Bridesmaids Weekend!

My Bridesmaids
This weekend I had all of my bridesmaids come to Toledo for a little get-together. We had so much fun!
From left to right...Stephanie Phillips, me, Becky Dobberfuhl (my sister), Kristin Zambreno, & Alison Tittle.
I had planned on going home and taking everyone to Gino's East pizza in Chicago! "(because Chicago pizza is the best in the world!!). However, things got changed a bit at the girls came here so I took them to "The Original Ginos" in Toledo (yuck to me!! but everyone else liked it). It was the closet to "chicago style" I could get!
We played lots of fun games so everyone would get to know each other (kind of like ice breakers...yes you can definitely tell I'm a Recreational Therapist!!)
I can't wait for the bachelorette party!! :-)


Becky & I










Myself, Kristin, & Alison










Steph & Steph :-)

My Bridesmaids

This weekend I have planned for all of my bridesmaids to get together here in Toledo so everyone will have the chance to get to know each other...and really, one last chance for me to see everyone before the wedding, since I'm moving to Georgia August 3rd (yes, the date changed).

My bridesmaids are:
*Becky Dobberfuhl - my sister
*Kristin Zambreno - family friend
*Alison Tittle - ex-roommate, ex-teammate
*Stephanie Phillips - ex-roommate, ex-teammate

This group of girls is just going to rock!! I am so excited! More about this weekend will be posted once all of the girls are here!

Fun in Attica

On Sunday I drove out to Attica, OH to see my friend and ex-roommate and team-mate, Stephanie Phillips. She always told me that she lived out in the middle of nowhere in a one stoplight town. Well silly me, growing up in the huge suburbs of Chicago, I really did not think that there was such a thing as a one stoplight town. Boy was I wrong! Holy geez!!! was her town small! Yet so cute! Her family has moved from their house in "town" out to the country where they have 3.4 acres and their own humongous pond (which is actually the source of their water supply). Anyway, we had family with her dinner and then met Nathan (Steph's fiance) at his house and we drove to Bellevue, OH in his old Bug that he restored! It was a dream come true!!! (for those of you who are aware of my obsession with Bugs and Jeeps!)

We stopped at this little hometown ice cream shop (not as good as Mr. Freeze however) and then went back to Nathan's do to some serious 4 wheeling!! Oh my gosh, it was so much fun! His grandparents have 80 acres and there are trails all over for the 4 wheels! I even did a really good job of driving, I was so proud of myself!!

I can't wait for Steph to come up to Toledo this weekend!

Bella Rose

Today Bella Rose got her first catch! Clayton found a dead baby bird in the back yard today and when he went to go get something to pick it up with, my crazy daughter, Bella snatched it up and took off sprinting with the poor dead bird! She obviously found it so funny because she would not let Clayton catch her! ...ohhh how gross!! Needless to say Clayton won't allow either of the kids, Harley and Bella to kiss him for 24 hours!! :-)

Our New House Clayton sanding the wall
at the house in the kitchen
(we ripped down all of the wall paper)



The friendly lizzard sunning on our porch

Pretty Toes

Pretty Toes
Today I went for my long awaited peticure!! Clayton had purchased "A Day At The Spa" gift certificate for me for Christmas and I am finally getting around to using it!

4 Things About Me...

Four Things about meThings you may not have known about me.....
A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Recreational Therapist
2.Summer/Winter help at Rexam Beverage Can Americas (with my dad!!!)
3. Norris Recreation Center
4. Babysitting
B) Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Father of the Bride (my ALL time favorite movie EVER!!!)
2. Love Story--it's an oldie but sooo good! (One of the best but most sad movies ever! I literally ball every time I see it)
3. Sweet Home Alabama
4. The Notebook (I work in a nursing home and have so many people like the characters in this movie that it just hits home sooo closely and I ball my eyes out, in fact, I couldn't even leave the theater, I was crying sooo hard!)
C) Four places I have lived:
1. St. Charles, IL
2. Toledo, OH
3. Lombard, IL (just when I was a baby)
4. Dublin, GA...well as of August 4
D) Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. CMT
2.Everybody Loves Raymond
3. 7th Heaven
4. Beauty & The Geek
I really honestly don't watch TV ever...and if I do, I HAVE to be doing something, most likely crocheting
E) Four places I have been on vacation:
1. OKLAHOMA!!! (I have an obsession with this state)
2.Daytona Beach, FL
3. Myrtle Beach, SC
4. Colorado
quite honestly, I've been to almost all 50 states though
F)Four websites I visit daily: well, almost daily....
1. does my e-mail count
2. just individual sites for misc. info
3. My blog
4. my bank account
G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chicago style pizza
2. anything Italian
3. ice cream
4. berries & yogurt
H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. With my Lover Boy and babies in Georgia
2. Visiting my family
3. Oklahoma
4. camping, hiking, kyaking in Colorado
I) Favorite Past Times:
1. Anything with Clayton and our kids
2. Crocheting
3. Doing any kind of craft
4. Talking with people
J) Favorite things to do in general:
1. Camping with Claytie
2. Canoeing with Claytie and our puppies
3. Shopping
4. Crafts and taking care of plants

Sugar Snap Peas

I turned down a delicious ice cream treat at the world's best ice cream place ... MR. FREEZE!!! Instead I decided to induldge myself with a bag of Sugar Snap Peas...YUCK!! Since I haven't run in God knows how long I feel like an 80 year old! So, I've started to eat a little more healthy...fun I know! Plus, apparently the food diagram has been changed (so says my to-be mother-in-law) and you should be eating double the amounts of veggies and fruits that you eat of other foods. So I'm giving it a try! We'll see how long it lasts! (and my time at work doesn't count...because we always have cookies and crap food to eat!! hehe just kidding, I've been doing a good job staying away from those too!) Also, I heard today on one of the morning talk shows, that your body NEEDS water to digest food. If you're not giving yourself enough water, you're body holds onto the water that it DOES have and that's when you start to feel bloated and retain "bad" water weight. So note to self, eat lots of fruits and veggies and drink LOTS of water!!

Recreational Therapy

I graduated from the University of Toledo in Recreational Therapy and am employed at Kingston Care Center as such. This week is National Recreational Therapy week! I want the word about Recreational Therapy to get out there as much as possible because it's such an amazing and life changing field! I made a show board today as well as brochures to have posted around Kingston.

What is a Recreational Therapist?

A recreational therapist (RT) utilizes a wide range of interventions and techniques to improve the physical, cognitive, emotional, socal, and leisure needs of their clients. A RT works iwth the client, their family members and others significant to the improvement of their health condition. RT's assist clients to develop skills, knowledge and behaviors for daily living and community involvement.

Goals of Recreational Therapy

The goal of RT is to restore, remediate or rehabilitate in order to improve functioning and ndependence as well as reduce or eliminate the effects of illness or disability.

Some of the Populations RT's Work With

-geriatric, mental health, addiction patients, general medicine, physical medicine, rehabilitation patients, developmental disabilities, pediatrc, substance abuse, and many more!

Settings RT's Work In

-nursing homes, rehab centers, school, prisons, psychiatric facilities, camps, churches, YMCAs, hospitals, residential facilities (assisted living), substance abuse centers, hospice care, and many more!

Interventions Used by RT's

-craft therapy, music therapy, horticulture, yogo/thai chi, fitness & relaxation, games, pet therapy, creatve writing therapy, humor therapy, assistive techniques therapy, and again many more!

The University of Toledo

The University of Toledo (UT) is an EXCELLENT place to study Recreational Therapy! It was ranked in the top 3 for best RT progams in the nation. UT is the ONLY accredited college in the state of Ohio for RT. 98% of UT's students pass their NCTRS exam (certification exam to become a certified RT 6 months after graduation) on their first try!

check out www.atra-tr.org to find out more on this INCREDIABLE field!!

RECREATIONAL THERAPY: We put the FUN in FUN-CTIONAL!!!

Wild Life in Georgia

Funny, up North having cockroaches is looked upon as a something really bad, dirty people, dirty living, and just plain YUCK!!! Well, down in the South, apparently cockroaches are apart of every day life. Lord have mercy on me!!!

Clayton called me this evening telling me that Harley had bumps in one concentrated area on his body. They appeared as little red pimples. Clayton said he had talked with the neighbors and told him what they looked like and they said that they might be bites from red ants. Yikes! I did some research for some bug spray for him and this is what I found...
http://erinsedge.zoovy.com/product/INS001SPR Erin's Edge Labradors, it has NEEM instead of DEET. Apparently it keeps the bugs away and heals the skin very rapidly.

As for the cockroaches: Home sprays for bugs/ants/roaches http://www.bugsrdone.com/organicant-killer.html

This whole cockroach situation is FREAKING me out! They are so disgusting! And apparently that is just a common insect down in the south...like flies! We made an agreement with our Realiting company that they spray TODAY and once every 3 months. So a guy from Allgood Pest Solutions http://allgoodpestsolutions.com/ came out to our house and sprayed inside the house and outside the house where the walls meet the floor...however, Clayton just found a LIVE cockroach in the curtains of the house!! UGHHH!! So tomorrow Clayton is going to bomb the house with one of those bug bombs, however you have to leave the house for like 24 hours! So now he has to find a place to stay over night! Ahh, this is just becoming so complicated! I myself and sooo thoroughly disgusted that I'm afraid to be moving now!

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2005/09/a_time_to_kill.html

Here is a funny blog story from a guy who HATES cockroaches just the same as I do http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2005/09/a_time_to_kill.html. Thanks Mr. I Hate cockroaches for the humor!

Plug in bug repellers from Home Depot. They admit an ultrasonic sound that repels the cockroaches. http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@0424704761.1152330977@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdgaddiffjgddlcgelceffdfgidgio.0&MID=9876

Victor Poison Free spray killer!!! http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@0424704761.1152330977@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdgaddiffjgddlcgelceffdfgidgio.0&MID=9876

Any suggestions from anyone?

Dylan & I ---we made a card for Clayton because we miss him so much!

YUCK!!

Our cute little house in Dublin, Georgia seems to have a bit of a problem....COCKROACHES!!!! How disgusting!!! Needless to say Clayton is sleeping in the car with the dogs! :-(

Claytie's Off

Tonight at 10:45pm Clayton left for Georgia... :-( I am so sad! He is traveling with a car load and Harley and Bella Rose.

Today we spent 7 hours with the moving company loading all of our stuff up to be delivered to Dublin, Georgia.

I can't wait to go visit in 9 days!!!

4th of July

4th of July

Clayton and I spent the 4th of July home in St. Charles, Illinois...our last time home with everyone together probably until either Thanksgiving or the Wedding!

One last picture at home

We also celebrated Clayton's 24th birthday!!

Cubs Game

For Father's Day I bought tickets to the Cubs game for my dad, Clayton, Stevie, and myself. We had a great time, even if the Cubs didn't win!!!

Stone Mountain, GA
Today I was talking with Poppy (Michael's dad) and he was telling me about this wonderful place to visit in Georiga called Stone Mountain. He told me that he used to go there a lot when he was younger. I thought I would research it at bit and this is what I found. http://www.rlrouse.com/stone-mountain.html
It is a geological wonder. Covering 583 acres and rising 825 feet into the air, it is the largest single chunk of exposed granite in the world. It is quite literally the largest rock in the state of Georgia! Carved into the side of Stone Mountain are Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee, & Gen. Stonewall Jackson (kind of like Mt. Rushmore).
From October 21-22, 2006 Georgia will be resounded with the sounds of bagpipes, fiddles and harps. For the 34th consecutive year, thousands of Scots (even those that wish to be "Scot for the Day") from around the world will don their family tartans and gather to greet old friends and make new ones too. --I think this is something Clayton and I will definetly have to go to this fall (because he's mostly Scottish!) Thanks Poppy for the great advice!

These are some pretty pictures from our trip to Georgia. I took them when we were at Tybee Island. The weather was perfect when we were there...I can't wait to move there!! :-)