Restful Weekend

Hello! As always I tend to ingnore this thing and then when I sit down I have tons to write and I feel as though I'm writing a book here. Today will be no different. I decided to take Friday off. The schedule looked good and I was "sick". The office manager was on the bandwagon with me, the doctor wasn't. For all he knows, I was at work on Friday (he was out of state, remember?) And if you remember he had forgotten about trying to give me Tuesday off, so I figured when I show up tomorrow he won't remember that he told me to take Monday off and not Friday. Whatever. So I took Friday off. I didn't really sleep in though. Mom invited me to Grandparents Day at Cassidy's school, so I figured I'd go with her. I know I'm not a grandparent, but Dad couldn't go since he was working, and I figured I'd just take his place. Mom took the day off specifically for that. It was great. We got to see where she went to school and then her locker and desk, and got to meet her teacher. See read a book to us and we even got to play a game with her. I think she was happy that we came, as there were some kids that didn't have anyone. I took some pictures while we there. They're posted on our Flickr account. I'll get back to my story, but I heard a few of you were having a hard time figuring out the Flickr thing. I have it set up a few ways to get to it from here. First, you can see the "badge" to the left with all the pictures. If you click on "what is this" it will come up with "This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from heidihvt....." If you click on heidihvt, it will take you immediately to our collection. Second, if you scroll down on the left side of the screen you'll see a section that says "Heidi's Links" and below it says "Our Flickr Collection." If you click on that, it will take you immediately there also. (You do not have to perform both of those to get there, but I figured you can choose whatever's easiest for you.) Usually I post that I've posted new pictures but if you keep an eye on the badge and see new pictures, then that means I've posted some (it shows our most recent pics). When I post a picture in our collection it puts it in our main pool of pictures and then I can choose to put in a specific "set". So you can either browse through the pool (shown from most recent on) or choose a set which are listed on the right side of the screen. Hope this clears any problems that you may be having. Please let me know if you have any issues. So back to my story.....after Grandparents Day mom and I decided to go on a mission. Just last week mom saw on Oprah the (Product) Red stuff. If you missed it, check out Oprah's Site. It's a cool concept that Bono from U2 and another guy thought of. It links this concept with companies in order to support the prevention and treatment of Aids in the world and especially Africa. Basically how it works is there are certain products from certain companies called "red products". When you buys these products a certain amount of the proceeds goes toward helping. And these "red products" aren't necessarily red in color, some are, but not all. For instance, Gap is one of the companies participating. They have these shirts that say Inspi(red) or Empowe(red). They even have coats, normal jeans, bags, and accessories that are part of the (Product) Red line. With their products, 50% profit goes to the organization. And some of the products are even made in Africa, or the material comes from there. You get the concept. So mom and I went on a mission to find shirts. I had the 3 closest Gaps mapped out and all. We found our Inspi(red) shirts at the first stop. Sweet! They didn't have as much as we hoped for, but we got something. I don't think they have all of their products out that they are planning to release, since there are certain sayings that we had hoped to find and didn't. Of course they plan on keeping this organization as an ongoing effort. With the Gap signing on for at least a couple years, I think that they plan on releasing items throughout that time and not all at once. But of course with the demand they are going to start out at their Flagship store and then trickle on down to the rest. Needless to say, I can't wait to go to the Gap in Chicago! I think the whole (Product) Red is an interesting concept. As my mom and I discussed, we cannot go to Africa or anywhere else for that matter, to help. We'd love to be able to, but we can't. And just with the buying power that we have, we can give in just a small way. And as I stated, the products are cool anyway. If you want to know more about (Product) Red, check out their site.So we did that and then we still headed to the Great Northern Mall. We had a great lunch at Brown Bag Burgers. I definitely recommend it. VERY good and VERY affordable. Even one of the Cleveland News Channels recommended it. We went to the mall and walked around. Didn't find much but did find these super cute bandanas for the pups. This woman made them and she even had a Minnesota Vikings one. And for a couple dollars more she embroidered Viking's name on it. He's so handsome. So all in all we had a great day. It was nice to spend time with my mom and to be able to chill. We didn't do much else the rest of the day. On Saturday I woke up early to mow the lawn while David was at work and then as usual we bummed around and then finally ended up at a friend's house watching the OSU game. While we were out bumming we bought our first Christmas lights for the season. I can't believe it. It's right around the corner. We're going to have a "blue house" for Christmas. We've always loved houses that are all blue lights outside, so we figured we're try it. As for our tree I think we're going to go with teal, purple, and blue lights, with our usual Hallmark ornaments. I swear, we change the color of our tree lights every year. This year will be no different. On Saturday night we had hoped to go to the movies but were blindsided with the fact that they aren't showing the ones we want to see around here. First, Nightmare Before Christmas 3D. I guess it has to be shown on a specific screen and the closest one is in Columbus. That's a no go. And Marie Antoinette. The closest one for that is in Elyria. Since we had just been to Elyria last week and mom and I up that way on Friday that was a no go either. So we sat at home, with our candles lit, watching our Nightmare Before Christmas. Of course I fell asleep. Today we woke up and David surprised me by taking me to McDonald's for breakfast. Okay, I know it's only McDonald's, but he took us down to Jackson Street Pier and we sat watching and eating. Those are the times I cherish and want to hold on to forever. We did our usual grocery shopping and David had NFL Sunday with his dad while his mom and I tried to figure out my sewing machine. It's been over a year since I used it and it's amazing how little details slip your mind. We figured it out and I finally finished altering Viking's and Lily's Halloween costumes. I'll post pictures soon....too cute. We had a our last bit of weekend freedom a little while ago....Cold Stone. Yum! Tomorrow it's back to work. But hey, one more week closer to Chicago and Disney!!!! Smile Everyone!