Laugh

I woke up feeling sick this morning. Not so sick that I was puking or anything, but just not feeling right. I somehow managed to get the kids to school, and while I was dropping them off, I chatted with Andrea for a while.

She knew that I was supposed to go grocery shopping today, and I was trying to convince myself that I should just go later, and go home and take a nap. She talked some sense back into me, and reminded me that it was payday, and that the commissary would just get more and more busy the longer I waited. Crap. She was right.

I went back home, and took a shower, and got ready for the day. I did fell better after a shower. I put on cute clothes, fixed my hair, put on make up and perfume and jewelry. I looked cute - ROFL! It was 9:30 or 10am before I left the house. It was gonna be busy at the commissary. I first stopped by the license/registration place on post. Luckily, I found the same guy who took care of us when we first moved on post. I was in and out in 10 minutes. $152 poorer, but at least it was fast and painless, right? 2 vehicles and one trailer. Sigh.

I got all the food on my list, minus the yogurt. They were out of ALL yogurts, for some reason. I don't know if their freezer/fridge went out of what. The whole section was bare. Odd. I even found some Jet Dry window spray for $0.39 a bottle, some dishwasher tablets for $4.00 for 90, and some Spray and wash, a GIANT refill bottle plus regular size bottle for $3.50. GREAT deal.

The line was pretty long, but moved pretty fast. Which is good. At least they get extra checkers on pay day. Unlike Walmart, that still only has 2 or 3 open. I like that about the commissary. They take into account the busy times, and plan accordingly.

I got home, got the food unloaded, got the groceries put away, and went down to take a nap. I was feeling SO sleep. I laid carefully so it wouldn't mess up my hair or make up, and ended up sleeping for 30 minutes. I woke up to the sound ofCaptain America and Jacob in the kitchen. So much for my nap.

Captain America was home from 12:30 to 1:30pm, and after his lunch break, I went back to my room to play on my computer, or something. Not sure what I did. At 2pm, my Visiting Teachers showed up. I TOTALLY forgot that they were coming. The house was messy. I hate that.

At least it wasn't trashed. There were blankets in the living room, the couch pillows were all over, it needed swept, there were dishes laying around, but it wasn't TOO bad. Oh well. This is the real me, I guess. They didn't seem to mind :)

At 3pm, Andrea and I went to the school to pick up the kids. She needed to talk with a teacher, so I stayed with all the kids at the playground until she was done. It took a lot longer than she expected, and we were all ready to go by the time she came out :)

The school counselor had told us all that there wasn't busing available. Sigh. SO, we're gonna have to drive off post to drop off the kids, and who knows what we're gonna do for pick up. It's a MAD house out front. No parking, either. Plus, we also read in the paper that next month, Jeb Stuart gate (the one we go out to pick up the kids) is going to be close at 3:30pm. Yeah, there's not time to get the kids and be back home before that. We're gonna have to drive all the way around, outside of post, to a different gate, to get back inside. I KNOW that's more than 2 miles. You know, because of the "if you don't live farther away than 2 miles, we won't bus your kids" policy. What a mess.

I got home from school, and started on dinner. And got the kids to do their chores. I made vegetable and sausage soup. It smelled pretty good. The kids were fighting pretty bad, so I imposed a "no electronics" rule on the big kids. That shut them up real quick.

At 5pm, Andrea and I went to JoAnns fabrics, just to look around. I think she needed to get out of the house. I can totally understand that. I told the kids that if the house was clean, and if they were all happy and nice when I got home, that the band could be lifted.

I started to feel pretty sick while we were walking around. Chilled, and weak tummy, and generally nasty. I'd taken a migraine pill before I'd left, because my neck was feeling tight, and I just KNEW there was one coming.

I made it home just in time. I really felt bad. The kids seemed to be all fine, and I lifted the "no electronics" ban, got some hot cocoa, some hot herbal tea, my "Daybreak" mini series, and retreated to my room. Jake and Jim came in frequently to check on me, and it felt good to relax.

Captain America came home at 8:30pm, and put the kids to bed. It's not 9:30pm, I'm done designing, done blogging, and I'm gonna go lay down. Maybe with a LONG nights rest, I'll feel better. Pray for me :)

I know it's supposed to be a "rewind" saying today, but I'm not feeling too great right now. I just wanted to do something easy and get it done. I'm feeling kinda nauseous. Not good. Not good at all. Maybe if I just lay down and go to sleep, it'll be better.....

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

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Live Right

Fresh Fruit Friday again! And I've got some good stuff for ya this week, let me tell you - hehehe! 'First off, I've got this Valentines Bundle. All products from last year. I know you'll like it - LOL! AND, it's only $5.00. SO, if you missed out on my Valentines WordArts last year, you know what to do!

Click HERE to head on over to my store...

And I played a little game on Facebook this week in my Fan of Elegant WordArt by Bethany page. I offered free products in return for layouts. SO, lets see how good you guys did :) hehehe.

First off, I made this WordArt pack, but didn't play a game with it, so there's ZERO layouts for it - LOL!

This one had some REALLY pretty layouts for it - thanks girls!

Layout by Trina

Layout by Charmaine

Layout by Jen

See, wasn't that great! And remember, my products are on sale 20% off the first week (not the bundles). So hustle before the sale is over :)

Today was another crazy busy day. I woke up at 7am, but was SO tired I didn't wanna get out of bed. I gave myself 10 more minutes, then got up. But I was dragging. And I'd even gotten 8 hours again last night. Strangest thing.

I made the kids egg sandwiches, and drove them to school. I got Jake going with school, and got Jimmy dressed. At 9am, Andrea and I went to Target to look for some supplies for our den meeting that night, and she needed a mailer to send back a game. They didn't really have a lot at Target that we needed, so we came back home. She had a meeting at the school at 10:30, and she dropped me off at home at 10:15pm.

I worked on getting my computer stuff from my old laptop to m EHD for about 30 minutes, then Jake and Jim and I headed out to the store. Jake has lost 10 lbs, and needed new smaller pants. He was SO pleased with himself, as he should be ;)

First, we went to Fallas. Because they have WONDERFUL sales and great prices. He found a pair of jeans for $5, one for $7, and one for $9.99. We walked all around that store looking, before we realized that there was NO trying on room. What's up with that? I can't buy new smaller pants for my child without trying them on him. Sigh.

SO, we put the pants back, and went to Goodwill. They had only one pair of pants Jakes size. BUT, I let him try them on, and they fit perfectly. He was SO happy with them. But I think that $6.00 for someone elses old jeans is WAY too expensive. I wish that Thrift Stores would charge less. Oh well.

We came home, got lunch, and hung out for a bit. I worked some more on getting my computer in order, and got most of it transferred over. Finally, it was done, and I deleted all my files from my laptop. Dang, that was hard. I know it's backed up, but dang..... I really hope nothing happens to my EHD. Maybe I need an EHD for my EHD - LOL!

Captain America came home at around 1pm or 1:30pm, and said that he needed to get the trailer to go back to work and save some wood that they were throwing away. Tearing down a few cabinets or something. He was REALLY excited about it - hehehe. I kinda helped unload the trailer so he could pull it out of the garage, then lost interest and went back to my laptops - sorry honey.

At 3pm, I went to pick up the kids. In Captain Americas car. Because he had my truck. I got Eme and Tom and Joe, and brought them back home. Andrea followed me home, and we took pics of Joe and Ben in their Tiger Cub uniforms. We're having our Blue and Gold Banquet (Birthday of Scouting Celebration) in February, and we were making Placemats at scouts that evening. And were asked to bring things to decorate the placemats. So, we took some photos.

They were SO cute, and after I got done with Photoshop, they looked pretty good. I designed a WordArt or two for our pack, and got some badges and logos and such for printing. I sent it all to Walgreens, and Andrea and I went at around 4:30 to pick it up.

First, we went to Walmart to get the supplies for the placemats. The den leader gave us a list of stuff that we needed, and we got a few things. She got the craft sticks, and I got the waxed paper. I got some contact paper, but I'm keeping that one at home. It was kinda expensive.

I got a few things for Captain America that he needed, and we both bought a take and bake Pizza for the kids for dinner. Because we were running late.

We went to WAlgreens, and got the photos, then headed home. On our way, we drove by the road where the kids' school is. It's a really wide one lane each direction road. Well, this chickie decided that Andrea is going too slow (which she wasn't), and tries to pass her on the right. OMGosh, Andrea wasn't going to have anything to do with that, so starts yelling "You will NOT pass me", and slams on the gas pedal. We start racing the woman, all the while she's yelling "You will NOT pass me". We race to the stop sign, slam on the brakes, and the woman behind us gets back in line. Dang, Andrea - hehehe. Road rage much - ROFL! So, it was our theme saying for the night. "You will NOT pass me!". Scream it some time you're feeling especially moody. I think it'll help :)

We get home, and we've decided that we need a girls night out. So I start texting everyone I know, asking them to come with us. We're gonna go to Texas Roadhouse on the West side after everyone is home for the night, and asleep-ish.

I was a little distracted texting, so I was a bit late for Scouts, but Joe and I did go. We didn't work on our placemats, but we turned in the stuff for it. The boys had a good time at the den meeting, though. Andrea and I texted our friends, and had a good ole time also :)

Back home, and I got the kids ready for bed, the house a bit organized, and then it was time to go. I started picking up my friends. I was the driver, even though my truck is older than dirt, and COLD. Plus, it was almost snowing, so it was really cold - hehehe. Thanks, Laurie, for letting me use your extra gloves :)

I picked up my neighbor Lee first, then Laurie, then Andrea, and off we headed. It's a 15-20 minute drive over to the West side. Jessie met us there, and we had SO much fun. We were laughing and joking and eating and having a grand ole time. No alcohol, but we were the loudest bunch in the place - hehehe. 5 moms, out for the night. Yeah, that's dangerous :)

We headed home a good 15 minutes after the place had already closed, and it was snowing. Lightly, but it was snow. Merry Christmas again, I guess :) Jimmy keeps asking me when 2nd Christmas is. Maybe he knew something I didn't all along - LOL!

We dropped Jessie off first, then headed back on post. Next, we dropped off Laurie, then went to Andreas house to drop her off. We must have sat in the car an chatted for almost 40 minutes outside of Andreas house. Girl chat is SO good :) Next, Leigh and I headed home. We share a driveway, so it's really easy :)

Here it is, 1:25pm, and I'm ready for bed. I'm tired, and need some sleep. I wonder if there's time for a nap tomorrow? Hmmmm.....

This WordArt request is from my Facebook fan, Hannah. The other day, I posted saying that I needed a saying/quote, and she was kind enough to supply me with one :) Thanks, hon!

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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Precious LIttle One

So, it was an off day for me today. Nothing terribly bad happened, I just felt a bit off for most of it. But I'm better now. Which is good :)

I woke up after 8 hours of sleep, and felt like I'd had 4. Seriously. I'm not quite sure what that was all about. I helped kids get ready, and drove them on up to school. We were even on time :)

I came back home, and designed for a bit, and then Jimmy and I folded laundry. Well, I folded, he watched a movie with me. A scary movie. He really didn't stick around for long, because he thought it was too scary. 1408. It was kinda scary towards the end. Jake took a break and watched part of it with me too.

I got about 6 loads of laundry folded, but not put away. Most of it was Jim/Joe's laundry. I think they just pull out clean clothes and put it in the dirty pile. Or that's how it feels, at least. Dang, those two go through a TON of clothes.

We had lunch, Captain America came home, and we all hung out for a while. I had a friend, Darcy, send me a link to this website that sees how well you know the US map. We spent almost all of lunch on it - ROFL! Captain America wouldn't stop until he got 100%. If you wanna play, the link is HERE. It was all about dragging and dropping the states into a blank map. I knew the general area they went, but sometimes was off by 100-200 miles. Oops. Yeah, you don't want me as your navigator - hehehe.

I got a few WordArt packs designed, but not much. I was just feeling blah. Not happy and bubbly and excited like I normally am. Sometimes I get bummed. I guess we all do, right? Even if nothing is going bad. Know what I mean? Anyway, I dragged myself out of my bedroom, and headed up to school to get the kids at 3pm.

I took Jimmy with me, so that he could play at the playground with the kids while Tom was in extra PE. Yeah, he was kinda rowdy. Maybe that's why I usually leave him at home - hehehe. I think he had fun, though.

I got home, and worked on Cub Scouts stuff for a while. Tonight was the Pack Meeting, and I had a few things to print off. I had the kids do their chores, and eventually made them Tuna Sandwiches for dinner. Yeah, it was a sandwich night - LOL! I'm sure you all have those too :)

I was starting to get a headache, so I decided that I would leave Jake at home with the little ones, and let him skip Scouts, and take Tom with me and go to the Pack Meeting. That way, I wouldn't have to crowd control. And Eme and Jake could help Joe with his homework and they'd get to bed on time.

Well, I was giving Jake directions right before we left the house, and he started whining about how he didn't want to watch the kids because he wanted to play on the Wii. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I lost it. GET IN THE TRUCK, EVERYONE! I yelled. Yup. Yelled. All control was gone. He tired to say that he'd do it, but I wouldn't hear it. I made everyone load up, and off we went.

It was SILENT all the way to Scouts. I was still fuming when we got there. Mostly because my head hurt so bad. I'd taken a pill, but it takes a good hour to kick in, and it hadn't yet. We did our gathering activity (paper airplanes), and people slowly started to trickle in. About 1/2 way through the meeting, my head felt better. Andrea and I stood around chatting with people until our older kids got done with their meetings, and I was feeling happy and normal again :) I wonder what that was all about - hehehe.

My kids seemed much happier on the way home, when I was happier. I hate it when I'm the mean mom. She's not a very nice lady :)

Captain America was home when we got home at 8:45pm, and put the kids to bed for me. He helped Joe with his book, and I noticed that MY NEW LAPTOP was here! Captain America had found it when he got home from work. It must have came between 7 and 8pm.

I spent the next few hours opening it and installing all my programs and such on it. It's still not completely ready, but it's up and somewhat running. I have photoshop, and all my fonts. That'll get me pretty far :) I'll spend some time tomorrow transferring files from the old laptop to the new one.

I think I'm gonna like this one. It feels sturdy. I liked that about my old one. This new one, the keyboard is further up on the part where you put your hands than on my old one. And the number pad on the side, the 0 is in a different place than I'm used to. I'm gonna have to get used to that. And the volume and mute are in a different place. And I need to adjust the sensitivity on the touch pad. And the selector buttons are a bit stiff. But really, if those are my only complaints, that's not too bad. Those are just "comfort" stuff, and I can get used to those all.

It seems to run fast, and once I figure out how to remove the bloatware, it should be good to go :) You know how to do that, Fan? hehehehe.

It's almost 11pm, and I'm gonna tie this up real fast, and try and watch something online. You know, because it's a new computer, and I wanna see how it'll do. Test drive it, if you will :) LOL!

I was working on a few WordArt packs for the beginning of February, and thought I'd go ahead and make you one too. But baby themed, instead of Love themed, like I was working on :)

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

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You Are My LIfe

*yawn*. Um, yeah, that was the theme of my day today - hehehe. I was up at 7am, making food for the kids. What did I cook? Oh yeah, rice crispys with chopped bananas. Does that even count as cooking? LOL!

Joe had unfinished homework, so we sat down and worked on it before school. I got everyone ready, and had them to school relatively on time. Mostly on time. They weren't late. We'll just leave it at that :)

I came back home, and tried to go back to sleep. I really did. But I was constantly interrupted. By kids, and husband, and phone calls and texts and "oh yeah, I forgot to do this" and "oh yeah, I forgot to do that", and geez! I did lay quitely for about 20 minutes. But I don't think that that counts as a nap.

So, I finally admitted defeat, and hopped in the shower. And got all cute. Cause it's good to feel cute - hehehe.

At 10:15, I picked up Laurie and Rowan, and Jimmy and I and them headed to the post Library for Story Time. Apparently, the regular story time lady wasn't there, because this new lady was kinda dry. Poor thing was trying hard. But she wasn't entertaining any of the kids, I don't think. I'll give it another shot next week and see if it's any better. Our friend Jessi was there with her little girl Emma (Jimmy's age almost exactly) and baby, and our friend Adelina and her son were there, and my neighbor Mindy and her little girl and hubby were there too. Who knew that so many people I know go to story time? hehehe.

After story time, Jim and I went to Lauries house for play time and lunch. Laurie and I had a grilled chicken salad (YUMMY!), and Rowan and Jimmy had a grilled cheese sandwich. Jimmy LOVED it ;) Laurie and I had fun chatting and eating :)

After a while, Laurie's hubby called from Iraq, so Jimmy and I headed home. I had designing to do anyway, so off we went :) Jake was done with school, and he and Jimmy did their own thing for a while. I meant to design, but ended up watching Monday nights episode of Chuck on NBC.com. It was good :) I just LOVE Chuck :)

About that time, it was time to go and get the kids from school. I got there a few minutes early, and hung out with Andrea in her suburban. We went to get the Kindergartners and 1st graders, then hung out at the playground until Tom and Sam got done with extra PE.

We got home at 4pm, and I chatted with my neighbor for at least 30 minutes. Her hubby is in Iraq, and is coming home for a different position in the next few days. She was pretty excited :) Well, mixed feelings, actually. Anyone who's a military wife, I'm sure you understand. You get into a routine, you get into an independent mindset. Plus the extra money. That's good too. And it all goes away. And they're here, and they have to work long, crazy hours, and it's like they're gone. But they are home. And they are safe. So your head goes back and forth and back and forth. Such is the dilemma of the military wife :)

Anyway, I chatted with her for a bit, then came inside and made cookies with the kids. OK, so the cookies really were because I wanted them. I'm sucking at my diet. I did really good for about 5 days, then crapped out on it. Sigh. I need to refocus. I need to get back on it. I need to lose the 20-25 lbs that I gained over the holidays. I need to stay away from the cookies. And peanut butter sandwiches. And cereal. And whatever else happens to cross my path in the evenings. Sigh. Anyone wanna start the diet with me again? I need some motivation.

I designed my 5th WordArt pack, and got a Valentines WordArt bundle together (8 older wordart packs for $5), and started to load it in my store, and had to go to a Primary Presidency meeting. Sigh. Not what I needed to do on a Tuesday night. I had till 9 or 10pm to get my store loaded.

The kids were fighting and yelling and being rude to each other, so I REALLY didn't want to leave. I guess, though, I'd get blessings for going to a church meeting, so I left. I got there at 7pm. And was home by 8pm. Jake had put Jim and Joe to bed because they were being naughty. Eme and Tom and Jake were occupied doing their own things.

Joe came out at 8:30, and said that he needed to read me his story for school. So he did, and I got Eme set up with a book on cd (on the mp3 player), and the book, and sent her to bed. She liked the story, I think.

I finished loading my store, with about 10 minutes to spare, and played some games/give a ways with my Facebook Fans. It was pretty fun :) 8 people got my new WordArt bundle, before it even hit the stores :) See, it pays to be my fan - hehehe.

Captain America got home at 10pm (not 6 pm like he'd said), and I finished up my blogging/designing. I think I'm gonna lay in bed and listen to a few chapters of book on tape. Seems like a nice, relaxing thing to do. But first, I'm gonna go get some water. Because water is good for you. I need to drink more. Maybe if I drank more, I'd eat less. You think?

Week 81 already. Where does the time go??? This request is from Sevansfan. Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember, two things. First, you must be logged into the GALLERY in order to get the download. Second, it's only good for about a week. Third (I know, I said 2), leave some love if you like my work :)

Childhood

Hello 11pm. Where did you come from? It's late Monday night, and here I sit, blogging - hehehe. I was actually on the computer quite a bit today, but I guess it wasn't blogging - hehehe.

I was up at 7am this morning. I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm, and just laid there in my nice, warm bed relaxing. It was really quite nice. I got up with the alarm, and went to make pancakes for the kids.

No one was awake, so I went up and woke up Tom and Eme. Tom was a little flustered. He'd set his alarm for 6am, but didn't set it right, because it didn't go off. He hustled to get ready, though.

I cooked pancakes, and Eme and Tom trickled down. I had food all dished out before I went to wake up Joe. I snuck in the room, and extracted him carefully. He and Jimmy sleep in the same bed (2 twins pushed together, so it's a HUGE space), so it's sometimes hard to tell which is him - LOL!

I grabbed him, his backpack, and his shoes, and took him out to the couch. I noticed that his pointer finger was BLACK. Um, Joe? What's the deal? His lips were black-ish too. He finally told me that he and Jimmy had gotten into the individual serving waterbottle flavoring packets. Purple, none the less. That would explain the black staining. Sigh. Boys. What can I say?

I got him dressed, and fed him, and fed the rest of the kids, and just as we were walking out the door, Jimmy woke up. I sent him to the table for his pancakes, and left him with Jake while I took the other kids to school. And Captain America. He'd just walked in the door too.

This is the last week for dropping the kids off behind the school. Staring in Feb, it's gonna be closed. I'm hoping to hear about busing this week. Hoping.....

I got back home, and Andrea and I had made plans at school dropping off the kids to go grocery shopping. Not for me, but for her. I'd just gone on Friday. BUT, Captain America had asked that I get him some canned soup, so I could do that. And get some cash. To fill my envelopes from the end of the month. I just LOVE my envelopes :) hehehe.

I got my breakfast when I came back home, and got my computer, and spent some time looking for quotes. I found quite a few that I liked. I knew that I had to stop at 8:50am in order to get ready to go with Andrea at 9am. So I worked for a bit, and stopped and got ready. Well, as ready as you can get in 10 minutes - hehehe. Tomorrow is DEFINITELY a shower day ;)

She texted at 9:10, saying that she was running really late. I didn't mind. I just needed to be back home at noon for my Visiting Teachers to come and visit me. I decided to design some. I got a WordArt pack designed before she called to say that we was ready. A WordArt masks pack even. I liked it :)

Andrea and I and Luke and Jim set off to the commissary. I got my cash, and soup, and some body spray for Captain America, and some extra salsa, and some shampoo. Not too many things. Andrea got her groceries, and we were off. We decided that we didn't have enough time to get to the Dollar Tree and back home by noon, so we headed home. On the way, Chelsie, my Visiting Teacher, called, and said that because of sick kids, they wouldn't be coming until Thursday. Sweet! That just opened up the Dollar Tree option - hehehe.

On the way there, Ryan called Andrea. So Jimmy and I walked around Dollar Tree, and got a few things, and just mostly browsed. Andrea got what she needed, still talking with Ryan, and we met back at her Suburban. She finished talking with Ryan, and then we headed back home. I got home about 10 minutes after Captain America go home for lunch. So I got to hang with Captain America for a while. Which was nice.

After he left back to work, I designed few more WordArt packs. AND, I found a fun new thing to do with my new WordArt packs on my Facebook Fan page. I posted a preview of the New Pack, and told the girls that the first 3 people to leave me an email would get the pack free, if they'd make a layout with it and send it back before Thursday. It was SO much fun to see how fast people could leave a comment. AND, I've already got a few of the layouts back. SO pretty! You girls are AMAZING!

SO, if you wanna be my Facebook Fan, click HERE. And be on the lookout. I may make this a tradition!

Anyway, I went at 3pm to pick the kids up from school, and waited at the playground for Tom to get done with Extra PE. Joe and Eme and Ben and Luke and Andrea and I had fun hanging and chatting. Then we collected the older boys, and we headed for home.

I asked the kids if they wanted to go to the indoor pool, and of course it was a yes. They hurried and got ready, and we were out the door and to the pool by 4:15pm. They had a TON of fun playing. Jimmy and Joe are getting pretty daring. Jimmy doesn't mind going under (still in a life jacket), and Joe is just getting where he'll almost get his face wet - hehehe. Jake and Eme and Tom are great swimmers, for never having had lessons. Self taught.

I brought my laptop, and sat on the bleachers and designed. I got 3 WordArt packs designed while I watched the kids play. All the while listening to Muse. Their first albumn, Showbiz. I like it ;)

Joe was done first. He was looking a bit cold, and was starving. We forgot to grab a snack on the way out the door, so he was starving - hehehe. We loaded up, and headed home. People dried off, changed clothes, and started on their chores.

I cooked spaghetti and salad for dinner, and told them to finish up their chores. Joe and everyone was fighting. Then he and Jimmy were fist fighting, so finally, I just sent them both to bed. At 6:30pm. I think that between staying up late on the weekend, and playing hard at the pool, that they were just tired. They needed more sleep. So off to bed they went. But they're WEREN'T happy about it, let me tell you. But it sure made the rest of the kids shape up real quick. hehehe.

They finished their chores, then went about their various activities. Jake played on PC some, Eme and Tom played Wii some, then moved to the PC for while. I made them turn it all off at 8pm for quiet reading time in their rooms.

I watched an episode of chuck on nbc.com, then an episode of The Bachelor on abc.com. Then the real episode of the bachelor came on TV, and I watched part of it. Again, I get distracted real easy. I had my personal facebook page open, my Elegant WordArt by Bethany fanpage open, the Bachelor's 2nd half episode from last week on the computer playing with my headphones in one ear, and the real show on ABc on the tv. Yeah, I didn't do any of it really well, but I did a bit of all of it- LOL!

Captain America got home at around 9pm, we spent a bit of time together, my sister called, and we answered some army questions for her, and then I got to work on my work. And now it's 11:50pm. See, I'm slow, and I get distracted easily. hehehe. I know that I started this post at 11pm. And I know it doesn't take me that long to type it all up. Cause I type relatively fast. Distractable. That's me - hehehe.

So I designed this one last week for a WordArt pack, and never got around to making 4 others - LOL! SO, because I didn't feel like designing at 11pm tonight, I decided to let you all have it :) Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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Luv U 4ever

I think I need one more day during my weekend. hehehe. I'm not ready for it to end :( LOL!

Sunday dawned at 7:15am for me. Captain America was long gone to church already, so I got up, got the kids up, cooked pancakes, showered, got ready, dressed kids, organized all our Sunday stuff, and headed off to church. I like to get there 10-15 minutes early, so I can get the row I like - LOL! Do you have a specific row/chairs that you like to sit when you go to church? We like to sit right behind the boys who pass the sacrament. Jake's one of them. That way, when they go back to sit with their families, Jake can just stay where he is, and he's right next to us. So really, we take up 3 little rows. One for Jake, one for Tom, Eme, and Joe, and one for Jim and I and all my primary stuff. ROFL! Works for me.

Church was good. We had a relatively new family speak. Hillary is pretty cool. I like her :) The kids were mostly well behaved, so that was good too.

Andrea and her family were all sick today, so I was in scramble mode getting Sunbeam teachers (the 3 turning 4 year olds for the year). We split the class into 2 groups, and the new teacher wasn't there either, so I had to get 2 sunbeam subs. Sigh. And the 5 year old teacher wasn't there. Not a great start to the day - hehehe. BUT, we managed to get some volunteers to help us out, so it all worked out.

I was just on "crowd control" again, so it wasn't too rough of a Sunday. We were home by 12:45pm, and I got lunch for the kids, got them situated with a movie, and drove down to Andreas house to check on her. She looked pretty bad. I played with the Baby while she chatted with Ryan on the phone, then I chatted with her for a while. I made her eat some crackers, and cooked her some soup, then made her take some meds for her headache.

Captain America came about an hour later, and gave her a blessing. I washed some dishes for her, and by the time we left, she was looking a tad bit better. We told her to lay down for a nap, and went home. FEEL BETTER, friend! You're of no use to me sick - ROFL! (just kidding, i still love ya, Andrea!)

It was mostly a lazy day at home on Sunday. I made soup for dinner, did a load of dishes, we had Family Home Evening with all the kids, put everyone to bed, and I watched a few episodes of Chuck. Maybe not in that order, but it all got done - hehehe.

So I felt like making a WordArt mask tonight. So I did. hehehe. Hope you like it! Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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And these ADORABLE little girls are my nieces (my sister Madi's kids)

Holy Ghost

Is Saturday over already? I think I needed a few more hours to get done everything that I wanted to get done - hehehe.

I woke up at 7:30am, but promptly fell back sleep. I finally got up around 9:30 or 10am. It's simply Divine having kids that leave you alone to sleep in in the morning. Granted, it took MANY years to get to that point, but worth it, none the less :)

I got up and made sure that everyone ate, then took a shower. It felt WONDERFUL, since it had been, um, well, er, I can't actually remember how many days. WAY too many :) I shaved and washed and lotion-ed and am feeling MUCH more like a girl.

So I put on my make up, fix my hair, and put on some cute clothes, because, why not. I got all fixed up, might as well. I got out to the kitchen, and the kids were like, Mom, is it Sunday? Are we going somewhere? Dang! Can I not even look nice without a reason - hehehe. I guess not.

Emeline had an Achievement Day activity at 1pm, and Laurie was gonna give her a ride. She was coming by at 12:30 to pick her up. And she needed a small picture of herself to do one of the projects at the meeting. Which meant I had to go to Walgreens to pick up a photo of Eme. Which meant that I had to send it to Walgreens. Which meant that I had to get a photo ready in Photoshop to go. I hustled to get it all done.

We left Jake in charge, made sure that Eme was all ready, and Captain America and Jim and I headed out in the Saturn to Walgreens. We made it back with 3 minutes to spare. I ran in and got my sunglasses and phone, Laurie picked up Eme, and Captain America, Jim, and I were off again. We were going out for the afternoon. Everyone else was more than fine with staying home and playing games. hehehe. Silly boys.

First, we went out to lunch. Because I wanted to, and the boys were more than happy to oblige. We went to the Applebees close to our house, and DANG it was busy. I guess there was a conference across the street, and about 100 people were in line. Forget that craziness!

We drove to a different Applebees, which took FOREVER, because there was a wreck (3 cars) up ahead. BUT, we made it there. We got Jimmy a grilled cheese, fries, and chocolate milk. They had a 2 for $20 special, so Captain America and I got that. He got the Lime Fiesta Chicken thingy, with chicken and rice. He liked it. I got the 7oz steak with veggies and a salad. MMMmmmmm, I just LOVE steak. AND, they cooked it rare for me. Did you know that some places won't cook a steak rare? Med. rare is all they can do. Applebees just moved one notch higher in my book. It was DIVINE!

After lunch, we headed to the East site, and went to Hobby Lobby. It took FOREVER. Captain America wanted to price out some oil paint supplies for work, and DANG. I like craft stores and all, but I was getting SO bored. We were there for over an hour, I think......

Next, it was on to Home Depot. Captain America had a few things to get, and I wanted to improve our computer area. WAY too many computers on not enough desks. I knew that some of the computeres were having issues, but I couldn't figure out which cord when to which computer and screen and ahhhhh, it was a big mess.

After debating wood and supplies and such, we decided to just buy 2 more little folding tables like we already had. 4 footers and skinny. We got the couple of things from Home Depot, and headed off to Walmart.

We found the tables, and they were a bit more than I remembered. $30 a piece. Sigh. BUT, I had some money set aside for such things, and was only shy $10. SO, we got 2. They were better than the other 2 we had, too. Black, not soft top, and a bit more sturdy. That's a good thing in a house full of boys!

We got a few toiletry items for Captain America, new Sunday Shirts for the little boys, and a few other things. Vitamins. I usually don't give my kids vitamins, but thought it would be a good thing to include in my budget. Vitamins are good :)

We went back to the car, and headed home. It was SOOOO windy today. Seriously. I thought I waas gonna blow away - hehehe. Jimmy fell asleep in the car on the way home. We stopped briefly at Big Lots to look for a Laptop cooling fan, but they didn't have any left. I didn't want to spend $25 at Walmart for one. The one I got at Big Lots was only $12, but then again, it's broken. Maybe I should have got the one for $25 at Walmart. I'll go look at Newegg and see what they have....

So, we get home, unload the car, put Jim in his bed (it was almost 6pm), make dinner for the kids, and rearrange the dining room. Now, we have one big long row of computers. Imagine this. 4 tables each 4 feet long, end to end the length of the dining room. Each table has it's own computer. Sigh. Yes, we're nerds. BIG nerds. Computer geeky family - hehehe. We look like a freakin' computer lab. Oh well. It kinda makes me laugh when I walk in that room now.

So it's 9pm, and Captain America and I are gonna watch a movie at home. All the movies at the dollar theater are ones we've already seen, or rated R (which we don't watch). I'll save the $4 for something else :)

This poem is from Kathy Simkins. Isn't it wonderful! I thought it would be PERFECT for baptism card or layout! Thanks so much for sharing the poem with us, and letting me "WordArt" it! Wonderful :)

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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Footprints on our Hearts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And here's the new one. See, totally different. But both good :) I'm good with different - hehehe.

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

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Fresh Fruit Friday Jan 22nd, 2010

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

Layout by Jaimee

Layout by Grace

Raising A Human Being

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Roses Are Red

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Significant

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Young & In Love

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Dancing in the Rain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Child of the Divine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Heaven

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hamburger Buddy

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

Preparation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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