Saturday, November 28, 2009

And the winner is...

#9 Colleen, who said..."I'd pick two february birthstone charms, one march, one June, one September, and one December, so I'd have one for each of my kids, my husband and myself. Then, if I find out I win before I know whether I'm pregnant or not, I'll pick the autism awareness crystal ribbon as my eighth. But if I already know that I'm pregnant, I'll get another birthstone one for the month the baby will be due."

Congrats! I'll be emailing you very soon.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Last chance...

Hurry now, this is your last chance to enter for the charm bracelet giveaway! The contest will be closed as of 12am November, 28, 2009.
I will be drawing the winner tomorrow morning and i will be emailing the winner shortly after.
Good luck!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Update...

So, as many of you now know, we put a bid in on the house we were looking at. We still don't know if they accepted our bid or not yet. As most of you know, the couple selling the house is getting a divorce, and they aren't speaking to each other...so everything that comes in has to go to both lawyers first, then to the people individually, then back to the lawyers, and back to the realtor and back to us. It's such a huge hastle! And the lady doesn't want to sell, so she is making this as difficult as possible. I understand her point of view, living in a house 23 years, raising your family there, blah blah blah. But now, this is your life. You have no choice but to move...and why not sell it to a nice young couple who want to raise a family there themselves! C'mon lady!

So when it came right down to it, we had to offer full price or we knew we had no shot in hell to get the house. So after a bit of soul searching, and some asking of advice from trusted people, i decided it was worth it and i wanted to do it. BUT. I wanted to throw some things in to the contract and see if we could get them, since she didn't want to negotiate a price at all, not even $1. I know she's probably going to say no, but i figured it couldn't hurt to at least ask. We asked for the fridge, not because we want it (we are going to get a new one), but because Frank wanted a fridge for the garage. We asked for the area rugs, since they are fairly new and most places have carpet...and they are kinda expensive to buy new. We asked for the swing in the backyard, because it just goes there, and i love it. We asked for all the ceiling fans...they were in the contract anyway, but we wanted to make sure they would all stay. We asked for the window treatments, because they look good with the house and i like them a lot. And of course we asked for the garage door openers, because who would want a remote garage door opener for a garage that isnt even their's anymore. I didn't think it was too too much to ask, but i guess we'll find out tomorrow!
Hopefully by this time tomorrow, we will be new home owners!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Charm Factory bracelet giveaway!!

I am ever so excited to be bringing you this awesome giveaway, just in time for the holidays! I know all my fans and stalkers will love this product as much as I do. And the best part is, I will be loading you up with all kinds of bling bling, lol.

When I first received this product in the mail, I was surprised at how light it was. I immediately torn into it, since I knew what it was going to be. As I opened the box, I was pleasantly surprised with what was in front of me. It was the coolest bracelet ever, all because it was designed and made just for me! I tore it out of the box and put it on right away.

The first thing I noticed was how easy it was to put on. I’m not the most coordinated person when it comes to, well, anything. So when I realized that I had to try to put this on myself, I was a bit worried. But the clasp is big enough the get your fingers on, and it was very easy to clasp together. The next thing I noticed was that it was really light. Most charm bracelets are kinda heavy, especially once you get more than one charm on there. Not this one! And each of the charms was really well made and super cute too! I got to pick each one of the 8 of them, so the bracelet itself is like a mini story of me! They have just about anything you can think of charm wise, from words and phrases to paw prints to flip flops! So you can tell your mini you story too!

So I talked to Angie over at the Charm factory, and she was nice enough to offer to give a customized bracelet to one lucky Stiffie reader. That’s one bracelet and 8 charms! It’s an amazing deal. I know what you’re thinking, enough blabbering already, let’s get to the giveaway already! How do you win?! Well, it’s easy. First things first. You have to go over to the Charm Factory website and pick out what 8 charms you would want on your bracelet if you win, and make that your first comment. That’s mandatory. If you don’t do that, you can’t win. Now I know what you’re thinking, how are you gonna win with only one entry?! Well, that’s easy, you can earn more than 1 entry! Here’s what you have to do.

Extra Entries:

Follow my blog publicly (yes, I will check)
Follow me on twitter @TheStiffies
Tweet about this giveaway and included a link to my blog page (no more than 2 tweets a day)
Blog about this giveaway. Include a link to my blog and to Charm Factory
Become a facebook fan of Charm Factory
Become of facebook fan of me

The contest will be over on November 27, so get your entries in now!

Monday, November 16, 2009

A small thing...

It may seem small and insignificant, but its a huge step for me.
It's taken me 13 months, but i can finally say that...I can fit in to EVERY SINGLE thing in my closet again!
I've been at my pre-pregnancy weight for about 2 months now, but when i look in the mirror, it still doesn't quite look like me. But even though i was down with my weight, i still had a few pair of pants that either didn't want to button, or were tight. Well, yesterday, the last pair of those pants went on no problem. Yes, some of those pants are tight, but they were tight before, so i don't count it as a bad thing.
My next goal is to make all those tighter pants loose.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

A morning update...

So i had plans to have lunch with my best friend this morning. Needless to say those plans are no longer. Why, you may ask? Because she is seriously sick. Morning sickness strikes again. Boy am i glad i only had 1 or 2 days of morning sickness when i was pregnant. It doesn't even SOUND fun! I really feel bad for her. I hope it goes away soon.
Talking to her, though, did make a part of me really miss being pregnant. The excitement of hearing the heartbeat for the first time, the joy of feeling the baby kick for the first time, and just the awesomeness of growing a little person inside of you. Now don't get ahead of yourselves, this is NOT a message or a clue or anything. Don't get me wrong, it's all awesome and stuff, but i'm totally not ready for another baby just yet. We need to get a bigger house before we can have another baby, that's for sure. We are looking for that house right now though. I think Frank is more anxious to get the new house and have another baby right now than i am...but i also think that is because he hates living in town, and he doesn't have to be the one that actually carries the baby for 9 months. But he wants kids 1-1 1/2 years apart, and i want kids 2-3 years apart. Looks like i win :)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Tonight i'm gonna party like it's 1999...


Saturday night was my 10 year high school reunion. It was the first time in 10 years that i really started to feel my age. That all changed by Sunday morning...well, maybe Sunday night.

I wasn't sure i was going to go to my reunion at first. There are always those people that you really just don't want to see ever again, and you'd be happy. Well, i figured there was going to be more people there that i WANTED to see than i didn't, so i sent in my response.

Of course, in typical Stacey fashion, i missed the bus over to the reunion. So Frank drove me over. Why didn't he stay, you ask? It wasn't all my fault. True, i didn't want to have to sit and babysit him all night long while he looked uncomfortable around people he didn't know...but he was ok with staying home! He hates being around people he doesnt know, especially in large groups. He actually seemed quite happy to stay home.
Upon arriving at the reunion, i knew immediately that i made the right choice in going. I was greeted by people i haven't seen in what seems like forever, and it was like we didn't miss a beat. We picked right up where we all left off in high school, except more mature (yes, i'm saying i'm mature...don't be surprised).

Our room was very elegant and fancy. And of course, it was all decked out in red, white and black.

There was a great food spread, which included all kinds of appetizers, cakes, cookies and candy. And you guessed it, all in red, white and black!
After a great dinner, we had a band ~Deuce~ perform for the remainder of the night. They were quite good, but it was so much better when our classmate Terry got up and performed. He has his own band, and they are really popular and quite good.
You would think it was our senior prom again, how we all got along.
It was most appropriate that Terry play our class song, and we all got together and sang along.
After a long night of drinking, we all got back on the bus to make the trek home. But, in typical Mount Carmel (and class of 99) fashion, we weren't done yet. We had the bus driver drop us off at the Pine Burr Inn, where we continued drinking and partying until we could all barely stand.

It really turned out to be a great time, and i'm so glad that i went afterall. Thanks for the memories 99. We really are the best class of the century.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Looking to buy a bridge...

If anyone out there has a bridge that they want to sell, i'm sure my husband would be willing to buy it.

My hubby is the most naive person i know. The house he wants is $105,000. The person selling it is going through a divorce. Supposedly they have to sell it for what they owe on it. Ok, i get that. But these people have lived there for over 15 years now. I don't care how many renovations you do to a house, there is no way that you could still owe over $100,000 on a house you've lived in for over 15 years. No way!
Frank thinks it's a great deal, and we should just offer the $105,000 AND to pay the closing costs ourselves. I think he's out of his tiny little mind! If i did that, i would feel like i was being taken for a fool. Frank swears that the house and the garage are worth way more than that, and that we'd be getting such a great deal. If someone isn't willing to negotiate, even a little bit, i'm not going to be taken for a fool. And i'm not even totally in love with the house. I feel like there is so much work that needs to be done upstairs. The only thing i really love is the back porch and back yard. Frank just wants to garage, i know it.

How can i justify spending THAT much money on a house i don't LOVE?!

Stress stress stress...

I never figured building and buying houses would be this stressful. When we moved in here, i knew it wasn't going to be forever, but i never thought it would be this hard to get out!
First we decided we were going to buy a house (3 years ago). We went and looked at a few, and found one we thought we liked. We went through practically the whole process, and finally decided that the house just wasn't right for us. So we stayed put. Then, after we had Madylinn, we decided that building a house was a great idea, especially since the market was down and it was mostly a builders market. We've been going through the process for about 6-9 months now, and it's very stressful. Now, Frank has decided that since he can't have everything he wants in a house, he wants to buy one again...and live there for 5 or 6 years, sell that and THEN build our house. He's so determined to buy a house that he's already found one, looked at it online, took me to a personal showing, and put in an offer! I'm not totally sure that this is the best house ever, and i'm definately not sure it's worth what they're asking for it...but he's sure. I think he's only sure because he wants the huge 3 car garage that comes with the house. I guess i have some thinking to do, and some arguing to do...and who knows, maybe even some moving to do.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Pondering the future...

I quite often catch myself staring at Madylinn. I know what you're thinking, you see her everyday, what is there to stare at? Well actually, there is lots to stare at, and to think about for that matter.

I often wonder, who will Mady be? Will she be famous, will she be happy? Will she be tall, or short? Will she be an athlete, or a bookworm? Will she have her blond hair and blue eyes forever? Will she skinny, average, fat? Will she be smart? Will she be motivated? Will she be independent? Will she want to go to college?

I have so many questions, and it will take what seems like forever to get my answers. I may not like all the answers i get, and i may be pleasantly surprised by some of them...but i will accept them all. I guess for now, all i can do is stare at her and wonder...and enjoy every minute i have with her. The minutes seem to go too fast lately. Can't we just freeze time for a while?

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Spook-tastic Halloween...


If you didn't know already, we were "Old MacDonald's farm". Frank was the farmer, i was the cow, Mady was the chick and Dakota was the piggy.

Here is Mady doin her chicken dance, lol.

We entered in the Kulpmont Halloween parade this year. We were classified as a small group...i guess the dog put us over, ha ha ha. It was really fun to walk in the parade and see all the other really good costumes. I was pretty jealous that i didn't think of some of those things, but there is always next year. We did, however, win a prize for our efforts. I'm not sure what it is yet though, as we can't go pick it up until Thursday night. I'm thinking it's a gift certificate to a local restaurant, but that works for us! We love food!! Frank vows that we are going to start making floats and dressing up and riding on them in the parades. Sounds good to me, but we'll see!

Picture of the week...

Picture of the week...