Be

OK, girls. It's gonna be a quick one tonight. I got home from camping, and we got EVERYTHING put away. Well, mostly it was Captain America. I did some "behind the scenes" work :) Anyway, I'm tired, and I think I'm gonna head to bed early. I'll blog my campout on Sunday. I'm sure you're just DYING with anticipation - LOL! Anyway, here's a fun freebee for ya :) It's from Gordon B. Hinckley's 9 Be's. 9 ways to BE to live a better life. Don't you agree?

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

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Mother & Her Child

I love camping. Truly, I do. It's a TON of fun. Cooking over the campfire is a skill I have. I'm not joking - LOL! I find it relaxing. Being at one with nature, you might say. Packing for a campout? Just the opposite effect.

My hubby decided to spend the evening on Thursday night playing on the computer with just the right amount of work thrown in so that I woudln't complain. Then, there was no time left for getting the trailer out of the garage. Why is that a problem, you might ask? Well, remember my picture of my garage at my last home. All the stuff thrown in there? A lot of it has found it's way into our trailer here. The trailer is in the garage, so that it's not an eye sore for our neighborhood. Which makes the garage full. Which means crap gets thrown in the trailer. See my problem?

So after Captain America left for work this morning, I went out to the garage to get started. OMGosh! It was piled to the ceiling. Not fun. I had to pull all the junk out (some of it was quite heavy), and still leave a walkway through the garage. Then, all of my unsold garage sale items were piled sky high behind the trailer. Sigh.

I decided that the best bet was to donate the garage sale times first. I loaded up the truck, and headed to Goodwill. About a 15 minute drive. I knew it opened at 8am, so I got there at 9am, thinking I'd be all set. No one was there. I rang the bell, still no one. We drove to the front of the store, only to find a sign saying that effective July 9th, the store would open at 10am. Nice.

So, I drive back across town, and get ready to go onto post, only to discover I can't find my ID. Crap. How am I gonna get on post without it. I pull up to the guard, looking all flustered, and explain that my wallet must be at home on my nightstand, since I cleaned out my purse last night. I ask what my option are. He smiles real nice, and says "run home, get it, and come right back. Just don't speed". I love you, security guard man! I hurried (but not too fast) home, and went to my room to see where I'd misplaced my wallet. Nothing. Looked under the bed. Nothing. Looked in the blankets. Nothing. Hmmmm,

Maybe it fell out of my purse in the truck. We did make a sharp corner, tipping Jimmy's car seat over when we left Goodwill. I went out to the truck, and opened the passengers side door. Out falls the wallet. Thank goodness!

I got back in the truck, and drove back out to the gate. I showed the little man my ID, explained what happened, thanked him perfusely, and headed back home. I finished unloading the rest of the trailer, and had Jake and Tom both help me ease it out in to the driveway. Boy, was it heavy. But, we managed.

We pulled out all the tents, sleeping bags, air mattresses, cots, and back packs (filled with clothes that the kids packed the night before), and set them next to the trailer. Captain America can pack it when he gets home.

By the time I got that all done, it was 10am. So, back to Goodwill we went. They took all the stuff (thank goodness!), and we headed back home. On the way, I decided to stop at Big Lots and get a few more flashlights. I also came away with a new pair of black capris and some sandals for myself. And a bag of generic cheetos for the kids.

We came in a different gate, so I wouldn't be embarassed again (hehehe), and started back to work again. I worked until Captain America got home for lunch. I cooked food for the kids and for myself, then took a break. No more packing for me for a while. Most of it was done, anyway. I took a break at around 1pm to make cupcakes. We're supposed to bring a side dish or dessert to share for dinner at the campout. I made Carrot Cake CupCakes with Cream Cheese frosting. Mmmmmm, they looked really yummy. I even had extras, so I didn't have to listen to my kids whine about why they had to wait till tonight to eat them - ha!

I spent a while doing dishes, then a while designing. I'm gonna have a WordArt collab with Jen of Graham Like the Cracker here soon, and I needed to get started with it. 1/2 way done! I also designed my WordArt for Saturday, and am getting this blog post ready to go. See, aren't I efficient!

We'll be in New Mexico tonight and tomorrow, and will hopefully be home by dinner on Saturday night. Cloudcroft, I think. I don't know - hehehe. I do have the directions, though. I just follow them :)

This WordArt request comes from Deborah. Her best friend is having a birthday next month, and she wanted to get her something special. She thought a quote about the bond between a mother and her child would be perfect. I couldn't agree more! I hope you like what I came up with, girl! 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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Beauty

OK girls! Here's my 5 new WordArt packs for the week! I hope you like them :) Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to see (and buy!!) my new WordArt packs! They're 20% off the first week, or only $2.00 a pack!

Layout by Diana

Layout by Charmaine

And thanks to EVERYONE who suggested names for this WordArt pack. I went with Moments. Thanks, girls, who recommended it to me! I've sent you your Wordart pack :)

So, it was another whirlwind day yesterday. My days are all becoming like that, aren't they - hehehe. I was up and out the door by 8:15am. Kidless, in fact! Jake was babysitting all the kids, so I was able to shop without distractions. It was nice :) I had $200.00 budgeted for this week, and spent $190, plus a $2.00 tip for the baggers. Not too shabby. Right on budget.

I hurried home, had the kids help me put away all the groceries, and Tom and I headed out to Wal-Mart. His glasses were in, and we just needed to pick them up. Unfortunately, there was only one person working, and a line was forming. I had a nice chat with the guy behind me. His stories seemed a little "far fetched" for me, but he seemed nice enough. I said I had 5 kids, and he said he had 4 girls 3 boys, a few step kids, and a few foster kids. Um, yeah, he didn't look that old. hehehe. Then he said how he'd been in a wheel chair for 10 years, and then was healed, and now had the body of a 27 year old. Um, possible, I guess. He'd just got back from a mission to the indian reservation up in South Dakota. Very possible. Maybe some people just have bigger than life stories. Anyway, he was entertaining.

We got the glasses (they look FABULOUS, by the way), and headed back home. We did a whirwind "get ready for the pool" job, and headed out. I was still the first of our friends to get there. hehehe.

Check out this scary bird that's always at the pool. OK, so it's not always the same one, but this type of bird. It ALWAYS has it's mouth open. Katy was like, "I wonder what it's like to always have your mouth open like that", and I was like "I don't know, let's ask Andrea when she gets here". ROFL! Sorry, Andrea. We love you, that's why we can joke with you - hehehe.

It's a scary little bird, with it's beady eyes, and always tries to steal our lunch. It's been known to fly away with a 1/2 a sandwich in it's mouth. Dang!

And here's a pic of Katy

And me!

And the girls. Emily, Katy, Me, Helen, Andrea, and Luke (ok, so he's not one of the girls - LOL)

And, I feel bad, but I didn't get a pic of Tom in his glasses. If you look behind Joe's army hat, then you'll see Tom in his new glasses. I'll get a better pic tomorrow, Mom :)

The girls and I were in the pool for quite a long time "exercising" . We like to jump in the water. And do leg exercises. Great workout. And we don't sweat - LOL! Girls aren't supposed to sweat, you know! My calves are gonna be HOT by the time the summer is over - hehehe.

We headed home at 2:00ish. I lost Jim there at the end, but found him, thankfully. He'd left the pool and gone to the truck. He had a little "chat" about staying with the group. Tom was really concerned that we'd never see Jimmy again. Cute boy! So sweet to be worrying about his baby brother. At least he was safe. Don't scare me like that again, Jimmy! Stay with the group!

I helped the kids start some laundry when we got home, and Joe and Jim laid down, and promptly fell asleep. I tried to take a little nap, but got woken up by some dude calling my cell phone. Wrong number. Nice. So, I decided to start packing for our camp out.

I made a list of all the things that Jake/Tom needed to pack, clothes wise. I helped Joe and Jim get there stuff gathered. Each person gets a backpack with their stuff in it. I don't know what the campsite is like, cause we haven't been up there yet. We're packing swimming suits, just in case. You never know :)

We had dinner, and I watched Captain America mow the grass. I know, I'm so bad. I sat outside on the folding chair, and was "moral support". Feel free to invite me over anytime you mow your grass, and I'll 'moral support" you too! I'm just that nice :)

I am looking forward to our campout. The kids are getting excited too. We're big campers in our family. Well, I just like being dirty, so camping is right up my alley. I need to get the trailer unloaded (it's storing a bunch of stuff in the garage) and ready for camp today. Captain America gets home at 3:30 (or so he thinks), so if we're ready , we can be on the road by 4:00pm. But I'm not gonna hold my breath. We've never got to a campout before dark. Seriously. We always set up tents in the pitch black, by headlights. Hope fully this won't be the case too - LOL!

This WordArt request is from Ferryl. She wanted a WordArt that talked about walking in beauty, inside and out. I thought that this fit well enough. hehehe. I did my best :) Hope you like it! Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

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Ahhhhhhh!!!

Wow, girls! Remember how I said I wasn't feeling too well the other night? WELL, I woke up Wednesday morning with a KILLER migraine. I took at pill at 7:00am, and laid back down. Usually, 1 hour, headache gone. Not this one. I didn't take any food with my pill, just a cup of water, and the longer I laid in bed with my ouchie head, the worse my tummy felt. At about 8:30am, I decided to go and get some crackers. I almost didn't make it back to bed. I ate 3 of them (it was all I could force down), and laid back for a while. Headache still there. At 10:00am, I tried for another cracker. And some water. Well, that was a bad mistake. Up it all came.

Finally, at 11:40am, I woke back up, and felt almost human. I got my 3 little kids ready and headed out the the park (free lunch Wednesday). We missed the lunch, but found our friends. And we did get sent home with all the left over watermelon. Yummy! I was moving pretty slow, but the headache and pukey feeling was gone. I just felt weak.

Joe and Eme went home with Laurie to play with her kids, and Jimmy and I headed back to the house. Jake and Tom had stayed at home, not wanting to go. I brought them back the watermelon.

I sat and designed for a little while, and worked on Cub Scout papers for a little while too. I made up a calendar for Cub Scouts though the end of the year. Woohoo for me! I also started a blog for our Cub Scout pack. I was quite pleased with how it turned out :)

I walked down to Katy's house with Jimmy at around 3:00pm, wanting to drop something off for Emily. She had agreed to teach the Cub Scouts how to play Basketball that evening. We were meeting at the church at 7:00pm. She needed to know what to teach them :)

Jimmy and I ended up staying and visiting for an hour or so. We had fun! Jimmy got to play with the dogs, and we watched a bit of Madagascar 2 on Blu-Ray (SWEET!), and just had fun hanging out.

Katy and Emily walked with Jimmy and I to Laurie's house to retrieve my other kids around dinner time. They were said that they had to go, but I needed to get them home and fed before scouts. Poor Joe. He SO wanted to join their family. He told me he wished that he'd been in Laurie's tummy so he could have been born into her family. Nice. And what am I, chopped liver? Where's the love, Joe? I'm sure not feeling it - hehehe.

I made pancakes for dinner for the kids, and my regular stir fry for myself. We were all done and ready to go by 6:55pm. Yes, a little later than I wanted. Scouts started at 7:00pm. So, I hurried over to scouts.

Well, apparently I hurried a little bit too much, becasue as I was coming out of one of the housing areas, I stopped at a stop sign right before coming off of post, and the bike cops ran in front of my truck. The little guy in the yellow shirt came to my window, and said I was speeding, and to pass over my Military ID, my license, my registration, and my insurance card. Dang! Now I REALLY was gonna be late.

I'd always made fun of the bike cops before (sorry for all you bike cops out there), saying how in the world would they pull someone over. Well, I know now. They wait for you to come to a stop, then jump infront of you. Durn you, bike cops - hehehe. I would have only been 5 minutes late instead of 15. Well, I guess if I'd have left sooner, or not speed, then I woudln't have been late also. But it's more fun to blame it on the freakin' bike cops - ROFL!

So, Scouts was good. We had 5 Scout age boys (and a TON of siblings). Emily taught them the rules, had them practice some skills, then they played a game. She really did a great job teaching/coaching them. Thanks, Emily!!! I owe you one!

We left scouts at around 8pm, and had to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart. Tom's glasses were in, and I coudln't remember what time the vision center closed. But I also needed Yogurt for today. Since I was sick, I didn't have a chance to go grocery shopping. I was all out of yogurt. So, we headed off to Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, the vision center was closed. But, I got a large tub of yogurt, and a box of cereal, and a 6 pack of Generic Zero Cola, all for under $5.00. Woohoo for me KEEN shopping abilities - hehehe.

We headed back home, put the kids to bed, and I sat down to design. It was another long day, but it ended well. Especially considering how bad it started. Luckily my kids are pretty self sufficient. The house wasn't TOO badly trashed when I emerged from my hole - LOL!

So, WordArt for today. Yesterday wasn't that day - hehehe. Not an AHHHHH!!!!! moment. Some days are, don't get me wrong. Just not yesterday - LOL! I'm sure that I have a TON of pictures for this one, I just don't have the time/energy to go digging right now :) Now that I think of it, though, I need to take a picture of the bike cops, and blog that with the AHHHH!!!! WordArt. That would work! hehehe.

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

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Joys of the Season

So we were up bright and early on Tuesday, getting ready to take Jacob to another round of GT (Gifted/Talented) testing. This time, he was supposed to go and do a classroom setting thingy. He needed to be at Burgess High School @ 8:30am, with a pencil and colored pens/pencils/crayons. He took the markers. Boy, was that kid tired. He has problems falling/staying asleep at night, and he sure didn't want to get up and go do school stuff. It'll be a rude awakening when Fall rolls around again - hehehe.

The kids and I came back home and relaxed for a little while. I got a WordArt pack designed, and was just about to lay down and take a 30 minute nap when Jake called, and said they were done. Sigh. It just wasn't my day for a nap. We left the house at 10:10am, and were back home by 10:35am. We had a few minutes to change clothes, grab towels, and load up in the truck.

Ayden (11 yrs old) from church was having his b-day party at the pool. It was a good time. Check out little Joe in this pic. He found a poor little butterfly in the water, and tried to save it. He thought it was cute that it would sit on his finger, and not leave. Poor thing coudln't fly, because it was SO wet.

He sat on the bench holding the little butterfly for about 10 minutes.

Towards the end, it started to flex it's wings, and then few away. I was amazed. I thought the little thing was a goner for sure. Way to go, Joe! You saved the little butterfly!!!

Here's Tom, all wet and happy!

And Jimmy in the little pool. The little pool was quite nasty yesterday. Check out the difference in color between the big pool and the kiddy pool. Nasty - hehehe. It didn't stop Jimmy, though!

Eme in the big pool.

Jake in the big pool. He kept going under when I went to find him - hehehe.

And, the mommies went down the slide today. It was pretty fun! Here's Andrea.

And Laurie

And Andrea and I - aren't we cute - LOL

Us in the pool during pool break. Jake had her son and was keeping and eye on Jimmy, so we were able to play for abou 15 minutes. Thanks, Jake!!! Aren't we dorks - LOL!

And me - it's the 2nd time down, cause they didn't get me in the pic the first time - ha!

We left the pool at 1:20pm, and got home at 1:30pm. We had about 25 minutes to change clothes, throw on some shoes, and head out the door to the movie theater. Busy, busy, busy!

Here's Tom in the truck. No A/C, by the way. Dang, it's hot. We just hope we don't have to stop at traffic lights.

Jimmy

Eme

Joe - Dang, he's got the BEST eyes!

And me. Oops, my gray is showing - I think it's time to dye it again - ha!

The movie was REALLY good. Definitely going on my BUYING list. X-Men Origins : Wolverine. I really enjoyed it. Eme and Emily (Katy's daughter) went to Hanana Montanna instead. hehehe. I'm glad I picked Wolverine - LOL! I'm a big sci/fi / action movie person. No so much with the tweeny movies - hehehe.

We stopped at Fallas, a discount store, after the movies. It was in the same shopping center. I ended up spending some of my own spending money, and got 2 new shirts. After my 10% military discount, my total was $5.50 or something like that. Not too bad for 2 shirts. One is black/white, and one is red/white. SO cute! I'll have to take pics when I wear them.

By the time I got home, I had a migraine (or the beginnings of one), so I put hot dogs on the inside grill for the kids, and put Jake/Tom in charge of cooking them, took a pill, and went to lay down. Captain America was already home, and was already laying down. He'd eaten too much ruffage (salad - green peppers, to be exact) for lunch, and his stomach was KILLING him. He can't eat raw veggies. Well, raw veggies of any size, that is. One time, he ate a cucumber (without slicing or peeling it), and he thought he was gonna die. Poor thing. Ever since his spleenectomy, when they cut him open, took out his guts, removed the spleen, and pushed it all back inside, things haven't been the same. Food gets caught ALL the time. Poor guy!

I took a little nap, and got up at around 6:20pm. I made dinner, got the kids all situated with activities, and decided to work on my designing for a little while. All in all, it was a GREAT summer day :)

I went looking for a good WordArt saying/quote for WordArt wednesday, and ran across this one. I know what you're thinking. Christmas in July??? No, season doesn't just mean Christmas, silly! Right now, I'm in summer season. And I even made a layout to go with it - ha!

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

Kit: Graham Like the Cracker

Facebook Addict

Hey all! How is your week so far?? Monday was ok?? Sure hope so! We started out our day with a trip to good old Wal-Mart! Jacob and I needed contacts, and Tom needed glasses. I had about $250 to work with, and I ended up under budget! Tom picked out nice $10.00 frames (gotta love that!), and the lenses were $29, so a complete pair of glasses for $39 isn't bad! I ended up getting him 2 pairs. Jacobs contacts they had in stock, but of course, since I'm blind as a bat, mine they had to order - hehehe. They should be in in a week or so.

After Wal-Mart, we hurried home and got ready for the pool. We were about 15 or 20 mintues late, but it was ok, because Katy was running late too. I just love it when a plan comes together - hehehe.

For being a Monday, the pool was unusually busy. Some Army dudes (as Jimmy likes to call them) in PT (physical training - exercise) clothes showed up shortly after we got there. They were EVERYWHERE. Come on, boys. What do you think this is, an ARMY pool or something. We're trying to swim here! LOL!

The girls and I had a ton of fun "exercising". We spent most of our time in the deep end of the shallow part, hopping. My legs are gonna be sore today, I bet! But it was a very nice low impact exercise. I think our legs were in motion for about an hour.

So when I finally got out of the pool, and not by choice, I might add, we found some army guys in life jackets. What the heck??? It was SO funny. I think they may have been non-swimmers. I don't know why we found it so hilarious that the big tough army dudes were wearing a little kid life jacket. hehehe. It's the same jackets that Jim and Joe wear, by the way. The SAME exact ones - Ha!

Here's Jake, and the little one in the background is Jimmy..... Hmmmm, Jimmy. He's the reason I had to leave the pool. Apparently, he was pushing/hitting/wacking (take your pick) the kids in the baby pool. I made him sit with me on the bench until we left. I don't think he'll be hitting anymore. Sitting on the bench with mommy isn't so fun.

And here's our pool group. Minus me, who's taking the picture. Helen is in the back, and then there's Emily, Eric, and Katy. We had a TON of fun at the pool. Especially making fun of the hairy guy - LOL! Rug man - hehehe.

I got home a little after 3pm, and cleaned up my room. I had a MASSIVE pile of laundry in the closet (all clean) and needed to put them away. Jimmy was supposed to be cleaning his room, but of course, he fell asleep. Do your kids do that? Fall alseep on purpose (well, I think it's on purpose) when they're supposed to be cleaning their rooms?? I guess he'll have to clean it today.

My intent was to take a nap, but I never did get around to it. It was soon 5pm, and I had to go and make dinner. The kids had beef stew (from a can) with a piece of bread and butter. We had Family Home Evening at 6:45pm ish. Jacob taught the lesson (Joseph Smith story), Tom did the game (Batman Uno), Eme and I picked the songs, Jim and Joe said the prayers, Captain America read a scripture, and Eme and I did the refreshments (peanut butter cookies0. It was a fun evening. AND, I won the Uno game. What could be better - LOL!

The little kids were in bed by 8pm, and the big kids were watching a movie in their room, and Captain America was talking to his dad on the phone, so I decided to go and hang out with Katy. We decided to watcht the final 2 episodes of Harpers Island. It was a fun time.

After that, we signed her up for a blog, and I helped her get the basics down. TOO much fun :) I was home by 12:30am, and started blogging/designing. Well, I guess from 8-8:45pm, before I went to Katy's, I did some designing for my WordArt packs. In fact, I need your help with one of them.

This WordArt pack is coming out on Friday, and I need to decide what to name it. I have until I go to bed on Wednesday night to get it all zipped up and in my store. You know me, I like my WordArt packs to have simple names. Like "Friendship" or "Cousins" or "Birthday". Simple, one word titles. Sometimes two. SO, if you come up with a name that I like and that fits with this Wordart pack and I choose it for the title, I'll send it to ya for free. But be sure to leave your email address in the comment, so I have a way to get ahold of you. I can still use the fabulous name, of course, but you'd be out your prize - LOL!

This WordArt request is from Mary Anne. I thought it was too funny, yet sadly true in my case. I will freely admit that I farmed yesterday. And my field is MASSIVE. I update my statue when I'm out and about on my phone. I communicate with my friends on Facebook sometimes more than I call them. hehehe. Facebook is the lazy mans way of being a friend. ROFL!!! Well, this Wordart is for all of you who feel you spend WAY too much time on Facebook. Take a pic of yourself, and make a layout. Therapy, right???

Click on the line below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leaves ome love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Only Known

First off, here's a few pics from the last few days. I know, I know. You're getting creeped out over how many times I take a pic of myself. I promise to take more pics of my adorable kids, and less mug shots of myself - hehehe. But see my hair? I straightened it. It takes forever, but I like the finished result. And I can make it work for 2 days without re-washing it. I know, I'm SO lazy.

Here's Captain America and I before our date on Friday night. I had something else on, but a kids spilled a WHOLE waterbottle of water on my, so I had to change. Even my jeans. Sigh. Aren't kids fun - LOL!

So, first off, I wanna talk about my Fan Fic link from yesterday. Remember how I said it was pretty tame. Well, that was the first half. The second half was not. Not by a long shot - LOL! Not that it was vile or anything, but it wasn't rated PG, that's for sure :) Definitely steamy in places. Not for the faint of heart. Just throwing that out there. Wouldn't want to lead you into something you weren't prepared for - hehehe. I'm just saying :)

So, from that, we move onto church was good! hehehe. The kids did very well, and Primary went without incedent. We were late, but since church always starts 7 minutes late, we were on time. I like to be there, seated, a good 12 minutes before the meeting starts. 15 would be even better. Not the case when riding in the same car as Captain America. He is always making us late. Oh well. We weren't "late", so we were good. Next week, I'll try and get him going faster.

We took a family picture after church. We set the timer and placed the camera on the bookshelves, and took several pics of ourselves. Here's my favorite, and the funny one. You always have to take a funny one. Didn't you know that's the rule- LOL!



I came home, fixed lunch, and relaxed in my room. The kids and Captain America just took it easy for the day too. The little kids and I met up with our friends at the neighborhood park in the evening (it was SUCH a beautiful night) to chat. There were people everywhere. We stayed until it was super dark. Everyone else had left. But it sure felt nice outside.

We're going to the pool again today. Then Jake has a GT (gifted & talented) meeting tomorrow from 8 something to 11 something, Cub Scouts on Wednesday, pool again on Thursday, and our Ward (church congregation)'s campout is on Friday/Saturday. Busy times :)

This WordArt request comes from Sue. Her father passed away a few months ago, and this was one of his favorite songs. She wanted to make a layout of some of his final days. Not to be disrespectful, but I also thought this wordart would be PERFECT on pictures of your kids making messes. Or kids fighting. Or anything that would make one sigh in frustration, and say 'If I had only known". Like husbands and their messes. Or their hobbies. Or their annoying friends. You get the idea. LOTS of possiblitities for ths one :)

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

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Angels

It was an enjoyable day in the Harty household on Saturday. Captain America and I got to sleep in. When Jimmy came in asking to put on a movie, I told him to go right on ahead. Usually they have to wait, but I was feeling sleepy. I don't think I came out of my room until 10 something - hehehe. I just LOVE lazy saturdays, and kids that can fend for themsevles for a few hours.

We got ready, and were at the pool around 11am. It was fun taking Captain America with us. We all played in the big pool for about and hour. Jimmy is getting to be SO brave in the water. We did the big slide a few times, and just enjoyed each others company. We were home by 1pm.

Captain America had another class get-to-gether to go to, and my original plan was to let him go, and the kids and I would go to the movie theater while he was gone. Well, the big kids decided that they didn't want to go to the movies (what kid doesn't wanna go to the movies???), and would rather stay home and play. Whatever. I will just save my $$ then :) Since they all seemed content to do their own thing, Captain America, Jimmy and I decided to make a short appearance at the BBQ, and let Jake stay with the other kids. Without Jimmy ,it's a piece of cake for him.

We were there for only about an hour. There was a lot of eating, and drinking, and pooling. Not really my idea of a fun party. The pooling and the fooding part were fine, but I'm not a drinker. I'm getting more used to being around alcohol (welcome to the army), but I'm still not crazy aobut it. They all seemed like nice people, though. Most of them were single guys, so I didn't really have a lot in common with anyone - ROFL! Imagine how horrified they'd feel if we did have a lot in common. What would it be like for a 20 something year old male soldier to have a lot in common with a 30 something year old stay at home mother of 5 - hehehe. It's a good thing, I guess - ha!

We were home by 5:30, and I made dinner for the kids (BBQ chicken), and spent the majority of the evening reading Twilight Fan Fiction. Pathetic, I know. But it makes me happy. Angie of Ikeagoddess left me a comment the other day, saying she'd read it and LOVED it, so I decided to give it a try. I'm hooked. I'm only 1/2 way done and it's after midnight. After I finiish this, I'm off to read some more. While it doesn't take place in the twilight world, the characters are essentially the same. Just not the whole vampire thing. Rose and Alice and Bella are roommates, and Edward and Jasper and Emmett are best friends. They all meet and fall in love with each other. GREAT story. There some language (unfortunately, being in the army lifestyle has desensitived me quite a bit more than I'd like to admit) and it's a bit senseous in places. I'm only 1/2 way through, so if you start it, and it 's TOTALLY raunchy, don't blame me! The first 1/2 was mild enough. hehehe. There's my disclaimer - LOL! Click HERE for the story.

OK, it's gonna be a quick one today, girls! I thought this quote was WONDERFUL, so I decided to make it up into a WordArt for you all! Hope you like it. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Bad Side

After my somewhat late night on Thursday night, I was up and going at 7:45am on Friday. Jake had a vision appointment at 9am, so I had to get up and get moving. We made it there just in time, and the eye doctor said that his contacts fit very nicely. He gave us the prescription, and now we're good to order contacts. Just need to find the $$$.

After the eye doctor, we swung by the Commissary, bought gum (I'd forgotten mine at home) and popcicles, and headed out for the West side mall.

I just HAVE to tell you all about the FABULOUS find I found at Old Navy. My friend, Andrea, was there on Thursday, and told me about the $0.97 rack. Well, when we were there today, I found Jeans for Emeline. Can't pass up that price, either! I ended up getting her 4 pairs that fit her snuggly (we're gonna make most of them into shorts), and the rest a size of 2 bigger. PERFECT for school! Great find, eh?

Then I got flannel jammie pants for Joe and Jim, same price. Jimmy got blue/black plaid, and Joe got green/black plaid. They were SO excited about it.

Eme also got a pair of blue slip on shoes for 97 cents, and Jake got a ball cap for the same price. All in all, I got 9 pairs of Jeans, a ball cap, a pair of shoes, and 2 jammie pants for $13.11. Am I good or what?? hehehe.

It was a good time at Old Navy. And this particular one had a little kids area set up. Toys, and seating, and a movie. Fabulous! The kids played/watched movies the whole time. It sure made shopping more enjoyable when I didn't have to worry about kids :)

We got home the exact same time Captain America came home for lunch. Perfect timing! We all had lunch together, then settled in for a long afternoon of nothing. It was SO nice :) I laid down and tried to get a little nap, but only ended up sleeping for about 30 minutes. I sat down with my budget, and made sure that we still had all the money I thought we had. We did. Good thing, too - LOL! Plus, I found eoungh money to buy contacts/glasses for Tom, Jake and I. Woohoo!!! I was a little worried about it before I actually sat down and looked.

Captain America was home at 4ish, and we got the kids all ready to be home, and left for our date at 4:45pm. We had enough left overs from the last few days that I didn't have to cook for them. Jake was left in charge (he's a GREAT babysitter), and we headed out to Applebees. LOVE it :) We decided to do their 2 for $20 deal. We got Spinach and Artichoke dip for our appitizer - OMGosh was it yummy! (just the green stuff in the middle and the chips - couldn't find a single pic of it - just use your imagination - LOL)

I had the grilled shrimp something salad. Dang, can't remember what it was called. But it was fabulous! It had lettuce, cherry tomatoes, avacado (yucky! Gave it to Captain America), olives, and shrimp with dressing on the side. You do know the trick with dressing on the side, right? Lightly dip your fork in the salad dressing before forking a bite of salad, and you get the flavor of the dressing with using only a fraction of it. Saves on calories. Tricky, eh? It was big and yummy!

Captain America got the 7oz sirloin steak and added Shrimp and Parmesan to the top. Divine! We traded bites, and his was WONDERFUL. He got steamed veggies, and a side salad with it (balsamic vinegar for the dressing)

We decided to forgo dessert, and headed straight to the movies. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The movie started at 6:05, so we had to hustle. No need, it turned out, because there were 30 minutes of previews - lol! I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was pretty long, though, and I was kinda cold. They crank the AC here in El Paso. I think I need to keep a jacket in the car at all times. i thought I was gonna FREEZE at dinner. Serioulsy, I had goose bumps the whole time - hehehe.

After the movie, which was in the mall, we walked around for a bit. There was a Target Greatland right there in the mall, so we decided to go and walk around. I hadn't been in a Target for a while. It was kinda fun. I ended up getting some Fingernail polish remover, a clear coat, and a very light pink coat. Only $3 something out of my money. I'd spent the whole movie picking the nail polish off of my nails (I know, I know, not so good!), so I needed something to fix it.

We decided to stop at Wendy's and each get a small frosty on the way home. Not on the diet, but SO much better than the desserts at Applebees, calorie wise. I hadn't had ice cream in a long time, so I was in heaven. Back on the diet today! I guess I don't really look at my date night as off of the diet, so there's no getting back on. Just continuing on with it. I'm down to 149, so that's not too bad :) 9 more lbs to go!

We got home at 10 to 10pm, and only Jake and Tom were awake. Jake said that he put the little kids to sleep at 7am, so I told him that when they came to wake me up at 6am, I was sending them upstairs to play with him. I'd told him to put them to bed at 8pm. He knew that he couldn't play computer until they were in bed, so he decided to put them to bed early. I must say, he's not a dumb kid - LOL! He'll just be playing with them in the morning, that's all - Ha!

So I'm designing after 11pm, and I decided to go with a fun, easy saying. No requests tonight :) I found this one, and thought it was HILARIOUS! I have a TON of goofy pics of my kids/family/friend/self, and thought it would be GREAT on pics of them/us!

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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OK, I just wanted to show you guys that you can use this. See, just put it on any silly, goofy pic. You don't have to be on medication to use it - ROFL!