Without You

OK, shameless plug, but don't forget about my Grab Bag. If you've never bought anything from me, now is a GREAT time to get something. It's 6 new WordArt packs, all for only $3.50. You really can't beat that as a deal. There's a calendar type wordart in there, a days of the week thingy, some good for kids, some for friendliness/kindness, lots of good stuff. Give it a try. You know you want to. Hehehe. Click HERE to go to my Grab Bag in my store :)

Wow, I'm pretty sure that I'm sick. Sigh. I hate to be sick. After staying up late on Thursday night, 7am came SO early :) I managed to get the kids out the door and off to school. Captain America had the day off, so he got to sleep in :) I hauled my computer to the couch, and read. I didn't really have the energy to do much else. I took a 12 hour decongestant, and some DayQuil. But I still felt yucky. I helped Jake on and off with his school work when he needed help, and tried my best to keep Jimmy from getting into trouble.

Captain America was awake at around 9am, and went running. We all just kinda did our own thing for the morning. We had lunch at noon-ish, and I took a nap. At 2:30ish, Jim, Captain America and I went back to the PX to exchange a few of the clothes we bought yesterday. Eme's didn't fit. They were WAY too big. They almost fit me - hehehe.

Captain America needed a bigger size in the shorts, and so did Tom. I'm guessing they ran a size small, since both needed a different size. I even found 2 shirts for myself the 2nd time around. They were pretty cute. One was red with a white bow and the other was black/white/gray. Yes, I know. It's my favorite color. Black is good :) hehehe.

After the PX, we headed off post. We needed protein powder, an ink cartridge, and some take and bake pizzas from Wal-Mart. We'd promised the kids pizza yesterday, and it didn't happen, so today was the day :) After Wal-Mart, we dropped the movie back at Blockbuster, and headed home.

The kids LOVED the pizza, and were enjoying their Friday night. Eme and Joe played at the park for a while, and Tom had a friend over for a while. Captain America and I had planned to go to the movies, like we do every Friday night, but I really wasn't feeling up to it. The little excursion earlier in the day was almost too much for me.

I put Captain America in charge of the house, and went to take a bath. It's amazing how much better you feel after soaking in a HOT bath. It's not even 9pm yet, and I'm almost done with all my work for the night. I think I'm gonna go to bed early tonight. And hope that I feel better on Saturday. The girls wanna go "Eyebrow Threadding" at the mall, and I SO wanna go and play. I just plucked mine, so I'm good, but I'm always good for a "road trip". hehehe. Being sick puts a serious damper on the fun. AND, if I'm feeling better, Captain America and I can go and see Transformers II at the dollar theater tomorrow night. Plus, UP is playing at the post theater tomorrow at 4pm ish. I bet the kids would really like that. And you can't beat 99 cents for a movie. We'll see how much I'm up for :)

This WordArt request is from Diane. I just love Winnie the Pooh quotes. Too bad I can't make a WordArt pack out of them. Silly Disney and copyright laws - hehehe. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

4shared

Responsible Adult

Well, the day is finally here! My grab bag is up for sale - hehehe. I know you were all sleepless last night waiting for it - ROFL! OK, so maybe no, but it's still here. And it's cool. My CT told me so. And they don't lie to me :)

If you wanna grab my "Grab Bag", just click HERE to go to my store. And, while you're there, check out some of the other AWESOME Scraporchard designers who have Grab Bags up for grab too. You'll like them, trust me!

And, just to show you how AWESOME my CT is, here are a few layouts that they made using my WordArt Grab Bag WordArt pack. I just love 'em!!!

Layout by Breon

Layout by Jen (Graham Like the Cracker)

Layout by Grace

Layout by Charmaine

Layout by Katherine

So, I woke up on Thursday morning, migraine free. THANK goodness! I was still a little groggy after all the NiQuil, but I was good :) I got the kids ready and out the door for school, started Jake on some Math, and sat down with Jimmy for a little while.

Man was he in a mood. My mom called at some point in the morning, and he just ran from room to room, getting into stuff. He tried to erase all the days/appointments on my dry/erase calendar, tried to mess up my bathroom things, tried to sneak food into him room. You name it, he tried it. And, whenever he got caught, he'd start SCREAMING. Sigh. It was gonna be one of THOSE days again.

Jake and Jim and I went for a little walk this morning. 18 minutes, briskly around the neighborhood. I pushed Jim in the stroller, and Jake walked with me. And, I had the privilege of listening to him give me a blow by blow description of his newest video game. Oh yes, it was quite joyous. At about 11 1/2 minutes into it, I thought he was getting winded, and would stop. But by minute 13 he'd found his 2nd wind, and started up again. And, being the good mom that I am, I said "Uh huh" and "Oh Wow" and "Good Job, Sweetie" at all the right times. Now THAT's true love :)

At 10:20am, we left for Jim's Doctor's appointment for his physical. Not quite as easy as Eme's appointment. He wanted to run around the office, and couldn't understand why I didn't want him to. The army is notorious for "take a number" kinda lines, and Jimmy SO wanted to take a number. But we didn't need one. Sigh.

Finally, we got called back, and he wanted to touch EVERYTHING in the patient room. Sigh. After he got height/weight/blood pressured, we were sent to another waiting room. Here, he wanted to climb on ALL the chairs, look at ALL the magazines, and climb all over me. After about 10 minutes, we went back to a patient room, and saw the doctor. After looking in Jimmy's ears, he said it was kinda red, so he perscribed some antibiotics. Since we (in the army) have a 4 day weekend this weekend, he wanted to make sure Jim was all set. That was nice.

Jim and I are also pretty congested, so he ordered some Dimatapp for Jim. And some Motrin. He gave me proper dosage information, signed the physical, and we were good to go. We stopped by the pharmacy, got our goodies (drugs), and were off to home.

We stopped by the Shoppette on the way back home to rent "State of Play", but it was out. Dang! That was my easy fix. Now I was gonna have to go off post. We went home, had lunch, chatted with Captain America over his lunch hour, and started to straighten up a bit.

My friend, Krista, was coming over. Her son's turning 12, and her daughters turning 8 later in the month, and she wanted Baptism/Ordination invitations made up. I didn't want my house to look like a total pigsty. I moved the launrdry from the couch to the bedroom (and shut the door), did a once over on the bathroom, and then quit. If my friends don't like me, messy house and all, then maybe they're not great friends - LOL!

I heard a funny noise coming from the bedroom right before she got there, over the sound of Jims movie. I went to check on it, and it was Jim, snoring. Totally passed out. Thank you, Dimatapp! I turned off the movie, turned out the light, and shut the door. Score!

Krista and I worked on the invites until about 2:30pm, when she had to leave to go and pick up her kids from school. They looked pretty good when they were all done :) I'm gonna have to make some up for Eme when she gets baptized. I think she'd like that ;)

I was feeling my headache come back on at about 3pm. I realized that maybe it wasn't a migraine as much as it was a sinus problem. Since Jimmy obviously had something going on, maybe I'd got something too. I was stuff, had a stiff neck, and a sore throat. Not good signs.

So, I took a 12 hour decongestant, and laid down for a nap. I woke up at 4pm, and the kids were home from school, and Jimmy had just woken up from his nap. Dang, that was a long nap for a kid who doesn't nap! Sweet! I still felt kinda sick/headachey, so I took a migraine pill too. I got a snack for the kids, and hung out with them for a bit.

Captain America got home at about 5pm, and we headed out to the store. We were gonna go rent "State of Play" for a "Movies at home" date night. I've been wanting to see that one :) But, Andrea had told me that the PX was having a sale on clothes at the Exchange. Regular price, minus the clearance price (25%, 50%, or 75%), plus take 70% off of that. It made it a really good deal. We got 4 shirts for Eme, 3 shorts, a polo shirt, and a nice tee shirt for Captain America, and a shorts for Tom, all for $24. Not bad :) I SO love a good deal.

We stopped by the Military Clothing store before heading home, to look at the Dress Blues for Captain America. The army is getting rid of their Green Dress uniform, and going with a Blue one. It's pretty sharp looking. Captain America is gonna go buy it tomorrow, so I'll take some pictures for you all :) He's SO cute!

It was too late to keep looking for the movie, so we headed home, cooked dinner for everyone, helped Joe with his homework, then went to Blockbuster for the video. It was the last one in the store, and it cost us $4.10 to rent, but I got it! Dang, the lenghts I go to see a movie. Redbox was all out of it. Sigh. Oh well.

We got home, put all the kids to bed, and watched our movie. It was nice to hang out with Captain America on a weekday night. He has the day off tomorrow, so he didn't have to be to bed early. It was a pretty good movie, too. Russell Crowe and Ben Afflick, and the chickie from "The Time Travelers Wife". I liked it. It was my kind of suspense/thinking movie.

Did I tell you that we realized that the army has been paying us too much money? And that when they realize it, they're probably gonna just not pay us that much for the next check. Nice, eh? I figure it's about $750 worth. Captain Americas gonna go and try and get it all straightend out. Maybe they'll just deduct a percentage of it each month, rather than take it all at once. Oops. I wasn't sure how to read the LES statement, so I didn't know. But I do now :)

I'm on day 4 of my "Re-Feed" program, and down to 141!!! I'm so excited. All my old clothes fit again, finally. And I'm liking eating more food. The pineapple is SO tasty. And I got a piece of breat today. Mmmmmm. I can't wait for the day that I get to put butter on it. That taste's SO good :) I remember from last time I did "re-feed". Funny, how little things make me SO happy.

And, here's your freebee for today! This request comes from Linda, and I thought it was HILARIOUS! This should be my slogan in life. hehehe. Just ask my kids. They'll tell you :) ROFL!

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

Everything Goes Wrong

Bear with me, here. I'm trying to fight off a migraine. And no, I didn't drink caffiene. I don't know where this one came from. But it's feeling pretty nasty right about now. Sigh.

I woke up at 3am on Wednesday, and had the hardest time falling back asleep. I was afriad that I was gonna sleep through my alarm. I needed to get up at 6:30am to take a shower to be ready for Eme's doctor appointment at 7:20am. I got up at 6:15am and started getting ready.

I woke everyone up a little early, so that Tom and Joe could be ready and out the door at 7:30am. Eme and I left the house at 7:05am. We made it just in time for her appointment. To sign up with CYS (kinda like the army's equivalant to the Boys and Girls Club), you needed a physical for each child. So starts the fun. hehehe.

The doctor that we saw was really nice. I liked him. Eme got 2 different kinds of lotion for her dry patches, and 2 inhalors (one for home and one for school (if needed)). Then, we got some free OTC drugs from the pharmacy too. What a great program :) I got foot powder, cough drops, throat spray, and upset stomach pills. Sweet!

Then, it was home, and get ready for the meeting with Joe's principal and teachers. We got there right on time. After pleading our case (and it seemed like his teacher thought it was a good idea too), the principal said that he didn't have the authority to hold back a child. That Texas laws state that kids who turn 6 by Sept 1st need to be enrolled in 1st grade.

He said to wait and see how Joe does on the state assesment test on the 17th of September, and if it's poorly, that we can write a letter to the district, and see if they'll hold him back. So, it's wait and see time. Sigh. Poor Joe. I was hoping for a quick and easy fix, but I guess that we'll see how it goes later in the month.

So, we came home, I did school with Jake, and finished designing stuff for my Grab Bag. After lunch, I decided that I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and get some supplies to make a COOL wreath like Andreas. It took about 30 minutes to get there, and Jimmy and I had fun walking around the store for about an hour. I found the PEFECT wreath, then some really pretty ribbons. Everything was 50% off, so it was gonna be a good deal. I got about 6 or 7 fall-ish elements to put on it. It looked so pretty. I arranged it how I wanted it, and even took a picture so I'd know how to re-assemble it.

I figured it should cost about 15-20 dollars. I got to the check out, and it was $35. What the heck? I asked the girl why it was so much, and she told me that the "elements" weren't on sale. So I told her to take those off. I bought the ribbons and the wreath and the door hanger, and headed back into the store to find the 50% off stuff.

Well, there wasn't any good stuff 50% off. And I wasn't gonna pay that much for a decoration, so finally, after another 30 minutes of wandering (and a little boy who had had his fill of the craft store), I went to customer service, got all my money back, and left the store empty handed. I was so sad.

So, I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home (right next door), to buy an ink cartridge for my printer. Guess what? They were out of my kind. They had EVERY other imaginable print cartridge. But not the one I needed.

I went to see if they had any wreath type things ,but they didn't. I looked in the little boys clothes, and found $2.00 tee shirts. And they were SO cool. Sports themed. I picked up 5, so it should be $10.00. But, when I got to the check-out, I realized that the display was mislabeled, and 2 of the shirts were really $3.00. Sigh. After I got done paying, I went ot customer service and returned the $3.00 shirts. I know it's only a dollar, but I was a little miffed.

So, I had to salvage the trip somehow. I needed a little retail therapy. I decided to stop at Fallas on the way home. It's a REALLY cheap clothes store, and give a 10% military discount. I ended up spending $24, and got a cute shirt, a cute longer blouse, a pair of pants, a SUPER cute skirt, and some unmentionables. I was pretty proud of all my purchases. Unfortunately, they didn't have a trying on room there. I tired on the shirts over top of my clothes in the store, and eyeballed the skirt and pants.

I tried them all on when I got home, and luckily they all fit. That store has a no return policy too. I lucked out there. I let the kids relax for a bit when they got home from school, and then started on chores. The floors were super messy, so I had Tom, Eme, and Jake each mop a room. It went pretty quick.

The house looked a lot better when they were done. Next, I started on dinner. Spaghetti night. Some of the kids really like it, and some don't. Oh well. You can't please everyone every time, right?

After dinner, I came back in my room and uploaded my weekly products to my store. I usually do this super late on Wednesday night, but I was ahead of the game for once. That's pretty good!

I noticed that my neck was starting to get tight, and feared that a migraine was coming on. I put the kids to bed at 7:30 (Jake was at scouts with his dad), and came in my dark, cold room. Unfortunately, I found some perfume in my bathroom cupboard, and was excited about smelling good, so I sprayed some on. I think it's kicking my headache into high gear. I've taken drugs, but they haven't yet kicked in. I'm gonna give it another 30 minutes, then take another pill. But it had better be better by tomorrow. I've got stuff to do. Jimmy has a doctors appointment at 10:40, and my friend Krista is coming over at 1pm. There's no room for a migraine. You hear that, migraine! Go away! (hehehe)

So, in honor of my day yesterday, I made this WordArt. hehehe. OK, so it wasn't a horrible day. I've had much worse. BUT, I thought this WordArt was funny, and I know I could use it on a WHOLE bunch of photos. Especially sad, poutty little kid faced pictures :)

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 Art of Being Happy

First off, thank you SO much to everyone who gave me words of encouragement yesterday! I set up a meeting with the principal and Joe's teacher for today at 9:45am to discuss putting Joe back in Kindergarten. I really think it's the best option for him.

As I was looking for his report card from this school from last year (my kids were in this school from Mid April to end of school), this is what I discovered. On the front of the report card, it says that they want kids to be able to do Stages 1-4 of Math/Language in order to be ready for 1st grade. There are 31 "goals" in Stage 4. Joe passed 4 of them. 4 OF THEM. Why in the world would they promote a child that only had a 13% success rate. ( I didn't copy it, but he passed 4 of the 4 physical education ones, but they don't really count.)


The more I think about it, the more upset I get. I really hope that when we meet tomorrow, they tell me what I want to hear. I really hope so. Captain America is gonna be able to come with me, I think. He said that they'd let him out of his class for it. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

So, other than that, the day went well yesterday. I had Captain America call at 7:30am to the school to try and get the appointment set up, and we were told to wait for a call from the principal. I got the kids off to school, then worked on my shopping list and the bills. I needed to know how much money we still had left over from last month. Also, my ink was out, so I only got 1/2 of the shopping list, and had to write in the rest by hand. grrrr. I hate it when that happens.

I asked Jake if he wanted to come with me to go grocery shopping. He'd never been since we moved to Texas. He seemed pretty excited. On the way to the store, I told him all about how our "Dave Ramsey" plan worked. About getting the $1000 reserve, then paying off all the bills, then getting the 3 month reserve, then saving for college/missions. He seemed pretty interested.

Once at the store, he pushed Jimmy in the cart, and I pushed the food cart. He helped me bag up the fruit, and get certain things from the shelves. He decided to spend a few of his Birthday $$$ on a bag of Lays Chips. Nasty, I know. But apparently they're his favorites. Who knew? He said he liked them because they're salty. Whatever. To each his own. I myself love me some Doritos, some Sour Cream and Cheddar, and some Sour Cream and Onion. mmmmmm!!! Anyway, how did I get talking about food. ha!

So, we got all the food, and got in line. I also bought the kids a GIANT pixie stick. It was only 10 cents. Dang, can't beat that!

The next store was Wal-Mart. I had to buy Captain America some fake Zyrtex and Imitation Vanilla. I couldn't find the fake stuff at the commissary. So, off we went. Jake wanted to spend some of his Birthday/babysitting money on games, so we spent quite a bit of time in the game/computer section. He found 2 that he liked, and still had $30 left over.

After Wal-Mart, we stopped by Andreas house to grab an old TV of hers. She's giving my boys their old PlayStation 2. They didn't want it anymore, and my boys are SO excited to get it. It came with the old TV. Even better! So, we loaded up the TV, and I headed for home.

We unloaded all the groceries (I sure missed Tom, Eme, and Joe during the unloading process), ate lunch, I got Jake started on his lessons, and Jimmy and I headed back to Andreas house to hang out. It's been FOREVER since I've seen my friends. Their hubby's leave on Friday/Saturday for NTC (National Training Center) for 29 days, then come back for a month, then leave for a year. They'll be more available to play next week. And I'm counting on it!

Kim came over, and Andrea and her made an ADORABLE fall wreath to hang on her door. I'm SO jealous. I'm going to Hobby Lobby in the next few days to get me some wreath makin' supplies! I want one too! And Kim was FABULOUS with putting together the wreath. Her bows were DIVINE!!!

When it was time to get kids from school, I headed back home. I sorted out all the cash from my budget into piles/envelopes, and made sure that I still had the right amount of money - hehehe. I did. I cooked dinner, and started the kids on their chores.

Captain America was home at 6ish, and after he ate, he and I headed out to the Verizon store. His phone's screen was shattered (but still almost useable), and we have the insurance plan. So, we wanted to see what our options were. For $50, he could get a completely new phone. And it's pretty cool.

Sweet, eh? We tried to arrange it where I'd get a new phone too, because mine is weird, but I wasn't eligible. BUT, because my phone is psycho sometimes, they gave me a new one (of the same kind I had before) for free. Sometimes, when my hands are cold, it doesn't push the right buttons. Or sometimes, it just turns itself off for no reason. I know, not so good. Hopefully this new one isn't so buggy.

Also, we decided that on Sunday (our new billing cycle day), we're gonna call in and scale back our plan. 700 minutes a month (we're not even using 600 right now), with unlimited text on all the phones, for $99 a month, then one extra line for $9.99, then insurance on each phone. All told, it'll be about $130 a month. We're paying about $210 a month right now. We're dropping the internet off our phones, and scaling back to a smaller plan. I'd sure like to same a few dollars :)

It took FOREVER in the store. The store closed at 8pm, and we didn't even leave until after 9pm. I'm sure the guy helping us was MORE than ready to leave. Oh well. That's why he makes the big bucks, right - hehehe. Just kidding :) I'm sure retail jobs like that suck....

We got home, got the big kids ready for bed (Joe and Eme and Jim were already asleep), and I started designing/blogging. Wednesday is gonna be a busy morning. I have a doctors appointment for Emeline (physical) at 7:20am, then Homeschool with Jake, then the Principal meeting for Joe at 9:45am. If I survive the morning, the rest of the day should be a breeze. hehehe.

And, one more day of our SUMMER REWIND SALE. I've moved 25 of my WordArt packs released this summer into the SUMMER REWIND section of Scraporchard's Market. The sale is, spend $10.00 and get 33% off. AND, to sweeten the deal, I've put them all on sale for $2.00 a pack. Bear with me here, as my math skills suck, but if I did this right, it should be like this:

Buy 5 WordArt packs for $10.00
get 33% off

So your total price for 5 WordArt packs would be $6.70
SO, they would be $1.34 a pack. Dang, that's a good deal! Don't you think???

Here's a list of all the WordArt packs that are on sale:

Kiss WordArt Pack
New Love WordArt Pack
Friends 2 WordArt Pack
Fashion WordArt Pack
Walking WordArt Pack

Charles Dickens WordArt Pack
Courage WordArt Pack
Water Fun WordArt Pack
Summer Masks WordArt Pack
Looks Funny Decade WordArt Pack

Baby Attitude 2 WordArt Pack
Baby Attitude 3 WordArt Pack
Butterfly WordArt Pack
Masks Baby WordArt Pack
Sand Castle WordArt Pack

Bicycle WordArt Pack
Word Strip Summer WordArt Pack
BBQ WordArt Pack
First Day of School 2 WordArt Pack
Kid Attitude WordArt Pack

Scrapbook Attitude WordArt Pack
Linear Definition Family WordArt Pack
Acting WordArt Pack
Senior Attitude WordArt Pack
Scrapbook WordArt Pack

Click HERE to go to the SUMMER REWIND section :P


Well, it's WordArt Wednesday time again! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download this weeks WAW, and remember, leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

Laugh.

OK girls! I've got a SWEET deal for you all! So I've moved 25 of my WordArt packs released this summer into the SUMMER REWIND section of Scraporchard's Market. The sale is, spend $10.00 and get 33% off. AND, to sweeten the deal, I've put them all on sale for $2.00 a pack. Bear with me here, as my math skills suck, but if I did this right, it should be like this:

Buy 5 WordArt packs for $10.00
get 33% off

So your total price for 5 WordArt packs would be $6.70
SO, they would be $1.34 a pack. Dang, that's a good deal! Don't you think???

Here's a list of all the WordArt packs that are on sale:

Kiss WordArt Pack
New Love WordArt Pack
Friends 2 WordArt Pack
Fashion WordArt Pack
Walking WordArt Pack

Charles Dickens WordArt Pack
Courage WordArt Pack
Water Fun WordArt Pack
Summer Masks WordArt Pack
Looks Funny Decade WordArt Pack

Baby Attitude 2 WordArt Pack
Baby Attitude 3 WordArt Pack
Butterfly WordArt Pack
Masks Baby WordArt Pack
Sand Castle WordArt Pack

Bicycle WordArt Pack
Word Strip Summer WordArt Pack
BBQ WordArt Pack
First Day of School 2 WordArt Pack
Kid Attitude WordArt Pack

Scrapbook Attitude WordArt Pack
Linear Definition Family WordArt Pack
Acting WordArt Pack
Senior Attitude WordArt Pack
Scrapbook WordArt Pack

Click HERE to go to the SUMMER REWIND section :P


Here's a few pics from the party Jimmy went to on Saturday. See him there on the end in the yellow. He looks SO happy.

Until he threw down his bag and announced "I QUIT". Nice.

And decided to ride the bouncy horse the rest of the time we were oustide.

Wow, what a long and exhausing Monday I had! I was up before my alarm went off this morning. Well, not much, but still. Every 4 minutes counts. I was out of bed at 7am, getting kids ready for school. I managed to get them out the door at 7:35am (5 minutes late, but they'd make it). Next, I situated Jake with his History, then Jim and I headed out the door the Commissary. We needed Hot Dogs for the party, Ice cream for the "after" party, pineapple for me (woohoo!!!), and laundry detergent (I was on my last pair of underclothes and we were out of laundry soap!). I hurried home, set Jim up with a movie, helped Jake switch subjects, and baked cupcakes. Strawberry (sounds better than pink) with white frosting. Dang, they smelled good.

Jim had a lot of fun helping me with the cupcakes. He SO wanted to lick everything. hehehe. After the cupcakes were all done, I left Jim with Jake and headed off to Legal Aid. Captain America's cashing out his old retirement accounts (not very big), and I needed to get my signature on it Notarized. The army offeres that servies free for it's soldiers/families. So, I waited in line for about 15 minutes, got it signed, and was on my way home.

We made Steak for lunch. I'd bought it at the commissary for Jake. It's his favorite. Instead of my normal cheese and cucumbers, I had a stir fry, and got to put pineapple in it. DIVINE!!! It was SO good :)

Next, I helped Jake with his pendulum lab. It was pretty fun. And, his Lap Report looked nice! I forgot that I was supposed to put my "Summer Rewind" items on sale the night before, so spent part of the afternoon doing that.

I went to pick up the kids from school at 3pm, and had them home by 3:40. Yeah, it takes a long time to pick them up. Tom wanted to walk, and got home only 5 minutes after I did. I guess that's why I make them walk most of the time.

I got home, and started cooking the hot dogs. I grilled 1/2 and boiled 1/2. Who knew that boiled hot dogs will stay hotter longer? Well, they do. If you need to pre-cook hot dogs and take them someplace, boil them, then put them in a ziplock bag, then wrap them in a few dish towels, then place them in a cooler. They'll be SUPER hot.

We left for the party at about 4:15pm. Party started at 4:30. When we got to the pool, we practically had the whole place to ourselves. There were a few other people there, must mostly us.

Since none of our friends had shown up yet, I decided to take a few minutes and take some pictures. Here's Jimmy

Tom, Eme, and Jacob

And our friend, Mr. Buttcrack. He was here ALL party long :)

Look how big Jake is!

Happy Tom :)

It was really sunny, but Joe's doing his best to pose for my photo op!

Jake even took a pic of me!

A happy Joe face

And a crazy/funny/demented Joe face (my favorite kind - it makes his eyes extra sparkle!)

And 4 of my kids, playing nicely in the baby pool during pool break.

Mr. Buttcrack again!

Pull up your shorts!!!

Our first friends showed up at almost 5pm. My kids were starting to panic, because no one was there yet. Check out Jake's sad face because no one came to his party..... poor guy!

And his happy face when Ayden and his family showed up!

They were SO excited when the Huezo's showed. And a few mintues after that, the Timmons (Laurie) came. It was a nice party. We swam (well, they did), ate hot dogs and pretzels, and drank lemonade and water.

Jake opened his presents, and everyone had TONS of cupcakes. Between the 3 families, there were 6 grown ups and 14 kids. That's a HUGE b-day party - hehehe. I think Jacob had a lot of fun. All total (grandmas, family, friends), he ended up with $60. He's wanting to buy a different gaming system, but it having a hard time keeping his money. It seems to burn a hole in his pocket - hehehe. Silly kid!











We headed home at around 7pm, and my family had the "after" birthday party party. They ate Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie ice cream. Dryers, none the less. Sigh. I sang Happy Birthday to Jake then quickly retreated to my room. I let Captain America handle the ice cream. I don't think I could do that kind of temptation. And no cheats for me!

So, that was my day. Long. But good. Except. I'm so frustrated about my #4 son, Joe. He's in 1st grade. He went to Kindergarten for almost 5 months in Oregon. Very liberal, touchy feely Oregon. 1/2 day Kindergarten. They were learning the letters when he left. Moves to Texas. They've learned the letters in Pre-School. Joe never had pre-school. They can read in Kindergarten. He was WAY behind. We were in one school for 3 months, then another school for about a month. He was so far behind, it wasn't funny.

Fast forward to now. The 1st graders here know SO much more than him. He doesn't even know all his letters. Most of them, but not all. He can't read. He only knows about 6 sight words. So, when we went to talk to his teacher on Thursday night, we explained the situation to her. She told us that he'd catch up, and that we could work with him at home. I made up flash cards with the words he didn't know, but there were a TON of them. It was gonna take a long time.

So, today, he comes home with a note saying : Does not know his Kinder-Sight words - needs to know them!!

Um, what the heck? First of all, why are you shouting at me with all your exclaimation points. That's just plain rude. Second of all, didn't you even pay attention when we were talking on Thursday night? HE DOESN"T KNOW THEM. I already told you that. And you think he's gonna learn them ALL over the weekend? I think it's a much bigger problem than just needing to memorize a few words.

I really think he needs to go back to Kindergarten. Obviously, to be in the Texas schools, you need to know more. And clearly, he doesn't. His Birthday is August 12th, so he a VERY young 1st grader. I know he comes home frustrated with school, and crying. He doesn't like to be the only one in the class who doesn't have a clue what's going on.

I think Captain America and I are gonna go talk to the school people and tell them that we'd like him to go back to Kindergarten. It would help him out SO much. They never should have promoted him. Not in this school district. He's gonna just keep getting further and further behind. I can't do all of Kindergarten with him, AND expect him to keep up with 1st grade at the same time. It doesn't make sense.

Anyway, it's really bugging me. I can't seem to stop thinking about it. I'm gonna have Captain America call first thing on Tuesday morning, and either get it straightened out, or set us up an appointment to get it straightened out. Something needs to change. Joe can't come home feeling "dumb" every day. I think doing Kindergarten over would be GREAT for him. I really do :)

This WordArt request is from RoseAngel (Paula). I thought it was pretty funny. Doesn't it seem that way in life, sometimes. No matter how hard you plan and plan, things just don't seem to work out. Most of the time, looking back, they work out better. But often times, the here and now is pretty hard and not too plesant. I think, if we'd just sit back, and instead of fighting against the plan the Lord has for us, and insisting that our plan is better, we'd be a lot happier. hehehe.

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

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Summer Rewind

OK girls! I've got a SWEET deal for you all! So I've moved 25 of my WordArt packs released this summer into the SUMMER REWIND section of Scraporchard's Market. The sale is, spend $10.00 and get 33% off. AND, to sweeten the deal, I've put them all on sale for $2.00 a pack. Bear with me here, as my math skills suck, but if I did this right, it should be like this:

Buy 5 WordArt packs for $10.00
get 33% off

So your total price for 5 WordArt packs would be $6.70
SO, they would be $1.34 a pack. Dang, that's a good deal! Don't you think???

Here's a list of all the WordArt packs that are on sale:

Kiss WordArt Pack
New Love WordArt Pack
Friends 2 WordArt Pack
Fashion WordArt Pack
Walking WordArt Pack

Charles Dickens WordArt Pack
Courage WordArt Pack
Water Fun WordArt Pack
Summer Masks WordArt Pack
Looks Funny Decade WordArt Pack

Baby Attitude 2 WordArt Pack
Baby Attitude 3 WordArt Pack
Butterfly WordArt Pack
Masks Baby WordArt Pack
Sand Castle WordArt Pack

Bicycle WordArt Pack
Word Strip Summer WordArt Pack
BBQ WordArt Pack
First Day of School 2 WordArt Pack
Kid Attitude WordArt Pack

Scrapbook Attitude WordArt Pack
Linear Definition Family WordArt Pack
Acting WordArt Pack
Senior Attitude WordArt Pack
Scrapbook WordArt Pack

Pfew! My fingers were ON FIRE! LOL! So, I'm gonna go eat lunch. You go shop :) hehehe

Click HERE to go to the SUMMER REWIND section :P

Reality

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!!! My little boy is turning 12 today. Can you believe it??? How did I possibly get so old as to have a 12 year old. Sob. Sniff. Sigh. hehehe. Just kidding. I'm SO glad that he's growing up to be such a fine young man. Thank you, Jacob, for being such a great kid! I love you!

My Sunday was good. Uneventful. I love that :) Church was good. It was the class presentation Sunday, so I didn't have to come up with a lesson, so that was nice! And all of our teachers were there. I think that may have been a first. AND, we got a new Cub Scout leader, primary worker, and chorister called. Miracles will never cease! 3 out of about 7 requested. We're keeping our fingers crossed for next week....

After church, I made Mac N Cheese for the kids (the real stuff was on sale at the Commisary, so I got it - the kids said it was SO good), and I went in for a little nap. I might have got 30 minutes. Sometimes it's hard for me to sleep in the middle of the day.

A little later, the whole family and I watched 'Lonesome Dove". Captain America had bought it for $5.00 at WalMart some time back, and has been trying to get us all to watch it with him ever since. Well, today was the day. It takes place in Texas around post-Civil War time, I think. Anyway, it was kinda slow at the beginning, but I found that it "sucked" us in. We watched part 1 and 2 (all of Disk 1). It took us all afternoon to get to that point. We paused it to cook dinner (rice stroganoff - 1 cup rice (dry - prepare as directed), 1 can cream of mushroom soup, salt, pepper, ground beef (turkey, if you're cheap like me)(cooked), and TONS of shredded cheese - mix all together and serve) and started it back up again. After disk 1 was done, I turned it off for the week. We'll watch some more next Sunday, I'm sure :)

As I was getting ready to put the little kids to bed, I glanced in their room, and it was an absolute disaster. Captain America and I went in, and decided that drastic measures were in need. We brought in totes, and boxed up ALL the toys. They were on "time out" until further notice. Someone had brought in all the left over mac and cheese and dumped it ALL over the floor (luckily it's VERY dry here in El Paso, so it didn't ruin the carpet), dried orange peels ALL over the floor, crayons (from about 6 packs) strewn all over the place, shirts and underware and pants and coats (go figure - it's been in the 90's every day) and socks and trash and toys and stuff EVERYWHERE. We weren't happy campers.

But, it's clean now. Empty, yes. But clean. We'll see how the week goes. Maybe, if they can keep an empty room clean, they can slowly earn back some toys. Sigh. It was all the food that got me. We're gonna have to replace ALL the carpet when we move at the rate my kids are going.

So, we put the kids to bed, and I worked on the next months budget. I brought it to Captain America for "ok"-ing, and after a bit of discussion, I printed it out. Also, I'm starting on my Re-Feed today. I get to add a little bit more meat, and veggies, and PINEAPPLE! I'm so excited. And tomorrow, I actually get a piece of bread! Yippeeee! By the middle of September, I get 3 pieces of bread, 2 bananas, 3 apples, TONS more meat and veggies, some carbs, AND a cookie each day. I'm SO stoked! It'll seem like a feast - ROFL!!! And this time, I'm sticking to it - no more "lets take the holidays off". That was a bad plan last time - hehehe.

Birthday party at the pool today. I need to go buy the hot dogs, some allergy meds for Captain America, and something else.... I can't quite remember what it is. Hopefully I'll remember before I head out - hehehe. Anyway, I'm excited for the day!

And, I wanted to send a happy belated Birthday wish to my Mother - In - Law, Carol. Happy birtday!!!! I love ya :)

This WordArt request comes from Mara. I thought it was too funny. Yes, my reality is an acquired taste - LOL! I enjoy it, but it's not for the faint of heart - ROFL! Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

4shared

Hope, Faith, and Chairty

First off, we're having a sale on Monday. I just thought I'd let you all know about it :) I'm putting in 25 of my New Releases from this past summer. Now I get the fun job of going through them and deciding which ones I wanna put in there - hehehe.




I was awoken Saturday morning my my door being quietly opened and closed. Jimmy kept coming in and out, in and out. Who knows why. At 8am, I gave up, and got up. I got cereal for the kids, and started an abbreviated shopping list. Monday is payday, so it's shopping day. But, I have a bit of extra money for the month, so I could go get a few supplies that I needed to tide me over :)

I also remember that I wanted to make up an Invite to Jakes b-day party, and pick it up at Wal-Mart while I was out and about. So, I designed that real fast too. Wanna see???

Eme and I headed off to the store at about 9:30ish. We bought apples, and splenda (well, fake splends, don't tell Captain America - he thinks it's the real stuff), and mac n cheese, and yogurt, and cereal, and milk, and bread, and eggs, and candy for a pinata. After how much fun the kids had with the last one, I figured I could buy a bit of candy, and we'd make our own.

While browsing the store, Eme spotted an "Edward" candy. Sure enough, little chocolates with either Jacob or Edward (from Twilight) on them. I let her pick on. She's a girl after her mom's own heart. She picked Edward - hehehe.

Next, it was on to Wal-Mart. I ran out of pressed powder last week, and SO needed it. I've been looking a bit oily - hehehe. I got that, and bought some contact solution, some paper products for the B-day party, and some hot dog buns. Hot dogs are cheaper at the commissary, so I'll go back on Monday and get them. I bought pretzels, and snack sized baggies to put them in. Cheaper than individual snacks.

Lastly, we went to get the photos. They looked pretty good :) Now we can pass them out to Jakes friends on Sunday.

We got home, and the kids were cleaning up with their Dad. Jake was getting ready to mow the lawn in the backyard. What a big kid. I can't believe he'll be 12 on Monday. Crazy! How did I get old enough to have a kid who's 12!!!!

I made lunch for the kids around 12:30. Leftover supreme. hehehe. I made biscuit dough, and put it in the bottom of muffin tins. Then, I topped the dough with either the hot dog/hashbrown casserole thing, or chili. And, top it all off with cheese. They made little "meat pie" type things. I think most of the kids ate them ok.

But, I don't really know. Before they came out of the oven, Jimmy and I walked across the street to the neighbors house for a b-day party for their little girl, Molly. I don't know if I've mentioned the neighbors across the street before or not. They moved in about a month or so ago. They had 4 little girls, and the mom was pregnant with twins. She found out she had breast cancer, so they had to deliver the twin girls 10 weeks early and start her on kemo. Saddest thing. This was just a few days after they moved her, I guess. I'm still not quite clear on the whole story.

They seem like a really nice family. The mom's been really sick, and they have a "moms helper" living with them. A girl who helps out. I think she's probably 16 or 17. Not quite sure. But, I sure wish I had one to help me - hehehe.

Anyway, we got there at 1pm, and they had rice crispy treats and coolaid to start. Jimmy kept taking rice crispy treat after rice crispy treat. I think he ate 4 before any of the other kids showed up. LOL! Next, they decorated "treasure bags". With glue and glittler, and stickers, and fuzz balls, and such. They were quite lovely.

You know, there's a HUGE difference between girls and boys. The party had mostly girls. Jim and another little boy his age, and a 9 year old boy. Those girls could have decorated bags all day long and been happy. Jimmy? Not so much. I spent most of the party re-directing his attention to keep him on task. Yeah, it was THAT much fun :)

Next, we went outside for games. They played with a big parachute, and tossed balloons in the air. Jim? He just took the balloons and tired to pop them. Next, it was Duck Duck Goose. The little girls LOVED it. Jim? He told me it was too hot in the sun, so he explored the backyard and got into EVERYTHING. Sigh. Next, sack race. Jimmy put on a pillowcase, and lined up. They were taking too long for him, apparently, because before they said go, he announced "I QUIT", climbed out of his pillowcase, and went back to explore/distruction mode. Nice.

Finally, they were ready to go back inside. They picked up their treasure bags, and went on a hunt. They had picture clues that lead them to different places in the house. At each location, there was a box of treats, and another clue. They got baggies of cookies, and parachute men, and bubbles, and candy, and stickers, and all sorts of stuff. He was pretty pleased with himself.

Next, it was time for the cake. The passed it out, and Jimmy had one bite. Then, he wanted his toys. Again with the "off task". Dang. I tried to convince him to eat his cake and M&M's, but after the 4 rice crispy treats, he wasn't having anything to do with it. He wanted to play with his parachute man, and I didn't want it trashed before he could get it home and throw it over the balcony. So the fight was on.

Luckily, everyone else finished up, and we went in the living room to open up presents. Molly got lots of neat stuff. But after that, I was SO ready to go home. Jimmy was too, so he could play with his parachute guy. We took home a rice crispy treat for everyone (mostly because Jimmy climbed on a chair, and started touching all the rice crispy treats), and headed out the door.

The big kids were SO excited to get some of the "loot" from the b-day party. They ate the rice crispy treats, and threw the parachute men (we'd grabbed an extra on the way out) over the balcony. It was all too much fun for me, so I went and took a nap - hehehe.

I woke up at 4:00pm, and started cleaning up for a bit. I did some dishes, and started on Dinner. We (hehehe, yeah right. THEY is more like it) had BBQ chicken (from the crock pot - real easy recipe. Place a bag of drum sticks (mine were still frozen) in the crock pot, then add 1 bottle of BBQ sauce and 1 can of orange soda, and a little bit of water - cook on high until done), mashed potatoes, and green beans. OK, so they didn't really have green beans, but they were supposed to. I got lazy - hehehe.

I made myself stir fry, and retreated to my room again. I watched "12 Round". Dang, it was good! I just love a good action movie! I paused it a few times to go out and check on everyone. Jake was watching Harry Potter in his room, Eme and Tom were playing computer, and Joe and Jim were playing in their room. Captain America was working on various projects around the house, and watching Cardinals Baseball on the computer. Everyone was having fun relaxing and doing their own thing.

After my movie, I put the kids to bed, then came and took a bath. I realized that I was feeling a little down, but couldn't quite figure out why. Maybe it was just stray hormones. I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning. I'm only 3 lbs from my goal weight, and I've been feeling really tired lately. I so can't wait to get done with it, and be able to add more food/varitey to my diet. Re-feed was SO good. I got carrots and broccoli and bread and bananas and MMMMMM, good things. Maybe I'll be at goal by Monday and I can start then??!!!!!

I just LOVEd this quote when I saw it, and thought that you guys would like it too :) Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leaves some love if you like my work :) thanks~!

4sharedFONTS:
Hope - AL Sandra
Hope - Felix Titling
Charity - AL Aunt Marie