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Monday, July 26, 2010

Beautiful Morning

Hi Friends :) Hope you Sunday was blessed. OK, so I don’t usually say blessed. But now that I think of it, it’s really a good way to describe it. I do hope that your day was blessed. And now that I say that word outloud in my head. Do you pronounce it “blest” or bless-ed? Mine is bless-ed. Just like I say it like stripe-ed, not “striped. I know, I’m a bid odd. I never claimed to be anything but…

Anyway, got up at 7:20am, and got in the shower and got ready for church. I wore a black skirt (the new one from Ross a few weeks ago) and an older button up pink shirt I’d bought when I lived with my mom when Captain America was in trainings. It only fits when I’m under 146 lbs or so. It was actually a bit loose, so I was excited :)

Anyway, it’s not something I’d typically wear. I had it tucked in, so it showed off my figure. Yeah, I usually stay away from that, but I figured I’d try it. And I thought it looked pretty good. Now, if I could just get rid of the loose skin….

I got the kids dressed and ready to go too. Captain America and I had helped them lay out their Sunday clothes yesterday, which helped SO much. No one running around the house looking for socks, or shoes, or ties, or such. They had it all. Yeah, it’s just like the song we sang when we were kids “Saturday is a special day, it’s the day we get ready for Sunday”. And yes it was :)

Captain America wasn’t feeling well, so he stayed home, and Maddie took her car with a few of my kids, and I took my truck with the remainder of my kids, and off we went. We got there with about 5 minutes to spare, which I like. I don’t like walking in late, you know. Church was good. The Blackman family spoke about conversion. I really enjoyed it. We are all converted to our beliefs, you know. Even if you’re born into your religion, there comes a time when you need to decide for yourself if it’s true or not.

They have 4 boys (2 teens and 2 8-11 yr olds) that spoke, and Kristie spoke. Walter had spoken the week before (could have been a few weeks ago, can’t remember). She said that she always gets SO nervous to speak, and I can totally relate. I get nervous too when I have to speak. I can talk all day on a blog, but put me in front of a group, and I clam right up…

Maddie’s youngest, Lily, didn’t want any part of Sacrament, so Maddie and the baby spent the whole hour outside. I kept Ella on my lap. So it was me and 6 kids. And really, they were reverent and well behaved. Thank goodness! Cause I don’t know how I would have dealt with 6 kids freaking out. Ha! Can you imagine. I don’t know how those mom’s do it who get 4-6 babies all at once. Hats off to you, mom’s of multiples.

I went down to primary, and helped Joe give his talk. It was about how Jesus was a great example, and that we should try to be like him. He told the story of the Good Samaritan, and how it means that we should help EVERYONE, not just those people who are our friends. Jesus helped all people, and we should too. I had found a short talk for him to give, but it was WAY too much. So we just paraphrased. And since there is no microphone, well, no one could hear anyway, so short and sweet was better in my book.

I joined Adult Sunday school, and we were studying in 1 Kings in the Old Testament. It was a good lesson. I like listening to everyone’s comments. Even if I don’t comment, I can still gain a lot from class. I know in the past, I thought Sunday School was boning. I’d avoid it. But, if a person approaches it in the right spirit, you really can learn a lot.

Maddie had stayed in Nursery with her girls, since they didn’t wanna stay this week by themselves, so I was on my own. After Sunday School, I headed off to Relief Society. We had a lesson from a Conference Talk back in April of this year. It was really good. It was about helping Youth. The talk was called “Our Duty to God: The Mission of Parents and Leaders to the Rising Generation”. I really enjoyed the lesson.

It really tied in with the conversion topics from Sacrament meeting. We need to help our youth know what they believe. We have to help them. To have personal relationships with them. We need to start when they are young. We need time with them. To really talk with them, not at them. To listen to them. It was very good and inspiring.

I loaded my kids up in the truck (almost a chili day in El Paso, I thought – hehehe), and I met with the Bishop real fast, then we all headed home. I helped the kids change out of their Sunday clothes and get them hung up in their closets, then made Bagel Sandwiches for them. Easiest lunch to make – hehehe. I had my standard cheese, crackers, and cucumbers, and ate my apple, and hung with Captain America for a while.

The kids watched a Barbie movie (yeah, my boys were MORTIFIED, but I definitely heard giggling coming from the living room, so it couldn’t have been that horrible…), and later, Captain Americaand I went and played cards in the backyard. We wanted to play Rummy, but it was WAY too windy, so we played WAR. I lost horribly. Hehehe. Good thing it was all about hanging out, and not winning, or I would have been disappointed – LOL.

We started on dinner at 4pm, and put chicken in the oven, and brown rice in the rice cooker. It was finished at 5:15pm, and I got it all dished up and served up for the kids. I made my dinner, and Captain America had a shake. I had Jake change back into his Sunday clothes, and he and I left at 5:40pm to head over to the Bishops house for a Fireside (a lesson/talk/spiritual thought for the 12-18 yr olds in someone home on Sunday night, once every few months…).

Here’s I am, it’s 6:29pm, and I’m sitting in the car blogging. Multitasking, really. I didn’t wanna drive here, turn around, go home, turn around, come back, all within an hour and a halfs time. So I figured that I could get my blogging done, and a freebie designed, and be that much further in my work. Wasn’t that good of me? I thought so :) hehe.

So I'm home now... it's 9:30pm, and I'm sitting outside watchingCaptain America work on his truck. We just put the kids to bed. They had a LATE evening, but everyone had fun watching Dad work on the truck, and helping mom make cookies. Lazy Sunday evenings are good... :)

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 (is being a butt, so you'll have to use box.net - sorry....)

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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Stand For Right

Morning :) Hope everyone is having a wonderful Sabbath Morning. So how was your Saturday?

I woke up at 7am, but laid in bed until 8 or 8:30 ish. I just really WANTED to sleep in, but my body wasn't cooperating - hehehe.

I finally got up, got dressed in jammies, and folded laundry. Like an hours worth of laundry. At least 8 loads. Yeah, it was all over the couch. Mom, you know that laundry that was on the table when you were here? Yeah, it was that laundry, plus all the new stuff. Sigh. BUT, it all got folded, and dispersed to it's owners, and put away. Yeah!

I had breakfast, and got the kids breakfast, and cleaned a little bit. Very little - hehehe. Captain America got up shortly after, and we hung for a bit. It was a relaxing morning. Didn't do much.

Maddie and her girls went to the park (or for a walk, or somewhere) right before lunch, then went to Burger King for lunch. We stayed home and had left over Lasagna noodles. hehehe. I didn't tell my kids where Maddie had gone - hehehe.

Here's me in my "I should really go take a shower" pose.


And me after my shower. Tracy, this pink shirt is for you. I still remember when you told me that I don't wear pink. Well, I do, thank you very much. hehehe. AND, just so you know, I have a pink shirt all picked out to wear to church tomorrow too. So there - hehehe.

At around 4pm, we gathered up the troops, and headed out for the evening. Maddie and Ella and Lily and Jake and Eme went in Maddie's car, and the rest and Captain America and I in my truck. We first drove over to the Goodwill on Montana. It's my favorite Goodwill in the area.

Tom needed new church clothes, and Jim needed new church shoes. Jake wanted a sunday blazer, and so did Captain America. I got Eme a pair of school sneakers, and I found these AWESOME black boots. I had brown, but now I have black too. sa-weet!

After Goodwill, we continued over to the loop, and went to the Transmountain Golden Corral. I'd called Golden Corral and Cici's pizza, and price compared. For all 10 of us to eat at CiCi's, it would have been $49 ish. For all 10 of us to eat at Golden Corral, it was $54. Yeah, no brainer. I'll gladly pay an extra $5 for Golden Corral. MUCH better food, in my opinion.

Here's Captain America and I. On our way to Golden Corral.

Jim and Tom at the restaurant. My kids LOVE Golden Corral

Captain America and I, both with food in our mouths. ha!
So after Dinner, Eme and Jake and I were gonna walk across the parking lot to Walmart to pick up their glasses and my contacts. But Eme informed me that it wasn't the right Walmart. Crap. That was TOTALLY not in the right direction for where we wanted to go next....

But we drove across town to the other Walmart, and Eme and Jake and I went inside and picked up their glasses. Here's Eme sporting her. Isn't she a cutie!



After Walmart, we drove around the mountain on I-10 to get to the Outlet Malls ALL the way on the other side of El Paso. Transmountain pass was closed, because of Thunder storms, so I-10 was the way to go :)

Here's Jake and Eme and I.
First stop, the bathrooms. hehehe. We only had 40 minutes before the mall closed, so we had to be fast. Captain America and the boys went to a watch store (Jake wanted on, and had money), and the girls and Maddie and I headed to the Jewelry Box.

Ella and Eme each got to pick someone out. I got a few new rings and bracelets. I'm so glad that Maddie introduced me to BIG rings. hehehe. I like them, you know :) Now I have big earrings AND big rings :)

After the Jewelry Box, we went across the way to the Disney store, and the boys met up with us. Captain America had got a new watch, and had given his old one to Tom, who was estatic. Jake bought a new one, and was pleased and punch himself. They were all on sale for $13 each. Not too bad for a Timex watch.

It was soon 9pm, and we were kicked out of the Disney Store - LOL! Right outside the store, there were those quarter ride machines. We let the kids play for a bit (without quarters, of course), and took some pictures.

Captain America and I
Joe on the horse
Me and Maddie. Yeah, I don't know why I'm ducking. I'm an inch taller than Maddie. ha!
Ella inside a ride
Jake and Tom on a ride. Yeah, I think they surpass the recommended weight. LOL
We stopped at the fountain and let the kids throw pennies in, and make wishes. I think they like it. And it's a VERY cheap entertainment. It cost me $0.14. hehehe.

As we were walking back to the truck, Maddie noticed one of the specialty stores. Rocky Mountain chocolate or something or another. She got all excited and said that she had a $10 coupon for it, from 3 years ago. They hadn't locked their doors yet, so he hurried over.

She came back with a Rocky Road Carmel Apple. Cool! Would I pay $8 for it? Um, yeah, no! But for free? SCORE!

We sat by the truck and the kids tore into it.



Even me!
OK, so I didn't eat it. I was just posing. And, I must say I was VERY proud of myself at dinner. Sure, it was a buffet, and I ate WAY more food than I should. BUT, everything I ate was on my menu plan. I had salad with spinach and lettuce, sauteed onions and green peppers. Steak. Brisket. Pot Roast. Asparagus. All that is on my original diet. I did add 3 strawberries, a small dish of cottage cheese, and some pineapple for dessert, but that's at least on Re-feed.

SO, I count it as a success. While I felt SUPER full when we left, I didn't have the sugar/carb overload that the rest of the family had - hehehe. My stomach just felt REALLY full. Hopefully this doesn't sabotage my diet. I keep telling myself that it wasn't a cheat. One of these days I'll blog about my food issues.....

Anyway, we headed back to post after that. I drove Maddie's car since she's unfamiliar with El Paso and doesn't like driving at night. No worries :)

We got home, put the kids to bed, I cleaned my room a bit, then sat down to blog and design. I'm hoping to be to bed before midnight. I'm sleepy and need some rest.

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!


Saturday, July 24, 2010

Brown Soda Alpha

It's that time again! New products in the store. Click HERE to go to and give them a look-see! 5 New WordArt Packs this week, all for 20% ($2.00 per pack), for at least a week :)








Grocery shopping days are the best, right? hehehe. Whatever ! I woke up at 7:15am, hopped up, and got ready for the store. I wish I were more enthusiastic about it, but hey, it was 7:15am. hehehe.

I got dressed, and went out and fed the masses. Yogurt with Fiber One cereal. Some LOVED it and some hated it. Can't please everyone, right? I straightened up the kitchen a bit, then printed off my shopping list. And crossed off what we already had and such.

By 8:30am, Maddie and I were ready for our shopping excursion. We headed to the commissary in the truck, got out the cash I needed, and we proceeded to shop for a week. It's amazing how much food it takes to feed this group. ha! All I can say is THANK HEAVENS for free lunch. That's 5 meals a week that I don't have to worry about...

Anyway, we swung by the Thrift store on the way home. The Ft. Bliss Thrift Shop is only open 3 days a week. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We caught it on an open day. hehehe.

Maddie found quite a few $0.25 girl clothes in the clearance section, and was shopping up a storm. She only brought a few clothes for her kids, so now they're gonna have a whole new summer wardrobe - ha!

I found a few things for my family too. I got Eme 2 new pairs of pants, a swim shirt and swim skirt, a fancy Sunday dress, Jake got a Hawaiian shirt, and an Authentic Army BDU top for playing in, and Tom got a Motorcycle shirt, Jim and Joe got a Black Swim shirt to share, I got a series of 6 kid books, and #4,6,7,8,9 and10 in Series of Unfortunate Events, some other paperback books (Including 2 copies of Harry Potter #1 - we have 4 #2's, 3 #3's, 2 #4's, 2 #5's, and one each of 6 and 7), a pair of fancy black sandal/dressy shoes for myself, 3 Boy Scout shirts (2 short sleeved, 1 long sleeved), all for under $20. Not too bad, right? I was pretty pleased with my finds.

Maddie and Eme's new dress

And here's Maddie and I with our Thrift Shop finds
We headed home, had the kids all help carry in the groceries, put everything away, Maddie and I ate lunch, and we headed to Free Lunch with the kids.

Remember that LARGE LOAD truck we got stuck behind last lunch? Well, we got stuck behind it this time too. I guess they're on the same schedule as us - LOL!

Here we are at Free Lunch. Today was spaghetti, carrots, honeydew, and milk. Jake was glad he stayed home, cause he HATES spaghetti. hehe.


When the kids were done with lunch, they found this birds house up on a tree next to our picnic table. See those yellow jackets on the outside? Yeah, they're fakies. But there's a TON of real ones inside. Not so cool. Apparently they're working to get it removed safely.


After lunch, we headed to Kelly Park to play in the sprinklers. The little girls absolutely LOVED the place. And so did Maddie. She didn't have to worry about Lily drowning. Just concrete, no large body of water. ha!

We saw Heidi and Bridgette (both from Church) there, and hung with them. Here's a pic of Heidi. Her baby is 1 month old. Brand new little girl. That makes 3 girls, 1 boy for her family.


And here's Bridgette. She's got a little girl and a little boy, similar ages to Maddie's kids.

Eme drinking from the sprinkler
Jimmy
Tom

Maddie and Lily. Lily had a BLAST getting soaking wet - hehehe
Me in the water
And I couldn't resist taking a pic of the water. I thought it looked pretty cool...
We came home, got the kids all changed and happy and some of them down for naps, and Maddie and I popped out to another store real fast. I was almost out of sunscreen, and with as many pool/sprinkler days as we have, you CANT be caught without sunscreen. hehehe.

We came back home, and started on dinner. I cooked marinated pork (Hawaiian) with left over mashed postatoes. People seemed to eat them well enough. They did their chores, and played outside in the back yard for a while, until it started to rain.

Captain America came home at around 6:30pm, and he and I left on our date. Jake was given instructions to have the kids sit on the couch and watch a group movie together, then all were to go to bed. The older ones could read in their room, but the little ones had to go to sleep. Maddie and her girls were gonna hang in the living room, undisturbed for the evening.

So as Captain America and I left for our date, this is the BEAUTIFUL rainbow I saw!


Pretty, isn't it! And here we are, driving to Applebees

We didn't have to wait too long to get seated, and our waiter was fairly quick with our food. I was a bit disappointed that we couldn't substitute a salad for the rice in the fajatias. That's REALLY what I wanted. BJ's lets you do it.....

Here's me at the restaurant
And Captain America. We ordered the Asian Crunch Salad. Yeah, I didn't really like it. It wasn't too good, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It was mostly on my diet, but I'd have rather eaten my grilled talipia and veggies back home, honestly... But it was nice to be on a date with my hubby, I'll say that much :)
And us outside of the restaurant after finishing
After dinner, we headed to the movie theater by the mall, and watched Inception. OMHeavens, it was a good movie. Now, I watch a lot of movies, and it's hard to keep my rapt attention, but this one did the trick! I just can't say enough good things about this movie. LOVED every minute of it. OK, so I was a tad confused in the beginning, but I caught on pretty quick. I LOVED how there were so many "storylines" going on at the end. Totally had my attention.

Captain America and I came back home around 11:30pm, and here it is, 1:22am. My designing is done, and I'm getting ready to hit the hay. At least I can sleep in tomorrow. Cause it's Saturday. And I LOVE Saturdays - hehehe. So don't wake me up early, ok? You promise?

Got a special treat for you today! I made my wordart from yesterday into an alpha! And I'm giving it to you :) Now, there's 2 different options for the download. You can get it in 26 individual PNG files, or you can get 26 individual PNG files all in one PSD file, all on one page. So you just open it up, and drag and drop which letters you want. Whatever you choose :) Enjoy!

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