Christmas Shopping

Yeah! Another week is gone :) I don't know what I'm counting down to, but another week is gone - LOL! Got up at 7am again, got kids off to school, got Jake going on school, and Jimmy and I went on a walk with Andrea. It was good! We walked at a pretty good clip, but slow enough to chat. It was perfect :)

After the walk, we went in the backyard of her house and hung for a while. Jimmy played with the toys in the back, and Andrea and I visited. Her father-in-law came out for a while and chatted with us, and we ate some apples from their tree back in Idaho. Good times :)

Jimmy and I headed home at around 11am. I found the kids a snack, then did some dishes. Dishes are never ending, you know -LOL! Soon it was lunch time, and we were making hot dogs. My neighbor came over to tell me that her and Mindy had got tickets for Twilight. 7:45pm on the 20th at the Tinseltown Cinemark. Sweet! They paid $10 online for them.

Andrea and I both installed Skype on our computers, and tested it out today too. Too funny. It worked pretty good :) She wanted to test it so that when Ryan gets to Iraq, they can chat over the computer.

At around 3pm, Andrea headed up to the school to pick up the kids, and I went with her. I just needed out of the house, kid free, for a half hour or so. Jake was good with Jimmy :) We went in and picked up the kids that were walking to the back.

See, the school sits right on the edge of the post. On the outside of it. So the MP's (Military Police) unlock the gate in the morning so the kids can get in, and unlock the gate in the afternoon so the kids can get out. But the Kindergartners and 1st graders are all supposed to be released to the front of the school. Not to the back gate.

SO, some of the Ft Bliss moms come to the classrooms, and pick up the kids who walk to the gate. Then walk the kids to the back gate, where the other parents come (on the Ft Bliss side), and pick them up. Saves time of going off post, then coming back on post through the check point. Tricky, eh?

Anyway, as I was helping pick up the kids from the classroom, the Vice Principal found me, and told me that he had talked to the speech teacher. They did a classroom observation for Joe, and found that they wanted to test him for speech. As for Tom, they said that his only problem was his "R" sound.

And because he was doing SO well in school, there wasn't really an educational need for Speech. BUT, that he could be referred to an outside speech therapist for help. So he wouldn't have to be special ed.

Andrea and I gathered up all our kids, and headed home. We stopped on the way home for her to pick up something from a friends house, and I made a call to the doctor, for a referral for speech. I got through in 20 seconds (believe me, it was a miracle), and actually got an appointment for next Friday. Can you believe it! hehehe.

We got home at 3:45pm, and got the kids a snack, and at 4pm headed to the park. Andrea came too, and we watched Kayleys kids while she did piano one on one with them (switching out 1/2 way). My neighbor girl (Leslie) came and hung out too. She's pretty cool!

AND, Adela and Katy came to the park too. It'd been FOREVER since I'd seen them. They've been doing their own thing for a while now, and we haven't seen them :(

The kids all played nicely, but there was sure a ton of them. I have 5, Kayley has 4, Andrea has 3, Leslie has 2, Katy has 2, and Adela has 3. Then, the Hunts from church rode their bikes over too, and they have 5 kids. Plus all the kids at the park who didn't belong to us. Mad house, let me tell you. And keeping track of them all was crazy too - LOL!

At 5:20ish, we headed home. Leslie invited me and the kids to come over to her house on Saturday for a "play" date. Should be fun!

I made pancakes and sausage & eggs for dinner. Mmmm, tasty! It was a quick dinner.

At 6:00pm, Jake had wrestling. We were a bit late, but got him there. Back him, and we did some chores. The house was a mess. After cleaning, though, it looked much better.

At 7:35pm, Jake called, and was ready to come home from wrestling. His coach said that next Saturday was his first meet. Cool! Captain America can take Jake and another kid while I stay home and do the Yard sale with the other kids. Busy, busy, busy.

Captain America got home at around 8pm, so making the 8:30pm movie wasn't gonna happen :) We'd go to a late showing. He ate some dinner, and put the little kids to bed, and we were off by 9pm. We drove to Tinseltown (Eastish side of town) Cinemark. The same place where I"m going to see Twilight. I figured that if I bought my ticket in person, I could get a military discount. And avoid the online fee. See, I'm tricky. Instead of the $10 that my neighbors paid, I only paid $6.50.

Of course, the movie that we wanted to see was sold out. But another movie I wanted to see, "The Box" had tickets. But we had an hour and 10 minutes to kill. We walked around for a while (dang, there were SO many teenyboppers there), but didn't like the "teen scene". And, can I just say, when did I get old? And what's up with the skinny jeans thing for boys. Come on. Really? You think you look good? You look like a girl. And that's just not right. Not right at all. Sigh. MOving on.

We came back to the car, and decided to go look for fast food to get a soda. We drove for a while, and found a Jack in the Box. Soda and a breakfast sandwich later (mmmm, breakfast all day long!), we were headed back to the movies.

I really enjoyed the movie. Captain Americadidn't really care for it. I found it to be a very deep thinking movie. I could see a lot of analogies to be drawn from it. But Captain America didn't like the message that he thought it was sending. And I could see where he was coming from. But I just looked at it a different way. I'll write real small in case you don't wanna see a spoiler.

See, there was this button that the people were supposed to push. They were presented with a choice. Push the button, and someone, somewhere, that you don't know will die. But you'll be given a million dollars. Captain America didn't like the concept. And the movie made it out like EVEYRONE pushed the button. LIke humanity was so flawed, that eveyone made that poor choice.

I interpreted it a bit different. Don't take it at face value. Replace the killing and the million dollars. People choose something that benefits them while being bad for someone else. LIke cutting someone off while driving. Cutting in line at the store. Bigger things, like stealing, or lying, or such. We push "buttons" every day.

One thing Captain America really didn't like about the movie, was once the button was pushed, you were stuck into a course of action, and couldn't get out. And I see his point. Life isn't like that. You can always change. You can always decide to do good. Maybe, though, if you took it as you can't "unring the bell" or unpush the button, though. You can't change your consequences. But unlike this movie, you CAN change your actions and choices.

Anyway, it was a very thought provoking movie. I enjoyed it. We sat in the theater and talked about it for quite a while, then sat in the car and talked about it after we got home too. And I guess that's the point of movies like that. To spark conversation, right? To get you thinking about things :) Mission accomplished :)

The movie didn't get over until 12:45pm, and we didn't get home till after 1pm. SO tired.... I'm hoping the kids let me sleep in tomorrow. Hoping, but not holding my breath :)

So as I'm sitting here at 1:30am, trying to figure out what to do for a WordArt freebee, Christmas shopping comes to mind. Do you take pics of your trips? We always do. But then, we take pics of everything. (Mom, the reason why there's been no pics as of late is because I lost the camera - shhhhh, don't tell Captain America! We've been using my cell phone camera and the old crappy camera........)

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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Geezzsshh!

Here's my new products for the week, complete with a few layouts from my CT!!! Amazing, aren't they :) Love ya, girls!!! Click HERE to go to scraporchard to grab my new stuff, at 20% off the first week ($2.00 each).

Layout by Charmaine

Layout by Grace

Layout by Diana

Layout by Diana

layout by Tanja

So, Friday the 13th, huh? Isn't that supposed to be a bad day? Lets hope not. hehehe. Thursday was good for me. Started off at 7am, getting kids ready for school, and out the door at 7:30am.

Rowan (Laurie's youngest) came over at 7:45am to play for the morning. Laurie has classes on Tue/Thurs. She's studying to be a nutritionist. Cool, eh? Andrea usually watches Rowan (they switch babysitting), but Andrea's hubby was leaving Thursday am, so she asked me.

The boy played real nicely. They watched a movie, played a TON of time in the backyard, raced cars on the hot wheel derby track, and had a few snacks. The morning actually passed pretty fast.

Jake was SO distractable today with his school work. I think he needs a better workspace. Our house is not the most quiet of places. We need a library. hehehe.

I got to spend some time today reading my fan fictions that I like. You know, that one that I recommended is a lot more, um, risque than I'd remembered. Sorry, girls. It's definitely a M rating. Sigh. Why must they do that? The Bleed one.

The kids were about 15 minutes late getting home from school. I was starting to get a bit worried. Finally, I went out to see where they were. And the second I opened the door, there they were. Another mom, and her 2 boys were there with them. She said that her kids were late too, so she went to find them. I guess my kids and her kids were walking together, and just going REALLY slow.

I stayed outside and chatted with her for about 20 minutes. Apparently, she lived 2 houses from me. And I'd never even seen her. See how unobservant I am. She has a kid who's about a week younger than Jake (but a grade off), and one that's in the same grade as Tom. They walk home together almost every day. Go figure!

She's pretty cool. She also has 2 older kids. One is married, has a kid, and is stationed here. Same battery as her hubby. Pretty cool. She said that she didn't know anyone in the neighborhood, so I told her that she could hang with us some if she wanted. Leslie was her name. Nice gal!

I'd put chicken and veggies in the crock pot earlier in the day, so dinner was all ready by 5pm. I fed the kids, then we all got ready for scouts. Field Trip (go-see-it) to the Fire Department. Plus, Jake had Wrestling practice. Busy night.

I had Jake go 20 minutes early to practice, take a book, and wait outside. Then the other kids and I went to the fire house. It was really a good time. Plus, the guy giving the tour was SUCH a hottie. *drool* That always makes the trip more enjoyable!

The little boys had a ton of fun looking at the fire trucks, playing on the stairs, looking at the pool table, but their favorite part was the foozeball table. Funny, huh?

We got the boys all together at the end to take a pic. I'm gonna print them off at Walgreens, one for each kid, and one for the fire department, to say thanks for letting us come. I thought it turned out nicely.

Kit is by Ziggle Scraps, Stop, Drop, and Roll, at Scraporchard.com

We left the fire house, and stopped by wrestling to get Jake. We waited for about 15 minutes for him to come out. Then it was home, and to bed. Jimmy actually fell asleep in the truck, so he was easy to put to bed - hehehe.

Jake, since he hadn't done a lot of school during the day, had a TON of work to do in the evening. He got most of his classes done, though.

I watched a little bit of TV (Fringe on Fox), then read some, chatted on facebook messenger some, and designed some. Really, though, I'm low on motivation. I need to find some. Anyone have any extra I can borrow?

Ha! I know I can use this one on WAY too many photos. LOL! 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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Really?

OK, first off, I just have to say that 2 of my favoritest Twilight Fan Fics were updated recently. I just found them last night. I'm SO excited to read them :) *jumping up and down in seat*. I know you thought I was past this stage in my life. Well, my hubby thought so at least - ROFL!

Seducing Ms Swan
It's Better Wnen I Bleed For You

Yeah, these links are because I know you have nothing better to do today. Come on, I know you wanna read 'em - hehehe.

Well, it was a nice, relaxing holiday today :) Sure, it was busy, but it was good. We didn't really do many "Veteran" things, or things that remembered Veterans, but we had an enjoyable time with the family. And that's important too, right?

We were gonna get up and go to the parade, but when the "You'd better get out of bed now or be late" alarm went off, Captain America and I decided to skip it this year. It was nice to just spend a lazy morning in bed, dozing. Good times :)

We eventually got up, fed the kidlets, and go on with the day. Captain America and I worked on our budget for a while. I'm more abstract when it comes to recording our budget. Things written ALL over the paper. Yeah, probably not the easiest to read. WELL, Captain America decided to help me make a spreadsheet for it. I don't know how to use Excell, so he got it all set up for me. I really need to install Microsoft Word. I have Works, and it really bites. I have the disk sitting on my nightstand. I just haven't done it yet.

But when I do, does anyone know how to make the columns total themselves?

So after doing the budget for WAY too long (why do numbers always make my head hurt - LOL), Captain America went running, and I got the kids ready and showered. I tried my hand at threading my face after my shower. OK, probably too much info, but my lip hair is NASTY. When I was a senior or junior in high school, I started bleaching it. Because it was dark. That helped.

Then, after a few kids, I decided that waxing it would be easier (with a home kit). That was pretty effective too. And no, it doesn't grow back "manly". It's still the same consistency/thickness.

Well, a few years back, I decided that I didn't have time to mess with it anymore, so I just started shaving it in the shower. I know, that's gross. But it's SO easy. Every 3 or 4 days, when I was washing my face in the shower, just run the razor over the 'ole 'stash, and it's all good.

SO, after threading my eyebrows, and LOVIN' it, I decided to try my hand at the 'ole lip. Because you can't mess up your lip. The point is to get it all. Not like the eyebrow, where you have to leave some - ROFL!

I must say, I got most of it. But dang, girls, it was painful. That part of your skin is SO sensitive. But it looked a lot better when it was done. So, my recommendation for any of you with unsightly lip hair? Bleach, wax, shave, or thread it. I've tried them all, and they're all effective. Trust me, you'll feel better :) I sure do :) hehehe. Ok, long tangent again :)

My phone showed up about that time, and I plugged it in to charge. That was sure fast!

SO, we got ready, and headed out to lunch. Applebees was offereing a free meal to all Veterans. Score it! We got there, though, and it was PaCKED. Seriously, there were probably 30 people standing around outside waiting to get in. Yeah, a free $9.00 meal TOTALLY wasn't worth it.

We drove across town and headed to Golden Corral. The kids like buffets better anyway, and it would probably be a tad bit cheaper. Captain America's not big on crowds, so it worked out better.

It was busy, but not too bad. I had a very yummy salad. Spinach and greens and bacon bits and tomatoes and olives and cheese and eggs and ham and chinese noodles and cranberries and ranch. OMGosh. I just love salads.

I had some pork (not the best), some chinese chicken with rice (very good), some cheesey potatoes (ok), a roll with honey butter (yeah, it was SO good). I just love buffets. Just take a tiny bit of a lot of different stuff. Oh yeah, and a bowl of clam chowder. Did you know it's my favorite kind of soup? LOVE it!

Next, on to desserts. I got a piece of carrot cake, a brownie, a rice crispy treat, and a cookie. Oh yeah, and some ice cream with magic shell. But I only had a few bites of each, then shared. Really, I just wanted a taste.

I'm not sure what everyone else ate. It was a madhouse at our table. 7 people with 7 plates and cups and new plates and napkins and food they didn't like and ice and forks and spoons and the forks that fell on the floor and such. Dang! And the table clearer people didn't come around, because it was a bit busy in there. SO, we just ate with the mounting pile in the middle of the table. Really, it was kinda funny.

Here's a few pics of the lunch. Here's Captain America and I. Don't I look like I'm up to something sneaky?

Me and Eme and Joe

Eme and Joe

Jake

And you wanna know my favorite part of the meal? I know, more about food. But hey, food is kinda a big deal to me. More so than it should be, but I like it :) Anyway, the Cranberries. OMGosh they were fabulous. They were in the salad buffet line. I went and got a soup bowl, and got a few scoops to just eat. They were SO yummy. Sweet yet very sour/tart at the same time. So if anyone wants to get me a Christmas gift, Cranberries. Now you know ;)

Since Wal-Mart was right next to Golden Corral, we decided to try and get a few things that we needed. Tom and I went in, and Captain America and the others waited in the truck for us. And, of course, they were out of what Captain America wanted. Foot powder there should be about $2.00. The only kind they had was almost $6.00. I'm sorry, I'm not paying that much for it. The PX has it, and it's always stocked.

But we did get the Q-tips, the face wash cloths, the super glue, and the science experiment supplies. Yes, mom, I finally remembered. It's only been 2 weeks, I think. LOL! She's been concerned :) We got 4 little terra cotta planters, some turf builder grass seeds, and some potting soil.

Once home, Captain America went to try and take a nap, and Tom and I planted the seeds. We took pictures of all the steps, and it looked pretty good. Soil in, a layer of seeds, then a 1/4 inch layer of soil on the top. He watered #1 with tap water, #2 with diet Root Beer, #3 with light lemonade, and #4 with vinegar. We decided against milk/juice because of the bacteria. It would get moldy eventually, I think. Hopefully the grass germinates.

Any idea of how long it should take? And how often to water it? We gave the tiny pot 1/2 cup today. Is that enough? I really don't know how to grow things. Do I just keep the surface wet?

As soon as we were done with project, and had it cleaned up, Laurie texted to say that her hubby was sick, and if Captain America could come over and help give him a Priesthood blessing. I went and checked, and he wasn't asleep yet. So, we left Jake with the kids, and headed ALL the way over to Laurie's house (3 blocks - LOL). Poor Spencer looked like crap. Poor guy :(

But he seemed to enjoy chatting with Captain America and the other guy who came. He had to take them to the garage and show them "man stuff". Laurie and I joked that he wasn't really sick, that he just needed some "guy" time. hehehe. Captain America and he seem to get along pretty good. And I just adore Laurie. What a nice girl!

We came back home, and spent some time doing chores, and hanging out. Captain America took a brief nap, and then suddenly it was time for Scouts. It was supposed to be the Committee meeting, which I'm in charge of, and I really wasn't prepared. I was kicking around the idea of combining Nov/Dec pack meetings, since we'd planned on 1 den mtg, 1 committee mgs, and then the pack meeting. This would give us more den time, and more chances to work on advancement.

So, as unprepared as I was, I woke Captain America up so he'd be on time for his meetings, and got the kids ready to go. Dinner was just a quick sandwich, since we'd had buffet at 2:30ish. No one seemed to mind.

There really weren't a lot of Scouts or parents at the church. All the parents should be coming to the parents meeting to plan the months pack meeting, but it rarely happens. Granted it, it's a holiday, and I didn't pass out reminders. That would have helped ;)

But it worked out. I just ran the idea of combining things to the one parent there, and the Cubmaster, and it was all set. Worked out great.

Even though we didn't have a meeting for my kids (Jake had regular Young Mens activities, but the other kids didn't), I stayed with Kayley (her boys a Wolf) while her son worked on a project with the Cubmaster. Our other kids played in the gym, and she and I had fun chatting. Her hubby's gone to Iraq. She's the lady who's house I went to the other night for the game girls night. She's good people :)

After about an hour, I loaded up the kids and headed home. I put the kids to bed, and spend some "quality time" with my laptop. I watched the newest episode of "Lie to Me". Captain America got home at around 9ish, and brought his laptop in, so that while we were doing different activities, we were still hanging out together - hehehe.

I saw the most HILARIOUS pic in my CT forum, and had the PERFECT WordArt for it. I didn't know if Charmaine wanted a pic of her daughter posted here for all to see, so I didn't, but it was really funny. The cutest, tiniest baby (very newborn), flipping off the camera. TOO cute! Funny, because really, it's just a finger. My kids call it the cussing finger. I grew up calling it "middle man". But her hand was resting on a blanket, and all but the middle just happened to be curling in. It looked hilarious!

SO, I thought this WordArt was perfect for it.! Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG files, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Freedom is Never Free

Another busy day. Are you seeing a pattern here. I need a relaxing day off, don't you think? Where I just stay in bed and do nothing. But you know what? That sounds too much like being sick. If I have to be sick to get a day off, I'd rather be busy. OK, no more complaining about being busy - hehehe.

I got the kids up and fed and off to school, then printed out my shopping list. I got Jake going with school, checked my emails, and puttered around online for a few. Jimmy was coloring at the table for a while, and brought me a picture at one point.

"Mommy"

"Yes Jimmy"

"This picture is for you"

It was a nose, two eyes, and a straight line for a mouth.

"It's you, crying, after I die"

OMGosh. How sad is that. Yes, Jimmy. Mommy would be crying if you die. I would be SO sad. My poor little guy :(

So I decided that he needed some mommy time, so I took him grocery shopping with me. We found everything on our list, and a few extras. He picked out a snack in the Asian food isle. Some Hello Kitty snack. Some kind of pretzel sticks that you dip in chocolate. I don't know - it had cool packaging - LOL.

We picked out a lunchable for Jake, and some Scooby Doo fruit snacks. Not things we usually buy, but I thought it would be fun for a change. We got all our shopping done before 11am, which really helped when going through the line. Not so busy yet.

I paid Jake a dollar to carry all the groceries in. I think I may just add an extra dollar to my grocery bill each week for his services - LOL. He's really a good kid :)

We had lunch, then I sat down to design for a bit. Yeah, that didn't happen. At about 12:30pm, Captain America called and wanted me to bring him some lunch. I cooked up his Taco Salad, got his afternoon snacks ready (apples and crackers and a Diet Mt Dew - LOL), and headed up to his office.

We chatted with his Captain for a bit, then I headed home. As I was getting ready to leave, I got a text from Laurie. I'd forgotten that one of our friends was going home during her hubbys deployment, and she was giving away all the food in her house! I headed on over.

OMGosh! There was SO much canned and boxed foods. I also scored a TON of spices, real olive oil, and some frozen stuff. Sirloin hamburgers. Mmmmm. And frozen chicken breasts. And veggies. TONS of stuff.

Laurie and I stayed and chatted with our friend for a bit (she was having a rough day), then headed out to Sonic for Happy Hour. We brought her back one. Sometimes, when you don't know what else to do to help, a Cherry Limeade from Sonic's Happy Hour is the best course of action, don't you think?

We got home at about 3pm, and Jake and Jimmy helped me put all the other groceries away. Now my cupboards are FULL to the brim. We're gonna save a TON of money on groceries this month :) Score!

The other kids got home at around 4pm, and they were excited to have a HUGE canister of mixed nuts to eat. Free food is the BEST. They also shared a Strawberry slushie. Yeah, life is good :)

Chores, homework, and dinner. I went in the backyard and chatted with my neighbor lady for a while after dinner. She invited me to go with her and her neighbor to the New Moon premiere. Sounds like FUN!!! Of course, I agreed. And she said that anyone else who wanted to come was invited. So, girls, come on! Let's all go see New Moon together! Wouldn't that be fun :)

It's funny, because between the two of us, we have 9 kids. It was getting dark, and the boys (7 boys and 2 girls) were throwing balls over the fences, and us moms kept feeling like we were gonna get clocked in the head with one. It was close a few times. Her kids are 1 (girl), twin kindergartners (boys), and a 2nd grader (boy). Nice kids.

Captain America got home shortly after that, and I went back inside to see him. The kids were finishing up their chores (with a lot of direction), and settling down for the night. They put in the 2nd episode of Survivor, since Jake had missed it when we watched it over the weekend.

So, I went into my bathroom to, well, er, go to the bathroom, and as I sat down at the toliet, I heard a splash, and realized that my PHONE fell in the toliet! Are you kidding me? I fished it out lickety split, and tried my best to dry it off. There's not much you can do about a submerged electronics, though. I shook it out real good, removed the case, and the battery, and even got out the hair dryer.

You know, funny thing is, Andrea had done the EXACT same thing 2 weeks ago. See, normally I can feel my phone on me. I keep it in my butt pocket, and I know it's there. Well, since I've been eating more than I should lately, and have picked up a few lbs, I've been wearing my girdle. Don't make fun of me. Only the cool kids wear them - ROFL!

Anyway, I couldn't feel my butt. SO, that's my excuse for why it felt in the toilet. I couldn't feel that my phone was in my pocket. Sigh. See, another reason to stick to my diet. So I can feel my butt - ROFL! Yeah, that doesn't sound very good - hehehe. I'm sure you're thinking, "Why was it I read this blog?' hehehe.

After a time, I put the phone back together again, and was actually able to get it to turn on. But only briefly. I called the phone insurance place, and they gave me the website to get my replacement phone. $50. I guess its better than having to buy a new phone outright. Sigh.

After that, I was able to get my phone to turn on, and I pulled up all the contacts, and copied them down. And after I was writing down the last contact number, the phone died. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for letting me get all my numbers. I hate it when people call me, and I don't know who it is before I answer the phone. LOL!

At 7:15pm, Captain America and I headed out to a Cub Scout parent meeting for our Tiger cub pack. It was at Carls Jr. What a great place for a meeting - LOL. All the Diet Dr Pepper you can drink. I know, 2 days in a row of caffeine. AND, 2 giant sodas in one day. Not good. I'll have to steal one of Captain Americas Coke Zero's tomorrow afternoon to keep up my addiction :(

After the meeting, we hurried home, and I got some snacks together for Girls night. One of my church friends had organized a game night girls nite out. We were supposed to bring a healthy snack. I got Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese, and veggies with dip. Yeah, so the dip probably wasn't too healthy. But the veggies were, right?

It was a fun group. Laurie was there. I was pretty late getting there, though. An hour late. But I came, and that's the important part. We played spoons (TONS of fun), some linking word game ( I liked that one), and Taboo. Yeah, not a big fan of that one. Too much attention on me. LOL. I was happy that I didn't have to be the reader, though. Pfew!

By 11:30, we were all feeling tired, and a few of the girls had got babysitters for the night, so we all headed home. It was fun to get together, and have some girl talk. It'd been a while for me :) Well, for group girl time, anyway. hehehe.

So Wednesday is Veterans Day. That means no school for my kids. Except for Jake. His online school has classes scheduled for him. He's not gonna like that very much when he learns that he still has to do school. Sigh. Life is rough sometimes :)

We have scheduled to go to the Veterans Day parade, and march with the Cub Scouts. We'll see how that goes. I don't even know what time it starts. I guess I should figure that out before I go to bed, so that I make sure I wake up on time, right? I'm so bad - hehehe. Which brings me full circle. Wishing I had a day off. But not. Because I don't wanna be sick. And not whining. ha! And now you're thinking, "OK, she's just weird!"

Since today is Veterans Day, I decided to give you all a Freedom saying. I just love this one. Because really, freedom isn't free. It's earned. It's fought for. I needs to be cared for. It takes work. It takes effort. It needs protecting.

Again, a big thank you to all of the men and women out there who are serving or who have served in the military, be it my country's or your country's. Thank you for all you do. For your sacrifices. For you time. For you!

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

Be Happy

First off, here a few pics from my camera that I didn't know were on there. Do you ever have "mystery" photos show up on your camera? My kids like to sneak it and take pics when I don't know they're doing it - LOL.

Here's Jimmy, in the garage. What a cute little guy :)

And Jake. With Joe and Tom playing a board game in the background. Really don't know when this was taken. Maybe last Sunday? Hmmmm.

So I woke up at 6am to Captain Americas text. He was about 3 hours away, and thought it was 7am my time. He was being sweet, and telling me that he loved me, but oh boy was I tired. I was expecting him at 3am, so I didn't sleep real well.

I laid in bed until my alarm went off at 7am, then got up and got the kids off to school. I was supposed to go grocery shopping, so we were out of everything. I ended up making the kids a protein shake for breakfast. With bananas and hot chocolate mix. That's a little bit better than my mozarella cheese dinner - hehehe.

Captain America and Jake got home at around 8:30am. They looked SO tired. Jake went to the bathroom, then went directly to bed. Captain America hung out with me for a few minutes, then went to bed too.

Jimmy and I hung out for about and hour, then Laurie and I headed to the Mall. She needed to get a new hand held mixer, and the Kitchen Aid ones were on sale at Kohls. There was a brand new one that just opened by our house, and I'd never been.

Well, once we got there, we realized that the sale didn't start till Wednesday, but we weren't about to let a good shopping trip pass us by - LOL! With 2 toddlers in tow, we headed into the store.

We found the clearance racks, and found a bunch of cool stuff. A bunch of funny 80's stuff too. LOL! Seriously, who needs stretchy lizard print skinny jean pants? Really? What does one do with those? hehehe.

I found a few cute shirts, though. One teal, one purple, one with skulls and crossbones, and a skull black zipper jacket. I LOVED them :) Laurie got a few tops and some jeans. Let me tell you, taking 2 little boys to the fitting room is something else - ROFL!

Next, we went upstairs in the elevator, and looked at the kitchen stuff. They have some nice things! I was looking at the toaster ovens, and realized that I've never had one. Anyone have any opinions on Toaster ovens? Needed? Good? Just wondering. I've gotten by 33 years without one. Maybe I don't know what I'm missing - hehehe.

Next, we went and paid (did you know that Kohl's offers a 10% military discount? Score!), and took the little boys to the play area. Most malls have them. OMGosh, they were SO loud. They were being monsters. It's was too funny. Well, I'm sure the other parents didn't think it was funny, but Laurie and I did. LOL! At least they weren't at our houses growling and loud - ha!

Next, we went to lunch at the food court. Laurie and I got chinese. I haven't had chinese in SO long. Like since Christmas time when we went to Sprinfield Oregon to see Glenn Beck in the theater for his Christmas Sweater thingy. I'm pretty sure that we ate at the food court, and my dad and I got chinese. Or maybe that was another trip with chinese. Either way, it was when I lived in Oregon. And I moved to Texas in January. So it's November now. Yeah, that's a long time :) Sorry, tangent.....

Laurie got the noodles, and I got the rice, along with our meats/veggies, and split with each other. I wish they'd let you get a little of both. Know what I mean? Anyway, it was yummy! Jimmy and Rowan and Spencer (Laurie's hubby joined us for lunch) had Wendy's. Mmmmm.

After lunch, Spencer took Rowan home, and we headed to The Jewlery Box. Everything's a dollar. FABULOUS store. We got the 6 for $5.50 deal. Of course, I found more than 6, so I did the 12 for $11 deal. LOL! SO many cute things!!!

We went to a few more stores, then headed home. It was SO much fun. Laurie, girl, I'll shop with you ANYTIME you want. That was a great day :) Next time, I'll get lunch!

Jake and Captain America were awake when I got home. But just barely. Jake was starting on school, and Captain America was catching up on emails. They both still looked pretty tired.

The other kids got home at almost 4pm, and we worked on chores, and homework, and played for a while. I sat down to do the bills. Sigh. I hate the bills. I really shanked it in October. We spent WAY too much money. All of the extra money I earned in designing. But that's why we have a plan, so I did out the budget, and decided what money needed to go where, and we got back on track. We still have a good chunk of money in the savings account, which is a first for us. We've NEVER had a savings before. Amazing how good it feels.

I re-heated the shepherds pie for the kids at 5:45pm, and made some pancakes too. Tuesday is DEFINITELY gonna be shopping day :) We need food - hehehe. Captain America left for work (crazy, I know. He had the day off, but had to get some stuff done in his office - oh the joys of being on salary), and I let the kids watch another episode of Survivor. Episode 4. I've seen up through 4.

While they were watching that, I was chatting with a friend from when we lived in Chicago. He's having a rough go of it, and I hope that I helped him feel better. His wife and I were friends while we lived there. They're good people.

I put the kids to bed at 8pm, and continued to facebook chat until 9pm. Then facebook freaked out, and I took it as a sign that I needed to do my work - LOL.

I took a few pics of my purchases from today. Nice, eh? I got all 4 shirts/sweatshirts for $16 total. That's $4 a piece. Not bad :) And the jewelry was a dollar each. I love a bargain!

Yeah, and Captain America, if you read this (I know you don't most of the time, but you really should! hehehe), I need a new jewelry holder. You said you'd make one for me January of last year. Sigh. It's clearly not January anymore. Heck, it's almost not even 2009 anymore. I need a bigger jewelry holder. Please, honey! Pretty please :)

One last thing. As I was browsing Facebook after pre-publishing this, I found a post from my cousin in Oregon. It linked to THIS story. A little boy in Michigan is dying of cancer. He's had it since he was 3. The family knows he's not gonna make it until Christmas, so they're doing Christmas early. The little boy REALY wanted to get Christmas cards, so they put it in the paper, asking that people send him a Christmas card. OMGoodness! My heart goes out to the family. Just thought I'd pass the article along to you all. SO sad :(

I wasn't really in the mood to dig through my inbox to find a quote, so I posted on my Facebook wall "I need a quote". Well, within 1 minute, I had a quote. Thanks, Alyson, for helping me out! AND, it was a great one :)

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!

(The 4shared link now goes to the 4shared account. Go figure - LOL!)
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Top 10 List: Thankfulness

Well, our Primary Program in Sacrament meeting went PERFECT! The kids and I got to church about 30 minutes early, partly so I could make copies, partly to get anything prepared for the program. The kids all looked nice, hair fixed, bodies washed, matching shoes/socks (hey, I have 5 kids - sometimes these things slip through the cracks - LOL!)

The kids all took their seats on the stand for the WHOLE sacrament meeting. In most wards I've been in, the kids go up to the stand AFTER the sacrament is passed. But you know what? It worked WONDERFULLY here. AND, all my kids were in the program, so they were sitting with their classes/teachers. I just had to supervice a few of the older kids, who were no trouble at all, so it was a very calm, relaxing Sacrament meeting for me - LOL!

Our Sunbeam teachers (3 yrs old turning 4 this year) deserved Sainthood. They were crowd controlling 10 little kids in the front row of the chapel. Bless their hearts! Jimmy was among them :) Actually, they all did very well. The teachers had brought board books for the kids to look at, and they were thoroughly entertained. At least from where I was sitting.

The program went really well. The kids all sang, the parts were all said, people who were not there had someone else read their parts for them. The teachers, for the most part, were all there, and those that weren't, we had someone else fill in for them. I was SO proud of them. I even started to get all choked up on the last song. SUCH great kids, we have :)

I taught Sharing time, and was busy busy busy all 3 hours of church. I must have walked up and down those stair a dozen times. Pfew! I sure got my workout :) Sharing time was good. The kids got their Thankful Turkey patterns, and had time to color it, and a few got to the cutting out stage. Mostly, I just gave them the bags and told them to take it home and work on it.

After church, we had crock pot chicken with rice. Mmmmm, it was tasty. After lunch, I set the kids up with a movie, and went it my room to take a nap. I left the door wide open so I could "supervise" while sleeping. Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking.

I slept for about 2 hours, on and off. By on and off, I mean kids coming in every 15 minutes to tell me something. Or give me something. Or hug me. Or ask me something. Or I could hear them fighting from the other room. Or laughing really loud. Or running laps around the living room/dining room. Yeah, it wasn't very restful. But I know that I slept a little bit.

When I finally got up, and went out, OMGosh. The house was completely trashed. They'd gotten into the q-tips, and they were ALL over the dining room. Along with random books and shoes and cups and such.

The kitchen had little itty bitty pieces of cut up paper ALL over it. The living room had 3 boxes of crayons dumped and spread the length of the room, along with a pack of markers (all lids removed and lost, of course), and some colored pencils, regular pencils, cut up papers, scissors, and papers. Along with the couch cushions, a load of laundry, and a few DVD cases.

The garage had been ransacked also. Sigh. Well, yelling mom emerged for a little bit. Well, more like "Guilt Trip" mom. I didn't yell too much. "How could you do this to me" mom. LOL! I got a broom, and swept everything into 3 piles. Kitchen, Dining room, and Living room. Then, I told the kids to go and clean it. And clean it well. I started on the dishes. There really weren't that many to do.

I helped the kids clean up, and after about 45 minutes, it was looking pretty good. They're good workers :) Hopefully there won't be a repeat performance next week :)

We turned on the first episode of Survivor (we got through the 3rd), and started watching at about 4pm. I cooked Shephards Pie for dinner at 6pm, and put the kids to bed at 7pm. Well, the big kids read for a while. I went in and snuggled with the little kids for a while.

I chatted with my mom for about 30 minutes, then watched 2 or 3 episodes of 'Fringe" on Fox. LOVE that show :) It reminds me of X-Flies, which I just LOVED. I stopped, designed, blogged (which I'm currently doing), and am gonna go watch one more episode before bed.

Captain America and Jake still haven't made it home from the reenactment yet. I'm expeciting them at about 3am. Or later. See, I knew there was a reason I didn't wanna go :) hehehe. BUT, from what I've heard from them, they both had a good time. Better them than me, I say :)

So I've been thinking of doing one of these for a while now. You know, encourages more "getting to know you" type layouts. Something to pass on to future generations. Because the next generation REALLY needs to know how high up there I rank my laptop and trips to Sonic - LOL!

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!

4shared - countdown
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4shared - count up
box.net - count up

Kit - Megan Turnridge (she's FABULOUS!)

OK, so this list is silly. I'm tired, and I was just trying to think of something to put on there. If I had a little bit more time to think it out, it might be better. I saved the PSD file, so maybe I'll go back and edit it :) Maybe not - LOL!

Families Forevermore

Boy was it a LONG Saturday. Do you ever have days like that? That just seem to DRAG on indefinitely. Sigh. It was one of those for me. I find that when my hubby is gone, I have ALL the time in the world. Too much time, sometimes. My house seems to be cleaner, though.

The kids and I watched Saturday Morning Cartoons in my bed until about 10am. It was SO nice to stay in bed and be lazy. I think they had fun too.

Then, I got up and started cleaning. I swept everything in the living room into a big pile, and same with the dining room. BIG piles. Sigh.

I decided that the computer stations were all messy looking, and needed fixing. I unhooked ALL the components, and put them separately on the kitchen table. Then, I arranged the furniture where I wanted it. Bookshelves in the corner, white dresser next to that, desk next to that. Other direction was another desk. So it makes an L shape. 2 computers on one desk, 2 on the other desk. I know, too many computers. Remember the "no sharing" thing I have going on. I think my family has it too :)

Somewhere in the middle of the re-arranging, Andrea came by, and we went to track down the Fire Department people to set up a "Go See It" (field trip) for the Tiger Cub Scouts. We finally found a phone number, but couldn't talk with them until Monday. Next, we went to the Dollar Tree to get some decoration for Sam's Cross Over ceremony that evening.

We stopped by the Commissary on the way home to buy some melting chocolates for a project I was working on for the Crossover. I got some Boy/Cub Scout chocolate molds a while back, and wanted to make some for snacks at the Crossover.

We were home by 1pm, and got lunch for everyone. Joe wasn't feeling terribly well, so I let him sit quietly at the computer and play on PBSkids.org. Eme and Tom got to go to a Birthday Party for Laurie's oldest daughter, Elise. It was a Harry Potter themed party. It was ALL little girls. I told Tom that he didn't have to stay if he didn't want to, but he just shrugged and said that he wanted to stay. He's no dummy - LOL!!

I spent the next few hours baking. I baked 48 German Chocolate cupcakes, and made 35 Scout chocolates, wrapped in red celophane with red, gold, and blue curling ribbons. OMGosh, they were SO cute. I also did dishes as I went, so it didn't get too messy in the kitchen. Aren't you proud of me!

Those chocolates were pretty trick to make. First, you had to melt a white-ish chocolate to put in the raised areas. But just a little bit. THEN, you had to cool it. Then you fill it with the rest of the darker chocolate. And cool it. I had 3 molds with 6 chocolate spaces each. I was in and out of the freeze SO many times today :) I was a cooking machine - ROFL!

So Jimmy was playing on PBSkids.org on Saturday, and as I'm baking up a storm, I hear this song in the background. "Every dinosaur poops". Surly I'm hearing it wrong. I listen a little closer, and it REALLY sounds like their saying poop. I stop what I'm doing, and ask him about it. Sure enough. "Every dinosaur poop". Why must we have a song about it? Now it's stuck in my head. What am I supposed to do with that? LOL!

Anyway, enough with the poop talk. Can you tell I have boys! LOL! Here's what the chocolates looked like when I was done. Aren't the cool!



We left the house at 5pm to head to the church. I didn't have time to feed the kids, so I grabbed a brick of mozarella cheese, and cut everyone off a chunk. Sigh. Not my best meal, that's for sure :) hehehe.

When we got to the church, Brother Soderborg had already been there to set up the night before. So the chairs were already done. Sweet! I set up the refreshment table, making it look all pretty. Girls are good at that, you know :)

Andrea and family showed up a few minutes later, and we hurridly decorated the area. Blue and Gold and Silver and Red. It really looked good! We directed the men to bring up a TV and DVD player from the library (basement). I'd made a video collage for Sam the day before, and it looked pretty good. Or was that Saturday that I made it? Don't remember. The days all blur together - hehehe. I did pick out a song by Nickelback, "If Today Was Your Last", for the music on the video. It was pretty cool.


It was a wonderful ceremony. Brother Soderborg does such a great job on stuff like that. I think that they Reays were very pleased with how it turned out. Afterwords, there were TONS of snacks. Cupcakes, mini cupcakes, several kinds of cookies, some chips, soda. Sigh. What a great meal for my children.

After cleaning up, we headed home. It was 7pm ish. We swung by Burger King on the way home, and got some of the Jr Whoppers and fries. We watched part of Pink Panther 2 while eating our nutritious dinner, then I stopped the movie, and put the kids to bed.

Sunday morning will come bright and early. We have our Primary program for church. All the kids get a speaking part, and sing a TON of songs. It's always adorable. I'm getting there early to get the seating arrangement set up before hand. I think we're gonna tape names on the seats. That way, it'll go a little smoother.

Plus, I'm teaching Sharing Time. It's all about serving our family. Perfect to introduce my family (growing up) tradition of The Thankful Turkey. Historically, we'd make it out of an old Cereal Box. BUT, I'm gonna print it out for the kids, let them color it, and take it home. THEN, if they want, they can glue it to a cereal box, and fill it up with things they are thankful for over the month of November. THEN, on Thanksgiving day, you open up the box and read all the things your family is thankful for. Sounds good, right? Lets hope I can fill up all the time I need with it - hehehe.

Here's 2 JPG's of my Thankful Turkey. The leaves are all cut out and glued on the back. I used a paper bag (lunch sack sized) and it worked perfectly. And why is it blue, you ask? Well, um, er, I ran out of black ink in my printer, but the color is working just fine. LOL!




I'm tired. My eyes will barely stay open. I think it's time to go to bed. Let's hope that things go well tomorrow :) Then I can come home and take a nap. Sounds like a plan!

So since it's always my goal to make a WordArt out of the Visiting Teaching message for the month, I sat down to do it tonight. Then I realized that it was November. That means that the Visiting Teaching message is a "Your Own Choice". Sigh. SO, I selected a quote from on of the talks that looked good to me. Hopefully it looks good to you too :) 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. Thanks1

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I think I'm gonna print this off for Captain America so he can frame it and hang it up in his office. Nice, eh?