Footprints on our Hearts

Another long day. I think I need a short day - ROFL! So, I woke up this morning, and was SO tired. Captain America still wasn't feeling well, his ears and tummy this time (opposite of diarrhea - LOL), and went to the TMC to get checked out. I got the kids ready for school, got myself somewhat ready (I REALLY need to get a shower one of these days...), and headed out to the grocery store.

I dropped the kids off at school, and drove to the Commissary. It was a blustery day, and it felt like it was gonna rain. Kinda on and off sprinkling when I went in the commissary.

I got all my shopping done, and even had $10 left over. Not too shabby. It was lightly sprinkling when I left the commissary, but I must say, it reminded me of home. The Oregon Coast is always wet and blustery. I missed it. Kinda of - ROFL!

Next, I stopped by the PX to see if they had a Compass. You know, the kind for drawing circles. Jake needed one for school. Nope. No compasses. Sigh. I headed home to put my groceries away.

Captain America was back by then, and said that the doctor put him on "Quarters", saying that he had an ear infection, and gave him new drugs to "unplug" himself. hehehe. So, first he gets medicine to not have diarrhea, now he has medicine to not be constipated. Sigh. Back and forth and back and forth. His poor system!

He was feeling much better, flu wise, though, so was able to be up and about today. I was a bit bummed that we missed the Hail and Farewell tonight, though. It was dinner at a nice restaurant. That would have been fun. Oh well. Next month.

After putting all the groceries away (no small task), I checked some emails, and hung out at home for a while. I ate lunch at noon, and at 12:30, Andrea and I went to WalMart. I needed a white shirt for Captain America for Sunday (his old one got washed with a pink crayon.....) and a compass and protractor for Jake. And some soup for Captain America. The doctor said that soup would be good :)

At Walmart, they didn't have the shirts that he needed, but did have cheap protractors and compasses. Flimsey, but cheap. The kids broke the last expensive one I bought, so I figured that I'd just buy two cheap ones (under a dollar a piece), and hope for the best.

After Walmart, we went to Ross, hoping that they'd have a shirt for Captain America. They didn't, but I called him, and he showed me the next best thing to get. It was fun walking around and looking at all the home decorating stuff.

We were home with about 40 minutes to spare before we picked up the kids from school. I helped Jake with his school, and hung out with Captain America for a while.

I left at 3pm to get the kids from school, and and was home by 3:45pm. I'd started dinner before I left, and finished it off. It was a meatloaf. I took 2 lbs of ground turkey (lean), and put it in a large metal mixing bowl. I added some chopped fresh parsley, some chopped onion, some chopped mushrooms, some Parmesan cheese, some salt, some Italian seasoning, 1 cup of oats, some Worshestire sauce, and mixed it up by hand.

I filled 12 lined muffin tins with the mixture, till it was HEAPING full, and baked at 350 for about an hour. A little less, actually. Oh yeah, before it went it, and brushed on watered down ketchup over the meatloaf.

When it was done cooking, I cooked up some sweet potato fries, and also salad. It looked SO good, I had to eat some. Bad. Not on my diet. I had 2 meatloaf muffins (LOL at the name), a serving of Sweet Potato fries, and some salad with spray on ranch dressing (like 10 calories, maybe). SO, although I cheated and at things not on the diet, it wasn't too much of a stretch. I thought that it would curb the food cravings, but no, it didn't . I was SO tempted to go and eat both peanut butter granola bars in the cupboard, but I resisted. But it was hard.

I worked on answering some emails after dinner. I took out any emails from my husband, or from my FRG leader, or my mom, or a family member, and from church, and just left the WordArt related emails, and my inbox is at 300.

300 emails! I really, honestly don't know how I'm gonna personally answer 300 emails. And they just keep coming. SO, if you emailed me, and I didn't respond, it isn't because I don't care. It's because I don't have enough hours in the day to do everything - LOL! Sorry, girls! I'm trying :)

At 8pm, Andrea and I headed out to Girls Night Game Night. Captain America and I were supposed to go on a date, but because he was sick and couldn't leave the house, we're moving it to Saturday night. SO it freed up my evening, so I could go and play with the girls. It was at Kayleys house, and was SO much fun.

We played some silly game at first, and I didn't really like it. I don't like those games where you have to be the center of attention. Although I may seem like I like it on here, in real life, it makes me nervous. And stressed. LOL!

But my team won, so it wasn't too bad. Next, we played Scattegories. OMGosh, it's one of my favorites! But I always have a hard time not getting to "bad" with it - LOL! Like, for instance, when they asked for a word that starts with the letter "P" and grows...... Yeah, I had a hard time not wetting myself from laughing so hard. I know they all think that I'm a heathen - ROFL! At least Andrea is with me. She's a heathen too, I guess - LOL! That's why we get along :)

We came home at 10pm, she dropped me off, and went to get her kids from the sitter. My kids (well, the older ones), were still up playing Uno with their dad. I went to work (design and blog), and they played till about 10:45pm.

It's 11pm now, and I may watch a quick TV show online, then go to bed. I'm hoping to sleep in tomorrow :)

So, Saturday Second Chance, or something like that. Well, the one that I picked wasn't too bad to start with, but I focused on different words, so it's completely different :) Yeah! Here's the old one....

And here's the new one. See, totally different. But both good :) I'm good with different - 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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Fresh Fruit Friday Jan 22nd, 2010

Yeah, I forgot again. hehehehe. Here's my new stuff for the week! Enjoy!
Click HERE to go to my store :)

Layout by Jaimee

Layout by Grace

Raising A Human Being

So I told you that I had to send back my new laptop, because it was faulty, right? Well, I finally got reimbursed for it. SO, I'm on the hunt for another laptop. I found this one HERE that I liked. I'll give it a try. My BIL said that the specs look good for what I'm gonna be doing with it. Wish me luck :) hehehe.

The kids were all back to mostly normal today. Jake had 4 extra classes to do, and Joe has a bit of extra homework to make up for during the weekend, but all is well. I was a bit disappointed that they missed their class pictures on Wednesday. I didn't know they were doing them. I guess I should have paid closer attention. But then, I couldn't have made them NOT sick for that day, so such it is, I guess :(

I dropped off Joe and Tom and Eme at 8am, and really just spent the rest of the afternoon doing nothing. I wasn't feeling terribly great, but not super sick either. Sometimes being around sick people makes you THINK that you're sick. You over guess every little twinge - LOL! SO, just to be sure, I spent the day on the couch and in bed. I spent my time catching up on this past season of Survivor. I must say, it was a WONDERFUL season. I loathed Russell at the beginning, but he wore on me after a while :)

I need to go to the store tomorrow and grocery shop, and buy Jake a Compass for math. He couldn't complete his assignment today because he didn't have one. Sigh. That means a trip to Walmart or an office supply store. One or the other.

Captain America was home sick again today. He got of bed a few times, but was always back in bed within the hour. Grown ups take longer to recover than kids, you know :)

At 3pm, I headed to the school to pick up Joe and Eme. Tom was staying for Extra PE, and Andre was gonna pick up Tom and Sam. Ben said home sick, so she didn't need to come right after school. Worked out great for me :)

I fed the kids snack after school, and went back to my relaxing. I'm gonna have to not be sick tomorrow, and clean up, cause it's getting messy again :) Kids did their homework, and a few chores, and I made dinner (soup), then headed out to my FRG meeting.

I had to be there around 5 to help the Leader, Angela, get everything ready. We got copies made, and made up an agenda, then headed over to the FRG room.

We had quite the crowd. There were even a lot of wives and kids and families that came. ACS (Army Community Services) came and told us about all of their many programs that they offer, and the REd Cross came and talk about their services. We had some announcements, and the Commander and 1st SGT talked for a bit, then we sang Happy Birthday to all of the people with Janurary Birthdays, and that was it.

WE'd passed out Surveys to find out what kind of "presenters" we should get for the FRG meetings, and to put out feelers for help with the FRG. Angela and I can't do this on our own.

Captain America and the kids stayed home, since he was sick, and it wasn't for kids. Worked for me. I stopped by Andreas house on the way home and "borrowed" some saltine crackers. I realized that I was out at 2:30pm today. When I went to get some for my snack.

I'm telling you, it TOTALLY derailed my head. I had in my mind that I was gonna eat those 4 saltines, and when they weren't there, it seriously took ALL of my self control to stop from eating everything in sight. It was SO good than Andrea called me to help get the Kindergartners from school, because otherwise I would be chowing down on food.

THEN, I was gonna eat when I got home from school, but realized that she was gonna have to stop back by with Tom after Extra PE, so I couldn't eat then either. When she left, Captain America woke up, so I was saved. I probably would have eaten a whole package of cereal (yes, I've done that before), or several sandwiches, or 4 muffins, or something equally as bad. But, I'm happy to announce that I STAYED on the diet, and didn't cheat. I'd better be down when I weigh tomorrow. Can you gain weight by just thinking about eating? I sure hope not. I feel food dreams in the making tonight.... Sigh.

So have you noticed how disjointed this post was today? What's up with that. I must be feeling the "food withdrawls", because it's affecting my mojo :) I think I'll call it quits for now, and go watch some TV before bed. Or maybe just go to sleep and get more than 6-7 hours of sleep. Night night!

Oh yeah, and for some reason, it seems that the 4shared from yesterday wasn't working too well. Only 19 people got it. Not quite sure what that was all about. I updated it, and it seems to be working fine. Until it decides to stop working again - LOL! Sorry about that :)

This WordArt request is from Sarah. OMGosh, it's SO true. We really do need to keep in mind the important job that we do. Sometimes it feels VERY inconvenient. VERY. But I really must take a step back, and realize that I have a little person here who I'm teaching and shaping and molding into a GREAT adult (hopefully), who will do great things :)

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

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Roses Are Red

Remember the whole "Life is better when your kid pukes in the toilet" routine from yesterday? Yeah, TOTALLY jinxed myself - hehehe. Captain America was up ALL night long puking and diarrhea-ing. Poor guy. He was really hurting.

He called in at 5:30am that he was WAY too sick to come in. And he went back to bed. I went out at 7am to get kids ready, and Tom said he was feeling icky. So was Eme. Jim was sleeping on the couch, and Joe woke up, but was still feeling icky. I sent them all back to sleep. I gave Tom a few pepto pills, and sent him to bed. At 7:30, Eme informed me that she was all better, and wanted to go to sleep. OK, hurry and get ready, I told her.

I called Andrea, and she came and picked her up on the way to school. SO nice of her. About that time, I hear Tom upstairs. Puking. But not from the bathroom area. Sigh. I went up, and he puked RIGHT on the carpet, all the pink pepto. Nice. THAT doesn't come out easily, you know. SO not cool. So the 6 year old can make it to the toilet, but the 10 year old cant. Doesn't make much sense, you know.

About that time, Jake came down stairs, and puked in the downstairs toilet. Dang, they were dropping like flies. We watched a movie for a while, but I didn't sit and watch the whole thing. I like to wander around - hehehe.

Captain America was up a bit later, and called the Brigade Doctor, and got a prescription for anti-diarrhea and anti-nauseousness called in. So I drove on over to the TMC (don't know what this one stands for, but it's the doctors office)(maybe Troop Medical Center?) to get the drugs. I also got some pepto, some anti fungal cream, some ibprofrin, and some sudafed. THANK you army and free OTC drugs. 2 times month we can get 4 products. Sweet!

Anyway, I got home, gave Captain America his drugs, cooked food for the sick and non sick kids, got them all situated, and headed out with Andrea. I had to get out of the sick house - hehehe. We went to the mall, and as we were pulling into the parking spot, Ryan called. So we sat in the car for 20 minutes while they talked. I checked my email on the phone, texted my sister, kept busy :)

We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch (did I tell you I was down another 2 lbs? That makes 7 total!), and I got a Grilled Chicken Garden Salad with double chicken and a water. I picked out the tomatoes, carrots, cheese, and broccoli, since it's not on the diet at the moment. It'll be back on re-feed. I was feeling pretty good when we were done. Although baby Luke's fries did look awfully tempting :)

Next, we went downstairs for Andrea to go threading. I'm saving my dollars for next month. I'm running out of funds - hehehe. Anyway, she got her eyebrows and her lip done. It felt SO smooth when she was done - LOL!

We went to Old Navy, but decided that even with their sales, we still didn't want to pay that much. We're both thrift shop girls, through and through. We couldn't see paying $10 for a pair of jeans when you could get a pair for $2-4 at the thrift shop. Sigh.

Next, we went to Bath and Body Works for a sample of lotion, because our hands were dry (ROFL!), and then back home. It was a nice afternoon. BUT, when we got back home, we realized that it was time to go and pick up the kids from school. SO, I ran in the house, grabbed and apple and crackers for Andrea and I, then headed back up to school. We were a few minutes early, so we sat and chatted.

We were home at around 4pm. Captain America was asleep again, but the kids were in bed with him watching Star Wars Episode 2, I think. They were all having a good time. I did a bit of computer work, cooked dinner (French Toast Loaf), cooked my dinner, and prepared for the Cub Scout Committee Meeting, that I was running. Busy day again.

Andrea came and got Emeline and I at 6:40pm, and we headed off to church. And let me tell you, it was our best committee meeting EVER. We had a 3 den leaders there, the cub master, the committee chair (me), and a parent. SO good. Everyone was laughing and having fun ,and we got the pack meeting planned, the pine wood derby talked about, and the blue and gold talked about. It was a very fun and productive meeting.

I got home at almost 8:40pm, and most of the kids were still up. Captain America said that he'd put Tom in charge of putting Joe and Jim to bed, but since Tom was sick, it didn't really happen. I re-put them to bed, put the rest of the kids to bed, and came in to blog and design. Here it is, 9:24, and I'm gonna watch some internet TV and go to bed. Another long, but good day.

Thursday, I need to go grocery shopping, and have an FRG meeting in the evening. The kids get to go to the Bowling alley for childcare. It ought to be a ton of fun for them :) Not sure what I'm gonna be doing in between shopping and FRG-ing. I'm sure I'll find something entertaining to fill my time. I always seem to :)

OMGosh, I just couldn't resist! Irene Alexeeva, from Scraporchard, posted some of these in our forum, and I just laughed and laughed and laughed. This one was one of my favorites. I thought you'd like it too!

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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Significant

Morning, ladies! Can you believe it's Wednesday already??? How did THAT happen - hehehe.

Tuesday went pretty fast. I was up at 7:15 am, luckily, since my alarm didn't go off. It's my wristwatch, and maybe it was under my pillow? Who knows. I'm just grateful that I woke up - hehehe.

I gave the kids pancakes (I'd saved some from the other day, and had them stashed in the fridge), and got them out the door and in the truck. The construction guys put up a fence around the area where we drive/walk to school, so we had to take the long way. Apparently they're putting in 2000 new housing units (4 plexes) in that space. Dang!

After dropping the kids off at school, I came back home, saw my husband off to work, got Jake started on school, and started to clean my room. It was SUPER messy. I grabbed everything, and put it on my bed, then sorted it into piles. Clothes, and bills, and papers for church, and papers for FRG, and kids stuff, and trash, and electronic stuff, and lotions, and DANG, I have too much stuff - LOL!

At 9:15am, I realized that I had a bit of FRG paperwork for my 10am meetings. Crap. I hurried and got it done, but not until 9:50am. No time for a shower.... again! I threw on some clothes, a bandana, gathered my things, and headed out the door. The last 2 times we'd tried to meet with the commander, he was 45-60 minutes late. Of course the time I show up 10 minutes late, he's on time. Such it is.

He LOVEd the flier I made for the Unit, and had only a few minor wording changes. We were still waiting on some info from the Red Cross before we could print them. The FRG leader was gonna call me around 4-5 when she talked to the Red Cross, then I could make the changes, and email it back out.

After the meeting, I met Andrea at the Post Thrift Shop. I got a new pair of "goal jeans" (size 7), and some VHS videos ($0.50 a piece) for Jimmy, and some Horse books for Emeline. Next, it was off to GoodWill. Andrea needed a Hawaiian shirt for Sam for school. She found one, and a new outfit for Luke, and a sweater and skirt for herself. I didn't need anything, so I just browsed. I just LOVE thrift shops :)

I wanted to keep on shopping with Andrea (she had a few more stops to make), but was good and headed back home to work. Jimmy watched his new movie, Jake was already done with school, so he played, and I worked on WordArt packs. I got all 5 designed, and the fonts text document worked up, and was ready to make the previews when I realized it was already 3pm and time to get the kids.

I drove up there, picked up the little ones, and waited while Tom finished Extra PE. It's called AQ. Yeah, don't know what that stands for, but whatever. AQ. hehehe.

We got home at around 4pm, and I finished the previews, and loaded the store, and was all done by 5:45pm. Aren't I good! I made Spaghetti for the kids, and my regular diet dinner, and realized that I hadn't seen JOe in a while. I looked in his room, and he was sleeping under a big pile of blankets. Poor child. He didn't look so good. Even more white and pasty than normal.

I brought him in my room, and we watched a movie together. The others kids filtered in an out. He puked a few times, and had the chills. Poor child. But at least he made it to the toilet every time. I must say, life is SO much better when you don't have kids puking on the floor/carpet/beds and such. SO much better :)

I folded a GIANT amount of laundry while watching the movie with Joe, and had the kids put it away before bed. Then sent them to bed. Captain America came home at 9ish, and was in bed by 9:30. He was SO tired. I let Joe sleep on the couch, pushed close to the bathroom, with the light on and the door cracked. Lets home he makes it to the bathroom each time...

I'm all done designing, and blogging, and it's only 9:40pm. I think I'm gonna catch up on some of the TV shows that I've gotten behind on. Like Lie To Me and Fringe. I'm REALLY behind in Survivor, and Heroes, but that'll take too long, and is a project for another day :)

I don't remember now where I found this saying, but how true it is! I thought it would be a perfect WordArt to go with a baby talking, or two little people chatting with each other, or a little person chatting with their daddy/mommy. SO cute :)

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to get the download, and remember, you need to be logged into the GALLERY. Not just the forum. And leave some love if you like my work :)

Young & In Love

What a strange day I had :) I woke up at 7 something, hearing the kids beating on the old TV that goes to the Wii, trying to get it to work - LOL! I went to the bathroom, and went back to bed, trying to go back to sleep.

Well, I guess it worked, because I didn't wake up until almost 10am. Dang! It's SUCH a great day when your kids get old enough to NOT wake you up and need you in the morning - hehehe.

I came out and make pancakes for the kids, and apples and yogurt for myself, and helped the kids get some chores done.

At 11am, Captain America and I left for Walmart. Johnny had just came, and I only had one tampon left. Not a good combo. hehehe. We needed to go, and go fast :)

We drove to the farther away Walmart in hopes that it would be better than the one close to the boarder, but no luck. It wasn't very well stocked. A lot of the things that we needed, they didn't have. Captain America wasn't too happy, considering he already hates Walmart in El Paso - poor guy :)

I wanted a new purse, cause mine is breaking, but couldn't find one in the purse isle that I liked. The ones that I liked only had handles, and the ones the over the shoulder straps were ugly. Sigh. I'd just have to lump it. But then when we were in the flag pole isle (I know, hehehe), I found the CUTEST laptop case that LOOKED like a purse, so I got it :) It's red and shiney and SO chick. I love it :)

After Walmart, we went to El Taco Tote. By then, I wasn't feeling too well. I was on my diet, and going through food withdrawls. I know, I know, that sounds funny. But seriously, it's like a drug for me. I crave it. I think about it all the time. I obsess over it. Not good. Diets are good for me (very restrictive ones), because it takes that all away. I don't think about it, because i KNOW what it is that I have to eat. I don't care about it, because it's always the same. It takes the "fun" out of food, and allows me to seek for "fun" and "joy" in other, more healthy places. Anyway, it's hard, though, the first few days of my diet. Withdrawls...

SO, I ordered a Steak taco, with just steak. I threw away the corn tortilla, and just ate the steak. I got a little plate of cucumbers, and a diet lemonade. Sigh. Not the most fun of lunches, but it'll be good for me. I have a WHOLE closet full of clothes that no longer fit, and I'm NOT gonna let that be the case. A couple of months on this diet, and I'll lose the weight.

We realized that Jacob was supposed to be at a meeting for church at 1:0o, and that he was gonna be late. We hurried home, got Jake ready, and Captain America took him to his meeting. I was starting to feel SUPER car sick, had cramps, AND food (sugar) withdrawls all at the same time, so I laid down in my bed to take a nap. I put on PBS cartoon for Jimmy, and he snuggled with me for a while. It was VERY peaceful and relaxing.

A few hours later, I felt MUCH better. I made dinner for the kids, and went with Captain America and Jim and Joe to the field by our house and watched Captain America play catch with the boys. SO cute! Joe's a natural. Eme came out and played for a while, too :)

Andrea and I went out after dinner. She'd been home for WAY too long, and needed out. I'd hadn't seen here for a while, and I needed an "Andrea" fix too - hehehe. Captain America took the little boys and Eme to McDonalds for an ice cream, then picked up Jake from his meeting. He'd stayed late to play at his friends house (where the meeting was).

Andrea and I drove around for a bit, then went to Target and the Jewelry Box. I got some socks, and some earrings, a necklace, and a scarf. I just LOVE $1 things :)

We got home, and put the kids to bed. Captain America had a little bit of work to do, I blogged and designed, and now we're gonna watch a movie before bed. Weird day, but it ended good. I'm feeling MUCH better. Less hormonal. Less crampy. Less hungry. Tomorrow should be a MUCH better day :)

This WordArt request comes from Shawna. I thought it was such a fun one. It would work for a new young couple, married or not, OR even for old people. Young at heart, you know. Or for little boys and girls holding hands. Lots of possibilities :)

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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Dancing in the Rain

It was a great Sunday :) We got to sleep in, since it was Stake Conference. Our session didn't start until 1pm. Sweet! I think I woke up at around 9 or so. It was nice.

We got breakfast, and made snack for the kids, and did our own things in the morning. Captain Americaworked on cleaning his Civil War guns at the table, the kids played and watched part of a movie, and I read. Nice and relaxing.

We started getting ready for church at around 11:30, and were out the door by 12:40. We were about 5 minutes late. Oops. Better than the 30 minutes late we were last night - LOL! I don't like being late, you know ;)

Conference was really good. We got a new Stake Presidency. Our old stake president is in our ward, so I guess we now have another mans name to add to the "callings list" - hehehe. Anyway, it was nice. The kids were mostly well behaved, considering they needed to sit on hard metal folding chairs in a crowded gym with a billion other families for 2 hours. Jimmy ended up falling alseep on my lap with 30 minutes to go.

We learned about the importance of listening to the Holy Ghost, and going to the temple, and being a missionary, and loving others. It was really good. Stake conference really is a fabulous meeting. *directed to my LDS readers, but you are all invited to come too - hehehe * I'd encourage all of you who don't go (for whatever reason) to start going. Sure, it's an easy meeting to skip out on, because no one knows if you're there or not. But Heavenly Father knows, and will bless you for going. Even if your kids are unruley and obnoxious the whole time (Jake and Tom DID elbow fight a few times before we separated them), you're teaching them a valuable lesson. That their parents/mom/dad/whoever feels that this is important enough to go. Ok, off the ole soap box....

We got home at around 4pm, and spent the rest of the evening doing nothing in particular. I had a "I'm gonna start my period any second" moment or two, but managed to come out ok. hehehe. It didn't help my diet any, but I'm gonna push ahead, and do good tomorrow. I just couldn't compete with the hormones today.

We watch Kung Pow with Captain America, since he hadn't seen it. I seriously thought he was gonna hurt himself he laughed so hard a few times. I forgot how much fun he is to watch comedies (especially DUMB ones) with. hehehe.

He finished cleaning his guns, and played a bit of Wii with the older boys, and the little kids plus Eme had a sleep over in their room, and all was well. I hope that Monday is just as relaxing as today was :)

This WordArt request comes from Chris. I'm fairly certain that I've done it before, but I liked this one too :) Hope you like it, girl!

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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Child of the Divine

Well, I finally got my nice, relaxing day :) My phone had died in the middle of the night, so I didn't get any calls either. Cause I didn't know it was dead - ROFL! I wondered why it was SO quite.

I heard the kids at 7am-7:30 in the kitchen, and got up at around 7:45am to get them some cerel and oranges, then went back to bed. Captain America got up at around 8-8:30ish, and played with them for a while, and I was still sleeping. 9:30 before I woke up. It was SO nice :) Jake and Captain America were playing chess when I finally came out at 10am.

I started on a snack for the kids, Bran muffins. I'd set aside part of the raisin bran for the recipe on shopping day, and used it in the recipe. I added the cereal, and milk, and oil, and eggs, and vanilla, then the peeled and diced apples and walnuts, then the spices, and flour, and sugar, and baking soda, and baking power. Then realized that I hadn't doubled everything. I'd just doubled the cereal. Crap!

I had to add more of everything. It took WAY longer than I was expecting. Then, the recipe said to bake for 10 minutes, and it ended up taking 25. And I had 2 batches. Sigh. BUT, they were tasty. I made enough for muffins as a snack one more time during the week, and 2 more weeks ahead. I put them in the freezer. Should be good :) And less work - ROFL!

After snack, Captain America and I went back to our room, and I read for a bit, and he napped. He slept from 11am - 3pm. Dang! I think it was because he's been SO stressed and busy at work. Poor guy!

I left the room at almost 1pm, and started on lunch. Bagel sandwiches. With Turkey Cotti Salami and cheese. Mine had lettuce and tomatoes. SO good. The kids played games, and I read. It really was a great afternoon.

When Captain America woke up at 3, we had the kids do their chores, and clean their rooms. By 4:30, it was nice and clean (ish) again. I started on dinner for the kids at around 5pm, and it was done at 6pm. Tortallini soup. SO good. It's my favorite, I think :)

Captain America left at 5:30 to go to the battery to do a bit of work, and was home by 6:45. We left the house a little before 7pm, and headed to the adult session of Stake Conference. A general authority was going to be there, Elder Christensen.

We were a bit late, as it started at 7pm, but I figured that it was better to come late than to not come at all. I'm glad that Captain America made me go. I wasn't feeling like going at all. I'd had a nice relaxing day, and didn't really wanna go. I didn't wanna shower and put on "real" clothes (heeheh). I just wanted to bum around the house all day.

BUT, conference was good. They talked a lot about going to the temple, and missionary work. It was a great session of conference. Afterwords, Captain America wanted to go for a soda. But since I'm off of caffiene, I wanted ice cream. ROFL! I'm starting my diet tomorrow, so ice cream is still good - hehehe.

I wanted Cold Stone ice cream too. I didn't know where one was, but figured it should be around the mall area. So we drove there, but didn't see it. We drove around for a bit longer, and Captain America spotted it! I got one that had chocolate ice cream, fudge, chocolate chips, and something else. It was pretty good. I think I'm gonna try one with a vanilla base next time. It tasted too much like chocolate ice cream for me. Maybe something with Oreos. Those are SO good.

Captain America opted for a smoothie with splenda. He got the triple berry, but didn't want raspberries, so got extra blueberries and strawberries. He liked it. He said next time, he's bringing extra splenda from home so it's sweeter - hehehe. He does like his shakes sweet :)

We were home by 10pm, and the kids were all alseep. Good job, babysitter Jacob! I was expecting them (Jake, Tom, and Eme) to be awake. They must have got tired and went to bed.

Here it is, late again, and I'm almost done. I'm gonna read for a bit, then go to sleep. Since it's stake conference, we don't have to be there till 1pm. That means SLEEPING in!!! I'm SO excited. Can you tell?

So todays WordArt idea came from Stake Conference last night. I can't remember which speaker gave this quote, but I just LOVED it, and knew that I was destined for "WordArt". hehehe. I came right home and googled it, and quickly found it. What do you think? Do you like?

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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Heaven

So we're playing Twitter/Facebook tag, and I kinda suck at it - ROFL! I kept looking at my fan page, and it was only showing things that I'd posted, and not things that EVERYONE had posted, so I didn't see when I was tagged. Sorry for holding up the game, for like 5 hours - ROFL! I guess I WAS on my date at the time. hehehe.

SO, if you wanna play, just click HERE for the start of the game. Ziggle Design has the first piece :) Enjoy!

First off, I have to tell you about my tongue. I know, that's nasty. We shouldn't be talking about our tongues. Just hear me out :) SO, I wake up and my tongue feels weird. Like I've been sucking on something metallic. I thought that if brushed my teeth, it would feel better, but no. It was still weird. Kinda swollen feeling. I kept waiting for it to get better, and it felt like that ALL day long. And I was kinda itchy on my upper chest/throat area. Not terribly, but once I start itching, it gets worse. OK, so diagnose me. What's wrong with me? hehehe. And don't say that I'm just weird. Because we already know that :) Any thoughts?

So, remember my nice relaxing day planned for Friday? Well, you be the judge... I was up at 7am, getting the kids ready for school. Everyone was EXHAUSTED from the movie the night before. Poor Joe didn't want to get up at all. Eme needed woken up (she's usually awake before I get up). I'll have to think twice about letting the kids go to the movies on a school night.

Anyway, the left for school at 7:30am. Because the gate was open. For a while :) I sat down on my computer, and worked on a new food menu for the kids. A healthy one. LOTS more healthy. I found healthy snacks, healthy dinners, and made a menu. And edited the shopping list. Which is set up by isle in the commissary. I know, anal. BUT, it saves on time for shopping.

It took a SUPER long time to do, though. I probably doesn't sound like a lengthy process, but it sure was. Captain America woke up at 9am, and he was disappointed that I hadn't gone shopping yet. I was too, but I didn't like being told that. I was exhausted from the long week, and I was hungry too. We were out of milk, out of splenda, out of fruit, out of spices. Out of lettuce, and salad, and carrots, and most of the diet type food that we eat regularly.

Captain America also told me that he needed to go to work for few hours today. Sigh. So much for a day off. I was looking forward to a lazy day at home with my husband.... SO, I called Andrea and made plans to go to the commissary with her. Because it was going to be PACKED because it was payday. Payday at the commissary is a time avoid. Trust me. The lines are horrendous!

Anyway, I asked if she wanted to come, and she said give her 30 minutes to get ready. So I took a shower, cause it'd been a while - ROFL! Then, right before Captain America was ready to go to work, he said that he wanted to drop the car off at Saturn to get it fixed. Sigh. That threw off my plan for shopping. I called Andrea back, and told her to give me an hour, then we'd go.

So I took Captain America to Saturn, who said that they could fix the car for $205. At least I had that much put into the "Fix the Vehicles" fund. It was the ignition switch that was bad. When it goes, it throws a code to the computer that the car is being stolen, so it won't start. It happens when it's cold outside. So if it's a chilly morning, Captain America's car won't start, and he can't get to work. Not the most convinent thing to happen, wouldn't you say :)

I drove to Andreas house after dropping Captain America off, and we decided to go to lunch first. Because, you know, we needed to keep our strength up - ROFL! And, we wanted to go somewhere good. LOL! So we picked Olive Garden. Because that's good - hehehe. We got the unlimited soup and salad bar (0nly $5.99). I just LOVE their potato/sausage soup. One of you gave me the recipe, and I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I'm gonna!

I ordered a "salad to go" for Captain America, since he was stuck at the battery. We dropped if off after lunch. He seemed very happy to have it :) Love ya, honey!

Next, it was on to the commissary. And it didn't disappoint, crowd wise - hehhe. It was packed. BUT, they did have everything that I needed, so that was good. AND, by the time I reached the line, it wasn't that back. Only about 4 people in front of me. When we first got there, it was backed up to the dairy isle. 4 people is MUCH better than that.

Oh yeah, when Andrea and I were in the soda isle, we ran into Katy. And it was awkward. She looked at the ground and kept on going, and we didn't make eye contact either. Sigh. I think smiling and nodding would have been less weird. Oh well. What do you do? Just because I didn't want to be her friend (because of things she said about my husband) didn't mean that I wanted to pretend that she didn't exist. I've never been in a situation like this before..... Awkward....

Anyway, we took the groceries home (I was riding with Andrea, and my truck was at her house - she dropped me off at my house), unloaded them ,and put them away. I individual serving sized out the cereal, and a few other things. It took about an hour to get it all put away. Oh yeah, and I barely came in under budget for shopping! I have $200 for the week budgeted, and it was $198. That's pretty close! Healthy food costs more than non-healthy food, I think. Last week, I only spent $160. That's kinda a big difference.

At 3pm, I walked down to Andreas house, and was gonna get my truck, but ended up riding to school to get the kids with her :) We went in and helped get the kindergarteners/1st graders, and brought them to the back. The Military Liaison was there, and was talking about a note that went home with the kids today.

The kids can't walk to school any longer, but can still be dropped off at the back gate for a few more days. Until the 29th. OK, I can handle that. And, she was pretty sure that there was going to be busing. Awesome! I'm excited :)

Andrea dropped Eme off at the house, and took me and Tom and Joe to our Truck at her house. They wanted to come with me to give Captain America his snack at the battery. It was about 4pm. He said that he'd text me when he was ready to come home, and that we'd go and get the Saturn. Sounded good to me.

I got home finally, and made dinner. Healthy dinner. Do you want my recipe? It was SOOOOO good. Well, I liked it, anyway :)

Hamburger Buddy

• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
• 2 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 10 ounces white mushrooms, large ones cut in half
• 1 large onion, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 pound 90%-lean ground beef
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups water
• 1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium beef broth, divided
• 8 ounces whole-wheat elbow noodles, (2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, or chives for garnish

Preparation

1. Fit a food processor with the steel blade attachment. With the motor running, drop garlic through the feed tube and process until minced, then add carrots and mushrooms and process until finely chopped. Turn it off, add onion, and pulse until roughly chopped.
2. Cook beef in a large straight-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped vegetables, thyme, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables start to soften and the mushrooms release their juices, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Stir in water, 1 1/2 cups broth, noodles and Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Whisk flour with the remaining 1/4 cup broth in a small bowl until smooth; stir into the hamburger mixture. Stir in the sour cream. Simmer, stirring often, until the sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with parsley (or chives), if desired.

It was like Hamburger helper. I used whole wheat noodles, and you know what, the veggies really cooked down, so the kids didn't even really notice them. I did, and they tasted wonderful! It was yummy :)

Captain America texted me at 5:30 to come and get him. Saturn closed at 6pm. We'd better hurry. I left the kids, all fed and happy playing Wii, and headed to the battery, got him, and headed to Saturn. The interstate was SO backed up, we just took the frontage road. Still busy, but not as bad. We got there with 3 minutes to spare. Pfew! We paid our bill (only $162 - how often does THAT happen), and bought a dash cover for the Saturn (only $10), and were on our way. It was 6:30 by then, and Captain America was hungry. We were close to a BBQ place, so we went in and got some food.

He got some turkey, and we shared some cole slaw, and we got a chocolate cake with flan on top, and some pudding. I'd already eaten at home, so it was just dessert for me. I was full. I decided that I like flan as chocolate cake frosting - ROFL! I just don't enjoy it by itself :) Sorry, Andrea...

After dinner, we went to Best Buy to look at car stereos. (We took Captain Americas car, and left mine at the BBQ place) Captain Americas stereo's code got messed up when we switched batteries while back, and Saturn wanted to charge us $50 to re-set it. That's ridiculous! We wanted to see how much a new car stereo would cost. He HATED his old one, anyway. So we priced it out, then headed to the movies.

2012 was playing at the dollar theater. Captain America hadn't seen it yet, and it was the only thing vaguely good playing :) I fell asleep the last 10 minutes because I was so tired, but still enjoyed it. I think Captain America liked it too. Not as much as Avatar, but it was good :)

We drove back to post, and yes, Captain America got stopped coming onto post. I tried to take the "bullet" for him, by being in the lane to be selected for inspection, but the guard waved me on, and pulled Captain America over. I tried, honey. I really did. I can't help it that the guards have a man-crush on your car. hehehehe. What else could it be?

The big 3 kids were still awake, and playing games. Jake had put Joe and Jim to bed at 7:30 like I asked him. What a good babysitter. The house was pretty mess, so when I came in to blog real fast, Captain America directed the cleaning up of the house. And let me tell you, it looked pretty good when I came out to check on them :)

So here it is, midnight. Did I have a relaxing day? Um no. Was it a good day? yes. Maybe tomorrow will be my relaxing day.....

So, here's my "Saturday Second Chance" wordart. This WordArt was first released on Feb 7th of 2008. Thats almost 2 years ago. I remember liking this WordArt at the time, but can see SO many problems with it now. Do you like the re-do?

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

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A Mother's Love

OMGosh, you guys! Can I just tell you how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my CT!!! They did a fantabulous job with my previews for this week. Look at how AWESOME they are! I have 5 new WordArt packs for you today, 4 dealing with love or Valentines day, and one for volleyball! Enjoy :)

Click HERE to go to my store to check out my new stuff. It's 20% off the first week, which makes it $2.00 a pack! What a sweet deal :)

Layout by Grace

Layout by Trina

Layout by Netty

Layout by Tanja

Layout by Grace

Layout by Jaimee

Layout by Chharmaine

AND, another special treat!!! I teamed up with Suzy Q Scraps to bring you this FABULOUS WordArt collaboration pack! Look at all of the FABULOUS goodies inside :) Head on over to the market to pick it up. You can find it HERE.



TG(oodness)IF!!! Thursday was super long, and I'm SO glad it's over - LOL! Maybe Friday will hold less. Which will make it more. Because less is more, right?

Thursday dawned bright and early, before my alarm went off, to the joyous sounds of fighting. Eme and Joe were going at it in the kitchen. I had NO idea what about, but I could hear it from my peaceful sleeping. So I got up, stumbled to the bathroom, and finally went out to the dining room to see what was the issue.

There's Tom sitting at the table, reading a book. Eme and Joe have a TON of towels on the floor, trying to mop something up, and are YELLING at each other. The milk jug (remember, my expensive milk from the Shoppette (gas station)) is cracked and about 1/8 full, sitting on the table. Great.

I helped them continue to get all the milk up off the floor, and asked what happened. And the fight started again. I never did figure out what happened. Only that they were fighting, and the milk lost. Poor milk.

I poured the rest of the 1/8 of the jug into a container, and told Eme and Joe that they lost the privilege of eating Cereal for breakfast. They got peanut butter and jelly instead. I was gonna save it for Jimmy.

I remember telling the kids before I went to bed on Wednesday night, to wake up and take a shower. I looked at Eme, and it was TOTALLY obvious that she hadn't. Her hair still had "pony tail" marks in it. So I asked her if she'd showered, giving her the chance to say no.

"Yes, mom, I did" she repiled. Lied straight to my face.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes mom!"

"I can tell by your hair that you didn't".

*hangs head in shame*.

I sent her upstairs to take a shower. She didn't look to happy.

Next, I turned to Tom.

"Tom, you showered, right?"

"Yes, mom, I did".

"Then why do you still look dirty?"

"Well, because I woke up extra early to take my shower, then went outside to play".

I looked at his hands ,and they SEEMED clean. I looked at his clothes, and the SEEMED fine. I smelled his hair, and it was obvious that he hadn't showered. Another one lying to me. What th heck!

What do you do to kids when they lie? What's an appropriate punishment for that? I sent them both off to shower, then took them to school. I wasn't very happy about the whole lying situation. Not good, not good.

I came back home, and started to work on the "FRG Phone Tree". Sigh. There were 85 people in the unit. So I had to go through each name, and see who turned in a FRG info sheet, then decide where they were single with no kids, single with kids, married (dual military), or married.

Then decide whether they wanted contact with the FRG, and what kind. We had about 18 who wanted some kind of contact with the FRG. That's really not that many. How sad is that :( But I know that there's a TON of horror stories about bad FRG's out there. I wouldn't want to be involved in something like that, either.

I ended up working on it up until about 10:50am. I hurried and slapped on some clothes, and Jake and Jim and I headed up to the USO for free food. Fudruckers was coming to the USO to pass out free lunch! Score it!!!

Jake LOVES going to the USO because he can play X-Box. We got in line, and got our food, and went to a tiny little table to sit. Laurie and her friend were there with their kids too. One of the volunteers (one I'd never seen before) came over and told me that Jake wasn't allowed to play the gaming system unless he had a parent sitting with him. What? That was news to me. I was about 15 feet away, and in direct line of site. Still wasn't good enough. So I made him turn it off and come back with me.

OMGosh, he was upset. Looked like he wanted to slap someone. Or cry. It's hard to deal with disappointments when your 12, you know. He got a plate of food, and sat with us "old ladies" for about 30 minutes, and I put him out of his misery by going home. Without the bonus incentive of Jake being happy and occupied, the USO didn't really hold our attention long. That and there was a TON of people there, and our toddlers/preschoolers were becoming restless :)

I dropped the kids off at home, and headed out to my FRG planning meeting. I was meeting Angela (FRG leader) and a soldier at the coffee shop. We even got the compfy chairs this time! I thought that we were gonna go over the phone tree, but it turned out that we were planning a "Haiti Relief Drive" for the unit.

They'd contacted Red Cross, and found out what they needed. Mostly money at this point. But they said that in a few weeks, they'd need stuff like toilietries, bedding, non-perishable foods, clothes, that kind of stuff. So, we're gonna start collecting that stuff, then have it shipped down when they need it.

We figured out the exact working for the flier, and I was put in charge of making it. We'd need to get commanders approval, also. We did work on getting the phone tree organized, and I went through the list of "contact me" people, and gave it to our Key Caller volunteer. I'm SO glad that we got one of those. Latoya was her name. Seemed like a nice lady. I just met her for the first time today.

I loathe making phone calls. Really, it stresses me out. Big time. So having someone designated to make ALL the reminder phone calls makes me feel SO much better. Pfew!

We headed over to the battery to see commander, and ended up in the day room for quiet some time waiting. We finally got in to see him, and he gave us a bit more direction about what to do, and sent us on our way.

We stopped by Housing, and asked if we could put up fliers around the housing areas for our "refief drive". They said it was great! That we could even put a donation box inside the housing office. Sweet!

I got a text from one of my friends saying that the gate to school was going to be open this afternoon. Thank goodness! I left to pick up the kids from school at around 2:45 from the housing office.

I swung by Andreas house to see if she wanted to drive with me to get the kids. She did, so we headed up there together. Apparently, the Post Commander heard about the mess with the gate and the kids and the school and all, and opened the gate again between now and the 29th. On the 30th (of Jan), it will be closed, but hopefully they'll have a bus in place for the Ft Bliss students. THANK GOODNESS!!! I was pretty excited about it.

When I got home from dropping off Andrea at her house, I got a call from the school, and it was an automated message about the gate from the school. See, that's how you do it. Send a message to all of the families. Perfect! I was very pleased.

Tom got home a little after us, since he walked from his "extra PE" class. The kids played for a while, and I went to my room to "hide" for a bit. It'd been a busy crazy day, and I just needed to sit down and breath and read for a little while.

I made dinner for the kids, and we headed out the door at 5:55pm for Scouts. We were only about 4 minutes late - hehehe. The leader was a bit late in getting there, but it was ok. We got most of the meeting. I brought all of the kids, because after scouts, we were gonna go to the movie theater (1 building away) and see New Moon. The kids had been BEGGING to go and see it, since they hadn't yet.

Andrea and I hung out at Scouts, and the big kids (and little kids) played with toys and such. Joe had a great time with his Den.

We left a few minutes early, loaded up in the truck, and headed to the theater. 2 minutes later, we were there. hehehe. Tickets were only $0.99 (and Jimmy was free because he's young), and we got double stamps towards our free popcorn. Since I bought 6 tickets (well, 5, but it was 6 people), we got 12 stamps. And it only took 10 to get a free med popcorn and med soda. The kids were SO excited!

We sat a girl form school in line, and waved and found out where she was sitting. We sat a few rows back from her. And then my friend Jessi from church (she came to the last New Moon movie with us) and her friend came and sat directly behind us! Yeah for friends to visit with!!! She was Toms Sunday school teacher for a few weeks last year, and she's Eme's Activity Days leader at church.

Eme went back and sat with Jessi and her friend, and the boys and I in the next row. Jake, Tom, Joe, Me, and Jim. Well, if there was a scary part, it was 2 little boys vying for my lap. That was fun. ROFL! I decided that New Moon was designed to be watched Kid free for your maximum viewing pleasure. hehehe. BUT, I think the kids enjoyed it. They seemed pleased, anyway.

With about 20 minutes to go, Captain America finally got off work and joined us. It was a very nice surprise! I don't even know if he had to pay to get in, since it was almost over. Either way, $0.99 is a good price to pay for almost 30 minutes snuggle time in the movie with your husband (and 2 little boys).

We came home, and put the kids to bed. Everyone was tired. I felt bad that they're gonna be sleepy in the morning, but know it was worth it for our family date night. Captain America will get to sleep in in the morning, since he has the day off. But he's gotta work a little bit. Apparently they have inspections at work, which I don't know what that means, but he's been stressing about it for the past few days. Poor guy. I love you, sweetie!!!

It's 11:30 already (HOW did that happen), and I need to design a freebee real quick and I'm off to bed. I wanna be to sleep before midnight. That would give me 7 hours, and I think I can survive on 7 hours....

This WordArt request is from Chelsea. What a great quote, girl! I LOVE it :) Hope you like the WordArt! Click on the llinks 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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Toys

Hi again :) How goes your week so far? Good, I hope. Thursday already? How did that happen? Days are just zooming by! I guess when you fill every possible second, time flies - hehehe.

I was up at 7am this morning, after going to bed a little after 1am. More sleep than the last few days, but still, I was tired. I couldn't quite bring myself to hop in the shower. I settled with pulling my hair back into a fake ponytail, washing off all the old make-up, and applying new stuff. I actually looked pretty good - hehehe. I had on a newer shirt I bought at Fallas for $3 (but looked more fancy that that), and the $5 leather jacket. And my high heel boots. And some big hoop earrings. It was a fun outfit :)

I dropped the kids off at school at 7:55am, and came back and got Jimmy ready. We left the house at 8:15am, leaving Jake on his last day of the semester to finish up. He got a TON of work done yesterday while we were out of the house. It's nice to be uninterrupted, I guess- hehehe.

Dropped Jimmy off at "preschool" at 8:30am, dropped Captain Americas broken phone off at the post office in the FedEx drop slot, and headed to ACS (Army Community Services) for the FRG (Family Readiness Group) training, day 2.

We had a good group of girls in the trainings. I think there were 10 of us in all. And there was actually a girl from the same battilion as me. Or is it bragade? I can never keep those right. We're in different companies, but in the same whatever is above that - hehehe. I'll get it one of these day :)

We learned about how the FRG works with the commander, and what the FRSA (the paid FRG person) does, and how to utilize them. We learned about volunteers, and how to find, recruit, and foster them. It was pretty good.

At 11:35 we broke for lunch, and I headed back home. Andrea had a doctors appointment for Luke, so lunch at her house was out. I went home and hung with Jake for an hour, and Captain America even came back for part of the time. We sat on the couch for a few minutes and chatted. Then I was back off to class again.

We were done by 2:45pm, and I headed back to CDC (Child Development Center - I think that's what CDC stands for - it doesn't look right for some reason..). Jimmy had another fun day, and came more happy today - LOL! No tears involved this time.

We drove all the way across post, out the gate, and parked FAR away from the school and walked down to pick up the kids. I've decided to let Tom join the "Extra PE" program at school, and let Tom stay with Sam, and let all the kids play at the playground, and Andrea and I can chat. I figure, since I have to leave the house anyway, and park, and be there, might as well. Make the most of a crappy situation, right? Give all the kids 45 minutes worth of outside play. Can't hurt. And Tom could use the Extra PE class.

We were home by 4:15, and I put chicken in the oven. I had a Chipotle marinade, which smelled really yummy. I started work on the Den meeting, and got some stuff gathered for it. The den leader asked if I could come and run a "sample" meeting for him. Which I gladly did. Well, gladly in the sense that I wanted to help him. Not that I necessarily wanted to be there with ALL the kids. hehehe.

We ate at around 5:45pm, and Joe worked on his homework a little bit. We were out the door to scouts by 6:30pm. But didn't leave, because people kept forgetting things. First it was "I need to go and get a paper for Webelos!", then "I forgot my coat", then "I need crayons for my homeowrk", then "I forgot to print out my Merit Badge progress". OMGosh. We WOULD have been early. Instead, we were late. But we were there :)

I ran the den meeting, and it went pretty good. We did a little activity at the beginning, had the opening (Law of the Pack, Cub Scout Promise, Pledge of Allegiance, and prayer), played a game, did an achievement, did a "construction" project (boys don't do crafts, you know), had closing, and ended with prayer. I chatted with the leader, and showed him the agenda, and how to fill it in, and where to pull the information from. I answered all his questions, and reminded him that if he wasn't going to be there, that he needed to either get a sub, or call the boys personally to cancel. No not showing up. hehehe.

It seemed FOREVER before Jacob was finished with his activity. The Cub Scouts goes from 7-7:50pm, and the boys scouts goes from 7:00-8:30. So I've got about 40 minutes to kill with 4 extra kids. Not so much fun.

We were out of there by 8:40pm, and headed back on post. I stopped for gas, and got some milk too. We've been out for DAYS. LOL! I paid more for it, but it was there. It cost me almost $90 to fill up. SO not cool. I have a 36 gallon tank. That hurts, eh? Luckily, I can get by for the whole month on that tank of gas.

I got home, and worked to get the kids all in bed. Wednesdays are hard days. With scouts being so late. Although, usually I watch the bottom 4, and Andrea takes the top 4 kids. That's a much nicer arrangement. Next week, we have a parents meeting, where we're planning the pack meeting. Then the pack meeting. Then an extra Wednesdays. We need to plan next week what we're doing...

I started designing, and Captain America got home about an hour later. Maybe it was only 45 minutes. I don't recall. Andrea and I had talked about going grocery shopping right after the kids went to school, but we both decided that we needed a quiet morning at home. Seriously. I've been SO running and going and doing lately, I don't know if I could handle a trip to the commissary :) LOL!

I do need to go over some FRG papers before our meeting tomorrow at 12:30. I'm meeting with the FRG leader at the coffee shop again to discuss some business. I had a turkey and swiss sandwich last time, and it was SO good!

Plus, I'm going to the USO for lunch tomorrow at 11am. Fudruckers is bringing in food for the soldiers and families again. We did it a few times in the summer. I'm excited :) I haven't told Jake yet, but he's gonna be excited. He likes the USO :)

Joe has Scouts at 6pm, and I'm gonna have to take the kids to "New Moon" on post. It starts at 7pm. I've been promising, and haven't been delivering. They'll definitely hold it against me if I don't. ROFL! See what happens when you make promises! It's better to be non-committal. I'm just saying.....

So, Jen of Graham Like the Cracker has another FABULOUS kit!! It's called Junior, and is just PERFECT for little boys :) She always does such a great job :) Here's a preview for ya :)

You can find it HERE in her store :)

And here's what I made for you guys! You can pick up her part by going to her blog, HERE


And you can grab my part by clicking on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file :) Thanks, girls! And remember, leave some love if you like my work ;) AND leave Jen some love. She did a WONDERFUL job on her kit!!!

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(both shadowed and non shadowed included in zip file)

I Cannot Live Without Books

I seriously thought that I was gonna keel over today when I got out of bed at 7am. Seriously. I was dragging. I had to drive my kids to school, because of the stupid gate situation. I didn't know if it would be open or not.

I told you about that yesterday, right? Hughey Elementary and Ross Middle school's back fence boarders post. And there's a locked gate. And there's MP's (Military Police) that come and unlock it before school, and after school, and supervise kids and roads and such. Very safe. Very nice.

Well, there was this rumor going around school yesterday that it was going to be closed. Because of construction. Indefinitely. SO, I had to drive the kids to school. Because if I sent them off walking to school, and got there right when it started, and the gate was closed, what would they do? Sigh.

I got up at 7am, directed them a bit, and took a shower, and fixed my new non-gray hair. I looked pretty cute. ROFL! I clean up nicely - hehehe. I left the house at quarter till 8 and drove over to the back entrance to school. And there was the MP. I dropped the kids off, and went over to talk to the guy. Andrea showed up at about the same time. We got the phone numbers for his boss, and for the Provost Marshall's office. Someone was bound to know what was going on.

We chatted with MP for a while, and thoroughly embarrassed him. Andrea went on and on and on about how proud she was of me showering. I'm not sure what the poor MP thought - ROFL! Before we left, she told HIM that she was proud of him, too, for showering. He'll never think of women the same way again, I'm sure :)

It was SO cold outside, I was very grateful to get back in my truck and head home. I helped Jimmy get on some shoes and socks, and we headed out the door. Jake had a TON of work to do for school today, and he was going to have the house to himself Peace and quite. Undisturbed working time (well, except for Captain America's lunch hour. He'd be home).

We headed to CDC (Child Development Center), and I got Jimmy all signed in. We went to the preschool room, and Jim was SO excited. He was SO happy to be at "preschool". ROFL! It looked like a preschool, so I let him think it was :) He didn't even want a hug goodbye. He was too busy scoping out the room, and playing. Looked like he was gonna fit in just fine.

I drove over to ACS (Army Community Services) for my class, and was the first to arrive. There were about 10 women total in the class. Nice girls :) They had snacks for us (donations), and some M&Ms for our chocolate fix. They knew how to treat us right :) hehehe.

From 9-11:40, we had an overview of the FRG (Family Readiness Group), its mission and purpose. Next, we learned about how to effectivly communicate with the families that we're responsible for. We had a break in there at some point, and I got some snacks (sun chips and peanuts), and I felt MUCH better. I'd ran out of the house with just an apple and a water bottle, and needed something else in my poor tummy.

I called the numbers from the MP during the break, and I finally got a hold of someone. They said that they'd received a TON of calls, and that they were currently trying to get a hold of housing AND the construction guys, and said to call back in 2 hours. That would be around lunch. Sounded good.

Andrea texted me around lunch time, and wanted to know if I wanted to go to Applebees. Sounded PERFECT to me! Shrimp and spinach salad is the BOMB! I got there first, and ordered for me and her and Luke. So when she got there, there was already food on the table. See, we're efficient. We only had about 20 minutes to eat and chat before I had to run off to my meeting, but lunch was fun! Thanks, girl!

The 2nd 1/2 of the day we learned about how the FRG leader and the unit leader work together. And then we had a bunch of the services at ACS come and talk to us about their programs.

They have a TON of classes. A ton, really. And I got to thinking. If I picked classes, twice a week, for a few hours, Jimmy would get free childcare in the preschool room. Well, isn't that preschool? And all I'd have to pay is my time. And I'd be learning something at the same time. Sounded like a win/win to me - hehehe. I'm gonna look into that more...

We got some free stuff as hand outs too. Pens, and a 3 sided highlighter (triangle shaped), and even a flash (thumb, whatever it's called) drive. Only 1GB, but still. It's free. And mine - ROFL!

At 2:50, I was headed back to the CDC to pick up Jimmy. He'd had a WONDERFUL time, and didn't want to leave. He wanted to go back and play outside. Sigh. I almost had to drag a crying child from the building. But he "manned up", and came peacefully - hehehe.

On the way across post, Andrea called and said that the gate was locked. Sigh. I was gonna be late getting off post and picking up the kids. What a mad house. Who locks a gate without giving warning to ANYONE. I was getting madder and madder by the second. That's SO not cool. Parent didn't have time to make a "plan" as to how to get their "walking" children home from school.

The 2 schools sit side by side, and let me tell you, it was a madhouse. No parking anywhere. I had to park in the middle school parking lot, and walk down to find my kids. I waited outside Joe's room, and no Joe. His teacher said that all the Ft Bliss kids were being held in the gym. OMGosh!

So I went in the gym, and there were parents and kids and teachers everywhere. It was chaos. And let me tell you. Those moms were just as hot as me. I kinda felt sorry for the principal. He didn't cause this problem (for once). He has no control over the MPs locking the gate. That's not his job. And I think he was glad for that. I woudln't want this angry group against me - hehehe.

After about 5 minutes, I realized that I was missing a child. And I started to panic a bit. I couldn't find Emeline. She wasn't in the gym. I left the other 2, took Jim with me, and went to search for her. She wasn't in her classroom, and neither was her teacher. I finally found her out by the back gate, waiting for her brothers. Just like she was normally supposed to do. Sigh.

I took her back to the gym, and we all talked about possible solutions. I thought maybe we could just transfer to the "on post" school. I didn't want to have to leave post and get back on post each day to take my child to school. (I called later, and the school wasn't accepting transfers, though, so that option was out).

We talked about either the school district or the post providing a bus for the kids. Really, that would be great. I'd be happy with that. People started to trickle out, and Andrea said that she couldn't leave, because Sam (her 11 yr old) had extra PE club. So I decided to stay and wait with her, and we took the kids to the playground to play. I think they had fun. And we had more time to be mad about the stupid gate.

After extra PE, I took Jim, Joe, Tom, and Eme, and walked to the other school, got the truck, and came inside the gate. What a hassle! When we got home, Andrea texted and said to come and hang at the park for a while.

Really, I had a TOn of work to do, but went for a little while. I stayed until about 5pm, and chatted with her and Leslie. I hadn't seen Leslie for a while. We eventually came home, and I directed Tom in fixing Hot Dogs for the kids, and I retreated to my room to work. Tuesday at 10pm my time is the deadline to get new products in the store for Friday. So, I already had 2 done, and needed 3 more.

I ended up designing some "kid" Valentines packs. Pirates and Princesses. I liked 'em! I got Joe's homework done with him, and put the kids to bed by 8pm.

I worked on a WordArt collaberation with SuzyQScraps, and got it all ready for release on Friday too. I did my WordArt Wednesday, and got it all posted. Captain America came home at around 9pm (yeah, so much for coming home early)

I started blogging at 10:30pm, and am almost done now. I'm SO tired. Hopefully tomorrow will be less stressful. But then, I have to drive the kids to off post school, drop Jimmy off at CDC, go to my class at ACS, lunch at Andreas, back to ACS, pick up Jimmy at CDC, pick up kids off post, come home, prepare a Cub Scout Den Meeting (the leader is struggling, and wanted me to do a "sample" meeting), dinner, Cub Scouts at 7pm with all 5 kids (sigh), come home, design, blog, sleep. See, tomorrow isn't gonna be any better than today.

I know. How about you all donate 10 minutes of sleep from your night to me. I'd be SO rested when I woke up, with all of your 10 minutes..... No? You need your sleep? Crud. Well, it sounded like a good plan, anyway...

Oh yes, this statement is SO true! Well, I can, but how fun it THAT! Not fun at all :) Click HERE to go to scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember few things. First, it's only available for about a week. Second, you must be signed into the GALLERY in order to get the download. And third, leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

I'll Start Tomorrow

Sleepy.... so.... sleepy.....eyes....drooping.....stay....awake...

It's now 2:21am, and I'm EXHAUSTED. And it's all Andreas fault! ROFL! I went over to her house at 10pm to dye my hair, and of COURSE we stayed up WAY too late laughing and giggling and having WAY too much fun. And now I'm working. Blogging at 2:21am is not good. Neither is designing. I'll have to do something REALLY simple. You know how I get with typos - ROFL!

So I was tired already when I woke up, from reading too late the night before. 2:30am will NOT be my new bedtime. I promise. I'm getting some more sleep after today :) I got the kids ready and out the door (somehow), and Jimmy and I went back to my room for some sleep. Well, trying to sleep for me, and PBS cartoon for him.

I woke up/got up at 9am. My mom called, then Andrea called, then I spent some time on the phone with CDC (Child Development Centers - Day Care for the Army) trying to schedule child care for Jim during my FRG (Family Readiness Group) leader training. They said I had to call CYS (Children Youth Services) and give them my sponsor (husbands) duty number (work phone number) before I could make an appointment.

So, I texted Captain America to tell him to text me the Duty number, and waited. My friend from church, Heather Shoaf, came over to visit, and we were gonna work on a "flyer" for her for work. She sells Scentsy. She's gonna put up a nice flyer (framed) in the local day salon/spa, and wanted some help to make it look nice.

We mostly chatted the whole time, and let her 1 and 3 year old girls play with Jimmy and Jake. I think Jake had the most fun - LOL! He really likes babies :) Jimmy? Well, he had some fun. But they are girls, you know :)

We got a good start on the flyer, and she had to go. I finished it up after she left. Captain America came home for lunch at noon, right as Heather was leaving. After lunch, I read for a bit, helped Jake with school for a bit, played with Jimmy for a bit (but mostly just read - LOL!), and finally, at 3pm, decided to get ready for my meeting at 4pm.

Kids were home at 3:50pm, right when I was leaving the house. I left Jake in charge, and headed for the battery (where Captain America works) (dang, there's a lot of Army Specific lingo in my language, isn't there!). The FRG leader and I were meeting with the Commander to go over some FRG stuff and to try and schedule dates. The dates were penciled in, cause he didn't know a hard fast set time for "field exercises". Sigh. We tried, though. We penciled in activities through April, I think. Or was it March?

It only last about 30 minutes with Commander, but we waited 1 1/2 hours to just get in to see him. Sigh. His previous meeting went long. So Angela (FRG leader) and I stood and sat and chatted about FRG stuff. For a very long time - heehehe.

When I finally left, it was almost 6pm. I stopped by Burger King on the way home, because i just knew that my kids would be starving. I waited in line F.O.R.E.V.E.R!!! How long does it take to make up a few fries and a few Whopper Juniors? I mean, really!

After about 20 minutes, I was back home. I started passing out the burgers, and found that I had 6 plates, and 6 fries, yet only 5 burgers. But I paid for 6. I was not happy. Jimmy said that he'd be fine with a hot dog, so I did end up with a burger after all. But I was out the dollar. Sigh.

I told the kids to do their chores, but they were a bit fried from being home for 2 hours with Jake. Captain America got home at about that time, and let me just go hide in the bedroom. I know that "Johnny" will be here soon ,and it makes me irritable. Plus, I'd just found out from Andrea that they may or may not be closing the gate behind the school. So my kids would have to be dropped off and picked up from school (outside of post) everday. SO not cool. For one, it's their exercise. For another, I'd have to leave post to drop off/pick up the kids. That kinda requires a different level of readiness for the day, you know. Bras are kinda required. And I have to leave the house.

I'm gonna have to speak to someone about it, and find out what's going on. Because that's not cool.

While in my room, I got 2 WordArt packs designed, and some emails taken care of. I told myself, that if I was productive, and did 2 WordArt packs, that I could be rewareded with reading more of my book - LOL!

Captain America put the little kids to bed, reading them stories and such, and played a game of Wii Tennis with Tom and played a real game of Chess with Jake. I like that it's becoming their nightly routine.

At 9pm, I texted Andrea and asked if she could help me color my hair. Because my graw was simple out of control. SO bad around my ears. Not so cool! No response, so I sat down on the bed and read for a little while.

Captain America came in, and popped in a Civil War DVD, and watched a few minutes of it while I read. Andrea texted again at around 10pm, and said that I could come over now for the hair party. Sigh. It was SO late, and I was tired, and hadn't blogged yet, but I just couldn't resist. I hadn't seen Andrea in over 24 hours, and that's just not right - ROFL! So I drug my tired butt down to her house.

She did a GREAT job on my hair! No more gray! Just some pretty Dark Mahogany highlight -hehehe.

SO, my tired brain came up with this. Hopefully it's passable. Hopefully :) I'm tired. I can hardly see the screen. I don't know if it's spelled right. My eyes won't stay awake. SO, Here it is. Hopefully it's fine :) Click on the lnks below to go to my accont to dwonload the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. See, typos galore...

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