Laughter fills my days

2010-07-20T16:07:00.002-04:00

Great giveaway

2010-05-06T07:13:00.003-04:00

2009-12-07T12:29:00.001-05:00

Right now: I am very excited for Christmas and totally in the 'spirit'. I am also very tired, No matter how hard I tried I could NOT fall asleep last night!

2009-11-10T19:23:00.001-05:00

My schedule at work recently changed, now I go in at 4 am. I have been too tired to keep up with Twitter,FB, and blogging. Hoping I can find time soon.

9 for 09/09/09

2009-09-09T19:00:00.001-04:00

Today is September 09, 2009 so here are 9 things I am thankful for.
1. My son made it home safe and sound from his trip.
2. Potty training of same son is complete, He went the whole 5 hour car ride up and back, no accidents!
3. Hugs and kisses from my children
4. My little girl is learning more words everyday and showing me what she wants. Makes seeing to her needs a lot easier!
5. Cooler temperatures, (Highs in the High 80's)
6. A husband that makes me laugh
7. Air conditioning!
8. A job, (nuf said!)
9. Being alive and healthy with my family!

Missing

2009-09-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

I am seriously missing my little guy. He left yesterday for 3 days away with MiMi and PaPa N. He has NEVER been away from us that long! Only slept away from us twice in four years. It is too quiet with out him, and I think quite possibly little miss L misses him more than we do. Poor thing looks bored without brother there to take the lead! Anyway, he will be back before I know it and life will be happy chaos once again!

So Far

2009-07-29T08:00:00.007-04:00

So far this summer we:

Have gone swimming a bunch.
Watched a ton of movies and SpongeBob.
Fed the ducks at the park.
Seen a Parade.
Walked down to see our local Fourth of July Fireworks.
Waited to watch the Space Shuttle to go up only to not be
able to see it for the clouds.
Laughed as Daddy showed off his new talent (juggling).
Celebrated our wedding anniversary.
Donated old clothes to Goodwill.
Been eating more sandwhichs and salads for dinner. Light fare for hot summer nights.
Done crafts with the kiddos.
Planted lots of color in the yard (mostly daddy).
Taken lots of photos.
Scrapbooked and crafted a lot (mostly me).

We are Planning to:

Go to the beach some evening.
Get a year membership to our local zoo.
Go to the Aquarium in Tampa.
Have a yard sale.
Make hand puppets with the kiddos.
Take Little Mister J to see his first movie in the theatre.
Go bowling as a family(anyone know if one night is better than the others for kids?).

I am sure I will be adding to my list! Hope you are having a fun summer!

Making Memories and CHA

2009-07-28T22:00:00.001-04:00

Making Memories is doing huge giveaways this week on their blog for CHA with all their new releases. If you love the Slice you are in luck, lots of new releases, plus a bonus upgrade to your machine when you use any of these awesome newly released cards! Check them out http://www.makingmemories.typepad.com/ . Grand prize giveaway on Thursday also! Have fun and good luck!

Random

2009-07-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

Alright, so , we have had an influx of afternoon thunderstorms here. The other evening Little Mister J, who is obsessed with policemen, firefighters and their automobiles, came into our bedroom( past his bedtime mind you) and told me "I am the Police and here to save you if you get struck by lighting, because that is what polices do." Awww, how sweet. He freaks me out sometimes because he will come running around the corner to me yelling "The polices are here!" and I think "oh my GOD!" Then he will tell me "I am the polices." Whew... not that the "polices have any reason to be a my house, but you never know.

On to other topics, I will be delivering at least 11 cans of food to our food bank this week after I do our weekly shopping. I will probably round it up to an even 20 though. I will also be mailing out the Card for Heros cards I made last month( I know, finally, huh?). I have been branching out creatively wise. I have been doing watercolors and beading along with scrapping and card making. I don't know why but my head is almost bursting with ideas! I wish I had more time to let it all out, but I work with what I have.

Hope you have an awesome day, I know I will.

Mimic

2009-07-14T08:00:00.001-04:00

Good morning! So, the latest with Little Miss L, besides her being cranky alllllll the time lately is that she is turning into a mimic. She was at my mom's the yesterday and got on the phone and said 'hey' I totally thought that I was talking to Little Mister J because that is what he says to me on the phone as a greeting. Needless to say I start asking my 18 month old daughter if she has been going to the potty good all day and sharing with your sister nice. It was only when I heard 'ahbahchamacaeeeeeeee' that I realized who I was talking to. Then yesterday afternoon when hubby came home she came tearing around the corner saying 'hey' to him too. So, so funny! I mean she sounds EXACTLY like her brother, seriously!

In crafty news, I have been looking all over for Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist or Maya Road Maya Mist and can not find them anywhere locally. I would have to order online and they are like 6 or 7 dollars per bottle. That really adds up when you figure all colors there are of this totally cool stuff. So, I googled how to make Glimmer Mist and lo and behold I found a website (sorry, can't remember whose) that had a formula using either food coloring, alcohol ink, or Tim Holtz Distress Re-inkers plus rubbing alcohol, water and shimmer pearls. They turned out WAY better that I could have hoped for. I made purple and light blue last night and I LOVE it! Now, to just get more empty bottles and more shimmer pearls! If you want to know how to make your own leave a comment or just google 'How To Make Glimmer Mist'

Have an awesome day!

I Heart Hero Arts

2009-07-13T08:00:00.004-04:00

Reminder, be sure to check our the Hero Arts Website and Blog this week. Great giveaways and a new look!http://www.heroarts.com/ , http://www.heroarts.com/blogs/club . You can also click on the Hero Arts link at the bottom Right side of this blog. Have fun and good luck!

Me likey...and am Peary Thankful

2009-07-13T08:00:00.003-04:00

Looks like I finally won something http://www.sassafras.typepad.com/. Thank you Sassafras :) I am crazy excited to get this and play. Now I just need to figure out how to get them my info so they can mail it out. Hmmm...maybe checking my email would help:)

Good Deeds

2009-07-09T07:50:00.003-04:00

Today on the Cosmo Cricket Blog, if you leave a comment they will donate one dollar to their local food bank. They are pledging to donate up to $1,000. WOW, that is huge this time of year. We all need to remember that people are going hungry year round, not just around the holidays. NO child should EVER have to go to bed hungry! I will pledge to donate 10 cans of food(at least) to my local fod bank. I know not a lot of people read my blog and that is OK I will start off doing 10 cans and add to it for everyone who comments, sound good? Everyone who has the ability should do this in their community also. You do not need to be rich, I surely am not. But, I know that the money I waste every week could got to feed those less fortunate and blessed than me. Help me and them by leaving a comment and have a great day!

To comment on Cosmo Crickets Blog also click on the link on the right :)

Celebrate

2009-07-04T08:00:00.003-04:00

Happy Independence Day America!

Repurposing

2009-07-02T08:00:00.003-04:00

I discovered a new way to make my crafting money stretch. You know the hard plastic wrapping that almost every single thing you buy comes in? Well, I learned that by cutting it into flat sheets ,whatever size you can manage from the particular package you have, you can then run those sheets through your Sizzix or Cricut machine and make your own acetate embellishments (think Heidi Swapp Ghost Hearts, Flowers, etc.). You may need to run the plastic through the Sizzix a couple of times to get it to cut all the way thru. Also, on the Cricut you may need the Deep Cut Blade. All of this is contingent on how thick the plastic is you are working with. You could also use the plastic that they make little "windows" in packaging with for a transparancy look. I have tried this out and my little acetate embellies are just the coolest, they turned out better than I thought when I first thought to try this. So, not only am I saving money by making my own embellishments, I am also doing a little something for the environment.

Have a good one! Leave comments if you have tried this out and let me know how it works for you.

Purging

2009-07-01T08:00:00.002-04:00

I finally decided that I will never get back to my pre-kids size ever again and if I do my clothes will be crazy out of style, so I went crazy purging out all my too small, too skanky, too 'what was I thinking', too 'not even cool on a 19 year old' clothes. I mean even if I do loose some more weight, who wants to see a grown ass women in her thirties trying to still look like she is 20? I know I do not want to see myself looking like that and I hope those of you who know people who try to pull that off are a good enough friend to tell them to go change their clothes. Let's all have a little dignity no matter our age or size. My clothes that do not fit are so old that I found a pair of RED, yes RED, as in fire engine RED, Gap jeans. I wonder how long it has been since they made those?

Weekend

2009-06-29T08:00:00.004-04:00

Hello, happy Monday! This weekend Hubby and Little Mister J went out of town so it was just me and sweet Little Miss L all weekend. We had a real good time together we played lots and had a lot of quiet one on one moments that it hard to have when big brother is around making all sorts of noise. It was amazing how quiet the house was and how clean it stayed with the boys gone! See, I am not a bad housekeeper, they are just slobs (said with love:) ) ! Anyway, I was lucky enough on Saturday to get my MIL to come watch Little Miss L so I could go to a crop I had been planning to go to, for like, a month. I came up with a new way to do crops. Instead of bringing every single scrapbook related item I own, I make a list of photos I want to scrapbook and what kinds of papers I want to use and I start to pack from there. I pack the embellishments that will coordinate with the papers, I pack my scissors, craft, knife, rub-on applicator, glues, mat, paper cutter and I set. So easy! I end up being a lot less stressed out, and I am more productive. I got nine very good pages done in six hours! I need to get my Internet hooked up so I can scan these in to share. Sunday I was at Big Lots and they had tons of American Crafts Thickers for only two dollars! Vinyl, chipboard, felt, foam, fabric. Not the latest releases but still a good deal and colors that I can always use. Black, brown, pink, fuchsia, red, yellow, green. I was totally stoked!

That is all for now, have a great day. Feel free to comment!

Photo Epiphany

2009-06-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

Good morning, Good day, Good afternoon, Good evening and Good night. This should be a quick one today. So, I took a ton of pictures of the kiddos this weekend. Seems I got more of little miss L than mister J though. After taking some pictures of the kids together in their mismatched clothes (their clothes matched just not one kid to other make sense?). Anyway...I had a total photo epiphany, and I know that I and everyone else who takes photos has heard this before but...I changed them to black and white and Holy Amazingness (not a word, I know), They looked FAB! It just finally clicked. I do not need to do any cropping, retouching or erase all the toys and clutter, just put it in black white and all is beautiful and soothing. I might even start to wear just black and white all the time it looked so good. Ha ha. Crazy humor. This was so easy and the results were perfect to me they ended up looking like portraits. Zoomed in their faces, blurry background. Awww, I get the warm fuzzies just thinking about it :) .

Have a most awesome day. It will be a hot one here so I will be busy making sure my face does not melt off.

Laughing

2009-06-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

So, this week has been filled laughter. Of course, I am only laughing to keep from crying. Nothing major bad has happened I am just feeling extra stress from everywhere. Had a rough few days with the kiddos and their tantrums and craziness. Work I do not even want to talk about. Let's just say I have had my work cut out for me. I am just thankful to have a decent job, I need to put it in perspective, a lot of people do not. It is weeks like these that I wish I had never gone back to work full-time. I think if I was home during the day the kids would not act out for attention as much in the afternoons, I would not be so tired and short fused with them, my eye would stop twitching.

Anyway enough grumbling, all is good because today is Friday and I have the next two days off. I need to get ready for scrapbooking next weekend and start putting together the stuff I want to work on. I finished the cutest heart shaped mini with pictures of just Hubby and I. I made it out of Martha Stewart wedding coasters (yes, the kind you put cups on) that are brown and pink hearts. I just glued two back to back added some pink, red and brown embellishments and rub-ons and wallet sized prints of our photo's. Easy-peasy.

Have a great weekend :). Leave me a comment if you would like and thanks for visiting!

Critters

2009-06-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

So I am going out a limb with this post. I may be making myself sound like a bit of a redneck. We have a new addition to our strange menagerie of critters. For those who do not know we already have two cats, a hamster, a snake, a tarantula, and a scorpion, we had a turtle, but alas we had to let him go in the pond cause he was HUGE! And, it just was not right to keep him in a little 20 gallon tank any longer, sorry I digress. Our latest addition, wait for it, wait for it...is 200 or so (yes 200) baby crickets! You see crickets are what the tarantula and the scorpion eat. So, apparently the last time we purchased crickets we got a hot mama looking for a safe place to lay some eggs. I know, am I luckiest girl in the world or what? Anyway, so last night we had to go out and get a special food for them. Well, I do not want them to starve and if Hubby can "grow 'em big and fat"(his exact words, kid you not!) then we will not have to buy crickets for awhile. So, financially, if this works out, we will probably break even, if not then we are in the hole about seven dollars.

That's all for now. Hope you have an awesome day! Feel free to ccmment. I like comments, it is like getting mail that is not a bill :)

Realization

2009-06-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

So, reflecting back on this past weekend I have come to the Realization that I lead a pretty boring life. I get up, go to work, get the kids, go home, cook dinner, put everyone to bed, then I go to bed, repeat. On the weekend I get up, go to Wal-mart or Target go home, clean the house, cook dinner, put everyone to bed, then I go to bed, repeat. Not a very exciting life at all. But, who needs excitement anyway? I believe it is highly overrated. I have two small children and that is really all the excitement I am programmed to be able to handle. So, to wrap this up, I apologize if this blog seems repetitive. That is just the way my life is. Have a good day.

Less

2009-06-12T08:00:00.008-04:00

Oprah was very profound yesterday. She was challenging families to consume less. Less food, less money, less resources. She was also challenging them to unplug and get back in touch with each other. We are in a very technology based world right now. It seems that no one can be without there cell phone, computer, TV, video games etc. Our kids are growing up zombies in front of the TV. We do not talk to them and if we do it is to tell them to be quiet. The family dinner has been replaced by the fast food drive through. We are a world that is so in touch we are out of touch with the people that should matter most, our family.

Without even realizing it we have been doing the Oprah challenge for awhile now. We have not had cable in our house for (gasp) two years now. We try to do all our running around for the week on one or two outings. We do not have a home telephone. We eat at home more often than not, and we always TRY to eat together as a family. I take my lunch to work instead of doing fast food. We try to eat organic foods when it is feasible (economically). We do not buy bottled water, we have a Brita pitcher at home and hubby and I each have a Nalgene bottle to take to work. We have no furniture that was bought new, everything was either given to use or bought second or third hand. And no, my house does not look like a college apartment, it is quit comfortable and clean. well, except when my kids spill on the floor. On the weekend I try not to text,Twitter, blog, surf the net, watch TV. We only have one car and although it is 14 years old, it is quit good on gas(I love you Saturn :) ). We play with our kids more and get more done around the house since we have started this.

Now, by no stretch of the imagination am I preaching, we are far from perfect on this. we still consume and waste more than I would like. I still make my weekly pilgrimage to the craft store. I still end up throeing out food, drink 8 Diet Coke cans a day, use paper towels and paper plates more then we should. I come home some days after everyone being gone and all four TVs are still on WTH. However, we are working on it. I feel we have taken large strides from where we were to where we are.

What are you doing to live a life with "less"? Have a great weekend, sorry for the rambling.

Can't Have Anything Nice

2009-06-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

I have been saying it for about three years now "I can't have anything nice." The latest: Last night I get into my bed and look for the remotes( yes, plural, remotes) too find all three hanging out under a pillow that has been transplanted to the middle of my bed. I pick up the remote to our BRAND NEW only had two it days DVD player to find that the battery cover on the back has been broken, yes broken, off. Of course, who is to blame? Mister J. He tells me that it is "OK" though. Yeah, no big deal. I like how he tried to hide it after he broke it. This is just another in a series of "nice" things that I like that have turned up broken. Some things just disappear and I never find out what their status is. So, I have resigned myself to the fact that for the next fifteen years, at least, I will not have anything nice.

Have a great day!

Shoes

2009-06-09T08:00:00.001-04:00

So, in our house we keep shoes in a big old corn crate by the front door. Everyones shoes go in there when they take them off. Well, little miss L has taken it upon herself recently to find a matching pair of shoes, it does matter who's they are, and put them on herself and clomp around the house. This is seriously the cutest thing I have every seen! She is so tiny and she will put on hubbies size 12 clod hoppers and march all around, falling over more than half the time. I think maybe she will grow up to be like her mimi B and have a bit of a shoe addiction.

Have a great day!

Relaxed

2009-06-08T08:00:00.003-04:00

Good morning! I am feeling refreshed after a relaxing weekend. I decided Friday night that I would take the weekend to decompress from technology. No updating twitter, no reading or writing blogs, no texting(boy, that was hard to do!) and I feel good for it. Sometimes it is easy to forget that we did not always have these things taking time away from our family and chores. I hardly even watched any TV all weekend except for the weather and when I was going to bed.

J had his friend over on Saturday and they ran around like crazy for about four hours. Then he went off to see his mimi and papa N. So, me and L hung out playing. She is growing so fast and is such a good baby! Hubby, L and I had lunch at Chili's. I was feeling some creative juices flowing, so I decided to make a little book out off baseball card holders. It is all about my favorite things and turned out better than I expected. It was so simple to put together. Then at night J comes to me and says "I have a question for you, now, this is very important. Do you want to come watch my movie with me?" He cracks me up. I guess that is important to a 3 1/2 year old.

Sunday we went and did some running around. Went to Target and got some new DVD's. also got Frappacinos from Starbucks while we were there. Stopped at Joann's, okay, do they ever get ANYTHING new in? I just got white cardstock and white thread. Then it was on to Wal-mart. The store we go to is being remodeled so it is hard to find your way around right now. We got L a new car seat. poor thing, we kept bumping her head every time we were putting her in the old one because it sits up so high. Anyway, then hubby vacuumed, yes I said vacuumed my car! Whoo hoo for small miracles. So, now precious little L is all set up to not get anymore knots on her head :)

All in all it was a great lazy weekend.

Slow News Day

2009-06-04T07:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was a slow day for us. We ate out at a new restaurant, Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The burgers were good, fries were not. Kind of expensive $26 for three burgers, two fries and 2 drinks (the kids shared a burger). Could have eaten at Chili's for that amount. Then we went to Wal-mart ( of course, right?). We only needed juice, milk, and soda. Ended up spending $43 because we also got L a bunch of shirts next size up that were on clearance for $1, and Nicorette for Hubby (he says he really wants to quit).

Then it was home for me to play with my new to me sewing machine a lady at work gave me. it is really nice. I am having a hard time threading the needle and catching the bobbin thread. Give it time I will figure it out.

That is all for today. Hope you have a great one, I know I will.

2009-06-03T07:02:00.005-04:00

Well, yesterday was a busy day so i did not get a chance to post. I had to take L to the Dr. for her 18 month checkup. She is growing so fast, already at 25 pounds and 32 inches tall! This is such a fun age with her. She is always laughing and running around chasing her brother "Ja" as she calls him. Yesterday she was trying to walk around in Mike's shoes, being as they are a size 12 you can imagine how hard it was for her to make any progress. She has perseverance though she kept going. Love that girl.

Mister J spent the day with his Mimi N and came home totally cranky. He is a sweet boy usually, but the terrible threes seem to be in full effect some days. Can not wait 5 more months for him to turn 4!

On other news i took the car into the shop because to me it was acting "fruity" like it does right before the alternator goes bad. However, the mechanic could find nothing at all wrong with it, everything is charging like it should etc.(of course, right?). So, apparently I have just as good of an imagination as J does. I also finally got some printer ink so I can print up all of those pictures I have been taking. Maybe it will give me the inspiration I need to get my scrapbooking mojo back. Nothing has been inspiring me these last 2 weeks. Hopefully soon my Internet will be hooked up from home and I will be able to share some pictures and creations.

That is all for today. Thanks for visiting if you just stumbled across me. Leave a comment :). Have a good one!

Weekend Wrap Up

2009-06-01T07:26:00.005-04:00

Saturday started off with hubby going fishing early. So, it was me and the wee ones in the morning. L was awake first, then J woke at around 8:30 which is really late for him to sleep in. J decided he wanted to watch Toy Story 2 and proceeded to go into zombie mode in front of the TV. He would not even come to the table to eat breakfast, and made a big mess of eggs all over the sofa! Sigh, I obviously can not have anything nice! The rest of the day went smoothly, J was pretending to be a fighter-fighter(firefighter) and an old belt was his hose! I swear that kid has an imagination like I have never seen before! We made our weekly pilgrimage to Wal-mart and stocked up on goodies for the week.

Sunday we started off early. Hubby mowed the lawn and has it looking gooooood. We took the kids to the duck pond. I had like, four loaves of bread in the freezer that we took with us. However, it was hot and there was no breeze, so needless to say the ducks had other plans. They were totally not into our bread. So sad, all that bread just floating in the pond and no one wants to even nibble on it! We went to target afterwords and got photo paper, I also need ink for the printer but of course they were out of what I needed. So, home we went to make taco burritos, which are burritos that were supposed to be tacos. They were yummy and even the vegetarian kiddies ate them. the kiddies then decided to jump on the bed in J's room. Bad bad bad. i did laundry and mopped the floor, Am I a barrell of fun or what?

On another note, I finished my original goal of 50 cards for cards for heroes (http://www.cardsforheroes.org/ ). Now I think I will shoot for 100. Wish me luck. I think that this organization is very worhty of the little bit of time it took me to do this. They should be counted as heroes too.
All in all a very relaxing weekend. I hope yours was the same.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2009-05-29T06:33:00.002-04:00

So, my precious 3 year old boy says to my dear husband yesterday "Daddy, I do not want you to smoke anymore." Seriously, is there anything that kid could have said that would have more of a heart tugging effect on us?? He was so solemn and sweet about it. I never realized that kids pick up on so much. It is not like hubby smokes in the house or around the kids, he is fastidious about washing up afterwards, changing his shirt, brushing his teeth etc. Yet, a 3 year old knows what is up and that it is not a good thing. That one sentence has given hubby some things to think about. He has tried to quit quite a few times before, this time he says he wants to try the LASER therapy. At around 300 dollars a pop I hope that if he does it he will get the results he wants.
On another note I followed the blog hop last weekend for Cards For Heroes, www.cardsforheroes.org a great organization that sends handmade cards overseas to military personnel. I am in the process of making my first ever batch of cards to send to them. I am only up to 8 so far hoping to do 50 to 100.
That is all for today, have a great weekend!

2009-05-28T08:39:00.002-04:00

First post on my new blog... woo hoo! Have a great day, I know i will.