Hello... Goodbye

If the month of April were laid out like a Math equation for me this is what it would look like;

April 7+7=14-7=7+3=10-3=7+1=8-1=7+1=8-1=7+2=9-2=7 May

Hello.

Sister Gina, brother in law Izzy

Mom and Dad with all the grandkids

Brother Jeremy and daughter Emma



Goodbye.


Hello.

Friend Trista and her college bound boys Brandon and Sawyer

Goodbye.

Hello.

Friend Christine aka Weeny

Goodbye.

Hello.

Brother Greg and his girlie friend Tanya

Goodbye.


I'm taking ideas for motel names now.

Insta Friday

It's Insta Friday again already. Time flies when you are having fun, and boy howdy have I been having some OF IT!! I've been having some a lot OF IT! Hope there is still some OF IT left for the rest of yous.

Last Friday night was the "Kony Cover The Night" project. If you don't know what Kony 2012 is all about you can learn more here;Kony 2012. Isaiah and I had so much fun as we acted like secret agents and sang the mission impossible song, we also remembered why we were doing what we were doing. We prayed over every poster for a better world where bad guys who abuse children would be caught. Whether they catch Kony or not I know an impression was made in my young boys heart and for that I am grateful.

I often post pictures on a phone app called Instagram. There is a whole community of picture loving people that post pics there, and it is really a lot of fun. One of the reasons I like it so much is the editing filters you can use. They really give your pictures a whole new look.

So prepare for a little blaggin' that's what I call it when I'm gonna do some bragging, but since it's on my blog... it's blaggin... ok I'm a dork I know. I have had a few moments in the spot light with my pics on instagram where a company here in seattle called igers_seattle has asked to tag my pics and the results is lots o likes! My little point and click capture of one my favorite benches in Fremont is currently up to 115 likes even as I type. That's alot of likes. I like when people like me and my pics. It makes me happy. You can follow me on instagram under monosco. I will like it. You can also follow that girl thenatalierose. She's one of my favorite people on planet earth and a really good photographer, blogger,mother,wife, friend... doing a lil blaggin about her as well today.

My week it seemed to fly by because I had another friend here to share it with. Why is it that when you have a friend life is just more fun? It's just a little sweeter, brighter, better. Agreed? We had many good chats sitting by the camp fire loving life. And we also had a lot of outings because, well... I'm kinda trying to sell Christine on moving here.

One sure fire way to get people to realize how fricken fantastic Washington is, would be to take them here. Snoqualimie Falls, it never disappoints. I think I could be a real estate agent for the state of Washington. MOVE HERE FAMILY AND FRIENDS!! Make my life complete and MOVE HERE already! Ok, I'm done.

Well and then, at some point in everyone's life there comes a time that you must kiss a troll. Now don't go talking smack and saying that I already have, because I'm married to My Giant. You know YOU can't hold a candle to this guy...

Poor Giant. One of the nights by the campfire we heard the riiiip.... and then Ker-Plunk! There went The Moses, he was stuck until like the big papa bear that he is he tore it all to bits to get out! Pretty dang funny. Should have got video of that.


Well at least now I can take kissing a Troll off my list of "to do's" and add on there getting some new lawn chairs.
Ok, you are right, kissing a troll was never on my list of "to do's" but kissing a Giant sure was, is and always will be. XOXO sorry ... got a lil twitter paited there at the end. My Giant has that affect on me.

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you have a great weekend. I'll be out and about with my brother Greg and his girlfriend Tanya.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Poetry and Reflections on Phil 1:7

Otherwise- Jane Kenyon
I got out of bed
on two strong legs.

It might have been
otherwise.
I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach.
It might
have been otherwise.

I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.

All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate.
It might
have been otherwise.

We ate dinner together
at a table wtih silver
candlesticks.
It might
have been otherwise.

I slept in a bed

in a room with paintings
on the walls,
and 
planned another day

just like this day.

But one day,
I know,

it will be otherwise. 


This poem really makes me think about being content and grateful in the moments that God gives us.

No matter what those moments look like it's important to remember that it could be "otherwise".

It kind of reminds me of that saying, "Things could always be worse." Which, any smart person knows not to even utter those words unless you have the balls to back them up. Meaning, unless you want to experience "worse" you shouldn't even think that phrase. But this poem is different from that phrase because, it ends on a note of gratitude in the moment. Real contentment is finding a grateful heart no matter what your circumstance.

I love poems that reflect on being grateful, or content because this life is way too short to spend any time or energy on NOT being grateful and content.

I am thankful that my disposition and my life is one that gratitude comes easily to. I don't take that for granted, and most of you that know me, know that I truly am an eternal optimist. But my life, has been easy compared to most.

I know so many others who have lives that make it very hard to find what to be thankful for. To those people I am forever in awe of the ability they possess to rise above it all, and find the nuggets of gratitude in the pile of mess that is their lives. They are the real heroes. To read a real life story about gratitude in the midst of storms check out this momma's amazing story here; Life Rearranged

Like Paul in prison, found here;Philippians 1:7, when we have breath in our lungs we share in God's grace together and that is something to be grateful for.

It could always be otherwise.

Follow Me Wednesday

It is my goal in life to have as many blog followers as a girl can possibly imagine.
Some set goals for marathons, triathlons, ME I set blogging goals.
My goal for this week is to get 30 followers by the weekend.
I would be twitter-patted to get more, but I will settle for 30.

Help me would you please?

If you haven't clicked that beautiful blue button to your right there that says "Join This Site" please do.

Please. I said Please.
Pretty Please with a cherry on top.
Oh maybe you don't like cherries, then I would say Please with an Olive on top.
Now that's my kind of PLEASE....


Ok so maybe it's not my only goal but it's pretty high up there.

Recently I found a group that shares this goal, so I'm joining forces.
If you followed me over from there, thank you thank you thank you.



And if you haven't joined me yet then I don't know what else I can say but, Please.
What's a girl got to do to get more followers around here?

How many times did I say please?

Tip Me Tuesdays(and a giveaway)

I just found this really great blog that gives you all kinds of tips and ideas. Everything from cleaning to crafting. If you are interested in more tips click on the link at the bottom of this blog. But now; Here is my latest cleaning tip that I didn't learn from the blog, but from my friend Christine when she was visiting this past week. She's a lean, mean(not really mean so go with it)cleaning machine so you might want to listen up. If you have a cooking pan with left over gunk in it even after you have scrubbed and scrubbed...

You can simply put a dryer sheet in it with a little water and let is sit over night.

It gets the gunk to loosen up and you scrub it clean one last time.

The result is a shiny pretty pan. Now it's your turn. What cleaning tips can you share with me that could help my beloved readers? If I pick your cleaning tip to use for a future blog there will be an awesome prize in it for you. Don't forget to check back next Tuesday for Tip Me Tuesdays, that's when the winner will be announced. In the mean time Happy Tuesday.

My Hat and Scarf Addiction

My hat and scarf addiction might be a little out of control. I said might. As in, I am not committing. As in, maybe I have problem, maybe I don't.

While my friend Christine was here she mentioned that she might like to help me with said addiction. So, one of the gifts,(besides her beautiful presence,pretty smile, and her witty personality) that my friend Christine gave to me while she was here was her gift of organization, and cleaning.

Some might say she is OCD, but I just think ... well in this house OCD spells GIFT TO ME. Ha ha ha that rhymes. She might also be a smart ass who uses humor to get her point across, as you can clearly see she is mocking me in the above photo.

There may or may not have been some wine involved. WE may have had more fun drinking and dressing up than organizing.

And I might have seen my insanity for a brief moment when she showed me what the back of my head looked like in this hat that I cut a hole in because it looked much cuter that way. As opposed to NOT!!

WE for sure had too much fun as you can clearly see in the pictures, but there were also some really tough moments. For instance, She told me the above hat,"looked like a golfer threw up on my head" to which I called my girls in immediately to set HER straight... and their commentary got worse. It was abusive. I'm still wounded. The hat went in the goodwill pile, after I had a long goodbye with it. Sigh... Well and then moving on, WE got my 2 boxes down to 1. This is HUGE progress for me people. I'm not sure you understand how hard it was to say goodbye to some of my handy dandy hats. But I live in an 800sq ft cabin, there is no room for 2 boxes(let alone even 1) of hats and scarves so I had to make some tough calls.

I was so proud of our accomplishment that when I shared this news with My Giant, he so nicely said, "Great now you can buy some more!" Psshh... what does he know!

I am going to try really hard not to get out of hand in the hat and scarf department again, but I really may very well need a 12 step program for this, because the very next day... I snuck that green golfer vomit hat right out of the pile... shhh... don't tell Chrisine... JUST KIDDING! Although, if I do see someone wearing it around town my heart will have to mourn it's loss all over again. Anyway,For now I took step 1. Get hats and scarves down to 1 gianormous box not 2 √. 11 more steps to go. Thanks Weenie.

Earth Day

Did you know it was Earth Day yesterday, April 22nd? Before moving to Washington I will admit to you that Earth Day was just kind of a throw away holiday in my book. Ya know the kind like boss day, or secretary day. The kind of day that comes and goes and you wouldn't know it was a special "day" unless Hallmark told you so. But recently, me and mine have been blessed with a pretty big spot of land to live on. 5 acres to be exact. SO my eyes and ears have been awakened to how much it takes to care for it. It takes ALOT.

Our celebration started a little early last weekend when we as a family (our 6+1 cousin Derek), attacked the Earth we live on. We are making up for lost time, because in the past we haven't really been Earth Day celebrators.

We are working hard to do our part in taking care of this beautiful planet that God has given us, but let me tell you yardwork, gardening, landscaping is not for cowards.
My hands, legs and even arms got all scratched up by the blackberry bushes. And by the end of the day I was limping into the house. I felt old and tired. Tired and old.

I wish I had some before and after pics to show you, but alas, I was out there doing the back breaking work and couldn't be caught with a camera in my hands. There was a "no hands in your pocket" policy on our property that day. Meaning, don't be caught standing idle, too much work to do.

Did I already mention how my old body was in pain after all the hard work? Well it was for sure back-breaking work that I put into this earth. There were projects or pockets here that I started to clean and knew full well while I was doing it that I wouldn't finish that area of earth for some time to come, because there was just too much for little ole' me to do in a day.
My theory is that if we all took care of our spot on planet earth on Earth Day then it would start to look a lot better. And then as our spot is looking greener and cleaner(ha ha ha that rhymed) we might begin to think about what else we could do to contribute to the rest of the spots on planet earth. But the end product is glorious.

Do you, or have you celebrated Earth Day in the past? If yes, what do you do? If no why not?

Happy Earth Day ya'll!

Insta Fridays

I am trying this new blog thing out where I will link this blog to other blogs that are showing off their weeks worth of instagram pics on Fridays. Let me know what you think. This is my first Link up, so Be kind, leave some love.

On Saturday we spent the day in the city. It was sunny. It was glorious. It was practically perfect in every way.

On Sunday we got a head start on our Earth Day celebrating. It was a little early. Given the state of our piece of earth here on the property we should have started A LOT of early.

On Monday it was a typical back to school day and my dogs were ready to get out and play. After I got my Fab 4 out the door, I had some major cleaning to do and then I needed to get my butt to the gym, also known around these parts as Bootie Butt Kicker Hill-BBKH

On Tuesday beloved friend Christineey arrived. It was so good to have her here all to myself that I could hardly contain my joy. And well, why should it be contained? Sometimes you need to smile so big you can't see your eyes anymore.

Wednesday we had some fun. Some A LOT of FUN!

Thursday we went to the Chateau and enjoyed the view and the Vino. And then we came home and she helped me downsize my hat collection.

There will be more pictures from this event, soon to come. It was a somewhat painful process downsizing my beloved hat collection but it needed to be done. There was just no more room for all my hats and scarfs, and I seriously needed an intervention. Friends are good for interventions, are they not?


And now here it is Friday. Well now, that was just too easy. These Insta Fridays I think are gonna be fun.

On Being an Auntie

I can't even begin to tell you all the joy I have in being an Auntie.

There is something so special about this relationship.

Ever since I heard my first niece Kaylanne call me Auntie it has been a treasured relationship that I hold so precious in my heart.

My newest niece Sophia, aka Last Minute Biscuit because she came right at the tail end of 2011, brings me joy overflowing.

And so this post is just so that I can look at her pictures and brag about how "fartin' CUTE" she is.

And while we are at it, Her older sister is pretty "fartin cute" too!

Although, in the above picture Sophia doesn't seem to like the competition.

42 years

He thought she was a hippie.
She thought he was a stick in the mud.

He noticed she had a love of music.
She noticed he had a great radio voice.

She liked that when they were together his eyes never wandered.
He liked that she loved baseball, even if it wasn't his favorite team.

They both shared the same birthday, November 4th... 4 years apart.
4 is kind of their number.

He went to seminary.
She went to the convent.

Thank God they didn't follow through with those vocations, or the world would have missed out on one of the greatest duo's of all time.

They've been through
babies,
toddlers,
teens,
careers,
healthy times,
mortgages,
more teens,
taxes,
adoption,
pets,
moves,
vacations,
unhealthy times,
downs,
countless baseball seasons,
loss of all their parents,
empty nest,
kids moving and moving back,
ups,
cars,
and grandkids.

42 years of being on the same team.
They are my heroes.


Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.
You are an inspiration.

More Zoo Pics

Happy Kid with a bow tie and a smile.

Sad Monkey with a cool tree bed, but no smile.

Sad Monkey who doesn't like to take pictures. No wait, Sad kid, no happy kid... ahhh man... forget it!

Another Sad monkey who after I took this pictures ate his own dingle-berries. No joke. So gross.

Elephants who are my favorite, and who seemed to be happy.

How can you tell if an Elephant is happy?

That sounds like the beginnings of a good joke :)