Books

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA IDA!!! She's my mom's mom, and is SO special to me! I was privileged to grow up in the same town that she lived, and she was there for EVERY big event in my life. Thanks, Grandma, for all that you do! I love you!!! (Mom, Aunt Sue, show this to Grandma!!!)

Hey girls! I'm camping this weekend, so it's gonna be brief. Friday morning I went walking for the 5th time this week! Hooah!!! On the way home, we noticed that the neighbor man appeared to be moving everything out, and there was a really nice backyard patio swing frame in the trash pile. We aked him about it, and he said that no, he was just packing it. We told him we thought it was in the trash pile, and that it was WAY too good to just throw away. He said that if we could come back in 5 minutes, he'd give it to us! Sweet!

We all wanted it, but decided that since we hang out in Katy's house most often, she should get it. Katy and Adela carried the big frame, and Andrea and I carried the swing part. We passed it over Andrea's backyard fence into Katy's yard, then helped her set it up. It's so pretty. Dumpster diving complete - LOL!

When I got home, I sewed. I made a new Civil War shirt for Joe, one for Jim, Jammie pants for Emeline, and a new white apron for Emeline. Now I need to finish designing for the weekend, then cook some food. Dang, I'm tired. While I do like Civil War reenacting, I'm kinda wishing I could stay home this weekend. It would crush Captain America, though, to know that I don't really wanna go. So, I'll go and have fun. Maybe not as much fun as I'd have doing my own thing here, but fun none the less.

I have a WordArt pack coming out next week that's in this style, and I thought I'd give you a "sneak peak" at the style. Enjoy!

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!

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Frest Fruit Friday, October 9th, 2009

Drat! I forgot again! hehehe. One of these days.... Here's my 5 new WordArt packs this week! Hope you guys like them! Click HERE to go to my Scraporchard store, and remember, they're on sale for the first week for $2.00 a pack! Get 'em while they're on sale :)

(Typo now fixed :)

Layout by Jen (Graham like the Cracker)

Best Friend

Another day... Funny how they just keep coming and coming without a break - LOL! I went walking again. This time, just Andrea and I. Everyone else wimped out... er... uh, had something else going on - LOL! It was a good walk, though. With Friday's walk, it'll be all 5 days! Woohoo!

I hung out at Andrea's house for about 30 minutes after the walk, then went home. I made a quick trip to the commissary to get a few baking items, and headed back home. I wanted to share a few yummy things that I've made lately. Well, this one Andrea made. I SO wanna get the recipe from her. It's an Easy Apple Pie. Apparently, you just butter the pan, put in the cut up apples, then dump all of the other ingredients in on top. I'll ask her to email me the recipe, and share. It was SO yummy.

Here's another one that I made recently. Take 1 package of cream cheese, add 1/2 cup of mayonaise, a bit of garlic, 5 pieces of crumbled bacon, and some green onions. Mash it all together, then roll it in sliced almonds. Serve with crackers. OMGosh, it's SO yummy. Except for the after burps. LOL!

Here's another appetizer that I've made recently. Take a roll out crescent roll, and lay it out flat. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese. Cut up pepperoni and spread on. Then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Roll it up like a cinnamon roll, and slice it. Cook at 350 for 13-17 minutes. OMGosh, they're fabulous. Yummy.

I actually got a nap this afternoon. I laid down at 3:00 in my bed, with Jimmy watching cartoon at the foot of the bed. I got about 45 minutes, on and off. But I'll tell ya what. It sure felt good.

Joe came home from school SO happy. He had a great "first" day of kindergarten. We worked on his homework, and he was SO proud that he knew all the answers. I KNOW it was the right decision to move him back.

I made baked chicken (shake and bake) for the kids, and actually had it ready by about 5:30pm. See, that's advanced planning. LOL! The last couple of days, it's been 6pm and I'm been looking around the kitchen, wondering what to fix. hehehe. Every once in a while, it's nice to be on top of things :)

Joe had Cub Scouts. It's nice, because Andrea's son Ben is in Scouts too. We have fun hanging out while the boys do their thing :)

So after Scouts, after bedtime, after all that, I headed over to Katy's house to watch the 2nd episode of Amazing Race. I seriously thought that the older lady could have been Sarah Palin's mom - LOL! hehehe. Then, we painted our nails, and watched the Sandra Bullocks movie, "Premonition". I'd seen it before, but it's still good. I like "thinking" movies, where you have to try and figure out what's going on.

After some of the funny, crazy things that "me and the girls" do, I thought that this WordArt would be appropriate - LOL! Hope you guys can use it too! Click on the links below to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Official Halloween Candy Taste Tester

Hey all! Another good day :) Went walking in the AM with the girls. Jake and Jim came, and Jake walked Katy's dog Apollo. He's a lot bigger than Athena (Jake walked her on Monday). He really seemed to like it, though.

After the walk, I came home, showered, got ready, and headed to the mall. I so needed to get my eyebrows done. I'd been "growing" them back out, so that I could get my money's worth. LOL! Well, I sure did get my money's worth. They looked pretty again after threading. Lunch, threading, The Jewlery Box (CHEAP jewelry - 6 items for $5.50) and playing at the kids play area at the mall, and I was back home again.

I printed off my shopping list, left Captain America in charge of Jake/Jim, and headed back out. I was at the commissary for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Not too bad, eh? I came in under budget again! Woohooo! You don't know how happy that makes me :)

I was home shortly after the kids got home from school. And guess what??? Joe gets to go back to KINDERGARTEN!!! The principal called, and said that his boss at the district level had decided to put Joe back in Kindergarten. Thank goodness. A little bit of faith in the system has been restored. Little bit. hehehe. He gets to start on Thursday. I'm gonna drive the kids to school and meet his teacher. He's pretty excited. But he was also pretty excited that he'd lost a tooth. LOL! 6 year olds are pretty easy to keep happy :)

I spent most of the late afternoon/early evening designing. I only needed to make one for the weeks quota, but found myself with extra time and designing energies. I made 4 WordArt packs for next week, and one for the one after that. Dang, Jackson! I was so on a roll. I'm gonna try and get ahead for when my parents come to visit. The last thing I'm gonna want to do is sit down and design when they are here.

Captain America took the boys to Scouts at 7pm, and I put the little kids to bed at 7:30pm, and kept designing. Captain America and the boys came home a little before 9, and Captain America and I watched part of a movie together. Now, I'm blogging, and I'm gonna watch the 2nd new episode of Medium from this season. I'm SO glad that instead of the series dying, CBS bought it up. It was WAY too good to kill.

You know, the ore I listen to the new Muse CD, the more I love it. Really, you should get it if you don't already have it. WONDERFUL. And, my mom says that it must be good because Glenn Beck likes it. ROFL! I swear she has a crush on Glenn Beck. hehehe.

I personally find this WordArt hysterical. I don't know if you all do what we do in my house, but it's become a tradition. Kids emptying out their candy bags, and Mom and Dad "testing" it. Picking out the yummy ones. And you know what? We've been doing it for so many years, the kids know what our favorites are, and offer it to us before we even get to the "inspection" stage - LOL! My kids are SO nice - hehehe.

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!

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FONTS:
Candy - Impact
Halloween - Vinyl George

Autumn

First off, I just wanna say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister, Madi!!! She's 24 today!!! Love ya, sis, and hope your day is FANTABULOUS! Make that hubby of yours take you out to dinner or something! You deserve it!!!

I went walking yesterday morning! Woohoo for me :) What a great way to start my monday - ha! After the girls and I got back, I needed to go to the thrift store and the mall. I talked Andrea and Laurie into coming with me. Because, you know, it's always more fun to go shopping with the girls then by yourself. hehehe.

At the thrift store, I found a Metallica (fan of) shirt for Jake for fifty cents, a shirt for Eme for a dollar, a dress for her for a dollar also, a shirt for me for $3.00, a quarter Wiggle VHS for Jimmy, and a car for him. I spent under six bucks. Not bad :) I just LOVE thrift stores in general. I'm always looking for a deal.

Next, we drove to the mall. Captain America needed his special vitamins. And I don't know why he doesn't like GNC. He's gotta have Vitamin World. Probably because there's a GNC on post in the PX, and that would be WAY too easy - LOL! I love you, though, honey, and I'll drive across town for you!

Andrea had decided to sit in the car and wait with the kids while Laurie and I quickly ran to the vitamin store. SO, when we were done, we got Chick-Fil-A for Andrea as a surprise. I got McDonalds for my kids too. Me? I got myself a large soda.

We hurried home, because i had a dentist appointment at 1:00pm. We got home at 12;45pm. I was cutting it close, but made it to the dentist on time.

The guy cleaned my teeth, and gave me a polish and a fluoride treatment. I'm so embarassed to admit that it's been 3-5 years since I've had my teeth cleaned. Actually, he said that my plaque build up wasn't bad at all. Amazing. I wonder if it's the yogurt (plain, fat free) that I eat EVERY day for breakfast. I heard that yogurt is good on your teeth. huh?

Anyway, I sat forever after that waiting for the dentist to come in. I seriously thought that I was gonna have an accident I had to go to the bathroom so bad. After waiting for 20 minutes, someone came in the room to get something, and I asked where the bathroom was. After that the wait was just fine - LOL I had my Dan Brown book, and was perfectly content to wait.

The dentist checked out my teeth, and sent someone else in to explain what needed to be done. OMGosh, I had SO many cavities. Seriously, like 8 or 9 of them. And, technically, my insurance pays for silver fillings in the back. BUT, most dentists won't do the silver fillings anymore. They wanna do the white ones. SO, my insurance makes me pay the difference. That's $26 out of pocket. Not bad if you have 1 or 2 fillings. But 8 or 9. Dang, that adds up. THEN, I need 2 crowns. That's about $350 out of pocket. A few other things, and my total cost would be $1096. Part of the reason it was so high is because at some point, my yearly cap will run out. I only get $1200 a year in payouts.

I think what I'm gonna do is get the one crown that REALLY needs done, and maybe a few of the fillings. Maybe. Then, I'll wait until the insurance resets in February, and get some more done. I only set aside $35 a month for the dentist. I'm thinking that I'm gonna need to reevaluate that. Sigh. I really don't wanna tap into my small savings that I have. It's taken me SO long to get it..... But then, I don't want all my teeth to rot out of my head either . hehehe.

I got home from the dentist at 2:45ish, and helped Jake with his math. Jimmy was watching Scooby Doo - Pirates Ahoy. He just LOVES that show. Since we moved the TV stand back to the living room, I've set back up the DVD player. They were trashing all the DVD's in the little boys' room, but now that it's in the living room, the DVD player is back.

I made hash browns, eggs, and sausage for dinner, and read 2 more chapters of the Hunger Games to the kids. Only one more chapter left to go! OK girls, who's gonna borrow it first - LOL! It's SUCH a good read. I really like it! We did chores, and did homework, then had free time for a while. I cleaned my bathroom (Captain America about had a heart attack when he walked in because the sinks were cleared of clutter - LOL) too.

Did you know that Muse has a new album? It's REALLY good. I so like them, and didn't realize that they had a new album out. People really oughta tell me these things - hehehe.

WordArt Wednesday time again! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember, leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

Trust Yourself

What a day, what a day :) It started off with getting kids ready for school. Dang, the weekend really takes it out of ya, doesn't it! Monday morning rolls around, and I'm just dragging. BUT, they got out the door on time.

I was ready to go walking by 8:30am, and Jake and Jim came with me. Jimmy in the stroller, and Jake walking Katy's boxer, Athena. I think it was more like she walked him, but they both seemed to have a great time. It's fun to walk and chat with the girls. Thanks, you guys, for helping me exercise! I LOVE it (but only when with y'all!)

We stayed and chatted for a while after the walk, outside on the sidewalk, then wandered to our respective houses. How cool is it to have friends on your block! First time experience for me! Gotta love it :)

I helped Jake with his school, and got lunch for the boys and myself. Captain America came home at noon-ish, and then at 1ish Andrea and I went to visit Kim. She's leaving for Florida (I think that's where she's going) for the rest of the fall/winter (I think - ha! Maybe I should listen more), so we wanted to go and hang for a bit.

We didn't stay long, since she had so much to do. I got back home, and was able to design 2 WordArt packs for the week. I've got 3 of the 5 for the week already done. Amazing, I know.

I moved the TV from Jimmy's room back into the living room. My original plan was to be able to put a movie on without it distracting Jake from his school work. BUT, Jimmy has been sneaking food into his room, and destroying the carpet. At least if he sneaks food into the living room (which I'm NOT ok with), it'll be on the hardwood, and won't ruin anything. I re-arranged things, and it looks ok. Nice cozy living room.

When the big kids got home from school, I read them a chapter or 2 of The Hunger Games. It's really starting to heat up now, and the kids always beg for more. We got dinner ready (spaghettie with my frozen meatballs from before), then got Jake out the door and to Wrestling. After wrestling, a few of the girls and I and some of our men went out to dinner. Total impromptu thing. Don't you just love that! Here's a few pics from the night.

Here's Captain America, with the BEST chip of the night. He's so silly. There's certain chips that he likes better than others, and this one, apparently, was the BEST. Too funny. We're at Chili's, by the way :) These pics are on my cell phone, so that's why they're kinda bad - hehehe. Can you believe that I left my REAL camera at home. DAng!

Here's Captain America and I

Ryan and Andrea

Kim and Big Mike (their son is Little Mike (he's a Marine!)

Katy and Adela (their men are deployed)

We had a lot of fun eating and chatting and making fun of the LAME waitress. We totally had to keep asking for drinks, and they didn't bring our ticket when they should have. Geesh! Oh well. We're happy when we're making fun of people - LOL!

So at one point, we were talking about PMS, and about how I throw things when I'm PMS-y and agitated. SO, I gathered all the knives on the table and pretend to be Wolverine. Yes, I know. I'm a dork. But you all love me! Please say yes - LOL!

After dinner, we came back home, and it was after 10pm. I got Captain America to bed, and headed out to Katy's house. We watched Survivor episode 3 from last week, and then the season premiere of The Amazing Race. They were both SO good. We still have to watch Amazing race episode 2. I think it's gonna be a good season this year! I like both of those shows a lot. AND, it's so much better watching it with friends! Thanks, girls!

This WordArt request is from Terri. I thought it was a nice saying, so decided to make it up for y'all! Hope you like it! 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!

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Creepy

Hey all! Well, Conference was on all day long at our house, but honestly, I don't know how much I actually herd. I woke up at 9 ish, and had a massive headache. I hadn't gone away from the night before. I ate some breakfast, took a pill, turned on conference in my room (because by then it was 10am), and laid down. Apparently, the internet glitched and I fell asleep, because before I knew it, it was 11am. My headache was gone, and there was no conference on. I got up, got dressed, and went into the kitchen to find the family sitting around the table, doing various projects, listening to conference. It was SO sweet.

Jimmy decided that he could now draw faces. It's the CUTEST thing ever. He drew one of me with a round (well, roundish) face, two dot eyes, ears, crazy hair, a smile, and a honker (what he calls a BIG nose). Too cute!

Between sessions, we made more sugar cookies. We made up plates for our home teaching families. 4 plates with the cutest card on it. Sure, it only printed in Black and White, but I still thought it was cute. What do ya think?

I used Megan Turnridges new kit. Fabulous Halloween kit, by the way! Cute, and Halloween-ie, but not too scary! PERFECT! And, my WordArt from Halloween 4 WordArt Pack.

After the 2nd session, the kids and I headed off to the park. Andrea and her hubby and kids were there, and Kim (a different Kim from down the street) and her hubby and kids were there. I texted Captain America and told him to come and play too.

He got there just as Ryan (Andrea's man) was leaving. They stopped and chatted for about 30 minutes, then went back to Ryans house. LOL! They both LOVE guns and reenacting. Too funny.

Andrea and I stayed until it got too cold. I'm sorry girls, but when it gets below 70 degrees, I think I need gloves or a hat or a scarf or something! Buzzy! It was cold.

As we headed home, we ran into Katy and Adela. They were coming to visit with us. We stayed at the mailboxes and chatted for a while, but some annoying kid was enticing our kids to be naughty too. SO, we moved the chit chat circle down to Adela's house. We stood outside and gabbed for about 20 minutes, then went to our various homes.

Captain America had come out by then, so we walked home together. He wanted to get some of his guns and such and bring them back to Ryans house to show him. Just like a little kid - LOL! I got some dinner for the kids (well, if you count sandwiches as dinner....), and put them to bed, and Captain America and I headed back to Andrea's house. Ryan and Captain America chatted about guns and civil war reenacting and such, and Andrea and I chatted in the kitchen for a while, then played the Wii for a while. I kicked her butt at Boxing, she beat me by 6 points in Bowling, I beat her +5 to +13 in Golf, she won in Tennis, and we were on the same team in Hell's Kitchen, but I was clearly the drag on the ticket - LOL! It was a lot of fun.

By the time Captain America was finally ready to go home, it was after 10:30pm. I'm SO glad that our husbands get along. They seemed to have a lot of fun chatting. I did hear mention of them possibly coming reenacting with us this coming weekend. That would be a TON of fun!

Well, since it's October, and Halloween is quickly approaching, I thought I'd make you guys up a Halloween-ish freebee. Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Good Things

Happy Sunday again! And Happy Conference to all of my LDS friends, out there! I hope you're watching (or listening, like me) and enjoying hearing the words of our prophet and church leaders! I always find it SO uplifting.

SO, we woke up on Saturday morning at about 8:30am. Just barely enough time for Captain America and Jacob to get ready and out the door and up the canyon. Yeah, I passed the buck off to Captain America this week. hehehe. The little kids and I just stayed home and relaxed. It was SO nice.

We turned on Conference at 10am, and Eme and I listened and designed her Baptism invitations at the same time. I think it turned out SO cute! Captain America wasn't crazy about the flower on her ear, but it's really the only thing she REALLY wanted. And, after all, it's her invite, right? Still, I think it's adorable! I used Irene Alexeeva's Thumbelina kit for it. Fabulous!

After the 1st session of Conference, I made some quick roll dough, and some sugar cookie dough. One needed to raise, and one needed to chill. Captain America, Jimmy and I headed out to the store. I'd sent the prints to Walgreens (because Walmart photo lab is SO dead to me), and even got a special deal. Get 50 prints for $5.00 (only 10 cents a piece) with the code FALLFEST. I don't know what I'm gonna do with 50 invitations, though. ha! I think I'll mail some to my mom and some to Captain Americas parents to hand out as "keepsakes".

Walgreens was fast (the prints were done earlier than expected) and closer than Walmart. I've found my new photo developing store. Next, it was on to Walmart. I know, I know. I can't get away from that place. We decided to go to one a bit farther away, but it's a better Walmart. Well, we THOUGHT it was a better Walmart. I swear, I may never go back!

We went to get shampoo, deodorant, foot powder, body wash, and vanilla. Well, we got all of the hygiene products, and made our way over to the food. Guess what? Out of vanilla. Nice. And, it's SUPER crowded, even for a Saturday. Captain America hates crowds, so it was extra nice for me (insert sarcasm here).

We bought a deli pizza for the kids, and some popcorn shrimp/chicken too. It's Jimmys favorite. Something else we needed to buy they were out of also.

So, we go to get in line, and it's SO long. Like 6 people in front of us, and the line isn't moving AT ALL. After about 15 minutes, I tell Captain America to take Jimmy and go to Lowes. It's the next stop. I say that I'll wait outside for him. I wait for another 15 minutes in line (grabbing a Symphony bar (the worlds BEST milk chocolate) and a diet Coke), then go outside to wait.

I have a nice chat with an older lady who's also waiting for her husband to pick her up, and then she leaves, and I'm left alone. About 20 minutes later, he comes. Lowes was just as slow as Walmart. We both vow to NEVER go to Walmart on a Saturday again. In fact, the commissary and PX are looking like better and better options for our hygiene items. So we pay a few extra dollars. Isn't it worth that much money of our time. And sanity.

Walmart, I feel like you've let me down. You need to open up more registers, ESPECIALLY on Saturdays. AND, you need to stock your shelves better. Surely it's can't only be items that I want that are gone. Know what I mean? The money savings is quickly becoming not as important as the wasted time.

We got home at 3:45pm, missing ALL of the 2nd session. Thank, Walmart. See what you did! hehehe. I started work on my rolls first. I put them in cupcake tins, and let them rise. I then rolled out the dough for the sugar cookies, and cut out Halloween shapes. We (Eme and I) did gravestones and ghosts and candy corn. OMGosh, they were SO cute. We got 2 cookie sheets worth of shapes out of 1/2 of the dough. 1/2 went into the fridge for Sunday.

We made frosting, and decorated the cookies. They were SO cute. I made up a plate for Katy, and then baked the rolls. She got a bag full of them too. She's sick, and Adela was making her soup, so I made rolls and cookies. Poor girl! You feel better, you hear! NO more being sick. You're cramping my social life - LOL!

We must have just ate rolls for dinner, because thinking back, I can't remember cooking anything - LOL! I did clean up the kitchen, and Eme finished off the counters. The kids did most of their chores, and played some computer. I took a brief nap, and a bath, and read a bit in my Dan Brown book.

At 7:30pm, I read 3 chapters of The Hunger Games to the kids. It'd been a LONG time since I'd read it. Now my voice is sore - LOL! As I sit here blogging about my day, I can hear my oldest 2 boys upstairs talking about the Hunger Games store, theorizing about what will happen next. I'm really enjoying reading it to them. I get to be a part of their though processes while they hear the story unravel before them. It's SO much fun.

Since I got to listen to the 1st session of General Conference yesterday, I decided to pick a quote from one of the talks. This one, from Pres. Uchtdorf really stood out in my mind. I thought it was WONDERFUL! I hope that you do too!

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

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