Love is in the Air 5

Happy Valentines Day!!! I hope that you all have a GRAND day today :) Me? What do I have planned for today? Um, well, I'd like to sleep in - hehehehe. We'll see how far that goes - LOL! The little ones tend to get up at the same time reguardless of when they were put to bed. Ha!

I know that we wanted to drive up to the mountains and go see the Franklin Mountains State Park, and that we wanted to get Jacob's glasses fixed at Wal-Mart. Captain America and I might go see a movie after the little kids go to bed. Other than that, just a fun Saturday at home. Since Captain America and I are both trying to lose some unwanted holiday pounds, we're for-going on the Chocolate/sweets, so that takes a lot of the "umpf" out of Valentines day - hehehe. See where my mind is - TOTALLY on the food - ha!

Oh yeah, our Valentines Dance last night was pretty fun. The kids really enjoyed it. They had GREAT decorations, games that the kids liked, and ice cream sundaes and cookies, that my kids LOVED! We stayed for about an hour, and then came back home. I did get a few pics, but my stupid camera wasn't taking clear pictures. You know, I think I should just go out and buy a cheap one from Wal-mart. At least that way it would fit in my purse, and I'd have it when I needed it. And those take decent pictures. To get a camera that takes FABULOUS pictures, you need to spend more than $150. That's just the cold, hard facts I'm afraid :)

The kids had fun at their Valentines Day parties yesterday. They came home with a TON of Valentines, and lots of chocolate and candy. They were so sweet, and tried to share with me, but I was good, and resisited. Did I tell you that I'm up 14 lbs from my 140lbs where I was before Thanksgiving? Crud! I now have 1 pair of pants that fit. So, I'm back on my diet. I did yesterday PERFECT. One day down, at least 30 more to go :) I've done it once before, I know I ca do it again.

You know, I can tell that I'm REALLY tired while writing this post (pre-published last night), because it's SO random and stream of thought - ha! I think it's about time I tie it up, and head to bed. SO sleepy :) Need sleep - hehehehe.

OK all, here's the last of the "Love is in the Air" WordArts :) I hope you've enjoyed them :) Be sure to post some layouts in my Scraporchard gallery, under Elegant WordArt by Bethany, so I can see your lovely creations :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

Love is in the Air 4

Friday the 13th, eh? Aren't bad things supposed to happen today? Nah! (knock on wood) I'm not superstitious!

I spent yesterday morning cleaning Jimmy (3) and Joe (5)'s room. There were a TON of clothes that needed put away, and I found some of the toys from storage in Ohio, and put them away in their bedroom. I cleaned for about and hour and a half, and it loos pretty nice :) Of course, when I went to check on them right before bed, they'd pulled out ALL of the toys, and strewn them around the room - nice - nothing like seeing all your hard work undone in one foul swoop - sigh. Jimmy and I will clean it up today, I guess :)

I also worked on switching my bank account from National City to USAA. NOT a fun process. I pay all my bills on billpay, so I needed to add "new payees" for the new bank. Talk about time consuming. But, it's done. Now, I just need to get our paychecks auto deposited into the new bank. It's in the works, but will take a while to take effect.

I also called the health insurance people today. Tricare West covers El Paso. Anything East of here is a different one, so I lucked out. Woohoo! I need to print off a form (um, no printer hooked up yet) and take it to Tricare (I think there's one at the medical place) and have them fax it to Tricare headquarters, so we can get into the system here, and get to the doctor. The kids haven't been in at least 6 months. Eme and Tom need another vaccination for school, Jacob has something wrong with his heel (he tweaked it last year, and it's still hurting him) and a possible undescended testicle, Tom has warts on his feet (nasty, I know), and I haven't been to the doctor since my 6 week check up after I had Jimmy (turning 4 this year). I think I'm due for a visit :)

You know, I sometimes feel like I'm stumbling around in "Army World" here. Those of you Army wives out there, is this how it is??? No idea what you're doing until you actually do it? Someone should write a book about "What to expect when your hubby joins the army". I'd buy it :) Well, I wouldn't now, but I SO would have back when he first joined.

I did a bit of cleaning in the kitchen and living room today, just so we could find the floor again - hehehe. I'll be happy when everything is unpacked and put away. One box at a time, right? One box at a time :)

We're going to a Valentines Day Party at church tonight. It's a 50's dance, apparently. I'm excited - it should be fun :) And the kids are really excited about passing out their Valentines. Last night, we cut out the Valentines (3 to a sheet - 4x6 photos) and they wrote their friends' names on the back. Emeline took it one step further, and made hand drawn cards for EACH of the 18 kids in her class. Dang, girl!

So I wanted to show you all my new stuff for this week. It's kinda fun :) Hope y'all like it! Click HERE to go to my store to pick up my FUN new stuff :)

These birth month ones were pretty fun to make :) If you buy the Birth Month pack (24 WordArts), you get both the boys and girls version for $6.00 (20% off the first week)

layout by minna :)

Or, just buy the Birth Months - Girls (12 WordArts - one for each month) for $4.00 (20% off first week)

Or just the boy with Birth Months - Boys (12 WordArts - one for each month) for $4.00 (20% off the first week)

And here are some fun WordArts, one pack for each decade - I bet you could have some REALLY fun layouts with these :)

Layout by minna :)

Again, click HERE to go to my store to get my new stuff :)

And, since it's almost Valentines day, and I'm feeling the love (LOL!), here's what I'm gonna do:

1. Leave me a comment on this post, and I'll pick ONE winner at random to get a $10.00 coupon to my store before I go to bed on Valentines Day.

2. Purchase WordArt from my store, and be entered into a drawing to win a $10.00 coupon from my store. Each WordArt Pack purchased gets your name entered into a drawing on Monday morning when I wake up (after the kids get to school). So what are you waiting for? Get shopping - LOL!

Here's another version of "Love is in the Air", in honor of Valentines Day tomorrow. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :)

Love is in the Air 3

So, my mom has been bugging me to put up some more pictures of my house (especially the bathroom - LOL!), and apparently my Aunt wants to see some pics too. Geesh! Who would have thought my bathroom was such a hot topic for conversation - LMBO! So, here you go, girls - now you can stop bugging me :) Just kidding :) It is a mighty nice bathroom, I must add. It's off the master bedroom, there's a countertop with sink, and shower, then turn to the left, another room with the toliet and LARGE shelving closet, then again to the left, and there's a BIG walk in closet. I'm in heaven!

I'm also the proud owner of a TEXAS drivers license. Well, that's not quite correct. I'm actually the proud owner of a piece of paper saying that my Texas drivers license is on it's way in about 3 weeks. Who ever heard of that? I get to carry around an "IOU" drivers license for 3 weeks? How does one use that as ID? It's a good thing I've got my Military ID. Oh yeah, and when I was in the drivers license place, they had me raise my right hand and swear that all my info I was providing was correct. That's a first - LOL! Only in Texas, eh? I'd hate to see what happens to people who break that oath - LMBO!

AND, I got my mailbox key. Our subdivision has locked mailboxes, which just HAPPEN to be across the street from my house - lucked out there! I went to check out the mailbox, and make sure it worked. I wasn't expecting mail, since I'd just put in my change of address form that day, but guess what? The box was FULL! 1/2 of it was from the previous resident, but the other 1/2 was actually mine. A few bills, some jun mail, a "New House" card from my Aunt Toni (ThANK YOU!), Valentines from my Grandma Ida (THANKS!), a letter to Jacob (11) from his Sunday class back in Oregon, and a package from Brenda (a blog reader) with a cute little charm bracelet and a FANTABULOUS candle (cinnamon - yummmmmy!) as a house warming present. Wow! I was in HOG heaven. It's funny, but checking the mail and going through it has always been one of my favorite parts of the day - hehehe.

We got 2 new tires for the truck today. You know, it feels like we've spent a lot of money on the truck lately, but I guess if you break it down, it's only been about $1000 a year. That's cheaper than a suburban payment. What's that, like $600 a month? Our truck is paid off (thank goodness), so money on repairs (and upkeep) is all we pay each year. Anyway, tires. Apparently I, um, parked too close to the curb too many times, and wore it down to the point where it needed replaced. Oops. Ha! I just talked to Captain America, and he said that was just superficial, and just looked bad. It didn't really hurt the tires (besides appearance). What ruined them was the ball joints, which caused irregular wear on the tires, and hence, ruined tires. Yeah, I just typed what he told me - LMBO! Remember, I don't speak Automotive - ROFL!

Well, we learned today that what Captain America has been experiencing is not dust and mold allergies, but altitude sickness. Nice, eh? They say it should go away in about a month. So, my beds weren't bad, just old. :( As much as I LOVE my new bed, it would have been much cheaper to keep my old one. Who knew? Live and learn, I guess. At least we had the money at the time. And, secretly, I'm glad we got some new things. We're only ever got hand-me-downs. Getting something new every now and again is kinda fun :)

And, yet another take on "Love is in the Air". Do you all have FUN layouts you're making with them? Valentines Cards? Anything? LOL! Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
L - Digs My Hart
heart - KR Heartalicious
ve - Perpetua Titling MT
All rest - Rage Italic LET

Love is in the Air 2

Guess what? Remember how I was going on and on about how nice the weather is here? Was thta with you guys I was going on, or was that to my mom? Can't remember now. Anyway, as I was laying in my NEW INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL bed yesterday morning after the kids went to school, watching Monday night's episode of "The Bachelor", I heard the wind just whipping outside, and rain hitting the window. Could it be rain? In the desert?

Well, I went to the window to investigate, and IT WAS SNOW!!! Holy cow! Where did THAT come from? It didn't stick, but boy was it weird. And for me, a native Oregon girl (and from the coast to boot), to say that it was mighty windy, is a HUGE thing. At one point, I was afraid that the trailer would blow away. Good thing we blocked the wheels - LOL! Our giant pile of cardboard boxes is only 1/2 of what it was before the wind started, and our trash cans (the GIANT ones the city gives you) ended up across the street. Mercy :)

We found someone to buy our full sized mattress. $25 bucks. And to another army family. We're bringing it to them later today. They only have a car, so we thought we'd be nice and take it over.

I finished off the valentines day cards for the kids, and got them developed at Wal-Mart yesterday. They turned out pretty cool. Eme had princesses, Tom had Batman, Jacob had Batman, Joe had Star Wars, and Jim had Cars. Not too bad, personalized valentines cards for about 6 cents a piece. We bought some candy to send with them too. And teacher presents (valentines wrappered hersheys bars). I know, I'm a suck up, Chet (that's my friend Maren's hubby - LMBO!!!)

Captain America and I watched Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring last night :) It's one of my favorite-est movies of all time! But I must say, I'm not used to sharing the TV - I was a little miffed when he wouldn't let me watch American Idol - hehehehe. Sure, he DID sit down and turn it on first. And yeah, it's not like it's my favorite show or anything. I think it was that control thing. I'll have to work on that - hehehe. We did turn off LOTR and watch Fringe when it came on, though. I'm such a TV junkie. And it's SO funny to watch us watch TV. We both have out our laptops, typing and surfing away, all the while, 1/2 watching TV in the background. Now that's REAL pathetic - LMBO! Multi-tasking sounds better, though.

We have a lot of things to get done today. I hope we get most of it completed. Drivers licenses, new tires for the truck (well 1/2 of the tires), delivering the mattress, buying 2 more mattresses, Scouts at 7pm. Geesh! My life is full - LOL!

WordArt Wednesday again :) Hehehehe, funny how it keeps popping up on me :) I have to have it ready and submitted by Monday night, then posted by Tuesday night, and blogged for Wednesday morning. What a process - LOL! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember, you need to be logged into the orchard to get your download :)

Love is In The Air 1

We got my truck fixed yesterday. Apparently, it had something wrong with the....um....balls? (LMBO!) Ball joints, maybe? I don't speak Automotive any better than I speak Army - LOL! I guess if it had broke while I was driving, my wheels would have fallen off , and we would had crashed and burned pretty hard. Nice. But, it's all fixed now.

We dropped the truck off at the mechanic on Post (isn't that cool? and army mechanic - LOL!) at 8:30 ish, and Jimmy and I went with Captain America to do his Army errands today. We got to meet the guys at his battilion office, to wait in line for an hour and a half at the ID card place, only to realize that we were gonna be late for his next meeting (but I did give my number to the nice family sitting next to us, and they seemed happy to have jumped up in line - hehehe), to eat lunch at the PX, and go to a few more errands with Captain America. It was pretty fun.

Here's a few pics from our time at the ID card place. It was going SO slow - we were there for 90 minutes, and it went from B214 to B216. I was B221. Holy cow! I'll have to go back one day when Captain America's in Ohio (he's taking Jimmy, I think) and bring a nice, good, long book - LMBO! (or my laptop, and design - hmmmm, now there's an idea!)

Anyway, here's 2nd Lt Harty, and 2nd Lt Harty - LMBO!

While we were on Post, we saw, in the paper, an ad for mattresses CHEAPER than Big LOTS. We decided to go and check it out. First, though, we had to go home and get the kids from school. The guys from the battallion office gave us the idea of trying to sell the old mattresses on Craigslist, so we decided to give it a shot. Who knew it would be such a great idea :) I've already got about 5 emails about it. Crazy, eh? We offered all 5 mattresses for $100. We'll see if any of them pan out. That would help with the replacement cost, at least a little bit.

After getting the kids from school, we went back on post to pick up my truck, let Captain America sign some paperwork, then back to the house, pick up the trailer, and back across town to the mattress store. The were out of the King bed that we wanted, but had one for $399 (instead of $299) that we bought. We also got a futon mattress to go on the bottom of the kids' bunk beds, and a twin mattress set (they only had one, not 3 like we needed). We paid for the stuff, loaded it up what they had in the trailer, then headed out for the warehouse (across town) where the king bed was. It was getting dark by this time, but we managed to find the place.

The guy coudln't find the bed that we bought, so he ended up giving us the next one up - SWEET! It was a $600 mattress, I think. It had the built in pillow top part. How cool is that :) We tied it on top of all the other mattresses and down the road we went. We still have 2 more twin bed sets to buy (and a top mattress for the bunk bed), but at least I have my new bed - LOL! It's SO nice - I'll let you now tomorrow how good of a nights sleep I got - hehehehe.

Captain America gets to go play army man tomorrow. His group is dressing up like the "bad guys" for the AIT (Advanced Individualized Training - ha! I do speak some Army) Students to practice on. They're re-creating the streets of a Middle Eastern town, to give the students a feel for where they're headed. This should be right up Captain Americas alley. He gets to dress up and shoot people with paintball like guns. Every little boys dream - LMBO!

So, in honor of the "Big" day on Saturday (hehehe), and our "Love is in the Air" sale over at Scraporchard (30% off), I have 5 days of "Love" for you. 5 days, 5 different WordArts, all the same saying. Sounds fun, eh? Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.


FONTS:
LOVE - Pharmacy
all rest - Renaissance

Lives Sublime

Welp, Captain America's on the Couch! LMBO!!! No really, he's sleeping on the couch. Not because I kicked him out of the bedroom or anything, but because we've decided that the mattresses are beyond fixing, and need replacing. So, he's on the couch, away from the mold tainted mattress. Apparently Big Lots is having a sale on mattresses starting on Wednesday. Buy a mattress, get a box frame for $10. So, because it doesn't affect me as bad, I'm still on the bed, and he's on the couch. Sigh.

It's like sometimes, I just wait for the next "disaster" to happen. First the couches. Now the beds. We're washing ALL the fabric stuff that was in the garage in Ohio. I've already done about 15 loads of laundry, and I've just scrapped the surface. It's almost as bad as getting rid of lice. Almost. OK, so it's not as bad as lice. Have you ever had to deal with that? Now that's NO fun at all.

When we first moved to Chicago, back in August of 2004, we stayed at Boy Scout camp for 3 weeks until we closed on our house. Little did we know, but the couch that was in the cabin had lice. We realized we had it a few days later. We shaved the boys' heads, but Eme and I were a little harder to fix. We both got a "shorter than usual" hair cut, and several treatments of lice shampoo. But it was the washing of ALL the laundry, serveral times that was the hard part. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. It makes me itch all over just thinking about it.

Church was good today. We heard talks about missionary work, and heard from a young man getting ready to go on him mission. In our church, young men, age 19, are expected to serve a 2 year mission. They and their families finance the mission, and they don't get to pick where they go. So, it's always exciting to get the letter in the mail, telling where they will serve their mission. Anyway, it was the first time that I'd heard the words "Freakin' awesome, radical, and rad" from the pulpit - LMBO! He's just young, and seems to be a GREAT kid. He'll mature in the mission field. :) (Don't I sound old - LOL)

We got a little more organized today. I didn't want to do too much, since it IS the Sabbath. Mostly just laundry. And I swept the floor and picked up the living room/kitchen. Captain America organized the garage for a while. Moved some of the heavy stuff around so that there was at least a walkway through all the boxes. But downstairs looks a lot better. Just trust me on this one - LOL!

Oh yeah, I wanted to show you my new comforter set. My last one molded. Nice, eh? But, I do LOVE this one so much more than the old one. Besides being EXTREMELY expensive, this mold thing is getting me lost of new stuff - LOL! And, guess where I bought my "bed in a bag"??? Where else? Walmart! It came with fitted and flat sheet, 2 pillowcase, 2 shams, bed skirt, comfortor, and 4 decorative pillows. All for $99. Not bad, eh? AND, it matches my purse. The one I got from "Time Out For Women 2008". Any of you have one???


OK, one more thing (Ha! I sound like the Grandpa on those Jackie Chan cartoons), while I have you here. I just wanted to show you Jake, Tom, and Eme's Valentines for this year. Aren't they fun?

Tom wants me to go back and edit his a little bit. I had the batman mask on him a first, and he made me put his whole face on there. But it looks silly, and he's just now realizing it. So, I'll be fiddling with it a little bit more tomorrow.

Now Jacob's turned out AWESOME. I'm a HUGE fan of the batman movies, and this newest onew was my favorite. I know, I know, it was a bit violent, but, um, ..... I still liked it :) Jacob was pleased with how his Valentines Cards turned out (I'm putting 3 on a 4x6, developing them at Wal-mart, and cutting them apart).

And Emelines. I think I'd lost my "mojo" by the time I got to her. Maybe when I'm fixing Tom's I'll go back and fiddle with her's too. We'll see. I still have to do Joe and Jim's too. I'd better hurry. They're Valentine's parties are on Friday :)

It's time for another WordArt Collab!!! Woohoo!!! Holley of Scrap By Color has a new Kit out, called "Family Tree" kit. Isn't it FANTASTIC???!!! I thought that some nice family history-ish quotes would be PERFECT for it :)

So here's the first one that I made. Well, 2 actually. Aren't they cool??? I thought they turned out pretty cool :) Click HERE to go to Holley's blog to pick up these 2 cool WordArts :) And don't forget to leave her some love. She did a GREAT job with her kit.

FONTS:
Face, Of - Porcelain
History - Perpetua Titling MT

And here's the other one. Click HERE to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave me some love if you like my work :) Thanks, you guys!!! Oh yeah, if you DONT want the version with the shadow, click HERE to get it :)

FONTS:
Lives - York Script ES
Sublime - Will&Grace

Valentine's WEEK Sale

Yep, that's right! Now through Saturday, you can pick up FABULOUS Digiscrap stuff at the Orchard ON SALE! Don't you just LOVE a sale :)

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard, and click HERE to go to my store (hehehe).

Be Still

Hi all :) Happy Sunday!!! So, I DID get a bit of unpacking done yesterday, but still, not as much as I was hoping. This is gonna take longer than I hoped - sigh. AND, we realized that more than just the couches were molded. We're afraid that it's the bed, too. I went to Wal-Mart and bought some Lysol that's good for killing mold, and I sprayed the heck out of the bed with it. We'll see. Poor Captain America. We've gotta get the mold out of the house :(

We went to a picnic yesterday on Post with all of the guys in Captain America's unit that are also Snowbirding here at Bliss. (Snowbirding is what they call it when you're waiting for your next training to start, and they just send you somewhere to wait - LOL!) It was pretty fun. Granted, we were the oldest/most established family there. Well, really the only family there. Most of those guys/girls were single. I think there was one other married guy, but with no kids. A little hard to relate to, but nice people :) Boy, does that make me sound old or what - LMBO!

Captain America and I also got to go to the movies again last night. We saw "Push". It was pretty good. I was SUPER tired from the busy day, and we waited until the 9:35 show so the little kids would all be in bed. If I had been less tired, I probably would have enjoyed it more. Still, it as good. Not as good as "Taken", but good :) hehehehe. I did see a preview for a new Nicolas Cage movie, and it looked AWESOME. Just my kind of movie - LOL!

I told my mom that I would put pictures on here today, but I keep forgetting to take pictures, and you know, if you don't take any pictures, it's hard to put them on your blog. Maybe before church, I'll get a pic of the kids. Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Now, all I have to do is remember. Hehehehe.

This WordArt request is from Jacki. She's in charge of favors for her Stake (LDS Church)'s Womens Conference, and this is the theme. She wanted to know if I'd do a WordArt for it, and here it is :) Mostly because I LOVED the theme, and thought that maybe you all would too! So, click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :)

FONTS:
Still, I, Am - Al Sandra
Be, God - Felix Titling

Friends Welcome

So remember how I said that I was gonna get SO much done yesterday. Well, wishful thinking on my part - LOL! We went onto Post in the morning to get our car and truck all registered, and it took a lot longer than I was expecting.

For Texas, you have to first get a vehicle emissions and safety test, then take that to the Registration place (luckily they have one on post), where they gave us new license plates and registration. Then, we got parking stickers for Fort Bliss. It took ALL morning long. We'll get new driver licenses another day. I didn't shower yesterday (bandana day), and didn't want THAT one on my license - LMBO!

We got home around 2:30, just in time to get the kids from school, and I did unpack about 4 kitchen boxes before Captain America got back from post. We got dinner, and headed out for the hockey game. Yep, I left my camera at home....again! Geesh, no one's gonna believe I actually moved to Texas if I don't have the pictures to prove it - LOL!

It was a fun game, though. It was Scout night at the Rhinos (El Paso's Hockey Team), and Scouts in uniform got a free patch. So, we all came in uniform. I have a yellow one (even the blue pants), Captain America has a TON of Scout uniforms (LOL! - he used to work for the Scouts), Jake and Tom both have them, and little Joe (5) has one that he wears, even though he's not old enough to be a scout yet. So, Jake, Tom, and Joe got patches. Grown ups didn't get them. Nice. I would TOTALLY have worn something else - hehehe. Scouting clothes aren't my favorite outfit - LOL!

Our team scored the first goal in 20 seconds, and we could tell it was gonna be a fun night. In the section next to us, there were a bunch of "Army Dudes" (to quote Jimmy (3)) in their PT (Physical Training) shirts & Jackets, and jeans. I think they must have been AIT (Advanced Individual Training - the one just after BCT (Basic Combat Training), because they looked pretty young. There were probably 200 of them. It added a bit of spirit to the game, we'll say :) We were in the front row next to them, and we watched, as all night long, the front row of "army dudes" tried to get "high fives" from anyone walking by. It was pretty fun to watch who gave them "5's" and who didn't. I even got "5's" as I walked by - hehehehe.

After the 2nd period, we had 2 sleeping kids, one super tired, one drawing pictures, and another who wanted to stay and watch the rest of the game (Tom - 9). Poor Tom lost, and we headed home. Those benches were hard on my bum - hehehehe.

We stopped at McDonalds on the way home and got them ice cream sundaes. (I was good and didn't get one. Sigh. But I did get some strawberries from Wal-Mart, so I was happy) Much cheaper than snacks at the game - LOL! Who knew that snacks at the game were so expensive? Apparently everyone but me - hehehehe. It was a fun game, and I'm glad that we went. The score was 5-1 Rhinos when we left, so I'm pretty sure we won :)

OK, on a side note, a blog reader, Jill, emailed me yesterday, and had a few questions. First, she wanted to know who did my picture at the top of my blog. Well, that was done by Irene Alexeeva, from Scraporchard. She's FANTASTIC!!! I know that she used to have a "Custom Drawn Avatar" product in her store, but I didn't see it last night when I went to look. Hmmm. Maybe she'll bring it back soon??

Her second question was this:

I have been put in charge of a Memory Book for my Mother in-laws 90th Birthday Party….all I can think of is to have people write on pieces of paper and drop into a basket or something then put it all together later…sounds kind of boring…any suggestions?

I thought that you girls would be FULL of good ideas for Jill. So, any suggestions? Anyone? Anyone?

And finally, here's your Freebee for today. This suggestion comes from Mardine. I thought it was HILARIOUS (sorry family, no offense - LOL - LOVE you guys). Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Friends - Annabelle JF
Welcome - Perpetua Titling
All rest - Underwood Champion

Kindness Begins with Me

So, after sitting on this for almost 2 weeks (hey, it was 2 weeks today :) .....

We now have THIS!!!!

We are the proud owners of new couches. And it only took us 12 1/2 years to get some :) LOL! Now, the trick will be to keep the little kids from trashing them - hehehe. Aren't kids fun :) I also got an end table and a coffee table, but need I need to build them.

I started on the coffee table, but the pieces weren't all right. Have you ever had that happen to you? You buy a piece of furniture that needs assembled, and whoever made it, didn't do it right? On my coffee table, some of the holes are in the wrong place. Geeze. But, I think my hubby can fix it. Gotta love 'em :)

We ended up getting our couches from a store on Dyer St called Furniture Factory Warehouse. You know, some of the other stores we walked into, the sales people were ALL over us the whole time. It was a little annoying. But not this place. When we were ready to ask questions, we actually had to TRACK someone down. Very low pressure sales approach - hehehe. But, it worked well for us :)

The couches we picked out were on clearance (woohoo!). The sofa was $469 and the loveseat was $399. It's fake leather, and very comfy. I bought a few accent pillows at Big Lots, and am SO pleased with them :) Oh yeah, the coffee table and end table/magazine rack came from Big Lots too. I just LOVE Big Lots :)

After looking back up at my picture of my couches, I think it needs an area rug, don't you :) I feel a trip to Wal-Mart coming on - LMBO! But only AFTER I unpack a few things. And move all the crud into the garage. Remember the embarassing picture of all the boxes outside my house? Yep, there still there. My hubby is slightly freaking out about how tacky and bad it looks. OK dear, we'll move it into the garage today :) I promise :) And I'll unpack some stuff. But just some. I wouldn't want to cheat myself out of the JOY of unpacking for weeks to come - spread the joy, that's it. That's what I'm doing :) ha!

And thanks to all of you who offered ideas on places to look for stuff. Freecycle was one of my FAVORITE sites back in Chicago and Ohio. I need to sign up with the El Paso one :) And I've been stalking Craigslist too :) My sister's sends me good stuff on there from time to time. I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for stuff :) And that military one was really cool too. I think the one here is called Ft.BlissYardSale, or something like that. Good stuff there too :)

And, I'm gonna get around to trying some of the solutions you all offered about the crayons/sharpies/pencils on the walls, but not today. And maybe not tomorrow :) hehehehe. Remember, I'm gonna unpack something - LMBO!

And, before I give you my freebee for the day, do you wanna see my new stuff in the store???? It's ALL Valentines stuff. And, sad to say, I think I had WAY too much fun making the Attitude ones. I know, I'm bad :)

Click on the WordArt packs below to go to my store, and remember, you can pick up the WordArt packs for 20% 0ff (that makes a regular 4 pack only $2.00) for the first week.







And, on to your Freebee :) This is from a Primary song that the little kids at church sometimes sing, and that I regularly sing to my kids :) Because it is so true. Kindness really does begin with "me". How much brighter would our days be if we started the "brightness" by being kind, and happy, even when we don't feel like it. We might even trick ourselves into being happy - LOL!

So, click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

FONTS:
Kindness - LokiCola

More?

Hey all! Well, we got the rental truck turned back in yesterday. We organized just a little bit in the morning after the kids went to school, then headed out to return the truck. What a process :) We had to drive CLEAR across town (yeah, El Paso is MASSIVE) to get the truck weighed (that's how the army determines how much to pay you), then try and find a gas station to fill up, then the rental place (we only got a little turned around). It was quite the drive. Captain America was in the Rental Truck, and Jimmy and I were following behind in the Suburban.

We finally got all done at about 12:30, and went out to lunch. El Taco Tote. It was pretty good. Authentic Mexican food, apparently. It's Captain Americas new favorite place, so he had fun taking Jimmy and I there for lunch. And I just LOVED their Guacamole (which I usually HATE) salsa. WONDERFUL!

We stopped by the Boy Scout Shop to buy new Council Patches for the kids' uniforms, and saw that they are having a "Scout Night with the Rhinos". What's that, you ask? Hockey, apparently. We asked the lady up front, and they're the local hockey team. So, for $5.00 a ticket, we're gonna go watch a Hockey game this Friday night. I'm pretty excited. Never been to a hockey game before :) Should be entertaining :) hehehehe.

We got back home in time to pick up the kids from school, and turned around and drove back across town to go browse some furniture stores. I know, that was SO a priority for today (LMBO!!!). We went to 3 or 4, and found some nice couches. Who knew that furniture was SO expensive? Now I know why we just have hand-me-downs.

But, I think we'll end up getting something, because it seems that our "good" couch is molded too. The mold allergies are acting up in our house, and I think it's from the couch in the living room. It's been moved outside. We'll see if people are breathing better tomorrow with it gone. I'm just hoping/praying that the beds aren't bad too. Can you imagine having to buy new mattress for 7 people. Holy cow. I'm not even going there :)

We're gonna look around a little more, and see what kind of deals we can find. So far, the cheapest we've found is $500 ish for a sofa. We found a few that were a bit cheaper, but, well, they were pretty cheap looking, or white. Yeah right, like I'm buying white sofas with 4 little boys and a soldier for a hubby. Do I look dumb - LMBO!

Yes, I know. This one is very similar to yesterday. But that's ok, right? It sure speaks volumes with how I'm feeling right about now - hehehe. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

FONTS:
More -
All rest -

Really?

So I saw this saying, and just HAD to make a WordArt out of it. It TOTALLY sums up my day (week) - hehehe. Captain America got in Monday night at 3:00 am (so I guess that's Tuesday morning - lol). He woke me up long enough to help him carry the bed (WOOHOO!) up the stairs, then I went back to sleep. I can't explain how much I've missed my bed - hehehehe. I've been sleeping in a cot since August 08. My bed is my favorite. It's old, large, and SUPER firm, but I love it. It's a King size bed, which I LOVE. I don't sleep well if someone is touching me, so with the King size bed, I have my 1/3, Captain America has his 1/3, and there's the 1/3 buffer zone - LMBO! I can be in the buffer zone, but he'd better stay in his zone - LOL! I'm so bad :) How did this turn into Captain America staying on his side of the bed? ha!

After I got the kids to school, and let my poor hubby sleep in a bit (I watched Monday night's "The Bachelor" episode on line (my guilty pleasure), so I didn't mind too much), we got started on unloading the truck. HOLY CRUD! Where did all of this crap come from? And why are we moving it from place to place? I haven't used most of this stuff since July of 2007. After we moved from Chicago to Ohio, we had most of our stuff in a friends garage the whole time. I'm gonna have to go through this stuff, and figure out what we need, and what we don't. This is ridiculous :)

Like this couch. WHY did we bring it. Look how nasty it is. It went straight to the trash pile here in El Paso. There was mold and nasty-ies on it. Gross.

Every room in my house is filled with boxes and messes. OMGosh. But, we did get the entire truck unloaded. We were hustling and bustling to get it unloaded, and get the truck back to the rental place before it closed. It was a little tense at times, but it was done at about 4:45pm. We realized that the rental place closed at 4:30pm. Crud. Then Captain America says, "Oh yeah, I rented the truck 2 days later than I'd originally planned, so it doesn't need to go back until 2 days later, so it's not due until Tomorrow". Nice. Glad I busted my butt to get it unloaded. Oh well. At least it's done. AND, I have a FRIDGE!!!!! and my WASHER/DRYER back - WOOHOO!!!!

Now comes the "fun" part. Putting it all away - hehehehe. Check out our mess :)

The computer/media/library room

The living room

The tiny pathway through the garage

Ha! We didn't have enough room in the garage, so we just started putting stuff along the side of the house. I know, we're SO white trash. Oh well. We'll get most of it in today. Don't you wish you were my neighbor? ha! We had ladies from church come and bring us dinner again tonight. After our LONG day of unloading, I was SO grateful not to have to worry about food. Thanks, you guys! It was TASTY :)

Oh yeah, and here's my kids with their Christmas presents from Captain Americas brother/sister in law from St. Louis. When Captain America stopped off at their house on his trip/move, he picked them up for the kids. They were SO excited to open them yesterday.

Joe got a Star Wars toy (he was SO excited)

Tom and his toy

Jake and his toy

Eme with her BEAUTIFUL Barbie - International Barbie from Holland - so pretty!

Jimmy got the SOFTEST, most adorable stuffed animal (horse), but I didn't get a pic of him. He LOVED it so much. Captain America got the new Batman movie (which we already had, but LOST right before we moved (dad, if you find it, you can keep it)) WOOHOO!!!, and the new Narnia movie, which we haven't seen yet. I just LOVE movies :) Thanks, Illinois Hartys! We love you guys :)

OK, Mom, was that enought pictures for ya? Nothing exciting, but they're technically pictures :) ha! And, now on to WordArt. Another WordArt Wednesday for ya :) Can you believe it's already week 30? Holy cow! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard's gallery to download the zip file, and remember, you need to be logged into the gallery in order to get the file :)