First Day of School, New Product!

Ah, my girls are growing up so fast. Today was their first day of preschool 4. Now, they did go last year, but still, it's a milestone.

Heidi

Gretchen

Don't you just love those little skirts? Thank you Target! :-)

Random layouts:
This was for Digi Dare #49. Credits here.

I think I'm finally finished with my pages from CHA. Credits here.

This was for the RAKScraps sketch challenge. Thanks for the cool template Robin! Credits here.

I'll save some more for later.

I just released a new product at My Digital Muse: Encyclopedia Style 8.5x11 Templates. I made these to help people out with the Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life challenge going on right now at DST.



Grab this set today for just $2.00!

I've made a couple of pages for the challenge so far:




Okay I better sign off for today. Hope to be more regular on blogging, now that school has started.

Hot hot hot

Daily Something

I made a hybrid layout from my now infamous electronic speeding ticket. I printed the background paper on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper, then printed the elements on a separate sheet and cut them out. I need to add journaling to jazz it up, but it's my creative project for the day. I used Sherri Tierney's Rev It Up, available at OAKS, which I think is so cute. Never thought I'd have a use for it though! LOL Those ribbons look amazingly realistic when you print them out and attach them.

Chatter
It is sooooooooooooo hot and sticky here. Every time you walk outside, you can almost slice the air. Now it's nothing like St. Louis, but it's still uncomfortable and makes me want to stay inside. So that's what we've been doing today...playing with PlayDoh, coloring and now the girls are playing in the basement, pretending they have an animal house or something. :-)

My brother was in town Saturday - Wednesday, and we've been doing a lot of fun stuff with him. Sunday was COSI, Tuesday we went out to dinner and then to the Mud Hens (baseball) game and yesterday we went swimming. The girls love seeing him, as he's the "fun uncle" and loves to spoil them. Here is a layout from all the fun:

Credits: Traci Reed - Bubble Wands and bubbles from Blow Me a Bubble, Papers from Trendy Blendys (blue) and Neutrally Yours (gray and black), Stitching from Unbound, Blue ricrac from Ric Rac Bits, Mini Alpha; Glitter stroke by Sausan Designs; Template by Andrea Gold (modified)
Font: Mish

Not too much else going on. Tomorrow we have a preschool meeting, and Rob and I are going to try to go out tomorrow night. This weekend is the annual German American Festival, which we always enjoy. Our good friends/neighbors are German dancers, and we love to see the dances at the festival. Plus, the beer is good too! When the girls were little, they had German dirndel dresses but they have since outgrown them. I'd love to get them another set, since they look so cute.

Well, I'm off to try to stay entertained. It's almost Friday! :-)

Oh, before I go, remember that Fridays are now Featured Fridays at Plain Digital Wrapper. Every designer puts one product on sale for just $2.00...a great deal! Be sure to check out my store late tonight to see which product I chose!

Oh Fiddlesticks!

Daily Something: Don't speed...it's very expensive!!!

Rob is working tons of hours this week, so this afternoon he came home for lunch and stayed for a couple of hours, since he'll be working very late tonight. He entertained the girls for a while, which was a nice break since it has been raining all day here and I can't send them outside to play.

I thought he had left to go back to work, but he returned about two minutes to hand me a piece of paper. It had several photos of his car, speeding along a road close to here. One of the city's intersection cameras got lucky and caught me going 62 mph in a 50 mph zone. Drat!! Turns out it was last Tuesday night, while I was on my way to Barnes and Noble to enjoy my night out. I'm so mad at myself! I've gone 19 years without a speeding ticket, until now. Rob, being the kind-hearted man that he is, just couldn't stop laughing at me. At least he's not mad. But $95 for a trip to B & N is a bit pricey, don't you think? Good thing I've had a record month in digi sales this month! LOL

We survived the FFO on Saturday. The girls really enjoyed playing with their cousins, who are almost 3 and 16 months old. The day was relaxed and the weather was absolutely perfect. It couldn't have gone better.

Yesterday we met Uncle Brian (in from California), Mom and Dad at COSI. I think Brian enjoyed it almost as much as the girls did...it was cute. Afterward, we had leftovers at Mom and Dad's house (another night off from cooking, yay!). Brian gave the girls their belated birthday presents - LeapPad Reading and Writing and a globe. They are going to be complete brainiacs with all these educational toys!

Well, right now it's 4:56pm and I've almost run out of ways to entertain the girls inside. We had done the Leap Pads, colored, PlayDoh, computer games, they helped with laundry, and right now they are playing drums and a mini-keyboard. Don't know how much longer I can take that!

Later!

Water is fun

Daily Something: You can be free in the water. Size doesn't matter. Everyone floats.

We spent yesterday and today at Castaway Bay in Sandusky and had a great time! On our last water park trip, I felt so self-conscious running around in a swim suit, but for some reason this time it didn't matter. Getting in the water with Rob and the girls was a truly freeing experience this time. It was their first experience with a wave pool and they were just delighted. I can see they have potential to become strong swimmers, with a few more lessons and lots more water time.

I will post pictures soon, but for now I'm going to bed. It's been a long two days (albeit fun) and tomorrow we have another FFO (this one will be a Fun Family Outing, rather than a Forced one...). My grandma is turning 91 tomorrow and my brother is flying in from California to celebrate with us. We'll be joined by my aunt and uncle, and one cousin and his family. It should be a really fun day, and the weather is supposed to be great.

Before I go, I want to link you up to a really cool blog about art journals. I came across Life is the Art at KB and Friends, where Sally (cellomom) is hosting a really cool challenge. I just might give this art journaling a try. Sounds like fun.

Night!

Spinach Ravioli

Daily Something: The grocery store isn't such a bad place to go.

Normally, I HATE grocery shopping. But I had to go this afternoon as we were out of milk, peanut butter, bread...you know, the essentials.

LOL! If you know me IRL, you know that cooking isn't really my thing. I mean, I do it, but it's not some huge passion or anything. When I make a new recipe, it's an event. Tonight I made Spinach and Cheese Ravioli. Sounds impressive, right? Well it's not, really. I used wonton wrappers instead of pasta. Easy to put together, but they don't hold up very well during cooking...pretty flimsy. Anyway, they tasted good and the girls ACTUALLY ATE THEM!! Woohoo!

Tomorrow we are going to take off and spend the day at a water park, and spend the night there. It's one of those indoor parks. Should be fun. And of course I'll have lots of photos to share when we get back.

Sorry, no layouts today. I have a couple done that have to wait... ;-)

Happy Hump Day!

New goodies

Daily Something: Sometimes honesty isn't always the best policy.

Yeah, I know...it doesn't sound right, but it's true. I guess I can rephrase this by saying that sometimes, you have to do things you don't want to do in order to avoid hurting someone's feelings.

I have a friend who is just the sweetest person, but her son is pretty aggressive and when we get together for playdates, something usually happens. By something, I mean he ends up directing his aggression at one of my girls. Last time at the park, it was throwing small stones at them; today, it was pushing one of them down into the sandbox. It's getting to the point where I would rather not get together with her, because I don't think the girls need to deal with that. They will have to deal with him in their class at school this year, so why add to it?

Anyway, she is fairly persistent about wanting to get together. I think I will have to be very busy for the next several months. KWIM?

New Product
I have a new template/quick page set up at MDM - Second Spring 8x8 Template Set :



It will be on sale for just $2.00 all day Wednesday, 8/14/07, so don't miss it!

I've also added the Summer Groove collab kit I did at Digital Tag Team to my store at PDW:



Okay, my battery is about to die, and I'm at B & N enjoying my night off, so I'll catch you tomorrow!

Monday Musings

Monday is supposed to be my day to clean and do laundry. However...not much of that is happening today! It's so much more fun to scrap, blog and surf. LOL

Daily Something: When your house is cluttered, and a "born organized" person visits your home, they become visibly uncomfortable.

Yes, Mom came to visit this morning. She and Dad had to come over and look at the swingset for some reason. Don't ask me! She absolutely cannot sit still at my house. She felt compelled to pull weeks, wipe stuff off the outdoor table (sand??), and while walking through the porch, she ran into the same pop container three or four times...I believe it was on purpose. Sigh. I guess I better get to that housework.

Before I go, a couple of layots:

Credits: Template by the fabulous Tracy Blankenship, Urban Vintage kit by Traci Reed.

I made this one for my dear friend Jeanmarie, who rarely takes pictures. So when she actually sent me one, I HAD to scrap it!! :-) J, I emailed you the full resolution version of this...did you get it?

I've been trying to finish my pages from CHA - here's a funny one:

Credits: Papers, elements and template from Funky Train - SBG collab kit (available soon!), font is Mish

Robin and Audra met Holly and her pals one night to have drinks - it was a blast! I was so tickled that the background paper had "Chicago" on it (among many other cities) so it fit right in with my theme. This page is busier than my normal style, but somehow it seems appropriate for that evening...LOL And yes Jeanmarie, this was the night I called you... ;-)

Okay, off to wash now. Have a great one!

Migraines

Daily Something: migraine headaches are NO FUN (notfunatol)! I spend most of the bed in bed. Mine come with all the fixin's - sensitivity to light, sound, temperature, stomach issues...the whole shabang. Now that I feel human again, it's wonderful.

Daily Something: Bionic Cricket

Apparently, crickets can chirp continuously for an infinite amount of time. It just so happens we have one of these lovely creatures living right outside our house, which can be heard from the first or second floor.

A day off?

Yesterday we had a wonderful time at the art museum. First we walked around the galleries, which I haven't done with the girls before. Heidi took everything in, and of course asked about a million questions. That girl is such a thinker! Gretchen, on the other hand, glanced at things and then asked when we could go downstairs (to the family center). Sigh. I plan to take Heidi back there so she and I can just gaze at all the inspiration.

Which brings me to my Daily Something: in order to be inspired, you must leave the house once in a while! Sounds basic, I know, but since leaving the house takes effort, lots of times I choose not to. The art museum is literally about 12 minutes from my house, and is just full of amazing art, architecture, lighting, people...everything! I should be taking the kids there every week. AND IT'S FREE!

Today Rob will be home in the afternoon, giving me some "time off". This is a result of the meltdown I had on Wednesday. I hate that it takes having a fit to get his attention sometimes. It's never intentional though (hormones take care of that for me). I don't have anything planned yet, but I'm sure I think of something. :-)

The girls had their last swimming lesson of the session yesterday afternoon. I can't believe how far they have come! They got to put on life jackets and ride the "boat" into the deep end, where they jumped in and floated around. They even decided to jump off the starting block, which in the past they have been too scared to do! I'm so proud of them. I tried to take pictures, but the lighting is pretty bad in there and they didn't come out.

Rob has to work tomorrow morning, so it looks like it will be just me and the girls again.

TGIF (I think!)

Lost and Found

Daily Something
It is extremely annoying to lose electricity for four minutes during a thunderstorm. I am completely dependent on it! But, it is thrilling to find my calendar, after wondering where it has been for nine days (should have opened that drawer last week...)

Daily Something Layout from 8/8/07 (yeah, it's weird...)

Daily something brush by Ali Edwards
Paper by Carrie Stephens
Alpha by Krista Mettler
Tape and bubble wrap by Dana Fran
Paint drips by Jessica Bolton
Font: Childish Alpha, Eight Fifteen

Ramblings
We are going to the art museum today, since it is supposed to rain and storm all day. They have a really cool family center there, with one room full of toys like blocks, puzzles, pretending stuff, a water table, etc. The other room is the art room, where they have every kind of recycled material you'd ever want for the kids to make "masterpieces" (Heidi's name for her creations). Gretchen really enjoyed painting on the easel last time.

Rob is taking tomorrow off, so I can have some time to myself. I guess he figures he should, since I had a giant meltdown last night right before he left for hockey. He only plays once a week, and normally I don't care at all, but he was out of town Friday through late Monday night, and then Tuesday night we went to my parents' house for my birthday dinner. I feel bad for it now, but what can I say...it was day 27 of "the cycle" and I was psycho! LOL He has been gone a lot lately, and it just gets old.

My Daily Something

I just finished reading Ali Edwards' newsletter about doing something creative each day. She is so wonderfully practical, and down to earth, and a NON perfectionist, that I can totally relate to her. So, I've made it a mission to tell a daily story, of some kind, here on my blog. Some days may have more info, but at least I'll have one story from each day.

Today's Story
I've been in a rut lately. Lots of stress (about a certain huge family decision that probably won't be settled for another month or so) and insomnia. I've haven't been feeling my best. Plus, it's been really hot and humid here for the past week or so...the kind of weather where you either stay in the AC, or if you are outside, you are swimming.

Today is one of those hot, humid days, so I set up the pool for the girls and we initiated the slip and slide. They've never tried it before, so it was a bit challenging to explain to them how to slide without actually showing them (thank the Lord there is a 110 pound weight limit on the thing! LOL). The quote of the day came from Heidi..."Mommy, you are not the boss of this! I want to do it my own way!" Wow, did she tell me or what? So I sat back and watched them slide, incorrectly, but boy did they have fun.

What I learned: sometimes rules are meant to be broken, and directions don't always need to be followed, in order to have fun.

Other stuff
School is starting soon...yeeehah!!! The girls will start on Wednesday, August 29, and I'm almost counting the days. I am craving a regular schedule again, as we all function much better that way. I've already purchased the school supplies (gotta love Walmat for 17 cent glue sticks and 78 cent marker sets). As an aside, I love school supplies. Every August I go into school mode, even though I'm not in school, and decide I must purchase supplies. Maybe it's because I always liked school, and it's a sentimental thing. Hmmmm.
Random Scrapbook Pages
Did I mention that I am a scrapbooker? ROFL!!! It seems like forever since I'm posted any pages here.

Journaling: Rob surprised me this year and took me to dinner at Gianno’s on River Road in Maumee. He reserved the wine room for us, and we had our own waiter! The food was delcious and the atmosphere was wonderful. Our waiter was a real ham too. Right away, I noticed the “creepy window that leads to nowhere, and he took advantage of that. A few minutes later, I heard this knocking sound coming from the other side of the window and I jumped out of my seat! It turns out that our waiter had asked the bar tender to knock on the window, since her knew it scared me. Later on the bartender paid us a visit and poured us two glasses of free champagne. For dessert we shared a divine piece of cheesecake (als free). Once we were finished, both the bartender and waiter escorted us up to the third floor, which is supposed to be haunted. I didn’t even want to go up, since the stairway was so scary- looking. [That’s where a woman hung herself, so the story goes] It was pretty interesting but I didn’t want to hang around up there. One room is said to have so much ”energy” in it that no one will go in it (we didn’t either). They did their best to keep me very jumpy, bringing an odd looking doll with blood on it out of the bathroom. After the haunted restaurant experience, we went to Levis Commons and walked around (it was a gorgeous evening). We finished the night with Starbucks. Here’s to 13 years!

Credits: Template by Tracy Blankenship Date Beads by Kim Jensen Paper and red ribbon from Love Ahead by Nina Heart ribbon and background paper from Heartfelt by Krista Ring Blue paper from Boy Zone by Jeanne Button by Jessica Bolton Label tape alpha by Christina Renee Over the Rainbow alpha by Michelle Godin Font: Mish

Credits: Birthday Party kit by Gina Miller and Tiff Brady; photo cluter by Nancy Comelab

Credits: Sketch by Robina Cabana (for the RAKScraps sketch challenge), My Digital Muse Summer Breeze collab kit

Okay have a happy Wednesday!

Even more CHA...

It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do! LOL

More photos from yesterday...

Robin and I with Elsie Flannagan. I totally need that apron!

Here's Audra and I with Kellie P, My Digital Muse CT member. She is such a sweetie!

We went to dinner last at Carlucci's - yum! Afterward, we had drinks and dessert at Gibson's, out on patio. It was such a beautiful evening! Holly and Audra practiced taking photos of still objects using manual settings. So, I had to capture them, using my little point and shoot.

Holly's friends Kathy and Jen met up with us, and we ordered the biggest desserts I've ever seen! Check out this carrot cake...


and my coconut cream pie...


We figured there was about 50,000 calories in that carrot cake! LOL Good thing we didn't eat it all!

This morning we are meeting Holly in her hotel lobby so she can take some head shots of us. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

I will be going through withdrawal tomorrow, leaving my new friends and going back to "real life". I have learned so much about them, and about myself too. Hopefully all this inspiration will help me do something new and exciting! Who knows!

More CHA :-)

The fun continues! Today after a real breakfast, we hit the show again and did so many cool things!

Isn't this an adorable little mousepad?

I loved using this product. First you rub on the adhesive, then the glitter or foil. There is NO mess and it's easy enough for this digiscrapper to do! LOL

Over at Elsie Flannagan's booth we made this sweet little mini-album from playing cards. Elsie really couldn't be any cuter.

This is my favorite thing that I've made here. It's a Zoom Album, and I used the photos from our silly night last night and totally made this book about the evening. You buy the kit, which includes a printable sheet with directions on how to fold it, adhesive and a cover.

Okay, Audra wants to go to sleep now so I will have to continue this tomorrow. There is sooo much more to say!

CHA is rockin'!

I got to Chicago yesterday, after a two hour plane delay, and finally got to meet my friend Robin Cabana at the airport. I knew I would like her when I say that she had an iced coffee in her hand! LOL We had lunch at the hotel restaurant and headed over to check out the convention center. We had a chance to relax for a while in the room, and then were treated to a free reception, complete with free drinks! We met up with Terry Meruca and had a ball. :)

We took Jeanine Baechtold and Jen Reed to dinner, since they were kind enough to get us passes into the conference. It's so fun to meet all of my digi friends in person!

Back in the room we were able to connect to wireless and get our fix by checking email and surfing. Audra Little got into town around 12:30am, and then the three of us stayed up half the night laughing and being silly.

Here are a few pics from the conference:

First, just a sampling of the free stuff...


Check out these cute make and takes...



Throughout the day, we met Patti Knox, Dana Zarling, Ashley Smith, Amy Teets, Audrey Neal and lots of other people too.

We are off to the 2 Peas reception, and then to dinner. I'll post another update later!

Notfunatol

Rob has been out of town since Thursday. Gretchen's behavior has been deteriorating since that time. Yesterday, my MIL fell and broke her hip, and today she had a hip replacement surgery. After I had gotten the updates on that, Gretchen was being so ornrey that she picked up her plate and threw her lunch at me. It's as if we've gone right back to square one. So, this is what I've come up with tonight:

We have a name for this face - “evil cartoon character face”. But, there’s really nothing funny about it. Gretchen has been making this face since the age of 18 months, and it represents years of tantrums, screaming, anger and frustration., both for her and for us. This face reminds me of all the research I’ve done, the meetings with doctors and psychologists, the suggestion that she may be bipolar and the countless nights I have worried about what her future may hold. Mental illness still has such a stigma with it and it’s very difficult to find support and people who truly understand. I am truly grateful for the few people in our lives who have listened and offered me a break on days when things get really bad. Mom and Dad, Jim and Patrice, Jeanmarie, Angela, Debra, Melissa, Amy, Melinda, Audra and so many others have listened and been there when I needed it. So far, we think her behaviors might be associate with a sensitivty to cow’s milk, but it’s really just a starting point.. I will continue to rely on God for direction, and I pray that Rob and I can help her learn to manage the confusing feelings she must have inside. 7/14/07

Yes, I finally managed to capture that evil cartoon character face she makes when she's having a fit.

Time for a glass of wine...

Daddy needs to rest

Heidi: So Daddy, what did you do at work today?

Rob: Oh, I did a lot of things. I had so much to do.

Heidi: Aww Daddy, did that make you tired? It sounds like you need to rest. Come on Daddy, let's go downstairs and rest.

Is there really anything I can say to this? LOL I haven't had anyone offer for me to rest today. Instead, I attempted to fill up their little pool since it's 94 degrees here and feels hotter than h@#$. Thank the Lord we have AC! As I was pumping up the pool (which has a continuous leak in the top layer) the air compressor literally died. Sigh. So we made do we a half-filled up pool and a hose. It was great until they started climbing the slide...

I also set up their little princess tent in the backyard. Now they want to camp out tonight! Yikes! And Rob has to work again, so if I let them I'll be solo. This just won't end well, I know it. Last night it took me 2 hours to get them to go to sleep. It was back and forth between bedrooms.

Here is a layout from our trip last week to the Lake Erie coast. See full credits here.


Vermillion, Ohio is such a cute little town. There is a small, but pretty beach, a marina, lots of shops and restaurants and just has a lot of charm. We had lunch at an old fashioned soda fountain and man, was it good! There are also more trains there than I've ever seen...one about every 5 minutes.

Before I forget, be sure to check out my first altered project as a part of Traci Reed's CT! Visit the Hawt Mamas Team Blog to see it, and leave me some love if you would. :-)

Happy Birthday USA!

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday, and this year did not disappoint. To start the day we headed down to Harvard Circle to join in the annual celebration which is geared towards kids. Some friends of ours, who are normally out of town on the 4th, came along with us, and it worked out so well. They have a 4 year old girl and a 20 month old boy, and the girls all decorated their bikes to ride in the little bike parade around the circle. It was so cute! They also had their faces painted, got tattoos, ate popsicles and popcorn, visited with Mister the horse and had Cookie the clown make them little balloon animals.

After the festivities, we had a BBQ at our house. The kids played and we had way too much food (which is always a good thing!) and we had a blast. I found myself missing my pool. See, we used to have an inground pool, before the kids. Once I got pregnant, we had it filled in, because it literally took up our entire backyard. It was too much of a risk having little ones around.

When you are the one with the pool, it's always easy to get people to come over. LOL There was one especially fun 4th that involved swimming and smoke bombs. Too bad I don't have photos of that one!

I have a whole blog to do about the trip Rob and took, but that will be another day. I just spent the past two hours trying to get the girls to go to sleep, and looking for a well-loved sheep that was lost for an hour of that time. Sigh. It's time for a glass of wine...

Conversations with an almost five year old

Gretchen: When we're five, we are going to do whatever we want to do.

Me: Um, I don't think so! As long as you live in this house, you will follow our rules.

Gretchen: When I'm five, I'm not going to live here anymore.

Me: Oh really? Where are you going to live?

Gretchen: Me and Heidi and going to live in our own house!

Me: Okay, how are you going to pay the bills? You'll have to get a job you know. What kind of job do you want? A teacher? A firefighter?...

Gretchen: Oh! I will be a teacher!

Me: What are you going to teach?

Gretchen: I will teach little kids how to dance!

Me: Okay, good! That sounds like a great job. Now, how are you going to get there...will you drive a car, or take a bus, or walk?

Gretchen: I'll take the bus.

Me: How will you pay for that?

Gretchen: I will just get the money from Kroger (our grocery store). Do they give you money there?

Me: No sweetie, you have to have your own money to buy stuff from there.

Gretchen: Oh, well as soon as I'm done teaching the kids every day, I'll come right home. Heidi, what job are you going to do?

Heidi: I think I'll be a mouse catcher.

********************************

Sigh. Is this what I have to look forward to...my five year old trying to leave home every other day? LOL She is really something. Man, where did she get that strong will from?


I should be cleaning my house right now, but that little exchange was just too priceless. It had to be recorded! We are having some family and friends over for the 4th tomorrow. It's my favorite holiday, and I just relish every minute of it!

Happy Birthday USA!

Playground is done! (almost...)

After three long days, Rob and Dad got the playground into "playable" condition! LOL

Isn't she just sooo sweet?

The glider. On the box it says "promotes teamwork and socialization". ROFL!!

View from Heidi's bedroom window.

As you can see, the playset literally takes up the entire width of the yard, and almost half of the length!! Notice the smaller pile of wood? I'm so thrilled...Rob sold a whole ton of it to a friend from church, and that one stack there is all we have left. Yay!

Stuff still left to do:
1. Build the roof on the fort part.
2. Install a knotted rope for them to climb.
3. Install a pulley with attached bucket, so they can send things up and down to each other.
4. Get some mulch so they can stop playing in the dirt!!
5. Move sandbox to underneath the fort.

Here's my first layout featuring the playset:

Credits: Play by Heather Roselli, available at The Digi Chick; arrows by Jessica Bolton, circle doodle by Heather Ann Designs, font is Mish

Yes, that is me in the middle there, in the brown shirt. That slide is the most hideous thing ever! It's very fast and has a bump in the middle, which I find quite painful. I've gone down a few times to humor the girls, and now I'm DONE! Besides, my rear end wasn't designed for that slide...or maybe, the slide wasn't designed for my rear end...

Needless to say, this new activity creates the need for baths every night now. Sigh. And, they are begging to be pushed "really really high". I thought this was supposed to occupy them! Ha!

Okay, time to make some spaghetti for supper. Happy Monday!

Project: Playset

Phase 1


This thing is pretty honking huge! The girls are going to love it. :-)

We also got rid of about half of our huge pile of firewood...yay!

Today I am catching up on laundry, cleaning my kitchen floor (yuck!) and putting some more clothes in the attic while the guys keep working and my Mom has the kids. Should be a productive day.

Killin' time

Guess what?

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

You Really Know Your State Capitols

You Got 18 State Capitols Correct You're either a geography buff... or you have an excellent memory.

Do You Know Your State Capitols?

Your IQ Is 110

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Average Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Americana

I was hardly on the computer this weekend, because we were doing lots of family activities. Saturday we went to the Cherry Festival in nearby Whitehouse. They do this every year and it's your typical Midwest, small town festival. They have a parade with a band, fire trucks (and lots of loud sirens!), tractors, cute little cars, and even camels!

There is something completely overwhelming and touching about watching a small town parade. For a brief moment, everyone comes together and gets along, enjoying the simple pleasures of life. Every time I go to a parade like this, I actually tear up! But then I'd weird like that. I also tear up at the first high school football game every fall, watching the marching band come out onto the field to their cadence. Ah, the good old days...but, I digress.

I need to add more to this layout, but I'm stuck, so I posted it anyway. Notice how I used the tag to strategically cover my butt! ROFL!! That is one of the worst photos of me ever. I think you can see every bump and bulge. Note to self: burn that outfit!!

Sunday we drove up to Great Lakes Crossing in Pontiac, Michigan (about 1.5 hours from here) for Rob's birthday. He wanted to take the girls to the Rainforest Cafe, and it was a great choice! They absolutely loved it. Their non-stop chattering all through lunch was really funny. We let them each pick out one thing from the gift shop, and they both chose little kitties. Now, they could have had something different and exotic, but no, kitties. They carried them all through the mall, making them meow. They just crack me up.

Yesterday we did a bedroom clean out in the morning, and then we met some friends at a playground after lunch. A trip to Target set me back about $38, even though I went in to look for a birthday gift for Rob and couldn't find it! I got a new strawberry tablecloth with some red vinyl placemats...very summery and bright, along with some supplies for S'mores, and Uncle Sam hat for Rob to wear on the 4th, patriotic socks for the girls and a couple other odds and ends.

A couple of blog prompts from Stephani at KB and Friends...

What do you consider to be the ultimate snack food?
I can only choose one? Oh man! I guess I'd say cereal, because that can cover many different kinds. You can eat it dry, or with milk for something more substantial. And what kid doesn't like dry Cheerios? ;-)

Name a hobby that you’ve tried but eventually gave up for some reason.
I used to do counted cross-stitch when I was a kid, around 4th-6th grade. It was fun, and I learned from my mom. Once I got involved with music/band/junior high, I just didn't have time anymore. Now, I don't know if I'd have the patience! LOL

Have a great day!

Work Day

I have my work cut out for me today. Mom took the kids (thanks Mom!) for the day so I could work in the house. My project for the day is to completely clean out the sunroom, which is only 16x9, but the girls use it as a playroom and I have my "studio" in there, and you'd be amazed how much stuff can pile up! I'll post before and after photos later on...wish me luck! :-)

Tonight we have the 8th grade banquet for DH's school, and they are having it at the country club where we had our wedding reception. I don't think we've been back in that particular room since (13 years ago), so it will be fun to take a trip down memory lane.

Oops, almost forgot the daily blog prompt:

What are 3 things you would like to put in a time capsule?

1. My laptop (I can't imagine how technology will be different, even 10 years from now)
2. My cell phone (Same as above...will we even need cell phones in the future?)
3. One entire outfit that I wear on a typical day (which right now is capri pants, a short sleeved shirt and sandals or tennis shoes with short socks) and also my glasses :-)

Later chicas!

School's out for summah!

Remember that song? I think I have it right. Well, today was the last day of preschool for the girls. We have the next 8 or so weeks to really hang out and have fun, right?

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I sooooo don't want to get bored! I have them signed up for gymnastics and swimming lessons, and they are also taking a week-long Pixies and Princesses class at the Y. I think we'll also check out the summer reading program at the library, and visit the zoo and science museum on a regular basis. No problem, right? LOL

I decided to start joining in on Sempson's Daily Blog Prompt, to get me blogging on a more regular basis. Today the prompt is:

If you could wake up tomorrow with a new talent, what would you want it to be?

This is an easy one...I'd love to be able to dance! You know, kind of like they dance on Dancing with the Stars (only I wouldn't be dressed like that...yikes!). I think dancing is so much fun, but I'm not very good at it. The only dance class I've ever taken was in high school, when I was in the flag corps. We had a dancing only portion of our halftime show, so we all took a group lesson over the summer. I loved it! But my body is, let's just say, not exactly designed for dancing. LOL

I put up a couple of altered projects I've done lately, as I applied to Traci Reed's CT and she's looking for altered artists. I will be adding more in the next day or so, but this is a start anyway.

Bathroom Shelf Project

Simple Altered Clipboard

And here is a quick layout, from our outing on Memorial Day:

Back In Time

Ciao for now!

Atilla the Mom

So it's been a while since I've blogged again...what's new, right? LOL This time I actually have a decent excuse.

The Friday before Memorial Day, Heidi came down with a fever, coughing, sneezing, congestion, etc. This had been going on all week (minus the fever) and I figured it was just a cold or allergies. Saturday Gretchen got the fever too, and we spend the weekend hunkered down, running sick bay. I don't know how other people do it, but in our house, the kids get the couches and I wait on them hand and foot. That's how my mom did it for me, and I know how rotten it feels to be sick, so I want to do the same for them.

By Monday I thought they were on the road to recovery, so we ventured out to a park and did this really cool canal boat ride. The boat is a replica of a canal boat from 1865, and is pulled by mules. The people running it are dressed in period costumes and "acting" as if we all lived in 1865. It was really cute. We even got to go through an actual working lock.




I sent them to school Tuesday, since they didn't have a fever. By Tuesday afternoon, though, the fevers were back and they were both coughing A LOT. Finally Wednesday I took Heidi to the doctor, and it turned out she had PNEUMONIA!! I was shocked! Well, at least we got her some medicine. That night Gretchen's fever went up and she coughed all night, so Thursday am it was her turn at the doctor. She had an ear infection, so it was antibiotics for her too.

We spent the rest of the week trying to recover, missing their school zoo trip and everything. I was able to send them back to school on Tuesday, and they were able to take their birthday treat, so everything worked out okay.

Now, Rob caught the bug. He's home sick today with a fever, coughing and congestion. It's like having another kid! I know he's feeling awful but I am SO DONE with the house being under quarantine! Let's just hope that I don't get it next. I don't have time to be sick!

I better get back to the grind. So far today, I have cut the grass, swept two driveways and the sidewalk in front of our house, done two loads of laundry, fixed all the meals, waited on Rob, watched the girls ride their bikes, baked cupcakes for my MIL's birthday (which is today) and took a short nap while they watched their afternoon show. Sigh.

Inconsistent Blooger Award

If there was such a thing, I think I would win! LOL I walk around writing really cool sounding blog posts in my head, but they very rarely come to fruition.

I finally won something for a layout! Yay! I submitted a bunch of layouts in DigiShopTalk's 2007 Scrappers Awards, never expecting to win anything, but lo and behold...my layout was chosen for Best Overall Submission! I was absolutely shocked!

See all the credits here. I must give credit to two people for this one. First, to the very talented Jessica Bolton, who designed the fabulous kit I used to create this, and secondly to Melinda Staley, who has a knack for making really striking layouts using black backgrounds. And of course to Heidi, who is the star of the layout! LOL My prize is a $10 GC to any scrapping store, so I chose KB and Friends. I just love their new collab kit:



Okay, this is sad...I actually had to go look at my last blog post to see what I wrote about...it's been so long! Didn't want to repeat myself. :p

I don't even know which layouts to post, so I think that will wait for another day.

Happy Monday!

A tag...seven random things

I have been tagged by Audra (thank you my friend!). So now I'm going to post seven random tidbits about myself...are you ready for this excitement?

1.

Um, this is a lot harder that is seems....

1. Sometimes I snort when I laugh.
2. People call me Michelle in real life, but I use Mish so much online that I'm starting to like that better!
3. I absolutely love fresh green beans, and I eat them like potato chips this time of year.
4. I am afraid of raw chicken, and refuse to touch a raw turkey as well.
5. My favorite pair of shoes right now are my $8 fake Crocks (in a lovely shade of brown, so they can *almost* pass as real shoes).
6. I used to have a terrible fear of tornadoes, but now I actually enjoy a good thunderstorm.
7. If I could be anywhere in the world right now, I'd be in the Canadian Rockies.

I think everyone who reads this and has a blog has already been tagged, so I will tag Jeanmarie, Debra and Dawn. You gals can just email me, okay? :-)

I have a new favorite store

I usually don't blog on Sundays, but Rob and I had a date night last night and I just felt compelled to write about it! Now, most of you are probably very familiar with Ikea. I had never been there before, and the closest one we have to us is about an hour north of here. My parents took the kids overnight and we had a little adventure!

I couldn't even believe the outside of the store...it makes such a bold statement, with that blue and yellow. Then once you get inside, they take you on this little tour and weave you all through the store. I felt like I was in a maze or something. Their displays are really well put together, and I'm convinced this is way their products sell so well.

We ended up with a few things:

Rainbow colored plastic bowls and little plates for the girls...

A little table and chair, which I've been wanting to get for a long time now...

And finally, a chair for my "office" LOL. Mine has an off-white, washable cover...nice!



Anyway, I know it seems silly to post these things on here, but since it was the first time we were ever there, I wanted to remember it. :-)

After shopping, we had a yummy Mexican dinner, and then drove over to Ann Arbor, just to people watch. They had just had graduation earlier in the day, there weren't too many people around, but it was still fun. We sat in a local coffee shop, right next to the window, and I tried to smile at people walking by to see how many of them would smile or nod back. Much to my dismay, only a few responded. The fellow at the next table decided to join in (he was this cute little Asian dude with the biggest smile I've seen in a while) and started commenting on the pedestrians. It was such a hoot!

Rob borrowed a log splitter from the neighbor and is finally getting to work on the monstrous pile of logs that is still in our front yard. The tree was cut down in November, I think? At least the wood is nice and dried out now. There will be lots of outdoor fires in the backyard this summer.

Speaking of fires...

This is how we spend many spring and summer evenings at our house. It's so much better than TV! Don't my girls have such sweet little toes? I made this one for the Weeds and Wildflowers CT call. I hope I make it!

I love sunshine :-)

Ah, sunshine. If you live in an area where it's sunny most of the time, you probably don't appreciate it like I do. Around here in NW Ohio, I think just over half of our day shave actual sunshine. So, when the sun comes out, it's just awesome!

Today is one of those gorgeous spring days that we long for all winter. The kind of day where you just feel good about life in general, and wonder bad things can happen. It's a bit eerie to know that it looked just like this in NYC on 9/11, and now with the terrible events at Virgina Tech this week, there is such a disconnect between peace and horror. It doesn't seem fair that I can be sitting here enjoying this day, while so many families are suffering to a degree that I can't imagine. They have been in my prayers all week.

On a lighter note, I called Rob and asked if he could take the afternoon off. He worked so much last week on that virus problem (40 hours in 4 days) that I think he could use a break. Besides, I just miss him sometimes and want to hang out, like we used to. :-)

I can't think of anything else to write, so I think I'll sign off. Have a great weekend!