gray daze

Junk Drawer no more!

2011-04-26T21:35:00.001-05:00

When I finally hit my breaking point and decided to ~~beat my family into submission~~ start the Great Organization of 2011 I wanted to take the house by storm and change everything before the end of April. When I woke up I knew that wasn't the best planning. This is going to be a big change for the kids and an even bigger change for my husband. If I try to do it all at once, or worse if I tried to do it all alone, I don't think it would stick.

I've spent the last year focused on losing weight. I've lost 60 pounds so far and see my goal within my reach. The hardest thing I've learned is slow and steady progress is the only way to lose the weight and keep it off. It's something I still struggle with daily. I'm all about The Biggest Loser numbers rather than 1 -2 pounds a week.

Along those lines, I took a few days to come up with a plan. Since we both work full time and commute almost an hour each way to work and our kids are both active in sports or scouts I knew I had to keep it reasonable. I decided I needed to start with storage spaces. The single biggest pet peeve in my kitchen is the "junk drawer". It's something I've not had in any other home, but we have so many drawers in this kitchen it seemed like a good idea. Six years ago anyway!

The funniest part about this project was the amount of "help" I had. Generally when I start to clean, all 3 of them run for the hills. When they heard me start going through the drawer my husband was instantly in there, followed closely by my daughter. I'm sure my husband was afraid I'd throw away a treasure if he wasn't there to claim it.

I'm not even sure that I was able to pull the drawer completely out. I had NO clue what all was hidden in here because I hated to even open the drawer!

Thanks to the help from my husband I made quick work of this. Much of it was junk and went straight into the garbage. At least 1/4 of it was screw drivers and tools that needed to go into the cave {aka the garage}.

Another 1/4 was pencils, pens and markers. Good grief! There were also 2 pencil sharpeners that none of us knew we had. Its always a struggle to get homework done because they can't find a sharpened pencil. A side project from this will be a Homework Box.

I found at least 100 candles. How many birthday cakes will we need to have use all of those? (not all pictured haha). Anyone care for a glitter covered gum ball?

There are no words.

This is all that went back into the drawer. Actually it went in, they were crammed in a cabinet before. Everything else in the drawer went to its rightful home.

Do you have a junk drawer? Is it out of control? Or do you have organized chaos?

A mess 6 years in the making

2011-04-25T20:34:00.000-05:00

I've always considered myself pretty organized. My mom used to say you could go in my room and not be able to find enough room on the floor to walk, but open up any drawer and it was nice and tidy. Even as a young adult if I needed something in my home I knew right where to look, and it was always there.

I married a man that could not be more opposite and proceeded to have two of his offspring that inherited that gene from him. We were both in our 30s when we married and combined two complete households. Each of us wanted to keep most of what we had, for one sentimental or logical reason or another. In the interest of peace keeping I tried to stop being so particular. With 2 young children and a teenager plus two full time jobs and no organization in place, no plan and no schedule we were living by the seat of our pants. This began a downward spiral that has left me with a home that I feel is out of control.

I pulled the family together and had a heart to heart. I can't do this alone and I know it won't happen over night but going to have to try and teach my children and husband how much more smoothly life is when you live more simply, how to plan ahead and live intentionally!

I've decided to blog about my progress. To keep myself accountable, share my inspiration and tips and gain ideas from other bloggers! I have so many ideas, my list is a mile long, but I hope the outcome is worth all the growing pains!

Have you had to completely retrain your family? Any advice you want to share??

One Little Word 2011

2011-01-09T21:41:00.000-06:00

It's a new year and I can't be more glad. 2010 wasn't a great year around here. It wasn't bad really, nothing horrible happened but it wasn't great. I want us to look back at our lives and remember things being great, not remember how we just got by.

I struggle with wanting to be perfect. I want it done right and I want it done now. If I can't get it just so, then I just don't do it at all. This bury your head in the sand mentality has lead my whole family to a bit of a stagnant existence.

We are busy, we are always moving, but we are always reacting, not living with intention. I finally had a realization at some point in December that we can't change everything at once, but until we start making changes nothing will be as we want it. As such, my One Little Word for 2011 is Intentional.

Definition of INTENTIONAL

: done by intention or design : intended <intentional damage>

My first step in setting our family up for success is getting organized. As a working mom with 2 young children I've spent years doing everything myself because it was easier. It also hasn't taught my kids how to clean up after themselves or how to help us out. This won't be an easy change, but I think we will all be better for it. Won't you join us?

Candle light re-done

2009-12-07T22:07:00.004-06:00

I've seen this idea several times lately, so when I pulled out the same tired pillar candles yesterday I knew right away what they needed. I told my husband 'I'm going to get my craft on!' and I'd like you to imagine his delight with me. It was similar to the delight I feel when he exclaims his excitement that yet another college football is on!

Thankfully I had everything on hand. You never know when an emergency may arise and you need a little Modge Podge and salt!

I added the glue to the entire candle then rolled the candle in the salt. After it dried I hit the top to knock off the lose pieces.

I think the red came out much prettier. I tried to color some salt red but food coloring turned the salt brown. I need to find a way to do that though, I have a fun idea for a 3 wick candle if I can figure out something other than plain white.

Advent Calendar

2009-12-01T16:45:00.000-06:00

This is a repost, but since we get to start using this today I thought it was worth saying again!

I'm also linking to Kimba's DIY day!

I saw many variations on this last Christmas so I finally took the plung and decided to try one this year. I'm so happy with how it turned out, especially since it only took me an evening to put together.

I started with just a plain cheap cookie sheet, bunch of stickers and buttons and some magnet tape that I've had on my fridge for ohhh... too many years to admit

I used spray paint on the back of the cookie sheet then used Arose Such a Clatter kit to create the back ground and the count down numbers

I had some heavy weight card stock that I used a 1 1/4 inch punch to make each days square and used glue dots to put the squares together. I hand drew the grid, don't look too close, I remember why I went digital now! I especially love the baking squares, thats one of our favorite Christmas traditions - making cookies together!

As you remove the days you just pop them on the back for safe keeping.

Make a Statement

2009-06-19T22:51:00.004-05:00

SaraAmarie has a new kit is coming out Saturday at Sweet Shoppe Designs

A preview of the entire kit:

and here is the layout I did using it. I already have an idea for another one! I love kits that you want to use more than once!

NDISB June Blog Train

2009-06-16T21:37:00.004-05:00

I'm SO sorry for posting this late! Just call me the caboose ...

The Natural Designs in Scrapbooking designers has created a wonderful collaborative kit, a collection of wordart and the creative team is has used it for goodies just for you!

Check out the NISB Blog for a full run down of the kit and to all the blogs you need to visit to get a new part.

Here is a preview of the wonderful kit by the NDISB designers.

I've made a quick page for you, I hope you enjoy it! Click here to download.

Your next stop is Samceline http://www.samceline.de

We are a multi-cultural family

2009-01-28T09:18:00.002-06:00

Don't be jealous, that's just how we roll!

Our evening commute involves 2 stops at 2 different child care locations to pick up our littlest loves. We pick up the baby first and she is then forced to endure the painful 10 minute ride home. You would think she would live for the few minutes of alone time with me, while my husband runs in to get our son. When else does she have my undivided attention where she can pepper me with questions at the speed of light?

This totally unstimulating experience has caused her to find her own form of ~~torture~~ entertainment. She has taken to making up songs of total gibberish. She is 4! She knows, and regularly uses, thousands of words ~~a minute~~. I think she is singing to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle (or ABCs, however you want to look at it), but frankly I try to tune it out and just be happy she isn't whining about being hungry and thirsty and demanding we stop at Old MacDonalds just this once.

Yesterday, however, I was exhaused and just couldn't take the loud gibberish so I told her to cut it out. It went something like this:

Me: Sweet little princess, would you please stopping singing gibberish?
SLP: It's not gibberish!! Its SPANISH!! How silly of me!
Huz: Is that like Oui? she said Spanish, not french, get with it!
SLP: *exasperated sigh* NO! That is NOT spanish
Huz: Oh? What is it?
SLP: *eyeroll* Its a GAME!

Get it? Oui = we we = Wii? If you have kids, I'm sure you can imagine how well she took my sudden burst of laughter!

I'm so happy we are raising such diverse children!

Have your kids misunderstood something that had you rolling lately?

Organizing my digital life

2009-01-21T21:03:00.005-06:00

My employer offered a 'time management' course right before the holidays. It wasn't your typical spiel on using a particular system, not carrying around a binder with all your life history in it. It was just good advice about tweaking whatever system you like to use to help you find some peace - and hopefully a little more time to do the things that are important to you. I've always considered myself a pretty neat and organized person. Sometime between a family of 2 and a family of 5, though, things have become out of control!

When my husband and I married, we combined two complete households. We still have two of a lot of things. Like irons. I can't tell you the last time I used an iron, much less two of them! We have two crock pots, 2 vacuums (OK, that's handy in a 2 story house) and 2 lifetimes worth of accumulated junk. Oh yeah, we have 3 kids somewhere in this mess too.

Aside from getting healthy one of my biggest goals for this year is to get this place organized! With the extra hours at work, and the addition of exercise into our nightly routine I've not had a lot of time to get started on this goal. So instead of feeling a sense of peace I've been stressing over something additional. Good plan there ace. I've finally taken the first step. Its a small one, but I feel better already.

I've organized my blog reader! You didn't see that coming did you? I use Bloglines, and this is what it looked like last night

After about 30 minutes worth of work, I wittled my blogs down from 203 to 140. The majority do not update daily - I'd be doing nothing but reading blogs if they did!

I have six general catagories

Food - recipe and baking blogs
Photos - photographer blogs and photo editing help
Money - to assist with my efforts to be more frugal and become debt free
Scrapping - anything scrapbooking related
Weight Loss - yeah, blogs about weight loss
Mom Blogs - pretty much anything that doesn't fit in one of the above and is written by a woman!

I am SO happy I took the time to do this! I often only have a few minutes to read and I'm looking for specific inspiration but I have to hunt through 200 blogs trying to pick out the weight loss or money or whatever. I like that I can expand each list and click on individual blogs or I can just click on the subtitle and it will show new posts all in one window.

My next computer organization project is to get the 103GB on my laptop and 149 GB on my EHD tagged in ACDsee and purged of digital scrapping supplies I'll never use.

The one where the Daycare calls about THAT

2009-01-20T21:45:00.003-06:00

As a mom, I think our greatest fear is our children being hurt or sick. We spend countless hours and energy in the pursuit of making our home a safe haven for them. We prepare healthy meals and wash their dirty little hands hundreds of times.

Of course it is inevitable that they will catch a cold or some nasty virus, especially if they go to school or have siblings that do. We give them medicine and take them to the doctor and stay up all night worrying about them.

Then they grow, and they start forming a strong sense of independence I like to call PITA syndrome.

They don't want your help with anything, even if that means walking around with shoes on the wrong feet all day.

This was the stage my middle son was in when he was around 4. I don't remember where I was this particular Saturday but I ~~had managed to escape~~ was away from home for a few hours. I came home to find blisters on my little mans fingers. Seems that when my husband was warming up his lunch, and made the dreadful mistake of leaving the kitchen for a minute, little man took it upon himself to grab the hot plate. Blisters appeared almost immediately on the pads of each finger. I'm sure ice was applied and then a little neosporin and a cute spiderman bandaid for each finger.

These were minor burns and were all but gone by Monday morning when he returned to day care. He had not complained for one minute all of Sunday. Come Monday at nap time though, those fingers must have been horribly uncomfortable. I mean, who can be expected to rest with that kind of pain, even if there is no visible damage - there is a bandaid for goodness sake!

This is when the daycare calls. Might as well have been Child Protective Services. Apparently my cute little man had changed the facts of the story ever so slightly. In his mind, HE was doing ALL the cooking. And of course, the administrators believed him. It seems totally plausible that a 4 year old managed to get a glass plate out of the cabinet, grabbed the big bag of dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, placed them on the plate and turned on the microwave. When I told them what happened but mentioned that I wasn't actually there the director told me "I'll have to call and confirm this with your husband, this is highly unusual." And she did. And he felt like a heal!

Talk about guilt! Is it not bad enough our little man had been hurt? In a deep recess of my mind, I'm thankful they look out for the kids well being. I know they have a duty to protect. That did not make me feel like less of a good parent at that time though! I was sure that CPS would be knocking on our door at any minute. And not just for the burns, but for the fact that we were feeding him dinosaur chicken too!

We had a long talk that night with our son about telling stories. I don't think it worked, this boys imagination is a force to be reckoned with!

How much homework is too much?

2009-01-19T08:20:00.000-06:00

I've been dealing with homework for what seems my entire life. I had barely stopped having my own homework before it reared its ugly head in the form of my oldest sons. Even in Kindergarten they bring home packets worth of homework. My eldest has never enjoyed homework so it became a struggle early on. We both dread the start of a new school year, not because of school itself but because of the battles against homework. His high test grades made it apparent he was learning the material, however his over all grade would suffer because of missing or incomplete homework.

We live in a state that has standardized testing. Because of this, the teachers teach for the test and especially in elementary school work becomes very redundant and boring. My son would consistently score above average on these, once again showing the material was being absorbed without the addition of homework.

My 1st grader has 10 spelling words, 8 pages of homework, 5 sight words each week and is supposed to read aloud to us 30 minutes a night. During Soccer and Baseball season, 2 evenings a week he has practice. That leaves only 2 nights to get the homework complete. We are left with the dilemma of having him stay up past his bed time to complete it or just turning it in late on many occasions. At 7 years old he is already starting to feel, and resent, the pressure of good grades and homework.

None of this takes into account the time commitment of myself and my husband. While some of this pressure might be relieved if one of us did not work full time, I can't help but believe he would be no more likely to want to leave school and come home to immediately start working on school work again. I know it makes me cranky when I have to take work home on a regular basis. When I leave work I want to leave it there. I want to go home and enjoy my time with my family doing things that benefit my family.

I ran across this article on MSN and it brought up some very good points.

I do think kids in high school need some homework to prepare them for the self study discipline that will be necessary in college. They are also able to do this with little to no parental supervision and are able to go to bed later and still function well. Teenager bed times, that sounds like a post of its own!

Do your kids have homework? Do you feel it adds benefit to their learning or just additional stress?

Who made up that rule?

2009-01-13T19:08:00.003-06:00

The one that says you should pick on someone your own size?

My 7 year old has been coming home from school sad the last few days. He is normally such a happy child, glass half full kind of kid.

Apparently some harlet at school has started telling everyone that he failed Kindergarden and that is why he is 7 when most kids in first grade are still 6. It's all but impossible to reason with a crying 7 year old using words like "cut off" and "school district".

For the first time ever he even asked to stay home from school, begging to at least not have to go back to the same after school care. It seems her prime pick on time is while they are waiting for the daycare bus to pick them up.

I think it's probably wrong of me to want to go shake some sense into her. I mean, I teach my boys that violence is never the answer. She is picking on my baby though. AND SHE MADE HIM CRY! I should feel bad for not liking this child I've never met. But I don't.

I should pick on someone my own size. Or maybe turn the other cheek like I tell him to do. Who came up with the rule that its ok to pick on someone if they are the same size as you anyway??

We must be famous

2009-01-11T10:45:00.003-06:00

The strangest thing happened on our way to work on Friday.

We were cruising along, minding our own business.

And of course by cruising along, during rush hour, I mean we were going about -3. On the highway.

I was enjoying the sunrise and getting in a little quiet reading. Well quiet might be a slight exaggeration as I'm still expected to carry on a conversation with husband. There is something about me pulling out a book, or picking up my Blackberry that triggers his tongue. We can be sitting quietly for 10 minutes, but if my hand touches either of those things he begins talking immediately. It's uncanny really.

But I digress.

As I'm reading I notice a bright light. I was pretty sure it was the Rapture.

We look over to find two teenage girls with both of the passenger side windows rolled down taking pictures of us.

We must be famous!

As they passed us they rolled up their windows and went on about their day. I am left wondering what the man driving their vehicle was thinking. Oddly, he didn't try to make eye contact with us. I guess he was not as impressed with our star power as the girls were! I wonder when we will see our picture on the Enquirer?

Trying to be more frugal

2009-01-10T13:16:00.004-06:00

With everyone talking about the economy and just a general attitude in our house of trying to get out of debt and pay more attention to where and how we are spending our money we are making more frugal choices. Lori over at A Cowboys Wife is asking for some frugal ideas, so I thought I'd share a couple of mine.

One of my favorites are these sabco oneWIPE gloves I picked up at Dollar Tree. I only got 2, a dusting mitt and a bathroom cleaning mitt to try them out. I wish I'd bought more now that I've tried them out. I love that my hand is completely covered while I clean the bathroom. I able to just toss the dusting mitt in the washer and use it over and over, instead of tossing my swiffer sheets into the trash.

We've been buying the Kirkland brand bathroom tissue for awhile now. I'm sure at some point I did some price comparison to make that choice but today I had a coupon for $2.50 off Charmin so I thought that might be the better deal. I was honestly shocked at the price difference. For 30 rolls of Charmin with 220 sheets per roll (their jumbo roll) the price was 18.49. For 36 individually wrapped rolls [this is a big plus when you are storing TP in bulk!] with 425 sheets per roll was 18.99. We even compared the overall feet per roll because I couldn't believe we were really getting TWICE as much paper with Kirkland. But we were! Charmin may be a little bit thicker, but it can't possible TWICE as much better!! This 18.99 worth of paper generally lasts us close to 8 months.

Check out our Down with Fat blog for a breakdown of what we got and other ways we saved.

What did you just call me?

2009-01-09T15:12:00.000-06:00

My 7 year old suddenly started calling Mom.

Not Mommy. Or even Momma. Just Mom.

It rolls off his tounge like its the only way he has ever addressed me, so why does it sound so foreign and wrong to my ears? He does not seem to see the big flashing neon warning sign that is signaling the passing of his youth at warp speed.

Why do we teach our children to call us by a name we know they are going to change?

I can still remember the first time my now 16 yr old son first called me mom. He was 5, and I was in the long line of cars to drop him off for Kindergarten. I remember the car I was driving even. I'm surprised I can't remember what we were wearing and what song was playing! I insisted he call me mommy and I think it worked for a few more years.

I also think that was the last battle I won with him!

I'm glad this isn't my last child. I can't imagine never being called mommy again! And since my baby is a girl, she'll call me mommy forever, right?

A Snow Test

2009-01-08T14:08:00.003-06:00

Sweet Shoppe Designs blog is back and better than ever. This weeks FOBTY is asking us to take a Snow Test. This South Texas girl giggled at that. The last time I saw snow I had to fly a thousand miles or so to find it.

Your Snow Test Says You're Independent

You feel like something good will happen to you in the next few days.

You love to work, especially when work is creative. You have the makings of a successful artist.

You are an independent, individualistic person. You thrive when you're doing your own thing.

Your biggest worry in your life is your financial security. You think about money a lot.

When it comes time to relax, you have no problem letting go. You are already pretty relaxed as is!

The Snow Test

I always think the kinds of things are funny. Who out there came up with this and decided that since I would be most likely to leave behind my jacket (since I don't own a hat or scarf or mittens!) That I stress over money. I do. Always. But that isn't the point now is it? And how can I go from stressing over money to being a generally relaxed person? To me stress and relax don't usually go in the same sentence like that. More along the lines of " I could really use a large frozen margarita to help me forget about the stress" no??

Mommy Guilt

2009-01-06T08:31:00.003-06:00

I'm a working mom. Most of the time I'm ok with it. I generally enjoy working, and I won't lie, I like the extra money. Or I would if I didn't hand it directly over to the mortgage company.

I get up every morning, get the kids up and dressed for school & daycare and head off to work without thinking twice about it. My husband and I carpool since we work so close together and we solve life's problems during our hour long commutes. Now that I've canceled my Blackberry service in an attempt at being frugal that is.

Sunday evening my middlest love climbed up in my lap and I knew. Moms just know. Especially when they are burning you through their clothes. I'm good like that.

But then the conflict in my head has to start. Well crap. I've been on vacation for the last 4 days, its year end and month end and..... Then the guilt starts. Instead of being solely focused on his being sick, I'm using 1/2 my energy worrying about telling my boss and praying the motrin kicks in and everything is better in the morning.

I wonder if this ever goes away? Will there be a day when I know for sure I did the right thing and I won't second guess my every decision?

HELLO - do you know me at all?

2009-01-04T14:01:00.003-06:00

This morning my husband was making breakfast. Thats not really the point though because he does 99% of the cooking, he is awesome that way.

He asked me if I'd like a cup of coffee. Never mind the 44oz diet coke by my chair. Or the fact that in the 10 years he has known me he has not seen me take even one sip of coffee. It went something like this.

Huz: I made some coffee, want a cup?
Me: *blank expression*
Huz: I think you'd like it with cream and sugar
Me: Yeah, remember that thing we fondly refer to as a diet?
Huz: But it makes coffee taste better
Me: I like the flavor of coffee, I don't like HOT drinks, have you ever seen me drink a hot drink?
Huz: I don't get it, I know you like hot things - you like me. Why won't you drink coffee?

Don't sweat the small stuff

2009-01-03T20:04:00.002-06:00

That's not something I'm good at. I sweat everything. Especially when it comes to my kids.

I've recently had some issues with my teenager. Nothing major, really. To most people, maybe. They are feeling huge to me though. It is driving me crazy that he won't just listen to my advice. Why must he learn everything the hard way when I've already been through this. I know how the song ends! I also wonder why people don't talk about these struggles? You hear about how hard the sleep deprivation is when you have a new born. Women across the globe discuss diaper rash, potty training, weaning and sleeping woes. I regularly read over 50 'mommy blogs' and I count the number of posts on teenagers on one hand.

Why don't we want to talk about how hard it is to make a teen do their homework if they just don't give a rats ass about Biology? Or the heartbreak you feel when you realize they have lied to you? again! Then there is the protectiveness that comes out when some girl breaks his heart?

Or maybe we do hear them, and we don't listen any more than that teen. Surely I can do a better job and my teen won't rebel. I'll keep the lines of communication open, that is the key.

I've been feeling so helpless and angry and disappointed the last few days. Really everything it is hard to admit to as a mom. I've been wondering where I went wrong. Is he going to go to college and turn out ok? How much more heartache does he have in front of him? Will I make it the remaining 18 months to graduation?

Then I read about the Travolta's losing their son. Jett Travolta was less than 2 months older than my own son. I bet his parents would give anything to be stressing over the normal teen issues today.

It really puts everything into perspective. I'm going to try harder to not sweat the small stuff. I need to put my problems in the Lord's hands and remember I don't have to have to understand or control everything.

It's a new Day It's a New Year

2009-01-02T16:20:00.003-06:00

It is that time of year again. Time to turn over a new leaf, set lofty goals that we keep for a few days. I think it has more to do with making it through the holidays as much as beginning a new year. Once Christmas is over I'm always ready for a change. I want to get the decorations down and move on to something else. It is a good time for us to refocus. We have no sports happening in the month of January. The weather is generally mild. I've done a lot of thinking the last few weeks about what I wanted to do different in 2009. I've decided I need to spend some time on ME. I've spent the last decade and 1/2 focusing on others. My kids, my family, my job and friends. I'm not even sure who I am or what I want anymore.

I can't be 100% for my family if I'm not 100% can I? What am I teaching them? More and more I realize my children are getting a warped sense of reality. While they may very well be the center of my universe, they are the center of THE universe. They need to realize their wants don't come first for everyone. Sometimes the answer has to be no and they don't always have to get a reason.

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do this but a few ideas are :

Start and actually follow through with Project 365

Start eating right and exercising even if that means less sleep or some time away from home

Find a way to love my job - either by moving to a partial work from home week or finding a job that is more in line with my goals

Get organized and teach my family how much better life is in that less crazy environment

Blog more - I've found I really enjoy writing, I want to spend some time every day documenting our journey

I'd love to hear what your hopes are for the year!

Don't Doubt

2008-10-23T16:18:00.002-05:00

I have a beautiful and wonderful friend who very eloquently shared a few words with me today. They touched a cord and I asked her permission to pass this on to those who stumble here...

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As the election, and possibly a new era, approaches, I would like to take the time to reflect on the past, on what got us to where we are today.

Our generation has never experienced major trials. We have seen war, but the general population hasn't been asked to sacrifice anything for it. There have been no drafts, no food rations, and no shortages of panty hose. We have no frame of reference to judge how good we have it even when times are tough. The way things are is the way things have always been.

But things haven't always been this good in this country. Ask someone from the Greatest Generation (hurry before they're all gone) what life was like during the Great Depression or during WWII. Ask them what they had to sacrifice to preserve freedom for you and me. Ask them about what trials they had to endure, how many family members they lost, how much of themselves was lost on the beaches of Normandy.

What we enjoy today has come at no little cost. What would life be like today if our forefathers had not stood up to the tyranny of British rule? Where would we be if we didn't stop Hitler from his ambitions of world domination? Thank God for the brave men and women who kept us from facing those things.

Have we forgotten our history? Have we forgotten what people have given their all for? This is the greatest nation on earth not because of a powerful military but because of the people who populate this land. We have overcome great obstacle by uniting together and doing whatever it takes to get the job done. I believe we still have the same strength out forefathers did. I believe we still have the same will of the Greatest Generation. Don't ever doubt the ability and perserverance of the American people.

I am worried that there is doubt. I am worried that we have come to believe that the government knows better than we do. The government was intended to be a representation of the people and a way to come together to protect us from threats, anything that wants to tear us apart. It is supposed to keep us safe and united, and nothing more. As Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense, "Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security. And however our eyes be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right."

We have all seen what happens when the government gets too big. We have all seen how politicians change when they reach Capitol Hill and their eyes grow big with greed seeing all the money flowing through. We have all seen how the government can often do more harm than good. I wish to quote Paine again, "I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple a thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier to be repaired when disordered." Our government has grown much larger than ever intended, and it has recently taken huge strides in growing much larger. Politicians will make you believe that this is to help us. They want you to believe that they can answer all our problems and save us from ourselves.

But the American people don't need saving. We are a strong, capable, intelligent people who know what's best for ourselves. We know how to handle life's problems. We are willing and capable of helping our neighbors and communities without the government telling us how. Give us a problem, and we'll find a solution on our own. Yes, that might often be the hard way, but it is the most rewarding in so many ways.

Please read about our history. Please understand where we've come from and what has been sacrificed to get us where were are today…and thank a soldier for it. But most of all, when you step into the voting booth, please don't doubt the American people, AND DON'T DOUBT YOURSELF! by Wendy Lawley

October is Breast Cancer awareness month

2008-10-19T16:09:00.002-05:00

Christina Renee Designs has a charity kit with proceeds going to the Susan G Komen Foundation.

I was supposed to be taking a hiatus from scrapping to get a few other projects finished but I couldn't help but scrap with this right away

Why Texas rocks

2008-10-19T11:46:00.002-05:00

Well, one of the many reasons. But the ability to go to the lake in the middle of October and still play in the water all day, really, who can complain. And we never ever have to shovel snow. Not here in central Texas anyway.

Last weekend my family rented a cabin on a lake. It was a much needed break from sports and commitments and even the computer. I can't remember the last time I went that many days without the internet. And I lived to tell about it. Ok, well I did have my BlackBerry, but lets not talk about that ok?

There was a little pool in the back of the cabin, though it was a tad cold the kids still loved playing. There was a dry creek bed right behind the house where we took several hikes and found the most amazing flock? herd? school? of butterflies. And of course the lake. We rented a SeaDoo and spent Sunday at the lake. I think Colton spent the most time on it, he'd sneak on the front as often as he could get away with it.

We took 450 pictures. That is four HUNDRED people!! I won't force you look at them all, but here are a few of my favorites.

Do you have money that you don't know about?

2008-10-19T11:41:00.002-05:00

My public service announcement for the month - go check out this site - NOW!

http://www.unclaimed.org/

Between the 2 of us my husband and I have 3 items! They are legit, one is a pay check from many moons ago that my husband knew he hadn't received but never followed up on. One is a return of a utility deposit (or more likely the interest on the deposit since the amount is so small) where they had my name spelled wrong. The other is a refund from an apartment we lived in, we aren't sure why they owe us the money - but seriously, for over $100 I really don't care - just hand it over!

Go. Search. Then come back and tell me if you found any unknown riches!

Bad Blogger with great inspiration!

2008-10-16T16:39:00.004-05:00

So much too say, way too little time. Aside from the 500 kazillion things already on my plate, I got a wild hair and decided to start selling a lot of extra and not used stuff on Ebay. Holy Canoli its time consuming! And my office looks like a bomb went off! But the effort seems to be paying off. Which means I have a little extra cash to buy MORE craft stuff with. Shhh don't tell my husband. He'll never see a few digital purchases!

Always top on my list is Meredith Fenwick. I have literally almost everything she has ever designed. If you check out my printed Shutterfly books - you will see they are primarily done with her designs. Her collections are just so broad and work so well together! Meredith has an adorable new kit out, you can purchase it at Scrapbook Graphics

Go. Buy. Scrap. Enjoy!!

I'd promise to be back tonight with boring stuff like pictures from our weekend. But seriously, Grey's is on tonight. That trumps blogging any day of the week!

Are you as fast as you think you are?

2008-09-25T15:22:00.000-05:00

Sweet Shoppe is challenging our skillz today!! One upon anothe moon, I was a speed typer and was up to over 90 words a minute. I think I flat lack the focus to do that anymore. Seriously! sad sad

75 words

Typing Test

I want to know how fast you are!

How do you feel about Vampires?

2008-09-23T19:23:00.003-05:00

This week, the Sweet Shoppe asks the question - Could you be a Vampire? Pretty fitting given the time of year and the popularity of the Twilight series (that I have yet to read, but the hype is certainly tempting me)

You Could Be a Vampire... If You Had To

Like most people, the thought of being a vampire has crossed your mind. But you're not sure if you'd do it, even if you could.

Living forever doesn't sound half bad, if you could live forever with the people you love the most.

But do vampires even love? And would the vampire version of you even be you?

It's all too much to contemplate. Luckily, the chances of you ever becoming a vampire are astronomically low.

What you would like best about being a vampire: Living forever

What you would like least about being a vampire: Blood stained teeth

Could You Be a Vampire?

Would you go back?

2008-09-19T08:54:00.002-05:00

The building I work in has a little deli on the first floor. I stop in every morning for a Diet Coke (that I was supposed to stop drinking, shhh) and usually some eggs of some sort. There are 3 ladies that work there, and have since forever. Well, my forever which equals the one year I've been in this building.

One of the girls is celebrating a birthday today. She is a ripe old 23. She is young and spunky, full of life and often just plain ole silly. She was saying how she feels like she is getting old and needs to grow up some. I just laughed. At 36, 23 seems like a lifetime ago. I told her to just enjoy it while she can!

On my way up to the office I started thinking about my life at 23. Can it really be 13 years ago?? I don't feel old enough for much of anything in my life to have been that long ago. Similar to the feeling I get when I admit I have a 16 year old son. At 23 I was a single mom. We lived in a tiny 2 bedroom, 1 bath duplex. I'd estimate it was about 700 sq feet. We were happy there, it was always clean and tidy and most meals were eaten at my parents house. Free and no mess, my favorite kind of meals! I made slave wages at a job I really liked and lived pay check to pay check.

Since then, I've moved houses 6 times. I've changed jobs 6 times. I kissed what seemed like a million toads. I met the man of my dreams, lost him, and got him back again. I got married and had 2 more children - not necessarily in that order. I have bought my first home, gone through 2 cars and accumulated debt. I make good money at a job I don't love and I still live paycheck to paycheck lots of the time. I've attended more sporting events, where my offspring were the stars, than I can count.

If I could go back to 23, would I? They were certainly less stressful times. I had time to exercise, I went out with friends, and I got to raise my only son exactly like I wanted to. It was lonely too, looking back on it now. And looking in hind sight it was even kind of boring. One thing I am sure of, life now is NOT boring.

No, I'd not go back, even if I could. Life now is hectic, sometimes down right crazy. This weekend alone we have 6 or 7 ballgames to attend. But it's good, and I don't think I'd change it at all. Well, I'd not refuse a money tree for the back yard, just saying!

Would you go back, and if so to what age?

How did this happen?

2008-09-18T08:38:00.002-05:00

I was never a co-sleeper with my babies. Not that I necessarily thought it was bad. Well honestly, my oldest was born pre-internet and I never even really considered co-sleeping and lacked the influence of internet friends to persuade me. I'm also a slightly light sleeper. Pretty sure if a fly farted it would wake me up. Do flies fart? I digress.

My oldest had the great pleasure of getting to stay home with his two fun loving and adoring younger siblings this summer! Being a normal teenager, said eldest had a tendency yo stay up too late and not be too over joyed with getting up at the crack of dawn. To ensure the lives of all involved we threw our bedtime routine out
the window for the summer

While this was great for the kids, and I really enjoyed the extra time
with them, it did make putting them to bed some nights a real
challenge. Especially if some genius put them down for a nap from 3-5.
Guess he wanted to watch Dr. Phil and Oprah in peace those days??

This led to my brilliant plan of taking the princess to bed with me
whenever I went up and letting her fall asleep in my bed. The husband
would take her to his bed whenever he finally came up. I have to say
I LOVED those moments. We'd sing songs and hug and laugh. And I
created a monster!! I knew better! I've spent 16 years trying to not
start habits I didn't want to have to later break. With school
starting it wasn't hard to get them in bed at 8 again. But it has been
hell trying to get them out of my bed!

Last night as I crawled into bed exhausted and beaten down from
another day she rolled over, she opened her beautiful blue eyes, and
smiled the sweetest sleepy smile. Then she snuggled up against me.
I've decided this is one habit I won't be fighting any time soon.

La Dee Dah Art

2008-09-15T18:15:00.001-05:00

I recently won a contest over at MomDot. Just winning was a huge thing for me! I never win things! I know everyone says that - but seriously I have the worst luck ever with contests! I won a $50 gift certificate for La Dee Dah Art.

Dawn at La Dee Dah Art was really so nice to work with, and helped me pick what I wanted. I considered one of these adorable growth charts

then I thought about starting with one of these awesome hair bow holders

I finally decided on this personalized 18 x 18 canvas. The pictures really don't even do it justice. Look how big it is compared to my princess. She ADORES it! I can't wait to hang it in her room! And of course by 'I hang' I mean my husband!

Go check out her work, and order! You won't be disappointed with the service or product!

Thanks again Dawn, and MomDot - I couldn't be more pleased!

are YOU real?

2008-09-11T09:21:00.001-05:00

You Are 61% Real

You know who you are, and you're pretty darn comfortable with yourself.
Like everyone, you struggle with the parts of yourself that aren't so great...
But you're good at accepting who you are and not dwelling on your faults.
As a result, you're confident, optimistic, and very real.

How Real Are You?

Birthday Gifts

2008-09-10T21:26:00.002-05:00

My baby girl turned 4 a few weeks ago. In anticipation I really thought it would bring some sadness on my part. She is my last baby. She is my only girl. I didn't, for one moment, have any sadness. Well I might have shed one tear when I couldn't get these cupcakes to work. I did wonder if maybe there is something wrong with my mommy sensor. While I do miss a very few things about the last 4 years, I really just look forward to all the fun things we can do together as she gets older.

I've always loved crafts. Finally having a little someone to make things for that actually acts excited is like a dream come true! I took her with me to pick out the papers for these boxes. She helped me pick the flowers and buttons and put them on.

First I covered a paper letter.

I got lucky and found ribbon that coordinated with the papers almost perfectly. The bling in the middle of the flowers was a fun find in the Dollar Spot at Target!

I made 2 boxes in 2 sizes. I filled the boxes with some little trinkets - a bracelet found while on vacation, tiny glitter nail polishes, hair clips. Then I stacked the boxes and tied them together with more ribbon. She loves the boxes and handles them so gently. That may have brought a tear, but I'll never admit to it.

Her big gift this year was a "laundry". She has been asking for a washing machine for months now. Lets hope when she is 16 she is just as excited about doing laundry. I made these clothes pins to hang her laundry. I took the clothes pins apart and sprayed them white. Then I added the coordinating paper pieces and lightly sanded the edges.

Not to be left out, I my middle son pick out some papers of his own and made him a letter too. Oddly, my teenager didn't want one. His loss, I'm sure he will be begging for one very very soon.

Funnies from the four year old

2008-09-07T18:35:00.002-05:00

his girl seriously makes us laugh all the time. She doesn't even have to try, she is just so innocent she can't help it.

Tonight, I sent the middle child up to take a shower and get ready for bed. I was a bit irritated at him for picking on his sister and making her scream for the past hour so he must have thought I meant he had to go straight to bed. At 6:30. He was crying in the show

er loud enough for the neighbors to hear I'm sure. I sent her up to tell him that he wasn't going to have to go to bed right now. It went like this

knock knock knock - BANG BANG BANG

her: BRUDDER BRUDDER

him: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT

her: I don't have to go to bed right now

him: "silence"

her: ok, bye now

A few days ago I was getting her ready for a bath when she decided to dig for gold. I asked her to go get a tissue instead of the more time saving method of eating it. Instead of taking the two steps to the toilet paper she wanders into my bedroom where a few seconds later I hear "Don't worry about it, I lost it" Please Lord, don't let her have lost it on my pillow!

Can you look at this without smiling?? I just love when she makes her own fashion statements.

Are you ready for some Football?

2008-09-07T16:32:00.002-05:00

We are a football family. And by 'we' of course I mean me my husband and our first born. The little ones actually hate football season. And to be honest I'm really more of a Cowboys fan but lets not get technical. There is a general sense of excitement around our house today. The Huz gets off on college football too so he's been almost in heaven the whole weekend.

In honor of The Boys - we had a special football sandwich for dinner. Please note the awesome star shaped plates....

I've even delved into the Fantasy Football realm this year. I'm playing with the ladies at Sweet Shoppe and MomDot. I'm pretty optomistic about the MomDot team, not so much for SS. I'll be happy not to come in dead last with SS, but it has been fun so far and something that my husband and I can talk about with me letting him think he knows more than me!

Are there any other football fanatic moms?

Do you know your Crayon colors?

2008-09-06T19:01:00.003-05:00

This week SSD challenged our Crayon knowledge. Mine was PITIFUL! I got all the 64 colors eventually, but I had 38 mistakes!! I think the only ones I got right the first time was the one section that used real names like Blue and Red!

Go give it a shot and let me know how you did http://www.crayola.com/promos/64boxBirthday/colorQuizzer.cfm

Speaking of the Sweet Shoppe - here are a few of my most recent layouts. I'm trying to actually get enough Sweet Points by doing challenges this month. I think I'm already around 10. All credits can be found in my gallery.

Can you spell?

2008-09-04T20:34:00.001-05:00

Today Sweet Shoppe Designs challenged us to see how well we can spell. Lets just say that while I can ace a grammar quiz - not so much on the spelling. Spell check is my friend!

Your Common Spelling Mistake Score: 80% Correct

Your spelling is excellent.

You don't fall for common spelling pitfalls, and you spell almost everything correctly.

Do You Make Common Spelling Mistakes?

Where did a week go??

2008-08-27T07:59:00.002-05:00

Getting ready for this

and this I guess. So much to write, so little time. But now that bed time is back to 8 for these precious little monsters, that can change!

4 years ago

2008-08-20T08:26:00.002-05:00

Where did the time go? I'd take the sleepless nights all over again just to be able to hold you this tiny for a little while.

Yearly checkups - birthday edition

2008-08-19T21:23:00.005-05:00

Not the oh so fun girly doctor appointment! I'm not looking forward to the first time I have to take her to one of those!

Cal turns 4 on Saturday so we headed off to the doctor today to get her check up and shots out of the way. This not being my first rodeo - I made sure to enquire with the front desk person if coming in before her actual birthday would be a problem. Of course the ~~hussy~~ nice lady I spoke too assured me it would be fine. I go along my merry, naive, way thrilled that I can knock out the oldest's sports physical and the baby's check up all in one visit. AND before school starts! There may have been a back pat or two along the way.

The oldest is finally measuring taller than me. At 16 I guess its time, I'm actually hoping for his sake he will grow a few more inches this year. I don't remember them talking about his height / weight curve in oh - 12 years or so. And they also added a nice little BMI reading. Just what a fat momma wants to hear about. His BMI shows he is over weight. The boy with not an ounce of fat on him. The doc says thats what he calls "over muscled".

My baby girl is only 34 pounds and 37 1/2 inches tall. Poor thing will never be out of her car seat at this rate. She is 25% for height, 65% for weight and her BMI was pretty high. Seriously, isn't that a little young? I want her to have better eating habits than I, and I want her to have a positive self body image - I just didn't think it was time to talk about all that yet.

I was so proud of my shy little girl, she even asked the doctor if she was going to get shots. She crawled right up on the table next to her brother and took it all in. They checked her vision and hearing. I wish I could have videoed it. Instead of moving her hand during the vision test, if the hand was up or down she would just say up and down. She even tried to say "to the side" but the nurse made her show which side with her hand. She was so put out by the hearing test - I mean really, there are so many other things a princess can be doing rather than listening to a beep!

Are you wondering about the part where she gets the shots? Are you hoping to hear how brave she was? Yeah, keep on wondering. The ~~hussy~~ nice lady was wrong and she has to be over 4 but under 5 to get her shots. The doctor says the rules change so often, he doesn't want to risk some militant school nurse down the line may insist she has to have them again. Nice.

It's just Preschool - what's the big deal?

2008-08-18T21:11:00.003-05:00

Seriously! Its not like she is moving out. Or even starting real school, OR even going to a new place. I mean come on, she's been in daycare since she was 6 months old! She's been at this particular school since she was 18 months old. She isn't my first child to go to pre-k, or the second. But she is my last.

Shouldn't this be exciting? She is starting off on a new adventure. She will learn a ton this year in preparation for Kindergarten. She isn't even 4 yet. Is she really ready? 9 more months until we can mark 'full time daycare' off our budget. THAT is exciting, right? That will be a nice big raise for us, and I'm happy about that and all - SO happy!

I was not prepared for the overwhelming feelings this morning. Just taking her pictures got all choked up. Maybe it was because she was off for the summer with her big brothers? Maybe its the fact that she looks so grown up? Or maybe its the fact that her birthday is this weekend? I bet it's really just PMS!

Leaving her supplies in the same class as her older brother was such a sense of de ja vu. It seems like just the other day we left him off there. He told us the other day "It's just not right, I had to work harder to get to this class". And he is right, though I'm not sure how he knows that he was almost a full year older when he started.

My heart broke when she cried. I broke the cardinal rule and went back in twice to grab her and hug and kiss her. I don't care if they don't like it! I pay them for goodness sake, if I want to kiss my baby while she still wants me too I'll do it by golly!

Baby girl, I'm sorry your best friend is in the other class. I hope that is the biggest disappointment you face for many years to come! I love how you took it so well and just appreciated the time you did get to play with her. Please keep that positive outlook on life!

And don't cry tomorrow, I'm not sure my heart can take it. Okay?

Its Fall Y'all!

2008-08-13T21:35:00.002-05:00

What, you aren't ready for Autumn yet? Round here the temps are still hoovering around 100, with lows barely getting under 80. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Hobby Lobby today and was bombarded with this

and this!

They were already setting up Christmas Trees in the front entrance area. I'm pretty certain that I actually said "tell me those aren't Christmas Trees" out loud. I didn't mean to blurt that out, but good grief! Can't we just get through the start of school, and gee I don't know, maybe Halloween?

I've found the last few years by the time Christmas arrives I'm just ready for it to all be over. I thought it was just the hustle and bustle of having 3 kids and my trying to do much. But I really think that it has more to do with the commercial over saturation of it all.

I'm ready for some cooler temps - but not fall themed decorations and certainly not even ready to think about Christmas. Am I the only one who would not even consider buying these things yet?

River Exploration

2008-08-13T08:28:00.003-05:00

awww - to be young where everything is new and an adventure....

Mamma Mia

2008-08-11T12:27:00.004-05:00

My sister in law asked me to go see Mama Mia this weekend. I'd actually heard it wasn't a very good movie, and it was going to be a late showing. I'd been at baseball all day, I was sweaty and stinky, and tired - dead tired. But I don't get the chance to go to the movies often - especially anything not animated and child themed!

I have to admit I got a little distracted at first thinking "wait a minute, I thought this was supposed to be a Broadway play? How did they do all these water scenes on a stage?" Once I got over my OCD though, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Even without any popcorn. The fact that it was originally a play was really the only thing I knew going in. It was nice change going in with a blank slate.

I would whole hearted give this movie 2 thumbs up. Its a great chic flick, I don't think my husband would have gotten all the humor. My sister in law and I laughed out loud countless times. The songs made me want to get up and dance. And trust me people - THAT is not a pretty sight! I thought Meryl Streep was beautiful and perfect for the part. Julie Waters was perfectly hilarious ( and I just read she was Mrs. Weasly on Harry Potter - I never would have guessed!) Pierce Brosnan - really, what can you say other than yummy? Well, I do have to admit he isn't the best singer - but his singing parts are minimal. Amanda Seyfried is beautiful and talented and has a wonderful voice - I hope she goes far!

Grab your girlfriends, and go see this! I think you will be glad you did!!

What is this place and where has my house gone??

2008-08-07T21:53:00.003-05:00

HOW did my house get so insanely out of control? I thrive with routine and structure and organization. Every single thing my house is not these days. It makes me cranky. ~~I might have a slight control problem.~~ I think orderliness is next to Godliness or some such something. I just need things put away people!!

Since I'm a real glutton for punishment, I've decided that along with dieting, and exercising, and working full time OH and that little job of being a mom - I'm going to get this place whipped into shape!

I've not totally lost my mind though. I'm limiting myself to one project a week.

Except for this week.

Hey, its my rule, I can break it if I want too!

This weekend I'm going to make up a chore chart for the kids. I'm also going to get all the paperwork in my office area under control! I recently tackled all the craft stuff in here and I'm pretty happy with how well it has stayed neat. We won't talk about how I haven't had time to touch a craft since I organized, ok? Can we keep that between us?

Anyone with me? Pick a project, big or small - snap some pictures, share your success! And please, share your best organizational tips!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-06T08:07:00.002-05:00

Slip n Slide fun

check out 5 minutes for mom for more great pictures, and add yours!

Boys who fight - why do they do it?

2008-08-04T20:42:00.002-05:00

My 16 yr old son got into a verbal altercation with a kid on the opposing team after a game yesterday. Since I was standing right there to witness the entire episode, rather than hearing his recount of it later - I'm at a loss. I really always thought there had to be more instigation to get these things started. Of course, I don't know for sure the history between the two boys. They have played in the same circles for going on 13 years now. {Holy Canoli how did THAT happen?}

As my son, my 3 yr old daughter and I walked towards our car this kid walks up and give us that snarky smile. You know the one. And being the level headed composed child of mine, my son has to respond with a great come back "What, what are you smiling at?" To which the other boy throws a few expletives. At that point I was slightly taken aback mortified. I mean, what would HIS mom think to hear him talk like that, much less in front of lady and a toddler? This started some highly intelligent verbal sparing:

Kid one: oh yeah, bring it
Kid two: you think you're so tough, you bring it
Kid one: %^&*& ^**(*
Kid two: no you are &*((^ &*(*

That might be paraphrased a tad. I tried to defuse the situation by telling my son to just grow up and that the other kid wasn't worth his time. What I REALLY did was escalate the problem because the other kid heard me and took offense. This comment that I thought would wake them up and show them the error of thier ways, really sent his curseometer into over drive. Another mother tried to talk that kid down and asked him to just go to his car (WHERE were all the men during this??) It did get said kid to back off my son, but he turned his hostilaty on the other mom and started dropping the F word on her!

In all seriousness, this all transpired very quickly and though I was there I'm still at a loss as to how it got so ugly so fast. I know that had adults not been standing there these kids could have easily become physical. Girls aren't like that. We get mad, say a few mean things about each other’s hair or outfit and move on with life.

I made it clear to my son that if fists had started flying and he was involved the consequences at home would have been so much worse than any pain he might be feeling from a punch. He assured me I just didn't understand. It’s a man thing. I assured him that HE just didn't understand. It’s a MOM thing!

I'm curious how others feel about this? Is a little fistfight just boys being boys? Would you punish your child if they got into a fight or be glad they stood up for themselves? If any men are reading, what makes you want to settle a disagreement by hurting someone physically?

Out and About - The Charming Lamb

2008-08-03T09:04:00.008-05:00

I love Sunday mornings, the kids were up late and are sleeping in, all I hear is the pitter patter of my husband typing away at his latest blog entry. I love to spend these mornings browsing the Internet because I'm ~~lazy~~ always in the pursuit of broadening my knowledge. And hey, far be it from me not to share these new finds. Its the American way to enable, right?

I stumbled upon a fun mommy site this morning momdot.com. Grab a glass of ~~diet coke~~ water and take some time to click around their site - it is quite expansive.

Enough about them, I want you to check out The Charming Lamb. They make sterling silver jewelry. And not your mothers sterling either! This is fun and different and must have!

Our mom's birthdays are this month, I think this would be a great gift for them, personalized on the back with the kids names of course!

They have 3 pages of cute charms, at incredibly reasonable prices! I really like this one, I think I'll have to get it for our next Girls Christmas bash to add to our charm bracelets.

Go browse, purchase, and come back and tell me what you got!!

Can a picture make you happy?

2008-08-02T11:03:00.004-05:00

Or in this case a scrapbook layout? This is the question asked on the SSD blog this week. I guess the answer for me is obvious or I wouldn't keep the habit up huh?

I love this layout. It makes me laugh every time I see it. The expressions on little man's face are priceless. Seriously, is there anything better than catching a little tresspassing crime on film? Or should that be chip?

Summer Fun

2008-08-01T07:10:00.003-05:00

There is a photo contest over at 5 Minutes for Mom. They want pictures of what fun in the summer means to us. Most years we would have pictures of kids at the pool, or playing on the slip and slide. Trips to the beach, or the zoo, or maybe even further away if we could swing it. We haven't had the typical summer here this year. With the insane cost of gas we haven't had a chance to venture to far from home.

And then there is baseball. Baseball has filled our summer evenings and weekends. Sometimes it has seemed a bit all consuming with even the basball player himself complaing that there was no time for anything else. To be honest, my husband and I love going to the games. The little ones, not so much. They sure love that consession stand though! They also think they are pretty cool when they get to hang out with their oldest brother and his friends. We think we are pretty lucky to get to spend so much time with them too! At 16, most kids are doing everything in their power to not be around their parents, we know these moments are precious and we treasure them.

With that, this is our Summer Fun picture for this year.

Wii "Fit"

2008-07-31T21:57:00.004-05:00

No, we have not yet located the actual game. I do get at least 2 text message alerts a day though...and in the 7.4 seconds it takes me to log in - they are already gone! But that is a whole other post....

We do have Wii Sports, of course. And to be quite honest the whole family has become addicted to it. Especially the Fit portion there that measures your Wii age. We are a pretty competitive family and enjoy doing our fit ages every day to see who can get the lowest score. Oh yeah, and we don't limit ourselves to our own Miis we use the ones sent to us by friends or that we have created for guest players in our home. Hey, we don't do anything half way! For those of you who have never played, Wii Sports has 5 sports; Tennis, Bowling, Boxing, Baseball & Golf. The Fit test chooses 3 variations of these to test your strength, speed and balance. The best age you can get is 20, the worst is 80. For the record I think I was 72 my first try. Don't tell anyone, ok??

Our 6 year old middle child is the best trash talker in the house. Tonight the Wii chose 2 Tennis and a bowling. Tennis is his worst sport. This starting a pleasant little whine-fest. I'd tell you how pitiful he did but he is my little love and I can't possible do that. When his score fell from 28 to 61 he ran screaming from the room, locked himself in the bathroom crying "why, why, WHYYYYYYY"

Who needs a silly balance board when you can have a Fit like that??

Woo HOO - I have my computer back!

2008-06-18T19:56:00.003-05:00

Wow - its amazing how used to a computer you can get. Its like your favorite pair of old jeans. There are others that may put on other jeans, but they just don't fit as comfortable!

Now I'm back in the groove - I wanted to share a charity kit I just picked up. Celebration of Life

This HUGE charity kit is to benefit Laurie Garza. She is a member of the digiscrapping community and her husband passed away last month. She is now raising three small children on her own. Over 25 designers have come together to create this gorgeous Celebration of Life kit to honor her husband and his life. The colors are perfect for boys, girls, summer, birthdays, spring and much more. The kit includes 94 papers, 157 elements, 4 alphas, 8 templates, 6 quick pages and 1 bracket album.

The designers are Gina Miller, Janet Phillips, Nikki Beaudreau, Amanda Heimann, Laura Bratcher, Julie Billinglsey, Jodie McNally, Kim Hill, Danielle Young, Janet Lawrence, MiYon Richardson (scarletheels), Jacque Larsen, cori Gammon, Traci Reed, Kate Hadfield, Jan Crowley, Sherry Ferguson, Julie Bullock, Laura Deacetis, Holly Designs, Sabrina Dupre, Melissa Bennett, Lori Wiley (Diamante), Meredith Cardall, Michele McGraw, Shelly Greninger, Susan Bartolini and previews are completed by Julie Zimmerman. (blinkies by Becca Bonneville). All proceeds (minus paypal fees) will be going directly to Laurie.

I'm off to use download and use it - and watch Fools Gold!

Summer Routine

2008-06-14T13:51:00.001-05:00

Sweetshoope designs blog posed the question "what do you do in the
summer?". Well - I live in south Texas so its all about staying
cool! The kids like to do water things, but I'm so fair skinned that
they have to do those with dad. This summer is filled with Justins
baseball. He has a couple games a week and they don't start until
8:45pm. AND the games are 30 min from home. BUt the fields are
really nice, there is a pleasnt breeze and the team is playing well so
at least they are enjoyable!!

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Are YOU a nerd?

2008-06-14T11:40:00.001-05:00

Another fun test from Sweetshoppe Desgins - I was pretty certain I wasn't a nerd without the test though LOL

Places I've been

2008-06-11T08:03:00.001-05:00

Wow - I'm lacking some serious East Coast visits aren't I?

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com
I feel the need for a vacation! I know I've driven through some other states - we drove back from Virginia one summer, many moons ago - but I seriously the only thing I remember about the trip was having a hard time finding a hotel that would let us stay because we were so young. Never mind that we were married and my husband was active duty military.

Vacation Destination

2008-05-30T08:45:00.002-05:00

Today on the SSD blog they are challenging you to dream of your favorite vacation destination. I'm feeling a little bored and ho hum today so this seemed like a grand idea! I've always wanted to go to Ireland.

Back when I was younger, and perhaps dumber, my good friend Debbie and I thought we'd go on a bicycle tour of Ireland - from pub to pub. I'd still love to tour the pubs, I'm just thinking that perhaps it might be better done by car, or even on foot. I have what Justin recently referred to as a gravity challenged - and gravity usually wins!

Ahhh, just looking at these pictures is quite relaxing!

A little Red White & Blue

2008-05-25T11:16:00.002-05:00

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

If you are in the market for a little red white and blue for scrapping some pictures of this weekend - head over SSD! This post on thier blog is full of RW&B kits, and here is my favorite from SaraAmarie Natalie 2 - it can be found right here

My computer is still on the fritz. Its so frustrating, even just posting here is so much harder without a mouse. And not being able to load any recent pictures, or access my EHD GRRRR! We decided not to send it off until after Justin's birthday party because we are preparing a powerpoint slide show for the party. So I'm trying to scrap with just the little pressure pad on my laptop - FUN stuff I tell ya! lol

Hybrid projects

2008-05-08T19:40:00.003-05:00

I've been inspired to finish up new & post some old projects. I'm very very sad I've not taken pictures of all the projects I've done of the last couple of years !

Gift card holders - I made these at Christmas, for the older kids in the family

And this weekend Caleigh and I took this: Can you tell which side she helped design? :-)

This is made using the new Songbird Avenue kit - go check it out! NOW! I can wait......

how adorable are those little cardboard buttons?? I used double sided sticky stuff and tiny glass beads on a chipboard C - Caleigh LOVES that. I don't think it will stay attached for long.

A couple things I made my mom for mothers day - I did a new insert for her coffee cup she got for Christmas

And my favorite is this cute explosion box - credits here

And a coordinating coaster - I'd made coasters before using layouts on photo paper, but I used a transfer medium this time and I'm much happier with the sleek look

Speaking of transfer medium - I somehow got suckered into buying some canvas squares last week - this is the first one - SO many ideas for the rest - and I learned that you DON'T use a paper cutter on these to trim the excess - hince the little spot on the right (sorry this is a little blurry - poor light and I'm too anxious to show it off to wait for a daylight picture!)

One more picture and them I'm done .....for now.... I've started the transformation from manly Study to girly Craftroom - a few desk accessories - credits here

Now - go check out the album I made for Justin and the look at all the hybrid stuff popping up at SSD. Are you inspired?

What does YOUR Latte say?

2008-05-04T09:19:00.003-05:00

What Your Latte Says About You

You are easygoing and pretty simple to please. You don't put up a fuss... ever.

You are a very frivolous person. You don't take anything too seriously. Why should you?

Intense and energetic, you aren't completely happy unless you are bouncing off the walls.

You're addicted to caffeine. There's no denying it.

You are a child at heart, and you don't ever miss the opportunity to do something playful.

You are exotic and cosmopolitan, but you are never a show off.

What Does Your Latte Say About You?

hmmm - I don't think I've ever had a Latte - so I had to guess my answers on what I THINK I would order LOL Not sure I agree with anything this says - well except that "you are addicted to caffine" yep, that part COULD be true ;-) (as I sip on my 44oz diet coke, no ice thank you very much)

I will be back a bit later with some NSD updates. I need to find / take some pictures of hybrid projects I've been working on!

Head Colds

2008-04-30T20:35:00.002-05:00

Geez - where do these things come from? We went out Sunday morning for our big monthly trip to Costco. We took the Cs to breakfast first, knowing its never a good idea to head to Costco on an empty stomach! It was a beautiful warm day. By the time we left the house a few hours later is was windy and cold!! Within 2 hours my head was congested and I've not been able to breath - much less sleep - since! There is a lot of talk lately about allergies to the Barometric Pressure - I'm starting to wonder if there isn't some truth in that!

On to other fun medical news. Jonathan finally got his CPAP machine. Along with it he got the interpretation of his results. He had a sleep apnea score of 94. They suggest treatment with any score over a 5!! The guy also told him that he was really concerned with how low his oxygen got at some points during the study. This silly little machine is costing us a small fortune, it better work wonders!

So tomorrow is a new month! How many of you change out your computer desktop monthly? Several digi-designers put out free desktops - and this month I found a super cute one by Heather Roselli I love that it has 3 picture spots instead of the normal 2 - and I really like that it has a big enough calendar that I can customize it.

On that note - this Sat. is National Scrapbook Day! Back when I paper scrapped, some friends and I would go to big city wide event put on by Creative Memories. I have already warned Jonathan that I plan to be firmly parked behind my laptop - shopping, and scrapping and chatting, and scrapping and picking up freebies, oh and a little scrapping!

Holidays

2008-04-25T20:00:00.004-05:00

How is it that a "free" day off doesn't feel like it at all? Most of San Antonio shuts down every year for the Battle of Flowers parade. We don't like parades, or crowds, or heat, or even beer being spilled all over us. Yeah, sorry bunch aren't we? Jonathan had to work though, and Justin had to work the parade with the church. So me and the Cs were going to have a nice leisurly day at home.

My darling 2nd born woke me up at 5 am. I'm fairly certain neither of us slept again after that. We left the house around 8 to go meet some friends of mine for breakfast. Then a quick stop by Costco for some laundry detergent and to fill up with gas. I got gas there this past Sunday and it was 3.21. Today - 3.39. I N S A N E

Aside from getting all the laundry washed and dried and almost getting one closet cleaned out, and ONE scrapbook page - I didn't get jack done! And I don't feel too leisured either!

A few layouts to show off - I'm trying to go back and scrap some of the pictures from the first digital we have - I'm SO far behind!!

The first 2 are using SaraAmarie's new kit Western Girlie
my friend Melanie and I - many moons, and several kids ago

This is also for the Cookie Decorating Challenge at SSD You should check it out - they have great templates.

This is Colton at 2yrs old - how cute was he?

credit here

Another template challenge (see a theme??) from the Hawt Mama Blog -

credits here

Spring Cleaning

2008-04-20T21:42:00.003-05:00

Uggg - I hate that time between starting spring cleaning and finishing - those few days where the house looks like a hurricane hit. So far I've managed to complete one, ONE closet. Lots of other little projects are in progress, but UGH!

We've been renting movies from Redbox lately. When I went to return the ones we got Friday night I made the mistake of taking Caleigh. She begged to rent Enchanted again. I'm going to have to buy that one for her. She has been running around the house all singing that little ditty the Princess yoddels to get the animals to come help her. It was SO cute the first 25 times, after that - not so much. And this one, I may have a Musical girl on my hands.

Speaking of movies, we watched I now Pronounce you Chuck & Larry - funny movie, totally not kid appropriate though.

I did manage to get a couple layouts done this weekend - this is for the Slogan Challange - using Zoom Zoom

credits here

and one of Caleigh being silly

credits here

Shopping Saturday

2008-04-19T19:59:00.005-05:00

I've recently found the best little place in digi-scrapping land. Sweet Shoppe Designs Not only are the designers the cream of the crop, the forums the friendliest I've seen - they have the most inspiring challenges The best thing about their challenges, well aside from helping you get more pictures scrapped, the more pages you complete within the month the higher percentage off coupon you can get. If you scrap and you've not been there, check it out!

All of that to preface my first 2 purchases of the day! SSD puts out new releases every Sat, and for that day they are 20% off. Even better, lately a good number of the kits are having free gifts with purchase of chip board album quick pages. Yeah, being the big impulse shopper I am, I can't pass up a chance to get something free!

I picked up Boom I got your Girlfriend by MandaBean, not only is it really cute but the name made me laugh out loud.

And Beep Chugga Zoom by Kristin Cronin-Barrow & Shawna Clingerman since I don't have enough boy kits

I wanted this, but since Caleigh isn't in dance yet I couldn't justify it :She Loves to Dance by Lauren Grier

I have spring fever - and started cleaning out closets for a garage sale in a couple of weeks. I'm going to use the proceeds on our new craft room. Lets hope I make a bundle because I have TONS of ideas! I cleaned off a book shelf from the coat closet that will go in there, I just needed some storage - so I headed to Hobby Lobby hoping to find some cheap boxes for the kids stuff. Metal decor was 50% off so I picked up a few pieces for my stuff.

I got 3 of these

I think I'll use the tall one for magazines or papers - not sure, but they were cute, AND on sale!

And this - I saw it at the last minute - again, on sale - ugh! I want to figure out how to put dividers in there and use it for scissors and pens and such.

I suppose it's time

2008-04-18T19:10:00.000-05:00

for me to join the world of the blogging that is.

It is Friday night which means movie night!! We got Dr. Doolittle for the kids and I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry for when they fall asleep.

Jonathan is busy cooking steaks on the grill, the little ones are busy whining about being hungry & Justin is off with a friend somewhere. Currently showing on the little screen is Dora. Typical evening around here.

A cute picture of Caleigh to see how this works: