Curiosity Killed the Cat

Sleepy.......I just wanna go to sleep..... Luckily, it's only 9:56pm. I can do this fast, design fast, and snooze. Snooze for a LONG time :) hehehe.

I was SOOO tempted to go back to sleep after waking up this morning. Seriously :) I got up, got Joe up and dressed and shoes on, and told Tom to walk the kids to the bus stop at 7:25am. It was 7:10am. And I went back to bed. It didn't work, of course, but I tried.

Andrea texted at about that time, and said that she wanted to walk, but that she wanted to walk right at 8am. So much for my sleep idea :) I did give it my best effort for 15 minutes. Had I not had to get up, I'd have TOTALLY fallen back asleep. sigh.

I got Jimmy and Jake started on what they were doing, and headed out for a walk. It was FREEZING cold. VERY cold. Like low 50's. Buuuurrrrrr. Yes, I know, I'm a wimp. hehehe. This is the end of April. It shouldn't be that cold. We actually got hailed upon while walking :) I kept joking, and saying, "Look, girls, it's snowing on us. This just isn't right!". hehehe. Andrea and Veronica and I walked.

I got home at 9:15ish, and again, tried to take a nap. But ended up texting my friends for an hour and a half instead. hehehe. Did you know that I'm up to over 6000 texts for the month? And I still have till the 6th. I wonder if I can hit 7000? LOL :) I'm not a big talker on the phone, but I can sure text - hehehe.

I went and took a shower at 11am, and got all pretty - hehehe. Gotta do that every once in a while :) I got some new body wash, and it smells SO good :) Just thinking about it makes me want to go and take a shower... ok, not really. LOL! Maybe a bath.... OK, so I just wanna sleep.

Here I am, all pretty. Well, as pretty as it gets, anyway :)

I did a little bit of business work on the computer, and cleaned up a bit. I have a TON of laundry that needs folded, but, well, yeah, maybe tomorrow. At 12:45pm, Hilary came and picked me up. We went to the Northeast Side, and went to Walmart. She needed to pick up her contacts, and I needed to get a few things for Captain America.

After Walmart, we met Laurie at El Taco Tote. It's Captain America's favorite restaurant. So we went there. hehehe. Because, apparently, no one in our group can make a decision. LOL! When I'm the one making all the decisions of where to go or what to do, you know there's a problem - hehehe. Just kidding, girls.... Mostly!

Veronica and Andrea were supposed to met us there, but they both bailed on us. Veronica got her hair done, and Andrea had to go with her hubby on a work thing. Missed ya, girls!

Here's Laurie :)

And Hilary and I. See, we're twins...

Hil and I ordered a fajita taco. She got chicken, and I got beef. Then, we got lettuce and cucumbers, ditched the tortilla, and ate it like a salad. It was pretty good. But a bit spicy for me. I forget, every time, that it's too spicy for me - LOL! I think I must think that because Captain America likes it, I should like it too. ha!

Anyway, Hilary and I left at 2:15pm, and drove across town to my Podiatrist appointment. I got right in, and saw the doctor. He looked at my feet, and said that my plantar warts were very small. There were a lot of them, but that they were tiny. And could be treated with the drops. You know, the OTC stuff you can buy for warts. And it dries hard and clear/yellow-ish.

He gave me a prescription for 40% strength. And a prescription for some antifungal cream. Not sure why, but I got it. And told me to take double the dose of Vitamin A for a month. All those things together will "chase" the warts away. OK, I'll give it a try.

(Hilary, hon, I'm having a BLAST chatting with you, but I'm SO gonna pay for it in the morning - hehehe. It's 11:35pm, and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard - hehe)

SO, Hilary and I headed for the hospital, where they fill "off post" prescriptions. It wasn't hardly a wait at all! Very speedy. Except they didn't have anything that I needed. No cream. No war remover stuff. No Vitamin A. Nothing. Sigh.

So we head to Walgreens. They have it, or so they say, so we wait around for 20 minutes for it to be done. No Vitamin A. Gotta buy that OTC. No wart removal thing. They don't sell the 40% solution. OTC has it in medicated pads. Sigh. So I grab some of that. It was $44 by the time I was done. Sigh . SO expensive. It'd better get rid of these dang things :)

So by the time we got it all got, it was almost 5:30pm. We swung by Little Caesars, and got some pizzas for the kids. We dropped her pizzas off at her house, and she took me home. The kdis were SOOO excited about the pizza.

I cooked and ate my "diet" dinner, and had the kids do their chores. I straightend the living room a tad, and made a pile for laundry. I need to fold it tomorrow. Cause it's getting out of hand :) What's a good "Fold the Laundy" show?

After that, I didn't really do anything. Leslie's oldest son came over and gave me some curtains that matched the couch. She'd gotten new ones. He stayed and chatted for a few minutes. Good kid, he is :) Dang, I just sounded like Yoda - ROFL! Can you tell I'm tired :)

I played on the computer for a little while, and we started a movie. Captain America came home, and watched part of it with us. We were going to go bowling with a guy from Captain Americas work, and his wife, but that fell through. Then we were going to go to a movie, but we were both too tired. We'll go out tomorrow. Because I need sleep.

Well, it's a lot later now than when I started this thing :) I did get to chat on Facebook with Hilary as I was typing, so that make it fun. Long, but fun. Harder, but fun. hehehehe. I'm gonna link up this freebie, and go to sleep. Cause I'm getting very distractable...

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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When The Wind Blows

It's Friday, so that means time for New Products!!! Woohooo! Click HERE to go to my Scrapbookgraphics store to pick them up at 20% off, this week only!

Layout by WelliDesigns

Tired.... again..... It's almost 1am. Really, I need to go to sleep. But I've gotta blog first. Luckily I've already designed and uploaded and hosted and everything, so I just gotta chronicle my day - hehehe.

I was up at 7am, but I was dragging. Super tired. But, I managed somehow. I got the kids ready and out the door at 7:30am, then got ready for a walk. The girls were actually gonna go. It'd been a while since we all went - hehehe.

AND, Andrea came with us. We found out yesterday (I'm not sure how long she's known, but not told me...) that her son, Luke, does NOT have MRSA. Thank goodness! And thank you all for your prayers :) He had a nasty virus, but they don't know what.

She added it up, and he's been sick with some kind of illness every 2 weeks since early March. He was in the hospital then, and has since had this mystery illness, Chicken Pox, Hand & Foot disease. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Poor kid. Taking all those steroids for breathing issues because of El Paso air is REALLY wreaking havoc on his poor immune system. SO, Andreas just preparing herself for a very sick baby every 2 weeks. Sigh.

ANYWAY, Veronica and Laurie and Andrea and I went walking. And Kayley caught up with us on the way back. It was a nice walk. Fast-ish pace. Great company. Warm, and windy. It was perfect :)

After the walk, I stayed and chatted at Andreas house for a few minutes. He cat had not come home after being outside a few days ago. She was pretty upset about it. She was making plans to go and visit the animal control place, and see what they could do for her. Miriam seemed like a nice cat. Poor thing. Wonder where it went?

I came back home, and cleaned up a bit, and helped kids with homework and such, and relaxed for a bit. I really wanted a nap, but it didn't happen.

I hung out with Captain America at lunch time. He was home at 11:45ish, and we hung until around 1:15pm. I was supposed to have a primary presidency meeting tomorrow at noon-ish, but Hilary had to work tomorrow during lunch. But was supposed to be off today at 1:30. SO, we moved around the meeting.

BUT, Captain America, with the money from selling his amp for his guitar, was gonna get his old truck worked on today. So he'd arranged for it to be towed to the hobby shop. But then got called into work unexpectedly. He had to drive clear across post (to Biggs) and drop something off. And the tow truck dude was supposed to be here. Anytime.

SO, I waited until the tow truck dude came, did what he had to do, and left, then went to my meeting. I was only 10 minutes late, and actually, I was the first to arrive. Ha! You girls were ALL later than me - hehehe.

We planned our upcoming Quarterly activity for primary. I think it's really gonna be a great one :) I've got some promo stuff to do for it. Tomorrow may be a good day to work on it :)

After the meeting, I hurried home, dropped off the truck, and walked to the bus stop. I got there after the bus, met the kids across the street, and started walking home. OMGosh, was it ever windy. Dust blowing, 70 mph winds. CRAZY! We couldn't even see the mountains.

Anyway, I crossed the road, holding Joe's hand, kinda dragging the poor kid, so we could get home faster, and I had my hoodie pulled partially over my face, with my head down, because it was SO dusty, and guess what?

I totally ran into a pole. I'm just glad it didn't knock me over, because there's people at the bus stop I don't wanna look stupid in front of. hehehe. I hit hard. It was a pole with a big ole flashing lighted sign on it, that tells you to go 15 mph in the school zone. My headband scrapped on my head, making a 2 inch cut in my head. And broke the headband.

See that red line? OK, so it's not serious. Not like stitches or anything. But it LEFT A MARK!!!


Luckily, it wasn't deep. It didn't bleed, but scratched the crap out of it. And was sore and burned. I got home, checked it out, and sat down to design. I had 3 WordArt packs to make before Scouts. I had to hustle.

I got them done, and sent the previews to my preview maker, Joy. She's amazing. Really makes my job MUCH more easy, you know :) Thanks, girl! I really appreciate you :)

At 5:00pm, I was done. Well, done enough. I'd done all the designing. That's the part that takes creativity,. The rest is just busywork - hehehe. I got hot dogs for the kids for dinner, since my plan to make homemade pizza fell apart. I didn't have time to do it. So hot dogs it was.

We loaded up in the truck at 5:30pm, and headed to Chuck E Cheese. Joe's Tiger Cub (Cub Scouts) group had earned a pizza party, and all of the families were invited. I decided that it was more cost effective to not go with the group rate ($6 per person - 2 slices pizza & 16 tokens) but do my own thing. I had coupons, and ended up getting 2 Adult Sized sodas and 260 tokens for $44. The kids had that much money from allowance that I'd never passed out last month. Or maybe I planned it that way - hehehe.

The kids each got 40 tokens, and Captain America and I got 30. Yeah, I used 3 of mine, and gave the rest away - hehehe. It's nice to have older kids, cause they really just do their own thing. They all went off with their tokens and played. I only put 10 at a time in Joe and Jim's cups, because I was afraid that they'd lose them. You know how little boys are.

Here's Joe with his Den and Den Leader

And Joe with his Dad

It seemed to work pretty good. Captain America didn't come with us in the truck, but met us there. He helped out with the Cub Scout ceremony party, and then went to play games too. Andrea was there with her son, and she and I and another mom sat and chatted the whole time. And I texted Hilary until my phone died. :( I hate it when my phone dies. I'm not sure what to do without it (LOL)

So I just went to check my texting numbers, and I have 5800 something since the 6th of the month. hehehe. That's sending or receiving 250 texts a day. Yeah, that sounds about right - hehehe. That's getting or sending a text every 4 minutes for my waking hours. Sad, I know - hehehe. I'm just staying connected, that's all!

Hilary's WAY got me beat. She has over 11,000 texts this month. She's more chatting than I am, I think :) Anyway, we had fun hanging at Chuck E Cheese. Well, as much fun as one can have there. My hands kinda smelled like Chuck E Cheese coins, which was nasty. Metallic, sweaty, grubby, grimy little kid hands. Nasty, eh?

So the party started to die down around 8pm, and Andrea left. And my phone died. So I went and did a few games with the kids. Tom and Jake wanted me to "ride the rollercoaster" with them. It's a simulator. I like it :)

We left Chuck E Cheese at about 8:50pm, and headed home. LATE nite. We didn't even get home and in the house and situated until 9:30m. Laurie was supposed to go back to Leslie's house and get her "low lights" put in, but she didn't go over. I guess, cause I wasn't there. So it was too late for Leslie by the time I got back from Chuck E Cheese, so we're gonna have to do it another day ;(

I loaded my store, and did the stuff that I needed doing, and watched some TV while doing it. And here it is, 1:35am. How did that happen? How did it get so late? I remember sitting down at 10pm, and thinking I'd be asleep by midnight. HA! oh well :(

So tomorrow is Friday, and I have my appointment with the Podiatrist. For my plantar warts. I'm thinking it's just a consult, and that they won't do anything yet. But I don't know. We'll find out tomorrow, I guess. Better make sure my feet are clean. hehehe.

So, I've Teamed up with Jen from Graham Like the Cracker again! I just LOVE her stuff. She has a new kit out, "When The Wind Blows", and she wanted me to make some WordArts with her kit! Woohoo for me - hehehe.


Click HERE to go to Jen's blog, to pick up a WordArts by me on her blog. Then 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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Important Child

Goodness. I'm just tired typing the time. It's 12;35am. I should totally be in bed asleep. Yeah, I played WAY too much today :)

Woke up at 7am, and decided against showering. hehehe. Got the kids ready and on the bus, then cleaned for a while. I had to leave the house at 8am to get Jake to his test on time. So I had 30 minutes to straighten up the house, and make it look good. I got quite a bit done in 30 minutes, actually.

We left at 8am, and I stopped and got $40 worth of gas. It wasn't enough to fill it up, but it got me about 1/2 way. We have a HUGE tank. Then, it was off to the TAKS test.

We dropped Jake off at 8:45am, and headed to Walmart. Captain America needed a few things, so we went to pick them up. We got stuck in the TV isle again, this time watching Alice in Wonderland. It was ok, because I was on the phone with my Mom. We stayed there for about 30 minutes, then headed to get what we needed. We paid, and headed out to Fallas Paredes. Captain Americawanted some shorts, cause the last pair we got from there didn't fit. And I let Jimmy play/look in the toy isle for quite some time - hehehe. I also got Eme a little sun dress to go over the swim suit at the pool.

Jake texted at 10:30am, saying he was done. We went and picked him up, signed him out, then headed back home. We were there by 11:15am. We got the house the rest of the way cleaned up, and Captain America was home for lunch. We cooked together, and ate together, all of us at the table, and chatted. It was nice :)

After lunch, Captain America went back to work, Jake worked on a few math classes he needed to finish up, and I went with Hilary to Hobby Lobby.

We asked Laurie if she wanted to go, but she was freaking out because she'd tried to color her hair a brown color, and it turned out blue. BLUE? We drove over, and yep, it was bluish. More gray, but definitely a slight blue tint. Poor Laurie. She wasn't too happy.

I texted Leslie (my neighbor), who'd gone to beauty school, and had ALL the stuff in her house, so see what we could do to fix it.

Anyway, after a quick stop at Laurie's house, we headed out. Hilary's son had a Science project to do, and she needed some crafting supplies. We drove to Michaels, and she realized it wasn't Hobby Lobby. hehehe. It worked, though. She found everything she needed.

We stopped at Sam's club on the way home, and got a few things. I got some shredded lettuce, and we both got a pair of brown sequin flip flops, plus a pair for Laurie. Now we all match - hehehe.

SO, funny Hilary story. We stopped by Sonic on the way home to get a Rt 44 Diet Dr Pepper, Easy Ice, and we were both eating apples. Well, Hilary choked on hers. And she couldn't get it out of her wind pipe. She was almost gagging she was coughing so hard. OK, you're thinking this isn't so funny. Poor Hilary. She needed a drink, and hers was taking WAY too long to get, so she busted open the new milk from Sams Club. And me, being the great friend that I am, took a photo to document the occasion. Yep, I'm that good :)


She dropped me off at the house, and I had Jake start cleaning his room. It was pretty messy. Jimmy cleaned his too, and it was good, for a 4 year old - LOL! I walked to the bus stop with Veronica and Jimmy, and we got the kids from the bus.

Eme and Tom and Jake had to stay home and clean their room, but Jimmy and Joe got to come to the park and play. They had fun (the little boys, not the room cleaners)

Veronica and I hung at the bus for a while, then Laurie came too. Leslie came eventually, and Hilary. Leslie invited us over to fix Laurie's hair, and to get the gray out of mine. We were gonna be to her house at 8:30ish. Sounded good to me :)

We stayed and played at the park until 5:45pm, then headed home. Leftover Lasagna casserole from the freezer was dinner. Popped it in the microwave, and it was good to go. I prepared all the stuff I needed for Cub Scouts, and the kids helped me. We made a gathering activity game, and signs for the opening/closing ceremony. We made Fruit Kabobs. It took about an hour to get everything together.

So about 5 minutes before we left, I texted Leslie and asked if her boys wanted to come to scouts with my boys. She said yes, and we picked them up. Jake and Hunter got dropped off at the church, and me and the other kids continued on to the Park by the church. We got everything set up, then the other people started coming too.

Apparently the Cubmaster (Andrea's husband) missed the part where I was gonna take care of all of the preparation stuff for the Pack Meeting, because he had all the same stuff prepared that I did. Oh well...

We had my family, Andrea's family, Laurie's family, Karin's family, Kayley's family, Hilary, Kristie Blackman (and son), the Glendons, hmmm, I think that was all. It was a well attended meeting!

The kids had a great time, and Ryan did a nice job. It lasted for about an hour, and we all packed up, and headed back to the church/home. Captain America met us at the park, so I sent him back to the church to pick up Jake/Hunter. We met back at home.

Hunter and Braxton had a FABULOUS time. They wanna keep coming, and I'm fine with that! Scouting is a wonderful program :)

So I put the kids to bed, and got everyone situated, and headed over to Leslie's house. She got me in the hair coloring chair, put on the apron thingy, mixed the color, and off she went. She was FANTABULOUS! JUST like being at the salon!

Laurie came over too, and Leslie tried to do something to take the blue out, but it wasn't working. So she ended up bleaching part of it. Then tomorrow, she's gonna put in "Low Lights". It looked a TON better when she was done tonight. Not so blue - hehehe.

My hair looked great too! No more gray! Leslie really knew her junk! OK, I found a new hair dresser :) hehehe.

We stayed and chatted and talked WAY too late. But it was fun :) Gotta love late night girl time!

So here's a few pics from our evening. Me with the color on the gray parts.

Me with color ALL over, and the plastic cappy thingy

Laurie with the hair puller througher thingy on

1/2 way pulled

All the way pulled

Bleached

So after drying my hair, I styled it like those guys who dress like girls and hang at the mall. I know you all know who I'm talking about. hehehe. What do you think of the hair? hehehe. The boobs give away the gender, though - ROFL!



SO, this WordArt request is from Cynthia. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Sleepy Head

Hi :) Dang, Tuesday was long and busy. SO glad it's over :)

I woke up at 7am, got the kids ready and out the door, then hopped in the shower, and got all ready for the day. I got Jake and Jim ready, and we left the house at 8:10am. We drove across El Paso to the site of the TAKS test. It's the Texas State Assessment test. Don't know what TAKS stands for, but that's what it is. hehehe. 7th Grade Math test.

I dropped him off at the Sylvan Learning Center with about 20 other kids. And then I had 3 hours to kill. I didn't wanna go home and waste the gas. So I went to Walmart. We looked at stuff, and toys, and then wandered to the electronics. Toy Story was on, so we sat down and watched the last 20 minutes of that. We wandered some more.

$50 later, we left Walmart. Sigh. Would have been cheaper to drive back home, right? LOL! I guess it was all stuff we needed. Ink for the printer, a cable for the TV, body wash, household stuff. Next, we went to McDonalds. It as 10:15, and I asked for a Kids Meal for Jimmy. Yeah, no burgers till 10:30. So I informed the guy we'd be hanging in the kids playland until 10:30. hehehe.

Jimmy kept coming and asking ever minute, "Is it time yet?". Sigh. He really wanted the car in the kids meal. hehehe. Finally, it was time. The child ate every bite. hehehe. I guess he was hungry :) I chatted with a few of the moms/grandmas in the playland, and at 11:10am we headed out. That was a nice killer of time :)

We went to Family Dollar and looked around for a bit, and then drove to the Dollar Tree. We'd just got to the toy isle when Jake texted and said that his test was over, and to come and get him. It was just after noon.

So we went and picked him up. The instructor lady waved and said "See you tomorrow", and I was like, "Whaaat?" She said, "Yeah, for the Reading Test tomorrow". I said "I thought we did that back in March". "Nope", she said, "That was the writing test".

Crap. Now I have to go back tomorrow. And wait another 3 hours for Jake to get done with a test..... Anyway, we headed back home.

Captain America was still there for lunch, so we got to see him for a few minutes. Hilary came over a few minutes before Captain America had to leave, since she was out for the day. Jake was a few classes behind in Math, so I got him set up for that, set Jimmy up on the Wii (he'd been asking to play it ALL day long - hehehe), and Hilary and I headed out to Fallas. A security tag was left on an item I'd purchased yesterday, and it needed removed.

We went to Walmart first, so she could return something, then on to Fallas. I found some $3.99 beach towels for the kids, which were pretty cool. I just knew that they'd love them :)

Next, we headed to the Thrift Store. I'd come to the conclusion that my Formals weren't gonna fit by the ball. Which is May 14th. Yeah, I can't lose 23 lbs in 2 1/2 weeks. Not gonna happen. Maybe if I'd started in January. hehehe. Anyway, I found a BEAUTIFUL formal for $12.50. Burgendey colored, with white trim. I"ll get pictures soon :)

We headed back home after that. I got the kids from the bus at 3:30, and by 4pm, we were headed to the PX. Jake had a gift card from his Birthday, last August (hehehe), that he wanted to spend, along with some babysitting money. He was one happy camper.

There's a GameStop in the PX, and he found 3 games that he wanted, for his money that he had. Can't remember what they were, but they were all movie themed, I think. Who knows - hehehe. We walked around in the PX for a while, then I got the kids $0.89 burritos. They were SO excited. Good thing they're easy to please :)

We came back home, and got ready for the pool. Joe and Jake wanted to stay home, so Jim and Eme and Tom and I headed out. Tom had his football gear with him, so he could shower and change at the pool.

We got there at 5pm, and I had to leave at 5:45 to get Tom there. And I did, with 1 minute to spare - hehehe. Hilary watched the other kids at the pool, so I didn't have to get them out. I hurried back to post, and luckily, the guy behind me got chosen for random inspection. Gotta like that - hehehe.

Back to the pool, hanging with Laurie and Hilary, then left the pool at 6:30pm. We went home, got the kids changed, and I headed to Leslies house. Her oldest son, who's name eludes me, and I carried her furniture to my house. OMGosh, they were heavy. We started with the couch, and I had to have Jake help me carry my end. hehehe. I'm a wimp.

We rested for a minute, then got the love seat. Yeah, I thought it would be lighter, but because I was tired, it was just as heavy - hehehe. We rested a bit longer, then got the oversized chair. JUST as heavy. hehehe. I know you're laughing at me now :) The kids helped carry the pillows, and cushions, and end tables. And rug. And extra bar stools.

At about that time, I got a text from Captain America telling me that he didn't get out of work in time to go coach Toms team, so I needed to pick Tom up. I had Jake put the little kids to bed, and at 7:50pm, I drove over to the football field. I was only about 5 minutes late. I got Tom, and headed back to post.

The dude in front of me got stopped for a random inspection at the gate. hehehe. Twice today :)

I got back home, Tom showered, and I rearranged the furniture. It's really full. 2 couches, 2 love seats, and an oversized chair. 2 coffee tables, 4 end tables, and an ottoman. Yeah, gotta figure something out.

I cooked dinner for myself, since I'd forgotten to eat and didn't eat to Taco Bell with the kids. I sat on my new couch, and ate some dinner, and watched the news. Yeah, it was nice :) Not the news, but the new couch - hehehe.

I started working on my Cub Scouts Pack Meeting paperwork stuff, and Captain America got home at 9:30pm from work. We hung for a while, then I finished the Cub Scout papers, and emailed them off.

I started blogging, and Captain America came and sat by me on the new couch, and we watch Simpsons together. ROFL! What a nice activity, right? hehehe.

Here it is, 10:42pm, and I'm almost done. I've gotta design something, then go to bed. Cause I'm tired. VERY tired. And I've gotta do it all again tomorrow. Wonder what stores I'll go to tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just go home, and come back when he calls. Cause that would be SO much cheaper :)

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

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Hold Your Horses

First off, just wanted to let you know that I'm having a BIG SALE for the end of the month! Go check it out :) Anything (non new releases) priced $2.50 is on sale for $1.00! That's right, just a buck! Prices will be changed back to $2.50 before the end of the month, so hurry fast!

Click HERE to go to my store at Scrapbookgraphics. com

K, mom, I've got some pics for ya! hehehe. Here's Tom and Jim before the Civil War Living History afternoon :)

Me in the truck

My stew

The coals we cooked on

Yeah, I paid Jake a dollar to walk around and take pictures of things. Don't know what's going on here, but Tom is checking something out - hehehe. I think they're watching the dude with the horse. Maybe?

Me after the Civil War thing, getting ready for something or another. It all kinda blends together... Oh yeah! Driving Lisa around El Paso. That's right!

Jimmy making a funny face :)

And back to the present :) hehehe. So, I woke up at 7am, and got kids ready. Joe kept saying that he didn't feel good. I got him ready, made him eat some peanut butter toast, and gave him some tylenol.

I sent the kids to the bus, and let Joe stay home. I wanted to see how he acted once he thought he was gonna get to stay home. He was asking to watch TV, or play with Jim in his room, or play Wii. Yeah, I finished folding the load of laundry that I'd started folding, and drove him up to the school. hehehe. He was going to school :)

I dropped him off, and came back home. Jake was going on school, Jimmy was watching Sesame Street, and I was checking emails. At 9am, Jimmy and I drove over to Lauries house, and picked up her and Rowan, and drove over to Fallas Paredes, my favoritest store! We were looking for presents for Hilary.

I ended up getting swim trunks for Joe and Jim. Cherokee brand, for $1.99 each. And Speedo swim shirts for $3.99. Not too shabby! Eme got a swimsuit for $3.99, and Jake and Tom each got a pair of neat sandals for $3.99.

Laurie and I each got Hilary some unmentionables for her birthday. hehehe. I think she liked them :) Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself :)

We drove back home, I dropped off Laurie and Rowan, and came back home. Jake was just finishing up a class. I wanted to put on some makeup,. but ran out of time. Our FRG leader called me, and wanted to get together to meet me on Wednesday. Sigh. There went all of my "get pretty" time. Dang!

Got Jake and Jim and drove back over to Lauries house. She was all pretty. And Hilary met us there. She was all pretty too. Hmmmm, I think it'll be just me, non pretty. Sigh :)

Me and Hilary and Laurie and Veronica and Teri Hardy and Kari and Julie and Karin were at lunch at Applebees. It was a TON of fun. Here's a few pics from the party.

Hilary hiding from the camera

Teri and Karin (Karin was on the phone with her hubby. He was supposed to be in Dallas for the month, but had a health scare, and was getting sent back home. Hopefully he's ok)

Kari and her daughter Josephine (whom Jimmy just adores)

Took this pic of Julie, Laurie, and Hilary, but the light was bad behind it. They decided it was the best of the pics that I took of them. Whatever - hehehe

Dang, I should have went with the makeup - hehehe. Me and Teri

Julie and Laurie and Hilary

Yeah, we couldn't get get them all smiling pretty at the same time - hehehe

Hilary opening her gifts

Ok, so this side of the table couldn't figure out how to smile either - hehehe. It didn't help that people were trying to throw ice cubes down our shirts - ha!

I should go and photoshop a head on myself with makeup on - hehehe

We were home by 2:30pm. We had SO much fun at the restaurant. Those girls are a fun bunch! Hope everyone had a good time, and Hilary, I hope you had fun! You really are a great friend, and I'm SO glad that we started hanging out! You rock, my friend! Happy Birthday :)

I went home, and cleaned up a bit. I swept a bit, and straightened up a bit. At 3:30pm, Jimmy and I walked to the bus stop, then went to the park until 4:30pm and let the kids play. Kayley and Laurie and Kari and and Veronica hung at the park for a while, then headed home.

We got dressed in our swim clothes, and headed up to the pool. Laurie and I and Hilary and Teri and Kari and Jessi Shaffer (and family) came up to the pool. Jimmy likes Jessi's daughter, Emma. They're good buddies :)

Anyway, the kids had a blast in the pool. We had 18 kids between us all (I KNOW!), and they all played in the pool while we sat on the sideline and gabbed. Wait, Kayley was there too, with her 4 kids, but she was actually in the pool with them. So I guess that was 22 kids. Dang, we've got a lot of kids - hehehe.

We were home by 7pm, and got dinner going. I'd made Lasagna casserole the night before, and had leftovers. I reheated that, added some corn, and a slice of bread, and served the kids. We all sat at the table and ate together. I need to do that more often :)

Captain America got home at around 7:45pm. Luckily, we'd had a chance to do chores, so it looked pretty nice when he came home :) I like the house to look nice when he comes home, you know. It doesn't always look nice (hehehe) but I like for it to :) Sorry, hon - ha!

Captain America spent some time hanging with the kids, and sang them guitar songs before bed. Jim and Joe fell asleep to Captain America singing songs. So sweet :) I texted with my neighbor Leslie for a while. She is moving to Hawaii at the end of the year, and is getting new furniture. So I'm getting her hand me downs! She's the chickie I got the hutch and the table from :) I'm pretty excited.

Anyway, she bought it today, and needs to clear out her old stuff. I'm gonna go tomorrow afternoon and the two of us are gonna carry it from her house to mine. There's just one house inbetween ours. We're tough!

SO, I re-arranged the living room a bit. I had my big TV set up, and then the entertainment center over in the corner, with the Wii and a little TV hooked up. Well, I'm gonna need the space, so I consolidated. I took the little TV in my room, and hooked the Wii up to the big TV. I'm gonna get rid of the Entertainment center. No big loss. I pulled it out of the trash of a friends' neighbors house after a babyshower last year - ROFL! I liked it, and it served me well - hehehe. But now it's time for someone else to use it :)

Also tomorrow is Jacobs TAKS test. That's the Texas State Assessment test. It's Math for 7th grade. I've got to drive him across town to the Sylvan learning center. I guess I need to get directions BEFORE I go to bed tonight. That might be good :) 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. Thanks!

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Angels Are Watching

Howdy ho, neighbors :) I'm stalling blogging tonight, for some reason :) I woke up at 6:20am to my alarm, and started working on my primary lesson. Come to find out, my printer was out of ink. Sigh. I was even in Walmart on Friday, in the INK isle. Sigh. Oh well....

SO, I wrote out the part that I wanted Captain America to read for sharing time, by hand. 4 pages worth. hehehe. Yeah, I'm buying ink next time I'm there. No matter what - hehe.

I worked on the cards for the hat game, and the puzzle for the mother game, and organized my thoughts. I was able to get my kids dressed, and fed, myself presentable for church, and headed over to Veronicas to pick up Tom from the sleepover at 8:15am.

Yeah, he and the little boys were running around like madmen. Apparently he'd not gone to bed at all. Sigh. I told him that he was to come home from church, and go straight to sleep. He was like, Aw, Mom, it's gonna take me FOREVER to fall asleep in the middle of the day.

Got back home, got shoes on Jimmy, and loaded up in the truck. We left for church at 8:35am, and got there at 8:40am. Kids wanted to know why we were so early. I told them that was the time I always wanna be to church, it just hasn't happened as of late. Then, I remembered that we'd agreed that whoever was doing sharing time was in charge of setting up chairs. Good thing I was early :)

I got the primary room all organized, and went up to sit with the kids. My headache was mostly gone, but I could still kinda feel it trying to come out. And I knew that if I went home and laid down, it would go away. BUT, I was doing both singing time AND sharing time today, both hours. Yeah, my poor head didn't stand a chance.

Tom slept through all of sacrament. He was actually snoring during the opening prayer, and I had to elbow him. During the sacrament, he was conscious long enough to take the bread, then again the water, then promptly fell back asleep. He's SO not going to another sleepover on a Saturday night again.

After Sacrament meeting, I sent him to the truck to sleep. No point sleeping in his class, that's just rude. I went to primary, and didn't take a break for 2 hours.

First, we had opening with the junior primary. Totally forgot the Jimmy had a talk, so we winged it. I knew the theme in and out, since I'd prepared a sharing time around it, so it was super easy to help him with an impromptu talk - hehehe. Too bad we don't have a microphone. No one could hear him :(

So, we sang a wiggle song with the little kids first, then played the game with the picture frame and the puzzle pieces. I had 9 pieces, so we sang the song 9 times. Let me tell you, when they sang the song the last time, it was beautiful! They did a wonderful time.

Oh yeah, and I was gonna tell you about this FABULOUS site that I found for Singing Time leaders. It's HERE. Wonderful! The idea about the picture frame and the hat thing are there.

Anyway, we had a "guest" come and speak to us next. Captain America dressed up as Joseph Smith, and told his story, and about Jesus. It was very nice. After that, we sang the "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ" song. And did the Hat game that that blog talked about. The little kids LOVED it. I think we sang that song about 6 times. And then another wiggle song, and it was time to go.

Hilary had brought me a Diet Dr Pepper when she'd taken her hubby home right after Sacrament (his leg was bothering him - remember, he's the one that just had knee surgery). I downed it, and started in on round 2. Senior Primary went well too.

Anyway, the migraine was back. I knew it would be. I drove home, Jake got the kids bagel sandwiches and carrots for lunch, and I got my cheese and cucumber and saltines. And I took more meds.

Tom didn't even make it to lunch. He went right upstairs and went to sleep. And we haven't heard a peep from him since (and it's 9:30pm as I'm blogging this)

We all sat on the couch and watched an episode of Dr Who, then I went to bed. I put the kids in their rooms for quiet reading/playing time, and I slept.

Captain America came home at some point, and was with the kids. I don't know when, though. I woke up at 3pm, and felt a bit better. No sudden movements, though. Or bright lights. hehehe. Just to be sure.

Jake and Captain America were cleaning the kitchen when I woke up. Joe was napping, Tom was napping, and Eme and Jim were playing. It was a nice Sunday afternoon.

I kinda slept on and off for a while longer. I helped Jake make dinner at 4pm. Lasagna casserole. And I made myself a salad. And had some diet jello. Day 4 of my diet was going well. Still no cheats. Pfew!

At 6:15pm, Jake and I loaded up in the truck, and headed to Hilarys house. We were riding with her and her son, Nathan (around Jakes age) to the Stake Center so the boys could watch the Trek musical. It was a fireside, and the boys wanted to see it. I was worried that the loud and crowd would make my migraine come back, so Hilary and I just stayed in her car and chatted. It was a very nice evening :)

The boys were done about an hour later, having grabbed some refreshments, and we headed home. Jake and I were back at home by 8:45pm. All the kids were already in bed, andCaptain America was doing some computer work. Here I am, getting ready to design a quick freebie, then I may watch something online (hmmm, maybe some Fringe), or I'll just go to bed. I've got a BUSY day tomorrow.

It's Hilary's B-DAY! Woohoo! We're going to Applebees for lunch! The shrimp and spinach salad is my favoritiest. I hope everyone we invited can make it :) Love ya, Hilary! You've quickly become one of my VERY favoritest people!!!

For anyone who likes the newer Dr Who, this WordArt will have a double meaning - 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. Thanks!

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Sweet Friend

So I woke up at 7:50am this morning, and was thankful for the 50 extra minutes of sleep :) I helped Captain America and Tom get ready for football and out the door, got breakfast for the rest of the kids and myself, and took a shower and got ready.

I was totally planning on going the to Relief Society enrichment meeting today at 10am, but realized that there's no way that I could do that AND get things ready for the Living History event at Old Fort Bliss at noon. There just wasn't enough time. So at 10am, I started putting on my Civil War clothes.

Seriously, it took me 3o minutes to get dressed. SO many layers - hehehe. I got all of the kids dressed, which was no small feat, and started in on food prep. I got a pineapple upside down cake, complete with marchino cherries, ready in a dutch oven, minus the cooking part. Same with cornbread. All we needed to do was heat some charcoal, and we could cook it there. I also got a BIG pot of stew ready to go.

And it was all ready to go at 11:30AM. Captain America and Tom were home around then I seriously was starting to feel sick. I don't know if it was the corset, or what, but my head was starting to hurt, and the lack of air was throwing me off. I took a migraine pill, and laid down for about 30 minutes.

We spent the next hour loading the truck, and getting everyone ready to go. We were supposed to be at Old Ft Bliss at noon, but it was closer to 12:45 when we got there. But it was all good.

The kids had a BLAST running around, seeing the Fort, and talking with people who came through. It was a bit bright for me, but I was ok. I drank water, and didn't move around too much. My headache went away, but it was still hard to breathe. Imagine if you take a deep, full breathe of air, that's 100%. Normal everyday breathing is 75%. I probably had my breathing reduced to 40%. Corsets are wicked things - hehehe. But I had to have it so tight to fit into the dress. LOL! I must have been skinnier than this when I made the dress :)

Anyway, I'd texted about 20 people, and told them that we were at Old Fort Bliss, and to come with their kids and check it out. I had a few friends come up. Laurie and her oldest child, Elise, dropped by. So did Heather Shoaf and her 2 kids. And Karin, her hubby, and daughter. And my neighbors Mindy and Sarah and their 6 kids between them. And Hilary came up briefly, to bring me my apple and crackers snack, which I'd totally forgotten to bring. THANKS, girl! And thanks to my friends for stopping by!

At about 3:30pm, we broke "camp", and headed home. It really was a fun little event. Close to home, and not too long. My kind of thing :) We got home, and I helped Tom make dinner. He cut up the meat into a large mixing bowl, added the cream of chicken soup, milk, shredded the cheese, added the stuffing, stirred it up, poured it into a pan sprayed with cooking spray, and cooked it What a good kid he is!

I cooked some dinner for myself real fast, and Hilary came to pick me up at 5pm. We headed across town to I-10 and Yarborogh to pick up that girl who was in town looking at houses. Her name is Lisa, and it wasn't her sister who was a fan of mine, it was a friend from church. Anyway, she was real nice, and Hilary and I look her on a driving tour of Ft Bliss.

Lisa and her hubby and 2 kids (one on the way) live in Pennsylvania, and her hubby is in Dental School. He graduates in the end of May, and he's in the Army Reserve. He'll get stationed at Ft Bliss, and is doing some kind of Dental thing here, then Oral Sugery something else. I don't know - hehehe. She seemed like a super nice lady. And she was 30, so she's close to our ages, too. Gotta love it :)

The realtor had told her that there was no way that they could live on post, because only E5 and below were getting on post. Um, yeah, I don't know what the guy was smokin' - hehehe. We told her to get on the list as soon as he got his orders, and to come in when they got here, and see what housing could do for them. I'm a total believer that Heavenly Father puts you where he wants you. We totally shouldn't have gotten to live on post, but we ended up here. Because He put us here. Anyway, we'll see where they end up :)

So we drove around some of the post housing areas, we showed her the PX, and the commissary, and Colonel Row, and the pool, and Biggs Field, and the hospital, and Hilarys housing area, and the church, then took her back to her hotel. It was about 2 hours worth of driving around. About 20 minutes before we dropped her off, my head started to hurt again.

By the time we dropped her off, I seriously thought I was gonna puke because of the pain. I told Hilary, and she gave me some Tylenol and Advil, but it was still hard. I kept rubbing my neck, hoping that it would get better, but it didn't seem to help. I couldn't get home fast enough. Sigh. Sorry, Hilary. I didn't mean to be such bad company - hehehe.

I got home, and Captain America came and rubbed my neck and back, and tried to help me feel better. He got me another migraine pill, and some sinus meds, just in case it was sinus pressure. And I fell asleep.

And woke up at 10pm. And the headache was gone, but my body felt weird. WAY too many drugs in my system. Yeah, not so good. I went out, and all the kids were still awake. Sigh. I reminded Captain America what time it was (he'd TOTALLY lost track of time), and he put them to bed. I laid down in bed, and started blogging.

It's now 10:23pm, and I gotta try and make a freebee, and get my thoughts together for my singing time/sharing time tomorrow. I've asked Captain America to wear his Civil War shirt over his Sunday clothes, and pretend to be Joseph Smith, and come and talk to the primary kids. The theme for the week is, "Jesus Christ restored the gospel through Joseph Smith". I just wanted him to talk to them for about 10 minutes. Then we need to work on the Song for the month, and the Mothers Day song. I figure that will take up all the time allotted. Unless I still have the migraine tomorrow. I'm just praying that the meds do the trick. And I don't feel drugged like I do right now.

Diet wise, I'm doing good :) I started on Wednesday, I think. So today was day 4. No cheats! Wait, or maybe it's day 3. I can't remember. Anyway, I'm doing good :) I hope it's for the long haul this time. I have about 30 lbs to cut to be at the point I was at last summer. I'm ready for my clothes to fit again. I know how to eat healthy. And make healthy choices. I'm ready to do it again :)

So Hilary had this quote as her Facebook status tonight, and I grabbed it to make a WordArt for ya! Hope you like it ;) Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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