New Year....New Me!

Well...Maryland has officially thawed out! We got 20 inches of snow! UNHEARD of for this area! I just had to sit back and shake my head at how inept everyone was to handle the panic! We have picnics in this type of snow in Maine (not really but you get my drift) I guess the phrase..."We're not in Kansas anymore" came to mind :P

I am super excited about this New Year. I have quite a few goals to accomplish this year. Last year we accomplished two out of our three major goals and I think that is a great success!! I have decided that I want to become a more knowledgeable person. I want to know more about some of my favorite things so I will be reading everything I can get my hands on in interior design and romance! My major goals are as follows:

1. LOSE WEIGHT! I mean ALL of the excess!!!
2. Write down one thing each day that states what I love about Julio!
3. Take more classes i.e. a self-defense class, scrapbooking class..etc.
4. Keep my house clean EVERYDAY!!!
5. Keep all my magazine articles organized on a weekly basis
6. Be more positive
7. Get our own place
8. Take my vitamins more faithfully
9. Find more things to be thankful for each day
10. Make myself a better person, inside and out!!!

I also want to keep in touch better with far away friends and that means BLOGGING MORE!!!!!! I feel very motivated this year. I hope you all catch the spirit and keep me motivated too!!!! My motto for this year is New Year...New Me!

Reindeer Games

My kitties put up with a lot! Rocky would have no part of this picture, but Parker stood still for a few seconds!!!

Tomorrow is date night and I can't wait!! Gonna get Chinese food, maybe go walk around the mall, and come home and watch movies! I love my husband!

I still have soooooo much Christmas shopping to do! I am one of those last minute shoppers! So hopefully next week I will be all done!

It's The Most WONDERFUL Time of the YEAR!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Wow..this month is just flying by! I have barely had time to breathe. Between work and sickness, I was lucky to find time to GET a tree, let alone DECORATE one!!!!! Oh well....we found one! And I have to say it is our best one yet. Each year we go to the same place, and each year we keep finding a better and better tree!!! I look forward to Christmas 2026 if it keeps going LOL!!!

Every mom feels that their children are the most beautiful. Well I have to say I feel the same way for my "kids". I tend to think that Parker is one of the most gorgeous kitties I have ever seen. And Rocky is the cutest! But then again, I am pretty biased!!

Our tree!!! Okay I have a very bad confession. I am EXTREMELY picky when it comes to decorating (shocker huh?!) and I have never let Julio help me. Put down the rotten fruit people because this year I let him help. And I have to say it is our most beautiful one to date! We had so much fun! I roasted a chicken, we watched Rudolph and just had an amazing date night! What a blessing he is to put up with my picky ways!
Every year I get a new piece for my Christmas village. This year I got a "big" one to make up for the two I missed our first two Christmases. This one has a mechanical train that goes in that little tunnel. IT SCARES THE KIBBLES OUT OF PARKER!!! Rocky finds it fascinating, but our little twinkle toes Parker runs when we turn it on! He gets so freaked out the hair on his back stands up. He puts a whole new spin on "fradey cat"
I am so proud of these. When I was little, I remember having an advent calendar that had candy behind each window. For YEARS, I searched for one that I loved......here it is. All three pieces have little slots, such as the church steeple, doors, the trees on the last house, etc. and they all have a countdown number and a place to put candy!!! What fun it is to open each one!! I got it at Costco for 15 dollars!!!!

You may ask, "Mandy, why are you posting a picture of your toilet?" Excellent question. IT"S PENGUIN THEMED NOW!!!!!!!!!!

God knew I needed a man with a sense of humor and boy did he bless me many times over. I regret not letting Juli help years ago, but you live and learn
And lastly.....my chunkasaurus! I have such a special bond with Rocky and he knows it. I put up with his cranky days, and he puts up with my weird decorating habits!!!


* If you think about it, Julio has his journeyman test tomorrow at 2pm. This is a HUGE deal for him and has a big role in our future. Pray that the outcome is in his favor, or that he learns a lot from taking the test. Merry Christmas to everyone! I would LOVE to see pics of everyone's trees!!!

Friend Makin Monday

Saw this on Alisha's Blog and thought I would try it out. Just a little survey to let people know some not so vital, but somewhat interesting, things about me.



1. Favorite website
Amazon.com

2. Favorite color
PINK

3. Facebook?
Yes. More often than I should

4. Favorite Christmas song?
Marshmallow World

5. Christmas tree: Real or fake?
Very Real!!

6. Hottest celebrity?
Taylor Lautner and Gerard Butler

7. Favorite restaurant?
Ketchup

8. Favorite magazine?
Martha Stewart Living

9. Favorite thing to drink around the holidays?
Mt. Dew!!!!!!!

10. Favorite Christmas movie.
Hands down..."The Muppet Christmas Carol"

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Not much going on here. Work and decorating. Will post pictures soon.

Although....a very special little person was born on 11/26 and I am so happy!! Carly Nicole was born to two very wonderful people!!!

On ANOTHER note....my "baby" sister turned 20 today. That makes me feel extremely OLD!!!!!!!

So.....dizzy.....

Well...another "war" story to go in the vault. Saturday was an ....eventful..yeah let's use that word....day. About half an hour BEFORE my shift was to end, a puggle came in for a nail trim...no big deal....happens all the time. HA! This dog REALLY didn't want to get them done. He started biting, so we muzzled him and braced ourselves. Some dogs will quiet right down when they get the muzzle on, others....not so much. This one was the latter. He thrashed just at the wrong moment and thrashed right into the side of my head. Well I grinned and bore it to get the stupid thing done, but was in real pain. My ear was all red and I had the worst migraine I have had in years. I got off work, went home and took some pain meds, went to sleep and slept for 13 hours straight...looking back..not the greatest idea ever. When I woke up on Sunday I knew I was in a world of trouble. I was dizzy, nauseated, vision blurry, sensitive to light...all bad signs. I had a 5 hour shift that I couldn't miss so I went in to work. That didn't last long. They took one look at me, filed a report and sent me home.

I went to the dr.s yesterday and lo and behold I have a tear in my eardrum, head trauma, and temporary vertigo. Even as I type this the room is spinning LOL! And to top it all off, Julio had a seizure on the way to the drs. If we aren't the perfect couple when it comes to health I don't know who is. So I am on three medicines for the infection, nausea, and vertigo. I am hoping it gets better by Thursday as that is when I have been given the okay to return to work....so till then...MORE BLOG TIME!

Lazy bones

As the year winds down, so does my energy :P I just feel so very tired today! Probably all this rain! But we all know what is next month and I couldn't be happier!!! I have already picked out my ribbon, Christmas sweaters, and porcelain village piece for this year!!!

Tonight I am taking my hubby out for a date. He always takes me, so I wanted to take him to his favorite place to eat! We are going to Mi Rancho, the best Tex Mex restaurant in the state in our opinion!!!!

Not much news wise. Work is going well for both of us and we finally feel like we are making it out of this huge hole we have found ourselves in. Keep on keeping on I guess :P I hope everyone is doing well and trying to stay well in this time of sickness!!!

After 5 years......

I finally found the PERFECT curtains!!!!!!! I got a new bedding set and was casually looking at the curtains that matched and realized they were PERFECT for my living room!!! I originally bought two because I thought it was just the valance. Once I opened them up....I found it was the valance, AND two attached panels with tie backs!!!!!!!!!! You don't know how much of a blessing this is for me!!! I am the type to go without something rather than settle with something I don't fully love, so that is why for 5 plus years my windows have had no treatment whatsoever! Not anymore!!!!!!!!

Below is my new winter bedding set. I absolutely LOVED my one I had last winter but unfortunately ruined it by drying it in the dryer...oops! But I found this one at Walmart.com and could not be happier with it!!! Can you tell whose side of the bed is whose? LOL!!!!! I embrace my husbands collections that is for sure! Someday we will have a room just devoted to Spiderman and movie memorabilia.....someday!
I hope to hear from everyone soon *HINT HINT* I seem to be one of the only ones in BLOGWORLD right now!

Proud to be an American

Truly this is one of our greatest accomplishments this year. After thousands of dollars, 21 years and more paperwork than imaginable, my husband is now an American citizen!!! I am so proud of him! He has wanted this for so long! He always says he is American born in a Spanish country since he came when he was little. He doesn't even have an accent and barely even speaks Spanish LOL!!! It was an amazing sight to see so many people with a desire to become citizens! I truly had teary eyes the whole ceremony!!! Since pictures were limited, there are only a few. But they are the first of Julio, an American citizen!


Tomorrow I work my first closing shift, 12:30-9 and I am actually looking forward to it. I have gotten to sleep in for the past two days and I fear I am getting too used to it LOL! Work is going very well though!

You know it's the little things!

Julio got me three pairs of new socks today (yes I have an obsession...no I will NOT admit I have a problem..you can NEVER have too many socks!!) and these were my favorites.....for obvious reasons...I mean come on....penguins AND toe socks!!!!!!

Tomorrow is Julio's swearing in ceremony. At 9 am, the US will have a new citizen!!!!!

We had a little Yorkiepoo puppy come in that literally looked like a walking ball of fluff!!! It never went in a kennel because we just had it out on the floor playing with her!! What a cutie!

This is a wheaten terrier and it is now my dog of choice!! They are such sweeties! After they are done, they always look like teddy bears and their hair is like those nice plush blankets!!!
And this is my ultimate puppy! A teacup Yorkie! I really want one of these little cuties too! By the time we are done getting our dream animals, we won't have any room for us!!!

October 10, 2006

It is with heavy heart that I post this blog. October 10, 2006 our daughter was born into Heaven. Elisabeth Nicole Zuleta died at 2:01 am weighing 2lb 2 oz. 12 inches long.

September 26, 2006 we went for a routine ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. My mother in law came with us since we were hoping to find out for her birthday. The technician would not show us anything or tell us things about the baby. She said she couldn't see if it was a boy or girl. I didn't know this was abnormal because my first pregnancy ended at 7 weeks. After she was done, she told my that I needed to call my doctor immediately because she wanted to set up an appointment for Monday. So we went in Monday thinking we were going to just get another ultrasound. How wrong I was. You know that ugly feeling when you walk into a room and you KNOW something isn't wrong, that was the first thing I felt when my OBGYN came into the examining room. The first thing I said was "What is wrong with my baby?" She then proceeded to tell us that she believed she had Turner's Syndrome , which I had never even heard of. Apparently, only 10% of baby's that have Turner's Syndrome even make it to 12 weeks, here I was 20 weeks. So I felt that maybe there was some hope that our baby would beat the odds. We were set up for an amniocentesis, which is a test where they put a needle into your uterus through your abdomen and take an amniotic fluid sample. They can test for any chromosome disorders. Here is where we got an even greater blow. Not only did she have TS, but her lungs were only developed to a stage of 11 weeks, her heart was backwards, and her arms and legs were deformed. They told me it was a miracle I had not lost the baby before then. They told us it was a waiting game. I woke up every morning to face the fact that eventually, my baby was going to die, and left to wonder whether today would be the day.

October 9th I could not sleep. I had a really bad back ache and seemed to just toss and turn. I had also started to leak fluid. Soon the back ache got so bad I could barely stand. It was Columbus Day and my Dr. was closed so they paged her and sent me to the ER. They did an ultrasound and found out that our precious daughter had already passed away and that my body had gone into labor. I was 2 cm dilated but was not effacing. They admitted me, gave me cervadil and told me to wait. They offered me the epidural which I foolishly denied because they told me it would be 24 to 48 hours before I would be ready to push and I didn't want to be confined to a bed that long. They gave me Stadol which put me to sleep for four hours. At 1:45 am I woke up in excruciating pain and paged the nurse. They paged the anesthesiologist to give me the epidural but my nurse told me I was at 10 cm and ready to push. Not only was I doing it pain med free with no reward at the end, the baby was also breeched. They thought that with the amount of time they thought I had that she would naturally turn. WRONG. It very much felt like a horror movie. The lights were all dull, I was in a fog, and I could barely talk because my throat was so dry. By the time it was all over, I just wanted to go back to sleep. Because of the severe deformities of our baby, the doctors recommended we not see the baby and I whole heartedly know that was the right decision for us. I know that it is easier to imagine my baby whole and beautiful at Jesus' feet.

Leaving the hospital was one of the most heartbreaking things to go through. As I am sitting there in my wheel chair with no flowers or gifts or balloons surrounded by mothers and their newborns and people coming up to me to try to see MINE and having to reply that mine died tore my heart out over and over again. I just wanted a sign that said LEAVE ME ALONE< I HAVE NOTHING TO SHOW FOR MY EFFORTS!!!!

I went into sever PPD. I didn't want to be around anyone or anything. Those who knew I was pregnant but didn't know we had lost the baby all would ask how I was doing. I even had a nurse afterward ask me what it was like to give birth to a dead baby. Only by the grace of God and loving efforts from my amazing husband did I recover. I held so much bitterness in my heart. Thousands of babies are aborted all the time and here I was a young Christian woman who had grown up in church, has a loving husband and a desire for children, and I sat there with empty arms and an aching heart. It just wasn't fair. But after I got over the selfishness of it all, I realized that life is not always about what YOU want. In fact very rarely is it what we expect. My marriage is stronger than many people my age because we have gone through so many trials. I love him with all my heart.

Sorry to have put such a burden on everyone today, but it truly helps to look back and see how far you come and remember that when situations get tough, that is when you find out who you truly are. Thank you all for your love and prayers for tomorrow. I have to work so I need some extra prayers if you think about it. Love you all!! Enjoy your weekend!
21 weeks pregnant
Elisabeth Nicole Zuleta 11 weeks.

Part One

Well we are back. What a sweet time we had!! There are just too many pictures to put in one sitting (you will thank me later =P) so I have split it into two or more posts. To start the trip off to a lovely start, Julio locked his keys in the trunk and it took one insurance call and 35 mins later to get them out. Needless to say a spare key is definitely on the list of things to get now!!!

We left at around 4 pm and got to Maine in about 9 hours!!! Not bad timing if I say so myself!! A little back track, Julio's swearing in ceremony AND journeyman test were both scheduled while we were to be away doesn't that figure, so we had to reschedule both!

On to the trip pictures......

Blog buddies just HAD to get this one!!!!!!! Please feel free to enjoy Jen's blog! I assure you it will be a blessing to you!
What a wonderful lady she is! I grew up under her father as our Pastor and I can not think of anyone more suited for the ladies of Victory than this woman right here. She always has a sweet caring spirit, and is just crazy enough to be able to belong =P I wish I had been able to spend more time with her but the schedule was busy to no end! Rachel is such a beautiful young lady already and more power to her for putting up with those brothers of hers xD

These girls hold such a special place in my heart. Connie Jean (the little girl with the glasses) was a LONG awaited baby!! She was the result of much prayer from many people (so are all of the Cushman babies..but you know what I mean). That little baby had my heart from day one! I would babysit her quite often, helped her take some of her first steps, was there when she said some of her first words, and had a big hand in molding her into the Patriots fan she is today. I have missed her so much and I enjoyed having her hold my hand every moment I was near. And what a riot Leann is!!!! That girl is such a perfectionist already and is so mature!!!! What a cutie they both are!!!

This is three generations of women in our family. My grandmother and I always had a great relationship and I was so excited to see her!!!! Doesn't she still look gorgeous after all these years?!?!?!?
Sadie is my sister's dog (whom I ended up bathing while I was there)!! She is such a big part of our family no matter how much my dad tries to deny it. I was able to get pictures of my Izzy and say my goodbyes, but more on that much later.

The infamous Lobstah. There was no way my husband was gonna drive all the way up there and back and not eat his weight in lobster..I don't think he made it THAT much...not that you are fat...okay gonna stop now!!!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhh two very important women in my life. Nicole and her mom Donna. I love them with all my heart. Nicole whether she knew it or not, was such a great rock in my life. No matter what she went through she always had a great attitude. Still does. And I know that is all because of the wonderful mother she has. We went down memory lane while we were there and boy....we were weird!!!! But we had such a great time! I was so lucky to be able to see them!!!

THIS is the famous spot where I broke my knee. Yes I was cheating..yes I got what I deserved..moving on LOL!!!



We were lucky enough to time our trip around so many things. One of which was the beautiful foliage in New England. Fall is one of the greatest seasons up there and as you can see, the beauty is breathtaking!
Julio and my dad went apple picking on the way home from one of their excursions and they were the biggest apples I have ever seen!!! My sister only needed two and a half to make two pies!!!!!!!!

Much more to come later! Whew!!!! What a long post!