LEGACY PHOTOGRAPHY!!

We had an awesome photoshoot last Saturday!! Liz Watson, from Legacy Photography, came over to our house and we had a nearly 4 hour long shoot. It was alot of fun! We took so many photos. It was so nice to have the photographer comeover to our house, instead of being in a studio. I highly recommend Legacy. She was so great and these few pictures are gorgeous. I am very satisfied! I cannot wait to see the rest of them!! Aren't they beautiful?!
Check out Legacy Photography!

Spreading the Holiday cheer!!

This year Boricua and I decided to minimize gifts and focus on togetherness. The boys are getting one gift from Santa and one small gift from mom & dad. We got small sentimental gifts for family and made 9 plates of goodies to give to friends. We put together a huge bag of small gifts for the Care Center for the Elderly up the street from us. They had alot of fun picking out things the Care Center residents needed. We are getting warm blankets and clothing together to drop off at the homeless shelter, for the children. We drive past the shelter and see small babies bundled up in the cold, while their parents are waiting in line for a warm meal. It was just brought to my attention 350 children stayed in the Homeless Shelter last night. Last month we bought food items to make a nice meal for a homeless man looking for work. Prince was very concerned about that man and he was happy to help him out.
Our beautiful tree was donated to us from a great friend! All of my tree ornaments were purchased a few years ago on Clearance at Target. I spent pennies on them! It was so awesome! I still had leftover wrappng paper so I didn't need to purchase a bunch of new packaging stuff! We had a strict budget and was very aware of our spending. Spending alot isn't the meaning of the Holiday and we really made ure to emphasize that and teach the boys what Christmas is all about.
2009 has been a very hard year for alot of people. Alot are jobless and homeless. Alot took paycuts and barely have enough money to make ends meet. There was alot of tragic deaths and one that really hit home for me. A friend of mine from school, passed away tragically a week and a half ago and left 2 small children behind. She was such a sweetheart and her family are devastated with the loss. It was a very hard funeral to attend and left me mourning for a few days afterwards.
We had alot of calamities throughout the World this year. I'd say this was the year that would make or break us. It was by far one of the hardest years for me! So, as I say goodbye to 2009 and hello to 2010 next week, I am going to celebrate and rejoice for the new COMEBACK YEAR!!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was wonderful! It was the FIRST Thanksgiving I've cooked on my own and the first in our V Fam home! It was a tight squeeze for us all but that's what Thanksgiving is for, eh? There's so much food and family, you don't know how you got it all to fit?! WOW!! Isn't that something to be grateful for?!

I am so grateful for our Church that dropped a LOAD of food to us before Thanksgiving. I ended up with two turkeys! I had no room for them! So, I decided to give one of them to a Family in great need and they couldn't afford a Turkey for Thanksgiving. I felt so grateful and blessed to have had the opportunity to do that with our current situation right now. It was great!

I was very nervous to cook my Turkey. I've never cooked a whole Turkey before. With my nerves aside, I followed my instinct and this bird was by far the best bird I've ever tasted! It was perfection. Tender, moist and flavorful! And the skin was rich and crispy! You didn't even have to cut into the bird! It was Dee-licious. The legs peeled off..no cutting required. And oh my gosh...the gravy turned out FABULOUS. My secret weapon was BEER. Yes, Beer. A good ol' 24 oz of Miller High Life and lots of butter basting!! I lathered that bad bird up in butter. When you lifted it, the juices just oozed and the meat peeled off. I'd say it was a dead on Target grade A job for cooking my first Turkey. Beer, butter, Garlic powder, Onion Powder, Adobo, Paprika and salt will make one happy bird...TO EAT!!

I also made little place settings and found some cute napkins. I made some napkin ties that were festive. It was cute.

I also made garlic ranch mashed potatoes, the best sweet potato casserole, gravy, dream whip jello dessert, stuffing, pumpkin cream pie and banana cream pie.

My brother and sister-in-law came in from Korea to visit! They brought us all of these amazing little gifts from Korea. I got the cutest sets of handmade earings and a traditional Korean jewelry box made with Mother of Pearls. The boys got these really cute bags, fun crayons and puzzles, with that fun and colorful Asian Animation. Boricua got a cool shirt with Korean writing on it and some toe socks(those socks that have outlets for each little toesies! Popular there, since they were flip flops alot!!) It was great. We had a nice traditional laughing extravaganza! That's all we do when we get together! LAUGH LAUGH LAUGH!!

On the downside, I was dealing with a Migraine ALL DAY LONG!! My new medication made me dopey, I was really tired and felt some kind of cold coming on...so I physically felt poopy.

We all had a great time! The kids had a blast, they made a magnificant mess and all of us old hags sat around and did what we do best...laugh.

HOLIDAY PLANS

SO, here's the deal!

Our pressings needs are exceeding our limits. It's been a really tough few months! We have been working on getting on top of things, finding extra work and doing all that we can to take care of our pressing needs. Whenever we feel we MIGHT be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, something comes up and sets us back further than before! It's been a big dark hole we slowly start climbing out of, then we fall again and the hole somehow become deeper. It's been very distressing and overwhelming. Not knowing how you're going to pay your bills for the month or if you can put gas in your car is a very uneasy feeling to have! 2009 has BY FAR been the toughest year for us. It's been a rollercoaster of obstacles.

With our current situation, Boricua and I have decided to sell some of our precious items, to help take care of these pressing bills that continue to pile up. There's also that pressure for the gift buying for the Holidays and we decided to do gifts after Christmas, on Three Kings Day(January 6th). Our boys will have one gift to open on Christmas this year. We're hoping we can get a Christmas tree for our home too. I get a huge knot in my stomach, thinking my kids might go without the traditional Holiday things that bring in that spirit of joy. But my boys are still young and we all have eachother and that's what matters the most!

Please check my blog 'Simply Soosie's' and check out my items for sale. You or someone you know might be interested! It will help out our family TREMENDOUSLY! We must sell these items. I have pressing medical bills, future testing and observation for my eye and living expenses.
Please check it out, spread the word and know all of it is going toward a Family in need.

So...those are our Holiday plans! Nothing big, no big gifts, just Family togetherness and doing all we can to help others in need as well!

THANKS! :)

DISCOURAGEMENT..

I'm so discouraged about my figure rightnow...Just as I was feeling BETTER and losing inches, I go into my dr appointment, stepped on the scale and guess what; NO WEIGHTLOSS! I still weight the same! I'm totally perterbed. I don't know what to do now! It seems to be SO HARD to lose weight for me lately! My body is making me hold onto stuff for some reason...
And another thing...Hormones take merit over everything right now...I'm tired of some of my regular food intake and want a little junk food. I want more carbs. Either way, it doesn't matter anyway. Why should I bust my butt when I can't get any weight off?! It's really annoying...thus I'm DISCOURAGED about it ALL right now.

PS~ At my rehearsal Tuesday night, you could see my jiggle literally jiggle when I was dancing...it was humiliating. I just don't get it....
I really need to remember The Law Of Attraction when it comes to this and FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE! Then I will manifest my goals!
OH yah, and eat pizza, chocolate covered preztels and ramen noodles today! hehe. ;)

My Eyes...

I went to the Doctor today and finally got my eyes checked out. Doc didn't think the difference was a huge cause of concern(HOORAY!) but enough to kind of be baffled. He performed a number of tests on me and I did a basic eye test...turns out I didn't do so great. I was suggested to go see an Optometrist to get an eye exam and probably...GLASSES!! GLASSES?! Are you kidding me?! You know what though, I'd rather need a pair of glasses or lenses over some kind of pressure in my brain ANY DAY!
I was also given a prescription dose of Riboflavin and Prescription Medication for Migraines. They feel the Chronic Migraines could've contributed to it but they're not exactly sure yet. So, I go in next month to get them checked again.
I am grateful it is nothing serious! I kind of had a feeling all along everything would be okay. :)

HALLOWEEN PICTURES!

Halloween was FUN! It was cold and the kids didn't trick or treat as long as last year! My sister was with us! It was great! My mom made a yummy pumpkin cream soup with soutwest quesadillas and this amazing sauce! It was GREAT! OH! And her FAMOUS SUGAR COOKIES! I still have YEt to taste cookies better than hers! They are AMAZING!
BY THE WAY; Prince was CANDY CORN, WISE was a LION and my niece was Cinderella!
So much fun! :)