Doris, Doris, Doris!!!!

Okay - I was trying to catch up and check out everyone's blog this evening! Everything is going good and then I get to Dallas's blog! By the way, good list, Dallas! Scooby rocks!!!! LOL! :) Anyway, back to main topic! :) I go to leave a comment on his blog and, of course, I stop and read everyone elses. Well, well, well, let me tell ya! :) His previous blog was about the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" and there was a lot of talk about Captain Jack Sparrow. By the way, good first name, I think! :) Anyway, I get to a certain someone's comment and it tells me something that I didn't know ('cause I haven't seen the movie yet)! I am not gonna repeat it in case it is true! In case you are not following any of this - I am pretty sure that our good friend, Doris, gave away the ending!!!!! :) LOL! Too funny!!!!! :)
Just teasing ya a little, Doris!!!! Love ya!

Cissa's Top Ten Resolutions

Resolutions for 2007!!!!!! :)

1) Lose weight! (This one is pretty much on everyone's list I think)! Mine also includes getting in shape, drinking more water, etc.
2) Save money! (Shouldn't be as hard as we make it)!
3) Get organized! (I have actually already started this one this week)! Go, me!!!!! :)
4) Do more w/my photography! (If I just applied a teensy weensy bit more - that would be nice. I have already done a job this month and it felt good - I actually made money).
5) Cook more! (I need some good recipes - please pass some my way)! :)
6) Not hang onto things b/c I am too scared to let go (or maybe I'm a packrat)! :) This one goes w/number 3 to get organized!
7) Write more! (Like Miranda - I enjoy writing and getting my thoughts down on paper - I mean, computer)! LOL! :)
8) Start scrapbooking! (I used to do this and had a lot of fun. Then it became hard b/c it seemed everyone else's was just so great and mine was mediocre. I also got busy with babysitting and put scrapbooking on the back burner. Plus, I am compulsive and that made it hard to start and finish even one page. Anyway, I need to just scrap my pictures and not compare mine w/anyone elses. I also need to be aware of my OCD and try to focus, but not to the point of obsession).
9) Start something new (could be anything)! Time will tell! :)
10) Simply do better or should I say "try harder." (I blogged about this in a previous blog).

Okay - I am figuring that Miranda has peed her pants by now and has to go change!!! LOL! :) I wish everyone luck with all of our terrific goals for the year 2007!!!!!!! We should have a team blogging name, huh?! Or am I just a nut?! :))
HAPPY NEW YEAR MY BLOGGER BUDDIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas To All!

And to all a good night!!!!! :) It is officially December 26th and Christmas is over! Although it is always nice - I am glad to see it end! This time of year just seems so hard on so many people! For many - it is a happy occasion, but for far many more - it is sad! Plus, and I am guilty of this myself, but we, as a society, indulge our little ones way too much!! Sooooo, I am here today, writing it down ('cause they say it makes a difference) - but my goal for the new year is to do better! Now, I know this must sound a tiny bit vague, but it really isn't. I want to do better in all aspects of my life! I want to be a better wife, a better mother, a better daughter, a better sister, a better friend, etc. I want to eat better and exercise better. I want better health and better weight. I want to be in a better financial situation. I want to cook better and shop better. I want to have a better relationship w/the Lord!!! Soooooo, I think you get the picture! LOL! :) I am not expecting to be perfect or anything. I just want to try harder! I want to listen more and talk less! And my main goal hasn't changed one single bit - and that is to HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!! I want to always be smiling! I am going to hang up a picture of Steve Irwin b/c he is going to be my inspiration for this New Year's goal!!!!! His wife, Terri, in an interview, said that he was always fun! He taught her how to jump in mud puddles and run and play in the rain!!!!! I think that is simply profound!!!!! And I want to always be looking for the fun in life!!!! (B/c there is so much heartache and I want to enjoy the fun parts when they are right in front of me)!!!!!
Soooooo, I am writing it down so I can always be reminded of my words today! I will not be perfect, but trying to do "better" and having "fun" while trying! :))
Here's to a New Year to all of us!!!!!! May it bring great things!!!!!!!!!!!! And remember - sometimes great things come in small packages!!!!!!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love ya!

Update On My Brother!

Just a quick update about Heath! He went to the ER last night and had to wait forever - of course! Anyway, they ran tests and checked him over and it is NOT a blood clot!!!!! Thank goodness! They don't, however, know what it IS yet, so they sent him home. He is supposed to keep an eye on it for the next couple of days and then call his dr. on Tuesday. Soooooo, he had good news and "we don't know" news! LOL! :)) So far, so good! Keep those prayers a comin'!!!! :)))))
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have lots of work to do tonight (Santa's helpers called and asked me to help w/some work)! ;)
HAVE A GOO DAY TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE,
CissaLynn :)

Quick Update!

Hey fellow bloggers! Just got a call from my brother that he is going to the ER tonight! He has a big lump under his arm and it is swollen and they (medical people on phone) said that it sounds like it could "possibly" be a clot! SCARY!!! Anyway, he is going to the ER to get checked out! Please continue w/prayer for him!
Let's all try and remember the good times of 2006 b/c there are so many hard things mixed in! Yet, somehow, there is a lot of good hidden in between - ya know! For starters - two babies were born and that alone is such a miracle!
To Alyssa and Gracie!!!!!!!! We love you and look forward to the New Year w/you little ones in our lives!!!!!! You two precious babes are the good that came from a hard year!!!!! God Bless You!!!!!
Merry Christmas! I love you all (my blogger friends)! You have become such an important part of my life!!!! I thank you all for loving and caring about me!

Cissa Says!

I just wanted to ask everyone to keep my brother in your prayers for awhile. He is doing better with his foot, but Wal-Mart is giving him a bit of a hard time. The story is just waaaaaay to long to tell - and I think everything will be okay in the end - he is just feeling down right now. Plus, even though his foot is better - it will never be the same. He will probably always limp. The dr. said he will only have "at best" 50% mobility of his foot! He is only working 16 hrs. a week and that is seeming to be too much on him physically. He is getting sooooo bored and feeling a bit depressed. He is my baby brother!!!! I am eleven yrs older than him (no making fun of my age)! LOL! :) I just love him and I appreciate all the prayers! I am probably making him sound worse, but he had a bad day yesterday and I was concerned. Soooooooo, I called him and I went to Chillicothe and took him to see a movie! We both wanted to see that new movie "Rocky Balboa!" Both Heath and I are Rocky fans!!!!! Again, no making fun of me, but I have the whole "Rocky" DVD set! LOL! :) Well, the whole thing started out wrong right from the beginning! We get there to the theatre and stand in line (for our pops) forever!!!! The movie starts at 7:45 and we finally get thru the line right at that time. Not looking good seatwise, huh?! Oh, so right! We didn't have to sit in the front row - just the next one back! Second row at the end! Sooooooo, we are looking up way high plus have our heads turned to one side as well! LOL!!!!!!!!!! :)) Pretty funny! Seriously, though, we did have a fun time! And we have agreed to do things like that more often (just sitting farther back next time)! :) The only truly not so good part of the evening was that the movie was not good! Neither one of us was very impressed and like I said - we are both fans! Too bad 'cause it could have been real good. We didn't think there was much of a story line at all! And there were so many things they could have turned the story into! Overall, the movie was a let-down! Especially if you are a fan! I mean - the movie is "Rocky" so that in itself is fun to watch, but we've seen it "5" times before and those "5" times had a story along with it! I did, however, enjoy watching Sylvester on the big screen and up-close and personal, too!!! :))) I had forgotten how much I like him!!!!! Has anyone seen his arms in the movie "Cliffhanger?!" Hmmmmmmmmmm, hmmmmmmmm, hmmmmmmmmmm - that is all I can say!!!!!!!!!!! :))
Cissa Says: Two thumbs down for the movie!
Cissa Says: Two thumbs up for Stallone!!!!! :)

Cissa's Big Ten!

My all-time favorite animated friends (not in any particular order): :))

1) Tom and Jerry (on everyone's list 'cause they are the best)!
2) Mufasa (from Lion King)
3) Road Runner
4) Scooby-Doo
5) Smurfs (a favorite when I was little - used to watch it w/my sister)
6) Mickey Mouse
7) Belle
8) Tarzan
9) Buzz Lightyear
10) Spirit

It is always hard coming up w/the final list b/c there are always more than enough answers to choose from! And it is always fun reading and comparing my lists w/everyone elses!!!! :))

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO CARRIE!!!!!

I hope she finds this as funny as I did!!!!!!!

Love ya!!!!!! :)

Christmas Surprise!!!!!!!!

I just had to blog and tell everyone about my Christmas surprise!!!!! Mark and I do not usually buy each other gifts for Christmas anymore! Ever since we have had children - we just decided to stop buying for one another. We are usually okay with this arrangement, but every now and then (when I hear about a "cool" present a friend got from their husband) - every now and then - I miss it a little! I never complain, though, because I've got a real good man and he is good to me and that is what matters most! :) Well, my "real good man" just surprised me with a brand-new LAP TOP COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still in shock!!!!!!! I was working on some pictures that I had taken of a friend's children and our main computer was taking forever!!!!!! By the end of the evening - along with me discovering some secret emails - and the gig was up!!!!!!! Mark left the room and came back w/my totally awesome Christmas present!!!!!!!!! It truly was a wonderful and unsuspected surprise! We had talked about getting one, but figured we would wait until summer. The best part of all is that this laptop is considered for me!!!!!! WooHoo!!!!!!! Now - I can blog wherever I go!!!!!! Anyway, I just had to share my joy w/all of my blogger friends!!!!!!! It is such a rare occasion when I get such an awesome treat for myself!!!!! It feels good!!!! And it is nice to blog about something happy (y'all know I don't hesitate to tell the bad)! LOL! I just wanted to share the good stuff as well!
Btw, you can call me Carrie Bradshaw now!!!!! (She is the writer from the TV series "Sex and the City"). They always show her typing on her laptop!!!! :))

Cissa's Top Ten!

My top ten reasons why I love Christmas!!!!! :)

1) Christmas music (you only get to really listen to this special music about six weeks all year long).
2) Buying presents for my boys! :)
3) My boys (and children in general) believing in Santa Claus! :)
4) Taking kids to the mall to see Santa! :)
5) Christmas Lights! Beautiful!!!!!!! (On a Christmas tree or a house decorated)!
6) Receiving Christmas cards in the mail!
7) PICTURES!!!!! I love taking/sending my own and receiving everyone else's! :)
8) The look of candy canes and the smell of cinnamon! :)
9) Giving to others! Especially an unsuspecting family!!! :)
10) I saved the BEST FOR LAST: Knowing that this is the time of year when Baby Jesus was born and what that means for us!!!! :)

I would just like to say that I am proud of myself!!!!! I got my list done fairly quickly and I am usually last!!!!!! Go, Cissa! Go, Cissa!!!!!!! LOL! Seriously, I hope everyone enjoys my top ten and I am looking forward to reading yours!!!!!!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOBBY!

Believe it or not - I got to see another movie last weekend!!!!! Yippee!!!!! My mom watched my kiddies overnight last Saturday, so Mark and I got to see a real-life, go to the theatre movie!!!!!! Unfortunately, there wasn't a movie playing that I had been "waiting to see!" Those good ones are soon to come out! We did, however, agree on the new one about Bobby Kennedy! It had so many good actors in it, so we felt pretty safe that it had to, at the very least, be intertaining!!! LOL! :) Well, let me tell you!!!!! It was GOOD!!!!!! I must admit - I did not know the whole story about Bobby's death. I mean, I have heard about JFK all of my life, but not much really about Bobby! It was just a really good, very interesting movie! And, I have heard since, that the accounts of the people, in the movie, were based on real-life! Get out!!!!!!!! I did not know that, either!!!!! (I am still not positive if this is true, so if anyone knows, please let me know)! That would really make the movie that much more intertaining! :) And I must end by saying this: after seeing this movie - I now realize - that the Kennedy's were definately special!!! For the world to love them the way we have - that is priceless! And listening to Bobby's speeches throughout the movie (which were the real ones during his election) - I fell in love with him, too! What can I say?! :) He looked like an ordinary man w/an ordinary family - someone we could all identify with! I think he genuinely knew what this world needed as did his brother! It is a shame that their lives were taken. I think they offered great things to our country, but they still had more to give. It would be interesting to know how things would have gone had they not been killed! Anyway, I just have a newfound respect that I was lacking before! :)
Cissa Says: TWO THUMBS UP!!!!!! A MUST-SEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Next on my list of must-see movies: Charlotte's Web!!!!! Can't wait!!! :)

Cissa's Big Ten Songs

Okay guys! I know I took WAAAAAAY longer than everyone else to get this list done, but, MAAAN, it was HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally sat down and went through my CD collection and picked some of my all-time faves!!!!! There were way more that I could have chosen, but since the rule is only ten - I followed the rule!!!!! That in itself is an accomplishment!!! LOL! :) Anyway, here goes:

(in no particular order)
1) "My Heart Will Go On" - Celine Dion - this is the movie where I got Jack's name from! :)
2) "Landslide" - Fleetwood Mac (sang by Stevie Nicks)!
3) "Livin' On A Prayer" - BonJovi
4) "Jack and Diane" - John Cougar Mellencamp
5) "Same Old Lang Syne" - Dan Fogelberg
6) "Thriller" - Michael Jackson
7) "What Have You Done For Me Lately" - Janet Jackson
8) "Crazy" - Aerosmith
9) "Against All Odds" - Phil Collins
10) "It's Your Love" - Tim McGraw (w/Faith Hill)

Whew!!!!! I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I must repeat and say it again, but there were MANY, MANY more that I did not list!!!! I think we need to do a Top 10 Country and Top 10 Christian - just to be fair!!!! :)) Anyway, these ones right here are some of my faves!!!! Enjoy!!!! :))

Cissa Says!

I stayed up VERY LATE the other night and watched a movie that I "thought" was going to be good! It turned out, however, to not be so good after all! I am very sorry to say that someone's man named "Viggo" starred in it - no wonder I thought it would be good!!! :) Unfortunately, it just didn't have good writing in it! I mean, watching Viggo was the best part!!!! :) It was violent w/a lot of shooting and had a pretty vivid sex scene (not too much nudity, but explicit)! Now - I could take the violence and all - it is just that the movie didn't take us anywhere (had a good plot, but somehow never made it work). Too bad, 'cause Viggo is GOOD!!!!! Oh, I guess you are probably wondering the "name" of this not-so-hot movie!!!! LOL! It is called "A History of Violence." :)
Cissa Says:
Two Thumbs Up for Viggo!
Two Thumbs Down for the movie!

Cissa's Big Ten!

10 Favorite Places Of All time!!!!!!!!!!

Now, keep in mind that I haven't traveled to very many places, so I tried to think of places where I totally have had fun!!!!!!! Here goes:

1) DISNEY WORLD!!!!!! Definately the happiest place on earth!!!!!!!!!! :)
2) NEW MEXICO - Have been there two times (my aunt lives there and I love the weather)!
3) CALIFORNIA - San Francisco - Definately the coolest place I've been too! Plus, Mark's sister lives in Chico, California!
4) NEW YORK!!!! Also a cool place! I have only been there one time, but hope to return! I have to seek and find my man Leo (or men - John Travolta and Joaquin and Brad Pitt) or hey, even some famous women friends (Kelly Ripa and Britney Spears) or couples (Tom and Katie).
5) CINCINNATI - Newport Aquarium and Cincinnati Zoo.
6) COLUMBUS ZOO - I just LOOOOOOOVE this place!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel comfort there amongst my animal friends!!!!!!!!!! :)
7) HOCKING HILLS - Peaceful place!!!!! I have fond memories of going there w/my mom and sister for a weekend visit and then, this past August, w/Mark's family!
8) SCHILLER PARK - Peaceful place again! I grew up going there and have taken my own kids (and most any child I have ever watched) there w/me!!!!!!
9) CARDOS - Best pizza around - what more can I say! I will drive very far to get there so, thank goodness, they returned to Circleville a few yrs. ago! :)
10) KINGS ISLAND/ALUM CREEK - These two were sort of a tie! I love to go to both! Each one brings a smile to my children's faces. And they are both fun, but in different ways!

I wrote at the top that I was listing places where I have had fun! While I was writing - I started to think about Terri Irwin (Steve Irwin's wife). She did an interview w/Barbara Walters (after Steve passed away) and something she said stuck w/me! When Barbara asked her what did Steve teach her - this is what Terri said (I may not say it exactly right, but you'll know what I mean). Terri said that Steve taught her how to HAVE FUN!!!!!! Terri said that Steve had FUN every day! He played in mud puddles and would run out in the rain! :) I remember thinking how sweet that was and that I wanted to be like that! Writing my Big Ten simply reminded me of that interview. It reminded me of where I go to have FUN! But I also realized - as I typed this - that I can try and have FUN in anything and everything that I do! I can choose to have fun! I can MAKE things that aren't really fun - I can try and turn it into fun! Ya know what I mean!!!!!! :)) Anyway, just a thought of mine - and I decided to share!
Love you all!!!!!!!!