Choices

Morning, girls! How's your week going??? For being only Monday, it's sure started off busy - LOL! I got up a few minutes late, but still go the kids ready and out the door on time. I worked on my shopping list, and left the house to go shopping at 8am-ish. Jimmy and I went with Andrea and Luke. Laurie met us there. It's always more fun shopping with friends :) You should really try it - LOL!

We stopped at the post office on the way home, so that Andrea could send a package to Ryan, and I sat in the car with the kids. Another good reason to take a friend along. A baby in the post office the week or so before Christmas is NOT fun, any way you look at it - LOL!

We got home, put away the groceries, cleaned the kitchen, and Andrea and I headed back out to the store. We had a baby shower to go to later on in the day, and needed to get a present. We went to Fallas Paredes, and found some nice gifts!

We headed home, I fed my kids lunch, and I headed out to the baby shower. It was at an Italian Restaurant, Dominique's. Off of Montana. For Leslie's friend, Morgan. It's her first baby, coming in January. Henry.

I had the soup and salad bar, and Andrea and I split a slice of chocolate cake for dessert. Thanks so much, Leslie, for the invite, for the company, and for the lunch! You rock, girl! And Morgan, good luck with your baby, and your trip back to Tennessee!!!

After lunch, we headed back on post to pick up the kids. I brought Leslie's kids back to their house, and spent some time with the kids. Tom played with the neighbor kids for a while, and Eme and Joe played outside. I chatted with my neighbor Leigh for quite some time.

Later, Jimmy and I laid down on the couch, and he fell asleep. I must have dozed a bit, but eventually got up, and fixed dinner. Well, if by apple slices dipped in carmel sauce, rolled in peanuts, ranch and carrots, and bologna sandwiches you mean dinner - ROFL!

At around 5:30, I went with Andrea to take her kids to piano, while my kids watched a movie at home. We were back close to 7pm.

I finished off a movie with the kids, and put them to bed. I designed 2 WordArt packs, and blogged for the day. Busy, busy, busy. BUT, I think I accomplished everything that I needed to do today. That's always a good thing.

I put the big kids to bed at around 9pm, and I headed down to Andreas house. We watched a movie, and I came back home around 11:30pm, when Captain America finally got home from work. Poor guy, her really does work a lot... ;(

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Merry Christmas

OK girls! I finally got the pictures from my b-day party!!! Mom, these are for you :)

This is Andrea's house!

Here's the dessert table :)

And the real food :)

OK, then I went around and got a shot of me and each one of my friends.

Andrea and I

Leslie and I

Katy and I

Laurie and I

Leigh and I

Keri and I

Wanda and I

Karen and I

Mindy and I

Christie and I

Adela and I

Kayley and I

Heidi and I

And, the infamous pants! I mean, really. Who wears these???? Strike that. I know who wears these. When we went to the commanders Christmas party, 2 different chickies had on pants this tight and similar fabrics. Sigh. I guess it's just ME who doesn't wear these pants - LOL!

Another Sunday down - hehehe. Just that much closer to Christmas, right? LOL! Captain America was late for his meetings this morning, because his phone was on vibrate from the movies, and he uses it as his alarm. Poor guy. He was headed out the door when we all got up.

We made it to church on time/early, and got the seats that we liked :) Primary was busy crazy as always. We had 2 teachers not show, one come late, and one that the teacher doesn't start till next week. It always makes for an interesting Sunday.

After church, we came home, ate turkey sandwiches, and I took a nap. I laid down at 1:15pm, and got out of bed at 3:45pm. I wasn't asleep the whole time, but I did sleep. Jake came in 3 different times to wake me up, Joe rang the door bell once, a friend dropped by a b-day present, Captain America came home, you name it, I was interrupted - LOL!

I directed the kids to clean up when I finally came out, and started on dinner. I was going to Laurie's house for a "group" dinner. I made some potato chowder, and it really turned out well. I tried to follow a recipe, but changed it a WHOLE bunch. Do you ever do that?

It was pretty fun at Lauries. Captain America didn't come, because he was napping. He didn't get home until almost 4pm from church. I tried to wake him up, but he was incoherently talking about work. I figured I should let the poor man rest - LOL!

Laurie's family, my family, Christie's family, and Kayley's family were all there. We had 2 kinds of soup, and 2 different lasagnas, and some chips/crackers/dip. It was a nice evening. Laurie read a Christmas story, and we chatted, then we all went home.

I stopped by Andreas house to give her family my left over soup. I was betting that she hadn't made dinner yet, and I was right - LOL! I knew that she'd been baking Gingerbread for her hubby in Iraq, and I know that if I had been baking, I wouldn't be cooking too - LOL!

Captain America was awake when I got home, and the kids and he sat down to watch "The Dukes of Hazzard". I was in the bedroom with the door opened, folding laundry. I could hear it, but didn't want to stop. I was on a "laundry folding" roll. Best not to interrupt that, right?

When I was done folding, I came out and finished watching the show with the family. I worked on a scarf that I was crocheting for Jimmy, and actually finished it off! He LOVED it :) Captain America read the kids stories after the show, and put them to bed.

Now, all I have to do is put the clothes away, design a freebee, and I'm good for the night. I have a busy day planned for tomorrow, so maybe I'll go to bed early. Or maybe I'll go clean.

Monday I have grocery shopping, then baby shower gift shopping, the baby shower, then getting kids from school, then piano lessons with Andrea (I just go along for company - LOL), then Family Home Evening. Dang, we're busy - LOL!

So since I'm feeling the holiday spirit, I decided to make you a Christmas freebee :) Because they're just so darn fun to make - LOL! Hope you enjoy!

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Good Courage - 2010 Mutual Theme

(Let me preface this with : I'm sorry, Mom, about the lack of photos. They're on Andreas camera. And I failed to take any today. I know, I know, bad daughter. I'm sorry. I'll try harder next time :))

Happy Birthday to ME! ROFL! SO, I was woken up at 8am by fighting kids. Through the door. Through my "noise reducing fan". Through the snores of my tired husband. 5 fighting kids. For 45 minutes I tried to block it all out, but to no avail. By the time I went out at 8:45am, the house was trashed.

How do they do it? Is it a talent that they have? I wonder if it's a marketable skill? Destroy a room in 3 minutes or less? Surely a movie/tv set would hire them to do the "after" scenes for crimes? Or natural disaster movies? SO, if you hear of anyone looking, I've got their demolition crew. Just putting it out there....

I was really tired, and a bit crabby. I think it was from all the food yesterday. All the "yummy to the taste but bad for the body" food. Why? Why do I do this to myself? I felt really good, nutrition wise, the past 10 days when I was eating on my menu. And I go and blow it. Well, after my birthday, I'm getting "back on the wagon". I feel so much better when I eat what I should, not what I want.

Anyway, I moved myself out to the couch, and got on the laptop. I wasn't really feeling like doing much else. The house was trashed. Captain America was asleep. The kids were loud. But then, they're always loud. I think I must be PMS-y, because I was feeling a bit emotion. Either that, or I was just coming down off of a very large sugar high.

By the time that I really woke up, and was functioning, it was almost 10am. I hopped in the shower, and started to get ready. Captain America woke up at around that same time, and we both got ready, and organized the house a bit. It wasn't "company worthy" by any means, but it was better than when I woke up - hehehe.

At 11:30am, Captain America and I left on our date. I gave Jacob detailed directions about what to do with the kids. How to entertain them. What to feed them. The works. They should be fine....

Captain America and I headed out to the Olive Garden. Dang, it was chilly in the restaurant. We were seated in a BIG booth, across from each other. But after we got our drinks, I moved to his side so we could snuggle for warmth. ROFL!

We both got the soup and salad. I got the spicy sausage and potato one, and Captain America go the beans and beef one. Next time around, he got the chicken and dumplins one, and I got the minestrone. I just LOVE soup. And bread sticks dipped inside of it? YUMMY! We also got an appetizer. Spinach and Artichoke dip. SO yummy. It didn't really have very much, but what it did have was tasty.

After lunch, we went to the mall to walk around for a while. Old Navy was supposed to have fleeces for $5 on Saturday only. But of course, they were gone. We got to the back of the store, and found a $5 rack, though. BUT, I noticed some people milling around off to the side in the back of the store, and finally realized that that was the LINE to check out? Are you kidding me???? Yeah, I was like, Captain America, we're leaving - LOL! I didn't have time to wait in a line that big!

So we wandered around to a few more shops. We went to Game Stop, but it was so packed that we left. I decided that I wasn't really "mall people". The stores all sold things that were over my comfort level, money wise. I can't imagine paying $30 for a shirt. Or $50 for a pair of pants. Or more, which is the crazy part. Yeah, I'm more of a Walmart (as much as I HATE them lately), GoodWill, Big Lots, Fallas Paredas, Family Dollar kind of gal.

Anyway, it was getting to be time to go, so we headed off to the Battalion Commanders Christmas Party. I called to check on the kids at about this time. Jake said that Eme and Tom were fighting with each other. After talking with both of them, twice, I finally sent them both to their rooms, and told them to no come out until I got home. Sigh. There was a lot of screaming and yelling going on on the other end of the phone. Poor Jake. At least with them both in their rooms, it should be easier for him.

We met outside of his house about 15 minutes before time to start with all of the leadership in Captain Americas battery. About 10 people. We all went in at the right time. 2pm. We went through the reception line, then went to the food. Again with the food. They had an horderve (yes, I know it's spelled wrong, but spell check isn't touching this one.....) table, and a dessert table. They had some good stuff!

We ate and chatted for 45 minutes, then the commander gave a toast, and we all headed out. I wasn't quite sure what to do when the little cups of alcohol were passed out for the toast. I felt obligated to take one, but then just left it on the table. I guess, I should have just said no thanks. It was silly to take it and not do anything with it. (Because I don't drink, you know). Next time, I'm just gonna say "No Thank You". Sigh. At least I usually don't have to worry about such things.

So, we all headed home after that. Back through the reception line, and out the door. Yeah, the house was slightly trashed. Not as bad as it could have been, but not as good as I'd hoped. We spent the next 45 minutes cleaning up, and getting it back to almost normal. The living room looked good, at least.

Captain America went to wash the rigs (and even the neighbors car), and I got the kids ready. We were going to the Movies. The On Post theater was showing "A Christmas Carol", and I thought it would be fun to take the family. Especially since they didn't get to go with us to the Christmas Party.

Right before we left, we got out my cake, sang Happy Birthday, ate, and loaded up in the truck. Thank you, Andrea, for the WONDERFUL cake. It was SO good :) I may or may not have eaten Jimmys piece ( he only ate 1 bite). Yeah, um, er, well, that's why I go up in weight when I'm not on my plan....

We got to the movies a little late, but didn't miss anything. Some would say PERFECT timing. Jake and Tom wandered off to find their friends, and Emeline spotted on of her girlfriends and went to sit with her.

So it was Captain America and I and Jimmy (sitting on Captain Americas other side) and Joe (sitting on my other side). The movies started, and it was LOUD and scary. Perfect! My kind of movie - LOL!

I noticed that they lifted the script, it seemed, directly from Dickens. I thought that the kids wouldn't like it, because of the "strange" language, but they seemed to be enjoying it. About 5 minutes into the movie, Jimmy fell asleep. Yep, slept through the ENTIRE thing. And it was loud. With dramatic lighting and sound changes. And yet he slept. hehehe.

Joe, on the other hand, was scared. He wanted to sit on my lap. About 30 minutes into the movie, I went and bought popcorn for us. Jake and Tom and Eme were else where, and Jim was asleep, so just Captain America and Joe and I ate. LOL! Joe got to hold it, and I think he really felt that it was just for him. Sweet kid :) Plus, it gave his nervous little fingers something to do.

We gathered up our crew when it was over, and headed home. Jimmy was dazed and sad and crying loud all the way home. Sometimes he doesn't wake up well. He kept asking when we were going to the movies, and if we could get popcorn. Poor kid! He'd missed the whole thing...

We hurried and got some dinner (turkey sandwiches - LOL), then headed back out again. We went to Fallas Paredes, which Captain America had never been to before. He liked it too! I knew he would :)

We found presents for each other, and had TONS to choose from. Tom bought a sword and a nerf-ish gun for Joe, Joe got a Star Trek figure for Tom, Eme got a shirt for Captain America (that he picked out, gave to me, and I showed to her, saying "Hey, I bet Dad would like this), Captain America got 2 shirts with skulls on it for Jake, Jake was supposed to get something for me, but I just realized that I didn't pay for anything for me........, I'd gotten something for Jimmy last time I was at the store, Joe got a "paint it yourself" tea set for Eme (because she showed it to him). I think that was everything.

We found a few Cars toys and some Ninja turtle toys for Jimmy from "The Big Guy", and I got a new skirt. We bought new pants for Joe (long ones) and some new sweat suits for Jimmy. They now wear different sizes. Jimmys waist is SO much bigger than Joes. But Joe is SO much taller than Jim. Why can't all body types be the same?

I had about 4 transactions when I went through the register. I sent Captain America and the kids to Big Lots (just a few stores down in the strip mall). AND, they do a 10% military discounts. So that was good :)

Next, after dropping off my packages at the truck, I went to Big Lots. As I was walking in the door, I found MY WATCH!!! The same one that I have now, but in dark gray. And it was only $8. I think I paid $20 for this one. Mine was falling apart. Missing buttons, the velcro wasn't sticky anymore. It was well over time to get a replacement watch. I was STOKED!

I found the family, in the toy section. Dude, I think we were at Big Lots for like an hour. The kids had fun looking at all the toys. I wandered the store a few times, but mostly was in the toy section.

I found a Shake and Go cars toy, and another car that lighted up and drove on its own and played music, or something like that. Jim will like it. Captain America found quite a few things that he liked, too. A Hot Wheel with SUPER big wheels for the Hot Wheel derby next year, a Hot Wheel version of "The General Lee", from The Dukes of Hazzard. And, a complete season of The Dukes of Hazzard for only $6. He was SO excited.

We headed home at around 9pm. The kids were getting tired. We stopped at the McDonalds drive through for Ice cream, then back through the gate. And guess what? For my b-day present, we got searched. Yep, Andrea, just like you! But these guys weren't as nice.

We asked if we could leave our sleeping kid in the truck, and they said go ahead and leave the kids. After the inspection, the guy was like "Um, really we should have made you get all your kids out". No duh. I realized that. I just wanted to let JOE stay asleep in the back seat. I would have gotten the others out. Whatever. It was cold, and I was glad to get back inside the truck.

So we headed home, brought all the stuff inside, and put the kids to bed. I started blogging/designing, and Captain America sat down and watched 1/2 an episode of the Dukes of Hazzard before bed. Poor thing is always tired these days :)

So all in all it was a great birthday. It started off a little rough, but again, I think that was just a sugar let down. I pepped up as the day progressed :) Thanks so much to everyone who wihed me a Happy Birthday. It worked! My birthday WAS happy :)

So since last week was the 2010 Primary theme, I thought that this week could be the 2010 Mutual theme. Just to be fair - ROFL! I thought it turned out pretty nice :)

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Happy Holiday

OMBirthday Party! What a day, what a day :) My alarm went off at 6am, and I hurried to the fridge, grabbed the turkey, cut it open, took out the innards, put it in the cooking bag, put it in the disposable baking pan, and put it in the oven. By 6:11am, I was back in bed. Trying to go to sleep. I finally gave up at 6:45am. I knew I wasn't gonna be able to go back to sleep.

Andrea and I were texting, and realized that we'd forgotten to buy rolls! Crap! After I got the kids up, dressed, fed, and out the door at 7:30am, I made up some roll dough. I tripled it. Yeah, maybe doubling it next time will be sufficient. It was SO much dough - LOL!

At 8:45am, Jimmy and I headed down to Andreas house, and we did last minute cooking/cleaning. We baked the rolls, and the sweet potatoes, and the green bean casserole. We cleaned the bathroom, and picked up the toys, and swept the floor, and got it looking beautiful!

At 10am, our friends started showing up. I hurried home real fast to grab the turkey, and brought Jake back with me. Lets see if I can remember everyone who came:

Andrea & I
Leslie
Leigh
Kayley
Katy
Adela
Laurie
Wanda
Karen
Kari
Mindy
Heidi
Christie

Yeah, I think I remembered everyone :) At one point, I took Andreas camera, and got a pic of me with each of my friends. It was funny, because I could only do it with my left hand. My right hand didn't know how to hold the camera while taking a "self portrait". I had to make my friends go to the other side. I know, I'm such a dork - hehehe.

Right as we were ready to eat, Andrea and I realized that we'd forgot the mashed potatoes. Sigh. That's kinda important. Oh well. Go with it, right? We threw the stuffing, and gravy together, so it worked. :)

We had SO much food. Seriously. It wasn't even funny! SO much food :) Turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls, cheese & cracker plate, salad, pink salad, pretzels and dip, and these SUPER yummy pastry thingies with cheese and bacon. OMHeavens! It was my FAVORITEST thing :)

As for desserts, we had gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip muffins, truffles, cake balls, brownies, toffee, birthday cake, chocolate cream pie, and a few chocolate carmel covered apples. Hello, desserts!

I got a little plate of food, and seriously, I think my tummy had shrank. I was full SO fast. But it was SO good :) It was fun visiting with everyone, and laughing and playing and having a good time.

I got a couple of presents, which were VERY sweet. Leigh got me an awesome little book of quotes and a necklace. SO cute! Katy got me a shirt, very nice socks, and gum/diet jello. hehehe. Adela got me a candle, as did Karen. Candles ARE my favorite :) Kayley got me Christmas socks (LOVE and desperately need socks - mine always get holes in the toes). Wanda got me a VERY cute bracelet, that she'd made (with cut crystal beads, Aunt Sue!).

Laurie got me a cookie dough scoop, so that I could make PERFECT chocolate chip cookies. And the most hideous pants I've ever seen in my life. Backstory: Remember when I said that Lauire and I had gone shopping at Kohls? And I got a few shirts? Well, there was this nasty pair of pants that we kept seeing. Snake skin print. Skinny legs. Bunched up at the bottom. G.R.O.S.S hehehehe. Everytime we walked by, we were like, Hey Bethany, there's some pants for ya, or Hey Laurie, I think you need those. ROFL! Anyway, I opened up the present, and THERE it was! TOOOO funny. I just loved it. Hmmmmm, I wonder what I should get Laurie for Christmas.....

So by 11:45am, most people who were not going to the movies had gone home. At 11:50 am, we left Andreas house. At 12:05, we were at the theater. And we walked in and took our seats just as the New Moon title was coming on the screen. PERFECT timing :)

Andrea and I and Leslie and Katy and Keri all went to the movies. A few of the other people who wanted to come to the party and the movies were either sick, had sick kids, or had something else come up. Such it is. We missed ya, girls!

Anyway, the movie was PERFECT again. 3rd time, and I still love it. Seriously, I almost cried twice in it. ROFL! I just LOVE New Moon. And I especially like to read it when my husband is gone. I can really empathize with Bella, and "feel her pain". Sigh. Edward........

We were back in time to go back to Andreas house and straighten up a little (Andrea and Leslie and I), then drive up to pick up the kids. We came back home, dropped the kids off at my house, then continued to Andreas house to clean up. We did the dishes, dished up the food, finished carving the turkey, and got ready to go to the park at 4pm.

Well, when I got back to my house with my 1/2 of the birthday feast, I realized that I wasn't going to be going anywhere. My kids had TRASHED my house. Well, Jimmy had trashed the house, because Jake had let him. Sigh. Jake had called a few minutes earlier, to say that the kids were all fighting with each other, and I'd told him to put them in their rooms.

I was feeling a bit onery, so I made them stay in there. Until about 6pm. Until dinner time. But you know what, Jake and I cleaned most of the downstairs in peace and quiet without them running amok and causing havoc. I think we might do "mandatory room time" more often.

I decided to rearrange my furniture again. I do it about once a month. Now, I have the love seat by the window, with the tree right next to it (so you can see it out the window0, and the long couch next to that. I moved the hutch into the kitchen, moved the location of the entertainment center, and moved a computer desk from my room into the living room. Dude, I'm totally falling asleep as I'm writing this - if it sounds a bit wanky, that's why - LOL!

After hours of cleaning, it looked a bit better. My living room looks really good, my dining room is pretty good (I rearranged the computer desks and stuff too), and the kitchen is trashed. Maybe I can get another grown up to help me in the morning. For my birthday. Because that would be nice.....

At 6pm, I let the kids "out", and they came down for dinner. Turkey and stuffing and green bean casserole and rolls. They really liked it, I think. Luckily, Eme and Tom went over to play in the nieghbor kids house, so it was just Jake and Jim and Joe and I. Jake was working on Merit Badge requirements for Scouts, so he didn't get to go.

Joe eventually fell asleep on the couch, and at 8:30pm, I put him to bed, and Jimmy too. I called Eme and Tom at 9pm, to tell them to come home and go to bed, which they did. Jake headed to bed at about the same time.

Captain America came home at around 9:30pm, and at 10:15 pm, we headed out to Walgreens and Target.
Captain America had called me from work at around 6pm, and said that we should make up a nice WordArt, digitally scrapbooked 5x7 print to go in a nice frame for the Batallion Commander's Christmas Party. Sigh. So I sat down and designed.

Anyway, we got the print, and a frame from Walgreens, and went to Target to look for a bag to wrap it in, and some ornaments and chocolates to go inside. It's gonna look good when it's all assembled.

We got home at around 11:15pm, and here it is, 12:24am, and I'm SO tired. I'm starting to mix my days. I keep having to delete things, because they don't make sense. LOL! I was gonna start blogging about putting Andreas kids to bed. ROFL! See, I'm really not coherent. :)

SO, Saturday is my birthday. Yeah me :) I think that Captain America and I are gonna go out to lunch at Olive Garden for Soup and Salad. Mmmmmm, love that one :) Then at 1:45pm, we've gotta be at the commanders Christmas Party. But it only lasts for an hour.

Then we'll see hwat happens with the rest of the night :)

So back to the WordArt I made for y'all. I can't sell it, since the font Stephanie Marie JF is NOT CU friendly, but I can give it to you all :) Hope you enjoy!

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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This is Ziggle Designs White Christmas and the sprig if from Megan Turnidge (I think), maybe the poinsettia too :)

Thanks

Ooooo, ooooo, new stuff in the store today!!! I know you're all just SO excited! Well, you should be - LOL! Click HERE to go to my store to snag these WordArt packs at a GREAT deal. 20% off the first week, or only $2.00. I know you want to!

Layout by Jen (Graham Like the Cracker)

OK, it's gonna be short today. Yes, I know how to be short. I'm sure you don't think I do - LOL! Because I'm usually SO long winded. BUT, it's 1:33am, and I'm just now starting to blog. Luckily I already designed, so that's out of the way.

Joe was puking last night, so I didn't make him go to school. He got to stay home and rest/play. By about 9:30am, he was feeling much better. Laurie dropped off her 3 year old, Rowan, at 9:30am also. She had a hair appointment, and Jimmy and Rowan love to play!

I cooked all morning long, making different cookie doughs, and refrigeratoring them. Gingerbread and sugar cookie dough. Yummy! I cooked the kids lunch at noonish, and Laurie came back at around 12:30 to get Rowan.

I headed out to Walmart at around 1pm to do some "santa" shopping. Jake watched Jimmy, so I had the change to go alone. It was kinda nice. I am done shopping for Jacob, and Tom, and Emeline, and Joseph. Now I just need to decide what to get for Jimmy.......

I had fun chatting on the phone with both my mom and Andrea while shopping. It was like going with a friend - LOL!

I got home in time to go pick up the kids with Andrea, then came back home. We had about 30 minutes before we headed to Burger King for dinner. The kids had a ton of fun. We were there for about an hour, then Andrea took Joe to Scouts, and I took the rest of the family to the FRG meeting (Family Readiness Group). It was a short, 30 minutes information meeting. They had cake and soda/water for refreshments. I SO can't wait until I can eat real food again! Friday, here I come!

We were home by 7:30pm, and Joe got done with scouts at around that time. We put the little kids to bed, and I made Almond Roca. OMGosh, it looks good! I can't wait to try it. See how my life revolves around food? ROFL!

So at 9pm, I gathered up my cookie things, and headed over to Andreas house. We baked cookies, cleaned the house, and hung out. We also watched Twilight, since Andrea hadn't seen it yet, and we're supposed to go and see New Moon tomorrow. I didn't want the poor thing to be TOTALLY" confused - LOL!

So, it's really late, and I need to go to bed. I have to get up at 6am to put the turkey in the oven, get the kids ready for school, out the door, then head down to Andreas house to cook. My birthday party starts at 10am (my b-day is actually on Saturday). We're doing a Thanksgiving feast, and asking people to bring a side dish/dessert to share. OMGosh, we're gonna eat like there's no tomorrow- LOL!

So, this WordArt, I made for my thank you notes. I attached them to a coconut covered truffle. Oh yeah, I made truffles too. See, I was a busy baker today! Anyway, 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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Happy Life

Howdy ho everyone! Not a very eventful day, but it was still good :)

I got the kids out the door and ready for school as usual. Jake did school, Jimmy played, I cleaned, same ole same ole. I did go to the storage shed and grab out a box of toys for Jimmy, though. I'd put them in there a few months ago, so they were all "new" to him - LOL!

I cleaned his and Joe's room really well, vacuumed, organized laundry, made it look nice. I moved on to Emelines, and DANG was it bad. I pulled out 2 bags of trash. Mostly papers. That girl is a pack rat. And 3 overflowing baskets of dirty laundry. I don't know what she's been wearing, cause there were SO many clothes dirty. LOL! But, it looked very nice when it was done.

Jacob had sent a computer to Captain Americas brother a few months or so ago to get it fixed, and it came today. Jake was SO excited. He got it all set up, and said that it was working SO much better than what it had before.

We had lunch, and then at 1:30, Jimmy and I went to Andreas house to babysit Luke. He was napping, and Andrea had a "well womans" visit, so I said that I'd watch Luke for her. No one should go to those with babies. They're Un-fun enough as it is - LOL!

While she was gone, I got her wireless router hooked up. She said that she'd been struggling with it all day. By the time she was back, it was all up and working. Now she could go to whatever room she wanted with her laptop!

We watched TV for a little while, then she left to go and pick up the kids. I stayed again, and watched sleeping Luke and Jimmy. When she got back home, Jim and Ben played for a while. Sam stayed for extra PE, and my kids went to my house, and we hung out for a bit longer. Once Sam got home, I took Jimmy, and we walked home. It was about 4:30pm.

I left Jake in charge, and headed out to the store. My fan had died a while back, and desperately needed replaced. I wanted to check out Goodwill and see what they had. I stopped at Family Dollar, which is right next to Goodwill, and found some perfume for me that I liked ($3.00), 2 tubes of wrapping paper ($1 each), some Diet Dr Pepper, some disposable plates for my party, some balloons, and a head phone splitter ($3.50). Now 2 people can listen to my MP3 player with me - LOL!

Next it was on to Goodwill. I found some chaps and a vest in matching leather material for Joe for Christmas. He's gonna LOVE them. That was $7.00. Then a toy rifle for $4.00. I found an easy bake oven real meal (just the oven, no accessories) for Emeline for $6.00, and it turns out it was 1/2 off. Woohoo!



I just need to get the accessories for it. (Well, after spending HOURS online looking for accessories, I think I'll just buy the Easy Bake oven from the store, and she can have two - LOL!)

I also found my fan for $8.00. Like this one, but not so fancy - LOL! But it's the tower kind, and it spins, and has a timer and junk. All I care about is the noise. It needs to be noisy :) hehehe.
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So then I drove to Dollar General, and got a new broom for the house, and a shower caddy for the kids' bathroom. Maybe if they can't reach the soap, they can't make a mess..... maybe. I also found a pack of red bandanas for Joe's present. Score it!

Last stop was LIttle Cesears, for a $5 pizza. Then home. The house was pretty messy, so I made the kids do their chores before they could eat. I konw, mean Mom. But the chores were done SO fast, let me tell you :)

And low and behold, CAPTAIN AMERICA WAS HOME AT 6:00 pm!!! I wasn't really sure what to do - LOL! Just kidding :) It was nice to have him home for the evening. Jake and Tom got ready and headed out to Scouts with Andrea, and I kept her #2 and #3 kids, Ben and Luke. We had fun watching a Christmas movie on TV, and the kids had fun playing.

We "traded" kids back shortly after 8pm. Andrea and boys went home, and we put Harty kids to bed. Captain America and I spent the evening on our laptops in our room. Together, but doing our own thing :) How relaxing.

Well, except for the part where at 10:30 we get a knock on the door, and it's Joe, saying he's puked. He ALMOST made it to the bathroom. One more step. But no, it's on the carpet. Oranges puke. Nasty. But at least it didn't smell. Thank GOODNESS! I cleaned up the mess, and put him back to bed. With a bowl. Just in case :)

So here it is, 11:30pm, and I'm ready for bed. With my new fan. Bring on the noise!!!

I thought this saying was SO true. Especially for me. Really, it doesn't take much to make and keep me happy. Good for Captain America. What would he do with a high maintenance wife - 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!

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Weather Outside

So Andrea had to go to traffic court this morning. Nothing big, her license had expired, and she hadn't received her new one from Oklahoma yet, and the MP told her that if she brought in the paperwork on her court date, that they'd dismiss it.

Still, she didn't want to take the baby. And I perfectly understand that! So I watched Luke. I got the kids off to school at 7:30 like normal, and she came over at about that time. Jimmy and Jake has so much fun playing with him. Jimmy followed him around, saying "Lukie, lukie". Too cute!

I actually managed to get some designing in, since the boys were playing together nicely. Throughout the day, I finished off the 5 packs for this week, and even started on 2 more for next week. I'm back ahead again! LOL!

Andrea got back at around 9:30ish, and stayed and chatted and hung out for a while. At 11:00ish, we decided to go to the Dollar Tree to pick up some balloons and plates and silverware for the party. No point in doing dishes, right? That's no fun! LOL!

So we left Jake and Jim at home, took Luke, and headed out. There wasn't really anything good there. We did find the silverware, but no plates with a large enough count, and no balloons. I did find a few things that I needed though. Baggies and a penguin platter for Christmas (yeah, that's a need - ROFL!) and a turkey roaster. I guess the roaster pan WAS for the party.

So on the way home, we decided to stop at Applebees. Because their Grilled Shrimp and Spinach salad is to DIE for! We got the dressing on the side, and just dipped our forks in the dressing before getting a bite. It was SO good.

We were home by 12:30pm, and I got my kids some lunch, got Jake re-focused on school, and went to lay down with Jimmy for a nap. Yeah, I fell asleep for about 45 minutes, but I don't think he ever did - hehehe.

At 3:00pm, I went with Andrea to go and get the kids from school, then came home and made roll out sugar cookie dough. The kids were SO excited. It needed to be chilled for an hour, and we had plans to bake cookies with Andreas family at 6pm.

At 4:30pm, I went with Andrea to the PX to look for a Christmas present for one of her kids. We shopped around at a few stores there, then she decided which one she wanted, and got it.

I fed my kids, and straightened up a little before Andrea and kids came over at 6:30ish. I had 8 individual balls of dough set out on the counter, each with their own little flour pile and space for rolling. They rolled it out, then used cookie cutters to cut it, and moved it to the cookie sheets. It was SO loud in the house. 8 children and 2 moms. Oh goodness!

While they rolled it all out, I made the frosting. It looked pretty good, but I was fairly sure it wasn't gonna be enough. I frosted up the first 2 batches out of the oven, and got them all ready to go. The rest of the cookies were for the kids. We let them each decorate and eat 2. The rest? Well, I'll frost them tomorrow and decide what to do with them at that point - hehehe.

It really was a fun time. A bit crazy, but fun. It doesn't help that our houses are SO echo-ey. With those vaulted ceilings, it's hard not to be. My ears are still ringing.

I put the kids to bed at 8:30pm, and got online. I chatted with my neighbor Leslie on Facebook for a while, and Andrea on Skype. Captain America came home at around 9:30pm, and I'm getting ready to load me store for the week. All in all, it was a great day :) Lots of fun!

Oh yeah, and I am now down 7 lbs! I went from 159 to 152 in a weeks time! Yeah me :) Only Wednesday and Thursday to go, before it's eat all I can see at the Birthday party -ROFL!

Another Wednesday! I got this idea after El Paso had 70-100 mph winds today. That's BIG winds. I looked out the back window at one point, and a big storage box went zipping by. Dang! All the chain link fences were filled with trash that had blown there. hehehe.

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember, you have to be logged into the GALLERY in order to get the download. Thanks!

Don't Just Like, Love

Holy "Sleep In Past Your Alarm Clock" Batman! I usually get up a few minutes before 7am, and get the kids ready and out the door by 7:30am. I knew that I was gonna drive the kids to school, so I knew that the time frame could be a bit later, but I woke up at 7:30am. 7:30am!!!! I was SO late. I was supposed to meet Andrea for our shopping trip to the commissary at 7:45am. Um, yeah, I was gonna be late. Luckily, Tom and Eme were up and ready. Joe? Still in bed. I ran in his room, woke him up, got him dressed, and ready. Tom helped get everything going too. He was a superb helper.

I printed out my shopping list, and checked off the stuff we already had, and loaded up in the truck. I made sure that Jake was awake, and that Jimmy was situated, and headed out. Tom had his big Science project display board to turn in, and I wasn't gonna make the poor kid carry it all the way to school. So I drove them.

It was closer to 8 when I got to school. I ditched my truck, and Andrea and I went to the commissary in her rig. It's really the best time to go grocery shopping. No one is out yet. As long as your in line by 9am or a little past, it's perfect. No super long lines.

OMGosh, I have to tell you about this bagger. First off, all you non-military folks, let me explain about the baggers. At the Commissary (Military grocery store), they have baggers. They don't work per hour, but purely on tips. I've been told that I'm really cheap by my friends, but I give out $1 per $100 that I spend. So I give out a $2 tip. And when my husband goes up in rank, I'm gonna either add a doller, or double it. See, I have a plan to be more charitable. Baby steps, right?

So Andrea didn't get a lot of stuff, so she went to the self check out lane. Me? I had $200 worth of groceries, so I was in the regular line. They checked my food, bagged it, and loaded it to 2 push carts. Just like they always do. So the older lady bagging my stuff started out the door with only one cart.

Usually, they push both. They just do. Even if you offer to push one. So it kinda threw me that she just left it, not even asking or anything. I had to stop her, and tell her that I was with Andrea, and that she was still busy. She sighed real loud, made a mean face, and scooted off to the side to wait.

I was annoyed with her by this point. Don't make faces like that at people. That's just rude. So while I could have gone and got the keys, I was annoyed at this point. I just waited. And in turn, made her wait. And she just got more and more mad. At one point, she went into the breakroom to do who knows what. She was also tapping her to REAL loud. Do people even DO that?

About a minute before Andrea came over, she muttered under her breath, but loud enough for me and the guy next to me to hear, "I wish she'd hurry up". Oh no, she didn't! I couldn't believe she'd actually said it. HOW RUDE! I was really mad at this point. When I'd paid, I'd decided to give a bigger tip than usual. Just because I was feeling in the holiday spirit.

But after that rude display, I decided that the regular $2.00 tip was WAY too much for her. I should have given her nothing. So, Andrea gets done, and heads over. The lady grabs ONE cart, and heads out the door. So, since I don't wanna leave my groceries there, grab the other cart, and follow. Rude.

So she started unloading the groceries into the car, looking all the while TOTALLY mad. Mad that she has to be waiting on us. So when she's done, I give her 1/2 of what I usually give out. $1.00. I got in the truck, and she waked by Andrea, and looked at the tip, and shook her head with a disgusted look on her face. I'm still upset at that lady.

Usually, the baggers are nothing if not kind and wonderful. I don't know what was stuck up this ladies rear today, but OMGosh, she was not pleasant.

So Andrea drops me and my groceries off at my house, and we decided that we'll pick up my truck when we get the kids from school. I didn't need it anyway. So I have Jake help me carry in/put away the groceries, and we get ready for the next thing.

Andrea and I and Katy and Adela had kinda had a falling out of sorts. We weren't sure why, or what it was all about, but could feel a weird vibe in the group, and it was just getting worse by the day. We'd stopped hanging out or doing anything together, so we had planned a brunch at Andreas house to hash it out.

I made bagels with cream cheese, these REALLY yummy marshmallow/apple skewer thingys, banana nut muffins, and some homemade pizza. All in an hour. I was flying - LOL! My kitchen was a mess, but I got the things made/assembled, and Jim and Jake and I headed down to Andreas house. There was SO much food.

And the funny thing is, Andrea and I were on the diet for the 10 days, so we weren't even eating :) It sure smelled good, though. I'd brought my apples and yogurt, and some diet soda, and some diet jello. Not quite as good, but it would have to do.

I'd like to say that after talking, everything went back to the way it was before, but I don't think that was a realistic outcome. Things are better. And that's good. Better than they were before.

Adela left first, to get her hair done. Her hubby was coming back from a 3 month deployment on Friday. Katy stayed for a bit longer and hung out, then headed back home too. Andrea and I cleaned up, put away, and straightened up the house for a bit, then ate our lunch. Cheese and cucumbers. She showed me how she puts balsamic vinegar on her cheese, and OMGosh, it's SO good. Mozarella cheese, with just a little bit of balsamic. SO good.

We headed out to pick up the kids ataround 2:40pm. We swung by Ms Kims house to turn down the heat (she'd gone to Oklahoma for a few weeks to visit a friend), then off to school. We got the kids, and headed out to our respective houses. I REALLY wanted to clean for a while. My house was a bit messy, and needed some TLC.

I got home, got the kids some left over snacks from the "party", and directed chores to be done. I went in the downstairs bathroom, and detailed it. It looked sO much nicer. And I'd even bought new shampoo (32 oz - important for later in the blog) and body wash and such for the shower. The toilet, the floor, the countertop, and the mirrors all got washed down real good.

Next, I did a WHoLE bunch of dishes. That took forever. Next, I went into my room and cleaned it. I'd dumped all the laundry on my bed the day before, which got bumped to the floor that evening before bed. How do bedrooms get so messy so fast? Anyway, I cleaned it up, and it looked much better :)

Andrea had asked if I wanted to come with her at 5:45 to take her kids to piano. She just sits in the truck while they go in. I thought it sounded good. I had time to get the kids' dinner done (leftover spaghetti, salad, and quesidillas), and gave Joe and Jim a bath. They were muddy from playing outside.

SO, I hear this funny noise from the bathroom, and go to invistigate. OMGosh, they've TRASHED the bathroom! And I worked SO hard on it. I was SO mad. Madder than mad. The mean, yelling, angry mom surfaced :)

They'd filled the water ALL the way to the top, so of course its splashed ALL over the floor. About 1/2 inch deep. There's bubbles EVERYWHERE. You know that bottle of Shampoo I bought today? Yeah, that new one? That 32 oz one? That I bought big so that I wouldn't have to replace it for a very long time? Yeah, that one? Well, they dumped the WHOLE thing in the bathtub. THE WHOLE THING. And 1/2 a bottle of new body wash. And pulled down the shower curtain.

So I made them stand up, held the shower curtain up best I could, and made them shower off. With colder water. Because I was mad :) And I hoped that they'd remember what happens when you are naughty in the bathroom. Cold shower.

I managed to get most of the bubbles off of them, toweled them off, spanked their butts (yes, we're a spanking family), and made them put on their jammies. I tried my best to clean up the bathroom, but there was SO many bubbles. And those are hard to clean up. Very hard. It took 5 big towels to sop up all the water on the floor. But it looked sparkly clean, at least.

So, when Andrea showed up at my door at 5:45pm to get me, i was SO ready to go. I left Jake in charge, and went to Piano with Andrea. The boys went in, and she and I and baby Luke just sat in the suburban, and chatted. That's just what I needed.

We hashed out the details for my b-day party on Friday. I'm really getting excited for it. I know, very 4th grade of me, but I don't care. I'm excited!

We scheduled out our next 2 weeks, just so we didn't miss any fun. LOL! She had some doctors appointments coming up, and I said that I'd watch her kids for her. And we had scouts, and school dances (mother/son dance), parties, all sorts of stuff :)

We also planned the menu for the b-day party. We decided to cook a turkey! With mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce. I know, real original, right? But it sure will feed a crowd. Plus, it's the 1st day that we can "eat" again, so we're SO excited. She bought stuff to make turtle brownies, and we'll have pumpkin pie, and birthday cake, and punch.

We're asking all our friends to come and bring a side dish/dessert. We're gonna have SO much food, and we're gonna eat like there's no tomorrow :) ROFL! So, needless to say, I'm REALLY looking forward to Friday.

And my weight? I'm holding at 6lbs lost! I have a feeling I'm gonna be down on Tuesday morning. I weighed right before bed, and I was 153, only .2 lbs more than I was this morning. So I'm sure I"ll be less in the morning :) Yeah for me! See, it payed off not eating the food at the party! Yeah Andrea and I!

I got home at about the same time as Captain America. He was getting ready to go play basketball with some guys from work. So, he had time to change, read a story to the little boys and tuck them in, then left. Dang, the man is busy. He's such a hard worker.

I sat down and played on Facebook for quite a while, and got 3 1/2 of my 5 WordArt packs for the week designed. Not too bad. I have all day Tuesday to get them finished, then uploaded to my store. I can do it! I know i can :)

This WordArt request is from Lori. She saw it in an ad in the USA Today paper. It was really long, and had a bunch of good stuff inside, but I just pulled out the main point. Hope you like it!

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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Christmas is Strange

Another Sunday down - hehehe. We were up at 7am, getting ready for the day :) Captain America had been up till 3am working on a work project, and still had more to do, so he stayed home from church. It was good timing, since Eme was coughing so bad, we figured it would be good for her to stay home too. My poor family :(

The other kids and I got to church by 8:45am, plenty of time to get a good seat - LOL. The kids did pretty good staying reverent, and headed off to classes after Sacrament meeting. November was my month to teach sharing time, so I was off the hook for December. Sweet. I just went, conducted, and had it mostly easy. Sure, I was busy-ish running errands and crowd controlling, and such, but it's so much easier than teaching :)

We were home by 12:30pm, changed clothes, and had lunch. And I went to take a nap. I was tired. I fell asleep listening to Eclipse on my MP3 player. I woke up at 2:00pm, and wanted to sleep more, but got up.

We all just kinda hung out for a few hours, and lazily did chores. I'd invited Andreas family over for dinner, and the house was mostly in order. Mostly :) I just couldn't seem to muster my "get up and go". hehehe. Just as I was about to put some rice on for dinner, I got ahold of Andrea, and she wanted to know if we could do it another day. While I was looking forward to company, I wasn't looking forward to finishing off cleaning, so it worked out perfectly.

We had dinner at 6:30pm, and the kids had fun playing with their dad. They were watching old SNL videos online, and laughing and having a good time. At bed time, Captain America got out all the favorite story books, and read them all to the kids. I video-ed him doing it, and I'll post them online at some point. That way, when Jimmy comes to me at bedtime saying "But mommy, I can't go to bed because Daddy hasn't read me my story yet", I can have him pick out one from online.

After Joe and Jim went to bed, Tom and I worked on his Science project. We'd been doing the experiment back before Thanksgiving, and all the parts were done. He just needed to assemble all the info into a cardboard presentation board. It really looked quite good when it was done.

At 9:30pm, I headed down to Andreas house to help her "pre-clean" for my birthday party. She'd spent the day re-arranging her bedroom, and you know how that goes. You spend so much time in one room, everything else slips a bit. We had SO much fun cleaning and chatting and hanging out. Her in-laws left Sunday morning, so she was in need of come company.

After it was all pretty and clean, we sat down and watched a movie together. "Baptists at the BBQ". It was pretty funny. I liked it :) hehehe.

So, here it is, 1:57am, and I'm ready for bed. Luckily I pre-blogged and designed MOST of this before I left. Up to the point where I left. Cause I'm good, but I can't really blog about stuff that hasn't happened yet. You know :) hehehe.

So my mom emailed me this Christmas quote, and thought I should WordArt it. Yes, Mom. Here it is :) See, I'm a nice, obedient child - LOL! Hope you guys like it too. My boys laughed and laughed and laughed when they heard it :) I don't know if they understood it, but they sure did laugh - 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!

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2010 Primary Theme : Savior Lives

Yes! I got to sleep in this morning! I did wake up at around 7am when my watch alarm went off. My box fan had died. And it was so quite in my room. I don't like to sleep if it's too quiet. Because then I hear all the little random noises. I use my box fan as a white noise machine.

Anyway, I heard the kids out in the main part of the house on and off till about 9:45am, when I finally got up. I wasn't moving very fast, but I was awake. hehehe. Eme went over to the nieghbors house to play, and their son came over to play with my kids.

At around 11, Captain America woke up, and the friends went home, and Eme came back. We worked with the kids to get their chores done, and had lunch, and I made some "Magic Cookie Bars" for a product party I was going to at 2pm.

But it was a little different recipe than regular. It had oats, and peanut butter, and I didn't put in nuts. I"ll have to blog about it tomorrow. I'm not going in the kitchen to find the 2 recipes that I combined and tweeked. LOL! Anyway, they looked and smelled heavenly.

At 2pm, Andrea and I headed to the party. Our friend Chelsey from church was there too. I ended up spending WAY too much money, but had a great time :)

I got home at around 5pm. Captain America and the kids had gone to watch his unit move the launchers (missle launchers - HUGE) to the Hockey stadium. He thought the kids would like to see it. Then, they drove around the mountains for a while, and played at the park under the "star". Then they headed to the USO, had a TON of snacks, and played games/pool.

I got there at around 5:30pm, and stayed till around 6pm. Jake was playing a game on the Wii, and Captain America and Tom were playing pool. The little kids were eating snacks at a little table. I joined Captain America for one game of pool, then we headed out to dinner. (my kids had SO much fun putting dollars in the donate box - LOL)

We ate at the post Burger King, and I think everyone had a good time. I had 2 side salads, with just the meat from a double cheeseburger. Pressed hard in a napkin to get rid of the grease. I'm still burping up charbroilness - LOL!

Next, we headed out to the Hockey game. Here's the kids out front, by the Rhino

SGT Wagner, SGT Stokes, 1SG Stewart (guys Captain America works with)

PATRIOT PAC 2 (Captain America made me put this) Missile Launcher

We all had on our gloves and hats and scarfs and winter coats. It's cold in the stadium - LOL! The Rhions won (or I'm assuming, we left after 2nd quarter) 7-0. Yeah, it was pretty one sided :)

More Army Dudes, members of Charlie Battery

Jimmy didn't have gloves, so I shared :) If you look close, both of our hands are in the gloves - ROFL!

We came home, put kids to bed, and here I am. It's midnight, and I should go to bed. 7am is gonna come early tomorrow. But hey, that's still 7 hours. More than the 5 that I get too often :)

This WordArt request is from Lili. She wanted me to WordArt the 2010 Primary theme, "I Know My Savior Lives". So, here it is! I hope you all like it ;)

Click on the link 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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