Hearth Rejoiceth

And again with the pre-publishing stuff. I'm sad that I'm missing church, but I'm sure that I'm having a great bonding time with my hubby and kids. It's JUST what we needed. A chance to get away. I wonder if I'm liking the food......

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Family

Well, I should be in New Mexico right now, with my family, having a TON of fun, and learning all about healthy marriages. I bet I'm having a blast :) Pre-publishing blogs suck..... hehehe

Here's another Second Chance Saturday WordArt :) You can find the old WordArt HERE, if you want :) I like the new one better - but it's made using the same scripty font (Freebooter Script)

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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Getting Away

See, see, look here. I'm blogging about my new releases on time! Aren't you proud of me! I was SO late last time, it was 2 days ago, I think - hehehe. Anyway, here's my new stuff for the week. Hope you like it! Click HERE to go to my store...

Layout by my CT girl, Charmaine, who just went on Maternity leave! Woohoo for tiny babies :)

Layout by Trina

Hey all! This'll be the last day for the weekend of "real" posts :) I'll have a freebee for ya, but I'll be away from internet, most likely. So my pre-published posts will be quite boring - hehehe.

I had my normal morning routine. Wake at 7am, kids to the bus at 7:30am, exercise at Andreas at 8:00am. And boy did it kick our butts today. Dang, it was hard. But I can tell that I'm getting stronger.

I came back home, changed my clothes, and realized that my friend "Johnny" had come. Nice. "He'll" be here for my Couples retreat. :(

Andrea and Luke and Jim and I headed out to Goodwill at around 10:30am. I wanted to get a few pairs of pants, and she just want to come to come. She ended up with a pair of sandals for Luke, a sweater for her, a dress, and a new pair of jeans. I got 2 pairs of jeans, and a few VHS movies for Jimmy (of course, only 1 of the 3 had the movie inside that it said on the box. sigh).

We shopped, paid, then headed home. I fed my kids lunch, put on a new outfit with my new jeans, packed Jim and Joe's suitcase, and Jim and Jake and I headed off to WalMart. I wanted to buy snacks for the car ride. And I had a few toiletries items that I needed to get for myself and Captain America.

We were back around 2pm, and I dropped Jake back off at the house to finish up school, grabbed the lunch bags, and the ziplock baggies, and a sharpie, and headed to the park in my truck. Jimmy was asleep in his carseat.

So I parked the truck, moved all my bags to the trunk, and started bagging up goodies. I wrote each kids name on a bag with the number 1 for the 1st day, and a 2 for the drive home. So 10 bags in all. Then Captain America and I got a day 1 bag and a day 2 bag. Each of the kids bags had a diet soda, and a water, and some snacks. Pretzels and fruit snacks and crackers and a bit of chocolate and a granola bar. Divided between 2 bags. We're gonna give them to the kids when we leave tomorrow, and they can ration it on the car ride.

Andrea met me at the park, and helped me bag out stuff. Just as we were finishing with the bagging, Jimmy work up, and Jake came to the park, finished with his last class. We went to the benches, and let the kids play. At 3:30, Andrea and Vernoica walked to get the kids, Jake and JImmy went home, and I drove to the school to pick up the kids from AQ. It was my turn today.

I was back at the park a little before 4pm, and stayed and let the kids play, and the moms chat, until around 4:30pm. I packed Eme's suitcase, and had Jake and Tom start on theirs. Tom said his was all packed, and on furter investigation, he had 1 pair of sweats, 1 pair of snow pants, 1 pair of shorts, 3 undershirts, 1 pair of army boots, and 1 pair of socks. Um, yeah, no. That's not 3 days worth of clothes. I helped him get his suitcase "up to par".

The boys started some laundry, and I had them do their chores. We ended up skipping Joe's Cub Scouts. The kids were OUT of control, fighting with each other, and I just couldn't leave them with Jake in charge. It wasn't fair to Jake. So we finished packing. I started on my clothes, and got 3 days worth of things laid out, and snow clothes, and exercise clothes, and pool clothes. Packing for a trip is such a pain :)

We had left overs from last night for dinner, and I had Joe and Jim take a bath. They put on Jammies, and I sent them off to bed at around 8pm. Jake and Tom and Eme took showers or baths, then went to bed too.

Captain America came home at 8:30ish, just as I was finishing with packing. We hung out for a while, and even watched a bit of the Olympics. We watched a few minutes of Mens Ice Skating, and it was all that Captain America could handle. hehehehe. Different strokes for different folks, right? Andrea, I'll just stick to watching the Olympics with you :)

Here it is, 11pm, and I'm getting ready to hit the sack. I need to get up in the morning, and finish up last minute packing stuff, and be on the road by 9am. New Mexico, here we come!!!

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Bored

Hi all! Another whirlwind day in the Harty Household. Started off at 7am, getting kids up and dressed and fed and out the door to the bus stop. We went at 7:30, and the bus was there at 7:40. I came back home, and got ready for exercise. I went to Andreas house, and we tried the next workout video. Ramp it Up. OMGosh. It was not fun. It was hard. SUPER hard. I looked SO pathetic, trying to do the workouts, but failing miserably - hehehe. Andrea was sure to take some funny pics :) See how much of a non-exerciser I really am - hehehe.

After working out (45 minutes instead of the shorter, 24 minute video), I came back home and got ready. Leigh and Veronica and I were going to go and check out a Charter school on the North East side. Harmony School of Innovation. We drove there, and found that the building used to be a grocery store. But they converted it over very nicely. Lots of parking, though - hehehe. AND, low and behold, my friend my our other Ward (congregation at church) was at the office, just getting done with a PTO meeting. Score!

We chatted with her for about 20 minutes about the school, and the ins and outs. Apparently, there's a lottery to fill the openings. She thinks that if one of the kids from a family get selected, then the whole family can come. She's gonna check for me. It's heavily slanted towards Science and Math. Looks pretty promising. Next year will be it's second year, and there's only about 350 students in grades k-8. So, we'll see if our names get drawn, I guess.

After that, we drove back near post, and went to lunch at a taco place that Veronica likes. Tacos And Tacos. It was a cute little place in a strip mall, and had good food. Not too spicy, which is just perfect for me :)

Came back home, and spent some time with the boys. Jake's teacher re-set his low math grade, and he got a MUCH better grade the 2nd time around :) Jimmy spent some time in the backyard playing. I did some dishes, since they were starting to pile up.

At 2pm, Andrea and I went to the commissary. I had a few things that I needed to get for Captain America. Dye for his wool pants, aftershave, toothpaste, and trash bags. They didn't carry any dye, didn't have is brand of aftershave, or his brand of toothpaste. Sigh. I did get the trash bags, thank goodness. We were completely out.

Andrea dropped me off back at home, and the boys and I got ready to go to the bus stop. Jake wanted to come and get out of the house. We got there, and picked up Eme and Joe, and Ben, and Veronica's 1st grade son, and Kayleys 3 kids, and we all went to the park. Andrea and I were like the pied piper, with all those kids in tow.

Kayley was supposed to only be about 30 minutes. Finally, at 4:45, I had to take all my kids and her kids back to my house. Someone had to use the restroom - hehehe. I gave them some water, and a piece of bread (I know, I have dumb snacks at my house), and put in a movie for the older ones, and Jimmy played with the little girl who was his size (but 2 years older). They got along great.

Kayley eventually got done with the doctors appointment, and came to get the kids. I was just getting our dinner started. I made fake lasagna. I cooked the noodles, and sauteed some onions, green peppers, and ground turkey. I added the meat, the noodles, 1/2 brick of mozarella cheese, some italian seasoning, 1/2 can of pasta sauce, and the cottage cheese into a large bowl, and stirred. The kids liked it, and it's super easy :)

After dinner, I got Eme and Jake ready for Scouts/Achievement days, and left as soon as Captain America walked in the door. It was the Cub Scouts parents meeting, so Tom didn't have to go. And Joe and Jim never have to go - hehehe.

We got there a few minutes late, but everyone else was late too, so it's ok :) It was Andrea and Kayley and Laurie and I in the meeting. And 9 kids. In a little classroom, where the kids played on the chalkboard. SO loud, but I guess moms are used to that, right?

We got the Blue and Gold banquet all planned and organized. It should be a great time :)

After the meeting, Andrea and I hung out, waiting for our older kids to be done with their meeting. Ours only lasted for 45 minutes, and the older kids' last for over an hour. Not a problem, as Andrea and I have never had issues passing the time - hehehe.

By the time we got home, it was 8:30pm. Captain America and Jim and Joe and Tom were watching an episode of Dukes of Hazzard, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. I helped put Joe and Jim to bed, and left Captain America with the big 3. I came in my room, and sat down to design WordArt freebees for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The family is going to New Mexico for the weekend for a Couples Retreat, sponsored by the Chaplin in Captain Americas Unit. It should be a great time. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not sure, though, how the internet will be, and how busy things will be, so I wanted to get the designing done today, and I'll up load it all tomorrow, and pre-blog, so I won't necessarily have to do anything while on "vacation". I'm still bringing my laptop, just in case - hehehe.

Well, you can guess what the ispiration for my freebee for today was. Myself. Yeah, I'm not good with normal. See picture above.

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Winter Games

And the love keeps pouring in. Thanks so much, you guys, for all your support. You really know how to make a girl feel loved, you know! *big hugs all around*

I was up at 7am this morning, rushing to get the kids ready and out the door by 7:30am. Breakfast was just cereal, but I did buy Raisin Bran and Rice Crispies (no sugar), so that's healthy. And milk is protein, so it's all good, right?

I think it actually takes more time at the bus stop than it does driving the kids to school. LOL! I left the house at 7:30, walked 3 minutes there, and waited for the bus. It came at 7:45. But didn't leave until 7:50am. Then Andrea drove me and Kayley home. I didn't get home until 8:00am.

I got Jim and Jake up, and started on school and Breakfast, and went to exercise. I was home by 9am, and Jake was working nicely on school. I showered and got pretty, and I sat down to design for a few minutes. I picked out all my quotes, and even got 1 WordArt pack designed. Andrea called at 11am, and said that she was ready to head out.

Jimmy and I drove to her house, and picked up Luke and Andrea. We headed to WalMart. I needed to buy Dye for some pants of Captain Americas. OK, anyone have any experience with dying things? Captain America has gray wool pants, and he wants to dye them black. Does that even work? Does wool accept dye like that? The black dye that you can buy in the laundry isle of Walmart. Any comments would be appreciated :)

But, of course, Walmart was out. I did find the ringed note card thingy for Captain America, though. And some 1/2 off Valentines Gummy candies. The kids would like that :)

We paid, and headed off to Applebees. I'd made a little bit of extra money designing last month, and decided to take out a little bit more for myself. :) I was doing good on my diet so far for the day (I've put on an addition 7 lbs as of late, and was trying to be good), so I just ordered a diet coke (but they only had pepsi), and a Grilled Shrimp and Spinach salad, with the dressing on the side. Veronica and Laurie came too, and Veronica ordered the Artichoke dip with chips. Yeah, that was HARD to resist, but I did it. No cheating at lunch for me :) My salad was really good, too. It's my absolute favorite thing to eat when I go out. SO tasty.

After lunch, we headed back home. I dropped Andrea off at her house, and I came back to mine. Jake was LONG finished with school, and was playing nicely. Jimmy sat down to watch a movie, and I snuck in a quick 20 minutes of designing. I got another WordArt pack done, and another one started.

At 3:20, I headed for the bus stop. Kayley and I and Laurie hung out there until the kids came. At 3:40ish, the bus showed up. I gathered up Eme and Joe and Veronicas 2 little ones, and Andrea's Ben, and we headed to the park. Andrea was at the school picking up Sam and Tom and Vernoicas oldest from AQ. I think tomorrow is my day :)

We played at the park, and Andrea came about 10 minutes later. At 4:00, we all headed back home. My friend, Heather, called and asked for a ride from the airport to home. She's 4 blocks from my house, and the airport is under 2 miles from my house. I left Jake in charge, and went and got her and her 2 little girls, and delivered them home.

I didn't get home until about 5pm, and started on my designing again. *sigh* I got all 5 WordArt packs designed, and then started on dinner. Ever since having Crepes at Kayleys house on Sunday, I've been craving them (I know, it's only been 2 days.... it just seems like longer). SO, I found a recipe online, printed it off, an set to work.

2 cups of flour, 4 eggs, in a large bowl, and beat with the hand held mixer. Add 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of water, and continue to mix. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and 4 TBSP of melted butter, and mix a bit more.

I poured the batter into a large glass measuring bowl, and heated up my griddle. I made large circles, and cooked for about 1 minute on each side, and they were FABULOUS. A few were a bit thick, but I think that's just practice.

I filled them with a cream cheese/powdered sugar mixture and diet yogurt. Sprinkled with powdered sugar. I was SO wishing that I had strawberries, but we made due.

I ate one. It's SO not on the diet. I also had a large salad with spray on ranch and a bit of chopped lite Italian sausage. Captain America came home at about this time (6:30), and I went to finish loading my products into my store. I had the kids clean up a bit, and then they did homework, and had free time.

I was bad, and finished off Jimmy crepe. It was just SO good. I helped put the little boys to bed, and Captain America sang them guitar songs. I sent the big kids to bed, and sat down to work on WordArt Wednesday and blog, and I can now hear Captain America in the living room sing guitar songs to the big kids :) And I must admit, I went back and had another crepe. So much for my diet, right? Bad... BUT, those 3 crepes were the only variance from my diet today. That's gotta count for something, right? And the yogurt was fat free and plain. And I only put powdered sugar on 2 of the 3. hehehe.

I think I'm gonna watch an episode or two of something, and go to bed at 10 or 11. I'm feeling quite tired tonight. All my late nights are catching up with me, me thinks!

I really wanted to make a WordArt that said 2010 Olympic Winter Games, but I was afraid that the copyright police would find me - hehehe. And we don't that that, you know. I figured that this one would pass. AND, you can use it for snow layouts, too - see, I'm tricky! Olympics? What Olympics, officer? This is for snowball fights..... (It'll be our secret)

Click HERE to go to Scrap Orchard to download the ZIP file, and remember, you must be logged into the GALLERY (not the forum or store) in order to get the download. Leave some love if you won't sick the Olympics 2010 copyright police on me.

How Much Is This Tooth Worth?

OMGosh, it's already TUESDAY, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about my products from last FRIDAY. *sigh*. You still love me, right? Even though I'm slow sometimes - hehehe. Here's my new stuff from last week. Click HERE to go to Scraporchard and check out my stuff.

by Charmaine

by Trina

AND, I have a new Bundle out. Well, none of it is new, but it IS new to a bundle - hehehe. It's all my Attitude Packs, #1-8. For only $5. No too shabby, eh? Click HERE to go to the Bundle.

Wow, I'm tired. It's 12:30am, and I need sleep. LOTS of sleep. If I blog fast, I can get to bed before 1am. Still not enough sleep, but I'll take what I can get at this point :)

I woke up at 7am this morning, and hustled to get the kids up, and dressed, and fed, and homeworked, and out the door and to the bus stop by 7:30am. It was a whirwind. I walked with the 3 kids to the bus stop, which was at the intersection of 2 pretty busy streets on post. We were told to get there 10 minutes early, just to be sure.

It was FREEZING. Ok, so I know it's not as cold here as where some of you live, but when it gets to almost 70 during the day, yet when you wake up its 32, yeah, that's just not right - hehehe. I'll need a sock hat, and gloves, and a scarf, and a real coat tomorrow :) I can't wait for summer.

All the girls were there waiting too. Becky and Veronica, and Laurie and Kayley, and Andrea and I. The bus finally came, and we put them on it, and off they went. The kids were all pretty excited.

I came back home, got Jimmy situated, and headed off to exercise. Jacob and his Dad were working on a Merit Badge from scouts. Indian Lore, I think. Andrea and I were gonna do the hard workout today, but ended up doing the easy one. And it kicked our butts. It's a good thing we did the easy one.

After exercise, Veronica emailed us some info about a Charter School that we're thinking about putting the kids in next year. It's a K-8 program, so ALL of our kids would be able to go. It's about a 20-30 minute drive, but seems to be a better school. Great Schools.com rates our current school at a 4, and the new school at an 8. I don't know if that means anything, but out of a possible 10, that's not too bad.

I came home, and got Jake started on school, and Jimmy dressed, and Captain America and I and Jimmy went out to title the old truck. I needed to sign for it also. He tried to do it last Friday, but needed my signature, and didn't have time to get me there. So that's what our Monday trip was all about.

We drove to the West side to the place, and paid and signed and stuff. It's an expensive process, you know. *sigh*. BUT, it's done. And it's ours.

On the way home, my PMS hormones got the better of me, and I started yelling at Captain America. Poor guy doesn't realize what's happening, and he starts fighting back. Stupid hormones. I remember, at one point, turning off the CD (best of Muse), and sitting in silence. About 3 minutes later, he turns the music on, and says "Well, at least we can listen to some music". I ejected the CD, and said "NO, you can't listen to MY CD". Yeah, I know. I suck - hehehe. My hormones were raging, and I seriously thought I was gonna hurt someone.

We got home, him still totally flustered about my emotion break (LOL), and I retreated to my room. I laid on my bed for 30 minutes, trying to regain composure. Isn't it crappy how PMS will do that to you. Render you utterly useless and out of control. At least I knew to keep myself away from others.

I felt much better after that. I came out, and made lunch, and got ready to go shopping. I left the kids at home with Captain America (who was working on work stuff now - day off from work, but still plowing away...) and shopped by myself. Grocery shopping, nothing fun...

The commissary was closing at 3pm, and I got there at 2pm. I had to hustle. I made the rounds, and got everything that I needed. The line was HUGE, since it was Payday, but it was moving fast, since they had a TON of checkers. That's good. I paid, and went home.

It was almost 3 when I got home, and I had Jim and Jake carry in the groceries, and Captain America and I walked to the bus stop to get the kids together. I apologized for "pms-ing" on him, and he said that it was ok, that he loved me. Awe, thanks hon. I told him that I could feel myself losing control, but that there was nothing I could do about it. We laughed about how dumb it was that I took out the CD, and wouldn't let him listen to it. Funny now - hehehe.

He stayed and hung at the bus stop with the girls. Veronica was at the school, supervising the first day loading of the bus, and then staying to pick up our kids from AQ. We're gonna be taking turns driving up there to get them. Once a week driving to the school isn't bad. And whoever isn't driving up can pick up the rest of the kids.

The bus was 20 minutes past when it was supposed to be there, but it was a nice sunny day, so it was ok. We walked to the park when we were done with the bus, picking up Jimmy on the way. We were waiting for Veronica and our older kids. She stayed and played at the park with us for a while after getting them. It was SUCH a nice day outside. We didn't leave the park until 5pm.

At home, I made soup. Captain America is eating a lot more soup, and the homemade stuff is a lot cheaper than the store bought stuff. I used my new super big pot for it, too. It had onions, and celery, and parsley, and sweet potatoes, and canned tomatoes, and black beans, and kidney beans, and ground turkey, and bouillon, and a few onion soup mix packets. Pretty good soup.

I was supposed to go to a movie with some friends (Jessi and her friend from out of town), but the kids weren't ready for bed, no homework had been done, Jake was still doing school, and Captain America was working on this truck. Yeah, not the most ideal time to leave. I thought that the movie was playing at 8:55, but it was at 7:10. That's almost 2 hours difference. Yeah, my kids weren't ready for mom to leave, so I texted and bailed. Sorry, Jes! I'm a schmuch, I know :( Hope "Dear John" was good!

I did sit down and watch an episode of "Fringe" online though. Jimmy came and snuggled with me for part of it. Joe and Eme were having fun playing on Roller Blades, Jake was playing PSP, and Tom was helping his dad. It was a pleasant evening.

At 8pm, I put Jim and Joe to bed. I helped them with scriptures and prayers and articles of faith, then told them to lay down and sleep. I sat on their floor and folded laundry. See, there was a big pile of clean laundry in the living room, and Captain America put their things in their room. Then they trashed it, and mixed the clean with the dirty. So a smell check was in order. Nasty. I HATE smell checking.

By the time I had their room clean and put away, they were both asleep. I came out, and put the older kids to bed, and had them go to their rooms and read. I straightened up the living room, sweeping everything out of place to one pile, and re-arranging the living room every so slightly. I detailed the bathroom, and it looks nice again!

Then, I sat down and started to design my freebee. And blog about my new WordArt packs from last week (slacker, i know :) Now all I had to do was blog, not blog AND design. Andrea hopped on Skype at around 9pm, saying that she lost her keys. Well, Sam lost her keys. She has an extra set to her house, but not to her Suburban. Poor girl. Her man comes home in the next day or two, and she can't find her keys.

I went over to help her look for them at around 10:00pm. Captain America was just going to bed, after having worked on his truck a good part of the day. He was just beaming, he was so happy about his rig. LOL!

I brought a few sodas (diet, caffeine free (im weaning myself off), and apples) to Andreas house, with a movie to watch. It was SUPER funny, but different. Weird kind of humor. It was the same movie I'd watched with Captain America on Saturday night. I was quoting it too often for Andrea to have not seen it - hehehe.

About the last 10 minutes, I was TOTALLY nodding off. It was almost midnight. But I got the whole thing. And now I'm tired. Looks like it'll be 6 hours for me tonight :) Maybe I can schedule in a nap...... And a shower. 'Cause I didn't take one today, JUST to make a point - LOL!

And here's the WordArt for today! This request comes from Ashley. I'm working on a Tooth and Tooth Fairy WordArt packs for this Friday, and thought that this would get you warmed up - hehehe.

Click on the links below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you think loose teeth are nasty too...

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Sticks and Stones

Usually my Sundays are pretty restful. And I'm thankful for that. This one? Not so much. I woke up 30 minute before my 7:30am alarm, and remembered that I needed to design Invitations to the Blue and Gold Banquet. Thank goodness I had ink in my printer. I got those all designed and printed by 7:40am. I got the big kids awake and in the shower, and the little kids searching in the clean laundry pile for their Sunday clothes. I'm a bit behind on the folding of laundry...

Anyway, I hoped in the shower, and got all pretty for Church. At about 8:15am, when I was all ready to go, I noticed that my phone wasn't getting texts because it was full. Sigh. I get SO many texts a day, and my phone can only handle 100 in my inbox. SO, I went and deleted them all. Instantly, the texts started pouring in. *sigh*. Andrea had both called and texted in the middle of the night, and I'd missed them all.

Ben, the 7 year old, was playing at a friends house at 9:30pm, and right before Andrea took him home, he got hurt. They were all wrestling around, and he ran into a corner, and split his head open. Poor kid! Ton of blood, I guess.

They got the bleeding stopped, then took him home. Lots of pressure, but it still wasn't stopping. You know how bad head wounds bleed. By almost midnight, she realized that he needed to go to the ER. That's when she called. I felt like such a heel the next morning, for missing her when she needed me. I"M SORRY, ANDREA! I'll do a better job of keeping my phone close! (Although, right now, I have no idea where it is..... my plan isn't working too well)

So I start texting her, trying to figure out what happened. She starts sending me pics of them in the ER from last night. NASTY gash on his forehead. All the while, I was trying to get the kids some breakfast (it would have to be cereal again - we were out of bread), and get the little boys dressed.

Another text that came through was one of the primary teachers, saying that her daughter was sick, and asking me to teach her class. As a member of the Primary Presidency, I don't really have time to teach for the teachers, though. Plus, I was already subbing for Singing time. After that thought went through my head, I realized that I hadn't prepared ANYTHING for it yet. Crud. It was time to leave the house.

I quickly grabbed a left over poster board, and started cutting it into 16 rectangles. I grabbed a sharpie, my kids, my church stuff, my talk, my phone, and a Diet Dr Pepper, and headed out the door. Oh yeah, and my Blue and Gold invitations, and a generic talk for Primary, in case there wasn't a kids with a talk prepared.

I was a bit flustered by the time I got to church, but tried to relax. Jacob realized that he'd left his talk at home, the one that he stayed up 2 hours late working on. *sigh* Poor kid. I gave him the Generic Primary Talk to give. He seemed happy. His dad had told him to "wing it". That would have TOTALLY panicked me if I were in his shoes. I'm not a "wing it" kinda girl...

After the Sacrament was passed, Jimmy, Jake and I went up on the stand to talk. Eme, Joe, and Tom were just fine in the row by themselves. Jake gave his talk, and did a nice job. When I got up to speak, I gave Jimmy to his dad. He must have done fine, because I didn't hear anything behind me - :)

I think my talk went fine. I found a talk by Elder Hales, and it outlined a WHOLE bunch of things to do to improve family relationships. I encouraged everyone to pick out just one or two to work on. And my family too. I said, if any of you do ALL of these things, I wanna come and join your family - hehehe.

After my talk, I took Jimmy, and we went back and sat down with the other kids. I had to work on my Singing Time lesson, and still listen to Captain America, and keep the kids from fighting. Quite a daunting task, I must say. Captain America gave a VERY nice talk about strengthening marriages. He was quite emotional about it, tearing up a lot, but it was very endearing. I just LOVE that man :)

I finished the Singing time lesson just in the nick of time, and we headed off to class. Andrea teaches the one of the Sunbeam class (3 turning 4 yr olds), and she wasn't coming today. She'd gotten home from the Hospital at 4am. I didn't blame her. SO, we needed to find a teacher for that class. And for the 8 turning 9 year olds. They needed a teacher too. Primary is ALWAYS crazy.

I think that the kids had a TON of fun in Singing Time. We lplayed the "Sing it Like" game. I took the rectangles of poster board, and wrote "Sing It Like" on one side, and then a "style" on the back. "Sing it like.... your underwater". "Sing it like.... you're a cowboy" "Sing it like.... you're a rockstar" and so on. We sang the same song O"VER and OVER and OVER, but you know what, by the time we were done with Singing Time, those kids ALL knew the song. And I think they REALLY had fun.

The Senior primary (8-11) REALLY had a good time. They were loud and participating, and having a grand ole time. But, I was exhaused by the time church was over. Who knew I'd get my workout for the day at church - hehehe. Hopping and running in place, and fake skiing, and being a cowboy - those all work you leg muscles :)

I had to stay after church and go to a meeting, so my kids had to come and sit on the floor, and be quiet. Yeah, that's a stretch sometimes. The Youth (14-18) is going on a "trek" this summer. They're dressing up in Pioneer clothes, and talking what the pioneers would have had, and going on a 4 day "trek". Camping out, cooking their own meals. Anyway, I was asked to help some of the kids with sewing their clothes. After all the Civil War sewing experience I had, I could help :)

We got home at around 1:30pm. I got the kids out of their Sunday clothes, into their play clothes, fed, and situated with books in their rooms, and made some Soup for Andreas family. I brought it over, to check on them. Poor Bens cut looked pretty nasty. The hospital had glued it back together.

And get this. You know the part where the nurse rinses it out with saline. They made ANDREA do it. That's not cool. I take my kid to the doctor so that THEY can fix it. But she did it. I texted Captain America and asked him to drop by after he got done with church, for a visit. Captain America is assigned Andreas family, as a Home Teacher. He checks in with them to make sure that their needs are being met, and that they get the stuff that they need. I knew that Andrea was having a hard time with stress, and breaking out in hives, and thought that a Priesthood blessing out help. So he stopped by and gave her one.

I stayed for a bit longer, and visited with her. It can't be easier to have your man gone on Valentines day. I'd like to think that I helped out a little bit. We always get to laughing when we're together, so that's good :)

I came home, and Captain America was working on his truck. I know, not the best Sunday activity, but I've learned, over the years, that nagging doesn't work. Example works. I stayed out and chatted with him for a bit, then went inside to fix dinner for the kids. Scrambled eggs. Mmmm, yummy!

After the kids ate dinner, Captain America took the little ones on a truck drive, and I went with Andrea to a Valentines Dinner for the deployed ladies in the ward. She didn't want to go by herself, so I went for a little while with her. Captain America was spending time with the boys, so it was ok.

We had crepes with berries and filling and yummy stuff. It was a fun dinner. We helped clean up afterwords, and I headed back home. Captain America was finishing up his truck stuff, and heading back inside.

It was about that time that I checked my mail. I had a TON of emails. One in particular caught my attention. It was a comment on my blog from this morning. Not a nice one, either. I remember last year some time, or was it the year before, that I got a nasty comment on my blog. Something about "you don't really know Bethany, she's a bad person". This one was just as bad.

You know, I really don't know why people feel it necessary to leave nasty comments. I wonder, sometimes, if just ignoring it completely would be a better course. I guess I'll have my say today, then forget it. It's HERE, by the way.

I don't make people read my blog. Really, I use it as my Online Journal. I can look back over the 2 years that I've had it, and see what I've been up to. And I'm honest. Brutally honest. I don't do much editing. Because what I write about is MY life. My quirks. MY good and bad habits. I know I don't shower every day. Does that affect my eternal salvation? I don't think so. Does that make me a bad person? No. Does it make me smelly? Well, I shower if I'm smelly. Or at least I don't leave the house. hehehe.

As for the comment about my family relationships, well, that's just rude. Yeah, I leave my kids home sometimes. But I have a teen son who's responsible. That's the perks of having older kids. Did you know that I NEVER paid for a babysitter before I had a kid old enough to babysit? We never went out. I never went out. I would take all the kids with me when I grocery shopped. When I went to Walmart. When we went anywhere. Captain America and I had "at home" dates. We'd rent movies, or play cards, or work together around the house.

It's only been since my oldest was old enough to babysit, that I've started going out. And I must say, it's a nice feeling. To get away without the kids. Does that mean that I don't love my kids? Of course not. Does that mean that I'm a bad mom? I certainly hope not.

And yes, my husband works a lot. He tries his hardest to serve his county, his family, and his God. AND do a few things for himself. We used to go with him on his camp outs, but it's kinda lost it's fun for me. It's a lot easier to stay home. But, because I love him, I don't make him chose between it and me. I recognize that he can still have hobbies. And I know that he doesn't abuse the privilege.

Allright, that's enough, I think. I'm gonna quit responding, and just forget about the comment. How does the old saying go, "Stick and Stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me". That saying is right to a point. Words CAN hurt, but only if you let them. I kNOW that the comment that Anonymous made wasn't true, so it doesn't hurt me. Confuse me? Yeah, maybe a little. Annoy me? Um, yeah. But hurt me? Only if I truly believe the things that Anonymous said. And I don't.

I did wanna say a big THANK YOU to everyone who defended me on my blog and on facebook. Awe, thanks you guys! You guys rock!!!

It's now 1:33am, and I'm in some serious need of sleep. I've gotta get the kids to the bus stop tomorrow at 7:30am. Sweet dreams!

So, in honor of Anonymous, I'm not showering today. And I encourage you all to take a "no shower day" in the near future, in her honor as well. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you wish Anonymous would have chosen to leave her name. Thanks!

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Valentine's Day 2010

First off, just wanted to say Happy Valentine's day to everyone! Hope your day is filled with love! What did I get for Valentine's day from my sweetheart? To talk in church. Um, yeah. One of the disadvantages of living with a member of the bishopric. Once every 3 months, the're in charge of the Sunday program, and sometimes, the wives get called on to speak. And I HATE speaking in front of people. *sigh*

Anyway, Saturday was a good day. I woke up between 10 and 11am. SWEET! The kids, for the most part, let me sleep. They were in and out for a little while, but I was able to go back to bed, so it was ok.

I helped the kids do their chores, and got the house back in order. It was TRASHED. I don't know how they can possibly do it so fast. It must be some kind of talent or something. House trashing....

Anyway, Andrea called at 11:30am, asking me to come and help her detail her Suburban. The inside part. We realized, after talking for a few minutes, though, that both families were supposed to be at a B-day part for one of Laurie's kids. Phearson. Dang, I"d have to hustle now. I read for WAY too long, and missed out on my shower. It'd have to be a bandana day - hehehe.

We got there about 15 minutes late, but it was still good. The kids got to do a pinata, play a few games, have cake and lemonade, and chicken and mashed potatoes for lunch, and open presents, and have a grand ole time.

We left at around 2;30, and after getting our kids home and situated, Andrea and I headed out to the Verizon store. We stopped at Sonic first, and got a BIG drink. I've had caffeine everyday for the past week, and I could feel my body wanting it. I hadn't had any, so I was starting to feel a bit down and getting a headache. Right before Andrea came to get me, I was in the process of downing a "fake" Dr. Pepper. And I took a migraine pill. I wasn't feeling terribly good.

After Sonic, we went to Verizon. It was a 30 minute wait, so we went to the Family Dollar store to kill some time. Andrea found some Valentine's cards for her kids, and a few things for her little primary class on Sunday. She's such a great teacher!

We finally went back to Verizon, and we learned that we were up next. The little man that helped us probably thought we were DORKS. hehehe. We were keeping him laughing, though! That's gotta be more enjoyable than the grouchy ones they get :)

Andrea activated her new phone, and got a red one instead of the black one they accidentally sent her. On the way home, we were transfering over phone numbers. We got 1/2 way through B before I started getting car sick, and had to put it down. We did figure out this REALLY cool thing though. When people call Andrea, it gives her the choice of 1) Answering, 2) Ignoring, or 3) Sending a Text reply. And they had a ton of pre-set messages to send people. I want that!

My phone was acting up a bit, so the Verizon dude flashed it. Apparently that's supposed to do the trick. My jury is still out on that one, though.

Coming back on post, I seriously thought I was gonna have an accident. I had to pee like there was no tomorrow. Andrea stopped at the gate office, and luckily there was a bathroom there I could use. Seriously, I was in pain, and jumping around on the bench. Too funny :) hehehe.

After that, we headed back off post, and stopped at McDonalds. Andrea bought McChickens and sundaes for the kids. Mine? Yeah, they didn't need anything. We still had Sherbet from Veronica in the freezer, and TONS of chocolate and goodies were consumed yesterday. Yeah, no one in our family needed McDonalds :)

We came back on post, and she dropped me off. I got a text from Leigh, shortly after that, that Eme was having an asthma like cough. Eme had gone to a Movie Birthday party for Leigh (my next door neighbor) daughter Kaleigh's b-day party. Remember the invites I said that I helped her make last week? Yeah ,this was the party.

Anyway, once they got home from the movie, I walked over to her house, and gave Eme her fast acting inhaler. She hardly EVER uses it. Only when she gets a cold. While everyone else would be having a snotty nose, or a little cough, or something little like that, when Eme gets sick, she sound's like she's coughing up a lung. It's really quite nasty :(

Anyway, I stayed a few minutes, and then came back home. I'd put a homemade pizza in the oven, and was afraid that it was gonna burn. Well, it was a little bit crispy, but not burned.

I read for a bit longer, and Captain America came home from his campout. I felt too tired and had too much to do to go out. Our original plan was to go out for Valentines day. Yeah, that didn't happen.

We bathed the kids, and sent them to bed. Jake and Captain America and I sat down and wrote our talks. We're speaking in Church on Sunday about Strengthening Families & Strengthening Marriages. I did some good research, I think.

Here it is, after midnight, and I'm just now tying up my blog/designing. I've been reading again, and it throws off all my routines. AND, I'm still sleepy, and falling asleep. That's not helpful when blogging, you know ;)

Click on the links below to go to my account, and leave some love if you can answer by text on your phone. Thanks!

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Once Upon a Lifetime

Yeah! My party was SO much fun - total success. I was up at 7:00am, helping Tom with his Valentines. I'd printed them out last night, but didn't have time to cut them out. I cut them, and he attached them. Bonding activity, you know - hehehe.

The kids took their teacher cookies, and off we went. I came back, and started cleaning. I got Jake going on school, and Jimmy played in the backyard for a while. I did the dishes, swept the floor, wiped down the kitchen walls, and tidied up.

I started my soup at 10am, and it took a bit longer than I thought it was gonna. I tripled the recipe, and I think that's why it took so long. But it sure did smell good.

People started to trickle in at 11am. By the time my soup was cooked, there were 21 adults in the house, and a whole plethora of children. It was SO loud, but a good loud. We ate, and chatted, and laughed, and ate some more. There were desserts galore, a few sides, and 4 different kinds of soups. I totally forgot about putting out the salad (oops), so we'll be eating a bunch of salad over the next few days, I think :)

I had everyone put there name in a "hat", and did 2 door prizes. Funny, though. Andrea won one, and Leigh won one. hehehe. The girls all thought it was rigged - ROFL! I didn't even draw the names :)

At around 12:30pm, or 1pm, we moved to the living room, and started with the gift exchange. We started with Kayley, who picked a wrapped gift. The next person had the choice to pick a new gift, or take Kayleys. It went around the room, with picking and stealing and trading. Then, starting with Kayley again, we opened up the gifts.

There were a lot of fun presents. And some funny ones too. My favorite was the edible underware - ROFL! Let me tell you, a few of the girls wanted to duke it out for those - hehehe. The chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels were another big one. I took it first, but Leigh stole it from me. But I still ended up with some chocolate.

After the gift exchange, we played a game where people wrote on a notecard the most outrageous thing they'd ever done, then I read them to the group, and the group picked the one that was the most outrageous. That was kinda fun ,and we learned a WHOLE bunch about some of the girls - hehehe.

After that game, people started to trickle out. At 3pm, everyone had gone, and I went to pick up the kids at school. At the office, I filled out papers for the bus. It's gonna start on Monday, apparently. I got the passes for the kids, and the paper with the bus route. Should be good :)

We got home from school, and started to clean up from the party. We put the chairs back, gathered the trash, put the dishes in the sink, and put the food away. My kids really liked the left overs. At 6pm, I went with Andrea to take her kids to piano lessons, and we sat in the car and chatted.

At 7pm, I got back home, and Captain America was almost packed and ready to go on his Civil War campout. The kids were playing computer and hanging out, and after Captain America left, we started a movie together. I laid on the couch, and took a little nap. Just a little one, though. At 9pm, I made the kids turn off all the lights, and gave them the choice to either sit quietly and watch the movie, or go to bed. They all snuggled in on the couch.

I left Jake in charge, and headed over to Andreas house. I figured that since Captain America was gone, and it was "date night", I'd go play with Andrea :) We watched a movie, and I was home by 1am. So here I am, posting late at night again. I'm DEFINITELY sleeping in tomorrow. It's been a super long week.

So I found this saying at "The Perfect Title", and I just loved it. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like Valentine's parties.

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Clean

OMHeavens. Yeah, my 3:30pm night REALLY caught up to me. I'm not in my 20's anymore, you know - hehehe. And did I tell you that I was the OLDEST one at the party last night. How the crap did that happen? *sigh, and rolls eyes* I've ALWAYS been the youngest one. But the last couple of years, I think people started getting younger or something....

Anyway, I got up at 7:00am, and I was a zombie. I went to the bathroom, and Captain Americawas awake and hadn't left yet for work. Self release PT time, I guess (Physical Training - exercising). Anyway, he was like, "um, late night?" hehehe. He hadn't even know that I'd left for the evening.

I reset my watch for 7:15am, and went back to bed. Jim and Joe kept coming in, needed me, though. I got up, and got Joe dressed, and kids cereal started, then reset my watch for 7:35. I went back to bed, but this time had people coming in and tattling on each other. Sigh. The universe was conspiring against me to not let me sleep. I just know it.

I somehow managed to drive the kids to school. Sweats, sweatshirt, no bra, broken glasses, droopy eyes, and I didn't even have the presence of mind to grab a bandana, so WILD hair. I'm sure the gate guard thought I was SUPER hot - ROFL!

I came back home, grabbed my puter, and hopped back into bed. Jake started on school and breakfast, and I turned on PBS cartoons in my bed for Jimmy. I couldn't really fall asleep all morning, but I didn't really move from the bed. I read a chapter, I watched the latest episode of "The Bachelor", I talked with Jakes Science teacher on the phone for a minute or so, then passed it over to Jacob.

Realy, I just lounged around until noon. I needed to go to the store, but I was still feeling lazy. At 12:15pm, Joe and his teacher called to tell me that he'd had an accident at school. Would I please come up and bring him a change of undies and pants. Poor Joe. I could TOTALLY sympathize with the child. I had accidents all the way up until 5th grade. Heck, what am I talking about, I still have horrible bladder control. PLEASE don't make me laugh too hard - hehehe.

I got Jim and Jake ready, found some clothes for Joe, got myself somewhat presentable, and headed out. First stop, school. We all went in, and found Joe in the nurses office. He changed, we took the dirty clothes, and walked him back to class. No worries, Joe - I still love ya, hon!

Next, we went to Big Lots. I was on the look out for a 10 Quart pot with lid. I couldn't remember where I'd seen it. We walked around Big Lots for a while, and realized that it wasn't there. Back in the truck, and we stopped at Game Crazy. Jake had saved up 75% of the money needed to buy a PSP (play station portable), and asked if I'd loan him the rest. We were looking for used ones.

No used ones at Game Crazy, but some decent prices on used PSP and Wii games. We'll have to come back soon.

Next, on to the Family Dollar. Bingo! I got a 10 quart cooker pot for $9.00 Not bad. And now I won't have to cook soup in my galvanized bucket anymore. Yeah, don't ask - ROFL!

Next, we drove to Walmart. I got plastic spoons, plastic forks, new air fresheners, paper bowls, and plates, some new Wart freezer stuff (for Jimmys hand and my feet), and some plastic Valentine's cups (5 for $1.50) to put cookies in for the teachers. Little cookies. And, I found Dark Chocolate and Mint chips for $0.97. I got two. I could make Mint Chocolate Chip cookies for the teachers. Sweet!

Next, it was off to the PX. Game Stop is in there, and I know that they had a Used old PSP a few weeks ago. It was worth a shot. Nope. No old ones. They did have a TON of Nintendo GameBoy Advanced. My kids ripped the flip screen right off the old one we had. Yeah, they're rough. That's an understatement!

Anyway, they had a bundle, which came with the PSP 3000, a memory card of 2GB, Assassins Creed (not as violent as a PSP game as a PS game), a free download of Angels and Demons. All that for $199. Is that a good price? I thought it sounded reasonable. He was SOOOOO excited about it. He was beaming from ear to ear. LOL! He also bought a car package. Came with a charger, a hard case, a game case, and headphones. Should be pretty good. See, Jake wanted to get the PSP before our family trip to Ruidoso New Mexico next weekend. Can't say I blame the child :)

By the time we were done at Game Stop at the PX, we were out of time. No stop at the commissary. I needed to get supplies for my soup. Crap! It was time to pick up the kids. So we hurried back to the truck, and drove across post and out the gate to get the kids. Andrea and I and Laurie and Veronica and Becky stayed and played on the playground while our boys did AQ. It's quite the nice routine.

Also, while sitting there, we got a call from the school (automated - do you get those?) saying that on the Tuesday night Board meeting for the district, our bus request was approved. Well, Andrea and I already knew that - hehehe. The message also said that the bus would be ready on MONDAY! Isn't that awesome :) We just need to stop by the office on Friday and pick up a "Pass" for the bus. Or something like that :)

We were home by 4pm, and after getting everyone situated with snack and homework and chores, I took Joe (who was having a rough time for some reason) to the Commissary. We got potatoes, and onions, and kale (for the Olive Garden soup), and bullion cubes, sausage, and bacon, heavy cream, salad and dressing, and something for dinner for tonight. It was a quick trip, and we were able to use the self-checkout line. I'm telling you guys, if I had to work in that self check out place, I'd have nightmares.

"The item you scanned does not match the weight placed in the bad. Please remove the item from the bagging area". Why must they make the voice SO annoying?

I was home by 5pm, and got dinner ready for everyone. I unloaded everything I'd bought today, and got it sorted into "food for the party" and "paper products for the party".

At 5:45pm, Joe and I headed up to Cub Scouts. Ben and Andrea met us there. We worked on Placemats for the Blue and gold. They're just Adorable! I'd printed out Cub Scouts stuff a few weeks ago, and had it developed at Walgreens.

After scouts, Andrea and I and Joe and Ben went to the On Post Burger king, and got some food. Joe had some fries, but didn't really eat a burger. He'd had a hot dog after school, so that's probably why he didn't eat much. Andrea and I both got Whopper Jrs. They're SO tasty. I just LOVE The Whopper.

I was home by 8pm, and Captain America was already there. He put the little boys to bed, and I started cleaning/arranging. First, I moved the chairs around. I have a couch that should hold up to 4, one that holds 2, a wooden box, 4 metal folding chairs, 6 dining room table chairs, a camp chair, 4 tiny folding chairs, and 3 wooden stools. How many seats is that? Hopefully enough. That's seriously all the the seats in our house :)

I asked Captain America to clean the downstairs bathroom ,and OMGosh, it looked BEAUTIFUL when he was done. He turned off the light, turned on the fan, cranked up the plug in air freshener, and locked the door. ROFL! I sure hope no kid has to use the bathroom tonight. They'll come to mine, right? It's close.....

Jake and Tom and Eme and Captain America and I played 3 rounds of Train Dominos, then sent the big kids to bed. I went in the kitchen, and taped a red table cloth to my counter, cutting off the excess. With the excess, I was able to cover our shrunken kitchen table with it. It's only a little trashy, with the BIG ole tape line down the middle. I think I made up for it with the rest of the decorations on the table.

I set out the plates, the bowls, forks, spoons, cups, napkins, and a punch bowl. What do ya think?

I didn't really clean in the kitchen, but I did make some cookies. WAY too many batches, in my opinion. But they were tasty. I liked them a lot. Just a hint of mint.

I lined the teacher cups with tin foil, then filled it with cookies (8, I think), and wrapped the whole thing in saran wrap, securing at the top with some curling ribbon.

I looked at the clock, and it's now 12:34. Dang! I SO wanted to go to bed early. I'll wake up in the morning, get the kids off to school, then come back and clean. My kitchen needs deep cleaned, and I need to securely block off my stairs. I didn't wanna clean upstairs - ROFL!

So I'm still kinda a zombie today, and it's almost midnight, and, well, this is your freebee. It's cute looking, if nothing else. I thought that you could use it on a picture of a messy room. Or a messy kid, for that matter - ROFL! Or a messy mom (because of a kid, I'm sure!). hehehe.

Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my MAD decorating skills :)

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Boring

OK, so today really WAS the longest day ever - hehehe. Up at 7am, got kids ready, out the door to school, back home, waited for my Visiting Teachers to come and visit me. They came at around 8:15am. And brought chocolates. Mmmmmm. Not good for the ole diet, but Mmmmmmm!

I had Jake play Wii fit while they were there, and Jimmy played with Chelsie's kids. He seemed to be having a blast :) Kids are always fun to play with. They gave a really nice lesson on Self Reliance. I really enjoyed the message. Being self reliant is something that we each need to work on, in a variety of different levels. Spiritual self reliance, temporal self reliance, emotional self reliance, financial self reliance. LOTS of different things.

After they left, I proceeded to eat about 1/2 the tray of chocolates. And I hadn't had breakfast, so I was on a TOTAL sugar and chocolate high. Not cool. I went to exercise at Andreas house, and told Jake and Jim that they were free to eat the chocolates. Jake started on school, and was excited because he only had a few classes.

We did our 25 minutes worth of exercise video, then headed out again. I went back home, grabbed my purse, and Andrea picked me up, and we went to the thrift store. She had consignment stuff. We'd never done it, so it was a learning opportunity. hehehe.

The girls at the store were having WAY too much fun. One of them mentioned something about us coming and volunteering too. They said that the army would reimburse you up to $100 in child care fees every month. Really? Andrea and I could volunteer at the thrift store 2 days a week for a few hours, and Jimmy would get FREE preschool, in essence. DEFINITELY something to look into further. He'd be SO excited.

We came back home (really, it was a quick trip), and I helped Jake finish up school. I'd bought a new Over the Hedge DVD game for Jimmy, and Jake and Jimmy and I played it for a little while. IT was different. hehehe.

Around 12;30, Andrea and I and Veronica went out to lunch at Olive Garden. We invited a few more people, but everyone else had something more pressing to do. I'm almost out of fun money for the month, so I'm gonna have to slow down on the "going out". hehehe. BUT, it was a lot of fun. Those girls are the best :) I always have fun when I'm out with my friends!

We were home by 2:45pm, and I had Jake and Jim get ready, and took EVERYONE to pick up the kids and play at the park. Jake was excited, and Jim was excited. We stayed and played for about 30 minutes. On the way back to the truck, Jake realized that he'd left the house cell phone in his hoodie, and then proceeded to lose it. I was SO mad.

I told him that if he couldn't find it, the cost to replace the phone was coming out of his babysitting money. He hung his head and said that he understood. We all started walking to the truck, and he asked if he could go back one more time and look.

I got the kids buckled in the truck, and drove back near the school to wait for him. I saw him running towards me, happy. He'd found the phone. He said that when he got to the park, he said a prayer, then some other kids came over, and helped him look for the phone, and they found it under the monkey bars. He'd hung upside down, and it had fallen out. I'm SO glad that he thought to pray. What a sweet child. He was happy, too, that he didn't need to waste his hard earned money on a replacement phone.

We got home, and I vegged for a while. It'd been a long day already. We had bologna sandwiches and peanut butter sandwiches for dinner. I helped the kids do their chores, and decided that today was the day to mop. I moved all the furniture in the living room aside, and had Eme sweep real good, then mop. Then I went back, and re-mopped. She'd loosened up all the junk, and I finished it off.

Things dry real fast here in El Paso, so by the time I helped Tom sweet and mop, Eme's room was dry, and I was able to put it back together. The living room, kitchen, and dining room all got swept and mopped. My whole house now smells like Pine Sol. I also refreshed the fake "scentsy" and added a new air freshner plug in to the downstairs bathroom. I did some laundry for the little boys, and had the kids clean up the backyard. It was in serious need of some attention. BUT, my house is well on it's way to being clean for the party on Friday.

At 6:30pm, Andrea came by and picked up Jake and Tom for Scouts, and left Luke and Ben to play with my kids. Captain America came home about that time, ate dinner, and laid down on the couch for a little nap. By 7:30pm, he'd moved to the bed, and was fast asleep.

I helped Joe and Ben with their homework, and then the boys played. We had some popcorn, and watched part of a movie. Mostly, though, the boys played lightsabers. They were playing in Joe and Jims room, until I had to put Jimmy to sleep. He was getting tired, and wasn't playing nicely. It was time for bed.

Andrea came back with my kids at 8:30pm, and we did the switch off. I put Joe and Jake and Eme and Tom to bed, then sat down to answer a few urgent emails. I went and checked on Captain America, and he was feeling a bit warm. He'd had the H1R1 shot today, or whatever the silly thing is called. I guess that his groups higher ups wanted to have 100% shots. So he got one. I'm not a big believer in the flu shot thingy, personally. But then, he doesn't have a spleen, so I guess that he needs it more. But then, he may end up sick. We'll see.

Anyway, I got him some meds, and some water, and made sure that he was nice and asleep, left him a note, and snuck out. Laurie was hosting a Girls Movie night at her house. I picked up Andrea, and we were there by 10pm. About 30 minutes late, but there, none the less - hehehe.

Laurie had made Chicken Cordon Blue in honor of the movie, Julie and Julia. Me and Andrea and Laurie and April and Hilary and Jessi and Kayley and Chelsie and Veronica were all there. It was SO much fun. We didn't even start the movie until 11pm, I think. We had CHOCOLATE and chicken and drinks and salad and OMGosh, it was a blast. Laughing and carrying on like we were. I'm surprised that Laurie's kids were able to sleep - hehehe.

We moved to the bedroom that is the TV room, and started the movie. But we never stopped chatting. At some points, we were ALL talking so loud, that we couldn't even tell what anyone was saying. I'm definitely gonna have to go and watch that movie sometime without distractions - it looked like it would have been pretty good. But the social interaction was WAY more important.

After the movie, well, even before, people started to trickle out. By the end, it was just me and Andrea and Laurie and Veronica and Chelsie. We stayed and chatted until 2:30pm. And had a BLAST doing it.

So here it is, 3:13pm, and I'm tired. I need sleep. 7am is gonna come mighty early tomorrow.


So today when we were inviting people to lunch, and getting turned down by people who were too busy (ROFL!), Andrea and I came up with this saying. TOTALLY in jest. We LOVE our friends, and of course, people get busy. We just like to joke, so I thought that this would be a PERFECT WordArt. I can just see it on layouts of someone working at a desk, or something like that. Studying really heard. As a joke. An attitude WordArt, you know. OK, maybe I shouldn't be funny at 2:53am. Maybe I'm not the best judge. EVERYTHING seems funny....

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the pNG file, and leave some love if you feel sorry for me being tired after staying up late and playing. Thanks!

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Valentine's Day

Another happy and full day :) I like to keep it full, can you tell? hehehe.

I was up at 7am, getting kids ready for the day. I drove them up to school, then headed on over to Andreas house to exercise. Jake was doing school, and Jimmy was playing.

We exercised, and it wasn't as bad as yesterday. We even chatted through most of it. That's a sign that our bodies are adjusting. I think after this week of the basic workout, we'll switch to the middle one next week. It's another 20 minutes longer, and HARDER. I'm scared - hehehe.

I went home, took a shower, got pretty (I even straightened my hair), and sat down at my computer to research sayings/quotes for my WordArt packs for the week. That's they hardest part for me. Picking the sayings. The design process flows quite easily. After finding just the right ones, I made sure that the kids were good, and headed out with Andrea.

She needed to go to the Thrift shop, and put a few things on consignment. We got there 5 minutes after the consignment part closed. Who knew that they didn't keep the same hours as the thrift store. Sigh. We'll come back tomorrow.

After that, we headed to the mall. Not the big mall, but the little one by our house. We went to Eve's store, and to the Jewelry Box. I wanted to get some prizes for my party. And some more stuff for myself. I just can't resist. I ended up getting some Valentines for the kids too. They had Spiderman, Shrek, and Littlest Pet Shop Valentines plus 16 pencils. All for a dollar. That's a wonderful price. I got them just for the pencils for the kids and to play with the Valentines. I knew they'd like it. I got a necklace with earrings, and 2 pair of earrings for myself.

I got 6 prizes for the party, and Laurie and Andrea helped me pick them out. Laurie had met us at The Jewelry Box. LOVE that store. Can you tell? ROFL!

Laurie, Andrea, and I headed out to lunch after shopping. We went to Carlos and Mickeys. FANTABULOUS Mexican food. But a bit spicy for me. The chips and salsa about did me under. I sucked down at least 3-4 glasses of water, and another 3 glasses of soda. It was WAY spicy. I got the Taco Salad, and the girls got the chimichungas. Yeah, I know that's not spelled right.... We had a good time eating and chatting and being girls :)

After lunch, Andrea dropped me back off at home. Jake was way since done with school, and he and Jimmy were playing SO nicely together. They're really great kids, you know!

I got 1 WordArt pack designed, then took Jimmy, and we dropped off Andreas earring holder at her house, then headed up to the school. We got the kids, and played at the park for 30 minutes. We convinced Laurie to stay and let her kids play too. It was a grand time :)

Back home, and I got dinner for the kids (ok, so I had the kids get their own dinner - bad mom - LOL), and got ready for the School Board meeting. The Military Liaison told us that we should go to the school board meeting, because they were voting on our busing situation. Apparently, if the area was deemed "Hazardous", then they'd have to bus us. And because of the construction, and fenced off areas, and such, I think it's pretty hazardous.

It took FOR-EV-ER!!! They had people getting awards, and recognized the football team from one of the schools that won state, and this, that, and the other thing. Finally, it was our turn. They said that the Corrigador neighborhood for Ross and Hughey schools needed to be classified as Hazardous, and as such, would get busing. Some dude came forward (who we didn't know), and explained that it was because of construction, and that it would be temporary, for about 18 months. For this year and next year. Someone on the school board voted to pass it, someone seconded it, and it passed unanimously. All this worry Andrea and I had for nothing. The longer we'd sat there, the more sure we were that they were gonna vote it down. hehehe. We'd worked ourselves up for nothing :)

The dude went back to his seat, gathered his stuff, and made to leave. Andrea and I quickly followed after him, and asked what the next step was. He said that the district person would get a hold of the principals, and that a schedule would be worked out! Yeah for a bus!!!

We got back home a little after 6pm, and got dinner going. Taco salad. It's SO yummy. And not spicy. I just realized that I had taco salad for both lunch and dinner. ROFL! I didn't even think of it before now - hehehe.

I went in my room, and whipped out 5 WordArt packs, and got them loaded in the store. Captain America came home at around 7pm, and at 7:30pm we played a family game of dominos, We put the kids to bed (the little ones) at around 8pm, and I finished designing and loading. Captain America left to go play Basketball with his team from the battery, and I kept working.

By 9pm, I was all done. Store loaded, packs designed. All good. I sent the older kids off to bed, and texted Laurie to see if she wanted to watch the Season finale of Season 2 Doctor Who. She told me she was on it, and I said that I wanted to watch it with her. It ALWAYS makes me cry ;)

I got there, and she asked if she should make some snacks. Um, YES! Chocolate covered strawberries. Um, who in their right mind turns THAT down - heheeh. While Dr Who loaded on Nexflix, we went out and dipped some strawberries, and put them in the freezer to cool.

We went in the tv room, and started watching. About 1/2 way through ,the strawberries were done. OMHeavens, was it good. I think I had 3 or 4. I just LOVE chocolate, milk chocolate especially, and it was a perfect blend, the sweet chocolate with the slightly sour strawberry. HEAVEN!

As the show ended, we were both in tears, and she headed off to bed, and I headed home. Captain America was back from the game, and on the computer. I hung out in the computer room with him for a bit, and started working on WordArt Wednesday, and blogging.

He went to bed at 11:30pm, and here it is, midnight. I'm gonna tie this up, read a chapter, then go to bed myself. There's one thing to say about having a SUPER busy life. You sure sleep well when you get to - ROFL!

I got a request from JackieAnn, who wanted a WordArt for husband. OK, so this is for Valentine's day, but it's for husband/man. And wife/woman too. Because I'm just that good - ROFL! And humble, as you can tell - hehehe

Click HERE to go to Scrap Orchard to download the zip file, and remember, it's only good for about a week. And you need to be logged into the gallery if you want the download. And leave some love if you like chocolate covered strawberries while watching Season 2 Doctor Who season finale with girlfriends :)

Coming Home

K, first off, I had to share my kids' Valentine cards with you! Aren't they adorable - hehehe. I just LOVE Valentine's Day, if for no other reason that I get to make fun Photo cards on Photoshop. ROFL!

Here's Toms, Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief Themed

Joe's is Star Wars Themed

Jacob's is Star Wars Force Unleashed Themed

Jim's is Ice Age Themed (yeah, I got tired of doing these, and you can tell by the lack of effort on Jimmy's - hehehe)

And Emeline's. Insert sucker where her fist is, and you have a SUPER cute card, don't you think?

My day started at 7am, getting kids up and going and ready for school. I'd made pancakes/french toast on Saturday, and it was stored in the fridge, so breakfast was easy this morning. Just pop the french toast in the toaster, and it's just that easy :)

Kids were to school at 8am, and then I was off to Andreas house for my morning exercise. Jimmy and Jake stayed home, and played and started on school.

It was hard getting back into the workout after taking the weekend off. My legs and arms were burning again. I think it'll be easier tomorrow. I sure hope, anyway :) hehehe.

After working out, I came back home, checked on the kids, and got a call from my neighbor Leigh. She needed some "design" help. Her daughter's b-day party was this weekend, and she wanted to know if I could help design her invitations. SURE, I said :) I brought my laptop next door, and helped her.

He card was cute! It was movie themed, and she was pleased with the final result. I used a Movie pack from DeCrow design, and my Movie WordArt pack. Pretty handy :) Eme's gonna go to the party. On Saturday at the movie theater. She's pretty excited!

Leigh and I made the card, and chatted, and laughed, and had a lot of fun. She's pretty cool. She had a daughter a year older than Eme, a son a year older than Tom, a daughter in high school, and a son in college.

I came back home, and got kids lunch (albeit late), and got back on track for the day. At 2pm, Jim and I headed out to the store. I wanted to go to the Dollar Tree and get some decorations for the party.

They had paper doilies (10 per pack) in pink and white, and curling ribbons, and red heart garlands, and Valentine's pencils, and some streamers (red and white), and a few other things. I was SO excited. I also bought some 4x6 photo paper. 20 in a pack for a buck. Can't beat that.

I decided that since Walgreens wouldn't print my photos, I'd just buy and ink cartridge, and print my own. I didn't have time to re-design Valentines for the kids. This would be a tad bit more expensive (buying ink), but less time consuming. And time is money, right? That's the story I'm going with :)

I stopped by Walmart on the way home, and bought the ink. We got to the school just in time to pick up the kids, and played at the park. Jimmy was pretty excited about coming too. He usually stays at home with Jacob while I pick up the kids. It's good to get out every once in a while...

We were home by 4pm, and I got the kids fed for dinner, and we started printing out the Valentines cards. Eme's were already printed up, so she cut hers apart, and I cut slits in the card, and she put in the suckers. And wrote who it was to on the back in Sharpie. I got Joes printed, and cut, and suckered, and he wrote who it was to in the back.

I printed out Jimmys, and a few of Toms, and ran out of time. I had the kids put on their Scout Uniforms, and WARM coats, and we loaded up in the truck and headed to the Baseball Stadium. This year marks the 100 Year Birthday of the Boy Scouts of America. The local council was hosting a GIANT birthday party at the Baseball Stadium. Cake, fireworks, it was gonna be a BLAST!

Andrea and Veronica met at my house, and we caravan-ed there. I took the SUPER long way to get there. There's this highway that gets you there directly, but there's SO much construction around it, that it's HORRIBLE. I avoided it by going on a less main road, and it was SO slow. I just know that the girls thought that I was crazy - hehehe. Next time, I'm taking the construction way. I don't think my "long cut" saved us any time :)

We got there, and there were Scouts everywhere. We found seats by other people from church that we knew, and settled in. They gave us tea lights when we came through the gates, and they said it was for the candle lighting ceremony. We didn't have a lighter, but figured that we'd just go with it.

There were 3 or 4 speakers (honestly, I didn't know there were speakers. The kids just wanted the FIREWORKS...) which I paid no attention to. It was cold, and the sound system was glitching, and it was more fun to chat with Andrea and Veronica. Bad, I know. But it was SO noisy, no one could tell.

Right before the lighting of the candles, Captain America came. He had to stay late at work. Something about making up awards. He wasn't too happy that he had to stay late. People started lighting the candles, and then passed the flame to the next person, and so forth. Only problem was, it was SO windy, that they kept going out. It was really quite comical.

They dimmed the lights in the stadium, and we all sang Happy Birthday Boy Scouts, and blew out the candles, then the fireworks show started. I just LOVE fireworks. Seriously! They're my favorite. I love the pretty lights, and the big booms. Awesome!

After the fireworks, everyone started filing out of the stadium, and they had cake up at the concession stand, for free. There was a MASSIVE line for the hot chocolate (also free), but the cake line went real fast.

We lost Jake at one point, and some friends called from the parking lot saying that he was at our truck. We had them send him back inside. We reminded him about "what to do if you get lost". Do you know? It's not go to the truck. hehehe. It's stay in the last place you were. Just stop where you are, and don't go anywhere else. That way, people can look for you where you were.

We chatted with a few people from our Pack, and were some of the last people to leave. But the traffic was WONDERFUL - ROFL! WE drove home, put the kids to bed, and I hung up a few of my decorations for the party. Getting an early jump on things.

Captain America finished off Andrea's jewelry holder (her Xmas gift - just a bit late - hehehe), and then we both got to work on our computers. He had more work stuff, and I had blogging and designing. Here it is, 10:45pm, and I'm getting ready to go and read some more. I just love reading, did you know :) hehehe.

This WordArt request comes from Renee. I thought it was a great quote, and SO true. I just LOVE coming home. Home is definitely the place to be :)

Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like your home.

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I just HAD to share this CUTEST tag that a blog reader made for me! Isn't it adorable! It's from Susan. OK, admittedly, I don't know what you do with tags, but it's SO cute - hehehe! Great job, hon!