We interrupt this post to bring you this special report….

Okay…I must share this with y’all!  Somethings just are meant to be shared…and THIS is one of those things!!

I would’ve shared this sooner…but, I had to find a digital camera (Jason’s is missing the cord…so we can’t get any photos off of it).

Earlier this week, I came home from work and Jason placed this beautiful ring upon my finger saying, “I’m not getting down on my knee for this one *grins* …but, I want you to know how thankful that I am to have you …and how much I love you…so, consider this a Thanksgiving gift”.

 

Can I get a resounding “Aaaaawwwweeee”?

Isn’t it just gorgeous?  (I know…I’m biased…hehe)

Now I know that this isn’t as exciting news as C~ getting her engagement ring and all (which is beautiful btw…and I’m still very glad for the happy couple )…but, it’s still a beautiful ring and a symbol of love. 

So I would like to publically say THANK YOU to my loving boyfriend for being so thoughtful and that I am VERY thankful to have you as well my love!  

I’m done with the mushy stuff now…so back to the regularly scheduled post. 

Day 15 of Give Thanks

Hmm…the band idea may not have been all THAT bad eh? hehe

Myki and Jason STILL want me to do a recording for all of you Xanga folks…haha.  All I have to say is…we’ll see.

Thanks again for your wonderful comments…and I think that maybe y’all are a bit too kind…but I LOVE the feedback and I’ll always take the compliments…haha. 

Part IV – Cooking

Well…I AM Italian!!Okay…that may not have any bearing on the subject at all…but, in my family…almost all of my Dad’s side are wonderful cooks!!

I used to follow my Dad around the kitchen for hours when I was little trying to learn how to make the dishes they he made.  This wasn’t an easy task considering most Italians (and a few other people as well) don’t exactly measure their ingredients when cooking.  I usually cook according to taste…not measurements.

I LOVE cooking…I HATE cleaning up afterwards! (who doesn’t right?)

Anyway, I must say that I’ve  learned everything that I know from my Dad…and the best compliment that I’ve received on my cooking came from him when he told me that my lasagna was better than his. 

That made me cry.  (tears of joy though)

I know that we have a Xanga Cookbook…and I would love to contribute…but like I said, how do you give recipes to people when you’ve never made a dish the same way twice?

So…what’s your favorite dish?

TGIF!!  Have a great weekend everyone!!!

~Maria

Day 14 of Give Thanks

Do y’all realize that if we all got together…we could form our own band?  I mean…with back-up singers and all?   That would be so cool!!! haha 

We could call ourselves “The Xangers”…okay, maybe not…in fact, scratch that idea all together…that was just bad! haha    

Okay…I had to state that…but in all seriousness, thank you all for sharing with me!  Y’all are wonderful!   

I have two more talents/gifts that I’m thankful for…so, here’s the third one for today’s post.

Part III – Art

Yup…art!  Sketching has always been one of my favorite hobbies and one of the ways that I release stress. 

When I was younger, I think in middle school…was when I realized how much I enjoyed sketching, painting and pastels.  I really got into my art classes and discovered that I wasn’t too bad at it either!

In fact, some of the paintings that I’ve done still hang on the walls of my old middle school in Michigan.  When I got into high school I completely redid the sketch of our school mascot and they still use my design today.  (I still think that was pure luck…haha)

I haven’t created any pastel drawings in over 15yrs…but, two of them hang in my home. (which I’ll show to you as soon as I get the photos taken….oops)

My mother is quite fond of the portrait of the cat considering that was her cat and it has long since passed away.

I have done a few sketches of people…but am much more fond of animals. 

     

To me, sitting down and sketching is a way of letting everything go…a way of releasing it all onto the paper.  It’s my style of expression…like a writer expresses themselves through their words…I do so through my drawings.

So…how do you express yourself?

 

Oh…one other thing…

I saw this and had to share it with y’all…it made me giggle!

Day 13 of Give Thanks

Wow…y’all are so encouraging!! Thanks for sharing your gifts and talents with me!!  And Myki…you want me to do what?  Do you have a song request? hehe

Btw…just so you know…you now have Jason entertaining the idea of having me actually do this!!

Okay…continuing on here…

Part II – Instruments

My grandpa (the one who passed away recently) started teaching me piano when I was about 3yrs old.  He figured that since I loved to sing so much…I should be able to accompany myself as well!  (he was a smart man…did I mention that? hehe)

I continued on with piano throughout my childhood…but never REALLY took lessons.  I pretty much taught myself from books.  I still play…but it has never been my passion.

When I was 9, music class in elementary school turned into band class.  We were all asked to choose an instrument that we’d like to play…even if we really didn’t want to, we were asked to at least try.

Well, all of the girls wanted to play clarinet or flute…and I was no exception.  I wanted to play clarinet…but my band director said, “no…I think you’d be better at alto saxophone”.  What?  That’s a boy’s instrument…no way!!

He was a very persistent man…he even brought the sax out to my house on a weekend to give it to me when the order of new instruments came in.  I was not impressed nor did I want to play this instrument.  However, as I stated…he was a very persistent man.

After spending over an hour with me, talking me into playing a few notes…he was astonished at how easily it all came to me.  “You’re a natural Maria!”, he said.  This is NOT what I wanted to hear.

I always have admired Dave (my band director) for never giving up on me and insisting that I stick with THIS instrument.  As a result, I was first chair in every band that I was ever involved in all the way through school.  I also learned how to play all of the other saxophones (along with quite a few other band instruments)…tenor, bass…and soprano.  Soprano became a passion of mine and has always been my favorite of the saxophone family.

Of course by the time I reached teenage years…I wanted to learn how to play cooler instruments.  You know, drums…guitar, etc. The COOL instruments!!  Drums were easy for me…and well, I never did pick up a guitar or bass guitar until I was 16…but the day I did, I amazed even myself.  We were having a band rehearsal and my bassist didn’t practice his part and so we had no one to play it.  Well, I didn’t control my temper then as well then as I do now.  I took the bass from him and stated that I would just play it myself.

I had never touched a bass guitar before…let alone play one.  I had no clue as to what I was doing!  I asked my guitarist to show me the basic riffs for the song we were rehearsing.  He did, and about 30 seconds later…I was playing the whole thing!  I still have no idea how I managed that one!

So for today…I am thankful that I was blessed with the ability to pretty much just pick up almost any instrument and play it.  

Which btw…has always been very annoying to other people and understandably so.

So…did you ever play an instrument?  If so…which one? 

Day 12 of Give Thanks

For the lovely compliments on yesterday’s post…and on the photo of my Dad.  For those of you who mentioned that you could see the resemblance…’tis very true.  I look a GREAT deal like my Daddy…and I’m QUITE proud of that!!

For today, I want to give thanks for the gifts and talents that God has bestowed upon me.  Each of us are gifted in our own individual ways.  That alone is something that is so very special.

Even though I rarely use all of the talents that I posess…it’s a sweet reminder that they are present when I do.

Anyone who KNOWS me understands that I’m not a person who brags…or boasts.  In fact, I’d much rather not discuss me at all.   However, I do want to show that I am thankful for what I’ve been given…so, in order to that…I’m going to have to tell you eh?

I think that in order to restrain from writing extremely LOOOONNNGGG posts on this one…I’ll do it in sections.

Part I – Singing

See…from the time when I was VERY young…I ALWAYS wanted to be a singer.  In fact, (and I KNOW you’ll laugh) when I was 2yrs old (yes…two)…I used to wander around the house singing Barry Manilow’s “I Write The Songs”!! Seriously!!  

My Mom used to constantly tell me as I grew older…when I was off key and when I wasn’t quite hitting my notes and so on and so forth.  It used to drive me insane!!  However, I’m very thankful that she did point that out to me everytime because it just made me work harder and improve my talent.

I sang for the first time in front of a large crowd of about 100 or so people, when I was 8 at summer music camp.  I’ve been in numerous bands over the years and have performed in clubs and with a few people who DID make it in the music industry.

I thought about it as a career at one point and even had opportunities…real opportunities to pursue it.  However, at that point in my life I didn’t feel that it was the right time for me.

I still sing and I still love to hear the applause and I still LOVE to be on stage!!  I don’t think that will ever go away.

I have been an active singer in almost every church that I’ve attended over the years.  In the church that I belong to now, I was one of the founding members and helped develop the music ministry there.  I have been on a leave of absense for the past few months…but am looking forward to returning to the stage hopefully within the next week or so! 

I’ll share Part II…tomorrow. So, what gifts did you get?

 Day 11 of Give Thanks

 

Day 10 of Give Thanks

Well…just so y’all know…I didn’t get my leaves raked today either.  Not that I didn’t plan on doing it when I got home from church this morning or anything…but as I have stated before, “life happens when you make plans”. 

When I woke up this morning my neck was a bit stiff, I must have slept on it in an awkward position or something.  It wasn’t too bad…until after I’d been awake a few hours.  Then it went from stiff…to the point where I could barely turn my head to the right…at all.

Anyway, needless to say…I wasn’t about to go outside and attempt to rake leaves with my neck being like that considering that I’m prone to getting muscle spasms when in that condition. 

Fortunately for me…I have a wonderful boyfriend who takes very good care of me.  He pretty much catered to me and kept the kids away from me so that I was able to lie on a heating pad and losen up the muscles to prevent all of that from happening!! Thanks my love…you are an angel!!  

So…the leaves are still on the ground and my neighbor is still a bit tiffed for having “my” leaves in “their” yard.  (along with the rest of the neighborhood’s leaves that blew all over yesterday)  Oh well…that’s life eh?

Okay…enough on the “raking” update.

I would like to state that today I am very thankful that I have a place like Xanga that I may visit anytime (well…except when their servers are down, etc.) that I want to and read about so many people’s interesting lives…and that I have all of you to thank for that!

Each day I get to take a peek into each and every one of your lives and share a bit of it all with you through your comments to me and the ones that I leave for you.

So I want to thank you…for sharing a bit of all you…with me….and allowing me to do the same with you!!

Day 9 of Give Thanks

 Weekend’s are a time when most people plan to do things that they are unable to otherwise accomplish during the week.  My household is no exception to this.  I thought that it would be a good day to get the leaves raked up off of the yard before the cold front moved into the area and the snow begins to fall.

Well…the wind kicked up and the cold front is now blowing in.  I figure, what would be the point of trying to rake up the leaves when they are being blown all over the place?  That just wouldn’t make any sense…but, I was still going to attempt it anyway because I had told my mom that I would.

However, it then began to rain. Yup…rain!!  Well…the leaves are now blowing all over and now it is raining steadily and it’s cold.  I don’t want to get sick or anything…so, considering the weather isn’t exactly cooperating with the plans that I’d made…I think that today may be a good day to do INSIDE choirs eh?

So…I guess I’m thankful for Colorado weather.  It is very unpredictable…and in this case, it helped me get out of having to rake leaves!  

Day 8 of Give Thanks 

It is Friday right?  *breathes deep*  GOOD!!!

That in itself is something to be thankful for…especially after THIS week!!  Oh boy! 

I’m sure that y’all have been in the situation where things just keep going in the wrong direction and no matter what you do, you just can’t seem to stop the process.  That pretty much sums up the past few weeks for me. 

I just got done spending over $900 to fix my mom’s car…and then had to shell out another $1200 for body work to be done on it from the little accident that she had earlier this summer…and then, well…the transmission went out on my minivan this last Wednesday. 

Guess how much it cost me to get it replaced…

Try $2300!!!   As if I have that just lying around somewhere!

Anyway…now I’m REALLY in debt…which sucks by the way.   (just though that I’d mention that part)

So…I’m a bit glad for this week to be over. 

However, can any of you loan me some money?   

It’s okay…I’m sure that after a couple of these  tonight…I’ll just look past it all and move on!!

Have a great weekend y’all!!!

Day 7 of Give Thanks

I guess that it’s my week for posting pics here eh?

For today I’d like to say that I’m thankful that I’ve finally gotten updated photos for my children!! YAY!!

              Caleb                       Corin                       Jonah

 

I’m sure that y’all noticed that there isn’t one for my oldest daughter, Dora.  Well, there is a VERY good reason for that.

 

See, in the past, Dora has always had me do her hair for her school pictures…but this year she didn’t inform me as to what day the photos were to be taken and she wound up doing her hair herself.  Well, she wasn’t very pleased with how her pictures turned out.  In fact, she didn’t like them at ALL!  

 

Good thing they offer retakes eh?   So…I should have a new photo of her to post here within the next couple of weeks or so.   Yup, this time I was informed as to when the retakes are so that I can make sure to do her hair for her…she’s a little happy about that.

 

 

One other thing before I let y’all go for today…

 

I KNOW that I often say thank you to y’all for the comments that you leave on my site. 

 

I want all of you to know that when I say thanks that I TRULY mean it.  

 

Words are such powerful and meaninful things.  They can hurt, comfort, and encourage people in way that are almost comprehensible.  However, words are very important to all of to hear…especially when they are like the ones that y’all so frequently leave in your comments here.

 

So yes, I’m saying thank you yet again for the wonderfully kind words that y’all expressed for yesterday’s post in regards to my son, Caleb.  He is such a special little boy…but it’s always extremely touching for me to hear other people tell me that about him.

 

So thank you…and bless you!!

Day 6 of Give Thanks

Wow…I had 5 new subscribers yesterday!!!  I don’t think that I’ve EVER had that many in one day before!! 

 

For Day 6 of Give Thanks I’d like to say how thankful I am that God continues to help my son Caleb with his struggle with Autism.

Some of you know that my youngest twin, Caleb, was born 12 weeks premature and had many complications thereafter.  He was extremely small at birth only weighing 4lbs…and then dropping below 3lbs by the day after.