Our scrapbook room...

Rebecca's spot!

Asx you walk in the door...

My new table from Target and a folding table. I'm still on the prowl for a computer desk...

My new cubicles from Target! LOVE it. My little cabinet. I'm going to paint the shelf on the wall. Like I said...it's a work in progress.

My cheap shelf that falling apart and my paper holder I found on Ebay for a steal! My handy green 'Tool Box' on wheels. It elimates taking several bags when I go crop. Rebecca's table is where the black chair is now.

Another view.













It's a work in progress, but I've finally got rid of the card tables and got a desk I can work on. Today I got the cube shelves with some Christmas money I got. I'm really enjoying my own space...except for the small table which I moved in today for Rebecca. Since Santa brought her her very own paper, pens, scissors, glue and books, I thought she deserved her own spot. I want to paint the walls and get some things for the walls too, but it's working for now. If any of you are scrapbookers (I know some are) then you know that it's never good enough. They are always coming out with bigger better things you just have to have. Scrapbooking is my drug of choice and it can get very expensivel. But I'm totally saving my money and buying those things I just have to have. I'm also hitting the Scrapbook Expo's that come to the area for bargins. So far I've been to San Diego and Ontario. There's another coming to Orange County in February...saving up for that one.
Enjoy!!!

Christmas 2007

Opening Presents

Seeing her white dress for the first time.

Put it on right away!

Pointing at Santa's mess!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did. It was very low key and we stayed home all day. We woke Rebecca up at 6:30 to show her the mess Santa left at the fireplace (we took boots and put mud on them and had footprints coming out of it). Then she found the tree with lots of presents. I didn't spend a whole lot this year because the stuff she asked for was pretty inexpensive. Her list was: the white dress from 'Enchanted', a babydoll with a bed and her own scrapbook stuff. That was it. She got all those things and some other little things like a 2 wheel scooter, an easle, lite bright, several puzzles, a babie and barbie car, clothes, socks and some stocking stuffers. She was most excited about the white dress and scrapbook stuff.
Anyway, our day was good. I was actually nursing a little hangover. It's funny on Christmas Eve I thought I'd have a glass of wine and before you knew it, I had drank the whole bottle! I'm not much of a wine drinker but this stuff was good.
Here's a few pictures...enjoy!

Merry Christmas

I love this dancing Santa!!! He's just shaking that booty! FUNNY!!
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Be Safe!
Talk to you all Next Year!!

2007 Year in Review

My fellow blogger LisaMomma does this every year for the last 3. And it's really cool. So I decided to do it this year. Here we go!

(Go back to the first post of each month in 2007 and copy the first sentence or two).

January-We're back and we're tired! What did I do today.....NOTHING!
February-Just sitting around, having a cup of coffee, trying to get the energy up to clean the house and head out to town for some stuff.
March-Alright America! Let's get this one right this week! If Sanjaya and Antonella make it through this round of votes...I'm going to die!!!!
April-I just want to sleep and I can't.
May-I know, everyone's waiting on info on the Relay! It went great!!!
June-Boring around here. Had a scrap booking get together last night here...that was a lot of fun.
July-And my not so secret crush on Jeff Gordon. Look how cute his little girl is!! "Ella Sofia Gordon"
August-Rebecca and I have both come down with a stomach virus.
September- My good friend Cheryl had me come over to watch her 3/4D ultrasound of Ethan, and gave me 2 Italian Margarita's.
October-As you can see, Rebecca and I got new glasses. I'm having a hard time getting her to wear them.
November-Halloween was good. Rebecca was Tinkerbell.
December-It's been up since Thanksgiving Day! This is my first artificial tree and I LOVE IT!

2007 was a great year for us. Not a lot happened and sometimes that is good. We started off the New Year in Hawaii with our good friends. Where better to bring in 2007?! That will always be my most memorable new year..unless something even better happens. Rebecca started school this summer-another big accomplishment. She's also learned to read. WOW! I've made some terrific friendships in my Moms Group. I love these ladies. Several of them are friends forever! (You all know who you are!). But on the other side, the year is ending on a sad note. My dear friend and adopted mom, Roz (I've talked about her plenty on here), has come down with liver & lung cancer. After 25 years of being cancer free from her breast cancer. It doesn't look good and we plan to make the best of what time is left. We're planning a cruise! I am attending a party at one of those dear friends houses on the 31st. Yep...I see a hangover in my future! Good times!

Merry Christmas everyone! BE safe and be Merry!

Our Christmas Tree...

It's been up since Thanksgiving Day! This is my first artificial tree and I LOVE IT! If I didn't know better, I would think it's real. Looks real even when you're up close to it. I don't have the smell, but I don't have the needles either. Last year ours died after only a week so I vowed never again. Good choice I think. Anyway, Lowes had them on sale the week before Turkey day...a 'Pre Black Friday' sale. I got it for a great deal. I also saw a picture on the front of their flier and it was beautiful so I copied it! The only thing I added extra was ribbon. Everyone says it looks like it belongs in a department store. It's beautiful! It's 10' with the base. It's a 1/2" from the ceiling so no angel this year. I even bought a beautiful one at Michaels, so it's sitting on the coffee table.
I know I'm rambling, I'm running on 4 hours of sleep. I went out with the girls last night and had a blast. I was the designated driver...boy it was needed too! We had fun.
Today I took Rebecca to see 'Enchanted'. It was a great movie for kids and adults alike. Couple of parts I didn't like, but it was good none the less. It's definitely a buyer. Also had to get Rebecca some warm clothes. I was trying to wait for Christmas, but it's so cold in the mornings and evenings I couldn't wait.
We're suppose to get more rain on Tuesday. I love it. The mountains have snow on them and it's beautiful. Best of both worlds here in the winter. Snow only a few minutes away, but none here to have to deal with.
Going to bed!

New Pictures...

Rebecca at her Christmas Recital

Rebecca and her best friend Tiffany

On stage

Send a Card to our Troops!

I'm doing this and encourage you to do the same.

Something cool that Xerox is doing:

If you go to this web site, Let Say Thanks
you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox
will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in
Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the
armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!
This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a
minute of your time.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?
Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to
know we are behind them...

An update...It's about time!

I know, I know! I've been getting emails "When are you going to update?". Well here it is.
Thanksgiving was good. Great actually. We invited over some friends and just enjoyed ourselves. It was nice not having to travel, however, it would have been just as nice being with our Family. But it didn't work out this year. We ate way too much and laughed quite a bit.
I experience my first 'Black Friday'. I got up at 3:45am and picked up my girlfriends at 4:30 am and we shopped ALL day! Got home about 6:30 pm...TIRED! It was neat though seeing all the people out and about that early. Didn't see any fights or anything which is always what you see on the news. You can find some real bargains at that hour. I definitely see why people get out and do it. It was fun and look forward to that being something I do yearly.
Rebecca is doing great. Finally went back to school this week. She really missed it the week she was off. I missed it too (ha ha). I'm so glad she likes it. She is doing really well. I picked her up a "Dick & Jane" book about a month ago and she is reading it by herself now with very little help. She has the most trouble with single letter words like 'A' or 'I'. She wants to sound them out, but her teacher says it's completely normal. I'm so proud of her and grateful she is so smart. She just picks it up so easy. Thank Goodness!
She is really enjoying her new baby kitty. We actually had Christmas cards made with her and her kitty. They'll be coming in this week. I can't wait to get them mailed out. I've been really good lately about having her pictures done...I just haven't been good about mailing them out. I've had pictures sitting around for months now waiting to be mailed. So when these come in, I'm sending them all out at once to everyone. We have her dance recital pictures, our Family pictures, her school pictures and now our Christmas pictures. What a lazy bum I am. But I hate the line at the post office! It just kills me that people go in there so unorganized and it holds up the line.
Joe is doing well too. He's been quite busy with extracurricular things. He's finally working with a Music studio in LA and getting his music recorded and copyrighted. The producer really likes his music, so there may be a good chance of getting one of the songs sold or possibly a record deal for Joe. He's going in this week and starting the actual recording. The producer is a founding member of Chicago and Kansas and works with a lot of well known people. In fact, he's working with Eminem next week. I told Joe to try and get me his autograph if he sees him. Not a big fan of rap music, but I like some of his stuff...not all of it. Anyway, that's really cool what Joe is doing. Finally following his dream. He's been on a real lucky streak lately, so it wouldn't surprise me if something came out of this. We'll see.
Me, I'm still very busy with Relay. We had a team garage sale last week and this weekend is the parade. So Friday we're decorating the float and Saturday we're walking in it. The Cancer Survivors will be riding on the float with the rest of the participants walking behind it. Then we're setting up a table in the park for 'Christmas in the Park' to hopefully spread the word about Relay and sign up some new teams.
My schedule for December is empty. Thanks goodness. Taking a break from every thing. The only thing I have planned is a Bunco for a Cure night. We'll play Bunco at my house with the money going to my team. It's a fun and easy way to raise money. So a few of us are throwing together some gift baskets for prizes instead of them winning the money. It'll be fun. Right now 12 people are coming...up to a possible 20. So that's a quick and easy way to make $120-$200 depending on how many show up. It's $10 person. Last weekend we held a garage sale and all the team members donated items for it and we brought in almost $600. So far our team is doing great. Our goal is $10,000. So we'll see. In my last post I put a link on there for online donations. If you can donate, that would be great. Even if it's just $10, it adds up fast. I appreciate your support. It's such a great cause and the American Cancer Society is a first class organization.
No plans for Christmas. It's going to be just us this year, but that's OK. Last year was so busy with our trip to Texas, coming home and then heading off to Hawaii. That this year, quiet is good.
Well I hope you enjoyed the update. I'll get some new pictures up soon!

Asking for Your Support of Relay For Life‏

Dear Family and Friends,

I’ve decided to take action against cancer by participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life® event right here in my community. Relay For Life® is about celebration, remembrance, and hope. By participating, I am honoring cancer survivors, paying tribute to the lives we've lost to the disease, and raising money to help fight it.

Please help support me in this important cause by making a donation. It is faster and easier than ever to support me by making a secure, tax-deductible donation online using this LINK.

Whatever you can give will help - it all adds up! I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress.

Sincerely,
Julie Pizzitola

Halloween and new Kitty....

Halloween was good. Rebecca was Tinkerbell. She didn't last long though. Just a few houses and she had enough. At least we didn't get a bunch of candy I would've ended up eating.
And we got her a new kitty a couple of weeks ago. Magenta is her name. Don't ask me where it came from. Everyone says Blues Clues...she doesn't watch that at all! We love the little thing though. She's a perfect fit for us.

Tastefully Simple for a Great Cause!!!

All Tastefully Simple orders made on my website from now until the end of December...100% of my profits will go to the American Cancer Society's- Hemet's 6th Annual Relay For Life.

Tastefully Simple is fantastic food that is so easy to make. There are some great holiday gifts sets too that come in great containers and are already gift wrapped for you. They're also shipped directly to your recipient. How great is that. So support the cause!!! Thanks!

Here's the link:

www.tastefullysimple.com/web/jpizzitola

My Cruise!!!

Had tons of Fun!!!! Got a little bit of scrapbooking done, but mostly wanted to just check things out and have fun. However, they sent us on a scavengerhunt that took almost the whole 3 days to do, so there was no relaxing. But, I have to say most of the pictures where from that and I got some good ones. You can tell by some of the pictures...on Saturday...I had a bit too much to drink! Ha ha! Must go again, but with my family next time. I hated not being able to call them. That was the worst part. Enjoy the pictures!

My other blog...

Hemet Relay For Life!
and our MySpace page!

Some new pictures...

As you can see, Rebecca and I got new glasses. I'm having a hard time getting her to wear them.
She wants to be a cat for Halloween so I picked her up some ears, tie and a tail. And while I was at it, I pick up a wig for Muffin. She hates it.
Then the last one if of Rebecca helping her dad work on the other car engine. Joe thinks he's buying another hot rod to start working on...NOT!
Been super busy with lots of Relay For Life stuff. Just had our Committee Retreat last Saturday. Yesterday we had Relay University up at Cal State San Bernardino. This coming weekend is my cruise...not really looking forward to it. I'm half tempted to not go at all. The following week we're having and Interested Party meeting for the community who wants to learn more about the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life. I'm headed up to San Jose for a few days, then on the 29th we're 'officially' kicking off our 2008 Relay For Life year with a Kick Off Party. Then I have to go to Summit the first weekend in November. That's it. No more doing anything except planning this Relay. We have a lot to do and only 5 1/2 short months to get it done. Seems like along time, but it's really not.
And in between all of this there's a Babyshower for 2 of my good friends here which I'm looking forward to.
Am I busy...NAHHHH...not at all.

Where does the time go?

If it's not one thing, it's another. Been really busy lately with Relay For Life and Tastefully Simple. Meetings and parties and conference calls. But I love it...I really do! We're getting ready for our Relay for Life Committee Retreat. It's next Saturday. My Co-Chair and I are having it at a cool pizza joint here in town. It's nothing but a glorified meeting with dinner. We talk about last seasons accomplishments and where we want to go this year and our goals.
Then on the 6th we have Relay University at Cal State San Bernadino. Myself and another Event Chair from another Relay will be up on stage 'Facilitating' a session for 50 minutes to other Event Chairs. So today I've been working on flip charts ...which I hate by the way. After that we have an 'Interested Party Meeting' where we invite anyone in the community to come out and learn about Relay. We show a quick movie on the American Cancer Society and the roles they can play and where sponsorship money goes...Which is free services by the way. If you have cancer and you call 1.800.ACA.2345-they will help you and never ask for a dime. That's why we Relay. There are so many programs. Then we have a Baby Shower on the 20th for 2 really good friends I've made here. I've made a lot, but the showers for these two. Then a Scrapbook Expo on the 27th. And then our Relay For Life Kick Off Party which kicks off our Relay Season. Not to mention the committee meeting and the Team Captain meeting and our Team Meeting. Oh and did I mention I'm going on a cruise the 12th-15th. Busy next 6 weeks ahead of me!!!

Rebecca is doing well in school. Her teacher told me today that she's one of the brightest in the class. She's excelling in everything. She won a little prize today for the being the only one who could spell her entire name with out help. Remember...her name is Rebecca Jacqueline Pizzitola. I think she deserves a prize for a name with 26 letters in it and not misspell the middle or the last name. I was impressed to say the least. For just turning 4...I'm very proud of her.
This weekend we went to Irvine to our good friend Marcy & Daves house. They lived up in San Jose when we were up there and they just moved down here. We went out and saw them a month or so ago and went swimming, but this weekend was her twin boys birthday party. It was fun. She had us all make Tie Dye shirts and they turned out great! So much fun. It's nice to see them again.

Also Joe sprained his back on Saturday lifting a small dresser into the Tahoe. He went to the ER on Sunday because he couldn't take the pain anymore. He goes the the Chiropractor tomorrow. I feel bad for him, but he knows not to lift things like that. Me? I've got a terrible Bladder Infection. Never had one before, don't want it again. The urge to have to Pee when you don't is driving me mad. I went to the Doctor on Monday and he gave me some antibiotics that are helping somewhat. I still have 7 more days on them. It can't go away fast enough. I drink way too much coffee and soda... I need more water, but I hate water. Cranberry juice is my drink of choice right now though. :-)
Well that's all that's going on here!

Finally...Rebecca'a Birthday Party!

Well the pictures are not that great...we got more on the video camera than actual pictures. But it was fun none the less. We had it on the 25th of August at the Bowling Alley. She had all of her friends her locally show up so that was fun. A great turn out. More than I thought. This year I didn't invite our friends & family from out of town. It was just for 2 hours and too busy to be able to visit.
We also left for Denver the next day to visit with her Grandma from Montana and her Aunt, Uncle and cousin that live in CO.
Enjoy the few pictures I did happen to get!

I'm still here....

I've been wanting to update, but no chance too.
Tonight isn't a good night to do it though. My good friend Cheryl had me come over to watch her 3/4D ultrasound of Ethan, and gave me 2 Italian Margarita's. AND I loved it...everyone knows how much I LOVE margaritas...and I had 2 very big one's! I'm a little sh't faced.
Love everyone!

Me & Rusty Wallace! Too Cool!!!!

So I was coming back from my quick trip to Denver yesterday with a layover in Phoenix. Get on the plane and who else gets on the plane??? Only Nascar Winston Cup Champion Rusty Wallace, John Andretti AND Larry McRenolds!!! I almost fainted! So when we got off the plane I got a picture with Rusty. I also got a picture of Larry coming down the escalator. I was standing right next to him at baggage claim (yes...they get their own luggage!) but he was on his phone and didn't want to be too much of a stalker.
All the racers are in town this weekend for the big race in Fontana which WE ARE GOING TO!!!! This is a great start to a fantastic weekend!!!

Hmmmm....

What have I been doing?? Well let's see....
Rebecca and I have both come down with a stomach virus. Fun! At different times thank goodness. It's really going around here. Glad that's done and over with. Took me a good while to recuperate. I swear, the older I get the harder it is to be sick.
Got over that, then got into something yucky in the backyard. So for 5 days, I've had a terrible, itchy, stinging rash under both armpits and on the inside of my left thigh. I just showed up at the Dr. Thursday morning begging for them to see me. He did...no way could he turn me away after he saw it...his words-not mine. He prescribed a steroid cream...didn't work...made it worse. Calamine ended up doing the trick-and being half naked for 2 days.
Let's see...I ended a friendship with someone I thought was a friend. It was a long time coming anyway. She always said or did something that really bothered me over the course of our so called friendship. It came to a head and I ended it. Actually it's quite a relief. I'm proud for standing up for myself for a change. I never had a problem standing up for myself until I met her. It was something about her 'Holier Than Thou' attitude that made me back away from my feelings and I took the comments. However it still saddens me that I thought we were better friends than she apparently thought. Oh well, what are you going to do?
Rebecca's got a dance recital next Saturday. It'll be her last too. I'm taking her out so that I can put her in Pre-K 3 full days a week. It costs too much to do both, so I had to choose. She needs this experience before the real thing starts next year.
We officially got the For Sale sign in the yard. 2 weeks now and no lookers. They said it could take up to 4 months. Then I hope we're headed back to Texas where life is more affordable.
Rebecca's birthday is 2 weeks from tomorrow. We're having her birthday at the bowling alley on the 25th and then we're flying to Denver for a few days to visit with Joe's Mom and sister. Rebecca will spend her actual birthday with family for a change. That will be nice. Then my best friend, Leslie, is coming in town for 5 days on the 1st. On the 2nd...we're going to the NASCAR race in Fontana!!! I'm so excited. I have a sitter lined up for Rebecca all day long, so Joe, Leslie and I can enjoy ourselves. I look forward to when she is old enough to go and enjoy it.
That's it for now.

Family Photo's!

Funny video!!!

glumbert.com - News anchors can't stop laughing at falling model

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I laugh everytime I watch this thing....

Not much to say, but a lot going on...

Rebecca's enjoying school so much that she's going 3 days a week starting in September. She has a dance recital on August 18th. We just had her dance pictures taken on Saturday, so we should be getting them pretty soon. We had our first family photos taken this week for the first time since Rebecca was 6 months old. And we got her 4 year old pictures taken too. I haven't done that since last year. I used to be so good at having her pictures taken, but it's just not as convenient here. I actually went to Sears this go around-when I usually go to Kiddie Kandids. I think they'll still turn out good.

My friend & Co-Chair Cheryl and I are headed to Riverside tomorrow to teach a training seminar on Team Recruitment for our Relay for Life. YIKES! So we worked on that today. I've been out recruiting teams and signing on old ones this week. I tell you, this years Relay For Life is going to ROCK!! Did I mention-it's Nascar themed?!

Speaking of Nascar, one of my super best friends is flying in for a week at the first of September to come visit and go the the September 2nd race that's right here. I'm so excited to see her! I haven't seen her in almost 2 years. Way too long.

Well Joe's is at Soboba Casino tonight, which is just around the corner, at the KISS concert. I can actually hear the music from my front porch. He's loving it I'm sure.

What else....So lots of stuff going on. I'll post all the new pictures when they come in!!!

Been busy...

Border Sierra Region at Conference
Tiffany & Rebecca

Things are going well here. Just got back from an American Cancer Society Leadership conference in Irvine on Saturday. I left on Thursday. They put us up in the Irvine Marriott. What a nice hotel! The most comfortable bed I've ever slept in...ever! I ate a lot too!!! They fed us breakfast, lunch and dinner. Very good food! The last night there they had a Mexican Buffet. It was so good! How does a hotel make such good Mexican food? They did...I went back twice!

The conference was great! I learned a lot and got some really great ideas to use at our Relay...which now looks like it'll be March 29th instead of April 12. The school wasn't available for us to use in April, so San Jacinto switched days with us-which was super nice of them. They had that day reserved long before we did. Now I'm just waiting on the Principle to call me back and put us on the calendar. He already said that day was available. Just waiting.

Rebecca and Joe are well. Joe stayed home from work on Friday so I could go to the conference. They had a great time together. I think it's good they spent that time just the 2 of them. They need that once in a while. They went to the water park on Friday. Rebecca had fun...I think Joe did too!

Well that's the scoop on what's going on here. Here's a couple of pictures of Rebecca and her friend Tiffany at the bowling alley last Saturday and one of me and the other Relay Event Chairs from this Region (Border Sierra Region).

You know me...

And my not so secret crush on Jeff Gordon. Look how cute his little girl is!! "Ella Sofia Gordon"

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you all have a safe and happy 4th of July. Please remember to take a minute and remember why we're free. And try to remember our soldiers-past and present-who fought and still fight to keep our country safe and free! If you see a soldier this weekend...thank them for all of their dedication and hard work!

A few updates...

Father's Day
Come on Mommy....5 more minutes!
Eggo Waffle...again?!
I'm ready to hit the books (or the playground...whichever)!

Well Rebecca is absolutely loving her first 2 days of preschool! I'm so happy too, because our first bout with school last year wasn't any fun at all. This time though, she wasn't worried one bit that I was leaving and was excited to see me when I picked her up. She was so excited to show me her work. On the first day (she was only there a half a day) she made a really cute caterpillar and today she made a cross with a ribbon and wrote her name many times. Writing her name is nothing new to her, but she sure enjoys the crafts. I'm sure there's a lot of other things she's done, but all she says is she likes it. And when I ask her what she did she just says "I don't know!" I don't think I mentioned where she's going. It's a great little school called Community Christian and they teach her all about the bible too. I didn't grow up with Faith in my home, so I'm excited to be introducing it to her at an early stage. Maybe she'll teach me a thing or two.

And I'm also posting a picture of Joe and Rebecca on Father's day. We had lunch at the Roadhouse. It's as close as we can find to food similar to home in Texas. We love it! California definitely has a different spin on food here. We're still getting use to the different Mexican Foods. I'm adjusting...after 3 years!

Enjoy the pictures!