It's been quite awhile since I've updated and I apologize to those of you who have sent me an email asking where I've been and why I haven't been updating my blog. The simple answer is - I'm using Facebook much more than the "old fashioned" daily blogging technique. I'd highly suggest trying facebook.com and letting me know that you're on there and we'll hook up.

 

This past weekend has been really busy. On Firday night I went out with the girls to celebrate a friend's birthday. We got to play bar shuffleboard and pool while listening to some good jukebox music. On Saturday night DH and I went to another birthday party - this time for a co-worker of mine. We headed to Altoona for church and then to the bar for the birthday celebration. It was a good time. Today I went to see the musical Hairspray with a friend of mine from work. I absolutely love live theatre and this cast was just wonderful.

 

Life just keeps on trucking along. Hope you are all well.

Well, life has gotten much more interesting than I need it to be. 

 

First of all, the positives:

And the not so positives:

So that's where it stands. Hope you are all doing well. *hugs*

Starting to wonder if anyone checks this blog anymore. *smirk* Sorry it's gotten boring and I don't update it as much as I should be ... but there it is.

 

Today DH and I are going to take in the Super Bowl on our new 47" TV and enjoy the commercials and root on the Cardinals. Got to go with our home boy - Kurt Warner.

 

Lastly, this past Friday I went upto Waterloo, IA with some friends to a Women in Natural Resources Conference and had a lot of fun. It's always amazing to get together with a group of 80+ women who feel the same way I do - that Iowa's natural resources are priceless. Saw some ladies I haven't seen in quite awhile and had a lot of hugs. Can't wait til next year!

 

Hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy the game - if you're going to partake. ;)

Ok, I don't normally rant about anything but I received an email from YouTube today saying that my video of Michael Buble in Moline, IL was removed due to "third-party notification by Warner Music Group" claming that this material is infringing on copyright."

 

First of all, Buble states very freely at the beginning of his concerts that you should take as many photos / video as you want. The video I shot he looks right at me and smiles and hams it up. He states that it's the best publicity he can ever ask for.

 

Secondly, when I posted it back in October not only did it get alot of praise and feedback from the "community" - I even got kudos from Buble's main fan site, "The Daily Buble." Look for the posting for October 10th. Also, note that every other video on that page is still active.

 

Buble's main site:

 

Link to "The Daily Buble" is jsut under the top header image.

 

So... I'm confused. I don't have the time nor motivation to "fight" it out ... but I'm not sure why "Warner Music Group" would pick out my video and fight to have it removed. I mean come on... was it THAT good?

 

This past weekend we did our final family Christmas over in Harlan and got to spend a wonderful time with family and playing Pitch. Shirley even made evil-skeeters for breakfast! (Ok, really called aebleskivers and they are small round danish pancackes) Was so great to see everyone and get my need for some serious card playing satisfied - for a little while that is.

 

Today I had the day off for MLKDay and as Dan had to work I decided to goto a movie this afternoon. I chose Slumdog Millionare as it has been winning quite a few awards - and it was wonderful! I highly suggest seeing it, and I don't promote movies very often.

 

Hope everyone is doing well. Sorry I'm not keeping my blog very updated but I'm on Facebook much more than here.

I am so very thankful for my wonderful friends. We spent New Years this year over at Tricia's house along with other friends. I felt a bit old thinking that midnight was really, really late ... but we made it just fine and got home safe and sound. So wonderful to have been able to spend good time with them.

 

Happy New Years to everyone. *hugs*

 

I will try to blog better in the new year - but right now life is pretty crazy with being out of town alot and work keeping me busy. I will do my best to get up updated family photos from the holidays as I know there are a few of you out there who do stop by and look for them. Sorry I haven't kept up as well as I could be.

 

Forgive me and check back after the first of the year. *hugs*

It's been awhile since I have posted anything ... and I'm sorry about that. I keep thinking I need to "stop in and say hey" and then I get on to doing something else. Well, I'm taking a moment and here's a quick update...

 

December has been pretty crazy around the Fahrion household. I've been doing my annual donation drive for the local woman's shelter and we have over 200 items and many Target gift cards that I will be dropping off to hopefully make their Christmas a little more comforting. I can't imagine being in their shoes during the Christmas season or any other time of year for that matter. Special prayers out to them.

 

In other news... it seems like cancer has been the word for 2008. Currently 4 people very close to me are battling for their lives and I also find myself missing Jim (who passed in Sept) who was my "partner in crime" this time of year with the donation drive. It's been so hard not to be getting phone calls and emails from him this year. He is so very missed.

 

Last night we got a ton of a sleet / snow /ice mixture here in central Iowa. It made for very heavy shoveling this morning and as I tried to help out Dan I realized "woah, I'm SHOVELING!" For those of you who were following me last year... my back was so bad I could hardly stand up and sit down. What a HUGE blessing that is.

 

Merry Christmas and a happy and health New year,

Tracy

Sorry I haven't taken time to update my blog - things have been crazy around the house. This past weekend we were in Dubuque for Thanksgiving with Dan's side of the family and we spent Thanksgiving Day with my family. It's always so nice to see family you haven't seen in awhile.

 

In other news I have found out that I have strong allergies to dust and mold and also weak allergies to feathers and... cats. So we have taken the down comforter off our bed and have banished Tristan from coming in. I have also started on allergy shots so hopefully my ears will begin to dry up and get back to normal. It would be awesome is this becomes the answer to why I'm always feeling so "off."

 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Woke up this weekend with a frog in my throat. I might even sound more like a goose - but you get the idea. Also have a headache and pretty vast amounts of fatigue, but no sneezing or sore throat. I don't feel congested and feel like there's a small amount of drainage due to full ears...

 

So, what do I have?

 

And more importantly...

when will it go away? Bah.

DH and I got home today from our trip to Colorado to visit family and the cabin. We had a wonderful time but it is nice to be home.

 

Our first stop was down to Denver to see Stacy and D's new house. What a great place. We also took time to go to the Pancake House for awesome breakfast food. We topped off the visit with D coming home with a huge cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday. They are such sweet people.

 

Our second stop was up near Johnstown and a dinner at Farmers with my aunt and uncle. Always wonderful food and we felt like we were trying to put away our second "Thanksgiving meal." We stayed at their place that night and headed up to the cabin the next day. We spent two nights and three days up there playing cards, board games, hiking and just bumming around in flannel PJs. What a great time away. Photos over there on the right in the gallery...

 

Obama or McCain. *sigh*

 

According to votehelp.org:

Barack Obama, 86.3% match on issues

John McCain 80.17% match on issues

 

However, those things I don't agree with them on are very important to me.

- death penalty (don't agree with McCain or Obama)

- social security privatized (don't agree with Obama)

- women's rights (don't agree with McCain)

- illegal imigrants (don't agree with McCain)

- gun rights (don't agree with Obama)

- education (don't agree with McCain)

 

So I would think it would be Obama I'd be leaning towards with my vote and yet my gut just doesn't trust him. I have problems with his associations with Reverend Wright, the way he talks about education and his foreign policy. Argh. I'd be more than willing to hear from anyone out there who has anything to share. Time is running out.

 

One final thought, however - I am so proud to be an American and the fact that I have the ability to discuss politics and feel differently then the next person, that my opinion is valued. For that alone I am so thankful for the opportunity to have my voice heard - I just have no clue yet what that final voice will be.

 

I've been really bad about blogging and for that... sorry. I have been getting emails from people asking me how I am and asking when I'll update my blog - which always surprises me that people actually read this thing.

 

I'm doing pretty well. The whole season change thing REALLY flares my fibromyalgia and I've been feeling like I've been hit by a truck. For me its mostly my knees, back and shoulders that lock up and don't want to flex with the cold and pressure change. I've been keeping extra warm and using a heating pad on my lower back at work which seems to help. Trying to consume less caffeine as well as that seems to effect my pain level also. Otherwise I keep trucking along.

 

Tonight (get ready to roll your eyes...) I'm going to goto opening night of High School Musical 3. (you rolled your eyes, didn't you?) No, Dan won't be going with me - I know, it shocked me to! (sarcasim). I have to admit I've liked the first two and have both soundtracks in my CD player in the Edge. Sue me... it's my guilty pleasure. It will be nice to get away and just watch something sappy and bop along. I'll let you all know what I think.

 

Oh, and as for the whole politics season - I'm SO glad it's almost over. As to whom to vote for - I still have no clue. I don't like either one of them and I'm not sure if I could vote for a "lesser evil." *sigh* We'll see.

*swoon*

 

This past week my friend Manda and I had tickets to the Michael Buble concert in Moline, IL... 2nd ROW. They turned out to be awesome seats and we ended up standing next to the stage and a platform in which he would come out and stand. I got to touch the man... 3 times! A shoe, his hand and then his knee. All of a sudden I was a pre-teen going crazy - but then again Manda was as well. It was an awesome concert!

 

My YouTube video of him singing "Lost" has already been seen over 600 times and linked to from the buble insider link from michaelbuble.com. How cool is that? Oh, and I'm posting a new photo gallery over there on the right hand side...

 

Watch it in "High Quality." =)

 

 

  

Sorry for not posting for awhile but life has been crazy.

 

2 Weekends ago I headed upto BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman, an outdoor workshop/camp) on a Thursday night and then also helped with registration and other things on Friday. I headed home to Des Moines for Jim's visitation on Friday night and then went to his funeral on Saturday. He is now buried just 2 lots from where my father rests so that means alot to me. Still having a hard time believing he is gone. I don't think it will be until Christmas season rolls around and I'm working to gather gifts for the women who find themselves at the family violence center that I'll truly realize that my "partner" is gone. Man, he will be deeply missed. On saturday night then I headed back to BOW and helped out and then "taught" a night geocaching class. I had a full group of 12 people who signed up of which were broken into groups and sent out with GPS systems to find the hidden caches in the nighttime. Turned out really well and I think they had a good time.

 

This past week has been a busy one down at work due to fall colors being out, waterfowl season kicking off and getting ready for deer season. The Chicago Cubs made it to post season and then went down in flames. Choked and after last night's game are out of the picture. Ouch. *sigh* Frustrating after such a long, fun and productive season. Argh. And we won't even begin to mention my Kansas City Chiefs. What an icky year for sports.

 

Finally, this past weekend my cousin Kris got married. It was a beautiful outdoors wedding at a vinyard. Perfect blue skies and a breeze to keep it a touch cool. Utterly amazing day and I'm so thrilled for them. Congrats you two! *hugs*

 

After a really busy weekend (funeral and the BOW workshop (www.iowadnr.gov/bow/) it seems that this week has been dragging along. I need more sleep but life keeps on trudging along. I'll try to recap more later but for now just wanted to thank those of you who have sent me warm wishes via email, PMs, comments and snail mail - it has helped a great deal.

 

I have some really awesome friends. *hugs*

  

This morning Jim went to be with the Lord and is now looking into the face of God. I try to focus on the knowledge that he is now with my father - but I can't find that comforting just yet. I know in the future it will be, just right now it is much too fresh.

 

Blessings, Jim. You are already missed greatly.

I put up the garage door and was walking around the back of my car when a butterfly fluttered past. I saw him land on the tree in the front yard and I rushed inside to grab our camera. I came out and he was still in the tree, just higher up. I think I got a pretty good photo of him considering he was a good 15-20 feet overhead. What a beautiful sign that fall is on its way.