You've got to be kidding!!!

I just got an e-mail from my ex-husband asking me if we'd be interested in a 4 year old German Shepard/Huskie mix dog named Beulah that weighs 80 lbs. He's gotta be kidding me...it's all I can do to keep up with the kids and all their schedules. The woman who is trying to find a new home for Beulah is even willing to throw in a month's worth of dog food to whoever takes her. Even that is not incentive enough for me. Now, if Beulah can clean the house, do the laundry, cook an occasional meal and get the kids to keep their rooms clean 85% of the time I might consider it. I'd also consider taking Beulah in exchange for one of the teenagers!! I'm not sure that would be a fair trade though. If you know anyone who might be interested in giving Beulah a good home, let me know and I can pass the information along!

Busy but Productive Day

Well my girls left with their Dad about 10:30 and will be gone for the next 24 hours, (imagine Big sigh here). Marc, Seth and I decided to run and get some errands done and then ended up at the new TGI Friday's in Wheeling for lunch. I had the Cedar Seared Salmon Pasta and it was yummy! Upon arriving at home I threw a load of laundry in the wash, ironed some Brownie Try It badges on Olivia's sash and then finished a layout I had started at Marnie's on Wednesday. I wasn't sure where I was going with it but today it just seemed to come together quickly. I just love it....thanks to Dianne for the cow paper piecing! Inside the heart is says Cute lil'. Also on the photo corners the top right says Seth and the bottome left says 2002. Need to finish up my laundry. Remember to Spring Ahead!!

March already, where does the time go!! Seems like just yesterday we were getting ready for Christmas...speaking of which I need to come up with a design for this month's Christmas cards. I really LOVE that Marnie made this a challenge. It's going to be great to have all the cards done and ready to go instead of rushing to get them done so they can be sent out on time!

Last night was a blast! Marnie and Dianne are phenomonal....I showed up for scrapbooking last night and they ended up challenging me to do a layout in 30 minutes. I hadn't come prepared so luckily Aunt Marnie supplied me with a few pictures of my kids. I'm really pleased with the way both layouts turned out and it was fun to have absolutely to just pick and choose and put together a layout that quickly. I hope we continue to do that every now and then!!

Well my challenge for today is to try and get people to be hall monitors and nursery caregivers at church this Sunday...so far no one I've called has gotten back to me so I guess I better make more calls and hope that by the end of the day I've been successful. I have an all day seminar tomorrow and I don't want it to be Saturday night and still no success.

TGIF everyone!

Productive Morning

In between doing laundry and running the dishwasher I managed to make 10 Christmas cards so I'm good for the month of February. I also did a layout of Katie from last summer. I know you can't read the journaling so here it is.....

4th Grade Comes Crashing to a Halt
What a way to end 4th Grade. It was a little after 3pm on the last full day of school and I was waiting outside the school along with all the other Moms. Then Mrs. Cherry came walking up to us to tell me that you had taken a nasty fall off the monkey bars. I followed her to the nurses office where you were sitting with an ice pack on your forehead. Mrs. Resnick was sitting next to you holding your hand. You were really shaken up and scared as you couldn’t remember what happened or how you got to the nurses office. We came home and dropped off Olivia and then we headed for the Emergency Room. The Dr. checked you out and said you had a concussion and made us hang around for an hour to be sure you were all right. I had to wake you up in the middle of the night too…but all was well. You just had a nasty looking forehead for a few weeks and as far as I know it hasn’t stopped you from continuing to play on the monkey bars either!

Happy Groundhogs Day!

Well if you believe in the groundhog we will have an early spring! My kids are very excited and we are all hopeful that it will turn out to be true. I've never really kept track of what the ground hog's record of correctness is so I guess time will tell! All I know is that I am ready for these frigid temperatures to go away!!

Every wear you go today all you see is everyone dressed in the Chicago Bears wardrobe. The girls were supposed to wear something to show their support and luckily Matthew had two Bears t-shirts so they each have one on. I had to use a small binder clip to keep Olivia's from falling off her shoulder. Poor Seth had nothing to wear so he's wearing Bears colors of orange and blue. I stopped at Dominick's really quick this morning and everyone there had Bears paraphernalia on as well. Even U/L said that if you had no clients visiting you were free to wear your Bears shirts. Marc has one but opted not to wear it.

I think we are finally going to go and get a new TV tonight. Sure hope they have the one that's on sale through tomorrow in stock. I have a feeling we are pressing our luck but we will see. It'll will certainly be nice to control the volume from a remote versus having to get up and actually walk to the TV to do it, LOL!! However did we cope back in the olden days!

Super Bowl Sunday here will be reminiscent of New Year's. We are going to make a bunch of appetizers (Swedish meatballs, Velveeta w/sausage and Rotelle, cheese & crackers, etc.). Marc claims we are going to put a cooler of beer in between our two recliners so we won't have to go far to get another one....again how lazy is that! I doubt that I will actually sit in front of the TV during the game. I'll probably be at my computer desk working crossword puzzles and listening to it in the background.

Stay warm everyone and GO BEARS!

Happy Monday, Ooops I mean Tuesday

My kids were off yesterday so I'll be confused all week. Well anyone out there Bears fans...if so GO BEARS!! Of course I have not really followed them since late 84-86. I think I just started watching them for lack of better things to do...that was back before I had cable so my choices on a Sunday afternoon were limited and I'm pretty sure I spent of those Sunday afternoons cross-stitching with the game on in the background. My how things have changed. Now I'm on the computer playing games, doing crosswords or surfing with the game on in the background...even with cable and much more choices. Although Marc is constantly changing channels during commercial breaks and half-time so it's hard to figure out what's going on.

Poor Seth, Olivia and he were playing the yesterday and she wanted to play dress up. Lucky for her he's a good sport. I've got a great picture of him in the outfit the Bushmoles gave Olivia for Christmas...it consists of a leotard, tights, ballet slippers, headband and a poof that Aunt Marnie made. I also have a picture of him all decked out in a pretty Easter dress, tights and black patent leather shoes. He was smiling away in both outfits and Olivia was ready to go for three when he said..."I don't want to play anymore". Those will be fun pictures to scrap! Hopefully it won't take years to get it done, LOL!

Katie went to a Wolves hockey game with her girl scout troop on Saturday. She had a blast and lucky for me her troop leader took pictures and shared them with all of us so I can scrap that moment as well. She had so much fun that she wants Marc or I to take her again sometime. She was apalled, however, at the prices of the snacks/drinks. I had given her $10 spending money as I knew they'd the prices would be high and she actually brought $5 home. Guess that's a sign of her growing up!

Ugh, guess I better get some housework done and figure out what's for dinner!

Challenge accepted and Complete

Last year I had a great idea...I said I was going to try and make 5 to 10 Christmas cards every month so that when it was time I'd be ready! Well it was a great idea but one of many I failed to act on. Well Marnie challenged all of us to make 10 Christmas cards this month and I am happy to say that I took her challenge and have attached a picture (hopefully) of what they look like. Hopefully she will continue to issue this challenge every month as I'm not usually one to back down from a challenge. Since I was so gung ho and ending up cutting out more squares than I needed I'll probably do the same card again next month as they were so easy. Then by March I'll hopefully have another design in mind and make something new!

Happy New Year!, a little late

Well, I was a terrible blogger in 2006 but resolve to try and do better in 2007. I hope that everyone had a Wonderful Holiday and a Terrific New Year!!

This year was the first, since Marc and I have been together, that we did not travel over the holidays. As most of you know my parents winter in Texas and this year Marc's parents left for Florida in October and decided not to return for Christmas. Basically because they will be returning the end of February for their oldest granddaughters wedding. Anyhow, we had a nice quiet relaxing Christmas at home. Olivia, Seth and I all fought colds during those two holiday weeks so perhaps it was a good thing we didn't go anywhere. It also allowed us to celebrate Christmas with Dave, Marnie, Emily and Abbi as usually we don't get to celebrate with them until New Year's or after.

New Year's Eve was spent at home with our traditional appetizers all night long feast with sparkling juice and champagne at midnight. The kid's always have a great time as they get to drink their juice out of champagne flutes and that makes them feel so grown up!

Well, no more 12 passenger van for us. We traded it in for a new 2007 Chevy Uplander that only seats 7. Since Jonathon is gone and Matthew will be heading to Ft. Knox in August we decided it was time to downgrade. It's rare that all of us travel together anymore and we will save so much in gas money not to mention much better gas mileage. I'm still adjusting to parking it as it doesn't take up the whole parking space like the other one did, LOL!

Happy Friday, everyone.....hopefully it won't be another 3 months before I blog again!

14 Days and Counting

OK so now I'm the one counting the days until school starts instead of kids counting the days until it's over. Everyone has all their school supplies, new outfits for the first day of school and Seth jut got his last shot yesterday so he can officially go to pre-school!! YEAH!!! The only thing left is our family dental appointment on Monday and they we are all set to go!

What a crazy, but fun, summer this has been. We've done a lot of travelling (mostly to see family), swimming lessons, karate boot camp, vacation bible school, etc. Actually we have 3 more days of VBS and then we are off to Fulton to see Marc's family and meet our new great niece. Ariana Jasmine arrived on July 12th and we can't wait to see and hold her. We are also taking our other nieces, Emily and Abbigayle with us as we are watching them over the weekend.

Jonathon is home on leave at the moment and has spent the last few days with his Mom. He will be returning here on Wednesday so he can go to Fulton with us. Then on Monday he ships out to Holloman AFB in New Mexico where he will spend the next two years. He's having a great time being back home but I think by Monday (after a weekend with all the kids) he'll be ready to get back!!

Katie got her hair cut really, really short a few weeks ago....she was so excited about it but has now decided she's going to grow it back out!! I have a feeling she'll be like I was as a kid, everytime my hair would get shoulder length I'd get it cut short and then start the whole process over again.

I hope everyone has had a GREAT summer vacation and hopefully once things get back to normal around here, if that's even possible, I'll try and post on a more regular basis!

Summer Fun

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. We just got back yesterday from a long weekend at my family's. My youngest niece was baptized and had her 1st birthday party all in one day! We had a great time and actually got to spend some time in the pool on both Saturday and Sunday. This did a world of good for Olivia....she progressed so much more than she had during swimming lessons but I think it's because she had more freedom to practice and try things on her own. It was amazing how good she did and it showed at swim lessons today. Seth had a great time too and has absolutely no fear, even after swallowing several mouthfuls of pool water. He informed me that when we got home I needed to sign him up for swim lessons. So that was my first order of business last night. Livvy will progress to Level 3 and Seth will start with Pre-school and then hopefully move up to Level 1.

When we left yesterday we left Katie behind. She's going to spend the next 2 weeks with Uncle Bill & Aunt Heather. She's attending VBS this week and later I think they are planning on taking her to the Arch. She is also going to be going on a trip to Pirate's Cove on Kentucky Lake for a few days and she is completely unaware of it. They want it to be a surprise!! Heather's grandparents have a home there and a boat so I'm sure they will have a lot of fun and Katie will hopefully have a nice tan when she returns home!

Am busy doing lots of laundry today so I can repack. Marc, Olivia, Seth and I are heading to Fulton Friday for the long 4th of July weekend. Marc will be helping his Dad redo their basement bathroom which had to be completely gutted due to a mold problem. His parents are always here helping us with our house so it's our turn to help them!

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy 4th of July!!

So Sorry

OK so I haven't blogged in quite a while. So sorry but I have been without the internet for over a week now. As of about 30 minutes ago I am back up and running and raring to go.

School has been out since last Wednesday and I'm already close to being insane!! Or was I already there...hmmm. Olivia starts swimming lessons next week. Stephen is out of work until the 28th as Dinorex is doing maintenance. We will go visit my family the end of the month for Haley's baptism and 1st Birthday party. We will be leaving Katie behind and she will spend 2 weeks with my family. She's looking so forward to it!!

Well that's it for now. I'll try and be better about posting now that I've got my internet back!!

I'm Not With Stupid, I am STUPID!!

That's the new t-shirt idea I came up with yesterday. Marc thought it was good and I'm sure I could market it and sell a ton of them. Half of my family would be eligible to wear them as well...LOL!

Countdown to the last day of school has begun. The girls only have 5 days and 30 minutes (including today). Olivia's last field trip of the year is tomorrow and they will be going to Green Meadows Farm in Wisconsin. She is very excited and we are all hoping that there will be no rain...at least during the time of their visit.

Memorial Day Weekend was kind of quiet but productive. Both Katie and Olivia got their ears pierced so that was their highlight of the weekend. Their cousin Emily also spent the night with us and that was fun...other than the times when they were fighting over who's friend she was and who could or couldn't play with her. Marc and I spent the weekend doing yard work, planting flowers and cleaning out the storage and furnace room downstairs.

Just wanted to post something new as it's been awhile. Seth and I are on our way to the Chevy dealer to get the oil changed. We are travelling almost every weekend in June so need to get that done!

Productive Morning

Have been busy being creative (or at least trying). Here's a graduation card I made for our niece Michelle. Also a layout of my cousin Megan....she was the flower girl in my first wedding back in 1994...she's still just as cute too!

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day! I made out pretty well!! Matthew bought me a dozen roses, a huge balloon and a lovely card. Stephen gave me a $25 gift card from Barnes & Noble (which I've already spent). Katie and Olivia bought me flowers and a beautiful butterfly necklace. And, Suzanne made me a beautiful card. All the girls brought me breakfast in bed on Saturday which was sweet!! They also brought breakfast for Marc and said Happy Early Father's Day. Guess they didn't feel right about bringing breakfast for only me. All in all it was a quiet weekend which was nice for a change.

Olivia and Katie are both a little under the weather. Not sure if it's allergies or a cold. Katie is home from school as she does have a slight fever today. Olivia wanted to take medicine and go to school so I of course complied with her wishes. Tonight is her first night of swimming lessons (level 2) and she does not want to miss that. I think that's why she was adamant about going to school. She knew if she didn't that swimming lessons would not be a happening thing.

This is the layout I started on Friday at our monthly Schnockered Scrapper's Soiree. I finished it on Saturday. Haley is my youngest niece and will celebrate her 1st birthday the end of June. I just thought these pictures went perfect with the paper!!

Used my new template and made gift bags for Katie & Olivia's teacher's. Inside I put 6 cards (which I made). Each card was for a different occasion, sure hope they enjoy them as I had a great time making them.

It's official....I've now got all three of my daughters hooked on scrapbooking. I found a cute 8 x 8 making memories album on clearance at Target and picked it up for Olivia. She spent all day Saturday and a little bit of Sunday with me at the table working on it. She's got about 6 pages done and they are really good for a 6-1/2 year old. I have a feeling she could become obsessive about it...is that good or bad, LOL !!

I'm doing a study for Diet Coke next week and I had to make a collage of the top 3 situations where I drink Diet Coke and how it makes me feel. I also had to refrain from drinking Diet Coke for two 24-hour periods and do a collage on how that makes me feel. Not sure you can read the words I used in these pictures but I have a word for every letter of the alphabet describing my feelings for both. Much thanks to Ana, Dianne and Marnie for helping me with the words. If my collages are voted the best the study pays an extra $50!!

Well the living room is finally finished. Just in time too. Marc and his Dad finished Saturday morning about 11am and Suzanne's party started at 4pm. The party was very nice and I think everyone had a good time. If anyone went away hungry it was their own fault.

Sunday's confirmation service was very nice and we are all very proud of Suzanne. I'm not sure she'd admit it but I think she's proud of herself as well.

Well, today it's all about me!! Marc should be leaving right now to go to Best Buy and get a new computer. We've been having trouble with ours off and on for the last few years and it's just time to upgrade. The one we have in the basement went kaput as well so we will move the old one downstairs and hopefully everyone will be happy. I also stopped at Kohl's this morning and got new throw pillows for the couch and a new purse for myself. Speaking of it's all about me, I also finished my scrapbook "All About Me" yesterday. All the pictures and journaling are done, with the exception of the page about life lessons I've learned. I still have to give that one some thought.

I'm Amazed

Marc and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on Friday. He actually said Happy Anniversary before I got the chance to. After he left for work I heard knocking on our bedroom door and Suzanne asked if she could come in. When she did, she was carrying a cookie sheet with a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, a Pop-Tart and a can of Fresca. Now if that's not a healthy breakfast I don't know what is...LOL. Katie spent some of her birthday money and bought us a lovely card and some vanilla sugar wafer cookies as she knows we both like them. Late Friday night Matthew gave us a very nice card and then on Saturday Stephen came home with a lovely card and gift. He got us a motion/sound picture of a waterfall in a beautiful gold frame. We've already got the perfect spot picked out in the living room for it.

Speaking of the living room, it is really taking shape. The ceiling has been textured and Marc put in over half of the wood flooring over the weekend. His parents arrive on Thursday morning so they can put up all the oak trim. I'm so pleased with the results and can't wait to see everyone's reaction to it at Suzanne's party on Saturday.

I planned a really nice Easter dinner for last night as with Dinorex being closed I figured we'd all be here (which is rare). However, Matthew got hired at Dominick's and you guessed it, his first day of work was last night from 4-10 so he missed out. He'll get to enjoy the leftovers today though. Both he and Stephen have to work next Saturday during Suzanne's party too but they will both be at church on Sunday to see her confirmed which I think will mean more to her.

I went to Walmart (1st of many trips this week I'm sure) this morning and got everything I needed and then some. Bought Suzanne the prettiest pair of cross earrings as a confirmation gift. I'm sure she'll love them...if they'd had a second pair I'd have been tempted to get myself a pair. I do have to go back to Walmart tonight after school as she'd like to get a new skirt and top, plus sandals for Sunday. Since her birthday is May 6th, this will be part of her birthday gift as well as a few other things I've picked up for her.

Well I'm in spring cleaning mode so I better get back to it. Happy Spring!

Sorry

Sorry, it's been over a week since I posted anything. It's been crazy around here, which is normal I guess. Olivia started her swim lessons on Saturday, Katie and I took her and then on the way home picked up a friend of Katie's who spent the entire day with us. Seth was supposed to start T-ball on Saturday but there was a scheduling conflict and the kids were all there and raring to go but there was no coach. So...the lessons will start next week and they will tack on another week at the end. Sunday the kids sang at church and they were of course adorable. I was able to get pictures but have been having trouble with my computer so it may be awhile before I can get them downloaded.

Marc has been diligently working on the living room. He's got most of the ceiling done (he's texturing it himself and it looks great) and hopes to finish that up tonight. Then he's going to rip up the carpeting (YEAH!!!) and start putting down the hardwood floors. Suzanne's confirmation/early 8th grade graduation is on the 22nd so he's trying to get it done before then.

Friday is not only Good Friday but Marc and I will celebrate 5 years together that day. Unfortunately I have a Tastefully Simple show that night but we agreed that we celebrated our anniversary early by taking our trip to Texas and enjoying some time alone. Katie is going to sleepover at her friends house that night and Olivia is going to sleepover at Emily's as well. We can't tell you how much we LOVE Aunt Marnie and Uncle Dave!!!! I'm going to have to get after them about our taking their girls every once in awhile to at least try and make up for all the times they've taken Seth and the girls. Doubt we will ever come close but we will certainly try!

Well I spent the morning running errands so I better get some things done around here! I'll try and post again before another week passes us by.

Back to Normal, Whatever that is??

Well everyone is back home. My girls returned from North Carolina at 11pm on Saturday night. They were so happy to be home but luckily went right to bed after a little conversation. We celebrated Katie's birthday yesterday (it was 3/30) and she was pleased with all her gifts and of course any money that she got.

Jonathon graduated from basic training on Friday and as of today should be headed to California to prepare for tech school.

Everyone's back to school today so hopefully everyone will fall back in to our regular routine.

Walgreens had an April Fool's No Joke for all their customers. I was able to get a free 8 x 10 and I've attached a copy of the one I chose. It's Olivia and my niece Haley and I just think it's adorable, although I'm a little biased!!

Have a great day!!