Happy lamps & book covers

Greetings from the land of Barnes and Noble! Tonight is my "night out" so I'm here soaking up a bit of time in the cafe while perusing various art and project books. I just have to share a project from one of the books I'm reading:

How to make a book cover
1. Measure the length and height of the book when fully open, then cut a sheet of kraft paper 3" larger than the length and height of the book.

2. Fold down top and bottom edges until the height equals the height of the book.

3. Fold ends around book and turn left and right flaps into the inside of the front and back covers. Finish with a binder clip.

Now, I don't condone plagiarism. If I thought this was an original idea, I would never have given you the instructions like this. But HELLO??? Covering books like brown paper? I did that 25 years ago in junior high school! Only we were cheap and we used paper grocery bags...you know, the ones they used to give you before they decided they were killing too many trees? This just cracks me up, that this project is in a book published by a very popular scrapbooking company. But I will say...thanks for the inspiration. I plan to go home and cover a few books later, just for fun. The best part of having book covers in school was being able to draw all over them, and writing funny notes to friends. My best buddy Mel still has most of those book covers with all of our crazy rantings on them. WTG Moosie!

In other news, I bought myself a happy lamp today. Yes, they really do exist. My "special friend" (aka counselor) mentioned a store that sells them here in town, and right after my appt. this am I darted over to pick one up. The jury is still out on whether the thing actually works, since I've only used it for one day. I will say that I found it to be extremely bright and on a gloomy day I imagine it's quite useful. Today wasn't a good test day for it because it was actually SUNNY here ALL DAY!! LOL

I got to visit my friend Heather again tonight. She will have a c-section on Friday to deliver her little girl, who will be 34 weeks along at that point. I pray that both she and the baby, who will be very small, will fare well. If you are the praying type, please say a little prayer for Heather and baby. :-)

I want to congratulate my friend Melinda on being a Prima Hybrid Flower Girl (aka creative team member). She is so talented making altered projects and totally deserves this honor. If you haven't checked out Prima's new site, do so...they have some wonderful inspiration there, and a group of very talented designers.

(Hey, maybe they should make book covers....)

Okay, better sign off before I say something stupid. Nite nite!

Reslient

I finally made my layout representing my one word for 2008:


Didn't do a whole lot today. Rob made us breakfast, and then he had to work most of the day. The girls played outside since it was sunny and we took a walk around the block. After lunch we watched Ratatouille - very cute show.

Tonight I have been trying to organize my scrapping supplies on my HD and delete some things. I have a strange thing going on in my HD right now. I have a 142MB HD, and I can only account for 66MB of stuff on there! I downloaded one of those freeware programs that show you the sizes of all of your files, and that is what it's telling me. It's odd. I wouldn't care, but I am running out of space.

That's all for now...trying to get to bed a tad earlier these days.

Bucks blew it again

Anyone who knows me IRL knows that I am NOT a fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes. I am a fan of the University of Michigan, and in these parts you CANNOT be a fan of both places. The rivalry between the two schools is arguably the best in all of college sports. Due to our position almost halfway in between the two schools, the hype before the game where they play each other every year is insane. They even have a store called the Buckeye & Wolverine shop, there they sell only OSU or Michigan stuff, and it's organized so that each team's colors are on separate sides of the store, with a line down the middle.

But last night it was the Buckeyes' time to shine. I donned an Ohio State t-shirt, belonging to Rob, showing my support of our home state's team. I may not be an OSU fan, but I'm still a Big 10 fan. We were supposed to have a "party" here but as it turns out, only my brother and sister-in-law showed up. Nice. That's okay, I enjoyed the food Rob made and was able to relax and watch the game.

Ohio State just couldn't pull it out. I was disappointed for them. But here's what I don't get: OSU fans are SO obnoxious all year long....we're number one...yada yada yada. Then they get to the big game and blow it. It's the second time they've done this in recent years...last time they lost to Florida. Um hello? Can't execute under pressure? Hmmmm.

You didn't know I was such a football expert, did you? LOL

Speaking of football, did you see the JERK who did a front sommersault into the endzone last weekend? Uncalled for!! That coach should have BENCHED HIS REAR END!! It gets really old seeing such unsportman-like conduct on the field.

Okay. Off my soapbox now.

::Cleaning Spree::
It doesn't happen often, but when you are having people over there is a great motivation to clean! Here's what I've done in the past two days:

• Vacuumed main floor
• Mopped kitchen and dining room
• Cleared off counters
• Cleaned both bathrooms
• Put away toys
• Decluttered my bedroom dresser top
• Cleaned master bedroom blinds (man, were they dirty!)
• Laundry
• Decluttered girls' dresser top
• Cleaned out underneath girls' beds
• Made appointment at foot doctor
• Made appointment at OB/GYN

Yay! I hope this streak continues. :-)

Tonight is my night out, so I'm getting my haircut and my go to the hospital to visit my friend Heather and also my Dad. He had to go back in yesterday to have extra blood/fluid removed from around his heart. :-( He got through it fine but it has me worried that this is going to be an ongoing problem for him. I wish he could just get back to his old self.

Until tomorrow...

Manic Monday

Yup, this qualifies as manic. My plans for today have changed about 12 times already, and the day is only half over. So let's see...

Mom was supposed to pick up the girls from school and keep them for the afternoon. I had a whole list of stuff I wanted to get done. Great! Mom calls at 8:45am saying she and Dad are headed into the cardiologist...Dad is still having symptoms of irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath. Turns out he still has fluid around his heart and they decide to admit him to the hospital for some procedure where they remove the fluid. Yikes! Okay, plan B, no problem.

Kids come home, we have lunch, color, read stories, etc. Rob has the afternoon off so he can help get ready for our little college football championship party tonight. Great! Then my MIL calls at 1:30pm, saying they have some friends coming to visit at 2:00 and they'd like to see the girls. Now this is where I get cranky. I'm supposed to drop what I'm doing and just go over there, so she can parade them around like little dolls to show off to her friends? Hmmmm, don't think so. She's supposed to call when it's time to go over, but guess what? ROB will be taking them. It's his mom, right?

I know I sound really snotty about this, but there is a long history of spontaneous, lack-of-planning kind of stuff and right after the holidays I just want a break from all of it.

New Layout

Credits: Be the Change, brand new from Traci Reed at Sweet Shoppe Designs as of today! Paper tear by Jen Caputo. Font is DJB JGeek.

Testing out a video

Since I'm such a fun mom, I let the girls do this today:

Quick Post

We finally got back to the routine today. The girls went to school, I had an appointment in the morning and had a chance to spend 20 minutes by myself at Panera before picking them up. It was wonderful!

This afternoon I had a chance to do a few chores, assisted by the girls, and catch up with two friends. One of them, Heather, is in the hospital on bedrest. She is 32 weeks pregnant and her water broke Wednesday. So far she has managed to keep from going into labor, thanks to anti-contraction drugs. I'm trying to figure out what I can do for her. She has to be bored out of her mind! And, she already has two kids. I sure hope she can hold out for a few more weeks so the baby can grow.

This weekend will be quiet. Rob has to work tomorrow, so it will be another long day. I hope to take the girls out to do something entertaining.

I've been taking my daily photos and have them set up in my Flickr. I'm not sure if I will do anything with these aside from posting them there, but I have them nonetheless.

I need to figure out what we are doing for dinner. Rob is playing video games downstairs and is apparently waiting for me to take the initiative!

Have a happy weekend!

Back into the routine

Finally...well, almost. Rob goes back to work today but the girls don't go back to school until Friday. I am soooooo ready for them to go back to school, and have our daily routine get back in synch. I'm sure I'm not alone! LOL

Tuesday we got a few things accomplished. I put away all of the Christmas decorations except for the tree, and we decluttered several bags and boxes of junk. Man, does that feel good. I can't wait to have the chance to fill up the back of the van and make a trip to Goodwill!

::Trip Layouts::
A few more finished pages...I have to bust a move to get these done if I want to use that free Shutterfly coupon I have.




I love that shot I got of Rob and the girls watching the other ship leave. If you look closely, you can see their reflections in the window. So cool!



So far this beer tasting page is one of my favorites. It came out just the way I wanted it to...quirky and "doodly". And yeah, Rob really did have to "chug" beer through a straw! LOL The guy who won was one the cruise playing the part of Jack Sparrow, meaning he had to dress up and walk around the ship and pose for photos with the kids. He was very convincing in costume. Rob didn't have a chance against him...he was all of 22 and in college. Please!

Today's agenda includes some more decluttering, cleaning the floors, laundry and hopefully a trip SOMEWHERE, ANYWHERE, PLEASE GET ME OUT OF HERE! with the kids (oops, did I actually type that?).

Until tomorrow...

A fresh start

Happy New Year! It is officially Jan. 1, 2008 here in Ohio. We ended up spending a quiet night at home. Rob stayed here (after I not-so-subtly suggested he do so) and we played some online Hearts, watched football and drank some sparking wine at midnight.

So far today things are going okay. One thing I'm trying to do now in the new year is to get up at a reasonable hour. Most of the time it's really hard for me to get up if I don't have to, so today we were all up and going by 9am. I'm going to gradually make it earlier, so it won't be so shocking. Heidi is having some gastrointestinal issues...the poor thing can't catch a break. And Gretchen has a slight fever now so this means we've all caught the illness during Christmas break. Good thing we don't have to go anywhere today!

We enjoyed the Rose Parade this morning and will be watching football the rest of the day... as much as we can get away with, anyhow. LOL

I took my first photo for my 365 challenge, and will attempt to set up a Flikr thingie for my project.

Hope your New Year is going well so far!

New Year's Eve + one little word

Here we sit, at home, on what is supposed to be the biggest party night of the year. But I am completely content to be here with Rob and the girls. I'm not really up to going out anyway. I caught Rob's nasty sinus infection/cold/general yuck, and Heidi has it too. Rob's started on Christmas night and Heidi and I started on the 29th. We had planned to have Rob's family and my good friend Melissa, aka George (long story) over, but canceled due to all the sickies. :-(

This is always a good day each year to think about goals for the next year and review what has happened the past year. I love the feeling of having a fresh start. So with that in mind, I've chosen the word "resilience" as my one little word for the year. If you aren't familiar with this concept, check out Ali Edwards' blog.

I chose resilience because someone recently told me that even though I have had lots of ups and downs in the past, I always seem to bounce back and get through. I never thought about myself that way before, and I think it's a really positive way to see things. So every morning, I will have the chance to be resilient, to start over and make each day better than the one before it. There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "Next 5 Minutes" that captures this principle beautifully:

I'm livin' the next five minutes,
like these are my last five minutes,
'cause I know the next minutes may be all I have
And if the next five minutes,
turn into the last five minutes,
I'm taking the next five minutes and starting all over again


::2008 Goals::
I am not so good at resolutions, so this year I am making some very general goals, stuff I can do every day that will make things a little better.

Pray often ~ Worship weekly ~ Study God's Word ~ Exercise daily ~ Eat a healthy diet ~ Create ~ Play ~ Listen ~ Learn ~ Connect ~ Reflect ~ Simplify

"They" will tell you that you shouldn't set general goals like this, that you should break them down and make them "measurable". And I will. But I need a list of things that I can accomplish, and not feel like a failure all the time. I figure if I can do at least ONE of these things every day, then I've met my goals. I think that sounds fair.

To hold myself a bit more accountable, I'll expand a bit on each goal:

Pray often: Pray when I'm happy, pray when I'm sad, pray when I'm thankful, pray when I'm frustrated...just talk to God all the time, like He's right there ('cause He is!)

Worship weekly: Make every effort to get to church every week. It's good for the kids, and it's good for me. God gave us the gift of worship and fellowship to strengthen our spirits.

Study God's word: Dust off the Bible and actually READ it.

Exercise daily: Move every day. Even if it's a walk around the block. It's better than nothing.

Eat a healthy diet: No more diets. Just balanced, healthy eating. Fruits and veggies, whole grains, the whole bit. Cooking at home more. Smaller portions. That's it.

Create: Digiscrap, paint, do hybrid project...doesn't matter. Just find something to create.

Play: Play with the girls. Play outside. Play my flute. Sing. Just play.

Listen: Listen more than I talk. 'Nough said.

Learn: Be open to learning new things.

Connect: Keep in touch with friends. Don't take Rob for granted.

Reflect: Think about each day and figure out what I can do better the next day.

Simplify: Get rid of clutter. Don't buy stuff I don't need. Recycle. Give stuff away.

So tomorrow is a fresh start. God is so good, giving us calendars so we can mark beginnings and endings. We humans are so limited that way.

I wish you a very blessed New Year.

Waiting to finish

Yup, I've neglected the blog again. But this time I think I've figured out why keeping this updated seems to be such a problem. I'm always waiting for the next thing to happen before I post...I'll post after our vacation...I'll post when I get a few pages scrapped...I'll post after Dad's surgery...I'll post after Christmas. And guess what? Here we are after Christmas already! So I'm going to try to catch up a month's worth of living in one post. Ready? LOL

::Disney Trip::
We had a fabulous time on our vacation in early December. We took a 4 day cruise on the Disney Wonder and then spent 2 1/2 days in Disney World (Florida). It was my intention to post all about our trip, but since it's been a while and I've run out of steam, I'll just post the pages I have done so far:



I have lots more pages to do, but at least this is a good start. I plan to make a Shutterfly book...it will be my first one. :-)

::Dad's Surgery::
My Dad had open heart surgery on December 14th and came through it with flying colors. They had to replace a heart valve, and the surgeon said it was the worst one he's ever seen. He was in the hospital for 4 days, and to look at him now, you'd never guess he ever had a problem. Modern medicine and God's healing power are truly amazing! Now, we just have to keep him from doing too much. His next big project is going to be remodeling our bathroom!

::Christmas::
We made it through! Unfortunately this year seemed a lot more stressful as far as all the planning goes. I think between our trip, and Dad's surgery, I had less time to get everything ready. Plus there were many changes in the plans for Christmas Day and I just don't deal well with changes like that. It's something I have to work on...being a bit more flexible.

My brother came into town on Saturday, 12/22 and we had our big turkey dinner on Sunday (at his request) at my parent's house. Then we spent Christmas Eve at their house too, opening presents in the early afternoon and having our traditional "snack dinner" afterward. That is a tradition we used to have at my grandparent's house when I was a kid, and Mom agreed to keep it going after they were gone. It's one of those time when it's OKAY to eat snacks for dinner!

There is more to add, but I'm going to end this for now and add more later. :-)

Little Rascals

Yup, that's what the girls are today...to put it lightly. It's not surprising, since they have the power of two! LOL

This morning I got so much done while the girls were in school...just a bunch of errands before we leave on our big trip on Sunday. I always feel so good when I have mornings like this. I feel so productive.

When we got home, I was making lunch and I noticed it was too quiet (always a scary thing!). Heidi was nearby but Gretchen was nowhere to be found, so I started calling for her. No response. I started searching the house, with Heidi by my side being the mini mommy, and we couldn't find her. I finally found her in the basement, hiding underneath the desk, behind a chair, with a box of cereal, munching away. She got a time out, not for eating cereal, but for hiding from me and sneaking around. Sigh. Age appropriate behavior, I guess...

So after lunch I was chatting with a friend on the phone, and once again it was quiet. This time both girls were missing. Heidi came downstairs asking for a cookie, but she had this strange little smile on her face, like she was up to something. I hung up a couple of minutes later and went to investigate. They had swiped a little pack of lemonade mix from the kitchen counter, took it upstairs and made themselves some lemonade in their little tea set in the play room. Most of the lemonade was spilled all over the carpeting. Arrgh!! I made them clean it up with towels and "sentenced" them to quiet time in their bedroom. It doesn't sound too quite right now. I'm not quite sure what to do with them...maybe make them scrub my kitchen floor? LOL Then I'll hear about how I'm the evil stepmother and they are Cinderella!

I think we have everything ready to go for the trip. I still have a lot of laundry to do, but that is always the case! ha ha I'm just hoping we have good weather Sunday morning when we get out of here. Last I heard it might be sleeting/snowing, and that is never good for flying.

Well, gotta get back to my preparations. Next time I post I hope to have lots of photos!

Thanksgiving weekend - we made it!

Yeah, I'm still here. Poor neglected blog! How about if I just throw a few pages on here to summarize what's been going on?

Christmas dresses, courtesy of my mom:

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast:

Preschool trip to the farm:

Interesting find in the ravine:

Halloweekend at Cedar Point, late October:

Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dad's house:

And a page about my favorite Christmas movie, White Christmas:


Whew! I shouldn't wait so long in between blog postings next time!

:: Today ::
I had one of those "I'm a complete idiot" days. First of all, I totally flaked on my dear friend Moosie (aka George) on going to a concert she was playing in this afternoon. I wish I could explain why I do things like this, but I really can't. It just didn't work out that way I had hoped. This will be on my list of things to discuss with my shrink on Wednesday (yup, I have one of those now...it's fabulous!!). Sadly, I also flaked on attending a baby shower this afternoon too. So I couldn't have gone to the concert anyway. Duh!!! I get so focused on certain things that I just mess up everything else.

I'm starting over tomorrow. Sigh.

:: This Week ::
It's just 6 days and counting until our big trip. We are taking a Disney cruise with the kids and my parents. Well, I should say they are taking us. It's their 40th anniversary this year and this is how they want to celebrate. You can't knock that!! The girls are really excited and have been counting down the days. I have my to-do list going and I'm trying not to panick...

I'm having a bought of insomnia the past couple of nights. Right now it's 3am and I'm not even close to being tired...

At least I'm being productive (well, sort of...)

:: New Product - Coming Soon to PDW! ::

I've been seeing these 6x12 pages around some blogs and galleries, and I just had to try a set of them. They are really fun! My CT girls went absolutely NUTS with them and made me 8 layouts the first night!! Check it out!




:: Deep thoughts by Mish ::

Today is the first day it really feels like fall here...almost winter, even. It's 40 degrees, windy, and we even saw a few snow flurries on our way to gymnastics! It makes me want to curl up with my favorite blankie and watch TV all day. But we managed to not only do gymnastics, but I took the girls to go vote with me, and then we made a trip to the library to get some Thanksgiving books.

I've been thinking about Thanksgiving a lot this past week, as I put away my Halloween decorations and try to think ahead. It's so easy to grumble about daily annoyances, like...

This leaky kitchen faucet is driving me nuts!

I hate doing laundry!

Ugh, I have to clean out the fridge...again!

Years ago I got an email that I have never forgotten. Every time you find yourself grumbling, find a way to turn it into something to be grateful for. So...

This leaky kitchen faucet is driving me nuts!
Thank you Lord, for providing enough water to make my faucet leak. Please be with those in Georgia, Florida, and other parts of the world who are struggling to find fresh water.

I hate doing laundry!
Thank you Lord, for giving me so many clothes that keep me warm, and thank you for the family who wears these clothes. It's my joy to be able to bless them with clean, folded clothes when they open their drawers in the morning.

Ugh, I have to clean out the fridge...again!
Thank you, Lord, for providing such an abundance of food to nourish our bodies. We are blessed to be able to enjoy a variety of foods, even fresh fruits and vegetables. Help us to use this resource to Your glory.

I know, I know...this is easier said than done. But I find that it's really important, as the weather gets colder and we have less daylight each day, to be purposeful about finding the joy in every little thing. Otherwise, I find myself in dark places and I know I'm not setting a good example for my kids.

:: Layouts ::

Here's a page from the baptism of our new little godson, Zachary. I decided to try a 6x12 size, using my new templates, and it was fun!

Credits


This one is from my Grandma's Halloween party.

Credits


Heidi helped me make this one. She jumped up on my lap while I was making it, and placed the stars, bat, ghost and swirl all by herself. She also gave me all the journaling. It was so cute I had to leave it just the way it was.

Credits

I'm also working on my Christmas gifts already. Mom is getting a CD calendar. I made these templates for the PDW It's a Date: Calendar Creator kit (very cool, BTW). So far I have 6 months done:

Jan-Feb-March

Credits

Oct-Nov-Dec

Credits

Okay well that's all for today. Adios!

Kibbles and Bits

Kibbles and bits, kibbles and bits, I'm gonna get me some Kibbles and Bits. Remember that commercial for dog food? For some reason that came to mind for a title today...lots of random, unrelated stuff.

Let's see...lots of stuff going on. Over the weekend the girls had their first official choir performance at church. I was so proud of them! The both got to stand in the front row and they knew all the words and motions. Yay! Sunday afternoon we tried to pick apples, but they U-pick was already done for the year (duh!). We enjoyed the beautiful fall day anyway. The girls rode ponies, played in the huge straw pile, listened to some music and we bought some cider. Not a total waste. Sunday evening my friend and I visited another friend at the funeral home who lost her dad. It's so sad to think that our parents aren't invincible and won't live forever. After that we got some amazing Indian food. It was my first time eating Indian and I hope it won't be the last!

This week so far we've been to the park, gymnastics, on a "leaf walk" around the neighborhood and I managed to successfully send pumpkin muffins for snack today. Of course I forgot it was brown day today, so the girls wore black and pink instead. Sigh. It was the first color day I've missed in two year of preschool, so I guess it's not so bad! LOL

Tomorrow night we are going to my grandma's place for their annual Halloween party. They love it because they can go door to door inside, so they don't need coats. Grandma lives in an independent retirement place that looks like a luxury hotel (at least to me!). Should be a good time.

A couple of new layouts:

Credits here

Credits here

Credits here

That's all for today - have a good one!

Comparisons can be dangerous

This morning after I dropped the girls off at school, one of the other moms approached me. Here is the conversation that followed.

Her: Are you Heidi and Gretchen's mom?
Me: Yes, that's me!
Her: Does someone else pick them up sometimes?
Me: Oh, you must have seen my mom last week. We were out of town and the girls were staying with she and my dad.
Her: Oh! Okay. I wasn't sure if you were the mom or she was the mom. She looks so young!
Me: Yup, that's my mom! She looks great, doesn't she?
Her: Yes! I can't believe she's the grandma! Oh, but I mean, you look young too, of course...

Well, you get the idea. She went on to invite us to join her family at McDonald's some day after school for lunch. Now, my mom DOES look great. She is 62 years old and people are always saying how young she looks. She's always taken good care of herself and always has her hair done, makeup on, decent looking outfit, jewelry, the whole nine yards. And then there is me, who shows up at school with no makeup, in jeans, a t-shirt and crocs, and my hair may or may not be combed. Sigh. At least one of us looks good!

So here, you be the judge. Do we look like sisters, or mother-daughter?

(and if you don't know me, please don't comment asking which one I am...I might just start crying or something!! LOL)

I should be doing housework but it's just no fun, so I'm goofing off blogging instead. But, now that I've finished this, laundry it is. Ciao!!

Back to Bloggin'

We are back from Orlando! Here are some layouts I've managed to get done so far:

This was the second time we have been to the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. What a treat to be able to sample so many varieties of foods! Here’s what we tried:
Dominican Republic - Monfongo (mashed yucca root topped with grilled shrimp - my favorite!)
Canada - Canadian Cheese Soup, Maple Glazed Salmon with Roasted Corn and Arugula, LaBatt’s
USA/Okalahoma - Seared Buffalo with Scalloped Wild Onions
Japan - Crispy Sukiyaki Beef Roll, Takara Plum Wine
Greece - Spanakopita, Boutari Xin Wine
Mexico - Chilaquiles
New Zealand - Lamb Slider
Germany - Spaetzle with Creamy Mushroom Ragout, Beck’s Oktoberfest Draft Bier
Sam Adams Beer Seminar,
India - Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Paratha Bread (tied for first as my favorite)
Ireland - Boxty, Honey Wine
We also got to see Sheena Easton and Starship live in concert, who were there for the festival. It felt like the 1980s all over again!


Credits:
Sunrise Lounge by Jennifer Trippetti at Scrapdish
Old Mats by Jessica Bolton
Font: KGD Christy S Script, and Printy



I learned something about myself on our trip; I find it difficult to relax. Now I don’t mean physically, because it’s easy to veg in front of the TV. I’m talking about true relaxation, where you can turn off your mind and just “be”. The afternoon I spent at the Yacht and Beach Club Resort pool was as close to true relaxation as I’ve come in a long time. The atmosphere was gorgeous, the water temperature perfect and I found a spot with just the right combination of sun and shade. While Rob was busy at the conference, I enjoyed the pool, lunch at the snack bar and time to myself.

Word art by Eve Recinella, from Frolic Some
Paper by Traci Reed, from Dare to Be
Font: Angelina

Credits: The Sam Adams beer seminar is a fun part of the Food and Wine Festival. A George
Clooney look-alike helped us sample four different beers. My favorite was the Light beer. I finally understand the difference between the hops and the barley aspects of the beer. Too bad they didn’t give us full glasses!

Template by Andrea Gold
Stitched circle by Karen Hunt
Felix kit by lauraskathi
Pop Top Poppers by Kim Jensen
Font: Angelina

We also took the girls to Cedar Point for one last time over the weekend, but I still have to scrap those pics. They were so spent by Sunday afternoon, and Heidi had a slight fever and some stomach issues. I have to remember how much they love being home and having their little routine. They were delighted to sleep in their own beds again, or I should say Heidi's bed.


That brings me to our latest parenting dilemma. The girls have been insisting on sleeping together in Heidi's bed (a full size bed) for the past several weeks now. I don't really care, and I think it's really sweet that they have a special bond and like being together. However, there was a reason we separated them in the first place. They also need time apart, and space to be alone if they want to. I hesitate to have them share a room, but they are asking for bunk beds for Christmas and want to turn one of the rooms into a play room. Any parents of twins want to weigh in on this one?

Just a quick post

I want to get back into more of a routine with blogging. I was doing so well for a while, and then pooped out, like always. But I do have a recipe to share. We have a family tradition of having breakfast every Saturday morning, and this is one of Rob's favorite pancake recipes. I was fooling around with Smilebox and thought I'd give it a try. Enjoy! :-)

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Click to play | Make your ow Smilebox

Excuse me while I vacuum

Ha! Yup, that's why I haven't blogged in a while...at least, that's my story. ;-) Last week I got a new vacuum. We went hog wild and bought a Dyson All Floors sweeper. Let me tell you - the hype about this product isn't just hype. It is truly a Cadillac of vacuums! It is pure joy to use. I have vacuumed more in the past week than I did in the whole month before that! So, with all that vacuuming time, who has time to blog? lol

I do have a couple of announcements to make concerning my role in digiland. I decided to leave MDM before the November 1 closing, as I've been invited to sell at another store. I can't say where quite yet...that will be October 1. But I can say that if feels like a homecoming, in a way. :-)

Also, I am now a proud member of Kim Jensen's CT! I've known Kim for a long time now, and have admired her work. She is one of the most technically detailed and thorough designers I've seen. And her stuff is just fun and funky! Check her out at Scrapdish. Here are a few of her newer products:

I use these on almost every page!

This is a GIANT collection!

I am working on a fun little tag album that I hope to have in my store at PDW by Friday.

Okay, back to vacuuming!

Diesel, anyone?

Man, apparently I need to get out more. After I dropped the girls off at school this morning, I stopped for gas. I prepaid and went to lift up the nozzle, and the only price showing up was on the diesel area. I tried this several times, pushing the button for "regular" gas, but the price kept showing up on the diesel. I sure as heck didn't want to end up with diesel in the van, so I go in and ask the lady. She comes out with me and points out that I was using the WRONG NOZZLE. On each pump there is a nozzle for the regular gas, and one for the diesel. Um....DUH!!! I just laughed and laughed. Other customers were looking at me, laughing at myself. Wow, my common sense had left the building! I blamed it on not enough coffee.

Other than that, it was a good day. Got a couple things accomplished this morning, girls stayed for lunch so I had some extra time, and then this afternoon we got all the fall/Halloween decorations out. They get so excited when we do that. And it's fun for me too, to take all the stuff out of the boxes and remember. For some reason, I am very organized when it comes to decorations. Everything is properly labeled it its plastic tub in the attic. Sigh. Why can't I do this in the rest of my house?