Beary Much

I'm SO glad that yesterday is over. And, I'm feeling much better today. I woke up with a HORRIBLE headache. Really, it was nasty. I didn't even drive my kids to school. I made them walk. It's only about a 5 minute walk, but I still felt bad. My head hurt so bad, I couldn't keep my eyes open, and I was puking every 20 minutes. What a way to start off the morning.

But, I made it through. I ate a few pieces of an orange so I could down some advil, set Jimmy up with the rest of the orange and some cartoon, puked a few times, then went back to bed for an hour. I was puking/sleeping/checking on Jimmy on and off till about noon. I ate a few saltine, and finally started feeling 1/2 way human again. My head still hurt, but at least I stopped puking.

I just laid and bed and watched some TV on my computer. I found if I laid still, I could watch tv and it didn't hurt my head (hehehehe). So, I watched the latest episodes of Lost, and then the first 4 episodes of The Bachelor. I just LOVE television. I know, it's not the best use of my time, and it's probably rotting my brain or something, but I just love it. Guilty pleasure, I guess. We all have one, eh?

By 2:30, I was starting to feel a bit better. Jimmy and I walked to pick up the big kids, and I swear, I almost didn't make it home. My head was pounding, and I needed to get out of the bright sun. When we got back home, I got the kids set up with activities and food, and came back upstairs to bed. Like I said, if I was lying in bed, I felt ok. But no sudden movements.

At 4:45, I went downstairs and quickly picked up the house. Since we don't have much here, it wasn't too hard. But, I got the dishes loaded in the dishwasher, swept the floor, and threw the toys in the kids' rooms. There was a girl in the ward (church congregation) who was bringing over dinner for us, and I didn't want her to think we lived in a pigpen - LOL!

It was SO nice to get dinner brought in. Sure, we don't have a fridge yet, and it makes cooking a little bit more tricky, but given the day I had, I was in no shape to cook. Thanks, Krista. You're AWESOME! I really appreciate it :)

She brought cornbread muffins, this super tasty chicken, rice, cheese, and cream cheesey dish, a salad, jello, and a HUGE chocolate chocolate cake. OMGosh! It was amazing. YUMMY. And, she let us borrow a HUGE folding table, big enough for us all to sit at to dinner. We were cramming around a dinky little card table, with 2 of us sitting on the floor previously. This was SO nice to all sit at the table and eat dinner.

After dinner, I was feeling MUCH better. My head no longer hurt, I just felt a little drained from the day. You know, lying in bed and watching TV can be such a DRAIN on a person - LOL!

I let the kids stay up and play video games till about 8:30/9:00, then put them to bed. I watched a few episodes of Life (NBC), designed this WordArt for you all, and am now gonna go to bed. While I'm not tired, my body is still recooperating for a painful day :) When we get a little bit more settled, I'm calling the Doctor and getting an appointment for some migrane medicine. I know if I had had some, it would have knocked out that headache much faster. I'm SO glad for drugs - hehehehe.

Oh yeah, and update on Captain America. He flew out to Columbus Ohio on Tuesday, and had to wait to rent the moving truck until the army money hit the bank. Now, I know us girls wouldn't have done it that way. I would have waited for the money to hit the bank, THEN flown out, but you know men. You can't tell 'em anything. Their way makes TOTAL sense to them at the time - hehehe. So, he hung out in Columbus until Thursday, when the money came in. He got the truck on Thursday, and loaded it all day Friday.

Apparently, we have more stuff than the biggest moving truck could hold, so Captain America loaded up what he could fit, and headed off to St. Louis. (He'll have to go back and get another smaller truck full of junk again sometime soon. Sigh.) His parents are now living there with Captain Americas younger brother and his wife. He's staying there for the night. Then, he'll be driving over the next several days till he gets home to El Paso. Hurry home, honey. We miss you here :)

This WordArt request comes from one of my CT, Diana. She is working on this ADORABLE layout, and wanted a "bear" wordart for it. Well, here ya go, girl! Hope you like it :) I just LOVE your layouts. You rock!

FONTS:
Beary - PumpinJF
All rest - Pussycat

Funny

Hi all! Another great day in Texas :) I just love the winter weather here. Sure, it's a little chilly, but hey, it's JANUARY!!! I'm not bundled up in my warmest jacket, freezing to death in ice and snow. No complaints from me - LOL!

I bought a few actions from Atomic Cupcake yesterday. I'd been drooling over a few of theirs for some time now. And, I finally spent a few designing dollars and got me some. I took this new wordart and did it up for ya in "pine". Isn't it fabulous! I'm not sure what you would do with it, but it's kinda neat, eh? Hehehehehe.

Storytime at the library was good. Well, chatting with the ladies afterwords was good. Apparently the library lady who does storytime is brand new. Um, she's got a lot to learn about dealing with 2 and 3 year olds. Her story choices would have been good for kindergartners or 1st graders, and she spoke much too softly. I SO wanted to jump up there and take over. But, I showed some self restraint, and smiled and was nice the whole time - hehehehe. Hopefully she'll catch on soon - ha!

A really nice lady from church, Cobi, brought us dinner tonight. It was spaghetti, french bread, a WONDERFUL salad, some gogurts, some microwave popcorn, a few bananas and a carton of strawberries. How did she know my kids so well? They LOVE bread, and strawberries, and the gogurts were a HUGE hit. Joe just ABSOLUTELY loves pasta. They were SO happy. And so was I. I didn't have to cook, and we had meat in our spaghetti. Can't really buy ground beef and expect it to keep in a cooler :) Thanks again, Cobi. You are AWESOME!!!

I'm hoping that my head feels a bit better today. I started getting a doozey of a headache last night. Geeze. I HATE headaches. Now that I have medical insurance, I really should go see a doctor, and get some better drugs for it - LMBO! 4 advil and 2 tylenol just aren't cutting it for me :) It only knocks the edge off. So, feel lucky that I like you all so much - hehehehe, this was designed for you with a headache.

Anyway, here's todays wordart - hope you like it! Click on the images below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and as always, leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
yeah, headache - just trying to get this done quick. I know one is Pupcat, and one is Loki Cola, and one is kevinandamanda.com or something like that

Special Godmother.....and MORE!!!

First off, I wanted to let you all know that yesterday, I FINALLY sat down and went through my Christmas Card emails, and emailed you all back. My final count was 43 Christmas cards! Thanks so much, you guys :) I feel loved !!! So, if you sent me a Christmas Card, and didn't get an email from me, something went horribly wrong - LMBO! Just shoot me an email, and let me now :)

We had our pinewood derby last night at Cub Scouts! Woohoo! Gotta love the Pinewood Derby. Too bad we got our cars Tuesday night - hehehehe. I just had Jake and Tom color the wood with markers, then I put clear contact paper over it (yeah, because there was some in the closet, and I didn't have time to paint them), pop in the wheels, add pennies until it weighed 5 oz, and voulla, Pinewood Derby car - ha!

They didn't win, but they didn't come in last either. And we put the least effort into our cars, so that isn't too bad. And yes, mom, I took pics on my cell phone (forgot the camera AGAIN!), and sent them to Captain America. He'll eventually email them to me, and I'll be able to put them on here. Eventually. You know, he's so busy back there in Ohio, waiting for our Army money to come in so he can rent the Truck - LMBO!

Tom colored his yellow, and called it a humvee. Ok, works for me. Jacob didn't really want to make one, since he's out of Cub Scouts and into Boy Scouts, but they were invited to participate, and he was given a car. I talked him into doing it by telling him he could decorate it to look like the RV on the movie RV. You know that one, with Robin Williams, where they go on vacation in the big RV. Well, they call it the "Rolling Turd". He colored it black, and wrote "The Rolling Turd" down each side and on the top. Yep, it was THAT cool - ha! What a great impression my kids made on all the new church people - LMBO!

Speaking of church people, I met a few of the girls at church, and they seem REALLY nice. One of them found out that our fridge wasn't here yet (yep, it's in storage in Ohio), and said that she'd bring us dinner tonight. What a sweetie. And another girl is gonna bring us dinner on Friday - SO sweet :) I had fun chatting with them, and was invited to the library today for storytime. Apparently, a lot of them meet there on Thursdays for storytime, and let the kids play. Woohoo! I'm all about that. But, that means another outing - mapquest, I might be giving google maps a chance - hehehe.

So, I'm a BAD promoter of my own stuff! Here's my new stuff from LAST WEEK - geesh! I'll never make any money this way -hehehehe.

Click HERE for Party WordArt Pack

Click HERE for invitation Wordart Pack

Click HERE for Baby Shower WordArt

Click HERE for Baby Shower Mega WordArt Pack

AND, here's a sneak peek at what's coming out on Friday. Woohoo!!!

Click HERE for Dreamer WordArt Pack (20% off first week)

Click HERE for Diet Attitude WordArt Pack (20% off first week)

Click HERE for Words Happy WordArt Pack (20% off first week)

Click HERE for Words Active WordArt Pack (20% off first week)

OK, so I got this request from Gina, for some WordArt for Godparents. Well, I designed this, and liked it SO much, that, well, you now me, I go a little overboard :) I made this one:

and these below too:
Abuela
Aunt
Brother
Child
Cousin
Daughter
Father
Godfather
Godmother
Gram
Gran
Grandad
Grandfather
Grandmother
Grandma
Grandpa
Granny
Husband
Mommy
Mother
Mum
Mummy
Nan
Nana
Oma
Papa
Son
Teacher
Uncle
Wife

I put them all into a zip file, and you can download them from my box.net account by clicking HERE :) And as always, if you like my work, leave some love in the comments :) Thanks!

FONTS:
Special - Perpetua Titling MT
Godmother - Luxury Royale JF

Winter's Butterfly

I dropped Captain America off at the airport yesterday morning. He's going back to Ohio to get our stuff. Woohoo!!!! Well, not that he's gone, but that HE'S GETTING OUR STUFF!!! Sitting in a folding chair all day long is not my idea of comfort - LMBO!

His flight left at 6:45 this morning, so he wanted to be there at 5:45am. We left the house as 5:15am, complete with my mapquest directions. All I have to say is,

Mapquest, you are DEAD TO ME!!!

No, I usually LOVE mapquest, but not yesterday. I was trying to get to the airport, and I ended up on post. Yeah, I asked the army guy at the gate, "I'm looking for the airport, am I in the wrong place?", and he looks at me like I'm some kind of freak, and said, "This is Fort Bliss". Duh! Stupid road work. It TOTALLY messed up the directions. But, he told me about 6 steps to correct mapquests mistakes, and sent us on our way. THANK GOODNESS Captain America was in the truck and paying attention. I'd have had NO idea how to get where we were supposed to go.

I dropped him off at the airport, and headed back home. Oh yeah, and got lost 3 TIMES! Curses on you, Mapquest! What are you doing to me! Trying to give me a nervous breakdown. Hehehehe. It woudln't have been so bad if it had been light. Did I mention I don't see so well in the dark? First, I was getting onto I-10, and went West instead of East. So I had to exit and try to get back on heading East.

OK, so I'm on I-10 East, and I have to take Hwy 56. Well, the exits say Ft. Bliss or Juarez. I didn't know which one to take, so, you guessed it, I passed them both. And had to turn around and try to find my way back. By this time, I've gotten ahold of Captain America, and found out that it's the Ft. Bliss one I want. Unfortunately, in all of my turning around and trying to get back on the interstate, I've been on the side streets so long, I've passed the exits AGAIN! I had to turn around again, but this time, I got it right. I was on Hwy 54, and knew my way home at this point. Woohoo!

But seriously, I was in tears, and didn't want to leave the house again until Captain America got back in a week. I was planning on settling in and not leaving. But then, I decided on a different course. If I were to give into my "fears", and just sit home, I'd be NUTS before Captain America came back. After I got the kids off to school, Jimmy and I piled into the truck, and headed off to Wal-Mart. And I did it! I didn't get lost at all. I felt really good about myself. AND, I got an antenna for my TV. We're not getting cable (I'm WAY too cheap), so I figured that investing in an antenna would be the way to go. Cable is 20 bucks a month, every month. This antenna was 30 bucks one time. AND, I get quite a few channels. ABC, CBS, PBS, NBC, FOX. All the main ones. Now, I just need to get my Digital TV converter. Sigh. One more thing to do :)

Then, I decided to head to the Thrift Store on Post. WITHOUT a map - really! I'd driven by it with Captain America the day before, and knew if (IF) I could make it onto post, I could find the thrift shop. Well, I did get a bit lost, but I didn't panic. I called Captain America at one point, and asked which street I should take to get onto post. He told me, and said to keep right on this one road, and it would take me right onto post. Well, as he was saying this, I was keeping left, and going in the TOTAL opposite directions. See, that's my problems, I don't now my left from my right - LMBO! But, I found it after a little detour! Woohoo for me :)

The thrift store had some good stuff, but it was a bit overpriced for my liking. If I'm gonna be buying someone elses old stuff, I want a REALLY good deal. My FAVORITE thrift store was the Unique Thrift Store in Joliet. It was FABULOUS. This one, not so much. I did get a pair of Jeans for me, Tom, and Eme, a nice shirt/vest/pants outfit for Joe/Jim, a fan for Jacobs room, and some hotwheels for Jimmy.

And I must say, when I headed for home, I didn't get lost at all! I was so proud of myself. I'd turned my bad morning into a positive afternoon - yeah for me! See girls, never let a bad experience keep you from doing something you want to do. And don't be afraid to fail. Just keep trying, and you'll eventually get it :)

What else did we do? Let's see. I walked to school to get the kids. I put Jimmy on his trike/bike, and attached a bungee cord to the handle bars, and pulled him to school. He thought that was the coolest thing ever :)

The kids had a lot less homework tonight than last. I think this school is a LOT more acedemic than our last school. But that's a good thing. A lot of work, but a good thing. So, we did homework, played with cars, played on the computer some, ate a late dinner, watched American Idol, and put the kids to bed. I got a chance to design a new WordArt pack for this Friday, and got to watch a little bit of TV. Woohoo for TV!!!

Click HERE to go to Scraporchard to download the ZIP file. Remember, you have to be signed into the gallery to get the WordArt, and it's only up for a week. And as always, leave some love if you like my work.

Precious Gift

Before I start this post, I just gotta say, THE H KEY ON MY COMPUTER FELL OFF!!!, and the K key is sticking. Not so fun. I'm gonna go check my warranty and see what they can do for me. Because I KNOW that shoudln't have happened :)

So today was a FABULOUS day, just like I hoped it would be :) I, um, er, *cough* could have had something to do with the fact that I started my period last night. Crazy PMS will get me every time - LMBO!

Captain America and I drove the kids to school this morning, and as we dropped them off in their classrooms, we got to meet their teachers. NICE people. And the classes seemed very friendly and welcoming. My kids were SO excited. Joe seemed a little apprehensive about going into the room, but quickly warmed up to it all. He's now an all day kindergartener, instead of 1/2 day. Hopefully it works out for him - hehhe.

Eme was SO excited she could hardly stand it. Tom's class was out and about when we dropped him off, so he just went with the office lady, and Jacob got a "boy" teacher. He was pretty excited about that. He also gets to be in Orchestra again. Back in 4th grade, he learned how to play the cello. He was pretty stoked about that.

After getting the kids to school, Captain America, Jim, and I headed into post. I'd never been there, and was pretty excited about seeing it :) Jimmy too. We first went to do some paperwork (ok, so that part was LESS than exciting), but after it was all done, we went to the ADA (Air Defense Artillery) museum. It was SO cool! Army vehicles and missles everywhere. We're definitely coming back with the big kids. They'd SO love it.

Here's some pics from Captain America's cell phone - my camera was left at home, again. sigh. one of these days I'll remember it - LOL! And yes, it was a bandana day. Some days are like that - LMBO!










After that, we went to lunch, then he had to be back with his, um, group (?), at 1pm. er, sorry, 1300 (hehehe), which lasted for 2 minutes, then we went to the Commisarry (first time!), which is the Army Grocery store (great prices, by the way), and to the PX. We looked around a little longer than we probably should have, and had to RUSH to get home in time to pick up the big kids.

But, we made it in decent time. They said that they had WONDERFUL days at school. The kids were SO nice and friendly. When we lived in Joliet Illinois (Chicago), our school was 70% hispanic. But those kids weren't really friendly to my kids. They only wanted to hang out with the other hispanic kids. But it wasn't the case here. Everyone seemed interested in making friends with them, and my kids were SO excited about it. Thats the way it should be :) My kids are DEFINITLY in the minority. I think our school here is about 95% hispanic. Eme was the only white kid in her class, and I think there was on other in Joe's. Hehehehe. It's good for them. Helps them know that we are all Heavenly Father's children, no matter our ethnicity. He loves us all, just the same :)

Anyway, they each came home with a school supply list. Great. I got to buy school supplies, not once, but TWICE this school year. sigh. So, we headed off to Wal-Mart. But first, we stopped by the school uniform store. They were having a sale, so the t-shirts were only $4 instead of $5. Not too bad. I was worrying that they'd be 10 a piece, and that would add up REAL fast. We spent almost $70 as it was. Everyone got 3 new shirt (well, they were out of Tom's size, so we had to order some for him). Yellow, black, and gray tee's with the school logo on it.

Wal-mart was LONG, but I managed to get near everything on the lists. They were out of pencil sharpeners, but had everything else. Woohoo!!! School shopping is done for the year. Again - LMBO! The kids were REALLY excited about their new supplies. Funny how they get so much joy over such seemingly small things.

Back home, ate dinner, did homework, bedtime routine. All in all, it was a great day. Busy, but fun. And I got to spend the whole day with my sweetheart. He flies out tomorrow to Columbus to move all of our stuff here. While I'm looking forward to having a TON of time on the computer, I'll miss him. Hurry back honey - I"ll miss you :)

Today's WordArt request is from Kristen. She wanted to use it on her invitations to her 4 month olds dedication. Hope you like it, girl! Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Precious - Champignon
G - Monotype Corsiva
ift - An Unfortunate Event DeWarped

Moments Themselves

Wow, what a day. Have you ever had "one of those days". Where it doesn't matter what you do, everything goes wrong. I hate those days :) Hubby and I got in an argument last night (he likes to call them "discussions", but I know what they are - LOL!). It's all worked out now, but geesh, I hate fighting. And it's always about STUPID things. Dumb little things that aren't even worth fighting about.

So, we weren't speaking when we woke up, and I ALMOST didn't go to church. Which if you know me, that's HUGE. I ALWAYS go to church. Kids have to be REALLY sick for me to stay home. I was just feeling bad. I realized later that I was feeling a bit lonely for my friends I'd left in Oregon. I had a REALLY fun group of girls that I hung out with there (and my BFF Maren!!!), and didn't like the idea of having to start all over again.

Church was nice, and I was really glad that I went. The kids were well behaved during Sacrament meeting, and were excited about meeting their teachers and their "new friends". A really nice lady named, um, I think it was Amy, introduced herself to me during Sunday School, and she even sat with us. She seemed pretty nice. She gave me her number, and said that she'd show me around town. Now, I just have to get my courage up and call her. You all know that I'm SUPER shy, and HATE making phone calls, right? HUGE phon-a-phobic. See, you didn't know that about me, did you - hehehehe.

Relief Society was nice. The lady doing the lesson passed out chocolate, which is always good - hehehe. I never quite understood that one, though. Serving in Primary (the childrens organization) for years, we were always told not to hand out food of any kind to the kids. And yet in Young Womens and Relief Society, they're getting treats and such ALL the time. Hmmmm, little bit of a double standard, wouldn't you say - I'm just saying.....

After church, Captain America was talking to someone in the chapel, and I gathered up all the kids. They were wild, and ready to go home. Jacobs teacher came up and said that she was glad that he was in her class, and that the boys were all WILD and making paper airplanes and being too crazy. Nice. Just what a mom wants to hear on the first day of Primary. We had a little chit chat on the way home, needless to say :)

Tom and Joe were fighting. Something about bumping heads, and then Joe karate kicking Tom in the leg - I don't know - I didn't get all the details. At that point, I hurriedly gathered all the kdis, and took them to the truck. I THOUGHT that Captain America would get the hint that I'd left, and come out too, but, you know men. They TOTALLY don't get hints. I'm sure he just thought that it was much quieter all of a sudden - geesh!

So, we sat in the truck for about 10 minutes and waited for him to finish his conversation and come on out. We had the "proper Sunday behavior" talk on the way home from church, and praised the ones that actually were following those rules :)

I don't think it was until about 4:00 that Captain America and I finally made up. I just HATE fighting. It's so draining. And such a waste of time. There's got to be a better way :) But, all's good now.

We managed to salvage the rest of the day. We all had dinner together, then gave the kids hair cuts. Captain America does SUCH a better job than I do - LOL! I'm not as picky on the outcome as he is - hehehehe.

The kids all got baths/showers, and went to bed at 8:30, all ready for their first day of school. And Captain America and I were able to spend a nice quite evening together.

You know, for as mad as he can make me, he can make me equally as happy. But everyone fights, right? It's not just me? You all get upset with your hubbys from time to time? Surely it's not just me :) But you know, even when I'm the maddest at him, I still wouldn't want anyone else. I think that boys are just had to deal with sometimes. Or maybe it's that they don't know how to deal with girls. Yeah, that's it. LMBO!

Sorry about my downer post today - hehehehe. I really am feeling much better, though. I bet that today will be a fantastic day!

Check out these WAY cool posters (ok, so maybe I'm thinking their a little more cool than maybe they actually are - LMBO!!) (oh yeah, Ann, that means Laughing My Butt Off) that I made for my friend Brooke. She's the Activities Chairperson for the Florence Ward (where I used to attend church), and LOVED the posters that I made for her for the Christmas Party, so asked if I would help out with the posters for the Valentine's Party. What a great idea for a dance! I SO wanna go - but I'm NOT making that drive again, even if your dance is gonna be WAY fun.




I liked the way that this one turned out. My first attempts wasn't so good - hehehe. It's funny how my WordArt evolves until I have it JUST right. But sometimes in the designing process, I just wanna scrap the whole thing. I'm glad I didn't this time. I like my finished product :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
Moments - akaDora
Themselves - Caesar

Quality Experiences

Happy Sunday!!! I'm SO excited to go to church, and meet all my new friends - LMBO!!! Hopefully it's a nice ward (congregation), and there's some girls that I can click with, and get an instant friend. I need a friend here - friends are good! I miss my friend, Maren - Maren, you guys wanna move to El Paso, right? Does El Paso have a Coast Guard station? No, no water? oh yeah. Dang!

We got some unpacking done yesterday. It's gonna be a long and slow process, I'm afraid :) But then, isn't it always - hehehehe. Don't you all wish you could move as often as me - hehehe

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

FONTS:
Quality - HelenaScript ES
Experiences - Engravers MT

There's No Place Like Home

We're HERE!!!!!!! We pulled into town at about 6pm on Thursday night. Hello Texas! Woohooo! So, I gotta tell you my story :) hehehe.

We stopped in Phoenix at some friends' house. They used to live in Florence when I was growing up, and moved away after I married and left Florence. Their oldest daughter is one year older than me, and their middle daughter (well, youngest daughter, their youngest child is a boy) is a grade behind me in school. They're GREAT people. Love the Harlines.

Anyway, my mom and Patti are SUPER great friends, and it was SO nice of her to offer to let us stay. We got to Phoenix at about 4 or 5 pm. They live in a REALLY nice gated community. You all remember what my trailer looks like, right? Not the typical vehicle found in a gated community - LMBO! We took the kids to the park, and let them get their wiggles out. It was DEFINITLY much needed.

Here's Jimmy playing in the sand.And all the kids on th play structure. Jacob is there, you just can't see him - believe me - hehehe. It was starting to get dark, but it was still warm. Gotta love Arizona :)

And here's Patti and Chris. Patti is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her! Dueling bloggers - hehehe. She's a big time blogger too - LOL!
So after the park, we went back to their house, and had dinner with them, and their daughter, Beth. She and her hubby Kyle live about 20 minutes away in town. They have 2 little girls, Paige and Gracie. SWEET little things. I'd never actually met them before, but felt like I knew them through Beth's blog. Funny how blogs are like that - hehehehe.

Here's Jimmy, playing with all the toys. He thought he'd died and went to heaven. At one point, he said "Mom, can we just stay here instead of going to Texas". Bless his little heart!

Emeline and Gracie - adorable!!!
We left the next morning at about 8:30, and headed to Walmart. You know, the Arizona Cardinals (football) are going to the Superbowl, and my hubby has been a Cardinals fan since before they moved to Arizona from St. Louis. He wanted me to stop by Wally World and buy him a ball cap. Sorry honey, all the Arizona fans beat you to it. They're all gone :( No Cardinals hat for you.

I think we were on the road again by 9am. It was about a 7 hour drive into El Paso. I was getting pretty tired of driving, and the kids were starting to get a little tired of riding. But then, wo could blame them.

I was SO glad when we finally made it to Texas. And I was THRILLED when El Paso was in sight. The mountains were BEAUTIFUL!!! But the city seemed to go on FOREVER. I just kept driving, and driving, and driving. Captain America had texted me directions (since apparently mapquest doesn't know where I live), and I was trying my best to follow them. I-10 seemed to go on FOREVER. I finally found my exit, and tried to get onto Tranmountain something or another. But, since my trailer was HUGE, and it was dusk, and people wanted to get home, NO ONE was letting me in. I had to get over 2 lanes to be in the right position, and people woudln't let me in.

I ended up getting piped in the WRONG direction. And what direction was that, might you ask? DIRECTLY up those mountains! And when I say up, I mean UP! My poor truck was tired, and woudln't go any faster than 25-30 mph. Up and up and up we went. I coudln't find anywhere to turn around. There were no side roads. Besides, it was a divided road, so it wasn't like I could have turned around and gotten back on the right road anyway.

I was starting to panic. My nerves were shot, and I was DONE with the move. I may have (yep, bad parenting coming out) told the kids that we were hopelessly lost, and gonna get stuck in the mountains, and that the mountain lions were gonna eat us. Oh yeah, and I was almost crying by this point. Sniffling. It got REAL quite in the truck. Poor kids, I think I scared them - hehehe.

Well, after what seemed like an ETERNITY, we found a place to make a u-turn. We headed back down the GIANT mountain. But, guess what happens when you weight 9000 lbs, and need to go down a GIANT mountain? Your breaks overheat. Yep. By the time we got to the bottom, I could smell them, and they weren't working all that well. I had to really PRESS hard to stop at the stop light. I was now on the right road, at least.

I pulled over into the Whataburger/Denny's parking lot (or something like that), parked the truck, turned it off, and called Captain America. COME GET ME, I sobbed into the phone. I was a mess. But in about 15 minutes he was there, leading me back to our new home. I was so overwhelmed and sad and happy and tired. But mostly relieved that the LONG trip was over, and that I was FINALLY done and HOME!!!

On Friday, we took the truck to get it weighed. Trailer and all. That's how the Army calculates how much money to pay you for your move. Based on weight. We were 9000 ish lbs, including the trailer and all our junk. We're pretty heavy - LOL!

I also got the kids registered for school. It seems like a really nice school. There's a uniform (jeans - blue or black, School Tshirt/polo shirt). Never been to a school with a uniform. But I think it'll be ok. Not a very fancy uniform, so the boys shouldn't throw too big of a tizzy. They get to start school on Monday. Wish us luck :)

I took a few pics of our house, and wanted to share. Here's my fam at our new house! That's our door!!! Woohoo! I have a door - LMBO!

See how pretty it is - and it's all mine - er, ours. That's right. Ours - hehehehe.
My mom and I weren't really quite sure of the floor plan before I got here, so I took a few more pics to show her what it looked like. The kitchen/dining room/living room area are all connected, but it's quite a large space, so it doesn't feel cramped.


And look how nice my kitchen is. Can you tell I'm gushing here - Hehehehe.
So Captain America and I have decided that Friday night is now our date night. Since we've been married, we really haven't gone on dates. We've done "date night" at home, watching movies, playing cards, playing games, reading books, all sorts of things. But we've never paid for babysitting. It was just never in the budget. You know how many kids I have - LMBO! The babysitting would have been even more than the activity - hehehe.

Well, since Jacob is now almost 12, we've decided that he is ready for babysitting siblings. He's been left in charge for limited amounts of time with the kids, and has always done fantastic. Well, tonight was his first OFFICIAL babysitting evening. It was perfect. The movie theater was 5 minutes from the house, he had my cell phone, and was told to Captain Americas cell phone if he needed anything. Jimmy, Joe, and Eme were already asleep in bed, and he and Tom were playing video games. I was fairly certain that they weren't gonna budge the whole time.

Yep, I was right. When we got home, they were in the same place - LMBO! Jimmy had woken up at one point, and Jacob had gotten him a small drink of water, and put him back to bed. What a GREAT babysitter. Love ya, Jacob! The long 11 1/2 years of waiting was WELL worth it. So this is what it's like to have older kids - LOL!

The movie was Fantastic, by the way. Inkheart, with Brenden Fraiser (yeah, probably not spelled right - hehehe). I'm a fantasy nut, so this was RIGHT up my alley. Absolutely loved it. I'm definitely gonna buy it when it comes out on DVD. My kids are gonna love it too. And, it was SO nice to go to the movies on a date with my hubby. Granted, we were like the oldest ones in the theater (ok, so probably not, but I now know where all the teens go after dark), but it was SO nice to have some grown up time. I could get used to this!

So since I as SO tired last night, but still wanted to give you guys something, I made the first quote that popped into my head. From the Wizard of Oz. And, since I'm at my new home, I thought it was appropriate. So, I hope you enjoy :) Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work :)

FONTS:
H - Beautiful ES Caps
ome - Perpetua Titling MT

Proverbs Series - Treasures

Pre-publishing is SO boring - LOL! I guess I could make up stuff. Like, um, yesterday was a great day in the truck. We drove.....and drove some more.....and then....um...drove. Yeah, it's not working for me. Let's just HOPE that we can get some wireless at the motel :)


Here's the 4th and final part of the series. Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. LINK NOW WORKING :)

FONTS:
treasures - Mary Helen JF
All rest - check Monday's Post :)

Proverbs Series - Understanding

Hi! Pre-publishing again on Sunday night :) Here's my series again :)

And your part for today!!! Click on the image below to go to my box.net account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work.

FONTS:
understanding - Mary Helen JF
All rest - um, look at yesterdays

Casa Sweet Casa

Hey all!!! Yes, we're still alive - hehehehe. We stopped for the night at Victorville, California. It's a bit outside of San Bernadino. We were supposed to stop at Bakersfield, but we passed through town at 3pm, and I wasn't about to stop :) We got into Victorville at 6pm, a much better stopping time. So far, the trip has been GREAT! Lets see if I can catch you up :)

Here's some pics from the morning we left. It's of me and my grandma Ida...

Me and my mom....
And me, the kids, and my Grandma Ida. I knew I should have put on ALL my make-up - LMBO! Who knew we'd be taking pictures. I guess I should have figured that out - hehehhe. My mom is QUEEN of the cameras.

Here's me and the truck at the gas station before leaving town. Boy did the guys at the gas station get a good laugh at us - hehehehe. The were sure stareing a lot - LOL!

We went down the coast, and cut in-land at Reedsport. We picked up I-5 around Roseburg, and headed south. After cresting a mountain, and as we were coming down the other side (we were above the fog), we saw this HUGE valley of fog. It was INCREDIBLE!!! It looked like the ocean. A white, glowing, ocean of fog. It was awesome! Here a pic of it before we went underneath the bank.
You know, it really was nice having Jacob in the front seat to navigate. He's pretty good with a map, a fast reader, and a smart kid. The problem? All the video game talk. OMGosh! I got a PLAY - BY - PLAY recap of every new Gamecube game he got for Christmas. I seriously wanted to drive off into that fog bank a few times. But, I was nice, and listened, and gave the appropriate "uh huh, yeah, oh cool, really?". He seemed really pleased that I was listening and engaged, and I know that he loves me all the more now for it. The things we do for our children.

We passed a few mountains on the way. I know that Mt. Shasta was one of them. Sorry honey, I know you'd be terribly disappointed in me for not remembering their names, but I was concentrating on keeping the trailer on the road. hehehehe. BTW, Jacob, my 11 year old, was the photograper for the trip. He did a GREAT job. Thanks, sweetie!
We stopped at a rest stop in the mountains ( I don't remember where), and let the kids run around for 20 minutes. Wow were they loud. I think they ran the WHOLE time. But they weren't loud in my truck for 20 minutes, and THAT'S all that matters - LMBO!

We stopped for the night at Willows, which is south of Redding. We got there at 6ish, and I had everyone in bed and asleep by 8:45. Oh yeah, I'm just that good. We were up a little before 7am, and on the road by 8. We stopped in Merced for lunch at Wendy's at noon, and as we left Bakersfield on Hwy 58, we saw the most AMAZING hills. Its what I would have imagined Ireland looks like. Green hills, rocks, beautiful! Jacob got a few pics of them.





OK, so these pics don't look like Ireland, but trust me, they did. It was amazing. A little bit later, I decided to pull over and call my Aunt Sue for some navagation help. Since I'd passed my original stopping location for the evening, I now needed a new stopping place. After about 15 minutes, we had a hotel booked for Victorville. It put me right on the road that I needed to be on in the morning, and was only about an hour or so from were I was.

Here are a few pics of the kids playing in the parking lot while I was on the phone. Apparently, Jacob had the camera. LMBO!





And, back on the road, apparently Jacob snapped one more pic before dark. Love it, Jake! Great job :)I'm SO glad that the internet here at Motel 6 in Victorville is working. I've missed you guys! Even if it's just checking e-mails, a little grown-up interaction after 2 days in the truck with 5 kids is JUST what I needed :)

Hehehe, notice there's no pics of me from day 2? No shower, no make up the day before, fast food for 2 days, hair in a bandana. Yeah, you can imagine what I look like. Wednesday is shower day for sure - LMBO!

Oh yeah, more news. My sister, Madi, is in the hospital having her BABY!!! Woohoo! Her due date was Monday, and at her dr. appointment on Tuesday, they told her to come in later that evening, and they'd keep her overnight, then start a pic drip Wed am. My mom quickly got a ticket from Portland to St. Lake, and headed out. Can't wait to meet you, baby Lily!!!! I'm SO excited :)

So. Word Art Wednesday again. Can you believe it's WEEK 28. Holy cow! Since I'm on the road, Shauna from ScrapOrchard is gonna be posting this for me. Sorry I don't have the direct link. Maybe Gail, my blog manager (hint hint - LMBO!) can link it up for ya :) Did I mention how AWESOME she is!!! She's the one that links all my posts over on the right hand side of the column.

Anyway, on Wednesday, if you go to Scraporchard, and look in the gallery (remember, you need to be signed into the gallery for this to work), you can find my WordArt. And I just KNOW that you're gonna want this one :)