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You can reach me at: bnbharty@gmail.com and I'll try my best to answer. I get a crazy amount of email, so PLEASE don't hate me if you don't hear back from me. Love ya!

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Saturday, May 9, 2009

Sunshine of my Life

Woooo, it was a hot one yesterday! We got up to 99 again :) Jimmy and I went grocery shopping during the late morning/early afternoon. Next time, I think I'll go in the AM, before the sun gets too high. Especially without A/C in the ole truck :) But, we have food again :) And food it important when you have 4 growing boys in your house - LOL!

At about 5:30, right after the last pizza came out of the oven, the power shut off. Dang! I went outside to see if the neighbors had the same problem, and the guy across the street was outside checking things out too. I waited for about 30 minutes, then called the housing place to see what was up. They said that they'd called the power company, and it was in their hands now. Sigh.

You know, I know that people existed for HUNDREDS of years without electronics. No TV's, no internet, no lights, no A/C. But you know what? I really like those things - hehehe. The power was out for about 2 hours, and we survived. The house only got about 5 degrees hotter than normal, so it wasn't bad. I was just glad that it came back on. I sleep with a fan for noise, and I wasn't looking forward to a warm, silent night - hehehe. Plus, all of the groceris that I just bought may have spoiled if the power didn't come back on. Woohoo for power!

Hey girls! I have a little present for you guys :) If you go to yesterdays post, you can pick up the Four Generations WordArt. I got a TON of requests for it, so I figured that if you want it, then you'd get it! Click HERE to go to yesterday post to pick up the Wordart :)

Remember how yesterday I said that 2 of my CT were in the SYTYCD contest? WELL, there's actually 3 of them! Charmaine is in it too! Why don't people tell me these things - ROFL! Anyway, check out her kit, too :)

Well, you're in for a treat today :) I went to a Speed Scrap yesterday with my friend Jen (Graham Like The Cracker), and used her kit from SYTYCD. I made a WordArt for my page, and we decided that if I made one more, we'd have something FUN to give away on our blogs. So, here is the first one :) You can get it by going to Jen's blog, by clicking HERE.

And there's the other one, the one you can get from me :) Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the zip file, and leave some love if you like my work :) Thanks!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Three Generations

OK, first off, I have to post some more pictures. My mom's gonna think I've been a bad daughter if I don't update her on her grandchildren - LOL! Here's what we've been up to the past few day :)

Tom reading a book on the couch (I know, I know, don't the all of the excitement overcome you!)

Eme and Jim in the pool - it was about 95 degrees this day :) I think this was on Wednesday.

Joe's never been big on water. He'd much rather play on the "beach". hehehe.

Jim and Eme jumping in the water. You go, you guys!

Jacob played long enough to get wet and cooled off, then back inside for his computer time. He watched the Gollum movie and LOVED it too :) Just like his mommy :)
Yesterday we went to "game group" (yeah, I can't remember what they call it) at my friend Laurie's house. We played a game called "Go Goddess". Kinda weird, but we learned a lot about each other. It asked deep questions about yourself. Really made you think. But you know what, that's not a bad thing. It's a good way to get to "know" a person. More than just the "top layer" of the person, know what I mean? Jimmy had a fun time playing there too :)

Boy was it hot yesterday. I almost didn't make it from my house to Laurie's house (yeah, like 3 blocks away). We have no A/C in the truck - dang! It was 99 degrees outside. I must say, 99 degrees in the desert is MUCH better than 99 degrees in the midwest. I wasn't sweating. I could still breathe - LOL! BUT, it was still hot. Kinda like standing too close to a campfire.

I felt like cleaning, for some reason, when I got home from my friends' house. I know, SO not like me. But, I did the dishes, cleaned the dining room, cleared off the counters, and started to gather the mess in the living room when the kids came home. And my POOR kids looked miserable when they walked in the door. Jacob practically collapsed on the couch. They'd been walking for 15 minutes.

Well, I knew how to fix that. I made them go change their clothes, and put on shorts and a teeshrit. Then, we headed off to the grassy field by our house. The sprinklers were on, and the kids had a BLAST running through them. I snapped a few pics on my phone, but don't have a clue how to get them to my computer - LOL :) Anyway, it was very refreshing in the sprinklers. I don't know if it's against the rules or anything, but until someone tells us to stop, we'll probably be making frequent trips to the grassy field :)

Last night was the Mother/Son dance at the Elementary school. We really had a blast. Little boys are SO funny :) Here's some pics of us getting ready -

Tom and I

Joe and I (Joe has the most GORGEOUS eyes, don't you think?)

Jacob took a pic of us before we left. He stayed and watched Eme and Jim.

Me taking a pic of us at the dance

The lady sitting next to us volunteered to take our picture - that was sure nice. So, I took a pic of her and her boy too :) Us mom's gotta stick together :)

Laurie and her boy, and Andrea (from down the street) and her 2 boys hung out with us. Also, my neighbor (who we share the driveway) hung out with us too. The Moms had fun chatting, and the boys had fun, um, dancing? running? whatever it is that boys do at a dance - LOL! There was a lot of laying on the floor and spinning (I think it was supposed to be break dancing - hehehe)

Joe was just MORTIFIED that he had to come to a dance. He BEGGED me to leave him home, but I told him he could just come and hang out. That seemed to make him happy. Well, near the end of the dance, I noticed him and Tom actually DANCING. I snapped a few pictures.

See Joe busting a move

There he is again.

Um, yeah, no so much dancing as fighting - LOL! About this time, he wandered over and said that the kid was trying to get him. hehehe. I told him to dance somewhere else. I WASN'T DANCING was his reply. Yeah right! I have proof - LOL!


Here's my neighbr and her son, Noah, dancing

And here's Andrea and her son dancing.

Really, it was a GREAT time. I'm glad that I went. The Vice Principal told us that they wanted to do a family dance near th end of the school year. Woohoo!!! I'm all over that. Hopefully they'll do it after Captain America gets home, and we'll all be able to go as a family. I bet Jimmy would LOVE dancing - hehehehe.

Allrighty, enough about me. On to WordArt :) Here's my new products for the week. Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to my store :) And remember, they're all 20% off this week only, making them $2.00 a pack :)

Here's a layout from one of my newest CT Girl, GrahamLikeTheCracker (or Jen!) - Check her out at SYTYCD!!! Platinum Butterfly is there too!!! My CT is gonna be FAMOUS!!! Anyway, what an ADORABLE layout!




Layout by my newest CT Girl, Thunderdragon - Isn't this one AMAZING!!!

Another layout by my Newest CT Girl, Thunderdragon :) AWESOME job!

And a layout my CT Girl, Charmedeebop - LOVIN' it!!!

I also wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who shopped at my store this past week/weekend! You guys are WONDERFUL!!! Big hugs :)

AND, here's my Grab Bag reveal! Jammed packed with WordArt Goodness - LOL! If you missed my Grab Bag, you can pick these packs up individually in my store :)







And one more thing. I'm gonna be giving away my "wall decoration" wordart on Sunday :) A few of you asked about it, and I thought Sunday would be the PERFECT time to give it away. So, be looking forward to that :)

This request is from Adriana. She had a 3 generation photo that she needed some wordart for :) Hope this helps! Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :)



Four Generations

4shared


And, she even sent me a layout when she was done! Isn't is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Happy Ending

So have you all been over to DSA (DigiScrapAddicts) and seen their SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Design) contest? OMGosh there's some WONDERFUL kits up there! TOTALLY free! I kid you not. There are 80 designers in the contest, so by the time this week is done, that's 80 free kits, for you all. I'm serious! You should check it out :) But then come back here. hehehe. Don't forget about me - LOL!

I spent most of yesterday designing. I've got some fun stuff coming out this Friday :) A calendar, 2 WordArt masks packs, Benjamin Franklin quotes, and another children pack. Good stuff - hehehe. I'd been a week ahead for the past few weeks in my designing, so today when I realized I only had one pack done, I knew it was gonna be a long day - hehehe. But, I got it done. And with time to spare before the kids got home.

Our neighborhood had a "Community Meeting" at 5:30, and I went to it. I didn't really have any complaints to voice, but I did want to get out of the house for an hour - ROFL!!! It's pretty sad when you're THAT starved for adults. LOL! Jacob watched the kids, and I spent an hour listening to residents voice concerns to people that couldn't help them. Apparently, all of the people who actually had the answers to the questions didn't show up. What's up with that? So, in one reguard, it was a complete waste of time. The people with concerns could have just called in and left a message to be passed along to the people it needed to get to. But, I did get out of the house, and I didn't have to crowd control kids. So, it was a HUGE success in my book :)

We also had Cub Scout. Sigh. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Cub Scouts. But, it's not the most fun to do when your kids don't have leaders. No 11 year old scout leader. No Bears leader. I don't know if I have it in my to step in and do it. Theoretically, I have all the knowledge, and the time during the day, and the "know-how" to do it. BUT, I don't know if I have the nerves for it. I've been on my last one lately - hehehe. I'm SO ready for my hubby to get home. The single parent thing is NOT for me - I have the upmost respect for you ladies :)

I get to go to "game day" again tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it - more grown up time - hehehe. Jimmy should like it - he just LOVES going and playing with kids :) I need to go grocery shopping today too. I guess I'll go in the morning. And I need to come up with a menu and shopping list first. And we have a "Mother/Son" dance at the elementary school at 5pm. Sigh. See how quickly my day filled up on me - ROFL!!!

This WordArt request is from Elaine. She thinks it's a song from "Happily 'Never After" (I haven't seen the movie, but my kids LOVE it), by They Might Be Giants. I thought it was a GREAT quote, so I made it up for her. She wanted to use it in her living room, with pictures of her family. Awe, what a WONDERFUL idea! Be sure and send me pics when you get it up! Sounds awesome :)

Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leaves some love if you like my work :) Oh yeah, and I'm packaging up my freebees a bit more :) In case you didn't notice - ROFL!!!





FONTS
Happy - Windsong
Ending - Felix Titling

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Mother

OK, I had to come back in here after I'd already pre-published this and add one more thing. As I was playing on facebook last night, my friend had taken a Lord Of The Rings quiz, and I took it too. He commented on my quiz, and asked if I'd seen the Gollum movie. Um, no, hadn't heard of it. Apparently, there's an indepented fan film, online, called "The Hunt for Gollum". I watched it last night, and it was GREAT! Amazing what they did, considering it was a fan film. Kudos to the guys/gals who made it. It's about 40 minutes long, and if you wanna check it out, here's the website :) Enjoy!

Ha! It was fun seeing all of your comments roll in yesterday :) I'm glad to see that many of you are JUST like me - LOL! Lets go through the list, and see just how crazy I am.

First, #1. A few days ago, I accidently knocked a roll of toilet paper into the toilet after cleaning it. I saved it pretty quickly, and only about 2/3 of it was wet. Being that I live in the desert, and things dry SO quickly, I set out the roll for a day and a half, and it was completely dry. I know, if I didn't live here myself, I would have never believed it. Not possible in Florence, Oregon. Heck, my towel didn't even dry there. Anyway, the TP dried. And it comes off the roll. Who would have thought. Sure, it's a bit hard, but not any worse than cheap toilet paper - hehehe. Anyway, yes, I dried out a roll of toilet paper. But I don't usually do that :)

#2 - Growing up, I can remember my dad empting out the vacuum cleaner bag, and thinking he was SO cheap. Just buy a new bag. Then, I grew up, and bought the EXACT same vacuum, and realized just how expensive the bags were. SO, I've been known, in a pinch, to empty out the vacuum bag into the trash. Just make sure you do it outside. It makes a HUGE mess :)

#3 - Coming back home from Captain America's graduation at Basic Training in October, 08, my glasses broke. My dad and I glued it back together. Twice. Hehehe. The first time, it was nice and inconspicuious. And it broke a week later. The second time, we put a TON of it on there, and it hasn't been a problem since - LOL! Luckily, the glue is brownish, and so are the glasses :)

#4 - Yep, cut the feet out of the jammies. Jim is our last kid, so I don't need to be saving smaller sizes anymore :) I was sure I had some cute pictures of the boys, but I can't seem to find them. I wonder where they are??

#5 - Yep, same with the onesies. When we were living in Florence with my parent, I finally threw them all away. They were falling asleep. Those things aren't designed to be worn HARD by 5 different children - LOL!

#6 - Soda to the restauraunt. OK, this one was kinda misleading. I do it, but not because I'm cheap. I do it because they don't offere what I drink. I'd be THRILLED to but soda from the place, but no one carried caffine free, diet soda. What's up with that? Every once in a while I find somewhere, but not too often. I just order water cup, get ice, and pour in my soda. Sigh

#7 - Plastic silverware. Nope, not me - Here's the fake one. I hate doing dishes, so if I'm gonna wash something, it's gonna be a real silverware - hehehe. The point of the plastic ones are that they're disposable.

#8 - Jewelry Holder. Yep, this one is me too. My friend Maren had an AWESOME jewelry holder, and I did my best to duplicate it with my limited resources. Hehehe. This is what I came up with. My hubby said that he'd make me a better one. Until then, I'm happy with my cutting board and finishing nails :)


#9 - Yep, cinderblocks. They work :) I do like my new bedframe that came with the mattress, though. It doesn't leave cinderblock marks on your carpet, either :)

#10 - Couch from the trash. Sadly, yes. It was a good couch :) Nasty and green, but a good couch. We got it from our friends' neighbors trash in Chicago, moved it to Ohio, used it there, it sat in storage for 6 months, and it came to Texas. We sold it to our neighbors for $5.00. Ha! I made money on that couch. Now THAT'S a good couch :)

So, now you know a little bit more about me, and what makes me tick - LOL!

While I was cleaning out the garage on Monday, I found a bunch of old pictures (well, out dated, we'll say) and frames. I decided that I wanted to put up a scripture on the wall, and WordArt it. I took 4 phrases, and put them in 4 - 4x6 frames, and made the larger passage into an 8x10. I thought it looked pretty good :) And I used my favorite font, too :)

We finally divided out chores yesterday. Hopefully it'll help keep the house a bit cleaner. Hopefully. hehehe. Or at least I know who to yell at when it's messy - ROFL!!!

I figured that since Mothers Day is on Sunday, I'd make this weeks WordArt Wednesday Mother themed :) AND, I found some amazing fonts, one of which is the font used for Mother. Kevin and Amanda fonts. WOW! They have some great ones there. And there CU TOU is wonderful. All you need to do is give them a copy of what you are making. Too bad they don't have their email listed on their site. Sigh. I'd gladly send them the WordArt Packs that I'm gonna be designing/have designed with their fonts. Anyone know their email address???

Click HERE to go to scraporchard to download the zip file, and feel free too play along with the challenge - I know you wanna :)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Laugh

Somedays I hate being a girl. Well, about once a month, to be more specific. LOL! I haven't actually started yet, but OH MY the hormones are running rampant. Either I'm weepy or I'm not very nice when I'm hormonal. Sigh. Captain Americacalled yesterday evening, I we ended up getting into a little tiff. He was tired from a SUPER long day of training, and I was hormonal (need I say more), and it wasn't a good combo.

After hanging upon each other, he texted me how sorry he was, and that he should have been more understanding about my hormonal-ness (hmmm, is that a word). You know, it's true that the ones that we love the most can also drive us the most crazy - hehehe. While he makes me want to slap him sometimes, he's always first and fast to say he's sorry. Gotta love that :) I'm sorry too, hon! OK, enough of that :)

I cleaned out the garage yesterday. I know I said that I was just gonna leave it, but I couldn't stand it anymore. Well, I didn't really go through any of the boxes, I just re-organized. There's almost room for a car in there now - LOL! Maybe a Mr. Bean car - hehehe. When the movers put the garage boxes in the garage, they just put them anywhere. Paper boxes stacked on plastic boxes stacked on paper boxes. Yeah, not the best system. I noticed a few days go some "leaning towers". Not a good sign. SO, I opened up the garage doors, pulled out all the paper boxes, pulled out all the different kinds of plastic boxes (large ones, medium ones, small ones, different brands (cause they don't stack nicely otherwise). Then, once I sorted them all out, I put them back in nice, neat rows. I chucked all the "doesn't fit nicely" boxes and stuff into the trailer (yeah, Captain America's gonna love that one), and found that we had a big space in the garage. It was a job well done :)

We went to WalMart to get Jacob new shoes after school. His had holes in them. Holey shoes are no good - LOL! I was prepared to get him a pair between $20 and $30, but the pair he found that he liked were only $11. Amazing! They were pretty funny, but he liked him. His new shoes kinda look like the ones below , but much more generic - he was just STOKED that he didn't have to tie his shoes anymore - ROFL!! AND, my baby is wearing a size 10 in men. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? He's 11, for Pete's sake. And a size 10 in mens??? Dang!So I was thinking the other day about how cheap I am - ROFL! I thought we could play a little game. I'm gonna make a list of the ways that I've been cheap, and put in one fakie, and you have to pick out the fake one - LOL! Let see if you can figure me out :)

1. After dropping a roll of toilet paper in the toilet, I dried it out and reused it.
2. I've emptied my vacuum bag into the trash and reused it.
3. My glasses broke, and I Gorilla Glued them back together
4. I've cut the feet out of kid jammies in order to get more life out of them
5. I've cut the snap part off of onesies to make undershirts for older kids
6. I frequently bring my own can of soda to fast food restaurants
7. I wash plastic silverware in the dishwasher
8. I made my jewelry hanger out of a cutting board and some finishing nails
9. We used to use cinderblocks for a bed frame
10. My old furniture came from a friends' neighbors trash

Alrighty! That's a might embarassing list, I must say. All are true, but one. Yep, I do/have done all those things but one. Can you find it???

AND, I scrapped again. I KNOW! What's the world coming to?? Me, scrapping ? LOL! I took some photos of Jimmy and I making homemade donuts this afternoon. I know, I know, I'm never gonna get my iPod. But boy were they tasty. What a weird recipe, though. Who ever heard of putting mashed potatoes into donuts? Coudln't taste them. Maybe that made them HEALTHY! Yeah, that's why they're in there! They're healthy donuts. I knew there was a reason :)

This layout was made during the Make It Scrappy last night. I was 1/2 way through when Captain Americacalled. Sigh. It's so much better to fight in person, you know. Fighting on the phone is very unsatisfying - ROFL!!! 19 days till he gets home :)

Scraporchard May Mega

This WordArt request is from Kim. I know that I have several pics that would fit with this WordArt :) Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.





FONTS:
Laugh - AL Scratched

Monday, May 4, 2009

Over Loved

Wow, the days and weeks are just FLYING by. How is it possibly May already??? Seriously! School is gonna be out in just a month! DH gets home in about 22 days. Time just flies by the older you get. Have you guys noticed that - hehehe.

Church was good. The kids were mostly good. No one needed taken out to the hall. That's always good. Actually, I think we're past the take kids out to the hall stage. Now watch, I bet I just jinxed myself and Jim is HORRIBLE next week - LMBO!

I rearranged my bedroom last night. And I finally unpacked the bathroom medicine cabinet box. It had become a part of my bedroom decorations - lol! I'm liking the new arrangement. And my laptop cord isn't stretched across the whole room to the bed anymore. That's always risky. I'm just lucky a kid hasn't tripped on it and broke my laptop. Or themselves. Yeah, that would be bad too :)

I'm SO excited about all the new movies coming out this month (or so). Terminator 4 (or whatever it's called), Star Trek, Wolverine something, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, um, there's another one. State of Play. Maybe that was it. AND they're all PG-13ish. We don't watch rated R movies, so it kinda limits our choices :) Wow, with my movie choices, I sound like such a nerd - ROFL! Well, I am a nerd. Embrace my nerdiness, I guess - LOL!

So this weekend, I've been hanging out at the DSA chat room. It's SO nice to have some grown up conversation. Come check it out. Maybe I'll be there, and we can chat - hehehe. Seriously. I'll be there - ROFL!!! Anyway, "cupcake" and "kim" and I were chatting in there, and they came up with a few good freebee quotes for me. Here's the first one. It's from "cupcake". She thought it would be good for chunkie little babies. Or animals. I thought it would be good for after Thanksgiving pictures. Or after buffets - ROFL! We call them "Eat Till You Puke" restauraunts.

Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG file

Apparently I was too preoccupied last night while posting this, and accidentally linked up TOMORROWS wordart - ROFL! I was chatting over at DSA while blogging, and it was after midnight. Note to self - don't do that again - LOL! It's all fixed now :)

box.net
4shared
mediafire
keepandshare




FONTS
Over - Hursheys
Loved - Hyrule

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Walk

So, did you guys all have a fun time at NSD??? I know that I did :) I went to some chats, and even did a scrap :) Can you believe it??? I scrapped - LOL!

When I woke up yesterday morning at 6 am I had a POUNDING migraine. Not a good sign. I went to the freezer, and got the ice pack, and iced my neck, hoping it would help. I went back to sleep. I was hoping that it would help. Um, no, it didn't. At about 7:45 am, I took an migraine pill, and laid back down. I was online for a while, trying to see what was up with the chats, but dang, the headache wasn't letting up.

By 9 am, I was puking. Have you ever had that. Where your in such pain that it makes you throw up. By 10 am, I'd taken another pill, and went back to bed. I woke up at noon-ish, and felt MUCH better. A little druggie, but better. I still stayed in bed most of the day, just to make sure I didn't push it too far.

What did my kids do, you ask? Um, not sure - hehehe. I know that the computer was played, that the wading pool in the back yard was played in, and the TV was on later. A whole bag of tortilla chips was eaten, along with a whole jar of salsa and a whole container of sour cream. That bag of Hersheys kisses got eaten, a loaf of bread disappeared, as did 1/2 of the GIANT package of tortillas. Sigh. It's a good thing I'm not sick often. Poor kids.

I made sure the the doors were dead bolt locked so Jimmy wouldn't be streaking the neighborhood. Yeah, stop laughing - it's not funny - hehhehe. He really does that. How do you keep clothes on kids? I don't think my others had quite this problem.

So, I think next time I'm sick, I need to tell my boys to put sun screen on the little kids before thy let them in the little wading pool. Jimmy is SO sunburned. Poor kid. Joe got a little burn, and Eme? She just soaked it up and turned brown.

I didn't quite eat on my diet 100%, but I didn't go too crazy either. All in all, considering how sick I was earlier in the day, I was pretty pleased. I didn't eat the whole bag of Kisses like I was afraid I was gonna do, so it was a success - ROFL!!

Check out this layout I did at Amy's Template Challenge :) It's done using Irene's new kit, and has a few of the WordArts from my Grab Bag.

I still say designing WordArt is SO much easier and more fun for me :) Layouts don't come naturally. Templates sure do help, though :) Thanks, Amy! I had fun at the scrap :)

I was also at the Designer Trivia Chat hosted by Jennifer, and the chat with SuzyQScraps. I actually won a prize there, too! Thanks, girl :) I think it may have been that I was drugged up, but I had a fun time at the chats. So much for shy - hehehe. I just need to pop a few pills before I go to social situations - ROFL!!! (totally kidding, i'm not condoning that kind of behavior - hehehe)

You know, my email is getting behind again. So, if you sent me an email, just be patient with me. I will eventually get to it. Eventually :) hehehe. I know that's not a good excuse, but it is an excuse - LOL! Ha! My drugs must still be in my system - hehehe. Like at the chat when someone asked how I found time to design when I had 5 kids, and I told them that the kids were neglected - ROFL! Sigh.

Anway, here's your your freebee for the day :) I really liked how this one turned out. Click on the links below to go to my accounts to download the PNG files, and leave some love if you like my work.




FONTS:
Walk - AL Professor