Mother

Another snow day. Can you believe the amount of snow we're getting here in El Paso? Craziness! You expect it from places like Central Illinois, and Chicago, and such. But El Paso? Sun City? The boarderland? Really? Snow? I'm not sure what I think about this. I kinda feel like I came here to dry out (from Oregon) and warm up (from Chicago). And at the moment, I'm doing neither. LOL!

So since I went to bed on Thursday night at 2am, I was SO tired when I woke up at 7:15am. I finally found the right site online, and confirmed that school was indeed delayed 2 hours. I checked my email, and changed all my prices in my store back to $2.50. That was no small task. But, it was done.

Andrea was on Skype, so we chatted for a few minutes, then kids were in my room, and wanting to go and play in the snow. By 7:45am, they were outside playing. At around 8:30am, I came out of my room (couldn't go back to sleep) and started fixing breakfast. Since we had more time, I made sausage and eggs.

Leslie's kids came over again, since she was in school. At about that time (9am), I retrieved my kids from outside, bathed them (well, the big ones do that on their own - hehehe), and got them ready for school. Captain America came home around then, and I drove Hunter to school (middle school starts 40 minutes before elementary school). When I got back, we cleaned up a little bit, then at 9:50, we took the other kids to school. Captain America was gone by then.

Jake got started on school, and was SO excited that all of his classes were easy for the day. Not much work in any of them. Jimmy and I went in my room, where I tried to go back to sleep. He watched some PBS cartoons, and I dozed. I finally dragged my sorry butt out of bed at 12:30pm.

I made sandwiches for the kids, cheese and cucumbers for myself, and cleaned up some more. You know what, no matter how much I clean, it's still always mess. I hate that - LOL! I worked on the bills for a while, and tried to figure out Christmas expenses.

At around 2pm, I headed out to the grocery store. When I went on Monday, I forgot to buy Captain America his apples for the week, so he'd been eating mine. And I'd only bought enough for me. SO, a trip to the store was in order. I also wanted to buy some chocolate for a dessert for a product party I was going to on Saturday. And needed to get some cash. My spending plan works well because you get out cash, put it in envelopes, and only spend that much for the month. My envelopes needed filled because it was the new month.

I texted Andrea to see if there was anything that she needed while I was there (Vitamin D milk), and headed out. It was SO crowded at the commissary, but luckily I only had a few things, and went to the self check out. The line was short. After shopping, I swung by (yeah, it's off post, so I don't know that it's really swinging by - LOL) Sonic and got Andrea and I each a Happy Hour drink. I just LOVE their ice. Freezing, snowing, and I want cold soda with ice. I know, I'm odd.

I swung by Andreas house, dropped off the milk, and picked her up. We were going to pick up the kids from school. We got everyone, loaded them in the truck, and headed out. By the time we got back home, it was almost 4pm.

I fed the kids a brief snack, and the kids and I headed down to the park. Our Friday routine. We watch Kayleys kids so she can "piano lesson" them. But dang, Jackson, it was frigid! Buzzy! Leigh, my neighbor, and her kids came to play too. And Andrea. And Jenica, a friend of ours who is moving. She'd gone to visit her family for a few weeks, and is now driving to Georgia, but stopped off in El Paso to visit.

We could only stay at the park for about an hour, since we were freezing so bad - hehehe. So we came home, and started cleaning again. It was SO messy. Earlier in the day, I'd swept all the 'things' into a pile, so that when the kids got home from school, it could be easily picked up. Someone (insert Jimmy) had run through the piles, and it was trashed again. Sigh. SO, I made the piles all nice and neat again, and waited for the big kids to come in from playing.

They worked on their rooms they were responsible, and the house looked MUCH better when they were done. I cooked my dinner, and theirs, at around 6pm. Noah, the neighbor kid, came over to play, and stayed until about 7:30pm.

I took a shower after he left, and got all pret-ty for Captain America. Nice jeans, a black sweater, make up, jewelry, perfume, big hair (LOL) Cause we were supposed to go on a date. But he wasn't home yet. Sigh. I put the kids to bed at around 8pm (Joe and Jim), and let Tom and Eme and Jake play on the computer. I sat down on the couch and played on the puter for a while. Facebook (Happy Aquarium, Happy Pets, even Farmtown), and then started blogging and designing.

It's now 9:05pm, and Captain America just texted saying he's coming home. It's a bit late to be going out. We're both tired. I wonder if we can make it to the dollar theater before the showing of Surrogates ends? That one looked interesting. Crap, just checked it, and it's 9:20. Don't think we'll make that one. But the Vampire's Assistant starts at 9:45pm. Maybe that one will work. Hurry home, Captain America. I'm ready for my date :)

OK, he just walked in the door, and I'm leaving on my date!!!! Woohoo :) See ya guys tomorrow :)

So, I'm trying something new. You know how on Sundays, I always have something for "Faithbooking", and WordArt Wednesday, you have to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file? Well, we now have Second Chance Saturday. I'm gonna go through my older WordArts, and give them a "make over". A second chance to be good - LOL! Because frankly, some of them SUCK! Seriously. I know that I was proud of them at the time, but now? Not so much - LOL!

This WordArt first came to us on February 7th of 2008. What a nice quote, but it was poorly done. Here's an updated version, and I'm sure that you'll all love it :) Click HERE to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared
box.net

Do I Look Like I Care?

Dang, 7am came WAY too early. Especially since I went to bed at 3am the night before. Definitely tired! I somehow managed to get my kids dressed, somewhat fed, ready, and out the door. I let Jake sleep in until 8ish, and I sat down on the couch to check my emails. It was fun looking through all the orders :) You guys rock!

It was a slow morning at home, and that was ok with me. I was still dragging. Oh yea! I forgot to tell you! So I started my diet on Monday morning, and I weighed 159.2 lbs. So, I weighed on Thursday morning, and I was 154.4 bls. That's almost 5 lbs!!! I'm SO winning the bet - LOL! It almost makes the "your body fat is being eaten away from the inside out" feeling worth it - LOL! Hunger pains suck. But you know, my stomach isn't growling, so I know mostly it's in my head. It's my body throwing a fit, wanting to make me eat things and amounts that I'm not supposed to. See here, body. I'M in charge, not you :)

I'm not sure what all we did in the morning, but it seemed to pass quickly. Andrea and I were texting and Skyping back and forth all morning long. AND, I got a shower. I know, miracle of miracles. See, I'd bought this cute new red scarf on Wednesday, and I wanted to wear it. SO, I had to take a shower and get all pret-ty!
And that sweater? Yep, it's the one that I bought for Eme yesterday at the Dollar Tree. hehehe. I just put a long sleeve white shirt under it, and it worked perfectly. The bracelet, earrings, and scarf were a dollar each. What a cheap outfit.... I LOVE it :)

So eventually it was lunch time, and I cooked the kids lunch, and Andrea came to pick me up, and we headed out on some errands. First errand? Lunch at Chick Fil A. Yeah, my kids got to eat lunch out yesterday, and I just sat and watched. It was my turn to eat - LOL! I got the Southwester Grilled chicken salad. Mmmmmm, tasty! I left off the dressing, and the croutons, and chips, and just ate the salad/cheese/tomatoes/carrots/salsa (with corn and beans- very small amount). It as quite tasty. And a soda, of course. Diet Dr Pepper. I've fallen off the No Caffiene wagon, I'm afraid. I think I can only change one bad habit at a time, and if I'm dieting, then I can't concentrate on the No Caffiene thing. Baby steps, right?

After lunch, we went to Vitamin World to get Captain Americas vitamins. He's found a MIRACLE cure for his on again off again breathing problems here in El Paso. Quercetin and bromelain. They're vitamins. He takes a certain combo of them 3 times a day, and has NO problems breathing. I'm SO glad he found something that works :) A lot of people have a hard time breathing in El Paso. BAD air.

After the mall (where Chick Fil A and Vitamin World were), we headed out on some errands. Andrea had to stop by the library, and return a few books, and pay a fine. I sat in the truck with the baby, since he'd fallen asleep. I had my MP3 player in my purse, so spent some time listening to Eclipse. Next, it was on to the Post Office. Again, sat in the truck with the baby and listened to Eclipse. I didn't mind at ALL! hehehe.

Finally, it was on to the commissary, so Andrea could get Birthday Candles for Sam's cake. We got home at 2:30pm, and I told her that I'd pick up the kids today so she had more time to prepare for the family birthday party. She seemed very grateful.

I went home to my kids for about 1/2 an hour, then took Jimmy and headed out to the school. It was a super cold day, for El Paso. After having SUCH hot weather all summer, I find myself freezing here when it gets below 60. I know, I'm a wimp, says you folks in the frozen north. Whatever! It's COLD here :)

We picked up Joe and Eme and Tom, and Ben. Sam was staying for Extra PE class, so we headed home. We found Hunter and Braxton (Leslie's kids) walking home, and picked them up as well. Can't let perfectly good seats in a warm truck on a cold day go to waste, right? LOL!

I dropped off Leslie's kids at her house, then Ben at Andreas house. She showed me Sams cake, which was really fun! Great job, mom! I like it :)

I came home, and got the kids a snack, and made them do their chores, and went and laid down in my room with Jimmy. I was SO tired. I ended up sleeping from 4-5:15, and Jimmy too. I got up, and snuck out of the room. I had to make cookies for the Pack meeting, which started at 6:00pm. Crap. I should have got up a few minutes earlier. But the nap felt SOOO good :)

So, I had a package of chocolate chunks in the cupboard, so I decided to make chocolate chip cookies. Remember when I complained that I didn't know how to make them that looked pretty? Well, a few of you emailed me with your recipe, and I picked on of you, Mandi, and tried her recipe. OMGosh, they were fantabulous! Girl, I LOVE that recipe :) Here it is :

1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter

Cream together for 2 minutes.
Add:

2 eggs
1 TBLS. vanilla

Beat for 5 more minutes
Add:

3 cups flour
1 tsp. soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 pkg. chocolate chips

Bake @ 350 degrees for 10 minutes

They will look not done at 10 min. don't over cook. I really think it makes a difference to cream the ingredients for that amount of time. Hope they work out for you. Have fun making them! Mandi.

So, I followed the instructions to a tee, and guess what? Fabulousness. Seriously. Check out the pic that I took of them.

They were perfect. All the way done, soft, gooey, no burnt parts, no thinning and crispy parts. Absolutely wonderful. Thanks again, girl! You ROCK!

Captain America called, and wanted me to bring his scout uniform to the pack meeting. He was leading it, so needed to be in uniform, and didn't have time to come home. Jim was still asleep, so I asked Jake if he minded staying home. He said he wanted to get online and play with the Uncles, anyway. I was SO glad that I didn't have to wake up the sleeping child - LOL :)

So Joe, Eme, and Tom and I headed out to the pack meeting. Dang, it was cold. Winter jackets were definitely in order. We got there, and Captain America was already there, and a ton of other parents too, just not the one with the key. LOL!

We finally got in, and got started. I have SO much fun at Cub Scouts because Andrea comes too. We have such a great time together :) Captain America led the Pack Meeting, and did a great job. Good job, honey! I'm proud of you! Here's Joe getting a bead.


After the pack meeting, the kids all gorged themselves on cookies (yeah, there was a TON of cookies), then we all loaded up (my family and Andreas), and headed out to McDonalds for Ice Cream. And it was snowing. What? I thought it was supposed to be in the 60's right now. This is DEFINITELY not in the 60's. Definitely.

Andrea stopped by her house and picked up Sam (who didn't come to the pack meeting), and I stopped by my house to pick up Jim and Jacob. Jim was awake, and I thought they'd have fun at McDonalds.

We got to McDonalds, and since the kids just got a hot dog for dinner, I decided to give them a choice of McDonalds food. They could have one item. The kids from the pack meeting could NOT choose ice cream, since all of the cookies. The ones that stayed home (although they did get a cookie in the truck on the way to McDonalds) could choose ice cream.

Eme and Jim picked a hamburger. Jake and Tom picked a McChicken. Joe wanted a parfait, and I got one for Jimmy too, since he'd just woken up, and missed his hot dog. Me? I hadn't had time to fix dinner since I woke up so late from my nap (yes, 15 minutes is SO late from my nap, thank you very much. I run a tight schedule, don't ya know!), so I ordered a side sald. And 2 McDoubles. I took off the buns, and the cheese, and dabbed all the grease out of the burger, and sherdded 3 of the 4 patties over my salad. There's my protein, and my veggies. Close enough, right? And an apple. Captain America had brought me one from home. What a sweet man.

Here's Andrea and I at McDonalds. I think my phones camera was dirty. Cause it was really blurry :)


Andrea and Captain America and I sat around and chatted, while the kids terrorized McDonalds. Luckily there weren't very many people there. It had started snowing a lot harder. When we first got there, the kids ran to the playland, but within 5 minutes they closed it, because it was snowing harder. And Jim and Joe had TAKEN OFF THEIR SHOES!!! What? In an outside playland in the snow. Sigh. So I moved them all inside.

We left, and came home, and Captain America went back to work. Poor guy. Works so hard :) I put the little kids to bed, and read them a story. I said that I was gonna read them "The Red Carpet", but Jimmy wanted "The Small Pig". I found another story that I hadn't read yet, and wanted that one. Jimmy said "OK, mom, I'll read "The Small Pig" to you!".

So, he sat down, and opened up the book, and seriously, started reading it. OK, so it wasn't really reading. He'd memorized the words from his dad telling him the story. He even used the same silly voices that his dad used. Like the SSSSSSSsssss of the snake, and the "Southern Belle" accent of the Farmers Wife. I stopped him after 3 pages, and ran for the video camera. Luckily, he felt like playing along, and started over.

I capture the WHOLE thing on tape. 5 minutes of him "reading" his favorite story. It was precious. I'm in the process of uploading it, and will link it here when it's done. He's SO precious!

I sent Joe and Eme and Jake to bed after that, and sat down at my computer to do something productive. I kept getting distracted with things like Happy Aquarium and Happy Pets (or whatever it's called), but did get a bit of work done.

Captain America got home at 10:30pm, and wanted to park the car in the garage. I went out to help him rearrange the junk so that the car would almost fit. We moved it, then he dusted off the thick layer of snow blanketing his car, and we pulled it in. If fit! But just barely. hehehe. It'll be nice for him to get in the car in the morning and be able to quickly go to work, rather than dealing with scrapping off all the snow.

I showed him the Jimmy video, and my "these balls are huge" photo and story from yesterday. He laughed and laughed. He said it reminded him of an old AC/DC song, Big Balls, and, of course, had to find the video on YouTube for me to watch. Too funny :) So that, of course, launched us into video after video of AC/DC. Blast from the past for Captain America - hehehe.

So here it is, 12:30am, and I'm tired. And I still have to design. And it's still snowing. I wonder if they'll delay school again, or just cancel it? That would be nice. A LONG weekend would be nice :) We'll see. It's supposed to snow up till 5am. And here I thought I lived in Sun City - ROFL!

Ha! I'm getting fast! This one was done in 9 minutes :) Designed, saved, and preview made. See, I'm lightning fast again! Even tired - LOL! I guess I'm feeling frisky, cause here's an attitude WordArt for you all!

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
box.net

Dancin' Shoes

Dude, so I TOTALLY missed the boat with promoting this sale. Yes, I suck. I know :) I think it's just because we came off of the Farmers Market sale, and now, BOOM, here's another one. When they were asking who wanted what day for the sale, I said, just put me down for any day. Mistake. My sale is only like 3 days after Farmers Market. Oh well, live and learn.

SO, after that little negative tirade, check out this COOL sale that we're having - ROFL! Each day till Christmas, we have a different designer having a ROCKIN' sale. And guess what? Today is mine! All my wordart packs are only $1.25. I know, not quite as good as a buck, but practically! I was only allowed to up it on sale for 50%. And $1.00 is 60% off. LOL! What can ya do? I'm trying :)

Check out this cool ad that Kami made of us : See me, I'm WAY up there at the top - hehehe.

So, from right now, all day Thursday, and until I wake up in the morning on Friday and get the kids to school (I'll try and be slow - ROFL!), my store is on sale. So, on your marks.,...... get set....... GO!!!! Click HERE to go to my store.

AND, I even have some new products out this week, which you can pick up for $1.25 a pack! See, I'm good :) LOL. Click on the image below to go to the product in the store.

Wow, today was draining. Captain America got up and left for work, and at around 5:30am texted me. Dude, not at 5:30am when my phone is right next to my head. I tried. I really tried to go back to sleep. But it wasn't working. Finally, I grabbed my headphones, and listened to Jacob and Edward and Bella in Eclipse for the next few hours. I dozed off here and there, but I just rewinded it a bit, and it was all good.

I was up at 7am, getting kids ready for school. Breakfast and homework and clothes and teeth and shoes and backpacks and hats and coats and out the door they went. Oh yeah, first, we drew names for Christmas. Geeze, I'm having a hard time remembering what I've told you and what I haven't... So we decided that instead of each family memeber going to the Dollar Tree and spending a dollar on each family member, we'd just pool all the money that would have been spent on me, and one person will draw my name, then get me a $6.00 present. Make sense?

Joe got Tom, and Tom got Joe. Eme got Captain America, Captain America got Jake, Jake got Me, I got Jim, and Jim got Eme. I think that's everyone. Dang, that's a lot to keep straight. LOL!

7:30am, and they were gone. I got Jake going with school, and Jimmy situated with a project (ok, so it was tv, but a project sounds SO much better, don't you think?), and I got myself ready for the day. I had a TON of errands to run, and I thought I'd invite Andrea to come with me. She makes everything more fun :)

We headed out at around 8:30 or so. Maybe 8:45am. Can't quite remember. First, we went to the post office. I bought 2 books of stamps for my Christmas cards. That means 40 people. We've gotta go hash out our list, and decided who's been "naughty and nice". ROFL!

Next, we drove up by the hospital, looking for building 7772. We knew it was by the Bradly building. But we didn't know what the Bradly building was. LOL! I looked online, and it talked about a new building by Beaumont (the Army hospital), so I assumed it was up there. We asked the gate guard, and he said that the Bradly building was near the ER. I knew where that was.

So Andrea dropped me off at the front, and the little man at the info desk showed me right where to go. It WAS right next to the Bradly building. hehehe. I gave the nice woman at the desk Toms paperwork for Speech, and she made photocopies of everything, then sent me back to talk with the referral lady. She said that they'd send me a letter letting me know the insurances decision. So now I just wait.

I headed back to the parking log, and was texting Andrea to come and get me when she pulled up. Dang, woman! You've got crazy mad skills!

Next, we headed to Big Lots. And here the view of the mountains from the parking lot. Margaret. This pic is for you!

It was 9:30 by now, so we were pretty sure it was open. We were looking for Christmas stuff for Ryan (Andrea's hubby who's in Iraq) for a package. She wanted to get him a little tree, and some Holiday Cheer. They had a TON of good stuff.

Also, Andrea's son, Sam's teacher was putting up a tree in the classroom, and wanted it to be patriotic in theme. So Andrea bought some red and blue and silver ornaments. Plastic ones. So cool! What a great idea. (Come to find out, later, after school, that when Andrea gave the ornaments to the teacher, the teacher was like, oh, well, I don't want it to look like a Christmas tree, so those ornaments don't really work. I just want REAL patriotic ones. Are You Kidding Me??? What part of "decorating a tree" doesn't scream Christmas to you. Who cares if they have flags on it. It's still an ornament on a tree. It's gonna look like a Christmas tree. Who has a tree in their house for normal, anyway? I just couldn't believe the teacher. How rude.)

We found (gee, I hope my kids don't read this) a Guitar Hero for the Wii, with the guitar, and the game, for only $39. I thought it was a fabulous deal. My mom is getting my kids a Wii for xmas, did I tell you? We bought all the extra crap that goes with it, and a few games, so we should be set. I found a cooling thingy for my laptop, too. Only $13.00. Not sure how it works, but I'll give it a try. I got a few other things, and we headed to the next store.

Fallas Parades is a discount store, and is mainly Hispanic run, or so I can tell. Spanish music on the radio, everyone in there, it seems, speaks Spanish. GREAT deals, though. I found a Nurf gun for Jimmy for $5.99, and some extra darts for $2.00. OK, so I know I went over on him. But I did split the darts between him and Tom, so really it was only $0.50 that I went over - LOL!

Next, we drove to WalMart. Andrea had to get something, but it slips my mind now. I got powder and body wash for Captain America, some powdered sugar, and we found these AWESOME fakie Nerf guns, Tommy Guns, that hold 20 darts, for only $9.00. SWEET! They were originally $21.75 or something like that. I got one for Tom (from "The Big Guy") and Andrea got one for Sam for his Birthday. Which is on Thursday.

So I was supposed to meet Captain America at home at 11:15am so we could go to the mall to get his vitamins and then lunch at Chick Fil A, but I didn't even leave WalMart (on the East side, a good 10 minutes, at least, away), until 11:15am. But, he ended up calling, and canceling lunch. He was SO busy at work.

So after I got home, and go the kids all ready, we headed back out again. I drove to a different WalMart to look for Wii games. The first WalMart didn't have a $10 section. I ended up getting 3 Wii games for $10 each. Duck Shoot (or something akin to that), some Fantasy game, and Space Monkey. Anyone have those?? Are they good? We also got Star Wars Force Unleashed (online, it's not here yet) and Star Wars Lego (online too). Good? And, see how tricky I am. I did this second trip with kids!

So after Walmart, we went to the McDonalds inside the Walmart for the kids to eat. I'd grabbed cucumbers and cheese before I left the house. Cause I'm being super good on my diet. And I don't need a McChicken, or fries, or a parfiet. I can do just fine with a diet soda. Unfortunately, no one was there to slap me for drinking caffiene. Luckily, I only had one giant soda. Not 3. Not even 2. One. One may be good :)

After lunch, we headed over to Walgreens to pick up my Christmas cards that I'd printed out the day before, then just never got around to picking them up. Fantastic, as usual. LOVIN' Walgreens photo lab :)

Then, it was on to the Dollar Tree. I wanted to see if they had a charger for Eme's MP3player. She lost hers, and I know that my dad picked up one at his Dollar Tree, but ours didn't have it. Maybe he can get us one and send it out. It's the same cord as my EHD, but I'm not really wanting to give it up to the 8 year old who lost the 1st one, know what I mean?

We ended up getting a few really pretty Christmas decorations, some silly string for Andrea for her son, a broom, a dust pan, some bows, and a few sweaters. I KNOW! They had a clothes section. Seriously, I think they were donated from someone, because I swear, on of the tags has some kids name written on it - ROFL! BUT, they did have a cute pink hoodie zip up for Eme, a sleeveless pull over sweater for her, and a Christmasy Sweater for Jimmy. Can't beat a buck, right?

After the Dollar Tree, we headed home. It was getting close to school being over time. I dropped off the silly string at Andreas house, and we made plans to go to Target after the kids got home. She went off to pick them up, and I went home to quickly design up a tag for Sam's Birthday goodies. LIke I made for Tom. Just not Halloween. hehehe. It took longer than I thought, and I was just sending it to Walgreens when Andrea and mom and kids arrived. Mom was taking the boys to shop for Andrea, and I was there to keep her busy while they shopped. SO sweet :)

So we went to Target, and browsed around. We looked at Christmas stuff, and toys, and electronics, and the dollar section.

So while in the Christmas section, we see these tree skirts, and decide that they'd make great capes. And of course, and Andrea models one for us. Pret-ty!

So we round the corner, still looking at the Christmas stuff. See, we've been looking at ornaments, and the bulbs/balls for quite a while. Tiny ones. To fit on Ryans little tree. SO, I see these GINORMOUS balls, and practically yell at Andrea, "Those balls are HUGE!". After it came out of my mouth, I turned red, and almost wet myself. Did I really just shout that at Target? O....M.....Gosh! We about died laughing. So, in honor of my big mouth, we took this picture!
See, now you KNOW you are glad you don't live close enough to come and play. Because we're embarrassing like that :P But you've got to admit, those ARE some big balls. Seriously. Who has a tree that big?

I ended up getting 3 pairs of dollar socks. One for me now (purple with a penguin), one for my stocking (green/red/white/gold striped), and one for Jimmy's stocking (Red CARS). Then, we headed off to the Jewelry Box. It's all in the same mall. I just love that store. I just got 3 things, since we were gonna come back next Friday after our weigh in.

I did find a red scard, and red earrings, and a red bracelet. I'm TOTALLY gonna wear it tomrrow. They're SO cute :)

Mom and the kids called soon, and we met them at the truck. We stopped by Walgreens to pick up the baggie toppers, then they dropped me off, and I hid more of my packages in the bedroom, and started on dinner. I cooked up some Ramen noodles. I don't usually buy them, because everyone here LOVES them, and they're not the best thing to be eating. But every once in a while. Every couple of months. Right? That's not bad.

I made my stir fry, then directed the kids to do their chores. They got quite a bit accomplished before Scouts/Activity days. Andrea came to pick them up at 6:45pm, and I was left with just Joe. Where's Jim, you ask? He'd gotten in trouble earlier for being mean, and I laid him down in my closet with a pillow and blanket in the dark. His room is too light, and my bedroom was full of packages and toys and bags. So the closet it was. Well, he fell asleep.

Anyway, after the kids left, I went in my room, and started wrapping presents. Jimmy, of course, woke up. He'd been asleep for about an hour. I kicked the little boys out, and wrapped. They kept peeking under the door, and giving me a blow by blow play of what I was doing. Finally, I was able to push a box in front of the door so they couldn't peek under it :)

I wrapped up the Wii games, and some movies from the day after Thanksgiving sale, and some jammies, and some Wii accessories, and my gift to Jimmy, and had the boys put them under the tree. They were SO enthralled with the whole process. We've never had presents under the tree. We've always had a toddler, or someone who would trash it. It's kinda nice to have a 4 year old, who is, for the most part, good with things. The trees been up for about a week, and no one has tipped it over yet. Knock on wood.

Andrea brought the kids back around 8:30/9pm, and we chatted for a few minutes. Jacob wanted to show her this really cool new RC helicopter that he'd bought at WalMart with his babysitting money. It really flies. Sure, it crashes pretty hard, but he was REALLY happy with it, as a toy.

So Andrea goes home, and I put the kids to bed. I start working on my Christmas card list, then realize that I have to go and change the prices on my store. Manually. Almost 400 of them. Dang! Changed all the prices from $2.50 to $1.25. And I must say, a few of the bigger packs got changed to $1.25 also. It was taking too long - LOL

Andrea came over to borrow a stapler, to attach the baggie topper to the baggie, and we got distracted on the computer. Her Dad-in Law came looking for her an hour later. Oops. Now we were in trouble - LOL!

It was around 10:30pm, and Captain America was still not home. I started working on something, then Andrea was on Skype, so we started chatting. She was baking cookies for Sams goodie bags, and I was 1/2 working on a project, 1/2 blogging. Captain America came home after 11pm, and looked SO tired. Poor man. He is always so busy. And we were complaining about trainings. They looked easy compared to this. But at least hes happy doing what he's doing. Army life suits him just fine. What a good man.

He went to bed, and I plugged along. Andrea and I started chatting again at around 1am (yes, I know, I should have gone to bed). And now, here it is, 2:25am, and I've still yet to design anything. I blogged about my day. Even with pictures. But no WordArt. I'll see what I can design real quickly for ya. Be right back......

OK, here I am again. 2:35am. Not too bad, eh? Here's your WordArt for today. I take no responsibility for any typos, or just plain dumbness. LOL! This works, right? 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
box.net

Friends 4 Ever

Day 2 of my diet is over. Dang, it was a long one. We had a 2 hour snow delay (I KNOW, crazy!), but my kids were up SO early. Plus, Captain Americas battery had a phone recall from 4-6 or something like that, so his phone kept ringing. They had to have phone contact with everyone in the batter, then Captain America was supposed to make the call to the commander. I had the hardest time going back to sleep. Then Joe and Jim and Eme were up at 6:15, and kept coming in my room. Finally, I just put my headphones in, and listened to Bella and Jacob and Edward in New Moon. Ahhhh, I might not have been sleeping, but it was definitely restful :)

I got up at 7:30ish. Got kids fed, and they went out to play. We also watched the Doctor Who Thanksgiving Special, the Waters of Mars. OMGosh, it was good. Scary water monster people.

Leslie, my neighbor, had her kids come to my house in the AM before school. She had class, and I told her to let them come over, and I'd make sure they got to school on time. The kids played around a bit, and left at 9:10am. They all walked together, and I think, had fun.

Laurie and I went to the gym at 11 something. I did the elliptical for 20 minutes, and the treadmill for 10. Not the biggest of workouts, but hey, it was a workout. And it was more than yesterday. So I was pleased with that.

I got home, fed my kids, had lunch myself, and designed for a while. I needed some more WordArt packs for the week. Really, the day was all about trying to not think about food. Cause I was hungry. But I did good, and didn't eat things not on the menu.

I got my stuff together to run some errands, and went out to the truck, but it was stone dead. Someone had left the lights on inside. Crap! There was no power whatsoever. I texted Andrea, and she said that after school she'd come and jump my truck. Thank Goodness!

I worked on the budget for a while, and soon it was time for the kids to be home. Andrea came shortly after that. My truck was SO dead. It had to sit with jumper cables for 30 minutes before it would turn over. Man, that's not good.

I let it run for 45 minutes, just to make sure it was super charged up. I decided to do my errands on Wednesday. I cooked Sausage and Eggs for the kids, and REALLY wanted some. It smelled SO good, and I was SO hungry. I made my stir fry, which I ate with crackers, and ate my apple, then sat down to watch Survivor with the kids. We watched episodes 7 and 8. Russell kinda grows on you after a while, I think.

So I designed, and blogged, and put the kids to bed, and now what to do. It's 8:42 pm, Captain America is still at work, kids are asleep, the WHOLE kitchen is stocked with food. The chocolate chunks are calling my name. Or the granola bars. Or the cereal. Or a PBJ. Or some popcorn. But no, I'm not gonna do it. I just drank another BIG cup of Herbal Peppermint tea, and I think I'm gonna go hide in my room. With the audio version of Eclipse. Because Twilight won't make me fat.

WordArt Wednesday Again! How does it keeping sneaking up on me? And where, may I ask, has the whole year gone??? How can it be December already??? Sigh. hehehe.

So do you like this one? I have some Page Corner WordArt Packs coming out tomorrow, and I thought I'd give you a little preview. Cool, eh?

Anyway, Click HERE to go to scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember, you need to be logged into the gallery in order to get the download :)

Dude, we look SO funny in this picture, the longer I look at it. Captain America's eyes are a bit creepy, and I just look odd. ROFL!

Accidentally On Purpose

So it was an interesting day on Monday :) I got up at 7am, hurriedly got the kids ready for school, and sent them off on their way. Bundled up, because it was SO cold outside. And drizzly. But just a little bit. Not the soaking kind, at least. Or else I would have driven them.

Andrea and I went grocery shopping shortly after that. It's always more fun to shop with friends, even if it's just for food. Or is that especially if it's for food :) LOL! We met up with Laurie 1/2 way through, and stopped to chat for a while in the water/juice isle - hehehe. Really, 7:30am-8am is the PERFECT time to go to the commissary. No one is there :)

So we finished up, and paid, and loaded up her truck, and headed home. It was getting chilly, and sprinkling a bit more. We decided to put our groceries away, and go for a walk. Because did I tell you about our diet goal? I thought I did, but I don't think I did :)

Andrea and Laurie and I decided to go back on my original diet for the next 10 days, until my birthday party on the 11th. We weighted ourselves this morning, and that's our starting weight. We're gonna weigh ourselves on the 11th, and see who loses the most weight. By doing the diet. Not just not eating, cause that's cheating - LOL! We're all 3 of us gonna go to "The Jewelry Box" and pick out 6 things, then put them all in "the pot". The person who loses the most weight gets "the pot". I'm excited!

So, today I weighed, and I was 159.2. Sigh. Just 2 months or so ago, I was 140. See, I can't control my eating. I NEED to be on a program. Lack of self control. But I know that it comes off fast with this eating plan. I've seen it work. I know it works. I just have to keep the food out of my mouth :)

Anyway, Andrea and I wanted to walk. But it was SO cold. And my stroller was getting all wet, cause I'd left it outside. Because we live in El Paso. Sun City. Not rain city. That's Florence, Oregon, where I lived last year - ROLF!

SO, we decided to go to the gym instead. Bleh! I hate the gym. It's hard to stay motivated. I get SO bored.

Anyway, I walked down to Andreas house, and IT WAS SNOWING!!! What? I live WHERE? I thought I left Chicago long ago? It's SO not supposed to snow in El Paso. Super huge flakes, but it wasn't sticking. Good thing we decided to go to the gym. We'd have been snowmen by the time we were done walking :)

I did the treadmill for 10 minutes, and the eliptical for 10 minutes. I know, I suck. But it's better than nothing. I think my legs and butt are gonna be sore on Tuesday, though. If we go again tomorrow, I'm bringing my MP3 player and listening to Twilight: New Moon. That'll make the time fly!

We got home at lunch time, and I fed the gang. I had my cucumbers and cheese, Jake had a hamburger, and Jimmy had a hot dog. With fruit. And I think, some carrots. I don't remember what they ate - LOL! Food. It was definitely food :)

I spent some time on the computer, watching a Scooby Doo movie with Jimmy at the same time. We both almost fell asleep (LOL!), but held off :)

Andrea came to pick me up at 3pm, to go and get the kids. The snow was sticking by this time. Wet, but sticking. It was nasty out there. BIG flakes. I picked up some Speech paperwork from the school, and got the kids. Joe slipped and fell in the muddy snow, and got his pants SUPER trashed, so I made him ride in Ms Andreas truck with no pants. Good thing he was wearing undies - ROFL! My kids know my standing rule. If you get SO dirty that you're gonna mess up my vehicle (or that of my friends), you've gotta go pants-less (or shirt-less). hehehe.

So we get home, and the kids play outside in the little bit of snow that's sticking. Really, it's pretty pathetic, compared to the snow we got in Chicago and Southern Ohio. But it's a lot for El Paso.

I stole some pics from my neighbors facebook account. Beautiful, eh? This is her son and her house. (It looks just like my house, only reversed, and without the pretty decorations)

See my truck and my swing set!!!

Here's the neighborhood

So while it's not what you in the frozen north are used to, it's still snow. It's supposed to be 65 at this time in El Paso. The schools are running on a 2 hour delay on Tuesday. Crazy, eh? When we lived in Chicago, we didn't have a single snow day. Seriously. We had the same snow on the ground for 6 weeks, but they didn't cancel school. Their snow plows rocked. Or sucked, depending on which side of the "cancel school" issue you were . hehehe.

After the kids came in from the "snow", I made homemade hot chocolate for them. It smelled SO good, but I resisted. I must admit, I hid in my room for most of the evening. I can't resist the food this early in my diet, so I have to hide. I took a nice, relaxing bath for a while too. That helped.

I reheated the turkey noodle thing I'd made yesterday, and fed it to the kids. Let me tell you, they were ecstatic -not. They'll be glad that it's gone tomorrow, and they can eat something else. Waste not, right?

I designed 2 WordArt packs, and listened to more New Moon. I played on Facebook, and checked my friends' blogs, and just wasted some time :) I went in and put Jimmy and Joe to bed at 7ish. They both wanted Mommy snuggle time, which was nice. Eme, Jake, and Tom were put to bed at 8:30ish, and Captain America didn't get home till 9:30ish.

I'm hoping that tomorrow is a better "food" day. Not that I didn't eat good today, because I did. But it was hard. And I thought about food a lot. Only a few more days, and I'll be over the hump. Wish me luck, girls!

Dumb computer. It's been having issues lately. Probably because I use it too much. 4-8 hours a day, for almost a year. Yeah, it's getting old. I'm saving up to buy a new one. This one shuts itself off when it gets too hot. I need to get one of those cooling fan things. I saw one at Big Lots for 12 bucks. Maybe I'll go check it out soon...

So while watching TV tonight (I know, I usually don't watch it, but since this diet thing is TOTALLY kicking my butt, I needed more distractions), I saw this new show called "Accidentally On Purpose". Don't know what the show is about, so much, but I thought the title was hilarious. My kids do things "Accidentally on purpose" all the time :)

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

4shared
box.net

Power in Numbers

I must say. It was a WONDERFUL Sunday :) I think I did everything I wanted to do :)

Kids got up, got showered/bathed, got ready, and we got to church on time. The kids sat mostly nice for Sacrament, and Primary went well. I did sharing time, and it was well received. We learned all about service, and how we, as a family, can serve others. I think the older primary kids got more out of it than the younger one - hehehe.

We got home a little after noon, and had lunch. I took some of the leftover turkey, ground it up in my new food chopper, added Miracle Whip, and had a sandwich. Just like tuna, but with turkey. I put it on bread, and added a layer of homemade cranberry sauce. Soooooooo tasty :)

After everyone ate, we hung out for a little while, and Captain America was actually home early. He was home by 1:15pm. Dang! At around 2pm, we got the kids situated with a movie, and we went to take a nap. I was SO tired. After staying up late so many nights in a row, I needed a nap.

I actually slept for a few hours. I felt pretty good when I woke up. At 4pm, I went out, and started to get ready for dinner. We were going over the Kayleys house. Andrea, and Laurie, and a few other girls from church were all gone come together for dinner. Bringing our Thanksgiving leftovers. SO much fun :)

I turned my leftover turkey into noodles/soup, and reheated the mashed potatoes, and baked a pound cake. And brought the cranberry sauce. We got there a little after 5pm. SO much fun! I have 5 kids, Kayley has 4, Laurie has 4, Chelsey has 2, Heather has 2, Jessica has at least 1, and Andrea only brought one of hers. That's 7 moms, at least 19 kids, and Captain America. ROFL! All the other guys are deployed :) But I think he had fun too. But let me tell you, the volume level was LOUD! hehehe.

What a great idea, for us all to get together. Because I can tell you, Sundays are the hardest when your husband is gone. Because everyone else has their families, and are busy. When Captain Americawas at trainings, Sundays were definitely the longest day of the week. Hopefully the idea will stick, and we'll get together more often :)

We got home at 7ish, I put the little kids to bed, and I chatted on the phone with Andrea for bit. Chelsey came over at 8 to borrow the first 2 Twilight books. She stayed and chatted for about 30 minutes.

I put the older kids to bed, and here I sit. Blogging, Facebooking, and listening to New Moon on the MP3 player. Life is good :)

I really liked the way this WordArt turned out :) Hopefully you can find something good to scrap with it. Like pictures of kids ganged up on their Dad - ROFL!

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
box.net
mediafire