A much better day!

The Christmas decorations are almost all up. The house is just about put back together. Everyone seems to be getting along nicely today. Much much better than yesterday.

I've still got a bunch of stuff that needs to be done...just to get the house back in order. Floors need to be swept, boxes need to go back up into the attic, clothes still need to be folded and put away...not to mention the mess in my office and Emily's room that look like bombs went off in them. Oh well...tomorrow is another day. And I'll be home alone while the kiddos are in school. As long as I focus, I should be able to get stuff done around here. Or so you'd think. As long as I stay away from this computer, I'll do just fine. LOL

Off to sweep the kitchen and vacuum the family room...I'll then fold the towels, toss the socks in the washer to bleach and then I'll call it a day! Will probably do takeout for dinner.

G R U M P Y!!!

GEEEEEEEEZ!!!

DH woke up at 6:30 this morning and fell asleep on the couch again at 9...and din't wake up till after 11. He wanted to get the Christmas stuff put up today so that we could basically relax tomorrow. He was ticked off because we didn't wake him up...I tried to tell him that he should have just gotten up and gotten to work this morning instead of going back to sleep in the first place. Either that, or quit bitching at us for HIM sleeping. Of course, this sets my mood pretty much for the rest of the day. Every little thing gets under my skin from this point on. Kind of makes putting up the Christmas stuff a little on the unenjoyable side.

We still have stuff to get up inside and the lights on the outside need to be done too. Didn't get as much done as we'd hoped and we'll be getting the rest of it done tomorrow, I suppose. Hopefully we'll all be able to get up and get moving at an acceptable hour and just get it done.

And hopefully everyone will be in a pleasant mood...anyone starts bitching and I might just need to leave and go get some shopping done or something.

The painting got done though...the night before Thanksgiving actually. That's a good thing.

What were we thinking????

DH has this grand idea to get the family room painted before we put up the Christmas stuff. Of course, this is a job that we've been talking about getting done since we painted the dining room month's ago. But, it's just been put off and put off again. He was planning to get a lot of this kind of stuff done between Christmas and New Year, but now that Brooks and Kyle are coming that week, he'd like to have it all done before then. Soooooooo...we started painting LAST NIGHT. The room already looks better, but still...now, it's a mad rush to get it done before Thanksgiving.

I've already called to tell the school that I won't be there to volunteer today.

I'm off now to get my paint roller and gloves.

LATER!

The other "baby".

Another photo that I took while trying for the perfect Christmas card picture. This one of my 14 yr old son. But, for some reason, in this shot, he doesn't look 14 to me. He's looking so much older to me. Hard to believe my "little boy" is a teenager...well on his way to manhood! Man, I'm getting old! LOL

I did manage to get the shot that I'll use in the Christmas cards yesterday. Emily globbed lipstick on and was so angry with me when I took it off of her. She couldn't understand why she couldn't wear make up for the pictures. I tell ya, this child is 5 going on 17. She'll push my buttons every which way, trying her darndest to get her way. I'm going to have my hands full for the next few years, that's for sure! I thought for sure that Josh would be the one to give me the fit, considering he can't stand for me to take his picture. (can't you tell that in the above shot??? Sheesh). But no, Josh was a good boy...got a shower, dressed and was ready to go when I said so. After the fit with Emily, I was ready to throw in the towel and forget about sending any pictures in the Christmas cards this year. But, thankfully, it all worked out and I got some really great shots of my kids. Even a couple individual ones to hang in the hallway too.

I played in my scrap room almost all day yesterday. I made 4 of the party invites for Em's b-day party, a card and a layout for the December sponsor at Scrapforums too. I was very grumpy yesterday...and just wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately, nobody would sympathize with me and I kept having someone needing something or wanting me to do something...I guess that's part of being a mom though. I was happy to climb in bed last night and I slept like a rock till 9:30 this morning. Today, I feel better. For the most part!

Off to get some work done in the house today. DS needs the washer and dryer desperately so I need to get them emptied for him. I'd like to get my scrapbook room picked up a little bit maybe...at least the mess from yesterday. I need to finish 4 more invites too for the b-day party. I'd like to get them out early this next week. Oh, and I want to go to the gym too. Looks like another full day ahead!

My baby???

Where did my baby go??? How can it be that my "baby" will be SIX in just three more weeks? Where did the time go? How did she grow up and be so sassy??? LOL

One of the members at Scrapforums shared some of her photos from a shoot that she did of her kids for holiday pics. This inspired me to get on the ball and think about our pics too. So today, I ran to Joann's and picked up a nice size sheet of fabric and this fun garland as a "prop". I made Emily be my model for a little while so that I good see how things would work. I set up my "studio" in the garage, with the door open so that the natural lighting could be used. I turned off the flash of my camera and started snapping away.

I see this sassy little munchkin...such a little ham. I didn't take the time to wash her face or hands. Didn't grab the brush and noticed how badly she needs to have her bangs trimmed. Oh well, this is Emily!

Tomorrow, I'll set out to get a few good shots of Emily and Josh together. HOPEFULLY I'll get something that I'll be able to use for Christmas cards. Josh isn't always the most cooperative when it comes to having his pics taken. Hopefully I'll be able to catch him in a good mood. He's already been warned!

Tonight I'm off to play Bunco. My friend Kris got me into her bunco group and we play once a month. I always have a good time with them, even though I don't know many of them very well. I need to run to the store and pick up something to take with me...other than the Corona and lime, of course.

Wish me luck!

5 am and the gym...

What a combo, huh? That's how my morning started today. Alex and I joined a new gym, just up the street from our house...we joined a few months ago actually and embarassingly enough, we haven't been yet. We went last night to check it out and decided that we'd start this morning and we did just that. Of course, now, it's 7:15 and I'm ready to go back to bed. I guess I should just get in the shower and get on with the day...need to get Emily up for school in a little while anyway.

We're still at a stand still with the pool. We're waiting for the first inspection that was supposed to be done on Friday. But, Friday was Veterans Day and the county offices were closed. You'd think that would make the inspector come yesterday, but they didn't. Maybe today? Once they sign off on the permits, the shell can be shot. I'm so ready for the next step.

It's my volunteer day at school today...and then lunch with Emily. I think I'll go in early and get some leaves cut for Emily's teacher. She mentioned needing a ton of them for the Holiday crafts coming up. Oh, the joyful life of a stay at home Mom. Sounds fun, huh???

Maybe when I get back from school, I'll concentrate on the scraproom. I need to get my FUD project done and uploaded to the Scrapforums gallery. I just got back a bunch of pictures (like 200) from York Photo and I'd like to maybe work on some of them. Plus, I have some new MoBe' Stamps to cut too...I want to use them soon!!! So much to do in here...where to begin?

Off to the shower and on with the day!!! Have a great one!

Almost another weekend...

Where did the week go? Man, sometimes things just get so busy that everything just kind of blurs together and before ya know it, it's another weekend.

The pool has come to a stand still again...the eye candy was gone by 10:30 yesterday morning. They have it all framed in and now we have to wait for an inspection. The owner of the pool company (another cutie) came by this morning and said inspection will be tomorrow and the shell will be shot by Thursday of next week. It's all so exciting...but will be even more exciting when it looks more like a pool and not just a HUGE hole in the ground. And man, is it every HUGE! We took the deep end to 7 ft. so that we can dive off the deep end. Apparently this was a big deal and not something they do very often anymore. Every person that has come to do something with the pool has commented on the size and depth of this thing. But...this is what DH wanted and we'll really be able to enjoy it once its all finished!

My first class projects are finished now. I did two altered candles for the holidays and they're now on display at Memory Lane. So far, everyone has oohed and ahhed over them and I've got at least 4 people signed up for the class already. And a couple that are wanting an evening class too. Hmmm...that might work. I'll have to look at the schedule and see if I can fit in an evening class. Now, to get started on the to/from tags for the class on the 15th.

Going on a field trip with Emily's class tomorrow. Going to the theater to see a play. Should be a lot of fun. Em's happy that I'm going so that's what counts the most. I need to get up from here now and get all of my work done though so that I don't have it to worry about tomorrow though.

So, on that note...HAPPY CLEANING!!! (NOT!!!)

Moving right along...

They dug the pool yesterday and today there's three young hotties out there putting up the steel for the shell. It's amazing to watch how the pool goes together from start to finish. I found myself just staring in amazement as they dug the hole yesterday. And today, well...the steel doesn't impress me, but the cuties doing the job...they're impressive. Way young though. Maybe I should call my neice over for the day. She might like them. LOL

Off to clean the kitchen and get some laundry done, etc.

Back to Reality!!!!

What a MONDAY!!

Wheww...it's almost bed time. THANK GOODNESS! I'm whooped!

The day started off on a good note and never really got "bad" but it was much busier than I had expected it to be. The pool guys showed up and put down the markings. They said that they usually come a day before the diggers get to the job so tomorrow we may have heavy equipment in the back yard. And hopefully a really big hole dug by the end of the day. You know I'll be posting pics again too! It's already exciting seeing the form of the pool there...I called my friend Nancy to see if she'd like to sit in my pool with me and have a beer. I told her that I didn't have any pool floats or anything yet, but two chairs would do nicely. Unfortunately, she was on her way out and said we'd do it another time. I can see us now, sitting on the steps of the pool before it's finished...Before the water even begins to go in. We're nutty like that.

Had to close on the re-finance today...Gosh, you forget how many times you have to sign and initial on a mtg. loan. But, that's one more step that's finished and Fed-Ex has already picked up the package and it's on its way back to the bank. Woo hoo!!!!!!

While we were at the bank getting everything signed, a friend called me to see about having lunch. I haven't seen this girl in over a year now. She moved out of town and she was in town today and gave me a call. I was really happy that she did too. When she moved last year, there were some tough feelings that I had about the reasons that she was leaving. I realize now that I had no right to judge her reasons for moving and that if she's happy with the choices that she made then I need to be happy for her. It was great seeing her today and even better sitting there chatting with her over lunch.

Then it was off to Memory Lane again, to work on my class project. Of course, because I spent so much time at lunch, I cut myself short on time for working on my candles. I ended up leaving there to get Em from school and then going back. Emily worked on her homework while I worked on class stuff. I still need to go back one more time though. The LSS owner wasn't there today and I need to talk to her about a few things and get her opinion on some stuff. I'll get it out of the way early tomorrow and won't cut myself so short again.

By the time I got home, it was well after 4:00 and I was just plain exhausted. I called to order Chinese for dinner and picked it up when I went to get Josh from Crew practice. We ate dinner, watched the Cinderella Story with Emily and got in my jammies...It's bedtime!

It's the weekend!!!

Happy Saturday! Nothing much happening here. I went to Memory Lane today to work on my first class projects but couldn't get the fancy schmancy copy machine to work to reduce and print my picture that I want to put on one of the candles. I worked on the second one of the two and decided that I'd go back in on Monday while the kids are at school. Josh wasn't too thrilled with the idea of having to keep an eye on Emily while I did that...and Alex is hiking this weekend. It will just be easier to do it while they are at school. I don't want to be rushed.

The layout that I've shared here is one of the latest DT things that I did for Eclectic Scraps. Jessica's Mountain Retreat kit is what I used and OMG...what a kit! Jessica certainly hit the nail on the head with this kit...I've got so many "nature" type pics like this from all of Alex's hiking trips and camping trips with the scouts. I'm sure I'll get some great use from this kit! I LOVE IT!

I was thinking about scrapping tonight but I think I'm going to put Emily to bed and then watch a movie with Josh. Em and I watched "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants" today. Well, I watched the entire movie while Em said she was watching but spent most of the time out of the room, off doing her 5 1/2 yr. old kinds of stuff. Not quite sure what Josh and I will watch tonight...I'm sure we'll come up with something. Maybe I'll sort some pictures while I watch the movie...I'm in the mood to get some paper pages done soon and having pictures sorted mine motivate me a bit more.

Tomorrow will bring a day of cleaning up the place a bit. I need to get the points and cleaning challenges posted at Scrapforums for the Sparkling Spaces challenge that I'll be starting on Monday. Alex will be home sometime early afternoon...Em has a birthday party to go to at lunchtime, so I'll have to get up early and get busy so that I can get my stuff done before all the fun begins.

No progress on the pool...we close on the loan on Monday. I'm sure we'll get moving shortly after that. And once they really get started, I think progress will be made almost daily. Until then...the back yard will be a mess and sand will be tracked in the house by shoes and doggie paws.

Have a great weekend!!

No pressure!!

Well, I am officially an instructor for Memory Lane. I signed my contract today and I teach my first class on Thursday, Dec. 1st. I'm teaching an altered candle class that day and then on the 15th, I'm teaching a to/from tag class. Now I just need to get busy on my samples and get them up to the store for display.

Wish me luck...I've never done anything like this before. The LSS Owner, Liz, has been trying to talk me into this since she opened the store 4 yrs ago. She's thrilled that I've finally said yes. I sure hope I don't let her down.

And the fun begins!!!

Today is the official start day of the construction of our swimming pool. The bobcat crew was here waiting when I got home from taking Emily to school. They took up the concrete by the screened porch that will, in a few weeks, be part of the pool deck. In fact, that entire wall where the screen and door is...that'll all be gone too. That back porch will open wide up to the entire pool and deck and it's going to look INCREDIBLE!

The pool guy says he tells everyone 12 weeks for construction and if he finishes in 6 weeks then he's the king. So, let's see...our pool should be finished no later than January 26, 2006. (that's 12 weeks) Of course, we're hoping they'll be done WAYYYYYYYYY before that!! We won't be swimming till at least April, but it'll be nice to look at.

Now, I'm getting anxious!!!! Bring on the heavy equipment!!

Halloween Fun

Ahhhhhh...the morning after. Dragging through the morning because of the sugar rush just before bed. Chili and Corona for dinner...dealing with cranky little girl getting outta bed after her fun night before. Oh well, it was a fun night...and we will recover.

Emily dressed up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween. (because she IS Scooby Doo's biggest fan, ya know!!) This costume came with a bright orange wig but it was a MESS. I decided to pick up some orange hair paint and went with that idea instead of the wig. Of course, Emily thought this was a great idea and was only slightly bummed that the stuff washed out in the shower. She thought it was cool to have ORANGE HAIR. Oh dear...I should be worried about this in the future, I think. This is just one of the many pictures I took last night. She's such a ham!

It's already been a long day...had to leave this entry and go do my volunteer time at the elementary school. Then it was off to the Memories Store in Orlando. They're CLOSING! I can't believe it...they were the first LSS in the area. According to the manager, the landlord chose to not renew the lease and wanted them out YESTERDAY. They're clearing their inventory and right now, everything was 20% off. Its kind of sad that they're closing, but at the same time, I'm hoping that Memory Lane will get some of their business. (especially if I'm going to start teaching there) I ended up picking up 130 sheets of 8.5x11 Bazzill Cardstock in a bunch of different colors. I've been needing to stock some of my 8.5x11 cardstock and I figured that was my chance.

It's raining now...and I'm still tired. What I wouldn't do for a nap right about now. Unfortunately, the laundry has once again piled up and I have $144 worth of stuff to sort through. Some of which I got for RAKS at Scrapforums. Lots of great stuff happening there these days and ya just never know when a fun prize might be needed.

Cheer practice has been cancelled. Bummer...well, not really, but...still. Guess I need to find out what's for dinner now.

How is it???

That a comment from your 14 yr old DS can spark a mood like no other??? I had asked my DH to run to the store for me to pick up some stuff for dinner...he said he wasn't hungry...this meant, I was on my own for running to the store. When 14 yr old son asks "what's for dinner??" and I said "I wasn't sure yet...asked dad to go to the store but he didn't want to" and the smart mouth 14 yr old replied "Well, we worked hard today!" In other words, you didn't do squat while Dad and I spent an hour, maybe two, pulling up the carpet on the back porch and cleaning out the shed. (getting ready for the pool to be started) This was said in the middle of my beautifully cleaned scraproom, no less...but in the 14 yr old's eyes, nothing that I do in the scraproom is considered "working". WHATEVER!!!

This threw me right into a pissy mood. I went to the grocery store BY MYSELF...took a little bit of extra time to cool off.

Then drove the 14 yr old to youth group and he said he was sorry but I told him that I didn't appreciate the lack of respect and appreciation for what I do. He then replied that he knew "exactly how I felt"...I then had to remind him that he couldn't know how I felt because he wasn't a parent being looked down upon by their 14 yr old son. This child does not understand that he is NOT my equal...and I'm not quite sure how to get him to understand this.

Grrrrrrrr...KIDS!

SLOB!

Edited to add (4:21pm): Just finished vacuuming the floor and am ready to create something. Not quite sure what yet, but I'm thinking. I still have a few things to put away...the little things...but they're stashed away nicely and the room looks neat and tidy once again.

I guess I might want to think about getting dressed today too. I've been in my jammies all day. Not that I have anywhere to go...but I really should get dressed.

Edited to add (2:03pm): I got a few things scanned to list on Ebay and have made very little progress on the floor stuff. I'm losing steam and tempted to just close the door and go hang out with DH and digi scrap for a while. Oh, I did get some really cool altered letters hung up that my friend Cheryl sent me for my b-day. She's so cool and so talented...and the letters look GREAT on my scraproom wall!!

Edited to add (12:10pm): I have both the computer desk and the scrapdesk cleaned off. Now I need to work on the huge pile of stuff that gets tossed on the floor. (bags that aren't unloaded, etc)

Ha...moving right along!!



That's me! This is a picture of what my scrap desk looks like right now...
just the scrap desk. You can't see the floor, or the computer desk. I swear I don't know how it gets so cluttered so quickly. I know I have far too much in the lines of scrapbooking supplies...maybe that's the problem? Nah...I won't admit to that. NEVER! I think I just need to come up with a more organized way of storing stuff. Yeah, that's it...that's what I'll blame it on. Disorganization.

Well, this is what I'll be working on today. And after I get it cleaned up again...I need to work on cleaning up after each layout. This is absolutely ridiculous. I can't create in this kind of mess...I just can't!

Off to work on the computer desk first. And then will work my way around the room. I could be buried alive in here I think. YIKES!

Good friends, good times!!

Tonight we had the Comstock's over for dinner and a few beers. They were our neighbors at the other house and we've not seen them nearly enough as we would like to since we both moved.

Alex and Jerry have had a long time rivalry going between them with Nebraska and Missouri football each Fall. Missouri beat Nebraska this year and of course, Alex takes advantage of this and rubs it in Jerry's nose as best way possible. Today, we picked up a big dried cornhusk at the pumpkin patch and took it to Jerry's house. He loves the bantering and we all have a great laugh over it. We invited their family over for dinner tonight and they just left not too long ago.

It was nice to sit outside by the fire pit, laughing, drinking beer, roasting marshmallows. It was a lot like old times and we really do need to do that more often. Sitting out there got us even more anxious to get the pool built so that we can do that way more often! The weather here right now is perfect...jacket temps, no bugs. LOVE IT!

After playing Bunco last night though, having to have Emily at cheer by 8:30 this morning and then a few beers tonight...man, I'm tired! There is NOTHING going on in the morning. I can actually sleep in! I can't stress how much I look forward to sleeping in tomorrow!!

Night!

Random crap...

Yep...that's what this is...random crap! Probably pretty boring random crap too.

YAY, it's Friday! Hubby's been gone since Sunday and will be home tonight! I'm ready to have him home again. Sometimes its a nice break to have him travel for work, but it's always nice to have him come home too. Especially after being gone for 6 days!! I don't think he's ever been gone for that long at one time. When he's not home, everything falls apart. I get lazier than I already am...I tend to not do the housework till the day before he gets home and the kids and I end up eating out almost every night. All of that gets boring after a while though. This week has been extra trying with Hurricane Wilma, the kids being sick...glad it's the weekend!

Tonight I'm going to play BUNCO with my monthly bunco group. I've been hemming and hawing over whether or not to go. I know I'll get there and have a blast, but part of me tells me to just stay home and relax tonight. See hubby when he gets home instead of at midnight or later. DD has a cheer game at 8:30 tomorrow morning so I'll need to be up and ready for that bright and early. (especially considering she was sick for last weekend's game and I blew off the week before that because of a headache) I called my friend Kris and she told me to just go...of course, she'll be there. And I always have a blast when I'm with her.

The LSS owner has asked that I start teaching at her store. She asked me a few years ago and I was just not confident enough to accept. I've grown so much in my scrapping abilities and talents now and probably would have a great time at teaching others the art of scrapbooking. I'm just scared that I won't be able to come up with ideas, etc. that people would even want to take a class for. (even though I've already started a list of things that I want to do for classes) I stopped by the store today and picked up the contract to look at closer. Hubby and I will talk more about it this weekend too. I don't give myself enough credit. I know it...I need to work on getting over that, I think.

DS just called...time to get him from Crew practice. Sometimes I wish he could find a ride home with someone. I'm sure there are others that come by our neighborhood...he's just too nice to ask anyone. The only one he likes to put out is mamma. I'm off for now to go get him...when I get back, I need to put the clean sheets back on our bed, sort and put away all the clean laundry from yesterday and today and then start getting ready to go play Bunco. I'll have to go by the grocery store to get some sort of snack to share and of course, a six pack of Corona and a lime too. Can't play Bunco without the Corona. ;)