Hooray for Friday!

Man I had a bad week so far. No motivation, too much to do, kids growing up! My house is a disaster, I'm still in the "organization" process and laundry is not just piled up, but overtaking the house. Work is stressfull right now, too much work, not enough time and some scarry changes that deeply affect me on the horizon. I'm at shut down point, where all I want to do is veg out and just sleep or lay around or buy stuff I don't need.

On a good note, the boys graduated Pre-School and I am so proud of them. They were great and afterwards we went out for burgers and chocolate shakes at MooMoo's downtown. That was great. Nick, Adamo, Ralene, Viva, Charlie and Dee joined Mike and I in the audience. We just about filled up pew in the little Community Church to watch the ceremony. We gave them so much praise that they were feeling so proud of themselves. The shot above was after graduation. They were so thrilled and excited they would do anything I asked. This is what happens when I tell them to show some love and hug each other. Mmmmmmm! I wish I was smack in the middle of them.

Anyway, It's Friday and things are looking better. Plus it's a long weekend. Load #2 is in the wash. The dishes are put away either in the cupboards or the dishwasher. The boys are at home, just where I like them. The trains are all sorted out. I'm showered and dressed. Yummy breakfast in our tummies. Mike gets off early and will be working on backyard sprinklers all weekend. Hopefully that means no more goat-heads this year. I sent the pictures off to Jenni Bowlin (check out JenniBowlin.com for some eye candy) and that was a difficult task, just picking a couple pictures. And I'm just about ready to start cleaning bathrooms. Mike put together my shelves for the back room earlier this week, so today I will begin conquering that room. Work you ask? Well, that will be later. I'll get it in there somewhere. Right now, I have to strike where the motivation hits, and that's cleaning!

Some recent happy thoughts

Some recent things that made me feel all happy and proud inside.

#1 on the list: My Thrasher boys. Check them out. Hunter looks like he's slamming in the mud. Austin can't even get the whole ride thing down on the board, but check out the moves he can do. Makes me proud.

#2: Austin can ride a bike with no training wheels. This is major. He was not motivated to do it, but was always in awe of the kids who could. He also kept nagging for a skateboard. Mike said he couldn't have a skate board until he could ride a bike with no training wheels. So he goes outside and said for us to go with him. He jumped on the 2 wheel bike and said I want no one to help me. There he went. Within 2 minutes he was peddling down the drive. He was struggling with the starting the bike going once he was stopped. I gave him some verbal pointers, but that wasn't enough. He said "Mom, tell me if I do it, you'll give me $3.00". "Austin, if you do it I'll give you $3.00". That was it. Since then he needs no help, coaxing, nothing. So Mother's Day he got his board.

#3: Hunter is learning the way of the Jedi. Yes, he is turning in to a Star Wars addict. He sneaks away and watches the DVD's in his room. So far Episode 2, Attack of the Clones and Episode 5, the Empire Strikes Back seem to be his faves. He has a rebel force transformer fighter ship. He sleeps with it at night. He knows the character names and forwards the movies to all his favorite scenes. I love that. Hunter, may be the force be with you.

#4: Mike is getting so much done around the house as far as landscaping. He planted 17 trees within the past couple weeks and his planning the back yard sprinkler system. No new goat heads this year. We're still battling the old dry ones from last year, but nothing like it was. I'm so excited with all the home improvements we've made. This house was our home, but now it's also homey.

#5: Lucky me, I won a layout to be done by Jenni Bowlin. Love her work. I donated to Karen Russell's ( http://karenrussell.typepad.com/ ) fundraiser for Woman for Woman International ( http://www.womenforwomen.org/ ) and was a lucky winner. Just check out http://www.JenniBowlin.com for some peeks at her work. She is amazing and I've been admiring her work in magazines for a while. My recent favorite was the Brothers layout in the latest CK, but all her stuff rocks. Lucky me she has boys, too, so it won't be a strectch for her to work with my photos. Lucky her, my boys are beautiful, so it won't be difficult to fall in love with the job. LOL!

#6: Finally feeling like scrapping again. I was in a dry spell where nothing inspired me. He's the link to a little something I did for the May Kitspirations kit. http://www.kitspirations.com/Gallery/showphoto.php?photo=660

So? What's rocking your boat?

Coming to you from the land of...

Eenie Meenie Miny Moe, Butt Cracks and Evil Masters. I live alone on an island of nasty little creatures that I've heard are derived from the male species. There are bug guts, dirt and frog slime embedded deeply under the nails of my little men. Yes, and Austin still sneeks in a little thumb sucking here and there.

I've been a bad blogger, but I have been doing exactly what my resolution was for the year. I've been cleaning out closets and pantry and drawers, and every nook and cranny of all the STUFF I don't need. Garage sale this weekend, and what doesn't sell, goes to GoodWill. Tomorrow I conquer the kitchen cabinets. The rough part is, I have a family of sick men. Both boys and Mike have been fevered, and the little guys are pukey. Yuck! I wonder who will take care of me when it is my turn?

It seems like not a decision can't be made in this house without eenie, meenie, miny or a moe joining in on the decision process. Would you like waffles or pancakes? Hmmm? Will it be Eenie or Meenie? Do you want to wear Sponge Bob or Scooby underwear? Wait, here comes Miny and Moe. No split second reactions in this home. It takes 20 minutes to Eenie Meenie it until the one they really want gets the final finger. By then, I could have popped some Eggos in, buttered, syruped, cut, eaten and cleaned the plates. Eggos? Oh yes. I've been told I'm not allowed to make pancakes pancakes or waffles for the boys, as I royally destroy them. Who was I told by? Hmmm, I don't recall which little guy. Let me see.. Eenie, meenie, minie, moe, I think Hunter has big tiger toes.

On to a delicious butt crack story. Yes, the boys love a good butt crack. They love to run around with their tooshes touching something I would rather it not be touching. Mom, my butt crack is on your bed. Mom, my butt crack is touching the couch. Mom, my butt crack is on your back. Not so pleasant, butt (yes butt) the smile and giggles that acompany are worth it. So as I'm fighting them to get dressed, and they run rampant through the house touching butt cracks to everything, I just laugh and Eenie Meenie which one will get a slap on a bare butt cheeck, which they love entirely too much. As, I'm attempting to pin a naked butt down and force underwear and shorts on, a little sing song voice behind us says.. "Hunter, you know that pillow you sleep on every night?" "Yes?" " You know, the one you love?" "Yes?" "My butt crack is on it." "Eww, get off!" "I will once I make it breathe bad breath on it." Mom's turn: "WHAT?" "Yes, I'm going to fart on it!" Now the shocked comes when H-man doesn't freak out, he just laughs and tells me, all matter of factly: "Mom, Austin's butt has dragon breath". Moments that make a mother proud.

So, as I reminisce, on the stories of this past week, I sit and chuckle to myself. This is obviously a cue for Austin, my game maniac, to come and entice me into a game of Sorry or Scrabble. "Yes, little man, I'll play with you, but only 1 game of Sorry." "Alright, Mom, but I want to be the evil masters. I like Evil, it's fun and funny." Yes, pray for me.

My soundtrack

Do you ever sit there and wonder if you were in a movie, what song would be playing at that moment? I sometimes have a song in my mind, and decide I need to act out the song. Not really act out the words or the story of the song, but instead act the way the song makes me feel, or feel like doing. I have the UB40 song "Here I Am Baby" stuck in my head, and I feel like putting on make-up, opening the windows, or just being loud. Like, hey notice me. Not because I feel like I need to be noticed, but because the songs makes me want to be loud and silly and, for a lack of a better word, sexy. Sexy, not really going with loud and silly, but you know... Or maybe you don't.

Ofcourse, maybe "American Idiot" by Green Day fits me better on the average day. Last week it was "She Works Hard For The Money".

I do think about this quite often. I love music. I love how it makes me feel. I love to day dream to music. I can't do much without it. More often than not, the TV is on in this house, and honestly, I would love to just turn up the toons and turn off the TV. However, between cartoon, the news and poker (basically, all the boy shows) I get little music time. So happy to work at home!

So as I sit here thinking about music, I think what would be on my soundtrack? Hmmmm? Iv'e changed my soundtrack often. This week it is all alternative 80's, with a few newer tunes. Next week it could be Country or Big Band. Hip-Hop, well that is all Austin right now. He's so in to break dancing. However, he is wearing a baseball hat with a skull on it and a CBGB tee. Can't get much cooler than that.

Procrastinator Deluxe

I'm such the procrastinator. After that last post I went in to my "creating" area to make a card. Notice I use the word loosely, as little creating goes on at that table. I tend to gather my stuff up, and take over another flat surface in the house. Honestly, any flat surface that is un-cluttered will do. Reason is, that table is totally cluttered. Since I created this blog I have cleaned it perfectly twice. That's it. 2 times. My problem is maintaining. If I would just put stuff away when I'm done with a layout, then I would be so happy to go in there and create. I tell Mike it is because I work and don't have the time. HA! He knows me better than that.

I think I mentioned this before, but here I go again.
Love doing laundry, hate putting it away.
Love doing dishes (well loading the dishwasher anyway), hate putting them away.
Love vacuuming, hate putting the vacuum away.
Love shopping, hate putting the groceries away.
Love scrapping, hate putting the supplies away.
See a pattern?

I realized I needed to find my paper trimmer to make a card, so I had to put stuff away. In doing so, I decided I NEEDED to organize my patterned paper. See I had at least 2 scrapping kits sitting there, that were past their dates, so they had to be "filed". I decided I didn't like how the paper was sorted and filed, so I took all my paper out of their happy homes and made several piles. I then sorted through all my alphabets, and made more piles. I then decided I was tired and went to bed. Still no card.

2 days later, I cleaned house. I mean really cleaned house. We had a new stove and fridge delivered, so we cleaned their spaces. Cleaned the new appliances. Cleaned the old appliances really well. Cleaned the floors. Cleaned out the cleaning supply cabinet over the washer and dryer. Organized my candles. Cleaned all 3 bathrooms, including the floors on my hands a knees. Now, I know it needed it. I know it sounds like I'm a clean freak. Truth is, I was procrastinating, delaying going back in to my "creative" space and making a little card.

Found out my mom was coming to visit. Hmmmm? I guess that means she needs to sleep on the spare bed, next to my "creative" space, and under piles of paper. Hmmmm? So there go all the piles, stacked in to 1 giant stack. I swear, it looks like Richard Dreyfus either went Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind mashed potato crazy, or I'm trying to make a working volcano to rival Peter Brady's.

Now, don't get me wrong, I really, really love to play with my stuff. I just really don't want to put all that stuff away. The guilt was mounting to a point that I dreamt about Miss Manners, and all the Thank You cards I didn't send in my past.

Today my neighbor went to get a mammogram and her girls (5 and 9) are on Spring Break. I was the sitter. I decide to make a project time with my boys, and get my supplies out to the kitchen table so we can all make Easter cards. 1st Austin wants a PB&J, and Zoe decides she wants one, too. Then Hunter comes out and he wants a Quesadilla. Sadye decides a Quesadilla will do, as long as she gets some grapes, too. As they eat, the mail man comes, and the rain is sure to come soon, so I send Austin to the mailbox to gather the mail. Our mailbox leaks, so we have to retrieve it quickly. Sadye decides to join him. Hunter isn't far behind, and the dogs run out with Hunter. Next thing I know, there are 2 dogs from a neighbors house, along with their 5 year old (no parents to be seen). I blink and here comes the next door neighbor girl (4 year old) riding her bike, and her dog is trailing. Her mom yells for the dog (Phyllis Diller) and goes back in, without even a wave or a holler to see if her daughter can come over. So here I am. 5 dogs, a 9 year old, four 5 year olds and a 4 year old. I decide to just tell the kids they can play, as long as they take their dogs home. CHAOS!

So, after chasing my mail around the driveway and yard and street, keeping kids away from the eggs in the bird nest on the rocks, keeping helmets on kids and not on the ground, failing at flying 2 kites, 1 smashed toe from a scooter (mine), many muddy feet and 3 (not 2) Advil, we settle down to make some cards. Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment. I thought while we made cards, I could get my 1 card done. 5 Easter cards later, the girls go home, Mike comes home, I gather up the stuff and toss it on my "Creative" space's table, and get dinner going. Or should I say, go get dinner.

Well, the guilt was too intense. I came home, cleared a 13x13 space on my table and made the card. Whew! That's done. And I actually made something on my table. Not the kitchen table, or the dining room table. Not on the office desk, or my work desk. Not on the living room floor or the counter. I used my table. And I'm so happy to see that 13x13 space sitting there, just calling my name.


Don't read on if you are prissy or easily offended. Same thing really.

(Oh I just have to add this. I just ran spell check and the 1 word I mis-spelled was vacuum. Spell check wanted me to replace Vaccuum with VAGINA! Gotta love spell check. I should have hit the replace all. "I love Vaginaing, I just hate to put the vagina away. LOL! )

So, I was playing again in Adobe. LOL! Like I don't have a TON of work to do. You know how it is. When you are so overwhlemed with how much you have on your plate that you retreat and call everyone in your phone book, organize the linen closet and the pantry, clean out closets... Well, I sit on my ever widening behind and play on the computer. Although my closets and pantry need some serious TLC. I played with this picture tonight. An absolutely beautiful shot of a an absolutely BEAUTIFUL young lady. Sara, love ya girl. The one above I used Adobe Photoshop, Tia Bennett heart and swirls from a Flourish and Bots line downloaded from Designerdigitals.com. The font is Autumn Leaves' Aunt Marie. The one below is all the same except the font is A Beautiful Mess by Elsie Flanningan, downloaded from twopeasinabucket.com. Totally having fun with this and looking forward to my digi class.

Here's another attempt at digital scrapping.

The frame is "Doodle Framed 2" by Tia Bennett. The arrows are "Doodle Arrows" by Tia Bennett. The star "tape" is "sticky tape" by Tia Bennett. The tag is "Doodle Tag" also by Tia Bennett, all downloaded from designerdigitals.com. The fonts are "A Beautiful Mess" by Elsie Flanigan and Grandpa both downloaded from twopeasinabucket.com. The rest was done in my old Adobe Photoshop.

This is totally Hunter. Stressed and untrusting. If there was a fire he would pull a George Costanza and push women children and elderly people down to get to safety 1st. I totally laugh at this picture. It's his "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" look.

This picture was taken when we went Whale Watching in Hawaii. I tried one of those, but had more fun with this one. I went a little download crazy one night and decided I wanted to play with all my new goodies. This was way more fun. I still made some mistakes and I'm far from perfect, but I had a good time with it.

I signed of for a digital scrapping class on bigpicturescrapbooking.com. I need some help figuring some stuff out. I'm excited for it to start, but it doesn't begin until mid-April. Looking forward to it. If you liked what I've done so far, check out the class. There is still time to register. It's fun doing it digi. Especially when I walk in my scrapbook room and get overwhelmed just looking at the mess. It's half clean half disaster. So much easy to play on a computer with an uncluttered work space. Although, I am about to enter my scraproom and prepare a very late Thank You card for Joanna Bolick for the wonderful and amazing RAK she sent me. Check her out, she's got great photography and a fun blog to visit at http://www.tuesdaysfrog.com/journal.html.

I'm off to go create.