Love For A Lifetime

OK, first off, I have some pics to share! I just downloaded my pics from my camera, so be patient with me - hehehe. Some are from last week :) LOL! First, here's my new purse. Yeah, I'm not sure what that pink thing is supposed to be, but it's attached, so I'm assuming it's supposed to be on there.

Actually, I just went and did a little research on my purse (there's a number inside the purse to search for), and I found some pics of it. You're supposed to tie that fabric piece in a tighty little bow. Who knew? And it retails for around $250. Holy crap! I'd NEVER pay that much money for a purse!!! Walk around with it when it was given to me for free??? Heck, ya! LOL!

And, heres a pic of Jimmy in his new Sunday Suit. Katy tried to sell them at the garage sale, but no takers. We decided that they'd fit Joe/Jim, so she gave them to me :) I gave her daughter 2 of my pairs of pants that I was getting rid of, so it's all good - LOL! Isn't Jimmy darling! (He got the bigger of the 2 suits)

And Joe. What a handsome boy!

Backtracking, a little. Here's a few pics of our garage sale. We did it on the walking path that's between Adela and Andrea's house. Aren't we tricky! And NO, the chair is not for sale. I think everyone that came by asked us that. We need somewhere to sit, people!

And my lovely treasures!

OK, now here's a few pics from Monday. We went to the other sprinkler park. My kids liked it MUCH better than the one at Kelly Park. Biggs Park takes the cake, apparently. It's shapped liked a little lagoon, and has 2 slides, a mushroom waterfall, and some sit-on animals that squirt water. What could be better???

Like my self-made panaramic????

Eme on the duck

Jacob in the mushroom

Jimmy on the little slide (he tried 3 times to go down the big slide, with me standing at the bottom, but he chickend out every time - hehehe)

Joe down the little slide

Tom down the big slide

Eme down the big slide

SPLASH!!! (It's Tom)

Jimmy with the tiger

See how much fun we had!!!

OK, so on to yesterday. We'd planned on waking up, cleaning the house, and going to the pool at 11am. BUT, it started raining. It was still warm, but it was coming down pretty hard there for a while. I called the pool at 10:30am (opens at 11am), but no one answered. I told the kids that it was closed - hehehe. We spent the morning cleaning and re-arranging.

Captain America and I decided that he'd get the kids' old computer room (too big for a closet, but too small for a bedroom - just an odd little room, really - no outlets, no ventilation, but a light). You should have seen him yesterday. He was almost giddy. He's in LOVE with his Man Room. I feel bad that it isn't bigger, but he's loving it. And it has a door. So he can escape every once in a while :) That's important for men, I think.

I moved the computers to the dining room, moved the hutch to the living room (and put all the DVD's, alphabitized, inside it), moved the couches around a bit, angled the TV dresser (yep, we're too cheap to buy an entertainment center, so we use a MASSIVE white dresser) a bit, and put all the books back on the shelves. I also went through the books, and got rid of about a box worth. Some were duplicates, some were just dumb, and some I could find the same information online. But, we still have 4 bookcases full of books. It hardly dented it - hehehe.

At noon-ish, Captain America came home for lunch. Our power promptly went out. Sigh. What a pain in the butt. The rain had stopped by then, and I'm not sure why we lost power. 5 times in 3 months. Dang! It came back on after about an hour. Captain America called housing to tell them about the situation, and see what the heck was the problem. Don't know if it'll do any good or not. We'll see.

I cleaned up till 2:15pm, then scurried around crazily to get ready for the "Sentsy party" at 2:30pm. We walked over there (boy was it warm and humid), 'cause it was only a few blocks away. Kids need the exercise, you know. Heck, I need the exercise.

Laurie had made a TON of food. Motzarella sticks, sliced burritos, potatoes skins with bacon, chips, crackers, goldfish, spinach dip, a TON of fresh cherries, fruit juice. Yummy, it smelled good. BUT, I'm doing well on my diet. No cheats in over 3 weeks. I smelled the food, and while it smelled good, I was fine with water. I'd eaten my crackers and apple on the walk over, and was physically full. Actually, it wasn't really even that had to resist the food. I sat right next to it the whole time even. Yeah me!

The candle thingys smelled really good. It's a wax melting system, really. No flame. No SUPER heated wax that could burn little people. I don't know, I kinda like candles. And the fire and flame. Call me old fashioned, I guess. And the power cords were kinds out of place on the pretty warmers. I did like their night light plug in warmers, though. Those were really cool. But they were $15.00 each, and that didn't include wax. Dang! The big ones were $30 each. The wax was $5.00, I think. I could have afforded the Air freshener for the car. It was only $3.00.

But, we'd just sat down during lunch and did the budget for July, and I knew that I had $15.00 for the week to spend on myself, and I didn't really want to lose $3.00 for an air freshener. Know what I mean? I wanted to save it for something fun and exciting. LOL!

Speaking of that, I'm REALLY excited about the budgeting thing. You start off listing all the money you get for the month, and go down the list, declaring what you need per item, and subtracting from the total income. When you get to the last item, you should have $0. It forces you to budget your money. I had enough to pay Jacob for babysitting each week, give the kids each a $2.00 allowance, budget for groceries, gas, entertainment, eating out, well, everything, really. It's been the first time in a long time that I had enough money to budget. Always before, we'd declare the bills that had to be paid, and we'd have $200 left over for the month. That doesn't even start to touch groceries. So, it was a different, and TOTALLY welcome experience! We even got out cash, and filled our little envelopes. Once the cash is gone, we're done spending in that category. I'll let you know how it goes, though! I got out my $200 for groceries for the week. I'm grocery shopping today :)

So, the party went well. Adela, Katy, Laurie, a new girl from church, and the hostess, um, yeah, her. What's her name??? She's from South Carolina, and has a thick Southern accent. Heather! That's it. Heather was the hostess. I took an order book, just because I might save up my $$$ and get one here in a few months. I'd like to have one for my kitchen. They do smell fabulous.

We came home at 5:30pm, and got here a few minutes after Captain America did. Since the kids ate food at Laurie's house, I just gave them a bowl of cereal for dinner. I know, bad mom. I didn't care, though. I'd been a long, hard day of cleaning. Cereal was right up my alley.

After dinner, we all headed out to Wal-Mart. We needed more white paint, a personal fan for Captain America for his "Man Room", contact solution for me (I was TOTALLY out), refills for the scented plug-ins (MUCH cheaper than Sentsy). We looked for a printer cartridge, but they were out of the one that I needed. Nice, eh? Wal-Mart is always out of the stuff that I need. How rude!

Captain America had to leave to go to a meeting, the the kids and I wandered around for a tiny bit longer. On the way to the front, the bakery had a dozen donuts for $2.00. Great price, eh? There were 3 with nuts, 3 with a white, thick glaze, and 6 covered in sugar. The kids were SO excited for Breakfast in the morning. Breakfast of Champions, baby! Donuts! Good thing I don't always feed my kids like this! hehehe.

After Wal-Mart, we headed out for the Dollar Tree. We drove around for about 15 minutes before I admited to myself and the truck full of kids that I didn't know where the Dollar Tree on our side of town was. So, we hopped on Highway 54, and headed to the NorthEast side's Dollar Tree. I knew right where that one was. Sigh. I know it was further away, but it was probably less gas than wandering aimlessly - hehehe.

I let the kids each pick out a swim item. Jim got a spiderman floaty ring. Joe got a water squirter. Jake, Tom, and Eme got swim goggles. They were pretty excited. We're going to the pool on Thursday, so they'll get a chance to try them out. I also got some little notebooks to record my cash accountings, and a little bag /purse to keep the envelopes in. It's the PERFECT size. I also got 2 bucket hats for Jim and Joe.

Back home, kids to bed, orgainzed the money/envelopes, typed up my budget, and started designing/blogging. Oh yeah, and I printed out my grocery shopping list. But the ink ran out 1/2 way through, so I had to hand write in the other half. Big pain in the butt. Curses on you, Wal-Mart, for not having my ink. hehehehe.

Today, Jacob has his GT testing from 8:15am - 11:30am. Holy cow! I sure hope I don't have to stay the whole time. I'll send him with the phone, and he can call when he's done. That way, I can go grocery shop while he's in his test.

Then, at 11am (yeah, I"ll be a bit late), the girls and I are going to Kelly Park. It's the 1st sprinkler part I we went to. I heard that they're giving away free lunch on Wednesdays. I'm all about free. Really, I am. And luckily, so are my friends - hehehe. It's good to have friends who are like yourself :)

Also, it's Scouts night. Busy, busy, busy. And, I only have 2 WordArt packs designed, so I'll have to find time to do the other 3 in between all of my going and doings. Oh yeah, we're having a HUGE 4th of July sale at the Orchard! Keep your eyes peeled for more info!!!

This WordArt request is from Henriette. It's the song from Titanic :) Hope you like it, girl! Click HERE to go to Scraporchard's gallery to download the ZIP file, and leave some love if you like my work!

Perfect Pout

Hey girls! Another busy-ish day in the Harty household. We started off the day at a sprinkler park. Different than the last one. This one had a big lagoon area, with 2 little water slides, and a few “animals” that sprayed water, and a big mushroom fountain. It was pretty cool. The water was up to my mid calves, so it was perfect for the little ones. And the big ones had a good time too. I don’t think we could go there everyday and keep children entertained, but once every few weeks, definitely.

We were home by 12:30pm, and loaded up the truck with our garage sale items. Some guys were supposed to come by and buy it from us. I was at Adela’s house at 12:55pm, and stayed till 3:00pm visiting, but no guys ever came. We think it may have to do with the fact that it rained so hard yesterday. They may not have worked today. Either way, I now have a truck full of garage sale items, and no where for my kids to sit. We’ll have to unload the truck before we go to the big pool today. Sigh.

I decided to paint the last brown bookshelf yesterday too. I pulled all the books off of it, and drug it outside. I didn’t have much paint left, so I did the most important parts first. It’s a middle bookshelf, so the sides weren’t too important. It doesn’t look the best, but I attempted it, at least. That counts for something, right.

Then, I decided to move stuff around so that Captain America could have a “man “ space. Just some space for himself. He’s been feeling a bit displaced lately, like he has no place to retreat to. Men get like that, you know. So, I decided that if I moved the kids out of the “computer room”, I could make it Captain America’s area. It just meant moving around a lot of other things so that it would all fit.

I started to move the bookshelves, and didn’t realize that Captain America’s flag display case was still on top of the shelf. Yep, it came crashing down, glass breaking everywhere. It was the flag from his Grandfathers coffin. I felt HORRIBLE! I cleaned it up best I could, and knew that I’d be buying another flag display case. I could use the garage sale money.

So, I kept moving stuff around, and got 2 bookshelves moved, when he came home. He was SO upset about the flag, and upset that the house was trashed. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to apologize, and tell him what happened, but I could tell that he was upset. I got upset that he was upset, and it just escalated from there. I hate it when that happens.

All sorts of crap comes out when both parties are upset, not in line with the original argument. Have you noticed that too? I’m not sure why that happens either. We ended up in a huge argument about who should decorate the house. His point was that he DID get an art degree, and has a nack for design. My point was that it’s the woman’s domain, and I LIKE to decorate main living area my way. My own personal touch. Sigh. And he said, “Well, we could do it together”, but I know how that goes. It’s me helping him decorate it the way he wants to decorate it.

How do I tactfully tell him that I don’t want a man’s living room. Or a Civil War museum living room. Without hurting his feelings worse than I already have. Does your man help you decorate? Does he insist on giving you his input? Does he has “strange” items that he wants prominently displayed. Like portraits of Robert E. Lee? Don’t get me wrong, he was a GREAT American. I just don’t want his portrait hanging in my living room for all to see. Now I just sound snobby, don’t I. Dang. That’s not what I wanted.

OK, so now that you know that Captain America and I fight about stupid things…… moving on J Today, we’re going to the big pool with Adela (maybe, she has a dentist appointment), Katy, Laurie, maybe Kristie, and maybe a few other girls from church. Should be fun. Adela and Katy said that we should all go down the big slide. Sigh. It’s peer pressure all over again. Hehehe. I think I’ll be brave and do it! Maybe I’ll even give Jacob the camera and have him document it for me. As proof that I actually did it J

Then, on Wednesday, Jacob is getting GT tested, there’s a Sensi (candles or something like that) party at Laurie’s house, Thursday the pool again, and later that night, another Pampered Chef party at Adela’s house. Dang, my life is full - hehehe. It’s just less time that I have to clean J And that’s what’s important, right?

Well, here’s your freebee for today. It’s a request from Linda, and I thought the quote was HILARIOUS. It’s from fashion designer, Janie Schoenborn, and says, “Never underestimate the power of a perfect pout. I think it landed me a husband.” Well, we don’t need the landing a husband part, but the first part is adorable! I can just envision layouts with cute little pout-y faces, boys and girls.

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

4shared (the typo is now fixed - July 1st, 10:03 MST)

Story Time

Hey girls! Sorry about the loss of power thing. This is the 4th time we’ve lost power since being at Ft. Bliss, but definitely the longest we’ve gone without power. The other times, it was during the middle of a REALLY hot day. I’m guessing that the power grid wasn’t big enough to handle all the A/C’s. Look at me, theorizing. I have absolutely no idea why it went out then - ROFL!

Anyway, it started raining on the way to church yesterday, and then at about 6:00pm, it really cut lose. Thunder, lightening, and a TON of rain. Well, at least I didn’t have to go and water the neighbors garden! Ha! It was really coming down.

We’d had a nice relaxing day after church. Church? Well, it was good, but anything from relaxing J I had early morning meetings at 7:30am, then church at 9am. Captain America came with the kids, and got there during the opening song. I’d saved seats for everyone, though.

I got to take a nap in the afternoon, and actually slept for an hour or so. I have SUCH a hard time sleeping when it’s not bed time. Don’t get me wrong. I’m tired enough to sleep, but usually my mind won’t shut off. Know what I mean? I hate that - LOL!

We had dinner, and Captain America and the big boys had just connected to the “Battlefield” server. They played for a few minutes, when the power shut off.

Emeline and I were watching an episode of Doctor Who online. The kids lost our Season 4, last disk (I know!!!), so I had only seen those episodes once or twice. I was just starting episode 12 when the power went out. But, the good thing was that it was streaming video, and it had already loaded. So, Eme and I finished off ½ the episode of Doctor Who (the other 20 minutes was at a different site), and went to find candles.

We had about 30 candles, which we lit and clustered on the kitchen counter. We put one candle in each bathroom. The kids wanted one in their room, but that’s the last thing I needed. To have the house burn down - LOL! I know my kids, and know that they’re don’t to be trusted with fire. Or melted wax. Can you imagine the mess that would make on white carpet? No thanks!

When Captain America was young, his family would always gather to play Uno during a power outage. Most often, during a Tornado warning. He had fond memories of it, so he thought it could be a fun tradition in our house too. We brought a tray of candles into the living room to the coffee table, and all huddled around it.

Why didn’t we use the big table? Good story, I’ll tell you. So, when we first moved in, I arranged the big bookshelves where I wanted them, and just slapped the books up there. No order. Remember me telling you that Captain America wouldn’t like it - hehehe. Well, there were 2 painted white bookshelves, and 2 brown (unpainted) bookshelves. Captain America decided today that he wants to paint it.

Me? I could care less. I don’t even notice that it’s brown. But he didn’t like it. So, he takes it outside and starts to paint it. Huh, guess what? It’s not so fun to paint bookshelves. He loses interest after a while. I’m inside, watching episodes of Doctor Who, and he comes in and asks if I will paint the rest for him. What?

What’s he doing that’s so important that he can’t finish off his OWN project. He said that he had to study. OK, I can handle that. Then he adds, “And my brothers and I wanted to play Battlefield”. Nice. So, I’m finishing off his STUPID project so he can play on the computer. Nice.

But, I practiced some of the forgiveness/conflict thing that I’d been taught last week, and gave him the benefit of the doubt. I knew that he wasn’t out to get me. He wasn’t trying to dump stuff on me. He wasn’t approaching the project with that intent. Sigh. That’s what I kept telling myself. Over and over again. While biting my tongue. Hard. Now he owes me J hehehe.

Wow, I forgot what I was talking about. What a long tangent - hehehe. Big table. SO, we couldn’t use it because all of the books from the bookshelf were on it.

So, Uno was good. We played Harry Potter Uno, which was fun. Captain America always calls out the score at the end of the rounds, and he was using his Severes Snape voice - WAY too funny J

Joe got last place, Eme can in next (FULL of tears and drama, I might add), Captain America, or should I say Severes, came next, Tom and I tied for 2nd place, and Jacob (or light boy - as he had on a head lamp light, and would look at whoever’s turn it was to give them light - TOO cute!) came in first. Only one person asked to quit, crying, so I count that as a success!

The kids went to bed, and Captain America studied for his Army test. I worked on a freebee for today, and “pre-blogged” into a Word Document. I’ll copy and paste this once the power comes back on. Aren’t I tricky! LOL!

This WordArt freebee was a request from someone SO long ago, I can’t even remember who it was. I found it on a notepad, from back when I was giving away the Twilight freebees. Sorry, whoever it was who requested this one. I thought it turned out nicely, though!

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, you guys!

4shared

without power for the night

hey girls. im blogging from my husbands phone. while I can get online with mine, I can't post things. how rude. anyhoo, don't worry, when I wake up in the morning, i'll get you your freebee. never fear. loss of power may have won the battle, but never the war.

the lights went out at about 7pm, and after lighting every candle in the whole house (about 30), we all played a fun game of uno. only one kid ended up in tears. not too bad. hehehe. try it the next time you lose power. its a new harty tradition.

so, until tomorrow, have a good night, and think happy thoughts that our power will return.

Hope

Hey girls! I thought I'd take a minute, and go over one of the sections from my marriage conference that I went to. Maybe if I do it in little chunks, then I'll actually do it. Sometimes to sit down and do something big takes a lot of time, so it doesn't get done. We'll see :) I'm writing it in Green, so if you don't wanna read it, just skip the green parts :)

This is a little recap of the "Resolving Conflict" part. They said that conflict is common to all marriages. I know when we got married, Captain America thought that we'd never fight. Boy was he in for a rude awakening - LOL!

They say that the first step to resolving conflict is to understand the anatomy of anger. When we are hurt by our spouse, our natural tendency is to respond by either : Stuffing it (rejection, withdrawal) or Blowing it (anger, aggression, hostility). Why do we show anger? Well, we feel like our "rights" have been violated, our expectation have not been met, or we have been hurt. For some people, showing anger is easier to acknowledge than showing hurt. Anger is a God -given emotion. It in and of itself is not bad. It can be a motivation to resolve conflict. Anger can be a very dangerous weapon. It must be controlled. Uncontrolled anger can lead to: bitterness, resentment, depression, conflict with God, violence, or even murder. Unresolved conflict can multiply the intensity of future conflicts.

Resolving conflict requires loving confrontation. First, speak the truth with love. Second, approach the confrontation carefully (check your motivation, check your attitude, check the circumstances: timing, setting, etc), check to see if you're willing to accept confrontation as well as give it, approach it with prayer, and agree on the way you will discuss resolving conflicts. One thing that they stressed was that we shouldn't be "Out to get" our spouse, or prove them wrong. This is the person that we love most in the world. We should remember this when approaching the conflict.

Resolving conflict requires forgiveness. The offender needs to seek forgiveness, and the offended needs to grant forgiveness. They talked about what granting forgiveness isnt:

NOT repression or pretending that something did not happen or that it did not hurt
NOT conditional
NOT forgetting
NOT impossible

Granting forgiveness is:
An attitude of letting go of resentment and my right to get even
An action that must be expressed by word and deed
A choice to set your spouse free from a debt or an offense that has occurred against you
The beginning of the healing process that leads to oneness.

They gave an analogy that really stuck with me. Actually, last time I was mad a Captain America, I thought about this, and it helped me forgive him. Actually, I can't even remember why I was mad at him. "Harboring unforgiveness in your heart is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die". How true it is!

The process of reconciliation. Forgiveness begins the process by which trust can be rebuilt. The offending partner must take the initiative in rebuilding trust. The offended partner must resist the natural tendency to rehearse the hurt.

They gave 7 A's of Forgiveness:
A - address everyone involved
A - avoid if, but, and maybe statements (don't make excuses)
A - admit specifically (both attitudes and actions)
A - Apologize (express sorrow)
A - Accept the consequences
A - Alter your behavior
A - Ask for forgiveness.

They talked about bringing down the "Wall" between people, and they said that it went up brick by brick, so it should come down brick by brick.

OK, hopefully that was readable. Looking back over it, I'm note sure if it even makes sense. Sorry, girls. I tried :)

So we had our garage sale yesterday morning. I was up at 6am, loaded up my junk, and headed down the street to Andreas house. The other girls were already there. I was slow. Hehehe. My lack of sleep is catching up with me.

Boy was it HOT. The neighbor down the street was having a garage sale too, and we used her advertising to our advantage. Her sign said "7am till too hot" ROFL! I thought it was SO cute :) Anyway, we attracted all of her customers when they were done with her house. Worked for us.

Last week, I made $10. This week, I made $20. Not too bad. Plus, there were a few guys who said that they wanted to buy all of our stuff after we "closed up shop". Hes supposedly coming back Monday at 1pm to buy it all. Then, he takes it to Mexico to sell it. We'll see if he comes by. We want at least $100 for all of our junk combined. That's another $35 for me! Woohoo!

I was home at 1:30PM, and a little bit burnt. I put sunblock on my back, but my arm was hanging out from the umbrella, and got a little pink. It'll be a tan in a few days. I should just lather in sunscreen after I shower. Sigh.

I didn't really do much else for the day. I answered a few emails, played on Facebook (yeah, baby!), watered a garden for a friend who's on vacation, cooked food, watched Harpers Island, took a nap, and prepared for my Sunday lesson. Ok, so that kinda sounds like a lot. But it wasn't crazy busy, so it was nice.

I didn't want to search through my emails for a request, so I just did a quote that I found that I thought was PERFECT! I hope that you like it too :) Click on the link below to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Oh yeah. There was a typo on yesterday wordart, and while I thought I'd fixed it yesterday, apparently it didn't "stick". So, it's there now. All fixed and ready to download. Again. Sigh.

4shared

Runner

OK, I have pictures today!!! My mom will be doing the happy dance :) LOL!

Here's a pic of Tom at the Cub Scout pack meeting, last Wednesday night. They got these CUTE little neckerchief slides, in the shape of fly swatters. See, he's posing to strike - LOL! What a funny kid.

And here's the pool pics from Thursday. Here's Jimmy

And Joe - he's got a MASSIVE head, just like me - LOL!

Tom, being all seductive (not really, but doesn't that pic look like it - hehehe)

And Emeline. It's kind of a blurry pic, but it's the only close up I have of her.

Jimmy jumping in the baby pool

Tom cannon balling into the deep end

Swimmy Jimmy - hehehe

Joe in the big pool - way to go, Joe!

Jimmy and some kid playing - they had the MOST fun splashing each other - hehehe.

Joe tried to re-apply the sunscreen himself - ROFL! He didn't get burnt, AT ALL!

And the girls and I. Katy is on the left, I'm in the middle, and Laurie on the right. Why didn't anyone tell me that we were all wearing sunglasses. I'd have put mine on - LOL!

So, after my late night again, the kids woke me up at 8:15am. I'm thinking that 8:15am is just my wake up time. Such it is. I got ready, and met my friend Laurie at another mutual friends house. Kaylee is on vacation, and has a MASSIVE garden in her backyard. Laurie is babysitting it. But Laurie is going camping this weekend, so I'm babysitting the garden for Laurie, who's babysitting the garden for Kaylee. Clear as mud? Anyway, she taught me how to water the garden. Seriously, there's like 4 different hoses going on, and plants outside, inside, and in the front yard. I REALLY hope I don't kill anything. My thumb is the farthest from green it could possible be. I'd kill fake plants if it were possible :)

That was a 9am. I took 2 of her kids home with me to play with my kids. The kids seemed to enjoy it. And, since I felt like a bum because my house was messy, I cleaned most of the time they were here. I folded all the laundry (yeah, like 8 loads), helped Joe and Jim do their laundry, cleaned Joe and Jims room, directed the kids to put away their laundry, cleaned the living room, cleaned the kitchen, and did 2 loads of dishes. And believe it or not, the house is still messy. hehehe. Somedays, it doesn't matter how much you clean, it's still gonna be trashed.
We had Mac n Cheese, carrots with ranch, and cupcakes for lunch. Yes, nutritious, I know. But I had to get the cupcakes out of my house. My kids just LOVE Mac N Cheese, so they get it about once a week. I know it's not terribly good for them, but balance is the key, right?

Laurie came and picked up her kids at about 2. I'd got some designing done after lunch, and at 3ish, I came in and tried to take a nap. I think I slept for about 45 minutes. I really have a hard time sleeping durning the day. I'm willing to keep trying, but it's usually not too successful :)

I got 2 WordArt Collabs designed today (16 Wordarts total). Woohoo for me! I was proud of my self. I showered (miracle, I know), since Captain America and I were going on a date to the movies. He was home at 5:30pm, we had dinner, and left the house at 7:30pm. The post has a movie theater, with SUPER cheap prices. Kids under 5 free (score!), 5-12 is $1.25, and over 12 is $2.00. And they are newish movies. We saw Star Trek. OMGosh it was good! I loved it :)

Captain America had seen it at Benning, but he went with his buddies. It was fun to go and see it with him. Saturday there's having a free showing of Transformers 2, but I think I'm going somewhere with the girls. Besides, imagine how busy that'll be.

We got home at 10:30pm, and I hopped on the computer. My goal is to be done with blogging by midnight. It's only 11:16pm right now, so I'm on the right course ;) Woohoo for me!

And no, I haven't forgotten about the marriage seminar notes. They're in the kitchen, and I'm too lazy to walk from my bed to there. I know, that's not a good excuse, but it is an excuse. And it's the excuse I'm going with :)

The girls and I are doing the garage sale again today. We're starting at 7:00am, so I need to leave the house at 6:30am to get it set up. Hopefully we'll make some money for our girls night out. Wouldn't that be great!?!!

Oh yeah, I wanted to show you my layout from a Speed Scrap I did over at Ginger Scraps. I just LOVE speed scraps over there. The girls are SO much fun.

Kit by Flutter Expressions (Katherine on my CT!!!) - Just For Dad
And yeah, I need to NOT bend over in that suit, because I've got some cleavage going on, and I'm anti cleavage - LOL!

So, here's my WordArt for today. This request comes from Cheryl. Her hubby just ran his first marathon. GREAT job!! Once I get back down to my goal weight, I'm gonna start jogging again. Until then, these feet were made for walkin'. LOL!

Click on the link below to go to my account, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks! Oh yeah, I had a typo in this wordart, but went back and fixed it before this post was posted. But, unfortunately, it didn't stick. SO, I'm fixing it now. It's 11:34pm MST on Saturday, June 27th 2009. If you downloaded this before now, go and grab it again. Sorry, girls.

4shared

FONTS:
Runners - BIRTH OF A HERO

s

Success in Life

All right, let's start our Friday off right with some Fresh Fruit in the Orchard (hehehe, I'm SO not a salesman - LOL) Here's 4 new WordArt packs, just from me! I hear that Canada day is just around the corner, so here's a Wordart pack for your Canadians, just in time.

And some baby attitude, some "flashback" wordart, and even a Collab. I did the collab with "Faba Scrap Designs", and think her elements are just DIVINE!

Click HERE to go to my store, and don't forget, all Fresh Fruit is 20% off for the first week, making each WordArt pack only $2.00. Hurry!

This layout is by Trina - don't you just LOVE the 80's - hehehe :)

So, I know I've been promising you guys a re-cap of day 2 of the marriage seminar, but this is not that day. I was out late again. Bad, bad, I know.

I started my day off at 8:15am, when the kids woke me up. I dragged my tired butt out of bed (3 hours of sleep), got my breakfast, and tried to stay awake. We did a few things around the house, but honestly, the morning was a blur. I know that I took a shower and shaved, since we were going to the pool, and I didn't want to scary anyone. LOL!

At 10:45am, Jimmy, Tom and I made sandwiches and got lunch ready for the pool. I like to bring a little extra, to share with everyone. We made Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, but into quarters, chips and salsa, and sliced apples. Plus water. Plus the left over juice drink from Scouts last night. Plus the left over cookies from Scout too. All in all, it was a tasty lunch.

We got to the pool a little after 11am, and had the pool to ourselves. There were a few people there, but not many. I was wearing my new swimsuit that I got from Adela, and it was BEAUTIFUL. I just love it :)

Jacob had to stay home, because I didn't want him out in the sun while his burn is healing. And let me say, his face looks FABULOUS. All the scabs are gone, and only a pailer color skin is left. He'll be good to go next week, I'm sure.

The kids and I played in the big pool for quite a while. It actually felt warm. Katy and her kids showed up at about noon. I'd gotten out, and the kids ate some lunch, and when Katy got there, we all got back in again. It wasn't quite as warm the second time around. Why is that, I wonder?

We played for a while, and Katy even went down the big water slide, at the insistance of her 13 year old daughter. I woudln't let them talk me into going. I didn't want to go underwater, because I always get water stuck in my ears. Not my favorite thing :)

Laurie and her kids got there at about 1:30pm, and we chatted and visited for a little while. Katy and I were both EXHAUSED from staying up so late the night before, so I'm not sure that we were terribly great company for poor Laurie :)

We went home at about 3:00, and Laurie took Tom and Emeline with her. They were SO excited about playing over at the Timmons house. I was excited to come home with only 3 children and take a nap.

The kids watched a movie, and after starting a load of my own laundry, I took a nap. I slept from 3:30 to 4:15, got up, checked on the kids, then slept again till about 5:15pm. It felt good to get a nap. Andrea called and said that she needed to make cupcakes for one of her kids' camp party today, and that she didn't have frosting. I told her I'd make up some, and bring it down later. Jimmy and I had fun making the frosting, and he was a GREAT help at tasting it - hehehehe.

I cooked dinner for the kids, and cooked dinner for myself later. Captain America was home by 6:00pm, and we ended up going on a walk together after Laurie dropped the kids back off. I think that was around 8:30pm. We walked for about 28 minutes. Just in the neighborhood. I showed him where all of my friends lived, and he told me all about class.

At 9pm, I headed down to Andreas house. I helped her frost cupcakes. Adela was over with all her kids playing, too. We noticed something out the kitchen window, and it was Katy dancing in her kitchen, trying to get our attention. Funny girl! She came over and hung out too. They all left at 10:30pm, and Andrea wanted me to stay and watch a movie. It didn't take much to convince me to hang out. I'm a sucker for hanging out :)

We cleaned up a bit (well, she did, and I was moral support - LOL), then started a movie. It was called Ghost Town. We were each laying on a couch with a blanket, and Andrea was out in 3 minutes. I think I held out for about 15 minutes, and didn't catch much of the movie after that. I woke up for the last 5. Hehehe. Not to self. Don't start a movie when your beat tired, or at least not on a comfy couch with a thick blanket. hehehe.

I got up, put on my shoes, and made my way, slowly, to the door. We chatted for another hour or so, but I finally went home. 2:30am is much better than 4:15am. Andrea is going on Vacation to Idaho next week, so I had to get in all my girl time before she left. I should sleep well the week she's gone. Sleep well, but be bored :) See, Andrea, you'll be missed!

This WordArt request is from Lisa. I thought it was very nice, and just love, visually, how this WordArt turned out :) I can't wait to see your layouts for it! Click on the link below to go to my 4shared account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

4shared

Fonts:
Success - Felix Titling
In, Life - AL Verdirgis

Sparkling

Wow, girls! It's late. Or early. Or however you look at it :) I had a nice day yesterday, starting off VERY relaxing. Nothing much going on in the morning, lazy time. But my 10:30am, it got busy. I worked on my shopping list, and headed off to the grocery store with Jimmy and Joe. I had a VERY detailed list with the amounts, prices, and stuff that I needed to buy. I really was quite proud of my list.

I was able to get everything I needed from the commissary, except for kid yogurt. They were out of the tub that I usually buy for them. So, the kids and I headed off to Wal-Mart. But first, I stopped by the PX and picked up my migraine meds. Thank goodness! I went for 4 days without them ,and was so paranoid that I'd get one and not be prepared :)

I had a list of about 5 things to get from Wal-Mart, and I think I ended up with a bit more than that. I got the kids each a new towel (different color for each kid). I bought the kids each a laundry basket. See, I'm gonna try this new system that I got from one of my blog readers. Each kid gets a different day to do his/her laundry. Jake is Mon, Tom is Tue, Misc laundry is wednesday, Eme is Thurs, and Joe/Jim is Friday. I'll help them till they get the hang of it. But that should drastically reduce the amount of laundry that I have to do. They can gather it themselves, wash it, dry it, fold it, and put it away. That's my goal, anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.

So, back from Wal-Mart at about 12:30pm, and Captain America is home for lunch. Andrea and I had plans to go to the West Side mall at 1:10pm, so I hurry and get lunch, and lunch for the kids.

We head out, with me planning on not spending a dime. Well, we get to Old Navy, and they have these AWESOME swim tops for boys. Joe and Jim are so white, I'm always afraid that they'll burn. These are the perfect solution. I"ll take pics today at the pool for you all (translate = for you, Mom!).

Eme got 2 new paris of shorts, since she had NO pairs of shorts, only some cutoffs. Poor kid. I got a new shirt, but once I tried it on at home, I didn't like it. I'll have to return it. Anyway, we looked in some bath store, with lots of yummy smelling lotions and stuff. We went to Macy's, but I'm not really a department store girl. We also let the kids play in the kids place. I had brought Jimmy, and Andreas friend had brought her 2 kids.

When we headed home, Andreas friend had brought a TON of stuff for us to sell at the garage sale. She said to look through it, and keep whatever we wanted. She was donating the stuff to us, and we got to keep the proceeds anyway. Sweet!

I got a new purse (Coach). Who knew that people actually paid TONS of money for purses - LOL! I'll post a pic of it tomorrow. It's super cute. I also got some candle stick holders, a bunch of DVD's, some kid toys, and Eme got some shoes. It was pretty cool.

We got home at around 4:30pm, and I sat down to design. I got a few things done, then hustled to get dinner ready. I left for Scouts at 6:45pm, and Captain America stayed home with the little kids. I took Jake and Tom.

We had a quick pack meeting, and I had brought my laptop to design a bit more. I got one more WordArt pack designed, and it was time to go home. On the way home, Andrea texted me to say that she and Adela were hanging out at her house, and that I should come and join them.

So, I got the kids home, made sure that everyone was in bed, made sure that Captain America was taken care of, and at 9:00pm, I headed down the street to Andreas. Well, Adela, Andrea, Katy, and I had a TON of fun. We sat on the back patio and chatted for HOURS! Girl talk is SO nice :) Thanks, girls, for all the fun and the laughs! I'll never think of the word AMAZING the same way again :) hehehehe.

Well, here it is, 4:57am. Yep. I just got home. I can't believe it's SO late. Or realy. Given your perspective - hehehe I giving you guys a freebee of something that I'd previously designed, and held out to sell. I'm just too tired to do much else - hehehe.

Click on the link below to go to my 4shared account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work

4shared

Dirty Kid

Wow, it was a busy day yesterday. It's gonna be a short blog post today. I'll write more tomorrow. I had a FABULOUS last day of the marriage class. We learned about being ready for deployment (my hubby's not deploying any time soon, but the people who the class was for are), a class about conflict, and a class about sexual intimacy. All three were GREAT! I'll share some more tomorrow about these. We learned some really good stuff.

The kids had fun at the childcare place again. Some were disappointed that we weren't coming back today. hehehe. When we came home, Joe and Eme went with Laurie and her kids for a play date. I went home, and got the kids some left overs for dinner. I waited about an hour, and ate a late dinner. Captain America had already beat us home.

He and the big boys cleaned out the garage last night. We couldn't even walk through it last week. Sigh. One of these days, we'll get it cleaned :) I finished off my Twilight series (Breaking Dawn), and started WordArting for the day. I didn't even get done until 11:30pm. Hence the short post. I promise, though, tomorrow I'll share the info about the marriage conference.

Today we need to go grocery shopping. And I'm going mall shopping with Andrea and her friend. Well, I'm just going along for the ride, really. I'm not shopping. I'm saving my dollars for food. hehehe. Come to think of it, Andrea isn't shopping either. She saving her dollars for her family vacation next week. They're going to Idaho. I guess we'll just watch Andreas friend shop - ROFL! Living vicariously has its advantages for your pocketbook :)

This WordArt request is from Sheri. And you know what? It's SO true. My kids are never more happy than when they're dirty (and wet). Funny kids :) Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the zip file, and remember, you must be logged onto the gallery in order to get the download. Thanks!

Well, it appears that Scraporchard's freebee server is having issues. And no one in management is returning my emails....... So, until they decide to talk to me again (lol!), I'm gonna off site host this. Cause I like you guys THAT much :) So, unil the above link works, click on the link below to go to my account to download the ZIP file.

4shared

Give Thanks

First off, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all of the well-wishes for Jacob :) The kids is feeling MUCH better. He was excited when he came downstairs today and was able to smile. LOL! He's happy for small blessings. The medicine is working very well and fast. He's not so much of a zombie anymore. Thank goodnes.

As for the route to go with the Scouts. I just wanted to say that we LOVE the Boy Scouts of America program. My husband, before he joined the Army, was a professional with the Boy Scouts for 9 years. He knows the program inside and out. He knows the rules and procedures. We know that if our specific leaders had followed the rules, it would have been avoided. The Boy Scouts of America are not liable for this. They have rules in place to keep everyone safe. It was just the individual leaders that I had an issue with. They are the ones that choose not to follow the rules. Captain America looked it up online, and BSA policy says no more than 10 miles a day for water trips. Clearly, our troops 28 miles in one day was WELL over the limit.

I believe that the Boy Scouts of America is an inspired program. Run by humans. Who make mistakes. Hopefully they'll learn from their mistakes, and fix it in the future. If that doesn't happen, my boy will find another troop, which follows the rules, to participate in. Either way, Scouting will be a part of our life.

Boy Scouts is a WONDERFUL program, designed to help our boys grow into strong, responsible men. It is a great tool, which, if executed properly, will effectivly do its job.

Yesterday, I went to the first day of our Marriage class. It was pretty fun. I left a good 20 minutes early, to get there in plenty of time. Well, the interstate wasn't cooperating. There was a wreck ahead of me, and I ended up getting there 10 minutes late. 6 lanes of traffic were condensed down to 2. Not so good :)

But, it turned out that the first hour was just registration and meet and greet. So, I wasn't really late. In fact, I had about 30 minutes to kill. It was nice to drop the kids off that the child care place (on site), and sit and relax. That doesn't happen too often - LOL!

Only Laurie and I, of all my friends, ended up going. Everyone else had things come up. It was nice to sit and chat and learn with her.

We had some good presenters, and learned quite a bit. We learned about the different things that men and women want out of marriage. Women want "security" and men want "significance" (or to feel that they are important to someone). I can TOTALLY see that.

We learned about the 5 threats to a happy marriage:

• difficult adjustments (our cultures, different backgrounds, superficial motivations for getting married, differeing expectations)
• getting too caught up in the "worlds" idea of what marriage is supposed to be (performance based - only worth while if living up to your "standards")
• selfishness
• failure to work though trials and difficultiies
• extramarital affairs (activity affairs, materialism affairs, career affairs, family affairs, love affairs)

We learned that when we do these things, we're choosing the path that leads away from "oneness" and that leads to "lonlieness". And none of us go into marriage saying "I want to be lonely".

And then it started to get churchy. Don't get me wrong. I'm a very religious person. I have nothing against religion. I just don't like it when I hear things, being taught as truth, that I don't agree with. Most of it I agreed with, though.

They said that Satan is very real (which I agree with), and is doing everything he can to destroy the family. So, those with strong families are the ones he's gonna try the hardest to get. Makes sense. They talked about 3 things to do to realize that your spouse is a "gift from God". It's LEAVE, CLEAVE, and RECIEVE.

• Leave - leave the family of your origin. You need to be with your spouse, and function as your own unit
• Cleave - during tough times, you need to go to your spouse. They need to be your best friend. We need to need our spouse.
• Recieve - We need to recoginze our spouse as a gift from God. We have differences, but they're not there to hurt us, but to help us come closer to each other by working through them.

Then it came to the Adam and Eve thing. I just hate it when they're portrayed as "the bad guys". Especially Eve. She made a choice. She was given 2 sets of directions. One was to multiply and replinish the earth. One was to not eat of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Conflicting directions. You can't multiply and replinish without having a greater knowledge of things. Had they not eaten, they'd still be in the garden. She made a choice. She chose to have free agency. To have children. It was a noble choice. And she's smeared for it. Poor Eve.

I'm not big on the whole "original sin" thing. Adam and Eve transgressed the law, which is different than sin, in my book. They chose a path that would be hard, but that would allow all mankind an opportunity to come to earth and be tested. The presenters kept talking about how we were all born in sin. Not true. Babies are not full of sin. They are clean and precious and good. We are given the right to choose. Good or evil. But we are not inheriently sinners. We came from God, so of course we have good inside of us. Sigh. To me, it's not a hard concept to grasp.

Then, they came to the God is Jesus, and God is the Holy Ghost, and God is God. Multiple personalities? I believe that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are 3 distinct, separate personages. And it's not that I want to force everyone to believe what I believe. It's just that it was presented like fact in this class. And I knew that it wasn't true. It was all I could do to keep from raising my hand, and debating it with him. Which, if you know me, I'm NOT a debater. Hehehe. But, it would have been distracting from the overall flow of the marriage class. I understood the feel of what they were trying to tell us. Even if I felt they got a few of the details wrong.

What they were saying was that a marriage based on God will survive, if both persons are trying their hardest to follow him. I totally agree. That's spot on.

Wow, sorry about that. I kinda went off again. I just really wanted to say something in the class. I guess I'll suffice it to get my opinion out here. You'll listen to me rant, right? hehehe.

So, it was a good class. A bit preachy (and not totally correct in my opinion), but the overall message was a good one. Today, we're learing about Conflict, and Sexual Intimacy. Wow - we're learning how to fight and make up??? ROFL!! I'll give you a re-cap tomorrow too - hehehehe.

We got home at about 5:30pm, and I threw together a quick dinner for the kids, dinner for me, and was exhaused. I applaud all of you single working moms out there. It was hard for me, and I think that I'd easily get burnt out if that were my normal routine.

This WordArt request is from Catherine. Her church group is making signs with vinyl lettering, and wanted to know if I'd make up this WordArt for them. Well, I thought that it would be a great saying for everyone to have, so I went ahead and make it up. AND, as a bonus treat, I'm including the layered, rasterized PSD file for you all. That way, all you have to do is select the layer you wanna re-color (in the layers side bar), then click on the layer while holding control. That "marquees" it, or puts "marching ants" around it. Then, select the correct color in your color finder, and right click on the actual words themselves. Select "fill" from the drop down menu, and then select "foreground color". It should re-color that part for you.

I made the PNG have red, but if these above directions work for you, you should be able to re-color it any color. AND, if I explained it wrong, one of you ladies who know SO much more than me about scrapping can leave a comment with more, um, er, CLEAR directions - LOL!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the zip file, which includes both the layered, rasterized PSD files, and the black/red PNG file. Thanks!

4shared

Laundry Breeds

So did all of the men in your life have a fantastic Father's Day? I know some of you had Father's day last month, right? Can't remember where that was, though :) My memory is a bit swiss cheese-ie! Oh well. (Just to warn you, I'm about to go on a bit of a tirade - hehehe)

Church was busy, but good. We had the Young Men and some of their leaders talk in church yesterday. About how fabulous their float trip was. You know, the one that maimed my child. (OK, so my hubby just said that he wasn't really maimed, but you get the idea) Needless to say, I was listening intently to the stories, and walked away resolved to never let my child go on another overnight campout in this ward again, without his father.

At one point, one of the leaders said that on their 26 mile canoe trip, they came to a fork in the river, and didn't know which way to go. The prayed, and took the one that they thought was best. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? What kind of planning is that??? I'm all for saying a prayer when you're in a tight spot, and I know that Heavenly Father will help you, but that does NOT count as a map. You've gotta do some planning on your own ahead of time. If you're gonna be in charge of youth, you need to know what you're doing.

I looked over to Captain America at that point, and he didn't look so happy either. The poor man has NO poker face, whatsoever. All emotions play across his face as he's feeling them. hehehe. I could tell he wasn't happy either.

The men were all joking about getting sunburned, too, which annoyed me. Well, there's another word for it, but we'll go with "annoyed". How can you teach youth responsibility when you, as a leader, don't even protect yourself. One of the leaders legs was so burned it was purple. Not smart. What kind of example are you setting? He had to wear flip flops to church because his feet were so burned, he coudn't put on socks. And these are the people I intrusted my child with. My precious, first born. Um, yeah. Not gonna happen again.

I've had a few people talk about teaching the boys responsibility, but you know what. They're kids. They may be 11-17, but by law, that's still a child. First off, don't take children on a 26 mile in one day float trip. Break it up. That's TOO far for one day in the desert. 9 hours on a boat. Too long.

Second, make sure they're properly dressed before getting on the boat. They need to have long sleeves, and long pants. No sunburns if you're dressed that way. And a wide brimmed hat. They need one of those too. Don't let them on the boat without it.

Third, stop every hour to reapply sunscreen. And don't just tell them. Make them line up and watch them do it. Captain America said that in the army, they do that. And the guys there are GROWN men. If you don't trust grown men to do it properly without supervision, how can you expect youth to?

The longer the day went on, the more upset about it I got. After I blog about this, I'm gonna have to let it go, and forget about it. I don't want to expend any more negative energy thinking about it. It just gets me upset. My poor little boy. You know, if I was babysitting a child Jacob's age, and brought them back to his parent looking like he looked when the Scout leaders returned him, they'd probably call the cops on me. Did I tell you than when we took him to the ER, they said that it looked like a Chemical Burn. That's bad.

They're just lucky that nothing worse happened. I know that last year in Ohio, there was an overweight kid that went on a hike with the troop, and he died. The leaders didn't recognize the signs of heat exhaustion. He was out of shape, brand new in the Boys Scouts, probably drank the wrong fluids (sugar drinks), and just died. Unfortunately, it happens more often than you think.

The BSA (Boy Scouts of America) have rules to follow to keep you safe. Obviously, our leaders weren't following the rules. And that's why people got hurt. And yes, 2nd degree sunburns count as "hurt". It's like anything else in life. The rules are there to keep you safe. If you follow them, you'll be ok. If you don't, you're risking a lot. And I don't want my son to be what's risked.

OK, moving on....I feel better now that I got that off my chest :) We came home from church, made lunch, the kids made cards for their dad, we hung out for a while, watched a movie, took a nap, cleaned up a little, but mostly just relaxed. A nice lazy Sunday afternoon. Can't beat that :)

Here's a few pictures from Father's Day:

Captain America and the kids and his card (and no, Jake's not mad, he just can't move his face without it hurting)

Captain America and I - I was sad that it was a bit blury.

Captain America and his card - yummy chocolates!

This WordArt request is from Linda. Actually, she was just sending the idea on. She saw the saying somewhere, and thought it was funny. OMGosh! It's hysterical. I SO agree. My laundry breeds on its own like RABBITS! You'd think 27 people live in this house, not 7 - hehehe. Laundry has always, and will probably always, be my nemisis. Sigh.

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

4shared

Embarassing as it is, this is my laundry pile. I HATE folding laundry. I used to keep the clean pile in my room, but when Captain America got back from Georgia, he put an end to that. He decided that on top of the kithen table was better. That way, I'd remember it. Well, it just became a pain in the butt, because I was constantly moving it to and from the floor at each meal. So now, the permanant home for the unfolded clean laundry is near the hutch, in the corner. Theoretically, Jacob will deposit one basket there, and I'll find it, fold it, and give it to who it belongs to. Unfortunately, my laundy breeds. And fast. Just check out that pile - hehehe.

True Faith

OMGoodness, but yesterday was a long day! I started my day with a SCARY nightmare about dinosaurs. Not Barney dinosaurs. Not Land Before Time dinosaurs. Think Jurassic Park dinosaurs. In my dream, we'd found a way to bring dinosaurs back, and about 3 of them ended up near where we were. In my dream, my hubby wasn't too pleased about that. "Why did you bring back the MEAT eaters???" he wanted to know! So we all ran screaming for cover. It was my family and I and a few others. The T-Rexes (yep, THOSE scray ones) chased us, while we ducked for cover. We thought we were safe inside this low ceilinged room, but they managed to find us. The only shelter was a king sized bed. We all scrambled for it, but there wasn't room for everyone. I was under it, and I managed to grab one or two of my kids, but the others didn't fit. About that time, my alarm went off, and I woke up. Dang! Scary dream!

I woke up at 6:05am to get ready for the yard sale. I quickly got dressed, fixed my hair, put on some make-up, and gathered my stuff. I got a card table from the garage, and a folding table from Eme's room. My truck was already loaded up from the day before, thank goodness.

I got my breakfast real quick, and drove down the street to Andreas. We were sitting up the garage sale between Andrea and Adela's house, on the little bike path inbetween. It worked pretty good. We lined either side with our stuff. I must say, my junk was a different class of junk from everyone elses. A lower class, that is - hehehe. We must be more rough on stuff, or maybe we started off with lower quality to begin with.

We were all ready to go by 7:00am. The girls put up posters on stratigic streets, and we were all set. We sat around for about an hour before our first customers showed up. Oh yeah, did I say that it was my first garage sale???

We ended up selling quite a few things. From about 8:30-10:00, we had a slow, but steady flow of customers. Then, the well ran dry. No one else came. We just sat around in the sun, and chatted. Later, we found out that our signs had blown away - ROFL! No one was coming because no one knew about it - hehehe. Next week, when we try it again, we'll secure our signs a bit more :)

I ended up selling an old fan, 2 bathroom shelves, a tile cutter, and some clothes, for $10.50. That was more money than I came with :) And after next week, the stuff that doesn't sell is getting donated. Adela sold the most (she had a TON of SpongeBob room decoration thing and baby/girl/boy clothes), then Andrea (end table set), then me, then Katy, then Laurie. But we all sold something. And that's important :) We'll do better next week, though.

At about 1:00, we closed up shop. Since the flyers blew away, there was no point in continuing. We didn't really find out until then, though. The Scout people called to tell us that they were back in town, and to come and pick up Jacob. I told Captain America that I'd take the kids, and he could go and get him.

The kids and I hung out with Andrea, Katy, and Adela at Andrea's house for a while. I wasn't ready to go back home, and the kids seemed content to play. I didn't end up getting home until about 4:00pm. I was ready to get ready for my date.

Unfortunately, I found this when I got back home:


My poor little baby Jacob didn't put sunblock on his face when he went on the Canoe trip on Tuesday. 8 HOURS on the water. Not good! Captain America sent him with sunblock (45) and a bucket hat. Both of which would have worked. But no. The child didn't put any on. And the leaders didn't check to see if he had. The water reflected and BAKED my childs face. It looks even worse in real life.

I called the Tel-A-Nurse to find out what to do for it (what kind of salve to use), and after explaining the situation, the said that he needed to go to Urgent Care to get checked out. We suspected that he had 2nd degree burns all over his face. His lips, all around his lip, his cheeks, on his forehead, the top of his ears, part of his chin, around his eyes. And it was scabbed over, and super red and dry. Gross. He looked like he'd got in a fight.

So, Jacob and I loaded up in the truck, and headed for Urgent Care at Del Sol Medical Center. We had to park in a parking garage (I'm always afraid my HUGE Suburban is gonna get stuck - hehehe - I get that from my mom - DUCK!), and searched for 15 minutes to find the right spot, but finally did.

When the Doctor examined him, he said that it looked like a Chemical Burn. Dang! We waited in our little waiting room for over an hour, but they finally came and washed Jacobs face with saline to make sure it was VERY clean, then put some Antibacterial cream on it. She said that our biggest problem now was keeping it clean so it woudn't get infected.

Here's what he looked like after getting it cleaned and creamed:

You can't tell in this photo, but he looks like a zombie. With rotting flesh. Nasty! Poor, poor guy! I really hope that he's learned his lesson, though. SUNBLOCK!!! I wasn't there to do it for him. He's not always gonna have his mom there. He needs to learn and remember - SUNBLOCK!

We were out of there by 8pm, and home by 8:30pm. Unfortunately, it was too late to make the game. Captain America's friends had to go by themselves. Another time, I guess. But, it gave me time to work on my Primary (church) lesson (I'm teaching Sharing time all month long), and WordArt for today. The long I work on it, the more tired I get. I'm feeling my 6am wake up. I need sleep :) And the sun. That'll do it to ya, too!

So, if your kids wanna know why they have to wear sunblock, just click on the photo of Jacob to enlarge it, and show them what will happen if they don't wear sunblock. They'll "get beat up by the sun", as Jacob says. Not a pretty picture.

AND, before I sign off, I just wanted to wish the men in my life a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! My dad is wonderful! He taught me the value of hard work. He continues to make me laugh. He taught me how to drive. He was great company for the 6 months that my hubby was gone. I love you, Dad!!!

Paul (my father in law) is a great guy! He's always first to praise. He's loving and kind to me and my family. He's a great example.

And, last, but certainly not least, my hubby, Captain America. He's just fantastic. I love him more than I can say. He's WONDERFUL with our children, and truly loves them. He wants to see them succeed, and will do what it takes to help them learn and be happy. He gives of himself to his family, his church, and his country. He's my hero! Love you, babe!

Well, since I was SO busy yesterday, the freebee isn't a request, it's the first church saying that popped into my head. Hope you like it!

Click on the image 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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