Mother's Heart

So, it's 6:30 pm on Friday night, and I'm trying quickly to scarf down my dinner and blog and post tomorrow freebee at the same time. Today was the worlds longest day, and I still didn't have enough time to get everything done - hehehe.

I started off at 7am, tired, getting kids ready for school. They left at 7:30am. Jake and I got ready for our walk, and were out the door at 8:30am. We misunderstood Laurie when she said to meet us at the place, and ended up walking to her house, while she drove to Old Fort Bliss at the trail head. SO, then we walked to the right place, adding about 15 minutes to our walk.

We got home at 10 ish, and Jake was exhausted. I let him play until 10:30, then he was back to school. I made a cake for Jimmy b-day (funfetti with chocolate frosting) in a Spiderman Pan. He thought the pan was pretty cool.

I sewed Eme's night dress, and was done with the sewing projects. I also started 2 loaves of whole wheat bread. I covered them with a damp towel, and left them raising in the garage.

Jake, Jim and I headed out to CYS to turn in our physicals to complete registration. Then, I got Jake signed up for Wrestling. $30 for the season. Not too bad. Next, it was a stop at the PXtra to have Jimmy spend his birthday dollars. He found a Lightning McQueen race track that he wanted, and it was only 20. He still has 15 left to spend on something else.

We came home, and still had 20 minutes before we were meeting our friends for lunch. I punched down the bread dough, split it in 2, and placed it in greased loaf pans, covered, and put back in the hot garage to rise. We went to McDonalds at 1pm, which turned out to be Burger King. Oops, I had to call Adela and tell her where it was. I could have sworn it was a McDonalds. hehehe. Oh well. I like Burger King better anyway. I brought me cheese, and an apple, and bought a side salad and a diet Coke. Mmmmm, yummy lunch.

We stayed too long, but I had SO much fun visiting with Laurie and Adela. It felt like forever since I've visited with those girls :) We came home at around 3pm. I was running when I got home. I pre-heated the oven, and put the bread in to cook. I packed the kids' civil war boxes, to make sure they had everything they needed. I realized that their clothes were SO wrinkled. NOt acceptable. SO, I broke out the ole iron, and started. The shirts were the worst. And the aprons. And the adult aprons take SO long to iron, since they're so big. That was a good hour right there.

After the bread came out, I started on the pumpkin muffins. I got most of the ingredients measured out, and realized that we had no eggs. WHAT? We ate 3 dozen eggs since Tuesday? How is that even possible? SO, I had to put my projects on hold, and go to the Commissary at 5pm. Nice. It was SO crowded. I grabbed 2- 18count eggs, some ice cream for Jim's party, 5 packages of ramen for dinner, and some doritos (generic ones). Nice dinner, I know. hehehe.

I was home by 5:30 ish, and finished up the pumpkin muffin batter. I put extra brown sugar and cinnamon crumbled on the top, and they looked fabulous. While those were cooking, I started on the biscuits. Baking powder biscuits are super easy to make, and pretty good. I substituted the milk for ramen juice. It gave them a slightly beefy flavor. Jake tested them ,and thought they were FANTASTIC.

Then, I started getting food ready for the trip. We're having "Super Beef Stew", so I needed the Dinty Moore beef stew, the cream of mushroom, and the noodles, and the frozen veggies. I got stuff for pancakes and sausage and eggs for breakfast, sugar and butter for the pancakes, yogurt and apples for Captain America and I, snacks for everyone, dinner for tomorrow. Basically, a lot of food.

By this point, I was tired. At 6:25, I was done with food/cooking/packing. I made my dinner, and retreated to my room to eat/blog. And here I sit. We're gonna put the kids' civil war jammies on them right now, so we don't have to do it when we get there (see how smart we are). I still need to gather my personal items, and I don't know what else. I'm SO tired. Captain America's heading up the packing. And I"m SO thankful. I bet I sleep really well tonight - hehehe.

We still have to do Jimmy b-day party (which really is just singing to him, eating cake, and eating ice cream), and take pictures. Maybe I should get off the computer and go spear head that :) Sounds like a plan :)

This WordArt request is from Bianca. I've done this one before, and she found a typo in it. I didn't have the PSD file anymore, so I decided to just totally redo it. I think this one is much better anyway. Her brother and sister-in-law are trying to adopt, so this comes just in time for them :) Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

4shared

Happy Birthday Mask

Welp, it's Friday again, which means time for NEW PRODUCTS!!! I have 3 WordArt packs and 3 Calendar WordArt packs. Fun, eh? I like 'em :) Click HERE to go to scraporchard to pick up this weeks Fresh Fruit! And, as always, the first week is on sale for 20% off, or $2.00 a pack :)

Layout by Tanja :)

Sewing was practically all I did yesterday. Ouch. My back is KILLING me now. I put my sewing machine at the counter, and stand up to sew. I don't know if you all have ever done that, but I just can't sit and sew. I need to stand so I can range around. hehehe. Anyway, sit or stand, it kills my back. I'm not sure why. So, it was a sewing and backache day for me.

I got up at 7am (woke up before the old alarm again. Not quite sure what that's about. I could have used that 15 minutes extra sleep. I got the kids fed and out the door to school, then started Jake on his math test. We were planning on going walking with Andrea at 8:30, but it fell through.

Her baby had gotten sick overnight, and she was at the hospital with him. Poor little guy. He was having breathing problems, and they didn't know what was the problem. They transfered him to the Childrens Hospital, and kept giving him breathing treatments. Last I talked to her, they were still there. Poor girl.

So, I started sewing. I made Jimmy's Mechanic hat. I made new undersleeves for myself. I made a chemise for Emeline. I hemmed Eme's dress. I made a white collar for myself and for Eme's dress. I hemmed my dress, and hemmed my sleeves. I was a sewing fool :)

When Captain America came back home for lunch, I made him put on his new dress blue uniform, and took pics of him. He was SO embarrassed, but I made him go in the backyard, because it had better light. Isn't he HANDSOME!!!

After lunch, I relaxed for a bit. My back was hurting, and I kinda felt like I might be getting a bladder infection. You all know how bad those hurt. I decided to chug-a-lug a bunch of water and hope it was just from being too dehydrated. The desert will do that to ya, you know. Jake was done with his classes early for the day, so I left him in charge, and went in an took a nice long bath. It really helped. That and drinking all the water.

After the other kids got home from school, I sat down with Joe and helped him with his homework. He had about 10 spelling words, and with help, he could sound them out and spell them. Good job, Joe! I also noticed that his teacher is writing notes on his assignment page again about how he doesn't know the sight words. Are you kidding me? I thought we already talked about this. Had the meeting with the principal. Remember, lady? I KNOW HE DOESN"T KNOW THE SIGHT WORDS. That was the whole point. How am I supposed to be helping him memorize 100+ sight words, AND all the new stuff for 1st grade. Sigh. The test we're waiting for is on the 17th. I sure hope it comes fast. I don't know if I can hold my tongue much longer.

The little kids had 4 loads of laundry to fold and put away, so while everyone else did their chores, Jimmy and I went in his room, folded clothes, and I passed them to him to put away. That alone helped the house look much cleaner - hehehe.

We had dinner at 5:30, and Joe and Captain America and I headed to Cub Scouts at 6:00pm. The LDS church does Cub Scouts, but doesn't start until their 8 years old. SO, no Tiger program. We put Tom and Jake both in Tigers when they were in 1st grade, and Joe was SO excited to join. It was the first meeting. It was just a joining meeting (sign up), but they had stuff to make your own ice cream sundaes, so Joe thought it was AWESOME. We also bought him a pack teeshirt for $7.00. He really liked the one on one time with mom and dad.

It looks like a good pack, and we're excited to get involved. We'll keep Joe in it till he turns 8, then he'll go to the church pack. BUT, we'll have 2 years with pack 58. I'm looking forward to it :)

We got home at 7:30pm, and put the little kids to bed. Eme, Jake, and Tom stayed up till 8:00pm. I started sewing again. I made a night dress for myself, and one for Eme. I didn't finish Eme's since I needed her head for a measurement. I left all the stuff out in the kitchen to finish it off on Friday. They're pretty cool. And, I made myself a night hat. I don't know if it's period correct or not, but it's pretty cool. It's like the kids Mechanic hats, but without the brim. And a little poofier. I'll have to do some research and see if it's period at all.

So, here I sit, at 11;14pm on Thursday night. In my Civil War jammies and hat. hehehe. Listening to Muse. OK, not the best Civil War music, but it sure keeps me on task - :) I think I'm gonna sleep in my jammies to test them out. They're SO comfortable.

Friday should be a good day. Jimmy's birthday. He's turning 4. I plan on taking him and Jake to lunch at a playland. Mc Donalds or Burger King or Chick-Fil-A or something like that. I invited a few of my friends to go. We'll see if anyone wants to come :)

I need to cook for the civil War campout. I need to make Jim's b-day cupcakes, bake bread (or rolls), muffins, biscuits, and cookies. And pack for the campout. And walk at 8:30am with Laurie. Then lunch. And help Jake with school. Sigh. Looks like no nap day again. hehehe.

So, in honor of Jimmy's 4th Birthday, I made a WordArt for you guys. I got the brush at www.obsidiandawn.com. OMGosh, they have some of the coolest brushes.... ever! Go give it a look-see. AND, they just require credit for CU. Nice, eh? I can credit them. I used their brush for the cool box thingy :)

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

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Child's Education

Howdy hey, girls! It's Thursday already! How did that happen? I guess the end of the week comes quickly when you're missing Monday, right? hehehe.

Wednesday was a pretty good day. I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm, which was amazing, since I went to bed the night before at 1am. I got the kids all ready for school, and out the door. I got Jacob started on a class, and got ready for my walk. Andrea and I were going at 8:30.

I got Jimmy and Jake all ready too. Jake needs exercise for his PE class, and this will be there perfect activity for him. We met Andrea at her house, and started walking. Jake really did pretty good. I'm a fast walker, and he managed to mostly keep up. We ended up walking for an hour and 15 minutes. I'd say that was a pretty good walk. I told him to bring his MP3 player next time, though. He got a little bored. And, to drink water before hand and bring water for the trip. He needs to stay hydrated :)

We got back home at around 10am, and relaxed. Jake worked on school, and I designed for a while. It was my last day of the week for new products in the store. I had till midnight to get them designed and loaded. I had two complete, and one almost done. So, it could have been worse :)

Captain America came home at lunch time, and after lunch, he and I dropped the truck off at the mechanic. It's not really broke, but needed something small done to it. I hope it helps. It's an old rig, so it's bound to have "aches and pains". But I absolutely love my Suburban. We also stopped at the Army "outfit" store and picked up Captain Americas dress blues. They look SO good. His pants should be here on Friday. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

His coat and hat look FANTASTIC, though. We're gonna have him put it on and take a picture. They're phasing out the Green Dress Uniform, and are replacing it with the Blue. Really, the blues look quite impressive. Maybe I'll have him put on the top 1/2 tomorrow, and I'll get a pic for you guys.

Back home, more school. Jimmy and I cleaned his room later in the day. It was SO bad. I took everthing out except the dresser and the 2 beds. I don't know how they keep trashing it without a thing in there. Their toys are already put away in a box in the garage. They each have a pillow and one small blanket. Sigh.

The kids came home from school, and I made dinner. I was STARVING, since I exercised so much. hehehe. I decided to make some Diet Jello for later. That should curb the ole appetite. Or at least that was the plan. Scouts was at 7pm. Tom just lOVEs his new den leader. Brother Creason. Real nice guy :) I think all of our leaders are gonna work out nicely. The little kids and I joined Captain America with his 11 year old Scout meeting. They were learning about cooking at a campout.

I got home, put the kids to bed, and designed. I was so glad to get it all done, and the store loaded. I'm a little stressed about all the stuff that needs done before the campout, and I wasn't really in the mood for designing. Next week will be better :) I just know it ;)

Thursday will be a day for sewing and cooking. I'm making Jimmy's b-day cake (he's turning 4 of September 11th) and finishing up any sewing projects. LIke Eme's dress. And Toms vest. And Jim's hat. I've got a lot to do. Hopefully I get it all done :) Then, Joe has his first Tiger Cubs (Boy Scouts) meeting at 6pm on post. He's SO excited about it ;)

This WordArt request is from Judy aka GrammaJ. She found an article in a local paper, and this little boy, Tommy, said the follow quote. TOO cute. I could just imagine a little guy (or girl) saying it - hehehe. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

4shared

Heroes

Oh. My. Busy..... I don't think I got a chance to sit down and think at all on Tuesday. I was up and going at 7am, cooking pancakes for the kids for breakfast. We'd run out of cereal. No, I'm usually not such a good mom - LOL!

Tom and Joe had Doctors appointments, so I ran Eme up to school at 7:55am. I came back, got Jake started on school, got Jimmy situated with a movie, threw on some nicer clothes, got Joe and Tom presentable for the doctor, found the paperwork I needed, and grabbed my apples and yogurt, and headed out the door. I broght Eme's new Civil War dress to sew some eye-hooks on while I waited. You know, when you come prepared, it's a sure bet that you won't have any time at all to work on it. BUT, had I brought nothing, I would have been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. hehehe.

We sat down long enough for me to dig out my pen to fill in a few papers, and the nurse called us back. Joe was SO slow gathering up his papers and such. He'd brought stuff to color on. Sigh. I forgot just how slow Joe is.

We went back to the height/weight room, and then to the vision part. Next, we went to the room. Tom read his book, Joe colored a bit more, and I sewed on one eye-hook. Then, the doctor came in. Nice and speedy like. Tom was first. He was perfectly healthy, except for complaining that his side sometimes hurt. What? News to me. He said that back in Oregon, the 3 wheeler had tipped over on him, and sometimes it still hurt. That was back in November of 2008. The doctor couldn't find anything, but said to keep an eye on it. I'm not sure what that was all about, Thomas Lee.....

Joe was next, and he thought that everything tickled. He just giggled the whole time. It was quite humorous. All in all, it was a quick visit. We gathered up our stuff, and headed out, complete with physicals and excuses absence notes for school.

I dropped the kids off at school, checked them in, and sat in the truck and called my mom. I'd missed her call at the doctors office. She and my dad went to visit my sister this past holiday weekend in Utah, and she told me all about it. It was good chatting and catching up again :)

Next, it was back home. Jake was done with 2 of his classes, and was starting on Math. Jimmy was playing nicely. It's SO nice having an older kid. That's what you all need. A 12+ year old. It's SO nice.

Jake decided that he wanted to come grocery shopping with me, so I let him finish most of his math before we left. That just left Art and History when we got back home. I printed out my shopping list, figured out what I had/needed, and off we went.

First, we stopped by the Ft. Bliss thrift store. It's only opened 3 days a week for about 4 hours. Not very convenient, but I'd happened to catch it on the right day. Lucky for me! I found a pair of "Civil War" shoes for Joe. Just what I was looking for! I also found 2 all cotton plaid shirts (XL orXXL) that I could cut up into Civil War shirts for Jake. And, I found a Pirates of the Caribbean shirt for him too. Pretty cool. And, a stack of Junnie B Jones books for Eme. There were about 12 of them, I think.

Next, it was on to the commissary. They had most of the stuff that I needed. No saltine crackers, though. And I thought I could find chocolate chips cheaper at wal-mart. So I didn't buy any at the commissary. It was a pretty fast trip. I'm getting where I know where everything is, so it doesn't take very long. About 45 minutes, I think. AND, the lines weren't very long.

We were done at about 1pm. We stopped by Burger King, and the kids each got a dollar. I know, I'm a big spender. Jake got a spicy chicken sandwich, and Jimmy got a nuggets. I got a Diet Coke. I know, more caffeine. Not good, but I was thirsty.

Next, it was on to Goodwill. I found another black pair of shoes for Joe, this time Sunday Shoes. He had to wear his white tennys last week to church, and I thought it looked SO funny with his dark Sunday suit. SO, now he's gonna be stylin'

I also found some COOL fabric for $3.00. It was a brown plaid, and I thought would be perfect for the little boys' "mechanic hats". This is what it's supposed to look like. I found this picture online, and tried to re-create it without a pattern. I know, bold. hehehe. But the fabric I bought would be PERFECT for it.

I also found a Thomas the Train VHS tape, and an Independence Day VHS. I think that was it for Good will.

Next, it was on to Wal-Mart. I needed Imitation Vanilla, Dishwasher Soap (I don't know why I'm capitalizing things....), laundry soup, body wash, printer paper, crackers, chocolate chips, and a few other things.

I ended up spending a little bit of my "cash" for the month. I read Suzzanne Collins book, The Hunger Games last month, and was HOOKED. I thought it was fabulous. SO, when her new book in the series, Catching Fire, came out on the 1st, I've been dying to read it. I found it at Wally World today, and just HAD to have it.

I aslo bought a griddle. Not to be confused with girdle. Jake and I had an interesting conversation about the difference between the two words today. ROFL! It's such a cool griddle. I can cook 9 good sized pancakes at a time on it. Sweet! Better than one to 3 in a pan. I just look cooking things :)

SO, finally done with all of our shopping, we headed home. We got home at 3:30, and I still hadn't had lunch. I was STARVING. I got some cheese and cucumber, and we unloaded the truck. I had SO much stuff to put away. Luckily, Jake unloaded most of it for me, and the other kids got home from school in time to help him finish off the task. I got all the groceries put away, and started work on the hat.

I made the first one for Tom. It had a few issues, but looked SUPER cute. I was so happy it turned out well. I quickly whipped up another one for Joe.





Next, it was time for food. The kids wanted me to use the new griddle, so I made up some pancakes. Pancakes for breakfast AND dinner. Yeah, it was great. hehehe. I also made some eggs. It really works great. I'm glad I bought it.

After cleaning up after dinner, I went in my room to check my email and make a few phone calls. The kids did their chores. I called Time Warner Cable (internet) to see what was the deal with my bill. Last month, I'd gotten it all taken care of when they were sending my money to the wrong account. Apparently, it didn't get fixed, because it's still going to the wrong account. Luckily, they fixed it over the phone. They said call back next month to make sure it's going to the right place. Nice.

Next, I called Verizon. We were modifying our plans a bit. Right now, we had 1400 minutes for $100, paid $20 for 2 exta lines, paid $45 for internet on 2 differen lines, paid $20 for texting, and paid for insurance on each phone too. All told, it was over $175 a month. Crazy! So, we moved from a basic plan to a Connect plan. $85 (after discount) a month for 700 minutes (we never use all our minutes - usually about 600 - we only talk to people who are "in" our network - LOL), which includes texting on ALL lines and internet on Captain Americas phone, $20 for the 2 other lines, and $10 for my internet. Plus insurance. But that's SO much less than what we were paying. Anyway, after about 45 minutes on the phone with the Verizon chickie, it was all taken care of.

And, the whole time, of course, I had kids beating on the door to my room, trying to get in. It was chaos. When I got done and came out, Jake and Tom had put Joe and Jim to bed because they were running around acting crazy. AND, it was 7:45pm. Great job, Jake and Tom! Way to take initiative - I was happy :)

I cooked dinner for myself (since I didn't eat lunch until 3:30, eating dinner at 8:00 wasn't too bad), and decided to make a Civil War vest for Tom. He didn't have one (I'm not sure where it went). Out of the same fabric as his hat. SO stinking cute. It turned out pretty good. Took a long time, but looks pretty good. Now, it just needs a few buttons and button holes. More detail sewing.

And, a picture of me after a LONG hard day of stuff. Do you find yourself with a dish towel draped over one shoulder constantly? Just wondering if it's just me, or if others do it too...

I didn't really have a chace to sit and relax at all. Here it is, 12:27am on Wednesday morning, and I'm SO ready for bed. But I feel like there's still more to do. Dishes are done, at least. I did those after making the vest and cleaning up my mess (which was HUGE). I sure hope that Wednesday isn't as crazy was Tuesday was. I don't think I could take 2 NON stop days in a row.

Oh yeah, and "Johnny" came. I didn't really have a lot of PMS, so now I'm getting the residual hormones. Or, should I say, Captain America is. Poor guy never knows what hits him when "hormones strike". You'd think he'd learn. But nope. Every time it's the same thing. He can't for the life of him figure out what's wrong with me. Why am I so moody and edgy. Yeah, I think he needs to mark his calendar. He actually said "I thought you were only moody the days leading up to your period. I thought that since you'd started that you wouldn't act like this". Nice, eh? That's EXACTLY what you say to a hormonal woman to make her feel better. ROFL!

Did you see THIS email??? My friend sent it to me, and I thought it summed up perfectly what hormones can do to ya. This line is my favorite:

FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

BUT, he ended up just listening to me tell him about my crazy busy stressful day and cry and apologize for being SO crabby and grouchy at him. He's really a very sweet guy. I like him, and think I'll keep him :)

First off, WordArt wise, my friend/publicity girl, Pam, is in a design contest, and I thought I'd help her out! Click HERE to go to the contest and see her entry (I just LOVE the flower), AND she has some add-on stuff at her blog HERE.

AND, I made you guys a WordArt using her kit. Isn't it pretty! I just love the colors :) Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file. AND, if you like it, go tell Pam!!! She'd love to hear from you guys.

4sharedI made another one, and Pam's gonna have it on her blog in a little while. I don't know if it will be today, but it'll be soon. So go and check it out :) You'll like it. I promise ;) Here's a little preview of it. See, cute, don't ya think!

It's that time of the week again! WordArt Wednesday :) Whatever would we do if we didn't have a day of the week that started with W. hehehe. WordArt Wednesday just has such a nice ring to it :) Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to grab this weeks WordArt, and as always, leave some love if you like my work :)

Change the World

I had a great Labor Day yesterday! I slept in till 8am, then laid in bed till 9 with my laptop. It was SO nice. I got up, ate breakfast (still hadn't seen the kids, they were in the TV room watching a movie), and helped get everyone for Chick-Fil-A. Sad, but it was our main activity for the day - hehehe.

Jake had a St. Louis Rams (Football) jersey and a St. Louis Cardinals (baseball) hat. Tom had a St. Louis Cardinals shirt and a St. Louis Cardinals hat. Eme had a St. Louis Cardinals hat. Joe had a St. Louis Cardinals shirt. Jim had a Ohio something hat. Captain America had a St. Louis Cardinals shirt and a St. Louis Cardinals hat. Me? I had nothing. I used to own a Cardinals shirt, but after loosing weight, it now fits Captain America and not me. I borrowed a St. Louis Blues (hockey) shirt, and stuffed it in my purse. I'd put it on when we got there.

We got to the mall at about 11:20am, and went inside. We got in line, and I felt dumb pulling a shirt out of my purse (yeah, not so great thinking), so I grabbed Jakes Cardinals hat and sat it on my head. I'm not a hat person, cause my head is SO large (don't even try telling me it's not. I got my massive head from my dad. Ask my family, they'll tell you. It's GINORMOUS!). We went to order, getting 7 chicken sandwiches, 2 large shakes (cookies and cream and strawberry), and a large soda (diet Dr. Pepper - mmmmmm). I gave 1/2 my sandwich to Jake and 1/2 to Tom. Jim only ate 1/2 his sandwich, and I think Joe did too. I'm not sure who consumed those, but every last crumb was eaten. hehehe. Did I ever mention that Harty kids are eaters?? LOL!

Check out these cute table decorations they had. Megaphones. First thing Jimmy did was pick it up and yell in it "Hey goalie, you suck". Nice. See the lovely things they learn at Hockey Games. After that, though, he started saying "Hey Mom, You Rock". Much nicer. Thanks, Jim. You rock too! Captain America thought this photo was nasty, but I thought it was kinda funny - hehehe.

Captain America and kids and chicken :P

Mmmmm, those shakes were HARD to resist. Well, the Cookies and Cream one was. The strawberry? Not so much. Especially after Jimmy accidentally knocked it over, and spilled part of it on the table. Captain America scooped it back into the cup. Ewwwh. No one else seemed to mind, though. hehehe.

We were such dorks at the mall restaurant. We were snapping pictures, and having a grand time. On her way out, a nice lady sitting behind us asked if we wanted her to take all of our picture together. How sweet! So, here's the whole fam :)

After lunch, we headed to Old Navy. I always like to see what they had. They had a HUGE bin of $0.47 cent bathing suit bottoms. Interesting. No thanks, though. Don't need a bathing suit bottom - hehehe. Captain America found a $5.00 shirt he liked, though. I loaned him the money for it :)

Here's the family throwing pennies in the fountain. Because you can't really walk past a fountain without making a wish, right? I know Eme said she wished for a PS2 or Xbox or something like that (really, does she even like that kind of thing???) and Captain America said he wished for something with 4 legs. Hmmm, I wonder what that could be. heheeh. Yeah, it's not a dog or a cat. That would be too easy :)

Next, we walked around the mall for a while. We went to FYE (or something like that - it was a music store). I found out that Brad Paisley has a new album out. What? Why didn't I know that? hehehe. We picked it up for $10.00. Captain America and I split the cost.

Next, we walked around for a bit more. A cheap jewelry store, and Game Stop, then headed home. Going to the mall with 5 kids (7 people) is a little stressful, and I'd had all the "mall fun" I could handle. Plus, I was hungry. I didn't eat at Chick-Fil-A, just drank the giant soda, so I still needed to go home and eat my cheese and cucumber.

I spent most of the early afternoon relaxing. I know, because I'd done SO much at the beginning of the day - hehehe. I played online for a while, and read some, and did some dishes (ok, so that wasn't relaxing). I also started some laundry. Or was that the day before. All my days are bluring together. I know that I cleaned my room for a little while. I had a few loads of clean laundry that needed to be folded, and some papers that needed to be filed. It looks much better now.

Captain America and I (ok, so mostly it was him) went through the Civil War stuff to see what we needed to make. Most of the kids had what they needed. Joe has grown so much lately (up, not around), that all of his pants are too short. Jimmy can wear his pants. He only has 1 pair that still fit.

Eme's dresses all look funny, so I decided to make her a new one. I found a pattern online for a pinafore dress, and it actually looked do-able to me. It turned out SO cute. I had to mess with the neck hole a little bit, but after that slight alteration, it looks fabulous. I just need to hem the bottom and sew on eye hooks, and it'll be all done. It's red and white plaid. SO pretty.

I managed to make food for the kids in there somewhere, and get them to bed at around 8pm. Jake stayed up a little later studying for a Science test tomorrow, and I eventually got around to eating my dinner. It's almost double what I was eating on my original diet. I SO love re-feed - hehehe.

I was looking online for a pattern for a 1860's mechanic's hat, but only found a picture. I decided to try and re-create it using my limited skills. What I made looks similar, Joe and Jim are sleeping. I tried to sneak in their room and try it on, but it didn't work very well. In the morning. I'll try it then. I even cut out extra pieces, so if it works, I've got a pattern. See, aren't I smart :)

Maybe tomorrow (Tuesday - I'm blogging on Monday night) I'll take pics of everyone in their uniforms. They look so stinkin' cute! But, tomorrow is gonna be a busy day. I've gotta get Eme to school by 8am, Joe and Tom have Doctors appointments for physicals at 8:40am and 9:00am, I've gotta go grocery shopping, stop by the Boy Scout office and pick up a few things, homeschool Jacob, and try and get everything ready for our campout on Friday. Which also happens to be Jimmy's Birthday. And Thursday is Joe's first Tiger Cub (Cub Scouts) meeting. And Wednesday is Tom and Jake's Cub/Boy Scout meetings. Busy, busy, busy. No rest for the wicked, right?

Seriously, I've got issues. As I sit here on Monday night blogging, I'm having the almost uncontrollable urge to twitch or flail my arms or something. Too much caffeine swarming through my veins or something. Not good. Not good at all. I'm not gonna be able to sleep tonight. I can just feel it. Jittery, tired, but no sleep. Diet Dr. Pepper - you are not my friend (but I still love you.....)

This WordArt request was from Chris, back in January, during my move to El Paso. Yeah, sorry for the delay, but better late than never, right? hehehe. Actually, someone emailed me yesterday asking for this one for a request. See, it looks like I'm REALLY one the ball, eh? LOL!

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

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I'll Always Be With You

It was a very nice Sunday yesterday. I made up Cub Scout folders for all of our new Cub Scout leaders, and brought them to church with us. I got asked to give the opening prayer, and Eme bore her testimony. I conducted in Primary, and everything seemed to go just fine there. It was a nice Sacrament meeting.

After church, we had lunch, then took naps. Well, I tried to. I couldn't fall asleep. I hate that. I'm beat tired, and can't sleep. I just lay there. I gave it my best for 45 minutes, then gave up. I made Tom and Jake go upstairs with me and clean their room. I got a HUGE trash bag of trash, and 2 bags of stuff to donate out of their room. It looked much better. I don't know how it gets so messy so fast. AND, I found out where all the plastic cups in the house went. Those silly boys bring cups of ice to their room at night to read, then just leave them there. Sigh.

We were done at about 3:30pm, and I came back to my room to read for a while. I could tell that I was being hormonal and in risk of yelling at everyone, so I busied myself with reading. I'm sure everyone was grateful for that - hehehe.

At 5ish, we started dinner. I made wet burritos for the kids, and they LOVED it. I had a nice stir fry, and Captain America had his shake. We did some downstairs chores, and the house looked much nicer. Kaylee (from a few blocks over and from church) and her kids brought over some cookies and garden fresh orange cherry tomatoes for us. The kids LOVED them. Captain Americas excited about the tomatoes for tomorrow. The cookies sure smelled good :)

Later in the evening, we watched the 2nd half of Lonesome Dove. There was one part where we had to change the channel for a few seconds cause we really didn't want the boys to see a few scenes. But all in all, they really liked the series. Eme thought it had a lot of fighting and dying (which it did), and the boys just thought it was cool. Jim was the first one asleep. I think he lasted 30 minutes. We started the movie at 8:45pm, so that was pretty late for the little guy. Joe was next.

When we switched secionts (3rd to 4th), Captain America carried Jim and Joe to their beds. Eme fell asleep during the 4th section. After the movie got over (around midnight), we woke Eme up to make her go to bed. She's WAY too heavy to carry - hehehe. Especially up the stairs. I think Tom liked it most of all. He's WAY into cowboys and horses and such. And it was good that we were there to point out the things that characters did good, and things that other characters did that were definitely wrong. That way, it's all a learning time.

It's late now, and since I didn't get my nap, i'm pretty tired. I was glad that I designed on Friday, because I had all my wordart done ahead of time - I just had to blog - Woohoo for me!!! We're looking forward to a fun Labor Day with the family. I know that our Chick-Fil-A here is giving away free chicken sandwiches from 10:30 to close (or until they run out) to people in a sports team logo shirt. We're going up at around 11am to the mall. Should be a good time. The kdis are pretty excited :)

This WordArt request is from nachtstern, back in January. I know, I'm slow :) hehehe. On the day she requested it, it was A.A. Milne's birthday, so it was a very nice request. Well, now that it's 9 months later, it's still a very nice quote :) Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Baptism

Well, I tried to sleep in on Saturday. I think I managed to stay asleep until almost 8am. Well, I was woken up a few times before that, but I didn't get out of bed until 8am. Does that count? Why can't I haveCaptain Americas ability to sleep through everything? There could be a kid pulling at his eyelids, and he'd still be sawing logs. It must be a dad thing - hehehe.

I drug myself out of bed, got food for everyone, and settled in on the couch in my jammies with my laptop. Email was on the top of my list of things to do. For all of you who have emailed me and think that I'm a schmuck for not emailing you back, I'm guilty as charged. I looked at my inbox, and there were almost 400 messages. Sigh. How did I let it get so out of control.

I decided to start at the back, and work my way forward. My oldest email was from January. I know. That's 9 months ago. I could have had a kid in that amount of time (and it would have been a good excuse why I hadn't written/responded back - but I've got no baby to show for it). I went through the ole emails, responding and designing as I came to a request. I've got freebees though a week from Monday now :)

Whenever one of you guys leaves a comment on my post, I get an email. I usually delete the comments, and keep the ones that have a request attached to it. Well, I deleted some of those. Some of the requests that were "not good for the whole group". Stuff that wouldn't translate well to WordArt. Things that, really, only you could use. SO, if you left a message on my blog, and you haven't seen your request made, and it was pretty specific (not good for the whole group), it's probably not gonna get done.... I'm so sorry :( There's only one of me, and there are many of you. And it's stressing me out to have my inbox at almost 400.

SO, after responding to almost 100 emails, and deleting/archiving things that no longer were applicable, or things that my mom/aunt/husband/mother-in-law/father-in-law/friends sent to me, I was left with about 197 emails in the ole inbox. ALL personal emails from blog readers. But I'm up to March now. That's better than January, anyway you look at it - hehehe. Slowly, but surely, I'll get it back to 0. I'm doing my best, girls!

So, by about 10am, the kids were STIR crazy. They were running laps around the living room/dining room area. I just plugged my headphones into my laptop and CRANKED "Muse". Drowning them out seemed like the best option. But then, Jimmy grabbed the wooden spoons from the drawer and started beating them together like drumsticks, and I couldn't really ignore it any longer. My phone rang about then, and Captain America woke up wondering what the heck was going on. I guess it just takes a PARADE in the living room to wake the man up - LOL!

Andrea was on the phone, telling me that she and Kim were going to go to the Mall to get their Eyebrows threaded in about an hour. I hurried and hopped into the shower, got all pretty, got my kids all situated, and headed down to Andreas house. I was SO excited because I was able to wear a pair of black pants that I hadn't been able to wear since last time I was down to my goal weight! Happy day!

Andrea and I drove over the Transmountain area to pick up Kim. She was at Wal-Mart, having just dropped off her jeep. I think it was for an oil change. I don't know. Some car something or another - hehehe. Next, we drove over to the West Side mall to the Threading place. Once again, the lady worked her magic, and Kim and Andrea got BEAUTIFUL eyebrows. I think I'll do mine again next month. I self-threadded a bit, and plucked a bit, and they're still good enough for now. But next month.

Next, we went to Chick-Fil_A for lunch. I got a salad, and picked off all the stuff I wasn't supposed to have. See, I'm still being good. Lettuce, cabbage, and chicken breast. No dressing. And a Diet Dr. Pepper. I know, I know. Caffeine again. But it tasted SO good. I'm a glutton for punishment :) We had fun eating lunch, then sitting and chatting for about an hour. Girl talk is great :)

Next, we loaded back up in Andreas rig, and drove back to Transmountain area to drop Kim back off at her Jeep. Andrea drove me back home, and said that she and Kim were gonna go to the East side and go to Hobby Lobby in about an hour or so. I said that I'd assess the situation at home, and let her know if I could come or not. Captain America was watching the kids, and I had to make sure that all was still well :)

Everyone seemed happy and content when I got home. They were getting ready to go roller bladeing. Captain America was at the table doing something to the wheels. I asked him what he thought about more "girl" time, and he said it was fine. I ate my snack, played for a bit, then headed back to Andreas.

When I got there, Kim was just getting there too. Andrea didn't know if she could go, because one of her kids really didn't want to go. He was still having a hard time from his dad leaving for a month (trainings) the day before. But, after hanging out at Andreas house for about 45 minutes, he decided that coming wouldn't be too bad, so we all loaded up, and headed off to the East side.

The girls and I decided that even though my wreath stuff wasn't on sale, I should still buy the actual wreath, the hanger, and the ribbons. The other parts would be on sale next week, or the week after. So, I spent $11.00, and got 2 different spools of ribbons, and HUGE wreath (brown, made with branches), and a door hanger. My job now is to come back next week or so, and look for the cutesie stuff to put on it :) But for now, I have a brown branch wreath hanging on my door - LOL!

Andrea and Kim are making Scrapbooks of their "doings" while their men are gone. They wanted to look for stickers and papers and cutesie stuff to scrapbook with. We had fun walking around the craft store, looking at all the great stuff they had.

Next, it was on to the Skin/Hair/Make up store. Andrea was considering buying a Hair Iron (A Chi, I think it was called). In the end, she didn't know if she'd use it enough to warrant $80. That's a lot of money to only fix your hair twice a month. Poor girl was SO undecided.

Then, it was back home. Captain America and I were going to the movies at 7:45, so I had to be home by 7pm. I got home at 6:45, well within my parameters. Only Jacob was home when I got there. Captain America had the kids at the neighborhood park, playing Soccer. What a great dad :)

I hurried and made dinner, and called Captain America to tell him to hurry home so we'd make it to the movies on time. We needed to leave by 7:15 to make it in time. At 7:11, Captain America still hadn't showered, and I was starting to get panicked. I went to look online to see if there was a later showing. Come to find out, the movie didn't start until 9:10pm. Wow, I was WAY off on the start time.

So, we slowed things down, and had time to hang out a bit more, then put all the kids to bed. That was nice, to have them in bed before we left. And much easier for Jake to babysit sleeping kids - heehe.

We got to the movies with a few minutes to spare. We saw Transformers. At first, I didn't care for the movie. The first 1/2 was not the best. There was a lot of language (I still think of Transformers as a kid movie, and it DEFINITELY wasn't), and a lot of unnecessary "sex" appeal. The college scenes were TOTALLY fake (any of you go to colleges like that??? Where everyone is GORGEOUS?), and I wasn't crazy about the drug reference.

But then the 2nd 1/2 of the movie was good. A lot of action, some humor, increased story line. I actually liked the last half. It salvaged the movie for me. I came away saying it was a good movie. I don't know if I'll buy it or not, but I did like it. But boy was it long. 2 1/2 hours. We didn't get out until quarter to midnight.

We made a quick stop at the grocery store on the way home (I needed another days worth of pineapple), then drove the 15 minutes to home. Luckily, we didn't get stopped by the guards coming back into Ft. Bliss. But then, it wasn't Friday night. That's usually when we get stopped. Maybe Saturday night they're not as bad. Really, it's just luck of the draw who gets searched when re-entering the gate, but Friday nights in a row makes one wonder......

OK, remember how I told you all that on Thursday, my friend Krista came over and I helped her make a baptism announcement for her daughter? Well, I liked the WordArt I designed for her so much, I decided to give it to you all! I thought it would be PERFECT for your Faithbooking pages :) SO, click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Without You

OK, shameless plug, but don't forget about my Grab Bag. If you've never bought anything from me, now is a GREAT time to get something. It's 6 new WordArt packs, all for only $3.50. You really can't beat that as a deal. There's a calendar type wordart in there, a days of the week thingy, some good for kids, some for friendliness/kindness, lots of good stuff. Give it a try. You know you want to. Hehehe. Click HERE to go to my Grab Bag in my store :)

Wow, I'm pretty sure that I'm sick. Sigh. I hate to be sick. After staying up late on Thursday night, 7am came SO early :) I managed to get the kids out the door and off to school. Captain America had the day off, so he got to sleep in :) I hauled my computer to the couch, and read. I didn't really have the energy to do much else. I took a 12 hour decongestant, and some DayQuil. But I still felt yucky. I helped Jake on and off with his school work when he needed help, and tried my best to keep Jimmy from getting into trouble.

Captain America was awake at around 9am, and went running. We all just kinda did our own thing for the morning. We had lunch at noon-ish, and I took a nap. At 2:30ish, Jim, Captain America and I went back to the PX to exchange a few of the clothes we bought yesterday. Eme's didn't fit. They were WAY too big. They almost fit me - hehehe.

Captain America needed a bigger size in the shorts, and so did Tom. I'm guessing they ran a size small, since both needed a different size. I even found 2 shirts for myself the 2nd time around. They were pretty cute. One was red with a white bow and the other was black/white/gray. Yes, I know. It's my favorite color. Black is good :) hehehe.

After the PX, we headed off post. We needed protein powder, an ink cartridge, and some take and bake pizzas from Wal-Mart. We'd promised the kids pizza yesterday, and it didn't happen, so today was the day :) After Wal-Mart, we dropped the movie back at Blockbuster, and headed home.

The kids LOVED the pizza, and were enjoying their Friday night. Eme and Joe played at the park for a while, and Tom had a friend over for a while. Captain America and I had planned to go to the movies, like we do every Friday night, but I really wasn't feeling up to it. The little excursion earlier in the day was almost too much for me.

I put Captain America in charge of the house, and went to take a bath. It's amazing how much better you feel after soaking in a HOT bath. It's not even 9pm yet, and I'm almost done with all my work for the night. I think I'm gonna go to bed early tonight. And hope that I feel better on Saturday. The girls wanna go "Eyebrow Threadding" at the mall, and I SO wanna go and play. I just plucked mine, so I'm good, but I'm always good for a "road trip". hehehe. Being sick puts a serious damper on the fun. AND, if I'm feeling better, Captain America and I can go and see Transformers II at the dollar theater tomorrow night. Plus, UP is playing at the post theater tomorrow at 4pm ish. I bet the kids would really like that. And you can't beat 99 cents for a movie. We'll see how much I'm up for :)

This WordArt request is from Diane. I just love Winnie the Pooh quotes. Too bad I can't make a WordArt pack out of them. Silly Disney and copyright laws - hehehe. Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

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Responsible Adult

Well, the day is finally here! My grab bag is up for sale - hehehe. I know you were all sleepless last night waiting for it - ROFL! OK, so maybe no, but it's still here. And it's cool. My CT told me so. And they don't lie to me :)

If you wanna grab my "Grab Bag", just click HERE to go to my store. And, while you're there, check out some of the other AWESOME Scraporchard designers who have Grab Bags up for grab too. You'll like them, trust me!

And, just to show you how AWESOME my CT is, here are a few layouts that they made using my WordArt Grab Bag WordArt pack. I just love 'em!!!

Layout by Breon

Layout by Jen (Graham Like the Cracker)

Layout by Grace

Layout by Charmaine

Layout by Katherine

So, I woke up on Thursday morning, migraine free. THANK goodness! I was still a little groggy after all the NiQuil, but I was good :) I got the kids ready and out the door for school, started Jake on some Math, and sat down with Jimmy for a little while.

Man was he in a mood. My mom called at some point in the morning, and he just ran from room to room, getting into stuff. He tried to erase all the days/appointments on my dry/erase calendar, tried to mess up my bathroom things, tried to sneak food into him room. You name it, he tried it. And, whenever he got caught, he'd start SCREAMING. Sigh. It was gonna be one of THOSE days again.

Jake and Jim and I went for a little walk this morning. 18 minutes, briskly around the neighborhood. I pushed Jim in the stroller, and Jake walked with me. And, I had the privilege of listening to him give me a blow by blow description of his newest video game. Oh yes, it was quite joyous. At about 11 1/2 minutes into it, I thought he was getting winded, and would stop. But by minute 13 he'd found his 2nd wind, and started up again. And, being the good mom that I am, I said "Uh huh" and "Oh Wow" and "Good Job, Sweetie" at all the right times. Now THAT's true love :)

At 10:20am, we left for Jim's Doctor's appointment for his physical. Not quite as easy as Eme's appointment. He wanted to run around the office, and couldn't understand why I didn't want him to. The army is notorious for "take a number" kinda lines, and Jimmy SO wanted to take a number. But we didn't need one. Sigh.

Finally, we got called back, and he wanted to touch EVERYTHING in the patient room. Sigh. After he got height/weight/blood pressured, we were sent to another waiting room. Here, he wanted to climb on ALL the chairs, look at ALL the magazines, and climb all over me. After about 10 minutes, we went back to a patient room, and saw the doctor. After looking in Jimmy's ears, he said it was kinda red, so he perscribed some antibiotics. Since we (in the army) have a 4 day weekend this weekend, he wanted to make sure Jim was all set. That was nice.

Jim and I are also pretty congested, so he ordered some Dimatapp for Jim. And some Motrin. He gave me proper dosage information, signed the physical, and we were good to go. We stopped by the pharmacy, got our goodies (drugs), and were off to home.

We stopped by the Shoppette on the way back home to rent "State of Play", but it was out. Dang! That was my easy fix. Now I was gonna have to go off post. We went home, had lunch, chatted with Captain America over his lunch hour, and started to straighten up a bit.

My friend, Krista, was coming over. Her son's turning 12, and her daughters turning 8 later in the month, and she wanted Baptism/Ordination invitations made up. I didn't want my house to look like a total pigsty. I moved the launrdry from the couch to the bedroom (and shut the door), did a once over on the bathroom, and then quit. If my friends don't like me, messy house and all, then maybe they're not great friends - LOL!

I heard a funny noise coming from the bedroom right before she got there, over the sound of Jims movie. I went to check on it, and it was Jim, snoring. Totally passed out. Thank you, Dimatapp! I turned off the movie, turned out the light, and shut the door. Score!

Krista and I worked on the invites until about 2:30pm, when she had to leave to go and pick up her kids from school. They looked pretty good when they were all done :) I'm gonna have to make some up for Eme when she gets baptized. I think she'd like that ;)

I was feeling my headache come back on at about 3pm. I realized that maybe it wasn't a migraine as much as it was a sinus problem. Since Jimmy obviously had something going on, maybe I'd got something too. I was stuff, had a stiff neck, and a sore throat. Not good signs.

So, I took a 12 hour decongestant, and laid down for a nap. I woke up at 4pm, and the kids were home from school, and Jimmy had just woken up from his nap. Dang, that was a long nap for a kid who doesn't nap! Sweet! I still felt kinda sick/headachey, so I took a migraine pill too. I got a snack for the kids, and hung out with them for a bit.

Captain America got home at about 5pm, and we headed out to the store. We were gonna go rent "State of Play" for a "Movies at home" date night. I've been wanting to see that one :) But, Andrea had told me that the PX was having a sale on clothes at the Exchange. Regular price, minus the clearance price (25%, 50%, or 75%), plus take 70% off of that. It made it a really good deal. We got 4 shirts for Eme, 3 shorts, a polo shirt, and a nice tee shirt for Captain America, and a shorts for Tom, all for $24. Not bad :) I SO love a good deal.

We stopped by the Military Clothing store before heading home, to look at the Dress Blues for Captain America. The army is getting rid of their Green Dress uniform, and going with a Blue one. It's pretty sharp looking. Captain America is gonna go buy it tomorrow, so I'll take some pictures for you all :) He's SO cute!

It was too late to keep looking for the movie, so we headed home, cooked dinner for everyone, helped Joe with his homework, then went to Blockbuster for the video. It was the last one in the store, and it cost us $4.10 to rent, but I got it! Dang, the lenghts I go to see a movie. Redbox was all out of it. Sigh. Oh well.

We got home, put all the kids to bed, and watched our movie. It was nice to hang out with Captain America on a weekday night. He has the day off tomorrow, so he didn't have to be to bed early. It was a pretty good movie, too. Russell Crowe and Ben Afflick, and the chickie from "The Time Travelers Wife". I liked it. It was my kind of suspense/thinking movie.

Did I tell you that we realized that the army has been paying us too much money? And that when they realize it, they're probably gonna just not pay us that much for the next check. Nice, eh? I figure it's about $750 worth. Captain Americas gonna go and try and get it all straightend out. Maybe they'll just deduct a percentage of it each month, rather than take it all at once. Oops. I wasn't sure how to read the LES statement, so I didn't know. But I do now :)

I'm on day 4 of my "Re-Feed" program, and down to 141!!! I'm so excited. All my old clothes fit again, finally. And I'm liking eating more food. The pineapple is SO tasty. And I got a piece of breat today. Mmmmmm. I can't wait for the day that I get to put butter on it. That taste's SO good :) I remember from last time I did "re-feed". Funny, how little things make me SO happy.

And, here's your freebee for today! This request comes from Linda, and I thought it was HILARIOUS! This should be my slogan in life. hehehe. Just ask my kids. They'll tell you :) ROFL!

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

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Everything Goes Wrong

Bear with me, here. I'm trying to fight off a migraine. And no, I didn't drink caffiene. I don't know where this one came from. But it's feeling pretty nasty right about now. Sigh.

I woke up at 3am on Wednesday, and had the hardest time falling back asleep. I was afriad that I was gonna sleep through my alarm. I needed to get up at 6:30am to take a shower to be ready for Eme's doctor appointment at 7:20am. I got up at 6:15am and started getting ready.

I woke everyone up a little early, so that Tom and Joe could be ready and out the door at 7:30am. Eme and I left the house at 7:05am. We made it just in time for her appointment. To sign up with CYS (kinda like the army's equivalant to the Boys and Girls Club), you needed a physical for each child. So starts the fun. hehehe.

The doctor that we saw was really nice. I liked him. Eme got 2 different kinds of lotion for her dry patches, and 2 inhalors (one for home and one for school (if needed)). Then, we got some free OTC drugs from the pharmacy too. What a great program :) I got foot powder, cough drops, throat spray, and upset stomach pills. Sweet!

Then, it was home, and get ready for the meeting with Joe's principal and teachers. We got there right on time. After pleading our case (and it seemed like his teacher thought it was a good idea too), the principal said that he didn't have the authority to hold back a child. That Texas laws state that kids who turn 6 by Sept 1st need to be enrolled in 1st grade.

He said to wait and see how Joe does on the state assesment test on the 17th of September, and if it's poorly, that we can write a letter to the district, and see if they'll hold him back. So, it's wait and see time. Sigh. Poor Joe. I was hoping for a quick and easy fix, but I guess that we'll see how it goes later in the month.

So, we came home, I did school with Jake, and finished designing stuff for my Grab Bag. After lunch, I decided that I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and get some supplies to make a COOL wreath like Andreas. It took about 30 minutes to get there, and Jimmy and I had fun walking around the store for about an hour. I found the PEFECT wreath, then some really pretty ribbons. Everything was 50% off, so it was gonna be a good deal. I got about 6 or 7 fall-ish elements to put on it. It looked so pretty. I arranged it how I wanted it, and even took a picture so I'd know how to re-assemble it.

I figured it should cost about 15-20 dollars. I got to the check out, and it was $35. What the heck? I asked the girl why it was so much, and she told me that the "elements" weren't on sale. So I told her to take those off. I bought the ribbons and the wreath and the door hanger, and headed back into the store to find the 50% off stuff.

Well, there wasn't any good stuff 50% off. And I wasn't gonna pay that much for a decoration, so finally, after another 30 minutes of wandering (and a little boy who had had his fill of the craft store), I went to customer service, got all my money back, and left the store empty handed. I was so sad.

So, I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home (right next door), to buy an ink cartridge for my printer. Guess what? They were out of my kind. They had EVERY other imaginable print cartridge. But not the one I needed.

I went to see if they had any wreath type things ,but they didn't. I looked in the little boys clothes, and found $2.00 tee shirts. And they were SO cool. Sports themed. I picked up 5, so it should be $10.00. But, when I got to the check-out, I realized that the display was mislabeled, and 2 of the shirts were really $3.00. Sigh. After I got done paying, I went ot customer service and returned the $3.00 shirts. I know it's only a dollar, but I was a little miffed.

So, I had to salvage the trip somehow. I needed a little retail therapy. I decided to stop at Fallas on the way home. It's a REALLY cheap clothes store, and give a 10% military discount. I ended up spending $24, and got a cute shirt, a cute longer blouse, a pair of pants, a SUPER cute skirt, and some unmentionables. I was pretty proud of all my purchases. Unfortunately, they didn't have a trying on room there. I tired on the shirts over top of my clothes in the store, and eyeballed the skirt and pants.

I tried them all on when I got home, and luckily they all fit. That store has a no return policy too. I lucked out there. I let the kids relax for a bit when they got home from school, and then started on chores. The floors were super messy, so I had Tom, Eme, and Jake each mop a room. It went pretty quick.

The house looked a lot better when they were done. Next, I started on dinner. Spaghetti night. Some of the kids really like it, and some don't. Oh well. You can't please everyone every time, right?

After dinner, I came back in my room and uploaded my weekly products to my store. I usually do this super late on Wednesday night, but I was ahead of the game for once. That's pretty good!

I noticed that my neck was starting to get tight, and feared that a migraine was coming on. I put the kids to bed at 7:30 (Jake was at scouts with his dad), and came in my dark, cold room. Unfortunately, I found some perfume in my bathroom cupboard, and was excited about smelling good, so I sprayed some on. I think it's kicking my headache into high gear. I've taken drugs, but they haven't yet kicked in. I'm gonna give it another 30 minutes, then take another pill. But it had better be better by tomorrow. I've got stuff to do. Jimmy has a doctors appointment at 10:40, and my friend Krista is coming over at 1pm. There's no room for a migraine. You hear that, migraine! Go away! (hehehe)

So, in honor of my day yesterday, I made this WordArt. hehehe. OK, so it wasn't a horrible day. I've had much worse. BUT, I thought this WordArt was funny, and I know I could use it on a WHOLE bunch of photos. Especially sad, poutty little kid faced pictures :)

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

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The Art of Being Happy

First off, thank you SO much to everyone who gave me words of encouragement yesterday! I set up a meeting with the principal and Joe's teacher for today at 9:45am to discuss putting Joe back in Kindergarten. I really think it's the best option for him.

As I was looking for his report card from this school from last year (my kids were in this school from Mid April to end of school), this is what I discovered. On the front of the report card, it says that they want kids to be able to do Stages 1-4 of Math/Language in order to be ready for 1st grade. There are 31 "goals" in Stage 4. Joe passed 4 of them. 4 OF THEM. Why in the world would they promote a child that only had a 13% success rate. ( I didn't copy it, but he passed 4 of the 4 physical education ones, but they don't really count.)


The more I think about it, the more upset I get. I really hope that when we meet tomorrow, they tell me what I want to hear. I really hope so. Captain America is gonna be able to come with me, I think. He said that they'd let him out of his class for it. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

So, other than that, the day went well yesterday. I had Captain America call at 7:30am to the school to try and get the appointment set up, and we were told to wait for a call from the principal. I got the kids off to school, then worked on my shopping list and the bills. I needed to know how much money we still had left over from last month. Also, my ink was out, so I only got 1/2 of the shopping list, and had to write in the rest by hand. grrrr. I hate it when that happens.

I asked Jake if he wanted to come with me to go grocery shopping. He'd never been since we moved to Texas. He seemed pretty excited. On the way to the store, I told him all about how our "Dave Ramsey" plan worked. About getting the $1000 reserve, then paying off all the bills, then getting the 3 month reserve, then saving for college/missions. He seemed pretty interested.

Once at the store, he pushed Jimmy in the cart, and I pushed the food cart. He helped me bag up the fruit, and get certain things from the shelves. He decided to spend a few of his Birthday $$$ on a bag of Lays Chips. Nasty, I know. But apparently they're his favorites. Who knew? He said he liked them because they're salty. Whatever. To each his own. I myself love me some Doritos, some Sour Cream and Cheddar, and some Sour Cream and Onion. mmmmmm!!! Anyway, how did I get talking about food. ha!

So, we got all the food, and got in line. I also bought the kids a GIANT pixie stick. It was only 10 cents. Dang, can't beat that!

The next store was Wal-Mart. I had to buy Captain America some fake Zyrtex and Imitation Vanilla. I couldn't find the fake stuff at the commissary. So, off we went. Jake wanted to spend some of his Birthday/babysitting money on games, so we spent quite a bit of time in the game/computer section. He found 2 that he liked, and still had $30 left over.

After Wal-Mart, we stopped by Andreas house to grab an old TV of hers. She's giving my boys their old PlayStation 2. They didn't want it anymore, and my boys are SO excited to get it. It came with the old TV. Even better! So, we loaded up the TV, and I headed for home.

We unloaded all the groceries (I sure missed Tom, Eme, and Joe during the unloading process), ate lunch, I got Jake started on his lessons, and Jimmy and I headed back to Andreas house to hang out. It's been FOREVER since I've seen my friends. Their hubby's leave on Friday/Saturday for NTC (National Training Center) for 29 days, then come back for a month, then leave for a year. They'll be more available to play next week. And I'm counting on it!

Kim came over, and Andrea and her made an ADORABLE fall wreath to hang on her door. I'm SO jealous. I'm going to Hobby Lobby in the next few days to get me some wreath makin' supplies! I want one too! And Kim was FABULOUS with putting together the wreath. Her bows were DIVINE!!!

When it was time to get kids from school, I headed back home. I sorted out all the cash from my budget into piles/envelopes, and made sure that I still had the right amount of money - hehehe. I did. I cooked dinner, and started the kids on their chores.

Captain America was home at 6ish, and after he ate, he and I headed out to the Verizon store. His phone's screen was shattered (but still almost useable), and we have the insurance plan. So, we wanted to see what our options were. For $50, he could get a completely new phone. And it's pretty cool.

Sweet, eh? We tried to arrange it where I'd get a new phone too, because mine is weird, but I wasn't eligible. BUT, because my phone is psycho sometimes, they gave me a new one (of the same kind I had before) for free. Sometimes, when my hands are cold, it doesn't push the right buttons. Or sometimes, it just turns itself off for no reason. I know, not so good. Hopefully this new one isn't so buggy.

Also, we decided that on Sunday (our new billing cycle day), we're gonna call in and scale back our plan. 700 minutes a month (we're not even using 600 right now), with unlimited text on all the phones, for $99 a month, then one extra line for $9.99, then insurance on each phone. All told, it'll be about $130 a month. We're paying about $210 a month right now. We're dropping the internet off our phones, and scaling back to a smaller plan. I'd sure like to same a few dollars :)

It took FOREVER in the store. The store closed at 8pm, and we didn't even leave until after 9pm. I'm sure the guy helping us was MORE than ready to leave. Oh well. That's why he makes the big bucks, right - hehehe. Just kidding :) I'm sure retail jobs like that suck....

We got home, got the big kids ready for bed (Joe and Eme and Jim were already asleep), and I started designing/blogging. Wednesday is gonna be a busy morning. I have a doctors appointment for Emeline (physical) at 7:20am, then Homeschool with Jake, then the Principal meeting for Joe at 9:45am. If I survive the morning, the rest of the day should be a breeze. hehehe.

And, one more day of our SUMMER REWIND SALE. I've moved 25 of my WordArt packs released this summer into the SUMMER REWIND section of Scraporchard's Market. The sale is, spend $10.00 and get 33% off. AND, to sweeten the deal, I've put them all on sale for $2.00 a pack. Bear with me here, as my math skills suck, but if I did this right, it should be like this:

Buy 5 WordArt packs for $10.00
get 33% off

So your total price for 5 WordArt packs would be $6.70
SO, they would be $1.34 a pack. Dang, that's a good deal! Don't you think???

Here's a list of all the WordArt packs that are on sale:

Kiss WordArt Pack
New Love WordArt Pack
Friends 2 WordArt Pack
Fashion WordArt Pack
Walking WordArt Pack

Charles Dickens WordArt Pack
Courage WordArt Pack
Water Fun WordArt Pack
Summer Masks WordArt Pack
Looks Funny Decade WordArt Pack

Baby Attitude 2 WordArt Pack
Baby Attitude 3 WordArt Pack
Butterfly WordArt Pack
Masks Baby WordArt Pack
Sand Castle WordArt Pack

Bicycle WordArt Pack
Word Strip Summer WordArt Pack
BBQ WordArt Pack
First Day of School 2 WordArt Pack
Kid Attitude WordArt Pack

Scrapbook Attitude WordArt Pack
Linear Definition Family WordArt Pack
Acting WordArt Pack
Senior Attitude WordArt Pack
Scrapbook WordArt Pack

Click HERE to go to the SUMMER REWIND section :P


Well, it's WordArt Wednesday time again! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download this weeks WAW, and remember, leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!