Independence

Hey girls! Don't forget about the HUGE sale over at the Orchard. Spend $10.00, and get 40% off your order! Fabulous deal!!! Click HERE to go to my store to start shoppin'!!!

OK, here's a few pics that I just got off my camera. They're from Thursday. Was that really just day before yesterday? Are you sure??? How do I possible manage to squeeze so much life out of my days??? No wonder I'm exhausted when I go to sleep at night - LOL!

Here's one of Tom at the pool. He was SO disappointed when his swim goggles didn't work. Poor kid. But what do you expect. We bought it at the Dollar Tree. I always tell my kids, "There's a reason it only costs a dollar". It's not meant to last forever. I just wish it would last longer than 20 minutes. Anyway, his goggles broke. So, I tied them on him. Look how squeezey his face is - hehehe. Poor kid.

These next 2 pictures are hilarious. Remember I said that Captain America and I walked the tramway the other night? Well, here's what we found when we got home. The little boys were watching a movie ("Snow Buddies") when we left, and they'd both fallen asleep by the time we got home. It looks like Jimmy passed out after a long, hard night of parting - ROFL!!!

(And NICE, with the hands down the pants - he's ALL boy)

And Joe, all curled up with the laundry - ha!

And here's me, after the tramway, all "glistening". Because girls don't sweat.

So, that brings us to yesterday. We were up and moving around 9am (well, the kids were up before that, but they had the presence of mind to leave Captain America and I to sleep - THANKS!), getting ready for the Eye Doctor. All 6 of us had appointments today. And Captain America had the day off, so he was gonna come and help crowd control. Unfortunately, he decided to go exercise and cut it too close. He didn't show up until 20 minutes after we were already there. I wasn't too happy. Jim and Joe were running around the office like madmen, kicking off their shoes and throwing it at each other. They were playing musical chairs, and smacking each other. AHHHHH! I wasn't a very happy mama. I was trying desparately to fill out 6 people's worth of paperwork. I really needed Captain America.

Jake went back first. Eme and Tom went next, with another eye doctor. The doctor said that Tom definitely needs glasses, and wrote us a prescription. Eme, he said, would eventually needs glasses, but for right now, she was fine.

Joe and Jim were next. I was worried, because they went back by themselves with the doctor. Worried for the doctor, that is. But, he said he was fine with the 2 of them. Huh. About 3 minutes after they left, Captain America showed up. Sigh. I wasn't too happy with him, but I let it go.

Jim and Joe came back out, with a "no problems" report! Jake came out, with a trial pair of contacts, and a glasses prescription. He was SO excited. I got contacts in 7th grade, and I always told him he could do the same. Guess what? 7th grade is here. Crud! Be careful when you make promises. Kids listen and remember. They may not listen and remember when you assign chores, or give directions, but if it involves something they want, you better believe they will.

I went in next. The eye doctor said that my last doctor OVER prescribed my contacts. So, my eyes were used to having a super strong prescription. He gave me a trial pair of contacts, and said that it'd take a few days to get used to the prescription. And I think he's right. It's gonna take a few days. Not the most fun, to see blurry. Sigh. It's getting better, though.

This was the eye doctor in the PX (Army equivalant to the mall), so we mosied out into the food court to get the kids a snack. We bought 1 Cinnabon for all 5 kids to share (they cut it into 5 pieces), and Captain America bought 2 Strawberry Smoothies from Taco Bell (who knew?). Nice little snack.

There was this old couple sitting next to us (well, at least late 50's - not terrible old, but just keep reading) in the PX. When the lady got up to go and get something else from Taco Bell, I noticed that she had on the SHORTEST shorts I'd ever seen. Sure, she was slender, but OMGosh! When she walked away to Taco Bell, her BUTT CHEEKS were hanging out. NASTY!!! There were these tiny red/white checkered shorts. WHO wears those??? Age appropriate, anyone? Actually, I don't wanna see anyone's butt cheeks. Gross.

We headed home, then, and made lunch. Standard cheese and cucumber for me, and Bologna sandwiches with apples for the kids. The kids changed clothes (Jim had on cowboy boots with shorts, and Joe wasn't dressed any better), and we headed out to the mall. I had bought a shirt at Old Navy last week, and didn't like the way it fit, so I wanted to return it. AND, Joe and Jim both lost their new swim shirts in the PIT that is there room (or somewhere), and I wanted to see if there was any more of them left.

After my shirt return, and my 10% discount (for doing an online survey on my receipt from last time), I got both swim shirts for $4.85. Not too shabby, eh? I was pleased. The boys will look SO cute next time we go to the pool :) We've been using Dave Ramsey's "Envelope System" this month, so I took cash from my "Kids Clothing" fund. I'm SUCH a dork, but the envelopes, and tracking the monies makes me SO happy - hehehe. Captain America got a shirt out of the "Grown Up" fund, too.

Tom has been obsessed with the Old Navy maniquines since he first saw the commercial, so he just HAD to pose with them when we left. He even put his sunglasses on the little kid - LOL!




Next, we headed for Vitamin World. Captain America got what he needed, and the kids played in the "play place" for a few minutes. I'm not much of a mall person, so we didn't really stay long. When we left the mall, it started to rain. AHHHH!!! I'd straightned my hair, and just KNEW that it was gonna curl up when tbe rain hit it. I took the Old Navy bag, put it ontop of my head, and ran for the car. I left Captain America with the kids trailing behind me. I didn't even care - LOL!!!

Unfortunately, the windows in the truck were down, and my butt go wet. By the time we got to GoodWill, my butt was soaked. Oh well. People shouldn't be looking at my butt anyway, right??? I just LOVE Goodwill. Some are better than others. Well, thrift stores in general, I like. I found Sunday shoes for Jimmy for $3.50, Sunday shoes for Tom for $2.50, a pair of Abercromie jeans for Jake for $6.00, and a pair of capri jeans for me for $3.50. Not too shabby, eh?

We hustled home, and got there in time to fix some Chorizo and Eggs with Tortillas and Sour Cream for the kids, change our clothes, and head out the door. Jacob was babysitting for the evening (I even budgeted $$$ for babysitting).




Captain America and I went out to dinner at Applebee's. I got a nice salad, and while it wasn't technically on my menu plan, I ate it anyway. I'm trying not to dwell on that fact too much, for fear that it will sabotage my WHOLE diet. It's done that in the past. So, moving on.

We met 2 of Captain Americas army buddies at the Diablos Baseball stadium at 7:00pm. A HUGE thunderstorm had just rolled through El Paso, but seemed to have moved on. One of the guys brought his wife, and the other, he girlfriend. They seemed like nice people.

We were seated like this : Captain America's friend, his wife, the girlfriend, the other friend, Captain America, then me. I had no one to chat with, except Captain America. Who was trying to chat with his friends too. The girls were SO young, but seemed nice. Not much in common with me, 33 year old and mother of 5 - hehehe. I had my phone, so I checked my email a few dozen times, and even updated my facebook status. LOL! I was SO terrified that a ball was gonna come and hit me. You know, that's the reason I don't play sports. I don't want to be hit by a ball. So, if you can think of a sport that doesn't include launched balls, I may be able to take up a sport. hehehe.



By the 5th inning, I was SO SO SO bored. Captain Americas friends were gonna leave, and get something to eat, then go back to one of their houses. Yeah, didn't sound like fun to me. I told Captain America that since they were leaving, that we should go too, and that he should take me to the movies on Post. They're only $2.00 a ticket. We could afford that :)

So, we headed back to the car, and headed to the movies. "Drag Me To Hell". OMGosh! Captain America just shook his head the whole time, but I was jumping, gasping, grabbing his arm, freaking out the whole time. I absolutely loved it. Sure, the plot was weak. Sure, the effects were mediocre. I didn't care. It was a PG-13 suspense/horror film, and I loved it. Instead of screaming at the scary parts, the whole audience was laughing hysterically. I'll share one example. When the scary lady was attaching the blond, she got her nasty false teeth knocked out. So, she tried to bite her, and ended up gumming her face instead. It was so nasty we were ALL laughing. And she kept getting bodily fluids on her. Puke, blood, slobbers, puss. It was SO gross it was comical.

OK, so now that I've turned you off from EVER seening the movie..... Here it is, 1am on Friday night (It's still Friday until I got to bed, don't ya know!). I really need to go to bed. We may go see Monsters VS Aliens at the Post theater, or maybe go swimming. Haven't decided yet. But kids can get into the movies for $1.25, and kids under 5 are free. Not too shabby an activity. But then, pool-ing is fun too. Not sure what we'll end up doing. Then, in the evening, we're picnicing with the church. Should be a good time :)

So, since it IS 4th of July, I thought I'd make you guys up a LOVELY 4th themed WordArt :) I thought this one turned out nicely. I just LOVE these 2 fonts together. Fabulous :) Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG and PSD files, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared

FONTS:
Independence - Teen
All rest - AL Verdigris

Accidents Happen

Check it out, girlies! We're having a sale :) If you spend $10.00, you save 40%! Aren't you excited??? AND, I have some new stuff this week. It's not on sale 20% off, because of the spend $10 get 40% off. If you buy all 4 of them, it'll add up to $10.00, so you get the 40% off, which makes it $6.00 for all 4, or making them $1.50 a piece! What a great deal is that!!!!

OK, shameless plug is over! Click HERE to go to my store :)





Here is layout from my CT girl, Jen (Graham Like the Cracker)


So, I woke up yesterday morning at 5am, realizing that I hadn't sent something into my online advertising that I was supposed to. Do you ever do that? Where you basically sit upright in bed, wide awake, heart racing, going "OH crap!". Yep, I had one of those moments. So, I made up what I was supposed to, and sent off an apologetic email with the items attached, and hoped that they'd accept it, even if it was after the deadline.

I must have went back to sleep, but it wasn't the same. My plan is to sleep in today. hehehe.

I got up at around 8am for real (hehehe), fed the kids breakfast, and even chatted on the phone with my Mom. She and my dad drove to Utah to visit my sister and her family for the 4th, so she and Dad were still in the car driving. Don't know how they do it, but they drive all night, then get there at about 9 the next day, and play all day long. I don't know if I could do it - I'd fall asleep, I bet :)

I made a quick stop at the commissary before our pool time, also. I'd bought the wrong soda yesterday, and I was also out of yeast. I make "pigs in a blanket" for the kids each week, and the biscuit dough is kinda rough. I used roll dough this time, and they were soft and yummy this time. The kids LOVED them :)

We were at the pool by 11am with Katy and Adela and kids. Adela had her sister and her man in town for the weekend, so we got to meet them. They're good people :) We coudln't stay too long at the pool, though, because Katy was giving someone a ride home from the airport, and I had an appointment for a physical for Jacob.

We hurried home at 12:45pm, changed clothes, straightened up a bit (ok, so really I checked emails, you caught me!), and headed out to the Scout Office. I needed a physical form. My ink cartridge is TOTALLY dry, so stopping on the way was my next option.

We got to the clinic with 1 minute to spare! The little kids were a bit naughty, but not bad considering I had all 5 with me. Sigh. Not so much fun. But, it was a cheap physical. Only $10.00 because it was for a Church Boy Scout activity. Sweet! I could have got it free through my insurance, but they couldn't have gotten us in that fast. And Jacob needed it for Monday. And everythings closed on Friday. Yeah, they were a real life saver!

We came home, did chores, cooked dinner, then I was off to a Pampered Chef party. I told the girl that I wasn't buying anything, because I'd bought at the last party. She said that was ok. It was at Adelas house. Adela, her sister, Katy, Laurie, Chelsey (she was the consultant), and Heather (the Sentsy lady) were there. We had a lot of great girl talk, and fun just hanging out. I'm so glad for friends!

At 7:45pm, I headed back home, and Captain America and I went for a walk on the tramway. OMGosh! I was sweating by the time we got to the top. This walk was NOT for the faint of heart. Heck, it really wasn't for me. The army guys run it for PT. They're insane! I was going SO slow. I told Captain America that he didn't want to take me, because he woudln't get a good work out because I'm slow. He said that he's walk my pace, and it would be fine.

About 5 minutes into it, he complained that I was too slow. Nice. He quickly re-tracted his comment, though, after being reminded about the whole "go at YOUR pace," and "not ditching" me comment earlier.

We did make it to the top. Boy, was it high. But a great view. It was dark by the time we got up there, and the lights in the city were BEAUTIFUL. I have a pic on my phone, but I can't download them. I'll text them to Captain America, and he can email them to me, and I'll see if I can maybe get them on here tomorrow.

So, here it is, 11:31pm on Thursday night, and I'm beat. I got a real quick freebee for you. No, nothing bad happened, I just thought it was funny. Yes, accidents do happen. And I have a TON of "accidents" pictures that this would be appliciable for!

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

4shared

Love Mask

So, I was up yesterday at 6 something am. Jacob had his GT testing at 8:15am, and I wanted a shower - LOL! Vain, I know. But sometimes, you just wanna look pretty. My hair didn't quite fix as well as my makeup (LOL), so I just put it in a bandanna. I do LOVE my bandannas , you know.

We dropped Jacob off at the testing center, and all headed to the grocery store. Jim, Joe, Eme, Tom and I. I had my money envelope, and my shopping list (to go with my menu). AND, I was even under budget. I had $200 for the week, and I only spent $156 (and that included a $2.00 tip for the bagger). Sa-weet!

We were home and putting the groceries by 10am. Captain America got home for lunch at 11:25am, and said that he didn't need to go back till 3pm. He said that he'd pick up Jake, and the kids and I loaded up in the truck, and headed to the sprinkler park. We were supposed to meet our friends there at 11am. Luckily, Katy got there late too - she was only there for 5 minutes before us :)

They had bouncy castles, bouncy water things, and food. Apparently every Wednesday at 9:30am there gonna have activities like that there, then lunch at 11am. I'm SO there. That's our new Wednesday routine. The closed up shop about 15 minutes after we got there, so we mosied down to the sprinkler park. Next time, we'll be there early :)

I got a few pics of us a lunch, but none from the sprinkler park. Here's Joe

And Jim

And lunch - Ham/cheese hoagie sandwiches, milk, potato salad, and watermellon

My friend Katy, and her son Eric (he's 8)

And her daughter Emily (she's 13)

And here's me :)

And here's me and my boys!

We stayed until 1:15pm, then came home. There's only so much sprinkler-ing that the big kids can handle - LOL! Today is the pool - it'll be better :)

I spent the rest of the afternoon designing. The kids did their chores (ok, I helped a little bit), and Jimmy had some "down" time with PBS. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon. Eme and Tom went to Laurie's house to play with her kids at around 3:30pm. We picked them up on the way to scouts.

I decided, that since I'm in charge, and we have no leaders (well, 1/2 no leaders that come, 1/2 no leaders), that we're gonna just have Pack Activities for July and August. We're doing a Swimming meeting, a Basketball meeting, a Marshmallow Shooter activity (LOVE the PVC marshmallow shooter gun!), and a Bike rodeo. Should be good!

Scouts was very short. No one had activities planned (go figure on that one), so we just helped a new boy get his Bobcat. We were home by 8pm. Gotta like that :)

So, since I have a few new Mask WordArt packs coming out this Friday, I thought that I'd make you up a Mask freebee! Aren't you excited??? I found this WONDERFUL website for Brushes, and as long as you credit them in your TOU, they're CU friendly. Fantastic! I LOVE it :) I have their website down below my preview - give them a look-see - you'll like them too :)

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

4shared

FONT:
York Script ITC

Brushes - www.obsidiandawn.com

AND, if you wanna have the corrected "Perfect Pout" png, click HERE to grab that - sorry!

Love For A Lifetime

OK, first off, I have some pics to share! I just downloaded my pics from my camera, so be patient with me - hehehe. Some are from last week :) LOL! First, here's my new purse. Yeah, I'm not sure what that pink thing is supposed to be, but it's attached, so I'm assuming it's supposed to be on there.

Actually, I just went and did a little research on my purse (there's a number inside the purse to search for), and I found some pics of it. You're supposed to tie that fabric piece in a tighty little bow. Who knew? And it retails for around $250. Holy crap! I'd NEVER pay that much money for a purse!!! Walk around with it when it was given to me for free??? Heck, ya! LOL!

And, heres a pic of Jimmy in his new Sunday Suit. Katy tried to sell them at the garage sale, but no takers. We decided that they'd fit Joe/Jim, so she gave them to me :) I gave her daughter 2 of my pairs of pants that I was getting rid of, so it's all good - LOL! Isn't Jimmy darling! (He got the bigger of the 2 suits)

And Joe. What a handsome boy!

Backtracking, a little. Here's a few pics of our garage sale. We did it on the walking path that's between Adela and Andrea's house. Aren't we tricky! And NO, the chair is not for sale. I think everyone that came by asked us that. We need somewhere to sit, people!

And my lovely treasures!

OK, now here's a few pics from Monday. We went to the other sprinkler park. My kids liked it MUCH better than the one at Kelly Park. Biggs Park takes the cake, apparently. It's shapped liked a little lagoon, and has 2 slides, a mushroom waterfall, and some sit-on animals that squirt water. What could be better???

Like my self-made panaramic????

Eme on the duck

Jacob in the mushroom

Jimmy on the little slide (he tried 3 times to go down the big slide, with me standing at the bottom, but he chickend out every time - hehehe)

Joe down the little slide

Tom down the big slide

Eme down the big slide

SPLASH!!! (It's Tom)

Jimmy with the tiger

See how much fun we had!!!

OK, so on to yesterday. We'd planned on waking up, cleaning the house, and going to the pool at 11am. BUT, it started raining. It was still warm, but it was coming down pretty hard there for a while. I called the pool at 10:30am (opens at 11am), but no one answered. I told the kids that it was closed - hehehe. We spent the morning cleaning and re-arranging.

Captain America and I decided that he'd get the kids' old computer room (too big for a closet, but too small for a bedroom - just an odd little room, really - no outlets, no ventilation, but a light). You should have seen him yesterday. He was almost giddy. He's in LOVE with his Man Room. I feel bad that it isn't bigger, but he's loving it. And it has a door. So he can escape every once in a while :) That's important for men, I think.

I moved the computers to the dining room, moved the hutch to the living room (and put all the DVD's, alphabitized, inside it), moved the couches around a bit, angled the TV dresser (yep, we're too cheap to buy an entertainment center, so we use a MASSIVE white dresser) a bit, and put all the books back on the shelves. I also went through the books, and got rid of about a box worth. Some were duplicates, some were just dumb, and some I could find the same information online. But, we still have 4 bookcases full of books. It hardly dented it - hehehe.

At noon-ish, Captain America came home for lunch. Our power promptly went out. Sigh. What a pain in the butt. The rain had stopped by then, and I'm not sure why we lost power. 5 times in 3 months. Dang! It came back on after about an hour. Captain America called housing to tell them about the situation, and see what the heck was the problem. Don't know if it'll do any good or not. We'll see.

I cleaned up till 2:15pm, then scurried around crazily to get ready for the "Sentsy party" at 2:30pm. We walked over there (boy was it warm and humid), 'cause it was only a few blocks away. Kids need the exercise, you know. Heck, I need the exercise.

Laurie had made a TON of food. Motzarella sticks, sliced burritos, potatoes skins with bacon, chips, crackers, goldfish, spinach dip, a TON of fresh cherries, fruit juice. Yummy, it smelled good. BUT, I'm doing well on my diet. No cheats in over 3 weeks. I smelled the food, and while it smelled good, I was fine with water. I'd eaten my crackers and apple on the walk over, and was physically full. Actually, it wasn't really even that had to resist the food. I sat right next to it the whole time even. Yeah me!

The candle thingys smelled really good. It's a wax melting system, really. No flame. No SUPER heated wax that could burn little people. I don't know, I kinda like candles. And the fire and flame. Call me old fashioned, I guess. And the power cords were kinds out of place on the pretty warmers. I did like their night light plug in warmers, though. Those were really cool. But they were $15.00 each, and that didn't include wax. Dang! The big ones were $30 each. The wax was $5.00, I think. I could have afforded the Air freshener for the car. It was only $3.00.

But, we'd just sat down during lunch and did the budget for July, and I knew that I had $15.00 for the week to spend on myself, and I didn't really want to lose $3.00 for an air freshener. Know what I mean? I wanted to save it for something fun and exciting. LOL!

Speaking of that, I'm REALLY excited about the budgeting thing. You start off listing all the money you get for the month, and go down the list, declaring what you need per item, and subtracting from the total income. When you get to the last item, you should have $0. It forces you to budget your money. I had enough to pay Jacob for babysitting each week, give the kids each a $2.00 allowance, budget for groceries, gas, entertainment, eating out, well, everything, really. It's been the first time in a long time that I had enough money to budget. Always before, we'd declare the bills that had to be paid, and we'd have $200 left over for the month. That doesn't even start to touch groceries. So, it was a different, and TOTALLY welcome experience! We even got out cash, and filled our little envelopes. Once the cash is gone, we're done spending in that category. I'll let you know how it goes, though! I got out my $200 for groceries for the week. I'm grocery shopping today :)

So, the party went well. Adela, Katy, Laurie, a new girl from church, and the hostess, um, yeah, her. What's her name??? She's from South Carolina, and has a thick Southern accent. Heather! That's it. Heather was the hostess. I took an order book, just because I might save up my $$$ and get one here in a few months. I'd like to have one for my kitchen. They do smell fabulous.

We came home at 5:30pm, and got here a few minutes after Captain America did. Since the kids ate food at Laurie's house, I just gave them a bowl of cereal for dinner. I know, bad mom. I didn't care, though. I'd been a long, hard day of cleaning. Cereal was right up my alley.

After dinner, we all headed out to Wal-Mart. We needed more white paint, a personal fan for Captain America for his "Man Room", contact solution for me (I was TOTALLY out), refills for the scented plug-ins (MUCH cheaper than Sentsy). We looked for a printer cartridge, but they were out of the one that I needed. Nice, eh? Wal-Mart is always out of the stuff that I need. How rude!

Captain America had to leave to go to a meeting, the the kids and I wandered around for a tiny bit longer. On the way to the front, the bakery had a dozen donuts for $2.00. Great price, eh? There were 3 with nuts, 3 with a white, thick glaze, and 6 covered in sugar. The kids were SO excited for Breakfast in the morning. Breakfast of Champions, baby! Donuts! Good thing I don't always feed my kids like this! hehehe.

After Wal-Mart, we headed out for the Dollar Tree. We drove around for about 15 minutes before I admited to myself and the truck full of kids that I didn't know where the Dollar Tree on our side of town was. So, we hopped on Highway 54, and headed to the NorthEast side's Dollar Tree. I knew right where that one was. Sigh. I know it was further away, but it was probably less gas than wandering aimlessly - hehehe.

I let the kids each pick out a swim item. Jim got a spiderman floaty ring. Joe got a water squirter. Jake, Tom, and Eme got swim goggles. They were pretty excited. We're going to the pool on Thursday, so they'll get a chance to try them out. I also got some little notebooks to record my cash accountings, and a little bag /purse to keep the envelopes in. It's the PERFECT size. I also got 2 bucket hats for Jim and Joe.

Back home, kids to bed, orgainzed the money/envelopes, typed up my budget, and started designing/blogging. Oh yeah, and I printed out my grocery shopping list. But the ink ran out 1/2 way through, so I had to hand write in the other half. Big pain in the butt. Curses on you, Wal-Mart, for not having my ink. hehehehe.

Today, Jacob has his GT testing from 8:15am - 11:30am. Holy cow! I sure hope I don't have to stay the whole time. I'll send him with the phone, and he can call when he's done. That way, I can go grocery shop while he's in his test.

Then, at 11am (yeah, I"ll be a bit late), the girls and I are going to Kelly Park. It's the 1st sprinkler part I we went to. I heard that they're giving away free lunch on Wednesdays. I'm all about free. Really, I am. And luckily, so are my friends - hehehe. It's good to have friends who are like yourself :)

Also, it's Scouts night. Busy, busy, busy. And, I only have 2 WordArt packs designed, so I'll have to find time to do the other 3 in between all of my going and doings. Oh yeah, we're having a HUGE 4th of July sale at the Orchard! Keep your eyes peeled for more info!!!

This WordArt request is from Henriette. It's the song from Titanic :) Hope you like it, girl! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard's gallery to download the ZIP file, and leave some love if you like my work!

Perfect Pout

Hey girls! Another busy-ish day in the Harty household. We started off the day at a sprinkler park. Different than the last one. This one had a big lagoon area, with 2 little water slides, and a few “animals” that sprayed water, and a big mushroom fountain. It was pretty cool. The water was up to my mid calves, so it was perfect for the little ones. And the big ones had a good time too. I don’t think we could go there everyday and keep children entertained, but once every few weeks, definitely.

We were home by 12:30pm, and loaded up the truck with our garage sale items. Some guys were supposed to come by and buy it from us. I was at Adela’s house at 12:55pm, and stayed till 3:00pm visiting, but no guys ever came. We think it may have to do with the fact that it rained so hard yesterday. They may not have worked today. Either way, I now have a truck full of garage sale items, and no where for my kids to sit. We’ll have to unload the truck before we go to the big pool today. Sigh.

I decided to paint the last brown bookshelf yesterday too. I pulled all the books off of it, and drug it outside. I didn’t have much paint left, so I did the most important parts first. It’s a middle bookshelf, so the sides weren’t too important. It doesn’t look the best, but I attempted it, at least. That counts for something, right.

Then, I decided to move stuff around so that Captain America could have a “man “ space. Just some space for himself. He’s been feeling a bit displaced lately, like he has no place to retreat to. Men get like that, you know. So, I decided that if I moved the kids out of the “computer room”, I could make it Captain America’s area. It just meant moving around a lot of other things so that it would all fit.

I started to move the bookshelves, and didn’t realize that Captain America’s flag display case was still on top of the shelf. Yep, it came crashing down, glass breaking everywhere. It was the flag from his Grandfathers coffin. I felt HORRIBLE! I cleaned it up best I could, and knew that I’d be buying another flag display case. I could use the garage sale money.

So, I kept moving stuff around, and got 2 bookshelves moved, when he came home. He was SO upset about the flag, and upset that the house was trashed. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to apologize, and tell him what happened, but I could tell that he was upset. I got upset that he was upset, and it just escalated from there. I hate it when that happens.

All sorts of crap comes out when both parties are upset, not in line with the original argument. Have you noticed that too? I’m not sure why that happens either. We ended up in a huge argument about who should decorate the house. His point was that he DID get an art degree, and has a nack for design. My point was that it’s the woman’s domain, and I LIKE to decorate main living area my way. My own personal touch. Sigh. And he said, “Well, we could do it together”, but I know how that goes. It’s me helping him decorate it the way he wants to decorate it.

How do I tactfully tell him that I don’t want a man’s living room. Or a Civil War museum living room. Without hurting his feelings worse than I already have. Does your man help you decorate? Does he insist on giving you his input? Does he has “strange” items that he wants prominently displayed. Like portraits of Robert E. Lee? Don’t get me wrong, he was a GREAT American. I just don’t want his portrait hanging in my living room for all to see. Now I just sound snobby, don’t I. Dang. That’s not what I wanted.

OK, so now that you know that Captain America and I fight about stupid things…… moving on J Today, we’re going to the big pool with Adela (maybe, she has a dentist appointment), Katy, Laurie, maybe Kristie, and maybe a few other girls from church. Should be fun. Adela and Katy said that we should all go down the big slide. Sigh. It’s peer pressure all over again. Hehehe. I think I’ll be brave and do it! Maybe I’ll even give Jacob the camera and have him document it for me. As proof that I actually did it J

Then, on Wednesday, Jacob is getting GT tested, there’s a Sensi (candles or something like that) party at Laurie’s house, Thursday the pool again, and later that night, another Pampered Chef party at Adela’s house. Dang, my life is full - hehehe. It’s just less time that I have to clean J And that’s what’s important, right?

Well, here’s your freebee for today. It’s a request from Linda, and I thought the quote was HILARIOUS. It’s from fashion designer, Janie Schoenborn, and says, “Never underestimate the power of a perfect pout. I think it landed me a husband.” Well, we don’t need the landing a husband part, but the first part is adorable! I can just envision layouts with cute little pout-y faces, boys and girls.

So, click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared (the typo is now fixed - July 1st, 10:03 MST)

Story Time

Hey girls! Sorry about the loss of power thing. This is the 4th time we’ve lost power since being at Ft. Bliss, but definitely the longest we’ve gone without power. The other times, it was during the middle of a REALLY hot day. I’m guessing that the power grid wasn’t big enough to handle all the A/C’s. Look at me, theorizing. I have absolutely no idea why it went out then - ROFL!

Anyway, it started raining on the way to church yesterday, and then at about 6:00pm, it really cut lose. Thunder, lightening, and a TON of rain. Well, at least I didn’t have to go and water the neighbors garden! Ha! It was really coming down.

We’d had a nice relaxing day after church. Church? Well, it was good, but anything from relaxing J I had early morning meetings at 7:30am, then church at 9am. Captain America came with the kids, and got there during the opening song. I’d saved seats for everyone, though.

I got to take a nap in the afternoon, and actually slept for an hour or so. I have SUCH a hard time sleeping when it’s not bed time. Don’t get me wrong. I’m tired enough to sleep, but usually my mind won’t shut off. Know what I mean? I hate that - LOL!

We had dinner, and Captain America and the big boys had just connected to the “Battlefield” server. They played for a few minutes, when the power shut off.

Emeline and I were watching an episode of Doctor Who online. The kids lost our Season 4, last disk (I know!!!), so I had only seen those episodes once or twice. I was just starting episode 12 when the power went out. But, the good thing was that it was streaming video, and it had already loaded. So, Eme and I finished off ½ the episode of Doctor Who (the other 20 minutes was at a different site), and went to find candles.

We had about 30 candles, which we lit and clustered on the kitchen counter. We put one candle in each bathroom. The kids wanted one in their room, but that’s the last thing I needed. To have the house burn down - LOL! I know my kids, and know that they’re don’t to be trusted with fire. Or melted wax. Can you imagine the mess that would make on white carpet? No thanks!

When Captain America was young, his family would always gather to play Uno during a power outage. Most often, during a Tornado warning. He had fond memories of it, so he thought it could be a fun tradition in our house too. We brought a tray of candles into the living room to the coffee table, and all huddled around it.

Why didn’t we use the big table? Good story, I’ll tell you. So, when we first moved in, I arranged the big bookshelves where I wanted them, and just slapped the books up there. No order. Remember me telling you that Captain America wouldn’t like it - hehehe. Well, there were 2 painted white bookshelves, and 2 brown (unpainted) bookshelves. Captain America decided today that he wants to paint it.

Me? I could care less. I don’t even notice that it’s brown. But he didn’t like it. So, he takes it outside and starts to paint it. Huh, guess what? It’s not so fun to paint bookshelves. He loses interest after a while. I’m inside, watching episodes of Doctor Who, and he comes in and asks if I will paint the rest for him. What?

What’s he doing that’s so important that he can’t finish off his OWN project. He said that he had to study. OK, I can handle that. Then he adds, “And my brothers and I wanted to play Battlefield”. Nice. So, I’m finishing off his STUPID project so he can play on the computer. Nice.

But, I practiced some of the forgiveness/conflict thing that I’d been taught last week, and gave him the benefit of the doubt. I knew that he wasn’t out to get me. He wasn’t trying to dump stuff on me. He wasn’t approaching the project with that intent. Sigh. That’s what I kept telling myself. Over and over again. While biting my tongue. Hard. Now he owes me J hehehe.

Wow, I forgot what I was talking about. What a long tangent - hehehe. Big table. SO, we couldn’t use it because all of the books from the bookshelf were on it.

So, Uno was good. We played Harry Potter Uno, which was fun. Captain America always calls out the score at the end of the rounds, and he was using his Severes Snape voice - WAY too funny J

Joe got last place, Eme can in next (FULL of tears and drama, I might add), Captain America, or should I say Severes, came next, Tom and I tied for 2nd place, and Jacob (or light boy - as he had on a head lamp light, and would look at whoever’s turn it was to give them light - TOO cute!) came in first. Only one person asked to quit, crying, so I count that as a success!

The kids went to bed, and Captain America studied for his Army test. I worked on a freebee for today, and “pre-blogged” into a Word Document. I’ll copy and paste this once the power comes back on. Aren’t I tricky! LOL!

This WordArt freebee was a request from someone SO long ago, I can’t even remember who it was. I found it on a notepad, from back when I was giving away the Twilight freebees. Sorry, whoever it was who requested this one. I thought it turned out nicely, though!

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work! Thanks, you guys!

4shared

without power for the night

hey girls. im blogging from my husbands phone. while I can get online with mine, I can't post things. how rude. anyhoo, don't worry, when I wake up in the morning, i'll get you your freebee. never fear. loss of power may have won the battle, but never the war.

the lights went out at about 7pm, and after lighting every candle in the whole house (about 30), we all played a fun game of uno. only one kid ended up in tears. not too bad. hehehe. try it the next time you lose power. its a new harty tradition.

so, until tomorrow, have a good night, and think happy thoughts that our power will return.

Hope

Hey girls! I thought I'd take a minute, and go over one of the sections from my marriage conference that I went to. Maybe if I do it in little chunks, then I'll actually do it. Sometimes to sit down and do something big takes a lot of time, so it doesn't get done. We'll see :) I'm writing it in Green, so if you don't wanna read it, just skip the green parts :)

This is a little recap of the "Resolving Conflict" part. They said that conflict is common to all marriages. I know when we got married, Captain America thought that we'd never fight. Boy was he in for a rude awakening - LOL!

They say that the first step to resolving conflict is to understand the anatomy of anger. When we are hurt by our spouse, our natural tendency is to respond by either : Stuffing it (rejection, withdrawal) or Blowing it (anger, aggression, hostility). Why do we show anger? Well, we feel like our "rights" have been violated, our expectation have not been met, or we have been hurt. For some people, showing anger is easier to acknowledge than showing hurt. Anger is a God -given emotion. It in and of itself is not bad. It can be a motivation to resolve conflict. Anger can be a very dangerous weapon. It must be controlled. Uncontrolled anger can lead to: bitterness, resentment, depression, conflict with God, violence, or even murder. Unresolved conflict can multiply the intensity of future conflicts.

Resolving conflict requires loving confrontation. First, speak the truth with love. Second, approach the confrontation carefully (check your motivation, check your attitude, check the circumstances: timing, setting, etc), check to see if you're willing to accept confrontation as well as give it, approach it with prayer, and agree on the way you will discuss resolving conflicts. One thing that they stressed was that we shouldn't be "Out to get" our spouse, or prove them wrong. This is the person that we love most in the world. We should remember this when approaching the conflict.

Resolving conflict requires forgiveness. The offender needs to seek forgiveness, and the offended needs to grant forgiveness. They talked about what granting forgiveness isnt:

NOT repression or pretending that something did not happen or that it did not hurt
NOT conditional
NOT forgetting
NOT impossible

Granting forgiveness is:
An attitude of letting go of resentment and my right to get even
An action that must be expressed by word and deed
A choice to set your spouse free from a debt or an offense that has occurred against you
The beginning of the healing process that leads to oneness.

They gave an analogy that really stuck with me. Actually, last time I was mad a Captain America, I thought about this, and it helped me forgive him. Actually, I can't even remember why I was mad at him. "Harboring unforgiveness in your heart is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die". How true it is!

The process of reconciliation. Forgiveness begins the process by which trust can be rebuilt. The offending partner must take the initiative in rebuilding trust. The offended partner must resist the natural tendency to rehearse the hurt.

They gave 7 A's of Forgiveness:
A - address everyone involved
A - avoid if, but, and maybe statements (don't make excuses)
A - admit specifically (both attitudes and actions)
A - Apologize (express sorrow)
A - Accept the consequences
A - Alter your behavior
A - Ask for forgiveness.

They talked about bringing down the "Wall" between people, and they said that it went up brick by brick, so it should come down brick by brick.

OK, hopefully that was readable. Looking back over it, I'm note sure if it even makes sense. Sorry, girls. I tried :)

So we had our garage sale yesterday morning. I was up at 6am, loaded up my junk, and headed down the street to Andreas house. The other girls were already there. I was slow. Hehehe. My lack of sleep is catching up with me.

Boy was it HOT. The neighbor down the street was having a garage sale too, and we used her advertising to our advantage. Her sign said "7am till too hot" ROFL! I thought it was SO cute :) Anyway, we attracted all of her customers when they were done with her house. Worked for us.

Last week, I made $10. This week, I made $20. Not too bad. Plus, there were a few guys who said that they wanted to buy all of our stuff after we "closed up shop". Hes supposedly coming back Monday at 1pm to buy it all. Then, he takes it to Mexico to sell it. We'll see if he comes by. We want at least $100 for all of our junk combined. That's another $35 for me! Woohoo!

I was home at 1:30PM, and a little bit burnt. I put sunblock on my back, but my arm was hanging out from the umbrella, and got a little pink. It'll be a tan in a few days. I should just lather in sunscreen after I shower. Sigh.

I didn't really do much else for the day. I answered a few emails, played on Facebook (yeah, baby!), watered a garden for a friend who's on vacation, cooked food, watched Harpers Island, took a nap, and prepared for my Sunday lesson. Ok, so that kinda sounds like a lot. But it wasn't crazy busy, so it was nice.

I didn't want to search through my emails for a request, so I just did a quote that I found that I thought was PERFECT! I hope that you like it too :) Click on the link below to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Oh yeah. There was a typo on yesterday wordart, and while I thought I'd fixed it yesterday, apparently it didn't "stick". So, it's there now. All fixed and ready to download. Again. Sigh.

4shared