bitch about it on here!
Do you want to know something that I really hate?
I'm sure you've all experienced this at least once....
I hate when I buy a nice picture frame and the idiots at the store put the price tag right on the glass part!!! It's impossible to get off...no matter what, you are left with a gross gummy film on the glass. I've tried everything and it's still an ugly smudge.
Why can't they put the price tag on the BACK of the frame? Or on the wood part? And it's not even just picture frames...how about when you buy coffee mugs or plates and they sticker it right on top? Or even a new pair of shoes--when they put the price tag on the bottom and it's impossible to get off!?
Honestly, do they do this just to drive people crazy? Because if so--it's WORKING!
Ugh. Off to battle with the frame a little more....
