Monday, August 10, 2009
Just so you know...
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Baby Bendel
I'm so excited to share this news with all of you. I love you all!!
Sarah
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
One word
Your hair? Gross
Your father? Gone
Favorite thing? Chance
Your dream last night? Non-existant
Your favorite drink? Lemonade
Your dream goal? Motherhood
The room you are in? Office
Your fear? Loneliness
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
Muffins? Eww
One of your wish list items? Sewing machine
Where did you grow up? Paducah
The last thing you did? Slept
What you are wearing? Pajamas
Your t.v.? Broken
Your pets? Perfect
Your computer? Dead
Your life? Changing
Your mood? Unsure
Missing someone? Daily
Your car? Crap
Favorite store? Limited
Your favorite color? Red
When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
Last time you cried? Yesterday
Three people who email you? Deb, Gran, Brandi
Three of my favorite foods? Tomatoes, bacon, ice cream
Three places I would rather be right now? Disney World, Hawaii, Paris
Monday, June 22, 2009
A bittersweet sunday.. and an update.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Oh Ollie...
Friday, June 12, 2009
Our Stephen...
Has it really been nearly a month???
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
100 things.
- My husband, Chance.
- God.
- Faith.
- My marriage.
- Freedom.
- Tyler.
- Baylei.
- Oliver.
- Family.
- Maria.
- Ashley.
- Friends.
- Lindsay.
- Kelsey.
- My job.
- The girls I work with.
- Vacation time. {only 4 more days of work!}
- Sunny days.
- New episodes of NCIS and American Idol tonight.
- Chocolate chip cookie cakes.
- Ice Cream cakes.
- Chance's Iphone.
- Christmas.
- All holidays.
- Christianity.
- Books.
- Movies.
- Tanning.
- Birthdays.
- Email.
- The sun.
- Prayer.
- Clean water to drink.
- Golden Corral restaurants.
- Outback Steakhouses.
- My clothes.
- My shoes.
- My purses.
- Facebook.
- The United States of America.
- Cars.
- Electricity.
- Traveling.
- Fox News.
- My Mother-in-law's banana pudding.
- The Limited.
- TJ Maxx.
- Modern medicine.
- Doctors.
- Logitech Harmony remote.
- My recipe book {post on that later.}
- Washing machines.
- Dishwashers.
- My blog.
- www.photobucket.com
- www.picnik.com
- Pictures.
- Cameras.
- Woodchuck.
- Steel Magnolias.
- Scrapbooks.
- Our DVR {that happens to be 80% full at the moment.}
- The big city feel of Nashville, TN.
- The small town feel of Paducah, KY.
- Target.
- Starbucks.
- Hobby Lobby.
- Chic-Fil-A.
- Being debt free.
- Air conditioning.
- Music.
- Bonfires.
- Grilling out.
- Swimming pools.
- August.
- September.
- Memories.
- Photoblog.
- Hugs.
- Polka Dots.
- Hydrangeas.
- Poppies.
- My poppies.
- Having 100 things to be thankful for.
- Sunglasses.
- Antiques.
- HomeAgain microchipping.
- Veterinarians.
- Flea markets.
- Cheetos. {which reminds me, I left a new bag at work.}
- My boss, Jesa. And the super motivating things she said to me yesterday.
- Online banking.
- Those buttons on soft drink machines that let you put vanilla, lime or CHERRY in your soda. Thank you Hucks!
- Text messaging.
- Inside jokes with good friends.
- Blue jeans.
- My red pea-coat.
- My ceramic straightener.
- Tylenol PM.
- Caffiene.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Pigs...
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Oh where does the time go?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tyler Nikolas Buddy Bendel, our baby.
Everything
Speaking of gardening, these are my new babies. My pretty pretty poppies have "popped" through!! I can't wait until they're all grown up. I think I'm going to put them in the kitchen.
The Bendel's Easter 2008
This whole swine flu thing has me wanting to bathe in anti-bacterial gel, spray my house down with lysol, and put plastic over all the windows and doors. It's terrifying! I'm praying that it doesn't make its way into my small corner of the world.
Friday, April 3, 2009
No fun.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Ummmm,
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wooo-Hooo!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Untitled.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The BIG day!
I'll post pics of the after later!
Happy Fat Tuesday!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
How well do you know your husband?
Whew..
1. Nik, our baby, is epileptic. He's been having seizures, and now has to take phenobarbital for the rest of his life. Chance and I are now on some kind of national registry, because we have to adminiter a narcotic- a controlled substance to our dog. Fun.
2. I want this rug, right now.
3. Something I found on the internet, that I found surprisingly poignant.
Open Letter to President Obama
Dear President Obama -
There are plenty of shallow things I care about - like University of Illinois basketball and the sad state of rock & roll - but I can’t really afford to do much of that anymore because you keep screwing up. By the way, you can expect this to be incendiary. I am pissed. And I want you to know it. I am tired of glad-handing and playing grab-ass.
You keep perpetuating the madness of previous administrations.
1. You’ve hired a bunch of the same people that were the architects of this economic and social disaster in the first place.
2. You’ve canned campaign promises left and right just like your predecessors - such as with the lobbyists you have hired that you said you wouldn’t hire.
3. You’ve blathered on about hope and change - and I guess I hope you change your ways - but you have managed to destroy my hope that you had it in you to change things for the better instead of the underwhelming fortitude to wallow in pursuit of the status quo. Are you a shill for corporations, sir, just like all the others?
You keep bungling opportunities in crisis for real change.
1. You could have pushed single payer health care with private delivery in any stimulus package, but you didn’t. Why not?
2. You could have initiated steps for recovering some funds and dramatically altered (for the better) the state of our planet by generating a comprehensive carbon tax, but you didn’t. Why not?
3. You could have developed a small speculation tax so Wall Street could bail out itself, instead of breaking the backs of us taxpayers with little to show for it, but you didn’t. Why not?
Are you a coward, sir?While I am sure you thought it was pretty awesome to go to Chicago over the long holiday weekend and play basketball with your buddies, I thought it was pretty not awesome that my dad lost his job over the same weekend because you and your cronies in Treasury and at that god-forsaken Federal Reserve have no backbone when it comes to forcing the banks (you know, the guys who contributed tons of cash to your campaign) to move capital around a bit so we plebeian can keep our 9 to 5.
I recognize you inherited a mess. I also recognize you do not understand or embrace the concept of boldness. I don’t care that this is the biggest piece of legislation in history - that means nothing to me, or my father, or millions of others out there who are struggling, stressing, and dying. I know there is no easy solution. I also know you have demonstrated very little acumen for finding any portion of one. I want to hear about accountability, Mr. Obama. I don’t want to hear excuses. Simply put, you work for the American people. You work for me. And you stink at your job. You don’t have a hundred days or whatever the mainstream press is using as a deadline for judgment. I can tell you now that you are screwing up royally.And it is not just with the economy.I don’t want you to use the state of the economy as an excuse for keeping us in perpetual war and occupation status in Afghanistan and the rest of the world. That’s been done, and that isn’t change, Mr. Obama. That’s a repeat of World War II and continuation of Bush policy. So are those infiltrations into Pakistan. You are a smart guy. You know Pakistan is a sovereign nation. I know you’d like to solve their issues for the sake of “national security” but I think we have a few problems of our own here at home that you are bungling and that need your full attention. Plus, they don’t like it when you kill human beings inside their sovereign borders. Are you a war-monger er, just like so many of the others? A moment for pettiness - stop using “look” and “listen” to begin so many of your damn sentences. Most of us who are paying attention are looking and listening. It’s not like you are going to get more people to look and listen simply demanding it. I know your staffer is getting bored with this letter, so I will close and keep it simple by summing up what I have said, and will do so by making a few demands of my own.
Brief digression - I won’t expect any real response on paper, because that would take too much time from a lowly staffer’s normal duties of chasing down your brand of smokes and looking for that errant black sock lost in the laundry. I also won’t expect any real results in the coming years of your presidency: I may be a fool (for the simple fact that I am not in Washington already harassing the crap out of you and your cronies), but I am not gullible, Mr. Obama.
1. Have David Plouffe (you know, the guy you have sending annoying peppy emails every other day) send an email laying out which campaign promises you have broken, which ones you really intend to keep, and which ones you envision being difficult to keep. In other words, cut the crap.
2. In every speech you make, and in every stand you take, include single payer health care as the highest priority. Make it happen. If you are going to break our backs in a thousand other ways, at least make sure we have health care as a right, rather than a privilege.
3. Begin global discussions on a universal carbon tax. Use that noggin of yours and recognize cap and trade won’t solve anything. Unilaterally start a carbon tax against the worst polluters here in the good old US of A.
4. Tax the crap out of corporations that have no state loyalty. Again, you are a smart guy. You know what I mean here.
5. Implement a small speculation tax immediately, so these corporations can pay for their own buffoonery.
6. Apologize to the American people for being such a tool for these same corporations. Prime-time. On National TV. Then stop being a tool for these same corporations.
7. Stop the war-mongering. Now. Bring our daughters, sons, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives home.
8. If you choke on any of 1 -7, resign.
Sincerely,
Gregory Vickrey
Plebeian
Angry Citizen
Illinois Fan
Sunday, February 15, 2009
My sweet sweet valentine.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Never a dull moment.
In happier news, we now have electricity. And I have a new shiny garage door opener for my car!
Monday, February 9, 2009
My hearts desire...
I have wanted to be a mommy since I knew what being a mommy was. Anyone who knows me can attest to that. When I was in kindergarten and the teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I quickly responded with "I want to be a mommy." {However, I've always felt that conceiving would be difficult for me.} The sight, smell, and feel of an infant are absolutely intoxicating for me. I love to hold their little feet in my hands, to caress their soft wisps of hair, to feel their soft breathing next to my chest. {Tears well up in my eyes just thinking about it. I'm such a sap.} Sometimes when I don't have anything else to do online, I look at photos of nurseries, and baby bedding, or baby clothing. I've had baby fever since the moment Chance and I walked back up that aisle after saying our "I Do's", maybe a little before that if I'm being completely honest here. It comes in spurts, sometimes the longing subsides, other times my mind dances with thoughts of nurseries, bath times and bed times. Many people say that I'm too young, or that Chance and I haven't been married long enough. Those people are the same people that said I was too young to get married and wagered in their minds whether we'd even make it to 6 months. I've always known I would marry young, and I hoped I would shortly there after become a mommy. 18 months have come and gone with not so much as a glimmer of hope. Let me make it clear, Chance and I are not actively "trying" to conceive. I'm aware that, that would be foolish. I know that God will bless us when we are "ready" in his eyes. That being said, Chance and I have done nothing to prevent pregnancy for over 2 years now. According to my doctor this is when we get serious with fertility treatments, if I want to ever have a baby. I'm not sure that I'm on board with all the medicines, ultra sounds and bloodwork again just yet. {Chance and I VERY briefly tried to conceive in early 2008, but I was exhausted with work, and the 5 ultrasounds a month and taking 6 medicines was just too much for my body.} The doctors say that I have Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome {PCOS}- not sure that I entirely buy into that. I've begun to feel as though that's the new blanket diagnosis when the doctors don't really have and answer for why a twenty something, perfectly heathy woman can't conceive. Chance is a strong believer in, "It will happen when it's supposed to happen." and "This isn't going to happen on our timeline." I know with all of my heart that both of those things are true. Though it doesn't make the yearning andy less. He ofcourse would be thrilled with a new baby, he's very opinionated on the topic of baby names. We've agreed on Olivia Kaye and Elliot James. But he doesn't have the strong desire that I do and he doesn't really understand my fear that I won't be able to naturally be a mother. I'm not sure that he could understand completely. He's supportive and is always willing to hold me when I cry. {Which I usually do at least 2 times a week.} I pray for deliverance from the desire to be a mother, but feel no relief. I pray for a blessing of our own. I'm not really sure why I feel compelled to share such personal information, in such an unprivate arena. I don't really talk about it to very many people. But lately I've felt like I was going to explode. Chance is getting less patient with me on the subject. And my friends say all the right things but are in different places in their lives and just don't wholy understand. I feel very alone for the first time in my life, and I am surrounded by more people than ever. I work with a wonderful group of women, some who have children others who don't. I have a wonderful husband and family. Yet still I feel completely isolated. I'm beginnig to doubt that I'm meant to be a mother, but then again I can't believe that my God would give me such a strong desire if He didn't intend for me to become a mommy. So I suppose that for now I will be praying until I'm blue in the face- or round in the belly.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Ooooh, How exciting!!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Aahh, back to reality...
Last Monday night {1-26-09} I got off work at around 7. It had already started. Ice and snow were coming down. By the time we woke up Tuesday morning it looked like this. We took Nik to the doctor, got him re-bandaged. And by the time we got him home at 11:30, we had no power. We were on our way to Nashville by 2 pm. Reidland's water tower was running out of water, and there was a pesky rumor going around that we would be loosing running water. Chance couldn't handle that.We stayed in Nashville 2 nights. It was a nice retreat. We had dinner, went shopping, it was nice to just be alone. No in-laws! When we got home we were greeted with mass power outages {some places still don't have power and the next county over hasn't had running water for a week.} Western KY has been blessed, so many out of town workers have come, the National Guard is going door to door to make sure everyone is ok. We lost all of our trees, but everyone is healthy. That's all that really matters. I really suprised myself. I handled it with more grace that I thought I could. I did better than Chance, but he'd deny that. Thankfully we were lucky enough to get a generator on Friday and actually got power on Sunday night {and cable today.} I was soo pleased to be able to come home and get on the internet. I had 207 items in my google reader. That took a while! Thank you to all of you who had us in your thoughts and prayers this past week, we needed it!
Monday, January 26, 2009
oh what to do...
And to look like this person for him.
Both I'm sad to say are not happening in the next 3 weeks. I'm disgusted wiht myself. I'm usually so good at these things.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
An apology.
Hello, my name is Sarah Bendel. I owe you an apology. Sit down, because I don't do this often. I'm very sorry that I wrote such nasty things about you last week, I was wrong. Because as it turns out you came the very next day! And my hopeful concrete slab turned in just a week and a half into a home, of course there are no interior walls, no electricity, and only half of the siding is up. But I am so thankful for that little (I guess it's not so little anymore) beackon of hope everything I look out the window. It's beautiful. Thank you so much for the gorgeous front door, with those pretty windows on either side I asked you for. Boy did you deliver mister! Who knew that something as simple as a front door could be so beautiful. OOh, and you put in my windows too, they're so nice. I have to confess that I may or may not have gone back there and opened one of the windows, just to day I did it. It made me very happy. I can't wait to see the roofing company come next week and for the rest of the siding to be put up. Then the fun starts. Working on the interior, and even though Chance want's to do that on his own, I'm pretty sure that you'll only be a phone call away if I need you. Please accept my sincere apology for writing such nasty things about you, and saying even nastier things. I'm so sorry. Maybe I'll bake you some cookies to show my appreciation, eh maybe not.
My sincerest apologies,
Mrs. Bendel
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Should have known.. part 2
Should have known.
Monday, January 5, 2009
I'm soooo excited!!
We spoke with the contractor this morning.
They're dropping off the supplies this afternoon.
I'm so excited. Words cannot express how anxious I am to be able to decorate my own place. I've been tinkering with my mother-in-laws, moving her things around almost daily. But nothing replaces making something completely your own. I've been searching the web for months now gathering ideas an color schemes. I thought I'd share some of my favorites.
Many thanks to the Nester for all of her wonderful ideas. (Many of the photos came from her blog.)