Eyes Off Of You

Well, I tried to post the X Day of christmas, and I think I got it wrong today :) I went to the Orchard, and its wasn't the "day" that I thought it was. Hmmmm, I think it's Kami's day. OK, go to the Orchard, and check it out :) LMBO!!!

We had a Cookie Party yesterday at my friend, Angie's, house. It was WONDERFUL! Tons of little boys, a few little girls, and a WHOLE bunch of cookie dough. Add some cookie cutters, a bunch of frosting, and lots of different choices in toppings, and you have a TERRIFIC cookie party :)

Joe Joe and his dough

The boys decorating bags to put their finished cookies in

And all the moms. There's Mariann, April, Me, April, and Ann. We sure had fun!

I thought that this WordArt was SO appropriate for today, since my hubby in ON HIS WAY home! He gets in tonight a midnight! Can you tell I'm just a little bit excited :) My sister and her family got in yesterday. It was NASTY driving on the way to Eugene/Portland, but much better on the way home. I'm hoping that it's not too nasty when I head over later today. I'll probably go over at 9 or 10.

Anway, click on the image below to go to my box.net account, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks, girls!!!

FONTS:
Eyes, You - Unnamed Melody

Little Drummer Boy

OK, the link is working now - OOPS!!! hehehe

So my mom left this morning, admist the HUGE winter storm, to drive to Portland to pick up my sister, her hubby, and their almost 2 year old. They're flying in today at 10:30 ish. Woohoo! It'll be good to visit with them over Christmas. They'll be here for a week or so.

I'm really starting to get excited about my hubby coming. I have all day today, and all day tomorrow to wait. What kinda crazy flight gets in at Midnight? Sheezh! What's that all about? Hehehehe. I just KNOW that I'm gonna be bawling in in the Airport! I'm SO excited!

As for the housing for the 2 weeks, it's not fun. I was SO looking forward to being at our own cabin for the 2 weeks. Having our own space. Doing our own thing. Not being at someone elses house, and at their whims. We have a place for the Sat night, we're getting a hotel the Sunday night (that was already in the works), no place for the Monday or Tuesday night, staying at a friends (empty) house till Sunday day, need a place for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night, then have a place for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. So, anyone wanna loan me their house? LMBO!!! This is NOT how I imagined my time with my hubby. Sigh.

Emeline had a Christmas/Winter Program today. All the 2nd and 1st graders participated. It was SO cute. Her grade sang 2 songs. She's such a cute little singer :) Love ya, Eme!

I went to my Aunts house yesterday and made Peanut Butter balls. Then, later in the day, Mom and I dipped them in the chocolate. I'm giving the Almond Rocha, the Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls, and some Stuffed Bears to the kids' teachers for Christmas. I'll take a pic when they're all done. I was a little disappointed in Fred Meyers. Their photo lab is down, and I couldn't develop my Christmas Cards for the teachers. Sigh. I had to print them pff with the printer. Not quite as cute, but they'll get the idea :) I'll try and remember to take a picture of them.

I'm actually remembering to post this. It's SURE been a long week. Today is the 8th Day of Christmas, and it's SHAUNAS!!!! Day. She's the one who asked me to come on at Scraporchard. Did you know I was the first designer that they hired? Who knew! Hehehehe. Anyway, Shauna (Pineapple Plantation Design) has her whole store on sale, so go give it a look!

Well, I coudln't find where to link this at last night (prepublish), so just go to Scraporchard tomorrow, and you'll find it - hehehe. Shauna made an ADORABLE mini kit for you. Isn't she great? I SO love Shauna :)



So, from here on out, until after my graduates from OCS, I'm not doing requests. I may pull from the email list here or there, but I just need to pre-publish a WHOLE bunch of stuff before he gets here, and I can't be stressing about what quotes to use. I'm just gonna do something easy for me. hehehehehe. Come on, girls, you know it's all about me! LMBO!!!

I'm doing Christmas songs from now till Christmas Eve. I just LOVE the little drummer boy song. It's a good one :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account, and leave some love if like my work.

FONTS:
Drummer - Will&Grace
Boy - York Script ES

Silver Bells

Oops, forgot to blog about this AGAIN! I definitely need more sleep - LOL! Well, better late than never :) Sine, of Designs by Sine (you know, our Template girl at the Orchard), is having her ENTIRE store 50% off today! Click on the image below to go to her store.




And, here's a CUTE freebee for you guys from Sine - Don't you just ADORE her templates? She's wonderful!!! Click on the image below to go to Scraporchard to get Sine's freebee.


So as I was at preschool yesterday morning, I got a call from Captain America. He said that he'd just got off the phone with the Boy Scout caretaker. Did I tell you that we were renting a cabin at Boy Scout camp for the 2 weeks that Captain America is here? Well, this last storm that hit knocked out all of camps electric and water. And there are trees down, blocking the roads in camp. So, staying at camp is a no go. So, I was left scrambling for housing. My sister and her hubby and little girl are coming into town tomorrow, and are staying with my parents. That would be 13 people in a 3 bedroom house. Yeah, not gonna happen - LOL!

So, I told the girls at preschool the situation, and Angie, one of the moms, said that her family is going out of town for most of that time period, and that we could stay at her house. WOW!!!! That's HUGE! I'll just need to find a place for us to stay for a few nights. I'm SO glad that Heavenly Father is looking out for our little family! My life sure keeps me busy. Never a dull moment. Ha!

After preschool, I went to Marens house, and she taught me how to make Almond Rocha. Oh My Goodness!!!! It's FABULOUS! Here's our recipe:

Almond Rocha

2 lbs butter (yeah, it's THAT good)
4 cups sugar
1 cup water

Heat in large pot, using a candy thermometer. STIR CONSTANTLY. When it gets to 300 degrees, add

4 tsp vanilla and
4 cups of roasted, chopped almonds.

QUICKLY pour onto 2 cookie sheets, lined with waxed paper. Spread so it coats the entire sheet. Sprinkle

2 bags of chocolate chips (semi sweet and/or milk)

over the hot mixture. Spread with a spatula. Top with finely chopped almonds. Let cool, then break. YUMMY! SO GOOD!!!! Try it, I know you'll like it.

I was at Marens until about 3:30. At 4:00, my mom and dad and my mom's friend, Pinky, and I got to go to Eugene to watch Glenn Beck's The Christmas Sweater. Grandma Ida and Aunt Sue watched the kids. The show was FABULOUS! He wrote this cool book, and it's been in the stores for a while now. My mom got them for us for Christmas. I guess let me back up. You all know who Glenn Beck is, right? He used to have a show on CNN, and is moving to FOX next year. He's SO COOL! Gotta love Glenn Beck. He has a national radio program, and also a TV show. He's fabulous.

So, he has the book, and it's doing very well. They also decided to make the story of the book into a "play" of sorts. More like a dramatization. Here was a singer, and an orchestra, and Glenn told the story. He's very animated, and a GREAT story teller. It was like a Broadway one-man show. And adaptation of his book. Anyway, it was great.

And we didn't really get to see him in person. It was performed for a live audience in South Carolina (the last show of his tour), and was broadcast across the country. We went to Eugene (well, Springfield) to the movie theater to see it. It was broadcast there. I just LOVE technology.
And, we had to brave the storms to get there. See that BLUR in the picture? Those are icicles. They were HUGE and fabulous looking. But, we were going so fast that the camera didn't capture it well - LOL! My dad drove, so we all rode easy, knowing that he's a pro! It was a little snowy and wet, but not too bad. We had studded tires and chains in the back, so we weren't worried. Well, I wasn't worried. Pinky seemed a bit nervous - LOL!

We got to the mall in time to get our tickets, get dinner, and look around the mall for a few minutes. There was a store that was going out of business, and I ended up with 2 wrap sweaters (one black with fake fur, one red with black fake fur), a skirt, a sparkly shirt, and a pair of jeans, all for $21. Not too bad, eh? I have a complete new Christmas Sunday outfit - I'm SO excited :)

Here's Pinky and I after the show. We were all crying! He really told a beautiful story about redemption. It was wonderful.

And here's my dad and mom. Aren't they cute!

After the show, we drove home, but not before stopping at Jack-in-the-Box for a shake. I got a Oreo Milkshake. Let me tell you, it was FANTASTIC!!! Super thick. My poor mouth was SO sore when I was done. I haven't been using my mouth like that enough, I guess. My kissing partner is gone - LMBO!!!

Really, it was a great day. And it's getting SO close to my hubby coming home! Woohoo!!! Here's the WordArt for today. Click on the image below to go to my box.com account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

FONTS:
Silver - Champignon
Bells - An Unfortunate Event DeWarped

6th Day of Christmas

Oops!!! I TOTALLY forgot to promo the 6th Day of Christmas! I was so flustered by the overcrowding of my inbox with "orders" for freebees, it slipped my mind. That and I'm getting SO excited for my hubby to come home, my normal brain processes aren't really working too well - LMBO!!!

Today is Day six, sponsored by Polka Dot Plum!!! Amy and Lauren are such nice girls! Go check out their store!


It's 50% off today! Check it out, you'll like it!! Click HERE to see their store.


And, here' s a Scraporchard freebee, just for you! Aren't these gift tags ADORABLE!!!! They're made using Scraporchards December 2008 Collab - Santa Baby - made by Patti (Scrappinmint). She did a FABULOUS job :) Click HERE to get the tags. They put theirs in the gallery, so they're not gonna get a bajillion emails in their inbox. Smart girls - LOL!


And, since I'm "spamming" your inbox, I figured I should give you a little something for your time - hehehe. Here's a "On the X day of Xmas" WordArt for ya! It would be fun to make a little brag book with family activity pictures from all the days before Christmas, wouldn't it! Hehehe, I'm just full of great ideas - LOL!

Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks, girls!!!

FONTS:
Christmas - BaroqueText JF
On, The, Day, Of - A Little Pot

And, I decided to leave my sale on for the rest of today. I'm disabling it when I go to bed tonight, so you have a few more hours to grab my stuff at 50% off. Click HERE to go to my store :)

Remember the Reason

Wow, it was sure COLD today - Only got up to about freezing. And let me tell you, it's not supposed to be this cold on the coast! Really, it's not :) Good thing we have an AWESOME wood stove in the family room. I just LOVE to hang out in there. Hehehe.

So, I finally broke down and cleaned the kids' room. Well, really it was just the shoes and laundry. I hadn't put clothes away for about 3 weeks. It was TRASHED in that room. 5 peoples clothes in one closet. Yeah, disaster. But, all the shirts got hung up, all the pants folded and in their "box", all the underclothes in their "box", all the shoes in their "box" (yeah, box, not drawer). It looked really good in there when I was done. Sure, that's 2 hours of my life I'll never get back, but I could actually find their clothes last night when I put them to bed. And that makes all the difference.

Maren and I (and Jim and Eme (she's still sick-ish)) went to my Aunts house yesterday to play with beads. Aunt Sue does AWESOME bead work. I made a really fun 3 tier PINK necklace. I DO wear pink, occasionally. Hehehe, I had a friend once tell me that I don't wear pink. And true, BLACK is my favorite color. If all else fail, wear black. But sometimes, I do like to be a bit girly. SOMETIMES. Ha!

Jacob had a choir concert last night too. Dad stayed home and watched the 4 little kids, and Grandma Ida, Mom, Jake and I went to the concert. Oh yeah, and Matt. His mom and dad just sold their vehicle, and they haven't bought a new one yet. She wanted to know if I would drive Matt home from the concert, since they didn't have transportation. He'd walk to the concert. It was 20 degrees! I said tht I'd come and pick him up before the concert, AND take him home. Poor guys. Can you imagine how hard it must be not to have a vehicle. My heart goes out to them .

The concert was really good. A HUGE improvement from the last concert for the 6th graders. They're learning a lot.

You know how I had my freebee in the store yesterday? Well, NEVER AGAIN! Ha! Every download produced an INVOICE, which was emailed to my inbox. Let me tell you, digging through 450 emails, seeing which ones were "freebee" orders and which ones were "real" orders was NOT fun. hehehehe. I'll have to remember that for next time - I'll just do the freebee in the gallery like I do for WordArt Wednesdays.

Oh yeah, speaking of WordArt Wednesday, since I had the HUGE download yesterday, I thought that I'd offer the version I gave out on my blog yesterday as the WordArt Wednesday Week 26. Shauna (one of the Scraporchard owners) thought that would be easier on me, so I didn't have to make 2 freebees back to back. LOL!

Well, you know me. Overachiever! I made one for you guys anyway! Ha! This request is from Lisa. I always liked ths quote. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Remember - Impact
Reason, Season - Luxury Royale JF

12 Day of Christmas

So if you don't read the whole post today (yes, I know I'm long winded -hehehe), make sure that you read the part about how the school "lost" one of my kids yesterday. Really :)

We had a FABULOUS day yesterday!! My dad couldn't get to his job site (show), so he came back home and got the day off. Well, off but not paid. Anyway, because it snowed yesterday up in the coastal mountains, he said that we should drive up there with the little boys before Joe's afternoon kindergarten started. It was a FABULOUS idea!

There was about a foot or more of snow once we got to the top of the mountain. And we only got stuck a little bit. My dad has MAD driving skills, so I wasn't really worried. Not that much. One time our rear end came dangerously close to the edge of the mountain, and I started to get a little bit worried. But then some nice guys came by and offered to pull us out - LOL. I'm sure glad Heavenly Father was watching out for us that day. hehehe.

Here's some pics from our trip. Look at those incredible snow covered trees. I just LOVE Oregon scenery.

Me in the snow. I figured out how to use the timer on my new camera :) And it's not a tie, it's a scarf - LOL!

My dad. My sister thought he looked like a mountain man - hehehe.
Jimmy. He's a bit cold. At one point, I looked over, and his pants and come undone, and were around his ankles and he was screaming. Poor kid. He has permanent plumbers butt.

This kid makes the FUNNIEST faces. I just LOVE my Joe Joe faces - hehehe. He should be a cartoon character.

No really, they did have fun. These pictures were just taken right before we decided to head back home. That's why they're so frozen looking. LOL. Here's Jimmy.

These were a bit earlier, when they were still happy and warm-ish

And here I am, with my hair hider and all - hehehe.


Joe forgot to put on his coat when he first got out of the truck. We didn't realize it for the first few minutes. Poor kid. He was much warmer once we realized it.

It was a relatively easy drive up the mountain, but when we got ready to go, it was a bit more tricky. We had to go up a slight hill, in over a foot of snow. We were going back and forth in the road, and we were fish tailing pretty bad. Good thing my dad is an EXCELLENT driver.

But we did get stuck a few times. My dad brought a shovel (genious!) so he was able to dig us out most of the times.

Yeah, see those dirty parts in the snow on the bottom left? That's where we were before they guys pulled us out. Close to the drop off. Wow! It doesn't really look like a drop off, but those green snow covered trees are really tall, and they start down in the drop off.

And here's the nice guys who pulled out our truck. My dad said that he really had it, that it was just seconds from coming out by itself, and while I believe him, I really did feel a bit better that they were there, with the truck hooked up to their truck. I knew I wasn't gonna go over the edge.

It really was a fun snow trip. We made it home just a bit late, and Joe was 10 minutes late for kindergarten. When we got back in cell range, I found a message from the school saying that Eme needed to come home because she was coughing so bad. She has Asthma, and whenever she gets a cold, she gets a HUGE coughing fit. Most kids get sniffles. She coughs till she almost pukes. Poor little girl.

Oh yeah, one more story. So I had an appointment at 2:00, and my dad was watching Jimmy (3) and Eme (7 - remember, she came home sick). I got back at 3:11, and my mom was off work already. And Tom was home. Weird. The bus doesn't get there until 3:50. I asked how he got home so fast. My dad said he'd been there for an hour. Now I was really confused.

After calling the school to find out what happened, and talking to his teacher, here's what I found out. On Mondays, Tom's class goes to the library last period. They take their backpacks, and line them up in the hall before they go to the library. Then they walk to the library room, and their teacher stays in the classroom. The library teachers release them to the bus after school.

Well, Tom missed the part where he was supposed to leave his backpack and go to the library. He got his backpack, and went to the bus line. Obviously, no one was there. He figured that he missed the bus, and WALKED HOME!!! He had to cross a major highway to get here, too! Highway 101 is a 5 lane highway. Luckily there's a stoplight with a crosswalk, but STILL, he's 9!!!

But the part that upset me most is that NO ONE AT SCHOOL KNEW HE WAS MISSING. What's up with that? How do you lose a kid, and not even know they're gone. I'm gonna have to go into school tomorrow and talk with the office about it. Tom was safe, and it all turned out fine, but what if it hadn't been Tom? Or what if he'd got hit crossing the road? Or taken on the way home? Not a great thing, school people. You really can't lose kids. Not good!

Woohoo! It's my day at the Orchard!!!

And just for today, my store is on sale for 50% off!!!!! So, now's the time to buy that WordArt you REALLY want. You know you want it :) Click HERE to go to my store.

And check out this CUTE series that I decided to make for you guys. AND YOU GET IT ALL AT ONCE!!! Aren't I nice!!! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to get the zip file. It's in my store, but it's FREE. Just make sure you're signed into the store to get it.

And you know me, I can't just do something easy. I have to take it further than really necessary. So, here's a DIFFERENT version of the same series. But it's only available on my blog. Click HERE to grab it from my box.net account. And as always, please leave some love if you like my work.